PULPIT ECCENTRICITIES

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1507, 17 January 1901, Page 38

PULPIT ECCENTRICITIES

The recent re-opening of the Metropolitan Tabernacle will doubtless have recalled to many-minds a number of stories recording the' various eccentricities alleged to- have been, indulged in by the great Boanerges of the Baptist body in the pulpit, or rat-heir on the platform, at Newington Butts. And certainly, whether one agreed or disagreed with his opinions, and approved; or disapproved of his manner of setting them forth, it was impossible to deny that Mr Spurgeon was one of the very few preachers who never sent- a single member of his congregation to sleep. For the narcotic influence of an ordinary sermon is well nigh irresistible. Even so ardent a churchgoer as the late Mr Gladstone- has been known to sleep the sleep of the just throughout the' greater part of a Sunday afternoon University sermon in St Mary's, Oxford. And the Rev. Dr Guthrie once declared that- lie had been present in a church in Th’qrso where, out of a congregation of twelve hundred persons fully six hundred were fast asleep, although, perhaps beteause he- was himself a preacher, it did not occur to- him to account for the fact by anything of a more soporific character than THE BAD VENTILATION OF THE BUILDING! J Many curious methods have- been adented by irritated ministers to counteract this besetting sin of their congregations. The favourite Scotch practice Is publicly to denounce the delinquents. When the Rev. Walter Dunlop, minister of

ber of his flock nodding while lie ay as preaching, he suddenly stopped in his sermon, and obsreA'ed—“l doot some o’ ye hae taen OAvejr mony Avhey parridge the day : sit up! or I’ll name ye oot”—a threat which was probably effective. at any rate during trie remainder of that sermon. AnotheT Caledonian preacher, on like provocation, c-ried out—“ Hold up your heads, my friends, and mind that neither saints nor sinners are sleeping in the- next world,” And then, finding that his gendral exhortation was insufficient to deter a certain Avell-knoAvn member from obviously getting his night’s }mst foi'Avard, /the reverend gentleman turned towards the offender and said impressively, "James SteAvarfc, this is the second time I have stopped to waken you. If I need to stop a third time, I’ll expose you by name to the AA'hole congregation.” South of the border, this failing is generally dealt with in a. more indirect fashion, though sometimes it has been done oiiite as effectively. An Oxford preacher, Avho Avas greatly annoyed by seeing the Vice-Chancellor habitually compose himself for sleep during sermon time, determined to read him a lesson. Choosing for his text the Avords, “What! cannot ye- Avatch for one hour?” he managed 1 to bring this in so many times during the delHery of the sermon, and each timd accompanied it Avith- such a- resounding thump on, the mil pit, that not only Avas the \ ice-Lhancellor repeatedly aroused from his slumbers, but the whole congregation Avas made fully aware of THE OBJECT OF THE SERMON. The daring preacher Avas soon after this appointed to a living in another toAvn, but he could not lea\'e the Oxford dims Avithout a parting shot, at their somnolent hefad, and preached a farewell sermon from the significant text, “Sleeo on iioav, and take your rest.” A Roman Catholic Spurgeon of the la-t century, named Father Brydaine, adopted the dramatic method of kdeeing his congregation from, slumbering. 011 one occasion he got his servant to drag him into, chvyrch and up the pulpit stairs Avith a rope. around his neck. This Avas by way of illustrative introduction to a sermon on the natural but sinful reluctance: of all human beings to perform their daily duties. During the course of another sermon devoted to a lively picture of the errors of the Day of Judgment, he suddenly disappeared' from the vieAv of his hearers by ctroooing to the floor of his pulpit, and the startled congregation heard him bellowing at the top of his Amice in the character of a. lost sinner Avho had just been precipitated into- the bottomless pit. One Sunday afternoon he conclude)! an open-air discourse by saying, “Noav 1 Avill take you all home,; folloAA 7 me.” They obediently followed, and he led them to the churchyard, where, pointing to the graves, he: told them they were now at their own doors, 'and he Avould bid the fir fareAvell. Another Roman Catholic priest, of the “bon viva-nt” type, once 1 gave his congregation a dramatic surprise, which Avas quite unpremeditated, by turning Avhat might haA'e been a scandalous revelation of his oavh ungodly pursuits to excellent homiletical account. He had bebn surprised by a call to the pulpit while in the midst of AN EXCITING GAME OF CARDS, and not- Avishing to lose the advantage of a particularly good nand Avhich he held, proposed to his friends that each of them should pocket his cards as they Avere, and resume the, game as soon as he had delivered a short address to his flock. But, as ill-luck Avould haA’e it, Avhile hurriedly ascending the pulpit stairs the« whole of his treasured cards Avere jerked out, and fell to the floor in full vieuv oi all the people. A dull man might perhaps haA'e giA'en up his saintly character, as Avell as his game, without a struggle. Not so our witty priest. After an. introductory prayer, he called a, boy from among the worshippers, and bade Aim pick up the first card lie; came to. “What is it called?” was the inquiry. “The Ace of Spades,” promptly replied the boy. Another boy was called to pick up another card, which he . unhesitatingly declared to be the King of Spades; and so on* until all the cards were picked up. Then each boy Avasi rapidly asked a question from the Catechism, and, as the Avily priest had surmised, not one of them could give a satisfactory ans Aver. Whereupon the indignant priest turned sternly upon the parents of the boys and denounced them for imperilling the immortal souls of their children by bringing them up in such a fashion that they were well acquainted with every card m the pack, and yet absolutely ignorant of the simplest- elements of their religion.