New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-05-27
IN THE CHURCH PORCH.
SOME CHAT ABOUT THE MANNERS AND
METHODS OF PREACHERS.

AS q rule, theological seminarcS pay very little
attention to such prosaic matters reading and de-
livery. The great thing usually is to get the young
men to see the Gospel message through the right
kind of theological glasses. Everything else IS mere
detail. To an outsider this seems to be a serious
mistake for in this age, certainly, is. in its
way, quite az important matter. 1t may be very
poor and unworthy motive; but the fact is that
average men and women attracted to church by
man who reads we'll and breaches well, If he
be not very great genius. And on the other hand,
they will not listen to second ST. Paul II his reading
and delivery are vile. All this Is well known as
to be a commonplace; and yet how many devoted
clergymen there who go TO their graves without
ever having learned how to read correctly enun-
ciate clearly The clergy Of the Episcopal Church APP
pear TO be especially defective in these respects Or
perhaps they only appear to be so because their
liturgy offers them such magnificent Opportunity
for effective reading that therefore expect more OF
them than Of others But II we do we often fall to
get H. Indeed think Episcopalian might base
strong argument in favor of his noble service on
the fact that though murdered innumerable num-
Der of times by tho clergy, 1T not only still survives
but powerfully affects great multltudes OF Christians
by its lofty spirituality and rhythmic beauty
A few Sundays ago attended an Episcopal church
where much attention is paid to tho disnifed render
ing Of the service. Yet the clergyman who on that
dav read the service was almost sloyenly in his de-
livery In fact he did not read at all; he merely
pronounced certain words the printed page be-
fore him, much as a schoolboy declams piece
And he didn't pronounce them very distinctly ether
He enunciated like a machine, paying little attention
to punctuation marks, and none to the meaning Vi
| the words As for the rhetorical pause, ne never
| appeared TO have heard of it. Now imagine such
man as that standing up and eIecting worls' not
ideas at the congregation, hurryng over them here
clippng them off there, and in some cases appearing
| TO swallow them before delivering them Can any
| thing be more absurd9
| remember few years ago attending an Eps-
copal service in a large church where the mnied ana
slinsbod enunciaton Of the officiating clergyman LED
| him. though all unwitngly into peculiarly shocAi"s
bit of profanity. The acoustics Of the church were
| had and sat partly behind pillar, and the readers
obtuse monotOnes came to me, therefore, even horo
! broken and distorted than they actually were bul
at any rate in every one of the prayers INC 49,
and tender words, Through Jesus Christ our LoTu
SO precious to all Christians, came 10 me trans
formed By some fend into the words cheese all
ernst or lard, Nothing could more eloquentiy prove
the inheritance of good reading and the crying heeu
| Of architects who can build Gothic churches WIN
| perfect acoustic properties Again, you may ne"i "
clergyman I'm one church pronounce the hahio Va 'i
| Deity Gaads while a clergyman OF another ch"lNn
will nronounce IL "Goadn neither pronunciation OIL
course being correct Then the next tlnlo S'u ~
the ltany read in an Episcopal church. note No"
the clergyman pronounces the first clause IN 'ne'
majestic suffrage The chances almost three " ~
that he Will say 40 God the Father OF ho"'ou'
which IS nonsense. There IS comma al'er 'n'' -
Father which makes sense of the phrase anu Guy
careful reader will observe IT, so III tne 4H
Greed the average clergyman IS apt to say, Il De
lleve I'm the Holy Ghost the Lord and GiVef Oh -iie'
when in reality rhetorical pause is required AMER inc
word " Iorip the meaning being, - believe I'd uic
Holy Ghost the Lord, the Life-Gver" Another poiiS
aslnorum for the Episcopal clergy Is foui" IN ~o
PRAYER for the President. The words are MUS.
heartily we beseech Thee, with Thy favor 10 Oehou
ard bless Thy servant etc. but large percen so
ot those who read IT, entirely ignore the pause aner
.he word /" Thee, and make a doubly long pause
after the word fayorp thus making nonsense Of the
very pth of the prayer
Thinking over these things the other Gay a'h''
an Episcopal clergyman Of some prominence WHY us
brethren I'm the ministry do not treat their exqulstey
beautiful service with more intelligence ana Justice
aWeun he replied, Our seminaries either DON'T
teach reading at all else they teach some false sys
tom, so that the last state Of the young men Is worse
hon the first For instance, there IS the idea that
obtains among many extremely High Churchmen, 10
the effect that no human being has any right 10 III
iect into the sacred words Of the Bible or the Prayer
! Rook his own falble conception OF their meaning
This. OF course, bars out emphasis, infection, rhe
| tor,cal pauses and even intelligence. In this way
yxa get the sacred monotone' which so many OF our
clergy use in preaching. Cod they say VIII
! make His meaning clear TO the hearers WITHOUT the
human aid of the reader and II Is the dutJ OF the
reader to sink himself and his ideas as much as pos
sbe out of sight, and let the sacred words speak Tor
! themselves OF course the men who believe this
are not going study the rules OF good reading; II
would be a waste Of time, and even flying In the
face Of Providence This accounts for good many
| Of poor readers.
And think the great length Of our services leads
| our clergy to hurry unduly, and this, OF course
makes effective reading impossible Beautllui as our
prayers are they can't be driven home 10 the hearts
Of the people when they are ratified of like chllds
! puzzle still again, In my opinion We EpiScopai
parsons are poor readers, because when we assume
| our surnlIce we somehow insttnctvely as
sumo solemn tone that for some reason We consider
the proper tone in reading the service. know this
| is 50 with myself When l speak at some secular
meeting in nv coattails, my delivery is much more
telling than in my pulpit, and get much nearer
IN the hearts Of the people. SO when Offer an ex-
emporaneous prayer. the infections and modulaiions
Of my voice are very much more effective than when
use the nravers OF the Liturgy, although my prayer
,self ts az course vastly inferior. The fact is the
classic perfection of service the sacred amos-
phere Of our churches and the dignity imposed upon
ms nv opr clerical vestments all conspre TO weigh us
down and crush out our individuality. And we
speak uncertainty and weakly because we are almost
afraid TO speak at all
An eminent non Episcopal clergyman, however.
with whom talked afterward, did not take this view
OF the matter Said he: We non-iturgicai
Christians feed that clergy often put too much OF
themselves into their reading, praying and pre,chine
Some OF our ministers read the doctrines that they
think most of tito the Bible every time they open It,
And / am sorry 10 say that a few Of them project
their own personality between the people and God
urha 1
hans ve do have moro effective read
ers than are found In churches with