08 Trip with G.M. Thompson
08. Trip with G.M. Thompson Autobigraphy - James H. Oliphant
CHAPTER VIII. In February, 1879, I arranged to go to Ohio with Elder G. M. Thompson. We were to meet at Indianapolis, and go to Marion, Ohio. We failed to get together at Indianapolis and I went on alone. I got to Marion near midnight. I waited there till morning when Elder Lewis Seitz (the second) came for me. I have always been subject to discouragement and I was especially "blue" then. I had missed Elder Thompson, I was alone, and far from home and an entire stranger, and with a heavy heart I went to meeting the next day, but I was blessed with unusual liberty. At the close of the meeting two girls, daughters of Elder Seitz, came to the church, telling their experiences. They both told how they had seen themselves lost sinners. They had had such an awful sense of their sinful state. It was one of the sweetest meetings I had ever attended. Twenty years later I went there again. Before I got off the train I asked about those two girls and was told they had lived worthy lives as Baptists. I was delighted with their lives. But in a day or two Elder Thompson came and we traveled and preached together for thirty-five days. Our first meeting was at Rocky Fork.
There were several incidents on the trip that were deeply interesting. A young man at Honey Creek church professed a hope while we were there. Next morning he came to where I was stopping with his grandfather (Elder Seitz). When the old elder saw the young man he read in his face that his burden was gone. They took each other in their arms and rejoiced together.
It was a beautiful sight to see them rejoice together. I do not remember all the churches I visited. I met the two Elders Seitz, Elder Barker, Elder Sherwood, Elder Pritchard, and Elder Wm. Dodd. They were a grand set of men. Churches were sound and content with the old Primitive Baptist doctrine. They are all dead now and gone to their reward. I remember Elder Dodd as a scholarly man, also Elder Sherwood and Elder Pritchard as able ministers of the gospel.
We heard a man preach who labored to show that Christ died as a substitute, and that where a legal substitute suffers for the principal it has the effect of relieving the principal from suffering. In this way the words "If one died for all then were all dead," are to be understood, representatively dead. He related a circumstance of a man that had been drafted into the army in France. A friend took his place as substitute, and went into the army. In course of time he was killed, and the war went on. Later he was drafted again. He refused to go, and pleaded that he was dead. He explained how his substitute had stood in the ranks in his place, and while doing so was killed, and now, as the man was slain while acting in his place, he was legally exempted from service. He urged that Christ’s death could be legal on the grounds of substitution only, and His death must necessarily free His people from suffering. Our trip was a pleasant one all around. There were additions at all the churches. Elder Thompson, when in the spirit of preaching was a wonder. He was a great preacher indeed, a precious gift. Sometimes he would get in the dark and almost fail. I have visited our Ohio churches several times since those old preachers are all gone, but young men are raised up to perpetuate the truth. I love our Ohio brethren as faithful men. They have been tried, and are faithful.