The Backwoodsman and Upson yeoman. (Thomaston, Ga.) 1834-18??, July 30, 1834, Image 1

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VOL, l. As this is tins senstm of Camp-Meeting* j throughout tins State, we have thought it would lust he inopportune to republish the following account of one, given by Stuart, a recent Bri tish traveller through the United States. The inquiry and opinion respecting their utility, contained in the extract, appear to us to be very dispassionate, sensible ami impartial. At any rate, it is always interesting to know what in telligent foreigners think ami say of us in every tclation and regard to all our customs, manners and institutions. Some time after my expidition to Staten Is land, an advertisement of a Camp-meeting, to ‘So held at Musqnito Cove,on Lung Island Sound, •nine in my way. I expressed to the lintel kee per at Mount Vernon a wish to ha present, and he, and one of the friends who accompanied me to Staten Island, very good buinouredly agreed to make a party to Long Island for a day. We hired a barouche, which is to lie hud at N. York for four dollars a day, then crossing liy the Sfeam-l>onl lerry to Long Island, and breakfast ing at the village of Flushing, where are situat edMr. Prince’s long established nursery grounds, we renehed that part of Musqnito Cove, where tvc understood the meeting was to be held, at about twelve o’clock. The meeting was held within a forest or wood, where a sufficient number of trees had been cut to make such an opening as was required. The morning service was concluded some time before we arrived. I’rum the high grounds, the view of the bay, of the shipping, and of the assembled multitudes, with their carriages and horses, was very strik ing. A great many of the people were strag gling in the adjoining fields during the interval of service. The shiping all of which had been employed in bringing persons from a considera ble distance to join tho meeting, consisted of five steam-boats, about sixty sloops and schoon ers, besides open boats. The number of horses and carriages was proportionally great. It was calculated that there were about 12,609 persons on the ground, certainly not less than 9,000 or 10,000. There seemed to be about a dozen clergy men, all belonging to the Methodist persuasion, in a large covered and elevated platform. Benches were provided for the congregation, placed on the vacant or open space in front of the platform. The males were on the one side of the benches and the females on the other. There were benches for u great part f tho m,. seinbled multitude, and the benches were sur-j rounded on all sides by a close body of those j who had only standing room. When the after noon services commenced, the effect of this pro digious assemblage of people, all standing, list ing up their voices, and joining in praise of their Creator, was more sublime than those who have not witnessed such a scene can well imagine.—- The sermon, which was afterwards delivered, lasted for an hour, and was distinctly heard all j over the ground, for the most perfect order and silence prevailed. The clergyman preached from the 291 h verse of the 1011 1 chapter ot the book of Numbers: “We arc journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, 1 will give it you : come thou wi'h us, and we will do thee good , for the Lord hath spoken good concern ing Israel.” The discourse seemed to me alto gothci faultless, and the address at the end was most remarkably impressive. The speaker, in the conclusion, alluded to the sect of Christians to which lie belonged, the Methodists ; but he meant, he added, to say “ naught against other denominations ol Christians who did good. After sermon, prayer, all kneeling, succeeded. Then a hymn was sung, and another clergyman, a very old man, coining to tile edge of the plat form, said that a friend whom they had never heard before was about to address them. Ano ther clergyman, an aged person, then stepped forward, to enforce, as lie said, the invitation in the text, which he did very shortly, mid very skilfully, particularly, and with great earnest ness, exhorting those members who had been lately added to their church, to communicate to their brothers, sisters, and friends, some idea ol the happiness which they now enjoyed,that they might be induced to follow their example, mid accept the invitation, by ointng the church, Cven lietaru the meeting wiw ovvr. ‘File afternoon service was concluded as usu al, with singing and prayer, and the most per fect decorum prevailed. The service continued for about two hours mid half. I understood that this meeting was to last for about four days. Many people came from a distance of one hundred miles and upwards. Tiic great objects of bolding such meeting in this part of the country, arc to afford opportunities to persons whose situation, such as that of servants, prevents them from attending worship regularly onSunday, of being present on the occasion,when they are almost always indulged, and allowed to avail themselves of it; and to keep people who have not yet turned their minds to religious subjects, together for such a time, that their at tention must he arrested. It is conceived that extraordinary effortsought frequently to be made by all those ministers of Christ who tire faithful, nml do not neglect their duty. Such of the clergy ns approve of the observance of numerous days of prayer meetings, and of such assem blages as tins, ascribe the want of revivals, by which l merely understand tho addition of any considerable number of converts at one time to any church, to the