USA > Ohio > History of Ohio Methodism : a study in social science > Part 10
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Have gone to build up what thou hast of good ?"-Anon.
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IN our age we can hardly appreciate the privations and perils of the early pioneers and evangelists. They stood upon the frontier, confronting the great wilder- ness, and were exposed to many severe hardships which were incidental to the settling-up of a new country. The settlements, composed of a few families, were scattered over the State, mostly along the rivers. The early itinerants carried the gospel in the very front ranks of civilization. They braved dangers, and undertook long and perilous journeys over bad roads and through dense forests, with a zeal and enthusiasm which never faltered. They often had to travel a circuit of four or five hundred miles in circumference, every four weeks; journeying along blind paths, found by marked trees; crossing swollen streams; climbing high hills, rugged precipices; and sometimes, weary and hungry, camping in the woods all night, these men of God went forward with undaunted courage to endure hardships and perform herculean labors in order to preach the message of salvation. Their rest- less energy was not to be baffled by opposition or appalled by dangers.
Under hardships and exposures the Church ex- tended her boundaries as the new settlements multi- plied. The standard of the Cross was uplifted in every remote neighborhood, and greeted the settlers as they slowly moved westward. The Church rose to great- ness and power through the heroic services of those
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who inaugurated and built up the frontier work. We have read numerous histories and biographies and sketches of these early pioneer preachers, finding real pleasure lingering over the interesting pages; and here and there we have gathered a few citations to illustrate the manner of their traveling, preaching, and build- ing up the Church.
John Kobler, in 1798, labored and traveled night and day in the Territory for about nine months. He wrote: "The houses here are very small, often with only one room and fireplace, around which the whole family, children, dogs and all, crowd, and seem to claim the same privileges and possess equal rights. Frequently I sit on one stool or bench and eat off an- other which serves as a table. This domestic order I ever meet with good humor, being taught by expe- rience for years to 'know how to be abased, and how to abound' in all things, and everywhere being in- structed 'both to be full and to be hungry.' When we retire for private devotion, and approach the throne of grace, we kneel down by the side of a tree in snow knee-deep; yet even this is a gracious privilege. There are no candles to be had for night-reading and study. We take a parcel of clarified beeswax, while in a warm state, and roll out a tube in the shape of a candle, one end of which is rolled into a coil, so as to sit on a table, which answers for a candlestick; the other end projects perpendicularly, and gives the light. This construction is very portable, and can be taken out in a saddlebag. In the daytime we have recourse to the woods for reading the Bible and studying divinity. Thus, seated on an old log, many a sermon has been
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composed, which, on returning to the house, has been preached in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Horses usually have to be tied to a tree or fence."
"I have often ridden," he said, "fifteen or twenty miles through the woods where no one lived, the people having fled from danger; and I rode alone, for I never had any guard but the angels. The tales of woe that were told me in almost every place where there was danger (the places were pointed out where murder had been committed), sleeping in houses where the people, who were inured to these things, were afraid to go out of doors after sunset, -- I say, riding alone under these circumstances was far from being agreeable. I was often in danger in crossing rivers and swimming creeks. I found the people re- markably kind and sociable. Many pleasant hours we spent together by the side of our large log-fires in the log-cabins, conversing on various subjects; but religion was generally our delightful theme. Our hearts were sometimes made to burn within us while we talked of Jesus and his love. It is true, some of us smoked the pipe with them; but we really thought there was no harm in that, for we had no anti-tobacco societies among us then; and yet some of us rose at four o'clock in the morning to pray and read our Bibles. If we could get a lamp or candle, we preferred it; if not, we read by firelight. Many times I have begged to have a pallet before the fire, that I might not oversleep myself. We were also regular in our hours of retirement for prayer. When we had a closet for the purpose, we went to it; if not, we went to the woods in summer; but when there was danger, always
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at an early hour. In winter, or when it rained, we sought a place in a fodderhouse, or somewhere else, where we could be secreted. More than once I have been startled by dogs bouncing out when I entered into the fodderhouse, or coming upon me at my de- votions, and assailing me as an intruder. If I did not enjoy the privilege of private prayer, particularly in the evening, I felt uncomfortable in mind. And we were not satisfied with having said our prayers; our doc- trine was: 'Pray till you get your soul happy.'"
