Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1873-11-07

The extraordinary statements regarding
the life of Rev. VIM. E. Munsey the Meth
odist minister so famous in Virginia for
his eloquence, have brought from him long
letter of defence which was read before the
Holston Conference a few days since. 1t
contains full denial of the charges Of
drunkness and profanity made against him
and in it he also takes the opportunity to
60 into review of the charges Of immoral
conduct which were raised against him and
dismissed by the Baltimore Conference
The letter is addressed to Rev. DR.. Summers
the editor of the Nashville Christian Ad-
vocate, and we publish it in full in justice
to it's author:
Dear Dr. S,t,nnlers:-It is published from
one end of this country to the other that
use stimulating spirits TOO freely. Their
use / have entirely abandoned, preterrlng
to be sick, OF dead, than to lay myself liable
any longer to such complaints. used them
by medical and otherwise respectable ad-
visement. Their use saved my life. was
A POOR BOY
and had to support single-handed, for many
wears, mother and five children. l did it
most of the time by manual labor, as a
hireling. I had little time to 60 to school.
Three months will comprise all the time
which was of any profit to, me. Then l
had to walk several miles to the school
house. after cutting and carrying upon my
shoulder from neighboring ridge, wood
enough to supply the necessities OF the
family for winter day-returning 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-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 Rev. A.
G. Morley, of the Holston Conference,
work. But had to deny myself the priv
ilege Of eating, save once, from Bristol,
Tenn, to Charleston, Tenn, and seventy
five miles Of he road was Travelled by the
STAGE Thus | started to preach, studying
everywhere and under all circumstances
sometimes nearly all night, to try and make
myself an approved workman. My record
in the Holston Conference is well-known.
In 1866 l was sent by Bishop Early to AL
exandria Va. Always having a feeble,
nervous constitution, and never fiinchlng
in my life from the post of duty and dam
ger, my health rapidly began to give way.
Exhorted to use stimulants. | refused.
During the eighteen months | was stationed
in Alexandria, 1 tasted ardent spirits but a
few times, and then only in cases of real
illness-never as beverage
1 NEVER TOOK BUT ONE DRINK AS A MERE
BEVERAGE IN MY LIFE
and that was when | was a boy.-At the
end of my term in Alexandria, ought to
have located for one year, but had hor-
ror of such step. was then removed by
Bishop Doggett. to Baltimore city. Balti-
more was our frontier work. The men,
bership 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 I could Ny efforts to preach
at this time, were succeeded by kind of
convulsive vomit, and this often followed
by a severe attack of cramp collie, which
several times threatened my life. l was
told by my friends, and among them the
late Dr. Thos. E. Bond, IN. d. and Presi-
dent of the Medical University of Md to
Use small portion of whiskey or brandy
after preaching, and it would prevent the
vomiting | had to do it or give up the
station and stop preaching. I tried it and
it effected cure and cOuntervailed, after
time, the tendency to collie. The amount
used was small The first summer l was
| in Baltimore | was threatened with para.
| lysis my
HEALTH SEEMED TO GIVE WAY ALMOST
| ENTIRELY,
|
and | was released from my work for near
| four months | recommended my work in
October, but to fill the pulpit had to give
up in great degree pastoral visiting. The
safe of my health caused me to accept the
position of Secretary of the Board of
Foreign Missions. During that summer l
was threatened with another attack, and
lost about three months from my work
but after that my health, for the first time
began to recuperate in such a way that
thought | would have no more trouble
and if | had not been put back into regular
work for a year or more, l would not have
been ineffective, as | have been now for
twelve months, Our troubles in Baltimore
in 1872 kept me at my post during the sum-
mer, till fell there. Istayed, not because
| was able to do the whole work; but to
prevent decentralization. I had to use
stimulant, or desert my post. In addition
to my threatened attack OF paralysis liar.
Wy G. Bird, M. D. of Baltimore being one
have suffered horribly with neuralgia.
My brain would not bear opiates.
AGAIN HAD TO USE WHISKEY
OF brandy Ceased awhile last February
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 grad
ually relaxed from the tension of twenty
five years, so that l could live without a
stimulant. | was making a battle for life,
and in me it was no Sin-hence [ never
concealed it. My intense horror of paral-
ysis may have caused me, in my mind, to
eXaggerate my danger. 1t threw a gloom
over my soul and the year to me has been
one of darkness though I 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
q leg, an arm, Oh even an eye, but my
fault lay not in them. God touched the
point of ambition, and | will abide his
time. ''IIe 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 common drunkard, or that
any of my brethren would ever have be-
lieved it. But neuralgia or no neuralgia
paralysis or ao paralysis, l haze abandoned
stances. except the most extraordinary i. e..
it must be matter of immediate life and
death, and never in the sense of tonic,
OF to relieve pain, or in any continuous
sense whatever. 1t would be well for all
to come under God, after careful thought,
to the same conclusion, In the end,