The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-15

l quently encountered, when the godly man
 was put to great inconvenience, his
 health and life being endangered. But
 he put his trust in Providence and landed
 safely on the opposite shore.
 In those days there were but few church | edtices-they were called ''meetin ] houses" and were constructed of logs with punchein floors and seats. the lat
 ter without cushions or backs. These
 buildings did duty as school houses as
 we'll as places of worship. Sometimes
 cattle. hogs and sheep resorted to them
 for shelter. One ''meetiR house" sufficed
 for settlement, all worshiped together, | regardless of affiliations. The circuit rider, the exhorter, prayer-meetin and | 'sperience meetin' all attracted the saint
 and the sinner the good and the bad. The | congregation was limited only by the number of settlers in the community. In | sparsely settled sections, where there
 were no meeting houses the people as- | sembled at the cabin of one of their neigh bors for worship.
 It was an event in the life of the pio-
 neer family when the preacher came to spend the night. The fattest chicken was killed and the best the cabin could afford was put upon the table. The preacher said a long grace before the meal, held family prayers night and morning, and slept in the best bed, the family occu- pying the same apartment few cabins had more than one room. There was no privacy except in the forest.
 The pioneer preacher was not paid stipulated salary, as preachers now are, and often he did not receive as much as $5 a year in the root of evil" Contribu- tion boxes were unknown at that day. Salvation was free. The Gospel was not Tnto 1ad ;,tkz
 The preacher and his family subsisted almost entirely on perquisites, an occa- sional peck of cornmeal. a bullet, ham. side of bacon, a saddle of venison, pair of home made socks or mlttens,
 few yards of homemade jeans or linsey
 woolsey and such articles as the people could spare from their limited store; these were freely given.
 The pioneer preacher was an oracle; 1t
 was through him that the news was spread; this was another reason, aside
 from his holy calling why he was al- ways welcome. There We're but few news papers and mails were irregular and un-
 certain, so the preacher was the bearer | of the news from one settlement to an- | other, and, too, he was the bearer of let ters and messages. He knew everybody and everybody knew him. There were no organs In the pioneer meeting house. nor
 horns nor fiddles. The preacher lined the | hymns and the whole congregation joined
 Justify in the singing Everything in the
 Bible, from 'kiver to kiver" was ac- cepted as literally true; 1t was the re- vealed word of God" and who did not | accept it was an infidel and an outcast.
 There was no higher criticism" and doubt did not disturb the minds of the people.
 The Pioneer Preacher preached the good old-fashioned doctrine of he'll where fires | of birthstone and melted pitch were never quenched, and where the wicked burned forever and were never consumed. They preached a personal dvIl with horns and | claws and a forked tail, who laughed in
 diabolical glee while he shOveled sulphur
 into the blazing pit of eternal and un- quenchable fire. According to his belief
 there was no hope for those who died
 in sin. Their punishment would continue
 unchanged throughout all eternity. These devout men vied with each other in pie turing the torments of the damned the agonizing screams and writhngs of lost souls. the endless throbbing, burning an
 guish the blistering fires of consuming wrath Even now, after all these good