Mexico weekly ledger., 1908-12-31
nsriso nInIstera on ssrmons


Al church you sit. nod and blink
Did you ever stop and think
That you shouldn't
When the good man talks quite
long;
While Morpheus sings a song
That he shouldn't
And then suddenly you feel
Not like Achilles In the heel,
A tiny pain.
It's your wife, with elbow sharp.
Who's afraid you'll lose a harp
It's very plain.
It is one of those signs OF the
Time. That is. the short sermon is.
Mexico ministers seem to ~univer
sally agree the short sermon ls what
the church goers desire. Thirty min
utes seems to be the average length
though some are even shorter than
that. The following interviews with
various Mexico pastors will prove In
teresting to every church goer and
bears pertfnenily on the subject In
question:
The Rev. G. Nj. Aker. Of the Meth
odist Church, had the following To-
say regarding the length Of sermons:
Il believe so minutes the right
length for a sermon though ON some
occasions Is minutes is long enough.
You remember ST. Paul preached ali
night once and a man in the eongre-
cation fell out OF a window and broke
his neck. This Is one OF the many
arguments in favor OF short sermons.
Much depends upon the occasion. the
subject and the man. If II IL a great
occasion, a capable man and an IN
spring subject. then the length Of
the sermon is not noticeable.
The Rev. W. NJ. White, pastor Of
the Christian Church in speaking OF
sermons, said;
81 average about 80 minutes though
at times my sermons r either a
little longer or some shorter. ! think
one can conciseiy cover the subject In
half an hour, though it sometimes
requires more time. In the summer
1t is well too confine yourself to Is
minutes and cover carefully n sub
ject or part Of a ermon Other
times 80 minutes strikes me as the
shortest possible time to do justice TO
a text.
81 know a pastor who has had the
same church for at least 10 years
and for that entire period has level
preached over 10 minutes. He has ed
ucated his congregation to the short
sermon and from his prolonged stay
must be perfectly satisfactory to
them"
Rev. A. A. Wallace, Of the Presby-
terrain church, said;
Il suspect my sermons sometimes
seem longer to the congregation than
to me. / usually try to make them
about 80 minutes in length, long
enough TO fully cover the subject. l
have no sympathy with the modern
cry for is and 20 minute sermons.
A man will go to q political meeting
and sit for two hours listening to the
harsngue Of the speaker. Why should
he object to a fourth Of that time lis
tening to the exposition of the word
Of his Maker?
"The shortest sermon | ever heard
OF was that delivered by a promi-
nent English minister. His text was:
"He that giveth to the poor lendeth
to the Lord" He then added:
Brethren. If you believe the secur-
ity is good. down with the dust"
The Rev. Fl. Il. Truck, OF the First
Baptist church, when asked concern
Ing the length of sermons. said:
Thirty minutes is about the prop
er length / believe, Jonathan Ed
wards preached sometimes for 3
hours. Moody for 20 minutes and
Spurgeon for an hour. 1t all depends
on how fast a horse" can go. A
good horse covers more ground in a
short time than a plug, you know.
Everything is faster to-day. What
is now preached in 80 minutes would
have taken an hour Is years ago. The
intelligence Of a congregation is the
minister's pacemaker."
Father ]. j. Dillon, of the st. Bren-
dams Catholic church, said Of SER
mons:
"About % minutes is what length
sermon we usually limit ourselves.
That is long enough to interest a
congregation that listens to the same
man all the time. There are oeca-
sions when a longer sermon is permia
sible but we are taught to preach
short sermons"
Father Jas. Noble, the rector Of
st. Pauls Episcopal church, this city,
J says regarding the length of SER
mons:
"My sermons are usually 20 minutes
In length. Our ritual of course is
long and there is little time for a
longer discourse. The usual length
Of a sermon in the church is from is
to 20 minutes long. There have been
some as short as s minutes.
"In olden times frequently minis
tiers preached for 3 hours and quite
often the hour glass was turned at
least one during the sermon"