The church at large knows but little about the excessive labors and sacrifices of the earlier ministry in West Virginia. My heart still weeps as I think of what some of the brethren endured. But, brave souls they were, they did it because they loved the church and her Christ.
Only three or four remain who were in the conference when I joined thirty-seven years ago. Four others—Revs. E. Harper, I. M. Underwood, A. Orr, and Dr. J. L. Hensley—have located in other conferences, but the great majority have gone to heaven. From hillside and mountain-top they ascended to a place of honor by their Lord, to live in the white light of the throne forever.
“Oh, how sweet it will be in that beautiful land,
So free from all sorrow and pain;
With songs on our lips and with harps in our hands,
To meet one another again.”
Does any one inquire to know the real secret of their power? It is not easily explained. They had intellectual girth, but this was only incidental to their success. Their surroundings were inspiring, their spirits exuberant, their physical endurance tremendous, their zeal unflagging, but the secret lay deeper; these were only tributary. It seems to me that the one quality which exalted them, and gave them the mastery over men was reality. They were genuine. God counted them among his captains, and they were loyal to the last. Duty and destiny were to them overwhelming suggestions. In them were wrapped up the present and the eternal hereafter.
I can still hear Brother Graham singing as he rode through storm and heat, carrying aloft the banners of the church:
“Above the waves of earthly strife;
Above the ills and cares of life;