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diff --git a/30609.txt b/30609.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..977e3cc --- /dev/null +++ b/30609.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5993 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Message and the Man:, by J. Dodd Jackson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Message and the Man: + Some Essentials of Effective Preaching + +Author: J. Dodd Jackson + +Release Date: December 6, 2009 [EBook #30609] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MESSAGE AND THE MAN: *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +_THE FOURTEENTH HARTLEY LECTURE:_ + + + + +The Message + +and the Man: + + + +Some Essentials of Effective Preaching + + + +BY + +J. DODD JACKSON. + + + + +SECOND EDITION. + + + + +LONDON: + +W. A. HAMMOND, + +PRIMITIVE METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, + +HOLBORN HALL, CLERKENWELL ROAD, B.C. + +1912. + + + + +TO + +THE MEMORY + +OF + +The Rev. James Jackson + +A PRIMITIVE METHODIST PREACHER + +FOR FIFTY-FIVE YEARS + +AND + +PRESIDENT OF THE CONFERENCE + +of + +1897 + +THIS BOOK IS + +AFFECTIONATELY AND REVERENTLY + +DEDICATED + +BY + +HIS SON. + + + "'A WORKMAN' NEEDING 'NOT TO BE ASHAMED, + RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.'" + + + + +PREFACE. + +It would be strange, indeed, if in the procession of annual volumes of +which this lecture is an unit, there did not arrive a book about +preaching. The work of the preacher holds so large a place in the +service and worship of God; it is, to all appearance, so essential to +the accomplishment of the purposes of the Redeemer; its content and +quality mean so much to the life and health of the Church; it has +played--and is destined to play--so great a part in the saving of +mankind, that, sooner or later, it was bound to come within the purview +of this lectureship. + +Now that, at last, the inevitable has happened, it may be said that the +following pages have been written under the conviction that one of the +greatest needs of the present day is a _pulpit revival_--a revival +which will issue in a new endeavour to realise the highest +possibilities of the divinest of callings. Many of late years have +wandered from the fold of the Church; mighty is the multitude of those +who have never been within her fellowship. The author is more than +convinced that any attempt to claim and reclaim must, to be successful +on a large scale, commence in a renaissance of Gospel preaching. With +the preacher, more than with the ecclesiastic or the musician or the +theologian, not to mention the Biblical critic and the religio-social +worker, rests the task of solving the great problem of twentieth +century Christianity. This problem is neither a critical nor a +theological one, but simply that of the age-long campaign:--How shall +we so commend the Christ as to draw the world to His feet? + +To this avowal, the writer would venture to add a brief personal +explanation. Strongly convinced, though he is, of the soundness of the +view expressed above, he did not enter willingly upon the task of this +book. His brother preachers will know what it is to be captured by a +text which comes uninvited and persistently demands to be preached +upon. How often such an arrest finds its subject unwilling, doubtful +of his powers, afraid to be obedient to the unsought command! So came +the subject of this essay to the writer thereof. For long he tried +strenuously, though vainly, to make his escape to the refuge of some +other topic wherein he might, less daringly, discharge the +responsibilities of this lectureship. He disclaims, therefore, any +presumption of which he may be accused in attempting an enterprise +which some may think is outside his province or beyond his powers. +This book embodies not a challenge, but a surrender! + +One word more may be allowed. Surely, no one will need to be told that +the "Hartley Lecture" is delivered under the auspices of the Primitive +Methodist Church, or that its delivery is included in the programme of +its Annual Conference. This will explain why the reader will find, +here and there, in the chapters here assembled, certain denominational +allusions of a historic and biographical character. Primitive +Methodists will readily understand them and, we hope, discover that +they add force to argument--strength to appeal. Readers of other +denominations will not find that the meaning of the writer is obscured +by any one of these references. As for the principles sought to be +commended and emphasised, any application they may have is not limited +by denominational boundaries. + +LONDON, + _June 1st_, 1912. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +INTRODUCTION + + +BOOK I. + +THE MAN. + + Chapter I. The Designation of the Preacher + " II. Things to be Realised + " III. The Need for Certainty + " IV. Individuality + " V. Concerning "Understanding" + " VI. Passion + + +BOOK II. + +THE MESSAGE:--ITS ESSENTIAL NOTES. + + Chapter I. The Note of Accusation + " II. The Note of Pity + " III. The Note of Idealism + " IV. The Note of Edification + " V. The Note of Cheer + + +BOOK III. + +THE MESSAGE:--ITS FORM AND DELIVERANCE. + + Chapter I. On Attractiveness + " II. On Transparency + " III. On Appeal + + +CONCLUSION + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +"There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, +the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High."--_Psalms_. + +"Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country +and go down into the desert." + +"And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, +shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall +the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according +to the months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary; +and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for +medicine."--_Ezekiel_. + +"But the water is nought, and the _ground barren_."--2 _Kings_. + + + +THE MESSAGE AND THE MAN + + +INTRODUCTION + +Among the many problems of a problem-ridden time the most important, as +it is the most difficult, is that of the apparent arrest which has +befallen the progress of Protestant Christianity in this and other +lands. For a long period now, we have heard from the various churches +an annually repeated story of decreases in membership, in +congregations, in Sunday School scholars. We have been told, also, of +a general decay of reverence for sacred things, of a growth of +frivolity, a surrender of high ideals and of old faiths to the spirit +of materialism which more and more, so it is said, dominates the age. +That Sabbath of our youth; that attachment by families to the sanctuary +which was so marked a feature of our national life; that fine old +English home life and filial piety; that deep communal consciousness of +God which, whether it produced personal profession of religion or not, +did at least create a sense of the seriousness of life and duty and so +make our people strong to labour and endure--these things, we are +informed, will soon be no more. Regarding the situation, all +thoughtful men are concerned and some are panic stricken. The account +given by the latter is to the effect that religion is losing its hold; +that the Church is being left high and dry; that the morality of +classes and masses alike shows darker signs of degeneration with the +coming of each succeeding day. + +Now, we are of those who, while trying to look facts in the face, +endeavour, also, not to see double and to keep heart of hope. It is +easy to make too much of statistics, and _very_ easy, in a moment of +depression, to come to conclusions concerning the state of the Church, +and the life of the world, which a day of brighter and truer mood will +greatly modify. There is no cause for either panic or pessimism, but +there is cause for the asking of questions as to reasons for the +condition of things, for the making of suggestions for their +improvement. + +And of such questions, many have been asked, questions relating to the +Church, her methods, her teaching, her attitude to the world around +her, to great social and moral issues. Of suggestions, too, there have +been many, and many of them have been seriously received and adopted as +the starting points of changes and modifications, the purpose of which +has been to stay the progress of alleged decline in this field or in +that. Beyond all admiration, has been the willingness to make +sacrifices and put forth efforts to win back the wanderer to the fold +which have been exhibited by those to whom changes are not always the +most agreeable things in the world. The unfortunate thing is that, +notwithstanding all that has been done, it cannot be claimed that the +problem has been solved. + +Now, it is a recognition of this problem, and of the fact that all +efforts so far made to find a solution and devise a remedy have failed +to meet with the success which had been hoped for, that has determined +our choice of a subject for this--the fourteenth Hartley Lecture. Can +it be possible, that in some degree, the preaching of the preachers has +been to blame for the things we mourn? + +From America we hear of a new profession which has been called into +existence as a result of the fierce competition of industrial and +commercial life. It is the profession of "the business doctor," and +already the idea has been justified. All is not well, perhaps, with +some great firm; rivals are getting ahead; profits are declining, and +"the business doctor" is called in to investigate and prescribe. He +goes from department to department, considering the methods pursued, +checking the expenditure on this, on that, on the other. He interviews +the partners, the managers, the men down through the various grades; +the books are open to him. He presents his diagnosis and writes his +prescription. The "business doctor" has been at work in the +churches--in _our_ Church. He has looked into many things. He has +made some suggestions. They have not all been foolish, but, as yet, he +has not quite hit upon the very thing. He has, however, not altogether +finished his work. Why should he not come into the preacher's +department, into the pulpit, into the study? Why should he not be +permitted to read some of those treasured manuscripts which have +been--shall we say the joy, or shall we say the discipline?--of so many +congregations? Why should he not be allowed to bring paper and pencil, +and, ensconced in a pew commanding full view of the rostrum, write down +the thing that is true about the part _we_ take in the work of saving +the world? Perhaps he may find that all is well. Perhaps he may find +that all is not quite well. If _this_ should be the case, how +important that we should know it. Discovery is often the starting +point of improvement. + +That, in view of the situation referred to, we should, each of us for +himself, _consider his preaching_, is the suggestion we would make to +every preaching reader of the pages to follow. We leave the figure of +the "business doctor," for every illustration is of limited usefulness, +which is a good thing to learn. There is but one authority capable of +conducting this inquiry in such a way as inevitably to make discovery +of the real truth. That authority is surely the preacher's own +conscience as taught, illuminated and guided by the Holy Spirit. At +once we make a confession:--This lecture raises a question, but does +not presume to answer it. We will be satisfied to set men asking and +answering for themselves. Here is the inquiry:--_Am I, as a preacher, +in any way to blame for the decline in Church prosperity, for the lack +of conversions, for such signs and results of spiritual indifference as +are to be seen on every hand_? This question may pave the way for +others:--Is there anything amiss with the substance of my preaching, +with its methods, with its spirit? If there be weakness here or there; +if it lack the true note; if it have lost strength to grip, sharpness +to probe, power to heal; if, in short, it lacks aught of being the +means of grace it was designed to be, can it be brought, once more, on +to the right lines? Our words may be as a river refreshing the Church +of God, and flowing out through the portals of the sanctuary, bearing +fertility and healing to the world; they may, again, from loss of +virtue, fail to enrich the waiting land. There will be living trees by +the living stream. There will be barrenness where "the water is +nought"! + +For preaching _has_ been effective and the story thereof is a story +full of glory. Within the single century of our own church history +what wonderful things have been done by the ministry of the Word. It +must never be forgotten by those of our fellowship that the Primitive +Methodist Church owes its existence to a revival of preaching. Our +founders were not seceders; they were preachers. They searched the +Scriptures not to find passages to hurl at theological antagonists, or +so-called ecclesiastical tyrants, but to find texts for sermons to save +sinners, build up saints and glorify the Saviour whom they loved better +than their own lives. These sermons they preached under the open +ceiling of the skies in Summer's heat, and Autumn's storms, and +Winter's snow. England had been waiting for just such preaching as +these rugged men came forth in God's name to deliver, and the common +people heard them gladly. Immediately succeeding our actual founders +came a race of preachers who carried the glad tidings East, West, North +and South, along the highways and byeways of England, gathering in the +lost and folding the gathered. Some of them, we remember, and could +mention them name by name but that the list is very long, and we would +insist upon lingering to speak of deeds as names came forth. We must +recall their triumphs, for the inspiration we will need as we pursue +the task before us now. + +Another thing that must never be forgotten is that, as our Church was +founded by preaching, and has been built up by preaching, by preaching +will it be upheld and increased, or not at all. We are forward to +recognise the immense importance of other branches of service and the +great part they have played in our wondrous past. The pastor carrying +the message of salvation and consolation to the homes of the fallen and +stricken; the teacher gathering the little ones around him Sabbath by +Sabbath; the tract distributor, now, alas! too seldom seen about his +work, but of great usefulness in earlier days--these and a score of +differently named toilers have laboured in the uprearing of this city +of the Lord. But ever the preacher has been the leader of them +all--the pioneer, the quarryman, the inspirer. The pulpit has been +ever the place of direction and, still more truly, of encouragement. +The Church has increased with the increase of the Preacher. Shall we +venture to prophesy? With his decrease shall come the decrease of the +Church. No Church has ever flourished in which the power of the pulpit +has declined. Primitive Methodism cannot afford to underestimate the +importance of preaching. _Her very life is in it_! + +So the subject of preaching is of first importance. This must be +recognised by the preacher, but not by him alone. It must be +recognised by the Church as well. The preacher is prone to put upon +the place and work of his pulpit much the same estimate as is put upon +them by his people. There is one Church in this land in which the +people think little of preaching. In some great sanctuaries of that +Church it is a common occurrence for the congregation to leave the +building as the liturgical portion of the service comes to an end and +the preacher takes his place. The preaching in that body, although it +has among its ministers men who are among the pulpit princes of the +age, is speaking generally, a sorrow to all who long for the coming of +the Kingdom of God. "Like priest, like people," we sometimes say. We +might say with almost equal truth, "Like people, like preacher." Are +there no signs of such a belittling of preaching in our congregations +as may have the effect of lowering the preacher's ideals of his +labours, or, at least, of damping his enthusiasm and spoiling the joy +with which his heart should always run over? Do we never hear it said +that "it does not so much matter in _our_ circuit whether we have a +preacher or not"? Have we never been told that really the man most +needed is "a visitor," or "an organiser," or "someone who can raise the +wind"? "We want a sociable man," says the steward of one station. "We +want a public man who will make his mark on the civic and political +life of the town," say the brethren of another. We recognise that the +gifts of men differ. We see that each, in his own order, may serve and +build up the Kingdom of God, but to rank the business of preaching as +second to any form of service; to care less for the pulpit than for the +class-room, the social, the entertainment, the bazaar, is a fatal +mistake. You may make the Church a successful business concern, an +interesting and delightful social circle; you may make it a pleasant +and intellectual society whither cultured people may resort for new +ideas as to an exchange. All this you may do and care little +concerning the preacher; but you can only make a strong Church rich in +spiritual grace and knowledge and usefulness and power by fostering, +with a care amounting to jealousy, the preaching of the Gospel of the +grace of God. If, therefore, out of the problem we have named, there +arises a question to be asked by the preacher concerning his preaching, +there also arises, just as certainly, a question for the Church. It is +a question as to whether preaching has always been allowed its chance +amongst us, whether we have helped the preacher to realise his best +possibilities by requiring them from him with an affectionate but +strong insistence. There may even be another question:--Whether we +have not sometimes actually discouraged the true preacher and sent him +sorrowing away, because, forsooth, it has happened that in his devotion +to the great work of his calling, he has seemed to underestimate the +importance of some activities we held to be within his duty. No man +can be master in everything; which is one of the lessons sorely needing +to be learned by us all. There have been preachers, mighty in word and +doctrine, whose hearts have been broken because of the blame thrown +upon them for failing to prove themselves equally skilful as financial +agents. Let the Church look well to this matter. Her preachers will +probably be as great, as effective, as successful as she requires and +encourages them to be! + +All this, however, is by the way, though of such moment that we might +well linger to lay emphasis upon emphasis. For the present we are +concerned more with the preacher than with his congregation. The +question we desire to put into his heart has already been indicated. +The inquiry is suggested for the use, not of one order of preachers but +of all. In the denomination to which we belong only one preacher in +eighteen is what is termed a minister. The question is proposed, not +only for the exercising of this one brother, but of the other seventeen +as well. It has been intimated to us that a book on this subject +"might be of special use to our young men." Glad shall we be if this +prove to be the case! But not among the younger preachers alone do we +seek to initiate this searching self-examination. Possibly it may be +even less needful to them than to the more mature. The most dangerous +days of the preacher's career are, after all, not its earliest. In the +enthusiasm which, almost always, attends his launching forth into the +work there is an element of salvation from some of the perils through +which he may lose his strength in years when, perhaps, that enthusiasm +may have passed with the novelty which now gives glamour to his tasks. +Then there is still another class whose consideration we would solicit +for what we may have to say. We refer to those--and they are many--to +whom, as yet, preaching is but an ambition, a dream, a prayer. Some +day they hope to stand before others, as now others stand before them, +to speak forth for Christ's sake the story which has so often warmed +their hearts. It is a glorious ambition; the human breast can contain +no higher. Will such as cherish it join with us in thinking of these +things? In order to arrive at the true answer to the questions +proposed we shall need to look in various directions. As a beginning, +we must, each one of us, go faithfully over his own record, tabulating +results so far as they can be ascertained. We are quite willing to +admit that some of the finest consequences of preaching may not be +known to the preacher, but there is always material for an estimate as +to the measure of success or of failure, which has attended his +efforts. Let us, therefore, go back through the years, back along the +path of bygone Sabbaths. Confession? No! For that we do not ask. +Our discoveries may well rest between ourselves and God. + +Let us make comparisons, too, however odious comparisons may be. Other +men are set within our view. There are preachers--thank God!--to whom, +even in these days, success is richly given. It may be one of God's +purposes that they shall be considered as examples proving the high +possibilities of the holy ministry when tuned to its highest notes. +Let us relentlessly bring our work into comparison with theirs. "If +_he_ succeeds, why do not I?" The results of such a measurement may be +disappointing, disquieting, humiliating, but the path to the best has +often a first mile of painful self-discoveries. + +Then there were the former days of our own ministries and the ideals +which in those days we cherished and have never forgotten. Let us +bring out present selves alongside of what we were; let us put the work +of to-day alongside of the work of that far-off time; let us compare +the dream with the fulfilment thereof. Have passing years dimmed our +ardour? Have they chilled our love? Have we gathered pulpit powers, +or lost them, as the days have flown over our heads? There is +somewhere a story of a man who, on his fiftieth birthday, received a +call from his own beardless self of thirty years before, and, when he +gazed upon his strange guest, he wept for what his visitor must see. +Can it be true that in point of effectiveness and real success some of +us were better preachers in youth than we are now after years of study, +of experience, of opportunity to wax greater in every way? + +There is still another test. Here are human sin, human sorrow. Here +are the perplexity of the perplexed, the fear of the fearful. Here +Rachel weeps for her children. Here the widow and the fatherless cry +aloud. Here are misery, crime, despair. The whole world is full of +hunger and thirst, of grief and wretchedness, of shame and remorse. +Let us bring our preaching into comparison with these! + +Above all other means of coming to the truth, let us take our preaching +back to Him who sent us forth. Let us, in His company, walk once more +the roads of Judea; with Him let us stand on the shores of Galilee, the +slopes of Olivet, the pavements of Zion, the heights of Calvary. Let +us listen to _His_ preaching and in His presence let us think of _ours_. + +So let us follow the matter to the end, painful though that end may be. +It is needful that we do indeed learn the very truth; needful for the +sake of _the Church_. She needs the Gospel for herself. She must eat +if she would live. The times are times of hardness for the flock of +God. It is necessary that a table be prepared in the wilderness. The +Church needs preaching, needs the inspiration of beholding the +preachers' victories. Nothing strengthens an army like a triumph. The +conquests of the preacher are the salvation of the Church. + +For the _world's sake_ it is needful that we come at the truth. The +age may not _want_ preaching, but it _needs_ it. Possibly it also +wants it more than we suspect. It must be preaching of the right kind, +however. Preaching that lacks the qualities proper to itself is worse +than useless. + +For our _own_ sake, we preachers must come at the facts as they are. +It lies before us all to give one day an account of our stewardship, +and the years are swiftly passing by. Now is the time for +investigation. Soon will come the hour when opportunity will be +succeeded by retrospect. Men have been known to make discoveries in +relation to this matter when too late; when only the possibilities of +regret remained. To look back over the past and think that men have +suffered in relation to eternal things as a result of our lack of zeal +or of faithfulness, or from some preventable defect in our dispensing +of the word, must be a sad occupation for those years when the +grasshopper has become a burden. The echo of our sermons will be in +our ears at the last. That echo will be either a song of gladness to +sing itself forever, or a lamentation to be soothed to sleep no more! + +To be of some little service in the course of this personal and private +inquiry this volume is sent out. It claims only to be a reminder of +things perfectly well known, but of the sort that need repeating. Will +our brethren of their charity acquit us of the charge of presumption in +taking up the theme now timidly approached? Many, very many, who turn +these leaves will bring to their perusal far greater ability, and +knowledge, and experience than we are able to wield in their writing. +A few men learn the value of wealth from the possession of it; more +from a lack thereof. Nothing better teaches the value of money than +the association in the learner's experience of hunger with an empty +pocket. What slight qualification for the production of this book we +possess has been obtained in a similar way. Some few things we have +learned; some we have proved through our many mistakes; some, again, +through our frequent failures. They will be found set down in the +chapters yet to come. + +As a general statement of the plan of our endeavour, it may be said +that we will try to speak of some essentials of effective and +successful preaching, essentials first in the preacher, then in the +substance of his message, and, finally, in the form and manner of its +presentation and delivery. + + + + +BOOK I. + +THE MAN. + + +THEORY OF BOOK I. + +To have Effective Preaching you must have the Effective Preacher. +Jesus Christ first Chose and Called His men and then communicated the +Substance of the Message He wished them to Declare to the World. To +every Preacher it is left to speak that Message in his Own Way. The +Importance of the MAN in relation to the accomplishment of the purposes +of the Message is therefore obvious, and with him we begin. + +_What are the Essential Qualities of the Effective Preacher?_ + + + +CHAPTER I. + +The Designation of the Preacher. + +The preaching of the Gospel is more than a mere utterance of certain +historical facts with deductions therefrom; more than a declaration of +certain doctrines with their applications. It is a highly complex +intellectual, moral and spiritual act. Two men may deliver the same +sermon. There may be similarity of voice, of manner, of delivery, but +one of these men will _preach_ the sermon, the other only recite it. +The difference may be almost beyond definition, yet it will be felt. +At the bottom it will be found to be this:--That one man is a preacher +and the other is not. + +So then the man himself matters? Indeed he does, and to the extent +that it is not the declaiming of what may be called a sermon that makes +a man a preacher, but the _man_ who, through self-expression, by being +what he is, makes such an utterance preaching. _First_ the preacher, +_afterwards_ the preaching. + +And in the preacher the first essential to effectiveness and success is +what we have called designation, and designation is in part natural and +in part spiritual. Natural fitness and spiritual calling, gifts, +graces and a divine revelation made to his own consciousness--without +these the occupation of the preacher's office, especially in the +capacity of the separated ministry, can only be a perpetual misery and +mortification to the so-called preacher. To those who come to him for +guidance in the things of God the result of their absence may be +incalculable and eternal! + +And, alas! there are to be found, in the ministry of all the churches, +men in whom natural and spiritual qualifications for their work are +absent and have always been absent. Concerning such men but a few +words, and those in reply to the reminders that we are continually +receiving of the ineptitudes and inaptitudes of preachers. These +things form a favourite topic with some people, to whom we will at once +say, that while there may be misfits in the pulpit, probably they are +there in no greater numbers than in other walks of life. We have known +such misfits at the bar; in the surgery; in the shop; at the bench. +The preacher's failure is of all failures the most public, and +consequently more discussed than are such other examples as we have +named. We have been so often told that "the fool of the family goes +into the Church" that we find a natural satisfaction in pointing out +that this particular fool is to be met with in every lane of life. +Never a war which does not reveal his presence in the army; never a +political campaign in which we do not see him being shouldered into +Imperial Parliament. Never do men talk together of their experiences +of bodily suffering, as sometimes even the least morbid of us will, but +some one is found to recall afflictions at the hands of the physician +of little wit. The "incompetent" is everywhere and if, sometimes, he +finds his way into the pulpit, those who jeer at the Church on his +account have little room for scorn. + +But, true as is this reply to the oft-repeated gibe to which we have +referred, it is also true that nowhere does the square man in the round +hole do quite as great and as lasting injury as he does from the +pulpit. The _right man_ for the work--_that_ must be the ideal of the +Church, that man and no other, whatever be the consequence in the way +of offending well-to-do supporters whose dream it has been that son of +theirs shall "wag his head in a pu'pit," whatever be the disappointment +caused to the uninspired ambitions of callow youth or the conceit of +later years. The pulpit is not for sale! The honour of standing there +is not to be dispensed as a reward or allowed as a compliment. Wealth +has no rights and poverty no disabilities as to the occupancy of this +high place. Only the preacher must be suffered there! + +And on this matter the Church must be jealous and alert. Sometimes the +responsibility for the presence of the wrong man in the pulpit rests +with her rather than with the man himself. It is open to question +whether the Church always regards with quite sufficient seriousness +this business of putting names "upon the plan." We have known cases in +which an individual has been persuaded against his own knowledge of his +qualities to set out upon a career which has brought to himself nothing +but failure and to the churches and congregations to which he has +ministered nothing but trial. We do well to be anxious to help men +into paths of Christian service, but it is needful to study the +adaptation of the man for the task. To send any man into the work of +preaching, either as a minister or as a lay preacher, merely to "find +him something to do," in order that he may be "encouraged in the good +way," as has been done in many and many an instance, is simply to +prepare difficulties for some one else to face. It is not sufficient +reason for aiding a man's progress to the pulpit that his ambitions run +in that direction, or that his relatives wish to see him in the +preacher's office. We have hinted at the possibility of giving +offence, and, of course, it is not pleasant to do this, especially +when, as is often the case, that offence has to be given to people whom +you love and honour for their works and character and sacrifices. In +this world, however, unpleasant things have to be faced, and frequently +the line of least resistance leads in the end to the greater trouble. +It is even more unpleasant to have to disappoint the hopes, and +discourage the desire for service, of some young aspirant whose piety +and devotion you admire; but it is better to hold a man back from the +very thing he longs for most than, by cowardly acquiescence in mistaken +purposes, to contribute to place him in a position for which he was not +born. Has this never been done? Have we never known officials vote a +formal recommendation "rather than hurt the young man's mind," or +"rather than estrange his parents who are such good supporters, you +know," trusting, meanwhile, to Providence for a happy issue out of all +their troubles? In the case of a local preacher the providential issue +may be the man's own discovery, sooner or later, of his own unfitness. +In the case of a candidate for the ministry some Connexional Committee +sitting in some distant town "may take a stand we cannot take who are +on the spot." These providences do not always come to pass. The +brother concerned does not always discover his unfitness. He is +frequently quite satisfied with himself, and remains so to the end of a +career long drawn out, with a persistent contentment which would be +amusing if its results were not so tragic. The Central Committee does +_not_ invariably "find out for itself" the facts we are afraid to +communicate, and, as a consequence, the candidate goes successfully +through, and in after years, as like as not, becomes a Conferential +problem. Often the truest kindness lies in doing the thing hardest to +do and most painful to bear, and in the doing of this thing the sacred +obligation of the church may consist. Here is a lesson that needs +learning and remembering. No man becomes a preacher in Methodism +except with the assent and calling of the Church. This must not be +forgotten when preachers are being criticised. Do you say that such +and such an one ought not to be in the pulpit? It is probably quite +true, but it is also true that some Church helped him up the stair. +He, poor man! is not the only person to blame for your unsatisfied +hunger; your unquenched thirst; your empty pews! + +But, to look at this matter of designation more in detail:--We have +said that it includes natural fitness and spiritual gifts and is made +manifest in a divine revelation to the consciousness of the person +concerned. Of this natural fitness, it may go without saying, the gift +of public speech will form a part. This should surely be regarded as +indispensable, yet how often do we come across instances in which the +importance of this prime essential seems to have been altogether +overlooked? It is not maintained that every pulpiteer need be a +Demosthenes, or that a man must possess the golden mouth of a +Chrysostom before he stands up to address his fellows on the concerns +of the soul. In these days orators are not numerous, and, if no man be +permitted to preach who does not possess this infrequent gift, +preachers will be few, while some of the greatest forces of the day +will be banished from the pulpit. What is needed is that a man be able +to express himself in such a manner as to command and retain the +attention of those to whom he speaks, and that, without outraging the +just sensibilities of the hearer whom he is sent to bless, he shall be +able to tell out the thing that is in him. Congregations are not +generally unreasonable in their requirements; indeed, as a rule they +are predisposed to indulgence, which has been well for some of us. +They do not clamour for an exhibition of elocution twice every Sunday. +They do not come to church demanding to hear in every preacher the +wonder of his age. But they _do_ ask that a man be audible; that his +voice, if not melodious as a silver bell, be human; that his +pronunciation, if not faultless, be distinct, and his delivery without +painful hesitancy or torrential rush. Surely these requirements are +reasonable enough, and it is, at least, open to question whether a man +who, manifestly, can never be able to meet expectations so moderate +should consider himself, or be deemed by others, as unmistakably marked +out for a preacher of the word. + +Along with the gift of utterance to be required in the man who is +designated to the pulpit will, almost invariably, be found a mind +studiously inclined. The days are gone when it was held that study for +the work of preaching the Gospel involved dishonour to the Holy Spirit +and unbelief concerning the promise of the divine enlightenment and +guidance. The words of Paul to Timothy are now accepted as a necessary +principle of pulpit preparation. "Study to shew thyself a workman +needing not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth," wrote +the Apostle; but it is not every man who is gifted for study. Books, +to some, are irksome, and much study a weariness to the flesh. They +"simply cannot do it," try as ever they may. Now we will not say that +such a man can never become a preacher. We will not even say that he +can never become a _great_ preacher. There are some great students who +read few printed books--unconscious students, you might almost call +them. Again, some men arrive at great truths through intuition, and by +natural endowment of words are able to express them with an artless art +beyond the power of academies to teach. We must never forget that some +of our greatest and most successful preachers have been "failures" at +college and "hopelessly out of it" in examinations. Still, such men +are exceptions, and exceptions who, in almost every instance, have, in +various ways, given such proof of their exceptional endowments that +there has been little danger of their lack of bookishness proving a +barrier to their election for labours for which they were, from obvious +evidences, designed. Notwithstanding all that may be said of these +exceptional cases it should be wisely and carefully discussed whether +the man who always prefers the street to the study, the crowd to the +class, the newspaper to the treatise, was ever meant to spend his life +in instructing his fellows in matters that call for the deepest +thoughts of men. + +It is, however, quite possible that a man may have gifts of public +speech, and possess a studious disposition, and still be without the +_preaching mind_. Such a mind will be more sensitive to spiritual +truths and influences than the average intellect. It will manifest a +talent for religion, a natural interest in things that are divine and +heavenly for their own sake and not merely because they are to form the +themes for appointed discourses. The "delight," as well as the life +work, of such a mind will be in the Law of the Lord. Its possessor +will not find himself hopelessly bored by the study of theology any +more than the born physician will find himself hopelessly bored by the +study of physiology or anatomy or pathology or materia medica. Again, +to the preaching mind spiritual vision and spiritual hearing will +commonly be attended with less effort than in the case of most men; +though even the preacher will find that there are times and _times_. +Spiritualism talks of its "mediums," some of whom are said to "see" +while others are said to "hear." The preaching mind will be in the +best sense both clair-voyant and clair-audient. Call the man a seer, +if you will, and speak of preaching as prophecy, and you will describe +as well as it can possibly be done the designated preacher and his +work. It remains to be predicated that such a man will possess, at +least, a more than ordinary endowment of tact and aptness in dealing +with men, holding keys to their consciences and their hearts. He will +have some special gift of natural power to move his fellows toward the +action they would rather not perform. He will abound in that precious +sympathy with humanity that _feels_ the truth concerning other lives +which it cannot always _know_. To express our meaning in still another +tabloid phrase:--The man meant for the pulpit will possess a genius for +spiritual things. + +In these few, incomplete lines we have indicated some of the natural +gifts whose possession should be held essential to the proof of a man's +designation for the preacher's vocation. Before the Church suggests +this service to one of her sons she should be satisfied of the presence +of these qualifications; not, of course, as matured and perfected +talents--that would be to ask the impossible--but as evidenced in signs +visible to the searching eye. Before a man yields to such a +suggestion, however kindly and urgently expressed, even if it only +point to a place on the plan of some struggling rural circuit, he +should know that nature has already in some degree fashioned the +instrument for the work. + +But natural endowments and indications are not--need we say?