The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-05-09
Ca(m1aQe
Sermon
By Rev. a
Frank De Witt Talr1ase, D.. D.


sermon the preacher while appreciate
ing at their true value the higher
flights Of oratory and the famous tli-
umphs Of great speakers, shows how
even the humblest may be effective in
the eloQuence of Christian cOnvrrS;l
ton and example. The text is John
vii, 46, "Never man sI;,lc like this
man"
What Is true oratOry? Mere conjura
ton, bewitchery, cnchnntnent, lny*ti
cism, mesmerism or nnin;! magnet
ism, a mere transtory magic spell
with which a great public speaker IS
able to hypnotiZc an audience fer an
evening or for a night alone? Is it 4
few poetic garlands made UP Of pretty
wax flowers which never grew III a
garden, which never caught the i'll
cense laden breath of the soil, which
cannot stand the Int Of the day and
which, like the moon flowers, melt
away as soon as the morning sun has
touched their painted cheeks: IS it Il
mere galvanic shock which can make
a human corpse tremblc for 4 little
while and even lift a hand or shake a
head and yet current which can ncv-
er bring the dead body back to life?
Is it a mere magnetic needle which
will momentarily move :in iron heart,
as many magnetic needles can make
nails and screws stand upon their
heads for few seconds ana then fail
hor mills
as soon as their lifting touch is taken
away? Oh no; true Oraiory is more
than that.
True oratory is one Of the most po-
tent gifts, If not the most potent gift,
with which God has endowed man. 1t is
mighty for good or mighty for evil. it
I Is q social factor which creates AMI
molds and upbuilds or it is Il social
factor which underm!nes and destroys
and wrecks. If it were possible for
me to believe in the doctrine Of tie
transmigration Of souls, then | would
believe in this doctrine i'll reference
to Oratory. With mere words skill
full orator can have his spirit incur-
mated in the minds and the hearts Of
his hearers. With mere words net
only can the true orator compel bis
fellow countrymcn to think as he
thinks, but to do as he would have
them do and as he himself wants to
do.
The gift Of true oratcry is second i'll
power to no other human gift. An
overstatement Is this? l think not.
Andrew Fletcher. the great English
dramatist and poet, once said, Il be-
lieve if man were permitted to make
all the ballads OF country he need
not care who should make its laws
the sweet singer of the fields. He has
more than that. In his own realm lie
has the power Of personal touch. He
has the influence of the flashing eye,
of the quivering lip, Of the power which
comes from soul on fire, which rca'h-
es forth and as Whirlwind drives OPP
position before him or consumes them
as in a mighty conf1agraton. Ii the
pen be mighticr than the sword, then
the orators scepter is greater than
that Of the warriors or the writer's.
The Demosthenean tongue compelled
mems ears to hear what his pen could
not compel his auditors eyes to read.
Great is the eloquent tongue of silver
speech!
Beecher's Services as Orator.
Great if not the greatest Of all gifts
with which God has endowed man Is
oratory. Who but one like Henry
Ward Beecher could have conquered
England during the dark days of 1865?
Then the British factories had Their
cotton supply cut off by northern ships
blockading the southern ports. British
capitalists We're calling out, "lhe
American war must stop or British
employees must starye and the. British
merchants will have no goods to sci"
Not only that, but the pecrage or tile
landowners almost to Il man hated Oh:
republican form of government. They
believed the American congress; was a
perpetual menace to British interests
Beecher. accomplished with his tongue
what an invading army Of 5OO,oD
men could not have accomplished With
DAyOletS. AlOuC Ic liCcu dNtAitiiIS az l
er audience, bitter i'll their hatred TO-
ward him and his people. He faced
| enemies. He left friends. He facet
his country's censors. He left brh;ni
him his country's applauders. Henry
Ward Beecher won this victory fof lis
country by the tongue, and the tongue
alone.
Great is the power of oratory AMI
orators! But if it is great in the pres.
ent age how much greater must il
have been in the times of the anciont1::
Then the modern printing press had
not yet been born, and the human mird
could only appeal to the human min!
| through the influence OF the human
tongue But, though the generations
preceding Christ sat at the feet OF
| some Of the greatest orators who ever
lived. though Pericles and Lysias and
| Lycurgus and Ischines had won their
| marvellous triumphs in old Athens,
though the raighty Roman orators had
| lived and. like Marcus Tullius Cicero.
had hurled their verbal tbunderbolts,
| yet when Jesus began to speak every
one of his auditors intuitively felt that
n new power Of oratOry had been born