THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE BACKWOODS PEEACHEE 
 
 AN 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 PETER CABTWRIGHT, 
 
 FOR MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS A PREACHER IN THE BACKWOODS 
 AND WESTERN WILDS OF AMERICA. 
 
 EDITED BY W. P. STEICKLAND. 
 
 REPRINTED FROM THE THIRTY-FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY PREFACE AND NOTES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 ALEXANDER HEYLIN, 28, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 1858.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM NICHOLS, 
 32, LONDON WALL.
 
 545 
 
 1358 
 INTRODUCTORY PREFACE. 
 
 ENGLISH literature is rich in the department of autobiography, 
 if the value rather than the number of its treasures be considered. 
 France, indeed, has memoirs innumerable; but the great majority 
 of them are tedious from their undue length, and worthless from 
 their egregious trifling, while the few exceptions to this rule have 
 a historical rather than a personal interest, are strongly marked 
 with the national character, but only slightly distinguished by 
 individual traits. It is far otherwise with those charming pro- 
 ductions of the English press in which we are accustomed to find 
 the amusement of romance blended with the simpler interest of 
 truth. Some few of the heroes of these narratives are typical 
 of large and ordinary classes; but the most part are full of 
 character, racy, humourous, and original ; and the memoirs of 
 religious worthies are certainly not the most deficient in indi- 
 viduality and power. 
 
 Into this interesting class of English books we welcome the 
 Autobiography of Peter Cartwright. To that position it has 
 many high and some peculiar claims. The character of the 
 author is so strongly marked, his will and courage so indo- 
 mitable, that he would probably have attained distinction in any 
 sphere; but it pleased Divine Providence to place him in that 
 for which by nature he was best adapted, and to furnish him 
 still more richly with those gracious aids which were equally 
 necessary to direct and qualify his natural gifts. No man after 
 reading this volume can hold a light or contemptuous opinion 
 of Peter Cartwright. There is something in his character which 
 extorts admiration, even when it repels sympathy; but there is 
 much in common betwixt him and all his readers in this country. 
 He speaks our Saxon language, maintains our Protestant faith, is 
 bone of our English bone, and warm with the blood, not only of 
 a man, but a brother. He is one of those brave men who have 
 taken the traditions of Alfred into the wilderness of the Par West, 
 and sown the seeds of our civil and religious freedom in a wider 
 
 A 2
 
 IV INTRODUCTORY PREFACE. 
 
 area and under a broader sky. If we regard him merely as a 
 pioneer of civilization, and estimate the strictly secular results of 
 his career, we must form the highest opinion both of the man 
 and his works. The Backwoods Preacher of America appears 
 before us in a new and striking figure. Single in purpose, intent 
 only on gathering lost sheep into the fold of Christ, he brings 
 an ameliorating agency of the most various kind to soften the 
 asperities of a semi-barbarous life, and to develope virtues and 
 charities long deadened by hardship, isolation, and disgust. 
 Hospitality is one of the first-fruits of this influence, an earnest 
 and promise of all the rest. Where the preacher comes, all 
 rudeness and opposition seem to melt before him. With a mix- 
 ture of simplicity and boldness, very suitable to the messenger of 
 God who seeks no interests of his own, he enters the house with 
 a salutation of peace, and invokes upon its inmates the unwonted 
 blessings of prayer. It is not often that the friendly advances of 
 the itinerant preacher are resisted and repelled. He is mostly 
 welcome as a man, even when little regarded as. an Evangelist. 
 His bonhommie is generally remarkable ; for with all his labours 
 he is a happy man, and religion has cherished rather than 
 depressed the kindlier feelings of his nature. But he is not 
 wholly discouraged even by a sullen and reluctant reception. 
 Some member of the household may be ready and eager to profit 
 by his visit ; some word of comfort may drop like balm into the 
 heart of an anxious wife ; some word of prayer may touch the 
 conscience of an intemperate and wicked husband. At all times 
 he is ready with counsel, reproof, encouragement, and teaching. 
 After more or less success he pursues his journey ; and perhaps 
 on a future round he finds a heartier welcome, sees with delight 
 that his instructions have availed, and learns that a number of 
 the neighbouring families have gathered to profit by his ministry. 
 Thus he forms a church in the wilderness ; and children that 
 would have lacked such inestimable advantages may now hear 
 the Gospel in their youth, and have their characters formed upon 
 the basis of its Divine morality. Could society in the rude 
 Western settlements start under fairer auspices than these ? or is 
 any agency of civilization comparable to that which is supplied 
 by the teaching and example of this humble band of itinerating 
 Preachers ?
 
 INTRODUCTORY PREFACE. V 
 
 The present narrative is occupied with the details of such a 
 course as we have briefly sketched. Peter Cartwright may be 
 taken as an eminent example of the class to which he belongs. 
 There is no reason to doubt that his pious and devoted labours 
 present a faithful picture of many a Backwoods Preacher's life, 
 sometimes almost scene for scene, and always in respect of the 
 same marvellous and beneficial result. When we think of the 
 deeds to which a religious sense of duty actuates these devoted 
 persons, and others whose motives or actions are allied to theirs, 
 we remember that the poetic moralist has said, 
 
 " The world knows nothing of its greatest men ;" 
 
 and seem to find in their obscure but noble annals a just interpre- 
 tation of the saying. But Providence gives, ever and anon, a glimpse 
 of their existence to the world at large, and mankind is called to 
 admire in one veteran survivor the virtues which hallowed every 
 member of this heroic Legion of the Cross. It is this reflection 
 which makes the Autobiography of Peter Cartwright so suggestive 
 and significant. He is only one among many brethren. It 
 would be a depressing thought, indeed, that he had sallied forth 
 alone into the uncultivated wilds. What is a single pioneer in 
 the great and stubborn forest, though his arm be of the stoutest 
 and his axe of the keenest sort ? It is encouraging to know 
 that a thousand others have gone forth in every direction, and 
 that the sun looks every day upon another clearance. 
 
 But it is time to speak of characteristics more personal to our 
 author. We may fairly say that he is a bold man even for a Back- 
 woods Preacher. His sound intrepid heart evidently beats in a 
 vigorous and elastic body. He is not more surely called to 
 preach the Gospel than he is exactly fitted to lead an itinerant 
 Preacher's life. Not cumbered with learning, not checked by 
 timidity, not too sensitive, nor yet fastidious, he has energy, en- 
 durance, good humour, and a ready wit. In his scrip is a hymn- 
 book, and a Bible, perhaps a few tracts, a couple of dollars, and 
 a dozen cents. With these good qualities and this small property, 
 lie mounts upon his cob and rides cheerfully away. We have no 
 fear for Peter Cartwright as he disappears behind the wood. His 
 object is to do good to others ; but he is able and prepared to 
 have justice for himself. He is no fanatic in his reading of 
 Scripture ; and no man need attempt to rob him of his cloak 
 under the expectation of receiving his coat also. Still Peter is
 
 VI INTRODUCTORY PREFACE. 
 
 essentially a man of peace. When he does exercise his belli- 
 gerent faculties, it is generally in a rencontre with some bigoted 
 opponent, whether Baptist or Sociiiian, or with some dandified 
 disturber of the peace in Christian meetings ; and it must be 
 allowed that he routs the enemy very quickly and completely. 
 Some of these discomfitures, recorded in Peter's narrative with 
 vigorous brevity, are among the raciest anecdotes of their class ; 
 and a few of them, it must be owned, are more in keeping with 
 the pugnacious character of the man than with the peaceful office 
 of the Christian Preacher. 
 
 Few readers of this memoir will find any difficulty in imagining 
 the author's figure. Yet the following graphic sketch of his 
 appearance in old age will not be the less acceptable : 
 
 " The next in advance of years is Dr. Peter Cartwright, a large, 
 square-built man, with some native ruggedness, mingled with a 
 good deal of humour, both in his looks and in his speeches. 
 There is a granite-like texture in his flesh, and a knotted rough- 
 ness in his features, that stamp him as one who is hardy and 
 enduring. And yet it would be a great omission in the slightest 
 sketch of his appearance to represent him as lacking in geniality 
 and good nature ; for both his mouth and eyes, as well as the 
 radiant play of the upper part of his cheeks, tell of a kindly and 
 sociable nature. His head is large, and firmly supported between 
 ample and compact shoulders. His brow is broad, and over- 
 hung with a mass of iron-grey hair. His eyes are intensely deep 
 in colour, and shine like dark fires beneath his shaggy eye-brows, 
 while crow's-feet wrinkles mark their corners, and add to the 
 peculiar expression of his countenance. His complexion, never 
 fair, is deeply tanned by the sun. His voice, when he begins to 
 speak, is tremulous, but, as he proceeds, its old power returns, 
 its rich natural organ tones are recovered, and he swells and rolls 
 its deep diapasons most manfully. At times, to give point and 
 wing to his side-shot arrows, he assumes a mock tragic tone and 
 look, and then, after relating some backwood anecdote which 
 convulses the assembly with irresistible laughter while he him- 
 self is solemnly grave, he falls upon his antagonist with over- 
 whelming power, and leaves the victim prostrate under sarcasms. 
 When roused by combined opposition, he launches in swift suc- 
 cession keen-edged sentences, and thoughts vivid and scathing as 
 lightning, and then, with a voice roaring like a forest hurricane,
 
 INTRODUCTORY PREFACE. Vll 
 
 he pours out his condemnations and warnings, with a force that 
 crushes his foe, and fills others that hear with a sensation 
 approaching to awe. Indeed, to hunt down and put to the 
 cover of shame those whom he regards as dangerous to con- 
 stitutional Methodism seems to be regarded by him as his proper 
 vocation. He plainly performs this work with all the zest of a 
 backwoodsman hunter, and, to accomplish it, he spares neither 
 bishops, deputations, presiding elders, ministers, nor people. On 
 some occasions he is absolutely terrible in execution, and seems 
 to stand on the floor of the Conference as fearless and as irre- 
 sistible as the lion in his domain."* 
 
 From this sketch it would seem that the marked features of 
 Mr. Cartwright's character are little altered or subdued by age. 
 The instincts of the old lion yet remain. Of course, it is a strong 
 unreasoning prejudice which induces him to " roar " against the 
 " downy doctors " of his latter days ; but it is also a very natural 
 one under the circumstances, and quite pardonable in the rugged 
 hero, whose whole life has been engrossed by self-denying labours. 
 
 This book may fall into the hands of literary purist or reli- 
 gious precisian ; and in either case the reader will be shocked. 
 We leave the former to accommodate his taste or throw the book 
 aside, as his humour dictates ; but we should be sorry to leave 
 the latter under the influence of a serious if not fatal prejudice. 
 
 Sudden conversions, amid scenes of overwhelming religious 
 excitement, are the characteristic results of the labours of this 
 itinerant Evangelist. Mr. Cartwright's evident delight is in a 
 camp-meeting, mustering from three to five hundred strong. 
 There, from a central platform, this Son of Thunder deals out 
 the awful truths of revelation, and preaches at the top of his 
 voice " of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come." 
 Sinners of every stamp are smitten by these appeals : they " drop 
 right and left," like beasts of slaughter ; the wail of repentance 
 is followed by the prayer of faith, and many are " powerfully 
 converted." Now it is this feature of the Backwoods life, and 
 the Preacher's ministry, which the quiet Parish Priest of England 
 will find it difficult to understand or to approve, and which many 
 a formalist will not scruple to denounce and even vilify with 
 opprobrious names. The question will be asked, Are these con- 
 * Jobson's "America and American Methodism," pp. 207, 208.
 
 VU1 INTRODUCTORY PREFACE. 
 
 versions genuine ? is this, indeed, the work of God ? or does 
 that mocking spirit, the Enemy of souls, and the Prince of the 
 power of the air, take advantage of the mixed mysterious ele- 
 ments of human nature, and increase his own influence by a bold 
 travesty of the Saviour's work of grace ? Indeed, this may be 
 very possible ; and it would be rash to deny that Satan has at 
 some times, and to some degree, thus profited by his spiritual 
 cunning, and thus perverted and alloyed the means of grace 
 devised for holy ends : but if more than this be asserted, the 
 answer is still as in our Saviour's day : " If Satan cast out Satan, 
 how can his kingdom stand ? " For it must be remembered 
 that the subsequent lives of these converts, for the most part, 
 are the abiding proof of their conversion. And as for the 
 tumultuous feelings, the strange excitement, the bodily prostra- 
 tion, the loud and indecorous shoutings, which attended upon 
 the new birth of these souls, when the place, the circumstances, 
 the preacher, and the sinner, are all taken into account, we might 
 almost call these consequences natural, not, however, as ex- 
 cluding the silent and profound operation of the Holy Ghost, but 
 as representing the mere external and inevitable signs of the 
 strife which takes place when the devil of sin is suddenly cast 
 out of a human heart. Surely it would be matter of more Sur- 
 prise, and cause of more distrust, if less outward commotion 
 attended upon the conversion of souls in such a promiscuous 
 assemblage, where the ignorant and careless are startled by 
 sudden light, and the vicious, hardened, and depraved break 
 down under the influence of sudden fear. When the strongest 
 passions of the soul are aroused, and a moment of time seems 
 pressed with the awful interests of eternity, it is surely no cause 
 for wonder that the pleading voice still rises into higher and 
 harsher notes, or that the body trembles with an excitement so 
 unusual and so fierce. These movements of sudden upheaval 
 and confusion mark only an early stage of the new creation. 
 There is every reason to believe that the scenes of turbulent 
 emotion recorded in this volume were followed by long periods 
 of individual calm, by a deep and settled peace, and by an 
 assiduous cultivation of all the fruits and graces of the Spirit. 
 God Himself may have looked with satisfaction on the result, 
 and pronounced it " very good." 
 
 LONDON, September, 1858. 

 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 many years past, and especially during the last ten or twelve, I 
 have been almost unceasingly importuned to write out a history of my 
 life, as one among the oldest Methodist travelling preachers west 
 of the mountains. This would necessarily connect with it a history of 
 the rise and progress of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the great 
 valley of the Mississippi. And surely a work of this kind, written by 
 a competent historiographer, who had kept himself posted, or had 
 kept a journal of his life, and the many thrilling incidents connected 
 with the history of the Church, or the life of a pioneer travelling 
 preacher, could not fail to interest the Church and many of her friends, 
 and would rescue from oblivion many, very many incidents that are 
 now lost, and gone for ever beyond the reach of the historian's pen. 
 
 I have regretted through life that some of my cotemporaries, who 
 were much better qualified for the task than I am, did not write ont 
 such a work as is contemplated in this imperfect sketch. Had I seri- 
 ously thought of sending such a work into the world, I should have 
 tried hard to have been better prepared. But it must be remembered 
 that many of us early travelling preachers, who entered the vast 
 wilderness of the West at an early day, had little or no education ; no 
 books, and no time to read or study them if we could have had them. 
 We had no colleges, nor even a respectable common school, within 
 hundreds of miles of us. Old Dyke or Dilworth was our spelling- 
 book ; and what little we did learn, as we grew up, and the means of 
 education increased among us, we found, to our hearts' content, that 
 we had to unlearn, and this was the hardest work of all. 
 
 And now that I am old and well stricken in years, it has been, and 
 is, my abiding conviction, that I cannot write a book that will be 
 respectable, or one that will be worth reading ; but I have reluctantly 
 yielded to the many solicitations of my friends, and I am conscious 
 that there must be many imperfections and inaccuracies in the work. 
 I have no books to guide me ; my memory is greatly at fault ; ten 
 thousand interesting facts have escaped my recollection ; names and 
 places have passed from me which cannot be recalled ; and I fear that 
 many scenes and incidents, as they now occur to my recollection, will 
 be added to, or diminished from.
 
 X AUTHOR S PREFACE. 
 
 Moreover, as I well understand that I have been considered consti- 
 tutionally an eccentric minister, thousands of the thrilling incidents 
 that have gained publicity, and have been attributed to me, when they 
 are not found in my book, will create disappointment. But I trust 
 their place will be supplied by a true version, and though some of 
 them may not be as marvellous, they may nevertheless be quite as 
 interesting. I have many to record that have not seen the light, 
 which will be quite as thrilling as any that have been narrated, and 
 their truthfulness will make them more so. 
 
 Some of our beloved bishops, book agents, editors, and old men, 
 preachers and private members, as well as a host of our young, strong 
 men and ministers, who are now actively engaged in building up the 
 Church, have urged me to undertake this sketch of my life ; and I 
 have not felt at liberty to decline, but send it out with all its imper- 
 fections, hoping that it may in some way, and to some extent, conduce 
 to the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom, and do more than merely 
 gratify an idle curiosity, or offend the fastidious taste of some of our 
 present more highly favoured and better educated ministers, who 
 enjoy the many glorious advantages of books, a better education, and 
 improved state of society, from which we as early pioneers were almost 
 wholly excluded. 
 
 Right here I wish to say, (I hope without the charge of egotism,) 
 when I consider the insurmountable disadvantages and difficulties that 
 the early pioneer Methodist preachers laboured under in spreading the 
 Gospel in these Western wilds in the great valley of the Mississippi, 
 and contrast the disabilities which surrounded them on every hand, 
 with the glorious human advantages that are enjoyed by their present 
 successors, it is confoundingly miraculous to me that our modern 
 preachers cannot preach better and do more good than they do. 
 Many nights, in early times, the itinerant had to camp out, Avithout 
 fire or food for man or beast. Our pocket Bible, Hymn Book, and 
 Discipline constituted our library. It is true we could not, many of 
 us, conjugate a verb or parse a sentence, and murdered the king's 
 English almost every lick. But there was a Divine unction attended 
 the word preached; and thousands fell under the mighty power of 
 God, and thus the Methodist Episcopal Church was planted firmly in 
 this Western wilderness, and many glorious signs have followed, and 
 will follow, to the end of time. 
 
 I will here state, that, at an early period of my ministry, I com- 
 menced keeping a journal, and kept it up for several years, till at 
 length several of our early missionaries to the Natchez country re- 
 turned, and many of them, I found, were keeping a journal of their 
 lives and labours, and it seemed to me we were outdoing the thing ;
 
 AUTHOR S PREFACE. XI 
 
 and under this conviction I threw my manuscript journals to the 
 moles and bats. This act of my life I have deeply regretted ; for if I 
 had persisted in journalizing, I could now avail myself of many inter- 
 esting fact, dates, names, and circumstances, that would greatly aid 
 me in my sketch. 
 
 I know it is impossible for my friends to realize the embarrassments 
 I labour under, for the want of some safe guide to my failing and 
 treacherous memory. I therefore ask great indulgence from any and 
 all who may chance to read this imperfect sketch, and pray that our 
 kind Saviour may forgive any inaccuracies or errors that it may con- 
 tain. If I had my ministerial life to live over again, my present 
 conviction is that I would scrupulously keep a journal. But this 
 cannot be ; therefore I must submit. 
 
 And now, in the conclusion of this Introduction, I will say, I ask 
 forgiveness of God for all the errors of this work, and all the errors of 
 my whole life, especially of my ministerial life. I also ask for the 
 forgiveness of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as one of her unworthy 
 ministers, for any wrongs I may have done to her, or to the world. I 
 also most sincerely ask the prayers of the Church, that while my sun 
 is fast declining, and must soon set to rise on earth no more, I may 
 have a peaceful and happy end, and that I may meet any that I may 
 have been the instrument of doing good to, with all my dear brethren, 
 safe in heaven, to praise God together for ever. Amen. 
 
 PETER CAETWRIGHT. 
 
 Pleasant Plains, III.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. His Birth Parents remove to Kentucky Dangers and Difficul- 
 ties of the Journey Halt at Camp Defeat His Father shoots au Indian Escape 
 of a White Man from the Indians His Companions shot Arrival at Crah Orchard 
 Massacre of seven Families Pursuit of the Indians Their Slaughter Perils of 
 the early Settlers Fertility and Resources of the Country 1-4 
 
 CHAPTER II. Settlement in Lincoln's County, Kentucky Methodist Mi- 
 nisters Parents remove to Logan County, Kentucky Rogue's Harbour The 
 " Regulators " Native Luxuries Saltpetre Caves Advantages of Navigation 
 Falls into Bad Habits Is sent to School Makes little Progress Fate of his 
 Teacher...., 4-8 
 
 CHAPTER III. Increase of Population Danger of Extremes in Doctrine 
 Sacramental Meeting Great Revival First Camp-meeting Presbyterians censured 
 for engaging in it Origin of the " New Lights " Their Leaders " Republican 
 Methodists "The Shakers Want of Ministers severely felt 8-11 
 
 CHAPTER IV. Goes to a Dance is convicted Obliged to leave his Business 
 Thought to be Insane His Convictions are Strengthened Attends a Sacra- 
 mental Meeting, and is Converted Joins the Methodist Episcopal Church Organ- 
 ization of the Western Conference by Bishop Asbury Early Western Itinerants 
 First Secession Wilson Lee The Pet Lamb Taking up the Cross Happy Con- 
 version Mr. Lee's Death 11-17 
 
 CHAPTER V. Wide-spread Revival in the West Rise of Camp-meetings 
 Methodists and Presbyterians unite in the Work Camp-ground Accommodations 
 Great Extravagances among the Presbyterians The Presbytery grant Licences con- 
 trary to the " Confession of Faith " Some are censured, some suspended, and others 
 expelled They propose to join the Methodist Episcopal Church Proposal declined 
 Formation of the " Cumberland Presbyterian Church " Splitting the Difference 
 The Jerks Horsewhipping escaped Dreadful Death Fatal Delusions Trouble 
 with the Shakers Debates with them Numbers received into the Church 
 Organizes a Circuit 17-24 
 
 CHAPTER VI. Attends numerous Camp-meetings Opposers overcome 
 Meets Bishop Asbury Receives an Exhorter's Licence Removes to Lewiston 
 County, Illinois Enters an Academy Exhorts large Congregations and gathers a 
 Class Suffers Persecution Ducks his Tormentors Leaves School Forms a 
 Circuit Good Success Gives up the World Travels Red River Circuit First 
 Sermon Its Effect Transferred to Waynesville Circuit Revival at Stockton Valley 
 Baptist Proselyters They entice his Converts His Scheme to recover them Is 
 crowned with Success Organizes a Society Increase in the Western Conference 
 Is received into the Travelling Connexion . .. 24-35
 
 CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 CHAPTER VII. Conference of 1804 Travels Salt River and Shelbyville Cir- 
 cuits Simplicity in Dress of early Methodists Studies with Mr. M'Kendree 
 Profits much by his Instructions Duties of Presiding Elders Pioneer Methodist 
 Preachers An educated Ministry Meets one of the " Regular Graduates " Con- 
 founds him A striking Illustration Danger of Congregationalism in the Church 
 Secular Offices should he filled by Laymen Evil Effects of the present System 
 Conference of 1805 William M'Kendree elected President 35-40 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. Appointment to Scioto Circuit Favoured with good Super- 
 intendents A drunken Minister Strange Apology Powerful Awakenings Afflict- 
 ing Dispensation Father Teel His Eccentricity cured Large Camp-meeting 
 The Rowdies troublesome A drunken Magistrate A knock-down Argument The 
 Meeting progresses Cheering Results James Axley Scene at the Governor's 
 Table A useful Preacher 41-48 
 
 CHAPTER IX. Starts for the Conference of 1806 Increase of Membership 
 A new District Meagre Salary Is ordained Deacon by Bishop Asbury Sent to 
 Marietta Circuit A Colony of Yankees Hard Appointment The Halcyon Church 
 Brimstone Angels A vile Impostor Deluded Fanatics Want of an Outfit- 
 Goes Home Timely Assistance A Friend in Need A Generous Landlord 
 Singular Conversion Arrives at Home New Outfit Starts afresh Conference of 
 1807-1- Appointed to Barren Circuit Dying Convert A knotty Case Affecting 
 Scene Methodism obtains a Footing 48-57 
 
 CHAPTER X. Poverty of Preachers Enters into Matrimony Conference of 
 1808 Ordained Elder by Bishop M'Kendree Father's Death Has leave of 
 Absence for a Time Returns to the regular Work at the Conference of 1809 
 Appointed to Livingston Circuit Holds a Camp-meeting Good Results A bigoted 
 " Dunker " Turns Methodist Bought by the Baptists Tries the Shakers Ob- 
 jects to hard Work Resorts to the New Lights Last Session of the Western Con- 
 ferenc^ in 1811 Increase of Membership First delegated General Conference 
 Division of the Western Conference Goes to Christian Circuit, Tennessee Confer- 
 ence Glorious Revivals Overcomes Prejudice New Appointment Another 
 Camp-meeting A Methodist Fit Preaches at Red River Opposed by a Presby- 
 terian Minister Results of Opposition Forms a Society 57-66 
 
 CHAPTER XL First Session of Tennessee Conference in 1812 Made Presi- 
 ding Elder by Bishop Asbury Objects to taking the Office Travels Wabash Dis- 
 trict Holds several Camp-meetings Agitation on the Slavery Question Testi- 
 mony of the Church against it Harm done by Rabid Abolutionists Breckemridge 
 Camp-meeting An impudent Dandy Threat of a Horsewhipping- Dandy escapes 
 with a Ducking Decrease of Membership at Conference of 1813 -Causes thereof 
 Returned to Green River, formerly Wabash District New Fields of Labour A 
 Baptist Goliath Slander on the Methodists Vulgar Comparisons -Goliath 
 Defeated Is blown to Never A Whiskey-drinking Preacher Charging full 
 Price 66-74 
 
 CHAPTER XII. Tennessee Conference of 1814 Bishops Asbnry and M'Ken- 
 dree Their ministerial Labours Privations of the Preachers A Fatted Calf 
 Camp-meeting at Christian Circuit Disturbance from Rowdies A Stroke of Policy 
 A Disturber reached Another soused, and afterward converted The String of 
 Frogs An enraged Father Evil Surmisings His Conviction and Conversion A 
 singular Dream Its Fulfilment Baptist Proselyter Extended Argument An 
 unanswerable Question < 74-82
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. Bishop Asbury attends the Tennessee Conference of 1815 
 His feeble Health Election of Delegates to General Conference The Bishop's 
 Advice to them His Endeavours to reach the General Conference Increasing 
 Weakness Death and Burial Re-interment Epitaph The Bishop's Talents His 
 Knowledge of Character General Conference of 1816 Difficulties of Travel 
 Election of Bishops George and Roberts A Year of Prosperity Introduction of 
 Pro-slavery Feeling into the Church Injurious Effects Clamours for Lay Repre- 
 sentation first heard They increase at the Conference of 1820 Other Radical 
 Measures then brought forward Presiding Elders to be Elected An entering 
 Wedge Bishop Soule's Opposition Suspension of the Elective Rule Harmony 
 destroyed in the Church Expulsion of the Radicals Peace restored Formation 
 of the Methodist Protestant Church Schisms originate among the Ministers 
 Examples cited Wretched Policy of the Church South on Slavery 82-91 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. Sessions of Western Conferences for 1816 Is appointed to 
 Christian Circuit New Conference formed Introduction of Methodism into In- 
 diana and Illinois Increase of Members and Ministers Glorious Revivals 
 Preaches to Slaves Numbers converted Want of faithful Preachers among them 
 Quarterage not twenty-five Cents Hospitable Farmer Nothing lost by enter- 
 taining Ministers Meets with a Wealthy Wesleyan He builds a Church Dedi- 
 cated by a Protracted Meeting A great Concourse attends Several converted 
 Scarcity of Bibles Organization of Bible Society 91-99 
 
 CHAPTER XV. Earthquake of 1812 Consequent Excitement Numbers join 
 the Church, of whom many fall away Is stationed on Red River Circuit at Confer- 
 ence of 1817 Preaches to a single Hearer His Fame is spread abroad Draws 
 crowded Congregations Dram-drinking Reasons for and against Deals summarily 
 with Breakers of the Rules A Revival springs up Class-meetings with closed 
 Doors A New-Light Tormentor How she is got rid of Young America Sermon 
 on Worldliness Dr. Bascom reproved Is kept in the Shade " Who is General 
 Jackson?"- His Independence approved Need of a Hell Conference of 18*19 
 Complains of Violators of the Discipline They are obliged to conform General 
 Conference of 1820 Plan of the Pro-slavery Party Formation of Kentucky Con- 
 ference The Church in the West Conference of 1820 Publishes two Anti- 
 Calvinistic Pamphlets A Satanic Reply The Rejoinder 99-1 1 1 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. Sets out with Father Walker for the General Conference- 
 Lodges with a shouting Local Preacher -Resumes his Journey Finds a loaded 
 Pistol Met by a Robber Pistol becomes useful A Universalist Landlord Pray- 
 ing off a Bill Return from Conference Effects of " New Cider " A Surly Host 
 Refuses Payment in Bills Second Thoughts the best Dance at a Tavern Is 
 asked to join First offers a Prayer The Dancing ceases Prays and exhorts 
 Many converted Being instant in and out of Season A Preacher up to the Times 
 Dumb Devil Evil of Dram-drinking Makes an Enemy by his Temperance Use 
 of Liquor defended by Methodists Appointed Presiding Elder of Cumberland Dis- 
 trict at Conference of 1821 First Round of Quarterly Meetings Prayerless Profes- 
 sorsRoaring River Camp-meeting A Disorderly Congregation Arrests their 
 Attention Defends the Divinity of Christ Vanquishes its Disputants Outpouring 
 of the Spirit An Arian Devil cast out Simon Carlisle He reproves a young 
 Profligate His Revenge Carlisle arrested for Robbery Requests his Con- 
 ference to suspend him Restored to his Standing in the Church His Innocence 
 proved 111-128
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER, XVII. Poplar Grove Camp-meeting Spunky Widow A Prosely- 
 ting Baptist Induced to hear Mr. Cartwright preach Hears part of the Sermon, 
 and then runs Promise of Immortality scouted Publicly reproves a young Lawyer 
 Is challenged in consequence Chooses his Weapons His Opponent is Conscience- 
 stricken Requests his Prayers Finds Peace in Believing Revival at Quarterly 
 Meeting Regulates the Altar Exercises Sanctified Wealth a Blessing to the 
 Church Needless Church Expenditures Might be better applied Rowdies at a 
 Camp-meeting They determine to break it up Essay to carry out their Plans 
 They are dispersed Conversion and Reconciliation of bitter Enemies Ungentle- 
 manly Infidel Session of Kentucky Conference for 1822 and 1823 Delegated to 
 General Conference of 1824 Close of his twentieth Year in the Itinerancy Retro- 
 spective View 128-139 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. Determines to remove to Illinois Reasons for so doing 
 Makes the Journey on Horseback Selects a Location Returns through Spring- 
 field Is transferred to Illinois Conference Parting with old Friends Fatal Acci- 
 dent to one of his Daughters Kindness from Strangers Settles in Sangamon 
 County Vicinage of Indians Extent of Sangamon Circuit Appoints a Sacra- 
 mental Meeting " Cartwright's Flood " A close Brother A Word in Season 
 Its good Effect Scarcity of Money James Dixon Hunters' Expedients Their 
 Privations Dixon loses his Eyesight Singular Dream His Sight restored Good 
 Luck Voyage to St. Louis Escapes from the Indians A successful Trip Becomes 
 a Methodist His peaceful Death Increase on Sangamon Circuit Conference of 
 1825 Violent Bilious Attack Journey homeward An unkind Companion His 
 Dismissal Stops to recruit Proceeds on his Way Is Sick on the Road Lies 
 down to Die Good Samaritans Is met by his Wife Partial Recovery Crossing 
 the Grand Prairie 139-150 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. Sent to Illinois Circuit by Conference of 1826 Is a Candi- 
 date for the Legislature Hears himself defamed Faces his Reviler He apologizes 
 Another Calumniator -Proves his Assertions to be false An aspiring Lawyer- 
 He is taken down Becomes friendly Dangers in the Use of Liquor Preaches to 
 a highly expectant Congregation Annoyance at Camp-meeting from a Drunken 
 Crew They are dispersed by an Artifice An Insane Enthusiast Various Delusions 
 Expulsion from the Church of an Impostor A good Investment Value of Use- 
 ful Books Appointed Superintendent of Pottawattomie District Meeting with 
 Indian Chiefs Expenses of this Mission Conference of 1827 Voyage to General 
 Conference at Pittsburgh Immoral Fellow Passengers An exciting Debate 
 Comes off Victorious Preaches on the Steamboat 150-169 
 
 CHAPTER XX. Absent from Conference of 1828 Sickness of Mrs. Cart- 
 wright Formation of Oneida Conference Canada Methodist Episcopal Church 
 Attends the General Conference of 1828 Gets the Cold Shoulder Hearty Recep- 
 tion Spiritual Darkness Obtains Relief Dangers of New Circuits A Rough 
 Pulpit Death of Bishop George Illinois Conference of 1829 A Hen-pecked 
 Husband He is relieved Written Sermons not liked A Union Church Unfair 
 Dealing A Methodist Church built Great Sacrifice Sangamon Camp-meeting 
 Groundless Stories Tormented by Mockers They stick in the Mud The Tables 
 turned A bigoted Mother Her impotent Rage A Providential Escape 169-185 
 
 CHAPTER XXL Elected to the General Conference of 1832 Prevented from 
 attending by Family Sickness Annoyed at Camp-meeting by a Huckster Prosecutes
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 him He refuses to pay his Fine His Stores seized, and himself taken to Prison 
 Pays, and is released His Companions desire to retake his Liquor Their Ring- 
 leader quieted Revival among the Persecutors Division of Illinois Conference 
 Is Superannuated for ten Hours Quincy District formed None willing to go to 
 it Takes the Appointment Character of the District A long Shower An en- 
 couraging Motto Watery Journey A High-strung Predestinarian Hater of the 
 Methodists The Eternal Decrees Barton Randal His Privations and Usefulness 
 Visit to Rock Island Mission A rascally Ferryman Former Site of an Indian 
 Town Fording Rock River An unexpected Wetting Galena Mission Danger- 
 ous Ride with his Daughter Contrast between Travelling then and now D. B. 
 Carter A beloved Minister His Death Fort Edwards Mission 185-197 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. Rise of the Mormons under Joe Smith Their Expulsion 
 from Missouri, and Establishment at Nauvoo Acquaintance with Joe Smith His 
 Ignorance and Cunning Controversy concerning his Doctrines Relates to him au 
 Encounter with Mormons at a Camp-meeting, and how they were silenced Smith 
 grows Restive under this Recital Curses him in the name of his God Mormons 
 driven from Illinois Illinois Conference of 1833 Bishop Soule's Western Tour 
 Travels with him to a Quarterly Meeting Visitation of the Cholera The Bishop 
 attacked with Fever Preacher stationed at Jacksonville First Quarterly Confer- 
 ence there Rapid Growth of the Town Illinois Conference of 1834 Religious 
 Excitement in Rushville Circuit A Papist Convert 197-204 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. Knox County Camp-meeting A Yankee Family Parents' 
 Dislike of the Methodists Efforts to keep their Children from the Meeting The 
 Daughters seek Religion Opposition of their Mother Laughable Incidents 
 Whole Family becomes Religious Unhealthiness of Quincy A Dying Stranger 
 Takes Charge of his Affairs A Campbellite Debater He resists the Spirit Be- 
 comes Insane Commits Suicide 204-208 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. Missionaries sent to the West They make Evil Reports of 
 the Land Their Preaching productive of no Good Election to General Conference 
 of 1 836 Church Paper at Cincinnati Morris, Waugh, and Fisk elected Bishops 
 Slavery pronounced a Blessing Ultra Abolitionists Plan of Separation Opi- 
 nions of Southern Members in regard to Slavery The True Wesleyans Willbur 
 Fisk Confidence of the Church reposed in him Declines being ordained Bishop 
 Six new Conferences formed Funeral Sermon of Bishop M'Kendree Sketch of his 
 Life Unhappy Delay in the Publication of his Memoirs 208-214 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. Extent of Illinois Conference Session of 1837 Revival in 
 Jacksonville Station A New-School Minister Change of Purpose not Conversion 
 Gracious Revival A live Yankee Minister Abortive Attempt to Preach A 
 powerful Exhortation Anxious Inquirers Easy Way of becoming a Christian 
 Elected Delegate to General Conference of 1840 Agitation on Slavery revived 
 Abolitionists led by 0. Scott Opposes the Election of new Bishops Several new 
 Conferences organized Abolitionists opposed to Colonization They refuse to assist 
 poor Churches in the South Winchester Camp-meeting A large Attendance 
 Numbers of Renegades Determines to maintain Good Order Rising of the Mob 
 Their Leader taken A mock Camp-meeting Rowdies put to Flight Their 
 Captain converted Trial of the Disturbers 214-224 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. Growth of the Country Its State in 1824 Determines to 
 Ibuild a Church A Union Church proposed He strongly objects to it Success of
 
 CONTENTS. XVH 
 
 his Enterprise First Church in Sangamon Circuit Waters's Camp-ground Quar- 
 terly Meeting at Alton A Methodist Ball Crowded Attendance Christ rejects 
 none Answering a Pool according to his Folly Universalism a conscience-soothing 
 Doctrine Quarterly Meeting at Exeter A Company of Mockers Happy Conver- 
 sion A noted Gambler He burns his Cards Obtains Religion Goes to Utah 
 Becomes a Mormon A despairing Sinner Dies without Hope Revival at Win- 
 chesterThe Campbellites present in full Force They provoke Controversy Their 
 Preacher nonplussed Advice to Public Speakers Conference of 1843 Bishop 
 Andrew presides General Conference of 1844 Church Statistics Success of early 
 Ministers 224-240 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. Attends the General Conference of 1844 Government of 
 the Church The Bishops have no Legislative Power They do not Hold the Church 
 Property The Methodist Episcopal Church essentially Anti-slavery Ground taken 
 by the Northern and Southern Delegates respectively Bishop Andrew's Connexion 
 with Slavery Course which the Conference should have pursued Course of Bishop 
 Soule The Conference had no Power to divide the Church Dr. Elliott's History 
 of the Secession Abolitionists have done nothing for the Slave Course to be pur- 
 sued toward Slaveholders Is clear of Guilt in the Action of this Conference 240-249 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. Illinois Conference of 1844 Non-concurrence in the 
 Measures of the General Conference Statement of Facts in the Case Slaveholding 
 never a Test of Church Membership Conservatism the true Ground Its Benefits 
 to the Slave Attends a nameless Meeting at Cincinnati Taken ill on his Way to 
 Conference Reaches Alton City Has Medical Assistance and Proceeds Arrives 
 at the Conference A gloomy Year Southern Delegates call a Convention Re- 
 nounce the Methodist Episcopal Church Form a separate Organization Foul 
 Means resorted to Bishop Soule chiefly to be blamed Bishop Andrew not without 
 Fault in the Matter Fate of Extremes Fearful Results of Schisms 249-258 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. Session of Illinois Conference for 1845 Returned to 
 Bloomington District Travelling hazardous in Winter and Spring Commences 
 his Round of Quarterly Meetings An intensely cold Storm Dreary Ride 
 Reaches a Local Preacher's Cabin One of his Sons converted at Prayers Pursues 
 his Journey Crosses Sangamon River Reaches the Meeting The Church tri- 
 umphs over her Foes A Week at Waynesville Nightly Meetings Frightful 
 Death A fair Conclusion Paying Universalist's Bills Elected to the General 
 Conference of 1848 An exciting Session Southern Delegates come resolved on 
 Secession The Louisville Convention Measures of the General Conference of 1844 
 null and void A peaceful Settlement evaded German Mission Its Formation by 
 Dr. Nast Death of Charles Holliday Election to the General Conference of 1852 
 Feebleness of Bishops Hedding and Hamline Affecting Address of Bishop Waugh 
 Superintends the Mission to the Pottawattomies Change in the Country In- 
 crease in Wealth and Population Methodism dying out Prejudice of the Minister 
 at Warsaw against him Offered the Use of the Presbyterian Church Power of 
 God on the Congregation Notified to vacate the Church Supposed Reasons 
 therefor Building of a Methodist Church Numerous Accessions to the Society 
 Revivals the Net of the Church Quincy Station A Time of Refreshing Sugar 
 Grove Camp-meeting A prosperous Year Failing Strength Conference of 1852 
 Pleasant Plains District formed Is appointed to it at Conference of 1853 Inci- 
 dents at the Boston General Conference His Sermons pronounced Failures The 
 Charm broken Characteristics of the Yankees Their Hospitality New-England 
 Farms .. .. 259-283
 
 xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. General Conference of 1852 Death of Bishop Hedding 
 Election of four new Bishops A Yankee Triumph Evil of Pewed Churches 
 Parting with kind Friends Pioneer Preachers Their Labours and Success Jesse 
 Walker Abundant in Labours Becomes Superannuated Final Triumph Samuel 
 H. Thomson His Early Conversion Great Usefulness Sinks under Privations 
 His Ardent Zeal Last Message Victory over Death John Dew Talents as a 
 Preacher Has Souls for his Hire Is greatly Beloved Goes to his Reward 283-295 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. Illinois Conferences of 1854 and 1855 Election to the 
 General Conference of 1856 Slavery Agitation Multiplying of Stations tends to 
 Congregationalism Changes in Church Economy Longer Term of Ministerial 
 Appointment New Rule on Ordination 296-299 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. A Wealthy Physician Avowed Infidelity Moral Benefit 
 of Christianity An Inexplicable Mystery Breach in the Walls Evidences of the 
 Senses The Doctor convinced His Wife's Conversion Fervent Prayer A 
 Peaceful Answer Glorious Revival Preaches the Gospel Seals to his Ministry 
 Taken to Abraham's Bosom 299-304 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. Plainness of Early Methodists Extravagance of the pre- 
 sent Day Duty of Family Prayer Results of its Faithful Performance Neglect of 
 many on this Score Benefits of Prayer-meetings They are the Seed of Revivals 
 Class-meetings owned of God Their Attendance should be a Test of Membership 
 Value of faithful Leaders 304-307 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. Review of the Past Entrance into the Itinerant Ranks- 
 Children and Grandchildren All striving to reach Heaven Amount lost on Allow- 
 ance Value of Books sold Collected for Benevolent Purposes Ministerial Labours 
 Decrease of Camp-meetings Plan for their Revival Growth of the West 
 Thanks for Mercies Prayers implored 308-310
 
 THE BACKWOODS PEEACHEE, 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 or 
 
 PETEE CAETWEIGHT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 PARENTAGE. 
 
 I WAS born September 1st, 1785, in Araherst County, on Jarnes 
 River, in the State of Virginia. My parents were poor. My father 
 was a soldier in the great struggle for liberty in the Revolutionary war 
 with Great Britain. He served over two years. My mother was an 
 orphan. Shortly after the United Colonies gained their independence, 
 my parents moved to Kentucky, which was a new country. It was an 
 almost unbroken wilderness from Virginia to Kentucky at that early 
 day, and this wilderness was filled with thousands of hostile Indians, 
 and many thousands of the emigrants to Kentucky lost their lives by 
 these savages. There were no roads for carriages at that time, and 
 although the emigrants moved by thousands, they had to move on 
 pack-horses. Many adventurous young men went to this new country. 
 The fall my father moved, there were a great many families who joined 
 together for mutual safety, and started for Kentucky. Besides the 
 two hundred families thus united, there were one hundred young men, 
 well armed, who agreed to guard these families through, and, as a 
 compensation, they were to be supported for their services. After we 
 struck the wilderness, we rarely travelled a day but we passed some 
 white persons, murdered and scalped by the Indians while going to or 
 returning from Kentucky. We travelled on till Sunday, and, instead 
 of resting that day, the voice of the company was to move on. 
 
 It was a dark, cloudy day, misty with rain. Many Indians were 
 seen through the day skulking round by our guards. Late in the 
 evening we came to what was called "Camp-Defeat," where a number 
 of emigrant families had been all murdered by the savages a short time 
 
 B
 
 5J THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 
 
 before. Here the company called a halt to camp for the night. It 
 was a solemn, gloomy time ; every heart quaked with fear. 
 
 Soon the captain of our young men's company placed his men as 
 sentinels all round the encampment. The stock and the women and 
 children were placed in the centre of the encampment. Most of the 
 men that were heads of families were placed around outside of the 
 women and children. Those who were not placed in this position, 
 were ordered to take their stand outside still, in the edge of the brush. 
 It was a dark, dismal night, and all expected an attack from the Indians. 
 
 That night my father was placed as a sentinel, with a good rifle, in 
 the edge of the brush. Shortly after he took his stand, and all was 
 quiet in the camp, he thought he heard something moving toward him, 
 and grunting like a swine. He knew there was no swine with the 
 moving company ; but it was so dark he could not see what it was. 
 Presently he perceived a dark object in the distance, but nearer him 
 than at first, and believing it to be an Indian, aiming to spring upon 
 him and murder him in the dark, he levelled his rifle, and aimed at the 
 dark lump as well as he could, and fired. He soon found he had hit 
 the object, for it flounced about at a terrible rate; and my father 
 gathered himself up, and ran into camp. 
 
 When his gun fired, there was an awful screaming throughout the 
 encampment by the women and children. My father was soon inquired 
 of as to what was the matter. He told them the circumstances of the 
 case, but some said he was scared and wanted an excuse to come in ; 
 but he affirmed that there was no mistake, that there was something, and 
 he had shot it ; and if they would get a light and go with him, if he 
 did not show them something, then they might call him a coward for 
 ever. They got a light, and went to the place, and there they found an 
 Indian, with a rifle in one hand and a tomahawk in the other, dead. 
 My father's rifle-ball had struck the Indian nearly central in the head. 
 
 There was but little sleeping in the camp that night. However, the 
 night passed away without any further alarms, and many glad hearts 
 hailed the dawn of a new day. The next morning, as soon as the 
 company could pack up, they started on their journey. 
 
 In a few days after this, we met a lone man, who said his name was 
 Baker, with his mouth bleeding at a desperate rate, having been shot 
 by an Indian. Several of his teeth and his jaw-bone were broken by 
 a ball from the Indian's gun. His account of a battle with the 
 Indians was substantially as follows : 
 
 There were seven young white men returning to Virginia from 
 Kentucky, all well armed ; one of them, a Frenchman, had a consider- 
 able sum of money with him. All seven were mounted on fine 
 horses, and they were waylaid by seven Indians. When the while
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 3 
 
 men approached near the ambush, they were fired on by the Indians, 
 and three shot down ; the other four dismounted and shot down 
 three of the Indians. At the second fire of the Indians two more 
 of the white men fell, and at the second fire of the white men two 
 more of the Indians fell. Then there were two and two. At the 
 third fire of the Indians, Baker's only remaining companion fell, and 
 he received the wound in the mouth. Thinking his chance a bad one, 
 he wheeled and ran, loading his gun as he went. Finding a large 
 hollow tree, he crept into it, feet foremost, holding his rifle ready 
 cocked, expecting them to look in, when he intended to fire. He heard 
 the Indians cross and recross the log twice, but they did not look in. 
 At this perilous moment, he heard the large cow-bell that was on 
 one of the drove of cattle of our company, and shortly after he crawled 
 out of the log, -and made his way to us, the happiest man I think 
 I ever saw. Our company of young men rushed to the battle-ground, 
 and found the dead white men and Indians, and dug two separate 
 graves, and buried them where they fell. They got all the horses and 
 clothes of the white men slain, and the Frenchman's money ; for the 
 surviving Indians had not time to scalp or strip them. 
 
 When we came within seven miles of the Crab Orchard, where there 
 were a fort and the first white settlement, it was nearly night. We 
 halted, and a vote was taken whether we should go on to the fort, or 
 camp there for the night. Indians had been seen in our rear through 
 the day. All wanted to go through, except seven families, who refused 
 to go any further that night. The main body went on, but they, the 
 seven families, carelessly stripped off their clothes, lay down without 
 any guards, and went to sleep. 
 
 Some time in the night, about twenty-five Indians rushed on them, 
 and every one men, women, and children was slain, except one man, 
 who sprang from his bed, and ran into the fort, barefooted and in his 
 night clothes. He brought the melancholy news of the slaughter. 
 
 The captain of the fort was an old experienced ranger and Indian 
 warrior. These murderous bands of savages lived north of the Ohio 
 Kiver, and would cross over into Kentucky, kill and steal, and then 
 recross the Ohio into their own country. The old captain knew the 
 country well, and the places of their crossing the river. Early next 
 morning he called for volunteers, mounted men, and said he could get 
 ahead of them. A goodly company turned out, and, sure enough, 
 they got ahead of the Indians, and formed an ambush for them. Soon 
 they saw the Indians coming, and, at a given signal, the whites fired 
 on them. At the first shot all were killed but three ; these were 
 pursued, two of them killed, and but one made his escape to tell the 
 sad news. All the plunder of the murdered families was retaken. 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE BACKWOODS PREACHES,. 
 
 Thus you see what perilous times the first settlers had to reach that 
 new and beautiful country of " canes and turkeys." 
 
 Kentucky was claimed by no particular tribe of Indians, but was 
 regarded as a common hunting-ground by the various tribes, east, 
 west, north, and south. It abounded in various valuable game, such as 
 buffalo, elk, bear, deer, turkeys, and many other smaller game ; and 
 hence the Indians struggled hard to keep the white people from taking 
 possession of it. Many hard and bloody battles were fought, and 
 thousands killed on both sides ; and rightly was it named the " land 
 of blood." * But finally the Indians were overpowered and driven off, 
 and the white man obtained a peaceable and quiet possession. 
 
 It was chiefly settled by Virginians, as noble and brave a race of 
 men and women as ever drew the breath of life. But Kentucky was 
 far in the interior, and very distant from the Atlantic shores ; and 
 though a part of the great Mississippi Valley, the mouth of the Mis- 
 sissippi and thousands of miles up this " father of waters " belonged 
 to foreign and, in some sense, hostile nations, that were not very 
 friendly to the new republic. 
 
 The Kentuckians laboured under many, very many, disadvantages 
 and privations ; and had it not been for the fertility of the soil, and the 
 abundance of wild meat, they must have suffered beyond endurance. 
 But the country soon filled up, and entered into the enjoyment of 
 improved and civilized life.f 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 EARLY LIFE. 
 
 AFTER my father reached Kentucky, he rented a farm for two years 
 in Lincoln County, on what was called the "hanging fork of Dicks 
 Kiver," near Lancaster, the county seat. 
 
 My mother, being a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 sought and obtained an acquaintance with two Methodist travelling 
 preachers, namely, John Page and Benjamin Northcut, men of precious 
 memory, men that are to be numbered as early pioneers in the West, 
 who laboured hard and suffered much to build up the infant Methodist 
 Church in the wilderness. 
 
 In the fall of 1793 my father determined to move to what was then 
 called the Green Eiver country, in the southern part of the State 
 of Kentucky. He did so, and settled in Logan County, nine miles 
 
 * The word Kentucky signifies, " the dark and bloody ground." 
 f Kentucky was the second State admitted into the confederacy after the Union. 
 In 1790, the population was 73,077 ; in 1850, it had increased to 982,405.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 5 
 
 south of Russell ville, the county seat, and within one mile of the state 
 line of Tennessee. 
 
 Shortly after our removal from Lincoln to Logan County, my 
 father's family was visited by Jacob Lurton, a travelling preacher of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. Though my father was not a 
 professor of religion, yet he was not an opposer of it ; and when Jacob 
 Lurton asked the liberty of preaching in his cabin, he readily assented. 
 
 I was then in my ninth year, and was sent out to invite the neigh- 
 bours to come and hear preaching. Accordingly they crowded out, 
 and filled the cabin to overflowing. Jacob Lurton was a real son of 
 thunder. He preached with tremendous power, and the congregation 
 were almost all melted to tears ; some cried aloud for mercy, and my 
 mother shotted aloud for joy. 
 
 Jacob Lurton travelled several years, married, and located in Ken- 
 tucky, from whence he removed to Illinois, and settled near Alton, 
 where he died many years ago. His end was peaceful and happy. 
 
 Shortly after Jacob Lurton preached at my father's cabin, he or his 
 successor organized a small class, about four miles from my father's, 
 where my mother attached herself again to the Church. I think there 
 were thirteen members, one local preacher, one exhorter, and a class- 
 leader. Here my mother regularly walked every Sabbath to class- 
 meeting for a number of years, and seldom missed this means of 
 grace. This little society ebbed and flowed for years, until about 
 1799, when a mighty revival of religion broke out, and scores joined 
 the society. We built a little church, and called it Ebenezer. This 
 was in what was then called Cumberland Circuit, and Kentucky 
 District, in the Western Conference, the seventh Conference in the 
 United States.* 
 
 Logan County, when my father moved to it, was called " Rogues' 
 Harbour." Here many refugees, from almost all parts of the Union, 
 fled to escape justice or punishment ; for although there was law, yet 
 it could riot be executed, and it was a desperate state of society. 
 Murderers, horse thieves, highway robbers, and counterfeiters fled 
 here, until they combined, and actually formed a majority. The 
 honest and civil part of the citizens would prosecute these wretched 
 banditti, but they would swear each other clear ; and they really put 
 all law at defiance, and carried on such desperate violence and outrage, 
 that the honest part of the citizens seemed to be driven to the neces- 
 sity of uniting together, and taking the law into their own hands under 
 the name of Regulators. This was a very desperate state of things. 
 
 Shortly after the Regulators had formed themselves into a society, 
 
 * The Methodist Episcopal Church North, is now divided into forty-seven 
 Conferences. The Methodist Episcopal Church South, into twenty -three.
 
 6 THE BACKWOODS PREACHES. 
 
 and established their code of bye-laws, on a court day at Russellville, 
 the two bauds met in town. Soon a quarrel commenced, and a 
 general battle ensued between the rogues and Regulators, and they 
 fought with guns, pistols, dirks, knives, and clubs. Some were 
 actually killed, many wounded ; the rogues proved victors, kept the 
 ground, and drove the Regulators out of town. The Regulators 
 rallied again, hunted, killed, and lynched many of the rogues, until 
 several of them fled, and left for parts unknown. Many lives were 
 lost on both sides, to the great scandal of civilized people. This is but 
 one view of frontier life. 
 
 When my father settled in Logan County, there was not a news- 
 paper printed south of Green River, no mill short of forty miles, and 
 no schools worth the name. Sunday was a day set apart &r hunting, 
 fishing, horse-racing, card-playing, balls, dances, and all kinds of 
 jollity and mirth. We killed our meat out of the woods, wild ; and 
 beat our meal and hominy with a pestle and mortar. We stretched a 
 deer-skin over a hoop, burned holes in it with the prongs of a fork, 
 sifted our meal, baked our bread, ate it, and it was first-rate eating 
 too. We raised, or gathered out of the woods, our own tea. We had 
 sage, bohea, cross-vine, spice, and sassafras teas, in abundance. As 
 for coffee, I am not sure that I ever smelled it for ten years. We 
 made our sugar out of the water of the maple-tree, and our molasses 
 too. These were great luxuries in those days. 
 
 We raised our own cotton and flax. We water-rotted our flax, 
 broke it by hand, scutched it ; picked the seed out of the cotton with 
 our fingers ; our mothers and sisters carded, spun, and wove it into 
 cloth, and they cut and made our garments and bed clothes, &c. And 
 when we got on a new suit thus manufactured, and sallied out into 
 company, we thought ourselves " as big as anybody" 
 
 There were two large caves on my father's farm, and another about 
 half a mile off, where was a great quantity of material for making 
 saltpetre. We soon learned the art of making it, and our class-leader 
 was a great powder maker. 
 
 Let it be remembered, these were days when we had no stores of dry 
 goods or groceries ; but the United States had a military post at Fort 
 Messick, on the north bank of the Ohio River, and south end of the 
 State of Illinois. Here the government kept stores of these things. 
 After we had made a great quantity of saltpetre, and had manufactured 
 it into powder really number one, strange to say, it came into the 
 mind of our class-leader to go to Fort Messick on a trading expedition. 
 Then the question arose, what sort of a vessel should be made ready 
 for the voyage. This difficulty was soon solved ; for he cut down a 
 large poplar tree, and dug out a large and neat canoe, and launched it
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 7 
 
 into Red River, to go out into Cumberland River, and at the mouth of 
 said river to ascend the Ohio River to the fort. 
 
 Then proclamation was made to the neighbourhood to come in with 
 their money or marketing ; but powder was the staple of the trading 
 voyage. They were also notified to bring in their bills, duly signed, 
 stating the articles they wanted. Some sent for a quarter of a pound 
 of coffee, some one yard of ribbon, some a butcher knife, some for a 
 tin cup, &c., &c. I really wish I had the bill ; I would give it as a 
 literary curiosity of early days. 
 
 Our leader went and returned, safe and sound,'made a good exchange, 
 to the satisfaction of nearly all concerned ; and for weeks it was a great 
 time of rejoicing, that we, even in Kentucky, had found out the glorious 
 advantages of navigation. 
 
 I was naturally a wild, wicked boy, and delighted in horse-racing, 
 card-playing, and dancing. My father restrained me but little, though 
 my mother often talked to me, wept over me, and prayed for me, and 
 often drew tears from my eyes ; and though I often wept under preach- 
 ing, and resolved to do better and seek religion, yet I broke my vows, 
 went into young company, rode races, played cards, and danced. 
 
 At length my father gave me a young race-horse, which well-nigh 
 proved my everlasting ruin ; and he bought me a pack of cards, and I 
 was a very successful young gambler ; and though I was not initiated 
 into the tricks of regular gamblers, yet I was very successful in 
 winning money. This practice was very fascinating, and became 
 a special besetting sin to me ; so that, for a boy, I was very much 
 captivated by it. My mother remonstrated almost daily with me, and 
 I had to keep my cards hid from her ; for if she could have found 
 them, she would have burned them, or destroyed them in some way. 
 O, the sad delusions of gambling ! How fascinating, and how hard to 
 reclaim a practised gambler ! Nothing but the power of Divine grace 
 saved me from this wretched sin. 
 
 My father sent me to school, boarding me at Dr. Beverly Allen's ; 
 but my teacher was not well qualified to teach correctly, and I made 
 but small progress. I, however, learned to read, write, and cipher a 
 little, but very imperfectly. Dr. Allen, with whom I boarded, had, in 
 an early day, been a travelling preacher in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. He was sent south to Georgia, as a very gentlemanly and 
 popular preacher, and did much good. He married in that country a 
 fine, pious woman, a member of the Church ; but he, like David, in an 
 evil hour, fell into sin, violated the laws of the country, and a writ was 
 issued for his apprehension. He warned the sheriff not to enter his 
 room, and assured him if he did he would kill him. The sheriff 
 rushed upon him, and Allen shot him dead. He fled from that 
 country to escape justice, and settled in Logan County, then called
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 " Rogues' Harbour." His family followed him, and here he practised 
 medicine. To ease a troubled conscience he drank in the doctrine of 
 Universalism ; * but he lived and died a great friend to the Methodist 
 Church. 
 
 It fell to my lot, after I had been a preacher several years, to visit 
 the doctor on his dying bed. I talked and prayed with him. Just 
 before he died, I asked him if he was willing to die and meet his final 
 Judge with his Universalist sentiments. He frankly said he was not. 
 He said he could make the mercy of God cover every case in his mind 
 but his own, but he thought there was no mercy for him ; and in this 
 state of mind he left the world, bidding his family and friends an 
 eternal farewell, warning them nof to come to that place of torment to 
 which he felt himself eternally doomed. 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 CANE RIDGE CAMP-MEETING. 
 
 TIME rolbd on, population increased fast around us, the country 
 improved, horse thieves and murderers were driven away, and civiliza- 
 tion advanced considerably. Ministers of different denominations 
 came in, and preached through the country ; but the Methodist 
 preachers were the pioneer messengers of salvation in these ends of the 
 earth. In Rogues' Harbour there was a Baptist church, a few miles 
 west of my father's, and a Presbyterian congregation a few miles north, 
 and the Methodist Ebenezer, a few miles south. 
 
 There were two Baptist ministers, one an old 'man of strong mind 
 and good, very good, natural abilities, having been brought up a rigid 
 Calvinist, and having been taught to preach the doctrine of particular 
 election and reprobation. At length his good sense revolted at the 
 horrid idea, and, having no correct books on theology, he plunged into 
 the opposite extreme, namely, universal redemption. He lived in a 
 very wicked settlement. He appointed a day to publish his recanta- 
 tion of his old Calvinism and his views on universal and unconditional 
 salvation to all mankind. The whole country, for many miles around, 
 crowded to hear the joyful news. When he had finished his discourse, 
 the vilest of the vile multitude raised the shout, expressing great joy 
 that there was no hell or eternal punishment. 
 
 I will here state a circumstance that occurred to the old gentleman 
 and myself. He was a great smoker, and as he passed my father's one 
 
 * The Universalists teach that all mankind will finally be holy and happy in 
 heaven. In 1850 they had, in the United States, 494 churches, having accommo- 
 dation for 205,462 persons.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 day, to marry a couple, lie came to the fence, and called to me, and 
 said, " Peter, if you will bring me a coal of fire to light my pipe, I 
 will tell you how to get out of hell, if you ever get there." Although 
 I was very wicked, the expression exceedingly shocked me, and neither 
 the devil nor any of his preachers have ever been able, from that day 
 to this, seriously to tempt me to believe the blasphemous doctrine. 
 
 The other Baptist minister soon took to open drunkenness, and with 
 him his salvation by water expired ; but if ever there was a jubilee in 
 hell, it was then and there held over these apostate and fallen ministers, 
 B. A. and Dr. Allen. 
 
 Somewhere between 1800 and 1801, in the upper part of Kentucky, 
 at a memorable place called " Cane Kidge," there was appointed a 
 sacramental meeting by some of the Presbyterian ministers ; at which 
 meeting, seemingly unexpected by ministers or people, the mighty 
 power of God was displayed in a very extraordinary manner ; many 
 were moved to tears and cried aloud for mercy. The meeting was 
 protracted for weeks. Ministers of almost all denominations flocked 
 in from far and near. The meeting was kept up by night and 
 day. Thousands heard of the mighty work, and came on foot, on 
 horseback, in carriages and waggons. It is supposed that there were 
 in attendance at times during the meeting from twelve to twenty-five 
 thousand people. Hundreds fell prostrate under the mighty power of 
 God, as men slain in battle. Stands were erected in the woods, from 
 which preachers of different Churches proclaimed repentance toward 
 God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ; and it was supposed by eye 
 and ear witnesses that between one and two thousand souls were 
 happily and powerfully converted to God during the meeting. It was 
 not unusual for one, two, three, and four to seven preachers to be 
 addressing the listening thousands at the same time from the different 
 stands erected for the purpose. The heavenly fire spread in almost 
 every direction. It was said by truthful witnesses, that at times 
 more than one thousand persons broke out into loud shouting all 
 at once, and that the shouts could be heard for miles around. 
 
 From this camp-meeting, for so it ought to be called, the news 
 spread through all the Churches, and through all the land, and it 
 excited great wonder and surprise; but it kindled a religious flame 
 that spread all over Kentucky, and through many other States. And 
 I may here be permitted to say, that this was the first camp-meeting 
 ever held in the United States, and here our camp-meetings took their 
 rise. 
 
 As Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist ministers all united in the 
 blessed work at this meeting, when they returned home to their different 
 congregations, and carried the news of this mighty work, the revival 
 spread rapidly throughout the land ; but many of the ministers and
 
 10 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 members of the synod of Kentucky thought it all disorder, and tried 
 to stop the work. They called their preachers who were engaged in 
 the revival to account, and censured and silenced them. These 
 ministers then rose up and unitedly renounced the jurisdiction of the 
 Presbyterian Church, organized a Church of their own, and dubbed it 
 with the name of Christian.* Here was the origin of what was called 
 the New Lights. They renounced the Westminster Confession of 
 Faith, and all Church discipline, and professed to take the New 
 Testament for their Church discipline. They established no standard 
 of doctrine ; every one was to take the New Testament, read it, and 
 abide by his own construction of it. Marshall, M'Namar, Dunlevy, 
 Stone, Huston, and others, were the chief leaders in this trash trap. 
 Soon a diversity of opinion sprang up, and they got into a Babel 
 confusion. Some preached Arian, some Socinian, and some Univer- 
 salist doctrines ; so that in a few years you could not tell what was 
 harped or what was danced. They adopted the mode of immersion, the 
 water-god of all exclusive errorists ; and directly there was a mighty 
 controversy about the way to heaven, whether it was by water or by 
 dry land. 
 
 In the meantime a remnant of preachers that broke off from the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in 1792, headed by James O'Kelly, who 
 had formed a party because he could not be a bishop in the said Church, 
 which party he called the Republican Methodist Church, came out to 
 Kentucky, and formed a union with these New Lights. Then the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church had war, and rumours of war, almost on 
 every side. The dreadful diversity of opinion among these New Lights, 
 their want of any standard of doctrines, or regular Church discipline, 
 made them an easy prey to prowling wolves of any description. 
 
 Soon the Shaker f priests came along, and off went M'Namar, 
 Dunlevy, and Huston into that foolish error. Marshall and others 
 retraced their steps. B. W. Stone stuck to his New Lightism, and 
 fought many bloodless battles, till he grew old and feeble, and the 
 mighty Alexander Campbell, the great, arose, and poured such floods 
 of regenerating water about the old man's cranium, that he formed a 
 union with this giant errorist, and finally died, not much lamented out 
 of the circle of a few friends. 
 
 This Christian, or New Light, Church is a feeble and scattered 
 people, though there are some good Christians among them. I 
 
 * In 1850 this sect had, in the United States, 812 churches, with accommoda- 
 tion for 296,050 persons. Their Church system is "liberal" in the extreme. 
 Every member being free to determine for himself in matters of faith and practice 
 what the Scriptures enjoin. Immoral and disorderly conduct alone unfitting for 
 Church membership. 
 
 t See Appendix A. The Shakers.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 11 
 
 suppose, since the day of Pentecost, there was hardly ever a greater 
 revival of religion than at Cane Bidge ; and if there had been steady, 
 Christian ministers, settled in Gospel doctrine and Church discipline, 
 thousands might have been saved to the Church that wandered off 
 in the mazes of vain speculative divinity, and finally made shipwreck 
 of the faith, fell back, turned infidel, and lost their religion and their 
 souls for ever. But evidently a new impetus was given to the work of 
 God, and many, very many, will have cause to bless God for ever for 
 this revival of religion throughout the length and breadth of our Zion. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 CONVERSION. 
 
 IN 1801, when I was in my sixteenth year, my father, my eldest 
 half-brother, and myself, attended a wedding about five miles from 
 home, where there was a great deal of drinking and dancing, which 
 was very common at marriages in those days. I drank little or 
 nothing ; my delight was in dancing. After a late hour in the night, 
 we mounted our horses and started for home. I was riding my race- 
 horse. 
 
 A few minutes after we had put up the horses, and were sitting by 
 the fire, I began to reflect on the manner in which I had spent the day 
 and evening. I felt guilty and condemned. I rose and walked the 
 floor. My mother was in bed. It seemed to me, all of a sudden, my 
 blood rushed to my head, my heart palpitated, in a few minutes I 
 turned blind ; an awful impression rested on my mind that death had 
 come, and I was unprepared to die. I fell on my knees, and began to 
 ask God to have mercy on me. 
 
 My mother sprang from her bed, and was soon on her knees by my 
 side, praying for me, and exhorting me to look to Christ for mercy ; 
 and then and there I promised the Lord that if He would spare me, I 
 would seek and serve Him ; and I never fully broke that promise. 
 My mother prayed for me a long time. At length we lay down, but 
 there was little sleep for me. Next morning I rose, feeling wretched 
 beyond expression. I tried to read in the Testament, and retired 
 many times to secret prayer through the day, but found no relief. I 
 gave up my race-horse to my father, and requested him to sell him. I 
 went and brought my pack of cards, and gave them to mother, who 
 threw them into the fire, and they were consumed. I fasted, watched, 
 and prayed, and engaged in regular reading of the Testament. I was so 
 distressed and miserable, that I was incapable of any regular business.
 
 12 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 My father was greatly distressed on my account, thinking I must 
 die, and he would lose his only son. He bade me retire altogether 
 from business, and take care of myself. 
 
 Soon it was noised abroad that I was distracted, and many of 
 my associates in wickedness came to see me, to try and divert my mind 
 from those gloomy thoughts of my wretchedness ; but all in vain. I 
 exhorted them to desist from the course of wickedness which we had 
 been guilty of together. The class-leader and local preacher were 
 sent for. They tried to point me to the bleeding Lamb ; they prayed 
 for me most fervently. Still I found no comfort, and although I had 
 never believed in the doctrine of unconditional election and reproba- 
 tion, I was sorely tempted to believe I was a reprobate, and doomed, 
 and lost eternally, without any chance of salvation. 
 
 At length one day I retired to the horse-lot, and was walking and 
 wringing my hands in great anguish, trying to pray, on the borders of 
 utter despair. It appeared to me that I heard a voice from heaven, 
 saying, " Peter, look at Me." A feeling of relief flashed over me as quick 
 as an electric shock. It gave me hopeful feelings, and some encourage- 
 ment to seek mercy ; but still my load of guilt remained. I repaired 
 to the house, and told my mother what had happened to me in the 
 horse-lot. Instantly she seemed to understand it ; and told- me the 
 Lord had done this to encourage me to hope for mercy, and exhorted 
 me to take encouragement, and seek on, and God would bless me with 
 the pardon of my sins at another time. 
 
 Some days after this, I retired to a cave on my father's farm, to pray 
 in secret. My soul was in an agony; I wept, I prayed, and said, 
 " Now, Lord, if there is mercy for me, let me find it ; " and it really 
 seemed to me that I could almost lay hold of the Saviour, and realize 
 a reconciled God. All of a sudden, such a fear of the devil fell upon 
 me, that it really appeared to me that he was surely personally there, to 
 seize and drag me down to hell, soul and body ; and such a horror 
 fell on me, that I sprang to my feet and ran to my mother at the house. 
 My mother told me this was a device of Satan to prevent me from 
 finding the blessing then. Three months rolled away, and still I 
 did not find the blessing of the pardon of my sins. 
 
 This year, 1801, the Western Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church existed, and I think there was but one presiding elder's dis- 
 trict in it, called the Kentucky District. William M'Kendree* (after- 
 ward bishop) was appointed to the Kentucky District. Cumberland 
 Circuit, which, perhaps, was six hundred miles round, and lying partly 
 in Kentucky and partly in Tennessee, was one of the Circuits of this Dis- 
 trict. John Page and Thomas Wilkerson were appointed to this Circuit. 
 * See Appendix B. Bishop M'Kendree.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 13 
 
 In the spring of this year, Mr. M'Grady, a minister of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, who had a congregation and meeting-house, as we 
 then called them, about three miles north of my father's house, 
 appointed a sacramental meeting in this congregation, and invited the 
 Methodist preachers to attend with them, and especially John Page, 
 who was a powerful Gospel minister, and was very popular among the 
 Presbyterians. Accordingly he came, and preached with great power 
 and success. 
 
 There were no camp-meetings in regular form at this time ; but as 
 there was a great waking up among the Churches, from the revival 
 that had broken out at Cane Eidge, before mentioned, many nocked to 
 those sacramental meetings. The church would not hold the tenth 
 part of the congregation. Accordingly, the officers of the church 
 erected a stand in a contiguous shady grove, and prepared seats for a 
 large congregation. 
 
 The people crowded to this meeting from far and near. They came 
 in their large waggons, with victuals mostly prepared. The women 
 slept in the waggons, and the men under them. Many stayed on the 
 ground night and day for a number of nights and days together. 
 Others were provided for among the neighbours around. The power 
 of God was wonderfully displayed ; scores of sinners fell under the 
 preaching, like men slain in a mighty battle ; Christians shouted aloud 
 for joy. 
 
 To this meeting I repaired, a guilty, wretched sinner. On the 
 Saturday evening of said meeting, I went, with weeping multi- 
 tudes, and bowed before the stand, and earnestly prayed for mercy. 
 In the midst of a solemn struggle of soul, an impression was made on 
 my mind, as though a voice said to me, " Thy sins are all forgiven 
 thee." Divine light flashed all round me, unspeakable joy sprung up 
 in my soul. I rose to my feet, opened my eyes, and it really seemed 
 as if I was in heaven ; the trees, the leaves on them, and everything 
 seemed, arid I really thought were, praising God. My mother raised 
 the shout, my Christian friends crowded around me, and joined me in 
 praising God ; and though I have been since then, in many instances, 
 unfaithful, yet I have never, for one moment, doubted that the Lord 
 did, then and there, forgive my sins, and give me religion. 
 
 Our meeting lasted without intermission all night ; and it was 
 believed by those who had a very good right to know, that over eighty 
 souls were converted to God during its continuance. I went on my 
 way rejoicing for many days. This meeting was in the month of May. 
 In June our preacher, John Page, attended at our little church, 
 Ebenezer ; and there, in June, 1801, 1 joined the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, which I have never for one moment regretted. I have never
 
 14 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 for a moment been tempted to leave the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and if they were to turn me out, I would knock at the door till taken 
 in again. I suppose, from the year 1786 Methodist preachers had 
 been sent to the West ; and we find among these very early pioneers, 
 F. Poythress, presiding elder, T. Williamson, I. Brooks, Wilson Lee, 
 James Haw, P. Massie, B. M'Henry, B. Snelling, J. Hartly, J. Talrnan, 
 J. Lillard, Kobler, and others. 
 
 Perhaps the first Conference holden in the West was held in Ken- 
 tucky, in April, 1789, and then at different points till 1800, when the 
 Western Conference was regularly organized, and reached from Red- 
 stone and Greenbrier to Natchez, covering almost the entire Missis- 
 sippi valley. I can find at this time a record of but 90 members in 
 1787, and 5 travelling preachers. From 1787 up to 1800, Bishop 
 Asbury* visited the Western world, called together the preachers in 
 Conferences, changed them from time to time, and regulated the 
 affairs of the infant Church in the wilderness as best he could. 
 
 Several times the Western preachers had to arm themselves in cross- 
 ing the mountains to the East, and guard Bishop Asbury through the 
 wilderness, which was infested with bloody, hostile savages, at the 
 imminent risk of all their lives. Notwithstanding the great hazard of 
 life, that eminent apostle of American Methodism, Bishop Asbury, 
 showed that he did not count his Life dear, so that he could provide 
 for the sheep in the wilderness of the West. 
 
 At the time I joined the Church in 1801, according to the best 
 accounts that I can gather, there were in the entire bounds of the 
 Western Conference, of members, probationers, coloured and all, 
 2,484, and about 15 travelling preachers. In the United States and 
 territories, East and West, North and South, and Canada, 72,874. 
 Total in Europe and America, 196,502. The number of travelling 
 preachers this year, for all America and Canada, was 307 ; and during 
 the same year there were 8,000 members added to the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 I believe, to say nothing of some local preachers who emigrated to 
 the West at a very early day, that James Haw and Benjamin Ogden 
 were the first two regular itinerant preachers sent out in 1786. After 
 travelling and preaching for several years, they both became disaffected 
 to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and withdrew, with the secession 
 of James O'Kelly, elsewhere named in my sketches. O'Kelly left the 
 Church in 1792. He was a popular and powerful preacher, and drew 
 off many preachers and thousands of members with him. He formed 
 what he called the Republican Methodist Church, flourished for a few 
 years, and then divisions and subdivisions entered among his followers. 
 * See Appendix C. Bishop Asbury.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 15 
 
 Some of his preachers turned Arians, some Universalists, and some 
 joined the so-called New Lights, and some returned to the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church ; and the last authentic account I had of O'Kelly he 
 Avas left alone in his old age, and desired to return to the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church again ; but whether he was ever received I am not 
 informed. And here was an end of the first grand secession from our 
 beloved Church. 
 
 James Haw and Benjamin Ogden, we have said, became disaffected, 
 and left the Church with O'Kelly's party. They soon found that they 
 could not succeed to any considerable extent in these Western wilds. 
 Haw veered about and joined the Presbyterians, became a pastor in 
 one of their congregations with a fixed salary, but lived and died in 
 comparative obscurity. 
 
 Ogden backslid, quit preaching, kept a groggery, and became 
 wicked, and raised his family to hate the Methodists. In the year 
 1813, when I was on the Wabash District, Tennessee Conference, 
 Breckenridge Circuit, at a camp-meeting in said Circuit, Benjamin 
 Ogden attended. There was a glorious revival of religion, and Ogden 
 got under strong conviction, and professed to be reclaimed, joined the 
 Church again, was licensed to preach, was soon recommended and 
 received into the travelling connexion again, and lived and died a 
 good Methodist preacher. He was saved by mercy, as all seceders 
 from the Methodist Episcopal Church will be, if saved at all. 
 
 To show the ignorance the early Methodist preachers had to con- 
 tend with in the Western wilds, I will relate an incident or two that 
 occurred to Wilson Lee in Kentucky. He was one of the early 
 pioneer Methodist preachers sent to the West. He was a very solemn 
 and grave minister. At one of his appointments, at a private house 
 on a certain day, they had a motherless pet lamb. The boys of the 
 family had mischievously learned this lamb to butt. They would go 
 near it, and make motions with their heads, and the lamb would back 
 and then dart forward at them, and they would jump out of the way, 
 so that the sheep would miss them. 
 
 A man came into the congregation who had been drinking and 
 frolicking all the night before. He came in late, and took his seat on 
 the end of a bench nearly in the door, and, having slept none the night 
 before, presently he began to nod ; and as he nodded and bent for- 
 ward, the pet lamb came along by the door, and seeing this man 
 nodding and bending forward, he took it as a banter, and straightway 
 backed and then sprang forward, and gave the sleeper a severe jolt 
 right on the head, and over he tilted him, to the no small amusement 
 of the congregation, who all burst out into laughter ; and grave as the 
 preacher, Mr. Lee, was, it so excited his risibilities that he almost lost
 
 16 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 his balance. But recovering himself a little, he went on in a most 
 solemn and impressive strain-. His subject was the words of our 
 Lord : " Except a man deny himself, and take up his cross, he cannot 
 be My disciple." He urged on his congregation, with melting voice 
 and tearful eyes, to take up the cross, no matter what it was, take 
 it up. 
 
 - There were in the congregation a very wicked Dutchman and his 
 wife, both of whom were profoundly ignorant of the Scriptures and the 
 plan of salvation. His wife was a notorious scold, and so much was 
 she given to this practice, that she made her husband unhappy, and 
 kept him almost always in a perfect fret, so that he led a most 
 miserable and uncomfortable life. It pleased God that day to cause 
 the preaching of Mr. Lee to reach their guilty souls, and break up the 
 great deep of their hearts. They wept aloud, seeing their lost con- 
 dition ; and they then and there resolved to do better, and from that 
 time forward to take up the cross and bear it, be it what it might. 
 
 The congregation were generally deeply aifected. M. ^^ exhorted 
 them and prayed for them as long as he consistently could, and, having 
 another appointment some distance off that evening, he dismissed the 
 congregation, got a little refreshment, saddled his horse, mounted, and 
 started for his evening appointment. After riding some distance, he 
 saw a little ahead of him a man trudging along, carrying a woman on 
 his back. This greatly surprised Mr. Lee. He very naturally sup- 
 posed that the woman was a cripple, or had hurt herself in some way, 
 so that she could not walk. The traveller was a small man, and the 
 woman large and heavy. 
 
 Before he overtook them, Mr. Lee began to cast about in his mind 
 how he could render them assistance. When he came up to them, lo 
 and behold, who should it be but the Dutchman and his wife that had 
 been so affected under his sermon at meeting ! Mr. Lee rode up and 
 spoke to them, and inquired of the man what had happened, or what 
 was the matter, that he was carrying his wife. 
 
 The Dutchman turned to Mr. Lee, and said, " Besure you did tell 
 us in your sarmon dat we must take up de cross and follow de Saviour, 
 or dat we could not be saved or go to heaven ; and I does desire to go 
 to heaven so much as any pody ; and dish vife is so pad, she scold 
 and scold all de time, and dish woman is de createst cross I have in 
 de whole world, and I does take her up and pare her ; for" I must save 
 my soul." 
 
 You may be sure that Mr. Lee was posed for once ; but after a few 
 moments' reflection he told the Dutchman to put his wife down, and 
 he dismounted from his horse. He directed them to sit down on a 
 log by the road side. He held the reins of his horse's bridle and sat
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 17 
 
 down by them, took out his Bible, read to them' several passages of 
 Scripture, and explained and expounded to them the way of the Lord 
 more perfectly. He opened to them the nature of the cross of Christ, 
 what it is, how it is to be taken up, and how they were to bear that 
 cross ; and after teaching and advising them some time, he prayed 
 for them by the road side, left them deeply affected, mounted his 
 horse, and rode on to his evening appointment. 
 
 Long before Mr. Lee came around his Circuit to his next appoint- 
 ment, the Dutchman and his scolding wife were both powerfully con- 
 verted to God -, and when he came round, he took them into the Church. 
 The Dutchman's wife was cured of her scolding. Of course, he got 
 clear of this cross. They lived together long and happily, adorning 
 their profession, and giving ample evidence that religion could cure a 
 scolding wife, and that God could and did convert poor ignorant 
 Dutch people. 
 
 This Dut/^'nan often told his experience in lovefeasts with thrill- 
 ing effect, anxl 'hardly ever failed to melt the whole congregation into a 
 flood of tears ; and on one particular occasion, which is vividly printed 
 -on my recollection, I believe the whole congregation in the love-feast, 
 which lasted beyond the time allotted for such meetings, broke out 
 into a loud shout. 
 
 Thus Brother Lee was the honoured instrument in the hand of God 
 of planting Methodism, amid clouds of ignorance and opposition, 
 among the early settlers of the far West. Brother Lee witnessed a 
 good confession to the end. At an early period of his ministry he 
 fell from the walls of Zion, with the trump of God in his hand, and 
 has gone to his reward in heaven. - Peace to his memory. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 THE GREAT REVIVAL. 
 
 PROM 1801, for years, a blessed revival of religion spread through 
 almost the entire inhabited parts of the West, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
 the Carolinas, and many other parts, especially through the Cumber- 
 land country, which was so called from the Cumberland Kiver, which 
 headed and mouthed in Kentucky, but in its great bend circled south 
 through Tennessee, near Nashville. The Presbyterians and Methodists 
 in a great measure united in this work, met together, prayed together, 
 and preached together. 
 
 In this revival originated our camp-meetings, and in both these 
 
 c
 
 18 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 denominations they were held every year, and, indeed, have been ever 
 since, more or less. They would erect their camps with logs, or frame 
 them, and cover them with clapboards or shingles. They would also 
 erect a shed, sufficiently large to protect five thousand people from 
 wind and rain, and cover it with boards or shingles ; build a large 
 stand, seat the shed ; and here they would collect together from forty 
 to fifty miles around, sometimes further than that. Ten, twenty, and 
 sometimes thirty ministers, of different denominations, would come 
 together and preach night and day, four or five days together ; and, 
 indeed, I have known these camp-meeting to last three or four weeks, 
 and great good resulted from them. I have seen more than a hundred 
 sinners fall like dead men under one powerful sermon, and I have seen 
 and heard more than five hundred Christians all shouting aloud the 
 high praises of God at once ; and I will venture to assert that many 
 happy thousands were awakened and converted to God at these camp- 
 meetings. Some sinners mocked, some of the old dry professors 
 opposed, some of the old starched Presbyterian preachers preached 
 against these exercises ; but still the work went on and spread almost 
 in every direction, gathering additional force, until our country seemed 
 all coming home to God. 
 
 In this great revival the Methodists kept moderately balanced ; for 
 we had excellent preachers to steer the ship, or guide the flock. But 
 some of our members ran wild, and indulged in some extravagances 
 that were hard to control. 
 
 The Presbyterian preachers and members, not being accustomed to 
 much noise or shouting, when they yielded to it went into great 
 extremes and downright wildness, to the great injury of the cause of 
 God. Their old preachers licensed a great many young men to 
 preach, contrary to their confession of faith. That confession of faith 
 required their ministers to believe in unconditional election and repro- 
 bation, and the unconditional and final perseverance of the saints. 
 But in this revival they, almost to a man, gave up these points of high 
 Calvinism, and preached a free salvation to all mankind. The West- 
 minster Confession required every man, before he could be licensed to 
 preach, to have a liberal education; but this qualification was dis- 
 pensed with, and a great many fine men were licensed to preach 
 without this literary qualification, or subscribing to those high-toned 
 doctrines of Calvinism. 
 
 This state of things produced great dissatisfaction in the Synod of 
 Kentucky, and messenger after messenger was sent to wait on the 
 Presbytery, to get them to desist from their erratic course, but without 
 success. Finally they were cited to trial before the constituted autho- 
 rities of the Church. Some were censured, some were suspended,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PEEACHEE. 19 
 
 some retraced their steps, while others surrendered their credentials of 
 ordination, and the rest were cut off from the Church. 
 
 While in this amputated condition, they called a general meeting of 
 all their licentiates. They met our presiding elder, J. Page, and a 
 number of Methodist ministers, at a quarterly-meeting in Logan 
 County, and proposed to join the Methodist Episcopal Church as a 
 body ; but our aged minister declined this offer, and persuaded them 
 to rise up and embody themselves together, and constitute a Church. 
 They reluctantly yielded to this advice, and, in due time and form, 
 constituted what they denominated the " Cumberland Presbyterian 
 Church ; "* and in their confession of faith split, as they supposed, the 
 difference between the Predestinarians and the Methodists, rejecting a 
 partial atonement or special election and reprobation, but retaining 
 the doctrine of the final unconditional perseverance of the saints. 
 
 What an absurdity ! While a man remains a sinner, he may come, 
 as a free agent, to Christ, if he will ; and if he does not come, his 
 damnation will be just, because he refused offered mercy ; but as soon 
 as he gets converted, his free agency is destroyed, the best boon of 
 heaven is then lost ; and although he may backslide, wander away 
 from Christ, yet he shall be brought in. He cannot finally be lost if 
 he has ever been really converted to God. 
 
 They make a very sorry show in their attempt to support this left 
 foot of Calvinism. But, be it spoken to their credit, they do not often 
 preach this doctrine. They generally preach Methodist doctrine, and 
 have been the means of doing a great deal of good, and would have 
 done much more if they had left this relic of John Calvin behind. 
 
 In this revival, usually termed in the West the " Cumberland 
 Revival," many joined the different Churches, especially the Methodist 
 and Cumberland Presbyterians. The Baptists also came in for a share 
 of the converts, but not to any great extent. Infidelity quailed before 
 the mighty power of God, which was displayed among the people. 
 Universalism was almost driven from the land. The Predestinarians 
 of almost all sorts put forth a mighty effort to stop the work of God. 
 
 Just in the midst of our controversies on the subject of the powerful 
 exercises among the people under preaching, a new exercise broke out 
 amongst us, called the jerks, which was overwhelming in its effects 
 upon the bodies and minds of the people. No matter whether they 
 were saints or sinners, they would be taken under a warm song or 
 sermon, and seized with a convulsive jerking all over, which they 
 could not by any possibility avoid, and the more they resisted the 
 
 * This Church, in addition to the peculiarities of doctrine here specified, 
 is also peculiar in its ecclesiastical polity, having grafted on the Presbyterian 
 polity the itinerating system of the Methodists. It uiunb'jrs about 50,000 
 communicants. 
 
 C 2
 
 20 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 more they jerked. If they would not strive against it, and would pray in 
 good earnest, the jerking would usually abate. I have seen more than 
 five hundred persons jerking at one time in my large congregations. 
 Most usually persons taken with the jerks, to obtain relief, as they 
 said, would rise up and dance. Some would run, but could not get 
 away. Some would resist ; on such the jerks were generally very severe. 
 
 To see those proud young gentlemen and young ladies, dressed in 
 their silks, jewellery, and prunella, from top to toe, take the jerks, 
 would often excite my risibilities. The first jerk or so, you would see 
 their fine bonnets, caps, and combs fly ; and so sudden would be the 
 jerking of the head, that their long loose hair would crack almost as 
 loud as a waggoner's whip. 
 
 At one of my appointments in 1804, there was a very large congre- 
 gation turned out to hear the Kentucky boy, as they called me. 
 Among the rest there were two very finely dressed, fashionable young 
 ladies, attended by two brothers with loaded horsewhips. Although 
 the house was large, it was crowded. The two young ladies, coining 
 in late, took their seats near where I stood, and their two brothers 
 stood in the door. I was a little unwell, and I had a phial of pepper- 
 mint in my pocket. Before I commenced preaching I took out my 
 phial and swallowed a little of the peppermint. While I was preach- 
 ing, the congregation was melted into tears. The two young gentle- 
 men moved oft' to the yard fence, and both the young ladies took the 
 jerks, and they were greatly mortified about it. There was a great 
 stir in the congregation. Some wept, some shouted, and before our 
 meeting closed several were converted. 
 
 As I dismissed the assembly, a man stepped up to me, and warned 
 me to be on my guard ; for he had heard the two brothers swear they 
 would horsewhip me when meeting was out, for giving their sisters 
 the jerks. " Well," said I, " I '11 see to that." 
 
 I went out and said to the young men that I understood they 
 intended to horsewhip me for giving their sisters the jerks. One 
 replied that he did. I undertook to expostulate with him on the 
 absurdity of the charge against me, but he swore I need not deny it ; 
 for he had seen me take out a phial, in which I carried some truck 
 that gave his sisters the jerks. As quick as thought it came into my 
 mind how I would get clear of my whipping, and, jerking out the 
 peppermint phial, said I, " Yes ; if I gave your sisters the jerks, I '11 
 give them to you." In a moment I saw he was scared. I moved 
 toward him, he backed ; I advanced, and he wheeled and ran, warning 
 me not to come near him, or he would kill me. It raised the laugh 
 on him, and I escaped my whipping. I had the pleasure, before 
 the year was out, of seeing all four soundly converted to God, and I 
 1 ook them into the Church.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 21 
 
 While I am on this subject, I will relate a very serious circumstance 
 which I knew to take place with a man who had the jerks at a camp- 
 meeting;, on what was called the Ridge, in William Magee's congrega- 
 tion. There was a great work of religion in the encampment. The 
 jerks were very prevalent. There was a company of drunken rowdies 
 who came to interrupt the meeting. These rowdies were headed by a 
 very large drinking man. They came with their bottles of whiskey in 
 their pockets. This large man cursed the jerks, and all religion. 
 Shortly afterward he took the jerks, and he started to run, but he 
 jerked so powerfully he could not get away. He halted among some 
 saplings, and, although he was violently agitated, he took out his 
 bottle of whiskey, and swore he would drink the damned jerks to death ; 
 but he jerked at such a rate he could not get the bottle to his mouth, 
 though he tried hard. At length he fetched a sudden jerk, and the 
 bottle struck a sapling and was broken to pieces, and spilled his 
 whiskey on the ground. There was a great crowd gathered round him, 
 and when he lost his whiskey he became very much enraged, and cursed 
 and swore very profanely, his jerks still increasing. At length he 
 fetched a very violent jerk, snapped his neck, fell, and soon expired, 
 with his mouth full of cursing and bitterness. 
 
 I always looked upon the jerks* as a judgment sent from God, first, 
 to bring sinners to repentance ; and, secondly, to show professors that 
 God could work with or without means, and that He could work over 
 and above means, and do Avhatsoever seemeth Him good, to the glory 
 of His grace and the salvation of the world. 
 
 There is no doubt in my mind that, with weak-minded, ignorant, 
 and superstitious persons, there was a great deal of sympathetic feeling 
 with many that claimed to be under the influence of this jerking 
 exercise; and yet, with many, it was perfectly involuntary. It was, 
 on all occasions, my practice to recommend fervent prayer as a remedy, 
 and it almost universally proved an effectual antidote. 
 
 There were many other strange and wild exercises into which the 
 subjects of this revival fell ; such, for instance, as what was called the 
 running, jumping, barking exercise. The Methodist preachers 
 generally preached against this extravagant wildness. I did it 
 uniformly in my little ministrations, and sometimes gave great offence ; 
 but I feared no consequences when I felt my awful responsibilities to 
 God. From these wild exercises, another great evil arose from the 
 heated and wild imaginations of some. They professed to fall into 
 trances and see visions ; they would fall at meetings and sometimes at 
 home, and lay apparently powerless and motionless for days, some- 
 times for a week at a time, without food or drink ; and when they 
 came to, they professed to have seen heaven and hell, to have seen 
 * See Appendix D. The Jerks and Revival Extravagances.
 
 22 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEB. 
 
 God, angels, the devil, and the damned ; they would prophesy, and, 
 under the pretence of Divine inspiration, predict the time of tbe end 
 of the world, and the ushering in of the great millennium. 
 
 This was the most troublesome delusion of all ; it made such an 
 appeal to the ignorance, superstition, and credulity of the people, even 
 saint as well as sinner. I watched this matter with a vigilant eye. 
 If I opposed it, I should have to meet the clamour of the multitude ; 
 and if any one opposed it, these very visionists would single him out, 
 and denounce the dreadful judgments of God against him. They 
 would even set the very day that God was to burn the world, like the 
 self-deceived modern Millerites. They would prophesy, that if any 
 one did oppose them, God would send fire down from heaven and 
 consume him, like the blasphemous Shakers. They would proclaim 
 that they could heal all manner of diseases, and raise the dead, just 
 like the diabolical Mormons. They professed to have converse with 
 spirits of the dead in heaven and hell, like the modern spirit-rappers. 
 Such a state of things I never saw before, and I hope in God I shall 
 never see again. 
 
 I pondered well the whole matter in view of my responsibilities, 
 searched the Bible for the true fulfilment of promise and prophecy, 
 prayed to God for light and Divine aid, and proclaimed open war 
 against these delusions. In the midst of them along came the 
 Shakers, and Mr. Eankin, one of the Presbyterian revival preachers, 
 joined them ; Mr. G. Wall, a visionary local preacher among the 
 Methodists, joined them ; all the country was in commotion. 
 
 I made public appointments and drew multitudes together, and 
 openly showed from the Scriptures that the delusions were false. 
 Some of these visionary men and women prophesied that God would 
 kill me. The Shakers soon pretended to seal my damnation. But 
 nothing daunted, for I knew Him in whom I had believed, I threw 
 my appointments in the midst of them, and proclaimed to listening 
 thousands the more sure word of prophecy. This mode of attack 
 threw a damper on these visionary, self-deluded, false prophets, sobered 
 some, reclaimed others, and stayed the fearful tide of delusion that was 
 sweeping over the country. 
 
 I will here state a case which occurred at an early day in the State 
 of Indiana, in a settlement called Busroe. Many of the early emi- 
 grants to that settlement were Methodists, Baptists, and Cumberland 
 Presbyterians. The Shaker priests, all apostates from the Baptist and 
 the Cumberland Presbyterians, went over among them. Many of 
 them I was personally acquainted with, and had given them letters 
 when they moved from Kentucky to that new country. There were 
 then no Methodist Circuit preachers in that region. 
 
 An old local preacher, Brother Collins, withstood these Shakers,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 3 
 
 and in private combat was a full match for any of them ; but he was 
 not eloquent in public debate, and hence the Shaker priests overcame 
 my old brother, and by scores swept members of different Churches 
 away from their steadfastness into the muddy pool of Shakerism. 
 
 The few who remained steadfast sent to Kentucky for me, praying 
 me to come and help them. I sent an appointment, with an invitation 
 to meet any or all of the Shaker priests in public debate ; but instead 
 of meeting me, they appointed a meeting in opposition, and warned 
 the believers, as they called them, to keep away from my meeting ; but, 
 from our former acquaintance and intimate friendship, many of them 
 came to hear me. I preached to a vast crowd for about three hours, 
 and I verily believe God helped me. The very foundations of every 
 Shaker present were shaken from under him. They then besought me 
 to go to the Shaker meeting that night. I went, and when I got 
 there we had a great crowd. I proposed to them to have a debate, 
 and they dared not refuse. The terms were these : A local preacher I 
 had with me was to open the debate ; then one or all of their 
 preachers, if they chose, were to follow, and I was to bring up the 
 rear. My preacher opened the debate by merely stating the points of 
 difference. Mr. Brayelton followed, and, instead of argument, he turned 
 everything into abuse and insulting slander. Then he closed, and Mr. 
 Gill rose, but, instead of argument, he uttered a few words of personal 
 abuse, and then called on all the Shakers to meet him a few minutes 
 in the yard, talk a little, and then disperse. 
 
 Our debate was out in the open air, at the end of a cabin. I rose, 
 called them to order, and stated that it was fairly agreed by these 
 Shaker priests that I should bring up the rear, or close the argument. 
 I stated that it was cowardly to run ; that if I was the devil himself, 
 and they were right, I could not hurt them. I got the most of them 
 to take their seats and hear me. Mr. Gill gathered a little band, and 
 he and they left. They had told the people in the day that if I con- 
 tinued to oppose them, God would make an example of roe, and send 
 fire from heaven and consume me. When I rose to reply, I felt a 
 Divine sense of the approbation of God, and that He would give me 
 success. 
 
 I addressed the multitude about three hours, and when I closed my 
 argument I opened the door of the Church, and invited all that would 
 renounce Shakerism to come and give me their hand. Forty-seven 
 came forward, and then and there openly renounced the dreadful 
 delusion. The next day I followed those that fled ; and the next day 
 I went from cabin to cabin, taking the names of those that returned 
 to the solid foundation of truth ; and my number rose to eighty-seven. 
 I then organized them into a regular society, and the next fall had a
 
 24 THE BACKWOODS PfiEACHEK. 
 
 preacher sent to them. And perhaps this victory may be considered 
 among the first-fruits of Methodism in that part of this new country. 
 This was in 1808. 
 
 At this meeting I collected, as well as I could, the names and places 
 where it was supposed they wanted Methodist preaching. I made out 
 and returned a kind of plan for a Circuit, carried it to Conference, and 
 they were temporarily supplied by the presiding elder in 1809 and 
 1810. In 1811 the Circuit was called St. Vincennes, and was attached 
 to the Cumberland District, and Thomas Stillwell appointed the 
 preacher in charge. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 EXHORTING AND FIRST PREACHING. 
 
 I "WILL now resume my personal narrative. I went on enjoying 
 great comfort and peace. I attended several camp-meetings among 
 the Methodists and Presbyterians. At all of them there were many 
 souls converted to God. At one of these camp-meetings something 
 like the following incident occurred : 
 
 There was a great stir of religion in the crowded congregation that 
 
 attended. Many opposed the work, and among the rest a Mr. D , 
 
 who called himself a Jew. He was tolerably smart, and seemed to take 
 great delight in opposing the Christian religion. In the intermissions, 
 the young men and boys of us, who professed religion, would retire 
 to the woods and hold prayer-meetings ; and if we knew of any boys 
 that were seeking religion, we would take them along and pray for 
 them. Many of them obtained religion in these praying circles, and 
 raised loud shouts of praise to God, in which those of us that were 
 religious would join. 
 
 One evening a large company of us retired for prayer. In the 
 midst of our little meeting this Jew appeared, and he desired to know 
 what we were about. Well, I told him. He said it was all wrong, 
 that it was idolatry to pray to Jesus Christ, and that God did not, 
 nor would He, answer such prayers. I soon saw his object was to get 
 us into debate and break up our prayer-meeting. I asked him, " Do 
 you really believe there is a God ? " 
 
 " Yes, I do," said he. 
 
 " Do you believe that God will hear your prayers ? " 
 
 " Yes," said he. 
 
 " Do you really believe that this work among us is wrong ? " 
 
 He answered, " Yes."
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 25 
 
 "Well now, my dear sir," said I, "let us test this matter. If you 
 are in earnest, get down here and pray to God to stop this work ; and 
 if it is wrong, He will answer your petition and stop it ; if it is not 
 wrong, all hell cannot stop it." 
 
 The rest of our company, seeing me so bold, took courage. The 
 Jew hesitated. I said, " Get down instantly and pray; for, if we are 
 wrong, we want to know it." After still lingering and showing un- 
 mistakeable signs of his unwillingness, I rallied him again. Slowly 
 he kneeled, cleared his throat, and coughed. I said, "Now, boys, 
 pray with all your might that God may answer by fire." 
 
 Our Jew began and said, tremblingly, " Lord God Almighty," 
 and coughed again, cleared his throat, and started again, repeating the 
 same words. We saw his evident confusion, and we simultaneously 
 prayed out aloud at the top of our voices. The Jew leaped up and 
 started off, and we raised the shout and had a glorious time. Several 
 of our mourners were converted, and we all rose and started into camp 
 at the top of our speed, shouting, having, as we firmly believed, 
 obtained a signal victoiy over the devil and the Jew. 
 
 In 1802 William M'Kendree was presiding elder of Kentucky 
 District. John Page and Thomas Wilkerson were appointed to the 
 Cumberland Circuit. The Conference this fall was held at Strother's 
 Meeting-house, Tennessee. This was the first time I saw Bishop 
 Asbury, that great, devoted man of God. Here the Cumberland 
 District was formed, and John Page appointed presiding elder. The 
 name of Cumberland Circuit was changed into Ked Eiver Circuit, and 
 Jesse Walker was appointed to ride it. This was the Circuit on which 
 I lived. 
 
 The membership of the Western Conference this year numbered 
 7,201 ; the travelling preachers numbered 27, probationers and all. 
 
 At a quarterly-meeting held in the spring of this year, 1802, Jesse 
 Walker, our preacher in charge, came to me and handed me a small 
 slip of paper, with these words written on it : 
 
 " PETER CARTWRIGHT is hereby permitted to exercise his gifts as an 
 exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, so long as his practice is 
 agreeable to the Gospel. Signed in behalf of the society at Ebenezer. 
 
 " JESSE WALKER, A. P." 
 
 "May, 1802." 
 
