Flowers and fruits from the wilderness, or, Forty-six years in Texas and two winters in Honduras

Front matter

THE LIBRAK »

m fGHA?lo?^N?rTWmRS|T¥

JROVO, UTAH

Preface

tHAYE written this book because I thought I ought to write it. Some of the facts contained in it were known only to me. Many that were known only to me, and a few of my early associates in Texas, who are still living, would be lost when we are dead, and our time is very short.

For the past fifteen years I have often been urged to write by those who were anxious to have some of the facts and incidents connected with the early society and the rise of religion in Texas preserved. Last October I was requested to write by the Baptist State Convention of Texas.

These friends and brethren did not ask me to write a book ; but the. work has grown upon me, as I toiled on, until it has assumed this form.

I have written under great personal afiliction and physical suffering. Had I been able to go on with ministerial duties, the work would never have appeared. Hence I have written when I could do nothing else.

The work is written in a narrative style, because I could write in no other way. My memory served me better in this train.

PREFACE.

My personal history in Texas, by following this plan, is interwoven with the state of society and the rise and progress of civilization and religion. If any imagine that I have intentionally made myself the hero of the book, through a spirit of selfishness and pride, let them remember that I am in my seventieth year, and conscious of the fact that " the silver cord ” and "the golden bowl” will very soon be broken. My personal history is merely incidental, the remembrance of it serving to bring up the train of facts and incidents that I wished to record.

Some of the facts and anecdotes may appear silly and ludicrous ; but the thoughtful reader will see that they are all illustrative of the state of things surrounding at the time.

If a humorous spirit is manifest, sometimes inducing a smile, be it remembered, that the sentiment expressed by Mr. Spurgeon, the great London preacher, in his preface to "John Ploughman,” is in perfect accordance with my vie^, "that there is no particular virtue in being seriously unreadable.”

My indebtedness is hereby acknowledged to Elder J. W. D. Creath, who has kindly allowed me the use of a large amount of material, which he has been years collecting, relative to the rise and progress of religion in Texas.

I am under special obligation to Elder M. Y. Smith, for encouragement and assistance in many ways. Most of this work has been done under his

PREFACE.

roof. The offices of kindness shown me by this family have been many. He has aided me much in collecting statistics, arranging and revising. Without the assistance of brethren Creath and Smith I could

not have succeeded.

Some may suppose that more statistics relative- to the state of the country, men, and organizations, ought to have been given. The limits of the book would not admit of it. My purpose has simply been to lay the foundation for the historian. If I have succeeded in this, I have accomplished my most sanguine expectations.

Among some the published documents in my possession are positive contradictions. In such cases I have adopted that which I believed to be correct. If important mistakes occur in the book, and proper testimony is privately given me, I will have corrections made in future editions.

I have not been able to get a single complete file of minutes. ♦

If the reader of this humble volume shall have gained any useful information, or shall have been impressed with the power of the Christian religion in developing good society, and in furnishing rest and peace at the end of life, I shall be more than' gratified.

Trusting in God, I send the little message forth, and ask a patient and thorough examination.

Z. N. Morrell.

Brenham, Texas, July 9, 1872.

PKEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

The first edition of one thousand copies of this work was issued a few months since. Its rapid sale, in the course of a few weeks, exhausted the entire edition.

A second edition, with some slight verbal corrections, mostly in names and dates, was put to press, but while in the process of printing, the plates and paper, with the office in Boston where the work was being executed, were destroyed in the recent extensive conflagration which visited that city.

Notwithstanding this serious loss, encouraged by the very flattering commendations and unusual sale of the work, it has been re-stereotyped, and a new improved edition now appears, which it is hoped may find increased favor in the eyes of the people.

. Z. N. Morrell.

Brenham, Texas, January 25, 1873.

Preface To The Third Edition

For the past two years I have been urged to add to my former history; and though, as the reader has learned, I ha^e met with many reverses in life, ending in having my stereotype plates burned, yet I comply with the demand, and earnestly ask my brethren and friends to aid me in the sale of this edition.

