The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-11-13
CANNED SERMONS.

vices end?
A New York syndicate is offering to
furnish sermon service" for the mod
est figure of $40 per year to clergy
men who run out of things to say.
Not only that, but these goods are
warranted strictly up to date, contain
'ng illusions to current affairs and
matters of national interest"
NO patron need fear the accusation
of plagiarism" state the enterprising
sermon merchants" because the SER
vice will be given to only one clergy
man in each town"
The sermons are mailed in New
York every Friday morning in plain,
sealed envelopes. They are evangel
ical in tone. They enable the clergy
man to get along with fewer homiletic
books and magazines and the terms
put this unique service within the
reach of the poorest ministers. We
shall not furnish our service to more
than one minister in any given city or
town.
The opening paragraphs of the cir
cular to the clergymen are as follows:
Dear Brother:
Though the quality of pulpit work
demanded these days is much higher
than that of a generation or two ago,
the time for study and preparation has
been markedly cut off by the increase
of business and routine parish work
which the times have thrust upon the
minister. We believe that hasty and
piecemeal sort of preparation has a
great deal to do with the acknowledge
ed diminishing interest and attend
ance at the church services. The pull
pit is the minister's throne; If he is
weak and slipshod there he weakens
his power all the way around. We
believe that many ministers get i'll or
nervously incapacitated by the worry
and strain Of the situation-more here
than elsewhere.
"All this is possible of remedy. We
are in position to help. We prepare
every week a new and original SER
mon which we offer for the small con-
sideration of % cents to the harassed
and hard-driven pastor of the average
| church. These sermons are from
| twelve to fifteen minutes long. They
are printed in large typewriter type,
SO that the minister has no labor of
copying. The price is payable in ad-
vance We shall be pleased to an
swer inquiries, especially if accompa-
MED by stamp
A great rush to enter this scheme is
hard to believe, and yet on the aver
age would it matter much? Even
the ministers themselves confess to
the dull mediocrity of the average SER
mon. The church papers, which are
the trade journals of the profession,
announce the fact brazenly.
| One of the most refreshing of the in
cidents contained in the life of Benja-
min Franklin, is his defense of a
preacher in the Philadelphia of his
time, who had a splendid delivery
and who was held in high esteem I'M
til it was discovered that his sermons
were those of a celebrated divine who
had lived some years before him in
England. Up to this time the man
had spoken to crowded houses and
many people confessed to the power of
his sermons. When he was unmasked
Franklin was the only one in the prov
ince who did not jeer at him. Frank
lin insisted that he would far rather
hear good, though borrowed sermon,
than a sermon that was original and
bad
| The value of a sermon is in the
amount of good it does and who can
doubt that if sermon is by a man of
the stamp of Phillips Brooks, Henry
Ward Beecher, or Sturgeon or Rob-
ertson of England, that the gain of the
congregation would be much greater.