USA > Ohio > Twenty-five years in the West > Part 2
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have walked about two hundred miles. In one town where I had an appointment, a Methodist minister had one at the same place and hour. We both met in the pulpit. He did not wish to speak, as he was unwell, he said, and desired me to occupy the time. I objected, for .I was afraid of him; but as he insisted that I should go ahead, I delivered my discourse. My text was : " For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recom- pense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him." Heb. ii. 2, 3. When I was through he seemed well enough; took my text, and made a long reply to my feeble effort. He handled me rather roughly, but I did the best I could in the way of a rejoinder, but felt that I had come off second best. It was not manly in him, an experienced preacher, to attack a boy as he did; but I suppose he had rather encounter a boy than a man.
Soon after returning from this journey, I noticed a statement by Otis A. Skinner, a minister at Baltimore, Md., in one of our denominational papers, that several young men were wanted to preach in Maryland, and Mr. Balch advised me to go there. Heeding his advice, I went by stage across the Green Mountains to Albany, thence to New-York. In the latter place, had the fol- lowing conversation with an Englishman, right from his foggy island :
E. " I do not like this country."
M. "Why not?"
E. "I have many reasons. The people lack refine- ment. I have encountered more coarse people the last
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six months, than I met with the thirty years I resided in England."
M. "You have been very unfortunate in the company you have kept. There are coarse kinds of people in all countries; and a man can eat and sleep with them all his lifetime if he chooses. But that there are more of that class in this country than in England, I am sure is an error. But what do you mean by coarseness ?"
E. " I mean that the peasants do not pay proper respect to gentlemen"
M. "Yes, yes; I understand you. Why, sir, we have no peasants in this country; all are gentlemen."
E. "I abhor such democratic notions. How rudely your people talk about the President of the United States. He is called Mr. Jackson, Old Jackson, Old Hickory. In Europe, we call the king, His Majesty Don't you see the difference ? "
M. "I see the difference. The people of this country have little respect for titles, and I am thankful for it but they have great respect for man ; so much that the; deem every man a sovereign ; and I hope they will neves make such fools of themselves as to single out one of their number, perhaps the biggest gump in the land, and bow down and worship him, and like cringing slaves, call him 'His Majesty.' God only is worthy the title of Majesty."
In the cars near Maryland, had some conversation with a lawyer, concerning slavery.
L. " Are you going South ?"
M. "To Maryland. Am from the East, and was never as far south or west before."
L. " As you are going into a slave-holding state, I should like to know your views of slavery."
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M. " In principle I think it is wrong; but I know little of its practical effects. I shall be better able to judge of it practically at some future time."
L. "Morally I regard it wrong; nearly all the South- ern people so view it. But that slavery is a benefit to the blacks, there can be no doubt. As an evidence of this, contrast the negroes of Africa with those in the Southern states. In this country they are far better off than their brethren in Africa."
M. "They doubtless are in some respects, but I am not sure slavery has improved them. Living in this country, and associating, to some extent, with a superior race, has improved them ; but I cannot admit slavery has done it. You concede slavery is an evil; and we have the best authority for asserting, that an evil tree cannot produce good fruit. It seems to me you con- demn slavery in principle and practice when you admit it to be an evil. What effect do you think it has on the whites ? "
L. " Decidedly a beneficial effect. There is more re- finement and high-toned character in the slave states than in the free states. The people in the South have leisure to cultivate the better elements of our nature."
M. " If slavery is a upas tree, an evil as you admit, it cannot produce heavenly fruit. It is not true that South- ern people are more intelligent, moral and refined, than Eastern people. Statistics show there are more school- houses, academies, colleges and meeting-houses, East than South, in proportion to the population. There are more persons in Virginia, the best of the slave states, who can- not read or write, than in six of the most Eastern states. Facts are against you."
Proceeded to Baltimore and S. P. Skinner, who after-
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wards resided, preached, and published the New Cove- nant, in Chicago, advised me to go into the eastern por- tion of Maryland. This section of the state, and part of Deleware, lies between the Chesapeake and Delaware bays. Most of this neck of land is level and sandy, hav- ing been, at a comparatively recent period, reclaimed from the sea. Went in a small vessel to Centerville. While running down, had some conversation on relig- ious subjects, with an Episcopal clergyman.
