OR numbers, ardor of enthusiasm, and important results, no meeting on the Reserve surpassed the great assembly in Austintown, in 1830. It was still called the association. The church at that place had built a meeting-house, the first one erected by the Disciples on the Western Reserve. It was completely filled Friday afternoon. Not fewer than twenty preachers attended it, and crowds of people from long distances. Yet the hospitality of the people provided for all. Father Hayden furnished provisions for uncounted numbers, and lodged a hundred and fifty; bringing into requisition for that purpose not only every floor and room in his house; but the barn also--empty, swept, and furnished. All vied with each other in the profuse generosity which bid all a hearty welcome.

      The meeting opened with salutations, songs, exhortations, and reports. The next day Henry stepped up quickly into the pulpit where were sitting the older preachers, and said in a low but energetic tone, "I charge you to look out what you are about to do here; we want nothing here which the word of the Lord will not sanction." They smiled at his bold [295] independence as he returned to his seat. His meaning was apparent when he arose, soon after, and moved that the association, as an advisory council, be now dissolved. The resolution was offered, put and passed so quickly, that few paused to consider the propriety or effect of it. The most seemed pleased; but not all. The more thoughtful regretted it as a hasty proceeding. Mr. Campbell arose and said: "Brethren, what now are you going to do? are you never going to meet again?" This fell upon us like a clap of thunder, and caused a speedy change of feelings. Many had come forty or fifty miles, in big wagons even, so eager to enjoy this feast of love. Never meet again! For a little time joy gave place to gloom. Campbell saw there was no use in stemming the tide and pleading for the continuance of the association, even in a modified form. The voice of the reformation, at this juncture, was for demolition, and Scott was thought to favor the motion. Mr. Campbell then proposed that the brethren meet annually hereafter for preaching the gospel, for mutual edification, and for hearing reports of the progress of the cause of Christ. This was unanimously approved. Thus ended the association, and this was the origin of the yearly-meeting system among us.

      As this action and this occasion became a turning point in our history, a few remarks upon it are demanded:

      1. For three years of unparalleled success we had organic unity of the churches, and harmony of action among the preachers. At New Lisbon one evangelist was sent out; at Warren, two; at Sharon, four: [296] the association in this acting as a delegate body only for evangelical purposes.

      2. At the dissolution of the association the system of evangelization under the auspices and direction of the brotherhood ceased and perished. No one was sent out by that body, as it ceased to be; nor by the yearly meeting, for no such power was then assumed by the "yearly meeting," nor has been since.

      3. Then perished the principle of concert of action among us for evangelical purposes; and it lay dormant for years.

      4. Therefore we have been, in this respect, in a state of apostasy from our first principles.

      5. Due discrimination was not made between the evangelical, which was right, useful, and not liable to dangerous results; and the ecclesiastical, against which the opposition was directed; and that in the overturn of the one, which was, perhaps, liable to objections, the other was destroyed, which was the true principle, and ought to have been carefully preserved, guarded, and, perhaps, improved.

      6. Efforts, unavailing, were often made in our yearly meetings afterwards, to revive the evangelic feature of the lost association; pleaded for by our own example and history, and by the increasing testimony of our experience.

      7. Wise men saw the evil, and deplored the result at the time and afterwards; as Benajah Austin, William Hayden, whose persistent appeals for its resuscitation provoked many, and by Mr. Campbell, who writes thus in the Millennial Harbinger for 1849, p. 272: [297]

      "I have before intimated my approval of the Baptist associational formulas, pruned of certain redundancies and encroachments upon faith, piety and humanity. I was present on the occasion of the dissolution of the 'Mahoning Baptist Association' in 1828,¹ on the Western Reserve, State of Ohio. With the exception of one obsolete preacher, the whole association, preachers and people, embraced the current reformation. I confess I was alarmed at the hasty and impassioned manner in which the association was, in a few minutes, dissolved. I then, and since, contemplated that scene as a striking proof of the power of enthusiasm and of excitement, and as dangerous, too, even in ecclesiastical as well as in political affairs. Counsel and caution, argument and remonstrance, were wholly in vain in such a crisis of affairs. It would have been an imprudent sacrifice of influence to have done more than make a single remonstrance. But that remonstrance was quashed by the previous question, and the regular Baptist Mahoning Association died of a moral apoplexy in a quarter of an hour.

      "Reformation and annihilation are not with me now, as formerly, convertible or identical terms. We want occasional, if not stated, deliberative meetings on questions of expediency in adaptation to the ever-changing fortune and character of society."

