The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-12-19
DIR. TALMAGE,

IJr. Talmage is clergy man in the city
Of Brooklyn, l. l., which is part Of the
State of New York. IL we remember
correctly he is in church connection
with the Dutch Reformed. 1t makes
but little difference, however, about his
ecclesiastical connections he consti-
tutes denomination by himself. He
has probably attracted more attention to
himself during the last few years than
lapy other clergyman in the country.
His place of busines, or rather, the hub
of his ministrations. has been known for
long time as the Brooklyn Tabernacle.
The fire destroyed it short time ago
Since when he has been agitating the
question of building anew. We speak
of this Tabernacle as the hub, for the
reason that he breaches all over the
world. Occasionally we hear of him at
home, but more frequently we hear of
him as preaching 10 Denver, Colo, or
Seattle, Washington. he radiates from
The hub in almost every direction. 1t
makes but little difference where he
breaches. he cannot get beyond the de-
4patches for the daily papers which
catch on to his. utteranres, as though
they were the wisest ever spoken. He
may preach a sermon in his church in
Brooklyn which either wholly or in part
will be published in thousand newspa-
pers, and in few he be will preach
the same sermon in remote part OF the
country, and thousand newspapers,
more or less, will scatter it over the land
as innocent as possible of the fact that
they have only been scattering rations
of dried tongue, He is nothing If he is
II .,.x = O..
to steal from. There are peculiarities
about his sermons by means of
they are easily identified. Then, if you
should steal sermon of his preached
long ago, under the deiusion that the
people had forgotten It, perhaps the
next week it will appear in all the patent
insides of the country, and you will be
brought to shame and confusion. Mr..
Talmage breaches a great deal. He
seems to enjoy preaching. And next
10 preaching he evidently enjoys being
reported. 1t is clear to us that he would
lose most of the pleasure Of preaching if
no reporters were about to seize and
solidify his utterances. He is now away
IN his Eastern tour, but the sermons go
right slong just the same, 1t seems
likely now that they will continue to be
reported after he is dead. He preached
the other day on Mars's Hill, using the
introduction of Pdul's sermon on the
same spot for tex We are not told
that any who heard Paul heard him. II
there were any such they could not con
gratulate themselves that preaching had
improved much during the last eighteen
centuries. One thing we are told that
the DIR. did do. He procured a stone
from that renowned spot and sent it
home to be built into the new tabernacle.
he will do a wiser thing # he can fiud
some of Paul's theology there and bring
il home and build it into the sermons he
breaches in the new structure. IL lie
probable that by this time he has enter6d
Palestine, and perhaps preached another
sermon on the Mount 10 lot of ragged
Arabs and Turks who have never pro-
fited by the first sermon preached on
that sacred spot. DR.. Talmage is ubiquI.
tous. He delights in travel. Sometimes
it seems as though he was constantly on
the move, and the query comes into
mind as to whether he might not be
hired 10 run vacation, preaching just
enough in his own church to keep up a
quasi-connection with Its pastorate
But if his people like it, it is none OF our
business. We do not take much stock
in the man. His theology il rather het
erogeneous. His rhetoric is of lurid
kind. He may answer for the people to
whom he breaches, but be would moi
last long in a country schoolhouse
Whether he is doing any good isan open
question in the minds OF many. Impres
slons that quickly fade, false interpreta
tions OF Scripture, unsopnd theology are
not among the influences that reform
the world --NorthJield Nelrs. q.