There is only one word to describe the writings of Lorenzo Dow—­Miscellanies.  Anything whatsoever that came to the evangelist’s mind was set down, not always with good form, though frequently with witty and forceful expression.  Here are “Hints to the Public, or Thoughts on the Fulfilment of Prophecy in 1811”; “A Journey from Babylon to Jerusalem,” with a good deal of sophomoric discussion of natural and moral philosophy; “A Dialogue between the Curious and the Singular,” with some discussion of religious societies and theological principles; “The Chain of Lorenzo,” an argument on the eternal sonship of Christ; “Omnifarious Law Exemplified:  How to Curse and Swear, Lie, Cheat and Kill according to Law,” “Reflections on the Important Subject of Matrimony,” and much more of the same sort.  “Strictures on Church Government” has already been referred to as bringing upon Dow the wrath of the Methodist Church.  The general thesis of this publication, regarded at the time as so sensational, is that the Methodist mode of church government is the most arbitrary and despotic of any in America, with the possible exception of that of the Shakers.

“A Cry from the Wilderness—­intended as a Timely and Solemn Warning to the People of the United States” is in every way one of Dow’s most characteristic works.  At this distance, when slavery and the Civil War are viewed in the perspective, the mystic words of the oracle impress us as almost uncanny:  “In the rest of the southern states, the influence of these Foreigners will be known and felt in its time, and the seeds from the HORY ALLIANCE and the DECAPIGANDI, who have a hand in those grades of GENERALS, from the INQUISITOR to the Vicar General and down....

[Image:  Pointing Hand] The STRUGGLE will be DREADFUL! the CUP will be BITTER! and when the agony is over, those who survive may see better days!  FAREWELL!"[4]

A radical preacher of the Gospel, he could not but be moved with compassion on observing the condition of the Negroes in the South during these years.  When denied admission to white churches because of his apparent fanaticism he often found it pleasant to move among the blacks.  Arriving in Savannah, one day, he was accosted by a Negro, who, seeing that he had no place to stop, inquired as to whether he would accept the hospitality of a black home.  He embraced this opportunity and found the people by whom he was entertained “as decent as two thirds of the citizens of Savannah."[5] When on another occasion in Savannah he learned that Andrew Bryan, the Negro minister of the city, had, because of his preaching, been whipped unmercifully and imprisoned, Dow preached to the congregation himself.[6] He moved among Negroes, lived with them socially, distributed tracts among them, preached to them the Word, counted them with pride among his converts and treasured in his memory his experiences among them.[7]