Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-09-10
A SHORT SERMON TO THE PREACH.

day paper is to preach an occasional ser
mon to preachers, for it must have its
word in season to alllclaSSes in the COM
munity. Our sermons may not be as
long As those spoken in churches, but,
the preachers themselves being judges,
short sermons may be weightier and
meatier, and may be listened to with
greater keenneSs of attention, and, per-
haps, may be remembered longer.
We have sometimes thought that
preachers forget that they are public
speakers, and that therefore they ought
TO know how to speak in an attractive
and pleasing manner. When one con-
siders how many preachers are slovenly
in manner, awkward in posture, abrupt
and brusoue in gesture, indisinct in
enumeration, halting and hesitating In
the expression of their thoughts, the
query is raised: Do preachers really
recognize the fact that they are public
speakers? Have they learned how to
speak? Il is indeed important to have
something to say, but it is at least
equally important to know how to say
that something in q strong, clear, pleas
ing, persuasive, convincing way. In
dustry pays everywhere, and preacher
would be amply rewarded who would
seriously propose to himself as an OBJ
ject worthy Of his most strenuous en-
deavors the acquisition Of the ability 10
speak we'll when he stands IN the pull
pit. The vocabulary Of the preacher
should be pure and copious, and he
should be the conscious master Of every
word in it, using them with ease, with
accuracy, with dlrectneSS Of aim, with
felicity, dexterity and power. Clear
ness and strength are the two prime ele-
meuts; in the ideal style of the pulpit,
As any preacher is hopelessly crippled
whose language is obscure and
weak. These are simple matters,
but they go far TO explain the
secret ofhalf-filled churches and sleep
hearers. Men are not Indifferent TO the
great themes of life and duty and relig-
ion and good, for they are inquiring
now as never before: Are these things
So" but they demand in their religious
teachers ability to speak with clearnesS,
destinctness, readiness, beauty, grace
and power.
This is time when the public teach
ers of religion should earnestly cultivate
entire sincerity in conviction and utter
ance. \ preacher may not indeed
preach his doubts, for men and women
are not helped in the way of righteous
hess and reverence and faith by string
of negations or questions, but he
should be scrupulously careful not to
try 10 make himself believe what
bo tpOvs he does 49, N-I;,r-O
nor suUuIu ne ever permit himself to
speak from his pulpit words which no
longer stand for realities in his spirit
ual life. There is widespread impress
sion among the people of the world, and
it is shared by the more intelligent
church people, that the Protestant
clergy are tempted to revive the old
Greek doctrine of exoteric and esoteric
teaching, giving to the multitude one
class of obvious truths, and reserying
for the initiated alone the higher and
deeper truths, and it is even suspected
in some quarters that the esoteric teach
ing does not always square with the
exoteric, or, in other words, that our
spiritual guides have one creed in their
studies and secret thoughts, and a diff
ferent creed when they speak from the
sacred desk. These suspicious may be
very unjust, this impression may
be without any basis in fact, but
it is msnifestly the imPera-
tive duty of the pulpit to purge itself of
this imperious suspicion, and to speak
the ringing language of courage, Of
downright sincerity, of entire truth.
Truth is not perishing, nor doomed to
perish, but all intelligent men and
women know that the doctrines of re-
ligion need reStatcment if they would
any longer command belief, reverence
end obedience, and it is charitable 10 As
sumo that the Protestant clergy of Am
erica are not ignorant of this fact.
Everything that savors of clericalism
Is peculiarly obnoxious to the robust
moral sense Of our time. The men of
this age have no patience whatever with
the assumption of q sanetity purely Of
fetal, a sanctty supposed to be derived
from the mere TACT of filling the cleri-
cal Office and pefOrming clerical duties.
They instantly recognize and give hearty
homage to real purity and unwOrldiness
of spirit in the man who fills the clerical
ofIioO, but thSy cannot be made to be-
lieve that simply because a man IS q
preacher, he is, therefore, of larger
mould, Offiner temper, than his brother
men, The preacher may be a better man
than his brethren in the pews, but he
must make it appear by the whole tone
and temper ofhis life rather than by the
assumption ofany professional superior
ity. The pulpit may be more sacred
place than the lecture-platform, but if
so, it is because the man who stands in
the pulpit is purer, Drawer, choicer
man than the one who speaks from the
lecture platform. The pulpit does not
make the man sacred or worthy of our
reverence, but he may confer
DIGNITY and sacredness upon the
pulpit. The altar is not as sacred as the
sacrifice, the doer is nobler than his
deed, Christ is greater than the Temple.
Preachers who advertise themselves as
such are the scorn of all strong and
earnest men. We must first revere the
man before we will give heed to his
words as a preacher. Clerical coats
buttoned closely under the chin, i'm
maculste white ties, sepulchrsl tones