Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-07-23
DIR. Guthrie's Way.

the same Gospel discourses that de-
lighted the most learned church-goers
OF the Scotch Athens could have given
priceless counsel TO young ministers.
Any one searching his memoirs for the
explanation Of his great pulpit success
is arrested at once by two facts which
stand out with most luminous distinct
ness. The first is the thoroughness in
the preparation Of his discOurses. He
was not only painstaking and diligent
in gathering fresh and rich material for
them, but he wrote out every sermon at
length and then committed it TO MEM
Ory! He wrote it out because he be-
lieved that the preachers message is of
such supreme importance that it should
have the most perfect form he can give
it. Fluent beyond most men in extern
pore discourse he would not trust the
uncertain inspiration Of the moment TO
clothe or shape his thoughts. He
committed the whole sermon to
memory because he would on
no conditions have the electric
communication between his eyes and
his hearers broken By q manuscript.
He deemed it absolutely impossible to
move an audience as powerfully by
reading a sermon as by speaking it.
The reading, the meditation, the social
intercourse, by means of which he sup
piled the reservoir from which he drew
his rich material, had their own hours,
and full allowance of them, every day.
But he gave the three or four best morn
ing hours, six days in a week, wholly
to the work of putting his sermon on
paper and committing it to memory.
That he might cultivate speaking
style in composition he wrote aloud,
with an imaginary audience before him.
That the words might have the more
| freshness for himself in the final utter
anoc, and so be more likely to rouse his
hearers, he committed in silence. This
practice of committing was also of
double service in testing his work, He
found that the passage which did not
stick to his memory easily did not,
commonly, make much of an impression
on his listeners. Therefore, in writing
his sermons, he left every other page
blank, that he might have ample space,
in this further revision, for any changes
that would make his statements more
lucid, his descriptions more graphic,
his appeals more pathetic-for filling it
| up, as he was wont to say, "with what
would both strike and stick"
The other characteristic was his eX-
ceedingly effective use of illustrations.
| At the outset he seemed to have no
| greater gifts in this direction than most
ministers. But he was quick to recog-
nize what frequent and potent use the
Old Testament prophets made of meta
| phors and stories in delivering their
message, and to mark how freely He
| who spake as never man spake used
parallels, and analogies, and the incl
dents of daily life, to illustrate His dis
courses. He concluded that most 9TH
er men and women were much of the
same mind as the old lady who declar-
ed that the best parts of the Bible for
! her were "the likes" And he set
himself with all determination to learn
how to illustrate the truth-hcw to
make his message clear, vivid, remem-
berable. His success was most eOm-
| plete. Illustrations of singular force
and freshness came to him, as soon as
he had trained himself 10 see them,
from earth and air and sea, from the
commOnest experiences of daily life,
from the most familiar pages OF history.
Kindled by them how the truth famed
as he held it before his hearers! The
scenes which he depicted were so life
like that they sometimes seemed to
stand in reality before all eyes. Speak
ing at one time of the perils Of the im-
penitent life he described a shipwreek
and the launching of lfe-boat to save
the imperiled crew. He made the
tragic scene so real that young naval
officer, sitting in the congregation,
jumped to his feet and began pulling of
his coat tohelpman the life-boat, utterly
forgetting where he was. President Nc
Gosh tells of public meeting at which
he himself was present in which Guth-
rie's stories and illustrations had alter
nately and repeatedly moved the peo-
pie to laughter and 70 tears. At last a
man rose from his seat, holding his
aching sides while the tears were still
undrisd on his cheeks, and said.
Please, Master GuthriA stop! We
can stand this nae langer." But he
was not by any means a mere story.
teller. Sir William Hamilton pre-
nOunced him the best preacher he eKel
heard, and when some one in reply h
this remark criticised him as not logic
al, the great lOgiciah answered, SHt
has the best kind Of logic; there is, bul
one step between his premise and con
clusion."
Good CONlpa5fg does not say that al
young ministers should take Dr. Guth
rie as their model But it begs bO. cal
their attention specially to the pains
taking labor which was the price thai
great preacher gladly paid for the pow
er of reaching men, and incidentally u
the simple but vivid form in which h'
brought the truth home to them II
these days the best religious hteratur,
of the ages is, as never before, in reaoi
of the people who sit in the pews. N,
minister can hold his own who doe
slouohy work in his sermons. he can
not expect his hearers to care much TO
his message if he does not care enougl
for it himself to put it in the best torr
he possibly can.
No more, on the other hand, can pee
Z pie who give their minister too muo
work to do expect him to do goo
work. While the changing times seeI
. to demand more and more from th
, preacher every year in the way bf Pu
pit preparation, they seem also