Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-24
WE REAP AS SOW,
EVANGELIST sTuARr,s STRIKING.
ADDRESS AT BRoAD-sTREEr
n. e. CHURCH LAST NIGHT.
.HoMELY, APT, I'LL US sTRATIoNs.
.Pathos and Humor Permeated a SER
men That Moved the Hearers.
AUDIENCE GREATLY AFFECTED.
The Speaker was Especin11y severe
on Drunkards and Gamblers-He
says the Recent Trial and sem
tcnce of the Richmond Gamblers.
was a Farce-The Church was
Was Filled to ovcrnowing.
Pathos and aumors sPermeated Ser
men That Moved the Hearers.
GREATLY AFFECTED, AFFECTED.
Was Filled to ovcrnowing.

tThose men who sell liquor. who
debauch the people, and those who
vote for the sale Of liquor their sons
should lie in drunkards' graves and
their daughters should marry drunk
S ards, who will stamp their hearts out
of .'em beneath their feet
.'Whatsoever man soweth that also
shall he reap was the theme followed
by Rev. George Stuart, a t the Broad
Street Methodist church last night. And
an audience that filled every seat In the
church and stood for an hour packed to
suffocation in the galleries and around
the doors listened intently while the re-
vivalst set forth in his homely, vigorous
style, the doctrine that the sins of the
father shall be visited upon him and his
children.
Running the scale from pathos to ridi-
cule, Rev. Mr.. Stuart held his hearers
spell-beund by the force of his simple,
direct talk, supplemented by illustrations
of an original and often amusing ma
ture.
A Texas Story.
Listen! Down in the State of Texas.
where I've been preaching, there's a grass
called johnson grass that oftentimes'
over-runs a farm and makes it good for
nothing. There's a law in Texas that
forbids man to move any of this grass
along a public highway for fear some
Of it may get on a mans land and ruin
it forever. When the fellows in the East
~ fo,
a question to the farmer, Has there ever,
been any Johnson grass on your farm? 2
No: they use the present tense, for If
there ever has been any Johnson grass.
it's there now. And if the former ans
wers the question in the affirmative, he
couldn't borrow a cent on the best piece
of land in the State"
why, there was bad boy down in
Texas who got mad with the man who
owned the farm next to the boys fathers
farm. and that bad boy got some john
son grass and scattered on the neighbor's
farm and in a year he ruined that farm.
Listen! That boy grew. up and he fell
in love with the neighbor's daughter and
married her. and the old man gave that
boy the Johnson grass farm as a pres
ent.
With such illustrations told in the plain
est words, the speaker empha asized the
fact that d man would reap just what he
sowed.
Into the parsmonious and stingy he
shot his shafts of invective. tipped with
ridicule. He scored the gambling hells.
and when he touched upon the recent
trials of the gamblers in this city, and
their supper in the city Jail, and their
temporary confinement therein, he said
the punishment was a farce and an insult
to the public sentiment of the city that
had forced the officers Of the law to do
their plain duty.
Mr.. Stuart has style of manner and
speech similar to that of Rev. Thomas
Dixon. He is not so classical in his speech
as Mr.. Dixon, for he uses the plainest
language, which, in his rapidity of
speech is often ungrammatical- He uses
the joke and homely, apt illustration Pc
culiar to Sam Jones in the pulpit. and like
the latter can change from the humorous
to the serious with swiftness that some
times takes his audience off its feet.
Perhaps the best Biblical illustration
that Mr.. Stuart used In his talk last night
was the instance of Esau and Jacob. He
spoke of the "kid-1ie'' that Jacob perpe-
trated upon his old, blind father, Isaac
to secure his blessing in Esau's absence.
The modern terms that the speaker used
in describing this incident in scripture
were unique. and he traced Jacob subse-
quent career and showed how the same
"kid-lie'' was perpetrated upon him in the
case of Joseph and his coat of many
colors
He cited David. to show how he reaped
four-fold what he sowed, and also ST.
Paul, and the general line of illustration
that the speaker employed was designed,
as he said, to show that while a man may
be forgiven his sins, yet their result will
inevitably react upon him.
There is no gain-saying that his sermon.
if such it may be called, had a powerful
effect upon the vast audience that gather
ed to hear him last night. The strain of
gentleness and tenderness that ran
through the application of many of his