Elder Edwards went to spend the night with the class leader, while I attended a meeting with the friends who had invited me home with them. I had a good time. Of their own accord they made up a collection of a few dollars as a token of their regard for me. I was to meet Elder Edwards at the house of my friend who took us in at midnight from the storm, an hour before sun; but he did not put in an appearance for an hour after. When he got within talking distance I saw by his features that he had been roughly dealt with. His first words were:
"He is the wickedest old man that I ever met with, and, if he don't repent, God will curse him."
That was enough, and I began to laugh. I conceived what he had to encounter the long night before. He said:
"If the Lord will forgive me for going this time, I will never go again unless you are along." I said to him:
"Brother Frank, experience teaches a dear school, yet fools will not learn at any other. I knew what treatment you would receive, and refused to go. If you had been a wise man you would have taken the hint and kept away from him."
We made our way through to Overton County, Tennessee. Here I advised my friend Edwards to return to Nauvoo, and gave him money to pay his fare on a steamer, for he was not cut out for a preacher.
At Carlisle, the county seat of Overton County, I met with a young man, an elder, by the name of Dwight Webster. Though but little experienced, yet he was a man of steady habits and an agreeable companion. We held a number of meetings in this part of the country. Brother Webster and I baptized several persons, and made a true friend of a wealthy merchant, named Armstrong, who welcomed us to his house and placed us under his protection. He also owned a large establishment in Louisville, Kentucky. He was an infidel, though an honorable gentleman. His wife Nancy, and her sister Sarah, were both baptized.
While here I received a letter from Brother James Pace, one of my near neighbors in Nauvoo, requesting me to visit his brother, William Pace, and his relatives in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Elder A. O. Smoot and Dr. David Lewis succeeded us in this county, and in Jackson County, Tennessee, and added many to those whom we had already baptized.
Brother Webster and I made our way through to Stone River, preaching by the way, as opportunity occurred. Here I handed my letter of introduction to William Pace, brother of my neighbor, James Pace, who received us kindly and procured us the liberty of holding forth in the Campbellite chapel.
Here we were informed that the Campbellite preachers were heavy on debate; that none of the other sects could stand before them, and that no one dare meet them in public or private discussion. I replied that my trust was in God, that the message I had to bear was from Heaven; that if it would not bear the scrutiny of man I did not want to stand by it; but if it was of God He would not suffer His servants to be confounded.