Derick Mackenzie's Blog

A MAN IN THE PULPIT

"I WENT TO HEAR MR MATHESON. THE PLACE OF MEETING WAS CROWDED, AND I COULD FIND A SEAT ONLY NEAR THE PULPIT. THE STRANGER ENTERED. HIS MANNER AT ONCE ATTRACTED AND RIVETTED MY ATTENTION; IT WAS ALTOGETHER SO NOVEL TO ME. NEVER TILL THEN HAD I SEEN A MAN IN THE PULPIT, ONLY A MINISTER. IN HIS WHOLE BEARING THERE WAS A STRIKING ABSENCE OF ALL STIFFNESS AND FORMALITY. HIS PRAYER TOUCHED ME: NO INTRODUCTION, NO FORMAL CONCLUSION; IT WAS BRIEF, POINTED, DIRECT. IT WAS SO SOLEMN, YET SO TENDER. HEARING SUCH CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE LIVING GOD I WAS DEEPLY SOLEMNIZED."

Duncan Matheson The Scottish Evangelist. PP. 212.