THE separation of the Reformers from the Baptists,
instead of lessening, had at first only increased, sectarian hostility. At no
former period had so great rancor been manifested toward Mr. Campbell
or more strenuous efforts made to injure his reputation and excite
the animosity of the religious world against him.
Although the Reformers had been quite willing
to fraternize with the
Baptists,
and in no case where they had the
majority in a church had excluded them,
the attempt was made to throw upon Mr.
Campbell the odium of a separation
which the Baptists themselves had
effected, and to excite the sympathy of
other religious parties, so as to induce them to refuse him the use of their houses of
worship upon his tours,
by representing him as having no
higher object than to divide the Baptists.
Click to read about the ancient Guilt
Clause.
It goes something like
this: "You kick men in a soft spot during worship. I yel, 'ouch'. You
bring me up on charges for sowing discord during the worship
service."
Blinded by their attachment to denominational
theories and interests, they were unable to perceive the noble
purposes for which Mr. Campbell labored, or to appreciate enlarged
and synthetic principles which, from the nature of the case, can
belong to no religious sect.
From the more elevated region of religious
thought which Mr. Campbell occupied, he could well look down with
pity upon all the vain attempts which were at this time
made to arrest the
progress of his plea for the
restoration of the primitive gospel and the original unity of the
Church.
Knowing that a little time would correct unjust
representations, and that the means employed to prevent the people
from hearing him would only the more excite their curiosity to hear,
he continued with unabated zeal to
expose the errors and evils of sectarianism and to
exhibit the excellency of the simple scriptural plan of salvation.
Nor was he disappointed in his expectations.
It was not long until a calmer state of mind
supervened, and many were led to discover that they had been mistaken
in regard to. Mr. Campbell's views and purposes.
The Reformers, in consequence, began to receive
frequent accessions from the Baptist churches in various places, and
the community became more and more
enlightened as to the real nature of
the reform proposed.
During this period many important practical
subjects were treated by him in the "Harbinger" very interestingly in
a series of dialogues, entitled "Conversations in Father Goodall's
Family Circle," which were continued for several years and were much
admired, communicating a large amount of varied and valuable
instruction derived from the Scriptures and from the experience of
human life. He published also several severe articles upon Roman
Catholicism, to which he began now to pay considerable attention,
having been long satisfied that it was its purpose to secure the
political control of the United States. In occasional essays, too,
upon education, he continued to manifest the great interest he felt
in this important subject.
In February, 1835, in company with his daughter
Lavinia, he made another tour to
Nashville, and spent several weeks in
Tennessee in disabusing the public mind of the false impressions made
upon it by the misrepresentations of his opponents. Great crowds
everywhere flocked to hear him, so that it was seldom any house could
be found large enough to accommodate them.
While he was in Nashville some twenty persons
were added to the church there, which now numbered about six hundred. He
found several new churches in the vicinity, established through the
influence and labors of a Brother Hardin, of whose piety and
devotion he entertained a high opinion.
On the 30th of March, accompanied
by T. Fanning, he set out for Louisville, where a Brother
Gates had
been for some time laboring.
The church there, however, had not made much
progress, having the use of the house of worship only a portion of
the time.
Recently they had sold out their interest in it
to the Baptists and purchased a Methodist meeting-house, where, with
the able assistance of the eminent Dr. T. S. Bell, who spoke for them
as often as his professional engagements would permit, their
prospects were more favorable.
Here Mr. Campbell delivered several discourses
and afterward visited New Albany, Jeffersonville and Madison, in
Indiana, and spent some days at Cincinnati, where the church was
progressing under the labors of D. S.
Burnet. He also visited Carthage, where
Walter Scott and Dr.
Richardson then resided. After enjoying
a pleasant interview with these and other old friends, he passed
thence again into Kentucky and traversed the whole central part of
the State, having appointments at all the principal points, and
renewing his happy personal intercourse with a great number of his
former acquaintances and fellow-laborers.
From Georgetown he repaired, in company with
the Hon. Richard M. Johnson, to his residence, eight miles distant,
where, in the evening, he addressed the Choctaw Indians of the
Indian Academy. At Lexington he spoke twice in the hall of
Transylvania University to large audiences, and then, setting out
with B. H. Payne in his gig, he visited Paris and Mount Sterling, and
proceeded to Mayslick, where he held a two-days' meeting, aided by
Brothers Gates and Hall. As he was much exhausted by fifty days'
continual speaking, he felt quite indebted to these brethren and to
Aylett Raines for the effective assistance which they rendered him at
various points in Northern Kentucky. At Mayslick he met with John
O'Kane, who, some time before, had distinguished himself by his
successful labors in Indiana, and had been recently preaching in
Mason county, Kentucky. This individual continued for many years to
sustain ably the cause of the Reformation in the Western States, and
especially in Indiana. Of a tall and commanding figure, having a
powerful voice, great earnestness and considerable ability, he became
the means of adding great numbers to the churches. From Maysville,
where he spoke three or four times, Mr. Campbell returned directly
home, where he arrived May 10th, having been instrumental in inducing
forty-five persons to embrace the gospel during his tour, besides
removing much prejudice and in many ways promoting the interests of
the cause.