      There occurred at this meeting a passage at arms between Mr. Campbell and Mr. Rigdon. It was only about two months previous to the fall of that star from heaven. On Saturday, Rigdon introduced an argument to show that our pretension to follow the apostles in all their New Testament teachings, [298] required a community of goods; that as they established this order in the model church at Jerusalem, we were bound to imitate their example. The sagacious mind of Mr. Campbell saw at once the confusion and ruin that would result from such doctrines plausibly presented before a large, eager multitude, many of whom were new converts. He arose and offered a correction of the mistake. This did not satisfy the zealous Rigdon. He rejoined. Mr. Campbell felt the necessity of settling the matter, and in a half hour's speech he set forth the following points:

      1. The "community system," in the second of Acts,^a was formed not to make property, but to consume it, under the special circumstances attending that case.

      2. The matter about Ananias and Sapphira^b put an end to it.

      3. Sundry passages in Corinthians and elsewhere,^c calling for contributions for benevolent objects, show that no such system prevailed in the primitive churches.

      This put an end to it. Rigdon finding himself foiled in his cherished purpose of ingrafting on the reformation his new community scheme, went away from the meeting at its close, chafed and chagrined, and never met with the Disciples in a general meeting afterward. On his way he stopped at Bro. Austin's, in Warren, to whom he vented his spleen, saying; "I have done as much in this reformation as Campbell or Scott, and yet they get all the honor of it!"

      On Lord's day, from a stage prepared in a grove [299] the addresses were delivered to an immense concourse. Mr. Campbell's discourse was based on the language, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus carne into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. i: 15. Two propositions, he affirmed, are in the passage: 1. That the gospel is true; 2. That it is good. Taking the first proposition, he delivered a sermon of great power on the evidences of Christianity.

      About a thousand conversions in the previous year were reported; over forty united on that occasion. For many years this meeting was referred to as conspicuous among the joyous religious festivities so numerous on the Western Reserve.

      BENJAMIN ALTON was born February 22, 1799. His early life was spent in Genesee County, New York. At the age of eighteen, he was a zealous exhorter among the Methodists. Falling in with Elder Wm. True, of the "Christian Connection," he was baptized by him, and continued to preach the gospel as he understood it. About the year 1827, he moved to North Bloomfield, Trumbull County. He was a man of marked abilities, full size, finely formed, and possessed most winning manner and tender speech. He had been very successful as a revivalist among the "New Lights" or "Christians." In the process of his ministry he became convinced that something was radically wrong in the exhibition of the gospel in these times, as no case is to be found in all the history of the apostles' preaching of penitent sinners mourning for days and nights, and sighing for undiscovered pardon. The sensitive heart of the sympathetic Alton was overwhelmed, as he saw many souls weeping under conviction for sin, crying out to know what they [300] should do, while the only answer ever given was to continue in that very condition of agony, and that relief some time and in some way might be expected. Disgusted and discouraged, he resolved to hide himself away in a "lodge" in the wilderness, and there in quietness and seclusion, to live for his family and heaven. He settled on lands in the dense forests of Bloomfield. He had traveled much, and witnessed with grief and shame the sectarianisms of the day; and, moreover, he thought it a great mistake that the gospel contained no express provision by which a repenting sinner might be assured at once of the forgiveness of his sins. He was fast tending to skepticism, and might have been swept into the vortex of infidelity, but for an incident which called him forth to the light and to great usefulness.

      About the year 1829, the good people of Bloomfield called a public meeting, and resolved to unite in raising a fund to support preaching, and all go to meeting together. It was an effort, after its kind, to form a union for religious purposes; a union out of diversity. But the union not arising out of previously existing unity--the only condition of a permanent union--it proved of short duration. Yet they entered into the enterprise in good heart, with good intentions, and good omens. As the Presbyterians were the most numerous, they were to have the house half the time; the Baptists and the Methodists one quarter, and the Unitarians the other quarter. Squire Brown, a prominent citizen, was to secure the Unitarian minister. By some of the more rigid in sentiment he was thought to be skeptical; but he entered heartily into the arrangement as a means of the moral improvement of the town. By him Benjamin Alton was engaged. Alton, thus called from his coveted retreat, consented to gird himself again in the panoply of the gospel. He came regularly to his appointments. He would sit quite a while in the pulpit, and then, rising, proceed to preach [301] without singing or prayer. He usually preached on the prophecies, and many became interested in his sermons.

