LONDON PREACHERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 986, 4 March 1910, Page 7

LONDON PREACHERS.

It is generally agreed that London at the present time is not very well off for conspicuously great preachers. Pulpit eloquence of the highest type is as rare as that of the platform. The firmament is ablaze with stars, but few, if any. are of the fk-st magnitude. It would b? hard to say who is the most eloquent preacher in the metropolis at this moment. Yet there have been times when the ans ver to such a question would have been easy. This is true of all the churches. The Church of England has no Liddon or Magee. The Roman Catholics have no Bossuet or Massillon. Noncomformity has no one with the marvellous voice of Spurgeon, or J the tremendous power of George i Whitefield, or the superb gifts of j Robert Hall who used to preach his congregations to their feet in rapt attention. Nor is there at this hour anyone who may be compared with that strange, mystical genius, Edward Irving, when he drew all London to Hatton Gardon. But if there are no commanding preachers with I the power cf attracting the vast multitudes which used to flock to hear the pulpit, giants of an elder generation—when enhtusiasts thought nothing of walking 20 miles to hear a sermon—there are, according to the London "Daily Telegraph," good preachers in abundancb everywhere, and in all denominations. The old jibe, "Dulness is sacred in a sound divine," has lost its pnint. On the contrary, nothing is so certain as dullness to empty a church or chapel. For, in spite of what the stay-at-homes say by way of self excuse, pulpit oratory is just as popular today as ever it was, and 'people are just as eager to listen to a good sermon. No matter what the preacher's force may be, whether it be exposi ■ tion of doctrine—a thing somewhat rare in these days—practical exhort' [ ation, a "gospel sermon," or a vindication of the position of the Chris- [ tian Church, if there only be earnesti ness and sincerity in the message, it is received gladly. It may be true that "Some to church repair, not for the doctrine, but the music there," but the individuality of the preacher | has an immense effect upon the size I of his congregation and the regu- ► larity of their attendance.