R. SCOTT remained in Pittsburg teaching his academy and instructing the church until sometime in 1826, when he removed to Steubenville, Ohio. It was in the summer of this year also that he made his first appearance at the Mahoning Baptist Association, within the bounds of which he afterwards became so famous. The association met on the 25th of August. Mr. Scott was not a member of this body, but is mentioned in the Minutes simply as a teaching brother, but was by courtesy invited to partake in its deliberations; and probably from the fact of his being a stranger was, by a similar act of courtesy, invited to preach on Sunday, at 10 o'clock A. M., the hour usually occupied by the best talent. His sermon, based on the 11th chapter of Matthew, was a powerful one and made a deep impression. A. S. Hayden, then quite a youth, was present, and saw and heard Scott for the first time. He says that his fancy, imagination, eloquence, neatness, and finish as a preacher and a man attracted his attention, and fixed him forever on his memory. Alexander Campbell, whose reputation was already great, was present, and many who had been attracted to the meeting by his fame supposed that they were hearing him while [82] listening to Scott, and when he closed left the place under that impression. The Association met the next year, 1827, at New Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio. Alexander Campbell had been appointed by the church of which he was a member, at Wellsburgh, Va., to attend as its messenger, and on his way he stopped at Steubenville and invited Mr. Scott to go with him. He was somewhat disinclined to do so, as he was not a member of the body, or of any church represented in it; but being urged, he went. This seemingly unimportant event proved to be one of the most important steps of his life, as the sequel will show; and as it is doubtful whether there is in existence a single printed copy of the Minutes of that meeting, the entire proceedings are presented below, which form a very important and valuable portion of the history of the times:

MINUTES OF THE MAHONING BAPTIST ASSOCIATION.
Convened at New Lisbon, Ohio, August 23, 1827.

      1. Assembled at 1 o'clock P. M. for public worship, when Bro. A. Bentley discoursed from John xviii: 37.

      2. Read the letters from the following churches, and took an account of their numbers: [83]

CHURCHES.	MESSENGERS' NAMES.
Warren	Adamson Bentley		. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
	Jacob Smith	3	1	4	4	2	72
	Jacob Drake	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
New Lisbon	Joab Gaskel	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
	John Campbell	. . .	. . .	2	1	. . .	41
	Henry Beck	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
Mantua and       Hiram	Darwin Atwater	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
	Zeb. Rudolph	9	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	26
	John Rudolph, Jr.	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
Palmyra	Stephen Wood	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
	Noah Davis	. . .	. . .	1	3	. . .	49
	William Bacon	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
Hubbard	Jesse Hall	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
	Walter Clark	1	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	37
	Archibald Price	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
Braceville	Jacob Osborn	. . .	3	. . .	2	1	36
	Henry Harsh	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
Yellow Creek	William McGavern	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
	Thomas Ray	5	. . .	1	2	. . .	30
	Simon Kelly	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
Achor	Arthur Wherry	1	. . .	2	. . .	. . .	70
	John Jackman	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
Canfield	David Hayse	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
	Myron Sackett	1	. . .	1	. . .	. . .	28
Wellsburgh	Alexander Campbell	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
	John Brown	11	5	3	1	1	56
Salem	David Gaskill	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
	Arthur Hayden	3	4	. . .	. . .	. . .	34
	Aaron Hise	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
Hartford	No intelligence.
Youngstown	Samuel Hayden	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
	Joseph Pearce	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	13
Southington	No intelligence.		. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
Randolph	Abijah Sturdevant	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
	William Churchill	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
Sandy	No intelligence.
	Total	34	13	14	13	4	492

      3. Bro. Jacob Osborn was chosen Moderator, and Bro. John Rudolph, Jr., Clerk.

      4. The following teaching brethren being present were invited to a seat in the council: Walter Scott, Samuel Holmes, William West, and Sidney Rigdon.

      5. Brethren A. Campbell, D. Gaskill, and A. Bentley were appointed a committee to arrange business for to-morrow. Adjourned till to-morrow morning, 9 o'clock.

      Bro. Sidney Rigdon delivered a discourse in the evening on John, 8th chapter.

      6. Met pursuant to adjournment; opened by praise and prayer.

      7. Voted to take up the request from the Braceville church, which is as follows: "We wish that this Association may take into serious consideration the peculiar [84] situation of the churches of this Association; and if it could be a possible thing for an evangelical preacher to be employed to travel and teach among the churches, we think that a blessing would follow."

