18 BIOGRAPHY OF
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strained us to tarry with him, and said you must preach — |for us next Sabbath at the Presbyterian meeting house, : |not far distant. We both refused ; but at length con- |sented that he might make an appointment for worship,and we would attend and worship with them. . On Lord’s-day a large congregation met at Grimes’smeeting house, on Reed creek. With great difficulty Iwas prevailed on to ascend the pulpit. While singing 7and praying, my mind was happily relieved, and I was |enabled to speak with boldness, and with profit to thepeople. I was pressingly solicited for another appoint-ment. This congregation, and several more in thecounty, (Wythe, Va.,) were all entirely destitute ofpreaching. I prevailed on my companion to tarry an-other week, and afterwards we would push forward, weknew not where. I made several appointments for theensuing week, one at Smith’s meeting house, near Sam-uel Ewen’s—an Israelite in whom was no guile—an-other at Col. Austin’s, the proprietor of the lead mineson New River. The urgent and affectionate entreatiesof the people for me to abide with them for a while,prevailed, and I made a number of appointments. Mycompanion determined to leave me, journeying to theWest. On May 23, 1796, he left me. The separationwas painful, nor did we know where or when we shouldever meet in this world. * | I continued in Wythe and Montgomery counties,preaching frequently, till July. The people were atten-tive, kind, and liberal, yet I greatly desired to go for-ward to the West, and bade them farewell, never ex-pecting to visit them again. That night, according toa previous promise, I lodged with Mr. Stonger, aDutch Lutheran minister. I was kindly received andentertained. I find in my journal, written at that time,these Latin words: Nocte pulices me deturbant, etsomnum fugant. Scedet me vite. The next day I journeyed forward, and at night cameto Mr. Thomas’s, on South Holstein. I had imquiredinto the character of the family before I came there. I a a BARTON W. STONE. i9 was informed that they were a very religious family ofBaptists—that the old lady and daughter were veryzealous. My horse being put away, I went into thehouse and sat down in silence. ‘The old lady anddaughter were busily spinning, and the old gentlemanin conversation with another aged man. One of themobserved to the other that a discovery had been latelymade, that if the logs of a house be cut in the fullmoon of February, a bed-bug would never molest thathouse. Iwas so well pleased with the idea of unhous-ing these filthy, hateful vermin, that I broke silence,and felicitated the country on this happy discovery. Ithen asked whether any discovery had been made forbanishing fleas from a house. I was answered in thenegative. ‘That isa pity, said I; for I have heard ofsuch a place as hell; but if hell be worse than to be.bedded with ten thousand fleas, it must be a dreadfulplace. This, as I intended, roused the mother anddaughter. Yes, said the old lady, there is a hell, andif you do not repent, and be converted, you will find itto your eternal sorrow. ‘The daughter zealously sanc-tioned these awful declarations, and both of them af-fectionately exhorted me to repentance in many words.For some minutes they gave me no opportunity to re-spond. At length, I smilingly said, you are Christians,I suppose ; Christianity may be a good thing, but, mad-am, there are strange things in that system, hard to beunderstood. I heard a man lately preach, that a manmust be born again before he could get to heaven ;now, do you believe this? Yes, I do, said she, callingme an ignorant Nicodemus. Do, madam, tell me whatit is to be born again. She described it well, and re-ally felt for my supposed condition. I stated manycommon cavils against the doctrine, which she answer-ed with intelligence. Wearied with my supposed in-fidelity, she ceased to talk. The old man took a candle,and invited me to bed. I observed to him, I wish tohear you pray first, for Christians always pray in theirfamilies evening and morning. He was thunder strick-
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