Western Worthies: A Gallery of Biographical and Critical Sketches of West of Scotland CelebritiesJeans, J. Stephen (James Stephen)
History
Western Worthies: A Gallery of Biographical and Critical Sketches of West of Scotland Celebrities
Jeans, J. Stephen (James Stephen)
Scotland -- Biography
In 1857 Dr. Caird accepted a call to Park Church, Glasgow. During the
following year he published a volume of sermons marked by great
chasteness and beauty of language, strength and delicacy of thought,
and, above all, by spirituality of tone, and breadth of earnest sympathy
with men. By this time his fame as a preacher had reached its zenith.
The demands made upon his powers of endurance were such as no one could
possibly last for any length of time. His sermons were not the mere
inspirations of the hour. They were rather like the _chef d'oeuvre_
of a great painter or sculptor--well thought out, carefully and
conscientiously reasoned, and polished until their lustre was perfectly
dazzling. We have before us an extract from _Fraser's Magazine_,
published about this time, which justly estimates Dr. Caird's oratorical
gifts and graces. The writer states that Dr. Caird "begins quietly, but
in a manner which is full of earnestness and feeling; every word is
touched with just the right kind and degree of emphasis; many single
words, and many little sentences which, when you read them do not seem
very remarkable, are given in tones which make them absolutely thrill
through you; you feel that the preacher has in him the elements of a
tragic actor who would rival Kean. The attention of the congregation is
riveted; the silence is breathless; and as the speaker goes on gathering
warmth till he becomes impassioned and impetuous, the tension of the
nerves of the hearer becomes almost painful. There is abundant ornament
in style--if you were cooler you might probably think some of it carried
to the verge of good taste; there is a great amount and variety of the
most expressive, apt, and seemingly unstudied gesticulation; it is
rather as though you were listening to the impulsive Italian speaking
from head to foot, than to the cool and unexcitable Scot. After two or
three such climaxes, with pauses between, after the manner of Dr.
Chalmers, the preacher gathers himself up for his peroration which, with
the tact of the orator, he has made more striking, more touching, more
impressive than any preceding portion of his discourse. He is wound up
often to an excitement which is painful to see. The full deep voice, so
beautifully expressive, already taxed to its utmost extent, breaks into
something which is almost a shriek; the gesticulation becomes wild; the
preacher, who has hitherto held himself to some degree in check, seems
to abandon himself to the full tide of his emotion; you feel that not
even his eloquent lips can do justice to the rush of thought and feeling
within. Two or three minutes in this impassioned strain and the sermon
is done."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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