A TRUE STORY
Of
THE LIFE OF BIDE RUSSELL
THE BLIND ORPHAN
By C. B. MASSEY
Her Pastor (By Her Request)
Aunt Bide never saw this earthly
realm, but she excelled in that true VISION of eternal and spiritual matter, which is rare
today and without which, the Bible says, "the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18)
(This note added in 1994 reprint)
PREFACE
TO THE 1994 REPRINT
Once in a very great while an
account of a life is written which captures the essence of true "Christianity."
From this little booklet we can see that not so long ago someone
(1) suffered much affliction as
patiently as Job,
(2) endured a long life of
blindness cheerfully by grace,
(3) lived her life wholly by
faith as Jesus taught,
(5) loved and served God in
spirit and in truth with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength,
(6) moved both the power of
heaven and lost sinners toward it with her prayers,
(7) was fearless in her witness
to lost souls,
(8) supported her church with
utmost love, zeal, and faithful attendance,
(9) believed and practiced
Old-Time Baptist doctrine to the letter,
(10) and was a joy and
inspiration to people around her.
We are sure that Aunt Bide was
not without fault, for she too was a humble sinner saved by grace. It was not a
perfect life or great feats, however, which distinguished her life, but the way she
honored her Lord in persistent holding to His hand, overcoming mountainous obstacles all
along her pilgrim pathway. Old Union should be glad that she was for a while a
member of our church. No doubt some are still profiting from her faith and works who may
be quite unaware of it. This testimony endorses nearly all of the cherished practices
which still make our old-fashioned faith distinct from most modern churches. Except for
foot-washing, which our church has no record of ever having practiced, (but is not hostile
toward sister churches which do so) all of the descriptions of religion herein are
recognizable at Old Union to this day. Perhaps we do not embrace them with nearly enough
zeal and dedication, but belief in their value has not vanished as it has from most
"churches" of this date. This reminder should increase our zeal; if so, Aunt
Bide, just as Abel, while "being dead, is still speaking." (Hebrews 11:4)
PREFACE
This
booklet is a true story, as told by Aunt Bide, as she is always known by her friends far
and near, together with such things as the author has known to be true about her life. It
tells her experience in her own words. It is not a fable, but the real life
of one of the most consecrated children of God I ever knew.
For a
long time we have been contemplating the writing of her life, as she has wanted
it written for a long time; and in hope that it will help some one of God's children to be
more faithful, or alarm some sinner to the need of repentance, we undertake the job. We
dedicate it to the Lord and His cause.
THE
AUTHOR (Elder
C. B. Massey was pastor of Old Union from 1913 through 1926.)
THE LIFE OF BIDE RUSSELL
Bide Russell was born at Red Boiling Springs, Macon
County, Tenn., April 1, 1856. She is the daughter of Thomas J. and Bernettie (Sutton)
Russell. Her parents were poor; her father was a cripple. When she was three months old
she took the scrofula, and it spread all over her, and like Job she was full of sores from
the crown of her head to the soles of her feet. At six months old it put her eyes out, and
then for two years it was thought she could not live another day.
Her name that was given her was Millia Elender, but
the people that came to see her would ask if she still "abides," and they
finally got to calling her "little Bide," so everybody has called her Bide ever
since, and since she has grown older they call her Aunt Bide.
She wore a tar cap for four years, and her throat ran
seven years. She can see the glimmer of light, but no object is visible to her. When she
was eight years old her mother died. Oh! What a loss for one who is blind to lose their
dear mother, and especially one not only blind but afflicted as she was! For two years
before her mother died she said she would soon have to die, but she would leave her little
blind girl in the hands of God. Often she said such things, and said she did not mind
dying, only she hated to leave her little blind girl. The evening she died, she motioned
for them to bring Bide to her. 'They led me to her; she laid her hand on my head, and big
tears ran down her cheeks. I faintly remember those trembling limbs. I can feel that hand
on my head now as my mind goes back to those days of childhood. It was evident that she
was calling down God's blessings on me. Mother left me in the care of God, and I certainly
have been in His care ever since. I missed my dear mother so bad in the years that came
and went, but God has been my stay."
