Autobiography of Rev. James B. Finley; or, Pioneer life in the West

Preface

Don’t run; I shall not ' be long-winded. Just hold on a moment, as I have but few words to say. I always did despise long introductions to sermons, and scarcely ever listen to one with any degree of patience. I have an equal dislike to a long introduction to a book, and, hence, verbum sat .

The following pages contain a brief, unvarnished narrative of the incidents of my life ; and as, in the providence of God, I was permitted to grow up with the west, it may not be uninteresting to the people of the west, to be made more fully acquainted with my somewhat eventful history.

For upward of forty years I have been constantly engaged in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in the woods, cities, and villages of the west; and nearly all that time, with few exceptions, such as I have noted, my name has been on the effective list of traveling preachers.

My time, with what talents I had, has all been consecrated to the Church of my choice, and now, after the lapse of almost half a century in the service of the Church, I would not recall what I have done and suffered for Christ’s sake. The only regret that I have is, that I did not accomplish -more.

While the work was going through the press, I was engaged in the enterprise of building a new

PREFACE.

churcn, the one occupied by my charge being too small. Part of my time has been employed in raising funds for this object, and I am pledged to see this infant Church through its difficulties.

The proceeds of this work, after paying the expenses of its publication, are to be appropriated to a benevolent object; and I trust it may meet with favor among the thousands of Christian friends with whom in life I have had pleasant communion, and with whom I hope to spend a happy eternity in the communings of a better world.

J. B. Finley.

Cincinnati , Ohio , May, 1853.

Chapter I

His parentage — State Mid condition of the country at that day — Mis* sion of his father to North and South Carolina — Civil war — Tory party — Tory Major — Patriotic songs — Charles "Wesley — His mother — Grand* mother — Excitement in the Presbyterian Church on Psalmody — The Methodist preacher — Emigration to Kentucky — Trip down the Ohio — Efforts by Indians to decoy the boats to shore — Fate of Rev. Mr. Tucker — Maysville — Death of his grandmother — Removal to Washington, Mason county, Kentucky — Simon Kenton — Girty — Kenton’s conversion — Mode of administering justice — Stocton’s Station — Visit of the Indians — Their depredations — Stratagem of his mother — Captain Cassady — Melancholy event — Early love of the chase — Wolves — Canebrake — My father’s congregation— Opens a high school — Importance of education. - • -Pages 15-42

Chapter II

Backwoods character — Immigration — Hatred of the Indians — Army under Gen. Harmar — Spies — M’Arthur and Davis — Incidents — Thrilling adventure of two spies — Spies appointed by Gen. Wayne — Capt. W. Wells — Extraordinary feat — Dispatch to take an Indian prisoner — Adventure — Singular recognition — Capture of a Potawatomie chief — An instance of humanity— Dispatch for another prisoner — A daring act — Wells and M’Cleland wounded — Irving’s account of M’Cleland — Anecdote of a trapper— Pioneer bravery— The soldier-boy — Mrs. Hunter and the Indians. - •• 43-68

Chapter III

Life in the backwoods — Food and dress — Cabins — Backwoods wedding — The Buffalo — Mode of catching — Mills of the early settlers — Game — The elk — Bear — Adventure with — The deer — The panther — The wolf— The coon — Sports with — The opossum — Hunter’s life — Backwoods dress. -69-98

Chapter IV

The army of Wayne — Land Speculators in Kentucky— Col. Massie — Meeting at Manchester — Exploration of the Scioto country — Skirmish with the Indians — Another party — Cultivation of land on the Scioto — Town of Chilicothe laid out — Zane’s trace — Remarks on progress — Firs* wagon driven to Chilicothe — Beauty of Scioto bottoms — My first visit — Diseases of the country — Murder of an Indian — Robbery — The first hotel

CONTENTS .

in Chihcotlie — First store — First physician — First ministers — First legislature— Court — Trial by jury — Emancipation of slaves — Trip to Ohio — Destination — Winter camps — Hardships — Indian Antidote — Fondness for Indian life — Early education — Study of medicine— Drove of cattle — Jour ney to Detroit — Hardships encountered. Pages 99-118

Chapter V

Backwoods biography — Captain Cassady — Taken prisoner by the Indians— Mercer Beason — Melancholy end — Bazil Williams — His fleetness— Duncan M’ Arthur — His character as a spy — Responsible offices — John M’Donald — A brave man — Boys of those days — Horrible tragedy — M’Donaid joins Wayne’s army — Surveying tour — Encounter with Indians — Nathaniel Massie’s company — His character — Peter Lee — Nathaniel Beasly — William O’Banion. 119-134

