^fi 
 
 Richard M'Nemar. The Kentucky Revival; 
 'or, a short history... [and] ShakerisnT 
 .. in Ohio and Kentucky. (1807;1846:
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 THE 
 
 KENTUCKY REVIVAL; 
 
 OR, 
 
 A SHORT HISTORY 
 
 OF THE LATE EXTRAORDINARY 
 
 OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD 
 
 IN THE 
 
 WESTERN STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
 AGREEABLY TO SCRIPTURE PROMISES AND PROPHECIES CONCERNING 
 THE LATTER DAY : WITH A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE 
 ENTRANCE AND PROGRESS OF WHAT 
 THE WORLD CALL 
 
 SHAKERISM 
 
 AMONG THE SUBJECTS OF THE LATE 
 
 REVIVAL IN OHIO AND KENTUCKY. 
 
 PRESENTED TO THE TRUE ZION TRAVELER AS A MEMORIAL OF THE 
 
 WILDERNESS JOURNEY. 
 
 BY RICHARD M'NEMAR. 
 
 " When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, there 
 Cometh a shower ; and so it is : And when ye feel the south wind blow, 
 ye say, there will be heat ; and it cometh to pass. Can ye not discern the 
 signs of the times." — Christ. 
 
 NEV^ YORK: 
 
 REPRINTED BY EDWARD O. JENKINS, 
 No. 114 Nassau Street. 
 
 1846.
 
 NEW THINGS— NEW NAMES. 
 
 The word Shakerism, I never saw, until it appeared in a pamphlet pub- 
 lished in Kentucky, a few years ago, in defence of what is called the 
 schismatic doctrine (see Stone's Reply, page 66.) I suppose it is derived 
 from shaker, one who shakes; in the same manner that schismatism 
 springs from schismatic, i. e. one who divides or separates from the 
 Church. 
 
 This book is written according to the sense of the people in this 
 country. Many expressions that are well understood here among the 
 people at large, on account of the many overturns in religion that have 
 been here, may appear dark and mysterious to many people in the North- 
 ern or Eastern States.
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 You have been probably waiting for something to be 
 published from this quarter, and may be a little surprised 
 to find the Kentucky Revival our theme ; as it is generally 
 known that we profess to have advanced forward into a much 
 greater work. 
 
 Admitting this to be the case, (which we do not deny,) 
 it would nevertheless be improper to forget, or set light by, 
 any operation or work of the true spirit, however small it 
 might seem. But far from esteeming the Kentucky Revi- 
 val a day of small things, we believe it was nothing less 
 than an introduction to that work of final redemption^ which 
 God had promised, in the latter days. And to preserve the 
 memory of it among those who have wisely improved it as 
 such, the following particulars have been collected for the 
 press by one, whose spirit was in it from the beginning, 
 and who is a living witness of the most important particu- 
 lars which occurred in every stage of it, until the present 
 day. 
 
 For the better understanding of the following history it 
 will be proper to make a few preliminary observations. 
 
 It will be granted, that God has a particular order and 
 manner of working, in which one thing goes before another. 
 Thus ; the law and theprophets were until John, and after that, 
 the kingdom of heaven is preached. It then follows that all 
 men press into it. The first thing is the lawy which con- 
 
 /IQ^f^^n
 
 vinces of sin. 2. The Prophets who minister the promise 
 and hope of salvation. 3. The kingdom of heaven is preached ; 
 the way and method of salvation made manifest in word and 
 doctrine : and last of all we must press into it. This is the 
 order of God, and there is no other. Nothing short of 
 pressing into the kingdom can save the soul. Conviction 
 may die away ; hope and comfort desert the breast ; and 
 the most lively views of the kingdom be forgotten. Hence 
 the necessity of so often reviving these things among pro- 
 fessors. But whatever can die away, is short of the king- 
 dom of God, those who are in the kingdom have everlasting 
 life. Therefore, it is plain that the constituent parts of a 
 revival (which are conviction of sin, a hope of deliverance 
 from it, and a manifestation of the heavenly state) can only 
 be preparative to entering into it. How many revivals have 
 taken place in these latter days, which for a season would 
 raise the people, as it were, to heaven's gate ; and after all, 
 leave them to fall back into their former lifeless state. And 
 why so .'' Because they did not take the last step, and press 
 into that state which in word and doctrine was opened. 
 
 n. It will be granted, that whoever preaches the king- 
 dom of heaven, must preach deliverance from all sin : For 
 where sin is, there can be no heaven. Now when the 
 kingdom has been preached, and honest souls have fixed 
 their eye of faith upon it — longed with intense desire to be 
 in it, and solicitously inquired for the footsteps of those 
 who have already entered — then has been the time for the 
 grand deceiver to come in with his doctrine of procrastina- 
 tion, and preach up sin for term of life ;v appeal to the dole- 
 ful experience of past generations, and confirm the fatal 
 error by the doctrines and decrees of a corrupt church* 
 Thus the most promising revivals have been blasted, and 
 all that near sense of heaven's pure enjoyments (common
 
 under the preaching of the kingdom) extinguished hy men 
 of corrupt minds. 
 
 But the Kentucky Revival^ from the beginning, spoke 
 better things. Those who were the genuine subjects of it, 
 ever expressed the fullest confidence that it would not ter- 
 minate as revivals had generally done. It was not a com- 
 mon portion of law conviction ; nor that faith in the promise, 
 which puts heaven at a distance ; nor merely preaching 
 about the kingdom, that drew out the multitudes, to encamp 
 for days and nights in the wilderness, &c. It was a near 
 prospect of the true kingdom of God, into which many were 
 determined to press, at the expense of all that they held 
 dear upon earth. The late revival was not sent to re-form 
 the churches. It did not come with a piece of new cloth 
 to patch the old garment, to mend up the old hope with 
 some new experience ; but to prepare the way for that 
 kingdom of God, in which all things are new; and whether 
 it be in many or few, the purposes whereunto it was sent, 
 shall undoubtedly be answered. 
 
 III. That this extraordinary work sprung from some su- 
 pernatural cause has been universally granted ; but whether 
 the cause Avas good or evil, has been a matter of much de- 
 bate, even among those who profess to take the Scripture 
 for their only guide. Christians so called, of all others 
 have been the most divided in their judgment concerning 
 it ; and while some without hesitation have pronounced it 
 a glorious work of God ; others who professed to* be chil- 
 dren of the same father, followers of the same Saviour, and 
 instructed by the same word of God, have with equal con- 
 fidence pronounced it witchcraft, enthusiasm, fanaticism, 2LTi(\. 
 the very energy of delusion. Hence the various predictions 
 concerning it : Some affirming that it would shortly termi- 
 nate, and leave the unhappy subjects of it in a worse con- 
 dition than ever ; others, that it should cover the earthy as the 
 1*
 
 6 
 
 waters cover the sea^ and gather the nations into one united 
 body. 
 
 IV. As the continuance of the revival was so strongly 
 predicted and asserted by its subjects, it w^ill be proper to 
 consider how far, and upon what footing, those predictions 
 and assertions are tenable. That it should always continue 
 in the same measure and appearance, without any increase, 
 was never intended ; therefore, if that same power continues 
 to work, though it should be in a greater degree, and more 
 extraordinary manner, and though it should be among a dif- 
 ferent people, this will not prove the above predictions false, 
 provided it be the same power working to the same end. 
 
 While the extraordinary power of the revival was exter- 
 raneous ; while irresistible beams of light presented objects 
 to the view, which persons could not avoid seeing ; and 
 they were rushed into exercises of body, by a force of ope- 
 ration which they could not withstand ; the continuance of 
 the work in this fashion was precarious, knowing that God 
 will not always work upon man like a machine. There- 
 fore, in order to the continuance of the work, a number of 
 its subjects have found it necessary to receive this extraor- 
 dinary power as an in-dwelling treasure, to unite with this 
 supernatural agent, to dwell in him, and he in them, and 
 become workers together with him and without force or 
 violence, believe and practice whatever he teaches. And 
 on this pivot the revival turns with each individual. The 
 power oi: light of God, continues with those who continue 
 in it, his spirit abides only with those who abide in him, 
 and do continually the things that please him ; of course 
 such as are wiUing that Christ and Belial should have day 
 about, light and darkness alternately prevail, must fall off 
 and wither ; for no man can serve two masters.
 
 V. Since the spirit and power of the revival has been 
 established upon the above principles, and the divine agent 
 has found a habitation with men, less attention has been paid 
 to former appearances. This new and strange doctrine of 
 receiving Christ, and walking in him, has engrossed the gen- 
 eral concern ; and while the singular manner of worship, 
 strange bodily exercises, &c., of those who stand in it, have 
 furnished matter of speculation to the world around, their 
 distinguishing faith has been a matter of serious inquiry 
 with many ; especially with those who have begun to open 
 their eyes on the hidden glories of the kingdom of Christ, 
 and are beginning to move Zion-ward. But before the tem- 
 ple of God can be opened in heaven and the ark of his tes- 
 tament be seen, it will be proper to recognize the various 
 operations by which the materials of the Tabernacle were 
 prepared : According as it is written — " Behold I send my 
 messenger^ and he shall prepare the way before me : and the 
 Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. 
 
 R. M. 
 
 Turtle Creek, June 20, 1807.
 
 THE KENTUCKY REVIVAL, &c. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Or THE STATE OF ReLIGION IN THIS WESTERN COUN- 
 TRY, BEFORE THE KENTUCKY ReVIVAL MADE ITS 
 APPEARANCE. 
 
 In the first settlement of this country, no small part 
 of the inhabitants were Christians by profession. Dif- 
 ferent denominations early began to shine out, and em- 
 ploy their zeal in organizing churches, settling minis- 
 ters, and propagating their respective doctrines and 
 forms of worship throughout the land. The greatest 
 number of professors might be ranked among the Pres- 
 byterians, Baptists and Methodists. And although 
 these differents sects professedly set out to establish 
 and promote the peaceable religion of Jesus, yet in 
 the attempt their usual debates and controversies were 
 brought to life, which, for a number of years, occa- 
 sioned a hot spiritual war. Notwithstanding these 
 churches acknowledged each other as sisters, descend- 
 ed from the same stock, yet such was the zeal of each 
 for their distinguishing tenets and forms of worship, 
 that they stood entirely separate as to any communion 
 or fellowship, and treated each other with the highest 
 marks of hostility ; wounding, captivating and bicker- 
 ing one another, until their attention was called off by 
 the appearance of a common enemy, viz. Deism, or 
 the religion of nature.
 
 II. For many ages the Christian religion, so called, 
 had been incorporated with civil government, and they 
 had mutually supported each other ; consequently , when 
 that revolution in politics began, which aimed at the 
 overthrow of monarchy, and the establishment of a re- 
 publican government, that religion was particularly in- 
 volved. 
 
 Kings, emperors and popes had claimed the Bible as 
 ^Uhe only rule to direct them," in their unnatural 
 wars, dire oppressions, bloody persecutions, and un- 
 paralleled cruelties toward mankind ; yea, every class 
 of tyrants, both civil and ecclesiastical, had made their 
 common appeal to the Bible for their authority to lord 
 it over their fellow-creatures ; consequently, when the 
 eye of reason began to open upon the rights of man j 
 the tyrant's Canon must appear in very pernicious 
 colors — no book in the universe so mischievous and 
 hateful. And under this view, the Bible was attacked 
 by the political reformers of the last century, and the 
 dictates of a lawless nature cried up, in opposition to 
 its sacred requirements. 
 
 III. I do not suppose, with many, that Deists hav^e 
 had no cause for rejecting the Scriptures; the contrary 
 is certainly true. Not that the cause is in the Scrip- 
 tures, but in those who profess to take them for their 
 rule of life. It is not the Scriptures that lie open to 
 the view of the Deist, but those churches and people 
 who profess to be governed and influenced by them. 
 And what have those churches exhibited which for 
 ages past have claimed the Biblefor their foundation? 
 Little else but division, animosity and confusion. What 
 have been the lives and manners of professors in gene- 
 ral ? Do they not stand below the modern Deist, even in 
 point of Bible virtue? Now, if Christians, so called, 
 are chargeable with so great wickedness, in the eye of 
 common sense and reason, and at the same time tes- 
 tify that the Bible is their '' only rule," what judg- 
 ment can the Deist form of that book 7 The tree is
 
 10 
 
 known by its fruit ; and if professing" Christians ac- 
 knowledge themselves to be wicked, if they judge and 
 prove one another to be wicked, and claim the Bible 
 as their root and foundation, it is reasonable for the 
 Deist to judge that to be a wicked book. 
 
 IV. When Deism first began to overspread Ken- 
 tucky, and the truth of the Bible to be called in ques- 
 tion, the cry was against its pernicious fruits, and the 
 infinite mischief that had been done in the world, by 
 those who supported its doctrines. And while the 
 giddy and thoughtless multitude took it for granted 
 that divine revelation was all a cheat, and nature's 
 flowery path the only way to happiness, and were 
 crowding into it by hundreds ; many of a more serious 
 cast were unwilling to renounce their hope of salvation 
 through Christ, yet dare not vindicate the lives of 
 those professing Christians, on whose account the Bi- 
 ble was condemned. This made it necessary to ex- 
 amine the Scriptures separate, and judge of them ac- 
 cording to their internal evidence ; and the more they 
 were examined, the greater the contrast appeared be- 
 tween their sacred doctrines and the lives of the pro- 
 fessors. Hence, the only ground upon which the truth 
 of the Scriptures could be maintained was to take them 
 according to their own proper sense, and prove that 
 they nowhere countenanced those evils that abounded 
 in the churches ; but the contrary. 
 
 V. The New Testament appeared to be the proper 
 fruit and product of the Church of Christ, and mani- 
 fested by its purity that it was a pure church out of 
 which it sprung. And taking the Church as the tree, 
 and the Scripture as the fruit, both seemed to be good. 
 But the fruit, which had been for many generations 
 produced by those churches which bore the same name, 
 was very different. The writings of these churches, 
 instead of uniting the people in righteousness and 
 peace, had kindled up endless controversies and angry
 
 11 
 
 disputes ; and from the manifest difference in the 
 fruits, it appeared that modern professors could not be 
 the same kind of people with those that had formerly 
 been called Christian. According to the Scriptures, 
 Christians were united, all of one heart and one soul ; 
 they laid aside all anger, wrath, clamor, envy, and 
 evil speaking ; were kindly affectioned one towards 
 another, and loved one another, with a pure heart, fer- 
 vently. But daily observations proved that those who 
 now assumed the same name, were full of envy and 
 strife, railing and backbiting, hateful and hating one 
 another ; and in every sense different from those holy 
 men of God who were formerly called by the name of 
 Christ. 
 
 VI. This distinction was observed not only in com- 
 mon professors, but even in the ministers. While the 
 New Testament represented the ministers of Christ as 
 meek, humble, honest men, examples to the flock in 
 charity, faith and purity; those who were called the 
 ministers of Christ in the present day, appeared to be 
 proud, aspiring, contentious men, striving who should 
 be the greatest, overlooking common people as an in- 
 ferior rank of beings, deeply immersed in the cares of 
 the world, eager after the salaries, or posts of profit in 
 civil government, and some even holding their fellow- 
 creatures in perpetual slavery, or selling them for 
 money. These appeared not to be the same kind of 
 men as those whom Christ ordained, nor did it appear 
 that they had the same Holy Ghost dwelling in them, 
 or could be as safely believed or followed as the minis- 
 ters who wrote the Scriptures. And some of themselves 
 admitted the conviction that they were far sunk from 
 the power and purity of the apostles of Christ, and were 
 preaching about a salvation which they had not in pos- 
 session. 
 
 Another important train of ideas arose from search- 
 ing the Scriptures. There was a falling away spoken 
 of by Christ and his Apostles, and an Antichrist to rise
 
 12- 
 
 which appeared according to history, to have taken 
 place a great while ago. And it appeared by many 
 promises, that after the reign of this Antichrist was 
 out, there would be glorious times upon earth, and 
 Christ would appear again, and set up his kingdom, 
 and gather the nations into it. Here many inquiries 
 were raised, concerning the reign of this Antichrist, 
 when it began and when it would end, and when 
 Christ w^ould appear and set up his true kingdom. 
 And many began to apprehend, that this period was 
 not far off; and concluded it was time to leave off 
 their vain disputes, and unite in prayer, for Christ to 
 come and pour out his spirit, gather his people into 
 one, make an end of sin, and fill the earth with his 
 glory. 
 
 VII. For several years there were praying societies 
 kept up in different parts, composed of persons who 
 were distinguished in some things from all the de- 
 nominations, though blended with them in their out- 
 ward communion. These professed to be in search 
 of the truth and power of religion, and ready to em- 
 brace it whenever it would appear, but did not be- 
 lieve it was among any of the denominations, in pu- 
 rity. They believed there were errors in all their 
 systems of doctrine, which kept them dead and life- 
 less, without the Spirit of God. The social exercises 
 which sprung from this faith, were reading the Scrip- 
 tures without any comment, praying for the divine 
 Spirit to open them — confessing and lamenting the 
 deplorable state of mankind in general, and that of 
 cold, lifeless, and corrupt professors of Christianity in 
 particular ; and pleading for the accomplishment of 
 those blessed promises which respected the coming of 
 Christ and the glory of the latter days. Examining 
 themselves by the evidences and marks of grace laid 
 down in the Scriptures — lamenting a lack of those 
 evidences — confessing their short-comings in duty, 
 and resolving to correct past errors, and be more
 
 13 
 
 watchful over a deceitful and desperately wicked 
 heart — opening their trials to one another, and en- 
 couraging each other to persevere until they found 
 Christ in very deed. 
 
 When any one prays for a thing, it is a sure and cer- 
 tain evidence that he has not got that thing in pos- 
 session ; and hence the united prayers of hundreds of 
 the warmest professors, entreating Christ to come and 
 visit the churches^ loudly proclaimed that he was 
 not already there. While he was contemplated at a 
 distance through the promise, the following lines well 
 suited the day, and proved his absence from the soul : 
 
 " When I turn my eyes within, all is dark, and vain, and wild ; 
 Full of unbelief and sin — can 1 deem myself a child ?" 
 
 The following extracts of letters from persons of no 
 small note in the churches, will show more particularly 
 the state of religion at that period : , 
 
 *' March 22, 1798. 
 
 ^' My Dear Friend : — I have this winter past 
 preached with difficulty, my heart but little engaged. 
 I know that I am not as I ought to be, yet cannot be 
 affected with my sad case. W. R." 
 
 «' Lexington, September 5, 1796. 
 
 "Dear Sir: — Yesterday I received your kind letter, 
 and I now undertake to answer it. The dead state of 
 religion is truly discouraging here, as well as else- 
 where. It appears a wonder of mercy that God is so 
 kind to this Sardis, as to afford her the means of grace ; 
 without this she would certainly run into total infidel- 
 ity. W'hen I look into my w^retched heart, and con- 
 sider how much I have dishonored God by a dead and 
 careless life, I have reason to cover my head in the 
 dust. 
 
 " If some are spotted with sin, I am spot all over. 
 
 J. T." 
 2
 
 14 
 
 '^ Dear Brother — It is not likely I can say anything 
 to entertain or refresh you. I sometimes think I would 
 be willing- to travel with you to heaven ; but I feel 
 very unlike an inhabitant of that place. I would be 
 glad to be at the truth, and the substance. 
 
 *' But I commonly feel so much more like a devil 
 than a Christian, that it makes me often forebode the 
 displeasure of God, the Holy and the Just. I sometimes 
 think I am coming towards the birth, but can seldom 
 think I am born. Oh, how long! how long! And 
 Avhat am I? I would strip off everything but Christ 
 and his Holy Spirit, to enter the narrow gate. 
 
 " I can tell you but little about my poor congrega- 
 tions. I see but little prospect of encouragement. I 
 dare not say none. 
 
 " I sometimes hope to see Jesus King in Zion. 
 
 J. D." 
 
 Vni. Now let any one judge from the foregoing 
 evidences, what kind of a work was necessary to take 
 place among such a people^ in order to their recovery; 
 a people confessedly vain^ and dark, and wild; full 
 of unbelief and sin — dead and careless — spot all over y 
 and more like devils than Christians, 
 
 The generality, however, unaffected with their sad 
 case, were still going on, crying out against infidelity, 
 lampooning the Deist, treating his cavils with con- 
 tempt, and laboring each one to augment his party ; 
 w^hile a distressed few were watching, like the guards 
 of the night, and ready to meet the first dawn of the 
 approaching day. 
 
 A sense of the total depravity of human nature, and 
 the entire separation of the soul from God, is the first 
 thing necessary to prepare the way for the entrance of 
 spiritual life. Therefore, such as honestly confessed 
 their lost and deplorable state, and intensely groaned 
 for deliverance from it, were not in so dangerous a 
 condition, as those who made a high-sounding profes- 
 sion find gloried in some plan of salvation, that still
 
 15 
 
 left them in bondage to conuption. But a conviction 
 of being lost never saved any one; though many 
 have made conviction a great evidence of their elec- 
 tion; and vainly rested upon that light, which searches 
 out the evil and wickedness of the heart, without go- 
 ing any further. But such as were honest before God 
 could not stop here ; they must be at the truth and 
 the substance. Therefore, it was necessary that the 
 channel, through which the quickening power of God 
 has access to the soul, should be opened ; namely, the 
 everlasting covenant of redemption. And as this is 
 the only channel through which souls can receive any 
 special favor from God, it will be proper here to make 
 a few observations Cjpncerning it. 
 
 IX. When one makes a promise to another, and 
 that promise is accepted ; this constitutes a covenant, 
 or agreement. Thus the promise of eternal life, was 
 made to Christ, before the foundation of the world ; 
 and accepted by him in behalf of all his seed. In this 
 promise, or covenant of life, the father and son Avere 
 perfectly united ; and as both are everlasting and un- 
 changeable, it must be an everlasting and unchangea- 
 ble covenant, which cannot be broken. The covenant 
 itself is absolute, unconditional and inviolable. But 
 in order to its being fulfilled, and finally settled, there 
 is a work given the Son to do, which, in the nature of 
 things, is necessary to be done ; and that is, to over- 
 come death, and him that has the power of it. And 
 until this is actually done, the heir is in bondage. It 
 is true, eternal life is secured, in the covenant, to all 
 the seed ; though they be not in actual possession of 
 it. But while death reigns, the blessings of the cove- 
 nant can only be administered by way of promise ; 
 and the party to whom the promise shall be fulfilled, 
 designated in the Father's revealed will. 
 
 This everlasting covenant has ever been a mys'^rv 
 to man in his fallen state ; nor could anything certain 
 be ever known respecting it but by a living revelation
 
 16 
 
 from God — an express manifestation of the divine Avill, 
 attested by living witnesses. And where this orderly 
 administration has been wanting, the more that has 
 been said about it, the greater confusion and contro- 
 versy lias been stirred up. 
 
 It is true, the Scriptures contain a copy of the divine 
 will, concerning tlie redemption of souls ; all the 
 promises of God are there recorded. But of what use 
 is a bare copy of a will, without witnesses. 
 
 These great and precious promises could effect 
 nothing real ; the inheritance itself was not in them ; 
 and although thousands have undertaken to adminis- 
 ter upon the authority of the Scripture, as though it 
 was the very original itself, sealed and confirmed by 
 unalterable seals ; and have pretended to be the true 
 witnesses of God ; yet their folly is made manifest to 
 all men ; for they have not agreed in their witness ; 
 but have filled the world with endless debates, con- 
 cerning the sense and meaning of what they call the 
 will. Now if the witnesses were all divided, and could 
 not even agree in their testimony, who were the prop- 
 er heirs, how could anything ever be decided in such 
 a court? 
 
 But however great the contention has been about 
 the copy, and however much these presumers have 
 altered, amended, expounded and paraphrased upon 
 it, yet the original has remained unsullied. God is 
 of one mind ; and his promises in Christ are Yea and 
 Amen. 
 
 When God revealed his covenant to Abram, it was 
 only by promise. '' In thee and in thy seed^ shall all 
 the nations of the earth he blessed.'^' Observe, the 
 blessing promised was not to Ahram and his seed, but 
 to all the nations of the earth. It was not, " thou and 
 thy seed shall be blessed" with irresistible grace, but 
 " in thee and in thy seed [which is Christ] all the na- 
 tions of the earth shall be blessed." All were under 
 the curse, and stood in equal need of the blessing. 
 Sin and death had their dominions equally over all.
 
 17 
 
 But a better dominion was promised ; a kingdom of 
 righteousness, a dominion of life, in which all the 
 nations of the earth should he blessed. 
 
 Although death reigned from Adam to Moses, and 
 from Moses to Christ, yet the promise of God to 
 Abram was sure to all the seed: death could not de- 
 stroy it ; the law could not supplant it, or make it 
 void ; the threatenings and curses from Mount Sinai 
 were not against the promise^ nor the seed to whom 
 the promise was made. The promise was established 
 and confirmed by unalterable seals, illustrated by 
 types and figures, and attested by a long succes- 
 sion of living prophets, until Christ, the proper heir, 
 made his appearance ; finished the work that was 
 given him to do ; received the substance that was 
 promised by the Father ; and took possession of the 
 inheritance. Until this took place, souls were in 
 bondage under the rudiments of the world ; they 
 could find no resurrection into eternal life, until the 
 Son of God, in the fulness of lime, was made of a 
 woman; made flesh; placed under the same rudi- 
 ments by which they were held in bondage ; and 
 from thence ascended, step by step, until he entered 
 the promised possession. Then, and not till then, 
 the way was open for the substance to be ministered ; 
 then the first-born could give gifts unto his brethren — 
 substantial, real gifts. What he received of the 
 Father, he gave to those who were joint heirs with 
 him to the promised possession ; and sent them into 
 the world, as he had been sent, to minister to others 
 as he ministered to them. Moreover, he did not send 
 them to some particular persons, but to every creature 
 that was under heaven ; and commissioned them to 
 proclaim liberty to the captives^ and the opening of the 
 prison to them that are bound — one as much as an- 
 other. No nation or individual was excluded, but 
 the promise was to all, and upon all ; and should 
 finally be fulfilled to all them that believe and obey. 
 
 2*
 
 18 
 
 X. While the everlasting covenant Avas thus minis- 
 tered in truth, by the apostles and true witnesses of 
 Christ, it was confirmed by the most convincing" 
 signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost. 
 They healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out malig- 
 nant spirits, spake with unknown tongues, held con- 
 verse with angels and departed spirits, saw visions, 
 fell into trances, had gifts of prophesying, &c. &c. 
 These, and such like, were seals to their ministry. 
 But above all, the salutary change produced iii the 
 lives and manners of those who believed, confirmed 
 the doctrine to be of God ; and served as a test to 
 those who should come after, whereby to distinguish 
 the true covenant of God from all the counterfeit 
 doctrines of men. When the true administration of 
 the covenant ceased, the signs and seals of confirma- 
 tion ceased with it. God would not affix his seal to 
 the canons, decrees and covenants of wicked men, 
 who rose up to supplant the true work of redemption. 
 And therefore, for many ages, what has been called 
 the Christian doctrine has been void of authority ; 
 except what arises from superstition, vain philosophy, 
 the power of human eloquence, or the civil sword. 
 But when God, in infinite kindness, began to revive 
 the everlasting truth in these latter days, the living 
 seals of the covenant were annexed — such seals and 
 evidences of a supernatural and divine power, as 
 have excited as great astonishment in the minds of 
 mankind as those of antiquity.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Or THE FIRST APPEARANCES OF THE EXTRAORDINARY 
 WORK, IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF KENTUCKY, IN 1800 
 AND 1801. 
 
 The first extraordinary appearances of the power of 
 God, in the late revival, began about the close of the 
 last century, in Logan and Christian counties, on the 
 waters of the Gasper and Red rivers. And in the 
 spring of 1801 the same extraordinary work broke out 
 in Madison county, upper part of Kentucky; of which 
 I was an eyewitness ; and can, therefore, with greater 
 confidence testify what I have heard, seen and felt. 
 
 It first began in individuals, who had been under 
 deep convictions of sin, and great trouble about their 
 souls ; and had fasted and prayed, and diligently 
 searched the Scriptures ; and had undergone distresses 
 of mind inexpressibly sore, until they had obtained a 
 comfortable hope of salvation. And from seeing and 
 feeling the love of Christ, and his willingness to save 
 all that would forsake their sins, and turn to God 
 through him ; and feeling how freely his love and 
 goodness flowed to them ; it kindled their love to other 
 souls that were lost in their sins, and an ardent desire 
 that they might come and partake of that spiritual 
 light, life, and comfort, v/hich appeared infinite in its 
 nature, and free to all. And under such an overpow- 
 ering weight of the divine goodness as tongue could 
 not express, they were constrained to cry out, with 
 tears and trembling, and testify a full and free salva- 
 tion in Christ for all that would come ; and to warn 
 their fellow-creatures of the danger of continuing in
 
 20 
 
 sin, and entreating them in the most tender and affec- 
 tionate manner, to turn from it, and seek the Lord, in 
 sure and certain hope that he would be found. 
 - Under such exhortations the people began to be af- 
 fected in a very strange manner. At first they were 
 taken with an inward throbbing of heart ; then with 
 weeping and trembling ; from that to crying out, in 
 apparent agony of soul ; falling down and swooning 
 away, till every appearance of animal life was sus- 
 pended, and the person appeared to be in a trance. 
 From this state they would recover under different 
 sensations, which will be more particularly noticed 
 hereafter. 
 
 The following extract of a letter, dated Caneridge, 
 January 30, 1801, gives a striking account of the 
 work, as it first appeared in the lower parts of Ken- 
 tucky, and Cumberland. 
 
 " The work is still increasing in Cumberland ; it 
 has overspread the whole country. It is in Nashville, 
 Barren, Muddy, Gasper, Redbanks, Knoxville, &c. 
 
 ^' J. M. C. has been there two months ; he says it 
 exceeds any he ever saw or heard of. Children and 
 all seem to be engaged ; but children are the most 
 active in the work. When they speak, it appears 
 that the Lord sends his Spirit, to accompany it with 
 power to the hearts of sinners. They all seem to be 
 wrought in-an extraordinary way ; lie as though they 
 were dead for some time, without pulse or breath ; 
 some longer, some shorter time. Some rise with joy 
 and triumph ; others crying for mercy. As soon as 
 they get comfort, they cry to sinners, exhorting day 
 and night to turn to the Lord. P. H." 
 
 It is worthy of notice, that a work by which God 
 intended to bring down the pride and loftiness of man, 
 should begin in small children. By this it was mani- 
 fest who was the farthest lost from God, and what 
 course must be taken in order to return.
 
 21 
 
 At a sacrament, near Flemingsbnrgh, the last Sab- 
 bath in April, the power of God was very visible 
 among the people through the whole of the occasion ; 
 under which there was much weeping, trembling, 
 and convulsion of soul : But what was the most sol- 
 emn and striking, was the case of two httle girls, who, 
 in the time of meeting, cried out in great distress. 
 They both continued for some time praying and cry- 
 ing for mercy, till one of them received a comfortable 
 hope, and then turning to the other, cried out : '' Oh ! 
 you little sinner, come to Christ! take hold of his 
 promise ! trust in him ! he is able to save to the utter- 
 most ! Oh ! I have found peace to my soul ! Oh ! 
 the precious Saviour! come just as you are ! he will 
 take away the stony heart and give you a heart of 
 flesh ! you can't make yourself any better — just give 
 up your heart to Christ now !— You are not a greater 
 sinner than me ! You need not wait another mo- 
 ment!" Thus she continued exhorting, until her 
 little companion received a ray from heaven that pro- 
 duced a sudden and sensible change ; then rising with 
 her in her arms, she cried out m a most affecting 
 manner : "Oh, here is another star of light !" These 
 children were perhaps nine or ten years old. The 
 Sabbath following, about twenty persons were struck 
 in the congregation of Cabin Creek, Mason County. 
 Among the first who cried out, in distress, was a girl 
 about twelve years old. Their convictions of their 
 lost state (from a sudden opening of that pure holiness, 
 to which sin stands directly opposed) were quick as 
 the lightning's flash, and came with such weight, that 
 had they not, in some way or other, opened their 
 case, they must have sunk into the horrors of despair. 
 It was dire necessity which at first obliged them to 
 expose themselves to public view as objects of pity ; 
 for everything of the kind was looked upon by the 
 generality, even of professors, as wild enthusiasm, or 
 the fruits of a disordered brain. 
 
