AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND SERMONS.

by

Elder Walter Cash

July 1925


Observations on incidents connected with the churches during nearly fifty years in the ministry, and sermons covering principal doctrinal, experimental and practical subjects.


Printed by
MESSENGER OF PEACE
St. Joseph, Mo.

F O R E W O R D

For a good many years I have had it in mind to issue this book. But my idea of the character of the work changed considerably. I first thought to write a sketch of my life, but I learned to think so little of my life in its connection with the world, that I gave up that idea. If there is any good to come out of my life I would not claim the credit, I would simply say that God has been good. I do know that I have made many mistakes, and I do not want to record them. So I do not feel to write much about myself.
I know that the main thought of my life has been to serve God in whose grace I am hoping. I feel it would be more consistent to dedicate this work to speaking of things connected with the kingdom of God which I have tried to forward, but in a feeble way, for so many years.
It is true my life has been full of labor at other things than preaching the gospel, but none of these things have ever become a real objective to me - all were just incidental. I had a large family of children (and not too large either). I must care for them, and in some way I must make money to do this. But I never neglected my churches to accomplish this. I hardly know how my wife and I got along as well as we did, though I know we worked hard. But I see now it was by God's providence that our children were educated for practical lives, and formed good characters. I offer no apology for the pictures in the book as a man's life is in great part represented in his family.
I never had it take possession of me to try to accumulate money to leave to the children, and I am glad now that I did not have that ambition. This would have taken my mind from my work in serving the churches, and it is a serious question whether it might have done the children more harm than good to have done so. As it is, they are self-reliant and capable, and I am thankful to be able to say that they do not blame me for the course I have taken. They all love and honor the church to which I have given my service, and I am thankful for that.
So I am not writing to show what a success I have been, but to acknowledge God's mercy, and to keep in line with what has been an objective in my life, to be helpful to others. If this book shall help others to be more spiritually minded, and influence any to be more active in the service of God and useful to the church, my purpose shall have been accomplished.
I would like much to mention names of brethren and sisters, but I could not stop with the names of only a few of the many ministers and lay members who have come into my life and been dear to me, so I can see no way but to omit such mention, or make the work too large. But they are by no means forgotten. The loved faces and remembrances of those met in the Far West, the East and the South where I have traveled and preached live in memory dear, and it is sweet to recall them often.
And then there are those who nursed and encouraged me in my boyhood when I first went forward to serve the churches, many of whom have fallen asleep; I would be glad to name these. Those living who are yet true and tender in the love and fellowship in which we have lived, these know that I love them, and they will understand why I must take the course that I have. I am glad to say that nothing has come between me and the churches I first served to destroy the love and fellowship which has existed so many years.
I thought when I first contemplated this work that I would issue it when near the close of my life. But some way of late I have been impressed with a feeling sense of the uncertainty of life, especially for those of my age, and I feel if I am to leave something as a testimony of remembrance for the love and fellowship of Primitive Baptists and friends that has been extended to me in so many states, I had better do it now.
I do not wish it understood that I feel my work is done in the churches and through the Messenger of Peace, for I feel more interest now than I have known in my whole life, and I feel more earnestness in preaching, and expect to keep right on as long as God gives me strength to do so. I pray God's blessing on our ministry. I am in full sympathy with you, brethren. I pray for the churches. May the hearts of the members be warmed up to take more and more interest in the cause of Christ our King. Hold together and love each other. I pray for our cause, for I believe it stands for the truth of God. I give this my testimony for the cause I love.
Yours to serve in Christ our Lord.

WALTER CASH.

C O N T E N T S

CHAPTER I

Great-grandfather Warren Cash--His and his wife's conversion--Beech Creek church--Visit to Beech Creek church--Gilead church--Family descendants--My father Loyd Cash--My brothers and sisters--First and second marriages--Progenitors Baptists--Cause for low state of churches--Sunday schools--First meetings attended--Ox wagon days--West Union church--These were the preachers.

CHAPTER II

Becoming seriously concerned--Trying the mourner's bench--Seeking evidence--My trouble is a heart matter--Comparison with the Beasts--The bitterness of condemnation--Seeking the glory of Christ's kingdom--The mind vision of the church--Rejoicing yet wondering--Dreaming of Jerusalem--The stream to be crossed--The interpretation of the dream--The true church of Christ--Thoughts of church membership--Uniting with the church.

CHAPTER III

Talking meetings--First thought of preaching--a severe test of loyalty--Objection to being licensed--Members should conduct services--Two dreams--The first dream--The other dream--My wife joins the church--Refused to pay quarterage--Leaving a denomination--Ordination should not be sought--Ordained in May 1880.

CHAPTER IV

The arm of West Union--Practical Suggestions for Primitive Baptists--A serious decision--Preachers who were unfair--Exhortation to young preachers--Withholding truth for favor--Selfish influences--The Lord opens the way for duty--A difficult trip--Satan argues against the trip--Joyful end of the journey--Failures of preachers.

CHAPTER V

Called to pastorate of Liberty Church--Preaching experimental and practical--Younger members added--Harmonizing old and young--Old members to be considerate of the young--Young and old should stand close together--Thoughtless neglect--Visiting the fatherless and widows--The wells of salvation--Isaac opens old wells of Abraham--The character of our singing--Follow the tracks--The examples which influence us--The map of tracks--The Savior's footsteps.

CHAPTER VI

Excuses for absence--Complaining of my lot--A wonderful message--Humbled and reconciled--An error in an exclusion--The wrong righted--A period of discouragement--Thinking too much of self--Get a preacher to help--Lack of faith and patience--Building a church house--Trouble in West Union Church--Striving to hide mention of money--Mt. Salem Church divided--Extreme and heretical statements--Extreme statements charged to the denomination--Visit the Hazel Creek Association--I hoped not to be recognized--Preach under difficulties--Elder Blakely endorses me--I am taught not to fear man.

CHAPTER VII

When are sinners saved--Agitation at the Mt. Zion Association--Finding a true brother--The Means party--Elder Burnham's sermon--A critical time--Elder Branstetter's sermon--The Means party dropped--An extremist on predestination--A hard question to answer--Experience with a place hunter--Fair speech and deceitful manners--Lessons learned.
CHAPTER VIII

Work on the paper--Death of Elder Goodson, Jr.--Locating at Marceline--Feeling about the paper--Has paid little for my labor--Among strange brethren--The eternal children doctrine--By grace ye are saved--My sermon--Belief of truth necessary for baptism--Eternal vital union doctrine--Trouble in St. Joseph Church--Sardis-Bethlehem church--Changing the site--A serious crisis--Witness of the Holy Ghost.

CHAPTER IX

A deacon who filled his office--The Sunday collection--Between two robber gangs--Marceline--Elected mayor--The saloon question--Strong drink a curse--Refuse to baptize a sick man--Baptism not a saving ordinance--Salvation by grace a precious hope--A beautiful death--Death of Sister Margaret--My mother's death--Elders Carnell and Weaver--Heretical doctrine--Trying to defend their positions--Finally rejected in Illinois.

CHAPTER X

The Progressive movement--Elder Todd's idea for prosperity--I reject his propositions--The Gospel Light--Ambitious for popularity--Elder J. V. Kirkland's book--The St. Louis meeting--Elder Kirkland's proposition to me--Reply to Elder Kirkland--The Kirkland paper--Checking the movement--Salem stands on the old line--Question of divorce and remarriage--Rule where denomination is not a unit--Position of Yellow Creek Association--The other side--Objections to this principle--I feel like leaving home--Teaching, farming and preaching--Entangled with the affairs of life--My wife helps--Scriptural teaching--Two Extremes--My course in preaching--Misrepresented--Much improvement--Help acknowledged--Attending funerals--Sunday schools.

CHAPTER XI

Leaving the farm--In business in Marceline--Move to St. Joseph--Vida's death--A lesson on prayer--Licensing preachers--An example of licensing--The true test of a gift--Good intentions miscarry--Instances which carried out--Do it now--Do what is needed to be done--Bearing testimony--An impressive exhortation--An old minister's regret--Rejecting the non-resurrection doctrine--Reading the Bible--Persistence and concentration--A talk with a deacon--To depend much upon the pastor--How much to give the pastor--An unscriptural practice--Deciding amount for pastor--How to make estimate.

CHAPTER XII

Our trip west--The wonders of creation--The San Gabriel Mission--Fruit and beauty type of the church--Catalina Island--God's wisdom and power--Voyaging on the ocean--The golden gate--The weakness of humanity--The Panama-Pacific exposition--The passing show--Tired of the fair--The beautiful Cowlitz River--The transcendent beauty--The waters of life--Growing spiritual fruit--The barren land irrigated--where is the best country.

Our Children
The Churches I Have Served
Trouble in Cuivre-Siloam Association


A U T O B I O G R A P H Y

CHAPTER I

I was born September 2, 1856, in Linn County, Missouri, near Bucklin. My father, Loyd Cash, was the son of Abram, whose father was Warren Cash.
My great-grandfather, Warren Cash, was born in Virginia, April 4, 1760. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, serving seven years. In November 1783, he was married to Susannah Basket, daughter of William Basket, who was a preacher in Fluvana County, Virginia. In 1784 he moved to Kentucky, and settled in Woodford County. Here he and his wife were led to know the Lord. Elder John Taylor in his History of Ten Churches gives an account of their becoming interested and uniting with the church. He writes as follows: "Notwithstanding the exertions of the people in the woods to get something to sustain on, there seemed to be some heart-melting move among the people. The first I recollect was at a meeting in my little cabin. Though the night was wet and dark, and scarcely a trace to get to my house, the little cabin was pretty well filled with people, and what was best of all, I have no doubt the Lord was there. A Mrs. Cash, the wife of Warren Cash, was much affected and soon after was hopefully converted. Others were also touched to the heart who soon afterwards obtained relief in the Lord. Warren Cash, though other ways respectable, was a bold sinner, having spent several years in the old revolutionary war. Seeing his wife much affected struck him with great consciousness of his own guilt. They were both soon baptized. Perhaps Cash could not at this time read. I have heard that his wife taught him to read." John Taylor says of my great-grandmother, "she was one of the most pious minded and best taught females in the religion of the heart I was ever acquainted with."
The church of which my great-grandfather and great-grandmother were members was called Clear Creek, and was constituted in April 1785. My great-grandfather was twenty-five years old when he united with the church, and was said to be the first to be baptized in the state. A few years later they moved to Shelby County, Kentucky, to a new settlement, and here went into the constitution of Beech Creek Church which was gathered by Elder Lewis Craig and Samuel Ayre. The church was constituted September 5, 1796, with five members, who were Jonathan Tinsley, Warren and Susannah Cash, John Basket and Nancy Shepherd. The church was constituted in my great-grandfather's house in which the meetings were held at first. In 1798 he was liberated to preach, and was ordained in March 1799, by William Hickman and John Penny, and in the same year took the pastoral care of the church.
I visited this church in 1902, Elder P. W. Sawin being at this time pastor of the church. I had the pleasure of looking over the old minute book which was kept during the time he was pastor - 1796 to 1824. I found it recorded that the question came up in the church, "What is the duty of the deacon?" This encouraged me much, as I had issued a book on the deaconship, and I was glad to know that my great-grandfather, a hundred years before, was interested in the same practical subject. I found also entered upon the church book a memoranda of different articles that members might turn in on their subscriptions to assist the pastor, stating the price at which they were to be valued, as there was little money to be had.
In 1802 my great-grandparents took letters from Beech Creek Church and placed them in Simpson Creek Church; but in 1806 they removed to Hardin County and Bethel and Gilead churches were raised up. The Bethel church divided March 17, 1824, and the Gilead church split on the mission question in 1840, my great-grandfather standing out against the mission party until his death, which occurred September 15, 1850. Both parties continued to use the house until his death and then the Mission Baptists took control and still hold it. I preached in the house in 1902, and had no doubt I was preaching the same gospel that my great-grandfather had preached. His grave is near the house as is also that of one of his sons, Elder Jeremiah Cash, who was a Primitive Baptist preacher, most of his labors being in Indiana and Illinois. When on a visit to his father's old church, he sickened and died and was buried there.
Elder Warren Cash's family were Claiborne, William, Jeremiah, John, Abram (my grandfather), Thompson, Elizabeth, Nancy and Patsy. I am not sure of this last name. My grandfather's children were James, Endamile, Loyd (my father), Marion, Mary, Newton and Lee. My children were Eunice, Bernard, Vida, Lois Agnes, Mary Elizabeth, Lorraine, Erle Hines, Mildred Allen, Loyd Bentley, and Walter Allison.
My father, Loyd Cash, was born February 27, 1826, near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and came to Missouri in 1844. All the other members of the family came on before he did, he remaining to settle up the business affairs. They settled near Keytesville, in Chariton County. Father was in the Mexican War, and after returning home took land that was given him by the government in Linn County, on which he was living when I was born, and which did not pass out of his hands until death, which occurred in March 1894.
He was first married to Mrs. Cowell, who lived but a short time. He was married to my mother, October 1, 1854. Her maiden name was Mary J. Burk, her parents being Thomas T. Burk and Barsheba Burk. My grandfather Burk was born August 25, 1807, and died April 12, 1872. Grandmother Burk was born March 13, 1811, and died November 22, 1888. They both united with the Primitive Baptist Church in November 1847. Mother was first married to Joseph Brown, who lived but a short time after their marriage. She was born March 18, 1835.
There were born to my parents ten children. Their names were Walter, Ambrose, Crittenden, Mary, Margaret, Ella S., Thomas, Lee, Thornton and Cyrus. Mary and Margaret were twins. Mary died in childhood, and Margaret at eighteen years of age. At the time of this writing myself, Ambrose, Ella, Thomas and Thornton are members of the Primitive Baptist Church, as was also Crittenden, who is now dead.
I was first married to Miss Ellen Prudence Hardin, August 19, 1875, who died February 2, 1876. I was married March 4, 1877, to Miss Emma Bentley, daughter of Mary Harden, whose maiden name was Putman. After the death of her first husband, Charles Bentley, she married William G. Harden. Her father, William Putman, was long known as a leading Primitive Baptist. He was a deacon of West Union church at the time of his death, the same church in which I first took membership. My first wife was a member of the M. E. Church, but united with the Primitive Baptist Church before her death, but did not live to be baptized. My present wife was a member of the M. E. Church, South, when we were married, but united with the Primitive Baptist Church in May 1880, the day after I was ordained to the full work of the ministry.
As has been mentioned, my great-grandfather was a Primitive Baptist minister. My grandfather, Abram Cash, was a member of Silver Creek Church of Primitive Baptists in Randolph County, Mo. My father, Loyd Cash, never united with the church, but was a strong believer in the doctrines, and a regular attendant at the meetings, and a supporter of the church. The church at one time voted an expression of fellowship for him, but he said, while he appreciated the expression of the church, he felt his unworthiness to be such that he feared to take membership. Grandfather and Grandmother Burk, my mother's parents, were both members of the Primitive Baptist Church.
This at first gave me trouble after I united with the church, as I feared it was more from family influence that I was a member than from the teaching and work of the Spirit. But after considering the matter, I feel that it is a matter for which to be thankful that my ancestors were so true to their experience, and so well established in the doctrine of grace, and lived so consistent with their profession, that their descendants, which experience a hope, might be led in the right way, instead of being turned adrift with the world.
An explanation for the low state of many of our churches may be found in the fact that many Baptists are so indifferent about their children as not to take them to their meetings. Other denominations, taking advantage of this condition, put forth every effort, and use every influence, to get them into their Sunday Schools and societies, and many times into their churches before they experience the leadings of the Spirit. The modern Sunday school has hurt the Primitive Baptist church more than any other influence. This has not been by the churches establishing Sunday schools, but by the members allowing their children to attend the Sunday schools of other people, and so being led to have an aversion to the doctrine and church of their parents, and if the day of "visitation" came to them they were tied up in Arminian organizations. Primitive Baptists should take a lesson that the past has taught, and keep their children from Arminian Sunday schools while they are under their care, and take them with them to their meetings. It would be better for Primitive Baptists to have Sunday schools of their own than for them to permit their children to attend Sunday schools controlled and conducted by Arminian churches.
Among my first recollections was going to the church meetings, my mother being a member. The first meetings that I can remember were those held at the home of my Grandfather Burk, who lived some eight miles from our home. There were no railroads through the country then, and he lived on a much traveled road and kept a public house, a tavern then called. At the time of the monthly meetings many came from a distance and remained through the meeting, either at his home or in the neighborhood. It was here that I first heard Primitive Baptist preaching, but though I was too young to remember the things preached, I doubt not that it had an influence for good. Preaching the truth in love will always have a good influence on those who hear it. I did not then understand the interest that was taken in the conversations on religious subjects, nor why tears were in evidence as they sat around the great fireplace and exchanged experiences, but I think I now know what those meetings must have meant to those who attended them. We often went the eight miles to meeting in a farm wagon, without spring seats, drawn by oxen. I remember, too, the wide kitchen with its fireplace and the gathering of the young people there when the services were over, and listening with awe to the ghost stories which were common in those days, until we were afraid to look out of the windows. But now when I remember that nearly all those who gathered there have passed into the great beyond it seems a long time back to those days. But the pictures are in my mind as though the incidents belonged to yesterday.
A little later the Civil War (1861-1865) broke out, and West Union Church, the church of my mother's membership, which was organized December 19, 1844, in common with many other churches, could have only occasional meetings. Grandfather Burk sold his farm and moved to Bucklin and opened a general merchandise store. His sons, Jasper and William, who lived near him in the country, sold out and moved away and this broke up the meetings in that neighborhood. How like tenting in the wilderness is the church militant here in time. Conditions change and the church must move. At such times the church ought to be engaged prayerfully, looking for the pillar of cloud, which led Israel in the wilderness, to know where the presence of the Lord is, for no church can prosper in a place where the Lord does not go before. After the war the meetings were held near our home in a school house. I was now old enough to take more notice, and to have some recollection of the preachers. There were Elders William Mitchell and C. M. Colyer who preached more or less regularly, and occasionally Dr. J. E. Goodson, Elder A. Bealmer, and "Squire" Holman, who was an exhorter. Also Elder William Sears, and later on Elder Wilson Thompson who came from Indiana and became pastor of the church. He was an earnest, sincere, serious minded man and his influence was all for good. His sermons were along doctrinal and experimental lines, not indulging in doubtful speculation, but declaring the doctrine of grace in salvation, and describing the effect in the feelings and lives of those spiritually taught.


CHAPTER II

It was during Elder Thompson's pastorate that I became seriously concerned about my soul's welfare. I had at times thought on this matter, but had been able to dismiss it from my mind, thinking that there was time enough later. But in the year 1872 so serious grew my concern that I could not throw it off. This did not seem to come over me suddenly in its most serious impression, for at the first I thought that I knew how to "get religion." I felt confident that I could "give myself to the Lord," and then he would answer my earnest prayer, and give me an evidence of my acceptance. I believed that a person should have some evidence given him by the Spirit that he was a child of God. But when I came to put my theory into practice I found such a condition of mind and heart that I became alarmed. During my trouble I attended a meeting that was being conducted by the Methodists in the neighborhood. I became willing to receive help if I could be helped from any source. I was not able to bring myself into the condition that I felt I should be in before the Lord would bless me, and so I thought I would try their prayers.
I think that I understand how persons who are really concerned can be drawn into these meetings. They feel so helpless in trying to get relief from their trouble that they turn to anything that promises relief. But I then realized that the trouble was within. It was not alone in my outward acts, but I was in a condition of mind and soul that I could plainly see I was not able to correct. I tried to do as I was advised by those who were trying to help me, but all that they could direct me to do, such as to "believe on Jesus," and "give myself to the Lord," could not help my case. I did in a sense believe on Jesus. I believed that he was the Son of God, and that he was the Savior of sinners, but I had no way of believing that he was my Savior, lacking the evidence that it was true. Nor could I give myself to the Lord, for I felt that I could not get myself into such a state that he would receive me.
Coming to understand my real condition, it seemed the more desperate, and I truly felt to fear that it was hopeless. I could not accept the arguments that were made to me that I had all the evidence that was necessary. I remember some of the arguments that were made to me by my religious friends. One was that the preacher, and those who were advising me, were truthful and reliable, and that their testimony would be received in any court of the land, therefore such as were seeking salvation should accept their testimony, and they were willing to testify that all that was needed was to just believe, and that any unbeliever in the congregation might go away a saved person if he would but believe, which he could do, as there was not a thing preventing but the stubborn will.
This was not at all convincing to me, as I felt that they did not know me and my heart as I knew myself. When they talked with me I held out that the trouble was not with my belief and will, but there was a deeper matter than that. The preacher no doubt felt that I was under the influence of Primitive Baptist teaching, as my mother was a Primitive Baptist. So he admitted to me that there needed to be a change, a cutting off and a grafting in, which might be called being born again; but he said that this was a work in which we had to assist. Said he, "The Lord will not do this work unless we go about the cutting off. And this work of ours is yielding to the Lord, thus cutting off the natural will, and putting ourselves in a receptive condition for the Spirit." I could see the object of his talk, but I could not throw away my experiences of the few weeks in which I had earnestly tried to do all that I had learned to do, or that had been suggested, and yet seemed to be farther away from what I desired to be than ever.
One morning I went to the barn to feed the stock. I looked at the cattle and horses, and they seemed at perfect peace, and were filling the stations they were created to fill. What a contrast between them and myself. I had intelligence and understanding to know between right and wrong, and this I had abused so fearfully. With my intelligence I should have been glorifying my Creator; and with my knowledge of right and wrong I should have been upholding the right, and speaking against the wrong. I felt that the beasts stood better in their lot than I did in mine. I was certainly under the just censure of the Almighty. How ashamed and crushed I felt, seeing all my wasted opportunities and open rebellion. I turned with a sad heart and tear-filled eyes to try again to seek peace with God, and to see if He would not forgive me and bless me with some evidence of acceptance. I climbed into the hayloft, and kneeling down, tried to confess as fully as my poor heart knew, my guilty distance from God. I wanted, O so much, to live a different life, and to glorify Him who was worthy of all adoration and service. I had done all that I knew to do, and confessed all that I knew to confess; and yet I felt the same helpless, sinful condition overshadowing me with a cloud through which no light shone. I arose to my feet and felt as I might have felt had I heard from the great Judge my final doom pronounced in the awful sentence to depart from His presence forever. I was yet without any witness from God that salvation might ever be mine. There was nothing now to live for, the world had lost its charm, I was cut off from hope of heaven, and could never even have a name with the church below.
I got down from the loft and started to finish my work, but with such thoughts as I had never had before. I thought that I could see how God's glory was full without me. In fact it seemed that His justice, and grace, too, would be more exalted if I were left out of His consideration. Indeed, what right had I to ask consideration when I deserved nothing from any point? But as these meditations filled my mind, I grew more calm, and the plainer they were to me, the less I was disturbed. One thing was filling my whole being, I desired that the Lord be glorified and praised, and what mattered it what became of me? I was losing sight and thought of self, and full of wonder and peaceful joy, contemplating as I never did before, and seldom since, the glory, brightness and joy that belonged to the kingdom of God in heaven and on the earth beneath. I stood to view it with my soul rapt in wonder. My mind went to the little church - West Union - where my mother was a member. They were met in a little school house. In my mind I see them yet. The aged preacher, Elder William Mitchell, was among the few, to declare as I plainly saw, the unsearchable riches of the gospel of Christ. I thought, O how favored they are. And there was mother! Her pure, sweet voice sounded clear as a harp, its strings trembling with the earnestness of the theme.

"He dies, the Friend of sinners dies!
Lo, Salem's daughters weep around;
A solemn darkness veils the skies,
A sudden trembling shakes the ground."

"Come saints and drop a tear or two,
For Him who groaned beneath your load;
He shed a thousand drops for you,
A thousand drops of richer blood."

