BIO: Philip B. Clifford, Tillard Pen Pictures, 1911, Blair County, PA 

Contributed April 2003 for use in the USGenWeb Archives 
by Judy Banja <jbanja@comcast.net>

Copyright 2003.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
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_________________________________________ 

                Pen Pictures of Friends and Reminiscent Sketches
                                by J. N. Tillard

             Altoona, PA: William F. Gable & Co., Mirror Press, 1911 

                     P. B. CLIFFORD, Preacher and Mechanic

                      Of a Studious Disposition, He Found
                "Sermons in Stones and Psalms in Running Brooks"

THERE are few old time residents of this community who have not at some time, at 
least, seen the Rev. Philip Bannon Clifford. The majority of them, who are 
churchgoers, have had the pleasure of listening to his pulpit oratory.
  Rev. Clifford belongs to a notable class, now fast passing in our social and 
religious life, the Methodist lay preacher. These men, during the last century 
were a mighty factor in the development and formation of the American life and 
character. In accordance with the law of selection, each period of human 
progress develops men in harmony with its needs. The product of their 
environment, they filled a niche that would have been incomplete without them. 
The Methodist itinerant was a necessity of his time, and the lay preacher was 
the co-adjutant and holder up of hands of the man of the saddlebags. This man 
carried with him through the primeval forest paths, over rugged mountains and 
smiling valleys, about all there was of culture or learning, to the people he 
visited. He was not only the cure of souls, but the dispenser of intelligence, 
and the visable representative of the higher intellectual life. The books that 
he carried with him, were the circulating libraries of the vast rural districts 
of the nation. As he went, he proclaimed not only the Gospel of Peace, but 
appealed to the best there was in the intellectual make-up of his hearers. He 
aroused ambitions and quickened dormant minds. In nearly every congregation was 
to be found a boy or two, who felt his pulses thrill, and an eager longing take 
possession of his soul, as he listened to the fervid oratory of the man of God, 
to find his way into broader fields. The saddlebags of the preacher usually 
contained larger opportunities for mental culture than were to be found in the 
text books of the infrequent schools. Given access to these, the budding mind of 
the boy craved larger scope for his newly awakened talents. The chances were 
that the next "quarterly conference," would find in him a candidate for the 
ministry. But he might enter it by two doors. If he heard loudly ringing in his 
ears the "call to preach," and felt that the Divine command was upon him, he 
would probably in due course be regularly ordained, and "without purse, or scrip 
or staff for his journey," follow in the footsteps of many illustrious 
predecessors. But there might be conditions that would render this course 
inexpedient. He might not be sure that the calls of duty required the forsaking 
of his secular pursuits, or some question of duty to family or dependents might 
intervene, and he was then made a "local preacher." In this capacity, he was 
none the less ardent in the service of his "Master," and indeed the sacrifices 
he made and the hardships he endured without money and without price, were 
frequently as great as those suffered by the regular itinerant. In order that 
the people might have the gospel preached to them, the sick ministered to, the 
dead buried and the sorrowing comforted, the lay preacher, leaving plow, axe, 
anvil or plane at a moment's notice, hastened horseback or afoot, in sunshine or 
storm, by day or by night, to the call of duty. While the regular itinerant was 
making the rounds of his great and irregular circuit, the lay preacher always 
stood in the breach.
  It may not here be out of place to refer to another equally well known man of 
God, the Rev. William Alexander Bolingbroke Satterfield, some time since 
gathered to his father's. School teacher, carpenter and preacher, no journey was 
too long, no hardship too great, if he might proclaim the unspeakable riches of 
the gospel.
  Rev. Mr. Clifford, well back in the last century was licensed by the church of 
his choice, to carry the message of salvation to men, whithersoever he would. 
His voice was first lifted up in Westmoreland County. The church and school 
houses of the Ligonier Valley rang with the native eloquence of the young 
orator. He preached because he couldn't help it. Of a naturally studious 
disposition, he found "sermons in stones and Psalms in running brooks." But he 
was also a great book lover, absorbing all forms of knowledge that came his way 
voraciously. The classical poets held him in their thrall, and those who would 
inspect his private library at his pleasant home in the East End, find a 
collection seldom seen outside the shelves of the professional man or collector. 
And it is safe to say, that Mr. Clifford is familiar with more of their contents 
than that which appears on the cover. While his theology is of the most orthodox 
type, he has delved deeply into the world's religions. On his shelves will be 
found, the Koran, the Talmud, the writings of Confucius, Buddha and the Zend-
Avesta.
  Feeling no call to forsake his secular pursuits, for many years he has been 
employed in the car shops. Following the calling of the Nazarene Carpenter, as 
he works, he digests the great truths gleaned from his books in leisure hours, 
and as he muses, the fire burns. A busy man every secular day, earning his bread 
by the sweat of his brow, on the Sabbath he goes out to deliver to his fellows 
the message that has come to him in his hours of toil. And it is no crude homily 
that he expounds. His sermons are characterized by logical thought, clothed in 
eloquent language, illuminated by analogies and illustrations drawn from the 
world's best literature.
  Quiet, unobtrusive and retiring, without any ambition to be accounted anything 
other than an honest workman, he is one of the salt of the earth, who make 
better any community in which they live.

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