He commenced with the remark, that the doctrine of endless punishment is taught in the Old Testament.
M. "Some of the wisest and most learned of your school differ from you. Your Bishop Warburton, in his 'Divine Legation of Moses' says: 'In the Jewish Re- public, both the rewards and punishments promised by Heaven were temporal only. Such as health, long life, peace, plenty, and dominion, etc. Disease, prema- ture death, war, famine, want, subjections, and captivity, etc. And in no one place in the Mosaic Institutes is there the least mention, or any intelligible hint, of the re- wards and punishments of another life.'
" Milman, in his 'History of the Jews' testifies thus : 'The sanction on which the Hebrew Law was founded is extraordinary. The lawgiver (Moses) maintains a profound silence on that fundamental article, if not of political, at least of religious legislation - rewards and punishments in another life. He substituted temporal chastisements and temporal blessings. On the violation of the constitution followed inevitably bligh ted harvests famine, pestilence, defeat, captivity ; on its maintenance, abundance, health, fruitfulness, victory, independence. How wonderfully the event verified the prediction of the inspired legislator ! how invariably apostasy led to
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adversity - repentance and reformation to prosperity !'
Dr. Paley, another great man of your church, admits the same: 'This (Mosaic) dispensation dealt in tem- poral rewards and punishments. In the 28th of Deuter- onomy you find Moses, with prodigious solemnity, pro- nouncing the blessings and cursings which awaited the children of Israel under the dispensation to which they were called. And you will observe, that these blessings consisted altogether of worldly benefits, and these curses of worldly punishments.'
Jahn, the best authority says: 'We have not au- thority, therefore, decidedly to say, that any other mo- tives were held out to the ancient Hebrews to pursue good and avoid evil, than those which were derived from the rewards and punishments of this life.'
This is the testimony of able and learned men who have made the Bible their life-study. Notwithstanding they believed in eternal woe, they candidly admit it is not taught by the great Lawgiver, Moses, or the prophets."
C. " They do seem to think that doctrine is not taught in the Old Testament, and I admit their judgment is entitled to much respect. I will look into the subject."
M. " And I am sure you will agree with those wise men after a careful examination of the subject. If they are correct, and the dogma in question is true, is it not amazing the Old Testament writers say nothing about it ? If they had believed in eternal punishment, they surely would have spoken of it distinctly, emphatically, and warned their fellowmen of their impending danger. You ยท believe in ceaseless woe, and you preach it faithfully, earnestly. You are right; you act according to your convictions. Were Moses and the prophets less faithful and earnest ? But they did not speak of it, and the in-
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ference is, they did not believe in it. But, sir, if that dogma is true, would not God have forced those inspired men to proclaim it to a dying world? Would God have permitted his chosen people to be ignorant of so impor- tant a matter? What! thousands of immortal spirits daily dropping into a fiery gulf, and not a word of warn- ing given ? No intimation of such a place till they find themselves in its fathomless vortex? Believe this who can, I cannot."
I spent six months in this part of Maryland, travel- ing and preaching all the time. My head-quarters were at Salisbury, and from thence I went east, west, north and south, sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback. The cause I advocated was almost totally unknown in that region. O. A. Skinner, who had resided in Bal- timore, once traveled through there, and delivered a few discourses ; but I found not more than a dozen persons, who knew or cared anything about our faith. It was any- thing but a favorable field in which, for one so young and inexperienced, to operate. I was tired of traveling, and desired to locate where I could devote my time to one or two places, that I might pursue my studies, for I well knew my literary needs, and as such an arrangement was impossible in that region I resolved to try some other locality.
