The old paths

Front matter

Chap._ Copyright No...

Shelfj£AS

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Introduction

HIS book— "The Old Paths"— is the record of

1 the life and labors of one of the well-known and noble women of our Methodism. Mrs. Vorn Holz has lived in the city of Cincinnati since the year 1852, and she is well-known in that city, and in Ohio, and in Kentucky, and in other States, as a faithful and a consecrated toiler in the Lord's vineyard.

And both she and her friends have thought it well that she should set forth somewhat of the dealings of the Lord with her.

Every chapter of this book shows in some way the guiding hand of God in the life of this good woman, from childhood to old age.

The story, w v hich is a very realistic one, is a showing of the way by which she has been led, step by step, in her work in the cause of Jesus Christ, her Lord. Her first work was such as caring for the sick, gathering children into the Sunday-school, inviting people to the services of God's house, visiting hospitals and infirmaries, and wherever else she felt she had a message for any soul. This work was graciously owned of God, and many were led to ac-

Intro due Hon.

knowledge Christ, and receive him as their Savior and Lord. After this, she was led into broader fields of activity, and her labors resulted in the opening of mission work in the city in which she lived, the uplifting influence of which was felt in many directions. About this time the Lord granted her, in answer to prayer, a gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit, by which her experience was enriched and enlarged, and her faith strengthened.

Her opportunities for work multiplied on every hand, and pressing calls for such services as she could render came from every direction. She took an active part in the great Temperance Crusade, and, with other noble Christian women, won great victories in the name of the Lord. Soon after this, she felt it to be her duty to engage more directly and actively in evangelistic work, and from that date until this time she has been engaged in that form of service. She has aided pastors in revival work in their charges, and at camp-meetings in Ohio and Kentucky, and also in other States, and everywhere her labors have been owned of God, and at times the favor of the Lord has been shown in most remarkable ways. It is safe to say hundreds of souls have been converted to Jesus Christ our Lord through her instrumentality, and also multitudes of believers have been led bv the

Intro due tion.

same agency into such depths and richness of spiritual life that their faith in the Son of God, as a perfect Redeemer and a wonderful Savior, has been confirmed beyond question. She is a woman of strong faith and much prayer, and the Lord has given her many victories, as she has with singleness of purpose toiled for him. I was her pastor three years, and during that time knew, and have known since, much of the results of her good work in the name of the Lord of the vineyard. Many of these results are effective illustrations of the power of the gospel in the conversion of the people, when presented in a direct way and in a faith in God and in his Holy Word that is steady and unwavering. And all this by one who does not claim to be a "minister of the Word/' claiming only to be a humble handmaid of the Lord, called by him to toil just as he may direct in the great, wide fields so rapidly wdiitening to the harvest; ever happy in his service, no matter how humble the toil or obscure the field.

For several years Mrs. Vorn Holz was aided in her evangelistic work by her daughter Ida, now the wife of the Rev. H. R. Calkins, of the Rock River Conference. The requests received from pastors and Churches for their services were always more numerous than they were able to accept. Wherever they

Introduction.

went God owned their labors in abundance of spiritual blessings upon the people, and many hundreds of souls were led into such richness and clearness of experience, that they were enabled to testify to a full and complete salvation from all sin, wrought in their souls by the Lord Jesus Christ.

In His Name she now sends forth this book, praying it may prove to be a blessing to all who may read its pages, and thereby learn of the way the Lord has led her, and how he has made her life a blessing to others. I believe this volume will be helpful to any child of God, and especially so to those who wish to be useful in the Church of God, and learn something of the joy of work in his vineyard when the life of the worker is consecrated to him. I therefore shall be happy to learn that it has secured a wide circulation.

ISAAC W. JOYCE.

Author's Preface

I PRAISE God that he has let me live to see the fight through with the devil concerning the publishing of the diary of my life for the world to see. It is now ready for press. Hallelujah to God and the Lamb ! The fight began when, as a little child, I began to write down the happy times I had with the Lord. The devil said, "You have no education, and have not sense enough to keep a diary." Not knowing it was the devil, I burned what I had written; but soon found I could not get along without it. I started again, and have kept it up ever since.

No doubt, if the book is sold, there will be enough fault found with it. But I have nothing to do with that ; I have tried to obey God.

