The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-02-10
The Old Time Circuit Rider,
Subject of Dr.. Rice's Address

ments stretches eighty miles along the
Tombigbee river and he rides the
round of the circuit at regular inter-
walls.
To the casual observer no incident
could have been less significant for
the DEVELOPMENT of State than the
coming of this young stranger unher-
aided and alone upon the soil OF Ala
hama. he had only what money was
left from the 800 given him for trav
cling expenses. He was backed by no
syndicate, no government, no political,
commercial or Industrial interest, had
nothing to sell and wanted to buy
nothing He was far from a COM
handing personality. An acquaintance
says of him: He was full of the Dr.
vine spirit and labored zea1ously. He
was a man of moderate intelligence.
with some genius. considerable fancy.
burning zeal. impassioned address.
wanting in energy and tact In bust
ness matters. but vet Of unQuestioned
piety. He was unable to do much work.
He was never robust. His health had
been greatly impaired by his itinerant
work. especially by the hardships OF
the Tombigbee mission. what could
be less worthy of notice than the COM
ing of this ordinary man3 And yet
here we are after q hundred years.
celebrating that event. There were
at that very time over six hundred
others travelling like him with 1000 To-
cal preachers and q constituency OF
nearly 1900. These latter day apostles,
like Paul. not disobedient to the heay-
emily vision. were Drawing the perils of
the Wild wilderness. threading their
way everywhere over untraversed areas
in the face of appalling difficulties to
pioneer huts, Indian wigwaras and ne
gro cabins as well as to the homes OF
rS.nk lie fnW
whom the Christ died. And they have
had thousands of worthy successors In
these hundred years. Who were these
menu
ChiIaren of the Comnea People.
They were. for the most part. chill
dren of the common people. Not few
immigrants had been converted under
Wesleys' preaching IN Englana, ano
dotted the Atlantic Seaboard and parts
of the interior with holy affairs from
which the contagion spread through
the growing settlements. For these
homes became centers for neighbor-
hood meetings and later preaching
places for the pioneer circuit riders.
whose coming broke the monotony and
gave the people something new to
talk about For in those days they
discussed what he said instead of com
plimenting him ana going away to for
get. Here whole communities would
be stirred, and many who came 20
scott would go away to pray. These
awakened souls of all classes. made
kin by one touch of the Divine spirit
tuaI fellowship and help. Some one
supposed to have more s''gifts and
graces" than the rest would be called
upon to lead the meeting. The keen
eyed itinerant, always alert for COM
petent helpers, could detect a preach
err in the egg. like Domsie scholar.
and would lose no time IN Matching him
out.
These new helpers, creatures of re-
ligious enthusiasm that was world
great because world deep" brought to
this new task the atmospheer out of
which they came. They embodied the
dreams and aspirations, the longtngs
and struggles, the ideas and interests.
the habits of thought and feeling, and
used the vocabulary of the common
man. They were free from the tyr
amy of artificial manners and mechan-
ical customs, simple children of nature
and grace. whose experiences were not
yet crystalliZed in formst and formulas,
not yet emasculated by hairsplitting
theories. They were therefore open to
the Divine significance Of life"
Educated I'm the Great University of
Men and Things.
And they were educated in the great
university of men and things. Not a
few of the most efficient of them
learned to read after they began to
preach. taught in some cases by de-
voted wives. They did not know books
but they did know the material books
are made of. The tests of "A call to
preach were: First-eDo they know God
as a pardoning God? Have they the
love Of God abiding in them? Do they
desire and seek nothing but God? Are
they holy in all manner of CONVERSE
| tion7
Second-Have they gifts Gas we'll as
grace,) for the work? Have they Gin
some tolerable degree) clear. sound
understanding, a right judgment in the
things of God. just conception of sal
walton by faith? Do they speak justly.
readily. clearly?
Third-Have they fruit? Are any
truly convinced of sin and converted
to God by their preaching?
No candidate for a civil or military
commission could give stronger evid-
ence of adequate preparation for this
question gave of the itinerants equip
ment for his. The hard discipline of
| the Methodist polity which holds the
| church to be everything, the man moth
| ing. draws out all there Is in those
| who survive its severity. AS the fin
| est steel is brought out of the crudest
ore by a torturing process. so the no.
| blest spirits have been developed by
| the hardships of the itinerancy. But
| the waste has been fearful. In 1916.
| about the length of a human life after
the organization of the church, 764 had