In about a year after her mother died her father
broke up housekeeping, and she has worked her way through life from then till now, staying
at the start with anybody that had anything she could do. She learned to card before her
mother died, so she would card for people, wash, knit, spin, and sweep or do anything that
other people could do. She has worked all her life, staying with people. Some were good
and kind; others were not so kind. She has been through good and bad, rough and smooth,
hot and cold. She had been in perils, at many times. I will now give her Christian
experience in her own words.
"I was living at Eli Carter's the year I was
eleven years old. There was a big meeting going on at old Timber Ridge, and Addison
Cartwright was a mourner, and this was one of the greatest meetings I have ever seen. The
people prayed, sang and shouted, and mourned and wept. Most everybody was interested. On
the 12th day of August, 1869, about 10:00 a.m., Addison Cartwright professed religion at
home. He came to me and got down on his knees and asked me if I would be lost if I was to
die. I told him I did not know --1 would have to study a little. I studied a moment and I
knew I was lost. It came like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. I said, 'yes, I would be
lost! Lost!' He said, 'Go to praying right now,1 and I did. I never heard such
prayers as he prayed for me. I prayed almost constantly, but no relief could I find. I was
miserable everywhere I went: blind, both spiritually and naturally. I tell you the gloom
was deep. Nothing was any pleasure to me. One whole year I was a mourner. During this year
I moved to Ike Grissam's. They were all sinners and could not give me much
encouragement."
"August, 1870, Brother Ira King was holding a
meeting on Peyton's Creek at Pleasant Shade, Tenn., in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
I was a mourner in their meeting and I had trusted in everything that it was possible to
trust in except the Lord. On August 12,1870 old Brother King preached a wonderful sermon.
My conviction came on me with renewed power. I was calling upon God with all my might.
Uncle Luther Smith was standing over me singing this song:
'Oh! Sisters, are you ready To meet me in bright
glory? There is a dying day a coming, 0 Lord have mercy, There is a dying day a coming,
Make ready for to go."
"I had my thumbs gripped in my hands. I felt
that I was sinking into Hell while this song was being sung. I opened my hands and said,
'Lord, if I am saved it's mercy; if I am damned it's just; Lord I risk it all with thee,'
and I trusted Him. The burden was instantly moved away, and I felt and knew that I would
meet my Uncle Luther and my loved ones in heaven."
"I arose from my seat, realizing as David did
that my feet had been taken out of the miry clay and that I was brought out of a horrible
pit, and He put a new song in my mouth. I was happy and praising God. I loved everybody. I
loved God's cause. I went to old Uncle Jesse Kemp's to stay all night. I was still happy.
I got down by Uncle Jesse's and Aunt Betsy's bed and prayed for them. It made Aunt Betsy
mad. She said she could stamp me, but thirty years after that the Lord heard my prayer and
saved Aunt Betsy. When she was saved she said, 'it was the prayer of that little blind
girl thirty years before that brought conviction to my heart and followed me until now,
and I am saved.' Six years before this, Uncle Jesse was saved, and he said the same. They
joined the Baptist church and made faithful members until death."
"Father said I was too little to join the
church, but I could not be satisfied to stay out of the church. This is the only thing
that I ever disobeyed my father in. For three months I had an awful time trying to decide
whether to obey father or the Spirit that was leading me to join the church, but finally I
decided to join if he whipped me, and on the 12th of November, 1870,1 joined the
Missionary Baptist Church at Mt. tabor, Smith County, Tennessee. On Sunday, the 16th, I
was baptized. Father sent me word every day not to be baptized, but I felt I must obey God
rather than man. In later years father was sorry that he had tried to hinder me from
joining the church. I was baptized by Uncle Luther Smith. Sam Oldham picked me up and
carried me out of the creek. I have had many grievous trials, but I have been a happy
Christian ever since. I lived about at various places for nine years. Then father brought
me and my youngest brother back home, and I kept house for them two years and six months.