None who know me will expect me to write any more. Whether I live or die, arrangements are made to keep the book iw circulation till some brother shall prepare a better history.

Z. N. Morrell.

Kyle, Hays County, Texas, June 14th, 1882..

Chapter I. A Troubled Preacher— In 1835

PAGE

Reasons for Coming to Texas — Texas in 1834 — Removal to Mississippi — Sam. Houston and the Cherokee Indians —

The Secret — Meet Tennesseans — New Association — Elder Frank Baker — The Contest — Heretics and Associational Authority — Anti-Missionaries — Start for Texas — 1836 . 19

Chapter II

A still small Voice — Reach Texas — An Anecdote — The Refugee — First Night in Texas — Battle at San Antonio — Nacogdoches — Aspirants — Elder Daniel Parker — Texas Grievances — Our Tom — Grades of Society — The Soldiers — Outgeneralled — The First Prairie — “ Green from the States ” —

David Crockett — Jesse Webb — Sleepless Night — Brazos — Buffalo Chase — Forty Tennesseans — First Sermon in Texas — Deacon Cartmell — Determine to Move the Family — 1836 29

Chapter III. The Wilderness Shall Blossom As The Rose

Homeward Bound — Change in the Climate — Nacogdoches —

The Election on Sunday — A Sermon — Wm. Whitaker —

Safe Return — 1836 . 46

X

CONTENTS .

Chapter IV. Paqx

Preparations to Move — Declaration of Texas Independence — Alamo — Battle of San Jacinto — Meet Sam. Houston — Surrounded by Indians at Night — Harvey Killed — Friends in Time of Need — Supper with Soldiers — First Texas Newspaper— Population in 1836 — Indian Smokes — No Ammunition — Trip in search of Powder and Lead — Fresh Courage —

1836 49

Chapter V

Snow — An Indian Fight — Lieut. Erath — Farming under a Guard of Soldiers — Ammunition and Supplies Out — State of Finances — Trip to Houston — Horses Stolen — Navasota River — Houston in 1837 — First Sermon in the City — 1837 69

Chapter VI

A Sad Incident — Harvey’s Daughter Found — Two Men Killed — Meeting broken up by the Indians — The Lonely Night Ride —

Trip to New Orleans — The Currency — Fort Captured — Coreyell Killed — Losses — Prayer Meeting at Washington

— Baptists in 1837 — Vigilance Committee — An Impostor

— Soldiers Furloughed — Singing — John Barleycorn — First

Church Organized — Catholic Priests — Marriage Contracts — Evading Mexican Law — The Happy Change — 1837 . . 68

Contents

XI

Chapter VII. First Fruits In The Midst Of Trials— 1838

PAGE

Sam. Houston’s Ingenuity — His Letter to Santa Anna — The Devil’s Prayer Meeting — Protracted Meeting at Washington

— The Disturbers — The Conflict — The Victory — Gamblers and the Widow — Captain Cook — Mrs. Taylor Killed — Peter

J. Willis — Sick Family — First Conversion — 1838 . . 79

Chapter VIII

Land Office Opened — Sam. Houston’s Protest — Land Speculators— The West — An Expedition — Goliad — A Sermon — Antelopes — A Chase — Indians and Rattlesnakes — San Patricio — Corpus Christi — The Surveyors — Matthew Burnett — Flight from the Indians — Personal Danger — Lying

— A Reckless Reconnoitre — An Indian Boy — Decided not

to Kill him — Surveyors Captured — The Treaty — The Big Chief — Every Spirit begets its Like — 1838 .... 92

Chapter IX. Ore A T Enco Ur A Gement— 1839

Dark Clouds — Lagrange — W m. Scallorn — Preaching — R.

