Not long since I sat in a nicely furnished room taking my dinner. My host was talking through a telephone to a man miles away, and then, with a good-by, came back to the table. I said, "That is a great contrast with your first days here." He laughed, and said, "Yes. The boats[198] came up to where there are now great blocks of buildings; and when I preached on Sunday afternoon, I always had a bull and a bear fight to contend with around the corner. I remember one time," he said, "when the bull broke loose, and ran down the street past where I was preaching. I saw at a glance that I must close the meeting, and so pronounced the benediction2; when I opened my eyes not a living soul was in sight except my wife."
At another time he approached two miners who were at work; and he told them he was building a little church, and thought they might like to help. "Yes," said one of them, "you ain't the first man that's been around here a-beggin' fer a orphan3 asylum4. You git!" And as this was accompanied with a loaded revolver levelled at him, he obeyed. They were good men, but thought he was a gambler, as he had on a black suit. When they afterwards found out that he was all right, they helped him. Gambling5 in all mining-camps[199] was the common amusement. Some little camps had scarcely anything in sight but gambling-saloons, all licensed6.
This has continued even as late as July, 1895. The first preacher in Deadwood stood on a box preaching when all around him were saloons, gambling-houses, and worse. He was listened to by many in spite of the turmoil7 all around him, and the collection was of gold-dust. It was accidentally spilled on the ground, when some good-hearted miner washed it out for him. The good man was shot the next day as he was going over the divide to preach in Lead City. The miners had nothing to do with it; but they not only got up a generous collection, but sent East and helped the man's family.
Often a preacher has his chapel8 over a saloon where the audience can hear the sharp click of the billiard-balls, the rattle9 of the dice10, and the profanity of the crowd below. One day a man who was rapidly killing11 himself with drink recited in a[200] voice so that all in the little church could hear him:—
"There is a spirit above, There is a spirit below, A spirit of joy, A spirit of woe12. The spirit above Is the spirit divine, The spirit below Is the spirit of wine."
It was hard work under such circumstances to hold an audience. From the room where the man preached twelve saloons were in sight, and the audience could hear the blasting from the mines beneath them. The communion had to be held at night, as the deacons were in the mine all day. And yet those that did come were in earnest, I think. The very deviltry and awfulness of sin drove some men to a better life who under other conditions would never have gone to church. Many men were hanged for stealing horses, very few for killing a man; while many a would-be suicide has been saved by the efforts of a true-hearted minute-man. No[201] one but a genuine lover of his kind can do much good among the miners. In no place is a man weighed quicker. The miners are a splendid lot to work with, and none more gallant13 and respectful to a good woman in the world.
The free and easy style of a frontiersman is refreshing14. You never hear the question as to whether the other half of your seat is engaged; although, if you are a minister in regulation dress, you will often have the seat to yourself. I remember once, when travelling in a part of the country where both lumbermen and miners abounded15, a big man sat down by my side. He dropped into the seat like a bag of potatoes. After a moment's look at me, he said, "Live near here?"
"Yes, at ——."
"Umph! In business?"
"Yes; I have the biggest business in the place."
"I want to know. You ain't Wilcox?"
"I know that."
"Well, don't he own that mill?"
[202]"Yes; but I have a bigger business than any mill."
"What are you, then?"
"I am a home missionary16."
The laugh the giant greeted this with stopped all the games and conversation in the car for a moment; but I was able to give him a good half-hour's talk, which ended by his saying, "Well, Elder, if I am ever near your place, I am coming to hear ye, sure."
I was often taken for a commercial traveller, and asked what house I was travelling for. I invariably said, "The oldest house in the country," and that we were doing a bigger business than ever. "What line of goods do you carry?" the man would ask, looking at my grip. "Wine and milk, without money and without price. Can I sell you an order?"
At first the man would hardly believe I was a preacher. I remember talking for an hour on the boat with one young man, and after leaving him I began to read my Bible. He saw me reading,[203] and said, "Oh! come off, now; that's too thin."
"What is the matter?" I said. "Do you mean that the paper is thin? It is; but there's nothing thin about the reading."
He at once whispered to the captain; and after the captain had answered him, he came over and apologized. "Why did you not tell me you were a minister?"
"I had no reason to," I said. "Did I say anything in my talk with you of an unchristian nature?"
"No; but I should never have known you were a minister by your clothes."
"No; and I don't propose that my tailor shall have the ministerial part of my makeup18."
Time was when every trade was known by the clothes worn, and the minister is about the only one to keep his sign up. It is just as well on the frontier for him to be known by his life, his deeds, and his words. The young man above had been a wide reader; and for two hours[204] that night under the veranda19 of our hotel I talked with him, and afterwards had some very interesting letters from him.
