Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-03-28
From the Augusta (da.) constitutionalist.]
READING WRITTEN SERMONS.

rnt DENOMINATIONS of Evangelical Christians To
minister to the congregations who frequent these
churches, in holy things there are nearly fifty thou
sand clergymen-a majority Of them men Of learn
inc. of pety, and Of ZEAL who have voluntarily
consecrated their lives to their calling, and oy
careful and elaborate preparation, have lifted them
selves for its Duties These fifty thousand ministers
thus devoted and thus prepared. have the privilege
to address millions of hearers every Sabbath during
the ysar-to make direct personal appeals to them,
and to present an sz parie statement Of the claims
of the religion Of the Bible. No class Of public
speakers have equal facilities afforded them, or speak
under circumstances so favorable to the attainment
of their Objects The law protects them by recog-
mixing the Sabbath civil as well as a d vine
institution and by enacng penalties against secular
employments upen that day, and against the inter.
ruption of religious observances- Public opinion
aids them by giving its tremendous and overwhelm-
ing sanction to the propriety and importance of the
duties in which they engaged and Of the results
which they seek to accomplish. vast system OF
agencies, organized by the Churches in subordina
ton t. the Pulpit for the diffusion of rel gious truth
aids them, and they have the additional AID mpor.
tant advantage of addressing audiences, predsposed
by thousand influences of education, association,
Prejud &c and policy, to give them respectful hear
ing and receive without argument or question, the
message Of glad tidngs which they bring. What
great power ought the pulpit to be, in evangelizng
the world; and yet how inadequate are the results
talent the learning and the zeal which it employs,
and the circumstances under which its minstrations
are performed.
These remarks are suggested by an article in the
February number Of the Southern Literary Messen-
ger, entitled 1.-THE Ineficiency of the Pulpit 1t IS
an.able and caustic paper, presenting with great
strength and truthfnlness, many objections to the
modes in which all the Evangelical Churches of this
country employ the fundamentally of preaching,
and giving reasons for the fact apparent to every
rejecting man, that the Pulpit does not make the
impression which it ought upon the public mind.
The following extract from that article presents one
Of the principal causes, operating against the eff
cheney of the Pulpit and the progress OF our
Churches. The reference in this extent is to the
Presbyterian and Episcopal Churches particularly,
but its point should be felt wherever written SER
mons are read from the desk:
Zone of the chief obstacles in these churches toa
more rapid and marked success lies. We believe, in
Presbyterian and Episcopal sermons delivered
every week, and hon are they delivered? Accus-
toned as we are to good speaking in this country,
let any saunter some Sunday into (or instance)
Presbyterian church. After hearing the choir
sing hymn or two, and one very short, and one
enormously long prayer, the preacher commences
the main service of the .casion He is boxed up
in pulpit He would think it sacrileee if he omit
ted to take text, and accordingly a text he take
applying naturally, or in the way of a conceit, TO
his subject. With this p!acarded thus in magma
ton aboveshim, and which, according to his taste,
he rccurs to constantly as a sort of refiajn-ie
launches out into his discourse, which will be sens
bic, or decorous, or fanciful, vapd; bat always
tormdl The sermon is acrittea out. The ST eaker
has come there with discourse in his pocket. and
its apothegems and its appeals he gives to his
auditors, whenever he can ay his finger on them
Ga their part, the congregation come 10 hear SER
mon; yes, they come 10 hear a sermon ]; certain
Nrnnp mt 10 m haA n1l
be returned, AMI the church b. eaks up, and ali go
home. The sermon is criticised; the sentiments may
be appauded; and il is nsidered very good advice;
and there the matter ends.
Not one heart has been touched-nctone emotion
awakened-not one resolution was adopted. Not a
human being, it may be- but, in gen. raj way, has
assented to, or admired the sermon; not one who,
especially, and with a personal application, has
grappled with its thoughts in his heart.
How poor, to such a listener, such a speech-mak-
ing as this after listening to the fervid appeals in
the forum, where every sentence strives towards
mark-or to the varied, easy, familiar elocuton of
the stump!
Perhaps our adventurer has found his way into
an Episcopal church. There is death like pro-
priety All is still as the grave. 1t is "dir relig-
ious" editice. There is stained glass, aud lofty
grained arches People step about as if the ground
were haunted. genteel, grave sexton moves mys-
teriously from pew to pew. There are solemn texts
Christianity is there broadly prominent, and now
inseniousy evolved Fashionable ladies and gentle
memo one knows how-gradually fill the church.
A solemn form comes silently forward in stately
robe, and, amid mutitudinous folds, dramatically
kneels in prayer. A strain of drea1n.like music
breathes through the spacious ais!es. And present
ly, :" The Lord is in his Holy Temple, let all the
earth keep silence before him. from clear, chaste
voice, initiates the pageant The different parts of
the service are then more or less devouily gone
through-one Of the most splendid and imposing
rituals that tie Imagination has conceived, and
one the most calculated to touch and impress an
imaginative heart hymn is then read from the
chancel, and sung in the gallery; and then twenty
five minutes are devoted to the reading of per-
fecffy unexceptionable and elegant production.
And that is the trumpetcall first uttered in the
wilderness and which was Numbered at Cesarea
before Felix and Drusilla touching that righteous
ness, temperance and judgment to comet"
This is the dainty method by which the tremen-
dous import of the gospel-like arrow-root to the
dyng-is communicated to the mawkish stomachs
Of the higher society
How often is true, manly, straightforward ad.
dress heard in such pulpit?
Such are no highly colored pictures of the preach
ing We hear in Presbyterian and Episcopal churches
vi minor points we will not just now speak, We
commenced by speaking of the sermon. Here, as
we have said lies, We believe, one of the great and
main obstacles to these churches 1t is in the mode
and preparation, and delivery, of these sermons,
that is to be found in great measure, we think the
Of that barrenness of results which charac-
terizes this preaching. The Sunday address is pre-
pared in the closet, is paper to be read, or as
discourse to be acclaimed from manuscript and
the mind becomes directed rather to a certain alb.
stract theme, than on the audience itself as body
Of living men to be melted to real action
The great question to be decided is, whether
Uratten sermons effective? We assume, for such
is the case that the organizations in question do write
their sermons. We know the vast difference OF
opinion that exists on this subject. We know how
many of the most highly intelligent advocate it q
41fia1l Hut af all h.