USA > Tennessee > Monroe County > Sweetwater > History of Sweetwater Valley > Part 5
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On that of his wife, "Cynthia, wife of Rev. James Axley, died September 31, 1882, aged eighty-two years."
Rev. R. N. Price, in Vol. II, Holston Methodism, gives a synopsis of his life.
That he was presiding elder for thirty years is clearly a mistake. He was, according to church records, preacher for only thirty-three years; circuit rider for seven, presiding elder for ten and located for sixteen years. By located is meant that he was not under the order of the bishop and though still licensed to preach, was entitled only to such pay as the churches that invited him in any locality chose to give him. Preaching or not was entirely voluntary.
Born in Cumberland county, Virginia; father and mother, James and Lemuanna Axley. They moved to Kentucky about 1799. The subject of this sketch was admitted to the Western Conference in 1804 and located in 1822. His charges were: 1804, Red River, in Cum- berland district, a colleague of Miles Harper ; 1805, Hock- hocking, Ohio district; 1806, French Broad; 1807, Opelousas, Louisiana; 1808, Powell's Valley; 1809, Hol- ston; 1810, Elk; 1811, presiding elder of Wabash dis- trict ; 1812, he was appointed presiding elder of Holston district and remained in charge of it four years; he was two years in charge of the Green River district, and three years presiding elder of the French Broad district (1818- 1821).
James Axley had two brothers and two sisters, his brothers were Pleasant and Robert. James and Pleasant were converted near Salem, Ky., where they lived in 1802. Pleasant was a local preacher for many years, but did
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not attain anything like the celebrity of his brother. James.
There are wealth-made, school-made, God-made, and self-made men. George Washington, fortunately for our republic, was all of these. Heredity, environment, phy- sical capacity, mental and moral attainments made him easily the foremost citizen of America. It is related that Axley had no school training and no advantages in his youth, His father was a strange man in his habits and manner of life. He was greatly devoted to hunting wild game and searching for minerals; he spent the greater part of his time this way and remained at home but little. The burden of the family support was upon the mother and older children. James Axley, the son, was also fond of hunting in his youth. He became power- ful in frame, alert and observing of the habits of animals. It thus became much easier for him to learn men and the customs of polite society and correct the deficiencies of early life. From a hunter of wild animals he became a hunter of men.
As is often the case, especially with those who lack previous training the first efforts of Axley were consid- ered very unpromising, so much so that he was refused a license to preach, and when one of his preacher friends advised him his efforts would meet with failure and it would be useless for him to try further, he is said to have replied that if he couldn't be a preacher with God's help he could make a first class exhorter. As R. N. Price says: "He was called of God to preach; he felt it, he knew it, and nothing ever deterred him from obeying the call." Demosthenes was told he could never make an orator, Jenny Lind that she would not be a success in opera, and the prophecies of Lincoln's career were even more adverse. These things show what a poor prophet the average man is when he attempts to predict what others may make of themselves.
Here is Dr. McAnally's estimate of Axley later in life : "I have listened to popular orators among our states- men, to distinguished pleaders at the bar, to the preachers who were followed and heard by enraptured thousands, but the superior of James Axley in all that constitutes genuine oratory and true eloquence I have not heard."
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"His height was near six feet, muscular frame, large bones, but little surplus flesh, chest broad and full features strongly marked, large month and nose, heavy, projecting, shaggy eyebrows, high and well turned fore- head, dark gray eyes, remarkably keen, large head and hair worn short. His dress was plain and made of home- spun material. In the pulpit he stood erect and nearly still, gesticulating but little, only turning from side to side that he might see his auditors. If the weather was warm it was common with him, after opening the ser- vice and singing and prayer, deliberately to take off his coat and hang it on the pulpit." Few men perhaps ever had a finer voice and never yet have I met with one who could control it better. So completely was it under his command that the manner in which something was said often affected the hearer more than the thing itself. He was a natural orator after the best models-those which nature forms.".
