"Leek-sced Chapel."

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4407, 17 February 1883, Page 1

"Leek-seed Chapel."

I Early Methodism Illusibatkd. Soon after the promulgation of Methodism in England it spread; with great rapidity over the Counties of Devon and Cornwall, and especially among the miners and lower orders. For 1b long period after its introduction the clergy and .higher classes of society in the west of England manifested a dislike to the new doctrines which can scarcely be imagined, in these days of modern toleration. It was thought by many young gentlenfen good sport to break the windows and nail up the doors of a Methodist chapel. The robbery of a Wesleyan preacher, as a spree, by two young gentlemen, became the subject of an investigation, and the frolicsome youn men had to pay very dearly for their practical joke. . Among the unins true ted local preachers was one known by the name of " Old Gardener." This old man was no common character — indeed he was quite original, and by far the most popular preacher among the disciples of John Wesley in the vicinity. He kept a small nursery garden about two miles from the town of St. A——, working hard at bis occupation of gardener by day, and praying and preaching to his fellow sinners, as he called them, in the evening. He lived in the poorest manner, giving away all the surplus of his earnings in charity, distributing Bibles, and promoting to the utmost of his ability the extension of Methodism. His complexion was a sort of dirty, dark, iron-gray, end his whole appearance lean and grotesque. . Although extremely ignorant, Be possessed nS small degree of cunning; of this the. following incident affords ample evidence i— ';. The " Old Gardener.. was once subjected to a burglary and attempt at robbery. He lived with his wife in a small and some what dilapidated cottage, not far from the high road. Three young " squires," who all despised and hated Methodism, having heard that the old man had been recently making a collection to build a Methodist chapel, thought it would be good frolic to rob him temporarily of the proceeds^ of this collection. The result ofthe frolic is best related in the words o( one oi 0e iptora i " We set out," said he, " upon x>nr expedition with blackened faces, upon a dark night, a little before twelve o'clock. W§ had dined late, and all of us had Dutch as well as Cornish courage; yet I confess, when it came to the point, I felt myself a coward. I began to reflect that it was but a dastardly frolic to frighten the poor old man and his wife in the dead of night. " Ihe clock struck twelve. 'Now comes the witching time of the night," exclaimed Tom. " ' Don't let us frighten Jihe poor couple out of their wits,' said I.' , "' ]$o,' said Eyder,' we will be gentta robbers—gentle as Bobin Hood and Little John.' " I said that I would rather return than proceed. ' Becollect, 1 said I, 4 the old fellow is an old soldier, as well as a saint, and fears nothing human.' " * JSonsense,' exclaimed Byder,' here goes.' He pressed the feeble door of the cottage in which the old man resided ; it immediately gave way and flew open. We entered and found ourselves in a sort of kitchen. To our great surprise there was a light shining from an inner room. ■ This made us all hesitate. "' Who is out there at this time of the night?' exclaimed a hoarse voice from within, I knew it to be the unmistakable voice of the ' Old Gardener.' " Give us pour money, and no harm shall befall you,' said Tom, ' but we must have your money." "The Lord will be my defence,' rejoined the ' Old Gardener.' • You shall have no money from me; all in the house i* the Lord's—take it if you dare.' " ' We must and will have it,' said we as we entered the inner room, after taking the precaution of fastening the chamber door as we entered. > ,■'-:.■ . " We soon wished we had suffered it to remainlopen as you will see. " Now, consider us face with the ' Old Gardener,' and a pretty sight was presented. Three ruffians (ourselves) .with white waggoners' frocks and black* en'ed faces; before us the 'Old Gardener,'

fitting on the side of his bed- tr <He wore a _ red worsted nightcap., a checked shirt, and a flannel jacket; his iron grey face, fringed with* a grizzly beard, looking as ; cool and undismayed as if he had been in the pulpit preaching. "A table was by the side of the bed, and immediately in front of him, on a large deabtable; was an open Bible,, close to which we-observed, to our horror, a heap of gunpowder, large enough to blow -; lip a castle. A candle was burning on the table, and the'feid fellow had a steel in one band and a large flint in the other. We „ ..were, .all three paralysed.* The. wild, !; iron-faced, determined look of the ' Old Gardener,' the candle, flin'taud steel, and the great heap of powder,-absolutely froze our blood, and made cowards-of us all. Tha gardener saw the impression- he he had made. . . ...J ..'V What! do you want to rob 'andmurder,' exclajmed he ; • I think you had "~'Be"tfcef*;j6i'ri wfth' me in prayer, miserable" sinners that you all are ! Bepent, and yott'may be saved. You will sooifbe in another world.' . "Byder first recovered his speech. '"' .' '■" Please to hear me, Mr Gardener, I feel that we have been wrong, and if we . may depart we will make reparation, and give you all the money we have in our pockets.' " We laid our purses on the table before

