JUDE 4 C OMMON V ERSION —
6. Another subject of controversy arose out of the representations of the state of things in the valley of the Mississippi. We have before noticed the
origin of the society for the education of pious young men for the gospel ministry. Out of this arose the “American Home Missionary Society,”
which was organized in 1826. This society was composed of members and friends of the Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, and Congregational
Churches, and as altogether a voluntary association; that is, it was not a church organization, not being recognized as the exclusive property of any particular denomination, nor under the control of its church judicatories.
And as the missionaries who were in the employ of this society were taken from either or all of the above-mentioned denominations, they were instructed to form churches according to the principles of either the Presbyterian or Congregational plan of church government, as might best suit the people; and to give greater efficiency to their labors, and a wider range to their operations, a “Plan of Union” was formed between these two denominations, so as to admit commissioners into the General Assembly from those churches which might be established on Congregational principles.
Comprehending these three large denominations in this society, under the name of American Home Missionary Society, its patrons gave it the name of a national institution, as though in it were represented the Christianity of America. To this assumption of a national society, we of course, entered our protest because it was calculated to mislead the public mind, especially in foreign countries. To say nothing of the Baptists, who were more numerous than either of the above denominations, the Protestant Episcopalians, the Lutherans, and numerous other sects, all of whom were exerting less or more influence in favor of Christianity, the Methodists were more numerous than either. It seemed, therefore, unjust to select a single society, made up of those three denominations, which represented not one fourth of the Christians in the United States, and call it a national society, thereby accounting all the others as nothing.
We had other objections. This society, by assuming a national character, was contrary to the genius of American institutions, which acknowledged no national religion. It seemed, therefore, like an effort to force public opinion to recognize the existence of a national church, in direct opposition to the declared intention of all our civil institutions.
This assumption of a national society, together with the avowed
intentions of some of the reports of the American Sabbath School Union, respecting the circulation of their books, and the influence which it might have upon our state and general elections, excited an alarm in some minds, lest comprehensive plans were forming to secure the patronage of the state
for the support of those denominations which were committed for the support of this society. And though this might have been a groundless alarm. it tended to awaken attention to the subject, and led other denominations to look about them, and watch over the welfare of their own institutions. And it is somewhat remarkable, that the very measures which were taken by this society to combine so many discordant materials in the range of their operations, and to make an impression abroad of the nationality of its character, should have led eventually to the dissolution of the union of the Presbyterian Church; for there can be no doubt that the Plan of Union,” by which that church permitted Congregational principles to become incorporated into their judicatories, was the entering wedge which finally split that church asunder; so that the means adopted to make themselves great, and to impress upon the minds of others that they represented the religion of the nation, were the very means of lessening their number and influence, and of creating one other instead of combining three into one sect.
But the means used by those missionaries who were sent out by this society to enlist the sympathies of the church and the public mind in favor of their vast project gave great and very just offense. At the time of the organization of this society, a periodical was commenced, under its immediate patronage and control, called the “Home Missionary and Pastor’s Journal,” in which the reports of these missionaries were, from time to time, published. These reporters very often gave such a
description of the moral wastes and religious destitution of the countries where they traveled, as was truly alarming to the real friends of the country and of Christianity. On examination, it was found that many of those places which were thus represented as entirely destitute of the gospel, had been regularly supplied for years by our ministry, and that there existed in them large and flourishing societies. The fact was, that our ministers had penetrated every part of that country, had kept pace with the progress of the new settlements, had gone to the Indian tribes, hundreds of whom had been converted to the Christian faith, and had carried the glad tidings of salvation to the black population of the south and southwest, entering every open door, and preaching the gospel to all to whom they could have access. Yet these were represented as being totally destitute of the gospel and of Christian ordinances. These things
were thought to be unjust and unchristian, as well as unwise and impolitic.
We therefore considered it a duty which we owed to ourselves to expose them, and to enter our protest against them. This was done, principally, through the columns of the Christian Advocate and Journal, both by the editors, and those correspondents who were on the spot, and who therefore spoke from what they had seen and felt. And so palpable were the facts, that few undertook to justify the proceedings of these
missionaries. Indeed, their own friends became convinced of the impolicy of such statements, and advised them to refrain; and hence, instead of saying that there were no ministers, they afterward reported that there were no Presbyterian ministers in such and such a place. To this manner of reporting there could be no objections.
The following extract from the Christian Advocate and Journal for this year will show how these objections were met and refuted: —
“Every year, from the time that Schemerhorn and Mills made their missionary tour to the west and south, and published their famous journal of observation, the thrilling note of complaint has been heard echoing from one end of the continent to another, about the paucity of ‘educated ministers,’ ‘competent ministers,’ etc.., and the people have been called upon in no ordinary strains of mournful eloquence to exert themselves to replenish the funds of education societies, that the number of these ministers might be speedily increased; that the nation, to adopt the language of the Rev. Dr. Beecher, might ‘arise and save itself by its own energies.’
