WORK ACCOMPLISHED IN THE SOUTHWEST.
I do not propose to give anything like a full account or even a summary
of the work accomplished in my special mission by all these long rides
and years of earnest and cheerful labor in the Brush. That has not been
my object. It has been rather to describe the manner of performing
these labors, the incidents connected with them, and to portray the
character, manners, customs, and peculiarities of the people who
received me so cordially, and with whom I mingled so freely in their
rude homes. But I should fail to give a full and true idea of their
social and moral condition, especially as indicated by their want of
education, and their destitution of Bibles, if I did not give some of
the results of these labors. I have described the manner in which I
explored different counties, organized or reorganized Bible societies,
and secured the appointment of distributors to canvass them.
One of these men, Mr. Guier, a well-known citizen of the county,
visited five hundred and fifty-eight families, of whom one hundred
and sixty--more than one fourth--were destitute of the Bible. They
contained four hundred and thirty-five persons. In sixty-four of
them either the husband or wife, or both (according to their own
statements), were members of some Protestant church. Sixty-two Bibles
and ninety Testaments were sold, amounting to one hundred and fourteen
dollars and eighty-five cents; and thirty-three Bibles and six
Testaments were given away, amounting to ten dollars and forty cents.
Mr. Guier communicated to me the following facts in connection with his
labors:
"I visited a man at his house, and asked him if he had a Bible. He said
no. I told him he ought to have one. He said he was not able to buy. I
told him that I could sell so cheap that any man could buy. He said he
had not paid for his land yet, and he had no time to read. I then took
up my saddle-bags to go, and offered him a Bible as a gift. He said:
'Stop, sir; I will pay you for it. I would not have my neighbor to know
that you gave me a Bible.'
"I found a poor widow at work in her garden, who told me she had no
Bible, and no money to buy one with. She was a church-member, and very
anxious to have a Bible, but she was not willing to receive one as a
gift. She said she had a kind neighbor, who would always lend her
money when he had it; but her little son was some distance from home,
at a blacksmith-shop, and she could not send for the money. As she was
so anxious to get a Bible, I found her son, and went with him to see
the neighbor, who loaned her one dollar and twenty-five cents to get
the Bible she wanted. May God bless it to her!
"I was one day taken so sick that I had to stop by the side of the road
a half-hour or more. I then rode on to a cabin, and told the lady I was
very unwell, and asked if she could let me have a bed to lie upon. She
seemed alarmed, and said she would have no objection if her husband
was at home. I told her I was very ill and could not ride, and that
I was distributing Bibles. She at once told me to get down and come
in, and she nursed me with the greatest care and attention until her
husband came. On his arrival I explained to him why I was there; and
he said they would take the best care of me they could, which they did
until the next morning. They told me they had no Bible and no money. I
offered to pay them for keeping me, but they would receive no pay. I
then gave them a Bible, which they received very thankfully. The lady
was a church-member, and I have heard that her husband has since been
converted and united with the church.
"I asked a man in a field if he had a Bible. He said he did not know,
but his wife could tell. I went to the house, and she told me they
had no Bible, but she was very anxious to get one. Her husband came
in, and I told him his wife had no Bible, and he ought to get her one.
He said he would like to have a Bible, as the leaves would make good
wadding for his gun; and made a good many other remarks of the same
nature in regard to the Bible. His wife sat and wept all the time, and,
as I thought it useless to talk with him longer, I prepared to leave,
and she handed me the Bible she had been looking at. I told her to keep
it. She said she could not--she had no money. I told her that made no
difference; the Bible Society would give it to her. She was greatly
rejoiced at receiving the unexpected gift.
"I found an old sailor who was plowing for a neighbor to get corn for
his family, who told me he had no Bible. He had been a member of the
church about two years, and seemed to be very religious. He was very
glad to see my Bibles, but said he could not buy one. He had no money,
lived on rented land, and could with difficulty support his family. I
told him that, if he was too poor to buy, he was not too poor to read,
and that the Bible Society enabled me to give him a Bible. He received
it with astonishment and joy, and praised God aloud that he had lived
to see the day when the poor were supplied with the Bible without money
and without price. I left him in the field, shouting aloud his praises
to God that he now had the blessed Bible to read.
"I saw a man about sixty years old, who had raised a large family and
was now living with his third wife, standing by his field and looking
at a lot of fine colts. I asked him if he had a Bible. He said, No; he
had no use for a Bible. I then asked him if he had ever had a Bible in
his family. He said, No; he had no use for a Bible. After doing my best
to sell him a Bible, I told him the Bible Society made it my duty to
offer him one as a gift. But he refused to receive it. I was told by
one of his neighbors that he did not think he had been at church for
years.
