The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-09-06
Dull SERMONS

of the sameness and dryness of their dis
courses. 1t is idle to shut ones eyes to
the fact that large proportion of hearers
do not go to church either to worship or
to be instructed The minister may wish
1T were otherwise, but if in his congrega-
tion every Sunday there are many, espe-
cially among the young people, who go
only to hear something that will interest
them, then if he has the spirit of the
Apostle who tried to accommodate him
self to all tastes, and even to the weak
nesses of his hearers that he might save
some, he will strive to make his sermons
attractive to those who are not influenced
by the highest motives in coming to the
house of God, lest by his failure to enlist
their attention they should cease to come
altogether.
Of course much of the complaint about
dull sermons comes from those whose lack
of spirituality makes them more than in
different to gospel truth, but the com
plant Is not confined to this class. 1t is
heard among those who do love the truth
but who would be ever so much Obliged
to the good man who dispenses it if he
would serve 1t up to them with little
more regard to style and seasoning and
variety. Even the saintliest nearer NAV
grow weary of sermons which run in the
same line of thought every Sunday dur
ing the year, and which are as much alike
IN treatment as if they were ffty-two
bullets run in one pair Of moulds.
AS we said last week the pull pit, being
divinely appointed fundamentally, will
never lose its power, but some of the men
who fill it are in danger of losing their
power, and some have already lost it.
The cause is not far to seek. There
are ministers who have fallen into the
habit OF preaching on a single class of
topics. Their sermons are all doctrinal
or all hortatory. Sunday after Sunday
there Is nothing new except the text, and
that Is only a pretert to the waving of
the same old garment with new collar and
cuffs. The introduction on each occasion
may vary somewhat, but no matter, in a
little while the preacher drifts into the
old doctrinal or hortatory rut, and finds
1t impossible to get out again. This is
dreadfully wearisome even to the most
long suffering hearer-who really de-
serves the chance of exercising some other
virtue than that Of patience An excel
lent old minister fell into the custom of
treating his people to weekly discourse
on grace. A young man in his congrega-
ton became so familiar with the strain
that he wrote it out and then translated
it into Latin. A copy of the Latin rem
dering fell into the hands of another
member of the congregation who knew
nothing of the translation, and yet so
familiar was he also with the strain that
he recognized it even in the disguise of
dead language
There is sandy road on the Atlantic
coast which is traversed by a queerly
constructed vehicle, the body Of which
is over single wheel; but the wheel it.
self is as wide as the body of the ma
chine, the object being to press the sand
like roller, and so keep the road smooth
and level. Along the side of this sandy
highway there used to be sign-boards,
saying, Don't rut the road" That
would be nice inscription to hang up
ia many study, Don't rut the road 70
But You will, if you always preach on the
same subject even should it be a. good
subject as final perseverance. These is
no excuse for monotony in subjects or in
the treatment Of them. If the minister
will take his own Bible as his model he
will stand corrected. There, as in ex-
ternal nature he will find unity of design
indeed, bat unity amidst endless variety.
The story Of redemption runs like a scar
let thread through oil the books of the
Bible and binds them together, but how
varied are the books themselves, both in
subject and style-history, biography,
Proverb, psalm, prophecy, doctrine, ex-
hortation-making their appeal to mem
Dry, reason, conscience, imagination, af-
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