Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-12-05
Libel in the Pulpit.

most sensitive pew-oWner. lie may
even show up and reouke in the hardest
terms the transgressions of the ancient
Jews, Amalekites, or Philistines, of the
Popes Gf he is preaching to Protest
ant Congregation or of Martin Luther
and Henry the Eighth Gf he is preach.
ing to a Roman Catholic one) with
perfect safety. The sinners in the
pews in front of him rather like it than
otherwise, and the fiercer and more
eloquent he wakes in his denunciation
the better they are pleased. 1t is, as
the phrase goes, cas- good as n play
to them. Their emotions are agreeably
titillated, as at the playhouse, and
they have the same comfortable sense
Of the unreality of what is going on for
their temporary entertainment on the
stage-we mean, of course, in the
pulpit. What's Hecuba (the ancient
Jews, Amalekites, Philistines, Popes,
or Reformers aforesaid) to them what
have they to do with the matter except
to enjoy their talented pastors oratory
and to tell each other afterward what a
fine sermon it was.
But when the preacher ventures out
of distractions and ancient history,
when he comes down from the past to
the present and rudely thrusts the pro-
hlbitions of the Decalogue and the
Gospel under the nose of the flesh and
blood sinner sitting in front of him, and
say, as Nathan said to David, Thou
art the man." that is very different
affair The average sinner of these
days is not a David, and doesn't take
kindly to this sort of personal admoni-
tion. In two recent instances he has
hauled up the plain-spoken prophet for
libel.
A Congregational minister at Hebron
in Connecticut startled his hearers one
Sunday by denouncing from the pulpit
one of the leading citizens of the town
and pillars of the parish as polyga-
mist He did not "name names" as
Mr.. Speaker does sometimes: 1t wasn't
necessary. Everybody in the meeting
house knew who was meant-no one
better than the pillar in question. The
minister's statements of what. he be-
lieved to be the facts were more than
damaging-itw was damning. He spoke
of the lawful but divorced wife sitting
in one pew and the unlawful wife with
the adulterous husband in another, and
he expressed his sentiments on the sub
ject in very ineligible and vigorous
English. The aggrieved parishioner
clustered and went to his lawyers and
there was the promise of an unusually
interesting lawsuit But the latest
news from Hebron is that, upon further
reflection, he has decided not to bring
his grievances into court.
The other case differs from the
Hebron one in this respect, that the
person denounced from the pulpit was
not at the time, as far as appears, a
member of the parish Oberin, in the
State of Ohio, is, as most of our readers
know, the seat of a college which re-
ceives black students as well as white,
girls as well as boys, and subjects them
to a pretty rigorous discipline. A good
many of the old Puritan notions and
manners survive at Oberln. Church.
going is obligatory under penalty Of
loss of social status; tobacco is frown
ed upon; lager beer (and of course al
stronger drink is an abomination. In
the CRUSADE" times prominent drug
gist of the place signed an agreement
not TO sell liquor in his store. The few
lager beer sellers also signed the agree
ment They kept their word. but the
druggist, it is affirmed by the temper
ance people of Oberlin, has broken faitt
with them by nominally turning over
his store to young man from out o
town, who is really his partner or EN-.
ploye, and who sells liquor to suct
customers as desire it and can pay fol
it.
AS soon as it was found out tha
liquor was being sold again, Oberlir
tried to open the eyes of the young
man from out of town to the error o
his ways. Committees of busines:
men and praying women labored will
him unsuccessfully. He turned dea
f ear to their expostulations, and there i!
testimony to the fact that on more tina.
one occasion he shocked these visitors
| by the use of profane language, ever
going so far as to call one excellen
Christian lady - fool" WheI
, Rev. James Brand, pastor of the Firs
Congregational church of Oberln, call
ed upon him on the same errand, thu
, stiif-necked druggist not only refused t.
discuss the question of the sale of in
f toxicants in drug stores with his Wis
itor, but, when the latter persisted
turned his back ON him and begar
? whistling. Then the Rev. Jame
Brand went into his pulpit and de
e; nounced.th druggist as an unprinciplet
! person, user of indecent and profan
expressions and corrupter of youth
and predicted for him very unpleasan
? experiences in tho next world. Th
druggist promptly brought his suit 70
libel; the case was tried at Cleveland
f able lawyers harangued the jury, an
the iury-disagreed One of the mem
;. bers told Cleveland reporter that the
) had stood nine for the druggist to thre
i for the preacher.
: AS general rule, it is neithe
i prudent nor charitable for preacher
$ entrenched in his pulpit, to single ou
an individual sinner for personal rebuk
and denunciation. But there are sir
G ners and sinners, and circumstance
alter cases The parson should be pei
. fectly sure he is right before goin
ahead, and it will be well for him
take the advice of judicious friends
r But once satisfied that he is right, b
has no choice as conscientious ma
@ and minister but to go ahead.
MY dear" said wife to her ric
p but illiteFate husband, 81 want liv
hundred dollars" "W hat fur" he il
quired. "Seal skin fur" she said, an
g she got it.
During 1882 a PhiladelDhia who'll