TEDIOUS SERMONS.
FACTOR. IN CHURCH ATTENDANCES. Sydney, 3rd June. Considerable public interest lias been aroused by a characteristic address before the Anglican Synod, by Bishop Long, of Bathurst, on the question of sermons as a factor in church worship. Wihat Dr. Long says usually carries weight in the community, for he is one of the Anglican Church in Australia, and one of the outstanding public speakers. For the present lack of a deep pulsating enthusiasm for sermons in the church to-day, Dr. Long is inclined to blame the occupants not only of the pulpits, but of the pews as well —the congregation, in short, as well as the clergy. His attitude is that bad listeners tend to create bad preachers, just as a lethargic audience will discourage an actor or dampen and extinguish the oratieal fires of a politician. He generously admits, however, that, conversely, bad preachers make bad listeners, and in this the community is apt to con* cur in his observations, judging from the Press controversy that followed his speech. “The present generation,” he says frankly, “has no time for rambling, incoherent, long-winded, pretentious sentimentality; but it could, and would, appreciate terse, cogent, informing addresses which helped men to apply Christian principles to the conditions of present-day life, and justify the ways of God to man.” Which is precisely the position as the community sees it. If Dr. Long’s lesscr-cndowed brethren would only follow his admirable example as a terse, thoughtful, attractive speaker, sermons would not have the soporific effect that they sometimes have to-day.
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3047, 12 June 1926, Page 1
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257TEDIOUS SERMONS. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3047, 12 June 1926, Page 1
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