Before proceeding with this exchange, a few comments on the history of this period may be helpful. Many churches in the northeastern part of the country were reasonably well-supplied with educated ministers. This, however, was not the case for the rest of the country. Many denominations fielded circuit preachers. The Methodists and the Baptists became known for using the efforts of lay preachers. Many of these preachers were uneducated and even completely illiterate. It was not uncommon for Methodist and Baptist ministers in the frontier to turn their lack of education into a badge of honor. They would thereby publicly undermine the work of educated ministers. This, of course, often created even more distrust for them among educated ministers.
The mistrust of both the educated and the uneducated ministers was not without warrant. Many uneducated pastors had held to poorly understood and even errant theology. They also were often given to emotional extremism. For the educated ministers, they quite often fell into dead orthodoxy or they were misled into various heresies that were prominent in that time (e.g., Deism, Universalism, Unitarianism). They often overacted to the outburst of emotions in some of the churches at that time.
When Archibald Alexander met in a person an uneducated, unordained, and according to his thinking, a self-appointed Baptist preacher, he would have immediately been suspicious. In his mind, a caricature would have developed. With such a mindset, he makes inquiry and following story unfolds.
James Shelbourne, a Baptist pastor in the early part of the Second Great Awakening (circa 1792 A.D.) recounts how he came to be a pastor despite any formal education:
“I was born in one of the lower counties of Virginia, and when young was put to learn the carpenter’s trade. Until I was a man grown and had a family, I never heard any preaching but from ministers of the Established Church, and did not even know that there were any others. About this time came into the neighbourhood a Presbyterian minister, by the name of Martin, whom I went to hear; and before he was done, I was convinced that I was in a lost and undone condition. He made no stay, and I heard no more of him. But a wound had been left in my conscience which I knew not how to get healed, and no one about me could give any valuable advice as to a cure. I went from day to day under a heavy burden, bewailing my miserable state, till at length my distress became so great that I could neither eat nor sleep with any peace or comfort. My neighbours said that I was falling into melancholy or going mad, but not one of them had any knowledge from experience of the nature of my distress. Thus, I continued mourning over ray miserable case for weeks and months. I was led, however, to read constantly in the Bible; but this rather increased than lessened my distress; until one Sunday evening I saw as clearly as I ever saw anything how I could be saved, through the death of Christ. I was filled with comfort, and yet sorrow for my sins flowed more copiously than ever. I praised God aloud, and immediately told my wife that I had found salvation; and when any of my neighbours came to see me, I told them of the goodness of God, and what he had done for my soul, and how he had pardoned all my sins. As I spoke freely of the wonderful change I had experienced, it was soon noised abroad, and many came to see me, and to hear an account of the matter from my own mouth. On Sabbath evenings my house would be crowded, and when I had finished my narrative, I was accustomed to give them a word of exhortation. And as I could be better heard when standing, I stood and addressed my neighbours, without any thought of preaching. After proceeding for some time in this way, I found that several others began to be awakened by what they heard from me, and appeared to be brought through the new birth much as I had been. This greatly encouraged me to proceed in my work, and God was pleased to bless my humble labours to the con version of many. All this time I did no more than relate my own experience and then exhort my neighbours to seek unto the Lord for mercy. Thus was I led on from step to step, until at length I actually became a preacher, without intending it. Exercised persons would frequently come to me for counsel, as I had been the first among them to experience the grace of Grod ; and that I might be able to answer their questions I was induced to study the Bible continually ; and often while at work, particular passages would be opened to my mind ; which encouraged me to hope that the Lord had called me to instruct those who were more ignorant than myself ; and when the people would collect at my house, I explained to them those passages which had been opened to my mind. All this time I had no instruction in spiritual matters from any man, except the sermons which I heard from Mr. Martin. But after a few years there came a Baptist preacher into our neighbourhood, and I found that his doctrine agreed substantially with my experience, and with what I had learned out of the Bible. I travelled about with him, and was encouraged by him to go on in the exercise of my gift of public speaking, but was told by him that there was one duty which I was required to perform, which was that I should be baptized according to the command of Christ. And as we rode along, we came to a certain water, and I said, See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be Upon which we both went down into the water, and he baptized me by immersion in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. From that time, I have continued until this day, testifying to small and great, to white and black, repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; and not without the pleasure of seeing many sinners forsaking their sins and turning unto God. Now,’ said he, ‘ you have heard the reasons which induce me to believe that God has called me to preach the Gospel to the poor and ignorant. I never considered myself qualified to instruct men of education and learning. I have always felt badly when such have come to hear me. But as for people of my own class, I believed that I could teach them many things which they need to know; and in regard to such as had become pious, I was able, by study of the Bible and meditation, to go before them, so that to them also I could be in some measure a guide. I lament my want of learning, and am deeply convinced that it is useful to the ministry of the Gospel; but it seems to me that there are different gifts now as of old, and one man may be suited to one part of the Lord’s work, and another to another part. And I do not know but that poor and ignorant people can understand my coarse and familiar language better than the discourses of the most learned and eloquent men. I know their method of thinking and reasoning, and how to make things plain by illustrations and comparisons adapted to their capacities and their habits.”[1]
Archibald Alexander, an educated Presbyterian field preacher at that time, provides his thoughts upon hearing Shelbourne’s story:
“When the old millwright had finished his narrative, I felt much more inclined to doubt my own call to the minis try, than that of James Shelburne. Much of the night was spent in this conversation, while my companion was enjoying his usual repose. We talked freely about the doctrines of religion, and were mutually gratified at finding how exactly our views tallied. From this night James Shelburne became an object of my high regard, and he gave abundant testimony of his esteem for me. Whenever I visited that part of the country, he was wont to ride many miles to hear me preach, and was pleased to declare that he had never heard any of the ministers of his own denomination with whose opinions he could so fully agree as with mine. I had the opportunity of hearing him preach several times, and was pleased not only with the soundness of his doctrine, but the unaffected simplicity of his manner. His discourses consisted of a series of judicious remarks expressed in the plainest language, and in a conversational tone, until he became by degrees warmed with his subject, when he fell into a singing; tone, but nothing like what was common with almost all Baptist preachers of the country at that time. As he followed his trade from day to day, I once asked him how he found time to study his sermons to which he replied, that he could study better at his work, with his hammer in his hand, than if shut up and surrounded with books. When he had passed the seventieth year of his age he gave up work, and devoted himself entirely to preaching. Being a man of firm health, he travelled to a considerable distance and preached nearly every day. On one of these tours, after I was settled in Charlotte County, I saw him for the last time. The old man appeared to be full of zeal and love, and brought the spirit of the Gospel into every family which he visited. He was evidently ripening for heaven, and accordingly, not long after, he finished his course with joy. Thus I have anticipated much that relates to my old friend, although his end did not occur until many years after this time.”[2]
[1]James W. Alexander, D.D., The Life of Archibald Alexander, D.D. (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle, 2008), 132-135. This work was originally published by Charles Scribner in 1854.
[2]Ibid., 135-136.