James Axley came into the ministry at a propitious time for men of his type. He was a born fighter polemi- cally. Those days required both moral and physical courage. Since 1775 there had been a long war with the British and many with the various tribes of Indiańs. Be- tween the red and white men there was little other than animosity, it had been an eye for an eye, scalp for scalp, and life for life. The pioneers of that day had been compelled not only to keep rifles in their homes, but to take their arms with them to their fields, their meetings in the forest and to their rude log churches, for fear of an attack from their cunning and treacherous foes. They were liable at any moment to be called from the worship of the Prince of Peace to bloody combat. Bloodshed and retaliation were the order of the day. War and especially that kind of war where personal and race hatred is added to national conflict, has a most demoralizing effect on humanity. If the doctrine of returning good for evil, or turning the other cheek when one is smitten, had any place in the breast of the men of that day its application was among white men and did not apply to the red. They held that their own preservation and that of their wives and children required no mild measures but almost a policy of extermination. Treaties of peace availed little ; the primeval instincts were much in evidence. Conse-
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quently religion and the churches languished. The peo- ple did not fully appreciate the educated ministry of the Presbyterians; there were too few of them to go round and there was more or less prejudice against written ser- mons. Few of the pioneers adhered to the church of England. They had declared and gained their civil independence and they wished entire religious independ- ence. They wanted no written prayers and sacerdotal robes; life was entirely too serious for elaborate cere- monies.
Some authors in speaking of that period from 1780 to 1800 have attributed the wave of Atheism and Deism (Infidelity) that swept over the country to the French revolutionary ideas and the writings of Voltaire and to Thomas Paine's "Age of Reason." In western North Carolina, East Tennessee and eastern Kentucky we are inclined to think their influence was over estimated. The pioneers had not forgotten the parts the French had taken in the Indian wars and massacres and the prejudice had not been fully removed even by the fact that La- fayette played so important part in the war of the Revo- lution against the British. They had little time and less opportunity for extensive reading. I can not believe that the books of Voltaire and Paine had a large circula- tion in our mountain country. Besides the "Age of Reason" was written for scholastic minds like Adams and Jefferson (who though violent political enemies were at one in their notions of religion) and not for the mountaineer. In the beginning of the Nineteenth cen- tury the New England ideas of Unitarianism had not taken any firm hold in our mountain country. The de- cadence of religion might have been more apparent than real or the preaching later on could not have been at- tended with such remarkable results. Fire cannot burst into flame without the proper fuel to feed upon. The people of France were ripe for the Revolution when it came.
The early settlers of that period and section were not engaged in speculations about fine spun theories; they needed something virile and exciting to arouse them, such as sermons hot with hell fire and eternal punish- ment; "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish."
Then arose such men as Cartwright, Axley, Lorenzo
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Dow, McKendree, Creed Fulton, Granade and Jesse Cunningham, and the celebrated revival of 1800, as it was called, commenced. It continued unabated for eight or ten years and with some vigor for ten or more years longer. The zealous, emotional, often uneducated preachers in the modern sense of the term, had their day. Their hearers would stand no sham or hypocrisy; they desired sincerity and earnestness; they cared not whether the preacher or exhorter, as the case might be, said sepul-chre or se-pul-chre, Geth-sem-a-ne or Geth-se- mane, so the thought was there. The intention of the listeners was to flee from the wrath to come.
During this revival came the days of the camp meet- ings. At their inception some accessible place was se- lected, preferably near some large flowing spring ca- pable of furnishing plenty of water for men and beasts. If not already done a place was cleared and a stand was erected for the preachers. It was important that the lo- cation should be suitable one for stretching their tents. To hear the sermons the people stood up or sat on chairs and logs or sometimes climbed the trees near by. The inhabitants came from far and near bringing with them their tents and provisions. When the weather permit- ted many slept out in the open air. These meetings were usually held in the fall, the pleasantest season of the year. Hospitality was unbounded for the visitors from
a distance and hundreds and sometimes thousands were fed in one day. Great preparations were made for the entertainment of all comers. These meetings were looked forward to for months beforehand. They an- nually, sometimes semi-annually, were a source of much religious and social enjoyment. Influences were brought to bear and friendships formed which lasted for a life- time, and were profitable for the Here and Hereafter. The services sometimes continued night and day for weeks as long as the interest lasted or the preachers and exhorters could bear the mental and physical strain. When a place of meeting became popular and numerous- ly attended, a shed was built for protection against the weather, and it was seated with slabs, the sawed or hewed sides turned up and the legs were driven into two holes bored angling, thus making a firm but not a very comfortable seat, as there were no backs to lean against.
