The Portland daily press., 1871-12-30
Murray ON Deacons.

Murray ON DeacOns.
Mr.. Murray's lecture last night was long-to
long to please all of large audience, thougl
his clothed old truths in new garb," ''Dea
cons was only text upon which to hang
good deal of advice to churches; most of whcl
was good and will be readily admitted. If tn
lecture had been written for this latitude hi
audience could have told him that in this par
of Maine the people honor and respect minis
ter who has good share of muscle" and ar,
far advanced in the belief that a sound mine
can be only contained in sound body His ad
dress might have suited "esthetic' Boston il
this respect, but our plain people are fast out
growing ancient prejudices in regard to The
Qualifications" of our ministers, though we
don't get the credit of it. "E
At first Mr.. Murray was dull and monotonous
in his delivery, which he explained afterwards
by saying that he had spoken for over fifty
consecutive nights, which is too much for any
man; but as he proceeded he warmed up and
showed a good deal of vigor. @
The lecturer began his discourse with brief
allusion to the cosmopolitan character of the
American people, i'm contrast with the abiding
and distinctive characteristics of Germans or
Frenchmen, or Englishmen. Innothing is this
diversity more apparent than in ecclesiastical
affairs. In religion the American never shams.
Cool, calculating, secretive in other things,
touch him with catechsm and you see the
flash of his eyes through his mask. Take doz-
en- men out of this audience and you will find
that each has a definite opinion about total de-
prayity. Allow them to discuss the subject and
they will grow warm, then angry, and perhaps
end in quarreling, by way of illustrating the
doctrine. From this diversity of views arise
sects. Every American is bound to have re-
ligion that suits him; as Burlingame said, ''We
must have an anti-slavery Bible and an anti
slavery God" In England or France people
are content to worship, year after year and CEN
fury after century, in one established form; but
it is different here. An American cannot carry
doubt or an idea in his mind twenty -four
hours. New England civilization specially illus
trates the inharmonious and contradictory pha-
ses of American life. In principles, as well as
in practice, New England society was very
embodiment of contradictions In old times
the aristocracy of Massachusetts was not only
an anomaly, but it appeared where it should be
least expected-in the church. To be an officer
of church in those days was the highest dig
nifty. The deacon was looked up to with but
little less reverence than the pastor himself.
With this introduction Mr.. Murray proceeded
more directly to the subject The great author
ity Of deacons, said he, has passed away, but
the deacons themselves still remain as part of
the body ecclesiastic A skilful eye can always
pick them out in church Then came very
felicitous picture of the kind of deacons who
are found in every congregation. There is the
bigoted deacon, the heresy hunting deacon,
the timid deacon, the old-fogy deacon, the dea-
con who leads the choir, the deacon who stud
led two terms at the theological seminary. TAX
ing these as types of the character, Mr.. Murray
proceeded to describe each of them in detail
Deacon Slowup, of Fossilville, represented
the bigot, and his portrait was framed in mo-
mentous era of his church. 1t had been voted
to hold a church picnic, but early i'll the pre-
lnlinary councils, a question arose. Should the
party carry beet or liam Sandwiches? Deacon
Slowup's voice was for the time-honored pork
accompaniment Beef was an, innovation; be-
Sides the Unitarians used beef Beef was a
secular word and would never do for a church
festival. The deacon sank into his seat The
pastor dismissed the meeting and next day re-
signed his charge. To this day the church at
Fossilvlle is divided over the beef issue and has
never been able to obtain a settled minister
Even better than this story was the valuable
moral which Mr. Murray drew from it in the
way of an exposure of the vast injury done to
churches by the presence and influence of such
narrow-minded and ignorant officers.
Next came description of Deacon Sharp
face the dyspeptic and captious Christian. He
belongs to that class of church members who
need converting several times before they be-
III oil
him his election as deacon. Woe to the young
man who breaches before Deacon Sharpface,
for he listens to every word of the sermon and
listens only to discover heresy. But the great
est fault of this deacon is that of being born
1900 years too late. He should have been a
Pharisee and q member of the Sanhedrim in
the time of Christ This unfortunate was also
handled severely by the lecturer, who took oc-
casion to eXpOund at length some OF his broad
and liberal views of religion and society. Most
eloquently he presented his ideas of true Christ
ian charity and his utter adherence of the sort
of religion represented by Deacon Sharpface
Nevertheless he found his faith in humanity in
creasing with his knowledge of it. The dea-
cons heretofore described are exceptions in their
order. - Elsa
bacon Goodheart came on the stage as the
representative of the rotund, good natured,
honest and conscientious Christian. He was a
member of a society which held fast, yet intel
lgently to the old faith. The church edifice
was comfortable, yet unpretending, and just
fitted for the worshipping place OF little band
heart performed ungracefully but faithfully the
humble duties of his position, and won the love
of his people as only devout, generous man
can. Being an ideal sketch, the character was
of course drawn to suit the speaker. The pro
proposed combination of qualities is not often
met and may never be met; but perfection is
worth striving for, and even Mr.. Murray's mod
ell deacon is not too high for study and imita