Evening journal., 1910-11-10
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Sermon Of Others That
George W. Curtis Preached
BY Holland"

In October, 1877, about a month
after George William. Curtis had
made his brilliant speech at the
Rochester. New York, state convention
Of Republicans in defense Of the adj
ministrative acts in New York state OF
President Hayes and John Sherman as
Secretary Of the Treasury. |
speech which stirred up United States
Senator Roscoe Conkling, at bitter
outs with Hayes and Sherman over
their removal OF certain Office holders.
to make his now historic reply. in
which he referred to Mr.. Curtis as a
IMAM milline-."- went one Sunday
TO Staten Island to hear George Will
liam Curtis preach. Not many persons
knew that the charming essayist. tee
brilliant lecturer. the editor of Har-
pers Weekly. a man of international
fame as a writer, was also the preach
er in a little Unita ian Church which
stood within a few minutes walk OF
Mr. Curtis's Staten Island home.
II was somber autumn day. There /
had been a heavy storm from the sea. /
and the wind had not died down at
lilI AilNf vi iiit ulOilAnh ofANAl'f oO !
that the branches OF the trees whipped |
occasionally against the windows Of |
the little church as Mr.. Curtis con- !
Quoted the services and read q . SER /
mon. His voice was We ricA, his /
utterance distinct. and he so read the 1
sermon as TO hold the undivided and /
close attention OF the little congrega- /
ton to the closing sentence.
After the service he came down the |
aisle and greeted me, and l said TO |
him: THAT was a printed sermon,
was il not that you read 10 the con-
gregation?"
"Oh. yes" he replied. that was one
Of Thomas Starr Kings sermons"
CThomas Starr King was the Uni
ia ian preacher who. more than any
other man. perhaps, saved California
TO the Union in 1861 Il make, a
practice, in selecting sermons for the
morning service. TO find one especially
appropriate 10 the day, sometimes to
the weather. | have occasionally read
sermon by Theodore Parker.% Ga
famous Unitarian preacher who was
also leading New England abolition
iet). "but IL has usually been at 4
time when there IS some stirring pub
lie event. Thomas Starr Kings SER
mons for some reason which cannot
explain j find especially adapted TO
the autumn and early winter season " L
| asked Mr.. Curtis il his service in
that little church was temporary, and
II not. what led him to add this to his
many other responsibilities.
why. just got into the way of it,
| suppose" he replied Our church
was without pastor at the time, and
my friends asked me to conduct the
service and to deliver a short adj
dress. I told them that I thought the
better part would De for me to select
some one of the sermons of our greax
preachers, and they fell in with my
idea
Why shouldn't clergyman depart
at times from his customary sermon
writing. turn TO his library, take down |
some Of the religious treasurers that |
he has there, and say frankly TO his |
congregation: / am this morning go I
ing 60 read you y sermon by Theodore |
Parker, or by Thomas Starr King. or
by Henry Ward Beechc-, Or by any
one Of pulpit
You know there has been some
complaint at the unwilliDgness. Of /
men at least. TO go to church
haps the reason is that the regular
clergyman gets exhausted. Congo
cations are very quick to detect
mental effort, and they know whether
sermon has been perfunctorilv writ
ten or not. 1uld not this situation be
remedied by frankly reading sermons
by the great pulpit leaders? | have
found that all the good mon Of all de-
nominations who have written and de-
livered sermons have said something
th8t would be of value to other con-
gregauons than their own. And
know that our service, I'm this little
Unitarian church, has been very pleas
ant to US all, has done us much good: /
and we look forward from one Sunday /
to another to these simple exercises, |
when we arc able to receive the best
thought Of the best preachers through |
the medium OF the printed page"
! could not help thinking that il |
all the clergymen had George VIII !
liam Curtis's charm OF peronalty. his [
beautiful voice. and the elocutionary /
power by which he was able to convey |
by tone of voice and by gesture thel
thought that was I'm his sentences.
tWen others might do as he had s6 long
done in that little chu-cn on Staten
Island. and read to the comfort and
JOY Of his congregation sermons writ /
ten by others.
Copyright, 1910. by T.. J Edwards
All rights reserved.)
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell of
"Ihe Glance That Broke n Famous
NaYOr Of n Rad Habit - 3 I