tight rope, the beautiful
girls on the horses, and they laugh at the wit of the clowns. They
are delighted with the jugglers, with the music of the band. They
drink the lemonade, eat the colored popcorn and laugh until they
nearly roll off their seats. Now the circus has a few animals so
that Christians can have an excuse for going. Think of the joy
the circus gives to the boys and girls. They look at the show
bills, see the men and women flying through the air, bursting
through paper hoops, the elephants standing on their heads, and
the clowns, in curious clothes, with hands on their knees and open
mouths, supposed to be filled with laughter.

All the boys and girls for many miles around know the blessed day.
They save their money, obey their parents, and when the circus
comes they are on hand. They see the procession and then they see
the show. They are all happy. No sermon ever pleased them as
much, and in comparison even the Sunday school is tame and dull.

To feel that I have given as much joy as the circus fills me with
pleasure. What chance would the Rev. Dr. Banks stand against a
circus?

The reverend gentleman has done me a great honor, and I tender him
my sincere thanks.

_Question_. Dr. Banks says that you write only one lecture a year,
while preachers write a brand new one every week--that if you did
that people would tire of you. What have you to say to that?

_Answer_. It may be that great artists paint only one picture a
year, and it may be that sign painters can do several jobs a day.
Still, I would not say that the sign painters were superior to the
artists. There is quite a difference between a sculptor and a
stone-cutter.

There are thousands of preachers and thousands and thousands of
sermons preached every year. Has any orthodox minister in the year
1898 given just one paragraph to literature? Has any orthodox
preacher uttered one great thought, clothed in perfect English that
thrilled the hearers like music--one great strophe that became one
of the treasures of memory?

I will make the question a little clearer. Has any orthodox
preacher, or any preacher in an orthodox pulpit uttered a paragraph
of what may be called sculptured speech since Henry Ward Beecher
died? I do not wonder that the sermons are poor. Their doctrines
have been discussed for centuries. There is little chance for
originality; they not only thresh old straw, but the thresh straw
that has been thresh