CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE STRANGER PREACHER
One Thursday in June, several years later, Major Gilcrest was returningfrom a business trip which had called him to a distant county. His roadled him by a little log schoolhouse on the banks of Shanklin Creek.Here he found a meeting in progress in the locust grove surrounding theschoolhouse.
When last he had been through this region, the little school buildinghad been used occasionally as a Presbyterian meeting-house, there beingno church building in the neighborhood. Accordingly, Gilcrest, thinkingthis a meeting of brethren of his own faith and order, tied his horseto a sapling, and, joining the congregation in the grove, sat down on alog not far from the speaker's stand, just as a minister was finishinghis discourse. When he had concluded, a man who seemed to be themoderator of the meeting rose to speak.
"We are sorry indeed to announce that our beloved Brother Elgood, whowas next to have addressed us, is providentially hindered from beinghere to-day. This is a great disappointment; for we who know howpowerful and eloquent Brother Elgood is, had hoped to be greatlyedified by his discourse. It still lacks an hour and ten minutes tonoon; and while we await the time for dinner to be spread in thegrounds, another brother, a stranger from a distant part of the State,will speak." Thereupon, a tall, ungainly man of about forty years rosefrom a seat at the back of the platform and came forward. He was cladin copperas-dyed jeans trousers, ill-fitting cotton coat, and homespunshirt. He wore neither stock nor waistcoat, his trousers were baggy andtoo short for his long legs, and his cowhide shoes were covered withdust. His face was pale, his eyes deep set, his hair long andstraggling, shoulders stooping, form gaunt to emaciation. Themoderator's mode of introduction had not been one to reassure a timidman, nor to prepossess an audience favorably toward a speaker. Thestranger came forward with ungraceful hesitation, and stood silentlyfacing his audience. The people stared an instant at the uncouthfigure; some laughed, and many turned to leave the auditorium, thinkingthat a stroll about the grounds, chatting with friends, would be a moreagreeable pastime until lunch was served than to sit before thisawkward fellow.
Suddenly the stranger regained self-possession, and, drawing his figureup to its full height, he pointed a long forefinger at a group ofpeople standing near, who were evidently making sport of him, andcalled out, "Thus cried Job unto his revilers, 'Suffer me that I mayspeak, and after that I have spoken, mock on.'" His penetrating tonesreached every one in the grove. Some who had risen to leave, sat down,curious to know what manner of man this might be; but many more, aftera moment's hesitation, started off again. He then cried in still loudertone, "'Hear, O my people, and I wilt testify unto thee, O Israel, ifthou wilt but hearken unto me!'"
Many more, now smiling and willing to be amused, returned to theirplaces; but the speaker, seeing many groups still hesitating in thedistance, cried out for the third time, with all the strength of hispowerful lungs, "'Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me,ye that have understanding; for the ear trieth words as the mouthtasteth meat.'"
Then, as the last straggler returned to his seat, the speaker said witha winning smile which utterly changed the expression of his gauntvisage: "And now, friends, you are doubtless beset with curiosity as towho this strange fellow in butternut jeans and cowhide shoes may be;but it mattereth not who he is, whence he came, or whither he goeth.The message, not the man, is the important thing."
Without a Bible he quoted his text, "'Behold, I lay in Zion a chiefcorner-stone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on him shall neverbe confounded' (1 Pet. 2:6); 'Other foundation can no man lay than thatis laid, which is Jesus Christ' (1 Cor. 3: 11)."
He described the church of apostolic days--its trials, its zeal, itssimplicity, its oneness of aim. "The multitude of them that believedwere of one heart and one soul," and "continued with one accord inprayer and supplication." He pointed out that this unity was not merelya spiritual and invisible union, but tangible, visible, organic, aunion in which caste and nationality were ignored, and where Judean andSamaritan, Israelite and Gentile, Greek and barbarian, rich and poor,free and bond, formed one common brotherhood, working together withsuch harmony and power that, despite stripes and imprisonments,persecutions and tortures, they multiplied and strengthened, untilidolatry was crushed, paganism vanquished, heathen philosophyconfounded, and unbelief abashed.
For a time, Hiram Gilcrest sat upon his log and listened to thespeaker's vivid eloquence with a satisfaction which amounted toenthusiasm. "Would that this man," Gilcrest mused, "had been our pastorat Cane Ridge, instead of that mischief-brewer, that pestilent heretic,Barton Stone. Then our church would not have been led off into thisschism." But as the stranger proceeded in his discourse, Gilcrest awoketo the fact that he was listening to what was in his opinion mostdangerous doctrine.
