Biographic etchings of ministers and laymen of the Georgia conferences, Part 4

Author: Scott, William J
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Atlanta, The Foote & Davies co.
Number of Pages: 650


USA > Georgia > Biographic etchings of ministers and laymen of the Georgia conferences > Part 4


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Not a few of his wisest friends predicted for him a brilliant career, which unhappily was cut short by a premature death. Whether occupying


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the professor's chair or the pulpit he was evidently a man of superior gifts and of large resources. As chancellor of the Southern University he proved himself a man of excellent administrative ability, enjoying the esteem and confidence of the faculty, and of the board of trustees. Circumstances which he could not control led to his resignation, and to his entrance on the pastoral work. For three years he had charge of the church and con- gregation of LaGrange, where he won golden opinions from all the Christian denominations. His health, which had been declining for several years, retired him from the active ministry to his own discomfort, and to the regret of the whole conference.


I heard him preach but two sermons, both of which were of a high orderindicative of scholar- ship and of thorough consecration to the service of the gospel.


He had both intellectual and moral integrity. In some instances these qualities are disjoined, and in all such cases there is the lack of a well rounded character. Like his venerable father, Josiah Lewis, Sr., he had a moral courage that never cowered in the face of criticism or opposition.


A few weeks before his death I spent an hour in conversation with him at the old homestead in the vicinity of Sparta. He had but little expectation of recovery from the sickness that was slowly


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but steadily sapping the foundations of his life, but his resignation to the divine will was perfect.


Before separating we joined in prayer at the home altar, and at the close of our interview he spoke of the heavenly rest which awaited him, while tears of gladness sparkled in his eyes.


It is no fulsome praise to say that, take him all in all, the conference has seldom had his superior on its roll of honored and illustrious men.


ROBERT WARREN DIXON.


Robert Warren Dixon was admitted into the conference in December, 1856. His first appoint- ment was the Hamilton circuit, and his last the Thomasville district. During the intervening years he served several of the best circuits and stations, and was very highly esteemed, both in the pulpit and pastorate.


While he was not eminent for intellectual gifts, he was an all-round man whose usefulness exceeded a large number who were more widely known and more liberally applauded. Hewasstudious in . his habits, and there is little doubt but that too much reading by lamplight brought the eye trou- ble that ended in his ministerial disqualification.


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My association with Bro. Dixon was limited, but I saw and heard enough of him to admire his excel- lent character.


Col. Herbert Felder, of Cuthbert, has made this record of him which deserves to be perpetuated. This distinguished jurist characterizes him in the words following: "A man of study and research in all that pertains to true, Christian philosophy, of masterly intellect and commanding eloquence, mature judgment and mild but unyielding de- cision. His public and private life without re- proach and in harmony with his sacred office."


WV. D. MARTIN.


Rev. W. D. Martin was in charge of the Harris circuit during the period of my adolescence. I was frequently drawn to the church by his ministry, and while I was not religiously impressed by his preaching, I greatly enjoyed his original manner of presenting and enforcing the doctrines of Methodism.


My recollection is that he was associated in the work of the circuit with Rev. Ben Clark, who was possibly a reformed inebriate, certainly one of a class whom Bunyan was vont to call a "Jerusalem


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sinner." They were good yoke-fellows in the ministry, but their pulpit methods were quite dis- similar. Brother Martin was educated to an ex- tent not usual with the Methodist clergy of fifty years ago. Neither in garb nor manner was he a typical preacher of the old school, but he was not wanting in evangelistic fervor nor in genuine humility.


On the other hand, "Uncle Ben," as he was affec- tionately styled, was decidedly illiterate, but had a boundless zeal, a volume of voice only equalled by that most excellent man and useful preacher, Wesley P. Arnold.


"Uncle Ben" had no conception of a syllogism, but he had an experience that was worth more than logic in moving the masses of a backwoods congregation. This personal experience, which he knew how to relate with telling effect, made his congregations both laugh and cry, a result that I could not then well understand. But, blessed be God, this spiritual phenomenon is no longer a mys- tery.