      8. Voted that a person be appointed for the above purpose. 9. Invited Bros. J. Merrill, J. Secrest, and Joseph Gaston to a seat with us.

      10. Voted that all the teachers of Christianity present be a committee to nominate a person to travel and labor among the churches, and to suggest a plan for the support of the person so appointed.

      11. That Bro. A. Campbell write the corresponding letter for this year.

      12. That a collection of $6.91 be paid over to Bro. A. Campbell, for the printing and distribution of the Minutes of the Association.

      13. That Bro. William West be continued Corresponding Secretary, and Bro. John Rudolph Recording Secretary, and Bro. Joab Gasket Treasurer. 14. That our next Association be held at Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, on Friday preceding the last Lord's day in August; public worship to commence at 1 o'clock P. M.

      15. That a circular letter be written on the subject of itinerant preaching for the next Association by Bro. A. Campbell.

      16. That Bro. A. Campbell deliver the introductory discourse for next year, and in case of failure Bro. Jacob Osborne.

      17. The committee to which was referred the nomination of a person to labor among the churches, and to recommend a plan for his support, reported as follows: "1st. That Bro. Walter Scott is a suitable person for the task, and that he is willing, provided the Association concur [85] in his appointment, to devote his whole energies to the work. 2d. That voluntary and liberal contributions be recommended to the churches for creating a fund for his support. 3d. That at the discretion of Bro. Scott, as far as respects time and place, four quarterly meetings for public worship and edification, be held in the bounds of this Association this year, and that at all those meetings such contributions as have been made in the churches in those vicinities be passed over to Bro. Scott, and an account of the same to be produced at the next Association; also that at any time and in any church, when and where Bro. Scott may be laboring, any contributions made to him shall be accounted for to the next Association."

      18. Voted that the above report, in all its items, be adopted. Bro. Secrest delivered a discourse in the evening from John's testimony, 3d chapter. Met on Lord's day, at sunrise in the Baptist meeting-house, for prayer and praise, and continued till 8 o'clock. Met again in the Presbyterian meeting-house, Lisbon, where, after public worship, Bro. Jacob Osborne delivered a discourse on Hebrews, 1st chap. He was followed by Bro. A. Campbell, who delivered a discourse on Good Works, predicated upon the last paragraph of the Sermon on the Mount and the conclusion of Matthew, 25th chapter. A collection of $11.75 was then lifted for the purposes specified in the report of the Committee. After a recess of a few minutes and the immersion of some disciples in the creek, the brethren met at the Baptist meeting-house and broke bread, after which they dispersed, much comforted and edified by the exercises of the day.

JACOB OSBORN, Moderator. JOHN RUDOLPH, JUN., Clerk. JOHN RUDOLPH,       Clerk for the Association. [86]

      In regard to the proceedings of the Association, as given above, it will be observed that Mr. Scott was again invited to a seat. This might have been expected; but is it not very remarkable that when a committee was appointed composed of preachers who were members of the Association, and also of those who were not, to choose an evangelist to travel among the churches, that one should be selected who was not a member of the body, and who neither agreed in his religious views with marry of those who selected him for so important a task, nor took any pains to conceal this difference? Nor could the choice have been made on the ground of peculiar fitness in consequence of great success in the evangelical field, or greatness of reputation; it was not a matter of necessity--a choice of a giant from among pigmies. Bentley was known and esteemed throughout the entire Association; Campbell's great and admirable talents were well known and acknowledged; Rigdon had the reputation of an orator; Jacob Osborn gave high promise of future usefulness; Secrest and Gaston were popular and successful evangelists; and yet by the voices of all these, and others of less note, Walter Scott was unanimously chosen for the most important work that the Association had ever taken in hand.

      He proved to be, however, as we shall see, the man of all others for the place and the work--a work which neither he nor they who called him to it had the remotest idea that it would result, as it did, in the dissolution of the Association and the casting away of creeds and the unexampled spread of clearer and purer view of the gospel--nay, a return to it in its primitive beauty and simplicity. [87]

