with a persistence that admitted of no compromise. The plan I had marked
out for myself contemplated, ultimately, the position of a Local
Preacher, and a life devoted largely to literature and business. On this
plan I fully relied, and thought myself settled in my convictions and
fixed in my purpose. Yet I am not able to say, that at times it did not
require some effort of the will to keep my conscience quiet and my
thought steady. A young man, from eighteen to twenty-two years of age,
who was subject to so many attacks, especially in high places, and who
constantly felt himself preached to and prayed at in almost every
religious assembly, must be more than human, not to say less than a
Christian, to bear up under such a pressure. I clearly saw that one of
two things must be done, and that speedily. Either I must yield to the
manifest demand of the church or "go west." I chose the latter. Nor was
this decision mere obstinacy. There were several things to be considered
and carefully weighed and determined before entering upon a work of such
grave responsibilities as the Itinerant ministry. First of all, the
question must be settled in a man's conviction of duty; then the
question of one's fitness for the work; and, finally, the financial
question could not be ignored. To enter the Itinerancy involved
responsibilities that could only be sustained under the deepest
convictions that can possibly penetrate a human soul. The minister is
God's ambassador to lost men. He can only enter upon this work under the
sanction of Divine authority. Having entered he is charged with the care
of souls, and if these shall suffer harm, through his inefficiency or
want of fidelity, he must answer in the Divine assizes for the breach of
trust. Well may the best of men say, "who is sufficient for these
things?" Then add to this grave responsibility, the certain and
manifold trials which must come to every man who enters the Itinerancy.
His very calling makes him a spectacle to men, and necessarily the
subject of adverse criticism. He is the messenger of God and yet the