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SERMONS AND PUBLIC OPINION 289
of. Often the voice Is disagreeable, or the words Inaudible,
or the matter platitudinous. But it is noticeable
that very few people in a congregation discern what the
fault is, and practically no one fixes the responsibility on
the right shoulders. It is often asked, " Why are the
clergy not trained to speak ? " and the answer is quite
simple: that the community doesn't believe in training
and flatly refuses to pay for it. You can't get voicetraining
for nothing ; it is a difficult and highly scientific
branch of education ; and as no diocese has a sixpence
to spare, little or nothing is done. But I will recur to
this subject later.
As to the sermons being platitudinous : here again the
desire of the public is uncertain. Unquestionably the
majority of English people dislike being made to think ;
yet they also dislike listening to words they have heard
ever so many times before. They demand, in short, a
thing difficult to provide, viz. new ideas which sound like
old ones, or platitudes which sound like novelties.
Jowett once opened a sermon by saying that some people
come to church in quest of repose. Certainly mental
repose, but the sort compatible with the mind being
tickled, not left completely alone. Physical repose is
still common in the country districts, as was indicated by
the rustic who answered the question whether he liked
sermons long or short by saying that he liked to hear
" 'im a-goin' on " when he woke up.
Sermons would improve if regular church-goers would
make their wants more plainly heard. Nothing but public
opinion is needed to insure that young deacons should
have voice-training. But there are two other measures
the laity might take. One is to refrain from insisting that
parish priests should become parish hacks, immersed in
secular work which is not their job. The town parson of
to-day has no time to read or think. The other I have
explained already. If the lay people want sermons more
intellectual, it is foolish to forbid their cleverest sons to
think about Holy Orders, as a great many are doing