USA > Ohio > Twenty-five years in the West > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
R. " If your doctrine is true I am safe."
M. "As my doctrine is true I would not stand in your shoes for all the gold in California. You are a curse to yourself, your family and this town. The fires con- suming you, are scorching all with whom you come in contact."
R. "But you preach that all will be saved, and, of course, I am included."
M. "You will not be saved till you repent of your sins in sack-cloth and ashes, and by the grace of God are thoroughly regenerated. You will have to work out your own salvation ; and from your business, I conclude you oc- cupy a very low plane in this world, morally and spiritu- ally, and fear you will occupy a low one in the other land, and will have to work long and hard ere you will know much about heaven. I advise you not to credit the slang of Orthodox preachers, that according to Univer- salism all will be saved anyhow. We believe in nothing of that kind. The pure and good only are saved in this world, and the pure and good only are saved in the world to come. Now, my friend, permit me to give you a word of advice : Sell no more liquor, drink no more liquor, engage in some honest calling, live soberly, righteously and godiy the remainder of your days. By
290
Twenty-Five Years
doing so, you will live better, die better, and your life will not be a failure. "
Lectured in Miami, then crossed the Missouri river to Dewitt, where I spoke several times. A church was subsequently formed there, but the war broke it up. Held meetings in all the towns on both sides of the river to St. Joseph. In Kansas City lectured five times. This is destined to be a large place. Its position is cen- tral, being right in the way of trade and travel. It is also in the midst of one of the finest agricultural sections of the world. Kansas City has a splendid future. While in town I tarried with Col. E. M. McGee, recently deceased. It seems, that when I journeyed from Mata- gorda bay to Houston, I passed near where he was then living, but did not then know of him. He made a farm in that section, and when I passed along he was cutting. down the trees, and his wife gathering the brush in piles and burning it. A few years after, they moved to what is now Kansas City, but then a wilderness. They made a magnificent home in Kansas City - the ground and buildings must be worth two hundred thousand dollars. How unlike the log cabin in the woods of Texas. Have often been at Kansas City since that first visit, and always make their home my home when there. Mrs. McGee and daughter now occupy the residence the husband and father built; may they long live to en- joy it.
Lectured in Wyandotte, Kan. This town joins Kan- sas City, and like two drops, they will become one - commercially, at least. Its site is magnificent, the ground gradually ascending from the river; and ere long. it will be a rich and populous place. An Episcopal
291
In the West.
clergyman asked various questions concerning the doc- trine everywhere spoken against.
E. " Do your people think Jesus Christ was a humar. being ? "
M. "He certainly possessed a human constitution and organization ; was subject to hunger and thirst; was weary and cold, and liable to the pains and agonies ' flesh is heir to.' He also grew from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood, hence the New Testament says, ' For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points like as we are, yet without sin.' Heb. iv. 15. 'But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' Phil. ii. 7, 8. 'And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.' John i. 14. He was, then, a man, and would have died ultimately had he lived in an age of justice and toleration. "
E. " What was the object of his death ? "
M. " I will answer in the language of the Bible : ' For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just. for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.' I Peter iii. 18. . For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.' Heb. ii. 10. 'For if, when we were ene- mies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.' Rom. v. 10. Jesus came, then, not as the creeds teach, to appease God's wrath, nor to quench the fire of hell.
'Twas not to quench eternal fire,
That Jesus came and spilt his blood,
292
Twenty-Five Years
Not to appease his Father's ire, But to reconcile the world to God.'
His noble example in dying for man, has strengthened the martyr's faith on many a scaffold, and when chained to a fiery stake. And he died like them - a martyr to truth and righteousness. He taught love to God and man ; he lived what he taught, and he died confirming his teaching and his life. That precept, that life, and that death, have been a power in the world for the last eighteen hundred years, and they will be a power in this world in all coming time."
