The autobiography of Rev. John Baptist Snowden

Preface

This autobiography of Rev. John B. Snowden was prepared by him some time before his death with the desire to have it published during his lifetime. He had placed the manuscript in our hands for us to edit and publish it. We had commenced to prepare it for the press some time before death claimed its author, but after his death we deferred its publication, not being fully decided in our mind whether it should be given to the public or not.

But remembering that it was the desire of the author to give to his many friends, and especially to the rising generation, some facts concerning his long and well-improved life that might interest and benefit them in order to strive to make the most of life, we have concluded to fulfill the task imposed upon us to the best of our ability, and herewith give the book to the public.

While the volume is small, a careful reading of it, we believe, will prove both interesting and instructive to all who read it. The writer was not what the world calls a great man, yet he possessed the essential qualities of real greatness, which are honesty, truthfulness, purity and goodness, intellectual greatness without these qualities is a failure. Pope says kk An honest man is the noblest work of God/' No one who knew John B. Snowden would dare say he was not strictly honest.

We have recently learned that some of the author's friends are still patiently waiting for his book. We are sorry that they have been kept so long from its pages, but cherish the hope that fifteen years will not make it any less interesting. We also trust that all mistakes and the lack of graphic and cogent literary skill will be pardoned. The author simply stated his facts in a plain and common-sense way.

Thomas B. Sxowden.

Huntington, W. Va., May 10, 1900.

Introduction

The purpose of this work which I have the pleasure of introducing to the reader is to keep in memory the life and eminent service of an honored servant of the Lord. The sacred scriptures bear testimony and clearly define to us as to who are the just, the true, the upright in life. Such as honor God, render acceptable service to His church, are of inestimable value to the community in which they live and to their fellow-men in whatever good work to which they have devoted their lives, exerting moral and religious influences that have been effectual for good, and, the best of all, have been the happy means of leading many hundreds of their fellow-men to a better state of being and of devotion to the cause of Jesus Christ. Of the countless number thus engaged I have no hesitancy in naming the Rev. John B. Snowden, of precious memory. He was born of humble parentage and grew up to manhood under those limited advantages such as were permitted in his early day to those who were the servants and slaves of men. Recognizing the fact that he was a man, he struggled hard to develop his manhood and prepare himself for a useful career. He grasped every opportunity for improvement amid straitened environments. His highest ambition was to be a useful man. He hungered and longed for the invaluable benefits of an education that would make him a tower of strength in his day. And though that opportunity never came to him, as is the great advantage of the colored youth of the present day, with every facility for a broad and liberal education, with the doors of every school open before him, under the golden privilege of liberty and freedom, yet our venerable friend made the best of his time in what is called the dark

INTRODUCTION.

day, and of him it can be forcibly stated he did well what he could. Early in life he became a Christian and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He felt it was his calling of God to preach the Gospel and help in the gracious work of saving the souls of men. He was abundant in labors, and doubtless the seals of his ministry are many. He was a devoted student of the scriptures and from the sacred word he gathered the truths that he presented to others. A man of faith, living himself in the blessed experience of the truths of God's holy word, exemplary in devotion to religion and to all the doctrines and discipline of the church of his choice, to all of which he was an uncompromising adherent, his specialty was the doctrine of Christian perfection as taught .by Mr. Wesley in his immortal work, "Christian Perfection." This doctrine he always presented in the sermons that it was the privilege of the writer to hear him preach. It w r as the joyful experience of a full and complete salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord that enabled him to triumph in the closing moments of his life. Our venerable friend united with the Washington Conference in the year 1864, and served with acceptability and success the charges to which he was assigned. He was the father of a large family. His prudent and careful manner of life is seen in the children with which he was blest. His sons who have grown up to manhood now occupy positions of honor in the Christian ministry and business circles, and his daughters have become the wives of several leading ministers and prominent men. Several years before his death, unable to do effective pastoral work, he was granted a superannuated relation, but continued to preach and work among the churches as his strength would allow, true to the last. He died in sacred peace at his home in Westminister, Md., September 8, 1885, crowned with a good old age, esteemed, beloved, honored, revered. His life is an example of fidelity to the youth of our day. "Well done, good and faithful servant !"

Baltimore, May 16, 1900.

