Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1853-02-18

On Tuesday morning went to hear the
celebrated Rev. H. Melville, at the church
of Lothbury Immediately in the rear Of
the Bank of England. 1t was rather a
singular thing to see the house Of worship
open and persons going into it, at a busy
hour of the morning The Bank and Ex-
change stand near together, and here the
streets iu every direction pour in their
hundreds of omuibusses each morning
| rode on the top Of one, and noticed the
long line before and behind me all crowd
ed with their living freight. Everybody
seemed so intensely busy that / could
scarcely help fearing to find scanty at
tendance. 1t was past eleven o'clock when
l entered the church. The service had
begun. stood in the aisle for few mo-
ments looking about for seat. As l was
looking around l noticed a young woman
in black bonnet three or four yards in front
Of me beckoning. l supposed she was
locking to some one behind mc-and stood
still. She then cau1e up to me and asked
me if | wished seat. l assented and
thanked her. She conducted me to pew
which, with a bow to her sextonship, |
entered. She closed the door and went
of to perform the same kind Office for
others. was, however, safely enseonced
in high, straight backed box, from which
could see the pulpit without any difficult
ty-but to see the reading desk below re-
quired some little effort, as the front Of the
box was little above the range of my
eyes. The congregation did not seem to be
very large but about the time the service
was over and the sermon about to COM
mence, the door Of the church began to
move very rapidly to and fro. At last the
house (by no means small ouc) was well
filled; pews, aisles, gallery, staircasss and
all. Many Of the people of business
seemed to have calculated to nicely the
time required for the reading Of the SER
vice, and were there to listen with deyout
attention to the sermon, and were of to
business again before the bencdiction was
pronounced,
Mr. Melville's appearance was very DIFF
ferent from what l had expected. He Id
perhaps fifty years Of age, with light grey,
nearly white, hair, not long, and brushed
stif1y up from his forehead. His height
is about five feet seven or eight inches,
and he is not BY any means stout. In the
pulpit his action is confined to the upper
portion of his body, his arms very seldom
being used for that purpose. Occasionally
he places both hands on the desk while he
gesriculxtes with very great vehemence
with his head. His 6rm grasp on the desk
and the rapid motion of bis mead give the
idea of very great enersy-but energy held
too uniformly in check. The wish will
arise sometimes that the grasp were loos-
ened and the deep emotion within suffered
to find its ordinary outward expression in
the form raised to its fullest height and
the impassioned sweep Of the arm, that
fitting emblem of power. His voice i.
good but not very we'll managed. Occa-
slonaliy, when enumerating succession
of particulars, as he did several times in
the course Of his sermon, his voice would
rise on each sentence until it came at last
almost to a shrill, piercing scream. His
lower uOtcs were sometimes called into use
with very good effect. But, on the whole,
| should think that his manner is real
clog upon the matter which he presents.
Were it not for his matter, few Of the men
of London would leave their places of bu-
siness at IL o'clock in the merning to lis
ten to him.
His matter is his strong point In the
first place l should judge that he has al
ways something clear and definite before
him when he goes into the pulpit Hence
he is very direct. No enc of ordinary Ca
pacity could mistake the meaning Of a SIN
gle sentence You have, if the sermon Of
this morning may be taken as sample,
clear, brief and distinct statement of truth
He labcrs it would seem to throw it out of
the abstract form and to present it so as to
attract the car and to find lodgment in
the memory. Hence there was new and
striking presentation of old truth--so that
few would feel disposed to close their car
to it as what they knew before. Then new
thoughts came grouping themselves around
his topic There were occasional flashes
of the imagination, coming when needed
and vanishing as soon as their work was
done; briei' aud forcible illustration ordi-
uarily drawn from things very familiar to
the mass of his hearers but rot therefore
destitute of beauty. His application o.
the subject was peculistly worthy of no.
tice. His hearers must have felt that he
was not talking about mere something
| that might possibly interest people on the