The town that same night was filled with wild revelry. It was on the eve of the Fourth of July, and newly sworn-in deputies swarmed20; rockets and pistols were fired with fatal carelessness; and yet amidst it all we sat and talked, so intensely interested was the man in regard to his soul.
I close this chapter with a portion of Dr. McLean's sermon on the flowing well (he was the man our minute-man was talking with by telephone mentioned in the first part of this chapter) which will show how well it pays to place the gospel in our new settlement:—
"The first instance of which I myself happen to have had some personal observation, is of a well opened thirty years ago. Fifteen persons met in a little house, still standing21, in what was then a community of less than fifteen hundred souls. They came to talk and counsel, for they were men and women in touch with God. They were considering the matter of a flowing well of the spiritual sort.[205] There was the valley, opportunity; and there was the lack of sufficient religious ministration. The moral aspect of the place could not be better surmised22 than by the prophets word, 'Tongue faileth for thirst.'
"They consulted and prayed, and said, 'We'll do it!' They joined heart and hand, declaring, 'Cost what it may, we'll sink the well!' And they did. But ah, it was a stern task. For many a day those fifteen and the few others who joined them ate the bread of self-denial. Delicately reared women dismissed their household help and did the work themselves. Enterprising, ambitious men turned resolutely23 away from golden schemes, and made their small invested capital still smaller. A few days later on (it will be thirty years the ninth of next December) eight men and seven women, standing up together in a little borrowed room, solemnly plighted24 their faith, and joyfully25 covenanted27 to established a church of Christ of the Pilgrim order.
"What has been the outcome of that faith and self-denial? It has borne true Abrahamic fruit. There stands to-day, on that foundation, a church of more than eleven hundred members. It has multiplied its original seventeen by more than the hundred fold, having received to its membership one thousand nine hundred and fifty-six souls, of whom one-half have come upon confession28. It is a church which is teaching to-day seventeen hundred[206] in its Sunday-schools; possesses an enrolled29 battalion30 of two hundred valiant31 soldiers of Christian17 Endeavor, which maintains kindergartens and all manner of mission-industrial work; and held the pledge, at a recent census32, of thirteen hundred and twenty-two persons to total abstinence. It has a constituency of one thousand families. It reaches each week, with some form of religious ministration, two thousand five hundred persons, and has five thousand regularly looking to it for their spiritual supplies. To as many more, doubtless, does it annually33 furnish, in some incidental way, at least a cup of cold water in the Master's name. It is a church which has been privileged of God in its thirty years to bring forth34 nine more churches within the field itself originally occupied, and to lend a hand frequently with members, habitually35 with money in it, to four times nine new churches in fields outside its own. It is a church also, which, with no credit to itself,—for, brethren, only sink the well, pipe it, keep an open flow, and it is God who, from his bare heights and the rivers opened on them, will supply the water,—it is a church which has enjoyed the great blessedness of contributing its part to every good thing in a growing city which has grown in the thirty years from fifteen hundred to sixty thousand souls. This church, having been enabled to help on almost every good thing in its State, is recognized to-day throughout a widely extended territory as an adjunct and[207] auxiliary36 of all good things in morals, politics, in charity, and the general humanities,—a power for God and good in a population which, already dense37, is fast becoming one of the ganglion centres of American civilization. It is also laying its serviceable touch upon trans-oceanic continents and intervening islands of the sea. It has furnished ministers for the pulpit, and sent Sunday-school superintendents38 and Christian workers out over a wide area; it has consecrated39 already six missionaries40 to foreign service, and has two others under appointment by the board; and as for wives to missionaries and ministers, brethren, you should just see those predatory tribes swoop41 down upon its girls!
"It is a true flowing well in the midst of a valley. Ah! those fifteen who met thirty years ago next October made no mistake. They were within God's artesian belt. Their divining-rod was not misleading. Their call was genuine; their aim unerring. They struck the vein42. The flow of the rivers breaking out from bare heights did not disappoint them. And now behold43 this wide expanse of spiritual fertility! This church was not, in form, a daughter of the American Home Missionary Society. Its name does not appear upon your family record, and yet, in the true sense, it is your daughter. In its infant days it sucked the breasts of churches which had sucked yours. Its swaddling bands you made. It was glad to get them even at[208] second hand. The other instance I have to quote is of but recent standing,—of not thirty years, but only three.
