CHAPTER XIII
Preacher Jim's First Sermon
The Sunday on which Jim first appeared in the pulpit will long beremembered in Cedar Mountain. The "grapevine telegraph" had been workinghard so that all the world of that region had heard of the new preacher,and curiosity to see him was responsible, more than anything else, for achurch filled with critical folk.
The sight of all the riot and wickedness about the Black Hills, the madstriving after sudden gold, and the total lack of real joy in its useafter getting it, suggested to Jim a sermon founded on the proverb:"Better is a dinner of herbs and contentment therewith, etc...." But,for once in his life, Hartigan was a little abashed by the situationand, reciting the verses from memory, he managed to get them mixed andrendered them thus: "Better is a stalled ox and contentment therewiththan a dinner of herbs with a brawling woman." It made an unexpectedhit. Realizing his blunder, he smiled broadly and added:
"Well, if you have any doubts about Solomon's statement, you can havenone whatever about mine."
He then went on to preach a most extraordinary discourse in which fun,wit, and humour were occasionally interspersed with allusions to thesubject matter. No arguments, no logic, were discoverable; but therewere plenty of amusing illustrations, a good deal that might better havebeen left out, and the audience was highly amused though whollyunedified.
"And how did ye like my sermon?" was the hearty greeting Hartigan gaveBelle Boyd next day, as they met on the boardwalk of Main Street. Sheglanced up with a faint flush, looked down, then meeting his eyessquarely she said:
"Some parts I liked, but much of it I did not."
This was an unexpected reply; Jim had quite looked for a burst ofadmiration. In answer to his questions, Belle gave an analysis of thesermon, as they walked along, pointing out the clay and the gold, andthe total lack of form.
His attitude, at first, had been superior and his tone frivolous. For,strange to say, the gallantry so strong in his Irish blood is ever mixedwith, or maybe it is a mere mark of belief in, the superiority of themale. But, before Belle had finished two things had happened--he wasmuch less sure of his sermon and was a little in awe of her. There couldbe no doubt that she was right. Yes, those two stories would have beenbetter left out; an early paragraph should have been at the end, for itwas the summing up; and the illogical conclusion, which had no promisein anything he said before, was weak, to say the least. Hartigan feltmuch as he used to feel when his mother had called him into a detailedaccount of some doubtful conduct.
"What are you going to give us next time?" inquired Belle.
"I thought of beginning a series of sermons on the bad habits of thecongregation--swearing, drinking, gambling, horse-racing, smoking, andspitting. Last Sunday, right by the door in church, two men were smokingtheir pipes and spitting on the floor. It seems to me that RevelationsXI:2 is about the right medicine for such conduct. This is the text:'And he opened the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke out of thepit,' Or Psalms XXXVII:20: 'The wicked shall perish ... into smoke shallthey consume away,' Then there is a passage in Jeremiah VII:30: 'Theyhave set their abominations in the house which is called by my name topollute it,' With these I think we have a good scaffolding to build on."
Belle looked puzzled and said nothing. Hartigan was waiting for herapproval. He wanted it.
"What do you think?" he asked, a decided note of anxiety creeping intohis question.
"I would not do it," was the answer.
"Why not?" said Jim instantly on the defensive. "Don't they need it, andaren't they awfully weak on these things?"
"Yes, they are," said Belle, "but----"
"But what?"
"Mr. Hartigan," she replied as she stopped at her gate, "if you wanted arich man to help a poor widow, and went to him saying: 'You miserableold skinflint, I know you are as greedy as the pit, but I demand it as ahuman right that you help this poor woman out of your ill-gottenabundance,' how much are you going to get? Nothing at all; and the truerit is the less your chance. On the other hand, if you go to him and say:'Mr. Dives, you are one of the few men in town who have the power tohelp this woman. I know she is well worthy of help, for she's having ahard struggle. Now, you had a struggle once and know what that means. Itmade a keen, successful business man of you; but I know you arekind-hearted and generous and that all you want is to be sure that thecase is genuine. Well, I can assure you it is. Will you not help herwith the rent till strawberry time, when she expects to get a littlemoney?' That way you will get something. He _has_ to become generouswhen you _say_ he is; and I think that you will get more out of thesepeople if you assume that they are something good. Later, when they knowyou better, you can put them right on their faults."
Hartigan stared at her with frankly admiring eyes.
"Well," he said, "you surely have the level head. You are right and Iwill do as you say. But I wonder why you take all this trouble with me?"
Flushed and happy over her victory and very deeply moved by the look shehad seen on Jim's face, Belle realized the full meaning of her successand took a woman's pride in the fact that this great, powerful,self-confident, gifted man should in two short encounters completelychange about and defer to her judgment. There was a moment's silence inwhich she sought to get her voice under control. Then she added:
"Will you let me know what you decide to preach on?"
"I will," said Jim, his eyes still on her face.
They had been standing at the door of the Boyd home. In that instant ofhis dependence upon her Belle had been conscious of a very sweet andprecious bond between them. Without turning toward him, she touched hisarm lightly with her hand and went into the house.
* * * * *
Jim's first effort had not encouraged Dr. Jebb to transfer much of thepulpit service to the young man. Subsequently, he had a long talk withhim and pointed out some of the defects as Belle had done; also a numberof lapses which, though purely academic, he considered of primeimportance. Thus, more than a month elapsed before Jim was again calledto fill the pulpit.
Meanwhile, he had had many experiences of value in his widespreadcongregation, among them the raising of a charitable fund for anunfortunate neighbour, and he had become well acquainted with JackShives, the blacksmith, a singular mixture of brusqueness and kindness.Shives was a good citizen who did good work at the forge, but he wasutterly opposed to all creeds and churches. He made it a point to setall the weight of his solid character against these, as well as thepower of his biting tongue.
As soon as Dr. Jebb asked him to take the pulpit, Jim called on Belle.
"Well, I'm to have another chance," he said, as with one hand he liftedan armchair that Dr. Jebb could not have moved at all.
"Good," said she. "What is the subject to be?"
"I have three subjects I wish to treat," he began; "one, foreignmissions; the next is the revised version of the New Testament; and thelast is the secularizing influence of church clubs. Which do you say?"
Belle looked serious. At length she said:
"Maybe you can make something constructive out of these ideas. Itdepends on how you handle them; but they seem to me far-off anddoubtful."
He looked the disappointment he felt and waited for her to go on.
"What was the _good_ thing that struck you most when you came among us?"
Hartigan gazed through the window at the round top of Cedar Mountain,then at the frank face of the slim girl, and with a little outburst ofhis real nature he cried:
"Bejabers, it was the kind way you all received me."
"All right, then; why not make _that_ your subject for the next sermon?Let these people know that you think they are kind, and that they makeyou feel it, and they will become kinder. Then, when you are establishedin their hearts, you can talk about their faults. That will come later.Since we must find a scripture text to hang your talk on, let's takeEphesians IV:32: 'Be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgivingone another even as God for Christ'
s sake hath forgiven you.'"
The sermon was duly outlined. The outline was brought for Belle to hear.She was keenly interested because in some sense she was on trial; andunder the stimulating influence of her attention, Jim expanded theoutline to a whole sermon and preached it all to Belle then and there.It was full of eloquent passages and wholesome lessons, but it was fartoo long, as Belle insisted; and again there was a readjustment with theresult that on the following Sunday Hartigan delivered a brilliantsermon on Kindness, the kindness he had received, the kindness that isthe heart of all true religion. The quaint humour, the vividpresentation, and the every-day applications were new and true notes tothat congregation. It shocked some of the old-fashioned type, but thereality it gave to religion was not lost, and the human interest andsincerity of it held every mind. It cannot be given in full, but theopening passages will illustrate Jim's theme and his method. Afterreading the parable of the Good Samaritan, he said:
"Now, friends, I have selected the story of the Good Samaritan for a starting point; and it's a good one, even if I never get back to it through the whole length of the sermon.
"I want you to understand that here was a man who was a kind of outcast; he didn't go to church and he didn't know or care a cent about doctrines or creeds; his people were notorious for wine drinking so that it's more than likely he was often drunk, and it's ten to one he swore every time he got mad. But he was ready to lend a helping hand to _anybody_ that had need of him.
"And I want you to note that the men who would not do a finger's tap to help were a holy priest with a big salary and a highly respectable church member in training for the ministry. So you see, the Lord selected these three to illustrate this point then, now, and for all time, that he had nothing but contempt for the coldblooded holy-rollers and that the ignorant outcast infidel was his sort because he had a kind heart.
"Now, friends, we've all three kinds right with us all the time. Though I don't go much on mincing words, I won't specify the priest nor the Levite right here in Cedar Mountain; but I will make mention of the Good Samaritan.
"Ye see, it wasn't exactly a case of being held up by robbers; but we had to raise enough to get the Hanky family out of their troubles when Jack Hanky broke his arm, his leg, his buggy, and his bank account all on one and the same unlucky day; and it was my job to raise the wind to help him weather the storm. Well, I went about as you all know, and got a little here and a little there; then squeezed out a little more from some of the dry sponges, and still was short. So I went to Jack Shives and he contributed more than any one else; and then, on top of that, he put Hanky's buggy in good shape without a cent of pay, and went down night after night to sit at his bedside and help him pass the long hours away.
"Now the fact is, Jack Shives and I have had many a fight on religious questions. He swears and drinks all he wants to, which I'm bound to say isn't much. He jokes about the church and the preacher and every one that goes to church. He pokes fun at the hymn book and laughs at the Bible and every one that tries to follow it word for word. Jack thinks he's all kinds of an infidel; but he isn't. I have a notion of my own that he's a better Christian than he allows, better than a good many church members I could name. In fact, I believe if the Lord Jesus were to get off at Cedar Mountain from to-morrow's noon train, the first thing he would do would be to go to the post office and say: 'Can you tell me where Jack Shives, the blacksmith, lives? He's a particular friend of mine, he's done a lot of little odd jobs for me and I guess I'll put up at his house while I'm in Cedar Mountain.'"
And so he talked for the allotted time, translating the age-old truthinto terms of to-day and personal application. A few of the older folkthought he treated some very serious subjects too lightly; theypreferred the sing-song tone so long associated with scripture texts.Others had their doubts as to Jim's theology. His eulogy of theblacksmith was a little too impulsive, but none had any question of thethrilling human interest of his words and the completeness of his holdon every one's attention. It was wholesome, if not orthodox; it drovehome with conviction; it made them laugh and cry; and it was amasterpiece of the simple eloquence that was so much his gift and of thehumour that was the birthright of his race.
From that day forth the doubtful impressions created by Hartigan's firstappearance in the pulpit were wiped out and he was reckoned as a new andvery potent force in the community.