Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-18
JOKES In THE PULPIT.
The Successful Parson Will Make
Them an Influence for Good.
GOOD STORIES ARE USEFUL, TOO.
Above All the Sermon Must b So Put
That All Can Understand.
TELLING TRUTH SYSTEMATICALLY.
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH,

is largely shaped by his congregation. A
| good parish is apt to have good pastor
1t makes a great difference to minister
what his people think about the ministry
and about him.
Accordingly, I want to write something
about the purpose of the parson, about the
ideals which he ought to aim at and toward
which his people ought to help him. AnC
especially in the matter of preaching.
What is the purpose of the parson in the
pulpit? What is the preacher for?
The purpose of the parson in the pulpit
ought to be. first of all, to interest his
hearers "How shall they hear without a
preacher?" is pertinent inquiry. But
how shall he preach without hearers? ? is q
question quite as much to the point Forit
is essential to a sermon that it be heard,
that it be attended to. Whatever sentences
in a sermon are not heard by the hearers
might as well have been said in Hebrew, or
left out altogether. The length of the SER
mon is not rightly measured by the number
on the last page of the preachers paper, or
BY the figures that span it on the clock.
The sermon has exactly as many paragraphs
in it as the congregation listened to, not
one more. During the remainder of the
time the preacher was beating the air.
Preaching to Restless Congregations.
The attention of the congregation is as
necessary as the presence of the congrega-
tion. An inattentive congregation, indeed,
is not really present The uninteresting
preacher reads his homily to the backs of
the benches. There is no use preaching to
a restless congregation. We might as we'll
preach to a company of English sparrows.
There is no use preaching to people who are
asleep. We might as we'll preach to an
audience of craven images. 1t is absolutely
necessary that the preacher set distinctly in
the forefront of ali his pious purposes the
determination to interest the people.
But in order to interest people we must
know what people are interested in. They
are always interested in a story. Our
Lord, accordingly, made more use of
illustration than He did of argument. In
deed, what use made He of argument at
all? His arguments were parallels. Every
listener was interested in these stories,
looked eagerly from one chapter to the
next, took in the meaning irresistably and
never forgot it That, perhaps, is the best
advantage of the storv-that it sticks. All
the rest of the sermon vanishes out of
memory, but a graphic illustration STAYS.
The preacher. then, ought to be on the
watch for illustrations. At every turn in
his discourse he ought to search his memory
for one of these sharp nails by which to pin
his thought into the minds of the hearers.
Humor Is Good Thing
People are always interested in humor
They enjoy smiling, and it does them good
to smile. But not in church, Why not in
church? What sanctity of the Lords house
is violated by smile? The Puritans, it is
true, objected to any unbending of the
lines of the face within the shadows of the
"His Majestie's Tithing Man
entered complaint against Dora and Susan
Smith, that on the Lords Day, during
Divine service, they did-smile!' But the
Puritans made good many grim mistakes,
deed, quite fatal blunder. 1t made that
stern old system of religion have con-
sequence of reaction. 1t was against nature.
And it is no use fighting against nature.
If Cotton Mather had had sense of kindly
humor in him, or had given play to what he
had, the history of News England would
have been spared some grievous CHAPTERS.
1t is quite new thing, this horror of
homilitical humor. The old preachers had
more sense than to abandon this most effect
i've of weapons, this most persuasive of
arguments. "And now I will tell you q
merry toy," says one of them. And then
follows the old story of about Goodwin
Sands and Tenterden Steeple. Do you
know, cries Coverdale, who is the busiest
bishop in England, never out of his diocese,
never taking a vacation, his whole soul in
his work, his zeal, his persistence, his en-
putting all the rest of us to shame?
Do you know who is the busiest bishop in
England? Let me tell you-lt is the devil!
Being Natural In the Pulpit.
The best preachers have had sense of
humor. They have not been afraid to be
natural in the pulpit. They have not fallen
into the pernicious heresy of ecclesiastical
affectation. They have had no pious way
Of holding their hands; they have put on no
holy tone of voice, they have never tried to
learn pulpit style. They have believed
that a sermon, like any other public utter
ance, ought to be the plain word of an earn
est man to his brother men; that it is moth
ing in the world but a conversation with
company of people, in which one man does
all the talking. And they have talked as
in their churches as they would
talk in their studios.
For the earnest man is he who is con.
who are not SO earnest, or who are not so
wise in their earnestness, insist that the
thing to be done must be done in certain
particular old way. The best preachers have
always said Mol in any way, so that we get
it done! Amy way to get hold of men and
uplift men! And when they saw that humor
IS factor in all persuasive speech, that it
lightens the strain of argument for
moment and makes it possible to tighten it
again stronger than ever, that it makes
bond of sympathy between the speaker and
he hearer and so help the speakers cause,
hat 1t rests the hearer, who is beginning to
grow weary, and makes him willing to listen
again; when they saw that touch of humor
gets attention, and keeps attention; then
hey were bound to use it. Whatever will
help to win the wills of men to Christ, they
said, is right and reverent in the church of
Christ.
The parson, then, will try to brighten up
sven his thunder clouds with these flashes
If lightning, unless, indeed, he have no
sense OF humor, in which case his cougrega-
ion is to be condoled with.
Must Be Easily Understood.
People are interested not only in graphic
and in effective humor, but, in
in sermons that they can under
tand. Nobody has any business to write q
in a sermon that cannot be under
tood by the sexton and the sections wife.
If there are any incomprehens;ve para
,raphs, the chances are that they indicate
ack of understanding on the part of the
preacher himself That is the part of his
ermon which he has not quite thought out.
ust there he does not know what he is talk
ng about. There are said to be certain pass
.ges in Hegels philosophy which Hegel con-
essed that he did not himself altogether un-
lerstand. He might have written nom
ense poetry iu those places.
The purpose OF sermon is to make Ger