Thirty Years in the ItinerancyMiller, W. G. (Wesson Gage)
Philosophy
Thirty Years in the Itinerancy
Miller, W. G. (Wesson Gage)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Wisconsin; Methodist Episcopal Church. Wisconsin Conference
Among these, we decided to hold a series of two days' meetings, and,
that they might prove a grand success, we selected as the localities the
grand centres of population. We appointed the first to be held in Father
Chick's barn, a mile west of the Mission Chapel in Stockbridge. The day
came, and so did the two Exhorters. The people from the two nations came
in throngs. The barn was filled, and the groves around it, until my head
grew dizzy in looking at the multitudes and thinking of what was to
follow. There was a congregation that might awaken the eloquence of a
Bishop, and nobody to conduct the services but two young, inexperienced
Exhorters. The reader may well imagine that there was genuine repentance
on the part of the striplings, and, may be, hastily made vows never
again to challenge a multitude, but these did not solve the problem of
the hour. Of course, as I was "Exhorter in Charge," though the youngest
man, I had to take the morning service. I was so thoroughly frightened
that I have forgotten the text, if I took any; but this point I do
remember most distinctly. It was my first thought, on seeing the crowd,
that I would take for a text, "There is a Lad here with five barley
loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?" But the
more I thought of it, the more frightened I became. Fortunately, I
dismissed it before the hour of service arrived, for I seriously
questioned whether I could furnish the people so generous a feast. How I
got through the service I am unable to say, for I never dared to ask any
one, and my friends, doubtless out of regard to my youth, forbore to
tell me. As to the afternoon service, I need say nothing, for, though
respectable, I have no doubt Brother Hayward has preached many better
sermons since.
But whatever was wanting in the public services, the social meetings of
the day were a great success. Here the brethren came in with their
singing and earnest prayers, and the sisters with their Christian
testimonies, until every heart was moved. In this part of the service
Sister Hayward led off with her accustomed ability and spirit, making a
marked feature of the exercises.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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