SERMONS AND ADDRESSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23108, 6 February 1937, Page 4

SERMONS AND ADDRESSES

" I Commit to Your Intelligence." By Reginald Churchill. London: Dent. 5s 6d. " Sermons for the Coronation." • By Various Writers. London: Skeffington. 5s 6d. " Things You Can Say to the Sick." By the Rev. Norman R. Campbell. London: Skeffington. 4s. " In the Time of Harvest: a Sheaf of Sermons." Edited by the Rev. Desmond Morse-Boycott. London: Skeffington. 5s '"' Brethren and Companions." By Frank Fletcher, M.A. London: Hale. Bs.

Mr Churchill's book is described as a constructive guide to young people concerning sex and religion, irankly, this reviewer has found it rather a curious volume, and is, indeed, left wondering what boys of adolescent age will make of it. Sex teachings and the Sermon on the Mount are here; there is an exposition of the Parables, and a discussion of the Sacraments and Social Service. There is good material in the book, but one must doubt its usefulness for adolescent boys. Canon Sheppard declares that it should appeal to the honest agnostic as well as to the.sincere believer. That can be .'conceded. Mr Churchill is quite honest in what he writes, but he gives us such a mixture that we are left baffled. Messrs Skeffington took Time by the forelock in their little volume of sermons for the Coronation. The addresses are all short, and include one for children. It is- not easy to write a sermon to order, and the average preacher will miss the note of urgency which is found in all true sermons. Yet these are suggestive in many ways, and the texts are all well chosen. That their reference is to a Coronation that will not now take place doe's not affect their applicability to the event of this year. The Rev. Norman Campbell s " Things You Can Say to the Sick " is a laudable endeavour to give some suggestions to, the minister who is visiting those laid aside by illness, but it may be questioned whether one can meet such people in this fixed fashion, with a little bedside service complete with homily and prayer. Nevertheless, the bo6k is to be commended for its earnestness.

The preparation of sermons for special occasions is a bugbear to many a preacher. He finds it very difficult to get a text which will set his thoughts along a new line. For this reason such a book of sermons as "In Time of Harvest" is sometimes a boon. The contents suggest lines of departure. When, as in the case of these particular sermons before us, they do not allow of reproduction as they stand, but rather give a turn of thought to the mind of the reader, they are well worth while.

The Charterhouse Chapel Addresses delivered by Mr Frank Fletcher, the headmaster of the school, and published under the title " Brethren and Companions," are to be commended highly. The boys who heard them were privileged, for there is a fine tone underlying all that was said, and the boy must have been singularly hard to impress who went out from the Chapel untouched and unbettered. Mr Fletcher shows a fine insight into juvenile nature, and he is able to appeal to the best in it. Whether he should have edited these addresses in order to give them a wider appeal, free from local allusions, is a matter of opinion, but they are stimulating to read, and one feels sure that others will also obtain good from them. jG. H. J.

Evelyn's Piety John Evelyn, writer of the famous " Diary," had a deeply pietistic nature, as many pages of his famous journal exemplify, and when he died several little books of prayers and meditation were found among his papers. One of these, which has carefully been preserved by his descendants, is to be isssued for .the first time in a limited edition with an introduction by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Frere, D.D. It is to be called "A Devotionarie Book of John Evelyn of Wotton, 1620-1706." and John Murray will publish it.