pa i. M W • J . LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN B H2378hl I .H.S. ' XSyyf0t^^P)LK\/79\^^m\^j\^ 7jmttmmL\j^JK. ll PENTECOSTAL POSSIBILITIES OR STORY OF MY LIFE Hn Hutobloorapb^ BY M. L. HANEY Evangelist and Author of "Inheritance Restored" ^ PUBLISHED BY THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS CO. Chicago and Boston 1906 Copyright, 1906, by THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS CO. iji Washington Street, Chicago, 111. 36 Bromfield Street, Boston, Mass. -^ CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 CONTENTS.— Continued. Page. CHAPTER XXXVII The Siege of Vicksburg 180 CHAl'TEU XXXVIII Sickness and Rest 18G CHArTER XXXIX Chattanooga 191 CHAPTER XL Diverse Experiences 197 CHAPTER XLI At Atlanta 203 CHAPTER XLII Mustered Out 213 CHAPTER XLI II Ministry in La Salle 220 CHAPTER XLIV Great Revival in Williamsville. .228 CHAPTER XLV Some Short Meetings 233 CHAI'TER XLVI At Atlanta 237 CHAPTEP. XLVII The Work in .Mason City 2-12 CHAPTER XLVIII Campaigning in Southern Illinois. .21(5 CHAPTER XLIX Furtlier Work in Southern Illinois. .2.31 CHAPTER L Some (jlorious Victories 2.~)7 CILVPTER LI End of First Evangelistic Term 261 CHAPTER LII Pastorates in Brimfield and Ipava. .2GG CHAPTER LIII Early Holiness Work and Workers. 274 CHAPTER LIV The Evangelistic Field Opens Again 279 CHAPTER LV Secoiul and Third Evangelistic Years 288 CHAPTER LVI Our Work in Illinois and Tesas. .291 CHAPTER LVII Some Reminiscences 299 CHAPTER LVI 1 A Miracle of Grace 308 CHAPTER LIX Two Glorious Years 310 CHAPTER LX More Campaigning 324 CHAPTER LXI The Fifteenth Year 329 CHAPTER LXII And Yet Three Years Cj5 CHAPTER LXIII A Wide Battle Line 343 CHAPTER LXIV From Colorado Eastward '-"0 CHAPTER LXV Eighteen Hundred and Ninety Seven 'r.~>'^ CHAPTER LXVI The Battles of the Twenty Fourth Year 305 CHAPTER LXVI I The Closing Century 374 ( ilAPTER LXVIII Nineteen Hundred and One 382 CHAPTER LXIX The Last Year 390 CHAPTER LXX In Conclusion 39G PREFACE. At the oft repeated request of judicious and holy people, accompanied, as I think, by kindred suggestions from the Holy Spirit, I at length put in printed form the incidents of my life. This recital involves a glance at parentage and childhood, with early youth in the West, and covers a ministry of fifty-seven years. Too much space may have been given to exciting incidents of the war of the great rebellion ; but three years' identity with its front lines of fire and blood can hardly be passed over lightly. The book has been hurriedly written in my seventy- ninth year, very largely from memory ; but is launched with all its imperfections with the prayer that God may use it in the salvation of men after the hand that wrote it has ceased to act. M. L. HANKY. Normal, Illinois, July 30, 1903. THE STORY OF MY LIFE. CHAPTER I. Parentage. My father, Rev. James Haney, was born in the County of Donegal, Ireland, about the year 1776. He and his brother Thomas came to America in 1782 with my grandfather, John Haney, and settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Father was of Scotch descent and reared a Presbyterian, but in boyhood his heart was turned toward the Methodists. He was married to Hanna Freeborn, and from this union there were born twelve children, nine son's and three daughters. In the year 181 1, with a small company of adventurers, he re- moved to Ohio, where, one mile east of where now stands the town of Savannah, in Ashland County, they cut their farms from a dense beech forest. Father was a self- made man, with less help than can now be well con- ceived, but he made his mark in those times as a man of unswerving integrity, as a real Christian, and an able minister. He was an ordained local preacher for nearly 50 years. He never belonged to a conference, but trav- 7 g THE STORY OF MY LIFE eled and preached much more than pastors now usually do. I think he never received one dollar by way of com- pensation for his ministr3\ He was twice in the State Legislature, but I have no recollection of his referring to it but once ! Father's natural sense of justice was marked and wonderful. I believe he would have scorned the offer of ten thousand dollars, if made on condition that he would wrong a neighbor out of one cent. I think in fifty years he never intentionally swerved a hair's breadth in business transactions from what he saw to be right. In August, 1820, his first wife died at the birth of her twelfth child, and three years afterward he married Mary Bevans, who the 23d day of January, 1825, became