Henry Smith, who took his first trip over the Scioto Circuit in 1799 (September), tells us how he gathered some of his congregations:
"Thursday, 26th. I left this kind family at the mouth of Red Oak, and started for Eagle Creek, and began to inquire for Methodists, but could hear of none. I took up Eagle Creek, and being directed to a family where I could get some information, I rode up to the house, and asked the good man of the house if he could tell me where any of the people called Methodists lived. He said he could give me no infor- mation. But his wife formerly belonged to the society, and invited me to alight and come in. I did so; and while my horse was eating, I told them who I was, and my business. I entered into conversation about spiritual things, and requested the man to call his family together; and I prayed with and for them, and was much drawn out. I gave them a short exhor- tation, and left them all in tears. I rode about eight or nine miles, and inquired for Methodists again, and was directed to a poor man's cabin. I found him and his wife Jane in the cornfield. I called to him, and
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inquired if he could tell me where I could find any of the people called Methodists. He leaped over the fence, ran to me, and took me by the hand with all the cordiality of a true Irishman. I told him my name and business, and he received me with every expression of joy, called to Jane, and conducted me in triumph to the cabin. Jane came out of the field in cornfield habiliments, it is true; but she soon washed and changed her dress, and appeared to make me as welcome to their cabin as her husband. Such a reception was worth a day's ride. If I was but poorly qualified for a missionary in every other respect, I was not in one thing; for I had long since conquered my foolish prejudice and delicacy about eating, drink- ing, and lodging. I could submit to any kind of in- convenience where I had an opportunity of doing good, for I thought myself honored in being permitted to labor in any part of the Lord's vineyard. My call was among the poor, and among them I could feel myself at home. Jane gave me something to eat, and we ate our morsel with gladness, and talked about Jesus. In time of family prayer the melting power of God came down and filled the place with glory. The merciful people had taken their poor horse in with them the previous winter, and of course it could not be very agreeable; but poor Jane brought out of her chest as clean white sheets as ever came from Ireland, and spread them on my bed, and I slept sweetly, and arose refreshed."
James B. Finley, one of the crowned princes of the Methodist itinerancy of early days, writes: "My want of experience and conscious inability to preach the
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gospel as a workman that need not be ashamed, led me to seek, with great earnestness, the sanctifying influences of the Spirit of God, and to devote every spare hour to the study of the Bible. My place of study was the forest, and my principal text-books the Bible, Discipline, doctrinal tracts, and the works of Wesley and Fletcher. Often, while in the woods, reading my Bible on my knees and praying to God for the wisdom that cometh down from above, was my heart comforted. My feeble efforts were abun- dantly blessed; and many souls were given to my ministry."
On one occasion, overtaken by darkness while traveling his circuit near Cadiz, he followed a path to the cabin of an old Irish gentleman, a Roman Catholic. "On entering this habitation in the woods," he says, "I found the family at their evening repast. They occupied one side of the fireplace, and a calf, which was busy eating a mess of pumpkins, occupied the other. I was invited to join the evening meal, which I did with good relish, as I had eaten nothing during the day. After supper was ended, I asked the old gentleman in regard to his nativity, his religious profession, etc. On his informing me that he was a Roman Catholic, I inquired how he got along with- out his confession. At this he became visibly agitated, and informed me that he had not seen a priest for years, but that he was laying up money to go to Pitts- burg to obtain absolution. I then asked him if he had ever experienced the new birth, or if he had been born again. To this question he seemed unable to give an answer, and manifested still more uneasiness.
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He asked me what I meant; for, said he, 'I am now seventy years old, and never heard of such a thing in all my life.' Becoming alarmed, he called his son John. I told him he need not be excited, as I would do him no harm. He then asked me if I was a min- ister. I told him I tried to speak to the people, and teach them the way of salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole family seemed to be alarmed at the conversation; but I spoke kindly to them; and after their fears were somewhat quieted, I took out my Bible, and reading a part of the third chapter of John, I spent an hour in explaining to them the nature and necessity of the new birth. The family listened to what I had to say with the most profound attention, and silence was only interrupted by their sighs and tears. After prayer we all retired to rest for the night.