 There were, however, a few who understood the
 
 22 
 
 disorder, and were ready to fly to their relief, and pro- 
 claim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the 
 prison to them that were bound. 
 
 And here a new scene was opened. While some 
 trembled like one in a fit of the ague, wept, or cried 
 out, lamenting their distance from God, and exposed- 
 ness to his wrath, others were employed in praying 
 with them, encouraging them to believe on the Son of 
 God, to venture upon his promise, give up their wicked, 
 rebellious heart, just as it was, for God to take it away, 
 and give them a heart of flesh ; singing hymns, and 
 giving thanks to God for the display of his power, 
 without any regard to former rules of order. At this 
 some were offended, and withdrew from the assembly, 
 determined to oppose it as a work of the wicked one. 
 But all their objections only tended to open the w^ay 
 for the true nature and spirit of the work to shine out, 
 and encourage the subjects of it to set out with warmer 
 zeal to promote it. Accordingly, a meeting was ap- 
 / pointed a few evenings after, to which a crowd of 
 \ awakened souls flocked, and spent the whole night in 
 singing hymns, praying, and exhorting one another, 
 &c. At this meeting one man was struck down, and 
 lay for about an hour in the situation above mentioned. 
 This put the matter beyond dispute, that the w^ork was 
 supernatural ; and the outcry which it raised against 
 sin, confirmed a number in the belief that it was from 
 above. 
 
 From small beginnings it gradually spread. The 
 news of these strange operations flew abroad, and at- 
 tracted many to come and see, who were convinced, 
 not only from seeing and hearing, but feeling ; and 
 carried home the testimony that it was the living work 
 of God. This stirred up others, and brought out still 
 greater multitudes. And these strange exercises still 
 increasing, and having no respect to any stated hours 
 of worship, it was found expedient to encamp on the 
 ground, and continue the meeting day and night. To 
 these encampments the people flocked, in hundreds and
 
 23 
 
 thousands ; on foot, on horseback, and in wagons and 
 other carriages. 
 
 At first appearance those meetings exhibited nothing 
 to the spectator but a scene of confusion, that could 
 scarce be put into human language. They were gene- 
 rally opened with a sermon, near the close of which 
 there would be an unusual outcry ; some bursting forth 
 into loud ejaculations of prayer, or thanksgiving, for 
 the truth ; others breaking out in emphatical sentences 
 of exhortation ; others flying to their careless friends 
 with tears of compassion, beseeching them to turn to 
 the Lord ; some struck with terror, and hastening 
 through the crowd to make their escape, or pulling 
 away their relations ; others trembling, weeping, cry- 
 ing out for the Lord Jesus to have mercy upon them, 
 fainting and swooning away, till every appearance of 
 life was gone, and the extremities of the body assumed 
 the coldness of a dead corpse ; others surrounding them 
 with melodious songs, or fervent prayers for their happy 
 resurrection in the love of Christ ; others collecting 
 into circles around this variegated scene, contending 
 with arguments for and against. And under such ap- 
 pearances the work would continue for several days 
 and nights together. 
 
 I shall now mention particularly some of the first 
 meetings of this kind, witli a few concomitant circum- 
 stances, from which the work took a general spread, 
 in the year 1801 : 
 
 The first was held at Cabin Creek. It began on 
 the 22d of May, and continued four days and three 
 nights. The scene was awful beyond description ; 
 the falling, crying out, praying, exhorting, singing, 
 shouting, &c., exhibited such new, and striking evi- 
 dences of a supernatural power, that few, if any, could 
 escape without being affected. Such as tried to run 
 from it, were frequently struck on the way, or im- 
 pelled, by some alarming signal to return; and so 
 powerful was the evidence on all sides, that no place 
 was found for the obstinate sinner to shelter himself.
 
 24 
 
 but under the protection of prejudiced and bigoted 
 professors. No circumstance at this meeting, appeared 
 tnore striking, than the great numbers that fell on the 
 (third night : and to prevent their being trodden under 
 foot by the multitude, they were collected together, 
 and laid out in order, on two squares of the meeting- 
 
 ouse ; which, like so many dead corpses, covered a 
 considerable part of the floor. There were persons at 
 this meeting from Caneridge, Concord, Eagle-Creek, 
 and other neighboring congregations, who partook of 
 the spirit of the work, which was a particular means 
 of its spreading. 
 
 The next general camp-meeting, was held at Con- 
 cord, in the county of Bourbon, about the last of May, 
 or beginning of June. The number of people was 
 supposed to be about 4,000, who attended on this oc- 
 casion. There were present seven Presbyterian min- 
 isters ; four of whom were opposed to the work, and 
 spoke against it until the fourth day about noon ; the 
 evidence then became so powerful, that they all pro- 
 fessed to be convinced, that it was the work of God ; 
 and one of them addressed the assembly with tears, 
 acknowledging, that notwithstanding they had long 
 been praying to the Lord, to pour out his spirit, yet 
 when it came, they did not know it ; but wickedly 
 opposed the answer of their own prayers. On this oc- 
 casion, no sex or color, class or description, were ex- 
 empted from the pervading influence of the Spirit ; 
 even from the age of eight months, to sixty years, 
 there were evident subjects of this marvelous opera- 
 tion. 
 
 The meeting continued Ave days, and four nights ; 
 and after thepeoplegenerally scattered from the groimd, 
 numbers convened in different places, and continued 
 the exercise much longer. And even where they 
 were not collected together, these wonderful operations 
 continued among every class of people, and in every 
 situation ; in their houses and fields, and in their daily 
 
 employments, falling down and crying out, under
 
 25 
 
 conviction, or singing and shouting with unspeakable 
 joy, were so common, that the whole country round 
 about, seemed to be leavened with the spirit of the 
 work. 
 
 The next camp-meeting was at Eagle Creek, Adams 
 county, Ohio. It began June 5, and continued four 
 days and three nights. The number of people there 
 was not so great, as the country was new ; but the 
 work was equally powerful, according to the number. 
 At this meeting, the principal leading characters in 
 that place, fully embraced the spirit of the work, which 
 laid a permanent foundation, for its continuance and 
 spread, in that quarter. 
 
 The next general meeting was at Pleasant Point, 
 Kentucky; which equaled, if not surpassed, any that 
 had been before. Here, the Christian minister, (so 
 called,) the common professor, the professed deist, and 
 debauchee, were forced to take one common lot among 
 the wounded, and confess, w^ith equal candor, that 
 hitherto they had been total strangers to the religion 
 of Jesus. From this meeting, the work was spread 
 extensively through Bourbon, Fayette, and other 
 neighboring counties ; and was carried by a number 
 of its subjects, to the south side of Kentucky, where 
 it found a permanent residence in the hearts of many. 
 
 The general meeting at Indian Creek, Harrison 
 county, began the 24th of July, and continued about 
 five days and nights. To this meeting, the subjects 
 of the work were generally collected from all quarters; 
 and abundantly strengthened each other in the pro- 
 miscuous exercises of prayer, exhortation, singing, 
 shouting and leaping for joy ; but there was very little 
 appearance of that power which strikes conviction to 
 the heart of the sinner, until the third day, about two 
 o'clock in the afternoon: A boy, from appearance about 
 \ twelve years old, retired from the stand in time of 
 j preaching, under a very extraordinary impression ; 
 and having mounted a log, at some distance, and 
 raising his voice, in a very affecting manner, he at- 
 
 3
 
 26 
 
 tracted the main body of the people, in a few minutes. 
 With tears streaming from his eyes, he cried aloud to 
 the wicked, warning them of their danger, denounc- 
 ing their certain doom, if they persisted in their sins ; 
 expressing his love to their souls, and desire that they 
 would turn to the Lord, and be saved. He was held 
 up by two men, and spoke for about an hour, with 
 that convincing eloquence that could be inspired only 
 from above. When his strength seemed quite ex- 
 hausted, and language failed to describe the feelings 
 of his soul, he raised his hand, and dropping his hand- 
 kerchief, wet with sweat from his little face, cried out: 
 ''Thus, O sinner! shall you drop into hell, unless 
 you forsake your sins and turn to the Lord." At that 
 moment some fell, like those who are shot in battle, 
 and the work spread in a manner which human lan- 
 guage cannot describe. 
 
 The next general meeting was at Caneridge, Bour- 
 bon county, seven miles from Paris. It began the 
 6th of August, and continued, day and night, about 
 a week. The number of people collected on the 
 ground, at once, was supposed to be about twenty 
 thousand ; but it was thought a much greater number 
 were there in the course of the meeting. The en- 
 campment consisted of one hundred and thirty-five 
 wheel-carriages, and tents proportioned to the people. 
 This immense group included almost every character 
 that could be named ; but amidst them all, the sub- 
 jects of this new and strange operation were distin- 
 guished, by their flaming zeal for the destruction of 
 sin, and the deliverance of souls from its power. The 
 various operations and exercises on that occasion were 
 indescribable. The falling exercise was the most 
 noted. James Crawford, one of the oldest ministers 
 in the State, and one of the foremost in the work, in- 
 formed me that he kept as accurate an account as he 
 could of the number that fell on the occasion, and 
 computed it to be about three thousand. The vast 
 numbers who received light, on this occasion, and
 
 27 
 
 went forth in every direction to spread it, render it 
 impossible to pursue any further the particular track 
 of its progress. I shall only add that it was but a few 
 weeks after this meeting, that the same work broke 
 out in North Carolina, by the instrumentality of some 
 who went from Caneridge to bear the testimony. 
 
 I shall now take notice of the opposition, which 
 was raised against the. work, in this first stage of it; 
 and show some of the causes from which it sprung. 
 
 The people among whom the revival began, were 
 generally Calvinists ; and although they had been 
 long praying in words, for the out-pouring of the 
 Spirit ; and believed that God had '' fore-ordained 
 whatsoever comes to pass;" yet, when it came to pass 
 that their prayer was answered, and the Spirit began 
 to flow like many waters, from a cloud of witnesses; 
 and souls were convicted of sin, and cried for mercy, 
 and found hope and comfort in the news of a Saviour ; 
 they rose up and quarreled with the work, because it 
 did not come to pass that the subjects of it were wil- 
 ling to adopt their soul-stupefying creed. Those who 
 had labored and travailed, to gain some solid hope of 
 salvation ; and had ventured their souls upon the 
 covenant of promise ; and had felt the living seal of 
 eternal love; could not, dare not preach, that salva- 
 tion was restricted to a certain definite number; nor 
 insinuate, that any being which God had made, was, 
 by the Creator, laid under the dire necessity of being 
 damned forever. The love of a Saviour constrained 
 them to testify, that one had died for all. This truth 
 so essential to the first ray of hope in the human 
 breast, was like a dead fly in the ointment of the 
 apothecary, to the Calvinist : hence all the trembling, 
 weeping and groaning under sin, rejoicing in the hope 
 of deliverance, and turning from the former practice 
 of it, sent forth a disagreeable savor. Yet these exer- 
 cises would no doubt have passed for a good work of 
 God, had they appeared as seals to their doctrine of 
 election, imperfection, and final perseverance. But
 
 28 
 
 everything appeared new, and to claim no relation 
 to the old bed of sand upon which they had been 
 building: and rather than quit the old foundation, 
 they chose to reject, oppose and persecute the truth, 
 although accompanied with all that evidence, which 
 many of them were obliged to acknowledge was Divine. 
 
 Some who were inwardly opposed, at first exercised 
 forbearance, and professed a measure of union with 
 the work ; in hopes that it would die away like for- 
 mer revivals, and the people return into their old or- 
 der. But as they perceived that it increased, they 
 laid aside the mask, and came out with a bold testi- 
 mony against it, as a dangerous delusion. 
 
 In some of the churches, there were days set apart 
 for fasting and prayer, to deprecate the Divine displea- 
 sure ; through which they supposed it was sent upon 
 the land. 
 
 These public testimonies against the work, particu- 
 larly by ministers, were a means of stirring up and 
 encouraging those who were openly wicked to come 
 forth to mock, to oppose and persecute ; but even 
 such, were often unable to withstand the power ; and 
 sometimes in the very act of persecuting and afflicting, 
 were struck down like men in battle ; and so alarm- 
 ing was the sight, that others, on foot or on horse- 
 back, would try to make their escape and flee away, 
 like those who are closely pursued by an enemy in 
 time of war, and be overtaken by the invisible power, 
 under which they would be struck down and con- 
 strained to cry out in anguish, and confess their wick- 
 edness in persecuting the work of God, and warn 
 others not to oppose. Thus, many who were openly 
 profane, were taken in the very act of persecuting the 
 work ; and, like Saul of Tarsus, made the happy sub- 
 jects and zealous promoters of it ; while bigoted pro- 
 fessors, who had hissed them on, remained like the 
 heath in the desert^ that seeth not when good cometh.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Of the distinguishing doctrines and manner of 
 worship among the first subjects of the re- 
 VIVAL. 
 
 The first point of doctrine which distinguished the 
 subjects of the revival, was that which respected Di- 
 vine revelation. 
 
 The established opinion in the churches had been, 
 that the Scriptures, explained according to sound rea- 
 son and philosophy, was light sufficient ; and simply 
 to belie v^e what we were thus taught, was the highest 
 evidence we could have of the truth of spiritual things. 
 But these adopted a very different faith, and taught, 
 as an important truth, that the will of God was made 
 manifest to each individual who honestly sought after 
 it, by an inward light, which shone into the heart 
 Hence they received the name of Mew-Lights, Those 
 who were the subjects of this inward light, did not 
 call it new light ; but a renewed manifestation of that.^ 
 which at sundry times and in divers manners had 
 been opened to those who were willing and desirous 
 to know the truth for themselves. 
 
 This inward light they denominated the Lord, be- 
 cause by it they were instructed, influenced and gov- 
 erned. Hence, they spake of seeking the Lord, find- 
 ing the Lord, loving the Lord, following the Lord, 
 offending the Lord, &c. ; by all which expressions 
 was meant that inward light and revelation of the 
 
 3*
 
 30 
 
 truth, by which they could see things in their true 
 colors, and find a measure of peace and consolation, 
 and a comfortable hope of eternal life. 
 
 II. This new light first broke out in the Presbyte- 
 rian Church, among those who held the doctrines of 
 Calvin ; and therefore it is considered as more imme- 
 diately contrasted with that system. Those who first 
 embraced it, had also been reputed Calvinists, and 
 belonged to the Presbyterian Church ; among whom 
 were several persons of distinction in the ministry : 
 of course, the existence of sentiments so very different, 
 in the same church, rendered a division unavoidable. 
 This division w^as gradual, and had its foundation in 
 the above principle, of a direct manifestation of spir- 
 itual light from God to the soul, which was superior 
 to all the comments that natural men had ever made 
 upon the Scriptures. This division in sentiment, with 
 its concomitant effects, drew together a vast multitude 
 out of different churches, who formed a general com- 
 munion, and for a time acceded to the doctrines, 
 manner of worship, &c., first opened and practiced 
 among the JSTew-Lights ; a brief sketch of which is 
 as follows, viz. : That all creeds, confessions, forms of 
 worship, and rules of government, invented by men, 
 ought to be laid aside, especially the distinguishing 
 doctrines of Calvin. That all who received the true 
 light of the Spirit in the inner man, and faithfully 
 followed it, would naturally see eye to eye, and un- 
 derstand the things of the Spirit alike, without any 
 written tenet or learned expositor. That all Avho re- 
 ceived this true light, would plainly see the purity of 
 God — the depravity of man — the necessity of a new 
 birth, and of a sinless life and conversation to evidence 
 it. That God was no respecter of persons — willeth 
 the salvation of all souls — has opened a door of salva- 
 tion, through Christ, for all — will have all invited to 
 enter ; and such as refuse to come in, must blame 
 themselves for their own perdition.
 
 31 
 
 III. As to worship, they allowed each one to wor- 
 ship God agreeably to their own feelings, whatever 
 impression or consciousness of duty they were under; 
 believing the true wisdom, which "lives through all 
 life," to be a safer guide than human forms, which 
 can only affect the outer man ; and hence, so wide a 
 door was opened, and such a variety of exercises were 
 exhibited at their public meetings. All distinction of 
 names was laid aside, and it was no matter what any 
 one had been called before, if now he stood in the 
 present light and felt his heart glow with love to the 
 souls of men ; he was welcome to sing, pray, or call 
 sinners to repentance. Neither was there any distinc- 
 tion, as to age, sex, color, or anything of a temporary 
 nature ; old and young, male and female, black and 
 white, had equal privilege to minister the light which 
 they received, in whatever way the Spirit directed. 
 And it was, moreover, generally considered that such 
 as professed to stand in the light, and were not active- 
 ly engaged, some way or other, in time of public 
 meeting, were only dead weights upon the cause. 
 
 IV. No one, who has not been an eye-witness, can 
 possibly paint in their imagination the striking so- 
 lemnity of those occasions ; on which the thousands of 
 Kentuckians were convened, in one vast assembly, un- 
 der the auspicious influence of the above faith. How 
 striking, to see hundreds, who never saw each other in 
 the face before, moving uniformly into action, without 
 any preconcerted plan, and each, without intruding 
 upon another, taking that part assigned him by a con- 
 scious feeling, and in this manner, dividing into bands, 
 over a large extent of ground, interspersed with tents 
 and wagons ; some uniting their voices in the most 
 melodious songs ; others in solemn and affecting ac- 
 cents of prayer : some lamenting, with streaming eyes, 
 their lost situation, or that of a wicked world ; others 
 lying, apparently, in the cold embrace of death : some 
 instructing the ignorant and directing the doubtful,
 
 32 
 
 and urging them, in the day of God's visitation, to 
 make sure work for eternity ; others, from some emi- 
 nence, sounding the general trump of a free salvation, 
 and warning sinners to fly from the wrath to come ; 
 the surrounding forest, at the same time, vocal with 
 the cries of the distressed — sometimes to the distance 
 of half a mile or a mile in circumference. 
 
 How persons, so different in their education, man- 
 ners and natural dispositions, without any visible com- 
 mander, could enter upon such a scene, and continue 
 in it for days and nights, in perfect harmony, has 
 been one of the greatest wonders that ever the Avorld 
 beheld ; and was, no doubt, included in the vision of 
 that man, who, falling into a trance, with his eyes 
 open, cried out : " How goodly are thy tents ^ O Jacob f 
 and thy tabernacles, O Israel/ as the vallies are they 
 spread forth^ as gardens by the river side ; as the trees 
 of lignaloesy whic/i the Lord hath planted.^' 
 
 V. The supernatural and extraordinary gifts of the 
 Spirit, which were visible among this people, are not 
 less worthy of notice, than their distinguishing faith 
 and manner of worship : such as left no remaining 
 doubt of the restitution of that sacred panoply ; which, 
 together with the apostolic faith, had been trodden 
 under foot for many hundred years, by the power of 
 Antichrist. To evince this, as the faith of that peo- 
 ple, at least, I insert a few extracts from their writ- 
 ings : 
 
 David Purviance, in a letter dated Caneridge, March 
 1, 1802, writes thus : *'Some things have lately taken 
 place among us, which I think more extraordinary 
 than any I have seen or heard, since the apostolic age. 
 The case of Rachel Martin was truly miraculous. I 
 suppose you have heard of it." This extraordinary 
 case is illustrated by the following extract from ano- 
 ther hand : "Last Saturday exceeded by far anything 
 I ever saw before. Rachel Martin was struck the 
 Thursday night after you left this. She never eat.
 
 33 
 
 nor spoke, for nine days and nights. I was there 
 when she rose and spoke ; her countenance was, as it 
 were, refined, [i, e. transfigured,] she told me she was 
 free from the world all that time ; she says the work 
 will increase. P. H." 
 
 ^neas M'Callister, speaking of the work in North 
 Carolina, observes : '' The like wonders have not been 
 seen, except the Kentucky Revival, last summer, 
 since the apostles' days. I suppose the exercises of 
 our congregation, this last winter, surpassed anything 
 I have ever seen or heard of. I sometimes think it 
 would have been well if they had been kept in, and 
 never told." 
 
 It is certain, the natural man receiveth not the 
 things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to 
 him : hence Christ instructed his disciples not to cast 
 pearls before swine ; for the same cause, so little has 
 been published abroad concerning the deep things of 
 God, made manifest among the people called JYew- 
 Lights: and for the same reason, these things can be 
 but slightly touched at present. 
 
 VI. That the power was supernatural, by which 
 such multitudes were struck down, required no argu- 
 ments to prove : and had they never risen again, there 
 might have been some reason for charging it to the de- 
 vil : but who has power to kill and make alive again 1 
 Could any one, with the rationality of a man, suppose 
 that anything short of the power of God, could sus- 
 pend the functions of animal life, for an hour, a day, 
 or a week ; and again restore them with additional 
 brightness. Is nature wont to assume such apparent 
 changes, as for tens, and fifties, moved, at the same 
 time, by the same instinct, to forget the use of every 
 limb, and prostrate fall, no matter where, and yawn, 
 and gasp, and expire, in a cold sweat ? This belongs 
 not to nature ; and as little does it belong to nature, 
 to exempt her sons from wounds and bruises, broken
 
 34 
 
 liaibs and aching heads, in case of such repeated and 
 dangerous falls as were common among the JVew- 
 Lights, And least of all, could nature's power ex- 
 tend to their resurrection, after an hour, a week, or 
 nine days' trance. Who wants a miracle to arouse 
 his faith, and fix it on the sacred truths recorded in 
 the Scriptures ; let him recognize the camp-meeting, 
 let him find the man, or woman, whose immortal part, 
 for hours, and days, traversed the regions of eternity, 
 while the breathless body lay as a spectacle of terror 
 to surrounding friends. The learned expositor of 
 Scripture, and the one whom he opprobriously terms 
 ah infidel, are equally baflfled with the falling exer- 
 cise ; the one, upon his hypothesis, that there ne- 
 ver was such a thing as a miracle in the days of the 
 apostles ; and the other, that, there never was to be 
 such a thing after. All their experiments and re- 
 searches were in vain, to reduce this operation to some 
 natural cause. Their feeling the pulse, changing the 
 situation of the person, applying smelling bottles, 
 bathing with camphor or cold water, letting of blood, 
 &c., could never make half the discovery in the case, 
 that those made who came with their barrels of whis- 
 key, to retail out to the multitude. By such it was 
 abundantly proved, that the readiest way to keep 
 clear of this extraordinary exercise, was to drown the 
 soul in debauchery and vice. Many circumstances, 
 beating and confounding to the wisdom of man, at- 
 tended the exercises mentioned, which, for the sake 
 of brevity, have to be omitted. And yet, however 
 extraordinary these things were, they were not consi- 
 dered by the people as the most evidential of a work 
 of the true spirit ; something much greater was com- 
 monly expected to succeed their resurrection, of greater 
 importance, than anything that went before. The 
 word of exhortation is ranked among the apostolic 
 gifts; and as such it was considered by the JVevj-Lights, 
 This gift was generally expected on the occasion of 
 rising from the before-mentioned trance, and such ex-
 
 35 
 
 pectations were very commonly answered. The ex- 
 hortations delivered on those occasions, by all ranks 
 and colors, but especially by small children, were so 
 evidential of a Divine power, so searching to the con- 
 science, so wounding to the sinner, that the hiost ob- 
 stinate unbelievers have fallen doAvn, like those of old, 
 and confessed that God was in them of a truth. 
 
 It required a spirit more incredulous than that which 
 has commonly been called infidelity, to deny a super- 
 natural agency in the case of such pathetic and 
 powerful addresses from little children — not only un- 
 learned, but also of the most bashful and unpopular cast 
 of mind. Such little ones, of eight or ten years old, 
 raised upon the shoulders, or held up in the arms of 
 some one, in the midst of vast multitudes, would 
 speak in a manner so marvelous and astonishing; 
 that persons of the most rugged passions would dis- 
 solve into tears ; and professors of the foremost rank, 
 confess that hitherto they had been total strangers to 
 that heavenly sense and feeling, which distinguishes 
 a child of God. So deep were the effects of truth 
 delivered in the simple language of a child, of which 
 the following may serve as a short specimen : 
 
 ''Oh, the sweetness of redeeming love! Oh, if sinners 
 knew the sweetness of redeeming love, they would 
 all come to the overflowing fountain!" The general 
 gift of exhortation, was to search out the sinner, con- 
 vict him of sin, and warn him to fly from it ; and they 
 often came so pointed, even to naming out the person, 
 and publicly arraigning him for specific crimes, that 
 often evil spirits, whose work is to cover iniquity, and 
 conceal it, were stirred up to great fury ; and those 
 possessed with them would come forth in a great rage, 
 threatening and blaspheming against the author of 
 the revival, and, bold as Goliah, challenge his armies 
 to a rencounter. Could nature, without bloodshed 
 and slaughter, overcome beings so fierce? Or, must 
 it not be something supernatural? To see a bold 
 Kentuckian (undaunted by the horrors of war) turn
 
 36 
 
 pale and tremble at the reproof of a woman, a little 
 boy, or a mean African ; to see him sink down in deep 
 remorse, roll and toss, and gnash his teeth, till black 
 in the face ; entreat the prayers of those he came to 
 devour ; and, through their fervent intercessions and 
 kind instructions, obtain deliverance ; and return in 
 the possession of the meek and gentle spirit which he 
 set out to oppose : who would say the change was not 
 supernatural and miraculous? Such exorcisms, or 
 casting out of evil spirits, are justly ranked among 
 the wonders which attended the JYew-Light ; nor 
 could the man, once delivered from iheLegion^go home 
 with greater joy, to tell his friends what great things 
 Jesus had done for him, than many returned from 
 these encamping grounds to announce to their former 
 companions their happy change. 
 
 VII. To what has been said, it may be objected, 
 that many, who were converted in this extraordinary 
 manner, gave no lasting evidence of a real change, 
 but returned again to their former courses : and as 
 they testified that they were all actuated by one 
 spirit, if some were mistaken, why not the whole 1 
 
 I answer, the work of God is one thing, and the 
 opinion formed by the subject of it, another. If it 
 should be granted that many, or even all, were mis- 
 taken, as to the immediate effect of the work, this 
 would not alter the work from what it was. If a 
 foolish person should take grain, when it was only in 
 the blossom, and say it was ripe — and go to reaping, 
 binding and stacking it — this would not prove that 
 the ploughing and sowing had not been well done 
 by a good farmer. Spiritual life is of a growing na- 
 ture, as well as vegetable and animal life : And if 
 many, zealous to increase the number of their dis- 
 ciples, did deceive the generality with a vain per- 
 suasion, that a short scene of conviction, light and 
 comfort, comprehended all that was contained in the 
 new birth, and cut them off from any further growth
 
 37 
 
 — ^this did not prove that their impressions had not a 
 proper beginning, or were not of the genuine kind. 
 
 Ohj, 2. If this great appearance of union and gen- 
 eral communion was of God, why did it not increase 1 
 Ans. Why did not that union and communion in- 
 crease, which existed among the Pharisees, Sadducees, 
 Essenes, Herodians and Syrophoenicians, who followed 
 Christ into the wilderness, and encamped there day 
 and night 1 The reason is plain : the foundation of a 
 lasting union could not be laid until the rubbish was 
 cleared out of the way ; and as this was the first work 
 then, so it was in the late revival. Those who fol- 
 lowed the true light were united in breaking down, 
 and burning that which was old and rotten ; and this 
 had to be done before they could unite in building up 
 that which is sound and permanent. So that a union, 
 in the first case, although it is productive of greater 
 division yet, is both a shadow and a sure pledge of 
 that union which follows in consequence. 
 
 . Ohj, 3. But what do you make of those who testified 
 that they had got all the rubbish destroyed — were car- 
 ried above all sin, and temptation, and pain, and never 
 should suffer again — were higher than Elijah — per- 
 fectly blessed , and filled with the fulness of God ; and 
 with all this, so united in heart that they never could 
 part, &c., and yet after all turn to hate one another 
 worse than ever, and live as loose and wicked as 
 others ? so that they cauld afterwards say, 
 
 " Ah ! where am I now ? When was it, or how. 
 That I fell from my heaven of grace ? 
 I am stripped of my all — I am hrought into thrall — 
 I am banished from Jesus's face." 
 