languor of the minister, and the backwoodsman AND UPSON YEOMAN. to his m iking no further exertions than custor as established as a standard. They maintai hat where the minister contents himself wit •reaching once or twice on the Sabbath, perfnr uing the professional duties required of them and nothing more, without questioning himsei. whether any tiling more be required of him by die precepts of the religion lie professes, tin church becomes relaxed in discipline, and that the absence of any thing like a revival m such circumstances, sliotvs that those who believe in the Gospel of Christ must perform more minis terial and Christian duties, and must show more earnestness. I had a very different notion of what was meant by a revival of re.ligion in the United States, both from what I had previously heard, and from whnt l had been told i*>cc l j was in this country, by jjwraona who consider • every clergyman to he weak, and eccentric, and an enthusiast, who deviates ftotn the ordinary ; routine of ministerial operation, or who shows the sincerity of his belief by using nil the means in his power to obtain converts to that religion which lie professes to believe. The United Slates being free from any reli gious establishment, .every one is not only tol- 1 ernted in the exercise of the religion be believes, but is nt full liberty, without the fear, except in very few and very peculiar cases, of his tempor al concerns oeing at nil affected by Ins religious profession, (whatever it ntay be,) to embrace j those religious doctrines which he conceives on | due consideration arc true. It follows from ibis stute of things, that there is much less hy poernsy in the professors of religion in this than in other countries. Those in this country, who voluntarily go to a Protestant church, and who voluntarily puv for the ministration of a Chris tian clergyman, may be gem. I ', illy, (I do not mean to say universally,) held to have made the necessary examination, and to be real believers of the doctrines of the Christian religion;— whereas those from ether countries, who have travelled in the United Stales, and who have put forth sneering and ill-founded statements on the subject of revivals, cauip-mcctings, &c. are generally Christians professing that relis ,1 ' n > merely because their parents did so, or-' ecaus ® Clnistianity is the religion of their —’Untry, na not because they ever invesng trut h. I found at Northampton a short narative of a re vival in a Presbyterian e u,rc l | Baltimore, writU-H hi a plain unseo* S U’ a by M r ” Walton, the clergy-inn of that church, which l would reccmn-nd to the attention of some late English writers, who, in perfect ignorance, as it appears to me, treat the religious meetings and the revivals in ihe United States in h conteiwp* >uou ma ner, and unit’ they tvi re approved and ( attended by no one of sane mind. Mr. Wa t n descri : > s himself as having been for many years a clergyman, who thought that, by preaching the Go.-pel at tlm usual times, he was doing all tliut was requir.ng of him, and that he ought to leave the rest to the Divine influence; adding, that, upon being called to a different sphere of labour, lie had an increasing desire to be useful, lie redoubled his exertions ; he appointed pray er meetings, not oily public, but “private, from house to house, and engaged the assistance of all iriio were members of the church, to impress , u|Kin the young people the necssity of their ex- j ambling the doctrines of tlie Christian religion, | ■ ncl, professing them, if they believed them to e true. The result was the addition ot be tween eighty and ninety communicants to his church in the space of a few months. And this is precisely what is called a revival in the United States and what wn> formi riy, utid what very prohahly now is, among certain classes of Chris tians, called a revival in Great Britain. A re vival then happens as often as any clergyman is lead to make greater exertions than are usual, by himself, or by exciting Ins flock, or by their united exertions; and when the consequence of their labour ts, that a greater number of persons than usual is added to the church. Is there any tiling irrational in this? Quite the contrary.— This is not the place for attempting to prove or disprove the truth of the Christian religion. What l maintain is this, and nothing more than this, that all persons, whether clergymen or laymen, should show their belief in the religion, whether Mahometan, Roman Catholic, or Pro testant, which they profess, by obeying its pre cepts and doctrines; and more especially, that clergymen, who set themselves apart to the work of the ministry should be zealous in promoting liie doctrines of the religion they have embraced” Those who do not so act show themselves to he the vilest of all hypocrites. If they are clergy men, professing the Christian religion, it is well known to all those acquainted with the doctrines of the Bible, that no duty is more strictly en joined than that the teachers of the word shall preach it to the world, —should be instrumental in saving all the souls they can. They are bound to make the utmost exertions that it is possible for them to make, in order to produce in others the same belief which they entertain. We have teachers of philosophy, and of every branch of science, and applaud and honor those who show the greatest earnestness and talent in explaining anil enforcing the doctrines which they themselves believe. Why should equal earnestness and sincerity not he expected from those who undertake to teach and explain the doctrines of the Christian religion? Upon this subject of revivals, on which so much nonsense has lately been written, there is nbundence of sound authorities in the United States, as well ns in Britain, which may be re ferred to with ndvuntage. TIIOMASTON, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1834. LAY TUB AXE TO TIIE HOOT OF PUBLIC EVILS. For example, Jonathan Edwards, a mao family distinguished ns a profound divine, and <i acute philosopher, the president of the Col ge of New Jersey, published, so long ago as io middle of the last century, account! of ru uarkable conversions at Northampton, in Mas -achusetts, attended by symptoms of bodily ag tation. Dr. John Erskine of Edinburgh, about the same period, or rather later, was the writer of a pamphlet relative to revivals at Cambus lang, and other places in the west of Scotland, attended with remarkable mental and bodily agitations, the truth of which is attested by the evidence of men of the strictest truth, and greatest respectability of character. At the period when the famous Mr. Whitfield visited | Mcotland, the multitudes that often assembled in the open air were perhaps more numerous than nny congregation ever before collected in •Scotland. The religious impressions mHtle on the people were much greater, and more gene ral, and the visible convulsive agitati-ms which accompanied them exceeded every thing of the kind which had yet been observed; This is stated in Sir Henry MoncriefFs Life of Doctor Erskine. Sir Henry Moncrieff, than whom no man had less claim to the character of an en thusiast, a person too of sound judgment and great eminence, and a zealous clergvmnn, de clares in his life of Dr. Erskine, that no events j enn be more satisfactorily attested, as utiques ] tioriahlc facts than those in the west of Scot ! land, to which allusion has now b<en made, adding the following very pertinent and inter esting observations: “ It must not hi forgotten, that tile number was very considerable of those who tinted their first and best iinpjessions of religion from this time, and who Were after wards distinguished by a visible and unques tionable reformation of manners; of which few examples of the same extent can be produced in modern times. Even some of those who have h ive done their utmost to decry the con vert® <>f Cnmbuslang, and to diminish their number, are obliged to admit that they might amount to some hundreds, und others who ap- ’ pear to have honestly related the facts from j their own observations and inquiries, and to ( have rejected every circumstance from their narutives of which they dial not think the mselves fully assured, mention 400 at Cam buslaug, independent of those who belonged to Kilsyth. “ Whatever opinion may he held with regard to the means or influence with which 400 in dividuals connected a reformation in their mor al and religious characters, which they after wards supported through life, no fair man will deny that such an effect produced on such a number of human beings is a subject neither of ridicule nor contempt. Many thousands at tended, on whom no visible impression seems to have been made. And this fact,according with ordinary experience, and honestly related in the narratives on the subject, confirms, instead of lessening, their credibility. “On the other hand, let the thousands who go away without having received any visible impressions be out of the question, (though ma ny good effects have been produced, which were neither observed nor related at the lime,) 400 individuals, who, to the conviction of those who knew them, become better men—men more useful and conscientious in their stations, and more faithful in their practical duties than they ever were before, and who preserve this charac ter while they live —exhibits a view of the reli gion of Canitiuslang and Kilsyth which a wise man will not easily bring himself to reprobate, and which no good man, if lie candidly exam ines the facts and believes them, willtllow him self to despise. “ It is vain to represent the religious instruc tion of Cnmbuslang ns so defective, either in form or in substance, as to be incapable of pro dubingany salutary effect, and as having been addressed much more to the imaginations and the passions, than to the consciences or the un derstandings of the people. “ Though this is not admitted to have been the fact by those who had best access to judge — if it be true that whnt was there pleached be came the instrument of producing s permanent reformat on of manners in 400 or 500 individ uals within the short space of six or eight months—no other testimony is requisite to dem onstrate either its value or its efficiency. “ The examples published to establish this fact it is impossible to mention here with any minuteness. It was observed, in particular, at Kilsyth, that, before this period, die people of the parish had been remarkable for such a lit igious spirit, as had, in a great measure, de stroyed the comfort and confidence of private life ; and that, immediately after this period, the spirit of litigation seemed to be so mnch ex tinguished by the spirit of religion, that the nin gistiate of the district declared, that for many months no action whatever had been brought before Ins court, where it had before been usual to have a great many during the course of every week • “ Similar facts, equally decisive, were rela ted from other districts; and in general, it was certainly believed, by those who had the best iccess to be thoroughly informed, and who liv d many years in the Imbits of intimate com munication with the individuals, that they