The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-05-08
Experience of n Converted Paragrapher
Who Turned Preacher.
TTnter DEAN

Experience Of n Converted Paragrapher
Who Turned Preacher.
Inter ocean,
Among those in attendance at Moody S
training school is a converted infdel editor
whose career has bordered closely upon
the extraordinary. We refer to E. P.
Brown of indianapolis, who a few years
ago was the editor of the Cincinnati Sun
dag Breakfast Table, and more recently of
/ the Chicago Ledger. From a childhood of
such poverty that he never owned toy
that cost money, Mr.. Brown worked his
way upward step by step from a journey
man printer and country editor until ne
stood at the head of large metropolitan
publishing interests. A few years ago he
became possessed OF a handsome cOmpe-
/ tency, and retired from business TO a fine
rural home, where he settled down to
/ ''live independent OF man and God, as he
then expressed it, and proceeded to raise
/ pumpkins on scientific principles regard
/ less of consequences.
While in Chicago, three years ago this
winter, he went to hear Moody preach,
and the result was that his inidelty was
all knocked into pi, and from that day
I he became a Christian worker and was
soon in the ministry. He entered the
Southern Indiana conference as a meth
odist preacher, and was assigned to a
country circuit of four appointments,
where he quietly dropped out of sight and
went to work with all the energy OF his
nature trying to do as much good as pos
sible. After a successful year in this line
of work it became so evident that his gifts
were evangelistic rather than pastoral that
he engaged in that calling, and is still
pursuing it with good results. Below we
give an abstract OF his experience as he
relates it:
was an infidel from childhood, mainly
because there was nothing attractive in
the Gospel as it was then presented to me.
The conception of God that dawned upon
me from the teaching | received filled me
with terror From this / early came to
hate the bible and all pertaining to it,
The story of Jesus was so presented that
pitied Him and hated His Father. Sun
day was long, gloomy day, and | always
dreaded to see 10 come. | was told that
Heaven was one eternal Sunday, and
somehow / could not feel very anxious to
get there Hell. they said, was an ever
lasting blaze, and, of course, l didn't want
to 90 there. Like the old darkey, | felt
that would have to take to the woods, and
do the best could for myself. From what |
heard l thought God was after me with a
club, waiting to get good lick at me. 1
used to think most of the thunderstorms
came about because l was not as good
boy as I ought to be. Another thing that
troubled me was that the good boys in the
Sunday-school books that / read never
lived. They all died young. I was afraid
to be very good for fear might get a cough
and begin to pine.
never read any infdel books until
after i was thirty years old. So my infidel
notions were not borrowed, but resulted
from my own reasonings about things.
After a time 1 became a worker in the
ranks OF free thought. l took an avowed
stand against the cause of Christ and
never missed a chance to strike a blow for
unbelief. / patronized infidel papers;
wrote for them helped TO support promi-
nent workers; made speeches, and tried as
hard as l could to get people to see as Ibid.
In January, 1886, | noticed in the daily
papers that Moody had arrived and would
hold a short series of meetings at Chicago
Avenue church. Having never heard him,
had curiosity to do so. secured a
good seat in the gallery, where l could
see and hear well. His subject was the
''Prodigal Son." and his preaching that
night was a revelation to me. 1 had never
heard the gospel preached before as he
preached it. For the first time the truth
began 10 dawn upon me that God was
love. / thought if there were really such
a God as Moody had described l would
give all | possessed to know it and
be sure of it. l could love such Being
as that, thought, and would consider it
a joyful privilege to serve Him. At
the close of the sermon the speaker in
vited all who would like to know this
God to indicate their desire by rising. l
stood up, and went with others to the in
quiry-roOm after the audience was dis
missed. / fell into the hands of a worker
by the name of Davidson. He came at
me with an open bible and stirred up all
the devils in me. hated the bible, and
didn't want 10 have anything to do with
it. What 1 wanted was to have somebody
tell me more about the God of Moody
Davidson kept showing me verses in the
bible, but | wouldn't read them. In a
few minutes he said / was a hard Gus
toner, and went to find somebody who
would take me off his hands. He came
back with red-headed Scotch
man, who turned out TO be
Morton Smith, who now has charge
of the Tying mission. He sat down
beside me, kept his bible out OF sight, and
simply gave me leaf from his own ex-
perience. This gave me little grain of
faith that there might after all be some
thing in religion, because Smith had him
self been an infidel, and had been over the
same ground that had travelled. He un-
derstood my case, and knew just how to
reach me. When got home that night
sat down by the fire, and for half hour
thought over all that had occurred during
the evening. My heart began to be
strangely drawn toward the God Moody
hal been describing. AT length went to
bed and dropped asleep with a yearning
love would make it possible fer me to be-
lieve in Him.
When awoke, found to my awful
CONSERVATION that God had given me the