The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-11-28
WEEKLY BAZOO.
EDALtA, MO.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER %, 1882.
a NOTABLE WEAKNESS.

the country that are invariably full at
each service, not to say crowded, lis not
large. We doubt if it reaches one
quarter Of one per cent. of the aggre-
gate. The majority Of churches are
never more than two-thirds full. Not
. few are uniformly as ''sparsely set
led" as a new country.
Various explanations have been
suggested to account for thie state of
things, all Of which are plausible.
But it occurs to us that one Of these,
upon which no unusual stress has
been laid, is worthy of the serious con-
sideration of the ministry. We mean
the explanation which refers the
smallness Of the average attendance
upon church services to the fact that
sermons are either entirely read or are
preached from copious notes.
The lawyer addressing q jury, the
politician on the stump, are not con-
fined to notes why should ministers
BET Is not the method employed by
lawyers and stump speakers better
calculated to engage snd hold atten-
ton? Obviously 80.
1t is q human instinct to believe
that when q man is earnest, when the
message he has to deliver comes from
his heart as we'll as from his head. he
will find any but the most casual ref
erence to a manuscript impossible,
since he realizes that it can only be
accomplished BY breaking the cha n
of attention that connects the pulpit
to the pew.
A well-known and even widely cele
brated lawyer once said to . friend ::
"When | was young in the profession
I was assigned to the defence of a man
who had been indicted for murder.
When l came to sum up, being pro-
foundly impressed with the importance
to my client Of whetI had to submit
to the Jury. I departed from custom
and read = carefully prepared speech.
No sooner had / done 90 than I regret
ted that had not thrown aside my
notes. I found that / could not get
at the jury"
Scores Of ministers are constantly
complaining that they cannot "get at
their congregation" But they are not
the ministers who are independent of
Of their manuscripts. Show US q min
lister who is retkoned the most success
full, and We will show you one who
breaches without notes. There is |
much sense in the eulogium passed up
on noted divine BY an old hunter. |
Il like him, because he shoots with.
out q rest"
The preaching that is philosophical,
metaphysical, reflective. possibly with
cut serious disadvantage. may be done
from the closely followed written page.
So, too. may that preaching be which
is to interest q cultivated audience a
fine lecture would. But the preach
ing which is calculated to arouse and
quicken must follow, not that method
nor yet the extemporaneous method,
which, except in rare instances, has
its outcome in loose and inconsecutive
thought. but a method which leaves
the preacher as free to come into per-
sonal, persuasive relations with his
hearers as if be were lawyer or a
stump orator.
We are aware that some ministers
say they cannot trust themselves to
get up in their pulpits withouta firm
reliance upon their notes. The iDpli.
cation is that they hold that they had
better preach with notes than not
preach at all. But it is a question
whether poor preaching, preaching
that does not take hold, Is no, worse .
than no preaching. No man would feel .
that he lad a call to be q jury law
yer who had found that he could not ,
"shoot without rest" !,