But I find myself drifting away from the matter in hand. Coming back to Brother Martin, we re- member to have met him and to have had much pleasant intercourse with him when we were both serving on the Board of Trustees of the LaGrange Female College. He was a man of fine, practical sense, and at one of the annual meetings of the board, we co-operated in defeating an effort to


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restrict the mathematical course of the college to arithmetic, with a smattering of algebra and geometry.


It may have been at this time that I took tea with him at the hospitable home of Uncle George Heard, the father of Rev. Peter Heard and of Mrs. James M. Beall.


Brother Martin was, through much of his life, a great sufferer from nervous debility. This afflic- tion compelled his retirement from the itinerant ministry. He died may years ago on his farm near Greenville,Georgia. His widow still lingers, waiting the call of the Master. Her son, who has many of his father's traits and accomplishments, is at the old homestead, and is the stay of his aged mother.


JACKSON P. TURNER.


One of the most gifted and devotedly pious ministers of his day was Jackson P. Turner. I have no vivid recollection of his preaching, except possibly, his second year in the ministry. He was reared, like many of our best preachers, in North- eastern Georgia, and despite his lack of early edu- cational advantages, he became a man of reputa-


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ble scholarship. I have been told that while he was an industrious student, yet he learned seem- ingly by intuition.


His speaking gifts were of a high order, but more solid than showy. With these pulpit endow- ments, he combined an administrative ability which made him a most efficient and popular presiding elder.


The late Rev. James B. Jackson, who was him- self a capable and conscientious critic, regarded him as one of the great lights of the conference. He often spoke of him to me as next in rank to Billy Parks and Walker Glenn as an ecclesiastical jurist. He thought that but for his early death he might have reached the highest position in the church. I never heard him preach after his second year in the conference, but even then he gave promise of great excellence as a. preacher. I have understood that he exhibited a fondness for controversy that discounted him in some de- gree, but on what special lines I am not definitely informed. It was nothing, however, which af- fected his ministerial standing or general accepta- bility.


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W. H. EVANS.


W. H. Evans belonged to a somewhat later period in the conference. He was less widely known than his more distinguished brother, James E. Evans, but was himself a man of excel- lent gifts. I came but little in contact with him .in my early ministry, but was well acquainted with his reputation as an indefatigable worker in planting and building churches. Many years ago Atlanta was, for a time, the field of his ministry, where he won all hearts by his gentleness and good- ness. Evans' Chapel, since called Walker Street church, was named for him. While engaged in founding that church, he was greatly assisted by Rev. Lewis Lawshe, one of the most enterprising and esteemed local preachers known in the history of Atlanta Methodism.


My most intimate acquaintance with Brother Evans was when he was presiding elder of the La- Grange district. While he was serving on that district, I was called to preach the commence- ment sermon at the LaGrange Female College. Brother Evans held the reins, and against my vigorous protest, he required me to conduct both preaching services and to fill an afternoon appoint- ment at which that grand man, Bishop Andrew, was to have officiated. I was struck with his


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good-humored persistence, and had finally to suc- cumb. I said to him that he was a born ruler, with a bit of Napoleonism in his make-up.


During the next two or three days of the com- mencement exercises I very much enjoyed his genial fellowship. Strangely enough, I never heard one of his sermons which, I was informed, were uniformly edifying and enjoyable.


From that time onward our paths seldom crossed, and I only met him at the sessions of the Annual Conference. He was then in vigorous health and bade fair to attain a serene old age. I aminformed, however, that not many years there- after his physical strength commenced to wane, and that, in Oxford, he died suddenly, but of a lin- gering disease, and was buried at Oxford, Georgia.


He was a lovable man in all the relations of life, and his death was much regretted by thousands of our best people of all denominations.


IV. A. FLORENCE.


When I first knew William A. Florence he was the Principal of a flourishing academy at Mc_ Donough, Georgia. He was then in the local ranks and a preacher of considerable popularity in the village. Some years afterwards, perhaps in 1844, heentered theconference and for along term of years was quite effective as an itinerant.


