The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1885-11-13

and heart. They are crude even to
the point of occasional coarseness,
and candid in a degree that not I'M
frequently amounts TO a mild kind Of
insolence; but this does not prevent
them from being listened to attentive
ly by a great many intelligent and
well-meaning persons. 1t they are
rambling and audacious, they are also
simple and easy TO comprehend; and
that il very likely one of the principal
reasons why big audiences gather to
hear them. The impression is widely
prevalent that the Scriptures ought Co
be expounded and enforced in terms
that can be understood at once and
thoroughly. This feeling is not on
fined, either, to the uneducated and
humble element that has neither time
nor taste for abstract and intricate
logical processes; it is shared by q very
considerable number Of those who
arc competent to appreciate and pass
judgment upon any argument, how
aver profound and difficult. Gener-
ally speaking. all men prefer sermons
that 20 directly to the mark, and that
are not weighted down with the Kind
of reasoning which is mainly interest
ing as going to show the minister's
capacity for hair-splitting and the
heaping-up of large and ad-
j~ectives.
That our preachers, as a rule, are
wanting in simplicity of diction and
given to over-laborlous ways of put
ting things, we are obliged to confess.
The art OF familiar and yet forcibIe
speaking is a hard one to learn and TO
sustain; and somehow it seems to be
more SO in the pulpit than anywhere
else, when there is where il should be
found at its best. There is a constant
tendency, apparently, towards a vari-
ETY. of preaching that Is not preaching
so much as lecturing and far-fetched
philosophizing; and so when q Sam
Jones comes along, talking In famil-
lar language and urging everyday
to his tent and pay HIM those tributes
of interest and applause which other
and ADLER preachers do not gain. 1t.
is the difference between raising a
subject above a mans head and thrust
ing it directly into his face. In the
one case he yawns and goes to sleep;
in the other he straightens up anS
hears every word. The sermon of the
regular minister may be ever so much
superior to that of Jones in depth,
scope and literary merit, but Jones
receives the attention, and his words
are readily remembered and quoted,
while those of his rival, SO to speak,
are forgotten as Don as uttered, or
recalled only by the few members of
the congregation who have a fancy for
that order of religious teaching.
There is still another point that il
worth taking into account-still an
other consideration which helps to
solve the problem of the success of
these Sam Jones meetings. We refer
to the absence of style which charac.
terlzes the m not only, but every
other feature of the place and the
proceedings. People assemble there in
a spirit of perfect freedom and ease
and good-fellowship. There is no
classification according to bank ac-
counts and the cut AMI cost of wear.
ing apparel. Nobody is made to feel
unwelcome because he does not rent a
conspicuous pew, or has not yet had
opportunity TO specify himself as an
individual who is entitled to ordinary
respect and courtesy. The stranger
within the community's gates is not
chilled by an atmosphere of formality
and studied reserve which gives him
reason to think that he has mad
~vertently wandered into a private
| drawing-room where he was not ex.
pected and is not wanted. There is
an air of kindness and friendliness, on
the contrary, which causes him to feel
at home and to understand that sS:ial
distinctions and determinations are
not allowed to interfere with anybody's
comfort and satisfaction. lit is this
that GIkes a large number of people to
such meetings who are loath to attend
divine services in the usual places and
monty encountered.
The great surprising fault of ouI
churches of all denominations is a lack
of proper attention to those obliga-
tons of affability and cordially which
are calculated to increase the size OF
the congregations and make religion
more attractive and popular. There is
not a church in st. Louis, it is SAT- to
say, that is above criticism III this re-
spect; and the churches of st. Louis
are yery much like those of other 10,
calitieD, particularly the larger cities
and towns. During the last twenty
years the philosophy of church at
tendance has undergone an almost
complete change, and the place of the
church in society has changed accord
ingly. The people have been grad
ually led to think that going to church
involves a given amount OF pretense
and display; and when they get there
they find that all the difference of out
side station, which it should be the
first effect of religion to suppress and
remove, are as sharply defined in the