PECULIAR PULPIT INTERRUPTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2387, 30 November 1899, Page 62

PECULIAR PULPIT INTERRUPTIONS.

A few Sundays ago, during the evening service at a small chapel in Keyingham, Yorkshire, when the minister was expatiating on the life of St. Paul, who, he claimed, was the foremost preacher among the Apostles, y , gentleman, well known in the town, rose and exclaimed at the top of his voice, "It's- not right. . . It was not Paul, 'but Solomon." Other interruptions ensued to such an extent that the clergyman was perforce obliged to stop his sermon and remonstrate with the sneakers. The original interrupter was at length pi*e vailed upon to leave the- building, and the preacher then resumed, evidently much surprised at this extraordinary demonstration in such a place.

To interrupt a minister on a , point of grammar would seem to the ordinary observer a rather unceremonious and even aggressive 'action, yet the writer himself witnessed such an episode when attending Divine service at a .fashionable church in New York. The preacher, a famous cleric, noted for his eloquence, had occasion to

ase the, sentence, "Neither myself nor anyother man," etc., and no sooner had the words left his lips than a tall, solemnfaced gentleman rose from his -pdw and said, " Pardon me, but should it not be •or'V"

A loud storm of " Sh's " followed his extraordinary and, of course, erroneous comment, and the minister Y ei T properly took no notice of the interruption beyond pausing until the critical gentleman had sufficiently recovered his self-possession to resume his seat. He then calmly and deliberately repeated the sentence that had given rise to the interference, accenting the word " nor " in a manner which was as significant as it was pronounced. It is to be hoped that the gentleman in question on. arrival home consulted his Lindley Murray — had he done so more assiduously before attending church the interruption named would evidently not have occurred.

A* rather humorous interruption to some pulpit utterances at a certain church in the north of England was caused by the loud and continued sneezing of a person who sat just, foelow the preacher, and who was obviously afflicted with a violent cold. Time after time the worthy minister paused to allow the sneeze to take H its course, but at lengthy finding that his sermon was being absolutely mutilated by the prolonged outbursts, he. stopped shori,^and mildly hinted that he would not resume^the^Jfisco'utse uiptil the sneeze or the sneezer Tiad taken his departure. The hint was taken, and an dnstanfc lat'eß- the gentleman responsible for;! the violent explosions glided, down the j aisle, amid the stifled mirth of the bulk of the congregation.

Parsons who indulge in quotations- from secular .-writers should be careful to make certain of their references, and thus avoid the,' pitfalls which await the unwary, whether in church or e'.sewhere. The negligence of a Welsh cleric in this direction caused a peculiar interruption in a South Wale 3 'chapel not so very long ago, when the officiating minister, having occasion to quote the well-known line, " The air is full of farewells to the dying and lamentations for the dead,/ from Longfellow, referred to it as being by that great poet, " Alfred Tennyson."

Up jumped an indignant parishioner, who, in a loud and assertive tone, pointed out to the astonished preacher his mistake, and then -went on to quote the complete verse for the delectation of the amused congregation. The minister listened humbly enough, and then admitted that it was quite possible he had erred in the manner suggested ; but he added, and very rightly,, too, that in his opinion his critic might have chosen another and more fife> ting opportunity for making the correction, and thus have obviated an unseemly and irritating interruption. *