My tears fell like the rain. They were a relief to my sore burdened heart, now freed from its pain. But so convinced had I been that there was no help for my case, and so carried away was I to see in my soul the beauty and joy of the Lord's service, that I exclaimed, "Lord, if I never enter heaven, permit me while I live in the world to be where I can witness thy people gathered together, and where I can hear them sing thy praise."
I did not at once realize the strangeness of my condition. I had given up the hope of heaven, and yet here I was with such a heavenly peace of mind, filled to overflowing with love to God and for his church, and perfect resignation to his will. My tears flowed from a fountain of joy and not sorrow. I had forgotten to make further confession, or to make petitions to the Lord, my soul was only full of joy. During the day I would begin to think of my lot as I had felt it before, and wondered what would become of me. But instead of growing sad, I would presently check myself singing, my heart full of joy, and my eyes with tears of gladness, and then I would ask myself, "Why do I feel this way?" I rode over the prairie after our stock, and how beautiful everything looked! and how good the Lord was! and how sweet to lift my voice in His praise. How glad I am that years of toil, trial and affliction have not swept the gladness of those days from my memory. I have doubted many times what they meant, but sin and sorrow have not removed that spot of sunshine, and it does my soul good when discouraged and heart-sick to go back and stand awhile in its reviving warmth.
I had a dream during my exercises of mind that has always remained with me, whether the Lord instructed me in it or not. In my dream I saw what I thought was the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Its buildings, which bespoke its imposing grandeur, lifted their towering spires in a pure, cloudless brightness that eclipsed the brightness of the sun and the light of day. I could see the highway that led up to it, and the happy travelers going up with their faces lifted toward the city of light. How I longed to join them! But between me and and them rolled a dark stream with no way to cross it. To remain where I stood was to be cut off from the city forever, but no mortal could live to pass through that awful stream. It meant death to enter it. It was worse than death not to cross it. The fear of drowning made my soul draw back. The glorious vision of beauty beyond drew me into the stream. What an awful struggle it was! I fought the waters, continually sinking beneath the surface, more and more convinced that it meant death to go on, and yet ever struggling to go on without a thought of turning back. Each time, when my eyes came above the surface, I saw the city in which I knew must be joys forever more. I could not give it up - I could not reach it! But a truth seemed to take possession of me--those who were journeying up to the beautiful city were those who had passed through a death, for going through the stream was dying; and just as I fully accepted this truth I awoke. Since then I have thought of my struggles as a conscious sinner, trying to obtain a hope, and my mind will turn to the awful fight with death in that stream. How hard it is to die to sin and human help, and yet how impossible to join the Lord's people in their heavenward journey without that death!
Many of my schoolmates, who professed religion during the meeting before referred to, joined churches of their choice, but I had no thought or inclination to go with any of them. My mind was with the Primitive church. I had before been convinced of the reasonableness of its doctrines from Bible teaching, though in my experience I found that in my heart I was an Arminian. But now there remained no doubt in my mind that this was the church of Jesus Christ, and I knew that all my sympathies and fellowship were there. One of my companions, a boy of my own age, united with the Methodists. We talked about the different churches, and he thought that I should see that it would be right to join the Methodists. But I could see reasons why I should not. He argued with me that most of the Bible upheld the Methodist church, "But," said he, "the book of Romans teaches the Old Baptist doctrine." I argued that if the book of Romans teaches it, surely the rest of the Bible does not condemn it.
At that time the meetings of the church were held for convenience at different places, and during the winter, as the members were scattered, sometimes the meeting times were passed without gathering. In May, 1873, the meeting was appointed to be held at the home of my grandfather, Thomas T. Burk, who lived northwest of Bucklin. I could hardly wait for the time to come. I wanted to be at a church meeting, hear the singing and to listen to the sermon. And I thought much, too, about offering myself to the church. I felt what a great privilege it must be to have membership in the church of Christ, and to acknowledge this before the world as being one's only hope. I felt His mercy and grace had been so great toward me in not leaving me in indifference and ignorance that I could not feel that I had done right at all without publicly confessing that my hope for the future was entirely in His mercy.
Elder Wilson Thompson, whose home was near Linneus, Mo., was then pastor of the church. He preached, but I cannot remember his sermon, I was so filled with thoughts about offering myself to the church. I wondered what I could say if called on to give a reason of my hope. The invitation was given and I went forward, but I do not remember what I said, except that I did not say at all what before ran in my mind, but I was received, and at a later meeting was baptized by Brother Thompson. I am glad that I did not remain out of the church and fight with my doubts until in a measure they overcame me, as I have seen in many cases. I feel sure the Lord has intended the church to be a help and strength to his pilgrim children, and when they let their doubts argue them into remaining out of the church they lose this help that the Lord has placed here for them. I want to acknowledge what a help the church has been to me. The thoughts of the church and the love and fellowship of the brethren has been a strength in temptation, a comfort in sorrow, and a great encouragement all along the uneven journey of life.

CHAPTER III

West Union Church was weak in numbers when I united with it, but active. Two meetings a month were held, one of which, the business meeting, was held in the neighborhood where my father lived, known as the "Cash neighborhood," and Elder Thompson attended this meeting generally. At the time I united with the church, Elder Wilson Thompson was pastor. He died in the fall after I was ordained. He was much loved and respected, being a firm and uncompromising advocate of salvation by grace. He was loving and kind with the brethren and sisters, and faithful and true under all circumstances. The other meeting was held at different places, but often north of Bucklin at the Nagle school house. At this meeting all the members, or most of them, took part, relating experiences or talking of spiritual subjects, reading the scriptures, singing hymns, etc. I have always thought that such meetings are very profitable to a church, as they tend to the development of the gifts that the Lord may have placed in the church, and they are God honoring, enjoyable and strengthening to the members. I first began my public exercises in taking part in these meetings.
While being much impressed with the duty of doing my part with other members, I did not think about ever trying to preach, and was very much alarmed one meeting day, when I had been called on by the old deacon of the church, William Putman, to open the services, and had tried to be excused, saying there were others better qualified than I for that duty, he replied: "We hope that the Lord has given you a gift that will be profitable to the church." How that frightened me! What if that should be true! It would mean so much to me; such a burden, such a responsibility, and I trembled to think of it. But a little more, and a little more was demanded of me by the members at the meetings, and although I could see where it was drifting, I seemed powerless to refuse. It became a constant burden on my mind, but it was with so much weakness and emotion that I spoke, I hoped that nothing more would be required of me than to just assist at the meetings.
I will now speak of a circumstance that later in years caused me to wonder. I was keeping company with Miss Ellen P. Hardin, who afterward became my wife. Miss Hardin was a member of the M. E. church, of which her parents were very devoted members also, and I feel convinced knew the Lord experimentally. Miss Hardin was baptized in infancy and had never known any other faith. But her parents, being zealous in the cause to which they had devoted their lives, knew of the doctrine of the Primitive Baptists, and of course could not approve our church because it contradicted their faith. After my engagement to Miss Hardin she tried to get me to promise that I would never preach for the Primitive Baptists. I felt sure that she loved me, and she had never shown unreasonable prejudice against our people, though she had not heard them much. I had no idea of becoming a preacher at that time, and having some idea of what it entailed, if I had thought it possible, it would seem that I would have been glad to hide behind some refuge as this. But instead of welcoming such an agreement, it aroused such a loyalty in my heart to the church and to my Lord and Master that I think it would have led me to breaking the engagement had she insisted upon it. I argued to her that I did not intend to preach, but this did not satisfy her; and so finally I told her, that although I did not have it in my intentions to preach for the Primitive Baptists, nor to preach at all, but I would not disobey my Lord should he call me to that work. This was the only opposition that she ever manifested toward the church, and after our marriage, which was on August 25, 1875, she welcomed Baptists into our home, and before her death, which occurred February 2, 1876, she asked for a home in the church and was received; but her sickness and death prevented her baptism. Her love was so pure, she was so devoted and true, I feel sure had she lived she would have faithfully helped me to bear the burdens of a Primitive Baptist preacher without complaint. Before her death she said that she would rather have lived the few months that she lived with me than to have lived a long life without me. The memory of her pure, strong love is a precious treasure.
My interest in the cause and in public exercise increased, and I did not feel so averse to it, because many of the members of the church took part in these meetings, opening the meetings with prayer, and speaking. But when the brethren got to talking about giving me license, then I objected. I felt that it was doubtful if I was called to preach, and even if I was, licensing would be no help to me. And if time should show that I was not so called, then it would be but a burden to me, and an embarrassment and injury to the church. They listened to my pleading for awhile. I will here say that I think much harm has been done the cause by acting hastily in giving license, as the action of the church is called in giving liberty to one to speak in the way of preaching. I feel sure the church should try the gifts until convinced that one can speak to the edification of the church. Many of the members may be able to make good talks, and more of them could if pastors encouraged speaking meetings. In these meetings the members get closer together than they ever do otherwise. When the church has two services on the Saturday of the business meeting I think it is a good practice to have the members conduct the afternoon service as much as possible. It keeps the church from falling into that state of helplessness that makes the members feel if there is no preacher present there can be no service. Anciently, "They that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name." - Mal. iii: 16. Paul wrote to the Colossian church, "Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." - Col. iii. 16.
The talk among the members increased my trouble about the matter. Meanwhile I had two dreams that did not tend to ease my mind, but rather to make me wonder if I would have to submit in the end on the matter. I would not write these dreams were it not for the fact that there have been dreamers before, and that the Lord has had their dreams recorded. It is not contrary to the doctrine of grace for the Lord to teach when the will and mind are not active. Regeneration is a demonstration of the Lord's power to work when the creature is not consulted. In the first dream I sat on the west porch at our old home where I was born. In my waking hours and in my dreams I meditated on what the Lord might want me to do. As I thought in my dream, a hand reached down from the sky over the tall black locust trees in the back yard and handed me a Bible, and as silently as it came the hand was withdrawn. I tried to think it was just a dream, but over and over, day after day, and week after week came the question, "Did it mean anything?" Time has reached out into years and decades, and still the question, "Did it mean anything?" It may not mean anything to others, but sometimes with awful importance it has been interpreted to have a meaning for me. But do not understand me to relate this as a call to preach. If I ever had a call it was not in that dream, but I realize that the Lord may have used it to impress my mind that so sacred a duty was not to be trifled with, and that it came from heaven. The brethren had talked of the license. I could not think it necessary. I dreamed one night that the church was all assembled at the home of my uncle, Jasper Burk, and seats had been arranged in the yard under one of the trees. There was a table, with a Bible lying on it, in the proper place for a speaker to stand in addressing the people who might be seated, and who were not gathering. But where was the preacher? I saw none, and I wondered whom they were expecting. In answer to my mental query they all looked to me and I was told that I was to do the preaching. This was in the fall. In January following (1877) the church voted to recommend me to the churches to speak wherever I might in the providence of God be thrown.
In March following (March 4, 1877) I was married to Miss Emma Bentley. She was a member of the M. E. church South, and had heard but few Primitive Baptists preach, but thought from the fact that her grandfather was a member they could not be such bad people. She became a member of our church three years after we were married. I did not know that she was going to ask for membership when she did, but I knew that she no longer considered the Methodist organization the church of Christ. She had told me some time before that I need not pay her dues to the steward of the class to which she belonged, but I insisted that as long as she was a member, her quarterage should be paid the same as any other just debt. In a talk with the steward one day about their preacher, whom some of their members were berating because he was trading and trying to make money with which to care for his family, I said he ought to sue the members for not supporting him as they were obligated to do. The steward said that he could not do that, as what the members paid in was a gift and not discharging a debt. "Well," I said, "if that is true, I will pay you nothing more for my wife's membership, as I have nothing to give the Methodist church; I want all I have to go to the Primitive Baptists." So I did not pay him then, but would ask him every time I saw him, if my wife owed anything yet. He finally saw that I meant not to pay him until he acknowledged that an assessment was a debt that should be paid. So he said, "Well, yes, I suppose she does," and I paid him. We are truly bound as the Lord may prosper us, and as we may propose in our heart to give to the support of the church, but we do not make assessments, nor do we hire and bargain with our preachers.
My wife finally told the preacher in charge that she wanted to leave the denomination and wanted a letter certifying as to her standing among them, and he promised to give it to her, but neglected to do so, even after her second request. He was present at our meeting in May, 1880, when she came to the church asking membership, and arose and in a well-meant talk recommended her to our people. While a letter would not have meant anything to us as carrying fellowship, I think it is right when persons find themselves in an organization that they cannot feel is the church of Christ, to leave the body in such a way as to command respect, and to show common respect to people with whom they have been associated. And I would feel better toward a member of the Primitive Baptist church in case he wanted to become a member of some other body, for him to inform us of his intention.
A year after I was granted liberty to speak anywhere I might be, we had a number of additions to our church, and among them was a licentiate who desired very much to be ordained. He had made a motion to ordain some licentiates in a church that he came from to us, and we had been informed that he was much disappointed when the church did not include him also after he got the matter started. He commenced to talk of my ordination, but the brethren told me what they thought his purpose was, and so if he brought the matter up, they did not want me to be surprised if they opposed it. They told me that they intended to ask for my ordination, but they did not intend to ordain this brother who wanted to be ordained, and they thought there was no need of haste in calling for my ordination. The brother that I have had reference to left our church and obtained membership in another church where he was ordained, and where he caused the church much trouble, and was finally excluded, and died out of the church. It is a very safe course to keep hands off of a man who is seeking his own ordination to the ministry.
The matter of my ordination was brought up early in the year 1880 and the time was set for the May meeting. There were present in the presbytery Elders J. E. Goodson, Sr., Wilson Thompson and A. Bealmer. At the time of my ordination West Union church was using the Methodist church in the town of Bucklin, having no church house of our own. Here I began preaching when the church called me as pastor. I had attended the schools in this town when a boy, and living close to the town all the people knew me. They attended our meetings and treated me and the church with respect. Considering my own experience, and from many years of observation, I conclude there is often undue haste in ordaining brethren into the ministry. It is better to wait until the church no longer has a question of the prudence of the work. I think that it would be the safest plan not to ordain a man until his services were called for to pastor a church. It is wrong for a church to ordain a man that the church is not willing to use in her pulpit. If there is a wrong committed in an ordination it is the fault of the church and the act should be well considered.


CHAPTER IV

I had been preaching occasionally at a place known as the Walker school house in Chariton county. This was about twenty-five miles from where I lived. There being some persons there who desired membership in the church, West Union church extended and "Arm" there in August, 1880. Here I had the pleasure of baptizing my father's oldest brother who was sixty-one years of age. For many years he had entertained a hope, and was settled in the doctrines of grace. Several years before I began preaching in his vicinity he was much impressed with the obligation of those who were believers having membership in a church. He was much impressed with such passages as Mark viii. 38, "Whomsoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." He said that he felt that a heavy obligation lay upon the heads of families to make profession of their faith if they entertained a hope. There being no Primitive Baptist church near him, he thought to discharge this obligation by taking membership in a Presbyterian church, of which his wife was a member. He made his application, but the minister who was serving there did not believe in immersion for baptism, so they said they would arrange to have another minister come who would immerse him. He meditated on this condition, and came to the conclusion that as they did not believe in immersion for baptism they were only bending to his wish just to get him, and not because they thought it right, and that this would not be baptism, and therefore he refused to submit.
I baptized a good many at this place, and there was a good interest. Finally a church was constituted there in June, 1883, called Sardis. I preached to this church a number of years, principally at my own charges. I was a poor man, with a growing family, and trying to preach each Saturday and Sunday in the month, and the burden of the work could but be felt. I began to study the scriptures to find if anything was said about this inequality of burden between pastor and church. I found that the scriptures taught as plainly that the church should help to bear the burden of the ministry as it did salvation by grace. The result of my investigation was the issuing of my book, Practical Suggestions for Primitive Baptists. In this book, among other practical things I treated on the financial business of the church through its deacons, and providing for the pastor, believing that the Bible clearly taught that "they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel." I thought it my duty to speak plainly to Sardis church, believing then, as I do now, that it is the duty of the pastor to teach practical duties as well as scripture doctrine. I shall never forget an incident that occurred at this church, of which I shall now write. An old brother came to me, and laying a kindly hand on my shoulder, said with evident intention to do me good, "Brother Cash, remember that you are but a young man. I am old and have never seen the things that you advocate practiced in the church, nor did my father before me."
This brought me to a serious point. I could get this old brother's approval by advocating the course he had always practiced, which was to let the minister take care of himself. To stand up for what I felt sure the Bible taught would be to bring down upon myself his charge that I was bringing in "new things." In a brief moment's thought, I decided my course - I would stand by the Bible and let the result be with the Lord. I have always thought of this incident as a critical time in my life, and my conscience still approves my decision as being in harmony with the word of God. But this stand lost me the pastorate of this church, which was, under my surroundings, relieving me of quite a burden. At that time I was trying to make a living farming, and it necessitated my leaving home most of the year on Friday evening and riding into the night Sunday night to reach home. During my absence my feeding and chores, which belong to farm life, had to be attended to by my wife, who had little children to care for. What brought the matter to a climax was, an old preacher, who was a friend of the old brother who undertook to set me right, learning of the situation took sides with the old brother who thought I was wrong, and so he was called to the care of the church. He was well fixed, financially, but had to travel by railroad to attend the church. He came a few times, and when his railroad fare was not paid by the church, he quit. It cost me more to attend this church than it would have cost this old preacher, but he had the opportunity of branding me as teaching new things. He evidently did not mean for the church to take him at his word, however.
I have known a good many ministers to follow this course. I came out and plainly advocated what the scriptures taught. Preachers would take advantage of this to my discredit with those who wanted to stick to the "old way" of letting the preacher foot his own bills, and speak against me, saying that it would be but a few years until I would be with the Missionaries, when really, they were bidding secretly for the help of those who stood up against scriptural practice. And some of them thought that their course was so under cover that I would not discover it, and they would ask me to visit their churches and "preach on duty." I would not say so much about this in this place, but I would, if I could, break down forever that disposition among preachers to try to discredit some other preacher to please members, though in their hearts they know that he is in the right according to the scriptures. Well, to end this lesson, that church could not find another preacher who would carry all his load himself as I had done for so many years, so it went down.
In this connection let me exhort young preachers to study the scriptures and be sure of what they teach, then in love, but firmly preach it. Do not stop with just believing what the scriptures teach, it is your business, if you are true to your calling, to teach others what the scriptures teach on every subject, especially about what God's people should be doing. It is all right to preach doctrine, but the Lord's people can not help God in the work of salvation. What they can do, and should do, is to serve him according to his direction while they are in the world. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." This city is not heaven, but the Lord's spiritual kingdom for His saints on earth.
When I was issuing the book, Practical Suggestions for Primitive Baptists, before referred to, a brother wrote me that the positions I had taken in it, relative to financial business of the church, and the obligations of the church, were all scriptural, but that he would advise me not to circulate the book, as it would result in my rejection by the Primitive Baptists. He said they would follow the course they had been following for many years, regardless of what the scriptures taught, and that to advocate a return to scriptural practice would result in my being set aside as bringing in new things. I wrote him that I was not considering what might befall me on account of the publication of the book, I was only asking, "is it according to the truth?" But in my heart I had more confidence in Primitive Baptists than to think that they could not be brought to study the Bible on this subject, and if they did, I could not believe but that they would follow it.
Some incidents impressed my mind about this time. One illustrates the human disposition to take advantage of the weakness of others to forward selfish ends. A brother came to me and reported what he claimed another brother had said about me. He said, "He is saying that you were never called to preach; that you are not fit to preach; that you are proud, and that your preaching is not at all edifying." I felt that there might be some selfish motive in this, that the brother who was talking to me might be trying to influence me for his own personal interest against the other brother whom he said had been talking against me. I replied, "Well, he might be right. I have, myself, grave doubts of my being called of the Lord to preach. And I have a feeling, too, that I am not fitted for taking the care of a church. And really my mouth is sometimes almost closed by a feeling that what I can say may not be edifying to the children of God. If I feel this way myself, how can I blame others for thinking the same things?" It turned out as I had expected, the two brethren had had a difference between them and one was trying to prejudice me against the other. It impressed me with what I now know for a fact, that preachers ought not to be easily influenced by what is told to them.
Sardis church received a sister for baptism. It was understood that her husband was much opposed to her being baptized. Relatives came to me and told me that it would be very imprudent to baptize the sister, as her husband would leave her. They asked me what I was going to do. I said, "I'm going to baptize her if she wants me to do so." The day set for the baptism came on. The man was at church. I went up to him and spoke to him, taking his hand, and holding it while I addressed him. I said to him, "Your wife is to be baptized today, and I suppose you have no objections." He dropped his head and made no reply. I continued, "You know this is a matter between her and her God." He raised his head and spoke. "Yes," he said, "that is true; it is between her and her God. No, I have no objections." We cannot tell how the Lord may open the way for us to do our duty. All that we can do is to go straight on, trusting in him to make rough places smooth.
While preaching for Sardis church, one Friday, late in the fall of the year, when it had been very muddy, the weather suddenly changed, it got very cold, and the ground froze up hard and sharp. I had so much work to do Friday to get things in shape so that my wife could do the feeding and caring for the stock while I was away (as we had no help) I had not time to get my horse shod. I worked until late and started after dark, intending to go ten miles that night and then to go on Saturday morning. I had gone but little distance until my horse became very lame, traveling over the sharp, frozen ground. I then walked and led the horse, so as to keep on the smoothest places I could find, and at 10 o'clock came to a blacksmith shop. There were no lights anywhere. I went to the blacksmith's house, they were all in bed. I knocked at the door, and when I had awakened him, told him what I wanted. He said, "I never shoe horses at night." I pleaded with him, telling him that I would hold a lamp for him, and that I could not go on unless he shod my horse. He finally consented, and we got the horse shod, and I went on to a brother's house, put my horse in the stable, and went to bed to wait for the morning.
Next morning I started to go on fifteen miles, but my horse was still lame, and I walked the greater part of the way. I had a great struggle of mind from the time I left home, and especially Saturday morning. I asked myself over and over, who had demanded this service at my hands. Saturday the weather was disagreeable, being cloudy and damp, and I argued there would be no one at the meeting when I reached the appointed place, and so I could do no good by going on. I argued to myself that it would be the most reasonable thing to do to turn back and go home, as I was needed there so badly, and I was getting a lame horse farther and farther from home, which did not seem right. I tried to think what I might say when I got to the meeting if there was anyone there to speak to. But all my thoughts were so empty and light, that it seemed the course of a foolish person to go through what I was enduring, and would have to go through before I reached home, to make all this effort to say as nearly nothing as I would have to say. It seemed presumptuous to suppose that my preaching had enough in it to warrant any such trip. I would think, "there is my wife at home with the house to keep, the children to care for, and added to that the feeding and caring for all the stock. And here I am making this trip under such difficulties, when under the circumstances, it is not likely I can do any good, even if my services were worth anything at any time." Thus I meditated step by step for miles and miles of weary road. And I seemed to be the only one on the road. The roads were too bad for anyone to be on them, and here I was on a "fool's errand."
Finally, I got within one mile of the meeting place and came to a brother's house, and there was no one at home. This was encouraging; perhaps they were at the meeting. I put my horse in the stable and trudged on. I came in sight of the place. There were a number of horses hitched around. It was a reviving sight. I came nearer; I stopped and listened. They were singing. How good it sounded to one who had heard nothing for weary miles but the discouraging spirit-depressing arguments of Satan. I hurried on; I was late. I opened the door! I would be glad to see only a few, but--it seemed nearly too good to be true--they were nearly all there. "All the toils of the road seemed nothing," I had got to the end of the way, and the Lord's presence was manifested among us. The Lord was indeed good. Would I doubt him again, and let my rebellious heart be filled with complaining?
I was much worried in these days because my stock of information was so limited, and I had so little time for reading. Though the Bible was such a vast storehouse, the necessity of caring for my family seemed to make it impossible for me to make use of it. The churches had not been taught to think of their responsibility in providing for the preaching of the gospel by loosing hands of the preachers. With these things pressing me, I delivered a sermon on the "Failures of Preachers." I attempted to show that the church was in a large measure to blame, because it let the preacher be cumbered with the things of this life, and the necessary cares which fell on one with a family, and this impoverished his mind and darkened his understanding. (See article on this subject). There was an old minister present who followed me, and he left the impression as strong as he could that I was wrong. He said that he never studied to preach, nor read the Bible, and took for a text the first passage that caught his eye. I told Doctor Goodson what the old brother said, and he replied, "Well, anyone would know that was the way that he did who ever heard him preach."
I have not changed my mind since delivering that sermon. Many times brethren hear a sermon and feel that the preacher is dull and uninteresting without reflecting how the treatment of him might be the reason for the condition of his mind. The ox that treadeth out the corn has been muzzled, which is against the law. Of course there might be many reasons why a preacher did not have the liberty to speak, but the reason assigned above might be one of them.


