A PREACHER'S TRICK.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2310, 12 August 1880, Page 2

A PREACHER'S TRICK.

SECOND EDITION

This minister had been invited to preach as a candidate in a little rival church in Northern Pennsylvania, where the members, although only on a par with most distant cburchcs, liked to flatter themselves that they were “ pretty well posted.” Before starting for the place, the minister mot an old clerical friend, who had had some experience in the same neighborhood, and who advised him to “ give them some Latin and Greek ; it will tickle their vanity, and they'll set you down for a very smart man.” There was a little difficulty in the way of the minister’s giving his hearers a dose of Latin and Greek, for he knew no more of either language than the people he was to preach to. But he was equal to the emergency. lie was a native of Wales, and spoke W’elsh as well as he did English, though these two were the only languages he knew anything about. When he had got nicely into the sermon he introduced a little passage of Scripture, and said : “ This passage, brethren, lias been slightly altered in tiie translation. It is only in the original Hebrew that you can grasp its full meaning. I will road to you in Hebrew, so that you may comprehend it more exactly ; ” and he gave them the passage in very good Welsh. The old deacons looked at each other, and nodded approval, as though they would say: ‘‘l hat’s the stuff; that’s the kind of thing we want.” Presently the master, who saw by the faces of his hearers that he had made a hit, came upon another Scripture passage that could not be correctly rendered in English. “ This passage,” said he, “ has to be read in the original to be appreciated. In all languages there is none I know of in which the meaning can bo so well expressed as in Greek,” and again he give them a long Welsh sentence. Again the deacons nodded approving!}', and before long the minister found it necessary to read a verse in Latin, “ so his hearers might understand it thoroughly,” and gave them a little more Welsh.

Everything was going along smoothly, and the minister as he approached the end of his sermon, thought ho would give them just one. more taste of the dead languages, “ I am about to read you,” said he, “another passage on this subject. But it is another of those passages that have been altered in the translation, and 1 will read it to you in the Chaldaic, in which it was written.” He was just about to give them a little more Welsh, when, casting his eye over the congregation, he saw seated near the door a jolly looking man, who was holding his sides tight to keep from bursting with laughter. The minister took in the situation in an instant. Hero was a man in the church who understood Welsh, and who was laughing at the trick that had been played upon the congregation. But not a feature in the minister’s face changed. Fixing his eyes straight upon the laughing man, just as the congregation thought he was about to give them the Chaldaic version he said, again in Welsh ; “For God’s sake, my friend, don’t say u word about this, till I have a chance to talk with you.” The congrcgrationwcnt home, satisfied that they had listened to one of the most learned of sermons ; the laughing man never told the story, and the minister was soon settled over the church, the people believing that a clergyman who could read the Scriptures in live languages was just the man for them.—“ N.Y. Times.”