{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_52697/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_52697","id":"gutenberg_52697","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52697","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - American","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Cross, Jonathan","Evangelists -- United States -- Biography","Missions -- Appalachian Region"],"text":"Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustration.\n      See 52697-h.htm or 52697-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/52697/pg52697-images.html)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/52697/52697-h.zip)\n\n\n      Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive. See\n      https://archive.org/details/fiveyearsinalleg01cros\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: THE HAWK\u2019S NEST, OR MARSHALL\u2019S PILLAR.\n\nFAYETTE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA. PAGE 167.]\n\n\nFIVE YEARS IN THE ALLEGHANIES.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nPublished by the\nAmerican Tract Society,\n150 Nassau-Street, New York.\n\nEntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by the American\nTract Society, in the Clerk\u2019s Office of the District Court of the\nSouthern District of the State of New York.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n  CHAPTER I.\n\n  The Preparation                                                  5\n\n  CHAPTER II.\n\n  The milestone--The elegant young man--The collier--The\n  rich lady                                                       15\n\n  CHAPTER III.\n\n  The grog-shop--The rolling mills--The Universalist              27\n\n  CHAPTER IV.\n\n  The new \u201crelagin\u201d--The hard father and his little\n  daughter--The deserted homes--The stolen books                  37\n\n  CHAPTER V.\n\n  Book preachers installed--\u201cCaught with guile\u201d--The\n  clenched fist--Review                                           49\n\n  CHAPTER VI.\n\n  Governor of West Virginia--Surprising desolations--The\n  lodging--The dinner--\u201cBlazing the trees\u201d                        57\n\n  CHAPTER VII.\n\n  The hunter seeking books for a Sunday-school--The\n  first sermon--Clock pedlars                                     68\n\n  CHAPTER VIII.\n\n  The \u201cIronside\u201d preacher and distiller--Wife and\n  granddaughter                                                   75\n\n  CHAPTER IX.\n\n  A church dignitary--\u201cHave you let Washington into\n  heaven?\u201d                                                        81\n\n  CHAPTER X.\n\n  The pistol--The surveyor\u2019s son--A public-house--\u201cYou\n  have prayed plenty\u201d--The pocket-Bible                           89\n\n  CHAPTER XI.\n\n  The summit of Cheat mountain--The \u201cfellow that\n  wanted to colport\u201d--The sheriffs warrant--Wishing\n  to be a _tract_ agent                                           97\n\n  CHAPTER XII.\n\n  The wickedest man in the county--The bully--The\n  shooting match--A gang of desperadoes                          111\n\n  CHAPTER XIII.\n\n  A night on guard--Old Randal Lucas                             119\n\n  CHAPTER XIV.\n\n  \u201cNo church, no preacher, no Sunday-school, no day-school\u201d--A\n  young lady\u2019s success                                           128\n\n  CHAPTER XV.\n\n  \u201cNo such place as hell\u201d--The busy lawyer--A Trinity--The\n  great work in L----, and in U----                              137\n\n  CHAPTER XVI.\n\n  A Pentecostal season--Service in a graveyard--A Seceder\n  church                                                         151\n\n  CHAPTER XVII.\n\n  The Spirit\u2019s blessing at C----, and near Marshall\u2019s\n  Pillar, and at L---- B---- --Col. S----\u2018s household            163\n\n  CHAPTER XVIII.\n\n  Grieving the Spirit--Striking effects of the Anxious\n  Inquirer                                                       176\n\n  CHAPTER XIX.\n\n  Work of grace at L---- --The German professor--The\n  wealthy young lady--\u201cDon\u2019t be offended\u201d--A\n  distinguished civilian                                         188\n\n  THE CONCLUSION                                                 201\n\n\n\n\nFIVE YEARS\n\nIN\n\nTHE ALLEGHANIES.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\n\u201cIt is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.\u201d In all my\nconnection with the scenes here truthfully described, as in the\ntraining and discipline of earlier years through which I was brought\ninto them, I have been _led in a way that I knew not_.\n\nI was born on the border of Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, within\nthe wilds of the vast range of the Alleghanies, where the howl of\nthe wolf, the scream of the panther, and the Indian\u2019s tomahawk were\nmy dread. In infancy my father died, and a few years later my pious\nmother. But God raised up a foster-mother, and in her family an\nintelligent Scotch female teacher, who made me her special charge\nduring my first year at school. Here, in connection with faithful\npreaching from a tent in the woods on the Sabbath, and instruction in\nthe log-cabin day-schools, I received those rudiments of education, and\nwas indoctrinated in that sound system of faith and morals from which\n\u201cold Scotia\u2019s grandeur springs.\u201d\n\nConscious of my ruin by sin and need of the \u201cnew birth,\u201d as set forth\nin old standard works of Flavel and Boston which I read, for three\nyears from ten to thirteen, I was often deeply impressed as to the\nstate of my soul. I attended constantly on preaching and the monthly\nexaminations, committed to memory catechisms and scriptures, and\nwrestled with God in prayer that I might be truly converted and become\na minister of the gospel; and sometimes I indulged a trembling hope in\nChrist.\n\nBut among the snares and flatteries of ungodly companions, my alarm\nand faint hopes of salvation gradually subsided. I was at length led\nto show my _manhood_ by tobacco-chewing, card-playing, and even\nprofanity. Next I was enticed to read works on Universalism, and for\nfour years sought to stifle conscience by arguments to prove that all\nwill be saved. Yet a still small voice was whispering, \u201cThe soul that\nsinneth it shall die;\u201d and though jovial in company, when alone hell\nwould seem to flash up before me in all its horrors. Two great powers\nwere striving in my heart: one to lead me into deeper sin; the other\ncrying, \u201cTurn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die?\u201d At seventeen I went\nwith an ungodly young man into the then wilderness of Central Ohio,\nwhere for half a year I heard no sermon, hunted on the Sabbath, threw\noff restraints, and as it were dared the vengeance of God. Oh how\nastonishing the mercy of God, to continue to strive with such a rebel!\n\nWhen I arrived at eighteen, I spent two or three nights in a week at\nthe card-table, to \u201ckill time\u201d and drown the whispers of the Spirit.\nI thought of enlisting in the army, and then resolved to go to sea:\nbut in the providence of God, a young woman just then engaged my\naffections; thoughts of the army and the sea were dislodged, and in a\nfew months we were married, depending on our personal exertions for the\nmeans of support.\n\nWe rented a piece of land, and entered upon the scenes and\nresponsibilities of real life. After six months, I was seized with\nacute inflammatory rheumatism, and the verdict of the physician was,\nthat the disease was incurable, and I must die. Every feature was\ndistorted with agony; and yet the agony of soul at the thought of\nbeing dragged into the presence of God with all my sins unpardoned was\nunspeakably more terrible. I saw that I had shut my heart against the\ncalls of God\u2019s word and Spirit a thousand times, and that I deserved\nthe deepest hell. I tried to pray, but there seemed to be no God\nto hear, no Saviour to intercede, no Spirit to comfort my lost and\nwretched soul.\n\nAs I was recovering, \u201cThe Afflicted Man\u2019s Companion,\u201d received from a\nfriend, was greatly blessed to me, and I resolved by God\u2019s help to live\nthe life and die the death of the righteous. The struggle now began in\nearnest. Such was my agony of soul, that I often went to the woods and\nrolled on the ground for hours. Most of those around me, for miles in\nevery direction, were living in neglect of God; intemperance fearfully\nprevailed; there was not one religious friend to whom I could reveal\nthe feelings of my heart. I tried to surrender myself to Christ, but\nin vain. A voice seemed to follow me continually, \u201cHe that is ashamed\nof me and of my words, of him will I be ashamed before my Father and\nhis holy angels.\u201d I felt that a public acknowledgment of Christ and his\ncause was the only way of relief; but I shrunk from the duty, wishing\nto be a secret Christian, and go to the Saviour, like Nicodemus, by\nnight. This distress continued for some months.\n\nAt length I was enabled to ask a blessing at my table, which seemed\na hard task before my then irreligious wife; and after this it was a\nstruggle of six months before I could summon courage to commence family\nprayer, even on a Sabbath evening. This duty was then performed, and\npeace of mind followed. After a few months I made known the state of my\nmind to the officers of a church some miles distant, and was admitted,\nthough with many sore misgivings and fears that I had no right to the\nLord\u2019s supper, and was self-deceived.\n\nGod graciously removed these doubts, and I felt the claims of Christ to\ndo something for others. I first engaged in loaning such good books as\nI could get, especially The Afflicted Man\u2019s Companion, Doddridge\u2019s Rise\nand Progress, and Pike\u2019s Persuasives to Early Piety; feeling assured\nthat no one could prayerfully read either of these books without being\nconverted.\n\nWhen I was in my twenty-third year, a devoted Christian settled in a\nvery wicked community about five miles from me, where he started a\nSabbath-school. I went to see it, and was greatly pleased with it. At\nthe close, I was introduced to Mr. P----; and to his influence, under\nGod, more than to that of any other individual, is to be traced all\nI have been enabled to do for the salvation of souls. He told me all\nabout the management of a Sabbath-school, and how to get books from\nthe American Sunday-school Union, which had just begun its heaven-born\nwork in our country. I immediately set to work, raised five dollars,\nprocured ten dollars\u2019 worth of books, and opened a Sabbath-school\nin my own house. The room soon became too small; but God put it into\nthe heart of an irreligious neighbor to offer a larger room, where\nthe school was continued for a year, and where I also held a weekly\nmeeting, usually reading one of Burder\u2019s Village Sermons. More room\nsoon became necessary, and a large school-house was built; and there,\nfor twelve long years, the Sabbath-school and religious meetings were\nkept up, until nearly all the youth and most of the adult population in\nthe neighborhood were brought into the church.\n\nThis Sabbath-school and that of Mr. P---- were the means God used to\nbuild up a good congregation in one of the most wicked and hopeless\ncommunities.\n\nWith these results before me, as soon as I heard of Colportage my heart\nbeat with joy at the thought that the poor would soon have the gospel\npreached to them, and that thousands of children, untaught at home,\nwould be reached by soul-saving truth adapted to their opening minds.\n\nBut the question came into my mind at once, \u201cWho will go into these\nignorant communities, and deny themselves the comforts of home, to do\nthis work?\u201d little thinking that God, by fifteen years training, had\nselected me for that very work in the Alleghanies.\n\nAn incident that occurred some years previous made a deep impression\non my mind. The ecclesiastical body with which I was connected had\nrequested the officers of vacant churches to visit all the families in\nthose churches, and talk and pray with them. I shrunk from the task;\nbut encouraged by Mr. P----, I entered on it with fear and trembling.\nBy the time the first visit was paid I felt as if I should like to\nspend my days in such a work. Late in the evening of my first day I\nstopped at a house where the man and his wife were members of our\nchurch. A young man was present who was to be married in a few days. I\nhad some acquaintance with him, and asked him if he had ever felt any\nconcern about his soul. He said, \u201cA little sometimes, but not much.\u201d I\nurged him to seek first the kingdom of God: and his righteousness, and\nsaid to him, \u201cFor aught you know, before another morning you may be\ndead, or on a sick-bed from which you may never rise.\u201d At midnight that\nnight he woke up sick. In a day or two I was sent for. He told me the\nmoment he woke sick he thought of what I said, and felt that he should\nnever get well. He lingered three months; but more than a month before\nhe died he professed his faith in Christ. From that time till he died,\nhe daily urged his ungodly, intemperate parents to repent and meet him\nin heaven. The father soon became much distressed about his soul; and\na year after, he died a most triumphant death, committing his children\nto my care for religious instruction. Within a few years the mother\nand most of the children were united with God\u2019s people. All attributed\ntheir salvation to the exhortations of that son and those of us who\nattended him and his father. This encouraged me to try to do more.\n\nOn the morning of October 20, 1844, I rose in peace, with my happy\nlittle family around me; but a holy Providence ordered that in twelve\nhours my dear wife was to be in the cold embrace of death, and that her\ndeath was to be the first of a chain of providences to lead me \u201cout\ninto the highways and hedges.\u201d\n\nThe next Sabbath morning our pulpit was occupied by Rev. Mr. W----, who\npresented the moral and religious wants of our country, and tenderly\nappealed for laborers. At the close of the service I was introduced\nto him, and he accompanied me to the new-made grave of my beloved\ncompanion. The band that had bound me to my home was loosed. On Monday\nmorning the preacher called on me again; preliminaries were arranged;\nand I was commissioned as colporteur for Western Virginia, consenting\nfirst to labor a short time among the colliers in Western Pennsylvania.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\nI left home for the field of labor assigned me on the first day of\nNovember, 1844.\n\nOn my way on horseback I came alongside of a young gentleman of very\nfine appearance. We immediately entered into conversation about the\nbeautiful farms and fine improvements we passed.\n\nWhen we had rode some distance, I observed _a mile-stone_, which\nreminded me of a promise made some years before, that I would never\ntravel a mile or spend an hour alone with any person without talking on\nthe subject of religion. I immediately set about to find something to\nmake an introduction out of. The first thing that caught my eye was a\nvery tall hickory pole, raised by one of the political parties of the\ntime, and said I feared the political excitement was very seriously\naffecting the interests of the church.\n\nThe evasive reply of the elegant young man led me to suppose he was a\ngay, thoughtless young lawyer or physician, as I had discovered that\nhe was an educated man.\n\nI then observed to him that as we were providentially thrown together,\nand I had made a promise not to travel a mile or spend an hour with\nany one without speaking on the subject of religion, I hoped he had no\nobjections to such conversation.\n\nHe said, \u201cIt is no doubt an important subject,\u201d but said it in such a\nway that I still thought he was an irreligious man.\n\nI then observed that I felt a deep interest in young men, especially as\nthe destinies of the church and nation would soon be in their hands.\nThat the only safeguard of either was real piety. I then repeated the\ntext, \u201cExcept a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u201d\nAnd after preaching him a sermon from it near a mile long, he observed,\n\n\u201cWell, sir, that is very good theology.\u201d\n\nThe manner in which it was said led me to reply, \u201cPerhaps I have run\nagainst a preacher.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d said he, \u201cI am a new beginner at it, and you have given me\none of the best lessons that I have ever learned. I thank you for it;\nit needs no apology, and I hope God will give me grace always to do\nlikewise.\u201d\n\nOur journey as we continued it to Pittsburg was pleasant and profitable.\n\nIn the evening I reached the hospitable home of the Rev. Mr. J----\nin the village of T----, near to the city. It had been arranged for\nhis house to be my headquarters, and I shall never forget the nights\nI spent with him and his devoted companion. I thought him as nigh\nChristian perfection as man is ever raised in this world. Had it not\nbeen for their wise Christian counsel and earnest prayers, my faith and\ncourage would have yielded when I came to look on my field of labor.\nMy new work, to which everybody was a stranger, and to be done among\nstrangers in the bustle of business and worldly excitements, seemed to\nbe too formidable an undertaking. All nations seemed to be represented;\nscores intoxicated, and blaspheming God\u2019s holy name. And what added to\nthe difficulty was, that my books did not come to hand for three days,\nleaving me that time to magnify molehills into mountains of difficulty.\n\nBut this delay was the most important part of my training. Those were\ndays of most earnest searchings of heart, while such passages of\nScripture as, \u201cHe that is ashamed of me and my words, of him will I be\nashamed before my Father and his holy angels,\u201d were constantly ringing\nin my ears.\n\nOn the evening of the third day the box of books came. I had engaged\na class-leader in the Methodist church to go with me the first day;\nbut the sight of the box made me tremble, and so great was the dread\nof beginning the work that evening, that I resolved that if God did\nnot give me strength by the next morning, I would start home and give\nit up. The night was spent without sleep. I can truly say I was in an\nagony till four o\u2019clock in the morning. Then in a moment of time all\nmy fears were gone, and I longed for the morning to come that I might\nbegin my work.\n\nBy eight o\u2019clock in the morning I called on Mr. S---- who was to\naccompany me, with my basket filled with good books and tracts.\n\nIn a few minutes we entered the first house. They were Germans; very\nirreligious. We talked and prayed with them, and sold some books. They\nseemed pleased with the visit, and thanked us for it.\n\nThe next house we entered bore the brand of intemperance. The husband\nwas sitting by the fire with a sore hand and red eyes. We preached\nto him \u201crighteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come,\u201d till he\ntrembled and wept like a child. He promised to drink no more, joined a\ntemperance society that night, became a church-going man, provided for\nhis family, and as far as I know has turned out well.\n\nDuring that day we visited twenty-seven families, talked and prayed\nwith all of them, and distributed near twenty dollars\u2019 worth of books.\nMany shed tears while we talked with them of Christ and salvation, and\npromised to attend to the \u201cone thing needful.\u201d\n\nMr. S----, my fellow-laborer, was so stirred in soul with the day\u2019s\nwork, that he said he must let his business stand and go the next day.\n\nThe next morning we started, full of zeal and hope. We met with many\nof the most wicked and degraded people that I had ever seen. Some\nlistened to us with attention, while others treated us with contempt.\nLate in the evening, while we were visiting a row of board shanties,\noccupied by coal diggers, I was told not to venture into one of the\nshanties; that the man was almost a giant in size and strength, and a\nvery dangerous man; that he was a terror to the neighborhood, and had\nbeaten his wife very badly the day before. I replied there was the more\nneed to see him, and I would go in. My friend would not even come to\nthe door of the shanty, for fear of him.\n\nThe shanty was sixteen feet square, no floor but the earth; neither\nchair, table, nor bed except a bundle of straw in one corner. He was\nseated on a large block of coal at one side of the fire, and his wife\non another block at the other side, while the children were lying on\nthe ground playing between them. The woman\u2019s face bore testimony of the\nbeating she had gotten the day before.\n\nHe was one of the most fiendish-looking men I ever saw. He was of\nenormous size, was clothed with rags, and did not appear as if he had\nbeen washed for months. He was as black as coal-dust could make him. I\nmust confess it required all the courage I could summon to speak to him.\n\nI approached him, and extended my hand, and said to him, \u201cI have come\nto supply you with some good books to comfort you and point you to\nheaven. Have you a Bible?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d said he. \u201cCan you read?\u201d \u201cYes, a\nlittle.\u201d \u201cDo you love Jesus Christ?\u201d \u201cI fear not, sir.\u201d I then urged\nhim by every thing sacred to attend to his soul\u2019s salvation without\ndelay; that death, judgment, and eternity were hastening on, and\npictured to him as well as I could the awful consequences of dying in\nhis sins. The tears ran down his blackened cheeks till the coal-dust\nwas washed away below his eyes. I gave him a book, and prayed with him.\nHe begged me to call again, and said, \u201cYou are the first man that ever\nspoke to me about my soul.\u201d\n\nDuring this day we visited twenty-two families, and had religious\nconversation and prayer with each of them. Mr. S---- had become so\ndeeply interested, that he said he must go another day.\n\nThe next day we concluded to visit a coal digger\u2019s boarding-house, said\nto be the wickedest den that was to be found in the whole district.\nI will not attempt to describe its character. We entered late in the\nevening, as this was the only time we could find the men in. The house\nwas kept by an old woman and her sons, who worked in the mines and were\nnotorious for their daring profanity.\n\nWhen we entered the house several men were playing cards, others were\nlying on benches about the room in various stages of intoxication. My\ncolaborer was a small, timid man, and seemed somewhat alarmed.\n\nI introduced our errand by proposing to sell them some good books,\nwhich they declined even to look at. I then commenced a general\nexhortation, which had no effect more than pouring water on a rock. I\nthen called on my friend to pray, as it was his turn, and we had agreed\nto lead in turns. This he did with great fervor, and was responded to\nby the men with vulgar songs, and such other behavior as I have never\nseen before or since.\n\nAt the close of his prayer I turned to the old woman and told her I was\nastonished at the mercy of God that permitted such a family to live,\nand portrayed the awful consequences of her meeting her household in\nhell. I drew every alarming picture I could summon from the Bible or\nthe resources of my own mind. After some time the old woman began to\nweep, and she promised to attend the mission chapel the next Sabbath.\nAfter supplying them with a copy of Baxter\u2019s Call, and a number of\nsuitable tracts, we left them.\n\nThe next Sabbath the old woman was at the chapel. A series of religious\nmeetings began that day, and before its close, as my friend informed\nme, who was a worshipper there, the old woman and one of her sons\nprofessed religion.\n\nOne day we entered a room where a man was lying sick. We introduced the\nsubject of religion to him. He ground his teeth with rage, and swore he\ndid not want to hear any thing on that subject. I then began to inquire\nabout his complaints, and to prescribe some simple remedies, and he\nsoon became calm. After some time I remarked that afflictions did not\ncome by chance, neither did trouble spring out of the ground, but they\nwere all sent of God for some wise purpose. \u201cDo you think so?\u201d said\nhe. \u201cYes,\u201d said I, \u201cand for our good.\u201d He then listened attentively,\nand soon shed tears. Though he was very poor, he bought some books.\nI prayed with him, and left him, but not without many thanks and\nentreaties to come and see him as often as I could.\n\nThis closed the work of three days, in which time we had visited\neighty-five families.\n\nThese three days were the most interesting days that I had ever spent.\nBy the next morning I found my voice almost gone, and all my limbs\ntrembling. The excitement of the work and intensity of feeling had\nprostrated me before I was aware of it.\n\nAfter a day or two of rest I resumed my labors for three weeks, when I\nwent home a few days.\n\nI then returned to the same place, and spent a month in visiting new\nfamilies and revisiting old ones; and I shall never forget the cordial\nshake of the hand that I got almost every day, when I would meet some\none in the house or on the street whom I had before conversed with\nand supplied with a book or tract. Special services had been held\nin several churches, and quite a number had professed religion. One\nminister told me he had taken into his church forty, many of whom dated\ntheir first religious impressions to reading the books and tracts I had\nsold or given them, others referred to the visits as the means of their\nawakening.\n\nThere was one thing in the work which struck me with great force--the\neffect on Christian people. I tried as far as possible to get some good\nman to go with me in my visits. It was a great help to me and added to\nmy success, and at the same time it stirred up many to work for Christ\nthat had never done any thing before.\n\nOne instance I will name of a Miss L----, though she had been a worker.\nShe was a lady of large wealth, and had a number of poor tenants living\non her property. She heard of my work, and came to see me. At her\nrequest I went to visit her \u201cparish,\u201d as she called it. I went at the\nset time, and she was ready to go with me, basket in hand. During the\nday we visited thirty families, and talked and prayed in every house.\nWhen my strength failed she took it up, and such entreaties to sinners\nI have seldom heard, and such prayers are seldom offered. During that\nday I found eleven persons that attributed their conversion to her\nefforts with books and tracts. She said she was a colporteur before,\nbut did not know it till that day. Reader, go and do likewise.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\nI now add a number of facts and incidents that occurred during these\ntwo months of labor.\n\nThere was a Mr. G----, a coal-digger, of desperate character, that I\nhad been warned not to visit. I was told that he was such an abandoned\ncharacter that he was hopeless; that he spent the most of every night\nin a miserable doggery, drinking and fighting. I had passed his house\nevery day for some time, but did not feel satisfied with myself for\nneglecting it.