Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1869-12-02
Pioneer Preaching in the west

I
ship Of Father Cartwright, OF the
Methodist Church. II was an edi.
flying time to I'll who participated!
Father Cartwright was one Of The
earliest and best known Of the pi.
oncer preacher of the west.
These pioneers did not enjoE tie
"stated" preaching Of the Gospel.
The early preachers were not aten.
thou8anddollar" men, who rode Ia
chariots, who dressed in "purplo
and fine linen," and who occupied
houses with graperies and conserg
yatories attached. They preached
salvation without money ind
without price" p" They rode Tie eli,
cult on horseback, exposed to rain
and slect, suffering cold and hun
ger, swimming rivers and camping
at night on the open prairie, Or
seeking shelter beneath the roof o t
the humble cabin. When it WAS
known that the preacher was to
arrive on the Lords day at an OBJ
scure hamlet, the people through
out the "settlement" gathered IN
some on horseback, some in farm
wagons, and some afoot--the men
dressed in linsey- woolsey hunting
shirts dyed with copperas, theft
heads covered with coohskin caps
with the tail dangling behind, and
their feet encased in moccasins Of
deer skin. The women were dress,
ed in homespun cotton; striped and
crossbarred. To them the Sabbath
was day of gladness--a time of
reunion, when neighbors, so to
SPEAK, widely separated, could COME
together and exchange greetings,
and, during the intervals Of service,
talk over the events of the week.
1t was an era Of good feeling.
The horses was hitched beneath
the trees to some ovcrbanginp
bough. The preacher Moants d
rude stand in Q grove and opens
the services with prayer-fervid
and awakening. He reads a hymn
from this well thumbed pocket
hymn book-not ilt-edged-and
lines out the words; then starting
some simple melody, the congrega-
ton Join, and there rises up the
sound ofpraise which breaks the sol
itude Of the forest and comes back
from the hills in answering echoes.
Then follows the sermon, extern
pOraneous and Astounding in illns-
tratiOns of everyday lie; and as
the preacher becomes warmed UP,
the passions of the audience are
aroused and startled, and respond
to his every appeal. WI harm; II
in the ecstacy of spiritual delight;
those untutored minds shout, "Glo-
ryH "Amen !"'Halleluiah ''
But the times have changed
Last Sunday night we strayed into
a fashionable church Oh Wabash
evenue, Chicago. A thousand gas
jets lighted up the interior-the
grained arches and the canopy of
blue and gold. A large and fash.
ionable congregation--the women,
not Solomon in all his glory was
arrayed like unto these--occupied
the slips. AS we scanned their fas
ces, we sought in vain for the meek
and the lowly, the weary and heavy
laden. Before us stood the sur.
pliced priest. His linen vas Of
snowy whiteness, and each particu.
lar hair of his head was nicely laid.
His discourse was eminently deco
rous-not a sentiment to shock the
prejudices of single individual, OF
to awaken a single unpleasant emo
ton. A zephyr playing over a
summer sea is not more gentle; d
ute not more soothing III It's
sounds. Then, high above the
tone OF the organi are heard the
ohoir-professionai singers, exhor-
paid, and who, perhaps;
Turing every night of the week,
have performed at the opera, in
Fra Diavolo" or "The Barber of
Seville"
As we issued out Of the church
with the self-satisfed throng, #e
5hus moralized: What would be
The emotions of those backwoods-
men, arrayed in his coonskin cap,
noccasins and hunting shirt, who
we're wont to grow fervid under the
appeals Of Father Cart.
wright, if transferred to such a
scene? Did the fishermen of Cali
&c preach to such audiences, and
With such accessofies ? Christ
came to preach to the poor, to pro-
claim to common humanity of our
'ace, and the vanity of temporal
distinctions. We have made feli-
zion an expensive luxury. 1t is as
expensive to the laboring man to
rent a slip in fashionable church.
rs to rent a cottage. We array our
wives and daughters in purple and
ine linen, so that the wives and
of the poor, arrayed in
calico and gingham, feel out of
place; and thus the very class for
whom our Saviour died, are repell-
ID from celebrating his resurrec-
ion. The quality of the gospel is
lot strained. 1t is the same, wheth-
If in the cottage or in the palace.
f it edify the. rich, it will certainly
ructify in the hearts Of the
,oor and heavy-laden. "Ih
NY Fathers house said our Sa-
,iour, 'are many mansions;" but
le did not add that some were set
part for the rich exclusively, and
iome for the poor-unless we sup
,ose that the parable Of Dives
md T,ozarus and the implied inn