"And thou, Bethlehem in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a Governor who shall rule my people Israel."--Bible.

      "All experience evinces that human sentiments are strongly influenced by association. Renowned places have a power to awaken feelings which all acknowledge. No Englishman can pass by the field of Waterloo, no American by Bunker Hill or Valley Forge as if they were ordinary spots on the earth's surface. Whoever visits them feels the sentiment of love of country kindling anew as if the spirit that belonged to the transactions which have rendered these places renowned still hover around them with power to move and excite all who in future time may approach them."--Webster.

CANERIDGE CHURCH.

      When the pious traveler visits Caneridge and stands with bared head beneath the wide-spreading pine and elm that shelter the grave of Barton W. Stone, he seems, in a measure, to catch the spirit that animated the man and his few associates who, in yonder little log church, a century ago issued an Emancipation [404] proclamation and gave to the world a Declaration of Independence second only perhaps in its consequences to that of the celebrated German Reformer of the sixteenth century.

      Here in the cane-brakes of Bourbon county, Kentucky began a movement which received a broader and more complete development under the teachings of Walter Scott, John Smith and others until it took on a National aspect under the leadership of Alexander Campbell, and has become world wide through the efforts of those upon whom their mantles have fallen. It began like a star, it has become a sun whose rays warm and light dark places in the Occident and Orient.

      Caneridge Church is a low, log building 30 x 40 feet, with three windows on each side, for which there were no glass at the time of its erection. The roof was of clap-boards put on with black locust pins; a door in each end gave ingress and egress; a high pulpit of clapboard originally furnished the vantage ground from which Robt. W. Finley, their first minister, proclaimed the gospel; the floor was of puncheon, the seats of same. As there was no "chinking" between the logs, there was no lack of ventilation; no fire place and no fire in winter. The preacher was supposed to warm up his congregation sufficiently without such mechanical appliances as stoves or fireplaces.

      "Located in the midst of a dense canebrake as thickly set as a hemp-field, and from eight to ten feet in height, which kept its greenness all the year, looking its greenest in the winter months. It furnished a home and food for all kinds of wild animals which infested the country at that time. So large and dense was this canebrake that a man had to climb to the top of a tall tree and signal the builders which way to come with the logs. It was first settled in 1789-90, and at that time was an unbroken wilderness of ash, walnut, locust and other valuable timber."--Alex Mitchell, Reminiscences of Caneridge.

      As soon as the settlers had finished their homes they built a church or "meeting house," and then not far distant a "seminary," from which were graduated some of the ruling spirits of Kentucky. It was an educated community. Mr. Findley was a highly educated man, as was Barton W. Stone, who succeeded him. The descendants of these pioneers have kept up its reputation for culture and hospitality, and to-day no more cultured community can be found in Bourbon county than those around old Caneridge.

      The church was erected in 1791; has had three roofs put on it since then; weather-boarded, the old pulpit and seats taken away and more modern ones substituted. It has had its times of prosperity and adversity, but has never ceased to be used as a Church of Christ. A Rogers was its first clerk, and a Rogers has been its clerk ever since. The line of apostolic succession is clearly proven. In the church most of our celebrated preachers have preached, and to it many tourists make their way each year. Here every tree becomes a monument and every hill a page of sacred history.

      The first event that gave to Caneridge almost a National fame was the remarkable camp-meeting held there, which began "Friday before the third Lord's day in August, 1801." This meeting marked an epoch in the religious history of that age, and was the first practical example of the possibility of the union of God's people in Christian worship; and doubtless had its influence on the after work of the Caneridge Reformers in their plea for Christian union. I cannot do better than to give an extract taken from a description written by a Mr. McNemar, who was an eye witness to what he describes:

      "In the summer of 1800 was inaugurated by a Mr. McGready a series of sacramental camp meetings, in what was called the Green River and Cumberland settlements, at which the people camped in the woods and held religious exercises in the groves.

      "We will, describe one, having our eye on the one held at Caneridge in 1801," says the author, "When the ground had been cleared, seats of roughly hewn logs were prepared, over these seats a roof of clapboard was erected, rude stand constructed for the speakers, houses of logs or tents erected. The attendance at this meeting was enormous, having been estimated at twenty to thirty thousand persons. The religious duties were kept up day and night without intermission. There would be half a dozen preachers preaching at the same time in different parts of the grove. The hospitality was free, and lavish. At night the scene was weird in the extreme, hundreds of candles and torches throwing their uncertain light upon the tremulous foliage, the solemn chanting of hymns, impassioned exhortations, earnest prayers, sobs, shrieks or shouts bursting from excited persons. The sudden spasms that seized upon scores and cast them suddenly to the earth all conspired to invest the scene with terrific interest and to work up the feelings to highest pitch of excitement."