E. B. Baylor — Minute Men A Lad Captured — Plum Grove

— First Baptism — The Revival — 1839 . . . . 107

Chapter X. What Shall We Do? — 1839

Cherokee Indians — General Rusk — Hard Times — The Barrel of Flour — A Trip to San Antonio — A Dead Body Found — Night Ride — Gonzales — Guadalupe — The Shepherd Dogs —

The City — Catholicism — Camanches — Cordova — Ed. Burleson— The Fight — Indians Attempt to Steal Horses — An

XII

CONTENTS.

TA OB

Owl — Education — A Trip to Mississippi — Yellow Fever — Fraud — Land-trade — 1839 113

Chapter XI

Indians — John H. Moore — Indian Chiefs at San Antonio —

An Invasion — Burning of Linnville — The Stragglers — A Man Killed — Another W ounded — Fast Oxen — Captain Dick Chisholm — Ed. Burleson — The Courier — Fight at Plum Creek — Chief Killed — The Retreat — Mrs. Watts — 1839 . 123

CHAPTER XII. Early Organization — Union Association — Education Society

Elder Tryon — Elder Huckins — A Noble Confession — Elder Baylor — Sad Letters — Missionaries — The Name Union —

Elder Cox — The Trial — Revival at Washington — 1840 and 1841 132

CHAPTER Jill.

Home — Preaching at Gonzales — Alone in the West — The Methodist Circuit-Rider — Mending Old Shoes — An Exciting Incident — Doctor Witter Killed — The Sweetest Music — Letter from Wm. Scallom — A Lonely Night Ride — The Reconciliation — Another Letter — Texas for Life — 1842 . 160

Chapter XIV. Mexican Invasion— 1842

An Exciting Canvass — Sam. Houston Elected — His Policy — Church at Gonzales — Baptism Interfered With — Mexican Invasion — Repairing Wagons on Sunday — The Retreat —

CONTENTS.

xm

VA.QV

School-teaching — Elder Ellis — Elder Byars — Mexican Army in San Antonio —The Court Captured — 1842 . . 157

Chapter XV

San Antonio Captured — Col. Caldwell — March from Gonzales — Meet Jack Hays — Our Spies — Meeting — A Speech —

Hays made Captain — Henry E. McCulloch — A Mexican Captured — General Woll’s Strength — Attack Brought On —

The Race — Our Position — The Speeches — The Fight — Captain Dawson — The Retreat — A Horrid Scene — Orders Disobeyed — Judge Hemphill — Prisoners in Chains — Battle at Hondu — Luckey Wounded — Hays’ Company Increased to a Hundred Men — The Charge — Gibson Wounded —

Ben McCulloch — General Mayfield — A Fearful Ordeal — A Shameful Retreat — 1842 163

Chapter XVI. Affliction — 1843

Union Association — Farquahar — Baptists Abused — Elder Hosea Garrett — Family Affliction — All these Things against Me — Death— 1843 181

Chapter XVII

Eastern Texas — Sabine Association — Elder Isaac Reed — Neutral Ground — Counterfeiters — Scheme Exposed — Moderators and Regulators — Union Church — Elder Asa Wright

— Elder Herrin — Border Church — First Baptism in the East

— Predestinarian Association — Elder Durham — Free Will

Baptists — Fanaticism — Much Dissension — 1843 . . 185

XIV

CONTENTS .

Chapter XVIII. Paqb

Organization in Middle Texas — Divine Guidance — Return of a Son — H. C. McIntyre — Elder Whipple — Baptism by Elder Baylor — Montgomery — Church at Galveston — Church at Houston — Doctor Marsh — Huntsville — Disorganizes— Elder Green — Disturbers — An Anecdote — Victory Complete — Church Organized — Elder Stovall — Church at Anderson — Post Oak Grove — Ferriage — Overcoat Pawned — Providence Church — 1844 . . . . 195

Chapter XIX

Sam. Houston’s Valedictory — James K. Polk — John Tyler — Education — Baylor University Chartered — Education Society — The Presidents — Ministerial Education — Elder Stribling — Interesting Incidents — J. W. Barnes — Elder D.

