Article February 29, 1908 Issue

Bishop Potter recently forwarded to the Churchman...

Minneapolis (Minn.) Journal

Bishop Potter recently forwarded to the Churchman an anonymous letter sent to him which seemed to contain matter of value. The writer dictated it at the University Club in New York on his way home from church. The service at the church was perfect, he tells the bishop, "solemn, lovely, exquisitely rendered." But a shallow curate made a pitiable attempt to preach about the financial panic; and the layman in the pew felt his endurance overtaxed. The layman knew all about finances. The curate knew nothing. Hence the suffering of the former. The letter goes on thus:—

"For forty years and more I have felt that the exquisite beauty of the church's services made them the highest of privileges. But the tedium—the horror, I may say, as I am anonymous—the intolerable bore of the average sermon is too high a price for all but the most faithful churchman to pay—even for the privilege. Would it not be better to direct that curates should be given a sermon by some eminent clergyman of our church and directed to practise reading it—and then told to read it—instead of compelling congregations to sit through their struggles with words."

In his note transmitting this letter, the bishop says that this is a "burning" question and one that cannot well be evaded. He makes a suggestion that the church adopt the policy of specially licensing some of its clergy to preach after they have received a special training. He does not say that he would forbid the rest to preach, but that would seem to be the logical inference. A halfway step might be to forbid a curate to preach on any but chosen line of subjects. Why, for instance, should a callow graduate attempt to tell New York financiers about the financial situation?

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