Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-01-04
SOME MINISTER'S TALES.
GRAVE AND GAY ANECDOTES RELAT-
Ed BY CHICAGO cLERGYMEN.

1
The Church Member Who Didn't Recor.
nize Her Own Pastor-The way the
Preacher Found the Waiting CoupIe-A
Sermon on Bapfism interrupted.
"Now and then" said Methodist
preacher from the West Side, ga church
communicate is not living exponent Of
truth and charity. found that out in
an amusing way some years ago while
preaching at church on the North Side.
Rev. Mr.. D, of the Illinois conference,
and had arranged to exchange pulpits
on certain Sunday, and the announce
ment was made at the Wednesday even
ing prayer meeting previous. It hap
pened that something came up later in
the week which made it necessary to
postpone the exchange, and so appeared
in my own pulpit as usual Sunday morn
ing. The attendance was about the same
| so far as could see, but a young man, a
friend of mine, afterward related to me
some comments he heard while the au-
dience was filing out of the church. One
| woman remarked:
CHOW, that's splendid sermon. And
| what a large audience he had. My! if
we could only have him here to preach
every Sunday. Such a perfectly charm
ing discourse You see, she had heard
that the exchange would be made and
came to church promptly, but she had
been absent so long that she really didn't
know her own minister when she saw
him"
WEDDING SIGNS.
"These stories about weddings" said
Rev. j. P. Brushingham, shave a seri-
GUS side, Notwithstanding the fact it is
usually overlooked. One time was en-
gagged to marry a young couple, and
when the evening came found their
address had been mislaid. 1t could not
be found high or low. However, I
knew within block of where the place
was and resolved would start out and
try and find it. My wife said as I left,
in spirit Of raillery at nay carelessness,
You'll know the place by the Grape on
the door, And as went along that re-
mark set me thinking. Grape on the
door, Of course house of mirth to the
practical eye is as plainly marked as
house of mourning. The custom is to
put on all the tokens of woe when death
is visitor and all the signs of Joy when
two persons are married. And yet in
how many cases the Grape had better be
shown when weddings occur, and to how
many persons death should be welcomed
with flowers. You know when Beecher
died he requested that no gloom be
thrown on the event by sable trappings,
but that flowers in profusion should mark
his translation to better land"
''But did you find your waiting couple
that night, Mr. Brushingham:'
"Oh, yes. Wedding parties never get
lost"
THE ARGUMENT INTERRUPTED.
"This isn't funny story" said the
Baptist minister, s'but it is true one.
Before l came to Chicago was preach
ing at Lincoln. That was years ago, and
the town was not SO well supplied with
churches as it is now. A Presbyterian
minister was holding a revival service
in his church, and his audiences were so
large he could not accommodate them.
He asked the permission of myself and
my trustees to use our church, which
was much larger, and of course it was
granted. His meetings grew larger and
larger, and everybody was delighted
with the evident good he was doing.
One morning he came to me and said he
wanted to preach three sermons on bap-
tism, but felt embarrassed, as he was in
the house of denomination from which
he radically differed on that subject.
told him to go ahead his own way Just
as if he were at home. Give them i'm
mersion, sprinkling or anything that
would save them. So at it he went.
Now, right under the platform on which !
my pulpit stood was great pool of |
water in which our own baptisms took |
place. No one ever thought of the place |
being insecure, but my Presbyterian |
friend got number of brethren on the |
stand with him that night, and among
them was one very fat mana regular |
mountain of flesh. The sermon went |
forward, and the preacher became ex- |
cited as I never had seen him before.
Baptism was his strong point, and he
laid himself out for great effort. He
had perhaps reached his loftiest flight in
the denunciatiCn of immersion as the
one baptism, and announced with great
vigor that he had never immersed con-
vert and he never would; that he never
mad been immersed and nothing could
induce him to be, and that he would
sweep the foolish Journalism from the
face of the earth!
Just at this point the fat man, too
in common chair to enjoy such
welcome and powerful doctrine, rose
md started across behind the preacher.
L was too much for the platform floor.
At the very height of the minister's i'm
FASHIONED period down went pulpit. pas
or and guard of honor with crash and
/ splash into the ample depths of the
,ool.'
Ibid it alter his views on baptism:"
mo; but he said Presbyterian preach
ng on Baptist platform was a mighty
insecure business, and he soon went back
o his own house of worship. Chicago
Herald.
Rest in the Open Air.