While he was absent, his mother, who still
resided with her daughter near West Middletown, Pennsylvania, ended
her days in great peace and with unshaken confidence in the promises
of her Redeemer. Of her last hours, Thomas Campbell, who was present
with her, gives an interesting account in a letter to his daughter
Alicia, published in the "Harbinger" for 1835, p. 284, in which also
he pays a touching tribute to her many virtues.
Bishop James
Otey
During Mr. Campbell's visit to Tennessee he had
spent, by invitation, the evening of 18th March very pleasantly with
James Otey, bishop of Tennessee, at his hospitable mansion. Amidst
their pleasant conversation upon various topics, the bishop
introduced the subject of the Christian priesthood in its relations
to the Christian ministry.
At parting he presented Mr. Campbell with a
copy of a work by Bishop Onderdonk of Pennsylvania, entitled
"Episcopacy tested by Scripture." Having the subject thus brought to
his attention, he addressed afterward a series of eight letters to
Bishop Otey, discussing the subject in the most courteous manner, and
ably pointing out the fallacies in Bishop Onderdonk's reasoning, as
well as in the works of J. Esten Cook of Lexington, and of Chapman,
who had written in defence of Episcopal ordination. These cogent and
argumentative letters attracted much attention, especially in
Tennessee; and though Mr. Campbell courteously proposed to lay before
his readers anything which Bishop Otey might feel disposed to say, no
attempt was ever made to reply to them. About the same time he became
engaged in a discussion with Mr. Meredith, of North Carolina, editor
of the "Baptist Interpreter," and subsequently of the "Biblical
Recorder," whom he justly designated as "one of the most respectable
and honorable of the Baptist ministers in the South, a gentleman of
very handsome attainments," and "the ablest editor of the Baptists
south of New York."
Mr. Meredith had written a series of articles
reviewing Mr. Campbell's Extras on Remission of Sins and
Regeneration, and now offered to give him page for page in his paper
in order to discuss these subjects. This unwonted liberality quite
won upon Mr. Campbell, who at once accepted the proposition.
Discussion with Mr.
Meredith
Subsequently, however, he was led to think that
Mr. Meredith was about to decline adhering to the arrangement as he
understood it, and in the July number for 1835 he noticed, in his
peculiar way, the supposed fact in an article commencing with the
following queer analogy: "The full-moon face with which our friend
Mr. Meredith, of North Carolina, looked on us is now gibbous and fast
waning into the last quarter." Mr. Campbell, however, was misinformed
as to the intentions of Mr. Meredith, who remained quite willing to
publish what Mr. Campbell chose to write in defence of his Extras.
A discussion accordingly ensued, which,
unfortunately, from the want of a clear statement of the propositions
in dispute, consisted chiefly in a mere war of words, and proved
altogether unsatisfactory. Mr. Meredith objected to Mr. Campbell's
proposition in reference to the gospel facts, affirming that "when
these facts are understood or brought into immediate contact with the
mind of man, as a moral seal or archetype, they delineate the image
of God upon the human soul." Taking this sentence apart from its
connection, Mr. Meredith understood Mr. Campbell to assert that the
gospel facts accomplished this work "of
themselves." Mr. Campbell denied
stating any such proposition, calling Mr. Meredith's attention to the
context in which he had said: "These [facts] are the moral seal which
testimony conveys to the understanding and faith brings to the heart
of sinners, by which God creates them anew and forms them for his
glory."
So far from representing the facts
as accomplishing this "of themselves,"
he had here expressly declared them to be a
means or
instrument
in the hands of God, and in the proposition itself had affirmed that these
facts delineated the image of God upon the soul, "when understood and brought into immediate contact with
the mind of man," thus leaving the
question of co-operative agencies entirely open.
"I do believe," said Mr. Campbell in reply,
"and have clearly taught time after time, that the Spirit of God is
the regenerator, and that he does it only by his Word; and
while I cordially reprobate your theory, or rather that of
Andrew Fuller, about his previous holy principle and his regenerated
unbeliever, and all that philosophy,
I do teach that the Holy Spirit renovates the human mind by the instrumentality of
his Word; while you and many others
seem to me to contend that the Holy Spirit personally descends from
heaven, enters the human heart, and, without his Word,
miraculously creates a man anew."
