Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1873-05-21
About Preaching.


The world is overpreached to-we
mean tho :. Protestant Christian
world, especially in this country. 1t
needs more praying and less Sermon
iZing. Sermons are too frequent and
too long. The spirit is gorged, not
nourished, by such an ovSrplus of
food, which makes religion consist
in passive reception of doctrine or
preccpt instead of an active exercise
in well-doing. Not only are the fire.
quency and length of the sermons
which in most Christian dcnomina-
tiOns form the chief part of the SER
vice, n cause of complaint, but very
often the matter tends more, as some
old writer has said, TO tediffication
than to editication. 1t does not al
ways follow that a man, in some re-
spects fitted for the ministerial func-
tions, as in piety and zeal for the
PRONUNCIATION of Christianity, is
| therefore endowed with the necessa-
ry qualifications for preacher. He
may even possess in addition to his
piety and zeal, great learning and
good sense, and yet be wanting in
| the ability TO arrange and express his
thoughts well, eitieri in a written dis
course or extemporaneously. He
may lack the power to fix the atten-
ton or reach the hearts of his hear
ers; in which case all his virtues are
unayailing rs lar as those hearers are
concerned. They will find their minds
| wandering on mundane matters,
while his discourse is expatiating
through the heavens and earth.
Such men, no matter how strong
their inclinations to the clerical pro-
fcssion, are out of place in it. Those
who are most in need of the help to
be derived from sermons will not be
helped by them, but rather injured !;
and only those. lofty, yet humble
souls, who are beyond their assist
ance, will pick some grains of spirit
ual food from their unsavory dis
course; souls like the sanity Herbert,
says:
Judge not the preacher, for he is thy judge;
| II thou mslike him. thou onceiv' st him not.
God clleth preaching folly, DO not grud.e
To pick out treasures from an earthen pot.
The worst speak something good. We all want
God takes n text and preacheth patience.
But there are very few persons in
so Christian frame of mind as to
be willing 10 60 to church Sunday
after Sunday in order to take lessons
i'll patience-a virtue which most
persons find sufficient occasions of
exercise i'll their ordinary weekly av-
ocations.
There was once time in England
never III this country, that we know
of-when custom permitted pastor
consciously Incapable of preparing a
good sermon to. enter the pulpit, book
III hand, and read therefrom an able
discourse. The custom has fallen
into desuetude, and now, there as
here, the minister, whether compe-
tent or not, must deliver a sermon
compiled at least, if not composed
by himself. If he be incompetent,
his preaching is more apt to be a hin
drance CT salvation than q help to-
ward it; for in his struggle after
originality he is more likely to en-
Ftangle plain texts than to unravel
knctty ones. Rash positions are
sometimes taken by such preachers,
and unsound arguments advanced on
momentous questions. These things,
though they pass unobserved by the
ignorant and unthinking, and do not
really injure the well minded aud
well informed, are poisonous TO dis.
eased ear, and often inspire even
those well inclined but unsettled in
theirs religious principles with incu.
rable disgust. Even when they con.
tain nothing positively erroneous,
but are merely unimproving to the
ordinary mind, they are. not alto
gether harmless. They arc not
harmless if they 'are felt to be tedi.
Gus; if they torpify the understand.
ing, chill that begins there may
extend to the vital regions.
The remedy for one Of these evils
too much preaching, SO injuriously
prevalent, seems to be TO make the
other services, now regarded a. mere.
ly supplementary, more important
and more soul-satisfying. As it is
an observer has but to notice tht
peculiar settling of themselves by thu
congregations of evangelical and lib
eral churches, Just before the sermon
begins, to see that, good or bad, it Il
the principal feature of the service
the piece de resistance, If the com
Iparison be permissible, of the spirit
. nal banquet serving. As for al
effectual cure for poor and Indifferent
pfeacnihg, lhat, We presume, re
mains with Providence since peopl,
must take what is offered; and th,
best talent, even when united will
: piety, seldom seeks the pulpit as
! field of exercise. When it does so
it never lacks recognition; as may b,
seen in the enthusiastic devotion dis
played toward their. pastors, and
what is quite as important, the larg,
salaries awarded them, by congrega
tions that are blessed with such q
are at the Same time good preachers
he The author Of the saying aYou mus
4 always take man IS you find him." W.