Personal Recollections of Pardee Butler | Page 4

prepared in the
argument and defenses of the Christian religion. I confess to you
frankly there are some difficulties in my mind which prevent my
believing the Bible, particularly the Old Testament.'

"Mr. Campbell replied, 'I acknowledge freely, Mr. Pardee, there are
difficulties in the Bible--difficulties not easy to explain, and some,
perhaps, which in our present state of information can not be cleared up.
But, my dear sir, when I consider the overwhelming testimony in its
favor, so ample, complete and satisfactory, I can not resist the
conviction of its divine origin. The field of prophetic inspiration is so
varied and full, and the internal evidence so conclusive, that, with all
the difficulties, the preponderance of evidence is overwhelming in its
favor.' This reply, so fair and manly, and so different from the pulpit
denunciations of 'skeptics,' 'infidels,' etc., to which he had been
accustomed, quite disarmed him, and led him to hear the truth and its
evidence in a much more rational state of mind. Within a year he
became fully satisfied of the truthfulness of the Holy Scriptures, and
apprehending clearly their testimony to the claims of Jesus of Nazareth
as the anointed Son of God, he was prepared to yield to him the
obedience of his life."
My father was present with his uncle Aaron at that interview with Mr.
Campbell, and he too was led by it to listen favorably to Mr.
Campbell's clear and powerful presentation of divine truth. He followed
Mr. Campbell to other meetings, and listened, read, and investigated
until he, too, became convinced of the truth of the Bible.
His uncle Aaron, who is still living, said in a recent letter: "I remember
going to meeting with Pardee sometime about a year before I was
immersed, when he put some questions to me on the subject of religion,
which were very difficult to answer."
In June, 1835, at a meeting held in Mr. Clark's new barn, my father and
his uncle, Aaron Pardee, confessed their Saviour, and were baptized by
Elder Newcomb in a stream on Elder Newcomb's farm. A brother and
sister of A. B. Green, and a sister of Holland Brown, were baptized at
the same time. Holland Brown had been baptized the previous week.
He walked down to the water with father, and remembers hearing him
exclaim, on the way to the water, "Lord, I believe! Help thou mine
unbelief." He also remembers hearing Elder Newcomb remark, "Now
we can take everything; we have Bro. Butler and Bro. Pardee to fight

the infidels, and the Browns to fight the Universalists." Holland
Brown's brother, Leonard, and his wife--he had married my father's
eldest sister, Ann Butler--had been baptized not far from that time.
Holland Brown relates the following incident, which occurred some
time afterward:
"Bro. Butler was away from home, and driving a horse, which, though
of fine appearance, was badly wind-broken. At times the horse
appeared perfectly sound, and at one of those times Bro. Butler was
offered a handsome sum for him.
"No," said Bro. Butler, "I can not take that sum for the horse, he is
badly wind-broken."
"Why didn't you take it? the man was a jockey, anyhow;" asked some
one in my hearing.
"'Because,' was the ringing answer, 'I think less of the price of a horse
than of my own soul.'"
About that time father began teaching school in neighboring districts,
which he followed for several years. But all of his spare time was spent
in studying the Bible, church history, the writings of A. Campbell, and
other religious books. It was at that time that he began committing the
New Testament to memory.
Grandfather Butler and Samuel Green were the leaders of the new
organization, as they had been of the Baptist Church, in Eld.
Newcomb's absence--for he was away evangelizing much of the time.
They called on the young people to take part in their social meetings on
the Lord's day, at first only asking them to read a passage of Scripture,
afterward to talk and pray, and, as they gained confidence in
themselves, they were asked to lead the meetings. Thus there grew, in
that church, one after the other, within a few years, eight preachers: A.
B. Green, Wm. Moody, Holland Brown, Leonard Brown, Philander
Green, B. F. Perky, Pardee Butler and L. L. Carpenter.

A. B. Green had been preaching a year or more before father was
baptized, but I do not know which of the others began first, nor do I
know the exact time when father began to preach, but it was about 1837
or 1838. He was not ordained at Wadsworth, for the church at that time
doubted whether there was any Scriptural authority for ordination. He
was ordained some six or seven years afterward, in 1844, at