B. Morrill — The Old Institution — 1845 .... 202

Chapter XX

The Change — A Missionary — Inquiry after Baptists — Judge Baylor — Judge Hemphill — Deacon Pruitt — Elder J. G. Thomas — High Waters — Jerry — In Camp — Sanders — No Meat and Bread — Turkey Hunt — Corsicana — Elder Byars — Ship Load of Preachers — Elder Hill — 1846 . . . 227

CONTENTS.

XT

CHAPTER XXI. PAOl

Danger among Cut-throats — Springfield — The Grog-shop —

The Race Track — The Baptism — The Mental Struggle — Season of Prayer — Sermon to Horse-racers — The Result — A Deliberate Conviction — 1846 241

CHAPTER XXII. Cheering News — Letters Granted — Colorado Association

Elder Ellis — T. J. Pilgrim — Elder Taliaferro — Elder Chandler — Elder Kimball — Triumphs of the Gospel — The East — Herrin and Reed — Eastern Missionary Association — Reasons for Organizing — Sabine Association — Border, Eight-mile and Macedonia Churches — Elder Lewis — Elder Jesse Witt — Church at Marshall — Soda Lake Association — Elder Perry — Missions — Elder Dodson — Increase and Decrease — 1847 265

CHAPTER XXIII. Order and Obedience to Law — Alien Immersion — Trouble

The Victory of Truth — Great Personal Danger — Four Bears Killed — Failing Health — Resignation as Missionary

— 1847 269

XVI

CONTENTS .

Chapter XXIV

paoh

Progress — Trinity River Association — Elder Ledbetter —

“ Linsey-Woolsey, Tin-Headed ” — Elder Mays — Elder Clabaugh — Thirteen New Churches — Elder O’Brian — Church at Waco — Trinity River High School — Elder Burleson— Waco University — Elder Benjamin Clark — Elders Parks, Green, and Allen — Red River Association — Elder Piland — Missions — Elder Pickett — Elder Briscoe — 1848 . 276

CHAPTER XXV. Necessity for a General Organization — Elder Jesse Mercer

The Central Committee — State Convention — Tender-footed Preachers — Elder II. L. Graves — A Landmark — Elder R. C. Burleson — Missions — Elder Creath — Missionaries

— Elder Eisher — Elder Ross — “The Texas Baptist” —

Elder Baines — A Native “ Pitching ” Horse — 1848 . .291

CHAPTER XXVI. A Review — Elm Fork Association — Church at Rowlett’s Creek

— Elder David My res — Union Church — Missionaries — Elder

J. M. Myres — Elder Portman — South-eastern Texas — Eastern Texas Association — Central Association — Elder Lucas — Maine Liquor Law — Labor-Saving Machines — One Man doing the Work of Five — 1849 305

Chapter XXVII. Harmonious Activity— 1850 To 1852

Unity — Collection of Historical Facts — Elder Jonas Johnston

— Cherokee Association — High School — Missions — Elder

CONTENTS.

XVII

Chilton — Great Prosperity — Bethlehem Association — Elder Vining — Queries — Elder Phelps — Elder Reuben E. Brown

— Elder Prewitt — Deaths — 1850 to 1852 .... 814

Chapter XXVIII

Northern Texas — Sister Grove Association — Elder Briscoe — A Good Executive Committee — Elder Walker — Ladonia Institute — Elder Featherston — Children of Elder D. B. Morrill —

Elder Sam Wright — General Association — Elder Lepard —

Elder Lane — Eastern Convention — Elder Baggerly — Agent*

— East Texas Male College — Elder Rowland — Army Mission

— Elder M. V. Smith — Elder McCraw — Brenham Church

— Judson Association — 1853 324

Chapter XXIX. Revivals — 1854 And 1855

Sam. Houston Baptized — General Revival — A Dry Season — Meeting at Block House Springs — West Fork Association — Elder Eaves — Little River Association — Elder J. S. Allen — Elder Cole — Ordination of Elder Anderson — Elder Howard