 Do not such changes prove that their extraordinary 
 light was all a delusion'? Ans, If so, the same ar- 
 gument will prove that every dispensation of light, 
 
 4 ^
 
 38 
 
 both under the law and gospel was a delusion ; for 
 after the brightest manifestations there was always a 
 falling away. Did not the whole camp of Israel fall 
 away after the giving of the law upon Mount Sinai 1 
 But did this prove that the light they saw there, and 
 all the signs and wonders that preceded and accompa- 
 nied it, was delusion? David, Solomon, and all the 
 kings and people of Israel fell away ; and how often 
 was this chosen generation brought under judgments, 
 and banished into captivity ; not to prove that their 
 extraordinary light had been all delusion, but the con- 
 trary, John the Baptist decreased, and his followers 
 came to nothing, and all that had followed Jesus for 
 three years forsook him, and fell away in the hour of 
 trial. If this was not sufficient, according to the above 
 objection, to prove their light a delusion, you may add 
 the universal apostacy that prevailed through the long 
 reign of Antichrist, in which there was none that did 
 goody and sinned not y no^ not one. Now, if the same 
 visible consequences have attended this kind of light, 
 first and last, the different manifestations of it must be 
 established or condemned, together. But to obviate 
 the question more particularly, it will be proper to ob- 
 serve, that Divine light is first received by faith. We 
 must first believe the report concerning things invisible, 
 before we can see the object face to face, and actually 
 possess it. And the firm belief of a thing will produce 
 great effects both on the mind and body. Whom hav- 
 ing not seen ye love ; in whom believing^ though now ye 
 see him not, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of 
 glory. This unspeakable joy was merely the fruit of 
 faith in those who had yet to receive the end of their 
 faithi even the salvation of the soul. Now, if those 
 called Jfew-Lights did testify that they were dead to 
 the world, and risen with Christ above all sin, tempta- 
 tion, pain and suffering — were full of glory, and per- 
 fectly blessed with the fulness of God — united in heart, 
 and beyond the possibility of a separation — they only 
 meant that this was their situation by faith ; f. e., they
 
 39 
 
 had full faith that such a state was attainable, and were 
 swallowed up in the delightful contemplation of it, as 
 though they were actually in it. But that it was not 
 their real situation was evident from their repeated 
 complaints of remaining darkness, and their prayers 
 for returning light. If it is said, that upon this princi- 
 ple all their exercises were only the workings of ima- 
 gination : I answer, that until a thing is brought present 
 to the senses, the brightest knowledge we can have of 
 it is a bright and clear imagination, by means of a 
 shadow or image of the thing. But we must distin- 
 guish between a vain imagination, and that which is 
 properly founded. If we form an imagination of a 
 thing that has no existence, that imagination is vain ; 
 but it is not so when the image of a thing is drawn 
 upon the mind, which has actual existence. What 
 knowledge had the Jews of the kingdom of Christ 
 while under the ceremonial law, beyond the effect of 
 lively images 1 The law having a shadow of good things 
 to come, and not the very substance of the things, could 
 never, with those sacrifices which they offered year hy 
 year, continually, make the comers thereunto perfect ; 
 for would they not then have ceased to he offered ? Ob- 
 serve, their imaginations were not vain, they were 
 shadows of good things, real substances, although they 
 were yet to come, and absolutely necessary to come, 
 in order to their perfection. Now, the cases are per- 
 fectly similar : for if the JVew-Lights had found real 
 perfection by the aforementioned exercises, would not 
 these exercises have ceased of course ? But the same 
 persons would fall again, and again, and rise with the 
 same transfigured countenance, and testify that they 
 felt Christ in them, and were full of glory, as before ; 
 and again cry out for Christ to come and pardon, and 
 save them from their sins ; so that at every meeting 
 the same sacrifices were continually offered ; which 
 was a plain evidence that their affections were raised 
 by an influential faith, a confident expectation of things 
 hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. And if
 
 40 
 
 any should build upon their faith, and deceive them- 
 selves with the shadow, and think it was the sub- 
 stance, they must blame themselves; for common 
 sense is capable of making the distinction. p 
 
 Obj, 4. But if it was the true light of the Spirit they 
 were in, must not that light have secured them from 
 any such mistake ? I answer, why did not the light 
 on mount Tabor, show the three disciples that what 
 they saw was only a vision, and that Jesus was not 
 yet glorified ? Why were all the disciples so mistaken 
 about the kingdom of Christ, both before and after 
 their master was crucified? Why did they expect it 
 to come with observation, and immediately appear 1 
 And why were they so mistaken as to think that John 
 would never die 1 &c. The light of God was never 
 sent to those who were under no mistakes, but to such 
 as were all over immersed in errors and mistakes, and 
 willing to see it, and have their mistakes corrected. 
 The first work of God is to discover errors and mis- 
 takes, and have them put out of the way ; and this 
 must needs be done, beifore anything substantial and 
 permanent can be built up. Hence the work among 
 the New-Lights was intended to tear down, and remove 
 the rubbish of old systems ; and therefore the subjects 
 of it, had practically, and experimentally to handle, 
 and prove the corrupt materials of the whole fabric. 
 To be elected, and singled out as the distinguished ob- 
 jects of irresistible grace, carried through the deplora- 
 ble fall, even to the resurrection ; and after being 
 raised up in glory, soul and body reunited, openly ac- 
 knowledged and acquitted as dear children of God ; 
 and made perfectly blessed, as they supposed, yet af- 
 ter all, they found they were in their sins, " exposed 
 to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to 
 the pains of hell forever." Consequently the whole 
 building must be one grand mistake throughout, and 
 therefore in obedience to that light, by which they 
 discovered the rottenness and danger of the old build-
 
 41 
 
 ing", they determined to forsake it, or roll it piece by 
 piece, out of the way, until the way was prepared for 
 a better foundation to be laid. The disciples and fol- 
 lowers of Jesus had his promise, that they should re- 
 ceive the Holy Ghost, who would abide with them 
 forever ; that he and the Father would come and make 
 their abode with them. But until the promise was 
 fulfilled, their old Pharisaical errors remained, and 
 they were liable to pervert and abuse all the new light 
 they received, by mixing it with their vain supersti- 
 tions, and traditions of men. The greater part gloried 
 that such a Saviour w^as raised up to Israel : but if they 
 had not been mistaken they would rather have gloried 
 in such a breaker being raised up to Israel. The dis- 
 ciples of Jesus were much more mistaken at first than 
 his avowed enemies ; for the latter evidently saw, that 
 he would be the occasion of taking away their place 
 and nation, unless he could be defeated by superior 
 power : whereas the former imagined, that his whole 
 design was to build them up ; and hence in the midst 
 of all their glorying, and the exercise of such spiritual 
 power as they had, they were so often warned not to 
 rest in what they had received. No wonder then, if 
 many of the opposers of the late revival, in its first 
 stages were capable of forming a more correct judg- 
 ment, concerning the visible effects of it, than those 
 who were in it ; and of improving upon the admoni- 
 tions given to the disciples of old, in a similar case, to 
 convince the New-Lights that all their mighty gifts, 
 did not carry them out of the reach of danger. Not 
 every one that saith. Lord, Lord-, for many shall say 
 unto me in that day. Lord, Lord, have we not prophe- 
 sied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils 1 
 and in thy name done many wonderful works ? and 
 then will I profess unto them, I never knew you ; de- 
 part from me, ye that work iniquity.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Concerning the separation of those called New- 
 Lights FROM THE Presbyterian Church. 
 
 A DIVISION must always precede a separation. That 
 division in sentiment, which began about the com- 
 mencement of the present century, in the Presbyterian 
 Church, continually increased, until it effected an im- 
 portant separation, which took place in the month of 
 September, 1803. A particular account of which is 
 published in a pamphlet, entitled, An apology for re- 
 nouncing the jurisdiction of the Synod of Kentucky j 
 printed in Lexington (K.), 1804. It is an old proverb, 
 that "two cannot walk together unless they be agreed." 
 For nearly three years the subjects and promoters of 
 the revival, continued their outward church member- 
 ship with those, whose constant labor it was, to oppose 
 and suppress it ; this was a painful situation to both 
 parties, for the New-Light to be chained down in si- 
 lence, forbidden to pray, exhort, or make any noise 
 or uproar, in time of meeting, however clearly he saw 
 the danger of the wicked, or felt his soul overflowing 
 with the love and goodness of God. And no less 
 painful did it feel to the expounder, and those who 
 contented themselves with his learned and ingenious 
 labors, to be interrupted by a sudden shout, and put 
 to silence, by the din which commonly followed ; and 
 worst of all, to hear that system, by which he had all
 
 43 
 
 his wealth in this world, and the hope of a favorite in- 
 terest in a better, set at naught by the general procla- 
 mation, whosoever will, let him come and take of the 
 water of life freely. But thus it continued, ufitil the 
 unequivocal, and open testimony of several ministers, 
 came forth in vindication of the new doctrine, and the 
 operations and exercises which attended it ; and in 
 pointed opposition to the Presbyterian system. This 
 furnished the desirable occasion, of banishing from the 
 standing community, those flaming zealots, whom 
 ministerial authority had failed to reduce into subjec- 
 tion. 
 
 TI. But that those who were destined to excommu- 
 nication on account of their faithful zeal, might not 
 be wholly left without the usual claim of congenial 
 descent, from Leo the Great; the dissenting ministers 
 voluntarily withdrew from under the jurisdiction of 
 the Presbyterian Church, and according to their own 
 history, "constituted themselves into a presbytery, as 
 you will see from the minutes of their first meeting. 
 (See Apology, p. 37.) " We, the above named, Rob- 
 ert Marshall, John Dunlavy, Richard M'Nemar, 
 Barton W. Stone and John Thompson, having enter- 
 ed the above protest, and withdrawn from under the 
 jurisdiction of the Synod of Kentucky, and of the 
 presbyteries to which we belonged, do now formally 
 unite in a body as a presbytery, known by the name 
 of the Presbytery of Springfield. The design of these 
 men, as they themselves testify in all their writings, 
 was not to lay the foundation of any church or dis- 
 tinct party ; but as they express it, (Apology, p. 20.) 
 they considered this "presbytery providentially form- 
 ed to cover the truth from the impending storm, and 
 check the lawless career of imposition. Nevertheless 
 they proceeded to organize what they called church- 
 es, although they considered their existence as only 
 pro tempore, a kind of asylum, for those who were
 
 44 
 
 cast out ; that they might come forth and he there, like 
 David's father and mother, with the king of Moab, 
 
 until they would know what God would do for them, 
 
 * 
 
 III. On this occasion as far as the way was opened 
 for a separation, the subjects of the revival, who were 
 sincere in their profession, generally came forth and 
 united with the seceding body, which were distin- 
 guished by the name of Schismatics. 
 
 As this separation was productive of a very impor- 
 tant change, and placed the subjects of* the revival 
 in a different situation from what they had been, as 
 far as it extended ; it will be proper to trace the out- 
 lines of those new formed churches in their separate 
 capacity, and the first thing to be considered, is their 
 manner of constituting. Every house must be build- 
 ed upon some foundation ; all human creeds and con- 
 fessions had been disannulled, or rolled out of the 
 way ; the power and authority of modern clergy, as 
 successive to the apostles was renounced, and the 
 Presbytery of Springfield confessed and denied not, 
 that they were as far oflf the true foundation as the 
 rest. In this predicament they concluded, that they 
 would stand the safest, and be most retired, and most 
 out of sight from contending parties, upon the foun- 
 dation of all their foundation v^z. : the Scriptures. 
 The following minute extracted from the records of 
 Turtle Creek Church, will develope this point more 
 particularly; according to which plan the churches 
 in general which are called Schismatic, were organ- 
 ized. 
 
 April 20th, 1804. 
 
 ^^ The session taking into consideration the proprie- 
 ty of a more close attention to the government and 
 discipline of the Church, think it expedient to state 
 to the people at large, who have considered them- 
 selves under our care, the following observations, on 
 that subject. I. We think it the privilege of the
 
 45 
 
 Church mutually to profess their regard to the Holy- 
 Scriptures, as the only rule of faith and practice, the 
 only standard of doctrine and discipline. II. We 
 think the eldership ought not to form a separate body 
 distinct from the Church itself, or go out of doors se- 
 cretly to transact such business, as concerns the body 
 of the people at large. III. We think it tends to 
 keep the body of the people in the dark, and obstruct 
 a real spirit of communion, to examine and admit 
 members — try causes of scandal — censure — rebuke — 
 reprove, or suspend in secret, or to transact privately 
 by the representatives of the people, such, or any 
 other business of a public nature. IV. We think it 
 expedient, in order to the due exercise of govern- 
 ment and discipline, that all who believe should be 
 together in one place * * * * We therefore recom- 
 mend that the Church constitute in the place for pub- 
 lic worship," &c. '* Moreover, that the foregoing 
 observations be publicly read in the congregation, 
 and the voice of the Church taken on the expediency 
 of immediately reducing them to practice. Signed, 
 William Bedel, Malcham Worley, Matthias Spring, 
 Aaron TuUis, Samuel Sering, Francis Bedel, Richard 
 M'Nemar. Accordingly at the close of public wor- 
 ship, the above observations were read, and after a 
 brief discussion of the subject, the following propo- 
 sitions were stated to the members in particular, viz. : 
 Do we adopt the Holy Scriptures as the only rule of 
 faith and practice, the only standard of doctrine and 
 discipline 1 Do we agree to constitute a Church, and 
 in that capacity to transact business ? The questions 
 being put, were answered in the affirmative with up- 
 lifted hands, without a dissenting voice. The num- 
 ber were about seventy-four, who voted as above, re- 
 mained in the house after the congregation was 
 dismissed, and took their seats as members of the 
 Church. It was moved that the use of (lead) tokens 
 be laid aside, and the members all take their seats at 
 once. It was also moved and agreed that the endear-
 
 46 
 
 ing" appellation of Brother and Sister, be revived 
 among the members. 
 
 It is to be observed, that in those congregations 
 where the members of the new Presbytery resided, 
 the Presbyterian mode of government had been prac- 
 ticed for some time after the separation. Neither did 
 the Presbytery immediately resign their reputed au- 
 thority, although in everything they introduced some 
 alteration. They considered it their prerogative to 
 license public teachers ; or rather to forward those 
 "who, they believed, were chosen and called of God. 
 The following, written at Springfield, March, 1804, 
 will serve as a specimen : 
 
 '^ Forasmuch as our brother, Malcham Worley, has 
 made known to us the exercises of his mind for some 
 time past, expressive of a Divine call to labor in word 
 and doctrine ; and we being satisfied, from a long and 
 intimate acquaintance with him, of his talents, both 
 natural and acquired, being such as, through the grace 
 of God, may render him useful ; and considering that 
 the way of God is above our ways, it therefore seemed 
 good to us, with one accord to encourage our brother 
 to the work, whereunto we trust the Holy Ghost is 
 calling him : and we do hereby recommend him to 
 the churches scattered abroad, to be forwarded in his 
 calling, according to the manifestation of the Spirit 
 given to him to profit withal. Signed in behalf of 
 the Presbytery, B. W. STONE, Cl'k." 
 
 As it was but a short time before the Presbytery 
 were convicted that their union was formed upon 
 Antichristian principles, and under that conviction 
 dissolved ; it will be unnecessary to say anything fur- 
 ther concerning the government and discipline exer- 
 cised by them. Their principal object was to set the 
 people at liberty, from the contracted folds into which 
 they had been gathered by idol shepherds in the cloudy 
 and dark day. And as soon as they constituted into a
 
 47 
 
 separate body as above, with the Scriptures iinex- 
 pounded as their only index, nothing- remained for 
 the Presbytery to do, in relation to them, but to sit 
 and watch, as Jonah sat in his booth, to see what 
 would become of the city. 
 
 It now remains to give some account of the churches 
 and people called Schismatics, 
 
 IV. From their own expressions, it is difficult to 
 say what their real character was in their own esti- 
 mation. 
 
 They speak of themselves as a church about to con- 
 stitute a church ; but how the first was constituted ap- 
 pears not to have been considered. Again, they speak 
 of the people at large, the churches at large, &c. If 
 these expressions have any definite signification, they 
 must mean, the churches at liberty, the people at lib- 
 erty, &c. To be set at large, and at liberty, means 
 one and the same thing. It follows then, that they 
 considered the people, who had been set at large by 
 the preceding work, as now constituting churches at 
 large or at liberty, who should be bound by no form 
 of doctrine or discipline, but stand loose upon the va- 
 riegated fields of antideluvianism, patriarchism, Juda- 
 ism, baptism, Christianity, and Gentile-partyism, or 
 whatever else was meted out between the lids of the 
 Bible, either by history, precept, promise, or prophecy. 
 Yet notwithstanding this extensive liberty, it is truly 
 marvelous and astonishing to consider the regular 
 manner in which they proceed from thing to thing in 
 the investigation of truth. And what is still more 
 striking, is the union and harmony which existed 
 among them in those investigations, and the subordi- 
 nation which they manifested, in relation to those who 
 were considered the most deeply initiated into the 
 mysteries of the Spirit. Taking what is called the 
 JVew-Light doctrine, as the rudiments of Divine truth, 
 they proceeded to consider the nature of justification, 
 reconciliation to God, &c. &c., concerning which I 
 shall state a few particulars.
 
 48 
 
 They rejected, as a dangerous error, the doctrine of 
 justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ ; 
 and taught that no one could be justified or accepted 
 of God, but they that forsook their sins, and became 
 personally righteous ; — that no one could be pro- 
 nounced just^ upon the principles of truth, who was 
 not so in reality ; and therefore when the true God 
 accepteth any, as righteous in his sight, it must be such 
 as are in reality so. Reconciliation, or atonement^ is 
 to be at one : Christ is at one with God, we must be 
 at one with Christ. God is unchangeably holy, just 
 and good ; and therefore cannot be reconciled, or at 
 one, w^ith an unholy, unjust and wicked sinner. Man 
 in his natural state is unjust, unholy and wicked ; 
 therefore God and man, in his natural state, are at 
 tioo^s, not at one, Christ the mediator, came into the 
 world to atone us to God, not to reconcile or atone God 
 to us. For if God is reconciled or atoned to man in 
 his natural state, it must be by becoming unholy, un- 
 just and wicked : this cannot be ; therefore the work 
 of reconciliation or atonement is to make man like 
 God, holy, just and good, and for this purpose Christ 
 came into the world. There is wrath and enmity to 
 be taken out of the way ; this wrath and enmity never 
 was in God, for God is love ; therefore it must be in 
 man, and to remove it out of man, the blood of Christ 
 was shed ; and to man that blood must be applied, not 
 to the throne of God's justice, which is unchangeably 
 holy, just and good. Therefore Christ dying for sin, 
 was to condemn and destroy it, not in the room and 
 stead of it, that it might live. — (See Stone'' s letters^ p. 
 15 and 20.) 
 
 According to the schismatic doctrine, the vicarious 
 sufferings of Jesus Christ, in the room and stead of 
 sinners, that ihey might live, was only a cunningly 
 devised fable, destitute of foundation, either in com- 
 mon sense and reason, or the Scriptures of truth — that 
 proxy sufferings were inadmissible by any just law, 
 either of God or man, as it would be wholly unrea-
 
 49 
 
 sonable and unlawful, to hang a civil honest man in 
 room and stead of a murderer, that the latter might be 
 delivered out of the hands of justice, and set at liberty. 
 And according to the unchangeable law of God, the 
 soul that sinneth it shall die. From whence it was 
 plainly deduced, that there could be no reconciliation 
 or atonement to God, until the evil spirit, which is 
 prone to evil, and that continually, was overcome, and 
 rooted out of God's creature ; and as soon as that spirit 
 which is opposed to the law, was extinct, sin which 
 is a transgression of the law, ceased of course, and the 
 soul which came from God, became reconciled and at 
 one with him — and hence followed the necessity of 
 the sufferings of Christ being commensurate to the 
 atonement, and glory that should follow. He set us 
 an example that we should walk in his steps ; he suf- 
 fered in the flesh, that we might arm ourselves with 
 the same mind. Thus Stone's letters on atonement 
 p. 33. '' It is evident that Christians according to 
 their measure, have fellowship in the sufferings of 
 Christ, and are filling up that which is behind of his 
 afflictions, in their body." Upon this principle it was 
 evident that all who were in Christ suffered with him^ 
 that they might be glorified together, witnessed the suf- 
 ferings of Christy 1 Pet. v. 1., rejoiced in his sufferings 
 (ch. iv. 13.) That when the glory should be revealed, 
 they might be glad with exceeding joy. The suffer- 
 ings of Christ abounded in Paul, which wereeffectual 
 to the Corinthians ; not to exempt them from sufferings, 
 but in \he\Y enduring the same sufferings which he also 
 suffered, (see 2 Cor. i. 5. 6.) But the greatest depth 
 of the Schismatic doctrine lay in the reciprocal union, 
 which they supposed must exist between Jesus Christ 
 and his followers, which rendered both the sufferings 
 and glorification, identical in each, and left no room 
 for the disciple to suffer in the room and stead of his 
 Lord, any more than for the Lord to suffer in the room 
 and stead of the disciple ; and therefore if the suffer- 
 ings of Christ abounded in the disciples of Jesus, thp 
 
 5
 
 50 
 
 disciple did not suffer in the room and stead of Christ, 
 but very Christ suffered in him, the same as in his 
 master. Hence they taught that all that were born of 
 Christ, and united to him, were true Christ, as much 
 as fire produced by fire, is very fire, of fire ; and as 
 Christ proceeded from the Father, and was true God 
 of the true God, so all that were born of the Divine na- 
 ture, and seed of heaven, were perfect in one. Thus 
 Stone, in his reply, p. 19. '* It is very evident that 
 the seed of Abraham are all believers. These believ- 
 ers are one, therefore not called seeds, but seed. For 
 there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond 
 nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are 
 all one in Christ Jesus, Gal. iii. 28. For as the body 
 is one, and hath many members, and all the members 
 of that one body, being many, are one body, so also 
 is Christ, 1 Cor. xii. 12. Hence hy Christ, in this 
 verse, the apostle means believers who are in Christ. 
 And so I understand Gal. iii. 16. And to thy seed, 
 which is Christ, i. e. to all believers." See also Ob- 
 servations on Church Government, page 14. Upon 
 the strength of this article of faith, the Schismatics were 
 so abundant in their profession of having Christ in 
 them and being full of God, both the Father and the 
 Son. Not that they held as an established principle, 
 that a real, hypostatical union existed between them 
 and God ; but a hypothetical or supposed union, de- 
 pending on their faith ; — as all things are possible to 
 him that believeth. The possibility of standing in so 
 near a relation to God, afforded a lively anticipation 
 of it to the mind, while in the full exercise of believ- 
 ing ; but still left room for the following prayer : — 
 
 " Come, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, 
 * And seal me thine abode : 
 Lei all I am in thee be lost ; 
 Let all be lost in God." 
 
 Were a swine capable of believing that it was pos-
 
 51 
 
 sible for him to be lost and swallowed up in man, and 
 be incorporated with the human body, and become 
 one with it ; the anticipation of such an exalted state 
 might be very pleasing to the mind of that base ani- 
 mal. But should he imagine that man would form 
 the union by swallowing him alive, just as he was, 
 he must find himself greatly mistaken in the issue. 
 Now, considering the great disparity between sinful 
 man and God, it need not be thought strange, if those 
 who express the above prayer with great fervor should 
 be as greatly disappointed when the process is enter- 
 ed upon, by which the all -important union is effected. 
 The Schismatics, however, considered this union to 
 have taken place., first of all in the person of Jesus 
 Christ. Hence many importantquestions were agitated 
 concerning this extraordinary person — the end of his 
 mission into the world — the nature of the work which 
 was given him to do — and how that work is to affect 
 us, &c. Upon which different hypotheses were form- 
 ed, according to the proficiency of each, in the JVew- 
 Light and the Schismatic spirit, V. It was agreed on 
 all hands, that God w^as unchangeable, and needed 
 not the sufferings and death of his Son, to render him 
 propitious to the soul of any. — That it was through 
 love, that he sent his Son into the world — That sin is 
 the only thing in the universe that he hates — that he 
 would have all men saved from it; and that to effect 
 this, Christ made his appearance in the world. But 
 that innocence and love could not suffer and die, in 
 the room and stead of guilt and enmity. Nor could 
 the imputation of innocence andpurity, to the guilty 
 and vile, render them happy in the presence of heav- 
 enly beings, of a contrary nature. From these pre- 
 mises it was concluded and taught by some, that man 
 by departing from God, lost the true knowledge of 
 his character, and fell into a gross mistake, in conclud- 
 ing that he was their enemy. That Christ came to 
 reveal the true character of God in order to convince 
 sinners of their mistake, and prove to them that God
 
 52 
 
 was their friend. That he had s?ifficiently established 
 this point by submitting to be killed by them, rather 
 than oppose, or hurt them. Upon this hypothesis, 
 the Saviour was supposed to die in the room and 
 stead of the wicked in a sense, somewhat different 
 from the former. Inasmuch as the parties must meet, 
 and the sinner looked upon God as his enemy, and 
 was determined either to kill or be killed, the love of 
 Christ to the wicked was so great that he chose to 
 be killed rather than kill. And this was supposed 
 to constitute the gospel^ the glad tidings y viz : That 
 although wicked sinners killed their best friend 
 through a mistake yet he freely forgave them. When 
 any believe this they repent^ and* are reconciled to 
 God as their friend, who before they thought to be 
 their enemy. This gospel method of salvation was 
 however by no means established, as a matter of com- 
 mon faith. The generality still believed mankind to 
 be under a deeper .disorder, than such a mistake. 
 For after that they knew God, they glorified him not 
 as God. Jind did not love to ret aim, God in their know- 
 ledge. Besides, if there is such implacable enmity, 
 between the sinner and God, that one or other must 
 die ; and if the enmity is found in the sinner, he most 
 certainly be in the wrong ; therefore unless the Deity 
 sacrifice his law and justice, as well as his life, out of 
 love to the sinner, death and suffering must inevitably 
 seize upon him that is in the wrong. Moreover if 
 the sinner is at enmity against God, whatever the 
 cause be ; if God is reconciled to him in that state, 
 he must be at enmity against himself. Therefore 
 upon this principle, should the sinner conclude that 
 God was reconciled to him, had nothing against him, 
 overlooked his enmity and disobedience, &e., the last 
 error must be worse than the first. So that from the 
 propositions first laid down, another conclusion was 
 drawn more consistent, and which was more univer- 
 sally embraced, viz : that the coming of Christ into 
 the world wa,s to make an end of sin^ and unless we
 
 53 
 
 are wholly delivered from it, we can never see the 
 face of God in peace. 
 
 VI. Pursuant to this conclusion, the first of those 
 new satellites which the Presbytery of Springfield had 
 recommended as a light to the churches, began to 
 shine out in tlie month of June, 1804; and from the 
 effulgence of the great luminary, around whose cen- 
 tre the Schismatic body revolved, proposed to obvi- 
 ate every difficulty, that had been attached to those 
 intricate subjects, and lay open the whole matter, 
 plain to the weakest capacity. But however plain 
 and obvious the new divinity might have appeared 
 to him, or to others at the time it was divulged ; cer- 
 tain it is, that none but Schismatics, federalists, or 
 such as unequivocally maintain the sacred rights of 
 conscience could ever have admitted the opening 
 of sentiments so singular with impunity. But under 
 the auspicious wings of the American Eagle, which, 
 shades the honest inquirer after truth, from the 
 rage of Popes and despots, the reader may calmly 
 peruse those singular propositions, which were so 
 generally ascribed to a disorder in the brain, in which 
 the following ideas were included : 
 
 ^*Man was at first createcf in the nature and image 
 of God : but being tempted, and giving way to the 
 serpent, the nature of the serpent was begotten in him, 
 which is an earthly, sensual, and devilish nature, di- 
 rectly opposite to the nature or God. .This diabolical 
 nature, however contrary to the Divine, in which man 
 was created, could not overcome or extinguish it ; 
 hence there remained in the same person two oppo- 
 site natures, at enmity and war, the one against the 
 other ; the one denominated the seed of the woman ; 
 the other the seed of the serpent. 
 
 2. Adam begat a son in his own likeness a double- 
 minded man ; and in this situation the whole human 
 race were propagated ; and thus they remained, till 
 
 5*
 
 54 
 
 Christ macfe his appearance, and began the work of 
 redemption. 
 
 3. Jesus Christ the Redeemer assumed in the body 
 of his flesh, the same diabolical nature which was in 
 all other men — was made in all points like unto his 
 brethren whom he came to redeem — had two distinct 
 and opposite natures residing in his one body, of 
 which the one was true God, the other, very Devil. 
 This diabolical nature which worked in the man 
 (and not some other being outwardly visible,) tried 
 and tempted hinij to seek temporal riches and honors, 
 to convert the stones into bread, and east himself 
 down from the pinnacle of the temple, in order thai 
 he himself n\\ghi be acknowledged and adored, as the 
 coming Messiah. This wicked nature being denied 
 of all its demands, crossed in all its cravings, gave 
 him up for a season to the ministry of angels, but 
 afterwards rallied its vanquished powers, and strug- 
 gled for life and victory against the Son of God, but 
 was again overcome and held to the painful and ig- 
 nominious cross y on which he was worn out, wasted 
 and consumed, as by a lingering fire, until he was 
 forced in his last convulsive agonies, to cry aloud and 
 yield up the invisible and immortal spirit. Thus the 
 work of final redemption was finished, and the second 
 man arose, and ascended out of that lawless and 
 wicked nature into which the first fell. Then the 
 serpent's head got a finished bruising ; and the first- 
 born of the woman's seed put everlastingly out of 
 his reach, According to this transaction all the types 
 figures, and allegories, in the Old Testament, and par- 
 ables in the New, are to be understood. Thus Cain 
 and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, the 
 sumptuous glutton and Lazarus the beggar, the fool- 
 ish and wise virgins, &c. are to be considered as 
 types of these two distinct natures : The one elect, 
 the other reprobate ; the one beloved, the other ha- 
 ted ; the one and his offering accepted, the other re- 
 jected.
 
 55 
 
 Agxiin, the Divine nature, or seed of the woman 
 which was chosen, redeemed exalted and glorified in 
 the person of Christ Jesus is denominated in Scripture, 
 the spirit — the inner man — the new man, ^c. Its op- 
 posite, the old man, the man of sin — the son of perdi- 
 tion — the flesh which lusteth against the spirit — the car- 
 nal mind — that wicked which sitteth in the temple of 
 God and defiles it, which in the work of redemption 
 must lift up his eyes in torment, be punished with ev- 
 erlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, be 
 consumed and destroyed, and go into final perdi- 
 tion. 
 
 " This wicked which is one, and the same in all 
 men, being overcome and destroyed in the person of 
 Jesus Christ, laid a foundation for the gospel to be 
 preached to every creature under heaven, and for all 
 to look and hope for redemption, at his final appear- 
 ing. That it was necessary that this gospel should be 
 published to all the world, before a full end of that 
 wicked should come. By this gospel he was bound, 
 but suffered to live another day, or thousand years. 
 This thousand years is now expired, and the period 
 come for that man of sin to be finally consumed, from 
 off the face of the earth. And for this end, the Spirit 
 of God is poured out upon the people, first to reveal, 
 and then to consume this wicked.^ ^ Such were the 
 general propositions advanced by Malcham Worley, 
 in the summer of 1804, and which were acceded to, 
 by a number of Schismatics, who were considered 
 foremost in the JVew- Light. 
 
 VII. An epitome of the foregoing doctrine may be 
 seen in Stone's Letters, pp. 23,24, in which are the fol- 
 lowing expressions : " From whom or from what did 
 Christ redeem, &c. I answer : 1st from the devil, 
 2d. He came also to redeem us from sin, which is the 
 same as to redeem us from the devil. Mankind are 
 represented as sold under sin, serving sin, servants to 
 sin, under the dominion and reign of sin, &c. Hence
 
 56 
 
 it is plain that Christ redeems us from sin or from all 
 iniquity." 
 
 " I now inquire what was the price given for our 
 redemption? The blood or death of Christ is, every- 
 where in Scripture, declared to be the price given. 
 Acts xx. 28. Rev. v. 9, &c. It may now be asked, 
 if Christ, or God in Christ, redeems from the devil 
 and sin? And if he gave his blood as the ransom or 
 price, who got the price 1 The apostle to the Hebrews 
 answers : — Forasmuch as the children were partakers of 
 fiesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the 
 same, that through death he might destroy him that had 
 the power of death, that is the devil. Here then we 
 see that the devil had the power of death ; and he got 
 the price, which was the death of Christ. Then was 
 fulfilled that old prophecy — I will put enmity between 
 thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed : 
 It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel. 
 Gen. iii, 15." This particular point, '' the devil get- 
 ting the price," was combated by Dr. Campbell, in 
 his strictures : Whereupon Brother Stone agreed *' to 
 eat these dreadful words " because so extremely offen- 
 sive to the Doctor, and the occasion of a wildness of 
 imagination in the Calvinist preachers and people. 
 (See Reply, p. 55.) But neither Dr. Campbell nor 
 Brother Stone fully understood the expression, when 
 they agreed that it should be eaten. The offence of 
 the expression, seemed to lie in giving the devil some- 
 thing that was precious : hence the Doctor's objection, 
 '^that the precious blood of Christ was given by God 
 to the devil in payment !" That " God was so mer- 
 ciless, as to deliver up his only Son, to glut the malice 
 of a blood-thirsty demon !" That " the Lamb of God 
 was immolated on the altar of hell," &c. But had 
 he adverted to the apostle's idea, quoted by Stone, 
 viz., that this precious blood was intended to destroy 
 the one to whom it was given, it must have appeared 
 more consistent for the devil to get it, than the justice 
 of God. The Doctor would not be so unreasonable as
 
 57 
 
 to give a dose of tartar emetic to one in perfect health, 
 to create bile on his stomach, and thereby at-one him 
 to the bilious. He knows the precious tartar emetic 
 (which is the very essence of bile) must be deposited 
 in the bilious bowels of his patient, in order to collect 
 into union with itself everything there of its own na- 
 ture and carry it off in the draught. 
 
 Now admitting that Christ assumed that blood, life 
 or nature, in which all mankind lay, separated from 
 God ; that life was his, and he had a right to do with 
 it what he pleased ; and although it was endowed 
 with no greater excellence in him, than in another 
 considered in itself, yet it might be denominated pre- 
 cious, from the use which he made of it : and admit- 
 ting that he gave it up as a public sacrifice, made a 
 show of it openly, and put away sin by the sacrifice 
 of it, the Doctor must grant that Stone's inference that 
 ''the devil got the price," was not so full of horror, 
 as he at first imagined ; and consequently it must 
 prove a very strong emetic to him that eats it. 
 