"I pretend not to
separate the Word and the Spirit of
God. I do not say the Word alone nor the Spirit alone enlightens,
sanctifies or saves.
With the Lord Jesus I would pray to
the Father, 'Sanctify them through thy truth; thy Word is the truth.'
I would not say with you, 'Sanctify them by thy Spirit
alone.'"
On his part, Mr. Meredith denied holding the
sentiment which Mr. Campbell attributed to him, viz.: that
regeneration was accomplished without the
Word. He believed that there was an
immediate and direct influence of the Holy Spirit in aid of the Word,
and that the "Word
alone, unattended by the Spirit, was
insufficient for this work."
Again he had said, "It is to the
direct action of this omnipotent Spirit that the Word,
otherwise powerless, is indebted for its
triumphs over the natural heart."
This direct divine
interposition thus claimed, Mr. Campbell regarded as miraculous and as nowhere
promised in the Scriptures. He thought the doctrine most pernicious,
because it led men to disregard or undervalue the word of God, looking for sensible "impressions" or
"operations" nowhere promised.
He therefore utterly refused to commit himself
to any positive statement or theory of the influences by which the
facts of the gospel were brought into immediate contact with the mind
and heart of the sinner. He thought it the duty of all to
leave these matters with
God and simply to preach the Word.
Speaking of regeneration, he said,
"The human heart must be changed
and renovated by some cause; for unless the heart be reconciled to
God, purified, cleansed, no man can be
admitted into the society of heaven.
These views I have always presented to the public. But the question
is, How is this moral change to be
effected? By the Spirit alone? By the gospel facts alone? By the Word
alone? I do not affirm any one of these
propositions. I never did affirm any one
of them.
"How the spirit operates in the Word, through
the Word, by the Word, or with the Word, I do not affirm. I only
oppose the idea that any one is changed in heart or renewed in the
spirit of his mind by the Spirit without
the Word."
Thus it was that the matter continued as
before, the real question being, all the while, not whether
influences accompanied the gospel, but what was the nature of those
influences; Mr. Campbell declining to discuss or determine this, or
to adopt the popular notions in regard to this untaught
question.
As respects the doctrine of baptism for the
remission of sins as set forth in Mr. Campbell's first Extra, there
was really no appreciable difference between him and Mr. Meredith.
Upon this subject, Professor Ryland of Richmond published about this
time a discourse,
in which he denied that Peter
was to be literally
understood to command the people to be
baptized for the remission of sins, and endeavored to show that the
Greek preposition, eis , rendered for, should be translated
into, so
that the meaning of Peter's words might be thus stated: "Be baptized
into the
confession or doctrine of forgiveness." This discourse Mr. Meredith reviewed,
and after disputing Dr. Ryland's criticism upon eis, went on to
say:
"The proper question to be asked here, it
appears to us! is this: What is the scriptural import of the phrase,
eis ayesin amartiwn, in the text rendered 'for the remission of
sins?' To answer this question
in short we turn first to Matt.
xxvi. 28, and read as follows: "For this is my blood of the New
Testament, which is shed for many (eis ayesin amartiwn)
for the
remission of sins.'
This passage is, in our opinion, decisive. That
the blood of Christ was shed 'into the remission of sins' or 'into
the confession or the doctrine of forgiveness,' we are sure no one
will contend.
On the contrary, that it was shed
for the remission of
sins as an end is equally beyond the
possibility of a doubt.
The same phrase occurs Mark i. 4: "John did
baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance (eis
ayesin amartiwn) for the remission of sins.'
This passage, when interpreted by the former,
as it ought to be, is not less certain and decisive in its import. To
say that John preached the baptism of repentance into the remission of
sins would be to employ language
singularly obscure, if not altogether unintelligible.
See again Luke iii. 3: "And he came
into all the country around Jordan, preaching the baptism of
repentance (eis ayesin amartiwn) for the remission of
sins.'
The same remark applies to this case which was
made in relation to the preceding. These, including the passage in
question, are the only instances in which the phrase eis ayesin
amartiwn occurs in the New Testament.
That the first case is decidedly in
favor of the present rendering, for the remission
of sins, and that the others are but
little less so, it seems to us cannot admit of a doubt. To say the
least, there is certainly no evidence in favor of the rendering
proposed by the author."
After objecting, then, to the rendering or
paraphrase
given by Dr. Ryland, as well as to the theology implied in it, he says, in
conclusion, "We object in the last place to the necessary tendency of
the argument before us.