who were called the converts of 1742, with few ex <-ptions indeed, supported through life the -hnracter which they then assumed, and were quully distinguished by purity of tnauners and Christian sincerity. “ It is more than probable that they nre now all in their graves, with Mr. Whitfield hiinsclt, and every individual who attempted to stigma tize or defend him ; and it is surely consolatory to know, that, according to the best information which has been preserved, they have left no stain on their religious profession, or on the strong impressions of religion, which, under God, they ascribed to the ministry of Mr. Whit field and his associates ; —that their conduct was equally open to those who distrusted their orig inal professions and to those who relied on them; —nnd that, at the distance of upwards o seventy years, every lnformaium with regard to their personal conduct is in favor of the power ful impressions, by means of which they be lieved themselves to huve been first persuaded to become Christians in earnest, mid to have first imbibed the spirit of practical religion.” Sir Henry afterwards mentions, that Dr. Erskine, in his pamphlet already referred to, appreciated the leading facts in the same way. The bodily ugiialions or convulsions he con sidered us nothing more than the effect of deep impressions made on the conscience, such as nny serious alarm on any subject tn common life, remote from religion might, in similar cir cumstances, have occasioned. The evidence afforded by the testimony of Edwards, Erskine, and Sir Henry Moncrieff, clergymen of the uiost irreproachable character, nil of them men of acknowledged talent, and as free from religious enthusiasm and fanaticism as any individuals who ever lived, is far more than sufficient to show, that there is uo just ground for condemning great religious meet ings, now more common in tho United States than in any other country, as inconsistent with the principles or the practice of the real profes sors of Christian religion, and ts far more than sufficient to shield the clergy of the United •States, or such of them, (especially the meth odists, the followers of Mr. Whitfield,) ns still maintaining the doctrine of revivals, from the gibes of those, who, in their utter ignorance of !the doctrines of the Christian religion, have 1 given circulation to insinuations respecting the ■ tendency of many of those religions meetings, ! for winch there is generally not the slightest foundation. All human institutions are liable to abuse; and there is no great reason to maintain, that, because immoralities may have taken place among the multitudes assembled at camp-meet ings in the United States, that such meetings should he discontinued, than that the sacrament al meetings in Scotland, at which instances of impropriety of conduct have beuu said to occur, should he. put down. I beiieva many clergymen of the United States also conceive, from tho experience of the past, that more converts nre to be expected from a great meeting lasting several days, when the people are at much as possible abs acted from secular business, than from the ordinary services of the church. They refer, in order to prove the propriety of this sort of meeting, to the 15-h Chapter ot St. Mu hi w, vere.-s 150 and seq. where the mult tilde, consisting of 4000, besides women and children, remaining with Christ three days— to the Bth chapter of St Mark, verses 4 and seq. —nnd to the *‘’‘ ,noll from the mount, (in St. Mathew. 5, 6,7,) preached by Christ from the mountain to the multitudes. “ It is to be recollected,” (says Lord Byron, perhaps a singular authority to refer to on such a subject,) “ that the most beuutiful and impres s ve doctrines of the Divine Founder of Chris tianity were delivered, nut in the temple, but on the mount; and that, waving the question of devotion, and turning to human eloquence, the most effectual and splendid specimens were not pronounced within walls. Demosthenes ad dressed the public and popular assemblies. — Cicero spoke in the forum. That this added to their effect, on the iniud of both orator and lienrcr, may be conceived, from the difference between what we read of the emotions then and (here produced, and those we ourselves experi ence in the perusal of the closet.” Lord Byron adds, “ that, wero the enrly and rapid progress of what is called Methodism to be attributed to any cause beyond liie enthusi asm excited by vehement faith and doctrines, (the truth or error of which he presumed neither to canvass nor to question,) he should venture to ascribe it to the practice of preaching in the flelds, and the unstudied and extemporaneous effusions of its teachers.” A contribution is at the camp-meetings made among the people, in order to defray the expense of the ground, and of the necessary police to preserve order. “ The rule* and orders for the government of the camp meeting,” printed on a card, were affixed to a great many of the trees on the neigh boring grounds. 