POOR PREACHING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4931, 27 January 1926, Page 4

POOR PREACHING.

GOLDEN AGE OF THE PULPIT.

VIEWS OF DEAN INGE, Dean Inge believes that the golden age of the pulpit is over. Writing in the "Spectator” on "The Foolishness of Preaching,” he says :•— The standard pf preaching in the Church of England is certainly low. Not only is the average sermon uninspiring, but there is a de.arth of. outstanding whose reputations can be compared with those of Liddon, Magee, Phillips, Brooks, and Farrar.. The few preachers who can still fill any chuurch are men who, for one reason or another, are in the public eye; they are not great pulpit orators, .but they are known to have the courage of their opinions, and to say what they think. Most of the preaching in Anglican churches is unworkmanlike, and even slovenly, If we judge it as. we should judge other professional work. Our preachers do not tstudy the art of oratory eloquence a,s .the Nonconformist ministers do, nor do they as a rule put so much thought into their discourses as the Scottish Presbyterians, from whom their ' people demand stronger meat than would be acceptable to most English congregations. One of the greatest difficulties which the preacher ha>s to meet arises from the very different educational levels of his hearers.