There will be criticism of the dreams and prophesying; but all the same I have lived to see many of the dreams come to pass, and many of the visions fulfilled. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is full of dreams and visions; Jesus is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; and God's Word is being fulfilled all down the ages. Joel said: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams,

your young men shall see visions."

io Authors Preface.

From the time I was converted I desired to be a missionary ; but the way was never opened. Whatever money this book may bring, will be for the support of a missionary in heathen lands. I have been asking God for money enough to pay for six missionaries; one for China, one for India, one for Japan, one for Africa, and one for the mountain districts of Kentucky.

Editor's Preface.

PROPHECY in fulfillment is natural. It is only as it is seen in the perspective that it appears miraculous. The ancient word, "One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts" (Psalm cxlv, 4), was already working in the heart of the thirteen-year-old girl, hidden away in the forests of Kentucky, as with childish fingers she wrote in her diary of the. wonderful love of Jesus. Had the veil been lifted, and the purpose of God revealed — that this diary was to be the beginning of a book which should declare God's mighty acts to her own generation — the timid child would have been frightened away. Like a tender Shepherd, Christ carried his lamb, and guided the small fingers from year to year. In the year 1875 I find written: "I do not write this that any one shall ever see it; but the hand of the Lord is strong upon me. I am loath to continue ; but there is no deliverance for me until I obey the voice of the Lord."

Now, on this, my mother's seventy-fifth birthday, as I gather about me the writings of sixty-two years, I am as one of old, who "sat and remained there astonished . . . seven days." (Ezekiel iii, 15.)

Hence, it is with reverent hand and the loving touch of a daughter that the connecting links are made. There is no apology needed for this simple

12 Editors Preface.

testimony and life-story, written by herself as unto the Lord.

The style of writing and quaint, old-fashioned words are due to the books which were her earliest companions; and if there appears to be repetition, it is simply a habit of mind acquired from having lived in the old Bible.

One of the striking features of the book is the exposure of sin, especially seen in her early writings, when, notwithstanding her religious fervor, the "old man" constantly reminded her of unfaithfulness.

These pages will reveal, to some extent, the exquisite gratitude and old-fashioned worship of her soul, and her faithfulness to God. But of her fastings and night vigils, of her incessant toil for her loved Church and the souls of men, eternity alone can speak.

May the fragrance of her prayers gladden the lives of those who may read her story, even as it has filled that of her daughter and fellow-laborer in the gospel.

"If I was hanged on the highest hill, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine; I know whose love wonld follow me still, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine.

If I was drowned in the deepest sea, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine;

I know whose tears would come down to me. Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine.

If I were damned of body and soul, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine;

I know whose prayers would make me whole, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine."

I. V. C.

Chapter I. ANCESTRY AND FAMILY

F a truth, to be well born is better than riches, and "a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children." Much of the data of my ancestry is obscure, as the property and the early records were destroyed by fire. In about the year 1783, my paternal grandfather, William Locke, came from England, and settled in Virginia. He had found a bride among the sturdy Hollanders, and together they endured the hardships of our early settlers. In the year 1784, a son, Richard, was born. Shortly after this my grandfather, while on duty protecting Fort Wyoming, was attacked by Indians, and killed. As time went on, my grandmother married the brother of the famous Daniel Boone, without whom Kentucky would have lost much of its heroic history. My father, Richard Locke, was given to his uncle, Jacob Locke, a Baptist minister and a very good man, strictly religious, who taught my father the fear of the Lord. He was an extremist in his Calvinistic views ; so much so, indeed, it caused my father a lifei6

The Old Paths.

long suffering. The youthful mind had been filled with the doctrine of foreordination. When about eighteen years old, while hunting, his dogs were chasing a raccoon down the mountain. He knew it was too dangerous a place to risk in the dark; but with the words, "If I am to fall, I will fall anyhow,'' he rushed on, and fell forty feet on to a rocky ledge. When he came to it was daylight. He managed to drag himself home. His sister met him, and cried out, "Dickey is dead." He never fully recovered, and was not accepted for the War of 1812 on account of it. In 1805 he went into Kentucky, and married Katharine Callender, my sainted mother.

