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UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
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 00032690696 
 
 This book must not 
 be taken from the 
 Library building. 
 
 Form No. 471 
 
The Cane Ridge 
 Meeting-house 
 
 By 
 
 James R. Rogers 
 
 To which 
 is appended the Autobiography 
 
 of 
 
 B. W. Stone 
 
 And a Sketch 
 
 of 
 
 David Purviance 
 
 By 
 
 William Rogers 
 
 SECOND 
 EDITION 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
Copyright, 1910, 
 
 by 
 James R, Rogers 
 
Table of Contents 
 
 
 Proem . . 7 
 
 Cane Ridge, the Birthplace of a Faith 9 
 
 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 The Cane Ridge Meeting-house — Its Founder . . ... — 13 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 The Building of the Church 31 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 T e Graveyard .. — -- 41 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 Barton W. Stone 51 
 
 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 Birth and early education 113 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 Enters Guilford Academy. — Embraces Christianity among the Presbyterians — 
 Completes his academic course 119 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 Becomes a candidate for the ministry — Studies theology under Mr. Hodge, of 
 North Carolina — Abandons, for a time, his theological studies — Visits Geor- 
 gia — Is appointed professor of languages in a Methodist academy near 
 Washington — Returns to North Carolina — Resumes his theological studies 
 — Is licensed by Orange Presbytery and sent to preach in lower part of the 
 State — Is discouraged — Leaves his field of labor and directs his course west- 
 ward — A variety of incidents on his journey to Nashville . 126 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 Reaches Kentucky and settles in the close of the year 1796 as the preacher of 
 the congregations of Cane Ridge and Concord, Bourbon County — Is appoint- 
 ed by Transylvania Presbytery to visit the South to solicit funds to establish 
 a college in Kentucky-^From Charleston, South Carolina, he visits his 
 mothei? and returns to Kentucky — In the fall of 1798 receives a call (which 
 
PAGE. 
 
 he accepts) from the united congregations of Cane Ridge and Concord — 
 A day is appointed for his ordination — Refuses to receive the Confession of 
 Faith without qualifications — Is nevertheless ordained 143 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 His mind is greatly agitated by Calvinistic speculations— He re-examines the 
 Scriptures and cordially abandons Calvinism — Hears of a great religious 
 excitement in Logan County, Kentucky, in the spring of 1801, and hastens 
 to attend a camp : meeting in that county — Is astonished at the wonderful 
 religious exercises — Multitudes confess the Saviour — Returns from Logan 
 filled with religious zeal — Under his labors similar scenes occur at Cane 
 Ridge and Concord — Greatexcitement" and religious interest pervade the 
 community — Married to Elizabeth Campbell, July, 1801 — Great Cane Ridge 
 meeting — Description of 149 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 An account of the remarkable religious exercises witnessed in the beginning of 
 
 the nineteenth century r _. 159 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 Hemorrhage of the lungs from excessive speaking, etc. — Attends a camp-meet- 
 ing at Paris — Meets with opposition — Frees his slaves — Richard McNemar, 
 John Dunlavy, John Thompson, Robert Marshall and himself concur in 
 religious views — Revival checked by opposition — Partyism rekindled — 
 McNemar tried — Protest against proceedings of Synod in McNemar's case, 
 and withdrawal of Richard McNemar, John . Dunlavy, John Thompson, 
 Robert Marshall and himself from jurisdiction of Synod — They are sus- 
 pended — Form themselves into a separate presbytery, called Springfield 
 Presbytery — Apology published — Abandons Presbyterianism — Surrenders 
 all claim to salary — Last Will and Testament of Springfield Presbytery 168 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 Atonement — Change of views — Baptism; is himself immersed — Fanaticism makes 
 considerable advance— The Shakers come— Some of the preachers and peo- 
 ple led off 178 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 The church has scarcely recovered, from the shock of Shakerism when Marshall 
 and Thompson become disaffected — They endeavor to introduce a human 
 creed — But failing they return to the Presbyterian Church— Their character 
 — B. W. Stone's only son dies, 1809; his wife, in May, 1810 — Her pious 
 character — Breaks up housekeeping — In October, 1811, was married to Celia 
 W. Bowen and removes to Tennessee — Returns to Kentucky — Teaches a 
 high school in Lexington — Studies the Hebrew language — Appointed 
 principal of the Rittenhouse Academy in Georgetown — Preaches in George- 
 town, where he founded a church with a numerous congregation — Is per- 
 suaded to resign his station in the academy, and devote his whole time to 
 preaching — Teaches a private school in Georgetown — Goes to Meigs Coun- 
 ty, Ohio, where a Baptist association agrees to assume the name Christian — 
 Remarkable dream — Travels in Ohio, preaching to multitudes and baptizing 
 many 188 
 
 Chapter X. 
 
 A. Campbell appears — Visits Kentucky — His character and views — In 1826 
 Elder Stone commences the publication of the Christian Messenger — In 
 1832 John T. Johnson becomes associated with Elder Stone as co-editor of 
 the Messenger — Continues in that connection till B. \V. Stone removes to 
 Illinois — They succeed in uniting the churches in Kentucky, whose mem- 
 bers had invidiously been called "Stonettes" ami "Canipbclhtes" — In 1834 
 B. W. Stone removes to Jacksonville, Illinois— Effects a union there be- 
 tween those called Christians and Reformers 200 
 
 Sketch of David Purviance by William Rogers ■ 207 
 
PROEM 
 
 "Here is a region rare and radiant. Hunt all merry 
 England for vales of peace; search all New England for 
 valleys of plenty, and there will not come to your finding 
 such reaches of beauteous landscape. Gently descending 
 from the Cumberland plateau, which forms the western 
 flank of the Kentucky mountain region, are numberless 
 winsome hills and entrancing valleys. In the heart of all 
 this wondrous garden is the 'bluegrass' country. On its 
 breast, like a noble rose or a lustrous jewel, rests the 
 royal county of Bourbon. 
 
 "Its soil, like that of the far valley of Guines, is 
 exhaustless in opulence. The forests are mighty senti- 
 nels of peace. Its pasturage is the envy of a continent. 
 Its streams are as ribbons of silver flashing from velvet 
 of green. Its sinuous highways are poems in thorough- 
 fares. Its fountains and streams, unkempt by man, leap 
 murmurously from a myriad rocks and roadside coverts. 
 Its fine stone walls and rail fences are idyls to pastoral 
 toil. All its seasons round are Arcadian. Here the 
 spring is an ecstasy of bud and bloom and song. Sum- 
 mers are nature's psalms of God. The autumn is splen- 
 did in its housings of the fruited world. Its very winters 
 are balm. Its mansions have that largeness and ampli- 
 tude which gladden the heart. They possess that age 
 which engenders and hallows honest home pride and 
 love. The firesides are inglenooks of largeness and con- 
 tent. The women of these homes are American types, 
 
8 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 most glorious in physical perfection and winsome in 
 gracious courtliness. The men of these homes are noble 
 of frame, strong of arm, brave of heart and lofty of soul. 
 Who enters here leaves care behind. Who remains is 
 rested and healed. Who comes and tarries and goes has 
 mended his pace and carried back into his workaday 
 world a better content and a safer calm." 
 
CANE RIDGE, THE BIRTHPLACE OF A FAITH 
 
 The story of a birthplace of a faith had its conception 
 and realization here at Cane Ridge. The mutations of 
 time have emphasized their sad effects upon the fortunes 
 of her congregations. Her worthy offspring on all sides 
 of the parental roof have so absorbed her territory and 
 restricted her membership that, bowing her hoary head 
 in submission to the inevitable, she bestows a mother's 
 blessing upon their increasing numbers in their chosen 
 fields of Christian endeavor. Fashioned by pioneers on 
 heroic lines, with proud resignation she calmly awaits 
 her inevitable fate. 
 
The Cane Ridge Meeting-house 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Cane Ridge Meeting-house — Its Founder. 
 
 The eventful history of Cane Ridge Meeting-house 
 necessarily involves a sketch of the founder, Robert W. 
 Finley, and a reference to the authority by right of dis- 
 covery of him who bestowed upon the region adjacent 
 the baptismal appellation of the Cane Ridge. It was the 
 favorite hunting-ground of Kentucky's great pioneer, her 
 first soldier and citizen, Daniel Boone, a native, as was 
 Finley, of Bucks County, Pa., a man whose inflexible 
 will and undaunted courage first secured a foothold, 
 maintaining it against every assault of a savage foe 
 until statehood crowned his patriotic effort with the suc- 
 cess his hardihood and valor had achieved. 1 A band of 
 Boone's former neighbors from the valley of the Yatkin, 
 North Carolina, seeking homes, sought Boone, inquiring 
 "where the best farming lands were to be found." "On 
 the Cane Ridge ; the most game is there, the biggest 
 sugar-trees and the best corn grow there. I think it the 
 best farming lands. I gave it the name." It may prove 
 of interest to note the confirmation of Boone's judgment 
 of soils, based on the growth of sugar-trees and corn, by 
 reciting that Dr. Robert Peter, State geologist, in his 
 analysis of soils from the counties of Kentucky, found 
 
 1 Manuscript of Peter Houston, one of the number. 
 
i 4 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 the richest to be from Cane Ridge, Bourbon County. 
 
 Robert W. Finley, 1 the founder of Cane Ridge 
 Church, was born in Bucks County, Pa., of most re- 
 spectable parentage; his mother especially was highly 
 educated, well versed in the languages, a lady of ac- 
 complishments and devoted to the Colonial cause. Re- 
 ceiving the best preparation the locality afforded, he was 
 entered at Princeton College, New Jersey, then presided 
 over by that accomplished scholar and distinguished 
 patriot, Dr. Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of 
 Independence. After a regular course he was graduated 
 and studied for the ministry, at irregular intervals teach- 
 ing the languages. In due season he was licensed by his 
 presbytery to preach. There being a great demand for 
 ministers in the Carolinas and Georgia, he volunteered 
 his services in those remote fields so sorely tried by the 
 revengeful fires of civil strife, which burned with a 
 savage intensity nowhere equaled among the colonies. 
 Located in North Carolina in 1777, he began his mis- 
 sionary duties, establishing and restoring churches and 
 preaching the gospel to the sore and needy, meeting with 
 great success, when his mission of mercy and peace was 
 abruptly ended by the disastrous defeat of the patriot 
 army of General Gates at Camden by the English under 
 Cornwallis in 1780. 2 This overwhelming victory resulted 
 in the establishment of fortified posts throughout Georgia 
 and South Carolina at all available strategic points, for 
 the purpose of overawing and subjugating the people. 
 It was a direct appeal to the heart of every patriot to 
 strike for his cause and kindred, and Finley was so im- 
 pressed with the splendid fervor of his mother's patriotic 
 spirit impelling him to action, that he threw aside his 
 
 1 James B. Finley, a son. 
 
 2 Bancroft. 
 
ITS FOUNDER 17 
 
 priestly robes, shouldered his rifle and identified himself 
 with his country's cause. 
 
 1 It had been suggested to the accidental hero of Sara- 
 toga, by a comrade on hearing of Gates' appointment by 
 Congress to command the army in the Southern depart- 
 ment, "Take care that your laurel crown at Saratoga 
 turns not to Southern willows in your operations South." 
 Prophetic words truly ! Washington appointed Nathaniel 
 Greene his successor. With this splendid leadership, 
 aided by the genius of Morgan, Lee and others, the out- 
 posts of the enemy were subdued or turned, the territory 
 reclaimed, Cornwallis beleaguered by land and sea at 
 Yorktown, the sun of liberty arose upon a struggling 
 people and forever decreed an impregnable fastness upon 
 America's shores. 2 Finley meeting Col. Daniel Boone, 
 whom he had known before, both being natives of the 
 same county in Pennsylvania, on one of his return trips 
 to his old home from Kentucky, hearing a glowing 
 account of the fertility of its lands, having laid aside the 
 equipment of war with the emergency which brought it 
 forth, resumed his former ministerial paths, which had 
 been so ruthlessly encumbered "by grim-visaged war." 
 He organized a small party of his neighbors, including 
 two of his brothers, penetrating the wilds of an unbroken 
 forest to see for himself this abounding land, in the 
 season of 1784. 3 He saw a country marvelously rich, 
 teeming with an unlimited growth of splendid timber of 
 every known variety, watered by innumerable springs 
 and streams, with all descriptions of game common to 
 the latitude, that he beheld with wonder and satisfac- 
 tion, the ideal of the pioneer and settler, the hunter and 
 trapper. He returned to his home enthusiastic over the 
 
 1 "Memoirs of Revolution," Col. Henry Lee. 
 
 2 s James B. Finley. 
 
18 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 prospects of an immediate removal to the brakes of Ken- 
 tucky, where he had seen a growth of cane of great area, 
 green and succulent the entire year, affording the richest 
 pasturage for stock in the winter months, and, when 
 removed from the surface which it cumbered, exposing a 
 soil for opulence and productiveness not surpassed. His 
 eagerness to become a settler in this paradise for the 
 hunter and farmer was restrained by the seniors of his 
 family, who were unwilling to undergo the hardship 
 incident to a frontier settlement. The father, mother 
 (Bradley by name), three of her brothers, who fell in 
 the struggle, and the immediate family had located with 
 the minister in North Carolina. By way of compromise 
 the family removed to Virginia, locating between the 
 waters of the north and south branches of the Potomac 
 River. Here he had charge of two churches. Xot con- 
 tent with his surroundings, still yearning for pastures 
 new, his restless spirit prompted a change of abode 
 across the Allegheny Range in the Redstone section, on 
 the waters of George's Creek, tributary to the Ohio 
 River. Here he had charge of a church for two years, 
 in which field he labored with success and satisfaction to 
 his congregation. The salutary effects of the last removal 
 were brief. Visions. of the rich soil of the canebrakers 
 westward, now that he was upon the waters that flowed 
 in an unbroken current, defining the northern boundary 
 of that Eldorado, with its abounding game and rich pas- 
 turage, constantly glimmered before his eye. 
 
 The wonderfully attractive features of that far-off 
 land proved irresistible to his wandering spirit, and so it 
 was, in the fall of 1788, 1 following the path blazed by the 
 genius of an enterprise which for audacity and hardi- 
 
 Engiish, "Conquest of Northwest. 
 
w 
 
 §1 
 
 td on 
 W O 
 
 - 
 
 * » 
 
ITS FOUNDER 21 
 
 hood has no parallel in the history of the continent, in 
 conception the most brilliant, in execution the most 
 heroic and in material results the most momentous, easily 
 entitling its hero to the distinction of the chief "Winner 
 of the West." 
 
 The political effects, so far-reaching- and comprehen- 
 sive, of the conquest of the Northwest by George Rogers 
 Clark, now absorbed by the States of Ohio, Indiana, 
 Illinois, Michigan and the eastern part of Wisconsin, 
 rendered the free navigation of the Mississippi River a 
 necessity, and became the ultimate cause of the Louisiana 
 Purchase, which extended the boundaries of the Union to 
 the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 The colonists arriving at the mouth of George's Creek, 1 
 devout men and women assembled to bid the hardy emi- 
 grants farewell and bon voyage to the wilds of their new 
 home, which they were assured abounded with many fea- 
 tures attractive and desirable to the pioneer heart. After 
 songs and exhortation, all fell upon their knees in prayer 
 and supplication for aid and protection from the dangers 
 of the river as well as the greater one arising from the 
 concealed savage, implacable foe upon its shores. This 
 little flotilla of three boats floats bravely into the current 
 of the Ohio, freighted with humanity of both sexes and 
 the extremes of age, proudly facing the west and the 
 future and bidding adieu forever to the comforts and 
 civilization of the East. They arrived without mishap at 
 Limestone (now Maysville), Ky., and went into winter 
 quarters at Washington, a few miles away. In the fol- 
 lowing spring, 1789, Finley bought lands near Stocktons 
 Station, near the present site of Flemingsburg. He and 
 his family were not content with their surroundings ; they 
 
 James B. Finley. 
 
22 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 had not penetrated the canebrake section, which fate had 
 reserved for their next removal, and which event occurred 
 in the spring of 1790, 1 and the location of the settlement 
 was called the Cane Ridge of Bourbon County, eight 
 miles distant from the county-seat, Paris. 
 
 The cardinal needs of man — "home, occupation and a 
 faith," as some philosopher has said — were fully illus- 
 trated by our colonists, the first settlers. Comfortable log 
 cabins were reared, the cane was cut and corn planted in 
 time to mature that season. The year following, 1791, 2 
 the meeting-house at Cane Ridge and its most potent ally, 
 the log-cabin seminary, were built. The settlers' trinity 
 of wants were early demonstrated. The gentle reader of 
 to-day may be inclined to assert that corn is not a com- 
 plete ration, sufficient for subsistence. The suggestion 
 is tendered that the canebrake occupied by the settlers, 
 from eight to ten feet in height, was an unbroken stretch 
 to Little Mountain, the present site of Mt. Sterling, fifteen 
 miles in an air line and perhaps half as wide ; that it was 
 the favorite lair of every known variety of game, from 
 the common gray squirrel to the buffalo, and that the 
 water-courses abounded with fish. But for these provi- 
 sions by Divine Providence, settlements in the West would 
 have been delayed indefinitely. About one-half of the 
 earliest settlers of this locality were from North Carolina, 3 
 and the reason is apparent : John Finley, Kentucky's first 
 pioneer, coming here in 1767, 4 returning to North Caro- 
 lina in 1769, conducting Daniel Boone and party back at 
 the close of that year, and the repeated communications 
 between the sections later, the fertility of the soil, the 
 canebrakes green throughout the year, but greenest in 
 winter, its rich pasturage, the favorite feeding-ground 
 
 'James P>. Finley. 8 A. Mitchell. 
 
 2 James B. Finley. 'Collins' "History of Kentucky." 
 
ITS FOUNDER 23 
 
 and lair of every known variety of game, its numerous 
 springs and streams, the variety of timber, soil and 
 scenery, were well calculated to favorably impress those 
 seeking homes in the West. 1 They came with the prestige 
 of that splendid citizenship which, when the mother coun- 
 try had become oppressive and tyrannical in her govern- 
 ment, arose and became in history, before the first note of 
 the bugles of 1776 had sounded, the first people to make 
 a declaration of independence and to fight the first battle 
 in its support. All honor to North Carolina, to-day the 
 purest Anglo-Saxon population within the realm of the 
 starry banner. 2 The majority of the Carolina colonists 
 were Presbyterian, 3 and it was a most happy conjunction 
 on entering the territory by way of Cumberland Gap that 
 they should become joint settlers of the Cane Ridge with 
 Finley and his band, who had removed from North Caro- 
 lina to Virginia and came by the Ohio River route. He* 
 soon organized two congregations, one at Cane Ridge, the 
 other at Concord, adjacent in the order mentioned, and 
 about six miles apart. The site of the latter and its 
 graveyard are still to be seen. Its building is gone, but 
 the congregation yet lives in strength and influence and 
 was transferred at an early day to Carlisle, Nicholas 
 County. Finley preached acceptably to this people, with 
 many additions, and had sole charge of their pulpits until 
 his removal from the State. The tide of immigration 
 from the States of Virginia and North Carolina flowed 
 without interruption. The type was superior in hardi- 
 hood, intelligence and morality. They sought homes, 
 churches and schools ; here they found them ; the waste 
 places were being filled ; the population was increasing by 
 leaps and bounds ; the resounding echoes of the pioneer's 
 
 1 "History of North Carolina." 3 Alexander Mitchell. 
 
 2 1900 U. S. Census 4 James B. Finley. 
 
24 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 busy ax made entrancing *nusic day by day ; the crash of 
 the falling monsters of the forest reverberating' from hill 
 to valley were significant of home, happiness and posses- 
 sion. Some of these actors had been heroes in battle's 
 strife and had "snuffed treason in the tainted gale" with 
 spirit undaunted. A storm was brewing ; courage and 
 fortitude were alike impotent to resist its ravages. 1 The 
 Henderson Land Company had purchased the lands of 
 the Cherokee Indians, which comprised all of the lands 
 within the present boundary of the State of Kentucky 
 east of Green River, and the most of the titles to lands in 
 this section came from the Henderson Company. The Vir- 
 ginia Legislature refused to ratify the purchase. The set- 
 tlers, who claimed a tract of land by virtue of the transfer 
 from Henderson, had no title. Then, again, the system 
 of the early surveys, or rather the want of it, became, in 
 effect, as fradulent as the Henderson Company. 2 From 
 the time of the first settlement in Kentucky to her admis- 
 sion in the Union in 1792, the one limited professional 
 most in demand was the land surveyor ; even the services 
 of George Washington had been commanded by Lord 
 Fairfax in northeastern Kentucky as early as 1770. The 
 average pioneer surveyor, in his new field of endeavor, 
 met many unusual obstacles which impaired the accuracy 
 of his surveys. This was a very heavily timbered section 
 and stakes at a distance not readily seen, and the starting- 
 point of a survey, the vital point, was usually a hickory, 
 buckeye or oak tree, or else a green stake driven in the 
 mellow soil. The field notes soon found their way to 
 Williamburg and the Land Office issued a patent. Later 
 would appear a new surveyor with no available means of 
 identifying the starting-point of any previous work. 
 
 Collins' "History of Kentucky." 
 "Life of Washington." 
 
ITS FOUNDER 25 
 
 There were forests of hickory, buckeye and oak trees ; to 
 the novice they were all alike, so the later surveyor would 
 often cover former lines of work and upon this the office 
 would issue a patent. The inevitable result was litigation. 1 
 The dockets of the courts were filled with contested land 
 suits for fifty years, and the lawyers reaped a wonderfully 
 rich harvest. 
 
 Finley, with many members of both his flocks, had 
 become owner of more or less land. Owing to defect of 
 transfers, as described, in order to quiet their titles they 
 had been compelled to pay the original purchase price 
 twice, and even thrice. 2 They determined on another 
 removal. The purport of the following copy of the origi- 
 nal letter is self-explanatory: 
 
 Bourdon County, Ky., Dec. 12, 1794. 
 
 Sir: — After compliments to you I take the liberty of address- 
 ing you for information. I understand you have a large body of 
 land on the Scioto and Paint Creeks for sale. I would be pleased 
 to know its qualities and what advantages two large societies 
 could have. A number have thought of purchasing fifteen or 
 twenty miles square for the settlement of two congregations, and 
 I have been informed that you could supply us. Sir, I request 
 the favor of you by Mr. Rogers, the bearer, to furnish me with 
 the situation, quantity and quality you could sell and what would 
 be your price per hundred acres, and what your terms of pay- 
 ment by taking such a quantity of land as would be sufficient to 
 settle two congregations, or, say, three hundred families. But it 
 is probable the present circumstances would require some time to 
 make a settlement with prudence. You will please let me know 
 what time this winter it would suit your convenience to go with 
 us and show these lands. A number of us would love to see the 
 advantages the country will afford for such a settlement. Your 
 compliance will much oblige your humble servant, 
 
 To Gen. Nathan Massie. Robert W. Finley. 
 
 The following spring was agreed upon between the 
 
 1 Collins' "History of Kentucky." 2 Rev. James B. Finley. 
 
26 THE CAKE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 principals for an inspection of the lands. The purchase 
 was made. Finley, with great foresight, suggests in his 
 letter "that the condition of the country would probably 
 require time to make a settlement with prudence." These 
 proved prophetic words. The prospectors and General 
 Massie, whilst on a tour of inspection of the lands in 
 question, actually had an engagement with the Indians, 
 sustaining some loss, but held the field. The removal was 
 accomplished to Kentucky's sorrow the spring of 1806. 
 Such were the deplorable results arising from the want 
 of proper legislation by the Virginia Assembly. 
 
 The removal of Finley to a point near Chillicothe, Ohio, 
 and the large contingent from his two congregations, 
 which he estimates in his letter to General Massie at three 
 hundred families, was indeed disastrous to the first settle- 
 ments on the Cane Ridge. Those vacant places, however, 
 were soon filled by large drafts of exactly similar types 
 of people from North Carolina and the mother State, 
 Virginia, and among them was quite an element of the 
 Revolutionary heroes. From this desirable class of popu- 
 lation a further draft to populate Ohio was made in 1807, 
 with David Purviance, a minister, at their head, as in the 
 former instance, who was one of the ablest men ever 
 removing from Kentucky, settling in Preble County, 
 Ohio. Their location was named New Paris after their 
 former county-seat, Paris, Ky. Purviance had been a 
 member of the Legislature from 1797 to 1803, represent- 
 ing this county. 
 
 THE LOG CABIN SEMINARY. 
 
 The Log Cabin Seminary, founded by Finley contem- 
 poraneously with the church, was situated due east from 
 the latter, about one-quarter of a mile from the church, 
 near a fine spring, which to-day is known as " Finley 
 
ITS FOUNDER 27 
 
 Spring." ] Here he opened a school where were taught 
 the languages and higher branches of an English educa- 
 tion, and was the first of its class in the State. Many 
 students came from a distance, and brief as was its exist- 
 ence, only about five years, yet there was educated here a 
 number of men of the learned professions, who after- 
 wards attained prominence and distinction in their several 
 professions. In the pulpit were the Howes, Robersons, 
 McNemar, Dunlevy, Welch, Steele and John Thompson, 
 all of the Presbyterian, and James and John Finley, of the 
 Methodist Church. 2 Thompson and Dunlevy had come 
 with Finley to Kentucky from Virginia, and the former 
 was the peer in eloquence and ability of any minister of 
 the West in his day. James Finley was a man of schol- 
 arly attainment, a master of his vernacular and wielded a 
 pen of pure Anglo-Saxon, whilst his brother John was 
 professor of the languages. 3 He was president of Au- 
 gusta College at the time of his death. 
 
 In the medical department were Edministon, Mitchell 
 and Henderson, 4 all prominent. In that of law were 
 Robert Trimble, Benjamin Mills and Robert Irwin, all 
 practicing at one time at the Paris bar ; Stockton, Lanier, 
 Flannikin and others. 
 
 The seminary is entitled to the distinction of having 
 two of her graduates, Trimble and Mills, honoring seats 
 on the bench of the court of highest resort, the Kentucky 
 Court of Appeals ; and Judge Trimble was further hon- 
 ored by becoming associated with Judges John Marshall 
 and Storey, of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 This brief outline is all that is known of the unchar- 
 tered seminary in the canebrake of Cane Ridge. Robert 
 W. Finley's character and accomplishments reflect most 
 
 1 2 3 James B. Finley. 
 4 Alexander Mitchell. 
 
28 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 creditably upon his pupils, and they were no discredit in 
 their aiter lives to their teacher. The building was de- 
 stroyed by lightning some years after, but fragments of 
 its foundation are yet to be seen. Its occupancy as a 
 school was only in the days of its architect, and its living 
 monument a few paces off is the spring — Finley's spring. 
 
.^ ]}. 
 
 
THE BU1LDIXG OF TILE CHURCH 31 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Building of the Church. 
 
 Cane Ridge literally is the watershed between the 
 two considerable streams of Stoner and Hinkston, which 
 at their conjunction, some fifteen miles from the church, 
 form South Licking River. Stoner Creek was named 
 after Michael Stoner, a courageous Indian fighter, asso- 
 ciated with Boone in many of his thrilling adventures. 
 The church is about equidistant from the two streams, 
 and its venerable roof is typical of its site, shedding its 
 waters on the north to Hinkston and on the south to 
 Stoner Creek. The watershed or ridge is so gentle in its 
 elevation that one would never suspect that the base of 
 the church is one hundred and fifty feet ' higher than the 
 tallest steeple at Paris, the county-seat, seven miles dis- 
 tan;. An account of the building of the structure, left in 
 manuscript by an itinerant minister 2 who lent his aid, 
 mentions that after suitable timber had been selected, 
 cut, hewn and notched where it fell, owing to the exces- 
 sive growth of cane, from eight to ten feet in height, and 
 to its density, in order to find the location for the build- 
 ing it was necessary for men to climb trees to direct the 
 prepared material to the proper place. Its dimensions 
 are fifty by forty feet, the ceiling fifteen feet in height; 
 the pulpit occupied the center of the north side, boxed 
 up, with entrance at the side reached by several steps, 
 and its elevation was so considerable that the speaker 
 literally looked down upon his audience. The main 
 
 1 Triangulation calculation by engineer in survey for turnpike. 
 
 2 MS. of Peter Houston, as quoted by his grandson, F. P. Houston. 
 
32 THE CANE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 entrance was from the west ; an aisle ran through the 
 center the full length of the building. An unusual fea- 
 ture in this structure of the olden time is that there is not 
 a log in its side walls exceeding twenty feet in length. 
 This was made practicable by using a short log attached 
 to the main one of twenty feet, and at a right angle with 
 it, of six feet in length ; then another of ten feet at same 
 angle; one of six feet back to the original line; then 
 another of twenty feet, and you have the side wall. 
 Years after its dedication and use as a house of worship 
 the pen, or offset, in the south side, duplicate of the one 
 opposite in which the pulpit was located, was permanently 
 closed. My grandfather, William Rogers, of blessed 
 memory, whose honored remains are near by, left among 
 his records this outline : 
 
 As I first remember this venerable building in 1798 there 
 was no chinking between the logs, no glass in the windows (but 
 what need of windows for light or air?), the floors and seats 
 were of puncheons smoothed with broadax, no chimneys, no fire- 
 places, the roof and pulpit being of clapboards ; and yet large 
 congregations of brave men and pious women, comely maidens 
 and gallant young men, lads and lassies, and infants in their 
 mothers' arms, greeted Elder Stone those quiet Sabbath morn- 
 ings. 
 
 Three immense girders, sixteen inches square, hewn 
 with broadax, sixteen feet apart, tie the walls of the 
 building at the ceiling ; and its alignment at the height 
 of the square one hundred and fifteen years after its 
 erection has no apparent variation from the original 
 lines. The storms of more than a century have been 
 more successful, however, in their assaults upon her base, 
 which time discloses as the weakest part of her intrench- 
 ment, and her floor of the olden time has become slightly 
 undulating. The sheathing was sawed with a whipsaw, 
 one inch by four, thickness and width, to which was 
 
THE BUILDING OF THE CHURCH 
 
 :^ 
 
 attached the roof of clapboards, held in place by wooden 
 pins. The most highly prized relic of the church, in 
 possession of the writer, is a fragment of the original 
 sheathing of blue ash with square walnut pins, which 
 were driven to their places in 1791, broken off on the 
 upper side where the original board was held in place, 
 but extending through three inches. This rare specimen 
 of roof architecture of pioneer times also shows the next 
 evolution in roof structure — -nails of iron, wrought by 
 the cunning hand of the neighborhood smith. 
 
 It also had a gallery, and the only means of entrance 
 was from without by means of an ordinary ladder. The 
 most material improvement ever made on the original 
 structure of hewn logs and split boards of its ancient 
 roof, since fashioned in its unique way by the hardy 
 hands of Finley and his pioneer associates, had its incep- 
 tion in an appeal from a committee of the church to its 
 friends to render aid in making it more comfortable. The 
 following* copy of the original instrument, with the re- 
 spondents' names affixed, was found among the papers 
 left by Elder William Rogers, who was an officer of the 
 church for fifty years : 
 
 We, whose names are hereto subscribed, agree and oblige 
 ourselves to pay the sum of money to our names severally an- 
 nexed, to Ephraim Herriott, Joshua Irvin and William Rogers, 
 for the purpose of paying for a lot of ground embracing Cane 
 Ridge Meeting-house and the burial-ground thereat, and also for 
 the purpose of repairing said house so as to make it comfortable 
 for a house of worship for the cold as well as the warm season 
 of the year. Said house and lot to be conveyed to the Christian 
 and Presbyterian Churches, but free for other societies to wor- 
 ship in when not occupied by these churches. 
 
 Feb. 12, 1829. 
 
 William Rogers. James M. Cogswell. Robt. Scott. 
 
 Nathaniel P. Rogers. James Hutchcraft. Chas. Wasson. 
 
34 
 
 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 Jesse Bowles. 
 Hugh Bowles. 
 Holman Bowles. 
 Chas. B. Colcord. 
 Zacharia Eastin. 
 Ephraim Herriott. 
 James Houston. 
 William Henderson. 
 John Irvin. 
 David Jameson. 
 Robert Luckie. 
 Hamilton Wilson. 
 Nimrod L. Lindsay. 
 Jesse Shumate. 
 B. W. S. Graves. 
 Henry Lander. 
 Greenberry Howard 
 Levi Houston. 
 Chas. Skillman. 
 Caleb Wilson. 
 H. J. Eastin. 
 Robert Bowles. 
 Thomas T. Dobins. 
 W. Kennedy. 
 E. M. Dodge. 
 Wesley Jameson. 
 Andrew Wallace. 
 Lewis Campbell. 
 Chas. Campbell. 
 James Campbell. 
 George Parker. 
 
 Jeremia Stark. 
 Alexander Donovan. 
 W. S. Wagers. 
 John Grant. 
 Daniel F. Stark. 
 Lewis Grin stead. 
 William Skillman. 
 H. T. Gorham. 
 John Desha. 
 Chas. T. Thornton. 
 James Hibler. 
 Sarah Hopkins. 
 Mary Luckie. 
 Thomas Bell. 
 W. T. Allen. 
 John Graves. 
 Hugh Campbell. 
 Walker Buckner. 
 Chas. Lander. 
 Robert Luckie. 
 John Spencer. 
 Thos. C. Bledsoe. 
 Thos. M. Parrish. 
 Joel Carrington. 
 James Simms. 
 John Brest. Sr. 
 Aimer S. Hibler. 
 Rachel Malcolm. 
 Joseph Trotter. 
 Hugh Roseberry. 
 
 William Scott. 
 John L. Hickman. 
 Nathan Bayless. 
 Thos. D. Reed. 
 John Hildreth. 
 Fielder Letton. 
 Henry Wilson 
 Jas. M. Jameson. 
 Hiram M. Bledsoe. 
 W. G. Skillman. 
 John Barnett. 
 Peter Banta. 
 Hugh Brent. 
 Patrick Scott. 
 D. O. Tully. 
 V. G. Moss. 
 John Parker. 
 John Wilson. 
 William Wilson. 
 Joseph Wilson. 
 Daniel Ammerman. 
 Caleb Hall. 
 Samuel Layson. 
 Turner Xeal. 
 W. P. Green. 
 John Morris. 
 Burton Richards. 
 James Rogers. 
 Thomas Rogers. 
 Sam Wasson. 
 Jas. M. Dickey. 
 
 Daniel Ruark. 
 
 But few of these names were associated with the first 
 congregation which was organized by Finley ; of that 
 number appears the name of James Houston, who was 
 clerk of the church, the first in its history. The remain- 
 ing signatures were of a later generation. This benevo- 
 lent enterprise resulted most favorably in the accomplish- 
 ment of the purpose sought. A deed was recorded to a 
 lot of three acres, including the building and graveyard 
 

 MRS. MARY LINDSAY ROGERS, 
 
 President Ladies' Aid Society, under whose auspices the church was 
 
 *>ut in thorough condition in 1882. 
 
THE BUILDING OF THE CHURCH 37 
 
 adjacent. The house was weatherboarded, the walls 
 within were lathed and plastered, and a ceiling placed 
 above ; tongue and grooved and dressed blue-ash floor- 
 ing was substituted for the puncheons beneath, and the 
 seats, of similar material, without supports to the back, 
 hewn with broadax, were laid aside and the more modern 
 device of dressed lumber for benches with ample sup- 
 ports, both in rear and in front, took their place. The 
 modern innovation of ceiling overhead rendered the 
 removal of the gallery a necessity, and that massive work 
 of the pioneer fathers was ruthlessly torn from its fas- 
 tenings and consigned to the less consecrated purpose of 
 composing a portion of the structure of a stock barn near 
 by. The chandeliers were most impressive in simplicity 
 and utility. As I have never seen their counterpart, I 
 will try to describe them. The pair of chandeliers, which 
 lighted the church at night, were models of uniqueness 
 in their simplicity and evidently the conception of local 
 talent. The base or central feature of the design was of 
 wood, oval in shape, painted white, about ten inches in 
 diameter, finished with a well-rounded knob to facilitate 
 raising and lowering. They were attached to a cord run- 
 ning through the ceiling over pulleys and about twenty 
 feet apart. A piece of wire the size of a lead pencil, bent 
 in the shape of the letter S inverted, was attached to the 
 base and three feet in length, which supported a small 
 tin pan with corrugated edges. In its center was an open 
 cup to receive a tallow candle, the second evolution from 
 a burning torch. A succession of these lights completed 
 the chandelier, and such was the mode by which the 
 audience-chamber of Cane Ridge Meeting-house was 
 lighted seventy-five years ago. The main entrance of 
 the church has been from the west, only two doors in 
 the building — east and west— and the main aisle extends 
 
3 8 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETRXG-HOl'SE 
 
 through the center from door to door. The pulpit occu- 
 pied the northern alcove or offset, as before described. It 
 was eight feet in width and six in height, boxed up with 
 t< >ngue and grooved plank, with entrance at the side by 
 means of several steps. Immediately in front was an 
 open square with the communion table near the center. 
 The officers of the church and the senior sisters, seated 
 in high-back, antique chairs arranged irregularly about 
 it. Their former owners and occupants have long since 
 crossed over the river, and these mute mementoes yet 
 remain as a priceless legacy of the exalted character and 
 Christian worth of their former owners. 
 
 During the year 1882, the spirit of conforming to 
 modern tastes in ornamentation and architecture seized 
 the members of the church, which resulted in other 
 radical changes in the interior of the building; more 
 comfortable seats were provided and the entire interior 
 repapered and tastefully decorated. The eastern entrance 
 was permanently closed, and the pulpit, so replete with 
 its unfading memories of the past, was transferred to the 
 east. The spirit of change had so wonderfully affected 
 us all that it was determined that those brilliant, spec- 
 tacular chandeliers, faithful monitors had they been for 
 half a century, must also give way to modern tastes, and 
 they are gone. 
 
 The original structure is not impaired. Its ancient 
 ridgepole remains where it was placed in 1791. The 
 graveyard, with its sainted dead of hallowed memory, is 
 yet intact, and that memorable era in her history inflex- 
 ibly written — June 28, 1804. Here is the birthplace of a 
 faith. 
 
THE GRAVEYARD 41 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Graveyard. 
 
 The graveyard, east of the building-, comprising an 
 acre of ground, overgrown with forest trees, is filled 
 with the remains of the pioneers of the settlement and 
 of the church. On the occasion of Stone's last visit to 
 the congregation, on preaching his farewell discourse in 
 August, 1843, ne expressed the wish to be buried in the 
 midst of friends who had so constantly and heroically 
 upheld him in the early days of contention and desertion 
 which had characterized the formative period of the 
 church. In accordance with his wish, soon after his 
 death, at Hannibal, Mo., in Xovember, 1844, his remains 
 were brought by the church and interred within her 
 shadows, forever consecrated to his name. A marble 
 shaft, bearing this inscription, marks the spot: 
 
 The church of Christ at Cane Ridge and other generous 
 friends in Kentucky have caused this monument to be erected 
 as a tribute of affection and gratitude to 
 
 BARTOX W. STONE, 
 
 Minister of the gospel of Christ and the distinguished reformer 
 of the nineteenth century. 
 
 Born Dec. 24, 1772. 
 