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Few men in the conference were his superiors in Biblical knowledge or general information. A smaller number still were better qualified to dis- cuss the distinctive tenets and usages of Method- ism or, when occasion demanded, to deal sledge hammer blowsat the dogmas of Calvinismn. This was all done, however, in good temper and rarely offended those who differed with him. In- deed, he possessed beyond most men the "orna- ment of a meek and quiet spirit," and if he had enemies they were ashamed to avow it. No mem- ber of the conference kept a closer watch on the proceedings of the annual session, and yet strange- ly enough he never seemed to understand the drift of the discussion or the precise status of the busi- ness in hand. His mistakes were sometimes ludi- crous. He was clearly not fitted for the work of a parliamentary leader, and yet, like some others we have known, he was frequently on the floor. But he had the grace and good sense to yield when some shrewder parliamentarian knocked him out of the arena by a good-natured witticism.


In the pulpit, where no reply was allowed, he spoke consecutively, compactly, and, as we have already intimated, with pith and power.


Brother Florence, in the closing years of his pilgrimage, became more and more Christlike in his personal bearing in the church and in the com- munity. In 1876, at the ripe age of seventy-two, he died in great peace at Social Circle. 5


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MILLER H. WHITE.


Miller H. White was a member of the conference for more than a full half century. From the be- ginning of his ministry he exhibited a preaching gift that was unusual and that gave promise of no little distinction. During this time he occupied several prominent positions. But disease of a bronchial sort arrested him almost at the thresh- old of his maturer life, and he ceased to be effect- ive for quite a number of years. During this inter- val he became highly useful and even successful as a medical practitioner, at the same time serving, as he had strength enough, the churches where he resided. Several years, however, before his death, he so far recovered his health that he was made effective.


It was in this last period that I became best acquainted with him, and on two occasions traveled with him around his circuit, alternating with him in the work. I learned to love him much because of his brotherly kindness. I saw in these years the proofs of his ministerial ability. There was no little in his style to remind one of Bishop Pierce in his latter days. Indeed, in tone and gesture, and even facial expression, Dr. White might have almost passed for a twin brother of the great bishop. I have sometimes thought that


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his intense admiration for the bishop, and his life- long intimacy with him, may have influenced him to imbibe, unconsciously to himself, somewhat of the bishop's mannerism.


Dr. White, when I last saw him, began to show signs of failing health, and yet he lingered for awhile in the borderland, having reached the ad- vanced age of nearly fourscore years at his death in 1891, in Grantville, Ga.


JOHN COLLINSWORTH AND LEWIS H. MYERS.


John Collinsworth and Lewis H. Myers were recognized leaders in the old South Carolina Con- ference, but their ministry was almost exclusively in Georgia. Both of them were sticklers for the old time usages of Methodism, and they stood squarely and unflinchingly for the enforcement of its discipline. Myers was the abler man of the two, and for many years was a delegate to the General Conference, holding a conspicuous rank in the committee on Episcopacy. As Collinsworth opposed the brass buttons of George Pierce, so did Father Myers protest against the premature marriage of James O. Andrew.


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The tribe of these veterans is now extinct. Allen Turner was the last representative of this class, and made his last conference fight on Alfred T. Mann for shaving on Sunday-at the confer- ence of 1854.


Uncle Allen was nonplussed when Capers, the presiding bishop, stated that the English Wesley- ans were nearly all in the same condemnation. Thereupon Uncle Allen groaned. audibly, which performance brought a smile to the face of Sam Anthony, and even Uncle Billy Parks relaxed the muscles of his usually stern visage.


Let us not cease to revere the memories of these fathers in Israel, who, after all, were giants in the earlier years of the present century.


A little more of their conservatism in this pro- gressive age might save the Church from evils that disturb its peace and menace its stability.


JOHN M. BONNELL.


John M. Bonnell was a handsome and a scholarly young Pennsylvanian, who joined the conference in 1846.


He speedily became quite a favorite with the brethren of the ministry and laity.


H


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While his pulpit gifts were much above the average, he soon developed an educational capac- ity that made it desirable that the Church should have his service in that direction.


No man, indeed, of that period, contributed more to organize public sentiment in favor of the higher education throughout the state.


He had thoroughly mastered the theory of peda- gogies before the word itself had come into popu- lar use, and when as yet its signification, and still less its full import, was comprehended by professional teachers. He contributed a paper of great merit to Scott's Monthly Magazine on the study of English Grammar, which attracted much attention.