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Around the shed were built also camps for eating and sleeping in. The sleeping berths were arranged in tiers one above another so as to accommodate a greater num- ber. The camp grounds best known in this section were the Methodist at Pond Spring, three miles west of Sweet- water, and the Cumberland Presbyterian, three and one- half miles north of Sweetwater.
Some very curious phenomena attended the early camp meetings. Different persons explained them dif- ferently. By some they were attributed wholly to su- pernatural causes, by others to material or natural causes, still others partly to both. Whatever may have been the true explanation the facts themselves were un- deniable. These happenings extended over quite a wide. territory ; parts of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia.
Dr. Price, "Holston Methodism," Vol. I, page 340-1-2 quotes a Presbyterian divine, Rev. James Gallaher, as saying: 'The awful solemnity which now arrested the public mind was accompanied with bodily affections as notable and singular as those of Saul on his way to Da- mascus. Stout, stubborn sinners, bold, brazen-fronted blasphemers were literally cut down by the 'sword of the Spirit,' under the preaching of the Gospel men would drop to the ground as suddenly as if they had been smit- ten by lightning. Among these were many men in the prime of life-strong business men, men whom no hu- man being ever thought of charging with enthusiasm.
"Holston Methodism," Vol. II, has this from the pen of Lorenzo Dow: "I have seen Presbyterians, Quakers, Baptists, Church of England people and Independents exercised with the jerks, gentleman and lady, black and white, the aged and the young, rich and poor without exception, from which I infer as it can not be accounted for on national principles and carries such marks of in- voluntary motion, that it is no trifling matter.
"On the 20th (August, 1803), I passed a meeting house where I observed that the undergrowth had been out down for a camp meeting and from fifty to one hundred saplings left breast high, which to me appeared so slov- enish that I could not but ask my guide the cause, who observed that they were topped so high and left for peo- ple to jerk by. This so excited my attention that I went
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over the ground to view it and found that the people had laid hold of the stumps and jerked so violently that they had kicked up the earth as a horse stamping at flies."
Let us mount a motor car, speed along the streets of the populous city and approach the grand cathedral. As we draw near its twin towers rise into the sky line. The building planned by the mind of some Christopher Wren, though immense in its proportions, is intensely pleasing to the beholder even to the smallest detail. The architect makes the whole world tributary to him. The solid granite of the foundations is hewed from the Ap- palachian hills, the pure marble of the facade is from the quarries of Vermont, the heroic statues, the gar- goyles and the figures which adorn the niches and cor- hices have been chiseled from stone transported from Italy. We enter the arched portals between the towers. We are struck by the grandeur and beauty of the in- terior, the lofty galleries are supported by columns of onyx and porphyry from Mexico; the dome is frescoed by great European artists; the stained windows are of glass manufactured from crystal quartz of the Rockies and colored with the blue of the sky, the gorgeous hues of the sunset, the purple from the hills of Arizona, the green of the mountain cedars, the variegated blooms of the garden flowers; the chancel is formed of costly woods from the isles of the sea; the magnificent organ is replendent with the gold of Alaska; the winds of heaven are made captive to the will of man, they breathe the soft notes of the flute, the plaintive strains of the viola, or give forth the hoarse roar of the tempest; the trained harmonies of the white robed choir float enchant- ingly down from the gallery through the incense laden atmosphere; the surpliced minister chants the lesson of the day in resonant tones; everything that wealth can purchase or cultivated taste suggest is there; every art of man has there some representative production; the least image in the niche and the great paintings in the dome all impress you ; every sense is held and conquered by the surroundings; you swell with pride of race; you exclaim, "How wonderful. how complex is man ; in move- ment how graceful; in conception how like an angel; in creative powers how like a god !"