— A German Boy — German Mission — Elders Kiefer, Gleiss

and lleisig — 1854 and 1855 341

Chapter XXX. Sketches — 1857 To 1867

Death of A. H. Morrell — Patent Office — Austin Association

— Elder Elledge — Mount Zion Association — Five Associations formed in One Year — Elders Clabaugh and McClain —

San Marcos Association — Elder Cpvey — Elder Burroughs

— Elder Pinkney Harris — The Droughts — Elder Law — Waco Association — J. W. Speight — Lawyers — Elders

XVIII

CONTENTS.

Page.

Crain and Harris— City of Wacd— Elder Carroll— San Antonio Association — War — Triumph of Truth — Condition of the Churches — Elder Wm. Carey Crane — Elder J. B. Link —

Chapter XXXI. The Last Tbip Of A Pioneeb— 1868. •*

British Honduras — Reasons for Going— A Dream — Families Emigrating — New Orleans — A Sermon — City of Belize — Population — Execution of Law — Health — Religious Denominations— Elder Henderson — System — Soil of the Country — Productions — Palm Tree— Scriptures Illustrated— Timber- Disadvantages — Diseases — Sand Fly — Chegre — Beef Worm — Bottle Fly — Vampire Bat — Mountains and Jungles — Progress of Truth— 1868 and 1869 268

Chapter XXXII. The Conclusion

Texas as it was in 1835, and Texas as it is in 1872 — Area of Texas — Population then and now — Droughts — Newspapers — Post Offices — Railroads— Schools — Contrast in Number of Ministers, Membership, Churches and Associations — Prospects . 384

Chapter XXXIII. Age And Suffebing

Missions — Open Doors — J. W. Creath — San Antonio— W. H. Dodson — R. J. Sledge — Changes in the West — Isaac Sellars —

A. S. Bunting — S. C. Harl — Church Buildings— B. Hatcher —

T. J. Dodson — J. M. Carroll — J. D. Wright — G. W. Baines, jr. — Home Mission Society — Sunday School Convention —

W. D. Powell — Kitt Williams — W. E. Penn — Education —

T. H. Storts — Wm. Jordan — 1881 — Sad Records — Jonas Johnston—J. W. D. Creath— H. L. Graves — Robert Alexander • 387

Chapter XXXIV

Population — Post Offices... Railroads — Public Schools — State Treasury — Baptist Statistics. . . . • * • . 411

Chapter I. A Troubled Preacher. — In 1835

«ECEMBER, 1835 — October, .1871. Thirty-six years ago I planted my feet on the soil of Texas. How great the contrast in our circumstances then N ^ and now ! And what a train of memorable events flashes upon my mind, as I review the conflicts and conquests of these years, — conflicts between barbarism and civilization, anarchy and well-regulated government; conquests of truth over error, and the faith of the gospel over priestcraft and superstition.

A brief history of some of the reasons that led the writer to Texas may be of interest. Some will, doubtless, suppose that a desire to roam over the earth, and to occupy fields hitherto uncultivated, was the only reason for this change. Not so. Perfect satisfaction was felt with the brethren, and the field of “ good old Tennessee.” But fourteen years of excessive ministerial labor in that State, attended with much exposure on long tours, swimming high waters, and preaching on an average about one sermon a day for nine years, brought on hemorrhage of the lungs, and made it necessary, according to the decision of two of

FLOWERS AND FRUITS.

our most eminent physicians, that I should emigrate south, and cease my ministerial labors, at least for a series of years. Language can never describe the sadness I felt, when I realized that the change must be made. Parting with fields, friends, brethren, and churches, where I had so long been accustomed to witness the triumphs of the gospel, to take up my abode among strangers, with shattered health, and with the responsibilities of my family and my ministry upon me, all this taxed my Christian fortitude to its utmost capacity.

