Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-05-13
Ca(r1aQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt TalmaGe. D.. d.

Los Angeles, Cal, May I'm this
sermon the preacher while appreciat-
ing at their true value the higher
flights of oratory and the famous trl-
umphs of great speakers, shows how
even the humblcst may be effective in
the eloquence of Christian cOnversa-
ton and example The text is John
vii. 4G, "Never man spake like this
man"
What Is true oratOry? Mere conjura-
tion, bcwitchery, enchantment mysti-
cism, mesmerism or animal magnet
ism, a mere transitory magic spell
with which a great public speaker is
able to hypnotic an audience for an
evening or for a night alone? Is 1t a
few poetic garlands made up Of pretty
wax flowers which never grew in
garden. which never caught the In
cense laden breath Of the soil, which
cannot stand the light of the day and
which. like the moon flowers, melt
away as soon as the morning sun has
touched their painted cheeks! Is 1t
mere galvanic shock which can make
a human corpse tremble for little
while and even lift hand or shake
head and yet current which can new
er bring the dead body back to llfeF
Is il a mere magnetic needle which
will momentarily move an iron heart,
as many magnetic needles can make
nails and screws stand upon their
heads for a few seconds and then fall
back cold. mOtionlcSs screws and nails
as soon as their lifting touch IS taken
away? Oh, no; true oratory 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. 1t
is n social factor which creates and
molds and upbuilds or it is social
factor which undermines and destroys
and wrecks. If it were possible for
me to believe in the doctrine Of the
transmigration of souls, then ] would
believe in this doctrine In reference
to oratory. With mere words skill
full orator can have his spirit incar-
mated in the minds and the hearts or
his hearers. With mere words not
only can the true orator compel his
fellow countrymen 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 oratory is second in
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-
lieye if man were permitted to make
all the ballads OF country he need
not care who should make its laws"
A true orator has all the power OF
the sweet singer Of the fields. He has
more than that. In his own realm he
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 reach
es forth and as a whirlwind drives op-
position before him or consumes them
as in a mighty conilagratlOn. If the
pen be mightier 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 1863?
Then the British factories had their
cotton supply cut off by northern ships
blockading the southern ports. British
capitalists were calling out, 1.-The
American war must stop or British
employees must starye and the British
merchants will have no goods to sell.
Not only that, but the peerage or the
landowners almost TO a man hated our
republican form of government Ihey
believed the American congress was
perpetual menace to British interests.
Beecher accomplished with his tongue
what an invading army Of 100000
men could not have accomplished with
bayonets. Alone he faced audience aft
er audience, bitter in their hatred to-
ward him and his people. He faced
enemies. He left friends. He faced
his country's censors. He left behind
him his country's applauders. Henry
Ward Beecher won this victory for bis
country by the tongue, and the tongue
alone.
Great is the power Of OratOry and
oratorsl But If it is great in the pres
ent age how much greater must it
have been in the times of the ancients!
Then the modern printing press had
not vet been born, and the human mind
could only appeal to the human mind
through the influence of the human
tongue. Dul, luOuSu tuC SchCl "tiOh1
preceding Christ sat at the feet Of
some Of the greatest orators who ever
lived, though Pericles and Lysias and
Lycurgus and Eschines had won their
marvellous triumphs in old Athens,
though the mighty Roman orators had
lived and, like Marcus Tullius Cicero,
had hurled their verbal thunderbolts,
yet when Jesus began to speak every
one of his auditors intuitively felt that
a new power of oratory had been born.
The words Of my text prove it. With
one accord Christ's hearers said,
"Never man spake like this man."
The lbIimest Form of OratOry.
Why Is gospel oratory the sublimest
form of oratory? Why does gospel
speech offer to man the greatest Oppor-
tunities for the development Of the
true and noble orators gifts? The true
gospel orators message is the mightiest
Of all messages. 1t furnishes the speak