"The country I have visited is exceedingly rough and broken. It has
been very hard work to climb all the hills and knobs, and hunt up all
the people scattered over them, and up and down the valleys. But I have
endeavored to explore it faithfully, and leave no family unvisited,
and without the offer of a Bible. I have been in a good many families
and neighborhoods that had never before been visited by a Bible
distributor. I was born in this county, and when solicited to undertake
this work I thought it was entirely unnecessary. I had no idea that
twenty families could be found in the county without a Bible. And now,
before the work is half completed, the exploration reveals such facts
as these."
In the thorough exploration and supply of another county, Father
J.G. Kasey, the venerable Bible distributor, visited six hundred and
fifty-five families, of whom one hundred and twenty-seven--nearly one
fifth--were destitute of the Bible. Eight of the families supplied were
entirely without education; and six families refused to receive the
Bible as a gift. He sold in the county one hundred and forty-one Bibles
and Testaments, amounting to sixty-three dollars and ninety-one cents;
and gave away eighty-one Bibles and Testaments, amounting to twenty
dollars and seventy-five cents. Father Kasey's labors were eminently
of a missionary character. He sat down with the people at their
fire-sides, exhorted Christians to greater fidelity and zeal in their
Master's service, kindly warned and urged sinners to flee to Christ for
salvation, and then, bowing with them in prayer, humbly and earnestly
besought God's blessing upon them. What enterprise is more Christian,
or what work more blessed, than the distribution of the Word of God,
accompanied with such labors? He said:
"I have cause to rejoice for the success I have met with in supplying
the people with the Holy Bible, and imparting religious instruction. I
have been able to have religious conversation and prayer with almost
every family I have visited, and from all I could learn I was induced
to believe that it made a good impression on the most of them. I
found a comfortable home one night with a kind old brother, of the
Episcopal Church. After supper we sat in the parlor, and he went on
to speak of his efforts to train up his children in the fear of the
Lord; but none of them were yet Christians. He had become discouraged,
and seemed almost to give them up. I advised him to continue his
prayer and efforts, believing that God would bring them in--if not
in his day, when he was gone. Some of his children were present, and
my conversation and prayer seemed to make a good impression upon the
family. Some time afterward several of his children were converted and
united with the church.
"In my travels I called at a house where they had no Bible or
Testament, but gladly received one as a gift. After conversation and
prayer, I exhorted the woman to seek the Lord. She wept very bitterly
as I addressed her, and said she intended to do so. She was as deeply
affected as any person I ever saw, and as I bade her good-by she held
me by the hand several minutes, refusing to let me go. She said she had
not been in the habit of attending church, but she would do so from
that time. I pointed her to the Lamb of God, and she promised to seek
religion with all her heart. She said I must attend a meeting that had
been appointed to be held in the neighborhood. I did so, and found her
happy in the love of God, and she has since united with the Church of
Christ. I afterward saw her husband, who was a very wicked man. He
seemed deeply affected, and promised to seek religion; and I trust he,
too, may be converted.
"I called upon another family, where the man had previously had a
Bible, but had burned it. Afterward he became convicted, and was
anxious for another. I sold him a Bible, exhorted him to become a
Christian, and trust he will be a better man.
"I found another man who had lived to a good old age, and had twenty
children now living, three having gone to the eternal world. The family
was destitute of any portion of the Bible. I gave him the Word of God,
exhorted him to seek the Lord, prayed with him, hoping that the good
Lord would save him and his large family, as they were all irreligious.
He received my visit thankfully.
"I rode up to a very poor cabin, in a hollow, and found a woman plowing
with one horse. Several little children, very ragged, were playing near
her. I asked her if she had a Bible. She said she had not--she was very
poor; her husband was dead, and she had several children, none of whom
were large enough to help her, and she was trying to raise something
for them to eat. I asked her if she did not want a Bible. She said,
'Oh, yes, very much, but I am too poor to buy one.' I told her it was
my business to seek out the poor and the destitute, and supply them
with the Bible. I then gave her one, which she received with a great
deal of thankfulness. I told her the Lord had promised to be a God to
the widow and the fatherless, and exhorted her to put her trust in him.
As I rode away, she followed me with her thanks, and her prayers that
the Lord would bless me.
"There were many other interesting circumstances, that made a lasting
impression upon my mind. The good accomplished by the Lord, through his
humble servant, by this distribution of the Word of God, will not be
known in this world. My heart is in this work, for I know I am engaged
in a good work."
[Illustration: I gave her a Bible, and as I rode away she followed me
with her thanks and her prayers.]