      Having now before us the man and his work, this seems a fitting place to introduce a notice of the field in which he was providentially called to labor--namely, the bounds of the Mahoning Association. This body was formed at Nelson, Portage County, Ohio, on the 30th of August, 1820, and was composed of some ten Baptist churches. Its belief was set forth in ten articles of faith, in which a belief in the Trinity, eternal and personal election to holiness, total depravity, particular redemption, and the irresistible power of the Holy Spirit in conversion was insisted on. Each church in the body had its own articles of faith, some of them equaling in number those of the Association, others with as many as eighteen or nineteen articles, and still others with but eight or nine. In several of these church creeds, which all affirmed the doctrine of the Association, there were to be found additional articles; as, for instance, the following: "We believe in the laying on of hands on baptized believers to be an apostolic practice, and as such we observe it;" and some, in addition to the articles common to all the rest, had one which read thus: "In short, we receive a book called the Baptist Confession of Faith, adopted by the Philadelphia Association, Sept. 25th, 1742, as generally expressive of our views of the great doctrines of revealed religion." One church says of the same Confession of Faith: "We agree to adopt it;" and another, after enumerating various points of doctrine, concludes by saying: "For further particulars we refer to the Baptist Confession of Faith."

      The number of churches Confession the Association at first was ten, which was afterwards increased to about [88] double that number, seventeen appearing on the list at the meeting at New Lisbon in 1827. These churches were mainly in that portion of Eastern Ohio lying adjacent to Pennsylvania and between the Ohio River and Lake Erie, called the Western Reserve, which was mainly peopled by settlers from the New England States. One of the churches was in Virginia--that of Wellsburgh.

      The name of Adamson Bentley, who was the leading man in the Association, appears in the Minutes of every meeting from its formation to its close; that of Alexander Campbell does not appear until 1825. Walter Scott's name appears in the Minutes for 1826 and 1827 simply as a teaching brother. Although there were within the bounds of the Association some pious and devoted men, such as Bentley, Osborne, the Haydens, and others; still, in consequence of their creeds, by which they were cramped and confined, and the chilling influence of the ultra Calvinistic views then prevalent, religion was at an extremely low ebb. The monthly meetings had become cold and formal gatherings, the reading of church constitution, covenant, and articles of faith--for some had all these--had, in a measure, usurped the place of reading the Scriptures, of prayer and praise. There was but little growth in true piety, little enjoyment, and but few conversions. At the Association in 1827 fifteen churches reported only thirty-four baptisms, and of these eleven were at Wellsburgh, from which church A. Campbell was the delegate. The report of the previous year was still worse, only eighteen baptisms within the bounds of seventeen [89] churches, while the exclusions and deaths for the same period were twenty-three.

      In 1825 seventeen churches reported but sixteen baptisms. The greatest number reported in any one year was one hundred and three, from ten churches, of which fifty-six, or more than one-half of the entire number, was at Warren, under the labors of Elder A. Bentley, whose love for dying men made him often overstep the narrow limits of his creed.

      Great stress was in those days placed upon what was called a religious experience--more reliance, indeed, upon the feelings and mental exercises of the penitent than upon a change of conduct and obedience to the plain teachings of the Word of God; indeed, it was by no means uncommon to hear the Word of God spoken of as powerless and inefficient; but any unusual agitation of the feelings was regarded as the direct influence of the Holy Spirit upon the sinner's heart. Dreams and visions of a grand or gloomy nature were thought to indicate the anger or favor of God, and to persons of warm and lively imaginations these were seldom wanting; and those who could relate the most wonderful stories in regard to the soul's enjoyments or conflicts were regarded as favorites of heaven, while the equally earnest and sincere, yet more sober-minded, were thought to be in a far less hopeful condition.

      Were we to regard as true many of the religious experiences of those times we should have frequently to admit the appearance of Christ to earnest seekers, speaking to them words of comfort and blessing, as when he was here in the flesh, or be horrified by their encounters and conflicts with the Prince of [90] Darkness, which, however, generally ended in his defeat and flight. Much of this, doubtless, is to be attributed to the fact that John Bunyan was more read by a certain class than John the Evangelist, and was by many Baptists regarded as a kind of patron saint; and the nearer their experiences resembled those of the "Wonderful Dreamer" the safer did they feel, and the sounder were they in the faith.

