Hunters & Healers: Folklore Types & Topics Page: 28
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been born-phrases which smacked more of the spirit of a new and
growing country than of the spirit and language of John Wesley.
The Mississippi boatman referred to himself as being "one half
alligator and one half snapping turtle" and spoke of being able to
"lick his weight in wild cats," and the Methodist intinerant referred
to a strong exhorter as a "clerical lion" that had "slain multitudes."
The preacher had roared on the camp meeting grounds and "vast
numbers were awakened; ... convictions and conversions were mul-
tiplied."28
Like the legendary lay hero who was an "earthquake" that could
"shake an enemy to pieces," the hero of the Methodist stories was
also comparable to the mighty forces of nature. He was a "son of
thunder" "one of Sinai's thunderers." As his "voice rolled on the
serene night air like successive peals of thunder, ... whole congre-
gations were melted into tears."29
David Crockett was fond of saying (or reputedly so), "I can make
lightning by striking my own eye"; and the Methodist in the pulpit
was a "flash of lightning"; within the radius of his influence people
had "fallen as if struck by lightning." When he was serving as the
Lord's agent, "shocks of divine power ... ran like electricity through
the crowd.'""'
It was, however, the more general term fire that the Methodist used
oftener than lightning. He liked to say that he had "the Methodist
fire, the fire of the Holy Spirit." It was the Baptists, he said, who
"cried, 'Water, Water!" The Methodists "cried, 'Fire! Fire!" An
effective circuit rider was "a flame of fire," "a flaming minister of
Christ," "a flaming herald of the cross"; he "spread the holy fire
wherever he went"; his countenance . . . "shed flames of heavenly
love." He could "set a congregation on fire," for when he entered
the pulpit, the "fire spread in almost every direction." During his
stay on a circuit, "the revival flame spread"; it "swept like wildfire."
People, under his influence, "melted as wax before the sun."31
This frontier Methodist's power was comparable also to the force
of wind and water. His voice "moved the masses as the wind does
a field of wheat." Invoked by the Methodist in the pulpit, "the power
of God came down like a rushing, mighty wind," and the peopleHUNTERS AND HEALERS
28
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Hunters & Healers: Folklore Types & Topics (Book)
Volume of Texan and Mexican folklore, including stories about hunting, folk medicine, ballads, religion and other folklore. The index begins on page 169.
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Texas Folklore Society. Hunters & Healers: Folklore Types & Topics, book, 1971; Austin, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38857/m1/44/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.