 Died Nov. 9, 1844. 
 
 His remains lie here. 
 
 This monument erected in 1847. 
 
 During the life of William Rogers, who died in 1862, 
 an application was made to me for a copy of the above 
 inscription. Assuming there was some question of its 
 correctness, I sought information from him, which pro- 
 voked this response : "I am the author and I wrote it 
 
42 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 advisedly. Before its inscription I mailed a copy to the 
 address of every minister of the church of prominence 
 in the West, which I could secure, with instruction to 
 amend, substitute or criticize. It met the approval of 
 every one without exception." "What is written, is 
 written." 
 
 Overshadowing its summit towers a lofty pine, 
 planted by the hand of his loving pupil, Elder John 
 Allen Gano, the most successful evangelist of his day, 
 possessing the most charming delivery of any speaker I 
 have ever heard from the pulpit. Adjacent a massive 
 stone shows where linger the remains of one of the first 
 settlers, James Houston, and the first clerk of the church 
 under the ministry of Robert W. Finley; dying at an 
 advanced age, he was the only member of that congrega- 
 tion whom I ever knew — the possessor of a gracious and 
 impressive personality, of imposing height and military 
 bearing, he was my conception of a representative 
 pioneer. 
 
 Within the shadow of the pine planted by the pious 
 Gano lie father and son, Nathaniel and William Rogers, 
 the former the first subject to demand baptism at the 
 hand of Stone in 1803, whilst laboring under the com- 
 mission of the presbytery with a proviso, the staunch 
 supporter of his minister as he had been of his country's 
 cause, and member of the convention which framed the 
 constitution of Kentucky in 1799. The son, William 
 Rogers, was one of the first male subjects to receive the 
 rite at the first baptism of the Christian Church in 1807, 
 became its first clerk of that date, alternating his official 
 stations of clerk or elder for more than fifty years, and 
 the author of the inscription on the Stone monument. 
 
 Near by is his associate. Elder I Iamilton Wilson, from 
 whom he said he had learned the lesson of his life — "to 
 
THE GRAVEYARD 45 
 
 never speak ill of any one." Within this hallowed circle 
 repose all that is mortal of Charles Spencer, a negro, a 
 Christian without hypocrisy, of the most venerable aspect, 
 respected by all his contemporaries. "Uncle Charles," as 
 every one addressed him, was ever in his accustomed 
 seat ; variations of temperature seemed to impel rather 
 than to retard his devotion to duty of being present at 
 every service of the church. His venerable head, guilt- 
 less of hair, with turban covering, and his manner of 
 joining in the songs of praise, was one of the distinctive 
 features of the congregation of his day. He was one of 
 Stone's first converts. Devoted to music, he could sound 
 but one note, and that of the highest key, and in every 
 song that note was sounded most thrillingly, electrifying 
 those unaccustomed to the unearthly shriek, and during 
 the balance of the song his body would sway to and fro 
 like the rhythmic swinging of a great pendulum. The 
 appalling effect upon the children of the audience was 
 something overwhelming. Uncle Charles and his man- 
 ner of singing embodies all of my first recollection of 
 the church. 
 
 Other tombs and headstones about the grounds, over- 
 grown with moss and "time's effacing fingers" obscuring 
 their inscriptions, mark the final resting-place of many 
 who so heroically stood by Stone when the shafts of 
 ridicule and denunciation were hurled from the pulpits 
 of all the churches against the head of the infant church 
 and its following. Of them are the Luckies, Wassons, 
 Wilsons, Jameson and the Campbells. 
 
 The remains of Henry Wilson, one of the early 
 pioneers, fill an unmarked, unknown grave, the friend 
 and supporter of Stone, member of the church here, and 
 his only companion through the wilds of Kentucky, when 
 he absented himself from his pulpits for a trip to Georgia 
 
46 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 and Virginia in 1797. He lived and died about two miles 
 east of the church, where had been developed a salt 
 well, the only one in the county, much frequented by the 
 early settlers for the purpose of manufacturing salt. 
 Wilson was one of the defenders of Bryant's Station 
 when it was besieged by the Indians under the renegade 
 Girty in 1782, which developed the most heroic incident 
 in moral courage to be found in the history of Kentucky. 
 The plan of the fortification consisted of palisades and 
 block-houses, which failed to include the spring of water 
 some one hundred yards without. The women and older 
 children each morning would, in buckets, bring a daily 
 supply of water for the garrison. The morning of the 
 siege the inmates of the fort knew there were hundreds 
 of the savage foe in concealment about the spring. In 
 order Jo gain time for the arrival of expected reinforce- 
 ments and to impress the enemy with belief that further 
 delay. would assure its capture, the plan of original 
 strategy was devised of calling on the women and older 
 children to go as usual for the daily supply of water. 
 This they declined to do, insisting that the men should 
 go. Major Johnson, in command, made the plea that 
 though many of the enemy were hidden about the spring, 
 if the women would go as was their custom, they would 
 be convinced of the ignorance of the garrison of their 
 presence and hostile intent. The appeal was responded 
 to by the heroic wife, Jemima Johnson, exclaiming, 
 "Get your buckets," and a supply of water for the day 
 was secured, the desired impression upon the foe was 
 conveyed, the necessary delay for the arrival of rein- 
 forcements secured and the garrison saved. Jemima 
 Johnson, in leading a forlorn hope, left in his cradle a 
 cooing babe, who. in his bright manhood, reflected the 
 inherited glory of a heroic mother. He was destined to 
 
THE GRAVEYARD 47 
 
 lead a forlorn hope upon the Canadian border in the 
 most brilliant victory in the Northwest in the War of 
 1812, at the battle of the Thames, at which he received 
 nine shots in person and clothing, killed the great Tecum- 
 seh and lived to become Vice-President of the United 
 States— Richard M. Johnson. 
 
 Henry Wilson, in rearing a fortification near by for 
 the protection of himself and associates, determined to 
 avoid the criminal error of Bryant's Station by building 
 a fort of stone with walls four feet in thickness, and to 
 insure its security against all efforts of the implacable 
 foe. included within its walls a living spring, whose flow- 
 ing stream found an outlet through a stone culvert 
 covered with several feet of earth, emptying its hidden 
 waters into a considerable creek one hundred yards away. 
 The storms of more than a century have had no effect 
 upon the skill and workmanship of this simple engineer- 
 ing feat. 
 
 " And now, as a final action in the drama, nature comes 
 to the rescue, asserts her sovereignty over matter earthly, 
 reproducing in the graveyard that particular growth 
 which gave it a name and distinction. The pedigreed 
 cane of ancient days has asserted its right to eminent 
 domain and has secured a foothold in the churchyard 
 after an absence of sixty years. 1 Nature's effort to per- 
 petuate the memory of the pioneer. 
 
 The following beautiful incident illustrates the ven- 
 eration and abiding affection for the memory of the man 
 on the part of the sister congregation of Concord, now 
 of Carlisle, Ky. The minister of that church, Brother 
 Tinder, some years ago said to the writer: "My congre- 
 gation appeals to me to devise the means to restore the 
 
 1 Elder Hamilton Wilson. 
 
48 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 monument over Father Stone at your old church ; to what 
 extent is it damaged ?" 
 
 "The shaft and base are perfect; the foundation on 
 the north side seems impaired, and it is leaning." 
 
 "What sum of money would be necessary to re- 
 store it?" 
 
 "With thanks to your people for the interest mani- 
 fested, only the labor of a few of our members for an 
 hour will be required to adjust it." 
 
 It was found that the tree planted by the reverent 
 pupil Gano had thrown out a main supporting root be- 
 neath the structure and with its increasing growth was 
 gradually tilting the shaft. Time, with its corrosions, 
 seems not to have abated the love for the memory of the 
 founder of the faith among the descendants of his 
 former flock of Concord. 
 
BARTON \Y. STONE. 
 
BARTON W. STONE 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Barton W. Stone. 
 
 There now appears upon the historic scene a character 
 hitherto unknown, a young minister bearing credentials 
 from a North Carolina presbytery, who was destined to 
 achieve results in the wide realm of theology in a new 
 departure from the beaten paths of all predecessors since 
 apostolic times. A Marylander by birth, a Virginian by 
 adoption, twenty-five years of age, of very limited ex- 
 perience in the pulpit, never having assumed charge of a 
 church, visits Cane Ridge and Concord Churches at the 
 close of 1796 and is employed to fill the pulpits made 
 vacant by the removal of Finley to Ohio. He bore the 
 name of Barton Warren Stone. Here he labored with 
 great zeal and efficiency, and within a few months re- 
 ceived eighty additions. Of that number, thirty were 
 attached to the senior church. He continued his minis- 
 terial duties for two years, excepting an interval spent 
 on a visit to Georgia and Virginia. In 1798 a call was 
 made upon him by the united congregations, through the 
 presbytery at Lexington, to continue his duties, which 
 he accepted, and a future day for his ordination was 
 designated. 
 
 Before a license could be given by that body it was 
 necessary to examine him on the articles of faith. The 
 time for the solution of his difficulties had arrived. The 
 synod was complete, and a large audience had assembled. 
 There were grave doubts in his mind and he was unwilling 
 to promise adherence to all its teachings. He privately 
 sought counsel of two of its members. They reasoned 
 
52 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 with the candidate in great earnestness and zeal to little 
 effect. Finally came the question from one of the 
 tribunal : 
 
 "How far are you willing to receive the Confession?" 
 
 "As far as I see it consistent with the word of God," 
 came the prompt response. They deemed that answer 
 sufficient. 
 
 Thus with a restriction he was empowered by the 
 presbytery to continue in charge of the two congrega- 
 tions, a majority of each presumably having gone with 
 Finley to Ohio. 
 
 When Stone was first ordained by the Orange Pres- 
 bytery of North Carolina 1 in 1796, he was handed a Bible, 
 not the Confession of Faith, by the presiding officer, with 
 the injunction, "Go ye into all the world and preach the 
 gospel to every creature. '' The radical difference in the 
 modes of ordination naturally gave rise to the question 
 to which should he render obedience — the statutes of the 
 Bible or the codes of men? Flis answer is known to the 
 world. The year 1798 is literally the natal year of the 
 communion now called Christians. For a brief period 
 of time interest in religion had been rapidly ebbing ; the 
 people had become absorbed in carving homes from the 
 mighty forests. Temporal cares alone prompted them to 
 action, with apparently no disposition to prosecute 
 spiritual inquiries. 
 
 This deplorable condition of religion was in the near 
 future destined to a profound awakening in the coming 
 storm. Originating in Tennessee." extending into west- 
 ern Kentucky, its mutterings had reached this section, 
 which so impressed Stone that he determined to see and 
 hear for himself. He journeyed to Logan County, the 
 
 2 Elder Barton W. Stone. 
 
BARTOX IV. STONE 53 
 
 scene of the next great revival meeting in the open air, 
 in the spring of 1801. He was so impressed with the 
 fervid, inspiring developments there that an appointment 
 was made for Cane Ridge in August following. This 
 was his first experience in witnessing those peculiar ex- 
 ercises common to the revival meetings of that year. Its 
 duration was of several days and nights under the guid- 
 ance of two brothers in blood, 1 one a Presbyterian min- 
 ister, the other a Methodist, by the name of McGhee. 
 
 This spiritual tidal-wave, which submerged the State, 
 as affirmed by a contemporary, 2 originated with the 
 brothers McGhee, who, by agreement, alternated in ser- 
 mon, exhortation and invocation, expounding the simple 
 gospel without reference to the special tenets of either. 
 
 This joint occupacy of the same pulpit by ministers of 
 two denominations, hitherto antagonistic, developed an 
 attraction so great that no building available would ac- 
 commodate the audiences ; hence the necessity of resort- 
 ing to the open air. And as meetings would continue for 
 several days and nights, tents were resorted to, and from 
 this incident originated the camp-meetings of our Meth- 
 odist brethren, 3 which continue to this day. This novel 
 union was brief, continuing to the close of the vast as- 
 semblage at Cane Ridge, August following. 
 
 A historical parallel may with propriety be suggested 
 to the Protestant faiths by a memorable era in the history 
 of Masonry, which so overwhelmingly antedates the 
 secession of Luther from the Catholic Church and the 
 rise of Protestantism. For centuries it had but one head. 
 In 171 7 there was a schism — two grand lodges in Eng- 
 land, neither recognizing the other. This non-recogni- 
 tion continued for nearly a century, till 1812, when the 
 
 2 a Rev. James B. Finley. 
 
54 THE CANE RIDGE MEETIXG-IIOUSE 
 
 two opposing bodies elected grand masters who were 
 brothers in blood, who accomplished a union with the 
 dissevered element, which has continued one fraternal 
 body. Why may not churches profit by this example? 
 The beacon lights Mashed free from the hilltops of the 
 apparent union of the churches, and successfully there 
 were held great union camp-meetings at Cabin Creek, 
 near Maysville ; next at Concord, adjacent to Cane Ridge ; 
 next at Point Pleasant. W. Ya., and at Indian Creek, 
 twenty miles away. 
 
 The vast assemblage in Logan County closing, Stone 
 returned to fill an appointment at Cane Ridge. A large 
 audience assembled to hear his report, which, with the 
 sermon following, had a marked effect on his hearers. 
 He repaired to his church at Concord, where he was 
 greeted by great masses of people, eager to hear from 
 the Logan meeting, where, before its close, he witnessed 
 the reproduction of the weird, varied, marvelous scenes 
 of that indescribable assemblage. The following is 
 Stone's brief account : 
 
 The whole country appeared to be in motion to the place, 
 and multitudes of all denominations attended. All seemed 
 heartily to unite in the work and in Christian love. Party spirit, 
 abashed, shrunk hack. To give a true description of this meet- 
 ing can not be done: it would border on the marvelous. It 
 continued five days and nights without ceasing. Many, very 
 many, will through eternity remember it with thanksgiving and 
 praise. 
 
 Stone returns from Concord to fill an appointment at 
 the house of William Maxwell near by, where he hears 
 the good results of his meeting at Cane Ridge the Sun- 
 day before. On arriving at the place of meeting, he met 
 at the gate a special friend, who began shouting the 
 praises of the Lord; falling into each other's arms, they 
 
BART OX W. STONE 55 
 
 were joined by the friends at the house, when the scenes 
 so lately transpiring at Concord were re-enacted on' a 
 smaller scale until a late hour at night. Such were the 
 skirmishes at the outposts which culminated at Cane 
 Ridge in the great union meeting in the month of August, 
 .1801, the most remarkable religious assemblage ever 
 known on the continent. It was given full publicity at 
 the first great meeting in Logan County, and when its 
 prominent features had been proclaimed from the pulpits 
 throughout Kentucky, those who had "eligious conviction 
 and sentiment, as well as that element of the population 
 which had neither, determined to see for themselves 
 those peculiar manifestations, which were unknown in 
 the West. When we recall that the announcement of 
 this August meeting had been made at all the pre- 
 ceding ones, the numbers which met here, estimated by 
 military men from twenty to thirty thousand, should not 
 provoke comment or surprise. 
 
 When I was a boy, the request was made of my 
 grandfather, William Rogers, to tell of the events of the 
 great meeting ; but he declined, suggesting that Hamilton 
 Wilson, who was at the meeting, should describe it. They 
 were venerable men, associates from boyhood, for fifty 
 years were elders or officers of the church, and lived 
 immediate neighbors for that period and without re- 
 proach. Later on the motive which prompted him to 
 decline became apparent — the scenes enacted there were 
 so phenomenal, if he told what he saw, he feared his 
 grandson would doubt his veracity. 
 
 The masses which assembled had come from all parts 
 of the State, and many from Ohio. The roads were de- 
 scribed by several writers as being crowded with wagons, 
 carriages, horsemen and footmen, all journeying to the 
 chosen spot, and the country adjacent was stripped of its 
 
56 THE CAKE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 population. The grounds were prepared for the vast 
 throng". For several hundred yards ' an oblong square 
 with temporary pulpit in the center made of split boards 
 with handrail for its protection, and rough hewn logs 
 at regular intervals for seats. The surrounding grounds 
 were filled with tents in regular street order. From five 2 
 to seven 3 ministers were speaking at one time. The 
 church building was set apart as a lodging-place for the 
 preachers. Every obstacle seems to have been sur- 
 mounted, that all might be present. 
 
 Stone, on the occasion of his last visit, pointed out the 
 spot from which he had spoken. All writers upon the 
 theme note the utter impossibility of describing the varied 
 scenes of that unparalleled assemblage in the open air. 
 "The spectacle presented at night," says Davidson, "was 
 one of the wildest grandeur. The glare of the blazing 
 camp-fires falling on a dense multitude of heads, sim i.l- 
 taneously bowed in adoration, and reflected back from 
 the long range of tents upon every side, hundreds of 
 lamps and candles suspended among the trees, together 
 with numerous torches flashing to and fro, throwing an 
 uncertain light upon the tremulous foliage and giving an 
 appearance of dim and indefinite extent to the depth of 
 the forest; the solemn chanting of hymns, swelling and 
 falling on the night winds ; the impassioned exhortations, 
 the earnest prayers, the sobs, the shrieks or shouts burst- 
 ing from persons under agitation of mind; the sudden 
 spasms which seized upon and unexpectedly dashed them 
 to the ground — all conspired to invest the scene with 
 terrific interest, and arouse their feelings to the highest 
 state of excitement." 
 
 From the intensity of the demonstrations, it was 
 
 1 Mrs. Mollie R. Clay. 2 Elder Stone. 3 Rev. Mr. Finley. 
 
BARTON W. STONE 59 
 
 physically impossible for the meeting to have continued 
 much longer. Provisions became exhausted in the com- 
 munity, and the assemblage dissolved after a continuance 
 of six or seven days and nights. Then many of this in- 
 numerable host "engaged in singing the same songs of 
 praise, all united in prayer, all preached the same things — 
 free salvation urged upon all by faith and repentance." 
 This platform of simple teaching was a happy solution of 
 the radical differences of the many who had been par- 
 ticipants at this and the previous meetings, who had 
 owed allegiance to the Presbyterian, Methodist and Bap- 
 tist beliefs. The estimate of the conversions was placed 
 at three thousand. That it resulted in great good is 
 surely established by the attestations of such men as 
 Stone, Purviance (who was there converted), Rice, Dr. 
 Alexander, James B. Finley and William Rogers. The 
 latter, who was associated with the church for nearly 
 sixty years, has left this record : 
 
 I dcubted and caviled, but now, after more than forty years, 
 I have ceased to question its genuineness. Most of its subjects, 
 known to me, have, by their pious and godly lives and their 
 triumphant deaths, long since stamped the seal of heaven upon 
 its divine origin. 
 
 Rev. James B. Finley, a convert also, son of Robert 
 W., who had come with a party of friends from Ohio, 
 including several school fellows who had been associated 
 under his father at the Log Cabin Seminary, to attend 
 the meeting, wrote the following graphic account of it 
 in 1852. He was a lifetime minister of prominence of 
 the Methodist Church: 
 
 On the way to the meeting I said to my companions, "If I 
 fall, it must be by physical power, and not by singing and pray- 
 ing," and as I prided myself upon my manhood and courage, I 
 had no fear of being overcome by any nervous excitability or 
 
60 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 being frightened into religion. We arrived upon the ground, 
 and here a scene presented itself to my mind not only novel 
 and unaccountable, but awful beyond description. A vast crowd, 
 supposed by some to have amounted to twenty-five thousand, 
 was collected together. The noise was like the roar of Niagara. 
 The vast sea of human beings seemed to be agitated as if by a 
 storm. I counted seven ministers, all preaching at one time; 
 some on stumps, others in wagons, and one — the Rev. William 
 Burke, now c f Cincinnati — was standing on a tree which had 
 in falling lodged against another. Some of the people were 
 singing, others praying, some crying for mercy in the most 
 piteous accents, while others were shouting most vociferously. 
 While witnessing these scenes a peculiarly strange sensation, 
 such as I had never felt before, came over me. My heart beat 
 tumultuonsly, my knees trembled, my lip quivered, and I felt as 
 though I must fall to the ground. A strange supernatural power 
 seemed to pervade the entire mass of mind there collected. I 
 became so weak and powerless that I found it necessary to sit 
 down. Soon after I left and went into the woods, and there I 
 strove to rally and man up my courage. I tried to philosophize 
 in regard to these wonderful exhibitions, resolving them into 
 mere sympathetic excitement, a kind of religious enthusiasm, 
 inspired by songs and eloquent harangues My pride was 
 wounded, for I had supposed that my mental and physical 
 strength and vigor could most successfully resist these influ- 
 ences. After some time I returned to the scene of excitement, 
 the waves of which, if possible, had risen still higher. The 
 same aw fulness of feeling came over me. I stepped upon a 
 log, where I could have a better view of the surging sea of 
 humanity. The scene that then presented itself to my mind 
 was indescribable. At one time I saw at least five hundred 
 swept down in a moment, as if a battery of a thousand guns 
 had been opened upon them, and then immediately followed 
 shrieks and shouts that rent the very heavens. My hair rose up 
 on my head, my whole frame trembled, the blood ran cold in 
 my veins, and T fled for the woods a second time, and wished 
 I had stayed at home. While I remained here my feelings be- 
 came intense and insupportable. A sense of suffocation and 
 blindness seemed to come over me. ami I thought I was going 
 to die. There being a tavern about half a mile off, I concluded 
 
BART OX IV. STONE 61 
 
 to go and get some brandy and see if it would not strengthen 
 my nerves. After some time I got to the bar and took a dram 
 and left, feeling that I was as near hell as I wished to be, either 
 in this or the world to come. The brandy had no effect in 
 allaying my feelings, but, if anything, made me worse. Night 
 at length came on and I was afraid to see any of my com- 
 panions. I cautiously avoided them, fearing lest they should 
 discover something the matter with me. In this state I wan- 
 dered about from place to place, in and around the encampment. 
 At times it seemed as if all the sins I had ever committed in 
 my life were vividly brought up in array before my terrified 
 imagination, and under their awful pressure I felt as if I must 
 die if I did not get relief. My heart was so proud and hard 
 that I would not have fallen to the ground for the whole State 
 of Kentucky. I felt that such an event would have been an 
 everlasting disgrace and put a final quietus on my boasted man- 
 hood and courage. At night I went to a barn in the neighbor- 
 hood, and, creeping under the hay, spent a most dismal night. 
 I resolved in the morning to start for home, for I felt that I 
 was a ruined man. Finding one of the friends who came over 
 with me, I said : "Captain, let us be off ; I will stay no longer." 
 He assented, and, getting our horses, we started for home. We 
 said but little on the way, though many a deep, long-drawn sigh 
 told the emotions of my heart. When we arrived at the Blue 
 Lick knobs, I broke the silence which reigned mutually between 
 us. Like long-pent-up waters seeking for an avenue in the rock, 
 the fountains of my soul were broken up, and I exclaimed: 
 "Captain, if you and I don't stop our wickedness, the devil will 
 get us both." Then came from my streaming eyes the bitter 
 tears, and I could scarcely refrain from screaming aloud. Night 
 approaching, we put up near Mayslick, the whole of which was 
 spent by me in weeping and promising God if he would spare 
 me till morning I would pray and try to mend my life and 
 abandon my wicked courses. 
 
 These vivid, realistic experiences of young Finley, 
 then merging into manhood, fully illustrate the fatality 
 of fleeing from the wrath to come. The morning he 
 prayed for came and with it his conversion, full forty 
 miles away from the scenes of his demoralization; he 
 
62 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 leaves this vindication to posterity of the effectiveness of 
 revolution wrought in the minds and heart- of the con- 
 verts at that great meeting. "Men of the most depraved 
 hearts and vicious habits were made new creatures, and a 
 whole life of virtue subsequently confirmed the conver- 
 sion." 
 
 The spirit of revival in religion which had swept over 
 the infant State, and even gone beyond her borders, was 
 summarily checked at the next, the close of the series of 
 meetings by the doctrinaires of confessional faiths, who 
 called a halt to the new mode of discrediting and repudi- 
 ating the tenets of their belief. Thus the wave subsided, 
 ending the year it began, excepting its adoption by the 
 Methodists, who continue it to this day. 
 
 Stone's response to the church tribunal at Lexing- 
 ton, on the occasion of his licensure, demonstrated his 
 unwillingness to endorse the articles of faith of his 
 church without reservation. The spirit of opposition to 
 some of them had been manifest. His later experiences 
 at camp-meetings, at which religious party zeal had not 
 asserted itself, was surely not calculated to increase his 
 estimate or impair his judgment on the correctness of 
 some of its articles. In fact, it was confirmatory, and 
 its effect was to further liberalize his views. In this 
 attitude he was not alone among the ministers of his 
 church. I lis worthy example had borne legitimate fruit. 
 There were Richard McNemar, Robert Marshall, John 
 Thompson and John Dunlevy. The three former had 
 come with Finley to Kentucky; McNemar, Thompson 
 and Dunlevy had become citizens of Ohio. Party spirit 
 was in full power and had assumed her imperial sway. 
 Recreancy to church allegiance must be disciplined by 
 the disfavor of the church either in suspension or expul- 
 sion. Charges had been preferred by the presbytery in 
 
BARTON W. STONE 63 
 
 Ohio against McNemar, and the specifications of the 
 charge, were along the lines of disloyalty to the sacred 
 creed, and he appealed his case to the synod at Lexing- 
 ton, Ky. The church in her sovereign power determined 
 to vindicate her rights ana bring the accused to a real- 
 izing sense of the waywardness of his indefensible 
 course. - The remaining four were assured that whatever 
 penalty was imposed on McXemar would be incurred by 
 them. 
 
 The strategy of masters in war may be practiced in 
 church as well as in civil tribunals. The counter-stroke 
 was invoked and dispositions made to parry the coming 
 thrust. The judicial body of the church is in session and 
 the accused is before it. An intermission of the trial 
 occurs, and, fully convinced of its results, they retire to 
 a neighboring garden and offer an invocation to the 
 Most High to guide them aright ; they prepare a declara- 
 tion of independence and present it to the tribunal, for- 
 mally withdrawing from the mother church. All the 
 signers were deemed guilty of insubordination and were 
 formally suspended. This demonstration, this act of the 
 right to assert and practice religious freedom, had a 
 bright example in Martin Luther centuries before, in his 
 withdrawal from the Catholic Church. And the disposi- 
 tion to affirm and maintain political and religious free- 
 dom was an English inheritance from the pen of that 
 mighty genius, Somers, who wielded it on lines so trench- 
 ant and magnificent as to reinstall the sublime authority 
 of Briton's ancient constitution, resulting in the exile of 
 James II., who had totally disregarded it, and in the 
 enthronement of William and Mary. A century later 
 the lesson had not been forgotten by our colonies, when 
 in the throes of revolution the statesmanship of George 
 Mason penned that immortai state paper, known as the 
 
64 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 "Declaration of Rights," the ablest and most compre- 
 hensive instrument ever submitted to a parliamentary 
 assemblage, the first of its kind, and later refashioned by 
 Thomas Jefferson, 1 776 . 
 
 These several declarations, as cited, indicated the ad- 
 vent of political and religious liberty no more effectively 
 than did the declaration of Stone and his associates, 
 which forever dissevered the ties which bound them to 
 the mother church. 
 
 Thus within a few brief years the successive steps had 
 been taken, more and more hostile to the domination of 
 human creeds, and inevitably leading to their utter re- 
 pudiation and the formation of a church upon purely 
 apostolic lines. 
 
 This was an era of declarations, from religious bodies 
 intolerant of the restriction imposed by certain articles 
 of the Confession of Faith, and a further departure from 
 Presbyterian ranks occurred at Washington, Pa., in the 
 forming of the Christian Association by Thomas Camp- 
 bell, Aug. 18, 1809, five years after the withdrawal of 
 Stone and his associates at Cane Ridge, June 28, 1804. 
 Alexander Campbell, 1 the distinguished son, landing at 
 Philadelphia, Oct. 7, 1809, became associated with his 
 father in advocacy of the cause. The Presbyterian 
 Synod was antagonistic to the movement, condemning 
 the irregular procedure. Father and son were finally 
 convinced that a complete separation from old affilia- 
 tions was necessary to the preservation of the movement. 
 This was accomplished in the spring of 1811. They 
 were thus moving in parallel lines with Stone and his 
 colaborers. 
 
 Alexander Campbell was the ablest promoter and ex- 
 
 'Life of A. Campbell," by A. Richardson. 
 
BARTON W. STONE 65 
 
 pounder of the independent faith it ever had, and as 
 Christian, scholar, author, debater, preacher, lecturer, 
 has not been surpassed, if equaled, by the pulpit of 
 America. The most homely, practical estimate and the 
 most comprehensive analysis of his power and effective- 
 ness in the pulpit, I heard from an old friend, a farmer 
 and follower, 1 who said: "While the average preacher 
 devotes a sermon to shelling a few grains of 'wheat from 
 the chaff, Campbell in the same time would separate a 
 sheaf." As to his personality, I quote the words of the 
 most superb character of the century past, Robert E. 
 Lee: "If Mr. Campbell had been delegated as one of his 
 species to any one of the superior worlds, he would have 
 suggested a grand idea of the human race." 
 
 That particular declaration, familiar to all, which 
 overshadows all others in political significance, the im- 
 mortal instrument of 1776, which in its preamble held 
 certain truths to be self-evident, has impressed itself 
 upon the entire world. It has resulted in the Gov- 
 ernments of Europe making liberal concessions and 
 granting reforms to their people. Even in far-off China 
 and Japan the spirit of liberty is awakening and each 
 has been forced to respite heresies of misgovernment. 
 The divine right of kings, a relic of feudal ages, is 
 being supplanted by the inherent rights of the people, 
 and their recognition, full and complete, is a consequence 
 of the inexorable logic of events which followed from 
 the teachings of Mason and Jefferson, with which the 
 rulers of earth were not impressed, continuing their 
 despotic sway undisturbed until the reckoning has come. 
 Why may not the religious world heed the unmistakable 
 trend of the century past and profit by a later declara- 
 
 Wesley Ware, Mason County, Ky. 
 
66 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 tion, that of June 28, 1804, in which the creed of man 
 is laid aside and the code of the Bible substituted — "A 
 basis of Christian union upon the Bible alone as the rule 
 of faith and practice for the people of God"? 
 
 Jefferson embodied the sum total in a few para- 
 graphs, which as a form of government has proven suf- 
 ficient to revolutionize the nations ; Stone in a simple 
 sentence, ample in its authoritative foundation, its dura- 
 bility and simplicity for all peoples of the earth. "What 
 progress are we making?" At home our church bells 
 sound in every State and Territory, Mexico and the 
 Canadas, building fifteen hundred churches with an- 
 nual additions of one hundred thousand souls, and her 
 rate of increase, 1 according to the last census in the 
 States of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, 
 was largely in excess of that of any of the denomina- 
 tions. 
 
 The five suspended ministers were more or less inti- 
 mately associated at Cane Ridge ; McNemar, Dunlavy 
 and Thompson were schoolfellows at the Log Cabin Sem- 
 inary ; Marshall had come with Finley from Virginia, an 
 associate minister, and Stone had succeeded the latter in 
 the pulpits made vacant by his removal. This decision 
 of the synod in summary suspension was totally inde- 
 fensible and illegal so far as it related to Stone. "Do 
 you endorse the Confession of Faith?" "Only so far as 
 I see it consistent with the word of God." They imme- 
 diately organized the Springfield Presbytery with head- 
 quarters at Cane Ridge, All united in an address to 
 their former congregations, explanatory of their action 
 in withdrawing, giving their views of the gospel, the 
 causes of separation and objections to the Confession of 
 
 1 Last U. S. Census. 
 
BART OX Jl'. STOXE 67 
 
 Faith, and their repudiation of all creeds. The Bible 
 alone was accepted as the only rule of faith and practice. 
 Soon after this Stone makes appointments at Cane 
 Ridge and Concord, and tells his people he can no longer 
 support the doctrine of the Presbyterian Church, is no 
 longer entitled to the salary voted him, and he destroys 
 the subscription-lists in their presence. He announced 
 that he should continue to preach among them, but not 
 in his former capacity. He expressed himself as "never 
 having known a people more loving, kind and orderly, 
 never the relation of minister and church more harmoni- 
 ous, and never a greater attachment to any people than 
 to these." ' Strong words — what response made they to 
 this high panegyric?. Their only response was to ap- 
 prove his course. If there was defection in their ranks, 
 local history has been charitably silent. Preaching and 
 establishing churches under the new order of presbytery 
 proved auspicious for a season, when it dawned on the 
 pioneers that in blazing the way through a theological 
 virgin forest, the name Presbyterian, to which they still 
 adhered, was proving an obstacle across their path, par- 
 taking of a sectarian spirit, and this they determined to 
 eliminate. The body assembled at Cane Ridge, and here, 
 June 28, 1804, the last will and testament was prepared, 
 signed, sealed, witnessed and published to the world. 
 This announced the end of the Springfield Presbytery, 
 "taking the name Christian — the name given to the dis- 
 ciples by divine appointment first at Antioch — expressed 
 their total abandonment of all human creeds, and ac- 
 cepted the Bible alone as the only rule of faith and prac- 
 tice ;" and thus was begun the restoration of the church 
 of Christ one hundred and six years ago. That Stone 
 and his associates wrought in wisdom, for the guidance 
 and well-being of all the ages to come, a foundation 
 
68 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 most enduring upon which the followers of Christ and 
 his teachings may forever stand, is assured from the 
 unmistakable career of advancement in the century past. 
 The aggressive, open hostility of the parent church 
 to her former children was declared from every pulpit, 
 and the thunders of denunciation and wrath aroused the 
 profoundest sympathy for the offending few. The in- 
 evitable result was division in their churches and acces- 
 sions to the ranks of their offending brothers. Under 
 the impetus of vituperation from the mother churches, 
 ministers and members were added to the movement, 
 which seemed to be assured, when its progress was ruth- 
 lessly checked by the untimely advent of three Shakers 
 from the East, of polished address and affable manner, 
 yet insidious in design, who secured a warm welcome by 
 heartily endorsing their withdrawal from the mother 
 church. They taught a doctrine subversive of the mar- 
 riage state, with other features equally destructive of 
 society and religion. Stone devoted himself day and 
 night to successfully combating the false teachings, and 
 in restoring to the fold the wandering members of his 
 flock. This incursion was not confined to the infant 
 church, but pervaded the entire religious field of this 
 State and Ohio. The virulence of the mother church 
 subsided to a great extent, when her energies were 
 taxed in fighting a common foe. From this inroad on 
 the social and religious fields the infant church lost three 
 preachers — Houston, of Kentucky, and McNemar and 
 Dunlavy, of Ohio. Stone at this period had voluntarily 
 shared his pulpits and their revenues with David Purvi- 
 ance, who had been an elder of the church at Cane 
 Ridge, an impressive example of his disinterested devo- 
 tion to the best interests of the church. 
 
 The year of 1807 became a memorable era in the 
 
BARTOX W. STONE 69 
 
 career of Cane Ridge Church, on account of the baptism 
 of many candidates. The first subject to request it was 
 a young woman (it would be worth a king's ransom if 
 her name were known). Soon after an elderly lady peti- 
 tioned for the favor, which created consternation among 
 the elders. 1 They possibly recalled that when that rite 
 was performed the first time in America by the Baptists 
 of Rhode Island, it was by authority of the parent church 
 in England. They could not apply to that church, for, if 
 conferred, that church would claim the subject. They 
 stood alone with no parental authority on earth — not 
 even an elder had been immersed. 
 
 In the quaint language of Purviance, "Stone pub- 
 lished a meeting at a certain water on a day future." In 
 consequence a large congregation assembled. To be lit-' 
 erally exact in this veritable historic scene, I prefer to 
 quote David Purviance, who was destined to become the 
 stay and shield of the church in Ohio, his future home, 
 soon after the baptism. 
 
 Reuben Dooley, later removing to Preble County, 
 Ohio, was the preacher. "The young woman and sev- 
 eral others were immersed by Stone. I recognized that 
 it was a command of God which I was bound to obey. I 
 called Stone and Dooley aside, made known my inten- 
 tion, and asked Stone to immerse me, which he consented 
 to do. We approached the water after I had finished my 
 address, and, before going in, Dooley said, quietly: 'As 
 soon as you are baptized, I want you to put me under the 
 water.' Accordingly he came forward and a number of 
 others whom I baptized before I came up out of the 
 water." 
 
 Historians describing events with which they were 
 
 I "History Protestant Denominations of United States." 
 
70 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 familiar are sometimes very indefinite. One account 
 refers to this important event as having occurred at 
 some running water near Cane Ridge. Purviance refers 
 to it as "a meeting at a certain water on a day future." 
 Having been born within half a mile of the church, and 
 being familiar from boyhood with the territory adjacent, 
 the nearest stream with sufficient depth for the rite was 
 three miles away ; and I concluded that that was too 
 remote. There were no natural bodies of water, and the 
 artificial pool is a comparatively modern development. 
 Observation, information, theory and philosophy were 
 alike inadequate to the task of solving the question — 
 the locality of the first baptism. Not one of the older 
 members of the church could impart the least informa- 
 tion, and the generation that knew had all passed away, 
 leaving no record of the scene on a certain water. The 
 effort was in vain. "All is vanity and vexation of spirit." 
 
 The solution came unexpectedly from Capt. James 
 M. Thomas, a'- elder of the Christian Church of Paris. 
 
 "Who is your authority?" 
 
 "William Rogers, who pointed it out to me from the 
 eastern entrance of the bridge over Stoner at Paris. 
 There is where I was immersed in 1807." 
 
 The distance is seven miles from the church. That 
 distance in later times would have proven a hindrance; 
 not so with the fathers. Duty was a sublimer word then 
 than now. 
 
 Xo member of the Kentucky Legislature ever acquit- 
 ted himself so handsomely in his first effort on the floor 
 of the house as did David Purviance. maintaining it 
 throughout his legislative career, beginning in 1797 and 
 ending in the spring of 1802. It was of exceeding bril- 
 liancy. At that period Bourbon County was entitled to 
 six representatives, and these were elected upon the sole 
 
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BARTOX W. STONE 73 
 
 issue of opposition to the revival of a State court, the 
 original bill constituting it having been repealed by the 
 preceding Legislature. The bill to revive it was offered 
 by John Breckinridge, then the most brilliant mind in the 
 West, who became later the accomplished Attorney- 
 General under Jefferson for eight years. Thus the issue 
 was made. The combat between the intellectual gladi- 
 ators was decreed. Another member had been expected 
 to lead the opposition, but the effectiveness of the speech 
 of the advocate and mover of the bill had been so over- 
 whelming in its results that he deliberately retired from 
 the contest. Consternation and the utter hopelessness of 
 the cause of the people became a conviction in their 
 already vanquished ranks. The orator closes with the 
 enthusiastic plaudits and congratulations of the support- 
 ers. He who has proven recreant to the trust hurriedly 
 approaches Purviance and said, "The people expect a 
 speech in reply, and you must make it.' I can not." And 
 hastily retires to an obscure corner. 
 
