Page:Sermons for all the Sundays in the year.djvu/28

 sit down, but it should be seldom. The same may be said of moving back and forward: but the preacher should never run from one side of the pulpit to the other. He should, for the most part, speak from a middle position, so as to be seen equally from either side; but it is useful to incline occasionally to the right or left, without, however, turning the back to the opposite direction. Finally, as far as regards the length of the sermon. The Lent sermons should not exceed an hour; and the Sunday discourses should not occupy more than three quarters of an hour; but the parochial instructions should not be longer than a half- hour, including the act of contrition, to which, ordinarily, it is advisable to accustom the common people; making them, at the close of the sermon, have recourse to the mother of God, to ask of her some particular grace as, holy perseverance, a happy death, the love of Jesus Christ, and the like. Nor does it signify, that in order to make room for the act of contrition, the time of the sermon must be shortened; for these acts are the most precious fruit to be derived from it. It were well that the preacher should sometimes exhort the audience to relate to others what they have heard in the sermon; as by this means it may be made useful even to those who have not heard it.