Yet, how utterly false this all is; how prone we are
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to be puffed up with our own self conceit and how eas- ily we can deceive ourselves! We build a temple to the Almighty but shut out God's sunshine, and light a faint taper of our own upon the altars. We listen with de- light to the paid singers and disregard the music of the spheres. We sit in our ten thousand dollar pew and hear the doctrines of the meek and lowly Jesus discoursed in words that cost us a dollar a minute. Under such cir- cumstances how dare the speaker offend the pew hold- ers ?
After all, what have we mortals to take so much pride in? We know no more of the mystery of life, what it is, than when Adam delved and Eve span. We come not here of our own will and seldom go of our own will. A germ, a breath of gas, a drop of hydrocyanic acid and man becomes, as far as this world is concerned, less than a worm, merely a clod of dirt.
Scientists tell us that there are creatures so small that ten thousand of them can dance on the point of a nee- dle and have plenty of room to spare. A man can de- stroy ten millions of them at a blow, but he can no more create the least one of them than he can make a world. Yet these animalculae bear no more infinitesimal relation to the earth than our planet does to the illimitable uni- serve. Well might the psalmist say: "When we con- sider the (suns) the moon and stars, the work of Thy fingers, what is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest him?"
When Axley preached in his time it was often in the open. He was fanned by the invigorating breezes, shaded by magnificent forest trees, in hearing of the murmur of waters, in sight of the shining sun and the blue arch of heaven above. There were no works of man surround- ing to hypnotize the senses and divorce the attention of the audience from the Father and Creator.
He (Axley), wanted no luxuries and therefore feared no withdrawal of salary. He hesitated not to attack what he considered the evils and vices of the day.
The preaching of those pioneers of the Methodist church in effect, though astonishing, is by no means withont parallel. We are told that aforetime, "In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilder- ness." He was a man plain in raiment and food but
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multitudes flocked to him. He had a message to deliver. In the eleventh century a comparatively insignificant hermit priest came forth from his cave in the mountains and by the zeal and frenzy of his discourses stirred up all Christendom. He started a series of crusades which cost millions of lives and almost bankrupted every king- dom in Europe. His cry was, "Down with the Infidel. Rescue the tomb of the Saviour from dominion of the Mohammedans." Yet this was merely a sentiment and not inculcated by any tenet of the Christian faith. Ax- ley's message, in conjunction with the salvation of sin- ners, was against Masonry, Slavery, Whisky, Tobacco and the Fashions. He had a discourse which he reserved for important occasions. Dr. Price calls it his sermon on the "abominations." The text he sometimes used was "Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Yet he could on occasion denounce the evils as he considered them spoken of above, regardless of text.
It may appear strange to us now that a minister should attempt to start a crusade against Masonry or any be- nevolent organization. Brotherhoods are as thick now as leaves in Valhambrosa. (No matter where that is and however thick the leaves may be there.) A man who does not belong at this day to some society or brotherhood is as lonesome as Robinson Crusoe on the island before Friday came. One person can call another brother with perfect freedom. If he is not your brother in church or society or federation, he more than likely may belong or has belonged to your political party. In Axley's day, particularly in the latter part of his life, there was much prejudice against the Masonic order. A man named Mor- gan, who was or had been a member of the fraternity wrote a book purporting to expose the secrets of Free Masonry. Quite a while afterward he disappeared and if any one knew when or how, it was never made public. The Masons were charged with being responsible for his disappearance. The country was wrought up. Wm. Wirt, who had become famous as prosecuting attorney in the case of the United States against Aaron Burr for treason, was the nominee of the Anti-Masonic party at a convention held in Baltimore in 1831. Mr. Wirt was a finished orator and a very distinguished man. He is
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noted as the author of a life of Patrick Henry. If he had been really great he would not have allowed his name to be used in such a connection, for what could he have accomplished even if he had been elected? How- ever he was ignominiously defeated. The opposition soon died away.