E. " But the Bible talks about man being saved by the blood, or death of Christ. Do you think there was no special efficacy in his blood and death ? "
M. "We say our fathers died to save us from the oppression of Great Britain. In the same sense Christ died to save us from the bondage of sin, and to relieve us from all allegiance to despotism. Blood from any one's veins can only cleanse in a figurative sense. It is the truth Jesus taught that cleanseth the soul; and as his blood was shed in attestation of the truth, the Bible refers figuratively to his blood as the efficient cause of our deliverance and salvation. In this sense he 'bore our sins and our iniquities,' was ' wounded for our trans- gressions,' and ' by his stripes we are healed.'"
E. " There are men in high places in our church entertaining similar views, but in my estimation, they are erroneous. I accept the creed of the church, that Jesus was God, and of all the sequences of that proposition."
Proceeded to Leavenworth, where I delivered four discourses. This was a small town then, but now a large city. While there I heard the following conversation in an adjoining room at the hotel :
In the West. 293
"Did you attend the Universalist meeting last night ? "
"No; I have no faith in the creed of that church What was the minister's text ? "
"' I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,' were the words. . I confess to being much interested. It was the first Universalist sermon I ever heard, and am in- clined to think it was the first gospel sermon I ever heard. I have, all my life, heard about the abominations of Universalism, and supposed it was a mass of corruption. But if that man last night preached Universalism, I don't know but I must be a Universalist."
" What did he say that took you so? "
" Among other things he said, salvation is not from hell, but from sin, from error, from mental darkness ; that Jesus came not to save us from eternal burnings, but to make us good fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, chil- dren, neighbors, friends, citizens. There is good sense in that."
" What did he say about the gospel ? "
"That the meaning of the word, gospel, is good news, glad tidings, and that it really is good news inas- much as it teaches that sin, suffering and death shall ultimately be abolished and God be all in all."
"Did he say anything about hell? Of course he did not, as there is no hell in his faith."
" He did not say much on that subject, but gave no- tice that this evening he would give the Bible doctrine of hell; and you had better go and hear what he has to say. The Orthodox view of religion never satisfied me and I am bound to look into this new faith." A church was organized at the close of one of the meetings, and this man united with it.
294
Twenty-Five Years
Spent two days in Weston, Mo., and preached, by re- quest, on the destruction of the enemies to God and man. 1. Sin is an enemy but is to be destroyed. "Be- hold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." "For this purpose was the Son of God mani- fested that he might destroy the works of the devil." Sin, then, is to be destroyed. 2. The devil is to be de- stroyed. “Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil." Thus, the devil, and all his works, are to be destroyed. 3. Pain is to end. "There shall be no more pain neither shall there be sorrow nor crying, for the former things are passed away." How false, then, is the doctrine of endless suffering, endless sorrowing, endless weeping. 4. Hell is an enemy to be destroyed. "O, hell, I will be thy destruction." An apostle asks the triumphant questions, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, (hades or hell) where is thy victory ?" 5. Death is also an enemy to be destroyed. We read, "He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God shall wipe tears from off all faces." "There shall be no more death." "The last enemy, death, shall be destroyed." But how can death be destroyed if millions of mankind are to be eternally its victims ? In the language of Dr. Adam Clarke, " Death is conquered, hell is disappointed, the devil confounded, and sin totally destroyed. Amen ! Hallejuah ! The Lord God, omnipotent reigneth ! He shall reign forever and ever !"
Notwithstanding this distinct and emphatic testimony, many contend, with the Bible in their hands, that sin, pain, death, hell, will eternally prey on countless multi- tudes of our race ; and if you intimate their destruction,
295
In the West.
the cry is raised, " delusion, imposture, infidelity." But I trust in God, and believe in the divine promise of the end of all evil, and the bringing in of "everlasting righteousness."
