Year: 1874

Sf1AF Eli AIS.


KIKE's SERMON.


During the time that had interven-
ed between Kike's conversion and
Magruder's second visit to the settle
Element, Kike had developed very
considerable gift for earnest speech
in the class meetings. In that day
every influence in Methodist associs-
ton contributed to make preacher
Of man of force. The reverence
with which self-denying preacher
was regarded by the people was q
great compensation for the poverty
and toll that pertained to the Office.
To be preacher was to be canonized
during ones lifetime. The moment
a young man showed zeal and fuency
he was pitched on by all the brethren
and sisters as one whose duty it was
to preach the Gospel he was asked
whether he did not feel that he had q
divine call; he was set upon watch
ing the movements within him to see
whether or not he ought moi to be
among the sons of the prophets. Of
tentimes man was made to feel, in
spite Of his own better judgment, that
he was veritable Jonah, sinking
from duty, and in imminent peril Of .
whale in the shape of some providen-
tial disaster. Kike, indeed, needed
none Of these urgings to impel him
toward the ministry. He was q man
Of the prophetic temperamcnt-one
of those men whose beliefs take hold
of them more strongly than the OBJ
jects Of sense. The future life as
preached by the early Methodists,
with all its joys and all its awful tor
ments, became the most substantial
Of realities to HIM. lie was in con-
stant astonishment that people could
believe these things theoretically and
ignore them in practice. If men we're
going headlong to perdition, and
could be saved and brought into a
paradise of eternal bliss by preaching,
then what nobler work could there be
than that of saving them? And, let
a man take what view he may of a
future life, kike's opinion was the
right one-no work can be SO excel
lent as that of helping men to bet
ter life.


like had been poring over some
works Of Methodist biography which
he had borrowed, and the sublimated
life of Fletcher seemed to him the
only one worth living. Methodism
preached conservation to its disciples,
Hike had already learned from Mrs.
Wheeler, who was the class-leader at
Hissawachee settlement, and from
Methodist literature, that he must, in
Wesleyan parlance, s'keep all on the
altar" He must be ready to do, to
suffer. to die, to labor, to wait, or to
perish for the Master. The sternest
sayings of Christ about forsaking faith
or and mother, and hating ones own
life and kindred, he heard often re-
peated in exhortations. Most people
are not harmed by a literal under
standing Of hyperbolical expressions.
I.aziness and selGshness are great an
tidotes to fanaticism, and often pass
current for common sense. like had
no such buffers; taught to accept the
words Of the Gospel with the dry lit
eralness of statutory enactments, he
was too honest to evade their force,
too earnest to slacken his obedience.
He was already prepared to accept
any burden and endure any trial that
might be given as test Of disciple
ship. All his natural ambition, ve-
hemence, and persistence found exer-
else in his religious life; and the SIM
ple-hearted brethren, not knowing
that the one sort Of intensity was but
the counterpart Of the other, pointed
to the transformation as s'beautiful
conversion a standing miracle. So
it was, indeed, and like all moral mir
acles, it was worked in the direction
Of individuality, not in opposition to
it.


1t was grevous disappointment to
the little band Of Methodists that
Brother Magruder's face was so swol-
len, after his encounter, as to prevent
his preaching. They had counted
much upon the success Of this day
work, and now the devil seemed
about TO snatch the victory. Mrs
Wheeler enthusiastically suggested
Kike as substitute, and Magrudel
sent for him in haste. Kike was graf
fled to hear that the preacher wanted
to see him personally. His sallou
face flushed with pleasure as he stood,
a slender STRIPPING, before the mes.
senger Of God.


"Brother Lumsden, ,'said Mr.. Mag.
ruder, "are you ready to do and te
suffer for Christi"


81 trust am" said kike, wonder


ing what the preacher could mean.
i "You see how the devil has plan
ned to defeat the Lords work to-day


My lip is swelled, and my jaw SO stiff


that ! can hardly speak. Are yo,
ready to do the duty the Lord shal
put upon youy'


Kike trembled from head to foot
He had often fancied himself preach
ing his first sermon in strange neigh
borhood, and he had even picked on
his text but to stand up suddenl


before his schoolmates, before hi
mother, before Brady, and, worse tha
] I'll, before Morton, wss terrible. An


yet, had be not thas very momin