The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1858-11-16
An English View of English and American
Preachers.

FtcoCuens
In review Of the autobiography Of
Peter Cartwright, the backwoods preacher,
the London Times remarks IA follows, on
the difference of preachers in England and
America.
America IL the Promised Land Of eccen-
tricities; there they flourish and become
strong; you search for. them in vain with.
in the sound of Bow bells. The modern
Erglshman has not the gift Of wonder;
he is astonishe1 and touched by nothing.
We are all 40 much alike, one knows not
lord from his tailor; and out Of livery
''Jeames" sometimes looks properer man
than his master. Every now and then q
rnan Is born who claims tn think, and act.
and speak for himself; but society soon
,ells him down, and he vanishes; or, il
he be worth his money, society buyes him
up, and makes Of him useful officials
mighty red .tapist, Judge, era bishop.
Who shall say that society is wrongi So
ciety asks uniformity. Where religion is
concerncd-whero the interests, not Of
time but Of eternity are involved-where
the message processes to be not human,
but divine, we hive a right to expect
frcer spirit, and language less shackled
by common modes Of utterance and Of
thought. 1t is sof On any Sunday you
like, en,crau average metropolitan church
how denure is the preacher, how fault
less the discourse, with what good taste
are the devotional parts Of the service per.
formed, with what exquisite pathos do faith
themselves to b. miserable sinners! Alas
all is here but the one thing which can
make simple man cloquent-the inspira-
ton which made the Hebrew fisherman
and tent-makers more than match for
the retoric and philosophy Of Greece and
Rome. Look at the popular person, the
idol Of tho women, the envy Of the men;
can that scented, curled, pale-fac,d, white
handed, effeminate man milincr arrest the
sinner, case the agony of the wounded con-
science, sound the depths Of the human
heartl "Canst thou draw out leviathan
with hooki" With penny whistle can
you wake tho echoes Of the univcrsa In
the American backwoods, at any rate, we
shall find sturdier figures. Manly physi-
cal power, at least, the preacher in that
district must have. In bis way, he is
son Of thunder. He may lack much grace
and culture, but he is earnest. He prays
until he 50 cats-he breaches until he is
hoanc. To compete with him man must
have the bodily strength Of an ox or prize
fighter. Multiiudes como cut in tho deg.
ert to hear + i'm, and hundreds own his
power; they yell, they scream, they fall
on the ground, they tear their hair and
garments. They sit in sackcoth and ashes,
and are saved, rs they tell us, from the
wrath to come. Unconverted human ma
ture always gets converted in this violent
way. 1t was so with our Wesley and
Whitfield. 1t was so in the days Of the
Commonwealth, when tho saints weilded
the sword Of the Lord and of Gideon 1t
was so, We believe, when the Mcso- Gothic
version Of the BiL!c, by U.philas, was com
posen. with tn omission Of the jewish
wars, least its warike readers should find
fresh sanction for their cruelties, And
e'en in our day, Amongst the Rantcrs
and primitive Methodist, something of the
same sort exists. We may laugh at and
despise it. lu' the fact is a reality. In
ward terror and alarm cpeales on the body.
Where men arc not taught restraint
where they have room to turn, as it were
--whcrs one mans feelings does not in
terfere with anoiher--where there is no
English drcd of u scel GIVE may expect
preaching to produce an effect outwardly,
which you may in vain look for here. Add
10 this, that the audiences thus collected
are rare; that a preaching is an event,
not an everyday occurrence; that whilst
among ourselves the excitement of the
drama, Of literature, Of music, and of ora
tory, rivals that of tho pulpit, there the
preacher stands alone.
Very rough AM ready is our backwoods
preacher, with very little faith in human
learning aud with great confidence in
loud voice and a strong hand. We adj
mire his zeal, his s,raightforwar!ncss, his
common sense There is no nonsense with
him. If ho cannot vanquish the sinner
with words, he has no objection to quieting
him with blow. With irrascible females,
he he's a very summary mode Of taking
them by the shoulder and bundiing them
out. OF course ho is very sectsran, and
looks upon a man who leaves the method
lat church,as little better than one Of the
wicked.