Also lectured in St. Joseph three evenings. At the close of one of the meetings, a preacher remarked, "You have been talking about the mercy of God, but will not God's wrath last as long as his mercy?" I replied : Without stopping to inquire what is meant by the wrath or anger of God, the Bible emphatically declares, that " His anger endureth for a moment, but his mercy from everlasting to everlasting." "He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy." "I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth." Why not ? "Because the spirit would fail before me, and the souls which I have made." Can you give as good a reason why he will be always wroth, why he will con- tend forever, as he has why he will not? Pain tends to destroy the sufferer. Let a person endure intense agony, and if medical aid does not relieve him, death will soon step in and deliver the sufferer. This is a merciful pro- vision of our heavenly Father, to prevent very protracted suffering. The passage just cited teaches, God would not permit one to suffer long because that suffering would end his existence. " The spirit would fail before me, and the souls I have made." Man can not endure endless wrath ; he would fail, or cease to be. Jeremiah asks the question, " Will he reserve his anger forever ? Will he keep it to the end?" Now observe the answer : "I am merciful, saith the Lord, and will not keep anger forever." "For his anger endureth for a moment ; weep- ing may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morn- ing." In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a
296
Twenty-Five Years
moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord." "The Lord will not cast off forever, but though he cause grief, yet he will have com- passion according to the multitude of his tender mercies." "My mercy will keep forevermore." "For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting." In one Psalm it is twenty-six times asserted, that " The mercy of the Lord endureth forever." It is also said, "God is rich in mercy." ' Plenteous in mercy." We likewise read of his mercy in the plural form. It is said to be "great," "manifold," and " over all his works." The apostle Paul believed in God's mercy,hence his remarkable words, " For he hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have MER- CY ON ALL !"
From all this precious testimony, I conclude that the "wrath of God," let it mean what it may, will continue only a moment, while his mercy is without end. The mother may forget the son of her love, but God will nev- er forget man whom he hath made. He is merciful to- day, he will be to-morrow and forever. No circum- stance or place can turn his love into hatred, his good- ness into cruelty. His mercy blesses us in this world and it will bless us in the world to come. Death cannot change the great love God has for man.
Delivered a series of discourses in Kingston, on the "Character of God "- " Man as he Is and is to Be"- " Rewards and Punishments " - "Future Life "- " Res- titution." These were the first discourses in the county in defence of our faith. A Baptist minister replied to one of them - traveled ten miles to attend the meeting. He dwelt on the Rich Man and Lazarus. Denied it being a parable, said it was an account of two men in this
297
In the West.
world, and world to come - one in heaven and the other in hell - and their fate in eternity is the fate of all -- part ascend to heaven, and the balance sink into regions of eternal fire.
I replied as follows: If the text is to be understood literally, the following are FACTS, concerning heaven and hell : 1. Hell is a place, not a state or condition, but a place ; has a local habitation as well as a name; has length, width, depth and hight; in fact, is the peniten- tiary of the universe. Hell is called in the passage, "this place of torment." 2. Hell is a red hot oven. The rich man said, "I am tormented in these flames," and begged for a drop of water to cool his tongue. 3. This " place of torment," this fiery oven, is within speaking distance of heaven. Abraham and the rich man had a talk on some interesting topics. Heaven and hell, then, are neighbors - are located side by side, the division fence being a gulf. 4. If the fate of those two men is to be the fate of all mankind, behold the sad end : pa- rents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors, are to be eternally separated - part in heaven, and part in hell- and eternally to gaze at each other across the gulf.
Now, I want to know if there can be any happiness in such a heaven? Can parents be happy, seeing their children in hell, as Abraham saw the "rich man ? " Can children be happy, beholding the mother who bore them, and the father who loved them, writhing in the liquid flames, the cursed of God, and the sport of devils? Can the wife behold the beloved partner of her life, suffering immortal agony in the fiery furnace, and rejoice and sing praise ? I read a few days since a Presbyterian Sabbath School report, and the writer states, that "heaven will
298
Twenty-Five Years
be made up of remnants of ruined families." Nearly every family will be ruined -- a remnant only escape the dreadful wreck. To expect happiness in such a heaven, would be like expecting oranges to grow on icebergs. But if the gentleman is right in his interpretation of the passage before us, there is just such a heaven, and just such a hell; and about every family will be irredeema- bly ruined. The nearest approach to such a shocking scene, is a band of naked and painted savages, laughing and dancing around the blazing stake, at which their victims are burning. There is your heaven, and your hell, on a small scale.