Chapter VI

Tragical occurrence — Death of Capt. John Herrod — The cold-blooded murder of Wawilaway by Wolf — Death of Williams — Great excitement — Tecumseh — Council at Chilicothe — Peace restored — Trials of early settlers— Mr. Atkinson and family— House attacked by a bear — Brave conduct of the daughter 135-146

Chapter VII

Return to personal narrative — Winter spent in hunting — Bear hunt — Holiday sports — Marriage and housekeeping — Farming — Hunting — Young folks of that day — Fashionable life — Rev. John Collins — Country schools — Sabbath-breaking — Bear hunt — Loss of property — Solitude of the wilderness— Adventure with a bear. 147-160

Chapter VIII

Early religious education — Catechetical instruction — Conversation with my father on election — Winchester’s Dialogues — Presbyterian elder — Cardplaying — Dancing — Great revival of religion in Kentucky — Meeting at Cane Ridge — Sensations produced — Conviction — Mayslick — Pious German— My conversion — Early experience — Persecution from the world — Exercises on the subject of preaching — Awful conclusion — Relapse into sin — Alarm and conviction occasioned by the accidental discharge of a gun. 161-174

Chapter IX

Awful temptation — Russel’s Seven Sermons — Methodist preaching — Class meeting — Reading the Scriptures, and prayer — Reclamation — Vows to God — Myself and wife join the Methodist Episcopal Church — Meeting at Fowler’s — Exhortation — Advice of the pious, old German friend — Erect a meeting-house — Quarterly meeting at Hillsboro — Rev. John Sale — Called to exhort — An incident — Persecution and temptation — Exercises about preaching — Submission to the will of God. 1 75-1 89

CONTENTS.

Chapter X

Consent to travel Scioto circuit — First appointment — West Union — Surprise— Camp meeting on Paint creek — Receive license as a local preacher — Admitted into the traveling connection, and appointed to Wills Creek circuit— Divine promises — Arrival at Zanesville — Description of circuit — Build a cabin for parsonage — Irish family — Roman Catholics — Conversion— Opposition in preaching — Principal text-books at that day — Preaching under a tree — An old German and son — German woman awakened — Painful incident — Alarming judgment — Visit to a poor woman — Rev. John Strange — Camp meeting on Tuscarawas river — Moravians — Mr. John Bowers and wife — The hunter and trapper — Appointment at his house — Tragical event — Indian Christians masacred — Rev. Mr. Mortimer. 190-211

Chapter XI

Mrs. Boarer — Her efforts to cross the Capin Mountains — Lost — Snowstorm— Dreadful night — Loses her horse — Unprecedented sufferings — Gave herself up to die — Faithful dog — Found — God’s grace sufficient. 212-217

Chapter XII

The doomed chieftain — Wyandott warriors — Mr. Sells’s interference in behalf of the Wyandott chief — Charge of witchcraft — Council condemn and sentence him to death — Preparations for the execution — Manner of death — Burial. 218-222

Chapter XIII

Knox circuit — Local preachers — Bowling Green — Emissaries of Satan — Revival at Mount Vernon — Rev. Samuel Hamilton — Capt. Gavit — Camp meeting anecdote — Gavit’s conversion — Rev. Robert Manly — Appointment at Newark — Threats of the rabble — Man shot — Revival at Mr. John’s — Conviction of a young lady — Great revival — Young man possessed of the devil — His conversion — Successful labors — My successor — Arian and Socinian heresy — Sad effects of it to this day — Newlights — St. Alban’s township— The Owl creek Universalist — Fairfield circuit — Rev. Ralph Lot- ■peech — Extent of the circuit — Local preachers and prominent members — Great earthquake — Consternation of the people — Whisky distiller and party — The young preacher’s grave. 223-24.2

Chapter XIV

Young men called to the ministry — Rev. Cornelius Springer — Rev. Samuel Baker — Rev. Job Baker — Rev. Jacob Hooper — Rev. Henry Baker — John Dillon’s iron works — The Dillon family — Formation of a class at the iron works — Building of a meeting-house — Bishop M’Kendree — Rev. John Goshen — His labors — Methodist Church and temperance — Advised to go home — Temperance sermons — Pledge — Rushville camp meeting — A row—

CONTENTS.