      About this time William Hayden preached at the center of Bloomfield, and staying over night with Alton, these two Bible men spent much of the night searching the Scriptures in relation to the ancient gospel, particularly as it relates to the manner in which the apostles preached it, and brought convicted sinners into the light and peace of pardon. In the course of the same year, Alton heard Thomas Campbell. In that discourse he saw the scriptural plan of salvation. The darkness, which like a cloud had rested on the Bible, cleared away, and he discovered, to his great joy, that God had not left us ignorant of what to do to be saved. Like Saul, when the scales fell from his eyes, he forthwith preached the gospel after the models found in the sermons of the apostles.

      The alarm was sounded at once. The people had never agreed to hear a "Campbellite." The union exploded and went to the four winds. The people called another meeting, dissolved the covenant, and each party agreed to support its own meeting.

      Alton kept up his appointments. Four or five were baptized this season. In 1830-1, some others were converted. In 1832, Bro. Alton preached half the time, and began to attend regularly to the Lord's Supper. They were now meeting in a school-house, where they continued several years, during which time they were growing strong and more numerous, under the visits of Hayden, Henry, the Bosworths, Applegate, and others.

      In 1836, Bro. Alton moved to De Kalb County, Indiana. There he displayed the same zeal which had always warmed his own heart, and melted the hearts of hundreds. Suffering all the hardships of pioneer life in a densely wooded country, contending with marsh and miasm, he still found time to preach the gospel and plant churches. With a numerous family, little money in the country, and [302] nothing to sell to procure any, his fare was the plainest, and his costume any thing but clerical. Sometimes with out a coat--but a wrapper instead--a shoe on one foot, the other honored with a boot, he traveled afoot to his appointments. His genial disposition, manly form, sweetness of countenance, and earnest, convincing pathos, full of Scripture withal, brought many from far to hear his sermons, and many turned to righteousness. Some of the churches planted by him in that wilderness, are yet standing and flourishing.

      As illustrative of the straightened condition of those days, a young man wished Elder Alton to perform for him the marriage ceremony. Unable to pay money for the service, he stipulated to compensate him with pumpkins! The service was rendered cheerfully, to the satisfaction of the happy bridegroom, and the next day he brought a large load of selected "fruit of vine," and delivered them to the very needy and equally gratified parson.

      Exhaustive toil, and the malaria of the rich opening soil, undermined his naturally hardy constitution. He sank gradually to a feeble state from which he could not rally. His wife, the faithful sharer of his life and fortunes, sank with him and before him. She died March 24, 1847. He survived thirteen days longer, and fell asleep, April 7th, aged only a little over forty-eight years. He was universally lamented. His talents commanded the respect of the people, who sought to put him on the ticket for political fame. But he chose to suffer reproach with the people of God. Like all men who move men for God, he was a most devoted Bible student. It is said he had the whole New Testament by heart. His family are religions, and his youngest son, Cyrus Alton, is devotedly engaged in the ministry of the gospel.

      The little band in Bloomfield had organized as a worshiping assembly with eleven members. Among [303] them were Nelson Works, Bro. Netterfield and his wife, Mary Sager, Polly Green, and Mehitabel Thayer. Bro. Works was appointed to take the lead of the meetings. Bro. Alton's removal left them much discouraged; but they were not cast down nor forsaken. In October, 1836, Marcus Bosworth visited them, and learning the condition of the church, thought it necessary to take steps to complete their organization, their number being now considerably increased. This was done the nineteenth of that month. The following new names were taken at this time, viz.: Zephaniah Luse, Ruhama Luse, Wm. M. Bellows, Benjamin Bellows, Josiah Bellows, Rachel Bellows, Mary Ann Bellows, Henry G. Neal, Clarissa Neal, Wm. Parker, Charles Thayer, Clarissa Wilder, Candace Green, Nancy Green, Anna Sager, Rebecca Sager, Miriam Smith.

      The church has never lost its identity. It was assisted by the preaching brethren of the time; the brethren Hayden, Henry, Hartzel, Applegate, Cyrus and Marcus Bosworth, Clapp, Collins; and a little later by Lucy, Brockett, Perky, Calvin Smith; and later still by Edwin Wakefield, W. A. Belding, C. C. Foote, and H. Reeves.

