CHAPTER 13 SAMUEL PARKER

CHAPTER 13 SAMUEL PARKER That eminent servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose name stands at the head of this chapter, in consequence, of his relation to the west and the labors and privations he endured in planting the Gospel from the Muskingum and Ohio to the Missouri and Mississippi, deserves a prominent place in the annals of western Methodism. To give our readers a sketch of his laborious and useful life is the object of this chapter.

Samuel Parker was born in the state of New Jersey in the year 1774. His parents were religious, and, of course, respectable. Indeed, none need wish to trace their genealogy to a higher or more honorable source; for a Christian is emphatically "the highest style of man," and the only respect of persons with God himself is that which has for its basis a religious character. Young Parker was early put to a trade, that he might learn, by a lawful and honorable employment, to gain a respectable living in the, world. It is said he possessed a remarkable natural genius, and made great proficiency in the mechanic art in which he was employed. The most remarkable event that transpired in relation to him, in the days of his youth, was his conversion to God, and the sudden abandonment consequent thereon of his wicked practices and ungodly associates. Among the young and frivolous, in scenes of mirth and revelry, his presence was always the most agreeable, and his company was sought for on all occasions, being a general favorite among all classes. He had a voice of unusual sweetness as well as of compass and power. Added to this peculiar gift, as a child of song, was an urbanity of manners and a suavity of disposition that prepossessed all hearts in his favor. When he joined the Church and broke up his old and wicked associations, of course his former wicked friends forsook him. The line of demarkation was much more strongly marked between the Church and the world then than at the present time, and professors of religion were distinguished by peculiarities which made them known and read of all men. One has said, in speaking of the wonderful similarity between the most of professors of religion at the present day and the world, that it would take the eye of an angel to distinguish them; but it was not so then. A profession of religion created a chasm between the professor and the world, which, though not as broad and deep as that which separated Abraham from Dives, yet was impassable to all but those who would willingly take up their cross and, despising the shame, enroll themselves under the banner of the Prince of Life. Young Parker had deliberately crossed over to the Lord’s side, and was ready, having counted the cost, to "hail reproach and welcome shame" for the sake of Jesus and his cause. For twelve years he continued a private member of the Church, faithfully devoted to all her interests, and ready to engage in any work that his Master might assign him. There was one work, however, concerning which he had much solicitude, and that was the fearfully - responsible work of the ministry. During all this time he was greatly exercised in mind in regard to his call. He would not rush suddenly into a place where angels are not permitted to enter, nor would he shrink from a responsibility clearly imposed, however great. He wanted full proof that he was called of God to proclaim salvation to his dying fellow-man, and having that he was ready to give up all for Christ, and enter whatever field of labor might be assigned to him.

We are of the number of those who believe, that there are more who refuse to yield to this divine call to the ministry than of those who presumptuously rush uncalled into the holy place, and that the providence of God has much to do, not only in preparing the way for the one but in restraining the other. Fully impressed, after years of conflict, that he had a call to preach the Gospel, and that if he did not yield the Divine displeasure would rest upon him, he at length gave himself up wholly to the Lord in the work of the ministry, and in the year 1800 was duly licensed as a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. While he continued in this relation he exercised his gifts at every opportunity, and engaged in a course of preparatory study, the more effectually to prepare himself for usefulness, should Providence open his way into the itinerant field. During this time he made rapid progress in literary and theological knowledge, and was thus enabled, in the year 1805, to enter the itinerant ranks with advantages of literary and theological training vastly superior to many of his contemporaries.

His, however was not that knowledge that puffeth up. He brought all his literature, and science, and theology to the foot of the cross, and there had his attainments and himself baptized with the meek and holy spirit of his Master. He was received on trial, as a traveling preacher, in the Western conference, held at Mt. Gerizim, Kentucky, in the fall of the year above specified, and was appointed to Hinkston circuit, where he remained traveling from appointment to appointment, doing the work of an evangelist and striving to make full proof of his ministry. In the year 1806 he was appointed to the Lexington circuit, and the year following to Limestone circuit, both in the state of Kentucky. In 1808 he was appointed to the Miami circuit, in the state of Ohio, Cincinnati being one of the appointments. On this circuit he was the messenger of glad tidings to many a despairing sinner. Multitudes were awakened and converted to God through his instrumentality, and throughout the Miami Valley there are many who were brought into the kingdom of grace through his instrumentality, and yet stand living witnesses for Christ and the power of the Gospel to save.