 VIII. The above Schismatic doctrine, as far as it 
 was opened and explained, threatened the total sub- 
 version of the Calvinistic system, at one blow. For 
 upon the principle that sin must be actually destroyed, 
 that Christ did actually assume, overcome and destroy 
 it, and that the same battle must be fought, and the 
 same victory gained by all who are born of God ; it 
 follows of course, that proxy sinning, suffering, obey- 
 ing, dying, rising, reigning, &c., are the proper ef- 
 fects of a disordered brain. And moreover if it was 
 the enmity which Christ nailed to the cross and took 
 out of the way, and the Bevil which he destroyed by 
 death, the hypostatical union of two distinct natures 
 in the Son of God forever, must be a capital mistake, 
 and all the worship that has been offered to him upon 
 such a faith, must have conduced to the dignity and 
 honor of that spirit, which the meek, lowly, and self- 
 denying Saviour foiled upon the mount. In fine, the
 
 '58 
 
 Schismatics, taking it for granted that sin was the 
 whole occasion of two^s — That Christ came to destroy 
 it — that his veracity was pledged to finish the work — 
 and that the time of the promise was near at hand — 
 expected, in whatever way the work should he effect- 
 ed, the day would soon declare it. 
 
 Several objections were raised in the Schismatic fra- 
 ternity against Brother Worley's manner of under- 
 standing the Scriptures ; the most particular of which 
 was, 1st, That it led to Universalism, and made Christ 
 the Saviour of all men eventually, as well as officially: 
 taking it for granted, that either in the plan of redemp- 
 tion, or the execution of it, God has distinguished the 
 souls of men by number and person. And 2d, That 
 if such a doctrine was established, it would open a 
 wider door to vice, inasmuch as it would cut off at 
 once from the carnal mind, the powerful influence of 
 hope and fear : consequently the wicked spirit in man 
 would become more violent, and sin with more greed- 
 iness, knowing that his time was short. But as all 
 agreed, that they were only yet beginning to learn the 
 mysteries of the Scripture ; and each one had a right 
 to exercise his own faith ; and walk by the same rule 
 and mind the same thing, whereunto he had attained ; 
 the investigation of these mysterious and intricate 
 points, was put off to a future period ; and the churches 
 went on harmoniously in the first principles of the 
 JYew-Lighty which they conceived to be so well estab- 
 lished, by the extraordinary power and gifts of the 
 Spirit. I shall now proceed to give some account of 
 their particular form of government, manner of wor- 
 ship, &c. 
 
 IX. It has been before observed, that they constitut- 
 ed by a vote, which considered the Scripture, as the 
 only written oracle, through which the mind of God 
 was revealed to them. And in order to this general 
 suffrage, (in which the body of the people at large 
 had equal privilege,) every claim to superiority, (by a
 
 59 
 
 succession of church offices) had been laid aside ; con- 
 sequently the power of government was considered in 
 the body of the people thus constituted. This new ' 
 republic, under the standard of liberty and equality, 
 and invested with so great a degree of light, life and 
 power, assumed a threatening aspect toward the little 
 surrounding kingdoms which had long been weaken- 
 ing each other by civil broils. It is difficult to paint 
 the zeal for liberty, and just indignation against the 
 old aristocratic spirit, which glowed through every 
 member of this new confederacy. And under the in- 
 fluence of this warm democratic zeal, these churches 
 soon exhibited an appearance, distinct from anything 
 that had ever been seen. The following minutes of 
 the Church at Turtle Creek will serve to illustrate some 
 of the particulars of their proceedings. 
 
 ^' April 21, 1804, John Miller, Amos Valentine, 
 and Joseph Stout, publicly related the circumstances 
 of their conversion, w^ith which the Church was 
 well satisfied, and gave them the right hand of fel- 
 lowship, as worthy members of the suffering body of 
 Christ. Samuel Kimbel informed the Church with 
 tears, that he had wounded his own conscience, and 
 the cause of God, by associating with the wicked in 
 a tavern, and tossing a dollar for whisky, professed 
 his abhorrence of such conduct, and his determination 
 in future to be more guarded. The Church was satis- 
 fied with his repentance, and agreed that the offence 
 be forgiven." 
 
 " J. F. informed the Church, that he had been over- 
 taken in a quarrel, in which he suffered anger to rise 
 in his breast, whereby the Holy Spirit was grieved. 
 Yet as he did not manifest that the leaven was purg- 
 ed out in such a manner as to feel the fellowship of 
 that spirit which turns the other cheek to the smiter, 
 loves an enemy and returns blessing for cursing; the 
 Church agreed that he should be kept on suspense till 
 further satisfaction be obtained." 
 
 Observe, it was upon the supposition that Christ
 
 60 
 
 was in this body of the people, that transgressors 
 came forward and confessed their sins ; and such con- 
 fessions were not considered as being made to men, 
 but to God ; and the forgiveness to proceed from that 
 spirit, which was at one with the Father and the Son. 
 In this mode of government, the republican body 
 was filed off in a separate capacity; and the sur- 
 rounding multitude were considered belonging to a 
 different family : and any one might have the privi- 
 lege of coming over, confessing their wickedness, 
 professing their repentance, and uniting with their 
 spirit as far as they choose^ And the way was as free 
 and open, for any to change sides in a different man- 
 ner. These churches still retained the use of the sa- 
 craments, but from the change which had taken place 
 in the ministry, the end and use of the sacraments, 
 were very differently considered. When the imputed 
 righteousness of Christ, the satisfaction made to jus- 
 tice, in behalf of the sinner, and the imputed author- 
 ity of the standing clergy, to minister in the name of 
 Christ were set aside; the former use of the sacra- 
 ments must of course go with the rest, for there re- 
 mained no one regularly ordained to administer them. 
 It may be inquired whether these churches did not 
 consider themselves authorized to ordain ministers. I 
 answer they did not, as appears evident from the ten- 
 or of their faith on that subject as stated in the Ob- 
 servations on Church Government^ as well as from the 
 manner in which they acted in relation to that im- 
 portant matter. The farthest that they went, was to 
 express their satisfaction with, and encourage those 
 who they believed had power and authority given 
 them from heaven, as appears from the following 
 minute, dated '' Sept. 29th 1804. The Church took 
 into consideration, the case of Brother Worley, rela- 
 tive to his laboring in the word. He was examined 
 as to his soundness in the faith, with which examina- 
 tion the Church was satisfied^ and he was encouraged 
 to exercise his talents, in public exhortation, as Provi-
 
 61 
 
 dence might call and direct. The Schismatics had 
 too fresh a remembrance of the sufferings they had 
 underwent, in obtaining liberty from the reputed 
 vicegerents of Christ, acting in his room and stead, 
 to allow them to lay hands suddenly on any one ; 
 and especially as they conceived it necessary, that 
 the Holy Ghost should be given, in the important ar- 
 ticle of ordaining a true minister of the gospel. 
 
 In consequence of encouragement from the repub- 
 lican body, there were certain individuals who took 
 the lead in public exercises, which leads me to state 
 some of the peculiarities of their worship. 
 
 X. From their general faith, that God and Christ 
 had their abode in the soul of man ; and from tliose 
 inward feelings of love and power, which they occa- 
 sionally felt, through the medium of a lively faith, 
 they were led to believe that whatever exercise was 
 congruous-- t:04hat inward feeling, and had a tendency 
 to increase it,' was acceptable to God, as true worship. 
 Hence by giving the right hand of fellowship to those 
 who were admitted into the community, and finding 
 that it tended to increase the inward workings of the 
 Spirit ; it was gradually introduced as a common act 
 of worship, in concert with singing hymns and spirit- 
 ual songs. The whole society, old and young, male 
 and female, would commonly unite in this mode of 
 worship ; and taking each other by the hand, would 
 shake not only their hands, but their whole bodies, 
 like one churning, with such violence that the place 
 would seem to quiver under them. This they called 
 rejoicing, and in this worship they considered it the 
 privilege of every one to unite, who believed the new 
 doctrine of atonement ; according to an observation of 
 Brother Stone, when he first heard that doctrine stated, 
 viz., '' that if these things were established as truth, 
 he would rejoice forever." Admitting that God was 
 love — could not be changed — was the same to one 
 soul as another — would have all to be saved, &c., 
 
 6
 
 62 
 
 nothing remained but for the soul to love God, and 
 rejoice in confident hope of salvation, and manifest 
 its faith and confidence by every such bodily exercise, 
 as had a loving or joyful appearance. The JYew-Lights 
 had considered it presumption to perform any of these 
 bodily exercises, voluntarily, into which they were 
 forced by a supernatural power ; but this kind of faith 
 appeared childish to the Schismatics. They supposed 
 that whatever God moved the creature to, by his irre- 
 sistible power, must be acceptable to him. And there- 
 fore it was their privilege to do voluntarily what was 
 acceptable to God, rather than to be once in a while 
 dragged to it, and the rest of their time offer up such 
 voluntary worship as was " full of unbelief and sin," 
 and a stench in the nostrils of Jehovah. 
 
 The JYeW'Lights^ struck down, and held under the 
 power of death for a time, then raised up as in a new 
 world of light and vision, and carried away with such 
 raptures of joy, could not possibly conceal their con- 
 version. Such a conversion, and way of manifesting 
 it, however acceptable it might be to God, as being 
 the effect of his irresistible power ; yet, the Schismatics 
 conceived it to be more acceptable to God (and not 
 without good reason) for one who was convinced of 
 sin, and had turned from it, to rise up in the assembly 
 of those who were like-minded, testify his views and> 
 feelings, and declare his intentions boldly and volun- 
 tarily. And again if he was overtaken with a fault, 
 if it should be so small a thing as tossing a dollar for 
 whisky, or suffering a little anger to arise in his breast, 
 that he voluntarily confess it in the open light, and 
 profess his abhorrence of it. There must appear a 
 very marked difference between this worship, and that 
 in which the sinner was overtaken with the power of 
 God, and constrained to do what he did not love, and 
 might afterwards excuse himself, that he could not 
 help it, and still claim his union with the world, by a 
 voluntary profession that he was yet a sinner, prone 
 to evil, no better than any other ; and all that distin-
 
 63 
 
 guished him from others, was the lighting down of a 
 sovereign power upon him which he could not avoid. 
 The Schismatics conceived they were worshiping God 
 to acceptance, while relating their conversion, express- 
 ing their abhorrence of sin, and singing spiritual songs 
 to that effect — " I shall be holy here " — shaking hands 
 and shuddering with indignation against their soul- 
 enernies — crying out for final deliverance from them. 
 '' Make me Saviour, what thou art : live thyself, with- 
 in my heart. '^ — Leaping and skipping voluntarily, in 
 the joyful hope — " Then the world shall always see, 
 Christ the holy child in me." So that the principal 
 thing that distinguished the Schismatic worship from 
 that of the JYew-Lights, was their taking the privilege 
 of exhibiting by a bold faith, what others were moved 
 to by a blind impulse. This they considered a great 
 improvement, growth and advancement in the spirit 
 of the revival. And upon this principle, the volunta- 
 ry exercise of dancing was introduced as the worship 
 of God; by Brother Thompson and some others who 
 were forward in promoting the grand Schism. Al- 
 though this singular worship was practiced voluntarily 
 with a degree of formality, yet it was not introduced in 
 a formal way ; but by following up and improving 
 those operations which at first irresistibly forced them 
 into that exercise. At the spring sacrament at Turtle- 
 Creek in 1804, Brother Thompson had been constrained 
 just at the close of the meeting to go to dancing, and 
 for an hour or more to dance in a regular manner 
 round the stand, all the while repeating in a low tone 
 of voice—" This is the Holy Ghost— Glory !" But it 
 was not till the ensuing fall, or beginning of the win- 
 ter, that the Schismatics began to encourage one an- 
 other to praise God in the dance, and unite in that ex- 
 ercise ; justly believing that it was their privilege to 
 rejoice before the Lord, and ^o forth in the dances of 
 them that make merry. 
 
 However, notwithstanding the Schismatics aimed at 
 that worship which should be expressive of uniform
 
 64 
 
 and continual joy : Yet they were far from attaining 
 it ; and at least the one half of their exercises were of 
 a contrary nature ; some of a voluntary, and others of 
 an involuntary nature. 
 
 Among their voluntary acts of worship, were the 
 general confession that they were sinners — rebuking, 
 reproving and laboring to reclaim their fellows, who 
 were more notoriously v/icked than the rest. Some 
 praying to God to sanctify their corrupt natures, &C.5 
 and others praying against their prayers. This kind 
 of praying-match was a very common Schismatic ex- 
 ercise. They considered it contrary to their federal 
 constitution, for one to attack another openly by any 
 supposed authority ; and therefore they bad recourse 
 to the Spirit ; and by the brightest, boldest, and loud- 
 est gift of prayer, the cause was commonly decided. 
 In this way they generally settled their controversies 
 of every kind. One would begin to preach or exhort, 
 and if his doctrine was judged unsound or uninterest- 
 4ng, he would be presently matched with a prayer ; 
 and whichever collected the greatest warmth, and 
 manifested the most lively sensation of soul, gained 
 the victory, and interested the general shout on that 
 side. 
 
 But there was moreover in the Schismatic worship 
 a species of exercises of an involuntary kind, which 
 seemed to have been substituted by the Great Spirit, 
 in the room of the falling, &c., which had been among 
 the JYew-Lights. The principal of these, were the 
 rolling exercises^ the jerks and the harks. 1. The 
 rolling exercise which consisted in being cast down in 
 a violent manner, doubled with the head and feet to- 
 gether, and rolled over and over like a wheel, or 
 stretched in a prostrate manner, turned swiftly over 
 and over like a log. This was considered very de- 
 basing and mortifying, especially if the person was 
 taken in this manner through the mud, and sullied 
 therewith from head to foot. 
 
 2, Still more demeaning and mortifying were the
 
 65 
 
 jerks* Nothing in nature could better represent this 
 strange and unaccountable operation, than for one to 
 goad another, alternately on every side, with a piece 
 of red hot iron. The exercise commonly began in the 
 head which would fly backward and forward, and 
 from side to side, with a quick jolt, which the person 
 would naturally labor to suppress, but in vain ; and 
 the more any one labored to stay himself^ and be sober, 
 the more he staggered, and the more rapidly his 
 twitches increased. He must necessarily go as he was 
 stimulated, whether with a violent dash on the ground 
 and bounce from place to place like a foot-ball, or hop 
 round, with head, limbs and trunk, twitching and 
 jolting in every direction, as if they must inevitably 
 fly asunder. And how such could escape without in- 
 jury, was no small wonder to spectators. By this 
 strange operation the human frame was commonly so 
 transformed and disfigured, as to lose every trace of 
 its natural appearance. Sometimes the head would 
 be twitched right and left, to a half round, with such 
 velocity, that not a feature could be discovered, but 
 the face appear as much behind as before ; and in the 
 quick progressive jerk, it would seem as if the person 
 was transmuted into some other species of creature. 
 Head dresses were of little account among the female 
 jerkers. Even handkerchiefs bound tight round the 
 head, would be flirted off almost with the first twitch, 
 and the hair put into the utmost confusion, this was a 
 very great inconvenience, to redress which the gener- 
 ality were shorn, though directly contrary to their con- 
 fession of faith. Such as were seized with the jerks, 
 were wrested at once, not only from under their own 
 government, but that of every one else, so that it was 
 dangerous to attempt confining them, or touching them 
 in any manner, to whatever danger they were exposed ; 
 yet few were hurt, except it were such as rebelled 
 against the operation, through wilful and deliberate 
 enmity, and refused to comply with the injunctions 
 which it came to enforce. 
 
 6*
 
 66 
 
 3. The last possible grade of mortification seemed 
 to be couched in the barks^ which frequently accom- 
 panied the jerks ; nor were they the most mean and 
 contemptible characters, who were the common vic- 
 tims of this disgracing" operation ; but persons who 
 considered themselves in the foremost rank, possessed 
 of the highest improvements of human nature ; and 
 yet in spite of all the efforts of nature, both men and 
 women would be forced to personate that animal, 
 whose name, appropriated to a human creature is 
 counted the most vulgar stigma — forced I say, for no 
 argument but force, could induce any one of polite 
 breeding in a public company, to take the position of 
 a canine beast, move about on all-fours, growl, snap 
 the teeth, and bark in so personating a manner, as to 
 set the eyes and ears of the spectator at variance. It 
 was commonly acknowledged by the subjects of these 
 exercises, that they were laid upon them, as a chas- 
 tisement for disobedience, or a stimulus to incite them 
 to some duty or exercise, to which they felt opposed. 
 Hence it was very perceivable that the quickest meth- 
 od to find releasement from the jerks and barks, was 
 to engage in the voluntary dance ; and such as refused, 
 being inwardly moved thereto as their duty and privi- 
 lege, had to bear these aflHicting operations, from 
 month to month, and from year to year, until they 
 wholly lost their original design, and were converted 
 into a badge of honor, in the same manner as the 
 first outward mark of human guilt. Although these 
 strange convulsions served to overawe the heaven-dar- 
 ing spirits of the wicked and stimulate the halting 
 Schismatic to the performance of many duties, disa- 
 greeable to the carnal mind ; yet in all this, their de- 
 sign was not fully comprehended, something doubtful 
 and awful, was thought to be figured out thereby, 
 which would suddenly fall with pain upon the head 
 of the wicked; and nothing was more calculated to 
 excite such fearful apprehensions, than the expres- 
 sions that were sometimes mixed with the bow wow
 
 67 
 
 wow, such as every knee shall bow, and every tongue 
 confess, Sfc, ; at least these kind of exercises served to 
 show, that the foundation was not yet laid, for unre- 
 mitting joy, and that such as attached themselves to 
 this people must unite with them as a body destined 
 to suffer with Christ before they could reign with 
 him. But however great the sufferings of the Schis- 
 matics — from a sense of their own remaining depravi- 
 ty — the burden and weight of distress they bore for 
 a lost world — the hatred, contempt, and persecuting 
 rage of all around them — together Avith the spasmo- 
 dic writhings of body with which they were so gene- 
 rally exercised ; yet they were not a little alleviated 
 by the many extraordinary signs and gifts of the Spir- 
 it, through which they were encouraged to look for 
 brighter days. Among these innumerable signs and 
 gifts, may be ranked. The spirit of prophesy — Being 
 caught up or carried away in this spirit, and remain- 
 ing for hours insensible of anything in nature — 
 Dreaming of dreams — Seeing visions — Hearing un- 
 speakable words — The fragrant smell and delightful 
 singing in the breast. This spirit of prophe^sy is par- 
 ticularly worthy of notice ; which had its foundation 
 in a peculiar kind of faith, and grew up under the 
 special influence of visions, dreams, &c. The first 
 thing was to believe what God had promised, with an 
 appropriating faith — cast anchor upon the thing pro- 
 mised though unseen ; and hold the soul to the pur- 
 suit of it, in defiance of all the tossing billows of un- 
 belief. This faith so contrary to the carnal heart, 
 they concluded must be of God. It must be the Spir- 
 it of Christ, or God working in the creature, both to 
 will and to do. What is the promise, but the purpose 
 of God ? And what is the purpose of my soul (says 
 the Schismatic) but to have the thing promised. Has 
 God promised? — he cannot lie : Has he purposed 1 — he 
 cannot alter : Therefore what his Spirit leads me to, 
 I shall possess, as certain as God is stronger than the 
 devil. Upon this principle, all were encouraged to
 
 68 
 
 believe the promise, and immediately set out, in co- 
 operation with the promiser ; and in proportion to 
 the strength of their faith, to predict the certain ac- 
 complishment of that purpose of God which they felt 
 within them. 
 
 Notwithstanding this faith furnished a very bold 
 foundation for predicting what should come to pass ; 
 yet it was far from comprehending the whole of that 
 evidence, upon which the Schismatics looked, for the 
 purpose and promise of God to be fulfilled. It was 
 very common for them to be caught up, or carried 
 away by the same spirit of faith ; and be shown in 
 bright and heavenly visions, the indisputable reality 
 of what they before contemplated in a simple belief. 
 In those ecstasies, some would seem to desert the 
 body, and leave it for hours in a state almost or quite 
 inanimate. Others in their transports, would seem 
 to use their clay tenement, as a kind of instrument 
 to sign out, and represent to the spectators, what the 
 active spirit saw in open vision, independent of any 
 of its mean organs. Of these extraordinary visions, 
 nothing can be communicated here, beyond an im- 
 perfect hint; and whether they ever be correctly stat- 
 ed on paper is a matter of doubt. Their general 
 import respected things that were darkly hinted at 
 in the Scriptures, and hard to be understood ; such 
 things as were especially to take place in the latter 
 days. And hence notwithstanding they had adopted 
 the Scriptures under the notion of a confession of 
 faith ; yet it was not immediately to the Scriptures 
 they applied for light, but to that transporting Spirit, 
 which opened clearly to the mind, those mysterious 
 things recorded in Scripture ; which the wisest men 
 upon earth, without the Spirit, could not understand. 
 See the letter to Synod, published in Stone's reply, p. 
 63, of which the following is an extract. " We view 
 Christ as the only centre of union, and Love the only 
 bond. Let us labor after this spirit, and when we 
 obtain it, then we shall all be united in one body.
 
 69 
 
 * * * Some are groaning- for the wounds of the 
 Presbyterian cause; some for the Methodist; some 
 for the Baptist, &c. ; eacli believing that it is the cause 
 of Christ for which they are groaning. And some 
 are as heartily groaning for the wounds of the Chris- 
 tian cause, without respect to names or parties. If 
 we should unite our groans and cries to the Father 
 of our mercies for our general release, and the coming" 
 of the Lord's kingdom with power, God would hear 
 and answer us. O let us unite in the common cause 
 ****** Then will Zion shake herself from the 
 dust, shine forth as the sun in his brightness, and be 
 terrible as an army with banners. Then shall she 
 be a cup of trembling to all the people round about 
 her, and shake terribly the nations. Then shall that 
 man of sin be destroyed, and righteousness shall flow 
 down as a mighty stream. These things, dear breth- 
 ren, are not vain imaginations, for God is now about 
 to take the earth. Thy kingdom come. Even so 
 come. Lord Jesus. Brethren, yours in the Lord. 
 
 R. Marshall, 
 
 J. DUNLAVY, 
 
 B. W. Stone, 
 J. Thompson. 
 Danville, October 18^ 1804. 
 
 To the Moderator of the Synod of Kentucky, ^^ 
 
 In these sublime figures was couched the whole 
 purport of the Schismatic vision, viz. : the coming of 
 the Lord's kingdom with power. As one body of 
 people, united in Christ, by the pure bond of love ; 
 the house habitation, or dome of the king of kings, 
 in which the groanings of Presbyterians, Methodists, 
 Baptists, and — Christians, for the wounds of their 
 petty party cause should not be heard. — A Zion or 
 pure gospel church, shaking herself from the dust, 
 i. e. from every thing unclean, all that belongs to the 
 serpent; and shining forth like the sun (i. e. Christ
 
 70 
 
 Jesus,) in his brightness. Setting the people to trem- 
 ble — and shaking terribly the nations. Consuming 
 the man of sin — and opening a stream of everlasting 
 righteousness upon the earth. 
 
 These were bold figures, and that they were just 
 about to be substantiated, required something more 
 than a vain imagination to evince. 
 
 Sleeping and waking, the whole topic with these 
 Schismatics was the increasing work of God, and 
 each one contemplating it through some special dream 
 or vision, in which they felt confident, they had a 
 particular revelation of the Lord's Christ. This was 
 the kind of manna which they were daily gathering, 
 and out of the infinite abundance that fell on the 
 camp, it may not be improper to deposit a little of it 
 in the pot. In some of these rapturous scenes, they 
 professed to be carried clear out of the body, and to 
 be favored with a particular interview with the spirits 
 of their departed friends ; and to see and learn their 
 different allotments in the invisible world. Some- 
 times they mixed with great multitudes who had em- 
 braced religion in the past century, and were waiting 
 for the new Jerusalem to appear, and the way to be 
 opened into the holy city. At other times they pro- 
 fessed to see the holy city, in the bright and heaven- 
 ly glory, and to hear the songs of the angelic host ; 
 and that attempting to join them in their music, occa- 
 sioned the melodious sound in the breast ; and that 
 entering into the overshadowing cloud of such celes- 
 tial witnesses, perfumed their whole soul and body, 
 with a peculiar fragrance, which rendered every 
 thing of a mortal, fleshy nature, disagreeable and un- 
 savoury. This peculiar fragrance, which could not 
 be found in anything upan earth, but the subjects of 
 these strange operations, seemed of all other things, 
 to bring the heavenly state the nearest to the senses 
 of these people. Under the influence of this singu- 
 lar perfume, (which seemed to answer to the Scripture 
 notion of the smell of Christ's garments from the
 
 71 
 
 ivory palaces and all the powders of the merchant,) 
 they would swoon away sometimes three or four times 
 in a day, recover, rise and dance around with such 
 incarnate and elevated springs, as might render it 
 doubtful to the spectator, whether they properly be- 
 longed to the gross inhabitants of this globe, or some 
 other family of beings. 
 
 Besides these singular transports, they had another 
 species of vision, more universal ; in which the sun, 
 moon, stars, mountains, rivers, plains, vegetables, an^ 
 imals, and a thousand particular things, and circum- 
 stances in nature, were used as emblems of things in 
 the spiritual w^orld, or kingdom of Christ. One has a 
 night vision of two suns, another of three moons, an- 
 other, wide awake sees a great platform of bright stars 
 in the noon-day hemisphere. From these they de- 
 scend to apparitions of strange things upon earth, (See 
 the Raleigh Register of last September, concerning the 
 multitude of Celestial beings, seen on the Chimney 
 mountain, hovering round a great rock.) One discov- 
 ers a certain spot of ground illuminated all over with 
 the brightness of burning fire, and thousands of human 
 creatures flocking into it from all quarters, and instant- 
 ly purified from all the effects of a gross and fleshy 
 nature. Another sees the air crowded with birds of 
 prey, commissioned to devour the flesh of every dead 
 beast. Another sees a road marked out in the color 
 of bright light, a thousand miles long, and stands with 
 his visive faculties intensely fixed upon it, until he 
 discovers certain persons coming forth, with good 
 news from afar. Some in their visions were employed 
 in crossing rivers, climbing mountains; finding trea- 
 sures, fighting serpents, or more delightfully empix)yed 
 in eating the fruits of the tree of life, bathing in clear 
 water, casting off old garments and putting on new. 
 
 "In a word, all nature seemed to be impregnated 
 with a new and spiritual quality, which rendered eve- 
 ry object and every transaction presented to the mind, 
 whether sleeping or waking, susceptible of some sigr 
 nification which respected the then present work,
 
 72 
 
 These short sketches may serve to recognize the as- 
 tonishing" raptures in which the Schismatics were car- 
 ried along, in full expectation of the kingdom of 
 Christ ; hut such was the unremitted flow of that 
 Spirit, which transmuted everything into a different 
 appearance, that were it supposable that disembodied 
 spirits could enter living men and women, it might be 
 thought that every visionary, recorded either in sacred 
 or profane history, had rendezvoused in the Schismat- 
 ics and borrowed their active powers to revise their 
 endless train of types and figures. At least, it was, 
 no doubt with the greatest propriety, that these singu- 
 lar people appropriated to their day, the full and per- 
 fect accomplishment of the following prophecy of Joel. 
 / will pour out my spirit upon all fleshy and your sons 
 and your daughters shall prophecy^ and your young 
 men shall see visions^ and your old men shall dream 
 dreams — and I will show wonders in heaven above ^ and 
 signs in the earth beneath^ blood and fire and vapors of 
 smoke. And to put it be^^ond all dispute that the 
 work among the Schismatics, was that alluded to by 
 the prophet; they generally supposed the extraordi- 
 nary shower of blood fell out in the summer of 1804, 
 about seven miles from Turtle Creek meeting-house, 
 traces of which are preserved unto this day. Not that 
 they considered the spirit of prophecy, their dreams 
 and visions and other signs as having anything in 
 them, to be depended upon for salvation. But as the 
 merchant hangs out signals about his door, to direct 
 the people where to come for merchandise : so were 
 the prophesier, the dreamer, the visionist, the sweet 
 singer, and fragrant dancer, hung out to the view of 
 the world, to shov/ where God was about to open his 
 everlasting kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy 
 in the Holy Ghost. This kingdom was what the 
 Schismatics were peculiarly bent for, and short of this, 
 they determined never to stop. About the latter end 
 of the year 1804, there were regular societies of these 
 people, in the State of Ohio, xit Turtle Creek, Eagle
 
 73 
 
 Creek, Springfield, Orangedale, Salem, Beaver Creek, 
 Clear Creek, &c. And in Kentucky : — at Cabin 
 Creek, Flemingsburgh, Concord, Caneridge, Indian 
 Creek, Bethel, Paint Lick, Shawny Run, &c., besides 
 an innumerable multitude, dispersed among the peo- 
 ple, in Tennessee, N. Carolina, Virginia, and the 
 western parts of Pensylvania, who were exercised 
 more or less with the same spirit. Praying, shouting, 
 jerking, barking, or rolling ; dreaming, prophesying, 
 and looking as through a glass, at the infinite glories 
 of mount Zion, just about to break open upon the 
 world. At least those who were foremost in the schism 
 expected beyond a doubt, that another summer would 
 not roll by, with any degree of the light, gifts and 
 power of God, short of that which bringeth full and 
 complete salvation from all sin. And in this expecta- 
 tion (besides, the common exercises of shaking hands, 
 and pledging themselves to each other by everything 
 sacred, that they would preserve in the sin-killing 
 work, unto the fall feast of the Lamb :) they practiced 
 a mode of prayer, which was as singular, as the situ- 
 ation in which they stood, and the faith by which 
 they were actuated. According to their proper name 
 of distinction, they stood separate and divided, each 
 one for one ; and in this capacity, they offered up each 
 their separate cries to God, in one united harmony of 
 sound ; by which, the doubtful footsteps of those who 
 were in search of the meeting, might be directed, 
 sometimes to the distance of miles. Whatever this 
 portentous concert might have addressed to God, in 
 the inner man, a sensible spectator with the slightest 
 attention might have gathered tlie general import of 
 their univocal prayer, from such language as the fol- 
 lowing : '^ Lord God, Almighty! Thou hast prom- 
 ised unto us eternal life, and this life is in thy Son. 
 Thou art no respecter of persons. Glory to thy name, 
 we believe it is thy will that all should be saved, and 
 come to the knowledge of the truth. We venture 
 upon thy promise, and roll our souls upon thy truth 
 
 7
 
 74 
 
 and faithfulness, as the rock of eternal ages. Thon 
 hast invited us to come to the waters, without money 
 and without price. We take thee at thy word. Heav- 
 en's King, thou knowest that we are thirsty. We 
 have long wandered in the dry, sandy desert of sin ; 
 but, glory to God, we believe there is an everlasting 
 fountain opened, and our souls have already begun to 
 taste the blessed waters. But Lord we are not satis- 
 fied. We want the fulness ; and we believe thou 
 hast given us the foretaste, not to disappoint us, but 
 to encourage us to press on to the overflowing foun- 
 tain, and short of that we mean not to stop. We want 
 to bathe in the ocean of Redeeming love, and wash 
 away the last, and least remains of a fallen nature. 
 Jesus, Master, we want to be like thee ; holy, as thou 
 art holy — without spot and blameless. Come, Lord, 
 and finish thy work ! Cut it short in righteousness. 
 We doubt not, it is thy will, even our sanctification. 
 Thy perfect will is all we want to know. O send by 
 whom thou wilt send. Work by means of thine own 
 choosing ; only supplant, root out, consume and de- 
 stroy the man of sin, the son of perdition, and set^our 
 souls at perfect liberty from his iron bondage. Jesus, 
 Lord, inscribe thy character on our every faculty. 
 Make our bodies the fit temples of the Holy Ghost. 
 Diffuse thy nature through all our active powers, and 
 let every member be moved and actuated by the im- 
 pulse Divine." * * * * 
 
 Could language be invented more expressive of the 
 near approach of the day of real, positive, and full 
 redemption 1 It therefore remains to give some ac- 
 count of those important realities, to which the forego- 
 ing signs and wonders pointed, and to the entrance 
 upon which, they served as a preparation. 
 
