Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1905-04-12
REGULAR BAPTIST WEATHER
DID NOT INTERFERE WITH
LARGE AUDIENCE
To Hear The Lecture at The As
sembly Rooms BY DR.. O.
F. F1ippo Last
Night.

| from assembling to hear DR.. y. +.
| Flippo, of Philadelphia, lecture at the
| Assembly Rooms on Ice in the Pull
pit and Who Put it There. " The hall
was we'll filled with one of the most
appreciative audiences that ever
greeted a lecturer, and the lecture
was of a highly superior character,
| the like of which certainly was never
before so thoroughly enjoyed here.
In the absence of the pastor of the
| College Avenue Baptist Church, un-
| der whose auspices the lecture was
| given, MIR. George Il. Merrill intro
duced Dr. Flippo in happy manner,
remarking that ice in the pulpit did
not refer to the lecturers pulpit as
| ne was always warmed up TO his sub
| ieets and sermons. DIR. Flippo pre-
| faced his lecture with a few remarks
ON his visit to the town which he had
enjoyed, and his renewal of an old
acquaintance with Rev. George S. Bell,
pastor of the Presbyterian Church,
| whom the lecturer said he had known
from boyhood, and the hospitality of
whose home in Virginia DR.. Flippo
had much enjoyed. The lecurer said
Mr.. Bell could not help being a good
man, as he had such good parents.
By way of apology, but there was
certainly none needed, DR.. FlippO
said he was not a professional lectur-
er, but a minister, and represented
the American Baptist Society. He did
lecture sometimes, however, as some
things can be said in lecture that
cannot be said in the pulpit illustra
tive of folly, satire, etc. Some of his
subjects for lectures are Keys to I'm
lock Human Hearts, - 1.-THE Best Men
in Our Churches Are the Women
and several others, but he chose " Ice
in the Pulpit for last nights subject.
He said the pulpit is of necessity the
place from which inspiration should
be drawn, and most thrilling spec
tacle of today is divine man preach
ing of 1.-THE Divine Man" to Men.
If the man in the pulpit builds the
fire, the people will catch the warmth.
Ice in the pulpit is anything that
diverts, anything that detracts. 1t
has to do with the sympathy Of the
people and the soul flow of the minis
ter.
The lecturer said there is a disease
in the pew called narcolepsy. Ii dy-
ing men and women went to sleep in
hotel they would be charged for
lodgings, yet they sleep in church un-
der the soothing influence of the
preachers voice as though they had
taken Mrs. Winslow' S Soothing Syrup
Paradoxical as it may seem. the lee
turer said. he had known Baptists to
preach dry sermon. Another block
of ice is the stupid sexton; still an
other the military man who checks
the flow of soul in the pulpit. Some
people would rather die in their seat
than not twist their nec6s in church
| to see who came in the door. Other
chunks of ice are preocoupied Elen
and women whose thoughts wander
everyw here at random. Inattention
is another source of frigidity. Preach
ers must dispel these mental workings
and mental wanderings before they
can hope for success.
DIR. Flippo spoke strongly against
late corners to church. He said they
were responsible for ice in the pulpit.
They break in on the sermon and
| trample on the word of God. Every
| body has some time piece and there
is no excuse for being late. With
some it is Sunday morning laziness,
with others an intentional holding
back so as. to stroll up the aisle and
give people look at them. The lee
turer denounced lateness TO church
as q sin and he said no man or woman
has a right to come late. 1t disturbs
the devotions and interrupts the wor-
ship. 1t is both disrespectful and
sinful.
DIR. Flippo suggested pews near the
doors for the late comers, and ushers
to show them to these seats. He spoke
of pastors wives who throw ice in
| the pulpit, but said every preacher
ought TO have a wife, and he doesn t
think much of a preacher who hasn t..
He said the majority of preachers
wives melt the ice in the pulpit. Dis
affected church workers bring down
the temperature of the pulpit. Preach
ers are pieces of flesh and blood W ith
reasonable part of humanity. but
some people think they must never
grow old or bald and must have no
nerves. The average pastor does not
measure mp to that standard. When
will the churches wake up to the fact
that the ministry is Gods chosen
people
The lecturer said sometimes a fu-
neral is a mighty good thing, especial
ly when the Lord manages it. He
said in the Baptist Church there were
baptized rats that gnaw themselves
into the church and then gnaw each
other after they get in. He also spoke
of baptized cats who get their backs
up on the slightest provocatiou and
then the fur flies, and the little kit
| tens even get into the Sunday school.
The church board meets and resolves
s'that the church cats shall scat. -
Crooked sticks put ice in the pulpit.
These people can't lie still, but Still
they lie. They are like the curly
chicken-hatched backwards. Some
people are born wrong, live wrong
and die wrong.
The lecturer said he had seen obsti
macy in the pew as big as a goat, and
in the pulpit as Rbig as mule. Bap-
tist mules don't die often. InconsIs-
tent church members put ice in the
pulpit. They go back to the world,
turn away from Zion and there is nc
worse spectacle. DIR. Flippo believes
in the Methodist doctrine OF admitting
church members on probation, or a.
| the colored woman once said she had
been "tuk into de church, not as a
| full membah, but on suspicion. In
dolence causes ice in the pulpit. These
Christians like to quote: "Come We
ana rest awhile. . They like to rest.
There are boy babies and girl babies
| in the church that like to be wheelded
an caiolded and the pastOr must