 A faltering voice addresses the Chair and is recog- 
 nized as the representative from Bourbon! There he 
 stood towering in height above his fellows, clad in the 
 domestic fabrics of the times, the raw material compos- 
 ing it grown by himself, clipped with his own hand, 
 spun, woven and fashioned by the skill of his wife, for 
 the first time a member of a parliamentary assemblage, 
 who had never attempted a speech, but whose inherent 
 powers of courage and capacity arose with the emer- 
 gency, and the righteousness and supremacy of the peo- 
 ple's cause he advocated was fully vindicated. The bill 
 was lost and the people found a hero, and he continued 
 their successful leader until he voluntarily retired from 
 public life in 1802. He became a convert at the great 
 meeting at Cane Ridge, united with the church, became 
 
74 THE CANE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 an elder, and devoted himself to the studies preparatory 
 for the ministry. When there was every reason for fur- 
 ther political advancement, he voluntarily retired from 
 public life and sought the holy calling of the pulpit, 
 doubtless with the conviction that the strife, contention 
 and bickerings incident to the political arena would never 
 subside, and that the only rest for the weary was in the 
 sanctum of the student and of the minister. If such was 
 his contemplation, he was doomed to disappointment. 
 There was some subsidence in the political storm, new 
 issues arose and fell, popular majorities, a great bulwark 
 for a free people, would allay prejudice and opinion ; but 
 this new field of endeavor, which he was then entering 
 upon, was destined to become the theater of a mighty 
 upheaval in religious circles which would excite human 
 passion into an intensity paling into insignificance that 
 of any governmental policy based on political differences. 
 The first glimpse we have of him in this dramatic 
 act of laying the foundation of a faith, is the appear- 
 ance of his signature to the ''Last Will and Testament 
 of the Springfield Presbytery," 1 severing the sole remain- 
 ing tie connecting the daughter with the mother church. 
 The experience of Purviance as a public speaker, his 
 readiness in debate, his intellectual encounters with the 
 accomplished minds of the State, and in the upward 
 flight of his two ablest opponents — one to the United 
 States Senate, the other to the Cabinet of Jefferson — 
 "they bore in their talons none of his flesh, upon their 
 beaks none of his blood," rendered him on certain lines 
 superior to any minister of his day. His loyalty never 
 wavered, and as the struggle for independence con- 
 tinued, beset with difficulty, environed with opposition, 
 
 For text of the "Last Will and Testament," sec pagi 17 of this volume. 
 
BARTOX W. STOXE 75 
 
 denounced as heretics, and their acts as subversive of all 
 religion, groping in the dark for a period for the details 
 of a belief the outline of which alone they had fully con- 
 ceived, it was providential that a Moses should appear 
 to lead them out of the wilderness. It was the concep- 
 tion of Purviance, and he was the first preacher of the 
 Christian Church to repudiate infant baptism, affirming 
 that "the only baptism known to the New Testament of 
 a believing penitent was immersion in water." Purvi- 
 ance moved to Preble County, Ohio, in the fall of 1807. 
 
 Further depletion in the ranks of the original prot- 
 estants was scon to occur, in the desertion of Marshall, 
 in Kentucky, and Thompson, in Ohio, returning to the 
 parent church. Their disloyalty had for a period been 
 suspected ; their departure occasioned no surprise. Of 
 the original principals of the "Last Will and Testament 
 of the Springfield Presbytery," probated in that highest 
 court of justice, from which there is no appeal, were 
 left alone Stone, of Kentucky, and Purviance, of Ohio. 
 It was fortunate indeed that they were thus apart ; the 
 strong arm of each was thrown around the infantile 
 structure in loving embrace, and no further disintegra- 
 tion occurred. 
 
 From that critical period in colonial affairs, when 
 independence was swinging in the balance on account of 
 the desertion of one of its most valiant defenders, the 
 crime has been detested by every lover of liberty. It 
 proved the strongest incentive to renewed effort with the 
 patriot host to achieve their independence. Many of the 
 colaborers with Stone were heroes of that struggle, up- 
 holding the banners of freedom upon the plains of the 
 Carolinas, at King's Mountain and at Yorktown. They 
 quaffed draughts of inspiration from that infamous 
 procedure at West Point and on the Hudson, and the 
 
76 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 effect of it all was renewed allegiance to cause and com- 
 mander — the only Washington. In this the second effort 
 for freedom, their support of their leader, who stood 
 alone undismayed, was like that given to Washington, 
 sublimely loyal and heroic, like that of Abdiel — "Faith- 
 ful found among the faithless, faithful only he." 
 
 The parallel lines in the careers of Finley and Stone, 
 so intimately associated with the church at Cane Ridge, 
 are impressive. Both were graduates of learned institu- 
 tions and men of classic attainments. Stone further 
 added at different periods of life a knowledge of French 
 and Hebrew; they were regularly ordained ministers of 
 the Presbyterian Church. In the beneficent ministrations 
 of their holy calling, they practically labored in the same 
 field, which embraced sections of Virginia, the Carolinas, 
 Georgia, Kentucky ; and Stone's itinerary included Ten- 
 nessee. He also filled the pulpits in the fall of 1796 
 which had become vacant by Finley's removal the spring 
 before. Both were slave-owners, though morally opposed 
 to the institution, giving them freedom and watchful care 
 and guidance in after life. Finley died a minister of the 
 Methodist Church, and Stone of the church of Christ. 
 Each removed from one locality to another no less than 
 seven times. 
 
 The Scriptural sacred number seven, in its integral 
 parts, was a prime factor in the meeting-house at Cane 
 Ridge. The sacred numeral seems a century later to 
 have repeated itself in the raising of funds to build a 
 Christian Church at St. Paul, Minn., through the effec- 
 tive agency of an offspring from the church here. 
 
 "How much was collected for the church to-day?" 
 said the good wife to the husband on returning to his 
 home from his place of business. 
 
 "Only seven cents," was the terse response. 
 
BARTON W. STONE 77 
 
 "At that rate the church will never be built," re- 
 sponded the wife. 
 
 In his sleep, as in his thoughts by day, the seven-cent 
 collection for an entire day was constantly uppermost 
 and would not down ; in his dreams there flitted across 
 his mind a memory of the repeated references in Scrip- 
 ture to the fig-ure seven, its sacredness ; and, while the 
 inspiration was upon him, a booklet was prepared and 
 published, embodying the repeated allusions to the sacred 
 number, and sent broadcast over the West with the re- 
 quest that "the reader should not restrict himself to 
 seven cents ; simply to remember that that sum, or its 
 multiple, would place one brick or more in the walls 
 of the church." This original plea was so generously 
 responded to that the church was built and dedicated 
 to the living God with no financial obligation resting 
 thereon. 
 
 When it is recited as veritable history that the prin- 
 cipal in the brief colloquy between husband and wife 
 was William E. Rogers, namesake and grandson of 
 William Rogers, the first clerk, whose natal day was 
 July 7, 1784, the achievement of the author of the book- 
 let was his by right of inheritance. 
 
 The clerkship of the church has been in one family 
 and its connections from the first. The oldest list of 
 members known to exist bears the date of 1838, and 
 while some names are retained of the original, shows 
 unquestionably that it is a copy, the original having been 
 lost. William Rogers, the first clerk, left a brief outline 
 of the church embracing the period from 1804 to 1836, 
 and in 1872 a younger son, who had succeeded him in 
 the clerkship, Benjamin F. Rogers, purposed writing the 
 history of the church, and the afternoon of the first day 
 of his initial effort to perpetuate the record of her most 
 
78 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 eventful career was stricken with a fatal malady, and 
 suddenly passed away. 
 
 MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 "Cane Ridge Church was erected as a house of wor- 
 ship by the Presbyterians and a church constituted on 
 the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1791, and chose 
 Robert W. Finley as pastor. He continued to perform 
 the duties of that station till the year 1796, when he was 
 suspended and removed to the Territory of Ohio. Barton 
 Warren Stone was then elected pastor, and continued as 
 such until the year 1803. He then left the Presbyterians 
 and in the year 1804, on the 28th day of June, he con- 
 stituted and organized a church of the apostolic order. 
 Stone continued as minister of this church, with about 
 two years' intermission, until the year 1822. Francis R. 
 Palmer was then engaged as minister until the year 1336." 
 After him, Leonard Fleming served about two years. 
 Then came the noble, imposing, silver-tongued evangel- 
 ist, John Allen Gano, whose teaching from her pulpit 
 was of thirty years' duration. Continuing the succession 
 were John Rogers, Benjamin Franklin, Dr. L. L. Pin- 
 kerton, Samuel Rogers, Aylette Raines, R. M. Gano, 
 John I. Rogers, Moses E. Lard, Jesse Holton, Thomas 
 N. Arnold, Samuel Crutcher, Benjamin Ricketts, Mc- 
 Dermott, Clinton Lockhart, Harding, Dixon, Farleigh, 
 L. H. Reynolds, J. W. McGarvey, Jr., J. T. Sharrard, 
 Nathan Brooks, Charles Brooks, Milton Elliott, C. H. 
 Dick, Professor Buffington, and perhaps others. 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Barton Warren Stone and David Purviance were the 
 first elders, and their history is that of the church which 
 they founded. 
 
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BART OX W. STONE 81 
 
 James Houston and John M. Irvin were next in suc- 
 cession. The former was among the first settlers on 
 Cane Ridge in 1789, and survived all of his fellow- 
 members of the first congregation under Finley. The 
 latter was familiar with his Bible, and was the first man 
 I remember to preside over the table of the Lord's 
 Supper. 
 
 In his fourteenth year William Rogers, with his 
 father, Xathaniel, removed from Campbell County, Va., 
 to Cane Ridge, Bourbon Co., Ky., where the family 
 settled in the spring of 1798. Thirty-seven days were 
 consumed in the journey, by way of Cumberland Gap. 
 He made the good confession before Elders Stone and 
 Purviance, with his wife, Anne Cornock, in June, 1807. 
 He was the first layman baptized by authority of the 
 mother church of that date. David Purviance was the 
 first and Reuben Dooley was the second; the former an 
 elder of Cane Ridge Church, and the latter a minister of 
 the gospel. From this eventful era in his career he be- 
 came a devoted student of the Bible, and his long after 
 life illustrated an unfaltering allegiance to its sublime 
 teaching. Self-educated, he was familiar with English 
 and American history and general literature. He wrote 
 with force and precision, as the chapter contributed to 
 the life of David Purviance indicates. The later evolu- 
 tion of steel pens never met his approval, and through- 
 out his career he adhered rigidly to the use of the quill. 
 Exceeding fifty years he was an official of his church, 
 alternating his position from the first clerkship to that 
 of elder, at the will of his brethren. A man of splendid 
 business qualifications, he early in life secured a com- 
 petency, rearing about him a home of comfort and hos- 
 pitality, which he called "The Old Castle." Throughout 
 his wife's long career, a period of fifty years, it was a 
 
82 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 Mecca to his children. Here was assured a hearty greet- 
 ing to the minister, layman and every caller. Christmas 
 Day every member of his family was an expected 
 guest under the old roof tree until the death of his wife 
 and the infirmities of age determined him to live among 
 his sons. On matters of business relating to the 
 church in any representative capacity, he was always 
 mentioned first by his minister or brethren. A God- 
 fearing man of prayer, at both church and home, his 
 rule of action was inflexible. A lover of peace, he was a 
 peacemaker, and in that role of achievement no party to 
 a personal difference was ever known to arouse the 
 wrath of the community by refusing his terms of arbi- 
 tration. On lifting his hat in response to the salutation 
 of a negro, "You bow to a darky?" "Yes, sir, I can not 
 allow a servant to outdo me in politeness," was the ready 
 response. 
 
 He became guardian of a daughter of a deceased 
 friend and brother. Soon after her marriage, the couple 
 was invited to make the guardian a visit. In submitting 
 the account of the business relations between the former 
 ward and guardian to the husband, he was disposed to 
 question some details; the wife quietly, but firmly, said 
 to her husband, "You do not know my guardian as I do. 
 He is incapable of wrong. Accept every statement as it 
 is made to you." Of elegant and soldierly stature, of 
 extreme height, impressive dignity and affability, com- 
 panionable with his sons, and the most considerate, affec- 
 tionate man to the ladies of his household, I have 
 known. Especially was his courtesy and regard for his 
 granddaughters manifested in every circle in which he 
 mingled. He died in 1862 at the residence of his son, 
 Harvey Addison. From the windows of the apartment 
 occupied at his death, he was in full view of the sight of 
 
BARTON W. STONE 83 
 
 his cabin home in the wilderness, where he first began 
 housekeeping; where he and his wife, Anne Cornock, 
 confessed their Saviour, and of "The Old Castle," the 
 home where his sons attained bright manhood through 
 the fostering care and ennobling example of a most 
 worthy sire. 
 
 Hamilton Wilson was one of the earliest members of 
 the church. Familiar with his constant companion, the 
 Bible, his life was an illustration of its holy teaching. 
 He and William Rogers were colaborers and coelders 
 in the cause and near neighbors for fifty years. The 
 latter has left the record that in that mighty span of 
 years there were no differences between them, remind- 
 ing us of the compliment of a distinguished citizen to 
 the then first lady of the land, Dolly Madison, of the 
 White House, "Everybody loves Dolly Madison." "And 
 Dolly Madison loves everybody," she spiritedly replied. 
 Hamilton Wilson and the entire circle of his acquaint- 
 ance reciprocally illustrated this beautiful sentiment. 
 
 On the veranda of his home one beautiful morning, 
 William Rogers and his guest were in the midst of a dis- 
 cussion on an agreeable topic, when there appeared in 
 plain view the person of Hamilton Wilson. "There 
 comes a man from whom you have not learned any- 
 thing," said the minister. "On the contrary, sir, I have 
 learned from him the lesson of my life, to never speak 
 ill of any one." What more impressive lesson was ever 
 taught by master to pupil? 
 
 John Barnett early in life became a member and was 
 a true Christian, a lover of his Bible and his church ; a 
 man of prayer, he illustrated in his daily walk the sin- 
 cerity of his convictions. 
 
 Hiram M. Roseberry and Butler Hall were men of 
 standing and influence within and without the church. 
 
84 THE CANE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 Harvey Addison Rogers became a member in 1833, 
 and soon after was ordained a deacon of the church, 
 filling that position most creditably until his final sum- 
 mons. The role of peacemaker in the community was a 
 paternal inheritance, and most successfully did he prac- 
 tice and maintain it. He was an expert in the exact 
 science of mathematics, and no complicated problem was 
 ever presented to him which he did not readily solve. 
 Attributable to his methodical accuracy in every detail, 
 his thorough honesty and unerring judgment of values, 
 he settled more estates than any man of his day. Eco- 
 nomic in habit, conservative in opinion, he taught by 
 precept and example these most effective lessons to his 
 family and friends. Regular in his church attendance, 
 devoted to his official duties, a constant reader of his 
 Bible and a firm believer in the efficacy of prayer, real- 
 izing months in advance his inevitable end, he met its 
 silent and regular approach with courage and resigna- 
 tion. He had placed his house in order, and was in 
 readiness for the call. A neighbor of observation and 
 of years, paying a neighborly call, made this terse com- 
 ment: "Harvey Rogers contemplates death with perfect 
 serenity, no regret, hesitancy or doubt." 
 
 In final preparation for the closing events of his 
 early career he prepared the following clauses to his last 
 will and testament: "Having disposed, as far as I am 
 able, of all my earthly goods, I wish now to bequeath to 
 my wife and children, brethren and friends, my dying 
 advice and blessing. Throughout my short career I have 
 been a man of peace and unity. Early in life I embraced 
 the Christian faith. Though weak and frail, and often 
 erring, I have always endeavored in my humble way to 
 hold fast to the confession of my faith, without waver- 
 ing. I have given to my children my property, but when 
 
BARTON IV. STONE 85 
 
 I commend to them the Christian religion, I offer to them 
 an inheritance, in my judgment, inexpressibly more valu- 
 able than all this world can give. It is my dying prayer 
 that not only my own fam'ly, but all to whom 1 am 
 bound by ties of blood and relationship, and all my 
 brethren and friends, should so live and walk and honor 
 the profession they have made, that we may all meet in 
 that better land to part no more forever. Especially to 
 my brethren at old Cane Ridge, I would say, live and 
 love together as long as life lasts; do not surrender the 
 old church with all its hallowed associations and mem- 
 ories as long as there remains a voice to be heard in 
 prayer or a song in praise." 
 
 Warren Brown, the second son of William Rogers, 
 became a convert at the great revival at Xorth Middle- 
 town in 1838, became a member at Cane Ridge, and soon 
 after was ordained as deacon. As son, brother, father, 
 husband, associate, friend, neighbor, citizen, man, Chris- 
 tian, the measurement of the highest standard might be 
 applied with the unvarying result in the final estimate — 
 of pure gold. His courage, chivalry, deference to his 
 seniors, to woman, his inborn courtesy, fondness for 
 children, consideration for young men, rendered him the 
 most popular man in the community of his day. His 
 love of truth, his generosity and thorough frankness, 
 with all their kindred attributes, which his beautiful 
 character so well illustrated, "was a combination and 
 a form indeed, where every god did set his seal to give 
 the world assurance of a man." 
 
 The following incident illustrates his unwavering 
 loyalty to truth. Early in the war between the States he 
 was summoned by the United States Court at Covington, 
 Ky., with many citizens of the county, to appear before 
 the grand jury of that court, to testify against the citi- 
 
86 THE CAKE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 zens of the county who were accused of furnishing aid 
 and comfort to the enemy. This threw a large element 
 of citizenship into alarm and consternation, and when it 
 became known that Warren Rogers' name was on the 
 list, his friends, with a younger brother, Benjamin, at 
 their head, called a secret council and with one voice 
 decided that he must leave the country to avoid attend- 
 ance upon the court ; that his love for truth was so well 
 known in the community that any statement made by 
 him, under oath or otherwise, would be the truth, which 
 would convict his countrymen. His response came in no 
 uncertain terms: "To leave my home and family to avoid 
 attendance upon the court is a confession of guilt. I 
 have done nothing I am ashamed of or regret. I shall 
 obey the summons." "Yes," said the brother, "and con- 
 vict your friends." "Whatever I testify to will be the 
 truth." "That we know, and that convicts." The sequel 
 soon came. Warren Rogers is sworn and appears before 
 the jury, after quite a number of witnesses had testified. 
 "Do you know, Mr. Rogers," said the court, "of any one 
 who has rendered aid and comfort to the enemies of 
 your Government, contributed guns, ammunition, horses, 
 money or clothing?" "I do," said the witness. "Tell 
 the jury what you know," said the judge. "I furnished 
 my son, who -is in the Southern Army, with a horse, 
 money and clothing." "Mr. Rogers, you are the only 
 witness to tell the truth who has testified to-day : you are 
 discharged. Go to your home and remain a peaceful 
 citizen." He preferred, contrary to the rules of evidence, 
 to convict himself rather than his political friends. That 
 noble character of the ministry, John Allen Gano, who 
 loved Cane Ridge and its church, and whose people 
 revere his memory, filling her pulpit at intervals for 
 thirty years, often repeated this observation on the char- 
 
BARTON W. STONE 87 
 
 acter of Warren Rogers, whose duty it was as one of 
 the deacons to assist the candidates for immersion into 
 and out of the water at some near-by pool. Said 
 Brother Gano, "I have immersed thousands of candi- 
 dates throughout central Kentucky, the officers of the 
 church rendering needed assistance ; in all of my experi- 
 ence, and I am a close observer, in courtesy, deference 
 and consideration for candidates, whether they were rich 
 or poor, bond or free, the deportment of Warren Rogers 
 excels that of any brother I have ever been associated 
 with." To every appeal, from church or charity, he was 
 a generous giver, and his most liberal aid, in uplifting 
 poor, worthy young men with his endorsement, was pro- 
 verbial. His chivalric devotion to a nervous, delicate 
 young daughter, whom he had escorted to a dental office, 
 had the surgeon to extract an unoffending tooth to prove 
 to the daughter the painlessness of the operation, was a 
 characteristic act. A letter before me, written in 1864, 
 by the Hon. Garrett Davis, then a member of the United 
 States Senate, always an uncompromising partisan, re- 
 fers to Warren Rogers as "one of nature's noblemen. ' 
 His abhorrence of untruth, detestation of petty acts of 
 selfishness and meanness, with all their guilty train of 
 human action, were striking attributes of his most ad- 
 mirable character. 
 
 John W. Skillman is doubtless the senior in age of 
 any member ever borne upon the rolls of the church; 
 enlisted in the cause of his Master at the great revival 
 held at North Middletown, five miles away, under John 
 T. Johnson, the great early revivalist, in 1838. He be- 
 came a member at that date of Cane Ridge Church, and 
 for seventy-one years has lived a Christian life. With 
 his extreme age pressing heavily upon him, he has out- 
 lived all of his known contemporaries. Having lost 
 
88 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 the sense of sight and hearing, his constant prayer to 
 the Most High is to be safely crossed over the dark 
 river. He has attained his ninety-eighth year. He 
 served as clerk and elder in excess of fifty years. A 
 man of prayer, devoted to singing, constant in his church 
 attendance when in possession of all his faculties, liberal 
 in all his contributions to the cause, may be said with 
 truth of our senior member. Fond of his friends, his 
 hospitality has been characteristic, and no one ever left 
 his door in want. At the bedside of the sick and those 
 in distress, the evidence of his presence was never want- 
 ing. In all the vicissitudes of his prolonged career he 
 has been equal to the emergencies which have confronted 
 him, and is fairly entitled to the plaudit, "Well done." 
 Sad is the reflection, "I have had playmates, I have had 
 companions, in my days of childhood, in my joyful 
 schooldays ; all are gone, the old familiar faces." 
 
 An inspection of the record of the membership 
 of the church discloses a golden era in her history 
 about 1838, presenting a trinity which in subsequent 
 life became men of distinction. Memory recurs to the 
 oft-repeated lines : 
 
 "Honor and fame from no condition rise; 
 Act well your part, there all the honor lies." 
 
 The briefest outline of the later careers of the modest 
 country teacher, of a young clerk in a village store, and 
 a common stonemason, illustrate the aptness of the en- 
 during quotation. The names of Stone and Purviance 
 have been borne upon thy rolls, illustrious mother, and 
 their sagacity, piety and wisdom have become accepted 
 of men. Other niches must be cut on thy immortal scroll 
 for sons whose achievements were worthy of their 
 origin. This teacher of the country school became 
 
BARTOX U\ STQXE 
 
 91 
 
 a convert and united with the church at Cane Ride^e 
 March, 1838, and bore the name of Robert Milligan. 
 He began his splendid career as teacher of Latin, 
 Greek and mathematics at the crossroad village of 
 Little Rock, three miles east of the church, in 1837, 
 and the year following received as compensation for 
 teaching this school one hundred dollars per month, 
 which enabled him to finish his course at Washington 
 College, Pennsylvania, graduating with distinction and 
 becoming a member of the faculty of his alma mater. 
 
 The departments that he conducted and the institu- 
 tions over which he presided are indicated in the follow- 
 ing lines : 
 
 Washington College, Pennsylvania — English, 1840-49 
 or 50: A. M., in 1843; Chemistry and Natural History, 
 1849 or 50-52. 
 
 Indiana University — Mathematics, 1852-3. Declined 
 degree of D. D. Chemistry, Natural Philosophy and 
 Astronomy, 1853-4. 
 
 Bethany College — Mathematics, 1854-9. 
 Kentucky University, Harrodsburg — President of the 
 University and Professor of Biblical Literature and 
 Moral Science, 1859-65. 
 
 Kentucky University, Lexington — Presiding Officer 
 of the Colleges of Liberal Arts and the Bible, 1865-6. 
 Presiding Officer of the College of Liberal Arts and 
 Professor of Sacred Literature, 1866-75 (the year of his 
 death ) . 
 
 That he was an accomplished scholar the different 
 chairs over which he presided in his splendid career 
 fully attest. As the able expounder of intricate passages 
 of the Bible he was lucid and convincing — the peer of 
 any Biblical scholar of his day. 
 
 Jesse E. Peyton attained distinction upon other lines 
 
92 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 of individual endeavor, which had been made possible by 
 the suggestion of an influential senior. He was clerking 
 at the village store of Little Rock when Milligan had 
 charge of the school. As my guest and his escort he 
 visited the scenes of his early years at the village, after 
 an absence of fifty years, and pointed out a weather- 
 beaten log residence, twenty by twenty feet, with an ell, 
 as the storeroom he occupied during his clerkship, and 
 gave this incident, which influenced his entire after career 
 and led to a new field, more extended in operation, where 
 he achieved success in the more profitable enterprise of 
 an importing merchant. "Jesse," said William Rogers, 
 "there is no advancement here; get away." "I pondered 
 over the kindly advice, and determined to follow it ; 
 and in brief time was on my way to Philadelphia." 
 His agreeable personality and strict integrity won him 
 staunch friends; he became a man of influence in his 
 adopted city and elsewhere in the East. He was the 
 author of the generous movement among the importing 
 merchants and manufacturers of that city, which resulted 
 in the financial relief of the patriot statesman, Henry 
 Clay. 
 
 Peyton, in his laudable endeavor to establish himself 
 in business at Philadelphia, then the metropolis of the 
 East, without a name and without capital, was indeed 
 worthy of commendation and emulation. His capital was 
 his character, which won him at the inception of his 
 enterprise a personal ally more potent that never deserted 
 him. Xo man ever left Kentucky to establish a home 
 among strangers who bore with him endorsements from 
 more distinguished nmrces. His letters were from Henry 
 Clay; Henry Pell, then the most prominent merchant in 
 the State, and Gov. Thomas Metcalfe, who had for many 
 terms represented his district in Congress, who had been 
 
Et. MILLIGAxN. 
 
BARTOX W. STONE 95 
 
 impressed with "How slow rises merit by poverty op- 
 pressed," who began his splendid career as a stonemason. 
 One of Clay's letters was to the cashier of the Girard 
 Bank, William D. Lewis, through whose courtesy Pey- 
 ton became known to the most eminent men of the 
 city, and whose unvarying friendship ceased only with 
 hi s life — his patron in the East as Clay was in the 
 West. The following incidents illustrate how each was 
 repaid. 
 
 Two years after his advent in his new home he had 
 occasion to return to Kentucky, and whilst at Lexington 
 in the law office of Clay's son, James B., the distinguished 
 father appeared. His stay was brief, his face drawn, and 
 his manner much depressed. That kindling eye, impres- 
 sive manner and erect form which had inspired an Amer- 
 ican Senate and enthused his political followers is no 
 other leader ever did, no longer exhibited the undaunted 
 spirit of Henry Clay. 
 
 "What is disturbing your father?" said Peyton to 
 the son. 
 
 "He has become so involved in his endorsements to a 
 friend's paper, who has failed, that he will be compelled 
 to sell his home to meet the obligation," he replied. 
 "What is the liability?" 
 "About forty thousand dollars." 
 
 Peyton returned to his Eastern home and called on 
 David A. Brown, narrated the misfortunes of the great 
 statesman, and made the plea that "the manufacturers 
 and commission merchants of the city handling American 
 goods could unite and relieve Mr. Clay and never feel it ; 
 that it was a duty they owed to a patriot and public bene- 
 factor." Mr. Brown was so impressed that he agreed to 
 see his friends and report progress later. A second meet- 
 ing occurred, when the principal said, "It is all right; 
 
96 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOl'SE 
 
 Mr. Clay will be taken care of ; but his friends do not 
 want him to know who did it, except as friends in grati- 
 tude and admiration." Ashland was saved. Clay had no 
 following in all the Union so devoted to his political for- 
 tunes as the Whigs of Philadelphia, and the above inci- 
 dent is so generous and loyal I hope to further perpetuate 
 the memory of it. Their love for the chieftain just at 
 this period, 1843, * s further emphasized by their issuance 
 of a life-size steel engraving of the great Commoner, 
 executed by John Sargeant, with brief quotations 
 from his speeches with his signature, H. Clay. I 
 have the engraving among my treasures, commemorating 
 alike the patriot and the incident. In 1848 Taylor be- 
 came President. William D. Lewis, the special friend of 
 Peyton, to whom he bore the letter from Clay, was a 
 candidate for the collectorship of the port, and was bit- 
 terly opposed by a hostile element of the party. The 
 President sent as confidential messenger over to the city, 
 the Hon. Bailey Peyton, then a distinguished Senator 
 from Tennessee, to ascertain the cause of opposition. 
 The Peytons were relatives, and upon Jesse's assurance 
 that the appointment was proper in every particular, his 
 friend received it, and thus he was enabled to requite the 
 obligations he owed his benefactors, Henry Clay and 
 William D. Lewis. 
 
 The attempt to revive the Whig party by the nomina- 
 tion of Bell and Everett in the historic triangular cam- 
 paign for the Presidency in i860, was an emanation from 
 the teeming brain of Peyton. 1 He was the originator and 
 by personal influence succeeded in arousing among the 
 people of the East sufficient interest to properly celebrate 
 
 1 John W. Woodside, Commissioner of Pennsylvania Centennial of 
 Washington's Inauguration. Poem, "Past and Present," dedicated to Jesse 
 D. Peyton. 
 
COL. JESSE E. PEYTON. 
 
BARTOX W. STOXE 99 
 
 the first series of centennials, beginning at Philadelphia 
 and ending at Yorktown. 
 
 The stonemason, a follower of the most humble call- 
 ing of the trio, has left in this community a number of 
 specimens of his handiwork. We have a stone fence, 
 chimneys, springhouses, steps to mansions, and, as his 
 chisel grew more cunning and his hand more skillful, he 
 entered the portals of a higher art and carved a monu- 
 ment which stands in a neighboring burial-ground. 
 
 This was Joel T. Hart, also a resident of Little Rock, 
 with its less than one hundred souls. Like the others, he 
 took his departure for Lexington, Ky., thence to Italy 
 and to immortality. 
 
 T:i 1884 the State made a sufficient appropriation to 
 send a special commission to Italy for his remains, to 
 reinter them in the State lot at the capital, and to erect 
 a handsome monument to his memory. 
 
 The village of Little Rock was truly a great factor in 
 the splendid career of the great Commoner. Peyton 
 secured the discharge of his obligations, whilst Hart, 
 with equal admiration and devotion for the statesman, 
 perpetuated his form and face to coming generations in 
 lasting marble. His Christian hymn-book, compiled by 
 Barton Stone, with his autograph, is now the property of 
 John I. Fisher, of Louisville, Ky. As a highly prized 
 relic, I have from the chisel of Hart a representation of 
 the Bible in stone, beautifully carved and polished. He 
 has been described by those who knew him' as a man of 
 infinite address and polish, and of exceeding modesty, of 
 which an incident in connection with the building of the 
 stone fence mentioned above is a mute witness. A 
 dressed stone, six inches square, bearing his initials, was 
 placed by him on the inside of the stone wall outlining 
 the public highway. Anticipating the criticism that indif- 
 
ioo THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 ferent workmanship would prompt concealment, the sug- 
 gestion is offered that the wall was built seventy-five 
 years ago and to-day protects the enclosure. It is nar- 
 rated that a teacher of the school at Harrow quelled a 
 spirit of insubordination among his pupils by silently 
 pointing to a name traced in boyish thoughtlessness upon 
 her classic walls, a name obscured by none in all the 
 bright realm of English poesy — "Who drank early, deeply 
 drank, drank draughts that common millions might have 
 quenched, and then died of thirst because there was no 
 more to drink." Xo other has said of himself, "That he 
 awoke one morning and found that he was famous." — 
 Byron. 
 
 The log structure of a schoolhouse near by may have 
 had the name of Hart upon its undressed walls ; its site 
 alone remains. Posterity, the lovers of art in Europe and 
 America, have written it for him on "Fame's Eternal 
 Camping-ground," where the young and aspiring may 
 become impressed with the lesson that, though bcrn in 
 obscurity, he left his name among the immortals. 
 
 The devotion of the ladies of the South to the 
 memory of the great orator and statesman, Henry Clay, 
 was demonstrated by their commissions to the sculptor 
 from the cities of Louisville, Xew Orleans and Richmond 
 to delineate his form and face in marble of heroic size. 
 These several tasks he completed to the entire satisfac- 
 tion of every personal friend and admirer who has seen 
 them. His fame could rest alone securely upon these 
 achievements. A number of other works were the result 
 of his skill and industry, noticeably busts of Andrew 
 Jackson, Crittenden, Cassius M. Clay and Alexander 
 Campbell. 1 
 
 1 Found by Methodist minister in Italy. Now at Bethany College. 
 — J. W. McGarvey. 
 
JOEL T. HAKT. 
 
BARTON W. STONE 103 
 
 Modern sculpture as a high art, like that of painting, 
 recognizes the old masters alone as having perfected 
 their works as models of their kind — a standard to be 
 imitated by all after ages. It was destined by fate that 
 a departure from beaten paths should be ventured by a 
 genius, creating in enduring marble a conception which 
 has provoked the plaudits of all lovers of the art. In 
 "Woman Triumphant" his lofty ideal was perfected, and 
 it brought him fame after death. He threw aside the 
 models of the ancient East, for the conceptions of their 
 models paid tribute only to the physical attributes of 
 woman. Beauty was paramount ; character, brains, sub- 
 ordinate, not worthy of portrayal. He had as the most 
 potent incentive constantly before him the ideal design 
 that a Kentucky artist, the first in her history, and a lover 
 from early manhood, was paying tribute to a Kentucky 
 woman, the most perfect of her kind. Unless his marble 
 conception depicted character in face as well as perfect 
 physical outlines, his Venus would be radically defective. 
 With a constancy most heroic, he had through life be- 
 neath the bright skies of a foreign land, the home of the 
 masterpieces in the kindred art of both painting and 
 sculpture, amid toils and poverty, kept this ideal con- 
 stantly uppermost, and "Woman Triumphant," his latest 
 work and masterpiece, was unveiled before an admiring 
 world. The original group was purchased by an asso- 
 ciation of women in the bluegrass from Tiffany, New 
 York, and placed in the rotunda of the court-house at 
 Lexington, Ky., in 1884. The building and its contents 
 were totally destroyed by fire five years later. Very 
 recently the discovery has been made, through the volun- 
 tary efforts of the Hon. Brutus Clay, resident of thi? 
 section, now American Minister at the Switzerland Gov- 
 ernment, that the original model of Hart's genius is ex- 
 
104 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 tant, the property of an English sculptor of note, who 
 proffers to reproduce the statue in consideration of five 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 With these facts before them, can it be possible that 
 the women of Kentucky feel that they have no incentive 
 to action? Are they ungrateful, unappreciative of that 
 chivalric devotion of the great sculptor, whose entire 
 career was devoted to the conception of fashioning in 
 enduring marble his exalted ideal of a Kentucky woman? 
 "If there be a crime of deeper dye than all the guilty 
 train of human passions, 'tis ingratitude." A just esti- 
 mate of the noble women of Kentucky forbids the 
 thought; arise in the nobility, majesty and divinity of 
 your true selves, organize for the restoration of Hart's 
 masterpiece, and demonstrate to the world that the ped- 
 estal on which you were enthroned by the genius of Ken- 
 tucky's first and only sculptor was based on eternal truth, 
 with abounding merit for its superstructure. "Words 
 are the daughters of men, Deeds the sons of God." Your 
 traditions are involved ; secure the reproduction. 
 
 SKETCH OF ELDER JOHN A. GAXO. 
 
 In a letter giving a sketch of the life of Elder John 
 A. Gano, his son, Gen. R. M. Gano, says: 
 
 I was born in 1830 in Bourbon County, Ky. ; so all the 
 early history of Cane Ridge Church known to me I have 
 gained from hearsay and from history. My father, John Allen 
 Gano, whose life was more intimately connected with the old 
 church than any other minister, except Barton W. Stone, was 
 'horn in Georgetown, Scott Co., Ky.. in 1805. His father and 
 mother both died before he was ten years of age. He was par- 
 tially educated by Barton W. Stone when he was teaching in his 
 own residence near Georgetown. It was there that he studied 
 Greek and Latin. He afterwards studied law and obtained 
 license to practice law at the age of eighteen years. He had 
 
wmmm 
 
 JOHN ALLEN GANO. 
 
BARTON W. STONE 107 
 
 never made any profession of religion, but became much inter- 
 ested in the subject under the preaching of Barton W. Stone 
 and Thomas M. Allen. He made profession of his faith in 
 Christ and was baptized, identifying himself with the Christian 
 Church, taking no creed but the New Testament and wearing 
 no name but the name of Christ (Christian). His sisters, who 
 were much older than he, were much distressed, believing that 
 he had gone into some heresy. They sent a messenger seventy 
 miles for an old Baptist preacher, named Jacob Creath, to come 
 and win their brother back to the Baptist Church. Mr. Creath 
 was a well-known and popular preacher, and had established a 
 number of Baptist churches in Kentucky. Being very earnest 
 and confident of the correctness of his religious views, the old 
 man rode seventy miles on horseback to win John Allen Gano 
 back to the Baptist Church. 
 
 Entering his room and finding him seated at a little table 
 with his Testament. Mr. Creath said: "Brother John, I am glad 
 you have determined to devote your life to the service of Christ, 
 but I think you had better have taken your stand with the 
 church of your fathers; your family have been identified with 
 the Baptist Church for probably a hundred years, and your 
 grandfather, John Gano, was an eminent Baptist minister and 
 chaplain in the Revolutionary War under George Washington, 
 and immersed General Washington during that war." John A. 
 Gano replied: "If you will show me in this Book," laying his 
 hand upon the Testament, "where it says, 'Deny yourself, take 
 up your cross and follow your grandfathers,' I will follow mine 
 while I live; but I read it, 'Deny yourself, take up your cross 
 and follow Christ; and I intend to follow this teaching if it 
 separates me from all my kindred on earth." This led to a very 
 earnest conversation, which was continued again next morning, 
 when the old man rose up and took him by the hand and said : 
 "Brother John, you are right, and I will take my stand with you 
 and will preach the Scriptures as the only rule of faith and 
 practice, and the name of Christ the only name to be worn by 
 his followers, and this is to be the only ground of Christian 
 union." And he kept his word. I heard him preach at Cane Run 
 Church in Mercer County, Ky., when he was entirely blind. He 
 continued thus to preach until his death. 
 
 John Allen Gano gave up the law at nineteen years of age, 
 
108 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 began to preach in 1824, and became one of the most successful 
 ministers in the church in the State of Kentucky, and continued 
 his labors until his death in 1887. Sixty years he labored, bap- 
 tizing about ninety-eight hundred. 
 
 He succeeded Elder Francis Falmer, who was successor to 
 Mart' in W. Stone in his labors at old Cane Ridge, and continued 
 to labor for that church many years, and received into the fel- 
 lowship of that congregation a greater number than any person 
 that ever labored there. He also married more couples and was 
 known to have married five generations in one family, viz.: the 
 Rogers family : and he was better acquainted with the history 
 of th#t church and better identified with its members, much 
 more so than any one who ever preached there. When Barton 
 Stone died and they brought his remains back to Cane Ridge 
 to be buried, John Allen Gano preached his funeral. He was 
 the proper man to take the place of the great reformer, B. W. 
 Stone, at Cane Ridge. John Allen Gano believed, as did Stone 
 and Campbell, that the only way into the kingdom of Christ 
 was through faith in Christ, repentance, confession of Christ 
 and baptism ; that once in the kingdom a follower of Christ was 
 duly and Scripturally qualified to become a member of the local 
 congregation ; and that the local congregation was in and of 
 itself independent and all-sufficient, subject to no councils, 
 synods or advisory boards, save and except its divinely com- 
 missioned eldership. He further believed that the only creed of 
 the church was and is the Xew Testament, and that one of the 
 highest and most sacred duties of the church is to guarantee and 
 safeguard the individual member in the right to personally inter- 
 pret this divine creed. 
 
