New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-06-28
SIMMER SERMONS.

Many of our city Clcrgymen VIII pred'u W
morrow their last sermon before leaving town
for the Summer, since in large churches
where two or more ministers are In charge
it is usual for the vacation OF the prlh-
cipal to begin the last Of June. Or course
we all have something to say about this'
Our doctor or grocer or boot-back may al
lust his work and holidays as suits ms own
opinions; but the ccrgyman's affairs are mat
ters of conscientious scruples with us all
Every Summer the same ill-natured remarks
appear quite fresh and original about "shep-
"hcrds who desert their flocks,' ana "a town
cleft to the charge of the DEVIL The fact
is that very few clergymen go whose fock9
have not fed long before. They must either
preach to empty pcws or 90 out as mission
aries into the highways and byWays OF the
city. Whether that is their duty or not Is Tor
them to decide The men who urge 1t most
ychcmently are certain to keep their own
shoes quite clean Of the mud of the highways,
material or moral, especially when the Their
mometcr is up among the ninetleS.
Do not let us be too rigorous in virtue dur
ing the dog-days--for other men. We grum-
BILE at this annual halt in sermonzing as II
sermons were the mental apd spiritual Iood
we thrive upon; whereas, If the most deFout
among us would sum up the actual amount OF
prcaching which he retained mt the end OF the
wear. the small quantity would probably
throw new meaning on the matter both for
nearer and pastor. The weakness in sermons
rs a moral lever lies in the fact that they are
q matter of course. We settle ourselves to
the hearing as to the dropping Of rain. 1t has
rained before and it will rain again. The world
GOES on lust the same. The good man in the
pulpit may warn lis but other good men
in other pulpits have done it since time began
for us. When this is the case IN the peWs,
how is it in the pulpitP Is there no danger
that religious truth, the Book itself, may
become monotOnous in the same way to these
GOOD men. seen the year round from the one
little loOphole, unless they are occasionally
dragged out of their narrow rut OF church
duties2 Even the face of the Saviour himself
grew familiar and commonplace to His follow
ers. Let these men who propose to guide the
lives of other men see life, once in the year at
least. from another point of view than the
church chanccl. Better trout stream, if God
be nigh, than an empty Holy of Holes.
As for sermons, there is 10 lack of sermons
There is not a newspaper with its ordinary
happenings of every day, its record of murder
ambition, jealousy, fraud, the beginning and
the end of them all-thcre Is not face on
Broadway, with its history or its prophecy
which is not a sermon such rs no man III New
YoIkcan preach. One does not always agree with
the doctrine or the logic in the best Of human dis
courses. But in these words which God speaks
there is no mistaking the meaning. Every life
breaches the same argument For right deal
ing, reward; for crime. punishment the
sequence is memorable, from the story OF Cam
to that of the negro Cox. These are the
sermons, after all, which most move and intlu-
ence us. We may fail to find truth behind
orr good pastors weekly discusses but Gods
syllogisms appal US every day IN the lives
nearest to Us, and His love touches us IN the
sunshine, the scent of fields, the sight of run
ming water, as no mans words can do. These
sermons will not fail us, although the churches
he closed all Summer.