 " Shout, Christians, shout, the Lord is come : 
 Prepare, prepare to make him room ! 
 On earth he reigns, we feel him near, 
 The signs of glory now appear."
 
 75 
 
 I shall close this part of the history with a hj^mn, 
 composed on this preparatory work, though not ori- 
 ginally intended for publication : 
 
 JOHN THE BAPTIST: 
 
 '^ The least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he,^' 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 The twenty-first of the third month, in eighteen hundred one. 
 The word of God came unto me, that word which came to John— 
 *' My gospel is preparing for this benighted land, 
 Go and proclaim the tidings, my kingdom is at hand. 
 
 Those souls that want Salvation, their groanings I have heard ; 
 But ere they can receive it, the way must be prepar'd. 
 In the dim rays of star-light, a work must first be done. 
 Before their tender eyes can endure the rising sun. 
 
 Repent and be baptized, must be your solemn call. 
 The tidings of salvation must be proclaim'd to all. 
 He that believes my messenger commissioned from above. 
 That soul shall be baptized with my refreshing love. 
 
 When persecutions rise, from the advocates of sin. 
 Your pliant soul must yield, like a reed before the wind. 
 You must be greatly shaken, but never yield to fear. 
 Before the scene is ended, my kingdom shall appear." 
 
 This blessed word, like fire, ran through my mortal clay ; 
 The former earth and heaven seemed all to pass away : 
 And while the kingdom opened in visions most sublime. 
 My spirit was transported beyond the bounds of time.
 
 76 
 
 Awaking from this rapture, salvation was my theme. 
 The multitude supposing I only told a dream ; 
 But some at length believed the living truth of God, . 
 And flaming with the Spirit, they spread it all abroad. 
 
 Soon as the fountain open'd for souls to be baptiz'd. 
 The land was in commotion, the people all surpris'd : 
 In thousands they resorted unto this living pool. 
 And as they felt its virtue, each acted like a fool. 
 
 With joyful tears a-flowing, mix'd with a solemn laugh. 
 They cry " the day 's approaching when God will burn the chaff!' 
 In this blest anticipation, to threshing they begin. 
 To make a separation between the soul and sin. 
 
 With prayer and exhortation, they make the forests roar. 
 And such loud strains of shouting were never heard before. 
 The stupid Antichristians were struck both blind and dumb. 
 With such loud supplication — Lord let thy kingdom come ! 
 
 The wicked persecutors, who dared the truth gainsay. 
 Beneath the hand of justice, their breathless bodies lay ; 
 Triumphing round their corpses, the joyful concerts sing — 
 *' Hosanna to our Jesus, we know he will be king !" 
 
 The kingdom was proclaimed in loud prophetic strains. 
 The joyful news received, with ten thousand loud Amens ! 
 With mighty signs and wonders, the work did still increase. 
 To show the blessed kingdom was righteousness and peace.
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 Five Preachers formed a body, in eighteen hundred three. 
 From Antichrist's false systems to set the people free : 
 His doctrine and his worship in pieces they did tear — 
 But ere the scene was ended these men became a snare. 
 
 As witnesses for Jesus, they labored night and day. 
 To convince the blinded Pharisees that Christ was on his way ; 
 But souls bound for the kingdom did strangely turn aside, 
 And for a little season took these to be their guide. 
 
 The word of God came unto them in eighteen hundred four — 
 " Your work is now completed ; you're called to do no more : — 
 My kingdom soon must enter, I cannot long delay ; 
 And in your present order, you're standing in my way.'* 
 
 These preachers took the warning, and all with one accord. 
 Agreed such institutions must fall before the Lord ; 
 And wisely they consented to take their righteous doom. 
 To die and be dissolved, to make the Saviour room. 
 
 In their Last Will and Testament they publish'd a decree. 
 For Christ-ians* in Ohio, Kentuck' and Tennessee, 
 To meet the next October, and swell the solemn prayer — 
 •' Thy kingdom come. Lord Jesus, thy kingdom enter here !" 
 
 * The expectants of Christ.
 
 78 
 
 The meeting was observed, the solemn prayer was made ; 
 We waited for an answer, which was not long delayed : 
 The precious seed of Canaan, long growing in the east. 
 Was planted in Ohio, ere the next April feast. 
 
 The long expected kingdom at length began to spring. 
 Which to many has appeared a strange mysterious thing : 
 But we'll trace it through the summer, the hottest scene of all. 
 And try to find its fruit in the next ensuing Fall. 
 
 PART THIRD. 
 
 While carnal Antichristians, with their adult'rous eyes, 
 Look out for some great monarch, descending through the skies. 
 The Saviour 's on Mount Zion, our brethren and our kin. 
 Have brought that blessed gospel which saves us from all sin. 
 
 How foolish is this gospel to the aspiring Jew — 
 " What ! call a man a Saviour ? Oh, that will never do !" 
 But let their works be shaken out, before the gospel fan ; 
 Their souls will then bear witness, that Christ is in a man. 
 
 That full and free Salvation, for which ten thousands pray'd. 
 Is to the saints committed, just as the prophets said : 
 And all the honest-hearted, will surely find it there. 
 While proud, self-righteous hypocrites, eat back their feigned 
 pray'r. 
 
 That God who shook Mount Sinai, and kindled such a blaze, 
 In Zion has his furnace, in these last burning days ; 
 There honest souls confess their deeds, and every sin forsake, 
 And all the powers of darkness, their faith can never shake.
 
 A BRIEF ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE ENTRANCE AND PROGRESS OF WHAT THE WORLD CALL 
 
 SHAKERISM, 
 
 AMONG THE SUBJECTS OF THE LATE REVIVAL IN 
 OHIO AND KENTUCKY. 
 
 The flesh lusteth against the spirit y and the spirit 
 against the flesh ; and these are contrary the one to the 
 ether : so that every person, according to that princi- 
 ple by which he is governed, whether flesh or spirit, 
 will conceive, judge of, and denominate things 
 around him- And hence, what is food and medicine 
 to one man, may be poison to another ; what one 
 calls truth, another calls error ; what is the work of 
 God to one, appears the work of the devil to another ; 
 and even the heaven of one, may be another's hell. 
 Thus the same thing is often distinguished by names 
 directly opposite, according to the sense of different 
 persons. He who was called the Son of God by 
 some, was denominated by others, prince of the 
 devils. And thus, what one calls Shakerism^ another 
 calls the testimony of Jesus Christ ; and a Shaker , in 
 the language of some, is by others called a true be- 
 liever, a child of God, a follower of the Lamb, And 
 what is still a greater contradiction, that which is 
 called a work of redemption by some, others distin- 
 guish as a work of the deepest delusion. 
 
 From this diversity in the sense and language of 
 mankind, it will be necessary to treat of this new re •
 
 80 
 
 ligion* in a twofold order. 1. According to the real 
 sense, and understanding of those who have embrac- 
 ed it. And 2. As it is addressed to the external 
 senses of mankind in general. 
 
 In each part of the history, impartiality requires 
 that I use the names of distinction and modes of ex- 
 pression, peculiar to each. Accordingly, I shall pro- 
 ceed in the first place, to give a brief account of the 
 entrance and progress of the testimony of Jesus Christ 
 among the subjects of the late revival in Kentucky 
 and Ohio. 
 
 Great expectations had been formed, by the sub- 
 jects of the revival, of something very great, to take 
 place in the summer of 1805, in which God would 
 especially answer their ten thousand prayers, in 
 delivering them from sin, and opening the way in- 
 to the holiest of all. Pursuant to which, the same 
 Spirit that had convinced them of sin, inspired them 
 to pray, and confidently look for deliverance from it, 
 and stirred up such warm expectations of its near ap- 
 proach ; I say that same Spirit, on the first day of the 
 first month, in the selfsame year, dispatched three 
 men, viz : John Meacham, Benjamin S. Youngs, and 
 Issachar Bates, from the church at New-Lebanon, 
 town of Canaan, in the State of New-York ; with 
 the testimony of Jesus Christ and as living Avitnesses 
 of God, to open and confirm to the people, that way, 
 and only way out of sin, that complete salvation, 
 which they themselves had found ; and that everlast- 
 ing life and glory, of which the church in that place 
 w&re in possession. They arrived in Kentucky about 
 the first of March, tarried a few days at Paint Lick, 
 
 * I call it new religion, because that term is readily appropriat- 
 ed by all ; and especially as those who are in possession of it 
 consider it a new creation, the new and living way, which 
 makes all things new that come into it.
 
 81 
 
 where they were kindly entertained ; from thence 
 they journeyed to Caneridge, and spent a few days 
 among the subjects of the revival in that place, 
 among whom they were universally treated with un- 
 feigned respect. From thence they passed over into 
 Ohio, and paid their first visit to Springfield, but with- 
 out exercising any particular labors, in any of those 
 places ; they prosecuted their journey until they ar- 
 rived at Turtle Creek, near Lebanon, on the 22d of 
 the same month. They came first to Malcham Wor- 
 ley's and tarried over night, and the next morning 
 they came to my house ; which was the first means 
 by which I knew that a church or people, by such a 
 name or description, existed upon earth. We spent the 
 remainder of the day principally in conversation, on 
 the most interesting points in religion, and from all 
 the evidence I could collect, I judged them to be men 
 of honest principles, singular piety, and a deep un- 
 derstanding in the things of God ; and as such I de- 
 termined to treat them, so long as their deportment 
 was correspondent. Some of their conversation I 
 could not so well understand : a number of things 
 appeared new ; but considering the copious field of 
 truth, too extensive for my comprehension, I was 
 rather disposed to hear and learn more of God, than 
 to shut out everything that was not included in my 
 little sphere of knowledge. The next day was the 
 Sabbath ; and as they desired to know whether the 
 rules of our meeting would admit them to speak in 
 public, provided they had a feeling so to do, I an- 
 swered, I knew of nothing to hinder. I was sensible 
 the spirit of the revival, as well as that of our 
 wholesome government, imposed no restrictions on 
 any man, from testifying his faith ; nor bound the 
 conscience of any from hearing whoever they chose. 
 And upon this principle, the door was fully opened 
 for them to make any labors at Turtle Creek, either 
 in public or private, to which they conceived they 
 were commissioned. Accordingly, Issachar and Ben
 
 82 
 
 jamin, attended the meeting*, and opened the testimo- 
 ny of Jesus to the congregation — which might all be 
 summed up in this one saying, namely, If any man 
 will come after me, let him deny himself and take up 
 his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his 
 life shall lose it ; and whosoever will lose his life for 
 my sake shall find it. 
 
 From their own feelings, as well as in behalf of 
 the church, they expressed great union with the work 
 of God that had been for years past among the peo- 
 ple, convicting them of their sins, and pointing out 
 by words, signs and particular sensations, the way 
 and method of salvation ; but they further testified that 
 the time was now come for them to enter into actual 
 possession of that salvation, of which they had re- 
 ceived the promise ; that the way to attain it, was by 
 self-denial, taking up a full cross against the world, 
 the flesh and all evil in our knowledge, and follow- 
 ing Christ ; walking as he walked, and being in all 
 things conformed to him, as our pattern and Head. 
 Particularly according to St. Paul, becoming dead 
 with Christ to the rudiments of the world — dying 
 unto sin once — rising with him to a new, spiritual 
 and holy life, and ascending, step by step, in a spi- 
 ritual travel ; and separating, farther and farther, 
 from the course of a corrupt and fallen nature, until 
 we arrive at the perfect stature and measure of the 
 sons of God. That the first step in this saving work, 
 was to confess all our sins, and when we confessed 
 them, forsake them forever. And wherein we had 
 injured and defrauded any one, to make restitution ; 
 and in so doing we should find mercy ; and being 
 faithful, should receive that measure of the Holy 
 Spirit, which would be an overcoming power, not 
 only sufficient to keep us out of all actual sin and de- 
 filement, but to cleanse and purify both soul and body 
 from the very nature of evil. These things they de- 
 livered, not as matters of mere speculation, but as 
 things that had for many years been reduced to prac-
 
 83 
 
 tice, and established by the living experience of hun- 
 dreds in the Church of Christ, to be the way. and 
 only way of God : the one door of hope for a lost 
 soul ; and the sure entrance into the righteous, peace- 
 ful, and holy kingdom of God's dear Son. They did 
 not pretend to direct others a way which they them- 
 selves had not travelled, but testified that with these 
 plain terms of the gospel, they had complied; and 
 the substance of the promise, they had received ; and 
 could say, without boasting or dissembling, that ihey 
 had received that overcoming power, which kept 
 them faultless before the throne of God, even in the 
 presence of his glory. And, moreover, that it was a 
 matter that greatly concerned us. That as Christ 
 had now made a second and last appearance, for a 
 final settlement with every soul of man ; and as God 
 had wrought so great a work among us, in waking 
 lip, enlightening, and preparing us to make a final 
 choice; and by a special gift of his Spirit, had sent us 
 his everlasting testimony of truth, we ought to be 
 very cautious how we treated it. For such as were 
 illuminated, in the great and marvellous light of the 
 revival, to see the evil nature of sin ; and stirred up 
 to seek the way out of it; and had the last and only 
 way of* God opened to them : if they should reject it, 
 their case must be deplorable. That although the 
 light and power of the Spirit might have been, again 
 and again, restored to such as fell into sin, while they 
 had not the proper means of keeping out of it; yet 
 when those means were offered, should they be re- 
 jected, there remained no more protection for such a 
 soul ; but they must lose the salutary eflfects of their 
 former light, and fall under the power of the wicked 
 one. And upon this principle, that the subjects of 
 the revival must either embrace the present call of 
 God ; and, in obedience thereto, take up their cross, 
 and follow Christ : or gradually lose the extraordina- 
 ry effusions of the Spirit they had been under, and
 
 84 
 
 leaven back into a more corrupt and deplorable state 
 than ever. 
 
 If a historian cannot be disinterested and unbiassed, 
 it is necessary that he be honest ; — and therefore I 
 acknowledge, that nothing ever presented itself to 
 me, that so powerfully interested my feelings as the 
 above ^testimony. And although I was not wholly 
 unbiassed, I can say with infinite propriety, I was far 
 from being biassed in its favor. A thousand objects 
 presented themselves to bias me against it. But its 
 intrinsic weight, the importance of the work that was 
 past — the salvation of thousands that hung upon the 
 point of its termination — and that of my own soul with 
 the rest, balanced the weighty demands of the three 
 insatiable idols of time,* and held me, at least, upon 
 an equilibrium for several weeks : so that without 
 prepossession or predetermination, I could candidly 
 investigate the subject; ready to go with the weight 
 of evidence, wherever it should preponderate. Du- 
 ring this interval, my searches and researches into 
 the Scriptures — their history, precepts, promises and 
 prophecies — the signs of the times — my own past ex- 
 perience in religion for fifteen years — the nature of 
 the past extraordinary work, and the present state 
 of the subjects of it, with all the rest of Christianity's 
 professors — with the many questions and answ^ers, 
 that passed in conversation — were they all written, 
 would swell into a large volume. And in this kind of 
 exercise I was not alone. The general agitation may 
 be in some measure conceived of, from the following 
 letter, dated Caneridge, April 2, 1805. 
 
 " My dear brother Richard :— I never longed 
 to see any person so much. If I was not confined in 
 this clay tabernacle, I should be in your embraces in 
 less than an hour. The floods of earth and hell are 
 let loose against us, but me in particular. I am seri- 
 
 P" ■■ I BM^^— — ^— — ^^^M^— ■■ ■ II .. ■ I ■■■■■■ I ■ 1. I II ■!■■ ■■■.-.■ ■ 
 
 * See 1 John ii. 16.
 
 85 
 
 ously threatened with imprisonment and stripes, I ex- 
 pect to receive for the testimony of Jesus. Kentucky 
 is turning upside down. The truth pervades in spite 
 of man — Cumberland is sharing the same fate — the 
 young preachers, some of them, will preach Jesus 
 without the covering put on him by the fathers — the 
 scribes, the disputers of this world are gnashing upon 
 us — Brother Matthew Houston has clean escaped the 
 pollutions of this world — and he and his people are 
 going on to perfect holiness in the fear of God — a 
 few more will soon follow — come over and help us, is 
 the cry made to us from every part — Brother Purvi- 
 ance is gone to Carolina, to preach the gospel there, 
 by the request of some there. In a few weeks I start 
 to fulfill a long daily string of appointments to Cum- 
 berland — by request I go — I have appointed two com- 
 munions among many Christ-ians, on the heads of Lit- 
 tle and Big Barrens — Brother Dooley is among the 
 Cherokees again — his last route there was successful 
 — some poor Indians received the gospel — he vv^as so- 
 licited to return — he is truly an apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles — some few are getting religion amongst us. 
 
 " The churches thus, quid dicam? Nescio ; What 
 shall I say ? I know not : my heart grieves within me. 
 Certain men from afar whom you know^ inject terror 
 and doubt into many ; and now religion begins to la- 
 ment in the dust among us. Some as I suppose will cast 
 away the ordinances of Baptism, the Lor d^s supper, SfCy 
 but not many as yet. Most dear Brother, inform me 
 what you think of these men among us and you, from a 
 distant region. Thank God he gave me his word,* 
 *' Letters show the substance and faith eats it. We 
 all want to meet with you shortly : But by reason of 
 my absence to Cumberland — Brother Purviance to N. 
 Carolina, Brother Houston in Madison, we cannot 
 meet on Turtle Creek, nor sooner than third Sabbath 
 June, and that in Kentucky. Brothers Marshall and 
 
 * This italic was originally in Latin.
 
 86 
 
 Houston parted from us yesterday. We administered 
 the Lord's supper at Caneridge the day before — many 
 communicants — m«ch exercise — I am pushed for time 
 to write to you — we have five students of the Bible, 
 all but one know the languages — full of faith, and of 
 the Holy Ghost — just ready to preach. They all fled 
 from the Presbyterians, to their giief, pain and hurt. 
 Brother Stockwell exceeds expectation and is beloved 
 and useful. Our Apology is yet living and working, 
 and tearing down Babylon in Virginia. It was re- 
 printed there to the great injury of Presbyterianism. 
 It is also reprinted in Georgia. We are just publish- 
 ing a short tract on Atonement — I will send you one 
 soon. This truth has unhinged the brazen gates al- 
 ready — I am hurried — pray for me — farewell. 
 
 B. W. STONE.*' 
 By friend Bates. 
 
 Great prospects were presented, according to the 
 above letter, on the part of the revival ; the truth per- 
 vading, and turning the whole country upside down — 
 the Macedonian cry sounding from every part — the 
 apology and tract on atonement tearing down Baby- 
 lon, or unhinging her brazen gates — some full of the 
 Holy Ghost, just ready to preach — and one among 
 them all who had clean escaped the pollutions of the 
 world, arid was going on to perfect holiness. But all 
 this appeared unspeakably short of the glad tidings 
 brought by the brethren from New-Lebanon, provided 
 that what they testified concerning the church was 
 true. It was well enough for those Avho were in Ba- 
 bylon to cry for help, and for such as were appointed 
 to the Avork, to tear her down and unhinge the brazen 
 gates ; but something beyond this must be taken into 
 the account. We have news of a Zion, and what if 
 her foundations are already laid. May it be that God 
 has sent down the New Jerusalem for the refuge of
 
 87 
 
 souls, before he began to tear down the old build- 
 ing's ? 
 
 The Lebanon brethren, paid their first visit to Bro- 
 ther M. H. ; perhaps he has believed, and taken up his 
 cross. How else can he have escaped the pollutions 
 of the world? They have also been with Brother 
 Stone, and opened the testimony there in part ; per- 
 haps he has taken hold of it, and means to make a 
 final push for the kingdom through stripes and impris- 
 onment. Or have these students of the Bible learned 
 to appropriate Scripture phrases to false and inferior 
 objects. Brother S- and others may have received the 
 name Holy Ghost out of the Bible; but the thing 
 must certainly dwell in the church. And admitting 
 they are blazing full of the Spirit, burning and shining 
 lights, this goes no further than John the Baptist, it is 
 far short of the kingdom of God. Those brethren 
 from the east tell us that their people have got the 
 kingdom — that they have attained it, by taking up 
 the cross, and doing the works of Christ, and over- 
 coming sin by a faithful and diligent combat — that 
 they are of God, and do not commit sin; but walk 
 even as Christ walked ; and are righteous even as he 
 is righteous.* And moreover he that committeth sin, 
 whatever his profession or gifts may be, he is yet of 
 the devil. These things inject terror and doubt into 
 many. John was full of the Holy Ghost, and for his 
 testimony concerning Jesus, he was actually cast into 
 prison full of terror and doubt, w^hether this was he that 
 should come or whether he should look for some other. 
 
 In fine, I could see nothing in the past work as a 
 foundation to build upon. And what these strange 
 brethren testified, appeared plain Scriptural truth, and 
 presented a way entirely safe for those who were able 
 to receive it ; and whether they were the people or no, 
 who had actually attained this salvation, it was very 
 evident they were far before us in light and under- 
 
 * See 1 John, ii. 6, and iii. 7.
 
 88 
 
 standing concerning the way ; and it was no donbt 
 the will of God, that those who desired to be saved, 
 should walk in it. Thus in the midst of reasonings, 
 doubtful disputations, and close examinations, the tes- 
 timony was investigated at Turtle Creek publicly and 
 from house to house, until it obtained the full credit of a 
 number who had been leading characters in the revival. 
 Malcham Worley was the first who embraced it, 
 opened his mind and took up his cross. With this I 
 confess I was at first staggered, from a deep-rooted 
 prejudice that I had imbibed against some of his pecu- 
 liar sentiments ; but finally concluded that if Malcham 
 had been more wild in his former exercises than the 
 rest, he certainly needed salvation the more ; besides 
 it appeared that his conflicts with the man of sin, the 
 son of perdition, (as he expressed it,) must shortly have 
 terminated liis existence upon earth,* had not his ex- 
 pected deliverer come out of Zion to turn away un- 
 godliness from Jacob. But I was not a little surprised, 
 that these strange brethren should come directly there, 
 and he receive them with such cordiality, when I was 
 well assured that no previous acquaintance, had ex- 
 isted between them. This with many other singular 
 circumstances that occurred, restrained me from at- 
 
 * It was necessary that a work which promised redemption from 
 sin, should include a perfect revelation of the whole root and 
 foundation of it. And as the subject of this revelation, God made 
 choice of Malcham Worley ; who, notwithstanding he w^as a 
 man of unspotted character, of an independent fortune, and a libe- 
 ral education ; yet, neither his learning, his estate, nor his good 
 name, could have saved him from total distraction, and the wildest 
 convulsions of despair, when he came to behold in the open light 
 of Divine revelation, the whole depth of human depravity. No- 
 thing but the miraculous power of God could have supported him 
 through such a scene, and kept him alive in the cheerful hope of 
 deliverance, amidst the violent conflicts of an inbred nature, and 
 the outward rage of blind and superstitious professors.
 
 89 
 
 tempting" to judge the mysterious work of God's Spirit, 
 but rather labor to get a deeper, and more practical 
 acquaintance with it. Soon after Malcham set out in 
 the narrow way, he was followed by a number ; so 
 that within three or four weeks from the first opening 
 of the testimony, it had pervaded ten or twelve fami- 
 lies ; and from that period continued gradually to in- 
 crease, so that at Turtle Creek the number of families 
 which now stand in the faith of Christ's second ap- 
 pearance, may be stated between thirty and forty. 
 
 I shall now consider the entrance and progress of 
 the testimony more particularly, as it respects the in- 
 dividual who receives it. The first point of faith in 
 relation to the testimony, is to believe, that he who 
 bears it is a true messenger and witness of Christ, in 
 whom the Spirit of truth continually abides, and that 
 whatever instruction, reproof, or council is ministered 
 by such, it comes from Christ, who speaketh in him. 
 Therefore all who are taught in this manner are strict- 
 ly and properly taught of God ; and in obeying what 
 they are taught they yield obedience to Christ • 
 
 Upon this ground the believer has to make a final 
 settlement with an old systematic idea, that the Spirit 
 of God speaketh invariably in the Scriptures. Upon 
 an impartial examination he finds that all the contra- 
 dictory spirits among the professors of Christianity 
 speak in the Scriptures, and even the devil himself 
 can speak in the Scriptures ; so that the Scriptures are 
 as liable to be spoken by an evil spirit, as the good. 
 It then remains to follow that spirit which goes con- 
 trary to sin, and manifests its purity by its fruit, ac- 
 cording to the Scriptures, and the inward test of con- 
 science. This is the spirit of Christ, and it sets them 
 immediately to work, to do the righteous will of God. 
 And first of all to confess before God what they have 
 done contrary to his will and the light of their own 
 conscience. In this w^ork, the honest Believer might 
 as well try to cover or conceal, the most chafing mote 
 in his eye, as try to hide or conceal anything which 
 
 8*
 
 90 
 
 he has committed, contrary to the pure doctrine of the 
 Scriptures, and the holy example of Jesus Christ, of 
 which he stands convicted by the witness of the Spirit, 
 in his own conscience. And here he has to combat 
 the spirits of wicked men, who pretend to speak in the 
 Scriptures, and say that it is idolatry to confess sin in 
 the presence of man — and that God is to be found any- 
 where ; in the fields, on the hills or under the green 
 trees, and there we ought to make our confession in 
 secret. But by following the Spirit of truth, he over- 
 comes this wild pagan error, and discovers, that ac- 
 cording to the Scriptures, God never accepted a con- 
 fession, of sin, which was not either made to those 
 whom he had set in order in the church, or at least 
 with the face toward that temple which was typical of 
 his last habitation, viz., man. But the greatest evi- 
 dence, the true believer receives, of this being the or- 
 der and institution of Heaven, is the Divine light which 
 he receives, in consequence. Light by which sin ap- 
 pears more than ever hateful, and by which he is in- 
 spired with a growing zeal to roll out of his heart and 
 practice the last remains of it ; and lastly by which he 
 discovers with increasing brightness, the succeeding 
 footsteps of true gospel obedience. To the sense of 
 those who in the faith of Christ, have cleared their 
 conscience from the deep-rooted stains of sin, and re- 
 ceived his Spirit as their ruling principle of life, sin is 
 so exceeding sinful, so hateful and pernicious, that I 
 am bold to say they cannot commit it.* But he that 
 is begotten with the Divine nature of the Son of God, 
 keepeth himself in the element and works of that na- 
 ture ; so that he can no more commit sin, than a fish 
 can fly through the air, or an eagle dive to the bottom 
 of the sea. But that abiding fervor and power of 
 spirit, which overcomes every motion of evil, belongs 
 not to the entrance of the testimony, but a degree of 
 progress in it. And this degree all must attain who 
 
 * See 1 John, iii. 9, and v. 18.
 
 91 
 
 come into it, or fall off as withered branches ; for there 
 remains no more room for either imputing their sins 
 to Christ, or to a deceitful heart, or anything else, by 
 which they can be excused ; but the soul that sinneth 
 must bear its own iniquity, and burn under it, without 
 any mitigation or covering. 
 
 With an inward sense of the power, protection, 
 and presence of God, the Believer travels out of the 
 use of shadows and signs, ceremonies and forms of 
 worship, to w^hich he might have been strongly bigot- 
 ed while in bondage under the law. There is no 
 more occasion for calling upon God afar off, when he 
 has taken possession of his body, and lives and walks 
 in him, nor of calling to his memory a departed Sa- 
 viour, by signs and shadows of his dying love ; when 
 the only Saviour that ever redeemed a lost soul, is 
 formed and living in him, and executing every branch 
 of his office. Water applied to the body appears a 
 beggarly element, compiired with the baptism of the 
 Spirit. And as one baptism is sufficient to purify the 
 conscience, he takes that and travels away from the 
 superfluous shadow. Bodily exercises, dreams, vi- 
 sions and ecstasies, which had but a momentary ef- 
 fect on the blind and obdurate heart, and furnished, 
 at best, but a fleeting joy ; gradually give place to 
 the Sun of righteousness, that shines continually the 
 same, without cloud or eclipse. Hence, in the pro- 
 gressive work of the testimony, a blessed reality, an 
 enduring antitype, is wrought in the Believer, which 
 fully answers to all that he could possibly have con- 
 ceived of, while longing, praying, and hoping for the 
 kingdom to come. As Believers become more and 
 more leavened into the nature of Christ, they discov- 
 er, with increasing accuracy, the latent corruptions of 
 a fleshly nature ; and the secret wiles of Satan, in 
 injecting his poison into the heart. And as they dis- 
 cover, so by the cross they overcome and gain an in- 
 creasing victory over that which is death to the soul, 
 by dying to it— the spirit of the testimony runs
 
 92 
 
 through all the Believer's deportment, in public, in 
 private and in secret; so that in no circumstance he is 
 released from the work of self-denial, or at liberty to 
 defile his conscience with any act of injustice, or un- 
 cleanness, contrary to the spirit of the Divine law, or 
 the nature of the Son of God who first fulfilled it. 
 To the unclean lust of the flesh, in which the sinful 
 selfish nature of man is formed, the followers of 
 Christ stand, in a peculiar nianner, opposed; and 
 count it their distinguishing privilege to preserve their 
 bodies in sanctification and honor. In the death of 
 that in which all men by nature are held, they find 
 deliverance from every branch of evil ; such as pride, 
 covetousness, anger, hatred, &c., so that by crucify- 
 ing the flesh, its affections and lusts wither of course ; 
 and they grow into a peaceable, gentle, kind and 
 loving spirit : in which they can live together from one 
 year's end to another, without feeling a hard thought, 
 much less expressing a hard word, one against another. 
 And in such a spirit and deportment as cements them 
 together in one fellow feeling, and promotes the peace, 
 purity and happiness of the whole, the progress of 
 the testimony mainly consists. 
 
 Moreover, all who receive the testimony in the 
 spirit of it, are taught thereby, to be diligent and 
 faithful, in things temporal as well as spiritual ; and 
 to serve God with body and substance, as well as 
 their spirits. Hence the testimony has a proportionate 
 progress, in the frugality, and honest industry of Be- 
 lievers, whereby they lay up in store a good founda- 
 tion, not for their own pleasure and aggrandizement, 
 but for the honor of God, and the relief and succor 
 of him that needeth. 
 
 By faith in the testimony, and the influence of that 
 Spirit which accompanies it, without any other stimu- 
 lus. Believers at Turtle Creek began with confessing 
 their sins, forsaking them, and taking up their cross, 
 and by the same faith and spirit, they came together 
 on the twenty-third of the fifth month, received one
 
 93 
 
 common gift, united in one common worship, and 
 without murmuring, or caviling, have continued it, 
 increasing in love and union, peace, joy and harmo- 
 ny, and every good word and work, unto the present 
 day ; and by this I am emboldened to testify, that the 
 kingdom so much prayed for, is come according to 
 the promise of God, and the order which Divine wis- 
 dom laid out; and the saints have begun to possess 
 that enduring substance, which prophets and kings 
 desired to see, and died without the sight. 
 