■ him. .;. - ■■ . ■ "' The Lord has delivered you into my bands. It was so revealed to me in a dream. Weshall all soon be in another world. Pray, let :us pray.' "And down, he fell upon his knees, close to the table, with the candle burning, and the ugly flint and steel in his . hand. He prayed and prayed. At last he appeared exhausted. He stopped and \ eyed the purses, and then emptied one of them out on the table. He appeared! surprised, and I thought gratified at the largeness of its contents. " We now thought we Bhould have leave to retire; but to our dismay the • Old Gardener' said: j " ' Now, we will praise God by singing the lOOtb paslm. "This was agony, to us all. After the psalm, the old man took up the second purse, and while he was examining its contents,- .Ryder, who was close behind Tom and myself whispered softly : -"'I have unfastened the door, and when you hear me move, make & rush.' . "-The .' Old Gardner,' then pouring out the' contents of the second purse, exclaimed : "' Why,. there h almost enough to build our new house of God. Let me see what the third contains. " He took up the third purse. " ' Now,* whispered Ryder, ' make a rush.' ; " We did so ; and at the same moment heard the old fellow hammering away at •his flint and steel. We expected to be instantly blown into fragments. The front door, however, flew open before us ; the next step we found ourselves in the garden. The night was pitchy dark. . We rushed blindly through brambles and prickly shrubs, ran our beads against trees,-' then forced ourselves through a thicket hedge. At last, with scratched faces, torn hands, and tattered clothes, we tumbled over a bank into the high road. "Our horses we soon found, and we galloped to Ryder's residence. Lights were produced, and we sat down. We were!' black., ragged, and dirty. We looked at each other, and, in spite of our t .adventure,. roared with 'laughter. :

"* We may laugh,' exclaimed Tom, ' bat if this adventure is blown, and we ■ are found out, Cornwall will be too hot for us the next seven years. We have made a.pretty night of it. We have lost our money; been obliged to pretend to pray for two long hours, before a great heap of gunpowder, while that grim-faced, ugly, red-capped brute threatened us with an immediate passage into eternity. And our money, forsooth, must go to build a meeting house I Bab ! It is truly hor* rible. The old fellow has played the old . soldier on us with a vengeance, and we shall be the laughing-stock of the whole country.' "The affair was not yet ended. Be- ' ports were spread that three men disguised as. black demons, with horns and tails, had entered the cottage of the 'Old Gardener,' who had not only terrified them, but had frightened them out of a good sum of money, which he intended to devote to the building of a new Methodist meeting-house. It was givent ou that on - the following Sunday ' Old Gardener,' intended to preach a sermon, and afterwards solicit subscriptions for the meeting-house, when he would relate the remarkable manner in which he had been , providentially assisted with funds for the building. Our mortification was complete. .Tom, whose hatred of Methodism was intense, declared he would blow up the meeting house. as soon as it was built. Our curiosity, however, was excited, and we all three determined to hear our adventure of the night related by ' Old Gardener' if 'we could contrive to be present without being suspected. " Sunday evening arrived. The meeting house . was crammed to suffocation ; and with the : dull lights then burning in . the chapel, we had no difficulty in concealing ourselves. The sermon was short, but/the statement of: our adventures was. related most minutely and circumstantially in the old man's quaint, homely and ' humorous phraseology: This evening he seemed to excel himself, 'and was exultingly humorous. . < '," I.never,' said he,.' saw black faces " pray with greater devotion. I have some doubt, however,' .he slily observed, ' if their prayers were, quite heavenward. ,They sometimes turned their faces towards the door; but a lifting of the Hint and steel kept them quiet." "He then added, with a shake of the iead and an exulting laugh, 'But they ■had foot smelt powder like the old soldier they came to rob. Mo, no; it was a large heap—ay, large enough to frighten old General Clive himself. The candle was lighted, the flint and steel were ready. "• You may "ask'my friends, if I myself was snot afraid, / No, no, my dear friends,' shouted he, j'.this large stock of apparent gunpowder was—it was my whole year's > . Btock^of leek (onion); seed !' ,

"The whole congregation somewhat irreverently laughed; even the saints almost shouted; many clapped their hands. -1 was? for a moment-stupefied by the announcement, but at. last could : hardly suppress my own laughter. "W* BubseiibecUo. the fund to avoid suspicion^ and left the meeting. After the sermon wd joined each other, but could - not spefik.-: J^e- could-: hardly chuckle •leek. seed/, and then roarod. with ,' laughter. "" \- \. <■ ' :,. r'. " It.was a good joke, though not exactly „/ to par taste.. It is, however, more than ouce served for subsequent amusement.

" The chapel was built with the money collected by... the. ,gardener. Time and circumstances now induce me to think that there has been no detriment to morality or religion by the erection of the meeting house, which was afterwards known as ' The Leek-seed Chappel.' " —St. James' Magazine.