Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-08-02

to advertise the fact that they do not
want to be there. When you go up to
them and say, "well, Mr. So-and-so,
am glad to SEQ you here" they say with
n shrug: "Oh, yes, / come to church
once In awhile. You know, my moth
er and father and my sister and sweet
heart are members OF this church, and
tell the truth, I have not as much in
terest In these matters as I used to
have. I have outgrown Sunday school
teachers and that sort Of thing" When
the minister breaches little longer
than he might. these young men yawn
and twist and talk with their seat
mates until they put themselves out Of
all touch with the service, and the
preaching to them becomes stupid be-
cause they do not listen to it intclli-
gently. They become like Eutychus
Of Troas, who under the preaching of
Paul allowed his eyelids to become
heavy and his head to nod until he
fell out Of the window, upon the sill
OF which he was sitting, and struck
the ground, and he broke his neck.
You have seen this class Of men, They
are to be found in every Sunday school
and every church service.
1rrevercnce In Church.
This class Of irreverent young peo-
pie was well illustrated for me some
time ago. I was attending the gradu-
ating exercises Of one of the greatest
educational institutions Of the west.
sat in the gallery and could distinctly
see all that took place. The huge build
ing was literally thronged. Main floor,
first gallery and rostrum were packed.
The second gallery was also filed by
the immense audience. A great orator
was delivering the address of the even
ing. That audience, almost to per-
son, hung upon the speakers words
But no sooner did this great orator
commence to speak than three of the
members OF the quartet which sang
that night began to whisper and to
laugh. They thought they were behind
a curtain and no one could see them.
They talked and they seemed to say
Ivy their actions: ooh, must we be
bored? Do we have to sit through all
this? We are singers. We care moth
ing for the fact that an orator, nation
ally famous, is delivering one Of his
greatest addresses tonight. When will
the never ending flow of words
cease" That was stupid address to
those three singers, merely because in
their obnoxious egotism they supposed
they had outgrown it and could not be
benefited by it.
protest against the irreverence OF
these modern Eutychuses in the house
Of God. / protest against young men
and also young women for some young
women are as bad as the irreverent
young men, coming into q church and
not giving the same respectful atten-
ton TO Gods ambassadors which they
would give to an ordinary guest in
their fathers parlor. The house of
God Is not n playground. 1t is not a
confectionery establishment where
young folks come to MUNICH candy. 1t
is not place for young people to whis-
per and to write notes. 1t is a place
to worship And. II our young people
do not come to church to worship, then
they had better stay away. You must
heed the fact that the sleeping auditor
OF my text was young man.
Two Birds With One stone,
But while Eutychus sits upon the
window sill Of the room in which Pau,
was preaching l see him continually
glancing across the street. | approach
him today and say: What Is the mat
ter, Eutychus? Why are you looking
so much out of the window? l should
think you would want to keep your
eyes all the time riveted upon Paul
Why, he Is the greatest preacher of all
the ages" II have heard that" an
swers Eutychus THAT is one of the
reasons | am here. But l can't neglect
my business even for a Paul. Thus
/ am trying to kill two birds with one
stone. l am sitting here upon the
window ledge, SO l can hear Paul with
my ears, and at the same time with
my eyes I can watch my store, Just
across the street Thus you see IL too
many customers gather about my
counter, why, can just slip away and
attend to them" Do you wonder,
when Eutychus kept one eye upon his
counter at the same time he was lis
tening to Paul, that the sermon of
Paul became very stupid aud as soon
as the shadows of night fell that ELL
tychus' eyelids grew heavy and that he
slipped out Of the window and broke
his neck?
But" says some one to me, 81. do
not see where you get authority for
the statement that Eutychus was a
young business man. The Bible does
not state this. And. furthermore, how
do you know that his bazaar, or shop,
was Just across the street? Are you
not taking too much liberty with the
text?"
No, do not think am. TITS true the
Bible does not state this young man,
Eutychus. was business man. But
one fact do know II Eutychus was a
young business man and wanted to
keep his eye upon his shop across the
street while he was keeping within
hearing Of Paul, the window sill would
have been just the place where he
would have sat. And. furthermore, |
do know that, just as Eutychus might
have been watching his bazaar, there
are hundreds and thousands OF men
who when they come to church bring
AL.