The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-21
THE LATE BISHOP KAyANAUGH.
Incidents of the Career of the Dead Church
man-His Courage and Endurance.
p W O. in Louisville Courier-Journal.

riage return ever mace Dy new IL IL nav"
naugh, in the day when all ministers had to take
ont yearly license from the Circuit Court, and
at the bottom is his signature, only little more
hold and firm than the one signed to the letter
written Just before he went to preside at the
Mississippi conference from which he did not
return alive. He was educated at the private
sspay schools of his day, for there were then no
free schools, and at the age of thirteen he was
placed in the family of Rev. John Lyle, Pres
byterian minister, as an apprentice to the print
fng trade. To that extent, and later as an ed
itor was the dead Bishop of kin to the fra
ternity of printers The Rev. John Lyle
lived in Paris, Bourbon county, Kentucky,
and was so pleased with the bright lad that he
offered him the classical and scientific education
required for the Presbyterian ministry But
here the mother was felt who had said, II
raised him first Christian and second Metho-
dist and to me they mean the same thing" He
felt it his duty to preach free grace and the IN
tegrity of the divine invitation to all men, ana
did not forfeit the respect of his friend by ad-
herenee to his principles So far from it, he was
released while his indentures had yet two years
to run. A relative of Father Lyle, whom met
at the Presbyterian centennial at Harrodsburg
last year. told me this amusing incident of the
eanceling of the indenture: BY the law of Ken
kucky in that day a master was bound to give his
apprentice the education and the trade stipulated
for in the papers, and no release would save
him from after-suit for damages, because the
only party able to give it would be the appren-
tice whose acts as a minor were void in law.
Therefore, in giving up the indenture Mr.. Lyle
said: Now, do you intend to sue me for your
trade when you become of agef"
mo, sir" said young Kavanaugh, II mover
will"
''You mean" said the Presbyterian, "that you
never will until you fall from grace. You know
thuf1 of
Nerance, and may fall into any sort of sin.
This was tit-for tat, and made good some of
the hits of the younger man at the creed of the
older, that 'all meant part
Each kept his faith, and both kept the friend
ship while young Kavanaugh returned to his
mother in Clark county Kentucky and be-
gan the careful study of the works on Methodism
that resulted in his conviction, and the fixing of
his intention to preach the gospel. His formal
union with the church was in 1917, when in his
fifteenth year. Like many of the great bishops,
bis work began among the colored people, and it
was seldom he was allowed to preach to a white
audience 1t was said that once, while helping in
meeting, the preacher in charge was asked to
dinner, but Mr., Kavanaugh would have had
none save for colored woman who was
one of the hundred thousand and more
of negro members that the Southern Meth
odists had prior to 1861. When at a later day,
he preached in that church as a bishop and
a dozen people offered him carriages and
dinners, he said THANK you, but see yonder,
at the back Of the church, the good colored sis
Ter who was the only one to give an invita-
tion when was here before and | am going
home with her now" And he did. 1t was the
year 1922 before he could get the recommends
ton of the quarterly conference of the Mount
Sterling Church, and eXhorter's license for
white people He had been supporting himself
IS editor and printer of the Western Watch
man, of which James Armstrong, a Methodist
merchant, was the proprietor. This man, with
some other friends, got the young man to come
to private room in Augusta, and then suddenly
let him know that he was there to preach
trial sermon. 1t was the day when to
open a Bible with eyes shut, and to
preach from the first text that the finger
covered, considered the right sort of
S'inspiration," and when 1.-The beaten oil
of the sanctuary" was at big discount. The
hunters of that day used the long rifle, that few
modern men could handle, and the term of al
most unspeakable contempt was-''he shoots
with rest" For Episcopalians also, the only
men who then used written sermons, the phrase
was-''rhem fellars that preach with rest"
Young Kavanaugh was not to have rest for
his mental and spiritual shots neither of written
notes nor of preparation by thought Here was
his little congregation and his Bible, and he was
told TO ''blaze away" He did and with such
eloquence and earnestness that his critics first
wept and then shouted, and from that trial-room
he went forth, welcome to any pulpit and
a recognized power in the church of
God 1t is said that John P. Finley,
then president of the Augusta College,
was one of the critics who bent like reed that
bishop, who kept always in covenant relations
with the Holy Ghost. President Finley was one
of the great preachers of his day. Mr. H. H.
Kavaaaugh was recommended to the annual
conference at Maysville, in the fall of 1923, and
admitted on trial. He was assigned to the Lit
tie Sandy circuit and was kept for some years
in hard fields. The practice of that day was not
to put the tender veal and the sucking calves
into the best places, but to try them first, and
to give the best places TO the Oldest men. The
reverse is the custom now The 'boy preacher
did not think he was too great for poor place.
and at that time people idnotstar before day and
ride ten.or fifteen miles over bad road to heara
fifteen or even thirty minutes sermon. A
preacher must have something to say, and the
people who expected a lawyer to speak for three
or FIVE hours did not desire preacher who ran
out of ideas and wind and strength under an
hour Up to his death the Bishop kept this
power of preaching a long sermon, and of dis
missing congregation dissatisfied because it
was no longer. In this he leaves few imitators
He was natural gentleman, as attractive in
personal and social intercourse as he was mag
nificent in physical endowments. No man ever
looked upon his noble face without feeling that
his Maker must have put soul in the man
plete his education @ practical printer,
as some have said, but always felt
kindly interest in the craft which
ne once expected to devote his life to. He was
Southern in feeling as he was in birth and an
cestry, and was once arrested in California at a
camp-meeting. General Mcdowell who had or
dered his arrest, dismissed him as promptly on
his bare statement of his business and inten-
TONS
His average weight was $50 pounds, and his
activity and endurance were never surpassed in
the church that can boast of the manhood of her
ministers. Some severe tests have been made
Of his courage and his endurance, but he never
failed If he had been general, he
would have been power for the side
he espoused. If he had been states
man., his name would have been ma
tional one. like that of Henry Clay or Thomas
Benton. AS it was he was prince while ser
want in the church, and the belief is not confined
TO Methodsts that he has met his great reward
Even Charles H. Spurgeon cannot show such
sermon record-of 8, $50 sermons from the fall of