 The same faith, produced by the preparatory work 
 of God, began also to break out at Eagle Creek, 
 some tinie in the sixth month ; which gave occasion to 
 the testimony being opened there. A few at first em- 
 braced it with full purpose of soul, as the only way 
 of God. In the month following, Brother Dunlavy 
 stepped into the ignominious path, and began to 
 preach the faith, which for a time he had labored to 
 destroy ; and from thenceforward the same work, 
 worship, and spiritual travel, went forward there as 
 at Turtle Creek, and exists at present in twenty or 
 thirty families in the bounds of the meeting. Through 
 the faith, and special light of Matthew Houston, Sa- 
 muel Henry, and John Bonta, Elisha Thomas, &c., 
 the testimony entered, and was received on the south 
 side of Kentucky, about the middle of the eighth 
 month ; and continued to spread until it embraced as 
 many as were willing to embrace it, in Mercer, Shel- 
 by, Paint Lick, and Long Lick. In each of which 
 places, there are a number of families, who have de- 
 nied ungodliness, and worldly lusts, taken up their 
 cross, live together in the unity of the Spirit and bond 
 of peace, and while with open eyes they are travel- 
 ling from death into life, they shine as lights in the 
 world. A few families at Beaver Creek set out in 
 obedience to the testimony in the spring of 1806, who 
 were numbered with the faithful. The testimony is 
 one and the same, wherever it is ministered ; is re- 
 ceived in one and the same honest and good heart ; 
 and wherever it springs up, and bears fruit to perfec-
 
 94 
 
 tion, that fmit is one and the same. And that law- 
 less and disobedient nature of the first man, which 
 never did bring forth fruit unto God, they can jointly 
 address, without pity or compassion, in the following 
 language : 
 
 Awhile you may cavil and fret. 
 And think that the cross is too hard ; 
 
 But now you must take what you get. 
 For death is your certain reward. 
 
 In Adam the second, I trust. 
 My beautified spirit shall find 
 
 A body that's free from all lust, 
 And pure as the heaven-born mind.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Having given a short account of the entrance and 
 progress of this new religion, according to the sense 
 of those who have embraced it, I shall proceed to ex- 
 hibit it, in a more external point of view, in which I 
 shall consider some of the errors with which it was 
 branded, and the unreasonable treatment which it 
 received on that account from some. Not that I 
 wish to inspire the reader with the least degree of re- 
 sentment, against those who may have taken up the 
 matter in a false light ; and through a misguided 
 zeal, acted an unreasonable and unlawful part in op- 
 posing it. Confident I am, that if Shakerism were 
 properly understood, there is no man in his senses 
 could persecute it. Nor do I suppose that the religion 
 of Christ, under any name, would ever have been 
 persecuted by the men of this world, but through the 
 instigation of a wrong-headed clergy. The govern- 
 ment of Christ has nothing to do with the govern- 
 ment of this world, and can therefore offer the citi- 
 zens of this world no provocation. But through the 
 false insinuations of those who have wished to incor- 
 porate the Church with the world, and sit at the helm 
 of civil and ecclesiastical affairs in conjunction ; those 
 who have marked and kept up the distinction, have 
 been represented as the enemies of mankind, and 
 treated as such. Now, if it is true that none of the
 
 96 
 
 princes of this world knew Christ Jesus, otherwise 
 they would not have crucified him ; what conduct 
 might be expected towards those who walk in his 
 meek and lowly footsteps from the enlightened sons 
 of Columbia ; provided their judgment was not warp- 
 ed and twisted, by that wild and voracious beast, 
 which long ago made war with the Lamb, and over- 
 came him. Herod and Pontius Pilate would never 
 have molested the harmless Jesus, but for the false 
 accusations of the priests and high pretenders to 
 religion; instant, with loud voices crying, ''Away 
 with him — he says he is the Son of God! He 
 makes himself equal with God ! He said he would 
 destroy our temple^ and build it again in three days / 
 Away with him ! — away with him ! If you let the 
 deceiver go, you will not be a friend to Ccesar.^^ It 
 was not the peaceable citizens of the Roman govern- 
 ment, that characterized him a blasphemer and male- 
 factor, wine-drinker and a whoremaster ; but those 
 who professed to have all one father, even God. And 
 it was the same characters that pursued the saints as 
 ^' pestilent fellows, movers of sedition,^ ^ enemies to the 
 commonwealth, &c., wore out the patience of the 
 civil magistrate with their clamors, and finally in- 
 terested the secular arm to extirpate them from the 
 earth. These things were written for our learning ; 
 that when we see any people persecuted for their re- 
 ligion, we may know it is not primarily by the com- 
 monwealth, but by the instigation of some ecclesias- 
 tical judge : and, of course, it is not really the reli- 
 gion itself that is persecuted, but something in the 
 room of it, which the false judge has the assurance 
 to palm upon the multitude, while he demands their 
 credit to his false coloring. That Shakerism has 
 been grossly misrepresented in many instances, very 
 few will pretend to doubt ; and the source from 
 whence these misrepresentations arose must be pecu- 
 liarly worthy of notice. 
 
 It is easy to perceive, that the spirit of the revival
 
 97 
 
 had a peculiar tendency to put down that ministerial 
 authority, by which creeds and parties were supported, 
 and set the people at liberty, each to follow the dic- 
 tates of his own conscience. Upon this principle, the 
 jurisdiction of the Synod of Kentucky was renounced, 
 and the Presbytery of Springfield resigned their sup- 
 posed authority. But though Dagon fell before the 
 ark, yet the Philistines set him again in his place. The 
 generality of the members of the Presbytery, notwith- 
 standing their professed resignation, continued in the 
 full possession of their reputed authority, and in that 
 capacity stood ready to judge of any increasing light 
 that might be manifested, whether they were able to 
 comprehend it or not. Having shook off their former 
 reins of government, and having attained but little 
 mortification of that pride natural to man, and being 
 carried along in a high gale of the Spirit, they began 
 to form great imaginations of an universal kingdom, 
 in which they would fill the first rank. And as the 
 groundwork of this vast kingdom, which must include 
 the whole earth, they proposed to seize upon the sa- 
 cred name, Christian, exclusive of all other names ; 
 and so draw into union and one grand communion, 
 all who wished to be called by that worthy name- 
 The plan of this great kingdom was drawn up by Rice 
 Haggard, and published in the year 1804 : which 
 proposed, as the leading foundation principles, simply 
 to worship one God — acknowledge one Saviour, Jesus 
 Christ — have one confession of faith, and let that be 
 the Bible — one form of discipline and government, and 
 this to be the New Testament — be members of one 
 Church, &c. (See '' Address to the different religious 
 societies, on the sacred import of the Christian name," 
 p. 21.) These high imaginations served for a season 
 to amuse the people. But their eccentricity from the 
 leading light of the reviv^al, is easily perceived, by a 
 little attention to the '^ Observations on Church Gov- 
 ernment.^^ While the work of God continued in any 
 degree of purity, it was not a sacred name the sub- 
 
 9
 
 98 
 
 jects of it were in quest of, nor was it the communion 
 and fellowship of the millions who assumed the wor- 
 thy name of Christ, that they sought. It was the 
 power of God unto salvation^ and that livng spirit of 
 Christ in the heart, by which they might grow into a 
 holy temple in the Lord. But a scheme of human 
 imagination, which proposed to organize all the de- 
 nominations into one great body of Christy was very 
 suitable wherewith to confront a little testimony, which 
 simply encouraged souls that were seeking salvation, 
 to confess and forsake their sins, and set out to follow 
 Christ, in a life of new obedience. And therefore for 
 the distorted features of Shakerism — the erroneous sen- 
 timents and wicked practices of those called Shakers — 
 mankind in general are indebted to those, who by 
 way of eminence are called Christ-ians. 
 
 In perusing an account of this distinguished profes- 
 sion in Browne^ s Western Calendar, written at Spring- 
 field, August 26, 1806 : the following sentence partic- 
 ularly attracted my attention, viz. : '' They are not so 
 vain as to think, that all their tlioughts, words, and 
 actions have always been exactly right; and they will 
 thank any, who in the spirit of meekness, will point 
 out to them, wherein they may be wrong, that they 
 may amend." This concession and request from one 
 of the first ministers in this new Christ-ian society, in 
 behalf of the people in general, although I conceive 
 it furnishes me with no authority to accuse them of 
 aught, yet in reason it must prevent their taking of- 
 fence, should they know, that a number of their words 
 and actions are recorded, in a spirit of meekness, which 
 are conceived to be essentially wrong. 
 
 When the testimony was opened at Turtle Creek, 
 what was spoken by the Lebanon brethren themselves, 
 could not reasonably be condemned by those who 
 heard it. But others at a distance, tossing about with 
 the wind of imagination, and conjecturing things that 
 had no reality, imbibed a spirit of prejudice against 
 this doctrine of the cross ; and especially as it bore an
 
 99 
 
 unfavorable aspect toward the great body of Christ 
 which they had in contemplation. And therefore, 
 the first words which I conceive were not exactly 
 right y came forward in a letter from Springfield, dated 
 April 5, 1805 ; a few of which words were as follows : 
 '' It matters not to me who they are, who are the de- 
 vil's tools, whether men or angels, good men or bad. 
 In the strength of God I mean not to spare. I used 
 lenity once to the devil, because he came in a good 
 man, [viz.] Worley. But my God respects no man's 
 person. I would they were even cut off who trouble 
 you. I mean in the name and strength of God to lift 
 his rod of almighty truth against the viper," &c. Now 
 admitting that these were the wickedest men on earth, 
 I am far from thinking that such menacing words, 
 from one unprovoked, could be justified, and how 
 much less when on the same sheet, this concession ap- 
 pears, ^' I do not say that they are not good men, or 
 that the body of their sect are not such, perhaps they 
 have more light than any other sect ; perhaps they 
 have had more power." Where then could be the 
 propriety of crushing them, or cutting them oflf, even 
 upon the generous Christ-ian plan of a coalition of 
 sects. 
 
 In a foregoing letter it was complained that through 
 faith in the testimony, the ordinances of baptism, the 
 Lord's Supper, &c. were likely to be cast away. And 
 in the epistle from which I have just been quoting, 
 are the following words : '' These men have turned 
 the gospel into a law of commandments contained in 
 ordinances." Now from these two Christ-ian minis- 
 ters^ who could learn the true account? Their words 
 could not be both exactly rights for they stood in 
 pointed contradiction. But further, considering that 
 Brother Thompson, in the same letter acknowledged 
 that he was far behind, not only in the light and lib- 
 erty of the revival, but on every important subject, I 
 conceive it was not exactly right for him to form such 
 hasty resolutions to combat the testimony, even before
 
 100 
 
 he had properly heard it ; and with that resohition, 
 to come up to the camp-meeting at Turtle Creek, on 
 the 27th of April, raise a sudden and passionate out- 
 cry against these peaceable men — assiune the author- 
 ity of leading the meeting — enter upon a public inves- 
 tigation of their doctrines, and in the close of it, pro- 
 nounce with a loud voice, they are liars! they are 
 liars ! they are liars ! According to the f able ^ '' A liar 
 is not to be believed, even when he speaks the trxith,'^'' 
 Therefore although it was readily granted, that these 
 men spoke the truth, yet there remained this pretext 
 for not believing them, namely, tliat they were de- 
 clared to be liars ; and upon this principle it was, that 
 they were debarred by many from speaking at all in 
 public, A man may be under an error, or he may be 
 mistaken, and yet merit some degree of respect from 
 his fellow-creatures ; but a wilful liar, a deliberate 
 teller of lies, who can away with. Therefore under 
 this opprobrious character, a bold Christ-ian could cry 
 to Issachar Bates, "Go to Hell," and while aAvicked 
 man followed John Meacham from place to place, 
 spitting in his face, and crying aloud to make a great 
 fire, and burn these false prophets, some of the fore- 
 most, who professed the worthy name, Christ-ian, were 
 at his back, laughing and encouraging him on. This 
 and such like treatment, appeared so far from being 
 exactly right among a people who aimed at monopo- 
 lizing the name of Christ, that I am confident, similar 
 treatment from the wildest savages towards any men of 
 civil deportment, must have merited severe reflection. 
 At a succeeding meeting at Salem, the 11th of May 
 following, I have no doubt but Brother Thompson 
 may have justly reflected, that he was not exactly 
 right in debarring from the privilege of speaking, one 
 whom he had long acknowledged his equal, and his 
 guide — excluding all who believed the testimony, 
 from any further communion or fellowship with the 
 Christ-ians, and especially as it was in pointed contra- 
 diction to their general Christ-ian plan. *^Let none be
 
 101 
 
 excommunicated, but for a breach of the Divine law." 
 (See Haggard's plan before mentioned.) Setting his 
 own prejudiced spirit to speak in the Scriptures, as if 
 it were the Spirit of God ; and thus asserting, that 
 the Holy Ghost had made him overseer of the flock — 
 and that these Shakers were false Christs, false pro- 
 phets, wolves in sheep's clothing, deceitful workers, 
 transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, 
 creeping into houses, and leading captive silly women 
 — dumb dogs, and every hateful name and character 
 which the Scripture could furnish. In consequence 
 of which, they were railed upon by the Christ-ians 
 under these names, wherever they w^ent; and hence- 
 forward these members of " the great body of Christ " 
 conceived they had good authority from the \vord of 
 God, to impeach them with everything that was er- 
 roneous, wicked, and base ; and not only palm upon 
 them every filthy character named in the Scriptures, 
 but treat them as they supposed such characters de- 
 served. Now if it was not exactly right to take the 
 private interpretation of John Thompson on those oc- 
 casions, and upon the strength of that, refuse any per- 
 sonal acquaintance with these men, it will follow, that 
 all the rough treatment they received in consequence, 
 was exactly wrong, I further conclude that it was ex- 
 actly wrong for my kind Brother Stone, after inviting 
 me by letter, to attend the general meeting at Concord, 
 the second sabbath in August, to forbid me to speak 
 on the occasion, or even to come to his house. And by 
 a council of the Christ-ian clergy, to impose upon Bro- 
 ther Dunlavy, Benjamin Youngs and Malcham Wor- 
 ley, the injunction of total silence through the w^iole of 
 the meeting ; and at the same time that many w^ere soli- 
 citing us with tears to preach, and we thus pointedly 
 forbidden, on pain of being prosecuted as disturbers of 
 the meeting, to propagate among the people that we 
 were the dumb dogs spoken of in Scripture, (with 
 which title we were often taunted.) On the last day 
 of the meeting six of the Christ-ian brethren, viz. : J. 
 
 9*
 
 102 
 
 Thompson, R. Marshall, B. W. Stone, D. Purviance, 
 J. Stockwell and A. Biannon, alternately delivered 
 each his opinion of the Shakers^ in an address, in which 
 some of them were named out,' pronounced liars, de- 
 famed by many slanderous reports, which they could 
 have proved false, had they been allowed to speak. 
 Now, if such treatment was right') the spirit of the 
 revival, which allowed every man liberty of conscience, 
 must have been wrong. But as I conceive it to be right 
 for every man to hear and believe whoever he pleases, 
 the above conduct appears not only subversive of the 
 liberty of conscience, so warmly contended for a little 
 Avhile before by the same brethren, but of the very 
 spirit of a free government. For be it observed, that 
 in all those places the people were anxious to hear the 
 Shakers, and considered themselves as much related 
 to those who were forbidden to speak, as to them who 
 forbade them, until, by the din of false reports, and 
 misrepresentations of their faith and practice, they 
 were frighted into a spirit of prejudice. 
 
 Brother Stone, in the introduction to his Letters on 
 Atonement, observes that the arguments used by his 
 opponents, are '' bold unscriptural assertions — hard 
 names — delusion — error — doctrines of devils — Armin- 
 ianism — Socinianism — Deism, &c. Such arguments 
 (says he) have no effect on a candid mind, but they 
 powerfully influence dupes and bigots. The candid 
 look for truth and plain unequivocal arguments." 
 Who then, could he suppose, would- be influenced by 
 the following statement, in the postscript of his reply 
 to Campbell's strictures — '' You have heard no doubt 
 before this time, of the lamentable departure of two of 
 our preachers, and a few of their hearers from the true 
 gospel, into wild enthusiasm, or Shakerism. They 
 have made shipwreck of faith, and turned aside to an 
 old woman's fables, who broached them in New-Eng- 
 land, about twenty-five years ago. These evolves in 
 sheep's clothing, have smelt us from afar, and have 
 come to tear, rend and devour," &c. If bold unscrip-
 
 103 
 
 tiiral assertions — hard names, &c. are wrongs I pre- 
 sume Brother Stone's postscript is not exactly right* 
 What plain unequivocal argument was ever advanced 
 to prove that the conduct of these men, in a single in- 
 stance answered to such a bold assertion 1 When Ben- 
 jamin Youngs was forbidden to speak at Concord, by 
 R. Marshall and B. W. Stone, the only reply he made 
 was, " I am sorry to see you abusing your own light." 
 Now when to these innumerable hard speeches, are 
 added — their inviting these strangers to their houses, 
 stopping them at the door when they came, and for- 
 bidding them to enter ; or at other times ordering them 
 from their houses, and laying them under the necessi- 
 ty of seeking their lodging among the weeds ; and by 
 such acts of inhumanity, as a deist would be ashamed 
 of, encouraging a spirit of persecution ; I think the 
 Christ-ians may well acknowledge, that all their 
 thoughts, words and actions, have not always been ex- 
 actly right. What, but the example of this latest genus 
 of Christ-ians, could have instigated any part of a free, 
 and friendly republic, to beset the houses of the Sha^ 
 kers in the night, assault their persons with clubs and 
 stones, break their windows, and burn their place of 
 worship — throw down their fences, and turn in beasts 
 to destroy their grain — cut, and tear to pieces, their 
 apple trees — crop and disfigure their horses — beat and 
 abuse some of their bodies, and by every kind of mock- 
 ery, railing and cursing, pushing, collaring and threat- 
 ening, disturb and molest them in their worship. Did 
 the citizens of Ohio and Kentucky know of a truth, 
 that it was the meek and humble followers of Jesus 
 Christ, that they were treating in this manner? Nay, 
 verily : but a people as they supposed, of the most 
 corrupt and mischievous principles. And as I appre- 
 hend the general statement which the Christ-ians gave 
 of their principles, was not exactly right-} I shall mark 
 out some of those mistakes. The first rough linea- 
 ments of Shakerism portrayed on the public mind, 
 were, that it went to disannul, and cast away the Bi-
 
 104 
 
 ble — to set up the word of man in room of it — to 
 deny Jesus Christ — the resurrection, and final judg- 
 ment — to throw away the gospel, and seek salvation 
 by the works of the law, &c. That the Shakers were 
 enemies to the revival, and came to destroy it. That 
 their scheme was to get people's land and property, 
 by parting man and wife, ruining and breaking up 
 families. That they actually forbade to marry, and 
 commanded to abstain from meats, and therefore with- 
 out hesitation, they were seducing spirits, and their 
 doctrine that of devils. This general draught, laid a 
 foundation for great improvement, both upon their 
 principles and practice. And the Christ-ian minister^ 
 who set the example of characterizing from his own 
 private studies, without any personal acquaintance, 
 had soon abundance of followers, who felt entirely at 
 liberty to publish anything which a fruitful imagina- 
 tion was capable of composing; and from this source 
 it was, that the public generally received their infor- 
 mation. And according as the wind of fancy blew, 
 so it was a fact, credible at least among the Christ-ians, 
 that the Shakers castrated all their males, and conse- 
 quently exposed their necks to the gallows ; or divest- 
 ed of all modesty, stripped and danced naked in their 
 night meetings, blew out the candles, and went into 
 a promiscuous debauch. And what was still more 
 shocking — the fruits of their unlawful embraces, they 
 concealed by the horrid crime of murder. In one in- 
 stance, a prosecution was proposed against an individ- 
 ual ; but the evidence, even for a suspicion, was so 
 extremely vague, that the bill was handed back by 
 the foreman of the grand jury, with a just reproof to 
 the presenter. Such reports, and conjectures, (of 
 which there was an infinite variety,) were generally 
 taken upon the authority, that Mr. Such-a-one heard 
 a man say, that he saw a woman, who had it from a 
 very respectable man, who saw the person, who saw 
 it. But, in some instances, persons, said to be of great 
 respectability, would affirm (whether they meant, with
 
 105 
 
 their natural eyes, or the eyes of imagination) that 
 they themselves saw such things. For such liberty 
 Brother Thompson, no doubt, laid a foundation, in the 
 following sentence of his letter of April 5 : "I see the 
 mark of the beast on that Church, as plain as I see 
 this paper while I write ; and I know that I see it by 
 the light of God.'' In the light of the same God, I 
 doubt not but ten thousand beastly actions, have been 
 seen among this people ; not one of which, the Christ- 
 ians^ and all the world to help them, are able to 
 prove, after sending out spies, and w^atching their 
 houses, by day and night. 
 
 It has ever been foreign from the feelings of the Be- 
 lievers, to counter-plead such vague insinuations. 
 They believe that God has called them to another 
 work; in the progress of which, the truth will show 
 itself, without any strife of words. But as a number 
 of things of considerable weight have been stated, by 
 way of objection, which have been maintained with 
 some show of argument, I shall briefly investigate 
 some of those particulars ; merely to show the differ- 
 ence of sense and understanding on those subjects ac- 
 cording to the evidence on both sides. And 1. The 
 Christ-ian minister^ after forbidding the Shakers to 
 speak, or the people to hear them, roundly asserts — 
 " 03^ These men say, that we are in a new dispen- 
 sation — that Christ is come the second time, and the 
 resurrection and final judgment begun." The young 
 believer would reply — ''Very well : A new dispen- 
 sation is what every enlightened soul has been look- 
 ing for : and the coming of Christ, is that for which 
 ten thousands have been praying : and he must now 
 be somewhere on earth, as the Scriptures are true. 
 For the time is up, according to Daniel, John, and all 
 the prophets, for the sanctuary to be cleansed, and 
 the power of the holy people restored — the authority of 
 Antichrist taken away — and the saints to possess the 
 kingdom. And what other resurrection is there to 
 life, but to come out of that state of sin into which
 
 106 
 
 the^r^^ Adam fell; and come into Christ the second 
 Adarriy who is the resurrection and the life. The mat- 
 ter we now animate, and which is constantly upon the 
 change, we are not to expect, after its dissolution, to 
 be again subtracted from the elements of this globe, 
 and repossessed, in its primitive form, at the expense 
 of every other body, with which it may have been in- 
 corporated. And what other final judgment are we 
 to expect, but simply, and honestly, in the presence of 
 God, and Christ, and before the saints who are appoint- 
 ed to judge the world, confess all that we have ever 
 done amiss — repair our wrongs — set out to forsake ev- 
 ery evil, and grow up into Christ, as the infant grows, 
 into a man 1 There is a natural body, and there is a 
 spiritual body ; the former belongs to the fall — the lat- 
 ter to the resurrection. Therefore it is not old skulls 
 and rotten flesh that are to be raised up in glory ; but 
 that spiritual body, of which we are called to be mem- 
 bers ; which is already raised up by the power of God, 
 and ascending into the heaven of heavens, far out of 
 sight from this lost world. 
 
 Objection 2. ^' These men say that each one of them 
 is a Christ ; and we must throw away our Bibles, and 
 follow them." 
 
 Answer, This statement is not exactly right. They 
 testify that there is but one Christ, whose footsteps 
 they follow, and though they are by nature no better 
 than any other men, yet in following Christ they may 
 be safely followed, according to the Scriptures. 
 
 If three honest republicans, in order to reclaim a 
 band of tories, should invite them to become their fol- 
 lowers, even as they followed George Washington or 
 Thomas Jefferson, would this furnish a sufficient rea- 
 son for stating that each of these men professed to be 
 a Thomas Jefferson? and therefore they must be liars, 
 there being only one man in America of that name. 
 Or if these tories had a copy of the United States' 
 laws, which they abused ; would it be proper for them
 
 107 
 
 to say, that the honest citizens wanted them to throw 
 away their law book, because they would have them 
 to live according to these laws 1 With no less impro- 
 priety were the Shakers charged with professing to be 
 each a Christ, and requiring the ChrisUians to throw 
 away their Bibles. 
 
 The subjects of the revival, had unanimously be- 
 lieved that Christ would make his abode, and appear 
 in man ; and that it was their privilege, to believe and 
 follow the truth, delivered by man, according to that 
 measure in which it was opened and revealed. This 
 was certainly the faith of Brother Thompson himself, 
 w^hen in the spirit of the revival, as appears from the 
 following expression, in a letter, dated April 22, 1803 : 
 ''The Lord may have made known to one, what an- 
 other is ignorant of — I bless God, that he has made you 
 capable to teach me in the things of God." And even in 
 his letter of April 5, 1805, he has so much remain- 
 ing candor as to say — ''God in mercy visited your soul 
 with light while I remained in darkness — he sent 
 you to this country with the light to sow it here, and 
 made you the instrument of bringing the heavenly fire 
 to Springfield, where my soul caught the flame of this 
 revival. Ever since that time you are in my heart to 
 live and to die with you." 
 
 Now if it was the faith and order of the revival, to 
 follow the truth of God, testified by man, it could not 
 be exactly right for any to pretend that they were go- 
 ing on in the spirit of the revival, and at the same 
 time, laboring to destroy all confidence in every living 
 teacher. Crying out — "Don't believe man — don't fol- 
 low him — you need not believe us, for we may and do 
 err — you must just take the word of God, and read 
 that — there you have the truth, and you may believe 
 and practice it, precisely as expressed in the words of 
 Scripture." Yet the people were shut up to the neces- 
 sity of believing somebody, and rather than believe 
 those who had been called liars by others, they gave 
 credit to the opposite character, who asserted concern- 
 ing themselves^ that they were not to he believed : and
 
 108 
 
 in obedience to that faith, learned first to call the Bible 
 by a name which it never gave itself; and according- 
 to that name, practise whatever was commanded or 
 even permitted in Scripture words ; assured that God 
 immediately spoke to them in that Scripture, even 
 though it might have been originally spoken by a 
 Pharisee, Sadducee or devil. 
 
 Although I have heard the abettors of the com/mon 
 Christ-ian cause, maintain that Gen. iii. 4, ''Fe shall 
 not surely die^' — and Mat. iv. 6, 9, ''If thou be the Son 
 of God?'' — ''If thou wilt fall down and worship me," ^c. 
 were the words of God, and to be taken without any 
 explanation ; yet I have supposed, it was rather to a- 
 void the force of truth, which they were unwilling to 
 acknowledge. However in nothing short of this, 
 could the general principle find any consistent basis ; 
 and the implicit believer of Bible words, must learn 
 his duty from the following sentences, as directly as 
 any others. Rejoice young man in thy youth, walk 
 in the way of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes ; 
 go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms — Drink thou also 
 and let thy foreskin be uncovered — Drink ye and be 
 drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, Sfc, 
 
 Objection 3. " They say we must be saved by the 
 works of the law — their doctrine leads into bondage." 
 
 Answer. They believe that outward circumcision, 
 with every other Jewish ceremonj^, which the apostles 
 called works of the law, were abrogated by Christ, nor 
 have tliey attempted to revive any of them. But 
 Christ disannulling these dead works, made no pro- 
 vision for bad works. The only alternative he left for 
 any, was to follow him in the regeneration, or con- 
 tinue under the laiu and under its curse.* This doc- 
 trine never proposed anything but bondage to the Jew, 
 who expected to be pardoned for Jibraham^s sake, and 
 accepted on account of his clean outside. Now such 
 an objection as made no distinction between good works 
 
 * See Gal. iii. 10.
 
 109 
 
 — dead works — and bad works, came very improper- 
 ly from those who contended so warmly for liberty to 
 continue in sin, as well as in the use of those works, 
 which they themselves acknowledge, were adopted in 
 the room of circumcision and the passover. 
 
 Objection 4. " They forbid to marry, and attach 
 criminality to that for which we have the express com- 
 mand of God." 
 
 Jinswer. This I am bold to say every believer in 
 Kentucky and Ohio, have from the beginning contra- 
 dicted. Forbidding anything implies authority: and 
 attaching criminality to anything, belongs to a law. 
 Now these men never proposed any other than the law 
 of Moses, and every man's conscience as a criterion to 
 distinguish between good and evil. Therefore what 
 was thus alread)^ condemned, did not remain for them 
 to criminate. And upon the generous principle, that 
 every free agent ought to be allowed, in matters of 
 religion, to act according to his own faith ; they have 
 never, to iiiy knowledge, imposed any prohibition on 
 an individual, in relation to matrimony. It is true, 
 that ybr the kingdom of heaven^ s sake, they choose to 
 be even as Christ, in that respect. But their receiving 
 a particular saying of Christ, and living precisely up 
 to it, claims no authority over the children of this 
 world ; they have an indisputable right, according to 
 their own laws, to marry; and every church may 
 adopt such laws and forms of matrimony as they think 
 proper, and with any such laws or forms, the Shakers 
 have never interfered. 
 
 The Christ-ians have labored hard to establish the 
 above objection, and not without some plausible pre- 
 text. And had the witnesses against Christ, no pretext 
 for asserting — •' We heard this fellow say, I will des- 
 troy the temple of God? — Did he not say — '' Destroy 
 this temple^ ^ — and '^ I ivill ?^^ — And where was the 
 great evil of transposing the words, and putting '' / 
 wilP^ before '' destroy ^^^ when it was so essentially ne- 
 
 10
 
 no 
 
 cessary to condemn the deceiver ? But I suppose it 
 would be granted, even by the false witness himself, 
 that he was not exactly right. Again, according to 
 their testimony, he was no friend to Caesar. Whyl 
 Did he not pay his taxes 1 True ; but he would not 
 fight, he would rather turn the other cheek to the 
 smiter; and spake of another kingdom. If then Christ 
 was plausibly and unjustly accused with aiming to 
 destroy the Jewish temple, and supplant the empire of 
 Ceesar ; so were the Shakers with the above. 
 
 It was in fact the Christ-ians, w^io assumed the au- 
 thority on the occasion, and set out to enforce a law 
 given to man in a state of innocence, for the fulfill- 
 ment of which he wholly unfitted himself by the fall. 
 Gen. i. 28. That law or command, as it respected 
 fallen man, the Shakers supposed the Son of God had 
 disannulled, and from it they conceived they were re- 
 deemed by Christ, as well as from all outward cere- 
 monies of atonement, that fallen man had ever lain 
 under, in consequence of his disobedience ; and 
 in claiming this right of redemption, they had enough 
 to do to answer the objections of their accusers, with- 
 out entering any accusation against others. And al- 
 though in disannulling the commandment going be- 
 fore (by which sin took occasion to work in human 
 nature all manner of concupiscence) they violated no 
 existing law, either of God or man, (except what St. 
 Paul calls a law in the members, a law of sin and death. 
 Rom. vii.) Yet upon the authority of Christ-ian min- 
 isters, they have been publicly condemned as the 
 blackest of criminals, and treated according to that 
 character, as far as the wholesome laws of our State 
 would dispense with. Then how far must it appear 
 from being right, for those who claimed the sole pow- 
 er of judging, and whose judgment was not only sanc- 
 tioned by the shouts of the multitude, but in many in- 
 stances severely executed, to represent as their unjust 
 accusers, those who were judged, condemned, and 
 punished according to their law.
 
 Ill 
 
 Ohjedion 5. ^^ The testimony of these men go to 
 part man and wife, and even encourage men to beat 
 and abuse their wives, and turn them away." 
 
 Answer. How can that be parted which is one? 
 Did not God say, '^ they twain shall be one flesh." 
 These men have more understanding than to propose 
 a separation of this kind. And therefore the testimo- 
 ny they bear, takes no cognizance of man and wife. 
 It came from that world where they neither marry nor 
 are given in marriage^ hut are an the angels of God, 
 The testimony cannot be chargeable with evils, to 
 which it may indirectly give occasion, any more than 
 the proclamation of American independence is charge- 
 able with all the acts of outrage and cruelty, perpetra- 
 ted by the British during the revolutionary war ; and 
 therefore that some of the Christ-ian brethren^ have 
 taken occasion from the testimony, to beat and abuse 
 a sister, a wife, and drive her off, is matter of fact. 
 But to charge anything of the kind to the Shakers^ is 
 exactly wrong. For although, according to St. Paul, 
 there is neither male nor female among them, yet I am 
 bold to say that since Adam fell, woman never was treat- 
 ed by man with tender kindness and respect, superior 
 to what is commonly manifested among the Believers. 
 
