SUNDAY READING

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 March 1933, Page 10

SUNDAY READING

IS THE SERMON DOOMED? j The golden age of the sermon is past. Once it reigned in solitary , splendour as the illuminator of men s minds and the dictator of their actions. It did not ask for deference. It demanded it. Time has seen few changes more complete than that which has occurred in the general attitude to the sermon. From the enjoyment of a prestige which was almost supreme, the public utterance of the preacher has fallen, until at the moment it finds difficulty in obtaining respect from the comparative few who hear it. Subtract from the sum total of those who include it in their weekly bill of fare, those who hear it but do not listen, and those who listen but do not heed, and its empire is Lilliputian. Quite a few pessimistic pulpit men could be found who would be ready to scrawl the word “Ichabod” over its doorways (writes the Rev. F. H. Rayward, in the Sydney “Morning Herald”). The wide dissemination of knowledge involving the multiplication of books and the universalising of the daily newspaper, has seriously restricted its domain. The preacher is no longer the authoritative individual with whom the early Victorians were so familiar. The old theory that churchgoing is the indispensable concomitant of respectability has died a complete, if lingering, death. One could, if desired, include the general decay of religion in the army of foes threatening the sermon’s continuance, but the proposition that real religion is declining is so ddubtful that the less said of this the better. It will be readily admitted that we live in .an irreverent age. Nothing is sacrasanef.. Few are shocked at the thought of Napoleon stabling his horse in a cathedral! There are those who would make mah jongg counters out of the bones of the saints. In view of all this, one does not wonder that the sermon has lost prestige; ..rather is it an’intriguing mystery that it has achieved survival. It is one of our hoariest institutions. Its history is a microcosm of all the past. The story of its triumphs and' failures is writ in the immortal dust over which the Last Angel is to blow his trump.

HISTORY OF PREACHING Long before the Christian, era, indeed ever since men became conscious of the trembling whispers of eternity which wander through the soul, preachers have exercised their functions. All have claimed the bestowal of divine authority, and some have exhibited it. In effectiveness and appeal there has been an infinite variety of sermons. From men who thundered in a passion of terrible earnestness to mild-voiced philosophers who stressed the sweet reasonableness of religious truth, the preaching types have ranged. Although the sermon has found the pulpit its normal place of utterance, it has been delivered on occasions in every conceivable place. Were one of those remarkable individuals who collect interesting data to present us with a detailed list of the occasions and places of the sermon’s delivery, even the most imaginative among us would be amazed. When you come to think of it in

a detached sort of way, preaching is a curious business. The Bible recognised this long since, and Paul spoke cf the foolishness of preaching. From the standard of cold logic there is not

- great deal to be said for the sermon. Over against that, one is bound to place as a background the fact that the sermon has commanded the absolute devotion of some of the most logical minds the race has produced'. To their own satisfaction at least, a host of antagonists have completely annihilated the sermon, but 'while they have vanished, the sermon has survived. Indeed, when you come to lock it squarely in the eye, bearing in mind how much and how little it has done of late, it bears all the marks of a first-class mystery. The world of nature contains a crowd of plants and living creatures not particularly useful or interesting, but in spite of their frail grip upon existence they have managed to survive. The sermon stands with these providing for all the world to see a demonstration of the inscrutable purpose of God that some things are to continue.

SERMONS THAT HAVE DIED While preaching will probably continue as long as the needs of the race persist, some types of sermons will never be met again. The discourse of more than an hour with might} intioductions and still mightier divisions and propositions, died when powdered wigs were reluctantly aban--1 dened. The dramatic, oratorical ef- | fort, remarkable for its flamboyant style and ponderously balanced periods, and its numerous climaxes, is equally dead. The lurid sermon in which the horrors of hell were so realistically portrayed, that not only little children, but hardened sinners quailed in terror, is no more. Many a preacher face to face with the blatant indifference and shameless sin of his congregation, has longed for the power to call from the dead this latter type of preaching, but no one comes forward' to roll away the stone. Endeavouring to make clear that the sermon has declined, some ask, “Where are the great preachers who were such a feature of the social and religious life of the past?” These men were so conspicuous because they were so few. A. fine scholar among a crowd of dullards stands out in sharp relief, but put him among a crowd of well-educated men, and he is difficult to distinguish. The general improvement of preaching has. made exceptionally great preaching less obvious. There seem to be few towering peaks, to-day because there are so many high hills in the preaching landscape. There was a day when any sermon, no matter how poor it might be, was reverently admired. A change, has come over the scene. The development of the hearer’s critical faculties and the higher quality of the preacher’s production have beneficially acted and re-acted upon each other. It is amazing to note how wide is the. operation of the law of supply and demand.

POPULAR PREACHERS A wide tour abroad has convinced me that a great preacher can always secure a crowd. Pulpit popularity is a matter entirely independent of denomination. Few churches strive less for popular preaching than the Baptist, yet the only church for which I had to secure a ticket of admission a week before the service was a Bap-

tist church. Call the roll of the world’s most sought-after preachers, and denomination is seen to have but little to do with popular appeal. Norwood Inge, Knox, 1-osdick, Cadman, Young, Black, Higgins, J ones. Campbell are from a wide divcision ol < hutches, yet it is a pure delight to listen to them. The personality and the power of the preacher is the supreme consideration for the sermoutastei. and in spite of the multiplication of modern attractions, there is nothing which can so thrill an individual with a deeply religious Background as a great sermon spmndiuly conceived and magnificently delivered. There seems to be an innate somerhino- in most of us which swiftly re'pom/ to the beoc kind of puipit etfort. Indeed this is something, variously described as kinship with God. correspondence with truth, instinct fcr worship, the inner light, etc , is the preacher’s best asset. A preacher occupies an infinitely more advantageous position than a political, educational, or any other type of speaker. He brings that which links on to the spiritual heritage of the race. The sermon strikes answering- chords in the uttermost depths of the listeners souls Still further, if our religion means anything at all, through the rmht kind of sermon there operates an influence not of this world, but coming from the realms of the unseen, and verifying all the unutterable things of our faith. It is 01. the very essence of a sermon that it should be an authoritative message, and human nature invariably, longs for some strong word of direction and command. While the sermon supplies this, it remains indispensable to the satisfaction of the souls of men. One cannot conceive of a world without religion, and it is almost equally impossible to conceive of religion without the sermon.

The disinclination of the ordinary man to go to church is not a quaiiel with the sermon to bo heard there; a score of other reasons lie right on the surface. Curious indeed is the number of people who listen with ci itical pleasure to the radio-sermon. It is a fair guess that more people are hearing sermons now than ever before.

Pulpiteering as an art is declining. Once preachers gave most of their time to their pulpit efforts. The modern minister is so caught up in a multitude of duties, so resembles a general manager or publicity officer, that pulpit work is crowded into a pitifully few hours in the week. The days to come are sure to see a correction of this error. Opportunity will be provided for men of special pulpit, gifts to specialise on that part, of a preacher’s work which is not. but should be, the supreme concern.

Church-going will probably decline still further,, and then, in accordance with the usual “wave” experience of our race, there will be a revival of interest in worship, and the deepest experience of the soul. When this occurs. the sermon, despised by many, revered' by n few, will prove to be the most potent factor influencing the situation. .Even to-day it is capable of astonishing its detractors.