He had, in a striking degree, an analytical mind, as shown in all his published discussions of the methods of teaching.


His best work as a teacher was done in the pres- idency of the Wesleyan Female College, and he has left his impress on that noble institution, whose work for a half century has been a benefaction to Southern Methodism.


Dr. Bonnell, never in vigorous health, died in 1873, being literally exhausted by his abundant labors in behalf of education.


He was a high-toned and sweet-spirited Chris- tian gentleman, whose great worth will be better appreciated as the years go by.


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WESLEY P. PLEDGER.


Wesley P. Pledger was my conference classmate, and for that reason, in part, I watched his minis- terial career with deep interest, and toward its close with painful solicitude. Hehad the "genius of ges- ture" and no mean gift of oratory. If in early life he had enjoyed the advantage of thorough mental training, he would have impressed his generation hardly less than some of the most distinguished men of the conference. Like other gifted men, Brother Pledger inherited a perilous, nervous temperament which embittered and final- ly wrecked his useful life. His occasional rest- lessness of disposition, which was at times the subject matter of ungracious comment, was the outcome of disease. For two or three years be- fore his sad death he needed the rest and regimen of a first-class sanitarium. I urged him when on the Rome district, where he was greatly beloved and admired, to desist for at least a twelve month from pulpit work.


Others of his closest friends approved the sugges- tion, but he failed to realize the imminency of his peril.


Brother P. was in the main a charming preacher, and there were occasions when his declamation had some of the ring and range of Bishop Pierce.


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Hestruggled heroically against what appeared to be manifest destiny, but "Stern melancholy had marked him for her own," and he went forward slowly and yet steadily to the final scene.


Let it not be supposed, however, that his was altogether a blighted life. In the spirit world he met hundreds who were brought to Christ by his ministry. Long since has he forgotten the trials of the way in the raptures of his glorified estate.


GEO. H. PATTILLO.


Geo. H. Pattillo belonged to the fourth generation of Georgia preachers. In 1860 he rendered me valuable service in a gracious meeting at Milledge- ville, the memory of which is still fresh and fra- grant to many of the citizens of the "old capital."


He was from that time my fast, personal friend, and, although he was quite young, I recognized in his preaching the promise and potency of great pulpit usefulness.


Brother Patillo was an Emory student, and the effects of his collegiate training were visible in his ministry. He indulged in few oratorical flights, but was practical in a remarkable degree in the trend of his thought and the manner of its pres-


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entation. His sermons were edifying, which is but another word for uplifting, or, better still, upbuilding. He was careful, however, to lay the right foundation, and, as a consequence, the structure he reared was neither rocked nor racked by the fury of the winds or the turbulence of the waves. Religious character, as he shaped it, was neither the card house of the nursery nor the air- castle of the visionary.


Unfortunately he embarked at one period of his life in secular enterprises of a reputable sort, but we doubt if they contributed anything either to his fame or fortune.


This, however, was but a brief divergence. . He returned to his loved employ with a larger equip- ment and a fuller consecration. It is probable that the latter years of his laborious life, especially when serving on districts, were the most fruitful of his ministry.


Meanwhile, his hard work had made its impress on a constitution not originally robust, and he began to totter down the hill of life to an early grave. As he neared the end his personal piety shone with increasing lustre, when, after a rather protracted illness, the silver cord was loosed and he passed away with a lively hope of the heavenly rest.


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GEORGE E. GARDINER.


George E. Gardiner was another minister who . died early, of whom it might be soberly said that he was "a gentleman and a scholar." Well edu- cated at the outset, he was quite studious in his habits, and while yet young he had mastered a great deal of the best literature native and foreign.


He was elaborate in pulpit preparation, and his sermons, while lacking somewhat in brilliancy were noted for accuracy.


He was not wanting in the social instinct, and was everywhere popular as a pastor. To these excellent qualifications for ministerial usefulness he added a personal piety that secured the cordial esteem of all classes and denominations.


