Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-01-03
ON PREACHING OTHER MEMS
SERMONS.
BY REV. ]. p. THOMPSON

|
The American pulpit is pledged
against plagiarism as the unpardon-
able sin. A preacher detected in the
use OF borrowed sermons loses caste
In the profession, and has little mer-
cy to hope for from the press and the
public. Even an unconscious bor-
rowing-as whom, after reading a
strong and eloquent writer, one un-
deslgnedly appropriates and repro
duces his thoughts, his method, his
tropes and illustrations, without SER
vlIely copying his language-is
deemed dlscreditable in q man of suf-
ncient calibre and education to have
| thooS1te s"d OAPsveoiOno VI ms Wv II.
"Have you read Pressenses Jesus
Christ ~ asked one minister of an
other, who had just preached q ser.
mon upon the character Of Jesus
NO." replied the preacher, with a
tone and emphasis that suggested a
feeling Of injured innocence. "Why
do you ask 2" "Oh |" reioined the
first quickly, 81 saw no trace of him
in your sermon; it wasn't that at ali
i only desired your opinion of the
book" So sensitive are clergymen
of honor and culture TO the faintest
suspicion of using the words or
thoughts of others, without proper
acknowledgment. Even the unpol-
ished manuscript sermons adapted to
congregations of various grades so
often advertised in England and used
by English clergymen with no sus-
picion of improperly or fear of dis
grace, would find no market in this
country.
All this is most creditable to the
American clergy. 1t indicates high
average grade of education and a nice
standard of honor-a perception of
the becoming which one has right
to look Tor in a public teacher Of
truth.
The Rev. John Angel James of
Birmingham, England, once left his
pulpit in charge of a young minister,
who greatly astonished his congrega-
ton by preachinga sermon that they
had heard from their pastor a little
while before. Complaint being made
by Mr.. James on his return, of the
audacity of his young substitute, he
said it was clear that one of them
had repeated the other but be him
self was the offender, for having
heard this preacher with much de-
light on certain public occasion,and
being hurried in bis preparation for
the following Sabbath, he had repro
duced from memory the discourse
which his young friend had now Wis
tied upon him in his own pulpit =
Such an incident in an American
pulpit woald have almost proved u
case of my double and how he un-
did me- yet it detracted nothing
from the standing of Mr. James. The
young man received credit for his
cleverness, and Mr.. James for his
magnanimity, while the affair passed
off as an excellent joke. We are
proud of a tone and standard among
the American preachers that renders
the practice of borrowing sermons
unprofessional and discreditable.
But while adhering 10 this stand
ard ofclerical and literary honor, may
it not still be possible and proper for
clergymen to use the sermons of 9TH
ers, for their own relief and to the
advantage Of their congregations p
If this is done with an open acknowl-
edgment, all offense against honor is
removed; and done with Judgment
and timely adaptation, might not the
reading of borrowed sermons give
pleasing and useful variety to preach
ers, especially in parishes where OPP
portunlties for hearing strangers are
infreqaent?
Not long since one of our most
popular clergymen of Boston an
nounced to his congregation that be
would read to them, in course, Lid
don's hampton Lectures on the Di-
vinity Of Christ. This clergyman
was himself capable of presenting the
subject of his lectures eloquently, but
he chose to use the material prepared
with great learning and care, and
with special reference to the latest
phases Of criticism, instead of culling
from this extracts to enrich and
d orn his own discussion of the
theme. He may have felt--as every
one feels who has care of parish-the
impossibility of devoting time and
care enough to special series of dis
courses without sighting other por-
tions of his work, and so have pre-
ferred to use these university SER
mons" Of an accomplished scholar
and thinker. The experiment was
successful. The sermons were read
at an extra week day service, to
crowds of eager listeners. This ex-
ample gives pertiuence to the follow
ing query of friend: "Would not
country preachers, or the majority
of them, do far more good by occas-
ional preaching of sermons by
old English divines, such as DIR.
South Would not the preachers
gain by the rest, and the people gain
bv the quality