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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 149, 26 June 1877, Page 2

TO THE EDITOR OP THE « EVENIN« ? MAIL.' Sir,— Forborne reason or other great numbers of persons never go to any Church . at all. Surely to those who profess to believe in religion this is a matter worth enquiring into with the view of removing if possible any causes of offence or hindrauce. That" ■with maiy.of our young men, at any rate/ the cause Is a horror oi the I- long sermon " ' is indisputable. [And there' be mauy who-"*; regularly .attend divine service to whom the i inordinate lehgthiOf the discourse is indeed; " weariness ahd vexation of spirit." - Shall 4 then very many.be kept away: altogether, a •apd many who attend '.he vexed iustead of fl edifiedi beeajuse a few like long sermons? \ Is;: this the way to do the most good? But this ■*■ question ought to be discussed* on general*; grounds and in a calm manner. The twowriters who Have; replied to:'- Fs " remarks evidently wrote in great anger, and therefore. 1 without any force of reasoning'.'. The editors of |the Daily Times is, I 'presume, a regular" i Church goer, and from his* tone a sincereloyer of long sermonsj and has sought to; improve the occasion by more gently casti-" j gating him*, without, however, giving any reasoi fo.vthe faith, which is -ih him. Do clergymen of tensor ever think of the positive harm as welljas the possible gooii their. Sermons may do? If they did, I venture to think they would always have in mind two thin-js, not to weary their listeners with a superfluity of words, and not to shock them with illustrations and language that would . not be tolerated elsewhere. If we go back to, apostolic times, tbe only evidence we have proves tbat the discourses of the Apostles were short, stirring, and practical. And our Lord's sermon on the Mount is the best of all models a3 to what a sermon should be. No doubt clergymen often find difficulty in compressing all,they would wish to say on a particular subject into, a small compass, but the remedy is simple"; let them divide the one sermon into two or three. I Venture to think this plan would far better instil the instructions they wish to impart into the minds of their hearers^ There are some Churches* in which the sermon forms the principal part of the service, and is, as a rule, of considerable length. It is to be presumed the" congregagation like it. Tf ifc suits them they have of course a perfect right to its enjoyment. And I think the Clergy ought always to be guided by that which* they see by experience to be good for their people. And if they would always think of this, we should heiir few complaints about long sermons from any of the Churches, fori, who cau doubt that experience teaches that the majority of people in most of the Churches prefer and are most benefitted by a short pithy discourse? Yours, &c, Another Churchman.