\n\nAt last I felt constrained to call one evening; but he had not returned\nfrom his work. I had a long, earnest talk with his wife, who seemed\nvery careless and wicked. All I could say made no impression on her. I\ngave her a copy of Baxter\u2019s Call, with the earnest request that she and\nher husband would read it. What followed I will relate as near as I can\nin his own words in a prayer-meeting in his own house about two weeks\nafter.\n\n\u201cWhile eating my supper, my wife told me some man had been here and\nleft a book, which he was very desirous she and I should read. I got\nthe book to look at it, and read a few pages without much interest; but\nas I was very tired, I concluded not to go to the grog-shop that night.\nIn the morning, which was Sunday morning, I felt inclined to go and get\nmy bitters; but seeing the book, I concluded to read till breakfast,\nand then go. By the time breakfast was ready I felt pretty serious, and\nasked my wife if she would not like to go to church--a place we had not\nbeen in for eight years. She said she had no objections. I read till\nit was time to go, and began to feel somewhat anxious about my soul. I\nlistened to the preaching with intense interest. I read the book nearly\nthrough that evening, went back to the church that night, and when\nthose who desired to have an interest in Christ were called for, I came\nforward. A week after, I found peace.\u201d\n\nHe then added, \u201cIf it had not been for that book, I think myself and\nwife would have been in hell to-night. That gun was loaded,\u201d pointing\nto an old gun in the corner, \u201cwith a view of killing myself and wife\nnear a month ago, and if God had not saved me, it would likely have\nbeen done before this time. I was a miserable man; life was a burden;\nbut now I am happy.\u201d\n\nThis narrative brought tears to all our eyes, and joy to our hearts.\n\nI visited some of the grog-shops around the village every day to\nsupply their customers with temperance tracts. In the village proper,\nno liquor could be sold, as in all the deeds for lots there was a\ntemperance clause that forfeited the property if liquor was sold; but\nall round the village the grog was abundant, and customers plenty.\n\nPassing one of these drinking places one day I saw several customers\nin, and entered the bar-room with my tracts. The liquor-sellers had\ngot to know me, and often looked daggers at me. A good-looking man,\nwell dressed, and about half drunk, was approaching the counter to get\na six-cent drink. Said I, \u201cMy friend, I can give you something for\nsix cents that will do you much more good, and no harm.\u201d He asked me\nwhat it was, when I presented to him Baxter\u2019s Call. I told him the\nliquor might kill him, and if he would read that book with prayerful\nattention, it might save his soul. He said he would buy the book if he\nhad the money, but that he had only six cents to pay for that glass of\nliquor, which by this time was standing on the counter.\n\nWe both came up to the counter, when I laid the book beside the glass,\nsaying, \u201cHere is life or death for six cents.\u201d The grog-seller said\nI had no business to come there annoying his customers, and injuring\nhis business. I urged the man at the risk of losing his soul to buy\nand read the book. The struggle seemed to be between life and death.\nAt last he handed me the money, took the book, and went out of the\nroom. I then handed the landlord a book worth more than the whiskey,\nand told him to read it, and then sell it to make up the loss. This is\nonly a sample of every day occurrences in village and city colportage.\nEternity only will reveal the results.\n\nAt the request of the proprietors of a large rolling-mill, I visited\nthose in their employ.\n\nAmong them was a man that professed to be a kind of Universalist\npreacher. He was a boss over a number of hands, and I was told was\nshrewd and fond of argument, and was doing much injury in propagating\nhis opinions. Late one evening I called at his rooms. There was no one\nin but his wife. I conversed with her some time, and found her a pious\nChristian woman. I asked her about her husband. She burst into tears,\nand said he was a kind husband, but a wicked man; that he preached\nsometimes, and was a Universalist.\n\nWhile I was urging her to labor and pray for his salvation, a\nfine-looking man, of a haughty mien and deportment, came in.\n\nI arose and introduced myself, and asked if he was Mr. V----, the\ngentleman of the house. He replied that he was. I then told him I was a\ncolporteur visiting from house to house, selling and giving books, and\ntalking and praying with the people.\n\n\u201cOh, I have heard of you about here for two or three days. I am a\nUniversalist, sir; I don\u2019t believe there is any such place as hell.\u201d I\nreplied that it would be well for many of us if that doctrine was true,\nand asked him how long he had been a Universalist. He said about eight\nyears; that his mother had belonged to the orthodox, and taught him in\nhis early years about a terrible place called hell, and that he knew no\nbetter till about eight years ago. That for three or four years after\nhe heard the true doctrine of the salvation of all men, he was troubled\nwith those foolish prejudices; but for the last four years he had never\nhad a solitary _pang_ on that subject.\n\nI replied that it was often hard to get rid of a mother\u2019s instructions\nand prayers; that it had taken the devil four years to silence his\nconscience, and get them put to sleep.\n\n\u201cDo you feel confident,\u201d I said, \u201cthat you are this moment prepared to\nenter heaven if you were to die?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d said he, \u201cas certain as I am\nthat the sun rises and sets.\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d said I, \u201cis not this rather a\ntoilsome world to live in?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d said he, \u201cit is, and I have a full\nshare of it.\u201d \u201cThen,\u201d said I, \u201cwhy not cut your throat, and go right\nto heaven this evening?\u201d \u201cOh,\u201d said he, \u201cI have my wife to provide\nfor.\u201d \u201cOh,\u201d said I, \u201ccut her throat, and take her along.\u201d \u201cOh,\u201d said\nhe, \u201cthat would be wrong.\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d said I, \u201cif your creed is right, it\ncannot be wrong; and even if it should, you would be done with all the\nconsequences of the wrong as soon as you were dead.\u201d He hung his head,\nand made no further reply. I told him I hoped that he had seen the\nfallacy of his belief, and would at once abandon such soul-destroying\nopinions. I sold him several books, and left him.\n\nAs the men worked by turns all night in the rolling-mills, and it was\ndifficult to gain access to them, one of the proprietors proposed\nthat he would join me to visit them all the next Sabbath, when they\noften gathered in groups to play cards and drink. Accordingly the next\nSabbath morning we were joined by a theological student, and commenced\ngoing round the houses and rooms, near one hundred in number.\n\nLate in the evening we entered the apartments of Mr. V---- and his\nwife. They were sitting reading new books, which I think were those I\nhad sold them. I said, \u201cGood evening, Mr. V----. I have come to talk\nwith you again, and I am glad to see you reading those books. I hope\nyou have changed your mind on religious subjects.\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d said he, \u201cI am\nmore convinced than ever that I am right.\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d said I, \u201cI want to\nask you a few questions by the way of information, as you profess to\nhave a near cut to heaven.\u201d Said he, \u201cI am not going to answer any more\nof your questions. I don\u2019t like to be criticized.\u201d I told him I would\nonly ask him easy questions; that I wanted to know what that scripture\nmeant which speaks of a class of men who \u201cshall not be forgiven,\nneither in this world, nor in the world to come.\u201d Said he, \u201cI am not\ngoing to answer any more questions.\u201d\n\nMr. R---- said he would like to ask him one question. \u201cThere were two\nthieves crucified with Christ. He said to the one, \u2018This day shalt thou\nbe with me in paradise;\u2019 where did the other go?\u201d He made no answer.\n\nWe all three united in urging him to repent and believe in Christ, but\nhe made no answer. At last I said, \u201cBrethren, unless God will hear and\nanswer prayer in this man\u2019s behalf, he is a lost man.\u201d His wife was\nweeping as if her heart would break. We knelt in prayer, and I think\nthere were four earnest hearts lifted up to God. He sat still some\nminutes, but at last he knelt. When we rose from our knees the tears\nwere running down his cheeks. I said, \u201cDo you feel no \u2018pangs\u2019 now?\u201d\nWith a sob that seemed to come from his heart, he said, \u201cI don\u2019t know\nwhat has come over me.\u201d We then pointed him to the Saviour, and told\nhim we believed his feelings were produced by the Spirit of God. Of all\nthe penitents that I have ever seen, I hardly remember one who seemed\nso deeply moved as this man. During the time he remained in that place\nhe seemed to be an entirely changed man.\n\nOne day, accompanied by the Rev. Mr. J----, we called at the office of\na very fine-looking gentleman, and introduced the subject of religion\nto him. He was rather surly and sceptical. I proposed to sell him a\nbook, but he declined, saying that he seldom read such books. At last\nI proposed to give him a copy of Nelson on Infidelity, and went on to\nsay that it equalled any romance in interest. At last he said, \u201cI have\nmoney plenty to buy books, and as you are so urgent about it, I will\nbuy it, and read it; and if it is not as good as you say it is, I will\ngive you a thrashing the first time I catch you.\u201d I told him I would\nrun the risk of that if he would read the book carefully.\n\nAbout ten days after we were passing again, and called on him. He met\nus in the most cordial manner. I told him I had called to see whether\nhe would thrash me or not for the book I had sold him. \u201cOh,\u201d said he,\n\u201cit is the best book I ever read. I would not take five dollars for it,\nif I could not get another like it.\u201d We found him deeply anxious about\nhis soul. After a long talk with him, I told him I was about to close\nmy labors there, and never expected to meet him again in this world,\nand urged him to meet me in heaven. With tears running down his cheeks,\nhe said to Mr. J----, \u201cWill _you_ not come and see me again?\u201d Mr. J----\nsaid with tears that he would, and he no doubt did very frequently.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\nCalling one day at a fine country-house in Western Pennsylvania, I\nfound a prosperous Irish family of more than ordinary intelligence. I\ninquired if they wanted some good religious books. The father replied,\n\u201cWhat kind of _relagin_ do you teach?\u201d I replied, \u201cThe holy catholic\nreligion.\u201d \u201cAh, it\u2019s not the Roman-catholic relagin. What objection\nhave you to the Roman-catholic relagin?\u201d I replied that all that I\ndesired was, to teach the people to repent and believe in the Lord\nJesus Christ and to lead holy lives, and that I was not going about to\nargue with people about their churches. Still he insisted on my telling\nhim what objections I had to the Roman-catholic church.\n\nAt last I told him they violated the second commandment by the use of\nimages in the worship of God. But this he denied. I asked him to get\nhis Bible and compare it with mine. He brought out the Douay Catechism\nto prove he was right, and told me that was his Bible. I got mine;\nbut he forbade my reading it, as it was a heretic\u2019s Bible. I insisted\non having Bible authority for the use of images in God\u2019s worship. As\nthe old man seemed to be at a loss to defend his position, one of his\ndaughters, a beautiful girl, presented herself before me, and said, \u201cI\ncan give you Bible plenty for the use of images, and the good resulting\nfrom the use of them. What was it that Moses put up on the pole for the\nIsraelites to look at when the fiery serpents bit them?\u201d I explained\nto her that the brazen serpent was set up, not to be worshipped, but\nsimply looked at as a type of Christ, to whom dying sinners may look\nand live. But all my efforts were in vain. As I left them, she was\nstill asking me to repent, and come over to the true Roman-catholic\nchurch as the only place of safety.\n\nA few days after, the Rev. Mr. J---- requested me to visit the town\nof S----, where he occasionally preached, and had made an appointment\nfor me to address the people at night, preparatory to visiting all the\nfamilies. He gave me a letter of introduction to one of his members,\nwho lived a mile from the village, and who he expected would go with\nme. I came to his house near dark, almost frozen. He received me very\ncoldly, and neither offered me food or company. I inquired the way to\ntown, and soon left.\n\nThe night was dark, the snow deep, the cold intense, and I was an\nentire stranger in the place. As I rode along the street, every door\nand window was shut, till I came to a store. I tied my horse and\nstepped in, and found a large, fine-looking man sitting by the stove\nalone. By asking a few questions, I learned it was Mr. S----, the\nproprietor of the town. I told him I was glad to make his acquaintance.\nThat I had come there at the request of the Rev. Mr. J----, to hold a\nmeeting that night, and to spend a few days visiting his people and\nsupplying them with good religious books, and I would be glad to have\nhis counsel and advice as to the best way to do it.\n\nSaid he, \u201cIt depends very much, sir, on the kind of religious books you\nwant to circulate here. I suppose you have the Confession of Faith of\nthe Presbyterian church among them, and I can prove that it is full of\nfalsehoods; and more than that, I want you to know, sir, that I have\nmade a promise to kick out of my house every man that comes in it that\nhas graduated at Jefferson College, and studied theology at the Western\nSeminary.\u201d As he closed the sentence, he stood up before me, as if he\nwas going to make good his promise. I requested him to wait till I\nshould explain my object. I told him I had no Confessions of Faith, nor\nany denominational books; that they were all the books of the American\nTract Society, and approved by nearly all evangelical Christians,\nand consequently not sectarian. And as to the other objection, I had\nnever graduated either at Jefferson College or the Western Theological\nSeminary, consequently he was barking up the wrong tree. \u201cWhy,\u201d said\nhe, \u201care you not a Presbyterian preacher?\u201d \u201cNo, sir,\u201d said I, \u201cI have\nnot the honor to be a preacher.\u201d He turned instantly and walked out,\nleaving me alone.\n\nI stepped to the door, and asked a little boy who was passing if there\nwas a Mr. G---- living in the town. \u201cYes,\u201d said he, \u201che lives in the\nadjoining house.\u201d I stepped to the door, and was cordially greeted by\nan old acquaintance. In a few minutes I was seated at a sumptuously\nsupplied table, which I very much needed; and an hour after was in a\nschool-house, holding forth to the people, with my belligerent friend\nfor one of my hearers. I visited all the town; but Mr. S---- carefully\navoided meeting me, always turning away to shun me; but I supplied his\nfamily with a good stock of books.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAt the close of my labors in that town, I entered a very hilly region\nof country, and stopped over night with a Mr. W----, an aged, infirm\nman, who sent his son with me the next day to hunt up the cabins of the\npoor. The son had spent some years in a roving life, and seemed totally\nindifferent about religion.\n\nIn the first cabin we called at, we found a young woman in the last\nstages of a decline. I have seldom seen any soul so full of joy and\npeace. She talked more like an inhabitant of heaven than of earth.\nWhile we spoke of Christ\u2019s love, and what he had done for her, I saw\nthe tears course down my companion\u2019s cheeks. When we left her he said,\n\u201cReligion is a reality.\u201d\n\nAfter visiting a few more families, we came in sight of a beautiful\nfarm, which lay in a valley. Mr. W---- said to me, \u201cI will not go with\nyou to that man\u2019s house. He is an unbeliever, and a shrewd fellow, and\nif you talk to him on religion as you have done to others, he will get\nmad, and insult you. His wife is pious; but I have heard him say that\nwhen the preacher came to visit his family he kept out of the way,\nbecause he did not wish to insult him; and he will certainly insult\nyou, if you speak to him on that subject.\u201d Said I, \u201cHe has the more\nneed to be visited. Such persons are the very ones I am sent to hunt\nup; but as he may take offence at you for leading me to his house, you\nmay fall behind, and come up after me,\u201d which he concluded to do.\n\nAs I approached the house, I got off my horse, and took my big\nsaddle-bags, filled with books, on my arm, and stepped into the house.\nIn a few minutes all the children were in. They were fine, intelligent\nchildren; and to my surprise, I recognized their mother as a once\ndashing young lady I had known well fifteen years before; but she had\nentirely forgotten me.\n\nIn a few minutes in came my travelling companion and Mr. C---- with\nhim; Mr. C----\u2019s face indicating great determination and firmness. I\nimmediately began to hunt for a text to begin with, and chose a little\ngirl of three or four years old, whom I called to my side. I began to\ntell her about Jesus, and what he did to save sinners, and how deeply\npraying fathers and mothers felt for their dear children, whom they\nwould soon meet at the bar of God. I asked her if father and mother\ndid not pray for her. By this time the mother and the oldest daughter\nwere weeping freely. I asked the mother if she would not rather see\nher children converted to God than any thing else. \u201cOh, yes,\u201d she\nexclaimed, \u201cit burdens my heart.\u201d I cast my eye round towards Mr. C----\nand Mr. W----, and both were weeping.\n\n\u201cMr. C----,\u201d said I, \u201cdon\u2019t you feel concerned about the souls of this\ninteresting group of children which God has given you to train up for\nHim?\u201d \u201cNot as much as I ought to do.\u201d His heart was so full he could\nscarcely utter one word. Said I, \u201cAre you not a professor of religion?\u201d\n\u201cNo, I am not. I have been a very careless man on that subject. When\nI was a young man I was very much concerned for a while, but I fell\nin with wicked young men, and read bad books, and I have entirely\nneglected religion ever since. But I don\u2019t know what has come over me\nnow.\u201d\n\n\u201cI trust,\u201d said I, \u201cit is the Spirit of God that has touched your\nheart, and I beseech you now to yield to his divine solicitations;\nnot to delay for one moment. If you resist the Holy Ghost now, he may\nleave you for ever, and then your doom will be sealed; but if you now\ngive up all for Christ, you will find peace, and there may be joy in\nheaven among the angels this moment.\u201d He cried out in the agony of his\nsoul, \u201cWhat shall I do to be saved?\u201d I urged him to enter that night\non all the duties that God had enjoined on him; to read his Bible, and\npray for himself and family. He pledged his word to me to do it. He\nkept that pledge. I prayed with him, sold him eighteen volumes of good\nbooks, and left the whole family in tears. He soon after joined the\nchurch; and Mr. W----, I was told, professed religion soon after, and\nattributed his conversion to a day\u2019s travel with a colporteur.\n\nI held a prayer-meeting that night at the house of Mr. H----, a man of\nremarkable piety and benevolence. He told me of an incident that marked\nhis whole life, and made him what he was. Said he, \u201cI served my time\nwith a hard master to learn the wagon-making business. I had engaged to\ngo, the day I was free, some forty miles to work as a journeyman. The\nevening before I was to start, a good man gave me his advice, and at\nthe close asked me if I had money to pay my way. I told him I had no\nmoney, but could get there, as I was going to walk. He handed me fifty\ncents, all he had, as a present. While on my way I met a poor miserable\nman begging. He told me he was starving. I gave him the fifty cents, as\nI had no way to divide it. Before I had gone many rods I found a silver\ndollar lying on the road, over which he had stepped. I said to myself,\n\u2018_God sent this_,\u2019 and I determined to serve him all the days of my\nlife; and he has blessed me ever since.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn a few days I commenced labor along the line between Western\nPennsylvania and Western Virginia. The Rev. Mr. R---- took a deep\ninterest in my work, and travelled more than a week with me. Our work\nmade quite a stir among the people. The news spread that we were\nentering every house, talking and praying.\n\nWe set a day to visit a neighborhood that was noted for its wickedness.\nThere were several families owning fine farms who never entered a\nchurch. On the day set, we took an early start. As we approached the\nfirst house, we saw all the inmates running to the barn. We knocked at\nthe door, but no answer. We went to the barn; but before we reached it\nthey were running across the adjoining field. We understood the cause,\nand came back to the house, and put in at the window Baxter\u2019s Call and\na few suitable tracts, with the earnest prayer for God\u2019s blessing to\nattend the reading of them.\n\nWe went on to the next house, but it was closed, and no one to be\nfound. We here also installed Baxter and several other preachers\nthrough the window; and so on till we had visited six families.\nAt every one of these houses the people either fled or concealed\nthemselves at our approach. Mr. R---- pleasantly observed, as we\nwere poor men, he thought the best thing we could do for our worldly\ninterests would be to take possession of the property, for he supposed\nthey would never come to dispossess us. Great fear fell upon sinners at\nour approach.\n\nA few miles distant I held a prayer-meeting one night, and had a large\ncrowd. At the close, I laid my books on the table, and told them that I\nwould sell to any that wanted to buy. In a little time the man of the\nhouse told me that a man had _stolen_ his pocket full; that he was a\nvery bad man, and we should have a fight if we attempted to take them\nfrom him. Among them was a fine pocket Bible. So I concluded to let\nthem go, and pray that God would overrule his wickedness for good.\n\nSome weeks after, while visiting along the Ohio river hills among the\nwood-choppers near the same place, I called at a cabin, and found a\nwoman in deep distress about her soul. She told me she had got a book\nthat was the cause. That a man had sold it to a neighbor. They were\nthe fourth family that had read it, and all were concerned about their\nsouls. I found all the families she named, and the book thus blessed\nwas a copy of Baxter\u2019s Call which that man stole from me and sold to\none of these families.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\nDuring my labors in this region I was frequently requested to\nvisit G----, a town that had been laid out about the close of the\nRevolutionary war, and is noticed in the history of the Indian wars as\nbeing near the scene of some bloody struggles. It contained over three\nhundred inhabitants, but never had a church in it. A good man built one\nnear by.\n\nThe Rev. Mr. R---- sent a notice that he and I would be there on a\ncertain evening to hold a meeting. A few came. He preached, and I made\na statement about my work, and told them I was going to visit the town\nto talk and pray with each family, and supply them with religious\nbooks. I had engaged a class-leader in the Methodist church, who lived\na few miles distant, to go with me.\n\nWe entered the village the next morning soon after breakfast. The first\nfour or five houses we stopped at we could find no one at home, and\nwe soon found they were hiding from us. We could see heads out at\nthe doors and windows as we approached the house; but when we would\nknock there was no answer. As soon as we understood the matter, I\ntold my colaborer they should not foil us in this way; that I would\ninstall preachers in every house before I left the place. I immediately\ncommenced pushing in the old hats that were stuck in the broken\nwindows, and threw into the houses a Baxter\u2019s Call, Alleine\u2019s Alarm, or\na Sabbath Manual, and some of the most awakening tracts.\n\nWe spent two days in this work. With all the skill we could use, we did\nnot get into one third of the houses; but we put good books into every\none.\n\nSome few months after, a minister who was preaching near by found\nmany interested about their souls. He held daily meetings for some\ntime, and more than fifty professed faith in Christ; many dating their\nfirst religious impressions to the silent preachers thrown into their\nhouses at the time of our visit. In 1861, on the railroad, I passed in\nsight of this town lying across the Ohio river, and instead of the old\ndilapidated village it was seventeen years before, it looked to be new\nand flourishing.\n\nAt the close of my labors in that community I went to B---- county,\nVa., at the request of Rev. Mr. W----, who had a large country charge\nand was laid up by bad health. He requested me, in addition to\nvisiting all the families, to hold prayer-meetings among his people\nevery night. This I did for one month, and God\u2019s Spirit seemed to be\npresent at every meeting. Every one I talked with seemed to be moved\nby the Spirit. I sold more than $200 worth of books; and a few months\nafter, more than one hundred persons were added to the churches. Mr.\nW---- afterwards stated that a large portion of them had been led to\nconsideration by reading the books we scattered among them.\n\nHe often gave me directions where to go, and what kind of people\nI should find them to be. On one occasion he directed me to a\nneighborhood where he had four or five families living some miles\nfrom the church. The parents all professors, with large irreligious\nfamilies, and no family altars.\n\nThe first family of them I called on, I soon found to be but little\ninterested about religion. I spoke with the father as if he were\na devout praying man; but told him I had no doubt there were some\nprayerless families in that neighborhood; and that God had declared\nthat he would \u201cpour out his fury on the families that call not on his\nname.\u201d I spoke of the sad effect of such ungodly living on children,\nand urged him to try and talk with all his neighbors about it, and to\ngo with me a day or two till we should try to wake up such professors\nof religion. His family were present. I saw his very soul was pierced.\n\nI visited all the families the same way. God\u2019s Spirit seemed to stir\nevery soul. In a few months after, the pastor was able to visit them,\nand found that each had established the family altar. Each one resolved\nthat he would begin to pray in his own family, and then he could go and\nurge others to do the same. Neither of them supposed that I suspected\nthem of living without prayer till they began to compare notes; and\nthen they found I had talked to all the same way. They sent me their\nthanks by their pastor for \u201ccatching them with guile.