This argument, if we understand it
correctly, goes to show
that baptism has no sort of connection with
remission; and that although a positive institution of the New
Testament,
and the only authorized medium of
admission into the Christian Church,
it is nevertheless a matter in which the
sinner's salvation is in no way concerned.
Now, when we hear two evangelists speak of
the baptism of repentance for the remission of
sins--when we hear the King himself in his last commission affirm
that "he that believes and
is baptized shall be saved"--when we
hear an apostle acting under that commission require the people to
'repent and be baptized for the remission of
sins'--when we hear Ananias say to Paul, 'And now why tarriest thou?
Arise and be baptized and wash away thy
sins'--we believe that all these
must mean
something.
And when we call to mind that three
thousand were baptized on the same day of conversion; that the
household of Cornelius had no sooner given evidence of
repentance
than Peter demanded their baptism;
that the Ethiopian eunuch was baptized in the
midst of his journey, and that the Philippian jailer and his
household were baptized at midnight,--
we cannot but believe that baptism
has a much more important connection with salvation and remission
than is now generally supposed.
At any rate, we cannot but suspect the
expediency of any attempt to explain
away the force of passages which, if we
be not much mistaken, are well sustained by the analogy of faith and
the usus loquendi."
Such plain admissions as these brought, as a
matter of course, upon Mr.
Meredith charges of "Campbellism" from some of
his brethren, but he was too independent and high-minded to yield his
convictions of truth to any partisan clamors. Some years after, he
thus wrote to a correspondent who accused him of agreeing with Mr.
Campbell:
"That the Scriptures have connected
baptism and remission in some sense it is worse than useless to deny.
We are aware that attempts have been made to
destroy the force of the passages referred to; but always with such
success as to betray the nakedness of the land, and at the same time
to illustrate the deplorable effects of partisan prejudice.
On this point, Mr. Campbell has always had the
advantage of his opponents. He has triumphantly quoted such passages
as Acts ii. 38, against which nothing has ever been offered better
than a flimsy criticism or a palpable perversion
of apostolic teaching.
"Here we have taken different ground from the
rest of our brethren (Baptists). We have promptly conceded to Mr.
Campbell everything which candor seemed to demand. We have conceded
that the evangelists and apostles, in the places referred to,
meant what they said. We have conceded that, in a given sense, and under
certain limitations and for certain ends,
remission has been connected
with baptism."
Upon this, Mr. Campbell remarked: "The above
concessions contain all that we are anxious to maintain. 'If the
evangelists and the apostles meant what
they said in the places referred to'
for proof by us, we ask no more: for it was always alleged by us that
'in a given sense and under certain
limitations and for certain ends, remission has been connected with
baptism.'
We never went further than this; our opponents
said we did, but no man can show from our own language that we have
ever transcended the words above quoted from Mr. Meredith."
The above candid and manly utterances of Mr.
Meredith, so far from creating disaffection among the Baptists in
North Carolina, only increased their
respect for him, and tended to diffuse
throughout the extensive Chowan Association to
which he belonged a spirit of gentleness and
liberality
toward the Reformers scarcely found elsewhere.
The consequence was, that
division did not occur among the
churches there, and the Reformers, both
preachers and people, continued to hold and to express their
sentiments without
hindrance.
And it is worthy of note that this concession
to the ancient spirit of Baptist toleration and freedom enured
greatly to the benefit of the Baptists themselves in North Carolina,
where the memory of Mr. Meredith, who was distinguished no less for
piety and talent than for independence and candor, is still fondly
and most deservedly cherished.
In the spring of 1836, at Mr. Campbell's
desire, Dr. Richardson removed from Carthage to Bethany to assist in the
editorial duties of the "Harbinger," in order that Mr. Campbell might
be enabled to spend more time abroad in answer to many urgent calls.
On the 30th of May, he accordingly set out on a tour to the
North-east, accompanied by T. Fanning of Nashville, and J. Taffe, of
Wilmington, Ohio. Mr. Taffe had some time before abandoned the legal
profession and devoted himself to preaching. He was much esteemed by
Mr. Campbell for his abilities and many agreeable qualities, and
especially for his earnest and intelligent advocacy of the cause of
truth, whose interests he labored to promote, not only by his public
addresses, but by the publication of various pamphlets, in which he
treated some of the important subjects connected with the gospel in a
very cogent and effective manner.
As some leading skeptics were at this time very
actively propagating their sentiments in Northern Ohio, Mr. Campbell
visited Ravenna, where he spoke six times, exposing the dark and
dreary speculations of the Free-Thinkers, who were publishing there
an infidel paper, deriving its contents largely from the "Boston
Investigator," edited by the apostate Kneeland. Passing thence to
Cleveland, he delivered several lectures on the evidences of
Christianity, inviting the doubting to state their objections
publicly.