E. W. S. Peck.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. JOHN BAPTIST SNOWDEN.

CHAPTER I. My Grandparents

My maternal grandmother was Sarah Minty Barrikee. She was stolen from Guinea, a province on the southwestern coast of Africa, in the year 1767 or 1768. She often spoke of her native land. The thoughts of it would cause her to weep bitterly, knowing that she would never again set her eyes upon the home of her birth, where the happy days of childhood and the joyful days of youth and young womanhood had been spent in girlish sports and mirthful glee. She was a person with a strong womanly character and of great natural ability. I have no doubt about it, that had she the same opportunities of those who stole, bought and held her in bondage as a chattel she would have equaled them in intellectual development and far surpassed them in humane ^principles and religious culture. When stolen she was richly attired and lavishly adorned with jewels of great value. Her owners believed that she was the daughter of a nobleman or king. The captain took her jewels and gold lace, stating that he would give them to her when they got to this good country; but grandmother never saw her jewels again, and God only knows what became of them. She had three holes in each ear. The ring in the lower hole was very large, and she said all were of pure African gold. She said, "I was stolen while pleasuring with my maid Katy, and left behind me a husband and son whom I loved tenderly and affectionately." Thus she displayed the character of a true wife; yet such action upon the part of a slave was considered wrong and out of place by the master class in civilized America in ante-bellum days. Thank God, the cruel days of slavery have gone into the grave of forgetfulness, although much of the same spirit of those times still stretches its demoniacal form across the land. I plead with my people to strive to lO AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. JOHN BAPTIST SNOWDEN.

develop the highest type of Christian manhood by being diligent, sober and watchful unto prayer. I ask all good people of the other races to unite with us in shaping the destinies of a long oppressed and needy people, and to mould such a strong moral and Christian sentiment throughout the American continent so that the whole nation may soon rise up to the dignity of true manhood and with one omnipotent blow crush out ignorance, race prejudice and injustice.

My grandmother was sold by those who stole her from Africa at Elkridge Landing, Anne Arundel county, Maryland. Mr. Nicholas Harden bought her, giving a few hogsheads of tobacco in payment for his slave,

Mr. Harden was Roman Catholic, and, as it was the custom for the slave who joined church to join the one to which the master belonged, grandmother united with the Catholic Church and received the Christian name of Sal.

Although a slave and far from home and kindred, my grandmother was usually cheerful, being of a happy disposition, and delighted in singing. She had a strong, clear, rich and a melodious voice, which she used to great advantage and with wonderful effect. Many times during the day while her hands were busily engaged with household work her voice could be heard in cheerful song ringing out upon the breezes in joyful lays. Those who heard her sing would listen with breathless silence as if held by some magic power. Aye ! it was the magic of a human voice attuned by the spirit of God to sing praises to His holy name. Singing is an element of great power, and this was clearly manifested by the Southern slaves, who lightened their heavy burdens, eased their pains and soothed their sorrows by the power of song. The long weary days of unrequited toil were shortened, the intense heat of the Southern sun was lessened and heavy tasks were more easily performed because of light hearts and bright spirits, made so by the power in song.

If slavery had a sunny spot in it the singing of the plantation melodies composed by the slaves made that bright place in that dire system.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. JOHN BAPTIST SNOWDEX. II

If our fathers and mothers could praise God in joyful song with earnestness and religious fervor in the dark days of human chatteldom when they could not praise God under "their own vine and fig tree/' those among us who are not as faithful in the service of Him who hath given us freedom from man by Lincoln's pen and freedom from sin by the blood of Jesus should hang their heads in shame, repent of their sins and learn to praise God in the highest with heart and voice.

Grandmother took great delight in talking about her native land. She never wearied in telling of its customs, beauties and animals. She said elephants were plentiful and did not fear man. They would run anyone who had anything red about him. Hogs were called in her language "Xaphmana" and were not considered fit to eat. She would not eat hog flesh.

Grandmother died in 1823 or 1824, and was thought to be about a hundred years old. Thus ended the life of one, born free, a God-given right, enslaved by man, a wrong from the bottomless pit, full of years, and, we trust, of the grace of God.

