The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1880-06-24
DR.. John Halls Stories.

DIR. Hall said that he knew &
preacher in Ireland who used &c
come down from his pulpit every
Sunday, after the sermon, aud the
people, passing in line in front OF
him, would shake hands and pass
the compliments of the day. One
elder told the pastor one day
'Let the Lord keep you humble,
sir, and we will keep you poorr'
But this is the policy of too many
church boards, irnbued as they are
with the notion that the ministry
should be kept on the apostolic
plan Of poverty and humility.
DR.. Hall told story related to
him by the late Richard Winner, a
prominent CongregatiOnalist in En-
gland. Mr.. Hamilton, being called
to fill pulpit in a provincial town,
was waited on in the vestry just be-
fore the service BY the presenter OF
the meeting; the latter laid down a
programme which provided for a
very short prayer and a shorter
sermon, but several unfortunately
long hymns. Said the presenter: :
"Our people are peculiar people;
we are very fond of music, and
plenty of it, and we are not fond of
long prayers or long sermons; IN
asking you to cut it short, sir, /
wish to emphasize as before that
we are fond of music, because in
heaven singing is the chief order
of the day." Mr.. Hamilton an
swered, at is a comfort, sir, to
know that you will not he there to
lead itr'
There are funeral ministers, said
DR.. Hall; gentlemen who carry
around with them an air of profes
sional solemnity; they carry it even
in their hat bands and pocket
handkerchiefs, and look continual
ly as if genteely laid out in their
collins. There was a minister of
this sort called on to marry a
young couple; he stretched out his
hands, and unconsciously com
menced the burial service. Sir,
spoke up the young man, "we came
to be welded, not buriedp To
which the gentleman of the cloth
at won't be many
years before you'll wish you had
been buried" Ministers should
be men first, then ministers
manliness and Goodness are twin
qualifications.
Then come the fluent ministers.
Turn on the faucet and the stream
flows. The less they have to say
the bigger the stream and the loud
er they shout. Lyman Beecher,
on returning home from church
one Sabbath, said that he felt he
had done very poorly. Said one
of the boys: "Why, father, l
thought you were never in better
trim; you just shouted it out to
EN-" AYE, ave." replied Mr..
Beeeher, "that's it exactly; when
Pm not prepared L Away boiler at
the top of my voice"
The doctor told the story of a
simple, Godfearing Irish pastor he
used to know in the old country.
Each year he used to go up to the
General Assembly, for there every
minister is eX-officio a delegate.
the time came for
the announcement of this
annual vacation the pastor would
give out; MAY itpl'isc the congre-
CATION mkt Lord Day I'll be va
cant'' leaving it for the wags to
make the iaquiiy whether or no he
was not vacant more than one
Lords Day in the year. Such as
these are children of nature-sim
pie, unconventional and often
'plendIdiy noble men. He well |
one such in Ireland
and said DR.. Hall, although many |
stories related in this way are not
strictly true, assure you this one
am about to tell you, is" He
laid that this simple poor-paid, but |
honest and noble-hearted pastor
vas riding along one day, and see
ng laborer at work in the fields,
whose ragged shirt did not protect
lis back from the blistering rays
II the sun, jumped of his horse,
trode over the fence, stripped off
lis own coat and shirt, and made
he astonished laborer put on the
after; the now shirtless preacher
uttoned his coat to his chin, and
as he had come, un
that he was IN the least
his line of exact duty.
IF. Hall liked these men; these
nconsciously humorous souls, who
We nearer heaven than half the
,st of mankind.