Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-12-16
2Reliaio,ls G,epartment.
Rev. i. W. MALcoLM. Editor.
THE BATTLE OF PEW AND pull
PIT.
BY t. DE WITT TALMAGE, D. D.

Two more sermons unloaded. and Mon
day morning, l went sauntering down.
town, ready for almost anything. I met
several of my clerical friends going to
ministers meeting. | do not often 60 |
there, for have found that some of the |
clerical meetings are gridirons where
they roast clergymen who do not do
things just as we do them. l like a
Presbyterian gridiron no better than a
Methodist one, and prefer to them an
old-fashioned spit such as | saw, this
summer, in Oxford, England, where the
rabbit is kept turning round before a
slow fire, in blessed state of itinerancy,
the rabbit thinking he is merely taking
a ride, while he is actually roasting.
AS on the Monday morning [ spoke
Of, [ was passing down the street, | heard
high words in a church. What could it
be-? Was it the minister, and the SEX
ton, and the trustees fighting? [ went
in to see, when, 10 found that the
Pew and the Pulpit were bantering each
other at great rate, and seemed deter
mined to tell each one the others faults.
! | stood still as mouse that [ might
hear all that was said, and my presence
not be noticed.
THE Pea0 was speaking as | went in,
and said to the Pulpit, in anything but
a reverential tone: "Why don't you
speak out on other days as we'll as you
do to-day? The fact is, l never knew
Pulpit that could not be heard when
it was thoroughly mad. But when you
give out the hymn on Sabbaths, can
not tell whether it is the SEVENTEEN or
the hundredth. When you read the
chapter, you are half through with it be-
fore | know whether it is Exodus or Deu-
teronomy. Why do you begin your ser
mon in so low key? If the introduce
tion is not worth hearing, it is not worth
delivering. Are you explaining the text ?
If SO, the Lords meaning is as impor-
tant as anything you will have in your
sermon. Throw back your shoulders,
: open your mouth! Make your voice
strike against the opposite wall Pray
not only for clean heart, but for stout
lungs. | have nearly worn out my ears
trying to catch your utterances. When
a captain on battlefield gives an order,
the company all hear; and if you want
, to be an officer in the Lords army, do
, not humble your words. The elocution
+ of Christ's Sermon Is described when we
= are told He opened his mouth and taught
them-that is, spoke distinctly, as those
cannot who keep their lips half closed
: Do you thiuk it a sign of modesty tc
speak so low? l think the most pre-.
: Stunning thing on earth for pulpit to dc
0 is to demand that his audience sit quiet
t when they cannot hear, simply looking
: The handsomest minister | ever saw il
not worth looking at for an hour and i;
n half at stretch. The truth is, that
have often been so provoked with you
n inarticulate speech that l would hav,
got up and left the church, had it no
It been for the fact that am nailed fast
l. and my appearance on the outside on
Sabbath day, walking up and down
J. would have brought around me crow
le of unsanctifed boys to gaze at me, a poo
is church-pew on its travels.
r "7He Pulpit responded in anythin
he but a pious tone: 1.-The reason you d
le not hear is that your mind on Sunday
or is full of everything but the gospel
h. You work so hard during the week thu
you rob the Lord of his twenty-for
:, hours. The man that works on Sunda
y as we'll as the rest of the week is I
worse than you who abstain on that da
90 because your excessive devotion to bus
:, ness during the week kills your Sunday
~ and dead Sunday is no Sunday at al
- You throw yourself into church as mut
- as to say, G.Here, Lord, Lam, too tire
~ to work any more for myself; you c;
WI have the use of me while I am resting
Besides that, O Pew you have mise
~ able habit. Even when you can he
my voice on the Sabbath and are wi
~ awake, you have way of putting 20
!: head down or shutting your eyes, al
- looking as if your soul had vacated t
~ premises for six weeks. You are one
~ those hearers who think it is pious
~ look dull; and you think that the P,
- en'the other side the aisle is an old 81
0' ner because he lunches the Pew behi
: him, and smiles when the truth hits t
~ mark. If you want me to speak out,
w is your duty not only to be wide avail
WY but to look so. Give us the benefit
your two eyes. There is one of the
ders, whose eye | have never caue
while speaking save once, and that v
when | was preaching from Psalms l
,dn II, They compassed me about L
ma bees and by strange coincidence
70 humble bee got into church, and 1
.ou my attention divided between my t.
and the annoying insect, which f
- about like an illustration l could
- catch. A dull Pew is often response
for a HILL D,,1,;4 H. - -