Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-07-12

Intention of being made public, :
yet his life has been filled with y
such varied experiences, dating 3
from his birth in England, boy 8
hood, soldier, clergyman, legis- $
lator, ETC., that we find much =
which we believe will be read .
with interest by the public, and {"
we will therefore from time to g
time as space permits publish
sections of this autobiography, =
should it prove of sufficient in =
terest to continue)
. =
CONTINUED from last week.
Before me as l set down these
things, lies the marriage license of
the first couple l Joined in wedlock.
1t was issued for the marriage of
James H. Blakesley and Mary M.
Elwood, and was signed by Alfred
L. Palmer, county judge, in his Of
fee at Andrew, which was then the
county seat of Jackson county, on
December 26, 1876. Since that
time have officiated on many SIM
liar occasions, but the first wedding
is in some respects like the coming
OF the first babe in the home. 1t
makes an epoch in the ministerial
life.
CHAPTER XIX.
Nothing out of the ordinary oc-
CURED on the charge until winter.
1t had been the custom to hold
prayer meetings at the school house
nearest the parsonage on Thursday
evenings. i always attended those
meetings when at home. There had
been nothing to indicate any unusual
religious interest on the part of the
people, either there or elsewhere on
the circuit, so far as / could observe,
aAtii one evening in early winter 1
went to the prayer meeting as usual
and to my astonishment found the
school house filled with people, some
VI "hoh WOiS cHtiic tIdnSclS W
me. AS / was passing up the aisle
TO the front, Ben Jones, the class
leader, pulled my sleeve and whis-
pered to me: Brother Green, you
must preach tonight" 1t was not
the custom for the minister to preach
a sermon at the week day prayer
meeting, so l had not come prepared
10 do so. Why" l replied, 81 can't
do that, l have made no preparation
whatever, and l can't preach without
preparation" ''Oh, never mind
that" he said, ''you will do well
enough; you don't need to preach
much, just go ahead and do the best
you can"
So / went up to the desk and
gave out hymn, and while they
were singing it selected scripture
lesson, after which l offered the
opening prayer. Then, after reading
the lesson, announced another
hymn, which was one of the longest
of the most familiar hymns in the
book, and all this time | could not
make a choice of text, try as
might. / really did not know what
to do, the more ] tried to think OF
one the more befogged l became, un-
til, getting desperate as the congre-
CATION remorselessly neared the end
of the hymn and / saw no way Out
of my dilemma, it suddenly occurred
to me to open the bible and grapple
with the first verse upon which my
eye should rest. Well do not now
nor have l ever thought that Goo
intended a minister to appear before
a congregation without having made
due preparation. 1t used to be {
theory with some good people tha
study for the pulpit was not neces
sary on the part of the preacher
some of my Pensioners on Summe
Hill circuit held that view. The!
believed that to make special prep
aration was to fly in the face o
Providence. All that was necessar.
was to open the mouth and Coz
would fill It, The Holy Spirit woult
give you a message if you only lef
the matter in His hands. OF cours
/ have never believed that God coul'
encourage laziness in the ministry
any more than in any other calling
/ am sure a preacher should maxi
every reasonable exertion to fit him
self for his work, and other thing
being equal, the man who does thi
and then when he gets into the pull
pit stretches himself on his theme
will, with the blessing of God, b
far more effective than the preache
who assumes that he has only t