Daily Los Angeles herald., 1881-04-26
A Preacher of Power.

Just over the river from Angus
tine is black village called
"Africa." Last Sunday as was
walking out L fell in with an old
grizzled darkey shambling along,
his legs rather forward of the centre
of his feet, and asked him where he
was going. He replied, "Pse goin
to de church, and Pse 'fraid I'm a
leetle late" 1 enquired If the
preacher was a man OF power. He
said, 81 don't know him mesef; he
comes from de Indian River parts,
but hear he Is de giftedest man in
de State" 1 thought l would not
lose the opportunity of hearing so
dieting guished a pulpit orator, and
went along with the old man. The
preacher sat upon some elevated
boards, as black negro as ever de.
parted from "Afric's sunny foun-
tains." He rose, and in a loud stri.
dent tone stumbled slowly, and
with many mistakes, through
chapter of jeremiah, after which
the congregation, some with sweet
ness and some with scalp-lifting
harshness, sung several verses OF
hymn, the chorus of which was:
Ye drters of Jerusalem come out de will
derness,
Come out de wilderr ess, como out de will
derness;
Ye darters of Jerusalem come out de will
derntss,
A leanin' on de lamb.
The minister then prayed, first
loudly, then earnestly and then tu-
multuously for u quarter OF AN
hour, beseeching the Lord, among
other things, Ito unloose his stam-
mering tongue and glib his voice
heep OF power" After another
hymn came the sermon, and al
though l took no notes, will try
to give you some specimen bricks
of the structure:
MY tex is in de 10th OBJ Matthew,
at the S)th verse: "But de very
hars of yer he'd are all numbered"
| [ hope before gets fro to bring
some sinner ter whar was fetched
ter at meeting like dis. 1t Is four
teen years ago last month sense l
| quit grubbing in the palmetto's
slubble OF sin, and begun working
in de deep loan of righteousness
| Fore den used to be as lost sin.
ner as any Niger on de Indie n
River. Dere warnt no boy in te
gang Gf do say it) that could swar
1 more, chaw more terbacker, drink
more whisky, or jerk a chicken of
| de roost wild less noise dan L could.
[ use ter loaf mos all day and
prowl all night shore. One day |
went to 'vival meetin' jess for fun
and ter see de girls. A first LATED
to hear do brudders aud sisters
'spress their feelins, but de preach
er had de power ob de sperrit mos
remarkable, and as he het wild his
emotions ! begun to get kinder
skeered. Then felt sorter creeps
run all Ober me and | thort de
shakes was a comin' on, but then 1
knew l hadn't been exposed and it
warn't time OBJ de year for dem,
and like streek oh lightnin' it
came ober me dat l was gettin' re.
ligion. | commenced ter holler
"Glory hallelujab, glory God
Pm COMMIT! and got down
on ter my knees and hol-
Tered more, and den | rolled
on de floor and fling out my arms
and my leg, and Kicked and
stamped, fer knew de spirit OBJ de
Lord was rastliu' wild de dabbil,
and I yelled to de debbil, " Get
outer dis yere chile" and l finally
tainted clean dun gone away.
When l came ter mysef de brud-
der5 aud sisters was strokin me and
sayin', "He is saved, de Lord hab
save him." and 1 felt quiet
and so0thih' as though
war drinkin' buttermilk, and
den l Know dat my morale sJul
was safe on de top shelf whar de
debtel couldn't nebber reach
it no more. De next mornin' l
fine dat had lost my jack-knife
and broke de malnspring ter my
watch, besides leavin' good en-
breller in de seat which some
Christian brudder or sister has
took care on sence, l spose, as l hab
neber seen it again, but | don't
car. l win more dan l lose, for l
got religion dat night.-Fiorida
Letter to Springfield Republican.