My maternal grandfather was Thomas Collier, an Englishman, who was generous, affable and kind. He loved my grandmother tenderly and lived with her until separated by the cruel hand of death. Although he was not married to grandmother according to the law of man — for the marriage of a white person to a colored one was a crime before the law — yet we believe that they were man and wife before God, united by the bonds of love and affection and sealed at the bar of justice in the court of heaven.

Such a law is a crime against God and man. The law forbids marriages between the two races, and the State's prison is for all who violate it, yet the races can live together if the man is white and nothing is said or done about it. In other words, the law prohibits persons from marrying who love each other and wish to be united in matrimony because one is white and the other is colored, and has nothing to say when the white man lives with his colored mistress and begets children which the law does not acknowledge as heirs.

Such a law exists in most of the Southern States today, an open shame, a disgrace to all who favor it, a cruel wrong heaped upon many who wish to do right in the fear of God and in the sight of men. "Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder;" but the law says, "Put them asunder in the State's penitentiary." Let us pray that this curse may soon be blotted out forever.

My paternal grandparents were not known to me, save the name of my grandfather, which was John Snowden.

CHAPTER II. My Parents

My mother, Fanny Snowden, was born in Anne Arundel county, Maryland. The date of her birth is not known, as the record of the birth of slave children was seldom kept. My mother was a devout and earnest Christian, and was very careful in training her children, constantly teaching them the principles of the Christian religion. She taught us the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the catechism and other short prayers suitable to our years and understanding. Believing that good morals, were essential to Christian character, she taught us that lying, swearing, cheating, stealing and all other immoral habits were wrong, and strictly bade us not to do these things. She was strict with us because she loved her children and plainly showed us the consequences of evil doing and the blessedness of right doing.

My mother was a godly woman, who prayed to God continually through life, and when coming down to death she prayed to our Heavenly Father and fell asleep in Jesus. Before she died she said to her mistress. "Take care of my little one ' — that w T as sister Fanny, who was six weeks old. When mother's last hour came she sent brother Nathan to the big house to tell her mistress that she was dying. When her mis- * tress came to her bed she said, "Miss Delila, I am dying; I want you to take care of my six-weeks'-old babe ;" then died praying, and went home to heaven to rest. I was taken from my mother when seven years old, but received these facts concerning her death from kind friends and her mistress.

I thank God for giving me such a mother, who impressed her noble character upon her children to such an extent that we all have walked in her footsteps unto old age and death.

I tried to train my children as I was trained, and in a large measure God has blessed the labors of His humble servant. Parents who really love their children cannot fail to do their whole duty toward them as far as they understand it.

As long as reason and memory shall last I shall fondly cherish the remembrance of mother, till we shall meet in our Father's house above.

Those who fail to lay a moral and a religious foundation deep and strong in their homes have made the greatest failure it is possible for anyone to make. The homes are the bulwarks of the nation. Good homes, then, are a guarantee of just laws, good government, a prosperous and happy people.

My mother had nine children, six boys and three girls. I was the third child. She died in the month of April, 1815, six weeks after the youngest child was born, from the effects of a cold contracted by exposure. Slave mothers often had to go to hard outdoor work too soon after giving birth to a child, and from that cause death was often the result.

My youngest sister was named Fanny, after mother's name. She lives with me in Westminster, Aid. She was sold -South when a young girl and lived in Xew Orleans, La., till 1864. Having been set free by the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln, she returned to her native State. I sent her the money to pay her traveling expenses.

My father was Nathan Snowden. He was a good husband and kind father. He belonged to Mr. Ele Dorsey of Elkridge Landing, Anne Arundel county, Maryland. He lived seven miles from mother, but came to see her and the children several times each week, walking the seven miles after working hard all day. He was devoted to his family, and usually brought something for us at each coming.

Father was not a Christian. He was a strict moralist, but was not satisfied with his life, and often expressed a desire to be a Christian and a Methodist.

Father was perfectly honest and upright through life. He was never known to use profane language. The principle of right doing was largely developed in him. I do not know that father ever embraced the Christian religion.

We children did not see much of father during the week, as it was late before he got home at night, and had to leave long before it was time for us to get up in the morning.

He died some years after mother's death, and was peacefully laid to rest in the silent grave till the resurrection morning, when all shall be summoned to appear at the bar of justice to render a strict account for the deeds done in the body to the Judge of all the earth.