But to prevent the denizens of heaven becoming in- sane at such a frightful spectacle, it is said, their memory will be destroyed - they will not remember they ever had a dear friend on earth. Yes, and they will have to have their eyes put out, for Abraham could see the rich man. They will also have to be as deaf as adders, else the cries, groans and lamentations of hell will ever be sounding in their ears. But it is evident the text is not to be understood literally, but figuratively. It is doubt less a parable, a fable, and its moral is one of the most interesting and instructive lessons in the New Testament.
Have not room here for the interpretation I gave the passage; but the preacher at the close admitted it seemed reasonable, and was perhaps correct. A rum- seller here told me, he had been through religion, and was satisfied it was all huinbug. I suggested that he might be improved if religion should go through him.
Lectured in Chillicothe. My subjects were, "Sin"- " Death " -- " Hell"-" Salvation." One man after hear- ing the discourse on sin, objected : Jesus says, " If you
299
In the West.
die in your sins, where God, and Christ are, ye can- not come."
" My friend, there is no such passage in the Bible."
" Ah, but there is," said he; ".I have read it many a time."
" But you are mistaken. The passage you quoted at, reads thus : 'Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and ye shall die in your sins ; whither I go ye cannot come.' John viii. 21. The true reading is very different from your version. These words were addressed to the Jews. Shortly after he said to his disciples : 'Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and as I said to the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot come, so say I unto you.' John xiii. 33. Now, if Jesus when he told the Jews they could not go to him, meant they should not be redeemed, he must have meant the same when he addressed the disci- ples, for he said exactly the same to them. But nothing of the kind was intended when he addressed friend or foe. He only meant they could not much longer follow him from place to place, as they had been doing, for he was about to be crucified.
"Many of the Jews did die in their sins, but it does not follow they will sin forever. Because a man sins this year it does not follow he will sin all his life-time. God, surely, is not so in love with sin that he will compel any to sin eternally because this life was mis-spent. What would be thought of a farmer who forced a wicked neighbor to cut down every tree in his orchard because he had cut down one tree ? And will the God of wis- dom and goodness, compel all to sin eternally who die sinners ? If yea, nearly all mankind will be forever lost, for nearly all die sinners, in some degree. The law is,
300
Twenty-Five Years
' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.' Now, who obeys the law ? But few indeed, I fear. Nearly all mankind, then, will be forever lost if there is no redemp- tion for those who die sinners.
"But the good book teaches there is to be 'AN END OF SIN.' Dan. ix. Transferring all sin and all sinners to hell would not be making ' an end of sin,' nor converting sinners to God. It would simply be removing sin and sinners to another locality -that is all. Transporting all the drunkards from St. Louis to Chicago would not be making an end of intemperance. Doing that would only remove the curse from one place to another - noth- ing more. But when the Bible talks about the end of sin, about destroying sin, it means just what it says. It does not mean it will not be destroyed, will not end. "
From Chillicothe I journeyed to Dewitt. I well remember traveling that road at another time. It was one of the hottest days of summer, and I rode on horse- back from early morn till late at night, in the blazing sun, without a particle of food. About mid-day, called at a house to get a drink of water, and the good woman conducted me to the back porch where were two buckets of iced-waters-one for the white folks, the other for the negroes, and told me to help myself to the refreshing contents of the former. Never shall I forget that blessed bucket and its thrice blessed treasure. I thought of the spring in the desert, gushing forth its cooling draught, and of Jesus resting, as I was resting, at the Samaritan well.
After traveling about one week more, I reached home, having delivered seventy-five discourses, and rode some seven hundred miles - all on horseback.
CHAPTER XVI.