--the whole +necessity. Our fathers talked not only of "_gifts_" but also of +"_graces_" and of "_fruits_" as well. The work of religion should be +realised by the preacher as a personal experience and prove itself in a +life accordant therewith. It is perfectly true that every hearer ought +to be as good as the preacher, but, paradoxical as the remark may +appear, it is none the less true that the preacher ought to be better +than those to whom he preaches. It is an absolutely sound instinct for +the fitness of things--an instinct honourable to the preacher's +office--which asks that he who discourses concerning the elements of +piety, calling upon men to embody them in works of faith and +righteousness, should prove his own possession of those elements in the +same way. It was laid down of old time that "they must be clean that +bear the vessels of the Lord." "Who," asks the Psalmist, "shall ascend +into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy place? He +that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul +unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully." + +So, before the Church sends out a man to preach let her search his life +to see not only whether he is able, but, also, whether in his character +and deportment grace and truth are so displayed as to give him +authority in calling upon others to live the holier life. Let the +Church look, too, for some signs of _whole-heartedness_ in religion. +Zeal must be regarded as indispensable. We have heard a Circuit +Quarterly Meeting refuse to accept the recommendation of a young man +for the plan because he invariably failed to attend the Sunday night +prayer meeting in his own church. Would that every Quarterly Meeting +had the moral and spiritual courage to take so wise and discriminating +a course! Further, when the church _has_ asked a man to assume the +ministry of the word, let him see to it that he take the candle of the +Lord into the secret places of his heart and search diligently therein +lest, in going up, he take with him that which will spoil his labours +and bring dishonour upon the truth! He had better a thousand times +tarry for a more perfect work of God to take place in his soul than do +that! + +And now comes the greatest and most vital question of all. To a man +may be given gifts many and acceptable; he may have received grace for +grace; he may have known deep and wonderful experiences of heavenly +things, and yet it may _not_ be the will of God that he shall be +numbered with the preaching host. There are other noble kinds of work +demanding all the qualifications already named, and his powers may be +given to be expended in one of these. The preacher's designation, +therefore, is never complete until the Holy Spirit has spoken in his +soul the direct command of God. This must be clear and unmistakable. +Personal desire and ambition so often lead men astray. "Beloved, try +every spirit whether it be of God." This is a word to be followed +here. If only it had always been remembered how many tragedies had +been averted! + +For God _does_ directly call those whom He will for this office, and +those whom He so calls will certainly recognise His voice. This is +assumed everywhere in the Scriptures. This is proved in the experience +of the ages. How often in the Old Testament do we find the record of +such a revelation? Samuel in the Temple, in the darkness and silence +of the night, hears with the ears of childhood the word that invites +him to his destiny. To Isaiah, "in the year that King Uzziah died," +comes in the Holy Place from "a throne high and lifted up" the +question, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" and he answers, +"Here am I, send me." In the terms of these histories is enshrined the +story of the vivid way in which the Almighty revealed His will to the +conscience of men of old time. The narratives of the New Testament +still further illustrate the manner of the divine compelling. How +urgent His call may be, is heard in such a cry as this; "Woe is me if I +preach not the Gospel!" Here was a man to whom preaching was no +personal ambition, no mere means of livelihood, who, indeed, "wrought +with his own hands that he might not be chargeable to any." To Paul +this ministry was a divine compulsion; a duty only to be escaped at the +cost of spiritual peace, of the serenity of perfect obedience. In all +generations this experience has been repeated. Read the life stories +of those who have wrought great works with the hammer of the word, and +in every such record you will certainly light upon a page upon which +will be told the story of the call that could not be disobeyed. The +older biographies of our own preachers abound in accounts of how they +were spoken to from on high. In those days there was little earthly +advantage to be gained from the work of a Primitive Methodist preacher, +itinerant or local. Persecutions were many and the labour was +hard--_very hard_. Often do we read of men struggling to escape from +the order which had come unto them, and only yielding at last, because, +for love of Him who entreated them, they could do no other. "_Sent_ by +my Lord," they cried, "on you I call!" + +And this clear word which came to men of old time, which has always +come to the man whose work was to lie in the breaking of the bread of +life--this clear word must still be regarded as essential to a perfect +designation. Of course, there is but one man to whom _this_ supreme +indication will be apparent, the man to whom the voice has come; so +that with the preacher, himself, lies the final responsibility of his +presence in the pulpit--a sent, or unsent, man. Do we say that it is +to ask a hard thing to insist that no one shall preach who cannot say +confidently that he knows himself to have been moved of God to this +place and labour? Hard, perhaps, it may seem, but "strait is the gate +and narrow is the way" into this excelling service. There are many +hard things in the ordinances of the Kingdom, and, perhaps, it has not +been well that we have so often sought to broaden the path, to widen +the gate. Possibly there might be fewer preachers if all we have laid +down were insisted upon, but there might be more power; there might be +more success. + +Designation made plain by gifts, graces and an inward sense of Divine +election--this then is the first essential in the _man_. The +recollection of this will prevent the office of the preacher from being +regarded simply as a profession. When a man enters the ministry "for a +living," or because, forsooth, he has social aspirations, he has taken +a downward, and not an upward, step. When he comes into the work +because all his nature, all his experiences, all the results of +religion in his heart and life urge him on, the Lord saying "Go thou +and I will be with thee," then glorious is his calling, and glorious +will be his record when the day is done! + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Things to be Realized. + +It is absolutely essential to the successful preaching of the Gospel +that the preacher should realise the greatness and dignity of his +position; and having once come into this realisation, it is also +essential to continuance in well-doing that he abide in it. In himself +he may have little in which to glory, but in his calling he has much +indeed. + +For what is the Christian preacher? He is the very messenger of Jesus +Christ to men. He belongs to an order founded and recruited by the +Master Himself. First He sent out "the seventy," who probably soon +returned; afterwards He sent forth "the twelve," armed with a permanent +commission. When, in the ranks of this early band, a vacancy arose +through the unfaithfulness of one of its members, He made choice of +another. From the opened skies He arrested Saul in his journey to +Damascus that he might be a chosen vessel to bear the truth to the +Gentiles. From that day to this He has been calling and sending, not +less really, a succession of men every one of whom might with Paul have +called himself an ambassador of the King of Kings. Of course there +were preachers before the apostles and there was preaching before +Pentecost. The prophets were preachers, and mighty was their +proclamation of the divine message--so mighty that though addressed +primarily to their contemporaries it lives and burns to-day. Later, in +the period lying between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning +of the New, there were notable preachers in Israel who kept alive the +Messianic hope and sought to "prepare the way of the Lord and make His +paths straight." There was preaching in the synagogues in our Lord's +own day, and He but observed an established custom when, "entering into +the synagogue" at Nazareth, as was His practice "on the Sabbath day," +"He stood up for to read," and "there was brought unto Him the book of +the Prophet Esaias." He had a text that day, and He preached from it, +and, if the end of His discourse was that He was thrust out of the +synagogue and was like to have been put to death, it was because of the +unwelcomeness of the word He spoke, and not because He had introduced a +new order of service into the sanctuary of an intensely conservative +people. He preached in the synagogues of Capernaum, too, "and they +were astonished at His doctrine, for the word was with power." John +the Baptist was a preacher who was more than a prophet, and to his +preaching doubtless the Lord Himself listened more than once. "And +John began to say unto men everywhere repent." Such seems to have been +the burden of his message until that hour when he suddenly found his +sweetest music and cried "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the +sin of the world." Yes, there were preachers before Christ, and long +previous to His coming "it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching" +to save them that believed. Jesus, however, gave to the order of the +preacher a new institution. He put upon the lips of His servants a new +message. They were to go, no longer to the children of one favoured +nation only, but "out into all the world, and preach the Gospel to +every creature." From all classes did He gather the men upon whom He +put this glorious burden. Here was a fisherman fresh from his toil +upon the deep; here a publican newly come up from the receipt of +custom; here a husbandman from distant farm or vineyard, and each was +commanded to go "in My name." Each was the representative, the +ambassador of the King. Each was promised His help; each the baptism +through which memory was to be quickened to recall the words He had +spoken--the baptism which was to explain sentences which, at the moment +of their utterance, were full of perplexing and affrighting mystery to +such as heard. Almost His very last words on earth concerned their +mission. Then came Pentecost, the gift of power, the descent of the +Holy Ghost upon the waiting company in the Upper Room. Signs and +wonders filled the hour. The word was with assurance and ran like fire +among dry stubble. The multitude was pricked to the heart. Soon +followed the Herodian persecution, and the preaching band was scattered +abroad. As a result "they went everywhere preaching the word." So the +voice of the preacher proclaiming the new faith was heard throughout +the countries of Asia Minor and in learned Greece and warlike Rome, on +Mars Hill where walked and taught the philosophers in the presence of +the admiring and novelty-seeking sons of Athens, in the palace of the +Caesars whence ran the currents filling the arteries of the world. +Westward, Eastward, all over the known earth they went, and still they +preached, until, in years that seem very few, when we think of all that +had to be done to make true the boast, it was said "the Christians are +everywhere." + +And no preacher has ever risen to any true sublimity of service and +success who has not connected his own place, and his own work, with the +events of this great history. He is of the same company as were Peter, +Paul, John, James, Apollos. The spiritual dignity conferred upon +_him_, the responsibility laid upon _his_ shoulders, are of the same +kind as were theirs. We stand for a doctrine of Apostolic Succession, +but it is not a succession dependent upon a ceremonial ordination +dispensed by a privileged and ghostly class. It is a succession of +gifts, of graces, of commission, of power, of victory. The true +preacher is God's messenger. Does he stand before thousands--a man of +learning, of eloquence, of far flung fame? His highest glory is not in +any one of these things, but in the fact that his commission is divine. +Does he plod--a poor "local brother" from mine or loom or plough or +forge--along dark lanes and over wild moorlands, in order that in some +distant and lowly village sanctuary he may speak to a few simple souls +of heavenly things? Let him not be depressed by the toil of the +journey; let him not be disheartened by the smallness of the audience. +Rather let him lift up his head in humble pride that he is counted +worthy to make this errand, to utter this testimony, for in the King's +stead he goes, and in the King's name he speaks! + +A great, good thing would it be if only the divinity of their calling +could be brought home to all who minister among us--brought home, we +mean, as a constantly realised truth, warming always and inspiring the +hearts of our preachers and giving confidence and authority to their +word. The oft-quoted prayer, "Lord, give us a good conceit of +ourselves," might well be offered with some small change of terms. We +do need a "good conceit" of our office. From such a conceit so many +great thoughts would flow, such a sense of the importance of our task! +We should hear less complaint concerning "poor appointments"; we should +hear less criticism of the sermons of humble but sincere men, if +preacher and people alike remembered that this commission was given on +the steps of the throne. Let the preacher think small things of the +preaching office and small service will be the inevitable result, small +sermons, small faithfulness, small harvests when the reaping time shall +come. Let the preacher live in the great facts of his history! Let +him realise--he cannot magnify--his office! This is the word we would +speak into every preacher's ear throughout our Church. There would be +little murmuring concerning poor sermons and forgotten appointments if +only this fact could win home. We are persuaded that the cause of much +of the poor and careless preaching, the preaching that is perfunctory +and cold and lifeless, lies in this:--That here and there are preachers +who have never realised the glory of their delegation. + +Another realisation into which the preacher must come before his +preaching can reach its highest possibilities, both as to quality and +results; and in which he must abide if his ministry has to remain upon +the heights, is that of the supreme distinction of the message he has +to proclaim. It is a _divine_ message which has been divinely +entrusted to him for conveyance to his fellow-men. In regard to this, +too, he must occupy and speak from high ground. He is not merely one +among the world's many teachers, not simply one among the many +speculators who come with theories first ingeniously spun by the +spindles of imagination, then woven in the looms of logic. He brings +not a theory but a revelation. He is not "one of the philosophers" +classified and catalogued with the rest. He is a messenger. Behind +him is One who sent him; and the message is not a philosophy but a +"way." It is neither a guess, nor a speculation, nor a deduction; it +is God's word to men! + +Now it may seem a needless thing to insist with such emphasis upon this +view of the substance of true Christian preaching, a view that we hear +and repeat almost every day; but it is not so needless a thing as may +appear. Is it not true that some preachers condescend too much from +the word given unto them? Is it not a fact that some of us fail from +very wont and use to live in the thought that our message is as far +above every message as the Name it reveals is "above every name"? Has +the preacher never been guilty of turning aside from this theme of his +to what the Apostle called "cunningly devised fables"? It seemed to +him that the old story had become so well worn that, for the sake of a +little novelty, which might, perhaps, attract the people who stayed +away, he might turn into some subject less hackneyed than the staple +stock of pulpit addresses. The reason was a very plausible one, and +the preacher altogether sincere. The people _did_ come to hear him, +too, as they had not come concerning the other matters he had been used +to expound. There was a little mild sensation, and sensation is an +agreeable variant of the dulness of grey and monotonous years. Most +folks were pleased, it seemed--indeed all were pleased who were of "any +real account." Many people even waxed complimentary and the preacher +had hard work to keep his humility in flower. The only people who +complained were those survivals of far past ages whose antediluvian +notions accord so ill with the progressive spirit of our times. Of +course _they_ grumbled a little; said the preacher gave them less than +the best, that he went to the newspapers for his subjects and +to--Heaven-only-knew-where for the treatment of the "topics" so +selected. They complained, too, that the only advantage of leaving the +old wells was that the effervescence of the new beverage drew larger +congregations of a sort to whom effervescence is everything and they +even made the amazing statement that the great purpose of preaching was +not, after all, to draw great congregations which might be accomplished +in association with failure as well as in association with success, but +to change the hearts and lives of men and nations. They were actually +so unkind as to remark that of this latter kind of work there could be +little done excepting as a result of faithfulness to "the old +Gospel"--a term getting, nowadays, rather out of date. They _said_ +this, and they claimed to prove the statement by figures they unkindly +produced. The thing for the preacher to do, they contended, was the +work he was _sent_ to do. The greatest subjects possible to him were +the subjects _given_ unto him. Christ's word, they held, was +infinitely better worth repetition and interpretation than any other +"word" the world had ever heard. Who shall say these critics were +wrong? The preacher falls below the splendour of his high calling when +he turns from the thoughts of God to the dreams of men. + +Of this mistake, however, there need be little fear if in his own soul +the preacher dwell upon the glory of his "treasure," the preciousness +of the seed he has to sow. "Thus saith the Lord." With these words he +will refresh his faith and courage what time he challenges the +attention and demands the reverence of men. "God hath spoken, once +have I heard this; nay twice," so he sings to his spirit as he enters +into controversy with those to whom he is sent. "Come, let us reason +together, saith the Lord," thus may he invite rebellious men into +confidence concerning all those things that matter to the soul. To +him, _even him_, God hath revealed Himself. Through the written word +has He spoken directly to _his_ heart and mind. To _his_ prayerful +inquiry and diligent searching has He made known His will, _his_ mind +being chosen as the organ of a revelation, honouring his devout spirit +and earnest striving to know the truth. Through the varying phases of +the experience of _this_ messenger of His He has shown him the deep +things of God and disclosed new applications of truths already known. +God reveals Himself to men to-day. Let us at least allow ourselves the +joy of believing that He has no favourites; that London or New York is +as dear to Him as Jerusalem; that He will, and _does_ speak as +certainly through the prophets of our times as through those of any +far-off century in the history of the race. Of this high doctrine +every new sermon ought to bring fresh proof to the preacher's own soul +as well as to the people who hear the latest word from heaven through +the spokesman of the skies. So the wonder grows!--_An ambassador of +the King, speaking the King's own word, spoken to me by the King +Himself, my heart burning within me the while He talked with me by the +way, my own soul growing strong in the incoming strength of living +truth warm from the lips of God_! Stand we here--each for himself? +Indeed we must do so; for unless we do, abiding in this consciousness +as to our calling and our work, we shall lack full furnishing for toil +and accomplishment, for noble battle, for glorious victory! + +And if it comes to pass that sometimes the preacher fails to realise +the greatness of his position and the true distinction of his message, +and that his preaching suffers loss of effectiveness as a result of +such failure, it also comes to pass, not infrequently, that he fails to +realise, as he should, the _great purpose his efforts are meant to +serve_. This failure also must hinder his preaching of the success it +should command. Behind the labours of the humblest of the preaching +army lies the purpose which lay back of all God's dealing with the +race, which moved Him to give His only begotten Son; the purpose for +which He who was rich and for our sakes became poor, came to earth and +"was found in fashion as a man." The purpose behind the preaching of +the preacher is one with the purpose behind the cross; it is, in short, +that purpose of infinite love which contemplates and designs the +salvation of the race. "The Son of Man is come into the world to seek +and to save that which was lost." "_That which was lost!_" The +meaning of this word is surely not exhausted in the application of the +text to individual wanderers however great their number. The whole +world "was lost," and to seek and to save the world, "from the rivers +to the ends of the earth," He came--to bring back all humanity to +faith, obedience, love, purity, happiness and glory. + +For the attainment of the highest possibilities wrapped up in himself +and his work the preacher must be possessed by this imperial design. +He must _feel_ that he is fighting in a campaign for world +conquest--for that and no smaller end. We hear, in these days, a good +deal about imperialism in politics. We are encouraged to teach this +imperialism to our children, and the argument advanced in support of +the advice is that the learning of the lesson will have influence on +the way in which the scholar will perform the humblest tasks awaiting +him in life. The Imperialist, it is said, will find himself saved by +his imperialism from sordid views and actions, from all temptation to +make small personal ends the measure of his service as the days go by. +Experience, alas! has hardly justified the prophecy. We have seen the +well instructed and professed Imperialist display much the same +infirmities and proclivities as other men. We have heard of him +speaking of the British flag, that most sacred symbol of his faith and +hope, which it is his high mission to plant on every shore, as an +"asset"; and we have found that questions relating to dividends were +not altogether alien to his proud determination to "fling the red line +further yet." But there is an imperialism in religion which has a +happier history. That man possesses it who thinks of every blow struck +for God as a blow struck in an age-long and world-wide warfare. This +imperialism _does_ redeem the days, and _has_ a royal and quickening +effect upon the labours of all who are in bondage to its spell. Such +an imperialist is no longer the servant of this denomination or that, a +mere agent hunting recruits for his own little connexional "interest." +He may seek to attach men to his Church, but only because that Church +is part of the great confederacy of states-divine. He goes to his +appointment in yonder tiny hamlet, where but few are assembling to hear +him, as went out Alexander to subdue the nations to his will. It is +often said, and it is a saying too often received with small approval, +that the Church which does most for the support and advocacy of +missions to the heathen invariably does most for the spread of the +Gospel within its own district as well. The saying, we repeat, is not +always received with enthusiastic approval, but it is true +nevertheless, and it is capable of easy explanation. This superior +devotion to the spreading of the Gospel at home follows as a direct +result of a realisation of that Gospel's all-embracing, all-conquering +purpose. That purpose _must_ be realised by the Church if she would +get unto herself the victory. With no meaner proposals must she go +into battle, or else the chariot wheels will run heavily and the young +men will faint and be weary. What is true for the Church is, if +possible, still more true for the preacher, for the tasks of leadership +and inspiration are in his hands. He must hold firmly to the ideal of +a new world wherein dwelleth righteousness. To labour for this, and no +meaner dream, must be his constant and unfailing resolve. + +And how are we to keep this sublime purpose of God ever in +recollection, making it our own? Ah! here is a question! We have all +heard and assented to this grand design of infinite love. We all +believe that "through the ages one increasing purpose runs." But to +believe in the sense that we do not disbelieve, is _one_ thing, and +profoundly and constantly and vitally to realise a truth is _another_. +It is so easy to forget a belief when everything around us seems to +contradict the possibility of its fulfilment. The labour of the +preacher is often very hard; often, in its immediate results, extremely +disappointing. The present and immediate care, the difficulty to be +faced _here_ and _now_, so much concern and so much, at times, depress +us. So much effort must be put forth even to _keep living_, so much +patience even to hold up under the burden, that it is little wonder if, +at times, we forget that our strenuous struggle is in fulfilment of a +great plan to eventuate in the accomplishment of an eternal purpose. +If we do hold the thought it is too often only in a theoretic way. It +does not _dominate_ us as it should, and as it would if once it seized +us by the heart. Perhaps, more than in the case of most things to be +realised, it requires great grace to make the soul able to grasp it. +Perhaps, again, the purpose of God seems to ask more from us than we +care to give, and the fear of the sacrifice required blinds us to the +glory of that purpose. As long as the preacher's programme is +parochial or merely patriotic his preaching will lack the clarion note. +Small conceptions of the will of God make mean service. God's +intention is to reign on earth as He reigns in Heaven. Let us live in +this assurance if we would help His kingdom in. + +But there is still more to be realised before the preacher has grasped +all the golden truth with which God would fortify and cheer him for the +task he is sent out to perform. Did we say that he must come into a +consciousness of the true dignity of his office? Did we point out his +need to discern the true glory of his message, which is that it _alone_ +is the message that is indeed from the heart of God? Did we emphasise +the preacher's need of a clear view of the infinite, loving purpose +behind the work he is sent to carry through? To all this he must add a +clear and constant vision of the victory to come. In that vision he +must live as though the music of the triumph were already falling upon +his ear. There is no room in the pulpit for pessimists or pessimism. +The man who thinks that the world is growing worse, and _will_ grow +worse, and _still_ worse, moving down the slopes of inevitable +perdition until the final catastrophe shall burst upon it--that man has +no right to pose as a preacher of the gospel of glad tidings to men. +Not so did His Master look forward to the days to come when "for the +joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the +shame." Such a vision was not in _His_ eyes when He said, "And I, if I +be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." Failure! That is a +possibility the preacher must not admit, even in secret to himself, if +he would not find his strength stolen and grey hairs upon him here and +there! + +And in the spirit of victory he not only _must_, but _may_ live. There +have been darker ages than this in which the preachers have alone held +up the lamp of hope. Times of apparent unfruitfulness do come, times +of drought do fall upon us, but they _pass_, for silently, secretly God +works on and on. Let us believe in _Him_. His are the yet uncounted +years. He prepareth His ways in the darkness, "and He will bring it to +pass." In that faith alone is great, true and mighty preaching +possible. + + + Thus, with somewhat of the seer, + Must the moral pioneer, + From the future borrow; + Clothe the waste with dreams of grain, + And on midnight's sky of rain + Paint the golden morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The Need for Certainty. + +One of the most obvious lessons to be learned from a study of church +history is a lesson teaching the necessity of the positive note in the +pulpit. The great ages of Christianity have been those in which +affirmation has been clear and definite and strong. The great +preachers of the past have ever been positive preachers, men whose +assurance concerning their message was heard in every tone of their +voices, who knew in whom they had believed. Especially has this been +true of those whose ministrations have been the means of great revivals +of religion as seen in the awakening of zeal within the Church and the +salvation of sinners. How positive were the Wesleys! How sure was +Whitefield! How absolutely certain of things were the fathers of our +own Church! How real to them were God and Jesus and Heaven and Hell. +They were narrow, perhaps. Possibly they were often intolerant. It +may have been the case that they were rather too ready to damn every +one who disagreed with them as to the interpretation of the truth of +God. They may not have always displayed a sweet and brotherly +reluctance to brand as a heretic any person whose creed was a little +more hopeful than their own. It might possibly be shown that there is +some truth in the suggestion that they were not always able to render a +reason for their convictions with an intelligence and a wealth of +knowledge proportionate to the strength with which they held them. But +they _did_ know where they were. They _could_ identify themselves +among theologians. They were ready with a confession of faith. This +is _so_, and _this_ and _this_, they could say. _That_ will come to +pass, and _that_ and _that_, they affirmed, as if they saw it all +enacted before them. The result of this strong believing was seen in +the production of strong belief and, better still, of determined action +in those to whom they preached; for belief is at least as infectious as +doubt, as the records of spiritual movements and the biographies of +religious leaders of all schools will prove. There was no theorising +in those camp-meeting sermons to which the people of this land were +listening a hundred years ago; no "honest doubt" in those invitations +heard upon the greens of the villages and in the market-places of the +towns while yet the last century was young. Here were preachers as +sure of their message as they were of their own existence. Of "mental +reservations" they knew nothing. They had never even heard the term. +They dealt in "wills" and "shalls"; not in "peradventures" or "maybes." +They said of a thing "it is" or "it is not." They went up into such +pulpits as they possessed, not to conduct a public inquiry after truth, +but to declare it. They were not out in search of a gospel adapted to +the needs of the age. They had found the one sure way of life adapted +to this and every other time. This they cried aloud, and then lifting +up their voices in song, "Turn to the Lord and seek salvation," they +went marching on, while men followed enquiring with weeping eyes, "What +must we do to be saved?" + +Such was the preaching of our fathers, crude enough, much of it, no +doubt; lacking, perhaps, many of the literary excellencies and graces +of the preaching of our later days, yet mighty because of its very +sureness, because of its