Excerpt from A Historical Sermon on "Presbyterianism in Lawrence": Preached in the First Presbyterian Church on the 2d Sabbath of April, 1887
Mr. Bishop soon after the close of his ministry in Lawrence removed to Salina, Kansas, where he yet resides, so well and widely known as a minister of the gospel, a public-spirited citi zen, and an accomplished educator, that we need spend no more time in dwelling upon his honorable history.
Churches in search of pastors sometimes make unaccountable choices. Never was one more unsuitable or unfortunate than that of the Lawrence Presbyterian Church in fixing upon the Rev. Michael Hummer, as the successor of the Rev. Wm. Bishop. Since it has been my lot twice to occupy the same pulpit, pre viously filled by this remarkable person, first as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Iowa City, and now of this Church, I have reason to know something of his record. Never does he seem to have come into influential connection with any Church without bringing to it distress and disaster. How much of the mischief he wrought was due to partial insanity, how much to his inexplicable spiritualistic ideas and practices, or how much to his uncured natural perversity, is net for human judgment to decide. He is said to have been capable of preaching very fine and strik ing sermons but their effect was always liable to be spoiled by outbursts of his craziness, or of something worse than mere mental derangement. The Presbytery of Iowa had deposed him from the ministry before he found his way to Kansas. By some back door arrangement he had found renewed ministerial recognition by the Presbytery of Highland, and so became the acting pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Lawrence. His stay, of course, was short, only about six or nine months but during that brief time the harmony of the Church was so utterly broken up, its recently bright prospects for strength and usefulness had so14 historical sketch OF first presbyterian church.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.