\u201d\n\nIn another neighborhood, I was urged by a very good man to visit his\nbrother-in-law, who he told me was a wicked man, and raising a large\nfamily like heathen. He told me that he was a gentleman in his behavior\nto strangers, and would treat me kindly; but to secure for me a kind\nreception, he sent with me a young man who was a nephew both of himself\nand of the gentleman. The day was extremely cold, and the distance some\nfour or five miles. We visited several cabins along the river hills,\nand expected to reach his house about noon, and remain there till the\nnext day.\n\nAbout one o\u2019clock we came to the place. It seemed to be the abode of\nplenty. We tied our horses, and entered a large front room. Mr. C----,\nthe head of the family, was in it alone, shelling corn on a machine,\nkeeping up a hot fire by burning the cobs. His nephew introduced me to\nhim, but he scarce looked at me, spoke very little, and went on with\nhis work, without asking me even to sit down. We both sat some time\nwithout a word being spoken, when the young man passed through into\nanother room, where the family were talking. As soon as I got warm,\nI concluded to try and do my work and leave the house, as every thing\nlooked rather gloomy.\n\nHe was a big, fierce-looking man. His countenance indicated that he was\na very wicked man, which proved to be the fact. I sometimes thought it\nwould be best to leave him without saying any thing, but my conscience\nwould not let me do that. At last I said, \u201cMr. C----, I am engaged in\ndistributing good religious books, published by the American Tract\nSociety, and I have called to supply you and your family with them.\u201d I\nhad scarcely got the words spoken, when he sprang right before me, with\nhis fist clinched, and called me a horse-thief and robber, and every\nvile name that a vile tongue could use, interspersed with the most\nawful oaths I ever heard. He rubbed his fist under my nose, and swore\nhe would smash my face into a jelly. I sat still for some time without\nspeaking, in the hope that he would stop, that I might reason with him;\nbut it was in vain.\n\nAt last I thought, if I am the cause of this man\u2019s sinning so much, I\nwill leave him. I rose to my feet and said, \u201cMr. C----, if you will\nstop a moment till I speak, I will leave your house. I came here at\nthe special request of Mr. E----, your brother-in-law, to try to do\ngood to you and your family. And now, sir, I warn you, that if you do\nnot repent you will perish. I leave a message from God to you on this\ntable,\u201d placing there Baxter\u2019s Call and a number of tracts; \u201cand if you\nreject them, they will meet you as witnesses on the judgment-day.\u201d The\nwicked man quailed, and tried to make apologies for his abuse of me;\nbut I told him to ask God for pardon, and not me, for I was not in the\nleast injured. I never saw the place or the man afterwards; but I heard\nhe soon went to ruin. None of the family showed their faces during the\ninterview.\n\nEighteen years have now passed since these labors were performed, and\nsufficient time has elapsed for all the dust and excitement to pass\naway; and on a calm review of that period of my life and labors, I\nlook on it as the most important of any through which I ever passed:\nnot in actual results, but in the development of a great system of\nevangelization, which has carried salvation to thousands who had never\nbeen reached by saving truth. A few had previously entered this field\nof Christian effort for the destitute, and done much, north and west;\nbut this was the beginning of the work in the middle and southern\nstates, which has reached millions of all classes and conditions, both\nbond and free. As to myself, I found it the best school I ever entered\nfor spiritual and intellectual improvement, and if I have since been\nthe instrument of any good to my fellow-men, the labors of the little\ntime referred to prepared me for it.\n\nAt the close of this month\u2019s work, two gentlemen called on me one\nevening, and requested me to take a walk in the village of P----. I\nwas soon led into a tailor\u2019s shop, and had my measure taken; and then\nfrom one store to another, till a fine new suit, from head to foot, was\nselected, costing near fifty dollars.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n\nApril 1, 1845, I commenced my labors in the town of F----, in Western\nVirginia. As soon as the object of my visit to that region was known, I\nreceived a cordial welcome from a large majority of the people, who did\nall they could to aid me in my work. Mr. P----, a young lawyer at that\ntime, and since governor of Western Virginia, volunteered to go with me\nto every house in the town. His high position and universal popularity\nmade the work pleasant and successful. In three days my buggy load of\nbooks were circulated in the village.\n\nI immediately replenished my stock, and commenced my work in the\ncountry among the mountains. It was like a translation from sunlight\ninto darkness--from a high civilization into one of ignorance and\nsuperstition, with here and there a family of wealth and refinement.\n\nThe very broken, rugged state of the country, with a sparse population,\nrendered it impossible for the people to support either schools or\nchurches. Consequently in many isolated communities whole families\ngrew up without any one knowing the alphabet, and very few places had\npreaching more than once in a month, and that on a week-day in some\nlog cabin to a few women. I have visited as many as ten families in\nsuccession, in one case fourteen, without finding a Bible. It will\nhardly be thought strange that youth of both sexes were often found who\ncould not tell who is the Saviour of sinners, and that when they were\ntold of Christ dying for sinners, they would look incredulous and say,\nwe live so much out of the way that we never hear any news. They often\nlived in small cabins, without any furniture but such as they made with\nan axe and an auger. All they raised to eat was corn and potatoes, with\na few hogs; most of their meat being that of the various wild animals\nwhich abounded in the mountains. They were mostly kind and hospitable,\nand seemed to be sorry that they could not accommodate me better. I\nshall endeavor faithfully to describe one journey, which will represent\nmany more.\n\nAbout the time I went into that region, a new missionary circuit had\nbeen laid out by the Methodist Protestant church through a broken\nmountain country, where the gospel had never been preached; and the\nRev. Mr. C---- was appointed to go round it once in each month, which\nrequired a ride of more than one hundred miles, most of the way by mere\nbridle paths.\n\nHe had been once or twice round the circuit before I became acquainted\nwith him. As soon as he learned my business he invited me to go with\nhim. He told me the people were without books of any kind, that very\nfew could read, and that many of them were not half civilized; that at\none house, where he spent the night, they cut off the skirts of his\nsaddle to sole their moccasins, and at another the woman cut off the\ntail of his overcoat to make a pair of pants for a little boy. I agreed\nto go, and at the set time we filled each of our saddle-bags with\nlittle books and tracts, and our pockets with lunch.\n\nThe first appointment was some twenty miles distant, and we had to\nstart the evening before. We stopped over night with a wealthy\nChristian family, and fared sumptuously.\n\nThe next day we rode twelve miles to the place where he was to preach.\nThey had a church built of round logs. It had no floor but the ground,\nand was neither chinked nor daubed, consequently it was only used in\nwarm weather. The house was full at the appointed hour. More than half\nof the congregation were barefooted, and but few had on them more than\ntwo garments. Most of the men came in with their guns in their hands,\nand a good supply of small game they had killed by the way. The guns\nwere all set up in the corner of the church, and the game laid beside\nthem.\n\nAt the request of Mr. C---- I conducted the service. The constant\nresponses and loud amens indicated the deep interest they seemed to\nfeel. At the close of the service I requested them to keep their seats,\nand told them I would go round and give each a tract or little book.\nMore than half the families represented were destitute of the Bible.\nThe tracts and books were received with very great joy, though few\ncould read a word in them.\n\nAt the close we had to ride some miles to a stopping place for the\nnight. We found the cabin small and destitute of any seats except\nstools. The beds were poles put through the corners, covered with the\nskins of deers and bears. Many of the spaces between the logs were wide\nenough for the dogs and cats to pass out and in at pleasure. The food\nwas bread made of corn ground in a hand mill, or pounded in a hominy\nblock. The meat was coon or opossum, and the coffee made of chestnuts.\nThe night was spent in self-defence against unseen foes, and in dread\nof snakes. After partaking of a breakfast similar to the dinner and\nsupper just described, and praying with the family, we left them.\n\nOur appointment for that day was about twelve miles distant, with a\nconstant succession of mountains to cross. We stopped at all the cabins\nby the way, which were about like that just referred to, with one\nexception; and as the house and family were different from any that I\nhave ever seen, I shall try to describe them.\n\nThe cabin was about eighteen feet square; had been the birthplace of\na large family; had neither floor--except the earth--upper story,\nchimney, chair, table, or bed, except a pile of straw in one corner,\nand an old spinning wheel and loom. The family we saw consisted of the\nfather, mother, and five daughters, no one of which, we supposed, would\nweigh less than one hundred and fifty pounds. Each of the females had\non a single garment made of coarse linen, held on by a drawing-string\nround the neck, all fleshy and hearty, while we could not see any thing\nfor them to live upon.\n\nNo one of them knew a letter in the alphabet, or who was the Saviour of\nsinners. They were children of nature isolated from the world, equally\nignorant of both its vices and its virtues. We spent more than an hour\ntrying to teach them the alphabet of Christianity, and then commended\nthem to God. They seemed amazed at what we said; God only knows the\nresults.\n\nWe reached the place where our evening meeting was to be held after\none o\u2019clock, exhausted with hunger and heat. The cabin was but little\nbetter than the one just described; it contained some kind of table\nand a few stools, but had neither door nor floor, and cattle and hogs\nran into it to avoid the flies when they chose.\n\nMr. C----, whose patience was nearly exhausted, told the woman that we\nwere almost starved, and to hurry and get us something to eat, and to\nmake it as _clean_ and as good as she could. The children were sent to\nborrow tools; a fire was soon blazing under an arbor made of bushes\nnear the house; a pail of meal set beside it, waiting for the _skillet_\nto heat, out of which the hens helped themselves every time she turned\nher back to them. The children soon returned with a little coffee-pot\nminus the handle, and with a knife and a fork one prong lacking.\n\nWe were soon invited in to our dinner from under the shade of a tree\nwhere we had observed the whole process. The table was a block of wood,\nwith four legs to hold it up, and a stool at each side for us to sit\non. Some pet pigs were under it waiting for the crumbs: they tramped\non our toes, which led us to kick them; but our kind hostess soon made\nthe children catch them and confine them behind my back in a big gumm,\na tub sawn off a hollow log, which treatment, from their noise, they\nseemed to dislike very much.\n\nSoon after our meal was finished the people began to gather in to hear\nthe gospel. The cabin was more than full, with the same appearance of\nthe congregation as last described. We supplied all with books and\ntracts--in most cases with the first book they ever had. The night was\nspent much like the previous one, food and lodging about the same.\n\nThe next morning we rode nine miles to meet another appointment at\neleven o\u2019clock. By the time we reached the place I was so sick that\nI had to lie down, while brother C---- preached to the people from\nJeremiah 6:16. At the close we supplied all with little books and\ntracts, and received many thanks. The dinner was set under a shed\noutside of the house, but the sight of it sent me out to the shade of a\ntree so sick that I could not stand on my feet.\n\nI then told brother C---- that I should be compelled to make my\nescape to some place where I could get something to eat and take some\nrest; and asked him to take all the books and give them away at each\nappointment to the best advantage he could.\n\nAt two o\u2019clock I was on my horse, which, happily for me, had been along\nthe road before, and was suffering from hunger as much as his rider. In\nsix hours he was standing at the steps of Mr. S----\u2019s house, two miles\nfrom the town of F----, from which we started three days before. I was\nwell acquainted with Mr. S---- and his family, having been frequently\nthere; but fever had dethroned my reason, which did not return till I\nwas taken in and my head bathed with cold water, and I had drank a cup\nof coffee.\n\nIt was three days before I was sufficiently recovered to resume my\nwork. We had visited twenty-seven families, talked and prayed with them\nall, given them books and tracts, and held three meetings. One half of\nthe people were without any part of a Bible. As for other books they\nhad none, and not one in ten could read a word.\n\nI have detailed this one journey of three days not only to show the\ncondition of this portion of our country, but as little more than a\nfair representation of destitute parts of many states in the Union.\nIf each colporteur of the Tract Society who has visited these dark,\nbroken, isolated regions of our country for the last eighteen years,\nhad kept a journal of all the ignorance and wretchedness he met, it\nwould have been the most interesting missionary journal the world ever\nsaw. Their reports would differ as widely as the reports of those whom\nJoshua sent out to visit the promised land. While some would bring in\nthe rich clusters of Eshcol, others, with equal truthfulness, could say\nthat the land was inhabited by giants, whose walls were ignorance and\nsuperstition.\n\nI was often reminded in my journeys of the early pioneers of our\ncountry who went through the forests, tomahawk in hand, blazing the\ntrees as a signal of their intended occupancy of the land at some\nfuture time. These visits were the Christian pioneer\u2019s way-marks, not\nblazed on the trees with axe or tomahawk, but blazed on the hearts\nof men in a state of nature by kind Christian words, and sealed with\nearnest prayer; while the books and tracts, including many Bibles and\nTestaments, were deeds of trust to those that faithfully used them;\nand many by them have secured a title to eternal life.\n\nThe books were like Jacob\u2019s well--the digger was gone--but they have\nquenched the thirst of many a weary traveller on life\u2019s journey, and\ntheir smoked pages are still crying, \u201cHo, every one that thirsteth,\u201d\ncome and partake of the waters of life \u201cwithout money and without\nprice.\u201d A poor woman who had a small tract given her, on her death-bed\nhad it brought to her, when she kissed it, and said, \u201cThis led me to my\ndear Saviour.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n\nI visited an old woman, who told me that soon after she was married\nsome one lent her Doddridge\u2019s Rise and Progress of Religion in the\nSoul, and that it was the means of the conversion of herself and her\nhusband; that he had died happily some years ago, but she had never\nbeen able to get a copy of the book since. I then presented her with\none, and she wept for joy. I asked her if she had a Bible; she said,\n\u201cNo;\u201d that they had a Bible when her husband died, but some time after\na little school was opened in the neighborhood, and she wanted her four\nlittle boys taught to read, but had no books nor any way to get them,\nand she had to cut her Bible into four parts to make each of them a\nbook, and they soon went to pieces, and she lost her Bible. I then gave\nher a Bible, and her joy seemed complete.\n\nOn another occasion I sent a notice that I would be at a little church\nin a certain neighborhood to aid them in organizing a Sabbath-school,\nand to supply the destitute with books. After exhorting for some time,\nand arranging for the Sabbath-school, I distributed all my stock, and\nwas about to leave.\n\nA young woman came up to me, having just reached the place, and asked\nme for a book. I told her I had given away all that I had brought with\nme. She burst into tears, and said, \u201cI left my babe, three weeks old,\nin the field where my husband was hoeing corn, and walked five miles\nin my bare feet to get a book; and now I am disappointed.\u201d In a few\nminutes an old woman who had seen seventy winters came to me with a\ncrutch under one arm, and a cane in the other hand, and told me she\nhad come two miles to get books for her sons, who were raising large\nfamilies over the mountains, that were as wild as the deers. I returned\nsoon, and gave the necessary supply.\n\nOne day a man entered my room wearing a hunting-shirt and moccasins,\nwith a gun in his hand and a long knife hanging to a belt at his side,\nand asked me if I was the man that gave books to the poor people in the\nmountains. I told him I was engaged in that business. \u201cWell,\u201d said\nhe, \u201cwe live in an out of the way place, where we have neither schools\nnor preaching; and we met together last Sunday to see if we could not\nraise a Sunday-school, and teach our children to read, but all the\nbooks we could find was one New Testament; and some one said there was\na man in F---- that was giving books to the poor, and so I have come\nto see you about it.\u201d I gave him all the light I could as to forming\nand conducting a Sunday-school, and added twenty Testaments, with fifty\nsmall volumes of Tract Society books, and some tracts. He soon had them\nall in the bosom of his hunting shirt, and I have seldom seen a happier\nman.\n\nThe next Sabbath the school was started. In six months a church was\norganized, and soon after a little church built, and a man of God was\npreaching to them once each month. That bosom full of books was the\nmeans God blessed to this result.\n\nOn another occasion I stopped over night with a good man, who related\nto me the following fact.\n\n\u201cA few years ago a minister came to my house late on Saturday night\non his way to preach at L----, about thirty miles distant. Finding he\ncould not reach the place in time to meet his appointment, he told me\nif I would gather in my neighbors, he would preach for us. There were\nbut a few families in all this valley, and so far as I knew, he was the\nfirst preacher that ever had been in it, at least he preached the first\nsermon. I sent my boys out and gathered in my neighbors. At the close\nof his sermon he gave every one a tract. Among the rest he gave one to\na poor widow with a large family, but neither she nor any one of her\nchildren knew a letter. She took it home with her without any knowledge\nof its contents.\n\n\u201cThe next morning she returned and requested my wife to read it to\nher, which she did. \u2018Well,\u2019 said she, \u2018it is a nice thing to read; I\ndo wish I could do it.\u2019 She took the tract home, and returned the next\nday to have it read again; and during the reading, the tears ran down\nher cheeks. \u2018Oh,\u2019 said she to my wife, \u2018do you think I could learn to\nread?\u2019 \u2018Yes,\u2019 she said to her, \u2018no doubt you can.\u2019 So my wife got a\nNew England primer we had, and went over the letters a few times with\nher. She took home both the primer and the tract. The next morning she\nreturned again, and while the tract was reading, her face was lit up\nwith joy, and peace came into her soul. In a few hours she was able to\nrepeat the alphabet. \u2018And now,\u2019 said she, \u2018if you will only learn me\nhow to put two of them together, and give them a _name_, I can learn\nmyself.\u2019 This was soon done; and as soon as she went home, she taught\nher children all she had learned. In a few months she and her children\ncould read all that was in the primer. We have now a good church here,\nand she and most of her children are members of it. She seldom sees\na tract but with tears of joy she exclaims, \u2018If it had not been for\none of these little tracts, I and my children might have remained in\nignorance and sin.\u2019\u201d\n\nOne of the great difficulties I had to encounter was the large number\nof families that could not read. These I found every day. When I\nwould show my books and urge them to buy, the reply was, \u201c_Oh, none\nof us can\u2019t read._\u201d I soon saw the necessity of planning some means\nto remedy this evil, and began to establish little Sunday-schools in\neach neighborhood. I would hunt up the best reader I could find for a\nteacher, furnish them with a small library of books, give them the best\ndirection I could how to conduct it, and set them to work. Although\nsome of these schools were very superficially conducted, and in many\ncases there was nothing done in them but teaching young and old to\nread, still they had the effect of rousing the mind to the acquisition\nof knowledge, and preparing the way of the Lord. Many of these schools\naccomplished great things, and resulted in the establishing of little\nchurches. Others seemed to fail, except so far as they woke in the\nminds of some a thirst for knowledge.\n\nSome families I could not prevail on to take a book as a gift, for fear\nthere was some trick about it. Clock pedlars had been through some\nportions of the country a while before, sold the cheap clocks at thirty\ndollars apiece, and took notes for the pay, which had been collected\nin many cases by distress-sales. They would tell me how they had been\ntreated, and that they were afraid I should send some one for the pay.\nI often avoided this objection by lending the book, and writing on it,\n\u201cLoaned till I call for it.\u201d\n\nAnother great difficulty we had to encounter with these unlettered\nmasses was their prejudice against education. Almost every day I had to\nmeet this objection: \u201cOh, I don\u2019t want my children learned to read; it\nwill spoil them. I have got along very well without reading, and so can\nthey.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n\nI had now been about ten months in the colporteur work, and seeing the\ngreat necessity for scores of men to engage in it, I thought I could\nraise the salaries, and employ one or two others to carry it on. I\nsoon raised $150 to pay a man for a year, and Providence directed me\nto a good man to do the work. I then succeeded in finding another good\nman, and raising his salary; and in one month, by the Divine blessing,\nI raised and paid over for the support of colportage $750, and these\nefforts were continued till the colporteur work was extended throughout\nthe more destitute regions in all Western Virginia.\n\nI had made an arrangement to visit R---- county, some forty miles\ndistant, and spend a month in colporteur labor. On my way I had to\ncross a river by a ferry-boat. Two travellers crossed with me. When\nwe mounted our horses on the opposite side of the river, one of them\nasked me if I was going on a long journey with such a heavy load on my\nhorse over that mountain country. I told him I had my horse loaded with\nreligious books, and some Bibles, and that I was engaged in supplying\ndestitute regions with the word of life, and would soon lighten my load.\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d said he, \u201care there any families to be found without the Bible?\u201d\nYes, I told him, there were many in all parts of our country. \u201cWell,\u201d\nsaid he, \u201cI don\u2019t believe there is a family in my county without a\nBible.\u201d Said I, \u201cWhat part are you from?\u201d \u201cFrom Green county, Penn.\u201d\n\u201cHow far,\u201d said I, \u201cfrom the town of C----?\u201d \u201cFive miles,\u201d said he.\n\nFour weeks ago, I replied, I was there, and made an address before one\nof the Presbyteries of the Cumberland church, in which I spoke of the\ndestitutions of our country and our mode of supplying them, when the\nRev. Mr. H---- followed me with a speech in which he said \u201che believed\none third of the families in C----, in which we were then assembled,\nwere without the Bible.\u201d Another minister present doubted it. I told\nthem I was there to visit the town, and would begin the next morning.\nA good man volunteered to go with me. We spent three days at the\nwork, and found that out of _one hundred and fifty-seven families,\nfifty-four_ had no Bible.\n\nOn my way to R----, late in the evening I began to inquire for some\nplace where I could spend the night, as the indications seemed to\nbe that a hard night\u2019s lodging was before me. As I inquired at each\nlittle cabin, they told me that \u201cParson W----,\u201d a few miles ahead,\nkept lodgers. As these mountain miles are slowly measured by a tired\nman and horse, I did not reach \u201cParson W----\u2019s\u201d till near nine o\u2019clock\nat night. When I entered his little cabin, he and his wife and\ngranddaughter were at a supper of corn-bread and buttermilk. I asked\nfor lodging, which was granted, and was at once invited to supper. As\nsoon as the parson was done eating, he went and put up my horse.\n\nOn his return, I asked him if he had any pastoral charge. \u201cYes,\u201d said\nhe, \u201cI built a church on my own land close by, and preach there every\nother Sunday.\u201d We were soon engaged in a religious conversation, and\nmy views of truth were soon tested. \u201cWell,\u201d said the old parson, \u201cI\nthought you was a Methodist preacher, but I find I was mistaken; but\nI _guess_ you are a Presbyterian, which is no better.\u201d Finding the old\nman belonged to what was called the _Ironsides_, or rigid Antinomians,\nI thought it quite useless to talk to him.\n\nBefore I could get rid of him he made me tell my business. \u201cWell,\u201d said\nhe, \u201cyou are going about plundering the country. It was the Bible,\nTract, and Missionary Societies that broke up the country in 1837 and\n\u201938.\u201d\n\nAs I was tired, and proposed to go to bed, \u201cWell,\u201d said he, \u201cthere is\na bed in that corner for you.\u201d \u201cAs you are a preacher,\u201d said I, \u201cof\ncourse you have family prayer, and I would prefer waiting to join you\nin it.\u201d \u201cAh,\u201d said he, \u201cevery one does their own praying here.\u201d \u201cIs it\npossible,\u201d said I, \u201cthat you are a preacher, and have no family prayer,\nwhen God has said he will pour out his fury on the families that call\nnot on his name?\u201d \u201cOh,\u201d said he, \u201cyou may pray if you please.\u201d Seeing\nan old family Bible on a shelf, I took it down, and read a part of the\nseventh of Matthew. I commented on the verse, \u201cStrive to enter in at\nthe strait gate,\u201d etc. The moment prayer was over, he said, \u201cI don\u2019t\nbelieve a word you said.\u201d I was soon in bed and asleep, being tired.