One of the leaders of the skeptics
there, Mr. Irad Kelley, availed himself of this privilege, and Mr.
Campbell replied. Great interest being manifested by the people, the
discussion was continued, and at the next meeting Mr. Kelley
delivered a long tirade against the Bible, full of reckless
assertions and incorrect statements.
Mr. Campbell having become quite hoarse,
requested Matthew Clapp, who had some time before married his sister
Alicia, and happened to be on the ground, to reply to Mr. Kelley,
which he did with much point and argument.
In the mean time, Dr. Samuel Underhill appeared
on the stage as the defender of skepticism, and requested
to be heard. A discussion consequently ensued, taking a somewhat wide
range, during some eight or ten half-hour speeches, after which Mr.
Campbell was requested to deliver a continuous argument on the
subject of miracles before the citizens, Dr. Underhill being allowed
to offer a reply. When the time for delivering this discourse
arrived, a very large concourse was present, and Mr. Campbell
presented a very powerful and overwhelming defence of miracles,
dwelling in conclusion upon prophecy as a miracle to those who
witnessed its fulfillment, and pointing out the dispersion and
present state of the Jews, and the rise of the Man of Sin in the
Christian Church, as matters thus clearly foretold and fully verified
before the eyes of the present generation.
When Dr. Underhill rose to respond,
the congregation seemed disposed to adjourn, upon which the doctor
appointed a meeting for the next morning, when but few attended, and
he made but a feeble reply. Mr. Campbell then recapitulated the
points made during the discussion, and contrasted the prospects and
ultimate termination proposed in the two systems of Christianity and
of infidelity with commanding elo quence and power. After a friendly
exhortation to his antagonists, he then closed the discussion, during
which the greatest courtesy and good feeling had been preserved, and
the effect of which was very marked in checking the progress of
infidelity in that quarter.
Tour to the Eastern States
It is unnecessary to pursue minutely the
incidents of this laborious trip, undertaken in the midst of
oppressive summer heats and the still more depressing evidences of
the deep and unfounded religious prejudices with which the minds of
the communities which he now, for the first time, visited, had been
imbued by misrepresentation and bigotry, and which led the religious
parties to deny to him everywhere the use of their houses. Some of
his private letters written on his way may here furnish sufficient
detail, while they will afford a more grateful view of the feelings
and affections governing his inner life. That love for man
as man,
which induced him to undergo so many toils and sacrifices to dispense
the blessings of the gospel, manifested itself even in the minutest
matters. It led him habitually to send his salutations and kind
wishes by name even to his domestics and to the hired blacks and the
humblest Roman Catholic laborers on his farm. Nor is the elevated
character of his aspirations less evident in the tender solicitude
which he ever manifested for the Christian progress and perfection of
the various members of his own immediate family and for the happiness
of his intimate friends:
|
"LAKE ERIE, June 11, 1836.
|
"MY DEAR SELINA: The lake at this moment
rolls in waves under a very strong wind, about as fierce as when
myself and Eliza sailed up the Chesapeake Bay. We are now about sixty
miles above Buffalo,and hope to be there to-night. The table rolls so
that I can hardly sit up straight. But how pleasing the thought that
we are always in the hand of our Father in heaven, who is at all
times equally able to save us from danger the most imminent as well
as when no harm is visible! . . . I have spoken in
Cleveland now for the space of six days in defence of the gospel. I
trust much good will result from the discussions we have had with the
skeptics of that place.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hawley and their amiable
daughters have much affection for you, because Brother Hawley used to
live in Shrewsbury, and was well acquainted with your mother before
she was married. Add to this his great regard for the truth and for
those who know and obey it.
"I trust you are all attention, my dear, to
your health, and, next to your health, the education and improvement
of our dear children. Remember, this is the great business of life:
to transmit to those, and through those to whom you have given birth,
the knowledge of God and of his Anointed for their sakes and for the
good of others yet unborn. In this way alone you can pay your debts.
Remember me most affectionately to all my dear children. The elder
branches of my family are, I trust, daily improving in useful
knowledge and growing up in the study and practice of all that is
lovely and excellent.
"My father left me in good health yesterday
morning, and will spend the summer in the Lake country. My kindest
remembrance to all my household; and for yourself, accept the
repetition of my conjugal and Christian love. Your husband,
|
"LEWISTOWN, N. Y.
