Year: 1872




faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; and
not without the pleasure Of seeing
many sinners forsaking their sins
Snd turning unto God.


Nov said he, you have heard the
reasons which induce me to. believe
that God has called on me to preach
the Gospel to the poor and ignorant
l never considered myself qualified
to instruct men of education and
learning. 1 have always felt badly
when such came to hear me But as
for people of ny own class, believe
that / can teach them many things
which they need to know; and in re.
gard to such as become pious, ] was
able, by study of the Bible and medi.
tation, to go before them, so that t.
them also l eould be in some meas
ure guide. ! lament my want oil
learning, and am deeply convinced
that it is useful to the ministry ot
the { ospel; but it seems to mt
that there are different gifts now as
of old, and one man may be suited
20 one part Of the Lords work, and
another to another part. / do not
know but that poor and ignorant peo
pie can understand my coarse and
familiar language better than the
discourses. of the most learned and
eloquent men. know their meth
cd of thinking and reasoning. and
how to make things plain BY illus
trations and con parsons adapted t.
their capacity and habits"


When the old millwright had fin
ished his story, tcit much more in
cIined to doubt my own call to ths
ministry, than that of James Sael-
burne. Much OF the night was spent
IN this conversation, while my com
panion was enjoying his usual re-
pose. We talked freely alb ut the
doctrines Of religion, and we're mutu-
ally gratified at finding how exact
ly our views Tailed. From this
night James Shelburne became an
object of my high regard, and he
gave abundant testimony Of his es-
teen for ne. Whenever / visited
that part of the country, he was want
to ride many miles to hear me
preach, and was pleased to declare
that he had never heard any Of the
ministers of his own denomination
with whose opinions he could so
readily agree as witt mine. I had
opportunity of hearing him preach
several times, and was pleased not
only with the soundness of his doc
trine, hut the unaffected simplicity
OF his manner. His discourses con-
sisted of series o, judicious re-
marks expressed in the plainest Ian
guage, and in e conversational toni,
until he became by degrees warmed
with his subjeat, when he fell into a
tone, but nothing like what
was c. mmon with almost all Baptist
preachers of the country at that time.
As he followed his trade from day to
day, 1 once asked him how be found
time to study his sermons; to which
he replied, that he could study bet
ter at his work, with his hammer in
bis hand than if shut mp and sur
rounded with books. When he lad
passed the seventeenth year OF his
age he gave up work, and devoted
himself entirely o preaching BE
ing a man OF firm health, he travelled
to a considerable distance and
preached nearly every day. On one
Of these tours, after 1 was settled in
Charlotte county, 1 saw him for the
last time. The old man appeared to
be full Of zeal and love, and brought
the spirit Of the Gospel into every
family which he visited, He was
evidently ripening for Heaven, and
accordingly, not long after, he fin
shed his course with joy. Thus !
have anticipated much that relates
10 my old friend, although IFS end
lid not occur until many years after
his time.