Thirty-Three Years a Live Wire
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
WESLEYAN HERITAGE Library Autobiographies THIRTY-THREE YEARS A LIVE WIRE By John T. Hatfield “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” Heb 12:14 Spreading Scriptural Holiness to the World Wesleyan Heritage Publications © 1997, 1998 THIRTY-THREE YEARS A LIVE WIRE Life of John T. Hatfield By Himself CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PREFACE CHAPTER 1 BOYHOOD EXPERIENCES CHAPTER 2 CONVERSION CHAPTER 3 SANCTIFICATION CHAPTER 4 WHAT MY CONSECRATION INVOLVED CHAPTER 5 THREE MARVELOUS ANOINTINGS CHAPTER 6 USING AN UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITY CHAPTER 7 AN UNWELCOME GUEST CHAPTER 8 FIRST REVIVAL AND FIRST CAMP MEETING CHAPTER 9 FORCING MY WAY--PREDICAMENT OF A HOLINESS FIGHTER-- A SUDDEN DEATH CHAPTER 10 DRAGGED THROUGH THE SNOW BY A INFIDEL ANOTHER UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCE CHAPTER 11 IRATE CLASS-LEADER SUBDUED BY A DRUNKARD CHAPTER 12 A NOISY SERVICE CHAPTER 13 DRASTIC MEASURES CHAPTER 14 HUMOROUS HAPPENINGS CHAPTER 15 EXPERIENCES BOTH HUMOROUS AND PATHETIC CHAPTER 16 SIMPLE, TRUSTING FAITH AND ITS FRUITS CHAPTER 17 A DANGEROUS WOMAN ANOTHER HARD CASE CHAPTER 18 NARROW ESCAPE FROM A TRASHING CHAPTER 19 THREE WONDERFUL CASES OF DIVINE HEALING CHAPTER 20 EXPOSING SATAN'S SUBTLE SNARES CHAPTER 21 HOW AN ENTIRE FAMILY OF SEVEN WERE SAVED. A FAITHFUL, ELDER'S REWARD CHAPTER 22 HOW A BACKSLIDDEN LOCAL PREACHER WAS MOVED TO PRAY. A MONKEY SERVICE CHAPTER 23 OBEYING PROVIDENTIAL IMPRESSIONS CHAPTER 24 DRAWING THE BOW AT A VENTURE, BUT HITTING THE MARK EACH TIME CHAPTER 25 HOW THE DEVIL HATES A HOLINESS MEETING CHAPTER 26 GETTING IN THE BRUSH CHAPTER 27 A MYSTERIOUS SERMON BURYING AN OLD QUAKER CHAPTER 28 TOBACCO SOAKED CLASS LEADERS REBUKED CHAPTER 29 STRANGE LANDINGS AND IMPRESSIONS CHAPTER 30 ENTERTAINMENT, AND INCIDENTS CHAPTER 31 OBEYING THE SPIRIT, HOW I GOT THE TITLE OF "THE HOOSIER EVANGELIST" CHAPTER 32 REPORTS OF MEETINGS TO MY COUNTRY PAPER IN BOSTON AMONG THE BEAN-EATERS CHAPTER 33 FEATHERS FOR SHARP ARROWS TWO MEETINGS --ONE IN INDIANA AND THE OTHER IN ILLINOIS CHAPTER 34 ILLINOIS, KANSAS, AND OKLAHOMA. SINNERS, KICKERS, BUCKERS, AND GOOD PEOPLE CHAPTER 35 IN THE SOUTH, TOBACCO, NEGROES, AND CHURCH KICKERS CHAPTER 36 MORE ABOUT THE SOUTH. POLITICS, RELIGION, AND PEOPLE CHAPTER 37 MORE ABOUT THE SOUTHLAND CHAPTER 38 ACROSS THE ROCKIES CHAPTER 39 MORE ABOUT THE ROCKIES CHAPTER 40 SHORT SKETCHES OF SOME MEETINGS THIRTY-THREE YEARS A LIVE WIRE Life of John T. Hatfield By Himself INTRODUCTION To the People of America That Love Something Hot and Full of Life: Well, here it is; it is the life of the Rev. John T. Hatfield. He stands today the most peculiar man that walks the dirt; there is but one John Hatfield on the face of the whole earth. Many of you know Brother Hatfield through the press, and many of you know him personally, but to the millions that have not had the blessed privilege of seeing him face to face, I want to introduce you to him through this book. To know John Hatfield is to love him, and to love a man makes one Christlike. I would love to tell you just a little bit about Brother John, but there is not a man that lives that can describe John Hatfield; he is indescribable, you never know just what he is going to do next. We talk of men being full of fire well, that is John Hatfield; we talk of life and energy--well, that is Brother John. I am willing to just take down my sign when it comes to doing things, I am not in it at all. John Hatfield can preach longer and louder, and keep at it longer, and shout more, and jump higher, and get more people to the altar, and pray longer and harder, than any man that walks on the ground. He is the only man that I ever saw that could run a six-o'clock prayer-meeting on a camp-ground. I have seen many others try to get something done, but, brother, there is nothing on earth like the six-o'clock prayer-meetings that John Hatfield runs. Other things that I have seen look tame when we compare them to one of his prayer-meetings; he seems to never tire or wear out, but is always full of juice and freshness and fire and glory. Brother John never runs a meeting by a program; he is as liable to call mourners at the opening of his service as to call them at the close of his service. He is one of the greatest puzzles to the devil that is now living; the devil never