\n\nWhen I awoke there was a good fire, and the old man sitting beside it.\nI was up in a few minutes. \u201cI am glad you are up,\u201d said he, \u201cas there\nis another point I must discuss with you.\u201d In a few minutes I quoted\nproofs from the Bible too clear to be resisted; when the old woman,\nwho was of huge dimensions, sprang out of bed in her night-dress, and\npresenting herself before me, said, \u201cDon\u2019t talk to that fellow; he\nis a Yankee, and he is setting traps to catch you.\u201d The old man soon\ndisappeared to attend to his still-house and cattle, and the old woman\nand granddaughter occupied the whole front of the fire, making their\ntoilets; the old lady, in her earnest conversation, frequently using a\nlong wooden fire-poker in close proximity to my head.\n\nAs the granddaughter was sitting near me, completing her toilet, I\nspoke to her about her soul, and offered her the Dairyman\u2019s Daughter.\nThis roused the old woman again; and the old man, returning about the\nsame time, forbade her to touch the book. The girl cried bitterly,\nand said it was such a pretty book she did want it, and there was not\na book except the old Bible in the house. The girl\u2019s tears prevailed,\nprovided I would write a receipt in it that it was paid for, which was\ndone.\n\nAs soon as breakfast was over, and my horse ready, I asked for my bill.\n\u201c_One dollar_,\u201d said the old man; \u201cI make it a rule, when any of you\nYankees come this way, to fleece you as well as I can.\u201d This man was\nrich; had a great distillery, and I was credibly informed would take\na bottle of whiskey with him to the church, and at the close of his\nservices tell his people what a fine run of whiskey he had just had,\nand to come and taste it.\n\nAbout a month after, on my return home, I stopped to stay all night\nsome few miles from there, when lo, Parson W---- had stopped to stay\ntoo; but as soon as he saw me, he ordered his horse, and left. I had\ntold about my lodging with him; and as the laws of Virginia at that\ntime imposed a fine of twenty dollars on any one who had no license\ncharging for lodging, some one had told the old man that I was going to\nbring him before the court.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n\nAbout this time an incident of peculiar interest took place. The Rev.\nMr. Q---- had invited me to visit the town of C----, and I had set a\nday to be at his house. Late in the evening of the day appointed, I\narrived in the town; and while driving along the street, looking for\nhis house, I saw him standing on his portico, beckoning me to him.\n\nAs soon as I had alighted from my buggy, he gave me a cordial shake\nof the hand, and said, \u201cYou have come just in time to see and hear\none of the greatest dignitaries in the state of Virginia.\u201d I observed\nthat I was perhaps a little different from many others; that I would\nnot go a square to see a great man, unless he was a _great good man_.\n\u201cWell,\u201d said he, \u201che ought to be a good man; he\u2019s the bishop of the\nRoman-catholic church for this state; and as he is the first live\nbishop of the _Holy Catholic_ church who has ever been here, he is\nattracting a great deal of attention. He preached in the court-house\nthis morning, and it was crowded; and he is going to preach here for\nseveral days and nights. He has one or two priests with him, and they\nhave come to plant a church here. Will you go and hear him?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d\nsaid I; \u201cif you go, I will go with you.\u201d\n\nAs soon as tea was over, we went to the court-house, and it was\ncrowded. In a little time the bishop arose, and without any\nintroductory services, gave out his text: \u201cThou art Peter, and upon\nthis rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not\nprevail against it.\u201d He went on to define \u201cthe gates of hell\u201d as the\nvarious Protestant sects, and wound up by trying to prove that Peter\nwas the first pope, and got the keys, and that the successors of Peter\nstill held the keys, and no one could enter heaven without going\nthrough the Catholic church. His sermon was delivered with earnestness\nand eloquence, and made a deep impression, as very few of all present\nwere well informed on those matters.\n\nHe made much for his cause out of the denominational strifes with which\nthat region had been afflicted, and I heard many say \u201cAmen\u201d to some of\nhis thrusts. He announced that he would preach the next morning from\nthe text, \u201cSearch the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal\nlife, and they are they which testify of me.\u201d\n\nWe returned to brother Q----\u2019s, and sat to a late hour consulting what\nwe had better do. Here was a man of Jesuitical cunning, misrepresenting\nProtestantism before a community ill qualified to form correct\nopinions. I urged Mr. Q---- to contradict some of his false statements;\nand after praying over the matter, we retired.\n\nThe next morning, at the appointed hour, the house was crowded, though\nthere were not one dozen Roman-catholics in the community. Owing to the\ncrowd, Mr. Q---- and I got separated. I lost sight of him, and for want\nof a seat elsewhere, got up into a window. In a little while the bishop\nannounced the text, \u201cSearch the scriptures,\u201d and also announced that he\nwould preach at night from the text, \u201cThese were more noble than those\nin Thessalonica, in that they searched the scriptures daily.\u201d\n\nThe ground taken in this sermon was, that searching the scriptures by\nthe common people had led to all the religious heresies in the world,\nand had raised up more sects than there were chapters in the Bible.\nThat there was but one true church, and out of all only one could be\nright. That Protestants called Luther a great reformer, and he was told\nthere were no Lutherans in that town; consequently, if Luther was right\nthey were all wrong; and if they were right, Luther was wrong, and\ncould not be a great reformer.\n\nHe said the Catholic church could not be wrong; that she was\ninfallible; she was \u201cthe pillar and ground of the truth.\u201d He pictured\nthe quarrels among Protestants in the most hideous manner, and\ndescribed a heaven full of such uncongenial characters, till the\npicture was ridiculous; and I saw that many present were delighted with\nit.\n\nAt the close of his sermon, or tirade against the Protestant religion,\nhe sat down. I rose up in the window, much excited, to see if the Rev.\nMr. Q---- would not call him to an account, when I was much gratified\nto see the meek and gentle form of Mr. Q---- slowly rising about the\nmiddle of the house. Said he:\n\n\u201cBishop, you said in your sermon last night that there were now two\nhundred millions of faithful Catholic children in the world, against\nwhich the gates of hell could not prevail. Will you be kind enough to\ntell us where they are?\u201d\n\nThe bishop rose with a half-courteous and half-disdainful smile, and\nsaid, \u201cYou need not ask me such a question as that; the regions they\noccupy are all marked on your own Protestant geographies; your little\nboys in the streets can point you to them, where they have been marked\nin black lines,\u201d and took his seat.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Mr. Q----, \u201cI would prefer you would name the countries to\nwhich they belong.\u201d\n\nHe rose again with a most indignant frown. Said he, \u201cI suppose it would\nbe rather humbling to one who calls himself a preacher to go to the\nlittle boys for information, so I will name some, at least, of the\ncountries that are Catholic: France, Austria, most of Germany, Hungary,\nand Poland; and we shall soon have England, as part of the church there\nis only separated from us now by name; and Spain and Mexico are ours\nentirely;\u201d and he took his seat again.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Mr. Q----, \u201cdo you think we should gain any thing as a\nnation by changing our Protestant religion for that of Mexico and\nSpain?\u201d and he took his seat.\n\nThe bishop arose still more indignant in manner, and said, \u201cI really\ncannot understand what you mean, sir, unless you refer to your boasted\nliberties in this country; but if that is what you mean, sir, I can\ntell you I would rather go to heaven from Mexico or Spain, than to hell\nfrom the midst of all your boasted liberties.\u201d\n\nBy this time the audience had become intensely interested. Said I,\n\u201cMr. Bishop, I want to ask you a few questions by way of gaining\ninformation. If I understood you right last night, you said your church\nwas infallible; that it never had erred, and never could err.\u201d\n\nHe replied very indignantly, \u201cI said, sir, that the Catholic church\nnever had erred, and never could err.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, sir,\u201d said I, \u201cit was once right to put Protestants to death for\ntheir religion, and of course it is still right.\u201d\n\nHe replied, \u201cThat is a Protestant falsehood, sir; the church never put\nany one to death.\u201d\n\nSaid I, \u201cSir, I can prove what I say by the faithful records of\nhistory.\u201d\n\n\u201cProtestant authority--we could not admit such testimony, sir.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said I, \u201cwhether you admit it or not, the blood of martyred\nmillions is crying for vengeance, and the day of divine recompense will\nerelong come.\u201d\n\nAfter a number of questions from Mr. Q---- and myself of similar\nimport, Mr. Q---- said, \u201cThe general opinion is that General Washington\nand General Jackson died good men and went to heaven. What is your\nopinion, bishop?\u201d\n\nHe replied contemptuously, \u201cWhy, sir, we don\u2019t pretend to know whether\nthey are in heaven or not; those are the secret things that belong to\nGod.\u201d\n\n\u201cStop, bishop,\u201d said I, \u201cyou said last night that you held the keys\nof the kingdom of heaven in your church, and that to you it was\ngiven to open and shut the door; and I now demand of you as one of\nthese door-keepers, to tell us whether you have let in the immortal\nWashington or not.\u201d\n\nIn a few moments the call was coming from every part of the house,\n\u201cTell us whether you have let Washington into heaven or not.\u201d\n\nThe bishop tore his surplice off in a rage, and put out of the house\nwith one or two priests after him--the crowd following him, and calling\nout, \u201cCome back and answer the question about our beloved Washington.\u201d\nBut he went on, ordered his horse, pronounced a curse on the place,\nclosed his meetings, and left the town. The excitement of the crowd was\nmost intense.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n\nI had now been in my second year of labor for some months, during which\nI had made some long journeys, and seen some hard service.\n\nI made an arrangement with Mr. M----, a very intelligent gentleman whom\nI had employed a few months before as a colporteur, to accompany me.\nThe whole tour required us to travel near four hundred miles. More than\ntwo thirds of the way the country was wild and romantic, the population\nsparse and rude. Few thought it safe to go unarmed.\n\nOn the day set I met Mr. M---- at C----, where he resided. To my\nsurprise he had provided a pistol for each of us. With some persuasion\nI took one, but soon got it to the bottom of my saddle-bags.\n\nThe first day we reached W----, where we found a young preacher who\nhad been waiting there some days for an escort over the same route,\nfearing to travel the road alone. We all started in company early the\nnext morning, with the understanding that we had to reach G----, a\nnew county-town thirty miles distant, or lodge in the woods. Nothing\nspecial occurred that day, except that an enormous rattlesnake crossed\nthe road before us and frightened our horses. We called at the door of\nall the cabins we saw, and preached Christ to the people, and gave them\nbooks. We reached G---- late in the evening, and found a pious lawyer\nwho had just moved there, and owned the only Bible in the place. There\nwere not a dozen families in it. By breakfast-time the next morning we\nhad supplied him with a neat Sunday-school library, which he used to\ngreat advantage.\n\nWe were told we must ride thirty-five miles the next day, over mountain\npaths, to reach a place of lodging--that there was one house at thirty\nmiles, but by all means to avoid that house. The reasons I cannot give;\nnor an account of the dinner we _tried to eat_ that day.\n\nAs the weather was excessively hot, we left G---- by six in the\nmorning. We soon overtook a young man who was going some miles our\nway, and agreed to be our guide as far as we went together. We found\nhim totally ignorant of sin, or a future state. He did not know whether\nhe had ever seen a Bible or not. Though he had heard men preach, and\nseen them with a book in their hand, he could not tell what book it\nwas. He told us his father was a county surveyor, and, he thought, a\nmember of the church. I gave him a Testament and some tracts, which he\nlooked at with amazement.\n\nAbout ten o\u2019clock we came to a number of men at work cutting timber out\nof the road, that had been blown down by a storm. On inquiry, we found\neleven families represented, only one of which had a Bible. One or two\nothers had lost their Bibles by having their cabins burnt. We supplied\nall with books, and left one or two reading for all the rest.\n\nThe want of dinner and the excessive heat of the sun brought on me sick\nheadache, and by four or five o\u2019clock I could scarcely sit on my horse.\nI told my companions it would be impossible for me to reach the house\nwe were directed to, and let the consequence be what it would, I should\nbe compelled either to lie out, or lodge in the vile den of which we\nhad been warned. The brethren seemed much alarmed, but said they would\nnot leave me. Several times I had to alight, to prevent falling from my\nhorse. Being thus detained, we only reached this dreaded place about\nsunset.\n\nThere was a very large grazing farm, and a large double log-cabin about\nthe centre, with every appearance of plenty. As we drew near the house\nwe saw quite a number of men at work haying in a large meadow. Every\none seemed to be drunk. Such swearing and hallooing I had never heard.\nOur prospects looked gloomy.\n\nWe rode up to the door, and found the landlord under the same influence\nas those in the field. When we asked for lodging he seemed glad to have\ncustomers, and soon had our horses cared for.\n\nIn a little time all the drunken rabble on the place were gathered to\nthe house, but such a set of men I have never seen before or since.\nSupper was soon ready, and all invited in. The food was very rough, but\nabundant. I was too sick to partake of it.\n\nAfter supper I told the landlord that I was very sick, and must go to\nbed; but as we were all religious men, and accustomed to pray in our\nfamilies night and morning, if he was willing, we would have prayers.\nThe very announcement produced silence in a moment, as if some strange\nthing was about to happen. I requested him to bring all into the house\nthat would come, and in a few minutes the house was well filled. I\ncalled on one of the brethren to read and pray; and soon after I was in\nbed, unconscious of all around me till morning, when I awoke as well as\nusual.\n\nAs soon as we were dressed I called on the old man to get our horses.\n\u201cOh no, you must stay for breakfast, and pray again,\u201d said he. \u201cWell,\u201d\nsaid I, \u201cif you will bring all in to prayers now, we will attend to\nworship with pleasure.\u201d In a little time the whole household was\npresent. I read a portion of Scripture, and made the most earnest\nexhortation I could possibly do, and prayed. A more solemn audience I\nnever addressed.\n\nAs soon as breakfast was over, our horses were ready, when I asked the\nold man for our bill. \u201cNot one cent, sir,\u201d said he; \u201cyou have _prayed\nplenty_ to pay for every thing you got. Every time you come this way\nstop and get all you want, and pray, and it sha\u2019n\u2019t cost you a cent.\u201d\nWe supplied all present with a book or tract, and left well pleased on\nthe whole with our visit.\n\nDuring the day we called at all the cabins on our way. At one I found\na man who told me he was seventy years old, had seldom heard a sermon,\nbut that he had felt much concern about where he would be _in the next\nworld, if there was one_. He said he never had a Bible, but would like\nto get one very much. I gave him a Testament and tracts. He seemed very\nthankful, and listened with great attention to all I had time to say.\n\nAt another house the woman told me they had a Bible, and plenty of\nreligious books. I asked to see what kind of books they were. When she\npresented the stock, it consisted of an old copy of the history of\nGeorge Washington. She believed it to be a Bible, as no one about the\nhouse knew a letter.\n\nThe same day we met a very aged man riding on a poor little pony, with\na small bag of meal under him. I handed him some tracts, for which he\nwas very thankful, when the following dialogue occurred.\n\n\u201cHave you any preaching in this mountain country?\u201d \u201cSometimes we have.\u201d\n\u201cAre you a professor of religion?\u201d \u201cYes, I have been a member of the\nchurch forty years.\u201d \u201cHow are you supplied with religious books?\u201d\n\u201cWell, we _haven\u2019t got none_ but two or three spelling-books that I\nsent for many years ago to teach my children how to read.\u201d \u201cHave you no\nBible in your house?\u201d \u201cNo, I never had one. I have been trying to get a\nTestament for some time at the store; but it costs seventy-five cents,\nand I am not able to raise the money.\u201d This was the regular price of a\nsmall Testament in that region at that time, and seldom to be got even\nat that price.\n\nSaid I, \u201cIs it not hard to live the life of a Christian without the\nBible?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said he, \u201cbut I can\u2019t help it; for even if I was able to buy\none, it could not be got nearer than C----, which is forty miles\ndistant. I never expect to be rich enough to buy a whole Bible.\u201d\n\nMy soul was stirred within me, and I drew out my pocket Bible, a fine\ncopy which I had received as a present, and gave it to him. He looked\nfor a moment at me with surprise, when the tears gushed from his eyes,\nand he exclaimed, \u201cI am now rich and happy.\u201d This man was seventy-five\nyears old, and trembling on the brink of the grave. This is a true\npicture of many cases found by colporteurs. I never felt so well paid\nor so happy as when I gave that man my only Bible.\n\nDuring this whole tour of five weeks\u2019 travel, many a scene similar to\nthose described occurred; while, on the other hand, I visited villages\nand towns where I found fine churches and able ministers, with highly\ncultivated pious congregations. In this tour I raised over $500 in\ndonations, and employed three excellent colporteurs, one of whom\nlabored nine years. I met the most cordial co\u00f6peration from Christians\nand philanthropists everywhere I went. All said, \u201cThis is just what we\nneed in this sparsely populated mountain country.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\n\nWhile on this tour I visited the town of L----, near the centre of\nWestern Virginia, and made arrangements to remove there in a few weeks.\nThere are few towns of the size which I have ever visited where I have\nmet with a more noble people. There was wealth, intelligence, and\nthe highest degree of refinement. This town became the centre of my\noperations for three years.\n\nThe distance we had to go in moving there was about one hundred and\nfifty miles, up and down mountains most of the way, with scarce any\nthing like a road in many places: a family of five, two of them\nchildren, in a one-horse carriage, with the necessary equipage for such\na journey.\n\nOn the afternoon of the third day we began to ascend the Cheat\nmountain, which required nine miles travelling to reach its summit,\nand eight miles down the other side to its base, with only one house\nall the way, and that on the top of the mountain, called at that time\n\u201cthe mountain house of entertainment.\u201d It was a large rude log-house,\nwithout comfort. By the time we reached the top of it I found my horse\nvery much fatigued, and the sun about setting. We concluded we could\nnot descend the mountain that night with safety, as there was no moon,\nand the whole way was through a dense pine forest.\n\nWhen we came to this house on the very top of the mountain, we found a\nnumber of covered wagons that belonged to families moving westward, and\na crowd of people of all colors about the house. I asked for lodging.\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the landlord, \u201clodging plenty!\u201d My family went into the\nhouse, and I went to see my horse taken care of. On my return I found\nthem without any place to sit down. After looking through the house,\nand finding but two or three apartments, and such a crowd of people, I\nasked the landlord how he would lodge us all. \u201cOh,\u201d said he, \u201cyou can\nlie down a few at a time, and soon as you get asleep I can stand you up\nagainst the wall.\u201d\n\nThough it was in September, and very warm in the valleys, yet it\nwas cold on the top of this mountain, and we were all shivering. I\nasked the landlord, who by this time was playing the violin for our\nentertainment, to make us a little fire. But there was neither wood nor\nsupper. The females were stowed away in one room for the night, and the\nrest lay on the floor or sat by turns till the morning came.\n\nAs we had no toilet to make in the morning, we were on the way down the\nmountain at an early hour. The first house we reached was a log-house,\nwhere they kept entertainment. All was neat and clean. We called for\nbreakfast; and while it was preparing, we had our morning devotions,\nwhich had been noticed by the landlady. When we came to our excellent\nbreakfast, she asked me to christen her children, of which she had\nquite a number. I told her I was not a preacher, and had no authority\nto administer ordinances. She insisted most earnestly that I must do\nit; that no one had ever prayed there before, and she did not see any\nreason why any praying man could not christen children; that they\nhad been living there for years, and never heard a sermon or seen a\npreacher as they knew of; and if I would only do it, they would not\ncharge me one cent for breakfast. After preaching them the best sermon\nI could, and giving a good supply of little books, we went on our way.\nIn two more days we reached L----, our place of destination, in safety,\nand in a few hours had a house rented and were living in it.\n\nFor three years I travelled almost constantly; sometimes in a buggy,\nbut mostly on horseback, making from six to eight thousand miles each\nyear, distributing tracts and books in cabins and mansions, collecting\nmoney, and employing men, till I had the cooperation of _over fifty\ncolporteurs_. The many interesting facts and incidents which occurred\nduring these years would fill a large volume. A very few of them I\nshall attempt to relate.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA Mr. W----, whom we had employed for some years, a man of much more\nthan ordinary piety and qualifications for the work, while visiting in\nthe mountains, came to a poor cabin occupied by a man, his wife, and an\nonly son. They were very poor. The father made his living by grubbing,\nand took the boy with him to pick the brush, he being at this time\nabout sixteen years old. They carried home their wages on their backs,\nmostly in some kind of food. The mother made what she earned by her\nspinning-wheel; and while at that, had taught her son to read the\nTestament, though she was not religious. Mr. W----, after talking and\npraying with them, gave this boy a copy of Baxter\u2019s Call, which was the\nmeans of his conversion. Before he could join the church, the neighbors\naided in getting him a suit of clothes.\n\nHe immediately set about to improve himself in every possible way.\nThere was no school near; and if there had been, he had no means to go.\nHis first efforts in learning to write were, by copying the letters\nout of a book with his finger in the snow. He borrowed and read all\nthe books he could get, and attended a little church where there was\npreaching once each month.\n\nAbout two years afterwards I received a letter by some private way from\nthis same boy, D. W. S----. On opening it, I made out its contents with\nsome difficulty. It was an application to become a colporteur. In the\nletter he referred me to the Rev. Mr. R----, who lived in town. I went\nto him, showed him the letter, and asked him if he knew the writer. He\nlaughed: \u201cYes, very well; I received him into the church. D---- is a\ngood boy, but he is without education, and knows nothing of the world;\nhe has never been ten miles from home in his life.\u201d\n\nI wrote the young man a kind letter, saying I hoped he would make a\ncolporteur some day, and advised him to go to school a while.\n\nThe next thing I heard from him was a rap at my door. When I opened the\ndoor, an awkward-looking youth near six feet high stood before me, with\nthe same suit of clothes on him he had got over two years before. The\npants were several inches too short, and the coat-sleeves as deficient;\nindeed, the coat was little more than a big patch on his back. Said he,\n\u201cI am the _fellow_ that wrote you a letter about wanting to _colport_,\nand I have come to see about it.\u201d I invited him into the house. He was\nall in a tremor of excitement. When I opened the parlor door he looked\nin with amazement, and in walking to a seat avoided stepping on the\nwhite spots in the carpet, which was the first one he ever saw. He was\nso embarrassed he could scarcely speak.\n\nAfter talking a little while about crops, etc., he became composed.\nHe then told me his desires to do good, and all about his conversion,\nwhich was entirely satisfactory. As it was late in the evening, I\ninvited him to stay for the night; and by the time we got his poor\nold pony of a horse, not worth five dollars, put away, tea was ready.\nWhen he sat down he looked confused. I had much conversation with him\nthat evening. At length I invited him up stairs to bed. On the way up\nhe held by the railing to avoid treading on the narrow carpet in the\ncentre.\n\nIn the morning he was up whistling psalm tunes bright and early. As\nsoon as I was dressed I called him and told him I had reflected over\nthe matter very carefully, and had come to the conclusion that his\nwant of education and knowledge of the world would not justify me in\nemploying him.\n\nI saw his countenance change in a moment and the tears start in his\neyes. \u201cOh,\u201d said he, \u201c_I do want you to give me work, for I do feel\nthat all I want to live for is to work for Christ._\u201d\n\nI cannot describe my feelings as he uttered these words. Here was a\ndepth of devotion beyond any thing I had met. After some minutes\u2019\nsilence I said to him, \u201cThere is a region of country on the head-waters\nof the Elk river where there never has been any preaching; if you will\ngo there a month without any commission, I will see you are paid.