(opposite to Queenstown Heights and General
Brocks' monument in Upper Canada, famous for the Battle
of 1814, Niagara River), June 18 1836.
|
}
|
"MY BELOVED WIFE AND DAUGHTERS ELIIZA,
LAVlNIA AND CLARINDA CAMPBELL greeting: Health and
salvation through our God and Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ!
"Dearly Beloved: Next to my own personal and
eternal salvation through my Lord and Saviour, there is nothing on
earth dearer to me than your present, spiritual and eternal good. I
wish you to be intelligent, pure wad influential on earth, loving and
beloved as far as mortals like you can be; to be ornaments in the
kingdom of Jesus Christ, respectful and respected, honorable and
honored, good and happy as my wife and daughters ought to be. On you
all God has bestowed good mental capacities, powers of acquiring and
communicating knowledge, fine feeling and many excellences capable of
much improvement and of rendering you very useful in society. Now let
me say to you that you are thereby under great responsibilities, and
let me remind you that you all seek to be more intelligent, more
amiable and more exemplary every day. I do not say this as though I
did not think you are as much so now as any of my wide and extended
acquaintances, but because I wish you to be of unrivaled
excellence.
"I am just accidentally spending the night at
the stage-office, waiting to start in the morning at three o'clock
for the canal at Lockport. We have spent three days at the Falls of
Niagara on the American and Canada sides, an account of which we will
send you in a few days. I have not had such a feast in many years as
I have enjoyed for three days. The scenes here beggar all
description. This place is visited by men of all nations. One hundred
gentlemen and ladies have been at our hotel for the last three days
from Boston, Paris and various American cities. I only spoke once
since my arrival, and am rather here incognito for recreation.
There are many very elegant ladies, highly cultivated and refined,
from Boston and New York, as well as from other places, but none for
whom God has done more intellectually, morally, and, indeed, in every
way, than for my excellent wife and amiable daughters. And,
therefore, it is my wish that you should all know how much God has
done for you, that you may love, admire and serve him more and
more.
"Take care of your health, your mind, your
time, and keep your hearts from forgetting the Chief among the ten
thousands--the Lord who has redeemed us. I cannot describe to you my
feelings or regrets when I see so many of the fine ladies of the
country, and from the first circles, aliens from God and
Christ--those who from their commanding eminence in society could
influence many, themselves without religious feelings and without the
proper knowledge of God. Seeing those of the first class so
unapproachable and so dead to the matters of religion stirs up my
soul for you and for many others. Seek to shine in all moral
excellence and to be valiant for the truth.
"Remember me to Maria with all affection. I
have for her the highest esteem and affection. My younger children
are not yet capable of entering into these matters. God knows that I
desire that they may be his children as they are mine, and that they
will be brought up for him. May he bless them with all grace as he
has blessed you all. Remember me most affectionately to Edwin and his
Julia, to William and his Selina, to my son Robert and his household,
to Mother Bakewell, to Theron especially, and particularly to my
cousin Enos, to Betsy, to Susanna, to Charles and to James, and to
Hugh McNally.
"Present my kindest regards to Sister and
Brother Richardson, and may the Lord God that has preserved me from a
thousand dangers, preserve you all, to his everlasting kingdom is the
prayer of your most affectionate husband and father,
|
"NEAR ROCHESTER, June 21,
1836.
|
"DEAR BROTHER RICHARDSON: I rejoice with
you in the pleasing intelligence that your Brother John has become to
you dear in the Lord as well as in the flesh. Of all the joys that
mortals taste in this vale of tears, those are the purest which
spring from the approbation of our heavenly Father, and from the
sight of our fellow-mortals turning with all their hearts to the
Lord. They only who have felt the pardoning mercy of God in their own
case can rightly appreciate the benefits that accrue to others from
their submission to the Saviour, and therefore it is for them to
rejoice in company with the angels of heaven over sinners returning
to God. We are often solaced with those joys in the blessed work of
proclaiming the Word. For a week past, however, we have not, owing to
the most unpropitious circumstances--of continual rains and mud
opposition--had one such occasion of rejoicing. The towns on the
canal are either wholly devoted to mammon and infidelity or to mammon
and sectarianism, so far as we have found on an acquaintance of the
last few days.
"I commence to-day, June 24, a series of
lectures in Rochester, in the midst of a population of 18,000. In the
court-house, too! Indications here are not favorable. The cause has
been crucified here by one prominent individual. But I am not
discouraged. We shall try. Yours truly and affectionately,
|
"SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, July
8, 1836.
|
"BELOVED SELINA: I have never been more
busily engaged in all my life than on the present tour. I am like one
settling in a new country, where everything is to do. I have labored
incessantly since I came into this State, disabusing the public mind
and teaching the disciples. There is a powerful opposition
consolidated against the truth. I have spoken some thirty-seven times
since I left home. I am now at the residence of our Sister Lathrop,
who resides with her mother. She is one of the most amiable,
intelligent and accomplished ladies in the city, and because of her
piety and great talents exercises great influence here.
