St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-02
FIND IT IN The PULPIT
Sunday Papers Are Not to
Blame for Half Empty
81. Churches.
Ministers Should Note the
Real Trouble Is With the
Pulpit.
Who Are Benefited by the
Much-Abused Sunday
ge Papers.
IS - - vs-.,,--- g
Incidents and Anecdotes Jot-
ted Down in a Casual
Way.

1 WHICH was lluly lCllColI-
Ing. They proved that they were fully
aware of the causes which make the
Sunday paper power in this and every
large city in the land. One minister
! grayely stated that 1.-The papers kept
the people from church ana from enjoy.
/ ing the Sabbath; the whole day was
| given to devouring their contents. -
| Another said that after he had read a
Sunday newspaper he had no relish fol
| any other Sunday reading. In these
statements lies the giSt of the whole
matter. The Sunday newspapers SUI
| perior attractiveness is to blame
| for the Sunday newspapers phe.
| nOmenal SUGGEST And if its
| influence in the case of professedly
| Christian people be sufficient to inter
/ fere so seriously with the attendance al
| church, how much greater must be its
| power in the case of the many over
! whom the church yields no especial
| sway! If the Sunday papers are fas
| einating enough To cause the secretary
| of the Y. NJ. G. A. to lose his relish foI
| any other Sunday literature. why should
| one marvel if the uncOnyerted masses dc
| not care to leave their comfortable fire.
| SlueS anu Wdilu6I Vi
| mental entertainment?
When they come to deliberate on a
possible remedy the ministers are in
| imminent danger of Stultifying them
selves. They acknowledged the superior
attractiveneSs of the Sunday paper,
which attractiveness iSdue to its bright
ness, cleVerness and general kaleido-
scopic character, and then they calmly
| call upon their people to foregO all this
enjoyment and instruction, and not
only refuse admittance for the paper to
| their homes, but also discourage
| it by withdrawing subscriptions and
advertisements. Would it not be better
for the ministers to accept the situation,
and, instead of deyISing schemes to
"crush" that which they are foolish
enough to designate as an evil, but
which more llberal-minded persons con-
| slider great bleSsiDg-and which in
| any case has come TO stay-endeavor to
| raise the intellectual standard and rhe-
| torical excellence of their own sermons,
and thus allure the people to their half
empty churebes9 The Sunday news
paper is all right, according to the min
isters' own confession. The real trouble
is with the pulpit itself.
One of the resolutions proposed at the
ministers meeting was as follows:
To lend no countenance TO the Su nday
newspapers; and, as far as possible, to per
| suade our people to Withdraw subscriptions
| anu advertisements from the Sunday press. =
In the GLOBE of yesterday the an
| Inducements of church services in St
| Paul and Minneapolis filed column OF
| space, one church alone monopolizing
| two and fourth inches by actual meas
urement. These announcements are in,
serted gratuitously. OF they probably
| would not be sentin They are sup
| piled each week by the ministers them
selves or their lay officials. Who gains
most from the deal-the press or the
pulpit?
The quaint old Bible story tells us
! that, in the course of one of the innum
! cradle battles which, in times remote
were fought in the interests OF true re
| ligiOn, "a certain man drew bow at ;
venture and smote the King of ISrae
| between the joints of the harness.
| The royal parsonage fingered unit
| evening and then died, but we have M
| reason to doubt that he pas sed ava,
| under the impression that the arche
who sped the fatal shaft had siDglet
him out in malice prepense and to graf
| ify personal desire for revenge. Wher
Thackeray wrote VANITY Fair" many
a cOrOneted reprObate SQuirmed uneas
lily. thinking that he was the prototype
| of the Marquis of Steyne. When Dick
ems published his immortal delinea
| lions of Squeers, he was assalet
| by Yorkshire schoolmasters VIII,
| seemed only too anxious t.
have it known that they were the per
sons whom the author had in mind. Re
ferring to one of these worthless in tn
preface to later edition of "NichOla
Nickleby," Mr.. Dickens writes: 'AI
/ though MIR. SqueerS has one eye and h
! 1.-THE protesting sehooImaster] has two
and the published sketch does not re
semble him whoever he may be in an.
other respect, still he and all his friend
and neighbUrS know at once for whom
it is meant, because-the character is s.
like him."
Let writer satiriZe ever so gentl,
| the faults and follieS of any class o
men, let his range of illustrations b,
ever so wide and his choice of charac
tiers ever SO impersonal, yet there will
always be individuals in the communit,
| foolish enough to imagine that they
and they alone, have been singled gu
to be the butt of the satirist's spleen
And it is interesting to observe tina
these beings are usually to be fOunt
among the most insignificant member
of the class they represent.
A good sample of a blunder arisine
| from ignorance of the meaning of ;
word is given in one of Lovers novels
| A eonceited character, who is addicted
| to writing poetry and infiicting it upol
| his luckleSS acquaintance, once got OF
an effusi0n into which he introduced
couplet from Tom Moor with TELLING
effect. Having recited the production
! before "a roemful of friends, he APP
MADAM. how did you like the quota
| tion?" The dear old party replied with
| a beaming smile: my dear sir, we all
| know that you are entirely too modest
/ and you may call those lovely lines {
| quotation as much as you choose. but
/ shall always maintain that they are by
| far the sweetest part of your poemW
4 4
| This recalls an anecdOte heard some
| wears ago about rather eaSe-lOving
| minister. This preacher was once highly
4 eomplimented upon the excellence of q
| certain discourse, his admiring friend
| going so far as to declare that it was tbs
/ best he had ever listened to from tina
| pulpit. Judge, then, the admirine
| friends CONSERVATION when he learned
| that the sermon was printed one. taker
from the published collection of a noted
4 divine! 1t would seem that the rever
/ end gentleman was the proud proprietor
4 of nice lutte ''bar'P' of sermons OfhiS
/ own composition, which he was wont Il
"revamp," as occasion offered, for thu
| benefit of his congregation. In this in
stance. apparently, the ''bar'l" failed tt
yield anything which would do credit Il
\ the cobbler's art, and so (time or energy
/ being limitedl the dominic was fain t.
| have recourse to his bOokshelves-bu
forgot to let his audience into the secret