"In the morning, previous to leaving, the old gentleman invited me to preach for the neighborhood when I came round again, which I promised to do, enjoining on him and his family the necessity of prayer to God. Nothing worthy of peculiar note occurred till I returned to this house. I found, at the time ap- pointed, a large collection of people, and preached to them salvation in the name of Jesus. The Lord at- tended his Word with power to the hearts of the peo- ple; many were awakened, and a good work began. Soon after the old gentleman experienced religion, and also his son John; and they, with other members of the family, joined the Church. The father lived a consistent life and died a happy death, and the son became a talented and useful exhorter."
Among the many agencies for the spread of the
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gospel were the camp-meetings. These became very . popular. A majority of the people within an area of forty or fifty miles square would assemble to hear ser- mons of the highest order, directed especially to the awakening and conversion of souls. The camp-meet- ing pulpits uttered forth sermons of surpassing power, and strong and mighty appeals were made to the un- converted, which resulted in the salvation of thousands of souls. The camp-meeting fire spread as the people returned home, and revivals broke out in various lo- calities.
William Burke says:
"Preaching in the woods was a common thing at popular meetings, as meeting-houses in the West were not sufficient to hold the large number of people that attended on such occasions. This was the case at Cane Ridge.
"On Sunday morning, when I came on the ground, I was met by my friends, to know if I was going to preach for them on that day. I told them I had not been invited; if I was, I should certainly do so. The morning passed off, but no invitation. Between ten and eleven I found a convenient place on the body of a fallen tree, about fifteen feet from the ground, where I fixed my stand in the open sun, with an umbrella affixed to a long pole, and held over my head by Brother Hugh Barnes. I commenced reading a hymn with an audible voice, and by the time we concluded singing and praying we had around us, standing on their feet, by fair calculation, ten thousand people. I gave out my text in the following words: "For we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ;"
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and before I concluded my voice was not to be heard for the groans of the distressed and the shouts of tri- umph. Hundreds fell prostrate to the ground, and the work continued on that spot till Wednesday after- noon. It was estimated by some that not less than five hundred were at one time lying on the ground in the deepest agonies of distress, and every few minutes rising in shouts of triumph. Toward the evening I pitched the only tent on the ground. Having been accustomed to travel the wilderness, I soon had a tent constructed out of poles and pawpaw bushes. Here I remained Sunday night, and Monday and Monday night; and during that time there was not a single moment's cessation, but the work went on, and old and young, men, women, and children, were converted to God. It was estimated that on Sunday and Sunday night there were twenty thousand people on the ground. They had come far and near from all parts of Kentucky; some from Tennessee, and from north of the Ohio River; so that tidings of Cane Ridge meeting were carried to almost every corner of the country, and the holy fire spread in all directions."
Again he says:
"In August we had a four-days' meeting at Shan- non meeting-house. This was a time that numbers still living well remember. This meeting continued night and day, without intermission. I was employed night and day without sleeping for three nights. Brother McKendree preached on Monday morning, and while he was preaching the power of God rested on the congregation; and about the middle of his ser- mon it came down upon him in such a manner that
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he sank down into my arms while sitting behind him in the pulpit. His silence called every eye to the pulpit. I instantly raised him up to his feet, and the congregation said his face beamed with glory. He shouted out the praise of God, and it appeared like an electric shock in the congregation. Many fell to the floor like men slain on the field of battle. The meeting continued till late in the afternoon, and wit- nesses were raised up to declare that God had power on earth to forgive sin, and many did say he could cleanse from all unrighteousness. From this meeting the work went on with astonishing power; hundreds were converted to God; and one of the most pleasing features of this revival was, that almost all the chil- dren of the old, faithful Methodists were the subjects of the work."