"I am really very tired and willing to seek
repose, and could wish that my journey and my furlough were
completed, but I must patiently bear the toil and endure the pain in
hope of the reward. I have the great pleasure of enlightening many,
of relieving the distressed and broken in spirit, and of making some
rich in the faith and hope of Christ. I have left a good odor for
Christ in every place. Yesterday there followed me nine miles a
Presbyterian lady from Cicero--where some persons had been
immersed--with many tears, desiring to obey the Lord. All the country
behind me desire my return. But, unfortunately, I have to leave every
place just when I get the prejudices broken down a little. This is a
hard, worldly, skeptical place. To-night I speak to the
infidels.
"The New Yorkers are intelligent and shrewd.
Generally the ladies are well accomplished; some very refined, but
not superior to the Virginia ladies. They read much, work little, but
are great economists,
"A company have just this moment called in. I
am called on. My ardent affection for all my children and for
yourself.
"I need not say that on this earth there is to
me none so dear as the wife of
"The Lord bless you, my dear, and all my
children. Give my love by name to all of them, and remember me
affectionately to all my household.
|
"Farewell once more.
|
A. C."
|
|
"SARATOGA SRINGS, July 23,
1836.
|
"MY DEAR SELINA: Through the kindness and
constant care of our heavenly Father I have safely arrived at this
place. It is now fifty-four days since I bade you, my dear Selina,
and my dear children, adieu, and during that time I have delivered
fifty-nine public discourses and traveled more than eight hundred
miles. I came here on Wednesday, the 20th inst., very much exhausted,
and have in company with Father Carman and Brother Taffe taken
lodging for one week at a private boarding-house, and am now quite
comfortable. We drink of these healing waters and bathe in them every
day. I have a shower bath every morning and a warm bath of the
mineral waters every evening, and have got my companions all
persuaded to follow my example; so that we eat, drink, bathe and
recruit ourselves here in good earnest in the midst of all the
gayety, splendor, equipage and show of this rich and proud nation.
. . ."
"Here they are from all States and countries,
and from Europe. The lame, the halt, the feeble are here drinking the
healing streams. But there are more, many more, here who come to show
themselves and to be seen rather than for health--many ladies to look
for husbands and many men for wives. So that we have beauty and
fashion, pride and pomp in full style and glory.
. . .
"We shall leave here on Wednesday, the 27th,
and proceed to Vermont, where I expect to preach on the 28th. Then we
shall pass on through New Hampshire into Massachusetts, and proceed
to the capital of the State. I expect to spend the first week of
August at Boston, and then to pass into Rhode Island and Connecticut,
and so on to New York city, thence to Philadelphia, thence to
Baltimore, thence to Bethany some time in September. I have no doubt
my tour will be useful to many, and I think the cause of truth will
be much subserved by it; but really it is a very great toil personal,
and a great sacrifice of domestic comfort.
"To one who so much loves his wife and children
and the whole family circle, and delights in making them happy, it is
not an easy task to forsake them all for so long a time, but when I
think of Him who forsook the Palace of the Universe and the glory of
his Father's court, and condescended to be born of a woman and to
live in an unfriendly world, and to be treated a thousand times worse
than I have ever been, to save us from our sins, I think but little
of all I have done or can do to republish his salvation and to call
sinners to reformation and to build up the cause of life, of ancient
Christianity. My success in pleading the cause has been proportioned
to the means used and the interest felt by those who co-operate in
it, and I have no doubt but so it will continue to be.
"My dearly beloved, take care of your health
and that of our dear children, and see that the minds of the young
are not under some evil influence. Watch over our son, and remember
he is a precious deposit committed to your and to my care. I have not
received one letter from you since I left home--only a few lines at
the foot of one. I cannot now say where I could hear from you unless
you would write forthwith to New York city, if you receive this eight
days after date. If longer, write me at Philadelphia.
"I need not mention by name any of my children
or any brethren and sisters at Bethany, for them all I entertain the
esteem and affection due to them, of which you may remind them; while
I remain your sovereign husband, liege lord, till God himself
dissolves the covenant by taking one of us to himself. In which hope
of being taken to the Lord I remain truly and affectionately yours,
as you are mine till that day,
After spending a week at Saratoga, where he
delivered two addresses, he visited several points in Vermont, and
after meeting with a church of disciples at Pawlet, took passage for
Boston, where he was kindly received by Brother Himes, elder of the
Christian church there, to which he delivered several discourses
during his stay.