Not so with Axley. He quoted: "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved." With him secrecy was the synonym of darkness and publication of light. If there is any good in it why not give the world the benefit of it? Why hide your light under a bushel? Let everything be done in the open; do away with your se- cret signs and symbols; abolish your dark, mysterious meetings! He (Axley) did not know that there is no true Mason that is not an earnest seeker after Light. He was probably unaware that in the time of the Em- peror Nero the Christians had a symbol by which one believing brother made himself known to another. A fish was drawn with a staff or switch upon dust or sand. If the explanation was known to the observer it was sig- nificant, otherwise it was meaningless. It is related that the Emperor never discovered the true explanation even by torture. His persecutions and that of others forced the Christians for purpose of worship and burial to build the catacombs beneath the city Rome. Even to this day they are considered among the wonders of the world.
He (Axley), had not the slightest conception that Ma- sonry reaches back far beyond the dawn of written his- tory. It was hoary with antiquity when the pyramids rose to their dizzy heights from the sands of ancient Egypt; before the sphynx smiled and Thebes flourished on the banks of the Nile, it was; Moses learned in all the arts of the Egyptians was a Mason; so Zerubabel, Solo- mon, Hiram of Tyre, the wise men, the Magi, who saw the Star in the East; Jesus was a priest after the or- der of Melchisedek, a degree of Masonry conferred upon Him by the Mahatmas of India; Richard I belonged to the order, Saladin, Washington, James K. Polk; thous- ands of worthies could be mentioned but without nam- ing further one might say it was rather a respectable and ancient fraternity. The beauty and glory of Ma-
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sonry is that it is world-wide. Any male of lawful age. with a belief in a supreme Being, and of good moral character and free born can be made a Mason; provided he obtains the unanimous consent of the members of the lodge to which he has been recommended for admission.
It differs radically from Christianity in this respect that it is not reformatory. A man ought to be above re- proach before he is made a Mason. Most of the tenets of the Masonic fraternity can be known and read of the world. There is not near so much secrecy as is supposed. If one reads the Masonic Text Book of Tennessee caro- fully and thoughtfully he can know more of the princi- ples of Masonry than some members of the order know. This can be bought through any reliable book store, if you are desirous of information.
Dr. Price relates: "Axley cherished an inveterate hatred to slavery, and often preached against it. While on the Opelousas circuit in 1807 in Louisiana his tirades against slavery brought on him not only the censure of the church but of the community, the most of whom were slaveholders. He took the extreme ground that no slaveholder could be saved in Heaven or was a proper person for admission into the church. His views pro- sented from the pulpit made him so unpopular that he found it difficult to obtain food or shelter. But he con- tinued inexorable till relieved of his charge by the pre- siding elder, who found him in rags and well-nigh fam- ished from hunger."
On the subject of slavery he was in agreement with the early bishops of the Methodist Protestant Episcopal church. Then it had few apologists and no real defend- ers. The mountain people were not usually slave owners. John Allison in "Dropped Stitches in Tennesse History" says that the first abolition paper in the United States was started at Jonesboro, Tenn., by Elihu Embree. It required no particular exhibition of nerve to do so. Even long before this there had been various manumissions of slaves and at that time within the bounds of the Hol- ston Conference if the majority were not abolitionists they doubted the moral right of one human being to hold another in enforced servitude. Yet in East Tennessee during Axley's day the people were not so highly wrought up over the question of slavery until after the
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secession of the Southern from their Northern brethren of the Methodist Protestant Episcopal church and the setting up of a separate church government in 1844. This happened some time after the death of Axley. Had he lived what action he would have taken is conjectural.
From that time on the Southern Methodists, if they did not contend for the absolute right of slavery accord- ing to the Bible, held that emancipation and making the negro citizens at home or emancipation and coloniza- tion abroad would be equally impracticable. The ques- tion was as bitterly fought in church as in politics and helped greatly to precipitate the Civil War.
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