The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-05-11

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Mm. Let him study the Biographies OF
the leading evangelical preachers OF Eng
land and America who belong, say, 70 the
century 1750-1S50. and note the spirit OF
controversy, the CONSCIOUSNESS tne rea rs
veal the frailty of that class OF pronpets.
There were lighting parsons IN those
days, their weapons being sharp tongues
and one would be inclined .often 20 c on
ingsgate over what appear to us minor
issues, IL 1t were not for their very real
worth as spiritual teachers OF their gen
creations. The evangelical churcnes OF our
time seem to have entered upon an era OF
good feeling. The. Presbyterian lion ana
the Methodist lamb are sleeping cpzliy
enough--possfbly with one eye open-.tne
one alongside, not inside, tne otner: wn MS
the stage of good morning. neaghbor!
h beginning to succeed that OF Acctirscd
thouw In the Presbyterian Church there
seems at last to be q facit understanding
that there shall be no nor sa. neres y
sectarian and dosmatic debate has SUD
sided We are apparently entering the
age of honey. Some of us think that we
have already. realised all that ~ Essen,
church unity. The new outlook OF the
pulpit il unmistakable. Say not. there
fore that the former days were better
than these. Along one important me- a.
We are disposed to look upon the heroes
of the great evangelical, revival of the
latter half of the eighteenth century as
Whitehead Whitehead, st. Hill. and so on. But the
impartial student of the period must al
NIT that If they were satnts-to para
phrase and soften Town the phrase OF Mr.:
saints: for they not only fought Satan.
but they also applied their cudgels sharp
" to the backs one of another. The doc
trine of election was the principal line
/ II. .e~ Arfr oh MIA m
| less, worthy clements than devotion TO a
dogma were not wholly absent from their
| temper.
| II was concerning the author of Rock
| of Ages" that John Wesley wrote in ITO:
"Mr. Augustus Toplady know well; but
| / do not fight with chimney sweepers He
| is too dirty a writer for me to NEEDLE
with; should only foul my fingers. Hc
comb" Topla1y paid his respects to
| Wesley in similar strain. He wondered
| whether there was more OF the insioi-
! GUS than of the acid" in the nfake-un
Matching blasphemy:" said that his fore,
| head was 'dmpervious to blush: ana
that he had penned "a known, wilful,
palpable lie to the public"
| Whitefield, as well as Toplady. as ev-
ervbody knows. taught the doctrine Of
election, and ,Telford's Life OF John
Wesley informs us how he and the
| Wesleyls split over that rock. On one oc-
/
the absolute DEGREES in the most peremp-
| tory and offensive manner. Some thou
| sands of people were present ana Charles
| Wesley sat beside him. The rupture was
| soon complete. II is hard to resist the
conclusion that the great Wesley was
! sometimes unfair in debate. One cannot
| wonder much that the 'Calvinists' lost
| their temper over such statements, for
| instance as that Wesleys sermon on
| Free Grace" wherein he claimed that
believers in election represented the
Most High God as more cruel, false and
| unjust than the devils" or this--his sum
| mary of Topiady's Treatise on Predesti-
nation--'The sum Of all this: One In
| twenty, (supposed) of mankind are elect
ed; nineteen in twenty are reproDated.
| The elect shall be saved, do what they
viii; tho reprdbafe shall be damned. do
what they can. Reader, believe this or
b. damned. Witness my hand. A. IT,
Rowland Hill was another "Calvinist.
and many We're the battles over election
between Wesley and Hill In letter to
Hill in 1772 correspondent says: "Mr.
Wy said last night election was the
most horrid monster upon earth; no name.
said he is bad enough for 1t. or them
that hold it; they are obliged to draw a
veil over IL and only let a corner of the
monster. be seen, for II the beast were
wholly unmasked nineteen of the people
out OF twenty would run way an NJ aiso
H. ashamed of himself" Sidney, In hts
biography of Hill, quotes these among the
epithets applied to the CalviMsts by
these two meek ana loving gentlemen;
Messrs. John and Charles Wesley"
Devils factors, Satans synagogues,
children of the old roaring hellish muir
derer. who believed his lie. advocates for
sin, witnesses for the father of lies. bias
phemers, satan-sent preachers Hill paid
Wesley back in his own sort OF CON- as
We may learn from the titles or several
of his printed pamphlets, among which
are these: IAN Old Fox Tarred and
"Feathered' (the .'old fox was. of
course. Wesley) Pope John" and The
Finishing Stroke" Among the other pet
names applied by Hill to Wesley were
THE lying Apostle of the Foundry" "a
designing wolf" and "a dealer in stolen
wares" And. to cap the climax, the SEN
tence of Hills may be quoted In winch
Wesley is called "as unprincipled as
rock and as silly as a tackdaw first pill
fering his neighbours plumage and then
going proudly forth displaying his Dor
rowed tail to the eyes OF a Laughing
world"
These evangelistic preachers were really
great and good men. and their names
rightly receive generation throughout the
Christian world: but there was vitriobc
flavor to their spirit. a swashouckler
style to their dogmatlc disputations. that,
to say the least. would look Srotesque
enough In reading preachers of our times.
Try to imagine DR.. Edward Everett Hale
and the late DR.; Storrs' Tor instance
Whitefield and the Tenants were the
leading Now Side elements in the great
revival on American soil. but their work
was married by their censorious spirit.
and in certain quarters they in turn met
with fierce opposition and abuse. Archi-
bald Alexander declared that the Noting
ham sermon of Gilbert Tenant on The
Danger of an Unconverted Ministry" was
''one of the most severely abusive SER
mons which was ever penned." ''Uncon-
vcrted" and ;.hypoerttes'' are specimens
of the epithets applied freely by these
cvangelists to prominent and widely hon
ored clergynlen of their time in New Eng
land and New Jersey.GOn the other hand,
the treatment which their evangelistic
methods received in a section of the
American pulpit may be seen from the
following extract from a letter of DIR.
minister In Boston, written in 1743: AT
ter him (NhiteislD anne one Tenant
Ito Boston), "a monster! impudent and
noisy and told them they were all damd,
dam'd dam a; this alarmed them, and in
the most dreadful winter | ever saw peo-
pie wallowed in the snow night and day
for tho benefit of his beastly brayings,
and many ended their days under these
fatigues. Both of them carried away
poor could be thankful for" modern
parallel to this would be the late Phillips
Brooks railing like a tishwife at the late
Mr.. MpodY--a thing hard to conceive OF.
1t is hard to realize that a clergyman
vi world wide reputation could ever nave
spoken as follows OF the disciple o.
WcseX: -'tNe shall IIse tho sen rial term
NJ Methodlsm TO designate these three
IA sseSa of fanaticx not troubling our
selves TO point out tho finer shades and
nicer determinations OF lunacY, but treat
ing them all as I'm one general conspiracy