 He further believed that no member of the church has the 
 right, individually or through the congregation, to impose his 
 opinions or convictions touching Scriptural teachings upon any 
 other member. He also believed that all errors of opinion 
 should be corrected by instruction and mutual investigation 
 within the church, and not required to be corrected on the part 
 of a penitent baptized believer, as a prerequisite condition of 
 entrance into the kingdom and church of Christ. The latter he 
 regarded as the cardinal and fundamental error of the human 
 creed writers. Such was his sublime faith in the inspired writers 
 as unerring teachers, and such his faith in the result of an earn- 
 
BARTON W. STONE 109 
 
 est and unprejudicial investigation, that he believed predestina- 
 tion, universal salvation, transubstantiation, and all kindred 
 errors of opinion, could and should be corrected within the 
 church as honest errors entertained by brothers and sisters, and 
 not fastened upon believers forever as articles of faith in for- 
 mulated creeds. 
 
 The labor of John A. Gano for many years at Cane Ridge 
 made that church a strong and earnest congregation, and one, 
 that made its impress upon the churches throughout Kentucky. 
 There were other faithful preachers, who occasionally labored 
 at Cane Ridge, among whom were John T. Johnson, John Smith, 
 Samuel Rogers, John Rogers, William Morton, Aylette Raines 
 and others of later date. 
 
 After the close of the Civil War I laid down my sword of 
 steel and took up the word of God as the weapon of my warfare ; 
 I proved to be more successful in my labors than I anticipated, 
 and have buried with Christ about sixty-eight hundred persons. 
 I labored at old Cane Ridge about two years, and gathered into 
 that church a goodly number. The love and interest the mem- 
 bers there showed for me was, I thought, in a great measure 
 due to the devotion they had for my dear father, John A. Gano. 
 He had helped to free them of the difficulties of human opinions 
 which had beccme fastened on the religious world. This work 
 had been done in great measure by B. W. Stone, and he was 
 followed in his great work by John A. Gano, who was the first 
 man to advocate communion on the first day of every week. 
 This was afterwards adopted by the Christians throughout Vir- 
 ginia and Kentucky, until now millions are remembering Christ 
 in this Christian ordinance every first day of the week. John 
 A. Gano was unquestionably the man to carry on the religious 
 work begun in Kentucky by the great reformer, B. W. Stone. 
 He was a man of eloquence, fluent in speech, and possessed of 
 a remarkable degree of tender pathos. With such a theme as 
 the blood of Christ, he could tell men of their errors in such 
 a tender and loving way as to reach their hearts and cause 
 them to come to him for more light. He was a remarkable 
 peacemaker and seldom failed to settle the troubles and diffi- 
 culties of those who were at variance. After his death a dis- 
 tinguished Baptist preacher. Morgan Wells, who was then living 
 in Fort Worth, Tex., but who had formerly resided at George- 
 
no THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 town, Ky., stated that John Allen Gano had done more to build 
 up the church of Christ, and to make peace among men, and to 
 unite the Christian world, than any six ministers of his acquaint- 
 ance. A Christian woman, living in Missouri, stated that while 
 she was in the State of Kentucky, she heard John A. Gano 
 preach on the "Claims of Christ," and it seemed to her as if an 
 angel were talking. Such was the estimate placed upon his 
 Christian life that those who were acquainted with him were 
 often heard to say, '"If Brother Gano fails to reach the heav- 
 enly home, then there is no hope for the rest of humanity." 
 
 As a husband, father, neighbor, friend and minister, he had 
 few equals, for which reason he was so highly esteemed and 
 loved by the churches at Cane Ridge, Old Union, Leesburg, 
 Coopers Run, Antioch, Mt. Carmel, Dry Run, Paris, Cynthiana, 
 Lexington, Providence, South Elkhorn, and, in fact, all over 
 central Kentucky. These churches and the thousands who heard 
 him preach will long remember him as a great reformer, and a 
 power in the restoration of primitive apostolic Christianity. K's 
 last words were, "I am almost home." At home he is now wait- 
 ing the coming of all those who love Christ and honestly strug- 
 gle to obey his commandments, however weak and humble their 
 efforts may be. 
 
 Of all the churches that loved and honored him none was 
 more devoted than Cane Ridge, from whence many loved ones 
 have gone to meet him on the other shore. 
 
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BARTOX W. STONE 113 
 
 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LIFE 
 OF BARTON W. STONE 
 
 Written by Himself, Designed Principally for His 
 Children and Christian Friends 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth and early education. 
 
 I was born near Port Tobacco, in the State of Mary- 
 land, December 24, 1772. My father, John Stone, died 
 when I was very young. I have no recollection of him in 
 life. My mother, whose maiden name was Alary War- 
 ren, a few years after the death of my father, with a 
 large family of children and servants, moved to the then 
 called backwoods of Virginia,' Pittsylvania County, near 
 Dan River, about eighty miles below the Blue Mountain. 
 This occurred in 1779, during the Revolutionary War. 
 
 The manners and customs of the people among whom 
 we resided were exceedingly simple — no aspirations for 
 wealth or preferment — contentment appeared to be the 
 lot of all. and happiness dwelt in every breast amidst the 
 abundance of home stores, acquired by honest industry. 
 Benevolence and kindness in supplying the wants of new- 
 comers, as late immigrants were called, were universal. 
 Courts of justice were rare and far distant from us. To 
 remedy this inconvenience, the neighborhoods selected 
 
ii 4 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 their test men, whose duty was to preserve order and 
 administer justice. By them Lynch's law was frequently 
 executed on offenders. Sports of the most simple kind 
 were generally practiced, and friendship and good feel- 
 ing- universally reigned. Religion engaged the attention 
 of but a few. Indeed, our parson himself mingled in all 
 the sports and pastimes of the people, and was what may 
 be termed a man of pleasure. 
 
 Frequent calls were made for men to aid in our revo- 
 tionary struggles against our enemies, the British and 
 the Tories. Those calls were promptly obeyed by the 
 hardy sons of the backwoods. Parents in tears cheer- 
 fully equipped their willing sons for the tented field. 
 Never shall I forget the sorrows of my widowed mother 
 when her sons shouldered their firelocks and marched 
 away to join the arm}'. Never will the impressions of 
 my own grief be erased from the tablet of my memory 
 when these scenes occurred. 
 
 We knew that General Green and Lord Cornwallis 
 would shortly meet in mortal combat not far from us. 
 The whole country was in great anxiety and bustle. 
 Nothing was secure from the depredation of the Tories 
 and of bands of thieves worse than they. My mother 
 had some valuable horses needed for the use of the farm, 
 to secure which from being taken by scouting parties she 
 sent me with my two elder brothers to conceal them in 
 a thicket of brushwood not far distant from home. This 
 was to me, even then, a gloomy day. It was the day 
 when Green and Cornwallis met at Guilford Court-house, 
 in North Carolina, about thirty miles distant from us. 
 We distinctly heard the roar of the artillery, and awfully 
 feared the result. 
 
 The soldiers, when they returned home from their 
 war tour, brought back with them many vices almost 
 
LIFE OF BARTOX W. STO\ T E 115 
 
 unknown to us before; as, profane swearing, debauchery, 
 drunkenness, gambling, quarreling and righting For 
 having been soldiers, and having fought for liberty, they 
 were respected and caressed by all. They gave the tone 
 to the neighborhood, and therefore their influence in 
 demoralizing society was very great. These vices soon 
 became general and almost honorable. Such are univer- 
 sally the effects of war, than which a greater evil can 
 not assail and afflict a nation. 
 
 In such society were my youthful days spent ; but in 
 these vices I never participated. From my earliest recol- 
 lection I drank deeply into the spirit of liberty, and was 
 so warmed by the soul-inspiring draughts that I could 
 not hear the name of British, or Tories, without feeling 
 a rush of blood through the whole system. Such preju- 
 dices, formed in youth, are with difficulty ever removed. 
 I confess their magic influence to this advanced day of 
 my life, especially when the name Tory is mentioned — 
 so many injuries, fresh in my recollection, attach to that 
 name. 
 
 I was early sent to school to a very tyrant of a 
 teacher, who seemed to take pleasure in whipping and 
 abusing his pupils for every trifling offence. I could 
 learn nothing through fear of him. When I was called 
 on to recite my lessons to him, I was so affected with 
 fear and trembling, and so confused in mind, that I could 
 say nothing. I remained with him but a few days, and 
 was sent to another teacher of a different temper, with 
 whom I acquired with facility the first rudiments of 
 an English education — reading, writing and arithmetic. 
 Flere I must enter my protest against tyrannical and 
 ill-disposed teachers. Such are a curse to any neighbor- 
 hood in which they may teach. Teachers should be the 
 most patient, self-possessed and reasonable of men, yet 
 
n6 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 of such firmness as to secure authority and respect. The 
 rod should be rarely used — only in cases of necessity. 
 and then by the arm of mercy. He should act the part 
 of a kind father towards them as his children. Gain 
 their respect and love, and they will delight in obedience, 
 and rarely fail to learn the lessons given to them. 
 
 Grammar, geography, and the branches of science 
 now taught in common schools, were then unknown, and 
 not sought after. My old teacher, Robert W. Somer- 
 hays, an Englishman, was considered in our neighbor- 
 hood a prodigy of learning. After I had continued with 
 him for four or five years, he pronounced me a finished 
 scholar, and such indeed was I considered generally in 
 the neighborhood. This, with my natural love of letters, 
 fired my mind and increased my exertions to rise to 
 eminence. Being naturally ambitious to excel, the praises 
 lavished unsparingly upon me swelled my vanity, and 
 caused me to think myself a little above mediocrity. 
 
 From the time I was able to read, I took great delight 
 in books, and preferred them to any company, and often 
 retired from my young companions to indulge in the 
 pleasure of reading. But books of science were the 
 rarest articles in our country, and, in fact, were not to 
 be found in our backwoods. Nothing but a few novels, 
 as "Peregrine Pickle," "Tom Jones," "Roderic Random," 
 and such trash, could I obtain. These were poor helps, 
 and yet from reading these my ardent thirst for knowl- 
 edge increased. The Bible we had ; but this, being the 
 only book read in our schools, had become so familiar by 
 constantly reading it there that I wished variety. Here 
 I wish to leave my testimony in favor of making the 
 Bible a school-book. By this means the young mind 
 receives information and impressions which are not 
 erased through life. The Bible, not read in school, is 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 117 
 
 seldom read afterwards. To this, as one leading cause, 
 may be attributed the present growth of infidelity and 
 skepticism then scarcely known and never openly avowed 
 in all our country. 
 
 As soon as liberty from the yoke of Britain was 
 achieved, the priests' salaries were abolished, and our 
 parsons generally left us, and many returned to England. 
 Every man did what seemed right in his own eyes ; wick- 
 edness abounded, the Lord's Day was converted into a 
 day of pleasure, and the house of worship deserted. A 
 few Baptist preachers came in amongst us, some of 
 whom I well remember ; as, Samuel Harris, Dutton Lane, 
 S. Cantrell, etc. They began to preach to the people, and 
 great effects followed. Multitudes attended their minis- 
 trations and many were immersed. Immersion was so 
 novel in those parts that many from a distance were 
 incited to come to see the ordinance administered. 
 
 I was a constant attendant and was particularly inter- 
 ested to hear the converts giving in their experience. Of 
 their conviction and great distress for sin, they were very 
 particular in giving an account, and how and when they 
 obtained deliverance from their burdens. Some were 
 delivered by a droam, a vision, or some uncommon 
 appearance of light; some by a voice spoken to them, 
 "Thy sins are forgiven thee," and others by seeing the 
 Saviour with their natural eyes. Such experiences were 
 considered good by the church, and the subjects of them 
 were received for baptism and into full fellowship. Great 
 and good was the reformation in society. Knowing noth- 
 ing better. I considered this to be the work of God and 
 the way of salvation. The preachers had the art of 
 affecting their hearers by a tuneful or singing voice in 
 preaching 
 
 About this time came in a few Methodist preachers. 
 
n8 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 Their appearance was prepossessing — grave, holy, meek, 
 plain .and humble. Their very presence checked levity in 
 all around them — their zeal was fervent and unaffected, 
 and their preaching was often electric on the congrega- 
 tion and fixed their attention. The Episcopalians and 
 Baptists began to oppose them with great warmth. The 
 Baptists represented them as denying the doctrines of 
 grace and of preaching salvation by works. They pub- 
 licly declared them to be the locusts of the Apocalypse, 
 and warned the people against receiving them. Poor 
 Methodists ! They were then but few, reproached, mis- 
 represented, and persecuted as unfit to live on the earth. 
 My mind was much agitated, and was vacillating between 
 these two parties. For some time I had been in the habit 
 of retiring in secret, morning and evening, for prayer, 
 with an earnest desire for religion ; but, being ignorant 
 of what I ought to do, I became discouraged, and quit 
 praying, and engaged in the youthful sports of the day. 
 My father's will was that when I, the youngest child, 
 should arrive at the age of twenty-one years, his estate 
 should be equally divided among his children, except the 
 part bequeathed to my mother. When I was fifteen or 
 sixteen years of age, my three elder brothers were 
 grown, and about to start into the world penniless. It 
 was proposed that a division of our property be made. 
 To this I willingly acceded, and it was accordingly done 
 to the satisfaction of all. When my part was assigned 
 me, my mind was absorbed day and night in devising 
 some plan to improve it. At length I came to the deter- 
 mination to acquire, if possible, a liberal education, and 
 thus qualify myself for a barrister. I communicated my 
 mind to my mother and brothers, who all cordially ap- 
 proved of my purpose, and gave the promise of pecu- 
 niary aid should I need it. 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 119 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Enters Guilford Academy — Embraces Christianity among the 
 Presbyterians — Completes his academic course. 
 
 Having determined on my future course, I bade fare- 
 well to my mother, brothers, companions and neighbors 
 and directed my way to a noted academy" in Guilford, 
 North Carolina, under the direction of Dr. David Cald- 
 well. Here I commenced the Latin grammar the first 
 day of February, 1790. With the ardor of Eneas' son, I 
 commenced with the full purpose to acquire an educa- 
 tion, or die in the attempt. With such a mind, every 
 obstacle can be surmounted in the affairs of life. I 
 stripped myself of every hindrance for the course — 
 denied myself of strong food, lived chiefly on milk and 
 vegetables, and allowed myself but six or seven hours in 
 the twenty- four for sleep. By such indefatigable appli- 
 cation to study, as might be expected, I passed several 
 classes, until I came up with one of equal application, 
 with which I continued through. the whole of our aca- 
 demic course. 
 
 When I first entered the academy, there had been, 
 and then was, a great religious excitement. About thirty 
 or more of the students had lately embraced religion 
 under the ministration of James McGready, a Presby- 
 terian preacher of exceeding popularity, piety and en- 
 gagedness. ■ I was not a little surprised to find those 
 pious students assembled every morning before the hour 
 of recitation and engaged in singing and praying in a 
 private room. Their daily walk evinced to me their sin- 
 cere piety and happiness. This was a source of uneasi- 
 
120 THE CANE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 ness to my mind, and frequently brought me to serious 
 reflection. I labored to banish these serious thoughts, 
 believing that religion would impede my progress in 
 learning — would thwart the object I had in view, and 
 expose me to the frowns of my relatives and companions. 
 I therefore associated with that part of the students who 
 made light of divine things, and joined with them in 
 their jests at the pious. For this my conscience severely 
 upbraided me when alone, and made me so unhappy that 
 I could neither enjoy the company of the pious nor of 
 the impious. 
 
 I now began seriously to think it would be better for 
 me to remove from this academy, and go to Hampdenr 
 Sidney College, in Virginia ; for no other reason than 
 that I might get away from the constant sight of religion. 
 I had formed the resolution and had determined to start 
 the next morning, but was prevented by a very stormy 
 day. I remained in my room during that day, and came 
 to the firm resolution to pursue my studies there, attend 
 to my own business, and let every one pursue his own 
 way. From this I have learned that the most effectual 
 way to conquer the depraved heart is the constant ex- 
 hibition of piety and a godly life in the professors of 
 religion. 
 
 Having formed this resolution, I was settled for a 
 short time, until my roommate, Benjamin McReynolds, 
 a pious young Virginian, politely asked me to walk with 
 him a short distance in the neighborhood to hear a cer- 
 tain preacher. T consented and walked with him. A 
 crowd of people had assembled, the preacher came; it 
 was James McGready, whom I had never seen before. 
 He rose and looked around on the assembly. His person 
 was not prepossessing, nor his appearance interesting, 
 except his remarkable gravity and small, piercing eyes. 
 
LIFE OF BARTOX W. STONE 121 
 
 His coarse, tremulous voice excited in me the idea of 
 something unearthly. His gestures were sui generis, the 
 perfect reverse of elegance. Everything appeared by 
 him forgotten but the salvation of souls. Such earnest- 
 ness, such zeal, such powerful persuasion, enforced by 
 the joys of heaven and miseries of hell, I had never wit- 
 nessed before. My mind was chained by him, and fol- 
 lowed him closely in his rounds of heaven, earth and 
 hell with feelings indescribable. His concluding remarks 
 were addressed to the sinner to flee the wrath to come 
 without delay. Never before had I comparatively felt 
 the force of truth. Such was my excitement that, had I 
 been standing, I should have probably sunk to the floor 
 under the impression. 
 
 The meeting over, I returned to my room. Night 
 coming on, I walked out into an open field, and seriously 
 reasoned with myself on the all-important subject of 
 religion. What shall I do ? Shall I embrace religion 
 now or not? I impartially weighed the subject, and 
 counted the cost. If I embrace religion, I must incur 
 the displeasure of my dear relatives, lose the favor and 
 company of my companions — become the object of their 
 scorn and ridicule — relinquish all my plans and schemes 
 for worldly honor, wealth and preferment, and bid a final 
 adieu to all the pleasures in which I had lived, and hoped 
 to live, on earth. Are you willing to make this sacrifice 
 to religion? No, no, was the answer of my heart. Then 
 the certain alternative is, you must be damned. Are you 
 willing to be damned — to be banished from God — from 
 heaven — from all good — and suffer the pains of eternal 
 fire? After due deliberation, I resolved from that 
 hour to seek religion at the sacrifice of every earthly 
 good, and immediately prostrated myself before God in 
 supplication for mercy. 
 
122 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 According to the preaching and the experience of the 
 pious in those days, I anticipated a long and painful 
 struggle before I should be prepared to come to Christ; 
 or. in the language then used, before I should get relig- 
 ion. This anticipation was completely realized by me. 
 For one year I was tossed on the waves of uncertainty — 
 laboring, praying and striving to obtain saving faith — 
 sometimes desponding, and almost despairing, of ever 
 getting it. 
 
 The doctrines then publicly taught were that mankind 
 were so totally depraved that they could not believe, 
 repent nor obey the gospel — that regeneration was an 
 immediate work of the Spirit, whereby faith and repent- 
 ance were wrought in the heart. These things were por- 
 trayed in vivid colors, with all earnestness and solemity. 
 Now was not then, the accepted time — now was not 
 then, the day of salvation ; but it was God's own sov- 
 ereign time, and for that time the sinner must wait. 
 
 In February, 1791, with many of my fellow-students, 
 I went some distance to a meeting on Sandy River, in 
 Virginia. J. B. Smith, president of Hampden-Sidney 
 College ; Cairy Allen, James Blythe, Robert Marshall and 
 James McGready were there. On Lord's Day President 
 Smith spoke on these words : ''The sacrifices of God are 
 a broken spirit ; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou 
 wilt not despise." In his description of a broken and 
 contrite heart, I felt my own described. Hope began to 
 rise, and my sorrow-worn heart felt a gleam of joy. Fie 
 urged all of this character to approach the Lord's table 
 that day on pain of his sore displeasure. For the first 
 time I partook of the Lord's Supper. In the evening the 
 honest J. McGready addressed the people from "Tekel, 
 thou art weighed in the balances, and art found want- 
 ing." He went through all the legal works of the sinner 
 
LIFE OF BARTON IV. STONE 123 
 
 — all the hiding-places of the hypocrite — all the resting- 
 places of the deceived — he drew the character of the 
 regenerated in the deepest colors, and thundered divine 
 anathemas against every other. Before he closed his 
 discourse I had lost all hope, all feeling, and had sunk 
 into an indescribable apathy. He soon after inquired of 
 me the state of my mind. I honestly told him. He 
 labored to arouse me from my torpor by the terrors of 
 God and the horrors of hell. I told him his labors were 
 lost upon me — that I was entirely callous. He left me 
 in this gloomy state without one encouraging word. 
 
 In this state I remained for several weeks. I wan- 
 dered alone, my strength failed me, and sighs and groans 
 filled my days. My relatives in Virginia heard of my 
 situation and sent for me. My altered appearance sur- 
 prised them. My old mother took me in private and 
 asked what was the matter. I told her all. She wept 
 much. She had always been a praying woman and a 
 member of the Church of England; but from this time 
 she more earnestly sought the Lord, united with the 
 Methodists, and lived and died a Christian. My visit 
 proved to be a blessing to several of my relatives, who 
 were awakened to a sense of their dangerous condition 
 and inclined to turn to the Lord. 
 
 After a few days' stay in Virginia, I returned to the 
 academy in the same state of mind. Soon after I 
 attended a meeting at Alamance, in Guilford County. 
 Great was the excitement among the people. On the 
 Lord's Day evening a strange young preacher, William 
 Hodge, addressed the people. His text I shall never for- 
 get : "God is love." With much animation and with 
 many tears he spoke of the love of God to sinners, and of 
 what that love had done for sinners. My heart warmed 
 with love for that lovely character described, and momen- 
 
124 THE CAKE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOVSE 
 
 tary hope and joy would rise in my troubled breast. My 
 mind was absorbed in the doctrine — to me it appeared 
 new. But the common admonition, "Take heed lest you 
 be deceived," would quickly repress them. This can not 
 be the mighty work of the Spirit which you must experi- 
 ence — that instantaneous work of almighty power which, 
 like an electric shock, is to renew the soul and bring it 
 to Christ. 
 
 The discourse being ended, I immediately retired to 
 the woods alone with my Bible. Here I read and prayed 
 with various feelings, between hope and fear. But the 
 truth I had just heard, "God is love," prevailed. Jesus 
 came to seek and save the lost — "Him that cometh unto 
 me, I will in nowise cast out." I yielded and sank at his 
 feet a willing subject. I loved him — I adored him — I 
 praised him aloud in the silent night, in the echoing 
 grove around. I confessed to the Lord my sin and folly 
 in disbelieving his word so long, and in following so long 
 the devices of men. I now saw that a poor sinner was 
 as much authorized to believe in Jesus at first as at last — 
 that now was the accepted time and day of salvation. 
 
 From this time till I finished my course of learning I 
 lived devoted to God. The study of the dead languages 
 and of the sciences was not irksome, but pleasant, from 
 the consideration that I was engaged in them for the 
 glory to God, to whom I had unreservedly devoted my 
 all. During this period a few incidents transpired which 
 were severe trials of my faith. My expenses for board- 
 ing, tuition, clothing, books, etc., were considerable, far 
 more than T had anticipated. My funds were nearly 
 exhausted ; my small patrimony had suffered loss. I 
 could not procure decent clothes or books or things indis- 
 pensably necessary. I had serious thoughts of relinquish- 
 ing my studies, and mentioned it to my good friend and 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 125 
 
 father, Dr. Caldwell. He urged me to go forward, and 
 promised to wait with me till I should be able to pay b : m. 
 Encouraged by him, I renewed my application through 
 difficulties great till I had finished my course of studies. 
 
126 THE CAXE RIDGE MEET1XG-H01SE 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Becomes a candidate for the ministry — Studies theology under 
 Mr. Hodge, of North Carolina — Abandons, for a time, his 
 theological studies — Visits Georgia — Is appointed professor 
 of languages in a Methodist academy near Washington — 
 Returns to North Carolina — Resumes his theological studies 
 — Is licensed by Orange Presbytery, and sent to preach in 
 the lower part of the State — Is discouraged — Leaves his 
 field of labor and directs his course westward — A variety 
 of incidents on his journey to Nashville. 
 
 Having finished my academic course, I advised with 
 my good friend Dr. Caldwell with regard to my future 
 career. I made known to him my great desire to preach 
 the gospel, but that I had no assurance of being divinely 
 called and sent. He removed my scruples on this sub- 
 ject, by assuring me that I had no right to expect a 
 miracle to convince me, and that if I had a hearty desire 
 to glorify God and save sinners by preaching, and if my 
 fathers in the ministry should encourage me, I should 
 hesitate no longer. He was glad to hear of my desire, 
 and, in order to expedite my licensure, he gave me a text, 
 and requested me to write a discourse upon it, and pre- 
 sent it to the next presbytery, when T should offer myself 
 a candidate for the ministry. By doing this I should be 
 set forward six months. 
 
 In the year 1793, I, with several more of my fellow- 
 students, became a candidate for the ministry in the 
 Orange Presbytery. Samuel Holmes, a prodigy of genius 
 (afterwards president of the North Carolina Univer- 
 sity ) , and myself put ourselves under the direction of 
 William Hodge, of Orange County, North Carolina. The 
 
LIFE OF BART OX W. STOXE 127 
 
 presbytery had assigned us particular subjects of divinity 
 to study, as parts of trial, against their next stated 
 session, among which were the being and attributes of 
 God and the Trinity, with certain theses on which to 
 write. We commenced in high spirits. "Witsius on the 
 Trinity" was put into our hands. I had never before 
 read any books on theology but the Bible. This had been 
 my daily companion since I became seriously disposed to 
 religion. From it I had received all my little stock of 
 divinity. It was my life, my comfort and guide. In fact, 
 by my close attention to other studies, I had but little 
 time and opportunity to read anything else. My mind 
 had remained happily ignorant of and undisturbed by 
 polemic and obscure divinity. The doctrine of the Trin- 
 ity may have been occasionally glanced at by our preach- 
 ers, but was never made the subject of a discourse in 
 my hearing. 
 
 Witsius would first prove that there was but one God, 
 and then that there were three persons in this one God, 
 the Father, Son and Holy Ghost — that the Father was 
 unbegotten, the Son eternally begotten, and the Holy 
 Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son 
 — that it was idolatry to worship more gods than one, 
 and yet equal worship must be given to the Father, the 
 Son and Holy Ghost. He wound up all in incompre- 
 hensible mystery. My mind became confused, so much 
 confused that I knew not how to pray. Till now secret 
 prayer and meditation had been my delightful employ. 
 It was a heaven on earth to approach my God and 
 Saviour, but now this heavenly exercise was checked 
 and gloominess and fear filled my troubled mind. I had 
 serious thoughts of relinquishing the study of theology 
 entirely, and of engaging in some other business. I made 
 known my case to my fellow-student, S. Holmes, but to 
 
128 THE CANE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 none else. He acknowledged that his mind was similarly 
 affected. We laid the book aside as unprofitable as well 
 as unintelligible to us — calculated to involve our minds 
 in mystic darkness, and to cool the ardor of our devotion. 
 We heard of Dr. Watts' treatise on the subject. We 
 sought for it, and obtained it. This we read with pleas- 
 ure and understanding and received his views. 
 
 The next session of our presbytery came on. We 
 with many other candidates attended. Old Father Patillo 
 was there, who himself embraced Watts' views on the 
 Trinity. The examination of the candidates" on theology 
 was laid on him. When he came to the subject of Trin- 
 ity, he was very short, and his interrogatories involved 
 no peculiarities of the system. Our answers were honest 
 and satisfactory. The reasons why he was so short and 
 indefinite on this subject were doubtless to prevent de- 
 bate on the subject in presbytery, and to maintain peace 
 among its members. 
 
 Before the next session of the presbytery, when we 
 were to receive licensure, my mind had become much 
 depressed, from various causes. My pecuniary resources 
 had failed and none of my relatives were willing to aid 
 me. Having been so long engaged and confined to the 
 study of systematic divinity from the Calvinistic mold, 
 my zeal, comfort and spiritual life became considerably 
 abated. My mind was embarrassed with many abstruse 
 doctrines, which I admitted as true, yet could not satis- 
 factorily reconcile with others which were plainly taught 
 in the Bible. For these causes I became so depressed in 
 mind that I determined to give up the idea of preaching, 
 and engage in some other calling. 
 
 With this determination, I collected my last resources 
 of money (about fifteen dollars) and started alone to the 
 State of Georgia. W r hen I had gone half my journey, I 
 
LIFE OF BARTON IV. STONE 129 
 
 was suddenly seized with a violent fever. Being scarce 
 of money, and entirely among strangers, I determined to 
 travel on. One day the fever rose so high that I was 
 bereft of reason, and found by a philanthropist sitting on 
 my horse, which was feeding by the side of the road. 
 He took me to his house, where I remained till the next 
 morning, when the fever had considerably abated and my 
 senses were restored. Contrary to good advice, I started 
 on my journey, and with much pain arrived at my 
 brother Matthew Stone's in Georgia, Oglethorpe County. 
 Here I remained sick for several months. 
 
 The Methodists had just established an academy near 
 Washington, under the superintendence of a Mr. Hope 
 Hull, a very distinguished preacher of that denomina- 
 tion. Through the influence of my brothers, I was chosen 
 professor of languages. We commenced with about sev- 
 enty students about the beginning of 1795. I exerted 
 myself to fill the appointment with honor to myself and 
 profit to my pupils, and had the unspeakable satisfaction 
 of receiving the approbation of the trustees of the insti- 
 tution and of the literati of the country. Men of letters 
 were few at that time, especially in that part of the 
 world, and were regarded with more than common 
 respect. The marked attention paid me by the most 
 respectable part of the community was nearly my ruin. 
 Invitations to tea parties and social circles were frequent. 
 I attended them for awhile, until I found that this course 
 would cause me to make shipwreck of faith and a good 
 conscience. Though I still maintained the profession of 
 religion, and did not disgrace it by improper conduct, yet 
 my devotion was cold and communion with God much 
 interrupted. Seeing my danger, I denied myself of these 
 fascinating pleasures, and determined to live more de- 
 voted to God. 
 
i 3 o THE CANE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOL'SE 
 
 I constantly attended on the ministrations of Mr. 
 Springer, a very zealous Presbyterian preacher, near 
 Washington. With him I became intimate, and to him 
 was warmly attached. By his discourses I was always 
 profited, and began to feel a very strong desire again to 
 preach the gospel. These impressions I resisted and 
 labored to suppress; the consequence of which was that 
 my comforts were destroyed. At length I determined to 
 resume my theological studies and prepare myself for the 
 ministry. 
 
 About this time a great many Frenchmen, who had 
 fled from the reign of terror in France, landed in 
 Georgia. Washington was full of them. The trustees 
 of the academy employed one of them, Francois Aubir, 
 to teach the French language. With him I learned the 
 language more perfectly, having acquired some knowl- 
 edge of it before with a certain Dr. Hale, of North 
 Carolina. 
 
 In the winter of 1795, I accompanied a number of 
 Methodist preachers to a general conference at Charles- 
 ton, South Carolina. Hope Hull was among them. It 
 was a pleasant journey, and our stay in the city was 
 highly agreeable. The road from the Black Swamp to 
 Charleston was surpassed by none in the world for 
 beauty and goodness. It was perfectly level and straight. 
 On each side it was beautified with evergreens in the 
 swamps, and with stately, long-leaf pines and pendent 
 muss on the sands and dry ground. 
 
 Having returned tc Washington, I continued to teach 
 till the spring of 1796. Then, having resigned my pro- 
 fessorship to the trustees, I started back to Xorth 
 Carolina, with a determination to receive from Orange 
 Presbytery a license to preach. I had now more than 
 enough money to discharge all my debts. The day of 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 131 
 
 my departure was a day of sorrow. I bade an affec- 
 tionate farewell to my pupils and numerous friends and 
 hurried off alone. Nothing of moment occurred in my 
 solitary journey till 1 arrived at the presbytery. Here I 
 met with many of my warm friends, and our joyful salu- 
 tation was mutual. 
 
 At this presbytery I, with several other candidates, 
 received license. Never shall I forget the impressions 
 made on my mind when a venerable old father addressed 
 the candidates, standing up together before the presby- 
 tery. After the address he presented to each of the 
 candidates the Bible (not the Confession of Faith), with 
 this solemn charge, "Go ye into all the world, and preach 
 the gospel to every creature." Appointments were then 
 made for us. Robert Foster and myself, licensed at the 
 same time, were appointed to ride and preach in the 
 lower parts of the State, till the next stated presbytery. 
 After adjournment I proceeded to my mother's, in Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 Having remained at my mother's a short time, I 
 returned to North Carolina, and met with my colleague, 
 R. Foster, and, having preached together, we proceeded 
 to our destination in the lower parts of the State, where 
 we arrived in a few days, and made our appointments 
 for the Lord's Day following. While we were waiting 
 for our first appointment, my companion came to the 
 determination to. preach no more, and in this purpose he 
 remained through life, for he never after attempted it. 
 His reason was that he was not qualified for such a 
 solemn work. This was the prevailing argument I had 
 brought against myself: and now, coming from one 
 against himself, whom I viewed my superior, I sank 
 under it, and secretly resolved to leave that field and seek 
 some distant country, where I should be a perfect 
 
132 THE CAKE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOVSE 
 
 stranger. Florida was then in my view. Xext morning, 
 while my companion was absent, I mounted my horse 
 and started alone. This was on Saturday, in the begin- 
 ning of May, 1796. 
 
 On the Lord's Day I attended a meeting in the neigh- 
 borhood where I had lodged the night before. A pious 
 old lady was there and knew me. She suspected my 
 intentions, and told me plainly that she feared I was act- 
 ing the part of Jonah — solemnly warned me of the dan- 
 ger, and advised me, if I disliked the lower parts of the 
 State, to go over the mountains to the west. This advice 
 pleased me, and determined me at once for the west. In 
 the evening of that day, to my surprise, I saw Robert 
 Foster in the congregation. He approached me and 
 gently upbraided me for leaving him. I told him my 
 determination to go to the west. He immediately agreed 
 to accompany me. Xext morning we started without 
 naming to any one our destination. 
 
 We quickly got into the region of strangers, and 
 wished to remain among such through life — to such a 
 low state had our minds fallen. Having crossed the 
 mountain at the flower gap, and Xew River at Herbert's 
 Ferry, we were jogging leisurely along the way to Fort 
 Chiswell, when, passing a small house on the roadside, a 
 man hailed us and ran out to us. He was an intimate 
 acquaintance and a pious brother, Captain Sanders, from 
 North Carolina. He was moving his family to Cumber- 
 land, but by some accident was obliged to abide where 
 he was for one season. He constrained us to tarry with 
 him, and said, "You must preach for us next Sabbath at 
 the Presbyterian meeting-house," not far distant. We 
 both refused, but at length consented that he might make 
 an appointment for worship, and we would attend and 
 worship with them. 
 
LIFE OF BARTON IV. STONE I33 
 
 On Lord's Day a large congregation met at Grimes' 
 meeting-house on Reed Creek., With great difficulty I 
 was prevailed on to ascend the pulpit. While singing 
 and praying my mind was happily relieved, and I was 
 enabled to speak with boldness and with profit to the 
 people. I was pressingly solicited for another appoint- 
 ment. This congregation, and several more in the county 
 (Wythe, Virginia), were all entirely destitute of preach- 
 ing. I prevailed on my companion to tarry another week, 
 and afterwards we would push forward, we knew not 
 where. I made several appointments for the ensuing 
 week — one at Smith's meeting-house, near Samuel 
 Ewen's, an Israelite in whom was no guile ; another at 
 Colonel Austin's, the proprietor of the lead mines on 
 Xew River. The urgent and affectionate entreaties of 
 the people for me to abide with them for awhile pre- 
 vailed, and I made a number of appointments. My 
 companion determined to leave me, journeying to the 
 west. On May 23, 1796, he left me. The separation 
 was painful, nor did we know where or when we should 
 ever meet in this world. 
 
 I continued in Wythe and Montgomery Counties, 
 preaching frequently, till July. The people were atten- 
 tive, kind and liberal, yet I greatly desired to go forward 
 to the west, and bade them farewell, never expecting to 
 visit them again. That night, according to a previous 
 promise, I lodged with Mr. Stonger, a Dutch Lutheran 
 minister. I was kindly received and entertained. I find 
 in my journal, written at that time, these Latin words: 
 Nocte pulices me dcturbant, ct somnum fugant. Tacdct 
 me vitae. 
 
 The next day I journeyed forward, and at night came 
 to Mr. Thomas', on South Holstein. I had inquired into 
 the character of the family before I came there. I was 
 
i 34 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 informed that they were a very religious family of Bap- 
 tists — that the old lady and daughter were very zealous. 
 My horse being put away. 1 went into the house and sat 
 down in silence. The old lady and daughter were busily 
 spinning, and the old gentleman in conversation with 
 another aged man. One of them observed to the other 
 that a discovery had been lately made that if the logs of 
 a house be cut in the full moon of February, a bedbug 
 would never molest that house. I was so well pleased 
 with the idea of unhousing these filthy, hateful vermin 
 that I broke silence, and felicitated the country on this 
 happy discovery. I then asked whether any discovery 
 had been made for banishing fleas from a house. I was 
 answered in the negative. "That is a pity," said I ; "for I 
 have heard of such a place as hell; but if hell is worse 
 than to be bedded with ten thousand fleas, it must be a 
 dreadful place." This, as I intended, roused the mother 
 and daughter. "Yes," said the old lady, "there is a hell, 
 and if you do not repent and be converted, you will find 
 it to your eternal sorrow." The daughter zealously sanc- 
 tioned these awful declarations, and both of them afrec- 
 tionately exhorted me to repentance in many words. For 
 some minutes they gave me no opportunity to respond. 
 At length I smilingly said, "You are Christians, I sup- 
 pose ; Christianity may be a good thing, but, madam, 
 there are strange things in that system hard to be under- 
 stood. I heard a man lately preach that a man must be 
 born again before he could get to heaven ; now, do you 
 believe this?" "Yes, I do," said she, calling me an igno- 
 rant Nicodemus. "Do, madam, tell me what it is to be 
 born again." She described it well, and really felt for 
 my supposed condition. I stated many common cavils 
 against the doctrine, which she answered with intelli- 
 gence. Wearied with my supposed infidelity, she ceased 
 
LIFE OF BARTOX W. STOXE 135 
 
 to talk. The old man took a candle and invited me to 
 bed. I observed to him. "I wish to hear you pray first, 
 for Christians always pray in their families evening and 
 morning." He was thunder-stricken and walked the floor 
 backwards and forward:., deeply groaning. The old lady 
 laid the Bible en the table; still he walked and groaned. 
 1 then said. "If you will not pray, I will try." I then 
 advanced to the table, read, sung and prayed, and imme- 
 diately retired to bed. Next morning I rose early, and 
 was met at the door of the stairs by the mocher and 
 daughter. They gently reproved me for my deception, 
 apologized for their conduct, and dismissed me with their 
 blessings. 
 
