20 Missionary Journay Through Forests 1792

20 - MISSIONARY JOURNEY THROUGH FORESTS 1792 A YOUNG man by the name of Dickey, gifted in prayer and exhortation, had gone from Epsom, New Hampshire, to Stratford, Vermont, there to remain awhile on business. Finding a general disregard of all things religious, he soon began to call on the people to turn from their sins and obey the commandments of God. These efforts were soon blessed by a gracious outpouring of God’s spirit and the conversion of souls:

Calvinistic ministers soon visited the place, baptized whom they could, and organized a church. But Dickey was a Free Baptist. And from his representation of the new order, in the region from which he came, a number of the community desired to send for aid from that source. Hence the following letter: To the Baptist church of New Durham. dear brethren : By agreement of a number of friends here, having a desire for the welfare of each other and for our fellow creatures, we now think it expedient, according to the light and manifestation of God’s word, to come into church order of government, as the Scriptures direct. And being informed by Brother Dickey of your standing and order, these being agreeable to our minds, we request some of the elders of your church to come, as soon as possible, to our assistance. For we are alone, as to sentiment, in this part of the country. From your friend and brother, samuel rich. strafford, vermont, September 10, 1771. The New Durham brethren regarded this as another Macedonian call, but were then forced to answer that, as their pastor had just returned from a journey of a hundred and sixty miles east, and must go again in two weeks on important business to Waterboro, Maine, and then attend to other engagements, they could not comply with their request till another season.

So, on July 25, 1792, Elder Randall, with John Buzzell as companion, bearing the commendation of the church, set off on the proposed mission. On arrival, Mr. Randall preached a number of times to the people, with great freedom. The people were found to be of mixed sentiments, but all so absorbed in the overflowing joys of their new love that points of doctrine held a subordinate place in their regards. They would not harbor the idea of being separated and being formed into two different societies. For a time the question was most anxiously considered among them, about the direction in which they would move. Meantime, they were left to their own volition.

Finally, at a meeting held August first, having, as they said, duly considered the matter, those already formed into a church concluded to alter their Articles of Faith so far as to take a stand with their Free Baptist brethren. Accordingly, however much Mr. Randall might have feared from their previous differing views, he extended to them the hand of fellowship. The day before he had baptized Jacob Hadley and Daniel Hadley, of Tunbridge, an adjoining town. Nathaniel Brown was one of this organization. He was a young man of early promise, which he later fulfilled. After successful evangelistic work in Vermont, he was the first minister to preach the gospel of free grace in western New York, where he organized the Bethany church and, indirectly, the Genesee Quarterly Meeting, and the Holland Purchase Yearly Meeting.

Randall and Buzzell returned by the way of Salisbury, New Hampshire, where, by invitation, they held a few religious services. As one of the immediate results, a glorious work of grace began. But they were obliged to turn away and leave the work in the hands of another denomination. This tour of about two weeks was attended with much sacrifice and suffering on the part of those missionaries. The roads were bad and much of the way through extended forests. Many times, as night overtook them, they had no better place to sleep than the bare floor of one of the log cabins which were sparsely scattered along the way. The weather was hot and sultry. The distance traveled was about three hundred miles. Before they reached the end of their journey, riding became very distressing. When they were about to separate, Mr. Randall presented his companion two of the four pistareens, which represented the sum-total of their money receipts while absent. A pistareen was a small Spanish silver coin, valued in the United States at about seventeen cents. Buzzell refused the offer; but Randall thrust the bits into his hand, saying, " You shall take them! Carry them to your wife! " This case of home mission work has been given somewhat in detail; not that, as considered in connection with the general pioneer work of the times, it is exceptional but as illustrative of experiences common to "I those early evangelists, records of which in most cases never found their way to public recognition.