Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1873-11-11
Rev DR. Munsey's Defence His Letter to
DR. Summers, as Read before Holston
Cnnfarence

Rev III. III unSey Uefonce-dlS LeCCer u
| DR. Summers, as Read before Holstor
| Conference.
| We publish below the material portion of the
| letter of defence and explanation from Rev. W
! E Munsey, which was read before the Holster
| Conference at it's late session 10 Marion, Va
| Dear DR.. Summers is published from
one end of this country to the other that [ ust
stimulating spirits too freely. Their use | have
entirely abandoned, preferring to be sick, Of
dead, than to lay myself liable any longer tt
such complaints. | used them by medical aDC
otherwise respectable advisement. Their use
saved my life.
I was poor boy, and had to support. single
handed, for many years, mother and five chill
dren. did it most Of the time by manual Ia
Dor, as hireling. | had little time to go to
school-three months will comprise all the time
which was of any profit to me- Then | had to
walk several miles to the school house, after
cutting. and often carrying upon my shoulders
from neighborlng ridge enough wood to sup
ply the necessities of the family for winter
day-returnipg at night, doing my work, and
learning my lessons by the light of pine-knots
and chips. In the meantime God regenerated
me, and six years afterward-c called of God to
preach-I started. without an education, to my
first and only circuit, three hundred and forty
miles away, on foot, with but So in my pocket.
[ was furnished some money by the Rev. A G..
Worley, of the Holston Conference (God bless
him J to enable me to get to my work. But
had to deny myself the privilege of eating, save
once, from Bristol, Tenn, to Charleston, Tenn,
and seventy-Gve miles of the road was then
travelled by the stage.
Thus | started to preach-studying every
where, and under all circumstances, and some
paorlu oil rY0h to trvo nd ms oka unucoH
an approved workman Ny record in the Hols-
ton Conference is well known.
In 1866 I was sent by Bishop Early to Alex
andria, Va. Always having feeble, nervous
constitution. and never finching in my life from
the post of duty and danger, my health rapidly
began to give way. Exhorted to use stlmulants,
| refused. During the eighteen months l was
stationed in Alexandria tasted ardent spirits
but few times, and then only in cases of real
illness-never as beverage never took but
one drink as a mere beverage In my life, and
that was when a boy, At the end of my term
in Alexandria ought to have located for one
year, but had horror of such step. L was
then removed By Bishop Doggett to Baltimore
city. Baltimore was our frontier work. The
membership was small | had to make my
own congregation. With such an inspiration
gathered up all my feeble powers and did my
best, in the meantime helping other charges all
[ could. NV efforts to preach at this time,
were succeeded by kind of convulsive vomit
and this often followed by severe attack of
cramp collie. which at several times threatened
my life [ was told by friends-and among
them the late DR.. Thomas E. Bond, NJ. D.. and
President of the Medical University of Mary
land-to use small portion of whiskey or
brandy after preaching, and it would prevent
the vomiting. [ had to do it or give up my
station and stop preaching. L tried it, and it
effected a cure, and counteracted, after time,
the tendency to collie. The amount used was
small The first summer [ was In Baltimore |
was Threatened with paralysis; my health seem
ed to give way almost entirely, and [ was re-
leased from my work for nearly four months.
[ recon meuced my work 10 October; but, to
fill the pulpit, had to give up, in great degree
pastoral visiting The state of my health caus-
ed me to accept the position Of Secretary of the
Board of Foreign Missions, During that sum
mer was threatened with another attack, and
lost about three months from my work bat af-
ter that my health. for the first time, began to
recuperate 10 such a way that [ thought
would have no more trouble and If l had not
been put back into the regular work for year
more would not have been ineffective, as
have been now for twelve months
Our troubles in Baltimore in 1872 kept me
aG Ely GUSi GIEIE& tu0 outu til thCIC.
[ stayed, not because was able to do the whole
work, but to prevent demoralizatiop. | had
to use stimuants or desert my post. La addi-
ton to my threatened attack Of paralysis Har-
vey G.. Byrd, M. d., of Baltimore, being one
of the physicians who made the diagnosis,) |
have suffered horribly with neuralgia. My brain
would not bear oplates; again L had to use
whiskey or brandy. | ceased awhile last Feb
ruary, but was compelled to resume their use
for awhile. [ always used them against my
will and one great purpose of my coming to
the country was to get my nerves gradually re-
laxed from the tension of twenty-five years, so
| could live without stimulant. | was max
ing battle for life, and in me it was no sin,
hence | never concealed it, My intense horror
of paralysis may have caused me to exaggerate
my danger it threw gloom over my soul, and
the year to me has been one of darkness
though | could feel the strong hand of God
leading me through the shadows 'But He
knoweth the way that [ take: when He hath
tried me. shall come forth as gold" [ could
have spared leg, an arm, or even an eye, but
my fault lay not in them God touched the
point of my ambition, and will abide his time
He performeth the thing that is appointed
for me, and many such things are with him. "
[ never dreamed that | could and would be
misunderstood. and traduced as a common
drunkard, or that any of my brethren would
ever have believed it. But, neuralgia or no
neuralgia. paralysis or no paralysis, 1 hare
abandoned sts use, an dny quantity and an all
circumstances eccept the most ertraordlndry-
1. e., it must be matter of immediate life and
death, and never in the sense of tonic, or to
relieve pain, or in any continuous sense what
ever. 1t would be we'll for all to come under
God, after careful thought, to the same con-
clusion In the end all stimulants are great
physical and moral curses When [ am able
to work without s;imulant, will work when
I am not, l will rest sacrificed my to emer-
gencies, without having the power in all in
stances to meet them. ought to have taken
the advice of friends, and have gone to places
where [ would have had less responsibility and
better support.
Not being able to take work at the last ses-
sion of the Baltimore Conference, and being too
young a man to take superannuated relation
and supernumerary relation would have
left upon me some measure of responsibility
which | wished to avoid located, and wept
like a child when the appointments were read.
| will be in the regular itinerancy when God
gives me strength to meet fully its responsible
ties My health is now better.
Your brother,
w. E. MUNEsY.
Jonesboro, Tenn., Oct. II, 1873
Daniel Webster says: sit is only shallow
minded pretenders who either make distin-
guished origin matter of personal merit or OBJ
co,ro or;o; ~ a rno-tar of parsonal renrOach -