Of my mother, it can truly be said: "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." (Proverbs xxxi, 27, 28.) In about the year 1768, my mother's great-grandfather, Frederick Fischer, sailed from Saxony for America. His first wife had died, leaving three sons and one daughter, Eve Katherine, seventeen years" of age. On the voyage his second wife died. When in sight of land, a storm coming up, the vessel was driven back. They were fourteen weeks on the water. There was on board a young army officer, John Hoost, who fell in love with the motherless Katherine, and, on landing, they were married. There was born to them a daughter, Elizabeth Fischer, who married Michael Callender. He, too, as my father's father, was killed by the In-

Ancestry and Family.

dians; and five months afterward, my mother, christened Eve Katherine Fischer, was born in the fort where Harrodsburg, Kentucky, now stands. She was the first child born in that fort. She and her widowed mother went to live with her grandmother Hoost, who, after her husband was killed in the American Revolution, married Dr. Hagle, a man much revered, a skillful doctor, who died at the age of one hundred and fourteen years. It was here my father met mother. They were of the same age, and were no doubt attracted to each other by the remarkable similarity of their lives. Both forts were burned by the Indians, and all the title deeds and property were destroyed. With undaunted courage they began life with only fifty acres of land, which my father bought in the Blue Grass region of Kentucky.

They put up their own cabin in the primitive style, and before the first year was ended the family altar was raised, whose fire never went out for over forty-five years. They were neither of them converted ; but mother, with her new responsibility, soon sought and found her Savior. Father was not so easily won. It was at a ball, or barbecue as it was called, given in Lexington, while dancing, that he was arrested by the Spirit of God. He said the musicians, all Negroes, appeared to him like devils. Up to the time of his conviction he had been accustomed to drink, as the custom was, though not to excess; but this night he was intoxicated. The next morning he promised mother he would never be in that con- 2 i8 dition again. This pledge he kept to the day of his death. Still, the arrows of the Almighty were stinging. With conviction, the old Calvinistic teaching of his uncle appeared. It was a source of great temptation, and the devil tried to make him believe that he was one of the reprobates; that Christ had never died for him. One day, as he was coming from the mill, he called to God for help. He prayed, "O God, if Jesus Christ died for me, reveal it to me." Instantly he saw Christ dying on the cross for him, as though there were not another man living. He saw the nails piercing the bleeding hands and feet. He came home praising God with a loud shout, and he kept it up to the day of his death. He was a man of great faith, a devoted Christian, and was known as "the praying man." He was a great shouter, praying often until twelve o'clock at night. He had a most expressive countenance, and his piercing eye detected and rebuked deceit and wrong. He was an exhorter in the old Bethel Methodist Church, which he and mother joined in 1805.

After his conversion the mode of baptism troubled him. He searched the Bible, but could not find "immersion" there ; but read of the "sprinkling" of many nations. Yet he could not get away from his early Baptist training. When asked his wish, he answered, "I will go into the water and kneel, and have the water poured upon me." And thus he was baptized.

Many souls he' brought to Christ, and he was sent for constantly to pray with the sick. He had remarkable answers to prayer. His faith was Abrahamic. Just before his last child was born, mother was sick unto death. He prayed, and the answer came, "Your wife shall live, and you shall have a son, and he will be a preacher." The promise was fulfilled, for my youngest brother, Jesse B., was a minister in the Kentucky Conference. At another time the fearful scourge, cholera, was killing the people to an alarming degree. They met in the church. He called a fast, asking those who would join him in praying that God might turn away his judgments to give him their hand. Saint and sinner alike came forward. At ten o'clock on the fast-day the class-leader came to our house. My father met him, saying, "Brother Taylor, God has turned away the cholera." We never had another case. One old man was thought to be dying. They sent for father, who went to see him. At eight o'clock that night father prayed for him. He sent my brother next morning to inquire, and he was met by the old man's son. He asked, "When did your father pray for my father?" and my brother answered, "At eight o'clock last night." The son then said, "At the same hour my father sat up in bed, saying, 'Brother Locke is praying for me; I will get well; I feel it all through me.' " He was made well, and lived longer than my father. During the Mexican war my brother desired to enlist, and my father did not want him to go. He prayed for God to stop the war, and that very day God said to him, "General Taylor has gained the victory." In three days' time

The Old Paths.

the word came that General Taylor had gained the victory, and the war was ended.