 I was very much surprised. I had not been talked to by the 
 preacher, nor had I formally attempted to exhort. It is true, in class 
 and other meetings, when my soul was filled with the love of God, I 
 would mount a bench and exhort with all the power I had ; and it is
 
 26 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 also true that my mind had been deeply exercised about exhorting and 
 preaching too. I told Brother Walker I did not want licence to 
 exhort ; that if I did not feel happy I could not exhort, but if my soul 
 got happy I felt that I had licence enough. He urged me to keep the 
 licence, alleging that it was the more orderly way, and I yielded to his 
 advice. 
 
 To show how matters were done up in those early days of Meth- 
 odism, I will here state that this permit to exhort was all the licence I 
 ever received from the Church to preach until I received my parchment 
 of ordination. 
 
 The fall of this year my father moved from Logan County down 
 toward the mouth of the Cumberland River, into what was called 
 Lewiston County. This was a new country, and, at least, eighty 
 miles from any Circuit. There was no regular Circuit, and no organ- 
 ized classes ; but there were a good many scattered members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church through that region of country. I 
 applied to Brother Page, our presiding elder, for a letter for myself, 
 my mother, and one sister, which he gave us. On examination, I 
 found that mine contained a " Benjamin's mess." It not only stated 
 my membership and authority to exhort, but it gave me authority to 
 travel through all that destitute region, hold meetings, organize 
 classes, and, in a word, to form a Circuit, and meet him at the next 
 fall at the fourth quarterly-meeting of the Red River Circuit, with a 
 plan of a new Circuit, number of members, names of preachers, if any, 
 exhorters, class-leaders, &c., &c., Sec. I am sorry I did not preserve 
 the document; for, surely, all things considered, it would be a 
 curiosity to educated and refined Methodists at this day. 
 
 I felt bad on the reception of this paper, and told Brother Page I 
 did not want to take it, for I saw through the solemn responsibilities 
 it rolled upon me. I told him just to give me a simple letter of 
 membership ; that, although I did think at times that it was my 
 duty to preach, I had little education, and that it was my intention 
 to go to school the next year. He then told me that this was the very 
 best school or college that I could find between heaven and earth ; but 
 advised me, when my father got settled down there, if I could find a 
 good moral school with a good teacher, to go to it through the 
 winter ; then, in the spring and summer, form the Circuit, and do the 
 best I could. 
 
 Shortly after my father settled himself, I inquired for a good 
 teacher and school, and found that there was one a few miles off, 
 taught by a well-educated teacher, a seceder minister, who had 
 finished his education in Lexington, Ky., under a Mr. Rankin. I 
 went and entered as a scholar, and boarded with a fine old Methodist
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 27 
 
 man, close by. This school was called Brown's Academy. He 
 taught all the branches of a common English education, also the dead 
 languages. I now thought Providence had opened my way to obtain 
 a good education, which I had so long desired, and of which I had 
 been deprived without remedy. I entered the school and was making 
 very rapid progress. 
 
 The brother with whom I boarded, being a zealous man of God, 
 insisted that we should hold meetings on Sundays and in the even- 
 ings. To this I consented. We held prayer-meetings on evenings, 
 and Sundays I attempted to exhort the large congregations that at- 
 tended. We soon collected a small class from the scattered Meth- 
 odists around, had a few conversions, and I began to think that God 
 had wonderfully opened my way before me. But soon a storm of 
 persecution arose. My teacher was a very bigoted seceder, and I 
 believe he hated the Methodists more than he hated the devil. I 
 know he hated them worse than the bottle ; for he would get drunk 
 at times. 
 
 There was a large class of young men in school about my age, and 
 they were very wicked and profane. I saw my perilous condition, and 
 put myself under strong restraints, so that I should give no one any 
 just offence. My teacher would try to draw me into debate, but this 
 I avoided. The young men set themselves to play tricks and start 
 false reports on me, by way of diversion calling me the Methodist 
 preacher. Teacher and all would do this. I told Mr. Brown and all 
 the rest that I was no preacher, but that I wished I was a good one. 
 At length two of these young students fixed a plan to duck me in the 
 creek that ran hard by. There was a very beautiful grassy plat of 
 ground right on the bank of the creek, in a retired spot. The bank 
 was about seven feet perpendicular, and there was a deep hole of water 
 right opposite, in which the water was ten feet deep. They decoyed 
 me to this place under the pretence that they wanted me to pray for 
 them, pretending to be in great distress on account of their sins. I 
 was suspicious, but thought if they were sincere it would be wrong to 
 refuse them. So, putting myself on my guard as best I could, I went 
 with them, not knowing their plan. When we came to the bank of 
 the creek, they both seized me, intending to throw me over the per- 
 pendicular bank into the deep water. As quick as thought, I jerked 
 loose from one, and gave the other a sudden flirt over the bank into 
 the stream. The other and I clinched, and, being nearly equal in 
 strength, a hard tussle ensued. In the scuffle we fell to the ground, 
 and I rolled over toward the precipice, holding him fast, until, at 
 length, into the deep hole we both went, and then had to swim out. 
 
 Although this, to me, was an unpleasant affair, yet there was no
 
 28 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 shouting over me ; for if I had got wet, I had ducked both of them. 
 I bore all these things for some time patiently,- but, my difficulties 
 increasing, I complained to Mr. Brown, the teacher. He would do 
 nothing to bring things right. I then left the school, deeply regretting 
 that I was thereby deprived of the privilege of finishing my education. 
 I then prepared myself, and started out to form a kind of Circuit, and 
 gather up scattered members and organize classes. I had much oppo- 
 sition in some places, but in others was kindly received. We had 
 some very powerful displays of Divine grace, a goodly number ob- 
 tained religion, and I received about seventy into society, appointed 
 leaders, met classes, sung, prayed, and exhorted, and, under the 
 circumstances, did the best I knew how. 
 
 Here I found the celebrated James Axley, and took him into the 
 Church. Peace to his memory. He was in after years favourably 
 known as a powerful and successful travelling preacher. He was a 
 great and good man of God. He married, located, and long since 
 went to his reward. 
 
 In the fall of this year, 1803, I met Brothers Page and Walker, 
 reported my success and the plan of the Circuit. It was called 
 Livingston Circuit, and Jesse Walker was appointed to it, and tra- 
 velled it in 1804 and 1805. The increase of members this year was 
 over 9,000 throughout the Connexion. In the Western Conference 
 the increase was 1,500. The number of travelling preachers was 
 about 35. There were four presiding-elder Districts in the Western 
 Conference: Holston, Cumberland, Kentucky, and Ohio. Brother 
 Page located, and Lewis Garrett succeeded him on the Cumberland 
 District. The Eed River Circuit, in this District, was a very large 
 one. It had but one preacher appointed to it, namely, Ralph 
 Lotspeich. 
 
 Brother Garrett, the new elder, called on me at my father's, and 
 urged me to go on this Circuit with Brother Lotspeich. My father 
 was unwilling, but my mother urged me to go, and finally prevailed. 
 This was in October, 1803, when I was a little over eighteen years 
 of age. I had a hard struggle to give my consent, and although I 
 thought it my duty to preach, yet I thought I could do this, and not 
 throw myself into the ranks as a Circuit preacher, when I was liable 
 to be sent from Greenbrier to Natchez; no members hardly to 
 support a preacher, the Discipline only allowing a single man eighty 
 dollars, and in nine cases out of ten he could not get half of that amount. 
 These were times that tried men's souls and bodies too. 
 
 At last I literally gave up the world, and started, bidding farewell 
 to father and mother, brothers and sisters, and met Brother Lotspeich 
 at an appointment in Logan County. He told me I must preach that
 
 THE BACKWOODS PBEACHEK. 29 
 
 night. This I had never done ; mine was an exhorter's dispensation. 
 I tried to beg off, but he urged me to make the effort. I went out 
 and prayed fervently for aid from heaven. All at once it seemed to 
 me as if I could never preach at all, but I struggled in prayer. At 
 length I asked God, if He had called me to preach, to give me aid 
 that night, and give me one soul, that is, convert one soul under my 
 preaching, as evidence that I was called to this Avork. 
 
 I went into the house, took my stand, gave out a hymn, sang, and 
 prayed. I then rose, gave them for a text Isaiah xxvi. 4 : " Trust 
 ye in the Lord for ever : for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting 
 strength." The Lord gave light, liberty, and power ; the congregation 
 was melted into tears. There was present a professed infidel. The 
 word reached his heart by the Eternal Spirit. He was powerfully 
 convicted, and, as I believe, soundly converted to God that night, and 
 joined the Church, and afterward became a useful member of the same. 
 
 I travelled on this Circuit one quarter, took twenty-five into the 
 Church, and at the end of three months received six dollars. The 
 health of Brother Crutchfield, who was on the Waynesville Circuit, 
 having failed, he retired from labour, and Brother Garrett placed me 
 on that Circuit in his place, and put on the Circuit with me Thomas 
 Lasley, a fine young man, the son of an old local preacher who lived 
 in Green County. 
 
 Our Circuit was very large, reaching from the north of Green Eiver 
 to the Cumberland Eiver, and south of said river into the State of 
 Tennessee. Here was a vast field to work in ; our rides were long, 
 our appointments few and far between. There were a great many 
 Baptists in the bounds of the Circuit, and among them "were over 
 thirty preachers, some of whom were said to be very talented. In the 
 four weeks that it took us to go round the Circuit, we had but two days' 
 rest, and often we preached every day and every night ; and although in 
 my nineteenth year, I was nearly beardless, and cut two of my back jaw 
 teeth this year. Hence they called me the " boy preacher," and a great 
 many nocked out to hear the boy. A revival broke out in many 
 neighbourhoods, and scores of souls were converted to God and joined 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church ; but there was also considerable 
 persecution. 
 
 We had a preaching place in what, at that early day, was called 
 Stockton Valley. There were several of the members of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church scattered around in the neighbourhood, but 
 no organized class. The Baptists, some years before, had a society 
 here, and had built a log meeting-house, which was very common 
 at an early day in the West. It was covered with boards. 
 The Baptists flourished here for a considerable time, and they had
 
 30 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 enjoyed regular monthly preaching ; but the society had nearly died 
 out, and the preaching had been withdrawn for several years. The 
 house was old and out of repair. As I passed round my Circuit, I 
 was requested to preach a funeral sermon at this old church. Accord- 
 ingly, I left an appointment on a Sabbath. When I came, there was a 
 very large congregation. While I was preaching, the power of God 
 fell on the assembly, and there was an awful shaking among the dry 
 bones. Several fell to the floor and cried for mercy. 
 
 The people besought me to preach again at night. I gave out an 
 appointment accordingly, and, having several days' rest, owing to a 
 new arrangement in the Circuit, I kept up the meeting night and day 
 for some time, and at every coming together we had a gracious work. 
 Many obtained religion, and great was the joy of the people. There 
 were twenty-three very clear and sound conversions. As a matter of 
 course they felt a great love to me, whom they all claimed as the 
 instrument, in the hand of God, of their conversion. I was young 
 and inexperienced in doctrine, and especially was I unacquainted with 
 the proselyting tricks of those that held to exclusive immersion as the 
 mode, and the only mode, of baptism. I believe if I had opened the 
 doors of the Church then, all of them would have joined the Methodist 
 Church ; but I thought I would give them time to inform themselves. 
 Accordingly, I told them that when I came again, I would explain 
 our rules and open the doors of the Church, and then they could join 
 us if they liked our rules and doctrines. In the mean time I left 
 them some copies of our Discipline to read. 
 
 After doing this I started on my Circuit round, and although the 
 Baptist preachers had left this place, without preaching in it for years, 
 yet, in a few days after I was gone, there were sent on appointments 
 for the next Sabbath threeof the Baptist preachers, and they came on, and 
 all three preached as their custom was, and they all opened with the cry of, 
 " Water, water ! You must follow your Lord down into the water." 
 They then appointed what they called a union meeting there, to com- 
 mence the next Friday and hold over Sabbath ; and although I have 
 lived long and studied hard, I have never to this day found ont what 
 a Baptist means by a union meeting. But to return. The few 
 scattered Methodists in the neighbourhood took the alarm, for fear 
 these preachers would run my cbnverts into the water before I would 
 come round, and they dispatched an old exhorter after me, saying I 
 must come immediately, or my converts would all be ducked. I had 
 appointments out a-head, and I told the old exhorter, if I went, he 
 must go on and fill my appointments, to which he readily agreed. 
 So back I came on Friday to the commencement of their union meet- 
 ing. Two of them preached, but they paid no attention to me at all.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 31 
 
 As they had no meeting at night, I gave out an appointment for night 
 
 at S 's, Esq. He and his wife were two of my converts, and kind 
 
 of leaders in the neighbourhood. The people flocked out, and we had 
 a good meeting and two conversions. 
 
 Next day we repaired to the old log meeting-house, and heard two 
 more water sermons. When they were done preaching, they opened 
 the way for persons to join the Church by giving in their experience. 
 One old lady arose, and gave in something for an experience that had 
 happened about ten years before. Then an old man rose, and told a 
 remarkable dream he had in North Carolina twenty years before. 
 They were both accordingly received by giving them the right hand of 
 fellowship. There was then a seeming pause. The preachers urged 
 the people to come forward and give in their experience. 0, how I 
 felt ! I was afraid that some one of my young converts would break the 
 way, and the rest would then follow, and so I would lose all my eon- 
 verts. At length one of those young converts rose, and gave in his 
 experience, claiming me, under God, as the instrument of his convic- 
 tion and conversion ; then another and another, till twenty-three of 
 them told their experience ; every one of them claiming me, under 
 God, as the instrument of their salvation. 
 
 Their experiences were pronounced good, and the right hand of 
 fellowship was freely given, and there was great joy in the camp, but 
 it was death in the pot to me. I thought I could not bear up under 
 it. 1 was sitting thinking what I would do. " I am bereft of my 
 children, and what have I left ?" Just behind me sat a very intelligent 
 lady, who had long been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 About the time they were done giving the right hand of fellowship 
 and rejoicing over my stolen children, a thought struck my mind very 
 forcibly to give in my experience, and act as though I intended to 
 join the Baptist Church. " It may be that I can yet save them." I 
 rose up, and gave in my experience ; they gave me the right hand of 
 fellowship, and then there was great rejoicing over the Methodist 
 preaching boy. 
 
 Just as I sat down I felt some one touch me on the shoulder. I 
 turned, arid, as I looked round, I met the eyes of my intelligent 
 Methodist sister, and the large tears were coursing down her cheeks 
 and dropping off her chin. 
 
 " 0, brother," said she, in a subdued tone, " are you going to leave 
 us?" 
 
 I replied to her, " Dear sister, fear not ; I know what I am about. 
 Pray hard. I hope to retake my children yet." And though she did 
 not understand my plan, yet my reply seemed to quiet her fears. 
 
 There was a fine creek running near the old church. The preachers
 
 32 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 directed us all to appear next morning at nine o'clock, with a change 
 of apparel, to be baptized. 
 
 I held meeting again that night, and had a good time. My situation 
 was a critical one. I had no one to advise with. I dared not tell any 
 one what I was going to do, for fear my plan would out and my object 
 be defeated. I rose early next morning, retired to the woods, and if 
 ever I asked God in good earnest for help, it was then. 
 
 Brother and Sister S , with whom I stayed, prepared a change 
 
 of apparel, in order to baptism. At the appointed hour we all met at 
 the creek, but I took no change of apparel. I had been baptized, and 
 I did not intend to abjure my baptism. But I kept this all to myself. 
 There was a great crowd out to see us immersed. My twenty-three 
 young converts, and the two old, dry dreamers that first gave in their 
 experience, were all dressed and ready for the performance of what they 
 considered to be their Christian duty. The preachers appeared. One 
 of them sang and prayed, then gave us an exhortation, and bade us 
 come forward. I knew all the time that it was all-important to my 
 success that I should present myself first. Accordingly I stepped 
 
 forward, and said, "Brother M ," who was the preacher and 
 
 administrator, " I wish to join the Baptist Church, if I can come in 
 with a good conscience. I have been baptized, and my conscience is 
 perfectly satisfied with it, and I cannot submit to be re-baptized. Can 
 I come into your Church on these terms ?" 
 
 The position I occupied startled the preacher. 
 
 " When were you baptized?" he asked. 
 
 " Tears gone by," I replied. 
 
 " But how was it done ? Who baptized you ? " was the next inquiry. 
 
 " One of the best preachers the Lord ever made." 
 
 " Was it done by sprinkling ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " That is no baptism at all." 
 
 I replied, " The Scriptures say that baptism is not the putting away 
 the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience ; and my con- 
 science is perfectly satisfied with my baptism, and your conscience has 
 nothing to do with it." 
 
 " Well," said he, " it is contrary to our faith and order to let you 
 come into the Baptist Church in that way. We cannot do it." 
 
 " Brother M ," said I, " your faith and order must be wrong. 
 
 The Church has heard my experience, and pronounced it good ; and 
 you believe that I am a Christian, and cannot fall away so as to be 
 finally lost. What am I to do ? Are you going to keep me out of the 
 Church, bleating round the walls like a lost sheep in a gang by myself? 
 Brother M , vou must receive me into the Church. I have fully
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 33 
 
 made up my mind to join you on these terms ; now, will you let me 
 into the Church?" 
 
 Our preacher by this time had evidently lost his patience, and he 
 very sharply bid me stand away, and not detain others. It was an 
 intensely thrilling moment with me. I cast a look around on the 
 crowd, and saw they were enlisted in my favour. I cast a wistful eye 
 on the young converts ; their eyes met mine most sympathetically, and 
 many of them were weeping, they were so deeply affected. They all 
 involuntarily seemed to move toward me, and their looks plainly spoke 
 in my, favour. It was an awful moment. 0, how I felt ! Who can 
 describe my feelings ? 
 
 I stepped aside. Brother S stood next to the preacher, dressed 
 
 ready for baptism ; his wife was also dressed, and leaning on her 
 
 husband's arm. Brother S said : 
 
 " Brother M , are you going to reject Brother Cartwright, and 
 
 not receive him into the Church ? " 
 
 " I cannot receive him," said Brother M . 
 
 "Well," said Brother S , "if Brother Cartwright, who has 
 
 been the means, in the hand of God, of my conversion, and the saving 
 of so many precious souls, cannot come into the Church, I cannot and 
 will not join it." " Nor I," said his wife ; " Nor I," "Nor I;" and 
 thus it went round, until every one of my twenty-three young converts 
 filed off, and gathered around me. "That's right, brethren," said I ; 
 " stand by me, and don't leave me; the Lord will bring all right !" 
 
 Well, the two old dreamers were baptized, and then the preachers 
 urged the rest to come ; but all in vain. Now, my dear reader, just 
 imagine, if you can, how I felt. I had a great mind to shout right 
 out, and should have done so, but forbearance, at that time at least, 
 was a virtue. 
 
 From the creek we repaired to the old' log-church. Three of their 
 ministers preached ; and you may depend on it, I got a large share of 
 abuse. They compared me to the Pharisees of old ; for they said I 
 would not go in myself, and those that would go in I had prevented ; 
 but I bore it as best I could. They stated that in all probability these 
 souls that I had hindered would be lost ; and if so, their damnation 
 would be laid to me ! But this did not alarm me much ; for they had 
 pronounced us all Christians good and true, and had often in their 
 sermons there said that if a person were really converted, he never could 
 lose his religion. How, then, could we be lost ? and what was there 
 to alarm us ? The congregation saw the absurdity, and more and 
 more were interested in my favour. 
 
 Next came on their communion. There were some loose planks laid 
 across the benches, and all the members of their particular faith, that 
 
 D
 
 34 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 had been immersed, were invited to seat themselves on these planks. 
 I was determined to give them another downward tilt ; so I took my 
 seat with the communicants ; and some of the young converts, seeing 
 me do so, seated themselves there also. But when the deacons came 
 with the bread and wine, they passed us by. When they had got 
 round, I rose and asked for the bread and wine for myself and the 
 young converts. This threw a difficulty in the way of the deacons ; 
 however, they asked the preachers if they might give us the elements. 
 The preachers peremptorily forbade it. 
 
 I then said, " My brethren, you, after hearing our experience, pro- 
 nounced us Christians ; and you say a Christian never can be lost ; 
 and our Saviour pronounced a solemn woe on those that offend one of 
 His little ones : now do, therefore, give us the bread and wine ! " 
 
 One of the preachers gave me a sharp reproof, and told me to be 
 silent. This treatment enlisted the sympathies of almost the entire 
 assembly, and they cried out, "Shame! shame!" Just as the 
 preacher was about to dismiss the congregation, I rose, and asked of 
 them the privilege of speaking to the people fifteen or twenty minutes, 
 to explain myself. This they refused. I said, " Very well ; I am in 
 a free country, and know my rights." He then dismissed them, and I 
 sprang on a bench, and said to the people that if they would meet me 
 a few rods from the church, and hear me, I would make my defence. 
 
 The people flocked out ; I mounted an old log, and the crowd 
 gathered around me. I showed them the inconsistency of the Baptist 
 preachers, and laid it to them as well as my inexperience would 
 permit ; and closed by saying that, as I and my children in the Gospel 
 could not, in any consistent way, be admitted into the Baptist Church, 
 I was now determined to organize a Methodist Church. I explained 
 our rules, and invited all that were willing to join us, to come forward, 
 and give me their hands and names. Twenty-seven came forward, 
 all of my twenty-three young converts, and four others ; and before 
 the year ended, we took into the Church there seventy-seven members, 
 but my Baptist friends blowed almost entirely out. I was greatly 
 encouraged to go on, and do the best I could. 
 
 This year, (1804,) in the Western Conference there were 9,600 
 members ; our increase was 2,400. The number of travelling 
 preachers was 36. Our Annual Conference this fall was held in 
 October, at Mount Gerizim, in Kentucky. Our Annual Conferences 
 in those days were universally held with closed <loors, none but members 
 of the Conference, or visiting members from other Annual Conferences, 
 being permitted to occupy seats in the body. At this Conference 
 Bishop Asbury presided. 
 
 At the close of my labours on Waynesville Circuit, I was recora-
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 35 
 
 mended to the Annual Conference by the quarterly meeting as a proper 
 person to be received into the travelling connexion. There were 
 eighteen preachers recommended and received at this Conference, and, 
 perhaps, of this number, I am the only surviving one left. One by 
 one, these early pioneers in the travelling ranks have fallen victims to 
 death; most of them, as far as I am informed, witnessed a good con- 
 fession, and have gone to heaven to swell the triumphant shouts of the 
 redeemed, and meet their spiritual children in a better country than 
 the " far West." There was one of this number that made shipwreck, 
 and proved the truth of God's word, which says, " One -sinner 
 destroyeth much good." 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 PRIMITIVE METHODISM. 
 
 AT this Conference, in October, 1804, I was sent as the junior 
 preacher to Salt River and Shelbyville Circuits, which were joined 
 together, Benjamin Lakin in charge, and William M' Ken dree presiding 
 elder. 
 
 The Circuit was in the Kentucky District. It was a large six 
 weeks' Circuit, and extended from the rolling fork of Green River 
 south, to the Ohio Eiver north, and even crossed the Ohio into what 
 was then called Clark's, or the Illinois Grant, now in the eastern 
 portion of Indiana State. We had a little Book Concern then in its 
 infancy, struggling hard for existence. We had no Missionary Society ; 
 uo Sunday-school Society ; no Church papers ; no Bible or Tract 
 Societies ; no colleges, seminaries, academies, or universities ; all the 
 efforts to get up colleges under the patronage of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church in these United States and territories, were signal failures. 
 We had no pewed churches, no choirs, no organs ; in a word, we had 
 no instrumental music in our churches anywhere. The Methodists ill 
 that early day dressed plain ; attended their meetings faithfully, espe- 
 cially preaching, prayer and class-meetings ; they wore no jewellery, 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 reformation was ever heard of in 
 that day, but because it was interdicted in the General Rules of our Dis- 
 
 D 2
 
 3G THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 cipline. The Methodists of that day stood up and faced their 
 preacher when they sung ; they kneeled down in the public con- 
 gregation as elsewhere, when the preacher said, " Let us pray." There 
 was no standing among the members in time of prayer ; especially the 
 abominable practice of sitting down during that exercise was unknown 
 among early Methodists. Parents did not allow their children to go 
 to balls or plays ; they did not send them' to dancing schools ; they 
 generally fasted' once a week, and almost universally on the Friday before 
 each quarterly-meeting. If the Methodists had dressed in the same 
 " superfluity of naughtiness " then as they do now, there were very 
 few even out of the Church that would have any confidence in their 
 religion. But 0, how have things changed for the worse in this 
 educational age of the world ! I do declare there was little or no 
 necessity for preachers to say anything against fashionable and super- 
 fluous dressing in those primitive times of early Methodism ; the very 
 wicked themselves knew it was wrong, and spoke out against it in the 
 members of the Church. The moment we saw members begin to trim 
 in dress after the fashionable world, we all knew they would not hold 
 out. Permit me here to give a few cases in confirmation of some 
 things I have said. 
 
 This year, in my Circuit, there lived a very wealthy, fashionable 
 family. The good lady governess of this family attended a two days' 
 meeting I held in the neighbourhood. On Saturday, under preaching, 
 the Lord reached her proud heart, and although, perhaps, she was the 
 finest dressed lady in the congregation, when I invited mourners, she 
 was the first that came and fell on her knees, praying aloud for mercy. 
 It pleased God, before our meeting closed, to bless her with a sense of 
 pardoning mercy, and she rose and shouted aloud for joy ; she also 
 joined the Church. When we closed the meeting, I gave out our love- 
 feast for next morning at eight o'clock ; not a word was said about 
 dress. She went home, intending to come to lovefeast next morning, 
 but it occurred to her that all her superfluities ought to be laid aside 
 now, and that she, as a Christian, for example's sake, ought to go in 
 plain attire ; but, alas for her ! she had not a plain dress in the world. 
 Said she to herself, " What shall I do?" She immediately hunted \vp 
 the plainest and most easily altered dress she had. To work at it she 
 went ; trimmed it and fixed it tolerably plain. To lovefeast she came ; 
 and when she rose to speak, she told all about her trouble to get 
 plainly attired to appear in lovefeast as she thought she ought to. 
 Take another case : 
 
 I travelled in the State of Ohio in 1806, and at a largely attended 
 camp-meeting near New Lancaster, there was a great work of God 
 going on ; many were pleading for mercy ; many were getting religion ;
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 3? 
 
 and the wicked looked solemn and awful. The pulpit in the woods 
 was a large stand ; it would hold a dozen people, and I would not let 
 the lookers-on crowd into it, but kept it clear that at any time I might 
 occupy it for the purpose of giving directions to the congregation. 
 
 There were two young ladies, sisters, lately from Baltimore, or 
 somewhere down east. They had been provided for on the ground in 
 the tent of a very religious sister of theirs. They were very fashion- 
 ably .dressed ; I think they must have had, in rings, earrings, bracelets, 
 gold chains, lockets, &c., at least one or two hundred dollars' worth of 
 jewellery about their persons. The altar was crowded to overflowing 
 with mourners ; and these young ladies were very solemn. They met 
 me at the stand, and asked permission to sit down inside it. I told 
 them that if they would promise me to pray to God for religion, they 
 might take a seat there. They were too deeply affected to be idle 
 lookers-on ; and when I got them seated in the stand, I called them, 
 and urged them to pray ; and I called others to my aid. They became 
 deeply engaged ; and about midnight they were both powerfully con- 
 verted. They rose to their feet, and gave some very triumphant 
 shouts ; and then very deliberately took off their gold chains, earrings, 
 lockets, &c., and handed them to me, saying, " We have no more use 
 for these idols. If religion is the glorious, good thing you have 
 represented it to be, it throws these idols into eternal shade." 
 
 Take still another case in point. In 1810, when I was travelling in, 
 West Tennessee, at a camp-meeting I was holding there was a great 
 revival in progress. At that time, it was customary for gentlemen of 
 fashion to wear raffled shirts. There was a wealthy gentleman thus 
 attired at our meeting, and he was brought under strong conviction. 
 1 led him to the altar with the mourners ; and he was much engaged. 
 But it seemed there was something he would not give up. I was 
 praying by his side, and talking to him, when all on a sudden he stood 
 erect on his knees, and with his hands he deliberately opened his shirt 
 bosom, took hold of his ruffltes, tore them off, and threw them down 
 in the straw ; and in less than two minutes God blessed his soul, 
 and he sprang to his feet, loudly praising God. 
 
 I state these cases to show that unless the heart is desperately 
 hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, there is a solemn con- 
 viction on all minds that fashionable frivolities are all contrary to the 
 humble spirit of our Saviour ; but idolatry is dreadfully deceptive, 
 and we must remember that no idolater hath any inheritance in the 
 kingdom of God. Let the Methodists take care. 
 
 We had at this early day no course of study prescribed, as at 
 present; but William M'Kendree, afterward bishop, but then my pre- 
 siding elder, directed me to a proper course of reading and study. He
 
 38 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 selected books for me, both literary and theological; and every 
 quarterly visit he made, he examined into my progress, and corrected 
 my errors, if I had fallen into any. He delighted to instruct me in 
 English grammar. 
 
 Brother Lakin had charge of the Circuit. My business was to 
 preach, meet the classes, visit the society and the sick, and then to my 
 books and study ; and I say that I am more indebted to Bishop 
 M'Kendree for my little attainments in literature and divinity, than to 
 any other man on earth. And I believe that if presiding elders would 
 do their duty by young men in this way, it would be more advantageous 
 than all the colleges and biblical institutes in the land ; for they then 
 could learri and practise every day. 
 
 Suppose, now, Mr. Wesley had been obliged to wait for a literary 
 and theologically trained band of preachers before he moved in the 
 glorious work of his day, what would Methodism have been in the 
 Wesleyan Connexion to-day? Suppose the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church in these United States had been under the necessity of waiting 
 for men thus qualified, what would her condition have been at this 
 time ? In despite of all John Wesley's prejudices, he providentially 
 saw that, to accomplish the glorious work for which God had raised 
 him up, he must yield to the superior wisdom of Jehovah, and send 
 out his "lay preachers" to wake up a slumbering world. If Bishop 
 Asbury had waited for this choice literary band of preachers, infidelity 
 would have swept these United States from one end to the other. 
 
 Methodism in Europe this day would have been as a thousand to 
 one, if the Wesleyans had stood by the old land-marks of John 
 Wesley : but no ; they must introduce pews, literary institutions, and 
 theological institutes, till a plain, old-fashioned preacher, such as one 
 of Mr. Wesley's " lay preachers," would be scouted, and not allowed to 
 occupy one of their pulpits. Some of the best and most useful men 
 that were ever called of God to plant Methodism in this happy 
 republic, were among the early pioneer preachers, east, west, north, 
 and south ; and especially in our mighty West. We have no such 
 preachers now as some of the first ones, who were sent out to 
 Kentucky and Tennessee. 
 
 The Presbyterians and other Calvinistic branches of the Protestant 
 Church, used to contend for an educated ministry, for pews, for 
 instrumental music, for a congregational or stated salaried ministry. 
 The Methodists universally opposed these ideas, and the illiterate 
 Methodist preachers actually set the world on fire, (the American 
 world at least,) while they were lighting their matches ! 
 
 Methodist preachers were called by literary gentlemen, illiterate, 
 ignorant babblers. I recollect once to have come across one of these
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 39 
 
 Latin and Greek scholars, a regular graduate in theology. In order 
 to bring me into contempt in a public company, he addressed me in 
 Greek. In my younger days I had learned considerable of German. 
 I listened to him as if I understood it all, and then replied in Dutch. 
 This he knew nothing about, neither did he understand Hebrew. He 
 concluded that I had answered him in Hebrew, and immediately caved 
 in, and stated to the company that I was the first educated Methodist 
 preacher he ever saw. 
 
 I do not wish to undervalue education, but really I have seen so 
 many of these educated preachers who forcibly reminded me of lettuce 
 growing under the shade of a peach-tree, or like a gosling that had got 
 the straddles by wading in the dew, that I turn away sick and faint. 
 Now this educated ministry and theological training are no longer an 
 experiment. Other denominations have tried them, and they have 
 proved a perfect failure ; and is it not strange that Methodist 
 preachers will try to gather up these antiquated systems, when 
 enlightened Presbyterians and Congregationalists have acknowledged 
 that the Methodist plan is the best in the world, and try to improve, 
 as they say, our system, alleging that our educational institutions have 
 created a necessity for theological institutes ? Verily we have fallen 
 on evil times. Is it possible that now, when we abound in education, 
 we need biblical instruction more than when we had no education, 
 or very little ? Surely, if we ever needed Bible instruction, it was 
 when we could derive no benefit from literary institutions. This is 
 my common-sense view of the subject. 
 
 I awfully fear for our beloved Methodism. Multiply colleges, uni- 
 versities, seminaries, and academies ; multiply our agencies, and 
 editorships, and fill them all with our best and most efficient 
 preachers, and you localize the ministry and secularize them too ; then 
 farewell to itinerancy ; and when this fails we plunge right into Con- 
 gregationalism, and stop precisely where all other denominations 
 started. I greatly desire to see all the interests of the Methodist 
 Church promoted, and when all our presidents, professors, editors, 
 and agents shall be laymen, and our ministers follow their appropriate 
 calling, namely, preach the Gospel to a dying world ; and if they will 
 not fall into the travelling ranks and be men of one work, let them 
 locate ; for it is certain, as long as they fill these offices and agencies, 
 it is like a man undertaking to ride a race with the reins of his 
 horse's bridle tied to a stump. Every man who fills these offices and 
 agencies, and retains a membership in the travelling connexion, is a 
 clog to the itinerant wheels, and must, ere long, stop the travelling 
 car ; and when that takes place, farewell to Methodism. 
 
 Is it not manifest that the employing so many of our preachers in
 
 40 THE BACKWOODS PREA.CHEK. 
 
 these agencies and professorships is one of the great causes why we 
 have such a scarcity of preachers to fill the regular work ? More- 
 over, these presidents, professors, agents, and editors, get a greater 
 amount of pay, and get it more certainly too, than a travelling 
 preacher, who has to breast every storm, and often falls very far short 
 of his disciplinary allowance. Here is a great temptation to those 
 who are qualified to fill those high offices to seek them, and give up 
 the regular work of preaching and trying to save souls. And is it 
 not manifest to every candid observer that very few of those young 
 men who believe they are called of God to preach the Gospel, and are 
 persuaded to go to a college or a biblical institute, the better to 
 qualify them for the great work of the ministry, ever go into the 
 regular travelling ministry ? The reason is plainly this : having 
 quieted their consciences with the flattering unction of obtaining a 
 sanctified education, while they have neglected the duty of regularly 
 preaching Jesus to dying sinners, their moral sensibilities are blunted, 
 and they see an opening prospect of getting better pay as teachers in 
 high schools or other institutions of learning, and from the prospect 
 of gain they are easily persuaded that they can meet their moral 
 obligations in disseminating sanctified learning. Thus, as sure as a 
 leaden ball tends to the earth in obedience to the laws of gravity, just 
 so sure our present modus operandi tends to a congregational ministry. 
 And if this course is pursued a little longer, the Methodist Church 
 will bid a long, long farewell to her beloved itinerancy, to which we, 
 under God, owe almost everything that is intrinsically valuable in 
 Methodism. 
 
 It is said that the young men who are studying in the Biblical 
 Institute at Concord, which is patronized by all the New-England Con- 
 ferences, spend their evenings, and especially their Sabbaths, in the 
 surrounding villages, lecturing and preaching, to the great satisfaction 
 and edification of the Churches, and their brethren give them some- 
 thing to aid in their support while they are prosecuting their studies. 
 But who is so hoodwinked or cable-towed by prejudice, as not to see 
 that this very course is well calculated to sap the foundation of the 
 itinerancy, and supplant the regularly appointed pastor, or supersede 
 his labours, and will finally end in a settled ministry ? But I must 
 resume the narrative. 
 
 Our Conference this fall, 1805, was held at Cole's Meeting-house, 
 Scott County, Kentucky. Bishop Asbury, in consequence of affliction, 
 failed to. be with us, and the Conference elected William M'Kendree 
 president. Six more preachers were admitted on trial. The number 
 of travelling preachers was 38. Our membership numbered 11,877 ; 
 and our increase in members was 2,277.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 41 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 SCIOTO CIRCUIT. 
 
 MY appointment, during 1805-6, was on the Scioto Circuit, Ohio 
 State and District. John Sale was presiding elder, and James Quinn* 
 was senior preacher, or preacher in charge. The reader will see how 
 greatly I was favoured the first two years of my regular itinerant life, 
 to be placed under two such men as Benjamin Lakin and James 
 Quinn, and more, two such presiding elders as William M'Kendree 
 and John Sale. These four men were able ministers of Jesus Christ, 
 lived long, did much good, witnessed a good confession, died happy, and 
 are all now safely housed in heaven. Peace to their memory for ever ! 
 
 Scioto Circuit extended from the Ohio Biver to Chillicothe, situated 
 on that river ; and crossed it near the mouth, at what is now called 
 Portsmouth. It was a four-weeks' Circuit, and there were 474 mem- 
 bers on it. Dr. Tiffin, who was governor of the State, was a local 
 preacher; and both he and his wife were worthy members of our 
 Church. He lived at Chiliicothe, then the seat of government for the 
 State. 
 
 There were two incidents happened while I was on the east end of 
 this Circuit, which I will relate. 
 
 We had an appointment near Eagle Creek. Here the Shakers 
 broke in Mr. Dunlevy, whom we have mentioned elsewhere as having 
 been a regular Presbyterian minister, who had left that Church and 
 joined the New Lights. His New Light increased so fast, that he 
 lost what little sense he had, and was now a ranting Shaker. He 
 came up here, and roared and fulminated a while, led many astray, 
 flourished for some time, and then his influence died away, and he left 
 for parts unknown. 
 
 On the south-eastern part of the Circuit, we took in a new preach- 
 ing place, at a Mr. Moor's. We gave them Sunday preaching. Mr. 
 Moor had built a large hewn log-house, two stories high. There was 
 no partition in the second story ; but it was seated, and he gave it to 
 us to preach in. Not far from this place lived a regularly educated 
 Presbyterian preacher, who had a fine family, and was in many 
 respects a fine man, but, unhappily, he had contracted a love for 
 strong drink. He had preached in this neighbourhood, and was much 
 beloved, for he was withal a very good preacher. 
 
 In making my way on one occasion to Mr. Moor's, to my Sunday 
 appointment, I got lost and was belated, arid when I arrived, there 
 * See Appendix E. James Quinn,
 
 43 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 was a large assembly collected, and this minister was preaching to 
 them, and he preached well, and I was quite pleased with the sermon 
 so far as I heard it. When he was done, he undertook to make a 
 public apology for a drunken spree he had got into a few days before. 
 " Well," thought I, " this is right; all right, I suppose!" But to 
 excuse himself for his unaccountable love of whiskey, he stated that 
 he had been informed by his mother that before he was born she 
 longed for whiskey ; and he supposed that this was the cause of his 
 appetite for strong drink, for he had loved it from his earliest 
 recollection. This was the substance of his apology. 
 
 I felt somewhat indignant at this ; and when I rose to close after 
 him, 1 stated to the congregation that I thought the preacher's apo- 
 logy for drunkenness was infinitely worse than the act of drunkenness 
 itself; that I looked upon it as a lie, and a downright slander on his 
 mother ; and that I believed his love of whiskey was the result of the 
 intemperate use of it, in which he had indulged until he formed the 
 habit ; and that I, for one, was not willing to accept or believe the 
 truth of his apology ; that I feared the preacher would live and die a 
 drunkard, and be damned at last ; and that I hoped the people there 
 would not receive him as a preacher until he gave ample evidence that 
 he was entirely cured of drunkenness. 
 
 After I made these statements, I felt that God was willing to bless 
 the people there and then ; and, raising my voice, gave them as warm 
 an exhortation as I could command. Suddenly an awful power fell 
 on the congregation, arid they instantly fell right and left, and cried 
 aloud for mercy. I suppose there were not less than thirty persons 
 smitten down ; the young, the old, and middle-aged, indiscriminately, 
 were operated on in this way. My voice at that day was strong and 
 clear ; and I could sing, exhort, pray, and preach almost all the time, 
 day and night. I went through the assembly, singing, exhorting, 
 praying, and directing poor sinners to Christ. While I was thus 
 engaged, the Presbyterian minister left. 
 
 There were a few scattered members of the Church around this 
 place, who got happy and shouted aloud for joy, and joined in and 
 exhorted sinners, and they helped me very much. Indeed, our meet- 
 ing lasted all night, and the greater part of next day. Between 
 twenty and thirty professed religion, and joined the Church ; and fully 
 as many more went home under strong conviction and in deep dis- 
 tress. Many of them afterward obtained religion, and joined the 
 Church. 
 
 There was a very remarkable case that I will mention here. There 
 was one lady about forty-five years old, who was a member of the 
 Presbyterian Church, and a very rigid predestinarian. Her husband
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 43 
 
 was a Methodist, and several of their children had obtained religion 
 among the young converts. This lady got powerfully convicted, and 
 concluded that she never had any religion. She had fallen to the floor 
 under the mighty power of God. She prayed and agonized hard for 
 days. At length the devil tempted her to believe that she was a 
 reprobate, and that there was no mercy for her. She went into black 
 despair under this temptation of the devil, and such was the desperate 
 state of her mind, that at length she conceived that she was Jesus 
 Christ, and took it upon her, in this assumed character, to bless and 
 curse any and all that came to see her. 
 
 The family were, of course, greatly afflicted, and the whole neigh- 
 bourhood were in great trouble at this afflictive dispensation. Her 
 friends and all of us used every argument in our power, but all in vain. 
 She at length utterly refused to eat, or drink, or sleep. In this con- 
 dition she lingered for thirteen days and nights, and then diedVithout 
 ever returning to her right mind. A few persecutors and opposers of 
 the Methodists tried to make a great fuss about this affair, but they 
 were afraid to go far with it, for fear the Lord would send the same 
 affliction on them. 
 
 The Hockhocking Eiver lay immediately north of us, the Scioto 
 River between us. John Meek and James Axley were appointed to 
 that Circuit. The Circuit reached from the Scioto to Zanesville, on 
 the Muskingum Eiver. It was a hard and laborious Circuit. Brother 
 Meek's health failed, and Brother Sale, our presiding elder, moved me 
 me from Scioto, and placed me on this Circuit with Brother Axley. I 
 was sorry to leave the brethren in Scioto Circuit, and especially Brother 
 Quinn, whom I dearly loved ; but Brother Sale was still my presiding 
 elder, and Brother Quinn's family lived in Hockhocking Circuit, and a 
 precious family it was. 
 
 I got to see Brother Quinn every round. Brother Axley and myself 
 were like Jonathan and David. There were no parsonages in those 
 days, and Brother Quinn lived in a little cabin on his father-in-law's 
 land. He had several children, and his cabin was small. When the 
 preachers would come to see him, they would eat and converse with 
 Brother Quinn and family, but would sleep at old Father Teel's, Brother 
 Quinn's father-in-law. The first time I came round, I spent the after- 
 noon with Brother Quinn. He made some apologies, and told me I 
 could sleep better at Father Teel's. " But," said he, " I will tell you 
 how you must do. You will sleep, at Father Teel's, in one part of his 
 double cabin ; he and his family will sleep in the other. His cxistom 
 is to rise early. As soon as ever he dresses himself he commences 
 giving out a hymn, sings, and then goes to prayer ; he does not even 
 wait for his family to get up. He serves the preachers the same way.
 
 44 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 He never was known to wait a minute for any preacher except Bishop 
 Asbury. You must rise early, dress quickly, and go right into the 
 other room, if you want to be at morning prayer. I thought I would 
 tell you beforehand, that you might not be taken by surprise." 
 
 I thanked him. "But," said I, "why don't the preachers cure 
 the old man of this disorderly way ? " 
 
 " O, he is old and set in his way," said Brother Quinn. 
 
 " You may rest assured I will cure him," said I. 
 
 " 0, no," said he, " you cannot." 
 
 So I retired to old "Father Teel's to sleep. We had family prayer, 
 and I retired to rest. I had no fear about the matter; for I was 
 a constant early riser, and always thought it very wrong for preachers 
 to sleep late and keep the families waiting on them. Just as day broke 
 I awoke, rose up, and began to dress ; but had not nigh accomplished 
 it when I distinctly heard Teel give out his hymn and commence 
 singing, and about the time I had got dressed I heard him commence 
 praying. He gave thanks to God that they had been spared through 
 the night, and were all permitted to see the light of a new day, and at 
 the same time I suppose every one of his family was fast asleep. I 
 deliberately opened the door and walked out to the well, washed myself, 
 and then walked back to my cabin. Just as I got to the door, the old 
 brother opened his door, and, seeing me, said : 
 
 " Good morning, sir. Why, I did not know you were up." 
 
 " Yes," said I ; " I have been up some time." 
 
 " Well, brother," said he, " why did you not come in to prayers?" 
 
 " Because," said I, " it is wrong to pray of a morning in the family 
 before we wash." 
 
 The old brother passed on, and no more was said at that time. 
 That evening, just before we were about to retire to rest, the old 
 brother set out the book and said to me : 
 
 " Brother, hold prayers with us." 
 
 " No, sir," said I. 
 
 Said he : " Come, brother, take the book and pray with us." 
 
 " No, sir," said I ; " you love to pray so well you may do it 
 yourself." 
 
 He insisted, but I persistently refused, saying, 
 
 " You are so fond of praying yourself, that you even thanked God 
 this morning that He had spared you all to see the light of a new day, 
 when your family had not yet opened their eyes, but were all fast 
 asleep. And you have such an absurd way of holding prayers in your 
 family, that I do not wish to have anything to do with it." 
 
 He then took up the book, read, and said prayers, but you may rely 
 on it the next morning things were much changed. He waited for me,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 45 
 
 and had all his family up in order. He acknowledged his error, and 
 told me it was one of the best reproofs he ever got. I then prayed 
 with the family, and after that all went on well. 
 
 Our last quarterly-meeting was a camp-meeting. We had a great 
 many tents, and a large turn-out for a new country, and, perhaps, 
 there never was a gi'eater collection of rabble and rowdies. They came 
 drunk, and armed with dirks, clubs, knives, and horse-whips, and 
 swore they would break up the meeting. After interrupting us very 
 much on Saturday night, they collected early on Sunday morning, 
 determined on a general riot. At eight o'clock I was appointed to 
 preach. About the time I was half through my discourse, two very 
 fine-dressed young men marched into the congregation with loaded 
 whips, and hats on, and rose up and stood in the midst of the ladies, 
 and began to laugh and talk. They were near the stand, and I 
 requested them to desist and get off the seats ; but they cursed me, 
 and told me to mind my own business, and said they Avould not get 
 down. I stopped trying to preach, and called for a magistrate. There 
 were two at hand, but I 'saw they were both afraid. I ordered them 
 to take these men into custody, but they said they could not do it. I 
 told them, as I left the stand, to command me to take them, and 
 I would do it at the risk of my life. I advanced toward them. They 
 ordered me to stand off, but I advanced. One of them made a pass at 
 my head with his whip, but I closed in with him, and jerked him off 
 the seat. A regular scuffle ensued. The congregation by this time 
 were all in commotion. I heard the magistrates give general orders, 
 commanding all friends of order to aid in suppressing the riot. In the 
 scuffle I threw my prisoner down, and held him fast ; he tried his best 
 to get loose ; I told him to be quiet, or I would pound his chest well. 
 The mob rose, and rushed to the rescue of the two prisoners, for they 
 had taken the other young man also. An old and drunken magistrate . 
 came up to me, and ordered me to let my prisoner go. I told him 
 I should not. He swore if I did not, he would knock me down. I 
 told him to crack away. Then one of my friends, at my request, took 
 hold of my prisoner, and the drunken justice made a pass at me ; but 
 I parried the stroke, and seized him by the collar and the hair of the 
 head, and, fetching him a sudden jerk forward, brought him to the 
 ground, and jumped on him. I told him to be quiet, or I would 
 pound him well. The mob then rushed to the scene ; they knocked 
 down seven magistrates, and several preachers and others. I gave up 
 my drunken prisoner to another, and threw myself in front of the friends 
 of order. Just at this moment, the ringleader of the mob and I met ; 
 he made three passes at me, intending to knock me down. The last 
 time he struck at me, by the force of his own effort, he threw the side
 
 46 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 of his face toward me. It seemed at that moment I had not power to 
 resist temptation, and I struck a sudden blow in the burr of the ear and 
 dropped him to the earth. Just at that moment the friends of order 
 rushed by hundreds on the mob, knocking them down in every direc- 
 tion. In a few minutes, the place became too strait for the mob, and 
 they wheeled and fled in every direction ; but we secured about thirty 
 prisoners, marched them off to a vacant tent, and put them under 
 guard till Monday morning, when they were tried, and every man was 
 fined to the utmost limits of the law. The aggregate amount of fines 
 and costs was near three hundred dollars. They fined my old drunkeu 
 magistrate twenty dollars, and returned him to court, and he was 
 cashiered of his office. On Sunday, when we had vanquished the mob, 
 the whole encampment was filled with mourning ; and although there 
 was no attempt to resume preaching till evening, yet such was our 
 confused state, that there was not then a single preacher on the ground 
 willing to preach, from the presiding elder, John Sale, down. Seeing 
 we had fallen on evil times, my spirit was stirred within me. I said 
 to the elder, " I feel a clear conscience ; for under the necessity of the 
 circumstances we have done right ; and now I ask to let me preach." 
 
 " Do," said the elder ; " for there is no other man on the ground 
 can do it." 
 
 The encampment was lighted up, the trumpet blown, I rose in the 
 stand, and required every soul to leave the tents and come into the 
 congregation. There was a general rush to the stand. I requested the 
 brethren, if ever they prayed in all their lives, to pray now. My voice 
 was strong and clear, and my preaching was more of an exhortation 
 and encouragement than anything else. My text was, " The gates of 
 hell shall not prevail." In about thirty minutes the power of God fell 
 on the congregation in such a manner as is seldom seen ; the people 
 fell in every direction, right and left, front and rear. It was supposed 
 that not less than three hundred fell like dead men in mighty battle ; 
 and there was no need of calling mourners, for they were strewed all 
 over the camp-ground ; loud wailings went up to heaven from sinners 
 for mercy, and a general shout from Christians, so that the noise was 
 heard afar off. Our meeting lasted all night, and Monday and Monday 
 night ; and when we closed on Tuesday, there were two hundred who 
 had professed religion, and about that number joined the Church. 
 
 Brother Axley and myself pulled together like true yoke-fellows. 
 We were both raised in the backwoods, and well understood frontier 
 life. Brother Axley was truly a child of nature ; a great deal of stern- 
 ness and firmness about him as well as oddity. He knew nothing 
 about polished life. I will here relate a little circumstance that took 
 place with him and myself at Governor Tiffin's, in Chillicothe.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 47 
 
 This year, Brother Axley, while T was on the Scioto Circuit, came 
 over to see me, and he preached for me in Chillicothe. The governor 
 and his amiable wife were much delighted with Brother Axley. The 
 governor's house was the preacher's home, and we went there. The 
 governor was easily excited, and he had not entire command of his 
 risibilities. Sister Tiffin had great command of herself. She could 
 control the muscles of her face, and look stern, when she pleased. 
 They had no children ; but they had a very nice little lap-dog. We 
 were called from the parlour to supper, and, among other eatables, 
 they had fried chicken, and tea and coffee. Sister Tiffin asked Brother 
 Axley if he would have some of the chicken. He said, yes, he was 
 very fond of it. She helped him to some ; it was a leg unjointed. 
 Brother Axley never offered to cut the flesh off of it, but took it in his 
 fingers, and ate it in that way ; and when he had got the flesh from the 
 bone, he turned round and whistled for the little lap-dog, and threw 
 the bone down on the carpet. I saw the governor was excited to 
 laughter, but he suppressed it. I cast an eye at Sister Tiffin ; she 
 frowned, and shook her head at me, as much as to say, " Do not laugh." 
 This passed off tolerably well. 
 
 It was the custom in those days to eat a while before the tea and 
 coffee were dished out. Said Sister Tiffin to Brother Axley, " Will 
 you have a cup of tea or coffee?" He asked her if she had any milk. 
 She answered, " Yes." " Well, sister," said he, " give me some milk, 
 for they have nearly scalded my stomach with tea and coffee, and I 
 don't like it." I really thought the governor would burst out into 
 loud laughter, but he suppressed it ; and I thought I must leave the 
 table to laugh ; but casting my eye again at Sister Tiffin, she frowned, 
 and shook her head at me, which helped me very much. 
 
 When we went up to bed, said I : " Brother Axley, you surely are 
 the most uncultivated creature I ever saw. Will you never learn any 
 manners ?" 
 
 Said he, " What have I done ?" 
 
 " Done ! " said I ; " you gnawed the meat off of your chicken, hold- 
 ing it in your fingers ; then whistled up the dog, and threw your bone 
 down on the carpet ; and more than this, you talked right at the 
 governor's table, and in the presence of Sister Tiffin, about scalding 
 your stomach with tea and coffee." He burst into tears, and said, 
 " Why did you not tell me better? I didn't know any better." 
 
 Next morning when we awoke, he looked up and saw the plastering 
 of the room all round. " Well," said he, " when I go home I will 
 tell my people that I slept in the governor's house, and it was a stone 
 house too, and plastered at that." 
 
 Having been raised almost in a cane brake, and never been accustomed
 
 48 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 to see anything but log-cabins, it was a great thing for him to behold 
 a good house and sleep in a plastered room. But I tell you, my 
 readers, he was a great and good minister of Jesus Christ. He often 
 said, a preacher that was good and true, had a trinity of devils to 
 fight ; namely, superfluous dress, whiskey, and slavery ; and he seldom 
 ever preached but he shared it to all three of these evils like a man of 
 God. 
 
 Brother Axley entered the travelling connexion in 1804, travelled 
 nineteen years, and in 1823 located. He was remarkably useful as a 
 local preacher. He was industrious and economical ; lived neat and 
 comfortable, but, by going security for a friend, he lost nearly all his 
 property. The Church helped him ; but he never recovered his former 
 easy and comfortable circumstances, and died in comparative poverty. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 ITINERANT LIFE. 
 
 AT the close of this Conference year, 1806, I met the Kentucky 
 preachers at Lexington, and, headed by William Burke, about twenty 
 of us started for Conference, which was held in East Tennessee, at 
 Ebenezer Church, Nollichuckie, September 15th. Our membership 
 had increased to 12,670 ; our net increase was about 800. 
 
 This year another presiding-elder District was added to the Western 
 Conference, called the Mississippi District. The number of our 
 travelling preachers increased from 38 to 49. Bishop Asbury attended 
 the Conference. There were thirteen of us elected and ordained 
 deacons. Two years before there were eighteen of us admitted on 
 trial ; that number, in this short space of time, had fallen to thirteen ; 
 the other five were discontinued at their own request, or from sickness, 
 or were reduced to suffering circumstances, and compelled to desist 
 from travelling for want of the means of support. 
 
 I think I received about forty dollars this year ; but many of our 
 preachers did not receive half that amount. These were hard times in 
 those Western wilds ; many, very many, pious and useful preachers, 
 were literally starved into a location. I do not mean that they were 
 starved for want of food ; for although it was rough, yet the preachers 
 generally got enough to eat. But they did not generally receive in a 
 whole year money enough to get them a suit of clothes ; and, if 
 people, and preachers too, had not dressed in home-spun clothing, 
 and the good sisters had not made and presented their preachers with 
 clothing, they generally must retire from itinerant life, and go to work
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 49 
 
 and clothe themselves. Money was very scarce in the country at this 
 early day, but some of the best men God ever made breasted the 
 storms, endured poverty, and triumphantly planted Methodism in this 
 Western world. 
 
 When we were ordained deacons at this Conference, Bishop Asbury 
 presented me with a parchment certifying my ordination in the follow- 
 ing words, namely : 
 
 "KNOW all by these presents, That I, Francis Asbury, bishop of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in America, under the protection of 
 Almighty God, and with a single eye to His glory, by the imposition of 
 my hands and prayer, have this day set apart Peter Cartwright for the 
 office of a DEACON in the said Methodist Episcopal Church ; a man 
 whom I judge to be well qualified for that work ; and do hereby recom- 
 mend him to all whom it may concern, as a proper person to administer 
 the ordinances of baptism, marriage, and the burial of the dead, in the 
 absence of an elder, and to feed the flock of Christ, so long as his 
 spirit and practice are such as become the Gospel of Christ, and 
 he continueth to hold fast the form of sound words, according to the 
 established doctrine of the Gospel. 
 
 " In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 
 sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
 hundred and six. 
 
 " FRANCIS ASBURY." 
 
 I had travelled from Zanesville, in Ohio, to East Tennessee, to Con- 
 ference, a distance of over five hundred miles ; and when our appoint- 
 ments were read out, I was sent to Marietta Circuit, almost right 
 back, but still further east. Marietta was at the mouth of the Mus- 
 kingum Eiver, where it emptied iiito the Ohio. This Circuit extended 
 along the north bank of the Ohio one hundred and fifty miles, crossed 
 over the Ohio Eiver at the mouth of the Little Kanawha, and up that 
 stream to Hughes River, then east to Middle Island. I suppose it 
 was three hundred miles round. I had to cross the Ohio River four 
 times every round. 
 
 It was a poor and hard Circuit at that time. Marietta and the 
 country round were settled at an early day by a colony of Yankees. 
 At the time of my appointment I had never seen a Yankee, and I had 
 heard dismal stories about them. It was said they lived almost entirely 
 on pumpkins, molasses, fat meat, and bohea tea; moreover, that they 
 could not bear loud and zealous sermons, and they had brought on 
 their learned preachers with them, and they read their sermons, and 
 were always criticizing us poor backwoods preachers. When my 
 
 E
 
 50 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 appointment was read out, it distressed me greatly. I went to Bishop 
 Asbury, and begged him to supply my place, and let me go home. The 
 old father took me in his arms, and said, 
 
 " O no, my son ; go in the name of the Lord. It will make a man 
 of you." 
 
 Ah, thought I, if this is the way to make men, I do not want to be 
 a man. I cried over it bitterly, and prayed too. But on I started, 
 cheered by my presiding elder, Brother J. Sale. If ever I saw hard 
 times, surely it was this year ; yet many of the people were kind, and 
 treated me friendly. I had hard work to keep soul and body together. 
 The first Methodist house I came to, I found the brother a Universalist. 
 I crossed over the Muskingum River to Marietta. The first Methodist 
 family I stopped with there, the lady was a member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, but a thorough Universalist. She was a thin-faced, 
 Eoman-nosed, loquacious Yankee, glib on the tongue, and you may 
 depend on it, I had a hard race to keep up with her, though I found it a 
 good school, for it set me to reading my Bible. And here permit me to 
 say, of all the isms that I ever heard of, they were here. These descend- 
 ants of the Puritans were generally educated, but their ancestors were 
 rigid Predestinarians ; and as they were sometimes favoured with a little 
 light on their moral powers, and could just " see men as trees walk- 
 ing," they junlped into Deism, Universalism, Unitarianism, See., &c. 
 I verily believe it was the best school I ever entered. They waked me 
 up on all sides ; Methodism was feeble, and I had to battle or run, 
 and I resolved on the former. 
 
 There was here in Marietta a preacher by the name of A. Sargent ; 
 he had been a Universalist preacher ; but finding such a motley gang 
 as I have above mentioned, he thought (and thought correctly too) 
 that they were proper subjects for his imposture. Accordingly, he 
 assumed the name of Halcyon Church, and proclaimed himself the mil- 
 lennial messenger. He professed to see visions, fall into trances, and 
 to converse with angels. His followers were numerous in the town 
 and country. The Presbyterian and Congregational ministers were 
 afraid of him. He had men preachers and women preachers. The 
 Methodists had no meeting-house in Marietta. We had to preach in 
 the court-house when we could get a chance. We battled pretty 
 severely. The Congregationalists opened their Academy for me to 
 preach in. I prepared myself, and gave battle to the Halcyons. This 
 made a mighty commotion. In the meantime we had a camp-meeting 
 in the suburbs of Marietta. Brother Sale, our presiding elder, was 
 there. Mr. Sargent came, and hung around, and wanted to preach, 
 but Brother Sale never noticed him. I have said before that he pro- 
 fessed to go into trances and have visions. He would swoon away,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 51 
 
 fall, and lie a long time ; and when he would come too, he would tell 
 what mighty things he had seen and heard. 
 
 On Sunday night, at our camp-meeting, Sargent got some powder, 
 and lit a cigar, and then walked down to the bank of the river, one hundred 
 yards, where stood a large stump. He put his powder on the stump, and 
 touched it with his cigar. The flash of the powder was seen by many 
 at the camp ; at least the light. When the powder flashed, down fell 
 Sargent ; there he lay a good while. In the meantime, the people 
 found him lying there, and gathered around him. At length, he came 
 too, and said he had a message from God to us Methodists. He said 
 God had come down to him in a flash of light, and he fell under the 
 power of God, and thus received his vision. 
 
 Seeing so many gathered around him there, I took a light, and went 
 down to see what was going on. As soon as I came near the stump, I 
 smelled the sulphur of the powder; and stepping up to the stump, 
 there was clearly the sign of powder, and hard by lay the cigar with 
 which he had ignited it. He was now busy delivering his message. 
 I stepped up to him, and asked him if an angel had appeared to him in 
 that flash of light. 
 
 He said, " Yes." 
 
 Said I, " Sargent, did not that angel smell of brimstone ?" 
 
 " Why," said he, " do you ask me such a foolish question?" 
 
 " Because," said I, " if an angel has spoken to you at all, he was 
 from the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone ! " and raising my 
 voice, I said, "I smell sulphur now!" I walked up to the stump, 
 and called on the people to come and see for themselves. The people 
 rushed up, and soon saw through the trick, and began to abuse Sargent 
 for a vile impostor. He soon left, and we were troubled no more 
 with him or his brimstone angels. 
 
 I will beg leave to remark here, that while I was battling success- 
 fully against the Halcyons, I was treated with great respect by the 
 Congregational minister and his people, and the Academy was always 
 open for me to preach in ; but as soon as I triumphed over and 
 vanquished them, one of the elders of the Congregational Church 
 waited on me, and informed me that it was not convenient for me to 
 preach any more in their Academy. ,1 begged the privilege to make one 
 more appointment in the Academy, till I could get some other place 
 to preach in. This favour, as it was only one more time, was granted. 
 
 I then prepared myself; and when my appointed day rolled around, 
 the house was crowded ; and I levelled my whole Arminian artillery 
 against their Calvinism ; and challenged their minister, who was 
 present, to public debate ; but he thought prudence the better part of 
 valour, and declined. This eifort secured me many friends, and some 
 
 E2
 
 52 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 persecution ; but my way was opened, and we raised a little class, and 
 had a name among the living. 
 
 I will here mention a special case of wild fanaticism that took 
 place with one of these Halcyon preachers while I was on this Circuit. 
 He worked himself up into the belief that he could live so holy in this 
 life, that his animal nature would become immortal, and that he would 
 never die ; and he conceived that he had gained this immortality, and 
 could live without eating. In despite of all the arguments and per- 
 suasion of his friends, he -refused to eat or drink. He stood it sixteen 
 days and nights, and then died a suicidal death. His death put a stop 
 to this foolish delusion, and threw a damper over the whole Halcyon 
 fanaticism. 
 
 I will here state something like the circumstances I found myself in 
 at the close of my labours on this hard Circuit. I had been from 
 my father's house about three years; was five hundred miles from 
 home ; my horse had gone blind ; my saddle was worn out ; my bridle 
 reins had been eaten up and replaced (after a sort) at least a dozen 
 times ; and my clothes had been patched till it was difficult to detect 
 the original. I had concluded to try to make my way home, and get 
 another outfit. I was in Marietta, and had just seventy-five cents in 
 my pocket. How I would get home and pay my way I could not tell. 
 
 But it was of no use to parley about it ; go I must, or do worse ; so 
 I concluded to go as far as I could, and then stop and work for more 
 means, till I got home. I had some few friends on the way, but not 
 many ; so I cast ahead. 
 
 My first day's travel was through my Circuit. At about thirty-five 
 miles' distance there lived a brother, with whom I intended to stay all 
 night. I started, and late in the evening, within five miles of my 
 stopping place, fell in with a widow lady, not a' member of the Church, 
 who lived several miles off my road. She had attended my appoint- 
 ments in that settlement all the year. After the usual salutations, she 
 asked me if I was leaving the Circuit. 
 
 I told her I was, and had started for my father's. 
 
 "Well," said she, "how are you off for money? -I expect you 
 have received but little on this Circuit." 
 
 I told her I had but seventy-five cents in the world. She invited me 
 home with her, and told me she would give me a little to help me 
 on. But I told her I had my places fixed to stop eveiy night till I got 
 to Maysville; and if I went home with her, it would derange all my 
 stages, and throw me among strangers. She then handed me a dollar, 
 saving it was all she had with her, but if I would go home with her 
 the would give me more. I declined going with her, thanked her for 
 the dollar, bade her farewell, moved on, and reached my lodging-place.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 53 
 
 By the time I reached the Ohio River, opposite Maysville, my money 
 was all gone. I was in trouble about how to get over the river, for I 
 had nothing to pay my ferriage. 
 
 I was acquainted with Brother J. Armstrong, a merchant in Mays- 
 ville, and concluded to tell the ferryman that I had no money ; but if he 
 would ferry me over, I could borrow twenty-five cents from Armstrong, 
 'and would pay him. Just as I got to the bank of the river he landed, 
 on my side, with a man and a horse ; and when the man reached the 
 bank, I saw it was Colonel M. Shelby, brother to Governor Shelby, of 
 Kentucky. He was a lively exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, and an old acquaintance and neighbour of my father's. 
 
 When he saw me, he exclaimed : 
 
 "Peter, is that you?" 
 
 " Yes, Moses," said I, " what little is left of me." 
 
 " Well," said he, " from your appearance you must have seen hard 
 times. Are you trying to get home." 
 
 " Yes," I answered. 
 
 " How are you off for money, Peter?" said he. 
 
 " Well, Moses," said T, " I have not a cent in the world." 
 
 " Well," said he, " here are three dollars, and I will give you a bill of 
 the road, and a letter of introduction till you get down into the barrens, 
 at the Pilot Knobb." 
 
 You may be sure my spirits greatly rejoiced. So I passed on very 
 well for several days and nights on the colonel's money and credit ; but 
 when I came to the first tavern beyond the Pilot Knobb, my money was 
 out. What to do I did not know, but I rode up and asked for quarters. 
 I told the landlord I had no money ; had been three years from home, 
 and was trying to get back to my father's. I also told him I had a 
 little old watch, and a few good books in my saddle-bags, and I would 
 compensate him in some way. He bade me alight and be easy. 
 
 On inquiry I found this family had lived here from an early day, 
 totally destitute of the Gospel and all religious privileges. There were 
 three rooms in this habitation, below the dining-room, and a back 
 bed-room, and the kitchen. The kitchen was separated from the other 
 lower rooms by a thin plank partition, set up on an end ; and the 
 planks had shrunk and left considerable cracks between them. 
 
 When we were about to retire to bed, I asked the landlord if he had 
 any objection to our praying before we lay down. He said, " None 
 at all ;" and stepped into the kitchen, as I supposed, to bring in the 
 family. He quickly returned with a candle in his hand, and said, 
 "Follow me." I followed into the back bed-room. Whereupon he 
 set down the candle, and bade me good night, saying, " There, you 
 can pray as much as you please."
 
 54 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 I stood, and felt foolish. He had completely ousted me ; but it 
 immediately occurred to me that I would kneel down and pray with 
 a full and open voice ; so down I knelt, and commenced praying 
 audibly. I soon found, from the commotion created in the kitchen, 
 that they were taken by surprise as much as I had been. I distinctly 
 heard the landlady say, " He is crazy, and will kill us all this night. 
 Go, husband, and see what is the matter." But he was slow to 
 approach ; and when I ceased praying, he came in, and asked me what 
 was the cause of my acting in this strange way. I replied, " Sir, did 
 you not give me the privilege to pray as much as I pleased ? " 
 " Yes," said he, " but I did not expect you would pray out." I told 
 him I wanted the family to hear prayer ; and as he had deprived me of 
 that privilege, I knew of no better way to accomplish my object than 
 to do as I had done, and I hoped he would not be offended. 
 
 I found he thought me deranged, but we fell into a free con- 
 versation on the subject of religion, and, I think, I fully satisfied him 
 that I was not beside myself, but spoke forth the words of truth with 
 soberness. 
 
 Next morning I rose early, intending to go fifteen miles to an 
 acquaintance for breakfast, but as I was getting my horse out of the 
 stable the landlord came out, and insisted that I should not leave till 
 after breakfast. I yielded, but he would not have anything for my 
 fare, and urged me to call on him if ever I travelled that way 
 again. I will just say here, that in less than six months I called on 
 this landlord, and he and his lady were happily converted, dating their 
 conviction from the extraordinary circumstances of the memorable 
 night I spent with them. 
 
 I found other friends on my journey till I reached Hopkinsville, 
 Christian County, within thirty miles of my father's, and 1 had just 
 six and a quarter cents left. This was a new and dreadfully wicked 
 place. I put up at a tavern kept by an old Mr. M'. The landlord 
 knew my father. I told him I had not money to pay my bill, but as 
 soon as I got home I would send it to him. He said, " Very well," 
 and made me welcome. His lady was a sister of the apostate Dr. 
 Allen whom I have elsewhere mentioned. 
 
 Shortly after I laid down I fell asleep. Suddenly I was aroused by 
 a piercing scream, or screams, of a female. I supposed that some- 
 body was actually committing murder. I sprung from my bed, and, 
 after getting half dressed, ran into the room from whence issued the 
 piercing screams, and called out, " What 's the matter here ? " The 
 old gentleman replied, that his wife was subject to spasms, and often 
 had them. I commenced a conversation with her about religion. I 
 found she was under deep concern about her soul. I asked if I might
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 55 
 
 pray for her. " 0, yes," she replied, " for there is no one in this 
 place that cares for my soul." 
 
 I knelt and prayed, and then commenced singing, and directed her 
 to Christ as an all-sufficient Saviour, and prayed again. She suddenly 
 sprung out of the bed and shouted, " Glory to God ! He has blessed 
 my soul." It was a happy time indeed. The old gentleman wept 
 like a child. We sung and shouted, prayed and praised, nearly all 
 night. Next morning the old landlord told me my bill was paid ten- 
 fold, and that all he charged me was, every time I passed that way, to 
 call and stay with them. 
 
 Next day I reached home with the six and a quarter cents unex- 
 pended. Thus I have given you a very imperfect little sketch of the 
 early travel of a Methodist preacher in the Western Conference. My 
 parents received me joyfully. I tarried with them several weeks. My 
 father gave me a fresh horse, a bridle and saddle, some new clothes, 
 and forty dollars in cash. Thus equipped, I was ready for another 
 three years' absence. 
 
 Our Conference, this year, was held in Chillicothe, September 14th, 
 1807. Our increase of members was 1,180; increase of travelling 
 preachers, 6. From the Conference in Chillicothe I received my 
 appointment for 1807-8, on Barren Circuit, in Cumberland District, 
 James Ward, presiding elder, who employed Lewis Anderson to travel 
 with me. This brother is now a member of the Illinois Conference. It 
 was a four weeks' Circuit. We had several revivals of religion in 
 different places. The Circuit reached from Barren Creek, north of 
 Green Eiver, to the head of Long Creek, in Tennessee State. I 
 received about forty dollars quarterage. We had an appointment 
 near Glasgow, the county seat of Barren County. A very singular 
 circumstance took place in this Circuit this year, something like the 
 following : 
 
 There were two very large Baptist Churches east of Glasgow. 
 These Churches had each very talented and popular preachers for their 
 pastors, by the name of W. and H. The Baptists were numerous and 
 wealthy, and the great majority of the citizens were under Baptist 
 influence. The Methodists had a small class of about thirteen mem- 
 bers. There lived in the settlement a gentleman by the name of L., 
 who was raised under the Baptist influence, though not a member of 
 the Church. His lady was a member of one of these large Baptist 
 Churches. Mr. L. was lingering in the last stages of consumption, 
 but without religion. These Baptist ministers visited him often, and 
 advised, and prayed with and for him. Learning that I was in the 
 neighbourhood, he sent for me. I went ; he seemed fast approaching 
 his end, wasted away to a mere skeleton ; he had to be lifted, like a
 
 56 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 child, in and out of the bed. I found him penitent, and prayed with 
 him, sat up with him, and in the best way I knew I pointed him to 
 Jesus. It pleased God to own the little effort, and speak peace to his 
 troubled soul ; he was very happy after this. He told me the next 
 morning that he wished to be baptized, join the Church, and receive 
 the sacrament, In the mean time, the Baptist ministers came to see 
 him, and, as I knew he was raised under Baptist denominational influ- 
 ences, I was at a loss to know how to act. I took the two Baptist 
 ministers out, and said to them, " This afflicted brother has obtained 
 religion, and he desires to be baptized, join the Church, and receive 
 the sacrament. And," said I, " brethren, you must now take the case 
 into your own hands, and do with it as you think best. He was raised 
 a Baptist, and, as a matter of course, he believes in immersion. 
 And," said I, " my opinion is, if he is immersed, he cannot sur- 
 vive it ; and as you are strong in the faith of immersion, you must 
 administer it." 
 
 " No, no," said they ; " he is your convert, and you must do all he 
 desires. We believe, as well as you, that he cannot be immersed." 
 
 " Now," said I, " brethren, he wants not only to be baptized, but 
 wants to join the Church, the Baptist Church of course ; and if I bap- 
 tize him by sprinkling or pouring, you will not receive him into the 
 Baptist Church ; or, in other words, if I do, will you receive him into 
 your Church ? " 
 
 " Well, no," said they ; " we cannot do it." 
 
 " Now," said I, " brethren, this is a very solemn affair. You will 
 not baptize him and take him into your Church ; and if I baptize him, 
 still you will not receive him. There must be something wrong about 
 this very solemn matter." 
 
 They then said they would have nothing to do with it ; that I must 
 manage it in my own way. I then went and consulted the wife of the 
 sick man. I told her what her ministers had said. " Now," said I, 
 " sister, what must I do ? " 
 
 Said she, "Go and ask my husband, and do as he wishes, and I 
 will be satisfied." 
 
 I went, and said, " Brother L., if I baptize you, it must be by 
 sprinkling or pouring ; you cannot be immersed." 
 
 Said he, " I know I can't, and I am willing to be baptized in any 
 mode ; it is not essential." 
 
 As soon as preparation was made, I baptized him by sprinkling, 
 and then proceeded to consecrate the elements and administer the 
 sacrament. I turned and invited both of the Baptist ministers to 
 come and commune with the dying saint, but they refused. Then I 
 turned to his wife, and invited her to come and commemorate the
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 57 
 
 dying sorrows of her Saviour with her flying husband. She paused 
 for a moment, and then, bursting into a flood of tears, said, " I will ;" 
 and came forward, and I administered to them both. 
 
 After this I said, " Brother L., do you wish to have your name 
 enrolled with the members of the little class of Methodists that 
 worship in the neighbourhood ? " 
 
 He said, " 0, yes ; " and then added, " Before you get round your 
 Circuit, I shall be no more on earth, and I wish you to preach at my 
 funeral." 
 
 After consultation with his wife, I left an appointment for his 
 funeral. In a few days he breathed his last, and went oft' triumphant. 
 
 When I came to the appointment, there was a vast crowd. We 
 had a very solemn time. I stated all the circumstances above nar- 
 rated, and at the close I opened the door of the Church, and Mrs. L., 
 and six others of her relatives, all members of the Baptist Church, 
 came forward and joined the Methodists. This circumstance gave us 
 a standing that enabled us to lift our heads and breathe more freely 
 afterward. 
 
 In the course of this year we carried Methodist preaching into a 
 Baptist congregation on Bacon Creek. A great many of their mem- 
 bers gave up Calvinism, close communion, and immersion, and joined 
 the Methodist Church ; and we took possession of their meeting- 
 hovige, and raised a large Society there that flourishes to this day. 
 Out oi this revival several preachers were raised up that trained and 
 blessed the Methodist Episcopal Church for years afterward. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 MEETING IN A WAGGON. 
 
 OWING to the newness of the country, the scarcity of money, the 
 fewness of qur numbers, and their poverty, it was a very difficult 
 matter for preachers to obtain support, especially married men with 
 families. From this consideration many of our preachers delayed 
 marriage, or, shortly after marriage, located. Indeed, such was our 
 poverty, that the Discipline was a perfectly dead letter on the subject 
 of house rent, table expenses, and a dividend to children ; and although 
 I had acted as one of the stewards of the Conference for years, these 
 rules of the Discipline were never acted upon, or any allowance made, 
 till 1813, when Bishop Asbury, knowing our poverty and suiferings in 
 the West, had begged from door to door in the older Conferences, and
 
 58 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 came on and distributed ten dollars to each child of a travelling 
 preacher under fourteen years of age. 
 
 After mature deliberation and prayer, toward the close of my 
 labours on the Barren Circuit, I thought it was my duty to marry, 
 and was joined in marriage to Frances Gaines, on the 18th of August, 
 1808, which was her nineteenth birthday; and we had our infare at 
 my father's, on the 1st of September following, which was my twenty- 
 third birthday. 
 
 The Conference, this fall, was held at Liberty Hill, Tennessee, on 
 the 1st of October, 1808. Our increase in members this year was 
 about 1,350 ; our increase of travelling preachers was 10. We had 
 three new presiding-elder Districts formed this year, namely, Indiana, 
 Miami, and Muskingum, making seven presiding-elder Districts in the 
 Western Conference. 
 
 At this Conference I was elected and ordained an elder by Bishop 
 M'Kendree. The parchment reads as follows, viz. : 
 
 " KNOW all men by these presents, That I, William M'Kendree, one 
 of the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, under 
 the protection of Almighty God, and with a single eye to His glory, 
 by the imposition of my hands and prayer, (being assisted by the 
 elders present,) have this day set apart Peter Cartwright for the office 
 of an elder in the said Methodist Episcopal Church ; a man whom I 
 judge to be well qualified for that work ; and I do hereby recommend 
 him, to all whom it may concern, as a proper person to administer the 
 sacraments and ordinances, and to feed the flock of Christ, so long as 
 his spirit and practice are such as become the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 " In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 
 fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
 hundred and eight. 
 
 " WILLIAM M'KENDREE." 
 
 " Liberty Hill, Tennessee." 
 
 My appointment, this year, was to Salt Eiver Circuit, Kentucky 
 District, James Ward presiding elder. This was a part of the Circuit I 
 had travelled in the years 1804 and 1805. 
 
 In the course of this year my father died, and left me to settle his 
 little estate, which, owing to the forms of law, took me several months, 
 which was the longest time I have ever had from the regular work of a 
 travelling preacher in fifty years ; but upon a proper presentation of 
 the case to my presiding elder, he gave me liberty to go and attend to 
 this business. Giving me this liberty by the presiding elder was then 
 according to Discipline.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 59 
 
 At tlie close of the Conference year 1808-9, I attended Conference 
 at Cincinnati, and there reported myself ready for regular work, and 
 my appointment was to Livingston Circuit. Our increase of member- 
 ship was 4,051 ; our increase of travelling preachers was 21. 
 
 Livingston Circuit was in the Cumberland District, Learner Black- 
 man presiding elder. This was my first field of labour as an exhorter ; 
 which Circuit I had formed in the days of my boyhood, and had then 
 returned to J. Page, presiding elder, 70 members. They had increased 
 now to 427 ; a good increase for six years. 
 
 We had not a very prosperous year, but we had some gracious out- 
 pourings of the Spirit of God. I held a camp-meeting this year, 
 which lasted four days and nights, without any ministerial aid, save 
 one little exhorter and an old drunken Baptist preacher, who preached 
 for me once, on Sunday. He then and there confessed his dissipation, 
 and wept bitterly, and made us all cry. We had about thirty con- 
 verts at this meeting. At the close of the meeting we had many 
 seekers who had not obtained comfort. Twelve of them got into 
 a two-horse waggon, and myself with them. We had to go about 
 fifteen miles ; but before we reached our home every one of them got 
 powerfully converted, and we sung and shouted aloud along the road, 
 to the very great astonishment of those who lived along the way. That 
 ni^ht the whole .neighbourhood gathered in, and we had a glorious 
 time. Several more were powerfully converted, and many deeply con- 
 victed. The work broke out around the settlement, and scores were 
 brought to a saving knowledge of the truth. 
 
 I will here relate an incident that took place this year, con- 
 cerning one of our Methodist preachers ; his name was J. D. He 
 was raised a very bigoted Dunker, or Seventh-day Baptist. When 
 the Methodist preachers came into his settlement, he violently 
 opposed them, asserting the Dunkers were right and everybody 
 else wrong. After a while, however, he either really or pre- 
 tendedly got under deep conviction, and professed religion. (This 
 was when the Methodists had borne down all opposition and become 
 popular.) He joined the Methodists, and they soon licensed him to 
 preach. Now he had found the right way, and all the rest were wrong. 
 He had considerable talent, but was a very lazy man. However, the 
 Methodists got him on a Circuit a while, and he was popular, but did 
 not get money enough to support him ; so lie located, and went into 
 land speculations, and got under par as a good man. This year he 
 moved into the bounds of my Circuit, and we renewed our former 
 acquaintance, preached together often, and really we were in a fair way 
 of doing much good. We broke into a very large Free-will Baptist 
 settlement, where the preacher was a very weak brother. We rose
 
 60 THE BACKWOODS PKEACHER. 
 
 high in public opinion, and the Baptists offered us a good salary if we 
 would join them and become their pastors. This was a little too much 
 for my Brother D. He came to me one day, and said, " Brother 
 Cartwright, you and I have young and growing families ; if we would join 
 these Baptists, they would give us a handsome support, and, as they 
 have no preacher in all this country of any talents, we could sway 
 a mighty influence, getting hundreds into their Church, and secure 
 a good living for our families in all time to come. Don't you think," 
 said he, " it would be best to do it?" I replied, " Brother D., ' get 
 thee behind me, Satan: for thou art an offence to me.' If money, sir, 
 or a good living, had been my prime object in joining a Church, I 
 should never have joined the Methodists ; but when I joined them, 
 I joined them from a firm conviction, believing them to be the best 
 people in the world ; and the longer I live with them, and the more I 
 understand of their doctrine and system of Church government, the 
 more firmly I am settled in mind to abide my choice ; and this 
 world has not treasure enough to allure me from the Methodist 
 Church." 
 
 Poor human nature ! The temptation was too strong. Brother D. 
 yielded, joined the Free-will Baptists, and was soon installed their 
 pastor. Well, now, he proclaimed, he had certainly found the right 
 way, and all the world was wrong. Well, it was not long before he was 
 caught in a criminal act, which ruined his moral character, and he was 
 dismissed from his pastoral charge. I will here say that this said J. D., 
 was formerly my armour-bearer in the great contest I had with the 
 Shakers at Busroe, in Indiana, mentioned elsewhere in this narrative. 
 What next? Why, J. D. went and joined the Shakers; and now 
 from heaven God had revealed it to him that he was right and every- 
 body else wrong. The Shakers, hearing of his instability of cha- 
 racter, had very little confidence in him. They put him to hard labour 
 to try him. This he could not stand ; and presently left them, took 
 up with a scattered band of New Lights, moved to Texas, and I expect 
 the devil has got him in safe keeping long before this time. 
 
 Our increase for 1809-10 was 1,950. Increase of travelling 
 preachers, 15. 
 
 At this Conference I was returned to Livingston Circuit, Cum- 
 berland District ; Learner Blackman presiding elder. At the close 
 of this year, 1810-11, we met at New Chapel, Shelby County, 
 Kentucky, November 1st, 1810. Our increase of members, this Con- 
 ference year, 4,264 ; increase of travelling preachers, 13. 
 
 The Western Conference met the last time as the Western Con- 
 ference, at Cincinnati, October 1st, 1811, and our increase this year 
 was 3,600. Our increase in preachers was 10. Our strength of
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 61 
 
 membership in the entire Western Conference at its last session as 
 a Western Conference, was 30,741. In 1787, we had but ninety 
 members that were officially reported from the West ; and if, as we 
 have elsewhere stated, that at the General Conference of May 1st, 
 1800, in Baltimore, the Western Conference was regularly organized, 
 with about two thousand members, the reader will plainly see what 
 God wrought in eleven years by the pioneer fathers that planted 
 Methodism in this vast W 7 estern wilderness ; and of the little band of 
 travelling preachers that then ploughed the wilderness, say twelve men, 
 none are now living save Mr. Henry Smith. In the fall of 1804, 
 when I joined the Conference, there were a little over 9,000 members 
 in the Western Conference; in 1811, 30,741. There were then a little 
 over 40 travelling preachers, and in,1810 over 100 ; and vet, at this 
 time there are not more than six of us left lingering on the shores of 
 time to look back, look around, and look forward to the future of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, for weal or for woe. Lord, save the 
 Church from desiring to have pews, choirs, organs, or instrumental 
 music, and a Congregational ministry, like other heathen Churches 
 around them ! 
 
 In 1804, the membership of the whole Church was 119,945, 
 travelling preachers 433, throughout the United States' territories 
 and Canada. Their increase this year, throughout the Union, was 
 6,811. In 1812, when the Western Conference was divided into Ohio 
 and Tennessee Conferences, our entire membership had increased to 
 184,567 ; increase of members in eight years, near 65,000. Tra- 
 velling ministers in 1804, 433 ; in 1812, 688. 
 
 In 1811 we elected our delegates to the first delegated General 
 Conference ever holden by the Methodist Episcopal Church. -This 
 General Conference was holden in New York, May ,1st, 1812. At 
 this General Conference, the Western Conference, which hacLexisted 
 some twelve years, was divided into two Annual Conferences, called 
 Ohio and Tennessee. The Ohio Conference was composed" of the 
 following presiding-elder Districts, namely, Ohio District, Muskingum 
 District, Scioto District, Miami District, Kentucky District, and Salt 
 River District : six. Tennessee Conference was composed of ; tbe 
 following Districts, namely, Holston District, Nashville District, 
 Cumberland District, Wabash District, Mississippi District, and 
 Louisiana District : six. It will be seen that the State of .Kentucky 
 was divided between the two Conferences. There were members in Ohio 
 Conference, 23,284; in Tennessee Conference, 22,700. There were 
 in Ohio Conference, travelling preachers, 64 ; in Tennessee, 62. These 
 statistics are for 1812. 
 
 I was appointed to Christian Circuit, Wabash District ; James
 
 62 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 Axley presiding elder. This was a four weeks' Circuit, most of it 
 parts and fragments of other Circuits. I formed it into a four weeks' 
 Circuit. We had some splendid revivals this year, and took in some 
 three hundred members. We had two or three very successful camp- 
 meetings ; at one of them I baptized one hundred and twenty-seven 
 adult persons and forty-seven children, all by sprinkling, save seven 
 adults, whom I immersed. One of them was the daughter of a very 
 celebrated Baptist minister. 
 
 Tn the north end of my Circuit there was a District of densely 
 populated country, about thirty-five miles across. A Methodist 
 preacher had seldom, even if ever, preached in this district of country. 
 About midway of it there lived a Baptist minister, with a large society 
 and a large meeting-house. He, at an early day, had settled among 
 them, and prejudiced nearly all the country against the Methodist 
 preachers and people. 
 
 I had to make a day's ride through this settlement every round, and 
 thought it singular that no Methodist preacher, as I could learn, had 
 ever made a break in it ; and I determined to make one in this region 
 somehow or somewhere. While riding through, I stopped at many 
 houses, and asked for the privilege to preach among them. They 
 looked shy, and denied me. I prayed God to open my way ; and at 
 length, through an acquaintance I had made, left an appointment to 
 preach at the Baptist meeting-house on my next round. 
 
 The Baptist minister publicly warned the people not to hear me ; 
 but somehow the novelty of the thing excited their curiosity, and, 
 though a week-day, a large congregation turned- out, and, among the 
 rest, their preacher. He told me he should not hinder me that time 
 from preaching in his meeting-house ; " but," said he, " you must 
 leave no more appointments at my church, or if you do, you will find 
 the doors barred against you." Well, I had to submit. I went in, 
 and preached as well as I could, and the congregation were consider- 
 ably affected, even to weeping. I called on the Baptist minister to 
 conclude, but he refused ; so, after closing the services, I told the con- 
 gregation that I could preach to them every round, but that their 
 minister had forbidden me the use of his meeting-house any more ; 
 but if there was any man present that would open his private house 
 for me to preach in, I would leave an appointment. A gentleman 
 rose up, and tendered me the use of his house, and invited me home 
 with him for dinner ; so I left an appointment, and went with this man 
 and partook of his hospitalities. 
 
 When I came round to my appointment, the house was filled 
 to overflowing, though large. While I was preaching, near the close 
 of the discourse, suddenly the power of God fell on the congregation
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 63 
 
 like a flash of lightning, and the people fell right and left ; some 
 screamed aloud for mercy, others fell on their knees and prayed out 
 aloud ; several Baptist members fell to the floor under the power of 
 God. There was a Baptist preacher present. After I had talked, and 
 exhorted, and sung a long time, I called on this preacher to pray, but 
 he was so astounded that, he told me, he could not pray. Our meet- 
 ing lasted nearly all night. About twelve persons were converted in 
 the good old way, and shouted aloud the praises of God. I opened 
 the doors of the Church, and thirteen came forward and joined. From 
 this time the work broke out, and many professed religion, and we 
 succeeded in planting Methodism on a firm footing here. The Baptist 
 minister who was pastor of the congregation that worshipped at the 
 meeting-house where I preached, had a dreadful rude set of children, 
 especially a daughter whom they called Betsy. She would stand on 
 the seats, point and laugh, and when any would fall under the power 
 of God, she would say it was nothing but a Methodist fit. 
 
 At a camp-meeting this summer, held on the land of E. Dellam, 
 Esq., now of St. Louis, a fine man, old Valentine Cook, of precious 
 memory, attended with me, and laboured like a true minister of Christ. 
 There was a large crowd of people, and mostly raised under old Baptist 
 influence and prejudice, and as ignorant of Methodism and the power 
 of religion as the beasts that perish. There were several preachers to 
 aid Brother Cook and myself, but all our preaching seemed powerless. 
 The meeting dragged heavily till Sunday. Brother Cook and myself 
 walked out to pray : when we rose from our knees, Brother Cook said 
 to me : 
 
 " Brother, have you any faith?" 
 
 " A little," I replied. 
 
 " I have some," said he. 
 
 We were both to preach in succession, commencing at eleven o'clock. 
 He was to preach first, and I to follow. Said he to me : 
 
 " If I strike fire, I will immediately call for mourners, and you must 
 go into the assembly and exhort in every direction, and I will manage 
 the altar. But," said he, " if I fail to strike fire, you must preach ; 
 and if you strike fire, call the mourners and manage the altar. I will 
 go through the congregation, and exhort with all the power God 
 gives me." 
 
 We repaired to the stand. He preached; it seemed as if every 
 word took effect. There was no outbreak ; the vast crowd were melted 
 into silent tears. When he closed, he bade me rise and preach. I 
 did so. Just as I was closing up my sermon, and pressing it with all 
 the force I could command, the power of God suddenly was displayed, 
 and sinners fell by scores through all the assembly. We had no need
 
 64 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 of a mourners' bench. It was supposed that several hundred fell in 
 five minutes ; sinners turned pale ; some ran into the woods, some 
 tried to get away and fell in the attempt ; some shouted aloud for joy ; 
 among the rest my Baptist preacher's daughter, whom we have called 
 Betsy. As I went through the assembly, I came across Betsy, who 
 had fallen to the earth, and was praying at a mighty rate. When I 
 came to her, she said to me : 
 
 " 0, do pray for me ; I am afraid I am lost and damned for ever ! " 
 
 I said to her, " Betsy, get up ; you have only got a Methodist fit," 
 (using her former language ;) but she roared the louder two or three 
 times. I bid her get up, saying to her, " You are playing the 
 hypocrite, and have only got a Methodist fit ; get up, Betsy." But I 
 assure you she was past getting up. Just hard by I saw her father, 
 the Baptist preacher. He was crying, and shaking every joint in him. 
 I went to him, and said, " Brother A., come and pray for Betsy." 
 He replied, 
 
 " Lord, have mercy on me ! I cannot pray." 
 
 " Amen," said I. " Pray on, Brother A., the Lord will have 
 mercy." I then exhorted Betsy, and prayed for her. If ever I saw 
 the great deep of a sinner's heart broken up, hers was. She wrestled 
 and prayed all night. Next morning, about sunrise, the Lord in a 
 powerful manner converted her. She rose and went over the camp- 
 ground like a top. She at length met her father, the preacher, and of 
 all the exhortations that I ever heard fall from the lips of a mortal, 
 hers was the most powerful to her father. She said to him : 
 
 " You, father, have taught me from my childhood to hate and 
 despise the Methodists, till my soul was well-nigh lost and ruined 
 for ever ! " 
 
 She then assured him that he had no religion at all, and begged 
 him to repent and get his soul converted. She made him kneel down, 
 and she engaged for him in mighty prayer. 
 
 i. .(About eleven o'clock on Monday I opened the doors of the Church, 
 and forty-two joined, and, among the rest, Betsy. From this meeting 
 a revival spread almost through the entire country round, and great 
 additions were made to the Methodist Church. The Circuit was 
 large, embracing parts of Logan, Muhlenburgh, Butler, Christian, and 
 Caldwell Counties in Kentucky, and parts of Montgomery, Dixon, and 
 Stewart Counties in Tennessee. 
 
 On the' west part of Ked River there was a Presbyterian settled, 
 who had a large brick church. He had settled at an early day, and 
 the few scattered Methodists who lived in the bounds of his con- 
 gregation, -having no Methodist preaching, had joined his Church 
 rather thaa 'live out of Church altogether. I was invited to preach
 
 THE BACKAVOODS PREACHER. 65 
 
 about five miles from this minister's church. I sent an appointment. 
 At the time a large congregation turned out ; the people were deeply 
 affected. When I closed, I stated to the assembly that I could preach 
 to them every four weeks, if they desired it. They told me they did, 
 and I accordingly left another appointment. When I came, the house 
 was crowded, arid the Presbyterian minister came. I preached, and 
 there was a general weeping all through the congregation. The 
 minister concluded for me, and I left another appointment. The 
 minister stayed and dined with me. After dinner he asked me to 
 walk out with him. I did so. When we had seated ourselves, he 
 told me he wanted to talk to me about my preaching in that neighbour- 
 hood. He said that this neighbourhood was in the bounds of his con- 
 gregation; that I was heartily welcome to preach ; "but," paid he, "you 
 must not attempt to raise any society." I told him that was not our 
 way of doing business ; that we seldom ever preached long at any 
 place without trying to raise a society. He said I must not do it. I 
 told him the people were a free people and lived in a free country, and 
 must and ought to be allowed to do as they pleased ; that I should 
 never condescend to try to proselyte ; but if I continued to preach there, 
 and if any of the people desired to join the Methodist Church, I should 
 surely give them the privilege to do so ; and that I understood there 
 were ten or twelve members of the Methodist Church had joined his 
 Church as Methodists, with the fair understanding that if the Meth- 
 odists ever organized a society convenient to them, they were to have 
 the privilege of joining their own Church without any hard thoughts 
 or censures. He said that was true ; but if we raised a society, it 
 would diminish his membership, and cut off his support. " Well," 
 said I, " my dear sir, if the people want me to preach to them, I shall 
 do it ; and if they desire to join our Church, I shall take them in ; and 
 I intend, when I come nex,t time, to organize a class, for several have 
 desired me to do so." Said he, " I will be here, and will openly 
 oppose you." Said I, " If you think that the best way, do so." 
 While I was absent for three Sabbaths successively, he opened his 
 batteries on me, told them what I had said, and warned them not to at- 
 tend my meeting. This roused the whole country, and made me many 
 fast friends ; even his own members remonstrated against his course, 
 saying to him, nobody was obliged to join the Methodists ; and if they 
 preferred the Methodist Church to his, it was their right to join it. 
 
 When I came round, we had a vast crowd out, but the minister did 
 not appear. At the close of my sermon I read our General Eules, and 
 explained our economy. I then told them that my father had fought 
 in the Revolution to gain our freedom and liberty of conscience ; that 
 I felt that my Presbyterian brother had no bill of sale of the people ; 
 
 F
 
 66 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 that I was no robber of Churches ; but if I had any members in 
 my Church that liked the Presbyterians better than the Methodists, I 
 wanted them to go and join them ; but if there were any there that 
 day that believed the Methodist doctrine, and were willing to conform 
 to the Discipline of the Methodist Church, and desire to join us, let them 
 come and give me their hand, and I would form them into a Class and 
 appoint them a leader. There were twenty-seven came forward ; 
 thirteen of them were members of this minister's Church. I publicly 
 ascertained this fact, and then told the thirteen that I did not want to 
 give any offence, and that I wanted them all to go to their next meet- 
 ing, and ask a letter, stating their reasons, and I would receive them 
 into full membership at once. One of them, a fine, intelligent man, 
 and an elder, said that he knew they would not give them letters. I 
 remarked, " Go and ask for them ; and if they refuse, come back, and 
 I will receive you any how." They went, but the Church would not 
 give them letters, although there was nothing against their moral cha- 
 racters. After that I received them into the Methodist Church. 
 Public opinion was in my favour, and many more of this preacher's 
 members came and joined us, and the minister sold out and moved to 
 Missouri, and before the year was out I had peaceable possession of 
 his brick church. 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 SLAVERY IN THE CHURCH. 
 
 IN the fall of 1812, our Tennessee Conference was holden at 
 Fountain Head, State of Tennessee, on the first of November. At 
 this first session of the Tennessee Conference the Illinois District was 
 organized, and J. Walker appointed presiding elder. The Illinois Cir- 
 cuit, as a mission, was formed in 1804, and Benjamin Young appointed 
 to it. It was attached to the Cumberland District, L. Garrett pre- 
 siding elder. Brother Young returned sixty- seven members. 
 
 At this Conference I was appointed by Bishop Asbury to the 
 Wabash District, which was then composed of the following Circuits, 
 namely, Vincennes, in the State of Indiana ; and Little Wabash and 
 Fort Massack, in Illinois. These three Circuits were north of the 
 Ohio Elver; the balance of the District was in Kentucky, namely, 
 Livingston, Christian, Henderson, Hartford, and Breckenridge Circuits. 
 In travelling the District I had to cross the Ohio Eiver sixteen times 
 during the year. 
 
 I told Bishop Asbury that I deliberately believed that I ought not
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 67 
 
 to be appointed presiding elder, for I was not qualified for the office ; 
 but he told me there was no appeal from his judgment. At the end of 
 six months I wrote to him, begging a release from the post he had 
 assigned me ; but when he returned an answer, he said I must abide 
 his judgment, and stand in my lot to the end of the time. I continued 
 accordingly in the service, but the most of the year was gloomy to me, 
 feeling that I had not the first qualification for the office of a presiding 
 elder. Perhaps I never spent a more gloomy and sad year than this 
 in all my itinerant life ; and from that day to this I can safely say the 
 presiding elder's office has had no special charms for me ; and I will 
 remark, that I have often wondered at the aspirations of many, very 
 many, Methodist preachers for the office of presiding elder ; and have 
 frequently said, if I were a bishop, that such aspirants should always go 
 without office under my administration. I look upon this disposition 
 as the out-cropping of fallen and unsanctified human nature, and when- 
 ever this spirit, in a large degree, gets into a preacher, he seldom ever 
 does much good afterward. 
 
 We had through the summer and fall of this Conference year some 
 splendid camp-meetings, many conversions, and many accessions to 
 the Church. In the fall we met at Conference, October 1st, 1813, at 
 Eees's Chapel, Tennessee. The name of Wabash District was changed 
 to Green Eiver District, and Vincennes, Little Wabash, and Fort Mas- 
 sack Circuits, north of the Ohio Eiver, were stricken off and attached 
 to the Illinois District, and Dixon and Dover Circuits, south of the 
 Cumberland Biver, that had belonged to Nashville District, were 
 attached to Green Kiver District. I was appointed by Bishop Asbury 
 presiding elder of this District, sometime in the course of the summer 
 of this Conference year, 1813. We had a camp-meeting in the 
 Breckenridge Circuit, and a glorious good work of religion was manifest 
 throughout the meeting. It was at this meeting that Benjamin Ogden, 
 one of the early preachers sent to the West, who became disaffected, 
 and left the Methodist Episcopal Church under the secession of J. 
 O'Kelly, and backslid, professed to be reclaimed, and returned to his 
 mother Church. 
 