CHAPTER V

On the death of Elder Wilson Thompson, whom I have spoken of as a pastor of my home church, West Union, I was called to the care of his home church, Liberty, near Linneus, Missouri. This was in the fall of 1880, after I was ordained in May. I shall not forget my impressions when I went to this church. It was a good church, but had few young members in it. I was almost overcome with the thought that nothing I could say would interest the members, for Elder Thompson had preached for them so long and ably, and I was so young, and knew so little, that I certainly could not be expected to edify them. The members were kind and tender with me, and I really felt sorry for them that they were giving me so much love and fellowship, and I had so little to give in return. It looked to me like the prospects for the church were discouraging. I could not feel that anyone could ever join the church under my preaching, so it would turn out that as the old members died the church would decline, and finally go out of existence.
These feelings resulted in directing my discourses to practical subjects, as I felt they were better established in doctrine perhaps than I was, and the old preachers of my acquaintance had never given much attention to practical subjects--their preaching was mostly along doctrinal lines. But as I began to view the field of practical and experimental thought it was a vast one indeed. As I preached so much on the lines indicated, finally a doubt grew into the minds of some whether indeed I was "sound" in doctrine. This was especially voiced by those who objected to preaching much on the line of the duty. But while I grew to giving more attention to preaching on doctrinal subjects, I held on much as I had begun. I found that I was mistaken in regard to the decline of Liberty church. True, the older members dropped off as they came to the end of their pilgrimage, but younger members were added to the church. This fact rebuked me. I saw clearly that I had been thinking too much about the church being built up by my work. While it is no doubt true that the pastor has an influence on the decline or prosperity of a church, the trust of the church and the pastor should be in the Lord, so much so, that they should fear to displease Him, lest He withdraw His blessing and approval, and lay His chastening hand upon them. With the addition of the younger members there came up an incident to which I will call attention, as I have many times since had the lesson that I learned then, brought fresh to my mind. As already stated, when I came to the care of the church the members were mostly elderly people. As is usual where this is the case they get into a settled way of doing things and are not very favorable to changes of any kind. The younger members that had been received were full of love and zeal for the church. We were to have a visiting preacher during Christmas week. The younger members, not thinking that there would be any objections, after cleaning up the house very nicely, placed some evergreen boughs and a few wreaths around the interior.
When some of the old members saw what was done they were much displeased, and made some remarks that were rather severe, and calculated to wound the feelings of the young members, who were much hurt and discouraged. They felt that they would never attempt to do anything again, and that ever afterward they would sit back, as they had given serious offense by what they had done. They expressed themselves as feeling that perhaps they had done wrong in coming into the church at all. I felt very much worried, fearing that I might not be able to bring about a good feeling again. I tried to show the older members that they had been too severe with the young members, and while they might not have approved what had been done, they should remember that they were once young, and had the animation of the young, and the same lack of maturity in judgment. I also tried to impress them with the necessity of keeping very close to the young members, that they might have a strong influence with them, as these same young members would one day have the responsibility and burden of the church upon them.
I talked with the young members and gave them to understand that they must not forget to always show respect for the old members by asking their advice in what they did, but have them to understand that it was all right for them to have appreciation for the looks of the church, and while they need not be too forward, they should be willing and active to bear a part in whatever was done for the advancement of the church. At the close of the meeting one of the old sisters asked one of the young members for one of the nicest wreaths that she might take it home to hang up in her house, but she did not think to soften the words of criticism made in the beginning. I think all tried to put behind them the unpleasantness that had been occasioned, but still it hung like a veil for a long time. I have detailed this incident, for it emphasizes the importance of members, young and old, being careful to stay close together, and advise with one another. The young must respect the older members, and not act toward them as though they felt that they were "old fogies." Then the old must not expect that young people will acquire the staid ways of the old all at once, and be tender and kind with them, trying to mold them into growing up to be pillars in the church. The young should remember that they shall grow old, and the old should remember that they have been young. How careful all ought to be to preserve warm fellowship in the church.
Illustrating how easy it is for members to neglect each other, I will relate an incident we had in one of our churches. It is of a widow of a deceased preacher, who during his ministry, which, as was the case generally, then, took his time and labor from his family. I had been away from the meetings a few months, and on going back learned that the widowed sister had been sick, but was then up. I went to see her Saturday after church meeting. When I entered the house she dropped to a chair, put her hands over her face and burst into tears, not being able to greet me on account of her emotion. When she became a little composed she said between sobs, "You are the first Baptist I have seen for nine weeks." She was helped by my visit, but told me how she had longed, oh, so much, to see some of the members, but none came, except her own family.
The next day at the meeting I began to inquire of the members why the neglect. One said he was not very well when he first heard of her being sick, and when he could get out his work pressed him. Another said he was gathering corn, and when he got through with his corn he had his wood to get up, and by the time he got this done he heard she was up, and so did not go. Others had similar excuses for their neglect, but really all might have said in reply to my question, "just neglect."
Think of the suffering in the mind of this dear sister, who had made so many sacrifices for love of the church that her husband might give his services to it. She had spent lonely hours; on her had devolved the care of their children; many comforts had been denied for the sake of the cause. Now when the preacher's voice was stilled in death, the church neglected his widow on whom had fallen much of the weight of his ministry! It all came from thoughtless neglect. They were good brethren and sisters, but they put off from day to day what they meant to do some time, but the deed which would have given such strength and comfort to the lonely widow was never done. Abraham got up "early" to yield obedience to the command of the Lord, though the giving up of his son was more to him than any financial loss could have been. So we should not put off the calls that love and duty lay upon us. When we consider that anything done for one of the followers of Jesus, He considers as done to Himself, how awful it is to act so as to show neglect of the Son of God.
I have often thought of the wells along the roads that I traveled going to my churches, where I used to stop to drink. I rode a horse to my appointments for many years, and formed a habit of stopping at the same wells to drink. It rested me to dismount, and having learned where to find the best water, I there had my thirst quenched. How like the journey of life this is. Jesus stood up on the great day of the feast and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." How long, tiresome and weary the journey of life to Zion's pilgrims without these watering places! The church is a watering place. Here we sit down to rest under the shadow of his wings, rest the weary soul at the gospel's call, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Then, too, "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." How the "soul thirsteth for God."
As the wells along my way, that meant so much to me in those days, so have refreshing places been where thirst of the soul may be satisfied with the water of life. As I came nearer those watering places my desire for the water became greater the more I thought about it. So it is with us. The more we think of the sweetness of the stream of the water of life the more our thirst increases. And it is well, too, that we keep in mind where we may find these places, and turn in to them.
I have thought, too, of the wells that Isaac digged. "And Isaac digged again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them." - Gen. xxvi. 18. Water is so essential to life and health and enjoyment that the scriptures use it a great deal as a symbol of what revives the drooping spirits. "The Spirit and the bride say come * * * and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." The gospel with its reviving promises seems to be the "water of life." It is not eternal life, but where there is eternal life there is thirst. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Where we have found watering places, spiritually speaking, our minds are likely to turn, and they are sweet to the memory. And it is with us as it was with Isaac, there are no better wells for us than those from which the father have drunk. These were the wells of salvation. "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." The world may be satisfied with its cisterns for a time, but they shall finally find them to be "broken cisterns" which cannot quench thirst. I turn in mind often to the times and places where my soul has quaffed the water of life when in service with the churches, and the memory is like an open fountain still. As the Philistines stopped the wells of Abraham the influence of the world has the effect of closing up our gospel comforts.
The first time I ever went to Liberty church four of us drove through in a spring wagon. This was before I began preaching. Two incidents of that trip have not left my mind. I did not know the road, and so when I thought we must be near I inquired of a man we met where the church was. He said he knew, and that they were having meeting at that time. This made us feel that he knew, for I knew that this was the meeting day. He pointed out the house, and sure enough there were teams hitched around it. I drove up, but did not feel so sure but what I got out to inquire if we were right. As I went up the walk I heard them singing and I knew at once that it was not our people who were engaged in service. The sentiment of the hymn decided that. I turned to go back and a gentleman came out and told me about the people that were gathered at that place, and also where I would find the Liberty church I was looking for. I have meditated much on the distinctiveness of our services, and have been glad that we have maintained in our service a character that is unlike that of any other people. We sing and pray and preach, but the singing is different - we sing of grace and Christian experience, and use music adapted to express the solemn, sacredness of the place, and of the thought in the words we sing. We pray, and preach, but the character and matter of prayer and sermons is different from others. I remember that at one of our churches we had as a visitor an old brother that I had never seen nor heard of, and I wondered if he was indeed our kind of people. A brother who was with him said that the old gentleman would lead in prayer, and he was asked to do so. He had not proceeded far until I felt great confidence in him as being a sound Primitive Baptist. I was first impressed with this difference on the occasion mentioned above.
There was another little incident that the more I have thought about it the more plainly I have seen a thought it suggested. After leaving the place where the people mentioned were holding services we followed the man's advice until we turned away from the main road to enter a gate to go through a pasture. Here the way seemed doubtful. Just at this time a man came along whom I accosted and inquired if he knew where Liberty church was holding their meeting. He replied that he did, and began at once to give directions. He said, "Go through this gate, go south a quarter, then west a little ways, then across a branch, then--" He stopped abruptly, pointed to the dim road that ran through the gate, and said with emphasis, "See that track? Just follow it, and it will lead you to the place."
How true it is that the plainest leading influences in our lives are the examples of living which are set before us. "Go thy way forth," said the sacred writer, "by the footsteps of the flock." We sometimes devote much time to theory and doctrines that the simple story of the way the Lord's people have been led would entirely refute and dispel. "See those tracks?" appeals to me many times as I read of God's providence and care over his children. I know that is the right way. "Just follow the tracks," comes not alone as advice, but with a voice that can but be recognized as commanding.
That is the reason the Lord has had these maps of "tracks" traced in the Book of books, that we might not follow those which lead to destruction, though they are "broad" and "wide," and so apparently easy to find and travel. But if we look intently we may see written over these "tracks" plainly, "The way to destruction." But there are other "tracks." They lead through the "strait gate" and "narrow way," and they lead to life. True, there be few following in that way, but it leads where we ought to want to go, where God's blessings and presence are, and where there is companionship and fellowship with the saints. Even as we found by following the tracks, we had continuous evidence all the way along that we were in the way.
Sometimes when low down in the valley we begin to feel that we have lost the way, but look: Here is where the Savior kneeled when He prayed, "Let the cup pass." But the cup does not pass, and still "Sorrows encompass me round." Have I lost the way? Look a little closer further on. Ah! here are the prints of the dear Savior's knees, and this is where He prayed: "Nevertheless not my will but thine be done." Are we asking, what is my duty? Look at these "tracks" by the river's side. Certainly the Lord's feet pressed the sands, and these marks show which way to go. "Suffer it to be so now," said Jesus to John, "for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." I am today thankful for the incidents along the way which have led my too roving mind to the "fields of Boaz," where I might glean the golden grain of truth.


CHAPTER VI

I preached for Concord church, which was south of Laclede, Mo., for a few years. The most of the time I rode a horse to and from, which was a distance of about 20 miles. I was farming and had no help. I would work late Friday evening to get all the work done that I could, and then ride over Saturday morning. I sometimes hear brethren excuse themselves for missing their church meetings because they live so far away, some ten or fifteen miles perhaps. I think of the years when I worked hard every day in the week up to Saturday and then rode twenty to twenty-five miles and back home Sunday night. I know what led me to do it - I loved the cause. I know I was not being paid to do it. I wonder how much these brethren love the cause that will let a little hardship and sacrifice keep them from their meetings.
I will tell of an incident I now have in mind. I started to Concord church one Saturday morning. I was going west, and the sun beat down on my back. I was tired when I started. The heat and dust were disagreeable indeed. I fell to complaining of my lot. Why should I, who was so poorly situated, feel that it was my duty to try to preach under such disadvantages? There were plenty of brethren, good brethren, too, who were better qualified than I, and had means so that they would not have to be burdened as I was. Why was I called, if called I was, and not those who could so well serve?
Then, at that time, I was so barren of mind. I felt that I certainly had no message to deliver that day. I ought to go back home, reason seemed to say to me, but still I went on, going over and over again my complainings, and each time I weighed my burdens they seemed heavier. My way led through the town of Brookfield. My wife had given me a package to deliver to an old Sister Neece who lived there. I reached her home, got down, tied my horse and went in. She welcomed me and bade me sit down. I excused myself, that I had no time to sit down, as I had several miles to go, and would be late. She placed a chair and said "Sit and rest while I get you a glass of cool water." She returned in a few moments, and while I slaked my thirst she talked. She said that until recently she had been much given to worrying and complaining. She had been much distressed, too, about her children. But while she worried there came to her a view of God in whom she could trust, that brought peace to her soul. She had complained about her lot, but the dear Son of God had been tried beyond what she was able to comprehend, and that for her sake. And now He understood her perfectly, and it was a reflection on the sincerity of His love to so act and so feel as though He was not full of sympathy and love for His troubled children. She said it came to her how weak and imperfect she was, but how strong, loving and kind was the Savior. She had found such rest in taking everything to the Lord in prayer and trusting Him to do right, and believing that in His providence He will care for us to the end of the way. She had worried about her children and her inability to direct and protect them, but now she felt relief that she could in confidence pray to Him who had more power than she.
I had listened to her words, and like oil on troubled waters they had calmed my spirit, and sweeter than honey in the honeycomb the blessed gospel of peace from the mouth of this dear old sister had dropped into my heart. The rebellion in my heart was quelled, and my soul said "My Lord and my God." How changed the scene was! I came into her home full of bitterness with no message of help and comfort for those who labor and are heavy laden; but now I felt a sweet submission in my heart, and a willingness to go to the end of the world if only my Lord should say "follow me." Then, too, I felt how sweet a privilege it would be to quote the words of the Savior to sorrowing ones - "Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me." I went on my way to the church, only wishing that I could say a part of what was in my heart to say. Often in my memory have I rested in the home of the God-sent messenger and listened to her words of heavenly wisdom which dropped into my heart like the gentle dew of heaven.
Concord church a few years later dissolved and the membership went to Liberty church. Before I began preaching for the church it had excluded a sister for refusing to live with her husband. I was much impressed with the matter from the time I first learned about it. She attended the meetings and made no show of resentment but was quiet and gentle and her spirit impressed me as being that of a true follower of Jesus. I was not impressed so favorably with the spirit and talk of the husband who had been retained in the church. I learned he had taken "gospel steps" and that the church could not see how they could do otherwise than to exclude the wife as she refused to live with him. After the church dissolved the excluded sister began attending the meetings at Liberty church, and maintained the same Christian spirit. The husband had died. I spoke to the former members of Concord church, now members of Liberty church, and asked them if they did not feel that the sister had been wronged in the matter, and they said they thought she had. I told them it was not too late to remedy the matter, and I felt they owed it to her to make a statement to the church in her behalf, as they now felt that too much confidence had been placed in the husband, and that he was the one really to blame for the separation, but that the wife would rather bear wrong than to bring charges. One of the brethren told the Liberty church of what they had done, and acknowledged that he believed Concord church had done wrong, and recommended Liberty church to give her membership if she desired it. The dear old sister was much overcome with her thankfulness to again have a home in the church after years of patient waiting to be vindicated, and remained faithful until death. I speak of this incident to call attention to the fact that churches sometimes err, and when the members are convinced that they have, they should rectify the wrong. Also, when persons have suffered injustice at the hands of the church they should not rail against it and seek to do it harm, but they should follow in a Christ-like spirit, which will in time win the hearts of all, and reparation will be made them.
At one time I became much discouraged over the condition of my home church, West Union. The church was in peace, but I was much impressed with the idea that having lived there all my life, and feeling to have such little ability to preach, I could never hope to build up the church, in fact, I saw nothing out of which the church might build. This feeling grew on me until it darkened my mind much, and often I felt that I could not preach. Once I thought I should not be able to even make an effort to speak, I was so overcome with the thought that having known me from childhood up, and having heard me say perhaps all I had to say, those present would not be edified or even interested. During the singing I tried to think what I should do when the time came to go on with the preaching service. While in much gloom of mind a passage of scripture came into my mind with much force. It reads, "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake."--2 Cor. iv. 5. This lifted my cloud for that time for it showed so clearly that I ought to be thinking more about preaching the work of Jesus, His love and power to save, and not thinking so much about myself.
But I seemed not to be able to get relief from my depressed feelings, and I felt that this would eventually work an injury to the church, and for the sake of the faithful members who were so true to the cause, and to hold our congregation, we ought to get some one to preach for us, anyway until I might be relieved in mind. I asked one preacher in whom I felt much confidence, if he would consent to come and preach for us awhile, and he said, "No, not while you are there to preach for the church." I do not think he did me right, and I told him that if he ever got into the state that I was in at that time, and should call on me for help, if it was within my power I would help him. The church consented to my appeal and asked a good brother to preach for a year and he consented. What a relief this was to me! I think it did me and the church good, and I have always had a warm feeling for this brother, Elder J. W. Bradley, for coming to our help.
As time developed I have tried to study my trouble, and I suppose it was a lack of trust in God, and impatience. I looked too much to self, and not feeling any dependence could be placed there, I saw nothing in which to put trust for the future to continue the church. I should have been living more by faith, looking to the Lord to prepare the hearts of people for the church. Then, too, I was much too impatient, as I clearly saw when in after years I had the pleasure of baptizing members into the church who were at the time of my discouragement unborn. How important to heed Jesus--"In your patience possess ye your souls." "Let patience have her perfect work." I have learned, "For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."
My home church, West Union, since its organization, had always been a small church, and had always met in school houses, as was much the custom of small churches for many years, or in the homes of the members, or in some hired house. But in the year 1898, without considering how we might be able to do so, a motion was made to build a house of worship. It carried without opposition, though any one of the members might have contended that we were not able, as we were nearly all in debt. The work was undertaken with a will, however. I did much soliciting far and near, and yet feel thankful to brethren for their encouragement and financial aid. The house was built on a nice site given the church by Brother Ambrose, the lot containing two acres, which was planted in trees.
I thought many times, while soliciting for funds to build this house, how easy it would be for the Primitive Baptists of Missouri, and many other states, to raise money enough each year to build a comfortable home for some church whose members were poor in this world's goods. While the contributions were small, principally from fifty cents to two and a half dollars, the fact was the more emphasized that with a little system to bring enough brethren to work in unison, it would be possible to do much good for needy churches.
My home church remained in peace, all working in harmony for many years, and I had begun to wonder why churches had trouble, when a series of incidents threw the church into much confusion, one of which I will mention. I had devised, and had printed a church clerk's record book in which were printed Articles of Faith and Rules of Decorum. I offered one of these books to my home church, and then came up the question as to the adoption of the printed articles of faith and rules. Of course the adoption of the book did not make this imperative at all, as they could have been omitted. This matter was taken up, however, and as most of the churches did, West Union adopted them with few changes. There was, however, strong opposition made to the adoption of one clause in the covenant, which read as follows: "We also agree * * * to be ready to communicate to the defraying of the church's expenses, and for the support of the ministry."
It was sought to strike this out. I was not willing to single out a clause which was clearly scriptural and strike it out, for then it would appear that it was not according to scripture teaching, and I felt sure this was as plainly taught as were the doctrines in the Articles of Faith. The friction over the adoption or striking out of that clause caused us much trouble. The objection was not to the actual contribution for the help of the ministry, but to putting it into words, or in a way making what we did for the ministry public.
I have seen much of this spirit among our people. I think, perhaps, much of it originated in trying to get away as far as possible from the Missionary Baptists who went out from us, and then to such extremes on the money question, really hanging salvation itself for the heathen on the amount of money raised. This is the spirit that renders the scriptural use of the office of deacon inoperative. Members object to letting any one but the preacher know what they do for him, so no one knows how much the church as a whole gives, because no one knows what any one else does. It is all wrong. There should be the freest understanding among the members about money matters. It is a matter that the scriptures treat upon, and what the Bible treats upon is not a private matter. Deacons were chosen and set apart to attend to the "business" of the church, and paying its obligations is "business," and what is right to do, it is not wrong to make a record of.
West Union church belonged to the Yellow Creek association. The first session that I attended after becoming a member was held with Chariton church in September, 1873. I have a distinct recollection that Elder John Hutchison preached the introductory sermon over the protest of many brethren. Elder Hutchison and others had come bearing a letter, representing that they were the Mt. Salem church. Other brethren from the same church bore a letter contesting the claim. These two letters were referred to a committee consisting of one member from each church. I was placed on the committee, which after hearing both sides, rejected the letter borne by the Elder Hutchison party. Some of the members of that faction afterwards were reinstated, but Elder Hutchison finally professed to be an infidel.
I have often thought that the spirit he showed at the association was so unlike that of a humble follower of the lowly Son of God that it did not manifest the spirit of Christ.
Later I attended a session of the Yellow Creek when held with Little Zion church and was appointed by the moderator, Elder J. E. Goodson, to go to one of the homes with two older preachers from different associations to preach at night. They insisted that I speak first. I did so in much fear, as I had been speaking in public but a short time. When I had finished they each spoke in turn, and both of them seemed to make special effort to contradict what I had tried to say. They took the position that if God wanted any more members in the church he would bring them in; and that everything would be done just as the Lord had predestinated it should take place, and that every act of man was preordained, good or bad. I had never before heard such ideas preached. I thought if these two preachers were Primitive Baptists I knew that I was not, and it gave me much trouble. But on investigating I found that these two men were of that class of extremists that are always in public talking much about being "Old Baptists," and then giving out these extreme ideas, such as I have mentioned. This gives many people a wrong idea of what Primitive Baptists really hold. I feel sure that preachers ought to be held to strict account by the churches for such things. People in general, as a rule, who are raised up under Arminian influences will not be favorably impressed with the doctrine of grace when they first hear it. But if they hear it properly stated, an investigation of the scriptures will sustain it, and if they have an experience of grace their hearts will approve it. But if they hear some of these extreme and unscriptural statements, and are interested enough to investigate, they will find that they are unscriptural, and then will conclude that they represent all Primitive Baptists, and they will decide against the whole church. It would not avail anything for some brother or sister to deny that Primitive Baptists believe such things, for those criticizing will at once say, "Yes, but we know they do, for we heard one of your members say so." So while we ought not to be too critical with our preachers about individual expression, yet we ought to stand against such expressions as contradict fundamental doctrines.
When I had been ordained but a little while, in company with my brother, Ambrose, I attended the Hazel Creek association in Iowa. I felt a timidity in going, as I was afraid I would be called upon to try to preach, and did not feel competent to preach at home and much less at any distance away. The nearer we came to the place of meeting I felt more and more to hope that I would not be called on to try to preach. One thing that rested on my mind was that perhaps Baptists up in Iowa did not hold the same doctrines, or perhaps did not use the same expressions that I had been used to, having in mind the experience I had with the two preachers before mentioned, who at that time belonged to one of the churches of the Hazel Creek association. Finally we reached the home of Elder Blakely the evening before the association opened. We saw no one that we knew on arriving, and no one knew us. I felt encouraged. I thought I would get to hear some preaching, and then I could see if I was in harmony with the preachers. As the evening drew on, others came in, and among them some who had stopped at the same place my brother and I had stopped the night before. Finally it was about time for the evening service, and I was feeling hopeful that I would not be recognized. But my expectations were blasted. Elder Blakely came out to me and asked, "Is your name Cash?" I replied, "Yes." "Are you Elder Cash?" said he. With difficulty I said, "Yes." "Well," said he, "some who have come in told me who you were and it has been arranged that you and another brother are to preach tonight." I tried to excuse myself, but I could not move him. I thought, Well, I will get the other brother, who was an elderly gentleman, to preach first, and if I find we are not in harmony, I will say nothing.
The time for the service came on and I tried to get the old brother to preach first, but he pleaded that he did not feel well, and said that I must go first. I did the best I could under the circumstances, hoping that the brother in his remarks following would give me an idea as to what he thought of my position. I was disappointed. He made no reference at all to what I had said. I took this to mean that he could not approve, and out of kindness to me would say nothing. This left me in the same frame of mind I had been in.
The next day the session of the association opened, and I was appointed to speak at the stand during the business session. I hurried through. I wanted to get an idea of the situation, and as soon as I could, made my way to the dwelling house where the messengers were assembled. I did not enter the room where the messengers were, but could hear all that was said. They were just taking up the matter of appointing preachers for the stand for Sunday. Elder Blakely arose and addressed the moderator and then said, "Brethren, there is a young brother here from Missouri." I was all attention. I expected him to say that on account of his age, and experience, it would not be wise to appoint him, and I knew that was the way that I felt about it. He continued: "I have heard about him from good authority, and can without hesitation assure you that his standing is all right at home, and from what I have learned I think that he has a gift to edify. You will make no mistake to put him up."
How relieved I was! I did not care to be appointed to speak, but I wanted to know how the matter stood as to my position, and the attitude of the people with whom I was to mingle for a time. Just as Brother Blakely had spoken, as I have set down above, he stepped a little to one side, and looking through the open door between the two rooms, saw me. He said, "I did not know that you were here, Brother Cash, I beg your pardon for my personal remarks in your presence, but I have nothing to take back." The brother who spoke first on Sunday was an extremist, but he became confused and was not able to talk very long. After the service, a brother told me that the elder who spoke first had been prompted by some extremists to take the course that he did that day. "But," said he, "I am glad that the Lord confused him and would not let him say what he had intended to say." I learned in some measure by the experience of this trip that, "The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whosoever putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe."


CHAPTER VII

After I became connected with the Messenger of Peace I attempted to correct brethren on an expression that was being used by some ministers at that time. It was as follows: "The Lord's people were saved in eternity." I argued that this expression could not be true for several reasons. First, the Lord's people were chosen from the fallen race of Adam and did not exist in eternity. The sins from which they were to be saved were committed in time, and so they could not be saved from them in eternity. Secondly, the Lord's people were saved by the death of Christ, and He did not die in eternity, He died in time. "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." - I. Tim. i. 15. If the Lord's people were saved in eternity there was no use for Him to come into the world to save them. I tried to show that it would be right to say that God fore-knew His people in eternity; that He chose them before the world was made! that He predestinated that they should be conformed to the image of His Son before they ever sinned, and before they had an existence. It was the carrying out of this purpose, choice and predestination in time that saved the Lord's people, Christ coming in time and because of His suffering, death and resurrection and intercession the Spirit gives life to the dead in sins, fulfilling the prophecy, "Thy dead men shall live." I claimed that the Lord is saving His people now, which is equivalent to regenerating them and preserving them by grace to the end.
A short time after this editorial appeared I attended the Mt. Zion association, and found on reaching the place that certain brethren were very active in trying to create the impression that I was not "sound," and the evidence that I was not sound was to be found in the editorial which I had written, claiming that the expression, "The Lord's people were saved in eternity," was not correct. One of these brethren was carrying around a copy of the paper that he might convince brethren of my unsoundness. This influence was being exerted, I soon learned, to keep me off the stand. I did not care for being put on the stand, but those who were active in opposition to me were strong for the expression, "The absolute predestination of all things." So I felt that it meant much more for the cause than it did for me personally. However, I said nothing, not trying in any way to meet the opposing influence, feeling that in the end truth would prevail. I was not put on the stand, but there was no necessity, as there were plenty of ministers to fill up the time. But I was wondering how the brethren generally felt about the matter, and especially if many of them really questioned how I stood on the truth. I had not the least question in my own mind that the position I had taken was perfectly consistent with the faith of the Primitive Baptists.
On Monday morning, however, Elder Allen Sisk, the oldest minister at the association, and who was moderator of the Fishing River association, came to me, and putting his arm around me, said, "I do not want you to be troubled about what is taking place here. We have confidence in you that you will still be preaching for the Old Baptists when these other fellows have gone off into the brush." I had never been at all intimate with Brother Sisk, being rather distant in my disposition, and had never felt that he took much interest in me. But from that Monday morning I could not for a moment doubt that he felt that I was in harmony with the Primitive Baptist principles, and it was encouraging to me beyond expression.
In the fall of 1882 I attended the meeting of the Fishing River association, which was held with the Marion church, near Richmond, Mo. The question of continuing or dropping the correspondence with the Mt. Pleasant Association came up. The "Means party," led by Elders W. T. Pence, E. H. Burnham, Milton Sears, J. E. Lee and James Bradley were fighting for a standing wherever possible, and it was important to them to hold what they had gained in the Fishing River association, and to go forward if possible, instead of losing the correspondence. Elders Burnham, Lee and Bradley were at the meeting, prepared to use all their influence to hold the correspondence with the Fishing River for the Mt. Pleasant, which had gone over bodily with the new movement. Those chosen to preach on Sunday were Elders E. H. Burnham, P. L. Branstetter and J. E. Goodson, Sr. Elder E. H. Burnham preached first, taking for his text the words of Jesus recorded in the 17th chapter of John, especially dwelling on the 20th verse, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." The first part of the sermon was built up consistent with the covenant of grace and was strongly presented. But when he came to comment on the 20th verse he endeavored to work in the "Means" doctrine, that God uses the gospel in the quickening of sinners. The theory was as well presented as it could be, but it was evident that it did not move the great body of the Baptists which were present.
Elder Branstetter followed and used as a text, 1 Cor. viii. 5-6: "For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many and lords many) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him." The time was critical. The churches and associations were at the parting of the ways. The time had come when it must be decided in this section, and among all the Baptists of this correspondence, whether the "Means" doctrine was to spread further among the churches, or whether the line should be drawn, limiting it to the bounds already reached. The ablest advocate of the "Means" theory had just spoken, and had brought forth the strongest arguments possible to support their theory. It now devolved upon Elder Branstetter to meet this departure and show that is was not scriptural, and thus to stay its progress among the churches, for on Monday the deciding vote of the association would be taken. The feeling in the congregation was tense, and Elder Branstetter showed plainly that he felt the seriousness of the situation. His soul and mind were aflame with the subject. With wonderful power and clearness he took up his argument to show that the great matter of salvation was all of the Lord, and that regeneration, the actual saving work brought to effectiveness in the person of the sinner, was not to be weakened by connecting it in a human link, but that a no less powerful agent was used than the Holy Spirit, and that the purpose of the gospel had another objective in view.
The effect of this sermon on the congregation was wonderful indeed. At the close many stood closely around the stand, having moved forward, it seemed involuntarily, under the influence which wrought so mightily in hearts and minds. No one could be so dull as not to see that the case had been decided for that time and place, and by great odds it was against the Means movement. It was plain from the demeanor of Elders Burnham, Lee and Bradley that they understood the verdict. The Mt. Pleasant association was dropped from the correspondence. The Salem association was dropped at the same time, but there was but a small element in the Salem that adhered to the Means movement, and they soon left it. A few churches were drawn off from the Fishing River association. They were Little Shoal Creek, Big Shoal Creek, Prairie Point and First Platte. They were organized into what was called West Fishing River association. It has now gone out of existence.
One night, at an association I was attending, I was appointed to go to a brother's house to preach. I went and did the best I could to preach from this text: "Then said Jesus unto His disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." - Matt. xvi. 24. I tried to use this text as a command of Jesus to His followers to obedience, arguing that there is a difference between obedience and disobedience, and that to live after the flesh meant loss, and to live after the Spirit was gain, giving the Savior's own language as proof: "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; then shall He reward every man according to his works." When I had concluded, a brother preacher arose and began speaking by saying, "It has got to be so that when some brethren preach where I am, they preach a dependent God and independent people. The people can obey or disobey as they like, and God has to wait to see what they do so that He will know what to do." He went on to say that it is not in man to direct his steps, and that all things are directed of the Lord. That the Lord had predestinated all things from eternity that should come to pass, and that it would be that way. That he would preach every sermon that the Lord had ordained that he should, and that if a fly should rise from the floor and go the ceiling it was so ordained before the world was. Thus he continued until I suppose he thought he had demolished what I had said and he then closed with a benediction. Before the people had stirred, however, I called out and said, "Brother, I want to ask you a question." He said, "Ask on." I then asked him if the Lord made me get up and preach what I did, and then made him get up and tell the people that what I had preached was not true? He tried to evade my question, but I told him I did not want to argue, but wanted him to say, Yes or no. This he would not do, after preaching as positive as he did. I think many of the people saw that to argue a view of predestination that applies to all things alike, makes God act against Himself, and makes evil to flow from the same fountain as good. People sometimes argue in a way that makes it appear that sin and immorality are the result of God's predestination, and if they are, of course God is the cause, which the Bible utterly condemns. God's predestination is so effective as to be a cause in everything pertaining to the salvation of sinners, and many other things of which the scriptures speak, but no one ought to presumptuously charge God with being the cause of such things as His word condemns. His law condemns sin, and His law fixes a penalty for the transgression of it. No one can rightfully say that God forbids the transgression of His law, yet causes persons to violate it.
An incident at one of my churches will illustrate a trial that often comes to the pastors of churches. I had for a long time been pastor of the church of which I am about to speak. There had always been the best of feeling between me and the members, and if they had ever been dissatisfied with the service I was rendering, I had seen no indication of it. But a preacher came among the members who had been in trouble where he had formerly lived, and he was seeking a new field. I knew this, but the members did not. He represented that he wished to help me in my work by becoming a partner with me in the publication of the Messenger of Peace. Knowing his character, and that he was not capable of doing work on any paper, even if I had needed help, and the fact that the income from the paper would not warrant dividing it with anyone, I wrote him in reply to a letter to me that I could not consider his proposition. He wrote me that he would start a paper if I would not take him in. I wrote him to go ahead as far as I was concerned, as the field was open.
He began then to try in every skillful way to win the confidence of the brethren in this church, and made some feel that I was not treating him fairly by not taking him in. He worked the suggestion into the minds of some of the brethren that as I had been preaching for them a long time, and was overworked, it might be a good thing for the church, and for me, to have a change, and that he could take the place. He made himself very intimate in the homes of members and was very affectionate with them. One good brother went so far as to give him a lot to build a house upon, with the idea that it would be better for the church to have a resident pastor. I saw all this transpiring, and had this preacher been a man of good character I would have stepped aside, but my interest in the church I knew was unselfish, that I really desired its welfare, and in my judgment knew that the man would not prove out what they expected. But I could not make an open protest, for that would have been taken by some as a sign that I was jealous and selfish. When I felt that prudence indicated such a course I went to the deacons, and laid the whole matter before them, but cautioned them that the time to act was not yet, as there must be no division among the members that might live to make trouble. So I insisted on watchful silence. They had not long to wait. As soon as he thought that he was securely in the confidence of the brethren, he began to make use of the brethren in high standing for his own personal gain. This soon uncovered his real character, and the church where he had formerly been, brought up charges, and the brethren of my church having discovered his unfaithfulness, he was excluded.
I think that I see two lessons in this case. Brethren in the churches should be careful about taking up with preachers whose standing in the churches where they have formerly lived is not good. They should be careful about putting a new man in the place of one who has served faithfully many years. These brethren were much mortified when the truth all came out, and our fellowship and affection was settled for life. Upon the other hand I learned a lesson for which I have been thankful to God, and which I have desired not to forget while I live. I was mercifully preserved from jealousy and imprudent, hasty action. Had I tried to get some brethren on "my side," and got them arrayed against each other, it might have caused a rent in the church, for even though they might have finally seen the error of following the new man, there might have been harsh language used that would have separated brethren for years, and they might never have been united again. It is better to suffer and wait than to build up a party in the church. Churches should first be determined in standing together, unless erroneous doctrines are introduced, and even then, they should try all the gospel directions in keeping unity. We can generally settle all our differences if we can keep down passion and hasty words.


CHAPTER VIII

The Messenger of Peace was first started November 15, 1874. There were at that time but few Primitive Baptist papers published in the United States, and none of them were west of the MIssissippi river. So when Dr. J. E. Goodson of Macon, Mo., whose reputation as a conservative but sound and able advocate of salvation by grace was well established, issued his prospectus, the proposition met with much favor and warm support. Later he took with him into the office his son, John E. Goodson, Jr., who became a member of Chariton church later, and was ordained to the ministry, and became a recognized power for good among Primitive Baptists. His health failed, however, and it became plain to him that he could not recover it. He spoke to me about assisting him and his father on the paper, as Dr. Goodson from his advanced age was no longer able to take the entire work if it should fall upon him.
Up to this time all my summers had been spent on a farm, but for some ten years I had taught school through the winter months. Though I really had nothing in view, but for several years before I had been spoken to by Brother Goodson about helping on the paper, I had not felt that I would keep on at the kind of work in which I had been engaged. I had felt that I would one day be connected with the paper, though I could not have given a reason for feeling so. In August, 1890, Elder J. E. Goodson, Jr., became very ill, and at the close of harvest I went to Macon, Mo., where the paper was located, to see if my services were needed. I took up work in the office until it should be seen what turn Elder Goodson's illness would take. On August 19th he passed away. I cannot describe the loss I felt in his death. We had traveled together, preached together, and there was a confidence between us that made us brothers indeed. Soon after his death I entered into co-partnership with Dr. Goodson, which ended December 1, 1891, by his selling his interest in the paper to me. I bought a one-half interest in the Marceline Mirror, a weekly paper published at Marceline, Mo., and in the job printing plant connected with it, and moved the Messenger of Peace there and began issuing it from that office January 15, 1892. I finally bought out my partner, Mr. H. M. Broderick, and continued to issue both papers until in 1904 when I sold the weekly paper, having already moved to St. Joseph in June, 1903. I began issuing the Messenger of Peace from St. Joseph in 1904, and it is still issued from this office.
I have had a feeling about this publication which is much the same as I have about my ministry. I feel that I became connected with it through the providence of God, and that it should be conducted in such manner as to glorify His name, and to advance the cause of Christ, endeavoring to unify the church on sound doctrine and practice. I feel it to be a sacred trust, and would no more think of publishing error than I would of preaching it from the pulpit. And I feel, too, that the same rules that apply to me as a member of the church in my relations with my brethren, apply to me in conducting my paper. In my editorials I have tried to write as I feel that I should preach, trying to strengthen the churches in doctrine and practice, not compromising the truth, or approving what is wrong, according to the test of scripture teaching. I have felt that the truth, and the good of the cause, were to be considered above personal favor. I have had money sent me for subscriptions to be applied on the condition that I publish articles that were either sent or to be sent. The money never influenced me to publish articles that I did not think taught the truth, or were improper from any standpoint. I have refused the article and sent the money back when I thought that it would injure the cause. Owing to the expense of publication the paper has not paid me much for my labor, and I have had to look to other sources to make a support for my family. But it has brought me an acquaintance with brethren all over the United States, and I value their love and encouraging letters above dollars and cents, for I know that their fellowship could not be bought with money. Some have said to me that if the paper did not make sufficient money to let it stop. But my preaching does not make me much money either. Shall I stop preaching because it is not a money making work? I feel about the paper as I do about my preaching.
After the sessions of the Missouri associations were over one year I decided to attend an association in another state. I supposed that the association was in harmony, doctrinally, with our Missouri associations. After the introductory had been preached, with which I found no fault, and while the association was going forward with its routine business, I took up one of the minutes of the association and read the articles of faith which were printed in it. I found one item, "We believe in the eternal vital unity of Christ and the church." From this, the most important matter, and other items, I saw that I was not at all in harmony with the association. At the first opportunity I had, I told the moderator and the clerk that I did not believe as they did, and not wishing to impose on them, nor to have my name appear on their minutes as taking a seat with them, I requested that they would not ask me to preach nor to take part with them, but to treat me as a self-invited visitor at the meeting, for whose presence they were in no way responsible. They tried to move me from my decision, but I declined to argue with them, and told them to give the matter no thought, as I certainly did not desire to cause them the least confusion in the meeting, which I would perhaps do if I preached, as I knew that I would preach contrary to their articles.
But the family at whose home I was being entertained requested that I should preach at their home at night, and as they manifested such kindness, I could not refuse. But the association sent preachers there also. I insisted that they preach first and they seemed willing to do so. They made special effort to preach the absolute predestination of all things, good and evil, using the most extreme expressions that are used by those who use this statement of predestination. Also special stress was laid on the eternal, vital union theory. One of these preachers said that there were some people calling themselves Baptists who thought that God regenerated the Adam sinner and made him a child of God, but that God was not driven to the necessity of taking the children of another and making them His children, as He had plenty of children of His own, being His before time was, and that the church was as eternal as was Christ Himself.
While he talked, I tried to think what course I ought to pursue in my remarks, as I had said at the beginning that I did not want to come into their midst and produce any friction, knowing that we were not in harmony. But I could not get the consent of my conscience to let it appear from my preaching that I approved of what these men had preached. While thus debating the situation with myself, this thought came to me: "Why should you preach differently to what you do at home? If you preach the gospel there, will you not have to preach the same thing here to preach the gospel?" With these thoughts my mind cleared and I became as calm as I ever was, and the passage, "By grace ye are saved" seemed to me as the sun in the sky, lighting up the whole of the great subject of salvation, and to be a key to the revealed word of God. When I arose I announced that I would talk about salvation by grace.

"Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but not I see."

I said that for salvation to be by grace, there must be an undeserving sinner saved, who had not a single claim on the Lord's mercy, for if he had one single claim it would destroy the statement that we are saved by grace. He must not make a claim of merit for obedience, not even to have filled the Arminian requirement of believing on Jesus, as a cause of acceptance. Neither can he claim to a relationship with Jesus that necessarily brings Jesus to do anything for him, for that would destroy salvation by grace. I tried to picture the man that God made going into disobedience, and justly coming under the condemnation of the law, doomed without grace, not having a single claim for deliverance. Then I spoke of the covenant of grace, and how "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," and how each grace-rescued sinner felt himself to be the chief of sinners, with no reason for his hope but in the mercy of God. After the meeting closed one of their followers walked out into the yard with me, and said to me, "That is so; I never thought of that, salvation must be by grace."
A man offered for membership once at one of my churches when I was not present, and the brethren accepted him for baptism. When I came home I was told about the matter, and they said that though the man talked a great deal there seemed to be something that he was trying to say that he could not express. The time set for his baptism was the next regular meeting time, when I would be present. He came on Saturday, bringing his change of clothing with him. I told him that I wanted him to go home with me, as I wanted to have a talk with him. In the evening when we got settled down for the talk, I told him what our church believed as touching the work of Jesus, and then asked him if that was the way he believed, and he said that it was not, that he had not so understood it. In drawing out what he believed, I found that he was an advocate of the eternal vital union theory. I told him that there had been several members excluded from our church for advocating what he believed, and that I thought it would not be consistent to take him in, and that I did not want to baptize him unless his views could be altered. I said to him, "I do not think that you would want to be baptized by me, knowing that I do not believe as you do." He said, No, he would not. I told him that I thought he ought to go to a body that believed as he did, or else go into an investigation of the matter, in which I would be glad to help him. I announced next morning that the ordinance of baptism would be indefinitely postponed.
While writing on the subject of eternal vital union, I will give some particulars of the trouble Little Flock church of St. Joseph, Mo., had with Elder H. S. Cloud over this doctrine. In March, 1887, this church received Elder Cloud from the Missionary Baptists. He had been ordained by them and had been preaching for them. He was baptized after coming to the Little Flock church, and in a short time was ordained. He soon developed very extreme views, and his expressions were objectionable on the subject of predestination. Then he went further and published a book without submitting it to the church or members of the church. The title was, The Bride, the Lamb's Wife. He professed, like so many others who put forth heretical ideas, that the matter of the book was revealed to him, and that he wrote it as it was revealed. The book advocated the eternal vital union theory, representing the church to be coequal with Christ as to duration of existence, then being manifested in the persons of the Adam family, and so being drawn under sin. Then Christ, because of His relation to His bride, was drawn under the law, and so the death because of the fall of His bride in Adam, and the final deliverance of the church from earth. He rejected the idea of the adoption of the Adam body, and left it in the grave.
Charges of heresy were brought in the church against Elder Cloud. Copies of his book were submitted to Elders F. A. Chick, editor of the Signs of the Times, S. Hassell, editor of the Gospel Messenger, R. W. Thompson, editor of the Primitive Monitor, and myself, editor of the Messenger of Peace, and S. H. Durand. These all pronounced the book heretical, and Elder Cloud was excluded, as were seventeen others who adhered to him. These excluded members claimed to be the church in order and sent up a letter to the Nodaway association, but they were rejected, and the Salem church also dropped out as a result of this trouble. There is but one minister at this writing (January, 1925) who advocated this theory in northwest Missouri, and but few holding to it in the state. There are some sections in other states where this doctrine is preached. Back some years ago there was a paper called The Sectarian which upheld it, but that has gone down. Elders Ker and Lefferts, editors of the Signs of the Times during the year 1916, and in the August 1st and the September 15th issues of that paper both took a stand for the eternal vital unity doctrine, although Elder F. A. Chick, while he was editor, called it heresy, as did Elder S. H. Durand, and other well known ministers of high standing.
In the fall of 1912 I made a visit to Sardis-Bethlehem church, in Henry county, Mo., which had no pastor at that time. Elder H. W. Newton, of Oak Grove, Mo., had been pastor, but had not been attending them for some time. The members requested that I accept the pastorate of the church, but I thought best not to accept at that time, but promised that I would preach for them until other arrangements were made, or until I felt free to agree to serve as pastor. Finally I consented to serve the church and have been doing so up to the time of this writing. I take up the subject of Sardis to speak of a crisis in the church which might benefit other churches. The house that the church was using had been in use many years, and had the same seats that were put in it more than fifty years before. The house was cold, the members, with the exception of a Brother and Sister Amick, all lived several miles from the church, so that in winter time the meetings were often slimly attended, or in the worst weather not at all. The people living around the church either had interests elsewhere or were indifferent about the meetings, so that the situation was most discouraging for the future. The older members were well-to-do, but when they should pass away perhaps conditions would change. I considered all this, but felt that prudence would have to be used in bringing up the subject of building, for that would bring up another matter upon which I felt the church would be divided in sentiment, and that was changing the location of the church. Several of the members had located in Leeton, a town about five miles away. I could see no promise of a congregation for the future where the church stood. But there was a cemetery on the grounds owned by the church, and of course some would not want to move the site on that account. The conditions called for delicate treatment.
At one of the church meetings I spoke of the necessity of building a new house. I had spoken to some about the necessity for immediate action when the matter was brought up. When I spoke about it, it was suggested that the matter be taken under advisement. That was just what I thought might be imprudent, for it might lead to a discussion of location and that might provoke dissension. So I asked for immediate action and a brother made a motion to build a new house, and it carried without opposition. I asked for the appointment of a committee of three who might make recommendations as to plan and site at the next meeting of the church. This was arranged. I asked the committee to make a thorough canvass of the situation, and with the recommendations of a site to give reasons. I went with the committee and made a canvass of the members as to changing the site to the town. It was a trying time, it seemed so serious. The committee was not united at first. But the next meeting came and the committee reported in favor of changing into the town, and it carried nearly unanimously, though many were perplexed about what they ought to do. The point in this course was that this decision was reached without a long wait and much talk, for this would have provoked strong feeling that might have been injurious for the future of the church. The new house was built and paid for, with money left. Brother Amick, who had lived close to the old house, died soon after the first meeting was held in the new house, and this decided the matter in the minds of all that it was the right thing to change the location, and as years have gone on this decision has been confirmed. A cemetery association was organized to take hold of the old cemetery and put it in better condition than it had ever been kept before.
I wish to mention a case which illustrates the truth of the following passage: "And we are His witnesses of these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them who obey Him." - Acts v. 32. When I first visited Sardis church, when the invitation was extended for members, a young sister, Mrs. Bertha Harris, wife of Brother A. B. Harris, now clerk of the church, offered for membership. She told of the beginning of her interest in her soul's desire to join the church and a feeling of unworthiness which had continued over a period of eleven years. She said in the conclusion of her remarks, that she had been unable to settle the question, and had finally decided to leave it to the church, and to abide by the decision. She said, "Now I will not blame you if you decide that I am not fit to be a member, for I have been deciding that way for eleven years." She was received, of course, for her narrative was convincing. The time for the ordinance of baptism was set for the next morning, and as we went to the water she said to me, "Brother Cash, would it not be awful if I was making a mistake?" I told her that I did not think that she was. We went into the water, and when I had raised her up, she looked into my face and said, "It is all right." The Holy Ghost is a witness to them that obey Him. Many seem determined that the Holy Ghost shall be a witness to them before they obey, but the Lord has His way of bearing witness. While He has given His children the spirit by which they cry "Abba Father," He has not promised to give them the witness of assurance in disobedience. But He has promised the witness to them that obey him.


CHAPTER IX

I took the care of Bear Creek church, near Hannibal, Mo., in the year 1891, and preached for it about ten years. I wish in connection with the mention of this church to bear witness to the character of a faithful deacon in that church who managed the finances of the church - Brother W. F. Kercheval. The first meeting in the year he would read over the names of the members of the church who were expected to help bear the expenses of the church, calling out at the same time the amounts that each had given the year before, and asking each one if the amount was more or less than he could give the present year. Of this he would make a memorandum, and then he asked each member to give one-fourth of the whole amount he was to give during the year, first Sunday in each quarter. He said that this was for his convenience in keeping his accounts, and as they were asking him to take on himself the trouble of attending to this matter he would ask them to make it as easy for him as possible. By this arrangement he always had funds on hand for use as needed. He insisted, too, in all being prompt with their payments which they could do by having it in mind beforehand. Out of this fund the pastor was helped and the poor were looked after.
He also took up a collection each Sunday morning, and this fund was used solely for paying for the care of the house, providing fuel, etc. He was so prompt himself that it was consistent to insist upon promptness in all. There was never any friction about the financial business of this church during his lifetime, and after his death they tried to keep the business "as Brother Kercheval had kept it." He also insisted on all the members being present at the meetings, and if any missed he went to see why they did not attend. His devotion to the interests of the church, and promptness, had a good influence on the church. "The way Brother Kercheval did" was a living rule in the church, for all saw that it was right.
I will mention an incident in which it seems that I was providentially saved from being robbed. It was while I lived at Marceline, Mo., and I was returning from Bear Creek church, of which I was then pastor. I had to change from the C. B. & Q. railroad to the A. T. & S. F. road, and the depots were about a quarter of a mile apart. I arrived at Bucklin about 3 o'clock in the morning, and hurried across to the Santa Fe station. When I got there, from the actions of the station agent and the waiting passengers, it was apparent that something unusual had occurred. I asked, "What is the matter?" The agent replied, "Haven't you seen anyone? We have been held up and robbed. Where did you come from?" I told him that I had come from the Burlington station, and that I had seen no one. He said, "Well, just as soon as the robbers had left here the Burlington agent had called up and said that his office had been robbed." So it was plain that both stations had been robbed at the same time, and I was between the two stations, going from one to the other. I had left home hurriedly Friday evening without thinking to go to the bank and had more money with me than I was in the habit of carrying on my person. As I had no money that I could afford to lose, I thanked the Lord for my escape, and promised myself that I would carry nothing for robbers in the future when it could be avoided.
The town of Marceline, Mo., to which I moved from the farm, after having purchased the Messenger of Peace, and a half interest in the Marceline Mirror, a weekly newspaper, was built up during the time the Santa Fe railroad was being built through from Chicago to Kansas City, and was made a division point between Kansas City and Ft. Madison. In my boyhood I had ridden over the prairie where the town was built, herding cattle, when there were not even farms laid out. As is the case generally with towns which spring up quickly, especially railroad and mining towns, as Marceline was, there were many bad characters to be found in the population. At the time of which I write, 1895 to 1900, these characters had grown very bold, and robberies, fires, and even murders were frequent, and insurance companies were drawing out of the town, and property was declining in value so that those who desired to leave could not sell out. Something must be done, but as it is generally, the better class of citizens did not want to undertake the work of subduing crime and restoring order, for it perhaps meant to risk life and property. One night a delegation of business men came to my office and said they had decided to ask me to take the office of mayor, and if I would do so they would all promise to join with me in the effort to restore law and order to the town. Much as I disliked to do this I agreed to try, and together with a town board pledged in like manner, was elected. We began organization of the work before I was sworn in and a house burner and a robber were caught and sent to the penitentiary to serve terms. A citizens' committee was organized, and the prompt and vigorous manner in which transgressors were apprehended and punished frightened the lawless elements so that offenses soon grew less. Some known bad characters were taken out and punished and given hours to leave town, and they left. An appeal was made to the state's attorney by those who thought the citizens' committee was going too far, but on learning the facts he refused to act. I was much criticized by some of the ministers of the town because I did not handle the liquor business differently, but I told them that if they would keep their members from patronizing the drug stores and drink joints the officials would have backing to enforce the law without trouble. My life was threatened by the rough element, but no harm came to me, but it was a trying time in my life. I learned that if the law abiding citizens will take hold of public affairs with vigor they can accomplish much toward the betterment of affairs in our counties and towns. I could not at that time, with the prevailing sentiment of the town as it was, do away with saloons. I could control the saloons easier than I could the illicit sale when they were closed. A prominent member of one of the churches went before the county court to protest against my course. The presiding judge asked him what my course was in the matter. On being told what it was, he replied, "I have known Mr. Cash all his life, and if he wants it that way there is a good reason, and I will vote to sustain him."
Saloons and intoxicating drink are an awful curse to a community. If one is brought into a position where it becomes his duty to control it he will soon see what a vice it is, and what treacherous means will be practiced to keep it up and to spread it. Only depraved men can engage in the sale of liquor, for they know that it is a curse to those who drink it, and they take their money for that which will destroy them. It is a constant menace to young men, and to girls, too, through the influence of men who are leading to lower and lower righteousness and toward immorality. I was reelected to a second term, but resigned on account of moving my residence to St. Joseph, Mo.
While I was teaching school, I went to my school one cold morning, and found two young men there waiting for me. One of them said to me, "Mr. Cash, father wants you to come to his home as quickly as you can, and I will take you in the sleigh and my brother will build your fire, and sweep out the room." I asked what their father wanted of me, and they said that he thought he was going to die and wanted to talk with me. I signified my willingness to go, and in a few minutes we were at the home. I went in and asked the old gentleman what he wanted to talk to me about, and he told me that he had but little time to live and he wanted me to baptize him. I asked him if he had a hope of salvation, and he said that he did not, for although he knew that he ought to be baptized, he had neglected to attend to it, and now he knew it must no longer be delayed or he would be lost.
I said to him, "But you are not depending on being baptized to save you, are you?" He admitted that he thought he could not be saved without it. I tried to tell him that Jesus saves sinners; that what He does for them and in them is so entirely sufficient that it needs nothing else to make it effectual. I could not clear his mind, however, of the idea that he could have no hope except he was baptized. "But," said I, "it is too late now, you are not able to be taken and baptized. It is awfully cold, and you are not able to stand the exposure." "O," said he, "I know that I cannot be immersed and I believe that is the right way, but as that is impossible, I think the Lord would accept sprinkling."
I told him that I could not baptize him, though he were able to be immersed, for I did not believe that baptism was a saving ordinance. If he believed it was, I could not administer it, for only such as were believers in Jesus as their Savior were entitled to baptism. And as to sprinkling, I did not believe that was baptism at all under any condition. "O, perhaps you may not believe in it," said he, "but do it to satisfy my conscience." I told him that I had a conscience as well as he, and he would have to send for someone else. I went off, leaving him in tears. I could but reflect after leaving this man how precious to the dying is the hope of salvation by grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It lacks nothing, it is full and complete, and suited to the sinner's needs, while those who are trusting in their own deeds, when brought to the test, will find that they lack something. It is a notable fact that those preachers who insist in their arguments and sermons that salvation actually depends, not alone on faith and confession, but that obedience in baptism is an essential requirement, when they come to preach the funeral of a person that has not been baptized, do not declare that they have been lost on account of this neglect. And they even go so far as to say of some who have not been baptized that they have reason to believe that they are saved because they have given evidence of saving faith. They do not seem to realize that such an admission destroys the force of the arguments that they have used in preaching.
I will speak of a death which was very beautiful and impressive. I was arranging to commence a service at the home of my uncle, James Cash, in the neighborhood of Sardis church in Chariton county, Mo., when I was called to come at once to the bedside of a neighbor woman who was near death. I went at once and found on arriving that she was in a dying condition. I bent over her and asked what I could do. She said in the faintest whisper, sing "Angel Band." We sang, "There is a land, a happy land," with the chorus.

"O come angel band,
Come and around me stand,
O bear me away on your snowy wings
to my immortal home."

As we sang, she lifted her hands and clasped them, looked up with a very happy smile, and thus while we sang passed out of life. It was most beautiful indeed. The memory of the upturned face, with its heavenly smile, the clasped hands as in ecstasy of soul, meeting the "king of terrors" without a tremor, inspired by the hope of heaven through the gospel, has been a beautiful picture to me of the Christian in full faith meeting death.
My Sister Margaret, "Maggie," as we called her, died at the age of eighteen. When the doctor came last he left some medicine with instructions for giving it. I went to Maggie and asked her to take it. She said that she did not want to take it, as it could do her no good. She said that she did not want to get well, that she wanted to go home; that she did not want to stay in this world any longer. I told her that we did not want to give her up, and that for our sakes she might take the medicine, as she did not know but what she might get well. She insisted that she would not get well, and told us how much better it would be for her to be with the Savior in heaven than to stay on earth. She talked on with perfect composure, and finally calling each member of the family to her bedside bade each farewell, saying, "Meet me in heaven." Then she sank into a sleep, and soon found the rest she desired, and I have no doubt her freed spirit went at once to the presence of Jesus and the holy angels. How sweet it must be to die in full assurance!
My mother was taken with her death sickness in March, 1888. I called to see her Friday evening on my way to Liberty church, of which I was then pastor. When I saw her condition I said, "Mother, you are too sick for me to leave home, and I will not go to attend the church, I will stay at home with you." She replied, "No, Walter, you go on; always fill your appointments when you can." Those words have come to me out of the past many times when duty called me away and I felt an inclination to remain at home. With mother's tone and look to give them weight, they have been respected as from heaven. I started on that evening, but I did not reach the church; mother grew worse and I was called back to watch by her bedside until her spirit, freed from its prison of clay, went home to God. During her last night she sang parts of old hymns in which she had often joined with the saints on earth in singing. The last one she sang was,

"There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Emanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains."

and in this hope she died.
Elders W. I. Carnell and C. W. Weaver started a paper in Illinois in 1908, styled The Predestinarian Baptist. They were both eloquent preachers, well informed, and soon built up quite a following among brethren who were inclined to use the term "absolute predestination." I had learned of their standing among Baptists where they had formerly lived, and I knew that they held views not generally accepted among our connection of Primitive Baptists. The first issues of their paper contained objectionable things, but nothing could be heard in their preaching to which exceptions could be taken. I had written to some brethren to be careful about letting them gain a foothold in their churches, as I felt sure that later, when they felt that their following was strong enough, they would introduce their heretical notions. Some of the brethren to whom I wrote felt that we must treat these men as being all right until they should plainly preach something unsound. In the first issue of their paper Elder Carnell wrote as follows: "Predestinarian Baptists preach practical godliness without preaching that it comes from man, or depends upon the will or choice of man. We exhort God's people unto love and good works, without telling them what God has never told them, that is, that they have the ability to do these things or refrain from doing them." Then in the "Abstract of Principles" of the paper the 10th section read as follows: "That the wicked shall be raised up and shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." I called the attention of Baptists to these departures from Baptist teaching in the Messenger of Peace, and gave warning to the churches that if they tolerated and encouraged this heresy trouble and division would be the result. When they thought that their friends had sufficiently multiplied they commenced to speak plainer on the ideas they wished to introduce. The doctrines they held were to deny the creation of an immortal soul, claiming that when men die all there is of them goes to the grave and that there is no consciousness after the death of the body, not even with the children of God, until the resurrection. They also taught that after the resurrection the wicked would be entirely destroyed - annihilated. Also they held to very extreme ideas on predestination. I charged them through the Messenger of Peace with not being Primitive Baptists, and actually rejecting the articles of faith which had been received for hundreds of years, and which our churches were at this time standing upon. The matter was too plain to be denied. They challenged me to a discussion of their position, which I declined. I took the position that Primitive Baptists had reached a conclusion on those points, and had recorded that decision in their articles of faith, and that to reject the statements of those articles was to cease to be a Primitive Baptist, and seeing they had rejected those statements my charge was true that they were not Primitive Baptists.
When they were thrown on the defensive they came out plainly, trying to establish their positions, and thus disclosed to our people just what their doctrines were. The Baptists of Illinois then began to reject them, and all the churches except one were saved from division. The career of these men in Illinois shows what an influence "fair speech" when used by designing men may have over sound and good brethren. We need so much to "Watch and Pray" that we may be delivered from every false way. Primitive Baptists should not take a preacher, nor any man, into full confidence, unless they know something of his life and record previous to coming among them. They do not need to be unduly suspicious of preachers, but those who are worthy to be received will not be afraid to come openly before the people with their doctrine, and to have all know their past history.


CHAPTER X

Along about the year 1900 a movement began in the Primitive Baptist ranks that culminated in much distress, and division in some localities, before its close. The announced intention was to revive languishing churches and put new life into the cause by discarding traditional practices, and by means of more popular preaching and vigorous measures to build up the congregation, and as a result of this the churches would be built up. One of the chief leaders in this movement was Elder Harry Todd, of Indiana. He had been considered a sound and able preacher, and had the confidence generally of the Baptists where he went and preached.
He wrote to me about publishing in the columns of my paper articles that he might write, advocating a "full gospel." The meaning given to the expression "Full Gospel" was to preach exhortation and practice, as well as salvation by grace. I had always been in favor of doing this, and it had been my course since the beginning of my ministry. But during our correspondence I drew out what Elder Todd considered to be the right course of our preachers. The positions he took were, Our churches are not prosperous. They are not prosperous because they are not popular. The kind of preaching we have renders them unpopular. That the churches may become prosperous they must become more popular, and large congregations be built up, and this cannot be done while our preachers preach as they now do. He argued that it was the duty of all men to repent and believe on Jesus. Even though they could not do so until they were regenerated. He said if our preachers preached this obligation as the Arminians did it would not keep people from being born again, even though it did not cause them to be believers. But it would draw larger congregations, and consequently we would get more additions.
He further argued that as preaching election and predestination did not change election and predestination, much of this kind of preaching should be dispensed with, and so remove the ground of objection of many people. I told him plainly that the columns of the Messenger of Peace could not be used to advocate such a change in the manner and matter of preaching, and that I would as soon advocate Arminianism in a direct manner as to teach it in an indirect manner, and I considered the kind of preaching he advocated was in a practical manner repudiating the truth and supporting Arminianism.
He then wrote me that if I would not allow them the use of the columns of the Messenger of Peace, they would start a new paper that would advocate the preaching of a "full gospel." I told him that he could just go ahead, as no such articles would be published by me. He then began the publication of the "Gospel Light," which was conducted in such a manner at first as to get the confidence of many good, sound Baptists. But in a little while after he had support enough that he thought he could continue, the true purpose of the paper became apparent to many. About this time Brother S. B. Luckett, of Crawfordsville, Ind., issued a pamphlet which pointed out many of the objectionable features and expressions with which the paper abounded, which helped many others to see that the paper was not in line with Primitive Baptist faith and order, which caused the paper to lose so much support that it was discontinued, and Elder Todd went to the Missionaries where he belonged. In connection with Todd and his paper were a number of preachers whose ambition to become popular was aroused, and they started out on the course advocated by Elder Todd. Among them were Elders J. V. and R. S. Kirkland. Elder R. S. Kirkland went into the evangelical work to get members into the churches, and he proceeded along lines which were closely akin to the Arminian revivalists, but in doctrine he preached what was considered sound by those who heard him. His meetings drew large crowds, and he held them with his power to interest, keeping his congregations either laughing or crying, or trying to keep up with the dramatic situation which he created. Many persons were received into the churches where his course was received with favor.
In the year 1904 Elder J. V. Kirkland issued a book, the title of which was A Condensed History of the Church of God. Before any bound copies were ready to send out he wrote me in regard to it and asked me to make an announcement of his forthcoming book. I wrote him that I could not do this until I had seen the book, so that I might know whether I could endorse it, as I would not publish an advertisement of a book that I could not recommend. Almost all the Primitive Baptist papers published his announcement, but I did not think it prudent to do so. When he sent me a copy of the book I found it to advocate a Federal government for the churches. I wrote him at once that I could not advertise it, and also tried to tell him what it meant to him to put the book out. It would bring him into trouble, and if any Primitive Baptists tried to put his recommendations into practice it would mean division. I told him that it would be better for him to burn the whole issue and suffer loss than to put it forth. Later, an announcement was made for a meeting of Primitive Baptists in St. Louis during the time of the World's Fair in that city. I saw that the management of the meeting would be in the hands of those who were forwarding the revolutionary spirit in the churches, and was afraid of the result. So I determined not to attend, and was free to express my feelings to those who asked for my opinion. Some Baptists who desired to attend the fair, and who shared my fears about the outcome of the meeting, insisted that I arrange for a meeting separate from that for which Elders Kirkland were arranging, but I did not think it prudent to do so. Many attended the meeting and saw nothing wrong, but when the minutes came out they were surprised to find that they represented the meeting as endorsing the idea that the commission was given to the church as a body, and not as to individuals; also that there be a national paper under the immediate supervision of the churches. This uncovered the purpose of those who got up the minutes, for it was evident that they meant to make it appear that a representative gathering of Primitive Baptists from all parts of the country was favorable to the new ideas, and with this appearance of endorsement to try to move the churches in that direction.
From all quarters came protests against the ideas set forth in the minutes of the St. Louis meeting, and of Elder J. V. Kirkland's book in which the Federal government was advocated. The friends of the movement now had no paper through which they could try to defend themselves and advocate their measures. They appealed to me, "For," they said, "you are not an extremist, and you are conservative and reasonable." They wanted a chance to get before the Baptists. Some of Elder Kirkland's close friends wrote me, asking that Elder J. V. Kirkland's name be put on the editorial staff of the Messenger of Peace, and in return they would double my subscription list. Elder Kirkland himself wrote to me, making a proposition. It was an advertisement of his book, and give notice of a second annual meeting of Primitive Baptists, the meeting at St. Louis to be considered the first. And that I should give his name a place on the editorial staff. He further stated that if I did not agree to his proposition he would start a paper.
I wrote him that I would not grant such a request to any man in the world, and certainly not to him, knowing that what he would advocate was contrary to what I believed to be consistent with scriptural teaching and Primitive Baptist practice. I said in reply to his proposition that I should publish an advertisement of his book, that having refused to do so when nearly every Primitive Baptist paper in the United States had done so, and some of the editors had recommended it, it was absurd to think that I would do so now, when it had been generally condemned. And as to announcing another meeting like the one held at St. Louis, I had not attended that meeting, and had advised others to stay away, and was against the principles announced in the minutes, and I most certainly would not announce another. As for putting his name on the editorial staff of my paper, nothing could induce me to do so. It would at that time mean an endorsement of his ideas, which I had never done, and to try to hold up a man whose theories were generally condemned. As to his starting another paper the field was open as far as I was concerned. Elder Kirkland started his paper, but he could never convince Primitive Baptists that the "commission" to preach the gospel was given to the church as a body, or that there needed to be a body of higher authority than the church to regulate the affairs of the kingdom of Christ. The paper failed for lack of support and the Kirklands went to the Missionaries. This movement led some churches out of the connection of the Primitive Baptists. They are known as "Progressives."
The Kirklands visited and preached in the churches in Boone county, Missouri, in the Salem association, and for a time it seemed they were leading the entire association. Two associations dropped correspondence with the Salem, and leading ministers tried to get the Yellow Creek association, of which I was moderator, to drop the Salem also. I had ceased to attend the Salem association during the time the Kirklands were received, but I knew that large body of Baptists were really sound in the faith, and I had confidence in them that they would finally set themselves right. But I thought that if the Yellow Creek dropped correspondence this would practically cut them off from the Primitive Baptists of the state, and it would encourage the leaders in the "Progressive" movement to double their energy to try to become the dominant power. So I stood out with all my influence against the Yellow Creek dropping the correspondence though some very influential ministers thought I was doing very wrong.
In December, 1904, at the request of leading members in the Salem association, I visited some of the churches and arrived at an understanding with them that steps should be taken to stop "progressive" preachers from visiting the churches, and that the churches would take steps to let it be known where they intended to stand. To this end I was to attend the next session of the association, which I did. At this meeting I laid the matter before the brethren plainly, explaining the situation, and telling them of the purpose I had in view all along in not dropping the correspondence, but that I could go no farther unless they acted decisively. I said, "You must say now which way you are going. If you say you are going to stay with our churches and associations on the old line, and will show that you mean it, the correspondence will be continued; otherwise not."
They said that they wanted to continue the correspondence and sent two messengers from each church to the next session of the Yellow Creek association, to ask that the correspondence be continued, and giving assurance that no further cause of friction would be given. The churches have kept their word, and correspondence has been renewed by all the surrounding association. I wish to say in this connection that brethren sometimes act too hastily, and sever connection with others when a labor of love and charity would continue the fellowship and save from division. An old minister said to me, "As I look back on the actions of the churches when we had to meet questions which finally resulted in divisions, I can see that sometimes we acted hastily and lost members that a more deliberate and loving course would have saved."
A question of order came up in the Yellow Creek association of which I was moderator, and which caused me much worry, and considerable friction among the preachers in Missouri. It was a case of divorce and remarriage. The wife of one of the preachers left the Primitive Baptist church and joined another denomination. She refused to live with her husband as a wife, and they finally separated and a divorce was granted. The minister remarried, he having submitted the matter to the members of his church through the deacons. The church acted thus upon their understanding of 1 Cor. vii. 15--"and if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases; but God hath called us to peace." The church took the position that the husband had made due effort to live with her, but that she had refused. I took the position that on a matter on which the Primitive Baptists are not a unit in opinion, the act of each church must be respected. As in feet washing there is not a general agreement among Primitive Baptists, and a church is to be esteemed as being in order whether or not it practices feet washing. So in regard to the passage quoted above, there is division upon the interpretation of it. Therefore there should not be breaking of fellowship between churches which may not agree. This same principle comes up on the question of secret orders. Taking the whole denomination all over the United States there is a difference of opinion, and the practice is different. Some churches do not allow their members to have membership in secret orders, and others do. With this condition prevailing there is but one consistent principle of action in regard to individual cases, and that is that the action of each individual church shall be respected.
Acting on this principle I stood for the Yellow Creek association to be in order while recognizing the before mentioned minister, because his own church sustained him, and the matter being one on which Primitive Baptists are not universally agreed. There were ministers who did not accept the same interpretation of the passage referred to, and wanted to reject the minister who had been divorced, although they admitted that ministers and churches which had been recognized as being in good order had taken that view of it. Some of these ministers who opposed my stand were my intimate friends, but I felt that it was right to stand to principle rather than to follow friends. The church to which the sister belonged who married the minister referred to took the position that she had no scriptural right to marry a divorced man, and so excluded her. Some thought that she ought to be recognized as being in order, because the minister was held in the church. But I took the position that she was rightfully excluded, because that was according to the interpretation her church put on the passage which was under dispute, and that the action of each church is to be respected, just as we do on the subject of feet washing. Her church finally restored her, however, and gave a letter.
I have referred to the above incident because churches must sometimes meet such things, and they should be decided upon some consistent principle. Some have objected to this treatment, saying that if once accepted a church can do as it pleases and no other church can object. That is not true. If a church should admit alien baptism, it could not be argued there is division of opinion among Primitive Baptists upon that question. If a church attempted to change any of its doctrinal principles, it could not be claimed that Primitive Baptists are not a unit upon them. But no well informed person can claim that there is universal agreement in regard to the passage in 1 Cor. vii. 15.
My father was a soldier in the Mexican war of 1846-48. He went at the request of his father that he might look after a younger brother who was determined to go. After the close of the war, he took up land in Linn county, Missouri, under his claim as a soldier. The farm lay one and one-half miles south of Bucklin, and at this home I was born. When growing up I attended the common schools, starting in before I was really of school age. the study of books suited my disposition, and I was not satisfied unless I was well up in my classes. I was satisfied with my home life, and never had an inclination to leave home but once. We used fireplaces in those days, and it took a great deal of wood to keep fires through the winters. We generally got up wood and cribbed the corn before I could commence going to school. So I got to attend school but few months in the year. One fall I had started to school, and father concluded that we did not have wood enough up, and that we must get some more. He told me that I would have to stop school until the wood was all up. This made me feel very rebellious. I thought that if this was the way I had to do, I would never get an education, which I desired so much, unless I left home, as there was always so much work to be done. But this spell did not last me very long.
In summer time when the other boys rested at noon, and when not working, I was reading. I carried a book in my pocket much of the time, and when I thought out problems I stopped to figure them out on my shoes or the plow beam. When about eighteen years of age I secured a certificate to teach school, and took charge of the school in my home neighborhood, having an enrollment of sixty-two pupils. I took my wages for teaching this school and attended the State Normal at Kirksville, Mo., two terms. After this I taught school during the winter months and worked on the farm in summer. I continued working along in this manner for about ten years. By this time I was preaching for four churches regularly, so I was constantly driven by work, summer and winter, and riding on horseback to three churches. The church to which I belonged was close to my home. Occasionally I made trips to churches at a distance. Much of the time we were not able to keep help in the house for my wife, nor for myself on the farm. I worked as late as I could Friday night and then rode to the churches Saturday morning, a distance of from twenty to twenty-five miles, and then home Sunday night, my wife feeding the stock in my absence.
During this time I learned how impossible it is for one who has been enlisted as a soldier to give such service as will satisfy his conscience, and the Bible requirements, and have himself entangled with the affairs of this life. I sometimes felt very rebellious at going into such a warfare at my own charges. I studied the scriptures to see if they taught that a called preacher should have to make such sacrifices as I was making, while many of the members of the churches had plenty and did not try to help me carry the burden. I found it written as clearly as the doctrine of election and predestination that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel. But what was I to do? I felt, "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel." I was willing to spend and be spent if only I might see the churches fed on the pure gospel, whether they did anything for me or not. But I could not quiet my conscience which said I had not the right to put the burden and sacrifice of my ministry on my wife and children while others were eased. I could give myself and all that I had, but why should they be deprived of my time and labor for the good of the church while the families of other men, members of the church, had no such sacrifices to make, and were blessed really with more church privileges than my family? During this time I overheard a conversation between my wife and some women which did me good. They were telling her that she ought not to stay alone while I was away. I felt to say, That is true. They said it was too hard on her to have to do housework and the outdoor chores, such as feeding and caring for the stock. I thought, That is certainly true, and if she gets to looking at it as they see it she will become dissatisfied, and I could not blame her. It was not safe to leave the little children alone while she was out, as something might happen to them. I wondered what she would say in reply. I had not long to wait. She said, "Well, I realized when I married him that he would have to preach, and I made up my mind that if he would do his duty, I would try to do mine." This was a great relief to me as far as her feelings were concerned. But did the Lord require that of her? Or did He not rather require of the church that it should see that he that tended the flock should eat of the milk of the flock? And did not the scriptural rule say that he that ministered spiritual things should be a partaker of the carnal things of the members of the church that he served?
I thought that I could see clearly that the churches had departed from apostolic practice, but how could it be changed? The old preachers who had preceded me said little or nothing about such things, and when I considered the effect of the division with the Missionaries I could see why so little was said. The Missionaries had emphasized the need of money, and had magnified its power until it would seem almost as important as the blood of Christ. Indeed the way they preach it makes the blood of Christ of no effect, except for the preacher, who cannot preach unless he is paid. Of course, the Primitives tried to get as far from such an idea as was possible, and in doing so had ignored the teaching of the word of God that the church must supply him who serves it, with the necessities of life, both he and his family must be supplied, for Paul argued that he had as much right to have a wife as other apostles. He said, "Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas?" - 1 Cor. ix. 5.
I began to talk and preach along these lines, but I am sure that in my heart I was not doing it that it might be so done unto me. But I could see that under the course that was being pursued the church was being robbed of the service that it needed. Preachers were toiling for bread for their families, when they ought to have been giving all their time and powers to the cause of Christ in trying to build up the church and establish its members in spiritual things, and I was resolved that, with the blessing of God, at the close of my life's labors, it should not be said that I had not tried to make this duty known to the church. I was aware that I would be misunderstood by some and misrepresented by others, but my duty was clear as I saw it. Some would think by my calling attention to what the Bible taught on this subject that it was for personal gain, and others would say that I was in favor of a salary system. It resulted as I had anticipated, but I have never changed my course, but continue as I began, to contend that our ministers should give themselves continually to the work of the ministry, and the churches that they serve should see that they are provided with what is reasonable and right for churches situated as they may be to give.
I have lived to see a great change among the churches in this respect, but it will take more than a generation more, with proper teaching, to bring churches and pastors to anything like the proper relations as to service and support. The churches need more service rendered to them and the community in which they are situated, and the service scripturally rendered would result in such improvement in the general welfare of the church that it would work no hardship on the churches to properly care for the pastors.
I want to acknowledge the assistance that I have received during my ministry from a few wealthy brethren and sisters who did what seemed right to them in a direct and personal way, independent of the churches. I could never have got along, it seems, without this help, the churches doing no more than they did. If more of those who have been blessed with plenty were so disposed, many struggling ministers would be encouraged and enabled to do better work among the churches. I have wondered that more of those who are blessed with plenty do not find out that the approving conscience is the best income they can possibly get with their God-given means. I have reason to thank God for those who have shown liberality toward me. Most of my life having an encumbrance on my home, and rearing a family of ten children, and preaching regularly since I began, has kept me in such financial condition as to receive with thankfulness the gifts of friends and churches.
I wish to call the attention of my readers to what has been, many times, a source of loss to preachers, and that is attending funerals. Of course at this time, most persons in reasonable circumstances see to meeting the expenses and time of the minister who may be called on to assist in laying away one of the family. But it often may be that some poor member of the church has a loss in the family. It might be thought that it would be all right for the minister to attend such funerals at his own expenses, but is it not much more reasonable that the church should render assistance in such cases? It would be but showing proper sympathy to a brother or sister who might be poor in this world's goods to help them in every way in the time of sickness, and especially when it comes to the greater expense of a burial. Then it would be a very light thing for the church to take care of the minister's expense and time. Most preachers have attended funerals when no one thought of making good their expenses, but this is wrong.
The custom of having funerals on Sunday is discouraged, and that very properly. Before the days when bodies were generally embalmed it perhaps could not be well avoided. But now bodies can be kept with very little inconvenience to the family, and it often is the case that a minister whom the family would most desire has a congregation that ought not to be disappointed if it could possibly be avoided. In the cities the undertakers and ministers stand against Sunday funerals, and it is right. If all would take thought on this matter it could be easily arranged. It is often the case, however, that arrangements are made for a funeral before the minister is notified at all, when he should be notified first, so that the funeral may be set so as not to interfere with his previous appointments.


CHAPTER XI

In August, 1890, I left the farm and went to Macon, Mo., to help on the Messenger of Peace, as Elder J. E. Goodson, Jr., had fallen in his last sickness, and Dr. Goodson, the founder of the paper, was growing feeble. My wife and the smaller children remained on the farm, and the two older children went with me, and I put them in the Macon schools. Elder J. E. Goodson, Jr., died August 19th, and I formed a copartnership with Dr. Goodson in issuing the paper. In the fall of 1891, I purchased his interest and moved the paper to Marceline. In the spring following I moved my family to Marceline, and a little later sold the farm and built a house in Marceline. Here I printed the "Messenger" and a weekly paper. The town gave the weekly paper and the job printing office a good support, and the children worked in the printing office when not in school. I continued preaching for the churches, and being from home was a great drawback to my business being successful. There is no business but that needs careful attention as to detail, and the personal supervision by a reliable manager to get the full working capacity of the help. This is a matter that churches should consider when asking a minister to be away from his business to serve them. No preacher who has appointments to fill each week can run a business without much loss from lack of personal supervision.
In the spring of 1903 I decided to leave Marceline and go to St. Joseph, Mo. I can hardly explain this move. It was not thought out and premeditated. It was decided on sudden impulse, and while it caused me some loss in disposing of my investment at Marceline, an investment at St. Joseph, more than offset my loss. Lack of personal attention to my business from being from home, and a general stagnation in business in the town, had brought me loss for some time, and though the business outlook became brighter through the measures carried through during my administration as mayor, I was in debt and I was glad to unload it all as nearly as I could and try to get along in some other way. Then I thought there would be better opportunities for the children which proved to be true. I did not sell the printing office for about a year after I left Marceline, and continued to operate the plant, two of my daughters, Vida and Lois, remaining there, my brother Thornton being foreman. My oldest son, Bernard, enlisted in the U. S. army at the call for troops for the Philippines, and his company having returned to the States, he came home on a furlough in August, 1903, and we sent for the two girls at Marceline to come up to be with him. Vida was sick when she came home, and was not able to return with Lois to Marceline, Bernard returning with her. Vida's sickness proved to be typhoid fever in violent form and in two short weeks burned out the lamp of her life, and we had to give her up. It seemed more than I could bear. She was more than my child to me, she had been with me in my business, and now I blamed myself for leaving her with the responsibilities that were hers when I left Marceline. We were living northeast of St. Joseph at the time of Vida's death. The property that we were holding there increased in value so that when I sold it I was enabled to make a substantial payment on a home at 2522 Lafayette street, in the city, where we now live. After selling the office at Marceline I had the "Messenger" printed at different places in the city until the spring of 1917, I erected an office on the lot back of my residence and now have the printing office in the yard with my home.
I once heard an old sister tell of a lesson she learned about prayer that I have thought of many times since. She was a member of the church with which I first united. She was very spiritual and studied her Bible a great deal. Her husband was not a member of the church. It was her practice to read a chapter from the Bible when the family were all gathered at night, and then offer prayer. One night it chanced that her husband had to be away from home, and none of the children were there with her, so she was alone. When it came time to retire, and the time came for the evening reading and prayer drew nigh, she thought to herself, "There are no children here, and John (her husband) is not here, and I will leave off the reading and prayer tonight." But she could not feel free of mind, though she kept on preparing to retire. Finally the thought came to her with much force, "Do you not need to read the Bible? You do not pray to John and the children, do you? They could not answer your prayer if they were here. If you pray to God, is He not here? And will He not hear and answer?" She said that she could no longer excuse herself. She knelt in prayer. "And," said she, "God did hear my prayer that night and blessed me with His presence so that I was happy and had a good meeting by myself." I have thought many times when thinking over this that no doubt we pray many times to be heard of men and lose that precious prayer-feeling of being in the presence of God and supplicating His mercy for blessings that He alone can give.
We have a practice among us of giving "license" to brethren who are able to assist in the public services of the church, such as being able to lead in prayer, make talks to the church, and manifest zeal for its interest. The license is supposed to be a recognition of a gift seen in the brother which justifies the belief that he will develop into the work of the ministry. Those receiving a license are treated as preachers, and it often gives offense not to call upon them to take part in the services as a preacher would. The intention of the church is to encourage such as have a gift to exercise it and develop it, and thus far the act is good, if it were only more explicit, and was not understood to mean that the licentiate was expected to make a preacher. But in many cases not only has licensing accomplished no good, but actual injury has been done the brother by the church, and the church has been embarrassed by it. A number of such cases have come under my own personal observation. I know a brother who said to the church at one of her meetings that he felt impressed to try to speak in public. He was a very humble and sincere brother, and had the confidence of the whole church, but he had never taken part in the public services of the church. Though the church had no evidence from his exercises that he was called to preach, or would be beneficial, he was granted license at once, and many had high expectations of his being a strength to the cause in the pulpit, as he bore such a high character as a member. But as the years wore on they only developed the fact that though he always retained the confidence of the entire church as to his high character, he never could be a preacher. He knew enough, he was humble enough, he was devoted enough, but the Lord had not seen fit to put him into the ministry. The church was always glad to have him exercise in prayer and make short talks, but the fact of being recognized as a preacher was a burden to him. He was humble and sincere enough to see that the church had made a mistake.
I got the ill will of a brother once because I said when I heard that there had been a move made to license him, that it would be better if the church would try him to find if his gift would be edifying. But is not that the right rule? No one can tell whom the Lord has called to preach until he preaches to the edification of the church. All the members should be drawn out to do all that they can do. Some can exhort, some can pray, some can sing, some can attend to business, some have this gift or that gift to benefit the church if developed and used. But if it is attempted to put a man into the ministry whom God has not called for that work, it will work to his disadvantage and encumber the church more or less. So I think on the whole that a custom that is so much abused, and of which there is some question as to there being any scriptural ground for it, had better be abolished, or used with much discretion.
I have seen so many miscarriages of good intentions to leave money for the good of the cause that I would warn those who have such in mind against procrastination. There was in one of my churches a good, zealous brother and sister who had no children, nor relatives that they needed to help. I heard him say often that he desired that what was left of his estate, when he and his wife died should go to the church. He did nothing about it, however, except to talk about it. He could in a few minutes have fixed it all by a will as they desired, but he waited too long, death called and he had not carried out his intention. After his death his widow had the same intention as her husband had entertained. Late in life she talked to me about it, and I said to her that she had not much longer to live, and that if she really meant that her property was to go that way she should attend to it at once. She had but to speak to the banker who was attending to her business to prepare a will to be signed in the presence of witnesses, and her desire would have been carried out. She waited too long, death would not wait longer, and the talk of years went for nothing.
I knew another couple. They wanted part of their means to go to churches, and they made the arrangements so that they did not miscarry. Five hundred dollars came to the church at St. Joseph, Mo., which was without a house of worship, and formed the nucleus which built the house which the church has occupied for years. Another case, a sister provided in her will the last thousand dollars required to set the house free of debt. The couple who gave the first five hundred referred to, gave like amounts to other churches. The sister who left the thousand dollars left certain sums to struggling preachers to help them along, loosing their hands that much, to give time to the churches. Hundreds of other brethren and sisters could help the cause in these different ways, and many of them desire to do so, and some of them intend to have it so. But will they procrastinate? A sister who belonged to the church of my membership said that she had never helped the church much, and had never helped me as pastor to bear the burdens I had borne for the church as she should have done, and said she would have one hundred dollars left for me. She might have given it then, but did not, and neglected to fix it so that it came when she died.
It is best to follow the course of a sister who made this her rule, "If you want to do certain things, do it now, for you may not live to do it later." Brother or sister, if you have plenty of means, remember what God has done for you. All you have is His gift, committed in trust to you as it were. He has given His Son for you, and with Him an inheritance that is above all valuation, it is so precious. Now what are you going to do for His cause, and needy people, to show your appreciation of His blessings? Do it now.
I got a good suggestion one morning at one or our churches. Myself and a few others were at the church early. But in a short time after we arrived an old sister came. She did not live in the vicinity of the church, and had come some distance. After the greeting when she came, and after being made acquainted with me, whom she had not before seen, she looked around and said, "It looks to me like the house needed sweeping," and at once went to look for a broom, which she soon found and began sweeping. How good it would be, I thought, if all our members carried out that principle, to do at once whatever they saw needed to be done. A common way of doing would have been to have criticized the church for not taking better care of the house, or asking with criticizing tone, "Whose business is it to care for the house?" But she did none of the usual things; she commenced at once to do what her hands found to do. It would so help our churches if we all were looking about actually trying to find something to do--and had a willing mind to do what was needed to be done. Dear reader, try that course, and see if it does not bring you an eased conscience.
In the church where I first united was an old deacon, my wife's grandfather, William Putman. He was not in the habit of talking in the church, but was much devoted to the church, and when we had meetings, and there was no preacher, he directed the service by asking others to read, offer prayer, or take any other part that was needed, but he himself never engaged in public prayer. But at one of the meetings of the church he arose, and said, "Brethren and sisters, I realize that I have not much longer to be with you, as my time to leave you is drawing near. I have heard each of you come to the church and relate dealings of the Lord, but none of you have ever heard me speak of my experience, and before I go I want to tell you what I hope the Lord has done for me." He began then to tell us when he felt that he was a sinner in his young days, and that finally he was led to trust in Jesus as his Savior. And how later he had united with the church, and how precious the church had been to him, and how much strength it had given him for the trials of life. Then he exhorted all to be true to the church and active in their duties. It was certainly a wonderful talk for us all. It was to us young members as an old patriarch bestowing his parting blessing before he left the world for his home with the Lord in heaven. I take this occasion to appeal to the old members of the church to be free in talking of their hope in Jesus to the young members, and to often give a word of exhortation. The words of those who have been true to the church will be precious in the memory of those who are to follow on. A Sister Hines, of Liberty church, Linn county, Mo., did as Brother Putman had done when she was old, as also my own grandmother, my mother's mother. Neither of these three had ever been heard to talk in the church before, but they left their testimony before being called home.
I visited Elder William Priest in 1892 when on his sick bed, and he talked freely with me of his ministry and of the end of life which was near. He said to me, "If I had my life to live over again I would preach the same doctrine that I have preached, Salvation by grace through Jesus alone for sinners. But I would teach the church the duty of the members to help the ministry, which we older ministers have not done. We have borne the burden that others should have helped us to bear, and we have not instructed them as we ought. It will be hard on you young men to whom we have left the churches as we are leaving them." This talk with this old veteran of the cross made a lasting impression on my mind and conscience. Would I when I came to lay down in death feel as Elder Priest had felt about this duty of the ministry to teach the church its duty in providing for the ministry, and remember with regret that I had neglected it? I wanted to preach the same doctrine that Elder Priest had preached, and which he preached with such power, and I resolved that I would not leave the other duty undone.
A brother who had belonged to a church which had gone down, applied for membership, by what we term "relation." That action is taken when any one has lost membership by a church going down, or other circumstances which make it not possible to get a letter, though the applicant is not an excluded member. This brother had belonged to a church, the pastor of which had gone off into the non-resurrection doctrine. But no non-fellowship action had separated his church from ours. His church had finally quit meeting. He had now moved within the bounds of our church, and wished to become a member. He admitted in his talk to the church that he might not see everything just like all the members, but asserted he was really an "Old Baptist." When an opportunity was given for questions he was asked if he believed in the resurrection. He said not just like some do, but that it was not a fundamental matter, and he did not think that it ought to make any difference. A motion was made that he be received, but another motion was carried to lay the matter over until the next meeting to give him time to read our articles of faith and see if he approved them. He was given the articles, but said that he could not endorse the idea the the Adam body was ever raised up. He contended that the spirit went to God, and the body returned to the earth from which it was taken, and remained there. He was asked to withdraw his application, and did so. The church took the stand that our articles set forth what is considered fundamental, and in them is set forth the faith of the church, and it is to invite trouble to receive those who cannot endorse the doctrines of the church. Our faith is set forth as follows: "We believe in the resurrection of the dead, both of the just (elect) and the unjust, and that the unjust shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." It would save much trouble in churches if they would refuse to receive those who have imbibed and hold to doctrines which are contrary to those upon which the church is constituted. Really the church is not at liberty to receive any other doctrine than that set forth in its articles.
I have many times thought of Brother Sims, a member of Liberty church, north of Brookfield, Mo., as an example to be commended. He was a constant reader of the Bible, and what he read was much upon his mind. When he got with any of the brethren he would be asking questions about the meaning of the passages he had read. And when he fell into company with others, whether they were Baptists or not, he was ready to talk on the subject of religion. His Bible did not look as nice as many center table Bibles, for if he was working in his gardens and the thought of a passage of scripture came into his mind, and he wanted to read it, he did not always take time to wash his hands, and so the pages had finger marks upon them. And the corners of the leaves were often turned down at some place where he wanted to take another reading, or to call the attention of someone else to the reading. He could not remember to quote as exact as some might have done, nor was he as glib in telling what he wanted to say. But the point that impressed me as being commendable, was his persistence in reading, and then his disposition to think about what he had read, and have it so on his mind that it was his chief topic of conversation. One great lack among the members in the churches is not reading the Bible. There is so much literature in various lines, and much of it entirely unprofitable, that reading of these classes takes entirely too much time. For one to read the Bible to profit, the habit of reading needs to be cultivated. One might read the Bible a great deal but with little concentration of thought, so that it did not fix anything on his mind. Those who have it in their minds to read the Bible will get the most out of the preaching they hear, for they will understand the references, and keep up with the topics better. The Bereans were commended because they searched the scriptures. We should read them for ourselves, and not depend on the preachers for all our information.
One of our deacons said the he wanted to have a talk with me about the duties of his office. He said that he wanted to try to do his duty, but he did not understand very clearly what his duties were, and especially as his work seemed to hinge so much on what others thought their duty. I told him that I would very gladly assist him if I could, and for him to state as nearly as he could upon what he wanted information. He said, "I understand from your writings, and from what I can learn from the scriptures, that my special duty is to have charge of the funds of the church, and the distribution of them as the church may direct, or necessity may demand. But if the members do not put anything into my hands, what am I to do?" My reply to this question was about as follows: "First, talk with the pastor of the church and find out his attitude on the matter. If the pastor seems not to think that the church should discharge its financial obligation through the office of the deacon, ask him what he believed the duty of the deacon to be. If he seems not to be in harmony with the scriptures on the subject, request him to investigate it thoroughly and then give you his convictions on the matter. If the church is to use the deacon in a financial way, you can do nothing, unless the church shows a disposition to act independently of the advice of the pastor. If the church is indifferent about the matter, and the pastor will not advise it to transact its financial business through your hands, there is nothing for you to do except to resign, unless your conscience will be satisfied to hold an empty place with nothing to do. But if the pastor holds a scriptural view, it becomes his duty to teach the members what the office is for, and to urge them to their duty respecting it. It is the pastor's duty to plainly and firmly give instructions on this matter, and to insist that the church shall respect the office. To disregard this is to treat the scriptures with contempt. Without a plain and open stand being taken by the pastor the hands of the deacons are tied, and you are fully justified in stating in the open session of the church that you cannot longer hold a position that the action of the church makes void.
The deacon with whom I was speaking then brought up another phase of the duty of deacons, and that is to determine the amount that should be given to the pastor who is serving the church. I said in reply, "You do not have to decide that matter on your own judgment. What you do, you are doing for the church, and therefore you should get the mind of the brethren. The deacon is not to act as though it were a personal matter, for he is acting for others, and so should act under their direction. The deacon and the members should have the freest and fullest understanding as to the receipts and expenditures of the church, for only in this way can it be determined by the members what is right for them to put into the hands of the deacons."
He asked me if it would be right to let the matter rest on the practice of just giving to the pastor what was handed in at each meeting. I replied, "No, that practice is wrong. That would not be deciding what the obligation of the church is at all. There might be meetings when nothing would be turned in at all to the deacons, and the pastor would then be left to bear his own expenses and lose his time without any compensation. No, that plan is not scriptural, and it does not meet the necessities at all. Sometimes the weather will be bad, and there may be sickness which will keep some away. There should be funds in the deacon's hands to meet the necessities without depending on uncertainties. 'Let every one of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him.' The supply must be so certain, at least, that the deacon will not hesitate to use his own means to meet necessities if the funds should chance to be low. The deacon and the members should have such a perfect understanding about who can be relied upon to contribute that each will know about what his share will be each month so that if being prevented from being present at any meeting he will make it good in his contribution, and this will leave no uncertainty."
The deacon here spoke up, and said, "But you have not yet told me how we are to decide what is right to give the pastor." "No," said I, "you had another question that came first. There can be no fixed amount which will apply in all cases. There can be no amount fixed by the pastor, for he does not enter into contract with the church as on a salary basis. The pastor must leave it all to the church. But he should tell the church what the scriptures teach, and then leave the church to apply it. If the pastor devotes all his time to one church, preaching, visiting the homes of the members and the congregation, and reading and studying the scriptures, and the church is able financially to demand so much of his time, then the pastor and his dependent family should be supported about as the average family in the church lives, for it is 'Ordained that they that preach the gospel shall live of the gospel.'
But if a church only gets one-fourth of the time, and there are other churches to require the remainder of his time then each church should feel obligated for the time it requires, plus any expenses in going and coming. But if the service asked is a preaching service only, and the visiting is only incidental, then the expense of transportation, time, etc., of each trip is the first thing to be considered. If he comes by rail, and is allowed a discount on his fare, the church should feel that the discount is not given to the church, it is intended to help the preacher. His time must be taken into account in full, from the time he must leave his work until he can return to it, and give him full value, as though you were putting a competent man in his place. Then consider in a liberal manner what it would mean for him to 'study to show himself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.' Consider whether he is a poor man, and help him after a godly manner in his struggle to live and care for his family.
In a word, take this up in a business way, for the deacon's work is designated 'business' in the scriptures, and transact it in an honorable way, as a matter of right between man and man, and see that the church is not laying a heavier burden on the preacher than it takes to itself. He is God's message bearer, sent out as a servant of the church, with full instructions how to serve the Lord's people, and the Lord's people have been given full instructions how they are to treat the Lord's servants. So do what you do, seeking the approval of Him who instituted the office of the deaconship."

CHAPTER XII

EXCERPTS FROM OUR TRIP WEST

My wife and I started from our home in St. Joseph, Mo., April 10, 1915, to visit relatives in the Pacific coast states, and as many churches and brethren as we could in the time allotted for the trip. An account of the trip was written for the Messenger of Peace and published. We do not attempt to give here any detail of the trip, but to make excerpts in which are found meditations upon spiritual and divine things.
"As the train rolled through valleys, hills, plains and mountains, I had time to meditate on the wonders of creation, and its marvelous extent. What awful power pushed the mountains up with their piles upon piles of curiously shaped rocks, and left the awful gaping gorges through which the train thundered with its load of humanity, over seeming slender bridges, whose steel trusses were but spider webs as compared with their majestic surroundings which spoke in awful voice of the power of Him who laid the foundations of the Earth. On and on we sped toward the highest point of our route, which we reached near Trinidad, forced up the highest grade by three powerful locomotives. How different was our mode of travel to the days of those who first went out over the 'Santa Fe Trail' in long trains of wagons, drawn by oxen, mules and horses. Friday evening we reached the boundary between Arizona and California. Along our route were rocks and desert. It was upon such a scene as this we closed our eyes for the night. We awoke Saturday morning to the odor of orange groves, and the sight of roses in profusion greeted us. The transition was wonderful--passing from the land of snow and desolation to the very height of the flowering season, where beautiful colors robed the earth. What a wonderful world is this! and how eloquently it speaks of Him who is Lord over all!"
"We took the 'Old Mission' sight seeing trip. This took us to the San Gabriel mission, the remains of an old Spanish settlement of long ago, which contains many rare relics within its walls. It was founded in 1771, and Catholic priests still minister in the same place where nearly one hundred and fifty years ago Spanish missionaries taught the Indians the idea of the Roman Catholic church. We saw the copper baptistry, hand-beaten, from which hundreds and hundreds of Indians and others were sprinkled for Baptism. The original brick tiles are on the floor of the baptistry room. There is here a fine collection of old books and works of art. The importance given to these old missions, aside from the fact that they are historic places, shows the diligence that Catholics put forth in claiming the attention of the public wherever they can."
"We went through a section of thousands of acres of orange groves, and the fragrance of the blossoms delighted the senses. It called to my mind the scripture references to the odors from fruits and flowers in the songs of Solomon. 'I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste;' 'The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vine with tender grape give a good smell. Arise my love, my fair one, and come away;' 'Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense;' 'Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.' (Songs ii. 1-3, 13; iv. 6, 13, 14). And everywhere are the flowers to fill the eye with a sense of beauty. 'His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers, His lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh,' carrying one of God as manifested in His creation. When we think that all the beautiful language applies to the church of God, it should call us to try to find and see all these entrancing delights in connection with her services, her faith and her hopes inspire. Mount Zion, the city of our God, is more beautiful than the flowers and fruits of earth."
"Wednesday, April 28th, we took our first voyage on the great Pacific ocean, going out to the Catalina island. There had been a storm on Tuesday night and the ocean was rough; it was still raining and cold, so we had the experience of being on the water when conditions were unfavorable for pleasant sailing. Neither my wife nor I were attacked by sea sickness. Arriving at Avalon, the tourist city on the island, we first got lunch and then went out on one of the glass bottom boats to see the 'submarine gardens' and what may be seen on the sand and rocks near the shore. It was indeed interesting to have a near view of the sea growth as it really is, which sometimes like a forest and sometimes like a carpet lay beneath us, over and among which the fishes swam at leisure, singly and in shoals. We could see on the rocks the sea cucumber, one of the lowest forms of animal life, which is said to possess only four per cent. How wonderful is creation, and how infinite the forms of life are, and suited to every condition and surrounding. Before going on board again for the return trip we spent awhile studying the curious inhabitants of the ocean that were on exhibition in the aquarium. What emotions come to one when he studies these things with the thought of God in his mind. The wisdom that could devise, and the power that could create all these wonders is the God of our salvation, and these creatures of His hand are a living proof that we can safely put our entire trust in Him, for nothing is beyond His knowledge and power, nor is anything too small for His notice. Then, too, if He bestows such wondrous wisdom and care upon the material creation what manifestations of His matchless wisdom, love and power may we expect in the glorious kingdom eternal, which shall transcend the material in everything that contributes to His praise and glory, as much as the spiritual and eternal are above the things of time.
"The hour came for our return to the city. The clouds lifted, the sun came out, the wind ceased to blow and the turbulent waters calmed. We could but feel delighted with the outlook for the journey back, and it was indeed delightful. The radiant sunlight upon the waters of the ocean, whose majestic waves swell to meet the horizon, filled one with awe, straining the eyes to look over the crest into the far reach, which one knows must lie beyond. In meditation the trip out and back was a reproduction of the voyage of life. It has its cloudy, cold and disagreeable passages, its touch of the unseen and yet clearly visible power of the sovereign ruler of the universe, and, glad to say, the exalting and soul expanding sight of God's glory brings joyous emotions which can never be forgotten. And even as our minds stretched out to what lay beyond the horizon, so faith penetrates the veil that hides the glorious beyond, to where we know God is; and, judging by the glory inside our horizon in this life, hope says that which lies beyond shall far transcend; tears shall be wiped away, clouds and storms no more appear, and the glorious sun of righteousness shall shine forever and forever. If the end of life may only be as full of thoughts of God and heaven as was my mind while looking out towards the sinking sun, whose beams came glistening over the waves, making a path of glorious light which seemed to reach beyond the world heavenward. While I stood on the deck I thought of the dear ones miles and miles away, and wished I could transmit to them a thought of the sacred, solemn and joyous things which filled my soul; for though so far away, I knew the God of the ocean was the God of the land, and that His love was over all.
"By special permission of the chief engineer I went down in the hold to see the mighty engines that were driving us homeward. It was a thirteen hundred horse power engine, and I knew that it was but a weakling compared with the engines of the great ships. This brought me to think how weak and insignificant is all earth-power (though even that may make you stand in awe) as compared with the unthinkable power of Him who is controlling, overruling and directing all creation that He might bring the ship of Zion safely into harbor at last."
"In San Francisco we visited the Cliff House, and could not look long enough at the great Pacific, whose waves wash the cliffs at this point. Here are the seal rocks upon which the seals were always climbing and then sliding off into the ocean. The cries of the restless sea gulls, the barking of the seals, and the rolling waves booming as they broke upon the rocky shore had an enchantment for us to whom the great ocean was yet a wonder and an absorbing mystery. As I stood watching the few lone boats so far out that the waves often hid them from view, I was impressed with the thought of their littleness and helplessness as compared with the mighty ocean upon which they rode, and which could in such a little time be lashed into fury by the wind. In a moment, as I meditated, the speck, which I knew to be a boat, became a human being, and then centered in myself, and I felt in my soul what it was to be a mere speck in the creation of God. The wind which swept over the waters was, in my meditations, the changing conditions which no one but God can control, and the threatening waves were the events of life which at best broke as 'white caps' and often formed a dreadful trough from which only the providence of God could deliver. Alarm and dreadful foreboding filled my soul as this sense of utter helplessness shut me out from the world, and the strange noises of the sea and shore battled with the overshadowing world in which the soul was living its trials over, and waiting for some mountainous wave to break over me and engulf me.
"But in this storm of the soul, a still small voice came like the brush of an angel's wing, and brought with it a calming sense of the ever present divine power whose wonderful 'peace be still' must ever hold a ruling hand over things material and immaterial, and from which blesses influence had come sweet moments of joy in the past, and now I felt in my soul were precious evidences of God's presence and care which had saved me from the 'contrary' winds on the bosom of the great ocean, on which I had been such a weakling as a mariner. With this thought, the rolling sea changed, and instead of being the type of imminent destruction, it became the speaking testimony of the power of Jesus, the Savior of sinners, to shelter our frail bark while voyaging to the safe harbor where we shall enter into eternal rest."
"We visited the great Panama-Pacific exposition. Here are erected monuments to the thoughts and deeds of men. Every building and every exhibit, is the expression of a thought, and the witness of a deed done. Beauty and utility mingled everywhere in the attempt to raise and better life by making the best of the good gifts of God to man--earth and sea and air--over which the exposition announced as attained, were included in the creative work of Jehovah, so that it speaks more for the infinite wisdom and power of the Creator than it does for the strength and skill of man, who has been so slow to comprehend and put to use what God gave into his hands. Perhaps this may have been the result of the darkening effects of sin.
"If one had been able to shut out of his thoughts the awful, devastating war in Europe, unmistakable witness and proof of the wickedness and sin-corrupted condition of men, he might have concluded from the mingling of nations in the exposition, that improvement of the race was spiritual as well as intellectual and material. But the thunderous roar of cannon, mingled with the cries of perishing men, women and children on land and sea, trumpeted the truth which God long ago proclaimed, that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Then, too, one had only to observe and think, to see that amidst the evidence of God's power and wisdom shown in the exposition, that men had forgotten the Creator, and covetous hearts and hands were reaching out mercilessly in selfish greed. So it was with mingled thoughts, wondering at the creation of the infinite God, and disgusted and ashamed of the groveling minds of men who put God out of their thoughts, that I viewed the exposition--the 'Jewel City.'
"The 'Tower of Jewels,' called forth the admiration of all, with its sparkling points, glinting in the day under the sun's rays, and at night from the battery of search lights turned upon it. But in a few short months and the fair grounds, with its great buildings, its gaudy exhibits, its hurrying crowds, the noisy cry of those who vend their wares, will have dropped into the past; the buildings be despoiled, the tower of 'jewels' will be a wreck, the streets be obliterated, and instead of illumination will be darkness. How like the passing show is time and material things, the things that perish with the using. The blare of earth's trumpets will pall upon the ear, and like the weary crowd, that with tired limbs, turns from the 'courts of beauty' shall earth's travelers turn to the 'exits' to lay down in sleep. Blessed are they who, while using God's good gifts with thankfulness, look beyond the gift to the giver, and reckon that if He has filled the earth with the evidences of His power and goodness, heaven, His highest and most glorious habitation, shall indeed bring forth from the blood-washed throng that is brought into it, praise unto Him in music that is heavenly for harmony and joy.
"We turned away from the fair. We had not seen it all. To see it all how tired one would grow. We had not tired of the good meetings in Los Angeles and vicinity. Our minds turned to brethren gathering at different points ahead of us, and interest in the fair was lost. May we be able to turn from the allurements of the world to the sweet service of God. We ought not to want all the world, for after awhile how tired we shall be of it. But the love of brethren, and the enjoyment of God's service, should grow sweeter as we come nearer to the 'true jewel city,' whose brightness will not grow dull, nor the light fade, for God and the Lamb are the light of it."
"On Saturday morning we set out for the Cowlitz river country. It was a wonderful drive down through the fir forest, and finally we came to the beautiful and wonderful Cowlitz river. Charlie stopped his auto in the center of the bridge over the river, where we were eighty feet above the swirling, hurrying waters, that we might get our 'eyes full' of the wonderful, entrancing scene before us. No pen can tell it, no painter's brush can ever do it justice. The deep, perpendicular walls of curious rock seemed to have been forced apart by a power the mind cannot comprehend, to give the crystal waters room to pass, and all this is brought in beautiful relief by the forest foliage, which lifted high by the heights on either side, seems like a curtain let down from the heavens to thrill and awe the human heart with the wonderful works of the Almighty. It was with regret that we felt the clutch respond to the power of the restless motor, which seemed like an intruder from the haunts of men in this place where nature's charm hushes the soul, and bids it be still in amazement that so much beauty can be thrown around a spot below the skies. But I thought next day, What a small circle encloses the human mind, when on the banks of the beautiful Cowlitz river we met in the Sulphur Creek meeting house, and I looked into the faces of those whose spiritual vision had been lifted so high that heaven, and the wonderful works of grace, were within their horizon, and light from on high beamed in their countenances with a flush that is like the rays of the sun upon the clouds when his course is run, his great work for the day is finished, and he sits upon a throne of glorious light that beautifies all that it touches, and I saw clearly we ought not to be so far carried away by the thoughts of nature's beauties as to forget the greater works of nature's God in lifting a poor sinner from his condemned state to the heavenly place where faith, hope and love make all things new with a consciousness of God's presence and love."
"The interesting sights that we saw as we came down the Bear River canon, among which were the government conduits of the irrigation projects which were being put into operation to cause the arid country to blossom and bear fruit, led me to meditate a great deal as to whether this might be used as an illustration of spiritual barrenness and fruitfulness. In my reflection on the several passages which use water as an emblem, I came to the conclusion that we might learn a lesson from the use of water for producing abundant crops. Jesus said in His sermon on the mount, 'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.' Thus the quickened soul is likened to a thirsty soul. 'My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.' - Psa. lxiii. 1. He is like a flag that must have water or wither. 'Can the flag grow without water? Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not yet cut down, it withereth before any other herb.' - Job viii. 12.
"Of course water which ministers to life is not the very life itself, but that which strengthens and revives. Our spiritual life is from God, and is given unconditionally. But there may be barrenness, and this is spoken against. Every branch that beareth not fruit is taken away; it withereth like the flag, though it be not cut down. The process with the barren tree was to dig around it, and use proper fertilizer, that it might bear fruit (Luke xiii. 6-9), for 'herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.' - John xv. 8. In keeping with the figure used by Paul in I. Cor. iii. 6, the ministry of the gospel is watering plants that they may grow and bear fruit. And the church is like a 'watered garden' under this figure. The Spirit says 'Come' and take of the water of life, and the voice of the church is the same, always pointing to the blessings and benefits of grace, and the promises of the gospel. And 'him that heareth' is to speak of the benefits of the water of life, and invite to the partaking of it. And those who thirst are invited or exhorted to come, and in fact all who have been given a thirst, "Let him take of the water of life freely.' That is, the enjoyment and use of such things freely as pertain to the satisfying of the thirst that is begotten by the indwelling life."
"I found in the religious experience of the Baptists of the West what corresponds to the transformation of the country by bringing water into the arid region. Religiously speaking, when they came to the West there was nothing but sagebrush - no preaching, no church, no services ministering the truth; a dearth of the things the quickened soul longs for, thirsts after, in its normal state in which the spirit is not quenched (I. Thess. v 19), where the 'cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches' have not choked the word so that the child of God 'becometh unfruitful.' But as time moved on, one would hear of kindred souls in faith and experience, and he would travel miles and miles to just see and speak to them. And finally churches were organized, refreshing seasons were enjoyed, and their souls were revived. The churches where we visited were like irrigated gardens.
"But many were the cries I heard from those who felt the desolation where only earthly association is to be had, where, to the spiritually minded, only sagebrush grows, upon which nothing (no spiritual desires) feeds. Strange as it may seem, people will go to a section of the country that they know does not have rainfall sufficient for the fruitage of crops, without assurance of water being brought to it. But this is no more strange than it is to see those who have tasted the water of life leave off the associations and ministrations which revive and stimulate spiritual growth and thought, as though there was no blessing or comfort in anything but earthly pursuits and pleasures. They who neglect the church and its services show themselves indifferent as to spiritual growth and fruitfulness, for of the church it is written, "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob." 'All my springs are in thee.'
"And now some reader may be ready to ask, as many have asked during our travels, 'What part of the country do you like best?' We answer unhesitatingly, Old Missouri, for many reasons, but for one reason especially. There are more Primitive Baptists here. You can find more of them in a single church than you can find in a whole state in the West. And what is fine climate and scenery, and productive soil (and Missouri is not barren of these) when compared with the association of the people of God? They are 'sagebrush' as compared with spiritual surroundings and influences. When one contemplates changing his location, on what points should he make inquiry? On climate? yes; on fertility of soil? that would be reasonable; if there are schools? certainly; social conditions? if there are children to be brought up, of course this should be considered. What else? What should have been first and most important of all - What are the religious surroundings? If a Primitive Baptist church is the church of Christ, and its doctrines the truths of the Bible, and the association and fellowship of its members the best there is on earth, what kind of argument should induce a Primitive Baptist to put every worldly interest before that of the church, making it a matter to be thought of, if at all, after everything else is settled? How can a Primitive Baptist discharge his duty to his children when he takes them where they will not hear the truth declared, and where, if the Lord blesses them with a hope, they can have no church privileges?

OUR CHILDREN

As this autobiography will serve as a kind of family record, as well as for information for my readers, I will give some account of our children. My wife was born November 17, 1858. As mentioned on page 3, we have had ten children born to us. Eunice, born November 23, 1877, was married to Andrew G. Samuel, May 10, 1899. She has two daughters. She became a member of West Union Church in December 1897. I had seen that she was deeply interested and spoke to her about uniting with the church. She said that she desired to join the church, but that she felt we all knew her so well she feared we could not have confidence in her. I assured her that she was taking the wrong view of the matter, and that she would be gladly welcomed. She is now clerk of the church at St. Joseph, and has charge of the "Messenger of Peace" office.
Bernard was born August 29, 1879. He enlisted in the Spanish-American war and was sent to the Philippines. I suffered much at his going, thinking of the moral surroundings of soldiers often. A brother preacher told me to look on the bright side. I replied that there was no bright side. I have been reproved much for that thought, for there was still a God to whom prayers could be offered, and who was full of mercy. He served his term of enlistment, returned home, and united with the church at West Union, and he and his wife were baptized at the same time, she uniting with the church at St. Joseph. She was Etta L. Lillpop, and they were married April 30, 1905. They have a daughter.
Vida, the second daughter, was born August 15, 1881. She never united with the church, but gave unmistakable evidence of her love for the church and its services. She died August 21, 1903, at our home near St. Joseph.
Lois Agnes, born April 19, 1884, united with the church in May 1904, at St. Joseph. I had preached on the text, "O thou worm Jacob." When the invitation was given she started from her seat in tears exclaiming, "O papa, what a worm." She was married June 23, 1909, to Russell A. Brown, son of the late Elder W. T. Brown. He is a member of the church also. Their home is near Warrensburg, Mo., at present. They have a son and daughter.
Mary Elizabeth, born September 15, 1886, united with the church in St. Joseph in 1903. She served as clerk of the church here several years, but at this time is in Los Angeles, California.
Lorraine was born November 19, 1888. She united with the church here in May, 1903, and she and Mary were baptized at the same time in July. She was married to David T. Brewster, October 7, 1915.
Erle Hines was born February 22, 1891. He has never united with the church. He was married to Virginia Douglas Magee, April 30, 1917. They have one son. He is in business in Kansas City, Mo.
Mildred Allen was born September 5, 1893. she united with the church in September, 1920, in St. Joseph. She is with Mary in Los Angeles.
Loyd Bentley was born January 30, 1896. He was married to Grace Guhne, November 22, 1919. They have a daughter. He is not a member of the church.
Walter Allison, the youngest, was born June 15, 1898. He united with the church at the same time Mildred did and they were baptized together. He was married to Tina Lucille Mehrtens, October 1, 1921. They have one daughter.
I baptized the seven of our children who are members of the church.


CHURCHES I HAVE SERVED

I was called to the pastorate of West Union church, near Bucklin, Mo., at the September meeting in 1880. This church was constituted December 19, 1844, with eight members. For several years the meetings were held some six or seven miles northeast of Bucklin, the most of the time being held at the home of my Grandfather Burk. During the Civil War the meetings were discontinued, but at its close were resumed, the church meeting at different points for convenience in and around Bucklin, the church having no church house. The church erected a comfortable house of worship in the year 1899, in which the church continues to meet. This church has never had a large membership, and several times has become very weak by deaths and removal of members. But it has always had a few devoted and sacrificing members. The congregation is low at present on account of nearly all the old resident families having sold out and moved away, and the newcomers having formed their church affiliations before coming in, go to the towns for services. I served the church as pastor until May, 1924, a period of nearly forty-four years. Elder S. L. Pettus, who lives nearer the church is pastor at the present time.
I became pastor of Liberty church, near Linneus, Mo., in November, 1881, the former pastor, Elder Wilson Thompson, having died September 6, 1881. This was a good strong church, not so much from having a large membership, as from the character of the membership, which was made up in part from several old Baptist families which were noted for stability and devotion. The active membership is at present much reduced, but still devoted to the Primitive Baptist faith. I served the church as pastor until May, 1910, a period of twenty-nine years and six months. Elder S. L. Pettus is now the pastor.
Sardis Church, in Chariton county, Mo., was built up under my ministry. An "arm" of West Union church was first extended, and the church was constituted in June, 1883. I served at this place five years. This church went down. Concord church was situated south of Laclede, Mo. I attended this church for about two years, but being a weak church it dissolved and the members mostly went to Liberty church. I commenced preaching for Bear Creek church, near Hannibal, Mo., in 1890, and served the church thirteen years, but discontinued visiting the church after moving to St. Joseph. The church has dissolved, and deeded its property to the cemetery association.
My connection with Little Flock church, St. Joseph, Mo., dates from December, 1899, when I was called as pastor. The members who constituted Little Flock church belonged to the First Nodaway church, and had first an arm of the church extended so that they might receive members. The church was constituted October 29, 1853. The church for many years met in a union house north of St. Joseph, called Jim Town church. This church excluded seventeen members in 1895 for espousing the eternal vital union theory which was advocated by Elder H. S. Cloud. The meeting place of the church was changed to a rented house in the city in August, 1902. In 1907 a substantial house was built at the corner of St. Joseph and Myrtle Avenues, which has since been occupied. But the city having taken over the property for park and boulevard purposes, a lot has been purchased at the corner of 28th and Olive Streets on which to build a new house. January 2, 1909, Elder J. C. Jones was called in the pastorate with me. He is a true yokefellow in the ministry. The church has two meetings a month, Brother Jones preaching at one of them, and I occupy at the other. I am now serving in my twenty-sixth year as pastor of this church.
I was asked to assist Elder George E. Edwards in the pastorate of Little Zion church, Macon county, Mo., in February, 1897. Was called to the pastorate in October, 1901, and served until August, 1905. While I was serving the first year the members were in the habit of making contributions to the pastor individually. When the year was up they asked me if I would serve another year. I told them that my circumstances were about as they had been, and I could do so if they would make a change in their manner of making contributions to me. They had been asking me if the church was treating me right, which left the matter for me to decide on what the church should contribute. I told them that this was not right, that the church should decide this matter, and that therefore I wished them to take the apostolic way of doing business, and put their funds into the hands of the deacons, and they, with him, could decide what they should do, and they would then be doing it in such way that they would know what they were doing, and they would not need to ask me anything about it. They made the change at once. This has for many years been a strong church, the membership most of the time numbering about one hundred. Elder J. E. Goodson's membership was with this church. Elder G. E. Edwards is pastor now.
I commenced regular attendance at Sardis-Bethlehem church, in November, 1912. This church was then situated in Henry county, about five miles south of Leeton, which is in Johnson county. Several years ago the church decided on changing the site to Leeton. The church put a nice basement under the house which was built in Leeton and the members bring lunch on Saturday and Sunday and have two services each day, as they do not live convenient to the church so as to have night meetings. This church has not had a large membership, but the members have been very devoted. Brother M. R. Amick, of this church, was a very active deacon, and was moderator of the Mt. Zion association for many years, and another member, Brother J. W. Russell, served a long time as clerk of the association. I have now been serving the church nearly thirteen years.
I was called to the pastorate of Sugar Creek church, near Gilman City, Mo., at the October meeting in 1921. I had for some time before been preaching at a second Sunday meeting, Elder W. R. Riggs, the pastor, being with the church on the fourth Sunday. The church house when I commenced preaching there was some two and one-half miles south of Gilman City. It was decided to move the house to Gilman City, and it was moved and enlarged in 1923. This move has proven to be of much advantage to the church, both as to the convenience of the members, and increasing the attendance at the services. This church has a strong peace-loving membership. I am still serving this church.
West Union church, Orrsburg, Nodaway county, Mo., was constituted of members who came from Union church, Indiana, and so got its name West Union. Elder R. A. Oliphant, brother of J. H. and Dr. P. T. Oliphant, of Indiana, came with this body of Baptists, and served the church as pastor until his death, which was December 10, 1910. The church was constituted in 1882 or '83. The church has a good membership of young persons at this time, while some of the original members are yet living. I was called to the pastorate of this church May 6, 1922, and am still serving them.
I have kept no accurate account of baptisms, funerals, weddings, etc. I have attended four churches nearly all the time since I was ordained, and have delivered about six thousand sermons.


TROUBLE IN THE CUIVRE-SILOAM ASSOCIATION

Trouble had been brewing in the Cuivre-Siloam association for some years, and finally came to a climax in August, 1919, and which resulted in dividing the association. Elder E. B. Bartlett, who came from Kentucky to Missouri, had gradually assumed leadership after the death of Elder Elkins, which occurred May 26, 1911. His disposition was such that he was disliked by many. For several years before there came an actual split he had been pressing different propositions on the churches and the association for adoption. One was the adoption of the Black Rock Address. There was nothing in the Black Rock Address with which any of the churches disagreed. The churches of the Cuivre-Siloam and all her corresponding associations, have always been in harmony with the Black Rock Address, though it had not been taken up and acted upon. As there was no division on any of the points raised in it, there was no occasion. But many brethren thought because Elder Bartlett proposed it, he must have an object behind his advocacy, and so objected to its being introduced as unnecessary. His course in his own church, Elkhorn, was such that a protest was offered against him. When any members showed plainly that they disliked his course their exclusion was sought, and in several cases brought about. In the Elkhorn church part of the members withdrew and declared themselves to be the church in order. This division of the church was over Elder Bartlett. At the meeting of the association in August, 1919, Elder Bartlett had invited two preachers from Illinois to be present who were not in connection with the associations in Illinois which were in correspondence with the Cuivre-Siloam, and then invited them to take seats in the association, which invitation they accepted. This was treating the corresponding ministers with contempt. At this inconsistent action all the ministers who were present as messengers from the various associations which were in correspondence with the Cuivre-Siloam withdrew, and would have nothing more to do with the meeting. Two letters had come up from Elkhorn church, and Elder Bartlett, as moderator, had arbitrarily ruled that one of them, the one from the party that had found fault with his course, should not be read. This altogether made a real split in the association in sentiment, though the part of the association that objected to Elder Bartlett took no action at the time, awaiting action of the churches. This was all taken up in the churches before the meeting of the association in 1920, and it met as two bodies. Elder Bartlett's faction did not hold a single association in correspondence, nor was there a preacher in Missouri that supported his action by his presence.
Elder Bartlett represented abroad that it was the secret order question and the Black Rock Address that brought about the division, but such was not the case. His own church had divided before the association divided, and that question did not enter into the trouble there. Those at a distance took his version without investigation, and on this point is the reason I have introduced this matter here. Baptists should not take up with a man from a distance without learning his real standing with the Baptists as a body near home. While the majority of the Primitive Baptists of Missouri treat this subject of secret orders as most of the churches do in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and the west, letting each church decide the character of its own membership, except on fundamental doctrines and practice, yet this was not the real cause of Elder Bartlett splitting off from the churches here. He has now left the few Baptists that he succeeded in severing from their churches. This is another lesson against churches suffering a man to bring division to their sorrow and lasting regret.
All the churches and associations which were formerly in fellowship and correspondence with the Cuivre-Siloam association in the days of Elders Branstetter and Elkins, former moderators of the Cuivre-Siloam association, are now in fellowship and correspondence with the churches in the Cuivre-Siloam which rejected Elder Bartlett.

S E R M O N S

The City Foursquare
The Prize of the High Calling
Standing With the Apostles
The Silver Trumpets
Desire for the Future of the Church
The Pot of Oil
Remove Not the Landmarks
Confessing and Denying Jesus
Feeling an Interest in the Church
Support of the Ministry
Prayer
He Shall Not Fail
An Appeal to the Ministry
The Deaconship

S E R M O N S

THE CITY FOURSQUARE

"And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth; and he measured the city with a reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal."--Rev. xxi. 16.

"Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified."--Rom. vii. 30.

