Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-05-07


Last summer / saw Kendall on his re-
turn from Europe. Il spoke about the
above incident, and Kendall remarked
az have never heard anything from
Jim from that day TO this about my in
dulging.
sing-song Preaching and Splitting.
From the Jackson Methodist
Mr.. EBIToR; We mean no ofense to
any, but only wish to express our dis
approval of this blending of two separate
and distinct exercises, and the conse'
quent jumbling them up so as to destroy
the harmony and effect of both. You
have, no doubt, listened to the kind OF
preaching alluded to, and are, therefore,
prepared to pass upon the merits OF the
case. Do you approve OF the modus op :.
| erdadi2 or do you not think that either
woAld be better without the other-that
is, one at time, omitting the. splitting
altogether? Why, sir, while listening to
both at once, you cannot comprehend
either. At least this is our experience
| in regard to the matter-and we have had
a pretty extensive one, too, and not SO
| distant in time, either, as to render our
| impressions dreamy or indistlnct Only
/ a short time since, we attended an ex-
hibifion of this sort, that is, where the
three, singing or whining, preaching and
spitting, were most iR-harmoniously
blended. Mingled emotions of sorrow,
shame and disgust ruled the hour, so far
as our experience was concerned. s.r
The undertaken divided his piece into
three sets or parts, of about twenty min
utes each, with short but refreshing in
| terludes between. The first part was
performed in largo, with double EN-.
phasis on dk, All. The second was in
moderate, with only half accent or drone
like a h. The third and last was
in pretissimo, without emphasis, or
even time for necessary respiration.
Yet strange to say, the splitting, which
had not been neglected during the former
parts of the scene, was more profuse,
and quite as judicious. To US, it is
become a source of annoyance, for
having on our Sundsymentals, and oc-
cupying a seat in the pulpit, we felt some
concern, lest by his FREQUENT change of
position, he should by Gas we then, but
enormously, thought, his random spit
ting befoul our suit But to his credit
be Il spoken, no such casually occurred;
for though he spit at the beginning, in
the middle and at the end las well as
| those divisions could be sscertained), of
every sentence, and that without losing
a word or syllable, or even changing in
the least degree, the monotone OF his
inimitable drone, be never missed his
aim, but with unerring certainty, depos.
tied the elected saliva upon the hoor OF
the desk, And what astonished us as
much as any thing else, was'that it no
sooner reached its destination, than his
equally practiced foot covered it, and by
a sort of backward wriggling movement,
40 entirely absorbed it as scarcely to
| leave a greasy spot
Well, we listened to the preaching, then
to the singing--all going on at once, per-
| formed BY the same voice, and in the
same strain-we had to abstract our
mind as much as possible, in order to get
the abstract idea of either, and tried to
tell which was best, or whether both were
good alike, and finally concluded that it
was a medley--a jargon of sounds with
out sense. But of the splitting, we were
positively assured.
Here, perhaps, we ought TO stop, bat
cannot suppress an inquiry as to the
probable cause of this unnatural, undig-
nified and seuseless mode of preaching.
Nothing better presenting itself, we offer
the following solution, viz: the singing,
whining, droning, or whatever else 1T
may be called, is intended as sort OF
compensation very inadequate one,
however, we should call it--for the pow
erty of the preaching, for such preaching
is always poor. A little more attention
to the subject to be discussed, and due
regard to diction or style, would entirely
obviate the difficulty, and remove the
necessity for droning 1t should be OBJ
served that tie class Of preachers alluded
to almost entirely ignore the necessity of
lprevious study and preparation for the
awfully responsible duty Of preaching
the pospel, aud expect the Lord to fill
their empty blanks as occasion may
require" No wonder they whine out
their undigested and indigestible crudi-
ties while sound is made TO supply the
place of sense, this singing preaching
will continue in vogue .la
But why the splitting connected with
this style of preachingf The only
probable cause that we can assign is,
that the little scraps Of doctrines slimi.
mated are so lncongenial, and therefore,
disgusting, that like the mixing drugs,
they produce nausea. and consequently
a flow. of saliva II any one can ac-
count for the unseemly practice upon
other and rational principles, We Hill
cheerfully back down from our position,
and adopt theirs. .-f
Perhaps, Mr. Editor, this criticism
may be considered by some, out Of place,
but II preaching is designed to edify and
impress the mind of the heareT-and II
perspicuiiy Of thought, gracefulness OF
| diction, and force Of delivery, are Of any |
Importance 70 the enforcement Of truth
/ then no criticism is or can be unjust,
which has for its object eradieatiou OF
error, either 10 doctrine or the manner
of teaching it, When We 90 TO hear /
preaching, let it be preaching, the p AIN |
unsopbistioatsd word Of God, at that |
Aud WheR we 90 TO bear singing let . be /
singing, constituting the true worship |
Of God, and both, without any unneces-