PREFACE. THE articles in the Western Sketch Book are mostly on religious subjects. It was not intended, however, that they should be exclusively so: some of the anecdotes are merely historical; yet it is hoped that they will convey to the reader valuable information. In the sketches here here furnished of "men and things," great regard has been had to accuracy and truth. The facts stated may be relied on as of the most authentic character. It was the settled purpose of the author, that as an historical record, this publication should occupy the highest ground. There are a few articles of an allegorical cast, given as professed extracts from ancient books which have long since been lost "the Book of Ahijah the Shilonite," "the Book of Nathan the Prophet," "the Book of the Visions of Iddo the Seer," &c. The reader will, of course, understand that the giving of these articles as "extracts," is merely a part of that allegorical or figurative mode of representation which the author has chosen to employ. 鴻 The views on the subject of revivals of religion, which pervade this volume, are such as the author believes he has received from the Bible, and has had confirmed by an experience in the ministry of more than thirty-four years. When describing scenes in which I myself have been concerned, I have used the pronoun in the first person singular. On this subject I fully agree with Dr. Dwight, former president of Yale College. "Dr. Dwight,” said an inquirer, "is it not better for a minister, when speaking of himself, to say 'we,' rather than 'I?' "I think not," answered the doctor. "But it avoids the appearance of egotism." "Ah, well," said Dr. Dwight, "I would rather have egotism than wegotism." THE WESTERN SKETCH-BOOK. INTRODUCTION. I STOOD On the bank of the Mississippi, and gazed upon the rush of its mighty stream. Wave pressed on wave; and the broad tide, with a force that no earthly power could withstand, swept onward to the ocean. "Great river!" I exclaimed, "hast thou rolled on thus from age to age? Hast thou maintained this majestic march through the lapse of more than fifty centuries? Then what is the history of this immense country on thy borders? What people gazed upon thy stream three thousand years ago? Were there then intellectual beings here, to adore that mighty God who dug thy deep channel, and spread out at thy side these broad, fertile plains, and covered thee with the bright blue heaven?" Such were the questions that arose in my mind; but there was none to answer. I looked back on the past history of the west. But, beyond the period of sixty or seventy years, there sets in a thick, impenetrable darkness"even darkness which may be felt;” and all is, to us, buried in the gulf of hopeless oblivion. Events that transpired then, however interesting they may have been, are irrecoverably lost: no effort of ours can call them back, or secure for them a record on the pages of memory. Another question arose: Will the man who stands |