[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sot, —Mr. Clayton does well to attack the number and quality of the sermons preached to-day. Unfortunately, it is not generally realized that the Prayer Book only orders one sermon to be preached on Sunday, and that after the Creed in the Communion Service. There is no provision whatsoever for a sermon at Mattins or Evensong. We are ordered to catechise the children after the reading of the second lesson and Evensong, but now that Evensong is sung in the evening and not in the afternoon, this catechising is perhaps impossible.
The Church of England appears to be as much against sermons as is Mr. Clayton. It thinks, and rightly so, that a man cannot preach two sermons in one day. Was it not the great Bishop Andrewes who said : He that preacheth twice a day prateth at least once " ? Those of us who have to do it know the truth of this !
Yet, for all this, poor priests who are wearied to death with the cares and anxieties of large parishes are expected to preach twice on Sundays, in addition to catechising the children in the afternoon. The morning sermon is often preached by a man who is fasting, if he keeps the fast before Communion.
Now, why must this be done, seeing it is certainly not re- quired of us, and is severely criticized when it is done ? The answer is : " My people love to have it so." The remedy lies with the laity. So long as the laity are unable to come together for worship without a sermon, so long will this state of affairs continue.—I am, Sir, &e., SACERDOS QUIDAM.
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