Having used the above scriptures as a text, I have been requested to write out some of the things mentioned in the sermon. There are so many wonderful things referred to in the book of Revelations that I have hesitated many times to give what has appeared to me to have been intended by the writer, as symbolical language is susceptible of different applications. But whether we feel sure of the application of many of the descriptions, we can be certain that the gloried described are not earthly things, for no worldly things could possibly measure up to the wonderful height of glory and perfection the language most certainly describes.
The glory and perfection of the holy city could not have come up from earth, and John does not leave us to form such an idea. He says, "And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Of course this is not a material city, for God is a spirit, and his kingdom is spiritual. The building of the city is not a matter of a day or a hear, but reaches over all time. Things are spoken of in the book of Revelations as though they were finished, although they may only be in the process of completion. Abel, doubtless, was a citizen of the holy city, and all who have lived since into whom has come the regeneration power from heaven, have been made citizens of the kingdom, and the kingdom, or city is not yet complete. David, speaking of this matter, said, "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them." The life, character and power that transforms poor sinners to make of them citizens of this kingdom or city, comes down from God citizens of this kingdom or city, comes down from God out of heaven. It is not a work of men nor by men, it is a heavenly life and power. And so it is described as the tabernacle of God being with men, and so it is. "And He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." The blessed fullness of the gospel blessings are portrayed, as faith would apprehend them in this life, and as they shall be fulfilled in the final consummation in heaven itself. Faith sees all tears wiped away, and that he that believeth in Jesus shall never die, as Jesus said to Martha and Mary. So in the gospel victory, the salvation which is in Christ, faith sees all pain, sorrow and death as overcome, and John writes of this wonderful work as being already accomplished while it still goes on.
So in his vision the city stood out in all its glory, and he could have no doubt that it would be completed according to the plans of the architect. Therefore he tells of the preciousness of the foundations upon which it rests and of its perfection from every point. Finally he sees it all complete, and being measured that it might be determined if there was shortage of defect anywhere. It was a golden reed with which it was measured. This signifies the divine measurement of God. The city was found to be a unit, a perfect cube. Any way it might be measured, it lay "foursquare." Only God could be its builder; to be centuries in the gathering of materials, and in construction, and then to be found without fault or failure in any part, shows that no part of it was contingent on the work or planning of man.
Paul saw how this work was to be accomplished from plan to completion. To this God-called apostle this matter was so fully revealed that he does not speak of it as a matter of speculation, but makes affirmation of the steps that mark the fulfillment of the purpose of God, who is the builder and finisher. Abraham looked for a city, whose builder and make is God. Paul saw the whole matter in such clear light that he begins where God began--with the purpose and plan. The great city, and a great one it is, is to be peopled with sinners, justly condemned for sinfulness and imperfection, but who are to be freed from condemnation, given a new life, and perfected by being conformed to the likeness of Jesus the Son of God. Paul marks the four steps necessary to the work. "Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." Note the four steps which are necessary to attainment of the end in view. Predestinate, is to purpose, plan or will. Paul puts this first, which is in proper order. First, there must be a purpose if there is to be any intelligent action, and certainly God is intelligent, for He has all wisdom. The sacred writer does not overlook this. "For whom He did foreknow," says Paul, "He did predestinate." It is inconceivable that there is anything hidden from God. So His plan will have no faults that lack of knowledge would be sure to entail. He not only know "things" but He know individuals. For "whom" He did foreknow. "Whom" would refer to individuals and not to things without personality.
The letter to the Ephesians is particularly plain on this point. "Having predestinated us." The "us refers to individuals. So the plan, or purpose of God included persons. It was not an indefinite idea, but a purpose well defined. And bear in mind that it is definite as to individuals. It is God's will to make certain persons holy, so that they shall be fitted for the holy city. "According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before Him in love." This marks the time before which this purpose was settled. It does not set a definite point, except that it was before all created things.
This purpose, will or predestination fixes one measure of the city, and decides the character to which the individuals must be raised, and so defines the character of the city itself. It is to be a holy city, and so the individuals which enter into it must of necessity be made holy. God predestinated the individuals, who are sinners, to adoption as His children, but their character in sin would not permit of this relation without cleansing, so He chose them in Christ, that by His atoning blood they might be made holy. Now all this was "according to the good pleasure of His will." His will and His pleasure are the "golden reed" which measures the foundation of this mighty work. If we ask about God's will as to who shall be inhabitants of the holy city, Paul answers: "Whom He predestinated."
Some will be willing to admit that God has a will about this matter, but they say some rebel against His will; that Satan is using all influences to defeat the will of God. And further, that God's plan is dependent in a measure on men to carry it into effect, and that will mean that although God had it in mind the building of such a great city, really at completion it shall not measure to the first plan. Then of course it cannot be four-square, for the city will not be as wide as the foundation is long.
But let us consider what is to be done that the city may in all ways be equal to the plan. These individuals who are included in the plan (in the will; in the predestination) must be delivered from the condemnation of the law which they have violated and against which they have rebelled. They must be justified. They cannot be justified by keeping the law, "for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Sinners must be justified by the blood of Christ. (Rom. iv. 9.) That is why Jesus came into the world. It was to pay what they owed a violated law. If righteousness could have come by the law, verily Christ would not have come. But without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. Paul said of the Corinthians that they were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now will the justification be equal to the plan? Will all who were included in the purpose of God, be justified in the sight of God by the suffering and blood of Jesus? Yes, or else the city will not be foursquare. Jesus said the He came to do the will of the Father. This means that He came to work to the will and purpose of His Father. This work He finished, and His resurrection was a witness of its completion. So the atonement is equal to the predestination of God. Indeed there is no escape from the statement of the apostle--whom He predestinated--He also justified. As it was God that laid the sins of men on Jesus, which he put away on the tree of the cross, the sin-bearing must certainly have been equal to the purpose, and this is what is affirmed by the scriptures.
Connected with this work of saving sinners is the calling them to life. This is the work to which Jesus referred when He said, "Ye must be born again." Abraham was called of God. Paul was called by God's grace. He was a rebel against God and his church. The call was not just an intellectual appeal, it was of the Holy Spirit, and was in such power that it overcame all resistance. It was not a call of the gospel. It was not the voice of a preacher. It was a "voice from heaven." So Paul says, "Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called." The same that predestinated, the same called. If it were as men say, that men have to call by purpose, and the city could not be perfect. the plan and the preparation in Christ as a redeemer would be vastly larger than the calling. Preachers are so negligent of the duties that they ought to observe and could do, that it is certainly strange that religious persons could believe that God has left with men such an important part of the great work which is absolutely essential to perfecting His plan for the eternal heaven. Not many people act as though they really believed this, for they do not make the sacrifices that they could make, nor do the things that they could do without making sacrifices at all. People who believe that missionary work is necessary for the salvation of sinners should certainly put much more energy in their work than they do. While we believe in preaching the gospel in all the world, we do not believe that effectual calling (regeunto him, "Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or that he give something to the poor."--John xiii. 29.
From this we learn that Jesus had been training the disciples in the course they afterwards recommended to the church. Christ and His apostles had a common fund and they used it to supply their needs and to help the poor. If it had not been the practice to give to the poor out of that fund the disciples would not have thought that Judas had been told to do anything of the kind. Who supplied the fund we are not told, but as the disciples were all poor, and there is no record that they stopped to work, except when they went fishing, we may believe, without drawing very hard on our imagination, that there were friends of the cause of Christ who were in position to help and had liberal hearts. The fact that Judas had the purse, and was a devil, has nothing to do with its being right or wrong. Up to this time he had been a follower of Christ, and there is no proof that he did not do as the other disciples did. Judas followed Christ, but that does not make it wrong to be a follower of Christ.
Now if a church has no fund, and will not maintain one, it has no use for deacons. Any member may use his own funds for the relief of the needy, but it is the business of a deacon to use the funds of the church for that purpose. I have known churches to ordain deacons when it was not the intention of the members of the church to put anything into their hands, at any rate they did not. This is to trifle with solemn obligations and make much ado over form and deny the plain teachings of God's word. If the elders of the churches who form presbyteries would be true to their convictions, they would say to the churches when called on in such cases, We will not use our authority to put a brother in an office knowing that you will withhold that from him which is necessary to the performance of his duty. To ordain a deacon in a church that will not keep any funds in his hands is to lay upon him a solemn responsibility and then have the church tie his hands and force him to non-compliance with the obligations of his office.
A brother chosen in a church to be deacon, knowing it had not been the practice of the church to keep any funds, and having reason to believe that unless they viewed the matter different to the general impression among the members, there would be nothing put into his hands, might well refuse to submit to ordination until there was a more scriptural understanding on the subject.
These questions should be answered not only by the brother chosen deacon, but by the members of the church as well:
1. Is there necessity for deacons in the church?
2. What is the duty of the church to the deacon?
3. What is the duty of the deacon?
4. What are the qualifications of a deacon?
With the view that there is no duty for the deacon but to assist at the communion, it cannot be made out that there is any necessity at all. As before stated, there is no passage of scripture indicating that any member of the church might not properly do the work the deacon usually does at the communion. If the view be taken that he is only to look after the spiritual interests of the members, then his place is more eminently filled by the ministry, and if there is necessity for more careful oversight, spiritually, then there should be more elders, or the pastor in charge should give himself more wholly to the work. From this standpoint there is no necessity whatever of choosing deacons.
The necessity, as it is stated in the New Testament, is to take charge of financial matters and look after the needs of the members of the church, being supplied with the means to do this by the voluntary contributions of the members. I repeat, if a church does not intend to keep funds in the hands of her deacons she does not need deacons. It may be said in reply to this that it is the duty of the deacons to look about and see if there are any poor, or needed expenses, or if the pastor needs help, and report it to the church and get instructions what to do and receive supplies from the church.
I would say in the first place, to admit this view, a member who had but little judgment would make about as good a deacon as the one endowed with the greatest wisdom, for he would not be expected to exercise his judgment in any case, but must always wait until he has been directed just what to do, while the qualifications given indicate that he is to act on his own judgment. Then, in cases of immediate need, if the church met only once a month, as most of our churches do now, the needy brother or sister might pass in great suffering and distress beyond the need of anything ministered by human hands.
But the objector to the fund suggests that in such case it would be the duty of the deacon to either contribute of his own means, or see the brethren and collect something.
This is purely an innovation on God's way, as set forth in the Acts of the Apostles, and the example of the Primitive church. Paul gave instruction that there be weekly collections, that when the time for the use of the funds arrived, there would need to be no collection taken (1 Cor. xvi. 2). The deacon might be poor himself and not have enough to supply the needs of others, and it very often happens that very poor brethren are very prompt to do their duty, and make just as good deacons as any. Further, if the deacon is just to make report to the church of cases of need, any brother can do that, and there is no necessity for a special appointment. The fact is this, it is the duty of all the members to report to the deacon.
A church cannot do in a proper way, and most likely will not do at all, the things done by apostolic churches, without active deacons. The Lord has nothing done except for good reason. If the church can do as well without deacons as with them, then what reason can be given for their appointment, unless the office is to be considered as ornamental rather than practical, simply a dignitary without a duty. Certainly it will be conceded by all who revere the sacred word that there must have been, and is yet, a necessity for the deaconship in the church, not simply that the church may say she has a deacon, but that the work of the deacon may be done. So a church should not be considered in complete working order until the work of the deacon is recognized and carried out. When churches are organized after they have secured a pastor, and sometimes before, they choose deacons, the inference being, even when the statement is not made, that a church is not fully in working order without deacons. But it is clear in some cases that this is a mere recognition of the office, and not of the work of the office, for no attempt is made to make the deacon of any practical aid to the church and cause. We should look deeper than mere form. The fact that there were deacons in the apostolic church should be argument enough with Primitive Baptists that the office is necessary, and also if necessary then, necessary now, or else the apostolic church is not a pattern for all ages. This admission would let in all the innovations of the day, which no Primitive Baptist could agree to at all. As proof that there were deacons in the apostolic churches, see the following scriptures: Acts vi. 3-6; Phil. v. 1; 1 Tim. iii. 8-13.
So if we are to lay claim to apostolic form in our churches we must have deacons, and it is certainly of more importance to have the work of the office done than it is to have the officer.
As to the question, "What is the duty of the church to the deacon?" If the members of the church do not recognize that there is a binding duty, the office might as well remain vacant. It is not a duty to the man who is filling the office, but to the office work as a function of the church. We do not care for the hand or the foot as having any dignity of themselves, but because they are a part of the body, and without them the body would be maimed. So must the office of the deaconship be considered. Here is a function of the church to be performed through this office, and if she does not have this office, she either does not do the work, or does it in an unscriptural way. The church should not choose a brother as a deacon to honor the man, but to use him as a servant to carry out the full work of the church.
A church cannot raise a brother to the work of the ministry, that is God's work. But she can put any brother into the deaconship who has the qualifications, though there may be other brethren who are just as well fitted for the place who are not needed. God appoints the minister to do a special work, and the church appoints the deacon to carry out the active work that falls to the church as an organization.
A church has as much right to do away with baptism as it has to do away with the work of the church that is to be done through deacons. She may have deacons in form, and yet do away with the work of the deacon. If a member of the church has never done anything through the deacon's hands, that member has done away with the work of the deacon so far as he is concerned, and has committed as much of an offense against the Great Head of the church as though he had attempted to make void anything else that belongs to the house of the Lord. Indeed, it is hard to say if there is anything else connected with the church, except it be the ministry of the word, but could be struck down with less hurt than this.
To appoint deacons and then ignore them in administering the financial part of the church's business is gross contempt for God's law as head of the church. It would be as though an Israelite of old had said, I will ignore the priest who is to minister in the temple and do the work myself. Many brethren make this statement in substance when they say they will not have the deacon to fill his office, but what they have to give they will give it themselves.
If the apostolic church is to be taken as a pattern, (and if it is not we have none,) we must consider the deaconship as an office of God's own arranging and should hesitate as much to change it or abolish it as we would to change the doctrines given in the scriptures, and should feel that as great a curse will fall on us for the one as for the other. The deacon is the hand of the church that she stretches out to all who are in need, and to keep her affairs working in decency and in order.
Some brethren try to step behind this passage: "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth," and conclude that what they do they must do very privately, not letting anyone know what they do, not even the deacon. This is plainly straining this passage to mean something it was never intended to mean at all. It is wrong to make a display among men, and these words of the Savior were spoken in condemnation of such a practice. In the same connection the Savior tells His disciples that when they pray they are to enter into their closets and pray in secret and not before men (Matt. vi. 5). Is it then wrong to pray in public? Most of our church rules say that our services ought to be opened by singing and prayer. According to this construction this would be wrong and no one ought to offer prayer in public. The absurdity of this construction at once appears.
It may be that brethren who have urged such a construction have done so, violating the true principle in their hearts. It may be they wanted the recipient to know just whose liberality he received, and they did not put it into the hands of the deacon because then it would never be known by the recipient who made the contribution. Sometimes when there are several preachers at a meeting a brother wants his favorite preacher to know that he is appreciated, and prefers to give out of his own hand; for if it were given to the deacon it would be divided up and those who were in greatest need would get most, and his favorite would never know just how he had appreciated him. This is the very spirit our Lord was condemning, and the plea is a mere pretext. If one is willing that his liberality should not be advertised, let him put his gifts in with the common funds in the deacon's hands. And meeting one's share of the church expenses is not alms giving, and should not be treated as charity--it is duty.
If the church is to feel as she ought toward the deaconship it must be viewed as God's way of attending to certain affairs, and must be sacredly guarded from those who would change or abolish it. If a brother be chosen by the church to be put into the deaconship it is right to know that the church rightly understands her obligations to the office, and is disposed to recognize them, before assuming obligations himself that he cannot discharge unless the church will first do her duty. A church should not consider the work of the deacon as apart from her own act, but every member should feel that God has made it his duty to do certain things, and that these things are to be done through the deaconship.
The scriptures teach that we must be baptized and then leaves us no discretion as to manner or mode of baptism--we must be dipped in water. Now it is the duty of members of the church to do certain things, and then it is specified that this is to be done through the deacon's hands. It is contempt for God and His word to say it can be done as well some other way. The duty of the church to the deaconship is such that it is open rebellion to say to the deacon, "Stand thou here, we can do all there is to do without having need of thee." What right has any member or individual to ignore or make void an office that has the approval of the Sacred Word.
The duty of the members to this office is such that they should hold all their possessions subject to the needs of the church, as did the saints in the time of the apostles. While it is not obligatory now, nor was it then, to sell one's property and put it into a common fund, yet the principle is that each brother should be willing to support the cause with all he has, and to that end should keep sufficient funds in the hands of the deacons to discharge the obligations of their office.
It would appear strange that a church should ever set apart a member to a work when very few of the members understood clearly what that work was. But such might be the case. Every member should be able to answer the plain question, in choosing a deacon, "What is he to do?" The necessity for this will be apparent upon reflection. If the members of a church do not properly understand the duty of a deacon he will not be able to discharge his duty, if his performance in any way depends upon them, for they will not co-operate with him. So a brother, when chosen by a church to this office, might very properly demand of them what they expected him to do.
If the members only expected him to assist the pastor at the communion, and bear unkind criticism, as everyone put into any prominence must do, he might with good ground refuse to accept the responsibility because the church was not scriptural as to the duty of deacons.
No pastor should permit a church of his care to go into the selection of a deacon without thoroughly instructing them as to the duty of the deacon. Here is where many of our pastors confess error, and failure to discharge their obligation. Too often the only things considered are the moral qualifications of the deacon without respect to what the deacon is to do. How is it possible to decide on the qualifications of a person to an office without deciding what he is to do? Here is where many mistakes have been made. Often, if a brother is exemplary in his walk and character as a man and a Christian, he is considered fit to be put into the deacon's office.
But a man might be well fitted to be a judge on the bench who would make a very poor farmer or merchant, and the scriptures consider this, and point out the special qualifications of a deacon. I appeal to every reader of these pages to decide in his own mind what a deacon is to do if he carries out the scriptural idea of the office. Certainly no member of the church should consider himself competent to enter into the choice of a deacon without first defining to his own satisfaction the work of the deacon, and then considering the peculiar fitness of the brother who is to be set apart.
The work of the deacon needs to be decided upon and understood by all, that the brother chosen to the office may be impressed with the fact that certain things are expected of him, and knowing it is the mind of all that he is to do these things, he will feel a greater obligation to discharge his duty. For, if there is a diversity of opinion regarding his work, he can never act without the feeling that his course is disapproved by some, which is a very discouraging condition. But, if all the members are properly instructed, the deacon will feel encouraged to perform the duties of his office, knowing his work is known to all, and that a failure to do it will meet with criticism, while to act faithfully will endear him to all his brethren.
By reference to Acts, 6th chapter, it will be very clearly seen that he is to make distribution of the church funds to all who have need. None will contend that the church ought to neglect or overburden any of her members, but different brethren will propose different plans for equalizing the burdens and caring for all who should be ministered to. This is ignoring God's plan, and certainly His plan must be the best. Some say that each brother or sister must act for himself or herself, and minister to all whom they find who have need. Now, certainly, there is nothing in God's word that would stand in the way of anyone taking this course. But the members of churches are weak, human beings, and some who have plenty of means have little charity, and some who have great sympathy for the cause, and for the suffering, have but little means. So, if left to themselves, the burden will fall most unequally, for many, who are able to help, will evade any occasion of bearing the burden of others, leaving the few who are willing, whether able or not, to do whatever is done.
So it is evident that if the burdens of the church are to be equalized and those who need help are to receive it, the New Testament plan is the only one that will meet all the conditions to be provided for. Here will be found a stimulus for those who have been blessed with plenty, but who have a covetous disposition; here will be found a check for those who are liberal beyond their means, and funds sufficient for the needs of all. Besides this, the pastor should have an efficient helper, one full of wisdom, leading an exemplary life before the members for them to follow, an officer of the church full of the Holy Ghost and faith. It is a wise provision of the Great Head of the church for equalizing the burdens among members that the means contributed by the members go into a common fund, of which the deacons have charge. The deacon will know whether a member is contributing according to his ability, nor that it is with the deacon to say how much any member shall give, for the needs of the church are to be met by voluntary offerings, as were the necessary things for the tabernacle and its service; but he will know who are giving as the Lord has prospered them, and if they fail to do this after proper instruction, and reproof if necessary, they should be reported to the church as covetous, which is a grievous sin, and should be summarily dealt with.
"Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry; for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience."--Col. iii. 5, 6. Old Testament lessons teach us that an idolater is an abomination in the sight of God. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat."--1 Cor. v. 11. All the members of any church know it is wrong to tolerate a drunkard in the church. Well, the Sacred Writ couples drunkards and covetous people together as being of one class--a class on which the "wrath of God" cometh. Now the deacons, knowing who are covetous and who are not, it would be their duty, more than that of any other member, to labor with such an offender in this direction, and if need be, report him to the church. Ananias and Sapphira were accused by the Apostle Peter. This was before the institution of the deaconship, and the funds of the church were in the hands of the apostles. Ananias and Sapphira professed before men that they were giving in all they had to give. So long as there was no use for their goods they were under no obligation to part with them; but their sin was in withholding through a covetous disposition. Before the property was sold it was their own, and after it was sold the proceeds were theirs (Acts v. 4). But they evidently felt it would be commendable to give in all they had, and yet they loved what they had better than they did the cause of Christ. The church could make no demand as to the amount to be given, so these two lied to God and not to men.
How many deacons have seen cases like this: Brethren professing to give all they were able to give, and yet the deacons knew that a covetous disposition was causing them to hold back what they ought to bestow?
We should learn from this lesson in Acts that the principle upon which the church was founded is, that the possessions of all members ought to be held by them subject to the needs of their brethren and the good of the cause. This fact should be recognized by the deacons who should not be slow to call upon the members for funds to meet all needs. A brother who is one indeed, should be ready to divide his last crust, and if this spirit prevailed it would not be hard for the deacons to do their work. For the deacons to know there is need for distribution to the poor, or to the ministry, or to the sick, and yet have members who are well able to contribute to such purposes withhold their means, after an appeal from the deacons, is very discouraging, indeed; in fact, this is the greatest burden deacons have to bear. Finding that members fail and refuse to do their duty, the deacons grow indifferent to their work and the office falls into disuse.
When the deacons have reported a covetous person to the church he should be dealt with the same as for any other offense. And that covetous persons should be dealt with there can be no doubt whatever, if the scriptures are to be taken as a rule. As before remarked, if covetous persons were classed with drunkards, idolaters, etc., and dealt with accordingly, it would be better for the church and all the members. Of course the deacon will have to take gospel steps to bring such matters before the church, and when this is done the church should not regard this sin as a peculiarity of character that cannot be reached, for it stands in the way of the prosperity of the church by withholding that which is needed perhaps in the upholding of the ministry. Not that the pastor of a church should serve for a salary, or for the sake of money, but many of God's ministers are poor in this world's goods, and having families, it is impossible for them to give a great portion of their time to the ministry.
The apostles ordained deacons and put the funds of the church into their hands that the ministers might give themselves wholly to the work (Acts vi. 4). With this thought on his mind the deacon will not feel that it is simply a personal matter between him and the brethren. To neglect his duty, and let brethren withhold from the church what they are able to give, if it is needed to assist the pastor that he may discharge his duty, is to give assent to a weakened service, and weakened for mere greed, too, and to actually become a party to breaking down the apostolic plan for keeping up a church and sustaining the ministry in its work. An important duty of deacons is to see that those who are able do not withhold their means because of covetousness.
Not only is it the business of the deacon to receive the funds contributed by the members, but that perfect confidence may be maintained, he should keep an accurate account of all he receives and all he pays out, and make his report to the church regularly. He need not report what each member gives, but the whole amount received. But he should give the items as paid out. If the church desires it he may report items received. This is necessary, because the members must have every evidence of the integrity and honesty of the deacon. True, they might feel this at the time of his selection, but that this feeling may be maintained it will be found necessary that the members know what he does with the funds in his hands. If it is known that he keeps no account they will feel that he himself does not know just in what condition the funds are, whether he has church funds on hand, or whether he has paid out more than has been put into his hands.
I knew a case in which a good brother's word was called in question. He said he had not received enough money for a certain purpose. Another brother, equally good, said from his knowledge he felt sure that he had, but said, "He keeps no account and forgets."
If the deacon keeps no account of the funds he receives, nor of what use he puts them to, it soon results in a falling off of the receipts, and necessitates making a collection every time there is occasion to defray any expenses. Some churches follow this practice: The deacon calls on the brethren when he has need of any funds, such as to help the pastor or a visiting minister, or to pay church expenses, and collects only as much as may be needed and pays it all out at once. This practice is rather to be commended than for the members to ignore the deacon, but it falls short of meeting the necessities, and is not following the scriptural practice. One of the bad features is, there will often be need of money, and the members will not be present to collect from. The regular meeting time may be cold and stormy, or heavy rains or sickness may keep the members at home, but the faithful pastor is present. He meets two discouraging things--the members are not present and his expenses are not paid.
Then at the next meeting, if the members are present, they only contribute as much as though they had been present the meeting before, because there is no report whether the pastor's expenses were met or not, and he has it to bear. Now if the deacon kept an account of the church fund, he could report at any time before it was exhausted, and it would be the duty of the members to replenish it. Then, whether the members were present at a meeting or not, if the pastor were present he could be helped on his way. Or if there were need to help any poor person, or incidental church expense, the deacon would be prepared to meet it.
Another reason for keeping an account is for the convenience of the members. Many of our members are farmers, and do not have ready money at all times of the year, in fact, it may be the case with anyone that he is not at all times prepared to make a contribution; but there will be some time during the year when he could put in his share toward keeping up the church's expenses. He could then hand it to the deacon and his entry of it would show that this brother had given his proportional part. The deacon would then know not to call on him again until the other members had borne their part.
Here arises a very important question: What is each member's share? or what should each pay? This is where most of the attempts to systematize the deacon's work break down. A member asks the deacon, "How much shall I contribute?" The deacon, feeling he has no right to set the amount for members to give, says, "O, I don't know, just what you feel like giving." The member, feeling, perhaps, that is is not right to burden the church with surplus funds, or that the deacon will at once and for that occasion, pay out all he receives, whether it is actually needed or not, gives but little. The deacon can say nothing, though he knows if the other members do not do better, the amount needed will not be raised. In his heart the deacon knows what a member ought to give, and, perhaps, the member would be quite willing to give all that is needed, but because of a wrong system in attending to business, the church has not done its duty.
Now all this can be remedied if the deacon is allowed to, and will do his duty. Every deacon who is qualified for the office can estimate about what the yearly expenses of his church will be. He can tell how much the fuel will cost; he knows if there are any poor to be looked after regularly; he can estimate needed repairs about the building and grounds; he knows how much it will cost to have some one care for the house, and have it ready for services; he should know the circumstances of the pastor, and about how much such a church as his ought to contribute to him.
He should lay this before all the members of the church, and let each one say how much of it he is willing to give. These amounts he can enter on his book. If it is enough to meet the demands, well and good, and each one will know about what he is to do, and he can do it when it is convenient.
But if the amounts volunteered at the first do not cover probable expenses, the deacon can ask the members to reconsider the matter, and raise their contributions; or knowing the circumstances of all the members, he will suggest to those who have not been as liberal as their circumstances warrant, that they should give more to equalize the burden. When this matter has been arranged, the members can pay in the amounts they have agreed to give as soon as they have it, or the deacons may need it. The deacons should not wait until the funds are entirely exhausted before calling upon the members, nor should the members wait to be called on at all. They should try to make the work of the deacon as light as possible, and should not put him to the trouble of calling on them individually. Of course the members are privileged to make as many gifts outside of this church fund as they feel disposed.
Out of the funds in their hands the deacons should distribute to the poor. No poor member should be allowed to suffer for the necessities of life, nor for any needed comfort that the church is able to provide. Never should a brother or sister, who can possibly be cared for otherwise, be sent to the poor house to be cared for by the general public. The church need not take upon herself the burden of caring for the poor outside of her membership, because the members pay taxes to care for these poor. But her own poor and afflicted should be looked after by the church, and it is the especial duty of the deacons to look after this work.
In the United States, outside of the cities, we have not many poor who are actually unable to care for themselves who have no relatives to look after their needs, so this is not a heavy burden on the churches. In some cases members may be lazy and imprudent, so the deacons should carefully investigate each case and report it fully to the church that their course may be approved.
The deacon should defray the necessary expenses of the church, such as providing fuel, employing a janitor and keeping up needed repairs. The practice of some churches making such things a special order of the church is disregarding the deaconship, and results in neglect and often dissatisfaction. It is an old saying, that what is everybody's business is nobody's business, and it often proves true. A pane of glass is broken in a window. The janitor did not break it, and is not obliged to put in a new one, as he probably will not get pay for caring for the house until the end of the year, and has no money with which to buy the glass except what is his own. He knows the deacons have no church money, and that there will have to be a collection taken, and perhaps if the glass is put in before the collection is taken, it may not be made at all. So he waits for the church to "take the matter up" and take up a collection before this small matter can be attended to.
Then the janitor is employed by the year, and whether he does his work well or not, no one feels disposed to speak to him about it, for the church, and not an individual employed him, and "individuals" do not want to be "too forward" in matters which concern others as well as themselves. Now if the deacons were held accountable for all these things, then there would not be so much neglect. Of if there were, the church would need new deacons. I will suggest to deacons, if they pay the janitor every month they will get better service, and they should see to it that the house is kept in proper order to make the congregation comfortable. The house should be kept clean, the seats free from dust, warmed in winter before the congregation assembles, and kept warm enough, but not too warm, proper ventilation being provided. If the person employed to look after these things does not attend to them properly, and will not be instructed to do so, get some one else. "Be not slothful in business."--Rom. xii. 11. Keep the house and grounds in nice order, that it may be a pleasant and inviting place. Some churches appoint an annual or semi-annual "house cleaning" when the members all come in to spend the day together, and to thoroughly clean the house, repair the fences, cut the grass, etc., and this is commendable, especially as it affords the members an opportunity of spending a day together.
The deacons should minister out of the church funds to the necessities of the pastor, and they must to a great degree determine how much is done for him. The pastor's circumstances and opportunities should be understood. The deacons should remember that a church cannot prosper without pastoral service, and they must provide for as efficient a service as possible.


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