"To-day," the preacher said, "the church is so bound by the shackles ofdogma and doctrine, so crippled by doubtful disputations over 'mint,anise and cumin,' that she is well-nigh powerless to carry on the taskassigned to her, the evangelization of the world. Sectarianism, withher vermin swarm of envy, hatred, error, waste and confusion,devastates the land. In the kingdom of the 'Prince of peace' is heardthe drum-beat of party warfare, where theology prevails againstChristology, dogma against devotion, partyism against piety; and wherethe dictation of ecclesiastic councils is obeyed rather than the voiceof Christ."
His musical tones fixed the attention and thrilled every heart. Withoutgesture or excitement, his manner was quietly forcible, until hereached the second head of his theme. Then his spirit seemed tooverleap all impediments; and, as if inspired, he proclaimed thesovereign efficacy of the sacrifice upon Calvary.
"The existence and development of the church," he said, "rests not uponthe acceptance of any system of opinion or tradition or interpretation,but upon the acknowledgment of Jesus as Redeemer and Messiah. 'Uponthis rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall notprevail against it,' was the reply of Jesus to Peter's confession,'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' This is the one basictruth upon which rests all the testimony of prophet and apostle. Thisis the one sure foundation upon which the whole superstructure of theChristian life must be built. It is the one inspired creed and summaryof the entire purpose and plan of the gospel.
"Since the foundation of our faith," he continued, "is not a set ofdoctrinal tenets or a system of theological opinions, but a divinepersonality, it follows that the spirit of Christian unity must be asliberal and as broadly catholic as the spirit of Christ; and if we, thescattered hosts of the Lord's people, are ever to be brought togetherinto one common bond of fellowship, we must each first learn to magnifyour points of agreement upon all matters of Scriptural interpretationand exegesis, and to minimize our points of difference. Let us bear inmind that whether our own particular system of theology be based uponCalvin's predominating doctrine, the sovereignty of God and theunchangeableness of his decrees; or whether we, like Arminius, laygreater stress upon the doctrine of the freedom of the human will andman's individual responsibility; whether we be Calvinist or Arminian,Presbyterian or Methodist, Baptist or Quaker--we all worship the sameGod, and through the same Mediator. Therefore, laying aside all maliceand envying and evil speaking and sectarian strife, let us preserve the'unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.'"
Thus the stranger reasoned, and ere he had finished, Hiram Gilcrest,stripped of the armor under which he had so long battled for his sterncreed, was left helpless and wounded; and the sharpest item of hisdefeat was this, that the Wellington of this Waterloo was proclaimingsubstantially the same doctrine as that of the hated Stone.
His armor broken, his weapons captured, himself wounded, the old mansat with bowed head, too weak and crushed to quit the field until thesermon was finished. Then, unheeded, he threaded his way out of thethrong. Awe at last stole over him as he rode slowly along the quietlanes, with his hat slouched low over his face; and he was conscious ofa deeper meaning in his favorite texts of Scripture than he h
adhitherto felt. Presently, however, he returned to his own habitual and(to him) more reassuring reasoning. "That fellow seems to think thewhole ocean of God's eternal purpose and decree can be caught up andheld in one little pint cup; and in his self-confident ignorance helooks upon the Lord's ways as though they were a child's reading-bookwhich any man could learn at once. Even if there be truth in what hesays, the simple gospel is too mild and too broad to be used thusfreely. It would make the road to salvation toe easy for thetransgressor. The Westminster Confession and the Shorter and LongerCatechisms are the skillful condensation and concentration of allScripture truth. They are the framework of the church; and one might aswell try to build a house without beams and rafters as to try to hold achurch together without creeds and covenants and confessions of faith."
He said nothing to any one of that sermon in the grove; but the nextfew weeks he searched the Scriptures as he had never done before. Atfirst he sought to find texts to bolster up his preaccepted tenets, butas the weeks went by, and he grew more and more absorbed in the search,he began to study the Bible impartially and comprehensively; and,instead of being satisfied with fragments of truth taken here and therefrom disconnected texts, he studied the different passages withreference to their connected meaning. Reading, studying, ponderingthus, his reason and judgment could not but admit the force of whatBarton Stone and the other "New Light" ministers were teaching. Yes,his reason and judgment were at last convinced; yet this did notproduce submission and a desire to acknowledge his error, but rather afeeling of resistance and defiance.