Mr. Lutes was commissioned to undertake the re-exploration and supply
of a county where I had reorganized a society that had been inactive
for many years. During the first three months of his labor he visited
six hundred and thirty-three families, of whom one hundred and
twenty-eight--more than one fifth--were destitute of the Bible. He sold
two hundred and twenty-eight Bibles and Testaments, amounting to one
hundred and seventeen dollars and six cents, and gave away forty-five,
amounting to ten dollars and forty-nine cents. In speaking of his great
amazement at finding so many families destitute of the Bible, he said:
"Experience has taught me that a poor and very incorrect estimate
will be made in regard to this matter while we remain at home--while
we look upon our Bibles and say: 'How cheap such books are! Surely
everybody must have them.' I have found, to my great surprise,
fifteen families in which either the husband or wife, or both, were
members of some Protestant church, and had no Bible. I visited three
destitute families in succession: the first, a poor widow; the second,
husband and wife, both members of the church; the third wanted
_spiritual-rapping books_, but was finally persuaded to buy a Bible. I
gave a poor man a Bible, and next Sabbath he and his wife were both at
church, a very uncommon sight. I visited a school-teacher, a liberally
educated Irishman, but very poor. He said he had neither Bible nor
Testament, and that he should like a large Testament in his family. He
cheerfully paid me for one. I visited a poor widow, a church-member,
who had been a housekeeper many years, had children married and removed
to a distant State; but she had no Bible. Poor creature! I gave her
one, and she wished me to fill out the family record for her; but she
had neglected the matter so long that she had lost all trace of the
date of births, marriages, and deaths. In the next family the husband
seemed indifferent about the book, but the wife wanted it, which I
readily discovered. 'I'm poor,' said he; and his wife said, 'He was
unable to work during the summer.' 'I have Bibles for thirty cents.'
'Well, I haven't money enough to pay for one.' 'You can have it at
your own price.' 'I don't like to take a book that way.' 'It makes no
difference; I am authorized to make this offer to you: you can have it
for ten or fifteen cents.' 'Certainly; I'd give ten cents for a Bible
any time.' This saved his pride. He has been greatly pleased with his
Bible, and whenever I pass his house he comes out and asks me questions
relative to my success, and gives me directions how to pass over the
country, as if he were one of the 'Executive Committee.' I sold a Bible
to an Irish toll-gate-keeper. I had been on the pike about a mile, and
asked him the toll. 'Nothing, sir; are you a doctor?' 'No, sir, I am
a bookseller. Do you wish to buy?' 'I reckon not; I work six days on
the road, and on Sundays I read a newspaper.' 'Have you a Bible?' 'No,
sir.' 'Wouldn't you like to have one?' 'I believe I would, but I have
no money.' 'It makes no difference; if you have no Bible and want one,
I'll leave it.' 'I don't like to take it in that way.' 'No difference;
if you'll read it carefully, we shall be well paid.' 'Why,' said he,
when I told him the price was twenty-five cents, 'in Ireland the
binding would be more than that; and I'll pay you the first time you
pass this gate.' I went down a creek nearly a mile to see a family, and
came back. When some three hundred yards from the toll-gate, I saw the
keeper sitting upon the ground, leaning against the house, perfectly
absorbed in reading his Bible. He has since paid me for it, and he
and his wife are greatly pleased with it. Staid all night with a poor
family; wife a church-member, and no Bible; husband careless, but wife
anxious to have one. In the morning I took a thirty-cent Bible from my
saddle-bags and commenced filling out the family record. Said he: 'I
don't want you to give me that book. I don't charge you for staying all
night.' 'I find you destitute, and wish you to have a Bible.' He stood
for some time, then went to a drawer, and, finding a quarter, gave it
to me, saying it was all he had, and kindly invited me to call again.
"One day I visited twenty-one families, eleven of whom were destitute
of the Bible. Another day I visited twenty families, and found ten
destitute of the Bible. During the spring I left a box of books at
the house of a magistrate, as a depositary, while I visited the
neighborhood. Said he, 'Do you think you will find anybody here without
a Bible?' 'I don't know, sir.' 'Some two years since,' said he, 'I
looked around and could not find but one man destitute, and him I
supplied.'
"I commenced my labors, and found his partner in a mill destitute;
then one of his hands, having a family; then an old neighbor, who was
a church-member. The squire gave it up, and said it was _necessary_ to
have colporteurs.
"In some of these destitute neighborhoods they told me that no person
had ever visited them before with Bibles and Testaments. They occupied
a very broken country; their houses were cabins scattered over the
hills and up narrow valleys, with very small patches of ground fenced
in around them, generally with no bars, and always with no gates. I
traveled among them, following the rocky beds of the streams, and
frequently led my horse up and down the steep hills, and pulled down
fences, till at night I was so tired I could scarcely walk. I have had
many discouragements, many taunts and sneers to bear from those who
had not the love of God shed abroad in their hearts; but then I have
had the smiles, the assistance, and the warm coöperation of Christians
to hold up my feeble hands, and cheer up my desponding heart. I have
found such families with six, eight, and ten Bibles in a single house;
I have found many who have thrown open their doors and bid me welcome
to the hospitality of their homes, who, by their kind words and their
questions respecting my work, caused me to forget the sneers and taunts
of others, and made me adore the Almighty for the success with which
he crowned the labors of his servants employed in his vineyard. May
the Lord inspire the minds of Christians with greater zeal for the
dissemination of his Word!"
