Flowers and fruits from the wilderness

Front matter

Class Book

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

|l,ap-M |apsxrsW |a.6^-4-f ^

Preface

HAVE 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

G 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 affliction and physical suffering. Had I been able to go on with ministerial duties, the work would never have

VI PREFACE.

appeared. Hence I have written when I could do nothing els-e.

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

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 Avished 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

PREFACE. VII

accordance with my view, " 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 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 of the published documents in my possession are positive contradictions. In such cases

VIII PREFACE.

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.

CONTENTS,

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 — 1835 . 19

CHAPTEE II.

THE DECISION— l^^Q.

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 — Out-generalled — 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

CHAPTEE 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.

WAR—imQ,

PAGE

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 Y.

AN EMEUaENCY—l^Zl,

Snow — An Indian Fight — Lieut. Errath — 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 59

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 YII.

FIRST FRUITS IN THE MIDST OF TRIALS — 18S8.

PAGB

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.

THE WEST— 18S8.

Land OflSce Opened — Sam. Houston's Protest — Land Speculators — The West — An Expedition — Goliad — A Sermon — Antelopes — A Chase — Indians and Eattlesnakes — 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.

Dark Clouds — Lagrange — Wm. Scallorn — Preaching — R. E. B. Baylor — Minute Men — A Lad Captured — Plum Grove

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

CHAPTER X.

WHAT SHALL WE Z> Of — 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.

PAGE

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

CHAPTEE XI.

Endians — John H. Moore — Indian Cliiefs at San Antonio — An Invasion ^- Burning of Linnville — The Stragglers — A Man Killed — Another Wounded — East Oxen — Captain Dick Chisholm — Ed. Burleson — The Courier — Eight at Plum Creek — Chief Killed — The Retreat — Mrs. Watts — 1839 . 123

CHAPTEE 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

CHAPTEE XIII.

THE DECISION UNDER DARK CLOUDS— 184:2.

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. Scallorn — A Lonely Night Ride — The Reconciliation — Another Letter — Texas for Life — 1842 . 150

CHAPTEE XIY.

MEXICAN INVASION— 18i2.

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

COXTEXTS. XIII

PAGE

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

CHAPTER XY.

San Antonio Captured — Col. Caldwell — March from Gonzales

— Meet Jack Hays — Our Spies — Meeting — A Speech —

— Hays made Captain — Henry E. McCuUoch — A Mexican Captured — General Woll's Strength — Attack Brought On — The Eace — Our Position — The Speeches — The Eight — 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 As so elation — Earquahar — Baptists Abused — Elder Hosea Garrett — Eamily Affliction — All these Things against Me --Death— 1843 181

CHAPTER XYII.

DISSENSIONS AND TROUBLE IN EASTERN TEXAS

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

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

— Predestinarian Association — Elder Durham — Eree Will Baptists — Eanaticism — Much Dissension — 1843 . . 185

XIV CONTENTS,

CHAPTER XYIII.

ORGANIZATION IN MIDDLE TEXAS— lUi.

PAGE

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

CHAPTEE XIX.

ANNEXATION AND EDUCATION— lU^.

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.

PIONEER PREACHING — ISiQ.

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. XV

CHAPTEE XXI.

THE RAGE TRACK AT SPRINGFIELD ~IUQ.

PAGB

Danger among Cut-throats — Springfield — The Grog-shop — The Eace Track — The Baptism — The Mental Struggle — Season of Prayer — Sermon to Horse-racers — The Result — A Deliberate Conviction — 1846 . . . . " . 241

CHAPTEE XXII.

TWO ASSOCIATIONS — 1U7.

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 255

CHAPTEE XXIII.

TWO ORDEALS: ONE SPIRITUAL, AND ONE CARNAL

Order and Obedience to Law — Alien Immersion — Trouble — The Victory of Truth — Great Personal Danger — Pour Bears lulled — Failing Health — Resignation as Missionary — 1847 269

XVI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXIY.

