New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-11-19
N-OTES ~ TUF pTvIpyT

The number of churches throughout the
country that are invariably full, not to say
crowded, on each recurring Sunday is not large.
We doubt if it reaches Une-quarter of one per
cent of the aggregate. The majority OF
churches are never more than two-thirds full
A great many are never moro than a third full.
Not few are uniformly as "sparsoly settled"
as n very new country.
Various explanations have been suggested to
account for this state Of things. all IF which are
plausible. But it occurs to us that one OF these
upon which no unusual stress has ever been
laid is worthy of the serious consideration Of
the ministry. We mean the explanation which
refers the smalness Of the average attendance
upon church services to the fact that sermons
are either entirely read or are preached from
more or less copious notes. The lawyer address
ing a jury, q politician on the stump, are not
confined to notes why should ministers be 7 is
not the method employed by lawyers and stump
speakers better calculated to engage and hold
attention. Obviously so. 1t is a human in
stnct to believe that when man is earnest
when the message he has to deliver comes from
his heart as well as from his head, he will find
any but the most casual and infrequent refer
encc to a manuscript impossible, since he real
lies that it can only be accomplished by break
ING the chain Of attention that connects the
pulpit and the pew.
4 well-known lawyer once said to a friend:
"When | was young in the profession |
"was assigned to the defence Of a man who had
abeon indicted for murder. When | came to
"sum up, being profoundly impressed with the
importance to my client of what had to sub
"mit 10 the jury, departed from custom and
"read carefully prepared speech. No sooner
chad done so than | regretted that had not
thrown aside my notes. / found that could not
"get at the Jury" Scores OF ministers are con-
stantly complaining that they cannot "gct at
their congregations. They are not ministers who
arciHdepcndent Of their manuscripts. Show uSa
minister Who is reckoncd the most successful
and we will show you one who breaches with
out notes. There is much sense in the eulo-
GUM passed upon a popular divine by an old
hunter. 81 like him. said NimT0d, :" because
he shoots without a rest
The preaching that is philosophic reflective,
mctauhysica, possibly without serious disad
vantage may be done from the closely fol-
lowed written page. So, too, may that preach
mg be which is to interest a cultivated audience
as fine lecture would. But the preaching which
is calculated to arouse and quicken must follow
not flat method nor yet the eEtempDraueous
method, which, except in rare instances, has its
.outcone in loose aud incOnsccutlye thought
but method which leaves the preacher a. free
70 come into personal, persuasive relations with
his hearers rs if he were 4 lawyer or a stump
speller. We are aware that some ministers
say that they ,annot trust themselves to get mp
in their pulpits without a firm reliance upon
their notes. The implication of course is That
they hold that they had better preach with
notes than not preach at all. But it is a q1es-
ton whether poor preaching, preaching that
does not take hold, is not worse than no preach
ing. No man would feel that he had II call to
he "A Jury lawyer who found that he could not
shoot without rest" IN court Why snoIld
4 man with smilar limitations feel that he has
n call to address his fellows in relation TO mat
tcrs of the first importance \ few weeks ago
a minister in neighboring city who breaches
to more empty than occupied pews took Tor the
subject Of his discourse the decline OF religion.
He proved the decline by reference to a mass of
suggestive statistics and concluded by an ur-
gent appeal to his hearers TO JOIN him In suppl
cations to the throne of grace for revival.
The matter of the sermon was excellent, but the
manner! From first to last the speaker was
closely confined to his notes, and the urgent
appeal with which he concluded was shorn OF
nearly all its force since il came from the lips of
a man not leaning toward his hearers but bend
ing over his desk not looking into the eyes of
those whom he desired to touch, but upon the
printed page. The sermon ought to have pro-
duced deep impression. Apparently it pro-
duced none. There was no magnetism in II.
A poet of the lorid school WAS once criticised
as having nothing to say but saying it magnlf-
Gently The trouble with so many minister's is
that they have much to say but they say 1t with
distressing effect. If public sentiment could
be organized intoerant Of the reliance of minis
tiers upon notes, the effect would doubtless be to
exclude some very worthy men from the pulpit.
But it would certainly lead TO tine survival of
the Gttest. And in this field above all others
none but the littest ought TO survive.
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