splendid dogmatism. The complaint goes that +the pulpit of our time lacks this positive note; that by word or tone +the preacher conveys the impression that he is "not quite sure." It is +reported that he suggests where once he proclaimed, surmises where once +he declared. It is alleged that people are turning away from the +churches because they can obtain no certain answer to the questions of +the soul. Instead of quoting a "Yea" or a "Nay," they report replies +to the effect that _probably_ the answer should be "Yea," but that, as +we are at present passing through "a period of transition," as all our +creeds are "in the melting pot," we must wait a little while for an +absolutely categorical reply, preserving, in the meantime, an open mind +and a trusting heart. For purposes of consolation, and to encourage +them to this trustfulness of spirit, they are told, so they relate, +that "devout men are at work upon the sacred documents;" that other +men, equally devout, are reconsidering the doctrines, and that, among +it all, the preacher does not worry, but, with admirable calm, waits +and trusts, knowing "that in the end his position will be stronger than +ever for the surrender of a few defenceless outposts." By preaching +such as this possibilities are suggested which, it is said, cause more +concern than comfort to the man in search of definite guidance on the +most serious and vital subjects with which the mind is called upon to +deal. Another statement we have heard:--That as this kind of thing is +met with almost exclusively in Protestantism it works out largely to +the advantage of the Roman Catholic Church. Few weeks pass by in which +we do not read of this or that well-known person who has "gone over." +As only the more prominent "converts" are mentioned in the press we may +be sure that the number of unknown and relatively unimportant people +who secede from Protestantism is much greater than is known. From one +of this multitude came a little while ago an explanation of the step he +had taken:--"The Roman Church knows what she believes. Her priests are +positive. I cannot risk my soul upon a theory; I want a fact!" + +Now it is quite possible that this complaint is greatly an +exaggeration. It is certain that many are blamed while comparatively +few are guilty. It is quite possible to be too much disturbed and +alarmed by criticisms of the Church and her preachers. These +criticisms do not all come from the sincerest friendliness; neither are +they always absolutely without bias, or invariably founded upon +extensive observation. The Church at her worst has always been +better--she always will be better--than her enemies allow. The same is +true of preaching. Still it is wise to ask ourselves, when a criticism +is laid against either Church or preacher, whether there may not be a +grain or two of truth to the bushel of chaff. It would be a misfortune +if in our contempt for this same chaff we should lose the corn hidden +there. Where there is smoke it is well to remember there is always, at +least, a smoulder of fire. Grant that much has been made of little, +which is a weakness of the critic in every time, and that all the +rumour has resulted simply from some lack of definiteness on the part +of a few. Grant, also, that as the criminal is always far more talked +about for his transgression than the honest man for his honesty, so the +man who betrays his doubts in the pulpit is far more discussed than the +ninety-and-nine sure men who go on their unsensational way according to +standards made and received from old time amongst us. Grant all this, +and it will still remain to be said that the preaching of the present +day, in those churches where the right of private judgment on matters +of faith and doctrine is recognised, would, to make the least of it, be +all the better for a more positive tone. + +But how has it come to pass that there should have occurred, even in +the small degree in which we admit it, a loss of the sureness which +means so much in the preaching of the word of truth? The question is a +large one, and to answer it fully much more than all the paper +composing this book would be required. It may be that the spirit of +the age is not a spirit favourable to belief. In some periods faith is +glorified; in others, doubt. In these days, it might be thought from +much we hear, a little scepticism is the one sure evidence of +intellectuality; while steadfastness in the creed of one's youth proves +the possession of a dull and narrow mind and the existence of that +hopeless mental condition known as fossilisation. Ours are the days of +science, and science has frightened some people terribly concerning +religion, though it would almost appear that she is now beginning, in +some measure, to repent, and is turning to soothe the timorous souls +whom she formerly terrified. Ours are days of criticism too, and the +criticism has largely been concerned with the very writings wherein are +recorded those words upon which we have relied as containing the way of +life. Some things said to have been discovered have disturbed us a +little, though why they should have done so it is difficult, upon +reflection, to see. We have been too prone, perhaps, to surrender +ourselves to such a feeling as is natural to those anxious moments +when, having called a consultant to the bedside of a sick friend, we +have just uttered the request, "Now, Doctor, tell us candidly the +worst." All these things would be mentioned in the long history which +would be needed fully to narrate the causes of the slight slackening of +faith noted here and there; but, for all the importance which would +probably be ascribed to each in turn, they are not the only reasons; +they are not even the chief reasons. Those, we are bold to say, are +not intellectual, but moral and spiritual! + +And these moral and spiritual causes of doubt in relation to eternal +and divine things will emerge as we proceed to try to answer the +question, which now arises, as to how we can recover that measure of +certainty which we have lost, and which we must regain, with additions, +if we would achieve that power in the work of preaching which is needed +to turn the hearts of men towards God and goodness. Notwithstanding +all that may be said as to the difficulties of the situation, we +venture to think that the lines upon which confidence may be won back +again are not impossible of discernment. + +For, simple as the suggestion may be; lacking all flavour of the +extraordinary as it does; without novelty and confessedly +old-fashioned; we have but this to commend to all who waver and doubt, +to all whose voices falter as they seek to utter the mighty +affirmations of the Gospel:--That the way to win again the old +assurance is to come back to the source of their sublime vocation, +determined, whatever may befall, there to abide all the long and trying +day. "Reach hither thy finger," He said to the doubter whose faith had +well-nigh died for loss of a few days' open vision, "Reach hither thy +finger and behold My hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into +My side and be not faithless but believing." The spirit of St. Thomas +comes upon us all at times, perhaps more often in youth than age. +Occasionally it comes uninvited; sometimes, alas! we open the door and +bid it enter. There is but one way of escaping this spirit, and it is +recorded in this old history. Surely for doubting souls in all ages +was this experience of Thomas written down! + +The way of certainty is the way of the extended hand. Ultimately the +preacher's faith depends upon the use he makes of his own spiritual +opportunities. "If any man will do His will he shall know of the +doctrine whether it be of God." There is an intimate connection +between intellectual results and moral and spiritual conditions. The +surrender of the will to God is always followed by an increase of +spiritual intelligence. That this is true we have seen proved +unnumbered times as lowly piety has revealed sublimities of faith and +trust. Spiritual things are, and must be, spiritually discerned. + +And this is not so hard to understand as may appear. A life +surrendered to the will of God is of all lives the most peaceful and +composed. It is lived in an atmosphere of repose. In such an +atmosphere the mind has an opportunity of looking upon the great +spiritual mysteries in the light proper to their contemplation and +consideration. It is a life of good works too, and good works tend to +establish the gospel by which they were inspired. It would not be +easy--we had almost said it would be impossible--to find a man engaged +in hard and constant toil for Jesus Christ who would complain that he +suffers from doubt as to the truth of the faith he serves. Unbelief is +not unfrequently the penalty of indolence. It might in many instances +be found possible to trace the doubts of men to their slackness in the +service of God. + +The same spiritual laws as regulate the experience of every saint of +God regulate those of the preacher. His Sabbath note will be according +to his week-day living. Let him be all the week absorbed in material +things only; let him seek only his own gratification, only his own +wealth or pleasure or advantage; let him walk only in the lower paths, +and he must not be surprised if, as he stands up upon the Sabbath, his +voice be found to have lost the old ring of joyful and glorious +assertion. He must not be astonished if his grasp of heavenly +mysteries and promises and provisions be slack, and if, as a result, he +speaks in halting tones. If his daily walk be far from the side of his +Lord, he must not wonder if other spirits find their way to his ear and +fill it with whispers of doubt and fear which make his testimony +hesitant and of small effect for good. We say he must not be surprised +at these things. No, nor must he find the reasons for this weakening +of his faith in the message itself, though that will inevitably be the +chief temptation of such dangerous hours. He should ask first +concerning the life he is living, whether it is of a sort to make faith +an easy thing. He should ask concerning his personal observance of the +Master's counsel of prayer and self-denial and cross-bearing. It is +pleasanter, no doubt, to seek the reasons for one's unbelief in +intellectual than in moral directions. The former method may flatter +us a little; the latter is often very painful! + +And yet by inquiring as to our moral condition the whole secret will +often be discovered. There is also another question to ask:--If we +understand the promises of our Lord, in even a slight degree, He gives +to all whom He calls into the holy ministry the assurance of a +Comforter who will guide them into all truth, and bring all things to +their remembrance whatsoever He has said. Are we quite able, we who +are afflicted with doubts which sometimes make it hard to preach, are +we quite able to say that we have honoured Him in putting His promises +to the proof as we might have done? Was not one of the Master's words +to us "It shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak"? +There was no uncertainty in the Upper Room in that glad but awful +moment when the pledge of the ages was fulfilled to the children of the +new and better covenant. Let us seek that experience again. Let us +begin our quest at the cross, with a prayer for forgiveness, and a vow +of reconsecration. Let us wait upon Him for a renewal of that divine +outpouring of which He has never disappointed His chosen messengers +when they have sought it at His hand, meanwhile denying themselves, +taking up their cross and following Him. Let us but obtain that +baptism, and all our crippling and alarming scepticisms will vanish, +and the full round tone of fearless confidence return. Such a return +is the need of the present hour--spiritual certainty in an age of +materialism, the one sure antidote for all its cares. Thus only can +come that revival of religion for which we have sighed and looked so +long. Be assured that there can be no such work of grace as this +unless the message of the pulpit be with definiteness and confidence. +Here would the answer to many a question, the solution of many a +problem be found. Hearers would be conscious of a new tone in the +delivery of the weekly word. Truth would be spoken as if it were truth +indeed, and in their very consciences men would know it to be true. No +longer would the way of life be pointed with trembling finger. Once +again the ambassador would stand forth in all his royal glory and cry +"Thus saith the Lord," and now Sinai's thunders, now Calvary's gales of +grace, would give majesty and tenderness to his voice! + +Such is the way back to certainty, if certainty in any of us have been +lost for a little while. Yet, even as we name it, there comes again to +our ears the old enquiry so often heard as an explanation of durance in +Doubting Castle:--How does all this accord with the advice constantly +given to men to seek to win each a creed for himself? Is it not a +man's duty to make his inherited beliefs and the things which are told +him the subjects of his individual inquiry and of his own personal +judgment and proof? Yes; all this is true but other things are true as +well. + +The first of them is surely this:--That a man should have won this +creed for himself before he set out to provide a creed for other +people. Once more, preaching is not a public inquiry after truth but a +declaration of it. The man who has not got beyond the stage of inquiry +has no right to be in the pulpit at all. Some preachers are always +making confessions as to their difficulties. It ought to be seen that +the people do not come to hear of the preacher's difficulties, but to +be helped in their own. Another thing that is true is this:--That it +is surely not the best way of winning a creed to begin by doubting the +truth of everything in order to get at the truth of _something_, as +many seem to do. Surely it is not the best way of winning a belief of +one's own to conduct an inquiry with the object of finding how much is +false of the things we have been taught. Why not begin with the +purpose of finding out how much is true? Why not seek for +confirmations as well as for contradictions? It is surely something to +the credit of the things instilled into us as children that unnumbered +generations of great and holy and thoughtful men have found in them +their spiritual sustenance and salvation. It might have a helpful +effect to ask why it should be left to you or me, so late in time as +the beginning of the twentieth century, to make the discovery that the +faith which has inspired "saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs," which +has saved its millions, satisfying the deepest longings of the heart +and the highest demands of the intellect; the faith which has inspired +the purity, the benevolence, the courage and endurance of a long, long +past--is only in a very limited and partial degree the truth of God. A +due appreciation of the significance of history ought, it might seem, +to be enough to make it appear, even to the youngest and most daring of +us, an impossible thing that teaching which has produced such triumphs +can be false. + +Then as to this search for "a creed for himself" which, we are +reminded, it is every man's duty to make:--It also remains to be said +that for success in this pursuit, as for success in some other +pursuits, an observance of spiritual laws is needful. A man should +seek for his creed as _prayerfully_ as he seeks for any help of which +he ever finds himself in need. The path of prayer is the path of light +and of truth. The mistake often made is this, that we try to find this +creed without seeking the help of God. "I will be inquired of saith +the Lord." + +One more question:--Is the possession of this certainty consistent with +progress? Are we not told to expect new light as years pass on? Has +not every preacher the right to look upon himself as the possible organ +of new revelations to his fellows? Even so; but light will not +contradict light. As the glimmer of the dawn grows into the brilliance +of the day, the rays of the sun, falling ever more brightly upon the +landscape, bring more clearly into view the features which at first +were dim and dreamlike. As the glory creeps over vale and hill, +touching here a winding river, there a patch of vivid green, yonder a +window of some distant dwelling, new points of beauty and interest are +continually being revealed; but the scene, though better discerned, is +still the same as first burst upon our view at the moment when the sun +leaped into the firmament from behind yon eastern hill. Further +revelations we may indeed look for, but they will only be new chapters +of the "old, old story," and "continuations" at that. They are for +confirmation, not disturbance. God cannot contradict Himself. No one +was more sure of the law-givers than the prophets; no one more in +accord with the prophets than the apostles. Our Lord came not to +destroy but to fulfil. + +So then certainty is consistent with progress; with an attitude of +receptivity toward new light. A firm belief in what the Lord told us +_yesterday_ is harmonious with an eagerness to hear what He may have to +add to-day. It is indeed to be regarded as proof of our faith in +yesterday's communication that we hearken for to-day's word. Certainty +is possible to the preacher, and certainty he must have! + +Yes, certainty he _must_ have; for the people ask for it, and have a +right to demand it from those who stand up in God's name to teach them +His way. We have read of blind guides, "blind leaders of the blind." +Such a leadership is that of the preacher who has no sure word to +speak. For his own soul's sake the ambassador must have certainty, for +what life can be more wretched than the life of a man set up to +proclaim a message doubted of his own spirit. For God's sake; for the +sake of the Gospel to be uttered; for the sake of the high purpose of +that Gospel he must be _sure_. Without certainty there can be no truly +effective and successful preaching! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Individuality. + +Another essential quality of the effective and successful messenger of +Christ is individuality. + +The preaching of the truth is, after all, _man's_ work for the sake of +man, and _the man_ is needful to the completeness of the definition. +It has ever been God's way to work His will and reveal Himself to +mankind through members of their own race. He does not speak to the +nations in a supernatural voice rolling over the land. He does not +write His word across the arch of the sky in any way plainer than in +that language of which the stars are syllables. It is true that +everywhere the inscription of His power and Godhead may be seen; but +neither in nature, nor in history, nor in human instincts does He +declare Himself on the deeper needs of the soul. His way is to use men +whom He calls, trains and equips. Even Jesus, Himself, came in fashion +as a man, that He might speak with the speech of a man to the +generations for whom He was to die. One meaning of this must surely be +that true preaching derives power from the man himself as well as from +the truth expressed. In His infinite resourcefulness the Creator has +made all men different. Wonderful it is, but true, there are no two +men who are, in all things, each a duplicate of the other. Physically, +mentally, morally, spiritually, every man is _another_ man. We speak +of the average man; really there is no such being. No average can be +struck which takes account of all that every man is and includes every +quality and peculiarity of body, mind and spirit. Each birth is a new +creation. Here comes one into the world to occupy a new point of view. +He will see things with other eyes; he will hear them with other ears. +He will relate them in his own way, if only he be permitted to do so. +Should he become a preacher, the message will be new in his newness. +It will gather something for its commendation to the few or to the +many, in that this man looks upon it from his own standpoint and +expresses it in his own tongue. + +It is sometimes complained that in these days the pulpit is in danger +of losing that which the individuality of the preacher should bring +into it, for the reason that such individuality is being improved out +of existence. "There are few personalities that count nowadays," we +are told. Time was when there were more. Names occur to all of us, +each of which stands in our mind for someone who, as we put it, was a +man of himself. All Churches have had such men; our own was rich in +them. To-day, they tell us, we are all in real danger of becoming +decorously, decently, conventionally alike. We have conceived a +typical preacher and we try to approximate to our conception; a typical +sermon, and we try to preach it. "He is a typical curate," "a typical +Presbyterian minister," "a typical Baptist pastor," "a typical +Methodist travelling preacher;" "he is a typical local"--how often we +hear these expressions! + +It may be well to give to this complaint at least so much consideration +as to ask whether it is true. At once we may say, if it is "the +truth," it is not "the whole truth," neither is it "nothing but the +truth." There are still among us, thank God! preachers who bring the +aroma of individuality into their ministrations, and are a brand of +themselves. Some turn of speech, some tone of voice, some distinctive +way of putting a thing, some mysterious, but unmistakable, difference +of flavour they have managed to preserve, and how grateful we are when +we hear or see or taste or feel it. It is like the discovery of a new +flower in the woodland, of a new star in the constellation! "It's no +a'thegither what he says; it's the way on't," said the old Scots woman +in eulogy of her minister. We could mention little traits, which, +small as they are, have been on the human side the success of +ministries familiar to us all. There was a message and there was a +_man_. But while the complaint is not all true, it is not for us to +say that it is made without reason. It is possible that what many a +preacher needs, before the success he desires can be his, is to recover +nothing more, nor less, than his own lost self. It may be that some of +us present a ministry true to type, but false to our own personality. + +The fact is that willingly or unwillingly, consciously or +unconsciously, everybody (and everything) seems to-day to be combined +in a huge conspiracy to crush out the individuality of the individual. +This is seen in every department of life. It is the inevitable result +of all highly developed civilisation. Before society is formed the +individual is everything and "one of himself." After society is formed +he is one among many; sometimes even rather less than one. In the +police-force men are known by numbers. In the world of industry they +are described as "hands." Civilisation brings infinite advantages, and +life would be impossible without it; but we have to pay the price +thereof, and it is part of it that the individuality of its subjects +must be subordinate to the communal interest. It will be well if, in +surrendering ourselves so far as is necessary for the public good, we +do not go beyond this requirement to a degree of sacrifice which +involves the loss of our own individuality. + +From this danger the preacher has hard work to accomplish his +deliverance. It is not only the peril of social life; it exists in the +Church, and the more highly organised the Church the greater the +danger. Referring again to our own denomination, there was a time, not +so very far behind us, when the preacher was largely left to work out +his own development. As a result, individuality had in those days +every chance to assert itself. The tree grew much as it would, for +there was no one to lop off a branch here, to bend one there, or to +graft upon this stem a shoot from some other variety. Of course the +growth was often very peculiar; luxuriant on the sunward side, starved +on the northern aspect, disproportionate, maybe, though often on those +curious branches fruit was abundant for those who sought. Probably +_we_ would train those oaks, and cedars, and apple-trees in the midst +of the wood to more conventional shapes if we had them to-day. Hugh +Bourne might have to overcome that habit of putting his hand before his +face as he talked, and he would certainly have to use language much +less lurid than he occasionally employed. William Clowes might have to +abandon his practice of repeating a sentence over and over again in +animated crescendo. Henry Higginson might be instructed not to lapse +into impromptu rhyme in his Camp Meeting addresses. Joseph Spoor might +be informed that if he wanted gymnastic exercises he must take them in +private, and never by way of standing with one foot on the pulpit seat +and the other on the book-board the while he illustrated, by means of a +roll of bills, his conception of the trumpet call to the Last Judgment. +These men and a host of others we might put into a correcter shape +to-day. + +Now it is not contended that gifts are not to be trained, or that it is +undesirable to teach and practise a certain self-restraint. No doubt +buffoonery has often masqueraded as originality; and the great results +which have undoubtedly attended ministries in which extremely bad taste +and irreverence have been prominent have not been in consequence of +these things, but in spite of them, and by the power of a passion for +souls underlying them all. "Other times, other manners," is a proverb +we must not forget. That there are risks in courses of study imposed +without distinction upon one and all alike cannot be denied, but +abundant and convincing reasons support their adoption notwithstanding +the risks. It is an old objection to ministerial colleges that they +spoil able men and are unable to do much for feeble ones. We hear, +often, that such and such a man "is not half the man he was when he +left home to keep his terms." There may be truth in it all; but it is +equally true that a polished instrument is better than a blunt one; +that in the hands of a wise man every atom of knowledge means more than +an atom of power. Moreover, it can never be proved that a man who +comes from college to fail, would not have failed, even more terribly, +without the training he there received. Again, it _can_ be proved that +out of our colleges have come men whose ministries have been of +incalculable blessing to the Church. In the end, after all, the +preservation of a man's individuality rests with himself. The fact is +that often we lack the necessary courage to be ourselves, and as a +result, we give in too soon and too readily, to what appear to us to be +demands to sacrifice our soleness that, thereby, we may become +something higher and better than we are. In this way men degenerate +into imitators and echoes. Such a man is a power and has such a +manner. He moves us deeply, shows us heights we have never seen and +reveals to us visions of which we have not dreamed. We are not content +to appropriate his donation of truth and rest satisfied with the +intellectual and moral stimulus he bestows. God did not make two of +him, but _we_ think there ought to be another, and we try to be he. +The attempt is always a failure. The worst of it is that in our effort +to be another we have ceased to be ourselves, and after such a loss +what do we still possess? Perhaps the disaster comes in another way. +Conventionality has certain curious notions about the pulpit, the +fulfilment of which it paradoxically despises as it demands it. The +preacher is expected to speak in a different voice and wear a different +expression in the "sacred desk" from his voice and expression in other +places. In some churches he is expected to read the Bible in a +strange, archaic sort of way, pronouncing the words which appear upon +its pages with a pronunciation never employed under any other +circumstances. The newspaper is _read_, the psalms are _intoned_. It +is a crime to be natural. All the time men are sick of the whole +fabric of artificiality, and long for that touch of nature which makes +the whole world kin. + +Another way of losing individuality is to allow oneself to be drowned +in officialism, buried beneath its trappings, interred in its +dignities. Many a man spends his life in a futile attempt to live up +to some official tradition, even as he might pass his time in a family +picture gallery cultivating the expression of some ancestral portrait +on the wall. There is also to be remembered the possibility of a +slavery to books. There is such a thing as the spell exercised by a +great author through the printed page. We heard the other day of a +contemporary literary man who is understood to pose as a second edition +of William Shakespeare on the strength of some asserted resemblance to +a bust of the poet. Certainly it cannot be on the strength of any +intellectual inheritance. We could name men who have preached in a +thousand times more pulpits than they have ever seen through the lips +of others whom they have subdued to bondage by some famous volume. We +could name the books if we cared to do so. Perhaps we could recall +periods in our own life when such a spell cast its glamour over us. + +To resist all these influences successfully, or, rather, to so +appropriate what is good and helpful in them, which it is our duty to +do, and still remain a full blooded, virile individual, will require +resolution. To give due meed of homage to the great, due +recognition--and there is a certain recognition due--to the conventions +of our church life--to realise the office of the preacher, to +assimilate the book, to grind and polish one's gifts--to do all this, +and yet be at the end of the doing of it our own natural, unaffected +selves, is far from easy. It can only be done as the preacher +remembers two or three things which are all too often forgotten or +ignored. + +And the first of these is surely this: That each and every man's +individuality is a gift from God, the basal talent on which the rest +are built. It was of the wisdom of God that you were born you and I +was born _I_. Here is the one and only possession which is our very +own, and which none other can share, however ready we be to barter it +away for something of less value. "Do you know who I am?" said the +nobleman, swelling with importance, to the boy who failed to lift his +cap in the lane. "I am the Marquis." "An' does yer honour know who I +am?" said the lad. "I am Patrick Murphy from the cabin by the bog." +Within that ragged jacket was an inheritance which could not be +measured as could land, or counted as could money, or appraised as are +titles and coronets, but which was as real as any of them and more +valuable than all; an inheritance to be improved, perhaps extended, +ennobled, but never changed into something other than itself. Let us +remember this. With all humility, it is _capital_ for pulpit business +that we are what we are. + +And another thing is written in our experience for our reflection, and +it is this:--That it was for what we were that God called us into this +preaching work. _He_ had discernment of natural qualities in calling +even us, and counted upon them to be serviceable in His Kingdom. There +is surely no need to deny our manhood, or become ashamed of this being +that is "I" when _He_ chose it for employment in ambassadorship. It +was for what Peter was as Peter, dashing, impetuous, impatient, full of +driving power and combative energy, that Jesus called him from the +fishing of Galilee into the ministry of the word. It was for what John +was as John, intense, clear-eyed and trustful that he, too, was called. +Thomas was also called--that Thomas who found it hard to believe but +easy to love, and whose faith, when once achieved, brought a whole +heart's devotion to its gracious object--even he was called, not as +another, but as himself. Very different from them all was Saul of +Tarsus; logical, incisive, proud with the pride of ancient lineage and +of high culture, descendant of armoured kings, citizen of the first of +cities--he, too, was called for he, for himself, was needed. So +through the ages--what contrasts we behold, what differences as between +a Chrysostom and an Augustine, a Calvin and a St. Francis of Assisi, a +Wesley and a Fletcher of Madeley; as between William Booth and Charles +Haddon Spurgeon, called, every one of them, because he was what he was. + +Then let us remember that if He chooses a man for what he is, it is +because He knows that the work needs just this very man. Many tools +will be called into service before the brown pebble hidden away in the +blue clay beneath the South African veldt becomes the glorious star of +a monarch's crown. One will tear it from its age-long concealment; +another will test and prove its value; others will grind; others +polish, and by others will it be set in its place of pride. Very +mysterious, again, are the correspondences and affinities existing +between human souls. It is very curious how one hearer will respond to +an appeal which would never touch another. "There is something about +him that always gets at _me_," remarked a hearer, adding, "and I cannot +tell what it is, or how it does it." The "something" was +individuality. Why it _did it_, was because, somewhere in the soul of +the hearer was a chord tuned to some string in the preacher's nature. +Such ships are reached by a given set of wireless apparatus as have +their instruments tuned to that apparatus. There is something between +men reminding us of this. Again, for a man's own sake it is a pity to +surrender this individuality of his. For in holding on to it with grim +resolve lies the only possibility of full self-realisation. Let a man +cultivate himself along the line of what he is if he would come to his +best and achieve any genuine success, any real happiness in life. The +world is full of men who have failed, simply because they left +untrained what they _were_, to try to be what they _were not_ and never +could become. Nowhere is this more true than in the pulpit. Many an +excellent Brown, or Jones, or Robinson has been spoiled by his attempt +to become a Beecher, a Joseph Parker, an Archdeacon Farrar. Many a +David, less wise than he of history, has failed against his Philistine +because he discarded the sling he knew so well how to use, the smooth +stones from the brook he knew so well how to aim, for the panoply and +ordnance made for the greater limbs of Saul. Along one line, and one +line only, was victory possible to the son of Jesse, and from that line +he would not be diverted. It was a shepherd who came from the hills as +a shepherd armed. It was this same shepherd with this same weapon who, +resisting temptation, went out to the apparently unequal conflict from +which he returned bringing the head of his adversary. This history is +surely written for preachers that, for their own sake, they may be +encouraged to give exercise to their own spiritual genius. Along one +path alone lies, if not greatness, at least usefulness for every truly +called messenger of Christ. It is along the path of faithfulness to +self in the development, the polishing, the use of his own gifts in his +own way. + +Only one other word remains to be added:--That, as already hinted, the +pew hails always with respect the man who is brave enough to be +himself. Let no one imagine that he can try to be someone else, or +even that, without trying to be anyone in particular, he can surrender +himself to a conventional ideal of clericalism without discovery and +loss of the esteem and reverence of men and women of sense. The pew is +very quick to see through disguises, be they worn never so skilfully. +No voice rings true in a man's throat excepting his own. The people +are sick of the cleric in the pulpit; they want the _man_. They had +rather hear you when you are planned than any one, or anything, you may +try to be. + +Here then is the true originality by which the gospel is made new by +every new preacher of it and by every new telling of its wondrous +story. The old truths may be repeated in almost the same old words, +but here and there will come a new tone, a breath of new influence, a +new personal aura. Oh, for the _individual_ in the pulpit, the +preacher who is not an echo, but comes to relate the evangel as it has +been unfolded to himself! Oh, for the brother who will bring us, not a +sermon only, but _a man_--a man discovered, saved, cleansed, polished +by God; improved into value and profitableness, but still a man! In +these words we express one of the greatest needs of the hour, and +define a quality absolutely essential to the successful and effective +preacher. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Concerning "Understanding." + +"And the preacher had understanding," so runs the ancient word, and +"understanding" the preacher must have. This is only another way of +saying that he must know what he is talking about. So much as this, at +least, is essential in every man who comes forth to teach others. + +And this proposition has reference to more matters than such as are +theological or Biblical. It ought to go without saying that the +preacher should know as much as he can possibly learn about the book in +which is written the revelation he has to hand on to others. It ought +to be equally well understood that he obtain, at least, a working +knowledge of the theology of the church to which he belongs and for +which he speaks. Again, it is, surely, not unreasonable to expect that +he will have some acquaintance with the "evidences" on which rests his +appeal to his fellows. A preacher should certainly be as well able to +defend his faith as the average man is to attack it. It must be +frankly recognised, of course, that it is impossible for every preacher +to be an expert on every question of Biblical criticism and +interpretation that may arise. Especially is this true in a Church +drawing the great majority of its preachers from classes untrained, in +the ordinary sense of the word, for their work. Still, it is possible +for every man among us to have an intelligent grasp of the subject upon +which he discourses. It is possible, we say, and it ought to be +required. With so elementary a proposition we do not even tarry for +discussion, excepting to say that he who will not so far give himself +to study as to secure this simple furnishing should not be surprised if +the people cease to ask for his services. It was a wise word of Dr. +Adam Clarke:--"Study yourself to death, and then pray yourself to life." + +For the purposes of this lecture we take it for granted that every +reader is already so convinced of the need just set forth that there is +no need to dwell upon it. We do desire, however, to emphasise the need +of that understanding which goes beyond what is particularly known as +the Gospel. There is no department of life and experience which that +Gospel does not cover, and, therefore, there is no one who needs to +speak of so many matters as the preacher. Carlyle proposed a +professorship of things in general. The pulpit within certain limits +is such a chair! + +It has long been the reproach of the studious class to which the +preacher belongs that its members, in their devotion to book-learning, +too often remain ignorant of "life," that they live in a world of paper +and print, of speculation and theory, which is seldom a faithful +reflection of the real world of men and women and actual affairs. Such +a man, in short, is apt to live in a world of his own--a very +delightful world, it may be, intellectual, idealistic, spiritual; but +not the world of every day--the world in which the vast majority of men +have to spend fifty-two weeks of every year. Very delightful, too, is +the type of man thus produced--charmingly learned, sweetly innocent, +guileless, impracticable; walking the path of life with head in air, +with eyes unseeing and ears unhearing the things that fill the thoughts +of common men. Holding fellowship with the immortals, eating the bread +of philosophy, doctrinaire, drinking the wine of poetry--how good would +it be to live with such men if only there were nothing else to do in +this old world of ours. Dreamers of dreams; watchers of the stars; +spinners of speculative webs, in which they love to find themselves +gloriously entangled; Rip Van Winkles asleep to the actual, so wise +among books; so deliciously foolish among men and affairs--we know the +type, and we do confess we love it! + +But, delightful as is this kind of scholar or preacher, he is often +far, very far, "out of it" in dealing with the needs and perils of +those around him. That was a significant passage in the will of the +South African Colossus in which, in forming a trust to administer the +scholarships he desired to found at the Universities of Oxford and +Cambridge, he provided that a number of men of business should find +places upon the board, in addition to the men of learning already +nominated, as the latter were often unlearned in the ways of business. +There is a statesman in this land who has lost the headship of a great +party largely because of a confession that he does "not read the +newspapers" and is "a child in these matters." Even political parties +require something more in their chiefs than an appreciation of the +subtleties of philosophic doubt. Of course there is a place in the +scheme of things for this type of man; there is no doubt a use for him +in certain fields of thought, and it is our good fortune that plants +amongst us men who are with us, but not of us, for to our ultimate +advantage may be their sublime detachment of mind. It is here simply +pointed out that their place is not in the pulpit of a busy, perplexed +and burdened age. Their use does not lie in inspiring men to deal with +urgent practical issues. True enough, the truth they discern may be of +the highest value in the matter of leading men out to the light of day; +but it will be found that the lamp will generally have to be kindled +and carried by other hands than his who found the wells of illuminating +oil. It needs genius to make discoveries and often quite other genius +to apply them. "He is a preacher to preachers," was said of one, and +said truly, as many hearers could testify. But this "preacher to +preachers," as a preacher _to the people_, failed! + +And the misfortune is that often, alas! it comes to pass that just such +men as these do make the attempt to guide men through a world of which +they, the preachers, know nothing. To change the figure, they make the +attempt to treat by means of remedies which they have studied a little, +patients whom they have not studied at all, and of whose condition, +habits, history and surroundings they know next to nothing. There is +much of this kind of doctoring and what is the result of it? What but +the oft-repeated criticism that the sermon had small practical +application to the every-day side of things? It answered no present +questions, though it did, perhaps, throw light upon some period of +Jewish history. It solved no present problems, though it _did_ contain +an interesting exegesis of a much discussed passage. It dealt with no +present difficulties, though it did suggest an entertaining theory as +to the authorship of such and such a psalm. It opened out no heart +before its own vision. It neither created nor deepened nor satisfied a +single desire. It might as well have been a disquisition on the fate +of the lost ten tribes of Israel, or a treatise on the properties of +the differential calculus, or a discussion of the politics of the +planet Mars for any application it had to the need of any one person, +young or old, in the congregation sitting there and providing that +example of patience which was the most edifying feature of the +occasion. It was eloquent, learned, poetic, profound, but _it was not +life_. It is because there is so much of this kind of preaching that +it has come to be said that the pulpit is out of touch with the needs +of men; that it is too otherworldly, and that it displays a knowledge +of everything but the necessities it pretends to meet. The criticism +may be exaggerated and unjust, but the contention it is meant to +enforce is true. Preaching must be _life_. Preaching can only be life +when the preacher has understanding! + +Understanding of what? Of the human creature to be preached to and by +preaching saved, ennobled and led up, through almost infinite +opposition, to a glorious destiny. That human creature must be studied +at first hand. It is not enough to know the heart of man according to +theological classification and description. Consciously or +unconsciously, the effective preacher will be first a practical +psychologist and _afterwards_ a theologian. If he cannot be greatly +both he had better be a psychologist with small knowledge of theology +than a theologian with small knowledge of psychology. He has not to +speak to abstractions; not to speak to _sinners_ merely, nor to +_saints_ as he knows them through descriptions whereof the subjects +were simply types, but he has to preach to _men_ and _women_, men and +women who all have their individual and peculiar tastes, tendencies, +likes and dislikes, desires and passions; men and women looking at +things in ways of their own, influenced by such and such prejudices, +such and such hopes and fears. Every one has his own disposition, his +own history, which began long e'er he came upon the earth in far-off +ancestors, who bequeathed to him the inheritance of themselves to be a +blessing or a curse, or, what is more frequent, both a blessing and a +curse, as circumstances and free-will may decide. Here are racial +instincts, tribal qualities, individual idiosyncrasies, and all to be +studied with care and perseverance. The preacher may preach to five +hundred people to-night, and he has so to preach as to bless them all. + +The first study of the messenger, then, must be the study of men. He +must specialise in human nature, and his understanding must go down +into its very depths. Every addition to the volume and accuracy of his +knowledge will mean addition of power and competence. Those writers +who impress us most are those who understand us best. The physician +who most commands our confidence and, as a consequence, does us most +good is he whose description of our symptoms most nearly corresponds +with our own experience, who, we reason, obviously "knows our case." +Putting his finger upon the painful spot, the aching limb, he says: +"Thou ailest here and here," and we feel the cure begun, for the +diagnosis is nine-tenths of the treatment. Similarly when the man in +the pew _feels_ that the man in the pulpit understands _him_--and he +soon makes the discovery--he listens for what has yet to come. How +often the true preacher hears the remark:--"Sir, your sermon was _about +me_ and _to me_!" That is a certificate of efficiency which may well +make a preacher glad. + +To attain to this understanding men must be studied in all the ways we +can devise--individually and in the mass, for, strangely enough, men in +the mass often look at things very differently from the manner in which +the individuals, of whom the mass may be composed, would look at them +when alone. In books, too, man must be studied, but more especially +face to face, in constant, earnest observation. The preacher must get +out and about. A recluse he cannot afford to be. Pale-faced piety +cultivated in the cloister may be admirably adapted for Sunday +exhibition, but is apt to prove rather ineffective when brought into +active service in week-day tasks. Wisdom waits to be gathered in every +place where men do congregate. Earnestly must the preacher listen in +those moments--and they come to all true teachers of the things of +life--when some fellow-mortal, compelled by very need, opens to him the +secret chambers of his soul. Great, also, is the knowledge the +preacher may win from self-dissection. Let him analyse his own heart +unsparingly, his own motives and desires. His doubts and fears, his +aspirations and longings are for his teaching that he may be able the +more wisely to deal with those of other men. "Commune with thine own +heart and be still." There is one man whom every preacher needs more +frequently to meet, and whose acquaintance he needs to cultivate to a +point of greater intimacy, and that one man is himself. Know him, and +so know his race, for he is kindred, bone of bone and flesh of flesh, +with all who live. He who would explain a man to himself must first +have explored the dark continent of his own soul! + +And the preacher's knowledge of men must include as large a measure of +information as can be acquired concerning the conditions under which +their lives are spent, and which so greatly influence a man's +character, and account, so largely, for what he is and does. The +preacher has to be Greatheart to his hearers in relation to the +temptations they are called upon to fight, and often our temptations, +when not the immediate product of our own hearts, grow out of the +circumstances under which our lives are lived. If, again, the +temptation be not the direct result of these circumstances, it is often +aided by them in the undoing of the soul. The poverty and +wretchedness; the low bodily state of the slum dweller, have, at least, +as much to do with making him the sot he often is as his intemperance +has in bringing him to indigence and misery. Criminality, we are +beginning to see, may be partly a vice, partly the result of bad +economic and social laws, and partly a disease inherited with life +itself. The same may be said of many forms of sin which do not, +perhaps, come within the scope of the law courts of the land. Not that +any conditions, or any personal history, abrogate responsibility in the +evil-doer. The _final consent_ lies ever with a man himself, but the +conditions of his life may explain how many things came to be, and a +knowledge of them may point the way to help. The physician of to-day +not only feels the pulse and uses the stethoscope; he asks questions as +to drainage and ventilation, as to supplies of water and of light. + +Let us remember, then, that the preacher needs to be in a very +considerable and general degree acquainted with the life of the world +around him. He should know something about business; something about +industry; something of the every-day round of those sitting before him +in free seat and cushioned pew. Ignorance of the world is worse than +ignorance of letters, or sciences, or arts. A preacher ought, if +possible, to know something of ancient oriental manners and customs and +languages; but it is infinitely more important that he know something +of the actualities of his own time. History tells us of the great +French lady who, hearing the people clamour for bread, remarked that +surely they need not make so great a noise about bread. Was there not +beef to eat? How interesting are those articles, with which our +newspapers are sometimes enlivened, wherein duchesses take in hand to +teach the wives of working men how to keep house on thirty shillings a +week. We have seen "A Guide to Cookery" written by a countess for the +use of families of moderate means, and the book was very well worth +buying if only for the sake of a little mild amusement when the spirit +is in danger of growing too serious for mental health. A great chapter +in humorous literature is that in which Mark Twain places on record how +for a few brief but exciting days he edited an agricultural paper while +the editor was, perforce, absent from his chair. Good, it is to read +the answers he returned to rural inquirers who wished for counsel in +relation to the difficulties of farm or garden. This kind of thing in +a newspaper is ridiculous; in a cookery book or an article on domestic +economy it is amusing; but in the pulpit it is disastrous. + +Thus it comes to pass that while the preacher must not neglect his +study, he must just as certainly not fail to learn the lessons of the +home and of the street. He must talk often with his fellow-men. He +must drive conversation with the workman of the city and with the +master for whom he works. He must hold intercourse with the man of +business as well as with the brother minister with whom it is so +pleasant to chat on topics of mutual interest. He must cultivate the +friendship of the ploughman as he "homeward wends his weary way." He +must even condescend to little children. Men can only learn from _him_ +as _he_ first learns from _them_. Of course all this may mean some +little sacrifice, some self-denial. The tastes of the preacher may lie +in other directions. They are such pleasant company--those writers who +speak to us from pages waiting to open at our touch. It may seem such +a waste of good opportunity to leave the philosopher in half-calf for +the society of the workman in fustian. It may mean some coming down +from one's stilts, too, some forgetting of what is called "one's +position." It may involve, to put it in a word, the living of a human +life among human beings; still, the results will be worth the winning. + +Again, an understanding of the material conditions under which life is +lived, greatly helpful to the preacher as it is, is not all that is +needed. The messenger must know in what direction runs the _thought_ +of his age. The learned and able authorities dwelling within the +covers of the precious volumes upon his library shelves form an +interesting and inspiring society in which it is pleasant to spend his +hours. The religious people with whom the preacher mostly consorts +form a more, or less, agreeable circle in which it may be pleasant to +pass such time as he can spare for social enjoyment. But the world has +many men and many minds. Continually the ferment of intellect goes on. +Thoughts ripen into tendencies with wonderful rapidity. It is recorded +of a great emperor that he was wont to disguise himself and wander at +large among his people, listening to the talk of common men. As a +result he knew, even before his counsellors, how set the wind. Hence +he was "beforehand" in his government. There is no rebellion that is +not first a conspiracy, and no conspiracy that is not first a +smouldering, and then a blazing, discontent. The preacher must hearken +beneath the eaves for his people's sake. He must stand sentinel upon +the tower. He must be a watchman in the night. He must put his ear to +the earth that he may detect the far-off tramp of approaching foes. +What is being said in a whisper to-day will be cried from every high +place to-morrow, and he who listens to the whisper may be found ready +to answer or explain the cry--perhaps, even, to prevent it. "As those +who watch for your souls," so writes the Apostle. "_As those who +watch._" Behold the shepherd, as he tends the flock, sleeplessly +gazing for the approach of lion, or wolf, or bear, or prowling Bedouin +of the desert. So must the preacher sweep the horizon by day; so +listen to the speaking silences of the night. + +Then to all this the messenger must add an intimate knowledge of the +Church, of her condition and of her needs. To know her history is +well. It is knowledge from which the Christian worker of every name +may derive many warnings. It will be found to contain many lessons +profitable for consolation and for inspiration. It will suggest many +an useful explanation of phenomena in the church life of to-day. But +the preacher must study the Church as she is in this very hour. How +beat her pulses _now_? How run the currents of her life in the days +that _are_? Does her faith wax, or wane? Does her love grow colder or +warmer with the passing years? Is it well with her, or is it ill? + +In regard to all these things our friend will have--he _must_ have if +he seek to feed the flock of God with food convenient--true +understanding. He will know how the work of God is moving in the +congregations. He will be able to distinguish between true, spiritual +success and that success which is noise and show alone. He will +discern the difference between the rosy flush that signifies health and +the hectic spot of burning red that speaks only of disease and death. +He must look _deep_. He must look _far_. He must look _constantly_. +He must look _deep_, because truth lies often at the bottom of a well, +and the true state of the Church is not always according to superficial +signs. He must look _far_, because he is surely more than a mere +denominationalist; he belongs to the Holy Catholic Church, and he must +know her life in other places in order to better judge her life at +home. He must look _constantly_, for "if the good man of the house had +known in what watch the thief would come he would have watched and +would not have suffered his house to be broken up." + +For the effective delivery and application of his message, then, we +insist that the preacher needs to be in touch with every aspect of the +lives of those who come beneath the influence of his preaching. He +must know _them_; the conditions under which they live; the thoughts +upon which they feed from day to day. Oh, if only we knew more about +the people, how much more could we help and bless them! There they sit +before us as we speak. If only we could look down into their hearts; +if only we could hear the questions asking themselves in their minds, +the doubts and fears, the sad perplexities which, even within sound of +our voices, darken our counsel and come between the soul and God! If +only we knew the struggle maintained, the heavy burden borne, from year +to year by yonder man anxiously listening to our words! Silently he +comes and goes between his home and this house of prayer. He neither +pines nor whines; he does not rise to put the question which needs an +answer before his heart can be at peace. If we only knew--but oh! our +knowledge is so small at the best. The more reason then why we should +seek to make increase therein, that from the worst results of ignorance +in their teachers the people may be saved! + +Lest some may think that, in emphasising the importance of that +understanding which is not altogether gained from books we have +under-valued the work of the study, let us, in closing our chapter, +describe what seems to us to be the highest type of training for the +work of the pulpit. It is the training in which the student gives to +_every_ means of furnishing its due and proportionate place; in which +he turns to books _and_ to life for the wisdom he seeks. We have +spoken of the impracticable scholar, but not all men of learning have +been of this order. Among the most practical of preachers; among those +who have displayed the greatest knowledge of the human heart and of the +times, their conditions and their problems, have been many renowned for +breadth and depth of scholarship. These men were mightier, and not +weaker, for their learning. They were able to apply the best of +everything to the uses and necessities of the hour. They brought out +of their storehouse, to quote a well-worn phrase "things new and old." +So let a man be diligent at his books and diligent, everywhere, in +using his eyes and ears, and so "let him go round the walls of the city +and let him tell the towers thereof." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Passion. + +There is a page in Tyerman's monumental "Life of George Whitefield," +which illustrates, as few pages do, the quality of that essential of +true and effective preaching in regard of which we are now to speak. +It is that page in which are described the last hours of the great +evangelist. + +On Saturday morning, September 29th, 1770, being exceedingly weak and +ill, but bent upon the continuance of his preaching work, Whitefield +set out from Portsmouth (U.S.A.) to ride to Boston. Fifteen miles from +Portsmouth, at Exeter, he was stopped and persuaded to preach. A +friend said to him, "Sir, you are more fit to go to bed than to +preach." "True, sir," replied Whitefield, and then, clasping his hands +and looking up to heaven, he added, "Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work +but not of it. If I have not yet finished my course, let me go and +speak for Thee once more in the fields, seal Thy truth, and come home +and die." At the commencement of his discourse he was unable for some +time to speak, but recovering himself he preached for two hours. + +At Exeter, to pursue the story, the Rev. Jonathan Parsons, who, for +twenty-four years, had been Presbyterian minister at Newbury Port, met +the preacher. The two friends dined together at Captain Oilman's, and +then started for Newbury Port, a few miles further on. "On arrival +there," says the biographer, "Whitefield was so exhausted that he was +unable to leave the boat without assistance, but in the course of the +evening he recovered his spirits." + +Let us give the rest of the story in the words of Mr. Tyerman:--"While +Whitefield partook of an early supper, the people assembled at the +front of the parsonage, and even crowded into its hall, impatient to +hear a few words from the man they so greatly loved. 'I am tired,' +said Whitefield, 'and must go to bed.' He took a candle and was +hastening to his chamber. The sight of the people moved him; and, +pausing on the staircase, he began to speak to them. He had preached +his last sermon, this was to be his last exhortation. There he stood, +the crowd in the hall gazing up at him with tearful eyes, as Elisha at +the ascending prophet. His voice flowed on until the candle which he +held in his hand burned away and _went out in its socket_! The next +morning he was not, for God had taken him." + +Now, surely, here is a picture worth the painting, if only one could +catch the true spiritual significance and lesson of it all. Imagine +the scene: the listening multitude crowded into the spacious entrance +hall; the preacher, wearied and worn by disease, and still more by his +restless and sublime labours in preaching the word in field and temple +for many a wondrous year. The candle flickers and fails as the +glorious voice, which has made heavenly music for tens of thousands of +seeking souls, becomes weaker and weaker. The feeble flame, at last +goes out, and leaves the preacher still pleading the cause of the Lord, +whose face he is so soon to behold. History has no nobler scene to +show in all its gathered years! + +We have appropriated this story because it appears to us to hold an +explanation of the meaning of the word at the head of this chapter. +Possibly there has never been, in all the years of the Church, a +greater preacher than this same Whitefield, and Whitefield's greatness +has, to a large extent, its explanation in this, the last scene of his +ministry. How many he led to God eternity alone can reveal. His +spiritual descendants are numbered by multitudes as the sand on the +sea-shore, the stars in the firmament, for number. When he died +millions in both the old world and the new wept the going of one who to +them had been the prophet of a great deliverance. To this day the +little New England village where he sleeps is the object of pious +pilgrimage to numbers to whom the echo of his voice still comes across +the breadth of intervening years. The secret is largely hidden in +"this last scene of all." In this mighty _passion_ to preach the word, +a passion which neither persecution nor betrayal nor disappointment nor +disease nor even the icy breath of approaching death could cool--in +this lies the explanation of a ministry that shook the world! + +And without this passion even Whitefield's gifts of oratory would have +left no record for our reading, for it is absolutely essential to +effective preaching; absolutely essential to success. Without it the +choicest gifts, the profoundest learning will achieve but little. +_With_ it, even humble qualifications and limited scholastic equipment +will accomplish--have often accomplished--great things for God and the +lives of men. + +And this passion for preaching will be a passion for preaching for its +_own sake_. To the true preacher preaching, and everything connected +with preaching, will be things in which his soul delights. He will +glory in sermon making and sermon preaching more than in any of his +life's other activities. It is not implied that he will always +approach his task without fear, or even without shrinking, or, at +times, a passing desire to shun the duty devolving upon him. There may +be hours when, as he truly realises the purpose of his work, a sense of +his responsibility will so surge through his spirit as almost to unman +him. Other times, again, may come, when even "nerves" may get the +better of him, for every preacher worth the name has "nerves," and +should thank God for them. There may be days in which, seeing as in a +vision something of the mighty issues dependent upon his faithfulness, +he will tremble lest he be, indeed, one of those fools who "rush in +where angels fear to tread." All these experiences may be--most likely +will be--his, and yet he will find in the exercise of his art, both in +preparation and performance such a pleasure, and such a sense of mental +exaltation, as nothing else can bring. A born artist loves to paint +for painting's sake; to such an one there is something almost +sacramental in the very mixing of the colours. The true sculptor hears +music in the tapping of the mallet upon the chisel as he shapes the +marble into grace and beauty. There is no drudgery in the calling that +is yours by ordination of nature, by right of true heartfelt affection. +The kind of preacher we mean would rather talk about preaching than +about any other subject, providing he meet with one like-minded with +himself. He is happy to the glowing point when he can discuss with +some sharer of the call the latest homiletic creation of his mind or of +the mind of his friend. When his creation comes to the stage of +delivery he is conscious of that perfect pleasantness which is always +felt by a man when engaged in the labour which, of all others, he loves +best to perform. "I'd rather preach than be King of England," he will +tell you sometimes; and though, on occasion, he may have his "hard +times," a form of discipline sent upon him for his soul's good, he will +generally be found within a single circling of the Sun as eager as ever +to return to the place of his humiliation. Many a preacher who has +felt, on Sunday evening, that the only thing left for him to do was +immediately to send in his resignation to the proper quarter, has, +before Monday evening, known what it was to hunger again for the +Sabbath's sweet return. A strange thing is this preaching madness when +it possesses a man, as it often will, body, soul and spirit; which no +place can satisfy save the preacher's place, no task save the +preacher's task, no honour save the honour of telling men about Jesus +Christ. Without it there can be no grand success. He who is not thus +possessed should decline to be drawn for this duty. Of such as he +there are more than enough already in the pulpit--in it, but _not at +home_ in it, not glad, gloriously glad, to be there--slaving to make a +sermon because "in three days Sunday will be here;" taking with them at +service time this so-called sermon, strong with the smell of books and +of midnight oil; speaking it in pain of utterance, and delighted when +the ordeal is over, with a delight most certainly shared by many who +neither came to scoff nor remained to pray. Heaven help the man whom +fate in the shape of foolish friends, or parents, or mistaken +church-officials has sentenced to hard labour in the pulpit; who is +condemned to preach without possession of that love of preaching which +makes for him in whose heart it dwells the business of declaring the +Gospel the noblest and most rapturous occupation in all the great, wide +world! If preparation be invariably irksome--_invariably_, we say, for +all men have their moods and no mere passing spell of depression is +worth more than a little special prayer; if preaching be always a pain +and a cross--_always_, we say--for God may cause the chariot wheels to +run heavily for reasons of His own, and the difficulty may not point to +retreat, but to supplication; if preparation and preaching be +invariably irksome and painful, the fact ought to make the preacher ask +whether a mistake has been made in his choice, which ought to be +rectified as soon as possible. The true preacher will be in love with +preaching for its own sake. This love will be part of the great +all-conquering passion of his life. + +A "part," yes; but only a part. May we call it the human, the +temperamental, dispositional part? The passion we desiderate for the +present-day pulpit includes something almost infinitely higher than +this. It must include _the passion for Christ_. It is the hunger to +preach because Jesus Christ is the chief theme of preaching; because it +is in _His_ honour; because out of the fulness of the heart the mouth +would speak; because the soul's deep reverence for the Redeemer _must_ +extol its object. He is to be _obeyed_, too, in preaching. It is a +form of service rendered to _Him_. The truth is _His_ truth, "the +truth as it is in Jesus," and _He_ gave the command which is honoured +in its publication. By this act of preaching _He_ is pleased. It is +an evidence of the preacher's glad surrender to _His_ will. It moves +others, too, to the same surrender. It extends _His_ kingdom; +increases the number of those who "bear _His_ name and sign." It helps +_Him_ to see "of the travail of His soul and be satisfied." It pushes +further back the bounds of _His_ empire; widens the area of _His_ +sovereignty. It "crowns _Him_ with glory and honour." So the preacher +"makes his boast in the Lord," and is "glad." + +Thus it can be said that all true preaching is worship, which is always +the expression of awe, reverence and love. We sometimes speak of +worship, _and_ preaching. To the true preacher this distinction does +not exist. No act in all the service is more truly an act of adoration +than is the preaching of such a man, because it is the pouring out of +his inmost heart's affection. With the spirit with which he prays and +sings; with the spirit of the Te Deum and the Magnificat, will he +preach; and out of the same emotions toward Him whom thus he serves. +Such preaching is a bringing of the fruits of the mind and the spirit +to the altar of sacrifice. The whole Doxology is in it! + +Yes, preaching is worship. We Free Churchmen need to emphasise this +truth. Again and again have we heard the criticism that in our +churches there "is much sermon and little worship." We have not only +heard this criticism from the quarter whence it might be expected, but, +also, sometimes even from some of our own fellowship. There is an +answer to this complaint which proceeds from a misunderstanding of what +true worship really is, as well as from an underestimation of the true +sacredness of the preacher's work. It is this:--That preaching is +worship when offered in the spirit of worship, and that neither song +nor prayer becomes worship except upon the same condition. Further we +would say that _hearing_ is worship, too, when the hearer listens as in +the spirit. The hearer to whom song and supplication are worship, +indeed, will also make an act of adoration of his hearing of the word +which is sent unto him. + +Behind such preaching as this, and producing the passion out of which +it will proceed, there must be high experiences of grace. Such passion +can only proceed from a personal knowledge of Christ and from that full +surrender which such knowledge at once brings to pass. Love has caught +the preacher in the way and led him to Calvary, where his heart has +been set on fire. He does but preach because he must, the Lord having +done for him such mighty things. As the memory of that divine arrest +on the road to Damascus abode with Paul, and so sustained a sense of +the mercy of his Lord that he could not help but preach the gospel, so +the recollection of the preacher will ever linger around the glad hour +when the Master met him in the path, having come down from heaven to +seek and to save even him. In these remembrances has the passion of +the preacher its origin and its reinforcement. It is the first fruit +of a melted heart. The true preacher is--the word is not a pleasant +one, but it is the only form of expression that, at the moment, +occurs--the devotee. He is the slave of love to Christ. + +And without this whole-souled devotion--we say again--there can be no +great moving and saving preaching. Eloquence there may be, +intellectualism, sublimity of conception and description, pathos--all +the qualities which are needed in high public address, but something +will be lacking. None can speak of a maiden as can her lover, though +others may describe her with a choicer diction than he. None can speak +of a child as can his mother, to whom the little life is more precious +than her own and every childish way of significance and beauty. +"_Lovest_ thou _Me_?" said the Lord to Simon Peter on that grey morning +on the sea-shore. "Lovest thou Me?" He asked again, and yet again. +"Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee," cried the disciple, his +soul aflame with a living passion never more to be extinguished or +bedimmed, "Thou knowest that I love Thee." Then said the Saviour, +"Feed My sheep," "Feed My lambs." Peter's preaching hour was come now +that