Press enter after choosing selection

He Knew Dr. Talmage

He Knew Dr. Talmage image
Parent Issue
Day
18
Month
April
Year
1902
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Rev. J. M. Gelston Talks of the Noted Divine

DID GREAT GOOD

Among the Masses Whom He Reached by Sensational Methods

The Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, the noted Presbyterian clergyman, who died at his home in Washington, D.C., last Saturday night, was personally known to a number of Ann Arbor people, among them the Rev. J. Mills Gelston, pastor of the First Presbyterian church.

It was when Mr. Gelston was a student at the New York theological seminary at the New York theological seminary that he first became acquainted with the famous preacher. At that time Dr. Talmage was pastor of the ill-fated Brooklyn tabernacle which was twice destroyed and where regularly audiences of from five to six thousand persons listened to his sermons.

"I do not think," said Mr. Gelston, in talking of Dr. Talmage, "that he was a highly intellectual man, and for this reason he did not reach the scholars in his audience. He was especially adapted to reach the masses. It was among them that he did his great work. He was a man whose imagination was always dominant. His methods were graphic, pictorial and impressed themselves upon the people much as a stereopticon exhibition would.

"An illustration of the means he employed to affect his audiences comes to my mind. I was present at the Brooklyn tabernacle one night when he took the story of the Deluge for his subject. He used the ark as the type of the gospel ship. He graphically pictured the fate of those who were not aboard it and brought his sermon to a close by jumping high in the air and shrieking, 'Dead and out of the ark.' This sensational climax caused some persons in the audience to weep. Others laughed. I laughed myself. This is an instance of the effects that his sensational methods had on different people."

"Had not his power been waning for a long time?" was asked.

"Well, his best work was done before he was sixty-five years old. I don't think his influence was much felt after that," replied Mr. Gelston.

"Do you consider that most of the conversions he made were of a permanent character?"

"No. Less than fifty per cent of the conversions made by sensational preaching are permanent. I do not think Dr. Talmage was more successful than hundreds of other men who have adopted his style of preaching. But he did a great work even though he made many blunders. He will be missed by the masses, many of whom read his sermons, or heard him preach."

It is almost five years ago since Dr. Talmage spoke in this city. His lecture was given in Newberry hall and such a large audience came to hear him that standing room was at premium before the lecture began.