My mind was turned to Texas in the fall of 1834. Its government was then veiy much disturbed. This obstacle in the way, ancl the additional fact that the iron arm of Catholicism was stretched over the whole land of Mexico, then embracing the State of Texas, did not make it a very desirable field for a Baptist preacher, who had always been accustomed to express himself boldly and independently. Catholicism, “ the man of sin,” I considered as a sworn enemy to me as a Baptist, and, after committing my way to God, I concluded to wait with patience for further light.

To move south was urged upon me as a present necessity, and in tears, with wife and four children, I wended my wray south as far as Yallabusha County, Mississippi, and tarried to see what the gathering cloud in Texas would bring forth in 1835.

Sam. Houston was then in Texas among the Cherokee Indians, pulling the wires, by making friends with ail the wild tribes of the red men of the forest ; thereby intending, with their aid, and with what emigration he could draw out from Tennessee and elsewhere, to set in motion u a little two-horse republic under the Lone Star,” with the fond expectation that he would be its first president. This he had

A TROUBLED PREACHER .

privately prophesied would be the case, in a confidential interview with his friend McIntosh, a deacon of the Baptist church at Nashville, about the time Houston abandoned the gubernatorial chair of Tennessee. Knowing that I had Texas on the brain, and in view of the fact that I had been a friend and admirer of Gen. Houston, for my encouragement, my good brother McIntosh committed this secret to me.

Months of gloom pass away, and I am still in Mississippi. Hemorrhage continues, as I wait the result of the climate upon my general health. With the prophecy previously alluded to in view, and with my mind turned south and west toward Texas, I was confidently expecting every day to learn that the political cloud had exploded, and that, as Sam. Houston’s artillery would flash its lightning and roll its thunder across the prairies, the “ Lone Star ” colors would be raised, independence declared, the Republic formed, religious liberty established, and then I could go to Texas. But, alas ! it is delayed.

With bleeding lungs, under special orders from my Tennessee ph}rsicians to refrain from preaching, and yet with fire burning in my bones to declare the way of salvation to the lost, I meet with brethren, acquaintances from Tennessee, and am urged to preach. The temptation was more than I could bear. By the way, I have always suffered from a weakness of this kind in the midst of gospel destitution. Three new churches are soon organized. All call me to serve as pastor ; which is promptly declined, in consequence of my health and anticipated removal farther west, and I only consent to serve as a supply till other arrangements can be made. These churches, added to those already in existence in this section, make the organ-

FLOWERS AND FRUITS .

ization of a new association, according to the decision of the brethren, a necessity. The time and place were agreed upon, and delegates appointed to meet at Troy, a little town on the Yallabusha River, in the fall of 1835. Having had a vast amount of trouble in the old State, above referred to, with the anti-missionaries, in organizing both churches and associations, and having been repeatedly ground by them in the flint-mills of tyranny and bigotry, in my feeble and worn condition, I confess I had no anxiety to engage in a similar contest in the new State of Mississippi. Notwithstanding my protest, I was selected as one of the delegates to bear a letter for the church. This I consented to do, after the church had passed a resolution, giving the delegates authority to withdraw the letter and return it, provided the association would not agree to an organization on gospel principles ; allowing members to give to missions or not, as they saw proper.

These were days when the “ old Simon pure” (as they called themselves) really thought it was a sin to belong to a Missionary -Society, Bible or Tract Society, Sunday School, Temperance, Odd Fellows’ or Masonic Lodge. All these wTere placed in the same category, and non-fellowship declared against every member of these institutions, whether Jew or Gen tile. By the way, I had the audacity to contend for, belong to, and forward any or all of them, whenever opportunities were offered. We met on the ground at the appointed time, and Elder Frank Baker was chosen as president, after a sermon by Z. N. Morrell. The president elect, be it remembered, was a decided anti-missionary, a man of wealth and great personal influence ; but, withal, a warm-hearted, earnest Christian, never losing his equilibrium in the heat of debate. Courteous and kind in all

A TROUBLED PREACHER.

bis bearings, full of wit and humor, you could but love him, though you differed with him widely. After the temporary organization was complete a committee of five — the writer a member of it — was appointed to draft articles of faith, constitution and rules of decorum. This took place on Friday. Saturday was occupied with such business as could be properly attended to, waiting the report of the committee.