this fire had been kindled in his soul. In that confession rang +the promise of all the after years, of the ministry in Jerusalem, of +his declaration of the Christ in many a heathen city, of the death he +was to die in Rome. Lack this flame of affection and preaching will be +a task, a penance, a weary iteration and reiteration of things so often +spoken as to render them threadbare and hackneyed to the speaker. +Possess this all-consuming love and preaching will be as "a song of the +Well-Beloved!" + +But the passion of preaching has in it another ingredient--if in this +way the matter may be expressed. To be effective and successful the +preacher must have in his heart the _passion of humanity_. True +preaching is the supreme effort of a man burning to bless and save his +fellow-men. Precious to him are the souls before him; terrible to him +the thought that any one of them should come short of the salvation he +has been sent to proclaim, that one life should wither and be wasted. +He is "kindly affectioned" toward them. He _loves_, therefore he +preaches. As long as there are souls to be warned and invited, +penitents to be enlightened and led into the peace of God, hearts to be +comforted, powers to be taught a better way--as long, in short, as +there are men to whom his message may bring help and hope and life he +cannot hold his peace. He will be "all things to all men that +peradventure" he "may save some." + +Now this is a harder thing--this passion for men, as that man must +possess it who aspires to preach the gospel with power and full +accomplishment of the purposes thereof. For the love he must feel must +be a love not only for such as of themselves inspire it, but for those +whose life and character are hateful. Of what is called "affinity" +between the man to be loved and sought and the preacher there may be +none. How can the ambassador of Jesus Christ, who has looked upon the +face of the Son of Man and in that look caught a conception of humanity +in its fairest beauty,--how can he be in love with men and see, as he +must see, their meanness and wrong-doing? The lawyer and the preacher, +it is said, see the seamy side of life, and there is no need for wonder +if, as has been reported, the lawyer often becomes a cynic. The wonder +is if the preacher do not become a cynic too. Seeing what he must see, +knowing what he must know, how is he to preserve that longing after the +souls of the very vilest which alone can sustain him in his search for +them "away on the mountains cold?" _Can it really be done_? + +The answer to this question is, and must be, No. It cannot be done if +the preacher look at man only through his own eyes and try to love him +for himself alone. It will be found impossible to love one man because +we do _not_ know him. It will be found even more impossible--if +impossibility admit of degrees of comparison--to love another because +we _do_! Our hearts have neither power to conceive nor life to sustain +an universal affection. + +And yet this love of man as man must be realised before ever we can +hope helpfully to lift up Christ and goodness for his acceptance. The +secret thereof must come as came the message itself; as came our call +to declare it,--through another love warming our hearts into living +heat. The passion for humanity comes to the preacher as a result of +his passion for Christ. His love for Christ goes beyond its divine +object to all who are precious to his Lord. The worst of men is, by +right of redemption, Christ's man, dear to the preacher, because bought +by the blood which is more precious than silver and gold. The heathen +are His inheritance and the uttermost ends of the earth are His +possession. Urged, sustained and comforted by this reflection, the +missionary crosses stormy seas, ready to find, if need be, a grave in a +foreign land far from home and friends that, so going, he may speak to +His Lord's beloved concerning His wondrous grace. Here, and here only, +is the true missionary motive, the one missionary argument. We do +_not_ seek to save the heathen because of an eschatology which would +consign them to the outer darkness. We cannot receive as true any +conception of God which includes belief in a doctrine involving so +terrible an injustice as that men should be eternally punished for +refusing that which has never been offered for their acceptance. We +think, rather, of the Lord as robbed of the love of hearts He died to +win, hearts made precious by His death, and in the passion kindled by +our vision of the Master looking from His cross away over tossing seas +to those far-off lands and including every son of savagery to the last +moment of time in His dying petition, "Father, forgive them, they know +not what they do." We perceive upon every soul the sign of the cross; +and this sign makes every man a brother to the ends of the earth. So +the preacher is lifted by his love for his Master into a love for all +for whom He agonised and died. + +And this, from the beginning of his preaching to its end, and in +relation to all the experiences into which his labours shall bring him, +must be the true preacher's way of looking at his fellow-men. The +social reformer has his way, too, the politician his, the scientist +his. This is the preacher's way. Each and every man is sanctified to +him by the sprinkling of blood. So he, also, will bear a cross for the +saving of men; so he, too, will carry the sorrows and sins of humanity. +He will have a Gethsemane of his own, be led to a Calvary waiting for +_him_, for every saviour of men must tread this appointed way. Every +shepherd who is not an hireling "giveth his life for the sheep." + +One word more. We have named the preacher's passion for his Lord. We +have also named his passion for those upon whom his Lord has set the +mark of His love. There is something more needed ere the flame of +passion burn with its fullest intensity. It is the passion of the +dream--the dream that is not a dream excepting to those who have only +heard of it by the hearing of the ear. To the preacher it will be a +_vision_. It is the vision of which we have already spoken, and may +speak again in pages yet to come--the vision of the divine ideal at +last triumphant. In this vision the preacher must live. To lose it is +despair. No one has so many disappointments as the idealist; but it is +the glorious fact that no one cares about his disappointments less. +Not that he does not see them, but because he sees _beyond_ them. The +true preacher--_he_ is your incorrigible optimist. Some men form their +expectations of the future out of material supplied in tables of +statistics, ecclesiastical Blue Books, censuses of church attendance, +returns and percentages. Not so the true preacher. He has "seen the +King in His beauty and the land that is far off." Columbus like, he +steers his barque toward the new world his faith has gazed upon, and, +as with Columbus, the passion of the coming victory holds him, heart in +tune and head erect, while others mournfully prophesy the disasters +always by shortsighted people seen. + +So by the power of his passion the preacher declares his message and +this passion gives power to every word thereof. In that same passion +is his own sustenance in all the divers contradictions that preaching +may bring upon him. He needs it for his own preservation. Often the +preacher who accomplishes the most is, more than those who accomplish +less, rewarded with ingratitude, misjudgment, scorn. "The carnal mind +is at enmity against God, and is not reconciled to the law of God, +neither, indeed, can be." This means suffering for the preacher as it +meant suffering for the Lord. What can keep him in countenance among +it all? Love and the passion of the vision. In these will he conquer +ever! The prodigality of the younger son had long worn out the +patience of the elder brother. Love kept the father waiting on and +vision saw the lad's return while still he was far away. In this love +and vision he went forth the door; in this love and vision he returned +leading the late returning child back again to home and rest and peace +and purity. The parable is for preachers as well as prodigals. Oh, +for the passion, the far, far sight of this old history! They are our +greatest need to-day! + +Passion! How is it with us now? Have we this absolutely essential +possession in our hearts, in our preaching, as we have had it +aforetime, as our fathers had it? Are we so set upon giving glory to +Christ that we long for the opportunity to come to speak His name in +the congregation? Are we so given up to the enterprise of saving men +that we rest not day nor night for very longing for their salvation? +Are we so full of the sense of the triumph drawing nearer that our +hearts are already rejoicing with the joy of Harvest? These are +questions for us all, and we may discover the quality of our preaching +from their answers, if only we will whisper them to ourselves with +faithfulness to God and men and our own souls. + + + + +BOOK II + +THE MESSAGE:-- + +ITS ESSENTIAL NOTES + + + +THEORY OF BOOK II. + +The Effectiveness of the Message arises from the Completeness with +which it Meets the Needs of Men. We believe that the Measure of the +Gospel is the Measure of Man's Spiritual and Moral Necessity, and we +plead for a Full Statement thereof in order that it may Prove its +"Power unto Life." + +_What are the Essential Notes of the Message?_ + + + +CHAPTER I. + +The Note of Accusation. + +In a purely heathen country the first business of the preacher must +naturally be concerned with the publication of the great historical +facts upon which the Christian faith is based. In such a land as ours, +where these facts are already the subject of common knowledge, his +first service to every soul to whom he is sent is to bring home the +truth of that soul's condition and necessity. It is not a pleasant +task. It is not an easy one. It forms a duty from which we +instinctively shrink, but no ministry is complete in which it is +neglected. No ministry that is incomplete can be effective and +successful. + +Now an examination of the history of preaching will reveal to us that +all the great preachers have been examples of faithfulness concerning, +not only the softer, but also the sterner portions of their message. +Before us are the Hebrew prophets. By them was Israel arraigned at the +bar of God. Could anything be more fearful than the indictment they +laid? Kings, priests, councillors and commoners--against them all was +the testimony maintained. "Art thou he that troublest Israel?" asks a +conscience-stricken monarch of the seer from Mount Gilead. Troublers +of Israel they were, exposing, denouncing, declaring judgment against +evil doers. Such was their mission. Troublers of Israel, they were +sent to be. + +After the prophets, when, at last, the fulness of time began to dawn, +he appeared who was to be the great herald of the Redeemer. "In those +days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and +saying, Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." John, too, +was an accuser. Hark, how he addresses the Pharisees; how he speaks of +"the axe laid at the root of the tree!" Once more did Israel hear of +her rebellion and transgression. Again was the veil torn from her +heart, the trappings of ceremonialism, the rags of hypocrisy. Again +were men made to tremble by warning of the doom about to break. +Wonderfully effective this ministry seems to have been--"Then went out +to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, +and were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins." To the +preacher came martyrdom, and that as the direct consequence of his +faithfulness. It is dangerous to play the accuser at the foot of the +throne, and for this, in the lone dungeon of Machaerus, the Baptist +dies, but not until He whom he announced, and of whom the law and the +prophets did speak, has lifted up His voice to preach to the nations +and the ages. To the world came Jesus also as an accuser, and such +accusations were His as men had never heard--accusations founded upon +an infinite knowledge of mankind, on an infinite hatred of sin, on a +perfect vision of the end of all wrong-doing. To convince and convict +the world--for _this_ first of all was He made flesh. Over the land +His "Woe unto you" rang out as the thunder of a divine sentence, +blanching the cheek and smiting the soul with shame and fear. For this +testimony He died. + +And after He had ascended up on high the apostles carried on this +accusing work. Knowing "the terrors of the law" they persuaded men. +As Paul "reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come, +Felix trembled." To him the prisoner of that memorable day spoke as +the representative of outraged deity. In his voice the hardened Consul +heard the echo of his own disregarded conscience, and was reminded of +his "more perfect knowledge of that way" which would one day make all +the deeper the blackness of his condemnation. The joints of his +harness were undone. + +And so in that time of beginnings was set forth for all after years on +the stage of that Eastern land the pattern of Gospel preaching, and its +great copyists in all subsequent generations have come forth bearing, +as their first word to men, the message of accusation. "All have +sinned and come short of the glory of God;" such has been their opening +announcement. Sin is rebellion against God; such has been their +all-embracing definition. "The soul that sinneth it shall die;"--this +"certain fearful looking for of judgment" they have held up before +mankind. "Thou art the man!" has been the constant challenge of the +Christian ambassador. It would be an interesting employment to journey +back across the past and listen for this note as it fell from the lips +of the great preachers of bygone ages. Our own Connexional fathers, +however, as the figures most familiar to our minds, may remind us how +faithful the pulpit used to be in the execution of this hard task. +Some of us are old enough to remember as common, a phrase which now we +hear only occasionally and in the out of the way corners of our Church. +It was the expression "black sermon" as descriptive of a discourse in +which the sterner side of the revelation was enunciated. Such sermons +in those days formed part of every preacher's armoury. They were +sermons of accusation; sermons about sin; sermons diagnostic of the +state of the human heart. In these discourses the sinner was assailed +through the gateway of his fears. The old preachers believed there was +such a place as Hell, and said so,--sometimes with a great wealth of +staking, figurative language which was perhaps used less symbolically +than literally. They believed in a final and general judgment in which +the dead, small and great, with such as shall be then living upon the +earth, will be called to stand before the Great White Throne to give an +account of the deeds done in the body. Clearly did they see this +coming day and clearly did they proclaim that at any time its terrors +may break upon a careless and prayerless world. Some of them gained +celebrity by the vigour and colour of their descriptions. In the North +of England they still speak of the sermon with which Joseph Spoor +transported multitudes into the circumstances of that awful hour. Hugh +Bourne, it is well known, gave himself to this kind of preaching to a +degree which has made his name the more to be remembered on its +account. His language was literal indeed! To our mind, at the moment +of writing, returns something of the emotion with which in the days of +boyhood we listened to a sermon on "The Pale Horse and his Rider" from +a local preacher not long since passed to his reward. Another +discourse on "The Swellings of Jordan" has been with us vividly, though +forty years have flown since we heard it in a tiny chapel among the +Northern hills. We can remember, too, an expression now used no more, +but which we have often heard as part of the final appeal with which +such sermons were wont to close. "My friends," the preacher would say, +"I have cleared myself this day of your blood." Sometimes this +declaration would be followed by a challenge in which the ungodly of +the congregation were called to meet the preacher, "on that day when +the books shall be opened and the secrets of all hearts shall be +disclosed," there and then to bear witness of his guiltlessness as to +their damnation. It was very terrible, no doubt, very harrowing, and +often as unpleasant to listen to as to utter, but such preaching was +justified by its results. Many a sinner trembled as his heart was +opened before him. Many a strong man broke into cries and tears as he +saw himself a rebel against divine justice and mercy. Many an one +smote upon his breast in terror as the veil of the future was lifted, +and he saw himself standing guilty before the last tribunal, and +praying for the mountains to fall and hide him from the eyes of an +angry God. In our time, however, such preaching has become a +tradition. It might be centuries since it was a fashion in the land, +for hardly does its echo reach our ears to-day. And concerning this +fact there emerges a curious thing. Confessedly the effect of such +preaching was often the offending of the hearer. It has ever been +so--was so, as we have seen, with the prophets; the apostles; the Lord +Himself--and yet there is complaint when accusation and warning are +withheld, and that, strangely, from the very people who would probably +protest the most against it. It is said, even by these very people, +that nowadays _the preacher does not hurt_; that he fails to find the +conscience. The fact is, there exists in the heart of man an +instinctive expectation that the messenger of God will do these things. +It is one of the criticisms of to-day that sternness has died out of +theology. The preacher is no longer the representative of a _judge_; +no longer in God's stead the accuser of men. In every age the Church +displays favouritism in her doctrinal attachments. In our time it is +the doctrine of the divine Fatherhood of which the most is heard. This +were well if the whole truth were told; but what manner of fatherhood +is that of which we all too often hear? A fatherhood of colossal good +nature, of blind, of foolish, indulgence; a conception of paternal +wisdom and affection against which the conscience of the thoughtful +instinctively revolts. The man in the street is not satisfied, and +never will be satisfied, with a merely sentimental God. Some day, +perhaps, it may be discovered that he is outside the churches, not +because preaching, asking too much, has made him afraid, but because +preaching, asking too little, has left him contemptuous. + +And how has the change come to pass? Some say that the lack of the +hour is a sense of sin. This sense, they tell us, has been lost as a +result of our theorising about the origin of moral evil. There are +some, indeed, who talk as if the tragedy of sin was not really a +tragedy at all, but actually a blessing in disguise. We have been +assured that the only hope for humanity lay in a moral fall which had +to come to pass that the race might achieve its destiny through its +experience of what is only called "wrong-doing," and of the suffering +resulting from it. Only by this rugged and shadowed road, so are we +informed, can we ever come to perfection and reach the golden age for +which our hearts are sighing. Others see in sin a proof that man is +struggling to be better. They regard his transgression as a hopeful +symptom of divine discontent. Many _do_ see tragedy in it all, but the +blame lies otherwhere than with the transgressor. Sin grows less +terrible, but more hopeless, as they talk about heredity, as they +transfer the responsibility from the criminal to his circumstances, his +education, the conditions of his life or the state of society. Not a +sentence of punishment but a vote of sympathy should crime evoke if all +that is said along such lines be true. + +But not in any one of these things, nor in all of them put together, +lies the whole reason of our modern tenderness in dealing with sin. +Even preaching has its fashions, and he is a bold man who dares to +disregard the prevailing mode. The convention of the time may decide +that it is not quite "the correct thing" to lay too much emphasis on +the harder teaching of the Christian belief. Whether unpopular with +the people or not, this teaching may be unpopular with the preachers. +We do not speak of these unpleasant things, for why be singular in +direful prophecy? Of some preachers, to summarise, we will say that +their need is a recovery of the sense of sin; of others that a deepened +consciousness of every man's power to triumph over his inherited +tendencies, his circumstances, his training and the temptations of his +age, must precede the return of success. To others we would venture a +reminder that the preacher might, perhaps, be all the better for a +little more personal independence, and for the realisation that he is +not responsible only to men for the manner in which his work is done, +but to Him who sent him out to preach the whole message of His heart. +The thing for the preacher to do is to learn the truth and tell it, +even though it be bitter to the hearer and bitterer to himself; even +though it make short work of social respectability and conventional +religiosity, bringing the blush of shame to the cheek and setting the +pulses throbbing with the fear of the lightnings of God. + +Faithfulness, then, is essential to the completeness of the +message--faithfulness as to the true condition of the soul and its +position in the sight of God. As Samuel stood before Saul in that +fateful hour when the king, having disobeyed the commandments of the +Lord, had brought of the sheep and of the oxen which he should have +utterly destroyed; as the prophets, the apostles, the Master alike +lifted up their witness against a corrupt and stiff-necked people, so +the preacher of to-day must bear his testimony against the sins of men; +must pronounce the penalties of ungodliness. A revelation of the +transgression of the individual, of the lost state of every soul out of +Christ, are part of the Word received from Him who sent him. This +declaration must not concern the individual alone. To the age, also, +he has a message of kindred truth. The pulpit is erected as a witness +against the generations as they come and go. It is by the preacher +that Jesus Christ speaks to successive centuries. He is the true +oracle of God. Against the carelessness, the covetousness, the +debauchery and corruption of the nations, God would speak through him. +Against the oppression of the poor, the robbery of the widow, the +exploitation of the savage; against the crimes of the empires, the +Almighty, through his lips, would make His anger known. He has done so +often and often. Again and again has the preacher turned back the +tides of national iniquity, again and again prevented the wrongful +purpose upon which a people had set its heart. The need is with us +still. This warning and accusing note of sternness must be regained. +To tell men of their sins and that they are lost unless God delivers +them; to tell the age of its iniquities and that the sure end of +national vice is national destruction--here is our work to-day. + +So there needs something in the nature of a reversion to the methods of +days that are no more. Yet a _full_ return to the mode of our fathers +is impossible. Let this be acknowledged frankly and fully and at once. +Those "black sermons" to which we listened forty years ago can never be +preached again. The day has gone, at least within the area of +civilisation, for painting flaming pictures of hell, for realistic and +horrible descriptions of the tortures of the damned. That kind of +thing has had its day and can be done no more. Preachers could not do +it; hearers would not hear it. The misfortune has been that the +passing of our fathers' methods has not been followed by the discovery +of others in which the truth they conveyed could be expressed in forms +more suitable to different times. Even the man outside the Church has +left behind him the literal understanding of those old figures of +speech. Few now think of heaven as our grandsires thought of it; few +imagine hell as they imagined it. Yet is there still a heaven; yet is +there still a hell. + +And, hard as it is to write it, it is to the preaching of hell that we +must return--the hell of degradation and of loss and of sure +retribution. That hell is the latter state to which every path of +wrong-doing leads with the inevitability of eternal law. Sin is hell +in the making. Hell is sin found out, perhaps, alas, too late. This +word is needed in our churches this very day. + +It is needed, it was recently suggested to us, especially by our young +people. With good reason the churches are all anxious as to the young +people, so many of whom, alas! show a disposition to leave the temples +of their fathers. It cannot be said that the Church has not done her +best along certain lines to keep the coming generation at home. Older +men and women have been heard to murmur that too much has been done for +the young person's sake, too many things sacrificed. Religion has been +made very easy--too easy, it is said. Unpleasant demands have been +kept, it is suggested, too much in the background. We all know parents +who confess that their children are permitted to do things at home of +which they, the parents, disapprove, lest they should go elsewhere and +do worse. It is alleged that the same thing often happens in the +Church for the same reason. Ah! you must be careful what you say lest +you offend the young! This is an indulgent, a good-natured, a +compromising time. Behind this solicitude the best reasons lie, but is +there no danger to these young people in all this amiability? Is it +_quite_ impossible for a young man to be put in peril by our very +anxiety to save him? + +Yes, there is such a possibility. It arises when we shrink from that +plainness of speech which is, after all, friendship's best service. Is +it not better to offend, even to wound deeply, than to speak only the +smoother things, however kindly the intent, and, so speaking, fail to +produce that great renunciation, that strengthening of bands, that +strong grasp of the Eternal which alone mean safety in future years? +We know that the whole question is encompassed with difficulties. It +is hard to write it, but the best friends of the young are not always +those preachers who are most tender concerning their feelings. + +And not for the sake of the young only is this note of sternness +needed. It may be recalled that, some time ago, the columns of a +well-known religious weekly contained a discussion as to which are +morally the most perilous years of a man's life. The conclusion +reached therein was startling, but bore the test of reflection. We +have generally assumed that "the dangerous years" are those of early +manhood, the years that lie between leaving school and marriage. In +those years the youth has probably left the Sunday School behind him, +probably hangs only loosely to the Church. He feels the vigour of his +young manhood stirring within him. He is drinking his first draughts +of the wine of life. Restraints are being relaxed and companionships +are being formed, while there is a sense of freedom almost intoxicating +in its exhilaration. These are the days that we have commonly +described as the most perilous of life. + +Probably, however, we have been wrong in this conclusion. In the +discussion referred to it was contended, perhaps established, that the +period of greatest moral and spiritual danger lies a score or more +years further along the road. From forty to fifty, and nearer fifty +than forty, was maintained to be the fateful age. Youth has innocence, +ambition, enthusiasm, ideals. Youth has generous impulses, has not yet +been soured by disappointments, has not yet found out the cynicism of +the world, has not become infected by the canker of covetousness. It +has made no enemies, is not corrupted by success, is not daunted by +failure. A score of years later some or all of these things will have +happened to a man. Harder has become the world, fiercer the battle in +which he is engaged, lower burn the fires of life; enthusiasm has faded +as grey hairs have come. _These_ are the perilous years. + +There is one thing the preacher must never forget:--That the men and +women before him go in constant peril from temptation. Not of the +avowedly non-Christian only is this true, but of all. Yonder man, +known for his respectability, his regular attendance at the sanctuary, +falters, perhaps, this very day on the crumbling edge of a moral +precipice. Ever and anon some one is missed from the means of grace. +Where is he? Hush! Tell it softly and with tears. He has fallen who +but recently bade so fairly to carry his cross to the summit of the +hill. Can it be that he fell because in the House of Prayer no voice +warned him? Can it be that he has committed the greater sin because no +reproof was whispered in his ear concerning the beginnings of +transgression? Was there no message committed to the preacher for that +man as he drew near the parting of the ways? Did the messenger +suppress the truth because it was hard to utter? + +What, then, is it that is asked? Not, of course, a ministry of +continual denunciation, of constant reproach, of endless +accusation--not that, but a ministry in which the witness shall be not +one-sided but complete. Let us hear, if you please, of the sweeter +things; tell us again, _and again_, of that divine Fatherhood in which +must be our final trust; whisper in our cars of the gentleness of God +and the infinite tenderness of His Son; but tell us _all_, for so +wayward are we, so presumptuous, so prone to go astray that we need to +hear of chastisement as well as mercy. We must be reminded that "the +way of transgressors is hard" as well as of the blessing that the Lord +has in His heart for us. + +To the preacher, then, we would say:--Here is a task which must not be +neglected however hard it be. The word should be a hammer to break, a +sword to pierce, an arrow in the heart. Here is something for us all +to do:--To cultivate the arts of the counsel for the prosecution. In +the exercise of those arts all our knowledge of human nature, all +possible learning in the word will be needed to their very last +syllable. It is not true that any one is qualified to wave the lamp +that shall reveal the pitfall in the path of the over-confident +disciple. He must be a wise physician who has to diagnose the sickness +of the soul. He must be a lawyer learned in the law who has to explain +the position of the rebel before his flouted Sovereign. He must have +larger skill than most who has to bring home the broken will of God to +the soul. A reflection, more important still, has yet to be suggested. +For this work the preacher will need to be a man of holiness, for, +though he speak to his brother only as a fellow-sinner saved by Grace, +he must speak as one who has escaped from bonds. Thus comes character +into the business. "Woe is me," said the prophet, called to witness +against the transgression of Judah, "for I am a man of unclean lips." +Only by prayer, by the cleansing of the fountain, by sustaining grace +shall we be sufficient for these things. For this manner of preaching +one man alone can ascend into the hill of the Lord:--"He that hath +clean hands and a pure heart, and hath not lifted up himself unto +vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +The Note of Pity. + +In the chapter just concluded we have tried to lay down that one +essential of the preacher's message is the note of sternness, that the +preacher is, on God's behalf, the accuser of his hearers, charging them +before the bar of conscience, declaring to the soul its state and +condition, pronouncing, also, the punishment which must follow +persistent rebellion against God. It becomes us immediately to say +something as to another note which must be heard in unison with this of +sternness, and that is the note of pity. It is time to insist upon +this. Only that man can declare the terrors of the law who knows +something of the spirit of the prophet who cried, "Oh, that my head +were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day +and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" Only he can cry +out against Jerusalem who, when he beholds the city, weeps over it as +he sees its crime and shame and notes the tempest gathering to burst +over its "cloud-capp'd towers, its solemn temples, its airy palaces." +The preacher, like his Lord, must be "a man of sorrows and acquainted +with grief." It must be true of _him_ that for "the hurt of the +daughter of My people was He stricken." His heart must have bled for +the tragedy of the world! + +And into the delivery of the message this pity must find its way and +have expression, if not always in word, certainly in tone. In tone, we +say, for the tone of the preacher's utterance is almost, if not quite, +as important as its words. Lacking the accent of pity, the accusations +of the preacher will degenerate into scolding, and of all scolds the +pulpit scold is the most objectionable. Without a pitiful heart his +exposure of human nature will become mere fault-finding, and a +fault-finding ministry is a ministry of desolation. Again, without a +pitiful heart the preacher's utterance of the divine judgment will be +but more or less terrifying threats, and the pulpit is not set up to +threaten but to pronounce. We have heard preaching of this order. "I +am not at all well to-night," said a clergyman of whom we once read, +"and I shall give it 'em hot." Men are sometimes reminded of their +sins, not out of a sense of duty borne in upon a reluctant spirit, but +because the wind happens to be in the east, or the preacher's nerves +are badly out of order. The Church is told of her coldness, her +indolence and unfaithfulness, her narrowness, bigotry and greed, not +because, after a struggle to win permission to tell a more flattering +tale, the preacher comes forth under a divine compulsion to "cry aloud +and spare not," but because his digestion is upset, or his temporal +concerns are awry, or even because his personal ambitions have been +disappointed and himself unappreciated. There is such a thing as +bad-tempered, ill-natured preaching, in which the weapons of the Bible +armoury are borrowed for the expression of the preacher's chagrin and +spite. In a literal sense every word he speaks may be true, but the +spirit of the message destroys all possible good effects and turns the +word of God into an angry snarl. It might, therefore, be well to +decide to preach along lines of accusation, exposure, judgment or +warning only on those days when the heart is happiest, when life goes +well and the cheek of health glows with its brightest bloom. Perhaps +the resolution might take such a form as this:--_Resolved: Never to +preach a hard sermon when I feel like doing so_. + +All this is no fancy picture, and the peril indicated is not imaginary +but real. The story of Jonah is left to all time for the warning of +the preacher. Seated yonder in his booth, biting his nails in +vexation, he is the type of the preacher whose righteous indignation, +because of its lack of that element of unselfishness, and that spirit +of pity by which moral anger should always be qualified, becomes simply +grim and merciless wrath. "Doest thou well to be angry?" the eternal +voice asks of him and of all who follow in his prophetic line. It was +not thus that Jesus looked upon the multitude. They despised Him--many +of them. That He knew. They accused and slandered Him one to another +and in their own secret hearts. Some of them said He was a glutton and +a wine-bibber, others that He had a devil, others, again, that He was +the friend of publicans and sinners. They ate His bread, accepted His +healing kindness, and all the time were making ready to cry, "Not this +man, but Barabbas," when opportunity should arise. All this He +understood, but "when He saw the multitudes He was moved with +compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as +sheep having no shepherd." + + "All His words are music, + Though they make me weep, + Infinitely tender, + Infinitely deep." + + +And the absence of this undertone of pity from the message of the +preacher always destroys the effect of his warnings and causes the +hearer to be less afraid than angry, as is always the case when men are +captiously scolded and found fault with and threatened. On the other +hand, its presence gives power and penetration to the terrors borne +upon its breath. It is instinctively