Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1888-01-26
BISHOP GARRETT oNTRxAS.

DLOhO1 OhA hE Wv 1SAdO.
In these latter days it seems that
the progress and Development of
the country and the cause of Chris
tianity itself standin more imminent
danger of suffering at the hands of
ranting and sensational pulpit ora
tors than from any other cause or
causes. Those who are in the habit
of attending religious services and
whose recollection does not date
back far over the stretches of mem
ory either, for that matter, will tes-
tify that pulpit oratory is not what
it used to be. This is the day of
sensationalism. Enterprising news
papers cannot publish the com
prehensive facts of brutal murder
nor ola dastardly outrage without
entering into the minutest details,
accompanied with diagrams of the
premises, the very bedchamber in
which it occurred, and the relative
positions of every article of furni-
ture-thus rendering the papers I'M
fit for circulation in the domestic
household. This infection has
seized the pulpit-and hence the
large crop ofpreachers of the Sam
Jones order and the growing indif-
ference and want of respect among
intelligent people for matters and
things religious. The BANNER is
sorry to say, too, that the Sam
Joneses are not the only class of
ministers who have adopted the sen
sational style, and who are guilty of
pandering to the vitiated tastes of
people who delight in sensational
ism. It is in fact confined to no
class nor to any particular occasion,
1t is to be met with in the pulpit, in
the weekday lectures, in the prayer
meetings, missionary meetings,
Dorcas society meetings and every
where. Not long ago Bishop Gar
rett, of the Episcopal diocese of
North Texas, who is recognized as an
able, intelligent man and an elo-
quent pulpit orator, and who has
been at the head of the church in
that section and resident of Dallas
for number of years, addressed
the Woman's Missionary Society of
the Episcopal church at Washington
City in aid of the missionary cause
in this state. He RECALLED his au-
dienee for long time with an &C
count of life in Texas, giving the
as they listened breath
lessly to the speaker, that the people
were little better than border saw
ages, and in his eloquent peroration
told what kind of missionaries were
wanted here-''Brave, sturdy fell
lows not afraid of the open mouth
Of the revolver nor the yell OF
drunken cowboy; men with muscles
Of steel who can throw a yearling
steer over wire fence as easily as
hey can jerk the lawless coyote out
If a religious meeting if he attemp-
ed to make disturbance. This
iame church dignitary delivered
ecture in st. Paups Episcopal church
It Richmond, Va, in 1888, while
he writer was present, in which he
old his auditors that it was no I'M
Common thing to see men stabbed
nd shot down in the streets of his !
'wn home city of Dallas, one of the
argest towns In the state. Why
nan of intelligence should SANDER
is own home and section, especially I
Ihen the SANDER issues from the
ulpit by a minister, and more es- =
ecially when he grossly misrepre-
ents and distorts the facts, is one
the things not easily comprehen- 7
ible. The immigration society and e
is church had better pay him to Il
tay out of the state. r.
nAN:Y NSINEP TT j