      A few of the visions and experiences of the famous author of the "Pilgrim's Progress" will show where the type of much of the supernatural in the religion of these times is to be found. Once he dreamed he saw the face of the heavens, as it were, all on fire, the firmament crackling and shivering as with the noise of mighty thunders, and an archangel flew in the midst of heaven sounding a trumpet, and a glorious throne was seated in the east, whereon sat one in brightness like the morning-star; upon which he, thinking it was the end of the world, fell upon his knees, and, with uplifted hands toward heaven, cried: "O Lord God, have mercy upon me! what shall I do? the day of judgment is come, and I am not prepared!" when immediately he heard a voice behind him exceeding loud, saying, "Repent!" and upon this he awoke, and found it but a dream. At another time he dreamed that he was in a pleasant place, jovial and rioting, banqueting and feasting his senses, when immediately a mighty earthquake rent the earth, and made a wide gap, out of which came bloody flames, and the figures of men tossed up in globes of fire, and falling down again with horrible cries, shrieks, and execrations, while some devils that were with them laughed aloud at their torment; and while he [91] stood trembling at this sight, he thought the earth sunk under him, and a circle of flame inclosed him; but when he fancied he was just at the point to perish, one in white shining raiment descended and plucked him out of that dreadful place, while devils cried after him to leave him with them to take the just punishment his sins had deserved, yet he escaped the danger, and leaped for joy, when he awoke and found it but a dream. Again, when playing ball on the Sabbath, a voice suddenly came from heaven into his soul, which said, "Wilt thou leave thy sins and go to heaven, or have thy sins and go to hell?" Greatly amazed, he says: "I looked up to heaven and was as if I had with the eyes of my understanding seen the Lord Jesus looking down upon me, as being very hotly displeased with me, and as if he did severely threaten me with some grievous punishment for my ungodly practices."

      At one time he would regard himself as having committed a similar sin to that of Peter when he denied his Lord, and at another time his sin was no less than that of Judas. He saw Christ on the cross, and his soul was in an agony of sorrow and love at the sight. He met Satan both as a roaring lion and an angel of light,but sent him howling away or eluded the snares he had set for his soul. These and a thousand other kindred instances had much to do with shaping the religious sentiment of the days of which we write, and those who were not under the influence of them, to a greater or less degree, were fewer far than those who were. Men even of education and more than ordinary natural ability were known, after seeking the path to God by reading the [92] record he had given to men, to ask in prayer a sign or token of their acceptance; and many, feeling that God had denied to them what he seemed to have granted so lavishly to others, gave up the search in hopeless despair. One of the most common and at the same time one of the most hopeful experiences was a conviction of sin so deep and pungent that the penitent was willing to suffer the pains of eternal death for the glory of God. It was comparatively easy for the sinner to believe and say that he deserved eternal damnation, but only the grace of God, it was thought, was able to render him willing that such a fate should be his, that God might be glorified.

      As illustrative of these times we might mention the case of three brothers, two of whom still survive. They were all religiously disposed, and all brought up under the severe Calvinistic teaching then so common among the Baptists. One of them for years was desirous of the favor of God, but for years sought it in vain, and was consoled by being told that he must wait for God's good time and way; all the time of his waiting the difficulty was not on his part; he was willing and anxious to be saved, but, according to the doctrine, the Lord was not. It was a long season of doubt, of darkness, and only after years had passed was he able, after a long struggle and earnest prayer, to draw some comfort from the words of Scripture: "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." The other brother seemed signally favored; he saw signs in the heavens and heard voices which he could not doubt were celestial; at one time he saw a coffin passing through the air, and heard at the same time a voice of solemn warning. An unusually violent [93] thunder-storm he deemed was sent as a special warning; and while his elder brother could scarcely, after years of seeking, find a ground of hope, he had many and wonderful proofs of the interest felt in his salvation, in the sights and sounds to which we have referred. The other brother was a calm, meditative man; heaven did not seem averse to his desires, as in the case of one of his brothers, nor was he favored with the sights and sounds which alarmed or assured the other. He carefully read the Scriptures and thought upon the mercies of God: this awoke gratitude in his heart, and he felt that the goodness of God should lead him to repentance, and by such motives was led to dedicate himself to the service of God. The wonderful experience, however, was generally regarded as the best, and sights that were never seen and voices that were never heard, which had no existence save in the imagination of the individual, were stronger proofs of the divine favor than a life and walk in accordance with the Word of God.

      The preachers taught human inability, and the people generally gave full illustrations of their belief of the doctrine. "Wait and not work" seemed to be the favorite motto, and thousands under this delusion waited, alas, too long. There was, however, a vague impression that something was wrong, and a desire to find out that wrong and its remedy; and it was this feeling, doubtless, which led to the desire to have an evangelist in the field, which resulted in the unexpected selection of Walter Scott for the work, for which his success proved him to be eminently qualified. [94]

[LEWS 82-94]