      In the winter of 1848, Bro. Isaac Errett held a meeting in the Congregational church at the center of the town. Bro. Charles Brown made every arrangement to secure for him a favorable hearing. The church was doubled in numbers, and the cause of religious reformation lifted up to the notice of a large number of the people in the township. Their place of meeting in the school-houses was too small for the assemblies, and in 1849, the meeting-house [304] at the center was built, and Bro. Errett moving there in October, that year, he became the first pastor of the church. He remained two years, adding numbers and strength to the congregation, preaching also in other communities, so that the principles of this religious reformation were established in various places. The church in Green was formed chiefly under his ministry.

      April 19, 1840, Nelson Works and Ha G. Neal were appointed Elders. William Parker served also awhile in that capacity. In 1842, John Sager was elected deacon. These, and others after them, performed the duties of their respective offices without ordination. Some new officers having been selected, the church set apart April 19, 1854, for the purpose of ordaining them after the scriptural example. On that day Bro. Edwin Wakefield was, by imposition of hands, with prayer and fasting, set apart to the "work of an evangelist;" brethren Nelson Works and Charles Brown were, in like manner, ordained as elders; and John Sager, David Snyder, Chester Howard, and N. B. Ferry were ordained deacons. Brethren Cyrus Bosworth, M. S. Clapp, Isaac Errett and B. F. Perky were the officiating ministers.

      This church owes much to the unwavering faithfulness of her time-honored elder, Nelson Works. Through all her trials he has held firmly the standard, its honored flag unfurled and aloft. Around it, with supporting encouragement, a number of the sisters, whose names are in the book of life, have as faithfully rallied, displaying a zeal, constancy, and devotion worthy of special commendation. In this connection also, the godly zeal and cheering voice of [305] Brockett comes to remembrance. In the darkest days he would cheer the little company of believers with assurances that the gospel would yet triumph in Bloomfield. And when at length the day dawned, and such an ingathering attended the labors of Bro. Errett, "he is but reaping," said the sincere Brockett, "the fruits of the sowing of others."

      Like most of the churches the congregation in Farmington is an example of Christians coming together in gospel order from different "orders," so called. In 1818, Abijah Lee came into that town with his family. He was a Baptist. His son, Isaac Lee, who had embraced religion among the Methodists, went after a few years to Kirtland. There in the great reformatory movement under Bentley and Rigdon, in 1828, he saw the great difference between Christianity as a unity, as contained in the Holy Scriptures, and an organized "branch" of the church. He dropped the terms and title of schismatic party, and stood for uniting Christians in Christ Jesus. He returned to Farmington in the spring of 1829, and found a young man, Harvey Brockett, much awakened on the subject of religion. Lee found little trouble in teaching him the "obedience of faith" as now re-proclaimed by the disciples. He received the truth "with all readiness of mind" and was baptized by his friend Isaac Lee. Meantime Father Abijah Lee, his family and others there, were reading the "Christian Baptist." The powerful stimulus of that revolutionary periodical awakened inquiry in the minds of many. Soon [306] Benjamin Alton was on the ground, and to full houses announced the call to the Bible--to Pentecost--to Christ. A local Methodist preacher confronted him, but God in his truth was mightier than man in his ignorance of it; and the people "heard him gladly." In 1830, a church was formed, with Abijah Lee as leader, which met every Lord's day according to the commandment, to keep the ordinances as they were delivered to the church by the apostles. With no chart but the unerring Word, they launched on the ocean under the pilotage of the Captain of salvation.

      They numbered at the beginning about twenty. The Baptists gave them Abijah Lee and wife, and Daniel Davidson and his wife. Isaac Lee, for a little with the Methodists, and Harvey Brockett also now rallied with them and the new converts around the "ensign" lifted up for all nations on the day of Pentecost, A. D. 33.

      Alton did not forsake them, nor were they wanting in zeal nor gifts among themselves. They lost no opportunity to teach the people; and they were constant in mutual edification. The sincere Applegate, the tender Bosworth, the rapid Henry, and the energetic Hayden, labored among them early and with much success; as did also Collins, Clapp, and Hartzel.

