Methodism in Earnest

James Caughey

“Lives of great men, all remind us,
We can make our lives sublime
And, departing, leave behind us,
Foot prints on the sands of time.
Foot-prints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.”

If these remarks are truths, then he, who turns away his mind from the study of a great fact, is a sinner. Lessons may be written upon it, influences may be deposited within it, which, if studied and felt, would change the whole current of his being. A wilful blindness to its teachings, may prove the sealing of his eyes in perpetual darkness. Every great fact, therefore, and especially every great religious fact, should be studied well and thoroughly by every man who wishes to do his duty.

It will be admitted, that the CONVERSION OF TWENTY THOUSAND SOULS IN ABOUT SIX YEARS, chiefly under the labours of one man, is a great religious fact! It is more than great! It is marvellous, startling, and sublime! It is eminently suggestive, too. It prompts the questions: How was it done? What were its processes? May other men be equally successful?

Who can turn aside from such a fact as this? It is a sublimer object than the burning bush, whose mystic, unconsuming fire held the outlawed shepherd in such wrapt attention. That was God in an unconscious tree; this exhibits him working “miracles of love” through a conscious, willing agent! Where is the Christian heart that can refuse to behold, to admire, and to examine it? Where is the minister of Jesus who can hear it mentioned, and be unmoved? Impossible! If the spirit of Christ be in us, we must desire to trace the workings of God’s hand in this majestic fact. How did God prepare the instrument? How did Providence prepare the way, and open so effectual a door for the appointed labourer? And what encouragement does the wonderful success of the instrument in producing this fact, afford to other ministers? May they hope for like victories through their own labours? The following pages will solve these vital and interesting questions.

The man, who has been the successful labourer in the conversion of this vast multitude of souls, is the Rev. JAMES CAUGHEY, a native of Ireland. He came to this country in his youth, and was converted to God some nineteen year since. Two years after his conversion, he joined the Troy Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was ordained a Deacon in 1834. At first he was not distinguished for usefulness above many of his brethren; but subsequently he became the subject of some very extraordinary spiritual exercises; which, being submitted to in the simplicity and docility of a child-like spirit, resulted in a visit of some six years to the British Islands. It was while on this visit that the magnificent array of TWENTY THOUSAND CONVERTS rose up around him to hail him as their spiritual father; and to attest the genuineness and divinity of his previous spiritual exercises.

Mr. Caughey is a self-educated man. He has been an extensive reader, and his mind is richly stored with the best thoughts of the best English writers. He possesses a remarkably vivid imagination, which, in its ardent flights, sometimes, though not often, soars into the suburbs of fanciful regions. His perceptive faculties are superior, his reasoning powers good, though not logical in the highest sense. His memory is both retentive and ready; hence he has a large treasury of ideas at command. His mind possesses great force; his manner is earnest and persuasive; his gesticulation natural. His voice possesses remarkable compass; if not richly musical, it is very pleasant, and the more it is heard the more it charms. His discourses bear the mark of originality. It is true they often flash with the intellectual jewels of great writers, but these are faithfully acknowledged; and his sermons, both in thought and structure, are manifestly the offspring’s of his own mind.

Such is the man whose marvellous movements form the topic of these pages. Nature had raised him above mediocrity, but she had not endowed him with the highest gifts of genius. The church has many ministers of larger powers, more highly cultivated, better read and of higher intellectual rank, but whose successes in God’s work will not bear comparison with those of Mr. Caughey. Whence, then, has his superior power proceeded? Why has he won such victories in the church of God? We must leave this question unsolved, or attribute his surprising victories to the Holy Spirit, who finds his instruments among the herdsmen of Tekoa, or at the feet of Gamaliel, as his sovereign wisdom may decide. To this source Mr. Caughey himself ascribes the glory of his fruitfulness. We do the same, and invite the reader to the pleasant work of tracing the influence of the Holy Spirit in fitting Mr. Caughey for the work, and assisting him in its performance. Surely God will bless this book to every reader’s soul; for its aim is to exhibit the glory of God shining through the instrumentality of man to show the church of God, in her ministry and membership, how she may indeed SHINE AS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD -the spiritual Pharos of mankind!