Advice to the rowdies — Conference at Chilicothe — Bishop Asbury and the appointments — West Wheeling circuit — Rev. Jacob Young — Guessing at the numbers in society — Roman Catholic convert — Abel Sargent, the halcyon preacher — The unhappy influence of the war spirit — Local preachers — Model class-leader — Poor Jane Craig — The young law yer Pages 243-261

Chapter XV

Union of Barnesville and West Wheeling circuits — Rev. Michael Ellis — The old German Methodist — An adventurous man — Great revival on Duck creek — Camp meeting at Fairview — A son of Belial — Cross Creek circuit — Rev. Archibald M’ Elroy — Extent of the circuit — Church discipline — Calvinist controversy — Present of a handsome Bible — Irish Ridge — Letter from brother M’Elroy — Rev. J. C. Hunter — Society at Steubenville — Money mania — Bankers — Towns — Bishop M’Kendree — His pack-horse— Arrival at the camp meeting — Methodist family at Springfield — Journal— Smithfield Church — Training of members — Conference at Louisville 262-284

Chapter XVI

Appointed to the Ohio district — Extent of — Singular custom at meetings— Fanaticism — Calvinism and Universalism — Presbyterian Union — Confession of Faith — Rev. Thomas Branch — Singular text — Camp meeting— Hostile indications — Captain of banditti — Judge Cushing — A singular case — An English officer — A verdant young missionary — Quarterly meeting in Major Gaylord’s barn — Dr. Bostwick — The conversion of a French soldier — Camp meeting on Lake Erie — The conversion of the sheriff— Americana horribilis — Two remarkable instances of conviction — Conference at Steubenville — A request for a talented minister — Russel Bigelow 285-308

Chapter XVII

Mode by which backwoods preachers were manufactured in otliei days — Cumberland Presbytery — Meeting for candidates for the ministry — A wild mountain-boy — His experience — The geologist — Bethel camp meeting— The mountain-boy preacher — Another specimen — Methodist camp meeting near Springfield — Kentucky orator — Personal appearance in the pulpit — Style of preaching — Power over his auditors — A desperate encounter and struggle— Victory 309-329

Chapter XVIII

The young missionary and the robber — The moral condition of the far west, as represented by a certain class— Travels of the young missionary—Arm of the Grand Prairie— The appearance of a suspicious-looking stranger — The alarm of the missionary — Taken home by the stranger—

CONTENTS. 9

Agreeable surprise — His host a local preacher — Different spheres of usefulness Pages 330-336

Chapter XIX

The martyr preacher — Richmond Nolley — Summerfield — Cookman — Nolley’s early life — His call to the ministry — Admission into the traveling connection — Sent to Eddisto circuit, in South Carolina — Stationed in the city of Charleston, South Carolina — Washington circuit, Georgia — His habits and labors — Efforts to reach a distant appointment — Melancholy death 337-343

chapter' XX.

Personal narrative continued — Reappointed to the Ohio district — Wyandott Indians — Early modes of worship — Conference in Cincinnati — Bishops — Delegates to General conference — Appointed to Lebanon district— Local preacher — Camp meeting — Camp meeting at Mechanicsburg — Went to General conference — Discordant elements in the body — Proposal to make the office of presiding elder elective — Compromise — Rev. Joshua Soule’s opposition — M’Kendree’s request — Rule adopted to build churches with free seats — Declared to be advisory — Round of camp meetings— Solicited to send a minister to Detroit — Conference at Chilicothe — Returned to Lebanon district — First quarterly meeting at the Maumee Rapids — Dismal journey through the Black Swamp — Meeting with the Wyandotts at Big Spring — Religion of the natives — Adventurous trip to Detroit — Worship in the council-house — Governor Cass — Soldiers awakened under preaching — other appointments — Difficulty with an Indian — Indian reservation — Drew up petition for the Wyandott nation — Request for my appointment at Detroit — Not granted — Appointed to the Wyandott mission — No missionary funds at that day — Mission family — Difficulties connected with the mission — Sister Harriet Stubbs — Progress of scholars in the mission school — Organization of a society — Religion takes hold of the mind of the nation. 344-361