I was happy in our home, though it was a great burden on me to try to cook and wash and
keep the home in order and me blind."
"We lived near Defeated Creek Church, where I
had moved my membership. It was my delight to get everything ready to go to our meetings.
We lived in sight of the church. I only missed two appointments at my church in fourteen
years. After we had been living in our home two years and six months father said to me one
day, "Bide, you are blind and it is so hard on you to keep house. I can't afford to
let you keep house any longer." He said that he was going to hunt him a wife, and
that he would give me the privilege of picking my stepmother. I said, 'well, I will pick
Jane Canter,1 and father went to see her and they soon married, and a nobler
woman never lived. She was good and kind and took special care of me. She was so good to
my afflicted father, and as true a stepmother as ever lived. We lived happily together a
long time. I was the first one of father's children to get religion, and I prayed for the
rest of them until they were all saved. My sister Polly Ann was the first one to be saved.
Oh, how it filled my heart with joy when she was saved. I felt like she would gladly help
me to pray and work for the others to come to the Lord. Soon after this brother Lon was
saved and also joined the church and was baptized, but brother Buck was so hard-hearted he
had no interest in religion. I prayed for him fifteen years and I would talk to him at
home and at church. He would curse me and curse my religion, and swear he would cut my
throat if I came to him to talk to him again, but I remembered that the scripture said
that the prayers of the righteous avail much, and that the Lord said he would withhold no
good thing from them that walked uprightly, and that Paul prayed so earnestly for his
brethren. I was determined to get him if he killed me. He stayed away from church two
whole years trying to get me to promise that I would not come to him. I always told him
that if I felt like I ought to come to him I would come, and if not I would not bother
him. At the end of two years he got to coming to church and hiding from me. I believed he
was under conviction to some degree. All these two years he was going to the barn to pray
secretly, but some of them heard him praying and came and told me. This gave me great joy
to know that the Lord was bringing him in and I was encouraged to pray on. He came to
church one day and came up about half way and heard the preaching. When the preacher
called for mourners he refused to go, and several went to him, and I also went to him and
said, 'Buck, you said you would go to Hell before you would go to the altar or the
mourner's bench.' He said, 'yes, I said it.' I said, 'you will have to go,' and he just
jumped up and ran to the mourner's bench. I went to him and said, 'brother, you are mad at
your brother-in-law, Tom Donoho, and the Lord will not save you until you forgive him.' He
said, 'let me go home and study about it/ and he jumped up and started. I said, 'go,
brother, and be willing to forgive everybody.' He went home under deep conviction feeling
that he could neither eat nor sleep until this matter was fixed. His wife went to her
mother's and left the children with him that evening. He had his baby on his knee and the
other one was standing by. He was pondering the matter in his mind, saying, 'Why can't I
forgive everybody? Why can't I lay these matters down and trust my Lord?' Just at this
time his little girl clapped her hands, and just at that moment he trusted the Lord and
felt he was saved. Like the woman at Jacob s well that left her water pot and went to tell
the news to the city, he laid his baby on the bed and left his children there, caught his
horse, and started to the church to tell the news. His little girl called her mother and
when she got home he was gone. When he got to church, we had assembled, but services had
not begun. He rode up, turned his horse loose, and went straight to Tom Donoho and laid
his arms around his neck weeping for joy, having forgiven him all. He then came to me.
That was the happiest hour of my life. We had one of the most wonderful services I was
ever in. The next day his wife was saved, and they both joined the church and were
baptized." This is her story, which no one doubts in the least.
