Believing that trees have souls also cost Robert Sheffey his license to preach...
[SIZE=12pt]Robert made his way the next week to the presiding elder of the Wytheville district to obtain his license to preach. He was questioned at length and some of the questions and the tone of the questioner gave him cause to wonder. In each case, however, he answered as fully and patiently as possible. Finally he was told to come back in a month. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]He returned to the home of the presiding elder when the time was up, only to confront an evasive churchman who obviously had the backing of the examining committee. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]‘’Mr. Sheffey, I’m afraid your application for a license to preach is not in order. We must in all cases determine the fitness of an applicant for licensing. As you know, one of your duties would include the performance of legal marriage ceremonies. The suitability of a candidate is not so much in question when he is a graduate of a divinity school or comes with the recommendation and endorsement of a church conference. In your case you are an unaffiliated itinerant.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“That doesn’t mean I can’t serve my blessed Lord the love and faithfulness, and minister to His people.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“No, not if you’re qualified,” the elder said. “Many itinerants are licensed and perform an honorable service to the state, the church, and the people. There are also those men who never bother to get a license, but of these, everyone must of course, be suspicious.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“Do you have reason to believe I can’t honorably serve?” Robert asked, catching the inference. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]The elder paused for a long while. Finally he cleared his throat and looked down at the floor. “Frankly, Mr. Sheffey, we asked you to wait a month to allow us time to do some asking around, and, more specifically, to discover if some of the things we had already heard were true.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“And what did you find out?” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“We learned that you are a man of some ability and piety – maybe too much piety. There are those who think you cannot properly see the real world for walking around in a heavenly one of your own invention.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“I make no apology for seeing the fruits and evidences of a blessed earth and acknowledging a merciful and benevolent God.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“What about some of the other things that have come to our attention? What of your throwing cold water into the face of a pupil? What of wrapping your arms around a tree as though it were a sleepy child? Do you really believe tearing off tree limbs is like tearing the limbs from a person?” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“I have done these things, and believe in what I have taught.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“Then, too, Mr. Sheffey, all of us pray, but do you not consider it strange that you are known to pray for three and four hours at a time and in the most unusual places? In the rain too, sometimes, I understand. You frighten the children with your prayers. I’m sure you know that. They say you do not pray but that you talk to God.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“Good sir, whom do you talk to when you pray?” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“Be that as it may, men should not act in peculiar ways. . It unnerves others.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“But it is said that God’s people are a peculiar people,” Robert said. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“When they get queer enough to hug the sugar-maple trees and pray out loud for the honeybees – why, we can’t help taking notice of that,” the elder said gently. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“Yes, I do those things,” Robert said. “And I have shouted among the bee gums also. Can you grasp what a wonderful thing it is that the little bees gather the sweetness of God’s beautiful flowers and work like tiny soldiers to make the sweet honeycomb? Why, it is a most wondrous thing!” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]The elder appeared unmoved by Robert’s simple defense. “I’m sorry, Mr. Sheffey. Your application has been fully reviewed and I cannot give you a license to preach.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“I have been preaching already,” Robert uttered in disappointment. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“With all due respect, I’m not sure that your wanderings and exhortations over this state and into the border counties of others could be considered ‘preaching.’ They certainly aren’t done with the sanction of the state or any religious body that I know about.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“I don’t need the sanction of anyone to proclaim Gods’ lovingkindness,” Robert said. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“No, no one can stop you from being an unlicensed itinerant. And I did not mean to imply that you have done no good. Your kindness to the lowly and the high-bred alike has reached my ears – and I understand that your testimonies are quite eloquent. Mr. Sheffey, if you got the recommendation of the Holston Conference on Methodism or the bishop perhaps -.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]“I need no recommendation to speak what is in my heart,” Robert interrupted. He thanked the elder and walked from the room. -Jess Carr's Saint of the Wilderness[/SIZE]