West-Jersey pioneer., 1879-09-25
THE PULPIT AND THE KNIFE.


In the Winter of 1888, the population of
Howard county, Missouri, was thrown into
a state OF extraordinary excitement by
cause that seemed wholly inadequate to the
production of such effect, especially in a
latitude situated so far towards the setting
sun. The phenomenon which attracted
universal attention was neither more nor
less than the appearance of new Metho-
dist preacher circuit rider, as the name
goes in the West, but one of remarkable
person, and Of powers that the superstitious
deemed almost supernatural.
He was youth who had not seen more
than twenty Summers; of about the medium
height, although he looked much taller,
from the slightness of his make, apparently
feeble and delicately moulded as the form OF
q woman. But all his movements, even to
the fash of his eye or the wafture of his
finger in gesticulation, were ineffably quick.
He was possessed of many of the graces
which are usually supposed to constitute
feminine beauty. His slender figure was
model for the arts of sculpture and paint
ing. His face was an admirable oval, soft
and sweet in it's expression while IN state
of repose, although, when aroused oy any
strong emotion it could assume look OF
sternness or of passion absolutely appalling.
His eyes were large, beaming and piercing,
so that when on fire with sudden wrath, not
many of even the bravest would feel at ease
while encountering their fierce flashes OF H.
expressible defiance, for they plainly dared
all things, not leaving out death itself. one
drawback must be made from the exquisite
character of this portrait; his complexion
altogether lacked color, when not illumlnat-
ed by some excitement capable OF pouring
the blood from the heart in boiling torrents.
His features, it is true, did not have the un
natural and subiued hue of ill-health, but
rather that transparent paleness, SO rare
and delicate which indicates lofty thoughts
such as s'wander through eternity" per-
severing and studious vigils over the rays OF
the midnight lamp, and infinite longlngs'
such as no human language can hope to ex-
press, for the ideal of all, the immense, the
unknown, the fathomless mystery which we
seek forever, but never find.
shall not forget, even should my life be
protracted for ages, the first time that had
an opportunity of seeing and hearing this
Western prodigy. 1t was at the town OF
Fayette, in the county previously mentioned.
The large court house was used as place
of temporary worship, and, long before the
appointed hour, it had been crowded to It's
utmost capacity, while hundreds, unable to
gain admission, hung around the doors and
windows, determining to get glimpse, or
catch at least tone of the wonderful ora
tor, whose fame, was on everybody's tongue.
Several preachers were on the platform
and among the dense throng arose the low
murmur, made up of thousand eager
whispers (which is Ellis? ?" (which is
the new Whitfeld9" (which is he 9"-
And the general conclusion of those who
had never seen the object of their curiosity
appeared to be, that fine formed, middle
aged person, with a ruddy complexion and
shining bald head, was the man. The IN
ference grew stronger when the Individual
described arose, gave out hymn, and kneel-
ing uttered an extemporaneous prayer OF
considerable f1uency and unbounded fervor.
However, upon the whole, the congregation
felt keen disappointment. The effort did
not in any degree correspond with the
grandeur of their preconceived ideas. Nor
was this at all strange, as the performer IN
this case happened to be only the elder in
charge of the district; and such clerical
officers in Methodist denomination are CON-
monty chosen with reference to their steady
and solid talents for government, and their
unimpeachable orthodoxy, more than from
any manifestations of logical acuteness or
theological genius.
The petition to Heaven was ended
Those who had bowed to the earth in real
or simulated odoration resumed their seats,
and, for five minutes afterwards, there pre-
vailed solemn silence-the profound calm
of expectation. Then suddenly a slender
figure. that nobody had observed before,
ascended the platform, and pale yet lumi-
nous face, shining with two earnest, starry
eyes, glanced slowly and calmly around the
vast assemblage, as if silently measuring
their capacity for the reception of the truths
about to be enunciated.
He did not open the Bible-he did not
formally take any text; but all at once he
cried out, in trumpet tones, which caused
every hearer to start on his seat: ''Beholdl
I make all things new!" And then he
spread all the sails of imagination. and
launched boldly forth into an illimitable
ocean of eloquence. The burden of his
discourse, in it's first division, was the sus
ceptibility of the material molecules COM
posing the visible and tangible universe for
endless transformations of utility and
transcendental beauty throughout endless
ages of eternity. He demonstrated from
the latest discoveries of chemistry, and the
best established truths of all physical sci
ence, that matter is not that gross, disgust
;ng thing which the atheistic philosophers
and some superstitious theologians would
have us believe it, but that all respects OF
responsiveness, of sweetness, of sublimity
and of terror depend upon the arrangement
of it's atoms and the composition of its ele-
ments.
AS the speaker went on advancing into
the heart of his subject, the paleness grad
ually left his face, which at last glowed like
a fiery furnace; and the azure of his eyes
turned to red, literally lighted around him,
and as he closed the first branch of his sub
ject, describing the beautitude to be enjoyed
in ssthe new heaven aud earth," the final
home of the saints in light, a general and
irrepressible shout of enthusiasm broke
forth among the faithful.
He then commenced the second division
of his discourse, with the singular remark
l..