Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1893-11-30
WHERE ALL SMOKE IN CHURCH.

Japanese Priest and Conservation
Refresh Themselves During the
Sermon.
During the progress of the sermons
that l had the opportunity Of hearing
IN the great Buddhist temples of Shib-
ba and Mike, in Japan, says a writer
in the New York Tribune, both the
preacher and the congregation were
repeatedly refreshed with cups of tea,
Whlle everybody, men, women and
children and priest, smoked till the air
was thick with tobacco fumes. This,
OF course, tended to keep the congre-
eatlon IN an amiable frame of mind
ana as such more ready to take to
neart the doctrines and recommended
IONS OF the preacher. 1t is impossible
TO deny that tobacco is conducive to
CAIN reflection and good temper, and
although nowadays we find members
or church congresses in Europe and
America arguing that it is wrong for
eccleslast1cs to smoke, yet our clergy
IN the last century were so thoroughly
alive to the advantages of the herba
nlcotlna, from 4 religious point Of
view, that they used to smoke not only
out of church but even when in the
pulpit. Thus. Launcelot Blackburn,
lord archbishop Of York and primate Of
England, is on record as having in
terruptcd his sermon, on the occasion
OF his holding confirmation at st.
MaryS, Nottingham, to order the
church wardens to bring up fresh pipes
and supply of tobacco to the pulpit.
Dean Swift used to smoke throughout
his entire sermon, occasionally refresh
ing himself with glass of port, while
Bishop Duncan of Dundee is described
as being so avaricious that he was wont
to make Il practice of coming to church
without his tobacco pouch, and then,
after ascending the pulpit of inquir-
ing who among the congregation would
be willing to accommodate him with
theirs 1t is from those days, too that
date those delightful old-fashioned
pcws in the English country churches,
fitted up with curtains, cushions, fire
places. pokers and tongs, where the
squircs slept and smoked away the en-
tire length of the sermon.
Another glass;" as the Rev. DR.. Bar
row remarked each time that he turned
upside down the hour glass on his pull
pit during his three-hour sermon before
the lord mayor. Why should the pull
pit be retained as part and parcel of
the furniture of our churches? A SER
mon is far more impressive when de-
livercd from q pulpit which, no matter
how beautifu1 the carvings by which
it is adorned, can never under any cir
cumstanccs add to the impressiveness
Of the discourse. Puipits, indeed, should
have no place in Christian churches,
as they are Of MOhammcdan origin
the earliest examples recorded being
the tubs fastened upon tops Of poles,
forming the sort Of crows nest from
which the ulcma of Mecca and Of Cairo
were wont to address the followers Of
the prophet that thronged the mosques
every Friday. Curiously enough, they
have now been abandoned by the Mo-
hammedans, except in a few isolated
eases, and are only to be found in
Christian churches. The Japanese and
Chinese priests whose sermons I have
heard likewise dispensed with pulpits,
preaching from behind table holding
the rolls Of the sacred books, and seat
ed in those high-backe1 armchairs that
adorn every Buddhist temple. In con-
clusion let me, with all reverence, in
dorse the opinion | ut forth by King
Francis I. Of France in his memorable
dispute with King Henry VIII. Of
England, on the field Of the cloth Of
gold, with regard to the relative merits
Of the liturgy and the sermon. King
Henry referred to the latter, while
King Francis pronounced himself in
favor of the liturgy. basing his argu-
ment on the undcniabe fact that the
founder of our religion has assured us
that it is not sermons nor ethical dis
course that are most acceptable in the
sight of the divinity, but prayer