 I started in the morning early on my journey to 
 Cumberland, and on Saturday night lodged near wdiere 
 Edward Crawford, a Presbyterian minister, lived, on 
 Holstein. On Sunday I attended his meeting, a perfect 
 stranger, and determined to remain so till after worship. 
 Here, to my astonishment, I saw my companion, Robert 
 Foster, who had stopped in that neighborhood and was 
 teaching a school. He proposed introducing me to the 
 preacher. I declined an introduction till after worship. 
 He would do it, and the consequence was I had to preach. 
 On Holstein I tarried several days, and formed some 
 valuable acquaintances, among whom Samuel Edmonson 
 and his brother were pre-eminent. Xear them is the 
 Ebbing Spring, to me a great natural curiosity. 
 
 I left my companion, R. Foster, whom I saw no more 
 for many years. Our last interview was in Tennessee, 
 scon after which he died. I journeyed solitarily along to 
 Knoxville. and went to the house of rendezvous for trav- 
 elers through the wilderness to Nashville. Traveling 
 through the wilderness was yet considered dangerous 
 because of the Indians. But two travelers were at the 
 
136 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 house waiting for company. 1 was overpersuaded by 
 them to venture through. Having laid up our provision 
 
 for ourselves and horses, we left Knoxville, August 14, 
 1796. 
 
 My two companions were of very different tempera- 
 ments. ( me was a West Tennesseean, a large, coarse 
 backwoodsman and Indian lighter of great courage : the 
 other was a South Carolinian, the greatest coward I ever 
 saw. We chose the Tennesseean for our captain and 
 leader. Nothing of any note happened until we had 
 crossed Clinch River. About sunset we discovered fifteen 
 or twenty Indians about a hundred yards distant from us 
 on the edge of a canebreak. They sprang up. Our 
 leader said to us. "Follow me." and rode on with a quick 
 pace. We followed with equal speed for several miles, 
 then slacked our gait for a council. It was concluded 
 that the Indians would pursue us, but if they had no 
 dogs we could evade them. The Cumberland Mountain 
 was but a few miles ahead ; we knew that we could not 
 ascend it at night without danger to ourselves and horses, 
 therefore concluded to turn off the road a short distance 
 at the foot of the mountain and lie concealed till morn- 
 ing. According to this arrangement, we cautiously rode 
 to the mountain, turned aside into a thick brushwood, 
 tied our horses, and laid down on our blankets to rest. 
 Being much fatigued, I slept so soundly that I did not 
 perceive a shower of rain, which had awaked the other 
 two and driven them off to seek shelter. At length I 
 awoke and missed my company. Everything was pro- 
 foundly silent, except the wolves and foxes in the moun- 
 tain. My feelings were unpleasant. I almost concluded 
 that the Indians had surprised them, and that they had 
 fled. I remembered that the same God who had always 
 protected me was present, and could protect me still. To 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 137 
 
 him I humbly commended myself, laid down again, and 
 securely slept till day, when I saw my companions about 
 a hundred yards off, sheltered by a large tree. I blamed 
 them for leaving me thus exposed to the ravening beasts 
 around. 
 
 In climbing the mountain that morning, my horse lost 
 one of his fore shoes. At this I was troubled, knowing 
 that it would be almost impossible to get him to the 
 settlement in Cumberland. He soon became very lame. 
 I applied to the Tennesseean to let me ride his pack- 
 horse, and put his pack on mine. He unfeelingly re- 
 fused. I trotted after my horse, and drove him along 
 after the company, till I was overcome by weariness. 
 They neither permitted me to ride their horses, nor 
 slacked their pace, and finally rode off, and left me alone 
 in the wilderness. I traveled leisurely along afoot, driv- 
 ing my horse before me, vexed at the baseness of my 
 company in leaving me alone in this manner. 
 
 I had now arrived at the frontier settlement of West 
 Tennessee, on Bledsoe's Creek, at the cabin of Major 
 White. Here I was kindly entertained, and rested sev- 
 eral days, and then proceeded to Shilch, near where Gal- 
 latin now stands. Here I joyfully met with many old 
 friends and brethren, who had lately moved from Caro- 
 lina, among whom were my fellow-students and fellow- 
 laborers, William McGee and John Anderson, the latter 
 of whom agreed to travel and preach with me through 
 all the settlements of Cumberland. A length of time was 
 not then required to do this, for the settlements extended 
 but a few miles from Nashville, which at that time was a 
 poor little village, hardly worth notice. 
 
 Among other settlements visited by us was that on 
 Mansker's Creek. Here we often preached to respect- 
 able and large assemblies from a stand erected by the 
 
138 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 people in a shady grove. At the same time a dancing 
 master was lecturing the youth in the neighborhood in 
 his art. This I evidently saw was drawing their attention 
 from religion. I spoke my mind publicly and freely 
 against the practice, and boldly and zealously protested 
 against it. Some of the youth withdrew from his lec- 
 tures, which highly exasperated the teacher. He swore 
 he would whip me the next time I preached there. I 
 came to my appointment, and so did he with a band of 
 ruffians, armed with clubs, and stood in a half circle 
 before me while preaching, in striking distance Un- 
 appalled at their menaces, I proceeded in my discourse, 
 nor did I forget the dancers, but drubbed them without 
 mercy. The bandits soon saw that the gaze of the con- 
 gregation was upon them. Like cowards, they sneaked 
 off, one by one, and disappeared. 
 
 At the same place, and at another time, I was publicly 
 attacked by an old deist, immediately after I had closed 
 my discourse and descended from the stand. lie walked 
 up to me and said, "I suppose you know me, sir." "No, 
 sir," said I, "I have no knowledge of you." "I am Burns, 
 the celebrated deist of this neighborhood." "Mr. Burns," 
 said I, "I am sorry to hear you boast of your infidelity ; 
 pray, sir. inform me what is a deist?" Said he, "The 
 man that believes there is but one God." "Sir." said I, 
 "this is my belief, taught me by the Bible. But, sir, what 
 is the character of your God?" "I believe," said he, "that 
 he is infinitely good, just and merciful." "Whence. Mr. 
 Burns, did you gain this information?" "From the book 
 of nature," said he. "Mr. Burns, please to show me the 
 page in that book which declares that God is infinitely 
 good." "Why," said he, "all nature declares it. We see 
 the traces of goodness everywhere, hence I conclude that 
 God, the great Governor of the universe, is infinitely 
 
LIFE OF BARTON IV. STONE 139 
 
 good." "Mr. Burns, please turn your eye on the opposite 
 page of your book, and see the miseries, and attend to 
 the groans of the millions who are suffering and dying 
 every moment. You must conclude, from your own- 
 premises, that God, the great Governor of the universe, 
 is al-o infinitely evil and malevolent. Your God, Mr. 
 Burns, is infinitely good, and infinitely evil — a perfect 
 contradiction ! You must be an atheist, Mr. Burns, not 
 a deist. You said, also, that your book taught you that 
 God was infinitely just. Please show me the page in 
 your book that teaches this doctrine." Said he, "It is 
 evident from this that there is a principle of justice in 
 every man ; therefore I conclude that God, the Maker of 
 all men, must be infinitely just." "Mr. Burns, I can show 
 you in your own book as many men of unjust principles 
 as you can men of just principles. Then it follows, from 
 your premises, that God, the Maker, is infinitely just and 
 infinitely unjust. Surely, Mr. Burns, atheism is your 
 creed! But, sir, look here, on this page of your book. 
 Here is a good citizen, a good husband, a good father, 
 acknowledged such by all; yet his whole life is full of 
 suffering, pain and want. Here also is a bad citizen, a 
 bad husband, a bad father, acknowledged such by all ; 
 yet he is free from pain and wallows in wealth. How 
 can you reconcile this with the infinite justice of God, the 
 great Governor of the universe?" Air. Burns' lips quiv- 
 ered, the whole congregation intensely listening. "Oh," 
 says he, "just rewards" will be given in another world." 
 "But, Mr. Burns, your book nowhere teaches this doc- 
 trine; you have stolen it from our Bible." "Sir," said 
 he, "I will see you at another time." and retired in con- 
 fusion, the congregation smiling approbation at his de- 
 feat. 
 
 My colleague, J. Anderson, having preached through 
 
i 4 o THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 the settlements of West Tennessee, determined to visit 
 Kentucky. We had our last appointment in Father 
 Thomas Craighead's congregation, in which neighbor- 
 hood we had often preached. As we expected a large 
 and intelligent audience, we endeavored to prepare dis- 
 courses suitable to the occasion. My companion Ander- 
 son, first rose to preach from these words : "Without 
 holiness no man shall see the Lord." I shall never forget 
 his exordium, which, in fact, was also his peroration. 
 "Holiness/ 1 said he, "is a moral quality" — he paused, 
 having forgotten all his studied discourse. Confused, he 
 turned with staring eyes to address the other side of his 
 audience, and repeated with emphasis, "Holiness is a 
 moral quality," and, after a few incoherent words, he 
 paused again, and sat down. Astonished at the failure 
 of my brother, I arose and preached. He declared to me 
 afterwards that every idea had forsaken him ; that he 
 viewed it as from God, to humble his pride, as he had 
 expected to make a brilliant display of talent to that 
 assembly. I never remembered a sermon better, and to 
 me it has been very profitable ; for, from the hint given, 
 I was led to more correct views of the doctrines of origi- 
 nal sin and of regeneration. 
 
DAVID PURVIANpw. 
 
LIFE OF BAKTOX W. STONE 143 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Reaches Kentucky and settles in the close of the year 1796, as 
 the preacher of the congregations of Cane Ridge and Con- 
 cord, Bourbon County — Is appointed by Transylvania Pres- 
 bytery to visit the South, to solicit funds to establish a 
 college in Kentucky — From Charleston, South Carolina, he 
 visits his mother, and returns to Kentucky — In the fall of 
 1798 receives a call (which he accepts) from the united con- 
 gregations of Cane Ridge and Concord — A day is appointed 
 for his ordination — Refuses to receive the Confession of Faith 
 without qualification — Is nevertheless ordained. 
 
 Having finished our labors in Cumberland, we started 
 for Kentucky. We traveled through an extensive, unin- 
 habited tract of barrens, or prairies, but now a fine tim- 
 bered country, densely settled by wealthy farmers. We 
 continued to preach in Kentucky till the winter set in 
 severely. Brother Anderson stopped by invitation at 
 Ashridge, near Lexington, and I at Cane Ridge and Con- 
 cord, in Bourbon County. That winter, or early in the 
 spring, a letter of importance recalled my companion, 
 Anderson, to Carolina, whose face I have never since 
 seen. 
 
 In Cane Ridge and Concord I spent the chief of my 
 time, at the request of the congregations. I now learned 
 experimentally that the rambling course of preaching 
 which I had taken was of little profit to society and ruin- 
 ous to the mental improvement of young preachers. I 
 received the advice of my friends to become stationary 
 for awhile, and apply myself closely to reading and study. 
 I witnessed the good effects of this procedure, for many 
 were added to the churches within a few months — about 
 
144 THE CANE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 fifty in Concord and thirty in Cane Ridge. I became 
 much attached to these congregations, and was persuaded 
 that the attachment was reciprocal. I at length yielded 
 to their solicitations to become their settled and perma- 
 nent pastor. 
 
 Some unsettled business in Georgia demanded my 
 presence there. By the Transylvania Presbytery I was 
 solicited and appointed to visit Charleston, in South Caro- 
 lina, and endeavor to obtain money for the purpose of 
 establishing a college in our infant State. I accepted 
 the appointment, having determined from Charleston to 
 return through Virginia, and visit my mother and rela- 
 tions. 
 
 Marauding parties of Indians still infested travelers 
 in the wilderness between Kentucky and Virginia, so that 
 travelers always went in companies prepared for defense. 
 In the fall of 1797 I left Cane Ridge for Georgia, in 
 company with Henry Wilson, who, with a led horse 
 packed with silver, was going to Virginia on land busi- 
 ness. Having repaired to the house of rendezvous for 
 travelers at the Crab Orchard, we learned that a com- 
 pany had just left that place two hours before, with 
 intention to encamp at the Hazlepatch that night. We 
 instantly followed at a quick pace, determined to ride late 
 and overtake them. About ten o'clock we came to Hazle- 
 patch, but to our distress we found no one there. My 
 companion, being an early settler of Kentucky and often 
 engaged in war with the Indians, advised to turn off the 
 road some distance, and encamp till day. Having kindled 
 a fire, supped, hobbled our horses, and prayed together, 
 we laid down in our blankets to rest. But we were soon 
 aroused from our slumbers by the snorting and running 
 of our horses. We sprang up, and saw a fire about one 
 hundred and fifty yards below us, and in a moment it was 
 
LIFE OF BARTON IV. STOXE 145 
 
 pulled asunder ; as quickly did my companion pull ours 
 apart also. He whispered to me, "They are Indians after 
 our horses." We laid down again, not to sleep, but to 
 consult the best method of escape. We soon distinctly 
 heard an Indian cautiously walking on the dry leaves 
 towards our camp, about fifty yards off. Fearing he 
 might shoot us in our blankets, without noise we crept 
 into the bushes. Becoming very chilly there, and con- 
 trary to advice, I returned to my blanket, and was fol- 
 lowed by my companion. A short time after we heard 
 the Indian walk off in the same cautious manner. We 
 concealed the bag of money and most valuable goods and 
 hung up our blankets and bags of provisions over our 
 camp, and cautiously went towards the course our horses 
 had gone. When it was day, we found their trace, and 
 overtook them about eight o'clock, and rode back very 
 watchfully to our camp. When we came near, with diffi- 
 culty we compelled our horses to advance, they frequently 
 snorting and wheeling back. Every moment we expected 
 to be fired upon, but were mercifully preserved. We 
 packed up very quickly, and swiftly pursued the com- 
 pany, and late in the day came up with them. They 
 informed us that when they came to the Hazlepatch the 
 evening before they found a camp of white people, just 
 before defeated, several lying dead and mangled in In- 
 dian style : that they pushed forward and traveled late at 
 night. We clearly saw the kind hand of God in deliver- 
 ing us. 
 
 Having passed through the wilderness, our company 
 parted; some for Virginia, the rest, with myself, for 
 Georgia. After having settled my business, visited my 
 relations, and preached through the country for several 
 weeks, I started alone to Charleston. Nothing of note 
 happened in my journey, except that by my caution and 
 
146 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 the fleetness of my horse I escaped a band of robbers, 
 who attempted to stop me. I had been previously warned 
 of the danger in those dismal swamps between Augusta 
 and Charleston, and was therefore continually on my 
 guard. 
 
 Before I reached Charleston, I passed over Stone 
 River into John's and YVadmelaw Islands. There I 
 remained some days, and received the most friendly 
 attention of gentlemen professing religion, living in 
 splendid palaces, surrounded with a rich profusion of 
 luxuries, and of everything desirable ; these pleasures 
 were heightened by free, humble and pious conversation. 
 But in the midst of all this glory my soul sickened at the 
 sight of slavery in more horrid forms than I had ever 
 seen it before. Poor negroes ! Some chained to their 
 work, some wearing iron collars, all half naked, and fol- 
 lowed and driven by the merciless lash of a gentleman 
 overseer, distress appeared scowling in every face. This 
 was the exciting cause of my abandonment of slavery. 
 Having preached several times in the islands, I left my 
 horse on the island, and sailed over to Charleston by 
 water. I lodged with Dr. Hollinshead, a gentleman and 
 preacher of high standing. In the city I met with my 
 former friend and classmate, Samuel Holmes. It was a 
 joyful meeting. We visited the islands and country round 
 in company. I observed the great change in his former 
 simple manners and conversation. But few men can bear 
 prosperity and popularity so as to retain the humble spirit 
 of religion. In one of our excursions from the city in a 
 pleasure vessel, a strong gale fell on us, and tossed us 
 about tremendously on high waves. The scene was new 
 to me, and produced very unpleasant feelings. I noticed 
 the sailors, and saw in them no signs of fear. This 
 calmed my fears, and I remained composed. My com- 
 
LIFE Of BARTON W. STONE 147 
 
 panion, Holmes, manifested strong' symptoms of fear. 
 One of the sailors, knowing him to be a preacher, looked 
 at him, and with a laugh asked him if he was afraid to 
 go to heaven by water. I smiled, but not with a good 
 grace. 
 
 Having spent several weeks in the city and vicinity, 
 we started together. Holmes, myself and two others, to 
 the north. 
 
 I arrived in safety at my mother's in Virginia, and 
 found her still alive and enjoying health. But many of 
 my relatives -and friends were gone, some to the grave 
 and some to distant lands. When I was in the then far 
 West I often sighed at the remembrance of the home of 
 my youth, and the former haunts of my boyish pleasures, 
 and longed to revisit them. But how disappointed was I ! 
 I felt more of a disposition to weep at the sight of these 
 objects than to rejoice — the old schoolhou^e in ruins ; the 
 old trees, under whose shade we used to play, either 
 destroyed cr dwindling with age. Those scenes, which 
 had long ago passed away, never — ah ! never to return. 
 Vain world ! After remaining some weeks with my 
 mother, I bade a sorrowful adieu, and returned to Ken- 
 tucky. 
 
 In the fall of 1798, a call^ from the united congrega- 
 tions of Cane Ridge and Concord was presented me, 
 through the Presbytery of Transylvania. I accepted, and 
 a day not far ahead was appointed for my ordination. 
 Knowing that at my ordination I should be required to 
 adopt the Confession of Faith, as the system of doctrines 
 taught in t 1l e Bible, I determined to give it a careful 
 examination once more. This was to me almost the 
 beginning of sorrows. I stumbled at the doctrine of 
 Trinity as taught in the Confession; I labored to believe 
 it, but could not conscientiously subscribe to 1 L . Doubts 
 
i 4 8 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 too, arose in my mind on the doctrines of election, repro- 
 bation and predestination, as there taught. I had before 
 this time learned from my superiors the way of divesting 
 those doctrines of their hard, repulsive features, and 
 admitted them as true, yet unfathomable mysteries. 
 Viewing them as such, I let them alone in my public 
 discourses, and confined myself to the practical part of 
 religion, and to subjects within my depth. But in re- 
 examining these doctrines I found the covering put over 
 them could not hide them from a discerning eye with 
 close inspection. Indeed, I saw they were necessary to 
 the system without any covering. 
 
 In this state of mind the day appointed for my ordi- 
 nation found me. I had determined to tell the presbytery 
 honestly the state of my mind, and to request them to 
 defer my ordination until I should be better informed 
 and settled The presbytery came together, and a large 
 congregation attended. Before its constitution, I took 
 aside the two pillars of it. Dr. James Blythe and Robert 
 Marshall, and made known to them my difficulties, and 
 that I had determined to decline ordination at that time* 
 They labored, but in vain, to remove my difficulties and 
 objections. They asked me how far I was willing to 
 receive the Confession. I told them as far as I saw it 
 consistent with the word of God. They concluded that 
 was sufficient. I went into presbytery, and when the* 
 question was proposed. "Do you receive and adopt the 
 Confession of Faith, as containing the system of doctrine 
 taught in the Bible ?" I answered aloud, so that the whole 
 congregation might hear, "I do. as far as I see it consist- 
 ent with the word of God." Xo objection being made, I 
 was ordained. 
 
LIFE OF BAR FOX W. STONE 149 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 His mind is greatly agitated by Calvinistic speculations — He 
 re-examines the Scriptures, and cordially abandons Calvinism 
 — Hears of a great religious excitement in Logan County, 
 Kentucky, in the spring of 1801, and hastens to attend a 
 camp-meeting in that county — Is astonished at the wonderful 
 religious exercises — Multitudes confess the Saviour — Returns 
 from Logan tilled with religious zeal — Under his labors 
 similar scenes occur at Cane Ridge and Concord — Great ex- 
 citement and religious interest pervade the community — Mar- 
 ried to Elizabeth Campbell, July, 1801— Great Cane Ridge 
 meeting — Description of. 
 
 About this time my mind was continually tossed on 
 the waves of speculative divinity, the all-engrossing 
 theme of the religious community at that period. Clash- 
 ing, controversial opinions were urged by the different 
 sects with much zeal and bad feeling. Xo surer sign of 
 the low state of true religion. I at that time believed, 
 and taught, that mankind were so totally depraved that 
 they could do nothing acceptable to God, till his Spirit, 
 by some physical, almighty and mysterious power, had 
 quickened, enlightened and regenerated the heart, and 
 thus prepared the sinner to believe in Jesus for salvation. 
 I began plainly to see that if God did not perform this 
 regenerating work in all, it must be because he chose to 
 do it for some and not for others, and that this depended 
 on his own sovereign will and pleasure. It then required 
 no depth of intellect to see that this doctrine is insep- 
 arably linked with unconditional election and reprobation, 
 as taught in the Westminster Confession of Faith. They 
 are virtually one ; and this was the reason why I admitted 
 
150 THE CAXE RJDCR MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 the decrees of election and reprobation, having admitted 
 the doctrine of total depravity. They are inseparable. 
 
 Scores of objections would continually roll across my 
 mind against this system. These I imputed to the blas- 
 phemous suggestions of Satan, and labored to repel :hem 
 as Satanic temptations, and not honestly to meet them 
 with Scriptural arguments. Often when I was address- 
 ing the listening multitudes on the doctrine of total de- 
 pravity, their inability to believe, and of the necessity of 
 the physical power of God to produce faith, and then 
 persuading the helpless to repent and believe the gospel, 
 my zeal in a moment would be chilled at the contradic- 
 tion. How can they believe? How can they repent? 
 How can they do impossibilities ? How can they be guilty 
 in not doing them ? Such thoughts would almost stifle 
 utterance and were as mountains pressing me down to 
 the shades of death. I tried to rest in the common salvo 
 of that day ; i. c, the distinction between natural and 
 moral ability and inability. The pulpits were continually 
 ringing with this doctrine, but to my mind it ceased to be 
 a relief ; for, by whatever name it be called, that inability 
 was in the sinner, and therefore he could not believe nor 
 repent, but must be damned. Wearied with the works 
 and doctrines of men, and distrustful of their influence, 
 I made the Bible my constant companion. I honestly, 
 earnestly and prayerfully sought for the truth, deter- 
 mined to buy it at the sacrifice of everything else. 
 
 On a certain evening, when engaged in secret prayer 
 and reading my Bible, my mind came unusually filled 
 with comfort and peace. I never recollect of having 
 before experienced such an ardent love and tenderness 
 for all mankind, and such a longing desire for their sal- 
 vation. My mind was chained to this subject, and for 
 some days and nights J was almost continually praying 
 
LIFE OF BARTON IV. STONE 151 
 
 for the ruined world. During this time I expressed my 
 feelings to a pious person, and rashly remarked, "So great 
 is my love for sinners that, had I power, I would save 
 them all." The person appeared to be horror-stricken, 
 and remarked, "Do you love them more than God does? 
 Why, then, does he not save them ? Surely he has 
 almighty power." I blushed, was confounded and silent, 
 and quickly retired to the silent woods for meditation and 
 prayer. I asked myself, Does God love the world — the 
 whole world? And has he not almighty power to save? 
 If so, all must be saved, for who can resist his power? 
 Had I a friend or child, whom I greatly loved, and saw 
 him at the point of drowning, and utterly unable to help 
 himself, and if I were perfectly able to save him, would 
 I not do it ? Would I not contradict my love to him, my 
 very nature, if I did not save him? Should I not do 
 wrong in withholding my power ? And will not God save 
 all whom he loves? 
 
 These were to me puzzling questions — I could not 
 satisfactorily solve them consistently with my faith. I 
 was firmly convinced that according to Scripture all were 
 not saved ; the conclusion, then, was irresistible, that God 
 did not love all, and therefore it followed, of course, that 
 the spirit in me, which loved all the world so vehemently, 
 could not be the Spirit of God, but the spirit of delusion. 
 My mind became involved in gloom, my trouble rolled 
 back upon me with renewed weight, and all my joys were 
 gone. I prostrated myself before God in prayer, but it 
 was immediately suggested, you are praying in unbelief, 
 and "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." You must believe 
 or expect no good from the hand of God. But I can not 
 believe ; as soon could I make a world. Then you must 
 be damned, for "he that believeth not shall be damned." 
 But will the Lord condemn me to eternal punishment for 
 
152 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 not doing an impossibility? So I thought. I shudder 
 while I write it — blasphemy rose in my heart against 
 such a God, and my tongue was tempted to utter it. 
 Sweat profusely burst from the pores of my body, and 
 the fires of hell gat hold on me. In this uncommon state 
 I remained for two or three days. 
 
 From this state of perplexity I was relieved by the 
 precious word of God. From reading and meditating 
 upon it, I became convinced that God did love the whole 
 world, and that the reason why he did not save all was 
 because of their unbelief; and that the reason why they 
 believed not was not because God did not exert his phys- 
 ical, almighty power in them to make them believe, but 
 because they neglected and received not his testimony 
 given in the Word concerning his Son. 'These are writ- 
 ten, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
 of God, and -that believing ye might have life through 
 his name." I saw that the requirement to believe in the 
 Son of God was reasonable, because the testimony given 
 was sufficient to produce faith in the sinner, and the invi- 
 tations and encouragement of the gospel were sufficient, 
 if believed, to lead him to the Saviour, for the promised 
 Spirit, salvation and eternal life. 
 
 This glimpse of faith, of truth, was the first divine 
 ray of light that ever led my distressed, perplexed mind 
 from the labyrinth of Calvinism and error, in which I 
 had so long been bewildered. It was that which led me 
 into rich pastures of gospel liberty. I now saw plainly 
 that it was not against the God and Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ that I had been tempted to blaspheme, but 
 against the character of a God not revealed in the Scrip- 
 tures — a character no rational creature can love or honor 
 — a character universally detested when seen even in 
 man ; for what man, professing great love for his clfil- 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 153 
 
 dren, would give them impossible commands, and then 
 severely punish them for not doing them, and all this for 
 his mere good pleasure? What man acting thus would 
 not be despised as a monster, or demon in human shape, 
 and be hissed from all respectable society? Shall we 
 dare to impute such a character to the God of the uni- 
 verse ? 
 
 Let me here speak when I shall be lying under the 
 clods of the grave. Calvinism is among the heaviest 
 clogs on Christianity in the world. It is a dark mountain 
 between heaven and earth, and is amongst the most dis- 
 couraging hindrances to sinners from seeking the king- 
 dom of God, and engenders bondage and gloominess to 
 the saints. Its influence is felt throughout the Christian 
 world, even where it is least suspected. Its first link is 
 total depravity. Yet are there thousands of precious 
 saints in this system. 
 
 As might be expected, many objections arose in my 
 mind against the doctrines just received by me, and these 
 objections were multiplied by a correspondent, a Presby- 
 terian preacher, to whom I had communicated my views. 
 I resolved not to declare them publicly till I could be able 
 to defend them against successful oppositiun. In a sub- 
 sequent part of these memoirs the declaration and de- 
 fense will be seen. 
 
 Things moved on quietly in my congregations, and in 
 the country generally. Apathy in religious societies ap- 
 peared everywhere to an alarming degree. Not only the 
 power of religion had disappeared, but also the very form 
 of it was waning fast away, and continued so till the 
 beginning of the present century. Having heard of a 
 remarkable religious excitement in the south of Ken- 
 tucky, and in Tennessee, under the labors of James 
 McGready and other Presbyterian ministers. I was very 
 
154 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 anxious to be among them, and early in the spring of 
 1801 went there to attend a camp-meeting. There, on 
 the edge of a prairie in Logan County, Kentucky, the 
 multitudes came together, and continued a number of 
 days and nights encamped on the ground, during which 
 time worship was carried on in some part of the encamp- 
 ment. The scene to me was new and passing strange. 
 It baffled description. Many, very many, fell down, as 
 men slain in battle, and continued for hours together in 
 an apparently breathless and motionless state — sometimes 
 for a few moments reviving, and exhibiting symptoms of 
 life by a deep groan, or piercing shriek, or by a prayer 
 for mercy most fervently uttered. After lying thus for 
 hours, they obtained deliverance. The gloomy cloud, 
 which had covered their faces, seemed gradually and 
 visibly to disappear, and hope in smiles brightened into 
 joy — they would rise shouting deliverance, and then 
 would address the surrounding multitude in language 
 truly eloquent and impressive. With astonishment did I 
 hear men, women and children declaring the wonderful 
 works of God, and the glorious mysteries of the gospel. 
 Their appeals were solemn, heart-penetrating, bold and 
 free. Under such addresses many others would fall down 
 into the same state from which the speakers had just 
 been delivered. 
 
 Two or three of my particular acquaintances from i. 
 distance were struck down. I sat patiently by one of 
 them, whom I knew to be a careless sinner, for hours, 
 and observed with critical attention everything that 
 passed from the beginning to the end. I noticed the 
 momentary revivings as from death, the humble con- 
 fession of sins, the fervent prayer, and the ultimate de- 
 liverance ; then the solemn thanks and praise to God. the 
 affectionate exhortation to companions and to the people 
 
LIFE OF BARTOX W. STONE 155 
 
 around to repent and come to Jesus. I was astonished at 
 the knowledge of gospel truth displayed in the address. 
 The effect was that several sank down into the same 
 appearance of death. After attending to many such 
 cases, my conviction was complete that it was a good 
 work — the work of God ; nor has my mind wavered since 
 on the subject. Much did I then see, and much have I 
 since seen, that I considered to be fanaticism; but this 
 should not condemn the work. The devil has always 
 tried to ape the works of God to bring them into dis- 
 repute. But that can not be a Satanic work which brings 
 men to humble confession and forsaking of sin, fervent 
 praise and thanksgiving, and to sincere and affectionate 
 exhortations to sinners to repent and go to Jesus the 
 Saviour. 
 
 I am always hurt to hear people speak lightly of this 
 work. I always think they speak of what they know 
 nothing about. Should everything bearing the impress 
 of imperfection be blasphemously rejected, who amongst 
 us at this time could stand? But more on this subject 
 hereafter. 
 
 The meeting being closed; I returned with ardent 
 spirits to my congregations. I reached my appointment 
 at Cane Ridge on Lord's Day. Multitudes had collected, 
 anxious to hear the religious news of the meeting I had 
 attended in Logan. I ascended the pulpit, and gave a 
 relation of what I had seen and heard ; then opened my 
 Bible and preached from these words : "Go ye into all the 
 world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that 
 believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that be- 
 lieveth not shall be damned." On the universality of the 
 gospel, and faith as the condition of salvation, I prin- 
 cipally dwelt, and urged the sinner to believe now and be 
 saved. I labored to remove their pleas and objections, 
 
156 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 nor was it labor in vain. The congregation was affected 
 with awful solemnity, and many returned home weeping. 
 Having left appointments to preach in the congregation 
 within a few days, I hurried over to Concord to preach 
 at night. 
 
 At our night meeting at Concord, two little girls were 
 struck down under the preaching of the Word, and in 
 every respect were exercised as those were in the south 
 of Kentucky, as already described. Their addresses made 
 deep impressions on the congregation. On the next day 
 I returned to Cane Ridge, and attended my appointment 
 at William Maxwell's. I soon heard of the good effects 
 of the meeting on the Sunday before Many were sol- 
 emnly engaged in seeking salvation, and some had found 
 the Lord, and were rejoicing in him. Among these last 
 was my particular friend, Nathaniel Rogers, a man of 
 first respectability and influence in the neighborhood. 
 Just as I arrived at the gate, my friend Rogers and his 
 lady came up ; as soon as he saw me, he shouted aloud 
 the praises of God. We hurried into each other's em- 
 brace, he still praising the Lord aloud. The crowd left 
 the house and hurried to this novel scene. In less than 
 twenty minutes scores had fallen to the ground. Pale- 
 ness, trembling and anxiety appeared in all ; F.qme at- 
 tempted to fly from the scene panic-stricken, but they 
 either fell or returned immediately to the crowd, as 
 unable to get away. In the midst of this exercise, an 
 intelligent deist in the neighborhood stepped up to me 
 and said: "Mr. Stone, I always thought before that you 
 were an honest man, but now I am convinced you are 
 deceiving the people." I viewed him with pity, and 
 mildly spoke a few words to him ; immediately he fell 
 as a dead man, and rose no more till he confessed the 
 Saviour. The meeting continued on that spot in the 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 157 
 
 open air till late at night, and many found peace in glori- 
 fication of the Lord. 
 
 The effects of this meeting through the country were 
 like fire in dry stubble driven by a strong wind. All felt 
 its influence more or less. Soon after we had a pro- 
 tracted meeting at Concord. The whole country appeared 
 to be in motion to the place, and multitudes of all de- 
 nominations attended. All seemed heartily to unite in the 
 work and in Christian love. Party spirit, abashed, shrunk 
 away. To give a true description of this meeting can not 
 be done : it would border on the marvelous. It continued 
 five days and nights without ceasing. Many, very many, 
 will through eternity remember it with thanksgiving and 
 
 praise. 
 
 On the 2d of July, 1801, I was married to Eliza- 
 beth Campbell, daughter of Col. William Campbell and 
 Tabitha his wife, daughter of Gen. William Russell, of 
 Virginia. My companion was pious and much engaged 
 in religion. We hurried up from Muhlenberg, where her 
 mother lived, to be in readiness for a great meeting, to 
 commence at Cane Ridge shortly after This memorable 
 meeting came on Thursday or Friday before the third 
 Lord's Day in August. 1801. The roads were literally 
 crowded with wagons, carriages, horsemen and footmen 
 moving to the solemn camp. The sight was affecting. It 
 was judged, by military men on the ground, that there 
 were between twenty and thirty thousand collected. Four 
 or five preachers were frequently speaking at the same 
 time, in different parts of the encampment, without con- 
 fusion. The Methodist and Baptist preachers aided in 
 the work, and all appeared cordially united in it— of one 
 mind and one soul, and the salvation of sinners seemed 
 to be the great object of all. We all engaged in singing 
 the same songs of praise— all united in prayer— all 
 
158 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 preached the same things — free salvation urged upon all 
 by faith and repentance. A particular description of this 
 meeting would fill a large volume, and then the half 
 would not be told. The numbers converted will be known 
 only in eternity. Many things transpired there which 
 were so much like miracles that, if they were not, they 
 had the same effect as miracles on infidels and unbe- 
 lievers ; for many of them by these were convinced that 
 Jesus was the Christ, and bowed in submission to him. 
 This meeting continued six or seven days and nights, and 
 would have continued longer, but provisions for such a 
 multitude failed in the neighborhood. 
 
 To this meeting many had come from Ohio and other 
 distant parts, who returned home and diffused the same 
 spirit in their neighborhoods, and the same works fol- 
 lowed. So low had religion sunk, and such carelessness 
 universally had prevailed, that I have thought that noth- 
 ing commcn could have arrested the attention of the 
 world; therefore these uncommon agitations were s?nt 
 for this purpose. However, this was their effect upon 
 the community. As I have seen no history of these bodily 
 agitations of that day, but from the pens of enemies or 
 scorners, and as I have been an eye and ear witness of 
 them from the beginning, and am now over threescore 
 and ten years of age, en the brink of eternity, into which 
 almost all of the old witnesses have entered, therefore I 
 will endeavor to give a description of them in a distinct 
 chapter, for your information, 
 
LIFE OF BARTON U\ STONE 159 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 An account of the remarkable religious exercises witnessed in 
 the beginning of the nineteenth century. 
 
 The bodily agitations, cr exercises, attending the ex- 
 citement in the beginning of this centufy were various, 
 and called by various names ; as, the falling exercise, the 
 jerks, the dancing exercise, the barking exercise, th? 
 laughing and singing exercise, etc. The falling exercise 
 was very common among all classes, the saints and sin- 
 ners of every age and of every grade, from the philoso- 
 pher to the clown. The subject of this exercise would, 
 generally, with a piercing scream, fall like a log on the 
 floor, earth or mud, and appear as dead. Of thousands 
 of similar cases, I will mention one. At a meeting two 
 gay young ladies, sisters, were standing togethe attend- 
 ing to the exercises a nd preaching at die time. Instantly 
 they both fell with a shriek of distress, and lay for more 
 than an hour apparently in a lifeless state. Their mother, 
 a pious Baptist, was in great distress, fearing they would 
 not revive. At length they began to exhibit symptoms of 
 life, by crying fervently for mercy, and then relapsed into 
 the same deathlike state, with an awful gloom on their 
 countenances. After awhile the gloom on the face of one 
 was succeeded by a heavenly smile, and she cried out, 
 "Precious Jesus!" and rose up and spoke of the love of 
 God, the preciousness of Jesus, and of the glory of the 
 gospel, to the surrounding crowd in language almost 
 superhuman, and pathetically exhorted all to repentance. 
 In a little while after the other sister was similarly exer- 
 cised. From that time they became remarkably pious 
 
160 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 members of the church, and were constant in attendance. 
 
 I have seen very many pious persons fall in the same 
 way from a sense of the danger of their unconverted 
 children, brothers or sisters — from a sense of the danger 
 of their neighbors and of the sinful world. I have heard 
 them agonizing in tears and strong crying for mercy to 
 be shown to sinners, and speaking like angels to all 
 around. 
 
 The jerks can not be so easily described. Sometimes 
 the subject of the jerks would be affected in some one 
 member of the body, and sometimes in the whole system. 
 When the head alone was affected, it would be jerked 
 backward and forward, or from side to side, so quickly 
 that the features of the face could not be distinguished. 
 When the whole system was affected, I have seen the 
 person stand in one place and jerk backward and for- 
 ward in quick succession, their head nearly touching the 
 floor behind and before. All classes, saints and sinners, 
 the strong as well as the weak, were thus affected. I 
 have inquired of those thus affected. They could not 
 account for it ; but some have told me that those were 
 among the happiest seasons of their lives. I have seen 
 some wicked persons thus affected, and all the time curs- 
 ing the jerks, while they were thrown to the earth with 
 violence. Though so awful to behold, I do not remember 
 that any one of the thousands I have seen ever sustained 
 an injury in body. This was as strange as the exercise 
 itself. 
 
 The dancing exercise. This generally began with the 
 jerks, and was peculiar to professors of religion. The 
 subject, after jerking awhile, began to dance, and then 
 the jerks would cease. Such dancing was indeed heav- 
 enly to the spectators ; there was nothing in it like levity, 
 nor calculated to excite levity in the beholders. The smile 
 
LIFE OF BARTOX U'.STOXE 161 
 
 of heaven shone on the countenance of the subject, and 
 assimilated to angels appeared the whole person. Some- 
 times the motion was quick and sometimes slow. Thus 
 they continued to move forward and backward in the 
 same track or alley till nature seemed exhausted, and 
 they would fall prostrate on the floor or earth, unless 
 caught by those standing by. While thus exercised, I 
 have heard their solemn praises and prayers ascending 
 to God. 
 
 The barking exercise (as opposers contemptuously 
 called it) was nothing but the jerks. A person affected 
 with the jerks, especially in his head, would often make 
 a grunt, or bark, if you please, from the suddenness of 
 the jerk. This name, of barking seems to have had its 
 origin from an old Presbyterian preacher of East Ten- 
 nessee. He had gone into the woods for private devo- 
 tion, and was seized with the jerks. Standing near a 
 sapling, he caught hold of it, to prevent his falling, and 
 as his head jerked back he uttered a grunt or kind of 
 noise similar to a bark, his face being turned upwards. 
 Some wag discovered him in this position, and reported 
 that he found him barking up a tree. 
 