Bidding my few friends good-by, I returned to Baltimore. Encountered a terriffic storm on the bay, which came near sending vessel and all on board to the bottom. It was a bitter cold December night, the wind directly ahead, and most every wave swept the deck fore and aft. The owner of the craft was on board. The steersman, who was his slave, stood to his post like a man the whole of that cold and boisterous night. In the
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morning we anchored in a sheltered situation, and during the day reached Baltimore. Spent several weeks trav- eling and preaching in the vicinity of the city, thence to Hagerstown, Md., the center of my work the six subse- quent months. Samuel A. Davis had labored in that region some time previous, as a missionary, but receiving little encouragement, had moved to Pittsburg, Pa. I preached in Hagerstown, Woodville, Frederick, Sharps- burg, and other places, in many of which I was the first to proclaim our beautiful faith, and encountered all sorts of opposition. Our ministers who have always labored where the good cause is well established, have no idea of the mean and contemptible opposition a laborer en- counters in a field where hardly any one knows any- thing of our faith or its history. At the close of a ser- mon I delivered in Frederick, a clergyman of the place, arose and poured forth the vials of his wrath. He said Universalism was the lowest grade of infidelity, that the blasphemies of Tom Paine were purity itself compared to it; and that Universalists were the scum of society -- grog-shops, gambling dens, jails and penitenti- aries being full of them. Hosea Ballou and Walter Bal- four died drunkards, and they were the best men the sect ever had.
I spoke several times in Charleston, Va., where John Brown was subsequently hung; also in Harper's Ferry, the place he so easily captured, and in Winchester where several battles during the late rebellion were fought. In Smithfield, Va., had an exciting season. Went there an entire stranger, and delivered a discourse in a school- house, the first sermon on the Great Salvation ever de- livered in the town. As soon as I said amen, up jumped Juee men to reply. It was with difficulty they agreed
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as to which should first open on me. After settling that matter, they gave me particular attention. Each of them occupied about half an hour, and as the night was short, for it was an evening meeting, it was midnight when they got through. I gave notice I should reply the next evening. The novelty of my faith, and the attention I received from three of the prominent men of the town, caused intense excitement, and the whole village, and the region round about, attended the next meeting. My three opponents -one doctor and two lawyers - were on hand, with paper and pencil- ominous of another attack. I noted the arguments of the gentlemen, and replied as best I could. One of them had charged me with denying a judgment day. I told them I believed in a judgment day, yea, in many judgment days. The Bible speaks of numerous judgment days, but they are all previous to the end of the world. When Adam and Eve were condemned and driven out of Eden's bowers, it was a judgment day to them. When Cain was ban- ished to the land of Nod, it was his judgment day. When the wrath of heaven burst on the old world and destroyed all but Noah's family, it was a terrible judg- ment day. The Sodomites experienced the horrors of a judgment day when they were destroyed by fire. The ten tribes of Israel, when they were banished to the far East, never to return, knew something of a day of judg- ment. When Babylon, Nineveh, and other mighty cities were destroyed, they suffered the desolations of judg- ment days. When Jerusalem was trodden under foot by the Babylonians ; and when subsequently it was burned up, ploughed up, and drenched with the blood of its cit- izens, did it not suffer, what the sacred writers call, days of darkness, of gloom, of judgment ? The world has
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been crowded with judgment days: all nations and peo- ple have experienced their desolations. The Christian Dispensation is also termed a day of judgment. It com- menced when the kingdom of God was established on earth by the Son of the Highest, and will continue, till Jesus shall return the kingdom to God the Father, as re- corded in Ist. Corinthians 15th chapter, when God shall be all in all. It commenced amid sin, error, suffering and death ; and will end with humanity redeemed.
As soon as I got through, a lawyer read a long chap- ter of quotations from the Bible, to prove there is a devil. He had prepared it with much care, and read it with heavy emphasis. It was supposed that a preacher or two in town helped him to his texts and comments. When he closed, the doctor commenced an harangue, but I begged him to hold on till I had disposed of his brother's sermon. I told the people I believed in many devils -- lying, slanderous, revengeful, cruel, superstitious, secta- rian devils; that every man was his own devil, and if any of my hearers should become vile and degraded, if they would look into a mirror, they would see a devil. But I had no faith in the devil the lawyer had been preaching about. The doctor then resumed his speech. Launched into the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, and did a large amount of special pleading, to make out that the hell spoken of in that passage was a place of eternal woe. When he was through, I enquired if he would answer a few questions. He replied affirmatively.
M. " Do you regard that passage to be a literal rela- tion of facts ? "
D. "I do."
M. " Hell is there called a place. Do you suppose it is a place having length, width and height?"
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D. " Yes."
