New York has lost one of her celebrated preachers in
Dr, De Witt Talmage, who died on Sunday at Washington. He was a kind of Spurgeon, with all Spurgeon's power of attracting great congregations, but without Spurgeon's humour and masculine common-sense. There is no reason to doubt his sincerity, but he belonged to those American divines who cannot resist the national impulse. towards advertisement, and think that nothing is lost if audiences are drawn together by sheer sensationalism. It is very difficult for the cultivated to judge such men with fairness, they are so disgusted by their vulgarity; but it is probable that, like the Salvation. Army, they appeal to a class which cannot be moved unless its emotions are stirred, and feels no emotion unless in some way taken by surprise. They do mischief by lowering the standard alike of preaching and of Christianity, but they do good by breaking the crust of formalism and compelling their rivals to see that something is wanted in the pulpit besides solemnity and good manners. They are alive, though it. is with a life which those who hold that Christianity and self-restraint in its defence are compatible find it impos- sible to admire.
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