I had an aunt named Jane. She was born on the water while my grandmother was being brought to this country by the men-stealers who tore her away from her native land and made her a chattel in a strange country.

Aunt Jane was raised up in the Catholic Church and continued a faithful member of the same until she married. She married a Methodist man, who persuaded her to attend the Methodist Church with him. After some hesitation she consented to attend her husband's church. There she was happily converted and joined the Methodist Church. She said, "I never knew what the true Christian religion was until I found it in the Methodist Church. Now a blessed experience, a living reality, fills my soul with joy and gladness." She ever after that happy event lived a consistent and peaceful Christian life. According to the testimony of ,her mistress, she died happily, breathing her last in fervent prayer.

"Hosannah to Jesus on high, Another hath entered her rest."

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. JOHN BAPTIST SXOWDEX. I 5

CHAPTER III. My Birth, Early Life, Conversion and Call to the

Ministry.

I was born in Anne Arundel county, Maryland, May 14, 1801. Having been carefully taught by my pious mother from my early childhood, I grew up with good moral habits. I never used profane language, tobacco nor liquors to excess. I tried to be honest in everything and perfectly truthful. I believed it was better to tell the truth if I suffered for my boyish wrongs than to avoid punishment by lying and suffer the pangs of a guilty conscience. It never pays to lie, for "be sure your sins will find you out." By untruthful statements we may deceive men, but God searcheth the hidden things of the heart. The early impressions made upon my young mind that God sees and hears all we do and say have never been forgotten.

I was very fond of children's sports, such as wrestling, boxing, running, jumping, playing ball, and in the winter time making men of snow and sliding down the hill on boards. Once while thus sliding down, the board struck my old boss' young fruit tree and cut it off as clear as if it had been done with an axe. That stopped my sliding for some time. I was very active and strong for one of my years, and was more than a match for boys of my age. I took great delight in snugly landing my playmates upon their backs in our tests in strength and activity. A young man whipped me because I whipped his brother, a boy of my size and age. I made a promise that when I got to be a man I would settle with him in the fistic enterprise. But before I considered myself competent for the intended task a glorious change took place in my young life. God, for Christ's sake, pardoned me of sin and made me a new creature in His Son Jesus, and old fight was done away.

Up to the time of my conviction of sin I had lived a good moral life. I would not swear, lie, steal or keep bad company. I was obedient to my owners, always ready to obey their commands. Having been taught to pray from childl6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. JOHN BAPTIST SNOWDEN.

hood, I prayed every day, repeated the Apostles' Creed, and from that manner of living I concluded I was a Christian. On reading- the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew my attention was arrested, especially when I read the words, third verse, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." I wondered what these words meant, and because I was not a little child w r as I to be shut out of heaven? These words of Jesus weighed heavily upon my young mind and my heart was made sad.

A short while after this strangely sad experience began I went to hear the Rev. Alired Griffith preach. His text was from Matthew 13:8: "But others fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." The sermon made a good impression upon me, and I returned home feeling much relief from the state in which I was when I entered the church a Sunday morning in March, 1820, yet I was far from being satisfied with my state of mind.

The Rev. Mr. Griffith made another appointment to preach in the same church in a few weeks, but failed to get there to fill the appointment, and the Rev. Burgess Nelson preached in his place. He took his text from the prophecy of Daniel 12:2: " And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

The sermon was preached in the month of April, 1820. The earnest words of the preacher as they came, prompted by a loving heart, moulded by a keen intellect, warmed by the fire of Jesus' love, and a consciousness of their great importance flowing in a continuous stream of sacred eloquence, sent conviction of sin and guilt to my heart. At the close of the service I returned home with a heavy heart and a troubled mind. But I managed to conceal my convictions and moved around as if nothing was w T rong. In the evening I fed the cattle and did my other work as if all was well with my soul. I appeared calm without, but there was a mighty raging of the troubled waters in my poor sin-smitten soul.

After dark I went some distance from the house, knelt down and prayed as best I could. This done, I felt somewhat relieved and returned to the house still troubled. Monday morning I arose and went about my work as usual, but with very different feelings. I was sent to the woods to cut wood. After cutting down one tree, the burden of sin was so heavy that I put down my axe and said, "If my owner come or not, I was going to seek the Lord." I went some two or three hundred yards from my work and fell on my knees and prayed earnestly to the Lord to pardon my sins and convert my soul. I had not prayed very long before God, for Christ's sake, pardoned my sins and set my soul at liberty and put a new T song in my mouth.

