“In contemplating such a scene as this, how the heart saddens and sickens to know that humble and devoted ministers of the cross are put to death for no other cause than that of being ministers of the M. E. Church, South. Is it because that Church has been, and still is, in the way of those who profess to have all the piety, loyalty and religion in the land, that its members and ministers are specially denounced, proscribed and persecuted, and are the marks of special vengeance for every gang of raiding soldiers that chance to come into Missouri?

“I am credibly informed that the deceased had never taken any part in the excitement growing out of the war up to that time; that he had never mentioned politics in the pulpit, and had never left home on account of the troubles during all the dark days of ’61 and ’62.

“Rev. Green Woods was a native of Missouri, and through many portions of Southern and Southeastern Missouri will he be remembered, as his powerful and eloquent voice echoed and died away upon the gently murmuring breezes of his native hills and vales in calling sinners to repentance. But he now sleeps the long sleep of death. That clarion voice is now silent, and will no more be heard on earth proclaiming the good news and glad tidings of salvation which shall be unto all people. But we close, and drop a silent tear to his memory; knowing that He who holdeth the earth in the hollow of his hand, and who numbereth the very hairs of our heads, doeth all things well.

“We have good reason to believe that the religion he so long and faithfully preached to others sustained him in the last trying hour; and in the great day, when all mankind shall stand forth to be judged according to the deeds done in the body, many will rise up and call him blessed.

R.”

Thus passed away, by the hand of violence, one of the excellent of the earth, “of whom the world was not worthy.” A faithful witness for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, having committed no offense against the laws of God or man, he fell a martyr to the truth; gave his life for a principle and a cause, and offered himself upon the service and sacrifice of his chosen Church, and the faith she vindicates in his death, and ascended the thrones of martyrdom, to await, with the martyrs of all ages, the final and glorious triumph of the Kingdom of Messiah, in whose service he counted not his life dear unto himself. It is a grand thought that Infinite Goodness and Power has ordained that “Christ must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” “Then cometh the end.” “Even so: come Lord Jesus.”

CHAPTER XX.
REVS. A. MONROE, W. M. RUSH, NATHANIEL WOLLARD.

Rev. A. Monroe, the Patriarch of Missouri Methodism—Age, Honor and Sanctity not Exempt from Profanation—Mr. Monroe and his Wife Arrested in Fayette—Mrs. Monroe’s Trials and Witty Retorts—How Mr. Monroe Escaped the Bond—Robbed of Everything by Kansas Soldiers in 1864—An Old Man Without his Mittens—A Tower of Strength—“Our Moses”—Calls the Palmyra Convention—Rev. W. M. Rush—The Character of Missouri Preachers—A Native Missourian—Settles in Chillicothe—In St. Joseph the First Year of the War—Caution in Public Worship—An Offensive Prayer by Rev. W. C. Toole—General Loan Closes the Church and Deposes Mr. Rush from the Ministry by Military Order—General W. P. Hall vs. Mr. Rush—Hall Publishes a Letter that Denies Mr. Rush Protection, and Exposes him to Assassination—Mr. Rush Returns to Chillicothe—His House a Stable and his Home a Desolation—Bold Attempt to Assassinate him—Correspondence with General Hall—Goes to St. Louis—Masonic Endorsement—In Charge of the Mound Church—Will Hear of Him Again—Rev. Nathaniel Wollard Murdered in Dallas County—Horrible Details—Particulars—Reflections.

Rev. Andrew Monroe.

Even this venerable and honored servant of God—now the Patriarch of Missouri Methodism—was not exempt from trials and troubles during the late war. If a venerable form, erect and majestic; grey locks, long and flowing; lofty mien, benign and saintly; a pure life, long and useful; an honored name, associated with the history of the good and pure in the State; saintly beneficence, sanctified to the highest purposes of the gospel, and a meek and quiet spirit diffused through the toil, and suffering, and labor, and triumphs of half a century in the ministry could disarm malice, awe the passions into reverence, break the force of prejudice and shield the person and property, the home and happiness, the liberty and life from vicious violation and petty profanation, then Andrew Monroe had lived in peace unmolested, and his humble house, a freeman’s sacred castle, been secure from the tread of vandalism and the hand of plunder. But no altar was too sacred, no home too pure, no name too greatly reverenced and no life too pure and holy to deter the invader or wither the sacrilegious hand of the spoiler. Meanness was not an incident of the war, and sacrilege was not confined to Mexican guerrillas. Men are naturally mean, and depravity is a fact of human nature. Nor did the war make thieves, and robbers, and murderers, and highwaymen; they were such before, the occasion only was wanting. The sunbeam does not create, it only reveals the motes in the atmosphere. The war furnished the occasion and unveiled the meanness of men; the pure gospel ministry rebuked it, and, naturally enough, provoked its malice and became its victim. Even Andrew Monroe, the noble old Roman, could not escape.