TEDIOUS SERMONS

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 June 1926, Page 2

TEDIOUS SERMONS

s AN OUTSPOKEN BISHOP s SYDNEY, June 3. Considerable public interest has been aroused by a characteristic ad- ; dress before the Anglican Synod, by !• Bishop Long, of Bathurst, on the r question of sermons as a factor in I church worship. What Dr. Long says ; usually carries weight in the com- > munity, for he is one of the most dis- ' tinguished figures in the life of the Anglican Church in Australia, and one 1 of the outstanding public speakers. ' For the present lack of a deep, pulsating enthusiasm for sermons in the church to-day. Dr. Long is inclined to blame the occupants not only of the pulpits, but of the pews as well—the congregation, in short, as well as the clergy. His attitude is that bad listeners tend to create bad preachers just as a lethargic audience will discourage an actor or dampen and extinguish the oratorical fires of a politician. He generously admits, however, that, conversely, bad preachers

make bad listeners, and in this the community is apt to concur in his observations judging from the -press controversy that followed his speech. “The present generation,” Bishop Long says frankly, “has ho time for rambling, incoherent, long-winded, pretentious sentimentality; but it

could, and would, appreciate terse, cogent, informing addresses which helped men to apply Christian , principles to the conditions of presentday life, and justly the ways of God to man.” Which is precisely the position as> the community sees it. If Dr. Long s lesser-endowed brethren would 1 oily follow his admirable example as a terse, thoughtful, attractive speaker, sermons would not have the soporific effect that they sometimes 1 nave to-day. k .1 if