Elias Smith (1769-1846)
This man was a master-worker in the establishment of the Lord’s church in the region of New England. His parents were of Baptist and Congregational background. He tells us that his father was a Baptist and his mother a firm Congregationalist.
His birth occurred at Lynn, Conn., on June 17, 1769. His mother and uncle were instrumental in the christening early in his life. It was against his will though. His memories of the event were not good ones. In 1782, when Elias was thirteen, his father moved the family to Woodstock, Vermont. His mind was much exercised upon religious subjects at this time. At age sixteen, he was converted as was common then in New England. He did have great doubt of the reality of the work. In 1789 he was baptized by Elder Grow of the Baptist Church and he then joined the Baptists at that time. Soon after, his mind became much exercised on the subject of preaching, and after much resistance on his part, he yielded to the divine call, as he regarded it, and preached his first sermon in July, 1790. One reason for his hesitation in entering the ministry was his lack of educational preparation. (His schools days ended before he was thirteen years old). Subsequently, he attended school thirteen days to learn grammar, two days to learn arithmetic, and eight evenings to learn music. He taught all of these in the district schools with creditable efficiency. He was ordained a Baptist clergyman in August, 1792, at Lee, N. H. From that time on his labors were incessant in the interest of the church to which he belonged, though all the while he felt himself in bondage. He traveled over a large part of New England, and wherever he went he was greeted with large audiences of willing hearers. In 1798 he was formally installed minister of the church at Woburn. The whole proceeding was distasteful and loathsome to the young preacher, and his soul cried out in bitter protest, in a wail for deliverance, and yet he was passive. By 1807, he had decided to quit the ministry and he found the courage to do so. Of the decision he later said: “For many weeks my mind was greatly troubled on account of the doctrine I had preached, my connection with the Baptists, the situation of my family, the trouble to be endured in consequence of leaving that place, and my connection with the church. By leaving them, my house and all there must be given up; and I was quite certain the most influential would be against me. My final determination was to risk all the consequence of being dismissed from what they called my pastoral charge. This was done in manner and form. A committee was appointed to settle with me. They owed me according to anti-christian bargain, for preaching Calvinism, about one hundred and seventy dollars, and I took their note for the same. This was a sin committed ignorantly, which I believe is forgiven me, and which no poverty I hope will ever persuade me to do again. Having settled my affairs in the month of September, 1801, 1 took my everlasting leave from installations and hireling plans, such bondage as I had endured there, and sat out in a chaise, with my wife and three children, one of which was born there, April 22, 1799; for Salisbury, N. H., and arrived there in a few days.” “At the time of leaving Woburn, it was my determination to preach no more, if I could remain in silence, choosing to labor hard for a living rather than to be so tormented with the doctrines I had preached, the bondage endured, and the cruel treatment of such as would be my friends when bound to them, and enemies when free from such bondage.” And later on he says: “While meditating upon these doctrines and my own situation, and saying, ‘What shall I do?’ there was a gentle whisper to my understanding in these words: ‘Drop them both and search the Scriptures.’ This command was immediately consented to; and instantly my mind was freed from the entanglement before experienced, and immediately I sung, ‘Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler, the snare is broken and we are escaped, our help is in the name of the Lord.’ From that moment, my mind was delivered from Calvinism, universalism and deism, three doctrines of men, which people love who do not love holiness. These three things I had been troubled with at times, for many years, but they left me then.” It was at this time that Smith, in his distress, began to look around for fellowship and was delighted to find that there were others in the same position and he sought them out. A number of them met at Sanbornton in the spring of 1802. The called themselves “The Christian Conference.” The membership was nearly of all former Baptist clergymen. Smith had written some articles that were approved of and they moved to have them put in print. He had previously concluded that all other names that could not be found in the Scriptures be cast off. The only name approved of by the Scriptures was “Christian.” He began his work in Portsmouth, N.H. and in 1803 organized a “Church of Christ,” owning Him as the only Master, Lord and Lawgiver. In June of 1803 Abner Jones came to Portsmouth. Smith said that Jones was the first free man that he had ever met. Before this, he thought himself alone in the world. This was while the Baptists thought he belonged to their order. He was there in body but surely not in spirit. Jones attended several meetings of the Christian Conference but refused to join it because of the articles that had been drawn up. He felt that they were altogether unnecessary and harmful. Those of the Conference came to agree with him and soon laid them aside. The name “Christian” and the faith of the New Testament were the only and all sufficient rule for them. They had already gone a great distance in leaving man-made religion behind. It was at this point, and at this time, that all barriers were removed and Elias Smith came fully into the fellowship of the Christians, and the Church at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, became a Christian Church in the sense in which we use it when we say Christian Church. The road over which Smith traveled was long, rocky, and full of thorns, but he traveled on, and reached the goal. In 1805, Smith began the publication of “The Christian’s Magazine.” It was published every three months and paid upon delivery to the subscribers at twelve and one-half cents each. In this, he attacked the established ministry of the church and the popular sermons. He held a pen in one hand and a battle axe in the other. All of his resentment and frustration with powdered wigs and church related paraphernalia found release in this small journal. His mind found freedom and rejoiced in the freedom that could be found in Christ alone. A gentleman, then a member of congress proposed to publish a religious newspaper through which Smith could advocate religious liberty. Isaac Wilber offered liberal financial support to Smith but it was declined in that Smith felt that by accepting it he would abridge his own liberty of utterance. But the idea appealed to Smith greatly. On September 1, 1808, he issued the first number of the Herald of Gospel Liberty, saying that it was the first religious newspaper in the world. Smith was untiring in the matter of publishing, including pamphlets, printed sermons, books and also his work on a New Testament Dictionary. His giving of this form alone makes him worthy of being remembered.