PAGB

Progress — Trinity River Association — Elder Ledbetter — " Linsey-Woolsey, Tin-Headed" — Elder Mays — Eider Clabaugh — Thirteen New Churches — Elder O'Brian — Church at Waco — Trinity River High School — Elder Burleson — Waco University — Elder Benja-min Clark — Elders Parks, Green, and Allen — Red River Association — Elder Piland — Missions — Elder Pickett — Elder Briscoe — 1848 . 276

CHAPTER XXY. .

Necessity for a General Organization — Elder Jesse Mercer — The Central Committee — State Convention — Tender-footed Preachers — Elder H. 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.

TWO ASSOCIATIONS— 18i9.

A Review — Elm Eork Association — Church at Rowlett's Creek

— Elder David Myres — 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 Eive — 1849 305

CHAPTER XXVII.

HARMONIOUS ACTIVITY— 1860 TO 1852.

Unity — Collection of Historical Eacts — Elder Jonas Johnston

— Cherokee Association — High School — Missions — Elder

CONTENTS. XVir

PAGE

Chilton — Great Prosperity — Bethleliem Association — Elder Vining — Queries — Elder Phelps — Elder Eeuben E. Brown — Elder Pre witt — Deaths — 1850 to 1852 . . . .314

CHAPTEK 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 — Agents

— East Texas Male College — Elder Rowland — Army Mission

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

— Judson Association — 1853 324

CHAPTEK XXIX.

REVIVALS— 1854: AND 1855.

Sam. Houston Baptized — General Revival — A Dry Season — Meeting at Block House Springs — West Pork 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 Heisig — 1854 and 1855 341

CHAPTER XXX.

SKETCHES— 1851 TO 1867.

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

— Elder Elledge — Mount Zion Association — Eive Associations formed in One Year — Elders Clabaugh and McClain — San Marcos Association — Elder Covey — Eider Burroughs

— Elder Picknc}^ Harris — The Droughts — Elder Law — Waco Association — J. W. Speight — Lawyers — Elders

XVIll CONTENTS.

PAQB

Grain and Harris — City of Waco — Elder Carrol — San Antonio Association — War — Triumph of Truth — Condition of the Churches — Elder Wm. Carey Crane — Elder J. B. Link — 1857 to 1867 . . . . . . . . . 352

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE LAST TRIP OF A PIONEER — ISQS.

British Honduras — Eeasons 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 — Yampire Bat — Mountains and Jungles —Progress of Truth — 1868 and 1869

CHAPTEE 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 — Eailroads — Schools — Contrast in number of Ministers, Membership, Churches and Associations — Prospects 384

FLOWERS AND FRUITS.

CHAPTEK I.

A TROUBLED PKEACHER. IN 1835.

ECEMBER, 1835 — October, 1871. Thirty-six 3'ears ago I planted my feet on the soil of Texas. How great the contrast in our circumstances then and now ! And what a train of memorable events flashes upon m}^ 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 th6 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 necessar}^, according to the decision of two of 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 dmong 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 very much disturbed. This obstacle in the way, and 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 way south as far as Yellabusha 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 all 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 " 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. 21

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 Missis sippi. 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 towards 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 physicians 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 organization 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 Yellabusha 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 pare" (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 were placed in the same category, and non-fellowship declared against every member of these institutions, whether Jew or Gentile. 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 PRE ACME E. 23

his 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 ivorks 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. Finall}^, as the day 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 my 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 PREACHER. 25

tics, that Christ and the apostles fixed upon the churches. If Grod 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 jom 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 this I could only reply, that we missionaries had one decided advantage. While the " iron jackets " boast of election and predestination, the missionaries are masters of the situation. "How is that ?" cries the anti-missionary. We reply, " You worship a God that saw the end from the beginning, but left out all the means leading to and accomplishing the end. We worship an all-wise God who ordained the means leading to the end, as well as the end itself; and he has ordained the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, as a means in his own hands." He asks, "Where do you find the word means f 2 Samuel xiv. 14 : " For we must needs die, and are as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again ; neither doth God respect any person : yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him."