The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1874-03-05
gie Circuit xiler:
TALE or THE HEROIC AGE.
By EDwARD EaGLEsToN,
Assekor ef. The Hoosier School. Mas-
ter" End Of Me World,n etc.
fFrom the Christian Uuion.l
CHAPTER xI. (Contin,sed.)
fFrom thN ChriptiAn JInion. j

CHAPTER XI. (Consinued.
Both lower rooms of Wheeler's
lo9-house were crowded with people.
A little open space was left 1t the
door between the rooms for the
preacher, who presently came edging
kis way in through the crowd. He
had been at prayer in that favorite
osatory Of the early Methodist preach
er, the forest.
Magruder was Q short, stout man,
with wide shoulders, powerful arms,
shaggy brows, and bristling black
hair. He read the hymn, two lines
at time, and led the singing him.
cell. He prayed with the utmost
sincerity, but in voice that shook
the cabin windows and gave the sim.
pie people deeper reverence for the
dresdfulness of tho preachers mes
sage. He prayed rs . man talking
face to face with the Almighty Judge
of the generations Of men; he prayed
with an undoubting assurance Of his
own acceptance with God. and with
the sincerest conviction Of the in
6nite peril Of his unforgiven hearers.
II 10 not argument that reaches men,
but conviction, and for immediate
practical purposes one Tishbite Elijsh
that can thunder out Of heart that
never doubts is worth a thousand
acute writers Of ingeDious apologies.
When Magruder read his text,
which was, '1Irieve not the Holy
Spirit Of God" lie seemed to his
hearers . prop, ct come to lay bare
their hearts. ',Iagruder had not been
educated for his ministry by years ol
study of Hebrew and Greek, OF
Exegesis and Systematics; but he
knew, what was Of vastly more con-
sequence 10 him, how to read and ex-
pound the hearts and lives Of the
impulsive, simple, reckless race among
whom be lsbored. He WAS Of their
very fbeI.
He commenced with fierce attack
on Captain Lumsde,.'s dance, which
was prompted, he said, by the devil
to keep men out Of heaven. With
half . dozen quick, bold strokes he
depicted Lumsden's selfish arrogance
and proud meanness, SO exactly that
the audience Auttered with sensation.
Magruder had . vicarious conscience,
but vicarious conscience is good
for nothing unless it FIRST cuts close
ct home. Whitefeld said that he
never prea1 he'd a sermon to others
till he had 6rst preached it to George
White6eld, and Magruder's seventies
had al the more effect that his audi
ence could see that they had full
force upon himself.
It is hard for us to understand the
elements that produced such incredi-
BILE excitements ~ resulted from the
early Methodist preaching. How Al
. camp-meeting, for instance. FIVE
hundred people, Indifferent enough
to everything of the sort one hour
before, should be seized during SER
mon with terror-shoull cry aloud
to God fer mercy, some Of them fall
ing in frances and cataleptic uncon-
sciousness; and how, out Of all this
excitement, there should come forth,
in very many cases, the fruit of trans
formed lives, seems to us puzzle
beyond solution. But the early
Wes:crners were Is iuhammable as
tow; they did not deliberate, they
were swept into most of their de-
cisions by contagious excitements.
And never did any class of men un-
ders,and the art Of exciting BY ora
tory more perfectly than the old
Western preachers. The simple
hunters to whom they preached had
the most absolute faith in the in
visible The day Of judgment, the
doom Of the wicked, and the blessed
ness Of the righteous we're as real
and substantial in their conception rs
any facts in life. They could abide
no re6nements. The terribleness of
Indian warfare, the relentlessness Of
their own revengefulness, the sudden
lynchings, the abandoned wicked
ness Of the lawless, and the ruthless
ness of mobs of regulators" was q
back ground upon which they iound-
ed the most materialistic conception
Of hell and the most literal under
standing Of the day Of judgment.
Men ike Magruder knew how TO
handle these few positive ideas Of a
future life DO that they were indeed
terrible weapons.
On this evening he seized upon
the particular sins Of the people as
things by which they drove away
the Spirit Of God. The audience
trembled Is he moved on in his rude
speech and solemn indignation.
Every man found himself in turn
called to the bar Of his own con-
science. There was excitement
throughout the house. Some were
angry, some sobbed aloud, as he al
luded to "promises made to dying
friends, . ssvows offered to God by
tho new-madc graves Of their chill.
dren," for pioneer people arc very
susceptible to III such appeals "a
sensibility.
Whsn at last he came to speak oi
revenge, Kike, who hsd listened in
tently from the 6rst, found himself
breathing bard. Tho preacher showed
how it was akin 10 murder, how the
revengeful man was . murderer, ''al
much . murderer - If he had n
ready killed his enemy and hid hi
-~~~l.l h~,lv IN xho 4eavos of TIM