my mother. Her parents were born in New England and her father was of \\>lsh stock. Grandfather Bevans was a revolutionary soldier, but rarely could be drawn out to speak of his war history. Once, after much teas- ing by his grandson, he conceded that the English dead in the ditch fronting where he stood were three men deep! His relation to the revolutionary struggle marked him to the end of his life with a high order of patriotism. After peace was declared he was married to ^liss Han- nah Owen, who was an intense Calvinist and an earnest defender of her faith. Less than five years had gone by after the close of the war, when Freeborn Garretson appeared in their New England town as a Methodist preacher. The news of his arrival spread like wild fire, accompanied with state- ments involving his character, the whole population being warned against him as a wolf in sheep's clothing and his church as infidelity in disguise. Not a church, school house, or even a private dwelling could be pro- cured as a preaching place. So Garretson announced that he would preach at 2 P. M. under the shade of a tree the coming Sabbath. My grandfather was a com- mon sinner, and so much had been said against the stran- ger, that he was curious to see and hear for himself. The ! PARENTAGE 9 opening songs and prayers of the preacher were to him new and wonderful. The company gathered, seemed awe-stricken, as though a man from eternity were there. The Scriptures read, the text announced and the preach- ing that followed were clothed with Divine authority, and the first stroke of Freeborn Garretson's sword cut my grandfather's heart in two! On reaching home he said with emotion to his young wife: "Hannah, that is a man of God." Poor Hannah, thinking her husband would be ruined, raved like a wild woman ; but the wound in her husband's heart was too deep for any power to turn him from his purpose, so he went again. On returning the second time to Hannah, she saw a light in his face that had never been there before. The change in her husband was so marked and wonderful that she felt curious to go and see and hear for herself The prejudices of a lifetime were swept from her great soul under the preaching of Garretson, and her sins rose like mountains before her; but the minister held up Christ bleeding on the cross for her, and my grandmother was born of God! My mother was subsequently con- verted in her tenth year, about 109 years ago, and joined the Methodist Church under the ministry of Freeborn Garretson. Of this church she was a member eighty- three years. She was a woman of prayer and attained a wide knowledge of the Scriptures. Private prayer and search- ing the Scriptures were the strongholds of early Meth- odists. From the time she reached her majority, till her marriage, her time was largely given to teaching. Dur- ing these years she was widely recognized as a woman of strength in public prayer and exhortation. To the end of her life she possessed a remarkable interest in soul saving. I think I have never known one who surpassed her in soul travail, taking the years together. She was always a believer in the Methodist doctrine of holiness, and always a seeker. Mentally she knew it was received by faith, but eighty-three years were put in in getting Ut'E IQ THE STORY OF MY ready to believe. Practically she could not shake herself loose from the growth theory which has deceived a mul- titude of millions. She w^as strong- willed and high tem- pered, and carried a battle of four score years against self-will and unholy anger. The years of fasting and prayer, of struggle and agony to conquer herself are amazing to contemplate. It was not till in the last week of her life, while surrounded by a group of holiness peo- ple, that she let go of it all, and allowed the Lord to sanctify her. After marriage in her forty-second year, she entered my father's home as a "stepmother." There were six sons and two daughters still remaining, with ages rang- ing from twenty down to four years. God only knew the tasks which were before her in this new relation. Her interest in mental culture was greatly in advance of those about her, as many considered ignorance a virtue. She insisted on the best opportunities attainable for the schooling of these boys and girls, and exerted a moral influence over them, which will never be rightly esti- mated till the judgment day. Each of them subse- quently made a profession of religion, and three of the boys became ministers. My mother lived to see them all in nnture manhood save one.