 Objection 6. '^ They are a set of worldly-minded 
 cunning deceivers, whose religion is earthly, sensual, 
 and devilish." 
 
 Answer. These are the words of Brother Stone in 
 his letter of July 1806. And the proof of this objec- 
 tion was the fam,a clamosa* " The Shakers are come 
 to take people's land. Every one that joins them 
 must immediately give up his deed to the Elders!" 
 The Christ-ians were considered as very near to the 
 Shakers in their doctrine and worship, is one reason 
 why many things may have been imputed to the lat- 
 ter, which properly belonged to the former. Some 
 
 * Noisy report.
 
 112 
 
 Christ-ian fathers, who had the general title of hand 
 vested in them, in which others had a lawful partner- 
 ship, refused to give separate titles, according to their 
 promise, but dispossessed their former brethren by pro- 
 fession, and nearest kindred in nature, from their valu- 
 able and lawful possessions, merely on account of their 
 faith. Moreover, the Christ-ian church at Paint Lick, 
 refused to make a title to Brother Houston, for land 
 which he had lawfully paid for, merely on account of 
 his faith. But so foreign from this, has been the con- 
 duct of the SkakerSy that upon land which they pur- 
 chased and paid for, mainly for the relief and benefit 
 of others, not less than eight families are commodi- 
 ously settled. This I mention distinct from the daily 
 stream of beneficence that flows from their threshold, 
 for which they receive nothing in return but love and 
 thanks, much less the unlawful surrender of a deed. 
 Who then is the worldly-minded, cunning deceiver 1 
 
 Objection 7. ^' They prophesied, that such as reject- 
 ed the testimony would lose their former life and 
 power ; '' but (says Brother Stone in his letter of July) 
 now the work of God goes on, in spite of all the Cal- 
 vinists. Shakers, and devils in hell. Now we know 
 your prophets are liars." 
 
 Answer. The work of God never did go on in spite 
 — but in lov^e and kindness to all men, even the Cal- 
 vinists not excepted. But while the Christ-ians, upon the 
 slightest evidence of the Shakers being liars, can fall 
 to shouting and praising their God, or at the sight of 
 them, stop every medium of information with loud 
 cries for deliverance, a work of some kind will no 
 doubt go on in spite of everything that claims any re- 
 lation to the coming of Christ. But how long God 
 may trouble these mighty waters, and what degree of 
 power may operate round about, in that preparatory 
 work, has never been predicted. 
 
 As I conceive much credit has been given to the 
 boasted power among the Christ-ians, upon the test of 
 the Shakers being liars, I shall mention one more par-
 
 113 
 
 ticular upon which the testimony has been condemned 
 as false. Lastly, 
 
 '' These men have testified they would never die; 
 and one of them from New-Lebanon has died already, 
 in despair, convinced of the delusion." 
 
 Answer. They never asserted that they would live 
 forever, in the eai'thly house of this tabernacle. But 
 that every true follower of Christ, has passed from 
 death unto everlasting life, is a truth. 
 
 And even though Brother Thompson had seen Pru- 
 dence Farrington dying at Turtle Creek, under a deep 
 conviction of the delusion, as plain as he once saw the 
 mark of the beast on the Church to which she belongs, 
 and should affirm that his vision was in the light of 
 God, yet his vision I should pronounce false, and 
 contradict the news of congratulation to his Christ-ian 
 brethren. And moreover, I should think it proper, 
 for any person who had taken any part in spreading 
 such a report, to '' eat the dreadful words." So tena- 
 cious am I of reasonable evidence. 
 
 I was among the last that conversed with Sister 
 Prudence before her departure from the body ; and 
 though I treasured up the most of her solemn words, 
 and particularly'the last, which were '^ Strengthen the 
 brethren," yet I shall only insert, at this time, a short 
 extract of a poem composed on the occasion, to 
 which I shall add an extract of a letter to New -Leba- 
 non, from which the contrast will appear : 
 
 EXTRACTS. 
 
 ******** 
 " Her holy examples of infinite price : 
 Brought up in the gospel, a stranger to vice ; 
 Her cross from the first she did faithfully bear, 
 And finish'd her course in her thirty-first year : 
 Her heaven-horn spijrit, to angels akin, 
 (Not stain'd with the flesh nor polluted with sin,) 
 Has now got releas'd from the sorrows of earth. 
 And shares the full joys of her heavenly birth." 
 10*
 
 114 
 
 ^^ Our precious sister, Prudence Farrington, has fin- 
 ished her course, and is buried under an oak in the 
 wilderness of Ohio. She deceased the eleventh inst. 
 [April, 1807] in the thirty-first year of her age — a lov- 
 ing sister — a blessed virgin — a holy woman — an heir 
 of glory : 
 
 She liv'd without sin, and died without fear ; 
 
 She 's not as she 's been, and yet she is here."* — I. B. 
 
 In fine, there is nothing pertaining to the testimony, 
 but has admitted of objection, false statement, and 
 vague report. But it has not been my design to notice 
 anything but what has been stated with some plausi- 
 bility. 
 
 Next to the new and old doctrine of the Cross, the 
 hue-and-cry was raised against the new and old man- 
 ner of worship. What ? Go forth in the dance ! Go 
 voluntarily, without being jerked 1 And say they are 
 praising God in the dance ! The dances, too, of them 
 that make merry — of them that serve the devil! Take 
 their dances to serve God! Christ-ians, read your Bi- 
 bles, and you will see that these fellows are not of 
 God, for they keep not the Sabbath. '^ Think, (says 
 Brother Stone, in his letter of July,) " think seriously 
 and soberly of the shocking conduct of your reveling 
 mock-worship, and tremble." Could he have forgot- 
 ten that a little while before, when censured by Dr. 
 Tod, a brother professor, for the same shocking con- 
 duct, his reply was, that he had to move heaven-ward 
 with him hanging at his heels. Then think seriously 
 and soberly — what is a Tod at the heels of a traveller 
 in comparison with a Stone — a great stone? " my 
 Richard (adds Barton) shall I ever rejoice over you 
 as a penitent prodigal?" '^ Now (replies Richard) if 
 ever: I have just returned from feeding the swine, 
 confessed my sins, been completely stripped, and 
 
 * Near the spot to which Brother Stone would have flown in April, 
 1805, had it not been for his earthly tabernacle.
 
 115 
 
 clad with a suit completely new. The door has been 
 opened into my Father's house, and I have enteredjto 
 go out no more. Now the family begins to be mer- 
 ry, and the elder son to wonder what it means — 
 willing to get news from the meanest scullion. Don't 
 you hear that it is MUSIC and DANCING? And 
 is not the Father entreating you to come in 1 Then 
 
 <* Brother cast your anger off, 
 
 And every passion bury ; 
 Come in and share ihe fatted calf, 
 
 And let us all be merry. 
 
 Will you grieve about a kid. 
 
 When the calf is killed ; 
 If you come in when you are bid, 
 
 You may yet be filled."
 
 A FEW REFLECTIONS. 
 
 We live in what is called the United States of Amer* 
 ica f-^- United States f A name that promises peace 
 and happiness to every citizen ; but, under this spe- 
 cious name of Union, what a picture is exhibited ? A 
 great Christian empire, divided into a thousand little 
 kingdoms, all inclosed in the bowels of a great re- 
 public, and each contending for the mastery. Amer- 
 ica exulting in her health, the liberty and equality of 
 her members, and yet full of worms, biting and de- 
 A^ouring one another, each pursuing a distinct course to 
 which he presumes all others must finally give w^ay. 
 The Presbyterian minister, the Baptist, Methodist, 
 Christ-ian, and Church minister, each proposing to re- 
 duce the whole commonwealth under his laws and 
 government. In the midst of these party attachments, 
 who shall be governor, representative, magistrate, ma- 
 jor, captain ? &c. This question at once proves the 
 spirit of the union, while it arouses Christian against 
 Christian, party against party, each to contend with his 
 fellow professors, who shall be the greatest. TeH it 
 not in Great Britain ! Publish it not in the streets of 
 London ! Lest the daughters of Babylon sneer at the 
 apparent effects of civil and religious liberty. 
 
 Whence arises this motley mixture of kingdoms and 
 states 1 Is it not through a grand mistake — convert-
 
 117 
 
 ing the Bible into a civil law-book,* and accounting 
 tliose to riilej who adopt it as such ? from this egre- 
 gious error, has not every aspiring worm been encour- 
 aged to form his separate party, set himself at the head 
 of it, read and expound his laws, bestow privileges, 
 and execute judgment upon his subjects? And can it 
 be otherwise until the eye of common sense is open to 
 see, that the kingdom of Christ has nothing to do with 
 civil government; and that civil government has no- 
 thing to do with the Church or kingdom of Christ 1 Let 
 this plain maxim of Christ be adopted ; of course that 
 civil institution, about which there has been such an 
 uproar among the Christ-ians of late, will be restored 
 to where it belongs. 
 
 II. That the abusers of the Bible have betrayed great 
 ignorance and idolatry in assuming the reins of gov- 
 ernment by the supposed authority of that book, and 
 given great occasion of disgust to the name of Christ, 
 is a truth, that every man of good sense will yet ac- 
 knowledge. Look at the Church common prayer book, 
 established by a mighty defender of the faith ; and it 
 will appear that the subject of that kingdom, must 
 either go unmarried or repeat after his priest, the fol- 
 lowing obligations to a woman : — " With this ring I 
 thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all 
 my worldly goods I thee endow : In the name of the Fa- 
 ther, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." 
 '' Come back ! Come back," says the Christ-ian ! 
 Where? " To the Church — the one Church,^' Nay : 
 let me rather be a Hottentot, and worship the moon, 
 and have the liberty of giving part of my goods to the 
 poor. 
 
 The Christ-ians say, " Let us all worship one God" 
 — then let them settle the point who it shall be. They 
 say the Word of God (i. e. the Bible) tells them so and 
 so. Very well ; it says, " Fall down and worship 
 
 * The only rule to direct.— See all systems.
 
 118 
 
 me." This will not do. T dare not worship a book, 
 and my soul recoils at the idea of worshiping" that 
 spirit which originally suggested these words. There- 
 fore I must worship according to my present faith, 
 though it should appear *^ solemn mockery " in the 
 eyes of all the Christian world. 
 
 III. I am thankful to the Disposer of all human 
 events, that I was not more than seven years old 
 when the American eagle first stretched her pinions 
 and began her ascent toward the air of libert}*. And, 
 therefore, the meridian of my temporal life is at a pe- 
 riod when reputed fools and fanatics no longer smoke 
 on the altar of Christianity^ but every man's religion 
 may be correctly examined, of whatsoever kind it is. 
 Surely, if Church officers knew, they might as well 
 be still and silent, as to try to crowd back and shut 
 vip their flocks, and cry. Wolves ! Wolves ! For every 
 man's character must be known in this day, and each 
 one judged, not by his good words and fair speeches, 
 but according to his WORKS. 
 
 IV. For upwards of two years, I have studied Shak- 
 erism, with as close application as I ever bestowed on 
 the system of Calvin, and at least upon as proper a 
 plan. I have had the documents of it open before 
 me, without covering or disguise, i. e. the people who 
 have set out to be righteous, and follow Christ, in 
 deed and in truth. And in all their actions at home 
 and abroad, however scrutinized as a test of that faith 
 upon which my salvation was suspended, I have never 
 discovered anything that could furnish any ground of 
 a cavil, but am bound to say, that the same charac- 
 teristics of a child of God which a Christ-ian reads in 
 his Bible, I have been able to read in the daily de- 
 portment of this people, and that without a blot. A 
 people blameless and harmless — without rebuke in the 
 tnidst of a crooked and perverse nation^ among whom, 
 they shine as lights in the world ^ having their conversa-
 
 119 
 
 Hon honest J and yet all manner of evil spoken against 
 them falsely. Moreover, their daily fruit has been 
 manifested, to my satisfaction, to be the fruits of that 
 spirit which the Christ-ians say lives in the letters of a 
 book, viz. : Love, peace j joy, long-suffering, gentleness^ 
 goodness, faithfulness, meekness, tejnperance, against 
 which there is no law. Therefore, I conclude Brother 
 Dooley's text, Let them alone, was very pertinent, 
 when he came to preach among- their neighboring 
 persecutors, had he not added, They be blind leaders of 
 the blind, fyc. 
 
 V. It is no matter to me what a tree is called if its 
 fruit is good* If all my neighbors should call my 
 apple-tree a Buckeye, and tell me that it grew from 
 the seed of Hemlock, this would not alter the taste of 
 the good apple ; no more can any name destroy my 
 regard to a people that bring forth the fruit of right- 
 eousness. 
 
 But though some may imagine that the name 
 Shaker bears analogy to something very mean and 
 contemptible, it has never been my conception of it, 
 nor have I used it at all in that sense. 
 
 The first thing that struck me, when I heard that 
 name, was that the universal cry in the revival had 
 been that God would shake the heavens and the earth ! 
 Shake out the things that were made, that those things 
 that could not be shaken might remain. How then was 
 he to do it 1 He always works by means and instru- 
 ments. 
 
 When the nations were to be threshed, he made 
 Jacob his threshing instrument, of course the men of 
 Jacob were his threshers. People talk of the great 
 wars of Bonaparte, and the great sins that the devil 
 commits : yet a reasonable person will grant that Bo- 
 naparte wars with his warriors, and the devil 52715 with 
 his sinners. Then was it not reasonable for the sub- 
 jects of the revival to expect that God would shake 
 the heavens and the earth with his Shakers ? Some
 
 120 
 
 perceiving this, tried to substitute the name Quaker^ 
 but as this name was ab'eady appropriated to another 
 people, it only served to take tlie charge of their first 
 light, and suffer that abuse which the name was 
 originally supposed to merit, until it appeared that the 
 contrast between this people and the Quakers in their 
 present standing, rendered it improper to call both by 
 the same name ; therefore the general appellation has 
 been finally adopted. — Behold I will send for many 
 fishers^ saith the Lord, ajid they shall fish them^ and 
 after will I send for many hunters^ and they shall hunt 
 them from every mountain^ ^c — Jer. xvi. 16. And 
 again. Saviours shall come up on mount Zion, to judge 
 the mount of Esau ; and the kingdom shall he the 
 Lord^s. — Obadiah 21. This is a time for universal lib- 
 erty to work, and for each one to be know^n and dis- 
 tinguished by his works : and has not God a right 
 to work as well as man? And if he has a work to do 
 with mankind, who can hinder? Therefore, if he 
 sends out rtmny fishers to fish them, many hunters to 
 hunt them, many Shakers to shake them, and many 
 Saviours to save them, let all the people say — Amen.
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 Since the testimony of Christ has been opened in 
 this western coimtry, by John Meacham, Benjamin S. 
 Youngs and Issachar Bates, many have expressed a 
 great desire to see the principles of the Church fully 
 and clearly stated ; besides it has been the prevailing 
 wish of young believers in general, that every serious 
 inquirer should have their desires fully answered in 
 this respect. This, however, was not contemplated by 
 the present publication. I pretend not to comprehend, 
 much less to state, the principles of a people who have 
 been more than twent}" years in that work which is 
 justly denominated a new creation. What we have 
 seen and heard we testify, but all these in comparison 
 of the light of the Church, are but earthly things com- 
 pared to heavenly. It therefore remains with the 
 Church and those who are thence commissioned to 
 open the everlasting gospel, to publish their distin- 
 guishing doctrines, &c., when they conceive they are 
 thereunto called of God. And that the period is not 
 far distant, I am authorized to believe from certain in- 
 formation, that a work is now preparing for the press, 
 in which the principles of the Church will be laid open 
 from their proper source and foundation by those who 
 are in possession of a special gift to that purpose. 
 
 11
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 CONTAINING A SHORT ACCOUNT OF A WORK OF THE GOOD 
 SPIRIT AMONG SOME OF THE NEIGHBORING INDIANS. 
 
 Many fervent prayers were offered up in the revi- 
 val, for the poor Indians, that they also might share in 
 the blessed hope and joyful anticipation of redeeming 
 love ; and missionaries were repeatedly sent out from 
 among the subjects of the work, to convert them to the 
 Christian faith, but with little success ; as probably, 
 they ran, like Ahimaaz, before their tidings were rea- 
 dy. From some accounts that were stated by common 
 fame, in the fall of the year 1804, viz., that a great 
 number from different tribes had met together and held 
 a feast of love and union, danced and rejoiced before 
 the Great Spirit and proposed to revive the religion of 
 their ancestors, &c. &c., some were brought to query 
 whether God would not convert the heathen in some 
 way different from what had hitherto been laid out by 
 man : — probably move them by his Spirit to flow to the 
 Church as soon as she was prepared to receive and in- 
 struct them, according to Micah iv. 1, 2. 
 
 About a year and a half ago, fresh reports broke out 
 concerning them, viz., that a considerable body of
 
 124 
 
 them had moved down within the bomidary line of 
 this State, and were about forming a settlement. Va- 
 rious conjectures were agitated concerning them. Some 
 said they were for war — others, that they were in pur- 
 suit of religion and the means of an honest livelihood 
 — were going to work, and in their present circum- 
 stances were principally supported by charitable dona- 
 tions from the neighboring whites. 
 
 The continuance of these different reports, created 
 an anxiety in the believers at Turtle Creek, toward the 
 latter end of last winter, to find out their real situation, 
 both in respect to things temporal and spiritual. Ac- 
 cordingly on the 17th of March three of the brethren 
 set out in search of them, and on the 23d of the month 
 arrived at their village. What they discovered on the 
 occasion is briefly comprised in the following extracts 
 from their Journal. '' When we came in sight of the 
 village, the first object that attracted our view Avas a 
 large frame house, about 150 by 34 feet in size, sur- 
 rounded with 50 or 60 smoking cottages. We rode up 
 and saluted some men who were standing before the 
 door of a tent, and by a motion of the hand were di- 
 rected to another wigwam where we found one who 
 could talk English. We asked him if their feelings 
 were friendly. 
 
 Ji, O yes, we are all brothers. 
 
 Q. Where are your chiefs — we wish to have a talk 
 with them ? 
 
 A. They are about 4 miles off making sugar. 
 
 Q. What are their names'? 
 ■ A. Lal-ln-e-tsee-ka, and Te-kum-tha. 
 
 Q. Can any of them talk English % 
 
 A. No : but there is a good interpreter there, George 
 Blue-jacket. He has gone to school, and can read and 
 talk well. 
 
 Q. What is that big house for? 
 
 A, To worship the Great Spirit. 
 
 Q. How do you worship ? 
 
 A, Mostly in speaking.
 
 125 
 
 Q, Who is your chief speaker ? 
 
 A, Our prophet, Lal-lu-e-tsee-ka. He converses 
 with the Good Spirit, and tells us how to be good. 
 
 Q. Do all that live here, believe in him ? 
 
 A, Yes, we all believe — he can dream to God. 
 
 Conducted by a pilot, we repaired to the sugar-camp, 
 w^here 30 or 40 were assembled with the prophet, who 
 was very sick and confined to his tent. We expressed 
 our desire of having a talk with him. But George in- 
 formed us that he could not talk to us, that ministers 
 of the white people, would not believe what he said, 
 but counted it foolish and laughed at it, therefore he 
 could not talk ; besides he had a pain in his head, and 
 was very sick. After informing him we were not such 
 ministers, he asked : 
 
 Do you believe a person can have true knowledge 
 of the Great Spirit, in the heart, without going to school 
 and learning to read ? 
 
 A, We believe they can ; and that is the best kind 
 of knowledge. 
 
 After some talk of this kind with George, he went 
 into i!ie prophet's tent, where several chiefs were col- 
 lected, and after continuing their council there about 
 an liour, Lal-lu-e-tsee-ka came out and took his seat 
 in a circle of about 30 persons who sat round the fire. 
 All were silent — every countenance grave and solemn, 
 when he began to speak. His discourse continued 
 about half an hour, in which the most pungent elo- 
 quence expressed his deep and heart-felt sense of what 
 he spoke, but in language which George said, he could 
 not correctly translate into English. However the 
 general sense, he occasionally communicated during 
 our stay. 
 
 In the first place, that he (the prophet) had formerly 
 lived on White-river ; had been a doctor and a very 
 wicked man. About two years ago, while attending 
 on sick people at Attawa, in a time of general sickness, 
 he was struck with a deep and awful sense of his sins 
 — cried mightily to the Good Spirit to show him some 
 
 11*
 
 126 
 
 way of escape, and in his great distress, fell into a vi- 
 sion, in which he appeared to be travelling along a 
 road, and came to where it forked — the right hand way 
 he was informed led to happiness and the left to 
 misery. 
 
 This fork in the road, he was told, represented that 
 stage of life in which people were convicted of sin ; 
 and those who took the right hand way quit every- 
 thing that was wicked and became good. But the left 
 hand road was for such as would go on and be bad, af- 
 ter they were shown the right way. They all move 
 slow, till they come here, but when they pass the fork 
 to the left, then they go swift. On the left hand way 
 he saw three houses — from the first and second were 
 pathways that led across into the right hand road, but 
 no way leading from the third : This, said he, is eternity. 
 He saw vast crowds going swift along the left hand 
 road, and great multitudes in each of the houses, un- 
 der different degrees of judgment and misery. He 
 mentioned particularly the punishment of the drunk- 
 ard. One presented him a cup of liquor resembling 
 melted lead ; if he refused to drink it he would urge 
 him, saying, Come, drink, — you used to love whis- 
 ky. And upon drinking] it, his bowels were seized 
 with an exquisite burning. This draught he had often 
 to repeat. At the last house their torment appeared 
 inexpressible; under which he heard them scream, 
 cry pitiful, and roar like the falls of a river. He was 
 afterwards (said the interpreter) taken along the right 
 hand way, which was all interspersed with flowers of 
 delicious smell, and showed a house at the end of it 
 where was everything beautiful, sweet and pleasant, 
 and still went on learning more and more ; but in his 
 first vision he saw nothing but the state of the wicked ; 
 from which, the Great Spirit told him to go and warn 
 his people of their danger, and call upon them to put 
 away their sins, and be good. Whereupon he began 
 to speak to them in great distress, and would weep 
 and tremble, while addressing them. Some believed
 
 127 
 
 — were greatly alarmed — began to confess their sins — 
 forsake them, and set out to be good. This spread the 
 alarm, and brought many others from different tribes 
 to see and hear, who were affected in like manner. 
 But some of the chiefs who were very wicked, would 
 not believe, and tried to keep the people from believ- 
 ing, and encouraged them on in their former wicked 
 ways. Whereupon the Great Spirit told him to sepa- 
 rate from these wicked chiefs and their people, and 
 showed him particularly where to come, towards the 
 big ford where the peace was concluded with the Amer- 
 icans ; and there make provisicm to receive and instruct 
 all from the different tribes that were willing to be 
 good. 
 
 Accordingly all that believed had come and settled 
 there, and a great many Indians had come to hear, 
 and many more were expected. That some white 
 people were afraid, but they were foolish ; for they 
 would not hurt any one. 
 
 We asked a number of questions : 
 
 Q. Do you believe that all mankind are gone away 
 from the Good Spirit by Avicked works ? 
 
 A, Yes ; that is what we believe : And the prophet 
 feels great pity for all. 
 
 Q. Do you believe that the Good Spirit once made 
 himself known to the world, by a man that was called 
 Christ 7 
 
 A, Yes, we believe it, and the Good Spirit has 
 showed our prophet what has been in many genera- 
 tions, and he says he wants to talk with some white 
 people about these things. 
 
 Q. What sins does your prophet speak most 
 against % 
 
 A, Witchcraft, poisoning people, fighting, murder- 
 ing, drinking whisky, and beating their wives be- 
 cause they will not have children. All such as will 
 not leave off these, go to Eternity — he knows all bad 
 people that commit fornication, and can tell it all from 
 seven years old.
 
 128 
 
 Q. What do those do who have been wicked, when 
 they believe the prophet ? 
 
 A, They confess all. 
 
 Q. To whom do they confess 1 
 
 A. To the prophet and four chiefs. 
 
 Q. Do they confess all the bad things they ever 
 did ? 
 
 A, All from seven years old. And cry and tremble 
 when they come to confess. 
 
 Q. How did you learn this % The Roman Catholics 
 confess their sins. 
 
 A. Some Wiandots joined the Roman Catholics at 
 Detroit, who now believe in om* prophet. Roman 
 Catholics confess their sins, but go and do bad again. 
 Our people forsake their bad ways when they have 
 confessed. 
 
 They asked us several questions concerning our 
 people, and particularly whether they drank whisky ; 
 and appeared not a little rejoiced, to learn that there 
 were some among the whites, so far reclaimed, as to 
 lay aside the use of that pernicious liquor. We in- 
 quired how they made out for provisions. They an- 
 swered they had none. So many people came there 
 — eat up all they had raised. 
 
 The only meal we saw them eat, was a turkey di- 
 vided among 30 or 40. And the only relief we could 
 afford them, was ten dollars for the purpose of buying 
 corn. 
 
 After the evening conversation closed, we concluded 
 to return to the village, with George and several others; 
 and mounted our horses. It was now in the dusk of 
 the evening, and the full moon just rising above the 
 horizon, when one of their speakers stood up in an al- 
 ley, between the camps, and spoke for about fifteen 
 minutes, with great solemnit}^, which was heightened at 
 every pause, with a loud seguoy from the surrounding 
 assembly. On this occasion, our feelings were like Ja- 
 cob's when he cried out, '' How dreadful is this place ! 
 Surely the Lord is in this place /" And the world
 
 129 
 
 know it not. With these impressions we returned to 
 the village, and spent the night. 
 
 Next morning, as soon as it was day, one of their 
 speakers mounted a log, near the S. E. corner of the 
 village, and began the morning service with a loud 
 voice, in thanksgiving to the Great Spirit . He con- 
 tinued his address for near an hour. The people were 
 all in their tents, some at the distance of fifteen or 
 twenty rods ; yet they could all distinctly hear, and 
 gave a solemn and loud assent, which sounded from 
 tent to tent, at every pause. While we stood in his 
 view, at the end of the meeting-house, on rising ground, 
 from which we had a prospect of the surrounding wig- 
 wams, and the vast open plain or prairie, to the south 
 and east, and which looks over the big fort, toward 
 the north, for the distance of two miles, we felt as if 
 we were among the tribes of Israel, on their march to 
 Canaan. Their simplicity and unaffected zeal for the 
 increase of the work of the Good Sjnrit — their ardent 
 desires for the salvation of their unbelieving kindred, 
 with that of all mankind — their willingness to under- 
 go hunger, fatigue, hard labor and sufferings, for the 
 sake of those who came to learn the way of righteous- 
 ness — and the high expectations they had, of multi- 
 tudes flocking down to hear the prophet the ensuing 
 summer, &c., were considerations truly affecting; — 
 while Ske-law-wa hailed the opening day with loud 
 aspirations of gratitude to the Good Spirit ; and en- 
 couraged the obedient followers of Divine light to per- 
 severe. 
 
 They showed us several letters of friendship from 
 the Governor of Ohio, Gen. Whiteman and others, from 
 which they appeared thankful that the Americans be- 
 lieved their dispositions to be peaceable and brotherly. 
 Their marks of industry were considerable, not only 
 in preparing ground for cultivation ; but also in hew- 
 ing and preparing timber for more commodious build- 
 ings. From all we could gather, from their account 
 of the work, and of their faith and practice — what we
 
 130 
 
 heard and felt in their evening and morning worship 
 — their peaceable disposition, and attention to indust- 
 ry ; we were induced to believe that God, in very deed, 
 was mightily at work among them. And under this 
 impression, we invited three or four of them to come 
 down and see us, as soon as they found it conve- 
 nient." 
 
 Near the middle of June upwards of twenty appeared 
 at Turtle Creek, encamped in the woods at a small 
 distance from the Church, and tarried four days. They 
 had worship every evening at their encampment ; and 
 several on the Sabbath attended the meeting of the 
 Believers, and behaved with order and decorum. 
 During their stay they conducted with peace and ci- 
 vility, and received no contrary treatment from any in 
 the place. And to relieve, in some degree, the press- 
 ing wants of hungry families at home, 27 horses were 
 loaded back with provision, from among the Believ- 
 ers. Yet this act of charity, however small, did not 
 long escape the censorious reflections of some hard- 
 hearted mortals ; but even furnished a pretext for im- 
 plications the most monstrous and unreasonable. How- 
 ever, in this, as in all other cases of the kind, those 
 who busied themselves about what did not concern 
 them, were much divided in their opinion. Some had 
 it, that a number of the Indians had joined the Shakers, 
 and many more were coming on. Others, that an 
 Indian had offered to confess his sins, but that the 
 Shakers could not understand him ; and therefore the 
 Indians were convinced too, that the Shakers were de- 
 ceivers. Others tried to make believe that the Shak- 
 ers were encouraging them to war — or at least to con- 
 tend for the land on which they had settled. And 
 some were foolish enough to go all tbe way to the vil- 
 lage, and put on a mask of hypocrisy, to find out 
 whether this was not the case. Of all this trouble, 
 both of mind and body, such might have been saved, 
 had they accustomed themselves, at an earlier period,
 
 131 
 
 to believe those who tell the truth and nothing but the 
 truth. 
 
 About the 12th of August [1807J they were visited 
 again by two of the brethren from Turtle Creek, who 
 found them in possession of the same peaceable and 
 brotherly spirit. They had but little conversation with 
 them, yet obtained abundant satisfaction by attending 
 their meeting, which continued from a little after dark 
 till the sun was an hour high the next morning. 
 
 The meeting was opened with a lengthy discourse, 
 delivered by the prophet ; after which they assembled 
 in a close crowd, and continued their worship by sing- 
 ing and shouting, that might have been heard at least 
 to the distance of two miles. 
 
 Their various songs, and perfect harmony in 'sing- 
 ing, shouting, &c., rendered the meeting very solemn. 
 But all this appeared far inferior to that solemn fear of 
 God, hatred of sin, and that peace, love and harmony 
 which they manifested among each other. They 
 needed no invitation to pay another visit to Turtle 
 Creek ; nor were they forbidden. Therefore, pursu- 
 ant to their own choice, a number of them appeared 
 again at the^Church, August 29th, and were received 
 with usual kindness and charity. On this occasion, 
 some in the neighborhood expressed their uneasiness 
 lest there was some mischievous plot carrying on. But 
 amidst the threats of the ignorant or misinformed, the 
 Shawnese testified that they were wholly for peace, 
 and abundantly proved it by their meekness, gentle- 
 ness and forbearance. The only expression like re- 
 sentment that I heard from them on the occasion, was 
 from Nancy, the Interpreter, while a bold advocate for 
 the New Christian doctrine, was boasting how the 
 white people could cut them off. She said they were 
 for nothing but peace ; but if white people would go 
 to war, they would be destroyed by a day of judgment, 
 that not one soul would be left on the face of the 
 earth. 
 
 Although these poor Shawnese have had no particu-
 
 132 
 
 lar instruction but what they received by the outpour- 
 ing of the Spirit, yet in point of real light and under- 
 standing, as well as behavior, they shame the Chris- 
 tian Avorld. Therefore of that Spirit Avhich hath 
 wrought so great a change, the Believers at Turtle 
 Creek are not ashamed ; yet they are far from wish- 
 ing them to turn to the right hand or to the left, to 
 form an external union with them or any other peo- 
 ple. But they are willing that God should carry on his 
 work among them without interruption, as he thinks 
 proper. 
 