 Slavery had long been agitated in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and our preachers, although they did not feel it to be their duty to 
 meddle with it politically, yet, as Christians and Christian ministers, 
 be it spoken to their eternal credit, they believed it to be their duty 
 to bear their testimony against slavery as a moral evil ; and this is the 
 reason why the General Conference, from time to time, passed rules 
 and regulations to govern preachers and members of the Church in 
 regard to this great evil. The great object of the General Conference 
 was to keep the ministry clear of it, and there can'iie no doubt that 
 
 F 2
 
 68 THE BACKWOODS PBEACHEB. 
 
 the course pursued by early Methodist preachers was the cause of the 
 emancipation of thousands of this degraded race of human beings ; 
 and it is clear to my mind, if Methodist preachers had kept clear of 
 slavery themselves, and gone on bearing honest testimony against it, 
 that thousands upon thousands more would have been emancipated 
 who are now groaning under an oppression almost too intolerable to 
 be borne. Slavery is certainly a domestic, political, and moral evil. 
 Go into a slave community, and you not only see the dreadful evils 
 growing out of the system in the almost universal licentiousness 
 which prevails among the slaves themselves, but their young masters 
 are often tempted and seduced from the paths of virtue, from the 
 associations in which they are placed ; and there is an under-current 
 of heart-embittering feeling of many ladies of high and noble virtue, 
 growing out of the want of fidelity of their husbands, and the pro- 
 fligate course of their sons. Let any one travel through slave states, 
 and see the thousands of mixed blood, and then say if I have mis- 
 represented the dreadful causes of domestic disquietude that often falls 
 with mountain weight on honourable wives and mothers. And 
 although, in the infancy of this Republic, it seemed almost impossible to 
 form a strong and democratic confederacy, and maintain their independ- 
 ence without compromising constitutionally this political evil, and 
 thereby fixing a stain on this land of the free and home of the brave, 
 yet it was looked upon as a great national or political evil, and by 
 none more so than General Washington, the father of the Republic. I 
 will not attempt to enumerate the moral evils that have been produced 
 by slavery; their name is Legion. And now, notwithstanding these 
 are my honest views of slavery, I have never seen a rabid abolition or 
 free-soil society that I could join, because they resort to unjustifiable 
 agitation, and the means they employ are generally unchristian. They 
 condemn and confound the innocent with the guilty ; the means they 
 employ are not truthful at all times ; and I am perfectly satisfied that 
 if force is resorted to, this glorious Union will be dissolved, a civil war 
 will follow, death and carnage will ensue, and the only free nation on 
 the earth will be destroyed. Let moral suasion be used to the last 
 degree for the sake of the salvation of the slaveholders, and the salva- 
 tion of the slaves. Let us not take a course that will cut off the 
 Gospel from them, and deliver them over to the un covenanted mercies 
 of God, or the anathemas of the devil. I have had glorious revivals 
 of religion among the slaves, and have seen thousands of them soundly 
 converted to God, and have stood by the bedside of the dying slave, 
 and have heard the swelling shout of Christian victory from the dying 
 Negro as he entered the cold waters of the river of Jordan. 
 
 At our Breckenridge Circuit camp-meeting the following incident oc-
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEIl. 69 
 
 curred. There were a Brother S. and family, who were the owners of a 
 good many- slaves. It was a fine family, and Sister S. was a very 
 intelligent lady, and an exemplary Christian. She had long sought the 
 blessing of perfect love, but she said the idea of holding her fellow-beings 
 in bondage stood out in her way. Many at this meeting sought and 
 obtained the blessing of sanctification ; Sister S. said her whole soul 
 was in an agony for that blessing, and it seemed to her at times that 
 she could almost lay hold, and claim the promise, but she said her 
 slaves would seem to step right in between her and her Saviour, and 
 prevent its reception ; but while on her knees, and struggling as in 
 an agony for a clean heart, she then and there covenanted with the 
 Lord, if He would give her the blessing, she would give up her slaves 
 and set them free. She said this covenant had hardly been made one 
 moment when God filled her soul with such an overwhelming sense of 
 Divine love, that she did not really know whether she was in or out of 
 the body. She rose from her knees, and proclaimed to listening hun- 
 dreds that she had obtained the blessing, and also the terms on which 
 she had obtained it. She went through the vast crowd with holy shouts 
 of joy, and exhorting all to taste and see that the Lord was gracious ; 
 and such a power attended her words that hundreds fell to the ground, 
 and scores of souls were happily born into the kingdom of God that 
 afternoon and during the night. Shortly after this they set their 
 slaves free, and the end of that family was peace. 
 
 There was another circumstance happened at this camp-meeting that 
 I will substantially relate. It was one of our rules of the camp-meeting 
 that the men were to occupy the seats on one side of the stand, and 
 the ladies the other side, at all hours of public worship. But there 
 was a young man, finely dressed, with his bosom full of ruffles, that 
 would take his seat among the ladies ; and if there was any excitement 
 in the congregation, he would rise to his feet, and stand on the seats 
 prepared for the occupancy of the ladies. I reproved him several 
 times ; but he would still persist in his disorderly course. At length, 
 I reproved him personally and sharply, and said, "I mean that young 
 man there, standing on the seats of the ladies, with a ruffled shirt on." 
 And added, " I doubt not that ruffled shirt was borrowed." 
 
 This brought him off the seats in a mighty rage. He swore he 
 would whip me for insulting him. After a while, I was walking 
 round on the outskirts of the congregation ; and he had a large com- 
 pany gathered round him, and was swearing at a mighty rate, and 
 saying he would certainly whip me before he left the ground. 
 
 I walked up, and said, " Gentlemen, let me inhere to this fellow." 
 
 They opened the way. I walked up to him, and asked him if it 
 was me he was cursing, and going to whip.
 
 70 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 He said it was. 
 
 " Well," said I, " we will not disturb the congregation fighting 
 here ; but let us go out into the woods, for if I am to be whipped, I 
 want it over, for I do not like to live in dread." 
 
 So we started for the woods, the crowd pressing after us. I stopped, 
 and requested every one of them to go back, and not a man to follow ; 
 and assured them if they did not go back, that I would not go another 
 step ; they then turned back. The camp-ground was fenced in. 
 When we came to the fence, I put my left hand on the top rail and 
 leaped over. As I lighted on the other side, one of my feet struck a 
 grub, and I had well-nigh sprained my ankle ; it gave me a severe jar ; 
 and a pain struck me in the left side from the force of the jar, and in- 
 voluntarily I put my right hand on my left side, where the pain had 
 struck me. My redoubtable antagonist had got on the fence, and, 
 looking down at me, said, 
 
 " Ah ! you are feeling for a dirk, are you ?" 
 
 As quick as thought, it occurred to me how to get clear of a whipping. 
 " I '11 give you the benefit of all the dirks I have ;" and advancing 
 rapidly toward him, he sprang back on the other side of the fence from 
 me. I jumped over after him, and a regular foot race followed. I 
 was so diverted at my cowardly bully's rapid retreat, that I could not 
 run fast ; so he escaped, and I missed my whipping. 
 
 There was a large pond not very far from the camp-ground, and what 
 few rowdies were there, concluded they would take my bully and duck 
 him in that pond as a punishment for his bad conduct ; so they 
 decoyed him off there, and they got a long pole, and stripped some 
 hickory bark, and securing him on the pole, two of them, one at each 
 end, waded in, and ducked him nearly to death; he begged and 
 prayed them to spare his life ; he promised them that he would never 
 misbehave at meeting again, and that he would immediately leave 
 the ground if they would let him go. On these conditions they re- 
 leased him, and I got clear of my ruffle-shirted dandy. 
 
 It may be asked what I would have done if this fellow had gone 
 with me to the woods. This is hard to answer, for it was a part of 
 my creed to love everybody, but to fear no one ; and I did not permit 
 myself to believe any man could whip me till it was tried ; and I did 
 not permit myself to premeditate expedients in such cases. I should 
 no doubt have proposed to him to have prayer first, and then followed 
 the openings of Providence. 
 
 This year there was a considerable decrease in membership in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, owing chiefly to the war with England ; 
 and we felt the sad effects of war throughout the West, perhaps as 
 sensibly as in any part of the Union. A braver set of men never lived
 
 THE BACKWOODS PBEACHER. 71 
 
 than was found in this Western world, and many of them volunteered 
 and helped to achieve another glorious victory over the legions of 
 England and her savage allied thousands. Of course there were many 
 of our members went into the war, and deemed it their duty to defend 
 our common country under General Jackson. 
 
 In the fall of 1813, October 1st, our Conference was held at Eees's 
 Chapel, Tennessee, and for 1813-14 our appointments remained pretty 
 much as they were before. I was returned to the Green Kiver Dis- 
 trict. This year the Missouri District was formed, and admitted as 
 part of the Tennessee Conference. In the course of this year, or about 
 this time, there were new fields of labour entered by our preachers 
 along the Cumberland Eiver, near the line between Tennessee and 
 Kentucky. We preached in new settlements, and the Lord poured out 
 His Spirit, and we had many convictions and many conversions. It 
 was the order of the day, (though I am sorry to say it,) that we were 
 constantly followed by a certain set of proselyting Baptist pVeachers. 
 These new and wicked settlements were seldom visited by these Baptist 
 preachers until the Methodist preachers entered them ; then, when a 
 revival was gotten up, or the work of God revived, these Baptist 
 preachers came rushing in, and they generally sung their sermons ; and 
 when they struck the long roll, or their sing-song mode of preaching, 
 in substance it was, " Water !" "Water!" "You must follow your 
 blessed Lord down into the water !" I had preached several times in 
 a large, populous, and wicked settlement, and there were serious atten- 
 tion, deep convictions, and a good many conversions ; but, between 
 my occasional appointments, these preachers would rush in, and try to 
 take our converts off into the water ; and, indeed, they made so much 
 ado about baptism by immersion, that the uninformed would suppose 
 that heaven was an island, and there was no way to get there but by 
 diving or swimming. 
 
 Among the Baptist preachers that rushed in on us in this new settle- 
 ment there came along a lank, long-legged, and extremely illiterate and 
 ignorant old preacher by the name of H s, and he was as impu- 
 dent as a wolf. He sent an appointment, and he was to blow the 
 Methodists sky-high. I had never seen him, nor had he ever seen me. 
 I heard of his appointment, and concluded that I would go ; and if he 
 really killed all the Methodists, if I could muster force enough 1 would 
 bury them out of the way. The time came on, and this mighty 
 Goliath appeared, with two armour-bearers. I stayed out until he 
 commenced the battle, then I moved into the congregation, and took 
 rny seat with pen, ink, and paper ; thinking if I was to be killed, and 
 he did not dispatch me too suddenly, I would at least try to write my 
 will. He commenced the battle by warning the people to take care of
 
 72 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 these Methodist preachers that wore black broadcloth coats, silk jackets, 
 and fair-topped boots, and a watch in their pockets ; that rode fine fat 
 horses, &c. He then said he would tell them how these Methodist 
 preachers got the money to buy all these fine clothes and horses. He 
 said, that in order to join the Methodist Church, the preachers received 
 twenty-five cents for every one that they took into the Church, and 
 twenty-five cents for every baby they sprinkled, and that these babies 
 were considered members of the Church, and thus that every member, 
 adult or infant, had to pay a dollar a head annually ; and that these 
 moneys constituted a large fund, and the Methodist preachers could 
 well aiford to dress fine and ride fat horses. But, said he, here is 
 
 poor old H s, (alluding to himself,) if he can get a wool hat and a 
 
 wallet of dumplings, he is content, and thinks himself well off. " Now," 
 said he, " my dear brethren, these Methodist preachers often remind me, 
 in the doctrine they preach, of the manner of certain men that catch 
 monkey S in certain countries. The monkeys are very fond of black 
 haws ; the monkey-catchers go and scatter these black haws around the 
 roots of the trees in which the monkeys are, and then they retire : the 
 monkeys come down and devour the haws. The next time these 
 monkey-catchers come, they bring sheep-saffron, that very much 
 resembles black haws. They scatter the sheep-saffron around the roots 
 of the trees and retire, and the poor, simple monkeys eat up the saffron, 
 and it makes them so sick they cannot climb, but lie down, and then 
 these men rush out and catch them. So it is," said he, "my brethren, 
 with these Methodist preachers. They preach some truth, which takes 
 with the people ; then they come with their sheep-saffron, or rotten 
 doctrine, and the poor, simple people, like the foolish monkeys, swallow 
 down these false doctrines, and it makes them sick, and then these 
 Methodist preachers catch them." He then compared Methodist 
 preachers to a boy climbing a pole, &c. You may be sure this was a 
 deadly shot. 
 
 As soon as he was done, to keep up appearances, he said, if there 
 was any one present that wanted to reply to him, let bim come forward. 
 I arose, and marched up, and took the stand, and in a very little time 
 nailed all his lies to the counter ; and by respectable gentlemen out of 
 any Church proved his statements to be false, and poured round upon 
 round on him so hot and so fast, that he started for the door. I 
 ordered him to stop, and told him, if he did not, I would shoot him 
 in the back for a Tory ; he got out at the door. He was taken so at 
 surprise, and charged on so suddenly, that he forgot his hat, and he 
 peeped round the door-chink at me. I blazed away at him till he 
 dodged back and started off, bare-headed, for home, talking to himself 
 by the way. As he retreated in this situation, he was met by a gentle-
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 73 
 
 man, who hailed him, and said, " Mr. H s, what is the matter ? 
 
 where is your hat ?" " O Lord," he exclaimed, " that Methodist bull- 
 dog Cartwright came to my meeting, and opened a fire on me that no 
 mortal man could stand, and I left." " Come," said the gentle- 
 man, "go back and get your hat." "No," said he, " I will not go 
 back, if I never see another hat on earth." This encounter blowed 
 this proselyting, sheep-stealing preacher to never, where another 
 Baptist preacher that 1 once heard of would have gone to, if he had 
 jumped off. 
 
 Now I must explain this allusion a little. At an early day I heard 
 a Baptist preacher preach, and toward the close he alluded to his own 
 experience. When in a state of conviction, he said he was in great 
 distress ; he sought relief on the right and left, but found none ; and 
 at length he said he thought he would start off and travel to the ends 
 of the yearth, and when he got there that he would jump off; and 
 now stopping suddenly, he asked his congregation, " Where do you 
 think I would have gone to ? " and answering for them, said he, " I 
 should have gone to NEVEE." 
 
 While I am giving a few strictures on the unworthy conduct of a 
 few of the preachers of this denomination, I will state another incident 
 that occurred about this time. I settled on a little new place, near 
 the road leading from Hopkinsville, Christian County, to Eussellville, 
 Logan County, Kentucky, and was destitute of stabling. Presently 
 there rode up an old gentleman and a youth he called his son. 
 
 He asked me if Peter Cartwright, a Methodist preacher, lived there. 
 
 I answered he did. 
 
 He asked, " Are you the man ? " 
 
 I answered, " Yes." 
 
 " Well," said he, " I am a Baptist preacher, have been to Missouri 
 after this my sick son, and I have called to stay all night with 
 you." I told him to do so, and alight and come in. I disposed of 
 their horses as best I could, supper was prepared, and they partook of 
 our fare. After supper they both stepped into the other room, and 
 when they returned I smelt whiskey very strongly ; and although 
 these were not the days of general temperance as now going on, yet 
 I thought it a bad sign for a preacher to smell very strong of whiskey, 
 but said nothing. When we were about to retire to bed, I set out 
 the books and said, " Brother, it is our custom to have family prayer ; 
 take the books and lead in family prayer." He began to make 
 excuses, and declined. I urged him strongly, but he refused ; so I 
 took the books, read, sung, and prayed ; but he would not sing with 
 me, neither did he, nor his son, kneel when we prayed. Next morning 
 the family was called together for family prayer ; again I invited him
 
 74 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 to pray with us, but he would not. As soon as prayer was over, he 
 went into the other room, and brought out his bottle of whiskey ; he 
 asked me to take a dram. I told him I did not drink spirits. He 
 offered it to all my family, but they all refused. After breakfast he 
 and his son harnessed up their horses to start on their way home. 
 
 " Perhaps, brother," said he, " you charge ? " 
 
 " Yes," said I, " all whiskey-drinking preachers, that will not pray 
 with me, I charge." 
 
 " Well," said he, " it looks a little hard that one preacher should 
 charge another." 
 
 " Sir," said I, " you have given me no evidence that you are a 
 preacher, and I fear you are a vile impostor ; and when any man about 
 me drinks whiskey, and will not pray with me, preacher or no preacher, 
 I take a pleasure in charging him full price ; so haul out your cash." 
 He did so, but very reluctantly. 
 
 I am glad these unworthy examples of these preachers do not apply 
 to the Baptist ministry generally, but many of them are friends of 
 temperance, and scorn the contemptible business of proselyting mem- 
 bers from other Churches. So may they continue, and give up their 
 exclusive baptism by immersion. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 CAMP-MEETING INCIDENTS. 
 
 ON the 29th of September, 1814, our Tennessee Conference com- 
 menced its session at Kenerley's Chapel, nine miles north of Russell- 
 ville, Logan County, Kentucky. Bishops Asbury and M'Kendree were 
 both present. 
 
 These two venerable bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 were both single men, and lived and died without ever marrying. 
 There is no doubt but the scanty means of a support, and the vast 
 field of their pastoral labour, induced them to remain unmarried, and 
 devote their whole time to the building up the Church. Their field of 
 ministerial labour was from East to West, from North to South, all 
 over these United States and Territories, and the British Provinces in 
 Canada. The Union itself was in its infancy. When these men 
 bestowed the most of their ministerial labour, we had just thrown off 
 the yoke of the British government, just ended a bloody war ; great 
 scarcity of money prevailed ; the Methodist Churches were few, feeble, 
 and poor ; a single man in that early day was only allowed sixty-four, 
 eighty, and never more than one hundred, dollars, and the bishops no
 
 THE BACKWOOD'S PREACHER. 75 
 
 more than any other single travelling preacher, and always dependent 
 on the voluntary contributions of the people for this small pittance. 
 Many of our married preachers had been starved into a location, and 
 many more, during their illustrious sacrificing lives, were actually com- 
 pelled to desist from travelling for want of means of support for their 
 families. From the poverty of the Church, and the vastness of the 
 field of their itinerant life, Mr. Asbury, and Bishop M'Kendree too, 
 advised the travelling preachers to remain single ; but a few years 
 proved to these devoted bishops themselves that Methodist preachers 
 were but men, subject to like passions with other men. The various 
 courtships and marriage contracts, to be consummated at some future 
 and distant day, satisfied these devoted men of God that it was better 
 for even Methodist preachers to marry than to remain single, after they 
 had formed a ministerial character ; and although I had travelled ten 
 years, had a wife and two children, and had acted as steward of the 
 Conference for several years, yet up to this time, as I have elsewhere 
 stated in this narrative, no allowance had been made for me, or any 
 other travelling married preacher, for house rent and table expenses, or 
 for our children. 
 
 At this Conference, Bishop Asbury came with ten dollars for every 
 travelling preacher's child or children born in the travelling connexion. 
 This money he had begged from door to door down East, in the older 
 and wealthier Conferences, for the suffering children of the married 
 travelling itinerants in the West. This, indeed, was a fatted calf to 
 many of us, who had received hardly enough to keep soul and body 
 together. At this Conference the stewards were instructed to settle all 
 the claims of the preachers and their families as the Discipline provides. 
 
 By an examination of the Minutes for 1814-15, it will be seen that 
 the Ohio Conference still had its six presiding elder Districts, and 
 Tennessee eight Districts. For several years, about this time, our 
 increase of members was small, owing to the war and rumours of war. 
 The travelling preachers in the Ohio Conference had increased to sixty- 
 three, and in the Tennessee Conference to sixty-six. 
 
 At a camp-meeting holden this year, in the edge of Tennessee, {'or 
 the Christian Circuit, there were a great many people attended, and 
 among them a gang of rowdies. The ringleaders of the rowdies went 
 by the names of J. P. and William P., two brothers ; their parents 
 were fine members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. I found it 
 would be hard to keep order, and I went to J. P., and told him I 
 wanted him to help me keep order. Said I, " These rowdies are all 
 afraid of you ; and if you will help me, you shall be captain, and choose 
 your own men." 
 
 He said he did not want to engage in that way ; but if I would not
 
 7 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 bind him up too close, but let him have a little fun, away off, he would 
 then promise me that we should have good order in the encampment 
 through the meeting. 
 
 I said, " Very well ; keep good order in the congregation, and if 
 you have any little fun, let it be away off, where it will not disturb 
 the worship of God." 
 
 There came into the congregation a young, awkward fellow, that 
 would trespass on our rules by seating himself all the time among the 
 ladies. It was very fashionable at that time for the gentlemen to 
 roach their hair ; and this young man had a mighty bushy reached 
 head of hair. I took him out several times from among the women, 
 but he would soon be back again. 
 
 I told J. P. I wished he would attend to this young man. " Very 
 well," said he ; and immediately sent off and got a pair of scissors, 
 and planted his company about half a mile off; then sent for this 
 young fellow, under the pretence of giving him something to drink. 
 When they got him out there, two of them, one on each side, stepped 
 up to him with drawn dirks, and told him they did not mean to hurt 
 him if he would be quiet ; but if he resisted or hallooed, he was a dead 
 man. They said they only wanted to roach his hair, and put him in 
 the newest Nashville fashion. The fellow was scared almost to death, 
 but made no resistance whatever. Then one with the scissors com- 
 menced cutting his hair, and it was haggled all over at a masterly rate. 
 When they were done shearing him, they let him go ; and he came 
 straight to the camp-ground. Just as he entered it, I met him ; he 
 was pale as a cloth. He took off his hat, and said, " See here, Mr. 
 Cartwright, what them rowdies have done !" I had very hard work 
 to keep down my risibilities ; but I told him he had better say nothing 
 about it ; for if he did, they might serve him worse. He soon dis- 
 appeared, and interrupted us no more during the meeting. 
 
 Our camp-ground was right on the bank of a creek. Just behind 
 the preachers' camp, there was about room enough to place two or 
 three carriages ; then the bank of the creek, which was about ten feet 
 high. Not far from the shore was a deep hole of water, about six feet 
 deep. William P., the brother of my captain of order, was very rude, 
 and I reproved him sharply. I understood that he swore he would 
 run my carriage (which I had placed behind the preachers' tent, right 
 on the bank) into the creek. There was but one way to pass to my 
 carriage. At night I lay watching, with a good stick in my hand ; 
 and presently I saw William take hold of my carriage, and begin 
 to turn it, in order to run it down the bank into the creek. \ 
 slipped out, and rushed upon him with my cudgel. I was in the only 
 pathway ; and he, fearing a good kuock-down, leaped over the bank
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 77 
 
 right into the deep hole of water, and came out on the other side, and 
 ran off. 
 
 It made him very angry that he was defeated. He swore that he 
 would have satisfaction out of me before the meeting was over. In 
 the meantime, the power of God fell upon the people gloriously ; 
 many hardened sinners were arrested, and a great many were con- 
 verted ; and on Sunday the mighty power of God was felt to the 
 utmost verge of the congregation. On Sunday night, our altar was 
 crowded with weeping penitents. While I was in the altar, labouring 
 with the mourners, I saw William come up and lean on the pale, on 
 the outside of the altar. I kept my eye on him ; and suddenly he 
 leaped over into the altar, and fell at full length, and roared like a bull 
 in a net, and cried aloud for mercy. While I was talking to and pray- 
 ing for him and others, I trod on something near where he had been 
 standing that felt soft. I stooped down and looked, and lo and 
 behold, what should it be but a string of frogs, strung on a piece of 
 hickory bark ! I took them up, and carried them into the tent, not 
 knowing what it meant. 
 
 Just about daybreak, Monday morning, William P. raised the shout 
 of victory, after struggling hard all night. Our meeting went on 
 gloriously all that day, and for several days and nights, with very little 
 preaching or intermission ; and many were the happy subjects of con- 
 verting grace. Some time on Monday, my notorious William came to 
 me, and told me that he gathered and strung that batch of frogs, and 
 brought them to the altar, intending, while I was stooping and pray- 
 ing for the mourners, to slip them over my head and round my neck ; 
 and while he was seeking an opportunity to do this, the mighty power 
 of God fell on him. He said he never wanted to be any nearer hell 
 than he felt himself to be when the power of God arrested him. Many 
 of the very worst rowdies that attended this meeting were struck down 
 and converted to God; and thus ended the Frog Campaign. About 
 seventy joined the Church. 
 
 There was another incident which occurred at this meeting that I 
 will relate. Not very distant from Hopkinsville, near which town I 
 lived, there was a very interesting, fashionable, wealthy family, who 
 were raised with all the diabolical hatred that a rigidly enforced pre- 
 destinarian education could impart against the Methodists. It had 
 pleased God, at a camp-meeting near them, that I superintended, to 
 arrest the wife and two of the daughters of the gentleman who was the 
 head of this family, and they were powerfully converted, and joined 
 the Methodist Church, and, as is common, they felt greatly attached 
 to me as the instrument, in the hands of God, of their salvation. 
 This enraged the husband and father of these interesting females very
 
 78 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 much. He not only threatened to whip me, but to kill me. He said 
 I must be a very bad man, for all the women in the country were fall- 
 ing in love with me ; and that I moved on their passions, and took 
 them into the Church with bad intentions. His eldest daughter, a 
 fine, beautiful, intelligent young lady, wanted to attend the above- 
 mentioned camp-meeting, and bespoke a seat in my carriage, in com- 
 pany with others going to the same meeting. At first her father 
 swore she should not go ; but on second thought he consented, but 
 told his wife and daughter that he would go along, and that he would 
 watch me closely, and that he had no doubt, before he would return, 
 he would catch me at my devilment, and be able to show the world 
 that I was a bad man, and put a stop to the women all running mad 
 after this bad preacher. His daughter made ready, and we all started. 
 We had about twenty-eight miles to go to reach the encampment. 
 His daughter thought it her duty to tell me the designs of her father, 
 and said she hoped I would be on my guard ; for she verily thought 
 that her father was so enraged, that if he could not get something 
 to lay to my charge to ruin my character as a preacher, he would 
 kill me from pure malice. I told her, of course, I was wide awake 
 and duly sober, and I had not the least fear but what God would give 
 me her father as a rescued captive from the devil before the camp- 
 meeting closed. Said I, " You must pray hard, and the work will be 
 done." I said to her, " It is.not the old big devil that is in your 
 father ; it must be a little weakly, sickly, devil that has taken posses- 
 sion of him, and I do not think that it will be a hard job to cast him out. 
 Now," said I, " if God takes hold of your father and shakes him over 
 hell a little while, and he smells brimstone right strong, if there was 
 a ship-load of these little sickly devils in him, they would be driven 
 out just as easy as a tornado would drive the regiments of musquitoes 
 from around and about those stagnant ponds in the country. Cheer 
 up, sister ; I believe God will give me your father before we return." 
 Seeing me so bold and confident, she wept, and raised the shout in an- 
 ticipation of so desirable an event. When we got to the camp-ground, 
 I had the company and their horses all taken care of, and then said to 
 this man, "We have a large preachers' tent, well provided with good beds ; 
 come, you must go with me and lodge in the preachers' tent." He 
 seemed taken by surprise, and hesitated, but I took him right into the 
 tent. " Now, sir," said I, " make yourself at home ; for I hope to see 
 you soundly converted before this camp-meeting comes to a close." I 
 saw his countenance fall, and perhaps this was the starting-point of 
 his deep and pungent convictions. The trumpet sounded for preach- 
 ing ; I mounted the stand and preached ; this man came and heard 
 me. I saw clearly from his looks, that he was convicted, and had a
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 79 
 
 hard struggle in his mind. He said to me, after the meeting was 
 over, that my taking him into the preachers' tent, and treating him so 
 kindly, was the worst whipping he ever got ; he could not sleep, he 
 said. Sometimes he thought he was a poor mean devil to treat me as 
 he had done ; and surely I must be a Christian, or I never could treat 
 him so kindly after he had said so many hard and bitter things about 
 me. As the meeting progressed, his convictions increased, till he could 
 neither eat nor sleep. 
 
 On Sunday night, when such a tremendous power fell on the con- 
 gregation, and my gang of rowdies fell by dozens on the right and 
 left, my special persecutor fell suddenly, as if a rifle-ball had been shot 
 through his heart. He lay powerless, and seemed cramped all over, 
 till next morning ; and about sunrise he began to come to. With a 
 smile on his countenance, he then sprang up, and bounded all over 
 the camp-ground, with swelling shouts of glory and victory, that 
 almost seemed to shake the encampment. This was a glorious time 
 for his daughter ; she came leaping and skipping to me, and shouted 
 out that those little mean and sickly devils were cast out of her father. 
 He joined the Church, went home, and for days the family did little 
 else but sing, pray, and shout the high praises of God. 
 
 From this family a blessed revival broke out and spread all round, 
 and many were awakened and converted to God. 0, how often the 
 devil overshoots the mark by inducing his subjects to persecute 
 preachers and the Church ! God is above the devil, and the devil can 
 never be cast out until he is first raised, or waked up. 
 
 Although I have never laid much stress on dreams, yet on Monday 
 night of this camp-meeting I had a dream that made some impression 
 on my mind. I here relate it and what followed, and let it go for 
 what it is worth ; for " what is the chaff to the wheat ? " In my 
 night visions I thought I went on a fishing expedition. I thought the 
 fish bit well, and I drew up and threw out many excellent, fine fish. 
 At length I felt that a large fish, or something else, had got hold of 
 my hook. I began to draw whatever it was out, but it came slow and 
 pulled heavy. At length I drew it to land, when, behold, it was a 
 large mud turtle. I awoke, and lo, it was a dream ; and I was glad 
 of it. 
 
 There had been in attendance on our camp-meeting an old apostate 
 Baptist preacher, who had left his wife, who was yet living, and taken 
 up with a young woman, and they were actually living in open 
 adultery. He had, as he said, been awfully convicted during the 
 meeting. He said he knew he had once enjoyed religion, but had lost 
 it. He knew he had lost it all, and that, therefore, the doctrine of the 
 unconditional perseverance of the saints, which he had preached for
 
 80 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 many years, was false ; but he wanted to be saved, and he desired to 
 join the Methodist Church. He said he belonged to a secret society, 
 and they had not excluded him from that society, and they were 
 honourable, high-minded men. 
 
 All this took place in the public congregation. I told him that if 
 we, as a Church, could do him any good on fair scriptural terms, we 
 should be glad to do it. " But," said I, " you cannot be so ignorant 
 as not to know that the word of God condemns your course ; and if 
 our sins are as dear to us as a right foot, or hand, or eye, they must 
 be cut off, or plucked out, and cast from us, or we cannot enter 
 heaven. Now, sir, are you willing, and will you give up this course 
 of living, put away the woman with whom you are now living, and go 
 and live with your lawful wife, and will you do it now ? " 
 . He burst into tears, wrung his hands in apparent agony, and said 
 he wanted to be saved. " But will you not take me in on trial six 
 months ? " 
 
 " No, sir, we will not, unless you sacredly pledge yourself, before 
 God and the Church, that you will, from this moment, abandon your 
 present course of living." 
 
 He said he was afraid to promise this. 
 
 " Then," said I, " it is altogether useless to say another word on 
 the subject ; for we will not, under any consideration, receive you even 
 on trial. 
 
 So we parted, and I fear he was eternally lost. Now whether this 
 was my mud turtle or not, about which I dreamed, I cannot say; yet 
 it really looked to me very much like it. 
 
 A few years before this, there had been transferred from the Balti- 
 more Conference a warm-hearted, lively, and zealous preacher by the 
 name of James Ward. His labours were greatly blessed, and some 
 very powerful revivals of religion followed. There was also a tole- 
 rably popular Baptist minister, by the name of J. V n, who 
 
 attended several of Brother Ward's meetings ; and whether he was in 
 reality stirred up, or from other considerations, I will not pretend to 
 judge, but so it was ; he started out on a large preaching scale. He 
 was a tolerably good preacher, and he was popular, and he soon had a 
 mighty stir in the Baptist Church, and hundreds joined that Church, 
 and he baptized them. He greatly erred on one subject ; that was, 
 he took a great deal of pleasure in proselyting from other Churches 
 and making them members of his Church, as he said, by "wetting 
 their jackets," that is, immersing them. He had been very successful 
 in the upper counties of Kentucky. 
 
 I had once accidentally fallen in at one of his appointments, and 
 heard him preach, but had no introduction to him ; and from this cir-
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 81 
 
 cumstance I knew him, but he did not know me. About this time he 
 sent a train of appointments down in the southern parts of Kentucky 
 and West Tennessee, about Nashville, &c., &c. I had been on to 
 Baltimore, attending General Conference, and was returning home 
 near Hopkinsville, in Southern Kentucky, in the month of June. We 
 travelled in those days mostly on horseback. It was very warm, and 
 dusty riding. When I got to Nashville, I was informed that Mr. V. 
 had just closed a protracted meeting in Nashville, and was to start for 
 Hopkinsville that morning, and that it was probable I would fall in 
 with him ; and so it turned out. A few miles from Nashville I fell in 
 with him. It being so warm and dusty, I had pulled off my coat and 
 neckerchief, and tied them on behind me, and of course I was very 
 dirty, arid looked, I suppose, very little like a preacher. I rode up 
 and spoke to Mr. V., and he to me. I had, in one respect, the 
 advantage of him. I knew him, but he did not know me, but I 
 studiously avoided calling him by name. He was very familiar and 
 loquacious. 
 
 " You are travelling, sir ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," was my reply. 
 
 " What parts are you from ? " 
 
 " I am directly from the City of Baltimore," said I. 
 
 "Well, what is the news in that country ? " said he. 
 
 " Nothing very strange," said I. 
 
 " Well," said he, " what is the most prevalent religion, or most 
 numerous denomination in that city?" 
 
 " Well," said I, " those despicable Methodists are the most nume- 
 rous of any Protestant Church there," answering him with a view to 
 draw him out. 
 
 " Well," said he, " that is a pity, for they are on a very rotten and 
 j f i j.- 
 sandy foundation. 
 
 " Yes," said I ; " but perhaps the people might fall into worse 
 hands." 
 
 " Hardly," said he. " But, sir, how are the Baptists prospering in 
 and about Baltimore ? " 
 
 " Well," said I, " the Baptists are hardly known in that country." 
 
 " Are you not mistaken, sir ? " 
 
 " No, sir, I am not mistaken." 
 
 " Well, what can be the cause of that ? " 
 
 " Why, sir, it is not strange at all ; the Baptists are exclusive 
 immersionists, and won't commune with any other Christian denomi- 
 nation ; and they, on these principles, cannot flourish among an 
 enlightened and intelligent religious community." 
 
 Just here the battle commenced, and this was what I wanted. He 
 
 G
 
 82 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 began to eulogize the Baptists, and contended that their mode of 
 baptism was the only one that was scriptural. The battle, or argu- 
 ment, lasted several hours, as we rode on side by side ; but at length 
 he showed unmistakeable signs of confusion ; for he left the field of 
 argument, and began to boast of the hundreds of Methodists and 
 Presbyterians that he had immersed, and said he was on his way 
 then to Hopkins ville, and expected to immerse many of the Meth- 
 odists, the converts of Peter Cartwright, a Methodist preacher that 
 lived down there ; " and, sir," said he, " there is no Scripture for infant 
 baptism." I then asked the following questions : 
 
 " Do you believe that all children are saved, and go to heaven, and 
 that there is not one infant in hell ? " 
 
 " Certainly, I do," said he. 
 
 " Well, if there are no children in hell, and all children dying in 
 minority go to heaven, is not that Church that has no children in it 
 more like hell than heaven ? " 
 
 This question closed our argument, for he answered not at all. 
 Just then we came to the forks of the road ; the right, which he was 
 to go, led to Ptussellville, and the left, my road, to Hopkinsville. As 
 we shook hands and parted, said I, " Mr. V., I know you, and have 
 the advantage of you ; my name is Peter Cartwright ; I live two miles 
 from Hopkinsville, where you are going next week to wet so many of 
 the jackets of my Methodist members ; call and stay all night with 
 me ; I will help you make out your notes, and will see to the wetting 
 of the jackets of my members." He promised to do so, but never 
 came to my house. He attended to his appointments, but wet no 
 Methodist jackets, and never succeeded in winning any great spoils in 
 that region of country. He nourished a while ; then joined the 
 Campbellites ; then left them, and returned to the Baptist Church, as 
 I am informed ; then moved to Missouri, and died. I hope his end 
 was peaceful. 
 
 CHAPTEK XIII. 
 BISHOP ASBURY. 
 
 IN the fall of 1815 our Conference was holden at Bethlehem 
 Meeting-house, in Wilson County, Tennessee. Bishops Asbury and 
 M'Kendree attended, though they were both in feeble health ; and 
 this was the last Conference in the West that we were permitted to 
 see Bishop Asbury. He preached to us with great unction and 
 power, though in extremely feeble health, not able to stand, and had
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 83 
 
 to sit while he spoke to us for the last time. At this Conference we 
 elected our delegates to the General Conference, which was to meet in 
 Baltimore on the first of May, 1816. After the election was over, 
 Bishop Asbury called us (that is, the delegates elected) to his room, 
 and then and there told us about the dissatisfaction that had made its 
 appearance among some of the preachers with the government of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, explained the cause, and advised us to 
 hold fast to the landmarks of discipline with a firm grasp. His whole 
 soul seemed to go out after the unity of Methodism, and to adopt 
 every prudential measure to prevent any schism among us. He was 
 very desirous to reach the General Conference ; but the Lord ordered 
 it otherwise ; for, after he left Tennessee to go to South Carolina, he 
 was attacked with a complication of diseases ; but still slowly moved 
 on north, in hope of meeting the General Conference in Baltimore. 
 On the 24th of March he reached Richmond, Virginia, where he 
 preached his last sermon. Being too feeble to walk, he was carried in 
 the arms of his friends to the house of God, and then propped on a 
 table ; there, as he sat, he delivered his last message to mortal man, 
 hardly able to do so for want of breath. His sermon had a thrilling 
 effect upon the congregation. After preaching he was borne back to 
 his carriage, and still urged on his way towards Baltimore. But 
 when he arrived at the house of his old friend, Mr. George Arnold, 
 about twenty miles south of Fredericsburgh, Virginia, he could pro- 
 ceed no further. 
 
 It was on Friday evening, the 29th of March, when this man of 
 God, who had travelled half a century near three hundred thousand 
 miles, was taken from his carriage the last time. He lingered till 
 Sunday, the 31st of March, in great distress of body. On that day, 
 at the usual hour of religious worship, he requested the family to come 
 together. The Rev. John W. Bond, who had been his travelling 
 companion for two years, prayed, and read and expounded the twenty- 
 first chapter of Revelation. During these exercises the dying man of 
 God was calm, and much engaged in prayer. A few minutes after 
 the close of these religious services, as he was sitting in his chair, 
 with his head reclined on the hand of his faithful attendant, without a 
 struggle or a sigh, he fell asleep in death. 
 
 He was buried in the family burying-ground of Brother Arnold, at 
 whose house he died ; but the General Conference, at its session on 
 the 1st of May, 1816, at the request of the people of Baltimore, 
 ordered his remains to be removed, and deposited in a vault prepared 
 for that purpose beneath the pulpit of Eutaw Street church. 
 
 The re-interment of this great and good man presented a scene 
 of the most thrilling interest that I ever beheld. The body was 
 
 G 2
 
 84 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 followed from the Light Street to the Eutaw Street church by a vast 
 concourse of people. At the head of the procession marched Bishop 
 M'Kendvee, the faithful colleague of the departed Asbury ; next 
 followed the members of the General Conference, and last came the 
 people in almost unnumbered thousands. Bishop M'Kendree pro- 
 nounced the funeral oration, and many were the tears shed by the 
 weeping attendants ; and the mortal body of the venerable Bishop 
 Asbury was laid to rest till the general resurrection. 
 Over the vault is inscribed the following epitaph : 
 
 SACRED 
 
 to the Memory of 
 THE REV. FRANCIS ASBURY, 
 
 Bishop of the 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 He was Born in England, August 20th, 1745 ; 
 
 Entered the Ministry at the Age of Seventeen ; 
 
 Came a Missionary to America, 1771 ; 
 
 Was ordained Bishop in this City, December 27th, 1784; 
 
 Annually visited the Conferences in the United States, with 
 
 much Zeal ; continued to preach the Word 
 
 for more than half a Century ; 
 and literally ended his Lahours with his Life, 
 
 near Fredericsburgh, Virginia, 
 in the full Triumph of Faith, on the 31st of March, 181C, 
 
 aged 70 years, 7 months, and 11 days. 
 His Remains were deposited in this Vault, May 10th, 1816, 
 
 by the General Conference then sitting in this City. 
 
 His Journals will exhibit to Posterity his Labours, his Difficulties, 
 
 his Sufferings, his Patience, his Perseverance, 
 
 his Love to God and Man. 
 
 His Remains were again removed from this Vanlt, and deposited, 
 
 by Order of the General Conference of 1852, in a 
 
 Cemetery near Baltimore ; and a Monument 
 
 is Raised to perpetuate his Memory to 
 
 future Generations. 
 
 I will here state a case, in reference to Bishop Asbury's transcend- 
 ently superior talent to read men, which occurred at one of our Western 
 Conferences. The Conference had been preceded with glorious re- 
 vivals of religion, and many of the wealthy, and some of the learned, 
 had joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, among whom were two 
 very learned young men ; one of them the son of a very distinguished, 
 learned teacher, the other the son of a general, a distinguished, 
 wealthy man. Both of these young men professed to have a call to 
 the ministry, and came with a recommendation to the Conference to 
 be received on trial in the travelling connexion. They were both 
 present, and Bishop Asbury had narrowly observed their conduct and
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 85 
 
 conversation. At the proper time Brother Learner Blackman, their 
 presiding elder, presented their recommendations. He spoke of them 
 in the highest terms, and considered them a great acquisition to the 
 ministry and the Church. The Conference received them with great 
 unanimity. Bishop Asbury had sat with his eyes nearly shut. After 
 they were received, he seemed to wake up. " Yes, yes ! " he ex- 
 claimed; "in all probability they both will disgrace you and them- 
 selves before the year is out." And sure enough, in six months one 
 was riding the Circuit with a loaded pistol and a dirk, threatening to 
 shoot and stab the rowdies ; the other was guilty of a misdemeanour, 
 and in less than nine months they were both out of the Church. 
 Bishop Asbury would often say to the preachers, " You read books, 
 but I read men." 
 
 We received our appointments for this Conference year, 1815-16, 
 with but little dissatisfaction. I was returned to the Green River 
 District. Our increase of members or preachers, in the Ohio and 
 Tennessee Conferences, was but small this year, though we had some 
 increase. 
 
 In the spring of 1816 our General Conference convened, on the 1st 
 of May, in the city of Baltimore. This was the second delegated 
 General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the first 
 to which I was elected. 
 
 We had no steamboats, railroad cars, or comfortable stages in those 
 days. We had to travel from the extreme West on horseback. It 
 generally took us near a month to go ; a month was spent at General 
 Conference, and nearly a month in returning to our fields of labour. 
 How different the facilities of travel then and now ! 
 
 Bishop Asbury being dead, and Bishop M'Kendree's health being 
 poor, it became necessary to have two more bishops, and, accordingly, 
 we elected Enoch George and E. R. Roberts, two good men, and 
 talented, regularly drilled in the itinerant work, and well prepared, 
 from experience and practice, to sympathize with the seven hundred 
 travelling preachers they had to station every year, suiting their talents 
 to over two hundred and fourteen thousand members in these United 
 States and Territories, and the Provinces of Canada. 
 
 This was a year of general prosperity throughout the Connexion ; 
 over thirty thousand probationers had been added to the Church. 
 Many of us feared that at the decease of Bishop Asbury dissensions 
 and divisions would arise and injure our beloved Zion ; but we had no 
 question that gave us much trouble at that time. It is true, slavery 
 was a troublesome matter to legislate on ; but the one-eyed creature 
 called Rabid Abolitionism had, at that time, been just born, and had 
 but just cut its teeth, and could not bite hard ; and it is a notorious
 
 86 THE BACKWOODS PBEACHEE. 
 
 fact, that all the preachers from the slaveholding states denounced 
 slavery as a moral evil ; but asked of the General Conference mercy 
 and forbearance on account of the civil disabilities they laboured under, 
 so that we got along tolerably smooth. I do not recollect a single 
 Methodist preacher, at that day, that justified slavery. But 0, how 
 have times changed ! 
 
 Methodist preachers in those days made it a matter of conscience 
 not to hold their fellow-creatures in bondage, if it was practicable to 
 emancipate them, conformably to the laws of the state in which they 
 lived. Methodism increased and spread ; and many Methodist 
 preachers, taken from comparative poverty, not able to own a Negro, 
 and who preached loudly against it, improved, and became popular 
 among slaveholders ; and many of them married into those slavehold- 
 ing families, and became personally interested in slave property, (as 
 it is called.) Then they began to apologize for the evil ; then to 
 justify it on legal principles ; then on Bible principles ; till, lo and 
 behold ! it is not an evil, but a good ! it is not a curse, but a blessing ! 
 till really you would think, to hear them tell the story, if you had the 
 means and did not buy a good lot of them, you would go to the devil for 
 not enjoying the labour, toil, and sweat of this degraded race, and all 
 this without rendering them any equivalent whatever ! 
 
 I will here repeat what I have elsewhere stated in this narrative : 
 that I verily believe, if the Methodist preachers had gone on as in 
 olden times, bearing a testimony against the moral evil of slavery, and 
 kept clear of it themselves, and never meddled with it politically, and 
 formed no free-soil or abolition societies, and given all their money 
 and the productions of their pens in favour of the colonization organ- 
 izations, that long before this time many of the slave States would have 
 been free states ; and, in my opinion, this is the only effectual way to 
 get clear of slavery. If agitation must succeed agitation, strife 
 succeed strife, compromise succeed compromise, it will end in a 
 dissolution of this blessed Union, civil war will follow, and rivers of 
 human blood stain the soil of our happy country. 
 
 At this General Conference I heard, for the first time in my life, 
 whisperings and innuendoes against the government of the Church. I 
 suppose radicalism had just pipped. Many of our preachers that had 
 travelled, had, as I said before, married into slaveholding and other- 
 wise wealthy families. Some of the first order of talent, that had 
 located, began to say that local preachers ought to have a voice in the 
 lawmaking department of the Church ; and in order to make friends, 
 they said the laity ought to have a voice in all the Conferences ; but 
 there was no special outbreak at this General Conference. But the 
 unhallowed leaven of disaffection spread ; the friends of reform (so
 
 THE BACKWOODS PBEACHEH. 87 
 
 called) established a press, and formed what they called Union 
 Societies ; so that by public lectures, the Union Societies, and the 
 press, by 1820, when the General Conference met again in Baltimore, 
 it was astounding to see what evil disaffections had taken place. 
 
 They then came out boldly. They wanted to revolutionize the 
 whole government of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Many of our 
 old and talented preachers were loud and bitter in complaints against 
 our Church government ; and I was greatly alarmed to see so many 
 strong, talented men carried away. Some of the hardest and bitterest 
 things ever written or spoken against the power of the bishops, or the 
 despotism of the itinerant preachers' administration, were spoken and 
 written by men who were afterward made bishops of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church and the Southern Church. Motion after motion 
 was made, resolution after resolution was introduced, debate followed 
 debate, for days, not to say weeks. The radicals wanted to take away 
 the power of the bishops to appoint preachers to their fields of labour ; 
 especially to deprive them of the power to appoint presiding elders, 
 and make them elective by the Annual Conferences ; to have a lay 
 delegation, and many other things. 
 
 Finally, they concentrated all their arguments to make presiding 
 elders elective ; but on counting noses, they found we had a majority, 
 though small ; and, rather than be defeated, they moved for a com- 
 mittee of compromise. Strong men from each side were chosen ; they 
 patched up a sham compromise, as almost all compromises are, in 
 Church or State. The committee reported in favour, whenever a pre- 
 siding elder was needed for any District, the bishop should have the 
 right to nominate three persons, and the Conferences should have the 
 right to elect one of the three. This report passed by a vote of about 
 sixty ; there were twenty-three, if my recollection is correct, in the 
 minority against it. 
 
 This report having passed, the radicals had a real jubilee. It was 
 the entering wedge to many other revolutionary projects ; and they 
 began to pour them in at a mighty rate. I had, in my speech in 
 debate on the subject, predicted that this would be the case. Our 
 friends began to see their error, but it was well-nigh too late. 
 
 In the meantime Bishop Soule, now of the Church South, had been 
 elected to the office of a bishop, and he informed the General Confer- 
 ence that he could not be ordained, because he could not conscien- 
 tiously administer the government according to this inglorious com- 
 promise. Perhaps this was the best act that Bishop Soule ever 
 performed. 
 
 In the meantime I visited the room of Bishop M'Kendree, who was 
 too feeble to preside in the Conference. He wept, and said this com- 
 promise would ruin the Church for ever, if not changed, and advised
 
 88 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 that we make a united effort to suspend these rules or regulations for 
 four years ; and we counted votes, and found we could do it, and intro- 
 duced a resolution to that effect. And now the war commenced 
 afresh ; and after debating the resolution for several days, the radicals 
 found that if the vote was put we would carry it, and they determined 
 to break the quorum of the house, and for two or three times they 
 succeeded. Bishop Koberts at length rebuked them sharply, and said, 
 "If you cannot defeat the measure honourably, you ought not to do it 
 at all. Now," said he, " keep your seats, and vote like men." This 
 awed several of them, and they kept their seats ; the vote was put and 
 carried, and these obnoxious rules were suspended for four years. 
 
 But peace and harmony were very far from being restored to the 
 Church. A strong and violent effort was made for the next four years 
 by the revolutionists to carry their radical measures, and thousands of 
 our members became disaffected, and by their constant agitations dis- 
 turbed the peace, and endangered the harmony, of the Church, until it 
 really became imperatively necessary to arrest these lawless disturbers 
 of the peace of the Church. They were arrested, brought to trial, 
 and expelled for rebellion against the constituted authorities of the 
 Church. 
 
 These wholesome and salutary measures were, by these self-styled 
 reformers, denounced as tyranny and despotism. At our next General 
 Conference, in Baltimore, in 1824, the radical war against the Church 
 still raged with unabated fury ; but we still had a majority in favour 
 of our old and well-tried government, and we succeeded, after long 
 and tedious debate, in suspending those heretical rules for four years 
 more. This was the death-warrant to the revolutionists. From this 
 time, many of the preachers and members began calmly to review their 
 ground of reform, and became well satisfied that it was all wrong; 
 and they retraced their steps, and became able and efficient expositors 
 of the polity of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 The reaction threw death and destruction into the radical ranks, and 
 created, as they thought, the necessity of a separate organization. 
 Accordingly, they set to work, and formed what they were pleased to 
 call the Protestant Methodist Church, in which they incorporated all 
 those radical measures for which they so strenuously contended before 
 their amputation or secession. They carried off thousands of our mem- 
 bers, and many of our very talented preachers, and now they thought 
 that they would sweep the world ; and truly they have swept it, for 
 they formed a complete trash-trap, and a great many of our unfaithful 
 members arid preachers, that walked disorderly, and would not be re- 
 proved or cured, have gone into it, and upon the whole they have 
 saved the Methodist Episcopal Church a great deal of trouble in trying 
 and expelling disorderly preachers and members ; for whenever they
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 89 
 
 were expelled or arraigned for misconduct, they fled to these seceders. 
 They took them in, regardless of the crimes laid to their charge ; and 
 by 1828, when our General Conference sat in Pittsburgh, this little 
 radical brat gave its last squeak among us, and we repealed those 
 obnoxious rules and regulations. The Church was restored to peace 
 and harmonious action, and we have done infinitely better without them 
 than we did with them. 
 
 That this professed reform has proved, beyond any reasonable doubt, 
 an entire failure, I think cannot be questioned by any impartial and 
 unprejudiced mind. Over thirty years have rolled by since they organ- 
 ized. They boasted that they commenced with over twenty thousand 
 members, headed by a strong corps of talented preachers : and after 
 gathering up thousands of the expelled and disaffected members of the 
 Methodist as well as other Churches, their numerical strength at this 
 day is not, perhaps, over severity thousand. They have tried to their 
 hearts' content their Presbyterian form of government and their lay 
 delegation. Their operations remind one of an old horse-mill with 
 about one third of the cogs out of the main wheel. There is a mighty 
 jarring and jolting, and often a mighty strife about who shall be the 
 big man. Woe to them that kick against the pricks ! 
 
 And now I say, and I speak with a respectful deference, Was there 
 ever a heresy in doctrine or Church government that was not started 
 by preachers ? Look at the ten thousand and one erroneous doctrines, 
 schisms, and divisions, that have sprung up almost in every country 
 and clime, and in almost every age, and then ask, Was there not a 
 preacher or preachers at the head of it ? And here I may speak with 
 confidence, and say, so far as the Methodist Church is concerned, from 
 the days of John Wesley down to the present, there never has been a 
 schism or a division in our Church but it was headed by a preacher or 
 preachers, that have become wise above what is written. Witness the 
 seven divisions among the Wesleyan Methodists in England ; then 
 view the secessions in these United States, in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. Look at Ham met in the South, at Still well in New York ; 
 see James O'Kelly in Virginia ; then behold the radical secession from 
 1820 to 1828 throughout the length and breadth of the land; then 
 come to the great secession of the South in 1844. 
 
 If these secessions had been left to the voice of our members, would 
 they ever have taken place ? " No, verily, no," will be the answer of 
 every intelligent man, woman, and child. But these preachers took 
 an ungodly advantage of the members who stood firmly and strongly 
 opposed to a division of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; and now, to 
 keep up appearances, these very preachers, with their bribed judges, 
 sneeringly call the Methodist Episcopal Church the Methodist Church, 
 North, and say we are all rabid abolitionists, when they do verily
 
 90 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 know it is all false. At their late General Conference they have fully 
 disclosed the cloven foot of the slavery-loving preachers ; for they have 
 stricken out of their Discipline every rule on the subject of slavery, 
 and had well nigh stricken out that part of the General Rules that in- 
 terdicts the slave trade, (according to their interpretation.) I should 
 not be greatly surprised if, in a few years, this rule goes by the board, 
 and some of these slavery-loving preachers are engaged in importing 
 them by the thousands into this land of the free, and home of the brave. 
 O, kind Heaven, prevent it, and reclaim these wretched wanderers ! * 
 
 And now, though we have spoken freely of preachers and their 
 faults, their errors ought not to be concealed. But this fact is not, as 
 we conceive, any triumph to infidelity, nor should it discourage the 
 Church. Among the first twelve that Christ called to the blessed work 
 of the ministry there were two that fatally erred : Judas betrayed and 
 Peter denied Him ; the love of money and the fear of man were too 
 strong for their religious attachment to Christ, and only proves the 
 necessity of sacrificing everything for the immortal honours of the 
 cross ; and although our sins are as near and dear to us as a right eye, 
 hand, or foot, they must be plucked out, or cut off, and cast from us, 
 knowing it is better, infinitely better, to make these sacrifices than re- 
 tain them all, and be cast into hell. What a sad account will many 
 preachers have to give in the day of judgment, who have preached a 
 free salvation to listening thousands, while their poor degraded slaves 
 are deprived of many of the blessings of life, and privileges of civil 
 and religious liberty ! These preachers must and do know that slavery 
 is at war with the attributes and perfections of God, who will never 
 punish the innocent or let the guilty go free. 
 
 Who ever before knew of a professed slavery Church ? that is, one 
 which justified slavery by the word of God ? Well may some of them 
 be ashamed of their assumed name, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
 and wish to change it ; for it is evident that they can never preach the 
 Gospel successfully in any country that opposes slavery ; for they could 
 
 * The author's fears have unhappily been realized. At the General Conference 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1858, it was resolved that "the rule 
 forbidding the buying and selling of men, women, and children, with an intention 
 to enslave them, be expunged from the General Rules of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, South ; " and further, " that in adopting the foregoing resolution, this 
 Conference expresses no opinion in regard to the African slave trade, to which the 
 rule in question has been understood to refer." To the eternal disgrace of this body, 
 be it known that only eight out of nearly 150 ministers of God's word could be 
 found to protest against such a violation of every feeling of humanity. One hundred 
 and forty ministers express no opinion of the African slave trade, a traffic which 
 has been nurtured by human blood, and supported by the perpetration of every 
 crime that can stain humanity. If God's ministers are silent on a subject so 
 revolting as this, what claim can they urge to condemn lesser crimes ?
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 91 
 
 not, by possibility, have any confidence in such preachers ; and the 
 poor slaves, in proportion to their capabilities of reasoning on the sub- 
 ject, just in that ratio must they lack confidence in such preachers. 
 Nay, they must lack confidence in that God and religion that these 
 preachers recommend to them, and I am solemnly afraid that thou- 
 sands of these poor slaves will be lost under the influence of these 
 slaveholding preachers ; but I predict the downfall of such a Church, 
 and hope by other men and means God will yet save the thousands of 
 the South, and preserve our happy Union until it shall give liberty, 
 civil and religious, to unnumbered millions of the human family. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 FORMATION OF EARLY CIRCUITS IN THE WEST. 
 
 OUE Annual Conference this year was held at Franklin, Tennessee, 
 October 20th, 1816. Our increase this year in the West, including 
 the Ohio and Tennessee Conferences, was 1,203. Our increase of 
 travelling preachers in these two Conferences was but two, owing to 
 many locating for want of the means of support. My four years on the 
 Wabash and Green River District having expired, Bishop M'Kendree 
 told me he desired me to go to the Holston District ; but it was a 
 long journey to move, and I had a young and increasing family, and I 
 was poor. I asked him to be excused, but if he thought it best I 
 would go ; but he appointed me to the Christian Circuit, in the 
 Green River District, James Axley presiding elder : this was the year 
 1816-17. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that in the West we always received our 
 appointments for the year in the fall of the previous year. The General 
 Conference of 1816 formed the Missouri Conference, which covered 
 that State, and Arkansas, Illinois, and Indiana States. It was com- 
 posed of Illinois and Missouri Districts, covering the principal settle- 
 ments in four large States, though only two Districts. The same 
 General Conference formed the Mississippi Conference. The Ohio 
 Conference was composed of Ohio, Muskingum, Scioto, Miami, and 
 Kentucky Districts, five in number. 
 
 It is probable that the first introduction of Methodism in the State 
 of Indiana was in 1802 or 1803. In the fall of 1804 Illinois Grant, 
 which was opposite and north of Louisville, was then included in the 
 Salt River and Shelbyville Circuits, and Brother Benjamin Lakin and 
 myself crossed the Ohio River, and preached at Brother Robertson's 
 and Prather's. In this grant we had two classes, and splendid revivals 
 of religion j and, if my recollection serves me correctly, this Illinois
 
 92 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 Grant was formed into a Circuit in 1807-8, and Moses Ashworth was 
 appointed to travel it ; it was called Silver Creek Circuit. This was 
 the first regular Circuit ever formed in the State of Indiana, and 
 composed of 188 members. The next Circuit formed in the State of 
 Indiana was called Vincennes Circuit, which I formed in 1808, at the 
 time I fought the memorable battle with the Shakers, in the Busroe 
 Settlement, elsewhere named in this narrative. This Circuit was tem- 
 porarily supplied probably till 1811 ; it then had 125 members, and 
 Thomas Stillwell was its first regular preacher ; it belonged to the 
 Green River District. The first introduction of Methodism in the 
 State of Illinois is hard to determine. 
 
 The real pioneer and leader of Episcopal Methodism in the State of 
 Illinois was Captain Joseph Ogle, who came to Illinois in 1785, and 
 was converted under the preaching of James Smith, (Baptist,) of 
 Kentucky, who visited and preached in Illinois in 1787. The first 
 Methodist preacher was Joseph Lillard, who visited this State in 1793, 
 and formed a class in St. Clair County, and appointed Captain Ogle 
 leader. The next Methodist preacher was John Clarke, who was originally 
 a Circuit rider in South Carolina, from 1791 to 1796, when he with- 
 drew on account of slavery. He was the first man that preached the 
 Gospel west of the Mississippi, in 1798. The Kev. Hosea Riggs was 
 the first Methodist preacher that settled in Illinois, and he revived and 
 reorganized the class at Captain Ogle's, formed by Lillard, 'which had 
 dropped its regular meetings. 
 
 From 1798 there seems to have been no regular preacher in Illinois 
 till 1804 ; then Benjamin Young was sent as a missionary. In the 
 fall of IS 05 he returned sixty-seven members, and Joseph Oglesby 
 was appointed to succeed Brother Young on the Illinois Circuit. This 
 Circuit was in the Cumberland District, Western Conference, and 
 Lewis Garrett presiding elder, though I think he never visited Illinois. 
 In 1806 Charles Methany was appointed to the Illinois Circuit. In 
 1807 Jesse Walker was appointed to this Circuit, and in 1808 John 
 Clingan. All these early pioneer preachers have long since passed 
 away and gone to their reward. " Blessed are the dead that die in the 
 Lord ; they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." 
 
 The Tennessee Conference was composed of Salt River, Nashville, 
 Cumberland, Green River, Holston, and French Broad Districts. 
 The Mississippi Conference was composed of Mississippi and Louisiana 
 Districts. Our old Western Conference had now, in four years from 
 its first division, increased to four Annual Conferences, and they started 
 in this form with the following ministers and members. According to 
 the Minutes of 1817, Ohio had 22,171 members, and 62 preachers; 
 Missouri had 3,173 members, and 23 travelling preachers; Tennessee 
 had 19,401 members, and 53 travelling preachers ; Mississippi Con-
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 93 
 
 ference had 1,941 members, and 11 travelling preachers. Our four 
 Conferences now covered the following States : Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
 Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Ken- 
 tucky, and Western Virginia, and some appointments in North Carolina. 
 In the fall of 1813 I had left the Christian Circuit for the District, 
 with 743 members, and I newfound 546 ; but parts of the Circuit and 
 membership had been merged into other Circuits. I was without any 
 helper, and it was a full four weeks' Circuit. 
 
 This year we had some glorious revivals. There was a small society 
 of good members some five miles north of Hopkinsville ; one of our 
 quarterly meetings was holden here, and a blessed work broke out ; 
 some seventy, were converted and joined the Church. Several of these 
 young converts made useful ministers in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. 
 
 Down near the Tennessee State line, there moved and settled two 
 wealthy Methodist families ; but they were surrounded by a strong 
 settlement who were very rigid Calvinists, raised to hate the Metho- 
 dists. I took them in the Circuit, but, it being a week-day appoint- 
 ment, and strong prejudices against us, our congregations were small. 
 These two families had over one hundred and twenty slaves, and the 
 slaves were dreadfully wicked; they were a drunken, Sabbath break- 
 ing, and thievish set of slaves. The masters were very humane and 
 indulgent. There were but two, I believe, among them that were 
 professors at all ; two old grey-headed men. One of them was a 
 Methodist, the other was a Baptist ; both were exhorters among the 
 people of colour. The brother at whose house I preached was a plain, 
 old-fashioned Methodist in almost everything save slavery. 1 was 
 opposed to slavery, though I did not meddle with it politically ; yet I 
 felt it my duty to bear my testimony against the moral wrong of 
 slavery. The old brother took some exceptions to my testimony 
 against it. I saw very plainly that in all probability these slaves must 
 be lost. On week-days they were under an overseer, and not per- 
 mitted to hear preaching. Sundays they were out drinking and trading, 
 selling brooms, baskets, and the little articles they manufactured. I 
 felt distressed at the thought that they would be lost. At length I 
 asked the old brother to give me the privilege to go to their cabins 
 and preach to them ; he thought this too great a degradation for a 
 preacher. I told him, if something was not done for them, they would 
 all be lost, and that God held him in a strong sense accountable, and 
 that something must be done. He said he was willing I should preach 
 to them, if I would preach to them in his house. I told him I had this 
 objection to that : " You white people will be present, and your very 
 presence will embarrass them and me both. I want to talk to them as 
 ignorant Negroes, and tell them of all their drunkenness, stealing, acts
 
 94 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 of adultery, and Sabbath breaking ; and I cannot do it if the white 
 people are present." He then proposed to give the Negroes the large 
 room and entry, and that he and his brother-in-law's family would 
 retire to another room. I said, " If you will let me lock you up, I 
 will agree to it." He assented. 
 
 The appointment was made, and all the slaves of the two families 
 directed to attend. I told John and Harry, the two black men that 
 were exhorters, that if any impression was made on any of them, they 
 must set out a mourners' bench, and assist me in talking to and pray- 
 ing with them. 
 
 The day rolled on ; I attended. The room was full, and entry too. 
 I locked up the white people in another room, and went in and 
 took my stand. There was belonging to the old brother a large, likely 
 mulatto man, the carriage-driver ; he dressed much finer than his 
 master ; he came and took his stand in the door, his bosom full of 
 ruffles. He looked scornfully on me, as good as to say, " Yes, you 
 think you are going to do great things in preaching to us coloured 
 people." I sung and prayed; took my text; explained the plan of 
 salvation through Jesus Christ ; then told them of all their dirty deeds 
 in as plain language as I could command ; and then, in as warm an 
 exhortation as I could give, I warned them to flee from the wrath to 
 come: and, just as I closed, the large ruffle-shirted carriage-driver 
 fell full length on the floor, and made the house jar and tremble. In 
 a few minutes they fell right and left, till the place was strewed with 
 them in every direction. John and Harry, my two armour-bearers, 
 set out a bench, and gathered them to it, till they could get no more, 
 for the crowd ; and the first thing I knew, here were the old brother 
 and his wife, his brother-in-law and wife, talking to and praying with 
 the Negroes, and several of their children down with the Negroes pray- 
 ing for mercy at a mighty rate. Our meeting lasted all the afternoon 
 and night, and there were forty conversions ; several of the white 
 children among the rest. From this a blessed revival spread among 
 the slaves, and many of them, I believe, were soundly converted. I 
 took some seventy into the Church ; baptized them and their children. 
 Several of these coloured men made respectable local preachers to 
 preach to the slaves around the countiy. 
 
 These two old Methodist men said I had in a temporal sense 
 bettered or enhanced the value of their servants more than a thousand 
 dollars ; they ceased getting drunk, stealing, and breaking the Sab- 
 bath. This revival among the slaves, with many others that I have 
 been engaged in, fully satisfies me that the Gospel ought to be carried 
 to slaves and owners of slaves ; for if the religion of Jesus Christ will 
 not finally bring about emancipation of the slaves, nothing else will. 
 I am greatly astonished at many good Methodist preachers that say,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 95 
 
 " Don't carry the Gospel into slave States, but deliver over to the 
 uncovenanted mercies of God slaves and their masters ; " for they say 
 virtually, none of them can be saved. But I know better ; and unless 
 freedom for the slaves is accomplished under the redeeming influence 
 of religion, this happy Union will be split from centre to circumference, 
 and then there will be an end to our happy and glorious Republic. 
 And if we do not carry the Gospel to these slaves and their masters, 
 who will ? Surely not the ministers who justify slavery by perverting 
 the word of God ; and still more surely not abolition preachers, who 
 by political agitation have cut themselves off from any access to slave- 
 holders or slaves. 
 
 I wish we had a trained band of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 who are willing to let our Discipline be as it is, to send into every 
 slave State in the Union. Surely here is missionary ground that ought 
 to be occupied with great care, for the salvation of the perishing thou- 
 sands of the South, and for the final overthrow of slavery, under the 
 benign influences of the Christian religion. 
 
 There was another incident occurred this year, that I will mention 
 in this place. Many of the early Methodists somehow imbibed the 
 notion that a quarter of a dollar meant what we call quarterage ; and 
 although many of them were wealthy, it was hard to convince them 
 that twenty -five cents were not quarterage, and that every member 
 should pay according to his ability. This was one cause why so many 
 of our preachers were starved into a location, and of necessity had to 
 retire from the itinerant field. 
 
 There were two wealthy families moved into my Circuit from one of 
 the old States, and settled in a very wicked neighbourhood. They 
 came to me, and insisted that I should take them into the Circuit, and 
 preach to them. I did so ; and formed a class of five white members, 
 and one old black man. The round on the Circuit before the next 
 quarterly meeting I told them, as none of them would go to the 
 quarterly meeting, that if they had anything to send up as their quar- 
 terage to support the Gospel, if they would hand it to me, I would 
 credit it to their names on the class-paper. 
 
 The old Negro man stepped forward and laid down his quarter of a 
 dollar. Next came his mistress ; she handed me two dollars ; then 
 came her husband and the master of the old black man, and threw 
 down twenty-five cents. 
 
 Said I, " Colonel, what is this twenty-five cents for? " 
 
 Said he, " It is my quarterage." 
 
 " Surely, colonel," said I, " you are going to give more than that." 
 
 "No, sir," said he ; "I will have you to know beggars are not to 
 be choosers."
 
 96 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 " Well, sir," said I, " I will have you to know I am no beggar. I 
 have a just claim on you, and you owe it to me ; and if you will not 
 give me more than that, I will not have it." 
 
 " Very well," said he. 
 
 So I left the money on the table. " And now, sir," said I, " if you 
 will not support the Gospel, I shall not leave any other appointment 
 here, but will go and preach to those who are willing to support the 
 Gospel." 
 
 The old brother was considerably riled. His good lady expostu- 
 leted with him ; but he was inexorable. The sister told me afterward 
 that the colonel spent a sleepless night ; he kept twisting and turning 
 from side to side, and groaning all night. She spoke to him several 
 times, and told him if he would resolve to be > more liberal, his bad 
 feelings would go off, and he would sleep better. The old brother got 
 up the next morning, and after family worship he said to me : 
 
 " Brother, what ought I to give as quarterage ? " 
 
 " 0," said I, " brother, I can't answer that question ; that is a 
 matter between God and your conscience. But," said I, " brother, solve 
 the following question, and you will know what you ought to give : 
 If your old Negro man, not worth ten dollars, gave twenty-five cents a 
 quarter, what ought Colonel T., who has seventy slaves, two thousand 
 acres of good land, several thousand dollars out at interest, and worth, 
 at least, fifty thousand dollars, to give ? " 
 
 The solving of this question stumped him, and his quarterage ever 
 afterward, as long as I knew him, came by dollars, and not cents. 
 And when last I saw him, as I moved to Illinois, he stopped me in 
 the road, and said, 
 
 " Brother, I owe you a thousand dollars, and here 's part of it," 
 handing me a fifty-dollar bill. 
 
 His excellent wife, leaning on his arm, said to me, " I owe you as 
 much as my husband, take a part," and handed me a twenty-dollar 
 bill. Thus I cured a quarter-of-a-dollar-quarterage member ; and, my 
 dear reader, if you are one of these old dispensationists, look out for a 
 perfect cure, or come and be healed of this parsimonious leprosy. 
 
 In travelling the Christian Circuit, which crossed the Tennessee 
 State line, and lay partly in Tennessee, and partly in Kentucky, in one 
 of my exploring routes, hunting up new ground and new appointments 
 to preach at, late one evening, in or near the Cumberland Kiver 
 Bottom, I called at a gentleman's gate, and asked the privilege of 
 staying all night. The gentleman very readily granted my request. 
 He was a wealthy fanner, the owner of several slaves. I found a mild, 
 good, easy, fashionable family. After supper, several neighbours came 
 in to spend an evening in social chat. Being a stranger among them,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 97 
 
 I turned the conversation on religious subjects ; inquired if they had 
 any preaching. 1 soon found they had very little preaching of any 
 kind. I told the gentleman my business was to preach anywhere I 
 could get peaceable and orderly hearers, and asked him if I might not 
 leave an appointment to preach at his house. He pleasantly said, if 
 he had heard me preach and liked my preaching, he could better 
 determine whether to grant me the privilege to leave an appointment 
 or not. I told him, as he had a large family, black and white, and as 
 there were some five or six visitors present, if he had no objections, 
 and would call them together, I would preach to them, and he could 
 the better judge how he liked my preaching, and determine whether 1 
 should leave a future appointment. He agreed to the proposition, and 
 called all in. I sung and prayed, took my text, and preached to them 
 about an hour as best I could. The coloured people wept ; the white 
 people wept ; the man of the house wept ; and when I closed, he said, 
 " Do leave another appointment, and come and preach to us ; for we 
 are sinners, and greatly need preaching." I left an appointment ; but 
 before I came round, the devil stirred up opposition. One man told 
 the gentleman at whose house I preached, that if he let the Methodist 
 preachers preach at his house, it would not be long before they would 
 eat him out of house and home. He said his father had taken in 
 Methodist preachers, and in a few years they ate him out, and brought 
 him to poverty ; and, besides, these Methodist preachers were a very 
 bad set of men. Mr. B. told this man that he thought he could stand 
 it a while, and if he found there was any danger of being eaten out, 
 he would send us adrift. 
 
 When I came to my appointment, there was a large congregation ; 
 the house and porch were literally crowded. I preached to them with 
 great freedom, and almost the whole congregation were melted into 
 tears. I sung, prayed, and went through the congregation, and shook 
 hands with a great many of them. When I came to the man of the 
 house, he wept, and fell on his knees, and begged me to pray for him. 
 Soon his wife and children, and several others, knelt by his side, and 
 cried aloud for mercy. It was late at night before our meeting closed, 
 and not until the swelling shouts of five or six went to heaven, that 
 the dead were alive and the lost were found. I opened the doors of the 
 Church for the reception of members, and some ten persons joined, 
 the man of the house, his wife, two children, and two servants. This 
 was the first-fruits of a gracious revival and a large society in this 
 neighbourhood ; and while I lived in that country, we held a sacra- 
 mental meeting at this place every year. After the first sacrament we 
 held there, Brother B. rose and addressed the large assembly. He 
 said, " Some of you kindly warned me not to take in these Methodist
 
 98 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 preachers. You said they would eat me out and bring me to poverty ; 
 but, neighbours, I have raised more corn, more wheat, more hemp, 
 more tobacco, and never lived as well and plentifully in all my life. 
 I could feed a regiment of Methodist preachers all the time, and then 
 get rich ; for God blesses me in my basket and in my store." 
 
 During this year, while on this Circuit, something like the following 
 occurred : An Englishman, a Wesleyan Methodist, moved into a very 
 wicked and high-strung Predestinarian settlement. He came several 
 miles, and made himself known. He invited me to preach at his 
 house. I told him the people were so prejudiced against the Method- 
 ists, that we could not get them out to hear on a week-day ; but he 
 insisted, and I gave him an appointment. When I came, there were 
 only five besides the family. I preached : two of the little company 
 wept. I left another appointment. For several times that I preached 
 to them, my congregation increased, and were orderly and somewhat 
 affected. At length the Englishman, being wealthy, told me he was 
 going to build a church. I tried to dissuade him from it. I told him 
 he could get no help to build ; that there was no Society, and not 
 much probability that there would ever be a Methodist Society there ; 
 but, he said, he thought a man lived to very little purpose in this 
 world, if he did not live so as to leave his mark, that would tell when 
 he was dead and gone. " Now," said he, " if you will promise me 
 that you will hold a protracted meeting, and give us a sacrament, and 
 get some help, and come and dedicate the church, it shall be up and 
 finished in eight or ten weeks." I told him I would do so, if spared : 
 in the meantime, while the church was in process of building, we had 
 two or three conversions at our little meetings. The church being 
 finished, I got the help needed, appointed a protracted sacramental 
 meeting to dedicate the church, and invited people far and near to 
 attend ; and, it being a new thing in the settlement, when the day 
 came there was a very large concourse of people. The first sermon on 
 Saturday was attended with great power ; that night there were several 
 mourners and two sound conversions. On Sunday, under the sermon 
 of dedication, the word was attended with great power; many fell 
 under the mighty power of God. Our meeting lasted all that day and 
 night, with very little intermission, and about twenty were converted. 
 
 Our meeting continued several days and nights ; many were the 
 happy conversions to God, and forty joined the Church. My Eng- 
 lishman was so happy, he hardly knew whether he was in the body 
 or out of it. Methodism was firmly planted here. Long since my 
 English brother died in great peace, and rests in heaven from his 
 labours, and his works do follow him : but surely he made his " mark," 
 and it will be owned in heaven.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PUEACHEB. 99 
 
 From the earliest of my recollection up to this time, 1816, there 
 were scarcely any books of any kind in this now mighty West ; but 
 especially was there a great scarcity of Bibles and Testaments. We 
 were young and poor as a nation ; had but a few years gained our 
 liberty ; had hardly begun to live as a Republic after a bloody and 
 devastating war for our independence ; and although Congress, the 
 very first year after the declaration of our independence, had wisely 
 taken steps for furnishing the struggling infant for independence with 
 the word of God, and did order that precious book, yet there was a 
 great lack of the Bible, especially in the wilderness of the West ; but 
 this year the Lord put it into the hearts of some of His people to 
 organize a Bible Society, which was done on the llth of May, 1816 ; 
 and although at first it was a feeble concern, yet God has prospered it, 
 and millions upon millions of this precious book have been printed 
 and circulated, and it is pouring streams of light, life, and knowledge 
 upon almost every nation of this sin-stricken world. The man of sin 
 has quailed before it ; the false religion of the God -dishonouring pro- 
 phet is tottering before its mighty truths ; the dying idolatrous pagan 
 millions are receiving its soul-converting truths, and we hope for its 
 universal spread till every crowned head shall be brought down to the 
 dust, every oppressive yoke broken, universal civil and religious liberty 
 enjoyed by our fallen race, and the benefits of the redeeming stream 
 be enjoyed by all mankind. 
 
 Nothing but the principles of the Bible can save our happy nation 
 or the world, and every friend of religion ought to spread the Bible 
 to the utmost of his power and means. Then let us look for the happy 
 end of the universal spread of truth, when all flesh shall see the sal- 
 vation of God. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 EARTHQUAKE IN THE SOUTH. 
 
 THE Conference was held in Franklin, Tennessee, October 30th, 
 1817. I was appointed to travel on the Christian Circuit, Green 
 River District, James Axley, presiding elder. Our increase this year 
 was 5,163 members, and seven preachers, in the four Conferences. 
 In the winter of 1812 we had a very severe earthquake; it seemed to 
 stop the current of the Mississippi, broke flat-boats loose from their 
 moorings, and opened large cracks or fissures in the earth. This 
 earthquake struck terror to thousands of people, and under the mighty 
 panic hundreds and thousands crowded to and joined the different 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 
 
 Churches. There were many very interesting incidents connected 
 with the shaking of the earth at this time : two I will name. I had 
 preached in Nashville the night before the second dreadful shock came, 
 to a large congregation. Early the next morning I arose and walked 
 out on the hill near the house where I had preached, when I saw a 
 Negro woman coming down the hill to the spring, with an empty pail 
 on her head. (It is very common for Negroes to carry water this way 
 without touching the pail with either hand.) When she got within a 
 few rods of where I stood, the earth began to tremble and jar ; chim- 
 neys were thrown down, scaffolding around many new buildings fell 
 with a loud crash, hundreds of the citizens suddenly awoke, and sprang 
 into the streets ; loud screaming followed, for many thought the day 
 of judgment was come. The young mistresses of the above-named 
 Negro woman came running after her, and begging her to pray for 
 them. She raised the shout, and said to them, " My Jesus is coming 
 in the clouds of heaven, and I can't wait to pray for you now ; I must 
 go and meet Him. I told you so, that He would come, and you would 
 not believe me. Farewell. Hallelujah ! Jesus is coming, and I am 
 ready. Hallelujah ! Amen." And on she went, shouting and clapping 
 her hands, with the empty pail on her head. 
 
 Near Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky, lived old Brother 
 Valentine Cook, of very precious memory, with his wife Tabitba. 
 Brother Cook was a graduate at Cokesbury College at an early day in 
 the history of Methodism in these United States. He was a very 
 pious, successful pioneer preacher; but for the want of a sufficient 
 support for a rising and rapidly-increasing family, he had located, and 
 was teaching school at the time of the above-named earthquake. He 
 and wife were in bed when the earth began to shake and tremble. He 
 sprang out of bed, threw open the door, and began to shout, and 
 started with nothing on but his night-clothes. He steered his course 
 east, shouting every step, saying, " My Jesus is coming." His wife 
 took after him, and at the top of her voice cried out, " Mr. Cook, 
 don't leave me." 
 
 " O Tabby," said he, " my Jesus is coming, and I cannot wait for 
 you;" and on he went, shouting every jump, " My Jesus is coming; 
 I can't wait for you, Tabby." 
 
 The years of the excitement by these earthquakes hundreds joined 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church ; and though many were sincere, and 
 stood firm, yet there were hundreds that no doubt had joined from 
 mere fright. My predecessors had for several years held the reins of 
 discipline with a very loose hand ; and when Bishop M'Kendree told 
 me privately he wished me to go to the Eed Eiver Circuit at the Con- 
 ference of 1817, my heart was troubled within me; for I knew the
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHES,. 101 
 
 state of the Circuit. There were many wealthy, fashionable families 
 in the Church; slavery abounded in it, and the members had been 
 allowed to buy and sell without being dealt with ; moreover, these 
 were the days of common, fashionable dram-drinking, before the great 
 temperance reformation was started ; and extravagant dressing was 
 the unrestrained order of the day ; and there were about twenty 
 talented local preachers in the Circuit, many of them participators in 
 these evils, and I dreaded the war that must follow. Under this con- 
 viction I begged Bishop M'Kendree not to send me there. He very 
 gravely replied, " There are many members in that Circuit that may 
 be saved by a firm, judicious exercise of discipline, that otherwise will 
 be lost, and I wish you to go and do for them the best you can." 
 
 " Enough said," replied I ; "I '11 go." 
 
 At the upper end of the Circuit, riot more than eight or nine miles 
 from Nashville, there was a large society and a meeting-house. My 
 predecessor had left a conditional appointment for his successor. I 
 was a total stranger in this region. The day of my conditional 
 appointment was a dark day, misting with rain, but I got there in due 
 time. After waiting till half-past twelve o'clock, one man came, who 
 had had the misfortune to lose one of his eyes. We sat a little while, 
 aad I asked him if there was not an appointment for preaching that 
 day. 
 
 " Yes," said he ; " but there will be no preacher or people, I 
 suppose." I saw from his answer he did not suspect me for the 
 preacher. 
 
 He further said, " As it is late, and no preacher nor people, we 
 had as well go. Come, go home with me, and get some dinner." 
 
 " No," said I, " we must have meeting ; and if you will preach, I 
 will conclude after you." 
 
 " No, no," said he ; " if you will preach, I will conclude after you." 
 
 " Agreed," said I, and up I rose in the stand, sung and played, 
 took my text, and preached as best I could for forty-five minutes, and 
 then called on him, and he rose, sung and prayed, and prayed well. 
 
 I went home with my one man, my entire congregation, and found 
 him to be a pious, religious elder in the Presbyterian Church. Prom 
 the novelty of the effort of the day, my friend professed to think it 
 was one of the greatest sermons he had ever heard in all his life. 
 
 I left another appointment, and went on my way round the Circuit. 
 For weeks my one-man congregation proclaimed and circulated my 
 next appointment, telling the people what a great preacher had come 
 to the Circuit ; and when I came to my next appointment, the whole 
 hill-side was covered with horses and carriages, and the church 
 crowded to overflowing. My heart almost fainted within me for fear
 
 102 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 I should not meet the expectations of the people ; but the Lord helped 
 me, and we had a mighty shaking among the dry bones, and a blessed 
 revival broke out. Our meeting lasted several days and nights, and 
 many souls were happily converted to God and joined the Church on 
 my first round on this Circuit. 
 
 When I got to the lower end of the Circuit I found a large society, 
 a fine class-leader, and a very pious, old, superannuated travelling 
 preacher. He told me the society was in a most wretched condition ; 
 that there was a very popular local preacher in the society, who married 
 a great many people, and was in the habit of drinking too much at 
 almost every wedding he attended ; and that he had a large connexion, 
 all iu the Church, and that for years the preachers were afraid to do 
 anything with him. 
 
 The next day, which was Sabbath, we had a large congregation, and 
 after preaching, as my uniform custom was, I met the class. My 
 popular local preacher was present. In examining the leader of the 
 class I, among many other questions, asked him if he drank drams. 
 He promptly answered me, No, he did not. 
 
 "Brother," said I, "why do you not?" He hesitated; but I 
 insisted that he should tell the reason why he did not. 
 
 " Well, brother," said he, " if I must tell the reason why I do not 
 drink drams, it is because I think it is wrong to do so." 
 
 " That 's right, brother," said I ; " speak it out ; for it is altogether 
 wrong for a Christian ; and a class-leader should set a better example 
 to the class he leads, and to all others." 
 
 When I came to the local preacher, I said, " Brother W., do you 
 drink drams ? " 
 
 " Yes," said he. 
 
 " What is your particular reason for drinking drams ? " I asked him. 
 
 " Because it makes me feel well," he answered. 
 
 " i r ou drink till you feel it, do you ? " said I. 
 
 " Certainly," said he. 
 
 " Well, how much do you drink at a time ? " 
 
 He replied, gruffly, that he never measured it. 
 
 " Brother, how often do you drink in a day ? " 
 
 " Just when I feel like it, if I can get it." 
 
 " Well, brother, there are complaints that you drink too often and 
 too much ; and the Saturday before my next appointment here you 
 must meet a committee of local preachers at ten o'clock, to investigate 
 this matter ; therefore prepare yourself for trial." 
 
 " ! " said he, " if you are for that sort of play, come on ; I'll be 
 ready for you." 
 
 I had hard work to get a committee that were not dram-drinkers
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 103 
 
 themselves. The trial came on; the class-leader brought evidence 
 that the local preacher had been intoxicated often, and really drunk 
 several times. The committee found him guilty of immoral conduct, 
 and suspended him till the next quarterly meeting ; and then the 
 quarterly meeting, after hard debate, expelled him. The whole society 
 nearly were present. 
 
 After his expulsion, and I had read him out, his wife and children, 
 and connexions, and one or two friends, to the number of thirteen, 
 rose up, and withdrew from the society. I told the society, if there 
 was anything against their moral character, they could not withdraw 
 without an investigation ; but if there was nothing against their moral 
 character, they could withdraw. The leader said there was nothing 
 immoral against them, so I laid down the gap and let them out of the 
 Church. They then demanded a letter. I told them there was no 
 rule by which they had a right to a letter, unless they were going to 
 move and join some other society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 They said they never intended to join the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 again. 1 then told them that they came to us without a letter, and 
 must go without a letter. I then read the Rules ; exhorted the leader 
 to be punctual, faithful, and pious ; the members I urged to attend all 
 the public and private means of grace, especially class-meetings, love- 
 feasts, and the sacraments, and to bring and dedicate their children to 
 God by having them baptized. 
 
 .From this very day the work of religion broke out in the society 
 and settlement, and before the year closed I took back the thirteen 
 that withdrew, and about forty more joined the Church, and not a 
 dram-drinker in the whole society ; but the poor local preacher who 
 had been expelled, I fear, lived and died a drunkard. 
 
 This was a four weeks' Circuit, and I had no helpers ; and on 
 examination of the class papers I found over one hundred and fifty 
 delinquent members ; some, yea, many of them, had not been in a 
 class-meeting for one, two, and three years. I determined, with a mild 
 and firm hand, to pull the reins of our discipline, and by the aid of the 
 leaders, and by my personally visiting the delinquents, we managed to 
 see every one of them, and talk to them. 
 
 Through the blessing of God upon our labours, we saved to the 
 Church about sixty of them ; the others we dropped, laid aside, or 
 expelled. This was awful work, to turn out or drop ninety persons in 
 about nine months ; it bowed me down in spirit greatly ; it looked 
 like as if a tornado had fearfully swept over the Church ; but there 
 was a stop put to trading in slaves, and the dram-drinkers became very 
 few, and many threw off their jewellery and superfluous dressing ; 
 prayer-meetings sprung up, class-meetings were generally attended,
 
 104 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 our congregations increased, our fasts were kept. Toward the last 
 quarter of the year I beat up for a general camp-meeting, and there 
 was a general rally. We had a large camp-ground, seats for thousands 
 prepared, a large shed built over the altar and pulpit that would shelter 
 more than a thousand people. The square of our camp-ground was 
 well filled. The camp-meeting lasted eight days and nights; the 
 preachers preached, the power of God attended, sinners by the score 
 fell ; the altar, though very large, was filled to overflowing ; and while 
 many managed and laboured in the altar with mourners, we erected 
 another stand at the opposite end of the encampment, and there the 
 faithful minister proclaimed the word of life. The power of God 
 came there as the sound of a mighty rushing wind ; and such was the 
 effect, that crowds of mourners came forward and kneeled at the 
 benches prepared, and, indeed, the work spread all over the encamp- 
 ment and almost in every tent. There were two hundred and fifty 
 who professed religion, and one hundred and seventy joined the 
 Church, besides about forty coloured people. Glory to God ! Zion 
 travailed, and brought forth many sons and daughters to God. 
 
 Many of these converts and accessions to the Church were from 
 different and distant Circuits around ; for people in those days thought 
 no hardship of going many miles to a camp-meeting. I was continued 
 two years on this Circuit : the first year J. Axley, presiding elder ; the 
 second year M. Lindsey was my presiding elder. There were many 
 interesting incidents that occurred during my stay on this Circuit. A 
 few I will name. 
 
 At Mount Zion meeting-house there was a good class of poor, 
 simple-hearted Methodists that desired to hold class-meetings accord- 
 ing to rule with closed doors, admitting persons not members of the 
 Church only two or three times, unless they intended to join. There 
 was an old lady in the settlement, a New Light by profession, who 
 hated the Methodists and despised class-meetings with closed doors, 
 but would stay in in spite of the leader. She would take her seat 
 near the door, and open it while the leader was speaking to the class. 
 They had tried to stop her many ways, but did not succeed. When I 
 came round, the leader complained to me, alleging that they were 
 greatly annoyed by her disorderly conduct. I preached, then read the 
 Rules, then requested all to retire but the class, or such as desired to 
 join the Church, and then closed the door, and proceeded to examine 
 the class. I knew this lady was in, and sat near the door as usual. I 
 asked the leader if there were any in but members. He answered, 
 " Yes, there are three that are not members." I told him to take me 
 to them first. He did so. The first was a man. I asked him his 
 intention in staying in class-meeting. He told me he wanted to serve
 
 THE BACKWOODS PB.EACHEK. 105 
 
 God, and join the Church. " Very well," said I. The next was 
 a woman, whom I questioned, and who answered in the same way. 
 While I was talking to her, my New Light got up and opened the 
 door, and took her seat close by it. I approached her, and asked her 
 what was her motive for staying in class-meeting. 
 
 She said she wanted to be with the people of God. 
 
 " Do you wish to join our Church?" 
 
 " No, I don't like the Methodists." 
 
 " Madam, you ought not to violate our Rules." 
 
 " Indeed, I do not care a fig for your Eules ; I have stayed in class- 
 meetings many times, and will stay in when I please." 
 
 " You must go out." 
 
 " I will not, sir." 
 
 " Then I will put you out." 
 
 " You can't do it," she replied ; and sprung to her feet, and began 
 to shout and clap her hands ; and as she faced to the door, I took 
 hold of her arms behind her shoulders, and moved her toward the 
 door. She threw up her hands against the cheek of the door, and 
 prevented me from putting her out. I saw a scuffle was to take place, 
 and stooped down and gathered her in my right arm, and with my left 
 hand jerked her hand from the cheek of the door, and lifted her up, 
 and stepped out and set her on her feet. The moment I set her down 
 she began to jump and shout, saying, " You can't shut me out of 
 heaven." I sternly ordered her to quit shouting ; for, said I, " you are 
 not happy at all, you only shout because you are mad and the devil is 
 in you." When she quit shouting, I said, " I knew you were not 
 happy ; for if God had m&de you happy, I could not have stopped it ; 
 but as it was the devil in you, I have soon stopped your shouting." 
 I then stepped back and shut the door, and met my class standing 
 against it ; and we had a very good time, and effectually foiled our old 
 New Light tormentor, and she never troubled me any more during my 
 two years on this Circuit. 
 
 The Tennessee Conference sat in Nashville, October 1st, 1818, 
 when I was re-appointed to Red River. Our increase this year, in the 
 four Western Conferences, was 5,164. Our increase of travelling 
 preachers was only nine. 
 
 At the Nashville Conference an incident occurred, substantially, as 
 well as my memory serves me, as follows : The preacher in charge had 
 risen from very humble beginnings, but was now a popular, fashion- 
 able preacher. We talk about " Young America " these times ; but 
 Young America was as distinctly to be seen in those days among our 
 young, flippant, popularity-seeking preachers, as now. 
 
 Brother Axley and myself, though not very old, were called old-
 
 106 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 fashioned fellows; and this popular young aspirant was afraid to 
 appoint Brother Axley or myself to preach at any popular hour, for 
 fear we would break on slavery, dress, or dram-drinking. But at 
 length the old staid members and the young preachers began to com- 
 plain that Axley and Cartwright were slighted, and an under-current 
 of murmuring became pretty general. The city preacher had been 
 selected to appoint the time and place where we were to preach. 
 Brother Axley and myself had our own amusement. At length, on 
 Saturday of the Conference, this preacher announced that Brother 
 Axley would preach in the Methodist Church on Sunday morning at 
 sunrise, thinking there would be but few out, and that he could do 
 but little harm at that early hour. 
 
 When we adjourned on Saturday afternoon, I rallied the boys to- 
 spread the appointment ; to rise early and get all out they could. 
 The appointment circulated like wildfire, and sure enough at sunrise 
 the church was well filled. Brother Axley rose, sung, prayed, took 
 his text : "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by 
 the renewing of your minds ; " and if the Lord ever helped mortal 
 man to preach, He surely helped Brother Axley. First he poured the 
 thunders of Sinai against the Egyptians, or slave-oppressors ; next he 
 showed that no moderate dram-drinker could enter heaven ; and then 
 the grape-shot of truth rolled from his mouth against rings, ruffles, 
 and all kind of ornamental dress. Dr. Bascom was sitting right 
 before him. He had a gold watch-chain and key, and two very 
 large gold seals. He was so excited, that unconsciously he took 
 up one of the seals, and began to play with the other seal 
 with his right hand. Axley saw it, stopped suddenly, and very 
 sternly said to him, " Put up that chain, and quit playing with those 
 seals, and hear the word of the Lord." The claret rushed to the 
 surface of his profile. 
 
 The sermon went off admirably, and really it seemed as though a 
 tornado had swept the ruffles and veils ; and the old members of the 
 Church shouted for joy. Having achieved another signal victory over 
 error and pride, the ministers and ruling elders of other sister 
 Churches had opened their pulpits, and invited us to preach to their 
 people during Conference. Among the rest, Dr. Blackbourn had 
 opened his church. Dr. Blackbourn was a strong, popular Pres- 
 byterian minister. 
 
 In the course of the Sabbath, the city preacher informed me that I 
 was to preach on Monday evening in Dr. Blackbourn's church, and 
 charged me to be sure and behave myself. I made him my best bow, 
 and thanked him that he had given me any appointment at all ; and I 
 assured him I would certainly behave myself the best I could. " And
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 107 
 
 now," said I, " Brother Mac, it really seems providential that you 
 have appointed me to preach in the doctor's church ; for I expect they 
 never heard Methodist doctrine fairly stated and the dogmas of Cal- 
 vinism exposed ; and now, sir, they shall hear the truth for once." 
 Said the preacher, "You must not preach controversy." I replied, 
 "If I live to preach there at all, I'll give Calvinism one riddling." 
 " Well," said the preacher, " I recall the appointment, and will send 
 another preacher there ; and you must preach in the Methodist church 
 Monday evening, and do try and behave yourself." " Very well," 
 said 1 ; " I '11 do my best." 
 
 The preacher's conduct toward me was spread abroad, and excited 
 considerable curiosity. Monday evening came ; the church was filled 
 to overflowing; every seat was crowded, and many had to stand. 
 After singing and prayer, Brother Mac took his seat in the pulpit. 
 I then read my text : " What shall it profit a man if he gain the 
 whole world and lose his own soul?" After reading my text I 
 paused. At that moment I saw General Jackson walking up the 
 aisle ; he came to the middle post, and very gracefully leaned against 
 it, and stood, as there were no vacant seats. Just then I felt some 
 one pull my coat in the stand, and turning my head, my fastidious 
 preacher, whispering a little loud, said, " General Jackson has come 
 in; General Jackson has come in." I felt a flash of indignation run 
 all over me like an electric shock, and facing about to my congrega- 
 tion, and purposely speaking out audibly, I said, " Who is General 
 Jackson ? If he don't get his soul converted, God will damn him as 
 quick as he would a Guinea Negro ! " 
 
 The preacher tucked his head down, and squatted low, and would, 
 no doubt, have been thankful for leave of absence. The congregation, 
 General Jackson and all, smiled, or laughed right out, all at the 
 preacher's expense. When the congregation was dismissed, my city- 
 stationed preacher stepped up to me, and very sternly said to me, 
 " You are the strangest man I ever saw, and General Jackson will 
 chastise you for your insolence before you leave the city." " Very 
 clear of it," said I; "for General Jackson, I have no doubt, will 
 applaud my course ; and if he should undertake to chastise me, as 
 Paddy said, ' There is two as can play at that game.' " 
 
 General Jackson was staying at one of the Nashville hotels. Next 
 morning, very early, rny city preacher went down to the hotel to make 
 an apology to General Jackson for my conduct in the pulpit the night 
 before. Shortly after he had left, I passed by the hotel, and I met 
 the general on the pavement ; and before I approached him by several 
 steps, he smiled, and reached out his hand and said, 
 
 " Mr. Cartwright, you are a man after my own heart. I am very
 
 108 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEtt. 
 
 much surprised at Mr. Mac, to think he would suppose that I would be 
 offended at you. No, sir ; I told him that I highly approved of your 
 independence ; that a minister of Jesus Christ ought to love every- 
 body and fear no mortal man. I told Mr. Mac that if I had a few 
 thousand such independent, fearless officers as you were, and a well- 
 drilled army, I could take old England." 
 
 General Jackson was certainly a very extraordinary man. He was, 
 no doubt, in his prime of life, a very wicked man, but he always 
 showed a great respect for the Christian religion, and the feelings of 
 religious people, especially ministers of the Gospel. I will here relate 
 a little incident that shows his respect for religion. 
 
 I had preached one Sabbath near the Hermitage, and, in company 
 with several gentlemen and ladies, went, by special invitation, to dine 
 with the general. Among this company there was a young sprig of a 
 lawyer from Nashville, of very ordinary intellect, and he was trying 
 hard to make an infidel of himself. As I was the only preacher pre- 
 sent, this young lawyer kept pushing his conversation on me, in order 
 to get into an argument. I tried to evade an argument, in the first 
 place, considering it a breach of good manners to interrupt the social 
 conversation of the company. In the second place, I plainly saw that 
 his head was much softer than his heart, and that there were no 
 laurels to be won by vanquishing or demolishing such a combatant ; 
 and I persisted in evading an argument. This seemed to inspire the 
 young man with more confidence in himself; for my evasiveness he 
 construed into fear. I saw General Jackson's eye strike fire, as he sat 
 by and heard the thrusts he made at the Christian religion. At length 
 the young lawyer asked me this question : 
 
 " Mr. Cartwright, do you really believe there is any such place as 
 hell, as a place of torment ? " 
 
 I answered promptly, " Yes, I do." 
 
 To which he responded, " Well, I thank God I have too much good 
 sense to believe any such thing." 
 
 I was pondering in my own mind whether I would answer him or 
 not, when General Jackson for the first time broke into the conversa- 
 tion, and, directing his words to the young man, said, with great 
 earnestness, 
 
 " Well, sir, I thank God that there is such a place of torment as 
 hell." 
 
 This sudden answer, made with great earnestness, seemed to 
 astonish the youngster, and he exclaimed, 
 
 " Why, General Jackson, what do you want with such a place of 
 torment as hell ? " 
 
 To which the general replied, as quick as lightning,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEll. 109 
 
 " To put such d d rascals as you are in, that oppose and vilify 
 
 the Christian religion." 
 
 I tell you this was a poser. The young lawyer was struck dumb, 
 and presently was found missing. 
 
 In the fall of 1819, our Tennessee Conference sat again in Nash- 
 ville. This year the Minutes show an increase of members in the four 
 Western Conferences of 5,085 ; of travelling preachers, 38 : our whole 
 membership in the West, 56,945 ; our travelling preachers, 194. 
 Our Tennessee Conference lay partly in Tennessee and partly in Ken- 
 tiicky. In Kentucky our rules of discipline on slavery were pretty 
 generally enforced, and especially on our preachers, travelling and 
 local. Whenever a travelling preacher became the owner of a slave or 
 slaves, he was required to record a bill of emancipation, or pledge 
 himself to do so; otherwise he would forfeit his ministerial office. 
 And under no circumstances could a local preacher be ordained a 
 deacon or an elder, if he was a slaveholder, unless he gave the Church 
 satisfactory assurances that he would emancipate at a proper time. 
 In Tennessee some of our prominent preachers fell heir to slaves. 
 They were unwilling to emancipate them, and they sought refuge in 
 the plea of their disabilities, according to the laws of the State. 
 
 At this Conference I complained of some of our strong preachers 
 living in constant violation of the discipline of the Church. They tried 
 to make out a fair excuse, and to show that it was impracticable, 
 according to the laws of the State ; and I, in order to sustain my 
 charges of violating the discipline of the Church, had to show that 
 they could at any time emancipate their slaves by becoming surety 
 that their Negroes, when emancipated, did not become a county 
 charge. They employed a distinguished lawyer, F. Grundy, and I 
 went to General Jackson for counsel. The case was fairly stated and 
 explained in open Conference, and these preachers were required to go 
 to court and record a bill of emancipation. 
 
 Wlien the great Southern secession took place in 1844-45, Dr. 
 Bascom wrote a pamphlet, and there represents the circumstance 
 above alluded to as a great abolition move. Now there is nothing 
 more foreign from the truth. Ultra abolition was not then known 
 among us in the West ; and if it was, we never meddled politically 
 with slavery, but simply required our preachers and members to 
 emancipate their slaves whenever it was practicable, according to the 
 laws of the State in which they lived, and which permitted the 
 liberated slave to enjoy freedom. 
 
 The discussion on the subject of slavery waked up some bad feeling ; 
 and as we had at this Conference to elect our delegates to the General 
 Conference, which was to hold its session in Baltimore, in May, 1820,
 
 110 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 these slaveholding preachers determined to form a ticket, and exclude 
 every one of us who were for the Methodist Discipline as it was, and 
 is to this day. As soon as ever we found out their plan, we formed an 
 opposite ticket, excluding all advocates of slavery, and, on the first 
 ballot, we elected every man on our own ticket save one, and he was a 
 young preacher who had only travelled six years. He and their 
 strongest man tied in the vote. Of course, we had to ballot again, but 
 on the second ballot we elected our man by a large majority. This 
 triumph made the slavery party feel very sore. They then went to 
 work and wrote a very slanderous pamphlet, in which they mis- 
 represented us, and sent a copy of it to each member of the General 
 Conference. But they missed their mark ; for instead of lowering us 
 in the estimation of the members of the General Conference, that body 
 approved our course fully. 
 
