After some talk Miss Mitchell said: "Oh, well, do as _I_ do--sit
back folding your arms, and think of something pleasant!"
"Sunday, Dec. 18, 1866. We heard two sermons: the first in the
afternoon, by Rev. Mr. A., Baptist, the second in the evening, by Rev.
Mr. B., Congregationalist.
"Rev. Mr. A. took a text from Deuteronomy, about 'Moses;' Rev. Mr. B.
took a text from Exodus, about 'Moses;' and I am told that the sermon on
the preceding Sunday was about Moses.
"It seems to me strange that since we have the history of Christ in the
New Testament, people continue to preach about Moses.
"Rev. Mr. A. was a man of about forty years of age. He chanted rather
than read a hymn. He chanted a sermon. His description of the journey of
Moses towards Canaan had some interesting points, but his manner was
affected; he cried, or pretended to cry, at the pathetic points. I hope
he really cried, for a weakness is better than an affectation of
weakness. He said, 'The unbeliever is already condemned.' It seems to me
that if anything would make me an infidel, it would be the threats
lavished against unbelief.
"Mr. B. is a self-made man, the son of a blacksmith. He brought the
anvil, the hammer, and bellows into the pulpit, and he pounded and blew,
for he was in earnest. I felt the more respect for him because he was in
earnest. But when he snapped his fingers and said, 'I don't care that
for the religion of a man which does not begin with prayer,' I was
provoked at his forgetfulness of the character of his audience.
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