In another county Mr. Temple visited seven hundred and three families,
of whom eighty-three were destitute of the Bible. His sales of Bibles
and Testaments amounted to ninety dollars and forty cents, and his
donations to the destitute to forty-three dollars and twenty-five
cents. The exploration of the county revealed a much greater amount
of poverty and destitution of the Word of God than he had expected to
find. The following are some of the incidents connected with his labors:
"A poor widow with five children had no Bible, but she had a small
Testament, which she got her children to read to her, as it was
difficult for her to read such small print. She had long been anxious
to get a Bible, and was delighted when I told her I had Bibles for
sale, but she feared she had not money enough to get one. She was
greatly pleased with the large Testament and Psalms, as she could read
the print. She gathered together all the money she and her children
had, and made up twenty-five cents, for which I gave her the Testament
and Psalms. In another neighborhood I was told by a good many persons
of a poor widow that had no Bible, who was very anxious to get one.
Her Bible had been wet and ruined in moving from North Carolina, and
she had been several years without one. She had been saving money from
the sale of eggs and chickens to get enough to buy a Bible. When I
reached the place, I found a poor cabin in an old field, and everything
indicating great poverty. A chair was standing in the door, which was
open, but there was no one at home. I wrote in a Bible, 'Presented by
the Bible Society,' and left it in the chair, and rode on.
"I heard of one old man who had nine grown children, and had never had
a Bible or Testament in his family. I was told that he was a skeptic
and very profane, and that I had better not visit him, as he would
treat me roughly. I found him plowing, and talked with him a long time
about farming, and at length about our dependence upon God for crops,
and finally told him I was selling Bibles. He invited me to dine with
him, and I went to his house and sold him a family Bible, and also sold
Bibles to a married son and daughter. The old man did not use a profane
word during my visit, and I was never treated better by any man. He
thanked me for my visit, and begged me to call on him whenever I passed
that way.
"I visited a house and found no one at home. As the family was
evidently very poor, and I had learned that they had no Bible, I wrote
on one, 'Presented by the Bible Society,' and left it between the logs,
near the door, where they would be sure to find it when they came home.
I rode on about two miles, and called at another house. As soon as I
showed my Bibles, one of the women said she was sorry she was not at
home, as she had no Bible and had long been anxious to get one. She
thought she had money enough to get a thirty-cent Bible, and if I would
go back with her she would buy one if she could. I then told her I had
left a Bible for her, and where she would find it, and she thanked me
very warmly for the gift.
"I visited another family that had no Bible, and sold them one. As the
children were looking at my books, I heard a little girl, about ten
years old, say that she wished she had money enough to buy one of these
Bibles; that her mother, when she talked with her before she died,
had told her she must get a Bible as soon as she could, and read it,
and be a good girl, and meet her in heaven. I inquired her history,
and learned that she was an orphan. I then gave her a Bible, and she
commenced reading it. Dinner was soon ready, but she could not be
induced to stop reading long enough to eat, and when I left the house
she was still reading her new Bible."
Father Eggen, a veteran Bible distributor, said: "One man told me he
had a neighbor who was very poor, who had no Bible, and I gave him
one to send to him. I afterward called on this family, not knowing it
was the same. The house was without floor or loft, and was inclosed
by nailing rough boards upon posts that were driven into the ground.
It had a stick-and-mud chimney on the outside, and was without floor
of any kind, the family living on the ground. The man followed making
split-bottomed chairs, and was very poor indeed, but he insisted upon
paying for the Bible that had been sent to him, and did so.
"In one neighborhood where there was a small supply of Bibles and
Testaments at a store, the man who had them, a professing Christian,
insisted that there was no necessity for employing a distributor to go
around; said that, if people wanted Bibles, they could easily come to
the store and get them. I, however, went through this neighborhood, and
found in one day fifteen families without a Bible. Some of them were
very large families, and had been destitute for many years."
It is now (August 1, 1881) more than twenty-three years since I
resigned my commission as an agent of the American Bible Society.
During the last week I have visited the Bible House, examined their
well-preserved files of letters, and read the correspondence between
Secretary McNeill and myself during the last months of my connection
with the Society. Some extracts from these letters will appropriately
close this brief review of "work accomplished in the Southwest."
Louisville, Kentucky, _April 2, 1858_.
Rev. James H. Mcneill, _Secretary of the American Bible Society,
New York_.
My dear Brother: Herewith you have my annual report.... My duties
the last year, as well as all the other years of my agency, have
involved a great deal of labor and self-denial. The field assigned to
my supervision is very large, and, in order to accomplish thoroughly
the great work of "home supply," it has been necessary for me to visit
every county on horseback. I have thus ridden many thousands of miles,
exposed to all the extremes of heat and cold, traveling over the
roughest of roads, fording rivers, penetrating the wildest regions,
eating the coarsest food, and sleeping in the worst of beds. But I
have everywhere received a cordial welcome, and I wish here to record
my testimony that such service in such a cause is a blessed service.
