A PHENOMENAL PREACHER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1822, 23 April 1888, Page 3

A PHENOMENAL PREACHER.

A 'WHHamßtown (Kentucky) paper has the following :- Great and unflagging interest haß been manifested nightly for the past week In the eloquent and wonderftu preaching of the boy preacher, Rev. PascarPorter, who lives near Madison, Ind., and Is only 11 years old. Ministers m the prime of their ministry, ministers grown grey m the service of their Master, hung with rapture upon the words that fell with burning eloquence from hie youthful lip*. Never m the history of this place have suoh orovrda assembled to hear the preaching of one perßon. People of every craed and denomination, and without a creed, and men who had never entered a church fur fifteen years, attended nightly, and were thrilled with Intureat and filled with wonder. He ia a handsome boy, with bright blown eyes and a well-shaped head. Oct of the pulpit there ii nothing m hla manner or speech to indicate hla wonderfui gift, but m the pulpit bo ia a veritable giant. He possesses a moat wonderful tnemory bl^d great gift of language, and bis sermon* were logical, doctrinal, and deep, end on each night he spoke on an entirely different aubjact. While all here proclaim that his preaching la wonderful •nd Interesting the community are about equally divided as to whether hie eermonu •re original or whether he baa committed to memory the sermons of another ; but •11 admit, whether they are original or not, that the boy preacher ie a wonder and a prodigy. He ia never at a loss for the right word In the right place, aud so thoroughly does he seem to understand and appreciate hia subject that if he£ were not a boy the originality of hla discourses would nover be questioned. The interest m them Is not by any m9.rjß confined to the fact that they are delivered by a boy. If they were delivered by a minister of mature yeara and with the same degree of eloquence, all would be no lesa deeply Interested. t^He was born near Madison, Ind., 6th November, 1876, and la the youngoat of a family of seven children— three boya and four girle. As soon as he was old enough to talk he manifested a desire to preach the gospel and make the world better, but was not permitted to enter the ministry until he was nine yeara of age. Hia education Is limited, only having advanced as far as the fourth grade m the public achoois.