To keep up the stimulus thus excited, — to continue the language of the last cited author, — ‘the trumpet must sound long and press must groan,’ and utter in the ears of our countrymen the story of their miseries, or the ‘nation is undone.’ And from the time this note of alarm was sounded by Dr. Beecher, it has continued rolling through our country, until the doleful ditty of the ‘moral
desolations of the vast valley of the Mississippi’ has reverberated from hill to valley, with a sickening repetition. Yes, this fertile numerous, valley, where, besides the Baptists, who are the Protestant Episcopalians, and other denominations, we have no less than seven annual conferences, composed, according to the Minutes for 1829, of 516 traveling preachers, and probably more
than twice that number of local preachers, and 128,316 church members, has been, and is still, represented as being in such a fearful state, that unless mighty exertions are made to replenish the funds of the national societies, it is apprehended that such a
swelling tide of immorality will flow back, and cross the Alleghenies, as to sweep away pure religion from the Atlantic states and every succeeding year, from that time to this, our ears are stunned with the deafening cry, ‘The treasury is empty!’ ‘the committee are in advance’ for so many hundreds or thousands of dollars. To add energy to this voice of distress, all other ministers are deposed as ‘incompetent,’ ‘uneducated,’ ‘inefficient.’ To say nothing respecting the truth or falsity of these statements, we would ask whether it is becoming in gentlemen who utter this doleful cry of distress, with a view to replenish their exhausted treasuries, while it would seem that their funds are already so great that some think that the people ought to be warned against
lavishing any more into their hands, to accuse us of accumulating funds dangerous to the state?”
It is by no means intended to say that there was no call for additional laborers either here or elsewhere. No doubt there were many moral wastes, both in the west and in the east, in the populous cities, in the villages, and country places, which needed the reforming influence of the gospel, and more active laborers to effect it. We could therefore have no objection to an increase of zealous and holy ministers. Our objections were to the unwillingness manifested to acknowledge the gospel character and labors of others, and to recognize the good which had been most evidently effected by them, and particularly by the self-denying exertions of our ministry in the western country. Indeed, in many of these reports there seemed to be a desire manifested to depreciate those who had long since planted the gospel in those very places now represented as destitute, and where our preachers had labored with great success, amid hardships and privations to which few were willing to submit; and these things are here recorded, that those who shall come after us may know to whom they are indebted for the first promulgation of the gospel in our western wilds.
It is believed that this discussion did good. At any rate, it tended to enlighten the public mind on these subjects, to make our doctrines, usages,
labors, and success, more generally known and more justly appreciated, and thus strengthened the hands and cheered the hearts of the members and friends of our Church. It tended likewise to convince our opponents, that if they presumed to misrepresent or to slander us, we had the means of self-defense, and an ability and disposition to use them; and that when the facts were clearly stated, our doctrines and manner of propagating them fully explained, we should not be considered such dangerous
heresiarchs as we had been represented to be. We are glad know, however, that these days of strife are past, and that a more friendly and amicable spirit prevails. We hope, therefore, that hereafter we may mutually strive only to provoke one another to love and good works.”
Another subject was agitated about this time which gave no little
uneasiness, and occasioned much discussion. I allude to the Temperance reformation. The American Temperance Society had commenced its powerful operations in 1826, and was now doing much good to the souls and bodies of men both in and out of’ the churches. A proposition had been submitted to us to unite with that society, and on such terms as we did not think it expedient to accept. It was proposed to raise a permanent fund of twenty thousand dollars for the support of an agent or agents, who should be exclusively devoted to the temperance cause. To this it was objected, because it was thought that a permanent fund was unnecessary for the success of the enterprise, as the money needed to carry it forward might be better raised as it should be wanted. It was moreover urged that we had always been a temperance society, having made abstinence from intoxicating liquors as a beverage a term of church communion and therefore to come into the measures of the American Society would be a virtual acknowledgment that we, as a church, needed such a reformation.
This occasioned no little discussion, and gave rise to some heart-burnings on both sides of the question. By some, whose zeal was not always tempered with knowledge, it was contended that, because we did not unite in the society, and co-operate with it in all its plans and movements, we were opposed to the cause of temperance itself, and therefore stood in the way of its success. To this it was replied, that being already the friends and advocates of temperance, having, as a church, recognized the practice of total abstinence from intoxicating liquors as a common drink, it was
unjust to accuse us of a want of friendship for the men engaged in this enterprise of benevolence, or of zeal in promoting their objects.
