His Purpose

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 16, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 24.

HIS PURPOSE.—Not many weeks ago, on a bright Sabbath morning, the preacher, having read his text, began a long paragraph with, “It is not my purpose this morning to,” and the next with the same, so continuing till the eleventh, when twenty-five minutes were gone, and then took fifteen to expound the simple idea of the text, leaving no time for enforcement. A mother in Israel said to him, “Your real purpose you never announced after all.” “Ah, what was that, pray?”—“To fill up the time.” Such “padding” often accounts for the slim attendance and the dozing of those who from habit or conscience go to church, no matter what is said or sung.—N. Y. Christian Advocate.