While sitting at the breakfast table of a boarding-house in St. Louis on the morning of April 14th, 1861, it was announced that the South Carolinians had fired on Fort Sumpter. I remarked, " The rebels will rue that traitor- ous deed." The landlady took fire, and with eyes dart- ing daggers, said, "We are Southrons." "If you are Southrons," I rejoined, "you need not be rebels." The whole city was wild with excitement. Americans had fired on their own flag; civil war was inaugurated ; but how far it would extend, and what would be the result, were problems the wisest could not solve. Would the whole land be desolated ? Would treason, with fire and sword, march through the length and breadth of the country, scattering death and destruction, where peace, prosperity and happiness had so long prevailed ? Was the sun of the Great Republic about to set, and set too, in blood, fire and desolation ? Was our glorious Union about to be rent asunder by profane hands? Where would the division end ? Would it be torn into two. twenty or thirty parts ? No wonder loyal men and women were excited and alarmed.
A day or two after that insane act I heard a man on Fourth street read a private dispatch from Senator Douglas : " Tell my friends they must sustain the govern- ment." I could not help exclaiming to a bystander, "God bless Douglas." "God d-n him," said an
302
Twenty-Five Years
enraged "Southron." Then followed President Lin- coln's call for volunteers, telegraphed far and near. And then the drums began to beat ; and the farmers, mechan- ics, merchants, doctors, lawyers, preachers, all over the land, left their homes and enrolled themselves, "DE- FENDERS OF OUR COUNTRY." And many a prayer went up to heaven for their protection and success. When General Lyon, a few weeks after, marched five thousand loyal soldiers through the city and captured " Camp Jack- son, " the union portion of the population were delight- ed, but the rebels were dismayed. For weeks, a rebel flag had been hanging over a building at the corner of Pine and Fifth streets, the headquarters of treason ; and several leading papers in the city had been working to get Missouri out of the Union. These treason plotters, north and south, east and west, had great expectations. Said one of them :
" We shall succeed. The South will sustain itself in this conflict. The North will not fight. And having the mouth of the Mississippi river, the South will com- pel the Western States to join them; we shall have a strong and magnificent government, and the Eastern States may go to h-1 for aught we care."
I replied : " Three or four years of war will open your eyes, if you have any then to open, concerning the North and the South. Do not delude yourself with the fancy, that the Northern people will not fight for the right ; you will find they will fight, and as men hardly ever before did fight. It is true, they greatly prefer the arts of peace ; but when their country is in danger, the country for which their fathers bled and died, you will find that the spirit of '76 is not degenerated. You do not know what you are about ; you are insane. You are disturb-
3º3
In the West.
ing a lion, that by and by will spring to his feet and crush you to death."
But after the Camp Jackson affair, and the citizens had been taught by several bloody lessons to let the soldiers pass through the streets undisturbed, we had peace and safety in St. Louis. The rebel element was strong, but harmless amid a preponderance of loyalty, supported by an army of the "boys in blue." But in Missouri, out- side of St. Louis, with the exception of here and there a place where soldiers were stationed, there was but little peace or safety.
The Magasine had nearly three thousand subscribers in Missouri, and the Southern States, when the war commenced. I lost all the Southern, and most of the Mis- souri subscribers, by the mails being discontinued, and the general confusion that reigned. Three religious periodicals - Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian - were discontinued at the beginning of the strife. The former was suppressed by General Lyon, for its treason- able utterances, and its editor jailed. The Magazine and Central Christian Advocate, were the only religious journals that survived the outbreak. The former was badly crip- pled, and but for the aid it received from the loyal states, would have succumbed.
I traveled and preached but little in Missouri during the war. Most of the men were in the army, north or south ; some left the state, and the few remaining did not think much about religion. The church in St. Louis went to the shades. Mr. Weaver left the year before the war, and located in Lawrence, Mass., where he has been remarkably successful. He is a noble man, and an ex- cellent pastor and preacher. Before a successor could be obtained, the war broke out, and that killed the church.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.