 It was at this General Conference of 1820, in Baltimore, that 
 radicalism threatened to shake the foundations of the Church ; but as I 
 have freely spoken of these trying scenes to the Church elsewhere in 
 this sketch, I forbear making any further remarks. At this General 
 Conference, the Kentucky Conference was organized, which made five 
 annual Conferences out of the old Western Conference, namely, 
 
 1. Ohio Conference, composed of the following presicling-elder 
 Districts : Ohio, Muskingum, Lancaster, Scioto, Lebanon, and 
 Miami ; with a membership of 34,178, and 87 travelling preachers. 
 
 2. Missouri Conference, with ihe following Districts : Indiana, 
 Illinois, Cape Girardeau, and Arkansas; with a membership of 7,458, 
 and 39 travelling preachers. 
 
 3. Kentucky Conference, with five Districts : Kenhawha, Ken- 
 tucky, Salt River, Green Eiver, and Cumberland ; with a membership 
 of 23,723, and 84 travelling preachers. 
 
 4. Tennessee, composed of Nashville, Tennessee, French Road, 
 Holston, and Duck River Districts; 17,633 members, and 51 
 travelling preachers. 
 
 5. Mississippi, with Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Districts ; 
 4,147 members, and 19 travelling preachers. 
 
 Making in 1820-21 our membership 87,139, and our travelling 
 preachers 280. See what God has done for our "far West." From 
 the time I had joined the travelling ranks in 1804 to 1820-21, a 
 period of sixteen years, from 32 travelling preachers, we had increased 
 to 280; and from 11,877 members, we had now over 87,000; and 
 there was not a single literary man among those travelling preachers. 
 
 In the fall of 1820, our Conference sat in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. 
 I was re-appointed to the Christian Circuit, M. Lindsey, presiding 
 elder. About this time, owing to my having reprinted and circulated
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. Ill 
 
 two small pamphlets, one called, " The Dagon of Calvinism," and the 
 other. " A useful Discovery," both of them satires on Calvinism, some 
 Presbyterian clergymen, judging me to be the author of these pam- 
 phlets, and not being willing publicly to debate the points at issue 
 between us, concluded to take satisfaction of me by writing me a 
 letter in the name of the devil, complimenting me for promoting the 
 interests of his Satanic majesty's kingdom by spreading the Arminian 
 doctrine. Whereupon I wrote a rejoinder, and both these letters, the 
 one to me and my answer, were published in pamphlet form, and 
 created a considerable buzz for a while. Those clergymen called a 
 council in order to answer me, but considering prudence the better 
 part of valour, realizing that 
 
 " He that lived to run away, 
 Might live to fight another day ; " 
 
 so they abandoned the project of answering me altogether. This was 
 regretted by many of my friends, who wanted them to speak out in 
 their own proper names, and not skulk behind the name of the devil 
 to hide their errors or malice. And perhaps it was best that they did 
 not answer back again. 
 
 CHAPTEK XVI. 
 THE MOUNTAIN PREACHER. 
 
 I WILL now relate an incident or two that occurred in 1820-24. 
 
 Old Father Walker, of excellent memory, and myself, set out in the 
 month of April, 1820, to the General Conference, in Baltimore, on 
 horseback. We travelled hard all the week. Late on Saturday after- 
 noon we came to the spurs of the Alleghany Mountains, and were 
 within a few miles of the toll-gate, when a gentleman overtook us. 
 We inquired of him if he knew of any quiet tavern on the road near 
 by, where two weary travellers could rest over Sabbath, as we did not 
 intend travelling on that day. He said there was no such house on 
 the road for many miles ; but if we would turn off the road a mile or 
 such a matter, he could take us to a good, quiet, religious family, 
 where we could rest till Monday very comfortably ; for he, being a 
 local preacher, had an appointment next day. We thankfully con- 
 sented to go with this local brother, and, following him, we soon came 
 to a poor but decent house and family, and were made very welcome. 
 The brother, on learning that we were preachers, insisted that we 
 should preach for the people in the morning and evening, to which we 
 consented.
 
 112 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 At eleven o'clock, Brother Walker held forth. The people were all 
 attention, but there was no excitement. At night I tried to preach, 
 and although I had profound attention from a cabinful of these 
 mountaineers, yet the preaching did not seem to have any effect what- 
 ever. When I closed, I called on our kind local preacher to conclude. 
 He rose and began to sing a mountain song, and pat his foot, and clap 
 his hands, and ever and anon would shout at the top of his speech, 
 "Pray, brethren." In a few minutes the whole house was in an 
 uproarious shout. When Brother Walker and I got a chance to talk, 
 I said, " Well, sir, I tell you this local preacher can do more in 
 singing, clapping, and stamping, than all our preaching put together." 
 
 " Verily," said Walker, " he must be a great man, and these are a 
 great people living here in these poor dreary mountains." 
 
 In passing on our journey going down the mountains, on Monday, 
 we met several waggons and carriages moving west. Shortly after we 
 had passed them, I saw lying in the road a very neat pocket-pistol. 
 I picked it up, and found it heavily loaded and freshly primed. Sup- 
 posing it to have been dropped by some of these movers, I said to 
 Brother Walker, " This looks providential ; " for the road across these 
 mountains was, at this time, infested by many robbers, and several 
 daring murders and robberies had lately been committed. Brother 
 Walker's horse was a tolerably good one, but my horse was a stout, 
 fleet, superior animal. As we approached the foot of the mountains, 
 and were about two miles from the public-house where we intended 
 to lodge that night, the sun just declining behind the western moun- 
 tains, we overtook a man walking with a large stick as a walking cane, 
 and he appeared to be very lame, and was limping along at a very 
 slow rate. He spoke to us, and said he was travelling, and a poor 
 cripple, and begged us to let him ride a little way, as he was nearly 
 given out, and was fearful he could not reach the tavern that aight. 
 
 Brother Walker said, " yes," and was in the attitude of dis- 
 mounting and letting him ride his horse. Just then a thought struck 
 me, that this fellow's lameness was feigned, and that it was not safe 
 to trust him. I said to Walker, " Keep your horse ; we are a long 
 way from home, have a long journey before us ; under such circum- 
 stances trust no man ; " and we trotted on down the hill, and thought 
 we had left our lame man more than a hundred yards behind. Walker 
 was rather ahead of me. All at once my horse made a spring for- 
 ward ; I turned to see what was the matter ; and, lo ! and behold, 
 here was my lame man, within a few steps of me, coming as fleet as a 
 deer. I grasped my pistol, which was in my over-coat pocket, cocked 
 it, wheeled about, and rushed toward him ; he faced about, and in a 
 few jumps more I should have been on him, but he plunged into the
 
 THE BACKWOODS PKEACHEB. 113 
 
 thick brash, and I could not follow him. "When we got to the tavern, 
 the landlord said we had made a very fortunate escape ; for these 
 robbers in this way had decoyed and robbed several travellers lately. 
 
 Brother Walker being the oldest man and rather infirm, we had 
 agreed that he should conduct all religious ceremonies, and that I 
 should call for lodging, attend to horses, pay off bills, &c. When we 
 had gotten down into Virginia some distance, we called one evening 
 at a Mr. Baly's, who kept a tavern on the road : his wife and 
 daughters were very kind and clever, but the man of the house was 
 a drunken Universalist. He was not sober when we called, but 
 granted us the liberty to stay all night. While I was out seeing to 
 the horses, Brother Walker and the landlord got into a strong debate 
 on the universal restoration plan. Brother Walker was very mild and 
 easy in debate ; the landlord was abrupt and insulting, as well as 
 very profane. I stood it a good while, but at length I got tired of it, 
 and said to Brother Walker that the way he debated was of no use ; 
 that it was casting pearls before swine. The old landlord at this let 
 loose a volley of curses on me. I did not attempt any debate, but 
 shook my brimstone wallet over him till he was sick and tired of it. 
 The old lady and daughters were very much mortified at their husband 
 and father. By this time it became proper that we should retire to 
 bed. Brother Walker told the landlord that we were preachers, and 
 asked leave to pray in the family before we went to bed. The land- 
 lord flatly denied us that privilege, and swore he would have none of 
 our praying about him, saying he knew we only wanted to pray off 
 our bill. Brother Walker mildly expostulated with him, and insisted 
 on having the privilege to pray ; but all in vain. He said he would 
 have no praying about his house. I then asked him if he did not 
 keep a house of public entertainment. 
 
 He replied, " Yes." 
 
 " Then," said I, " do you not allow men to curse and swear, and get 
 drunk in your house, if they pay for it ? " 
 
 He said, " Yes." 
 
 " Well, then, we have as good a right to pray and serve God in 
 your house, if we pay for it, as they have to serve the devil and pay 
 for it ; and I insist that we have our rights. We have plenty of 
 money, and don't wish to pray off our bill." So said 1 to Brother 
 Walker, " Go to prayer ; and if he cuts up any capers, 1 11 down him, 
 and hold him still till you are done praying ; for," said I, " ' the 
 kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by 
 force.' " So Brother Walker prayed, and I watched the old landlord, 
 who sat very quiet, and looked sullen. After this we retired to bed, 
 and his wife and daughter made many apologies for him, and hoped 
 
 I
 
 114 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 we would not be offended. I told them, No, not at all ; that he was 
 heartily welcome to all he had made of us. They laughed, and said 
 they had never seen him so completely used up before. 
 
 In the morning we rose early ; our horses were fed, and breakfast 
 on the table. We prayed and took our meal, the old man still in bed. 
 I then asked the landlady for our bill. She frankly said she would 
 not have anything ; that we were welcome to all we had from them, 
 and invited us to call and stay with them as we returned. I insisted 
 that she should receive pay ; " for you know," said T, " the old gen- 
 tleman said we wanted to pray off our bill ; " but she utterly refused. 
 So we bade farewell, and went on our way rejoicing ; for we had said 
 our prayers and prayed off our bill in the bargain. 
 
 On our return from the General Conference in Baltimore, in 1820, 
 in the month of June, which was very warm, and we having to travel 
 on horseback, it may be supposed that our journey in this way for a 
 thousand miles was very fatiguing. When we got to Knoxville, East 
 Tennessee, the following incident in substance occurred : 
 
 Brother Walker and myself had started early in the morning, had 
 travelled about twenty-five miles, and reached Knoxville at noon. 
 We rode up to a tavern with a view of dining, but, finding a great 
 crowd of noisy, drinking, and drunken persons there, I said to Brother 
 Walker, " This is a poor place for weary travellers, and we will not 
 stop here." We then rode to another tavern, but it was worse than 
 the first, for here they were in a real bully fight. I then proposed to 
 Brother Walker that we should go on, and said we would soon find a 
 house of private entertainment, where we could be quiet ; so on we 
 went. Presently we came to a house with a sign over the door of 
 " Private Entertainment, and New Cider." Said I, " Here 's the 
 place ; and if we can get some good light bread and new cider, that 's 
 dinner enough for me." 
 
 Brother Walker said, " That is exactly what I want" 
 
 We accordingly hailed. The old gentleman came out. I inquired 
 if we could get our horses fed, and some light bread and new cider 
 for dinner. 
 
 " yes," said the landlord ; " alight ; for I suspect you are two 
 Methodist preachers, that have been to Baltimore, to the General 
 Conference." 
 
 We replied, we were. Our horses were quickly taken, and well fed. 
 A large loaf of good light bread and a pitcher of new cider were 
 quickly set before us. This gentleman was an Otterbein Methodist. 
 His wife was very sick, and sent from the other room for us to pray 
 for her. We did so, and then returned to take our bread and cider 
 dinner. The weather was warm, and we were very thirsty, and began
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEE. 115 
 
 to lay in the bread and cider at a pretty liberal rate. It, however, 
 seemed to me that our cider was not only new cider, but something 
 more, and I began to rein up my appetite. Brother Walker laid on 
 liberally, and at length I said to him, " You had better stop, brother ; 
 for there is surely something more than cider here." 
 
 " I reckon not," said he. 
 
 But as I was not in the habit of using spirits at all, I knew that a 
 very little would keel me up, so I forbore ; but with all my forbear- 
 ance presently I began to feel light-headed. I instantly ordered our 
 horses, fearing we were snapped for once. 
 
 I called for our bill ; the old brother would have nothing. We 
 mounted, and started on our journey. When we had rode about a 
 mile, being in the rear, I saw Brother Walker was nodding at a mighty 
 rate. After riding on some distance in this way, I suddenly rode up 
 to Brother Walker, and cried out, " Wake up ! wake up ! " He 
 roused up, his eyes watering freely. " I believe," said I, " we are 
 both drunk. Let us turn out of the road, and lie down and take a 
 nap till we get sober." But we rode on without stopping. We were 
 not drunk, but we both evidently felt it flying into our heads ; and I 
 have thought proper, in all candour, to name it, with a view to put 
 others on their guard. 
 
 We journeyed on till we came to the Crab Orchard, where was kept 
 a toll-gate. This gate was kept at this time by two very mean men ; 
 they also kept a house of entertainment ; and, it being late, we con- 
 cluded to tarry all night. The fare was very indifferent. We asked 
 the privilege to pray with them. It was granted, and we prayed with 
 them night and morning; took breakfast, and then asked our bill. 
 The landlord told us, and I drew out my pocket-book, in which I had 
 several hundred dollars in good current bank bills. He told me he 
 would not take any of them ; he must have silver. I told him I had 
 no silver, and no coin but a few cents. He very abruptly swore he 
 knew better ; he knew I had the silver. I assured him again that I 
 had no silver, but he persisted in swearing he knew I had, and that 
 we could not leave or pass the toll-gate till we paid our bill of 
 fare. Our horses were all ready to mount, and I had fresh loaded my 
 pistol over night, for I did not like the signs about the house ; and as 
 I had a good deal of money in bills about me, I had determined I 
 would not be robbed without leaving my mark. Brother Walker tried 
 to reason the case with him, but to no purpose. I then threw down 
 the amount of his charge, and told him he had to take that or nothing, 
 and mounted my horse and started. He ordered one of his servants 
 to shut and lock the toll-gate, and not let me through. I spurred my 
 horse, and was at the gate nearly as quick as his servant, and drew 
 
 i 2
 
 116 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 my horsewhip, and told the Negro, if he attempted to close the gate, I 
 would down him. The Negro took fright, and let go the gate, 
 and took to his heels for safety. The moment I passed through the 
 gate I wheeled my horse, and called for Brother Walker to come on ; 
 I would bear him harmless. The landlord called for his pistols, 
 swearing he would follow me. I told him to come on, and wheeled 
 my horse, and stalled on my way independently. But he took the 
 " second, sober thought," and declined pursuing me. This was to me 
 a pretty trying and tempting circumstance, but I survived it. 
 
 Shortly after this Brother Walker left me to visit some of his old 
 friends and relatives in West Tennessee, and I journeyed on toward 
 my home in Christian County, Kentucky. Saturday night came on, 
 and found me in a strange region of country, and in the hills, knobs, and 
 spurs of the Cumberland Mountains. I greatly desired to stop on the 
 approaching Sabbath, and spend it with a Christian people ; but I was 
 now in a region of country where there was no Gospel minister for 
 many miles around, and where, as I learned, many of the scattered 
 population had never heard a Gospel sermon in all their lives, and 
 where the inhabitants knew no Sabbath only to hunt and visit, drink 
 and dance. Thus lonesome and pensive, late in the evening, I hailed 
 at a tolerably decent house, and the landlord kept entertainment. I 
 rode up and asked for quarters. The gentleman said I could stay, 
 but he was afraid I would not enjoy myself very much as a traveller, 
 inasmuch as they had a party meeting there that night to have a little 
 dance. I inquired how far it was to a decent house of entertainment 
 on the road ; he said seven miles. I told him if he would treat me 
 civilly and feed my horse well, by his leave I would stay. He assured 
 me I should be treated civilly. I dismounted and went in. The 
 people collected, a large company. I saw there was not much drink- 
 ing going on. 
 
 I quietly took my seat in one corner of the house, and the dance 
 commenced. I sat quietly musing, a total stranger, and greatly 
 desired to preach to this people. Finally, I concluded to spend the 
 next day (Sabbath) there, and ask the privilege to preach to them. I 
 had hardly settled this point in my mind, when a beautiful, ruddy 
 young lady walked very gracefully up to me, dropped a handsome 
 courtesy, and pleasantly, with winning smiles, invited me out to take 
 a dance with her. I can hardly describe my thoughts or feelings on 
 that occasion. However, in a moment I resolved on a desperate 
 experiment. I rose as gracefully as I could; I will not say with some 
 emotion, but with many emotions. The young lady moved to my 
 right side ; I grasped her right hand with my right hand, while she 
 leaned her left arm on mine. In this position we walked on the floor.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 117 
 
 The whole company seemed pleased at this act of politeness in the 
 young lady, shown to a stranger. The coloured man, who was the 
 fiddler, began to put his fiddle in the best order. I then spoke to the 
 fiddler to hold a moment, and added that for several years I had not 
 undertaken any matter of importance without first asking the blessing 
 of God upon it, and I desired now to ask the blessing of God upon 
 this beautiful young lady and the whole company, that had shown 
 such an act of politeness to a total stranger. 
 
 Here I grasped the young lady's hand tightly, and said, " Let us 
 all kneel down and pray," and then instantly dropped on my knees, 
 and commenced praying with all the power of soul and body that I 
 could command. The young lady tried to get loose from me, but I 
 held her tight. Presently she fell on her knees. Some of the com- 
 pany kneeled, some stood, some fled, some sat still, all looked curious. 
 The fiddler ran off into the kitchen, saying, " Lord a marcy, what de 
 matter ? what is dat mean ? " 
 
 While I prayed, some wept, and wept out aloud, and some cried for 
 mercy. I rose from my knees and commenced an exhortation, after 
 which I sang a hymn. The young lady who invited me on the floor 
 lay prostrate, crying earnestly for mercy. I exhorted again, I sang 
 and prayed nearly all night. About fifteen of that company professed 
 religion, and our meeting lasted next day and next night, and as many 
 more were powerfully converted. I organized a Society, took thirty- 
 two into the Church, and sent them a preacher. My landlord was 
 appointed leader, which post he held for many years. This was the 
 commencement of a great and glorious revival of religion in that 
 region of country, and several of the young men converted at this 
 Methodist preacher dance became useful ministers of Jesus Christ. 
 
 I recall this strange scene of my life with astonishment to this day, 
 and do riot permit myself to reason on it much. In some conditions 
 of society I should have failed ; in others I should have been mobbed ; 
 in others I should have been considered a lunatic. So far as I did 
 permit myself to reason on it at the time, my conclusions Avere some- 
 thing like these : These are a people not Gospel taught or hardened. 
 They at this early hour have not drunk to intoxication, and they will 
 at least be as much alarmed at me and my operations, as I possibly 
 can be at theirs. If I fail, it is no disgrace ; if 1 succeed, it will be a 
 fulfilment of a duty commanded, to be " instant in season and out of 
 season." Surely, in all human wisdom, it was out of season, but I 
 had, from some cause or other, a strong impression on my mind, from 
 the beginning to the end of this affair, (if it is ended,) that I should 
 succeed by taking the devil at surprise, as he had often served me, and
 
 118 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 thereby be avenged of him for giving me so much trouble on my way 
 to General Conference and back thus far. 
 
 The actions prompted by those sudden impressions to perform 
 religious duty, often succeed beyond all human calculation, and there- 
 by inspire a confident belief in an immediate superintending agency of 
 the Divine Spirit of God. In this agency of the Holy Spirit of God 
 I have been a firm believer for more than fifty-four years, and I do 
 firmly believe that if the ministers of the present day had more of the 
 unction or baptismal fire of the Holy Ghost prompting their ministerial 
 efforts, we should succeed much better than we do, and be more suc- 
 cessful in winning souls to Christ than we are. If those miaisters, or 
 young men that think they are called of God to minister in the word 
 and doctrine of Jesus Christ, were to cultivate, by a holy life, .a better 
 knowledge of this supreme agency of the Divine Spirit, and depend 
 less on the learned theological knowledge of Biblical Institutes, it is 
 my opinion they would do vastly more good than they are likely to 
 do ; and I would humbly ask, Is not this the grand secret of the 
 success of all early pioneer preachers, from John Wesley down to the 
 present day ? 
 
 Now I say for one, who has been trying to preach in the wilderness 
 for more than fifty years, that I take no flattering unction to my soul 
 from those who pretend to speak in such lofty terms of the old and 
 early pioneers of Methodism ; for in the very next breath they tell us 
 that such preachers and preaching will not do now, and at one fell 
 swoop sweep us, as with the besom of destruction, from the face of 
 the earth. 
 
 I am often reminded by the advocates of learned and theologically 
 trained preachers of a circumstance that occurred years gone by in 
 Kentucky, after the wilderness state of the country had passed away, 
 and the people had grown up into improved life, and many of them 
 had become wealthy. 
 
 In the region alluded to there was a large and wealthy Presbyterian 
 congregation that, by growing tired of their old and early preacher, 
 had become vacant. They sought a popular successor, one that was 
 up with the improved and advanced state of the times. They finally, 
 by the offer of a large call, or salary, succeeded in engaging a very 
 pious young minister as their pastor. At his first appointment, he 
 took for his text, " Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your 
 sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from 
 the presence of the Lord." (Acts iii. 19.) He preached an excellent 
 sermon from this passage, in the judgment of the congregation, and 
 they were very much delighted. The next Sabbath rolled on. Their 
 new pastor rose in the pulpit and took the same text, and delivered
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 119 
 
 substantially the same sermon. This produced a little whispering 
 among their wise and knowing elders ; but they attributed it all to 
 absence of thought. The third Sunday rolled on, and up rose the 
 preacher, reading off the same text, and preaching the same sermon. 
 Well, the elders concluded that this was outrageous and insufferable, 
 and that they must really talk to him, and put a stop to this way of 
 preaching. So they called on their young pastor, and tabled their 
 complaints very feelingly before him, asking him if he really had but 
 the one sermon. If so, they must call the congregation together and 
 dismiss him. To all of which the pastor responded, the Bible was full 
 of as good texts as the one he had preached from, and he had an 
 abundance of good sermons ready ; but he thought that as the signs 
 of this improved age and state of society required an improved and 
 advanced ministry, so did the advanced age require that the congrega- 
 tion should fully keep up with an improved ministry ; " and," said the 
 minister, " do you really think the congregation has complied with the 
 requirements of my sermon ? If you think they have, and you shall 
 be the judges, I am ready at all times to take another text and preach 
 a new sermon." 
 
 The elders at that moment were possessed of a dumb devil, and 
 they never afterward called their minister to chide with him. As the 
 old truths of the Gospel were behind the times, the Lord did signally 
 own and bless the labours of this young minister, and made him a 
 savour of life unto life to many of his hearers, giving ample evidence 
 ttiat He will own and bless His word. 
 
 A few more incidents will close this chapter. *It is very astonishing 
 how easily and generally mankind fall into idle and sinful habits. I 
 have often been astonished at the far-seeing wisdom of John Wesley. 
 In the General Rules of his United Societies he interdicts dram- 
 drinking ; and while the whole religious world, priests, preachers, and 
 members, rushed into this demoralizing practice, Mr. Wesley made 
 desisting from dram-drinking a condition of membership in the Meth- 
 odist Societies ; and although the Methodist Episcopal Church, in her 
 organization, as a wise provision in her General Rules, forbids dram- 
 drinking, yet how often and how long did it remain a dead letter ! 
 From my earliest recollection drinking drams, in family and social 
 circles, was considered harmless and allowable sociality. It was 
 almost universally the custom for preachers, in common with all others, 
 to take drams ; and if a man would not have it in his family, his 
 harvest, his house-raisings, log-rollings, weddings, arid so on, he was 
 considered parsimonious and unsociable ; and many, even professors 
 of Christianity, would not help a man if he did not have spirits and 
 treat the company. I recollect, at an early day, at a court time in
 
 120 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 Springfield, Tennessee, to have seen and heard a very popular Baptist 
 preacher, who was evidently intoxicated, drinking the health of the com- 
 pany in what he called the health the devil drank to a dead hog Boo ! 
 I have often seen it carried and used freely- at large baptizings, where 
 the ordinance was administered by immersion. 
 
 In 1821, the last year I travelled the Christian Circuit, I took in a 
 preaching-place in a densely populated settlement that was long desti- 
 tute of the Gospel, and had many notorious drunkards in it. Here 
 the Lord owned and blessed my labours ; religion spread through the 
 settlement. Among the rest there was one interesting family; the 
 man was a drunkard; the family became deeply interested about 
 religion and joined the Church, and were remarkably friendly to me ; 
 the old man was also very friendly. On a certain occasion I met him 
 in a store in Hopkinsville, and although I was never intoxicated but 
 once in my life, yet I had wholly abandoned the social glass ; for, 
 according to my best conviction, it was a bad and dangerous habit, 
 and that the rules of the Methodist Church required it this drinking 
 gentleman called for some cherry- bounce, and sweetened it for me 
 expressly, out of pure love to me, as he said, and then invited me to 
 drink with liim. I declined. He urged me. I refused. I told him 
 I had wholly given up the practice. Nothing would satisfy him ; he 
 said, if I did not drink with him, I was no friend of his, or his family, 
 and he would never hear me preach again. I told him that it was all 
 in vain to urge me ; my principles were fixed, and that I would not 
 violate my principles for the friendship of any man or mortal. He flew 
 into a violent rage, aifll cursed and abused me. I walked off and left 
 him in his glory. He never forgave me, I suppose, and made his 
 family leave the Church, and would not let them come to hear me 
 preach, and he lived and died a drunkard. 
 
 In 1824, Jesse Walker, Samuel H. Thompson, F. S., and myself, 
 were elected delegates to the General Conference in Baltimore : the 
 first three from Missouri, myself from Kentucky. We started on 
 horseback, and travelled together. Two of the company would call 
 for spirits when we stayed at public-houses. Brother Thompson and 
 myself would not drink spirits at all. We made it a rule to pray in 
 families wherever we stayed, if it was agreeable. I felt hurt that two 
 Methodist preachers, delegates to the General Conference, and our 
 travelling companions, would call for and drink spirits in those public- 
 houses. Thompson and myself remonstrated with them. They 
 defended the practice. I told them at length that if they did not quit 
 the practice, I would not travel with them, and in this Thompson 
 * joined me. Brother Walker was a good man, and for our sakes he 
 agreed to and did quit it altogether, and we got along much better.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 121 
 
 In the fall of 1821 our Conference was held in Lexington, Kentucky, 
 and I was appointed by Bishop M'Kendree to Cumberland District, 
 containing the following appointments, namely, Green Eiver, Somerset, 
 Wayne, Bearing Kiver, Goose Creek, Fountain Head, Barren, and 
 Bowling Green Circuits ; it lay partly in Kentucky and partly in Ten- 
 nessee, and was a large and populous District, containing between five 
 and six thousand members, many of whom had grown wealthy ; there 
 was also a great number of talented local preachers. 
 
 On my first round of Quarterly Meetings I was on my way to 
 Somerset Circuit, had rode on Friday about fifty miles, and my horse 
 and myself were both very much tired I called at several houses on 
 the public highway, and asked to stay all night, but was denied. 
 About dusk I hailed another house, and asked leave to stay. The man 
 said I could not stay. I inquired how far to the next house where he 
 thought they would take me in. He said, " Seven miles." Said I, 
 " My dear sir, I have rode to-day fifty miles, and I cannot go seven 
 more. If you will give me a faggot of fire, I will camp out rather 
 than go any further." 
 
 He stepped into a little kitchen hard by for the fire, and I heard 
 his old lady say to her husband, " You had better let that man stay. 
 If he gets the fire, he will burn up the barn because you turned him 
 off." And as she spoke out loud, I replied, equally as loud, " Yes, 
 you had better let me stay ; if you don't, some mischief will befall you 
 before morning." 
 
 He threw down his chunk of fire, and said, " Well, I suppose you 
 must stay." 
 
 Down I got, stepped to the kitchen door, and said, " Good lady, 
 will you give me supper quick ? for I could get no dinner on the road 
 to-day." 
 
 " O yes," said the old lady. 
 
 My horse put up, my supper eaten, I felt much better. Presently I 
 began to inquire about religion and religious denominations. I soou 
 found out that the old gentleman and old lady were real high-toned 
 Predestinarian Baptists. The old gentleman informed me that, a few 
 miles off, most all the people were Methodists, and that he was really 
 afraid they would take the country, and that they had a quarterly 
 meeting the next day, (Saturday,) a few miles from there. 
 
 Said I, " A quarterly meeting ; what sort of a meeting is that ? " 
 He did not know, he replied. 
 
 Said I, " What did you call the name of this religious sect ?" 
 
 Said he, " Methodist." 
 
 " Methodist," said I ; " what 's that ? What sort of people are 
 they ? "
 
 122 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 " Ah," said he, " they are the strangest people you ever saw ; they 
 shout and halloo so loud you may hear them for miles ; they hold that 
 all will be saved, and a man can live without sin in this life, and yet 
 that a Christian can fall from grace ; and all this," said he, " is not 
 half; they are the worst people you ever saw. They had a camp- 
 meeting just over here last year, and they had a tent they called the 
 preachers' tent, and there, by night and day, the preachers carried on 
 all sorts of wickedness ; and," said he, " they are begging and taking 
 all the money out of the country." 
 
 " Mercy defend us !" I exclaimed ; " why don't you raise a company 
 and drive them out of the country ?" 
 
 " ! " said he, " they are too strong for us ; if we were able to 
 drive them they should soon go, you may depend." 
 
 Said I, " What a wretched set they must be ! But it may be they 
 are misrepresented, and are not as bad as you say." 
 
 " No, sir," said he ; "I was there at the camp-meetiug, and their 
 bad conduct I saw with my own eyes." 
 
 " Well," said I, " if these things be so, it is too bad for a civilized 
 country." By this time they thought that it was near bedtime, and 
 he said, " If you wish to lie down, there is a bed." 
 
 " But," said I, " my friend, I learn you are a professor of religion, 
 and religious people ought always to pray with their families. I am 
 a friend to religion, and hope you will pray with us before we go to 
 bed." 
 
 " Ah !" said he, " I am a poor weak creature, and can't pray in my 
 family." 
 
 " ! " said I, " you must certainly pray for us ; you ought to pray 
 for the benefit of these interesting children of yours." 
 
 " No," said he ; "I can't do it." 
 
 " Well, sir," said I, " we must have prayers before we lie down, 
 and I am a weak creature, too ; but if you will not pray, may I ?" 
 
 " Do as you please," said he. 
 
 So I read a chapter, rose, gave out a hymn, arid commenced singing. 
 There were two young ladies present, one a daughter, the other a niece, 
 of the old man ; they both rose and sung with me. Finally, I knelt 
 down, and so did the girls ; I prayed, but the old man and old lady 
 kept their seats all the time. In prayer I told the Lord what a poor 
 weak old man lived there, and asked' the Lord to give him strength 
 and grace to set a better example before his family. I also prayed the 
 Lord to have mercy on those deluded Methodists, if they were half 
 as bad as my old friend had represented them ; but if he had mis- 
 represented them, to forgive him, and prosper them. As soon as 
 prayer was over, the old gentleman and lady went into the kitchen, and
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 123 
 
 the niece said to me, " You need not believe a word uncle has said 
 about the Methodists, and the doings at their camp-meeting ; for I was 
 there, and they are a good people, and my uncle is prejudiced." His 
 daughter said the same. Presently I stepped out at the door, and I 
 heard the old lady say to her husband, " He is a Methodist preacher." 
 
 The old man said, " No, he is not." 
 
 " Well," said she, "he is, and you have done it now." 
 
 The old man said, " I don't care if he is ; it 's good enough for 
 him." 
 
 Shortly after this I retired to bed, and the two young ladies began 
 to sing some of the Methodist camp-meeting songs, and really they 
 sang delightfully. I rose early next morning, and went on to my 
 quarterly meeting, and we had a real good one. 
 
 I will just say here, in this connexion, the next summer I held a 
 large and splendid camp-meeting on the ground where this old gentle- 
 man had told me there was such bad conduct, and he and his family 
 were out ; and right in their presence I told the congregation what 
 this man had said about them to me. The old man could not face it, 
 and slunk off and went home. His daughter and niece both were 
 powerfully converted, and joined the Methodist Church. 
 
 When I got over on the southern part of my District, the summer 
 following, to a camp-meeting in the Roaring River Circuit, having been 
 detained a little by affliction in my family, and not being able to reach 
 my camp-meeting till Sunday, Brother Simon Carlisle was in the 
 stand preaching. He was a real Boanerges, an able and successful 
 New Testament preacher. The congregation was large and very dis- 
 orderly. Brother Carlisle reproved them sharply, but they behaved very 
 rudely. When he closed, I rose to preach, but the congregation was 
 so disorderly that I found it would be very difficult for me to proceed ; 
 so at length I told the vast crowd if they would give me their attention 
 a few moments, I would relate an incident or two worthy of their 
 attention. I commenced by relating several short anecdotes. They 
 began to draw up nearer, and nearer still ; the anecdotes were Avell 
 calculated to excite their risibilities. Right before me sat an old, grey- 
 headed man, with straight-breasted coat ; he did not like the laughter 
 that my anecdotes produced, arid he spoke out loudly to me and said, 
 " Make us cry ; make us cry ; don't make us laugh." 
 
 As quick as thought I replied to him thus : 
 
 " I don't hold the puckering strings of your mouths, and I want 
 you to take the Negro's eleventh commandment ; that is, Every man 
 mind his own business." 
 
 "Yes, sir; yes, sir," said the old man, and sank down perfectly 
 still.
 
 124 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 This produced considerable mirth in the congregation, but by this 
 time the vast crowd had gathered up as close as they well could, and 
 were all eyes and ears. I then announced my text : " To the unknown 
 God. Whom ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you." And for 
 two hours I held listening thousands spell-bound, while, to the very 
 best of my abilities, I defended the supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ, 
 and riddled Arianism as best I could. Arianism was rife through all 
 that country, although they called themselves " Christians," and were 
 called by the world New Lights, Marshallites, or Stoneites.* The two 
 Baptist preachers that would not receive me into the Baptist Church 
 without re-baptizing, in Stogden's Valley, at an early day, elsewhere 
 stated in this narrative, were present on this occasion. The circum- 
 stance of that encounter was one of the incidents that I had just re- 
 lated to gain audience with the people, and the old man with straight 
 coat that bade me make them cry and not laugh, whom I had taken to 
 be a Methodist from his straight coat, proved to be an old Baptist man 
 that had long been in the habit of speaking out to the preachers in 
 time of preaching ; but, alas for these Baptist preachers ! they, with 
 many more of their co-labouring ministerial brethren, had been carried 
 off into the whirlpool of Arianism. While I was preaching, I not 
 only gained audience, but there was a solemn silence and profound atten- 
 tion ; for, by the blessing of God, I succeeded in interesting the whole 
 congregation in the sublime subject under discussion. And when I 
 came to show that if Jesus Christ was not the supreme God, all 
 heaven and earth was filled with idolatrous devotions, and angels 
 and men, and redeemed spirits had been, were now, and eternally 
 would be, nothing more or less than gross idolaters : " Now," said I, 
 " if there is a single man, minister, woman, or child, in this assembly, 
 that will dare to ascribe Divine honours to Jesus Christ and not believe 
 in His supreme Divinity, let them show it by raising their hand." 
 
 I then paused, but not one hand went up. It was an awful solemn 
 time : every soul seemed to feel that the supreme Divinity brooded 
 over the assembly. I then said, I wanted one more triumphant testi- 
 mony of our holy religion, that should overwhelm all the legions of 
 devils that rose from the stagnant pools of Arianism, Unitarianism, 
 and Socinianism. I then desired every one in that vast crowd 
 that believed that Jesus Christ was justly entitled to supreme honour 
 and glory, and expected to get to heaven through His merits alone, to 
 
 * Marshall and Stone were two leading Presbyterian ministers, that, in the time 
 of a great revival in Kentucky, were disowned by the Synod of Kentucky. They 
 headed the New Light party, and gratuitously assumed the name of " Christian," yet 
 they evidently imbibed the Arian sentiment, and spread their errors, and did great 
 mischief in corrupting the scriptural doctrine of the true Divinity of Jesus Christ.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 125 
 
 give me the sign by raising their right hand : the hands went up by 
 the thousand, and with hands triumphant shouts of glory ascended 
 by hundreds, and many sinners were seen with streaming eyes, and 
 even exulting shouts, giving glory to Jesus Christ. The vast multi- 
 tude fell almost in every direction, and I sat down under a deep sense 
 that God was there. Mourners were found all through the crowd, to 
 be numbered by the hundred. Many of the Arians recanted ; and, 
 after the legions that had distracted them for years were cast out, 
 came to their right minds, were clothed, and once more esteemed it 
 their highest houour to sit at the feet of Jesus Christ. There was no 
 more preaching for that day and the next. The cries of the penitents, 
 and shouts of the young converts and the old professors, went up. 
 without intermission, day and night. Two hundred professed religion, 
 and one hundred and seventy joined the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 before the close of the camp-meeting, and it was remarked by many, 
 that it seemed the easiest thing for sinners to get religion here of any 
 place or time they ever saw, and they could not account for it ; but I 
 told them that it was plain to me the Lord had given marching orders 
 to the legions of little Arian devils to the lake, as He had done to the 
 swine in the days of old, and, when these were cast out, it was quite 
 easy to come to their right minds. Perhaps there never was a more 
 manifest display of God's saving mercy on a small scale than on the 
 present occasion, since the confounding of tongues at the building of 
 the tower of Babel. Many Arians returned to their old folds, perfectly 
 tired of their wanderings ; and having cast anchor once more in a safe 
 harbour, they gave their wanderings o'er. Those that remained among 
 the New Lights, so called, split into many factions, and fought each 
 other till they ate each other up all to the tail, and that was immersion. 
 This remains, and perhaps will, until the millennial glory shall inun- 
 date the whole world. A remarkable incident occurred on this 
 occasion which I must not omit relating. 
 
 There was a very confirmed Arian lady in the congregation who 
 denied the supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ. Late on Monday, she 
 professed to get very happy, and shouted out aloud ; but said, while 
 shouting, among other things, she knew I was wrong in my views of 
 Jesus Christ, but she desired some one to go and bring me to her, for 
 she wanted to show me, that though I was in error, she could love her 
 enemies and do good for evil. At first I refused to go ; but she sent 
 again. I then thought of the unjust judge, and, lest by her continual 
 coming she might weary me, I went. 
 
 She told me she knew I was wrong, and that she was right, and 
 that God had blessed her and made her happy. 
 
 Said I, " Sister, while T was preaching, did you not get mad?"
 
 126 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 She answered, " Yes, very mad ; I could have cut your throat. 
 But I am not mad now, and love you, and God has blessed me." 
 
 Said I, " I fear you are not happy ; you have only got in a little 
 better humour, and think this is happiness. But we will test this 
 matter. Let us kneel down here, and pray to God to make it manifest 
 who is wrong." 
 
 " But," said she, " I don't want to pray ; I want to talk." 
 
 " Well," said I, " I have no desire to talk ; I always go to God in 
 prayer ; and I now believe God, in answer to prayer, will recover you 
 out of the snare of the devil, for you certainly are not happy at all." 
 
 So I called upon all around (and they were many) to kneel down 
 and help me to pray God to dislodge the lingering Arian devil that 
 still claimed a residence in this woman's heart. We knelt, and by the 
 score united in wrestling, mighty prayer ; and while we prayed, it 
 seemed that the bending heavens came near ; and if the power of God 
 was ever felt among mortals, it was felt then and there. The woman 
 lost her assumed good feelings, and sunk down into sullen, dumb 
 silence, and so she remained during the meeting ; and for weeks after- 
 ward many of her friends feared she would totally lose her balance of 
 mind. She became incapable of her business, till one night she had a 
 dream or vision, in which she afterward declared she saw her Saviour 
 apparently in all His supreme glory, and He told her she was wrong, 
 but He frankly forgave her ; and when she came to herself, or awoke, 
 she was unspeakably happy, and never afterward, for one moment, 
 doubted the supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ. She joined the 
 Methodists, and lived and died a shining and shouting Christian. 
 
 There is another circumstance I wish to state before I close this 
 chapter. 
 
 The brother, Simon Carlisle, before mentioned, had been a regular 
 Circuit preacher somewhere down South, and there was a wealthy 
 family at or near one of his appointments. The old gentleman and 
 lady were members of the Church ; but they had a very profligate son, 
 who behaved disorderly at one of Carlisle's appointments, and Carlisle 
 sharply reproved him for his disorderly conduct, at which the young 
 man took great umbrage, and swore he would have satisfaction out of 
 Carlisle. The house of the father of this young man was the preacher's 
 home. When Carlisle came round next time, he was, as usual, invited 
 by this old brother home with him. Brother Carlisle said, as he had 
 offended his son, perhaps he had better not go ; but the old brother 
 and sister insisted he should go ; for they knew their son was to blame 
 altogether, and that Carlisle had done nothing but his duty in reproving 
 him ; so he went. This young man was at home, but slunk about, 
 and would not be social with Carlisle ; and next morning, while Car-
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 127 
 
 lisle was fixing las horse to ride on to his next appointment, he took 
 a brace of pistols, and slipped into the room where Carlisle's saddle- 
 bags were lying, and put those pistols in the bottom of his saddle- 
 bags, unperceived and unsuspected by Carlisle, or anybody else. 
 Shortly after Carlisle started, the young man pretended to miss the 
 pistols, and declared he knew that Carlisle had stolen them. The old 
 people remonstrated against any such imputation ; but he persisted in 
 affirming he knew that the preacher had stolen his pistols, and off he 
 started, got a writ and an officer, and pursued Carlisle, and before he 
 reached his next appointment they overtook him. The officer informed 
 him of the allegation, and that he had a writ for him, and that he was 
 his prisoner. Carlisle, conscious of his innocence, told the officer that 
 he was welcome to search him, and handed over his saddle-bags, 
 when, lo and behold, there were the pistols at the bottom of them. 
 What could he say ? He protested his innocence, but submitted to 
 the law, was found guilty, and only escaped being incarcerated in 
 prison by the father of this mean young man going his bail till further 
 trial. 
 
 We will not narrate the trouble and cost Carlisle was put to before 
 he got clear of this malicious prosecution. Suffice it to say, during 
 the pendency of this prosecution, the Annual Conference came on, and 
 Carlisle had to answer to this criminal charge ; but what could he 
 say ? He had no evidence of his innocence, and by possibility could 
 have none. The Conference did not believe him guilty, but his guilt 
 was sworn to by this young man. In this dilemma, into which the 
 Conference was thrown, Carlisle rose and requested the Conference, 
 for the honour of the cause of God, that they would expel him until 
 God should, in some way, vindicate his innocence. He affirmed he 
 was innocent, and that he believed God would shortly make his inno- 
 cence manifest to all. 
 
 The Conference very reluctantly, and by a bare majority, expelled 
 him. Able counsel, believing in his innocence, volunteered in his 
 defence. He was cleared. Believing it to be his duty and privilege, 
 he married, and when I saw him he had an interesting rising family. 
 The Church restored him to his former standing, offered him a Circuit, 
 but for the present he declined travelling, and went to work to support 
 his family, and did it with credit to himself and them. 
 
 But the circumstance that triumphantly vindicated his innocence 
 remains yet to be told. The young man who pursued him so mali- 
 ciously, in about nine months after Carlisle was arrested, was taken 
 down with a fever common to that region of country. The best 
 medical aid was called in ; he was faithfully attended and administered 
 unto. His parents were much alarmed for his safety and his salvation.
 
 128 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 He was talked to and prayed with, but to no purpose. His physicians 
 told him he must die. He then said he could not die until he dis- 
 closed one important matter. His parents were called in, and he 
 frankly told them and others that he put his pistols in Carlisle's 
 saddle-bags himself; and shortly after the disclosure he expiredj 
 without hope of mercy. . 
 
 CHAPTEK XVII. 
 SERMON ON BAPTISM AT CAMP-MEETING. 
 
 THERE was, in the bounds of the Goose Creek Circuit, a Baptist 
 minister, who was a tolerably smart man, and a great proselytizer from 
 other Churches, and who almost always was harping on immersion as 
 the only mode of Christian baptism, and ridiculing what he called 
 " baby-sprinkling." We had an appointment for a camp-meeting in 
 this Circuit, in what was called Poplar Grove. There was a fine little 
 widow woman, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, lived 
 here ; and this Baptist preacher tried his best to proselyte her, and 
 make a Baptist of her. She at length got tired of his water talk, and 
 told him if he would come to the camp-meeting, and patiently hear the 
 presiding elder, Peter Cartwright, preach one sermon on baptism, on 
 Sunday, she would give him a new suit of clothes, out and out. He 
 agreed to it ; but he was to sit patiently, and hear the sermon 
 through ; if he did not, then he was not to have the suit of clothes. 
 
 When I got to the camp-ground, my little spunky Methodist widow 
 was tented on the ground. She came and invited me to her tent, and 
 then told me the proposition she had made to Mr. W., the Baptist 
 preacher. " And now," said she, " do your best : if he runs, the suit 
 of clothes is yours ; and if he stands his ground, and you do your very 
 best, you shall have as good a suit, any how." 
 
 This was a very large encampment, well arranged ; and there were 
 about twenty strong, talented Methodist preachers, from the travelling 
 and local ranks, present. The meeting commenced and progressed 
 with great interest, and there were many melting Gospel sermons 
 preached. Many sinners were awakened and converted, both among 
 the whites and coloured people. Sunday morning came, and my Bap- 
 tist preacher arrived ; and we were soon made acquainted. He pro- 
 posed that he, if he felt like it, should have the privilege of replying to 
 me. " Certainly," said I, "with all my heart." 
 
 Eleven o'clock arrived, the hour appointed me to commence my
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 129 
 
 sermon on baptism. It was supposed that there were ten thousand 
 people on the ground. My heart rather quailed within me; but I 
 prayed for light, a ready mind, and success. I took no text in par- 
 ticular, but submitted the four following propositions for discus- 
 sion : 
 
 First. The design and intent of water baptism. 
 Second. Who were the divinely-appointed administrators of water 
 baptism ? 
 
 Third. The proper mode of water baptism. 
 Fourth. Who were the qualified subjects of baptism ? 
 My Baptist minister took his seat in the altar, in front of me. He 
 listened with tolerable attention while I was on the first and second pro- 
 positions. As I approached the third point, the galled jade winced a 
 little ; but when I came to the fourth point, and took my position that 
 all infants had the first and only indisputable title to baptism, and that 
 all adults must become converted, and be like little children, before 
 they could claim any valid title to water baptism, my preacher became 
 very restive. Finally, I propounded this question : " Is not that 
 Church which has no children in it more like hell than heaven ? " I 
 then added, " If all hell was searched, there would not be a single 
 child found in it ; but all children are in heaven ; therefore, there 
 being no children in the Baptist Church, it was more like hell than 
 heaven." 
 
 The Baptist preacher here rose to his feet, and started. I called 
 out to him to stop and hear me out ; but he replied he could not 
 stand it, and kept on, and cleared the ground ; so he lost his suit of 
 clothes, and I gained one. But what was much better than all this, I 
 was listened to for three hours ; and the attention of the multitude 
 seemed not to falter, but they heard with profound interest, and it was 
 the opinion of hundreds that this discussion did a vast amount of 
 good. 
 
 Our camp-meeting progressed with increasing interest ; many were 
 awakened, and about forty were converted and added to the Church. 
 
 In the course of the summer of 1822, we held a camp-meeting in 
 Logan County, Kentucky, the county in which I was chiefly raised. 
 At this meeting there came a strange kind of preacher among us, who 
 held that a Christian could live so holy in this life, that he would 
 never die, but become all immortal, soul, body, and all. He seemed 
 like a good, innocent, ignorant kind of creature. He asked of me the 
 liberty to preach ; but 1 told him that was altogether out of the ques- 
 tion ; that, as the manager of the meeting, I felt myself accountable to 
 the people, as well as to the Lord, for the doctrines advanced from the 
 stand.
 
 130 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 One night, while I was outside of the encampment settling some 
 rowdies, he thought, I suppose, he would flatter my vanity a little ; 
 and, stepping up to me, he told me he had a heavenly message for me. 
 
 " Well," said I, "what is it?" 
 
 He said it had just been revealed to him that I was never to die, 
 but to live for ever. 
 
 " Well," said T, " who revealed that to you ? " 
 
 He said, " An angel." 
 
 " Did you see him ? " I asked. 
 
 " O yes," was the reply ; " he was a white, beautiful, shining 
 being." 
 
 " Well," said I, " did you smell him ? " 
 
 This stumped him, and he said he did not understand me. 
 
 " Well," said I, " did the angel you saw smell of brimstone ? " 
 He paused, and I added, " He must have smelled of brimstone ; for he 
 was from a region that burns with fire and brimstone, and conse- 
 quently from hell ; for he revealed a great lie to you, if he told you I 
 was to live for ever 1" 
 
 At this he slipped off, and never gave me any more trouble during 
 the meeting. 
 
 There were a great many people in attendance at this meeting, and 
 among the rest some youngsters who called themselves gentlemen ; 
 some from the country, and some from Kussellville. These fellows 
 would occupy the seats we had prepared for the ladies. I announced 
 from the stand that the gentlemen and ladies were to sit apart, and 
 requested every gentleman to remove to the seats on the left pre- 
 pared for them. 
 
 There were some twenty who did not move. I said, " We request 
 every gentleman to retire from the ladies' seats, that I may see how 
 many country clowns and town fops there are; for these will not 
 move ! " All then left but five, and I began to count them ; they 
 then left in a hurry, but were veiy angry. 
 
 Among them was a young sprig of the bar, the son of a Major L. 
 He was in a mighty pet, and told his father, who happened not to be 
 present. His father and I dined together that day at a friend's house. 
 He brought up the subject, and said I was wrong ; that many young 
 men did not know any better ; and that he thought hard of me for 
 exposing his son. 
 
 Said I, " Major, do you not believe if a company of Shawnee 
 Indians were to come into one of our religious assemblies, and see all 
 the women seated on one side and most of the men on the other side, 
 that they would have sense and manners enough to take their seats on 
 the men's side ? "
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 131 
 
 He answered me abruptly, " No ; I don't believe they would." 
 
 " Well," said I, "it is ray opinion they would, and that they have 
 more manners than many of the pretended young gentlemen of the 
 day." 
 
 He flew into a violent passion, and said, if we were not in the pre- 
 sence of ladies, he would abuse me. I told him if he thought to abuse 
 and frighten me from doing my duty in keeping order in the congre- 
 gation, he was very much mistaken, and I would thank him to mind 
 his own business, and I would most assuredly attend to mine. Here 
 the subject dropped for the present. I returned to the camp-ground. 
 Presently he sent for me to talk the matter over. I told the messen- 
 ger, Brother Cash, a local preacher, that I should not go ; for the 
 major was very irritable, and only wanted to insult and abuse me, and 
 that I was not of a mind to take abuse. I did not go. Presently 
 Brother Cash returned, and said that the major pledged his word and 
 honour that he would not insult me, but that he wanted to talk the 
 matter over in a friendly way. 
 
 I then consented, and went to him with Brother Cash, and we had 
 passed but a few words when he commenced a tirade of abuse. 
 Brother Cash tried to check him, but he would not be stopped. I 
 then told him that he had forfeited his word and honour, and there- 
 fore was beneath my notice, and turned off. He flew into a desperate 
 rage, and said, if he. thought I would fight him a duel, he would 
 challenge me. 
 
 " Major," said I, very calmly, " if you challenge me, I will accept it." 
 
 " Well, sir," said he, " I do dare you to mortal combat." 
 
 "Very well, I'll fight you ; and, sir," said I, "according to the 
 laws of honour, I suppose it is my right to choose the weapons with 
 which we are to fight ? " 
 
 " Certainly," said he. 
 
 " Well," said I, " then we will step over here into this lot, and get 
 a couple of corn stalks ; I think I can finish you with one." 
 
 But, ! what a rage he got into ! He clinched his fists and looked 
 vengeance. Said he, " If I thought I could whip you, I would smite 
 you in a moment." 
 
 " Yes, yes, Major L.," said I, " but, thank God, you can't whip 
 me ; but don't you attempt to strike me ; for if you do, and 
 the devil gets out of you into me, I shall give you the worst 
 whipping you ever got in all your life," and then walked off and 
 left him. 
 
 His wife was a good, Christian woman, and the family was tented 
 on the ground. At night, after meeting was closed, I retired to bed ; 
 and about midnight there came a messenger for me to go to Major 
 
 K 2
 
 132 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 L.'s tent and pray for him, for he was dying. Said I, " What is the 
 matter with him?" 
 
 " 0, he says he has insulted you, one of God's ministers ; and if you 
 don't come and pray for him, he will die, and go to hell." 
 
 " Well," said I, " if that 's all, the Lord increase his pains ! I shall 
 not go ; let him take a grand sweat ; it will do him good ; for he has 
 legions of evil spirits in him, and it will be a long time before they 
 are all cast out." 
 
 I did not go nigh him at that time. After an hour or two he sent 
 for me again. I still refused to go. By this time he got into a per- 
 fect agony ; he roared and prayed till he could be heard all over the 
 camp-ground. Presently his wife came aud entreated me, for her 
 sake, to go and pray for, and talk to, the major. So I concluded to 
 go ; and when I got into the tent, there he was lying at full length in 
 the straw, and praying at a mighty rate. 1 went to him and said, 
 
 " Major, what is the matter ? " 
 
 " O ! " said he, " matter enough ; I have added to my ten thousand 
 sins another heinous one of insulting and abusing you, a minister of 
 Jesus Christ, for labouring to keep order and do good. O will you, 
 can you, forgive me ? " 
 
 " Yes, major, I can and do forgive you ; but remember, you must 
 have forgiveness from God, or you are lost and ruined for ever." 
 
 " Can you possibly forgive me," said he, " so far as to pray for 
 me ? If you can, do pray for me, before I am swallowed up in hell 
 for ever." 
 
 I prayed for him, and called on several others to pray for him. He 
 continued in great distress all the next day, and some time the following 
 night it pleased God to give him relief, and he professed comfort in 
 believing. 
 
 This case plainly shows how the devil often overshoots his mark ; 
 but, perhaps, it more clearly shows how God, in His infinite goodness 
 and mercy, makes the wrath of man to praise Him. It seems to me 
 that at least a legion of very dirty little devils were cast out of this 
 Major L. 
 
 We had a very interesting quarterly meeting the past spring in 
 Eussellville, and a considerable number in the higher and wealthier 
 walks of life, especially among the ladies, gave signs of repentance, 
 aud a disposition to devote themselves to a religious life. I had given 
 them a special and pressing invitation to attend our camp-meeting, 
 and accordingly they came, and there was a glorious work going on 
 in the congregation from time to time. Many came to the altar as 
 penitents, and sought and found mercy of the Lord. And although 
 these wealthy ladies would weep under the word, yet we could not get
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHES. 133 
 
 them to the altar ; and I was afraid it was pride that kept them back, 
 and frankly told them so, assuring them, if this was the case, they 
 need not expect to obtain religion. 
 
 They told me that it was not pride that kept them away, but that 
 the altar was so crowded, not only with mourners, but idle professors 
 and idle spectators, and that in many instances the mourners were 
 unceremoniously trodden on and abused ; and the weather being veiy 
 warm, the mourners in the altar must be nearly suffocated. These 
 were the reasons why they did not come into the altar as seekers, and 
 not pride ; and I assure the reader I profited very much by these 
 reasons given by those ladies ; for I knew all this and much more 
 might, with great propriety, be said about our altar operations. So I 
 determined, at all hazards, to regulate, renovate, and cleanse the altar 
 of God, and turn out, and keep out, all idle, strolling, gaping lookers- 
 on ; and when the evening sermon closed, I rose in the stand, and I 
 told them all these objections of the ladies, and I deliberately endorsed 
 them as valid objections to our altar exercises, and told them I was 
 going to invite every seeker of religion to come into the altar, and 
 assured them they should be protected from these abuses ; and, in 
 order to a fair start, I invited all to rise up and retire out of the altar 
 except seekers ; and directed that the avenues leading to the altar be 
 kept clear at all times ; that there was to be no standing on the seats, 
 and no standing up around the pales of the altar ; that no person 
 whatever should come into the altar unless invited, and that no person 
 was to talk to, or pray with, the mourners uninvited, unless they got 
 very happy. I appointed and named out my men to keep order. 
 Thus arranged, and our large altar being cleared, and the aisles kept 
 open, I invited the mourners to come as humble penitents, and kneel 
 in the altar, and pray for mercy ; and we all were astonished at the 
 number that distinguished themselves as seekers. I suppose there 
 were not less than one hundred, and almost all of them professed 
 comfort that night, and, among the rest, many of those fine, wealthy 
 ladies from town. It was supposed that this was one among the best 
 camp-meetings ever held in Logan County, where there had been 
 many, very many, glorious camp-meetings ; where camp-meetings 
 started in modern times ; and they had been in progress for twenty- 
 two years, every year more or less. The fruits of this camp-meeting I 
 hope to see with pleasure in vast eternity. 
 
 The Methodist Church received an impetus and strength at this 
 meeting, that vastly increased her usefulness, her members, and reli- 
 gious respectability. I sincerely hope it is going on and increasing 
 to this day. And here permit me to remark, from many years' expe- 
 rience, that sanctified wealth will always prove a blessing to the Church
 
 134 THE BACKWOODS PKEACHEB. 
 
 of God ; but unsanctified wealth, though poured into the Church by 
 the million, never fails to corrupt and curse the Church. If our 
 wealthy people will come themselves and bring their wealth, and con- 
 secrate the whole without any reserve to God, it is almost incalculable 
 to tell the instrumental good that can and will result to the cause 
 of religion ; but, on the other hand, if religion must be defeated, the 
 obligations of the Gospel loosened, the rules of the Church not exacted, 
 a time-serving ministry employed and supported, this is, and has been, 
 the death-knell to all Churches, so far as inward piety is concerned. 
 Look at the needless, not to say sinful, expenditures in our older cities 
 and districts of country ; the unnecessary thousands expended, not in 
 building needful and decent churches, for this is right, but ornamen- 
 tal churches, to make a vain show and gratify pampered pride. Look at 
 the ornamented pulpits, pewed and cushioned seats, organs, and almost 
 all kinds of instruments, with salaried choirs, and as proud and grace- 
 less as a fallen ghost, while millions upon millions of our fallen race 
 are dying daily, and peopling the regions of eternal woe for the want 
 of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ; and as scarce as ministers are in some 
 places in our own happy country, yet there are thousands that are 
 ready and willing to go to the utmost verge of this green earth, and 
 carry the glad tidings of mercy to those dying millions, if they had 
 the means of support. Would it not the better comport with the 
 obligations of our holy Christianity to refrain from those superfluous 
 expenditures, and with a liberal hand and devoted heart apply, or 
 furnish the means to carry the glad tidings of salvation to those that 
 sit in the region and shadow of moral death, than to apply them as is 
 done in many directions in this Christian land ? Say, ye professed 
 lovers of Jesus Christ, are not your responsibilities tremendously fear- 
 ful ? There is wealth enough in the Churches, and among the friends 
 of the different Christian denominations in this happy republic, if 
 rightly husbanded and liberally bestowed, to carry the Bible and a 
 living ministry to every nation on the face of the whole earth. And 
 may we be permitted to hail with Christian rapture the rising glory of 
 this liberal spirit, when we shall see it as the apocalyptic angel flying 
 in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to 
 every nation, kindred, and tongue ! Say, O say ! when shall we see 
 this happy day ? May the Lord hasten it in His time, and we be eo- 
 workers together with Him ! Will the Christian world say, "Amen?" 
 During my presidency on this District up to the fall of 1824, there 
 was a blessed revival in many parts of the District, and many joined 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. There are several interesting inci- 
 dents, no doubt, that have clean escaped my recollection ; but there 
 are some I remember, and I will embody them here as well as I can.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 135 
 
 At a camp-meeting held in the edge of Tennessee, a considerable 
 revival took place, and some tall sons and daughters of Belial were 
 brought down to cry for mercy. Religion made its mark in several 
 wealthy families. Persecution was pretty fierce ; the rowdies sent off 
 and got whiskey, drank freely, and disturbed us considerably. We 
 arrested some of them, and they were fined. Finally, they collected 
 their forces in the woods, a short distance from the camp-ground, and 
 resolved to break up our camp-meeting ; they then elected their cap- 
 tain and all other subordinate officers. Their plan was to arm them- 
 selves with clubs, to mount their horses, and ride bravely through the 
 camp-ground, and break down officers, preachers, and anybody else 
 that would oppose them. 
 
 Saturday afternoon was the time appointed for them to drive us 
 from the ground, but in the meantime we found out their plans, and 
 many of their names. Their captain called his name Cartwright ; all 
 their officers assumed the name of some preacher. We made our 
 preparations accordingly, and were perfectly ready for them. They 
 drank their whiskey, mounted their horses, armed with sticks and 
 clubs, and then came, almost full speed, into our camp. As I was 
 captain of the interior, I met the captain of the Philistines, and 
 planted myself near the opening between the two tents, where they 
 were to enter the enclosure. As the mounted captain drew near the 
 entering place, I sprang into the breach ; he raised his club, bidding 
 me to stand by, or he would knock me down. 
 
 I cried, " Crack away." 
 
 He spurred his horse and made a pass at me, sure enough ; but, 
 fortunately, I dodged his stroke. The next lick was mine, and I gave 
 it to him, and laid him flat on his back, his foot being in the stirrup. 
 His horse got my next stroke, which Avheeled him " right about ; " he 
 dragged his rider a few steps and dropped him, and then gave this 
 redoubtable captain leg-bail at a mighty rate. The balance of the 
 mounted rowdies, seeing their leader down and kicking, wheeled and 
 ingloriously fled. We took care of the captain, of course, and fined 
 him fifty dollars. This gave us entire control of the encampment, 
 and peace in all our borders during our meeting. 
 
 Connected with this meeting was another incident of thrilling 
 interest, something like the following. There were two young men in 
 this settlement, of wealthy and respectable parentage, who were 
 distantly related. They both were paying attention to a very wealthy 
 young lady. Some jealousy about rivalship sprung up between them ; 
 they were mutually jealous of each other, and it spread like an eating 
 cancer. They quarrelled, and finally fought ; both armed themselves, 
 and each bound himself in a solemn oath to kill the other. Thus
 
 136 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 sworn, and armed with pistols and dirks, they attended camp-meeting. 
 I was acquainted with them, and apprised of the circumstances of this 
 disagreeable affair. On Sunday, when I was addressing a large con- 
 gregation, and was trying to enforce the terrors of the violated law of 
 God, there was a visible power more than human rested on the con- 
 gregation. Many fell under the preaching of the word. In closing 
 my discourse I called for mourners to come into the altar. Both these 
 young men were in the congregation, and the Holy Spirit had convicted 
 each of them ; their murderous hearts quailed under the mighty power 
 of God, and with dreadful feelings they made for the altar. One 
 entered on the right, the other on the left. Each was perfectly ignorant 
 of the other being there. I went deliberately to each of them, and 
 took their deadly weapons from their bosoms, and carried them into 
 the preachers' tent, and then returned and laboured faithfully with 
 them and others (for the altar was full) nearly all the afternoon and 
 night. These young men had a sore struggle ; but the great deep of 
 their hearts was broken up, and they cried hard for mercy; and while I 
 was kneeling by the side of one of them, just before the break of day, 
 the Lord spoke peace to his wounded soul. He rose in triumph, and 
 gave some thrilling shouts. I hastened to the other young man, at 
 the other side of the altar ; and in less than fifteen minutes God 
 powerfully blessed his soul, and he rose and shouted, "Victory!" and 
 as these young men faced about, they saw each other, and, starting 
 simultaneously, met about midway of the altar, and instantly clasped 
 each other in their arms. What a shout went up to heaven from these 
 young men, and almost the whole assembly that were present ! There 
 were a great many more who were converted that night, and, indeed, 
 it was a night long to be remembered for the clear conversion of 
 souls. One of these young men made an able itinerant preacher. He 
 travelled a few years, had a brilliant career, and spread the holy fire 
 wherever he went. He then fell sick, lingered a little while, and died 
 triumphantly. There was a remarkable instance of the power of 
 religion manifested in the change of these two young men. A few 
 hours before they were sworn enemies, thirsting for each other's blood ; 
 but now all those murderous feelings were removed from them, and, 
 behold ! their hearts were filled with love. " Old things were done 
 away, and all things became new." 
 
 I will relate another circumstance, though a little out of the order of 
 time, which will serve to show the malignity of an unrenewed human 
 heart. In a little town in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, called 
 Hardinsburgh, there lived a notorious infidel, who delighted, on almost 
 all occasions, to treat the Christian religion with scorn and contempt. 
 It was his special pride to mortify the feelings of professors of religion
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 137 
 
 and ministers of the Gospel. In the course of my travelling excur- 
 sions it fell to my lot, almost a total stranger in the place, to be 
 detained here several days and nights. The citizens, having little or 
 no preaching in the place, invited me to preach to them of evenings. 
 I consented to do so, and there were very good congregations and 
 some very good signs of a revival of religion. The people were very 
 friendly to me, and several respectable citizens gave me an invitation 
 to dine with them, and I did so. This infidel had attended my 
 preaching in common with the rest, and in common with the rest of 
 the citizens he gave me a very friendly invitation to dine with him. 
 Having learned his infidel character, the first time I declined. Several 
 respectable citizens urged me to accept his invitation, saying, surely 
 something strange had come over Mr. A., for he was never known to 
 invite a preacher to his house before in all his life, and they urged me 
 to go. Accordingly, the next day he invited me home with him to 
 dinner. I went, and when we came to the table, instead of requesting 
 me to ask a blessing, he said, as we drew up to the table, " Mr. Cart- 
 wright, I never permit any man to ask a blessing at my table, nor do I 
 do it myself; for it is all hypocrisy." 
 
 I had not seated myself. Said I, " Mr. A., did you not invite me, 
 as a preacher, to dine with you? " 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 " Do you not know that preachers are in the habit of asking a 
 blessing at table, sir ? " 
 
 c: Yes, sir," said he ; " but I will have none of it at my table." 
 
 " Very well, sir," said I, " if I am denied the privilege of asking a 
 blessing at your table, I assure you I will not eat with you," wheeled 
 off, took up my hat, and started, bidding him good bye. 
 
 " O, Mr. Cartwright," said he, " you must not leave without eating 
 with me." 
 
 " I tell you, sir," was my reply, " I will not," and went out. His 
 manner of treating me soon flew all over the village, and the wickedest 
 people in it cried out shame, shame, on Mr. A., and greatly applauded 
 me for not eating with him. He rendered himself very unpopular by 
 this mean act, and I shrewdly suspect he never treated another 
 preacher as he had treated me. " Lord, what is man that Thou art 
 mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest him ? " 
 
 The Kentucky Conference sat in Lexington again this fall, Septem- 
 ber, 25th, 1822; in Maysville, September 24th, 1823. Here we 
 elected our delegates to the fourth delegated General Conference, 
 which sat in Baltimore, May 1st, 1824. This was the third General 
 Conference to which I was elected. Our Kentucky Conference was 
 held in Shelbyville, September 23rd, 1824, and up to this time we
 
 138 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 had approximated to the following number of travelling preachers and 
 members : 
 
 Members. Travelling 
 rrcacners. 
 
 Ohio Conference 36,541 122 
 
 Kentucky Conference 24,683 92 
 
 Tennessee Conference 25,509 8? 
 
 Mississippi Conference 9,009 46 
 
 Missouri Conference 11,773 55 
 
 107,515 402 
 
 This year closed my twentieth year of regular travelling, from the 
 time I was admitted on trial in the old Western Conference in 1804. 
 Then we had one Conference, now we had eight ; for the General Con- 
 ference had formed three more in the West, namely, Holston, Illinois, 
 and Pittsburgh ; then we had two bishops, now we had five ; then we 
 had four presiding-elder Districts, now we had thirty ; then we had 
 32 travelling preachers, now we had over 400 ; then in all the western 
 world we had 11,877 members, now we had over 120,000, including 
 the membership of the Pittsburgh Conference, which properly belonged 
 to the West ; then we had in all these United States and the Canadas 
 seven annual Conferences, now we had fifteen ; then we had, in the 
 entire Methodist Episcopal Church in these United States and the 
 Canadas altogether, of members, 113,134, of travelling preachers, 400, 
 now we had of members, 328,523, travelling preachers, 1,272. 
 
 Thus you have a very small view of the progress and prosperity of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church in twenty years of her history. In 
 these estimates we make no account of the thousands that were 
 awakened and converted by her instrumentalities, and had joined 
 other branches of the Church of Christ, nor of the thousands that had 
 died in the triumphs of faith, and gone home to heaven. 
 
 When we consider that these United States had just emerged from 
 colonial dependence, and had passed a bloody revolution of seven 
 years' continuance, and were yet surrounded by hundreds of thou- 
 sands of bloody savages, hostile to the last degree, and that we were 
 without credit abroad and without means or money at home, we may 
 well join with the venerable founder of Methodism, Mr. John Wesley, 
 and say, that " God had strangely set us free as a nation." And, on 
 the other hand, in reference to the Methodist Episcopal Church, when 
 we consider that her ministers were illiterate, and not only opposed 
 and denounced by the Catholics, but by all Protestant Churches ; that 
 we were everywhere spoken against, caricatured, and misrepresented ; 
 without colleges and seminaries, without religious books or periodicals,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 139 
 
 without missionary funds, and almost all other religious means ; and 
 our ministers did not for many years, on an average, receive over fifty 
 dollars for a support annually, and a Methodist preacher's library 
 almost entirely consisted of a Bible, Hymn Book, and a Discipline, 
 may we not, without boasting, say with one of old, " What hath God 
 wrought ?" 
 
 A Methodist preacher in those days, when he felt that God had 
 called him to preach, instead of hunting up a college or biblical 
 institute, hunted up a hardy pony of a horse, and some travelling 
 apparatus, and with his library always at hand, namely, Bible, Hymn 
 Book, and Discipline, he started, and, with a text that never wore out 
 nor grew stale, he cried, " Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away 
 the sin of the world ! " In this way he went through storms of wind, 
 hail, snow, and rain ; climbed hills and mountains, traversed valleys, 
 plunged through swamps, swam swollen streams, lay out all night, 
 wet, weary, and hungry, held his horse by the bridle all night, or tied 
 him to a limb, slept with his saddle-blanket for a bed, his saddle or 
 saddle-bags for his pillow, and his old big coat or blanket, if he had 
 any, for a covering. Often he slept in dirty cabins, on earthen floors, 
 before the fire ; ate roasting ears for bread, drank butter-milk for coifee, 
 or sage tea for imperial ; took, with a hearty zest, deer or bear meat, or 
 wild turkey, for breakfast, dinner, and supper, if he could get it. His 
 text was always ready, " Behold the Lamb of God," &c. This was 
 old-fashioned Methodist preacher fare and fortune. Under such 
 circumstances, who among us would now say? " Here am I, Lord; 
 send me ! " 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 REMOVAL TO ILLINOIS. 
 
 MY three years on the Cumberland District were years of immense 
 labour and toil, and of great peace and prosperity to the Church. I 
 had seen with painful emotions the increase of a disposition to justify 
 slavery ; and our preachers, by marriage and other ways, became more 
 and more entangled with this dark question, and were more and more 
 disposed to palliate and justify the traffic and ownership of human 
 beings ; and the legislatures in the slave States made the laws more 
 and more stringent, with a design to prevent emancipation. More- 
 over, rabid abolitionism spread, and dreadfully excited the South. I 
 had a young and growing family of children, two sons and four 
 daughters ; was poor ; owned a little farm of about one hundred and 
 fifty acres; lands around me were high, and rising in value. My
 
 140 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 daughters would soon be grown up. I did not see any probable 
 means by which I could settle them around or near us. Moreover, 
 I had no right to expect our children to marry into wealthy families, 
 and I did not desire it, if it could be so ; and by chance they might 
 marry into slave families. This I did not desire. Besides, I saw 
 there was a marked distinction made among the people generally, 
 between young people raised without work and those that had to work 
 for their living ; and though I had breasted the storms and suffered 
 the hardships incident to an itinerant life for more than twenty years, 
 chiefly spent in Southern Kentucky and Western Tennessee, and 
 though I had just as many friends as any man ought to have, and 
 hundreds that claimed me as the humble and unworthy instrument 
 of their salvation, and felt not the least fear that I should not be well 
 supported during life as a Methodist preacher, the whole country 
 having grown up into improved and comfortable living ; and although 
 many, very many of my friends in the Church and out of the Church 
 remonstrated against the idea of my moving to a new country, yet, 
 after much prayer and anxious thought, I very clearly came to the 
 conclusion that it was my duty to move ; and although the thought of 
 leaving thousands of my best friends was severely painful to me, and 
 sometimes almost overwhelmed me, and shook my determination, yet 
 I saw, or thought I saw, clear indications of Providence that I should 
 leave my comfortable little home, and move to a free State or Territory, 
 for the following reasons : First, I would get entirely clear of the evil 
 of slavery. Second, I could raise my children to work where work 
 was not thought a degradation. Third, I believed I could better my 
 temporal circumstances, and procure lands for ray children as they 
 grew up. And, Fourth, I could carry the Gospel to destitute souls 
 that had, by their removal into some new country, been deprived of 
 the means of grace. With these convictions, I consulted my wife, and 
 found her of the same mind; and in the spring of 1823, with my 
 brother-in-law, K. Gaines, a local preacher, and old Father Charles 
 Holliday, set out to explore Illinois in quest of a future home. 
 
 We made the journey on horseback ; packed horse .feed, and, in 
 part, our own provisions, as best we could, and camped out several 
 times. We knew the country was thinly settled, especially the north- 
 eastern, north, and north-western parts of the State ; and our inclina- 
 tion led us in these directions. We took our course, without roads, up 
 the big Wabash valley, till we struck the Illinois Eiver above Fort 
 Clark (now Peoria City) ; thence wound our way north of said river, 
 through a part of what was then called the Military Tract ; recrossed 
 the river at what is now called Beardstown, (then there was only one 
 solitary family and a small cabin,) and made our way up the Sangamon
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 141 
 
 Kiver to a small settlement on Kichland Creek, in Sangamon County, 
 the then extreme northern county in the State, to the place on which 
 I now live, and where I have lived ever since I moved to the State, 
 and at which I expect my friends will deposit my mortal remains in 
 our family cemetery. Here I found a very decent family, with a small 
 improvement, having a double cabin, about the best the country 
 afforded. They were settled on Congress land; and, indeed, though 
 the land had been surveyed by government, it had not been brought 
 into market. I gave him two hundred dollars for his improvement 
 and his claim ; bought some stock, and rented out the improvement, 
 with a view to have something to live on in the fall of 1824, when I 
 expected to move to it. 
 
 We then retraced our steps homeward through Springfield. There 
 were in this place, now the seat of government, a few smoky, hastily- 
 built cabins, and one or two very little shanties, called " stores ;" and, 
 with the exception of a few articles of heavy ware, I could have carried 
 at a few loads all they had for sale on my back. When we returned 
 home, I made sale of my little property, all with a special view to our 
 removal in 1824 ; and at the Conference, which sat in Shelby ville, 
 Kentucky, I asked and obtained a transfer to the Illinois Conference 
 from Bishop Koberts, and was appointed to travel the Sangamon 
 Circuit. 
 
 When the Conference adjourned, and I was about to leave the body 
 of preachers of the Kentucky Conference, many of whom I had 
 laboured with for ten, fifteen, or twenty years, it seemed to me that I 
 never felt such a rush of feeling before. As we took the parting hand, 
 our eyes mutually filled with tears. Few of us ever expected to meet 
 again till we met at the judgment-seat. I shook their hands, made 
 my best bow to the brethren of the Kentucky Conference, asked an 
 interest in their prayers, and hastened away home ; and in a few 
 days all my little plunder was packed up and my family mounted, and 
 we started for Illinois. 
 
 Although the Illinois Conference, at the General Conference, had 
 been stricken off from Missouri Conference, yet the Annual Meeting 
 this fall of both these Conferences was to be held at Padfield's, Looking- 
 glass Prairie, October 23rd, 1824. It was my intention to meet this 
 Conference on my way to Sangamon County ; but I was prevented by 
 the following fatal accident on our way. Just before we struck the 
 prairies, the man that drove my team contrived to turn over the 
 waggon, and was very near killing my oldest daughter. The sun was 
 just going down ; and by the time we righted up the waggon and 
 reloaded, it was getting dark, and we had a difficult hill to descend ; so 
 we concluded to camp there for the night, almost in sight of two
 
 142 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEE. 
 
 cabins containing families. I was almost exhausted reloading my 
 waggon ; the evening was warm, and my wife persuaded me not to 
 stretch our tent that night ; so I struck fire, and kindled it at the root 
 of a small, and, as I thought, sound, tree. We laid down and slept 
 soundly. 
 
 Just as day was appearing in the east, the tree at the root of which 
 we had kindled a small fire fell, and it fell on our third daughter, as 
 direct on her, from her feet to her head, as it could fall ; and I suppose 
 she never breathed after. I heard the tree crack when it started to 
 fall, and sprang, alarmed very much, and seized it before it struck the 
 child ; but it availed nothing. Although this was an awful calamity, 
 yet God was kind to us ; for if we had stretched our tent that night, 
 we should have been obliged to lie down in another position, and in 
 that event the tree would have fallen directly upon us, and we should 
 all have been killed instead of one. The tree was sound outside to the 
 thickness of the back of a carving knife, and then all the inside had a 
 dry rot ; but this we did not suspect. I sent my teamster to those 
 families near at hand for aid ; but not a soul would come nigh. Here 
 we were in great distress, and no one to even pity our condition. My 
 teamster and myself fell to cutting the tree off the child, when I dis- 
 covered that the tree had sprung up, and did not press the child ; and 
 we drew her out from under it, and carefully laid her in our feed 
 trough, and moved on about twenty miles to an acquaintance's in 
 Hamilton County, Illinois, where we buried her. 
 
 Here I will state a fact worthy of record. There was in the settle- 
 ment a very wicked family, total strangers to me and mine. The old 
 gentleman and two sons heard of our affliction, and they hastened to 
 our relief, and every act of kindness that they possibly could do us 
 was rendered with undisguised and undissembled friendship ; and 
 they would on no account have any compensation. This was true 
 friendship, and it endeared them to me in a most affectionate manner. 
 I met and conversed with them years afterward ; and although they 
 are now dead and gone to the spirit-land, I hope they will be in 
 heaven rewarded for their kindness to us in our deep and heart- 
 rending affliction ; for surely this was giving more than " a cup of 
 cold water to a disciple." By the blessing of Providence, we prose- 
 cuted otrr journey; and on the 15th of November, 1824, we arrived 
 where we now live. 
 
 Sangamon County was not only a newly-settled country, but em- 
 braced a large region. It was the most northern and the only northern 
 county organized in the State. It had been settled by a few hardy 
 and enterprising pioneers but a few years before. Just north of us 
 was an unbroken Indian country, and the Indians would come in by
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 143 
 
 scores and camp on the Sangamon Kiver bottom, and hunt and live 
 there through the winter. Their frequent visits to our cabins created 
 sometimes great alarm among the women and children. They were a 
 very degraded and demoralized people, and the white people were 
 very much to blame in dealing out the fire-water so freely among 
 them. But the whites kept advancing further and further into their 
 country, arid the Indians kept constantly receding and melting away 
 before their rapid march, until they are now mostly removed west of 
 the Mississippi, the great Father of Waters. 
 
 The Sangamon Circuit had been formed about three years when I 
 came to it. Brother J. Sims, I think, formed the Circuit. Brother 
 Rice followed, and J. Miller, of one of the Indiana Conferences, tra- 
 velled it in 1823-4. The Circuit was in what is called the Illinois 
 District, Samuel H. Thompson presiding elder. I found about two 
 hundred and sixty members in Society. The Circuit embraced all the 
 scattered settlements in the above-named county, together with parts 
 of Morgan and M'Lean Counties. We were almost entirely without 
 ferries, bridges, or roads. My mode of travelling, with a few excep- 
 tions, was to go from point to point of timber, through the high grass 
 of the prairie. My Circuit extended to Blooming Grove in M'Lean 
 County, near where the city of Bloomington now stands. A few fine 
 Methodist families had settled in this grove ; some local preachers 
 from Sangamon Circuit first visited them ; then Jesse Walker, who 
 was appointed missionary to the Indians in and about Fort Clark and up 
 the Illinois River toward Lake Michigan. I took it into the Sangamon 
 Circuit, and, in conjunction with Brother Walker, appointed a sacra- 
 mental meeting at the house of Brother Hendricks, he and his wife 
 being excellent members of the Church, and he was appointed class- 
 leader. Brother Hendricks has long since gone to his reward, while 
 Sister Hendricks still lingers among us, a shining example of Christian 
 piety. 
 
 An incident occurred at this sacramental meeting worthy of note. 
 The ordinance of baptism was desired by some, arid some parents 
 wanted their children baptized, and the brethren desired me to preach 
 on or explain the nature and design of Christian baptism. I did so 
 on the Sabbath. There was present a New Light preacher, who had 
 settled in the grove, and was a very great stickler for immersion, as 
 the only proper mode. That afternoon there arose a dark cloud, and 
 presently the rain fell in torrents, and continued almost all night ; 
 nearly the whole face of the earth was covered with water ; the streams 
 rose suddenly and overflowed their banks. A little brook near the 
 house rose so rapidly that it swept away the spring house and some of 
 the fences. Next morning I was riding up the grove to see an old
 
 144 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 acquaintance. I met Mr. Koads, my New Light preacher, and said, 
 " Good morning, sir." 
 
 " Good morning," he replied. 
 
 Said I, " We have had a tremendous rain." 
 
 " Yes, sir," said he ; "the Lord sent that rain to convince you of 
 your error." 
 
 " Ah ! " said I, " what error ? " 
 
 " Why, about baptism. The Lord sent this flood to convince you 
 that much water was necessary." 
 
 " Very good, sir," said 1 ; " and He in like manner sent this flood 
 to convince you of your error." 
 
 " What error ? " said he. 
 
 " Why," said I, " to show you that water comes by pouring and 
 not by immersion." 
 
 The preacher got into this mad fit because I had satisfied one of his 
 daughters that immersion was not the proper mode of baptism, and 
 she had joined the Methodists ; and I am told that this flood to this 
 day is called " Cartwright's Flood," by way of eminence ; and though 
 it rained hard, and my New Light preacher preached hard against us, 
 yet he made little or no impression, but finally evaporated and left for 
 parts unknown. His New Light went out because there was " no oil 
 in the vessel." 
 
 I had an appointment in a settlement in a certain brother's cabin. 
 He had a first-rate wife and several interesting daughters ; and I will 
 not forget to say, had some three hundred dollars hoarded up to enter 
 land. For the thin settlement we had a good congregation. The 
 meeting closed, and there was but one chair in the house, and that 
 was called " the preacher's chair." The bottom was weak and worn 
 out, and one of the upright back pieces was broken off. We had a 
 hewed puncheon for a table, with four holes in it, and four straight 
 sticks put in for legs. The hearth was made of earth, and in the 
 centre of it was a deep hole, worn by sweeping. Around this hole 
 the women had to cook, which was exceedingly inconvenient, for they 
 had no kitchen. When we came to the table, there were wooden 
 trenchers for plates, sharp-pointed pieces of cane for forks, and tin 
 cups for cups and saucers. There was but one knife besides a 
 butcher's knife, and that had the handle off. Four forks were driven 
 down between the puncheons into the ground ; for bedsteads, cross 
 poles or side poles put in those forks, and clapboards laid crosswise 
 for cords. The old sister kept up a constant apology, and made 
 many excuses. Now, if the brother had been really poor, I could 
 have excused everything ; but, knowing he had money hoarded up, I 
 thought it my duty to speak to him on the subject. I was at first a
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 145 
 
 little careful ; so I commenced by praising his good-looking daughters, 
 and noticed what a good cook his wife was, if she had any chance. 
 " Now, brother," said I, "do fill up this hole in the hearth, and go to 
 town and get you a set of chairs, knives and forks, cups and saucers, 
 and get you a couple of plain bedsteads and bed-cords. Give your 
 wife and daughters a chance. These girls, sir, are smart enough to 
 marry well, if you will fix them up a little." I saw in a moment the 
 women were on my side, and I felt safe. The old brother said he had 
 seen proud preachers before, and that he knew I was proud the 
 moment he saw me with my broadcloth coat on, and he did not thank 
 me for meddling with his affairs. 
 
 /' Brother," said I, " you have been a member of the Church a long 
 time, and you ought to know that the Discipline of our Church makes 
 it the duty of a Circuit preacher to recommend cleanliness and decency 
 everywhere ; and, moreover, if there was nothing of this kind in the 
 Discipline at all, my good feelings toward you and your family prompt 
 me to urge these things on you ; and you ought to attend to them for 
 your own comfort, and the great comfort of your family." 
 
 The old sister and daughters joined with me in all I said. 
 
 " Brother," said I, " you have two fine boys here, and they will 
 help you to do up things in a little better style ; and I tell you, if you 
 don't do it by the time I come round in four weeks, I shall move 
 preaching from your cabin somewhere else." 
 
 The old brother told me I could move preaching ; for if I was too 
 proud to put up with his fare, he did not want me about him. I 
 went on, but left another appointment ; and, when I came on to it, I 
 tell you things were done up about right. The females had taken my 
 lecture t'o the old brother for a text, and they had preached success- 
 fully to him ; for the hole in the hearth was filled up, two new bed- 
 steads were on hand, six new split-bottomed chairs were procured, a 
 new set of knives and forks, cups and saucers, and plates, were all on 
 hand. The women met me very pleasantly, and the old brother him- 
 self looked better than usual ; and, besides all this, the women all had 
 new calico dresses, and looked very neat. We had a good congrega- 
 tion, a good meeting, and things went on very pleasantly with me and 
 the whole family during the two years that I rode the Circuit. And, 
 better than all this, nearly all the children obtained religion and joined 
 the Church, and those of them who still live I number among my fast 
 friends. 
 
 On Horse Creek we had an appointment, and a good society ; old 
 Brother Joseph Dixon was class-leader and steward. I think he was 
 one of the best stewards I ever saw. The country was new ; our little 
 market was at St. Louis, distant one hundred miles or more ; and 
 
 L
 
 146 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 some of the people had to go sixty miles for their grinding and bread- 
 stuff ; and this country was generally settled with poor, but very kind, 
 people ; money was very scarce, and what little there was, was gene- 
 rally kept close to enter lands when our Congress should order sales ; 
 almost universally we were settled on Congress or government lands. 
 In this condition of affairs, the support of a travelling preacher was 
 exceedingly small. The first year I travelled the Sangamon Circuit, 
 with a wile and six children, I received forty dollars all told ; the 
 second year I received sixty. This was considered a great improve- 
 ment in our financial affairs. I state these things that the reader 
 may see the extreme difficulties our early preachers had to contend 
 with. The round before each quarterly meeting, Brother Dixon, the 
 steward, would take his horse and accompany the preacher, and after 
 preaching, and the class had met, he would rise and call on the Church 
 for their aid in supporting the Gospel. He invariably made it a rule 
 to see that every member of his own class paid something every 
 quarter to support the Gospel ; and if there were any too poor to pay, 
 he would pay for them. 
 
 Brother Dixon had been a real backwoodsman, a frontier settler, a 
 great hunter and trapper to take furs. Among other early and enter- 
 prising trappers, he prepared himself for a hunting and trapping 
 expedition up the Missouri River and its tributaries, which at that 
 early day was an unbroken Indian country, and many of them hostile 
 to the whites. He made himself a canoe or dug-out, to ascend the 
 rivers, laid in his traps, ammunition, and all the necessary fixtures for 
 such a trip, and he and two other partners slowly ascended the Mis- 
 souri. After ascending this stream for hundreds of miles, and escaping 
 many dangerous ambuscades of the Indians, winter came on with 
 great severity. They dug in the ground and buried their furs and 
 skins at different points, to keep them from being stolen by the 
 Indians. They then dug a deep hole on the sunny side of a hill, 
 gathered their winter meat and fuel, their leaves and grass, and earned 
 them into the hole, and took up their winter quarters. The snows 
 were very deep, the weather intensely cold ; but they wintered in 
 comparative safety till returning spring, which they hailed with trans- 
 ports of joy. They were robbed several times by the Indians, had 
 several battles with them, and killed two or three of them. The next 
 fall his partners fell out with him, bought a canoe of the Indians, left 
 him alone, descended the river, dug up their furs, and returned home. 
 Dixon fortunately secured most of the ammunition they had on hand. 
 He again found a dreaded winter approaching. He resorted to the 
 former winter's experiment, and dug his cave in the side of a steep 
 hill, laid up his winter provisions, and took up his winter quarters all
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 14? 
 
 alone. In this perilous condition, his eyes became inflamed, and were 
 very much affected from constant gazing on the almost perpetual 
 snows around him, until, such was their diseased state, he could not 
 see anything. Here he was, utterly helpless and hopeless. He began 
 to reflect on his dreadful condition, while he felt nothing but certain 
 death, and realized himself to be a great sinner and unprepared to die. 
 For the first time in his life, almost, he kneeled down arid asked God 
 for mercy and deliverance from this awful condition. Then and there 
 he promised God, if He would spare and deliver him, he would from 
 that solemn moment serve Him faithfully the rest of his life. This 
 promise, he told me, he had faithfully kept ; and there is not in my 
 mind a single doubt but he kept his covenant till he was safely housed 
 in heaven. 
 
 When he made this covenant with God in his desperate condition, 
 all of a sudden there was a strong impression made ou his mind, that 
 if he would take the inside bark of a certain tree that stood a few steps 
 from the mouth of his earthy habitation, and beat it up, soft and fine, 
 soak it in water, and wash his eyes with it, he would soon recover his 
 sight. He groped his way to the tree, got the bark, prepared it as 
 impressed, bathed his eyes, bound some of this bark to them, and lay 
 down and slept, not knowing whether it was day or night. When he 
 awoke, his eyes felt easy ; the inflammation was evidently subsiding, 
 and in a short time his sight began to return, and soon was entirely 
 restored. When he gained confidence in his restoration to sight, he 
 fell on his knees to return thanks to God ; a sweet and heavenly 
 peace ran all through his soul, and he then and there, all alone, 
 shouted aloud the high praises of God. He then felt that God had 
 forgiven his sins, blessed his soul, restored his sight, and that he 
 ought to praise and give glory to His holy name. 
 
 When the weather opened for trapping, he said, he had astonishing 
 good luck ; took a great amount of the very best furs ; and, collecting 
 them, began to descend the river. He had an Indian village to pass 
 on the bank of the river, and, as they were a deceitful, sly, bad tribe 
 of Indians, he determined to keep his canoe as far from their shore as 
 possible. They made many friendly signs for him to stop ; so he con- 
 cluded to land and trade a little with them. He had his rifle well 
 loaded, and was a very strong man. When his canoe struck the bank, 
 a large, stout Indian jumped into it, and others were following. He, 
 accordingly, shoved off, when one on the bank raised his rifle and 
 aimed to shoot him. As quick as thought, Dixon jerked the Indian 
 that was in the canoe between him and the other that raised his rifle ; 
 the gun fired, and lodged its contents in the heart of the large Indian 
 in the canoe, who fell overboard dead. Dixon paddled with all speed 
 
 L 2
 
 148 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 
 
 down the river, and escaped being robbed or killed. When he re- 
 turned to St. Louis, he sold his furs for several thousand dollars, and 
 returned to his family, after having been absent nearly three years. 
 He then packed up, moved to Horse Creek, in Sangamon County, 
 took preaching into his cabin, joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and continued to be a faithful member, leader, and steward for many 
 years. His children mostly grew up, married, and left him ; his most 
 excellent wife at length died, witnessing a good confession ; his 
 youngest son he named Missouri, in memory of his conversion on the 
 trapping expedition up that turbid stream, and also to keep fresh in 
 his recollection the solemn vow he had made in his perilous condition. 
 After the death of his wife he lingered a few years, and then died in 
 peace, at his daughter's, in Morgan County. 
 
 It may be gratifying to some to see what has grown out of what 
 was within the bounds of the old Sangamon Circuit in T824-5. 
 There is Beardstown Station, Virginia Circuit, Havana Circuit, Dela- 
 van Mission, East and West Charges in Bloomington, ^Randolph's 
 Grove Circuit, Waynesville Circuit, Mount Pleasant Circuit, Clinton, 
 Honey Creek, Mount Pulaski, Decatur Station and Circuit, Taylors- 
 ville, Sulphur Spring, Virden Island Grove, and Springfield Station. 
 Thus the old hive has sent forth twenty swarms, and still retains its 
 old name, Sangamon. Perhaps this Circuit has retained its first name 
 longer than any Circuit in the State or Conference. At the close of 
 ray second year I returned 400 members, being an increase, in two 
 years, of 1 60. At our Conference in Charlestown, Indiana, August 
 25th, 1825, Bishop M'Kendree attended and presided; and I was re- 
 appointed to Sangamon Circuit. At the time of this Conference I 
 was taken down with a violent attack of bilious fever. Three friendly 
 doctors attended me. They succeeded in stopping the fever. My 
 doctor advised me to travel homeward slowly, and only a few miles a 
 day, till I gained strength, and to take good care of myself. Some of 
 the preachers secured a preacher acquainted with the country through 
 which I had to pass, to go with and take care of me ; for I was very 
 feeble. This preacher was under marriage contract, and the day set 
 for the ceremony, but I knew it not. The first day we rode twenty- 
 eight miles. I urged him to stop long before we did. But no ; he 
 knew of a Judge Somebody, a fine Methodist, and a good place, &c. ; 
 he lived in the west end of a little town. As we passed the tavern, I 
 urged the preacher again to stop ; but no, he rode up to the judge's, 
 told my name and condition, but he would not take us in. There 
 was present a kind-hearted man, who, on learning my condition, took 
 me home with him and treated me well. Next morning we started 
 on, and when we got into another little town, having rode that day
 
 THE BACKWOODS PUEACHER. 149 
 
 twenty miles, I begged my preacher to let me stop. " no, no," 
 said he; "there is a fine place three miles down here; we mv.st get 
 there." At that moment I saw a doctor who had been a travelling 
 preacher in Kentucky, and I knew him and called to him, and begged 
 him to take me somewhere that I could rest. I then told my 
 preacher guide to move on and move off, for certainly I would not 
 travel with him a step further. So he left, and the doctor took me 
 home with him, and treated me kindly. On Sunday morning he took 
 me a few miles up the country, on Honey Creek, to a camp-meeting 
 that was in progress. Here I tarried and rested a while. I was 
 aiming to cross the Wabash, and get to J. W. M'Keynold's, near 
 Paris. 
 
 The day I left the camp-meeting my fever returned, just while I 
 was crossing Honey Creek Prairie. It seemed to me I should die for 
 want of water, there being no house on the road. I was immensely 
 sick, and the day was intensely warm. At length I found a little 
 green bush that afforded a small shade. Here I lay down to die. I 
 saw a house a little way off, over a field, but was unable to get to it. 
 In a few minutes a lady rode up to me, and although I had not seen 
 her for twenty years, I instantly knew her, and she recognised me, 
 and after a few minutes she rode off briskly after help. 
 
 In a little time there came a man and buggy, and a small boy. 
 The boy mounted my horse. The man helped me into the buggy, 
 and drove up to his house, and took n>e in, and placed me on a bed 
 between two doors, where I had a free circulation of air. This was 
 the house where the lady lived. The man was her husband. They 
 took all possible care of me till I got a little better, then I started, 
 and got safe to Brother M'Eeynold's. And now I had the Grand 
 Prairie to cross, ninety miles through. To go alone seemed out of 
 the question, and Brother Mac's family was not in a situation for him 
 safely to leave, and carry me in a carriage through ; but he said he 
 would go, as I must not go alone. 
 
 We arranged to start next morning early ; and just as we were 
 about leaving, I saw a carriage with a span of horses drive up to the 
 steps with three persons, and who should they be but Brother and 
 Sister Springer, my neighbours, and my wife, who had heard of my 
 sickness, and had come to convey me home. 
 
 A bed was placed in the carriage, and we started. There was but 
 one house for eighty miles across this Grand Prairie, and no water 
 but a few ponds. I thought that these two days that we were cross- 
 ing, I should surely die for the want of good water. I drank freely 
 of these ponds, and it made me very sick every time ; and I threw off 
 great quantities of bile, and this, perhaps, saved my life. After all
 
 150 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 my fever abated, I gradually grew better, and finally recovered my 
 wonted health. 
 
 We had a glorious camp-meeting this year on what was called 
 Waters' Camp Ground, on Spring Creek, six miles west of Springfield. 
 It lasted five days and nights. Over forty professed religion, and 
 joined the Church ; and the Circuit generally was in a healthy con- 
 dition. 
 
 The country this year settled up very rapidly, and improvements 
 went up equally as rapid in almost every direction. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 POLITICAL LIFE. 
 
 OUR Conference met in Bloomington, Indiana, September 28th, 
 1826. Bishop Soule and Bishop Koberts attended and presided. S. 
 H. Thompson's time on the Illinois District having expired, he was 
 appointed to the Illinois Circuit, and I was appointed to succeed him 
 in the District, which was composed of the following Circuits or 
 appointments : Illinois, Kaskaskia, Shoal Creek, Sangamon, Peoria, 
 Mississippi, Atlas, and the Pottawattomie Mission. This District thus 
 extended from Kaskaskia River to the extreme northern settlements, 
 and even to the Pottawattomie nation of Indians, on Fox River ; up 
 that river into the heart of the nation. And there were only about 
 three thousand members of the Church in it, and only half of another 
 presiding-elder District in the State. The Wabash District, Charles 
 Holliday presiding elder, lay on the west side of the Wabash River, 
 in Illinois, and on the east side of that river, in Indiana. 
 
 The following appointments were in Illinois : Mount Carmel, 
 Wabash, Carmi, Mount Vernon, and Cash River, with a membership 
 of about thirteen hundred and fifty ; a little over four thousand in the 
 entire State. My District was four hundred miles long, and covered 
 all the west side of the Grand Prairie, fully two thirds of the geo- 
 graphical boundaries of the State. The year before I moved to the 
 State, there had been a strong move, by a corrupt and demoralized 
 legislature, to call a convention with a view to alter the constitution, 
 so as to admit slavery into the State. I had left Kentucky on account 
 of slavery, and, as I hoped, had bid a final farewell to all slave insti- 
 tutions ; but the subject was well rife through the country ; for, 
 although the friends of human liberty had sustained themselves, and 
 carried the election by more than one thousand votes, yet it was feared
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 151 
 
 that the advocates of slavery would renew the effort, and yet cause this 
 " abomination of desolation to stand where it ought not." I very 
 freely entered the lists to oppose slavery in this way, and, without any 
 forethought of mind, went into the agitated waters of political strife. 
 I was strongly solicited to become a candidate for a seat in the legis- 
 lature of our State. I consented, and was twice elected as representa- 
 tive from Sangamon County. 
 
 But I say, without any desire to speak evil of the rulers of the 
 people, I found a great deal of corruption in our legislature ; and I 
 found that almost every measure had to be carried by a corrupt 
 bargain and sale ; which should cause every honest man to blush for 
 his country. 
 
 The great national parties were now organized, and, as my honest 
 sentiments placed me in the minority in my county, of course I retired 
 from politics. But I say now, if the people would not be led by 
 party considerations, but would select honest and capable men, I can- 
 not see the impropriety of canvassing for office on Christian principles. 
 
 There is an incident or two connected with my little political expe- 
 rience that I will give. 
 
 The first time I ran for office in Sangamon County, I was on the 
 north side of the Sangamon River, as we say in the East, electioneer- 
 ing, or rather trying to get acquainted with the people ; for I was at 
 that early day a great stranger to many of them. Passing through a 
 brushy point of undergrowth, near a ferry where I intended to cross 
 the river, I heard just before me some one talking very loud. I 
 reined my horse to listen. I heard some one say that Peter Cart- 
 wright was a d d rascal ; and so were all Methodist preachers ; they 
 would all steal horses ; and that it was a scandal to the country that 
 such a man as Cartwright should offer for a representative of the 
 county ; and that the first time he saw him, he intended to whip him 
 for his impudence. This surprised me a little, and I looked round 
 for some way to pass without coming in contact with this company ; 
 but there was no path that I could see, and the brush was so thick I 
 could not get through. So I summoned all my courage, and rode 
 boldly up, and spoke to the man. There were six of them ; and, as I 
 learned, but one of them had ever seen me. So I said, " Gentlemen, 
 who is it among you that is going to whip Cartwright the first time 
 you see him ? " The man who had threatened spoke out and said, " I 
 am the lark that 's going to thrash him well." Said I, " Cartwright 
 is known to be much of a man, and it will take a man to whip him, 
 mind you." " O no," said he ; " I can whip any Methodist 
 preacher the Lord ever made." " Well, Sir," said I, "you cannot do 
 it ; and now I tell you my name is Cartwright, and I never like to
 
 152 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 live in dread; if you really intend to whip me, come and do it 
 now." 
 
 He looked a little confused, and said, " 0, you can't fool me that 
 way ; you are not Cartwright." 
 
 " Well," said I, " that is my name, and I am a candidate for the 
 legislature, and now is your time ; if you must whip me, do it now." 
 
 He said, " No, no, you are not Cartwright at all ; you only want 
 to fool me." 
 