 The laughing exercise was frequent, confined solely 
 with the religious. It was a loud, hearty laughter, but 
 one sui generis; it excited laughter in none else. The 
 subject appeared rapturously solemn, and his laughter 
 excited solemnity in saints and sinners. It is truly inde- 
 scribable. 
 
 The running exercise was nothing more than that 
 persons, feeling something of these bodily agitations, 
 through fear, attempted to run away, and thus escape 
 from them ; but it commonly happened that they ran not 
 far before they fell, or became so greatly agitated that 
 they could proceed no farther. I knew a young physi- 
 
162 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 cian of a celebrated family who came some distance to a 
 big meeting to see the strange things he had heard of. 
 He and a young lady had sportively agreed to watch over 
 and take care of each other if either should fall. At 
 length the physician felt something very uncommon, and 
 started from the congregation to run into the woods ; he 
 was discovered running as for life, but did not proceed 
 far till he fell down, and there lay till he submitted to 
 the Lord, and afterwards became a zealous member of 
 the church. Such cases were common. 
 
 I shall close this chapter with the singing exercise. 
 This is more unaccountable than anything else I ever 
 saw. The subject in a very happy state of mind would 
 sing most melodiously, not from the mouth or nose, 
 but entirely in the breast, the sounds issuing thence. 
 Such music silenced everything and attracted the atten- 
 tion of all. It was most heavenly. None could ever be 
 tired of hearing it. Dr. J. P. Campbell and myself were 
 together at a meeting, and were attending to a pious lady 
 thus exercised, and concluded it to be something surpass- 
 ing anything we had known in nature. 
 
 Thus have I given a brief account of the wonderful 
 things that appeared in the crreat excitement in the be«-in- 
 ning of this century. That there were many eccentricities 
 and much fanaticism in this excitement, was acknowl- 
 edged by its warmest advocates ; indeed, it would have 
 been a wonder if such things had not appeared in the 
 circumstances of that time. Yet the eood effects were 
 seen and acknowledged in every neighborhood, and 
 among the different sects it silenced contention and pro- 
 moted unity for awhile : and these blessed effects would 
 have continued had not men put forth their unhallowed 
 hands to hold up their totterine ark. mi^takin^ it for the 
 ark of God. In the next chapter this will appear. 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 163 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Hemorrhage of the lungs from excessive speaking, etc.— Attends 
 a camp-meeting at Paris— Meets with opposition— Frees his 
 slaves— Richard McXemar. John Dunlavy, John Thompson, 
 Robert Marshall and himself concur in religious views— Re- 
 vival checked by opposition— Partyism rekindled— McXemar 
 tr i ec i— Protest against proceedings of synod in McNemar's 
 case, and withdrawal of Richard McXemar. John Dunlavy, 
 John Thompson, Robert Marshall and himself from juris- 
 diction of synod— They are suspended— Formed themselves 
 into a separate presbytery, called Springfield Presbytery- 
 Apology published— Abandons Presbyterianism— Surrenders 
 all claim to salary— Last Will and Testament of Springfield 
 Presbytery. 
 
 Since the beginning of the excitement I had been 
 employed day and night in preaching, singing, visiting 
 and praying with the distressed, till my lungs failed, and 
 became "inflamed, attended with a violent cough and spit- 
 ting of blood. It was believed to be a dangerous case, 
 and might terminate in consumption. My strength failed, 
 and I felt myself fast descending to the tomb. Viewing 
 this event near, and that I should soon cease from my 
 labors, I had a great desire to attend a camp-meeting at 
 Paris, a few miles distant from Cane Ridge. My physi- 
 cian had strictly forbidden me to preach any more till my 
 disease should be removed. 
 
 At this camp-meeting the multitudes assembled in a 
 shady grove near Paris, with their wagons and pro- 
 visions." Here for the first time a Presbyterian preacher 
 aro?e and opposed the work, and the doctrine by which 
 the work amongst us had its existence and life. He 
 labored hard to Calvinize the people, and to regulate 
 
164 THE CAKE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 them according to his standard of propriety. Hu wished 
 them to decamp at night, and to repair to the town, 
 nearly a mile off, for worship in a house that could not 
 contain half the people. This could not he done without 
 leaving their tents and all exposed. The consequence 
 was the meeting was divided and the work greatly im- 
 peded. Infidels and formalists triumphed at this sup- 
 posed victory, and extolled the preacher to the skies ; but 
 the hearts of the revivalists were filled with sorrow. Be- 
 ing in a feeble state, I went to the meeting in town. A 
 preacher was put forward who had always been hostile 
 to the work, and seldom mingled with us. He lengthily 
 addressed the people in iceberg style — its influence was 
 deathly. I felt a strong desire to pray as soon as he 
 should close, and had so determined in my own mind. 
 He at length closed, and I arose and said, "Let us pray." 
 At that very moment another preacher of the same caste 
 with the former rose in the pulpit to preach another ser- 
 mon. I proceeded to pray, feeling a tender concern for 
 the salvation of my fellow-creatures, and expecting 
 shortly to appear before my Judge. The people became 
 very much affected, and the house was filled with the 
 cries of distress. Some of the preachers jumped out of a 
 window back of the pulpit, and left us. Forgetting my 
 weakness, I pushed through the crowd from one to an- 
 other in distress, pointed them the way of salvation, and 
 administered to them the comforts of the gospel. My 
 good physician was there, came to me in the crowd, and 
 found me literally wet with sweat. He hurried me to his 
 house, and lectured me severely on the impropriety of my 
 conduct. 1 immediately put on dry clothes, went to bed, 
 slept comfortably, and rose next morning relieved from 
 the disease which had baffled medicine and threatened my 
 life. That night's sweat was my cure, by the grace of 
 
LIFE OF BART OX W. STONE 165 
 
 God. I was soon able to renew my ministerial labors, 
 and was joyful to see religion progressing. This happy 
 state of things continued for some time, and seemed to 
 gather strength with days. My mind became unearthly, 
 and was solely engaged in the work of the Lord. I bad 
 emancipated my slaves from a sense of right, choosing 
 poverty with a good conscience, in preference to all the 
 treasures of the world. This revival cut the bonds of 
 many poor slaves, and this argument speaks volumes in 
 favor of the work. For of what avail is a religion of 
 decency and order without righteousness? 
 
 There were at this time five preachers in the Presby- 
 terian connection who were in the same strain of preach- 
 ing, and whose doctrine was different from that taught in 
 the Confession of Faith of that body. Their names were 
 Richard McNemar, John Thompson, John Dunlavy, Rob- 
 ert Marshall and myself ; the three former lived in Ohio, 
 the two latter in Kentucky. David Purviance was then a 
 candidate for the ministry, and was of the same faith. 
 The distinguishing doctrine, which we boldly and every- 
 where preached, is contained in our apology, printed 
 shortly after that time, which I desire to be reprinted 
 with these memoirs of my life, affixed to the same vol- 
 ume. From some of the sentiments of this apology we 
 afterwards dissented, especially on the atonement, as 
 stated in that book. 
 
 The distinguishing doctrine preached by us was that 
 God loved the world — the whole world — and sent his Son 
 to save them, on condition that they believed in him ; that 
 the gospel was the means of salvation, but that this 
 means would never be effectual to this end until believed 
 and obeyed by us ; that God required us to believe in his 
 Son, and had given us sufficient evidence in his Word to 
 produce faith in us, if attended to by us; that sinners 
 
166 THE CAXE RIDGE. MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 were capable of understanding and believing this testi- 
 mony, and of acting upon it by coming to the Saviour 
 and obeying him, and from him obtaining salvation and 
 the Holy Spirit. We urged upon the sinner to believe 
 now and receive salvation ; that in vain they looked for 
 the Spirit to be given them while they remained in unbe- 
 lief — thev must believe before the Spirit or salvation 
 would be given them ; that God was as willing to save 
 them now as he ever was, or ever would be ; that no 
 previous qualification was required or necessary in order 
 to believe in Jesus and come to him ; that if they were 
 sinners, this was their divine warrant to believe in him 
 and to come to him for salvation ; that Jesus died for all, 
 and that all things were now ready, When we began 
 first to preach these things, the people appeared as just 
 awakened from the sleep of ages — they seemed to see 
 for the first time that they were responsible brings, and 
 that a refusal to use the means appointed was a damn- 
 ing sin. 
 
 The sticklers for orthodoxy amongst us writhed un- 
 der these doctrines, but, seeing their mighty effects on 
 the people, they winked at the supposed errors, and 
 through fear, or other motives, they did not at first pub- 
 licly oppose us. They painfully saw their Confession of 
 Faith neglected in the daily ministration by the preach- 
 ers of the revival, and murmured zi the neglect. In 
 truth, that book had been gathering dust from the com- 
 mencement of the excitement, and would have been com- 
 pletely covered from view had not its friends interposed 
 to prevent it. At first they were pleased to see the Meth- 
 odists and Baptists so cordially uniting with us in wor- 
 ship. vr> doubt hoDing they would become Presbyterians. 
 But as sr on as they saw these sects drawing away dis- 
 ciples after them, they raised the tocsin of alarm — the 
 
LIFE OF BARTON IV. STONE 167 
 
 Confession is in danger! — the church is in danger! — O 
 Israel, to your tents ! 
 
 These sticklers began to preach boldly the doctrines 
 of their Confession, and used their most potent arguments 
 in their defense. The gauntlet was now thrown, and a 
 fire was now kindled that threatened ruin to the great 
 excitement; it revived the dying spirit of parcyism, and 
 gave life and strength to trembling infidels and lifeless 
 professors. The sects were roused. The Methodists and 
 Baptists, who had so long lived in peace and harmony 
 with the Presbyterians, and with one another, now girded 
 on their armor, and marched into the deathly field of con- 
 troversy and war. These were times of distress. The 
 spirit of partyism soon expelled the spirit of love and 
 union — peace fled before discord and strife, and religion 
 was stifled and banished in the unhallowed struggle for 
 pre-eminence. Who shall be the greatest? seemed to be 
 the spirit of the contest — the salvation of a ruined world 
 was no longer the burden, and the spirit of prayer in 
 mourning - took its flight from the breasts of many 
 preachers and people. Yet there were some of all the 
 sects who deplored this unhappy state of things ; but their 
 entreating voice for peace was drowned by the din of 
 war. 
 
 Though the revival was checked, it was not destroyed ; 
 still the spirit of truth lingered in our assemblies, and 
 evidenced his presence with us. One thing is certain, 
 that from that revival a fountain of light has sprung by 
 which the eyes of thousands are opened to just and 
 proper views of the gospel, and it promises fair to 
 enlighten the world and bring them back to God and his 
 institutions. 
 
 In this state of confusion, the friends of the Confes- 
 sion were indignant at us for preaching doctrines so con- 
 
168 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 .radictory to it. They determined to arrest our progress 
 and put us down. The Presbytery of Springfield, in 
 Ohio, first took McNemar through their fiery ordeal, for 
 preaching these anti-Calvinistic doctrines. From that 
 presbytery his case came before the Synod of Lexington, 
 Kentucky. That body appeared generally very hostile to 
 our doctrine, and there was much spirited altercation 
 among them. The other four of us well knew what 
 would be our fate by the decision on McNemar's case; 
 for it was plainly hinted to us that we would not be for- 
 gotten by the synod. We waited anxiously for the issue, 
 till we plainly saw it would be adverse to him, and con- 
 sequently to us all. 
 
 In a short recess of Synod, we five withdrew to a 
 private garden, where, after prayer for direction and a 
 free conversation, with a perfect unanimity we drew up 
 a protest against the proceeding of synod in McNemar's 
 case, and a declaration of our independence, and of our 
 withdrawal from their jurisdiction, but not from their 
 communion. This protest we immediately presented to 
 the synod, through their moderator ; it was altogether 
 unexpected by them, and produced very unpleasant feel- 
 ings, and a profound silence for a few minutes ensued. 
 
 We retired to a friend's house in town, whither we 
 were quickly followed by a committee of synod sent to 
 reclaim us to their standards. We had with them a very 
 friendly conversation, the result of which was that one of 
 the committee, Matthew Houston, became convinced that 
 the doctrine we preached was true, and soon after united 
 with us. Another of the committee, old Father David 
 Rice, of precious memory, on whose influence the synod 
 chiefly depended to reclaim us, urged one argument 
 worthy of record; it was this — that every departure from 
 Calvinism was an advance to atheism. The grades 
 
LIFE OP BARTON i, . STOXE 169 
 
 named by him were, from Calvinism to Arminiamsm — 
 from Arminianism to Pelagianism — from Pelagianism to 
 deism — from deism to atheism. This was his principal 
 argument, which could have no effect on minds ardent in 
 the search of truth. 
 
 The committee reported to synod their failure in re- 
 claiming us, and, after a few more vain attempts, they 
 proceeded to the solemn work of suspending us, because 
 we had departed from the standards of their church and 
 taught doctrines subversive of them. Committees were 
 immediately sent to our congregations to read the synod's 
 bull of suspension, and to declare them vacant. However 
 just their decision might be with respect to the other 
 four, in suspending them for the crime of departing from 
 the Confession of Faith, yet all plainly saw that it was 
 improper with regard to me, seeing I had not received 
 that book at my ordination, nor ever before, more than 
 any other book ; i. e., as far as I saw it agreeable to the 
 word of God. Their bull was "a blow in the air" as 
 regarded me. I am therefore an ordained preacher by 
 the imposition of the hands of the Transylvania Presby- 
 tery, and as I have not formally been excluded from the 
 communion of that church, I can yet claim it with just 
 right. We insisted that after we had orderly protested, 
 and withdrawn, that the synod had no better right to sus- 
 pend us than the Pope of Rome had to suspend Luther 
 after he had done the same thing. We contended if 
 Luther's suspension was valid, then the whole Protestant 
 succession was out of order, and of course that the synod 
 had no better right to administer in the gospel than we — 
 that their act of suspension was void. 
 
 This act of synod produced great commotion and 
 division in the churches : not onlv were churches divided, 
 but families ; those who before had lived in harmony and 
 
170 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 love, were now set in hostile array against each other. 
 What scenes of confusion and distress! Not produced 
 by the Bible, but by human authoritative creeds, sup- 
 ported by sticklers for orthodoxy. My heart was sick- 
 ened, and effectually turned against such creeds, as nui- 
 sances of religious society, and the very bane of Christian 
 unity. 
 
 Immediately after our separation from synod, we 
 constituted ourselves into a presbytery, which we called 
 the Springfield Presbytery. We wrote a letter to our 
 congregations, informed them of what had transpired, 
 and promised shortly to give them and the world a full 
 account of our views of the gospel, and the causes of our 
 separation from synod. This book we soon after pub- 
 lished, called "The Apology of Springfield Presbytery." 
 In this book we stated our objections at length to the 
 Presbyterian Confession of Faith, and against all author- 
 itative confessions and creeds formed by fallible men. 
 We expressed our total abandonment of all authoritative 
 creeds but the Bible alone as the only rule of our faith 
 and practice. This book produced a great effect in the 
 Christian community ; it was quickly republished by the 
 Methodists in the State of Virginia, except our remarks 
 upon creeds, which doubtless did them some good. 
 
 The presses were employed, and teemed forth pam- 
 phlets against us, full of misrepresentation and invective, 
 and the pulpits everywhere echoed their contents These 
 pamphlets and harangues against us excited inquiry and 
 conviction in the minds of many, and greatly conduced 
 to spread our views. The arguments against us were 
 clothed with such bitter words and hard speeches that 
 many serious and pious persons, disgusted and offended 
 with their authors, were driven from them, and cleaved 
 to us. 
 
LIFE OF BART OX W. STONE 171 
 
 Soon after our separation, I called together my con- 
 gregations, and informed them that I could no longer 
 conscientiously preach to support the Presbyterian 
 Church ; that my labors should henceforth be directed to 
 advance the Redeemer's kingdom, irrespective of party; 
 that I absolved them from all obligations in a pecuniary 
 point of view, and then in their presence tore up their 
 salary obligation to me, in order to free their minds from 
 all fear of being called upon hereafter for aid. Never 
 had a pastor and churches lived together more harmoni- 
 ously than we had for about six years. Never had I 
 found a more loving, kind and orderly people in any 
 country, and never had I felt a more cordial attachment 
 to any others. I told them that I should continue to 
 preach among them, but not in the relation that had pre- 
 viously existed between us. This was truly a day of 
 sorrow, and the impressions of it are indelible. 
 
 Thus to the cause of truth I sacrificed the friendship 
 of two large congregations, and an abundant salary for 
 the support of myself and family. I preferred the truth 
 to the friendship and kindness of my associates in the 
 Presbyterian ministry, who were dear to me and tenderly 
 united in the bonds' of love. I preferred honesty and a 
 good conscience to all these things. Having now no sup- 
 port from the congregations, and having emancipated my 
 slaves, I turned my attention cheerfully, though awk- 
 wardly, to labor on my little farm. Though fatigued in 
 body, my mind was happy and "calm as summer evenings 
 be." I relaxed not in my ministerial labors, preaching 
 almost every night, and often in the daytime, to the 
 people around. I had no money to hire laborers, and 
 often on my return home I found the weeds were getting 
 ahead of my corn. I had often to labor at night while 
 others were asleep, to redeem my lost time. 
 
172 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 Under the name of Springfield Presbytery we went 
 forward preaching and constituting churches ; but we had 
 not worn our name more than one year before we saw 
 it savored of a party spirit. With the man-made creeds 
 we threw it overboard, and took the name Christian — the 
 name given to the disciples by divine appointment first at 
 Antioch. We published a pamphlet on this name, written 
 by Elder Rice Haggard, who had lately united with us. 
 Having divested ourselves of all party creeds and party 
 names, and trusting alone in God and the word of his 
 grace, we became a byword and laughing-stock to the 
 sects around, all prophesying our speedy annihilation. 
 Yet from this period I date the commencement of that 
 reformation which has progressed to this day. Through 
 much tribulation and opposition we advanced, and 
 churches and preachers were multiplied. 
 
 For your information I insert the last will and testa- 
 ment of Springfield Presbytery: 
 
 THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF 
 SPRINGFIELD PRESBYTERY. 
 
 For where a testament is, there must of necessity be 
 the death of the testator ; for a testament is of force after 
 men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all, while 
 the testator liveth. Thou fool, that which thou sowest is 
 not quickened except it die. Verily, verily, I say unto 
 you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, and die, 
 it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much 
 fruit. Whose voice then shook the earth ; but now he 
 hath promised, saying. Yet once more I shake not the 
 earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once 
 more, signifies the removing of those things that are 
 shaken as of things that are made, that those things 
 which cannot be shaken may remain. — Scripture. 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 173 
 
 LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT, ETC. 
 
 The Presbytery of Springfield, sitting at Cane Ridge, 
 in the county of Bourbon, being, through a gracious 
 Providence, in more than ordinary bodily health, grow- 
 ing in strength and size daily, and in perfect soundness 
 and composure of mind; but knowing that it is appointed 
 for all delegated bodies once to die, and considering that 
 the life of every such body is very uncertain, do make 
 and ordain this our last will and testament, in manner 
 and form following, viz. : 
 
 Imprimis. We will, that this body die, be dissolved, 
 and sink into union with the body of Christ at large; for 
 there is but one body, and one Spirit, even as we are 
 called in one hope of our calling. 
 
 Item. We will, that our name of distinction, with its 
 reverend title, be forgotten, that there be but one Lord 
 over God's heritage, and his name one. 
 
 Item. We will, that our power of making laws for 
 the government of the church, and executing them by 
 delegated authority, forever cease ; that the people may 
 have free course to the Bible, and adopt the law of the 
 Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Item. We will, that candidates for the gospel min- 
 istry henceforth study the Holy Scriptures with fervent 
 prayer, and obtain license from God to preach the simple 
 gospel, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, 
 without any mixture of philosophy, vain deceit, traditions 
 of men, or the rudiments of the world. And let none 
 henceforth take this honor to himself, but he that is 
 called of God, as was Aaron. 
 
 Item. We will, that the church of Christ resume her 
 native right of internal government — try her candidates 
 for the ministry, as to their soundness in the faith, 
 
174 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 acquaintance with experimental religion, gravity and apt- 
 ness to teach ; and admit no other proof of their authority 
 but Christ speaking in them. We will, that the church of 
 Christ look up to the Lord of the harvest to send forth 
 laborers into his harvest ; and that she resume her primi- 
 tive right of trying those who say they are apostles, and 
 are not. 
 
 Item. We will, that each particular church, as a body, 
 actuated by the same spirit, choose her own preacher, and 
 support him by a freewill offering, without a written call 
 or subscription — admit members — remove offences ; and 
 never henceforth delegate her right cf government to 
 any man or set of men whatever. 
 
 Item. We will, that the people henceforth take the 
 Bible as the only sure guide to heaven ; and as many as 
 are offended with other books, which stand in competition 
 with it, may cast them into the fire if they choose ; for it 
 is better to enter into life having one book, than having 
 many to be cast into hell. 
 
 Item. W r e will, that preachers and people cultivate a 
 spirit of mutual forbearance ; pray more and dispute less ; 
 and while they behold the signs of the times, look up, and 
 confidently expect that redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 Item. We will, that our weak brethren, who may 
 have been wishing to make the Presbytery of Springfield 
 their king, and wot not what is now become of it. betake 
 themselves to the Rock of Ages, and follow Jesus for 
 the future. 
 
 Item. We will, that the Synod of Kentucky examine 
 every member, who may be suspected of having departed 
 from the Confession of Faith, # and suspend every such 
 suspected 'heretic immediately, in order that the oppressed 
 may go free, and taste the sweets of gospel liberty. 
 
 Item. We will, that Ja , the author of two letters 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 175 
 
 lately published in Lexington, be encouraged in his zeal 
 to destroy partyism. We will, moreover, that our past 
 conduct be examined into by all who may have correct 
 information ; but let foreigners beware of speaking evil 
 of things which they know not. 
 
 Item. Finally we will, that all our sister bodies read 
 their Bibles carefully, that they may see their fate there 
 determined, and prepare for death before it is too late. 
 Springfield Presbytery, ) 
 June 28, 1804. £ 
 Robert Marshall, B. W. Stone, 
 
 John Dunlavy, John Thompson, 
 
 Richard McNemar, David Purviance, 
 
 Witnesses. 
 the witnesses' address. 
 
 We, the above-named witnesses to the last will and 
 testament of the Springfield Presbytery, knowing that 
 there will be many conjectures respecting the causes 
 which have occasioned the dissolution of that body, think 
 proper to testify that from its first existence it was knit 
 together in love, lived in peace and concord, and died a 
 voluntary and happy death. 
 
 Their reasons for dissolving that body were the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 With deep concern they viewed the divisions and 
 party spirit among professing Christians, principally 
 owing to the adoption of human creeds and forms of 
 government. While they were united under the name of 
 a presbytery, they endeavored to cultivate a spirit of love 
 and unity with all Christians; but found it extremely 
 difficult to suppress the idea that they themselves were a 
 party separate from others. This difficulty increased in 
 proportion to their success in the ministry. Jealousies 
 
1-6 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 were excited in the minds of other denominations ; and 
 a temptation was laid before those who were connected 
 with the various parties, to view .them in the same light. 
 At their last meeting they undertook to prepare for the 
 press a piece entitled "Observations on Church Govern- 
 ment,' ' in which the world will see the beautiful simplicity, 
 of Christian church government, stripped of human in- 
 ventions and lordly traditions. As they proceeded in the 
 investigation of that subject, they soon found that there 
 was neither precept nor example in the New Testament 
 for such confederacies as modern church sessions, pres- 
 byteries, synods, general assemblies, etc. Hence they 
 concluded that while they continued in the connection in 
 which they then stood, they were off the foundation of 
 the apostles and prophets, of which Christ himself is the 
 chief corner-stone. However just, therefore, their views 
 of church government might have been, they would have 
 gone out under the name and sanction of a self-consti- 
 tuted body. Therefore, from a principle of love to Chris- 
 tians of every name, the precious cause of Jesus, and 
 dying sinners who are kept from the Lord by the exist- 
 ence of sects and parties in the church, they have cheer- 
 fully consented to retire from the din and fury of con- 
 flicting parties, sink out of the view of fleshly minds, and 
 die the death. They believe their death will be great gain 
 to the world. But though dead, as above, and stripped of 
 their mortal frame, which only served to keep them too 
 near the confines of Egyptian bondage, they yet live and 
 speak in the land of gospel liberty ; they blow the trumpet 
 of jubilee, and willingly devote themselves to the help of 
 the Lord against the mighty. They will aid the brethren, 
 by their counsel, when required ; assist in ordaining 
 elders, or pastors ; seek the divine blessing ; unite with 
 all Christians ; commune together, and strengthen each 
 
LIFE OF BARTON IV. STOXE 
 
 177 
 
 ethers' hands in the work of the Lord, if it be His will. 
 
 We design, by the grace of God, to continue in the 
 exercise of those functions which belong to us as min- 
 isters of the gospel, confidently trusting in the Lord that 
 he will be with us. We candidly acknowledge that in 
 some things we may err, through human infirmity ; but 
 he will correct our wanderings, and preserve his church. 
 Let all Christians join with us in crying to God day and 
 night to remove the obstacles which stand in the way of 
 his work, and give him no rest till he make Jerusalem a 
 praise in the earth. We heartily unite with our Christian 
 brethren of every name in thanksgiving to God for the 
 display of his goodness in the glorious work he is carry- 
 ing on in our Western country, which we hope will ter- 
 minate in the universal spread of the gospel and the unity 
 of the church. 
 
 Thus far the witnesses of the last will and testament 
 of the Springfield Presbytery. Why the work alluded 
 to above, on the subject of church government, ne^er 
 made its appearance, the writer is not advised. Per- 
 haps the Shaker difficulty, which shortly after this time 
 arose, was the cause ; as it is known that Dunlavy and 
 McXemar, two of the witnesses, were carried away with 
 that miserable delusion; and also that shortly after their 
 defection from the cause, Marshall and Thompson be- 
 gan to look beck, and subsequently joined the Presby- 
 
i/8 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Atonement — Change of views — Baptism: is himself immersed — 
 Fanaticism makes considerable advance — The Shakers come 
 — Some of the preachers and people led off. 
 
 In 1804 m > r mind became embarrassed on the doctrine 
 of atonement. I had believed and taught that Christ died 
 as a substitute or surety in our stead, and that he died to 
 make satisfaction to law and justice for our sins, in order 
 to our justification. From these commonly received prin- 
 ciples, it would seem to follow that all must be saved, and 
 that Universalism must be the true doctrine. If all were 
 not saved, then it would follow that Christ did not die for 
 all ; and then Calvinistic election and reprobation must be 
 the true doctrine. I indulged no doubt in my mind that 
 each of these two systems was condemned by the Scrip- 
 tures. I studied the system of Andrew Fuller, but was 
 obliged to conclude that it was only a subterfuge and a 
 palliative of the two former systems of Calvinism and 
 Universalism. The growing intelligence of the world 
 must and will see it in this light. I determined to divest 
 myself, as much as possible, of all preconceived opinions 
 on this subject, and search the Scriptures daily for the 
 truth. 
 
 I first examined the commonly received doctrine, that 
 Christ as a surety or substitute died to satisfy the de- 
 mands of law and justice against us, and paid our debts 
 of suffering in our stead, by which we are justified. This 
 is equally the doctrine of Calvinists and the earlier Uni- 
 versalists, differing only in extent : the former limiting 
 the atonement to the elect, and the latter, without limita- 
 tion, extending it to all mankind. Now I inquired, What 
 
LIFE OF BARTON ll\ STONE i 79 
 
 are these debts, paid by the death of Christ? I was 
 answered by the one voice of all, They are death, tem- 
 poral, spiritual and eternal ; and that these were the de- 
 mands of the violated law, and injured justice of God. I 
 then inquired, Did Christ as a substitute die a natural or 
 temporal death in our stead? If so, why do we all yet 
 die? If the debt was fully paid by him for us, can it be 
 just that we suffer it again? Did he die a spiritual death 
 for us? Why, then, do all, whether elect or non-elect, 
 suffer this death? All are destitute of spiritual life, are 
 dead in trespasses and sins, have no desire for God, nor 
 delight in him. Could a holy law make such demands? 
 Could the holy Jesus pay such? Impossible. I further 
 inquired, Did Christ suffer eternal death in our room and 
 stead? Impossible; for he arose from the dead the third 
 day, and is now alive forevermore in heaven. But the 
 common idea was suggested he suffered what was equiv- 
 alent to eternal death ; he suffered infinitely in degree, but 
 not eternally. This appeared to me a mere subterfuge, 
 as unscriptural as it is unreasonable : for none but the 
 infinite God could suffer infinitely ; and as he can not 
 suffer, therefore the doctrine is absurd. Besides, eternal 
 punishment has no end, and to eternity the debt will be 
 unpaid, and until this be done justice can not be fully 
 satisfied, and consequently there can be no justification 
 forever on this plan. 
 
 Again, I viewed the substitute or surety, and the per- 
 son with whom he is connected, as one in law. If the 
 surety pays the debt, it is considered as paid by the 
 person for whom he was surety. Is this a justification 
 by grace or of debt? Is it pardon or forgiveness? I was 
 overwhelmed with astonishment to see the foundations of 
 all the popular systems built upon the sand, and tottering 
 and falling- at the touch of truth. The justly celebrated 
 
180 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 and eloquent Universalist preacher, Mr. Bailey, of Ken- 
 tucky, acknowledged that the foundation of Universalism 
 had never been moved or touched till these arguments 
 appeared ; and from that time till his death he ceased to 
 teach the doctrine, as I have been informed. 
 
 Driven from this foundation, I tried that of the 
 Methodists — that Jesus died to reconcile the Father to 
 us. This I found to be an unscriptural assertion None 
 of the sacred writers have said so. They represent God 
 an unchangeable being. The death of Jesus is never 
 represented as having any effect on God, or his law ; but 
 on man the whole effect of it passed for his good. I 
 examined another opinion, now become very common : 
 that is, that Jesus died to open the door of mercy to the 
 world, or to make it possible for God to justify him that 
 believed in his Son. This door was represented to be in 
 the breast of God. Justice and truth had closed it against 
 the egress of mercy to save sinners. It was impossible 
 for mercy to get out till the door was opened ; and justice 
 opposed its being opened till satisfaction should be made 
 to its demands. These demands, on inquiry, I found to 
 be as before stated, death temporal, spiritual and eternal. 
 The diction is different, but the sentiments are the same. 
 I saw that the doctrine evidently was not true — that the 
 door of mercy in the breast of God was not closed; for 
 the greatest gifts of mercy, yea, all the gifts of mercy, 
 were vouchsafed to us in the gift of Jesus Christ, the 
 Son of God, before justice could be satisfied by his death. 
 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only be- 
 gotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not 
 perish, but have everlasting life." The gift of Jesus was 
 before his death, and this, according to the system, must 
 be before the satisfaction. A door against mercy is in 
 our heart, and it is closed ; but the Lord is represented as 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STOXE 181 
 
 knocking at that dcor, and pleading for entrance. When 
 we open, the Lord with his fullness enters, and blesses us. 
 
 I further inquired, Did God in his law given by 
 Moses admit of a substitute or surety to die in the room 
 of the guilty? I found that he did not. For, according 
 to the law, every soul was to die for his own sins ; even 
 a son should not die for the father, nor the father for the 
 son. The doctrine of suretyship is wrong in civil policy 
 as well as in religion. It is not an authorized doctrine of 
 the Bible, though contended for with so much zeal by 
 system-mongers. 
 
 My opportunity to read was very limited^ being com- 
 pelled to manual labor daily on my farm ; but so intently 
 engaged was my mind on this and collateral subjects that 
 I always took with me in my cornfield my pen and ink, 
 and as thoughts worthy of note occurred I would cease 
 from my labor and commit them to paper. Thus labor- 
 ing till I had accumulated matter enough for a pamphlet, 
 and having arranged the ideas, I addressed them in print 
 to a friend. That edition was soon exhausted and I 
 could not supply the many calls for it. This gave a pre- 
 text for many to say I had called them in and burnt 
 them. This is not true. They were never called in by 
 me, nor were they burnt in my knowledge. Against this 
 pamphlet : Dr. J. P. Campbell, of Kentucky, a Presby- 
 terian preacher of some notoriety, wrote his "Strictures" 
 ■ — very severe in language, but his arguments were by me 
 considered weak, yet as good as his cause afforded him. 
 To these "Strictures" I replied in another printed pam- 
 phlet, to which he made a rejoinder, called the "Vindex." 
 It was judged to be too vindictive to merit a reply; and 
 thus this controversy between us closed. One thing I 
 have since regretted, that the Doctor accused me in his 
 pamphlets of being heterodox on the Trinity. My views 
 
182 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 I had never committed to paper, and for years had been 
 silent on that subject in my public addresses. We had 
 been very intimate, and I had disclosed my views to him 
 as to a brother, not suspecting that I should be dragged 
 before the public as I was. I forgive him. But his dis- 
 closure was abroad, and induced me to defend myself 
 and the doctrine I believed. This I have done in a book 
 called "My Address to the Churches," and in my letters 
 to James Blythe, D. D., the latter designed as an answer 
 to Thomas Cleland, D. D., who had written furiously 
 against me. 
 
 The result of my inquiries on atonement and Trinity 
 will be found in the pamphlets above named. I called 
 atonement, according to the true spelling and pronuncia- 
 tion of the word, "at-one-ment." Sin had separated be- 
 tween God and man, before at-one, when man was holy. 
 Jesus was sent to restore that union, or to make the 
 at-one-ment between God and man. This he effects when 
 he saves us from our sins and makes us holy. When this 
 is effected, God and man are at-one, without any change 
 in God, the whole change being in man. This is effected 
 through faith in Jesus, who lived, died, was buried and 
 rose again. But these things are fully shown in the books 
 referred to above. 
 
 About this time the subject of baptism began to arrest 
 the attention of the churches. On this I will state what 
 took place while I was a Presbyterian preacher. Robert 
 Marshall, one of our company, had then become con- 
 vinced of the truth of the Baptists' views on this subject, 
 and ceased from the practice of pedobaptism ; and it was 
 believed he was on the eve of uniting with the Baptists. 
 Alarmed lest he should join them. I wrote him a lengthy 
 letter on the subject, laboring to convince him of his 
 error. In reply, he wrote me another, in which he so 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 183 
 
 forcibly argued in favor of believers' immersion, and 
 against pedobaptism, that my mind was brought so com- 
 pletely to doubt the latter, that I ceased the practice 
 entirely. About this time the great excitement com- 
 menced, and the subject of baptism was for awhile, 
 strangely, almost forgotten. But after a few years it 
 revived, and many became dissatisfied with their infant 
 sprinkling, among whom I was one. 
 
 The brethren, elders and deacons came together on 
 this subject; for we had agreed previously with one an- 
 other to act in concert, and not to adventure on anything 
 new without advice from one another. At this meeting 
 we took up the matter in a brotherly spirit, and concluded 
 that every brother and sister should act freely and ac- 
 cording to their conviction of right, and that we should 
 cultivate the long-neglected grace of forbearance towards 
 each other — they who should be immersed, should not 
 despise those who were not, and vice versa. Xow the 
 question arose, Who will baptize us ? The Baptists would 
 not, except we united with them, and there were no elders 
 among us w r ho had been immersed. It was finally con- 
 cluded among us that if we were authorized to preach, 
 we were also authorized to baptize. The work then 
 commenced ; the preachers baptized one another, and 
 crowds came and were also baptized. My congregations 
 very generally submitted to it, and it soon obtained gen- 
 erally, and yet the pulpit was silent on the subject. In 
 Brother Marshall's congregation there were many who 
 wished baptism. As Brother Marshall had not faith in 
 the ordinance, I was called upon to administer This 
 displeased him and a few others. 
 
 The subject of baptism now engaged the attention of 
 the people very generally, and some, with myself, began 
 to conclude that it was ordained for the remission of 
 
i8 4 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 sins, and ought to be administered in the name of Jesus 
 to all believing penitents. I remember once about this 
 time we had a great meeting at Concord. Mourners 
 were invited every day to collect before the stand, in 
 order for prayers (this being the custom of the times). 
 The brethren were praying daily for the same people, 
 and none seemed to be comforted. I was considering in 
 my mind what could be the cause. The words of Peter 
 at Pentecost rolled through my mind : "Repent and be 
 baptized for the remission of sins, and you shall receive 
 the gift of the Holy Ghost." I thought, were Peter 
 here, he would thus address these mourners. I quickly 
 arose and addressed them in the same language, and 
 urged them to comply. Into the spirit of the doctrine I 
 was never fully led, until it was revived by Brother 
 Alexander Campbell some years after. 
 
 The churches and preachers grew and were multi- 
 plied ; we began to be purled up at our prosperity. A 
 law of synod, or presbytery, forbade their people to 
 associate with us in our worship on pain of censure, or 
 exclusion from their communion. This influenced many 
 of them to join us. But this pride of ours was soon 
 humbled by a very extraordinary incident. Three mis- 
 sionary Shakers from the East came amongst us — Bates, 
 Mitchum and Young. They were eminently qualified 
 for their mission. Their appearance was prepossessing, 
 their dress was plain and neat, they were grave and 
 unassuming at first in their manners, very intelligent and 
 ready in the Scriptures, and of great boldness in their 
 faith. 
 
 They informed us that they had heard of us in the 
 East, and greatly rejoiced in the work of God amongst 
 us ; that as far as we had gone we were right, but we 
 had not gone far enough into the work ; that they were 
 
LIFE OF BARTON IV. STONE 185 
 
 sent by their brethren to teach the way of God more 
 perfectly, by obedience to which we should be led into 
 perfect holiness. They seemed to understand all the 
 springs and avenues of the human heart. They deliv- 
 ered their testimony, and labored to confirm it by the 
 Scriptures — promised the greatest blessings to the obedi- 
 ent, but certain damnation to the disobedient. They 
 urged the people to confess their sins to them, especially 
 the sin of matrimony, and to forsake them all immedi- 
 ately — husbands must forsake their wives, and wives 
 their husbands. This was the burden of their testimony. 
 They said they could perform miracles, and related 
 many as done among them. But we never could per- 
 suade them to try to work miracles among us. 
 
 Many such things they preached, the consequence of 
 which was similar to that of Simon Magus. Many said 
 they were the great power of God. Many confessed 
 their sins to them and forsook the marriage state, among 
 whom were three of our preachers, Matthew Houston, 
 Richard McNemar and John Dunlavy. Several more of 
 our preachers and pupils, alarmed, fled from us and 
 joined the different sects around us. The sects tri- 
 umphed at our distress, and watched for our fall, as 
 Jonah watched for the fall of Nineveh under the shadow 
 of his gourd. But a worm at the root of Jonah's gourd 
 killed it, and deprived him of its shade and brought on 
 him great distress. So the worm of Shakerism was 
 busy at the root of all the sects, and brought on them 
 great distress; for multitudes of them, both preachers 
 and common people, also joined the Shakers. Our re- 
 proach was rolled away. 
 
 Never did I exert myself more than at this time to 
 save the people from this vortex of ruin. I yielded to 
 no discouragement, but labored night and day, far and 
 
186 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 near, among the churches where the Shakers went. By 
 this means their influence was happily checked in many 
 places. I labored so hard and constantly that a profuse 
 spitting of blood ensued. Our broken ranks were once 
 more rallied under the standard of heaven, and were 
 soon led on once more to victory. In answer to constant 
 prayer, the Lord visited us and comforted us after this 
 severe trial. The cause again revived and former scenes 
 were renewed. 
 
 The Shakers now became our bitter enemies, and 
 united with the sects in their opposition to us. They 
 denied the literal resurrection of the body from the 
 grave ; they said the resurrection of the body meant the 
 resurrection of Christ's body, meaning the church. They, 
 the elders, had constant communication and conversation 
 with angels and all the departed saints. They looked for 
 no other or better heaven than that on earth. Their 
 worship, if worthy of the name, consisted in voluntary 
 dancing together. They lived together, and had all 
 things common, entirely under the direction and control 
 of the elders. They flourished greatly for some years, 
 and built several superb villages, but afterw r ards began 
 to dwindle till they became nearly extinct. John Dun- 
 lavy, who had left us and joined them, was a man of a 
 penetrating mind, wrote and published much for them, 
 and was one of their elders in high repute by them. He 
 died in Indiana, raving in desperation for his folly in 
 forsaking the truth for an old woman's fables. Richard 
 McNemar was, before his death, excluded by the Shakers 
 from their society, in a miserable, penniless condition, as 
 I was informed by good authority. The reason of his 
 exclusion I never heard particularly ; but, from what 
 was heard, it appears that he had become convinced of 
 his error. The Shakers had a revelation given them to 
 
LIFE OP BARTON IV. STONE 187 
 
 remove him from their village, and take him to Lebanon, 
 in Ohio, and to set him down in the streets and leave 
 him there in his old age, without friends or money. 
 Soon after he died. Matthew Houston is yet alive, and 
 continues among them. 
 
 Their doctrine was that the Christ appeared first in 
 a male, and through life was preparing the way of salva- 
 tion, which he could net accomplish till his second ap- 
 pearance in a woman, Anne Lees, who was now the 
 Christ, and had full power to save. They had new 
 revelations, superior to the Scriptures, which they called 
 the old record, which were true, but superseded by the 
 new. When they preached to the world they used the 
 old record, and preached a pure gospel, as a bait to catch 
 the unwary ; but in the close of their discourse they art- 
 fully introduced their testimony. In this way they cap- 
 tivated hundreds and ensnared them in ruin. Their 
 coming was at a most inauspicious time. Some of us 
 were verging on fanaticism ; some were so disgusted at 
 the spirit of opposition against us, and the evils of divi- 
 sion, that they were almost led to doubt the truth of 
 religion in toto ; and some were earnestly breathing after 
 perfection in holiness, of which attainment they were 
 almost despairing, by reason of remaining depravity. 
 The Shakers well knew how to accommodate each of 
 these classes, and decoy them into the trap set for them. 
 
 * Note.— The Shaker difficulty here alluded to by Father Stone is repre- 
 sented as occurring before the question of baptism agitated the churches. This 
 is a chronological mistake, as doubtless the Shakers came before the question of 
 baptism was st,rred. Father Purviance's account of this matter is accordant 
 with the true chronology of the facts. This, to be sure, is a small matter, com- 
 paratively. 
 
188 THE CAKE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The churches had scarcely recovered from the shock of Shaker- 
 ism, when Marshall and Thompson became disaffected — They 
 endeavor to introduce a human creed — But failing, they re- 
 turn to the Presbyterian Church — Their character — B. W. 
 Stone's only son dies, 1809; his wife, in May. 1810 — Her 
 pious character — Breaks up housekeeping — In October, 181 1, 
 was married to Celia W. Bowen, and removes to Tennessee — 
 Returns to Kentucky — Teaches a high school in Lexington 
 — Studies the Hebrew language — Appointed principal of the 
 Rittenhouse Academy in Georgetown — Preaches in George- 
 town, where he founded a church with a numerous congre- 
 gation — Is persuaded to resign his station in the academy, 
 and devote his whole time to preaching — Teaches a private 
 school in Georgetown — Goes to Meigs County, Ohio, where a 
 Baptist association agrees to assume the name Christian — Re- 
 markable dream — Travels in Ohio, preaching to multitudes 
 and baptizing many. 
 
 Soon after this shock had passed off and the churches 
 were in a prosperous, growing condition ( for many ex- 
 crescences had been lopped off from our body), another 
 dark cloud was gathering, and threatened our entire 
 overthrow. But three of the elders now remained of 
 those that left the Presbyterians, and who had banded 
 together to support the truth — Robert Marshall, John 
 Thompson and myself. I plainly saw that the two for- 
 mer, Marshall and Thompson, were about to forsake us, 
 and to return to the house from whence they had come, 
 and to draw as many after them as they could. They 
 began to speak privately that the Bible was too latitudi- 
 narian for a creed — that there was a necessity, at this 
 time, to embody a few fundamental truths, and to make 
 a permanent and final stand upon them. One of these 
 
LIFE OF BART OX W. STONE 189 
 
 brethren had written considerably on the points or doc- 
 trines to be received, and on those to be rejected by us. 
 He brought the written piece with him to a conference 
 previously appointed, in order to read it to them. It was 
 thought better not to read it at that time, as too prema- 
 ture, but to postpone it to another appointment, which 
 was made at Mount Tabor, near Lexington, at which a 
 general attendance was required. 
 
 I made but little opposition then, but requested him 
 to loan me the written piece till our general meeting at 
 Mount Tabor, that I might in the interim study his doc- 
 trines accurately. To this he willingly consented, and I 
 availed myself of the permission, and wrote a particular 
 reply to his arguments, which was the foundation of my 
 "Address," afterwards published. The general meeting 
 at Mount Tabor came on, numerously attended. The 
 piece written by Brother Thompson was read publicly, 
 and Brother Hugh Andrews read also a piece of his own 
 composition on the same side of the question. I read 
 mine also, and Brother David Purviance, in the same 
 faith, spoke forcibly. Marshall, Thompson and Andrews 
 labored hard to bring us back to the ground from which 
 we had departed, and to form a system of doctrines from 
 which we should net recede. This scheme was almost 
 universally opposed by a large conference of preachers 
 and people. Those brethren, seeing they could effect 
 nothing, bade us farewell and withdrew from us. Soon 
 afterwards, Marshall and Thompson joined the Presby- 
 terians, receiving their confession again professedly ex 
 ammo; and charity hopes they did as they professed. 
 They became our most zealous opposers ; Marshall was 
 required by the presbytery to visit all our churches, 
 where he had formerly preached his errors, and renounce 
 them publicly, and preach to them the pure doctrine. 
 
igo THE CAKE RIDGE MEETIKG-HOUSE 
 
 These two brothers were great and good men. Their 
 memory is dear to me, and their fellowship I hope to 
 enjoy in a better world. Marshall has been dead for 
 some years. He never conld regain his former stand- 
 ing, nor the confidence of the people, after he left ns. 
 Thompson yet lives (1843), respected and a zealous 
 preacher of the New School Presbyterians, in Craw- 
 fordsville Indiana. Xot long since I had several very 
 friendly interviews with him. Old things appeared to 
 be forgotten by ns both, and cast off by brotherly, kind 
 affection. Hugh Andrews joined the Methodists, and 
 long since sleeps in death. Of all the five of ns that left 
 the Presbyterians, I only was left, and they sought my 
 life. In the winter of 1809, my only son, Barton War- 
 ren, died, and in the spring following, May 30, my dear 
 companion Eliza triumphantly followed. She was pious, 
 intelligent and cheerful, truly a helpmeet to me in all my 
 troubles and difficulties. Nothing could depress her, not 
 even sickness nor death itself. I will relate an incident 
 respecting her of interest to me, and maybe to her chil- 
 dren. When my mind began to think deeply on the sub- 
 ject of the atonement, I was entirely absorbed in it, yet 
 dared not mention it to any, lest it might involve other 
 minds in similar perplexities. She discovered that some- 
 thing uncommon oppressed me. I was laboring in my 
 field; she came to me and affectionately besought me not 
 to conceal, but plainly declare, the cause of my oppres- 
 sion. We sat down, and I .old her my thoughts on the 
 atonement. When I had concluded, she sprang up and 
 praised God aloud most fervently for the truth. From 
 that day till her death she never doubted of its truth. 
 
 At her death, four little daughters were left me, the 
 eldest not more than eight years old. I broke up house- 
 keeping and boarded my children with brethren, devot- 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 191 
 
 ing my whole time gratuitously to the churches scattered 
 far and near. My companion and fellow-laborer was 
 Reuben Dooley, of fervent piety and engaging address. 
 Like myself, he had lately lost his companion, and ceased 
 housekeeping and boarded out his little children. We 
 preached and founded churches throughout the Western 
 States of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Occasionally 
 we visited our children. All my daughters when young 
 professed faith in Jesus and were baptized. The young- 
 est, Eliza, has long since triumphantly entered into rest. 
 
 October 3, 181 1, I was married to my present com- 
 panion, Celia W. Bowen, daughter of Capt. William 
 Bowen and Mary his wife, near Nashville, Tennessee. 
 She was cousin to my former wife. We immediately 
 removed to my old habitation in Bourbon County, Ken- 
 tucky, and lived happily there for one year. Then, by 
 advice and hard persuasion, we were induced to move to 
 Tennessee, near my wife's widowed mother. The old 
 mother put us on a very good farm, but without a com- 
 fortable house for our accommodation. I labored hard 
 at building a house and improving the farm, till I 
 learned that Mother Bowen designed not to give me a 
 deed to the farm, and that the right of giving a deed 
 lay solely in her. I could not blame her for this, as the 
 lands of my first wife, by the laws of Kentucky, be- 
 longed to her children at her death. She thought it 
 prudent to deed the land on which we lived, to her 
 daughter and children. I had before thought the land 
 was left to my wife by the will of her deceased father. 
 As soon as I heard of our old mother's determination, I 
 concluded to return to Kentucky. 
 
 I communicated this to my companion, who approved 
 of my course. In a few days I started back to Kentucky, 
 if possible to get back my old farm I had sold. I had 
 
192 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 sold it for twelve dollars per acre, but the price of lands 
 had greatly risen, and I could not get my farm again 
 for less than thirty dollars per acre. I was unable to 
 repurchase it, or any other, at these prices. While I was 
 in Tennessee my field of labors in the Word was very 
 much circumscribed, and my manual labors took up 
 much of my time in fixing for living comfortably. Let- 
 ters from the churches and brethren in Kentucky were 
 pouring in upon me, pressing me to return to them. 
 Finding myself unable to repurchase my old farm, I 
 yielded to the strong solicitations of the brethren in Lex- 
 ington and the neighborhood to settle amongst them. 
 They immediately sent a carriage for my family and a 
 wagon to move us up. They had rented me a house in 
 Lexington, and promised to supply my family with every 
 necessary. But I then learned a lesson, and learned it 
 better afterwards, that good men often make promises 
 which they forget to perform. 
 
 In Lexington I was compelled to teach a high school 
 for a support. I taught the English grammar, Latin, 
 Greek, and some of the sciences. This school exceeded 
 my highest anticipations. Gentlemen of the first class 
 patronized it, and our institution became popular and 
 respectable. We far outnumbered the pupils of the uni- 
 versity. I employed an assistant well qualified. In this 
 time I had to visit once a month my old congregation at 
 Cane Ridge, nearly thirty miles distant, and be back by 
 school-hour on Monday morning. I labored in my school 
 to satisfy my patrons, and profit my pupils, and it is 
 believed that I succeeded. 
 
 While teaching there, a Prussian doctor, a Jew of 
 great learning, came to Lexington, and proposed to teach 
 the Hebrew language in a short time. A class was soon 
 made up of a motley mixture of preachers, lawyers and 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 193 
 
 others. He taught by lectures, and in a very short time 
 we understood the language so as with ease to read and 
 translate by the assistance of a lexicon. This was a 
 desideratum with me, and was of advantage ever after 
 in reading and understanding the Scriptures. 
 
 The Rittenhouse Academy in Georgetown became 
 vacant, and urgent solicitations were made to me to 
 become its principal. I consented, and moved there, and 
 soon entered upon the duties of my appointment. The 
 number of students soon became large, and many fol- 
 lowed me from Lexington. At that time Georgetown 
 was notorious for irreligion and wickedness. I began to 
 preach to them that they should repent and turn to the 
 Lord. My congregation increased, and became inter- 
 ested on the subject of religion. Soon we constituted a 
 church of six or seven members, which quickly grew 
 to two or three hundred. I was every week baptizing, 
 sometimes thirty at a time, of whom were a number of 
 my pupils, some of whom became useful preachers after- 
 wards. The work of conversion spread a distance round, 
 with but few preachers, and those not very efficient. The 
 harvest was truly great, but the laborers were few. 
 
 The churches, without my knowledge, met together 
 and determined that it was proper to engage all my time 
 and services in preaching the gospel ; and in order to 
 release me from the academy, they agreed to pay my 
 debt, which I had contracted for a small farm near the 
 town, on which I had moved my family. The only way 
 I had to pay this debt was by the profits of the academy. 
 They had also agreed to supply myself and family with 
 a comfortable support. A deputation of brethren was 
 sent to inform me what was done, and to confer with me 
 on the propriety of yielding to their wishes, and to 
 evangelize steadily among the churches. I yielded, and 
 
194 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 resigned the charge of the academy, and gave up myself 
 to the work of the ministry. The remembrance of these 
 days, and of the great and good works which were 
 effected by my humble labors, will cause many to shout 
 the praises of God to eternity. 
 
 The time drew near when my debt must be paid. I 
 became uneasy lest I might fail, and named it to my 
 brethren. Fair promises kept up my spirits ; but at last 
 I had to borrow a good part of the money and pay the 
 debt myself. And, to add to my trouble, the money 
 borrowed was to be repaid in specie, which I had to buy 
 with commonwealth's depreciated paper, two for one, 
 yet had been by me received at par with silver and gold. 
 I was compelled to desist from evangelizing, and pro- 
 posed to teach a private school in Georgetown (for the 
 academy was supplied). I had soon as many pupils as 
 I desired. By this means I was enabled to pay the bor- 
 rowed money and the interest, and had something over. 
 By such constant application to study my health failed. 
 I gave up teaching entirely, and turned to hard labor on 
 my farm, in order to support my family. 
 
 I had an appointment of long standing in Meigs 
 County, Ohio, above the mouth of Kanawha, in order 
 to preach and to baptize a Presbyterian preacher living 
 there, whose name was William Caldwell. The time 
 drew near, and I had no money to bear my expenses. 
 I was ashamed to beg, and unable to obtain it. The 
 night before I started on my tour I had meeting in the 
 neighborhood, and when the people were dismissed a 
 letter was slipped into the hand of my little daughter by 
 some unknown person. She handed it to me, and I 
 found a ten-dollar bill enfolded, with these words only 
 written, "For Christ's sake." I was much affected, and 
 received it thankfully as a gift from my Lord to enable 
 
LIFE OF BARTON IF. SFOXE 195 
 
 me to do his work. I was much encouraged, believing 
 that the Lord would prosper my way. 
 
 I arrived safely and in good spirits at the appoint- 
 ment, where Brother Dooley, of Ohio, met me. The 
 separate Baptists, by previous appointment, held their 
 annual association at the same time and place. We 
 agreed to worship together. The crowd of people was 
 great, and early in the beginning of the meeting I bap- 
 tized Brother Caldwell in the Ohio River. This circum- 
 stance drew the cords of friendship more closely between 
 us and the Baptists. Great was the excitement produced 
 by our united efforts. The elders and members of the 
 association met daily in a house near the stand, where 
 they transacted their business, while worship was carried 
 on at the stand. I was invited and urged to assist them 
 in their deliberations in the association, and frequently 
 requested to give my opinion on certain points, which I 
 did to their acceptance and approbation. They had a 
 very difficult case before them on which they could come 
 to no decision. I was urged to speak on it, and to speak 
 freely. It was evidently a case with which they had no 
 right to meddle, and which involved the system of church 
 government. I spoke freely and fully on the point, and 
 showed it to be a party measure, and of course unscrip- 
 tural. I exerted myself with meekness against sectarian- 
 ism, formularies and creeds, and labored to establish the 
 Scriptural union of Christians and their Scriptural name. 
 Till Christians were united in spirit on the Bible, I 
 showed there would be no end to such difficult cases as 
 now agitated them. Having closed my speech, I retired 
 to the worshiping-ground. 
 
 The mind of the association was withdrawn from 
 any further attention to their knotty cases, to the con- 
 sideration of what I had said. The result was that they 
 
196 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 agreed to cast away their formularies and creeds, and 
 take the Bible alone for their rule of faith and practice — 
 to throw away their name Baptist and take the name 
 Christian — and to bury their association and to become 
 one with us in the great work of Christian union. They 
 then marched up in a band to the stand,' shouting the 
 praise of God, and proclaiming aloud what they had 
 done. We met them, and embraced each other with 
 Christian love, by which the union was cemented. I 
 think the number of elders who united was about twelve. 
 After this the work gloriously progressed, and multi- 
 tudes were added to the Lord. 
 
 A few incidents in my travels, which happened be- 
 fore this time, while I was a widower, and soon after 
 the conference at Mount Tabor, where Marshall and 
 Thompson left us, I wish to mention for the good of 
 evangelists hereafter. At that meeting Brother R. Doo- 
 ley and myself agreed to travel in Ohio for some time. 
 We started immediately, and went to Eaton. We com- 
 menced operations there on Saturday, and appointed to 
 preach at a house near town next day. After meeting 
 on Saturday, a lady (Major Steele's wife) returned 
 home and found her husband just returned from the 
 West. She told him that two strange preachers had 
 come to town, and she had been to hear them. Nothing 
 more was said on this subject. In the night Major Steele 
 dreamed that he went to meeting — that a man whom he 
 had never seen rose to preach. The features of the 
 preacher were deeply impressed on his mind, and the 
 very text from which he preached, which was, "If God 
 spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, 
 how shall he not with him freely give us all things?" 
 He was very much agitated in sleep, and awoke. He 
 told his wife the dream, and slept again, and dreamed 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 197 
 
 the same things. He could sleep no more that night. 
 Next day he came to meeting, and after the congrega- 
 tion met, I arose. That moment Steele recognized the 
 very person whom he had seen in sleep the night before. 
 He began to fear greatly. I read my text, the very one 
 he had heard read in sleep. His mind became so affected 
 that he went out and tried in vain to be composed. He 
 endeavored to shake off the impression by going with a 
 company to the West to explore lands, but all in vain. 
 He returned, and was by us baptized at a subsequent 
 time. 
 
 We preached and baptized daily in Eaton for many 
 days. No house could contain the people that flocked to 
 hear. We had to preach in the open streets to the anx- 
 ious multitude. At night, after service, the cries and 
 prayers of the distressed in many houses around were 
 truly solemn. Almost the whole town and neighborhood 
 were baptized and added to the Lord. We left this place 
 and preached and baptized in many other places. We 
 were poorly clad, and had net money to buy clothes. 
 Going on at a certain time through the barrens, a limb 
 tore Brother Dooley's striped linen pantaloons very 
 much. He had no other, nor had I another pair to lend 
 him. We consoled ourselves that we were on the Lord's 
 work, and he would provide. He tied his handkerchief 
 over the rent, and we went and preached to the people. 
 That night we lodged with Brother Samuel Wilson, 
 whose wife presented Brother Dooley a pair of home- 
 spun linen pantaloons. 
 
 We separated awhile, to preach to the frontier set- 
 tlers scattered abroad. One day as I was riding slowly 
 along a small track to an appointment at night I was 
 passing by a small hut, when a woman ran out and called 
 to me. I stopped my horse. She told me she had heard 
 
ig8 THE CANE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 me preach on yesterday, and with a heavenly coun- 
 tenance she thanked God for it; "for," said she, "the 
 Lord has blessed my soul. Will you stop and. baptize 
 me?" "Yes," said I, "gladly will I do it." I dismounted 
 and walked into the cottage. "Oh," said she, "will you 
 wait till I send for my sister, a short distance off? She 
 was with me yesterday, and the Lord has blessed her, 
 too. She wants also to be baptized." "Oh, yes," said I, 
 "I will gladly wait." She quickly dispatched a little boy 
 to call her husband from the field near the house, and to 
 tell the sister to come. In the meantime she was busy 
 preparing dinner for me. It was no doubt the best she 
 had, but such as I had never seen before. I never more 
 thankfully more happily and more heartily dined. The 
 husband soon came in, and the wife beckoned him out 
 and informed him of her intention of being baptized. 
 He obstinately opposed it. In tears and distress she 
 informed me. I talked mildly with him of the impro- 
 priety of his conduct, and at length gained his consent. 
 Her countenance brightened with joy, and her sister, 
 nobilc par. came. We went down to Deer Creek, about 
 fifty yards from the house, where I immersed them. 
 They rose from the water praising God aloud. A hap- 
 pier scene I never witnessed. The husband looked like 
 death. 
 
 I proceeded to my appointment at Brother Forgue 
 Graham's The house was full to overflowing. I 
 preached, and great was the effect. After preaching I 
 invited such as wished to be baptized to come forward. 
 A good number came forward, among the first of whom 
 was the husband who had just before so obstinately 
 opposed his wife's baptism. He had walked seven miles 
 to the night meeting. The house was near the bank of 
 the same creek ; the moon shone brightly. We went 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 199 
 
 down to and into the water, where I baptized a number 
 of happy persons. It was a solemn scene. With reluct- 
 ance the people returned home late at night. 
 
 It was a very common thing at that time for many on 
 the frontiers, men, women and children, to walk six or 
 seven miles to a night meeting. The darkest nights did 
 not prevent them, for as they came to meeting they tied 
 up bundles of hickory bark and left them by the way at 
 convenient distances apart ; on their return they lighted 
 these bundles, which afforded them a pleasant walk. 
 Many have I baptized at night by the light of these 
 torches. 
 
 One day, after having preached, I started alone to 
 another appointment. On my way a gentleman, who 
 was returning home from the same meeting, c ime up ; 
 we rode on together. I introduced the subject of relig- 
 ion, which I found not to be disagreeable to him. though 
 he was not a professor. I urged him by many argu- 
 ments to a speedy return to the Lord. His mind, I saw, 
 was troubled, and vacillating as to his choice of life or 
 death. At length we came to a clear, running stream ; 
 he said, "See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be 
 baptized?" I instantly replied in Philip's language: "If 
 thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest." He 
 said: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and 
 am determined hereafter to be his servant." Without 
 anything more, we alighted, and I baptized him. We 
 rode on in our wet clothes till our ways parted. 
 
200 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A. Campbell appears — Visits Kentucky — His character and 
 views — In 1S26 Elder Stone commences the publication of 
 the Christian Messenger — In 1832 John T. Johnson became 
 associated with Elder Stone as co-editor of the Messenger — 
 Continued in that connection till B. W. Stone removed to 
 Illinois — They succeeded in uniting the churches in Kentucky, 
 whose members had been invidiously called "Stonettes" and 
 "Campbellites" — In 1834 B. W. Stone removes to Jacksonville, 
 Illinois — Effects a union there between those called Christians 
 and Reformers. 
 
 Since the union of the Baptist Association, as stated 
 in the last chapter, nothing worthy of particular note 
 occurred till the period when Alexander Campbell, of 
 Virginia, appeared, and caused a great excitement on the 
 subject of religion in Kentucky and other States. "Some 
 said, He is a good man ; but others said, Nay ; for he 
 deceiveth the people." When he came into Kentucky, I 
 heard him often in public and in private. I was pleased 
 with his manner and matter. I saw no distinctive feature 
 between the doctrine he preached and that which we had 
 preached for many years, except on baptism for remis- 
 sion of sins. Even this I had once received and taught, 
 as before stated, but had strangely let it go from my 
 mind, till Brother Campbell revived it afresh. I thought 
 then that he was not sufficiently explicit on the influences 
 of the Spirit, which led many honest Christians to think 
 he denied them. Had he been as explicit then, as since, 
 mam- honest souls would have been still with us, and 
 would have greatly aided the good cause. In a few 
 things I dissented from him, but was agreed to disagree. 
 
 I will not say there are no faults in Brother Camp- 
 
LIFE OF BARTON W. STONE 201 
 
 bell ; but that there are fewer, perhaps, in him than any 
 man I know on earth ; and over these few my love would 
 throw a veil, and hide them from view forever. I am 
 constrained, and ■ willingly constrained, to acknowledge 
 him the greatest promoter of this Reformation of any 
 man living. The Lord reward him ! 
 
 In the year 1826 I commenced a periodical called the 
 Christian Messenger. I had a good patronage, and 
 labored hard to make the work useful and acceptable. 
 After continuing the work for six years, Brother John 
 T. Johnson became united as co-editor, in which relation 
 we continued harmoniously for two years, when the 
 editorial connection was dissolved by my removal to Illi- 
 nois. The work I still continued in Illinois, with short 
 intervals, to the present year, 1843. 
 
 Just before Brother Johnson and myself united as co- 
 editors of the Christian Messenger, Alexander Camp- 
 bell, of Virginia, had caused a great excitement in 
 Kentucky, as well as in other States, on the subject of 
 religion. He had received a complete education in Scot- 
 land, and became a preacher in the straitest sect of 
 Presbyterians. In early life he had immigrated into 
 America, and ; under conviction that the immersion of 
 believers only was baptism, he joined the Baptists. Not 
 contented to be circumscribed in their system of religion, 
 by close application to the Bible he became convinced 
 that he had received many doctrines unauthorized by 
 Scripture, and contrary to them, and therefore relin- 
 quished them for those more Scriptural. He boldly 
 determined to take the Bible alone for his standard of 
 faith and practice, to the exclusion of all other books as 
 authoritative. He argued that the Bible presented suffi- 
 cient evidence of its truth to sinners, to enable them to 
 believe it, and sufficient motives to induce them to obey 
 
202 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 it — that until they believed and obeyed the gospel, in 
 vain they expected salvation, pardon and the Holy Spirit 
 — that now is the accepted time, and now is the day of 
 salvation. 
 
 These truths we had proclaimed and reiterated 
 through the length and breadth of the land, from the 
 press and from the pulpit, many years before A. Camp- 
 bell and his associates came upon the stage as aids of 
 the good cause. Their aid gave a new impetus to the 
 Reformation which was in progress, especially among 
 the Baptists in Kentucky ; and the doctrine spread and 
 greatly increased in the West. The only distinguishing 
 doctrine between us and them was, that they preached 
 baptism for the remission of sins to believing penitents. 
 This doctrine had not generally obtained amongst us, 
 though some few had received it, and practiced accord- 
 ingly. They insisted also upon weekly communion, 
 which we had neglected. It was believed by many, and 
 feared by us, that they were not sufficiently explicit on 
 the influences of the Spirit. Many unguarded things 
 were spoken and written by them on this subject, calcu- 
 lated to excite the suspicions and fears of the people, 
 that no other influence was needed than that in the 
 written Word ; therefore, to pray to God for help was 
 vain. The same thing had been objected to us long 
 before, and with plausibility, too ; for we also had been 
 unguarded in our expressions. In private conversation 
 with these brethren our fears were removed, for our 
 views were one. 
 
 Among others of the Baptists, who received, and 
 zealously advocated the teaching of A. Campbell, was 
 John T. Johnson, than whom there is not a better man. 
 We lived together in Georgetown, and labored and wor- 
 shiped together. We plainly saw that we were on the 
 
LIFE OF BARTOX IV. STONE 203 
 
 same foundation, in the same spirit, and preached the 
 same gospel. We agreed to unite our energies to effect 
 a union between our different societies. This was easily 
 effected in Kentucky; and, in order to confirm this 
 union, we became co-editors of the Christian Messenger. 
 This union, I have no doubt, would have been as easily 
 effected in other States as in Kentucky, had there not 
 been a few ignorant, headstrong bigots on both sides, 
 who were more influenced to retain and augment their 
 party, than to save the world by uniting according to 
 the prayer of Jesus. Some irresponsible zealots among 
 the Reformers, so called, would publicly and zealously 
 contend against sinners praying, or that professors 
 should pray for them ; they spurned the idea that preach- 
 ers should pray that God would assist them in declaring 
 his truth to the people; they rejected from Christianity 
 all who were not baptized for the remission of sins, and 
 who did not observe the weekly communion, and many 
 such doctrines they preached. The old Christians, who 
 were unacquainted with the preachers of information 
 amongst us, would naturally conclude these to be the 
 doctrines of us all ; and they rose up in opposition to us 
 all, representing our religion as a spiritless, prayerless 
 religion, and dangerous to the souls of men. They ran 
 to the opposite extreme in Ohio and in the Eastern 
 States. I blame not the Christians for opposing such 
 doctrines; but I do blame the more intelligent among 
 them, that they did not labor to allay those prejudices 
 of the people by teaching them the truth, and not to 
 cherish them,, as many of them did in their periodicals 
 and public preaching. Xor were they only blamable ; 
 some of the Reformers are equally worthy of blame, by 
 rejecting the name Christian, as a family name, because 
 the old Christians had taken it before them. At this 
 
204 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 posterity will wonder, when they know that the sentiment 
 was published in one of our most popular periodicals, 
 and by one in the highest standing among us. 
 
 It is not wonderful that the prejudices of the old 
 Christian Church should be great against us, and that 
 they should so unkindly upbraid me especially, and my 
 brethren in Kentucky, for uniting with the Reformers. 
 But what else could we do, the Bible being our direc- 
 tory? Should we command them to leave the foundation 
 on which we stood — the Bible alone — when they had 
 come upon the same? By what authority could we com- 
 mand? Or should we have left this foundation to them 
 and have built another? Or should we have remained 
 and fought with them for the sole possession ? They 
 held the name Christian as sacred as we did, they were 
 equally averse from making opinions the test of fellow- 
 ship, and equally solicitous for the salvation of souls. 
 This union I view as the noblest act of my life. 
 
 In the fall of 1834, I moved my family to Jackson- 
 ville, Illinois. Here I found two churches — a Christian 
 and Reformers' church. They worshiped in separate 
 places. I refused to unite with either until they united 
 together, and labored to effect it. It was effected. I 
 never suffered myself to be so blinded by prejudice in 
 favor of or against any that I could not see their excel- 
 lencies or defects. I have seen wrongs in the Reform- 
 ers, and in the old Christians, and in candor have pro- 
 tested against them. This has exposed me to the darts 
 of both sides. 
 
 Since my removal to Illinois, you, my children, can 
 remember all that transpired worthy of notice. You 
 know that I was stricken with paralysis in August, 1841, 
 from which time I have remained a cripple, and must so 
 continue till relieved by the resurrection to immortality. 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 207, 
 
 SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 
 
 By WILLIAM ROGERS 
 
 David Purviance selected for his future home a small 
 tract of land about three miles south of Cane Ridge 
 meeting-house. The spot he selected was doubtless a 
 fertile one, but when contemplated in the wilderness 
 state in which he found it, the prospect for living was 
 gloomy in the extreme. Covered thickly with tall trees 
 of forest growth, the ash, the sugar-tree, the walnut, 
 locust, and other varieties common to that quarter of the 
 country, superadded to these a solid brake of tall cane, 
 so thick as to be almost impervious to man or beast, 
 covered the whole face of the surrounding country. 
 
 We have said the prospect for a living from the pic- 
 ture given was rather dreary and forbidding. David 
 Purviance had no slaves to work for him, for from early 
 and fixed principles he was opposed to the institution of 
 slavery. 
 
 His fate is now sealed. He must either work hard 
 or he must starve. He cheerfully and like a Christian 
 philosopher (as doubtless he was) chose the former. He 
 
 *Note. — From the biography of David Purviance, edited by his son, Elder 
 Levi Purviance, Dayton, Ohio, in 1848. (Pp. 16 to 45.) 
 
 There is no man living better qualified to give the following sketch than 
 Brother Rogers. He was a young man and lived a close neighbor to David Pur- 
 viance at the time he served in the State Legislature of Kentucky. There are 
 many aged men yet living who will corroborate his statements. 
 
 The subject-matter of this paper is so much of history regained and 
 restored. All Kentucky histories are silent on this theme. — J. R. Rogers. 
 
2o8 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 went to work with his own hands, he handled the imple- 
 ments of husbandry, he cleared off a spot, and erected a 
 cabin for a habitation. Next, he cleared and reclaimed 
 from its wild state ground sufficient to raise a supply for 
 his family and flocks. Here in rural pursuits he passed 
 several years in great contentment and obscurity. He 
 was never disposed to seek an occasion to make himself 
 known at any stage of life. That kind of ambition was 
 never an occupant of the bosom of the great and good 
 Purviance. True, he was intellectually competent to any 
 station, but it is equally true that he was the most meek, 
 unambitious and unpretending of the race of man. 
 
 But to our narrative. Air. Purviance lived and 
 labored on upon his few acres, unnoticed and unknown, 
 until early in the year 1795 ; during that year, memorable 
 in the history of his life, we shall now proceed to record 
 some events that occurred that must forever interest the 
 friends of David Purviance, and render his memory 
 dear, very dear indeed, to his posteritv. 
 
 Little did the master spirits of that day, who ruled 
 and shaped the legislation of Kentucky as best suited 
 their policy and purpose, suspect, as they beheld this 
 humble Cane Ridge farmer, in the garb of a laborer, 
 sweating beneath the rays of a burning sun — little did 
 they dream, as they moved about in splendor and beheld 
 the man we have described, that he was destined in a 
 short time to arrest them in their uncheckered career, 
 and wrest from their hands some of their dearest meas- 
 ures, which, by their sagacity and management in the 
 halls of the legislature, had been brought to bear injuri- 
 ously and oppressively upon the country. 
 
 One or two of the most obnoxious of the measures in 
 question it will be necessary, for the reader of the pres- 
 ent day, to have explained. At the session of 1792 a 
 
£ £ 
 
 ■■■■■■11111 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 211 
 
 law had been passed giving original jurisdiction to the 
 Court of Appeals in all cases respecting the titles of 
 lands. At the same session the court called Oyer and 
 Terminer was also established, and had exclusive juris- 
 diction in all cases where the penalty of the offence 
 extended to life or limb. These courts held their sittings 
 twice a year, and only at the seat of government, which 
 made it extremely inconvenient, expensive, and indeed 
 oppressive, to the citizens to attend them. To the poor 
 occupant of the disputed lands it was in many instances 
 ruinous, while the felons of the country mostly escaped 
 unwhipped of justice; for it was rare to procure the 
 attendance of prosecutors, witnesses, etc., at so great a 
 distance and at such sacrifice of time and money. 
 
 Very few were interested in a continuance of the 
 laws in question, except a band of eminent lawyers, who 
 at the time held an extensive and lucrative practice in the 
 courts in question, and who, unfortunately for the coun- 
 try, controlled, to a great extent, the legislative action of 
 
 the State. 
 
 The people, however, became restless under such mis- 
 rule, and, as early as the session of 1795, the original 
 jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals in said cases, which 
 had been found upon practice to be so expensive and 
 mischievous, was repealed, and the court of Oyer and 
 Terminer was abolished. This, however, only tended to 
 increase the excitement on the part of the lawyers in 
 question, and they at once put in requisition all their 
 talents and influence to revive these laws, and a fierce 
 contest grew up between the court party and the people, 
 which was kept alive for several years. 
 
 When the election of 1797 began to approach, much 
 interest was manifested through the whole country upon 
 this deeply interesting question; and as the canvass for 
 
212 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 members to the Legislature began to open, great anxiety- 
 was evinced on the part of the people to have men of 
 the right stamp brought forward. This was particularly 
 the case in Bourbon. 
 
 This county, if not in advance, was certainly as for- 
 ward as any other in the work of reform, and she deter- 
 mined to have suitable individuals for candidates. 
 
 Gentlemen of the bar were most objectionable, as to 
 that source the people attributed the mischiefs com- 
 plained of; still, it was considered by the more sagacious 
 that men capable of the advocacy of their cause should 
 be brought forward. To this end, Wm. Garrard, Jr., a 
 young lawyer of high promise, and then but recently 
 embarked in the practice at Paris, was solicited to become 
 a candidate ; the more especially as he was known to be 
 sound in respect to the measures complained of. He, 
 moreover, was a son of James Garrard, who was then 
 Governor o^ the State. He consented to run, and en- 
 gaged in the canvass. 
 
 David Purviance, of Cane Ridge, to his surprise, was 
 very strongly urged by members of his county to become 
 a candidate. He at length agreed to do so. provided he 
 could make the canvass without the degrading practice, 
 then so prevalent among candidates, of treating for votes. 
 His friends, although they approved his views in this 
 respect, doubted his success unless he would yield, but 
 this he firmly refused to do. Rut he, nevertheless, de- 
 clared himself, and at once engaged in the canvass. 
 There were now about a dozen candidates before the 
 people, six only to be elected, that being the number of 
 members in the lower branch of the Legislature to which 
 P>ourbon was entitled. The election came off in April, 
 1797. David Purviance, William Garrard, Jr., James 
 Smith, Charles Smith, Robert Wilmot and John Grigg 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 213 
 
 were elected, but as our business is with the two former, 
 the latter, although highly worthy men, will not again 
 be referred to. 
 
 There was a called session of the Legislature in 
 November, which, however, was continued on to the 
 regular session, and altogether was the longest one, it is 
 believed, e\er held in Kentucky. 
 
 The house was, at the commencement, organized by 
 the appointment of Edmund Bullock speaker, and in due 
 time proceeded to the regular business of the session. 
 John Breckenridge, an eminent lawyer and statesman of 
 rare abilities, was a member from the county of Fayette. 
 For some days he seemed tc be the animating spirit of 
 the house and shaped and guided its action as best suited 
 '.~as taste and wishes. None thwarted his plans, none 
 attacked his position, or dared to enter with him the 
 arena of debate. He held for the time an unchecked 
 reign over the movements of the house ; but this order of 
 things was now to be interrupted. At the proper stage, 
 as seemed to Mr. Breckinridge, he introduced a bill to 
 revive the criminal court of Oyer and- Terminer, and 
 after a slight speech in its advocacy obtained leave to 
 take it up on a given day. This was a measure of 
 weighty consideration, particularly with the two young 
 members from Bourbon, Mr. Purviance and Mr. Gar- 
 rard, who had been elected mainly in the hope of their 
 successful opposition to that measure. Little else was 
 talked of among members until the day for its discussion 
 arrived. 
 
 When that day had arrived, Mr. Breckinridge, true to 
 his purpose, rose in advocacy of this his favorite meas- 
 ure ; for it must be noticed that at the time the court in 
 question was abolished he enjoyed the most extensive 
 practice in it, perhaps, cf any gentleman of the bar in 
 
214 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 Kentucky. He began his speech, and continued it in a 
 manner so strong, argumentative and pathetic as greatly 
 to excite, and indeed alarm, his opponents. His speech 
 was not only eloquent, fervent and imposing, but very 
 lengthy ; for when the hour for the evening's adjourn- 
 ment arrived, he gave way, with leave to conclude the 
 next day- 
 
 During his speech, the opponents of his bill were in 
 hopeless despair ; they were alarmed at the expected 
 result. That night little was talked of by the members 
 and numerous spectators but the wonderful speech of the 
 mighty orator,- Mr. Breckinridge. And the interesting 
 inquiry went the rounds of who would dare a reply. A 
 momentous question this, not readily answered. Xo 
 member was to be found who was willing to hazard him- 
 self in so perilous a battle. Nay, the risk was too daring, 
 too adventurous. 
 