\u201d\n\nHis countenance was changed in a moment, and lit up with joy. In less\nthan two hours I had a pair of colporteur\u2019s saddle-bags filled with\nbooks and tracts, and he was on his journey to that destitute region,\nsome forty miles distant. Soon after, some stock raisers who had been\nin that region buying cattle, told me they heard that the Tract Society\nhad a great man out there; that the people were wonderfully pleased\nwith him; that he was giving them books, and teaching them to read them.\n\nAt the end of the month he returned, all his stock had passed into the\nhands of the people, and he gave me a glowing account of the people\u2019s\nwants and his success. He said it would take another month to get over\nthat region, and he wanted to go back. After aiding him to dispense\nwith his boy clothes, I started him with another load of books,\ncautioning him to avoid showing off his new suit as much as possible.\n\nAnother month\u2019s work was done with great success, when he returned\nalmost a new boy in his whole appearance. He had gained confidence by\nbeing constantly among people that did not know as much as he did.\n\nI then had him commissioned for P---- county, a very mountainous\nregion, and very destitute of the means of moral improvement. In a few\nmonths he had visited every family in the county. In many families the\nbare mention of his name will start tears in the eyes of the people,\nand the tracts that he distributed have been sewed together and covered\nwith deerskin as remembrances of the man that left them.\n\nOften through the day when he would come in sight of a cabin, he would\nalight from his horse and kneel in the woods and plead with God for\nsuccess in his visit.\n\nHe next visited the counties of M---- and R----, two large counties,\nwith remarkable success. By this time he became a fine-looking young\nman, and by his constant application to reading the books as he rode\nalong, he had become an intelligent, spiritual Christian.\n\nWe then sent him to the large county of P----, where there was in\nportions of it a high degree of intelligence and refinement.\n\nIn a few months he was licensed to preach the gospel. He married a lady\nof high moral worth, and settled in the county of H---- over four weak\nchurches. In two and a half years he received over two hundred persons\ninto the church on profession of their faith; then took typhoid fever,\nwith which he soon died in the triumphs of a living faith.\n\nSince his death I have met with five young men, who are now ministers\nof the gospel, who had been led to Christ by his labors, all of whom\nspeak of him as an extraordinary man in point of piety and usefulness.\n\nHere was a boy that in all probability would have lived and died in\nignorance and sin if he had not been found by a colporteur. He has\noften put his hand on my shoulder, and said with tears in his eyes,\n\u201cBrother C----, if it had not been for the Tract Society, I should have\nbeen a poor grubber to-day, on the way to death and ruin.\u201d\n\nThe great secret of his success was his untiring zeal and industry.\nHe read and studied on his saddle; the shades of the forest were his\ncloset in the summer, and the cleft of some mountain rock in the\nwinter. His congregations were mostly ignorant families, and his\nrostrum a three-legged stool in the corner. All his talents were put to\nuse in the Lord\u2019s work, and no doubt he has his reward. Reader, go thou\nand do likewise, and receive a like gracious reward.\n\nOn a Saturday evening while on my way to meet a Sabbath appointment,\nwhile descending a mountain, I met a man on his way home from mill,\nand offered him some tracts. \u201cOh,\u201d said he, \u201cthey are of no use to me,\nfor I can\u2019t read, and I have no one about me that can.\u201d I asked him\nif he had a family. \u201cYes, I have a wife and seven children.\u201d \u201cIt is a\ngreat sin,\u201d said I, \u201cfor you to raise a family in such ignorance.\u201d\n\u201cOh,\u201d said he, \u201cthere is so much harm in books, they are better without\nthem.\u201d I handed him two or three tracts, and told him to get some one\nto read them to him. One of them was, Fifty Reasons for Attending\nPublic Worship. He took them, and when he got home showed them to\nhis wife. \u201cOh,\u201d said she, \u201cwe will be ruined now. I\u2019ll bet that is a\nwarrant that Middleton has got the sheriff to serve on you, and we will\nlose our land.\u201d They spent a sleepless night, and early next morning\nthey went to the nearest neighbor and told him they had got into sad\ntrouble about their land; that Middleton had served a warrant on them,\nand here it was.\n\nThe tracts were presented to a man who was a class-leader in the\nMethodist church, and was my informer near a year after this\noccurrence. He took the first one, \u201cFifty Reasons for Attending\nPublic Worship.\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d said he, \u201cthis is a warrant, but not sent\nby Middleton, but from the court of heaven. God has sent you this,\nas you never go to church; and now you see how you have exposed your\nignorance by not being able to read, not knowing the difference between\na sheriff\u2019s writ and a religious tract; and I do hope you will now\nattend church, and have your children taught to read.\u201d \u201cNow,\u201d said\nmy informer, \u201cthis man and his wife are both members of the church,\nand they are sending their children to school as the result of the\ninfluence of those tracts.\u201d\n\nOn one occasion I left home by a stage-coach before daylight on a long\njourney. We stopped after ten miles to take other passengers. As usual,\nthe way-bill was taken into the stage-office to enter their names. A\nman was in the office who had travelled near one hundred miles to see\nme at L----. Seeing my name on the way-bill, he asked if that was the\nman that was the _tract_ agent. About that time I stepped in to warm\nmyself and distribute tracts, when some one acquainted with me told him\nI was the agent. He then told me how far he had come to see me, and\nhow near he was to miss me, all the time interlarding his conversation\nwith oaths, to the great amazement of all present who knew the nature\nof my work. When he was through, I told him I would tell him the nature\nof the work in a few words: that he must get a good horse and a large\npair of saddle-bags, fill them with books, and ride over these rugged\nmountains, and live on hard fare. With an awful oath he said he could\nstand all that with any fellow about the diggins. In addition to that,\nsaid I, you must read the Bible, and pray at every house. I never saw\na man so utterly confounded, while those present were convulsed with\nlaughter. I gave him a few tracts, and talked to him till he wept like\na child. Although I never heard of the man again, I have hope that the\nconversation was not in vain.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n\nAbout this time I held a Colporteur Convention in C----, in which\na number of colporteurs were present. The meeting was one of deep\ninterest. Many facts were brought out in relation to the wants of that\nregion, and the good resulting from the work, that were of the most\ncheering character.\n\nDuring the three days of our meetings, an old man was present who\nwas but little known to any that were there. When about to close the\nconvention, I said that if any one present wished to give us a word of\nadvice or exhortation we should be glad to hear it, when this old man\nrose, trembling with diffidence, and said:\n\n\u201cAs soon as I heard of this meeting I made up my mind to attend it; and\nnow I want to tell you what this Society has done for me. My name is\nC----. Ten years ago I was considered the wickedest man in this county.\nI was a profane drunkard. One day while at S----, about four miles\nabove this place, old Mr. R----, who was always distributing tracts,\nhanded me one with the word _Eternity_ in large letters at the head of\nit. I was the worse for liquor at the time, and on my horse to go home,\nwhich was about fifteen miles distant. On my way I took the tract out\nof my hat to read it. My attention got fixed on the word _Eternity_,\nand I became alarmed about my state as a sinner. By the time I got home\nI was nearly sober. I read and reread the tract till I had it committed\nto memory. For near two weeks I had no rest. At last my distress became\nso great that I did not want to live. One day I was tempted to go away\nto the woods and destroy myself. While there I thought of praying, for\nthe first time, and fell down on my knees and cried, \u2018God be merciful\nto me a sinner.\u2019 In a moment I felt relief, and went home with a joyful\nheart, and told my family all about the matter. I read the tract to\nthem, and began to pray with and for them. In six months I had a little\nchurch built on my land, and a missionary there to preach once each\nmonth, and myself, wife, and six of my children and eight servants were\nmembers of it; and here is five dollars, all the money I have in the\nworld, to aid in giving good books to others.\u201d All present were bathed\nin tears at this recital.\n\nAs soon as he was seated, another man arose and said \u201che supposed\nall present had heard of Father B----, who died a few weeks ago,\nand many, no doubt, remember when he was a terror in the community.\nHe had remarkable bodily powers, and could whip any man in all the\ncountry round. When the county of L---- was laid off, there was a\nviolent contest about where to build the court-house; and the two\nparties agreed that B---- and another bully should decide the matter\nby a fist-fight, and B---- gained the site where that court-house now\nstands. He was often brought up at the court for assault and battery,\nand had crippled some men for life. Judge S---- on one occasion, when\npassing sentence on him, said, \u2018B----, you have become too bad a man to\nlive, and if ever you come before me again convicted of crime, I will\nmake you suffer for it most severely. If you would improve the mind God\nhas given you, you might be a blessing to the world; but now you are\na disgrace. Here is a tract, \u2018The Fool\u2019s Pence;\u2019 take and read it, and\nmay God lead you by it to be a better man.\u2019 That tract was the means of\nhis conversion, and for the last fifteen years of his life he was one\nof the most successful preachers in South-western Virginia.\u201d\n\nAnother fact was brought out at this meeting by the Rev. Mr. W----,\nwho labored for some time as a colporteur in the county of W----. He\nentered a large settlement where there never had been any preaching,\nschools, or distribution of books. The Sabbath was the special day for\nfrolicking and dissipation. In the house where he lodged on Saturday\nnight, the family were busy preparing to go to a shooting-match the\nnext morning. All he could say had no effect on them. After praying\nGod to guide him in his duty, he determined to go with them. When they\ncame to the place, a large collection of all classes were present, with\na great number of articles to gamble for in different ways. He told\nthem, as it was the Lord\u2019s day, he would unite with them in prayer\nfor God\u2019s blessing. He prayed earnestly, and then told them that if\nthey would give him their attention he would preach to them. They\nseemed confounded at this remark, and all remained silent as death. He\nannounced his text, and preached with unusual liberty. The attention\nwas solemn, and they looked at one another with amazement. He then\ndistributed among them his remaining stock of books and tracts, and as\nhe was very unwell, went home. Soon after the news spread that some\npeople in that region were concerned about their souls. A preacher\nvisited them, and soon had a good congregation gathered, and over\ntwenty converts. Sunday frolicking was abandoned, and many were led to\nobserve the Lord\u2019s day.\n\nThe same man stated another fact, which occurred in J---- county.\nWhile visiting in one of those sparsely populated regions, he came\nto a very large farm. He found the family to consist of the father,\nmother, and twelve children, the youngest about eight years old. The\nman was wealthy in land and stock, but to his surprise no one knew a\nletter in a book. After talking to them about their relations to God\nand eternity, he asked the father why he did not have his children\ntaught to read. The old objection was raised at once, that they learned\nenough of _bad_ without books; that he had got along very well without\nreading, and so could his children.\n\nHe then began to read to them, showed them the pictures in the Alphabet\nof Animals, and read them some account of them. Several of the children\nsaid, \u201cOh, I wish I could read.\u201d He then gave them one or two books and\nsome tracts. A few months after he was coming back the same way, and\ncalled to pay another visit. \u201cWell,\u201d said the old man, \u201cyou have give\nme a _purty lot of trouble by leaving them books here_. I had no peace\ntill I got a man to come and _larn_ them to read them.\u201d So sure enough\nthe teacher was there, and now they bought more books freely.\n\nIn travelling through a wild mountain region, where I was a total\nstranger, I came to a small village of about a dozen houses, with a\nlittle store and tavern. Before I reached it, I heard men hallooing in\nthe most boisterous manner. When I drove up weary to the public-house,\nI was surrounded with such a set of savage-looking men as I never had\nseen before, and all intoxicated. Every man had on a hunting-shirt,\nwith a belt round him, to which hung a long butcher-knife. I felt\nafraid of the men, I must confess, and would have been glad to have\nbeen elsewhere, especially as my buggy and trunk seemed to attract\nrather too much attention.\n\nAfter I had got food for myself and horse, and laid round some tracts\nas quietly as possible, I started, hoping to reach a point near twenty\nmiles distant that night. Some part of the way I was told the road was\nvery good, but mostly rough and mountainous.\n\nAs soon as I was out of sight, I drove rapidly, and made the first five\nmiles in an hour, when I began to breathe easier.\n\nBut all at once I heard the most unearthly yelling behind me that had\never greeted my ears. My horse was frightened, and tried to run off. In\na few moments I heard the clatter of horses\u2019 feet, and concluded all\nwas over with me. In a moment I was surrounded with some eight or ten\nof the most desperate looking men, and told to stop; that they wanted\nto know what I was loaded with. I told them I was loaded with good\nreligious books, which I was distributing among people that had none.\nI was then ordered to give them all up to them, and they would scatter\nthem on the other side of the mountain, for there were no books over\nthere. I told them I knew they were too generous to take all that I had.\n\nI then told them to listen to me, and I would tell them what the books\ntaught. So I began and preached them the most earnest sermon that I\never preached. One of them said, \u201cGive me your hand, sir, for I never\nhad a preacher by the hand in my life.\u201d I held his hand firmly, and\npreached on, although the muzzle of his gun was frequently in very\ndangerous proximity to my person.\n\nIt was evident they began to feel uneasy under my wayside sermon, and\nfor fear they would leave me without tracts, I began the distribution,\nand gave each one a number of the most suitable I could find. They\ninvited me to come over the mountains and preach, and I would get\nplenty to come and hear me. Some of those tracts were found more than\na year after by one of our colporteurs, carefully preserved and highly\nprized.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\n\nAnother case that seemed more threatening than the last mentioned,\noccurred soon after in the county of G----. I was on my way to meet a\nSabbath appointment. About two o\u2019clock I came to a river which was much\nswollen by the late rains. The man who kept the ferry-boat lived on the\nopposite side of the river, where some four or five men were pitching\nquoits and making a great noise. I called a number of times before they\neven condescended to answer me; and when they did answer, it was with\ncurses, telling me they would come when they were ready. I had then\nsixteen miles to go to B----, the place where I expected to lodge. They\nkept me waiting two hours before they came with the boat, consequently\nit was late when I got over. They were drunk and very profane, charged\nme four prices, and cursed me for troubling them. I gave them some\ntracts, and the best advice I could.\n\nSoon after I met two women: one seemed to be about thirty, and the\nother sixty years old. I offered them some tracts, which they at first\ndeclined, for fear I might be the sheriff. Neither knew a letter, or\ncould tell who was the Saviour of sinners.\n\nSoon after I passed them a terrible rain came on, and the roads were\nso deep my horse could scarcely draw my buggy. I saw night would soon\novertake me, and the prospect of lodging looked unfavorable. I stopped\nat a cabin by the roadside to inquire the way, and leave some tracts.\nA man came out who looked as if he was ready for any crime, and came\nright up to my buggy, and began to look in with a scrutinizing eye. He\neither could not or would not give me any satisfaction about the road.\nAfter an earnest exhortation about his soul, I gave him Baxter\u2019s Call.\nAll the conduct of the man was of a very suspicious character.\n\nIt was now late, and raining hard, and in a little time would be very\ndark. I drove on as fast as possible, until it began to get quite dark,\nwhen I met a man on the road walking; whether he was a white man or\nnot, I could not tell. I stopped him to inquire if there was any place\nnear where I could lodge. He immediately began to examine the inside of\nmy buggy as fully as the darkness would permit. He told me there was a\nman on the other bank of the creek, about half a mile ahead of me, who\nkept lodgers, and that it was a good place to stop. I handed him a book\nand thanked him, and drove on, he following a short distance, asking me\nquestions which were not calculated to allay my anxiety.\n\nI soon reached the creek, which seemed to be very high and rapid, and\nit was so dark I could see no object on the other side of it. The road\nentered by a narrow ravine, and there was no way to back out. I lifted\nmy heart to God for protection, and drove in. In a moment the water was\nup in my buggy, but thanks to God, I got through safely, and in a few\nmoments my horse was standing by the door of a miserable cabin.\n\nI called, and a man came out with a torch of pine-knots in his hand. He\nwas both dirty and ragged. I asked him where the man lived that kept\nlodgers. \u201cOh,\u201d said he, \u201cI am the man that keeps tavern here.\u201d My\nprospects were bad, but I could get no further. I asked him to put up\nmy tired horse and feed him. He had no stable but a rail-pen, no feed\nbut some sheaves of green wheat. He took me to another cabin about\nfifty yards distant, that was as dark as a dungeon, except so far as\nhis torch gave us light. Although it was warm, I requested him to make\nme a fire, which he did with reluctance.\n\nAfter some time I was invited to the first cabin to supper. The man and\nhis wife and children, as well as the supper, were all dirty in the\nextreme. I attempted to eat, but in vain. As soon as the man finished\nhis meal, we returned to the other cabin, where I conversed with him.\nHe was a total stranger to the simplest truths of the Bible.\n\nI asked him if he knew any thing of the celebrated Lucas family of that\ncounty. \u201cOh yes,\u201d said he, \u201cthey live all round here. Did you not meet\na man as you came along to-night about the top of the hill over the\ncreek?\u201d I said yes. \u201cWell, that was one of them, and I wonder they let\nyou pass so late in the evening. That one, and the one that lived in\nthe house you last passed were the two implicated in killing the man\nfor which one of their uncles was hung at Giles court-house, and if\nI had given in my testimony, they would have been hung too; and I am\nafraid they will kill me, because I know all about it.\u201d\n\nBy this time I was considerably alarmed. The conclusion I came\nto was that they were all linked together, and that I was in the\nslaughter-house.\n\nI then inquired all about old Randal Lucas, who was the father of two\nthat had been hung, and some others that were in prison, and was the\ngrandfather of the two he had just been telling me about. He gave me a\nfull history of the old man, much of which cannot be told. \u201cBut,\u201d said\nhe, \u201csuch a man you never saw. He is ninety years old. When he puts on\na suit of clothes, he never takes it off till it is worn out. In the\nwinter he lies in the ashes, and in the summer he lies down in the mire\nlike a hog.\u201d This is confirmed in Howe\u2019s History of Virginia, which\nrelates how he sat under the gallows eating gingerbread while his sons\nwere hung. I refer the reader to that history for an account of this\nwonderful man and his family.\n\nThe manner in which he told the whole story was any thing but pleasant\nto me. He began to get sleepy, and told me he would hold the pine-light\nwhile I got into bed up on the _loft_, as he called it. The only way\nto get up was by a ladder made of a pole split in two, with rounds put\ninto it. I climbed up, and he followed me with the torch. As soon as I\ngot to the bed over the loose boards that covered the floor, and found\nan old split-bottom chair, which I expected to use in self-defence\nbefore morning, I told him to withdraw.\n\nI lay down without undressing, after committing my soul, family, and\nall my interests to God, without much hope of seeing the light of\nanother day. No one occupied the house but myself as a bedroom. I kept\nwatch till morning, and when any unpleasant sound was heard, I made\nnoise enough to let any one approaching know that I was awake.\n\nAs soon as it was light I was up to see to my poor horse, which was\nstanding in mud and water six inches deep, without food. After getting\nhim some more green wheat in the sheaf, and a little corn bread for\nmyself, and talking and praying with the family, I left them. I cannot\nsay whether there was any intention to rob me or take my life. I hope\nthere was not.\n\nWhen I was about two miles on my way, and was rising a mountain where\nthe road was scarcely six inches wider than my buggy, a man met me,\nriding a poor old horse without a saddle, all in rags and dirt, with\nnothing on him but remnants of a torn shirt and pants, with a rope tied\nround his waist, and a bottle of whiskey in his bosom. Such a looking\npiece of humanity I had never seen before. In a moment I concluded\nthis is certainly old Randal Lucas. I saw he could not pass me on that\nnarrow road, and I determined to have a full talk with him. When we met\nhe tried to keep the upper side of the road, and get between my horse\nand the steep bank.\n\n\u201cGood morning, sir,\u201d said I. \u201cGood morning,\u201d said he, in a very\nunnatural tone of voice. \u201cDon\u2019t you want some good books to read this\nmorning?\u201d \u201cNo, I don\u2019t want any; I can\u2019t read.\u201d \u201cDo you go to church?\u201d\n\u201cNo, I don\u2019t care about church.\u201d \u201cWell, sir,\u201d said I, \u201cyou are an old\nman and must soon go to the other world.\u201d \u201cYes, I am ninety years old.\u201d\n\u201cIs it possible,\u201d said I, \u201cyou are so old?\u201d \u201cYes, I can prove it.\u201d\n\u201cYou would find but few witnesses to prove that by.\u201d \u201cWell, I can swear\nit then.\u201d \u201cWell, sir,\u201d said I, \u201cwhat do you think will become of you\nwhen you die?\u201d \u201cO well, I _doesn\u2019t_ care any thing about that.\u201d \u201cCan\nyou tell me who is the Saviour of sinners?\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know any thing of\n_them_ things.\u201d \u201cWell, sir, who made you?\u201d \u201cWhy, I suppose it was God\nAlmighty.\u201d \u201cWhat is your name, sir?\u201d \u201cRandal Lucas.\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d said I,\n\u201cI thought so,\u201d straightening myself with a determined look. \u201cWell,\nsir, you say you don\u2019t go to church, and I must tell you in the name of\nmy Master, that if you don\u2019t repent you will soon be in hell. I have\nread and heard of you, sir, for years, and you stand on the brink of\neternal burnings, and your soul stained with every crime that a man\ncould commit.\u201d He began to look frightened, and tried to pass me; but I\nkept my position, and for some minutes laid down the terrors of the law\nin the strongest language I could use, and then gave him some little\nbooks and tracts. He trembled like an aspen leaf.\n\nA few weeks afterwards he took up the idea that he was soon to die, got\na coffin made, tried it to see if it would fit, paid for it, and set it\nup in his cabin--sent for a preacher, told him he was going to die and\ndid not know what would become of him, and asked him to pray for him;\noffered him fifty cents, and said, \u201cPray on till my money is done.\u201d The\nmoney was of course refused. In a few days the poor wretch died as he\nhad lived, leaving a host of children the descendants of unnatural and\nbrutal connection.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\n\nTravelling in a mountainous region at nightfall of a tempestuous day,\nand having lost my road, I was directed for a lodging to \u201cSquire\nD----\u2019s, who keeps the ferry.\u201d After supper, I had a pleasant talk\nwith the father of Squire D----, on whose head the snows of eighty\nwinters had fallen, and soon the family were gathered round us, engaged\nin delightful converse. I inquired as to the high-handed wickedness\nof a neighborhood not far off, where I had heard that meetings were\nfrequently held in mockery of religious worship:\n\n\u201cYes, yes,\u201d said the squire, with just enough of the Welsh accent to\nbetray his origin, \u201cand our neighborhood here was just as bad ten years\nago; we were all alike: no church, no preacher, no Sunday-school, no\nday-school. One evening a minister and a young lady stopped at my house\nfor the night; I thought them very inquisitive people. They asked if\nwe had any preaching. \u2018No.\u2019 Any schools? \u2018No; we have had several\nteachers, but no one will stay more than a quarter with us.\u2019 The young\nlady said she would come and take a school among us, if we would employ\nher. After some further conversation, I told her I would see what could\nbe done, and write her the result. Next morning they left for the\nminister\u2019s home at M----, some fifty miles distant.\n\n\u201cIn a short time I had a school made up and board engaged for the new\nteacher, and wrote her to that effect. She came and commenced her\nschool at the time appointed. But soon there was complaint that the new\nteacher _read the Bible and prayed in her school_. And her troubles did\nnot cease here. The man at whose house she boarded insisted that she\nshould leave, because she prayed, sung hymns, and would keep talking\nabout religion all the time. Miss H---- then set out to look up another\nhome for herself; but she met the same reply from all: \u2018We cannot\nreceive you unless you leave off praying and singing.