How much more the example of a godly life? Smith also made another donation to society around him and that was that as a physician. His medical practice, along with the writings he produced on the subject were worthy of note and to be remembered. Those writings are still available and can be located with relative ease. They are very dated but show a great deal of thought and wisdom. He also produced pamphlet after pamphlet that were pretty hard on the ministers of his day. One of the first was called the “Ministers Looking-Glass.” These subjects were handled in the editor’s terse style. Of course, there were reprisals from the victims of his attacks and many bitter invectives were pronounced against him. He was not good at making friends among the ministry of his day. Many friends turned from him. Bad reports were circulated against him. His financial affairs especially drew fire while he was in Woburn. He was sued and threatened with prison for debt. These financial embarrassments generally came from his entering into business agreements with others, only to be let down. It is true he came out honorably, but the reports continued. Mobs were raised against him in Portsmouth, N. H., and his life was really in danger at times, but the more he was persecuted the harder he labored, and the more friends came out on his side; so, while he had many bitter enemies, he had also many intense friends. The church organized by him in Portsmouth, N. H., in 1803, of only four or five members, soon grew to a membership of one hundred and fifty, and the probability is, that more than half of these would have died, if necessary, with their pastor.
There was no half-way work in this movement. In 1804, the Baptist Church at Woburn, disowned him, Elias claiming that he had withdrawn from that church two years before. In 1805, Elder Abner Jones, who had proclaimed the Bible alone as the perfect creed of Christians, seven years previous, visited him at Portsmouth, and continued his labor for several weeks.
From this time the two men became hearty co-workers in the Reformation. While in this place, owing to the publication of an anonymous pamphlet, supposed to have been written by Elias Smith, he came very nearly being mobbed several times.
At one time, while preaching from the text, “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood,” the mob surrounded the church and but for the prompt action of the congregation, serious consequences would have followed; his friends gathered around him twenty deep, and conducted him to his home, which they watched through the night. In 1810, he was induced to move the Herald and his family from Portsmouth, N. H., to Portland, Me., a step that he always regretted. The next year, he again moved, this time to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During his stay in that city, he not only published this book, the “Herald,” and other productions of his pen, but had charge of the church and made extensive journeys to Virginia, North Carolina, and other states. But while here, his expenses were greater than his income, from sickness in his family and the outlays made to publish the works that he wrote. His debts were pressing heavily upon him, and for the purpose of decreasing his expenses, he determined to return to Portsmouth, N. H., and took his wife with him, that they might make arrangements to move back.
She finished her visit before he did, and returned to Philadelphia under the care of Elder Plummer. Elder Smith was taken sick soon after with the typhoid fever, and before his recovery, his faithful wife died, and one of his daughters was seriously ill, although she afterward recovered. He was now surrounded with trouble and sorrow on every hand. A short time before his wife’s death, he had written to her to be ready to return to Portsmouth by a certain day. His debts were large and the money due him for papers and other things was not easy to obtain. As soon as he recovered, he began to preach and write with his former energy, and the thousands who heard his sermons or read his productions at this time had no conception of the sore anxiety and trouble by which he was weighed down. In the latter part of 1814, he was married again to Rachel Thurber, of Providence, R. I.
From 1816 to 1840, he practiced medicine, preaching very seldom, although he wrote a great deal on the subject of medicine. For twenty-three years of this time he was not connected with any denomination whatever, although he advocated Universalism a part of this time. In 1840, he again united with the Christian Church, and it was his intention then, at seventy-one years of age, to enter the work he had left twenty- four years before, and with the same zeal. He was in good health, a hale, hearty old man, but the habits of the preceding years, the absence of old associates, and the lack of confidence on the part of the brotherhood prevented the accomplishment of much good in the last years. He died at Lynn, Mass., June 29, 1846, aged seventy-seven years.
Much of the character of Elder Smith, as a man, writer, and minister, may be seen in the preceding pages; but his true greatness, originality, and boldness are to be witnessed in the results of what was a mighty work, accomplished in an age of sectarian bigotry, and under most unfavorable circumstances. Every one has defective qualities, and the Elder was no exception to the rule.