Chances are that if past generations of your family lived anywhere in the South in the early 1800s, you’ve got an ancestor named Lorenzo. If this is the case, your ancestors may have been Methodists, or at least would have been attracted to itinerant preachers who intimidated their listeners as they thundered forth threats of fire and brimstone, preaching from whichever tree stump or whatever spot to which they could attract a crowd.
Here’s how the story, or at least a simplified version of it, goes.
In the late 1700s, a guilt-ridden teenager named Lorenzo Dow attended a Methodist meeting. Quite by accident the preacher was pointing straight at Lorenzo as he spoke these words: “Sinner, there is a frowning Providence above your head, and a burning hell beneath your feet; and nothing but the brittle thread of life prevents your soul from falling into endless perdition.”
Lorenzo said he was afraid to move, lest he fall into hell. In later years Lorenzo became an itinerant preacher himself, much in the fashion of the preachers he had heard as a youth.
He traveled by horseback, from crossroads to village, preaching from street corners or while standing on a convenient log. He had no particular training and was a self-proclaimed Methodist, though this group never saw fit to claim him as their own. He was gangly, stoop-shouldered, wore his hair flowing down over his shoulders, behaved strangely, dressed oddly, and preached hard. Some called him a modern day Elijah. In truth, he was more popularly known as Crazy Dow, and the people on the frontier loved him. Thousands of little boys were named after him.
It’s said that Lorenzo may have proclaimed the word to more people than any other preacher during his time period. But what, if anything, do we learn from him?
1) The Christianity that our ancestors handed down to us may have taken some interesting twists and turns along the way.
2) Preachers should behave in such a way that churches will not want to deny an association with them.
3) Going to church now is a happier experience than it was in Lorenzo’s day.
4) Please feel free to add to this list.