      Here was witnessed that wonderful phenomena called the 'Jerks." All alike were subject [406] to it, young and old believers and unbelievers. Children from nine years old to hoary hairs. "We shall include the phenomena under seven heads: falling, exercise, the jerks, rolling, running, barking, dancing, visions and trances." In the falling exercise persons would fall as if shot, and lie from fifteen minutes to two or three hours; one woman lay nine days in an apparently unconscious state; their bodies perfectly rigid; sometimes they would suffer frightful agonies. At this meeting three thousand are reported to have fallen. Those having the "jerks" would sway backward and forward, or their head would be jerked from left to right with a force and velocity perfectly inconceivable; no features could be distinguished. When the hair of the females was long it would snap like a whip. The rolling exercise is described by McNemar as having the head and feet doubled together and rolling like a wheel or over and over like a log. In the barking exercise they would snarl and bark like a dog, the sound seeming to come from their chest.

      Mr. Stone, writing of this meeting, says: "The effects of this meeting was like fire in dry stubble driven by the wind. All felt its influence more or less."

      "The good effects of this meeting were seen and acknowledged in every neighborhood, and among the different sects it silenced contention and promoted unity for a while; and these blessed effects would have continued had not men put forth their unhallowed hands to hold up their tottering ark, mistaking it for the ark of God."

      Mr. Stone says, "This meeting lasted for six or seven days, and would have lasted longer had not the provisions given out and it was found impossible to feed so vast a multitude." Some other writers say it lasted ten days.

      Caneridge was destined to be the theatre for more important events than those of the great camp meeting. In the winter of 1796 a young Scotch Presbyterian preacher by the name of Barton W. Stone, twenty-four years old, came from Virginia to Caneridge on a preaching tour, and after a stay of a year returned to Virginia, but in the fall of 1798 returned and accepted a call from the congregations at Caneridge and Concord to become their regular minister. When the Presbytery met to ordain him, on a closer examination of the Confession of Faith, he decided that he could not accept it as a whole, and so stated to the Presbytery. "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, and when the question was put to me I answered aloud so that all of the congregation could hear me, 'I do as far as I see it consistent with the word of God.' I was ordained." This exception, however, was destined to be the cause of much trouble to himself and to others. In 1803 Barton W. Stone, John Dunlavy, John Thompson, Robert Marshall and Richard McNemar seceded from the Presbyterian Synod with which they were connected, because they could not conscientiously accept the teachings of the Confession of Faith and established what was called the "Springfield Presbytery." "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, etc. We urged upon the sinner to believe now and receive salvation.

      "We had not worn our name more than a 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."

      And the disciples were called Christians first at Caneridge.

      Says Mr. Stone: "From this period I date the commencement of that reformation which has progressed to this day. Through much tribulation we advanced, and churches were multiplied."

      June 28, 1804, this "Springfield Presbytery, sitting at Caneridge, in the county of Bourbon," issued the immortal document known as the "Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery," in which they will, "that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the body of Christ at large; that one name of distinction be forgotten; that one power of making laws for the government of the church and executing them by delegated authority forever cease; that the Church of Christ resume her native right of self-government; that the people henceforth take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven; that preachers and people cultivate a spirit of mutual forbearance; pray more and dispute less. 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," etc.

      The signers to this document were. Marshall, Dunlavy, McNemar, Stone, Thompson and Purviance.

      Soon after this David Purviance, finding, as he says, by an independent study of the Scriptures that infant baptism was not authorized by the word of God, determined to renounce it, and was the first preacher of the new church who publicly taught that infant baptism was unscriptural.

      About this time he became convinced that immersion in water of a penitent believer was the only scriptural baptism, and declared his intention of practicing it from that time forward. The first persons who had the courage to submit to immersion were two women, whose names are unknown. The first man was Wm. Rogers, who was baptized in Stoner Creek, near its junction with Houston Creek, at Paris, Ky. The grand-son and great-grand-son and daughter-in-law, Mrs. Mary E. Rogers, of Wm. Rogers still, survive and are loyal members of the Caneridge church, of which the writer was minister for two years, during which time many of the facts here recorded were obtained.

      The church at Caneridge was, founded in 1804, while that of which the Campbells were [407] the main inspiration was organized at Brush Run, Pa., May 5, 1811. The first public baptism by immersion at Caneridge occurred in July, 1807, antedating that performed by Mr. Thomas Campbell just four years, and it was not until June 12, 1812, that Thomas and Alexander Campbell were themselves immersed. A "Christian" church had been organized in Preble county, Ohio, since July, 1807, with David Purviance and other Caneridge members ministering to it.

      The Caneridge church was first to take the name Christian, and was known by that name, while the Campbells' movement was known as the "Christian Association of Washington." Thus intimately is Caneridge associated with the Churches of Christ of the twentieth century. The work inaugurated by the fearless and pious Caneridge Reformers has not died with them, but, like the little elm seed planted by the grave of Barton W. Stone by Elder Jno. A. Gano, has become a mighty tree, whose branches reach from sea to sea and from the tropics to the poles, beneath whose sheltering arms over a million earnest seekers after the old paths have found refuge.

      In the grave-yard at Caneridge is a modest monument of marble bearing this inscription: "The Church of Christ at Caneridge and other generous friends in Kentucky have caused this monument to be erected as a tribute of affection and gratitude to Barton W. Stone, minister of the Gospel of Christ and the distinguished reformer of the nineteenth century. Died November 9, 1844. His remains lie here. This monument erected in 1847."

      The remains of his wife are not interred at Caneridge, but in a private burying ground some ten miles distant.

[COC 404-408]