The pulpit of St. Paul's on Sunday evenings does seem
to assume now and then rather much of the characteristics of a platform. I have read with interest the newspaper reports of the sermon preached there last Sunday by a coloured clergyman from Jamaica. No doubt the gospel was preached much more than was reported; the preaching of the gospel is not news. And nothing could be more natural than that the preacher should feel a burning indignation. about much that is happening in South Africa; I share that emotion to the full. But I cannot help feeling that there should be some distinction between a cathedral pulpit and, say, the Caxton Hall. Some things—for example, a fierce denunciation of Dr. Malan—that would be perfectly appropriate in the one place are not quite equally so in the other. In the Caxton Hall we are not invited to worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our Maker; in St. Paul's we are. The atmosphere of worship is primary. Practical questions, of course, cannot, and should not, be excluded from the pulpit, and no clear line can be laid down defining the point at which what is legitimate in "pulpit politics " becomes excessive. I only suggest that the existence of such a line, and the fact that worship and controversy are not easily reconcilable, should be recognised. * * * *
Previous page