I weep tears of gratitude that God has permitted me thus to labor for
the dissemination of his Word. And now that his Spirit is being poured
out so copiously all over our land,[5] I rejoice exceedingly that I
have been permitted to coöperate with others in sowing so much "good
seed" against these times of refreshing from on high. I pray that all
the seed thus sown may bear abundant fruit.
Yours cordially,
H.W. Pierson.
Louisville, Kentucky, _May 28, 1858_.
Rev. James H. McNeill, _Secretary of the American Bible Society_.
My dear Brother: I reached the city on my return from the western
part of the State on Wednesday morning, after an absence of more than
six weeks. The tour was one of the most successful and gratifying
I have ever made. I find here letters and papers that have been
accumulating during my absence, and have been exceedingly busy in
posting myself up, and getting square with the world. All your
anniversary excitements have come off while I was in the Brush, and
I have been trying to find out where you have left the world. I have
read the "Christian Intelligencer's" full report of the meeting of
the American Tract Society. I should have been delighted to be an
eye-witness of the fight.[6] On my last tour I learned that, of nine
hundred and twenty-five families visited in G---- County, one hundred
and sixty had _no part_ of the Word of God in their houses--not a leaf
or a letter! Oh, it is a burning shame to American Christianity, and
especially to the American Bible Society, that such facts as these can
be reported in the forty-third year of its history! But I am speaking
warmly, nevertheless truly.
I leave the city to-day, and expect to spend the Sabbath at Paducah,
Kentucky, and go on to Princeton early in the week. I have been
unanimously elected President and Professor of Mental and Moral
Philosophy in Cumberland College, at Princeton, Kentucky, and the
terms are so very liberal, and the people are so very earnest to have
me accept the appointment, that I am going down to see them and give
them my answer. The probabilities are, that I shall accept, and send
you my resignation, to take effect as soon as I can close up the work
in several counties where it is nearly completed. I will thank you not
to make this matter public until I resign formally. I write now in
order to have you take steps in regard to my successor. I feel a good
deal of solicitude to have one appointed who will carry on the work as
I have been prosecuting it. I think there will be a general solicitude
on the subject over the field. I have, therefore, kept this college
matter a secret here, in order than you might have more time for
considering the subject before my resignation is known to the public.
I will cheerfully render any advice or aid in my power in the matter.
Yours _ut semper_, H.W. Pierson,
_Agent of the American Bible Society_.
Bible House, Astor Place, New York, _June 28, 1858_.
Rev. H.W. Pierson.
My dear Brother: ... But what shall I say of the announcement of your
purpose to leave this good work? Only that I regret it most deeply.
I stated to the Agency Committee your intention and its reasons. Of
course, they could not oppose your wishes, and directed me to inquire
for your successor. I am anxious to find a man who will carry on the
work as you have been doing. Can you name any one? Do so if you know
the man. But I trust you have ere this reconsidered the matter, and
will withhold your resignation. In my opinion, your present position
is one of far more usefulness than the presidency of Cumberland
College, if that were the greatest college in the land. Let me hear
from you soon.
Cordially yours, James H. McNeill,
_Corresponding Secretary of the American Bible Society_.
Louisville, Kentucky, _July 9, 1858_.
Rev. James H. McNeill, _Secretary of the American Bible Society,
New York_.
My dear Brother: Since my last report I have completed my annual
exploration of the seven counties lying west of the Tennessee River,
and known as "Jackson's Purchase"--from the fact that General Jackson
was the agent of the United States Government in buying it from the
Indians. I have been greatly delighted at what I have learned, in all
these counties, of the progress that has been made in the good work
of Bible distribution during the past year. A little more than a year
ago I organized the Paducah and Vicinity Bible Society, including
McCracken, Marshall, Calloway, and Graves Counties. I immediately
visited and preached in all those counties, secured colporteurs sent
them Bibles, and made full arrangements to have them thoroughly
explored and supplied. I have already ordered more than fifteen
hundred dollars' worth of books for this Society, and the good work
has progressed most encouragingly. One of the distributors reports:
"I have been laboring in one part of the most destitute portion of
the county. The part of which I speak is a slope in the northeast
corner of the county, embracing, perhaps, a hundred families. In this
whole slope there can scarcely be said to be any church. Most of the
people are uneducated, there having been no schools. I one day visited
seventeen families, nine of whom had no Bible, and several of whom had
no book of any kind in their houses."
It is impossible to give to any one who has not a personal knowledge
of the country thus visited any adequate conception of the good
accomplished by these labors. Less than half the county has been
explored, but I have made arrangements with Father Gregory, the
distributor, to continue the work until every family has been visited
and all the destitute supplied.
