The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1902-04-18
TALMAGE BIOGRAPHY.
Deceased Divine the Most Popular In
America.

Deceased Divine the Most Popular In
America.
DR.. TaImage was beyond a doubt the
most popular preacher America has
produced. When he had church, his
congregations were as numerous as
those of Henry Ward Beecher, and he
at the same time addressed another
congregation of millions through the
newspapers. When he was preaching
in Brooklyn there was no necessity OF
@ .stranger asking where DR.. Talmage's
church was; all he had to do was to
follow the crowd. For mauy years his
sermons were preached both from the
pulpit and through the newspapers,
but after ha gave up his pulpit in
Washington the great divine spoke to
his flock wholly through the public
press, and there was hardly town in
the United States where his sermon
in the daily or weekly newspaper was
not eagerly awaited by scores Of peo-
pie. II Is probably no exaggeration to
state that his sermon was read each
week by several millions of people. It
appeared in at least six languages, and
the combined calculations Of the news
papers printing his sermons were esti.
mated at 100000.
Few men were capable of doing as
much literary work in a day as the
famous preacher. When nearing three
score and ten, he often dictated as
many as 10000 words in day, and
on many occasions he has worn out
two or three stenographers during that
time. His sermons were all first
preached to stenographer, and when
he was in the throes of composition he
walked tirelessly up and down his
study preaching and gesticulating ex-
actly as he did later in the pulpit and
almost with as great rapidity. Each
week he read thoroughly between fifty
and a hundred papers, wrote the edi.
torials for his religious weekly, The
Christian Herald; dictated sermons
correspondence, letters and books, saw
scores of friends, business callers, adj
mirers, cranks and imposters, and dur
ing his lecture season lectured at least
once a year in most of the. large and
many OF the srfaT1 cities OF the 'coun
try.
He once tried debating his sermons
70 a monograph; but as walking about
the room was practically necessity
and as he could not very we'll carry
the machine with him, he abandoned
the scheme. He often said that in all
his life he had never written line OF
spoken a word with the aid of slim
ulant. At one time he was habitual
smoker, but ceased one day with sud
den resolution that was typical of his
whole life.
A New Jerseyman by Birth.
DR.. Talmage was born in Bound
Brook, Somerset county. N. j.. Jan. z
1882. His home was small farm, ane
he was the youngest son of a family
of twelve children. His parents were
deeply religious people, and thell
greatest desire was to see some O
their sons enter the ministry. Thell
hopes were fulfilled, for the eldes
brother at the close of his college lit
went to China as missionary, Wnll.
another became a minister. DR.. Ia
mage himself entered law, but MI
parents never ceased to hope that ~
would eventually follow in the foot
steps of his brothers. In 1858 he CAV,
up legal practice and went to the col
lege at New Brunswick to prepare TO
the ministry.
His first charge was at Belleville, n
J.. Why're BE- spent three. years. HI