Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1866-07-14
The History Of Sermons.

l. When shall the world be favored with
history of the pulpit, sand who, will write it 2
Such q work is great desideratum, and well
executed might prove of incalculablc value
The world is full Of material, which only needs
to bc collected, sttcd and arranged let
some of our mon Of might gird himself for The
task.
One chapter in such q work, or perhaps
more should be given to the origin and histo.
ry of sermons, and curious indeed would be
it's developments; especially if all their secret
history could be made known. Let us give
two or three facts, which may 90 to show some.
what of what we mean.
One Of the most beautiful and popular of
the sermons of Robert Hall is the .ne ocra
signed hy the death Of the amilble Prin .cs,
Charlotte, who died in 1917; Il sermon which
he had not thought of delivering an hour be.
fore its commencement Devoted to his stud.
les, this eminent man seldom looked at news
r.Der, and was suprcmcly ignorant Of passing
events, SO that lic was not aware of the time
when the princess was to be buried This
event occurred on Il Wednesday evening, Just
at'tho time OF Mr. Halls weekly lecture -
Royal brrcavcmchts in England generally have
attention paid them from the pulpit, especial
IS at the hour Of intcrmcnt, but the thought
never occurred to Mr.. Hall, that anything
more than an ordinary service would take place
at llarvcylianc. On his arrival there As usual
behold the whole housc was lighted up and
crowded
:" low is this. sir?' asked Hall of one of
his dcacnns. "What docs this crowd nle,n?"
Why, sin. the Princess Charlotte, yon
know, is buried this evening, and the people
are cnhic to hear your funeral sermon for her.
We'll, sir, ! am very sorry, but had for.
gotten it, ask Mr.. - to introduce The ser
vice, and | will sit down in. the vpstry, aud
ondcavor to think Of something to saw,
The substance of the sermon on the tonic.
which appears i'll the first volume Of his Works.
was the result Of half an hours reflections ;
the sermon was afterwards written, published.
and produced great effects. The widowed
prince described it as the best of all sermons
sent him on the occasion, an another eminent
man thought that the production of such -
sermon went far to account for the mysterious
removal of the princess.
Much smaller events than the removal of
the great have suggested good sermons The
admirable discourse Oh Walking by Faith, the
first sermon printed by Andrew Eallcr, owed
its origin to. a small matter. 1t WAS delivered
at an annual meeting Of the Northa,nptnnslirc
Association, at whose request it WAS printed
Like the sermon Of his friend Hall not word
of it was written till after its delivery. On
his way to the association, the roads III several
places were flooded, arising from recent rains
which had made tn, rivers overflow. Mr..
Fuller came to one place where the water was
very deep, and he, being stranger to its OK.
act depth, was unwilling to 90 on. A plain
countryman residing in the ncighborhool, bet
ter acquainted with the watcrth than the preach
cr, cried out,
"Go on, sir, you arc quite safe"
Fuller urged on bis horse, but the water
soon touched his saddle and he storpcd to
think. =, '
600 on, sir, all is right, - shouted the man
Taking the man ut his word Fuller proceed.
cd, aud the text was suggested, "Wc walk
by faith, not by sight
Benjamin Beddomn, the author of some of
our best hymns, was remarkably nervous man,
and could seldom preach a sermon on any
public occasion with pleasure. Being engaged
at an association, at the very last moment he
quarreled with his sermon, and inquired OF a
brother, What shall preach from 2"
The minister was somewhat hurt at the in
1uiry at such moment, and replied, Ask
no foolish questions"
l}cddome instantly read the text. Avoid
foolish questions" and delivered an admirable
sermon, which was secured in short hand ut
the moment, and was printed by Dr. Rippon
some fifty years ago in his Baptist. Annual
Register. =.
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