We have already remarked that brother Parker possessed a voice of unusual melody, and was excelled by few, if any, in the power of song. Many were attracted to the Church to listen to the divine strains which he would pour forth upon his enraptured and weeping audiences. He was not only gifted with a remarkable voice, but he had brought it under a high state of cultivation, and it was said he was a perfect master of music. We were told by Bishop McKendree that when he was on the Hinkston circuit, at one of brother Parker’s quarterly meetings, he mentioned to him a tune which he had heard in the southern part of Kentucky that so interested and thrilled him, that it had been sounding in his mind ever since. The Bishop was deprived, like many others, of the wonderful gift of song, though he had an exquisite ear for music, and was said to be a connoisseur. Brother Parker told him he thought he could produce it, and for this purpose they both retired to the woods. The plan for its production, or rather, reproduction, was this. The preacher sounded the varies notes, and the Bishop would tell him when a note accorded with the tune. Thus he continued till he had written every note of the entire piece. The time for preaching having arrived they went into the congregation, and to the utter astonishment of the Bishop the tune was sung to appropriate words, but with a melody and a power which not only affected the Bishop, but the, whole congregation, to tears. But his musical powers were not all, though to hear him would remind one of the melody of heaven; he had an eloquence and power in the pulpit that were irresistible, and wherever he went wondering and weeping audiences crowded to hear him. Many came a great distance to listen to him, so wide-spread was his fame as a pulpit orator. On one occasion an aged and very pious German brother came a considerable distance to hear him. When he arrived the preacher had taken his text and was making his introduction. The old brother took his seat and listened to the slow and measured words of the preacher, as he proceeded to advance his propositions. Not being able to discover any thing extraordinary, either in the matter or manner of the preacher, the honest old German would drop his head, giving it a significant shake, and say to himself, "Dis bees not Barker: dis be not him surely." After he had progressed some time in his discourse, and began to warm up a little with his theme, and occasionally flash out a bright and beautiful thought, the Dutchman, with a meditatives look, and head a little inclined, would say, "May be dis is Barker." The preacher at length got fairly under way; his soul was on fire, and impassioned strains of eloquence, like full-bursts of glory from the upper sanctuary, fell upon the rapt multitude. The old German rose to his feet, and was moving unconsciously forward, charmed with the eloquence of the preacher. He was lost to all surrounding objects, and lost to himself; for so intently was his attention fixed that he dropped his hat. When the preacher closed, the old man was at the altar, as near as he could get to the pulpit, and, drawing a long breath, he turned round, exclaiming, in a loud voice, "Mine Got, vot an outcome dis Barker has got!"

It is related of this old German brother, that being in Court one time when a young lawer, a member of the Methodist Church, was pleading most eloquently and feelingly the case of a poor unfortunate girl, so much so that the judges and jury alike began to shed tears, he rose from his seat and exclaimed, "Mine Got, send more power; send more power to these sinners hearts!" The good old man imagined that they were awakened by the exhortation of the Methodist lawyer, and that they would soon all be at the mourner’s bench crying for mercy. At the conference which was held in the year 1809, brother Parker was elected and ordained to the office of an elder in the Church. Having used the office of a deacon well, and having obtained a good degree and great boldness in the cause of his Master, and having given full proof of his efficiency as a minister, he was deemed worthy of promotion to the more responsible, but yet more arduous office of a presiding elder. His district embraced the whole of the state of Indiana, and the states of Illinois and Missouri. For vastness of territory, and for the amounts of labor required to travel it, we think this must have been the banner district of those times. Notwithstanding the extent of the field, the amount of labor necessary to be expended in its cultivation, Parker’s zeal and enterprise were adequate to the great undertaking. Buckling on the harness, if possible, with a steadier nerve and greater firmness of purpose, he turned his face toward the setting sun, and was soon lost to sight in the depths of the wilderness on the errand of his Master. In traversing this vast wilderness of woods, prairies, swamps, and rivers, inhabited principally by savage men and beasts of prey, exposed to the northern blasts of winter and the scorching heats of summer, God was with him. In the rude log-cabins of the west he found hard fare, but harder still when no cabin opened its friendly door, and he had to lie down supperless among the leaves of the wood, or the, grass of the prairies, and not infrequently upon the snow, with nothing but heaven’s canopy for his covering. From the Whitewater, in Indiana, to the farthest settler in Missouri, did this faithful herald of the cross go to proclaim the glad tiding of salvation in the name of Jesus. For four years did the indefatigable Parker cultivate this vast field, and with such success "so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed," that it was necessary, at the expiration of this period, to divide the district, and call more laborers into the vineyard of the Lord. When he entered upon the field there, were but three hundred and eighty two members in all its bounds; but at the expiration of four years, under his superintendence, there were upward of two thousand. An incident occurred at the conference which was held in Cincinnati, in 1813, which, in this connection, we will relate. There being no church on Sabbath large enough to hold the congregation, or rather the vast crowds which attended upon the ministrations of the occasion, we adjourned to the Lower Market Space, on Lower Market street, between Sycamore and Broadway. The services commenced 11 o’clock. The Rev. Learner Blackman preached from the third petition of the Lord’s prayer: "Thy kingdom come." He was followed by brother Parker with a sermon on the fourth petition of the same prayer: "Thy will be done." After he had concluded, brother James Ward gave an exhortation after the manner of olden time. Then followed brother John Collins, who, from the same butcher’s block whereon the preachers had stood, commenced, with a soft and silvery voice, to sell the shambles — as only John Collins could — in the market. These he made emblematic of a full salvation without money and without price. It was not long till the vast assembly were in tears at the melting, moving strains of the eloquent preacher. On invitation a large number came forward, and kneeled down for an interest in the prayers of God’s people. We joined with them, and other ministers who were present, heartily in the work, and before that meeting closed in the market house, many souls were happily converted to God. This year brother Parker was appointed to labor on the Deer Creek circuit, which included all the settlements on that stream, as well as those on Darby, Scioto, and the North Fork of Paint creek, extending to Chillicothe, then the metropolis of the state. In this less extensive but still laborious field, his efforts to advance the kingdom of his Lord were wonderfully blessed. It was in the palmy days of campmeetings, before such meetings had lost their sheen and power, and the region where he labored was blessed with these annual seasons of religious interest. One of the most powerful campmeetings ever held in the west was in the bounds of this circuit, at White Brown’s, on Deer Creek. Here were collected the thousands of our Israel from all parts of the country, while the ministry was represented by the best talent in the Western conference. Among the preachers present on this occasion were John Collins, J. Quinn, Alexander Cummins, R. W. Finley, Hellums, Strange, Crume, and others. While one after another of these pioneer preachers would hold forth the word of life to listening, attentive thousands, the Spirit would apply the truth with demonstrative power to the heart, and hundreds were awakened and converted to God. Many that came out of an idle curiosity had an interest awakened in their hearts, to them before unknown, while many who came to curse and oppose the cause of God, remained to pray and unite with the faithful in carrying it on. It was a time long to be remembered, and hundreds on earth and in heaven will call to remembrance, with grateful emotions, the hallowed scenes and associations at the Deer Creek campmeeting. At the close of the year 1813 the, conference was held at Steubeuville, Ohio. From this conference brother Parker received his appointment to the Miami district, which at that time embraced all the country lying between the Ohio river and the Olentangy, and the Scioto and Great Miami. His labors on this field were arduous, but successful. A zeal for the cause of God, fed with an unquenchable fire from off Gods altar, urged him on, and nothing could stop him in his burning course around his district. Many, in the day of eternity, will thank God for sending the message of mercy through so eloquent and faithful a herald.

The, next year, which was 1815, he was removed from the Miami district, and appointed presiding elder of the Kentucky district. He remained in this field of labor four consecutive years, during all which time, he was in labors more abundant. He was universally beloved on the district, both by the preachers and people, and his labors were crowned with great success. He had now reached life’s prime, being in the forty-fifth year of his age; and deeming it prudent to change his relation in life by taking to himself a companion, he, accordingly sought and obtained the hand of Miss Alethia Tilton, the daughter of a venerable and useful local preacher of that name, who proved a most worthy and suitable partner for a Methodist itinerant, in those days of privation and hardship. This worthy lady enjoyed his society long enough to be sensible of the melancholy fact that there, is no affliction incident to suffering humanity so exquisite as the loss of a companion, who united all the endearing qualities that nature and grace can combine in the person of a husband.

We come now to the most interesting, because the most trying, period in the history of our departed brother’s life; one which not only served to develop his character even more fully than it yet had been developed, but which presents the Church and the world an example of moral heroism as worthy of imitation as it is of praise. At the conference which was held in Cincinnati in the summer of 1819, the bishops felt the utmost solicitude in regard to finding a man of the requisite qualifications to fill post of the greatest importance in the Mississippi conference. Before them were ministers from all parts of the great western field; and after scanning the whole, they found in the person of Samuel Parker the one that, in their judgment, was admirably adapted for the work. His experience in the work, and above all his commanding talents fitted him, in an eminent degree, for the, occupancy of that difficult and distant field. The only thing they could conceive of as being in the way of his appointment was, his delicate health, and that his wife must be torn away from the embrace of her friends to share the fate and fortunes of her husband — a stranger in a strange land. Besides the greatness of the distance and his feeble health, the country embraced in the field was regarded as quite sickly. When, however, the bishops intimated the demands which the Church, in the providence of God, seemed to have upon his labors and sacrifices, in the true spirit of a witness for Jesus, if need be, to the ends of the earth, he was ready to say, in the language of Paul, "I count not my life dear unto me, that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God." He had laid all upon the altar of his Lord. He had endured hardness as a good soldier, and it was no time now for him to take back the offering, or to hesitate in the further fulfillments of the vows which he had made to please Him who had called him to be a soldier. Ready for every position which God, in his providence, might assign him, he said to the over-shepherds of the Church, "Here am I, send me." The conference closed, and when it was announced by the presiding bishop that he was appointed presiding elder of the Mississippi district, a wave of sympathy rolled over the entire conference. We shall never forget the parting scene. When we took our dear Parker by the hand, and said, "Farewell, beloved brother, till we meet again," we felt that it would be in the communings of that world, "where no farewell words are spoken, And no farewell tears are shed."

It seemed as though we were all engaged in the solemnities of a sacrifice where the victim was one of the most lovely and talented of our brotherhood. The last days of summer were tinting with golden hues the plains of the sunny south, as the sweet-spirited Parker, with his lovely bride, was wending his way thither in the name of his Master. He had left his friends, and home, and kindred, and was going to a far distant land, among strangers, to labor and die. The bishops fondly hoped that the genial winter-clime of the south might prove beneficial to his health; but, alas! how often has it proven true, that where one invalid passes the process of acclimation, and becomes convalescent, many die; and so it proved in this case. When he arrived at his destination, enfeebled and worn down with his disease assumed, in a short time, a more malignant type, so that in November the most fearful apprehensions were excited that he would soon be called to exchange worlds. He never performed any labor on his district, and the only advantage resulting from his emigration to that distant and difficult post was the lesson which his example afforded, and the spirit and peace in which a Christian can suffer and die.

Thus he lingered on till the session of the Missouri conference, when he seemed to have slightly improved, and hopes were entertained by some that he might recover; but others, better acquainted with the nature of his disease, and the climate to which it was subjected, knew that they were as fallacious and transient as the fading hues of evening, which serve only to light the passage of departing day. Soon after conference he relapsed into a worse state, than before, and he was rapidly brought down to the verge of the grave. In all these sufferings and changes through which he passed, this servant of the Lord was enabled to say, in perfect resignation, "Father, not my will but thine be done." On the sixth of December, when a holy quiet was reigning around, disturbed only by the sobs of an affectionate wife, which alone prevented one from thinking that the chamber where he, lay was quite in the confines of heaven, the talented, faithful, and devoted Parker passed away to the bosom of his Savior and God.

Before his departure God had blessed him with an infant son, but the little one did not long survive. It wa soon called to join its father in the blissful realms of the blest. The Sabbath after his decease his funeral sermon was preached, at Washington, Mississippi, by the Rev. Wilham Winans, to a large and weeping congregation. The text was Revelations xiv, 13: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them." The personal appearance of brother Parker was strikingly prepossessing. He was about five feet ten or eleven inches high, a slender but well-made form. He had a fine intellectual cast of countenance, expansive forehead, and black, piercing eye. He was one of the finest speakers we ever listened to, his voice being exceedingly musical, and capable of the softest, sweetest intonations. But that fine, manly form is mingled with the dust, and that voice, so entrancing, has been hushed upon earth forever. A volume might be written upon the labors and sufferings, and excellences of his character; but as we only design brief sketches, embracing important points in the lives of some of our pioneer Methodist preachers, to rescue them from oblivion, and hold up their example to the light of the present generation, we must bring our remarks, however reluctantly, to a close.