Peter Cartwright thus describes the custom of the early Methodists, as he saw them in Ohio in 1804:
"We had no pewed churches, no choirs, no organs; in a word, we had no instrumental music in our Churches anywhere. The Methodists in that early day dressed plain; attended their meetings faithfully, especially preaching, prayer, and class meetings; they wore no jewelry, no ruffles; they would frequently walk three or four miles to class-meetings, and home again, on Sundays; they would go thirty or forty miles to their quarterly-meetings, and think it a glorious privilege to meet their presiding elder, and the rest of the preachers. They could, nearly every soul of them, sing our hymns and spiritual songs. They religiously kept the Sabbath-day: many of them abstained from dram-drinking, not because the temperance reforma-
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tion was ever heard of in that day, but because it was interdicted in the General Rules of our Discipline. The Methodists of that day stood up and faced their preacher when they sung; they kneeled down in the public congregation as well as elsewhere when the preacher said, 'Let us pray.' There was no standing among the members in time of prayer; they generally fasted once a week, and almost universally on the Fri- day before each quarterly-meeting."
The early pioneer preachers received a meager support, and at best close economy and great hard- ships were required of them. Enlisting in the itin- erant's ranks was equivalent to taking the vow of poverty. Such were the difficulties to procure a com- fortable support that the Conference did not allow young men to marry until they had traveled four years. At the beginning few married men were received. "Part of the time sixty-four dollars was allowed a traveling preacher, and he must find his own horse and fixin's, his own wardrobe and that of his wife, to- gether with her board; the other part of the time it was eighty dollars; still nothing for wife."
It was regarded as a great advance when the senior preacher's salary was pushed up to one hundred and seventy-five dollars, and that of the junior preacher to seventy-five dollars, and paid in such things as the people could spare from their farms and stores.
From 1800 to 1816 their allowance was as follows: (I) The annual salary of the traveling preacher shall be eighty dollars and traveling expenses.
(2) The annual allowance of the wives of the trav- eling preachers shall be eighty dollars.
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(3) Each child of a traveling preacher shall be allowed sixteen dollars annually to the age of seven years, and twenty-four dollars annually from the age of seven to fourteen years; nevertheless, this rule shall not apply to the children of preachers whose families are provided for by other means in their circuits re- spectively.
In 1809, James B. Finley was appointed to the Wills Creek Circuit. His autobiography contains this experience :
"I entered upon this work with great fear and trembling. Nowhere, in all the round, could I find a place for my family to live, and hence I was driven to the necessity of building a cabin, which I located on the Leatherwood Fork of Wills Creek, fourteen miles west of Barnesville. After getting it ready for occu- pancy, I wrote to my father, requesting him to bring my family, and after a separation of four months we had the pleasure of meeting again. We took posses- sion of our humble cabin, twelve by fourteen feet, which proved sufficiently capacious, as we had nothing but a bed and some wearing apparel. My funds being all exhausted, I sold the boots off my feet to purchase provisions with; and after making all the preparation that I could to render my family comfortable, started out again upon my circuit, to be absent four weeks."
Notwithstanding the limited pecuniary support, these men of God, who willingly lost their lives for Christ's sake, found it in a richer and broader life and experience: "Traveling and preaching, night and day, in weariness and want; many days without the neces- saries of life, and always without those comforts that
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are now enjoyed by traveling preachers; with worn and tattered garments, but happy and united like a band of brothers. The quarterly-meetings and An- nual Conferences were high times. When the pil- grims met, they never met without embracing each other, and never parted at those seasons without weep- ing. Those were days that tried men's souls."
Jacob Young was traveling the Marietta Circuit in 1805. He took sick with a fever while at Marietta. Afterwards he gave the following experience :
"I preached several times, held love-feast, and had an excellent quarterly-meeting for that place at that time. Meeting over, and my health being a little im- proved, I began to think about taking my circuit. On examining my clothing, I found that my shoes were nearly worn out; they would neither keep my feet warm nor dry. My old cloak was too thin for that very cold winter. Having got but little quarterage the preceding year, my money was exhausted. I was at a loss to know what to do. But man's distress is God's opportunity. A strange lady came at the right time, and handed me a dollar. Solomon Goss gave me four or five dollars. Some other friends, unknown to me, sent a few dollars more. I went and bought me a pair of shoes, a piece of heavy cloth, and employed a Miss Thankful West to make me an overcoat for one dollar. By the time my garments were all in order, my money was all gone.
