St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-15
JOHN hEWLAhD MAFFIT.
Atlanta Constitution.

We have lying on our table an old
book printed at New London, Conn.,, in
1921. 1t is an autobiography written by
| the distinguished minister whose ma ME
stands at the head of this sketch.
Fifty years ago Mr.. Maffit was one of
| the pulpit celebrities of the Methodist
church. As an orator he was classe d
with such men as Durbin, Bascom and
| George Pierce. He was native of Ire
land, having been born in Dublin, in
1894. His parents, he tells us. belonged
to the Methodist society" but were
''rigidly attached to the established
church." This statement sounds odd
enough to the uninitiated who do not
know that IN its earliest years Method
ism was not SO much a church as re-
ligious association, within the pale of
the English church. For long time its
| Sabbath services were not held during
canonical hours, and its ministers and
members received the Sacraments at the
hands of the clergy of the establish
ment.
John Wesley, the immortal founder,
had what SavOred of a superStitiOus
dread of schism. He feared nothing SO
much unless it was the devil, about
| whose personality he entertained not
even the shred of doubt. 1t was the
work and WEAKNESS of his last years to
! preuent separation which he clearly
| fOresaw was inevitable after his death,
| and which he provided for in that IA m
| Gus legal document, the Deed of
Declaration" which he enrolled in the
| court of chancery in 1884.
In this faith. pure and simple. Mr..
Matfit was brought up by his pious pa
] rents. and yet he confesses that for a
| few years he was hayward and reckless
| IN no ordinary pegree. His conversion.
| of which he has furnished full details
in this autobiography, bears a close re-
| Semblance to that of John Bunyan and
| the later John Newton. Religion
amongst the old MethOdists and the
| Older PurItanS was not an evolution
buta cataclysm. The line of cleavage
between the old and the new was
abrupt. Mat1it had his share of visions
and wrestlingS, and hand to hand con-
| tiicts with Apollyon in the valley of
| humiliation. Let not the beardless
| theoiogianS of the present geneI alton
mock these experiences of the fathers.
There may have been bit of super
! stitiOn and greater amount of sub
| 1ectlveneSS in all this, but when they
were converted it was from head to
heel and from center to circumference
1t made them the moral heroes who
went forth to the spiritual conquest of
the American wilderness, and the moral
uplifting of the Cornish miners, and the
weavers and spinners of Manchester,
and the sailors of the London ana Liver
| pool dOckyards.
1t gave ASbury and McKendree to
America, Gideon OuSley to Ireland and
John Nelson and a score like him to
England. Shortly after his conversion
Maffit sailed to America, where he was
destined to find wide field for the
exercise of his marvellous gift as a
preacher.
Before leaving his native land, how
ever. he had some novel experiences as
a street preacher, being jeeIed and oc-
caSlonally rotten egged, and other such
treatment as the Salvation Army of to-
day receives from the hOOdlums and
! gutter Snipes of our populOuS eenters.
On one occasion he attempted to break
up ball by stirring eXhOrtatiOn, fol-
lowed by an enthusiastic prayer. For
this misplaced and ill-timed zeal he got
much ridicule, and narrowly escaped a
broken head.
Upon his arrival in America he found
that MethodiSm had better social recOg-
milton than in Ireland, and in some of
the middle states had rooted Itself in
the higher strata of the population.
Adjusting himself to his altered en-
vironment, he laid aside his more ag-
greSsive methods and cultivated a pull
pit style not unlike that of Milburn, the
| blind chaplain of the house of represen-
! tativeS. and only shade more eXuber-
! ant in fancy than that of John Summer
| field.
DR.. Hoss, of Nashville, in his admir-
able ecumenical address on the religious
press. says of Maffit that ''he was an
Irishman and an orator, two words that
| mean the same thing" This is true. but
it must not be forgotten that Ireland has
distinct schools and grades of Oratory.
Burke and Curran were both Irish ora
tors, but the former was ponderous-the
latter INDUCED in the flights of fancy
that suited better the jury room than
the house OF commons. Maf1it In
the pulpit had a striking resemblance
to CuTsan at the bar, by no means SO
classical, and yet the same nimble fancy
and dictiOn equally gorgeous. we
never heard Mr.. Maffit preach, nor did
he leave volume of sermons, so tina t
we are compelled to rely on traditional
accounts, which are vague and unSatiS
factory. A very dear friend of ours
listened to a series of sermons delivered
by Mr.. Maffit at Albany. n. Y. far back
in the thirties. At that time this friend,
since greatly distinguished on the
bench, was a law student in the office
of Hon. Ogden Hoffman. He was HIM
self a man of thorough culture and de-
cided gifts as an elOcutioniSt. He spoke
of Maffit as a charming preacher, whose
delivery was faultless, and whose word
painting was unrivalled by any minis
ter to whom he had then listened. He
was able to recall some passages that
thrilled me in the recital. but which
have dropped out of my own memory.
But this matters little, as this friends
testimony was borne by all his contem-
poraries. DR.. Lovick Pierce also put a
high estimate on Mr.. Mathis ability as
a preacher. AT one period of his life
Mr. Maf1it was chosen editor of the