Preaching on Sunday, as was usual in that day. No cut and dried thirty-minute sermons were expected. We met at nine in the morning, and continued preaching until the sun was low in the west. The congregation on this occasion was very large, and preachers, one after another, occupied the entire day. All cool, doctrinal investigations.

Monday morning at length arrives, and the report of the committee appointed on Friday is called for. Now comes the tug of war.

The first objectional feature was found in an article making it criminal to contribute to the support of all the benevolent institutions of the day ; making special declaration, that all members of the association should withdraw from Masonic Lodges, as they were nursed and fostered by the unfruitful works of darkness. As I was a member of the committee and the only minister it interfered with, I made my objections and enforced them ; but finding myself overruled on the committee, I determined to let it pass, and fight it before the convention. If the reader will look over the long list of benevolent institutions, and remember that all these, without a single exception, were severely condemned by the article referred to, he will at once see a vast field opened for investigation. One by one they were taken up; objections made and answered. Finally, as the day

FLOWERS AND FRUITS.

was almost gone, the question was called for, and the objectionable feature expunged.

If my memory is not at fault, only one other article came up that demanded a decided protest. This article made all heretics accountable to the association. This was such a plain violation of the word of God, and looked so much like lording it over God’s heritage, by wresting the power from the churches, which I then believed, and do yet believe, are the highest authority either civil or ecclesiastical under heaven ; and in addition to this, considering my great exhaustion in consequence of the former debate, I resolved with the brethren who came with me to let it pass, and, by authority of the church of which I was a member, withdraw from the association and return home. The Author of the truth decided otherwise. Thanks to his great name, although I did not feel able mentally or physically to enter into an extended argument on this great question, yet I was able to cry No when the vote was taken, so as to be heard at the extreme limits of a large congregation. Profound silence reigned for some time. The president re-examined during the pause the letter we had borne, giving some discretionary power, and requested the association to call for the reasons of the long and emphatic No. By a vote of the body, after an almost unanimous ay in favor of the article, I was in my weakness called to the defence of the truth. With a church history in ray hand, that was a favorite with me at the time, the minutes of some of the oldest associations of America, and with an open Bible, I took my stand, and gave the following reasons, which I will here condense as much as possible : —

1st. The law of God is violated in this article, by transferring to the association the responsibility touching here-

A TROUBLED PRE ACKER.

tics, that Christ and the apostles fixed upon the churches. If God in his word has referred matters of discipline to the church, as his executive, then it is positive rebellion against the King in Zion for any other body to assume disciplinary powers.

2d. A grand objection to the article is found in the fact, that the annual meetings of the association, to which you propose making heretics responsible, are nowhere in the Scriptures referred to as annual convocations. Baptists have ever held, that associations are bodies created by the churches and subject to their creative authority ; simply as advisory councils, and to effect by combinations of churches what could not be accomplished by single churches in spreading the blessings of the gospel of peace.

3d. No power can create a power greater than itself. The association was here shown to be the creature of the churches, and therefore inferior in authority to the power that made it. Water cannot rise above its level. Man was not greater than his creator. No association, conference, or convention has the right to wrest a man from the authority of the church, and try him for heresy.

At the close of this discussion the convention adjourned, and repaired to the house of the president, one mile and a half distant, where preaching had been announced for the night. As before remarked, he was a man of wealth. Here we found a large house and a liberal heart. Preaching was soon over, and brother Baker, to-day our president, and to-night our landlord, with the brethren assembled in a large chamber, was delighting himself with good-humored boasts of belonging to the company of “ old iron jackets and steel buttons/’ now and then making sarcastic hits at the missionaries and their folly in trying to do God’s work. To