Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1869-11-17
Pioneer Preaching in the West.

Al LiNcOIH. lli-I iui iing sIe past DONLn.
was celebrated the fftieth anniversary of the
Presiding Eldership of Father Cartright, of
the Methodist Church. 1t was an edifying
time to all who participated. Father Cart
right was one of the earliest I'd best known
of the pioneer preachers of the West
These pioneers did not enjoy the stated
preaching of the Gospel. The early preach
ers were not ''ten thousand dollar men who
rode in chariots, who dressed in purple and
fine linen, and who occupied houses with
graperies and Conservatives attached They
preached salvation without money and
without price" They rode the circuit on
horseback, exposed to rain and sleet, suf-
feriug cold and hunger, swimming rivers and
camping at night on the open prairie, or
eking shelter beLe th The roof of the hum
BILE cabin.
When it was known that the preacher was
to arrive on the Lords day at an obscure
hamlet, the people throughout the settle
ment' gathered in-some on horseback, some
in farm wagons, and some on foot-the men
dressed in linsey- woolsey hunting shirts,
dyed with copperas, their heads covered
with coon skin caps with the tail dangling
behind, and their feet encased In moccasins
of deer skin. The women we're dressed In
homespun cotton, striped and crossbarred
To them the Sabbath was a day of gladness
"a time of reunion, when neigh bors, 50 to
speak, widely separated, could come togeth-
Nd nd he
intervals of service, talk over the events of
the week. It was an era of good feeling.
The horses are hitchsd beneath the trees
by some overhanging bough. The preacher
mounts rude stand in grove, and opens
the services with prayer-fervid and ava
kening. He reads hymn from his well
thumbed pocket hymn book-not gilt edged
and lines out the words then starting
some simple melody, the congregation join.
and there raises up the sound of praise,
which breaks the solitude of the forest and
comes back from the hills in answering ech
oes Then follows the sermon, extempora-
neous and abounding in illustrations of every
day life and as the preacher becomes warm
ed up, the passions of the audience are
aroused end startled and respond to his
every appeal What harm if, in the ecsta-
cy of spiritual delight, those untutored
minds shout Glory !" 'Amen!' Halle
lujah -
Bat the times have changed. Last Sun
day night we stfayed into fashionable
church on Wabash avenue. 4 thousand gas
Jets lighted up the interior-;he grained
arches and the canopy of blue and gold 4
! large and fashionable congregation-the wo,
men, not Solomon in all his glory was array
| ed like unto these-occupied the slips. As
we scanned their faces, we sought in vain for
! the meek and the lowly, the weary and the
! heavy laden Before us stood the surpiced
| priest. His linen was Of snowy whiteness,
| and each particular hair of his head was
nicely laid His discourse was eminently
! dccorous-not sentiment to shock the
preiudces of single individual or to ava
| ken a single unpleasant emotion. A zephyr
playing over summer sea is not more gen.
tie; lutte not more soothing in its sounds.
Then, high above the tones of the organ
are heard the notes of the choir-profession
al singers, exorbitantly paid, and who, per
haps, during every night of the week, have
performed at the opera in Fra Diavola' OIL
The Barber of Seville.
As we issued out of the church with the
| self satisfied throng, we thus moralized
What would be the emotions of one of those
! back woodsmen, arrayed in his coonskin cap,
moccasins and hunting shirt, who was wont
to grow fervid under the rousing appeals Of
| Father Cartright, if transferred to such a
/ scene? Did the fisherman of Gailee preach
to such audiences, and with such acccsso-
| ries ? Christ came to preach to the poor, to
proclaim the common humanity of our race,
and the vanity of temporal distinctions. We
have made religion an expensive luxury 1t
is as expensive to the laboring man to rent
a slip in fashionable church as to rent a
cottage We array our wives aud daughters
in purple and fine linen, so that the wives
and daughters of the poor. arrayed ia calico
and gingham feel out of place; and thus
the very class for whom our Savior died, are
rcpelled from celebrating his resurrection.
The quality of the gospel is not strained 1t
/ is the same, whether in the cottage or in the
palace If it edifes the rich, it will certain.
ly fructify in the hearts of the poor and the
heavy laden SIN my father house, said
our Savior, ''are many mansions but he
did not add that some were set apart for the
rich exclusively, and some for the poor
unless we suppose that the parable of Dives
and Lazarus, and the implied impossibiity
of camel passing through the eye of a nee
die, throw light upon this point. when we
shall see both classes worshipping side by
side, both partaking of the same elements,
and both imbued with the sentiment that
God is no respector of persons, then we may
have hopes of our common humanity-th then
believe that our modern Christianity is
working benifcent results.-7he IFe.se,n
Monthly.
A fine article of cheese is said to be made
of boiled peas and plaster of Paris. 1t can t
bo l.. ,,op, no.