History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org

within would begin to kindle, and then his countenance would take on a seraphic glow, as if it were
a fountain of sunbeams. His intonations, his emphasis, his pauses, every thing pertaining to his
elocution, seemed exactly adapted to convey his thoughts in the most fitting, graceful, and effective
manner. There was no appearance of any great effort in his preaching; it seemed rather like the
simple moving of a wonderful mind, in the bright and lofty path which the Creator had constituted
as its native element. I should pronounce him unhesitatingly a man of the highest style of genius. He
had a great fund of ready wit, and always knew how to say the best thing, at the best time, and in the
best manner. [2]
Traditions of his eloquence and usefulness are rife through all Ohio. He was an accomplished and
heroic soldier of the cross, and won innumerable trophies. Just before he died, his last words to a
friend were, "Serve God and fight the devil."
Superior even to Strange, as a preacher, was Russell Bigelow, a man of inferior presence, but of
astonishing eloquence, of which the elder Methodists of Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio never tire of
speaking, though they can only describe it as "indescribable." He was born in New Hampshire, lived
in Canada, where he became a Methodist, and emigrated to Ohio in 1812. In his twentieth year he
began to exhort, and in 1814 joined the conference, and commenced his itinerant labors in Kentucky.
In 1816 he was sent to Ohio, where he continued to labor as circuit preacher, Indian missionary, and
presiding elder, down to 1834, when he was returned superannuated, and the next year died,
[3]
"shouting the praises of his heavenly King." President Thomson, (afterward bishop,) when a young
student, was attracted by his fame to hear him at a camp-meeting. "Never," he writes, "was I so
disappointed in a man's personal appearance. He was below the middle stature, and clad in coarse,
ill-made garments. His uncombed hair hung loosely over his forehead. His attitudes and motions
were exceedingly ungraceful, and every feature of his countenance was unprepossessing. The long
hair that came down to his cheeks concealed a broad and prominent forehead; the keen eye that
peered from beneath his heavy and over-jetting eyebrows, beamed with intelligence; the prominent
cheek bones, projecting chin, and large nose, indicated any thing but intellectual feebleness; while
the wide mouth, depressed at its corners, the slightly expanded nostrils, and the 'tout ensemble' of
his expression, indicated both sorrow and love, and were in admirable keeping with the message,
'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' His words were pure
and well-chosen, his accent never misplaced, his sentences grammatical, artistically constructed, and
well arranged, both for harmony and effect. Having stated and illustrated his position clearly, he laid
broad the foundation of his argument, and piled stone upon stone, hewed and polished, until he stood
upon a majestic pyramid, with heaven's own light around him, pointing the astonished multitude to
a brighter home beyond the sun. His argument being completed, his peroration commenced. The
whole universe seemed now animated by its Creator to aid him in persuading the sinner to return to
God, and the angels commissioned to descend from heaven to strengthen him. As he closed his
discourse, every energy of his mind and body seemed stretched to the utmost point of tension. His
soul appeared too great for its tenement; his lungs labored; his arms were lifted the perspiration,
mingled with tears, flowed in a steady stream from his face, and everything about him seemed to say,
'O that mine head were waters!' The audience were well-nigh paralyzed beneath the avalanche of
thought that descended upon them. I lost the man, but the subject was all in all. I returned from the
ground, dissatisfied with myself, and saying within me 'O that I were a Christian!' he preached to
audiences as large, and with results as astonishing, as I have ever witnessed. He was a perfect