After completing my work in these counties I went to Columbus,
Kentucky. Here I found a very noble work had been accomplished. I have
ordered for them during the year more than seven hundred dollars'
worth of Bibles. I next visited Hickman, Fulton County. The society
that I organized there last year has not been able to secure a
colporteur, but hope soon to make arrangements to have their county
supplied. I have already ordered about twenty-five hundred dollars'
worth of Bibles for the "Purchase," and more than one thousand
dollars' worth more will be needed to complete the work that is in
such successful progress. The friends of the cause in all these
counties are astonished and delighted at what has been accomplished
already, and the bright prospects for the future. _Laus Deo._
Your brother in Christ, H.W. Pierson,
_Agent of the American Bible Society_.
Bible House, Astor Place, New York, _July 15, 1858_.
Rev. H.W. Pierson.
My dear Brother: I have just received yours of the 9th instant, giving
an account of your visit to the seven counties lying west of the
Tennessee River, and known as "Jackson's Purchase," where you have
the satisfaction of observing decided and gratifying progress in the
good work of Bible distribution during the past year. In reading your
report of what has been accomplished, I was almost as much "delighted"
as you could have been in seeing with your own eyes the progress of
the good work.
And, now, can you reconcile it to your own heart and conscience to
abandon such a field and such a work? I confess I do not see how you
can, and I hope to receive very soon your ultimate decision declining
the call to the college at Princeton. Did you receive my last at
Louisville? Since writing it I have had a letter from our friend Rev.
W.F. Talbot, of Columbus, Kentucky, _protesting against your being
allowed to leave the Bible work_, and urging us to do all in our power
to retain you. I answered him that I hoped you would not be tempted
to leave us by any considerations other than those of clear and
imperative duty; and, as your own mind had not been fully made up when
you last wrote, I thought it most likely that you would continue in
the Agency.
Now, let me again, in behalf of our committee, in behalf of the great
work now in progress in that field, and in behalf of the future
interests of the Bible cause there, protest against your desertion!
Think of the _many friends_ whom you have gained for yourself
personally, while you were securing their affections and coöperation
for the Bible Society, who will be in great danger of falling back
into their former indifference and inactivity, should they lose your
active support. In fact, I do not see how we can let you go! If you do
go, it will be in the face of our remonstrances, and those of every
friend of the cause in your field. Please let us hear from you at your
earliest convenience.
Cordially yours,
James H. McNeill,
_Corresponding Secretary of the American Bible Society_.
Notwithstanding the earnestness of these entreaties, I felt compelled
to retire from this work. No one could appreciate its importance more
highly than, from my personal knowledge of its needs, I did. But for
more than ten years since my graduation from the theological seminary,
I had been constantly "on the wing." As stated in my opening chapter,
I had spent five years as an invalid wanderer. I had roamed over the
Southern States nearly a year, had made two visits to the Island of
Hayti, and spent a second winter in the South. I had then entered upon
these itinerant labors, in which I had spent nearly five years more. I
was not weary of the work, but I wanted change; I sighed for rest and
an opportunity to study--to commune again with my beloved books that
had remained unopened during all these years. In addition to these
personal desires, my labors had revealed the imperative demand for the
liberal education of as many as possible of the young men in the wide
region I had so thoroughly explored; and a large number of my "many
friends" had signified to me their strong desire to place their sons
in the college should I accept the appointment. I therefore wrote my
resignation, as follows:
Louisville, Kentucky, _July 12, 1858_.
Rev. James H. McNeill, _Secretary of the American Bible Society,
New York_.
My dear Brother: I have already informed you that I had been elected
President and Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy in Cumberland
College, Princeton, Kentucky.
After mature and prayerful consideration of the whole subject, I
have decided to accept the appointment; and I therefore resign my
commission as Agent of the American Bible Society for Western Kentucky.
It is not without deep emotion that I thus sunder my official
connection with this noble institution. For nearly five years I have
labored to promote its interests, and during this entire period all my
correspondence and intercourse with its different officers has been
of the most pleasant character. I can not recall a single word or act
that has marred the harmony of our relations.
The field assigned me is very large--with meager facilities for
traveling--and on this account my duties have been very laborious.
I have again and again _ridden on horseback_ over all the counties
southward from this city to the Tennessee line, and westward to
the Mississippi River. I have preached repeatedly in all of them,
solicited donations, secured colporteurs, ordered Bibles for them, and
made full arrangements to have all the families visited, and every
destitute household supplied with the inestimable Word by sale or
gift. I have thus ridden thousands of miles over the roughest roads,
exposed to every variety of weather.
But, though laborious and self-denying, I have found this a blessed
service--rich in _physical_ as well as spiritual rewards. Commencing
with lungs diseased, and a body enfeebled by years of ill health, I
have rejoiced in an almost constant sense of returning strength and
vigor, up to the present moment--until now there are few that can
endure more physical toil than I can.
My numerous reports have furnished abundant yet very inadequate
evidences of the rich spiritual rewards that have crowned these
efforts to scatter the "good seed" of the Word. Again and again the
sower and the reaper have rejoiced together. Hundreds and thousands
of families, that were living without the sacred volume, are now
rejoicing in its blessed light; and other multitudes that are still
destitute will soon receive the heavenly boon. And God's blessing will
surely attend his own Word. "For as the snow cometh down, and the rain
from heaven," etc., etc.
Be assured, my dear brother, I shall ever cherish a profound and
lively interest in the operations of the American Bible Society.
Though Providence seems to call me to another sphere of duty, I shall
ever rejoice to do all in my power to promote its interests. I shall
ever cherish the most pleasant recollections of my connection with it,
and especially of my correspondence and associations with you.
Praying that God may richly bless you, and all its officers, agents,
and friends, I remain
Yours in the best of bonds,
H.W. Pierson.
In the following October I mounted my horse at Princeton, Kentucky, and
rode to Hopkinsville to attend the Louisville Annual Conference, as I
had regularly done so many years before. In a copy of the "Hopkinsville
Mercury," October 20, 1858, now before me, I find the following notice
of my address, and the action of the Conference upon that occasion:
The Rev. H.W. Pierson, of the Presbyterian Church, having labored for
a number of years, with eminent success in this State, as an agent
of the American Bible Society, appeared in Conference on Tuesday
morning and announced that he had resigned the office in the discharge
of which he had made the acquaintance of nearly all the Methodist
ministers in Kentucky, as well as those of other churches. His
remarks, in which he expressed the deep regret and pain with which
he took this step, were very appropriate, simple, and touching, and
were responded to in very handsome terms by Bishop Kavenaugh, and
other members of the Conference. The following resolution was then
unanimously adopted:
_Resolved_, That we express our high appreciation of the faithfulness
and efficiency of Rev. H.W. Pierson, A.M., as agent of the American
Bible Society in Western Kentucky; that we most cordially reciprocate
the feelings of brotherly love which he has this day expressed, and
that we fervently pray the blessings of the great Head of the Church
upon him, wherever his lot, in the providence of God, may be cast.
A. Brown,
Thomas Bottomly,
R. Dearing.
Cumberland College, Princeton, Kentucky, _October 12, 1858_.
Rev. James H. McNeill, _Secretary of the American Bible Society,
New York_.
My dear Brother: ... I have had a very pleasant time at Conference.
The "Bible Committee" presented a most flattering resolution in regard
to my agency labors. I made the Conference a valedictory address, and
the Bishop and others responded to it in the kindest manner. Another
resolution, commending my labors, etc., was then offered, and the
members were requested to vote upon it by rising, when the whole
Conference arose to their feet. I could but be deeply moved by their
expressions of kindness, and many tears were shed by them. I confess
I am amazed and astounded at the kind words I have received on every
hand. I had no idea that my labors had made such an impression upon
the public mind. To God be all the praise!
Yours, as ever,
H.W. Pierson.
CONCLUSION OF BIBLE WORK.
To see what I have seen, and to know what I have known, of the good
accomplished by my labors, have been abundant compensation for all
my travels and for all my toils; and I await, with bright and happy
anticipations, the fuller revelations and rewards of a blissful
eternity.
LABORS FOR THE COLLEGE.
I entered upon my duties as President of Cumberland College, at
Princeton, Kentucky, the second Monday in September, 1858. Of the
commencement of my labors there I wrote as follows:
Cumberland College, Princeton, Kentucky, _October 12, 1858_.
Rev. James H. McNeill, _Secretary of the American Bible Society,
New York_.
My dear Brother: I have been very anxious to write you ever since I
reached here, but have been so very busy that I could not get the
time. I have had a great deal to do here in the commencement of my
duties, and then I have been absent every Sabbath, and a portion
of each week, attending presbyteries, synods, etc., to promote the
interests of the college. Its friends are very sanguine in regard to
its prospects. They think they have not been as good for many years.
All the religious bodies that I have visited, the newspapers, and the
public at large, seem interested in my success, and are doing all that
they can for the college. I hope that I may do a great deal of good in
this work.
Yours as ever,
H.W. Pierson.
My labors here until 1861 were not less exhausting than they had been
since I entered upon my Bible work in 1853. In addition to my duties
in the college, I traveled extensively, "electioneering" for students,
as was the custom in that region. Their numbers increased to such
an extent that we needed an additional building. I appealed to the
people of the village and the county, and they responded most nobly by
subscribing twenty thousand dollars, and erecting a college edifice,
with a large assembly hall, library, recitation and all other needed
rooms. I had the pleasure of taking my esteemed friend, the Right
Rev. B.B. Smith, D.D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in
Kentucky, through the building, on one of his annual parochial visits
to the village, and he pronounced it the most perfect and beautiful
specimen of architecture in the State.
The attack on Fort Sumter, and the events that followed it, compelled
the suspension of this, as they did of nearly or quite every other
college in the Southwest and South, and terminated my labors there.
Wishing to engage in similar educational work elsewhere, I asked for
testimonials from a few of my friends, including Bishop Smith. He
kindly gave the following, with which, as I at that time terminated
my labors in the State, I will close this very personal volume,
descriptive of my always pleasantly and gratefully remembered life and
labors in the Southwest:
Louisville, Kentucky, _September 19, 1861_.
... I first knew Dr. Pierson (then Mr. Pierson) when acting as Bible
agent in the waste places of Kentucky, and our hearts were strongly
drawn toward each other in consequence of our having been "companions
in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ"--I
having labored and suffered in behalf of the same class of persons
as Superintendent of Public Instruction, traveling for the greater
part of two years over the roughest portions of Kentucky. To elevate
our fellow-creatures so that they can read the Bible for themselves,
and then to give to all such a Bible in their own tongues, is a noble
work, and great suffering may well be cheerfully endured in the
prosecution of it.
His exertions in behalf of the college at Princeton have attracted
more of my attention, and elicited my most cordial admiration, beyond
anything of the kind in this State for thirty years. The difficulties
to be overcome were of no common kind, and the means at his disposal
very limited; the skill with which he met the one, and the wisdom and
energy with which he drew forth the other, have rarely been exceeded.
And I have it from the lips of the most intelligent persons in the
village, during my periodical visits, that no person they ever knew
could have awakened equal enthusiasm in so good a cause. For myself,
I should have looked upon the task of raising half the sum of twenty
thousand dollars in such a village, for such a purpose, as altogether
impracticable; and yet Dr. Pierson seemed to succeed with perfect ease.
The teaching he was, of course, obliged to devolve in great measure
upon others. But it has come to my knowledge that he was considered
the animating spirit of the whole concern. And it is only necessary to
converse with him, from time to time, to become impressed with a sense
of his literary attainments, fine taste, genial nature, and earnest,
unaffected piety.
His loss to the college, should he leave it, will be irreparable, and
long will it be before his place will be made good to the general
cause of education in the Commonwealth, and in the esteem and
affection of
His and your friend, etc.,
B.B. Smith.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 5: The great revival that followed the financial revulsion of
1857.]
[Footnote 6: On the slavery question.]
THE END.
RELIGIOUS WORKS.
The Life and Words of Christ.
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From Death unto Life;
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Scotch Sermons, 1880.
By Principal Caird--Rev. J. Cunningham, D.D., Rev. D.J. Ferguson,
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This volume originated in the wish to gather together a few specimens
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Fifteen Sermons,
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_D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 1, 3, & 5 Bond St., New York._
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THE BIBLE READERS' COMMENTARY.
The New Testament,
Complete in two volumes, 8vo.
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HOMILETICAL INDEX:
A HAND-BOOK OF
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_Embracing Twenty Thousand Citations of Scripture Texts, and of
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In which Bible Themes, with reference to Texts and Authors, are
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_By J.H. Pettingell, A.M._
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4. The Post-Nicene Latin Fathers, A.D. 325-590.
NOW READY:
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Barnabas--Sketch, and Epistle. _Associated Authors._ Hermas--Sketch,
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The Old Testament
IN THE JEWISH CHURCH:
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"Speaking after mature deliberation, we pronounce Professor Robertson
Smith's book on Biblical Science one of the most important works
that has appeared in our time. It justifies, in a convincing and
conclusive manner, what we have from first to last maintained regarding
him--namely, that he was engaged in an enterprise auspicious to the
Christian Church; that he was not assailing the faith, but fortifying
it. He has not abandoned one jot or one tittle of his principles, but
he now for the first time states them comprehensively, and points
out their natural and logical applications."--_The Christian World_
(London).
"In his studies the author has made a careful use of the studies of
the great critics of England and Germany. But his work is marked by
a spirit of intrepid independence and an individuality which refuses
to surrender at discretion to anybody. He refuses to be lifted from
his feet on the solid rock of Christian faith, by any passing wave
of skepticism. As an introduction to the Old Testament for the use
of teachers, and a vigorous, scholarly statement of the principles
and results of conservative Biblical criticism, as related to the Old
Testament, these lectures will be found specially serviceable and
interesting. And they are certainly remarkable as an indication of a
liberal movement in the Scottish Church."--_New York Evening Express._
"Heresy is a difficult charge to prove nowadays, and when proved to the
satisfaction of the religious court seems to advance a man's reputation
rather than injure it. Here is Professor Robertson Smith, who was
found too heretical to be allowed to address the students at Aberdeen,
Scotland, on the Hebrew language and literature, who is received in the
larger world with something of the prestige of a martyr. Influential
laymen, both in Edinburgh and Glasgow, have requested him to deliver
in both cities a course of lectures on the present state of Biblical
criticism. These lectures have now been delivered, and are published
not only in England, but in this country also."--_New York Times._
"How far Professor Smith's conclusions may coincide with those of our
own best Biblical scholars we shall not undertake to say, but his work
is so able and accurate, so scholarly and devout, that it will be read
with interest by American clergymen and students, and will stimulate
all who read it to make further researches in the same field."--_The
Christian-at-Work._
Sent, post-paid, to any address in the United States, on receipt of the
price.
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