The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-07-13


 very aged, is just waiting for release which he has well earned, but which nobody wants to come any sooner than 1t has to- Then, there was Spurgeon, youngest of this trio, and another in stance of what a self f-educated man can accomplish if he have the true stutf in him, and is fortunate, as he was, to get the popular ear when people are aching for something fresh and unconvention- al. Sturgeon was the man for the people. In prayer it seemed as though to deyout souls he could open the very gates of heaven, and his sermons were always marvels of fervid appeal, de- livered in voice that was musical and moving in the extreme, and with natural eloquence of tone and gesture which must have made every teacher of elocution ashamed of his art. Spur geon's old pulpit is now occupied by one of his gifted sons, who, in trying to rattle about in the place filled by his great father, deserves every ones sympathy and of whom for the present it is enough to say that he is doing the best he can.
 It is about eleven years since Spur geon passed, and almost as long since Newman Hall retired but Joseph Par ker, the other member of this great me tropolitan trio, still holds on his way, and the crowds still flock to hear him. He has nothing to fear from the younger generation Of London preach CTS, like Meyer and Horton, because his reputation was established before they began. Then, too, the preaching of the younger school is in a different style, and it is decidedly more conventional. There is no man in any London pulpit to-day with the originality of Spur geon, and none who compares in dra- matc power or in the genius for apt expression with "the old man eloquent at City Temple. And still another matchless trait of Parker's has been his pulpit audacity He is not so reck- less now as he used to be, though even now the volcano can flare up on occa- sion. Everybody has heard about the Nonconformist Conscience. Gladstone used to lay great store by 1t when he wanted support for any measure of moral reform, and similarly it was the one thing most feared by those of an opposite political faith from Gladstone. For long years of flesh and blood em- bodiment of this conscience has been pr. Parker. When people have seen him in one of his most fiercely denunci- atory moods they feel as though they had seen the Nonconformist conscience in eruption, and so terrible is the sight that some timid people it is said, have gone away from seeing Parker de- nounce them to quite expect that their next vision would be of the devil him self come to carry them off.
 This "Old Ironsides" of the London pulpit is as forcible in the expression he can put into his features as in any words that issue from his lips. And this is saying much, because in the use of language he is one of the greatest of living peniuses. By his words he can overwhelm you in torrent of elo- quence or he can crush you with just an adjective But he can also damn without words-just look such as he can put on is enough for either blessing or cursing, It is proNerbial here that this greatest of NonconformiSt preach CTS had he taken to the stage, would have been an actor equal to Sir Henry Irving. In fact, to those who have seen the two, and have marked how they can storm with fury, or again can express passion and contempt by a whisper scarcely audible, or by look or gesture Parker will always recall Irving, and vice versa.
 Alluson has been already made to Parker's defects. A serious one In his delivery is that sometimes his voice will be so explosive that you will not catch the burning word he is hurling aut and at othed times you will neces- sarily fail to hear what Is said because the voice is suddenly dropped. This is a defect which has increased with the years and it is now so serious as to make attendance at his church hardly any more gratifying than it is provok- ing Another defect used to be his lack of self-control and the fact that as I have before hnted, he would sometimes become so indignant as to show all the signs of downright anger, and so vio- lent in invectiye as to really savor of vulgarity. In this respect he is inn proving. Age is modifying and mel lowing him. One can scarcely say that his features are any more conciliatory. The natural look is still one of intense self satisfaction. He is as scornful and reliant as ever-if anything a little more so in looks. Yet in what he says there is apt these days to be a tender ness that was formerly lacking. He can still be violent on occasion, but more often now, in the beauty of the yellow leaf, he is reminiscent and pa thetic.
 At the time of the Armenian massa- cres Joseph Parker stood up in City Temple and cursed the Sultan of Tur- key in language which in a bar-room would scarcely have been distinguished from downright swearing, and more re- gently the rulers of China came in for an assault that was not much milder. When Lord Rosebery won the Derby and the Nonconformist conscience re- scented a so-called ''horse-racer" in the position of prime minister, that con science. as usual, found its most acute expression at City Temple, and Lord Rosebery must have felt long after the sting of what was said. So, too, when Dr. Parker gave q tongue flashing of the severest kind to the Prince of Wales in connection with what was known as the Baccarat scandal. But he has melowed of late, It Is greatly to the credit of this modern edition of Cromwell that he can appreciate what is good in Roman Charlottesville origi-