M. "It is said to contain fire. Do you believe it con- tains fire ? "
D. " I do, for the passage says so."
M. " The rich man and Lazarus were within speaking, hearing, and seeing distance of each other -they talked together. Do you think heaven and hell are so near each other, that the saved can see the damned, and hear their groans and lamentations ? "
D. " I am not bound to answer that question."
M. " But you promised to answer my questions."
Several voices-" You must answer " -"You are getting into a tight place."
D "Well, if I must answer it, I will say, Yes."
M. " One more question. Could you be happy in heaven if you should see all the dear ones you now love, roasting in hell? Will you answer ? "
D. "To be candid, I do not see how I could be happy."
M. "I thank you for your candor. According to your interpretation of the passage, and it is the common in- terpretation, heaven and hell, the latter a region of quenchless fire, are neighbors -within speaking, hearing, and seeing distance of each other. Mankind are to be torn asunder - part driven into hell, part sent to heaven - husbands and wives divided, parents and children, brothers and sisters, part in heaven and part in hell, and those in heaven will know that half of the world are in hell, that their near and dear friends are there. Now, it is utterly impossible for there to be any happi- ness in heaven, with such a world of woe within sight and hearing. The passage must be a parable - figura- tive language. Jesus often spake in parables. It is in
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connection with several parables, and like them is figura- tive. Have not time this evening to give an explanation of it, but on to-morrow, Sunday, will give what I regard to be the true exposition of that important passage."
The discussion had a' sensible effect on the hearers - some rejoiced, some were mad. One old gentleman with streaming eyes, thanked me for what he had heard. But others were so enraged, my friends feared violent hands would be laid on me, ere I should reach the hotel , and I heard several cry, "Search his saddle-bags! he is a d -d abolitionist ! get a rail !"
The next day, meeting was in a grove, for no house that could be obtained, would hold half the people who attended. My youth, the novelty of my faith, and the controversy, drew an immense concourse. The people listened with attention and respect, and the meeting was not disturbed by any opposition.
I often lectured in Harper's Ferry, and generally had large congregations. The town site, and its surround- ings, are well known to be remarkably picturesque. The Shenandoah and Potomac, rapid streams, here unite, and roar and plunge through the chasm they have made through the Blue Ridge. The rocks on both sides are several hundred feet high, and nearly perpendicular. Thomas Jefferson said it was worth a voyage across the Atlantic to see this wonderful work of nature.
Near Hagerstown, I had a little controversy with a Disciple preacher. We both had an appointment in a barn, and the people were eager to hear both of us speak. He delivered a labored discourse on his peculiar views - dwelt long on the importance of water baptism, affirm- ing it to be a condition of salvation. In my discourse,
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I paid particular attention to his water-cure notions - showed that if he was correct, most of mankind would be lost forever, as but a small portion are immersed. In reply, he said, he did not believe in endless misery, but annihilation, and admitted that according to his faith not one would be saved, old or young, in a Christian or a heathen land, without water baptism. What a gospel! I rejoined. Instead of bringing life and immortality to light, it proclaims eternal death to about all our race : instead of being good news. is a howl of everlasting despair; instead of being a blessing to the world, is an unmitigated curse; instead of announcing God as the loving Father, it blasphemously says he is a fiend. Never again prostitute that blessed word, gospel, by calling your partial, cruel and revengeful system by that dear name. There is less gospel in your creed than brain in a mosquito's head.
One evening, I accompanied a friend to a Methodist meeting. The congregation was large, and a "revival " was under full headway. The first speaker spoke well and sensibly, but his words fell on dull ears and cold hearts. The second speaker was a regular son of thunder, and he thundered, and stormed, and quaked, and made some of his hearers do the same. That part done, he said, "Let us pray." He prayed, and half of the assem- bly prayed with him. He raised his voice, they raised theirs ; he screamed like a maniac, they did the same ; he jumped up and down. they jumped up and down. I looked on in utter amazement, having never witnessed such a scene before. When through this part of the performance, he told all who wanted to go to heaven to rise to their feet. I was the only one who did not stand up. "Rise to your feet," said he. "or you will be
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damned." I kept my seat, and though strongly tempted to rebuke him, said nothing.
