INCIDENTS AND CHARACTERS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF METHODISM

By

The Reverend John Elmore DuBois

Edited by Elizabeth A. DuBois
(c) 1998  DuBois Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

FOUR (cont.)
Learning from Experiences;
Hard Shell Baptists

 On the 22nd of June, 1822, under the preaching of Peyton Graves, I cast
in my lot with the people of God on probation, as my parents had done
before me.  I availed myself of every advantage. of every means of
grace.  I read many good books, which were issued by our Book Concern in
New York, and scattered by our preachers, who carried them around in
their saddle-bags.   It is my opinion that our people were better
supplied with our general literature, and better posted in the doctrines
and economy of Methodism, under those disadvantages than they are
to-day, with all our boasted privileges.

 Here I might with propriety give my experience in seeking and obtaining
religion, but have thought best to give a chapter on experiences, to
include my own and those of several friends eminent for their piety and
purity, their godliness and zeal.  This will abound in much valuable
information for young converts and seekers of religion, and to it I
shall attach more than ordinary importance.

   About this time the only ministers of the Gospel in the country were
Methodists, and those who are familiarly known as Hard Shell Baptists. 
These were by choice an illiterate and ignorant set of men.  They
repudiated education and esteemed it almost sacrilege to make any
preparation before going into the pulpit.

 On one occasion they were visited by an evangelist of their own Church,
who chanced to be a man of some cultivation and refinement, but they
refused to give that attention and consideration that his talents and
position demanded, and his mission was a failure.  They seldom preached
without dealing the Methodists a heavy blow, and doing all they could to
check our headway.  One of their strong arguments against us was that
Mr. Wesley had a Bible or Testament of his own.  And here I would
remark, by way of parenthesis, that this translation of Mr. Wesley
contained identically most of the important changes that we find in the
Revised New Testament.

[to be continued...]

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