It had a gallery at one end,
which held only the singers and the organ. The seats below were not
more than one-third full. Dr. Beecher ministered in this place for
about ten years. It was now without a pastor, but was temporarily
supplied by Professor Allen. The congregation was far more decorous and
attentive than those in New Orleans. After the introductory service,
and while the hymn before sermon was being sung, a man came trudging
down the aisle, bearing an immense scuttle full of coals to supply the
stoves. How easy it would have been before service to place a box of
fuel in the vicinity of each stove, and thereby avoid this unseemly
bustle! But in the singing of the hymn, I found something to surprise
and offend me even more than the coal-scuttle. The hymn was--
"O'er the gloomy hills of darkness," &c.
I had selected it myself; but when I got to the second verse, where I
had expected to find
"Let the Indian, let the negro,
Let the rude barbarian see," &c.,
lo! "the Indian." and "the negro" had vanished, and
"Let the dark benighted pagan"
was substituted. A wretched alteration,--as feeble and tautological in
effect as it is suspicious in design.
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