Chapter XXI

Astonishing revival in the west in 1800 — -joint labors of a Cumberland Presbyterian and Methodist preacher — Character of their preaching — Camp meetings — Cane Ridge camp meeting — Great excitement — A bold opposer smitten — Exhortation of a boy — Manner of the exercises — Jerking— Falling — Enthusiasm — Regular Baptists — Carey Allen — Springfield presbytery — Newlights — David Purviance — Gov. Garrard — Secretary — Tract on the Trinity — Shakers — Burton Stone’s exposition — Immersion — Elder Holmes — Elder Farnam — A. Sargent and his twelve apostles — Elias

Hicks — indwell and the last edition of Universalism 362-373

Chapter XXII

Personal narrative continued — Wyandott mission — Report of Judge Beit to Secretary of War — Appointed to Lebanon district — Cincinnati

CONTENTS .

station- Rev. J. F. Wright — Rev. Thos. A. Morris appointed editor oi Western Christian Advocate — Returned to district — Appointed to Chili cothe district — Dayton district — A remarkable incident — Zanesville dis trict — Appointed chaplain of the Ohio penitentiary — Superannuated — Appointed to Yellow Springs — Superannuated — Appointed to Clinton-street Chapel, Cincinnati — Wyandott nation removed — Reflections — Mrs. Catharine Walker’s remarks and poetry Pages 374-3S0

Chapter XXIII

Rev. Francis Asbury’s arrival in America — His early religious training — Conversion and connection with the Church — State of the Church in England— Early preaching — Planting of Methodism in America — Labors of the early bishops — Meager support — Methodist Episcopal Church organized— Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury elected joint superintendents — Interview of Asbury with General Washington — Academical and collegiate education— Cokesbury College — Methodist Church and literature — Asbury’a visit to New Haven College — A change — The fate of Cokesbury — Asbury and Sabbath schools — Asbury’s spirit — His general experience — His regard for the preachers — Incident in his travels — His amor patrice — Wesley’s political opinions — Death of Washington — Asbury’s opinion of — Celibacy of Bishop Asbury — Coke and Wh ate oat — Close of Asbury’a lie — 381-89/

CHAPTER XXIY.

Bishop M’Kendree — Camp meeting on Little Miami — Personal appearance of M’Kendree — His preaching — First interview with him — Thrilling incident — M’Kendree requested to preach his principles in full — Attacked by three Presbyterian elders — Circumstances connected with his election to the superintendency — Description of his sermon before the members of the General conference — Effect of that sermon — Prediction of Bishop Asbury— Twenty-seven years a bishop — Impartial in all his official acts — The close of his life. 398-4' J 6

Chapter XXV

Rev. David Young — His parentage — Early life — Experience — Relapse- - Wonderful preservation — His educational advantages — Taught a German school in Tennessee — Cumberland Presbyterians — Meditations — Convictions— Went to a large meeting — Obtained religion — Joyous emotions — Became a Methodist preacher — Views of the Cane Ridge revival — Ap pointed to Wayne circuit, Kentucky — His colleague — Total eclipse — Appointed to Livingston circuit — Extent of — Afflicted — Curious Indian burying-ground — Improper class-leaders — On his way to conference falls sick at Lexington— His personal appearance and general charac ,pr 407 418

CONTENTS.

Chapter XXVI

Early life of the Rev. John P. Finley — Professor of Languages in An gusta College, Kentucky — Fate of Augusta College — Finley is received into the traveling connection — Dr. Bascom’s tribute to his memory — Analysis of his character — Fifteen years in the ministry — Character as a man — As a teacher — As a husband — As a father — As a friend — As a minister — His triumphant end — Rev. Jonathan Stamper’s singular dream Pages 419-429

Chapter XXVII

Rev. W. B. Christie — Embraced religion in early life — Was admitted into the traveling connection in 1825 — Various appointments — Thrice elected to General conference — His personal appearance — Style of preaching— Power in the pulpit — Smitten with disease in the early part of his ministerial life — Compelled to desist from his labors, and repair to Cincinnati— His health rapidly declined — Religious experience — Christian testimony — Happy death 430-435