My mother was quiet; but O, so sweet and calm! I never saw her angry. How often was her hand laid upon me, the sweet voice saying, "Be quiet, my child !" She would never allow us to repeat any news, or talk about our neighbors, but taught us to be truthful and honest. O, how shall I speak of her good works; of her love to her husband, her children; of how she loved to entertain the ministers of God! She was greatly beloved by all her neighbors, and surely she had a happy passport from earth to glory. Her last days were full of great suffering; but her patience was greater. The following is copied directly from my diary: "Mother died August 9, 1850, at five o'clock in the evening, in the full triumphs of faith, having lived a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church forty-five years. She showed to the world a pious walk and a godly conversation. She had not spoken from eight o'clock in the morning until five in the evening, when she rallied, and called for her children and husband. She gave them each, one by one, her last blessing, and said, 'Husband, good-bye,' shouted 'Glory, glory, glory!' and was gone. (Father said she shouted in the same way when she was converted.) I never can forget you, precious mother, so kind and good to every one. You are gone. I can not see you nor hear your voice again. It breaks my heart. . . . The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away. All that he does is right. Blessed be his holy name. O God, help me to follow in her footsteps as she followed Christ, that my last days may be the same! Good-bye, dear mother, until I meet you on the golden shore."

My father soon joined her, dying in December, 1 85 1. He talked of going to heaven as of one going on a lovely journey to meet some loved one. He was a man of God — full of good works and of the Holy Ghost. Just before his death he asked to be helped out of bed. Kneeling there, he prayed for his family one by one; then for his Church, remembering each by name; then for the salvation of the world. He asked to be helped into bed, and said, "Now I die, my father's God to meet," and died.

Surely hath God remembered, even to the fourth generation. When I am traveling alone, going over dangerous roads, or when I am in sorrow or trouble, my father comes by me, and I feel safe. The Bible says, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"

There were eight children in our family, four boys and four girls, — William, for my grandfather; John Wesley, James Fletcher, Jesse Boone, Elizabeth Callender, Rebecca Fischer, Maria Parker, and Miranda Morrow.

William, the oldest son, was very religious, and did not marry until he was thirty-six years old. He told me the last time I saw him that he never told but one lie, and that was when he was a little boy. Father had set a trap in the field to catch partridges,

The Old Paths.

and sent him to see if there was anything in it ; but told him not to touch it. He found a jay-bird and a hawk. The hawk had chased the jay-bird into the trap, and they were both caught. He put his hand under the trap, and tried to catch them, and they flew away. Then he set the trap again, and went back to father, who asked him if there was anything there. My brother told him there was nothing. Father looked at him, and said, "William, you have told me a lie, — and, taking him back to the trap, discovered the feathers. For this father whipped him, and it was the only whipping he ever received. Father always wanted him to marry. He bought a farm, and told him he would give it to him if he would find a wife. A minister told him of a very religious young woman, who lived about thirty miles from our house. He also told her of my brother. William prayed over it, and at last determined to go and see her. He had never been there, and the way was strange to him. He had been told there was a cross-roads, and when he was nearly there he prayed to God that if it were his will for him to marry, his horse might be guided. He let go his bridle, and the horse went on, choosing the path straight to a stile block, and stopped. He saw a lady coming out. and inquired if Miss Dillon lived there. She said that she was Miss Dillon, and requested him to dismount. He told her that he had come to see her, and that if thev liked each other.

and she was willing, they would be married. They prayed at the same hour every day for six months, to ask God for his will to be done. At the end of this time they both felt it was God's wish concerning them, and that he had brought them together, even as in the olden day when he brought Isaac to Rebecca. And so it came to pass. She was deeply pious, and proved a helpmeet for him. God gave them a child, a lovely daughter, who was the sunshine of the home for fourteen years, when he called her to himself. They — the father and mother — stood over her coffin, and shouted, praising God. They said it was the happiest day of their lives. For thirty-seven years my brother prayed at the setting of the sun, and died in the full triumph of faith just two years after his wife went to heaven.

The second son, John Wesley, left home, with the consent of his parents, when he was eighteen years old. We have never heard from him.

Elizabeth Callender, the third child, married Dr. David Parrish, a good man in the full experience of holiness. Their Church was called Parrish Chapel, in honor of him and his wife, whose house was the home of Methodist preachers.