This was the true state of the controversy; but the manner in which it was conducted elicited facts and brought forth light which had been dormant, or had not been perceived for though it had been made it a term of church communion by one of our general rules, it was found, on a closer
inspection, that the rule itself had been softened down, and that in many instances even this had been suffered to remain as a dead letter. In
consequence of these things, it was clearly discovered that members of our own Church were in the daily habit using intoxicating liquors, and that the Discipline, at best, had been but partially enforced. This discovery led to important results. For though our opinion remained unchanged respecting the inexpediency of some of the measures of the American Temperance Society, particularly as regarded raising a permanent fund, yet the
necessity of the reformation, even in our own Church, notwithstanding our prohibitory rule, became very apparent. Hence temperance societies were formed, and our preachers and people very generally fell in with the temperance measures, greatly to the edification and benefit of the Church, and to the cause of God generally.
In noticing this subject, I am very desirous of correcting an error respecting the course taken by the official organ of the Church, the Christian
Advocate and Journal, then under the editorial control of the writer of this History. It was alleged frequently, and is sometimes even repeated now, that the paper opposed the cause of temperance. This was and is a sad mistake. It never, intentionally at least, opposed either the principles or practice of temperance. It did oppose some of the measures of the
American Temperance Society, and advised our brethren and friends not to contribute their money to raise the contemplated fund; but its opposition was directed chiefly to the misrepresentations which were made of our real position, namely, that we were enemies to temperance, merely because we pleaded that our Church had favored the principles and practice of
temperance from the beginning, and therefore had no motive to join the American Society.
This is the ground we took. And though afterward convinced we were in error in supposing that the strict principles of temperance were generally
exemplified in practice by all the members of our Church, and therefore lent our aid to exterminate the evil from among us, yet we remain
unchanged in our views respecting the impolicy of some of the measures of the American Temperance Society, while we hail with delight the onward march of the temperance reformation. And if any of our sayings or measures were construed into opposition to this reformation at the time, through misapprehension or otherwise, we think sufficient has been said and done since to convince all candid and unbiased minds of the rectitude and consistency of our course; and I here record my most solemn
conviction that the temperance cause should be ranked among the most benevolent and efficient means now in use for the benefit of mankind. And this is recorded with the more pleasure from the fact that John Wesley was the first in modern days to proclaim a war of extermination upon the use of all intoxicating liquors, “except in cases of extreme necessity.”
The Oneida mission was commenced this year. This tribe of Indians were settled on an Indian reservation in the western part of the state of New York. They had been partially civilized, and some of them were cultivators of the soil, and had adopted the habits of civilized life. Though the
Protestant Episcopalians had had a mission among them for several years, they were in a deplorable state as to religion and morals. Like most of the semi-civilized barbarians who skirted our states and territories, they were deeply debased by habits of intoxication, and all those degrading vices, which connect themselves with a course of intemperance. By these means, instead of being in a thriving condition, they were diminishing in numbers, and deteriorating in property and morals.
In this state they were when visited by a young man of the Mohawks, of Upper Canada. This man had been converted in the revival which had taken place among that tribe of Indians, and was now impelled by his thirst for the salvation of others to make known the way of peace and reconciliation to these people. Being able to speak to them of the things of God in their own language, and from his own experience, they received the tidings with penitent and believing hearts, and a work of reformation commenced among them, which eventuated in the conversion of upward of one hundred. A school was also established for the education of the
children, and those adult Indians who were desirous of learning. This good work has steadily gone on to this day, and a number of the converted
Indians have emigrated to Green Bay, who became the nucleus of a flourishing society in that place.
Through the example and teachings of these people, the Onondagas, a neighboring tribe, received the gospel, and twenty-four of them were converted to God and brought into church fellowship.
Several other missions were commenced this year in the new and destitute settlements in our western regions. St. Joseph’s mission embraced a tract of country on the St. Joseph’s river, which flows into Lake Michigan in Berrien county, Michigan. Among these new settlers the missionary found his way, and conveyed to them the glad tidings of salvation, and was instrumental in establishing several societies, which have continued to increase and flourish to this day.
In the frontier settlements of the states of Indiana and Illinois, on the waters of the Fox river, between that river and the lake Winnebago, the Rev. Jesse Walker, one of our old and experienced preachers, was sent as a missionary. Into this new and thinly settled country he penetrated, and succeeded in establishing several societies, and opening the way for the continued preaching of the gospel in that new country.
The country on the head waters of the Wabash was fast filling up with inhabitants from the older states, and therefore greatly needed the gospel.
Hence a mission was commenced this year for the benefit of these people;
and the missionary, the Rev. S. R. Beggs, so far succeeded, that through his and the labors of his successors, in 1831 there were returned one hundred and forty-six Church members.
Galena mission was begun this year. This was in the state of Illinois, on the banks of Fever or Bean river, upward of four hundred miles above St.
Louis. Though Galena has since become a considerable town and a seat of justice, in the midst of the rich lead mines in that region, yet, at the time of which we now speak, it was but thinly settled, and its resources were just beginning to be known and appreciated. Though the people were generally so taken up in their speculating concerns — the mines presenting a
fascinating temptation for obtaining wealth — as to manifest much indifference for religious things, yet a few were brought to the knowledge