The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-02-20
Clerical Anecdotes.


On occasion he was recounting the story of
Jonah and the whale" enlivening the sober rec
ord with such picturesque embelshm ents his
fertile fancy suggested. In describing the way
ward prophets escape from his submarine ad vent
ure he said with droll twinkle of the eye:
"And then, at the command of the Lord the
great fish spewed him out upon the beach, and
the way he streaked it for Nineveh was a eau
| ton'
A more finished, though not less forcible. pulpit
| orator was the late DR.. G., Baptist preacher
| of high repute generation ago. He. too some.
times INDUCED even in his prayers, in oddities of
| expression. which were all the more amusing be-
cause of the general reverence of his address.
During the memorable political campaign which
eliminated in the election of Franklin Pierce to
the Presidency of the republic, DIR. G. was
deeply concerned over the condition of the coun.
try, feeling which found ludcrous express on in
| his opening prayer one Sunday morning, when he
| startled the congregation by laundering out, 20
Lord! lul the TEMPEST in our political teap"t!"
1t is related of worthy Scotch divine, who. in
spite of the current prejudice against written
mons, was in the habit of reading his discourses.
that once toward the close of his sermon, he used
the phrase But add no more" Whereupon AN
old woman in the gallery, who had viewed the m n
| t.,
cried out in a shrill voice. I'VE Gamma! Ye cannal
| Ye haze ma got it writ!' And this recalls an ex-
perience of different sort. when the preacher
| had more than enough written.
| The Rev. DR.. K. college professor. who
wrote his sermons with the utmost care and log.
ical conference, once found it desirable to omit.
while preaching, portion of his exerdum. To-
ward the close of the sermon there was a ref
| erence to the omitted passage, fact which he
| forgot for the moment, and then, suddenly re-
memberng it, extricated himself from the diff.
Guilty in this wise:
| las l have before remarked-er-in a part
which have omitted"
| minister lately gathered to hisfathers." who
was noted alike for the brilliancy of his wit and
the moving quality of his pathos in pulpit story
telling was wont to recount with gusto one of his
| own after-service experiences. One Sunday morn.
| ing he had illustrated his discourse with a melt
ing tale which drew tears from all eyes mot ex-
cepting his OWN. On the way home his little
said to him, in the most innocent way in the
world: Papa. was that story you told in tie
mon true. or was it only preachingP'
| AT one of the summer resorts in the central part
of New York State worthy Episcopal clergym man
| oficiated for a few Sundays season. He was
a man of limited education. and sometimes re-
than impressive. Thus on one occasion he said:
| "Behod, my beloved hearers, the sun, the great
terrestrial orb, without whose light we would be
unable to see things and other obects!'
AS such gems of eloquence were not uncommon,
the summer visitors found the good mans dis
courses extremely diverting. if not instructive.
OF another sort, and even more ridiculous.
the attempt of young theological student to be
at once impressive and refined in utterance. He
was "rattlng around in place of the pastor
the pulpit of one of the lesding Presbyter an
churches of Brooklyn, and had evidently mounted
his Hottest oratorical stills for the occasion. In
the course of the sermon he had occasion to quote
one of the most solemn and impressive pass ages
| in the Bible and "improved' the text foows
He that bel eveth and is baptized shall be saved
he that believeth not-brethren, you know the
sequel!'
The Rev. DR.. c., scholar and theologian
of worldwide fame. used to relate with great glee
the following amusing experience of his early
years:
Soon after his induction into the ministery he
was invited to preach one Sunday for a little coun
try church in Massachusetts,. 1t a sultry day
in August. one of those sweltering days when all
nature is inclined to slumber, and even the 81 ght
est zephyr forgets to blow. The meeting HOUSE."
a small wooden box-like structure, stood at the
cross roads. in the broad glare of the and
white paint could make it. The congregation
was composed of plain. hard-working farming
people. The open ng services were completed in
due form and the preacher began his discourse.
But before he had reached his secondly he dis
covered, on glancing around the room, that not
single soul in the place was awake except msef!
The situation was naturally an embarrassing one.
What should he dor At first he was inclined to
close abruptly. walk cut of the church and leave
the unconscious sleepers to finish their at
their leisure. But finally good nature triumphed