Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-05-26

at Mt. Zion, on the SOuthside, and
met few friends and many stran-
gers. / spent the night with Bro.
J. H. Reynold, my old yOke-fellOw
in the gospel. Many a battle have
we had, standing shoulder to shout
der, waging war against sin. He
has sold his large farm and moves,
this week, to Erin, Houston county.
May heavens blessings attend him,
his wife, children and grdIad-cliiJCl.
Thursday morning / spoke of my
Savior to strange people at Soule
Chapel, where we-BrO. r. and my
self-were joined by Bro. GOodlOe
and Miss Mary COrlew. We dined
with my old cOmrade in arms, Bob
Stone, and 1 was delighted with
everything 1 saw and heard about
him except one. i hope some day
to tell him what that was. How
ever, it was not that he is not a
clever, hOspitable, generous gentle
man, or that his elegant wife and
bright-faced children are not charm
ing, for they are but it is something
infinitely more important. A short
rest in their coy parlor, and Bro.
Reynold and myself let Bessie take
her time to Charlotte, while stud
led a sermon that | didn't preach.
AT night ] urged upon young men
especially and the congregation gem
orally that Jesus loved them, desired
them to fOrsake sin and follow him,
and that he would reward them with
eternal life. Eleven stood up in the
congregation signifying their desire
for the prayers of the christian peO-
pie.
Friday morning Bishop John
Christian Keener took the chair and
opened the District Conference in
due form. Let me tell you he is a
keener! He started into his exam
inatiOn of the condition of the dis
trict with class-meetings on one
shoulder and family-prayer on the
other, and both on his great heart.
His first attack was on Bro. Brown.
Now, Bro. b. is one of those modest,
gentle spirits who loves everybody
and everything that is good, and
lifting that handsome dark brow,
and giving his eyeanupward glance,
informed the Bishop that he could
not tell exactly how many families
in his charge held family-prayer.
The Bishop urged; Bro. Il. said he
was "afraid to say" Bishop asked
him "What are you afraid OFF,"
Poor Brown! He was not the first
"speechIess'' character that 1 ever
saw or heard of, but far more lovely
than the one referred to in the Bible.
The Bishop gave him time to collect
his thoughts, but from the way he
preached that night, and from the
way he never did answer the Bishop,
l am persuaded that he collected
his thoughts on preaching. No
doubt the suggestions of the Bishop
will cause the great shepherd-heart
of brother Brown many pleasant
and profitable musings in his coy
parsonage. Welesser lights thought
that as the Bishop had taken Bro.
Brown for his text that we would
escape. Alas alas ! lam sorry for
Duncan. Didn't he lift him ? /
never had such desire that all my
people should be family-prayer peO-
pie in all my life. l stood there be-
fore that holy man Of God and
picked out this one and that one in
my mind and wondered why on
earth they did not take their wives
and children to God in family
prayer. And as the good man urged
this solemn duty and pressed it upon
us, / saw each one of my own dear
flock standing specifies, having no
excuse whatever. But the Bishop
pressed us for the exact number of
families in our charges that held
family prayer. One brave young
man reported the number on his
work, and it so turns out that he has
more local preachers on his work
than he reported families who held
prayers. Guess work won't do in
matters Of this sort, and ignorance !
wouldn't pass with the author of |
Post Oak Circuit.
The Bishop struck a cold trail |
when he touched upon class-meet- |
ings. In district of more than
four thousand MethOdists he abso- |
lutely found a class-meeting out on |
Greenwood Avenue, where a few !
piOus people meet every week to |
talk of their hopes and fears. If !
claSs-meetings are the barometers |
and thermometers of spirituality in !
NethOdiSm, then let me live and die |
on Greenwood. We tried to pacify |
the Bishop; we offered him in lieu
our experience meetings, a kind of |
"catch alp hanging upon the walls |
of Zion, into which We're gathered !
many offerings from claSS-meetlngS |
and Iove-feasts; but nay! We of |
fered him private conversations in
our "from-house-to-hOuse' journey |
ings: they availed not, and he
brought down upon us an indescrib-
able and almost unbearable torrent
of Episcopal injunction and godly
admonition, and We felt its force.
At the close of the conference the
law delegates went into am election
of delegates to the annual confer
ence. Upon the first ballot my
Young friend Bascom G. Bats was
elected, receiving the largest mum
her of votes cast during the ballot-
inc. After a few ballots the names
ofthree Others were announced, VIZ,
r. II. Pickering, w. ID. NeDie''
and John EdmondsOn.
The meeting up to this, Monday
o,-onin0 has hapn a great success