"The next thing that claimed my attention was a settlement with the doctor. He said he would be glad to throw in the whole bill, but he was a poor man, and it would not be doing justice to his family.
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The bill was twenty-seven dollars. I told him I could not pay it; but would, if ever I was able. He wanted to know if I had not better write to my father and get help. This I did not like to do. Here I thought much of what Rev. William McKendree said to me when he started me on my first circuit: 'Jacob, be a faithful minister, and the Church will take care of you.' I thought I had been faithful, and, it appeared to me, the Church had really failed.
" 'God's providences ripen fast, unfolding every hour.' There was a Methodist preacher living near Parkersburg, by the name of Reece Wolfe-a man whom I had never seen or heard of before. He had heard of my situation. He went out and gathered a pretty heavy load of corn, wheat, rye, oats, and pota- toes, put them in a canoe, and, with his own hands, paddled that canoe from Parkersburg to Marietta. He sent for the doctor, settled off the whole account, and had money left. This circumstance has been of vast importance to me."
Henry Smith, one of the first standard-bearers of the gospel in Ohio, speaking of his support, says:
"I traveled seven years under the rule that allowed a preacher sixty-four dollars a year, including all mar- riage fees and presents, from a cravat down to a pair of stockings. I think our bishops were under the same rule. The last time I saw this rule imposed was at the Baltimore Conference, held at the stone chapel, in May, 1800. In my mind I yet see the sainted Wilson Lee hand over his fees and presents. True, our travel- ing expenses were allowed, if we could get them. The world never saw a more disinterested, cross-bearing,
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and self-sacrificing set of ministers than the early Methodist preachers. Nothing but a deep and abiding conviction of duty could induce them to volunteer in such a work."
The people were poor, and able to give but small support to the preacher. "The first settlers," says J. B. Finley, "could not have sustained themselves had it not been for the wild game in the country. This was their principal subsistence, and this they took at the peril of their lives, and often some of them came near starving to death. Wild meat, without bread or salt, was often their only food for weeks together. If they obtained bread, the meal was pounded in a mortar or ground in a handmill. Hominy was a good sub- stitute for bread, or parched corn pounded and sifted, then mixed with a little sugar and eaten dry. On this coarse fare the people were remarkably healthy and cheerful. Almost every man and boy were hunters, and some of the women of those times were expert in the chase."
William Burke thus speaks of the poverty of the times :
"The pioneers of Methodism in that part of West- ern Virginia and the Western Territory suffered many privations, and underwent much toil and labor, preach- ing in forts and cabins, sleeping on straw, bear, and buffalo skins, living on bear-meat, venison, and wild turkeys, traveling over mountains and through solitary valleys, and sometimes lying on the cold ground; re- ceiving but a scanty support, barely enough to keep soul and body together, with coarse home-made ap- parel; but the best of all was, their labors were owned
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and blessed of God, and they were like a band of brothers, having one purpose and end in view-the glory of God and the salvation of immortal souls. When the preachers met from their different and dis- tant fields of labor, they had a feast of love and friend- ship; and when they parted, they wept and embraced each other as brothers beloved. Such was the spirit of primitive Methodist preachers."
The early pioneer preachers were not wanting in the spirit of self-denial. James B. Finley tells us of an experience on his circuit in Southeastern Ohio. He learned of a poor woman five miles distant. He went to see her, and on arriving found her in an open cabin, surrounded by four helpless children, all in the deepest poverty. Her husband had died, and was buried in the woods, a short distance from the rude, unfinished cabin which he had tried to rear for his family. "My sympathies, already excited by the appearance of the family, were heightened in their intensity by the wid- ow's sad tale of woe. All the money I had in the world was thirty-seven and a half cents. What to do I knew not. It occurred to me that my thick, new, cloth leg- gins, which I wore over my buckskin pants, would make the eldest son a good, warm coat; and I was about untying them, when it was suggested that I could not possibly do without them; besides it was raining and cold, and I would be much exposed; I, however, overcame the temptation, pulled off the leg- gins, and gave them to the mother, telling her to make a coat out of them for her son; and then, giving her the small sum of money, and praying with the family, I departed. I had not gone a hundred yards from that
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