The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-12-31

#.fug Methodist Bishops in our
---..raud set me to thinking of those
f.# heard. I recall as follows:
.---...s. Early, PIERCE, Key, Keener,
r.-..r. CRANBERRY, Wilson, Duncan,
ceu..ay. l do not undertake to de-
... who was the greatest minister of
This number of impressive divines.
ran only write as to Impressions
made .pon me by hearing one or more
a-..u~zes from them. / heard only
tsa .t them twice, namely, Early and
Cranberry | heard Bishop Wilson
.-.r lines. BY odds the greatest SER
man ] heard was Bishop Wilson'S in
III. FIRST Presbyterian church in Will
rtn1tsU, n 1t was very decidedly the
~ar.1l,st effort Of its length of any
kind. one hour and five minutes, to
which l have ever listened. / heard
him again not long afterwards at
south rort. He preached one hour and
fifteen ~Iriuutes. The first fifty min
utaz was but little below his great
sesmon in Wilmington mentioned. l
have never heard anything equal to
the two. l am inclined to think
that bishop Parker in old Front
street church, in Wilmington. came
nezl 10 Bishop Wilson. The third
best was probably by that
tuly great man. the late Bishop
AtiaAtAH 4 Ild bolII fIlSpll
and keener were natives of Maryland.
The poorest preacher of all was Bishop
Early. The present board of bishops
contains some preachers of distin-
guished ability and com
biUations. In Bishops Hoke Smith
ana Tizart. the Southern ministry lost
very gifted men,, and the latter proba-
bly, left behind him in all Southern
NelhOdism no man of his age who is
equal to him in learning. gifts. power.
4.r~a rao+ hin, H,t l-,,, -1,l 5000
Of his productions, and have read
from others of his gifts and attain
neuts- His capabilities as a scholar
and writer We're Enthusiastically high.
Amy one of intelligence and culture
who has read carefully his discussions
In the Southern Methodist Review (not
the name) published at Nashville,
Tenn, and has studied his edition of
Rev. DR.. Thomas O.. Summers very
abe and learned work on Systematic
Theology" the standard in Vanderbilt
University, must have been ~favorably
impressed with the fine gifts and
qualities Of this able. thoughtful, schol-
arly Southron. He was not yet fifty
when he passed away. and his loss to
the south, and particularly to his own
church. is indeed great.
/ pretend to no intallibility in my
opinion, but | judge for myself, as l
see it and not for some one else.
Doubtless | am often mistaken in
judgment, but l am sincere. l ave
Ions striven to have a strictly literary
conscience, and to write honest and
fair opinions however much I may
fall short of the exact facts and con
ditions. To err is human, but no
winter has any authority to allow his
rhetoric and adjectives to run away
with his pen and to pill up giddy
words just to tickle the vanity OF
others and thereby gain the good
opinion of men susceptible to excess
sive aduIation. / have often read
what to me seemed the most absurd
opinions of n and pulpit abil-
lay @enerGtI>. have had for leca :
an almost unconscious way of CLASH
tying preachers as / listen to them. I
hear ore two or three sermons an |
have the preacher arranged on the
shelves of my mind as the nlneraiO-
aist and Classics his stones,
precious or otherwise. / assign him
to the place I suppose he should occu-
py. Is he logical. or rhetorical; is he
philosophical or metaphysical: is he
eloquent and truly oratorical: is he
simply a scriptural splurger and play
e. with mental gymnastics and ftful
pyrotechnics; is he Thoughtful. earn
est. consecrated, winning, most pleas
ureable and even enhancing, or is he
DUN, fatulent. initiative, prOlix. with
out fervor and att a%ction; is he
a~uecdotical and pover.y-smitten, or
rich in thought. Illustration and anal
ysis: is he ambitious. seeking popular
effect, full of gush and fattery; is he
amusingly vain, inflated, conse-
quential, and robust in startling
opinions and effects, is he a political
hornet and schemer in disguise, an of
fice-seeking shyster or is he full q
the glory Of God and the eterna
welfare of man and not the blinded
adulatior of sycophants, the fluffy OF
the unfledged, the snobbing of faller
and uncertain men; is he really, truly
a fine success or an inflated humbug
is he really learned or is he a mere
imitator strutting in a stolen garb
grOtesque and full of shoddy menta
display and obsolete platitudes anC
borrowed ideas L might easily enlarge
here, but | have indicated the field o
classification in part. | wish only t
show something of my own mental at
titude as l listen carefully ant
most intcrestedly to what is be1nt
the world-the Pulpit. He held it t
he the most sacred. the most elevated
Of all platforms whose genius, learn
ing. ~eloquence, great reflective power
may find their noblest expression
and where unlettered ignorance, vail
insuf1ciency, and melodramatic dis
plays may find their manifestation
There are all sorts Of preachers.
A genuine revival in religion is
CIslderatum of the h1ghest KIND 10
any church, congregation or com
munity. 1t is very pleasant to hea
Of one or to read of one near you
Since I was sixteen years of age
some sixty-four years. have attend
ed many revivals and heard of a grea
many others. The most remarkabl
/ recall was the great revival tina
spread over Wake two or three year
ago, 1t was, indeed. wonderful, am
u read the accounts was stimulating
AMI refreshing. 1t reminded IN
somewhat of a revival. that occurre
III Wilmington some twenty-five
Years ago. Since then that great re
wal preacher, Pew. DR.. Pearson,
cumberland Presbyterian, held
Meeting at Wilmington extending
through three weeks and four days
ah5s was in March and April, 1889
mere We're more than eleven hundre'
VINO shook hands with the ~revivalls
81 the after-meetings. How man
txel were genuinely converted, Dor
= The Holy Spirit, it is not for me t
sas- How many have kept the fa1tl
can not tell. Rev. Sam Jones mel
+"9 mEptinpS in Wilroip ptOO since. l.