[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] • SIR,--Ari ounce of
experience is worth a ton of theory. May I give my own, even if it seems to involve an excessive use of the first person singular ? That, I am afraid, is unavoidable, but my experience is probably shared by many other country clergymen.
I preach every Sunday a written sermon to congregations of small farmers, agricultural labourers and their families. Their numbers have not varied appreciably during • my ministry of nearly twenty-four years. They come, as they have always done, and listen with all their attention. You can see it, and you might hear the proverbial pin drop., I 'claim no merit, except that I take pains in the preparation Of my sermons.
Of two things I am convinced. Religion and theology are difficult subjects, and a good many of the clergy think it necessary to speak about them to-their people, as ifthey were children, in words and ideas of one syllable. It does not occur to politicians to do so, when an election is coming on. They probably know what they are about, and address their audiences as rational men and women. People have more intelligence than they are credited with ; and any congregation can follow a train of thought, if it is clearly worked out and clearly expressed. I do not of course say they can remember and reproduce. How many could, even in an educated audience ?
Again, English country-people are tongue-tied. They take in a good deal more than they can give out. I have learned in preparing candidates for Confirmation and in catechizing, not to ask -too many questions. I speak about the points at issue, -and then say, " Do you understand ? " and if they say "Yes," that is enough.. I have sometimes been told, " I under- stand, but cannot put it into words."
" What is the effect of your sermons ? " I do not know and I never ask. I have done my best, and am content to leave it there. I am encouraged by the facts that people come and that they listen. Probably the effect of any given sermon is negligible, but many millions of sermons have been preached, and this continual dropping of water wears away the hardest stone. Of one thing I am pretty sure, and that is that the tone of English country-life in these parts is a good deal higher than it was a few years back. Perhaps the sermons of the country parsons have helped to bring it about, even if their contribution was no more than that of the fly on the wheel.—I am, Sir, &c., NORTON G. LAWSON. Haddiscoe Rectory, Norwich.
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