The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-14
METHODIST PREACHERS ARE
 MEN OF COURAGE AND FAITH
BY D. W. McIVER.

''see that Methodist preacher" said a friend last afternoon. he is fine fel- low and Is afraid of nothing on earth"
 'Yes. see him." replied, 'and know every one of those Methodist preachers are braver than I ever hope to be. for 1t become Methodist preacher. They are called upon to face every danger, make every sacrifice and to bear every hard ship and they do it all without mur- mur."
 In olden times the lot of the Methodist preacher was even harder and more ex- acting than it Is now. The country was not near so thickly settled and they had to get over a great deal more ground to reach a very few people. A few lines here from the work and history e some of the old time heroes will be read with in terest.
 Bishop William McKendree was one of the great Bishops of the Methodist Church in the olden times. It Is said of him that his mind had no dark surfaces or blunt edges; his intellect as a whole. was bright and his thoughts diamond pointed. He never said foolish things. never weak, never even common things. There was thought in all his words and wisdom in all his thoughts. AS he grew in years and increased in knowledge, he did not suffer anything to be lost. the balances he continually brought forward, so that at any time he was prepared for a full statement of life's account. He transferred childhood into youth, youth into manhood and manhood into old age: so that when his locks were gray and he was leaning upon his staff, if he sought the society of children, in which he took great delight, they found in him their own thought. feeling and sympathies; when with the youth he was boy again; when with the lions of creation he bore his mane aloft, and shook the earth with his roaring. He was the man for the times and the age in which he lived. lead 1 ing in triumph the Church in the wild l erness, like Abraham leading his son to mount of vision.
 He was admitted at Conference held in | Amelia County, Virginia, l7S5, and his | first appointment was to Norfolk and | Portsmouth. He filled many stations. in | the Circuit and as Presiding Elder and | was made a Bishop in 1908.
 1 While he was fin charge of the Western I Conference as Presiding Elder. his work was difficult and hazardous and as Bish- l op his labors and responsibilities were | greatly increased. The country was new, | the roads were generally very bad. and l the accommodations poor. The streams. | for the most part, were without ferries | or bridges and travelling had to be done | altogether on horseback or on foot so | that every variety of difficulty had to be encountered But deep streams. high | mountains, muddy roads, gold and snow. l together with long rides were the inher- itance of a travelling preacher in those | days; yet these things moved not the beloved Bishop, He led his band of tired men. It was not his plan to say go. 1 but come was his word and a nobler band of Christian heroes never lived than | those who focked around the standard that was borne in triumph by William | McKendree. They were of mark. of | nerve. of intellect. with great powers of 1 endurance and decision of character, not | ever surpassed by those of today. The | yell of savage men and savage beasts did not da unt their courage; poverty | hunger and fatigue they regarded as very little things; while the scoffs of in, | hdels and the prosecutions of the wicked
 fell harmless at their feet; Led on by
 the wise, the precedent. the far-seelne
 McKendree they seemed to be endowed
 with ubquity; they were to be found al
 most everywhere. With them. it wa
 open war with the enemy of Christ. anC
 they carried the standard of the cros
 into every town and hamlet; they plant
 ed it on the tops of the mountains anC l beside all waters
 In order that it may be fully understoot
 what Methodist travelling preacher ha'
 to encounter in those days, chapter il
 the life of Mckendree is given in carry
 ing the gospel to the pioneer and looking
 up the frontier settler.
 In 1907 William McKendree was Il l charge of the Cumberland District eN
 tending to Illinois and Missouri. He SC | out and crossed over the Ohio and en
 tered into the State of Illinois traVelle
 all day. and finding no house to stop
 passed the night in the wilderness. Mex
 day they shared like fortune, campn
 out at night again. During that nigh
 their horses got away and they did nc
 lind them until walking half day. bu
 hat night they found a settlement wher they were received kindly, They went t
 a camp meeting next day where they ha q fine meeting and then they went to
 camp meeting at Three Springs. Her
 they found a few faithful members ( | the Church. but hosts of enemies.
 One individual in particular. who wa
 a leader of a band of prosecutors. ha | called a council among them to formt
 late a plan to drive the preachers of