THE MINISTRY AND POETRY

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14758, 30 August 1913, Page 16

THE MINISTRY AND POETRY

"SALTED" SERMONS

Rev. Lanchlan MacLcan Watt, of Edinburgh, himself a poot of no litih; repute, n-rit<?s in "Tho Homiletic Koview" on "The Ministry and Poetry. Tho minister, he says, must mid history, -universal history, and not only tho development* of ethnic and ethic as recorded in Holy Writ. Tho growth ot thought, literature, philosophy must be in somo measure familiar to him. Ho must know far nioro than ho speaks of. must loavo tons of shavmgs and many ft yard of unused timber in his workshop* when he carries into the pulpit, in his brain, or in his manuscript, dio finished work of Ins discourse. "1 have seen men," he says, ''who never seemed able to shako themselves free from the sawdust of their operations; who, instead .of bringing a casket ot thought, bnng enough wood to build an ark, and speak as though they had their mouth full of nails." Further, tho minister must bo acquainted with thought in its highest, noblest, most roiined and most enriching form. Tho hand of necessity, therefore, at onco thrusts open tho door of poetry. Mr Watt pours scorn upon tho man who merely brings in a liackneyed lino or verse, taken from a "Dictionary of Quotations," at the end of a sermon "dragged in anyhow to act as a kind of buffer against which the engino may run with safety, and the driver know that lio is como to tho end of the platform." Such a use of poetry, he says, results in &. most banal -display of fatuity. Tho best use, indeed, of poetry is not for tho purpose of quotation, but for tho permanent enrichment of thought. A preacher should read Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning, but not for tho sake of long strings of quotations. "I have seen so often a little cutting from a magazine, of the thought of a German philosopher, a French mystic, or an English poet, jammed into a sermon, or scattered abput throughout it, just as fradident prospectors used to "salt -, a mine with gold or copper in order to take in the unwary. Sermons "salted" in this way are almost in the same category of fraud. The basis of need for the poet is liko that of the philosopher, the absolute necessity for human knowledge, and certainly of moral fundamentals. As long as these continue to be recognised will tho preacher require to keep liis heart in touch with poetry. "Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning drove the plough of faith through the snowdrift Jfhich, after the winter of eighteeiilh century deism, encumbered the way of life. Tho centre of the universe ehifted., or j rather, tho true centre was recognised. Not material, but spiritual laws governed the -universe of the soul, and all cosmos was interpenetrated with the dfvino will, purpose and love." JOTTINGS. Mr Richard Lloyd, of Criceieth, tho uncle to whom Air Lloyd George owes his education and start in life, has just entered on his eightieth year. Ho is an unpaid minister of tho Disciples' Church at Criccietb and still preaches, as he has done for fifty-five years, twice every Sunday. Dr. Campbell Morgan mentioned, during the Mundesley Conference in England, the possibility of his being in India, Australia, and New Zealand in 1915. A promise has been secured from Dr. Len Broughton that, as far as he could see, he would be willing to comply with the request of Dr. Morgan and the Conference, to bo President for that year. •The Year Book for 1913-14 of the Cnogrcgational Union of Scotland, now published, makes available for the first time, among other statistics, the aggregate total of the amount contributed by Scottish Congregationalists to Foreign Missions. Tho sum is £3192. Distributed over the 185 churches of tho Union, this gives an average for each church of well over £17. Tlio Church Aid total of £937 is a very poor second. The third nhice is occupied by the Theological Hiall, to which the churches and friends contributed £3i>2. According to an estimate very frequently uttered, tho Congregational Union should be one of tho most thriving Churches in existence, for it certainly gives the first place in its finance to Foreign Missions.