Near Charleston. Va., attended. for the first time. a Methodist camp-meeting, and have not since been anx- ious to renew my acquaintance with such gatherings. It was held in a beautiful grove. Some two thousand peo- ple, white and black. were present. During the services. the whites were seated front of the speaker's stand, the negroes in the rear. The speakers would talk awhile to their white brethren, and then, turning on their heels. give the black brethren a broadside, and the latter always responded to this condescension with a hearty shout. Night was the hour of promise. It was almost sure to bring copious showers of "grace." Sunlight. it seems, is not favorable to its descent. It comes more plenti- fully with moonshine. The night I was on the ground, there were all sorts of manifestations of the "spirit." Some laughed, others cried, groaned, and threw them- selves on the ground. Noticed one poor fellow trying to climb a tree. Asked him where he was going. "To heaven," said he. and kept scratching the tree with his finger and toe nails, for he was bare-footed. The preachers and hearers seemed to think all that hopping. jumping, shouting and screaming. was the work of God converting the people. Every good thing can be abused. and thus become an evil. Religious excitement, when kept within due bounds, is productive of much good ; but when it overleaps all bounds, and becomes temporary insanity, as it did on this occasion. it is prostituted to a very bad purpose. Spent a short time in the " preach- er's tent" where I had the following conversation with the Presiding Elder :
JJ. " John Wesley was opposed to such excitement.
Twenty-Five Years
E. " You are mistaken, that man of God was in favor of it, for he knew it was the work of the spirit of God, and I warn you to flee from the wrath to come, before it shall be eternally too late."
M. " Do not get excited, my friend. Let us see what Wesley says about what you call the work of the Holy Spirit. In one of his volumes he speaks of the doings of Satan thus :- 'Satan strives to push many of them to extravagance. This appears in several instances :
'I. Frequently three or four, yea, ten or twelve, pray aloud together.
' 2. Some of them, perhaps, may scream altogether, as loud as they can.
'3. Some of them use improper, yea, indecent expres- sions in prayer.
' Several drop down as dead, and are as stiff as a corpse; but in a while they start up and cry, 'glory, glory !' perhaps twenty times together. Just so do the French prophets, and very lately the Jumpers in Wales, bringing the real work into contempt.
' Scream no more at the peril of your soul. God now warns you by me. I never scream, I never strain myself; I dare not, I know it would be a sin against God and my own soul !
'Some very unstill sisters, who always took care to stand near me, and tried who' could cry loudest, since I have had them removed out of my sight, they have been as quiet as lambs. The first night I preached here, one- half of my words were lost through the noise of their outcries ; last night, before I began, I gave public notice that whoever so cried as to drown my voice, should, with- out man's hurting or judging them, be gently carried to
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the farthest corner of the room, but my porters had no employment the whole night.
'There is a fervor which has passed for devotion, but it is not true, not scriptural devotion. It is loud shout- ing, horrid, unnatural screaming, repeating the same words twenty or thirty times, jumping two or three feet high, throwing about the arms and legs, both men and women, in a manner shocking not only to religion, but to common decency.'
These are Wesley's words ; and you have been doing nearly all he so severely rebukes. What you call the work of God, he calls the work of Satan."
" Let us pray," said the Elder, with an awful groan. And such a prayer! It was not praying, but rather the ravings of a mad man, and the crowd raved with him. He called me a devil, said I had slandered the sainted Wesley, and had come there to stop the work of God. He beseeched the Lord, either to convert me or send me to hell. When he was through, I told him his perform- ance 'was more like the ravings of a maniac, than the prayer of a Christian, and bid him good-by.
After spending six months in this region, traveling and preaching constantly, and seeing no prospect of estab- lishing our cause permanently, and receiving hardly any compensation for all my hard labor and many privations, I resolved to go to Pittsburg, Pa. The truth is, I was much discouraged. Had labored one year in Maryland, found but few of my faith, and had not received fifty dollars for all my toil. Was tired of traveling, longed for an abiding place where I could preach. and pursue my studies, and not be constantly on the wing Was not avaricious, but, as I devoted all my time to the ministry, it seemed I should be decently supported,
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