The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-08-27
Pioneer Methodist Preachers.

Pioneer Methodist Preachers.
a The Methodist pulpit of the United
p States is not one whit less interesting
u -rather more so, | think--than oar
: own. Had not DIR. Sprague brought
= together such an interesting variety
or biography and anecdOie in hi:
= 1nHoks Of tie american MethOdtSI
Pntpit, we should have hoped that
the subject would have brought from
DR.. Stevens a fourth volume; AMI
still there is room and from his pen
it could only be most pleasant read
ling.
1 For very wonderful is the story OF
1.-THE lamp and pitcher in many of the
dark places Of that great continent
the varied region OF the United
States--the lives of bishops, not al
dressed as "My Lord" wearing no
episcopal title or dignity, having no
spiendid palace, no magnificent ca
thedral, no snug diocese, no princely
income. Scholars, men OF genius,
like Asbury, separating themselves
from al the comforts and conyenien
ces of liIe, for sixty dollars a year,
with a travelling equipage, not of Il
chariot and four, but of saddle bags
and one; pluDging into the wilder
ness ID seek for lost sheep, preaching
in barns, on stumps of trees, in log
huts, in illlmitable woods, in the
houseless forest, by blazed trees, in
deep prairies; fioundering through
swamps, swimming vast rivers,
drenched by pitiless rains, scorched
by suns, bitten by frosts and driving
SHOWS. From some of these places
they wrote for preacher: "BeI
sure and send us a good swimmer
there was considerable wonder as to
what this could mean, till it turned
out that the district was full OF
bridgeiess streams, and the last min
lister had been drowned because he
could not sTim. Sometimes the
travelling preacher or bishop found
himself among hostile Indians in the
solitude OF the forest; he knew their
track and trail; at night lie heard
their yell. and unexpectedly found
himself in the neighbOrhood of their
camp fire and the crack of the Indian
rifle The intrepid and heroic preach
er urged his way over the mountains
and through valleys, stirring the
community, wherever he came, with
hymn and sermon; reaching the vii
lages and little settlements dotting
the country, amidst extensive wilder
nesses, for the most part the undis
Iturbed abode of the wolf and the
panther. Neither the cold nor storms
of winter, nor the abuse he received
from wicked men, could weaken his
energy or impede his progress. Ifl
the horse was not in the way, then
often the saddlc-bags had to he car
ried over the shoulder, and he trav-
eled On foot Sometimes there were
no saddle-bags. George SAID
Bishop Asbury to George Roberts
"George, where are your clothes?"-
''BishOp, they are on my back. On
Receiving my appointment at your
hand, sir, | am not compelled TO re-
turn 10 my circuit for my clothes,
but | am ready at a moments warn
ing, to go whithersOever you direct. "
His son, DIR. Roberts, says; 81 have
in my possession the needle-and-
thread case which was his constant
companion. Ii his clothes, from any
unexpected cause, needed attention,
he WAS in the habit of turning aside
into some retired spot for the pur-
pose of taking them of and mending
them" In the lives Of ROmish
saints-St. Francis or st. Dominic
these would be thought most pictur-
esque and wonderful relics. Some
times the preacher, in the depth OF
the prairie, came upon a band of
white heather, Thus Richard Mol
ley, one OF these good and great
men, discovered the track of an emf
grant family, and followed it
"Whatr p said the man who was
leading it into the wilderness, ga
Methodist preacherl I quit Virgin
ia to be out of the way of them, but
in nv settlement in Georgia thought
l should be beyond their reach
There they were, and they got my
wife and daughter into their church.
Then come here to Choctaw Corner,
find good piece of land, feel sure
that l shall have some peace from
the preachers, and here is one before
I have ualoaded my wagon!" ssMy
friend,n said Motley. 'sif you go to
heaven, you'll find Methodist preach
ers there; and if you 60 to hell Pm
afraid you'll find some there; and
Won see how it is in this world Pd
advise you to come to terms with
God, and then you'll be at peace
with u.s." Sometimes they died in
the wilderness, and "no man knew
the place of their sepulchre.''-
months, and sometimes years, elaps-
ed before it was known they had
gone to their reward. These men
have been called the graduates of
Brush College, Fellows of Swamp
University. "How is it you have no
Doctors of Divinity?'" said one to
fine old Jacob Kruber, a preacher of
this order. sour divinity is not
sick, and does not need doctoring,"
tsaid the old man. A witty, satiriesl
EQld essatures this krahsr = shls,