His death, long before he had reached the ma- turity of hisintellectual powers, seemed a calamity to the church, and was indeed a crushing blow to a devoted and most interesting household. His wife, the daughter of my old and honored friend, Hon. H. P. Bell, was helpful to him by her spiritual graces and mental accomplishents. Brother G., when looked at from a human standpoint, had a most inviting prospect before him; but the Mas- ter called, and he was ready for the summons.


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JAMES H. BAXTER.


James H. Baxter, whose recent death was so widely and deeply regretted, was a preacher much above the general average of the conference, both as to gifts and graces. He was a growing man to the last hour of his existence.


Some year ago, I was lying in the peachers' tent during the Dalton camp-meeting, and Brother Baxter came to me and said: "Bro. Scott, you are a man of experience in the ministry ; I wish you would tell me what was wrong in the matter and style of my sermon last night." I replied: "My brother, I am loth to criticise another minister's preaching, but as you have asked me a direct question I shall make a cate- gorical answer. The matter of your sermon was better than I looked for from so young a man; in- deed, I might say it would have been creditable to a much older head. But I must say its effect was marred by your carefulness to dot every I and cross every T. Give yourself more latitude in re- gard to comparative trifles. In public speaking, think more of what you say and less of how you say it and you will realize better results." He re- ceived the criticism very kindly and assured me he would endeavor to profit by it. He told me, some


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years afterwards, that it had been of great ser- vice to him.


Brother Baxter was rarely at his best as a sta- tioned preacher. His proper place was the presid- ing eldership, in which responsible office he was" painstaking and progressive beyond most of his ยท contemporaries.


At the time of his last sickness he had reached a deservedly prominent position in this office. If he had been spared through another decade he would probably have ranked with the foremost of his class. The last time I met him was on Peach- tree street, and I was for an instant startled by his ghastly appearance. He, however, seemed hopeful. It was during that visit to Atlanta that he requested Rev. Dr. Anderson to officiate at his funeral, wherever it should occur. The time was indeed close at hand when the solemn burial service should be read over his lifeless and ema- ciated body.


RUSSELL RENEAU.


Rev. Russell Reneau. was, by birth and breed- ing, an East Tennesseean. Like very many of his fellow countrymen of that Switzerland of America, he was of stalwart build both physically and


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intellectually. His early school advantages were fair, and these were made the basis of much read- ing and reflection in after years. He was in mid- dle life when he was transferred from the Holston to the Georgia conference, and entered at once on district work in the mountainous section of the State. While he was but little known at his com- ing, it was not long until he secured recognition as a vigorous thinker, especially on the line of a doctrinal preacher.


Forty years ago East Tennessee was an excellent training school for polemical theology. The Bap- tists and Presbyterians were both eager disputants, and the Methodist itinerants were not reluctant to accept the gage of battle. Rusell Reneau exhib- ited special gifts for disputation, and was fre- quently brought forward as a defender of the faith. Almost invariably he routed his adversary.


Soon after his arrival in Georgia he was engaged in a public discussion with C. F. Shehane, a Uni- versalist preacher of considerable celebrity. Not a great while before the controversy, I dined with Bro. Reneau in Atlanta. I remarked to him that Shehane-whom I had personally and intimately known when he figured as a Bible Christian-was an adroit debater, and he would seek to draw him into a criticism of Greek terms and Hebrew roots. I shall never forget his broad smile, as he replied : "Never be uneasy, Brother Scott. I promise you to


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make him thoroughly sick of his Greek and Hebrew before I am through with him."


Reneau's friends claimed that in the debate which followed, Shehanee, to borrow a slang phrase of the prize ring, was "severely punished." Whether any real good came of the contest is exceedingly .questionable, but it produced almost as big a sen- sation as the "Great Iron Wheel" controversy be- tween Graves and Brownlow.


Let it not be inferred that this controversial trend of Bro. Reneau's mind unfitted him for general pulpit usefulness. As a preacher on the evidences and cardinal doctrines of Christianity, he was surpassed by few of his day.


Unluckily for himself, however, and for the church, he drifted into journalism, and at a later period, into curious speculations about Second Ad- ventism. Shortly after this new departure he took Greely's advice and went West, where he died, I believe in the presiding eldership.




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