20 JULY 1912, Page 18

SOME CLERICAL DILEMMAS.

[To TILE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR...1 Sin,—" H. H. S.," in his humorous description of the difficulties that beset the preacher, has not mentioned one fact that seems to me to have accentuated and, perhaps, stereotyped the difficulty of preaching present-day acceptable sermons. A hundred years ago the sermon in the average village church was addressed to a congregation most of whom could not read, and the few who could read could hardly ever get any books. The sermon was therefore the comprehensive sub- stitute for all other forms of literature. Compulsory education and cheap editions have wrought a complete change in these