1 tore off one of the cards, in order to preserve a copy of the rules, which follow. “I. Preaching, morning, afternoon, and evening, at the sound of the trumpet from the stand. “ 11. During the time of preaching from the stand, not more than one person ts to remain in each tent, (except in cases of sickness,) but all •ire to repair to the stand, and coute into the • congregation. “ 111. No walking, talking, or smoking to ; bacco, or standing up while there nre vneant • seats, is to be allowed within the circle of the I cuts in the time of preaching; no standing or walking on the scats at an j time. ” IV. No cooknig >r preparing victuals, or , elf in”- or clearing of tables, during preaching from the stand, is to be allowed. This rule ap plies to those tents that keep boarders as well as others. “V. About ten o’clock in the evering the trumpet will be blown at the stand, when nil who have lodgings on the ground must retire tw rest, and all who have not will be required to leave the ground.” “VI. The ow ners or occupants of each tent shall be responsible for these rules, and for anv rudo or improper conduct in their tenets; and on complaint the tent shall be subjected to be X\ TOOV These rules were most strictly observed, one person having hecn taken up on the evening before we arrived at the camp-nn i ling merely for selling cide. All sorts of liquor are prohi bited, except tea and coffee. During the in terval of worship, many of the people were walking aln-ut the adjoining grounds— others were in the.r tents, w here the head of the fami ly, or s me oilier person, was praying; and in some ol those tents manifestations were occa sionally given by the groans and exclamations of the people. There was less of these excla mations during the sermon than I had expect ed ; the greatest order continued during the whole period of its delivery. Two of the cler gymen had gowns and bauds. BONAPARTE AND LAFAYETTE. nv 11F19.K. TrannlateH for the Cincinnati Mirror.— from the French. Whatever blind friends and hypocritical ene mies may say, Lafayette is the purest character of the French Revolution, and its greatest hero utter Napoleon. Napoleon and Lafayette are the two most splendid names now in France. Their glory is, doubtless, Very different.— The latter fought more for peace than for vic tory, and the former more for tire laurel than for the oaken crown. It would certainly be ri diculous to pretend to subject the greatness of the two rneu to the same standard, and to place one upon the pedestal intended for the other. It would be ridiculous to wish to clemrn tiic statue of Lafayette on the pillar of the Place Vcndome, molten out of the brass cannons con quered in so many battles,- that pillar, says Par tner, that a French mother cannot bear the sight of. On the pillar of brass, put Nnpoleor, the man of brass, supported her as he was in liie by his cannon-glory; let him, in his frightful isolation, pierce the clouds, so that the ainhi. lions soldier, when he shall In hold him at tl.at vertiginous and inaccessible height, mao let I fits cart humbfeu ana cured of ttm vnm thirst ol glory; arid may, ta this maimer, this color.a:. | metallic spire become Europe’s most powerful and pacific aliy, the tutelary lightning-rod of her political surety. Lafayette has raised for himself pillar pre ferable to that of the I‘lact Vcndome and a pedestal more solid than i* >t were of marble or of brass. Where wu find marble us pure as the heart, bra'*’ HS i,s the constancy of old Latoya'*® t h is true that lie had but a sni g|e iJca, but tn this he resembled the needle winch points always to the north, without vary, ing once to the south or east. Thus, Lafayt tie has repeated the satne thing every dy for the Inst 40 years, and is always pointing to North America. He opened the revolution by the declaration of the rights of man, and he insists, up to this very hour, upon tins declaration, with out which there is no safety, according to tins invariable man with Ins invariable enrdim 1 point of liberty. Oh no, by no means, lie is not a genius like Napoleon, in whose head the eagles of inspiration had established their eyrie, while the serpents of calculation twined about his heart ; but Lafayette suffered liimst sf nei ther to be intimida;ed by the eagles, nor seduc ed by the serpens.* With the wisdom of age in youth,and the warmth of youth in age, pro tecting the people against the arts of the great, and the great against tin fury of the people, a tomp&ssionate combatant, never presumptuous and never discouraged, severe and mild in the same degree, Lafayette lias always remained the same, and always with his one idea, and one set of feelings, from the days of Marie Antonietta down to the present hour; the faith ful Eckardt of liberty, always leaning bis sword in front of the entrance of the Tuileries, and pointing to that enchanted mountain, whose magic accents draw with so much power, but to whose labyrinthic nets there is no issue for those who hare once suffered themselves to be entan gled in them, It is certainly true that the dead Napoleon is even more beloved by the French than the liv ing Lafayette. It is indeed, perhaps, the dead Napoleon, which pleases me most in Napoleon, for if he were living, I should think it my duty to nssist in opposing him. Nobody, out of France, can imagine how much the French peo ple still are attached to Napoleon. Conse * Nothing can show butter than this sentence the char after islic contrast between Napoleon and Lufnyette the lightning-like and deep catcnlution of the one, nnd the unshaken moral constancy of the other. It it not pre tended that one had not twice the genius of tiro other, but it shows that a heart in the right place is proof against, and a match for, the subtlest ingenuity. Look at the re sult too —finis coronal opus—what proves bettor the rela tive triumphant position of the two men, than the fact that Lafayette runted the abdication of Napoleon, who, however, as Lafayette says, by a most unacrnnntal>'e and impenetrable singularity of character, gave it in tenth a tnMe: like his prototype Sylla, who. in the words of j Byron, “ did lay down I With an atoning smile, a more than mortal crown.” NO. 12.