The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-24

are not man enough to Go it. propose to travel
this road whenI please, and if you undertake to
modest me is will be the end of you" The
blacksmith was cowed in a moment, and stam-
mered out an apology. The preacher was in
vited into the house, and the two were after
wards warm friends
In those days the preachers were not very
well paid, and they and their families were often
sharply put to it for the necessaries of life
John Strange was a man of wonderful power in
the pulpit, but of great simplicity of character,
and, withal. somewhat eccentric. One day. as
he was leaving home for one Of his appoint
ments, his wife informed him she had no flour
left. WELL my dear said he, II will just tell
the Lord all about it / have money the
people won't pay: but will see what the Lord
has 70 say about it, As he was riding along lie
met one of his members. Stopping him, Mr..
Strange said: Brother, my wife told me this
morning she was out of -four. I have to go to
my appointment lean preach, but you know
you can't preach; but you can take sack OF
flour to my house. Now, you and the Lord for
it" He rode off, but the good wife got her sack
of -four.
Those good old preachers firmly believed in
the power of the Lord to take care OF them, and
that He would do it. The people had but little
money to give to support the preacher or to
build churches. Father Ravens was once en-
deavoring to raise money to build a church in
eastern Indiana. He called on one of his mem
bers for q subscription. The man was chair
maker by trade, and very poor. If he sold set
kind or another, never getting any cash. He
told Mr. Ravens he world like to give some
thing, but had no money, and offered to give
ten dollar set of chairs. NO." said Mr.. Hayens
you subscribe S. and trust to the Lord to
get the money" The man did so, and day or
two afterward astranger came in, bought a set
OF chairs and paid him ten dollars in cash.
Once in a while liberal man would be found
who was not church member Such one was
James Rariden. the distinguished lawyer. He
w n attendance
time. when subscription paper was started to
purchase a horse for one of the preachers, who
was travelling his circuit on foot The amounts
ranged from twenty five to fifty cents. The pa
per was presented to Rariden. He at once said:
'Why, you will never raise money enough
this way and, turning to a gentleman near by
he asked: What will you take, for that horse
Of yoursg' II paid $75 for him, but if you want
him for the preacher you can have him for 500,
was the reply. ''Give, him to the preacher, and
call at my Office and will pay you for him.
said Rariden, and at once tore the subscription
paper up.
Among the earlier church going people there
was strong. antpathy to written sermons and
even to preaching from notes Augustus Eddy,
who ranked high as a man of eloquence, in
the habit ofusing notes. AT one time he was to
preach at the old Roberts Chapel in this city, and
large congregation assembled On taking his
seat in the pulpit, he pulled his notes out of his
pocket. when the pastor hurriedly
whispered to him that the people would
not stand notes. Eddy slipped
them into his Bible, and soon began the services
1t was not long until he had the congregation
worked up to high degree by his eloquence.
Before he concluded he, grasped his notes in his
hands and turned to the pastor, and shaking
them at him, said: "Ah, brother thought you
said your people would not stand notes" Eyes"
was the reply, ''but your Holy Ghost set your
notes all on fire."
While extemporaneous preaching is good
thing it will not always do 1t is told of Rev.
L. w. Berry, who was afterwards president Of
Asbury University, that when he was a young
man he was announced to preach at camp
meeting. He carefully prepared his sermon and
committed it to memory. When the time came
he commenced his sermon, and when he had ut
tered the first sentence or two the others all fled
from him, and he could not remember word.
He hesitated, stammered. and finally left the
stand and broke for the woods.
The experience of John w. Jackson was SINH
lar, but arose from a different cause. When ne
first entered the ministry he was arguing one
day with his presiding elder that it was anti
scriptural to study sermons, and quoted that
well-worn passage where Christ is represented
as telling his disciples to take no thought OF
what they should speak. The elder said moth
ing, but concluded to give the young man les
son. One Sunday morning, at a camp-meeting,
where immense audience gath
ered while the opening hymn was being
sung the elder quietly told Jackson that he was
to preach jackson began Directing but the
Jackson, you do not need any preparation"
jackson tried it, and preached a sermon abou;
five minutes long when he sat down in con-
fusion He never forgot the lesson, but after
wards went to Philadelphia. and was for many
years one Of the most popular preachers in that
city.
Many of the residents of Indianapolis will
remember John s. Bayless. who was the first
pastor of Roberts Chapel. He did not believe
in written sermons, in notes, but was very
fond of quoting poetry. One Sunday he was
holding forth to his congregation, and when he
reached the point for introducing his poetry,
for the soul of him he could not call it to mind
''As the roet says" was as far as he could get
He tried it two or three times, when old Father
Havens, who was sitting in the pulpit with him,
and was quietly enjoying his confusion, said in
a voice loud enough to be heard by the congre-
cation:
"Am a soldier of the cross.
A follower of the lamb
1t was not the quotation Mr.. Bayless wanted,
and was so palpably mal-apropos that it con-
vulsed the audience, and broke down the
preacher.
The late Senator Pratt had a brother who was
a distinguished Baptist divine in Kentucky. At
one time he was visiting thu Senator at his
home in Logansport, this State and was invited
to oficiate the next Sunday, in the
Baptist Church During the sermon the
of the church. The sermon was on the
Importance of leading pure life. In the
height of his exhortation he said: MY friends.
you must be like - The name had slipped
him. He tried it again, and when he reached
the point the name would not come. The SEN
ator was growing uneasy and restless. The
third time the preacher reached the place, but
could not call the name. The Senator could not
stand il any longer. and called out, Nathan
el." THAT is it, said the brother from the
pulpit, "You must be like Nathaniel in whom
there was no guile but the congregation conld
not refrain from smiling at the prompting.
Written sermons have their advantages but
they also have their drawbacks. One of the
early pastors of the First Presbyterian Church,
of this city, used to tell how he sent for a
brother minister to from neighbering
town and help him on communion day. The
brother came but when they were preparing to
go into the church it was discovered that he had
| lost his sermon, and the pastor had to hunt up
an old one and preach for himself.