Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-12-23
THE BARBECUE CAMP MEETING

$3.50
the table by scores Of slaves, and the
throng prepared to commence the sump-
tueus meal, when a voice peeled from the
pulpit, loud as the blast Of a trumpet in
battle, Stay gentlemen and ladies, till
the giver of the barbecure asks God his
blessing r
Every heart started, every eye was d.
rected to the speaker, and a ~whisperless
silence ensued, for all alike were struck
by his remarkable appearance. He was
almost a giant in stature, though scarce
ly thirty years of age. His hair dark as
the ravens wind, flowed down his i'm
mense shoulders in masses of natural ring
lets !; his eyes black as midnight, beamed
like stars over a face. pale Is Partisan
marble, calm, ~passionless. spiritual, and
wearing a singular, indefnable express
sion. The heterogeneous crowd, hunters.
gamblers, and homicides, gazed in mute
establishment. The missionary prayed,
but it sounded like no other prayer ever
addressed to a Throne of Grace. 1t was
the cry Of a naked soul, and that soul a
beggar for the bread and water of heav-
emily life.
He ceased, and not till then did | be
come conscious of weeping. l looked
around through my tears and saw hun
dreds of faces wet as with rain.
Now, my friends" said the missiona-
ry, "partake of Gods gift at the table,
and then come and sit down and listen to
his gospel"
1t would be impossible to describe the
sweet tone of kindness in which these
simple words were uttered, that made him
on the insant five hundred friends. One
heart, however, in the assembly was mad
dened by the evidence of the preachers
wonderful power.
Col. Watt Forman exclaimed in a sheer
ing voice, Mr.. Paul Denton, your rev.
erence has lied. You promised us not
only a good barbecue, but better liquor
Where is the liquor ?"
There u answered the missionary in
tones %ofthunder, and pointing his motion
less finger at the m~atchless Double Spring
gushing up in two strong columns, with a
sound like a shot of Joy from the bosom
of the earth. There, he repeated, with
a look terrible as lightning. while his en-
envy actually trembled at his feet
There is the liquor which God, the eter-
nal brews for his children. Not in the
simmering still over smoky fires choked
with poisonous gases, and surrounded
with the stencil of sickening odors and
rank corruption, doth your Father in
heaven prepare the precious essence of
life. the pure cold water. But in the
green glade and grassy Cell, where the
red deer wanders, and the child loves to
play, there God himself hrews it and
down, low down in the deep valleys,
where the fountains murmurs and the rills
sing ; and high on the tall mountain tops,
where the naked granite glitters like gold
in the sun, where the storm cloud broods
and the thunder tones crash and away
far out on the wide, wide sea, where the
hurricane bowls music, and the big waves
roar the chorus, g sweeping the march Of
God = there he brews it, that beverage
Of life, health giving water. And every
where it is a thing Of beauty cleaning
in the dew-drop, singing in the summer
rain, shining in the ice gem, till the trees
all seemed turned to living jewels
spreading a golden veil over the setting
sun, or a white gauze around the mid
night moo sporting in the cataract
sleeping in the glacier; dancing in the
hail shower !; folding it's bright snow-cur-
tanis softly about the wintry world and
weaving the many colored iris, that SER
apis 0 n of the sky, whose wool is the
sunbeam of heaven, checkered over with
celestial flowers by the mystic hand of
refraction. Still alwaysit is beautiful
that blessed life water No poison bub-
bles on its brink its foam brings not
madness and murder no blood stains it's
liquid glass pale widows and starving
orphans weep not in burning tears in its
clear depths ; no drunkard's shriekine
ghost from the grave curses it in words
Of eternal despair Speak out, my friends
would you exchange it for the demons
drink-alcohol r"
A shout like a o Of tempest answer
ed No"
Critics need never tell me again that
backswoodsmen are deaf to the divine
voice of eloquence, for ! saw at that mo-
ment the missionary held the hearts Of the
multitude, as it were in the hollow; Of his
hand, and the popular feeling ran in a
current SO irresistible that eYen the du-
ellist, Watt Forman, dared net venture
another interruption during the meeting.
The camp meeting continued and a revi-
val attended it, such as never before or
since was witnessed in Texas.-Ieras
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