The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1879-01-02
How We Used to Do It.

Forty-fiv years aso Christian Churches
in Southern Oiio were few and far be-
tween, and, Ministers were fewer STILL
Most ofsshe territory of Meigs, Gallia,
Lawsence Pike and jackson, was an un-
broken forest.
There was one Presbyterian Church at
Chester, and one at Rutland, Meigs Co.,
one at Gallipolis, one at Burlington, one
at Portsmouth, and one at Piketon. Be-
sides these, there were two small organi-
cations, one at Wilkesville, and one in
Huntington township, Gallia county
There were also a few Methodist and
| Baptist Churches scattered over these
Counties There was meeting house at
Chester, Rutland, Gallipolis and Ports
mouth, besides some small Methodist and
| Baptist houses.
l received a commission from the
American Home Missionary Society, dat
ed July 10. 1882, to labor at Wilkesville
and Huntington township, II miles dis
tant. I preached at these two points,
and the region round about for three
years During these years we had sever
al precious revivals; sinners were con-
verted, and at almost every communion
season some were added to the Church,
all by profession of their faith seldom
any by letter During the second year,
the men of Huntington congregation
took their axes, went into the woods, cut
down and hewed the logs for meeting
house, took their teams and hauled them
to the spot. One of the Elders of the
Church (now gone to his reward in heav-
en) hewed every stick. They then made
the shingles, then took logs to the saw
mill, owned by one of the members, and
sawed the plank for the floor, seats and
ceiling. These all they worked up them
selves, put in the windows, built the pull
pit, and in three months the house was
done, "for the people had mind to
work" 1t was in the woods and my de-
parted wife named it The Forest Sanctu
ary All the money expended was for
glass and nails
"You bet," they were 4oroud-ef their house!
That's the way we used to do it.
In the meantime the people in Wilkes
vile had the frame of a meeting house
up, and there the work stopped. l got
on my horse, rode to Charleston. West
Virginia, IS miles, told some of my
friends there, needed some money to
help build church. They gave me 500,
and 1 returned, gone six days, four of
them spent in travel, was again at my
Sabbath appointment, and where did you
make your sermon? why, all along the
road, of course certainly a sermon sew
enty-fve miles long, is long enough. But
long as it was, it was wound up into
about As minutes With the help thus
obtained, they enclosed the house, and
laid the floor, leaving the workbench for
a pulpit. At the end of three years the
house was finished, and the Church num-
bered As, and the Huntington Church
about go members. During my labors at
Wilkesville, among other outposts, had
occasionally visited small settlement on
Little Raccoon Creek, about equi- distant
from Wilkesville and Jackson. This, ul-
timately, opened the way for my first
visit to that village. Our meetings there
were held at the residence of Mr.. John
Nickors, near the present site of Buckeye
Furnace I once held meeting several
days in the woods, on the very ground
on which the Furnace stands. A number
of conversions had occurred in that neigh
borhood, and several of them had joined
the Church at Wilkesville. They deslr-
ed to have the Lords supper administer
ed to them. Accordingly, 1 told them
to build an arbour in front of the house,
and / would come, at such time, and
administer the sacrament, and receive
any that desired to join the Church.
therefore procured flask of wine, put II
into my saddle-bags with my Bible and
hymn books, took Elder John Strong
with me and went. The weather was
delightful. The seats were filled on Sat
urday and Sabbath. The presence and
power of the Holy Spirit were manifest
by the tears, both of holy joy and peni,
tential sorrow, which moistened many a
sunburnt face. If the desert did not
blossom as the rose, surely "the wilder
ness and the solitary place were made
glad" and trust there was joy in the
presence of the angels of God over more
than one sinner that repented. Old
Father Nickols and his wife were like the
aged Simeon when he said: "Now lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace, for
mine eyes have seen thy salvation" for
their children were nearly all converted
such meetings are forgotten never.
Not long after this l was preaching
some mile or two above that place, q for
get where and why) and after service,
two young men from Jackson, having
some way heard that Presbyterian
minister, after the manner of John the
Baptist, was preaching ia the wilderness,
came and introduced themselves to me.
The name of one was Hughes, young