Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-05-30
SERMONS LONG AND SHORT.
But Short Ones Are Generally Most
EHective.


During the winter it is too cold to
preach long sermons. and II is too hot
i'm the summer. So it has come I"
pass that Il long sermon is rarity.
What has caused the shortening up Of
sermons" Is it best that it should be-
so?
Take the average church services
in the city and consider the time for
delivery Of the sermons compared
with the other exercises. called SER
vices. The first forty minutes are tax
rm up with exercises preliminary to the
sermon. which is about 80 minutes in
length. Then the closing exercises
take IL minutes. That is, 81 minutes
are spent in church to secure 80 min
uteS of instruction.
OF course, there are deviatiOnS from
this time schedule Some congrega-
tiuuS prefer a Commute sermon. Very
few would be pleased to hear one an
hour and Il half long. Half the wo-
men would fear that the dinner would
be burned up. or that they would hnd
the COOKS on Il SlTlke Oh lltlI lelui u
home.
The quantity of preaching may in
part account for the ShOrtneSS OF SER
mons. The desire of music lovers to
exploit their skill may account in part
for the long preliminary exercises.
1t was not that way in the old days.
1t has not been very long ago when
there was no regular preaching in this
town of Spartanburg. Most of the
churches had preaching only once a
month. Then the singing a hymn or
two. reading IL portion of the Scrip
lures and prayer would take up
about twenty minutes. The sermon
would take about an hour and some
times longer.
Tradition says that sermons were
two hours long at Nazareth at time
not remembered by this generation.
II was not unusual years ago To nave
two sermons, one following the other
1t was quite common, if an "eXhorter
was present. for the eXhortation to
follow the regular sermon without in
termiSSiOn.
Colonel Zack Leitner, Il native Of
Fairfield county, used To tell how the
Seceder preachers of that county would
hold AN audience TWO hours or longer
Now and then Il preacher, after
preaching an hour and half would
announce Il psalm and ask the congre-
CATION To sing it while he walked out
and took ~ rest. On his return he
would begin where he left Off and give
their another hour or two.
In former days at the summer meet
ingS in this county the services often
extended from 10 Il. m. Ia 3 y. IN. An
hour intcrmisSiOn would be taken for
dinner. There would generally be two
sermons and two or three eXhUrta-
tiunS. These facts are given as Il mat
ter Of history and in no way is intend
Ell 10 reflect ON former or present
methods Of conducting religious meet
ingS
Thomas Hooker. who preached in
Connecticut in 1000 To l641. thought
hr had fallen short of his duty if he
didn't preach three hours. Each Of
cI1Inmcr'S sermons would have made
Il small volume. Calvin, Baxter and
Knox felt that woe would come To
their audiences if they did not preach
two or three hours. In this day and
time ii requires Il very full man t"
hold and interest AN audience an hour
and Il half. OF course there are some
who could talk three hours. but the
depth of the sermon would be in in
verse ratio to the length.
Perhaps the shortest sermon on rec
ord was preached at Ocean Grove. The
minister read his text in an impress
Sivr manner. looked over his cOngre-
CATION and said: Don't worry: it's
wicked" He then took his seat and
that was all of it. His congregation
never forgot it. y vicar in the north
of England preached a short sermon.
He announced his text. God so loved
the WORLD" etc. in an emphatic way
and said, My friends. did | speak an
hour. couldn't make the message any
palmer. I'll just leave ii with you"
An old and feeble clergyman Of Ohio
WAS asked to deliver an address To
raise funds for orphan children, many
of whom were present He arose and
viewed th, audience and then turned
To the children and said with deepest
sympathy: whence shall we find
bread that these may eat" The fee
bic veteran sat down and the largest
collection known in the community
followed.
Years ago an amusing incident uc-
CURED i'm this county. The regular
preacher died and Il substitute was
sent 1t WAS IL Weekday preaching in
a busy season of the year About Il
score of people met in the old meeting
house. The young newcomer was on
hand He preached and preached.
The women got restless. After he had
been whacking away for more than an
hour an official member walked up I"
the pulpit and quietly called him down.
After the people started home he said
that he regretted being stopped. for
he was just getting 10 the sublime
part of the sermon. The sublime
preacher WAS never heard Of in that
neighbOrhuOd again. Spartanhurs
journal.