Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-08
SERMONS, LONG
AND SHORT

Inc good people who consider them-
selves aggrieved If they have tn listen "a
sermon that exceeds twenty rninu,e.
nave good reason to congratulate tba,,-
serves that they did not live in Puritan
lays when preacher was only warming
10 ms subject at the end of an hour. and
ielt 'hat he was not discharging his duty
II ne Gid not give his hour glass at least
TWO turns before his oratory came tn a
pause.
Thomas Hooker rarely sat down until
ne had reached the end of his third hour.
ana on one occasion, after passing this
limit by good thirty minutes he only re-
sumed his seat on promising to continue
MS discourse on the following Sabbath
once, II is true, he electrified his congre-
CATION by coming to a full stop after hf-
Teen minutes preaching; but IL was mere
y 10 recover from passing feeling of in
disposition, after which he resumed his
discourse and continued for two hours
longer.
DR.. Isaac Barrow-of whom Charlen IT
said, He is the most unfair preacher in
Ehglahd, because he eXhausts every sub
Ject and leaves no room for others to come
after him'-tnvariaby preached three
hours; and so fascinating was his elo-
quence that the only complaint ever
heard against him was that his sermons
were too short.
Baxter Knox, Hooper, Bunyan and CAL
win rarely preached less than two hours,
and often saw the sand run out in the
hour glass for the third time before they
came TO lastly; but not one of them all
could rival the prolixity of the Rev Thos
Banks. a seventeenth century divine who
on one occasion. after keeping his congre-
CATION over two hours, said And now
having cleared the ground for these pre-
llminary remarks, ! will address myself
more directly to my text"
An amusing story is told in this conuec-
ton of the Rev. William st. George Pat
erson, who not many years ago was re-
quested by Dean Bickersteth to preach for
him on the following Sunday. The clergy
man, who objected to thus being made q
stop-gap, declined the duty, whereupon
the dean retorted by commanding him to
preach.
AS there was no way of escape MI. Pat
erson determined to be lever with the
dean, and. announcing as his text the
ll7th Psalm. he began by reading his text
of lIG verses through twice. Then taking
each verse In turn, he delivered a homily
on It, finally resuming his seat at the close
Of the third hour. by which time the only
surviving member of the congregation
was the dean himself. After the service
the preache. said goodbye to the dean in
the robing room. Good afternoon, Mr.
Dean was his parting shot Il don't
think you'll command old Paterson TO
preach again in a hurry.
In striking contrast to these Iong-w .nded
sermons are the discourses which begin
and end within minute, like that of the
Rev. Charles II. Yatman a short time ago
at Ocean Grove, y. j. After announcing
his text he said: Don't worry; It's wicked"
only that and nothing more. and then he
sat down. Almost equally short was the
sermon of the Rev. Henry Jackson an old
time Yorkshire vicar, on the text, God is
love" This was his homily: If my
friends, l were to preach to you for q
month | could add nothing to the glorious
significance OF these three words; and so
leave them with you"
More remarkable was the sermon OF the
Rev. Andrew Clarke, delivered few years
ago in Chicago II waited patiently for the
Lord" was his text; and this was his SER
mon: Now. my brethren. | put il to you.
if David could wait patiently and found IL
worth while, why can't your