 By this time we had moved slowly to the boat, and when we got 
 on it, he broke out in a fresh volley of curses on Cartwright. I said 
 to a gentleman on the boat, " Here, hold my horse ; " and stepping up 
 to this cursing disciple, I said sternly to him, " Now, sir, you have to 
 whip me as you threatened, or quit cursing me, or I will put you in 
 the river, and baptize you in the name of the devil ; for surely you 
 belong to him." This settled him ; and strange to say, when the 
 election came off, he went to the polls and voted for me, and ever 
 afterward was my warm and constant friend. 
 
 Take another instance of what an honest man has to bear, if he 
 mixes in the muddy waters of political strife ; and what powerful 
 temptations it throws in his way to do wrong, and thereby wound his 
 tender conscience, if he has any. There was a man, whom I never 
 knowingly saw, and he did not know me by sight, as I clearly proved. 
 At a large gathering in Springfield, he stated that he had lived my 
 neighbour in Kentucky, arid that lie saw and heard me offer to swear 
 off a plain note of my indebtedness ; and this statement was gaining 
 and spreading like wildfire. Those opposed to my election were 
 chuckling over it at a mighty rate ; some of my friends came to me 
 and told me of it, and said, I must meet it and stop it, or it would 
 defeat my election. Said I, 
 
 " Gentlemen, if you will take me to, and show me, this man, I will 
 give you clear demonstration that his statements are false." 
 
 So a crowd gathered around me, and I walked up to the public 
 square where this man was defaming me. I said to the company, 
 " Take me right up to the man, and I will show you that he never 
 saw me, and never knew me." They did so ; and when we came to 
 him, one said to me, " This is Mr. G." 
 
 Looking him in the eye, said I, " Well, sir, I want to know some- 
 thing about this lying report you have been circulating about me." 
 There was a large crowd gathered around. 
 
 " Who are you, sir ? " said he. " I don't know you." 
 
 " Did you ever see me before ? " 
 
 " No, sir, not that I know of." 
 
 " Well, sir, my name is Peter Cartwright, about whom you have
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 153 
 
 circulated the lying statement, that I, in your presence, in Kentucky, 
 offered to swear off a plain note of my indebtedness ; and I have 
 proved to this large and respectable company that you are a lying, 
 dirty scoundrel ; and now, if you do not here acknowledge yourself a 
 liar and a dirty fellow, I will sweep the streets with you to your heart's 
 content ; and do it instantly, or I will give you a chastisement that 
 you will remember to your latest day." 
 
 The crowd shouted, "Down him, down him, Cartwright; he ought 
 to catch it." 
 
 After the crowd was a little stilled, my accuser said, " Well, gentle- 
 men, I acknowledge that I have done Mr. Cartwright great injustice, 
 and have, without any just cause, lied on him." At this, the crowd 
 gave three cheers for Cartwright. 
 
 Now, you see, gentle reader, the muddy waters that a candidate for 
 office in our free country has to wade through ; and well may we pray, 
 " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." 
 
 I will relate an incident that occurred in the legislature. After we 
 were sworn in as members of that body, there was a flippant, loqua- 
 cious lawyer elected from Union County. He was a pretty speaker, 
 but not very profound, and had a very high opinion of his own tact 
 and talent. He was also a great aspirant, and had a thirst for popu- 
 larity ; and there were several congregations of Dunkers, or Seventh- 
 day Baptists, in the district. This lawyer represented that they kept 
 Saturday for the Christian Sabbath, and thought, or professed to think, 
 it was altogether wrong that they should pay taxes, work on roads, 
 perform military duty, or serve on juries, &c. 
 
 He wanted to have a law passed, favouring them in all these par- 
 ticulars, and thus exclusively legislating for their particular benefit, 
 thereby making a religious test, and making a sectarian distinction, 
 and legislating for their pretended scruples of conscience. He accord- 
 ingly introduced a Bill for their special benefit. I opposed the passage 
 of the Bill, and briefly remarked, that, as a nation, we all acknowledged 
 Sunday as the Christian Sabbath, and that there ought to be no dis- 
 tinctions in Churches, or among the people; and as to bearing arms, 
 that the people who were unwilling to take up arms in the defence of 
 their country, were unworthy of the protection of the government ; and 
 as for not working on roads, if there were any unwilling to work on 
 roads, they should not be allowed the privilege of travelling them ; as 
 to serving on juries, if anybody was umvilling to serve on them, he 
 ought to be deprived of the privilege of having the right of trial by jury ; 
 and if there were any unwilling to pay taxes to support government, 
 they should be declared outlaws, and denied the protection of govern- 
 ment. The representative from Union, at this, flew into a mighty rage,
 
 154 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 and, instead of arguing the case, began to eulogize the Dunkers, and 
 drew a contrast between them and the Methodists. He said the 
 Dunkers were an honest, industrious, hard-working people ; their 
 preachers worked for their own support ; there was no hypocritical 
 begging among them ; no carrying the hat round in the congregation 
 for public collections, and hypocritical whining among them for 
 support, as was always to be seen among Methodist preachers. Thus 
 he laid on thick and fast. It was my good fortune to know, that a 
 few years before, this same lawyer was a candidate for Congress, and 
 the lamented S. H. Thompson was the presiding elder, and his District 
 covered the congressional district this lawyer desired to represent ; and 
 as Brother Thompson was very popular among the people, and had a 
 number of camp and quarterly meetings in the bounds of this con- 
 gressional district, this said lawyer had pretended to be serious on the 
 subject of religion; and here he followed Brother Thompson from 
 appointment to appointment, appearing to be very much concerned 
 about religion, threw in liberally at every public collection, offering to 
 carry the hat round himself when collections were taken. 
 
 When he closed his tirade of abuse, I rose and said, " Mr. Speaker, 
 I award to the gentleman from Union the honour of being one of the 
 best judges of hypocrisy in all the land ; " and then narrated the above 
 facts. He rose and called me to order ; but the Speaker said I was in 
 order, and directed him to sit down. Presently, he rose again, and 
 said if I was not called to order, he would knock me down at the bar. 
 The Speaker again pronounced me in order, and bade me proceed. I 
 finished my speech, and left my mark on this belligerent son of the 
 law. 
 
 When we adjourned, our clerk told me to be on my guard ; that he 
 heard this lawyer say, the moment I stepped out of the state house 
 door he intended to whip me. I walked out and stepped up to him, 
 and asked, " Are you for peace or war ? " 
 
 " O," said he, " for peace ; come, go home with me and take tea." 
 
 We locked arms, and I went. When we got there, we found the 
 governor and his lady, and a number of genteel people. We sat down 
 to tea, and I found they were going to eat with graceless indifference. 
 Said I, " Governor, ask a blessing." He blushed, apologized, and 
 begged me to do it. I did so ; and then remarked that I had called 
 on his excellency by way of reproof; for I thought the governor 
 ought to be a good man and set a better example. He readily ad- 
 mitted all I said to be true ; and this was the last time during the 
 session that I ate at any of their houses without being requested to 
 ask a blessing. 
 
 At a quarterly meeting I held in Kaskaskia in 1827, an incident
 
 THE BACKWOODS PKEACHER. 155 
 
 occurred which I will relate. S. L. Kobinson and A. E. Phelps were 
 the Circuit preachers, both of whom have passed away, witnessing a 
 good confession. E. Roberts and Colonel Mather lived in Kaskaskia 
 at this time ; and although neither of them was a professor of religion, 
 yet they were both friendly to religion, and treated Methodist preachers 
 with great kindness. We stayed with them during the quarterly 
 meeting ; and although neither of them was a drinking man, yet they 
 sometimes took a little rum ; so also did Methodist and other preachers. 
 These two men, in all kindness, poured out some wine, as they sup- 
 posed, into glasses, and sent it round in a waiter to us preachers, but, 
 through mistake, it happened to be brandy. The most of the preachers 
 turned off their wine as was supposed, and they did it so suddenly and 
 unsuspiciously, the mistake was not detected till it was drunk. For- 
 tunately for me, I got the smell of the brandy, and held back from 
 drinking at all. 
 
 Said I, " Gentlemen, this is brandy as sure as you live." 
 
 Mr. Roberts and Mr. Mather were greatly surprised at their mis- 
 take, and were mortified. The preachers who had drunk their brandy 
 through mistake were alarmed, fearing they would be intoxicated, 
 being so little in the habit of using ardent spirits. No serious intoxi- 
 cation was the result of this mistake ; but how much better it would 
 have been wholly to abstain from all, and then these accidents would 
 never happen ! Suppose any, or all of us, through this mistake, had 
 become intoxicated, what a dreadful reproach we would have caused 
 to religion, and the worthy name of Christ would have been blas- 
 phemed through an idle, not to say sinful, habit ! 
 
 The last year Brother Thompson was on this District, it being very 
 large, he requested me to attend some of his quarterly meetings ; and, 
 among others, I attended one in Green County, near what is now 
 called Whitehall. John Kirkpatrick, a local preacher from 'the 
 Sangamon Circuit, went down and arrived there a little before me. 
 When I came, he approached me and said, 
 
 " Brother, I sincerely pity you from my very heart." 
 
 " Why, what 's the matter ? " 
 
 " The people have heard that you are one of the greatest preachers 
 in the West, and their expectations are on tiptoe, and no bishop could 
 satisfy them ; but do your best." 
 
 These statements somewhat disconcerted me, though I never was 
 very anxious to gratify idle curiosity : I knew my help must come 
 from God, and unless the Lord helped me, every effort would be vain ; 
 but if God would help me, I asked no other aid. At length the hour 
 arrived, and I rose in the stand, and tried to preach the best I knew 
 how. The people gave me their kind attention, but I saw in their
 
 156 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEB. 
 
 countenances they were disappointed. During the intermission, 
 Brother Kirkpatrick came to me and said, 
 
 " I told you so ; you have fallen several degrees under the people's 
 expectations. You must try again." 
 
 Accordingly, on Sunday I took the stand, and tried to look wise, 
 and I not only tried to look so, but I tried to preach so, and in all 
 good conscience I went at the top of my speed, and did my very best ; 
 but it was a failure. Brother Kirkpatrick came to me again, and 
 deeply sympathized with me. 
 
 Said I, " Brother, I know what is the matter ; I '11 come it the next 
 time." 
 
 So on Sunday night I mounted the stand, took my text, and, though 
 I had loaded in a hurry, drew the bow at a venture, and let fly arrows 
 in almost all directions : some laughed ; some cried ; some became 
 angry ; some ran ; some cursed me right out ; some shouted ; some 
 fell to the earth ; and there was a general uproar throughout the whole 
 encampment. Our meeting lasted all night, and the slain of the Lord 
 were many ; and although this discourse was -delivered without con- 
 nexion, system, or anything else but exhortation, I redeemed myself, 
 and now it was admitted that I was a great preacher. 
 
 I attended several camp-meetings in this neighbourhood during my 
 continuance on the District, and we always had good times ; there was, 
 however, considerable opposition and persecution. At one of these 
 camp-meetings, the wicked young men, who were chiefly children of 
 religious people, or professors in other Churches, brought their whiskey 
 and hid it in the woods, where they would collect together and drink, 
 and then come and disturb the worshipping congregation. I closely 
 watched them, and after they had gone out to their whiskey and drunk 
 freely, and returned to interrupt us, I captured their keg of whiskey, 
 and brought it in and placed it under guard. After a while they 
 missed it, and there was great confusion amongst them. They finally 
 suspected me, and sent me word, if I would give up their whiskey, they 
 woidd behave themselves, or go away. I sent them word, that I never 
 hired people to behave ; and if they did not behave, I would make them. 
 They then sent me word, if I did not give up their whiskey, they 
 would stone the preachers' tent that night, and one of them had the 
 impudence to tell me so. I utterly refused to give up the whiskey, 
 and told him to stone away, that I would be ready for them. 
 
 There was, close by the camp-ground, a beautiful running stream, 
 with a gravelly bottom, and many little rocks or pebbles. After dark 
 a while, the camp-ground was brilliantly lighted up ; I went and bor- 
 rowed some old clothes, and dressed myself in disguise, and obtained 
 an old straw hat. Thus attired, I sallied out, and presently, unper-
 
 THE -BACKWOODS PREACHER. 157 
 
 ceived, I mixed among these rowdies, and soon got all their plans : they 
 were to wait till the congregation was dismissed, the lights put out, 
 and the people retired to rest ; and then they were to march up and 
 stone the preachers' tent ; and if I made my appearance to annoy them 
 in any way, they were to give me a shower of stones. I mixed freely 
 among them, and do not suppose any one even suspected me at all. 
 Meeting closed, the lights were blown out, and the people mostly 
 retired to rest ; in the meantime I had slipped down to the brook, and 
 filled the pockets of the old overcoat that I had borrowed with little 
 stones ; and as I came up to them, they were just ready to commence 
 operations on the preachers' tent ; but before they had thrown a single 
 stone, I gathered from my pockets my hands full of stones, and flung 
 them thick and fast right in among them, crying out, at the top of my 
 voice, " Here they are ! here they are ! Take them ! take them ! " They 
 broke at full speed, and such a running I hardly ever witnessed. I took 
 after them, hallooing, every jump, " Take them ! take them ! " Thus 
 ended the farce. We had no more interruption, and our camp-meeting 
 went on gloriously, and we had many conversions clear and powerful. 
 
 There lived in this settlement a very pious sister, who was much 
 afflicted ; she was poor, and money was scarce, and hard to get ; but 
 this sister believed it to be her duty, and the duty of every member 
 of the Church, to aid in the support of the Gospel. She was very 
 liberal, and very punctual in paying her quarterage ; but circum- 
 stances entirely beyond her control prevented her from getting the 
 money to pay her quarterage. The above-named camp-meeting 
 was the last quarterly meeting before Conference, and the thought 
 that her preachers were to go away without their pay greatly 
 afflicted her ; she talked to me about it, and felt greatly distressed, 
 and even wept over it. On Monday morning she went home, living 
 but a short distance from the camp-ground, to get a fresh supply of 
 provisions, and, as she returned to the camp-ground, she found, lying 
 in the road, a silver dollar ; she picked it up, and came to the camp- 
 ground greatly rejoicing, and said, the Lord had given her that dollar 
 to pay her preachers, and she gave it to the support of the Gospel 
 with great cheerfulness. Now, if all our Church members would act 
 as conscientiously as this beloved sister, our preachers would never go 
 without their pay. This sister lived and died a noble pattern of piety ; 
 her end was peace, and well might she say, on her dying couch, to her 
 surrounding friends, who wept by her bedside, " Follow me, as I 
 have followed the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Before I take leave of this camp-meeting, I will relate an incident, 
 to show what lengths people can go in wild and unjustifiable fanati- 
 cism. There came a man to this meeting from one of the Carolinas,
 
 158 THE BACKWOODS PEEACHER. 
 
 who had professed religion in some of the revivals in that country. 
 He was a man of good education, and wealthy, of polite manners, of 
 chaste and pleasant conversation ; he had joined no Church, had no 
 licence to preach from any accredited branch of the Christian Church, 
 had no testimonials of his good character, or of being in fellowship 
 with any Christian body whatever ; and yet he professed to be called 
 of God to the ministry of the word, and that God had appointed him 
 to travel all over the world, and to travel on foot too. 
 
 First, he was to bring about a universal peace among all nations ; 
 secondly, he was to unite all the branches of the Christian Church, and 
 make them one. Until then he was forbidden to ride, or go in any 
 other way than on foot ; and when he had accomplished the object of 
 his mission, the closing of which was to be attended by the bringing 
 in of the Jews, and their return to Palestine, and the rebuilding of 
 Jerusalem, and the rearing up of the Temple ; then Christ was to 
 descend bodily as He ascended, and reign a thousand years on earth 
 in the midst of His saints; and then, and not till then, he, the 
 preacher, was to ride, and ride in triumph into the new Jerusalem, 
 and this was to be the commencement of the millennium. This man 
 would talk on the subject until his feelings would be wrought up to 
 an ecstatic rapture ; and he would shout in apparent triumph, as if he 
 had performed the greatest work ever accomplished on earth, saving 
 the redemption of the world. Although his whole conversation on 
 the subject was replete with supreme absurdities, yet it was astonish- 
 ing to see with what earnest attention the people heard him in his 
 private conversations. I say private, because I would not let him 
 occupy the pulpit, and deliver his discourses from the stand, although 
 he, and others, importuned me to let him do so ; but I told them, No, 
 I could not, in view of my responsibility to God and man, permit any 
 such religious foolishness to disturb and divert the minds of the people 
 from the sober truths of the Gospel ; and gave, as my decided opinion, 
 that God would not swerve one hair's breadth from the system of truth 
 recorded in the Gospel, to save or to damn the world. This gave him 
 great offence, and shortly he left us ; and I was exceedingly glad when 
 he took his departure. During the time he stayed among us I tried 
 to reason him out of his absurd notions, to show the great folly and 
 inconsistency of his views, but all in vain ; he construed it into perse- 
 cution, and a disposition to fight against God. I have lived to see 
 many of these insane enthusiasts on the subject of religion, and I have 
 never seen any good resulting from giving them any countenance at 
 all ; but, in several instances, great harm was done by showing them 
 countenance. They can manufacture more fanatics, and in a shorter 
 time, than twenty good, sound Gospel ministers can turn five sinners
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 159 
 
 from the error of their ways to the service of the living and true God. 
 Perhaps it may not be considered out of place to indulge here in a few 
 remarks on the subject of this wild, frenzied fanaticism. 
 
 There are several classes of these fanatics, according to the best 
 observations that I have been able to make, and I have had many 
 opportunities in the course of my fifty years' ministry. First. There 
 are many that are truly awakened and soundly converted to God, and 
 are pious ; but instead of taking the word of God for their only 
 infallible guide, and trying the spirits, and their impressions, or feel- 
 ings, by that as a standard, they take all their impressions and sudden 
 impulses of mind as inspirations from God, and act accordingly. If 
 you oppose them, they say and believe you are fighting against God. 
 If you try to reason them out of their visionary flights, and settle 
 them down on the sure foundation, the word of God, they construe it 
 all into the want of religion, and cry out, " Persecution ! " 
 
 Secondly. There is another class of enthusiastic persons, that not 
 only seem, but actually are, so supremely wrapped up in self, that all 
 they do, or say, or perform, is to be seen of men ; and if they can only 
 get the ignorant multitude to run after them, and cry, " Hosannah ! 
 blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," they wrap them- 
 selves in their mantle of supreme self-complacence. They surely have 
 not the fear of God before their eyes, and their fearful responsibilities 
 seem not to enter into their calculations from first to last. Woe unto 
 them ! If they want to go to hell, they had better take the most 
 obscure route to that dismal region, and go single-handed and alone, 
 than to draw the ignorant and gaping crowds, the riff-raff of all God's 
 creation, after them ; but all rebels against the government of God 
 love company. The devil himself is a fearful witness of this fact, 
 when, under his mutinous and revolting conspiracy against the eternal 
 Majesty of Heaven, he drew the third part of the stars of heaven after 
 him in his rebellion against God. It is impossible to calculate the 
 mischief done by this class of fanatics, and the many souls they have 
 ruined for ever. 
 
 Thirdly. There is a dark, motley crowd of wizards, witches, and 
 spiritual rappers, so called, that have, sooner or later, infested all 
 lands, and are the common property of the devil. They must have a 
 fee for divining and soothsaying, and make a gain of their pretended 
 art ; and some of them pretend to be ministers of Christ and followers 
 of the Lamb. By the indulgence of my readers I will give a very 
 brief and, of course, imperfect statement of a case that will set this 
 matter in a true light. 
 
 There was, in one of our Eastern Conferences, a very talented, 
 shrewd travelling preacher, whose piety was of a doubtful complexion.
 
 160 THE BACKWOODS PKEACHER. 
 
 If his piety had been equal to his talents as a pulpit orator, he cer- 
 tainly could have done a great deal of good ; but being weighed in the 
 balances of the public mind, and, in point of piety, found wanting, he 
 thought he must rise somehow ; so he fell in with those locusts of 
 Egypt, the spiritual rappers, took a few lessons, and then commenced 
 operations, and really astonished the ignorant multitudes, himself with 
 the rest. He pretended to call up the dead from every country and 
 clime ; he summoned them from heaven, earth, and hell ; he not only 
 could tell who was happy in heaven, as he said, but who were mise- 
 rable in hell ; he could hold communion with God, with angels, spirits, 
 and the devil also. The last part I am not disposed to doubt. Indeed, 
 I have very little doubt that he was in constant communion with, the 
 devil. 
 
 The Church was grieved with this state of things, and the ministers 
 thought it their duty to arrest him, not only for these presumptuous 
 pretensions, but for sundry other moral delinquencies. They tried 
 him, and expelled him from the Church. He appealed to the General 
 Conference that sat in Pittsburgh in 1848. On examination the 
 General Conference thought that there was some informality in his 
 trial in the annual Conference to which he belonged, and they remanded 
 it back to his Conference for a new trial. The Conference took up the 
 case again, found him guilty of several immoralities, and expelled him 
 again. From this act of expulsion he appealed to the General Con- 
 ference that sat in Boston in 1852. In his defence before that body, 
 he openly avowed that he could tell what was going on in heaven, 
 earth, and hell; that he had foretold the results of many of the 
 important battles in Mexico, under Generals Taylor and Scott, before 
 the battles were fought ; and that he knew how the decision of that 
 General Conference would go, before the trial ended. When the 
 special pleadings in his case were over, and he was requested to retire, 
 in order that the Conference should make up their verdict, I slipped 
 out at the door after him, and said to him, " Now, Brother S., can 
 you tell how this Conference will decide in your case beforehand ? " 
 
 " Yes, I can," said he. 
 
 " Well," said I, " if you will tell me now, and they should decide as 
 you say, you can very easily make a convert of me. Do tell me here 
 privately ; I will say nothing about it till the verdict is rendered." 
 
 " Get away," said he ; "I will not do it." 
 
 "No," said I, "because you cannot." The General Conference, 
 with great unanimity, affirmed the decision of the court below, and he 
 was expelled. 
 
 While I was on my way to the quarterly meeting in Mississippi 
 Circuit, at Brother J. Pickett's, in what was then Madison County,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 161 
 
 south of the Macoupin Creek, there had fallen a tremendous rain, and 
 the creek was out of its banks. There was a little, old, crazy horse- 
 boat ; and although within a few miles of the place where the quarterly 
 meeting was to be held, there was no chance of getting there without 
 risking life in this old, crazy boat across this rapid stream. When I 
 rode up to the creek, there sat a good old local preacher on the bank, 
 holding his horse by the bridle. After the usual salutations, he said, 
 
 " Brother, I started to go to the quarterly meeting ; but I have no 
 money, and the ferryman will not set me over, even on trust." 
 
 " How much does he charge ? " said I. 
 
 He replied, " Twelve and a half cents." 
 
 " Very well, brother," said I ; "go with me, and I will pay the 
 ferriage." 
 
 So we crossed and got out safely. That night this old brother 
 preached, and the power of the Lord was present to kill and make 
 alive. Three souls were converted and six joined the Church, and we 
 had an excellent meeting. I state this little circumstance to show the 
 great good that can be done with a small sum of money. I do not 
 think that I ever laid out twelve and a half cents to better advantage 
 in all my little pilgrimage on earth. 
 
 From this quarterly meeting I crossed the Illinois river on to the 
 military tract, aiming for the Atlas Circuit quarterly meeting. Late 
 in the evening I rode up to a temporary building, a total stranger, and 
 asked for quarters for the night, which was readily granted. I found 
 that my landlord's family had moved from some of the New England 
 States, and were a well-informed and clever family. The gentleman's 
 name was Colonel Eoss. Several families had moved out here, and 
 had been living here three or four years, and, perhaps, had never 
 heard a sermon since they had settled in this new country. I was 
 invited to pray in the family night and morning. Our conversation 
 chiefly turned on religious subjects. When I started on next morning, 
 they would receive no compensation from me; and as they were kind, 
 and would have nothing for my night's lodging, having in my saddle- 
 bags a few religious books, I drew out " The Letters and Poems of 
 Caroline Matilda Thayer," and made a present of this little book to 
 my landlady, and went on my way. 
 
 I was happy afterwards to learn from this landlady's own mouth 
 that God made this little book the means of her sound conversion. 
 She led a happy Christian life, and died a peaceful, triumphant death. 
 I name this little circumstance to show, in a small way, what good 
 can be done by the distribution of religious books among the people. 
 It has often been a question that I shall never be able to answer on 
 earth, whether I have done the most good by preaching or distributing 
 
 H
 
 162 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 religious books. If we as a Church had been blessed with a flourishing 
 Book Concern such as we now have, and our preachers had scattered 
 b'ooks broad-cast over these western wilds, or any other wilds, it 
 would be impossible to tell the vast amount of good that would have 
 been done. And, indeed, this is one of the grand secrets of the 
 success of our early Methodist preachers. 
 
 Well do I remember reading in early life Russell's Seven Ser- 
 mons, Nelson's Journals, and such books as those, which would make 
 me weep, and pray too. For more than fifty years I have firmly 
 believed that it was a part and parcel of a Methodist preacher's most 
 sacred duty to circulate' good books wherever they go among the 
 people. And I claim to have come as nigh my duty in this as any 
 other, and perhaps more so. I have spread thousands of dollars' 
 worth among the people ; sometimes a thousand dollars' worth a year. 
 But I fear a change for the worse has come over our Methodist 
 preachers on this subject : many of them, since the country has grown 
 up into improved life, and wealth abounds, feel themselves degraded 
 in peddling books, as they call it, and want to roll this whole duty on 
 to the colporteurs. But I believe, with 'our most excellent Discipline, 
 that we should "be ashamed of nothing but sin." The religious 
 press is destined, in the order of Providence, to give moral freedom 
 to the perishing millions of earth. " My people," saith the Lord, 
 " perish for lack of knowledge." Think of this, ye ministers of Jesus 
 Christ ; lay aside your pride, and call to your aid, in disseminating 
 religious knowledge from the pulpit, religious books, and God will 
 own the effort, and prosper the work of your hands everywhere. 
 
 I suppose I was the first preacher who ever held a camp-meeting in 
 the military tract, in what is now called Pike, Adams, Schuyler, and 
 Hancock Counties. We had a camp-meeting in Pike County in 1827. 
 We had but one tent on the ground, and that was called the " Preach- 
 ers' Tent." The people rolled on to the ground in their waggons ; 
 brought their victuals, and ate at the waggons. We held this meeting 
 several days and nights in this way, and we had a prosperous meeting. 
 We held one in Schuyler County the same season, and many souls 
 were blessed. 
 
 Our Pottawattomie Mission was located on Fox Eiver. Jesse 
 Walker was missionary, and I was appointed superintendent ; and it 
 belonged to the Illinois District. During the two years that I super- 
 intended this mission I received not one cent from the missionary 
 funds. We had near one hundred miles of unbroken wilderness 
 country to pass through to get to this mission. I had to pack pro- 
 visions for myself and horse to and from the mission. There being 
 no roads, I had to hire my pilot, and camp out.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 163 
 
 Having made preparations for the journey, and an appointment to 
 meet the chiefs of the nation at the mission, I started from the Peoria 
 quarterly meeting with my pilot and several volunteers for the mis- 
 sion. We shaped our course from point to point of timber. Late in 
 the evening we struck the timber of the Illinois Vermilion, and, finding 
 plenty of water, we camped, struck fire, cooked, and took supper and 
 dinner all under one. We had prayer, fixed our blankets and over- 
 coats, and laid us down, and slept soundly and sweetly till next morn- 
 ing. We rose early, took breakfast, fed our horses, and started on 
 our way across the Illinois River, swimming our horses beside a canoe, 
 and just, at night reached the mission. We called the mission family 
 together and preached to them. The next day the chiefs appeared ; 
 we smoked the pipe of friendship with them, and, through an inter- 
 preter, I made a speech to them, explaining our object in establishing 
 a mission among them. All the chiefs now shook hands with us, as 
 their custom is, and gave us a very sociable talk, and all bid us a 
 cordial welcome save one, who was strongly opposed to our coming 
 among them. He did not wish to change their religion and their 
 customs, nor to educate their children. I replied to him, and met all 
 his objections. I tried to show them the benefits of civilization and 
 the Christian religion. There was present a Chippewa chief, with his 
 two daughters, at the mission. This chief made a flaming speech in 
 favour of the mission, and in favour of our " Great Father," the Pre- 
 sident, and the American people. He had fought under the American 
 colours in the last war with England, and had his diploma from the 
 President as a brave captain, and showed it with great exultation. 
 His two daughters were dressed like the whites, and could read pretty 
 well. When our " great talk " was over, I asked them the liberty to 
 preach to them, which was granted. I tried to explain to them the 
 original state of man, the fall of man, and the redemption through 
 Christ ; the condition of salvation, namely, faith in Christ, and obe- 
 dience to all the precepts of the Gospel, as revealed in the Holy 
 Scriptures ; and urged them to repent, and forsake all their sins, and 
 come to Christ. 
 
 It was an awkward and slow way to preach, through an interpreter ; 
 but I succeeded much better than I anticipated. One Indian woman, 
 who had obtained religion, as we believed, desired baptism, and the 
 ordinance was administered to her. Several couples, from the scatter- 
 ing white people that hung around the mission, applied to be married. 
 
 After directing matters, according to my instructions as superin- 
 tendent, we started for home. After travelling near fifty miles, night 
 came on at a point of timber called Crow Point, and there we camped. 
 A dreadful storm of wind arose, which blew a severe gale ; but Pro- 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 violence favoured us in withholding the rain, and we considered this a 
 great blessing. The next day we reached the settlement, in health 
 and safety. 
 
 We expended several thousand dollars of missionary money in im- 
 proving these mission premises, and succeeded in civilizing and Chris- 
 tianizing a few of these Indians; but the whites kept constantly 
 encroaching on them till they became restless, and, finally, the govern- 
 ment bought them out. The mission premises, with a section of land, 
 were reserved for one of the half breed, so that the Missionary Society 
 lost all that they had expended. It is true, the chiefs of the' nation 
 gave Brother Walker a thousand dollars of their annuities, as a com- 
 pensation for the improvements he had made with the missionary 
 money ; and this money properly belonged to the Missionary Society, 
 but they never realized it ; and the Indians moved, finally, west of the 
 Mississippi. There is still a lingering, wasting remnant of that nation ; 
 they have a missionary among them, and a good many of them are 
 pious Christians. 
 
 Before this mission was broken up, there appeared another of those 
 wandering stars, or visionary preachers, by the name of Paine. He 
 visited a camp-meeting held near Springfield. He had no proper 
 credentials to preach, and yet he professed to be commissioned from 
 heaven to convert the world, whites, Indians, and all. He wanted to 
 preach at my camp-meeting, but I would not permit him to occupy 
 the stand. He called off the loose crowd some distance into the 
 woods, and gave us a terrible tongue-lashing, and then departed north to 
 preach to the Indians. In the meantime the Black Hawk Indian war 
 had broken out, and they were killing our people on the outskirts of 
 the settlements fearfully. This Paine had gotten up somewhere this 
 side of Chicago, and wanted to come down the country toward the 
 old mission. He was admonished not to venture, and was assured 
 the Indians would kill him ; but he was so visionary that he said he 
 was not afraid to go alone, right in among them ; for the Lord would 
 protect him, and the Indians would not hurt a hair of his head. He, 
 in despite of every warning, started alone, through a long prairie. 
 The Indians were waylaying the trail, and, as he drew near a point of 
 timber, they shot and killed him, and then cut off his head ; after 
 scalping it, they placed it on a pole, and stuck the pole erect in the 
 ground. They then took his horse and riding apparatus, clothes, &c. 
 The next day, as a company of men passed, they saw Paine's head 
 sticking on a pole, and his body greatly mangled by the wolves ; and 
 this was an end of his commission to convert the world, Indians and 
 all. " As the fool dieth, so died he." 
 
 In the fall of 1827, September 20th, our Conference was holden in
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 165 
 
 Mount Carmel, and I was continued on the Illinois District, and the 
 name of Mississippi Circuit changed to Apple Creek Circuit. At the 
 Mount Carmel Conference we elected our delegates that sat in Pitts- 
 burgh, May 1st, 1828. This was our fifth delegated General Con- 
 ference, and the first we ever had in the West, this side of the 
 mountains. 
 
 In the month of April Brother Dew, Brother Thompson, and myself, 
 met at St. Louis, to take passage on board a steamboat to the General 
 Conference in Pittsburgh. We had never been on board a steamboat 
 before, at least I never had. They were then a new thing among us. 
 So we took passage on board the " Velocepede," Mr. Ray captain. 
 Before we went aboard, Brothers Dew and Thompson, with the kindest 
 feelings imaginable, thought it their duty to caution me to be very 
 quiet ; for these steamboat fellows, passengers and all, were desperadoes. 
 They knew I was outspoken, loved everybody and feared nobody. 
 They were afraid I would get into some difficulty with somebody. I 
 thanked them very kindly for their special care over me. " But," 
 said I, " brethren, take care of yourselves ; I think I know how to 
 behave myself, and make others behave themselves, if need be." 
 
 When we got aboard, we had a crowded cabin, a mixed multitude ; 
 some Deists, some Atheists, some Universalists; a great many profane 
 swearers, drunkards, gamblers, fiddlers, and dancers. We dropped 
 down to the barrack, below St. Louis, and there came aboard eight or 
 ten United States officers, and we had a jolly set, I assure you. They 
 drank, fiddled, danced, swore, played cards, men and women too. I 
 walked about, said nothing, but plainly saw we were in a bad snap, 
 but there was no way to help ourselves. Brother Thompson came 
 to me and said, " Lord have mercy on me ! what shall we do ? " 
 
 " Go to your berth," said I, " and stay there quietly." 
 
 " No," said he ; " I '11 reprove them." 
 
 " Now, brother," said I, " do not cast your pearls before swine." 
 
 " Well," said he, " I won't stay in the cabin ; I '11 go on deck." 
 
 Up he started, and when he got there, behold, they were playing 
 cards from one end of the deck to the other. Back he came and said, 
 " What shall I do ? I cannot stand it." 
 
 " Well," said I, " Brother Thompson, be quiet and behave your- 
 self ; you have no way to remedy your condition, unless you jump 
 overboard and swim to shore." 
 
 So things went on several days and nights. At the mouth of the 
 Ohio there came aboard a Captain Waters. He had a new fiddle and 
 a pack of cards. He was a professed infidel. Card-playing was 
 renewed all over the cabin. The captain of the boat was as fond of 
 drinking and card-playing as any of them. There was a lieutenant of
 
 164 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 vidence favoured us in withholding the rain, and we considered this a 
 great blessing. The next day we reached the settlement, in health 
 and safety. 
 
 We expended several thousand dollars of missionary money in im- 
 proving these mission premises, and succeeded in civilizing and Chris- 
 tianizing a few of these Indians; but the whites kept constantly 
 encroaching on them till they became restless, and, finally, the govern- 
 ment bought them out. The mission premises, with a section of land, 
 were reserved for one of the half breed, so that the Missionary Society 
 lost all that they had expended. It is true, the chiefs of the" nation 
 gave Brother Walker a thousand dollars of their annuities, as a com- 
 pensation for the improvements he had made with the missionary 
 money ; and this money properly belonged to the Missionary Society, 
 but they never realized it ; and the Indians moved, finally, west of the 
 Mississippi. There is still a lingering, wasting remnant of that nation ; 
 they have a missionary among them, and a good many of them are 
 pious Christians. 
 
 Before this mission was broken up, there appeared another of those 
 wandering stars, or visionary preachers, by the name of Paine. He 
 visited a camp-meeting held near Springfield. He had no proper 
 credentials to preach, and yet he professed to be commissioned from 
 heaven to convert the world, whites, Indians, and all. He wanted to 
 preach at my camp-meeting, but I would not permit him to occupy 
 the stand. He called off the loose crowd some distance into the 
 woods, and gave us a terrible tongue-lashing, and then departed north to 
 preach to the Indians. In the meantime the Black Hawk Indian war 
 had broken out, and they were killing our people on the outskirts of 
 the settlements fearfully. This Paine had gotten up somewhere this 
 side of Chicago, and wanted to come down the country toward the 
 old mission. He was admonished not to venture, and was assured 
 the Indians would kill him ; but he was so visionary that he said he 
 was not afraid to go alone, right in among them ; for the Lord would 
 protect him, and the Indians would not hurt a hair of his head. He, 
 in despite of every warning, started alone, through a long prairie. 
 The Indians were waylaying the trail, and, as he drew near a point of 
 timber, they shot and killed him, and then cut off his head ; after 
 scalping it, they placed it on a pole, and stuck the pole erect in the 
 ground. They then took his horse and riding apparatus, clothes, &c. 
 The next day, as a company of men passed, they saw Paine's head 
 sticking on a pole, and his body greatly mangled by the wolves ; and 
 this was an end of his commission to convert the world, Indians and 
 all. " As the fool dieth, so died he." 
 
 In the fall of 1827, September 20th, our Conference was holden in
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 165 
 
 Mount Carmel, and I was continued on the Illinois District, and the 
 name of Mississippi Circuit changed to Apple Creek Circuit. At the 
 Mount Carmel Conference we elected our delegates that sat in Pitts- 
 burgh, May 1st, 1828. This was our fifth delegated General Con- 
 ference, and the first we ever had in the West, this side of the 
 mountains. 
 
 In the month of April Brother Dew, Brother Thompson, and myself, 
 met at St. Louis, to take passage on board a steamboat to the General 
 Conference in Pittsburgh. We had never been on board a steamboat 
 before, at least I never had. They were then a new thing among us. 
 So we took passage on board the " Yelocepede," Mr. Ray captain. 
 Before we went aboard, Brothers Dew and Thompson, with the kindest 
 feelings imaginable, thought it their duty to caution me to be very 
 quiet ; for these steamboat fellows, passengers and all, were desperadoes. 
 They knew I was outspoken, loved everybody and feared nobody. 
 They were afraid I would get into some difficulty with somebody. I 
 thanked them very kindly for their special care over me. " But," 
 said I, " brethren, take care of yourselves ; I think I know how to 
 behave myself, and make others behave themselves, if need be." 
 
 When we got aboard, we had a crowded cabin, a mixed multitude ; 
 some Deists, some Atheists, some Universalists,- a great many profane 
 swearers, drunkards, gamblers, fiddlers, and dancers. We dropped 
 down to the barrack, below St. Louis, and there came aboard eight or 
 ten United States officers, and we had a jolly set, I assure you. They 
 drank, fiddled, danced, swore, played cards, men and women too. I 
 walked about, said nothing, but plainly saw we were in a bad snap, 
 but there was no way to help ourselves. Brother Thompson came 
 to me and said, " Lord have mercy on me ! what shall we do ? " 
 
 " Go to your berth," said I, " and stay there quietly." 
 
 " No," said he ; " I '11 reprove them." 
 
 "Now, brother," said I, " do not cast your pearls before swine." 
 
 " Well," said he, " I won't stay in the cabin ; I '11 go on deck." 
 
 Up he started, and when he got there, behold, they were playing 
 cards from one end of the deck to the other. Back he came and said, 
 " What shall I do ? I cannot stand it." 
 
 " Well," said I, " Brother Thompson, be quiet and behave your- 
 self ; you have no way to remedy your condition, unless you jump 
 overboard and swim to shore." 
 
 So things went on several days and nights. At the mouth of the 
 Ohio there came aboard a Captain Waters. He had a new fiddle and 
 a pack of cards. He was a professed infidel. Card-playing was 
 renewed all over the cabin. The captain of the boat was as fond of 
 drinking and card-playing as any of them. There was a lieutenant of
 
 166 THE BACKWOODS PKEACHEK. 
 
 the regular army on board ; and although he was very wicked, yet he 
 had been raised by religious parents. His wife, as he told me, was a 
 good Christian. In walking the guard this lieutenant, whose name 
 .was Barker, and myself fell into conversation, and, being by ourselves, 
 I took occasion to remonstrate with him on the subject of his pro- 
 fanity. He readily admitted it was wrong, and said, " I have been 
 better taught. But O," said he, " the demoralizing life of a soldier !" 
 
 There was also a Major Biddle on board, a professed infidel, but 
 gentlemanly in his manners ; he afterward fell in a duel, in or near 
 St. Louis. I got a chance to talk to him in private, and alone ; I 
 remonstrated against his profanity ; he agreed with me in all I said. 
 In this way, I got to talk to many of them, and they mostly ceased to 
 swear profanely in my presence. Presently, they gathered around the 
 table, and commenced playing cards. I walked carelessly up, and 
 looked on. Lieutenant Barker and Captain Waters looked up at me ; 
 I knew they felt reproved. Said one of them to me, "We are not 
 blacklegs ; we are not playing for money, but just to kill time." I 
 affected to be profoundly ignorant of what they were doing, and asked 
 them what those little spotted things were. Mr. Barker said, 
 
 " Sit down here, and I will show you what we are doing, and how 
 we do it." 
 
 " No, no," said I, " my friends ; I am afraid it is all wrong." 
 
 They insisted there was no harm in it at all. 
 
 " Well," said I, " gentlemen, if you are just playing for fun, or to 
 kill time, would it not be much better to drop all such foolishness, 
 and let us talk on some topic to inform each other? Then we could all 
 be edified. As it is, a few of you enjoy all the pleasure, if, indeed, 
 there is any in it ; while the rest of us, who have no taste for such 
 amusements, are not at all benefitted. Come, lay aside those little 
 spotted papers, that are only calculated to please children of a larger 
 size, and let us talk on History, Philosophy, or Astronomy ; then we 
 can all enjoy it, and be greatly benefitted." 
 
 Captain Waters said, " Sir, if you will debate with me on the 
 Christian religion, we will quit all our cards, fiddles, and dances." 
 
 " I will do it with pleasure, captain," said I. " I have only one 
 objection to debate with you. You are in the habit, I see, of swearing 
 profanely, and using oaths, and I can't swear back at you; and I fear, 
 a debate, mixed up with profane oaths, would be unprofitable." 
 
 " Well, sir," said he, " if you will debate with me on that subject, 
 I will pledge you my word and honour that I will not swear a single 
 oath." 
 
 " Very well, sir," said I ; "on that condition, I will debate with 
 you." By this time there were gathered around us a large crowd.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 167 
 
 " Well," said Lieutenant Barker, " take notice of the terms on 
 which this debate is to be conducted." Said he, " Now, gentlemen, 
 draw near, and take your seats, and listen to the arguments ; and by 
 the consent of the two belligerent gentlemen, I will keep order." 
 
 We both agreed to his proposition. The captain opened the dis- 
 cussion by a great nourish of trumpets, expressing his great happiness 
 at having one more opportunity of vindicating the religion of reason 
 and nature, in opposition to the religion of a bastard. To all of these 
 nourishes, I simply replied, that the Christian religion was of age, and 
 could speak for itself; and that I felt proud of an opportunity to show 
 that infidelity was born out of holy wedlock; and, therefore, in the 
 strictest sense, was a bastard : and that I thought It ill became the 
 advocate of a notorious illegitimate to heap any reproaches on Christ. 
 These exordiums had one good effect ; they fixed and riveted the 
 attention of almost all the passengers, the captain of the boat, ladies 
 and all. My opponent then proceeded to lay down his premises, and 
 draw his conclusions. When his twenty minutes expired, I replied, 
 and in my reply quoted a passage of Scripture. 
 
 " Hold, sir," said my opponent, " I don't allow a book of fables 
 and lies to be brought in ; nothing shall be admitted here but honour- 
 able testimony." 
 
 " Very well, sir," said I ; " the Bible shall be dispensed with alto- 
 gether as evidence ; and then I feel confident I can overturn your 
 system on testimony drawn from the book of nature ; " and proceeded 
 in the argument. 
 
 In his second replication he quoted Tom Paine as evidence. 
 
 " Hold, sir," said I ; " such a degraded witness as Tom Paine 
 can't be admitted as testimony in this debate." 
 
 My opponent flew into a violent passion, and swore profanely, that 
 God Almighty never made a purer and more honourable man than 
 Tom Paine. As he belched forth these horrid oaths, I took him by 
 the chin with my hand, and moved his jaws together, and made his 
 teeth rattle together at a mighty rate. He rose to his feet, so did I. 
 He drew his fist, and swore he would smite me to the floor. Lieu- 
 tenant Barker sprang in between us, saying, 
 
 " Cartwright, stand back ; you can beat him in argument, and I 
 can whip him ; and, if there is any fighting to be done, I am his man, 
 from the point of a needle to the mouth of a cannon ; for he is no 
 gentleman, as he pledged his word and honour that he would not 
 swear ; and he has broken his word, and forfeited his honour." 
 
 Well, I had then to fly in between them, to prevent a bloody fight ; 
 for they both drew deadly weapons. Finally, this ended the argument. 
 My valorous captain made concessions, and all became pacified. From
 
 168 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 this out, Barker was ray fast friend, and would have fought for me at 
 any time ; and my infidel, Captain Waters, became very friendly to 
 me ; and when we landed in the night at Louisville, he insisted that I 
 should go home with him and partake of his very best hospitalities. 
 
 But, to return a little to ray narrative, the whole company that 
 witnessed the encounter with my infidel captain were interested in my 
 favour. Our boat was old and crazy, and we made but little speed ; 
 consequently, we were detained on the river over Sunday. Early on 
 Sabbath morning, the passengers formed themselves into a kind of 
 committee of the whole, and appointed a special committee to wait on 
 me, and invite me to preach to them that day on the boat. Lieutenant 
 Barker was the committee. He came to me, and presented the 
 request. I said, 
 
 " Lieutenant, I never travelled on a steamboat before, and it will be 
 a very awkward affair for me to preach on the boat ; and, besides, I 
 don't know that the captain would like such an arrangement : and the 
 passengers will drink, and perhaps gamble, and be disorderly ; and 
 every man on a steamboat is a free man, and will do pretty much as 
 he pleases, and will not be reproved." 
 
 Said the lieutenant, " I have consulted the captain of the boat, and 
 he is willing, and pledges himself to keep good order. And now, sir," 
 said he, " we have annoyed you and your fellow-clergymen all the 
 week, and I pledge you my word, all shall be orderly, and you shall 
 enjoy your religious privileges on Sunday undisturbed, and you must 
 preach to us. We need it, and the company will not be satisfied if 
 you don't comply." 
 
 I gave my consent, and we fixed on the following times for three 
 sermons, one immediately after the table was cleared oft' after break- 
 fast, one after dinner, and one after supper. I led the way, taking 
 the morning hour. The cabin was seated in good order, the deck 
 passengers were invited down. We had a very orderly, well-behaved 
 congregation. Brother Dew preached in the afternoon, and Brother 
 Thompson at night, and I rarely ever spent a more orderly Sabbath 
 anywhere within the walls of a church. From this out we had no 
 more drunkenness, profane swearing, or card-playing. What good 
 was done, if any, the judgment-day will alone declare. I cannot close 
 this sketch and do justice to my feelings without saying a few things 
 more. 
 
 After the adjournment of the General Conference, on our return 
 trip home, the river had fallen very much. We could not pass over 
 the falls, and the canal was not finished around them. Of course we 
 had to land and reship at the foot of the falls. The "Maryland," a good 
 steamboat, lay here waiting for passengers. When I entered this boat,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PKE ACKER. 169 
 
 almost the first man I met was Lieutenant Barker, who, when he 
 recognised me, sprang forward and seized me by the hand, and said, 
 " O, is this Mr. Cartwright ? " and really seemed as glad to see me 
 as if I had been his own brother. He had been East, and was 
 returning with his wife to some of the Western military posts. 
 
 " Now, sir," said he, " I told you I had a good little Christian 
 woman for my wife. She is in the ladies' cabin. I have talked to her 
 of you a thousand times. Come, you must go right in with me, and I 
 will introduce her to you. I know she will be glad to see and form an 
 acquaintance with you." 
 
 I went, and was introduced to this, as I believe, Christian lady. 
 We had a number of preachers on board, returning delegates from the 
 General Conference, and we had preaching almost every day and night 
 from that to St. Loxxis ; for we had almost entire command of the boat. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE OP 1828. 
 
 IN the fall of 1828 our Conference sat in Madison, Indiana, 
 October 9th. This was the only Annual Conference that I ever missed 
 attending in fifty years. My wife was sorely afflicted, and was sup- 
 posed to be at the gates of death, so that I did not think it my duty 
 to leave her ; though a kind Providence spared her to me a little longer, 
 and she still lives. I was re-appointed to the Illinois District. The 
 Oneida Annual Conference was formed at the General Conference in 
 May, 1828. This made nine Annual Conferences cast, and eight west 
 of the mountains. They had a membership in the nine Eastern Con- 
 ferences of 270,210. In the East there were of travelling preachers 
 984. We had in the West, of travelling preachers, 519. Of members 
 the West had 150,894. Total number of members, 421,104; of 
 travelling preachers, 1,503. 
 
 The New Hampshire and Vermont Conference was formed in the 
 interim, or between the General Conferences of 1828 and 1832. It 
 will also be remembered that Canada had existed as a separate Annual 
 Conference, and was in union, as a Conference, with the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in these United States, and was regularly supplied 
 with American preachers, and superintended by our American bishops. 
 Being under the British laws, that established the Catholic Church in 
 Lower Canada, and the Church of England in Upper Canada, our 
 people, members and preachers, laboured under many civil disabilities. 
 They thought, under all the circumstances, that it would be better to
 
 170 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 be separated from the Methodist Episcopal Church in these United 
 States, and organized into a distinct Methodist Episcopal Church in 
 Canada ; elect from among themselves a bishop, that should be resi- 
 dent among them ; and thereby avoid many of those disabilities that 
 had fallen so heavily upon them, in consequence of being under the 
 jurisdiction of American bishops. Accordingly, they petitioned the 
 General Conference of 1828, at Pittsburgh, to set them off as a sepa- 
 rate and distinct Church ; but, after careful consideration and investi- 
 gation, the General Conference, with great unanimity, resolved, that 
 they were not vested with any constitutional power to divide the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church ; and, therefore, declined granting them 
 their request ; but said, if they really thought their civil disabilities 
 were a burden too grievous to be borne, they would throw no diffi- 
 culties in their way, but leave them to make their own choice, whether 
 they would remain as an integral part of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church in the United States, or organize themselves into a separate 
 Church. They chose the latter first, and then merged themselves into 
 the great Wesleyan Connexion of England. 
 
 There is one circumstance that befell me at the General Conference 
 at Pittsburgh in 1828, that I wish briefly to state; but, for the sake 
 of honoiirable feelings, I must be sparing of names. Brother Water- 
 man, who was considerably radicalized, had the duty assigned him of 
 billeting out the preachers among the families that had agreed to take 
 care of them during the General Conference. When I arrived in 
 Pittsburgh I went to Brother Waterman to know where I was to stay, 
 and he gave me a ticket to a gentleman's house in Alleghany Town. 
 He was nominally a ruflle-shirted Methodist ; he was rich, and 
 abounded in almost all the good things of this world. His lady was a 
 very genteel, fine, fashionable woman, but a stiff-starched Presby- 
 terian ; so I was told. One of the bishops was stationed here, and 
 two D.D.'s, both preachers. I, of course, very confidently made my 
 way to this gentleman's house. As I approached the dwelling, I cast 
 my eye upward, and through a window I saw the bishop and another 
 preacher sitting in an upper room. When I reached the portico, the 
 gentleman met me at the entrance. Addressing him, I said, 
 
 " Does Colonel live here ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir."~ 
 
 " Brother Waterman informed me, as one of the delegates to the 
 General Conference, that I was to board with you during the Con- 
 ference : my name is Peter Cartwright ; I hail from Illinois." 
 
 "Yes, sir," said he, seriously; " we had intended to take four of 
 the preachers, but my wife thinks she can't take but two ; and Bishop 
 and Dr. are here already, and we can't accommodate you."
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 171 
 
 I felt a little curious ; but so foolish was I, that I hastily concluded 
 that the thing was a trick, played off' to plague roe. He never invited 
 me in. 
 
 " Well, said I, " I must see the bishop anyhow, and I reckon you '11 
 let me stay ; " so in I went. After entering, 
 
 " Please, sir," said I, " direct me to the bishop's room." He did 
 so, and up I went, and ushered myself into his magisterial presence. 
 After the accustomed salutations, which I thought came from the 
 bishop with unusual coolness, I said to him, 
 
 " And is it so that I am not to stay here, after Brother Waterman 
 has sent me?" 
 
 " Too true, too true," said he ; " the lady of the house is not a 
 Methodist, and says she is not willing to take but two." 
 
 The reader may be sure I began to feel bad at a mighty rate ; the 
 bishop seated himself, arid began to write, looking dry, sour, and cool, 
 but paid no further attention to me. I took my hat, and started down 
 stairs in a mighty hurry, gathered my saddle-bags, and started off. 
 Just as I mounted the steps leaving his ornamented lot, the landlord 
 hailed me, and requested me to stop. He came near, and in a cold, 
 stiff manner informed me that his wife had concluded that I might 
 stay, and invited me to return. 
 
 " No, sir," said I, " it is too late ; I can't, under the circumstances, 
 return ; I have money enough to pay my way ; and I had rather pay 
 my way than to be treated as I have been." 
 
 " But," said the gentleman, "you must not leave my house in this 
 way ; it will be a great reproach to me and my family." 
 
 " Yes, sir," said I, " you ought to have thought of that sooner." 
 
 " Well," he asked, " where are you going?" 
 
 " To a tavern," said I, " if I can find an orderly one." 
 
 So on I went. After proceeding some distance I saw a tavern sign; 
 and after looking around a little, 1 said to the tavern-keeper, 
 
 " Can I board with you for a month, and be accommodated with a 
 private room ?" 
 
 He said I could. - 
 
 " Do you keep an orderly house, or shall I be annoyed by drunkards 
 and gamblers?" 
 
 " My house, sir," said he, " is kept orderly ; you shall not be 
 annoyed by any rude company whatever. Be seated, sir," said he ; 
 " you shall have a room fitted up directly. I judge," said he, " you 
 are one of the delegates to the General Conference." 
 
 " Yes, sir, I am," was my reply. 
 
 Said he, " Mr. Waterman was to have sent me two preachers, but 
 none have come, unless you are one assigned me."
 
 172 THE BACKWOODS PHEACHEK. 
 
 " No, sir, I am not sent ; I come on my own responsibility." 
 
 Said he, " I am a member of no Church, but my wife is a Methodist, 
 and she will be glad for you to stay with us." 
 
 I soon began to feel that I had got into another atmosphere. I 
 fared well, was treated kindly, and had nothing to pay. 
 
 Shortly after I had settled down, the landlord of my first place 
 sought me out, and entreated me to return to his house. He said his 
 wife had fitted up a comfortable room, and desired me to return. 
 
 " No, sir," said I, " I shall not do it ; I am not dependent on you 
 or yours at all, and I am well provided for here, and I mean to stay." 
 
 He went home, and sent to invite me back again. The 
 
 messenger said I ought to return ; that the family were very much 
 mortified at the circumstance that had taken place. I told him that I 
 felt under no obligations to him or them ; that they had treated me 
 very cavalierly, and I should abide my determination not to return ; 
 but by invitation I visited them, and stayed with them some ; but I 
 think I effectually humbled their pride for once. 
 
 I was at this first place several evenings ; but everything seemed to 
 come wrong. The bishop seemed as cold as an icicle, and as stiff in his 
 manners as if he had been the autocrat of all the Eussias. 1 felt that 
 there was not the least congeniality in them, and that I was alone in 
 such company. The time of evening devotions came on. The master 
 of ceremonies asked me to lead the devotions ; but the moment I was 
 requested to do so, it appeared to me that thick darkness fell on me ; 
 and if ever I felt the power of the devil physically and mentally, it was 
 just then. I turned almost blind, literally blind, and the great drops 
 of sweat rolled off my face. I was so blind I feared I could not see 
 to read a chapter ; hence I turned to the first Psalm, which I could 
 and had repeated often by memory; but I found my memory as 
 defective as my sight, and surely, memory, sight, and all gone, I made 
 a very stammering out at repeating the first Psalm ; but I stammered 
 over it in some sort. My voice was usually clear in those days, and I 
 could sing tolerably well. I rose and commenced singing a verse of 
 one of our familiar hymns, but not a soul in the crowd, by name or 
 nature, would sing with me. I stopped short, and kneeled down to 
 pray, but in all my life I was never in a worse plight to pray but once, 
 and that was the first time my leader called on me to pray in public 
 after I had professed religion. I then thought my head was as large 
 as a house, and I now thought I had no head at all. It seemed to me 
 that the devil was veritably present, and all around, and in everybody 
 and everything. I stammered over a few incoherent sentences, and 
 closed by saying, " Amen." And you may rely on it, while in this 
 wretched state of feeling, and before I was delivered from the hour
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 173 
 
 and power of temptation, I felt as though the devil reigned triumphant, 
 and had a bill of sale of us all. The next day, when the General 
 Conference adjourned, at noon, the presiding bishop called on me to 
 close by prayer. 0, how awful I felt ! I fell on my knees, and uttered 
 only a few words, and said, " Amen," before one half of the preachers 
 had fairly got on their knees. They looked round and scuffled up, 
 and looked queer ; and I assure you I have no language at my com- 
 mand by which I could describe my feelings, for I felt " unutterable 
 woe." This state of bad feelings lasted during a whole week. 
 
 One night I heard of a prayer-meeting near by where I lodged. I 
 determined to go ; and it pleased God that night to roll back the 
 clouds that had covered me in such thick darkness. I was very 
 happy, and the next evening hastened to the house where I had made 
 such a dreadful out in reading, singing, and praying. It so happened 
 that when the family got ready for prayer, and sent up for the 
 preachers to come down, they were all very much engaged in finish- 
 ing an interesting report. The bishop said he could not go, and that 
 he wished some one would go and hold prayer with the family, and 
 let the rest stay. I spoke up and said, " Let me go ; for I feel so 
 much better than I did when I tried to pray with them before, I want 
 to go and try again." He bade me go. I went, took the book, read 
 a chapter readily, sung a hymn clearly, knelt and prayed with more 
 than my accustomed liberty, and got happy. The family wept. We 
 talked, wept, and sung together, and I felt as independent of the 
 devil and a stiff bishop as if there were no such beings in the world. 
 
 When the General Conference adjourned, and I had started for the 
 steamboat, the landlady that I thought was so stiff, formal, and 
 proud, followed me to the boat, and sent by me a present of a silk 
 dress to my wife. Why this dispensation of darkness should be 
 permitted to fall upon me I cannot tell, but there is no doubt on my 
 mind there was a special providence in it, if I only understood the 
 matter; but Heave all to the revelations of the great day of judgment. 
 " The Lord reigneth." 
 
 At our Conference, in the fall of 1828, Galena Charge was added to the 
 Illinois District ; so that my District reached nearly from the mouth of 
 the Ohio Kiver to Galena, the extreme northwest corner of the State, 
 altogether six hundred miles long. This was a -tremendous field of 
 travel and labour. Around this District I had to travel four times in 
 the year, and I had many rapid streams to cross, mostly without 
 bridges or ferry-boats. Many of these streams, when they were 
 swollen, and I had to cross them to get to my quarterly meetings, I 
 would strike for some point of timber, and traverse up and down the 
 stream until I could find a drift or a tree fallen across. I would then
 
 174 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 dismount, strip myself and horse, cany my clothes and riding 
 apparatus across on the fallen tree or drift, and then return and 
 mount my horse, plunge in and swim over, dress, saddle my horse, 
 and go on my way, from point to point of timber, without roads. 
 Often night would overtake me in some lonesome, solitary grove. I 
 would hunt out some suitable place, strike fire, for I always went pre- 
 pared with flint, steel, and spunk, make as good a fire as circum- 
 stances called for, tie up or hopple out my horse, and there spend the 
 night. Sometimes, in travelling from point to point of timber, dark- 
 ness would come upon me before I could reach, by miles, the woods ; 
 and it being so dark that I could not see the trees I was aiming for, 
 I would dismount and hold my horse by the bridle till returning light, 
 then mount my horse, and pursue my journey. 
 
 The northern part of my District was newly settled ; and where it 
 was settled at all, a few scattered cabins, with families in them, were 
 all that could be looked for or expected in a vast region of the north 
 end of my District ; and I assure my readers that when I came upon 
 one of these tenanted cabins, in those long and lonesome trips, it was 
 a great treat, and I have felt as truly thankful to God to take shelter 
 in one of those little shanties and get the privilege of a night's 
 lodging, as I have, under other circumstances, been when I have 
 lodged in a fine house, with all the comforts of life around me. I 
 recollect, in one of my northern trips, I had a very large and unin- 
 habited prairie to cross ; about midway across the prairie, twenty 
 miles from any house, I came to a deep and turbid stream ; twenty 
 miles beyond was the point I was aiming for that day. The stream 
 looked ugly and forbidding. I was mounted on a fine large horse, 
 and I knew him to be an excellent swimmer. I hesitated for a 
 moment. To retrace my steps I could not consent ; and if I 
 advanced, a swim, on my horse, was to be performed, no timber being 
 in sight. I got down, readjusted my saddle, girded it tolerably tight, 
 tied my overcoat on behind, put my watch and pocket papers in my 
 saddle-bags, and then tied them around my neck, letting the ends resf 
 on my shoulders, and said, " Now, Buck," (that was the name of my 
 horse,) "carry me safe to the other bank." In we went; he swam 
 over easily, and rose on the opposite bank safely. I readjusted my 
 affairs, and went on my way rejoicing, and was not wet but a trifle. 
 Three times this day I swam my horse across swollen streams, and 
 made the cabin I was aiming for. Here lived a kind Methodist 
 family, who gave me a hearty welcome ; gave me good meat and 
 bread, and a strong cup of cott'ee ; and I was much happier than many 
 of the kings of the earth. I arrived safe at my quarterly meeting. 
 All the surrounding citizens had turned out; twenty-seven in number.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 175 
 
 We had five conversions ; seven joined the Church ; and we were 
 nearly all happy together. 
 
 In one of these northern trips I was earnestly solicited to cross the 
 Mississippi and preach to the few new settler? near what is now called 
 Burlington City, on the west of the Father of Waters. My son-in-law, 
 William D. R. Trotter, perhaps was the first travelling preacher who 
 broke ground in the Iowa State, and I followed a short time afterward. 
 I had sent them an appointment to hold a two days' meeting, just 
 back of where Burlington City stands. Then there were only a few 
 cabins in the place ; now it is a growing city, containing, perhaps, ten 
 thousand souls. 
 
 When I went to my appointment, although there was but a scattered 
 population, yet when they came out to meeting, the cabins were so 
 small that there was not one in the whole settlement which would 
 hold the people. We repaired to the grove, and hastily prepared 
 seats. Years before this time an old tree had fallen down across a 
 small sapling and bent it near the earth. The sapling was not killed, 
 and the top of it shot up straight beside the tree that fallen on it, arid 
 it had grown for years in this condition. The old tree had been cut 
 off, and they scalped the bark off of that part of the sapling that lay 
 parallel with the ground. They drove a stake down, and nailed a 
 board to it and the top of the sapling that grew erect, and this was 
 my hand-board, arid I stood on that part of the sapling that lay near 
 and level with the ground. This was my pulpit, from which I 
 declared the unsearchable riches of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ; and 
 we had a good meeting. 
 
 On the 23d of August, 1828, one of our beloved bishops, Enoch 
 George, fell a victim to death. He had been an itinerant preacher 
 thirty-eight years, and had honourably discharged the duties of a 
 bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church for twelve years. One has 
 said of him, " Bishop George was a man of deep piety, of great sim- 
 plicity of manners, a very pathetic, powerful, and successful preacher ; 
 greatly beloved in life, and very extensively lamented in death." 
 
 The Illinois Conference met this fall (September 18th, 1829) at 
 Edwardsville. Our country was rapidly filling up, our work con- 
 stantly enlarging, and Bishop Roberts, at Conference in Yincennes, 
 September 30th, 1830, found it necessary to divide the Circuits, and 
 multiply the presiding-elder Districts. The following new Districts 
 Avere formed in the bounds of the Illinois Conference, namely : the 
 Illinois District was divided into two : the Kaskaskia and Sangamon 
 Districts. The Kaskaskia District embraced the following appoint- 
 ments : Kaskaskia, Brownsville, Jonesborough, Golconda, Mount 
 Ycrnon, Shoal Creek, and Shelbyville, in all seven. The Sangamon
 
 176 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 District embraced the following appointments : Lebanon, Apple Creek, 
 Atlas, Spoon River, Sangamon, Salt Creek, Peoria, Fox River Mission, 
 and Galena Mission, nine. Samuel H. Thompson was appointed to 
 the Kaskaskia District, and I was appointed to the Sangamon District. 
 This District still covered a large field of labour, embracing from 
 opposite St. Louis to the northern limits of the State. 
 
 Within the bounds of this District there lived a local preacher, who 
 was a small, very easy, good-natured, pleasant man ; he was believed 
 to be also a very pious man, and a good and useful preacher. His 
 wife was directly the reverse of almost everything that was good, 
 saving it was believed she was virtuous. She was high-tempered, 
 overbearing, quarrelsome, and a violent opposer of religion. She 
 would not fix her husband's clothes to go out to preach, and was un- 
 willing he should ask a blessing at the table, or pray in the family. 
 And when he would attempt to pray, she would not conform, but tear 
 around and make all the noise and disturbance in her power. She 
 would turn the chairs over while he was reading, singing, or praying ; 
 and if she could not stop him any other way, she would catch a cat 
 and throw it in his face while he was kneeling and trying to pray. 
 Poor little man ! surely he was tormented almost to desperation. He 
 had invited several preachers home with him to talk to her, and see if 
 they could not moderate her ; but all to no purpose ; she would curse 
 them to their face, and rage like a demon. He had insisted on my 
 going home with him several times, but I frankly confess I was afraid 
 to trust myself. I pitied him from my very heart, and so did every- 
 body else that was acquainted with his situation. But at length I 
 yielded to his importunities, and went home with him one evening, 
 intending to stay all night. After we arrived, I saw in a minute that 
 she was mad, and the devil was in her as large as an alligator ; and I 
 fixed my purpose, and determined on my course. After supper he 
 said to her very kindly, " Come, wife, stop your little affairs, and let 
 us have prayer." That moment she boiled over, and said, " I will 
 have none of your praying about me." I spoke to her mildly, and 
 expostulated with her, and tried to reason ; but no, the further 1 went, 
 the more wrathful she became, and she cursed me most bitterly. I 
 then put on a stern countenance, and said to her, " Madam, if you 
 were a wife of mine, I would break you of your bad ways, or I would 
 break your neck." 
 
 " The devil you would ! " said she. " Yes, you are a pretty 
 Christian, ain't you?" And then such a volley of curses as she 
 poured on me, was almost beyond human endurance. 
 
 " Be still," said I ; "we must and will have prayer." But she 
 declared we should not.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 177 
 
 " Now," said I to her, " if you do not be still, and behave yourself, 
 I '11 put you out of doors." At this she clinched her fist, and swore 
 she was one half alligator, and the other half snapping-turtle, and that 
 it would take a better man than I was to put her out. It was a small 
 cabin we were in, and we were not far from the door, which was then 
 standing open. I caught her by the arm, and, swinging her round in 
 a circle, brought her right up to the door, and shoved her out. She 
 jumped up, tore her hair, foamed ; and such swearing as she uttered 
 was seldom equalled, and never surpassed. The door, or shutter of 
 'the door, was very strongly made, to keep out hostile Indians. I shut 
 it tight, barred it, and went to prayer, and I prayed as best I could, 
 but I have no language at my command to describe my feelings ; at 
 the same time, I was determined to conquer, or die in the attempt. 
 While she was raging and foaming in the yard and around the cabin, 
 I started a spiritual song, and sung loud, to drown her voice as much 
 as possible. The five or six little children ran and squatted about 
 and crawled under the beds. Poor things ! they were scared almost to 
 death. 
 
 I sang on, and she roared and thundered on outside, till she became 
 perfectly exhausted, and panted for breath. At length, when she had 
 spent her force, she became calm and still, and then knocked at the 
 door, saying, " Mr. Cartwright, please let me in." 
 
 " Will you behave yourself, if I let you in ? " said I. 
 
 "0 yes," said she, "I will;" and throwing myself on my guard, 
 and perfectly self-possessed, I opened the door, took her by the hand, 
 led her in, and seated her near the fireplace. She had roared and 
 foamed till she was in a high perspiration, and looked pale as death. 
 After she took her seat, " 0," said she, " what a fool I am ! " 
 
 " Yes," said I, " about one of the biggest fools I ever saw in all my 
 life. And now," said I, " you have to repent for all this, or you must 
 go to the devil at last." She was silent. Said I, " Children, come 
 out here ; your mother won't hurt you now," and, turning to her 
 husband, said, " Brother C., let us pray again." We kneeled down, 
 and both prayed. She was as quiet as a lamb. 
 
 And now, gentle reader, although this was one of the hardest cases 
 I ever saw on this earth, I must record it to the glory of Divine grace, 
 I lived to see, in less than six months after this frolic with the devil, 
 this woman soundly converted to God ; and if there was ever a changed 
 mortal for the better, it was this said woman. Her children, as they 
 grew up, all, I believe, obtained religion, and the family became a 
 religious, happy family, and she was as bold in the cause of God as 
 she had been in the cause of the wicked one. 
 
 When I came to the County of Sangamon in 1824, and rode the 
 
 N
 
 178 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 Sangamon Circuit in 1825-26, Springfield, our present seat of govern- 
 ment for the State, was a very small village. Even the county seat 
 was not located at it, and for several years there was no regular 
 society of any denomination organized there, save the Methodist. We 
 had a respectable society in point of numbers and religious moral 
 character, but they were generally very poor. There was no meeting- 
 house or church in the place. We preached in private houses almost 
 altogether for several years. The first Presbyterian minister who 
 came to the town, that I have any recollection of, was by the name of 
 
 . He was a very well educated man, and had regularly studied 
 
 theology in some of the Eastern States, where they manufacture young 
 preachers like they do lettuce in hot-houses. He brought with him a 
 number of old manuscript sermons, and read them to the people ; but 
 as to common sense, he had very little, and he was almost totally 
 ignorant of the manners and usages of the world, especially this new 
 Western world; yet he came here to evangelize and Christianize us 
 poor heathen. He did not meet with much encouragement ; but he 
 certainly was a pious, good man, much devoted to prayer. He came 
 to my appointments, and we became acquainted. He, in part, 
 travelled with me round my Circuit, anxious to get acquainted with 
 the people, and preach to them. He soon saw and felt that he had 
 no adaptation to the country or people. I told him he must quit 
 reading his old manuscript sermons, arid learn to speak extempora- 
 neously ; that the Western people were born and reared in hard times, 
 and were an out-spoken and off-hand people ; that if he did not 
 adopt this manner of preaching, the Methodists would set the whole 
 Western world on fire before he would light his match. He tried it a 
 while, but became discouraged, and left for parts unknown. 
 
 Shortly after this others came in, but still there was no church in 
 the town of Springfield to worship in for any denomination. The 
 Methodists were poor, the Presbyterians few, and not very wealthy. 
 At length the citizens put up a small school-house, which was appro- 
 priated to religious purposes on the Sabbath ; but it was often attended 
 with difficulty, as different ministers of different denominations would 
 make their appointments in this little school-house, and their appoint- 
 ments would often come together and clash. This was attended with 
 no good results, and at length a proposition was made for the Meth- 
 odists and Presbyterians to unite and build a church between them, 
 and define each denomination's time of occupancy and legal rights in 
 the church, till such time as one or the other could be able to build 
 separately, and then sell out to the other denomination. A subscrip- 
 tion was set on foot, and five or six hundred dollars subscribed. 
 
 Thinking all was right, I left to fill my appointments ; but when
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 179 
 
 the deed to this property was to be made, it was settled on Presby- 
 terian trustees, and the Methodists only occupied it by grace. There 
 was a very honest old gentleman, who was an intelligent lawyer, that 
 had not subscribed anything, but intended to ; but he wanted equal 
 rights and privileges secured to the Methodists, though he himself 
 was a Universalist. He saw how things were driving, and sent for 
 me. I went, and, on examination, found that the agreement between 
 the two denominations was violated in the deed. I expostulated with, 
 them, but all in vain ; they persisted. I then went, arid immediately 
 drew up a subscription to build a Methodist church, and subscribed 
 seventy-five dollars. My old honest lawyer told me he would either 
 give two lots in the new town, above where the most of the town then 
 was, or he would give fifty dollars. I took the two lots, on which 
 the Methodist church now stands. 
 
 The Presbyterians went on and built the little brick shanty that stands 
 near where the first Presbyterian church now stands ; and in one day I 
 obtained about six hundred dollars, and the Methodists built their old 
 frame meeting-house that stood as a monument of their covetousness 
 for many years, and, indeed, till lately, when they saw their folly, and 
 now have a fine church. But still they ought to have at least two 
 more good churches in a city containing ten thousand souls, and con- 
 stantly increasing in population, and which, undoubtedly, is destined to 
 become a large inland city, and, from its central position and railroad 
 facilities, will, in a very few years, contain fifty thousand inhabitants. 
 
 The securing those two lots at an early day in Springfield clearly 
 shows the sound policy of taking early measures in every new country, 
 city, town, village, and prospectively strong settlement, to secure lots 
 for churches and parsonages when they can be obtained at a nominal 
 price, and often as a donation. Our people and preachers are often too 
 negligent in this very thing. They wait till lots rise in value, and 
 sometimes have to give for a suitable one, on which to build a church 
 or parsonage, as much as would erect a decent house in which to 
 worship God. The two lots above named were, by their owner, 
 valued at fifty dollars. They would now sell, I suppose, for seven or 
 eight thousand dollars. They will soon be in the heart of the city, and 
 are as beautiful lots, for church purposes, as are to be found in the city. 
 
 A few years ago our beloved Bishop Janes, in a visit to Springfield, 
 saw clearly its rapid growth, and the slowness of the members of the 
 Church in that place in regard to church extensions; and he advised, 
 and organized, through the Mission Committee, the establishment of a 
 mission in Springfield. But such was the short-sighted policy of 
 many of the members of the Church belonging to the old charge, that 
 they directly and indirectly opposed the establishment of this mission. 
 
 N 2
 
 180 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 But, through the strong and persevering efforts of the missionaries 
 and the superintendent of the mission, we succeeded in procuring a 
 lot, and erecting a neat little mission church, at a cost of something 
 like twenty-seven hundred dollars. 
 
 When the church was finished, it was in debt some four hundred 
 dollars ; and instead of the members of the old charge, and the miss-ion 
 charge, making an effort to pay this indebtedness, they suffered the 
 church to be sold for less than three hundred dollars ; and even the 
 members of the old charge devised a plan to buy it in, and diverted it 
 from its original purpose of a church, to an academy, for the benefit 
 of the old charge ; and, consequently, our mission was blown out, our 
 labour, for from two to four years, lost, and, in open violation of the 
 provisions of the Discipline of the Church, the mission property was 
 converted from church to academical piirposes ; and a house and lot, 
 that had cost near three thousand dollars, was thus sacrificed for a 
 debt of less than three hundred dollars. This very transaction will 
 stand out to future generations as evidence of the folly and stupidity 
 of the members of the Methodist Church in Springfield, and will bar 
 our approach to the citizens for years to come, when we desire to 
 solicit aid to erect houses of worship in our metropolis. 
 
 Somewhere about this time, in 1829-30, the celebrated camp- 
 meeting took place in Sangamon County and Circuit; and, as I 
 suppose, out of incidents that then occurred was concocted that won- 
 derful story about my fight with Mike Fink, which has no foundation in 
 fact. We had this year two fine camp-meetings on the same ground, 
 a few weeks apart : at the first, it was thought, over one hundred 
 professed religion, and most of them joined the Methodist Church. 
 At the second camp-meeting, over seventy joined the Church. Our 
 encampment was large, and well seated ; and we erected a large shed, 
 that would, it was supposed, shelter a thousand people. 
 
 While I was on the Sangamon District, I rode one day into Spring- 
 field, on some little business. My horse had been an excellent 
 racking pony, but now had the stiff complaint. I called a few minutes 
 in a store, to get some little articles ; I saw in the store two young 
 men and a young lady ; they were strangers, and we had no introduction 
 whatever ; they passed out, and off. After I had transacted my little 
 business in the store, I mounted my stiff pony, aud started for home. 
 After riding nearly two miles, I discovered ahead of me a light, two- 
 horse waggon, with a good span of horses hitched to the waggon ; and 
 although it was covered, yet the cover was rolled up. It was warm 
 weather, and I saw in the waggon those two young men and the young 
 lady that I had seen in the store. As I drew near them, they began 
 to sing one of our camp-meeting songs, and they appeared to sing with
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER,. 181 
 
 great animation. Presently the young lady began to shout, and said, 
 " Glory to God ! Glory to God ! " The driver cried out, " Amen ! 
 Glory to God ! " 
 
 My first impressions were, that they had been across the Sangamon 
 River to a camp-meeting that I knew was in progress there, and had 
 obtained religion, and were happy. As I drew a little nearer, the 
 young lady began to sing and shout again. The young man who was 
 not driving fell down, and cried aloud for mercy ; the other two, 
 shouting at the top of their voices, cried out, " Glory to God ! another 
 sinner 's down." Then they fell to exhorting the young man that was 
 down, saying, " Pray on, brother ; pray on, brother ; you will soon get 
 religion." Presently up jumped the young man that was down, and 
 shouted aloud, saying, " God has blessed my soul. Hallelujah ! 
 hallelujah ! Glory to God ! " 
 
 Thinking all was right, I felt like riding up, and joining in the 
 songs of triumph and shouts of joy that rose from these three happy 
 persons ; but as I neared the waggon, I saw some glances of their eyes 
 at each other, and at me, that created a suspicion in my mind that all 
 was not right ; and the thought occurred to me that they suspected or 
 knew me to be a preacher, and that they were carrying on in this way 
 to make a mock of sacred things, and to fool me. I checked my 
 horse, and fell back, and rode slowly, hoping they would pass on, and 
 that I should not be annoyed by them any more ; but when I checked 
 my horse and went slow, they checked up and went slow too, and the 
 driver changed with the other young man ; then they began again to 
 sing and shout at a mighty rate, and down fell the first driver, and up 
 went a new shout of " Glory to God ! another sinner 's down. Pray 
 on, brother ; pray on, brother ; the Lord will bless you." Presently 
 up sprang the driver, saying, " Glory to God ! He has blessed me." 
 And both the others shouted, and said, " Another sinner 's converted, 
 another sinner 's converted. Hallelujah ! Glory to God ! " A rush of 
 indignant feeling came all over me, and I thought I would ride up and 
 horsewhip both of these young men ; and if the woman had not been 
 in company, I think I should have done so ; but I forbore. It was a 
 vexatious encounter : if my horse had been fleet, as in former days, I 
 could have rode right off, and left them in their glory ; but he was stiff, 
 and when I would fall back and go slow, they would check up ; and 
 when I would spur my stiff pony, and cry to get ahead of them, they 
 would crack the whip and keep ahead of me ; and thus they tormented 
 me before, as I thought, my time, and kept up a continual fc>ar of 
 " Another sinner 's down ! Another soul 's converted ! Glory to God ! 
 Pray on, brother ! Hallelujah ! hallelujah ! Glory to God ! " till I 
 thought it was more than any good preacher ought to bear.
 
 182 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 It would be hard for me to describe my feelings just about this 
 time. It seemed to me that I was delivered over to be tormented 
 by the devil and his imps. Just at this moment I thought of a despe- 
 rate mudhole about a quarter of a mile ahead ; it was a long one, and 
 dreadful deep mud, and many waggons had stuck in it, and had to be 
 prised out. Near the centre of this mudhole there was a place of mud 
 deeper than anywhere else. On the right side stood a stump about 
 two feet high ; all the teams had to be driven as close to this stump as 
 possible to avoid a deep rut on the left, where many waggons had 
 stuck ; I knew there was a small bridle way that wound round through 
 the brush to avoid the mud ; and it occurred to me that when we came 
 near this muddy place, I would take the bridle way, and put my horse 
 at the top of his speed, and by this means get away from these 
 wretched tormentors, as I knew they could not go fast through this 
 long reach of mud. When we came to the commencement of the mud, 
 I took the bridle path, and put spurs and whip to my horse. Seeing 
 I was rapidly leaving them in the rear, the driver cracked his whip, 
 and put his horses at almost full speed ; and such was their anxiety to 
 keep up with me, to carry out their sport, that when they came to this 
 bad place, they never saw the stump on the right. The fore wheel of 
 the waggon struck centrally on the stump, and as the wheel mounted 
 the stump, over went the waggon. Fearing it would turn entirely 
 over and catch them under, the two young men took a leap into the 
 mud, and when they lighted they sunk up to the middle. The young 
 lady was dressed in white, and as the waggon went over, she sprang 
 as far as she could, and lighted on all fours ; her hands sunk into the 
 mud up to her armpits, her mouth and the whole of her face immersed 
 in the muddy water, and she certainly would have strangled if the 
 young men had not relieved her. As they helped her up and out, I 
 had wheeled my horse to see the fun. I rode up to the edge of the 
 mud, stopped my horse, reared in my stirrups, and shouted at the top of 
 my voice, 
 
 " Glory to God ! Glory to God ! Hallelujah ! another sinner 's 
 down ! Glory to God 1 Hallelujah ! Glory ! Hallelujah ! " 
 
 If ever mortals felt mean, these youngsters did ; and well they 
 might ; for they had carried on all this sport to make light of religion, 
 and to insult a minister, a total stranger to them. But they con- 
 temned religion, and hated the Methodists, especially Methodist 
 preachers. 
 
 Wken I became tired of shouting over them, I said to them, 
 
 " Now, you poor, dirty, mean sinners, take this as a just judgment of 
 God upon you for your meanness, and repent of your dreadful wicked- 
 ness ; and let this be the last time that you attempt to insult a
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 183 
 
 preacher ; for if you repeat your abominable sport and persecutions, the 
 next time God will serve you worse, and the devil will get 
 you." 
 
 They felt so badly that they never uttered one word of reply. Now 
 I was very glad that I did not horsewhip them, as I felt like doing ; 
 but that God had avenged His own cause, and defended His own 
 honour, without my doing it with carnal weapons ; and I may here be 
 permitted to say, at one of those prosperous camp-meetings named in 
 this chapter, I had the great pleasure to see all three of these young 
 people converted to God. I took them into the Methodist Church, 
 and they went back to Ohio happy in God. They were here on a visit 
 among their relations from that State, and went home with feelings 
 very different from those they possessed when they left. 
 
 There is another small incident connected with these two prosperous 
 camp-meetings before named. There was a great and good work 
 going on in our congregation from time to time ; and on Sunday there 
 were a great many from Springfield, and all the surrounding country. 
 A great many professors of religion in other Churches professed to 
 wish their children converted, but still they could not trust them at a 
 Methodist meeting, especially a camp-meeting. A great many of these 
 young people attended the camp-meetings, and on Sunday the awful 
 displays of Divine power were felt to the utmost verge of the congre- 
 gation. When I closed my sermon, I invited mourners to the altar, 
 and there was a mighty shaking among the dry bones ; many came for- 
 ward, and among the rest there were many young ladies whose parents 
 were members of a sister Church ; two in particular of these young 
 ladies came into the altar. Their mother was present ; and when she 
 heard her daughters were kneeling at the altar of God, praying for 
 mercy, she sent an elder of her Church to bring them out. When he 
 came to tell them their mother had sent for them, they refused to go. 
 He then took hold of them, and said they must go. I then took hold 
 of him, and told him they should not go, and that if that was his 
 business, I wanted him to leave the altar instantly. He left, and 
 reported to their mother ; and while we were kneeling all round the 
 altar, and praying for the mourners, the mother in a great rage rushed 
 in. When she came, all were kneeling around, and there was no place 
 for her to get in to her daughters. As I knelt and was stooping 
 down, talking, and encouraging the mourners, this lady stepped on my 
 shoulders, and rushed right over my head. As, in a fearful rage, she 
 took hold of her daughters to take them out by force, I took hold 
 of her arm, and tried to reason with her ; but I might as well have 
 reasoned with a whirlwind. She said she would have them out at the 
 risk of her life.
 
 184 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEll. 
 
 " They are ray daughters," said she, " and they shall come out." 
 
 Said I to her,-" This is my altar, and my meeting ; and I say, these 
 girls shall not be taken out." 
 
 She seized hold of them again. I took hold of her, and put her out of 
 the altar, and kept her out. Both of these young ladies professed reli- 
 gion, but they were prevented by their mother from joining the Metho- 
 dists. She compelled them to join her Church, sorely against their 
 will. They married in their mother's Church, but I fear they were 
 hindered for life, if not finally lost. 
 
 I have often thought of the thousands who have been awakened and 
 converted under Methodist preaching, but, from the prejudice of their 
 husbands, wives, parents, or children, and friends, have been influenced 
 to join another branch of the Church. What a fearful account will 
 many have to give who, through prejudice or bigotry, have opposed 
 their relatives or friends in joining the Church of their choice ! If 
 these souls are lost, who will have to answer for it at the bar of God ? 
 " Lord, we saw some casting out devils in Thy name, and we forbade 
 them, because they followed not us." " Forbid them not," was the 
 reply of our Saviour ; " for there is no man can do a miracle in My 
 name, and speak lightly of Me." Let us be careful on this subject ; 
 for the loss of a soul is a fearful consideration to all. 
 
 We had a camp-meeting in Morgan County, Sangamon District. 
 While I was on this District, the following remarkable providence 
 occurred : there were large congregations from time to time, many 
 awakened and converted to God, fifty joined the Church. G. W. Teas, 
 now a travelling preacher in the Iowa Conference, made the fiftieth 
 person that joined the Church. We had worship for several days and 
 nights. On Monday, just after we had dismissed for dinner, there was 
 a very large limb of a tree that stood on the side of the ground allotted 
 for the ladies, which, without wind or any other visible cause, broke 
 loose and fell, with a mighty crash, right in among the ladies' seats ; but 
 as the Lord would direct it, there was not a woman or child there, 
 when the limb fell. If it had fallen at any time while the congregation 
 was collected, it must have killed more than a dozen persons. Just in 
 the south of Morgan, near Lynnville, we had another camp-meeting, 
 perhaps the same summer. In the afternoon, at three o'clock, I put 
 up a very good local preacher to preach. He was not as interesting as 
 some, and the congregation became restless, especially the rowdies. I 
 went out among them, and told them they ought to hear the preacher. 
 
 " 0," said they, " if it was you, we would gladly hear you." 
 
 " Boys," said I, " do you really want to hear me ? " 
 
 " Yes, we do," said they. 
 
 " Well," said I, " if you do, go and gather all those inattentive
 
 THE BACKAYOODS PREACHER. 185 
 
 groups, and come clown in the grove, two hundred yards south, and I 
 will preach to you." 
 
 They collected two or three hundred. I mounted an old log; they 
 all seated themselves in a shade. I preached to them about an hour, 
 and not a soul moved or misbehaved. In this way I matched the 
 rowdies for once. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 CAMP ROWDIES. 
 
 IN the fall of 1831, our Conference was holden in Indianapolis, 
 Indiana, October 4th ; Bishop Eoberts presided. At this Conference, 
 we elected our delegates to the General Conference, which was to sit 
 in Philadelphia, May 1st. This was the fifth delegated General Con- 
 ference to which I was elected, and, perhaps, it is the proper place to 
 say, this was the only General Conference that I ever missed attending, 
 from 1816 to this date. My family were in great affliction, which 
 prevented my attendance. Brothers Andrew and Emory were elected, 
 and ordained bishops in the Methodist Episcopal Church ; and the 
 Indiana Conference was formed ; so that there were now twelve annual 
 Conferences East arid South, and ten West and South; all the latter 
 formed out of the old Western Conference. Our numbers in the W r est 
 had risen to 217,659. Our travelling preachers numbered 765. The 
 others, Eastern and Southern, had, in members, 382,060 ; travelling 
 preachers, 1,454. Total, in round numbers, 600,000. Of travelling 
 preachers, 2,219. 
 
 The reader will see our increase in the old Conferences in members, 
 in four years, was 111,850; and in the West was 66,775; total, 
 177,625. We had increased in travelling preachers, in the same length 
 of time, 716 : this was a greater increase than all the branches of the 
 Protestant Christian Churches in the Union could number ; and surely 
 all the factories in the Union that make preachers, did not, in the 
 same length of time, graduate as many preachers ; and, in point of 
 learning and real ability, our increase of preachers will compare favour- 
 ably with any of them. 
 
 As 1832 closed my three years on the Sangamon District, I will 
 relate an incident or two which occurred in Fulton County. We held 
 a camp-meeting, at which good preparations were made ; many 
 attended, and our prospects for an interesting meeting were fair, and 
 there was an increasing interest. But some low and unprincipled 
 fellows, in the adjoining village of Canton, fitted out a man, who was 
 perfectly bankrupt, and sent him down to set up a huckster's shop,
 
 186 THE BA.CKWOODS PREA.CHEB. 
 
 with tobacco, segars, cakes, candies, pies, and almost all kinds of 
 ardent spirits. I went to him, and told him he should not disturb us 
 in vending those articles, and that he must desist ; he swore he would 
 not, and hurled defiance at me ; I got a writ and an officer, and took 
 him ; he employed a young lawyer to defeud him ; I prosecuted the 
 suit, and the jury fined him ten dollars and costs. On saying that he 
 had nothing, and was not worth a cent in the world, the court told 
 him, he had to pay his fine or go to jail ; he said he must go to jail 
 then, for he could not pay the fine. There was a black-legged gang, 
 that were his chief customers, who swore, if we attempted to put him 
 in jail, which was about ten miles off, that they would rescue him, and 
 give those who attempted to convey him there a sound drubbing. 
 The officer was scared, and hesitated ; in the meantime, I ordered out 
 an execution, and levied on his whole grocery. He declared that these 
 articles were not his, but belonged to other men. I said, I did not 
 care a fig who they belonged to, and ordered the officer to levy on 
 them, and I would indemnify him. When we had secured the gro- 
 cery, and put it under guard, our officer still hesitated to take the 
 criminal to jail. I told him to summon me, and four other stout men 
 that I named, and I would insure the criminal a safe lodgment in jail, 
 or risk the consequences. This was done, and we hoisted our prisoner 
 on a horse, mounted our own horses, well armed with bludgeons, and 
 started on a merry jog. When we got about half way, I told the 
 prisoner that he had better pay his fine, and not disgrace himself by 
 lying in jail. No, he swore he would not ; so on we went. The row- 
 dies that were to waylay us and release the prisoner, never appeared. 
 When we got in sight of the town, in which the jail was, the prisoner 
 asked me very seriously, if we really intended to put him in jail. I 
 told him, yes, certainly we did. " Well," said he, " I can't go into 
 jail ; " and then pulled out the money and paid his fine and costs. 
 
 We returned to the encampment, and the rowdies were in a mighty 
 rage because they could get no drink ; for we had the groggery under 
 guard. They swore if we did not release it, they would break up the 
 camp-meeting. I told them to ride on, that we would not release the 
 grocery, and we could whip the whole regiment. At candle-lighting 
 we had preaching ; they were still and quiet till most of the tent-holders 
 had gone to bed. They then began their dirty deeds. I had ordered 
 out a strong watch, and directed the lights to be kept burning all 
 night. They began at a distance to bark like dogs, to howl like 
 wolves, to hoot like owls ; they drew near and crowed like chickens ; 
 they tried to put out our lights, and threw chunks at the tent ; but the 
 guard beat them back, and kept them off nearly all night. Toward 
 day they drew nearer and nearer still, and would slap their hands, and
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 187 
 
 crow like chickens. One ringleader among them came right before the 
 preachers' tent, slapped his hands, and crowed and passed on. I 
 stepped to a fire close by, and gathered a chunk of fire, and threw it, 
 striking him right between the shoulders, and the fire flew all over 
 him. He sprung and bounded like a buck. I cried out, " Take him ; 
 take him ; " but I assure you it would have taken a very fleet man to 
 have taken him, for he ran as though the very devil was in him and 
 after him. When I returned to the tent, one of the guard came and 
 told me that they were taking wheels off the waggons and carriages ; 
 and looking through an opening in the tent, I saw one of them busy 
 in loosening my carriage behind the tent, where I had tied it to a sap- 
 ling for fear they would run it off. I slipped round, gathered a stick 
 in my way, and came up close behind him, and struck at him, not with 
 much intent to hurt, but to scare him. However, the stroke set his 
 hat on one side of his head ; he dashed off in a mighty fright, and his 
 hat not being adjusted right, it blinded him, and, fleeing with all speed, 
 he struck his head against a tree, knocked himself down, bruised his 
 face very much, and lay senseless for several minutes ; but when he 
 came to himself, lie was as tame as a lamb, and his dispensation of 
 mischief was over. This put an end to the trouble of the rowdies, and 
 afterward all was peace and quiet. 
 
 We had a very singular and remarkable man among us, a travelling 
 preacher in the Illinois Conference ; his name was Wilson Pitner. He 
 was at this camp-meeting. He was uneducated, and it seemed impos- 
 sible for him to learn ; but, notwithstanding his want of learning, and 
 in common he was an ordinary preacher, yet at times, as we say in the 
 backwoods, when he swung clear, there were very few that could excel 
 him in the pulpit ; and perhaps he was one of the most eloquent and 
 powerful exhorters that was in the land. 
 
 On Monday he came to me, and desired me to let him preach at 
 eleven o'clock, saying, 
 
 " I have faith to believe that God will this day convert many of 
 these rowdies and persecutors." 
 
 I consented ; and he preached with great liberty and power. Nearly 
 the whole congregation were powerfully moved, as he closed by calling 
 for every rowdy and persecutor to meet him in the altar ; for, said he, 
 
 " I have faith to believe that God will convert every one of you that 
 will come and kneel at the place of prayer." 
 
 There was a general rush for the altar, and many of our persecutors, 
 and those who had interrupted and disturbed us in the forepart of the 
 meeting, came and fell on their knees, and cried aloud for mercy ; and 
 it is certainly beyond my power to describe the scene ; but more than 
 fifty souls were converted to God that day and night. Our meeting
 
 190 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 doubt it was swimming for twenty yards. There were no bridges, no 
 canoe, and I could not find any fallen tree that could possibly reach 
 across, so that I would have to swim, and all alone. If any accident 
 should happen to me, I would certainly be drowned. 
 
 The prospect looked gloomy, and I felt some misgivings come over 
 me ; and the reasons and arguments of my friend were not without 
 considerable effect on my mind. I paused for a few moments, rea- 
 soning on the subject. Just then my old Methodist preacher motto 
 occurred to my mind, that is, " Never retreat till you certainly know 
 you can advance no further." And as my motto occurred to my mind, 
 my purpose was unalterably fixed to go ahead. 
 
 " Brother," said I, " as there is no road, get on your horse and ride 
 a little distance with me, till I can clearly see the point of timber that 
 is to guide me." 
 
 He readily consented, and did so. We rode two miles, and the 
 point of timber was plain in view. As he turned back, he said, " I 
 should not be surprised if I never saw you again." 
 
 " Well," said I, " if I fall, and you never see me again, tell my 
 friends that I fell at my post, trying to do my duty. Farewell." 
 
 I had a fine, large, faithful horse under me, and a Divine Providence 
 above me, and, in a few minutes after my friend and myself separated, 
 I felt that I had nothing to fear. On I moved, sometimes in and 
 sometimes out of sight of my landmark ; sometimes nearly swimming 
 in the little branches, but every step I left the prairie in the distance, 
 and neared my point of timber. There was so much water, and the 
 ground was so soft, I could make but slow progress ; but every time I 
 rose on the high ground, from the low valleys in the prairie, my point 
 of timber seemed nearer and nearer still. At length, about three 
 o'clock, I reached the timber in safety, rode up and hailed the cabin, 
 but there was no person at home. I saw in the distance, about four- 
 teen miles off, my next point of timber, and contiguous to the place of 
 holding my quarterly meeting. I concluded to make a hard push 
 and go through that afternoon ; but here was the large creek to cross, 
 only two hundred yards ahead of me. I concluded to go above the 
 timber and cross it ; but when I came to it, I found it had swollen and 
 spread out at least two hundred yards on the level ground. I could 
 not tell how far I would have to swim on my horse. I rode in about 
 one third the apparent distance across. My horse was nearly swim- 
 ming. I concluded it would be too far for me to risk a swim on 
 horseback. It occurred to me that " prudence was the better part of 
 valour," so I retreated. I then pursued the creek down the timber, in 
 search of a drift or tree across the stream, where I could carry my 
 things over, and then return and swim my horse, without wetting all 
 my travelling apparatus. At length I found a tree that had been
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 191 
 
 felled across a narrow part of the creek, that I thought answered my 
 purpose admirably ; but by this time it was nearly night, and if I got 
 safe over the creek, I could not make the distance to the next point of 
 timber, and should have to lie out without food for myself or my 
 horse. I came to a halt, and, thinking that the occupants of the cabin 
 I had just passed would be in at night, I concluded to retrace my 
 steps and get quarters for the night. So back I came to the cabin, 
 but still there was no one at home. I concluded, at home or not at 
 home, I should lodge there that night. So down I got, opened the 
 door of the cabin, and ushered myself in. I found they had covered 
 up some fire in the ashes, to keep in their absence, which made me 
 still hope they would come home some time that night. I went out 
 and stripped my horse, and put him up and fed him, and then my 
 next care was for something to eat myself. By this time I had a good 
 appetite. I went and made up a little fire, and in a small corner 
 cupboard, made of clapboards, backwoods fashion, to my great joy I 
 found a pan of corn bread, nicely baked, and, though cold, it relished 
 well. In one corner of the wooden chimney there hung some excellent 
 dried venison. I pulled out some coals and broiled my venison, and 
 had a hearty meal of it. And now, thought I, if I only had a good 
 cup of coffee, I should have the crowning point gained of a good and 
 pleasant meal. In looking about in the cupboard I found a tin bucket 
 full of excellent honey, in the comb. I took it out, got some water in 
 a tin cup that was on the shelf, sweetened the water with the honey, 
 and found in it an excellent substitute for coffee. There was a nice 
 clean bed, in which I slept unusually sound. Next morning I rose 
 early, fed my horse, prepared my breakfast, much after the fashion of 
 my supper, saddled my horse, and started on my journey. 
 
 When I came to the creek, it had fallen considerably, but was still 
 swimming. I carried all my travelling fixtures over perfectly dry ; 
 stripped myself, went back, mounted my horse, went over safe, dressed 
 myself, knelt down and offered up my sincere thanks to God for His 
 providential care over me, and the mercy He had showed me, and went 
 on my way shouting and happy. 
 
 I arrived at the place of the quarterly meeting, and found the few 
 scattered members, six in all, and about eight who were not members ; 
 and these comprised the whole settlement, save one family who lived 
 close by, the head of which was a great persecutor of the Methodists. 
 He said he had moved there, in that new and out-of-the-way place, 
 especially to get rid of those wretched people called Methodists ; but 
 he had scarcely got into his rude cabin before here was the Methodist 
 preacher, preaching hell-fire and damnation, as they always did. 
 
 On Monday morning I went over to see him. He was a high-
 
 192 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 strung predestinarian in his views ; believed, or professed to believe, 
 that God had decreed everything that comes to pass. After intro- 
 ducing myself to him, he presently bristled up for an argument. I 
 told him I had not come to debate, but to invite him to the Saviour. 
 He said he could not receive anything from me, for he cordially 
 despised the Methodists. I told him, if God had decreed all things, 
 he had decreed that there should be Methodists, and that they should 
 believe precisely as they did, and that they were raised up by the 
 decree of God to torment him before his time, and that he must be a 
 great simpleton to suppose that the Methodists could do or believe 
 anything but what they did ; " and now, my dear sir, you must be a 
 vile wretch to want to break the decrees of God, and wish to extermi- 
 nate the Methodists ; " that if his doctrine was true, the Methodists 
 were as certainly fulfilling the glorious decrees of God, which were 
 founded in truth and righteousness, as the angels around the burning 
 throne ; and several admonitions I gave him, and, by the bye, he had 
 some feeling on the subject. I talked kindly and prayed with him, 
 and left. 
 
 After I left, he began to think on the topics of conversation, and 
 the more he thought the more his mind became perplexed about these 
 eternal decrees. When he would sit dqwn to eat, or ride, or walk the 
 road, he would soliloquize on the subject. After cutting off a piece of 
 meat and holding it on his fork, ready to receive it into his mouth, he 
 would say, " God decreed from all eternity that I should eat this 
 meat, but I will break that decree," and down he would dash it to the 
 dogs. As he walked the paths in the settlement and came to a fork, 
 he would say, " God from all eternity decreed that I should take the 
 right-hand path, but I '11 break that decree," and he woidd rush to the 
 left. As he rode through the settlement, in coming to a stump or 
 tree, he would rein up his horse and say, " God has from all eternity 
 decreed that I should go to the right of that stump or tree, but I will 
 break that decree," and would turn his horse to the left. 
 
 Thus he went on until his family became alarmed, thinking he was 
 deranged. The little settlement, also, was fearful that he had lost his 
 balance of mind. At length, deep conviction took hold of him ; he 
 saw that he was a lost and ruined sinner, without an interest in Jesus 
 Christ. He called the neighbours to come and pray for him, and, 
 after a long and sore conflict with the devil and his decrees, it pleased 
 God to give him religion, and almost all his family were converted 
 and joined the Methodist Church, and walked worthy of their high 
 and holy calling. 
 
