New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-29
Two Orators
ONE CLERICAL, JoWETT ONE SECULAR MR. BRYAN; AND
FIRST PREACHER.
1t.orv,,eht 1912. by George W. smaneyD

strength. Here was "A man or SYM
pathes; capable Of drawing to himself
the sympathies of others. The. note
was a note of appeal rather than of
authority. But as he gave out hymns,
as he prayed. there was in him also a
note which you could only call per-
sonal. He plainly set little store by
the routine conventionalities of his pro-
fession. a devout soul. but content to
express himself as a man TO men.
The old alienation of singing and
prayer went on for three-quarters Of
an hour. The direct address to the
Almighty is perhaps seldom the best
medium for a preachers thought or
even emotion. 1t reaches a critical ear
without the accent of reality: although
the thought and the religious emotion
are both real. Science has raised ques-
lions as to the efficacy Of prayer which
little disturb the mind of the nearer
who has read Tyndall and men of that
stamp on that subject. OF all the re-
ligious exercises which make up COM
plete ritual. none other puts so great
strain on the spiritual consciousness Of
the listener. To listen to prayerful inn
provisations is one thing. To submit
ones soul TO the splendid sentences OF
the English Prayer Book Is another; II
only because they or some Of them are
even nobler examples Of English than
King Jamess Bible itself They have
behind them and in them the conse-
Grafton of centuries: as the Authorized
English Version Of the Scriptures has.
The new unauthorized text which calls
itself the Revised Version ought never
to be tolerated in any self-respecting or
English loving church. 1t reads like
an editorial" in cheap and yellow
newspaper. | hope ] was wrong in
! thinking heard DR.. Jowett quote from
It. 1t is a heresy TO he renowned.
The DR.. Jowett l had come TO hear
, entitled TO be judged by his sermon;
chiefly IL not wholly. He did not leave
you moment in doubt. He stood
TRANSPORTED as he gave out his text
from the Epistle to the Colossians.
For in Him lChristl dwelleth all the
funess Of the Godhead bodily"
The words are the words of Paul,
but the preacher made them his own.
When he declared that the fulness Of
| the Godhead was in Christ he was an
nouncing a personal conviction. You
were TO accept the words as Paul wrote
them but as DR.. Jowett uttered them;
with an intensity all his own. If I
may borrow metaphor from the
Stage, the attack was instantaneous.
Neither then nor at all did his treat
ment strike you as doctrinal II wa.
before all things human. He human
lied the Deity Himself. and he made
this humanized Deity seem TO you, be-
cause He was humanized. the more Di-
vine. There was no sort Of compro-
mise with modern critical or scientific
thought. There was not hint OF
Pantheism, or Nature. or an Imma-
nent Force. His Deity Is purely per-
sonal Christ is purely personal: your
Christ, and mine" You had 10 accept
his personal Deity or go away and get
your religion somewhere else. The
completeness with which this concep-
ton was developed left you no room
for cavil. II was absolutely consistent
throughout. The intellectual level OF
the whole discourse was higher than
the customary pulpit level, much
higher. and you never doubted that the
preacher would find his way to a logl-
| cal conclusion. as he did: even though
he quoted neither Calvin nor the
Fathers.
| Yet 1t was not the logical basis Of his
| argument which most interested him
nor which held the attention Of his
| congregation most closely II was the
| emotional appeal which went to the
heart and stayed there. There is in DR..
Jowett as in every real orator. a femi-
ure is an imaginative view. which at
| times becomes mystical. He knows
how to touch the secret springs. He
| does not idealize men or women: IL is
men and women In the flesh, as they
actually are. living the lives they do
and must live in the world OF which
| they are part, whom he seeks 10 con-
vert 10 the true faith or to strengthen
In the true faith. To him, faith is an
obligation OF conscience. He Will re-
! lieve nobody from that bond. He as
sumes that If you have 1t not you can
, acquire 1T; by an act Of will and the
| business Of the advocate ( God is to
| help you to accomplish that act OF will.
He disdains none Of the resources
which the advocate employs; or even
the actor. His congregation Is jury
whom he is asking for a verdict. He
| finds his way TO their minds by repeti-
| tlon: by saying the same thing over
I and over again in different forms and
| phrases. He studies the effect OF his
address as he goes on. His intona-
| tons, l am sure. are studied, and his
| gestures, which are definite with a
definite purpose and meaning; not
wandering off into space as one so
/ often sees them; alike in the pulpit
/ and on the stage. He suspends a
sentence midway TO enhance its