I cried, "Glory to God ! Praise the Lord for what He has done for me."

After a season of great rejoicing in the bushes I started to return to my woodcutting. The closer I got to the tree I had felled the happier I became. Heaven seemed to be right over my head. I loved every person I knew. From that moment everything seemed to wear a new aspect. Even reptiles seemed to be things of beauty and to praise their Creator. The crawling insects, bees and singing birds all seemed to delight in praising their Maker.

Although I had hid my conviction of sin because I desired to do so, I had no wish to keep my conversion a secret. The news was too good not to be published, and I published it to all around.

This brought great trials in my new-found faith. My mistress, who was a very wicked woman, did everything she could to torment me and make me give up my religion. She cursed me violently and gave me three weeks to hold on. Finding that she could not drive me from the right way by cursing and threats, she took the covering from my bed, saying she would freeze the religion out of me. But none of those things moved me from the heavenly road. 1 tried to obey and please my mistress as far as I could, but l8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. JOHN BAPTIST SNOWDEN.

when serving the. Lord was displeasing to her I chose rather to please and obey God than her.

The beauty of the Christian religion unfolded itself daily to my untutored mind. The Lord led me on gently and tenderly, revealing His will more perfectly to me as I grew older in His service.

I joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, where I first heard the real Gospel preached, and I have ever loved the church of my early choice.

One year after my conversion I was convinced that the Lord had called me to preach His Gospel, but being a slave and without an education, I concluded that I could not preach.

But the burden was laid upon me, and all attempts to rid myself of that great calling only seemed to make it heavier. My decision at last to try to preach was aided by a vision. I saw in my vision a congregation before me, and I was preaching to it the word of life. Then the whole world seemed to be lying before me waiting to hear the Gospel of peace. One year after this struggle in my soul had commenced I was licensed to exhort.

I went forth with that holy commission to exhort sinners to flee from the wrath to come, and believers to live lives devoted to God. Having used the authority conferred upon me faithfully for one year, I was considered worthy of going up a step higher. But before I could be licensed to preach I had to preach a trial sermon before the Quarterly Conference. I did the best I could under the circumstances, but considered my effort a failure, and concluded then and there to preach no more. But the Quarterly Conference judged otherwise and licensed me to preach. Mr. Jesse Ryan, who was a listener to that trial sermon and also to the opinions expressed by the members of the Quarterly Conference, was well pleased with the sermon himself, and said the Conference were surprised at the able effort made by the uneducated slave boy and voted unanimously to license me to preach April, 1823.

The action of the Conference gave me new encourage-

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. JOHN BAPTIST SNOWDEX. 19

ment, and I went forth to do my duty as best I could in the name and strength of Jesus.

Although I considered my first sermon a failure, by the blessings of the Lord a moderate degree of success has attended my ministry of over sixty years, and the few remaining days shall be given to the advancement of the kingdom of my Heavenly Father.

In 1826 I had another vision which left a strong impression upon my mind that I was called to preach.

I seemed to be carried away in the vision to a certain place where there were many happy souls praising God. The place was divided into different apartments. In the first apartment was a large vessel, above which was a clear stream continually dropping its water into the vessel, and yet the vessel never got full. The vessel seemed like a very large caldron, bright and dazzling, and the water that continued to drop in it was as clear as crystal. In the second apartment there were many happy souls who were continually praising God. One of them spoke to me and said, kk If the east part were taken away fire would descend." Then he said, k 'Gird on thy sword and glittering shield and with thy helmet take the field." As I was returning from the scene I met Mrs. Harden, my mistress, and she asked me if I entered in with the holy beings, and I told her I could not do so till I had finished my ministry. After this vision I was fully persuaded that I was called to preach the word of the Lord. I was thus greatly encouraged and strengthened in my new work in the vineyard of the Lord.

I gave myself anew to prayer and fasting and sought more earnestly the knowledge of God that surpasseth all understanding. I asked the Lord to teach me how to read His word and to write His law and Gospel upon my heart so that I might be able to teach it to others, and the Lord answered my prayers.