Something of Men I Have Known: With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and RetrospectiveStevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing)
History
Something of Men I Have Known: With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and Retrospective
Stevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing)
United States -- Biography; United States -- Politics and government -- 1865-1933
None the less, the typical minister of to-day would have had
very scant welcome in the rude pulpits of the days of which we
write. His elegant attire, conventional manners, written sermons,
and new theology, would have been sadly out of place in the
camp-meeting times, for be it remembered that Cartwright called
things by their right names. He gave forth no uncertain sound.
His theology was that of the Fathers. We hear little in these
modern days of "The fire that quencheth not" and of "total depravity"
and of "the bottomless pit." Such expressions are unfitted for ears
polite. Higher criticism, new thought, and all kindred ideas
and suggestions,
"Sapping a solemn creed with solemn sneer,"
were believed by Cartwright and his contemporaries to be mere
contrivances of Satan for the ensnaring of immortal souls. His
abhorrence of all these "wiles of the devil," and his scorn for
their advocates, knew no bounds.
His preaching was of the John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Jonathan
Edwards type. Mingled with his denunciations of sin, his
earnest exhortations to repentance, his graphic description of the
New Jerusalem, with its "streets of gold, walls of jasper, and
gates of pearl," and of the unending bliss of the redeemed, were
expressions now relegated to the limbo of the past. Little
time, however, was wasted by the Rev. Peter in picking out soft
words for fear of giving offence. To his impassioned soul "the
final doom of the impenitent," the "torment of the damned," and
"hell fire" itself, were veritable realities. And so indeed, when
rolling from his tongue, did they appear, not alone to the rapt
believer, but oftentimes to the ungodly and the sinner as well.
More than one marvellous conversion under his ministration is
recorded by Brother Cartwright in the autobiography written in the
closing years of his life. At one time in crossing a stream, he
was deeply offended by the profanity of the boatman. The kindly
admonition and the gentle rebuke of the minister apparently added zest
and volume to the oaths of the boatman. Suddenly seizing the
offender, the irate preacher ducked him into the river, and turned
a deaf ear to his piteous appeals for succor until the half-drowned
wretch had offered a prayer for mercy and made profuse promises of
repentance. Hopeful conversion, and an ever-after life of Christian
humility, were the gratifying sequels to the baptism so unexpectedly
administered.
Another experience no less remarkable occurred when, during the
early years of his ministry, he was crossing the mountains on
his way to the General Conference. At a tavern by the wayside,
where he had obtained lodging for the night, he found preparations
in progress for a ball to come off that very evening. The protestation
of the minister against such wickedness only aroused the ire of
the landlord and his family. The dance promptly began at the
appointed time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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