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhen she applied to me, I objected on the same grounds. Finally, I\ntold her if she would come on my own terms, I would take her into\nmy family. She inquired what those terms were. \u2018Why,\u2019 said I, \u2018you\nshall have such a room to yourself; there you are to stay from the\ntime you return from school until you start to go back, only when you\ncome to your meals: you must not sing hymns; you may pray as much as\nyou please, but mind you don\u2019t let us hear you at it; and _remember_,\nthe first time you infringe this contract, you leave the premises.\u2019\nTo all this she agreed, with as much meekness as if my terms had been\nreasonable and right. That evening she took up her abode under my roof;\nand little did I think what a blessing God was sending me in that\nfrail, delicate girl.\n\n\u201cThe children all loved the new teacher very much. So one day she told\nthem to ask their parents\u2019 permission, and if _they_ were agreed, she\nwould teach them on Sunday too. This proposal pleased us all. If she\ntaught on Sunday, that was so much clear gain to us.\n\n\u201cI soon observed that my children took to staying in the teacher\u2019s room\nmuch of their time. At length, one Sunday morning, they came down with\nsome tracts; I looked over them, and found they were on the subject of\nreligion. Ah, said I, my lady, I\u2019ve caught you now. I called her down,\ntold her she had violated her contract, and must be off. The poor girl\nbegan to weep; I felt ashamed. \u2018Dear sir,\u2019 said she, \u2018will you read\nthose tracts? If you do, and still continue in your present mind, I\nwill leave your house immediately.\u2019\n\n\u201cHere was a pretty fix; the children were all crying, and begging me\nnot to send Miss H---- away; and the books, Oh, they could not part\nwith the books. I was mightily perplexed; at last I gave in. Said I,\n\u2018Miss H----, you may go back to your room; I will consider the matter.\u2019\nI shall never forget the smile that passed over her face as she thanked\nme and went back to her room. Thanked me, indeed! Well, I set to work,\nread one of the tracts, felt self-condemned; read it again, felt\ndreadfully troubled. Then I read them all, and felt that I was a great\nsinner. I said nothing more to Miss H---- about leaving my house. Each\nday my convictions became deeper. At last, I could bear it no longer.\nThought I, this won\u2019t do; I must talk with Miss H----. So I invited\nher to come and sit with us in the family. She cheerfully complied. I\nasked her a great many questions about the doctrines of the Bible, not\nmeaning to let her know any thing about my concern. But all would not\ndo; my distress continued, or rather my agony, for I thought I was the\ngreatest sinner on earth.\n\n\u201cAt last, I sent one evening for Miss H---- to come down, and I told\nher my troubles; for my proud heart was well-nigh broken. Said I, Miss\nH----, I feel so and so ever since I read those tracts of yours; and\nI related all that was passing in my mind; and, said I, do you think\nthere is any mercy or hope for such a poor miserable sinner? The tears\nbegan to run down her cheeks; then she laughed; then she caught me by\nboth hands, and looking up into my face, she said, \u2018Oh, my dear friend,\nI am _so_ glad.\u2019 \u2018Why,\u2019 said I, \u2018are you glad because I am in trouble?\u2019\n\u2018Oh, my dear sir,\u2019 says she, \u2018this is the Spirit of God operating on\nyour heart.\u2019 All at once a great light seemed to shine into my mind.\nAll that I had been learning for so many weeks seemed now just as plain\nas A B C. Said I, \u2018Come, Miss H----, kneel down then and pray for me;\u2019\nand she did pray for me, and I do bless God for his wonderful mercy to\nsuch a poor hardened sinner. I believe that God _did_ change my heart\njust while that _very prayer_ was going up. All at once it just came:\nI loved my Bible and I loved to pray, and I could not bear the company\nthat I used to take so much delight in.\n\n\u201cOn the next Sabbath, Miss H---- asked me to go along with her and the\nchildren to the school--which was, and had been a Sunday-school, though\nwe never suspected it; and here came a trial. If I go, they will say I\nam getting religious; if I stay, it will be a sin, for I know I _ought_\nto go; and then it will grieve Miss H----. These last considerations\nwere the strongest; so I went. The room was crowded with children, all\nwaiting for their teacher; I thought they all looked happy. After a\nlittle while, Miss H---- took the Bible, and coming to me, she said,\n\u2018Mr. D----, will you read and pray with us this morning?\u2019 I was\nstartled; my very heart trembled. Said I, \u2018Oh no; not now.\u2019 Then she\nread a chapter and prayed herself. Oh, how I felt, to think that I was\nashamed to pray before those children! Ah, thought I, this will never\ndo; I will come here and pray next Sunday. That night I read and prayed\nwith my family; and the next Sabbath I opened the school with prayer.\n\n\u201cThe news spread soon all through the settlement. D---- has got\nreligion and is praying in the Sunday-school! strange news this! Very\nsoon the people began to drop into our Sunday-school. Then Miss H----\nsaid to me, \u2018You had better read us a sermon at the Sunday-school,\nafter the other exercises are over.\u2019 She selected the sermons, and I\nread them. Our meetings grew very solemn. Presently we sent word to a\ngood man at B---- to send us a minister; he did so. The minister came\nand preached for us. The little school-house could not contain one half\nof the people who crowded to hear him. We held our meetings in the open\nair, under the trees.\n\n\u201cAh, that was a wonderful time; the cry of the anxious sinner went up\nfrom every house. The Spirit of God was moving mightily upon the hearts\nof the people, and many were born into the kingdom of Christ. All this\nbrought a great change in our settlement. Instead of the dance, and\nthe gaming-table, and the foolish song, we had meetings for prayer and\npraise; and the tavern and still-house were exchanged for the temple of\nGod.\n\n\u201cThe Sabbath became a day of holy rest among a people who used to\nspend it in revelry or idleness. Houses of worship were built, where\nour population flocked every Sabbath to hear the preached word from\nthe living minister; and in the course of two or three years, hundreds\nprofessed faith in Christ, and joined the church. We have had a\nflourishing church here ever since. Ah,\u201d said the good man, in his\npeculiarly emphatic way, \u201csee what God hath wrought for us.\u201d\n\nHow often have I reproached myself, when I contrasted the heroic\nconduct of this devoted female with my own man-fearing spirit! She has\ngone to her reward; her memory will be cherished for a few more years\nin the hearts of those to whom her humble efforts were of such immense\nvalue, and then pass away and be forgotten. But her _influence_ will\npass on, an ever-increasing current, down the long tracts of time, and\nthroughout the endless ages of eternity.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\n\nThe latter part of the year 1848 was spent laboring in South-western\nVirginia. I visited several towns as a colporteur, taking with me some\napplicant for this service, to give him a favorable introduction to his\nlabors.\n\nI reached the beautiful town of A---- late in the evening, an entire\nstranger, and stopped at a hotel, wet, cold, and hungry. About the same\ntime the stage arrived with a number of passengers, and we all asked\nfor rooms with fire in them. While this was preparing I stepped into\nthe bar-room, the only place where I could find a fire; but it had been\nelection day, and such a company of intoxicated men I had never seen\nin one room. Several of them were lying on the floor, unable to rise;\nand the swearing was awful. I immediately began the distribution of\ntracts and little paper-covered books; and among them I laid down a\ncopy of \u201cUniversalism not of God.\u201d As I passed round, laying them down\non chairs and tables, as well as handing them to the men, I observed\na very fine-looking man who had come in the stage, following me, and\nlooking at them.\n\nAs I laid down \u201cUniversalism not of God,\u201d he took it up, and said to\nme very abruptly that the book was a libel on the Universalists. \u201cOh,\u201d\nsaid I, \u201cI understand the cause of your objection to the book. You are\none of those who believe that thieves, murderers, and liars all go to\nheaven; that there is no such place as hell.\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d said he, \u201cI have\ntoo good an opinion of God\u2019s mercy to believe there is any such place\nas hell.\u201d When he made that remark, one of the fellows who was lying\ndrunk on the floor raised his head and said, \u201cYou are a liar;\u201d while\nanother said he \u201cwished that was true, but there was no such good\nnews.\u201d Said I, \u201cSir, I will hand you over to these men, and you and\nthey may settle the controversy.\u201d He immediately disappeared from the\nroom.\n\nDuring my stay of three weeks in this beautiful town, I visited every\nfamily in it, and either sold or gave books.\n\nOne day I stepped into the office of a lawyer, who was one of the\nfirst men in the state in his profession. I offered him a copy of\nNelson on Infidelity. Said he, \u201cI could not take time to read a book\nof that size, except on law, for less than five hundred dollars.\u201d I\nthen offered him Baxter\u2019s Call. Said he, \u201cThat is too big a dose for me\ntoo.\u201d I then presented him the tract, \u201cThe Great Alternative.\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d\nsaid he, \u201cas you are so anxious for me to read some of your books, I\nwill read that right off.\u201d He commenced, and I left him. An hour or two\nafter I was passing his door, and he was sitting in a thoughtful mood.\nSaid I, \u201cHave you read the tract?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d said he, \u201cand if I would read\na few more like it I think I might become a Christian.\u201d Said I, \u201cToo\nbusy to be saved.\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d said he, \u201cI fear that is my case; I have not\na moment to spare from my business.\u201d Alas, how many will have to say, I\nwas too busy to be saved.\n\nIn the same town there was a man who had once been a minister of some\nprominence in an evangelical church, but had left it, and embraced\nthe doctrines of Swedenborg, for which he was very zealous. I did not\nwish to encounter him; but as I stepped into a store one night to\nscatter tracts, he was present. He immediately made an attack on me,\nand said that he could not imagine how any wise man could believe in\nthe doctrine of the Trinity; that it was so absurd that nothing in\nheaven or earth could illustrate it. I saw the eyes of all present were\nturned to me, and felt in a tight place. I lifted my heart to God for\nhelp to vindicate his truth. A candle was burning between us. Said I,\npointing to the candle, \u201cSir, there is a trinity giving us light. There\nis tallow, wick, and fire, three in one.\u201d He acknowledged he was beat,\nand took his leave, to the amusement of those present, and to my great\nsatisfaction.\n\nAfter two months\u2019 labor in South-western Virginia, I returned to my\nhome in L----, near two hundred miles distant from A----, and devoted\na month to correspondence and adjusting accounts with over fifty\ncolporteurs I had now employed.\n\nThough L---- had been my home for over two years, I had never had\ntime to visit all the families with our books and tracts. I had often\ndetermined to do it, but other labors had prevented. The number of warm\nfriends and liberal contributors in and around the town seemed to lay\nspecial claims on me to do the work, and I resolved to spend the months\nof January and February laboring in the town and vicinity.\n\nAt this time it was remarked by the ministers and praying people of\nGod, that they had not felt such a spiritual dearth there for many\nyears. The ball-room was better attended than the churches, and the\nyoung seemed to be rushing into sin with greediness. My own soul too\nwas in darkness, and my strength nearly prostrated. My devotions,\npublic and private, were heartless. I was even tempted to leave my work\nand engage in some secular business.\n\nAt last I told a few of the most pious whom I knew about the desire\nI had to visit the families, and that the state of my own heart was\nsuch that I was prevented from doing it. They urged me forward, and\npromised to pray for me. I set day after day to begin; but when the day\nand hour came for me to start, my heart would fail, and Satan seemed\nto have some excuse always ready. At last I entered into covenant with\nGod to begin the next day; but when the morning came my hard, cowardly\nheart failed me. I tried to pray again and again. I put it off till\nthe afternoon, with a hope of getting strength. A carpet-bag had been\nstanding full of books and tracts for some days waiting, and they\nseemed to rebuke my cowardice.\n\nAt last I thought that if Moses had not stepped into the Red sea, the\nwaters would never have receded. The next morning still found me at\nhome. As soon as my breakfast was over I took the carpet-bag and books\nto a room and earnestly prayed over them, and then started.\n\nThe next neighbor to me was a Mr. H----. His wife and mother-in-law\nwere devoted Christians, but he was careless about religion, and so was\nhis brother, a young man that had his home there. I dealt faithfully\nwith them, and prayed with them. Each of them bought a book, and I\nleft them in tears. Soon after the young man professed religion, and\nthe other remained serious as long as I knew him. All my fears were\nnow gone. A few minutes before I was ashamed to own Christ before\na kitchen-maid; now I could face the world, and the promise was\nrealized, \u201cMy strength is made perfect in weakness.\u201d\n\nI next went to Mr. P----\u2019s and had a long talk with his daughter, a\nvery intelligent girl of twelve summers. In a short time she professed\nreligion.\n\nI next entered the house of Mr. R----. He and his wife were two of the\nfriends to whom I had told my difficulties, and who had engaged to pray\nfor me. They had two very interesting daughters that moved in the most\nfashionable circles of society. As soon as I entered the house they\nknew my errand. I was directed to the parlor, and told by the father,\n\u201cI will send the girls in, and wife and I will go into our own room and\npray while you talk.\u201d I felt God was there while I talked and prayed.\nOne received Pike\u2019s Persuasives to Early Piety, the reading of which\nled her to the Saviour soon after; the other got Baxter\u2019s Call, and was\nan inquirer during all the time I remained there.\n\nI cannot find words to express the joy I felt in my own soul at the\nclose of this day\u2019s work. All nature seemed to rejoice with me, and I\nfully realized the promise, \u201cHe that watereth shall be watered.\u201d\n\nThe next day I visited eleven families, talked and prayed and sold\nand gave books and tracts in every house. In almost every house some\nfeeling was manifested, and soon after several professed religion.\nAmong them was a Mrs. M----, who told me it was the Anxious Inquirer\nthat led her to Christ. I visited half the town in a week, and sold and\ngave away many books and tracts. Quite a number of those visited showed\nmuch feeling while I talked with them.\n\nAt this time special religious services were held in one of the\nchurches that had but little sympathy at that time with the Tract\nSociety, or any thing else that was not under their own exclusive\ncontrol; and I was advised to stop my work till their meeting closed,\nfor fear they might say I was proselyting. I attended all their\nmeetings, and prayed and exhorted when called on. Their meetings\ncontinued two weeks, during which time twenty professed religion, most\nof whom I had previously visited.\n\nAt the close of these meetings, I told the Rev. Dr. McE---- that now\nwas the time for him to have meetings in his church. He said he was\nnot able to do any extra work, and did not know where he could get any\npreacher. I proposed to get the Rev. R. N. D----, who was then laboring\nas a colporteur of the Tract Society some fifty miles distant, to which\nhe agreed, and I wrote to Mr. D---- to come on a certain day. During\nthe intervening time of ten days I visited all the balance of the town\nand held prayer-meetings every night. The meetings became more and more\ninteresting, and religion became the theme of conversation in every\ncircle.\n\nWhen Mr. D---- came public preaching was held every night, and the\nword was attended with the power of God. Every morning we had a\nprayer-meeting, and through the day visited the inquirers from house\nto house, and scattered tracts. By the end of four days thirty-five\nwere attending the meeting for inquiry, and at the close of the first\nweek thirty-three had professed hope in Christ, most of them the most\ninfluential people in the town.\n\nThe Rev. Mr. V---- then came and aided another week, at the close of\nwhich forty-two were added to the church. Thus did God carry on his\nwork with the humble instruments he had chosen.\n\nOne young lady who had been an inquirer for two weeks, told us at last\nshe did not care about being converted then, and left the meetings. In\nthree weeks she died. Her last words were, \u201cI could have been saved,\nbut I rejected God\u2019s Spirit, and now I am lost.\u201d\n\nAnother came sometimes to the inquiry meetings, but owing to the fact\nthat she was soon to marry an irreligious man, put off her day of\ngrace. In a few weeks the day of her intended marriage came. She rose\nin the morning in usual health to prepare for the ceremony, but before\nnight her costly bridal dress was her winding-sheet.\n\nFour miles from town Mr. W----, a colporteur, was at work during the\ntime of this meeting in the town, and ten were there added to a little\nchurch.\n\nI have been thus particular in stating the facts in relation to this\nwork, as it was the starting point of one of the most powerful\nrevivals that I have ever witnessed. It extended over one hundred miles\nsquare of a sparsely populated country, in which near one thousand\nsouls were converted to God within about four months. The fidelity and\nperseverance in the service of Christ of those thus brought in, is the\nbest evidence that this was truly the work of God\u2019s Spirit.\n\nAt the close of these cheering labors in L----, I went to the town\nof U---- to be with Mr. H---- at a sacramental meeting, and take a\ncollection for the Tract Society. He is one of God\u2019s ministers that\ndoes his work faithfully. The meeting began on Friday night. Mr. H----\nrequested me to occupy the time in giving an account of the great work\nat L----, which I did. Although but few were present, and they mostly\npupils in the academy he taught, the bare relation of the facts of the\nrevival at L---- made a deep impression, and resulted in the conversion\nof his son, who is now a minister.\n\nThe next morning at nine, we had a meeting for prayer and exhortation,\nat which there was still more interest. At eleven Mr. H---- preached.\nAt night I conducted the service by exhortation and prayer. The\nsolemnity was still increased. At each meeting we gave each one present\na suitable tract, with a word of earnest counsel.\n\nAt nine, Sabbath morning, I conducted another prayer-meeting. At\neleven, Mr. H---- preached and administered the communion. God was\ntruly there in great power. At three we had a meeting for prayer again.\nAt night the church was full. I based my remarks on the words, \u201cI will\narise and go to my father.\u201d I saw that every heart was moved, and but\nfew cheeks were dry. At the close of my remarks, I turned to Mr. H----,\nand said to him, \u201cIf you will ask them, some anxious souls will remain\nfor instruction and prayer.\u201d The result was, seven inquirers took a\nstand on the Lord\u2019s side that night. This seemed to rouse the great\nsoul of Mr. H---- to an extraordinary pitch of fervor, and led to the\nappointment of a meeting the next morning.\n\nOn Monday morning we both exhorted, and the interest was deep. At three\nwe held an inquiry-meeting, and nine attended. At night I spoke again;\nthe meeting was deeply interesting.\n\nTuesday morning the prayer-meeting was crowded, and in the afternoon\nthere were seventeen inquirers. We had three services each day, the\none at three only for inquirers; and each day there was an increase of\ninterest. On Saturday morning Mr. H---- had to go some miles to another\npreaching-place, and I was left alone on Saturday and the Sabbath.\nSabbath, at three, there were twenty-seven inquirers, and ten were\nindulging a hope in Christ. During the next week forty-two professed\nfaith in Christ.\n\nIn the whole course of these meetings we kept the very choicest\nof our books and tracts in the hands of the people. One observing\nChristian said to me, \u201cThere has been more reading here on the subject\nof religion in the past eighteen days, than there had been in three\nyears before.\u201d Quite a number of the inquirers told me they were first\nawakened by reading a book or tract, and others that they were greatly\naided by them in coming to Christ. Their interest in these publications\nwas shown by their contributing one hundred dollars on one of the\nSabbaths to aid the tract and colporteur work.\n\nThis town was one of the wickedest in Western Virginia, and had for\nyears been a centre of infidelity. A worthy farmer who lived near told\nme, at the close of our meetings, that for years he had never passed\nthrough that town without hearing oaths and vulgar songs; \u201cbut now,\u201d\nsaid he, \u201cthat is all stopped, and I hear them singing hymns of praise\nto God.\u201d This town will now compare favorably with any other within my\nknowledge for piety and sobriety.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\n\nAt the earnest request of Mr. H----, I promised to meet him on the\nnext Sabbath at one of his country churches, about six miles from\ntown, in one of the most densely populated and wealthy communities\nin all Western Virginia, called Mount P----. It was only fourteen\nmiles from my home at L----. I reached the church a little before the\nhour of service, a stranger to all except a few who had met me at the\nmeetings in town. The house, although large, was crowded, and I took\na seat in the back part of the house. In a few minutes Mr. H---- came\nin and walked up into the pulpit. He looked sick and feeble, and while\nglancing his eye over the house, saw me, and beckoned me to him. He was\nunable to speak louder than a whisper.\n\nSaid he, \u201cI am attacked with bronchitis and unable to preach, and you\nmust preach.\u201d This I refused, on the ground that I had no authority.\nSaid he, \u201cI will give you the authority here, and stand between you\nand danger.\u201d He arose, and with great exertion told the people that he\nhad never had such a desire to preach as he had that day, but the Lord\nhad shut his mouth, and sent me to do the preaching, for which he was\nvery thankful.\n\nI at once opened with singing and prayer, and announced my text,\n\u201cBehold, I stand at the door and knock.\u201d I felt that the thoughts and\nwords were not mine, but dictated by the Holy Ghost. I spoke for an\nhour. The audience was still as the grave. After an interval of thirty\nminutes, as was the custom, we resumed the service. My text in the\nafternoon was, \u201cRemember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.\u201d The\nfeeling was deep. I asked the anxious to remain for instruction, and\ntwelve remained. At night I had a meeting at a private house, where\ngreat interest was manifested.\n\nAt the earnest request of many, services similar to those of the\nSabbath were continued on Monday and for several days afterwards. On\nMonday morning, when I came to the church, there was a crowd, and\nmuch to my joy and relief, Mr. W----, one of our best colporteurs,\nwas there. He had labored faithfully over all that ground but a few\nweeks before, and knew almost every one in that region. Although very\ndiffident, he conducted the morning meeting with great acceptance.\nI spoke at eleven, and at two; and at the close of the last service\nwe had eighteen inquirers. God seemed to come down as on the day of\nPentecost. Ten of the number indulged hope, and their countenances were\nlit up with joy.\n\nAt night we had a meeting at Mr. D----\u2019s. One half could not get into\nthe house. He had a son that was desperately wicked, and had done all\nin his power to oppose the work of God. During the time of the service\nhe went out of the house in an agony of conviction for sin. The next\nmorning, at family prayers, he cried out in the bitterness of his\nanguish, \u201cGod be merciful to me a sinner.\u201d A sister of his, that had\nbeen a very thoughtless girl, also cried out in great distress. This\nseemed instantly to electrify the whole family. The place seemed awful\nwith the majesty of God. I felt as much of the divine glory as I could\nbear. Such a scene I had never witnessed. Soon the whole family were\nembraced in each other\u2019s arms, rejoicing in hope of eternal life. We\nseemed to be in the inner sanctuary and the most holy place. Although\nnear fourteen years have since passed, while I describe this scene it\nfires my own soul afresh.\n\nThough it was a hurried season of the year with farmers, work was\nsuspended, ploughs were stopped, white and black were in the church, or\nas near in as they could get, as the church would not hold more than\nhalf that came.\n\nThe Tuesday morning prayer-meeting was one of the best I ever attended.\nAt eleven the Rev. Mr. H---- returned, and preached one of the best of\nsermons. In the afternoon I spoke again. There were thirty-six more\ninquirers, and twelve more were indulging hope.\n\nOn Friday night I held a meeting at the house of a Dr. N----, who was a\nman of the world. I spoke on the _broad road and wide gate_. The doctor\nwas awakened that night, and has ever since dated his first impressions\non religious subjects to that time; and two young men, one of them\nsince educated for the ministry, likewise dated their conversion the\nsame night.\n\nAt eleven the next morning Rev. Mr. H---- preached, and in the\nafternoon Dr. McE----. At the close of this service, sixty-two were\nadded to the church on profession of their faith.\n\nWhen the hour for public worship arrived on Sabbath morning, one half\ncould not enter the church. It was arranged that I should invite those\nwho could not get in to assemble out of hearing of the church and\npreach to them. I selected the graveyard, where most of the graves had\nenclosures of rails around and over them. The circumstance suggested\nmy text: \u201cMan dieth, and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost,\nand where is he?\u201d I felt as I never did before, standing among the dead\nand the living, and spoke as I never did before or since. Some of the\nwickedest men in all the country were before me.\n\nOne gray-headed sinner seventy years old, who sat on the rails which\nwere around the graves of his wife and children, shook as if he had the\nague. A year after, he died; and often, when he was on his death-bed,\nspoke with deep sorrow of resisting God\u2019s Spirit at that time. At the\nclose of the services in the church a collection of $120 was taken up\nfor the Tract Society, which was five times as much as could have been\nobtained a week before. Books and tracts were circulated every day in\nthese meetings, and read with interest. Twenty persons told me that\nbooks or tracts were the means of either awakening them, or directing\nthem to Christ. In addition to the sixty-two added to the church as\nabove, twenty-four who obtained a hope at these meetings joined a\nchurch of another denomination a mile distant.