 Lord, what is mani Those great prophets, Mar- 
 shal, Stone, Thompson, &c., who were a few years 
 ago crying to sinners to repent, trembling at the view 
 of their danger, searching out and condemning sin and 
 all the false doctrines invented to palliate it, now build- 
 ing up the same wicked creatures in their sins, and by 
 vain philosophy, and a perversion of the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures, encouraging them to hope for salvation in some 
 future day ; while the trembling Shawnee, obedient to 
 the Good Spirit in Lal-lu-e-tsee-ka, Wi-apier-sen-Avaw, 
 Te-kum-tha, and Cum-skaw-kaw, confesses and for- 
 sakes his wicked ways, and sets out, not merely in a 
 new faith or new doctrine, but in newness of life and 
 good ivorks. May not that saying of St. Paul be ap- 
 plicable in such a case : '' The heart of this people has 
 waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and 
 their eyes have they closed, &c. Therefore be it 
 known, that the salvation of God is sent to the Gen- 
 tiles, and they will hear it.''
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON 
 
 CHURCH GOVERNMENT, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 PRESBYTERY OF SPRINGFIELD; 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 OF THAT REVEREND BODY : 
 
 WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES, BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 *' Prepare ye the way of the Lord — make straight in the desert a highway 
 
 for our God." 
 " The word of our God shall stand forever." Isaiah. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 REPRINTED BY EDWARD O. JENKINS, 
 No. 114 Nassau Street. 
 
 1846. 
 12
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 on Chnrch 
 yeao agxx, in the 
 WiU and T 
 wovii: "At 
 pare ibr tJie 
 Church 
 beantHni 
 stiipt of humaji 
 
 lior tke abore 
 
 Concerning these 
 worthT of notice : 
 
 1. ThM dtey irere 
 ^e Fi iw 1 y ReviTal^ by 
 aie rnitxnt to tkie Lut WM and T 
 ■gatJ as tbetr last le^cj to those 
 npon theai as laifintrr- of the 
 
 2. It is eviieit. faHt the 
 
 that
 
 136 
 
 men considered the true primitive power of Church 
 Government to have been lost from all the denomina- 
 tions — that they themselves had it not — that God was 
 now about to revive it in these latter days by the mighty 
 out-pourings of his Spirit — and that they dissolved 
 their presbyterial union, which they considered as Anti- 
 christian, in hope of receiving the true power from on 
 high when it should be manifested. 
 
 Although it was contemplated, both before and af- 
 ter the Presbytery dissolved, to have the Observations 
 come forward to the public more full and complete 
 than they appear at present — and to this end the mate- 
 rials were put into my hand — yet to avoid unnecessary 
 reflections from such as might seek occasion, I have 
 neither (designedly) added nor diminished, nor altered 
 a single sentence. 
 
 As the Presbytery honestly confessed, that from the 
 connection in which they stood when the Observations 
 were written, '' they were off the foundation of the 
 apostles and the prophets of which Christ himself is 
 the chief corner stone," it need not therefore seem 
 strange if some things in their writings should appear 
 dark and inconsistent. For instance, whether the Di- 
 vine Spirit has its abode in the human heart, or in the 
 letter of the Scriptures, is left rather uncertain in some 
 part of the Observations ; and this will no doubt ever 
 remain a doubtful question with those who are discon- 
 nected from the true foundation. But considering the 
 Presbytery as standing in such a situation, their Ob- 
 servations are no doubt astonishingly bright in the 
 main, and may be of great service to the honest soul 
 that is sincerely inquiring the way to Zion. And to
 
 137 
 
 such it is particularly dedicated, as the last legacy of a 
 dying friend. 
 
 The Observations were not intended as any law, 
 rule, or form of discipline for the government of any 
 Church, but merely to describe that Church which is 
 governed by an internal law, without any written form 
 of words, and thereby direct the inquiring mind to 
 the true foundation of God when it should appear. 
 In every dispensation of Divine grace, God has still 
 given the shadow before the substance ; the pattern of 
 things in the heavens, before the heavenly things 
 themselves : Therefore consider the following as the 
 example and shadow of those heavenly things which 
 thousands expected to be substantiated by means of 
 the late revival. 
 
 Spiritual light is of an increasing nature, measured 
 to us as we are able to receive it. We could not bear 
 to see everything at once, which respects the kingdom 
 of God. The w^ork of God is gradual : his kingdom 
 is not erected all at once. Who hath heard such a 
 thing ? Who hath seen such things ? Shall the earth 
 be made to bring forth in one day ? Shall a nation be 
 born at once ? — Isa. Ixvi. 8. 
 
 If the kingdom of God does not immediately appear, 
 according to our layings out, we ought not to imagine 
 that God is slack concerning his promise. Men may 
 alter and fail but God cannot. Therefore all who 
 have received light from God to see the approaching 
 glory of Zion, in this latter day, may rest assured that 
 not one tittle of what God has revealed shall fail. 
 
 Let none imagine that Christ delayeth his coming, 
 and from thence take occasion to bury their talent, to 
 
 12*
 
 138 
 
 hide and conceal what they have manifestly received 
 of God ; for the day is near when he will reckon with 
 each one according to what they have received, and 
 require his own with usury. From all who have re- 
 ceived any measure of Divine truth and power, God 
 does expect an increase of the same : and to be five- 
 fold, or ten-fold more deeply immersed in what the 
 world have been accustomed to call enthusiasm, than 
 at first, will be no unfavorable situation at the day of 
 final reckoning". 
 
 Such as have been warped aside from the light in 
 which they once stood, may now view the Observa- 
 tions very differently from what they would when 
 they were first written. But if they should now be 
 unable to comprehend the pattern, must it not be " a 
 vexation to understand the report," when the sub- 
 stance comes forward. According to the saying of the 
 prophet — " If thou hast run with the footmen^ and 
 they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend 
 with horses ? And if in the land of peace, wherein 
 thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou 
 do in the swelling of Jordan ? — Jeremiah xii. 5. 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
 IJ|7^ For further information respecting this publi- 
 cation, those who have opportunity may inquire of 
 Matthew Houston, John Dunlavy, or Richard 
 
 M'Nemar. 
 
 Turtle Creek, June 15, 1807.
 
 OBSERVATIONS, ETC 
 
 Truth has its foundation in the nature of God, and 
 is copied out in his word. Like the Eternal himself, 
 it is one ; and is as necessary to the preservation of 
 the soul, as food to the body, or heat and moisture to 
 the plant. And yet, alas ! that best and only pre- 
 servative of the noble mind, is unnaturally despised 
 and rejected of men. 
 
 The Saviour of sinners, who calls himself the truth, 
 was made flesh, and dwelt among us ; but how few, 
 comparatively, beheld his glory. The men of the 
 world knew him not, therefore they did to him what 
 they listed. But though he was put to death in the 
 flesh, yet he was quickened by the spirit, and now 
 liveth forevermore. The world seeth him not, but 
 Christians see him ; for he is in them, and shall be 
 with them : and because he lives they shall live also. 
 He is the same in his word that he was in human 
 flesh ; and in every form his treatment has been the 
 same. How often, even among us, has he been cru- 
 cified afresh, and put to an open shame ; pronounced 
 powerless, dead, — and buried among the rubbish of 
 human tradition. But amidst all this infamy, the 
 blessed truth has been preserved, that not a bone of him 
 is broken. And has not a great stone (the Confession 
 of faith) been rolled off him 1 Has he not risen in- 
 deed 7 and has not the earth quaked at his resurrec-
 
 140 
 
 tion ? Surely the word of God could not be bound ; 
 it was impossible that he should be holden of death. 
 He is risen indeed, and we are witnesses of his resur- 
 rection, and do testify that this is he whom God has 
 appointed to be the judge of both the quick and the 
 dead. 
 
 We have already shown in our view of the gospel^ 
 that it is by the eternal Word that we are to be new 
 created ; the inquiry now before us is. How are we to 
 be governed ? Must we be kept by the same power 
 through faith unto sahmtion J abide in the light as he is 
 in the light J have our fellowship with the Father and 
 with his Son Jesus Christy and grow up in him in all 
 things who is the head ? or must the dispensation be 
 changed — the Creator withdraw and hide himself, 
 and leave the subjects of his grace to certain delegated 
 powers, ordained to scatter and divide ; to be shut up 
 in particular apartments, and prepared for heaven by 
 certain and definite forms? 
 
 It will be granted that he who creates^ has a right 
 to govern. Upon this principle God is acknowledged 
 to be the governor of the world. It will also be 
 granted, that he who has wisdom and power to create^ 
 has also to govern ; and that the same power which 
 brings any system into being, is necessary for its pre- 
 servation. We learn that God created all things by 
 Jesus Christ, and made him the head over all things 
 to his body, that is, the Church. His eternal powder 
 and Godhead is the nail, upon which the glory of his 
 house is suspended. We have know^n Christ after 
 the flesh, and acted as vicegerents in his room, and 
 by his supposed authority, but now henceforth know 
 we him 710 more in such a point of light. He is the 
 same yesterday^ to-day and forever. He is the everlast- 
 ing Father^ the priiice of peace. Through the veil of 
 the flesh, God had entrance into the world — that God 
 who was the same from the beginning : He promised 
 to be with those that love him unto the end of the
 
 141 
 
 world. Jesus promised to send the Comforter, that 
 is, the Holy Ghost, to abide with his people forever. 
 If this spirit of truth, which works by love and puri- 
 fies the heart, can govern an individual, why not the 
 whole body? Would it be an introduction to anar- 
 chy, should all the human family come under the 
 influence and government of this one spirit 1 And 
 can we suppose that any external rules could be more 
 productive of order and harmony? For example, if 
 the principle of love be sufficient to regulate the con- 
 duct of one man towards his wife, why may it not 
 influence two ? and if two, why not a thousand 1 But 
 if the principle of love be wanting, can any external 
 form of government and discipline make him a good 
 husband 1 
 
 Men have been generally fond of mending what 
 they supposed God had left imperfect ; filling up and 
 supplying what they judged deficient, and making 
 plain what Divine wisdom had left in the dark. Thus 
 have they wandered from the plain simple rule of 
 God's word, and taken the reins of government into 
 their own hands. They have changed or amended, 
 added or diminished, as times and circumstances made 
 necessary, till at length the Church has become every- 
 thing, or anything, but what it should be. 
 
 Should we attempt to impose any form of govern- 
 ment upon the Church, we should justly be abandoned 
 by every child of gospel libert}^. This is not left for 
 us, nor any set of men in the world, to do. The 
 author of the Scriptures has not left us to supply any- 
 thing, either in doctrine, discipline or government. 
 The precepts and examples of Christ and his apostles 
 are sufficient, and left on record for this very purpose. 
 The government of the Church, like the gospel itself, 
 is exceedingly plain and simple. If we advert to the 
 New Testament, we shall plainly see, what is the na- 
 ture of the Christian Church — who are its members —
 
 142 
 
 the mode of constitution — its union — communion- 
 government and discipline. 
 
 I. THE NATURE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The Church in Scriptures is denominated the king- 
 dom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. This Church 
 is spiritual. '^ My kingdom is not of this world.^^ 
 John xviii. 36. " They are not of the world, even as I 
 am not of the world.^^ John xvii. 16. It is invisible. 
 The natural eye cannot see it ; for " except a man he 
 horn again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.^^ John 
 iii. 3. '* Therefore the world knoweth tis not, hecause 
 it knew him not,^^ 1 John iii. 1. " The kingdom of God 
 Cometh not with ohservation ; neither shall they say, lo 
 here, or lo there ; for hehold, the kingdom of God is 
 within [among, Gr.] you,^^ Luke xvii. 20, 21. 
 
 Hence we see the reason why Christ spoke so often 
 to those who w^ere without this kingdom in parables ; 
 for they being in a state of unbelief, could not under- 
 stand : '' To you it is given to know the mystery of the 
 kingdom of God, but to them that are without, all things 
 are done in parables ; that seeing they may see and not 
 understand, ^'c." Mark iv. 11. While men reject the 
 testimony of Christ, respecting plain facts, which they 
 can understand, they reject himself; and therefore 
 remain in darkness, incapable of receiving Divine 
 light into their souls. Thus when Christ told Nico- 
 demus, "- Ye must be horn again,^^ he replies with 
 astonishment, '' How can these things 6e," Jesus an- 
 swered and said unto him, ^^ Art thou a master in 
 Israel, and knowest not these things. Verily, verily, I 
 say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and testify that 
 we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have 
 told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye 
 believe, if I tell you of heavenly things. ^^ John iii. 
 '' The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
 
 o 
 
 14 
 
 of God ; for they are foolishness unto him : neither can 
 he know thein^ because they are spiritually discerned.'^^ 
 1 Cor. ii. 14. '^ But luethat is spiritual judgeth [or dis- 
 cerneth] all things ; yet he himself is judged \or dis- 
 cerned] of no man.^^ v. 15. Men in this state are not 
 only incapable of receiving the things of the Spirit, 
 but also incapable of receiving the Spirit himself. 
 '' Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him 
 not, neither knoweth him J but ye know him for he 
 dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.^^ John xiv. 17. 
 it is not surprising then, if Christians are unseen and 
 unknown in the world — if they be mistaken for fools 
 and madmen, for hypocrites and enthusiasts. It can- 
 not be otherwise ; for these things are hid from the 
 wise and prudent^ and revealed unto babes. 
 
 II. THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH, 
 
 From what has been said, you will easily see w^ho 
 are the members of this church : they are believers, 
 and only believers ; for no other can be a member. 
 It is, indeed, freely offered to all — to every creature 
 under heaven; no person or character is excluded, 
 who does not through unbelief exclude himself. '^ Go 
 ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
 creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be 
 ■saved; and he that believeth not shall be damned.'^ — 
 Mark xvi. 15, 16. Since the days of John, the king- 
 dom of heaven is preached, and every man [that is, every 
 believer,] presseth into it, — Luke xvi. 16. But there 
 were many who could not enter in, because of unbe- 
 lief ; for the word preached did not profit them, not being 
 mixed with faith in them that heard it. — Heb. iv. 2. It 
 is impossible for men to come to Christ, who do not be- 
 lieve in him ; nor can they seek to enter into the king- 
 dom who do not believe there is a kingdom. 
 
 I' While Christ remained visible on the earth j his body
 
 144 
 
 was the temple of God; For ^SVi him dwelt all the 
 fulness of the Godhead^ bodily,^^ that is, corporeally. 
 And though many hailed him, ''good master ^^^ yet 
 none were considered as real members but those who 
 believed his doctrine, and felt its sacred influence in 
 forming their hearts anew. 
 
 III. THE MODE OF CONSTITUTION. 
 
 Though God had much people scattered abroad 
 among the men of the world, yet they were not pro- 
 perly constituted into a distinct body, nor vested with 
 the powers of mutual government, until after Christ's 
 resurrection. '' Other sheep have /, (that is, loving 
 believers,) which are not of this fold ; them also I must 
 bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall he 
 onefold and one shepherd,^ ^ 
 
 The state of believers, or those that worshipped God 
 at that time, in the spirit of simple love, may be com- 
 pared to the materials of the tabernacle before it was 
 erected. They were scattered abroad in different 
 places, and did not exhibit that beautiful appearance 
 or construction which they afterwards assumed. The 
 miracles of Christ, and the wonders which attended 
 his death — the unnatural eclipse of the sun — the earth- 
 quake — the rending of the veil — the opening of the 
 graves — the resurrection, &c., were calculated to bring 
 the expectants of his kingdom to Jerusalem, from 
 almost every quarter of the world. Accordingly, about 
 that time, we find a vast concourse of people met to- 
 gether at that place. 
 
 The Apostles, who had long been in the habit of be- 
 lieving the truth, were then, by faith and fervent 
 prayer, waiting for the promise of the Father. — Acts 
 i. 4, 5 ; and Acts ii. throughout. Christ had pro- 
 mised that they should be baptized with the Holy
 
 145 
 
 Ghost, and endued witli power from on high. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit came, 
 like the rushing of a mighty wind ; and they were all 
 filled with the Holy Ghost, and spake with other tongues, 
 as the Spirit gave them utterance. They being thus 
 publicly set apart, and anointed with the Holy Ghost, 
 were laid as the foundation of this spiritual tabernacle. 
 Men had lonsr been accustomed to look for God on a 
 mount that might be touched, or in a temple made with 
 hands ; but now the dispensation is changed, and we 
 behold the foundation of a spiritual temple — an house 
 not made with hands, nor built of dead materials, but 
 of living stones. — 1 Pet. ii. 5. 
 
 While Jerusalem was the place to worship, the tem- 
 ple stood there, and never moved out of the spot, nor 
 grew any larger ; but this new temple was designed to 
 eclipse all the glory of the former, and fill the whole 
 earth.* — Hag. ii. 9 ; Dan. ii. 35. The same day there 
 were added to the building about three thousand, who 
 continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine, in break- 
 ing of bread , and in prayers ; and the Lord added to 
 the Church daily such as should be saved. 
 
 This one Church is represented as a growing body, 
 but never a single idea of others being formed out of it. 
 Unity is one of its essential characteristics. — Eph. iv. 
 4, 5. Thej'e is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are 
 called in one hope of your calling : one Lord, one fait h, 
 one baptism, one God, and Father of all, who is above all, 
 and through all, and in you all. This one Church, whose 
 
 * There were two temples at Jerusalem, figurative of two gospel 
 churches. The first church was established in consequence of 
 Christ's first appearance ; and the second to be in consequence of 
 his second appearance : the latter of which was to eclipse the glory 
 of the former, and fill the whole earth ; but both to be founded and 
 built by the same agent, namely, the Holy Ghost. 
 
 13
 
 146 
 
 Centre was visibly marked at Jerusalem, spread its cir- 
 cumference to all the countries round about, and "svill 
 not cease to increase till it includes the whole world, 
 as leaven which is hid in three measures of meal, till 
 the whole is leavened ; or as mustard-seed hid in the 
 ground, grows up into a great tree, till the fowls of the 
 air can lodge in the branches of it. In a short time 
 after the day of Pentecost, we find the Church of God 
 planted in Samaria, at Damascus, in the house of Cor- 
 nelius, &c., where it still appeared the same, composed 
 of believers, set up and anointed with the Holy Ghost. 
 Great opposition was made to its progress, but the more 
 did it daily increase, and believers were the more added 
 to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women. 
 
 This one Church of God did not respect the persons 
 but the characters of men. It included Jews and 
 Greeks, Barbarians, Scythians, bond and free. Hence 
 we find, in a little time, its members w^ere dispersed 
 over all the worlds and were found in every nation 
 under heaven, of every kindred and tongue upon the 
 face of the earth. 
 
 From this view of the matter, would it not appear 
 next to impossible that persons so widely dispersed 
 could be preserved in unity 1 
 
 How were they fashioned alike 1 Upon what prin- 
 ciple were they united? And by what rules wer*^ 
 they obliged to walk 1 What confession of faith ha- 
 they as a bond of union 1 What compendium of doc- 
 trines, or definite code of laws, to be universally sub- 
 scribed "l Unhappily for the Church in our day, (if 
 there were such,) the}^ have been lost in the ruins of 
 time, so that not a single trace of them is to be found. 
 The only bond of union transmitted to us, and which 
 is indeed the only bond that can unite Christians, is 
 found in the Holy Scriptures, the true confession of 
 faith, see Eph. iv. 15, 16. £iU speaking the truth in
 
 147 
 
 love, may grow up into him in all things, who is the head, 
 even Christ : from whom the whole body fitly joined to- 
 gether hy that which every joint supplieth^ (or by the 
 supply of every joint,) according to the effectual work^ 
 ing (or energy) m the measure of every part, maketh in- 
 crease of the body, unto the edfying (or building up) 
 of itself in love.''^ Col. ii. 19, '' Holding the head, 
 ^ from which the whole body, by joints and bands, having 
 nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth 
 with the increase of ,God.^^ We see here that from 
 Christ the head, the living Spirit flov^^s to all the mem- 
 bers, which fitly, or exactly joins, compacts, and knits 
 them together in the bonds of love ; builds, or rears 
 them up, worketh effectually, or exerts and exercises 
 its energy according to the measure or size of every 
 part, and ministers proper nourishment to promote the 
 proportionate growth of every member of the body of 
 Christ. This is the sweet anointing oil, the unction 
 from the Holy One, the Spirit of God, or it is Christ 
 himself by his Spirit, shed abroad or diffused through- 
 out the whole body, according to the capacity of every 
 member. 
 
 This Spirit is the cement, the true bond of union. 
 Thus Christ prays, John xvii. 11, 21, 23 — " Holy 
 Father, keep, through thine own name, those whom thou 
 hast given me, that they may be one ; as thou. Father, art 
 in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one, even as 
 tve are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be 
 made perfect in one.^^ We find here that Christ's 
 prayer is, that his followers may be made one, and 
 kept completely so ; not by means of some external 
 law or form of words, but by the name of God. That 
 they may be one in us, says he : living and walking 
 in the Father and the Son ; and the Father and the 
 Son living and walking in them : and thus to form 
 and preserve the union, he gives them the glory 
 which he received from the Father, i, e., his one Spirit, 
 whereby they are constituted one : For " he that is 
 joined to the Lord is one spirit,^^ — 1 Cor. vi. 17, Christ
 
 148 
 
 dwells in his heart by faith ; and as long as the mem- 
 bers of the body continue in the faith, they are so in- 
 timately united, that any outward bond could only 
 serve as a burdensome yoke. But if any of his pro- 
 fessed members are not joined to the Lord in one 
 spirit, their outward bonds are only like binding two 
 or more dead bodies together, which hastens their 
 putrefaction, and renders their ill savor more intolera- 
 ble to the living. Without this living Spirit, the most 
 perfect form or set of rules which could be made, 
 though it were even by God himself, could not cement 
 them together in the bonds of love, nor make them 
 one in heart. 
 
 Mankind are not bound together like the parts of a 
 machine, nor put in motion by external force; they 
 must be influenced by motive, and that motive must 
 be in the heart. This is the law of God, received and 
 engraven on the heart through faith ; hence it is said 
 to be written '^ not with ink^ but with the Spirit of the 
 living God ; not on tables of stone ^ but on fleshly tables 
 of the heart,^^ 2 Cor. iii. 3. '' After these days, saith 
 the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts ^ and 
 write it in their he arts, ^^ Jer. xxxi. 33. ^'^ Christ is 
 the end of the law for righteousness^ to every one that 
 believeth.^^ Rom. x. 4. Now the end of the command- 
 ment is charity out of a pure heart. He that dwelleth 
 in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. The hus- 
 bandman had an external law for his fig-tree; — that 
 if it bore fruit, well, if not, he would cut it down. 
 But the fig-tree was not governed by this law ; it 
 acted according to a law in itself. So we are com- 
 manded to bring forth the fruits of holiness, without 
 WHICH NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LoRD. But this Com- 
 mand, so long as it is not in our nature, has no more 
 influence in the production of those fruits, than the 
 command of the husbandman to his fig-tree. We see 
 no outward law necessary to impel the rivers to the 
 ocean — bind the stones to the surface of the earth, or
 
 149 
 
 prevent the trees from growing downward. No more 
 does a believer want an external law to oblige him to 
 love God and his neighbor : for if there had been an 
 external law given, which could have given life, 
 verily righteousness should have been by the law. 
 Examine your wheat-field, and you will find uni- 
 formity among all the grains : By what rule is this 
 uniformity effected ? You may observe the same uni- 
 formity in every species of vegetables, plants and 
 trees. And are those meaner things governed by real 
 operative laws, and yet God's noblest creature, man, 
 left at random to follow every shadow or image, and 
 bend to every device of human wisdom? No, there 
 is one law and one government for man ; and all that 
 are under that government are as uniform as the 
 leaves on an apple tree. This law is nothing less 
 than the one Spirit of the eternal God, which lives and 
 operates in the Church, as his body ; for by one Spirit 
 we are all baptized into one body, and have all been 
 made to drink into that one Spirit. Therefore, they 
 that have not this Spirit, are lawless and disobedient, 
 filthy dreamers, that defile the flesh, despise govern- 
 ment, presumptuous are they, self-willed, who are not 
 afraid to speak evil of dignities ; for if any man have 
 not the Spirit of Christy he is none of his. Thus it ap- 
 pears that the Christian's law is in his heart, a copy"^ 
 of which is drawn out in the New Testament. 
 
 The members of the human body need no bond of 
 union to cause them to act in concert, or to keep them 
 
 * Our present copy of the New Testament, is but a copy of a 
 copy, &c., of a translation of a copy, &c., of what was written by 
 the Apostles ; and what they wrote, was only a copy of the inter- 
 nal law. Learned men say that a great many errors have crept in 
 by so much copying and translating ; and if so, it must be the more 
 necessary to have the original made manifest. 
 
 13*
 
 150 
 
 from quarrelling and separating, but that Spirit wbich 
 animates the whole frame. The whole current of the 
 New Testament goes to show that the Spirit of Jesus 
 is the true bond of union in his Church ; but we find 
 not the least intimation of any other bond being neces- 
 sary. All who have received this one Spirit, and are 
 living and walking in it, are united together by the 
 hand of God ; and what God hath joined together, let 
 not man put asunder ; nay, it cannot be done, they 
 are and must continue one j though they should be 
 called by never so many names, or externally distin- 
 guished by many peculiarities. The most that these 
 things can do, is to make them think they are divided, 
 and to prevent their external communion, sweet fel- 
 lowship and mutual comfort. 
 
 But seeing Christians are one,* and have fellowship 
 with the Father and the Son by one Spirit, it is the 
 most unreasonable thing in the world for them to be 
 separated in their external communion* This separa- 
 tion has been the work of the devil ; and it is by his 
 means that it is continued in the world. 
 
 Let Christians look back to the history of primitive 
 Christianity, as recorded in the New Testament. Let 
 them take a view of the plain and native simplicity 
 which shines out there ; the beautiful equality that 
 reigned among the apostolic churches ; and let them 
 pant to breathe that native air. 
 
 They were all brethren and sisters — met together with 
 one accord — united in one mind and one judgment. 
 They ate their meat with gladness and singleness of 
 heart ; they went from house to house, from one love- 
 feast to another ; were strictly forbidden to call them- 
 
 * And as uniform as the leaves on an apple tree.
 
 151 
 
 selves by the name of Paul ov ApoUos, &c. And such 
 as did were pronounced carnal, sensual, having not the 
 Spirit. 
 
 View the churches scattered abroad, planted and 
 visited by the Apostles and others : they had all access 
 to each other, and communion together. And that one 
 Spirit of God which lives in every Christian, has made 
 no provision for acting otherwise, till the end of time.* 
 
 The evangelists went out two and two, or in larger 
 companies, and in every place where the Word was 
 gladly received, those who gave public testimony of 
 their faith were baptized, received the Holy Ghost, and 
 were set in order for the admission of others who might 
 afterwards believe. [}3^ Go, and do thou likewise, 
 
 Christ. 
 
 * But the followers of Antichrist, whose communion is in types 
 aud shadows, always did, and always will act otherwise,
 
 THE 
 
 LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 SPRINGFIELD PRESBYTERY. 
 
 For where a testament is, there must of necessity be 
 the death of the testator ; for a testament is of force 
 after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at 
 all while the testator liveth. Thou fool, that which 
 thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into 
 the ground, and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it 
 bringeth forth much fruit. Whose voice then shook 
 the earth ; but now he hath promised, saying, yet 
 once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 
 And this word, yet once more, signifies the removing 
 of those things that are shaken as of things that are 
 made, that those things which cannot be shaken may 
 remain. 
 
 Scripture.
 
 LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT, &C. 
 
 The Presbytery of Springfield, sitting at Cane- 
 ridge, in the county of Bourbon, being through a 
 gracious Providence in more than ordinary health, 
 growing in strength and size daily ; and in perfect 
 soundness and composure of mind ; but knowing that 
 it is appointed for all delegated bodies once to die, 
 and considering that the life of every such body is 
 very uncertain, do make, and ordain this our Last 
 Will and Testament, in manner and form following, 
 viz. : 
 
 Imprimis. We will, that this body die, be dissolved, 
 and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large ; 
 for there is but one body and one Spirit, even as we 
 are called in. one hope of our calling. 
 
 Item. We will, that our name of distinction, with 
 its Reverend title, be forgotten, that there be but one 
 Lord over God's heritage, and his name one. 
 
 Item. We will, that our power of making laws for 
 the government of the Church, and executing them 
 by delegated authority, forever cease ; that the people 
 may have free course to the Bible, and adopt the law 
 of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Item. We will, that candidates for the gospel 
 ministry henceforth study the Holy Scriptures with
 
 155 
 
 fervent prayer, and obtain license from God to preach 
 the simple gospel, with the Holy Ghost sent down from 
 Heaven^ without any mixture of philosophy, vain de- 
 ceit, traditions of men, or the rudiments of the world. 
 And let none henceforth take this honor to himself ^ hut 
 he that is called of God, as was Aaron. 
 
 Item. We will, that the Church of Christ assume 
 her native right of internal government — try her can- 
 didates for the ministry, as to their soundness in the 
 faith, acquaintance with experimental religion, gravi- 
 ty and aptness to teach ; and admit no other proof of 
 their authority, but Christ speaking in them. We 
 loill that the Church of Christ look up to the Lord of 
 the harvest to send forth laborers into his harvest ; 
 and that she resume her primitive right of trying 
 those who say they are Apostles, and are not. 
 
 Item. We will, that each particular Church, as a 
 body, actuated by the same Spirit, choose her own 
 preacher, and support him by a free will offering, 
 without written call or subscription — admit members — 
 remove offences — -and never henceforth delegate her 
 right of government to any man or set of men what- 
 ever. 
 
 Item. We will, that the people henceforth take the 
 Bible as the only sure guide to heaven ; and as many 
 as are offended with other books which stand in com- 
 petition v/ith it, may cast them into the fire if they 
 choose ; for it is better to enter into life having one 
 book, than having many to be cast into hell. 
 
 Item. We will, that preachers and people, cultivate 
 a spirit of mutual forbearance ; pray more and dispute 
 less ; and while they behold the signs of the times, 
 look up, and confidently expect that redempliun draw- 
 eth nigh.
 
 156 
 
 Item. We will, that our weak brethren, who may 
 have been wishing to make the Presbytery of Spring- 
 field their King, and wot not what is now become of 
 it, betake themselves to the Rock of Ages, and follow 
 Jesus for the future. 
 
 Item. We will, that the Synod of Kentucky exam- 
 ine every member, who may be suspected of having 
 departed from the Confession of Faith, and suspend 
 every such suspected heretic immediately, in order 
 that the oppressed may go free, and taste the sweets 
 of gospel liberty. 
 
 Item. We will, that Ja— — , the author of two 
 
 letters lately published in Lexington, be encouraged 
 in his zeal to destroy partyism — we will moreover, 
 that our past conduct be examined into by all who 
 may have correct information ; but let foreigners be- 
 ware of speaking evil of things which they know not. 
 
 Item. Finally, we will, that all our sister bodies, 
 read their Bibles carefully, that they may see their 
 fate there determined, and prepare for death before it 
 is too late. 
 
 Springfield Presbytery, > ry ^^ i 
 June 28th, 1804. \ L^* ^•-' 
 
 Robert Marshal, 
 
 John Dunlavy, 
 
 Richard M'Nemar, , rir-^ 
 
 B. W. Stone, !" «"»<««»*««• 
 
 John Thompson, 
 
 David Purviance, 
 
 the end.
 
 w:^!^;^-^^: 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 289.8M23K1846 C001 
 
 THE KENTUCKY REVIVAL NY 
 
 3 0112 
 
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