Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1853-01-27

the audience, and hear the preacher.
The blowing of the horn called every
one, young and old, to the stand, and by
by their eagerness it was plain that some
thing was expected beyond the ordinary;
and | congratulated myself upon having
secured so favorable location, to gain
full advantage of it. l should have OBJ
served that this location was directly un-
der the pulpit leaning in fact against it,
and was, of course, dcbarred from see
ing the countenance of the speaker
There is some little avkwardness, too
connected with that particular seat, for if
the minister chance to prove a pulpit
M'tmper, as many do, you might be sud-
denly aroused by the fall of pitcher of
water, or the big Bible upon your crani-
um, as [ have moro than once beheld it.
The opening services, which are usual
| ly short at camp-meetings, were soon pass
ed over, for it is plain that this class of
preachers look upon them as lightly as
Napoleon estimated the Tirailleur service,
and they hasten up the artillery.
The text was announced in a voice that
I Immediately recognized as that of my
travelling friend Of a few days previous.
l rejoiced at the omen. His subject of
discourse was embraced in the single
word Consider" and led off by the odd
remark, that if we would read the Bible
diligently we could find it there, so he
he thought it unnecessary to point out
chapter and verse 1t is immaterial for
me to follow him through his divisions
and exhibitions of the subject. My pur-
pose is simply to show what the Mountain
! Preacher Boy, (for it was hey had done
with himself in ten years, during which
he had been devoted to the calling of a
minister. His first half year had been
spent in a school, and although his edu-
cational progress had hardly been such as
his friends anticipated, yet by preaching
nights and Sundays and exhorting all the
time, he had got up revival Of religion in
the school which swept like wildfre, and
brought in scores to the fold of the church.
At the next Prcsbytery he came up to
beg leave to occupy circuit, and despite
of his limited requirements for as yet
he could barely read text or write a
copy,-that body had regard to the pc
culiarities Of his case, and licensed him.
That constituted the true commencement
| of his career from this hour he was a
man in the Masters work. 1t has been
often remarked among Methodist denom-
ination, that the circuit is the true col
lege of the young preacher. 1t proved so
in the case of George Willets. His idio-
syncrasy was to tell thing as soon as he
learned it; and while he could preach at
night the Scripture that he had studied
through the day, he made. an unbounde ed
improvement. His memory proved re-
tentive, his ideality was highly vivid; per-
severance attended him as shadow, and
unlimited love for the souls of the world
kept him up and kept him going. There
was never better combination of all the
essentials of travelling preacher than ap-
peared in George Willets.
Yet, he could never learn grammar nor
arithmetic, nor any study of metaphys-
ical tendency. Geography he acquired
by preaching missionary sermons, natural
philosophy by discourses upon the evi-
dence of Gods wisdom on earth, and his
tory by his desire to see the ancient dis
plays Of prosecuting and redeeming pow
er. Year after year passed. He could
not spell, he could not compose connec-
ted sentence, he could not parse, he could
only study, and preach what he S'tdted.
In sheer desperation, the Presbytery
concluded at last to ordain him, and did
so, although by breach of the Church's
rule as to literary qualifications. 1t hap
pened that the occasion on which | first
met him, was his first sermon since his or
dination, and that for the first time in his
life he was to oficiciate in the admins
tration Of the Lords Supper.
The whole tenor of his discourse was
to show sinners wIere they Sta1ld and ar]lere
Mcg might &aad. There was much elo
quence, remarkable originality even to
coarsness, for | recollect that one of his
comparisons introduced fghtiHg-chtche"s
and their owner powerful appeals to the
human heart, which he had read as a
master but best of all, vein of tender
ness so pure, so gentle, that hundreds
of us were lost in tears, The peroration
was tremendous. How such voice could
come from mortal lungs | am not physiol
ogist enough to explain, but it raised us
to our feet like trumpet, swayed US to
and fro, to follow as | suppose, the direc-
tions of his hand, and at the closing ap-
peal "for mourners to come forward and
be prayed for" such rush was made
L y. 4.