Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1855-05-09
THE LATE BISHOP CAPERS.

funeral discourse recently delivered III 10
lumbus, Ca, is from the Columbus Times.
The orator and his subject were admirably
fitted, the one to the other; and the sermon
must indeed have been one of rare excel.
lence. Who, that ever knew the beloved
and veuerated WILLIAM CAPERs, does not
most feelingly respond to LovIcK PIERcE's
just estimate of his character and worth!
Thus writes the Times ~
On Sunday, 22d inst, very large audi.
ence assembledin the Methodist Episcopal
Church in this city to hear funeral dis.
course upon the life and character of Will
liam Capers, deceased, by Lovick Pierce,
of the Georgia Conference. The occasion
was most interesting one, not only on &C.
count of the eminent virtues of the deceased,
but of the peculiar relations Of the eulogist
and his subject. The. reverend preacher
was pioneer of Methodism, and had per.
sonal experience of the life and character OF
William Capers from his boyhood 20 the day
of his death. The discourse, therefore, was
rich in personal anecdotes, and was the more
thrilling as s-It=rnarhesz hack tn- -tha. a-5---r e
Francis Asbury, who planted Methodism in
the Southern States. Our space will not
allow US to give even all abstract of the dis
course. One or two of the venerable
preachers "reminiscences must suffice.
William Capers was converted in 1918,
Just after he graduated in South Carolina
College. He belonged to the old aristocracy
of the Province of South Carolina. In
personal beauty be was unrivalled among
his fellows. In eloquence, learning. taste,
and all personal accomplishments, he had
no equal. His fellow citizens were proud
of him, and were shocked when it was
announced that young Capers had determin-
ed to give up all the bright prospects that
were open to his ambition and sacrifice him.
self to preaching the gospel among despised
Methodists. He was the first educated
young man who had even entered the iline-
racy in the Southern States. He turned a
deaf ear to all the allurements of ambition
and followed the call Of duty, and it is the
opinion of Dr.. Pierce that he did more than
any other man to break down the prejudice
of the earlier Methodist in the United States
against an educated ministry.
The power Of his eloquence was illustra-
ted by the effect of an exhortation delivered
in Putnam county, Georgia, between 1920
25. 1t was at a camp meeting at which
there were three thousand persons present
After sermon had been delivered, he arose
to invite mourners to the alter, and preceded
it by an appeal of such power, that when
the invitation was given, the whole multi.
tude, without an exception, fell upon their
knees.
In lSl9-'2O, he was stationed in Savan.
nah. During the summer the yellow fever
broke out and swept over the city as it die
last year. While others fled from their post
he stood his ground, administering to the
sick, comforting the distressed and burying
the dead BY his selfsacrificing devotion
and eloquence, he won the hearts of all ant
planted Methodism among people who hac
hitherto despised it.
At the death of Dr.. Pollock his congre
CATION rendered to him his pulpit, which he
|
author of the Mission to the Blacks i'll the
Southern States
The following description of Bishop Ca
pers must close the article.
In person it was pleasure to look upor
him, so noble was his countenance and sc
faultless his proportions. His voice wa:
tuned to melody and fell like music upon the
ear. He had but to oper his mouth and 6
stream of simple and ornase eloquence gush
ed forth as from an ever living spring. His
attainments, learning and manners fitted him
to adorn courts, and he would have been the
welcome associate of princes, and yet he
made himself at home in the hut of the
backwoodsman, who welcomed him as biz
equal and friend.
In all the varied relations and situations
of his life, he was the Christian gentleman
and never was guilty Of an act that wcule
not have been becoming in the most cultiva
ted and refined society. The honors ane
dignites that were heaped upon him by hl'
grateful bretheren never made the slIghtes
impression upon him; he continued, to the
end of his career, the same simple, unpre
tending, laborious man as he was at the
beginning. His last words were, in reply
to bis weeping family, who refused to give
him up, "Let me go to Cod" We spoil
the beauty of the description by our para
phrase. We but give the ideas. 1t, as vel
as the whole discourse, was worthy OF the
] fame of the preacher, than whom the church