Chapter XXVIII

Indian Biography — Mononcue — His personal appearance — His eloquence as a public speaker — Specimens of his eloquence — Of great service to the mission among the Wyandotts — He was my faithful, well-tried friend and brother — His death — Between-the-logs — His birth and parentage— But little known of his early life — With the Indian army at the Maumee Rapids — Becomes a chief — Made principal speaker for the nation — Sent by his nation to examine the pretensions of a noted Seneca Prophet — Also, to examine the claims of a Shawnee Prophet — Tecumseh’s brother — Attended a great Indian council of the northern nations — Joins the Americans — Settled in Upper Sandusky — His opposition to selling the Wyandott lands — Proceeds with other chiefs to Washington — His reply to the Secretary of War — Result of interview with heads of departments— Embraced religion — Attends the Ohio conference — Address at New York — Big-tree — Personal appearance — Manners — Residence — At Braddock’s defeat when a boy — Indian wars — Hair-breadth escape — His conversion — Close of his life — The mysterious Indian chieftain and his bride — Their appearance at the mission — Regarded as superior beings — Personal appearance of the chief — His dress — Hunting apparatus — Horses — Conjectures — The bride — Her personal appearance— Dress— Their tent — Superstitious conjectures — Their mysterious disappearance — Indian tradition 436-455

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OK

.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF

REV. JAMES B. FINLEY.

Chapter I. Parentage And Early Life

My ancestors were Europeans. My paternal grandfather was of the old stock of Pennsylvanians from Scot land. He being one of the younger sons, his elder brother who, according to the laws of primogeniture, inherited the Finley manor, sent him to the El Dorado of the western world, in quest of his fortune. Having made Pennsylvania his home, he was in due time married to Miss Mary Patterson, a lady from Germany. My maternal grandfather— Mr. James Bradley — was a native of Wales. My grandmother was from England ; she was a lady of rare endowments, thoroughly educated, being well-read in the ancient languages. During the period of revolutionary strife and suffering she made herself acquainted with medical science, and opened a hospital for the sick and wounded soldiers, administering to their necessities with her own benevolent hand.

My father — Robert W. Finley — was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania; and, after having received all the advantages of literary training from the schools of his neighborhood and the instructions of his patriot mother, be was sent to Princeton College, New Jersey, and placed

U)

under the care of the venerable and talented Dr. Witherspoon, President of that institution. After having passed through his collegiate course, he spent several years in studying theology, and was occasionally employed as a teacher of languages. Being prepared, as far as a theological training could prepare him, for the work of the ministry, he was licensed, by the Presbytery, to preach the Gospel.

At that time there were great and pressing calls foi ministerial labor in the new settlements of the Carolinas and Georgia; and, obeying the command of his Master, to “go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature,” he volunteered his services as a missionary to that then distant field.

The country was in an unsettled state; the gloomy clouds of war hung bodingly over the American horizon ; and although our patriot fathers had cast off their allegiance to the British crown, had struck the decisive blow, and erected a broad, strong platform of national independence, yet the days of trial and conflict had not passed. The Red Sea had been crossed, the Rubicon had been passed, and their enemies overthrown like the enemies of ancient Israel; yet, before they could gain entire and undisputed possession of the fair inheritance they claimed, every foe had to be vanquished.

The times in which men live develop a corresponding character. A missionary of that day, imbued with the heroic spirit of the times, would not be likely to stop to count the cost of a perilous enterprise where the advancement of the kingdom of his Lord was concerned, but, buckling on his armor, would courageously go forth at once to “glorious war.” There being no missionary bank in any of the American Churches at that day, on whose resources the missionary could draw the needed supplies, young Finley bade adieu to home and friends, and, in the name of his Master, trusting in God for help and direction, hastened to his distant field of labor.

No sooner did he arrive, than he entered upon his wort of visiting the towns, villages, and settlements in North and South Carolina, and Georgia, preaching the Gospel, and planting Churches in destitute places. Here he labored for three consecutive years; at the end of which time he married Miss Rebecca Bradley, whose father — Mr. James Bradley, as above noticed — believing he could better the condition of his family by removing to a new country, sold out his possessions on the Delaware river, and removed to North Carolina. The marriage was celebrated in the year 1780, and on the following year, in the month of July, I was born.

The horrors of a civil war raged with great fury; neighbor was massacred by his neighbor. The Tory party, urged on by the British, resorted to every conceivable means of oppression and violence to drive all the Whigs from the country, or keep up a war of extermination. In this relentless persecution every feeling of humanity was outraged; and the barbarity of the savages contending for their native hunting grounds against the invasions of the pale face, falls below the savagism of Tory warfare. All of my mother’s brothers were killed in this most deadly strife. Captain James Bradley fell in Gates’s defeat, fighting by the side of that heroic stranger, Baron De Kalb, who, filled with generous emotions, left his father-land, to join in our struggles, and water the tree of liberty with his heroic blood. My uncle, Mr. Francis Bradley, was murdered by four Tories near his own house. He was assailed by them, and, knowing their purpose, he resolved to sell his life at the dearest rate. A fierce and deadly encounter ensued ; but, being overpowered by numbers, he was conquered, and the cowardly ruffians shot him with his own rifle.