 That night, for the first time, Garrard, in reply to 
 Breckinridge, paid a visit to Mr. Purviance at his room, 
 and his first salutation was, "Bourbon will look for a 
 speech to-morrow, and you, Purviance, must make it." 
 
 "I entirely agree with you," responded Purviance, 
 "that Bourbon will look for a speech, but differ entirely 
 as to who shall make it. You, Mr. Garrard, are a law- 
 yer, and have been elected in the confident expectation 
 of your opposition, in a speech, to the bill now before the 
 house, and should you fail to do so, no apology will atone 
 to your constituents for the delinquency." 
 
 These words of Purviance, spoken in truth and much 
 candor, hung as a millstone about the neck of Garrard, 
 for he felt their weight. 
 
 During their interview, each insisted upon the other 
 to make the speech, but neither would promise even to 
 try. After Garrard retired, Purviance felt himself to be 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 215 
 
 in a strait. He looked at consequences. ' Should the 
 looked- for speech not be forthcoming on the ensuing 
 day, the result would be disastrous, and what was of 
 greater consequence to the country by far, a mischievous 
 measure would again be fastened on the people. 
 
 And what did Purviance do? Did he fold his arms 
 in idle and hopeless despair? No, that was not his char- 
 acter. What, then, did he do? Why, he did, in this try- 
 ing exigency, precisely as he had done at the dense forest 
 and canebrake a few years before — he went to work. He 
 summoned to his aid the resources of a mind that rarely 
 lost anything worthy of retention ; he prepared as best 
 he could, for the next day's battle, provided he should be 
 forced to fight. From his best recollection of Air. Breck- 
 inridge's unfinished speech he noted his outlines of argu- 
 ment, and that same night, ere he sl^pt, he pondered well 
 a speech which he then thought he might be compelled 
 to make. 
 
 On the meeting of the house the next day, Mr. 
 Breckinridge resumed his speech, and was, from the 
 commencement to the conclusion, strong and imposing. 
 He set forth in terms argumentative and persuasive, the 
 many reasons he entertained in favor of the bill for the 
 revival of the court of Oyer and Terminer. That court, 
 he said, had been sustained by the long usage and 
 approval of Virginia, the parent commonwealth from 
 whence Kentucky had derived her criminal code, and it 
 had been a dangerous experiment to abolish it. His zeal, 
 his pathos and unsurpassed powers for debate were now 
 all brought to bear upon the subject now before him. 
 Deeply was he interested in the success of the bill, and 
 it may be he thought the good of the country required 
 its re-enactment. Be this as it may, he was never known 
 to be more able in debate than on the occasion in ques- 
 
216 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 tion. Mr. Breckinridge's concluding remarks, it is said, 
 were in a high degree alarming to the enemies of the 
 bill. 
 
 With a look of defiance, and in tones of assured 
 victory, he closed his two days' speech, much to the 
 satisfaction of his friends, but to the great alarm and 
 discomfiture of his adversaries, for they were struck 
 aghast by the mighty efforts of the veteran orator. 
 
 And now followed a scene worthy the pencil of the 
 most exquisite painter. Silence profound, painfully per- 
 plexing, pervaded the whole house ; looks, eagerly anx- 
 ious and portentous, were interchanged by the adver- 
 saries of the measure under discussion. But its friends 
 were in secret triumph ; still no word was uttered, no 
 reply was offered. Xo opposer of the bill rose up against 
 it. All were dismayed. 
 
 At length, Mr. Garrard arose, but not for a speech. 
 He passed over the entire floor to where his friend 
 Purviance was seated, and, seizing him by the arm, he 
 exclaimed : "Do you make a speech,' Purviance, for I can 
 not." He turned on his heel, retraced his steps, and took 
 his seat. 
 
 Purviance now had no choice left him ; he must make 
 a speech, or all would doubtless be lost. The array 
 before him was most fearful. It was enough to dismay 
 the most accustomed and undaunted speaker. Xot only 
 the members, but a vast assemblage of spectators, had 
 been attracted to the house to witness the speech of Mr. 
 Breckinridge, and were all looking with intense interest 
 to see who would be courageous enough to dare a reply. 
 
 None, it will be readily supposed, thought the plain 
 and unpretending Purviance, clad in simple homespun, 
 modestly seated at his table, unnoticed and unknown, was 
 the man now destined to this fearful task. He had now 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 217 
 
 become willing to make a speech, but how to perform it 
 he "found not." His heart, it is true, was inditing a 
 good matter, but, alas! his tongue was not "as the pen 
 of a ready writer." 
 
 But he had resolved to try himself on this interesting, 
 and, to his country, important, occasion ; and David Pur- 
 viance was not the man to form a good resolve and not 
 perform it. Now came the moment of trial. 
 
 By a mighty effort he arose and addressed himself to 
 the Speaker of the house. All eyes were turned towards 
 him, some in pity, all in astonishment. None had ever 
 heard him before in debate, for this was his debut — 
 his first speech. Few, indeed, of his auditors knew until 
 that moment that there lived on earth such a man as they 
 now saw before them, essaying to make a speech in reply 
 to Mr. Breckinridge. His manner and gesture were ex- 
 tremely awkward and unbecoming, compared with the 
 highly accomplished gentleman who had just preceded 
 him. Air. Purviance was so embarrassed, so confused 
 for a short time as to be much at a loss for language 
 suited for the deep thoughts that were agitating his pro- 
 found mind. 
 
 His friends were now more than ever disheartened 
 and discouraged at the unpromising prospect before 
 them. His young colleague, Mr. Garrard, was in deep 
 despair ; he was indeed as one without hope. But if the 
 opponents of the bill were in gloom, its friends were in 
 secret triumph, for they now looked on its passage as 
 certain. 
 
 Their emotions and their expectations were but of a 
 short-lived character, for very soon the whole scene was 
 changed. Air. Purviance suddenly freed himself from 
 his embarrassment, and evirced to that wondering assem- 
 blage that he needed not the decorations of tailors, of 
 
218 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 velvets and of broadcloths to recommend him; that he 
 stood, panoplied in the greatness of his mind, the un- 
 daunted champion of right principles. And now with 
 much circumspection he proceeded to the accomplishment 
 of the weighty task assigned him. With great delibera- 
 tion, Mr. Purviance now took from the table his notes 
 of Mr. Breckinridge's speech, and, casting his eve over 
 them, he, as by inspiration, reviewed the whole ground 
 of debate, and intuitively moved forward in the execution 
 of his purpose. His reply to Mr. Breckinridge was made 
 in the same logical order in which it had been delivered 
 by that sound rhetorician. 
 
 His style was simple, plain and clear. His address so 
 natural, so humble, so unassuming as to captivate and 
 charm his whole audience. His friends had now the 
 heart to begin to look up, and as he advanced he became 
 clearer and stronger. He stripped the arguments of his 
 adversary of the false glare cast around them by the wily 
 orator, and with a ponderous hand he pulverized the 
 foundations on which they had been based. At this crisis 
 in his speech the friends of Mr. Purviance could scarce 
 restrain themselves from outbursts of applause. 
 
 As to his friend, Mr. Garrard, though a man of much 
 gravity, yet such were the emotions of his mind that as 
 by magic he was attracted nearer and nearer the speaker, 
 and ere he closed he was planted at the side of Mr. Pur- 
 viance, animating and cheering him onward, by his every 
 look and gesture, to the mighty onslaught upon the vet- 
 eran debater, Mr. Breckinridge. 
 
 [Note. — More than twenty-five years after the debate 
 between Mr. Breckinridge and Mr. Purviance, the latter, 
 in a conversation with the writer, remarked that the 
 opportune manner of his colleague, Mr. William Gar- 
 rard, on that occasion helped him much. lie knew him 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 219 
 
 to be a competent judge of the merits of the speech he 
 was then essaying to make, and the hearty manner in 
 which he approbated it, by his very look and gesture, 
 inspired him with a confidence that made his speech 
 longer and better, as he believed, than otherwise it would 
 have been. 
 
 Such was the innate modesty of Mr. Purviance that 
 he rarely mentioned his political performance to any one, 
 and to none but very particular friends. Had he been 
 more free in this respect, his political history would have 
 been more full. For it will be remembered there were 
 no reporters of speeches in the Kentucky Legislature at 
 that day, and the journals are in manuscript. 
 
 T#he writer addressed a letter to Air. Purviance, some 
 months previous to his death, requesting of him an 
 epitome of his public life. In reply to that request, he 
 gave some encouragement to hope for such a document. 
 But it is quite probable he suspected it might be used in 
 commendation of himself, and therefore declaimed pre- 
 paring it ; at any rate, be that as it may, none was fur- 
 nished : and his oldest son, L. Purviance, who has the 
 care of his papers, informs the writer no paper of that 
 character is found by him among the writings of his 
 decease father.] 
 
 Mr. Purviance now closed this his first, speech, 
 which he had delivered with a clearness, a fairness 
 rarely witnessed. His skill, his logic and astuteness 
 in debate had been so striking, so strong and perspica- 
 cious as to astonish to admiration the whole audience. 
 What was still better and of greater consequence to the 
 commonwealth, it fixed a conviction on the minds of the 
 members of the house not to be shaken. Nay, more, Mr. 
 Breckinridge himself was wholly disappointed, and in- 
 deed greatly astonished, to find Mr Purviance so thor- 
 
220 THE CAKE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 oughly informed on a subject which he had supposed him 
 to be entirely ignorant of. 
 
 Mr. Purviance took his seat, amid the plaudits and 
 the heart-cheering congratulations of his friends. 
 
 Mr. Breckinridge again arose, and, we regret to re- 
 cord, was guilty of an indecorum unworthy his great 
 fame. He could not conceal the chagrin he felt from the 
 sound drubbing he had gotten from the hands of the 
 young plebeian ; it was more than he could patiently bear. 
 And in place of terms respectful and complimentary to 
 Mr. Purviance for the possession of powers for debate, 
 such as he had exhibited, he in expressions rude and 
 unkind alluded to the humbleness and obscurity of the 
 life and fortunes of Mr. P. ; alleging that it was imperti- 
 nent and presuming for one so obscure and wholly with- 
 drawn from the walks of public life, so unskilled in the 
 jurisprudence of the State, as he was, to assail, in the 
 manner he had done, the policy and measures of one so 
 aged and so skilled in this respect as himself; and that 
 he would not trouble himself or detain the house by argu- 
 ments in reply to a speech from such a quarter. 
 
 Mr. Purviance again arose, and in much composure 
 said he admitted to the utmost extent the truth of Mr. 
 Breckinridge's allusions to his poverty and obscurity ; 
 that hitherto his life had been passed in entire seclusion 
 from the theater of public men and measures ; that his 
 days had been engaged in the culture of a little farm to 
 provide for the wants of his growing family ; and that 
 to the wealth, the honors and blandishments of life, with 
 which Mr. Breckinridge was surrounded, he could never 
 aspire. In these advantages that gentleman was far in 
 advance of his humble pretensions. Nevertheless, he had 
 supposed that in his character of representative of a free 
 and independent constituency he had the right to discuss 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 221 
 
 any measure, or oppose any bill, introduced before that 
 house, provided he did so in a manner respectful to the 
 house and rules of debate. These remarks he made with 
 such candor and meekness, with such kindness and for- 
 bearance, as started a tear from many an eye. Mr. 
 Breckinridge found himself to be so signally rebuked 
 that he rose in apology, which calmed the excited feel- 
 ings of the friends of Mr. Purviance. As to himself, he 
 had no grievances to be atoned for. If the audience had, 
 a few moments before, been astonished to admiration at 
 Mr. Purviance's powers in debate, they were now over- 
 whelmed at the unexampled kindness and forbearance of 
 the Christian philanthropist. 
 
 The bill of "Sir. B. was now put to vote, and was 
 rejected by a signal majority. 
 
 [Note. — Col. Samuel Burke, of Cumberland County, 
 Kentucky, a man of excellent sense, but one who it seems 
 did not think (of himself) more highly than he ought to 
 think, was accustomed, in his day, to tell occasionally the 
 following anecdote. 
 
 I was first elected a member of the Kentucky House 
 of Representatives in the spring of 1797. The session 
 met in November of that year, and in a very short time 
 after the house had been organized, and was progressing 
 with the business of the commonwealth, I became con- 
 vinced that I had mistaken my proper vocation, when I 
 left the walks of private life and turned lawmaker. And 
 I thought I saw other members also who had as little 
 business there as myself. Of this class there were, as I 
 thought, a goodly number. 
 
 But David Purviance, from Bourbon, and a Mr. Wm. 
 Haycraft, from one of the southern counties of Ken- 
 tucky, I took to be two members peculiarly defective in 
 respect to qualifications for the station in which we were 
 
222 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 then unluckily found. But it must be remembered, I 
 knew them not, and formed my opinion from external 
 appearances only. I played Lavater, but how well is to 
 be seen, said Mr. Burke. 
 
 I was fond of companions, but chose to associate with 
 none but my equals. These two new friends, I made 
 sure, would suit me in that respect, and I would seek an 
 intimacy, mainly for the reason that they were, as legis- 
 lators, at least as deficient as myself. 
 
 Well, I did so, and things went on pretty much to my 
 notion for some week or two. It is true at times I began 
 to distrust Purviance a little, but on the whole considered 
 him safe ; no danger of his deceiving me. Billy Haycraft 
 I never doubted, for he never gave me the least cause to 
 suspect him ; and why should I ? But as all sublunary 
 hopes are liable to disappointment, so my expected reli- 
 ance on my two companions, as every way qualified for 
 my society, at least so far as Mr. P. was concerned, was 
 suddenly and forever defeated. 
 
 That renowned statesman, John Breckinridge, then a 
 member of the house from Fayette, introduced an impor- 
 tant and favorite bill, which he advocated in a powerful 
 and imposing speech. Y\ nen he had closed, and taken 
 his seat, no member seemed courageous enough to ven- 
 ture a reply For a few moments all was anxiety. Noth- 
 ing was heard. But in the midst of the deep silence and 
 suspense, who should arise to reply to Mr. B. but Mr. P., 
 a man of my own sort, as I had supposed. 
 
 The whole audience, members and lookers-on, were 
 much surprised. As to myself, I was thunderstruck. I 
 was truly at a loss what to think of the poor man ; first 
 I was vexed, then I pitied him, for I thought him harm- 
 less, and was grieved that he should in so signal a man- 
 ner expose his weakness. But it was all a mistake, for 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 223 
 
 soon he showed himself capable for the exigency. He 
 deliberately went ahead, and delivered the best speech of 
 the session, and sent Air. B.'s bill adrift; for it was 
 rejected by acclamation. 
 
 Well, I was rejoiced at Air. P.'s success, but still I 
 was left in a worse fix than ever ; none to console me 
 now but Air. Haycraft, for Air. Purviance, it was demon- 
 strably clear, had deserted our ranks forever, and placed 
 himself where we could never approach him. 
 
 But it is due to that worthy man, Billy Haycraft, for 
 such in truth he was, to say that he never deceived me ; 
 he abided faithful. He and I served together through 
 that session, and three others in succession, and he 
 proved himself to the last to be just the man I had taken 
 him for on first sight.] 
 
 The facts on which the foregoing anecdote is founded 
 were furnished to the author of it by Wm. Mitchell, Esq., 
 an old colleague, from Bourbon, of Air. P. for a number 
 of sessions. Air. Alitchell now resides in the county of 
 Lewis, in Kentucky, which latter county he has also 
 represented in the State Legislature. In his letter to the 
 writer, dated May 4, 1848, Air. Alitchell says: "I con- 
 sidered Air. P., as a legislator, equal to any man of his 
 day. He mastered any subject he undertook. And as a 
 citizen and a Christian, he was surpassed by none." The 
 attempt to revive the original jurisdiction of the Court of 
 Appeals, in respect to suits for lands was also repealed 
 at the same session of the Legislature, and thus fell pros- 
 trate in the dust, a second time, these expensive and mis- 
 chievous measures in the legislation of the country ; and 
 although half a century ago, they have never shown the 
 slightest signs of returning life, demonstrating beyond 
 question that the obscure farmer of Cane Ridge, and not 
 the astute lawyer of Fayette, best understood and appre- 
 
224 THE CANE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 ciated the wishes and true policy of the people. Now for 
 the first time in the history of the young commonwealth 
 were the great body of the community, the farmers, able 
 to claim from their own ranks a champion in every way 
 fitted to guide and defend their true interests. Such a 
 man was David Purviance. He was honest and capable 
 for any exigency, as he proved himself to be on many 
 occasions during that and subsequent sessions of the 
 Legislature. Although a plain farmer, Mr. P. was, a few 
 days after his debate with Mr. B., added to the committee 
 of courts of justice; a high compliment this, and illus- 
 trative of the repute in which he was held. 
 
 During the whole course of his legislative history in 
 Kentucky he was one of the most attentive members of 
 the House of Representatives. From an entire perusal 
 of the old manuscript journals of the sessions of 1797-8, 
 the name of David Purviance is found recorded on every 
 call of the ayes and noes. 
 
 Himself and Breckinridge were continued as mem- 
 bers of the house, during several sessions after the one 
 in question, and their intercourse w r as frank and respect- 
 ful. Purviance always spoke of Mr Breckinridge as a 
 great and safe statesman. 
 
 Felix Grundy, whose fame as a lawyer, jurist and 
 statesman of eminent ability has now been before the 
 public for half a century, was, as early as the session of 
 1796, a member of the Legislature, from Washington 
 County, in the southern part of Kentucky. Mr. Breckin- 
 ridge was also a member. He, as has been stated, was 
 from the county of Fayette, in the northern section of 
 the State. 
 
 At the session the Green River settlers, as they were 
 styled, forwarded a petition to the Legislature, praying 
 indulgence for the installments there due the common- 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 225 
 
 wealth for lands they had purchased from the Govern- 
 ment. Mr Grundy from the first espoused their cause, 
 and was soon styled the southern or Green River cham- 
 pion. Mr. B. opposed the indulgence asked for, and he 
 in turn was dubbed the northern champion. 
 
 During that session, and many a subsequent one, the 
 subject of Green River relief was agitated in the house, 
 and many fierce encounters in debate between the two 
 champions happened, Grundy generally the victor. When 
 Purviance became a member in 1797, as has been stated, 
 he found the petitioners before the house, and witnessed 
 the debates of Mr. Grundy and Mr. B. upon the merits 
 of their case. Mr. P. took no share in the debates, but 
 as the settlers were, generally poor, and money hard to 
 be obtained, he voted with Mr. Grundy for the relief 
 prayed for. 
 
 But at length, at the session of 1799, Mr. Grundy 
 introduced a bill, for relief in behalf of the settlers, so 
 objectionable as to determine Purviance, should it be- 
 come necessary, to oppose it. It was hotly combated 
 between the two champions for several days, Grundy as 
 usual victorious. 
 
 Purviance now saw that, unless checked from some 
 other quarter, Grundy would, as usual, succeed in getting 
 his bill successfully through the house. But as himself 
 and Grundy were on the best of terms, and moreover 
 had usually gone together in respect to the subject in 
 question, he resolved on a private conference, in which 
 he urged on Mr. Grundy to make an amendment so as to 
 make his bill more palatable. Mr. Grundy listened with 
 respectful attention to the proposed amendment of his 
 friend Purviance, but was unwilling to yield, the more 
 especially as he was sanguine, from what so far had 
 taken place in the discussion, that he would be able to 
 
226 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 get his measure passed in its present shape, and the con- 
 ference ended. 
 
 But when the bill was next brought up by Mr. 
 Grundy for further debate, Purviance moved to adopt 
 his amendment, which was stoutly resisted by Mr. 
 Grundy, and an animated debate sprang up between 
 them, and at length the amendment of Purviance was 
 adopted by a slight majority. 
 
 Grundy felt himself somewhat disappointed; this was 
 what he was not accustomed to. But, as a man of great 
 resource, he bethought himself of a remedy, as he sup- 
 posed, for the defeat he had sustained, and at once 
 sought to avail himself of the expedient: it was to pro- 
 cure an amendment to the amendment of Purviance. 
 
 This amendment of Mr. Grundy was so cunningly 
 shaped as to nullify the amendment of Purviance if 
 accepted. But the latter had the sagacity to perceive the 
 snare laid for him, and he attacked and exposed the 
 maneuver without gloves; and after a spirited debate it 
 was rejected by an increased majority Mr. G. was now 
 not only disappointed, but vexed. He had not found it 
 thus when he had done battle with Breckinridge. 
 
 Though perplexed, he was not in despair. Mr. 
 Grundy was not the man for despair, but expedients, 
 and he now resorted to one rare indeed. Contrary to 
 usage, he asked, and obtained leave, to withdraw his 
 bill, with the amendment of Purviance appended. This 
 accomplished, he, to the surprise of the house, came for- 
 ward in a few days with a bill entirely new ; at any rate, 
 the heading and verbiage was new, if the former sub- 
 stance was retained. The head, or preamble, of the new 
 bill was remarkable for its plausibility, be its provisions 
 what they might ; and his introductory speech in its 
 behalf was of a very soothing and specious character. 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 227 
 
 Mr. Purviance had now become wearied with this man- 
 agement of his friend, Mr. Grundy, and he arose in a 
 speech against it as soon as the latter took his seat. 
 
 At the commencement he was rather humorous, a 
 thing very unusual with him, being a man of great 
 gravity ; this, however, but served to increase the humor. 
 The head of his friend's new bill, he said, was a most 
 beautiful and captivating production — its eloquence, too, 
 so persuasive as to be almost .irresistible. For these and 
 many other reasons that might be urged he should be 
 glad, he remarked, to preserve it alive, if indeed it could 
 survive the dissolution of the corrupt and diseased body 
 to which it was allied. Should that, however, be imprac- 
 ticable, then it must submit to its fate, for the body of 
 the bill was too loathsome to be preserved. 
 
 Having indulged in these innocent and playful re- 
 marks, Mr. Purviance assumed his wonted earnestness, 
 and proceeded in his attack upon the bill of Mr. Grundy 
 with a force and perspicuity so clear and convincing as 
 to result in its immediate rejection by a still greater 
 majority. Xow defeated at every point, Mr. Grundy 
 became quite in a bad humor, a thing very unusual for 
 him. That evening he visited Col. James Garrard, who 
 was then Governor of Kentucky. He soon perceived that 
 Mr. Grundy was in an unpleasant mood, and the follow- 
 ing dialogue took place between them. 
 
 "What, Felix! has Breckinridge whipped you to-day, 
 that you appear to be in a pet?" 
 
 "Breckinridge, indeed!" replied Mr. Grundy: "you of 
 the north speaking of him as your champion ; but I 
 regard him not. I have battled with him many a time ! 
 nay, more, have often thrashed him soundly." 
 
 "Pray tell me, then," said the Governor, "who has 
 drubbed you, Felix, for <^me one has I know?" 
 
228 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 "Ah! Governor," said Mr. Grundy, "you pride your- 
 self in Mr. Breckinridge as a mighty man of war; but I 
 repeat, I fear him but little ; he is not hard to defeat. 
 But you have another man there, from the North. With- 
 draw him from the arena of combat, and I will measure 
 arms with your Breckinridge, and have no fears for the 
 result." 
 
 "Tell me, do tell me, Felix," replied the Governor, 
 "who that can be. I thought you dreaded no member of 
 the house but Breckinridge." 
 
 "Dread!" said Mr. Grundy, "I told you I dreaded him 
 not. Breckinridge has no alarm for me. But as you 
 seem desirous to know the man to whom I allude, I will 
 tell you. It is the plain farmer from your own county 
 of Bourbon, David Purviance." 
 
 "Davy Purviance! Why, Felix, you surprise me ! 
 Some fair Delilah has doubtless shorn you of your 
 strength, that you let Davy whip you in fair fight, for 
 he uses no foul play." 
 
 "Ah! Governor, I can explain that matter," said Mr. 
 Grundy; "there is a dead majority of the house that go 
 for Purviance, yea or nay, in all his measures ; not only 
 so, but would swear that all he advocates must be sus- 
 tained as right, just what the country needs; and. on the 
 contrary, whatever he opposes should be rejected with- 
 out much delay, by debate ; especially should Breckin- 
 ridge or myself chance to be the opponent." 
 
 "Thank God," said the Governor, "for the pleasing 
 intelligence you give me, Felix ; it augurs well for the 
 country, it betokens a healthy condition of the functions 
 of the government, and, moreover, promises success to 
 my administration of its concerns." 
 "Why so?" inquired Mr. Grundy. 
 "Daw Purviance," said the Governor, "is an honest 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 229 
 
 man, and an able and upright legislator; and I repeat it, 
 I thank God that a majority of the members have the 
 wisdom to perceive it, and the honesty and independence 
 to sustain him. Davy Purviance has no selfish objects or 
 ends to achieve. He goes for his country and the best 
 interests of the commonwealth. And these are my honest 
 opinions of the man, of his motives and of his merits; 
 and you, Felix, I know, will unite with me in the declara- 
 tion of their truth." 
 
 Here Air. Grundy became entirely relaxed in his feel- 
 ings, and freely gave place to his honest convictions, and 
 heartily concurred in opinion with the Governor that 
 David Purviance was the great and good man that he 
 had represented him to be. And as the Governor had 
 uniformly approved of reasonable relief to the settlers, 
 he recommended to Air. Grundy, before they separated, 
 to seek a conference with Air. Purviance, and for them 
 to agree on a suitable bill to be passed for their benefit. 
 Air. Grundy did so, and the matter was satisfactorily 
 arranged on behalf of the settlers. 
 
 The foregoing anecdote was related to the writer by 
 the Governor himself the summer before his death. None 
 need doubt the truth. In the same conversation the 
 Governor remarked that he had always considered it a 
 real loss to Kentucky that Air. Purviance had retired 
 from the legislative counsels of the State for other pur- 
 suits, as he had long known that he was one of the most 
 able, efficient and faithful members he had ever known 
 during the years he had served as Governor of the com- 
 monwealth. Air. Garrard further added that Air. Pur- 
 viance had the unshaken confidence of the house during 
 the whole time he was a member ; that he rarely shared 
 in the debates on minor or local questions. Such only 
 as were of general interest commanded his notice. And 
 
230 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 from his permanent and abiding popularity he was gen- 
 erally able to sustain his position in respect to measures 
 of that character ; that he was doubtless the only member 
 of the house, from the farmer ranks, that was much 
 feared by the legal gentlemen of that day. The latter, he 
 said, were many of them able and honorable members; 
 but such a man as Davy ( as the old Governor familiarly 
 called him ) was quite able, and occasionally needed, to 
 check them a little, which he did with such meekness and 
 wisdom as to retain the respect of the lawyers themselves. 
 
 At the session of 1798, the act establishing a peni- 
 tentiary was passed, which was supported by Mr.- Pur- 
 viance ; and its existence for half a century has been 
 approved, and is still cherished, as a wise and humane 
 institution. At the same session was passed the law 
 authorizing the call of a convention to revise the first 
 constitution of Kentucky, which had been formed in the 
 year 1792. That act was advocated by Purviance, Breck- 
 inridge and Grundy, for all three were for a revision of 
 the constitution, but with motives totally different. Pur- 
 viance and his party, in the Legislature, wished the com 
 stitution to be so amended and organized as ultimately 
 and gradually to abolish in Kentucky the institution of 
 slaverv. Mr. Breckinridge and his friends wished the 
 constitution amended as to many of its provisions, but 
 were entirely averse to interfering in any way with the 
 question of slavery, unless to rivet the chains of the 
 bondman more securely. 
 
 At the annual election, held in the spring of the year 
 [798, Mr. Purviance, Governor Garrard, William Gar- 
 rard, and three others on the same side, were candidates 
 in Bourbon for a seat in the convention, these to be 
 chosen for the purpose of amending, or rather forming, 
 a new constitution. These gentlemen were in favor of a 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 231 
 
 plan for the gradual emancipation of the slaves. Six 
 other gentlemen were also candidates who were in favor 
 of the institution of slavery as it then existed in Ken- 
 tucky. 
 
 The canvass was truly one of much excitement, but 
 the result was unfavorable to Air. Purviance and his 
 friends on the slave question. His popularity had well- 
 nigh elected him, although Bourbon was a strong slave 
 county. At the same election Air. Purviance was re- 
 turned a member to the House of Representatives, not- 
 withstanding the prejudice attempted to be raised against 
 him as an emancipator. Many noble spirits in Kentucky 
 were with him even on that question, among them Henry 
 Clay ; but it is a fact that only one member in the State 
 was elected as an emancipator. 
 
 Mr. Breckinridge and Mr. Grundy were both chosen 
 members of the convention that formed the present con- 
 stitution of Kentucky — were both opposed to the eman- 
 cipation principles — and to these two gentlemen mainly 
 is attributed the work of the present constitution. That 
 instrument has enjoyed an existence of now nearly half 
 a century, but the signs of the times at present portend 
 its certain and speedy dissolution. 
 
 Had the gradual emancipation principle contended 
 for by Mr. Purviance been adopted by the convention, 
 the existence of slavery in Kentucky would now be ex- 
 tinct. But that favorable moment for action on this 
 interesting and imposing question was permitted to pass 
 off without the country availing itself of the favorable 
 action on this momentous subject then within its grasp. 
 The question is doubtless one of great magnitude, and is 
 at the present time greatly agitating the Union. What 
 may be its results, time, the only sure revelator of the 
 future, must unfold. 
 
232 THE CANE RIDGE MEETIXG-HOUSE 
 
 It may not be out of place to here offer a few facts 
 and reflections in respect to those mighty spirits who 
 shared so largely and acted so distinguished a part in the 
 political scenes that so agitated the country about the 
 close of the last and the beginning of the present century. 
 And, first, Air. Breckinridge. At the session of the 
 Legislature begun in November, 1799, we find him still 
 a member from Fayette, and by unanimous consent 
 chosen Speaker of the house. At the session of 1880 he 
 received again the unanimous vote of that body for the 
 same station. But ere the session of 1800 expired, he 
 was by the joint concurrence of both branches of the 
 Legislature chosen Senator of the LTiited States and on 
 the 4th of March, 1801, we find him at his post in the 
 Senate Chamber ready to aid Mr. Jefferson, when first 
 inducted into office as President of the United States, in 
 conducting the Government back to true republicanism. 
 The next year Air. Breckinridge received from Air. 
 Jefferson the appointment of Attorney-General of the 
 United States, and of course was a member of Air. Jef- 
 ferson's Cabinet. He had now ascended the ladder of 
 fame, almost to its topmost rung; had sustained among 
 sages and patriotic statesmen his highest stand and with a 
 firm hold. With the President he was a great favorite. 
 But alas for worldly renown ! Death, in the height of 
 his earthly glory, touches the bubble and it breaks. The 
 next news that is heralded abroad notifies the admirers 
 of this truly great statesman that he has exchanged his 
 seat in the Cabinet for a lodgment in the grave. He died 
 in December, 1806, at the vigorous and manly age of 
 forty-six years. 
 
 Colonel Garrard continued in the office of Governor 
 to the end of his second term, which expired in Septem- 
 ber, 1804, and then retired to his county-seat, in Bourbon 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 233 
 
 County, a few miles below Paris, on Stoner, where he 
 spent the evening of his life in tranquility and was much 
 respected. His colloquial qualities were both entertain- 
 ing and instructive, and, possessing an ample fortune, he 
 received and entertained in good and welcome style the 
 numerous friends he had made in both private and public 
 life. His old friend Purviance rarely passed him with- 
 out a call. 
 
 He had long been a member of the Baptist Church, 
 but he was not a sectarian. His piety was of a liberal 
 and enlarged character, both in respect to his religious 
 faith and benevolent acts. He died a Christian in a good 
 old age, and was gathered to his fathers. He departed 
 this life January, 1822, in the seventy- fourth year of his 
 age. 
 
 Air. Grundy, at the time of removal from Kentucky 
 to Nashville, Tennessee, or just before, was chief justice 
 of Kentucky. He was frequently elected to Congress 
 from Tennessee ; was also Senator in Congress and 
 Attorney-General during the administration of Mr. Van 
 Buren. At the close of that administration he was again 
 elected to the Senate. Air. Grundy was also a church- 
 man. His associations with Christians were liberal. At 
 the time of his demise he was still a member of the 
 United States Senate. He died about 1842 at the age 
 of some sixty-six. 
 
 But, as our chief business is with the life of that 
 excellent man, David Purviance, while a citizen of Ken- 
 tucky, we shall close with a few brief remarks in respect 
 to him. His last session was in 1802-3 ; he was a promi- 
 nent actor in that body during the seven or eight ses- 
 sions he served. The Lexington Insurance Company, 
 with banking powers conferred, was a work of the ses- 
 sion of 1802; it was opposed by Purviance. And the 
 
234 THE CANE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 evils that grew out of that institution proved a curse to 
 the country, and at the same time evinced the sagacity 
 of Mr. Purviance. 
 
 At the same session the district courts system was 
 abolished, and the present circuit system of courts was 
 enacted, and has worked well. Purviance worked hard 
 for the circuit system, but was stoutly opposed by the 
 court party, as it was then styled, consisting of the 
 judges, clerks and the bar. The latter class, however, 
 to their honor, be it noticed, aided in the good work of 
 reforming the judiciary. The circuit courts still exist, 
 and are popular with the community. And here closes 
 the political life of David Purviance in Kentucky. 
 
 As early as the year 1803 he had resolved that in the 
 future the ability with which his Maker had blessed him 
 should be employed chiefly in preaching to his fellow- 
 men that religion which he had found to be so precious 
 to his own heart. If ordained to the ministry, of neces- 
 sity he must decline political life in Kentucky; for the 
 constitution inhibits that class of individuals from the 
 halls of legislation. 
 
 But he in this respect was firmly fixed in his purpose 
 to proclaim and enforce, to the acceptance of man- 
 kind, that Christian faith and practice which he had so 
 long realized to be of more true and abiding value than 
 the attainments of earth. At the time Mr. Purviance 
 retired from the councils of the State his political char- 
 acter stood high. His prospects were flattering in the 
 extreme. All this he must have been fully aware of, 
 meek and unambitious though he might be. Yet we find 
 he had resolved, and that was enough, as we have again 
 witnessed in respect to this man of true and undaunted 
 moral courage. Like Moses, he chose rather to submit 
 to poverty, and the loss of worldly fame, with his Chris- 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 235 
 
 tian brethren, a poor and despised little band, than to 
 enjoy in all their glory the emoluments and honors of 
 public life and worldly fame for a brief season 
 
 We have said that David Purviance was not ambi- 
 tious ; and he was not, after the sort the sons of this 
 vain world call ambition. Yet he was not without ambi- 
 tion to God. He was ambitious that his name should be 
 enrolled in heaven, in the Lamb's book of life. Then, 
 however it might be disregarded on earth, it would be 
 had in honor and lasting remembrance before the Lord. 
 This of all distinctions he considered by far the noblest. 
 
 In the year 1803, as ^ s known to all, Barton W. Stone, 
 and other clergymen, seceded from the Presbyterian 
 Church, and shortly after instituted upon the Bible a 
 church and styled it Christian Church. David Purviance 
 was a ruling elder in the church at Cane Ridge, and he 
 united with Stone and others, and was shortly after or- 
 dained to the ministry. He preached extensively and to 
 great profit. . 
 
 He was the first preacher in the Christian Church, so 
 styled, that publicly repudiated infant baptism and in- 
 sisted that the immersion in water of a believing penitent 
 was the only baptism known to the Xew Testament. 
 Elder Purviance has given a history of the first immer- 
 sion that took place in the Christian Church, in a recital 
 of some early events, furnished by him to the biographer 
 of B. W. Stone, which may be found on the twelfth page 
 of the "Life of Stone." That account is unquestionably 
 true. The writer was present and witnessed the occur- 
 rences of that memorable day. It took place early in the 
 month of July, in the year 1807. That fall Elder Pur- 
 viance removed to Ohio. His departure from the church 
 at Cane Ridge was deeply regretted. 
 
 But he returned on many a visit, and was always wel- 
 
236 THE CAXE RIDGE MEETING-HOUSE 
 
 corned in the most cordial and affectionate manner. He 
 proved a blessing to many pious souls in his old Cane 
 Ridge Church on such visits. Many and many of his 
 wise and affectionate discourses are still vivid and warm 
 to the heart of the writer, and he trusts will be more and 
 more operative till we meet again and embrace each 
 other in the kingdom of glory. 
 
 The writer now closes these hasty sketches of the 
 political life and times of Mr. Purviance. His Christian 
 character, private and public, he earnestly recommends 
 to the pen of the able and faithful historians who shall 
 portray to the world, in its just light, the virtues and 
 excellencies of this amiable and venerated man of God. 
 
 William Rogers. 
 
 State of Pennsylvania,) 
 
 lion. ^ 
 
 County of Union. 
 
 I, George M. Slifer, Notary Public in and for Union 
 County, Pennsylvania, do hereby certify that E. A. De- 
 Yore and Arthur X. DeYore personally appeared before 
 me and being duly sworn testified that the foregoing 
 thirteen pages of typewritten matter is a true and accu- 
 rate copy of pages 16 to 45 inclusive. Being a short 
 portion of Chapter III., introductory and all of Chapter 
 IV '. from the biography of Elder David Purviance, which 
 was edited by his son. Elder Levi Purviance, and pub- 
 lished in Dayton, Ohio, for the author by B. F. & G. W. 
 Ells in 1848; that the copy was made by Arthur N. 
 DeYore and was compared with the original by the as- 
 sistance of E. A. DeYore with the book which is now in 
 their possession. 
 
 To which affidavit they hereto affix their respective 
 signatures. A. N. DeVore, [Seal] 
 
 E. A. Devore. [Seal] 
 
 Witness: Ida G. DeYore. 
 
SKETCH OF DAVID PURVIANCE 237 
 
 In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature 
 and notarial seal this 26th day of July, 1895. 
 
 [seal] Geo. M. Slifer, Notary Public. 
 
 Arthur N. DeYore is the eldest child of Rev. El- 
 charles Arthur DeYore, who is the youngest child of 
 Nicholas F. DeYore, who was an intimate friend in the 
 church with Elder David Purviance and Barton W. 
 Stone. N. F. DeYore was the son of David DeYore, one 
 of the earliest members of the Christian Church in Ohio, 
 and in whose house meetings were held for several years 
 preceding the erection of Liberty Chapel, Brown County, 
 Ohio, which is the first meeting-house erected by the 
 Christians in the bounds of the Southern Ohio Christian 
 Conference. David DeYore was the son of Nicholas 
 DeYore, soldier of the Revolution and a friend of Wash- 
 ington, who settled at Washington, Kentucky, and re- 
 sided there at the time of the great revival at Cane 
 Ridge ; and at that time withdrew from the Baptists and 
 joined with the Christians, and both he and all of his 
 lineage above named have continued only in church rela- 
 tionship with "Christian" churches ever since. . 
 
 E. A. DeYore. 
 the END.