Morning journal and courier., 1884-01-26
sINGLE COPIES TWO GENTS.
Short Sermons.

How to Avoid Making Short Sermons
 seem Long and How to Make Good Ser
 mons short
 The cosy little Marquand chapel was crowded yesterday afternoon with students and toWnsfolk who listened eagerly for an hour to the Rev. Dr. Burton, of Hartford, as he spoke about the important topic of short sermons. The lecturer said that the sermons of many preachers seemed long to their con gregations, while not being so actually. He mentioned as one cause of that monotony of tone Preachers fall into the dreary habit of speaking on dead level, never rising above that. The style of the old Methodist preachers was commendable, inasmuch Rs they reused their hearers and kept them awake by raising the voice when the sentiment expressed call
 ed for it. The preacher should moderate hls
 utterance. He must look what he cannot speak. The second way to make short ser
 mons seem long is to be monotonous ln
 thought as well as in delivery. To avoid this
 the lecturer advised the introduction or humor, and dialogue, anything to avoid monotony. Pakiness detracts very
 materially from the value of sermon. The
 third failing is to make but slow progress
 through the sermon. Congregations like
 bold brush. Strike right out and say what
 you have to say. A lamentable habit is that
 which young preachers are in danger of, of
 showing forth all the steps by which they
 arrive at their conclusions. Congregations
 want conclusions, not the slow process of
 getting at them. The nineteenth century IS
 impatient and wants ministers to come right
 to the point at once. Outright affirm
 ation is es quickening to those who
 are dead in sins as all the log1c
 a minister has at his command. Avoid
 long introductions. Another form of tedious
 nessin sermons is lack of substance. Unsub-
 stantiaI sermons are all long. If man can
 spread fair-sized thought over four ser
 mons he feels like doing 1t, but hls con-
 9regation do not like it. The extemporane-
 ous preacher is open to the fault of thinness.
 The only way to make substantial sermons is
 to work. You are supposed to be settled
 ministers. If you stay anywhers you must
 work. Use only right methods, as
 they alone are fruitful. Work penetra
 lively and contemplstively and you will find that your congregation will take de
 light in you. If you speak with 8 slow utter ance you will make yourself long by the church clock and in the minds of your hear CTS. This sloWness of speech IS brought about in several ways. If your whole thought is to unfold your subject without having special aim at your people, chasm will open bl bltween you and them and they will be look ing at you across the chasm- Look intently at your hearers Some ministers have eyes | that make a man think he is sent for when they ers fixed on him. Croakers talk about the decay of preaching. They say that the printing press will ulti- | mately take the place of the pulpit We ] answer that that can never be because of the personal element in preaching. But this personal element will die out if preach CTS have no special view in preaching and when themes and their way of handling themes and their diction is separated from the people, far removed from the masses, who have not been educated at college. but had the drill of concrete work and the ex- psrisnce of life's deep sorrows and high pleasures What good would discourse upon the freedom of the will expressed in theological and metaphysical terms do to such people2 Bookish preachers climb on the top of seven story topics and rain down their eloquence on the parched ground beneath. Go among men, learn to love | them man by man. "Never go to preach with l out seeking God. Sermons of the Holy | Ghost are not likely to seem long. The ser mon is living organism.
 In conclusion Dr. Burton gave three rules | for making short sermons The first way to l make short sermso is to stop. The second is to choose your thought and resolve that when you have opened up that in fair statement you will pull up. An idea diligent- ly considered begins to grow. The third way is not to think you must put into ser mon all you can think of about the topic or even all the important points.