The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-09-02
Miscellany.



wish to suggest topic for an editorial ar
son that attendance at churches oener.
ally is becoming smaller and smaller
Notwithstanding the great increase of of non,
uiation In all our cities? A committee IF
ctef9ynsen appointed by an Orthodox Confer
ence at Cincinnati a year or two siuce. 10 in
Vestlgate the cause of the indifference about
puonc worship, made the startling statement
tnat toe attendance at the churches eenelallv
- NOT So large 10 that place now as it was in
100, aitho1gh the population has increased
nioie .nan iour ioid. They, OF course, could
come to no conclusion as to the reaj o sUae
though to outsiders, from a different stanJ
point, IL was obvious enough, and that IS tbe
unreaSonaD'y Tong sermons of the nreacbe,s
MS may not DC palatable truth tn thosa
VINO iapor nard to produce an elaborate car
tloh or tWo every week. But ask fen If tho
nist non.attendants you meet the cause Of
tneif Laoitual absence from church. and If
:. my are candid nine OF them will tell Won II
is the long, prosy sermon ~ ~
Americans are restless peonle on, .t.o
Week OF active pursuits will NOT stana 90 q
oaS IN q constrained posture, COMMONPLACE
speecil or sermon an hour long. A fami;ar
talN, OF an exhortation OF fifteen min,,tas
IKE the admirable discourses or the late M
LoWeil OF the West Church, Boston. is sufiic.
Ieilt lie always lett his crowded audiences
longing instead OF loathins," which is the
ilee ast OF preaching, as one Tot Dicxens's
characters says of letter writing. -
can readily believe the above st,ta,na ant
as 20 Cincinnati, as observed by their dailv
papers taat the churches o: all denominations
nave 10 advertise their services as REGULARLY
aS 'ne theatre or circus, with particulars ~
preachers and topics and a cordial inyitstio,,
W asteno, not forgetting to add that .sseats
ate nee" But although the machinery of
advertslns, preaching in theatres, onera
nouoe9, circus tents, de-, may excite a te6lpo-
10y interest, the only way TO fill the churches
permanently is for breaches who lihre ,i,a;r
sermons into an hours length to concentrate
their thoughts into one Of twenty mimi. oS
Let thcm tIy it for six months and rba;r
churches VIII be filed ''.e'i
MS whole matter of sermons oeeas refc,,,,
In late articles in the London Times and i,
blaekwood's Magazine on public Worship. the
wiiIer: say tnele is no subject on which So
nucn intellectual labor is uselessly expended
,snu on Wnich nine-tenths OF the public are SO
pfro,ounuiy mdiHerent, as in the compos ition
OF sermons: they are all too long. az course
tnere are exceptions to this general view
wnen occasional" discourses on some str;I,
ing topic OF the hour will bear more elahora.
ton by really able men.
lne state OF the world is very different
nom what 1T Was two or three centuries 400
when the great mass of the people were 10,
norant and needed instruction from an eds,-
Gated priesthood. Now, in the general diff,,-
sion OF education and intelligence, there are
not not many communities where the aver
age OF the hearers is not about as well in.
formed as the average of their preachers
Inc good attendance at all our yesner Ger
vices, where formal sermon is generalv dis
pens'd with, shows how the popular feeling
! have now in my thoughts society over
Wnicn preacher, with an alfluent mind I'd
nuent delivery" was settled five or six wears
since; MS church was then filled with intel
Hgent hearers; but as he preached without
notes' ms sermons were seldom less than an
Sour long, without method, discursive and
diluted; and 1t was common rar,srt "i ~
waking home from church that no one no,,id
zen what really was the distinct snhie S1u ~
tne sermon. BE literally preached the soc;e'
70 death His hearers Steadily felI off ~
eepe on vesper evenings) till only thirty a.
,Iuy were ieft,-when he left also. and tbe.
900 forbid that 1 should saw one ,uora
;asamst pubic worship. only wish tn M Ale
p y more attractive, or rather, less repelaut,
nuI doubt that a long sermon. to drowsW
,s uneasy audience, is any legitimate
part OF public worship.-Chriiti1, Reo;ster