knows what he is going to do next; he is about as liable to preach in one end of the church as the other--no strings on that man! He is a cyclone of grace turned loose on the hills of the earth to do just as the blessed Holy Ghost suggests to him. Now, it will be impossible for all the people of this country to hear this mighty man of God, but there is a way in which you can hear him, you can all buy one of his books, and that will be the next best thing for you to do, for as you can't hear him you can get a glimpse of him through the book that you can't get any other way. When you read the book you will see John Hatfield on the firing-line, with his guns loaded and his finger on the trigger, and when he shoots he gets game He always shoots to kill, and he puts in old plow-points and ham -irons and old log-chains. Folks, there is something a-going on when John Hatfield gets to town. He doesn't wait a month to see if anything is going to happen, he just opens fire and the thing is happening right now. If you miss one of the books, you have missed your chance. Whatever you do or do not do, get one of these books. Bud Robinson THIRTY-THREE YEARS A LIVE WIRE Life of John T. Hatfield By Himself AUTHOR'S PREFACE After many years of travel over this country and in Canada, from ocean to ocean, and from Gulf to the Great Lakes, often telling my experience and the thrilling adventures of my life, my friends would often say to me that I should write a history of my life, and put it in book form, so that more people could get the benefit of it; they felt that it would be a blessing to any one who would read it. At last I consented to do so. After twenty-five years had passed away, when I had completed the manuscript, I sat down to read it over and make what corrections were necessary, and it seemed to have so much self in it that I threw it into the waste-basket, and refused to publish it. A few months later I met Rev. John C. Patty in a camp-meeting as my co-worker, who insisted on my publishing the book, and if my conscience would not let me write it myself he would write it for me, and take the "I" out, so I consented to let him do so, and the book was published entitled "Twenty-five Years on the Firing-line." But my friends thought I should have written it myself. Not but what Brother Patty had done justice in writing the book, but they thought it should be in my own dialect. As time passed on I felt more and more that it was the will of the Lord that I should be the author of the book myself, and after the third edition had been published I was convinced that I must rewrite it myself. Thirty-three years have passed away since my first beginning in this work. I have kept no diary, all I have is what I have retained in my memory, therefore, for me to go back for a third of a century and give everything in perfect detail would be impossible, but I have the substance. So you have it as it now comes from my own pen, and I dedicate it to all of God's dear saints in the world. JOHN THOMAS HATFIELD THIRTY-THREE YEARS A LIVE WIRE Life of John T. Hatfield By Himself CHAPTER 1 BOYHOOD EXPERIENCES On the eighth day of August, 1851, in the woods, in a little frame house, near Cleveland, Ind., I was privileged to look out on this old world for the first time. I will acknowledge that my eyesight was not very good. I would not have known my mother if I had depended upon that, but my sense of smell let me know who she was, and find the place where I could get a square meal at all hours in the day or night; and I did not have to read a long bill of fare in French to find out what I wanted, and figure up the price it would cost, and then when I was done have the waiter to stand and look at me with a wishful eye for a tip. I have no recollection what my thoughts were at this time, but I am very certain that I was not bothering myself much about preaching the Gospel. My boyhood days abounded with daring and mischievous exploits. One who would see me now would scarcely believe that I possessed such characteristics in my early life. In those days I delighted to stand upon a railroad track and laugh at the engineer of an on-coming train, as he frantically jerked the whistle cord warning me to clear the way, and this I would tantalizingly refuse to heed until the engine was almost upon me; and when the engine passed me I was sure to get all the benefit of the force pump until I would be dripping with water.