\n\nOnly two miles from the above meetings, was the church of a large\ncongregation of Seceders. Till this time they had not gone to hear any\npreacher but their own, nor admitted any other denomination to preach\nin their church. But so great was this work that some of their young\npeople had been drawn away, and gained a hope in Christ, but kept it\nsecret. Their pastor, Rev. Mr. McG----, came himself on Saturday, and\nbecame deeply moved with what he saw and heard. In the evening Rev.\nMr. H---- told him there were many still anxious about their souls,\nand not a few of them were among his own people; \u201cand now,\u201d said he,\n\u201cthis harvest must be gathered, and if you will go on with a meeting\nnext week I will close my meetings to-morrow.\u201d This arrangement was\nmade, and it was agreed that I should go and assist Mr. McG---- on the\nafternoon of the next day, after the services in that church should be\nclosed.\n\nAt four o\u2019clock the Seceder church was crowded, and all the ardor of\nfeeling seemed to come along with the people. Rev. Mr. McG---- was very\nfeeble in health, but was a devoted servant of God; and it was arranged\nthat he was to take a text and speak ten minutes, and I was then to\nfill up the hour. After that service we held another in a private house\nat night.\n\nThe next morning at nine, we had the house full at the prayer-meeting.\nAt eleven, Mr. McG---- preached ten minutes, and I followed; and after\nthe service all were supplied with tracts. During the afternoon service\nthe presence of God seemed to move every heart. And as I believe that\nwhen God moves on men\u2019s hearts, they ought to move too as the prodigal\ndid, when I had ceased speaking, and the congregation were singing\nthe eighty-fourth Psalm, Rouse\u2019s version, I said to Mr. McG---- that\nI had no doubt but if an invitation was given some would remain for\ninstruction. He feared it would not be acceptable to the officers of\nthe church, all of whom had come from Scotland, and had been accustomed\nto hear preaching only from Seceders, and considered _occasional\nhearing_ an offence. But he said he would not interfere with what I\nthought was duty.\n\nAs soon as the song was sung, I arose and told them that a piece of\nold Scotch history had just come into my mind. That over one hundred\nyears ago, previous to their communion occasions, the minister at the\nclose of his services for some days would invite all that intended\nto commune for the first time to remain for instruction in regard to\ntheir duties; and that for want of that many came to the Lord\u2019s table\nwho were ignorant of the nature of the ordinance. And as I believed\nthere were a number who contemplated joining the church and going to\nthe communion table on the next Sabbath for the first time, I would\nask all such to remain after the congregation was dismissed, to receive\nsuch instruction as should be given. After some agitation all was\nquiet, and I told them the first point of inquiry for them was, to know\nif they were born again, and spoke some twenty minutes on the nature\nand evidences of regeneration. The old elders sobbed aloud; and as soon\nas the services were closed, they had me by the hand, and said, \u201cThat\nis just what our young people need.\u201d The oldest elder, whose daughter\nwas among the inquirers, came up leaning on his staff, and said, \u201cThat\ndid my soul good.\u201d We had an appointment that night five miles distant,\nand this old man went all the way with me on horseback. The house was\ncrowded. Many were awakened, and among them Mr. B---- the proprietor,\nwho was a hardened sinner of fifty years. He soon professed his faith\nin Christ.\n\nThe next morning this old elder, Mr. M----, said to me, \u201cOh, Mr. C----,\nI slept none last night. I have had a foretaste of heaven, and long to\nbe there. I have never experienced religious joy till last night; and\nnow I have one request to make, and deny me not, that is, that you\ncommune with me next Sabbath.\u201d\n\nThe next day we had similar services, and at the close of the last\nservice I told them as all the congregation seemed desirous to hear\nwhat was said to those wishing to consider their duty to join the\nchurch, such would come forward while we sung the twenty-third Psalm.\nSixteen thus presented themselves, and Rev. Mr. McG---- spoke to\nthem with a heavenly unction. The next day there were twenty-eight\ninquirers, and the next day thirty-nine, of whom twenty-two appeared\nto be indulging a good hope in Christ. All the business of the field\nwas suspended, and many were saying it was the dawn of the day of glory\nto the church. As the time had arrived for me to visit another place\nfifty miles distant, to engage in similar labors, the pastor told them\nhe wanted them to make a thank-offering to the Tract Society, and in a\nfew minutes $80 was on the table, and a present of $20 to me. On the\nSabbath fifty-six were added to the church, and more than thirty to a\nMethodist church near by.\n\nFourteen months after, I visited this church again. The presence of\nGod was still there, and many said they felt as if they were ready to\nbegin again where they had left off fourteen months before. The strong\nprejudices against worshipping with other Christians were among the\nthings that had been.\n\nDuring my brief stay many incidents were related to me. One young man\ntold me it was \u201cAdvice to a Married Couple\u201d that awakened him, as he\nwas soon to be married. Three of the anxious got relief by reading the\ntract \u201cWhat is it to Believe in Christ?\u201d A man well acquainted in the\ncommunity told me thirty family altars were reared on one Sabbath night.\n\nIn one instance two families lived in one house, and both the men\nand their wives had joined the church. They felt that they must have\nfamily worship, but neither was willing to pray. One said he could do\nthe singing, and the other said he would read the Bible. At last they\nunited in asking a lame negro man that was pious, and he led in prayer.\n\nThere is probably no region of our country, when all the difficulties\nare considered, where the Tract Society and colporteurs have done as\nmuch real good as in Western Virginia. Some of the most godly men we\never employed had visited every house again and again, and most of the\nbooks to be found in the houses were the Society\u2019s publications. In\nsome of the poorer districts they were even the only school-books. I\nhave heard of schools in those mountains where one had Bunyan, another\nBaxter\u2019s Call, or Saints\u2019 Rest, and so on all through the school. We\ncan say that in many places the work has made the wilderness and the\nsolitary place rejoice and blossom as the rose.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\n\nAfter one night\u2019s rest at home, I left the next morning for C----,\nthirty miles distant, to meet my friend Rev. Mr. D----, who was with\nus at the commencement of the meetings at L----, and engage in another\nmeeting. The Rev. Mr. P----, who was pastor at that place, was likewise\na colporteur of the Tract Society, and had five little churches in\nas many different communities in the county. So he left us to hold a\nmeeting in C----, while he was laboring in other portions of his field.\n\nI had on several occasions passed through this town, which, in a\nreligious view, was one of the darkest I have ever visited. I saw\nthe men, most of them young men, while Mr. P---- was preaching to a\nfew, mostly women, standing all round the church with their heads in\nthe windows, talking aloud, and even swearing profanely, till the\npreacher\u2019s voice could scarcely be heard. As Mr. D---- was a stranger\nthere, I informed him that we might expect open opposition. The\nmeetings were to be conducted in the same way as those to which I have\nalready alluded.\n\nAfter warning the people of the impropriety of such conduct, and\ninsisting that if they attended the services, they should come into the\nchurch, Mr. D---- preached, and I followed by telling of the Lord\u2019s\nwork in the places where I had been. A deep solemnity seemed to fall on\nevery soul, and we felt God was there. All present were well supplied\nwith tracts.\n\nThe next day our meetings were very solemn, and still more so at night,\nwhen there were five anxiously inquiring for salvation. By the next\nnight most of the females began to feel very deeply, and some young men\nbegan to interrupt by their talking; but I rebuked them most solemnly,\nand we had no more interruptions during that meeting, and I am happy to\nsay there have been none since in that place.\n\nThis meeting began on Thursday night, and by Monday twenty-two had\nprofessed hope in Christ. Among the number was one man sixty years\nold. He had been intemperate forty years. Though he was then so\nignorant that he did not know who was the Saviour of sinners, and did\nnot know one letter of the alphabet, he still lives a monument of grace.\n\nOne young lady of fortune, who was there at school, and whose anxiety\nabout her soul bordered on despair, gained a hope on Saturday. On the\nnext Saturday she joined the church, and then told her companions,\n\u201cI will go to the Lord\u2019s table to-morrow; it may be my last Sabbath\non earth.\u201d On Monday morning she came to school apparently in her\nusual health, and seemed deeply affected by the opening prayer; but\nsoon complained of being unwell, went to her boarding-house, and in\nforty-eight hours she was numbered with the dead. Grace and glory came\nvery near together.\n\nAfter a few days of rest, at the request of the Rev. Mr. H----, to whom\nI have alluded at the town of U----, I met him in an old log-church on\nWolf Creek, one of his preaching-places. I left home in the morning,\nrode twenty-four miles, and reached the place at one. Mr. H---- was\npreaching to a small congregation, as it was now the beginning of\nharvest. After an interval of thirty minutes, I addressed the people.\nThe next day was Saturday. The house was full; and in the evening we\nhad five inquirers. Sabbath morning Mr. H---- preached with great\npower, and then left for another appointment, with the expectation of\nreturning on Monday. In the mean time I was to go on with the services.\nIn the evening I had thirteen inquirers; and among them was Colonel\nH----, fifty years old, and Major B----, sixty-eight, two men of the\nlargest wealth and highest standing in that community, who had been\nremarkable instances of grieving the Spirit of God. I related in their\nhearing the fact of what an aged man had told me about his grieving\nthe Spirit. I saw it affected them both very deeply. They told me they\nhad felt all that that man did whose case I had described, and that\nthey had now made up their minds to seek Christ. In a few days both\nwere hoping in Christ; and two years ago they had continued active\nChristians.\n\nBecoming exhausted, almost as if I was at death\u2019s door, I left for\nhome; but Rev. Mr. H---- continued the meetings. Such was the interest\nawakened, that daily labor in the harvest-field was entirely suspended.\nMasters and servants were all at the same mercy-seat. God was there;\nthe world was lost sight of, and eternal things took its place.\nEverybody had a tract in hand. You could see them reading on their\nway home; some in carriages, some on horseback, and others on foot.\nThe result was, thirty-six were added to that little church, and many\nothers to the other churches in that region of country. I soon learned\nthat one wild, thoughtless young woman was awakened by reading a tract,\nand she is now one of the mothers in Israel.\n\nI had received several letters from the Rev. Mr. C----, an aged man\nwho had moved to Fayette county, to preach in a very destitute region,\nnear the celebrated _Hawk\u2019s Nest_, or _Marshall\u2019s Pillar_, a cliff or\nprecipice of about one thousand feet perpendicular height, hanging over\nNew River, ten miles from its junction with the Gauley. After a day\nof rest, I took the stage, and at the end of fifty miles reached the\nplace. On Friday morning the meeting began in the woods. No church\nwas near; but an arbor was made by putting up poles and covering them\nwith green bushes. When I came it rained, and only about thirty were\npresent; but God was there with his gracious power. We had a meeting in\nthe evening at one of the neighboring cabins, and a crowd was collected.\n\nThe next morning we met at the arbor. The day was fair and beautiful,\nand the crowd great. The Lord helped me greatly in the service. At the\ninterval I scattered tracts freely, and set all to reading who could\nread. At the close of the afternoon service there were eleven anxious\ninquirers. On Sabbath morning we met at nine for prayer. By eleven\no\u2019clock a thousand people had assembled; and after the evening service,\nseventeen came out for instruction. On Monday the communion was to be\nadministered, and seventeen were added to the Lord\u2019s people. The Lord\nwas there in his mercy. After the afternoon service nineteen more came\nout as inquirers, among them men of sixty years and from that down to\nboys, most of whom professed religion soon after. A church was soon\nafter organized, which still lives. The blessed influence spread for\nmiles around, and all denominations shared in the glorious work. I\nshall ever believe the way was prepared by a faithful colporteur, who\nhad been over the ground a few months before.\n\nMr. P----, an elder in a vacant church called Locust Bottom, had\napplied to the Rev. Mr. P---- to come and administer the communion in\nthat church, and to bring me with him. The meeting was to begin on the\nFriday before the third Sabbath in August. I left home on Thursday\nmorning, and reached the place, fifty-four miles distant, at noon the\nnext day. In the afternoon I addressed the audience by telling them\nwhat the Lord had done in so many other places, and that I felt assured\nif they would seek him with their whole hearts he would bless them too.\n\nThe next morning we were assembled at nine for prayer and exhortation.\nAt eleven Mr. C----, a student of divinity, spoke with much fervor.\nAfter recess I spoke with much liberty, and five came out as inquirers.\nWe held meetings at night in two places; both well attended, and\nseveral were awakened. The Sabbath morning prayer-meeting was crowded.\nThe communion was administered by Mr. P----; and after recess I spoke\nagain, and we had nine inquirers. The next morning we had a crowd, and\nthere were clear indications of the presence of the Spirit of God.\n\nSome weeks previous, Mr. W----, a colporteur to whom I have alluded,\nhad been all through this region, and circulated books. A daughter\nof Colonel S----, one of the elders, became awakened by reading one\nof them, and her state of mind had aroused some of her friends and\ncompanions, who were among those most deeply concerned; and it was\nagreed to hold the evening meeting at the colonel\u2019s, though four miles\ndistant.\n\nIn addition to the colonel\u2019s large family, a number of others were\npresent, all seeking peace with God. After tea was over we were all\nseated in a large parlor, to the number of at least twenty. As Mr.\nC---- expected soon to leave, I asked him to lead us in prayer, and\nespecially to remember the anxious souls in the room. At the close of\nthe prayer, one of the colonel\u2019s daughters was sobbing as if she would\nbreak her heart. I sat down beside her, and pointed her to Jesus who\ndied for sinners. She looked at me a moment, and then sprang into her\nmother\u2019s arms, and said, \u201cOh, mother, I have found Jesus.\u201d But a short\ntime had elapsed, when a daughter-in-law of Mrs. S---- went to her and\nsaid, \u201cOh, mother, I have found the Saviour too.\u201d Soon the wife of one\nof the elders who was there cried, \u201cOh, Mrs. S----, the Saviour has\nblessed me too. Oh, what a Saviour I have found.\u201d This woman had been\nso opposed to religion that her husband could not have family prayers.\nAll these three had been awakened by reading tracts. During all this\ntime the old grandmother, ninety years old, and for over seventy years\na follower of Christ, was walking through the house saying, \u201cOh, Mr.\nC----, is not this heaven? my poor soul can bear no more of the divine\nglory.\u201d\n\nIn a short time Colonel S----, who had been absent, returned. As soon\nas his daughter saw him she was in his arms, saying, \u201cOh, my dear\nfather, your prayers are answered; I have found Jesus.\u201d\n\nBy this time the news had spread all over the farm, and more than fifty\nblacks of all ages were in and round the house. The old mother of\nCol. S---- said to me, \u201cOh, Mr. C----, won\u2019t you preach to these poor\nsouls?\u201d \u201cCertainly,\u201d said I; and in a few minutes a large room was\ncrowded with them. I stood in the door, with the old mother holding me\nby the arm, and announced the words, \u201cBehold, I bring you glad tidings\nof great joy which shall be to all people.\u201d The negroes soon became\nso excited they could hardly contain themselves. Some were on their\nknees praying, and others clapping their hands. The old lady undertook\nto keep them in order; but her own heart became so deeply impressed,\nthat her bodily strength sunk under it. The scene was one that neither\ntongue nor pen can describe. No doubt some who have never seen or felt\nany thing like this, will call it enthusiasm; but if it was, I would\nwish to live and die in the midst of such enthusiasm. This was one\nof the most intelligent families in that community--all educated and\nrefined, and strict Presbyterians. I have found but few such families.\n\nThe next morning we all repaired to the church, where I was met by Mr.\nW----, the colporteur whom I have mentioned. Before that day\u2019s meeting\nclosed eight more professed hope. That night I had a meeting at a Mr.\nC----\u2019s, who was a professed atheist, but within a few days after, was\nnumbered among God\u2019s people.\n\nThe next day the house was crowded below with whites, and the gallery\nwith blacks. The presence of God seemed to be with every soul.\nThere were in the house two men, brothers, of large wealth and much\nintelligence, both unmarried and somewhat dissipated. For two days\nthey had been deeply concerned, and their pious friends were earnest\nin prayer for them. Just as I was closing my last discourse in the\nevening, when there was scarce a dry cheek in the house, a negro who\nwas subject to fits, fell in a fit in the gallery, and made the most\nunearthly noise I ever heard. All fled from the house with fright,\nthinking the house was falling. These two brothers, when they went out,\nsaid they were glad at what had happened, for if they had remained any\nlonger they would have been compelled to yield to the Spirit of God.\nThey both went away, and never returned; and said often afterwards\nthat they sealed their damnation that day. Each of them died a horrible\ndeath with delirium tremens.\n\nI exhorted three or four times each day throughout all the week, and\nbrother W---- scattered books and tracts, and talked and prayed.\nTwenty-two were added to that church, and as many more joined other\nchurches. Before this meeting began, that church was nearly broken up,\nand in six months after, the student to whom I have alluded was the\npastor.\n\nTen years after, as I was passing through this region in a stage, one\nof my travelling companions told me he was one of the converts at a\nplace where I had labored. We were alone in the stage when we reached\nthe place of crossing a river near this church. The driver stopped to\nwater his horses, and I handed tracts to two men that were working at\nthe edge of the river. They looked at me a moment, and then caught my\nhands: \u201cOh, this is Mr. C----. It was your tracts and labors that God\nblessed to save our souls.\u201d The stage-driver dropped his bucket and\nrushed to me: \u201cOh, is it possible I have been hauling Mr. C---- and\ndid not know it? It was your tracts and labors which you began in the\nrain in Fayette county that God blessed to my soul.\u201d Here were four men\nwho had been led to Christ at different places, and now had met the one\nwhom they called the instrument of their salvation. To God alone be all\nthe glory.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\n\nAs, in the providence of God, I have been brought into contact with\nthousands of persons who have told me with much candor the history of\ntheir own minds, and conversed freely in reference to the all-important\nsubject of their salvation, I have thought it to be my duty to\nrecord some of the facts I have met, for the benefit and warning of\nothers. That there is a point when the Holy Spirit, if wilfully and\nperseveringly resisted, ceases to strive with man, no one doubts who\nbelieves in his renewing and sanctifying agency; but too many take it\nfor granted that this point is not reached till the close of life, and\nneglect or resist the strivings of the Spirit till he gives them up\nto hardness of heart and blindness of mind, perhaps many years before\ntheir earthly existence has terminated.\n\nThe first case I shall mention is that of a woman about thirty years of\nage, with whom I conversed in the presence of her mother. I inquired if\nshe was a member of any church. She answered, \u201cNo.\u201d I asked if she had\nnot at some time felt concern for her salvation. \u201cYes,\u201d she said, \u201cI\nthink but few have been more anxious on the subject than I was once.\u201d\nI asked at what period of her life this occurred, when she gave me the\nfollowing account of God\u2019s dealings with her. \u201cWhen I was about fifteen\nyears old, I felt that I was a great sinner in the sight of God. Often\nmy distress was so great that I could not sleep; and for three years I\nseldom had peace for a week at a time. I knew that the Holy Spirit was\nstriving with me, and that I ought to yield my heart to his influence;\nbut I thought it would cut off my pleasures in the midst of youth. I\ntried to banish the thoughts of eternity; but they would still return\nand interrupt my pleasure. I tried reading novels and romances; they\ngave me relief for a while, but my distress returned. At last I went\nto the ballroom--and I have never since had such feelings as before.\u201d\n\u201cAnd have you no fears,\u201d said I, \u201cthat you have grieved away the Spirit\nof God for ever?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d she replied, \u201cI have no doubt of that, and\nthat I shall be lost.\u201d I proceeded to describe the state and misery\nof the lost, and appealed to her, by the prayers of her mother and the\ntears which were then falling from her sunken eyes, by the danger of an\neternal separation from pious friends, by the glories of heaven and the\nagonies of the Son of God, now to make her peace with him and be saved.\n\u201cAll this,\u201d she calmly replied, \u201chas been tried upon me before. Nothing\nthat you or any other man can say on that subject, can move me now. My\ndoom is fixed.\u201d\n\nAnother case was that of Mr. B----, who was over seventy years old,\nand living an ungodly life. I approached him with kindness, and at\nlength he conversed freely. I spoke of the goodness of God to him in\nhis advanced years, and asked if he hoped he had an interest in Christ.\nHe replied, \u201cNo.\u201d I asked if he received the Bible as the word of God.\nHe answered, \u201cYes.\u201d I said, \u201cThe Bible teaches that a man must be born\nagain before he can enter the kingdom of God; do you think you have\nexperienced that change?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d said he, \u201cI never have.\u201d I saw that\nhe was intelligent, and inquired if no \u201cstill small voice\u201d had ever\nwhispered to him, \u201cSon, give me thy heart?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d said he, \u201coften. I\nused to feel, but for many years I have not felt as I did when I was\nyoung. I then had some very serious times.\u201d I asked at what period he\nhad felt most deeply the importance of religion. He replied, \u201cWhen I\nwas seventeen I began to feel deeply at times, and this continued for\ntwo or three years; but I determined to put it off till I should be\nsettled in life. After I was married, I reflected that the time had\ncome when I had promised to attend to religion; but I had bought this\nfarm, and I thought it would not suit me to become religious till it\nwas paid for, as some time would have to be devoted to attend church,\nand also some expense. I then resolved to put it off ten years; but\nwhen the ten years came round, I thought no more about it. I often\ntry to think, but I cannot keep my mind on the subject one moment.\u201d I\nurged him by all the terrors of dying an enemy of God, to set about\nthe work of repentance. \u201cIt is too late,\u201d said he, \u201cI believe my doom\nis sealed; and it is just that it should be so, for the Spirit strove\nlong with me, but I refused.\u201d I then turned to his children, young men\nand young women who were around him, and entreated them not to put off\nthe subject of religion, or grieve the Spirit of God in their youthful\ndays. The old man added, \u201cMind _that_. If I had attended to it then, it\nwould have been well with me to-day; but now it is too late.\u201d\n\nOn conversing with a man in middle life, he informed me that his father\nwas a devoted Christian, that he was faithfully instructed and his mind\nwas early impressed with the importance of religion. In his youth,\nthere was a period of six months in which he was in distress, day and\nnight; and a voice within seemed to be continually saying, \u201cForsake\nyour sins and come unto me, and I will give you peace.\u201d \u201cBut,\u201d he\nadded, \u201cI did not wish to be a Christian then; I thought it would ruin\nmy pleasures. I visited a part of the country where dancing and balls\nwere frequent; in a little time my serious thoughts were gone, and I\nhave never had any since.\u201d I asked if he did not fear that God had\ngiven him up. \u201cYes,\u201d said he, \u201cI am afraid he has. I go to church and\nread the Bible, and try to feel, but I cannot.\u201d I strove to arouse his\nfears, but it was in vain. I afterwards learned that he was pursuing\nhis worldly business on the Sabbath.\n\nIt is not for me to pronounce that God had said of all these persons,\nthey are \u201cjoined to their idols, let them alone;\u201d \u201cwoe to them when I\ndepart from them;\u201d but the state of all such is unspeakably alarming.\nIf the eye of such a one falls upon these lines--if you have persisted\nin saying, \u201cGo thy way for this time; let me alone, that I may have the\npleasures of this life,\u201d and have quenched the Spirit by resorting to\namusements, the novel, the ballroom, or the theatre, God may have given\nyou what you desired; but what have you now of all these pleasures?\nCan you look back upon them with an approving conscience? Will they\nbring you consolation in a dying hour? Have you not even now in your\nown soul, if you would make the confession, the gnawings of the worm\nthat never dies, the burning of the fire that is never quenched? If the\nSpirit of God is now striving with you, it is the most momentous period\nof your existence. It is perhaps the turning-point between heaven and\nhell--the songs of angels, or the wailings of the finally lost. Beware\nof stifling the Spirit. Multitudes have told me the dreadful tale,\n\u201cI went to scenes of amusement, or turned to the exciting romance,\nand I have felt no anxiety since.