 At another quarterly meeting in this mission on Sunday, we had 
 twenty-seven for our congregation ; and yet the scattered population
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 193 
 
 were all, or nearly all, there, for many miles around ; and when we 
 administered the sacrament on Sabbath, we had just seven communi- 
 cants, preachers and all. Brother Barton Handle, now a superan- 
 nuated member of the Illinois Annual Conference, was the missionary. 
 Though a man of feeble health and strength, yet he was faithful in 
 hunting up the lost sheep in this new and laborious field of labour. 
 He suffered many privations and hardships, but he endured all as 
 seeing Him who is invisible, and I have thought that he was one 
 among the very best missionaries I was ever acquainted with. He 
 did great good in this new and rising country, and laid firmly the 
 foundation of future good, which the increasing and now densely 
 populated country has realized. Long since this mission has formed 
 many large Circuits and self-supporting stations, and no doubt many, 
 in the great day of retribution, will rise up and call Brother Eandle 
 blessed, and he will hail many of his spiritual children in heaven from 
 this field of labour. Brother Handle was the first missionary that was 
 sent to and formed this mission, and, at the close of his year, he 
 returned seventy-five members. 
 
 The Eock Island mission was formed in 1832, and Philip T. Cordier 
 was appointed missionary. He was a man of feeble talents, unstable, 
 and did but little good. He was finally expelled. I do not know 
 what has become of him. On my first visit to Rock Island Mission, 
 which Was chiefly located in what was then called "VVells's Settlement, a 
 few miles above the mouth of Rock River, the river had been very 
 high, but was fallen considerably. There was an old ferry-boat at the 
 lower ford. The ferryman was a very mean man, charged high, and 
 imposed very much on travellers. Some thought the river might be 
 forded, others thought that it would swim. I was a total stranger, 
 and although I had no money to pay my ferriage, yet I did not wish 
 to swim, if I could well avoid it ; so I rode up and hailed the ferryman. 
 I asked him if the river was fordable. 
 
 " No," said he, " it is swimming from bank to bank nearly, and it 
 is a very dangerous ford in the bargain." 
 
 " Well," said I, " what do you do with strangers who have no 
 money ? I am out, but shall return this way on Monday. If you 
 will ferry me over, you shall then be sure of your pay." 
 
 " I won't do it," said he. " You must leave something in pawn 
 till you return, or I will not set you over." 
 
 " What shall 1 leave ? " 
 
 " Your overcoat," said he. 
 
 " No, sir ; perhaps I shall need it before that time ; and if you wrll 
 not trust me, I am afraid to trust you." 
 
 " Well," said he, " you can't get over. I won't trust you." 
 
 o
 
 194 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 I felt a little indignant, and turned off, saying, " My horse is a 
 much better ferry-boat than your own, and he '11 trust me." So I 
 determined to take a swim. Just as I turned off from the ferryman, I 
 saw a man on horseback ride down to the river's edge on the other 
 side. He waded his horse in, and came over without swimming at all. 
 This stranger told me there was no better ford on any river in the 
 world, and that there was not the least danger on earth. I told him 
 what the ferryman said. 
 
 " Ah," said he, " you have made a blessed escape ; for if you had 
 left your overcoat, you never would have got it again. He is a great 
 rascal, and makes his living by foul means." 
 
 So I passed over in safety, and had the pleasure of keeping my 
 overcoat. When I got to Brother Wells's, I found a good little 
 society, all in peace, and we had a very pleasant little quarterly 
 meeting. 
 
 Here, on the north side of Rock River, on the rising ground from 
 the Mississippi bottom, stands the site of one of the oldest Indian 
 towns in the North or North-west. It is a beautiful site for a city. 
 There were to be seen lying, bleached and bleaching, the bones of 
 unnumbered thousands of these poor, wild, and roaming races of 
 beings. It was the centre of the vast, and powerful, unbroken, war- 
 like tribes of the North-west. This particular spot was claimed by 
 the notorious Black Hawk and his tribe. If they had been a civilized 
 people, and had known the real arts of war, it would have been utterly 
 impossible for the Americans to have vanquished and subdued them 
 as they have done. When I looked over the fields in cultivation by 
 the whites, where the ground had, for ages, been the country of thou- 
 sands of Indians, a spirit of sorrow came over me. Had they been an 
 educated and civilized people, there no doubt would now be standing 
 on this pre-eminent site as splendid a city as New York. But they are 
 wasted away and gone to their long home. I saw a scattered few that 
 were crowded back by the unconquerable march of the white man. 
 
 On another visit to a quarterly meeting on the Rock Island Mission, 
 Brother H. Summers, a travelling presiding elder in the Rock River 
 Conference, accompanied me. We had a pleasant meeting, and it was 
 believed that good was done. I had taken and distributed a good 
 many religious books in the mission, which were eagerly sought for by 
 the community. Brother Summers and myself concluded to cross at 
 the upper ford on Rock River. About midway in the river was a very 
 slippery rock, which could be avoided by keeping up stream consider- 
 ably ; but somehow I missed the safe track, and my horse got on this 
 slippery rock, and all of a sudden he slipped and fell. My saddle 
 turned, off I went, and the first thing I knew I saw my saddle-bags
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 195 
 
 floating down with great rapidity, for the water ran very swift. I left 
 my horse to get up as best he could, and took after my saddle-bags. 
 I had a tight race, but overtook them before they sunk so as to dis- 
 appear. They were pretty well filled with water. My books and 
 clothes had all turned Campbellites, for there was much water ; and I 
 escaped, not by the skin of my teeth, but by the activity of my heels. 
 My horse rose, and, with all the calmness of old Diogenes, waded out, 
 and left me to do the same. Brother Summers could not maintain 
 his usual gravity, but I assure you all his fun was at my expense. I 
 had scarcely a dry thread about me ; but on we went, and readied Pope 
 Eiver settlement that night. 
 
 The Galena Mission, I think, was formed in 1827. It was a 
 singular providence, somehow, that, notwithstanding Galena was in 
 my District for several years, yet, by high waters, sickness of my 
 horses, myself, and family, I was never able to reach a single appoint- 
 ment in Galena, and to this day I have never seen her hills, walked 
 her streets, or explored her rich mineral stores or mines ; and although 
 I have always borne the name of a punctual attendant on my appoint- 
 ments, it seems strange to me that I never reached that interesting 
 point. 
 
 In the fall of 1834 and 1835, William D. E. Trotter rode and 
 preached on the Henderson Eiver Mission ; he was my son-in-law. 
 On one occasion when I attended one of his quarterly meetings, there 
 was no parsonage, and but few families comfortably situated to board 
 with. During the meeting it rained almost constantly, and then 
 turned cold, and there fell a considerable quantity of snow. I was in 
 my gig or one-horse sulky. As I was to return home from this quar- 
 terly meeting, my daughter concluded that she would go with me, and 
 spend a few weeks with her mother. I told her I knew the streams 
 were very high, and it was doubtful whether we could get along. She 
 said she thought if I could get along, she could. So we started in my 
 two-wheeled vehicle. In a few miles we reached Spoon Eiver. At a 
 little village called Ellisville, the river was very full, and rapidly rising ; 
 no ferry-boat, no comfortable house to stay at. One of the citizens of 
 the village had a canoe ; but how was I to take my carriage over a 
 rapid stream on a canoe ? The man said he could do it ; and, rather 
 than stay for any length of time among a drunken, swearing, rowdy 
 crowd, I concluded to try it. Down we went ; I took out my horse, 
 took off the harness, and took the harness and all the travelling appen- 
 dages into the canoe ; took in my daughter ; took my harness, bridle, 
 and led my horse in, and swam him over, by the side of the canoe. 
 I landed all safe, and then returned with the manager of the canoe for 
 my carriage; we rolled it into the water, centred it as well as we 
 
 o 2
 
 196 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEH. 
 
 could ; balanced it, and I held on to it while he paddled and managed 
 the canoe ; and over we went safe and sound ; geared up, hitched to, 
 and started on through the mud for Lewistown, and got there safe. 
 We put up with Judge Phelps, a fine man, and his wife an excellent 
 woman, and very friendly family ; and we were not only made welcome, 
 but comfortable. That night it snowed, and covered the ground 
 several inches. Next morning we started early, and crossed the 
 Illinois Kiver just above the mouth of Spoon River, which we had 
 crossed the day before. We met some travellers in the afternoon, who 
 told us that the waters of the Sangamon River were out for five miles, 
 and that we could not reach the ferry-boat without swimming. We 
 then turned our course up Salt Creek, which emptied into the Sanga- 
 mon River above where we had intended to cross it. Just before sun- 
 down we reached Salt Creek, where was a miserable old rotten ferry- 
 boat, and Salt Creek out of its banks a mile. The ferry-man told us 
 he could ferry us over the main channel of the stream, and he had no 
 doubt we could wade out without swimming, if we could find the way. 
 It was at least a mile to the bluff; he said, if we kept the road, we 
 would swim. We could only tell where the road was by a little space 
 along, clear of weeds and grass. He said if we kept on ground where 
 we could see the tops of the weeds and grass, there was no danger ; 
 but if we could not see these, not to venture ; for there were many 
 ponds clear of weeds and grass as well as the road. This seemed to 
 me to be a very dangerous undertaking. But my daughter urged me 
 on. I had great confidence in my horse ; he was large and strong, 
 and an excellent swimmer ; so over we went. There were a few rods 
 of earth uncovered with water ; and then we took water for the bluffs. 
 We could see very distinctly the windings of the road by the little 
 space that was clear of weeds and grass ; but presently we would come 
 to a large space clear of weeds and grass ; these we took to be ponds, 
 and would wind round them and come back to our watery road. In 
 this tedious way we got along slowly, though making all the speed we 
 could without injuring my horse. As we neared the bluffs, darkness 
 was closing in on us very fast ; at length we got within about three 
 rods of the bluffs, and we could not see the tops of weeds and grass, 
 neither to the right, nor left, nor in front ; I turned up stream, and 
 then down stream, but all my pilots had disappeared. I was brought 
 to a stand. Said I to my daughter, 
 
 " Let 's swim it ; Gray will ferry us over safe." 
 
 " Agreed," said she. 
 
 Said I, " Take a firm hold of the gig, and, sink or swim, never let 
 go, and Gray will make land." 
 
 wo in I drove, when, behold I it was not swimming, and my horse
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER, 197 
 
 waded out safe. We then had four miles to go, without road or pilot, 
 and very dark. I took my course by the evening star, and soon 
 arrived at a friend's house ; was kindly received and comfortably en- 
 tertained by my old brother, Dr. Ballard, in New-Market, then San- 
 gamon County. He has long since fallen asleep, left earth for heaven, 
 and is, reaping his reward among the blessed. 
 
 1 have thus given a small sketch of some of the perilous scenes 
 through which early Methodist preachers had to pass, to show the 
 Methodist preachers of the present day the difference between walking 
 on Turkey carpets and eating yellow-legged chickens, and walking on 
 mud and water and eating nothing for days at a time. 
 
 The Fort Edwards Mission was formed, I believe, in 1832-33. 
 D. B. Carter was the first missionary appointed to this mission ; he 
 returned at the next Conference fifty-three members. Brother Carter 
 was a man of small literary acquirements. When he professed religion, 
 he could not read a hymn intelligibly ; but believing God had called 
 him to preach the Gospel, he industriously applied himself to books, 
 and soon learned to read very well. He was not a brilliant or profound 
 theologian ; but he was a pious, zealous, useful minister of Jesus Christ ; 
 and during his short ministerial career, many were the seals of his 
 ministry. He was much beloved in life, and greatly lamented in death. 
 After a few years of zealous, useful labours, the fell disease, consump- 
 tion, seized on him ; he lingered in a superannuated relation a year or 
 two, and then died a peaceful and happy death. Many in the great 
 day of judgment will rise up and call him blessed. 
 
 The Fort Edwards Mission lay up and down the east bank of the 
 Mississippi, from Quincy City to Fort Edwards, which stood where 
 the City of Warsaw now stands ; thence up the Mississippi to the 
 celebrated foot of what is called the Lower Rapids, where, in after 
 times, was erected the idolatrous city of Nauvoo, under the supervision 
 of the grand impostor Joseph Smith, who was and is claimed as the 
 Mormon Prophet. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 MORMONISM. 
 
 PERMIT me to make a few remarks about the blasphemous organi- 
 zation called the Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints. The original 
 absurdity and trifling character of Joe Smith and his coadjutors is a 
 matter of history, known and understood of all the intelligent reading
 
 198 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 community that have sought information on the subject, and therefore 
 need not be stated here by me. But there are a few facts I will state 
 that have come under my own personal knowledge ; for it has fallen 
 to my lot to be appointed to travel in the region of country in Illinois 
 niost infested with this imposture. 
 
 After the Mormons were driven from Missouri for their infamous 
 and unlawful deeds, they fled to Illinois, Joe Smith and all, and esta- 
 blished themselves at Nauvoo, or the foot of -the Lower Rapids, on 
 the east side of the Mississippi. At an early day after they were 
 driven from Missouri and took up their residence in Illinois, it fell to 
 my lot to become acquainted with Joe Smith personally, and with 
 many of their leading men and professed followers. On a certain 
 occasion I fell in with Joe Smith, and was formally and officially in- 
 troduced to him in Springfield, then our county town. We soon fell 
 into a free conversation on the subject of religion, and Mormonism in 
 particular. I found him to be a very illiterate and impudent desperado 
 111 morals, but, at the same time, he had a vast fund of low cunning. 
 
 In the first place, he made his onset on me by flattery, and he laid 
 on the soft sodder thick and fast. He expressed great and almost un- 
 bounded pleasure in the high privilege of becoming acquainted with 
 me, one of whom he had heard so many great and good things, and he 
 had no doubt I was one among God's noblest creatures, an honest 
 man. He believed that among all the Churches in the world the 
 Methodist was the nearest right, and that, as far as they went, they 
 were right ; but they had stopped short by not claiming the gift of 
 tongues, of prophecy, and of miracles ; and then quoted a batch of 
 Scripture to prove his positions correct. Upon the whole, he did 
 pretty well for clumsy Joe. I gave him rope, as the sailors say, and, 
 indeed, I seemed to lay this flattering unction pleasurably to my soul. 
 
 " Indeed," said Joe, " if the Methodists would only advance a step 
 or two further, they would take the world. We Latter-Day Saints are 
 Methodists, as far as they have gone, only we have advanced further ; 
 and if you would come in and go with us, we could sweep not only 
 the Methodist Church, but all others, and you would be looked up to 
 as one of the Lord's greatest prophets. You would be honoured by 
 countless thousands, and have of the good things of this world all that 
 heart could wish." 
 
 I then began to inquire into some of the tenets of the Latter -Day 
 Saints. He explained. I criticized his explanations till, unfortunately, 
 we got into high debate, and he cunningly concluded that his first bait 
 would riot take ; for he plainly saw I was not to be flattered out of common 
 sense and honesty. The next pass he made at me was to move upon my 
 fears. He said that in all ages of the world the good and right way
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 199 
 
 was evil spoken of, and that it was an awful thing to fight against 
 God. 
 
 " Now," said he, " if you will go with me to Nauvoo, I will show 
 you many living witnesses that will testify that they were, by the 
 saints, cured of blindness, lameness, deafness, dumbness, and all the 
 diseases that human flesh is heir to ; and I will show you," said he, 
 " that we have the gift of tongues, and can speak in unknown lan- 
 guages, and that the saints can drink any deadly poison, and it will 
 not hurt them ; " and closed by saying, " The idle stories you hear 
 about us are nothing but sheer persecution." 
 
 I then gave him the following history of an encounter I had at a 
 camp-meeting in Morgan County, some time before, with some of his 
 Mormons, and assured him I could prove all I said by thousands that 
 were present. 
 
 The camp-meeting was numerously attended, and we had a good 
 and gracious work of religion going on among the people. On Satur- 
 day there came some twenty or thirty Mormons to the meeting. 
 During the intermission after the eleven o'clock sermon they collected 
 in one corner of the encampment, and began to sing, and they sang 
 well. As fast as the people rose from their dinners, they drew up to 
 hear the singing, and the scattering crowd drew up until a large com- 
 pany surrounded them. I was busy regulating matters connected with 
 the meeting. At length, according, I have no doubt, to a preconcerted 
 plan, an old lady Mormon began to shout, and after shouting a while 
 she swooned away and fell into the arms of her husband. The old 
 man proclaimed that his wife had gone into a trance, and that when 
 she came to she would speak in an unknown tongue, and that he would 
 interpret. This proclamation produced considerable excitement, and 
 the multitude crowded thick around. Presently the old lady arose and 
 began to speak in an unknown tongue, sure enough. 
 
 Just then my attention was called to the matter. I saw in one 
 moment that the whole mano3uvre was intended to bring the Mormons 
 into notice, and break up the good of our meeting. I advanced 
 instantly toward the crowd, and asked the people to give way and let 
 me in to this old lady, who was then being held in the arms of her 
 husband. I came right up to them, and took hold of her arm, and 
 ordered her peremptorily to hush that gibberish ; that I would have 
 no more of it ; that it was presumptuous, and blasphemous nonsense. 
 I stopped very suddenly her unknown tongue. She opened her eyes, 
 took me by the hand, and said, 
 
 " My dear friend, I have a message directly from God to you." 
 
 I stopped her short, and said, " 1 will have none of your messages. 
 If God can speak through no better medium than an old, hypocritical,
 
 200 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 lying woman, I will hear nothing of it." Her husband, who was to 
 be the interpreter of her message, flew into a mighty rage, and said, 
 
 " Sir, this is my wife, and I will defend her at the risk of my life." 
 
 I replied, " Sir, this is my camp-meeting, and I will maintain the 
 good order of it at the risk of my life. If this is your wife, take her 
 off from here, and clear yourselves in five minutes, or I will have you 
 under guard." 
 
 The old lady slipped out and was off quickly. The old man stayed 
 a little, and began to pour a tirade of abuse on me. I stopped him 
 short, and said, " Not another word of abuse from you, sir. I have 
 no doubt you are an old thief; and if your back was examined, no 
 doubt you carry the marks of the cowhide for your villany." And 
 sure enough, as if I had spoken by inspiration, he, in some of the old 
 States, had been lashed to the whipping-post for stealing ; and I tell 
 you the old man began to think other persons had visions besides his 
 wife, but he was very clear from wishing to interpret my unknown 
 tongue. To cap the climax, a young gentleman stepped up and said 
 he had no doubt all I said of this old man was true, and much more ; 
 for he had caught him stealing corn out of his father's crib. By this 
 time, such was the old man's excitement that the great drops of sweat 
 ran down his face, and he called out, 
 
 " Don't crowd me, gentlemen ; it is mighty warm." 
 
 Said I, " Open the way, gentlemen, and let him out." When the 
 way was opened, I cried, " Now start, and don't show your face here 
 again, nor one of the Mormons. If you do, you will get Lynch's 
 law." 
 
 They all disappeared, and our meeting went on prosperously ; a 
 great many were converted to God, and the Church was much revived 
 and built up in her holy faith. 
 
 My friend, Joe Smith, became very restive before I got through 
 with my narrative ; and when I closed, his wrath boiled over, and he 
 cursed me in the name of his God, and said, " I will show you, sir, 
 that I will raise up a government in these United States which will 
 overturn the present government, and I will raise up a new religion 
 that will overturn every other form of religion in this country ! " 
 
 " Yes," said I, " Uncle Joe ; but my Bible tells me, ' The bloody and 
 deceitful man shall not live out half his days ; ' and I expect the Lord 
 will send the devil after you some of these days, and take you out of 
 the way." 
 
 " No, sir," said he ; "I shall live and prosper, while you will die 
 in your sins." 
 
 " Well, sir," said I, " if you live and prosper, you must quit your 
 stealing and abominable whoredoms ! "
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 201 
 
 Thus we parted, to meet no more on earth ; for in a few years after 
 this, an outraged and deeply-injured people took the law into their 
 own hands, and killed him, and drove the Mormons from the State. 
 They should be considered and treated as outlaws in every country and 
 clime. The two great political parties in the State were nearly equal, 
 and these wretched Mormons, for several years, held the balance of 
 power, and they were always in market to the highest bidder ; and I have 
 often been put to the blush to see our demagogues and stump orators, 
 from both political parties, courting favours from the Mormons, to 
 gain a triumph in an election. Any man or set of men that would be 
 mean enough to stoop so low as to connive at the abominations of 
 these reckless Mormons, surely ought to be considered unworthy of 
 public office, honour, or confidence. But this is the way with all 
 demagogues ; and if our happy and glorious Union is destroyed, it will 
 be done by these office-seekers, who go for their own little insignificant 
 selves, while the true love of country is an eternal stranger in their 
 traitorous hearts. 
 
 One fact I wish here to mention, that ought to be made public. 
 When Joe Smith was announced a candidate for President of these 
 United States, almost every infidel association in the Union declared 
 in his favour. I travelled extensively through the Eastern States and 
 cities, as well as in the West, that year ; and I must say this was 
 literally true, as far as I conversed with, or obtained reliable informa- 
 tion of, those infidel associations or individuals. Does not this speak 
 volumes ? and ought it not to teach the friends of religion an impres- 
 sive lesson ? 
 
 Great blame has been attached to the State, the citizens of Hancock 
 County, in which Nauvoo is situated, as well as other adjoining 
 counties, for the part they acted in driving the Mormons from among 
 them. But it should be remembered they had no redress at law; for 
 it is beyond all doubt that the Mormons would swear anything, true or 
 false. They stole the stock, plundered and burned the houses and barns 
 of the citizens, and there is no doubt they privately murdered some of the 
 best people in the county ; and owing to the perjured evidence always 
 at their command, it was impossible to have any legal redress. If it 
 had not been for this state of things, Joe Smith would not have been 
 killed, and they would not have been driven with violence from the 
 State. Eepeated efforts were made to get redress for these wrongs 
 and outrages, but all to no purpose ; and the wonder is, how the 
 people bore so long as they did with the outrageous villanies practised 
 on them, without a resort to violent measures. I claim to know all 
 about the dreadful conduct of the Mormons, and could state in detail 
 the facts in these cases, but think it unnecessary. This much I think
 
 202 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 it my duty to state, at least to palliate the seeming high-handed 
 measures of our wronged and oppressed citizens. 
 
 In the fall of 1833, our Illinois Conference was held in Union Grove, 
 Padfield's, St. Glair County, September 25th. It fell to the lot of 
 Bishop Soule to take this Western tour, in the summer previous to our 
 Conference. He came to my house on his Western round of Confer- 
 ences. He travelled in a two-horse carriage, with an excellent span of 
 horses ; and he needed such ; for the Missouri Conference sat in Arkan- 
 sas Territory, at Salem, Washington County, a long way in the interior, 
 and west of the Mississippi. He had mountains to climb and large 
 rivers to cross, through a sparsely-populated country. My son-in-law, 
 William D. E. Trotter, rode the Blue Eiver Mission, which was in 
 Pike and Calhoun Counties, and lay directly in the bishop's route. My 
 quarterly meeting was in this mission. Trotter, the missionary, was at 
 my house; so we started in company with the bishop. After we 
 crossed the Illinois Eiver, we had a hilly country to pass through to 
 get to the quarterly meeting, almost without roads. So steep were 
 some of the hills, and so deep the hollows and ravines, that we had to 
 loose the horses from the bishop's carriage and let it down by hand ; 
 then hitch on and drive up the hills. It seemed to me that if these 
 were episcopal honours, I would beg to be excused from wearing them ; 
 and really it appeared to me that it was enough to discourage a bishop 
 himself. But those who know Bishop Soule, know him to be a man 
 of indomitable courage. 
 
 After much labour to man and beast, we got safe to the quarterly 
 meeting. The bishop stayed with us over Sabbath, and preached two 
 excellent sermons, which had a good effect on the congregations ; and 
 the curiosity of many was gratified ; for if circumstances had not tran- 
 spired to bring him to our camp quarterly meeting, they would have 
 lived and died without ever seeing a Methodist bishop. 
 
 Our Western country, in certain locations, was, in 1832 and 1833, 
 fearfully visited with that dreadful scourge, the cholera. On Monday 
 of our camp-meeting, a very severe case of cholera took place with a 
 hearty young man, that terminated fatally in eight or ten hours. The 
 people generally believed it to be contagious ; hence we deemed it 
 most prudent to close the meeting, though our prospects for a good 
 meeting were very encouraging. Bishop Soule, with great labour and 
 fatigue, prosecuted his journey, and reached the Missouri Conference, 
 but was taken sick with a violent attack of fever, so that he did not 
 reach our Conference till the last hour of its session. The Conference 
 had elected me as their president. We had done all our business, and 
 the council had made out all the appointments, and we were just about 
 adjourning, when the bishop arrived. I sent a messenger to him, and
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 203 
 
 inquired of him if he wished to say anything to the Conference ; but 
 he declined coming into the room, and requested all those who had 
 been elected to office to wait until he had rested a little, being much 
 fatigued, and he would ordain them. They did so, and were ordained 
 accordingly. 
 
 At this Conference, in the fall of 1833, the brethren in Jacksonville, 
 though few in number and comparatively poor, petitioned for a 
 stationed preacher. Their request was granted, and Thomas J. Starr 
 was appointed their preacher. Few and poor, however, as the brethren 
 in Jacksonville were, there was a great improvement, in point of numbers 
 and wealth, from the time of their first organization as a class till now. 
 I am sorry that it is out of my power to give the date of the organiza- 
 tion of the first class in Jacksonville, but I think it was in 1827, when 
 it was embraced in what was then called the Mississippi Circuit, and 
 Thomas Randle and Isaac House were the Circuit preachers. In the 
 course of this year, the first quarterly meeting ever held in Jacksonville 
 was held in a log-house, owned by old Father Jordan. It was held up- 
 stairs, and I well remember it was an interesting quarterly meeting. 
 In 1831 the Jacksonville Circuit was formed from part of the old 
 Mississippi Circuit, and John Sinclair, now of the Rock River Confer- 
 ence, was the Circuit preacher ; but from the rapid growth of the town, 
 and increase of population, the Methodists have two large churches and 
 pastoral charges, and there are many more churches in the city, belong- 
 ing to other denominations. The Presbyterians have a flourishing 
 college located here, and the Methodists have a female college, nume- 
 rously attended. There is also another flourishing female college in 
 Jacksonville, but to what denomination it belongs, or whether to any 
 particular one, I am not prepared to say. The Illinois State Hospital 
 for the Insane, the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, the Institute to Educate 
 the Blind, all under the fostering care of the State, are located in Jack- 
 sonville. Indeed, it is the Athens of Illinois, and speaks loudly in 
 favour of the State, and of the citizens of Jacksonville and surrounding 
 country in particular. These institutions have high claims on all 
 benevolent sympathizers in human woe, and all the real friends of a 
 sanctified literature that will issue streams of light and life, to bless 
 unnumbered thousands of our fallen race. 
 
 Our Illinois Conference, for 1834, was holden at Mount Carmel, 
 October 1st. This year the brethren in the town of Rushville desired 
 to be organized into a station, and pledged themselves for the support 
 of a preacher. I consented, and appointed T. N. Ralston, and it has 
 remained a station ever since. 
 
 At one of our early camp-meetings in Schuyler County, Rushville Cir- 
 cuit, there was a general religious excitement. Many professed religion
 
 204 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 and joined the Church. Among the rest was a very intelligent and 
 interesting young lady, a Koraan Catholic. She was deeply convicted, 
 and knelt at the altar and prayed fervently for mercy, and, after a sore 
 conflict, she found peace in believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Her 
 conversion was a very clear one. She joined the Methodist Church, 
 and desired me to baptize her. I inquired of her whether she had not 
 been baptized. She told me she had been baptized by the Roman 
 priest, but she was aware of her own knowledge that the priest was a 
 very wicked man, and that she did not believe he had any right to 
 administer the ordinances of the Church on account of his wickedness, 
 and, therefore, she was dissatisfied with her baptism. After mature 
 reflection on the subject I baptized her, and she proved to be a worthy 
 member of the Church. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 CONVERSION OF A FAMILY. 
 
 IN the course of this year, 1834, we had a camp-meeting in Knox 
 County, Henderson River Mission. There was a goodly number 
 tented, and a fine turn-out of people, for the number of settlers in 
 this new and rising country. Our encampment was pitched in a 
 beautiful little grove, on an eminence, surrounded by prairie on every 
 hand. 
 
 There was in this settlement an interesting and intelligent family 
 from one of the Eastern States. The younger members of the family 
 consisted of several young men and young ladies. The young people 
 liked the Methodists, and were deeply convicted ; the old people, 
 particularly the old lady, were very much opposed to them. Living, 
 as they did, close by the camp-ground, they put their Yankee inge- 
 nuity to work to keep their children away from the meeting; but 
 finding they could not accomplish it, they at once determined to pitch 
 their tent on the camp-ground, and then they thought they would 
 have a better opportunity to watch the children, and counteract any 
 influence we might exert upon them. They pretended to be very 
 friendly, to save appearances. The old lady, for the purpose of dis- 
 arming me, treated me very kindly, and invited me to eat with them, 
 which I did. In the meantime one of the daughters, who was deeply 
 convicted, told me all about her mother's opposition to the Meth- 
 odists, and her schemes to prevent her children from being influenced 
 to become religious.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 205 
 
 One Saturday evening I invited the seekers of religion to come 
 forward to the altar for the prayers of the Church. Two of her 
 daughters came forward and knelt in prayer. A younger sister, 
 almost as much opposed to the Methodists as her mother, went into 
 the altar with a vial of hartshorn, and, while her two sisters were try- 
 ing to pray, she slipped the hartshorn to their nose, in order to drive 
 them up, and prevent their seeking religion. I very soon detected her 
 in her operations, and took hold of her hand, wrenched the vial from 
 her, led her out of the altar, and told her, if I caught her in there 
 any more on such business, I would pitch her out and publicly 
 expose her. 
 
 While I was talking to and praying with these two young ladies 
 and others, I saw the old lady, their mother, come and take her seat 
 outside of the altar, immediately opposite her daughters ; and if at 
 any time she thought I was not. watching her, she would kick them in 
 their sides to drive them up. I watched her very closely ; and when 
 in the act of kicking them, I took hold of her foot and gave her a 
 strong push backward, and over she tumbled among the benches. 
 Being a large, corpulent woman, she had some considerable tussle to 
 right herself again. So in this way I defeated the scheme of the devil 
 once more. The girls became very much engaged ; but while there 
 were many still pressing to the altar, and my attention for a moment 
 was called off, the old lady contrived to get them out of the altar into 
 the tent. As soon as I discovered what was done, I gathered two or 
 three good singers and praying persons, and followed them into the 
 tent, and commenced singing ; I then gave them an exhortation ; then 
 said, " Let us pray," and called on the father of the girls to pray for 
 his children, but he refused; I then called on their mother to kneel 
 down and pray for her children, and she refused. In the meantime 
 two of the boys, as well as the two girls, became very much affected, 
 and cried for mercy ; and presently the third daughter, that had used 
 the hartshorn in the altar, got awfully convicted, and begged all pre- 
 sent to pray for her, as she would be lost and damned for ever. This 
 was too much for the old people ; they became awfully alarmed, and 
 wept bitterly ; and you may be sure the whole tent was in a mighty 
 uproar. The singing, praying, and exhortations were kept up nearly 
 all night. Four of the family were powerfully converted, and the 
 sectarian devil in the old father and mother was effectually disarmed, 
 and from that blessed night they became a religious family ; all joined 
 the Methodist Church, and, as far as I know, walked worthy of their 
 high vocation. May they all prove faithful till death, and then receive 
 a crown of life ! 
 
 While on the Quincy District, the town of Qnincy was a very
 
 206 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 small and sickly place, I remember spending near two weeks in it 
 when, if my recollection serves me, there was but one family where 
 there was no affliction. In some families there were one, two, or 
 three confined to their beds with fever, and sometimes the whole 
 family were sick together, and not one able to help another. I went 
 from house to house, not only to minister to their temporal wants, 
 but to pray with them, and point the sick and dying to Christ. Many 
 died, and it was with great difficulty that we could muster enough 
 persons able to bury the dead. 
 
 There was one case which, in a very special manner, affected my 
 mind. Under the hill, close by the brink of the river, there was what 
 was called a "tavern." It was a poor, filthy place at best; the 
 general resort of boatmen ; and, in a word, all kinds of bad company 
 resorted to this house. A young man, from some of the Eastern 
 States, had come out to explore the West, and was taken sick on the 
 boat, on the river, and was left at this miserable house. He was a 
 professed Christian, and a member of the Methodist Church. No 
 medical aid could be obtained, no nurse, and, in a word, no care was 
 taken of him. In this deplorable condition, he heard that there was a 
 Methodist preacher in town, visiting the sick. He sent for me, and I 
 went to see him. He told me who he was, where his parents lived, 
 and that he had a considerable sum of money with him, and he wanted 
 me to take charge 'of it ; for he was sure, if it was known he had money, 
 he should be robbed of it. I took charge of his money, told the 
 landlord to give him all the attention he could, and I would see him 
 paid. The sick man said he was sensible he must die, but that he 
 was not willing to die at that house, and begged me to have him 
 removed, if possible. I knew of a very comfortable place, a few miles 
 in the country, and caused his removal there. Here he lingered for a 
 while, and then died. He had requested me, in case of his decease, 
 to have him decently buried, pay out of his money his tavern bill, his 
 funeral expenses, and write to his parents, that they might come to 
 get his clothes and money. I did as requested. His younger brother 
 came, got his money and clothes ; and although it was a mournful dis- 
 pensation to his relatives, yet it afforded them great comfort to know 
 that he died among friends, though strangers. 
 
 This is one among many cases of the kind that from an early day 
 came under my notice, in which enterprising men have come to the 
 far West, have been taken sick, and died among strangers, uncared for. 
 
 We had a camp-meeting in Adams County, Quincy Circuit, and it 
 was numerously attended. There was a gracious work of religion 
 going on among the people, and there was a pretty clever, intelligent 
 old gentleman, who had moved into the settlement from Kentucky,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 207 
 
 who, in that State, had been a Baptist preacher, but had got his mind 
 confused with Alexander Campbell's dogmas about experimental reli- 
 gion. He had a fine family, and some of them knew what real religion 
 was. He and family attended our camp-meeting. He was very fond 
 of argument on almost all theological subjects. He tried to get me 
 into debate during the meeting, but I told him I was there for other 
 and better business. He denied the operations of the Spirit, its testi- 
 mony, bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of 
 God ; and [asserted] that all those happy feelings professed by Chris- 
 tians were nothing but excitement ; that there was no religion in it. 
 
 On Sunday night a most tremendous power fell on the assembly, 
 and a general shout went up to heaven from hundreds of Christians. 
 Among the crowd of happy and shouting Christians this gentleman's 
 wife and daughter were exceedingly happy, and shouted aloud. The 
 old gentleman could not stand it ; he fled behind the tent, lighted his 
 pipe, and tried to smoke away his bad feelings. After labouring in 
 the altar a long time, I stepped back to get a drink of water, and 
 there sat this old Campbellite preacher, and the cloud of smoke from 
 his pipe was fearful ; he seemed to be insensible of what he was about, 
 and the pipe and tobacco were paying tribute to his reveries at a 
 mighty rate, I stepped up to him and tapped him on the shoulder, 
 
 and said, " Come, Mr. , go with me, and I will show you more 
 
 happy Christians than you ever saw among the Campbellites in all 
 your life." 
 
 " Sir," said he, "it is all delusion ; they are not happy." 
 " But," said I, " your wife and daughter are among the foremost 
 shouters in the crowd. Come," said I, "you must come with me to 
 the altar ; I want to pray for you there, that you may get religion, 
 and be happy too. Come, sir, I want to see you converted, and 
 shouting-happy." I took him by the arm, to lead him to the altar, 
 but he drew back. I gathered him again, and pulled him along ; but 
 the moment he saw his wife and daughter shouting, and making 
 toward him, he tore loose from ray grasp, and actually ran. Poor 
 man, he was so confused by fishing in the muddy waters of Campbell- 
 ism, that he lost his mental balance. He would not yield to the 
 Spirit of God, and submit to be an humble, shouting, happy Christian. 
 Sometimes he would talk rational ; sometimes quote and apply the 
 Scriptures right ; then, again, he became sceptical. But the great 
 difficulty was, the pride of his professed ministerial standing would 
 not let him yield, and renounce his errors. Thus he worried on for a 
 considerable time, and was carried into the whirlpool of doubt and 
 unbelief. His friends talked to him, but talked in vain. He became 
 more and more flighty in his mind, till at length, in a paroxysm of
 
 208 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 insanity,.he shot himself. This event fell like a thunderbolt on his 
 family and the surrounding community, and proves that it is a hard 
 thing to fight against God. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 MISSIONARIES FROM THE EAST. 
 
 ABOUT this time there were a great many young missionaries sent 
 out to this country to civilize and Christianize the poor heathen of the 
 West. They would come with a tolerable education, and a smattering 
 knowledge of the old Calvinistic system of theology. They were 
 generally tolerably well furnished with old manuscript sermons, that 
 had been preached, or written, perhaps a hundred years before. Some 
 of these sermons they had memorized, but in general they read them 
 to the people. This way of reading sermons was out of fashion alto- 
 gether in this Western world, and of course they produced no good 
 effect among the people. The great mass of our Western people 
 wanted a preacher that could mount a stump, a block, or old log, or 
 stand in the bed of a waggon, and, without note or manuscript, quote, 
 expound, and apply the word of God to the hearts and consciences of 
 the people. The result of the efforts of these Eastern missionaries 
 was not very flattering ; and although the Methodist preachers were 
 in reality the pioneer heralds of the cross throughout the entire West, 
 and although they had raised up numerous societies and churches 
 every five miles, and notwithstanding we had hundreds of travelling 
 and local preachers, accredited and useful ministers of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ ; yet these newly-fledged missionaries would write back to the 
 old States hardly anything else but wailings and lamentations over the 
 moral wastes and destitute condition of the West. 
 
 These letters would be read in their large congregations, stating 
 that they had travelled hundreds of miles, and found no evangelical 
 minister, and the poor perishing people were in a fair way to be lost 
 for the want of the bread of life; and the ignorant or uninformed 
 thousands that heard these letters read would melt into tears, and 
 their sympathies would be greatly moved, when they considered our 
 lost and heathenish state, and would liberally contribute their money 
 to send us more missionaries, or to support those that were already 
 here. Thus some of these missionaries, after occupying our pulpits, 
 and preaching in large and respectable Methodist congregations, would 
 write back and give those doleful tidings. Presently their letters
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER.' 209 
 
 would be printed, and come back among us as published facts in some 
 of their periodicals. 
 
 Now, what confidence could the people have in such missionaries, 
 who would state things as facts that had not even the semblance of 
 truth in them ? Thus I have known many of them destroy their own 
 usefulness, and cut off all access to the people ; and, indeed, they have 
 destroyed all confidence in them as ministers of truth and righteous- 
 ness, and caused the way of truth to be evil spoken of. On a certain 
 occasion, when these reports came back known to contain false state- 
 ments, the citizens of Quincy called a meeting, mostly out of the 
 Church, arid, after discussing the subject, pledged themselves to give 
 me a^thousand dollars per annum, and bear all my travelling expenses, 
 if I would go as a missionary to the New England States, and en- 
 lighten them on this and other subjects, of which they considered 
 them profoundly ignorant. But, owing to circumstances beyond my 
 control, I was obliged to decline the acceptance of their generous offer. 
 
 If it had been consistently in my power, how gladly and willingly 
 would I have undertaken this labour of love, and gloried in enlight- 
 ening them down East, that they might keep their home-manufactured 
 clergy at home, or give them some honourable employ better suited to 
 their genius, than that of reading old musty and worm-eaten sermons ! 
 If this matter is rightly looked into, it will astonish every well-informed 
 man to see the self-importance and self-complacence of these little 
 home-manufactured fellows. If they would tarry at Jericho till their 
 beards were grown out, it would certainly be more creditable to them- 
 selves, and to all others concerned, and especially to the cause of 
 God. 
 
 It will be perceived that in the fall of 1834 the Galena and Chicago 
 Districts were formed, which gave us six presiding-elder Districts in 
 our Conference. Our Conference met in Springfield, October 1st, 
 1835. At this Conference I was returned to the Quincy District, 
 which now consisted of the following appointments, namely, Pittsfield, 
 Quincy Circuit, Quincy Mission, Rushville Station, Eushville Circuit, 
 Canton, Fort Edwards Mission, Henderson Eiver Mission, and Knox- 
 ville Mission; eight. At this Conference in Springfield, we again elected 
 our delegates to the General Conference, which was holden in Cin- 
 cinnati, May 1st, 1836. To this General Conference I was elected; 
 and it was the fifth General Conference in which I was entitled to a 
 seat by the suffrages. of my brethren in the ministry. 
 
 At the General Conference of 1832, that body had granted the 
 privilege to the West to publish a religious paper at Cincinnati, on 
 the hard condition that we obtained five thousand subscribers. How- 
 ever, by strong effort we obtained that number, and Thomas A. Morris 
 
 p
 
 210 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 was its first editor. At the General Conference of 1836, he, as well 
 as Brother Beverly Waugh, and Dr. Fisk, were elected bishops of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, and Doctor C. Elliott, the present 
 incumbent, was elected editor of the " Western Christian Advocate," 
 John F. Wright our Western book agent, and Leroy Swormstedt 
 assistant book agent. 
 
 It was at this General Conference of 1836, that the ground was 
 taken by a majority of the delegates from the slaveholding States, that 
 slavery was right, and a blessing, instead of a curse, to the slaves 
 themselves. We had from the North 0. Scott and his coadjutors, 
 who were ultra abolitionists ; and we had some warm debates on 
 the subject. The Southern delegates met in private caucus to devise a 
 plan of separation from the Methodist Episcopal Church, unless we 
 would so modify the Discipline as to tolerate slavery, or make it no 
 bar to membership or office in the Church. This movement was 
 headed by the Eev. William A. Smith, of Virginia, and others of the 
 same cloth and kidney. I was invited by John Early, of Virginia, 
 now bishop of the Southern Church, to attend one of these caucuses. 
 I went. Some of them took strong ground, and urged a division, or 
 a separation from the Methodist Episcopal Church. Others of them 
 said they would never consent to a division ; that they would rather 
 suffer martyrdom than to divide the Church. Finally, 1 think they 
 did not harmonize on any plan of division at that time ; but William 
 A. Smith said to me, he never would be satisfied unless we would 
 agree to expunge everything from the Discipline of the Methodist 
 Church on the subject of slavery ; and, true to the dark principles of 
 his creed, he never rested until he divided the Methodist Church ; and 
 at the late General Conference of the Church, South, they swept, as 
 with the besom of destruction, every rule from their Discipline on the 
 subject of slavery, and only lacked a few votes of erasing from the 
 General Rules that part which forbids " the buying and selling of 
 men, women, or children, with an intention to enslave them." * 
 
 This rule the advocates of slavery at the South have always inter- 
 preted to apply to the slave-trade, and that trade alone. Taking them 
 to be sincere in this interpretation of this General Rule, what is the 
 conclusion that we must draw from their late move in their General 
 Conference ? It is, plainly, that they wish every disciplinary barrier 
 moved out of the way, and the slave-trade, with all its damning, mur- 
 dering influences, revived again, notwithstanding it is denounced by 
 all Christian philanthropists, and made piracy by the laws of our 
 happy country ; notwithstanding all their pretensions to patriotism, 
 their love of country, and all their law-loving and law-abiding pro- 
 * See note, ante, p. 90.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 211 
 
 fessions, as being " obedient to the powers that be," they would open 
 the way to revive this abominable traffic in human souls and bodies ; 
 and while this slave-trade stands reprobated by every Christian nation 
 that deserves the name, and has the broad seal of reprobation set on it 
 by God Himself, they wish to see its dark wheels set in motion again, 
 without let or hindrance. 
 
 And why should they not desire this, if they are sincere in their 
 expressed opinions ? They tell us that slavery " is a political, domes- 
 tic, and religious blessing;" if so, why not enter into the slave-trade, 
 wholesale and retail ? go with armed ships, kidnap human beings by 
 the thousand, bring them to America, sell them into perpetual bond- 
 age ? Never mind the parting of husband and wife, parents and 
 children ; the encouraging the savage ferocity of these poor degraded 
 heathen. Tell them the Christian religion sanctions their bloody wars 
 among themselves ; and that it is to make Christians of them that you 
 buy and transport them to " the land of the free and the home of the 
 brave." Have no scruples of conscience about the thousands that are 
 murdered in these wars, instigated by Christians, or that die on their 
 passage from the land of barbarism to this Christian land of universal 
 freedom ; " the great end will sanctify the means." Crowd the slave- 
 ships or " floating hells;" all, all is to better their condition. It is a 
 god-like deed of mercy, and why should not Methodist preachers, 
 bishops and all, have a large share in this benevolent and Christian 
 affair ? Who can forbid ? And let the officers of these slave vessels 
 never forget to tell these savage tribes that there is at least one very 
 popular Church in America that sanctions all these operations, and 
 will justify them; namely, the Methodist Episcopal Church, -South. 
 
 Prior to the General Conference of 1836, the run-mad spirit of 
 rabid abolitionism had broken out in some of the Eastern and North- 
 ern Conferences ; and Methodist preachers were found by the dozen 
 to quit their appropriate fields of labour, and their holy calling of 
 saving souls, and turn out and become hired lecturers against slavery. 
 So zealous were they, that they forgot their pastoral duties ; and they 
 went so far as violently to oppose colonization as a slaveholding trick. 
 Dr. Fisk was a good man and true, and was as much opposed to 
 slavery as any of them ; yet he was for occupying real Methodist 
 preacher ground, and bearing his plain, honest testimony against the 
 moral evil of slavery, and not meddling with it politically, only in a 
 constitutional way. He, seeing that this rabid abolitionism would 
 rivet the chains of slavery the tighter, rouse the jealousies of the slave- 
 holders, and disrupt the Methodist Church, flung himself into the 
 breach, and met those lecturers in open combat ; vanquished them in 
 argument, and compelled them to retreat, or bolt, and set up for 
 
 p 2
 
 212 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 themselves. 0. Scott and his coadjutors formed themselves into a sepa- 
 rate party organization, calling themselves the " True Wesley ans ;" but 
 long since they have found, to their sorrow, that they misnamed the 
 brat ; for the secession that they produced was a very feeble, little, 
 illegitimate child. But they nursed it till it took the rickets ; and the 
 last I heard of it, it was fast wasting away, and " the last state of it is 
 worse than the first." 
 
 Under these circumstances, Dr. Fisk stood in the general confidence 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, North and South, East and West ; 
 and although he was not present at the General Conference at Cin- 
 cinnati, yet when we were about to elect three new bishops, Dr. Winans, 
 of Mississippi, a thorough Southern man, and a great defender of 
 slavery, rose, and in open Conference nominated Dr. Fisk for episcopal 
 honours ; and if I am not greatly mistaken, nearly the entire Southern 
 delegation voted for him, and he was elected by a great majority of 
 the members of the General Conference. But Dr. Fisk, thinking that 
 the episcopate was strong enough without him, declined being ordained, 
 and lived and died without episcopal consecration. It is a pity that 
 more Methodist preachers do not follow the illustrious course pursued 
 by Dr. Fisk. Then we should benefit the slaves more than we do. 
 
 At the General Conference of 1836, there were six new Conferences 
 formed ; two in the West, namely, Arkansas and Michigan, and four 
 in the East, namely, Erie, North Carolina, Oneida, and New Jersey. 
 The number of members in the West was about 262,690 ; our travel- 
 ling preachers in the West had increased to 1,069. The number of 
 members in the Eastern Conferences was about 396,000 ; their travel- 
 ling preachers numbered about 3,560. Total membership, 658,690; 
 total travelling preachers, 4,629. Our increase in the West, in four 
 years, was something like 45,000 ; in travelling preachers we had in- 
 creased about 300. The increase in the Eastern Conferences, accord- 
 ing to the Minutes, was 14,000 ; their increase in travelling preachers 
 was something like 200. Total increase through the Connexion, in 
 four years, 59,000. 
 
 Thus, I think, without any disposition to boast in the least degree, 
 I may say, in the fear of God, that, under the Divine guidance of the 
 Great Eedeemer, the Methodist Episcopal Church, in point of pros- 
 perity and increase of number in her ministry and membership, 
 stands without an equal in the Protestant world since the days of the 
 apostles. O that she may keep humble, and never move her old 
 land-marks ! 
 
 Our venerable Bishop M'Kendree, of whom I have spoken freely in 
 another part of this narrative, who laboured long and suffered much 
 as a travelling preacher, had closed his mortal probation on March
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 213 
 
 the 5th, 1835. At the General Conference at Cincinnati, in May, 
 3836, Bishop Soule preached the funeral sermon of this eminent 
 minister and unrivalled bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 That sermon has been published and thrown broadcast over the world, 
 and I therefore have no need to say anything in relation to its merits. 
 But I wish to say a few brief things of Bishop M'Kendree himself. 
 
 If my information be correct, he was born in King William County, 
 Virginia, 6th of July, 1757. In an extensive and glorious revival of 
 religion, under the ministerial labours of John Easter, a real son of 
 thunder and of consolation too, M'Kendree embraced religion and 
 joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. In a few months he was 
 licensed to preach, and was appointed to a Circuit. He was very 
 diffident and distrustful of his own abilities as a preacher. The mem- 
 bers of the Church did not receive him kindly. This he told me him- 
 self ; and under the discouragement he met with from his brethren, he 
 left his Circuit, conceiving that he was mistaken about his call to the 
 ministry ; but he fell into good hands among the preachers, and they 
 advised, cheered, and comforted him, and soon he entered the work 
 again. 
 
 These were the times of the schism created in the Church by James 
 O'Kelly, who had a great influence over M'Kendree, and for a little 
 while he inclined to leave the Methodist Episcopal Church and go 
 with this popular schismatic. But he was not hasty, and narrowly 
 watched the spirit and course of O'Kelly, until he became thoroughly 
 satisfied that O'Kelly was of a wrong and wicked spirit, and that the 
 great moving cause of O'Kelly's disaffection was disappointed ambition. 
 He then gave up O'Kelly, fully satisfied that Bishop Asbury and his 
 preachers were right, and from this to the day of his death he never 
 wavered or doubted on the grand land-marks of Episcopal 
 Methodism. 
 
 Bishop M'Kendree was the gentleman as well as Christian minister. 
 He was a profound theologian, and understood thoroughly the organic 
 laws of ecclesiastic government ; he was a dignified, shrewd parlia- 
 mentary presiding officer, a profound judge of human nature, and one 
 of the strongest debaters and logical reasoners that ever graced an 
 American pulpit. At an early period of his ministry he was trans- 
 ferred to the Western Conference, and, considering the hardships, 
 privations, and sufferings of frontier life, and the delicacy of his con- 
 stitution, he bore it all with great cheerfulness and resignation, and 
 truly he was, in his feelings and habits, a Western man and a Western 
 bishop. When his end drew near, death found him duly prepared for 
 his change, and on his dying pillow and amid surrounding friends he 
 was enabled to proclaim, " All is well." He died in Sumner County,
 
 214 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEB. 
 
 Tennessee State, at his brother's, Dr. M'Kendree, and was buried in 
 his brother's family burying ground, where all that is mortal of Bishop 
 M'Kendree will repose till the general resurrection. 
 
 Dr. Jennings, of Baltimore, was employed to write his life for pub- 
 lication, and, after making some progress in the work, declined its 
 prosecution any further. Then the General Conference of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, in 1840, requested Bishop Soule to prepare a 
 history of his life and labours for publication ; but, by some strange 
 neglect, Bishop Soule delayed doing so till the unhappy division of 
 the"*Church, and then Bishop Soule seceded from the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, and joined the Church, South ; and I suppose if ever the 
 life of Bishop M'Kendree is published at all, the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church will be deprived of the benefit of it. It is to be regretted that 
 this work has been so long delayed, and we think unnecessarily so. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 THE NEW-SCHOOL PREACHER. 
 
 IN the fall of 1836, our Conference was holden in Eushville, Illinois 
 State. Bishop R. R. Roberts attended and presided. My field of 
 labour had for four years been the Quincy District. My constitutional 
 time was out, and I was again appointed to the Sangamon District, 
 which was composed of the following appointments : Jacksonville 
 Station, Jacksonville Circuit, Winchester, Springfield Station, Sanga- 
 mon, Flat Branch, Athens, Pecan Mission, Beardstown Mission ; nine 
 in all. It will be perceived that Beardstown was this year first 
 formed into a distinct station, and Dr. P. Akers appointed missionary. 
 It will also be noticed that the Illinois Conference, at this date, not 
 only reached to the northern limits of the State, but had spread with 
 the constantly increasing population into Wisconsin and Iowa Terri- 
 tories, and covered, in its missionary stations, almost the entire un- 
 broken Indian country, now called the Minnesota Territory ; and we 
 had thirteen presiding-elder Districts, and at our annual Conference, 
 held in Jacksonville, Morgan County, September 27th, 1837, we had 
 over 130 travelling preachers, and over 21,000 members. Any one 
 of our travelling preachers was liable to be sent from the mouth of the 
 Ohio and Wabash Rivers nearly to the head waters of the Mississippi, 
 a thousand or twelve hundred miles, and all the northern part of our 
 Conference was frontier work or Indian wilds. Hard were our labours, 
 but glorious was our success.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 215 
 
 This year, 1837, J. T. Mitchell was appointed to the Jacksonville 
 Station, and we had a blessed revival of religion in the station, and a 
 number were added to the Church. At one of our quarterly meetings 
 there was a minister who was what was called a New-School minister, 
 and he was willing to work anywhere. When the mourners presented 
 themselves at the altar of prayer, he would talk to them, and exhort 
 them to " change their purpose," and assured them that all who 
 changed their purpose were undoubted Christians. I plainly saw he 
 was doing mischief, and I went immediately after him, and told them 
 not to depend on a change of purpose in order to become a Christian, 
 but to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with a heart unto righteous- 
 ness, and they should be saved. Thus I had to counteract the false 
 sentiments inculcated by this New-School minister. It is very 
 strange to me to think these educated and home-manufactured 
 preachers do not understand the plain, Bible doctrine of the new 
 birth better. They say man is a free agent in so far as to change 
 his purpose, and in changing his purpose he is constituted a new 
 creature. Thus he makes himself a Christian by his own act without 
 the Spirit of God. 
 
 This year we had a gracious work of religion in the town of Win- 
 chester, in the Winchester Circuit. We had no meeting-house or 
 church built there at this time to worship in ; and when our quarterly 
 meeting came on, the friends had procured an unfinished frame 
 building, large and roomy, to hold the quarterly meeting in. There 
 was a very large concourse of people in attendance. The house was 
 crowded to overflowing ; our seats were temporary ; no altar, no 
 pulpit : but our meeting progressed with great interest. The members 
 of the Church were greatly revived, many backsliders were reclaimed, 
 arid scores of weeping and praying sinners crowded our temporary 
 altar that we had erected. 
 
 There happened to be at our quarterly meeting a fresh, green, live 
 Yankee from down East. He had regularly graduated, and had his 
 diploma, and was regularly called, by the Home Missionary Society, 
 to visit the far-off West, a perfect moral waste, in his view of the 
 subject ; and having been taught to believe that we were almost 
 cannibals, and that Methodist preachers were nothing but a poor, 
 illiterate set of ignoramuses, he longed for an opportunity to dis- 
 play his superior tact and talent, and throw us poor upstarts of 
 preachers in the West, especially Methodist preachers, into the 
 shades of everlasting darkness. He, of course, was very forward 
 and officious. He would, if I had permitted it, have taken the lead 
 of our meeting. At length I thought I would give him a chance to 
 ease himself of his mighty burden ; so I put him up one night to read
 
 21& THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 his sermon. The frame building we were worshipping in was not 
 plastered, and the wind blew hard; our candles flared and gave a 
 bad light, and our ministerial hero made a very awkward out in 
 reading his sermon. The congregation paid a heavy penance and 
 became restive ; he balked, and hemmed, and coughed at a disgusting 
 rate. At the end of about thirty minutes the great blessing came : he 
 closed, to the great satisfaction of all the congregation. 
 
 I rose and gave an exhortation, and had a bench prepared, to which 
 I invited the mourners. They came in crowds ; and there was a 
 solemn power rested on the congregation. My little hot-house reader 
 seemed to recover from his paroxysm of a total failure, as though he 
 had done all right, and, uninvited, he turned in to talk to the 
 mourners. He would ask them if they did not love Christ ; then he 
 would try to show them that Christ was lovely ; then he would tell 
 them it was a very easy thing to become a Christian ; that they had 
 only to resolve to be a Christian, and instantly he or she was a 
 Christian. I listened a moment, and saw this heterodoxy would not 
 do; that it produced jargon and confusion. I stepped up to him, 
 and said, 
 
 " Brother, you don't know how to talk to mourners. I want you 
 to go out into the congregation, and exhort sinners." 
 
 He did not appear the least disconcerted, but at my bidding he left 
 the altar, and out he went into the crowd, and turned in to talking to 
 sinners. There was a very large man, who stood a few steps from the 
 mourners, who weighed about 230 pounds ; he had been a professor, 
 but was backslidden. The power of God arrested him, and he cried 
 out aloud for mercy, standing on his feet. My little preacher turned 
 round, and pressed back through the crowd ; and, coming up to this 
 large man, reached up, and tapped him on the shoulder, saying, 
 
 " Be composed ; be composed." 
 
 Seeing and indistinctly hearing this, I made my way to him, and 
 cried out at the top of my voice, 
 
 " Pray on, brother ; pray on, brother ; there 's no composure in 
 hell or damnation." 
 
 And just as I crowded my way to this convicted man, who was 
 still crying aloud for mercy, the little preacher tapped him again on 
 the shoulder, saying, 
 
 " Be composed ; be composed, brother." 
 
 I again responded, 
 
 "Pray on, brother; pray on, brother; there is no composure in hell." 
 
 I said to the throng that crowded the aisle that led to the altar, 
 
 " Bo, friends, stand back, till I get this man to the mourners' 
 bench."
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 217 
 
 But they were so completely jammed together that it seemed almost 
 impossible for me to get through with my mourner. I let go his 
 arm, and stepped forward to open the way to the altar, and just as I 
 had opened the aisle, and turned to go back, and lead him to the 
 mourners' bench, the Lord spoke peace to his soul, standing on his 
 feet ; and he cried, " Glory to God !" and, in the ecstasy of his joy, he 
 reached forward to take me in his arms ; but, fortunately for me, two 
 men were crowded into the aisle between him and myself, and he 
 could not reach me. Missing his aim in catching me, he wheeled 
 round and caught my little preacher in his arms, and lifted him up 
 from the floor ; and being a large, strong man, having great physical 
 power, he jumped from bench to bench, knocking the people against 
 one another on the right and left, front and rear, holding up in his 
 arms the little preacher. The little fellow stretched out both arms 
 and both feet, expecting every moment to be his last, when he would 
 have his neck broken. ! how I desired to be near this preacher at 
 that moment, and tap him on the shoulder, and say, " Be composed ; 
 be composed, brother ! " But as solemn as the times were, I, with 
 many others, could not command my risibilities, and for the moment 
 it had like to have checked the rapid flow of good feeling with those 
 that beheld the scene ; but you may depend on it, as soon as the little 
 hot-bed parson could make his escape, he was missing. 
 
 Our annual Conference was held in Alton this fall, September 12th, 
 1838. Owing to the low stage of water in the Ohio River, Bishop 
 Soule was detained on the way, and did not reach Alton till the 
 fourth day of the Conference. He not being present when we 
 organized, I was elected president of the Conference till the bishop 
 arrived. 
 
 In the fall of 1839, our Illinois Conference was held in Springfield, 
 Sangamon County ; here we elected our delegates to the eighth 
 delegated General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. I 
 was one of the delegates, and this was the seventh General Conference 
 to which I was elected. Our General Conference sat in Baltimore, 
 May 1st, 1840. At this Conference, the unhappy agitation of slavery 
 was revived. The two ultra parties had their representatives there. 
 The slavery party from the South contended that slavery was no 
 disqualification for the episcopal office. The abolitionists from the 
 North contended that slavery was a sin under all circumstances. This 
 party was led on by 0. Scott ; and they urged that it should not only be 
 a test of office, but of membership, in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, in the slaveholding States as well as the free States. Our 
 Committee on Episcopacy had recommended the election of two more 
 bishops : believing that if we went into an election of these officers of
 
 218 TUB BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 the Church, a conflict on the subject would soon ensue, and believing 
 that the then present incumbents of that office could discharge all the 
 labours necessary for the healthy action of the Church, I flung myself 
 against the election of any more bishops at that Conference. In this, 
 nearly all the conservative members of the General Conference joined 
 me, and thereby defeated the designs of both the ultra parties, and 
 every aspiring expectant for that office, for the time being, and, in all 
 probability, a rupture in the Church. At this General Conference, 
 the following additional annual Conferences were formed : Bock River, 
 North Ohio, Memphis, and Texas, all in the West and South-west. 
 Eock Biver Conference was stricken off from the Illinois Conference, 
 and consisted of the following presiding-elder Districts : Chicago, 
 Ottawa, Mount Morris, Burlington, Iowa, Indian Mission, Plattville, 
 and Milwaukie ; eight in number. 
 
 The Illinois Conference consisted of the following presiding-elder 
 Districts, namely, Danville, Mount Vernon, Vandalia, Lebanon, 
 Jacksonville, Springfield, Quincy, Knoxville, and Bloomington ; nine 
 in number. We had in Bock Biver Conference 6,585 members, and 
 75 travelling preachers ; in Illinois Conference we had 24,687 mem- 
 bers, and 103 travelling preachers. North Ohio Conference was 
 stricken off from Ohio Conference; the Memphis Conference was 
 stricken off from the Tennessee Conference ; the Texas Conference 
 was taken from the Mississippi Conference, and had three presiding- 
 elder Districts, namely, San Augustine, Galveston, Butersville ; 
 having 18 travelling preachers, and 1,853 members. Thus you see 
 in the two original divisions of the work, namely, East and West, the 
 East had 16 annual Conferences ; and the West, with her enlarge- 
 ments, had 16 annual Conferences; making, in aD, 32, besides the 
 Liberia Mission Conference and the Canadas, which were under 
 foreign governments. 
 
 The Eastern division of the work had, in members, 466,561 ; in 
 travelling preachers, 3,125 ; the membership in the West was, 
 375,433; travelling preachers we had, 1,447. Total in members, 
 841,994; in travelling preachers, 4,572. Increase in four years in 
 the East was, in members, 60,500 ; in the Western division was over 
 11,200. 
 
 Here I wish to remark that the abolition party up to this time had 
 universally, as far as I knew, opposed most strenuously the Coloniza- 
 tion Society ; and it really appeared to me that if they could not 
 effect an immediate emancipation, and a restoration of the people of 
 colour to equal rights and privileges with the whites, they did not care 
 what became of them. I will state a case. In Natchez, Mississippi, 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church had erected a good, substantial
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 219 
 
 church at a considerable cost. The galleries of the church were 
 appropriated fpr the use and benefit of the coloured people. Some 
 time in 1839 or 1840, a fearful tornado had swept over the town of 
 Natchez, and done a great deal of damage ; and among the rest, it 
 had well-nigh overturned the Methodist church, so that it was not 
 safe to worship in it. The society was weak, and comparatively poor. 
 In this situation they were deprived of any suitable place to worship 
 in, either the whites or blacks. 
 
 The delegates from the Mississippi Conference came on to the 
 General Conference, and asked aid of their Eastern brethren, and of 
 the members of the General Conference, to rebuild or refit their 
 church ; and a collection was taken up in the Conference for this 
 purpose ; and if my memory serves me, the members of the General 
 Conference gave them over one thousand dollars ; but our abolition 
 brethren would not give anything, alleging that the church or the 
 Gospel could do [no good to either the slaves or slaveholders, so long 
 as slavery existed among them. I went to those members of the 
 General Conference who refused, and tried to reason the case with 
 them ; but all in vain. I urged that these poor slaves could not help 
 themselves ; they were in bondage, not of choice, but from circum- 
 stances beyond their control; and we ought not to withhold the 
 Gospel from them ; for it was all the comfort these poor slaves could 
 have in this life, or to fit them for happiness in the life to come. But 
 no ; it was upholding and countenancing slavery, and, therefore, their 
 consciences would not let them contribute anything. Now look at it ; 
 who does not see that there was a wrong and fanatical spirit which 
 actuated them, and that their consciences, for solidity and rotundity, 
 very much resembled a ram's horn ? But this false view has prevented 
 many, very many, from doing their duty by these poor children of 
 Ham. 
 
 In the fall of 1840-41, I was appointed to Jacksonville District; 
 and on September 15th, 1841, our annual Conference was holden in 
 Jacksonville. Bishop Morris presided. The Jacksonville District 
 embraced the following appointments, namely, Carrollton Station, 
 Carrollton Circuit, Grafton, Whitehall, Winchester, Jacksonville 
 Station, Jacksonville Circuit, and Manchester; eight appointments. 
 In the course of this year, we had a camp quarterly meeting, for the 
 Winchester Circuit, in what was called Egypt. We had a beautiful 
 camp-ground, a few miles from Winchester. There was a general 
 turn-out among the members, who tented on the ground. William 
 D. R. Trotter was the Circuit preacher. 
 
 We had been threatened by many of the baser sort, that they would 
 break up our camp-meeting ; and there was a general rally from the
 
 220 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 floating population of the river, and the loose-footed, doggery- 
 haunting, dissipated renegades of the towns and villages all round. 
 They came and pitched their tents a few hundred yards from the camp- 
 ground. Many also came in waggons and carriages, bringing whiskey 
 and spirits of different kinds, pies, cigars, tobacco, &c. We had 
 many respectable tent-holders and proper officers on the ground, 
 but I plainly saw that we were to have trouble; so I summoned 
 the tent-holders and friends of good order together, and we 
 adopted rules to govern the meeting, and then urged them, one and 
 all, to aid me in executing those rules for the maintenance of good 
 order. But I thought there was a disposition in some of the 
 friends to shrink from responsibility, and that they must be roused to 
 action. 
 
 When we were called to the stand by the sound of the trumpet, I 
 called the attention of the congregation to the absolute necessity of 
 keeping good order. I stated that my father was a revolutionary 
 soldier, and fought for the liberties we enjoyed, and all the boon he 
 had left me was liberty ; and that, as the responsible officer of the 
 camp-meeting, if the friends of order and the sworn officers of the law 
 would give me backing, I would maintain order at the risk of my life. 
 My lecture roused the friends of order, and they gave me their coun- 
 tenance and aid ; but the whiskey-sellers and whiskey-drinkers, no- 
 thing daunted, commenced their deeds of darkness. Some were soon 
 drunk, and interrupted our devotions very much. I then ordered 
 several writs, and took into custody several of those whiskey-vendors 
 and drunken rowdies ; but these rowdies rose in mob force, and res- 
 cued the whiskey-seller and his waggon and team from the officer of 
 the law. The officer came running to me, and informed me of the 
 rising of the mob, and that the whiskey man was given up, and was 
 making his escape ; and it appeared to me he was very much scared. 
 I told him to summon me and five other men that I named, and I 
 would insure the retaking of the transgressor, in spite of any mob. He 
 did so. We rushed upon them and stopped the team. The man that 
 had transgressed drew a weapon, and ordered us to stand off ; that he 
 would kill the first man that touched him : and as one of the men and 
 myself that were summoned to take him rushed on him, he made a 
 stroke at my companion with his weapon, but missed him. I then 
 sprang upon him, and caught him by the collar, and jerked him over 
 the waggon bed, in which he was standing, among his barrels. He 
 fell on all-fours. I jumped on him, and told him he was my prisoner, 
 and that if he did not surrender I should hurt him. The deputy she- 
 riff of the county, who was with the mob, and a combatant at that, 
 ran up to me, and ordered me to let the prisoner go. I told him I
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 221 
 
 should not. He said, if I did not, he would knock me over. I told 
 him, if he struck, to make a sure lick ; for the next was mine. Our 
 officer then commanded me to take the deputy sheriff, and I did so. 
 He scuffled a little ; but finding himself in rather close quarters, he 
 surrendered. 
 
 We then took thirteen of the mob, the whiskey-seller, and the she- 
 riff, and marched them off to the magistrate, to the tune of good 
 order. They were fined by the justice of the peace; some paid their 
 fine, some appealed to court. This appealing we liked well, because 
 they then had to give security, and this secured the fine and costs, 
 which some of them were not able to pay. 
 
 This somewhat checked them for a while, but they rallied again, 
 and gave us trouble. There was one man, a turbulent fellow, who 
 sold whiskey about a quarter of a mile off. He had often interrupted 
 us by selling whiskey at our camp-meetings. He generally went 
 armed with deadly weapons, to keep off officers. I sent the constable 
 after him; but he had a musket, well loaded, and would not be taken. 
 He kept a drinking party round him nearly all night : however, to- 
 ward morning they left him, and went off to sleep as best they could ; 
 and he lay down in his waggon, and went to sleep, with his loaded 
 musket by his side. 
 
 Just as day dawned, I slipped over the creek, and came up to his 
 waggon. He was fast asleep. I reached over the waggon bed and 
 gathered his gun and ammunition ; then struck the waggon bed with 
 the muzzle of the musket, and cried out, "Wake up ! wake up !" He 
 sprang to his feet, and felt for his gun. I said, " You are my pri- 
 soner ; and if you resist, you are a dead man ! " He begged me not 
 to shoot, and said that he would surrender. I told him to get out of 
 the waggon, and march before me to the camp-ground ; that I was 
 going to have him tried for violating good order and the laws of his 
 country. He began to beg most piteously, and said if I would only 
 let him escape that time, he would gear up and go right away, and 
 never do the like again. I told him to harness his team, and start. 
 He did so. When he got ready to go, I poured out his powder, and 
 fired off his musket, and gave it to him ; and he left us, and troubled 
 us no more. 
 
 On Sunday night, the rowdies all collected at the Mormon camp. 
 It was so called, because some Mormons had come and pitched a tent 
 a quarter of a mile from our encampment, with whiskey and many other 
 things to sell. They ate and drank ; and by way of mockery, and in 
 contempt of religion, they held a camp-meeting ; they preached, 
 prayed, called for mourners, shouted, and kept up a continual annoy- 
 ance. They sent me word they would give me ten dollars if I would
 
 222 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER, 
 
 bring an officer and a company to take them ; that they could whip 
 our whole encampment. They fixed out their watchers. 
 
 1 bore it, and waited till late in the night ; and when most of our 
 tent-holders were retired to rest, I rose from my bed, dressed myself in 
 some old shabby clothing that I had provided for the purpose, and 
 sallied forth. It was a beautiful moonlight night. Singly and alone 
 I went up to the Mormon camp. When I got within a few rods of 
 their encampment, I stopped, and stood in the shadow of a beautiful 
 sugar-tree. Their motley crowd were carrying on at a mighty rate. 
 One young man sprang upon a barrel, and called them to order, saying 
 he was going to preach to them, and must and would have order, at 
 the risk of his life. Said he, " My name is Peter Cartwright : my 
 father fought through the old war with England, and helped to gain 
 our independence, and all the legacy he left me was liberty. Come to 
 order, and take your seats, and hear me ! " 
 
 They obeyed him, and took their seats. He then sung and prayed, 
 rose up, took his text, and harangued them about half an hour. He 
 then told them he was going to call for mourners, and ordered a bench 
 to be set out ; and it was done. He then invited mourners to come 
 forward and kneel down to be prayed for. A vast number of the 
 crowd came and kneeled, more than his bench could accommodate. 
 This self-styled preacher, or orator of the night, then called lustily for 
 another bench ; and still they crowded to it. A thought struck me 
 that I would go and kneel with them, as this would give me a fine 
 chance to let loose on them at a proper time ; but as I had determined 
 to rout the whole company, and take their camp single-handed and 
 alone, I declined kneeling with the mourners. So this young cham- 
 pion of the devil called on several to pray for these mourners ; he 
 exhorted them almost like a real preacher. Several pretended to get 
 religion, and jumped and shouted at a fearful rate. The preacher by 
 this time was pretty much exhausted, and became thirsty. He 
 ordered a pause in their exercises, and called for something to drink ; 
 he ordered the tent-holder to bring the best he had. 
 
 Just at this moment I fetched two or three loud whoops, and said, 
 " Here ! here ! here, officers and men, take them ! take them ! every 
 one of them, tent-holders and all ! " and I rushed on them. They 
 broke, and ran pell-mell. Fortunately, five or six little lads were close 
 by, from our encampment, who had been watching me raise the shout, 
 and rushed with me into their camp ; but all the motley crowd fled, tent- 
 holders and all, and the lads and myself had not only peaceable but 
 entire possession of all their whiskey, goods, chattels, and some arms, 
 and not a soul to dispute our right of possession. Thus you see a 
 literal fulfilment of Scripture : " The wicked fleeth when no man pur-
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 223 
 
 sueth ; " or, " One shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand 
 to flight." 
 
 There are but very few hardened wretches who disturb religious 
 worship but what at heart are base cowards : this I have proved to my 
 entire satisfaction throughout my ministerial life, for more than fifty 
 years. I will here say, on Monday, the day after the rout of the Mor- 
 mon camp, the power of God fell on our congregation, and the whole 
 encampment was lighted with the glory of God. The Church, or 
 members of the Church, were greatly blessed, and felt fully compen- 
 sated for all the toil and trouble that they had been at in pitching their 
 tents in the grove, and waiting upon the Lord a few days and nights. 
 Hardened sinners were brought to bow before the Lord, and some of them 
 were soundly converted. And 1 will record it to the glory of the stu- 
 pendous grace of God, that the young man who had been the ringleader 
 in the ranks of these disturbers of God's people, and the mock preacher in 
 the Mormon camp the night before, was overtaken by the mighty 
 power of God, and awfully shaken as it were over hell. He fell pro- 
 strate before God and all the people he had so much disturbed and 
 persecuted, and cried for mercy as from the verge of damnation, and 
 never rested till God reclaimed him ; for he was a wretched backslider. 
 I had known him in Tennessee, and had often preached in his father's 
 house. 
 
 Of the disorderly fellows who had been arrested and fined, and had 
 appealed to the court, hardly one of them came to a good end, or died 
 a natural death; some ran away to Texas, some were stabbed in 
 affrays of different kinds : it seemed as if God had put a mark on 
 them, and His fearful judgments followed them even into strange and 
 distant lands. When their appeals came on for trial in court, there 
 were two distinguished lawyers who volunteered to conduct the prose- 
 cution against them ; one of them was the lamented General Hardin, 
 of Morgan County, who afterward fell in Mexico in General Taylor's 
 army, at the memorable battle of Buena Vista, while fighting, or con- 
 tending with Santa Anna's unprincipled minions ; but he died like a 
 brave soldier and subordinate officer. Peace to his memory ! He was 
 considered a worthy member of the Presbyterian Church, and a 
 staunch friend to good order. 
 
 The other lawyer, Mr. Saubourn, though somewhat dissipated at 
 times, was a talented gentleman of the bar, and a friend to religious 
 order. These gentlemen, without fee or reward, volunteered their 
 services to prosecute these wretched disturbers of the worship of, God, 
 and by their eloquent appeals to the jurors made these transgressors 
 quail before the public bar of their country ; and these suits, first and 
 last, cost those offenders against the morals of their country over, three
 
 224 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 hundred dollars, showing them clearly that the way of the transgressor 
 is hard. I must remark here that I was much pleased with the 
 decision of Judge Lockwood, who presided at the trial ; his decision 
 was substantially this, that no matter what the articles were that were 
 sold at a place of worship, if it disturbed the peace and quiet of the 
 worshippers, it was punishable by the statute that was enacted for the 
 protection of worshipping assemblies ; that as a free people, where there 
 was no religious test, we had a right to assemble and establish our 
 own forms, or rules of order ; and that anything which infracted those 
 rules of order made to govern a worshipping congregation, the law 
 made a high misdemeanour, and therefore those who transgressed 
 those rules were punishable by the law. Our present law to protect 
 worshipping congregations is too loose and obscure. In the hands of 
 good officers of the law, the present statute will protect people in the 
 sacred right to worship God ; but in the hands of corrupt officers it is 
 often construed to screen offenders, and thereby give encouragement to 
 disorderly persons to trample with impunity on the rights of religious 
 people. I have often wondered why legislative bodies of men should 
 be so reluctant to pass a stringent law on this subject. If people 
 don't like the forms of worship of any religious denomination, let them 
 stay away ; but if they will attend their religious assemblies, they 
 ought to behave themselves ; and if they will not behave and conform, 
 they ought by law to be compelled to do it, or punished severely for 
 trampling under foot the rights of a free people assembled for the 
 express purpose of peaceably worshipping God. The good Book is 
 right when it declares, " When the wicked bear rule, the land 
 mourneth," and that " righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a 
 reproach to any people : " but we still hope to see better days, better 
 laws, and better administrators of law. The Lord hasten it in His 
 time ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 CHURCH IN A CABIN. 
 
 IN the fall of 1842 our Illinois Conference was holden in 
 Winchester, Scott County, September 14th ; Bishop Roberts presided, 
 and I was continued on the Jacksonville District. The reader will 
 indulge me in saying a few things about my own immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. When I settled here in 1824, there was no society nearer 
 than five miles on Rock Creek, to which place my family had to go for 
 Circuit preaching and class-meeting every Sunday, if they attended 
 anywhere. There was in my immediate settlement but one single
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 225 
 
 member of the Methodist Church, besides my own family. This mem- 
 ber was a widow lady, a very fine woman, and I think a consistent 
 Christian. 
 
 The country was entirely new, and almost in a state of nature : we 
 had no churches to worship in ; nearly all the citizens lived in newly 
 built cabins. We thought we would open our cabin for preaching, 
 and did so, and invited the neighbours to come and hear the word of 
 God, and worship with us. I formed a small class of about twelve, 
 including three of my own family ; and we kept Circuit preaching in our 
 humble dwelling 'for fourteen years, during which time our little class 
 continued with various successes and depressions from year to year. 
 Sometimes by emigration we increased considerably, and then, when 
 these new emigrants would select homes for themselves, and move off, 
 we would be reduced almost to the number with which we started. 
 
 About this time my wife's health was very poor, so that entertaining 
 preaching every two weeks, and class-meeting every Sunday, became a 
 little too much for her strength. I determined to build a church ; but 
 how was it to be done ? The society was small and poor ; the citizens 
 outside of the society were comparatively poor, and not friendly to the 
 Methodists ; but I determined to build a house to worship God in, 
 and accordingly I opened a subscription, had trustees appointed, gave 
 a lot of ground to build the church on, and subscribed one hundred 
 dollars toward its erection. But when I presented my subscription 
 paper to neighbours round, there were many objections and excuses ; 
 some wanted it for school purposes as well as a church ; some said, if I 
 would make it a Union Church for all denominations, they would then 
 help ; but they would not give anything if it was to be deeded to 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. To these objections I answered, " No, 
 friends ; a church shall never be a school-house ; and as for a Union 
 Church, I never knew one built on this principle but what became a 
 bone of contention, and created strife, and ended in confusion ; " that a 
 church should always belong to some religious denomination that 
 would take care of it, and I was going to build a church for the 
 Methodists ; if they would help me, I would thank them ; and if they 
 did not see proper to do so, I would try without their help as best I 
 could. Our help amounted to but little, but we commenced, and 
 finally succeeded in building a neat little church, twenty-four by thirty 
 feet, which cost us about six hundred dollars, of which I had to 
 pay about three hundred. I struggled hard, and sometimes thought 
 my load was too heavy to get along with ; but my creed was never to 
 back out, unless I found myself wrong. 
 
 Shortly after we finished the house, Brother Heath, now of 
 California, and Brother H. Wallace, of the Griggsville District, Illinois 
 
 Q
 
 226 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 Conference, were our Circuit preachers ; and it pleased the Lord to 
 pour out His Holy Spirit upon our congregation and settlement 
 generally, and we had a glorious revival, resulting in about forty con- 
 versions and accessions to the Church. I then thought that the use I had 
 made of the 300 dollars in building the church was the best investment 
 I had ever made in all my life. We called the house " Pleasant Plains 
 church." 
 
 Long since our little church became too small, and we have enlarged 
 it so that it is now thirty feet by fifty. Our society increased so that 
 a division has taken place, and another very respectable church has 
 been built a few miles oil', and the two societies number near one hundred 
 and eighty members, and the time is not distant when another church 
 must be erected a few miles south of the old stand. See what the 
 Lord has done for us, under all the forbidding circumstances that 
 attended our little history in the last thirty years. Praise the 
 Lord! 
 
 I beg leave here to say that the first church, as far as I know, ever 
 built in Sangamon County and Sangamon Circuit, was on Spring 
 Creek, six miles west of Springfield. It was really a log cabin, about 
 eighteen feet by twenty, with a log partition cutting off a small part of 
 it for a class-room. Here was one of the oldest classes ever formed in 
 Sangamon Circuit. In this little house the society met and wor- 
 shipped for many years ; and, on the lot donated for the church and 
 burying-ground, the Circuit erected a large and comfortable camp- 
 ground, and many, very many, glorious camp-meetings were held here ; 
 and I may safely say that hundreds of souls were born into the 
 kingdom of God on this consecrated ground ; and many of those who 
 sung and shouted the high praises of God on this ground have long 
 since fallen victims to death, and are now employed in singing praises 
 to God and the Lamb, around the throne in heaven. 
 
 This camp-ground was called "Watters's Camp-Ground." He lived 
 near it, but years gone by he left the Church militant for the Church 
 triumphant above. This spot is sacred to me, as several of my 
 children were converted on it, and many of my best friends in heaven, 
 as well as on earth, were converted here; and we have sung, and 
 prayed, and shouted together ; and I have a strong hope that we shall 
 shortly sing together in heaven, and this singing and shouting will last 
 for ever. Amen. 
 
 In 1840-41, Alton Station, that had been attached to the Lebanon 
 District, Charles Holliday presiding elder, was attached to the 
 Jacksonville District, N. Hobart in charge. In the fall of 1842-43, 
 N. S. Bastion and C. J. Houts were appointed to Alton. Our quar- 
 terly meeting came off in the dead of this winter ; and although it was
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 22? 
 
 bitter cold weather, we had a good congregation, and Divine power 
 was present to heal. Many were converted and deeply penitent, and 
 we found it necessary to protract the meeting. Mourners, in crowds, 
 came to the altar for the prayers of the Church. Right in the midst 
 of our revival, the keeper of the Eagle Tavern took it into his heart 
 (not head, for that was nearly brainless) that he would stop our 
 revivals ; so he proclaimed that he was going to have a splendid free 
 ball the next evening at the Eagle Tavern, and dispatched his runners, 
 and ticketed nearly the whole city. Among the rest he sent me a 
 ticket to the church, where we were having a very good meeting. Just 
 before the congregation was dismissed, I rose in the pulpit, and read 
 my ticket to the ball, and then announced that I could not attend the 
 Eagle Tavern ball, for the reason that I was going to have a Meth- 
 odist ball in the church the same evening, and requested the whole 
 congregation to attend the Methodist ball, and get as many more to 
 come with them as they could ; that my invitation they might consider 
 as a free ticket; that I was sure we would have a better fiddler than they 
 possibly could scare up at the Eagle Tavern. The thing took like 
 wildfire. The wickedest persons in the congregation electioneered 
 for the Methodist ball, and cried out shame on the tavern-keeper. 
 When the evening came, after all the drilling and drumming of the 
 tavern-keeper, he could not get ladies enough to dance a four-handed 
 reel. He succeeded in getting two little girls and some men, and 
 these mean fellows had well-nigh danced the children to death. Our 
 church was crowded to overflowing. That night the arm of the Lord 
 was made bare, and the mighty power of God was felt through the 
 numerous crowd. Many came to the altar as weeping penitents, but 
 rose therefrom with triumphant shouts of " Glory to God in the 
 highest, peace on earth, good-will toward men." 
 
 I now beg leave to relate an incident which occurred at this 
 meeting ; I will do it as delicately as I well can. Among the crowd 
 that came to the altar there were many women, and among them 
 two good-looking, well-dressed young ladies, who were deeply 
 affected ; it seemed as if the great deep of their hearts was broken up. 
 I was informed that they were under ill-fame, and an old sister in the 
 Church was so disturbed about them that she wanted me to drive them 
 from the altar, for fear we should be reproached, and bring down per- 
 secution on the Church. I told her to be quiet, and let them alone ; 
 " for," said I, " they must have religion, or be lost for ever." 
 But the old sister would not rest ; she ran to Brother Bastion and told 
 him. He was a very sensitive man. He came to me and whispered, 
 telling me they must be ordered away directly; it would ruin our 
 meeting and stop the work. I begged him to let them alone. 
 
 2
 
 228 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 " Now," said I, " brother, on the other aide of the altar there are 
 a dozen men that, in all probability, are guilty of as base conduct 
 as these young women ; why don't you go and drive them from the 
 altar ? Do let them alone. Do you go and talk to the men, and I 
 will attend to these females ; they must not be driven from the altar of 
 prayer." But two of our old, squeamish sisters, when I turned away 
 from Brother Bastion, renewed their importunities with Bastion, and, 
 while my attention was called to regulate the congregation, Bastion 
 went and ordered these two women from the altar. They retired away 
 back to a vacant seat and sat down, and wept bitterly. As soon as I 
 discovered what was done, I followed those women to their seats, and 
 talked with them and encouraged them, saying, " Although yon may 
 be rejected by mortals, God will not reject or spurn you from His 
 presence. Mary Magdalene had seven devils, yet Christ cast them all 
 out ; the man in the tombs had a legion of devils in him, but Christ 
 dispossessed them all." They asked me to pray for them. "Yes," 
 said I, " with all my heart," and we knelt down and prayed. It 
 seemed as if their hearts would break with the sorrow and anguish 
 they felt ; and then to punish those sensitive old sisters, I went and 
 made them come and pray for them ; and before we closed our meeting, 
 one of them professed to be converted, and I have no reason to doubt 
 it. The other left the house weeping. She never returned to our 
 meeting. Perhaps she was for ever lost on account of this uncalled-for 
 rebuke. 
 
 The next time we opened the doors of the Church, to take in mem- 
 bers, a number came and joined. This young woman, who had expe- 
 rienced religion, advanced to the foot of the altar, but would not come 
 and give me her hand. 1 saw she wanted to join, but was afraid, not 
 having confidence to do so ; and she said, afterwards, she thought the 
 Church would not receive her. I went to her, took her by the hand, 
 and asked her if she did not desire to join the Church. She said, 
 with streaming eyes, " Yes, if the Church can possibly receive me, 
 and grant me the lowest seat among God's people." 
 
 I lived to see this woman in other and after years, and with firm 
 and unfaltering steps she lived up to her profession, and thoroughly 
 redeemed herself from degradation, in the estimation of all who knew 
 her. Now, dear reader, think of it. Did Christ reject the woman 
 taken in adultery, or the woman of Samaria at the well, or any other 
 poor wretched sinner, male or female, that ever came to Him with a bro- 
 ken and contrite heart ? Think of the significant words of the poet, 
 
 " None are too vile, who will repent. 
 Out of one sinner legions went ; 
 The Lord did him relieve," &c.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 229 
 
 It is a little singular why men, and women too, should feel such 
 sensitiveness concerning females of ill-fame more than they do in rela- 
 tion to men ; especially when they make efforts to reform their lives 
 and live religious ; but it is so, though I cannot see any just reason 
 for it. 
 
 This Conference year, 1842-48, was a memorable one in many 
 parts of our beloved Zion. Jacksonville District shared largely in 
 revival influences. Several hundreds were soundly converted, and over 
 five hundred joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in the bounds of 
 the District. We not only had the above-named revival in Alton, but 
 Brother Bird had a prosperous year on the Carrollton Circuit ; 
 Brother J. B. Houts considerable prosperity on the Whitehall Circuit; 
 Brother Grubbs had a fine revival in the Jacksonville Station ; but 
 perhaps it was a jubilee to the Winchester Circuit, under the labours 
 of Brother Norman Allen, and those that worked side by side with 
 him pretty near the whole year. 
 
 Naples, a beautiful little town on the east bank of the Illinois River, 
 was one of the appointments in the Winchester Circuit. The citizens 
 were kind and friendly ; but, with a few exceptions, they were very 
 wicked, and had long resisted and rejected the offers of mercy ; but at 
 a protracted meeting gotten up and superintended by Brother Allen, 
 this wicked little town was awfully shaken by the power of God ; 
 many tali sons and daughters of dissipation were made to quail under 
 the power of God. From day to day, from evening to evening, they 
 crowded the place of worship, and, with unmistakable signs of peni- 
 tence, prostrated themselves at the mourners' bench. The cries of 
 the penitent and the shouts of the converted were heard with awe 
 and wonder by the wicked multitude that stood around. Deism gave 
 way, Universalism caved in, scepticism, with its coat of many colours, 
 stood aghast, hell trembled, devils fled, drunkards awoke to soberness, 
 and, I may safely say, all ranks and grades of sinners were made to 
 cry out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved?" The 
 cries of penitents were not only heard in the church, but in the 
 streets, in almost all the houses, by day and by night. Many were 
 the thrilling incidents that attended this revival in Naples. More 
 than one hundred were converted, and joined the Church, and the 
 whole face of the town was changed ; and although some of them fell 
 back into their old habits of vice, yet many of them stood firm as 
 pillars in the house of God. The subjects of this revival were from 
 the child of ten or twelve years to the hoary-headed sinner that stood 
 trembling on the verge of the grave. 
 
 Before this meeting closed in Naples, which was crowned with such 
 signal success, our quarterly meeting commenced in a little town in
 
 230 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 the same Circuit, called Exeter. There Satan had long reigned with- 
 out a rival, wickedness of all kinds abounded ; and what made it the 
 more deplorable, the wickedness of the people was sanctified by a 
 Universalist priest or preacher, who assured them all of eternal salva- 
 tion in heaven, irrespective of their moral conduct here on earth. I 
 have thought, and do still think, if I were to set out to form a plan to 
 contravene the laws of God, to encourage wickedness of all kinds, to 
 corrupt the morals and encourage vice, and crowd hell with the lost 
 and the wailings of the damned, the Universalist plan should be the 
 plan, the very plan, that I would adopt. What has a Universalist, 
 who really and sincerely believes that doctrine, to fear? Jxist 
 nothing at all ; for this flesh-pleasing, conscience-soothing doctrine 
 will not only justify him in his neglect of duty to God and man, but 
 gives fallen nature an unlimited licence to serve the devil with greedi- 
 ness, in any and every possible way that his degenerate, fallen soul 
 requires or desires. 
 
 A few years ago I had a neighbour who professed to be a confirmed 
 Universalist. He contended with me that there was no devil but the 
 evil disposition in man, and that there was no hell but the bad feel- 
 ings that men had when they did wrong ; that this was all the 
 punishment anybody would suffer. When this neighbour's father lay 
 on his dying bed, (a confirmed Universalist, professedly,) there was a 
 faithful minister of Christ believed it his duty to visit this old Univer- 
 salist, and warn him of his danger, and try to awaken his conscience, 
 if not seared, to a just view of his real situation. The minister, how- 
 ever, failed in his faithful attempt and well-meant endeavours ; for the 
 old man, then on his dying pillow, was greatly offended at the 
 preacher, and told him he did not thank him for trying to shake his faith 
 in his dying moments. This neighbour of mine, and son of this old, 
 hardened sinner, was greatly enraged at the preacher, and cursed and 
 abused him in a violent manner. A few days after the demise of the 
 old man, he, in a furious rage, began to abuse and curse the preacher 
 in my presence, and said, 
 
 " I) n him, I wish he was in hell, and the devil had 
 him." 
 
 I stopped him short by saying, " Pooh, pooh, man, what are you 
 talking about ? There is no hell but the bad feelings that a man has 
 when he does wrong, and no devil but the evil disposition that is in 
 man ; " thus answering a fool according to his folly. 
 
 " Well," said he, " if there is no hell, there ought to be, to put 
 such preachers in." 
 
 " Now, sir," said I, " you see the utter untenableness of your 
 creed; for a man, even in trying to do good honestly, draws down
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 231 
 
 your wrath, and, in a moment, you want a hell to put him into, and a 
 devil to torment him, for giving you an offence, and for doing what 
 no good man ought to be offended about. But God must be insulted, 
 His name blasphemed, His laws trampled under foot ; yet He must 
 have no hell to put such wretches in, no devil to torment them. Now, 
 I would be ashamed of myself if I were in your place, and let the seal 
 of truth close my lips for ever hereafter." 
 
 Although he was confounded, he still clave to his God-dishonouring 
 doctrine, waxing worse and worse, till it was generally believed he 
 was guilty of a most heinous crime. 
 
 But to return to the narrative. From the first sermon in Exeter, 
 at the quarterly meeting, there were visible signs of good; and 
 although the weather was intensely cold, yet our church was crowded 
 beyond its utmost capacity. The power of God arrested many care- 
 less sinners, and waked up many old formal professors of religion. 
 There was a large company of young unfledged Universalists who came 
 to look on and mock ; and so ignorant were they, that they did not 
 imagine they would run into any possible danger of taking these 
 " Methodist fits," as they called the exercises that were going on. 
 There were two sisters, young ladies, carried off with the soul- 
 destroying doctrines of the Universalists, in attendance. In pressing 
 through the crowd, I saw one of them was deeply affected, and weep- 
 ing. I went and talked with her. She saw her wretched condition. 
 I invited her to go to the altar with the mourners ; she consented, 
 and I led her there. I talked and prayed with her ; she was deeply 
 engaged. Her sister did not know for some time that she was at the 
 mourners' bench, but presently some one told her. At this she flew 
 into a violent rage, and said, at the risk of her life, she would have 
 her out of that disgraceful place. I happened to turn my face toward 
 the door, aud saw her coming ; the house was very much crowded ; 
 some tried to stop her, but she rushed on. I rose and met her in the 
 crowded aisle, and told her to be calm, and desist. She made neither 
 better nor worse of it than to draw back her arm and give me a severe 
 slap in the face with her open hand. I confess this rather took me by 
 surprise, and, as the common saying is, she made the fire fly out of 
 my eyes in tremendous sparkling brilliancy ; but, collecting my best 
 judgment, I caught her by the arms near her shoulders, and wheeled 
 her to the right-about, and moved her forward to the door, and said, 
 " Gentlemen, please open the door ; the devil in this Universalist lady 
 has got fighting hot, and I want to set her outside to cool." The 
 door was opened, and I handed her out with this assurance, that when 
 she got into a good humour, and could behave herself like a decent lady 
 ought to do, then, and not till then, she might come in again. I
 
 232 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 then closed the door, and set a watch to keep it, to avoid further 
 disturbance. 
 
 I had hardly returned to the altar when the young lady I had led 
 there rose and gave us a heavenly shout, and then another, and 
 another, till five in rapid succession raised the shout. It ran like 
 electricity through the congregation ; sinners wept, quaked, and trem- 
 bled, and saints shouted aloud for joy. Thus our meeting continued 
 for a number of nights and days, and many souls were born into the 
 kingdom of God. The whole country around for miles came to our 
 meetings, were convicted and converted, and great was the joy of the 
 people of God. Over one hundred professed religion, and nearly that 
 number joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 There was a gentleman in this place who had been very wicked, a 
 
 noted gambler, by the name of W 1 ; he was an esquire. He had 
 
 got under serious concern for his salvation, and sent for me ; I went 
 and prayed with him. After talking with him a little, he got up deli- 
 be'rately, went to his desk, took out his cards, stepped to the fire, and 
 pitched them in, making a whole burnt-offering of them. Shortly 
 after this he found peace, and was, as I believe, soundly converted to 
 God. He seemed to have the innocence and simplicity of a child. 
 He was very zealous for God, and gave great promise of doing good. 
 He had a brother-in-law and sister in Nauvoo, among the self-deluded 
 Mormons. His sister professed to have the gift of tongues, and his 
 brother-in-law the gift of healing all manner of diseases, and the 
 interpretation of tongues. 
 
 This brother, in his zeal for God, was impressed that he must go to 
 Nauvoo to convince his brother-in-law and sister, and all the rest of 
 the Mormons, that they were wrong. I tried to dissuade him, know- 
 ing they were artful and cunning, and adepts in practising frauds and 
 religious jugglery, and that he was just in a state of mind to be 
 deceived, without any experience of the devices of the devil, especially 
 of his power to transform himself into an angel of light ; but, despite 
 all my remonstrances, go he must, and go he did ; and, as I predicted, 
 they were ready for him. They told him that he was just right as far 
 as he had gone ; that the Methodists were right as far as they had 
 gone, and next to the Latter Day Saints, alias Mormons, were the 
 best people in all the land, but they had stopped short of their grand 
 and glorious mission ; that they were afraid of persecution, and had 
 shrunk from their duty ; that if they had followed the light, they 
 would have taken the world; and that the best. and holiest men and 
 women among the Mormons had been members of the Methodist 
 Church. They told him, if he would join the Mormons and live faith- 
 ful, that in a very little time he would have the gift of tongues, and
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 233 
 
 the gift of healing, so that by faith he would raise the dead as did the 
 first Christians. The fatal bait was gulped down ; they took him to 
 the river and ducked him ; and when I last saw him, he was in daily 
 expectation of these great gifts. I told him he would never receive 
 them ; and he promised me, if he did not, he would leave them. 
 What has become of him I know not, but it is probable he is at Utah, 
 and has fifteen or twenty wives. 
 
 I will name another incident connected with this revival. There 
 was an interesting young man, well educated, and gentlemanly in all 
 his conduct, from some of the Eastern States. He boarded at a house 
 I frequently visited. He was serious ; T talked to him, and he frankly 
 admitted the real necessity of religion, and said, for his right hand he 
 would not lay a straw in the way of any person to prevent him from 
 getting religion ; but he said he was not ready to start in this glorious 
 cause, but that he fully intended at some future time to seek religion. 
 I urged him to submit now ; that in all probability he never would 
 live to see so good a time to get religion as the present. He admitted 
 all I said, and wept like a child ; but I could not prevail on him to 
 start now in this heavenly race. 
 
 As our meeting was drawing to a close, I was uncommonly anxious 
 to see this young man converted, but I was not permitted to see it. 
 Some little time before we closed the meeting, a messenger arrived for 
 me to go to another town where the work of religion had broken out, 
 and they greatly needed ministerial aid. The day after I left this 
 young man he was taken violently ill. His disease was rapid, all 
 medical aid failed, and he was shortly given over by his physicians to 
 die. He sent post-haste for me to come to him. I hastened to him, 
 but never to the last moment of my recollection shall I ever forget the 
 bitter lamentations of this young man. "O!" said he, "if I had 
 taken your advice a few days ago, which you gave me in tears, and 
 which, in spite of all my resistance, drew tears from my eyes, I should 
 have now been ready to die. God's Spirit strove with me powerfully, 
 but I was stubborn, and resisted it. If I had yielded then, I believe 
 Clod would have saved me from my sins : but now, racked with pain 
 almost insupportable, and scorched with burning fevers, and on the 
 veiy verge of an eternal world, I have no hope in the future ; all is 
 dark, dark, and gloomy. Through light and mercy I have evaded and 
 resisted God, His Spirit, and His ministers ; and now I must make my 
 bed in hell, and bid an eternal farewell to all the means of grace, and 
 all hope of heaven ; lost ! lost ! for ever lost ! " 
 
 In this condition he breathed his last. It was a solemn and awful 
 scene ; mournfully I turned away and wept bitterly. I never think of 
 this scene but with mournful feelings. God forbid that I should die
 
 234 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 the death of such a one ! But how many are there that have lived 
 and died like this pleasant young man ; approve the right, but choose 
 the wrong ; put off the day of their return to God ; wade through 
 tears and prayers of ministers and pious friends ; till they make the 
 dreadful plunge, and have to say, " Lost ! lost ! lost ! for ever lost ! " 
 0, sinner, stop and think before you further go ! Turn, and turn 
 now. 
 
 I hastened to Winchester, where the brethren had rallied, and 
 were engaged in a glorious revival of religion. They had sent off for 
 Brother Akers, who had been with them several days, battling suc- 
 cessfully for the cause of true religion, and was made the honoured 
 instrument of much good to many souls. I met Brother Akers 
 between Jacksonville and Winchester ; he was compelled to leave for 
 his regular field of labour. When I met him, he exclaimed, " One 
 woe is past, and, behold, another cometh ! " The Campbellite 
 preachers, and many of their members, had rushed into our meeting, 
 and tried to hinder or stop the blessed work by drawing our people 
 into foolish controversy. Brother Akers had used the artillery of 
 truth very successfully against this false form of religion. To this 
 he referred when I met him, as he was leaving, and I was hastening to, 
 the field of battle. 
 
 When I got to the meeting, I found a blessed work in prosperous 
 progress. It really seemed to me that the Campbellites, and especially 
 their preacher, were as restless as fallen demons. They tried to draw 
 off our labouring members into vain and hurtful debates ; and instead 
 of encouraging mourners to seek on, they tried to confuse their minds, 
 and throw doubts and difficulties in their way ; and all round, and in 
 the congregation, they were busy in this way, to confuse the minds of 
 the people, and draw them off from seeking God. At once I saw 
 through their plan, and the bad effects of such a course, if permitted 
 to be carried on. When, at our first coming together after my arrival, 
 I forbade all controversy of this kind, and told our brethren they must 
 not indulge in it any more, and said to all that were opposed to the 
 glorious work in progress, if they did not like it they must and should 
 desist from entering into debates about it in the congregation, the 
 most of the Campbellites desisted, or slily opposed ; but their preacher 
 continued boldly to provoke debate. He rudely attacked, in the time 
 of our altar exercises, one of our local preachers. 
 