In 1901 her father died and left her without mother
or father or money, but not without friends. Her father was a good Christian man who lived
a godly life and died in the faith he lived. This brought her to consider again her life.
She said:
"I felt I was left alone in a cold and heartless
world to make the battle of life alone and without eyes. I then consecrated my life anew
to my God, giving my whole being into his hands. I said, 'Lord I don't want to go to a
poor house. I will give you all my life if you will save me from a pauper's home. I am
willing to be blind if you want me to. I have been afflicted all my life and I am willing
to be afflicted if you want me to be.' From that day I have worked in the Lord's cause as
best I could. Many times it looked as if I would be in want, but the Lord would send me
something to supply. I have lived like the little sparrow and have never been in want.
Brother Buck died June 13,1904. He always said that I caused him to repent and that it was
in answer to my prayers that he was saved. He called Brother Jim Swann to him on Sunday
morning and asked him to organize a Sunday school at Cornwell's Chapel and have his
children to go to it, and this was done as he directed.
He died Wednesday following. He held up his hands and said, 'Glory, glory,'
and passed out to his reward. He left eight children. Help me pray for them."
"I have worked in big meetings as opportunity
would afford, every year talking to sinners and praying for them, going from place to
place as the good people would carry me about, and they have come after me for miles to be
in their meetings. I have felt my way among the sinners and led many to the altar. I have
prayed with the earnestness of my soul for sinners, and I have witnessed many professions
of religion. But to God be all the glory. I have been called the old fuss maker. I have
shouted the glory of God for years. He has filled my soul with many a blessing and I guess
I have disturbed the devil's cause considerably, and I will, by God's grace, praise Him as
long as I live, and then praise Him forevermore. God has been both father and mother to
me. He has been brother, sister, and friend. He has saved me, clothed me, fed me, blessed
me, and answered my prayers, and saved many I have prayed for, and I will praise him as
long as I live. I have always felt sure, ever since I gave myself wholly into his hands,
that I would not suffer. The Baptists have been good to me, often giving liberally to me. Also, the Masons have been good to me,
helping me many times. I don't pretend to be perfect. I only am trying to do what I can
for the Lord. I have made many mistakes in life and it is only through Jesus I am going
through."
"Some of the noblest preachers in the world
have been my pastors, and I have belonged to some of the best churches in the world. I
will give you their names: Mt. Tabor, Defeated Creek, Bellwood (Willett); these are in
Smith and Macon Counties,
Tenn.; last, I moved to Old Union, Warren County,
Ky., and my membership is there now. My pastors have been as follows: E.L. Smith, E.B.
Hainey, W.M. Kuykendall, T.A. Hudson, Wiseman Drury, WJ. Watson, G.W. Ramsey, T.W.
Matthews, W.H. Smith, W.M.S. Wilks, Jim Rich, and at present, C.B. Massey. These men have
been the standard-bearers for us through our Christian life."
"I have lived as circumstances would demand,
from place to place. I have lived most of the time of late years among my people. I lived
a few years ago with my sister and brother-in-law, but they went to Texas, and I did not
want to go. They tried to get me to go, but I refused to go. I did not know where I could
get to go, but about the time they were ready to start, Brother C.B. and Sister Fannie
Massey told me that I could live with them. I was delighted to get to live with them. I
was heart-broken about my sister leaving for the West. Bro. Massey and wife and children
did all they could to comfort me and make me happy. They were good to me. The children
treated me like I was their mother. I went with Bro. Massey to nearly all his appointments
for a long time. This afforded me the best opportunity to work for the Lord I most ever
had, and also gave me more pleasure than anything to get to go to meetings. I got to be in
protracted meetings so much. Finally my sister came back from the West and then I lived
with her until her husband died, which was a short time later. We lived with her son,
Alvis Donoho, a while, and sister married again, and got a good man. Since then I have
moved to Warren County with my nephew, where I now reside. I used to stay with Brother
Robert and Sister Martha Wright. We have had many good times together. They are both dead
and gone to their reward."
