The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-01-31
A Plagiarlzing Parson.

On. of the most remarkable cases Of
sermon stealing On the part OF pro-
fessed preacher of the Gospel is report
ed from the town of Cummington, one
of the sparsely- populated mountain
sections in Hampshire County, in the
western part of the State. 1t was not
one of the vulgar cases of stealing the
the livery of Heaven to serve the devil
in, but an insance in which rare good
taste was exercised in purloining the
sermons of leading divines for the pur-
pose of enforcing religious doctrines up
on community which appreciated its
need aof religious enlightenment. and
was thirsting for constant and abund-
ant supply. The town Of Cummington.
it may be mentioned, is one Of those
out-of-the-way sections. of which there
are not q few in Massachusetts, that
would rarely have been heard from if
some person subsequently famous. had
not happened to have been born there.
In this case the person was no less than
William Cullen Bryant, the distin-
guished poet and accomplished editor
Not since the death OF Mr.. Bryant has
the town had topic 50 fruitful of opin-
ions and discussions as the entrance in
to and exit from it OF an accomplished
young preacher, who dropped of there
from the Hinsdale stage early last sum-
NOR. He said that he came from Glen
ham, N. T., that his name was w halen,
and that he had been authorized to dis
pense the Gospel in West Cummington.
The standard religionlthere, as well as
in most of the towns within radius of
twenty miles, is OF the orthodox Con-
gregational order, stripped of all mod
ern Innovations Though the new
conner was dapper young fellow, yet
he believed in the cast-iron orthodoxy
Of our fathers. For these combined
| reasons, no less than on account of his
remarkable and eloquent sermons, the
importation from Glenham was at once
the pet Of both the old and the young
In the moral community OF the Hamp-
shire hills. At the very outset his SER
mons were brilliant and captivating,
and as they multiplied in number so did
| they increase in merit of construction
and eloquence of delivery Now and
then a man happened IN town who had
heard Beecher, Brooks, Sturgeon and
other famous preachers, and they one
and all declared that young Whalen
was destined to be the rival IF the best
| OF them. n - - s4a G. azszis zee s."
Amongthe listeners to enc of his es-
pecialiy brilliant discourses was old
Father Baldwin, who himself had occu-
pied the same, pulpit in zCummingten
overforty years ago. Afew days late,
Father Baldwin happened to pick up q
religious monthly published in New
York, and he found that it contained
the identical sermon which he. had lis.
tened to from Fhalsn, 5a,ad that the
same had been preached by Rev. DR..
Deems in the church of the Stranger
ID New York long time before Or
further investigation il was found thai
the Young preacher had also delighted
the CumIingtonians With anotheE dis
course which appeafed IN the same
number of the magazine, and which hae
been originally delivered by Rev. DR.
Armitage, of New Eork. 70 Before an;
other Sabbath rolled srpuud these fact
! were prefty vel spread throughout thu
small town, and the accused preacher