 When I was informed of it, I went straight to him, and told him he 
 must not do so. He said he was a free man, and would do as he 
 pleased. " Now," said I, " Mr. S., if you do not desist, and behave 
 yourself like a decent man ought to do, I will have you arrested as a 
 disturber of our religious order."
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 235 
 
 He said that all this work was wrong ; that it was undue excite- 
 ment, and it was his duty to oppose it ; and he would like to attack 
 it at head-quarters, and just then and there to debate the question 
 with me. 
 
 " Now, sir," said I, " if you think to provoke me to condescend to 
 turn aside from carrying on this glorious work to debate with you, the 
 evil spirit that prompts you does but deceive you ; for it seems to me 
 it would be like loading a fifty-six to kill a fly ; and if you don't like 
 the work and our meetings, go away and stay away ; your room will 
 be better than your company." 
 
 I nonplussed him considerably, and measurably silenced his batteries, 
 but he was very restive. At length the power of God arrested some 
 of the members of his Church. A very fine and meek woman in their 
 Church, who had been baptized for the remission of sins, but never felt 
 any evidence of her acceptance with God, and was not satisfied with 
 her condition, became very much affected, and wept bitterly on account 
 of her unconverted state. I went to her, at the request of her 
 husband, who, though not at that time a professor of religion, had 
 been raised by Methodist parents, and was friendly. I asked her if 
 she was happy. 
 
 She said, " No, far from it." 
 
 I asked her if she was willing to go and kneel at the altar, ask God 
 to bless her, and give her a sensible evidence of the pardon of her sins. 
 
 She said, " Yes." 
 
 I started to lead her to the altar, when one of her Campbellite 
 sisters took hold of her, and said, "What are you going to do? " 
 
 She said, " I am going to the altar, to pray for religion." 
 
 " 0," said the other, " you have religion. You were baptized, and 
 in that act of obedience your sins were all washed away ; and you 
 ought to be satisfied with your religion, and not disgrace your 
 Church by going to a mourners' bench, among the deluded 
 Methodists." 
 
 She replied, " I know I was baptized for the remission of sins, and 
 you all told me that in this act of obedience to Christ I should be 
 forgiven, and be made happy ; but I know it is all a deception, 
 and false ; for T know I have no religion ; and I am determined to 
 seek it with these Methodists ; for, if I die as I am, I must be lost for 
 ever." 
 
 " 0," said the Campbellite lady, " you must not go." 
 
 I then interposed, and said to the lady, " Let her go. She shall go 
 to the altar if she wants to ; " and I accordingly led her there. 
 She dropped on her knees, and shortly afterward her husband kneeled 
 at the same altar, with the great deep of his heart broken up ; and
 
 236 THE BACKWOODS PREACHZK. 
 
 they never rested till they were both soundly converted to God, and 
 were enabled to sing, 
 
 " How happy are they, who their Saviour obey ! " 
 
 with a zest which they never had felt or enjoyed before. 
 
 The work of God went on with great power, and the slain of the 
 Lord were many. Presently, in going through the congregation to 
 hunt up the wounded sinners and lead them to the altar, to tny great 
 astonishment and surprise I found my Campbellite lady, who tried to 
 prevent the one I had led to the altar first, sitting down with her face 
 in her hands, and her eyes suffused in tears. She was much agitated. 
 I laid my hand on her shoulder, and said to her, " Sister, what is the 
 matter ? Have these deluded Methodists got hold of you ? or have 
 you got a Methodist spasm ? " 
 
 She screamed right out, and said, " God be merciful to me, a poor, 
 deluded, Campbellite sinner ! " 
 
 " O," said I, " will not water save you ? " 
 
 " 0, no, no," she responded ; " I am a poor, deluded sinner, and 
 have no religion, and, if I die as I am, must be lost, and lost for ever. 
 Will you pray for me ? " 
 
 "Yes," said I; " but now you must go to the Methodists' despised 
 mourners' bench." 
 
 " With all my heart," said she ; and I partly led and partly carried 
 her there ; and if I ever heard a poor sinner plead with God for mercy, 
 she was one. 
 
 When it was known that Mrs. , a Campbellite, was at the 
 
 mourners' bench, it awfully shocked some of her fellow-members in 
 that watery regiment. She was in such an agony and such good 
 earnest, I almost knew it would not be long till she found the blessing ; 
 and while I was leading some other convicted persons to the altar, the 
 Lord powerfully converted this Campbellite heroine. She sprang to 
 her feet, and shouted over the house like a top, and she fell directly to 
 pulling and hauling her Campbellite friends to the Methodist altar, 
 exhorting them to come and get religion, and not for a moment longer 
 to depend on water for salvation, but come and try the Methodist fire, 
 or the fire of the Holy Ghost ; and the way she piled up the Camp- 
 bellite friends at the altar was sublimely awful. After she had got a 
 great number there, she took after her preacher, and exhorted him to 
 come and get religion ; " For," said she, "I know you have none ;" but 
 he resisted and fled. Several of his members' children had obtained 
 religion, and several more were seeking it. He then started a meet- 
 ing in his own church to draw off his members and others from the 
 Methodist meeting ; and if ever you saw a water divinity grow sick
 
 THE BACKWOODS PKEACHER. 237 
 
 and pale, it was just about this time. Things were so cold at his 
 church that the little effort soon failed. There were over 120 pro- 
 fessed religion and joined the Methodist Church during this meeting, 
 and, according to my best recollection, thirteen of them were 
 Campbellites. 
 
 And now let me say, my little experience and observation for many 
 years goes to establish the following fact : Whenever and wherever the 
 ministry and membership of the Church live faithful, and keep alive to 
 God, and enjoy the life and power of religion, they can bid an eternal 
 defiance to all opposition, schism, divisions, ceremonial diversities, 
 and all the false prophets that may arise can never stop, to any great 
 extent, the heavenly march and triumphs of true religion ; but when 
 we have a formal, negligent ministry, that wish to substitute education 
 for the power of faith, and our members begin to ape the world, or 
 even other proud and fashionable Churches, you may depend upon it 
 that, like Samson with his eyes put out, we shall make sport for the 
 Philistines. For, however education may be desirable, and however 
 much the progress of this age may demand an improved ministry, 
 especially an improved pulpit eloquence, I would rather have the gift 
 of a devil-dislodging power than all the college lore or Biblical In- 
 stitute knowledge that can be obtained from mortal man. When God 
 wants great and learned men in the ministry, how easy it is for Him to 
 overtake a learned sinner, and, as Saul of Tarsus, shake him a while 
 over hell, then knock the scales from his eyes, and, without any pre- 
 vious theological training, send him out straightway to preach Jesus and 
 the resurrection ! When God calls any man to preach His Gospel, if 
 he will not reason with flesh and blood, but do his duty and live faith- 
 ful, my experience for it, God will qualify him for the work if he never 
 saw a college. 
 
 Perhaps I may say a few things right here that may be of some little 
 benefit to my brethren in the ministry. You know these are the days 
 of sore throats and bronchial affections among preachers. Some have 
 laid the predisposing causes to coffee, and some to tobacco ; some to 
 one thing, and some to another. Now, without professing to have 
 studied physiology, or to be skilled in the science of medicine, I beg 
 leave, with very humble pretensions, to give it as my opinion that 
 most cases of these diseases are brought on by carelessness and inat- 
 tention of public speakers themselves. I had, for several years pre- 
 vious to this great revival of which we have been speaking, been greatly 
 afflicted with the bronchial affection ; so much so that I really thought 
 the days of my public ministry were well-nigh over. This revival 
 lasted near five months, through a hard and cold winter. I preached, 
 exhorted, sung, prayed, and laboured at the altar, I need not say
 
 238 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 several times a day or night, but almost day and night for months 
 together. With many fears I entered on this work, but from the be- 
 ginning I threw myself under restraint, took time to respire freely 
 between sentences, commanded the modulation and cadence of my 
 voice, avoided singing to fatigue, avoided sudden transitions from 
 heat to cold, and, when I left the atmosphere of the church, heated by 
 the stoves and breath of the crowd, guarded my breast and throat, and 
 even mouth, from a sudden and direct contact with the chilling air, or 
 air of any kind, got to my room as quick as possible, slept in no cold 
 rooms if I could help it, bathed my throat and breast every morning 
 with fresh, cold water from the well or spring, wore no tight stocks or 
 cravats, breathed freely, and, strange to tell, I came out of the five 
 months' campaign of a revival much sounder than when I entered it. 
 The only medicine I used at all was a little cayenne pepper and table 
 salt dissolved in cold vinegar, and this just as I was leaving a warm 
 atmosphere to go into the cold air or wind ; and although several 
 years have passed since, I have been very little troubled with that dis- 
 ease, and can preach as long and as loud as is necessary for any 
 minister to be useful. Keep your feet warm, your head cool, and 
 your bowels well regulated, rise early, go to bed regularly, eat tem- 
 perately, avoiding high-seasoned victuals, pickles and preserves, drink 
 no spirits of any kind, and there will be no need of your ever breaking 
 down till the wheels of life stop, and life itself sweetly ebbs away. 
 
 Our Conference this year, L843, was held in Quincy, Adams 
 County, Illinois, September 13th. Bishop Andrew presided. This 
 was the only annual Conference that Bishop Andrew ever presided in 
 with us. The Illinois Conference was now large, and there were some 
 men of fine talents among us. Bishop Andrew presided with great 
 acceptability, and had, among our preachers, many fast friends. At 
 this Conference we elected our delegates to the ninth delegated General 
 Conference, that was to sit in New York, May 1st, 1844. P. Akers, 
 J. Vancleve, J. Stamper, N. G. Berryman, and myself were elected, 
 which made the eighth General Conference that the brethren saw 
 proper to send me to, to represent their interests and the interests of 
 the Church generally. Up to this General Conference, there were 
 33 annual Conferences, besides Liberia, 17 in the old Eastern 
 boundary, and 16 in the Western division. The 17 Eastern Con- 
 ferences had a membership of 599,322 ; of travelling preachers, 
 2,400. The 16 Conferences in the Western division had of members, 
 550,462 ; of travelling preachers, 1,862. Total membership in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, 1,171,356 ; total travelling preachers, 
 4,282 ; total increase in members in four years, 276,287 ; of travelling 
 preachers in four years, 774.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 239 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing statistics, imperfect as they are, 
 that the Methodist Episcopal Church, as one branch of the great Pro- 
 testant family, prospered in these United States without a parallel in 
 the history of the Church of Jesus Christ since the apostolic age. 
 Only think of it : in despite of all the imperfections that attach to 
 human institutions, the apostasy of some of our ministers, (and it is a 
 mercy of God there were not more,) the backsliding of many of our 
 members, the schisms created by O'Kelly, Hammett, Stillvvell, and the 
 self-styled Protestant Methodists, the True Wesleyans, hush ! O, 
 mercy, save the mark ! in about sixty years, more than a million of 
 members had been raised up and united in Church fellowship in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church ; and this, too, by a body of uneducated 
 ministers. Perhaps, among the thousands of travelling and local 
 preachers employed and engaged in this glorious work of saving souls, 
 and building up the Methodist Church, there were not fifty men that 
 had anything more than a common English education, and scores of 
 them not that ; and not one of them was ever trained in a theological 
 school or Biblical Institute ; and yet hundreds of them preached the 
 Gospel with more success, and had more seals to their ministry, thau 
 all the sapient, downy D.D.'s in modern times, who, instead of enter- 
 ing the great and wide-spread harvest-field of souls, sickle in hand, 
 are seeking presidencies or professorships in colleges, editorships, or 
 any agencies that have a fat salary, and are trying to create new- 
 fangled institutions where good livings can be monopolized, while 
 millions of poor, dying sinners are thronging the way to hell without 
 God, without Gospel, and the Church putting up the piteous wail 
 about the scarcity of preachers. And now, in the evening of life, at 
 the dreadful risk (dreadful to some, not to me) of being called an old 
 fogy, and pronounced fifty years behind the times, I enter my most 
 solemn protest against the tendencies of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church to Congregationalism ; for it seems to me wrong that the 
 ministers of God, divinely called to the holy work of saving souls, 
 should leave that sacred work, and go and serve tables. Wherefore, 
 let the Church look out competent and well-qualified lay teachers and 
 officers for our literary institutions, who can build them up just as 
 well as preachers, and make a " scourge of small cords," and drive these 
 buyers and sellers out of the temples of learning, editorships, and 
 agencies, into the glorious harvest-field of souls. No man, or set 
 of men, in the same sacred sense, is called of God to these insti- 
 tutions and offices, as they are called of God (if called at all) to 
 preach the everlasting Gospel to dying sinners that are so fearfully 
 thronging the way to hell. Christ had no literary college or uni- 
 versity, no theological school or Biblical Institute ; nor did He require
 
 240 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 His first ministers to memorize His sayings or sermons, but simply 
 to tarry at Jerusalem till they were endued with power from on 
 high, when, under the baptismal power of the Holy Ghost, should 
 be brought to their remembrance all things whatsoever He had 
 commanded them. 
 
 I will not condescend to stop and say that I am a friend to learn- 
 ing, and an improved ministry ; for it is the most convenient way to 
 get rid of a stubborn truth, for these learned and gentlemanly minis- 
 ters to turn about and say that all those ministers that are opposed to 
 the present abuses of our high calling are advocates for ignorance, 
 and that ignorance is the mother of devotion. What has a learned 
 ministry done for the world, that have studied divinity as a science ? 
 Look, and examine ministerial history. It is an easy thing to en- 
 gender pride in the human heart, and this educational pride has been 
 the downfall and ruin of many pre-eminently educated ministers of the 
 Gospel. But I will not render evil for evil, or railing for railing, but 
 will thank God for education, and educated Gospel ministers who are 
 of the right stamp, and of the right spirit. But how do these advo- 
 cates for an educated ministry think the hundreds of commonly edu- 
 cated preachers must feel under the lectures we have from time to 
 time on this subject? It is true, many of these advocates for an 
 improved and educated ministry among us speak in rapturous and 
 exalted strains concerning the old, illiterate pioneers that planted 
 Methodism and Churches in early and frontier times ; but I take no 
 flattering unction to my soul from these extorted concessions from 
 these velvet-mouthed and downy D.D.'s ; for their real sentiments, if 
 they clearly express them, are, that we were indebted to the ignorance 
 of the people for our success. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 THE GREAT SECESSION. 
 
 AT the General Conference of 1844, a solemn dispensation came 
 upon the Methodist Episcopal Church, then having more than a 
 million of members in her communion. Up to this time no very 
 destructive divisions had taken place among us. The small parties 
 that had filed off, had rather been a help than a serious injury to the 
 Church. No division in doctrines had ever taken place, and, as a 
 large body of ministers and members, there was great unanimity on 
 the Discipline of the Church ; and now the division was narrowed
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 241 
 
 down to a single point, namely, slavery in the episcopacy. It is well 
 understood by those who have studied the government of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, that she has adopted an itinerant or travelling 
 plan of ministerial operation, as the best and most scriptural mode of 
 successfully spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ ; and although we 
 believe there are but two ministerial orders, namely, deacons and 
 elders, and finding nothing in the Scriptures contrary thereto, the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in her early organization saw proper to 
 create a separate office, not order, of superintendent, or bishop. By 
 the consent of all our travelling preachers, the bishop appoints from 
 year to year every travelling preacher to his field of labour. This saves 
 a vast amount of time and trouble in the ministry, in running about 
 and seeking to contract with congregations for a specified time and 
 stipulated amount of salary ; moreover, it cuts off the temptation of 
 selling the Gospel to the highest bidder, and giving the Gospel exclu- 
 sively to the rich, and leaving the poor to perish without the means of 
 salvation ; and the poor under this arrangement find the fulfilment of 
 the promise of Jesus Christ, more fully than they can on any other 
 plan, namely, " Blessed are the poor : for they have the Gospel 
 preached unto them." Moreover, it is the disciplinary duty of our 
 bishops to ordain our deacons and elders, and to travel at large 
 throughout all our Conferences, and to have a general supervision of 
 the whole work ; and in order to qualify them to act wisely and pru- 
 dently in changing and appointing the thousands of itinerant preachers 
 to their respective fields of labour, it is required of our bishops to be 
 constant itinerants themselves ; and according to the provisions of the 
 Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, if our bishops at any 
 time cease to travel at large throughout the Connexion, supervising 
 and superintending the general interests of the whole Church, they 
 shall forfeit the right to exercise the duties of their office. 
 
 And right here it may not be amiss to notice, in a few words, the 
 supremely ridiculous and slanderous statements that are constantly 
 emanating from the pulpits and presses of some of the prejudiced 
 denominations, against the absolute and despotic power of our bishops. 
 They state that our bishops give all the law of the Church, and that 
 our preachers and people are bound to bow to their dictum, under pain 
 of expulsion ; and that all the Church property is deeded to the bishops 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Now, so far from this charge 
 being true, I assert, without any fear of successful contradiction, that 
 a Methodist bishop has not even a vote in any of the rules or regula- 
 tions of the Church, nor even a veto power on any rule passed by the 
 General Conference ; and as for the charge of the bishops having all 
 the property of the Church deeded to them, this old, stale falsehood
 
 242 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 has not now, nor ever had, the least foundation in truth to rest upon ; 
 for T will venture to say that if the whole United States arid Terri- 
 tories were examined with a search-warrant by the entire marshalled 
 hosts of the bigoted and malicious propagators of these falsehoods, 
 not one solitary case can be found where the Church property is 
 deeded to the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Why do 
 our opponents so constantly and so recklessly persist in reiterating 
 these false charges ? Have they no sense of honour or of shame left 
 them ? But none are so blind as those that will not see ; and I 
 solemnly fear that those wretched editors and pamphlet-writers will 
 have a very fearful account to render in the day of retributive justice. 
 But they cannot meet us in the open field of manly and honourable 
 debate, and therefore they resort to the pitiful fabrication of false 
 statements in hope of gulling the ignorant part of mankind. 
 
 We have said, up to this time, 1844, no very serious division had 
 taken place in the Methodist Episcopal Church. It is true that there 
 were a few restless spirits, ministers, that had filed off and raised little 
 trash-traps called Churches, such as O'Kelly, Stillwell, Hammett, the 
 Radicals, or self-styled Protestant Methodist Church, and the Scottites, 
 or, as they call themselves, the True W r esleyans. But in all these 
 secessions, there never had been a difference of opinion on the cardinal 
 doctrines of the Gospel propagated by Mr. Wesley, and unanswerably 
 defended by the sainted Fletcher. So may it continue to the end of 
 time ! 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church, from its first organization, was 
 opposed to slavery ; and from 1784 to 1824, in her various rules and 
 regulations on slavery, tried to legislate it out of the Church ; and she 
 succeeded in getting many of the slaves set free, and bettering the 
 condition of thousands of this degraded race. But the legislatures of 
 the different slave States greatly embarrassed the operations of the 
 Church by narrowing the door of emancipation, and passing unjust 
 and stringent laws to prevent manumission. At this course of legis- 
 lation many of the citizens of the free States took umbrage, and com- 
 menced a dreadful tirade of abuse on the South, and threw the subject 
 into the arena of politics. This unholy warfare of crimination and 
 recrimination has been carried on with unjustifiable violence, until we 
 are almost brought to a civil war, and the integrity of our happy Union 
 is in imminent danger. How it will end, God only knows. 
 
 On the 1st of May, 1844, our General Conference met in New 
 York. From 1824 to this time, our rules on slavery had remained 
 the same. The Northern preachers of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, some of them had taken the ultra ground that slaveholding, 
 under all circumstances, was sinful, and therefore, law or no law,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 243 
 
 practicable or impracticable, all slaveholders, under all circumstances, 
 should be expelled. However, the more prudent and far-seeing part 
 of our ministers and members of the Church saw that this was totally 
 wrong, and threw themselves into the breach, and presented a fearful 
 division of the Church ; and the fog and smoke of run-mad clerical 
 abolitionism ended in a feeble secession under O. Scott and Co., and 
 a few of the same cloth and kidney. 
 
 In the mean time, slavery in the South had been rapidly gaining 
 strength by stringent legislative acts and ministerial advocacy. More 
 and more did the legislatures of the South block up the way to practi- 
 cable emancipation. This threw the North into a fearful rage ; hence 
 there was a mutual crimination and recrimination, and both ultra parties 
 threw the subject into the political arena, and appealed to Caesar instead 
 of going to God in humble prajor, and asking Divine direction on this 
 fearful question. There had at no time been a slaveholding preacher 
 elected to the office of bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, nor 
 was there ever a time within my remembrance when a slaveholder, as 
 such, could have been elected bishop, without giving strong assurances 
 that he would emancipate his slaves ; for the plain reason, to say 
 nothing about the evil of slavery, he never could travel at large 
 through the connexion, as the Discipline required, acceptably, as a 
 slaveholder. There were many eminent and distinguished ministers 
 in the Southern Conferences, some of whom would, no doubt, have 
 been elected to the office of Bishop but for their being slaveholders. 
 Bishop Andrew had been elected to that office in 1832 by the Gene- 
 ral Conference, but it was because we verily believed him free from 
 the evil of slavery ; and but for the same cause of slavery, I have no 
 doubt others of our Southern ministers would have been elected to that 
 office. When we met in General Conference in New York, Bishop 
 Andrew, by marriage and otherwise, had become connected with 
 slavery. This fact came upon us with the darkness and terror of a 
 fearful storm, and covered the whole General Conference with sorrow 
 and mourning. Those of us who believed slavery an evil, though not 
 sinful in all cases, saw at once that it was utterly impossible for 
 Bishop Andrew to travel at large through the Methodist connexion, 
 and discharge the important duties of that office with acceptability 
 and usefulness, unless he would give the General Conference assu- 
 rances that he would, as soon as practicable, free himself from this 
 impediment. But this he absolutely refused to do. Our Southern 
 brethren took the strong ground that slaveiy was no impediment to 
 the official relation of a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 The true course that the General Conference ought to have pursued 
 toward Bishop Andrew, was to have arraigned lain for improper con- 
 
 n 2
 
 244 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 duct, as the Discipline provides for the trial of a bishop, and sus- 
 pended him from all official acts ; and then, if they of the South were 
 disposed to secede, let them secede and set up for themselves. Then 
 all the humbuggery about a division line, and of the Church property, 
 would have been saved. And if the division or secession of the 
 Church had been left to the vote of our Southern brethren, it would 
 have been a poor little thing ; and I think that every unprejudiced 
 mind must see clearly, that the secession from our beloved Church 
 was brought about by a set of slaveholding Methodist preachers, and 
 not by slaveholding; members, led on by a slaveholding bishop ; and 
 every one acquainted with the circumstances of this dreadful rupture 
 in the Church, and with the actions and course of Bishop Soule, will 
 see that he was the leading spirit in the whole affair. 
 
 However I may forgive, I shall never forget the unjustifiable 
 course that Bishop Soule took in dividing the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. 
 
 To talk about the General Conference having power to divide the 
 Church and to form a division line, that the ministers from either side 
 should not cross to bear the tidings of salvation to their dying fellow- 
 men, is certainly the climax of absurdity ; and then to force the mem- 
 bers on either side of this line, north or south, to hold their member- 
 ship in a division that was not of their choice, is despotism in the 
 superlative degree. Could the pope of Home more completely 
 demand passive obedience and non-resistance than did the General 
 Conference of 1844 in tlds monstrous act? And yet the very minis- 
 ters composing the General Conference who, in conjunction with their 
 fellow-labourers in the ministry, had praised the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church as the best Church in the world, and had taken an active part 
 in taking into said Church the hundreds of thousands that composed 
 her membership, assumed to themselves the power to divide said 
 Church, and draw a line, and say to preachers and members, " Thus 
 far shalt thou come, and no further." 
 
 I sincerely thank God, upon every remembrance of the acts or 
 doings of the General Conference of 1844 on this matter, that my 
 little abilities were put forth to prevent this catastrophe, though I was 
 found greatly in the minority. Yet, I am glad to say, it was an 
 honourable minority, which, by the whining sycophancy of the South, 
 and uncalled-for sympathy of the North, were overwhelmed by the 
 vote of the majority. 
 
 I say here again, as I have elsewhere said in this narrative, that the 
 General Conference of 1844, and all the General Conferences that ever 
 existed, had no more power to divide the Church than I, as an indi- 
 vidual, had ; and it is my deliberate opinion, that the members of the
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 245 
 
 General Conference who concocted and completed this measure of so- 
 called division of the Church, ought to refund the whole amount of money 
 gained by the South in the Church suits, and let the poor, superannu- 
 ated preachers, their wives and children, and the widows and orphans 
 of our ministers that have been left nearly destitute of the means of 
 living since the death of their faithful husbands and fathers, have it as 
 a fund for their support. 
 
 It is as clear to me as a sunbeam, that the General Conference 
 had no constitutional right to form this sham line of division that 
 they did, and thereby force thousands of our pious and devoted mem- 
 bers south of that line to take their membership in an openly avowed 
 slaveholding Church, or remain for ever without Church privileges ; 
 and when the piteous wailings of these forsaken members, thus cut off 
 from the Church of their early and only choice, came up for four 
 years, is it any wonder that the General Conference of 1848, that sat 
 in Pittsburgh, should virtually declare the action of the General Con- 
 ference of 1844 unconstitutional, and declare that line null and void, 
 to all intents and purposes, and once more authorize our preachers to 
 go, without limitation or restriction, " into all the world, and preach 
 the Gospel to every creature ? " Now, although this is not to be won- 
 dered at, when we consider the sympathetic religious appeals made to 
 that body from our lost members in the dreadful wilderness of slave 
 territory, still there is a wonderful and marvellous thing that con- 
 founds all my sense of justice, truth, and righteousness, still existing 
 in the Methodist Episcopal Church ; that is, that there are to be 
 found members, preachers, and editors of our Church papers, that, 
 with run-mad violence, oppose the re-organization of Conferences in 
 slave territory, and are unwilling to send, or support our preachers 
 that are sent to preach, the Gospel of the Son of God to these mis- 
 guided and blind slaveholders, or to the poor, degraded, ignorant 
 thousands of slaves that have souls to be saved or lost for ever. I 
 am fully aware that here I tread controverted, enchanted, and dis- 
 puted ground ; but, perhaps, as this may be the last opportunity that 
 I may have this side the grave to be heard on this subject, 1 beseech 
 my readers, whether they agree or disagree with me in my sentiments 
 on this vexed question of slavery, to hear me for a few moments 
 without " malice prepense " or aforethought, as to the history of the 
 rupture in the Methodist Episcopal Church, at the General Conference 
 of 1844. I beg leave to refer all concerned in this matter to the 
 most excellent history of the great secession, published by Dr. C. 
 Elliott ; a book which, large as it is, ought to have a place in every 
 library of the Methodist Episcopal Church. If they will get this 
 book, and turn to chapters xx., xxi., pages 286-318, they will find
 
 246 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 all the facts concerning the acts and doings of the General Conference 
 of 1844 detailed with an impartial and truthful particularity worthy 
 of all commendation ; and, indeed, the book throughout is a valuable 
 work, and should be in the hands of every preacher in the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 I wish to say here, I was born and raised in a slave State, or States, 
 and for more than sixty years have been acquainted with the senti- 
 ments of the Methodist Episcopal Church preachers and members on 
 the subject of slavery. I have seen thousands of poor slaves con- 
 verted to God ; I have, I verily believe, also seen thousands of slave- 
 holders soundly converted to God, whose fruit in after-life gave ample 
 evidence of the genuineness of their religion ; and since I have had a 
 mature judgment on the subject of slavery, I have steadfastly believed 
 it a great evil ; and, without boasting, I will say, I have been the 
 agent or instrument of freeing scores of the poor slaves, and not only 
 of their emancipation, but also of the colonization of many of them, 
 returning them to their own country free and happy. But this all 
 took place before the legislatures of the slave States blocked up the 
 way, by stringent laws, to practical emancipation. These stringent 
 laws of the legislatures of slave States were passed chiefly from two 
 causes : first, their inherent love of oppression ; and, second, from the 
 extreme and violent manner of intermeddling with the legal rights of 
 the slaveholders in the South by the rabid abolitionists of the North. 
 And now, I would soberly ask, What has all this violent hue and 
 cry of proscriptive abolitionism done for the emancipation of the poor 
 degraded slaves ? Just nothing at all ; nay, infinitely worse than 
 nothing. It has riveted the chains of slavery tighter than ever 
 before ; it has blocked up the way to reasonable and practicable 
 emancipation ; it has engendered prejudice ; it has thrown firebrands 
 into legislative halls, both of the state and general governments ; 
 millions are expended every year in angry debates ; laws for the good 
 of the people are neglected ; time, talents, and money thrown away ; 
 prejudice, strife, and wrath, and every evil passion stirred up until the 
 integrity of the Union of our happy country is in imminent danger ; 
 and what has it all amounted to ? Not one poor slave set free ; not 
 one dollar expended to colonize them and send them home happy and 
 free ; and such is the unchristian, excited prejudice, that mobs are 
 fast becoming the order of the day. Presses demolished ; preachers 
 of the Gospel, hailing from the free States, are hunted down by blood- 
 hounds in human shape ; they are tarred and feathered, and threat- 
 ened with the rope if they do not leave in a few hours ; and such is 
 the prejudice produced by the angry* and unchristian fulminating 
 thunders of this one-eyed and one-ideaed, run-mad procedure, that the
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 247 
 
 Gospel is well-nigh totally denied in slave States to both owners and 
 slaves in many places. 
 
 But I think I hear you say, " Let slaveholding preachers preach to 
 'these slaves and slaveholders.". But if slavery is a sin in all circum- 
 stances, how can slaveholding preachers successfully preach the Gospel 
 to these poor sinners ? " Well," say you, " let the devil take them all." 
 no, God forbid ! there surely must be a better way ; these poor 
 slaves surely are not to blame for their condition. Are there no 
 bowels of mercy to yearn over them ? Many of these slaveholders, 
 from circumstances beyond their control, are not radically slaveholding 
 sinners ; above all men that dwell in the South, they are entitled to 
 our pity and commiseration, and we should surely carry the Gospel to 
 them, and our skirts will not be clear of their blood if we do not. 
 
 Do we reclaim drunkards by telling them that they steal their mm, 
 and lie in the meanest way of all men to get their intoxicating beve- 
 rages ? No, verily ; we pity them, reason with them, arid, knowing 
 the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men ; and when all moral suasion 
 fails, do we say, drunkenness is the open door to all sins, and therefore 
 it is the sum of all villanies, and that they cannot be made Christians ? 
 No. When all moral suasion fails, we try by legal enactments to put 
 the temptation out of their way, and urge them to become Christians. 
 Do we induce sinners to reform, repent, arid be converted, by abusing 
 them, and telling them of all their dirty deeds, and saying it is impos- 
 sible for persons guilty of such dirty crimes to become Christians ? 
 No, we warn them in a Christian spirit and temper, to flee the wrath 
 to come ; we assure them that the happy gates of Gospel grace stand 
 open night and day, and that Christ will turn none away empty that 
 will come unto Him ; for whosoever shall call on the name of the 
 Lord shall be saved. And we urge them to seek the Lord while He 
 may be found, and call upon Him while He is near. 
 
 I blame no man for believing that slavery is wrong and a great evil, 
 and every reasonable man must deprecate its existence ; and I know that 
 there are thousands of our Southern slaveholding citizens that not 
 only believe, but know from daily experience, that it is a great evil, 
 and would willingly make any reasonable sacrifice to rid themselves 
 and their happy country of it. And I believe, from more than twenty 
 years' experience as a travelling preacher in slave States, that the most 
 successful way to ameliorate the condition of the slaves, and Christian- 
 ize them, and finally secure their freedom, is to treat their owners 
 kindly, and not to meddle politically with slavery. Let their owners 
 see and know that your whole mission is the salvation of the slaves as 
 well as their owners, and that you have not established any under- 
 ground railroad, and that it is not your mission to abduct their slaves.
 
 248 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 
 
 In this way more is to be done for the final extirpation of American 
 slavery than all others put together ; for these ultraists breathe nothing 
 but death and slaughter. 
 
 I will further state that it is my firm conviction that every Method- 
 ist preacher sent as a missionary herald to labour in slave territory, 
 ought to be instructed by the ruling authorities of the Church not to 
 meddle with slavery, but to attend strictly to his spiritual mission. 
 This is the way the Wesleyan Mission Committee instructed their 
 missionaries sent to labour in the West Indies, where slavery abounded 
 in its worst forms ; and if those missionaries were known to disobey 
 those instructions, they were immediately recalled ; and although these 
 missionaries were tied up to the one grand object of Christianizing 
 the people, yet finally the Gospel leaven so mightily worked, that 
 slavery was abolished, and universal freedom triumphed and prevailed. 
 Let us hope that this will be the case with American slavery; and 
 after having expended all our wrath without availing anything worth 
 talking about, let us now henceforth use Christian weapons, and 
 Christian weapons alone, and the mighty monster will fall. 
 
 I do solemnly declare, that no circumstance ever occurred concern- 
 ing the welfare of the Church, which afflicted me so sorely as the 
 transactions of the General Conference of 1844. It seemed to me 
 that I could not survive under the painful fact that the Methodist 
 Church must be divided ; and all the time of the protracted debates I 
 knew, if the Southern preachers failed to carry the point they had 
 fixed, namely, the tolerance of slaveholding in the episcopacy, that 
 they would fly the track, and set up for themselves ; and in that 
 event many souls would be injured, and perhaps turn back to per- 
 dition ; arid that war and strife would prevail among brethren that 
 once were \inited as a brotherly band, and that they must of necessity 
 become a slavery Church. And I the more deeply regretted it because 
 any abomination sanctified by the priesthood would take a firmer hold 
 on the community, and that this very circumstance would the longer 
 perpetuate the evil of slavery, and perhaps would be the entering 
 wedge to the dissolution of our glorious Union, and perhaps the 
 downfall of this great republic. And though I stood alone among the 
 delegates, my colleagues, of my own beloved Illinois Conference, in 
 my vote against all these revolutionary and divisive measures in the 
 General Conference, it afforded me great pleasure to leani that my 
 course in the General Conference was approved by an overwhelming 
 majority of the preachers and members of our Conference. And it 
 still affords me unspeakable pleasure to know that I shall not have to 
 answer before my final Judge for the sin of dividing the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, a Church that, under God, I am indebted to for all
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHES. 249 
 
 I have and am ; a Church that I have spent a long life in trying to 
 build up, and for the prosperity of which I have made sacrifices, and 
 in the communion of which I have enjoyed so many unspeakable privi- 
 leges, and all the comfort and pleasure, worth calling so, in this life. 
 
 This Church I love, and want no other on earth ; and in her fellow- 
 ship I hope to live and die, and with her members, and all other 
 fellow-Christians, I hope to spend a blissful eternity in adoring God the 
 Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, in the enjoyment of 
 redeeming grace and dying love. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 RESTRICTIVE RULE AND SLAVERY. 
 
 IN the fall of 1844, our Conference was held in the town of Nash- 
 ville, Washington County, Illinois. Here the , concurrence of the 
 Conference was asked in the measures of the General Conference. 
 Brother Stamper and Brother Berry man, who had voted with the 
 South, took their stand for concurrence, and I took my stand for non- 
 concurrence ; and after we had debated the subject fully, the vote was 
 taken, and there was a handsome majority in favour of non-concur- 
 rence. So the measure failed in our Conference, and it failed through- 
 out all the annual Conferences of obtaining a three-fourths vote for 
 concurrence ; and the restrictive rule remained as it was, the recom- 
 mendation of the General Conference to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 Now, the plain state of fact was this: the main body of the 
 members of the General Conference knew, and many of them openly 
 said on the General Conference floor, both Northern and Southern 
 members, that the General Conference had no power either to divide 
 the Church, or the property or avails of the Book Concern, or the 
 Chartered Fund ; and the act of the General Conference to divide the 
 property or funds of the Methodist Episcopal Church was only passed 
 provisionally. They knew it was unconstitutional, and their design 
 was to change the restrictive rule, or constitutional clause of the 
 Discipline, so as to allow this division of the property, and proceeds 
 of the Book Concern, and Chartered Fund of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. But how was this change to be brought about in a consti- 
 tutional way ? Answer. See Discipline, part i., chap, ii., sec. ii., 
 ans. 6, thus : " They (the General Conference) shall not appropriate 
 the produce of the Book Concern, nor of the Charter Fund, to any 
 purpose other than for the benefit of the travelling, supernumerary, 
 superannuated, aud worn-out preachers, their wives, widows, and
 
 250 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 children. Provided, nevertheless, that upon the concurrent recom- 
 mendation of three-fourths of the members of the several annual 
 Conferences, who shall he present and vote on such recommendation, 
 then a majority of two-thirds of the General Conference succeeding 
 shall suffice to alter any of the above restrictions, excepting the first 
 article : and also, whenever such alteration or alterations shall have 
 been first recommended by two-thirds of the General Conference, so 
 soon as three-fourths of the members of all the annual Conferences 
 shall have concurred as aforesaid, such alteration or alterations shall 
 take effect." 
 
 The General Conference of 1844 recommended an alteration in this 
 sixth restrictive rule of the constitution of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, and sent round to all the annual Conferences for a three- 
 fourths vote of concurrence. Now, notwithstanding this was the 
 favourite measure of the South, and notwithstanding every member of 
 all the seceding slaveholding Conferences, save a solitary one, voted a 
 concurrence with this unreasonable recommendation, yet when the 
 votes of all the annual Conferences were counted, they fell far short of 
 a three-fourths vote of concurrence. 
 
 Does it not, therefore, shock all the honourable, high-minded feel- 
 ings of mankind, to know that the public functionaries of justice could 
 be so corrupt as to decide against the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
 those Church suits in favour of the Southern seceders, the self-styled 
 and self-constituted Methodist Episcopal Church, South? I hope I 
 may be indulged in a few remarks on this vexed question of slavery. 
 I hold myself to be an unflinching conservative Methodist preacher. I 
 know that slavery is an evil, and a great evil ; and although the South 
 denies this ground, and their interested cry is " Abolition 1 aboli- 
 tion ! " that is, with many of them, this cry has never moved me one 
 inch. I can only pray, " Lord, forgive them ; they know not what 
 they do." 
 
 Nine-tenths of them, members and preachers, came into the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church with their eyes open, with our General Eules, 
 and other Rules, all open before them ; if they did not like them, they 
 should not have joined the Church. If they joined, not knowing the 
 Rules, when they came to the knowledge of them, and then thought 
 them radically wrong, they should have peaceably retired, or withdrawn, 
 and not have rended the Church, and thrown her into violent commo- 
 tions ; and turn round and abuse the Church that, under God, was the 
 means of their salvation. They always had tangible evidence that the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church would never tolerate slavery in one of her 
 bishops ; and they had no just right to complain when the General 
 Conference arrested Bishop Andrew, and gave as the sense of that
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 251 
 
 respectable body, that he should desist from the exercise of his episcopal 
 functions, until he rid himself of that impediment. As a prudent 
 Christian bishop, he should have done this of his own accord. 
 
 On the other hand, the ultra -abolitionists of the North, or anywhere 
 else, have no right to complain of me and others, and deny us the 
 dignified privilege of being conservatives, and hurl their anathemas 
 against us, and bring a railing accusation against us of " pro-slavery, 
 pro-slavery ! " And, indeed, they treat us with less decent respect 
 than God permitted Michael the archangel to treat the devil ; for he 
 did not allow Michael to bring a railing accusation against his Satanic 
 majesty ; but permitted him only to say, " The Lord rebuke thee." 
 Mr. Wesley never made slaveholding a test of membership ; and when, 
 in 1784, the Methodist Episcopal Church Avas organized, slavery was 
 not made a test of membership ; it never has been a test of member- 
 ship, from the apostolic day down to the present. I ask, then, what 
 right have these Babel builders to introduce a new test of membership 
 in the Methodist Episcopal Church ? They, like the South, joined 
 the Methodist Church under her present Rules on slavery, and did it 
 with their eyes open. Why did they join her? And, if they were 
 ignorant of our Rules on slavery when they joined, after they informed 
 themselves, and did not, and could not, become reconciled to those 
 Rules or the Church, why did they not peaceably withdraw or leave, 
 and not keep the Church in an eternal agitation and confusion ? there- 
 by prejudicing the slaveholders in the South, and cutting off our access 
 to them and their slaves, rending the Church, embroiling the whole 
 nation, which threatens a rupture of our national union, and the 
 destructive ravages of civil war. Before and at the time of the 
 Southern secession, there were three of our Church papers, with three 
 Methodist preachers as editors of those papers, in the South, paid for 
 their services out of the funds of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 They were elected and paid to spread religious knowledge, and defend 
 the doctrines and the usages of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; but 
 how did they act, and discharge the highly responsible duties of their 
 office ? It is true, they wrote many good things ; but it is also true, 
 that they put into requisition all their tact and talent to abuse the 
 Church which was giving them their bread, denouncing her as an ultra- 
 abolition Church. Now, was this the course that honourable, high- 
 minded Christian ministers should have taken ? Surely not. Well, 
 since this glorious inconsistency attached to the South, we have elected 
 editors in the North and North-west, under precisely the same circum- 
 stances as the Southern editors who have lived on the pap of the 
 Church ; and they have opened their batteries, denouncing her as a 
 pro-slavery Church. " Consistency, thou art a jewel ! " If these
 
 252 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 editors were conscience-stricken on these subjects, why did they not 
 resign their editorial offices, and set up independent sheets, and vent 
 their spleen against the Methodist Episcopal Church on their own 
 responsibility, and support themselves? 
 
 The middle ground between these ultra extremes is what I call con- 
 servative ground ; that is, we say, in the language of our most excellent 
 Discipline, that slavery is a great evil; and the grand question is, 
 What shall be done for its extirpation? Now, 1 suppose it will be 
 admitted on all hands, that to do as the Southern preachers have done, 
 that is, to plead that it is right, and justify it by the word of God, is 
 not, and cannot be, the way to extirpate this evil. 
 
 On the other hand, if we inquire, " What has ultra abolition done to 
 extirpate this great evil? " what must be the truthful answer? It is 
 simply this: With the exception of a few Negroes that they have 
 abducted, enticed to run away, or have been transported on their un- 
 derground railroads to Canada, to starve, and to be degraded worse 
 than with their lawful owners ; and the very few runaway slaves that, 
 by mob violence, and in contravention of law, they have kept from 
 their legal owners ; they have not secured the emancipation of a single 
 slave, from Passamaquoddy to the Gulf of Mexico : nay, so far from 
 it, they have greatly retarded the efforts of the colonization societies 
 everywhere ; they have poisoned the minds and inflamed the wrath of 
 the slaveholders in the South, until a decent man, and especially a 
 minister, hailing from a free State, can hardly pass, or repass, in a 
 slave territory, without the risk of a suit of tar and feathers, and even 
 pulling hemp by the neck occasionally. And this mighty mountain of 
 the North, that for years, yea, many years, has been heaving, bellow- 
 ing, and groaning, in mighty pain, to be delivered, has brought forth ; 
 and what is it ? A poor little, insignificant m-o-u-s-e ; while conserva- 
 tive Methodist preachers, in many instances, who have inherited slaves, 
 have set them free, or colonized them in Africa. We have gone to 
 slaveholders in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, 
 and Missouri, in a peaceful Christian way ; and while we never ceased 
 to bear an honest testimony against the moral evil of slavery, (but did 
 not meddle with it politically,) we successfully persuaded many of 
 these slaves and slaveholders to turn to God, and obtain religion ; and 
 we got hundreds and thousands of these poor slaves set free. Let the 
 many emancipated slaves, and their former owners in the above-named 
 States, bear witness to the truth of what I here record. This is the 
 firm and impregnable ground for a true conservative to stand upon ; 
 and this ground will save the Church, the Union, the slave, and the 
 slaveholder ; and I would not exchange it for all the ultraisms of the 
 North and South put together, and a thousand such.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 253 
 
 In connexion with this subject I wish to say a few things concern- 
 ing a meeting I accidentally fell in with in Cincinnati, I think in 1848. 
 I do not think I heard the name of the meeting ; if I did, I have for- 
 gotten it ; but when I give a very feeble description of it, perhaps some 
 of my readers may be able to christen the brat ; for it was surely begot- 
 ten in the regions or sprang from the soil of "Bigheadism," and the 
 little thing's disease had turned to the " stiff complaint ; " or, in other 
 words, I found the meeting to be composed of a heterogeneous mass of 
 disaffected, censured, or expelled preachers ; that is, the speakers were 
 mostly from the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist Churches. The 
 house was filled with almost all sorts, sizes, and colours ; black, white, 
 and yellow, men, women, and children. They had called to the chair 
 one of their number as moderator. If my memory is correct, the first 
 speaker that rose and addressed the motley crowd, said he had been 
 so many years a regular pastor of a Baptist Church in Kentucky ; that 
 he had used all his talents and influence to resist the damning influence 
 of slavery, but was overruled in every attempt. He stated that the 
 ministers and ruling members had often met, conversed, and debated 
 the subject, but he was overruled every time. They would not turn 
 slaveholders out of the Church, nor make slaveholding a test of 
 membership ; and after having his righteous soul vexed for years with 
 their filthy conversation and conduct, he felt it was his duty to come 
 out of the Baptist Church. He then warned the members of said 
 Church, and all others, to come out of all slaveholding Churches : 
 " Come out, come out ; touch not, taste not, and handle not the 
 unclean thing." This speech was received with applause by the 
 listening crowd of many colours. 
 
 Next arose a Mr. S h. lie said he was a Protestant Methodist, 
 
 but had been a member and minister of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, and travelled as such for years. He had also fought slavery 
 for a long time to get it out of the Church, but always failed, for 
 they loved the accursed thing ; and that the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church was, to all intents and purposes, a slaveholding and a slavery- 
 approving Church. The crowd clapped him while he cried, " Come 
 out, come out of her, my people;" and his speech was greatly applauded 
 by the mixed multitude, coloured arid all. 
 
 The third speaker was a Presbyterian preacher. He said he had 
 experienced the same trials, conflicts, and debates with his brethren 
 in the Church, that his two brethren who had spoken before had 
 waded through, but all of no avail ; his conscience would not let him 
 remain a member or minister of a slaveholding Church any longer; he 
 must come out; and exhorted all people to "come out, and be ye 
 clean, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I will receive you, saith
 
 254 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 the Lord ; and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people, saith 
 the Lord." 
 
 After this there arose on the floor a very respectable-looking man, 
 and replied to most of the statements of these three come-outers, and 
 he showed very clearly, and by irresistible arguments, that the ground 
 they took was a false ground, and that they, or the principles they 
 advocated, were clearly disorganizing and revolutionary in their nature, 
 and in all their tendencies. There was a clerical gentleman sitting at 
 my side, who said that from personal knowledge he could say that all 
 three of these men who first addressed the audience, were under 
 charges of immorality when they pretended to come out of their 
 Churches on account of slavery. 
 
 I have seen a great many such preachers as above described. When 
 their bad conduct could not be borne with in their respective Churches 
 any longer, and the disciplinary excisions were about to be inflicted on 
 them, they fled, picking some flaw, or alleging some dreadful wrong in the 
 Church, as they ran and cried, " Come out, come out of her ! " 0, the in- 
 fant Church of Christ, how it suffered in its very minority by the unfaith- 
 fulness of its ministers ! In the very first little Conference of preachers 
 that was organized, Judas turned traitor, and betrayed the blessed 
 Saviour. Peter, perhaps the boldest of the twelve, denied Him with 
 horrid oaths and bitter curses. What do you suppose the astonished 
 ten thought under these appalling circumstances ? Judas relented, 
 and hung himself for the dreadful wrong he had done against the 
 innocent Saviour. Peter felt compunction and wept bitterly ; was 
 mercifully reclaimed or converted from his apostasy, and, for many 
 years of persecution and trial, strengthened his brethren. What a 
 fearful account will unfaithful preachers, who have torn, rent, and 
 divided the Church of God, have to give in the day of judgment, 
 when the blighting curses of Heaven shall fall on their unfaithful and 
 devoted heads ! Lord, save us from unfaithfulness ! 
 
 On my way to Conference at Nashville in the fall of 1844, I was 
 suddenly taken ill with a real shaking ague in a large, extensive 
 prairie, ten miles across, and shook so severely that I could not sit in 
 my sulky. I got out and lay down on the grass, and really thought I 
 should die for want of water. No house or water near, no human 
 being approached me to aid me in any way : but. after about two hours 
 my shaking abated, and I travelled some ten or twelve miles to a 
 camp-meeting which was in progress at Brother Gilham's camp-ground, 
 where I lingered a day or two. There was a botanic doctor on the 
 ground, who lived in Alton City. He kindly took me to his house, 
 and, in a few days, checked my disease. The preachers all left me, 
 being anxious to be at Conference, which was to commence on the
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 255 
 
 Wednesday following. They, as well as myself, were totally in despair 
 of my reaching the Conference. I was very anxious to get there ; for 
 the great question, so far as our Conference was concerned, was to be 
 settled of concurrence or non-concurrence with the recommendation of 
 the General Conference. 
 
 I waited till Friday morning. I prayed for strength to go to Con- 
 ference, and, while praying, a strong impression was made on my mind 
 that I could get there ; I rose from my knees and determined to try. 
 The doctor remonstrated against my attempting to go, but I delibe- 
 rately told iiim I was going, if I died in one mile. When he saw I was 
 determined to try it, he put up some medicine, and I got a good 
 brother to drive my horse .for me, and started, and, strange as it may 
 appear, I mended every mile, and on Sunday morning I reached the 
 Conference, and was able to attend to business the balance of the 
 session, and especially to take a part in the debates, and carry the vote 
 in favour of non-concurrence. This circumstance I have always looked 
 upon as a kind interposition of Providence ; and, indeed, the defeat of 
 this project by the annual Conferences was directed by God Himself; 
 and could the Methodist Episcopal Church have gotten justice in the 
 civil courts, according to the true merits of the case, the ill-gotten 
 gains of the Southern secession would have been small ; but I predict 
 that it will not prosper with them. 
 
 My appointment this fall was to the Bloomington District, which 
 was composed of the following appointments, namely, Bloomington, 
 Mount Pleasant, Monticello, Clinton, Havana, Fancy Creek, Decatur, 
 and Postville. This was a gloomy Conference year. We had very 
 little revival influence in our District, or in the Conference, and, in- 
 deed, scarcely any throughout the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
 delegates of the General Conference from the Southern Conferences 
 returned home, and appointed mass meetings in every direction, and 
 poured out the vials of wrath upon the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 especially the majority of the members of the General Conference. 
 They declared that we were all abolitionists, and drummed up a con- 
 vention of the preachers from the slnveholdin<? Conferences. Bishop 
 Soule presided in it, sitting calmly on the ignited clouds, and direct- 
 ing the thunder-storm ; and though that convention, by solemn vote, 
 renounced the jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
 formed themselves into a separate organization ; and though Bishop 
 Soule declared in the General Conference of 1844 that he would not 
 be immolated on a Northern or Southern altar, but on the altar of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church ; now, notwithstanding all this and a 
 thousand times as much,, he had the very uncommon hardihood to 
 come round and preside in our Conferences which had not seceded,
 
 256 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 and persisted in this course, lending all his aid and influence to the 
 secession, until the Ohio Conference gave him a glorious ouster, and 
 refused to let him preside over them. I had prepared this dose for 
 his honour if he had attended the Rock River or Illinois Conferences ; 
 but after the rebuff the Ohio Conference gave him, prudence, with 
 him, for once prevailed, and he did not attend our Conferences, but 
 Bishop Morris attended and presided in them. 
 
 There never were more unfair and foul means resorted to by any 
 set of ministers to divide and destroy a Church, than were resorted to 
 by many of these slaveholding preachers in the South ; and I cannot 
 help blaming Bishop Soule more than all the rest. I shall always 
 believe that the goodness of Bishop Andrew's heart was such that he 
 would have voluntarily pledged himself to the General Conference that 
 he would, as soon as practicable, remove the impediment ; and if he 
 had done this, it would have been hailed, and hailed with a shout, by 
 the delegates from all the adhering Conferences, the few ultra- 
 abolitionists not excepted. If he had done so, how much better 
 would it have been for himself, for the South, for the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, and, indeed, for our distracted country at large ! and 
 perhaps the blessedness of such a course in Bishop Andrew would 
 have told with thrilling effect on the surrounding millions in other 
 governments ; and unborn millions, of future generations, would rise 
 up and call him blessed. Though he might be dead, and gone to 
 heaven, yet his noble, magnanimous, Christian example would have 
 told in tones of thunder on an ungodly and oppressive world ; and the 
 lucid light of his Christian example would have shone with brilliant 
 splendour, and the example thus set by a Methodist bishop would 
 have said to all the world, " Follow me, as I have followed Christ." 
 
 The bishop in this case should have known no man, or set of men, 
 after the flesh. I know the preachers friendly to slavery clung to him 
 and his case as a forlorn hope, and as the last resort to carry their 
 point with ; namely, slavery in the episcopacy ; and a fairer subject 
 they never could have had ; for although we think Bishop Andrew did 
 wrong in this matter, and greatly erred, yet we love him, and think 
 him a good man, and that he was every way worthy of the office of a 
 bishop, slavery excepted. 
 
 My heart has bled at every opening pore, at the untold mischief 
 this rupture in the Methodist Episcopal Church has and will produce, 
 from the very nature of things, (I mean fallen nature). The Southern 
 preachers will, in self-justification, throw the blame on the preachers 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and thereby poison the minds of a 
 great majority of the slaveholding South ; for they are as rabidly in 
 i'avour of slavery as the extravagant abolitionists are against it. With
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 257 
 
 the two extreme parties there is no middle ground ; for each of them, 
 assuming that they are infallibly right, cry out, " They that are not 
 for us are against us." I have contended with these two extremes for 
 many years, as a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; and I 
 have often been astounded beyond measure at the absurdities and in- 
 consistencies of these extreme belligerent parties ; but why should I ? 
 It is as certain for extremes to engender absurdities, inconsistencies, 
 and self-evident contradictions, as for effects to follow causes, or for 
 like to go to like philosophically. As one of these extremes has 
 renounced the jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal Church, leaving 
 the middle-ground ministers and members of it completely and alto- 
 gether in the range and raking fire of the artillery of the Northern 
 ultras, I have indulged in the fond hope that these Northern abstrac- 
 tionists would, if they cannot be reconciled to conservative, consistent 
 Methodism, as it was from the beginning, go and set up for them- 
 selves, and let the old conservative Methodist Episcopal Church 
 alone ; but no, they seem determined to agitate, and keep on agi- 
 tating, till they drive us into another inglorious secession, and they 
 remain in peaceable possession of the hard earnings of all the labours 
 of conservative Methodist members and preachers from the beginning. 
 But no, I can tell them for their comfort, if they are within the reach 
 of comforting considerations, if this is their aim, they need not put 
 any nattering unction to their souls on this ground ; for the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church 
 
 " Has fought through many a battle sore," 
 and she 
 
 " Expects to fight through many more," 
 
 and will stand as she is, and as she has always been ; and while there- 
 is a splinter from a shattered plank of the old Methodist ship " Zion," 
 I intend to hold on to her with a dying grasp, and, if necessity com- 
 pels, with our dying breath cry to all around, " Don't give up the 
 ship ! " 
 
 I am devoutly glad that there is an overruling Providence, where 
 we may place our hope and confidence; and though we cannot see 
 through or comprehend the permissive providences of God, yet if we 
 can, under all circumstances, trust God aright, we are assured that 
 " all things shall work together for good to them that love Him." 
 May not this slavery secession from the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 be overruled by a Divine Providence, and re-act, and show that the 
 wisdom of men is foolishness with God ? and, under the overruling 
 interpositions of the Almighty, hasten in its time the total extinction 
 of slavery, that has so long placed a foul blot upon the fair escutcheon 
 
 a
 
 258 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 of our country? Who knows, or can divine? Let us look to God, 
 and constantly and ardently pray, " Thy kingdom come : Thy will be 
 done in earth as it is in heaven ;" use spiritual weapons, and leave all 
 events to God. 
 
 It will be found, on an examination of our Minutes, that the year 
 before the great Southern secession, the increase of membership in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church was over 100,000 ; that in the year of 
 and after the secession there was a decrease of over 31,000 members. 
 A. great many of these were along what was called the line, in the 
 border Conferences, who were not numbered in either division ; and 
 a great number, from the confusion and dissatisfaction that arose in 
 the Church from this rupture, attached themselves to other Churches ; 
 and perhaps many went out that never returned to either division, nor 
 did they seek membership in any other branch of the Christian 
 Ohurch, and perhaps were lost for ever. What an awful thought ! 
 These were the fearful, legitimate results of schism ; and, indeed, this 
 dreadful rupture in the Methodist Church spread terror over almost 
 every other branch of the Church of Christ ; and really, disguise it as 
 we may, it shook the pillars of our American government to the 
 centre, and many of our ablest statesmen were alarmed, and looked 
 iipon it as the entering wedge to political disunion, and a fearful step 
 toward the downfall of our happy republic ; and it is greatly to be 
 feared that the constant agitation and unscrupulous anathemas in- 
 dulged in by frenzied preachers and unprincipled demagogues, political 
 demagogues, that seek more for the spoils of office than the freedom 
 of the slave or the good of the country, will so burst the bonds of 
 brotherly love and the real love of country, that all the horrors of civil 
 war will break upon us shortly, and firebrands, arrows, and death be 
 thrown broadcast over the land, and anarchy, mobs, and lawless des- 
 peradoes reign triumphant ; and then the fair fabric of our happy 
 republic will be tumbled into ruins, and the liberties that our fathers 
 fought for, and that cost the blood and treasure of the best patriots 
 that ever lived, will be lost for ever. I would beg imploringly all 
 honest-hearted lovers of their country, and the liberties we enjoy, to 
 unitedly stand up against every device, stratagem, and political combi- 
 nation, whether secretly or openly carried on, by dishonest intriguers, 
 to ruin our country.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 259 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIX. 
 TRAVELLING PRAIRIE IN WINTER. 
 
 IN the fall of 1845, our Illinois Conference was held in Springfield, 
 September 3rd, Bishop Morris presiding. I was returned to the 
 Bloomington District, which remained pretty near as before. This 
 District lies in a vast, fertile prairie country, interspersed with delight- 
 ful groves, and at this time was but sparsely populated ; but since has 
 rapidly filled up and improved. The District then extended from the 
 mouth of the Sangamon River, where it empties into the Illinois 
 River, and up said river to near the mouth of the Mackinaw River ; 
 thence east to Bloomington, and still east to the head of the Sangamon 
 River ; thence with said river to its mouth. There was also a part of 
 the Decatur, and the entire of Monticello Circuits, south of this river, 
 appended to the District. In the dead of winter, or in the spring 
 floods, it was tolerably hazardous to go through and around this Dis- 
 trict, and very laborious to go round it four times in the year. 
 
 In the winter of 1845-46, my round of winter quarterly meetings 
 commenced. There had fallen a deep snow, turned warm, and rained in 
 torrents ; then suddenly turned intensely cold ; the streams mostly 
 froze over, and nearly the whole face of the country was one continued 
 sheet of ice. This storm came upon me at or near Bloomington, the 
 north edge of my District. My next quarterly meeting was south of 
 the Sangamon River, sixty or seventy miles distant. My friends 
 dissuaded me from making even an attempt to go to it. I well knew 
 it was hazardous in the extreme ; but I, as a travelling preacher, had 
 from the beginning of my itinerancy seldom ever made a disappoint- 
 ment, and had a very great aversion to these disappointments, having 
 always made it a determined point, if possible, to fill my appoint- 
 ments ; and if difficulties surrounded me, I never knew whether I could 
 overcome them or not, till I tried : so to try was my motto ; and if, 
 after using due diligence in trying, my way was so insurmountably 
 hedged up that I could not accomplish impossibilities, I in the main 
 felt contented and happy ; for, in my early career as a travelling 
 preacher, I learned this happy lesson, not to fight against Providence. 
 So, in despite of the importunities of my friends, I set out. 
 
 My way lay mostly through a dreary and uninhabited prairie, with a 
 small blind path, which, in many places, was rendered invisible by the 
 snow and ice ; but, fortunately for me, my way led south, between two 
 large branches, not far to my right and left ; and these, being con- 
 siderably swollen by the late rains, and then suddenly frozen over, I 
 found to be a better guide than my blind path : for when 1 would 
 
 s 2
 
 260 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 miss ray path, and veer too much to the right, I would meet my 
 branch frozen over, and wheel to the left again ; and so it would be 
 when I would get off the track to the left hand. Thus guided, I 
 measured about twenty miles, and about one o'clock I hove up to a 
 point where these two branches met and formed a large creek, which 
 was overflowing its banks, and was swimming from bank to bank. 
 For many miles back I had not passed a solitary house, but right here 
 was a little, old, solitary, smoky cabin, and a poor, dirty, ragged 
 family, hovering and shivering over a small fire. The man, the head 
 of the family, was gone out hunting. I was hungry, and asked for 
 food ; but the good woman informed me she could not give me any- 
 thing to eat, for the best of reasons, they had nothing for themselves. 
 I looked around, and plainly saw I could not quarter there that night. 
 But how to get on to the settlement about six miles ahead was the 
 question. The woman informed me, if I could cross the branch which 
 had guided me to the right as I came there, and then would take the 
 timber along the margin of the large creek, into which my branches 
 emptied, for my guide, in about seven miles I would come to houses. 
 But how to get over this branch was the puzzle. It was at least one 
 hundred yards across, being swollen with the last rains, and it was 
 frozen over, but would not bear my horse. So I paused a minute, and 
 thought over my condition. I plainly saw I must retrace my steps 
 till I could cross this branch ; and if I could not cross it at all, I must 
 return to the settlement from whence I had started. So I got in my 
 buggy, cracked my whip, arid started back. In the course of a mile or 
 two my branch narrowed considerably, which inspired me with cheer- 
 ing hopes. 
 
 I made several attempts to cross the branch, but my horse broke 
 through, and with great difficulty I would retreat ; and after retreat- 
 ing four or five miles, my branch spread out largely and became very 
 shallow ; so in I ventured. My horse broke through ; but, from the 
 shallowness of the water, I got safely across; and, leaving the branch 
 to the left, and wheeling again south, took it for my guide, and pre- 
 sently came to the main ci'eek, which leaving to my left, urged on my 
 way for the settlement ; and though I had to cross many ponds frozen 
 over, and many branches in the same condition, my horse nearly worn 
 down, and myself cold, hungry, and much fatigued, about dark I came 
 up to a cabin, and it looked so much like the one I had left in the 
 point that I passed on. The second cabin I came to looked better ; 
 and though a total stranger in this region of the country, when 
 I hailed at the gate, who should come out but an old class-leader and 
 exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, whose acquaintance I 
 had made some time before at a distant quarterly meeting? He
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 261 
 
 saluted me as one blessed of the Lord, bid me a cordial welcome, and 
 so did his fine sisterly wife and children. My horse was put up, and 
 well cared i'or ; and soon a good backwoods supper, that abounded in 
 all the substantial of life, was on the table. We sat down, and I 
 partook with a relish only known to a weary, hungry man. We had 
 prayers, and the most of us got shouting-happy ; and one of his 
 interesting sons, while we were all engaged in prayer, was solemnly 
 Convicted; and, after praying in mighty agony for several hours, the 
 Lord blessed him with a powerful sense of the forgiveness of his sins. 
 For hours we sung, prayed, and shouted together ; then I retired to 
 rest, and I slept as sweet and sound as if I had been bedded on 
 a divan of King Solomon's palace. This young man shouted and 
 praised God nearly all night. 
 
 This is the way God converts sinners in the backwoods, and a very 
 faint specimen of the way that Western pioneer Methodist preachers 
 planted Methodism in the valley of the Mississippi. This good old 
 brother remained a few years among us, and witnessed a good 
 confession ; left the world with a triumphant shout, fell asleep in 
 Jesus, and went home to glory ! 
 
 Next morning I started on to my quarterly meeting, and just as I 
 got to the bridge, on the main Sangamon River, the high water ha<l 
 surrounded it, but not deep enough to swim my horse, who waded 
 through, and I passed over safely, and got to my quarterly meeting in 
 good time ; and although the weather was disagreeable, yet the people 
 crowded out. The word of God took hold on sinners ; many of them 
 wept, and cried for mercy, and found by happy experience that 
 Christ had power on earth to forgive sins. About twenty-eight were 
 soundly converted to God, the most of whom joined the Church, and 
 Methodism was planted here firmly, never to be destroyed, I humbly 
 trust. I have often thought of this scene, and many similar scenes 
 through which I have passed during my protracted ministry; and 
 when I look back on them, my heart grows warm, and swells with 
 gratitude to my heavenly Father for the sanction He has given to my 
 poor little ministry amid all the sacrifices and sufferings through which 
 I have passed, as a Methodist itinerant preacher; and to His holy 
 name be all the glory, both now and for ever ! 
 
 In the Bloomington District I had many warm personal friends, 
 many members that I had received into the Church in Kentucky, and 
 some in whose houses I had preached in the days of my comparative 
 youth ; and although it was a hard District for me to travel, my family 
 living entirely beyond its bounds, yet I was much attached to this 
 field of labour and the brethren, preachers and people. Some of these 
 old members had fought side by side with me in Kentucky and West-
 
 262 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 era Tennessee, where and when Methodism had many glorious triumphs 
 over slavery, whiskey, and superfluous dressing. These were her 
 internal foes ; but she not only triumphed over these enemies, but she 
 triumphed over her combined hosts of inveterate and uncompromising 
 sectarian enemies, and attained an elevated position in the affections of 
 very many of the best citizens of those States. Now, many of those 
 brethren who sung, prayed, and preached to and with us, have fallen 
 asleep in Jesus, and sing and shout in heaven ; while a few, and com- 
 paratively very few, of us old soldiers linger on the shores of time, still 
 fighting under the banners of Christ ; and our motto is, " Victory or 
 death ! " 
 
 Our next annual Conference sat in Paris, Edgar County, Illinois, 
 September 23rd, 1846, Bishop Mainline presiding. Our next, at 
 Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois, September 22nd, 1847, Bishop 
 AVaugh presiding. During the three years I was on the Bloomington 
 District we had general peace and some considerable prosperity. 
 During the last Conference year that I was on this District, some 
 incidents occurred, which I will relate. 
 
 My winter's round of quarterly meetings commenced at Blooming- 
 ton ; Brother Samuel Elliott was preacher in charge, and it was his 
 second year. There had fallen a very deep snow, which had greatly 
 blocked up the roads ; and by some strange forgetfulness in me, I 
 started for my Bloomington quarterly meeting a week too soon ; it 
 was very cold, and I had an open bleak prairie to travel through. 
 The first day I rode about forty miles, and late in the evening I 
 arrived at a very friendly brother's house ; but, behold ! when I went 
 in, I found a large company, consisting of parts of several families, 
 that had taken shelter under this friendly roof from the severe cold 
 and pitiless storm of snow that had fallen ; but all was as pleasant as 
 could be expected in a crowd, in very cold weather. When we came 
 to retire to rest, it was found that all the beds had to be put into 
 requisition to accommodate the females : what was to be done with 
 the five or six men of us that composed a part of the company ? Our 
 accommodation was cared for in something like the following way : a 
 large fire was made up, and plenty of wood brought in to keep it up 
 all night. Large buffalo robes and quilts were spread down before 
 the fire, and plenty of blankets and quilts for covering; and after 
 praying together, we all retired to rest, and, though our bedding was 
 hard, we slept soundly. 
 
 Rising early next morning, I mounted my horse, and started on my 
 way to Waynesville, a little village which gave name to one of my 
 Circuits. Brother John A. Brittenham was preacher in charge. He 
 saluted me in good brotherly style, and inquired which way I was
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 263 
 
 travelling. I informed him I was bound for the Bloomington quar- 
 terly meeting. He said, " That meeting is not till Saturday week ; 
 so Brother Elliott informs me." 
 
 I was surprised, and immediately turned to the District Book, and 
 found it even so. Well, what was now to be done? Shall I 
 retrace my steps, two days back home ; and then travel over this 
 dreary cold road here again ? Or what shall I do ? Said Brother 
 Brittenham, 
 
 " Stay with us, and let us have meeting every night till just time 
 for you to reach your quarterly meeting in Bloomingtori." 
 
 " Agreed," said I. 
 
 This was a very wicked little village. The Church was feeble, and 
 greatly needed a revival. We sent out, and gathered a small congre- 
 gation, and tried to preach to them ; and there were some signs of 
 good. Next night our congregation was considerably larger, with 
 increasing evidences of good. The third night our house was not 
 sufficient to hold the congregation ; and there were mighty displays 
 of the power of God. Some shouted aloud the praise of God ; some 
 wept. Our altar was crowded with mourners, and. several souls were 
 converted ; but, notwithstanding the place was made awful by reason 
 of the power of God, some mocked and made sport. Among these 
 were two very wicked young men, ringleaders iu wickedness. After 
 interrupting the congregation, and profanely cursing the religious 
 exercises of the people of God, they moimted their horses, and started 
 home. After or about the time of their starting home, they made up 
 a race for a trifling sum, or a bottle of whiskey, and started off, under 
 whip, at full speed ; but had not run their horses far, till the horse of 
 the most daring and presumptuous of those young men flew the track, 
 and dashed his rider against a tree, knocked the breath out of hinij 
 and he never spoke again. Thus, unexpectedly, this young man, with 
 all his blasphemous oaths still lingering on his lips, was suddenly 
 hurried into eternity, totally unprepared to meet his God. 
 
 The tidings of this awful circumstance ran with lightning speed 
 through the village and country round ; an awful panic seized upon 
 the multitude, and such weeping and wailing among his relatives and 
 people at large I hardly ever beheld before. There was no more 
 persecution during the protracted meeting, which lasted for many 
 days ; and it seemed, at one time, after this calamity had fallen on 
 this young man, that the whole country was in an agony for salvation. 
 Many, very many, professed religion and joined the Church ; but the 
 exact number I do not now recollect. 
 
 Before our meeting closed here, Brother Elliott, who had kept up a 
 series of meetings in Bloomington, preparatory to the quarterly meet-
 
 264 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 ing, which meetings had been greatly blessed, met me in Waynes- 
 ville, and we returned to the battle-field in Bloomington again. Our 
 meetings were recommenced, and, with constantly increasing interest, 
 were kept up night and day for a considerable length of time. Many 
 were convicted, reclaimed, converted, and built up in the most holy 
 faith. Of the number of conversions and accessions to the Church I 
 do not now rememlrer, but it occurs to me that it was seventy or 
 eighty. Brother Elliott's labours were greatly blessed in this charge, 
 the last year of his pastoral labours there. 
 
 Another incident occurred, while I was on this District, which I 
 feel disposed to name. There were a good many settlements and 
 neighbourhoods in the bounds of the District where the people had 
 become, in opinion, Universalists, and, judging from their morality, or 
 rather their immorality, this doctrine suited them well ; and it is 
 a little strange, but no stranger than true, I say, without any fear of 
 contradiction, the most of these Universalists had been members of 
 some Christian Church, and had backslidden and lost their religion, if 
 ever they had any. In the course of my peregrinations, I fell in with 
 one of their preachers, who really thought himself a mighty smart, 
 talented man, and was ready for debate, in public or private, on all 
 occasions. His assumed boldness gave him great consequence with 
 his hoodwinked disciples. He was very loquacious, and had some 
 clumsy play on words. After conversing with him a few minutes, I 
 took my line, common sense, and sounded him. He affected to 
 have great veneration for my gray hairs ; but I soon found his venera- 
 tion for my gray hairs arose more from a fear of my gray arguments 
 than otherwise. He was a man of slender constitution, and had 
 been, and was then, greatly afflicted with sore eyes, and was threat- 
 ened with the total loss of sight. He, in the course of our conversa- 
 tion, said there could not be any such being as a personal devil, who 
 could be everywhere present at one and the same time, tempting man- 
 kind to evil ; and as for a future place of punishment called hell, there 
 was no such place ; that, the temptations of man arose from his fallen 
 nature and not from the devil, and the punishment that man would 
 suffer for his evil doings he suffered in this life, and these sufferings 
 consisted in the compunctions of conscience for his moral delinquen- 
 cies, and in his bodily afflictions. 
 
 " Well," said I, " my dear sir, if your argument is a sound one, I 
 must draw very unfavourable conclusions in reference to the magnitude 
 of your crimes." 
 
 " Why so ?" responded he. 
 
 " Well, sir, for a very good reason. As to your moral delinquen- 
 cies, and your compunctions of conscience, they are best known, per-
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 265 
 
 haps, to yourself; but as to your bodily afflictions, as a punishment, I 
 think I can draw very fair inferences ; for I cannot conceive of a 
 greater bodily affliction than the loss of sight ; and as your vision is 
 almost gone, and you have expressed your firm belief that you will 
 lose your sight altogether, I must, if your doctrine be true, number 
 you among the greatest sinners on earth ; for God is too wise to err, 
 and too good to inflict undeserved punishment." I tell you his stars 
 and stripes were not only dropped to half-mast, but trailed in the 
 dust. 
 
 There were some evil reports about this preacher and a certain 
 landlord's lady who kept public entertainment. Another Methodist 
 minister and myself called to stay all night at this house, as we were 
 on a journey. The landlord was from home. We were known to 
 this lady, but she charged us tolerably high ; and, Universalist as she 
 was, I think her conscience smote her a little for charging preachers, 
 and she began to make a kind of apology for doing so. She said, 
 " Mr. Cartwright, I suppose you will think it a little strange that I 
 charge Methodist preachers ; but you need not, for I charge my own 
 preacher, Mr. ." 
 
 " 0, no, madam," said I ; " not at all, not at all. If reports about 
 
 you and Mr. , your preacher, be true, such a course, perhaps, is 
 
 right, and I have money enough to pay all Universalist bills, and they 
 ought to have it ; for all the happiness they will ever see is in this life ; 
 there is none for them in the life to come." You may depend upon 
 it, apologies ceased, and a dumb dispensation came over our fair 
 hostess. 
 
 Now, who does not see, from these rather desultory incidents, the 
 legitimate fruits of a false foundation that proposes to save all man- 
 kind, irrespective of the moral temperament of the heart ? or, in other 
 words, who does not see the fatal error of the fallacious arguments 
 that go to prove the final salvation of all mankind, without repentance 
 toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ? How many poor, 
 self-deluded souls are leaning on this broken staff, and will never be 
 awakened to a sense of their true condition till they hear the dreadful 
 communication ! " The great day of His wrath has come, and who 
 shall be able to stand ? " 
 
 In the fall of 1847, at our annual Conference in Jacksonville, our 
 election of delegates to the General Conference that sat in Pittsburgh 
 in 1848, came off, and, for the ninth time, it pleased the members of 
 the Conference to return me one of its delegates. This General Con- 
 ference was, on many accounts, a very interesting one, and especially 
 on account of the state of things that had grown up under the late 
 rupture in the Church. The Southern preachers had gone from the
 
 66 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 General Conference of 1844 with predetermination to renounce the 
 jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which was all planned 
 and determined on before the delegates left New York. This is a fact 
 clearly settled, and admits of no doubt. But how does this course of 
 conduct agree with the solemn pledges publicly given to the General 
 Conference by the Southern delegates, that, on their return home to 
 their different fields of labour, they would, if possible, allay the agita- 
 tion in the South ? and if there was a rupture, it should be of impe- 
 rious necessity, and not of choice ? Did they do this ? Was there a 
 single Christian effort put forth to accomplish this ? O, no ! never, 
 never! But a very different course was pursued. The tocsin of war 
 was sounded ; the Methodist Episcopal Church was denounced as an 
 abolition Church, and the cry of self-defence was heard everywhere, 
 from Virginia to Florida and Louisiana. To arms ! to arms ! ye 
 great American people, or these abolitionists of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church will be down upon you, and come and steal all our 
 Negroes ! 
 
 The convention at Louisville was called, a convention of delegates 
 from the slaveholding Conferences ; and the delegates appeared in 
 regular uniform, equipped and armed according to law. The yoke of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, a rampant abolition Church, was 
 thrown off; a separate organization was formed ; their General Con- 
 ference was appointed ; Bishop Soule seceded from the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, went over and joined them, and acted as generalis- 
 simo. Bishop Andrew, unhurt by the dreadful extrajudicial act of 
 the abolition General Conference of 1844, appears with all his ponti- 
 fical robes, shining rather brighter by the abolition rubbing that he 
 had gotten; two more slaveholding bishops elected; a jubilant song 
 was sung to the tune and words of, " Farewell to abolitionists, Negro- 
 stealers, and all the croakers of the North ! " And, after heaping upon 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church all kinds of abuse, and every oppro- 
 brious epithet that the fiery burning vocabulary of the South could 
 afford, the Southern General Conference, in the plenitude of their 
 goodness and wisdom, sent a delegate to the General Conference of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, held in Pittsburgh, in 1848, asking 
 a mutual and reciprocal fraternization between the Church, North, as 
 they misnamed us, and the Church, South. Now, unprejudiced reader, 
 what do you think of this ? A better man and better Christian gentle- 
 man the whole South did not afford than Dr. Pierce, their messenger on 
 this embassy ; but the Methodist Episcopal Church was caricatured, 
 abused, slandered, and in every sense maltreated by the South ; and 
 while they were wounded and bleeding at every pore, is it to be won- 
 dered at that this embassy failed, and that every single member of the
 
 THE BACKWOODS PKEACHER. 267 
 
 General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of 1848 voted 
 against fraternization ? If they would undo the wrongs they had 
 inflicted, and take back their hard speeches, and bind themselves to a 
 Christian course in future, then, and not until then, could the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church think of a Christian fraternization. 
 
 The constitutional vote having failed to be obtained from the annual 
 Conferences, in order to render valid an alteration of the sixth 
 restrictive feature of the constitution laid down in our Discipline, all 
 the doings of the General Conference of 1844, with respect to a 
 division of the Church, the pro'perty or funds of the Church, or a line 
 of separation, were, to all intents, purposes, and constructions, null 
 and void ; but still the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church of 1848 were unwilling that any act on their part should be 
 wanting, to settle peaceably these Church difficulties ; they, therefore, 
 asked again the concurrent three-quarter vote, of all the annual Con- 
 ferences, to a peace measure, to stop all, or prevent any, litigation on 
 the property question ; but before our bishops had time to submit 
 this measure to the annual Conferences that remained firm in the 
 union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Southern commissioners 
 commenced a suit, thereby rendering all peaceful constitutional efforts 
 on her part vain. The unjust decisions on these suits are well 
 known, and will form part and parcel of the history of our country, 
 and especially of the unjust judicial decisions of the court against the 
 Church. 
 
 At the Conference held at Jacksonville, September 22d, 1 847, my 
 appointment was to the Springfield District, which was composed of 
 the following appointments ; namely, Springfield Station, Taylorsville, 
 Sangamon, Petersburgh, Beardstown, Carlinville, Hillsborough, and 
 Sharon Mission. During this Conference year, 1847-48, we had 
 some splendid revivals, and an increase of over five hundred members 
 in Springfield, under the faithful labours of Brother J. F. Jaquess. 
 Great good was done, and many souls were converted, and added to 
 the Church ; and, although some of these promising youths, that 
 joined the Church under hopeful prospects, through persecution and 
 unfavourable causes fell back into their old habits, and made ship- 
 wreck of faith, a number stood firm, and ornamented their profession, 
 and one of them is now an acceptable travelling preacher in the 
 Illinois Conference. Taylorsville Mission shared, in a considerable 
 degree, this year, in revival influence, under the labours of L. C. 
 Pitner, preacher in charge. In Petersburgh there was also a good work, 
 and a considerable number converted, and a very neat church erected, 
 that does honour to the village, under the industrious efforts of 
 Benjamin Newman, preacher in charge.
 
 268 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 In the fall of 1848, our Conference was held in Belleville, St. Clair 
 County, Illinois, Bishop Morris presiding. In the course of this year 
 there was a good religious influence felt in the Sangamon Circuit, 
 especially in several of the Southern appointments, that are now in- 
 cluded in the Chatham Circuit. W. S. M'Murray was very successful 
 here in winning over to Christ many precious souls. There were 
 many conversions, and large additions to the Church ; and though he 
 has gone to his reward, he will long live in the affections of many in 
 the bounds of the then Sangamon Circuit. He succeeded in erecting 
 a decent church on Sugar Creek, and the Society honoured him in 
 calling it " M'Murray chapel." 
 
 Brother M'Murray, his wife, and three of his children, were all 
 violently attacked with the cholera, and in a few days of each other 
 they fell victims to its violence ; but he will long live in the affections 
 and remembrance of many, especially of those whom he was the 
 instrument, under God, of converting. Peace to his memory ! and 
 may the Lord take care of, and provide for, the three orphan children 
 that Brother and Sister M'Murray left behind ! 
 
 In the fall of 1849, our Conference was held in Quincy, Adams 
 County, Illinois, Bishop Janes presiding. This year I was returned 
 to the Springfield District. There were no great revivals in the 
 bounds of the District this year, though the Church in the main was 
 in a peaceful, healthy condition ; some conversions, and some increase 
 in the membership. 
 
 I beg leave here to devote a few lines in giving a small sketch of 
 our German work. It is only a few years since it pleased God to 
 awaken and convert Dr. Nast, now editor of the German "Apologist." 
 He came to America a German rationalist, or infidel. He was 
 awakened and converted under the labours of the ministry of the 
 Methodists. He was soon licensed to preach, and was the first 
 German missionary to thousands of our foreign German population. 
 God soon gave him seals to his ministry ; sent His awakening, con- 
 vincing power, and powerfully converted some of his countrymen. 
 He also raised up some of these new converts to preach the Gospel to 
 the Germans ; and with Dr. Nast and his co-labourers the German 
 Mission started. Soon Circuits were formed, and the work of God 
 spread through Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois. God raised up 
 faithful and able German preachers, to carry the tidings of salvation 
 to their perishing countrymen that were here, or coming by the 
 thousand to America. Many who were Catholics, Lutherans, ration- 
 alists, and infidels, were happily converted to God ; the work spread 
 and increased, till Stations, Circuits, and Districts were formed, and 
 are still forming ; and they come the nighest to old-fashioned or 
 primitive Methodism of any people I ever saw.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 269 
 
 I was once in conversation with Brother Jacoby, and advising him 
 to Americanize his German Methodists, when he said to me, " There 
 are three things that must be done to a German before you can get 
 him right. He must first be converted in his head ; for his head is 
 wrong. Secondly, he must be converted in his heart ; for his heart is 
 wrong. Then, thirdly, he must be converted in his purse ; for his 
 undue love of money makes his purse wrong. If," said he, " we can 
 convert him in all these respects, we can soon Americanize him and 
 make a good Methodist of him, and then he will stick." 
 
 It will be remembered that these Germans in the West all belong 
 to the Ohio, Indiana, Rock River, and Illinois Conferences. They 
 are doing great good, and have been greatly prospered by the Lord. 
 Thousands of the Germans can be reached by preachers of their own 
 language, that can never be reached by English preachers. They 
 need our aid and encouragement. Let us hold them up, and the 
 good they are destined to do, and the hundreds of thousands that 
 they may be, and will be, instrumental in bringing to the knowledge 
 of the truth, are far beyond our most sanguine calculations. Many of 
 them are poor, and many avaricious, and either cannot or will not 
 support the Gospel till they are converted ; then they will gladly and 
 cheerfully give according to their ability ; and by our aiding them now, 
 and supporting missionaries to labour in those missionary fields till 
 they are converted and able to become self-supporting, we shall do a 
 good work. 
 
 What a blessing it is to have ministers to meet those foreigners 
 when they land on our shores, and tender them salvation in their own 
 language ! I do not believe we can invest our missionary donations 
 so as to do as much good anywhere else, as by applying it to the 
 support of ministers to preach to all foreigners that are crowding to 
 our happy country ; and, by the bye, this is a much cheaper plan than 
 to fit missionaries to go to foreign lands, and there undergo the 
 tedious process of learning their languages, or of preaching to them 
 through an interpreter ; and our missionary appropriations will go 
 further, and accomplish more good. And when I consider the good 
 already done among the foreign population that are here in our midst 
 from different nations, it gladdens my heart. I have been a close 
 observer of the effect the Gospel has had upon these foreigners, so far 
 as they have come under the influence of the usages of the Methodist 
 Church. Their close attendance on, and attention to, class-meetings, 
 prayer-meetings, lovefeasts, family prayer, and, in a word, all the 
 means of grace, are worthy of all commendation ; for I know close 
 attention to these means of grace is the reason of the great success 
 of the Methodist Church in other and former years ; and the want of
 
 270 THE BACKWOODS PREACHES,. 
 
 attention to these duties in our members now is the grand cause of 
 the deadness and barrenness of the Church. 
 
 In the fall of 1850, September 18th, our Conference was held in 
 Bloomington, M'Lean County, Illinois ; Bishop Hamline presiding. 
 During this Conference year one of our old, well-tried, and faithful 
 preachers, Charles Holliday, had fallen a victim to death. I had been 
 long and intimately acquainted with him. We had long lived and 
 laboured together, and nothing contrary to Christian love ever existed 
 between us, that I know of. I was called upon to preach his funeral 
 sermon before the Conference, and did so as best I could from the 
 short and unexpected notice given me that I had it to do ; and perhaps 
 I cannot say anything about this good old brother better than to 
 transcribe, substantially, what is said in his obituary, printed in our 
 General Minutes, namely, 
 
 "Rev. Charles Holliday died March 8th, 1850, in his seventy-ninth 
 year. He was the son of James and Mary Holliday, and was born in 
 the city of Baltimore, Maryland, November 23rd, 1771. His parents 
 were members of the Presbyterian Church. They not only trained 
 him up in its doctrines and moral discipline, but his education was 
 conducted with special reference to his entering the ministry in that 
 Church. His parents dying while he was in his minority, he aban- 
 doned the idea of entering the ministry, and turned his attention to 
 secular pursuits. At what age he became pious we have no specific 
 information. In the month of May, 1793, he was united in marriage 
 to Miss Sarah Watkins, a lady of good understanding, sound and 
 discreet judgment, who afterward became a devoted, pious, and 
 faithful Christian. The day after they were married, they, in 
 company, united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and com- 
 menced family devotions the same evening. In 1797 he received 
 licence as a local preacher. His licence was regularly renewed annu- 
 ally from that time until September 30th, 1809, at which time he 
 was admitted on trial in the travelling connexion in the Western 
 Conference, and appointed to the Danville Circuit. In October of the 
 same year he was ordained deacon by Bishop Asbury. In 1810 he 
 was appointed to the Lexington Circuit, where he remained two years, 
 and was ordained elder by Bishop M'Kendree, October llth, 1811 ; 
 in 1812 he was appointed to Shelby Circuit ; in 1813 he was 
 appointed presiding elder of Salt River District, where he remained 
 three years ; in July, 1816, being bereaved of his pious and faithful 
 wife by death, who left him with nine children, he found it necessary 
 to locate. The certificate of his location is dated September 7th, 
 
 1816, signed by Bishop M'Kendree. In the former part of the year 
 
 1817, he entered into a second marriage with Miss Elizabeth Spears.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 2?1 
 
 This lady, who still lives, proved to be a devoted woman and wife, 
 and a kind mother and faithful guardian to his children. His family 
 being now provided for, he was re-admitted into the travelling work 
 in 1817, and appointed to the Cumberland District, Tennessee Confer- 
 ence, where he remained four years. From 1821 to 1825, he 
 laboured as presiding elder on Green River District, Kentucky Con- 
 ference ; in the fall of 1825 he took a transfer to the Illinois Confer- 
 ence, and was appointed to the W abash District, where he continued 
 to labour till the meeting of the General Conference of 1828, at which 
 time he received the appointment of book agent at Cincinnati, in 
 which he continued eight years. At the close of his term of service 
 as book agent he was transferred to the Illinois Conference, and 1 , in 
 1836, was appointed presiding elder of the Lebanon District, where 
 he continued two years. He was appointed presiding elder on the 
 Alton District in 1838, which was the last District on which he 
 laboured. He continued in an effective relation to the Conference, 
 filling such small appointments and doing such work as his declining 
 strength would permit, until 1846, when he was granted a superan- 
 nuation, and in this relation he remained until the close of his useful life. 
 He attended the Conference in Quincy in September, 1849. On his 
 way to that Conference he was attacked with disease of the kidneys, 
 from which he never recovered. Although his sufferings in this his 
 last illness were extreme, he frequently exulted in the grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, which enabled him to bear so much suffering 
 without complaining. He retained his reason to the last. It had 
 been his practice, for thirty years, to pray three times a day in his 
 family, and from his devotional spirit we wonder not that his sun of 
 life set in great peace." 
 
 In summing up the character of our lamented Brother Holliday, we 
 may say, that there are few traits of real excellence that he did not 
 possess in an eminent degree. As a preacher, he was clear, sound, 
 and practical. When he indulged in doctrinal controversy, although 
 he was decided, and expressed his views in strong language, he was 
 always kind arid loving to his opponent ; in all the relations of life, as 
 a husband, a father, a pastor, a friend, a companion, he was a most 
 lovely and interesting man ; and in the sufferings and disappointments 
 of life his conduct was characterized by that " charity that suffereth 
 long and is kind." His end was peace, and many in the day of 
 eternity will rise up and call him blessed. Thus lived and thus died 
 one of our old members of the Western Conference, the only Confer- 
 ence, at the time of our brother's commencing his itinerant life, that 
 was in this natural as well as moral waste, or in the valley of the 
 Mississippi. The death of Brother Holliday was a solemn dispen-
 
 272 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 sation to me ; and having to preach his funeral sermon to the whole 
 Conference, as well as many others, and having but a few minutes' 
 notice, and no time to prepare, it was a tremendous cross, and I have 
 always feared that I did not do justice to the life, labours, and Chris- 
 tian virtues of this man of God ; but under the circumstances I did 
 the best I could, and ask a kind indulgence of the congregation for all 
 the defects of that performance. Let us unitedly join, and devoutly 
 pray, " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be 
 like his," as said the text on that occasion ; and if this prayer is 
 answered, we shall soon reach the place where funeral dirges are never 
 sung, and death never enters. 
 
 In the fall of 1851, September 17th, our Conference sat in Jackson- 
 ville, Bishop Waugh presiding. Here we elected our delegates to 
 the General Conference which was to sit in Boston, May 1st, 1852; 
 and although the Indiana Conferences, Rock Eiver, Iowa, and Wis- 
 consin, had grown up, and were organized into separate Conferences 
 that once belonged to the Illinois Conference, yet, from the rapid in- 
 crease of population in the State, and from the increase of members, 
 and especially the increase of preachers, both English and German, it 
 was found indispensable to divide again, and form a Southern Illinois 
 Conference ; and the delegates were instructed accordingly. It pleased 
 the Conference to elect me as one of this delegation. This was the 
 tenth time I had been honoured with an election by the several 
 annual Conferences, of which I was an humble member, to represent 
 the interests of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the General 
 Conference. 
 
 Bishop Hedding, our honourable senior bishop, who died April 9th, 
 1852, was, at the date of our Conference, lingering, with no hope of 
 surviving but a few days. Bishop Hamline's health also being ex- 
 tremely precarious, all the efficient work of superintending the interest- 
 ing concerns of the whole Church devolved on Bishops Waugh, Morris, 
 and Janes. We 'all knew that several additional bishops must be 
 elected at our General Conference of 1852. From this view, together 
 with the infirmities of increasing years of Bishop Waugh, he delivered 
 us a very impressive address at the close of the Illinois Conference, 
 stating that it was probable this was the last time he should ever pre- 
 side in our midst. This address greatly affected the whole Confer- 
 ence ; for the bishop had presided among us with great acceptability, 
 and we honoured and loved him greatly. We all remembered that 
 our beloved Bishop Waugh had gone in and out among us blameless, 
 and that we had been greatly benefitted by his counsels, and the im- 
 partial manner in which he had presided among us ; and we always 
 found him orthodox in the doctrines and discipline of the Church.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEB. 273 
 
 He was always accessible to the humblest preacher or member among 
 us, and we found him to be what I believe constitutes an old-fashioned 
 Methodist bishop : he raised no new standards in doctrine or disci- 
 pline, but urged us to " mind the same things, and walk by the same 
 good old Methodist rules." So may all our bishops do. 
 
 In the fall of 1851, my four years having expired on the Springfield 
 District, I was appointed to the Quincy District, where I had travelled 
 fifteen years before : then my District extended from the mouth of the 
 Illinois River to Galena, and, indeed, as far north as was inhabited by 
 the whites ; and yet further still, into the Indian country, where I 
 superintended the mission among the Pottawattomies. My District 
 was then between four and five hundred miles from north to south, 
 and I suppose would average one hundred miles from east to west. I 
 then thought the District a small one ; for when I was first appointed 
 to a District in the Illinois Conference, in the fall of 1826, my Dis- 
 trict commenced at the mouth of the Ohio River, and extended north 
 hundreds of miles, and was not limited by the white settlements, but 
 extended among the great, xmbroken tribes of uncivilized and unchris- 
 tianized Indians ; but now, in 1851, how changed was the whole face 
 of the country ! The District was composed of the following appoint- 
 ments, namely, Quincy Station, Columbus, Warsaw Mission, Chili, 
 Pulaski, Rushville Station, Rushville Circuit, Havana, and Beardstown 
 Station, about one hundred miles from east to west, and I suppose 
 would average from thirty to forty from north to south. There was 
 no District parsonage and accommodations near its centre. I lived 
 entirely out of its bounds, and had the Illinois River to cross and 
 recross five or six times each quarter, and the ravages of many years 
 were upon me, so that I found it as hard to travel this small District 
 as I did my first District in the Conference, which covered more than 
 two-thirds of the geographical boundaries of the State. The country 
 had not only greatly changed, in rising glory and strength, but I had 
 greatly changed also ; iny strength was failing, so that I dreaded a 
 journey of one hundred miles more than I formerly did one thousand. 
 I was well pleased with my appointment on many accounts. I was 
 much gratified to see the growing improvements of the country ; the 
 dense population; the great increase in the membership of the 
 Church ; the large, spacious churches that were built ; and in addition 
 to all this, I met hundreds that I had taken into the Church in former 
 years, when a new country tried men's souls. They gave me a cordial 
 reception, and welcomed back their old presiding elder, and gave me 
 unmistakable evidences of their friendship and brotherly love. 
 
 But, notwithstanding all this, and a thousand good things that I 
 could say with truth and sincerity, I found that Methodism, in some 
 
 T
 
 274 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 places, had gone to seed, and was dying out ; and, to use our back- 
 woods language, some of the prominent and leading members of the 
 flock had become butting rams, or jumping ewes, or sullen oxen, or 
 kicking mules. These things gave us trouble. One of my preachers, 
 for some cause unknown to me, had become greatly prejudiced against 
 me : he was appointed this year to the Warsaw Missionary Station. 
 This young, flourishing little city of Warsaw stands on the eastern 
 bank of the Mississippi, hard by the Fort Edward military post. We 
 had a small though respectable little Society here, but no church to 
 worship in. The brethren had rented a little, old, dilapidated frame, 
 every way unsuitable, and in an out-of-the-way place. The Presby- 
 terians had a small church ; and when our quarterly meeting came on, 
 they offered it for our use. The preacher in charge accepted the offer, 
 but said perhaps we might protract the meeting. They replied we 
 might have it as long as we pleased ; we might go on and protract 
 the meeting if we saw proper. The family of my preacher I was not 
 acquainted with ; and he, being prejudiced against me, had made a 
 bad impression on the mind of his wife against me. However, she 
 came to meeting, and the Lord blessed her ; for she was a very good 
 woman. The Lord also reached the heart of their interesting little 
 daughter, and she joined the Church. After this, the preacher's wife 
 expostulated with him, and told him to lay aside his prejudices 
 against me, alleging that I must be a good man ; for the Lord had 
 blessed and was blessing my labours in a powerful degree. The old 
 brother surrendered, and gave up his prejudices, and we became very 
 friendly. 
 
 The power of God fell on the congregation almost every coming 
 together ; and we had crowded congregations by day and by night. 
 Several were awakened and converted. We protracted the meeting, 
 and intended to extend it over several Sabbaths ; but were cut short 
 by official information that the congregation who owned the church 
 wanted to use it themselves after Friday night. We concluded our 
 meeting, thankful for small favours ; but did firmly believe that this 
 unceremonious deprivation of the Presbyterian or Congregational 
 church arose from jealousy, or fear of our success. If we judge wrong 
 in this matter, we devoutly hope to be forgiven by the Lord. 
 
 The quarterly meeting which we have been speaking of was holden 
 the first days of February, 1852. Our expulsion from the church, in 
 the manner above stated, created considerable dissatisfaction, and pro- 
 duced a determination, both in and out of our little society, to build a 
 church that we could call our own, without the danger of being turned 
 out of it at any time. Accordingly, a lot was selected, and a sub- 
 scription opened to accomplish this desirable object ; and from the
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 275 
 
 amount subscribed by the citizens, together with several hundred 
 dollars obtained abroad, we succeeded the next year in erecting a neat 
 little brick church to worship in ; and our quarterly meeting the next 
 year was held in it, namely, the first Sabbath in February, 1853. 
 This meeting was attended with great power. James I. Davidson 
 was preacher in charge this year, whose labours were greatly blessed 
 and owned of God. I tried to preach during our protracted quarterly 
 meeting about ten times, to large and crowded congregations. Sinners 
 were deeply convicted, and a great many, I verily believe, obtained 
 religion. Over twenty joined the Church ; among them some good, 
 respectable citizens, whom we hope to meet in heaven, and unite in 
 praising God for ever. 
 
 But right here I wish to say, that in most of our revivals many 
 men and women of bad habits and ill fame become operated on, pro- 
 fess religion, and join the Church. This has long been, and now is, a 
 great objection by many to these revivals, and it has been the cause of 
 considerable persecution to the Church. But it should be remem- 
 bered that the economy of the Church, in saving souls, is compared by 
 Jesus Christ Himself to a fisherman casting his net into the sea, and 
 enclosing a multitude of fish, both good and bad. But who ever con- 
 demned the fisherman, because his net gathered bad as well as good 
 fish ? or who ever drew the erroneous conclusion that the net was bad, 
 because there were some bad fish enclosed in it ? The net is to be 
 thrown, the fish, bad and good, are to be enclosed, and then the net 
 is to be drawn to shore, on dry land, and all alike, both good and bad, 
 taken from their natural element. Then, and not till then, the process 
 of assorting them is to commence. 
 
 The Methodist Church, in our humble opinion, stands, in this 
 respect, on pre-eminently scriptural ground. They give every sinner 
 a chance, and take them on probation for six months, not as members, 
 but under the care of the Church, on trial for membership ; and 
 surely, if they do not in that time give satisfactory evidence of their 
 sincerity and fitness for membership, it is not likely they ever will. 
 Well, if they do not in that time give satisfactory evidence that they 
 are in good earnest in seeking their salvation, what then? Expel 
 them ? No ; for they are not members to expel. What then ? We 
 simply drop them, and consider them no longer probationers for mem- 
 bership ; leave them where we found them ; we have at least tried to 
 do them good, and have done them no harm. This is the safety-valve 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, six months on trial for member- 
 ship. How dreadfully have other sister Churches been troubled in 
 their mode of operation ! They generally believe that a Christian can 
 never fall away so as to be finally lost, and that it is wrong to receive 
 
 T 2
 
 Z/0 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 any into the Church who are not Christians. Well, in order to get 
 people into the Church, they are often found hurrying them into a 
 profession of religion when they have none ; and then, when such fall 
 away, with what astonishing mortification they have to confess they 
 were mistaken ; that these souls were deceived ; that they never had 
 any religion ! And yet they hurl their anathemas at Methodist 
 preachers for taking persons as probationers for membership without 
 religion, while they have actually done infinitely worse ; for they have 
 taken them into the Church as full members, and as Christians too, 
 when they were not. Now, if our economy is wrong, what must 
 theirs be ? 
 
 God bless the citizens of Warsaw, and increase their mercies 3 
 hundredfold, for the many acts of kindness shown to me the two years 
 I was labouring among them ! 
 
 In the fall of 1851, Milo Butler, a transfer from the Michigan Con- 
 ference, was appointed to the pastoral charge of the Quincy City Sta- 
 tion. It was constituted a station under my former presidency in the 
 Quincy District, and had existed as a station for more than fifteen 
 years. The Church had ebbed and flowed, sometimes in prosperity 
 and sometimes in adversity. There were some fine, substantial mem- 
 bers here ; but they at this time, 1851, were in a cold state, evidently 
 on back ground. Brother Butler was greatly afflicted, and so were 
 his family, this year. He laboured faithfully, according to his 
 strength. 
 
 We had a small refreshing in the Church this winter, chiefly nnder 
 the acceptable labours of Brother Wilson, brother-in-law to Doctor 
 Butler. L. C. Pitner was appointed to Quincy Station in the fall of 
 1852 ; and during the months of December, 1852, and January, 1853, 
 a glorious revival broke out, such as had never been in Quincy before. 
 It really seemed as though it would at times overwhelm the whole 
 city. High and low, rich and poor, old and young, bowed before the 
 mighty power of God. Many of almost all kinds of education became 
 the subjects of the converting grace of God, and joined the Church ; 
 and when our second quarterly meeting came off, in January, out 
 church, though large, was filled at lovefeast to its utmost capacity. 
 The city mission charge, under the pastoral care of James L. Crane, 
 belonging to the Griggsville District, shared largely in this blessed 
 revival, and our German Methodist Church caught the holy fire ; and 
 it was supposed that over one thousand were converted and added to 
 the different charges and Protestant Churches in the city of Quincy 
 during this happy year. Most of them have proved faithful, and aie 
 honouring the profession they have made ; but some of them have 
 fallen asleep in Jesus, and are numbered with the Church above.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 277 
 
 During the two years I was on this District we had good times in 
 Rushville Station arid Rushville Circuit, Ripley Mission, Pulaski and 
 Columbus Circuits ; a number were converted and joined the Church 
 in all these places. About the 20th of September, 1852, we had a 
 camp-meeting at Sugar Grove, in the bounds of the then Columbus 
 Circuit. Brothers J. I. Davidson, Butler, and Pitner came to our 
 aid, and laboured like men of God; but what was better still, the 
 Lord came and made one in our midst. The word was preached in 
 demonstration of the Spirit and the power of God ; the Church was 
 greatly built up, and many sinners were convicted and soundly con- 
 verted, and about sixty were added to the Church. 
 