"I am now set for the work of the master as long
as I live. I have traveled through this old dark world feeling my way. I am perfectly
content to be blind if the Lord wants me to. I am living in strong faith of seeing in the
world above. I know my redeemer lives and I will see Him some day when He comes with a
shout. Bless God, I will meet Him with a shout and give Him glory forever. Then I will
look upon Him; I will see the glories of Him and His new world where there are no blind,
halt or lame. We will all be like our Savior."
"I am a Missionary Baptist. I believe the
doctrine to the letter. I believe in repentance of the old time sort, calling uponGod,
seeking Him with the whole heart. I believe that the Baptist church is the TRUE church of
Christ, that it alone has the right to administer the ordinances, that one must be
approved by the church, and then be baptized by a Baptist preacher before he can be a
member of God's old church. I believe the preservation of the saints is a glorious
fundamental in the doctrine of Christ. I would by the grace of God have my head cut off
before I would give up even one of these old principles in the doctrine of Christ. I
believe in feet-washing, and have for many years. I have been made happy many times when
washing feet. It will be a glorious day when the Lord is married to His church. I will be
able to see by then and how glad I will be. The last word I want to say in this old world
is, 'sinners, come to Jesus,' and that is the last word I want in my little book. When you
hear that blind Bide is dead, shout for joy; for I will be happy then."
Aunt Bide is indeed a loyal Christian, and a
blessing to every home. Everybody who knows her loves for her to come and stay with them.
She helps to make the home happy. She is strong in the faith and full of good works. She
has a pleasant spirit, always lively, and seldom ever grunts when sick. She is as
entertaining as anybody, a big talker who will talk all day about religion, or she will
talk of other things. She has a great intellect. She can go about the place when she gets
acquainted almost as good as one who can see. In any community where she is familiar she
can get in the buggy and ride along the road and tell you where everybody lives and every
time you pass a road she can tell you just about the time you are passing it, and where it
goes. She has guided me through these hills on many roads I had never traveled before. I
remember once she wanted me to take her to her brother's-in-law. It was about eight miles.
I did not know the way, and many roads to lead off, but she guided me to their home and
told me when we were getting about in sight. Few blind people ever equaled her in those
things. She has no means of support except the Lord puts it into the hearts of the people
to help her, and she always has plenty to live on.
I carried her to Nashville once to have her eyes
operated on. The doctor thought he could make her see, but he failed. He hated to tell her
that she would never see. He thought it would cause her to grieve so, but to his surprise
she said, "If the Lord don't want me to see, I don't want to see." I made up
some of the money and paid the remainder of $16.00 myself. I would have given anything if
she could have gained her eyesight.
She has been active in leading people to Christ. She
can talk to anybody with all patience. She does not care how hard he is or what he says.
If they curse her it's all right. She just continues to tell them of the way. The Baptists
have always been proud of Aunt Bide, and her work. She has her faults as other people, but
I think she has as few as anyone I ever saw. She has lived at my house and been in and out
for ten years, and we are always glad to see Aunt Bide come. She is a noble hand with the
sick and a great lover of children, and they all take up with her.
Well, we all have our ups and downs here, but we live
in hope of better times when the Lord comes with a shout, with the trump of God, and the
dead in Christ shall arise. Then we will go where the wicked cease from troubling and the
weary are at rest. Then we will be happy in our new mansions that Jesus has prepared. Then
we will shout and sing, and praise God and enjoy the things of Heaven forever. While we
are here let us do all we can to help out the Master's cause. Let us work and warn sinners
to repent. Sinners, you will see some day that you have lost time in not repenting when
you were young. The Lord said, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth
while the evil days come not, and the years draw nigh when you will have no pleasure in
them." Oh, sinners, COME TODAY! COME TO JESUS!
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OLD UNION MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH 714 OLD UNION
CHURCH ROAD BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY 42104