Mr. John Bradley was taken prisoner, and died on board a prison-ship. My father and his congregation were very odious to the Tory party, and they were watched and waylaid on every occasion ; so that their lives were in jeopardy every hour. Even the sanctuary and the family altar afforded no security, but were ruthlessly invaded by these more than savage white men. One of the elders of my father’s Church, while engaged in solemn prayer around the domestic altar, was shot down in the midst of his family by one of his Tory neighbors. The Tory on passing was arrested by the voice of prayer, and stealthily slipping to the window, which, like Daniel’s, was open, he took a cool and deliberate aim at the heart of the worshiper, and his spirit fled to join the worshipers above. On that same morning my father was shot at as he stepped out of the door, the ball passing through the clothes on his breast. Those who killed Mr. Francis Bradley were followed, and three of them killed ; the other making his escape. After the war, the fugitive being found by my uncle Price, was summarily punished.

A Tory major, who lived in the neighborhood, on a certain occasion collected together at one house, by stratagem, all the wives of the Whigs, and hung them up by the neck till almost dead. This species of torture was resorted to for the purpose of extorting from them the place of their husbands’ concealment. Their love and courage proved entirely too strong for this trial, and not in one single instance was the slightest disclosure made. They despised alike the Tory and his threats. Some time after the war, this same valorous major returned to the same neighborhood where he had committed the dastardly act, and the sons of those mothers whom he had so shamefully abused took him out one night to a swamp, and gave him twenty lashes on his back for every woman he nad hung; they then tarred and feathered him, ducked him in the swamp, and told him if he did not leave the country in one month, they would draw every drop of Tory blood out of his body.

My grandparents were subjected to the severest trials ; not only suffering the loss of their children, but their property ; and their condition as well as that of all others similarly situated, would have been vastly worse, had it not been for the untiring vigilance and indomitable courage of the heroic Marion.

Like ancient Israel, who, while rebuilding the temple in troublous times, had to bear about them the weapons of war, so the ministers of the Gospel at that day were obliged to carry carnal as well as spiritual weapons. My father was obliged, from the necessity of the case, to take up arms in the defense of his country and family. Often while a little boy have I stood by my mother’s knee and heard her tell the bloody conflicts of those days ; and her tongue grew eloquent as she described the thrilling adventures of the courageous Marion. She frequently entertained us with the war-songs of those times. I recollect a verse of one of those songs, and will give it to the reader, as a specimen of the epic poetry of the times. The song was composed on the battle of King’s Mountain, and ran thus :

“ Proud Ferguson, he placed himself,

All with his ragged race,0 man;

He most defied the living God,

To take him from that place, man ;

But brave Campbell did him there surround,

And beat him on his chosen ground,

And gave him there a deadly wound.

With pell and mell the Tories fell;

It’s hard to tell how bad a smell They left upon the place, man.”

* Tories.

During the eventful struggle of the Revolution, the fires of patriotism glowed as intensely in the hearts of the females as the males. Often have I listened, with indescribable emotions, to the patriotic songs sung by the melodious and soul-inspiring voices of the patriot mothers and daughters of that day.

One has said, let me write the songs of a country, and I care not who makes its laws. This remark is full of meaning. No one can tell the wonders achieved by the power of the patriotic songs of a country. It matters not how homely they are. If they breathe the spirit of the times, they touch the heart and rouse it to action. The “Hail Columbia” of America, “Hail to the chief” of Scotland, “Britannia rules the wave” of England, the “Marseilles Hymn” of France, the “Erin go Bragh” of Ireland, have accomplished more in infusing patriotism and a military spirit into the minds of the people than all other agencies combined.

We well understand the power of holy song in rousing the dormant soul and raising the thoughts to heaven. That inimitable poet Charles Wesley understood the power and influence of song, who, when asked by a dissolute company for a song, and being allowed to sing one of his own composing, commenced,

“ Listed into the cause of sin,

Why should a good be evil?

Music, alas! too long has been Press’d to obey the devil.