266 History of Methodism 



were exceedingly limited. He used humorously to 

 say that " when he was a boy, he never heard talk of a 

 grammar-book;" and of the rules of rhetoric and log- 

 ic, he was as ignorant as he was of grammar. And 

 yet he was an able expositor of the word of God. 

 He studied the Bible most diligently, and delighted 

 especially in exhibiting its doctrinal truths; and his 

 preaching showed that he was deeply imbued with the 

 spirit of Wesley, and Fletcher, and Baxter, and others 

 of kindred mold, with whose writings he was very 

 familiar. Some of his forms of expression, and his 

 pronunciation, might have been improved, but his 

 general style and manner in the pulpit were by no 

 means unacceptable to persons of cultivated minds. 

 There was always so much. of sterling scriptural sense 

 in his discourses, and they were delivered with such 

 earnestness and simplicity, that it was impossible that 

 he should be otherwise than an effective preacher. 

 His reasoning, which was always founded on the Bible 

 and common sense, was direct and forcible ; and his 

 illustrations, generally taken from nature and ordinary 

 life, were well fitted to arrest and hold the attention. 

 In advanced life he was quite bald, and his face thin 

 and furrowed, but in its expression always kindly, and 

 giving unmistakable indications, especially in the eye, 

 of a rich fund of humor. In his intercourse with his 

 friends, he dealt much in interesting and amusing an- 

 ecdotes which had been supplied by his extensive and 

 varied experience. 



He was preaching one night in Columbia, South 

 Carolina, just after the people had returned from camp- 

 meeting, and it was evident that the congregation was 

 rather drowsily disposed. The old gentleman, per- 

 ceiving what the state of things was, suddenly paused 



