I had an appointment in a Methodist meeting-house in Washington; and while the congregation was assembling, the pastor of the church told us we could not occupy the house; such abominable sentiments should not be promulgated in the Methodist meeting-house. I told the congregation, as we were not allowed to occupy the Methodist house, we would adjourn to the house of the Lord—a beautiful grove. This being an unexpected reply, and part of the congregation being rather pleased, the preacher good-naturedly said I might say what I pleased in the Methodist house. Visited many places where I had before spoken, and reached Chicago, August, 1840, where I preached three Sabbaths, and then proceeded to Joliet. Lectured there three times. We have now a society in that place, and a splendid meeting-house. Aaron Kinney then resided in Joliet, and preached there and in the region round about. He subsequently moved to Farmington, Ill., where he and his wife died. He was one of the first ministers of our faith in Illinois, and he labored under many disadvantages. Liberal Christians were few in number, for the country was thinly populated, and he consequently was poorly supported. But he persevered in the good work till death closed his labors. Delivered one discourse in Peru, but did not find a soul that sympathized with me. The congregation was large, but all seemed to be afraid of me. I was informed of a friend, who resided a few miles below on the canal, which was then being excavated. Spent one night with him; and although he seemed to be a good kind of a man, he lived like a hog. The bill of fare for the night was, 1st, A hot night; 2d, A dirty bed; 3d, An army of bed-bugs; 4th, Ditto, fleas; 5th, Ditto, musquitoes. I was glad to leave the dirty hole. Reached Magnolia in the night; and after being refused lodging at half of the houses in the village, a poor drunken man took me in. He treated me to the best his cabin afforded, which was poor enough. Found some friends the next day, and delivered several discourses before I left town. A preacher could not let me pass without a hit.
“If this man,” said he, “is correct, he is a fool for traveling about this new country preaching. If I believed as he does, I would never preach again.”
“My friend,” I replied, “I preach the truth. 1st, Because it is the truth; 2d, Because I love the truth; 3d, Because truth benefits man. But you seem to have more regard for party than for truth. Anything that is not found there you care nothing about, let it be ever so valuable. You need to be baptized with the spirit of truth, for you have been baptized only with the spirit of some party. Jesus, whom you profess to follow, but really run away from, was an ardent lover of the truth. He toiled, bled and died for the truth. He cared nothing about party, but he was as true to the truth as the needle is to the pole. He never varied from it one iota in the darkest hour of his life. When I hear men talk as you have to-day, I know that they know nothing of the spirit of Christ.”
Lectured in Hennipen several times. Dr. Pulsifer had recently moved there from the East, and took much interest in getting up the meetings. Have often been there since, and always found him to be a faithful friend. I met here several families which had formerly resided in the East, and were there regular attendants at the sanctuary, but had not heard a discourse on the Restitution for several years; and it made their hearts leap with joy to attend a meeting of their choice. “Thank God,” said one lady, “for the blessed privilege of hearing the gospel of our salvation once more, before I go hence. The Lord be with you; and may you long live to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ to fallen, sinful man.”
During this year was the noted presidential campaign, when General Harrison and Martin Van Buren were candidates for the White House, and the whole country was in an uproar. The air was vocal with “Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” and log cabins, and cider barrels were moving in all directions at the beat of the drum. The Democrats disdained such humbuggery, and lost the day, but after that they were not a whit behind the Whigs in all sorts of tomfoolery. Whisky, beer, and such senseless exhibitions, often command more votes than a just cause. This is a lamentable and humiliating fact, and the evil will continue till intelligence and virtue are the ruling spirits of the land. Meeting a boy eight or ten years old in the road one day, he cried, “Hurrah for Harrison.” Wanting some amusement, I said, “You rascally tory!” “Well, then,” said he, as quick as lightning, and jumping from the ground, “hurrah for Dick Johnson and his black ones.” That was a poser for a Democrat, for Richard M. Johnson, who was the candidate for the Vice Presidency on the Democratic ticket, was the father of several darkies. If that boy is living, he is doubtless now one of our stump orators. I made no reply to the little politician, but left him alone in his glory.
Lectured in Washington. A preacher delivered a discourse against the Great Salvation. His chief argument was based on what he termed “the justice of God.” The justice of God requires the endless punishment of the wicked. Some of my remarks in reply were as follows: What the preacher calls justice is injustice, is malignity, dark, cruel, infernal malignity. Because frail, finite man, worm of the dust, steps aside from the line of duty, and thereby harms himself, and no one else, the Creator of heaven and earth must pounce upon him with the wrath and vengeance of a thousand tigers, and pursue him from the cradle to the grave, from the grave to the resurrection, from the resurrection to the infernal regions, and there commission the devil and all his crew to keep up the chase through the length and depth of hell forever and ever. Why, justice would turn pale at such injustice. But to make out that such cruelty is pure justice, the preacher said that man violates an infinite law, and therefore justly merits everlasting hell-torments. Then the transgression of any law of God deserves endless woe. Breaking a bone, cutting the flesh, eating improper food, are violations of God’s laws, and according to the preacher, richly deserve ceaseless punishment. A child or a man steals a pin; that is a violation of the divine law, and both merit eternal suffering. If disobeying of God’s law merits infinite punishment, then obeying of it merits infinite happiness. What then becomes of the Bible doctrine that “eternal life is the GIFT of God?” Rom. vi. 23. If the gentleman is correct, there are no degrees in crime, guilt or punishment. There cannot be if every infringement of God’s law is an infinite offense. He who steals a pin, and he who murders a man, commit crimes of equal magnitude, and both are equally guilty, and deserve equal punishment. If one sin merits infinite punishment, ten thousand sins can merit no more, and God will punish a man for one sin just as long as he will for a million of sins. All mankind sin, and therefore all mankind deserve endless punishment. Who then can be saved, if the preacher is right? But, said he, Jesus has made an atonement for the sins of the world, has satisfied divine justice, and sinners can escape the penalty due their crimes. How is that? The justice of God satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ? Did Jesus suffer the penalty man merits? Did he suffer infinite misery, the few hours he was on the cross? Did he suffer all the pain that all mankind deserve for breaking the law? The preacher must reply, yes. If Jesus satisfied justice for the “sins of the whole world, original and actual,” as his creed—the Methodist creed—asserts, then will not all be saved? Is not God bound to save all for whom Christ made an atonement? If the gentleman is correct—if the law is infinite, if the penalty is infinite, if all deserve endless hell-torments, and if Jesus has made “an atonement, a perfect satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, original and actual,” all are bound to escape, and reach heaven.
But let the law of God be infinite or finite, man’s guilt is in proportion to his knowledge of right and wrong. An idiot may kill a man, but he is not guilty, for he knows no better. An intelligent person would be deeply guilty for such a deed. Our guilt, then, and the punishment we merit, are in exact ratio with our knowledge of right and wrong. These facts upset the preacher’s whole theory of infinite sin and punishment. Justice does not require so much pain for so much sin. To demand that would be vengeance, retaliation, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, just what Jesus condemns. Exercising justice is giving all parties their due—restoring the equilibrium, making the crooked straight, the rough smooth, causing all flesh to see the salvation of God. It is not destruction, but restoration; it does not hurl men from God, but draws them to him; it consigns us not to hell, but exalts us to heaven. This view of justice harmonizes with the mercy and goodness of God, and refutes the line of the poet, that
“A God all mercy is a God unjust.”
Lectured in Pekin three times. We have now a good society and meeting-house in this place. It was then a small village, now it is a large town. Proceeded to Tremont, where I spent several days, and lectured four times. At a subsequent visit to this place, I had an appointment in Washington, twelve miles north, on a cold December Sunday morning. The thermometer was below zero, the snow deep, and the wind blowing hard from the north. Started on horseback, and was soon very cold. I walked, ran, kicked, and thrashed my arms, but this exercise fatigued me, and I remounted my horse, and soon became very comfortable, and congratulated myself that I should get through without further trouble. A hole being in one of my gloves, I noticed that one of my fingers looked rather pale, and I was not long in discovering that I was actually freezing. It was then two miles to a house, and when I reached it I hesitated about stopping, I felt so comfortable. I finally went into the house, and soon found that my fingers, ears, nose, and face were badly frozen. Remained there till the next day, but if I had not stopped, I should probably have frozen to death, as it was several miles to a house, and across an open prairie.
Spoke again in Washington. The preacher I replied to a few days before, was still howling about the abominations of Universalism, but I said no more to him. Went to Bloomington, preached three times, and got into a controversy. The preacher was a strong believer in water baptism—contended that there was no salvation without it. I told him that his creed damned nearly all mankind; that a person might love God and his fellow men, like John, believe the whole gospel, like Paul, repent of his sins, like Peter, but unless he was immersed in water, in the name of Christ, he would be lost forever; if he was correct, heaven would be almost empty, hell crowded; Christ redeem but a small portion of mankind, while the devil would be crowned with nearly all. The wise and benevolent Author of our being bases salvation on principles, not on rites—not on going into water, eating wafers, drinking wine, or offering incense. Love is the fulfilling of the law. God is love, his will is love, his power is love, his spirit is love, his work is love, his law is love, his gospel is love, and our whole duty is included in love to God, and love to man. The great need of the world is, more love, and less show and profession; more purity of the heart, and less washing of the hands; more soul religion, and less materialistic religion.