# “Over-long sermons” by John Newton

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2019/03/15/over-long-sermons-by-john-newton/
- Published: 2019-03-15T17:00:23-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“Secondly (as we say), as to long preaching. There is still in being an old-fashioned
instrument called an hour-glass, which in days of yore, before clocks and watches
abounded, used to be the measure of many a good sermon, and I think it a tolerable
stint.

I cannot wind up my ends to my own satisfaction in a much shorter time, nor am I
pleased with myself if I greatly exceed it. If an angel was to preach for two hours,
unless his hearers were angels likewise, I believe the greater part of them would
wish he had done.

It is a shame it should be so: but so it is; partly through the weakness and partly
through the wickedness of the flesh, we can seldom stretch our attention to spiritual
things for two hours together without cracking it, and hurting its spring: and _when
weariness begins, edification ends._

Perhaps it is better to feed our people like chickens, a little and often, than 
to cram them like turkeys, till they cannot hold one gobbet more. Besides, over-
long sermons break in upon family concerns, and often call off the thoughts from
the sermon to the pudding at home, which is in danger of being over-boiled.”

–John Newton, [_The Works of John Newton, Vol. 2_](https://amzn.to/2Cpaxic) (Carlisle,
PA: Banner of Truth, 1824/2006), 2: 163.

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