The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-08-31
We heard at one Of the stands a

street preachers. His message, like that
Of most of the religious speakers was
very simple and very orthodox. The
sinfulness of the natural man, his peril.
the means of escape, and the urgent
plea for immediate action, constituted
the sermon whatever the text. Except
as to the Unitarian speakers, this was
the uniform strain. One man put the
whole case from the point Of view of the
theology which seemed nearly universal
on the Common, in this blunt fashion,;
when saw that was sinner. on the
road to hell, and that Jesus Christ could
save me from hell, knew what to do. |
just went to him and asked him to take
my poor soul and cleanse it from sin.
And he did it in his precious blood.
That was some years ago. And he will
do it for any poor sinner here this after.
noon. Don't risk another night"
Two colored men were speaking in
different parts OF the Common. There
was nothing novel in that; but it struck
one oddly to note that they had white
people exclusively for auditors. Both
were Of unmixed negro blood, and one
was without any symptoms of education
though not without shrewdness, orator
ical ambition and certain crude logic.
This latter held group Of "the boys" in
obvious enjoyment Of his matter and
manner. He stood on the ground at a
little distance from his hearers and
shuffied forward and backward, much as
il he we're about to break into q jig. as
he spoke. He was reminiscent and de-
scriptive, coming down only in spots to
the regular exhortation, Nov are ye
gwine to come? Jesus am waiting. 'Tis
better come along dis yere hour" The
other was a man Of intelligence and
some culture, graceful in his elocution
and far above the average Common
preacher in the reasonableness and
cogency Of his theology.
The oracles Of labor. finance and
sociology were, what are sometimes
called "tonguey" takers. They dealt in
facts" and figures. They made state
ments that were true and drew infer
ences from them that we're false: again
they made statements that were false
and argued from them to conclusions
that were true. They read extracts from
newspapers, from letters, from speeches,
from public documents. We heard six
different orations on these topics, not
one of them from man who gave evi
dence Of mastery of his subject. Some
of the speakers were simply wild and
foolish; some had gotten hold of a corner
Of the truth and were indulging the airs
of ownership of the whole territory. What
we felt as we listened to these uninform-
ed, or misinformed. or half informed talk
ers was wonder that no man of real and
comprehensive knowledge should think
it worth his while to go to that areopa-
gus and present the reality in contrast
to the caricatures. Most Of those who
have the ear of these people are an infer
ior breed Of demagogues. They are SOW
ing delusion and discomfort. Does no
Boston merchant or publicat or philan-
thropist or philosopher care for the souls
of their dupes?
We remained to the Unitarian meet
ing, which came last of all, from five to
six o'clock. 1t was the best hour and
had the best attendance. 1t was for the
most part. widely different concourse
from any we had seen earlier. Evident
ly the members of the Unitarian congre-
cations in the neighborhood had charged
themselves with the duty of seeing that
the meetings were sustained. They
were there, men and women. in sufficient
number to give the meeting prestige.
Some Of the loiterere on the Common
mingled in, and few Of the great un-
washed came to seq and hear. AS might
have been predicted, everything was
done decently. A master Of ceremonies
presided and introduced the speakers,
slips containing hymns were circulated,
and dignity and decorum marked the
whole proceeding. The Rev. F. B. Mott,
the new editor Of The Unitarian. and
the Rev. Ellery Charming Butler. OF
Quincy, conducted the services, each
making short address, or preaching a
fifteen minute sermon. Mr.. Mott. in an
accent and manner eminently Unitarian
sought to show how what Jesus said and
did was all perfectly human and 80 pos
sible to each one of us. He put aside
the common notions Of Christ and Chris
tianity and tried somewhat laboriously
we thought to relieve our religion of its
weight of divinity and miracle. Mr..
Butler talked precisely as il he took his
religion from the Bible, spoke of 1.-THE
Saviour" and seemed to feel that Chris
tianity was not in need of apology or
eliminations. His ideas. manner and
method contrasted strongly from those
of the previous speaker.
1t was newly impressed on us that
Sunday afternoon, that the great and
difficult art in preaching is to get your
message to the hearer. A general delu-
sion among preachers Of special culture