Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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r : ■ ; ' ■ 1.2 HINTS ON SERMONIZING. Written for Young: Preachers - From Preacher#' Journal. II. Work on Preparation.—Concluded The text being settled on, think abont it with all yonr might, and jot down yonr thoughts on paper to make sure of them, for now and then they are very log itive. After an interval of, say a few hoars (which you had better spend work ing quietly in the garden, or walk ing, or driving, having a bit of paper and a pencil convenient in case something should strike you which yon had not thought of be fore, examine your notes carefully, and select two or three thoughts which seem to you to be most im portant, and which relate to each other, i. e., which follow each other consecutively. Sometimes, indeed, one single thought will be found to involve so much that, if treated at all exhaustively, the sub ject under consideration will be pretty fully discussed. The thoughts thus selected you may re gard as your primary analysis; ex pand this, and yon have yonr ex tended analysis; then get some thing suitable by the way of exor dium and peroration—often almost as difficult a part of the work as any other. Yonr work is now vir tually done, for you have only to clothe yonr selected thoughts, am plified as above, in appropriate languge. All that has been said so far may be summed up iu a couple of very plain rales, namely, think till you find something to say about your subject which is worth sayiog and then put it in a form as intel- lible and attractive as you can make it. Yonr primary and extended analyses must, of oonrre, be trace able in your sermon, and you may, or yon may not, allow them to ap pear plainly in your preaching. In this you should be guided by the character of your congregation. Some old-fashioned church-goers dearly love to hear firstly, secondly thirdly, and so on. Such people, however, are gradually becoming fewer and fewer; and more’s the pity, for they are generally the most attentive and intelligent hearers. Oat of every ten thous and people who listen to sermons today, how many are like either of those charming characters in “Be side the Bonnie Briar Bush”—E's- peth Macfaden, Lachlan Campbell THE LUTHEEAN VISITOR and Jamie Sontarl Just fancy likely to expose yonrself to Nether- Elspeth, as she finished her twenty- three miontes account of a certain sermon which lasttd for two honrs, saying, when she mentioned the last subdivision: “That’s the laist, makin’ seventy-four, and ye may depend on every one bnt that fourth pint under the sixth head. Whether it was ‘the beginnin’ o’ faith or ‘the origin’ a’ canna be sure, for he cleared his throat at the time.’’ Bnt the same import ance is no longer attached to the sermon as a means of instruction as in those days; and, eo, the same pains are not taken with it by the preacher, nor is the same attention paid to it by the hearers—two re ciprocal evils. Probably the preacher is as much to blame as the people, for so many so called sermons contain so little food for thought that it must be very diffi cult for serious and intelligent men ffnd women to listen to them atten tively., As a rule, the more clever the sermon, provided the train of thought cau be followed by the average church goer, the more at tention it will receive; and the preacher shonld never forget that one great object of his edocation is to enable him to present certain great troths, involved in the gos pel, so plainly that they can be apprehended by those to whom be preaches. Oh I in these days of 'what may be called infidel intel- lectnalism, it requires a great deal of learning to enable a man so to preach what iq vulgarly called the simple gospel as not to repel the thoughtful man who is inclined to be sceptical, and so as to protect the believer against the danger of unbelief to which he is exposed, and so as to help him to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered nnto the saints.” Shall I write my sermons! is a question which mtmy a yonng preacher asks himself; and, you cannot form a better habit, seems to be the best answer. Bat whether yoa shonld take yonr MS. into the pnlpit with you is quite another question, which, however, will be referred to again. Remember Lord Bacon’s famous dictum, “Reading makes a full man; conference, a ready man; but writing, an exact man.” Well, then, write yonr sermons; at any rate, write them for some years, nntil yonr style be comes formed. Write, and yon will be surprised at bow many things yon will not say which yon would be almost certain to say if yon did not write; nor will you bo ton’s cauetic criticism: “It was licht wark tbe day. There was nae thocht worth mentionin,’ and ony- tbing he bed was eked oot by repeetitiou. Tae sue naethin’ o’ bairnly stories.” Write, and yon will find yonr time too valuable to be spent in copying into yonr MS. anecdotes of questionable propriety or stories more fit for the music hall than for the pnlpit. Illustra tions that are in good taste are quite another matter, and the use of them is unobjectionable; indeed they are sometimes more effective in explaining a truth, and fixing it in the mind, than the most logical arguments and elaborate discus sions. Write, and you will learn to be concise; you will never be gnilty of a solecism in syntax; and yon will be likely to learn tbe chaste use of rhetorical figures. Write, and not only will yonr ser mons be ready for the press if you should be asked to have any of them published, but you will have them for future use; for, except your congregation be far above tbe average, if a sermon be very bril liant or striking, it may safely be preached to tbe same audience after a lapse of, say, four or five years . Write, and, strange though it seems, you will be all the better prepared to preach in an emergen cy, even when the call is entirely nnexpected. Many a preacher who began his ministerial life by giving mnch attention to his sermons, but not by writing them, faying that writing was unnecessary, that it occupied too much time, that it took away a man’s freedom of ex pression, and so on, has been afraid to enter tbe pulpit on some special occasion, when tbe appointed preacher bad sent word at the last moment that he was nnable to be present, whilst the absentee’s place was taken by one noted for never preaching a sermon which be bad not previously written. So mnch for the practice of writing sermons depriving the preacher of his liber ty and unfitting him for being equal to an emergency. By the way, the frequent repetition of the capital I, which is so unseemly, will be avoided if the MS. be in tbe oratio obliqua, though tbe sermon, may be preached in the oratio directa. Do you say that the method in preparing sermons which is here outlined, including the writing of them, is mere drudgery! You were never more mistaken. It is anything else than drudgery, ex- Jannary 30, 1902 cept indeed to the man who is superficial, or lethargic, or indo lent, or downright lazy. Do you say that it involves a great amount of labor! You are quite right; bnt the labor is of each a sort that tbe more yon do of it tbe less laborious and tbe more pleasant it becomes. Besides, what important work, whether material or in tel liclual, secular or religions, has ever been accomplished with- ont labor! Can yon think of any work whichds really worth doing, and which, in proportion to its ex tent, can be done without much labor! Now in what other way can tbe preacher, true preacher, labor so legitimately as in prepar ing bis sermons! What pains are too great to be taken with tbe pre- para'ion of the religo-intellectual aliment which be is supposed to supply to those who attend bis ministry with the expectation of being edified by bis sermons! HOMES IN FLORIDA. 1 )KK80N8 DBXlKINU TO CM ANUKTHKIK . 1 location will do wall to lovealigate tbe merit .of Polk t'ounljr. Kla. Thare liea do 1 been a llccuaed taloon la the County for fourtern youra ami w« dealre to keep It ao. UXKTOW, the county arat, haa one of the hluheal g.-aded achoola lu the a tale with au enrollment of 473 puplla. CHl'aCHES: Methodlal. BapUat, Chrlatlan, Northern Preabyterlan. Kplacopal and Aaao- elate Reformed Preabytenan.' HKAITIIVCLNKftfl: rnaurpeaaed Humtrer Temperature: Loweet in tbe Uni ted Klatea. Winter Temperature: Itlibest In the United Slatea. PRODUCTS: Nearly eeery crop grown In the South, beetdea many not rained elaewhera. as well aa orangea and other cltiua fruit*, pcahea. n«R, plum*, a rupee etc. Fifteen yean experience In Heal X.lale en able-t mo to ofTer better bargalna than ever b • fora. I will he pleaa.il to furntah any Infor mation In my line. Don’t buy without aeelnt what you wet. Write or call mi K. C. STUART, Uartow, Fla. 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