"On the 26th of May, three years ago, a pastor44 in Central California was called five hundred miles into the southern part of the State to assist in organizing a Pilgrim church. A good part of the proposing members being from his own flock, their appeal was urgent, and was acceded45 to. An infant organization of a few persons was brought together, and christened the Pilgrim Church of Pomona. The organization was effected in a public hall, loaned for the occasion; the church's stipulated46 tenure47 of the premises48 expiring at precisely49 3 P.M., in order that the room might be put in order for theatrical50 occupancy at night. The accouchment was therefore naturally a hurried one. The constituting services had to be abbreviated51. Among the things cast out was the sermon, which the visiting pastor from the north had come five hundred miles to preach. Well, sweet are the uses of adversity! Never, apparently52, did loss so small gain work so great. On the lack of that initiatory53 sermon the Pilgrim Church of Pomona has most wonderfully thriven. The church was poor at the outset. It possessed54 no foot of ground, no house; only a Bible, a dozen hymn-books, and as many zealous55 members. Over this featherless chick was spread the brooding wing of the American Home Missionary Society. 'It was a plucky56 bird,' said the wise-hearted[209] pastor, already on the ground. 'Here's a case where the questionable57 old saw, "Half a loaf better than no bread," won't work at all. If this new well is to be driven, it must be driven to the vein. If there is to be but surface digging, let there be none. If the American Home Missionary society will supply us with six hundred dollars for the first six months, we'll make no promises, but we'll do the best we can.' Well, the G. O. S.—Grand Old Society—responded, and gave the six hundred for the desired six months. At the expiration58 of that period the Pilgrim Church of Pomona, located upon land and in a house of its own, bade its temporary foster-mother a grateful good-by; and, as it did so, put back into her hand two hundred of the six hundred dollars which had been given. What has been the outcome? That noble church, headed by a noble Massachusetts pastor, has become in the matter of home missions at least—but not in home missions only—the leading church of Southern California. It has to-day an enrolment of two hundred and twenty; has contributed this year three hundred and fifty dollars to your society. Alert in all activities of its own, it is a stimulus59 to all those of its neighbors. It had not yet got formally organized—the audacious little strutling!—before it had made a cool proposition to the handful of Pilgrim churches then existing in Southern California for the creation of a college; secured the location in its own town; itself appointed the first[210] board of trust; and named it Pomona College. It never waited to be hatched before it began to crow; and to such purpose that it crowed up a college, which now owns two hundred acres of choice land, has a subscription-list of twenty-five thousand dollars for buildings, besides a present building costing two hundred and five thousand dollars. It has in its senior class eleven students, in its preparatory department seventy-one; and in a recent revival60 interest numbers a goodly group of converts; and, finally, the general association of Southern California, at its meeting within a month, committed its fifty churches fully26 to the subject of Christian education, to the annual presentation of the advantages and claims of Pomona College, and to an annual collection for its funds. All this, brethren, out of one of your flowing wells in three years."
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
cape
|
|
| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
benediction
|
|
| n.祝福；恩赐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
orphan
|
|
| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
asylum
|
|
| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
gambling
|
|
| n.赌博；投机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
licensed
|
|
| adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
turmoil
|
|
| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
chapel
|
|
| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
rattle
|
|
| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
dice
|
|
| n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
woe
|
|
| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
gallant
|
|
| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
refreshing
|
|
| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
abounded
|
|
| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
missionary
|
|
| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
makeup
|
|
| n.组织；性格；化装品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
veranda
|
|
| n.走廊；阳台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
swarmed
|
|
| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
surmised
|
|
| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
resolutely
|
|
| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
plighted
|
|
| vt.保证，约定（plight的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
joyfully
|
|
| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
covenanted
|
|
| v.立约，立誓( covenant的过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
confession
|
|
| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
enrolled
|
|
| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
battalion
|
|
| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
valiant
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
census
|
|
| n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
annually
|
|
| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
habitually
|
|
| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
auxiliary
|
|
| adj.辅助的，备用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
dense
|
|
| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
superintendents
|
|
| 警长( superintendent的名词复数 )； （大楼的）管理人； 监管人； （美国）警察局长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
consecrated
|
|
| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
missionaries
|
|
| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
swoop
|
|
| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
vein
|
|
| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
behold
|
|
| v.看，注视，看到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
pastor
|
|
| n.牧师，牧人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
acceded
|
|
| v.（正式）加入( accede的过去式和过去分词 )；答应；（通过财产的添附而）增加；开始任职 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
stipulated
|
|
| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
tenure
|
|
| n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
premises
|
|
| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
theatrical
|
|
| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
abbreviated
|
|
| adj. 简短的，省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
initiatory
|
|
| adj.开始的；创始的；入会的；入社的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
zealous
|
|
| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
plucky
|
|
| adj.勇敢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
questionable
|
|
| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
expiration
|
|
| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
stimulus
|
|
| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
revival
|
|
| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |