Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-27

The days of great preachers are past.
In all the churches the men are but few
who could rivet the attention of con-
gregauon for an hour. Is there a preacher
among them who could hold an audience
for two? And yet sermon that lasted
three full hours is one of the men,
cries of my childhood. The preacher. !
need not say, was a Scotchman-the great
DR.. Dun. the Church of Scotland's f1Ist mis-
slonary to India. Child though l was. 1
member how his hearers hung upon his
words. Nor should this seem strange. For
how many days was It that Edmund Burke
enthralled his audience In his immortal
speech on the Warren Hastings impeach-
ment? And his theme was merely the so
ciai and political wrongs of the natives OF
India. while Duf's was the vastly higher
theme of their spiritual needs.
The man whose influence turned the cur
rent OF Alexander Duff's life to the ministry
and the mission field himself one OF
the greatest prea cheers of the century. i
allude to DR.. Chalmers. OF such preaching
as his the present generation knows abSo-
lutely nothing.
Yes. the age of such preachers is past.
In other spheres also, the bar and the SEN
lite for example, orators of the highest rank
can no longer be found. But while the
brilliant men whose speeches delighted
past generation have no successors today,
no competent Judge will maintain that the
average of speaking has deteriorated. In
deed. 1t is probably higher. The style of
speaking has changed. But the change is
not without compromising advantages. for
1T Is more practical and business like. And
any one who is a master of the style at
present IN vogue commands much at
tention as was accorded to the great
tors of the past.
pI1f In he re,
even of mediocrity has declined. The fact
is notorious that the pulpit is no longer a
power. Certain men here and there. of
course are sure of an earnest hearing But.
speaking generally, the preacher is looked
upon as a necessary evil. Said n soldier
friend to me lately-a general in the army:
Give me any page you chance to open. of
one of our military handbooks, and I'll I'M
dertake to speak upon ii in way that will
interest soldiers; how is it that with that
wonderful book in their hands the parsons
and ministers succeed In being unfntereSt-
lng?' 1t used not TO be so. In other days
preaching was power in this country 1
do not refer specially to the efforts of ora
tors and scholars, but rather to the village
chapeIS throughout the land. Humble men,
often uniearncd and unpublished spoke TO
their fellowmen of the great realities of the
life to come, and they were listened to. and
lives We're Influenced by their words Put
enter one of these chapes today, and you
VIII possibly ma the pulpit occupied by
some half-educated man who thinks he is d
scholar because he has been taught Hebrew
and Greek, and who is reading an essay
perhaps, to prove that he knows more
about the Hebrew Scriptures than his Lord
and Savior knew. Or enter some country
parish church, where the service used 10
be OF such a kind that the rustfcS could
join in it. and the sermon such as they
could understand: and now you will see Il
company of the parsons pets of the dis
triCt watching with SJIDprStitiDJlS awe some
high celebTa ton staring into vacancy
during the reading of a sermon designed TO
explain its mysteries.