CHAPTER V.

REMINISCENCES OF THE REFORMATION OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

AKE them all in all, and the nineteenth cen

tury has not seen the equals of B. W. Stone and A. Campbell. They had their superiors in certain directions. John T. Johnson possessed more zeal than either of them. Raccoon John Smith was their superior in wit; and in the forum, at Beard's hatters shop, or at Dobson's cross roads; and in my judgment, Moses E. Lard surpassed either in passionate and pathetic appeals to the mass, and was the peer of either, in logical eloquence and the power of concentration; while Samuel K. Houshour excelled either of them as a linguist, not merely in a knowledge of Hebrew, Greek,or Latin, but in his familiarity with many languages. Yet, take them up one side and down the other, and they stood head and shoulders above other men.

From Campbell's debate with Owen, in 1828, until lone after his debate with Rice, in 1843, he

stands like the great Egyptian pyramid. His vast reservoir of knowledge is perfectly wonderful. He was a giant at every point of the compass. When we look back through the ages that have passed and gone, and see that every century has been noted for God raising up in it to accomplish some great object, a pair of men adapted to the work, as in the sixteenth century he raised up Luther and Calvin; in the seventeenth century, John Locke and John Milton; in the eighteenth century, George Whitfield and John Wesley. As a greater reformation was to be set in motion in the nineteenth century, larger material appeared in B. W. Stone and A. Campbell. Yet they, like all other men, had their vulnerable points. The gospel does not change men's dispositions, but only turns their talent into other channels; the brave man remains brave, the timid man remains timid, the cheerful man that looks at the bright side of everything, carries his sunshine into the church, while the sedate man carries his seriousness along with him. Stone's weakness was in this channel; he was too much inclined to be sad, too timid. He lacked combativeness; this gave his mind a gloomy cast. Apprehensive of the future,

he possessed working faith, was a Greek and Latin scholar, and was one of the humblest and purest men living, yet he ever saw clouds in the horizon. This natural tendency of his mind, rendered him more or less unhappy, and destroyed that cheerfulness that belonged naturally to Brother A. Campbell. It would have been as refreshing as a July shower, to have heard Brother Stone give a hearty, school-boy laugh. In this respect Campbell excelled him, for he was brimfull of life and cheerfulness. He inspired everyone about him, and impressed you with your good qualities. He seemed not to have a shadow of a doubt about his future destiny, and if you were a Christian, his bright face and encouraging words would be inclined to inspire you with a like faith. His whole thoughts seemed to be monopolized with the means to accomplish good, but in this, Stone was not inferior to him. Brother C's. weakness was in his ambition; he could not brook the idea of having a rival; he would rather have been the first man in a village, than the second man in a city. He was not in the habit of telling anecdotes, yet he inherited Irish wit and a love for wit, and could take a good laugh over a good anecdote.

Brother C. was very regular in his habits; he gave himself eight hours for sleep; he retired at ten, and arose at six. He read a lesson in the New Testament and commented on it before prayer in the morning, and after prayer, a lesson in the Old Testament. He had prayer at night, but no family. reading. In the morning lesson, each of his family read a verse in turn. When at home on Lord's day he always preached, but was necessarily away much of the time during Lord's days, and most of the time during vacation. In preaching at home he usually read a lesson from the Old Testament, from the Psalms or the Prophets, as an introductory lesson, and made comments upon it, and then usually took a subject for his discourse, from the New Testament. He was always cheerful and met you with a smile and a hearty greeting. He was always ready in conversation, and always instructive. When he indulged in an anecdote to illustrate his subject, it was related in a happy He has been represented as a moneylover, as covetous;-it is a slander; he was a stranger to it. In the latter part of his life, he had too much mental work to do, and frequently did not take his allotted hours for rest and sleep, es

manner.

pecially during the sessions of the college; as a result, he died too soon. His mental faculties gave way from over-work; with his constitution, he ought to have lived to be ninety-five or a hundred years old. His father lived to be ninety-one; Alexander ought to have lived ten years longer. His invariable custom was to contribute one dollar when the basket passed around for the regular Sunday collection. During his entire life he never received any pay for his preaching except his travelling expenses.

Although he received large sums of money, it was invariably and conscientiously turned over to the college or the missionary society. He gave his life to the church and college, without pay. Do you ask? how then did he become rich? partly by the rise in property. He bought a large body of land when it cost but little; it rapidly enhanced in value; and from money that he had wisely invested, that he had obtained from his publications, and from his sheep-he kept a large band of sheep.

One day while in conversation about the college, he said that he intended to leave to the college, twenty thousand dollars, in addition to what he