Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-07-12
TRUE STORY.
Cast Thy Broad upon the Wntcrs.

"A TRUE STORY.
Cast Thy Broad upon the Wntors.
The Albany Aayus publishes the
following little incident. 1t is
tinged with little romance, but We
cannot doubt it's truth. "Cast thy
bread upon the waters and after
many days it shall return to thee
again.
Many of our citizens remember
the old square, block-likc church
with its angular sides, dusty and
faded in appea, ance, on the railroad
track up u few rods north of the
Delavan House, called the Albany
Bethel, with a glaring sign announ-
cing when services would be held,
and that "strangers were cordially
invited to attend" The building,
its location, anterior and surround
ings, were not more peculiar and
eccentric than the pugilisticlooking
pastor, Rev. John Miles-who died
year or two ago near Schenectady.
The pastor was a reformed gambler,
who had seen all the lowlands of
infamy and sin, and reformed, or,
as he quantity expressed it, "about-
ship and stood square up to Hea-
ven." He was man of great nat
ural power, with fcvcrish, burning
energy, harsh, grating voice and
wild, startling imagination, hand
ling the most stupendous themes
with reckless familiarity that al
ternately shocked and fascinated
the listener. The subjects OF all
his discourses were always pre-an-
nounced through the papers like the
following: "The Eleventh Hour and
Last Train Heavcnward;" '"The
Storm Of He'll Begun" "Thc World
OH Fire." and so forth; all of a
fearfully sensational character =
Many prominent citizens would drop
in as occasional listeners to these
sermons (although they were in-
tended particularly for boatmcn).-
There was remarkable genius of
fire about this rough, uncultivated
man. About the year 49, young
English noblcman, wild, reckless
and dissipatcd, but man OF some
talent, paid a visit to Albany, and
was invited by the late John Van
Buren, (whosc guest he was) to go
down to "Be;hcl," and hear John
Miles on ''Salvation's Express Train
Through Without Change" twas
stormy afternoon and few were
out. The pastor was in a particu-
larly gloomy mood. Shaking hands
all round, as was his custom, Prince
John thought it would be a joke to
tell the pastor who his distinguish
ed auditors overwhelmingly, in IL
majestic way (Which he could as
sumo with SO much ease as to al-
most bewilder common many, he
announced that he was John Van
Buren,, son Of the President, and
that his companion was the heir Of
one Of the noblcst families in Eng
land. With a self-possession fully
equal to Prince John's dignity, the
pastor shook them both by the
hand and hoped they would all
meet on the other shore, beyond all
distinctions of earth and time; then
walked into the pulpit, sang hymn,
prayed fervently for them, and com
menccd his sermon. With more
than wontcd vehemenco his imagin-
alton painted murky pictures Of
earth, "as great dingy railroad
station, damp, cold, uncomfortable
and chccrlcss, every one waiting for
the train; trains coming and going
at all times, but few getting n;"-
"hardly anyone mquiring where the
trains go, and n great many taking
'owl trains wood trains,' 'con-
struction trains,' 'emigrant and way
trains,' etc, which are less attrac-
tive" Then lie compared salvation
to an Express through train" with
out change-applied it in wild,
startling manner 10 each hoarer.-
The sermon ended, the pastor rush
cd down from the pulpit and,
grasping his two distinguished
hearers by the hand, tervcntly urged
them to get aboard that train cat
once" Prince John and his lord
ship were both serious, aud left in a
thoughtful mood.
And now comes the sequel, not
particularly startling or strange,
but it exhibits the power not often
seen Of single thoughts turning the
entire destiny Of liie.
A prominent citizen of Albany
was travelling in England last sum
mer, and spent Sunday in Man
chester Attending church, he was
so much pleased by the clear, elo-
quent sermon Of the pastor that he
went forward and thanked him for
it after service. In the converse
ton that followed, the name of AL
bany was mentioned. Said the pas
tor: "All my religious training and
preparation for the ministry date
from sermon l heard there from
an eccentric sailor preacher" lie
then detailed the facts mentioned
above, saying very impressively:-
81 think Mr.. Van Buren was more
seriously affected than ! was, and
if he could only have heard another
sermon from that man he might
have been u preacher as I am."-
This clergyman was no other than
the nobleman, who had thrown
away I'll nonors and titles to become
q munster of the gospel. lie had
probably heard tho most eminent
divincs of the age, bnt not one Of
them touched his heart like the OBJ
scurc pastor of the Albany Bethel.
How the Ladies' Do it.
Did you ever notice u pretty girl