      All honor to the church that could produce a Brockett! He was a man of attractions. Few men in so short a career have left so lasting results to witness for their devotion to Christ. He was born April 13, 1806, in Onondaga County, New York. In 1821, he came with his parents to Farmington. When he was ten years old, his mother, a devoted Christian, gave her son to God, and [307] bidding him follow her, she left him, and was borne to her grave amid plentiful tears. From that day, heaven was to him a dear place. The Savior was precious; the Bible was sacred; but confused by the teaching of the day he found no peace, till in his twenty-third year he obeyed the Lord Jesus Christ. His way was now clear, and the young disciple and future preacher of righteousness studied diligently the Holy Scriptures, and began to exhort sinners to turn to God. He rose rapidly. His whole nature was aglow. Gifted with great copiousness of language, and fluency of speech, his natural timidity yielded to his mastering zeal, and he was heard gladly wherever he went. The church of Bazetta caught hold of the hand of this young Timothy, gave him a home among them, and helped him on his way.

      For about twelve years he was among the churches. And who shall describe the swell of holy enthusiasm which every-where attended his labors? Converts came like the dew-drops of the morning. In his hands the gospel was luminous and tender, melting the heart, and convincing the judgment with such a power, and an array of evidences so abundant and pungent, that all who heard admired, and many yielded to his trumpet call to repentance. He preached twice a day, sometimes thrice, sung much, was a great talker, and not having, like Paul, a Silas or Timotheus to baptize his converts, his personal administrations of that sacred ordinance were almost daily.

      He was cheerful, but never trifling, serious, and most earnest, with a voice of good compass and charming tone. His pathos excelled his logic, in which, however, he was not deficient. His sermons were long, closing up with exhortations of warmth and power. He overworked; his constitution lost its iron, and he became a prey to frailty and fever. On the 12th of September, 1848, his most active and useful life closed at his home in Sharon, Pennsylvania. He was twice married; the last time to Mrs. [308] Margaret McCleery, relict of Hugh McCleery, of Sharon. She was much respected for her benevolence and steadfastness in the faith, and has recently joined him in the promised rest.

      The church in Green, Trumbull County, was organized the first Sunday in January, 1851, by Isaac Errett and C. Bosworth. The following eleven persons were the members: Walter Bartlett and Prudence Bartlett, Wm. D. Morris and Mary A. Morris, Edwin Wakefield and Mary Wakefield, Eldad Barton and California Barton, Austin Dean, Deborah Curtis, and Polly Smith. Walter Bartlett was chosen overseer, and Wm. D. Morris, deacon. There were twenty additions during the year; ten in a meeting held by Calvin Smith in November after this organization.

      Bro. Edwin Wakefield, widely and favorably known for his success in the gospel, was baptized here in the spring of 1845, by the able Perky, in a meeting held there by him. Bro. Bartlett has from the beginning held a leading position. He was born 1801, and came to Mecca with his parents in 1818. In 1821, he heard Mr. Campbell deliver two discourses in Warren, which were "nails driven in sure places" with him. He united with the F. W. Baptists, and preached among that people a few years. His associations and reading opened his mind to the plea and principles of the disciples; and as he earnestly sought only to know and teach the truth, he sometimes proclaimed sentiments not in the theological system of that sect. He was arraigned in the quarterly meeting for heresy, and after various hearings, they refused to renew his license. They granted him a letter, and as the brethren in Bazetta had been kind [309] to him, He presented to them his letter, was received, and after due time was ordained an elder in the congregation. This was in 1836. Though no church was established in Green till the year 1851, as above related, Bro. Bartlett's tongue was not silent, nor his light under a cover. There was occasional preaching there by Alton, Brockett, Perky, Hartzel, and Bosworth. Wm. Hayden and Elder T. Campbell explored the land as early as 1828.

      The church numbers about eighty members. Bro. E. Wakefield has long been a "captain of hundreds" among them, and his son, E. B. Wakefield, is rising to usefulness as a proclaimer of the gospel. Bro. A. C. Bartlett, son of Bro. W. Bartlett, for many years before the public, is a gift to the cause from this church.

      Bro. W. Bartlett writes: "It is wonderful to see what great results sometimes spring from small causes. I can not doubt that my hearing A. Campbell in 1821, was the cause of my withdrawing from the F. W. Baptists and uniting with the Disciples; and this led me to labor for an organization in Green, which, through the blessing of God, I have seen accomplished. The seed, after passing through more than one crucible, and occasionally watered, not only brought forth the blade in 1836, but the full ear in 1851, and has produced fruit ever since. How little did I think when I was listening to those sermons that they were to have an influence on me through all my life! But I now know that this has been the case. It has taught me to sow the seed of the kingdom wherever I could, for I knew not how much might fall on good ground, and bring forth fruit in the salvation of souls." [310]

[EHD 295-310]