 This Conference year was a great and prosperous one to the 
 Church ; and the two years I spent on the Quincy District, I number 
 among the most pleasant of my life. Still we had some trials and 
 disputes in the Church which gave us trouble; but the Lord, we 
 trust, overruled all, and great good was done : the Church increased 
 in numbers, in deep piety, in close attention to her peculiar insti- 
 tutions that God has so long blessed and prospered. My strength 
 was failing from increasing years, and long and constant itinerant 
 labours ; I lived on the east end of the District, and I had to cross 
 the. Illinois Eiver very often, which in winter was frequently frozen 
 over for months, and in spring the banks were overflowed ; and I had 
 often to ferry five miles across the water extending from bluff to bluff ; 
 and when the winds were high, I have been detained for days together, 
 causing me to risk my life, and to miss my appointments. Under 
 these circumstances, I was impelled to ask the bishop to change the 
 form of the District, and make the river the line. 
 
 Our Conference in the fall of 1852 was held in the town of Win- 
 chester, Scott County, Illinois; and in the fall of 1853, the 12th of 
 October, at Beardstown, Cass County, Illinois. Bishop Scott was our 
 presiding bishop, and a pleasant president he was. It was at this 
 Conference the above alteration in the Quincy District was made, and 
 the Pleasant Plains District formed. This District was composed of 
 the following appointments, namely, Beardstown Station, Meredosia 
 (now Concord) Circuit, Havana, Jacksonville Circuit, Sangamon, 
 Virginia, and Island Grove ; a very pleasant, convenient little District 
 indeed. 
 
 I had now been a travelling preacher for more than forty-nine years, 
 and was sixty-eight years of age. I had been appointed presiding 
 elder by Bishop Asbury, at the first Tennessee Conference, held in 
 Fountain Head, in the fall of 1812, which is now forty-three years 
 since; and in all these forty-nine years of my life as a travelling 
 preacher, I had never asked of the appointing power of the Church for
 
 278 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 any appointment, nor for any accommodation in an appointment ; and 
 although some of my brethren have thought that I was greatly 
 favoured with accommodating appointments, I here call upon all the 
 bishops that have given me my appointments for more than fifty years 
 to bear me witness that the appointments given me by them were 
 unasked for by me. 
 
 At this Conference at Beardstown, in the fall of 1853, for the first 
 time in my life, I did ask to be appointed to the Pleasant Plains Dis- 
 trict, if appointed to a District at all, but at the same time said I would 
 greatly prefer a small Circuit. Let Bishop Scott and his council bear 
 witness in this matter. There was another strong reason, aside from my 
 age and infirmities, that urged me to ask this accommodation, namely, 
 that I might gain some time to write this sketch. But, alas ! leisure 
 time to write seems to be almost out of the question with me ; I am 
 appointed on so many Conference Committees, have to attend so many 
 dedications of churches, to preach so many funeral sermons, besides 
 all the important duties of the District, that leisure time with me is a 
 very rare thing. And such have been my Church engagements, and 
 such the length of time between the occasional hours or days devoted 
 to this narrative, that when I have recommenced writing, I had en- 
 tirely forgotten what I had written last, especially the connexion of 
 subjects ; and this has cost me a great deal of labour and loss of time : 
 hence if there are some repetitions, unconnected incoherencies, I hope 
 they will be regarded and inspected with this motto, 
 
 " That mercy I to others show, 
 That mercy show to me." 
 
 I think it about time now to return and say a few things about our 
 General Conference of 1852, which sat in Boston. When in Pitts- 
 burgh, at the General Conference of 1848, the New-England brethren 
 pleaded hard for the General Conference of 1852 to be appointed in 
 Boston, they alleged that New-England had never had a General 
 Conference. I observed to Brother Crandall, and other New-Englanders, 
 rather jocosely, that, judging from the Yankees that I had seen 
 out in the West, I was a little afraid to venture myself in the General 
 Conference among the Bostonians ; for almost all that I had seen in 
 the West had assumed such high ground, professed such mighty edu- 
 cational attainments, that we poor illiterate Western backwoods 
 preachers could hardly hold an intelligible conversation with them ; 
 and that we were afraid to start any proposition whatever ; and when 
 we met them, we could only stand and look at them, and make 
 ready to answer questions. 
 
 To this Brother Crandall pleasantly replied, " Why, sir, you have
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 279 
 
 never seen a genuine Yankee in the West ; those you have seen are 
 runaways, or pretenders, or impostors ; they are an adulterated set of 
 scape-gallows fellows ; but come to Boston, and we will show you a 
 real live, green Yankee." 
 
 " Very well," said I, " we '11 go for Boston." 
 
 When a number of the delegates from different Conferences met in 
 New York, on their way to Boston, we took the cars, a crowd of us 
 together, and on our iron horse snorted toward the land of the Puritan 
 metropolis, leaving the Empire City and State far behind. 
 
 Just about the time we entered the limits of the State of Massa- 
 chusetts, our conductor proclaimed a halt of ten minutes. I dashed 
 out without my hat ; I wanted water, and as I had no relish for being 
 left by the cars, I ran and watered, and with a quick step returned, 
 and took my seat. I discovered that a good many of the preachers 
 were indulging in a hearty laugh, and, as I thought, at my expense. 
 
 Said I, " Gentlemen, what are you laughing at ? " 
 
 One, somewhat composing his risibilities, answered, 
 
 " How dare you enter the sacred, classic land of the Pilgrims bare- 
 headed?" 
 
 " My dear sir," said I, " God Almighty crowded me into the world 
 bareheaded ; and I think it no more harm to enter Massachusetts 
 bareheaded, than for the Lord to bring me into the world without 
 a hat." 
 
 There were several ladies sitting hard by, though I had not observed 
 them ; they pulled down their veils, and chuckled over my speech for 
 miles. When we got to Boston, I expected to see no one that I had 
 ever seen but a few of the Methodist preachers that I had become 
 acquainted with at the General Conferences of former days ; but I was 
 very agreeably disappointed in this respect, and especially when I 
 learned that Mr. Merrill, with whom I had formed a pleasant ac- 
 quaintance at M'Kendree College, Illinois, some years past, was then 
 living in Boston, and had petitioned for Dr. Akers and myself to 
 board with him during General Conference. This Brother Merrill was 
 the son of Kev. John A. Merrill, a fine old Methodist preacher of 
 olden times, with whom I had been long acquainted, who had borne 
 the glad tidings of the Gospel successfully to thousands ; witnessed a 
 good confession, lived faithful, died happy, arid has gone safe home to 
 heaven. I found myself very agreeably situated in this kind and 
 generous family. Brother Merrill was intelligent, easy, and pleasant 
 in conversation. His friendly little wife was kind, courteous, and 
 easy in her manners ; and her mother, a fine, intelligent old lady. All 
 were easy, familiar, and agreeable. We were also favoured with the 
 company of Brother J. F. Jaquess, who was collecting books for the
 
 280 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 female college in Jacksonville. My fear was, that I would get into a 
 family that were cold, stiff, and distant in their manners. One of 
 these formal, distant, ceremonious families was always a prison to me, 
 and well calculated to make me feel unhappy, and far from home ; but 
 it was otherwise here. 
 
 The second Sabbath in Boston, I was appointed to preach at 
 Church Street church at eleven o'clock. I took for the text Hebrews 
 x. 22. We had a large congregation ; several preachers present ; and 
 supposing that most of my congregation had hardly ever seen or heard 
 of me, and that they were an educated people, and had been used to 
 great preaching, I put on all the gravity that I well could command. 
 I tried to preach one of my best sermons, in a plain, grave, sober 
 manner ; and, although I never thought myself a great preacher, yet I 
 really thought I had done very near my best that time. Well, when I 
 came down from the pulpit, a brother preacher introduced me to 
 several of the prominent members of the congregation ; and as I was 
 introduced to them, they asked me very emphatically, 
 
 " Is this Peter Cartwright from Illinois, the old Western pioneer ? " 
 
 I answered them, " Yes, I am the very man." 
 
 " Well," said several of them, " brother, we are much disappointed; 
 you have fallen very much under our expectations ; we expected to 
 hear a much greater sermon than that you preached to-day." 
 
 " Well, brethren," said I, " how can it be helped ? I did as well 
 as I could, and was nearly at the top of my speed." 
 
 I tell you this was cold encouragement ; I felt great mortification ; 
 I hastened to my room and prayed over it a while. That night they 
 had appointed me to preach at North Eussell Street. There was a 
 full congregation, and a good many preachers present. I read for the 
 text Job xxii. 21. I had asked God for help ; and when I took my 
 text, I determined to do my very best, and did so ; but failed, as in 
 the forenoon, to meet the expectations of the people. And as I came 
 down into the altar, I was again introduced to some of the brethren ; 
 and although they did seem to doubt that I was Peter Cartwright 
 from the West, the old pioneer, yet they, in cold blood, informed me 
 that I had fallen under their expectations, and as good as told me 
 that my sermon was a failure. Now, was not this too bad ? I tell you 
 they roused me, and provoked what little religious patience I had ; and 
 I rather tartly replied to one, that I could give people ideas, but I could 
 not give them capacity to receive those ideas, and left them abruptly ; 
 and in veiy gloomy mood retreated to my lodgings, but took but little 
 rest in sleep that night. I constantly asked myself this question, " Is 
 it so, that I cannot preach ? or what is the matter ? " I underwent a 
 tremendous crucifixion in feeling.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 281 
 
 The next day, I told Dr. Cummings not to give me any other ap- 
 pointment in Boston during the General Conference : " for," said I, 
 " your people here have not got sense enough to know a good sermon 
 when they hear it." 
 
 The Sabbath following I spent in Lynn, and had good meetings ; 
 then I went the next Sabbath to Pall River, and preached for Brothers 
 AUyn and Upham, and had a pleasant time. Sometime in the fol- 
 lowing week, old Brother Taylor came to me and told me I must 
 preach at his church the next Sabbath, at the Bethel Charge ; and 
 said, Dr. Akers and Brother J. F. Wright had both tried to preach in 
 his church, and both failed ; " and," said he, " you are the forlorn 
 hope. If you flash, no other Western preacher shall preach in my 
 church any more during the General Conference." 
 
 Said I, " Brother Taylor, you need not think that any of us Western 
 men are anxious about preaching to you in Boston : your way of 
 worship here is so different from ours in the West, that we are con- 
 fused. There 's your old wooden god, the organ, bellowing up in 
 the gallery, and a few dandified singers lead in singing, and really 
 do it all. The congregation won't sing ; and when you pray, they sit 
 down instead of kneeling. We don't worship God in the West by 
 proxy or substitution. You need not give yourself any trouble about 
 getting a Western man to preach in your church ; we don't want to do it ; 
 and I do not think that I will try to preach in Boston any more, unless 
 you would permit me to conduct the services after the Western manner." 
 
 Said Brother Taylor to me, " Brother, you must preach to us at the 
 Bethel; and," said he, "roll up your sleeves, and unbutton your 
 collar, and give us a real Western cut." 
 
 My reply was this : " If you will let me regulate your congregation, 
 and preach as we do in the West, I have no objection to preaching to 
 your congregation, or anywhere in Boston." 
 
 " Very well, at it you go," was his reply. 
 
 In the meantime, I had learned from different sources, that the 
 grand reason of my falling under the expectations of the congrega- 
 tions that I had addressed was substantially this : almost all those 
 curious incidents that had gained currency throughout the country 
 concerning Methodist preachers, had been located on me ; and that 
 when the congregations came to hear me, they expected little else but 
 a bundle of eccentricities and singularities ; and when they did not 
 realize according to their anticipations, they were disappointed, and 
 that this was the reason they were disappointed. So on Sabbath, 
 when I came to the Bethel, we had a good congregation ; and after 
 telling them that Brother Taylor had given me the liberty to preach to 
 them after the Western fashion, I took my text, Matthew xi. 12 ; and
 
 282 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 after a few commonplace remarks, I commenced giving them some 
 Western anecdotes, which had a thrilling effect on the congregation, 
 and excited them immoderately, I cannot say religiously ; but I thought 
 if ever I saw animal excitement, it was then and there. This broke 
 the charm. During my stay after this, I could pass anywhere for 
 Peter Cartwright, the old pioneer of the West. I am not sure that 
 after this I fell under the expectations of my congregations among them. 
 
 I will say that a more generous, hospitable, and social people I never 
 found anywhere than in Boston. Their sociability and friendly greet- 
 ings reminded me more of our Western manners than anything I ever 
 found among total strangers, and many of them are sincere, devout 
 Christians ; but their mode of worship I do most solemnly object to, 
 so far as their pews, promiscuous sittings, and instrumental music are 
 concerned. The salaries of their organists and choirs are expenses 
 unjustified by the word of God. I also take exceptions, in many 
 instances, to the moral character of the persons employed in these 
 departments. The evils that result from mixed sittings of male and 
 female, which are always attendant on the pew system, are neither few 
 nor small. The choir practice destroys congregational singing almost 
 entirely, and has introduced the awkward and irreverent practice 
 among congregations of turning their backs on the sacred desk, and 
 facing about to the choir ; and this whole system has a tendency to 
 destroy the humble practice of kneeling in time of prayer, and con- 
 tributes largely to the Church-dishonouring practice of sitting while 
 the prayers of the Church are offered up to God. I shall not attempt 
 a laboured argument here against these evils ; for I suppose, where 
 these practices have become the order of the day, it would be exceed- 
 ingly hard to overcome the prejudice in favour of them, though I am 
 sure, from every observation that I have been able to make, that their 
 tendencies are to formality, and often engender pride, and destroy the 
 spirituality of Divine worship ; it gives precedence to the rich, proud, 
 and fashionable part of our hearers, and unavoidably blocks up the 
 way of the poor ; and no stumbling-block should be put in the way of 
 one of these little ones that believe in Christ. 
 
 I found the Kostonians to be a liberal people in their contributions 
 for benevolent purposes. It fell to my lot to be a solicitor for pecu- 
 niary aid to erect a church in Warsaw, Quincy District, Illinois Con- 
 ference ; and the members of the General Conference and citizens of 
 Boston gave me several hundred dollars for that object. 
 
 I will close this chapter by saying that the General Conference that 
 sat in Boston, in 1852, was the tenth General Conference which I 
 attended, or was elected to. These General Conferences had sat in 
 Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York ; and
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 283 
 
 though we were treated very friendly in all these cities, yet the General 
 Conference in Boston was more highly honoured by all classes of citi- 
 zens than any that I ever attended ; and, sure enough, to use the trite 
 saying of Brother Crandall, I found live, green Yankees by the thou- 
 sands, and some of them very talented, and most of them well edu- 
 cated ; the poor among them are cared for, the children are gathered 
 up in all directions and sent to school. But, after all, it would make a 
 Western man laugh, in spite of his gravity, to hear a New-En glander 
 talk of his great farm, containing all of two acres, and hear him tell 
 how much it cost him to remove the stone off the farm, how much to 
 manure it, how much to cultivate it ; then the sowing of the products, 
 the marketing of it, and the real product in cash. They will really talk 
 scientifically about it. I could not but think of the contrast ; for we 
 have some farmers in Illinois that have from one to five thousand 
 acres in their farms, in active, actual, productive, profitable cultivation. 
 Hail, Boston ! live for ever. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE IN BOSTON. 
 
 THE General Conference of 1852 was held in Boston. Our old 
 beloved Bishop Hedding had just died and left us. From the pre- 
 carious state of Bishop Hamline's health, and despairing of a recovery, 
 he tendered to the General Conference his resignation of the office of 
 bishop, to which we had elected him in 1844; and we accepted his 
 resignation, and, as we have elsewhere said, we had but three bishops left. 
 Brothers Waugh and Morris were getting pretty well advanced in life, and 
 Bishop Janes, though in the prime of life, was failing from his excessive 
 labours. Our Church was extending throughout this vast continent, and 
 in Liberia, Germany, South America, and other different and distant 
 nations ; and as our Discipline very properly provides that our bishops 
 should travel at large throughout the connexion, it was clearly seen 
 that we must strengthen the episcopacy by electing a sufficient number 
 to visit, personally, all parts of our widely-extending connexion. Ac- 
 cordingly, a resolution was adopted with great unanimity, that we 
 elect four additional bishops ; and. after exchanging and interchanging 
 our opinions and views concerning the men proper to be set apart to 
 this office, it was declared, with great unanimity, that Brothers Scott, 
 Simpson, Baker, and Ames be elected. 
 
 A difficulty had taken place in the Ohio Conference concerning a
 
 284 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 pewed church. One of our good preachers, in aiding and defending 
 those brethren that were in favour of the pew system, had been con- 
 sidered guilty of imprudence, and the Ohio Conference passed a vote 
 of censure on this brother, and from this he appealed to the General 
 Conference. The debates on this appeal brought on the controversy 
 on the subject of pews. The General Conference cleared this brother 
 from the censure. Then followed sundry motions to change the Dis- 
 cipline on the subject of pewed churches ; and, finally, our old, well- 
 tried rule was changed to what it is in our Discipline now. This was a 
 real Yankee triumph. However, many of the members of the General 
 Conference voted for this change, hoping to stop one source of Church 
 litigation hereafter, and they may so far succeed as to prevent any 
 future appeals to the General Conference ; but they have, at the same 
 time, opened a thousand doors for strife and contention, in all cases 
 where there is any considerable division or difference of opinion on 
 the subject in our societies. The pew system is inevitably at war with 
 the best interests of the Church ; for no honourable, high-minded man, 
 who is poor, and unable to buy or rent a pew, but will feel himself 
 degraded to intrude himself into a pewed church ; and that form of 
 worship adopted in any Church which goes to exclude the poor, contra- 
 venes the Divine law, and prevents the realization of that blessedness 
 that God has provided for the poor. Fifty years ago there was not a 
 member or preacher among the thousands in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church that thought of having a pewed church. But since the Church 
 has risen in numerical strength, and become wealthy, this system of 
 pewed churches is fast becoming the order of the day. The pew sys- 
 tem must necessarily be extremely offensive to the Lord's poor ; and 
 we should all remember the words of Jesus Christ, that it were better 
 that a millstone were hanged about our necks, and we drowned in the 
 depth of the sea, than that we should offend one of those little ones 
 that believe on Him. .or my own part, I always feel embarrassed when, 
 as a stranger, I enter a pewed church ; and how mortifying it is to be 
 directed by the sexton to some back, dirty, or dingy seat ! and I in- 
 voluntarily ask, " Are ye not partial ? " Leaving the pew system for 
 future adjudication of the Church, we sincerely hope that its evils will, 
 with the pious, work its entire overthrow, and the restoration of free seats 
 ia all the churches, which so admirably agrees with a free Gospel. 
 
 I hope, if I make a few remarks right here on the speculations pub- 
 lished not long since in the [American] " National Magazine," by its 
 talented editor, on the qualifications of the bishops of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, it will not be considered the unpardonable sin. Brother 
 Stevens seems to think that our present bishops, at least some of them, 
 have talents of too high a grade to be buried in the unimportant and
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 285 
 
 comparatively small official duties of their office ; and that it would be 
 better to select men of less useful business talents to perform the small 
 duties of a bishop, reserving those men of a high grade of talent for 
 more important business matters or interests of the Church. I must 
 confess that the position my respected brother takes took me rather by 
 surprise ; but my surprise was not so much at the talented editor of 
 the "National" taking this position, as at the position itself; but 
 then, why should I be surprised at any position taken in this educa- 
 tional, advanced age of the world, seeing that I am an old dispensa- 
 tionist, and fifty years behind the times ? I have been acquainted 
 personally with every bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church (save 
 Dr. Coke) from her commencement to the present ; and though I have 
 awarded to all of our bishops a high grade of talent, yet it never entered 
 my mind for the first time that any of them had any talents to spare, or 
 that were not necessary to be brought into requisition to superintend 
 all the important interests of the Methodist Episcopal Church. When 
 I consider the responsible duties of a bishop in our Church, to con- 
 stantly travel at large throughout the entire bounds of our ministerial 
 fields of labour, to oversee the temporal and spiritual interests of the 
 whole Church, to assign, from year to year, the thousands of travelling 
 preachers to their most appropriate fields of labour, and many other 
 important duties too tedious to enumerate in this connexion, I must 
 frankly say I have never had the first spasm or fear of getting men of 
 too high a grade of talent, yea, of business talent, to perform the 
 functions of their office with credit to themselves and promotion of the 
 best interests of the Church of God. Moreover, though I may not 
 admire the manner of these speculations of my beloved and talented 
 editor, yet, should they tend to check the high aspirations of dis- 
 appointed expectants, some good may result. 
 
 It is a trite saying, that revolutions never go backward ; but if 
 the speculations of my brother are not driving things backward, then 
 I must be very much in the dark. But the theory we have just 
 noticed very forcibly reminds me of what is alleged to be the custom 
 of the members of the Established Church of England ; namely, If 
 parents have a smart and promising son, or sons, he, or they, are 
 selected for the bar, or for the medical department, or some other pro- 
 minent position, and they are educated accordingly ; but if they have 
 a stupid boy, that promises very little usefulness to the world, or at 
 least promises to shine not very brilliantly, he is immediately desig- 
 nated for the ministry ; for then he can be supported by the state, and 
 not by his acceptable and useful talents. 0, what a reproach to the 
 Gospel of the Son of God, and what a withering curse to the Church ! 
 
 At our Conference at Beardstown, October 12th, 1853, as I have
 
 286 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 already said, I was appointed to Pleasant Plains District, and bade an 
 affectionate adieu to Quincy District. I do not know that I was ever 
 appointed to any field of labour that I felt more attached to than I did 
 to the Quincy District, and should have been glad to have spent at 
 least two years more ; but the best of friends in this life must part ; 
 we part, however, with a blessed hope of meeting in another and 
 better world. I hardly ever left a field of ministerial labour but I felt 
 sorrowful, and indulged in very gloomy reflections. Here are hundreds 
 of my best earthly friends, whom I have lived and laboured with ill 
 great peace and harmony ; we have preached and prayed together ; 
 often been happy and shouted the high praises of God together, many 
 of whom are my spiritual children that God has given me. We have 
 laboured and suffered together ; but now, for the last time, we splice 
 hands, and bid each other finally farewell, till we meet in the general 
 resurrection. When 1 remember how swift time flies, and how soon 
 God will call His suffering children home, then and there let us meet, 
 where painful separations for ever cease. 
 
 Before I close this feeble sketch of my long life, I wish to give a 
 very brief sketch of a few of my fellow-labourers who suffered long and 
 endured much in spreading Methodism in these Western wilds, and 
 thereby rescue from oblivion their names and worthy deeds, that 
 generations to come may know their indebtedness to the early pioneer 
 Methodist preachers, for the moral order in a great and good degree 
 that prevails in the vast regions of the West. Whatever may be justly 
 attributed to education and other instrumentalities, the present, as 
 well as future generations, owe, and will owe, a debt of gratitude to 
 the indomitable courage and pious labour of early suffering Methodist 
 preachers, for the great and good order of this vast wilderness. When 
 they entered it as preachers of the Gospel, very few ministers of any 
 other denomination would brook the hardships and undergo the priva- 
 tions that must necessarily be endured in preaching the Gospel in 
 these sparsely populated and frontier regions. But hardly had the early 
 emigrant pitched his tent, raised his temporary camp, or log-cabin, when 
 the early Methodist travelling preachers were there to preach to them 
 the unsearchable riches of Christ ; and how many thousands who had 
 withstood the offers of life in the old settlements or States, have been 
 followed into the wilderness by these early Methodist preachers, and 
 won over to Christ ! Many ministers of other Churches waited till 
 flourishing towns, villages, and populous settlements had formed and 
 improved the country, and could give them a good fat salary; and 
 then they came and entered into the labours of these old pioneers. 
 People unacquainted with frontier life, and especially frontier life fifty 
 or sixty years ago, can form but a very imperfect idea of the sufferings nd
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 287 
 
 hardships the early settlers of these Western States underwent at that day, 
 when Methodist preachers went from fort to fort, from camp to camp, from 
 tent to tent, from, cabin to cabin, with or without road or path. We 
 walked on dirt floors for carpets, sat on stools or benches for chairs, 
 ate on puncheon tables, had forked sticks and pocket or butcher 
 knives for knives and forks, slept on bear, deer, or buffalo skins 
 before the fire, or sometimes on the ground in open air for downy 
 beds, had our saddles or saddle-bags for pillows instead of pillows of 
 feathers, and one new suit of clothes of homespun was ample clothing 
 for one year for an early Methodist preacher in the West. 
 
 We crossed creeks and large rivers without bridges or ferry-boats, 
 often swam them on horseback, or crossed on trees that had fallen 
 over the streams, drove our horses over, and often waded out waist- 
 deep ; and if by chance we got a dug-out, or canoe, to cross in our- 
 selves, and swim our horses by, it was quite a treat. 
 
 O, ye downy doctors and learned presidents and professors, heads 
 of the Methodist literature of the present day, remember the above 
 course of training was the colleges in which we early Methodist 
 preachers graduated, and from which we took our diplomas ! Here 
 we solved our mathematical problems, declined our nouns and conju- 
 gated our verbs, parsed our sentences, and became proficient in the 
 dead languages of the Indian and backwoods dialect. 
 
 Suppose these illiterate early Methodist preachers had held back, or 
 waited for a better education, or for these educational times, where would 
 the Methodist Church have been to-day in this vast valley of the 
 Mississippi? Suppose the thousands of early settlers and scores of 
 early Methodist preachers, by some providential intervention, had 
 blundered on a Biblical Institute, or a theological factory, where they 
 dress up little pedantic things they call " preachers ; " suppose ye we 
 should have known them from a ram's horn? Surely not. 
 
 JESSE WALKER, known to thousands in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, 
 Tennessee, and Kentucky, was a native of Virginia. His age has gone 
 from my recollection. His commencement as a preacher was in the local 
 order, and as such he moved to West Tennessee. This was about the 
 time of the great Cumberland revival ; and though he had a very limited 
 education, and his preaching powers were not very profound, yet he 
 could preach a plain, practical sermon ; and he was a powerful exhorter. 
 
 In the fall of 1803 Brother Walker was received on trial into the 
 travelling connexion, in the Western Conference, and appointed to 
 travel the Red River Circuit, in Cumberland District ; John Page was 
 his presiding elder. He was this year blessed with glorious revivals, 
 and received a great many into the Church. In 1804 he was appointed
 
 288 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 to the Livingston Circuit. This was a new field of labour which I had 
 formed the year before under the elder. Here his family was greatly 
 afflicted, and he lost by death two of his children ; but ^Brother Walker's 
 labours were greatly blessed, and many seals were added to his ministry. 
 
 In 1805 he remained on the same Circuit, with Hartford Circuit 
 attached to it. His labours this year were greatly blessed. A great 
 number were converted and joined the Church. In 1806 Brother 
 Walker was appointed to Hartford Circuit ; this was also a prosperous 
 year in many additions to the Church. In 1807 he was appointed to 
 the Illinois Circuit ; for it will be seen, that the Illinois and Missouri 
 States both belonged to Cumberland District. Here he entered the 
 prairie wilderness, and spent a successful year on that Circuit. In 
 1808 he was appointed to Missouri, still further in the wilderness of 
 the West; as usual, he had several revivals. In 1809 a new District 
 was formed, called Indiana District, embracing Indiana, Illinois, and 
 Missouri States, and J. Walker was appointed to Illinois Circuit. In 
 1810 and 1811 he was appointed to, and travelled with acceptability 
 and usefulness, the Cape Girardeau Circuit, in Missouri. In the fall 
 of 1811 the name of the Indiana was changed to Illinois District, S. 
 Parker presiding elder; and in 1812 Brother Walker was appointed 
 to the Illinois Circuit again. 
 
 It should be recollected, that in 1812 the General Conference sat in 
 New York ; this was the first delegated General Conference of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. At this General Conference, the Western 
 Conference was divided into two, called Ohio and Tennessee Confer- 
 ences. In 1815 the Missouri District was formed; and in 1817 he 
 was appointed to that District. Right here it should be remembered, 
 that the General Conference which sat in Baltimore, May 1st, 1816, 
 divided the Tennessee Conference, and formed a Missouri Conference. 
 The Missouri Conference was composed of two presiding-elder Districts, 
 namely, Illinois and Missouri ; though it embraced four States, namely, 
 Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. The Missouri District 
 covered two States west of the Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri. 
 The Illinois District covered the States of Illinois and Indiana. These 
 four States were all frontier ground ; desperate, long, lonesome rides, 
 and little or no support for preachers or presiding elders ; and if our 
 Districts were as large and hard to travel now as then, we should not have 
 as many young aspiring expectants for that office as abound in our Con- 
 ferences. In 1818 and 1819, he carried successfully the Gospel to 
 thousands of the scattered frontier settlers in Missouri and Arkansas, 
 and many in the day of judgment from those poor frontier regions will 
 rise up and call him blessed. 
 
 I think it was in the fall of 1819 our beloved old Brother Walker,
 
 THE BACKWOODS PllEACHER. 289 
 
 who had travelled all his life, or nearly so, came over to our Tennes- 
 see Conference, which sat in Nashville, to see us ; but, I), how 
 weather-beaten and war-worn was he ; almost, if not altogether, with- 
 out decent apparel to appear among us ! We soon made a collection, 
 and had him a decent suit of clothes to put on ; and never shall I 
 forget the blushing modesty and thankfulness with which he accepted 
 that suit ; and never did I and others have a stronger verification of 
 our Lord's words, that " it is more blessed to give than to receive." 
 In 1820 he was appointed Conference missionary, and sustained the 
 relation of missionary to the Missouri Conference from 1821 to 1824. 
 
 He was instructed, in 1824, to pay attention to the Indians in the 
 bounds of Missouri. During these years of extensive missionary 
 travel, he visited St. Louis, which was almost wholly given to Komish 
 idolatry. There was no Methodist society or church in the city, and 
 perhaps no Protestant church in the place. It had been settled from 
 an early day with French Catholics. In his visit to this place, he 
 saw its deplorable moral condition, and resolved to seek a way to 
 carry the Gospel to its perishing thousands. But how was he to do 
 it? and how was he to be supported while doing it? Means of 
 support he had none. He made it a matter of prayer, and asked aid 
 of God. Accordingly, he made his stand in the city, and took up a 
 day school of A, E, C scholars, by which he supported himself; and 
 all he made over he applied to the erection of a small church, which, 
 if my memory is not at fault, was the first Protestant house of wor- 
 ship in the city. God did not despise the day of small things, but 
 crowned his efforts with signal success ; so much so, that he not only 
 succeeded in building a church, but gathered a congregation in it, and 
 raised a Methodist society, which remains to this day ; and Methodism 
 has spread through the city, so that there are many charges, and a 
 good many splendid churches erected, and several thousand members 
 in the different branches of Methodism. 
 
 In 1824 the Missouri Conference was divided by the General Con- 
 ference, which sat in Baltimore. The Illinois Conference was organ- 
 ized. Brother Walker was appointed missionary to the settlements 
 between the Illinois and Mississippi Kivers, and to the Indians in the 
 vicinity of Fort Clark, (now Peoria). He travelled extensively, and 
 preached through this entire new country, raised several societies, one 
 at Fort Clark, penetrated into the Indian country, visited their chief's, 
 made known his wishes to establish missions and schools among 
 them, and met a friendly reception by their chief men, especially 
 among the Pottawattomies ; and in 1826 he was appointed missionary 
 to that tribe of Indians. He was continued in this mission in 1827 
 and 1828, and, having obtained a grant from the Indians to a section 
 
 u
 
 290 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 of land, he built houses, opened a farm, preached to the Indians through 
 an interpreter, established a school, and had some prosperity ; and 
 had it not been for the corrupting influences of white men, in selling 
 whiskey to the Indians, and corrupt white men that cheated the 
 Indians out of their annuities, there is no doubt but these Indians 
 would have become civilized and Christianized. What a fearful 
 account these unprincipled white men will have to render at the judg- 
 ment for the demoralization and destruction of the Indians ! I thank 
 God, during my superintendence of this mission, while Brother 
 Walker was missionary among them, we had the pleasure of seeing 
 the hopeful conversion of several of them, and of baptizing them, and 
 receiving them into the visible Church of Christ. 
 
 In 1828 Brother Walker was succeeded in the mission by Brother 
 Isaac Scarritt, and was sent to the Peoria Circuit, where he laboured 
 with his accustomed usefulness and acceptability. In 1829 he was 
 returned to the mission among the Pottawattomies, which was located 
 on Fox River, about twenty miles from Ottawa, where it empties into 
 the Illinois River. In the mean time, the government had bought 
 out the Indian claim ; and although the Church had spent some thou- 
 sands of dollars in its establishment, we lost it. The mission pre- 
 mises were reserved for one of the half-breeds, and Brother Walker 
 was, in 1830, appointed to Chicago Mission, where he succeeded in 
 planting Methodism in this then infant city. In 1831 he was 
 appointed to the Des Plaines Mission, and organized many small 
 societies in that young and rising country. 
 
 In 1832 there was a Chicago District formed, of mostly missionary 
 ground. Brother Walker was superintendent of this missionary Dis- 
 trict, and missionary to Chicago town ; and although he was well 
 stricken in years, and well-nigh worn out, having spent a compara- 
 tively long life on the frontiers, yet the old man had the respect and 
 confidence of the whole community, and in 1833 was continued in 
 the Chicago missionary station. This year closed his active itinerant 
 life. He had done effective and efficient service as a travelling 
 preacher for more than thirty years, and had lived poor and suffered 
 much ; had won thousands of souls over to Christ, and built up and 
 firmly planted Methodism for thousands of miles on our frontier 
 border. 
 
 In 1834 he asked for and obtained a superannuated relation, in 
 which relation he lived till the 5th of October, 1835 ; and then, being 
 at peace with God and all mankind, and having fought a good fight, 
 and finished his course, and kept the faith, he was ready for the mes- 
 senger, and left the world in holy triumph ; and his redeemed spirit 
 rose triumphantly, and entered heaven, to be hailed and welcomed
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 291 
 
 home by the thousands to whom, in the Divine economy, he had been 
 the honoured instrument of salvation ; and I hope to meet him in hea- 
 ven before very long. He Avas the first minister who, by the authority 
 of the Methodist Church, gave me my first permit to exhort. We 
 have fought side by side for many years ; we have suffered hunger 
 and want together ; we have often wept, and prayed, and preached 
 together ; I hope we shall sing and shout together in heaven. Peace 
 to his memory ! 
 
 SAMUEL H. THOMPSON was born in Westmoreland County, Penn- 
 sylvania, March 16th, 1786. He had a pious mother, who very dili- 
 gently instructed young Samuel in the general principles of our holy 
 religion, according to the Calvinistic views of the Presbyterian 
 Church, for which Church through life he entertained a high regard, 
 though he repudiated the Calvinistic doctrines. He received a good 
 common English education for that early day, and was considered an 
 honourable, high-minded young man. In his eighteenth year he 
 joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, as a seeker of religion. Tor 
 two years he sought an experimental knowledge of the forgiveness of 
 his sins ; and while engaged in secret prayer, a peaceful answer was 
 granted to him, though not such aii evidence of pardon as he desired ; 
 but shortly afterward, during family prayer, he obtained a clear evi- 
 dence of the regeneration of his fallen nature, and immediately com- 
 menced exhorting his associates to seek God, and was licensed to 
 preach. In the fall of 1810 he was received on trial as a travelling 
 preacher, in the Western Conference, holden at Cincinnati, which was 
 then the only Conference west of the mountains. He was appointed 
 to the Whitewater Circuit, Indiana District, Ohio. Here young 
 Thompson was received kindly, and preached successfully. In 1811 
 he was appointed to the Nolliechuckie Circuit, in East Tennessee ; in 
 1812, to Clinch Kiver Circuit. In both these Circuits he laboured 
 zealously, and was useful. In the fall of 1812 he was ordained a 
 deacon. At the division of the Western Conference, he fell into the 
 Tennessee part, and in 1813 was appointed to the Knoxville Circuit, 
 where his labours were greatly blessed. In 1814 he was appointed 
 to Christian Circuit, and there were in this Circuit added to his 
 ministry many seals. 
 
 In the fall of 1814 he was ordained an elder, and in 1815 he was 
 appointed presiding elder of the Missouri District. He remained on 
 this District in 1816. Vast was the frontier country that Brother 
 Thompson explored on this District ; and he successfully planted the 
 standard of the Gospel and of Methodism in many log cabins and 
 frontier settlements, and won many laurels for his Master in this
 
 292 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 wilderness of the West, and the Lord gave him many souls for his 
 hire. 
 
 At the General Conference of 1816, the Missouri Conference was 
 stricken off from the Tennessee Conference; and in 1817 he was 
 appointed to the Illinois District, which covered almost all the inha- 
 bited parts of the State of Illinois and Southern Indiana. He 
 remained on this large District two years, and was aggressive in all 
 his ministerial labours, organizing many societies in this new and 
 rising country. In 1819 he was appointed to Shoal Creek and 
 Illinois Circuits, joined together, where his labours were greatly 
 blessed. Money was scarce through all this Western country ; but 
 Brother Thompson suffered on, through penury and want. In the 
 mean time he had married, and had a young and growing family to 
 provide for. In 1820 he remained on the Illinois Circuit, and was 
 instrumental in greatly building up the Church. In 1821 Brother 
 Thompson was again placed on the Missouri District as presiding 
 elder, where he remained two years, still labouring and suffering for 
 his Master, and planting Methodism in many new settlements, and 
 many claimed him as the honoured instrument of their salvation ; and 
 many were the thrilling shouts of new-born souls brought into the 
 liberty of the Gospel on the tented camp-ground, as well as from the 
 log cabin. From 1823 to 1826 Brother Thompson was stationed on 
 the Illinois District, Illinois Conference, which covered more than 
 two-thirds of the geographical boundaries of the State ; but with 
 unfaltering steps he travelled night and day, seldom missing his 
 appointments, through cold and heat, floods or snow-storms. His 
 labours were greatly blessed, and there is very little doubt that he was 
 the most popular and useful preacher in the State. Hundreds, if not 
 thousands, from the Illinois District, in the great day of judgment 
 will hail our beloved brother, and call him blessed. 
 
 From the hard fields of labour occupied by Brother Thompson, his 
 poor fare, the privations he underwent, and his extraordinary zealous 
 pulpit labours, the very many hardships and sufferings he endured 
 incident to a new country, his fine constitution began to give way, 
 and he found it necessary to relax his efforts in some degree. 
 Accordingly, he asked for and obtained a supernumerary relation, and 
 in that relation, in 1827, he was appointed to the Illinois Circuit, 
 where his labours were fully equal to his strength. In 1828 he was 
 continued on the same Circuit, and in 1829, having recovered his 
 health a little, he was made effective, and appointed to the Shoal 
 Creek Circuit. The Lord gave him a prosperous year, and made him 
 a blessing to many souls. In 1830 there was a new District formed, 
 called the Kaskaskia District, and Brother Thompson was appointed
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 293 
 
 presiding elder. He travelled this District in 1831 and 1832, 
 abundant in labours and usefulness. In 1833 he was appointed 
 travelling agent for the Lebanon Seminary, and acquitted himself 
 honourably. In 1834 he was appointed to the Lebanon Circuit; and 
 although he had preached for many years to the most of his congrega- 
 tions, yet the Church hailed him as a brother beloved, and his minis- 
 try was profitable, and he proved a blessing to many. In 1835 
 Brother Thompson sustained a superannuated relation to the Confer- 
 ence, and the rest from his energetic labours this year gave him 
 some increase of strength, and he wanted to spend that strength in 
 doing good ; and his relation in 1836 was changed to supernumerary, 
 and he was appointed to Alton Station. He was this year only 
 partial in his labours ; his constitution was fast giving way. Accord- 
 ingly, in 1837 he sustained a superannuated relation again. But his 
 soul was restless when out of his field of ministerial work ; accord- 
 ingly, in 1838, he asked to be made effective; but the Conference 
 gave him a supernumerary relation, and he was appointed to labour 
 in the towns of Vandalia and Hillsborough. In 1839 he was again 
 appointed to Alton City Station, as supernumerary : in 1840 he was 
 appointed to labour in the Belleville Station, where he laboured but 
 little. His physical powers evidently were fast giving way, and in 
 1841 he was placed in a superannuated relation, which relation he 
 continued to sustain until his redeemed spirit returned to God who 
 gave it, which happened on the 19th of March, 1842. 
 
 Brother Thompson laboured hard and suffered much for more than 
 thirty years. His field of labour for those years embraced large por- 
 tions of Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and 
 Arkansas States, much of which was new and on the outskirts of 
 civilization, destitute of means of comfortable support. In these 
 respects, his zeal, like a quenchless fire, urged him on night and day, 
 over desert wastes, towering mountains, rapid rivers. He often suffered 
 hunger and almost nakedness in quest of lost and wandering sinners, 
 to bring them back to God; and thousands BOW in heaven will praise 
 God for ever that this self-sacrificing Methodist preacher taught them, 
 the way to life in their mud hovels and smoky cabins. The last year 
 of his eventful life, his health almost entirely gave way ; and while 
 confined to his bed, from which he never rose, such was bis ardent 
 thirst for the salvation of souls, that he requested to call in the neigh- 
 bours, and to be propped up in his bed, and to preach one more 
 sermon to them before he left for heaven. His desire was granted ; 
 the room was crowded, and such a sermon hardly ever fell from the 
 lips of mortal man. The power of God fell on the congregation ; 
 they wept aloud, and fell in every direction, and many will date their
 
 294 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 start for heaven to that sermon. And now, having delivered his last 
 message, he said, " My work is done, and I am ready to go at my 
 Master's bidding." 
 
 During the few lingering moments that he remained he gave un- 
 mistakable evidence that he was at peace with God and all mankind, 
 and that he had a complete victory over the fear of death. He con- 
 tinued in this heavenly frame of mind until he sweetly fell asleep in 
 the arms of Jesus, and quietly breathed his last and went up to glory. 
 Brother Thompson was a gentleman as well as Christian. He was 
 faithful in the administration of the discipline of the Church ; very 
 firm, but mild. He was courteous in manner, had a nice regard to 
 feelings, but remarkably faithful in reproving whatever he thought 
 wrong in saint and sinner. He had but few personal enemies ; his 
 soul breathed the true spirit of Christian kindness and love. He has 
 left behind him thousands that claim him as the honoured instrument 
 in their conversion ; and, if they are faithful, I have no doubt will 
 meet him in heaven with shouts of victory for ever and ever. 
 
 JOHN DEW was born on the 19th of July, 1789, in the State of 
 Virginia. In the days of his youth he embraced religion and joined 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he remained a worthy 
 member during life ; and being deeply impressed that it was his duty 
 to preach the Gospel, he was recommended by his class, and obtained 
 licence to preach as a local preacher, and then joined the travelling 
 connexion in the Ohio Conference. In 1813 he was appointed to the 
 Salt River Circuit, in Kentucky, and was blessed with success. The 
 first year of his itinerancy, 1814, he was appointed to the Jefferson 
 Circuit, and laboured with acceptability and usefulness to the Church. 
 In 1815 he travelled the Madison Circuit: here he gave good proof of 
 his call to the ministry, and the Lord owned and blessed his labours. 
 In 1816 he travelled the Guyandotte Circuit, and had seals to his 
 ministry. This fall he located, and remained local for eight years, but 
 was an industrious and useful local preacher, and was the means of 
 doing much good in several parts that he visited. He preached with 
 great acceptability in the southern part of Kentucky and the Illinois 
 State. 
 
 In the fall of 1824, Brother Dew was re-admitted into the travelling 
 connexion in the Illinois Conference, and he was appointed to travel 
 the Illinois Circuit. Here he laboured faithfully, and did good. In 
 1825 he was continued on the same Circuit, and at the close of this 
 year was transferred to the Missouri Conference, and appointed pre- 
 siding elder of the Missouri District. In 1827 he was stationed in 
 St. Louis City. In 1828 he was transferred back again to Illinois
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 295 
 
 Conference, and appointed superintendent and Conference collector for 
 the Pottavvattomie Mission on Fox River. He was active, vigilant, 
 and useful in this field of labour. In 1829 Brother Dew was ap- 
 pointed to the Galena Station, in the extreme north-west corner of the 
 Illinois State, at least four hundred miles from home ; and such was 
 the poverty of the country at that time, for it was new and just in its 
 forming state, that he provided for his family where they were, and 
 spent most of this year almost entirely from home. His labours were 
 blessed in this new field of toil, and he was instrumental in planting 
 Methodism firmly there. 
 
 In 1830 he was appointed to the Lebanon Circuit, and he acquitted 
 himself as an able and useful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 edified and built up the Church greatly. In 1831 he was appointed 
 to Shoal Creek Circuit, with our beloved Bishop Ames ; and long will 
 he live in the recollection and Christian remembrance of the Meth- 
 odists of Shoal Creek Circuit. In 1832 he was again appointed to 
 the Lebanon Circuit ; and though he had laboured long and preached 
 much to that people, yet they received him as a messenger from God 
 and a brother beloved, and he was useful. 
 
 In 1833 he was appointed to the Kaskaskia Circuit, where he was the 
 instrument of great good, and souls were converted to God. Brother 
 Dew was continued on this Circuit in 1834. From the hard fields of 
 labour that he had occupied, and the little support he had received, 
 with a young and growing family, in 1835 he located, to gather means 
 of support, and to enable him to re-enter the itinerant field ; for his 
 soul was filled with holy fire, and he longed to spread the news of 
 salvation from pole to pole. 
 
 In 1836 he was appointed president of M'Kendree College ; and in 
 1837-38 he was re-admitted into the travelling connexion, and ap- 
 pointed to the Carlyle District as presiding elder. In 1839 he was 
 appointed to the Lebanon District, where he finished his useful life, 
 after an illness of about two weeks. On the 5th of September, 1840, 
 he left these mortal shores for a better world, relying confidently on 
 the goodness and mercy of God for his salvation. He left an amiable 
 wife and seven children, and an extensive acquaintance and circle of 
 devoted friends, to lament their loss. 
 
 Brother Dew had a fine order of talent as a preacher, was a strong 
 theological debater, had a clear and sound mind, and was well quali- 
 fied to defend the doctrines of the Bible against infidelity, and the 
 doctrines of Methodism against all sectarian assailants. He was 
 popular and useful as a preacher, laboured hard, suffered much in 
 spreading the Gospel, lived beloved, and died lamented by thousands ; 
 but his end was peace, and he has gone safe home to heaven, to reap 
 his eternal reward.
 
 296 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE IN INDIANAPOLIS. 
 
 IN October, 1854, our Illinois annual Conference was held in 
 Springfield, the seat of government, arid I was re-appointed to the 
 Pleasant Plains District. This was a year of general peace, and some 
 prosperity to the Church. I think we numbered about four hundred 
 conversions in the District this year ; and nearly that number of acces- 
 sions in the membership of the Church. In October, 1855, our 
 annual Conference was held in Paris, on the eastern side of the State ; 
 and I was returned for the third year on the Pleasant Plains District, 
 which was now enlarged from seven to ten Circuits and Stations. 
 Our Districts in all the Western world are very different from down 
 East and North-east. There they have from thirty to forty appoint- 
 ments in one presiding elder's District ; most of their quarterly meet- 
 ings are held on week-days or evenings, not embracing a Sabbath. 
 The presiding elder goes round mostly to preside in trials of com- 
 plaints or appeals, and as a kind of fiscal agent. Thus, no matter 
 how talented he may be, his labours and usefulness as a preacher are 
 thrown into the shade of comparative obscurity ; and by the anli- 
 Methodistic usages of these large Districts the presiding elder's office 
 is not appreciated ; nor can it be on this plan : hence the hue and cry 
 against the office. In the vast West there is a Sabbath embraced in 
 every quarterly-meeting appointment, and a presiding elder's services 
 are properly appreciated ; and if these Northern innovators would go 
 back to the old land-marks of itinerancy, and not make so many little 
 pop-gun, forty-dollar stations, the usefulness of presiding elders would 
 now be as it was in the palmy, prosperous days of olden times. No 
 wonder preachers and people complain under the circumstances ; the 
 regular work is cut up into so many little and comparatively unim- 
 portant stations, and so poor withal, that the support of the ministry 
 is fast becoming burdensome. Go back to old Methodist preacher 
 usage ; let every quarterly meeting embrace a Sabbath, and then the 
 old itinerant missionary will work well : but persist in cutting up the 
 work, and making little stations, then appeal to the cupidity of these 
 small fields of labour, and you may expect the table of the General 
 Conference to groan under the petitions of the oppressed to change 
 the office of presiding elder, till Congregationalism is the order of the 
 day. 
 
 This annual Conference was the' fiftieth that I was entitled to a seat 
 in ; and during a half-century I had never missed attending but one of
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 297 
 
 our annual sessions, and I missed this one by sickness. At this Con- 
 ference we elected our delegates to attend the twelfth delegated General 
 Conference, which sat in Indianapolis, May 1st, 1856. 1 was elected, 
 among five other delegates, and this made the eleventh time I was 
 elected to represent the interests of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 in that body. 
 
 There were over two hundred and twenty delegates in this General 
 Conference, from California and Oregon, arid all parts of the United 
 States and Territories. We had also delegates from the Wesleyan 
 Methodists in England, and from Canada ; also from Ireland ; Brother 
 Jacoby, from Germany, was also present. 
 
 From the unhappy political agitations of our country, we had anti- 
 cipated troublous times in the General Conference, especially on the 
 subject of American slavery. Many of our preachers who were strongly 
 opposed to slavery, had suffered themselves to become too much ex- 
 cited by designing demagogues. Now it ought to be distinctly under- 
 stood by all the people, and especially by Methodist preachers, that 
 these demagogues care very little about human liberty, or the freedom 
 of the poor down-trodden African. No ; they are after the loaves and 
 fishes, or the spoils of office ; and while they are riveting the chains 
 of the poor Negro ten times tighter than ever before, and threatening 
 to rupture this Union, what do they care, if they can ride triumphantly 
 into office and suck the public pap ? Just nothing at all. But on 
 this, and almost all other long-tried and prosperous regulations of our 
 beloved rules and disciplinary regulations, there were ftmnd aboard 
 the old ship ministers enough to keep the old, well-tried vessel well 
 trimmed, and leaving in the distance these innovators and spoilers of 
 ancient Methodism. So may it ever be. 
 
 Just so sure as a leaden ball tends to the earth in obedience to the 
 laws of gravity, so sure the multiplying of our stations tends to 
 locality and Congregationalism. Better, far better, for the Methodist 
 Church this day that we never had a station. Put all the work in 
 Circuits, and put on as many preachers as the people need, and are 
 able to support, and let the Church be blessed with the spice of variety 
 and a constant interchange of preachers. There were several changes 
 in the vital economy of the itinerant system of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church by which we have successfully spread the Gospel without a 
 parallel in the history of any branch of the Christian Church since the 
 apostolic day. I hope to be borne with while I make a few remarks 
 on these matters. 
 
 At our late General Conference there were some of the preachers 
 who wanted a change in the time a preacher might remain in a station 
 or on a Circuit, namely, from two to three years. They urged the
 
 298 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 propriety of this change. First. Because it would drive him to read- 
 ing and study in order to keep up a variety for his hearers. Secondly. 
 That two years was too short a time to become acquainted with his 
 flock, so as to become a profitable pastor. Thirdly. They urged that 
 the Canadian Methodist Church, our own child, or the daughter of 
 Episcopal Methodism in these United States, had lengthened out the 
 time that a preacher might remain in the same charge from one to five 
 years ; and that the Wesleyan Methodist Church in England, who is 
 the grandmother of the Canadian Methodist Church, had changed the 
 term of service, and that it worked well ; therefore it would work well 
 among us. 
 
 To this I reply, First, That, from fifty years' experience, I find that 
 the return of a preacher, even the second year, to an appointment is 
 not as profitable as the first. Secondly. If a preacher from sheer 
 necessity is to be driven to his books and study, in order to keep up 
 an interesting and profitable variety, there will be but little pastoral 
 duty performed, and but little spirituality in these forced sermons, and 
 a great deal of his preaching will be mere lecturing, and but little 
 real spiritual sermonizing. Thirdly. The Canadian Methodist Church, 
 our child or daughter, when she requested to be set off as a separate 
 Church from us, on account of the civil disabilities under which she 
 laboured, instead of following the illustrious footsteps of her mother, the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in these United States, in relation to the 
 time that her preachers might remain in a charge for consecutive years, 
 flung herself into the arms of her grandmother, the Wesleyan Meth- 
 odist Church in England ; and as the grandmother is generally sup- 
 posed to be somewhat in dotage, and seldom, if ever, qualified to raise 
 grandchildren aright, it is reasonable to suppose that these Canadians 
 borrowed this radical innovation on the itinerant plan of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church from a dotard grandmother ; and however well it 
 may work in Canada or old England, it can have no other effect in 
 these United States but to localize our preachers, and finally destroy 
 our itinerant system ; and whenever this is done, farewell to the 
 triumphant success of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 There was another regulation introduced into our late General Con- 
 ference on which I wish to remark ; I mean the admitting into mem- 
 bership and ordaining preachers who are appointed to presidencies and 
 professorships in our universities, colleges, and various institutions of 
 learning, without having travelled a single day, or having a pastoral 
 charge as a travelling preacher. These men, without undergoing any of 
 the privations or sacrifices of an itinerant life, are settled down with 
 large salaries. Our colleges are rapidly multiplying, and I hope they 
 will continue to do so ; but who does not see that in a few years our
 
 THE BACKWOODS PKEACHER. 299 
 
 local agents, presidents, and professors may form even a majority of 
 our annual Conferences, and then the itinerant system will be very 
 much like a man riding a race with the reins of his horse's bridle tied 
 to a stump. It is wrong, fundamentally wrong. The itinerant should 
 be kept pure and unencumbered, and we should look out men to serve 
 tables, or education if you please, but our itinerant men should give 
 themselves wholly to the ministry of the word. These are politically 
 and religiously perilous times, and there is a solemn crisis on the 
 Church ; but I hope God will guide the ship of State and Church. 
 But surely this is no time to abandon old and long-tried usages for 
 novel experiments. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 CONVERSION OF AN INFIDEL DOCTOR. 
 
 SOMEWHERE about thirty-five years ago, while I was travelling on 
 
 the Cumberland District, in West Tennessee, there lived a Dr. , 
 
 who was wealthy, and immensely popular as a practising physician. 
 He had a large practice ; he was gentlemanly in his manners, hospita- 
 ble and kind. His family were very respectable ; his wife was a 
 devoted Christian and a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. They lived in affluence ; they were benevolent and liberal in 
 the support of the Gospel. I was introduced to the doctor and his 
 amiable family at a camp-meeting which was held a few miles from 
 his residence. Having a few days to rest between my catnp-meetings, 
 the doctor and family cordially invited me to spend those rest-days at 
 his house, and I consented to do so. When our camp-meeting closed, 
 in company with several other preachers, I repaired to the doctor's 
 habitation. We were received cordially and treated princely. There 
 was everything earthly to make one comfortable. The family, black 
 and white, were called in to family worship night and morning ; and 
 when we surrounded their bountiful table, we were invited to ask a 
 blessing, and to return thanks. The next morning, after we had 
 breakfasted, as we were seated in the parlour, the doctor informed me 
 that he was a total unbeliever in the Christian religion ; that he had 
 read the Bible through and through again and again, and that 
 he could not receive it as a revelation from God ; that he liked the 
 morals that the Christian system inculcated ; he liked to encourage 
 the Gospel, because of the good moral influence it had upon mankind ; 
 that he felt it not only a charity, but a positive duty, to support the 
 Gospel ; first, because it taught a pious reverence toward God ; 
 secondly, because it breathed peace and goodwill to all mankind ;
 
 300 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 thirdly, because it taught truth, virtue, honesty, and benevolence, in all 
 the civil, social, and moral relations of man, as he stood accountable to 
 his God, and as he stood connected with or related to all mankind. 
 
 Now, my gentle reader, you may well imagine that I felt a little 
 surprised, and that I felt greatly the need of right words, or rather 
 strong arguments and soft words ; and, after pausing for a moment, I 
 looked the doctor full in the face and said, 
 
 " Doctor, I hope you believe there is a God. Do you ? " 
 
 '' Certainly," was his reply. 
 
 " Doctor, do you believe that God is too wise to en*, and too good 
 to inflict pain or misery of any kind on his innocent and unoffending 
 creatures ?" 
 
 " Certainly T do, sir." 
 
 " Well now, doctor, will you be good 'enough, laying the Bible 
 aside, to tell me how a wise and good God could push into existence 
 a race of human beings, subject to all kinds of mental, moral, and 
 physical wretchedness, misery, and woe ? If He is wise, just, holy, 
 and supremely good, how could innocent man, coming immediately 
 from the plastic hand of his God, be filled with so many unholy and 
 impure passions as we see human nature heir to ? " 
 
 " I must confess," said the doctor, " I cannot account for it ; it is 
 wrapped in inexplicable mystery." 
 
 " Well, doctor, seeing God is supremely good and wise, and seeing 
 that man is limited in all his powers of mind and body, and subject to 
 so much misery and so many errors in judgment and practice, can we 
 not well imagine that God, who is the supreme source of all moral 
 excellence, and whose tender mercies are over all His works, would be 
 moved by the benignant laws of His own eternal nature, after having 
 created man for His own pleasure, with all his liability to err and his 
 susceptibility to evil, would be prompted to give to this feeble race a 
 rule of faith and practice ? And what else is the Bible ? Nay, would 
 it not throw eternally into the shade all the perfections of God, at 
 whose almighty 'fiat teeming millions of erring human beings have 
 taken their existence in the world, and who have no power to control 
 or prevent their own existence, if that God should leave these millions 
 to wander in the mazes of animal passion without a well-defined 
 revealed rule of faith and practice? " 
 
 The doctor paused, and made a sorry reply. I saw I had made a 
 breach in his supposed impregnable wall, behind which he had in- 
 trenched himself, with all his boasted infidelity. I saw there was not 
 a moment to be lost ; and with haste I commenced re-adjusting my 
 battering-rams, that in my next onset I might widen the breach, and 
 enter the citadel, and take my infidel doctor prisoner, and silence all
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 801 
 
 his opposition to truth, when all of a sudden he said, " Mr. Cart- 
 wright, I know you are a man of reason arid good sense ; and I think 
 I can prove to you, beyond the power of successful contradiction, that 
 there is no such thing as experimental religion, and that it is all imagi- 
 nation and delusion." 
 
 " Very well, doctor ; try it." 
 
 " Well, sir," said he, " does not all knowledge, either human or 
 Divine, depend upon sensible evidence ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Does not faith, human or Divine, depend on credible evidence ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Well," said he, " I will state a plain, unsophisticated case. 
 Suppose you were called upon, as a judge or juror, to decide a case in 
 litigation, and there were five witnesses introduced, all of them honour- 
 able, high-minded men, whose veracity was never called in question, 
 and who stood unimpeached and unimpeachable everywhere, whose 
 known integrity and intelligence were admitted on all sides ; and 
 suppose a matter in controversy was brought before you, and these 
 five witnesses were introduced as credible evidence ; and one of the 
 witnesses deposed to the facts as stated by the plaintiff, A., and then 
 the other four came forward, and with equal clearness deposed to the 
 facts as claimed by the defendant, B. Now, sir," continued the 
 doctor, " all things being equal, so far as the intelligence, truth, and 
 veracity of the witnesses are concerned, how would you decide the 
 case ? Would you not instantly decide that all the probabilities and 
 all the possibilities were in favour of the four who deposed to the facts 
 stated by the defendant, and that the one lone witness who deposed to 
 the facts claimed by the plaintiff must, to a certainty, be mistaken ? " 
 
 I replied, " It is altogether likely I should give judgment for the 
 defendant, B." 
 
 " Well, now, sir," said the doctor, "you contend that the Christian 
 religion is an experimental fact, and that all Christians have sensible 
 evidence of a change of heart, which you call 'religion.' Man has five 
 senses, namely, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling. On 
 the united and concurrent testimony of these five senses, or witnesses, 
 all knowledge of experimental religion depends ; and all professions of 
 the knowledge of facts that cannot be proved by these witnesses, must 
 be fallacious, and, therefore, a deception. Now, sir," said the doctor, 
 " permit rne to ask you a few serious and solemn questions ; and I 
 demand honest and unequivocal answers, direct. Did you ever see 
 religion ? " 
 
 I answered, " No." 
 
 " Did you ever hear religion ? "
 
 302 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Did you ever smell religion ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Did you ever taste religion ? " 
 
 " No.' V 
 
 " Did you ever feel religion ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Now, then," said the doctor, with apparent triumph, " I have 
 proved, beyond a doubt, by four respectable witnesses, that religion 
 is not seen, heard, smelled, or tasted ; and but one lone, solitary 
 witness, namely, feeling, has testified that it is an experimental fact. 
 The weight of evidence is overpowering, sir, and you must give it up." 
 
 I paused, and seemed to be astonished and greatly perplexed ; but 
 recovering myself a little, I said, " Doctor, are you willing that your 
 principles and professional practice shall be tested by the same array 
 of testimony as you have adduced to overthrow revealed religion ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Well, sir, you profess to understand the science of medicine. 
 You have had, and now have, a large and lucrative practice. You 
 profess to have cured various and complicated diseases, and to have 
 relieved and removed many pains, in the complicated forms in which 
 they have attacked the human system ; and you have amassed a 
 princely fortune by your successful practice." 
 
 " All true," said the doctor. 
 
 " Well, sir, do you not know that you have been playing the 
 hypocrite, and practising a most wretched fraud on the gullibility 
 of the people?" 
 
 " No, sir," he replied, very fiercely. 
 
 " Why, doctor," said I, " a man of your profound science and 
 research must certainly know that there is no such thing as pain in 
 the human system ; and though ignorant people have thought so, yet 
 you know better; and whenever you have visited poor dupes, that 
 thought they were in great pain, and administered medicine to them, 
 and thus persuaded them that you, by your medical skill, had removed 
 their pains, and charged them large bills, you certainly knew you 
 were practising a fraud on them, and getting their money under a 
 false pretence ; for you certainly knew that there was no such thing 
 as pain." 
 
 Said the doctor, rather fiercely, " I certainly know no such thing, 
 sir." 
 
 I replied, " Well, doctor, I will ask you a few questions, if you 
 please, and I demand honest and prompt answers." 
 
 "Very well, sir," said the doctor.
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 303 
 
 " Well, sir, did you ever see a pain ? " 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 "Did you ever hear a pain? " 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " Did you ever smell a pain ? " 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " Did you ever taste a pain ? " 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " Did you ever feel a pain ? " 
 
 " Certainly I did, sir." 
 
 By this time I had well-nigh taken the wind out of the doctor's 
 sails, and his countenance betrayed confusion ; but I rallied him, and 
 said, *' Do not be alarmed, doctor ; four respectable witnesses have 
 testified that there is no such thing as pain in the human system, and 
 but one lone witness has deposed that there is ; therefore, the idea of 
 there being pain in the physical system of man is fallacious, and 
 there is no reality in the thing ; and you ought to go and restore the 
 money you have taken from them, and acknowledge the fraud you 
 have practised on them, and do so no more ; and I charge you, as an 
 honest man, to do it, and quit those fraudulent practices." 
 
 During almost all this conversation with the doctor, his wife and 
 family sat around and listened with profound attention, and I 
 frequently saw the tears coursing down the cheeks of the doctor's 
 wife. The doctor became mute, and remained silent for a consider- 
 able time. I turned my conversation to the doctor's wife and 
 children. Just at that moment the Lord, in a very powerful manner, 
 blessed the pious wife of the doctor, and she shouted aloud and 
 blessed God for revealed religion. She ran and threw her arms 
 around her husband's neck, and exhorted him, with streaming eyes 
 and words that burned, to be reconciled to God. I said, " Let us 
 all kneel and pray." The doctor fell on his knees and wept like a 
 child, and prayed fervently. The great deep of his heart was broken 
 up, his infidelity gave way, and, for the first time in his life, he wept 
 and prayed. All day after this he seemed to be melted into childlike 
 simplicity. He fled to the woods, and earnestly sought salvation. 
 That night, after prayer, he retired to bed, but not to sleep, for he 
 prayed as in agony ; and about midnight God spoke peace to his 
 troubled soul, and we all awoke and got up, and joined in prayer and 
 praise. Such thrilling shouts I seldom ever heard from the lips of 
 mortal man. His conversion was the beginning of a glorious 
 revival of religion in the settlement, and many were the souls saved 
 by grace. Many of the doctor's slaves obtained religion, and many 
 others of the slaves in the neighbourhood. The doctor fitted out and
 
 304 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 sent most of his slaves to Liberia. Thank God that I ever had the 
 privilege of preaching the Gospel to slaves and slaveholders. Religion 
 always makes better slaves and better masters, and will secure the 
 freedom of more slaves than all the run-mad abolitionism in the 
 world. The doctor shortly after was licensed to preach, and lived a 
 pious, useful life. God gave him many seals to his ministry. He 
 has long since fallen on sleep, and gone home to Abraham's bosom, 
 while I am left to linger on the shores of time a little longer ; but 
 while I pen this little sketch, my heart grows warm with holy fire ; 
 and I hope soon to meet the doctor and his lovely family in heaven, 
 with many, very many, of the spiritual children God has given me. 
 Amen. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 METHODIST USAGES. 
 
 I WISH to say a few things in this chapter on the usages of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. When I joined the Church, her minis- 
 ters and members were a plain people ; plain in dress and address. 
 You could know a Methodist preacher by his plain dress as far as you 
 rould see him. The members were also plain, very plain in dress. 
 They wore no jewellery, nor were they permitted to wear jewellery, 
 or superfluoiis ornament, or extravagant dress of any kind ; and this 
 was the rule by which we walked, whether poor or rich, young or old ; 
 and although we knew then as well as we do now, that the religion of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ did not consist in dress, or the cut of the 
 garment, yet we then knew and know now that extravagant dress and 
 superfluous ornaments engender pride, and lead to many hurtful lusts, 
 directly at war with that humility and godly example that becomes 
 our relation to Christ, that so pre-eminently becomes Christians. 
 Moreover, when AVC look around us, and see the perishing millions of 
 our fallen race dying in their sins for the want of a preached Gospel, 
 and that this Gospel is not sent to them for want of means to support 
 the missionary, may we not well question whether we are doing right 
 in the sight of God in adorning our bodies with all this costly and 
 extravagant dressing ? Would it not be more godlike or Christianlike 
 to give our money, laid out in these unnecessary ornaments, to send 
 the Gospel to the poor, perishing millions that have souls to be saved 
 or lost for ever? and will not God hold us accountable for the use of 
 those means and moneys that He has given us ? and would not the
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 305 
 
 simple fund that might be created by disposing of the ornaments of 
 the members of the Methodist Church alone send the Gospel to hun- 
 dreds of thousands, who must perish in all probability for the want of 
 this little Christian sacrifice by the professed lovers of Christ ? The 
 Apostle James says, " Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, 
 do all to the glory of God." Now apply this rule to your consciences, 
 and I have no doubt your piety will decide in favour of the sacrifice 
 you ought to make, and the good example you ought to set. 
 
 The duty of family prayer is a very important one to the Christian. 
 God has given the head of the family a very important and responsible 
 position. It is a question very fairly settled, that from the early ages 
 of the Christian religion, family prayer was required and expected of 
 all who professed godliness.* If we are to bring up our children in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord, and if we and our household are 
 professionally bound to serve the Lord, how can we be innocent before 
 God and our families, and habitually neglect this duty ? One of the 
 great wants of the Church at this day is the want of more family 
 religion ; and has not God threatened to " pour out His wrath and 
 fury upon the families that call not on His name ? " How many happy 
 thousands of children will bless God for ever for family prayer, or, in 
 other words, for praying parents, who, morning and evening, called 
 their little ones around them, and bowed down before God, and prayed 
 with and for them ! 0, parents, think of the happy results of the dis- 
 charge of this duty ! Many of your children will thank you in heaven 
 for ever for praying for them in your families. 
 
 And yet I am sorry to hear that many of the members of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church shamefully neglect this sacred duty of 
 praying in their families. How shall we answer it to God ? Is not 
 this one among many other reasons, why so many of our members feel 
 almost entirely unprepared to enter into the work of the Lord in 
 times of revival, when God pours out His Spirit and convicts sinners 
 among us ? and perhaps, if we prayed more at home, we would be 
 better prepared to hear the Gospel of our salvation when we attend 
 church. Let no business, let no company that visits you, turn you 
 away from, or cause you to neglect, this duty ; have your family altar 
 firmly fixed, and your sacrifice always on it, and then look up, and, in 
 the very act of asking, expect God to send down the holy fire and 
 consume your sacrifice, be it great or small. 'I long to see the time 
 come when God shall abundantly revive family religion in the Church ; 
 then, and perhaps not till then, shall we see better and more glorious 
 times of the work of God among us. 
 
 Prayer-meetings have accomplished great good, as practised in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church ; but are they not growing into disuse 
 
 x
 
 306 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 among us ? Some of my earliest recollections are those Methodist 
 prayer-meetings, where men and Women, young and old, prayed in 
 public. We know there have been fashionable objections to females 
 praying in public ; but I am sure I do not exaggerate when I say, I 
 have often seen our dull and stupid prayer-meetings suddenly changed 
 from a dead clog to a heavenly enjoyment, when a sister has been 
 called on to pray, who has reverently bowed and taken up the cross, 
 and utterance was given her that was heavenly, and she prayed 
 with words that burned, and the baptismal fire rolled all around, 
 while the house and all the praying company were baptized from 
 heaven, many sinners, tall and stout-hearted sinners, have been 
 brought to quake and tremble before God, and have cried for mercy, 
 and, while crying, have found peace with God through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Many weeping mourners in those prayer-meetings 
 have found the blessed pardon of all their sins ; the members of the 
 Church have also been greatly blessed, and have gone on their way 
 rejoicing in the Lord. 
 
 One of the best revivals I ever knew was commenced and carried 
 on by a prayer-meeting among the members of the Church without 
 any preaching at all. The society felt that they were on back ground, 
 and they covenanted to meet every evening for a week, and have 
 public prayer, and pray for a revival. The first night God met them 
 and blessed many of their souls ; the second night the Lord very 
 powerfully converted two souls ; the meeting went on then for about 
 twenty days and nights, and from one to twelve were converted at 
 every coming together. The Saturday and Sunday on which their 
 meeting closed, they sent for me to gather up the fragments, that 
 nothing be lost. On Saturday I read our General Rules, and 
 explained them, and showed the principles of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. On Sunday I preached on baptism, and opened the doors, 
 and received one hundred and nineteen into the Church, and bap- 
 tized forty-seven adults and thirty children in the altar, and then 
 marched off to the creek and immersed twenty-seven ; making in all 
 one hundred and nineteen accessions on trial, and one hundred and 
 four baptized. This was the fruit of a prayer-meeting. 
 
 Class-meetings have been owned and blessed of God in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church ; and, from more than fifty years' expe- 
 rience, I doubt whether any one means of grace has proved as suc- 
 cessful in building up the Methodist Church as this blessed privilege. 
 For many years we kept them with closed doors, and suffered none to 
 remain in class-meeting more than twice or thrice, unless they signi- 
 fied a desire to join the Church. In these class-meetings the weak 
 have been made strong ; the bowed down have been raised up ; the
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 307 
 
 tempted have found delivering grace ; the doubting mind has had all 
 its doubts and fears removed ; and the whole class have found that 
 this was " none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven." 
 Here the hard heart has been tendered, the cold heart warmed with 
 holy fire ; here the dark mind, beclouded with trial and temptation, 
 has had every cloud rolled away, and the Sun of Righteousness has 
 risen with resplendent glory, " with healing in His wings ; " and in 
 these class-meetings many seekers of religion have found them the 
 spiritual birth-place of their souls into the heavenly family, and their 
 dead souls made alive to God. 
 
 Every Christian that enjoys religion, and that desires to feel its 
 mighty comforts, if he understands the nature of them really, loves 
 them and wishes to attend them. But how sadly are these class- 
 meetings neglected in the Methodist Episcopal Church ! Are there 
 not thousands of our members who habitually neglect to attend them ? 
 and is it any wonder tuat so many of our members grow cold and 
 careless in religion, and finally backslide ? Is it not for the Avant of 
 enforcing our rules on class-meetings that their usefulness is 
 destroyed ? Are there not a great many worldly-minded, proud, 
 fashionable members of our Church, who merely have the name of 
 Methodist, that are constantly crying but and pleading that attend- 
 ance on class-meetings should not be a test of membership in the 
 Church ? And now, before God, are not many of our preachers at 
 fault in this matter ? They neglect to meet the classes themselves, and 
 they keep many class-leaders in office that will not attend to their 
 duty ; and is it not fearful to see our preachers so neglectful of their 
 duty in dealing with the thousands of our delinquent members who 
 stay away from class-meetings weeks, months, and for years? Just 
 as sure as our preachers neglect their duty in enforcing the Rules on 
 class-meetings on our leaders and members, just so sure the power of 
 religion will be lost in the Methodist Episcopal Church. for faith- 
 ful, holy preachers, and faithful, holy class-leaders ! Then we shall 
 have faithful, holy members. May the time never come when class- 
 meetings shall be laid aside in the Methodist Episcopal Church, or 
 when these class-meetings, or an attendance on them, shall cease to be 
 a test of membership among us ! I beg and beseech class-leaders to 
 be punctual in attending their classes ; and, if any of their members 
 stay away from any cause, hunt them up, find out the cause of their 
 absence, pray with them, and urge them to the all-important duty of 
 regularly attending class-meeting. Much, very much, depends on 
 faithful and religious class-leaders ; and how will the unfaithful class- 
 leader stand in the judgment of the great day, when, by his neglect, 
 many of his members will have backslidden, and will be finally lost ? 
 
 x2
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 IK 1803, or fifty-three years since, next fall, I started to travel and 
 preach the Gospel, being employed by a presiding elder, in my 
 eighteenth year. I travelled five years as a single man. I then 
 married, and have travelled forty-eight years as a married man. My 
 wife has had nine children ; seven daughters and two sons. We 
 raised eight of those children ; lost one lovely little daughter in her 
 minority, but have lived to see all the rest married, though one has 
 died since she married, but died in peace. We have now living 
 thirty-eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. All our 
 children are in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and, we hope, are 
 trying to be religious ; several of our grandchildren are also in the 
 Church, and trying to serve God and get to heaven. Forty-eight 
 years ago I was appointed presiding elder by Bishop Asbury ; and, 
 with the exception of a few years, have been presiding elder up to this 
 time, and am, perhaps, the oldest presiding elder in all the Western 
 country. I have seen fifty-three sessions of annual Conferences, and 
 never missed but one. I have been elected to eleven General Con- 
 ferences, from 1816 to 185 6. 
 
 When I started as a travelling preacher, a single preacher was 
 allowed to receive eighty dollars per annum if his Circuit would give 
 it to him ; but single preachers in those days seldom received over 
 thirty or forty dollars, and often much less ; and had it not been for a 
 few presents made us by the benevolent friends of the Church, and a 
 few dollars we made as marriage fees, we must have suffered much more 
 than we did. But the Lord provided ; and, strange as it may appear 
 to the present generation, we got along without starving or going 
 naked. 
 
 I wish here to give a statement of my success, and loss and gain, 
 as a Methodist travelling preacher, for fifty-three years, though I 
 know it will be imperfect ; but it shall be as perfect as my old musty 
 and rusty account scraps will permit. And in the first place I have 
 lacked, in the fifty-three years, of my disciplinary allowance, about 
 5,000 dollars; loss in horses to travel with, 1,000 dollars; loss in 
 the sale of religious books, 200 dollars ; loss in money, of which I 
 was robbed, 150 dollars; loss in clothing stolen from me, 50 dollars. 
 Total loss, 6,400 dollars. 
 
 I sold about 10,000 dollars' worth of books ; my per-centage on 
 these books would net me about 1,000 dollars ; made in marriage
 
 THE BACKWOODS PREACHER. 309 
 
 fees, 500 dollars; presents in money, clothing, horses, &c., 500 
 dollars. Total, 2,000 dollars. 
 
 Given by me for the erection of churches and parsonages, 500 
 dollars ; given to Missionary Society, Bible Society, Sunday-school 
 Union, and other benevolent societies, 800 dollars; given to universi- 
 ties, colleges, &c., for education, 700 dollars ; given to superannuated 
 preachers, their widows and orphans, and other necessitous cases, 300 
 dollars ; given unfortunate persons, burned out, 500 dollars. Total, 
 2,300 dollars. 
 
 I have travelled eleven Circuits, and twelve Districts ; have received 
 into the Methodist Episcopal Church, on probation and by 'letter, 
 10,000 ; have baptized, of children, 8,000; of adults, 4,000. I have 
 preached the funerals of 500 ; and now, after all I have done or can 
 do, and although I know well what a Methodist preacher's suffering 
 life is, and have known what it is to suffer hunger and poverty, and 
 also what it is, in some small sense, to abound, I feel that I have been 
 a very unprofitable servant. 
 
 For fifty-three years, whenever appointed to a Circuit or District, I 
 formed a plan, and named every place where and when I preached ; 
 and also the text of Scripture from which I preached ; the number of 
 conversions, of baptisms, and the number that joined the Church. 
 From these old plans, though there are some imperfections, yet I can 
 come very near stating the number of times that I have tried to 
 preach. For twenty years of my early ministry, I often preached 
 twice a day, and sometimes three times. We seldom ever had, in 
 those days, more than one rest-day in a week ; so that I feel very safe 
 in saying that I preached four hundred times a year. This would 
 make, in twenty years, eight thousand sermons. For the last thirty- 
 three years, I think I am safe in saying I have averaged four sermons 
 a week, or at least two hundred sermons a year, making, in thirty-three 
 years, 6,600. Total, 14,600. 
 
 I was converted on a camp-ground, elsewhere described in this 
 narrative ; and for many years of my early ministry, after I was 
 appointed presiding elder, lived in the tented grove from two to three 
 months in the year. 
 
 I am sorry to say that the Methodist Episcopal Church of late years, 
 since they have become numerous and wealthy, have almost let camp- 
 meetings die out. I am very certain that the most successful part of 
 my ministry has been on camp-ground. There the word of God has 
 reached the hearts of thousands that otherwise, in all probability, 
 never would have been reached by the ordinary means of grace. Their 
 practicability and usefulness have, to some extent, been tested this 
 year, 1856, in my District, Pleasant Plains; and I greatly desire to see
 
 310 THE BACKWOODS PREACHEK. 
 
 a revival of camp-meetings in the Methodist Episcopal Church before 
 I go hence and am no more, or before I leave the walls of Zion. 
 Come, my Methodist brethren, you can well afford to spend one week 
 in each year, in each Circuit, or station, on the tented field. But there 
 must be a general rally : it will be but a small burden if there is a 
 general turn out ; but if a few only tent, it will be burdensome, and 
 will finally destroy camp-meetings altogether. 
 
 May the day be eternally distant, when camp-meetings, class- 
 meetings, prayer-meetings, and lovefeasts shall be laid aside in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church ! 
 
 And now I must draw this imperfect history of my life to a close. 
 I am in the seventy-second year of my natural life. I have lived to see 
 this vast Western wilderness rise and improve, and become wealthy 
 without a parallel in the history of the world; I have outlived every 
 member of my father's family ; I have no father, no mother, no 
 brother, no sister living ; I have outlived every member of the class I 
 joined in 1800 ; I have outlived every member of the Western Confer- 
 ence in 1804, save one or two; I have outlived every member of the 
 first General Conference that I was elected to, in Baltimore, in 1816, 
 save five or six ; I have outlived all my early bishops ; I have outlived 
 every presiding elder that I ever had when on Circuits ; and I have 
 outlived hundreds and thousands of my cotemporary ministers and 
 members, as well as juniors, and still linger on the mortal shores. 
 Though all these have died, they shall live again, and by the grace of 
 God I shall live with them in heaven for ever. Why I live, God only 
 knows. I certainly have toiled and suffered enough to kill a thousand 
 men, but I do not complain. Thank God for health, strength, and 
 grace, that have borne me up, and borne me on ! Thank God that 
 during my long and exposed live as a Methodist preacher, I have 
 never been overtaken with any scandalous sin, though my short- 
 comings and imperfections have been without number ! 
 
 And now, I ask of all who may read this imperfect sketch of my 
 eventful life, while I linger on these mortal shores, to pray for me, 
 that my sun may. set without a cloud, and that I may be counted 
 worthy to obtain a part in the first resurrection ; and may, may I 
 meet you all in heaven ! Farewell, till we meet at the judgment !
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. The Shakers, page 10. 
 
 THIS sect, also known as the United Society of Believers and Millennial Church, 
 had its origin in France, but is now confined exclusively to the United States. It 
 is said to have sprung from the Camisards or French Prophets, who appeared first 
 in Dauphiny, and Vivarias in France in 1688. More than five hundred persons of 
 both sexes, who soon increased to thousands, at that period professed to be inspired 
 by the Holy Ghost with the gift of prophecy ; and while under this influence, their 
 bodies became agitated, they shook, staggered, fell down as though dead, and on re- 
 covering cried aloud for mercy, and proclaimed their mission in the streets and high- 
 ways, their bodies undergoing the most frightful contortions. After a brief period their 
 numbers gradually diminished, and in 1705 three of the most distinguished of the 
 few remaining members repaired to England, where, prophesying the speedy coming 
 of Christ and the near approach of the Millennium, they speedily obtained some two or 
 three hundred adherents, all of whom exercised the gift of prophecy. Their most 
 distinguished members seem to have originally belonged to the Society of Friends. 
 In 1758, Ann Lee, afterwards known as "Mother Ann" and recognised by all the 
 faithful members as their " spiritual mother," joined the Society. She professed to 
 have been favoured with a special revelation of God's will, and in a few years 
 declared that it had been revealed to her that America was the chosen spot where 
 the Church was to receive a speedy increase and permanent establishment. Accord- 
 ingly, in 1774, accompanied by her husband and eight other persons, probably the 
 whole surviving church, she left England ; and, after some little wandering, finally 
 settled down at Watervliet, near Albany. For some years the sect remained in 
 retirement, making no attempt to add to its number. At length the moral and 
 apparently blameless life of the members seems to have had attractions ; for a gradual 
 increase commenced, and settlements were established in the States of Indiana, 
 Ohio, and Kentucky. In 1845, there were about fifteen of these settlements 
 throughout the States, numbering from six to eight thousand souls. Their doctrines 
 are peculiar. They maintain that they are the only true Church, and have all the 
 apostolical gifts, of prophecy, of speaking in unknown tongues, and of healing the 
 sick ; that baptism and the Lord's Supper, as sacraments, ceased with the apostolic 
 age ; that sin committed against God is committed against them, and can only be 
 pardoned through them ; that the wicked will be punished for a definite period bnly, 
 except such as apostatize from the faith (of Shakerism), who will be punished for 
 ever ; that the Judgment and Millennium have commenced, and that Christ will 
 not appear again in this life, except in the person of His followers (the Shakers). 
 In their moral life they are exemplary, being strictly honest and straightforward in 
 their dealings, abstaining from everything like sensuality, avoiding contentions, 
 refraining from the politics of this world, and all questions likely to excite evil 
 feeling, exercising charity towards the afflicted, punishing idleness, and encouraging 
 industry. ,
 
 312 APPENDIX. 
 
 Their mode of worship is singular. " The people of this Society," says one of 
 their advocates, " do not believe that any external performance whatever, without 
 the sincere devotion of the heart with all the feelings of the soul, in devotion and 
 praise to the Creator of all their powers and faculties, can be any acceptable worship 
 to Him who looks at the heart. But in a united assembly a unity of exercise in 
 acts of devotion to God is desirable ; for harmony is beautiful, and appears like the 
 order of heaven. It will be difficult to describe all the various modes of exercise 
 given in the worship of God at different times : because the operations of the Spirit 
 are so various, that even the leaders are unable to tell beforehand what manner will 
 be given by the Spirit in the next meeting. Yet in a regular meeting, where 
 nothing extraordinary appears, they sometimes exercise in a regular dance, 
 while formed in straight lines, and sometimes in a regular march around the 
 room, in harmony wiith regular songs sung on the occasion. Shouting and clap- 
 ping of the hands, and many other operations, are frequently given, all of which 
 have a tendency to keep the assembly alive, with their hearts and all their Senses 
 and feelings devoted to the service of God." These exercises they further justify 
 by reference to the conduct of the Israelites on various occasions. The reader 
 will observe that, with some of the peculiarities of both Mormons and Spiritualists, 
 the Shakers have neither the grossness of the former nor the presumption of the 
 latter ; but, with both the sects we have named, they are wanting in that true spiritual 
 life which faith and prayer can only realize. 
 
 B. Bishop M'Kendree, page 12. 
 
 BISHOP M'KENDREE was one of the early Methodist preachers in America who 
 endured and suffered much in extending the influence of that Church in the Western 
 States. His memory is still cherished with respectful affection by those who owe 
 so much to his labours. Born in 1757 of respectable parents, members of the 
 American branch of the Church of England, in Virginia, he early felt the force 
 of religious impressions ; but it was not until his nineteenth year that he gave 
 himself seriously to the consideration of religion, and joined the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. In 1787, a revival took place in the Circuit where he lived, and under the 
 influence of the strong feelings which it excited, he determined to devote himself to 
 the ministry. Nothing but ardent devotion to the cause of God could have led to 
 this step. It was a period when Methodist preachers had to endure every privation, 
 to suffer persecution, to be ill fed, poorly clad, often in their journeys without a roof 
 to shelter them. Yet, in face of these difficulties, he voluntarily took upon himself 
 the duties of the office ; for more than twelve years he laboured with great success 
 in the "West, following the emigrant into the far distant settlements, and ever bearing 
 to him the word of life. In 1800, he was appointed by Bishop Asbury to super- 
 intend a District, comprising the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, and part of 
 Virginia and Illinois, and extending over some 1,500 miles. Every three months 
 he had to travel through it. The mere labour of travelling was much ; but, added to 
 this, he had to ford rivers, cross swamps, work his way through thick, tangled, and 
 apparently impassable forests ; to sleep night after night in the open air, far from 
 human habitation. Yet, with all this, his energy never flagged ; wherever he could find 
 hearers, he preached to them the Gospel ; and no where, save in England, under the 
 preaching of Wesley and Whitefield, was preaching so effective. Careless men were 
 aroused to a sense of danger ; thoughtful men were led to find in the mystery of 
 redemption more than sufficient to occupy every thought ; strong, athletic men, 
 whose mouths were one hour full of cursing and bitterness, the next lay like helpless 
 children crying aloud to God for mercy ; and the forests of the West often rang with
 
 APPENDIX. 313 
 
 sounds of prayer and praise, from the lips of those who had never before uttered the 
 name of God, save with curses. In 1808, the General Conference was held at 
 Baltimore, and here M'Kendree was made a bishop. Few incidents in his life are 
 more remarkable. For twenty years he had been a pioneer preacher, but his labours 
 had been on districts having barely the elements of civilization, and his name was 
 scarcely known to his fellow ministers. He was appointed to preach before the Con- 
 ference. His tall, gaunt figure, clad in the most coarse and homely garments, and his 
 awkward movements and hesitating utterance, led to expressions of wonder at such 
 an appointment. Their wonder was increased when M'Kendree, having entered the 
 pulpit, gave out a hymn and uttered a prayer with a faltering voice and listless 
 manner. He selected as his text Jeremiah viii. 21, 22, " Is there no balm in 
 Gilead?" &c. He dwelt on the spiritual disease of the Jewish Church and the 
 human race, and analysed the feelings of God's faithful ambassadors at such a state 
 of things in a commonplace and uninteresting manner ; but when he came to speak 
 of the blessed eifect upon the heart of the balm provided by God for the healing of 
 nations, he seemed once more to feel the dignity of his office, all tremor and list- 
 lessness left him, his eyes sparkled, his figure dilated, his voice became clear and 
 musical, and with a hallowed eloquence he poured forth burning words and 
 thoughts, which fell upon his audience, says a cotemporary, like a shower of Divine 
 grace from the upper world. No longer were they apathetic, no longer seemed 
 they indiiferent to his words ; a spark of his own enthusiasm seemed to have fallen 
 upon them; in every direction sobs and groans and shouts of praise were heard; 
 eyes were suffused with tears, and hearts melted under the preacher's wonderful 
 influence. As the preacher left the pulpit, but one feeling reigned, "This is 
 a man God delights to honour, this is the man to make a bishop," and within 
 a week he was appointed to that office. For twenty-seven years M'Kendree 
 held the office of bishop. During the first twelve years he was distinguished for 
 the activity, zeal, and vigour with which he entered into every movement for 
 extending the cause of God. The Missions to the Indians and general Missions 
 owed much to his fostering care. The remaining fifteen years were to him years 
 of affliction, he was sorely tried by disease ; relieved by the consideration of the 
 General Conference from many of the laborious duties of his office, he yet con- 
 tinued at intervals to travel, though he had become so infirm as to be lifted into 
 the carriage which conveyed him from place to place. His last words to the 
 Conference of 1832 were, " My brethren and children, love one another." Two 
 years later, standing on the verge of another world, he cheered his sorrowing friends 
 with the exclamation, "All, all is well 1 " and thus he passed from life, March 5th, 
 1835, beloved and honoured by all, a worthy soldier of Christ, who had well and 
 truly fought the good fight. 
 
 C. Bishop Asbury, page 14. 
 
 No name in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America stands out 
 more prominently than that of Bishop Asbury. Its economy, discipline, and general 
 arrangements, all bear the mark of his hand. For the first few years of its history, 
 Asbury was its leading spirit, animating and exciting its ministers, bringing his calm 
 judgment to bear upon their deliberations, or travelling from state to state, preaching 
 the word of life, fostering infant Churches, forming new ones, encouraging the down- 
 cast, and spurring on to activity the lethargic. Yet, strange to say, of this man, of 
 his self-denying labours, of his great exertions for the cause of God, his own Journal, 
 extending from the 7th of August, 1771, to December 7th, 1815, is the only authentic
 
 314 APPENDIX. 
 
 record. The full story of his life has yet to be told. From his Journal the reader 
 cannot fail to form an opinion most favourable to the writer : he there opens out his 
 heart fully ; personal glorification there is none ; personal joys and sorrows scarce 
 have a place ; but how his whole heart seems to rejoice ! how lull of praise and thanks- 
 giving he seems to be when God's blessing is seen in the labours of the Methodist 
 preachers 1 and how sorrowfully he grieves over the decay of God's work in some 
 parts ! How full of anguish he seems when narrating the story of some poor back- 
 slider, who, after living holily for a time, has stepped into the paths of sin, and is 
 fast sinking into the very slough of corruption ! With what a quiet humour, too, he 
 tells of his occasional perplexities, how the superintending bishop of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church is reduced to two dollars, arid must needs ask some one for a re- 
 plenishment of his purse ! and with what a busiaess-like conciseness, too, he here 
 and there details his journeyings ! 
 
 " Monday 31st, I rode down to Cambridge, and preached at eleven o'clock: my 
 subject Psalm li. 9, 10. I felt assisted. Tuesday, April 1. We returned to Thomas 
 Foster's ; 1 saw Joseph Everett, feeble, but faithful, in patient waiting for his Lord." 
 
 " To move, move, seems to be my life" he says in one part, and every page 
 testifies to the truth of the observation. 
 
 He was born at Handsworth, near Birmingham, August 20th, 1745. His parents 
 were pious Methodists in very humble circumstances. Their house was a preaching 
 station. From his childhood he was seriously disposed, and his deportment at 
 school acquired for him the nickname of the parson. At thirteen years of age he 
 was converted to God, and commenced holding meetings for reading and prayer with 
 his companions. In his sixteenth year he became a local preacher. Six years later, 
 in 1767, in his twenty-second year, he became an itinerant Methodist preacher. He 
 was appointed a Missionary to America, in 1771, by Mr. Wesley, who seems to have 
 had a high opinion of his judgment. On reaching America, he found Messrs. Pilmoor 
 and Boardman, who had preceded him as Missionaries, actively engaged ; the former 
 in Philadelphia, the latter in New York. During the two years they had been in 
 America, they had confined their labours almost exclusively to the larger towns. 
 Asbury at once directed his attention to the smaller towns, villages, and country 
 places, and laboured so assiduously, that societies were soon formed in mauy districts, 
 and ministers gradually increased. During the Revolution, Asbury alone, of all the 
 English Missionaries, remained in America : he continued preaching until his life 
 was in danger, and then took refuge with a friend, who supported him until the 
 season of danger had passed. 
 
 lu 1784, Mr. Wesley ordained Messrs. Coke, Whatcoat, and Vasey, and sent them 
 to America with instructions to ordain Asbury as superintendent bishop of the 
 American Methodist Church. Asbury, while looking upon Wesley as the founder of 
 Methodism, felt that the ministry ought also to have a voice in his selection to 
 that responsible office, and only accepted the appointment on condition that it 
 should be ratified by a meeting of preachers. This was done, and Asbury was 
 unanimously elected. As a bishop, he was dignified, yet affectionate, laborious 
 himself, yet considerate to others, a strict maintainer of discipline, an active and 
 zealous preacher. Well or ill in health, he never allowed his duties to be neglected. 
 From state to state, visiting every society, he travelled year after ypar ; arid though 
 often, towards the close of his life, he wished for greater energy and more active physical 
 powers, he discharged his duties to the satisfaction of all, and laid down his office 
 with his life, March 31st, 181fi. He was never married. His reasons for his 
 celibacy we give in his own words : 
 
 " I was called," he says, " in my fourteenth year. I began my public exercises
 
 APPENDIX. 315 
 
 between sixteen and seventeen. At twenty-one I travelled. At twenty-six I came 
 to America. Thus far, I had reasons enough for a single life. It had been my 
 intention to return to Europe at thirty years of age ; but the war continued, and it 
 was ten years before we had settled, lasting peace. This was no time to marry, or 
 to be given in marriage. At thirty-nine I was ordained superintendent bishop in 
 America. Among the duties imposed upon me by my office, was that of travelling 
 extensively ; and I could hardly expect to find a woman with grace to induce her 
 willingly to live but one week out of fifty-two with her husband. Besides, what 
 right has any man to take advantage of the affections of a woman, make her his 
 wife, and, by a voluntary absence, subvert the whole order and economy of the 
 marriage state, by separating those whom neither God, nature, nor the requirements 
 of civil society, permit long to be put asunder ? It is neither just nor generous. I 
 may add to this, that I had little money, and with this little I administered to the 
 necessities of a beloved mother, till I was fifty-seven. If I have done wrong, I hope 
 God and the sex will forgive me." 
 
 Some idea of his laborious life may be formed from the following estimate which 
 has been made of his services and travels during the forty-five years of his ministry 
 in America. 'He delivered not less than 16,425 sermons, besides lectures and 
 addresses. He travelled over 270,000 miles. He presided at 224 Annual 
 Conferences, and probably consecrated more than 4,000 persons to the sacred office. 
 
 D. The Jerks and Revival Extravagancies, page 21. 
 
 THE extraordinary excitements narrated by Cartwright, as having occurred 
 during the revivals, in which he took a prominent part, though seemingly extrava- 
 gant, and in many cases almost beyond belief, are yet not without parallel in the 
 religious history of this country. Mr. Wesley's Journals abound with instances of 
 wonderful excitement following or preceding conversions ; instances, too, of 
 opponents of religion, who, ridiculing these scenes, have suddenly been brought to 
 their knees, and compelled to cry to God for mercy. Dr. Gillies, in his Historical 
 Collections, relating to remarkable Periods of the Successes of the Gospel, has many 
 cases of a parallel character. Indeed, scarce a revival of religion can be referred to, 
 in which there have not been similar manifestations. Into the physical causes of 
 these excitements it would be vain to enter : doubtless, there are cases which may 
 be accounted for by the fact, that acute mental agony, such as the conviction of sin ot't 
 produces, acting upon a highly nervous temperament, will produce contortion of 
 body, shrieks, and other symptoms of hysteria ; but this does not meet one 
 twentieth part of the cases which might be adduced. For instance : the reviler and 
 opponent of religion is alike affected with the penitent mourner for sin : the former 
 is seized with convulsions in the very act of opposition, in direct antagonism to his 
 mental leanings, his mind at the moment being affected only by contempt for the 
 position of those around them ; no mere physical agency is at work in his case. As 
 well might we account for St. Paul's conversion by natural agency, as assume that 
 any mere physical cause is at work in cases of this nature. We cannot but believe 
 with Wesley and others, that the Almighty chooses these means " for the further 
 manifestation of His work, to cause His power to be known, and to awaken the 
 attention of a drowsy world." 
 
 E. James Quian, page 41. 
 
 THE " Life of James Quinn," published in A T ew York, is full of interesting facts 
 connected with Methodist history, and gives the reader a very pleasing impression 
 of his piety and zeal. The following graphic account of his eloquence and power in 
 the pulpit, written by Bishop Morris, will not be without interest :
 
 316 APPENDIX. 
 
 " In the summer of 1812, when I was but a youth, and before I had any interest 
 in Methodism, there was a Camp-meeting near where I resided in "Western 
 Virginia ; and, attracted by the novelty of the occasion, in company with several 
 associates, I repaired to it. The encampment was in a sequestered place, away from 
 all public thoroughfares of travel, in a lonely wood, where nought but the voice ot 
 prayer, the song of praise, and the message of mercy, broke the impressive stillness 
 of the forest. The country was new and the population sparse ; yet the people 
 poured forth from farm and hamlet, hill and hollow, till a multitude had assembled, 
 some to offer the sacrifice of the heart to God in the wilderness, but probably many 
 more for mere recreation. The general appearance of those present was what 
 might have been expected, that of rustic simplicity peculiar to new countries ; yet 
 they evidently felt, as I did myself, awed by the sacredness of the occasion, and con- 
 formed respectfully to the order of the public service. The singing, though not 
 scientific, was devotional and strictly congregational ; so that the mingled voices of 
 the many reverberated through the shady bowers like the roar of a mighty cataract, 
 and were solemnly impressive. After prayer and praise we heard a common-place 
 discourse, of barely sufficient interest to secure respectful attention. When the 
 speaker had taken his seat, another of very different appearance rose up in the open 
 stand, from whose remarks on the arrangements of the meeting we soon learned 
 that he was the presiding officer of the District. His features were comely, his form 
 was symmetrical, and his movements were graceful. He was in the vigour of life, 
 of medium height, slightly corpulent ; wore a loose, flowing robe ; his countenance 
 indicated heavenly serenity, and, taken altogether, made an appearance at once 
 imposing and attractive. Having finished his brief and well-timed announcements, 
 he referred to the sermon : summing up its parts in few words, like a wise master- 
 builder, and explaining the use of each, he assumed the style of exhortation, 
 earnestly persuading the people to embrace and practise what they had heard. The 
 slowly-measured but full-toned accents of his manly voice fell like heavenly music 
 upon the ears aud hearts of the enchained auditors, while the message of salvation, 
 as borne by him, came to them as waters to a thirsty soul, and as good news from a 
 far country. As he progressed, he became inspired with his theme, and, rising from 
 one point of interest to another, carried the whole assembly with him. Among the 
 motives urged to leave off sinning and commence praying, was that of avoiding 
 future misery and securing heavenly bliss. Of the contrast between the final end of 
 saint and sinner he furnished a scriptural example, which, though familiar to all, 
 was so presented as to appear new, and fix a powerful impression. Without circum- 
 locution he recited the history of the rich man and Lazarus. While portraying the 
 sufferings of the beggar, his manner was plaintive and moving ; but when intro- 
 ducing him by the ministry of angels to the society of redeemed and glorified spirits 
 in the abodes of bliss, he became animating and inspiring, as if he saw the light of 
 heaven, heard the music of angels, and felt the streams of consolation from the 
 river of life. But suddenly he recalled himself and hearers to attend to the case of 
 the once wealthy and pompous, but now deceased and lost, sinner : ' The rich man 
 also died, and was buried.' Reciting these solemn words, the countenance and 
 manner of the speaker were changed from joyful to sad ; his trembling accents 
 expressed the weight of anguish which pressed his heart ; his eyes, which had just 
 glowed with delight, now looked terrible things, as he saw the lost soul taking its 
 downward plunge to endless perdition. Then elevating his voice to its utmost 
 extent, throwing his whole soul into his subject, and at the same time bringing his 
 foot with all his might down upon the floor of the stand, he exclaimed, with fearful 
 energy : ' And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham
 
 APPENDIX. 317 
 
 afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.' Cold chills ran all over us, the hair seemed to 
 rise upon our heads, and the flesh to crawl upon our bones, while groans of pity and 
 shrieks of horror commingled around us, like the startling tones of a sweeping 
 tempest, attended with a shock of Divine power as sensibly felt as if it had been the 
 tread of an earthquake. And, after all, his oratory was not the result of a studied 
 art, but of nature inspired by grace, leaving a conviction that he was not only one 
 of nature's noblemen, with a clear head and warm heart, but that he was an able 
 minister of the New Testament, commissioned from Heaven as an ambassador of 
 Christ, beseeching sinners to be reconciled to Him. Though I was but a youth 
 when the scene transpired, all the changes of thirty-eight years have not been able 
 to obliterate from my memory the impression which it produced. The name of that 
 distinguished individual was James Quinn, of precious memory." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM NICHOLS, 32, LONDON WALL.
 
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