\u201d While the Spirit strives it is the\nseed-time of eternal life, the embryo of a happy immortality. Sit not\ndown to count the loss of sinful pleasures; receive the Saviour into\nyour heart, and you will have pleasures lasting as eternity--pleasures\nthat leave no sting behind--pleasures that will sustain the soul when\non your dying pillow, when the last trumpet shall sound, and the\ncongregated world stand before God.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMany facts of a more cheering character might be given. The Rev. N.\nC----, who had a pastoral charge in M---- county, said to me, \u201cA\ncolporteur had left a copy of the Anxious Inquirer in the house of\na wealthy man in M---- county. After some time he became interested\nfor his salvation. One day while there on a visit I pointed him to a\nchapter in this book, and requested him to read it. He read it, and\nsoon found peace. Like every real Christian, he desired the salvation\nof his relations. He sent the book to his brother, a physician, who,\ntogether with a sister, were led to Christ by reading it. The book\nis kept in the family as an heir-loom.\u201d On another occasion Rev. Mr.\nC---- said he was sent for to go some distance to see a sick woman.\nHis custom was always to carry with him a few select books to give or\nloan. He gave her a copy of the Anxious Inquirer, and requested her\nhusband to read it to her. Both were irreligious; but by God\u2019s blessing\non reading this book, both were led to the Saviour. A colporteur sold\na copy of the same book to a man who sent it to an absent son. It led\nhim and two of his companions to Christ. A colporteur gave a copy of\nBaxter\u2019s Call to a very wicked family, who never went to church. Within\nten months he found the reading of it had been blessed to three of the\nhousehold. A tract put into a wagoner\u2019s feed-trough while driving his\nteam on the Sabbath, was the means of stopping him from travelling on\nthe Sabbath, and led him to repentance. He became eminent for his\npiety and usefulness in the church.\n\nA missionary who preached once a month in a wild region, and gave part\nof his time to colporteur work, often told me of a family that lived\njust beside his little mountain church, but never entered it. When he\nbegan the colporteur work he made them a visit. The man told him he did\nnot wish him to say any thing to him on the subject of religion; that\nif he wanted to hear him, he could go to the church. All the time he\ntalked and prayed, the man was muttering, and his wife increased the\nspeed of her wheel to drown his voice. Finding all his efforts to get\ntheir attention in vain, he laid down a copy of Baxter\u2019s Call and a few\ntracts, and left them. On his return to fill his next appointment at\nthe little church, to his surprise this man and his wife were in the\nchurch near the pulpit. During service they were deeply exercised. At\nthe close he spoke to them about their souls. They told him that after\nhe left their house they began to think about the way they had treated\nhim, and had read his little books, and found they were great sinners.\nAt his next communion they both joined his church, and they were among\nthe most consistent and useful of its members.\n\nOne morning I took the stage to go to the railroad, some sixteen miles\ndistant. There were two gentlemen in the stage. Both knew me, but I\ndid not know them. One was a preacher, with whom I talked all the\nway to the d\u00e9p\u00f4t. While waiting for the cars, the other passenger,\na fine-looking young man, said, \u201cI can\u2019t let this opportunity pass\nwithout making myself known to you. Do you remember laying your hand on\nthe shoulder of a youth in the town of B---- six years ago, and urging\nhim to seek the favor of God, and handing him a little book?\u201d I said\nI had no recollection of it, as I was doing something of that sort\nalmost every day. \u201cWell,\u201d said he, \u201cthat talk and book were the means,\nI trust, of my salvation. I have since that time gone through college,\nand hope soon to preach the gospel.\u201d He was the son of a poor widow. He\nis now an able minister of the New Testament.\n\nOne day while on a journey, I came to a very small cabin on the top of\na high mountain. A poor widow was by the door in very homely apparel.\nI asked her if she had a Bible. \u201cNo,\u201d said she, \u201cbut I have a part of a\nTestament, and a number of little tracts.\u201d Seeing a number of clean but\npoorly clad children, I began to ask them questions. The answers they\ngave would have done credit to most of our Sunday-school children. I\nasked her if she had a church or Sunday-school near. \u201cNo; there is no\nchurch or Sunday-school anywhere in reach. My children have never been\nin either, and I have not been at church for eight years.\u201d \u201cWhy,\u201d said\nI, \u201cmadam, how have you got your children so well instructed?\u201d She ran\ninto her cabin and brought her whole library, which consisted of a part\nof a Testament, and several little books and tracts sewed together,\nwhich I learned had been given her by colporteurs in their visits.\nSaid she, \u201cI read these to my children every Sunday, and teach them to\nread them, till they know all that is in them.\u201d I added to her supply\nlittle books till the countenances of herself and her children were\nradiant with joy, and I felt it was truly \u201cmore blessed to give than to\nreceive.\u201d\n\nA few miles further on I stopped at another cabin. The woman looked at\nme a moment. \u201cOh, I know you. You are the man that preached and gave us\ntracts at the church down on the river. I trust I was converted there.\nCan\u2019t you give me some tracts to give away? I am living now among very\nwicked people.\u201d I gave her a package, and passed on.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\n\nOn the invitation of several leading men, I visited L----, east of the\nmountains. The evening I got there the Rev. Mr. N---- called on me to\n\u201chold forth the word of life\u201d for him that night. He stated that there\nwas some interest in his church, and that he was unable to make any\nspecial effort, on account of his health. Although I had travelled\nforty miles that day by stage, in an hour I was addressing the people;\nand for eight days meetings were continued by exhorting and scattering\ntracts; at the close of which time twenty-two had professed faith in\nChrist, some of them among the most influential men in the city.\n\nOn the first Sabbath morning I was there, a lady of earnest piety\nprevailed on her husband, who was a Universalist and had been raised\nin that faith, and a young German whom he had employed as a clerk, to\naccompany her to the church. This German had been a tutor in one of the\ncolleges in Germany, a man of fine education; but he was connected\nwith a rebellion against the government, and had to fly in the night,\nand made an almost miraculous escape in disguise. He was an infidel.\nMy subject was, \u201cthe worth of the soul;\u201d and God truly gave me what I\nsaid. They both became awakened; and seven years after, Mr. H---- the\nhusband of the lady joined the church, and is now an elder. He says he\nwas never without conviction from that Sabbath morning till he yielded\nto Christ.\n\nThe German, Mr. S----, became intensely exercised. He attended all the\ninquiry meetings, and often called on the pastor, Mr. N----. His agony\nof mind bordered on despair. He was told again and again that whenever\nhe could give up all for Christ he would find peace. After spending a\nwhole night in prayer, he came to Mr. N---- in the morning, woke him\nout of sleep, and said, \u201cMr. N----, I have nothing on earth I care for\nbut this box of rings and jewels, which my mother and sisters took from\ntheir ears and fingers the night I fled from Germany; these I have held\nas sacred mementos of their love. Take them, sell them, and give to\nthe poor.\u201d Mr. N---- said, \u201cMr. S----, you are not far from the kingdom\nof God; let us pray.\u201d In a few moments he threw his arms around Mr.\nN----\u2019s neck, saying, \u201cOh, I have found Jesus.\u201d Mr. N---- handed him\nback the box, and said, \u201cMr. S----, the Lord does not need the jewels.\nAll he required was, that feeling of heart you manifested in giving\nthem up.\u201d This man is now a missionary in some of the islands of the\nsea. His talents are all consecrated to God.\n\nA young lady, Miss L----, very wealthy and proud, became awakened, and\ncontinued for many days on the verge of despair. She hardly ate or\nslept. She even became desperate: said God was not as good as his word;\nthat she was willing to give up all for Christ, but he would not save\nher. We talked and prayed with her several times each day, but all in\nvain. At last I said to her, \u201cMiss L----, you say you are willing to\ngive up all for Christ?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d said she, \u201ceven life itself.\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d\nsaid I, \u201cin the name of my Master I ask you, out of your large wealth,\nto give me a donation for the Tract Society.\u201d She replied sternly, \u201cI\nam not going to buy my salvation.\u201d Said I, \u201cThe Lord can do without\nyour money; but I have asked this to show you the deceitfulness of your\nown heart. You said a moment ago that you would give even life itself.\nNow,\u201d said I, \u201cI shall leave you to reflect.\u201d In a few days she sent\nfor me to rejoice with her, and the donation was heartily made.\n\nI then labored for three weeks in other churches in the city, and a\nlarge number professed religion.\n\nAmong other services, I was a week with Rev. Mr. W----, who has been\nfor some years president of one of our auxiliary tract societies. At\nthe close of his meeting one day, he said he would tell them what one\ntract had done. He gave the tract, \u201cHave you the Wedding Garment?\u201d to a\nyoung lady, with the request that she would go and read it over three\ntimes. She did so, and the next day she came to him as an inquirer. He\nthen gave it to her sister, making the same request, and the next day\nshe was an inquirer. He then gave it to a young man, and he has been\nled to Christ by it. \u201cAnd here before you,\u201d said he, \u201care all three of\nthem now rejoicing in hope.\u201d\n\nThe last month of the year 1850, I was invited by the Rev. Mr. C----\nto visit M---- county, and spend a week with him at each of his\ncharges, as he had two. The distance was ninety miles; the roads almost\nimpassable. I shrunk from the journey; but a voice seemed to say,\n\u201cYou must go.\u201d When I reached the town they were holding a temperance\nconvention, which I addressed on two occasions.\n\nOn Sunday morning I spoke first on the tract cause, and raised a\ncollection of $150. The night service was well attended. We continued\nmeeting twice each day, and visited families and distributed books and\ntracts all the rest of the time till Wednesday, but with no very marked\nresults.\n\nNotice had been given that meetings would begin at B----, Mr. C----\u2019s\nother charge, nine miles distant, on Thursday morning at eleven. We\nreached there at the hour, and had only eleven hearers. At the close\nof the service we were invited to a Mr. B----\u2019s to dine. He was a\nbackslider, rich and eccentric. We had determined to visit families,\ntalk, pray, and circulate tracts, till the time for the night service.\n\nWhen we came to Mr. B----\u2019s, the old man invited us into the parlor,\nand in a few minutes one of his daughters came in, a very beautiful\ngirl, and highly educated. After a little time I introduced the subject\nof religion to her kindly and politely. She gave me one of the most\nscornful looks I ever got, and rose to leave me. I was holding in my\nhand the tract \u201c_Don\u2019t be Offended_;\u201d and just as she was passing me I\npresented it before her. I saw the father was offended too. Rev. Mr.\nC---- and I both felt unhappy; but in a few minutes we were called to\ndinner, and Mr. C---- introduced me to two other daughters, which made\nall the family.\n\nWhen we were nearly through dinner, the offended one came to the\ntable. Her eyes indicated that she had been weeping, but nothing was\nsaid. After dinner we went to another house, and met a young lady who\nwas teacher in the female academy and also in a dancing-school. She\nmade very light of religion, and said she preferred the ballroom to\nthe church. I spoke to her the truth very plainly, and gave her a\ntract on dancing; and she turned away offended, and said she had no\nrespect for such Puritanical religion. At night we had a tolerably\ngood congregation, and the Lord was there indeed. Such was the state\nof things, that we invited all that were concerned about their souls\nto remain; and to our utter astonishment, the two offended ones were\namong them, weeping bitterly. The exhibition they had made of their\nwickedness had so overwhelmed them that they could scarcely wait till\nnight to confess their sins.\n\nThe next morning we resumed our visits. The first visit was to Mr.\nT----\u2019s, an elder in the church. In conversation with a daughter of\nhis she manifested much feeling. I gave a tract to one of his sons,\nwho, after reading it, came to his mother, and said, \u201cOh, mother, if\nI was to die as I am, my soul would be lost.\u201d That day and night the\ncongregation was large. By this time the pious people in the church had\nawoke, and all were at work with books and tracts. Business was almost\nsuspended in the village, and religion was the only theme. Almost all\nwere inquiring the way to Zion, with the exception of half a dozen\nmen, who threw every obstacle they could in the way. One of the worst\nof them went away to get out of the influence of the meetings, and was\ndead in three days. Another left his business and went to the country\nto avoid the presence of God, and has since died without hope.\n\nThe interest had become intense. On the way home from church three\nyoung ladies obtained hope almost simultaneously, and were all embraced\nin each other\u2019s arms. A short time after, a number of the anxious were\nassembled at Mr. T----\u2019s, where I was stopping. All were pleading for\nmercy, but soon they began to sing praises to God. They were heard by\npeople around, and in a short time many assembled. The new-born souls\nwere rushing into the arms of each other, and of their fathers and\nmothers, and thanking them for their prayers. This joy was no doubt\nmuch like that of the day of Pentecost. One hundred and twenty-five\nprofessed their faith in Christ, and were soon after added to the\nchurches; and so far as I have been able to learn, there was no\ncase of backsliding. Where God does the work, the work is well done;\nbut where it is done by mere human machinery, the results are very\nunsatisfactory. The town was revolutionized by this outpouring of the\nSpirit. The ballroom gave way to the prayer-meeting, and the drunkard\u2019s\nsongs to those of Zion.\n\nI gave Baxter\u2019s Call to a youth during this meeting, who told me, eight\nyears afterwards when I met him a preacher, that that book was the\nmeans of his salvation, and had it not been for it, he never should\nhave entered the ministry.\n\nAt another meeting some months afterwards in C----, there was a\npowerful work of grace, in every respect like those to which I have\nalluded. One old man professed faith in Christ, who was the third\nunbeliever in the family who had been led to Christ by the same copy of\nJames\u2019 Anxious Inquirer.\n\nI visited J. C. C----, a highly distinguished civilian of threescore\nyears and ten, who had filled many important stations in life, and who\nnow felt that his days were nearly ended. He took me by the hand very\nkindly, his countenance expressive of deep emotion, and said, \u201cI am an\ninquirer on the subject of religion; _I have attended to every thing\nbut my soul_.\u201d I directed him very briefly to the Saviour, and at the\nclose told him I would send him a little book in the morning, that\nwould direct him more fully. He thanked me kindly for the interest I\nfelt in him, and urged me to call again. The next morning I sent him\nJames\u2019 Anxious Inquirer.\n\nIn four days after I called again. His health had improved. He rose to\nhis feet, his countenance bespoke peace within, and giving me a cordial\nshake by the hand, he said, \u201cI have read that little book through\ntwice; the great question is answered. I think I understand what is\nmeant by faith in Jesus Christ.\u201d I then explained to him as fully as I\ncould the nature of the _new birth_--the evidences by which we might\ndecide for ourselves the reality of the change. His very appearance\nwas entirely changed--the deep anxiety that sat on his countenance had\npassed away, and happiness was expressed in every feature.\n\nIn a few days he was able to walk, and called to see me. He said he\nhad read the book through again; that it was \u201c_a great book_; but\nthe writer had omitted one important point--he did not inform the\nreader how long the work of sanctification must be continued after\na man was justified; that justification was an act _instantaneous_,\nbut sanctification was a work.\u201d I replied, \u201cOur Saviour said to the\nthief on the cross, \u2018This day thou shalt be with me in paradise;\u2019 here\nsanctification was completed in a few hours.\u201d \u201cI thank you, sir, that\nis enough: here is a check for $30, for the Tract Society; it is doing\na great work.\u201d\n\nFor six years he remained steadfast in the great doctrines of\nsalvation by faith in Christ, and in a blameless Christian life,\nthough ever distrustful of himself. Soon after his death in February,\n1856, at the age of seventy-seven, the Rev. Mr. M---- justly said\nof him, \u201cWell-deserved tributes have been paid by the governor of\nthe commonwealth, and by the legislature and other public bodies to\nthe distinguished public worth and private virtues of this eminent\ncitizen. His views of salvation by faith in the crucified Redeemer\nwere clear and scriptural, and showed that the powers of a vigorous and\nhighly cultivated mind had been brought to bear upon the all-important\nsubject. He often expressed surprise that any one could read the holy\nScriptures in the proper spirit, and not be convinced of the reality\nof religion, the divinity of the Saviour, and the atoning efficacy of\nhis precious blood. His faith was simple and childlike. No dependence\nwhatever was placed in his own merits or righteousness. The atonement\nof the Son of God was \u2018the anchor of his soul,\u2019 the basis of his hopes\nof heaven.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\n\nMost of the facts and incidents in these sketches were committed to\nwriting about the time of their occurrence, and may be relied on as\nsimple verities. Much of deep inherent interest, which met my eye, or\nfell upon my ear, might have been added, but for its inappropriateness\nto the character of this work, or unduly swelling the narrative.\n\nThose enjoying the calm refinements of social life in our favored\ncities and villages, who have never entered the abodes of ignorance and\npoverty in the moral wastes of the land, may be unwilling to credit\neven the facts related; but in a matter of such infinite importance\nas the enlightenment and salvation of perishing souls, could the real\nfacts have been consistently withheld?\n\nIn the providence of God I was sent out as a watchman, not upon the\nwalls of Zion, but _outside of those walls_; and ought I to conceal\nthe facts, and report, \u201cAll\u2019s well,\u201d when hundreds of thousands are\ndying in sin and ignorance of the great salvation? Would not such\nunfaithfulness be criminal in the sight of God?\n\nAnd when the Holy Spirit was poured out in marvellous effusions, almost\nas in the day of Pentecost, should not the facts be recorded to the\npraise of divine grace in Jesus Christ?\n\nReared as I was from infancy under religious privileges, I had no\nidea that any part of our land was in the sad moral condition which I\nfound actually to exist; or that the distribution of printed truth and\npersonal labors \u201cpublicly and from house to house,\u201d were ever so richly\nblessed. And such erroneous and defective impressions as to the wants\nof our fellow-men, and the encouragements to labor for their good, I\nbelieve are very prevalent.\n\nI remember the day when I was confident that all around me were well\nsupplied with the Bible, but on examination I found eight families,\nand among them my next door neighbor, who had no Bible; and a pastor\nwho regarded Bible efforts in his congregation as quite unnecessary,\non investigation received from family after family the report, \u201cNo\nBible,\u201d the family of his own sexton being among the number. An\nexcellent young man, now a missionary in a distant land, on faithfully\nexploring a wealthy county, stated what he had seen to Mr. W----,\na distinguished Christian citizen. \u201cI have heard of you,\u201d said the\ngentleman. \u201cI don\u2019t believe the statements you are making about the\nmoral destitutions of this county. I have made up my mind to go with\nyou and see for myself.\u201d The young man welcomed his company. In the\nfirst dwelling they entered the family had no books, not even a Bible.\nSaid Mr. W----, \u201cGive them $2 50 worth, and I will pay for them.\u201d In\nthe next they entered, and in the third, they found equal destitution;\nand in each case Mr. W---- said, \u201cGive them $2 50 worth, and I will\nfoot the bill.\u201d They went further, but soon Mr. W---- said, \u201cMy young\nfriend, the half is not told; take this $20 and go on with this\nheaven-directed work.\u201d\n\nAs to the rich blessing that has attended the reading of books and\ntracts, it is well for those reared in the midst of church privileges\nand good libraries to consider how different the influence of a good\nbook may be on such as have few books, or none at all. Take, if you\nplease, a prosperous family in the interior of the country, far from\nany book-store, who may have an old family Bible, a few school-books,\nor perhaps some other old books moral and religious. A colporteur\nenters with his saddle-bags of beautiful books. The children are almost\nfrantic with joy. Each member of the family gets a book. It is devoured\nwith greediness--not by a gospel-hardened sinner, but by one who has\nfew or no gospel privileges.\n\nIs it strange that such a one, on reading the Pilgrim\u2019s Progress, the\nAnxious Inquirer, or Come to Jesus, is immediately awakened to seek for\npardon and salvation? Is it not rather _more strange_, that every one\nwho attentively and solemnly reads such a book is not led to Christ?\n\nAnd when we come down to those who are wholly destitute of books, who\nrarely hear a sermon, and yet are able to read, the effect is often\nstill more powerful for good.\n\nNotwithstanding all that has been done, I believe _one half_ of all the\nfamilies in our land now belong to one of these two classes.\n\nHence the necessity of this system of evangelization. We fear the time\nis far distant when our country will be so well supplied with churches\nand pastors as to reach the surging masses of all languages that\nare crowding our vast territories, seeking homes for themselves and\nfamilies.\n\nLet each one ask himself, in view of the final account he must give\nto God, \u201cWhat can I do for these perishing thousands?\u201d Here a way is\npointed out by which every one can do something, either by _laboring_,\n_praying_, or _giving_. An old lady unable to move about, with an\nincome of $600 per annum, gave $150 each year as the salary of a\ncolporteur, and she had a few other ladies to meet her once each week\nto pray for God\u2019s blessing on his labors. Few men in latter days have\ndone as much good as this colporteur, Mr. C----r. She thus labored by\nproxy. The man is still living who at first paid $150 for my support,\nand was thus instrumental in whatever good I have done. Hundreds would\nbe ready to go and work in this department of Christian effort if means\nwere provided.\n\nThis system of labor developes the dormant power of the church.\nHundreds whose influence for good was never felt outside of their own\nfamily circle, have become successful laborers in this heaven-born\nwork. Many of them are now able ministers of the New Testament, who\nwould have remained \u201chewers of wood and drawers of water\u201d had it not\nbeen for this system of doing good. I call to mind the names of a score\nof men who have been brought into the work of the ministry either\ndirectly or indirectly by this system of colportage.\n\nShall a work of so much power for good, and so much needed, be\nunsupported? The price of one ocean steamer would support it\nefficiently over the whole land for one year.\n\nThe issuing of this history is what the writer never intended to\ndo, or allow others to do while he lived. He has prepared it, if he\nknows his own heart, purely with the hope it may do good. He trusts\nit may suggest to some whose supreme desire is to honor Christ in\nthe salvation of men, a way by which they may gain the blessing of\nthose who \u201cturn many to righteousness,\u201d and who shall shine, above\nthe brightness of the firmament, \u201cas the stars for ever and ever.\u201d\nThat this may be the gracious reward of him who writes, and of all who\nread this book, is the fervent prayer of THE PIONEER COLPORTEUR IN THE\nALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS.\n\n    NOTE.--The labors of this single-hearted, devoted, and\n    fearless servant of Christ were at first secured for one year\n    to explore some of these wild mountain gorges. Having been\n    continued five years as above, they were extended southward in\n    the Alleghany range, and at length over the whole states of\n    Virginia and North Carolina, till he had had the co\u00f6peration\n    of three hundred colporteurs, and their visits had reached\n    five hundred thousand families, over forty thousand of whom\n    attended no place of evangelical worship. Usually they read\n    the Scriptures, conversed, and prayed in each family; and they\n    gathered into Sabbath-schools seventy thousand children, many\n    of whom received their first book and learned their first\n    lesson through this agency. Such wonderful effusions of the\n    Holy Spirit as in some instances above recorded, were rarely\n    witnessed, but these continued labors were evidently owned in\n    the conversion of multitudes of souls. As the writer of the\n    above sketches, now a commissioned minister of Christ, has\n    well said, \u201cIt must have been the work of God, who causes weak\n    things to confound the mighty. It was God who led the way, and\n    raised up men and means, and guided his servants, and blessed\n    them with his presence; and to him be all the glory.\u201d\n\n  W. A. H. SEC\u2019Y.\n\n    NEW YORK, December, 1863.\n\n\n\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s note:\n\nInconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.","title":"Five Years in the Alleghanies","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":39664}