A SERMON ON SERMONS. [By a Waikato Agencies]

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2134, 13 March 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

A SERMON ON SERMONS. [By a Waikato Agencies]

THK Piuss and the pulpit ha*e nui li in common They both put foiw ml c I lim-N j ns msti uutois of 'lie ,iff ft i.t trui tint the sphere^ of Vim u n , it ir>i(-> are dis tiiK-t, one dcilnij .ith tcinpin il, U><' other with eternal mteicsts Stili, a" j both the*c interests dt-pend on hiimm cninluet, and .is, hi ,»iiv n'a-onalilt', not t<> s,i # \ Christian, dispensation, both must be fotwarded l»y the practice of the -une • \ntiiL«, Pulpit ami I'icss oltcii ins.tdc one ,inot!i( i s tei r.tonfs. In paituMilir, I our tin ud->, tin 1 pu-ou-, ofteii otle< v-, ' ailvici' innit <ii !i s> e\cfllt nt. for \\liw.!i we.no il\s.c,« yr.it> fill, iv en when we I decline t ) ,ni<>|)t >t As w e li\ eby i-ilti J ei-.u>z nt in i - wew i 1 line i I itii i-mi u> 111 1 : turn, ni'i onl\ (.l.iuii tile lilm> lil)eit\ for (nu-el\e> We \enluie, therefore, «rth i dl due dt fen i)(.o to our siiniiu.il Kind.-,, to oder i feu li-i'f it ilfftions nn pulpit uttcianoe- I\ihip> i\en l,ij nn n may con'uliut" some useful sn^go tions on sci mou«>; thoj are at any late iiioil inteiested in pro.idling being good tli.in clcigjnicn, if it win- only that they have to listen to it. The model hernum should be short, ciutioub in a^seition, and, above all, practie.il. These tinee adi«M-ti\ps s<>em to include cseiy requisite. N<»w-adiys. seimons .no guiii-r.iliy the first, raielj e\ ceedmg the half hour, which is decided!) the maximum allowance of time to bo concerted to the ordinary preacher. It is not everyone who can engage the atteu tion of Ins hearers for half that time As regards the second qualification, it may appear a paiadox to say that a speaker is bound to be cautious in assertion in proportion ad lie is least liable to contradic tiou at the moment. Yet, on a little consideration, tins appears not only true but also natural If the hearer could relieve himself by coneetion, he would at once foi^t t a few tiiflin,r inaccuracies in contempt ttion ot the treuer<d truth of the address Unwiitradichd they iemain fest-iintr in his mind, irutatinif him airam-t tlio reception of eveiything else advanced by the speaker. To pa-s to ths consider 'ition of the r:io?t nupoittnt q ratification of sermons, they are often piactiu.il ,md, contiaty t<i the usual opinion of ont*ideis f ate so puitit ukrly amonir divines of the Huh Church school. Now, " practical " his several aspect*. To be practical, a sermon ought, in the first plate, to deil with practice, not with doctrine. People iro to Church not to be tau<rht Christian dogma, but, among 1 other objects, t) be r minded of and exhorted to Christian conduct. Dogma is an affair of the school and home. And, if dootrin.il sermons be excluded, still more ought controversial. If directed against the principles or practices of other Churches, they are destructive of Christian charity, and if aimed at unbelievers, they are apt to weaken rather thau confirm the faith of inauy a di-ciple DouM will obtiude itself on our mind-., but the pulpit is hardly the place from which to "Ufrgost it. For, be it remembered, a fool can r.ii«e m an hour more objections than a wise mm cm answer in a year. Secou'lly, advice on conduct is not practical unl'-.s applied piactically. Vague declamation on practical principles is no more practical tcachiug of conduct than vague lecturing ou meclnnic.vl principles is te iehiri£ of mech line-., though it be tiuly mechanical te.icbintr. The Seitnon on tho Mount is the fti-t groat 0 1-jeet lesson. How different from the conect. moral tieatisca which miny hierhly esteemed preachers are accustomed to call sermons. Of a truth, they are bermons in the Hor.uian sense of the word, being exceedingly prosy, tcrmonc per hutniim icpinti",. Thirdly, the subjective element of earnestness must be added before we can call a sermon practical; and here comes in the one great adsantage which ex temporaneous has oxer written discourse. Fen men, still fewer clergymen, can read well: intelligent reading is far from general, expression is rare, and earnest ness even larer. Yet Bulwer Lytton makes Audley Egcrton say in My JVovtl that the secret of Ins success in .'-peaking was that he waa always m earnest. And who should be in earnest if nob clergymen ? Divinity education, in the Anglican Church, at any rate stiancely. nly unaccountably, neglects elocutionary training. Sermon writing agaiu often degenerates into mere essay writing There is a tendency to ape the cold brilliancy of Maomlay, to build up a long chain of grinning antitheses. This is a fatal mistake where the object is to influence the heart and not to da/zle or persuade the head. Hence the best practical preachers generally speak without book. Unfortunately, however, levy men can spjak logically, or even connectedly for five minutes, though it might be thought that, if a man had anything to say in w Inch he thoroughly be lieved, lie would not be only able, but in certain ciscs even compelled, to express it in simple and forcible lauguage. Yet experience shows that this is not the case. In ninety cases out of a hundred, a man's beliefs are not clear to his own mind; a fmlion he cannot make them clear to others ; and in nine case 3 out of the remaining ten, however conscious he may bi> of the importance of his subject, he is more conscious of self. To attain excellence in speaking a man must be thoroughly identified with his subject, and yet let.mi a soit of hide consciousness of his audience so as to press his points home as they prove effective "self-consciousness must be utterly banished. Here, then, we seem impaled on the horns of a dilemma. If so few can either read a written sermon, or deliver an impromptu addles*, wh-it resource have we but to aboli>h sermons altogether, or else be content with what we cm get ? The former alternative is after all not j<o terrible. We pro to Church to praise and to pray. The devotional is not the normal mood with many of us, and when by dint of praise and prayer we have succeeded in srMiniug to it, we can conceive no greater refrigerator than a sermon equally divided between illogical arguments, weak platitude.s and unpractical moralities. If a man have any intellect it is up in arms at once, and no mood is more hostile to the devotionul than the critical. A sermon bpiiifr, then, confessedly a hurt, d' osurrr, why spoil the main object for its sake ? But there is no more necessity for the total abolition of sermons than there is for a nermou with every service, or from every clergyman. Many men are excellent ministers, yet very poor preachers, and often undo more than In If the good effect of their pious labours by their pitiful incapacity in the pulpit. After all, to quote Bulwer Lytton again, a parson's best sermon is his life, and nil honour to the profession that it gives us bo many seimons of this kind. The Church of <Komo, whose organisation must be admired even by those who differ most deeply from her doctrines', recognised our difficulty longr aijes aao, and solved it by establishing special orders of preachers. Why should not other churche* do the same ? If to this we were to add reasonable instruction of candidates for the ministry in elocution and in tho preparation of sermons, either mnemonically or in writing, we should hear fewc romplaints of devotion chilled by tho very me ins which have been deVised to kindle it.

A snow plow is like a bad habit — A goorl thing to cut adnft. Thl scientist who siys that a person conld not live over five days without water is suspected of being a milkman. The Canadian" are replacing wooden telegraph poles with metal ones The population of Paris was 11 3. 000 less last year than it was three year ago. Tut Russian petroleum wells ;it Baku have been discharging oil for 2000 years. The statisticians no. v tell us that the reputable M. D.'s in the world now number 190,000. Thk cottage* the Cork Board of Guardiaus are erecting are 273 in numler aud the rent one shilling a week* <