He was much impressed by what he observed in
the New England States, and in his journal pays to them the following
just tribute:
"For general intelligence, morality
and good order I need not say that in the New World no city
surpasses--I say more, no city equals--the capital of New England.
Puritanism, with all its faults and foibles, has stamped a virtuous
character on the whole nation of New England, which centuries have
not effaced and which centuries to come cannot obliterate. The severe
discipline, stern morality and untemporizing conscientiousness of the
Pilgrim Fathers demonstrate their excellency in the vigor, health,
and prosperity of their sons. And if the fruit of every tree is to
test its character, assured I am that no system of education hitherto
adopted has more to recommend it, as a whole, than that experimented
by those godly Protestants, founders of our free institutions, which
has given to the world so virtuous a race as that which yet occupies
the soil on which the pious Fathers first offered the unbloody
sacrifice of Christian gratitude in the savage tents of Shem. I could
not, on surveying the whole premises--the industry, economy,
prosperity, wealth, morality and religious regard for the Bible
generally apparent in those old States--I say, I could not but
congratulate myself and my fellow-citizens of the West that we have
so pure a cradle, so healthful a nursery, from which to replenish the
new States with sons and daughters, who will transmit to future times
the good habits of the most virtuous and prosperous people in the
world."
Visiting Lynn and Salem, he was much pleased
with his interviews with many of "the Christians" of New England,
whom he found candid and intelligent, and willing to be taught the
way of the Lord more perfectly. Remaining in Massachusetts about two
weeks, he passed by way of Providence to New York. While on the
steamboat on the Sound he greatly admired a sunrise which he
witnessed and described. As an illustration of his skill in what is
termed "word-painting," his account of it is here given:
"I awoke with the morning star, and
going out on deck from the brilliant and mild appearance of the
heavens I anticipated the glories of a sun-rising at sea, and
accordingly hastened to awake my companions to enjoy with me the
richest of Nature's feasts. Soon as we were all seated on the upper
deck at the stern, with our faces to the east, and while yet the
morning star beamed in a cloudless sky, we began each to designate
that point from which we expected the sun to lift upon us his
effulgent countenance. As we gazed upon the pacific and silvery brow
of the tranquil sea, which, as a splendid mirror, seemed to reflect
the glories of the heavens fresh upon us with every tremulous swell
which urged us to the desired haven, we saw a brightness in the
orient which indicated to us the near approach of the joyful monarch
of the day. The crepuscular glimmerings gradually spread over all the
east, and as they swept a loftier arch toward the empyrean, they
assumed the brightness of liquid brass; while deeply bedded in the
far distant horizon, two pyramidal columns began to rise, as if the
clouds from the Atlantic had suddenly formed themselves into pillars
for the gates of the morning, erecting a sublime port for the
entrance of Nature's luminary. Instantly the empyreal sovereign
streaked with gold the inner side of these two colossal pillars, from
between which he seemed resolved to enter upon the race of a summer
day. Deeper and broader he laid on the molten gold till these two
columns, capped with rubies, stood gilded from top to bottom. The
curtain of night, which seemed to encircle this glorious arch,
culminated over the spot where the eyelids of the morning began to
open; but before we could take the dimension of this new portico of
day, the sun himself in all the gorgeousness of his own peerless
glory, gently raised himself to peep over the silvery deep from which
he was about to emerge. After a single glance, which dazzled on the
back of every gentle curl on the surface around him, he suddenly. at
a single bound, stood upon the sea, and by another effort drew after
him from the briny deep a golden pedestal as if from a surface of
liquid fire, on which he seemed for a moment to sit, while from his
dazzling locks floods of light and splendor began to flow. His yellow
hairs, as if baptized in a sea of glory, dropped light and joy upon a
world starting into life, while the gradual expanding of his wings
proclaimed him about to fly the circuit of the universe. Bidding
farewell to sea and land, he began his flight to heaven; and as he
onward and upward bent his way, I was reminded of Jesse's son, who
while a shepherd-boy used to sing: 'The heavens declare the glory of
God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. No speech nor
language is there where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone
out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun, who is as a bridegroom
coming out of his chamber and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a
race. His going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit to
the end of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat
thereof.'"
After speaking several times in Philadelphia
and [420] Baltimore, he set out on the 30th of
August (1836), and reached home safely, having been absent
ninety-four days, during which he traveled two thousand miles and
delivered ninety-three discourses, averaging one hour and twenty
minutes each. During the trip about seventy persons in all had been
immersed and united with the churches. [421]
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