Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-04-06
EXTEMPORE PREA CHING.
BY GEORGE Fl. HEPwORTH, D. D.

ance with the eternal fitness of things,
and because one ought to hesitate when
he is about to tell the whole truth
about himself will delay no longer;
but take the fatal plunge into the win
trv bath of the confessional. | chose
my subject during the week preceding
my crucial and excruciating Sunday
morning, with great care, and divided
it into three parts, so clear and distinct
that apparently no amount of embar-
rassment could dispossess me of my train
of tbongbt | made several pages of
notes, enough, indeed, to furnish me
with four or Eve sermons at the pre-
sent time They were written on fools
cap, in a large, boyish hand, to obvi-
ate the necessity of using my glasses,
and the main heads were heavily un-
derscored, so that at glance | could
see all the silent points. 1 felt reason
ably sure of myself, and so little dread
of the future, whose events very kindly
refrained from casting their shadows
before, that / even enjoyed trium-
phant feeling, which, however, was
not destined of permaneacy. Three
times | went to the seashore a few
miles distant, and delivere the sermon
to the tide with considerable force and
SUCCESS, and the only wonder in my
mind at the remembrance is that the
waves did not recede with unusual
haste. They were certainly either
overpartial in their judgment or else
supremely Indifferent, or it would
have been low tide in an incredibly
short time, and | should have been
left on the shore alone, the ocean hav-
ing shrunk from me az far as possible.
Even when | was walking up the
broad aisle of the church, through the
midst of large congregation, such
thing as a disaster took merely the
shape of vague improbability. My
rather serene state of mind at that
time is ample proof of the kindness of
Providence toward those who are
walking on the edge Of precipice, by
binding their eyes until the inevitable
calamity befalls them.
Once fairly in the pulpit, however,
matters assumed very different and
much more serious aspect. / sudden
ly became respondent and even hope
less. / looked at my notes but they
did not present the perspicuous con-
tinuity which / had expected. Ny
brain was soon in wbirl Of excite
ment and seemed to throb like large
pulse; and the probability that | was
on the brink Of irretrievable ruin, which
bad heretofore been only momentary
and CHASTITY vision, began very rapidly
to assume the shape of certainty.
If could only get back to my study,
/ thought, and clutch the poorest
among my many discarded manuscripts
| should be the happiest man on the
earth A man must be in forlorn
condition, indeed, when the poorest
sermon he ever wrote seems a price
less boon, far beyond bis reach. |
now think | must have looked about
anxiously for a crack in the floor,
through which to disappear aud am
sure that | should have felt supremely
grateful if some basc-born but Heaven.
sent wretch Lad suddenly appeared
and cried Fire = in order to disperse
the people.
How :ondly Jung to the hymn be,
fore the SC mon! read it with sepul.
chral voice, apG W shed there had been
fourteen vcra instead Of four.
never before fel tn singular propriety
Of saying Amen at the end of this part
of the service. AS the choir sang the
last, | was prompted 10 ask them to
repeat the whor hymn, with differ
eDt tune. Nt,er until that moment
did | sufficiently appreciate the value
Of church nusi, and never until that
moment did | ssi that the quartette
might sing forever But theres is an
end to oil thing and | devoutly hoped
that that supf ne moment might not
be long delayed
When / rosc again in my place,
read my text v ilh significant delibera.
ton, for kne" that 50 long as | clung
to the words o. Scripture | was safe !;
but what nigh, happen cfter the con-
gregation had Lecn made sufficiently
acquainted will the text | dared not
think. 1t seemed to me mistake that
had not chosen for the text the lon
gest chapter in The Bible. In order to
make sure Of something, | read the
verse q second time, and then, in un-
utterable despa r, read il third time.
/ wanted to res it fourth time but.
knowing that, If did, | should be
relegated To 'rnatic asylum, closed
the Bible and e w myself up TO un-
utterable mise :. If you know how q
vessel feels wi on lee shore and
within few hundred yards Of the
rocks, its cAbl parted and tho bowling
tempest using the shrouds and ropes
as strings Of an golan harp, with
which to play firgc if you know
how mctcor.c rock feels when it flies
of in wild t.agcnt from the parent
mass and is aiaiItssly hurled through
space, bccomn1 red bot with atmos-
pheric friction you have some slight
conception 81 ny state of mind. |
may truly se' that on that occasion
horror did on h,rrnr's head accumulate
and that confI on became worse con-
founded. Foi single awful moment
suicide secine 20 be not simply q priv
ilege, but IN Imperative duty. |
gazed on my n'.cs; but they were so
blurred by rambling optic nerve
that the word- yccmed to have run to.
gethcr. In voice which could be
distinctly head Cor half a mile, and un-
der the imprcs-ou that, if / could on
ly speak loud orgh the people would
catch my idea read these notes one
after the other. disconnected as they
were, to the amazed congregation
-Four pages Of catch-works, without a
comment, did innict on those long.
suffering pewholdcrs. 1t was rfectly
evident from Il cir wondering eyes that
! bad not spok"n loud enough for them