The fourth child, Rebecca Fischer, married a widower, Mr. Charles Cannon. She was a faithful mother to his children, and a loving daughter to his paralyzed mother, whom she nursed for fifteen years. God gave her children. Her eldest son's wife

The Old Paths.

died, leaving three children, who found a faithful friend in their grandmother. They have all been taught to fear God. She is still living, and I love to visit her; for, as I sit by her side and hear her gentle voice, I seem to be with my mother again.

The fifth child, Maria Parker, married a nephew of the Rev. Jonathan Stamper, a great preacher in those days. He died, leaving three sons. My widowed sister married Mr. John Shankland, and was left a widow the second time. She proved* the widow's God to be faithful, and a few years ago went out the shining way to the City of Gold.

The sixth child, James Fletcher, w r as rightly named. He never married, and died at sixty-six years. He was faithful to the Church, in that he always attended to the finances. While he lived, the preacher's salary and all Church expenses were promptly paid. He was a pure, clean man, living a holy life and an honorable, filling positions of trust in his community. He sent for my daughter Ida, whom he loved very much, and myself, when he was dying. Long after he was speechless, the gentle pressure of the hand as we prayed testified of his unwavering faith in God. At the last moments the setting sun formed a crown of light upon his brow, which lingered after the spirit had taken its flight to the land where there is no night. He was a dear brother to me, and my constant companion until I was married.

My youngest brother was the child given in answer to prayer, with the promise that he should be a preacher. He was converted when he was ten years old, and began exhorting and preaching. He joined the Kentucky Conference, and has been the means of saving many souls. He is still living, and has been faithful to his father's God.

Chapter II. CHILDHOOD AND CONVERSION

MY earliest recollection is of God and heaven. I was the seventh child, born April 22, 1823. I slept with my dear old grandmother, who prayed me to sleep every night. The constant prayer of my father, night and morning, was a holy benediction in the home, and a w r all of fire about me. My parents shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God. With plain, old-fashioned honesty, they taught their children that if they told lies, or said bad words, or talked about their neighbors, or did anything wrong, if God did not forgive them, and they died, the devil would get them soul and body. Thus the fear of the Lord, which is wisdom, came to us. We were afraid to sin. Our parents not only taught us, but made us realize, that it w r as the truth of God. I delighted to please my parents. Only once do I remember disobeying my mother. She told me to drive the chickens out of the garden, and I answered, "I won't." She whipped me. and I never again willfully disobeyed. We had faithful instructions at the Sabbath-school, which convened at nine o'clock in the morning. My youngest brother and I took our lunch — there were two sessions — returning home at

three in the afternoon. It was under the control of a devoted Presbyterian and his four daughters, one of whom was my teacher. She encouraged me to memorize the Bible. She, too, taught me to be good, saying, "If you are good, maybe some day the good Lord will send you as a missionary to tell the poor heathen of a Savior's dying love." But all this did not save me; for I had an awful temper and a proud heart, and before I was six years old I was convicted of sin.

When I was ten years old, there was much talk of the judgment-day. This was caused by the falling of stars on the night of November 13, 1833, about which I quote the following:

"But the most sublime phenomenon of shooting stars, of which the world has furnished any record, was witnessed throughout the United States on the morning of the 13th of November, 1833. The entire extent of this astonishing exhibition has not been precisely ascertained, but it covered no inconsiderable portion of the earth's surface. . . . The first appearance was that of fireworks of the most imposing grandeur, covering the entire vault of heaven with myriads of fire-balls, resembling sky-rockets. Their coruscations were bright, gleaming, and incessant, and they fell thick as the flakes in the early snows of December. To the splendors of this celestial exhibition the most brilliant sky-rockets and fireworks of art bear less relation than the twinkling of the most tiny star to the broad glare of the sun. The whole heavens seemed in motion, and suggested to some the awful grandeur of the images employed in the Apocalypse, upon the opening of the sixth seal, when 'the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.' " — Burritfs "Geography of the Heavens;' page 163, edition 1854.

A celebrated astronomer and meteorologist, says :

''Those who were so fortunate as to witness the exhibition of shooting stars on the morning of November 13, 1833, probably saw the greatest display of celestial fireworks that has ever been since the creation of the world, or at least within the annals covered by the pages of history.