The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-22
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES .,sAD HISTORY OF ALABAMA,
rHoM4s T. OWEN, Directo


 f original South. left in its integrity. is a
 enough to build the New South" but they need. for their purposes. the ground and material. that they. are impotent to clear or transfx, found in the original We have not far to go to find answer to the conclusion closer. Professor White draws from the ways and savings or competent witness. Writing to instruct
 read m the h aiiesati5fis ofltife s NoftheFn sidea
 and at all believe then iocs.S ss psNsted in the large, you will believe; to put it
 mildly, very large lie..'' fThe Recent
 Past, D.. ss. Again. in the south was a
 ciety that l have ever seen or heard of"
 Those r who were born in the United
 States an hyndred years M and n better n,.nsi asG ples of human belief were held In the ap- stract as never here or elsewhere before or since.
 1 ton and uncertainty, ifterposed between | the sacriIegiousl emotions. of the French Revolution and the emotional violence Of the .evangelicafism which drove Newman
 over to Rome to escape t. All of the Bishops. of the Southwest dieceses or the Episcopal Church were born in that pe- riod and reared to- manhood before the
 
 | Otey of Tennessee went to matriculate at 1 the University of North Carolina, a tall. | rude Virginian youth. from the wilder
 ness under the Blue Ridge here he rece,vee ta ss | given to students, of leader in chapel l daily early prayers. A kind lady at their | common boarding place, learning of the l flee, wholly unused to it's functions and equally unfamiliar with its language.
 gave him an old copy of the Book of
 a.S crnna PGls ins;rtsn tTesn | tered West Point, there was a total ab- | sence of religious sentiment among the | cadets. He was himself first to respond | to an attempted religious revival there. | When, later on, he entered the ministry. | tbe comment of his father in. North Caro- | lima upon the news, was. "a good soldier
 spoiled .19 tS make poSSr Sa The
 South, Carolina College with first honor. | then much coveted. He was the only son of cotton planter of the Pedee who was
 among the free thinkers. so common. Great and resentful was the disappoint- | ment of the father in the decision of the | son to enter the ministry. In a last ar
 son, the father prepared two fields for
 corn on opposite sides of the public road.
 The seed was properly put in on each.
 One of the two fields he plac.arded by y.
 The Faith" field received thereafter no
 assistance from blow or hoe. The corn | that would grow was left to take care of
 Ss was Op properly ype Cultivated From the r frst named all passersby beheld barren re-
 suits; from the Works field, a full har-
 vest was gathered.
 scent, the first born of the early Bishops
 of the Southwest, first saw the light
 February 5th, 1795 in Bedford County,
 Virginia, on his fathers farm, under the
 shadow of the Peaks of Otter. His fa-
 ther, too, was a non-believer. Under later
 circumstances, probably strong one,
 the ecclesiastical advancement of his son, he was confirmed by the son, who
 went to his old home from Alabama to
 perform the rite. His mother, however
 was so consistent in her faith in the
 church that, mounted on her horse. she
 took the infant in her lap, ride of sixty
 miles through the forests to the nearest
 clergyman. to have him baptized as she
 believed. These personal matters are not
 here irrelevant. They illustrate much of ] the times.
 The author presents a graphic resume
 of the conflict in the early Southwest be- | tween the eVangelicals or low church
 party, and the bouyant and aggressive : tractarian, or high church faction. BishoT | Otay answered a summons to appear foI the purpose or consecTaung p new churcf UT. T to the church yard the Bishop was re qulred to pass under a fixed cross. Glanc l ing to the roof, he found there three
 fixed crosses. while a fourth rested or } the summit of the belfry. He entered the building and was chagrined to find z baptismal font placed at the main en l not the table prescribed by the rubic stood with each of it's five panels bearing a painted cross. Upon the altar rested z movable cross hanked on either side by z carved lcandlestick, placed there, not tC } give light to the house, but avowedly tC give light to the inner-man-the minC and soul-by the mysterious power oi symbolism" The Bishop firmly refused ! to oficiate amidst such signs of popery A conference with the parish authorities followed, the portable altar cross and tho two carved wooden candlesticks were re. moved. the building was consecrated, and immediately abandoned. In non-use f } met the decay of time forever. So thC friend of Otey, the first Bishop of Ala. bama. came hither with distinct views or : ritualism and symbolism. He wore nc
 ring, no gold cross hung pendant iron
 his watch guard; he faced the congrega tion and not the altar when he prayed ir church. The first Bishop of Alabama taught that theatre-going and dancing were baneful to religion. He avowed hi: unwfllingness to confirm into the churcf any dancing master. CWhitaker's Histor! of the Church, p. l29O. ,.-
 At the age of seventeen. Nicholas Ham ner Cobbs taught classical school of hi' own not many miles in the forest \fron
 his fathers home, where he may hav' resided still. He never was quite
 young man." in respect to the tradition | al SAATdRdB&nEtS anu lHulSCTCIlOnS U . youth. He never changed from habits tt ! habits of determinate personal character The only religious public observance within his reach were the occasiona preachings. of a Presbyterian minister These occasions he attended with rever ence characteristic of his mind, anC there, to use his own words, he wa! "convicted of sin" There was no lihrary In all region round about. but there wert some educated settlers who owned a fev books of excellent merit Young Cobb borrowed. among other books, so2e oi theological subjects. and also a Hebrev Bible. which he learned to read withou
 assistance. In 1921, at the age of twenty SIX, the principal of Cobbs classica school married hi@ first cousin. Llc! Landonln Cobbs, one of his pupils, thel aDout fifteen years old. On the after noon hour fixed for the ceremony, tn , appointed bride had to be summoned iron the httie branch near her fathers home
 where she was wading with her play } mates. In the last week in May. 1g1I MT. Cohbs Rode on horseback to Staunton } where the annual Convention of the FnIs copal Church was in session pA al tended there for the second time in hi life, up to that moment the services n his church. He was confirmed thera re
 ceived Holy Communion, and was ordere deacon. all on the same day fJjs 6rs
 service and his first sermon occur1ad ' I !
 the log house of one of his rnerria5 s, .
 ters at the foot of the mounfsin Il1 p
 continued to teach school five days ii l the week, adding now the Satnrday aa, q -AAr AnNNNT 1F a.k-