The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1855-10-17
A Witty Preacher,

The Revcrened pr. Sprauge in his
visits to "European Celebrities" gives
anecdotes Of the Reverend Matthew
Wilks. celebrated London preacher.
There was nothing for which he had a
more cordial abhorance than an exhib
ton of dandysm In young tffihlst er
and nothing Of this kind ever came in
contact of him without meeting re-
bukc. On one occasion, young minis
ter. of good deal Of pretcnsion and
parade, went from the country to Lon
don. and carried Mr.. Wlks letter, de;
sigued to procure for him au invitation
to preach.
@Well, young man." said Matthew,
with nasal twang, that is perfectly in.
describable, but which nobody who has
once heard can ever forget, ''well, young
mau. you want to preach in London, don.
you Q"
am going to pass a few days here,
Sir. and if it should suit Mr.. Wilks con-
veuience, | should be very happy indeed
TO give his people sermon while am
here
"Well" replied Matthew, "you can
rroach-you can preach come along
next Wednesday morning to the Tabcr-
nace and I'll meet you there, and you
can take my lecture for that morning
The young man agreed to do so. and
was on the ground at the appointed hour.
Matthew met him at the door, disgustat
as he had been before with his dandy
airs. and addressed him thus:
Go along into the pulpit, young man,
and will be below and look at you, and
shall hear every word you say"
The young prhacher darted through
the aisle in manner that seemed bet
ter to bedt ballroom than place of
worship. lie performed the introduf
tory service with an air of insufcrablc
selfcomplacency and in due time open
ell the Bible and read his text, which
was the last verse of the first chapter o.
John: thereafter ye shall see Heaven
open, and the angels of God ascending
and decending upon the Son of Man"
lie had written the sermon, and com
mittcd it all to memory. ns he sup
posed, to a word but unfortunately ho
had left the his manuscript behind -
When he had read his text, he found it
impossible to remember the first sem
tence. He hesitated and hcmmed, and
began thus:
You perceive, my brethern-you
perceive that the angels of God-arH.
here Representatives. ascending-and
decendinc" He then set up q good
stout cough, in the hope that lis aemo'
ry might got to work in the meantime;
but the cough was as unrroductive as it
was artificial, and he could DO nothing
but 90 right over again with the absurd
sentence wi h which he Lad started. lle
cougbed again and again, but his menus
ry was in too profound slumher to he
awakened by it. Rfter three or four
minutes. during which he was spectacle
to tho congregation, and especially to
Matthew. who was all the time watch-
ing aud listening according to his proni-
ise, he shut his Bible in perfect cous'er.
nat tion, and abruptly closed the service
OF course he came out Of the pulpit with
a very different air from that with Nhisp
he had entered it. Bat the. Worst Vas 10
come-he had to meet Matthew aud
hear his scathing comments.
Well well, said he young man,
you've preached-you've preached in'
London-ha'nt you2 I've heard you;
rve heard every word you've said, and
I've only one comment TO TnSe; ifyou
had ascended as you decended, then you
night have dccended as you asccnded.'
1t is needless to say that the young
man was IL ;his time completely cured
of his ambition to preach in the Tabcr-
nacle.