felt that the hard words of the +preacher are spoken as by one who weeps before he speaks. He does but +speak because he must, because it would be cruellest cruelty to be +silent. "For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace." "Zion's +sake"--here, then, is the motive of all this unfolding of the secret +history of the hearer's heart and life. From very pity this man cannot +speak of health when he sees the canker in the rose which blooms upon +the cheek, when he perceives that, despite the appearance of strength +and vigour, "the whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint." He has +not told us pleasant things to-day, though we would have liked to hear +them, and he would have been glad to tell them, because he is too +deeply concerned for us to prophesy golden groves at the end of a +journey whose every footstep is taken upon the broad road leading to +destruction. With meekness can we receive the reproofs of a parent +knowing that, however hard his word, his heart is tender. "Whom He +loveth He chasteneth," was written of the Lord. When it can be written +of the Lord's ambassador, then again it will be true that although "no +chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous," yet will +it yield "the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are +exercised thereby." Let us take it, then, that pity is an essential of +the preacher's message, and must make its presence felt, if not in +word, at least in accent, or tone, or atmosphere. Is it too late in +the argument to ask what this pity really and truly is? + +In Theodore Hunger's volume, "The Freedom of Faith," a book which will +be found in many of our libraries, there is a chapter on the pity of +Jesus Christ which would probably repay us for another perusal. Very +powerfully the author maintains that pity is a deeper and sublimer +passion than love. In "The Alchemist," Balzac, depicting an ideally +perfect affection makes the object of it deformed, indicating that love +has not attained its highest height until it has become pity. Thus the +mother's love for her child is never so noble as when expressed in +ministering to its sickness. How near to the little one does she come +in those painful, anxious hours when, perchance, all the reward her +love seems like to bring is the blighting of her dearest hopes. She +loves her child in health, but that love is rewarded with joy; she +loves it as it triumphs in its little tasks of intellect, but that love +is rewarded with pride; its moral achievements awaken her admiration; +its spiritual victories arouse her gratitude, and in admiration and +gratitude, love has compensation; but none of these emotions so carry +over her soul into fellowship with the soul of that dear one, none +bring her into a touch so close, or give such gentleness to the +fingers, such softness and tenderness to the voice as does pity, "when +pain and sickness wring the brow." And what of the parental feeling +for that other child--the child, we mean, whose name no one speaks in +her ear, who has gone out from the family circle, who is away in the +far country, wasting his substance in riotous living; who, indeed, +_has_ wasted it, and who is now feeding the swine of the stranger, and +longing to fill his belly with the husks that the swine do eat? +Behold, now, the father standing upon the threshold shading his eyes as +longingly he gazes along the road which climbs the distant hill. A +world of trouble is in his eyes. "Yonder young fool who has wandered +away is not worth a single sigh of this grand old man," we say. "He is +reaping as he has sown," we moralise. Time was when this youth went +brightly to and fro in the homestead, when innocence sat throned upon +his forehead, when truth shone brightly from his eyes, when purity and +modesty mantled with blushes his boyish cheek. The old man loved him +_then_. But this watching from the threshold, this long, long tearful +look down the road winding away to the land of profligacy and shame, +these are the glories of his love. Here is _pity_. This is affection +glowing in its fairest flower, its most precious fruit. Before us is a +dim adumbration of the pity of God, the highest manifestation of His +love for man. Similarly the pity of man for man is the highest +manifestation of our love one for another. It is by pity, and by pity +only, that humanity can be brought into true unity. It is by pity that +the preacher comes into oneness with his congregation. There is a +sense in which he comes nearer to his hearers through their sufferings +and their sins than through their joys and their virtues, for suffering +and sin give occasion for compassion. Only let the man in the pulpit +feel this emotion toward the man in the pew; only let the tragedy of +his wrong-doing, the poverty of his soul resultant from his neglect of +higher things, the awful fact that he is without God and hope in the +world come home to the preacher's heart; only let the shadow of this +man's fate cast its darkness upon the preacher's soul and oh! how +precious does that man become, sinner though he be. Let the man in the +pew but feel that the heart of the man in the pulpit is almost breaking +for the longing it has toward him and how differently will he receive +the reproof that man may bring; with what new reverence will he attend +to the solemn warning he may utter. At last a _brother_ seeks his soul! + +For another result of pity will be that the Gospel of reconciliation +will be preached indeed. If from the compulsion of compassion the +preacher declared the terrors of the law, from the same divine concern +he will glory to declare the way of return, the counsel and invitation +of mercy. Even as none but a pitiful man can declare the words of the +law so only a pitiful man can declare the provisions and conditions of +the Cross. If the words of the Law, without pity are mere scolding and +fault-finding and threatening, the words of the Gospel without pity +must be cold, perfunctory and lifeless. Calvary was the expression of +infinite compassion. In its own spirit alone can its message be set +forth. You may preach even the justice of God in such a way as to make +His judgments seem full of the kindest intention to the heart. On the +other hand, you may preach the sacrifice of love in such a manner as to +make the story hard as judgment thunders. You may throw a pardon at a +man in such a fashion as to make the forgiveness it expresses more +bitter than a curse. + +But how are we so to abound in pity as to be able, at all times, to +fill our message with its gracious influence, for pity is not always +easy, in which fact is one element of its high nobility? The sins of +men, their vices with their results in life and character, often make +it hard to pity them. A horrible thing is sin, and so horrible its +effects that it seems, at times, almost impossible to look upon those +in whom these effects are evident with any emotions save those of +loathing and disgust. It was no very natural thing for Jonah to look +with any sort of tenderness on that great, debauched, besotted Nineveh, +reeking in its vileness, foul with the accumulated moral filth of many +generations. Out of a man's own righteousness, too, his jealousy for +God and his reverence for goodness, there may grow a certain hardness +and, from very loyalty to God, it may not be easy to look with +compassionate eyes upon the transgressor. We cannot but remember that +every blessed purpose of the Kingdom is delayed by sin. By this black +impediment every golden dream of devout saints, of moral and spiritual +reformers is held back from happy fulfilment. It is difficult, indeed, +to feel pitiful when the heart for Christ's sake is longing to behold +the glories He died to bring to pass and sees those glories thus +wantonly postponed. Yes, the note of pity is often hard to strike. +The more we think of all that is involved the more emphasis we throw +into the question--_how has it to be done_? + +The truth is that pity for such a service needs to be earnestly and +constantly cultivated. It only follows as the result of spiritual +processes in the preacher's own soul. It is not the mere outflowing of +a natural kindliness of disposition, of inborn good nature. It is more +than mere sloppy sentimentality. _That_ kind of pity, if you may call +it by such a name, never tells the truth excepting when it is pleasant, +never preaches a sermon of rebuke, never reasons concerning "judgment +to come." There is no such word as Hell in its vocabulary; there is no +accusation in its programme. The pity we mean blazes up into moral +anger, smites and wounds, and compassionates the while. This pity +requires cultivation. Quoting an old phrase, "it never grew in +Nature's garden." An understanding of men is absolutely essential to +attainment herein. Some one has said that "if we knew all we would +pity all." God _does_ know all and _does_ pity all. The compassion of +Jesus was aided by His knowledge of the multitude; so must ours be. It +is a terrible story--this story of transgression--but those who know it +best water it with tears. Nothing is served by closing our eyes to +facts, though the temptation is great to exercise the mistaken charity +of declining to know. Is there no danger of a cowardly refusal of +vision, of making the fellowship of saints a hiding place whither we +can escape from the sights and shames of the world? Are we quite +guiltless of seeking in the Christian Society a forgetfulness of the +things that wither and blast human souls without? Do none of us make +of the Church "a little garden walled around," where the sound of +crying and of cursing breaks not upon our peace as we dream our happy +dreams? We are sent to look steadfastly upon the sore, to behold and +analyse the very truth, for it is in the measure in which our souls are +pierced that we compassionate. + +But the greatest school for the learning of pitifulness is yonder at +the feet of Jesus. In His company hearts grow hard to sin and tender +to sinners. "Is there any sorrow like unto My sorrow?" He cries, and +we know that His sorrow was not for Himself, but for those who spurned +Him. "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do," He prays, +and, lo! the cry is for His very murderers, and the music of it melts +our spirit toward the transgressor while the transgression becomes more +hateful in our eyes. Where do you abhor sin as you abhor it upon the +slopes of Calvary? Where do you pity sinners as you pity them there? +There is the fountain of judgment. There is the fountain of +forgiveness. + +Yes, the greatest school of pitifulness is in the presence of Christ. +From Him, in Temple court and city street, on mountain brow and +sea-shore, in the wilderness and in the domestic circle of Bethany, the +preacher catches that new tone which shall give his accusation +commendation and power. But there is another teacher, still, who will +greatly help to fix the lesson in his heart if only he be heard. That +teacher is Memory. Memory is always waiting to whisper in the +preacher's ear. "And such were some of you," writes St. Paul to the +Corinthians, "but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are +justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God." +Ah! the preacher, himself is but a sinner saved by grace. There was a +time when _he_, also, was in the far country, when he, also, was a +rebel against law and love, when even he was "lost already." Can he +forget those days of darkness and of shame? Can he forget how the +warning ambassador of his hitherto despised Redeemer came to _him_? +Can he forget the mire and the clay and the horrible pit from which a +strong hand brought him forth? Let him "think on these things" as he +looks upon his congregation, as he rebukes their contumacy. Let him +remember that he has come into the pulpit only by the steps of mercy, +by the long-suffering grace of a sin-pardoning God. + +Here, then, is an essential part of the preacher's training--the +training of his own heart to tenderness. If he fail in giving +attention to this, all other education will be worse than fruitless. +The age needs the pitiful Church. The age and the Church need the +pitiful ministry. This is not to say that men look to the pulpit for +nothing but softly spoken indulgences. Conscience has taught them that +the message should hurt where hurt is salutary. They will not +recognise as kindness the withholding, or the dilution of any truth. +On the other hand they give to the motive of the preacher who does +these things a less flattering name. They will say--have we not heard +the criticism?--that the preacher is afraid to be faithful, afraid to +offend for reasons that are selfish and cowardly. The offence of +unwelcome truth is covered when that truth is watered by a preacher's +tears. + +So let us preach--declaring "the _whole counsel_" concerning sin for +pity's sake, preaching the whole truth concerning salvation too. +Something is in our mind to ask concerning our presentation of this +last-named portion of our message:--Are we always quite faithful as to +what we call the conditions of salvation? In the presentation of these +conditions great skill and great care are required. It is so easy to +under--or over--emphasise, so easy, out of jealousy for God, to make +the way too hard or, out of a desire to win men, to make it too easy. +Perhaps in the latter possibility lies, in our time, the greater +danger. Do we always ask for _penitence_ as unmistakably as we ought? +There should be repentance "_toward_ God" as well as "faith in our Lord +Jesus Christ." We may at least suggest the question:--Whether we do +not sometimes call for the latter, saying too little of the former. +Again, in calling for faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, is it not easy to +appear to demand a mere belief in historic facts when what is required +is the trustful surrender of the soul to the Redeemer? We have seen +fifty people hold up their hands, at the request of a preacher, to +signify their turning to God, and we have noted that no outward sign of +deep emotion accompanied the act. We have watched a multitude pass +through an inquiry room where, though inquirers were many, tears were +few. That "there are diversities of operations" we know. "Old times +are changed, old manners gone." All this we admit, and, perhaps, we +should not demand to see again such things as Time has cast behind him. +But, oh! those were great days when the returning rebel smote upon his +breast and would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, as with +sobs and groans, he cried, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." Those +were glorious scenes when, in one and the same hour, he broke for ever +with old habits, old companionships, old loves and, with eyes still +streaming went forth exclaiming, "'Tis done, the great transaction's +done!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The Note of Idealism. + +The Christian preacher is not only the accuser of men and the +ambassador of reconciliation; he is also the Prophet of a new order. +"Go, preach, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," so runs his commission. +His message must convey more than the promise of a deliverance from the +_consequences_ of sin. It must proclaim new possibilities for the +individual. It must point to higher altitudes for the race. The +preacher announces a New Jerusalem descending out of heaven. His +ministry is not to lead to the better only, but to the best. + +For such preaching as this there is, deep down in the heart of man, a +great hunger and thirst. Sordid and materialistic as is the life of +the age, engrossed as the multitudes appear to be in the pursuit of +mammon, of vain glory and of pleasure, there still lingers in the human +breast a suspicion that men were fashioned for something higher than +the things that, so often, first engross and then exhaust their powers. +The millionaire is not satisfied with his millions and, of late, has +told us so. The man of pleasure is not satisfied with his pleasures, +and, when he unburdens his secret mind, confesses his disappointment +and disgust. Corn, wine and oil, houses, lands and station are all the +objects of loathing as well as of pursuit, to those who, having won +them, have found out their real quality. It is a primal instinct of +the race that "the life is more than meat and the body than raiment." + +To the student of our times there is nothing more pathetic than to +observe the struggles of those upon whom materialism casts its spell to +escape from their bondage. To aid them in this endeavour they call the +painter, the sculptor, the dramatist, the man of letters, the player +skilled in the language of music, and to one and all they say, +"Idealise! Idealise!" Periods of realism in art never last long, +though, in a sense, realism is easier to the artist than idealism. The +explanation is that it is not realism that is really in demand. The +artist must give us not man as he is, but as he _ought_ to be; not life +as we know it, but life as we _would_ know it and live it, too; not the +human face scarred and seamed by vices inherited from a thousand +tainted years, but fresh, and sweet, and beautiful as it came from the +hands of God, new washed in the dews of His infinite affection. Even +nature must be idealised, and the painter struggles to produce the +perfect landscape, the sculptor to represent the perfect form. The +artist who mixes no imagination with his colours never holds for long +the public honour. The heart of man asks for the ideal; the actual is +not enough. + +And to the preacher, also, these unsatisfied spirits bring the same +request. If it is not upon their lips, you may read it in the deep +longing of their unquiet eyes. The age is not a happy age, and its +lack of happiness does not arise, alone, from its sicknesses, its +bereavements, its shattered hopes, the cruelties of "offence's gilded +hand." Some one has said that men would be happy if it were not for +their pleasures, and the saying contains a profound truth. In this +unhappiness they turn to see if, peradventure, the preacher can show +them higher and clearer heights of joy. Sometimes, thank God! the +vision splendid is spread before them. It is a vision no poet or +painter, save such as have been to the springs of the Eternal, can +depict, and if the glory of it find its way into the seeker's soul life +for him is never the same again. But sometimes, alas! he is +disappointed. The voice in the pulpit is little more than a +sanctimonious echo of the voices of the street. Then goes the +sorrowing seeker hence, and lo, the tiny glimmer of hope with which he +came has all but been put out! + +For it is a criticism one all too often hears, that the modern +preacher, instead of asking too much, asks too little, and that, when +he _does_ ask for much, his asking is more for great faith than for +great living from both the individual and the age. It has been +remarked that almost the whole of the difference between the Christian +preacher and the heathen moralist is expressed in the statement that +the preacher adds to his teaching a flavour of Jewish history and +sweetens with the promise of a future life. Otherwise the heathen +moralist points as far up the mountain side as he. There is such a +possibility as that of preaching along too low a level. It is an ill +thing when the preacher becomes content with the straw and forgets the +crown. + +For the preacher like the rest of men may become enslaved to things and +powers material. "Where there is no vision the people perish," and of +vision, in the larger sense, the preacher may share the general +poverty. After all, even he belongs to the age into which he was born, +and it needs qualities that are none too common to resist the +influences of the times and of environment. Beside all this, are there +not personal experiences in the lives of all of us which make it hard +to keep our eyes upon the stars? We think of the local preacher +spending his week in the market or behind the counter, in office or +mine or factory or in the field wrestling with Nature for the bread +that perisheth. We think of the minister often worried, almost +distracted, by "the care of the churches," by the crabbed foolishness +and miserable jealousies of contentious men and women. We must +remember that for many a preacher life is not a May Day festival, but a +question and a struggle. Surely the wonder is _not_ that sometimes the +man in the pulpit speaks in a minor key, but that, under all the +conditions of his life, we hear from him so much of the higher music as +we do. The memory comes to us as we write of a man who preached the +Gospel for years with the cruel disease of cancer gnawing at his +vitals. We can recall others who came to proclaim the golden year from +domestic circles blighted by the debauchery and vice of children but +too well beloved. Did these men sometimes speak falteringly, and with +hesitation, the message in which they asked and promised glorious +things? Did they, from the very darkness of the clouds lowering above +them, see only the lower slopes of the Mountains of the Lord? Who +could wonder? The preacher is but a man! + +Yes, the preacher is but a man, and as a man finds out something +else:--That, after all, it is not out of his experiences of life, nor +from the influences of his time, nor from both together that the +greatest hindrance to altitude of tone in his preaching arises. As a +man _is in heart and life_ so in some degree he preaches. The call of +the Gospel is to perfection, and the perfect man is not yet, though +many there are, even in these days, whose lives are a constant and +noble struggle to reach this far-off mark. Is it strange that +sometimes a preacher's own failure to gain the wished for heights +should cause him to put before others possibilities, not, indeed, +according to his own low level of attainment, but still far below those +he is sent to declare? Living on low levels means inevitably preaching +on low levels, though, as a man's preaching is derived from higher +sources than are found in his own soul, his call to others ought always +to be of higher things than he has, himself, attained. + +Here, then, are some of the reasons why it often happens that our +preaching lacks the elevation of high idealism. This idealism is none +the less needed that there are reasons for its absence. Along these +lines lies one of the great struggles of the preacher's life, which is +so triumphantly to resist the influences of his day and the depression +of his personal experiences, so to live his own life that he shall +always be able to act as a joyful guide to the Alps of God. + +And what are these higher heights to which he has to point his fellows? +We ask the question first as concerning the individual and then as +concerning the nations. We shall surely find it easy to obtain an +answer to the inquiry in both its forms. + +"_Easy!_" Yes; for the heights designed for us to reach are so clearly +mapped out in the teaching, and especially in the life of Him whose +word the preacher comes forward to declare, and whose example it is his +glorious employment to put before the world. "The prize of the mark of +our high calling" is the utter conquest of sin in the heart, its +eradication not only in branch but in very root. Our goal is the +utterly blameless life. It is more glorious, even, than this. It is +the realisation in their perfection, not of negative virtues alone, but +of virtues positive, active, aggressive. It is in brief the "perfect +man in Christ Jesus." + +And of what use is any lower understanding or interpretation of the +purpose of Christ? Indeed, is any lower interpretation possible on the +face of things? We cannot bring ourselves to believe that He would of +set purpose come to secure a _partial_ triumph in the subjects of His +grace. We speak of the difficulties of this our doctrine, but, after +all, greater difficulties would have to be overcome in consenting to +any lower conception of the divine intent. Try to imagine the Master +effecting the saving of a soul with the design that it shall still hold +to some remains of former vices, to some of its old lusts, of its +ancient enmities. Imagine Him, again, agreeing that a man shall +continue to be the prey of evil tempers, of covetousness, of jealousy, +of pride and falseness. Imagine Him entering into a tacit compromise +with the forces of evil, that He will take _so much_ and expect no more +in the worship and ownership and conquest of those for whom He died. +The idea is unthinkable! Jesus Christ came, suffered, bled, died, rose +again, and ascended up on high that once more the eyes of God might +look upon _a perfect man_. + +Now, all this sounds very old-fashioned and very much like the teaching +that we have heard, and perhaps in varying degrees disparaged, from the +lips of those whom we call, sometimes with a slight, but none the less +real, touch of sarcasm, "holiness men." How afraid we are that any one +should ask us to be too good! But the teaching of Scriptural holiness +was once one of the glories of Methodism and clear in the forefront of +her preaching. To-day, perhaps, we hear less concerning that gospel +than once we did. Is it absolutely certain that this fact always works +out to the advantage of the preacher and his people? To-day, also, we +hear less concerning the joy of the Christian life than formerly; less +concerning new triumphs in the conversion of sinners than in days it is +glorious to remember. To-day men complain, as we have already heard, +that the preachers ask too little and do not bid them look so high as +something in their bosoms tells them they ought to look. The preaching +of Scriptural holiness has been discredited, it must be confessed, by +the language into which it has often been thrown; by a disposition to +censoriousness in those who have given it a large place in their +ministry; by a disposition, too, on the part of its preachers to label +as sins many things which were capable of innocent use and enjoyment, +to cut out of life more than they sought to put in, dealing rather in +prohibitions than in inspirations. This doctrine has suffered, again, +more than most, from the inconsistencies of its apostles, as was indeed +inevitable and should have been expected, for the higher a man's +preaching the more clearly his personal imperfections are brought out +by force of contrast, which may be rather to the glory of the preaching +than to its discredit. Say, however, all that can be said in this +direction concerning the doctrine of Christian Perfection; the ideals +of the Gospel for human living are no lower than the highest word the +Perfectionist has ever uttered. These ideals, as put before us and +required of us, are part of the message of the Cross, and the preaching +which does not include and enforce them is incomplete and cannot +become, in the highest sense, effective in the accomplishment of its +divine purpose. When a man's preaching presents ideals higher than +those of the Sermon on the Mount; when he asks for a whiter purity, a +more embracing charity, a nobler style of living than are required by +Jesus Christ, _then_ will have come the time to call a halt. Up to +this point he has behind him not only divine permission but divine +command. By his ears, if he but listen, may be heard, also, the voices +of men who are weary of the valleys and the swamps, and who long to +climb the heights and pierce the clouds that hold their vision from the +skies. We need a new Puritanism, and it must not be a Puritanism +principally of prohibitions, as was the old. It must be a Puritanism +in which all the glories possible to heart and mind and soul are set +forth in charm and beauty. + +But the preacher has a message for society, as well as for the +individual, and it is essential to the highest uses of that message +that sublimer notes should be struck than are commonly heard. Jesus +Christ showed an interest in trade, and the sellers of doves and +changers of money heard from Him, one day, words of such a sort as made +their ears to tingle. The preacher must not be afraid to insist on +perfect integrity, perfect honesty, and even perfect brotherhood in +commerce. We have heard somewhere the story of a business man in +Brighton to whom, one day, a customer chanced to speak concerning F. W. +Robertson--perhaps, taking one thing with another the most influential +preacher of the Victorian era. Leading his client into a little room +behind the shop he pointed, with these words, to a portrait upon the +wall: "That is F. W. Robertson, and when, standing behind the counter, +I feel a temptation to do a dishonest thing in trade, I come in here +and look up at that face." What a tribute this to a great ministry +which had its message for the office and the shop and turned commerce +and handicraft into great religious acts. To the world of industry the +messenger of Christ must also bring the new ideals he has learned. Why +should the relationships of master and servant, of capital and labour, +be poisoned by suspicion and marred by covetousness, oppression, +evasion of mutual obligations? The problem to be solved in this +twentieth century is probably this of the relations between the man +with money to spend and the man with work to sell. Ah, if only Jesus +Christ were President of the Board of Trade! Paul was not afraid to +lift up his voice on these extremely practical subjects, and even now, +the sixth chapter of Ephesians is far from out of date: "Servants," he +says, turning to the one class, "be obedient to them that are your +masters .... not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as the servants +of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." To the masters also, +he has something to say: "And, ye masters, do the same things unto +them, forbearing threatening, knowing that your Master also is in +heaven; neither is there respect of persons with Him." St. James, that +great practical homilist, could not be silent here. Of all who ever +addressed the capitalist upon his responsibilities surely never one +spoke more strongly than did he. "Go to, now, ye rich men, weep and +howl for your miseries that shall come upon you..... Behold, the hire +of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept +back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are +entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." Here is denunciation +hot and stirring, and the preacher may at times have to denounce, and +when the time comes, must face that duty manfully for the sake of God +and men. On this page, however, we plead not for denunciation but for +idealism,--idealism supported by the truths of the Fatherhood of God +and the Brotherhood of Man, and enforced by all the tender meanings of +the Cross. + +For the world of statesmanship, again, the preacher has a teaching of +idealism, which is a very different thing from the preaching of party +politics, which has done more harm a thousand times than any good it +has ever effected. In the nation as Christ would have it there should +be no jealousy between class and class; no oppression of the poor by +the rich; no reproach for either honest poverty or honest wealth. In +such a state there would be a chance for every man. Government would +not mean tyranny; liberty would not mean licence. There would be +purity of administration. There would be consecration of national +resources to the good of all. War, by such a state, would be as +impossible as it is now imminent. In such a state, again, sermons on +the text, "Our country right or wrong," would neither find preachers to +deliver them nor audiences to listen to them. When the New Jerusalem +is built in England, the slum, the gin palace, the workhouse, and the +gaol will be things of the past. "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; there +shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and +every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of +the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets +thereof." Oh, the dream is overpowering in its glory; and it is not a +dream, but a prophecy from Calvary to the sorrowing nations of a sinful +world! + +So the errand of the preacher is to declare the Golden Age for which +men have longed with, oh, such longing! amid the sins, and crimes, and +miseries which have made up so much of human history. Of this so +greatly desired time have they dreamed. To bring it in they have +schemed and laboured, bled and died. They have thought to hasten its +dawn by the founding of "Utopias," of "Merrie Englands," by many a +promising, but disappointing device. There is but one man who can tell +them how it must come--how indeed it will come--and he is the man who +has sat at the feet of Jesus Christ; who has seen His arms extended +wide upon the Cross and learned those politics in which eternity is +set. The Golden Age will come when the world shall listen to him, and +give itself to the practice of that old doctrine which is to be the +creation not only of a new Heaven, but, also, of a new Earth. + +But the preacher must do more than formulate the divine command; more +than paint glowing pictures of glorious possibilities. It is required +that his idealism shall be shown to be practicable. It is of no use to +tell a drunkard that Christ wants sobriety, or a liar that the Lord +wants truth in the inward parts; it is of no use preaching about the +conquest of temper and of passion; about the crucifixion of +covetousness and envy and jealousy; about patience, gentleness, +kindness, love, unless, along with the demands of this new scheme of +living, the great evangelical watchwords and promises ring strong and +true. The glory of the preacher is that he, alone of those who bring +forth programmes for the lives of men, can tell us how his programme +may be carried out. He has a wonderful authority given unto him in his +dealings with the weak and erring. He can make to every man who gives +himself to Christ, and to the living of the life He asks, the promise +that Christ will give to him nothing less than His own very self. To +any man who tremblingly, tearfully "makes up his mind to try," the +preacher may pledge his Lord in guarantees which will be honoured to +the very uttermost. _Power_! There is God's for his promising. +_Grace_! There is Christ's for his disposal. He is the almoner of an +infinite bounty. Then to the preacher there comes from his own vision +a courage which he can communicate to others. No other man sees such +possibilities in human nature as he, for he looks on man in Jesus +Christ, and discerns better things in him than man had hoped for in +himself. He beholds, also, the Spirit of God at work in the world; +hears His footsteps as He goes to and fro in the land. Hence he can +cry to the nations to lift up their head, knowing that "the Lord +Omnipotent reigneth." He is the idealist whose ideals--more +"impossible" than all the dreams of moralists and poets--are the true +practical politics of individual and national life. The time is ripe +for a new preaching of the possibilities of humanity, for a new setting +forth of what life and character, personal and national, may be, and +_must_ be, to please Him and realise the blessing the Creator had it in +His heart to give to man when first He sent him forth in the glory of +His image. For such preaching, we have already said, men are waiting, +listening, longing. They wait, too, for a new declaration of the high +provisions of help available for human endeavour. Men instinctively +anticipate that the ideals of God concerning them will be high, but +they anticipate, also instinctively, that the provision for the +realisation of these ideals will be sufficient. They do not ask that, +for the sake of human weakness, God shall make honesty less than +honest; truth less than true; purity less than pure, but they do ask +that for all these things He shall give grace and guidance. Does our +preaching answer these instinctive expectations, these deep longings, +these inborn hopes in those to whom we are sent? Do we truly put +before them that high life their spirits yearn to live? Do we show +them the path "o'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent," to the +heights that kiss the stars? + +If we do, well; but if not:--Then, perhaps, we should not wonder, nor +be astonished, if pews are empty, if church membership declines, if men +say that there is little profit in coming to hear thoughts no higher +than their own. They look for the preacher to ask for better, higher, +harder things than all their other leaders. If he fail in this his +church has but little to draw them within its doors. Practical +idealism is essential to effective and successful preaching. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +The Note of Edification. + +The preacher is appointed for the upbuilding of the Church and of the +individual believer upon "the foundation of the apostles and prophets, +Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone." Upon this +foundation, with almost infinite care, with untiring labour and +solicitude and prayerfulness, has he to rear "a temple fitly framed +together" of "gold, silver and precious stones;" upon this foundation +he has to build the fabric of saintly character in men. Only that +preacher is truly successful who, in the end, is able humbly to claim +to have been in this sense a "wise master-builder;" who can point to +the results of his labours in the beauty and strength of the churches +in which he has toiled, in the saintliness of the men and women to whom +he has spoken the re-creating, re-edifying word. + +Now, in our day, it is, perhaps, specially needful that this part of +the preacher's duty should be particularly emphasised. Of the Church +it has to be said that she has fallen on somewhat evil times, for there +is evidence of the growth of a tendency toward a Churchless +Christianity. Many there are who take the view that union with the +Church is of small importance to the development of Christian faith and +character. There are more who regard such union as something which, +while it may have certain advantages, is nevertheless entirely optional +with the Christian believer. Again and again have we been told that +Christianity consists of belief in Jesus Christ resulting in an attempt +to imitate Him, and that, as this belief and this attempt can be +achieved outside of any organised religious community, a man may be +essentially a Christian without being a member of the Church. The +reasons for this attitude are not far to seek. Among them are a +selfishness which fears the sacrifice that membership of the Church +might involve; a slothfulness anticipating with apprehension the +possible demands for Christian service which the Fellowship might make, +and a lack of real intensity and enthusiasm in conviction, which +hesitates to make an out-and-out stand for Christ and truth. + +From the same causes, in all ages, men have kept outside the organised +flock of God and, therefore, such reasons as these need not greatly +alarm us. But there is another objection to joining the Church which, +alas! is often heard, which peculiarly concerns the preacher and ought +to lead him to much careful inquiry. It is that objection which quotes +against the Church her own condition. It is alleged that, nowadays, +the faith of the Church is in a state of flux; that her enthusiasm has +cooled to the point of chill; that her members are in such small degree +better than the men and women outside their society that their company +does not promise any moral and spiritual help to a man in search of +saving and ennobling companionships. It is said, moreover, that the +Church is so divided, sub-divided and sub-_sub_-divided that it is +impossible to be sure as to where the true Church may be found. +Finally, we are told that in all probability if Jesus Christ came to +earth in the flesh, He would in these times be found outside the +sanctuaries in which His name is supposed to be honoured. + +Now, many of these assertions may surely be shown to be the result of +misunderstanding, of delusion, even of prejudice, and so should not be +taken too much to heart. They may serve, however, to remind us of two +truths which ought to be often in mind. The first is that Christianity +needs the Church; the second, that the Church needs Christianity. As +to the former proposition:--The Church is the Christian organism. It +is principally through her agencies and activities that the purposes of +Christianity are to be realised. This is true not only of those +universal purposes which include the ideals of world-wide sovereignty, +but, let men say what they will, it is true of those which relate to +the realisation of Christ's will in the individual soul. It is not the +fact that men find it as easy to live the Christian life outside the +Church as within. This is sufficiently demonstrated by experience. +Personal religion grows in the fellowship and the sacrifice, in the +labours, the strength and inspiration consequent upon membership in a +great and imperial family. + +But the Church needs Christianity, and this, too, the preacher, for her +sake, must deeply and constantly realise. The best antidote to the +tendency toward a Churchless Christianity will be found, not in +argument or command; certainly not in denunciations addressed to those +who are outside the fold, but in the realisation by the Church herself +of her glorious possibilities both as to character, labour and +conquest. What is needed to save the Church from the opposing +influences of our times is simply more of what she _may_ have _if she +will_. She needs a definite and not a nebulous belief. She needs a +living and burning enthusiasm; a joy that will not be silent, and a +hope that will not cower before the pessimism of the age. She needs +such a piety as shall furnish a splendid contrast to the lives of all +around her. In short, she must realise the ideals of her Founder, and +every glorious prophecy shall be fulfilled. All the nations of the +world shall flow into her. Kings shall come to the brightness of her +rising. Men shall flock to her courts as doves to glowing windows from +the cold and darkness of the wintry night. + +So, for the sake of the world which cannot spare the Church, and for +the sake of the Church which cannot dispense with what the preacher has +to give, it is required that this duty of the Christian ministry be +emphasised. Another reason must be stated that it may be +underlined:--Faith, piety and enthusiasm, labour, sacrifice and victory +are vital to the inner health and joy of the Church herself. _This_, +too, the preacher must remember. Solemn, indeed, is the obligation +resting upon him, and solemnly have the great preachers of all ages +taken this responsibility to heart. "The care of the churches!"--how +heavily it lay upon the shoulders of those early ambassadors whose +confessions of fear concerning failure are written in the epistles. +How it has driven to the Mercy Seat for help and guidance those whose +work it has been in troublous times, to keep the flock of God committed +to their custody! The feeding of the sheep in the wilderness, the care +of the lambs, the strengthening of the weak, the endless, patient, +prayerful striving needed in the pursuit of erring, foolish, falling +ones, that all may be presented perfect in Christ Jesus--what demands +do these make upon the preacher's noblest powers! In the dressing and +polishing, to change the figure, of each quarried stone that the result +may be seen in a building after the similitude of a palace, flashing in +the light of God--here has lain the task in which many a glorious life +has been gloriously spent; for even Jesus could not entrust to a man a +grander or more onerous task than this! + +And what manner of preaching is needed for the service of this saving +and edifying end? It must surely be a preaching _of_ the Church _to_ +the Church. It is to be questioned whether we have not largely failed +to place before our people the New Testament doctrine of the Church. +With such a failure may be associated another:--To emphasise duly the +importance of those sacraments which are the inheritance of the Church +from age to age. Can we deny that there is among our members a +tendency to view very lightly the privileges and obligations of their +membership in what we call--we have sometimes thought unhappily and +with unfortunate effect--our societies? Again, can it be denied that +amongst us as a people the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is +undervalued? Faithfulness to the Church and to her sacraments run +together. How many are there who have but the dimmest possible +conception of what the Church is and of what membership in the Church +really signifies and involves? There is much work to be done +here--spade work we might almost call it--for the ground has hardly yet +been broken amongst us. May we venture a suggestion that, among things +inherited from an earlier day, the word "societies" as signifying +churches should be dropped in favour of the nobler word, and that the +preacher, in particular, should cease to use it in this relationship? +Unless we are wrong in our reading of history this use of the term grew +out of the view, long held by the founder of Methodism, that while the +Anglican community was the _Church_, the assemblies collected by +himself were merely groups of people meeting for mutual help in +spiritual things. The time came, no doubt, when he would have been +willing to allow to these assemblies, as to the great community of +which they were the individual congregations, the title for which we +plead; though he himself it must be remembered, remained a member of +the Church of England until his death. Let the preacher take very high +ground on this matter. This little band of lowly men and women meeting +in their humble sanctuary by the wayside for intercourse on spiritual +things, for the hearing of the word of life, for mutual encouragement +in the celestial pilgrimage, for praise and prayer and breaking of +bread; this little company "gathered together in My name," Jesus being +"in the midst;" this little circle upon which is shed abroad the Holy +Ghost for the teaching, comforting, sanctifying and anointing of the +heavenly Bride--this little company, we say, is more than a "society." +Its members form a _church_, and theirs are the glory, the privileges, +the obligations of that "upper room" of eternal memory. Let them be +told this--kept in remembrance of it--led to delight in it--encouraged +to glory concerning it. Let it be laid down that it is not for this +village fellowship to thank any man or woman, however exalted his or +her social station, for condescending to membership therein, but that +the honour of the association lies in being permitted an entrance into +the fold, small as is the number of the flock and lowly as its members +may be. We are confident that the scattered churches of our name need +lifting into a realisation of their high dignity in Christ Jesus. Of +all the subjects waiting for earnest study, and to which we as +preachers, both ministers and laymen, need for the sake of present day +necessities to turn our minds, none is more important than this. The +Church can only retain, or rather, perhaps, we ought to have said--can +only enter into her power through self-realisation. _Here_ is need for +a systematic educational work, and, should it be left undone, we must +not be astonished if our members wear the bonds of their union lightly, +and easily find ways out of a fellowship whose true significance they +have never understood. Another eventuality, too, must not astonish +us:--The Church of England _does_ hold and preach a doctrine of the +Church, preaches it diligently; preaches it, sometimes, with such +limitations of application as we may well resent. The Roman Catholics +do the same, and with limitations that are still more uncompromising. +We of the Free Churches must not be astonished if, as a result of +definite and positive teaching within other walls and a lack of such +teaching within our own, the people drift away from us. _To build up +the Church we must preach the Church_. She needs the sense of herself. + +Important, however, as is the enunciation of the doctrine of the +Church, the work of her edification will demand that the preacher have +many other things to say. We have already referred to the presentation +of a high idealism as essential to the completeness of the Christian +message. It is indispensable to the adequate accomplishment of this +duty that the preacher give himself to a systematic exposition of the +Scriptures. May we even dare to say that it will be necessary for him +to devote much of his strength to what has been termed doctrinal +preaching? That these words will have a terrible sound in many ears we +are aware. It is very unpopular, nowadays, to lay emphasis on the +necessity for creed as well as for conduct--for creed, indeed, for the +sake of conduct. We will, nevertheless, make bold to remark that one +of the great desiderata of the day is a revival of expository +preaching, while another, equally great, is a renaissance of doctrinal +preaching. There is not too much theology taught in the churches, but +too little. We are told that the preacher's first business is to treat +of what are called "living issues"; that he should, above all, exalt +conduct and charity as the great concerns of the soul. It is contended +that men need guidance on public questions and that the preacher, as +the representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Church, should +endeavour to meet that need. Of course there is truth in it all, but +it is also true that men need, most of all, the knowledge of God, and +that, whatever bewilderment may exist in relation to public questions +and moral issues, there is bewilderment, even greater, as to "the faith +once delivered to the saints." There is no truly edifying preaching +that is without theology. By such knowledge is the Church built up, +and the preacher will teach it to his people in the form in which it +can be assimilated. One thing he will surely not forget:--That upon +him rests a great responsibility, not only in regard to the Church of +to-day, but also concerning the Church of to-morrow, as now gathered +before him in the persons of the young people preparing for life and +service. He ought, certainly, to provide strengthening food for them +in view of responsibilities to come. It is a great charge, this of +building up the body of Christ, and it is upon us all to ask ourselves +to what extent we have endeavoured to discharge this obligation. We +admit that the temptations to evade it are many. Doctrinal and +expository preaching require so much thought, such careful preparation, +such scrupulous exactness in expression. It is little wonder that, +wearied by other activities, the preacher sometimes seeks for subjects +which can be treated with greater ease and less expenditure of +intellectual effort than those we have indicated. + +And such wonder as we may have is further diminished when we recollect +that the idea is very commonly held that the people do not want +preaching of this type; that, even within the churches indeed, they +prefer being _pleased_ to being taught. Possibly this is not so true +as has been assumed. Perhaps again, in that degree in which it _is_ +true, the lesson to be learned from the fact is not that such preaching +should be withheld, but rather that an effort should be made to invest +it with elements of interest and attractiveness which have possibly too +often been lacking. On this point we will have something to say later +on. Meanwhile we are open to maintain that people do not dislike +exposition and theology _as such_. The late Doctor McLaren was an +expository preacher, and his sermons were as charming as fairy tales, +multitudes flocking, through a long course of years, to hear them. C. +H. Spurgeon was a doctrinal preacher, and untold thousands hung +entranced upon his lips. Each man built up a great congregation, in +which the fruits of the spirit flourished in a perpetual harvest of +virtues, works and sacrifice. To-day the greatest churches in London +are, almost without exception, those whose members sit at the feet of +great preachers who are also, according to their separate schools, +great theologians and masters in the art of interpreting the +Scriptures. We remember as we write a cold and depressing Sabbath +evening last autumn when we turned into Westminster Chapel. Only a few +years ago this great sanctuary was a wilderness in which might be +realised the tragedy that is contained in the phrase "a down-town +church." At this moment it is the home of a mighty spiritual +fellowship. On the night of our visit the immense temple was crowded +from floor to ceiling. The congregation had obviously been drawn from +all ranks and conditions of society. Professional men sat side by side +with horny-handed sons of toil, fine ladies with servant girls, the old +with the young. What new device of sensationalism had brought them +together? What startling announcement had been flung out over the city +to attract this mighty concourse? Absolutely none! The sermon was a +closely reasoned doctrinal address, full of quotations from the +Scriptures and of comparison of passage with passage. It was a sermon +to _tax_ attention. We mention this experience to show that doctrinal +preaching need not mean empty sanctuaries, as is often asserted. Here +was a great congregation and, better still, here was a living Church. + +A further duty of the preacher, that the message may become approved in +the building up of the Church, is that of impressing the demands of +Jesus Christ upon those who bear His name. Preaching needs to be more +exacting than it is. There are vast multitudes in the Church whose +religious life--if indeed they have such a life--is absolutely +parasitical. They render no service; they offer no sacrifice; their +only confession of faith is a more or less intermittent attendance at +the public sessions of worship. By such people, one has humourously +said, the Church seems to be regarded as a Pullman car bound for glory. +Their chief desires are that the train may run so slowly as to enable +them to enjoy the scenery by the way; that the time-bill shall allow of +frequent and lengthy stoppages on the journey, and _especially_ that +the conclusion of the trip shall be postponed to as late an hour as +possible, as they labour under no extravagant anxiety to come to its +end. Are we uncharitable in suspecting that the chief reason many of +these people have for making some degree of preparation for Paradise is +that they cannot remain on earth and that Heaven is, on the whole, to +be preferred to the only other country available? Ah! the preacher has +much of this kind of material on his hands and, notwithstanding its +quality, the commission to build it up into strength and beauty still +applies. + +Clearly, in such cases, the duty of the edifying preacher is not to +hide, but _to emphasise_ the demands of Jesus Christ for active +participation in some form of Christian service. "The harvest truly is +plenteous but the labourers are few," and altogether apart from the +advantages to be gained by the Church from the bringing in of the +sheaves, there is a benefit to be won by the reaper as he garners the +grain, which is entirely beyond calculation. Our fathers made it their +business in the case of every new convert to find him "something to +do." Sometimes the results were unfortunate, in that men were put to +work they were not qualified to attempt; but the new employment kept +many a man from falling, and often helped to make useful and polished +instruments out of very unpromising material. Nearly a thousand years +ago Peter the Hermit passed like a flame of fire across the provinces +of Europe calling upon men to wrest the Holy places from the hands of +the Saracen. In countless thousands they responded to his call, even +little children arising and pressing eastward on the great emprise. +Surely there is need enough for crusading to-day. Surely, too, there +are multitudes who, for their own souls' sake, and for the sake of the +Church, would be all the better for the health and vigour which a +little crusading would bring. Upon us rests the obligation in Christ's +name to call these hitherto unemployed and ineffective ones to the +standard of the Cross. + +And to this demand for service it is the preacher's duty to add, in +view of the advantages to follow in the life and character, the faith +and influence of the Church, an equally strong demand for sacrifice. +It is no kindness of the pulpit to cut down the requirements of the +Lord upon the time, the strength, the comfort and the substance of +those who profess themselves His followers. He that would have life +eternal "let him go and sell all that he hath and give to the poor." +"He that will be My disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his +cross and follow Me." "He that would save his life the same shall lose +it." In these figurative words lies one secret of spiritual growth and +health. + +So then it comes to this:--That the edification of the Church and of +the individual believer, so far as it forms part of the task of this, +our messenger, is to be accomplished by the faithful preaching of such +things as the Master has left on record for the learning of His +followers, and by calling them to make proof of truth in the exercise +of Christian activity, self-denial, sacrifice and self-culture. We +believe, notwithstanding all that may be said to the contrary, that the +Church and her children long to hear this message and that they will +respond to it. Once more we admit that to the preacher, it may not be +the easiest kind of preaching to attempt, for here he will soon be +among the deep things of God, and he will have to ask for great +endeavours and great surrenders. But the divine commission is in his +hands, and has he not undertaken to speak what God shall teach him + + "Till we have built Jerusalem + In England's green and pleasant land"? + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +The Note of Cheer + +The chapter now to be added is written under the influence of a Sabbath +afternoon service in which, a few hours ago, we occupied a pew. The +scene was a village chapel among the mountains of the North of England. +The preacher was a layman well advanced in age, who told us that, for +five-and-forty years, he had been coming from the head of the circuit +to take appointments in the village. The sermon was not eloquent. It +was neither learned nor profound. It gave no evidence of any great +acquaintance with modern thought. There was absolutely no attempt at +exegesis. Indeed, the discourse would have failed to satisfy most of +those elementary canons upon which the homiletical professors lay such +stress. Yet, one great excellence it had, which, to its simple-minded +auditors, more than atoned for all its many imperfections:--It was +effective; it was successful. We came away thanking God for the +testimony we had heard. + +And herein lay the success of this local brother's unpretentious +discourse:--_It cheered us_, one and all. Faces brightened and +drooping heads were lifted up as the old man pursued his way. The last +hymn was the heartiest of all, not because, as is sometimes the case, +the people were encouraged by the thought of approaching liberation, +but because of the spiritual "uplift" they had realised. We heard a +happy buzz of pleasant talk from young and old as they poured through +the door to assemble in friendly groups for mutual "good-days" on the +pavement in front of the little temple. With most of them we were well +acquainted. Some were aged and infirm. Others found the struggle of +life a hard one. One pew was filled with mourners who, during the +latest week, had stood around an open grave. There were Christian +workers to whom recent days had brought disappointments and +weariness--labourers in the vineyard who had much to try their faith, +for religious work in the villages has many difficulties in these days +when the great towns attract so many of our most hopeful young people +from the lanes to the streets. The widow was there, the orphan, the +poor, the man who had failed in life. Ah! those people had come +together bringing with them to the sanctuary much doubt and care and +perplexity and fear. It was good to watch them as the preacher went +on; good to feel that these hearts were losing their loads, these minds +their anxieties. "Not a great discourse," the critic would have said. +Perhaps not--from some standpoints. Having reached the end of fifty +years of preaching, this white-haired patriarch had long given up the +idea of great discourses. To him the Master had said, "Comfort ye, +comfort ye My people," and he had walked long, long miles up the +mountain side to do it. _Pace_ the critic! This preaching was _the +very thing_ for those needy folk this wintry afternoon. + +And now, in recollection of that blessed sermon, and under its gracious +influence, we are strengthened to assert that it is an essential of the +message that it contain good cheer for those who need it. The preacher +is more than the accuser of men in Christ's stead; more, even, than the +mouthpiece of a divine invitation. His task is not completed in the +edifying of churches, in the building up of individual souls in faith +and doctrine and righteousness. Jesus saw the sorrow of the world, +anticipated the afflictions through which men would have to pass and +the burdens they would have to bear. "He was touched with the feeling +of our infirmities," He drank of our bitter cup. Our griefs were in +His mind when He sent His preachers forth. To be the agents of a great +purpose of consolation, ministers of cheer and encouragement to +hard-pressed and burdened men and women to the end of time were they +sent! + +And for this work of consolation He not only gave a commission but He +furnished, as well, an example to all who should ever preach His word. +Surely one great secret of the wondrous effectiveness of that brief +ministry lay in the fact that while, as we have seen, it spoke to the +consciences of men, bringing home the truths of righteousness and +judgment; while it set before them the way of spiritual salvation and +formulated the demands and conditions thereof, indicating the higher +path, the strait gate and the narrow way, it was also directed to the +bruised hearts and broken spirits of those who attended His steps. We +are told, after all, but very little of the words and deeds of Jesus +during those eventful years in which He trod the highways and byeways +of the land breaking the bread of life from city to city. Of the +period passed in Nazareth in preparation for the strenuous days to come +we are told nothing at all. The world, it is said, would hardly +contain the books if all had been written down. But enough is told to +give us visions of those unrecorded days, and to show that He was a +cheering Christ, a messenger of comfort--this Saviour of ours. Healing +was in His words. "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked +with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?" said, +one to another, those two disciples who, with saddened countenances, +had set out together to Emmaus on that troubled day. Watch Him yonder +in the house at Bethany, what time bereavement casts its shadow upon +the dwelling. "And He took little children in His arms and blessed +them." Here, again, is a whole history of tenderness. From this one +act a flood of light streams backward and forward upon His whole +earthly life, and we can see the kindly glance that brought the little +ones around Him. We can hear the gentle voice that dispelled their +shyness and gave confidence to their hearts. Even in that old time, +and in the quiet and dreamy East, life had many cares. There were push +and drive and hard and grinding rivalry even then. Those days had +their economic questions as well as ours. It was only by hardest +struggle that many a cupboard was furnished and many a table spread; +for poverty is no new thing, and sorrow, affliction, oppression, dread +and death are as old as the hills. We read of the beggar by the +wayside, of Lazarus writhing in hunger and smitten with sores on the +threshold of Dives, who wore purple and fine linen and fared +sumptuously every day. The widow's house was robbed; the orphan was +cheated of his small inheritance; life, even for the fortunate, went +much as it does now--the music of gladness to-day, the solemn tones of +the dirge to-morrow. How gracious to many a hearer would be that +Sermon on the Mount with its passages for the special blessing of +perplexed and worried souls, spoken, also, for the teaching of all who +may be called to stand before the children of grief and want. +"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall +we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?" .... "For your heavenly +Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." .... "Take +therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought +for the things of itself." .... "And why take ye thought for raiment? +Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither +do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his +glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe +the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the +oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" .... +"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? And not one of them is +forgotten before God: But even the very hairs of your head are all +numbered. Fear not, therefore: ye are of more value than many +sparrows." .... "Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; +which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much +more are ye better than the fowls?" Think of it all! Imagine that +great multitude gathered out of the cities and villages round about. +It was a hard world from which they had come to hear this man of +Nazareth, and, even as they came, care had tugged at their skirts; fear +had rattled upon the doors of their hearts. Think what music would be +in that sweet new Gospel of divine providence and affection, spoken in +that calm and gentle voice whose every tone was vibrant with +understanding, sympathy and love! Can we not see the people as +darkness throws its veil across the blue Syrian sky turning once more +to their distant homes, new hope and courage enthroned upon the +forehead so recently seamed by care? Can we not follow them to the +dawning of another day, and behold their going forth, once again, to +the tasks of life brightly, bravely, cheerily? To them, indeed, had +come glad tidings of great joy! + +And if the Master so gave Himself to this ministry of brightening the +lives of men, His first preachers caught the lesson and went forth, the +same good purpose lively in their hearts. To "lift up the hands which +hang down, and the feeble knees;" to heal "that which was lame," that +"it be not turned out of the way;" "to visit the widow and the +fatherless;" to "speak peace" to the people--in these happy duties lay +a large part of their work. Dark, indeed, were those early days for +the infant Church; heavy the clouds above her; terrible the storms of +hate and persecution which spent their fury upon her and scattered +abroad her fellowship, but amidst it all more songs were heard than +sighs, more triumphs than complaints. In the midnight hour a strange +new music ran through the prison, for Paul and Silas "prayed and sang +praises and the prisoners heard them," and so, to crushed and bleeding +souls, even there, a breath of heavenly comfort came. We have +sometimes heard people talk of St. Paul in such a way as to picture one +who was above the tenderness wherefrom sad hearts are blessed--the +great theologian, the mighty logician, the lone, strong, sublime man +whose self-mastery lifted him above sympathy with common men. Great he +was, but great in compassion as well as in mind. Among the watchwords +of encouragement you will find none more inspiring than those written +by his fettered hand. Was it not he who wrote that assurance which has +so often come between us and despair:--"And we know that all things +work together for good to them that love God"? From him, also, came +that glowing word which has shed radiance upon many a couch of pain: +"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a +far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." There is a more noble +picture of the great Apostle to the Gentiles than that above referred +to. The ship is "driven up and down in Adria." Euroclydon roars +through the rigging. Mighty billows come crashing over the bulwarks. +"Neither sun, nor moon nor stars" have "for many days appeared." +Nearer and nearer the helpless craft is being swept to the cruel rocks +of yonder savage coast. The ship's company is in an agony of dismay. +Suddenly from the cabin comes he of Tarsus. "Wherefore, sirs, be of +good cheer," he cries, above the blast, "for I believe God." Thus does +he summarise in one great assuring word the message learned at the foot +of the cross. Behind it is all the authority of God's revelation to +his soul upon the Damascus road! + +So ministered the Master, and so, His first preachers, and hence it +came to pass that the early disciples of the infant faith were known +for their calmness, their courage and their joy. Men "took knowledge +of them that they had been with Jesus." This was the very age of which +the poet has told us:-- + + On that hard Pagan World disgust + And secret loathing fell; + Deep weariness and sated lust + Made human life a hell. + +But the servants of the Galilean, more persecuted than any other men, +walked abroad with a gladness which was at once the perplexity and the +condemnation of the time. "Rejoice evermore" was a sacred command and +a glorious possibility of the new religion, for they were taught to +believe that "All things are yours and ye are Christ's and Christ is +God's"; they were assured that "Nothing shall be able to separate us +from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"! + +That was the _first_ century, and with us now is the twentieth; and it +is said that the burdens of men become more numerous and more heavy as +the years pass on. Older grows the world, but there is no lessening of +its care, no relief from its perplexity, its pain, its sorrow. As +civilisation becomes more complex the "drive" of life waxes ever more +and more fierce. Along with this complaint, it is said by some, that +in the Church there is less joy than in those old days--less, indeed, +than in times within the memory of the grey-haired among us. We who +are Methodists are often reminded of a former Methodism which was vocal +with praises and electric with joy. They whisper that it is different +with us now; that even the pulpit has lost its note of gladness. Care +sits upon the preacher's brow. The songs of Zion are timed to the +throb of hearts that lag for very weariness. "Some are sick and some +are sad." "Cares of to-day and burdens of to-morrow" haunt us in the +very means of grace, and little is said to make us forget. "Fightings +without and fears within," from these we seek deliverance in vain. The +prophet has forgotten how to comfort or, if he have not forgotten, he +thinks the task unworthy of hours which might be more learnedly and +impressively employed. + +If we admit, as perhaps we may, the existence of a measure of truth in +this complaint, it will only be to claim that there is some excuse for +those whom it asperses. The intellectual problems bred of a +materialistic age have so compelled the preacher to the defence of the +walls of Zion that it may well have come to pass that the inhabitants +of the city--the men and women down in the streets and dwellings, for +the security of whom he has been contending--may have had to go short +of many things; a time of siege is a time of deprivations and hardships +for citizens as well as soldiers. The great social questions of the +present day have also claimed much of his thought and effort. He has +felt, and justly, that these questions ought to receive more pulpit +recognition. It is possible, and should not be thought surprising, +that in the ardour of the social crusade the preacher may have +sometimes given to these things time and strength which might have been +better spent in ministering to the personal griefs and perplexities of +such as sat before him for their need's sake. It may be well for us +each to make inquiry concerning ourselves in these matters. As a +result we will realise again, no doubt, how numerous and insistent are +the demands made upon us to turn aside in our ministry to treat of a +hundred things which once upon a time we did not think of as pulpit +questions. Be this as it may, here lies work for the preacher which he +must not neglect. It is as certainly his duty to cheer and encourage +the heart of the individual as to indicate the path to better +conditions of life for the multitude. + +And this he can only effectively do as he perfects himself in his +understanding of their needs. Of this understanding, and of the ways +in which it must be sought, we have already written and will say no +more, except to point out how every new discovery concerning the +preacher's duties furnishes additional illustration of the absolute +necessity that he study not books only, but also men and the conditions +of their lives. It is of little use knowing the contents of +well-filled shelves if we have never read the living volumes before us +in the pews. Again we say, "if we only knew." + +Still knowledge is not the whole of the preacher's need in order that +his message may contain this cheering quality. It is even more needful +that he shall, himself, be one of those who abide in the comfort of +God. He must have learned the efficacy of the great consoling and +gladdening verities by experience of their application to his own soul. +He only can surely cheer others who himself is cheerful, and no man who +has ever felt the pressure and care of life _can_ be cheerful excepting +in so far as these great guarantees have become real to his own spirit. +Only with "the comfort wherewith he is comforted of God" will he +comfort others! + +And what are the verities whose application he must have experienced? +There is not one of all the glorious circle of revealed truths that is +not of use for the strengthening and encouraging of men; but there are +some of these truths which might almost have been designed for this +special use. Do we receive--do we preach them as we ought? + +There is the doctrine of Divine Providence. Surely this truth should +be preached more frequently than it is. Surely, too, it should be +preached in such a way as to link its meanings to the common hours, the +common needs and anxieties of life. For the vast majority of men life +is actually a struggle for bread for themselves and their dependants. +We had almost said that it is a constant escape from ever threatening +evils. The question of food and raiment is full for them of the direst +probabilities. Many a man listens to the preacher whose life is, +indeed, from hand to mouth. Fierce competition seeks at every turn to +rob him of his little opportunity of bread winning. Such a man had +rather be told of a _providing_ God than of the newest discoveries in +Biblical criticism. If we forget his need and suffer him to go from +the Sanctuary no more hopeful and brave than when he came--then, so far +as he is concerned, we have surely failed. + +There is again the doctrine of the Divine Presence. "I will be with +thee in the six troubles, and in the seventh I will not leave thee." +The wonderful truth of Jesus Christ in living, constant, saving +nearness to every man, ready to help, to deliver and guide--here is a +doctrine, mighty to comfort all the world. Before us are men who, +morning by morning, go forth with trembling to spend the day in +associations full of such temptations and dangers as are undreamed of +by us. Here are men and women haunted by bitter memories, whose +midnight solitude is disturbed by the ghosts of buried years. There +are many lonely people in the world, many from whom lover and friend +have been put far away. For such is this treasure of promise committed +unto us. Send yonder man back to his conflict; yonder stranger to his +loneliness; yonder memoried soul to his solitude to face again the +spirits of his bygone days, with this thought: that every step of the +way--whether in the city or in the desert--Jesus Christ will be by his +side. Such a preaching will be sweeter to him a thousand times than +perplexing metaphysical discussions. + +Then let us not forget to apply the _promises_ by which the Master has +strengthened the exhortations given to His servants in all times to +labour in the fields of Christian service. Of such promises there is +surely a varied and glorious store, and for all of them there is need +enough. Never do we preach but before us is some toiler almost ready +to give up because of long delay in the appearance of the first signs +of harvest. _Encourage him_! Tell him that the God of the sowing is +also the God of the reaping. Tell him not to be "weary in well doing, +for in due season" he "shall reap if" he "faint not." Tell him that +"he that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless +come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Tell him _this_. +He has heard it all before, of course, or else he had not so long +struggled on in the work. Tell it him again and again, for again and +again the need to hear it all will come. Tell it him gloriously, +confidently. He will go back to his Sunday School class, back to his +labour among the poor, out to his next appointment on the plan, with a +new hope which will be also a new power! + +And let us remember that there has been given unto us for the +comforting of His people the revelation of the glory laid up for them +that fear Him. To the writer a little while ago an able and +spiritually minded Unitarian minister made this statement:--"In every +service I conduct I announce, at least, one hymn on immortality. The +people need to hear of it." There is food for thought in such a +confession from such a source. Once upon a time it was common in +Methodism to hear sermons on Heaven. To-day how infrequent such +sermons are! Yet surely the King has not withdrawn this portion of the +message from our hands. And surely there is occasion for such +reminders to be given. How many there are to whom "Earth's but a sorry +tent;" how many, again, who go in bondage to the fear of death all +their days; how many more who look mournfully after departed dear ones +and wonder how it goes with them across the stream. To all such people +is the preacher commissioned, and they look wistfully toward him for +the word that may let the glory in! + +And that word we do not speak nowadays as often as we might, perhaps +not as often as we ought. Here, again, is something to be recovered by +the present-day preacher. Possibly when he comes to talk of the +glories "laid up," this same preacher may find need for some new forms +of expression. Perhaps he will not find it possible to speak with the +old literalism of his predecessors. But the living core of the message +is still his as it was theirs. The divine example, too, is before him +every time he harks back to his Master's presence. In that great day +of sorrow when He spake to the disciples of His early departure, He, +seeing their grief, said, "In My Father's house are many mansions .... +I go to prepare a place for you." _Preach Heaven_! This very day +there are hearts breaking for the story! + +To cheer the souls of men by the use of this, or any other material, +and in any legitimate way we can--to this must our preaching be +absolutely and resolutely bent. To make brighter the lives of men; to +take out of the future its dark dreads and fears and to fill it with +beckoning blessings; to make the sanctuary a place of healing, a house +of bread, a rock of cooling streams; to make of every service a season +of refreshing--for all this are we responsible to the King who sent us +out to His suffering children. The message He entrusted to us contains +the sufficiency for it all! + +But more, we repeat, than the mere letter of the message is needed. +The best of words may be so spoken as to bring but small assistance to +such as hear. Again we say that the preacher must, himself, live in +the comfort and courage he preaches to others, or else there will be +somewhat in his voice that will spoil it all. The word and also the +_tone_! "The tone" must be the tone of absolute realisation and +assurance. Pronounced in any other accent the words of the Gospel of +joy sound impossible; the blessings they promise seem dim and far away; +the fact of providence becomes a mere theory; the future harvest of +holy sowing a pious but foolish hope; the sweet fields of Eden a fair +but airy dream. Nothing is colder than perfunctory, official, +professional consolation and encouragement. When fear whispers +"Courage!" the chattering of his teeth makes our terror worse! + +So, once again, the preacher's success and effectiveness are found +largely to depend upon his own heart's condition. The message will +carry little more cheer than the messenger can pour into it out of the +stored up happiness and confidence of his own breast. In the cheer of +God must he abide who would scatter a little comfort among his fellow +men! + + + + +BOOK III + +THE MESSAGE:-- + +ITS FORM AND DELIVERANCE + + + +THEORY OF BOOK III. + +We have spoken of the Effective Preacher and of the Effective Message, +but this Message must have Effective Form and Expression in order to +command the Largest Measure of Success. + +_What are the Essentials of Effectiveness in the Form and Delivery of +the Message?_ + + + +CHAPTER I. + +On Attractiveness. + +Having now given some little thought to a consideration of the +essential qualifications of the Christian messenger, and also to the +content of his message, it remains to name certain qualities of form +and expression equally needed for success in the publication of the +truth. The first business of the preacher is, of course, to secure the +friendly attention of his hearers and his next business is to retain it +until he makes an end of speaking. To accomplish these things it is +obviously needful that he possess some skill in the putting of things +in such a way as first to attract, then to enlighten, and finally, to +persuade. + +In beginning then, a very brief inquiry concerning these qualities, it +may be assumed that in the sermon as we know it we have by far the best +vehicle for the conveyance of the preacher's message. From time to +time experiments with other media have been tried, but the sermon has +not been superseded. A few years ago trial was made of what was called +the Sermon-story--a religious novel read by the preacher in weekly +parts. "Song services" and "lantern addresses" have been +well-intentioned attempts to enlist the ear and the eye in the +interests of the soul. In the miracle plays of the Middle Ages, +Scriptural truth and incident were thrown into dramatic form for the +benefit of the ignorant classes. The sermon still holds the field. No +form of preaching has use and acceptance so general, nor so lends +itself to meet changing times and differing circumstances as does this. +The thought is no less true than wonderful, and no less wonderful than +true, that of all who appeal to the public ear, none, even in these +days of comparative indifference to religion, draw so large an audience +as do the preachers of the Christian faith. The sermon is still the +most popular form of public address! + +It will be wise therefore for the preacher not only to ask as to +whether he possesses within himself a preaching mind and heart and +knowledge and designation; whether he can say that he seeks to present +the truth in all its completeness, but also whether his _sermons_ are +of such a sort as most readily to secure the entrance of the truth they +contain. God's truth may be--and often is--hindered in its saving +errand by reason of the form and manner in which it is presented, +though, behind such ineffective presentation, there may be sincerity of +motive and sublime enthusiasm. The preacher may fail as a messenger by +failing as a sermoniser. He may fail as a sermoniser from neglect of +principles which so wait upon his discovery that it is nothing less +than a mystery when they are not seen. + +And yet, obvious as these principles are, the art of the sermon maker +needs learning, and even the study of methods of delivery is of immense +importance to success. We have spoken of "the born preacher"; even +_he_ must cultivate his gifts in order to realise his highest +possibilities. We speak sometimes of "diamonds in the rough"; the +value of these precious stones increases as the art of the lapidary is +carefully exercised upon them. If it be only to prevent the formation +of false methods and bad habits of thought and utterance, a preacher +should give attention to the study of Homiletics. He may, as the end +of all his studies, feel led deliberately to reject much of what he has +been taught in favour of original methods of his own. As the years go +on he may forget many of the rules laboriously learned. Neither of +these circumstances should be held to prove that time spent in the +sermonising class has been wasted. It is a fact that most of us have +forgotten the greater part of what we learned at school. The dates +which made up so large a part of our historical lessons, the rules we +slavishly committed as we struggled to master the difficulties of +syntax and prosody, our latinity, our grounding in the tongue of +ancient Greece so hardly won--who amongst us, having grey hairs in +abundance, could face to-day the examination room where once we +triumphed in these things? Yet in a sense they are all still with us. +We reproduce them in effectiveness in the daily battle; in the thousand +and one duties forming the work of life. It may be much the same in +the case of homiletics. We may reject; we may forget; but we cannot +altogether fail to profit richly in many ways from studies the object +of which is to make the student more skilful in the use of the powers +bestowed upon him. Had these pages been written for young men only, +they would have contained more than one chapter devoted to an effort to +enforce the absolute necessity of bending the mind, and with the mind +the heart, to the earnest pursuit of all that can be learned about the +actual building-up of discourses from the foundation of exegesis to the +topstone of application. We do not refrain from emphasising this +necessity because of any thought that even the elder brethren will find +such studies without profit. To read once more some of the homiletic +manuals of our far-off days, would not be for many of us a foolish +method of spending a quiet hour "between the mount and multitude!" + +To these books, with others more recently published, we refer the +reader who is on the lookout for "rules." In our youth there were many +of them:--"Kidder," "Phelps," "Broadus," "Beecher," "Parker's Ad +Clerum." Add to these "Phillips Brooks," "Dale," "The Cure of Souls," +and as many more as can be remembered; their name is legion--all +helpful to wise men and good. Our present duty seems to be that of +naming certain principles which must be remembered by all who would +attain to effectiveness in pulpit expression. + +And the first of these principles seems to be this:--That the sermon +should have the quality of _attractiveness_, that it ought to be so +interesting that the man in the pew will _wish_ to listen to it, find +it harder _not_ to listen than to attend to its every word. You will +never save or help a man if you never interest him! + +Now, whether there be need to emphasise this very obvious consideration +we may judge from the talk we hear about sermons in general. We have +already spoken of the wonderful popularity of this form of public +address; but this popularity is not unqualified by complaints, the most +frequent of which is, perhaps, about the preacher's dulness. "As dull +as a sermon" is a familiar expression--so familiar that no one troubles +to protest against its use and application. One of our most hoary and +patriarchal anecdotes tells of the minister who, finding a burglar in +his study, held the man in deep slumber by the reading of last Sunday's +discourse while his wife slipped out for the policeman. An American +humorist, who has laid us under life-long obligation for hours of +honest laughter, tells us, in the history of his courtship of Betsy +Jane, that her folks and his "_slept_ in the same meeting house." +Again and again have we heard of the risks run by insurance companies +in granting fire policies upon the houses of the clergy, because of the +immense quantities of very dry material they contain. All these +humorous stories and sallies find appreciation because there is, alas! +a certain amount of truth at the heart of them. Then there is also +that demand for shorter sermons in which some see so ominous a portent. +We demur to the assumption that this demand invariably grows out of +dislike for the subjects upon which the preacher dilates. It is +objected that no one grumbles greatly concerning the length of a +Shakespearian representation, nor when a prominent and eloquent +politician occupies the platform for an hour and a half. A little +while ago, in a crowded hall in London, we heard a well-known statesman +speak for two hours and a quarter on a busy Saturday afternoon, and, at +the conclusion, hundreds were heard to express surprise on learning +that the address had been half so lengthy. "If we preached as long as +this what would happen?" asked a friend as we left the hall. "_What," +indeed_? But suppose that we preached as _interestingly_ as the +politician spoke? Suppose we had learned something from the great +dramatist of the art of assailing and winning the attention of the men +and women to whom we speak? It must not be forgotten, when we find +fault with the demand for short sermons, that there are some preachers +from whom their hearers demand not short sermons but long! Perhaps +this demand for brevity may not result so much from the depravity of +the pew as from the dulness of the pulpit, by which we mean the sermon +and not its subject. At this very moment, there is no subject--we dare +to say--on which the average man can be so deeply moved as on the +subject of his spiritual needs and questions. It can still be said +that more people attend the churches and chapels of London than are to +be found in all other places of popular resort. The things of the +spirit are still the things most thought of, and should those whose +business it is to speak of them fail to win, at least the ear, if not +the heart, of those they seek to influence, they ought to ask +themselves very faithfully whether it may not be possible that some of +the fault may lie in the form, or wording, or delivery of the message. +They should inquire whether sermon and delivery are such as to make it +easier to listen than to sleep. They should ask, "_Can it be that even +I am guilty of being dull_?" + +For the truth must be confessed that some preachers--brethren with +golden truth to publish, and possessed of good natural gifts and a real +and deep desire to bless the people--_are_ dull--drearily, dreadfully, +deadly dull! They are dull with the most interesting, the most +wonderful--may we not say the most sensational?--subject in the world +to talk about. + +And what is the cause of this dulness? Again we say it does not lie in +the nature of the subjects committed to the preacher. To this denial +we will add another to the effect that, in almost every instance, the +dulness of the sermon does not proceed from a quality of dulness in the +preacher. There are few men who, in conversation, are unable to +interest us in subjects of intrinsic attractiveness. Many a man, dull +to boredom in the pulpit, becomes a delightful personality in the +social circle. Why the startling difference? + +To answer this question fully might involve the use of many words, but +it may, at least, be suggested that preaching is often dull because the +preacher has inherited a notion that reverence for the truth and for +the sanctuary demands it. There still remain traces of a feeling, said +to have been common in old time, that dulness is a virtue. This same +feeling was wont, in other days, to fill the homes of the godly with a +gravity and a solemnity which almost effected the banishment of +laughter and drove forth music as an outcast from the domestic hearth. +Dominated by this sense of things, men shut their eyes to the +joyfulness of life and the beauties of nature and literature and poetry +and art. The Sabbaths of such men were days to be feared; their +sanctuaries places without a gleam of sunshine. What wonder if the +pulpit came under the yoke of bondage, or that, having been once +enslaved, it should even now have hardly attained to perfect freedom? +Then there are preachers whose great concern is to maintain "the +dignity of the pulpit," and this concern is allowed to crush out their +naturalness and brightness and humour--every quality that is human and +pleasant and alluring. It is on record that even so great and wise a +preacher as Dr. Dale of Birmingham had to confess that his own mighty +ministry had suffered because of a certain stateliness of composition +and delivery which had militated against the attractiveness of his +sermons, especially so far as the younger and less educated of his +hearers were concerned. From this solicitude for the dignity of the +pulpit have come "the pulpit manner," "the pulpit tone," "the pulpit +vocabulary," all of which, as being departures from honest Nature's +homely plans, have helped to spoil the charm and prevent the triumph of +holy, lovely truth. Still another may be dull from intellectual pride. +Not unknown is the man who may often be heard explaining the success +attained by other brethren but denied to himself, by references to what +he calls "playing to the gallery" or "catering for popular applause." +_He_, forsooth, will not so demean himself as to be guilty of practices +so degrading. Thought is _his_ provision for those who come to hear. +_He_ appeals to _thinkers_. Alas! for him, his "thinkers," if only he +knew it, are human and have a mind to be pleased. "Very intellectual," +may be the verdict with which they leave the church, but people cannot +always be on the intellectual rack, and both the Sabbath and the +Sanctuary were designed for rest for weary brains. We have known a +very learned man to admit, as he came away from hearing an exceedingly +thoughtful discourse, that, to him, the preacher's address to the +children had been the most enjoyable part of the service. The sermon +was very clever; but--well, he had had a hard and trying week of it, +and came to church with a tired mind and a troubled heart. + +So it has come to pass that many a preacher has fallen into a homiletic +dulness quite foreign to his own disposition. In the home, the social +circle, in every place saving the pulpit he was human and natural. He +had a jest to cheer the depressed, a tear for sorrow. He could rejoice +with those who rejoiced, weep with those who wept. He was responsive +to the piping of gladness. In pain or pleasure he was ever a welcome +guest, but in the temple he condemned by tone and manner every bit of +humanity into which he had been unwittingly betrayed, and atoned for +his every lapse into naturalness by dreariness growing drearier. Not +so did Jesus Christ preach, else the common people had not "heard Him +gladly;" not so, else the little children had not gathered around His +feet, nor shouted their Hosannas as he rode up to the city gate. Not +dull were those sermons that drew the multitudes from the towns to the +wilderness, and held them so entranced that the time for bodily +refreshment passed unheeded by. "Never man spake like this Man," they +said, as they spread their garments in the path by which the preacher +came up to Mount Zion. He revealed God; He rebuked sin; He poured His +denunciations upon the age; He tore off the mask from the face of +hypocrisy; not one jot or tittle of truth did He bate for the sake of +applause, yet all Judea went out to Him, and all the regions beyond +Jordan. In _His_ preaching there was not only everything to save the +soul, there was everything to charm the ear! + +From this divine example, if from no other consideration, let us set +ourselves to preach attractively; and let us begin by resolving to +preach _naturally_. The best preaching is talk at its best in subject +and in style, and provides exercise for every talent of preacher and +hearer alike. "Right here," as the Americans say, let us remember that +talk is always spoken and never read. For the production of the effect +of dulness; for the sure spoiling of good thought nobly conceived and +nobly phrased, commend us to a manuscript slavishly read to an audience +assembled to be _spoken to_ by a man who was appointed to _speak_. +There may be churches which, through long suffering, have become so +used to being read to that they have learned to endure it, perhaps even +to fancy they like it. But watch the congregation in such a church. +Note when for a moment the preacher lifts his head and ventures a brief +excursion from the sheets before him, how obviously their interest +quickens and their eyes brighten. Even _they_, in the depths of their +hearts, would rather be spoken to, though such a practice might mean, +now and then, a little looseness in expression, a little breakdown in +the preacher's grammar. More than this may be said:--It has seemed to +us, as the result of attending many churches, that in such sanctuaries +as we have referred to reading is going out of fashion. We have +listened of late months to many well-known preachers of various +denominations and not one of them "read." On the other hand, we have +heard it asserted that while the method of reading becomes less common +in these churches, it tends to become more usual in Methodism. Alas! +for Methodist preaching if this startling assertion be really true. +Methodism does _not want_ the read sermon--is not likely, unless it +ceases to be Methodism, to learn to want it--will only endure it when +it cannot help itself, or when, for other reasons, it has great +reverence and affection for the man who weakly offers it; or again, +when the preacher is old and has outlived his intellectual nimbleness, +in which case sympathy may so plead his cause as to secure him a +reluctant hearing. Methodism grew to greatness under the preaching of +men who _spoke_, and that method is traditional to her pulpit; some day +she will crystallise her tradition into a law that the _speaker_ alone +shall stand in her high place. To attract and hold the people the +preacher must speak! + +And let him speak in the voice and manner with which it is most natural +for him to speak to his fellow men. There is as yet no organ sweeter +than the human voice in its own natural tones, none so adapted to reach +the heart. The pity is, that so often, from simple ignorance, this +fine instrument is spoiled. Gladly would we see a course of voice +tuition included as a necessary part of all pulpit training. So would +the spoiling of many a gracious utterance be prevented. It is faulty +methods of speech rather than overwork that are responsible for many a +"clergyman's sore throat." Speaking is as natural an exercise to the +voice of a man as is walking to his feet, or handling to his hands, but +it must be done naturally; and the use of training is found in its +bringing home this lesson. The "pulpit voice" must become a +yesterday's blunder. + +To attractiveness in delivery must be added, if people are to be kept +in audience, an attractiveness in treatment; here, again, the method of +success is to let Nature have her way. Let the preacher permit himself +to devote _all_ his gifts to the setting forth of his theme. The great +thing is to get the word right home and to that end all considerations +as to style, language, arrangement, should be subordinate. There be +some highly intellectual persons who affect contempt when a preacher +tells a story. There are very solemn persons who gravely disapprove +when the sermon contains a touch of humour which causes a ripple of +laughter in the holy place. Some people, again, hate an epigram, and +say "the preacher is trying to be smart." It is impossible to please +all the critics. The great business of the preacher is to get his work +done; and if by a story, a touch of humour or of sarcasm, the use of +any gift, he can, keeping within the limits of that good taste which +should guide him at all times, entice men to listen, the critics may be +ignored. + +One more paragraph may be added before bringing this chapter to an end. +After all, the great secret of being interesting lies in being +_interested_. The really enthralling preacher is he who is himself +enthralled by his subject and who realises, also, a deep interest in +the people before Him. Should it ever come to pass that the subject +grow stale, worn and hackneyed to the man in the pulpit, it will not be +a hopeful quest to look for much interest in the pew. Again should it +ever come to pass that the preacher lose interest in those before whom +he stands, and this has been known to occur, there will remain small +reason to listen to him for preaching of the sort we most desire. May +it not be possible that "the sermon-box" is responsible for much of the +dulness we deplore. Whitefield, it is said, used to contend that a man +could preach the same discourse forty-nine times with ever-increasing +effect. There may be some who have not this power, but who faithfully +toil to prove the truth of the dictum. It was such a good sermon and +went so well when we preached it the first few times, the while our +hearts were fired by the truth it taught. So we whispered to ourselves +as we turned over the contents of that precious box. Other days had +come, other circumstances, other people, other needs and other views, +but forth came the well-worn and faded manuscript once again. A +baptism of holy madness in which every preacher should make a fire of +all his sermons dry enough to burn might not be a bad thing for the +Church and the world. Such a baptism may, perhaps, be too great a +thing to pray for; such a sacrifice as it would involve, may possibly +be too much to ask--and some sermons _are_ worth preaching over and +over again, even long after Whitefield's maximum has been exceeded. +Still there is a dangerous temptation in the possession of hoarded +sermons from which we will do well to pray to be delivered. To that +petition thousands in all the churches would be glad to say Amen! + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +On Transparency. + +There is one quality of such vital importance to the effectiveness of +our sermons as to merit more than passing mention, and that is the +quality of lucidity. The business of the preacher is to make his +meaning understood, to make his audience see what he sees, understand +what he understands. It is laid upon him as a special instruction to +present the truth with such plainness that "a wayfaring man, though a +fool, need not err therein." Failing here, he fails badly. It is +possible, perhaps, to excite a hearer's admiration without clearness. +There is to be found in some men a curious liking for being puzzled; +and they will credit with high talent and deep learning him who is able +thoroughly to mystify them. We have more than once heard a man +described as "far learned" because of a style in which polysyllables, +not always correctly chosen, did duty for thought, as polysyllables +often do. But the mere winning of ignorant admiration is a poor result +of pulpit work, and no manly man will set such an end before him as the +goal of his ambition. Admit that hearers may receive a measure of +blessing out of all proportion to the degree of their understanding--a +friend of ours tells us that he has had wonderful times in listening to +sermons in the Welsh language of which he knows not a word,--it still +remains true that men are saved through the _knowledge_ of the truth. +In joining himself to the Eunuch from Ethiopia who, sitting in his +chariot read the Prophet Esaias, Philip asked, "Understandest thou what +thou readest?" and all his effort went to make the dusky stranger +comprehend. To make men understand, is our bounden duty still. + +And to accomplish this necessary achievement is not invariably the +easiest thing imaginable. Indeed, it may well be contended that in +none of his aims does the preacher fail more frequently than in this. +Often would we be greatly surprised and deeply discouraged had we the +means of comparing the idea _received_ with the idea we meant to +convey. The reticence of our hearers is wisdom in them and mercy to us. + +For it is absolutely certain that most preachers overestimate--we do +not say the intelligence of their congregations,--but their ability to +grasp the truth presented at the speed, and in the way in which it is +brought before them. Because the trained mind of the preacher can +readily and easily understand religious literature and speech, it does +not follow that the hearer has the same power; nor does it follow that +the lack of it proves him a person of smaller intellectuality than the +man whose utterances bring perplexity to his mind. The preacher should +remember that what are matters of daily thought and research to him are +not so familiar to his hearers. To _him_ they form a well-known +country. He should not assume that the man who turns to him for +direction as to the points and places of this holy land will always be +able to comprehend these directions as easily as he gives them. We +speak from experience when we assert that it is much easier, in a land +one knows very well, to direct the traveller on his way than it is to +understand such directions when, from strangeness in the path, we have +in turn to seek them ourselves. + +Not only is this true, but it is also true that we are too apt to take +for granted that what is knowledge to the preacher is knowledge to the +hearer. It is to be feared that in these days the average church-goer +is not so well versed in Biblical knowledge as the assumptions of our +sermons might suggest. Most men nowadays live in a hurry, and are busy +about many things, and it cannot be pretended that the Scriptures +receive that reading and study which give such advantage to the hearer +of preaching. Probably an examination of any ten men chosen without +discrimination out of the congregation of one of our churches would +reveal a state of things both startling and sad. It is so easy to be +misled by appearances. The congregation is well dressed, respectable, +keen. There are the usual signs of education, even of culture. All +these things are consistent with great shallowness of sacred knowledge. +Men are careful to till their own fields, but common land is generally +sorely neglected. There is a scientist in yonder pew; in his own +science he is supreme. Near him sits a politician; few there are who +know the questions of the hour better than he. In the pulpit stands +the preacher; he is--shall we venture the assertion?--a man mighty in +the Bible. It is _his book_. It is, in a _general_ way, the book of +the scientist, of the statesman, of every person in the congregation, +but the preacher specialises in it and in all that relates to it. He +will make a mistake if he assumes too much either to the credit of one +man before him or another. Here a memory of many years ago rises to +the surface. Having to preach one Sunday to an audience which usually +contained two or three men of positions rather above the common run, we +confessed great nervousness to an aged minister of our church now no +more. "Never bother a bit, lad," was the reply; "remember one +thing:--You will know more about that subject than any man in the +chapel, because you will have been _working_ at it. The doctor will +have spent _his_ week mixing physic, the lawyer _his_ in mixing law. +You will have spent _yours_ in getting to know all about this text of +which, like as not, neither of them has ever heard." There was +consolation in the old man's assurances, though they recognised a +sorrowful fact too often forgotten. Probably if we knew everything we +should come to the conclusion that one fault of our sermons is that +they are not half sufficiently elementary. + +Along the same line follows the remark, that it is also a mistake to +assume that the terminology familiar to the preacher and conveying to +_his_ mind certain ideas, must of necessity be equally familiar and +convey the very same ideas to every other man. Much of this language +is technical; much of it consists of words and phrases which have long +been obsolete so far as daily use and wont are concerned. Let the +preacher set himself to listen to a professional man who elects to +speak upon the subjects in which he is most interested in the language +of his profession; or let him hearken to an artisan who talks about his +craft in the terms in use at the bench, or in the factory, and then he +will in some degree comprehend the effect of technical language in +mystifying the uninitiated hearer. We recall in this connection a +sermon in which, years ago, we heard a very young preacher declaiming +to an audience of labouring men and women concerning a certain +"anthropomorphic" passage. As we say he was very young, and probably +no longer uses the word outside the study. Another worthy man in our +hearing solemnly advised a congregation largely composed of factory +girls to make their lives "Christo-centric." We acknowledge our +indebtedness to the Rev. W. L. Watkinson, himself a splendid example of +the excellence for which we plead, for two humorous illustrations of +the mistake now being considered. One is that of a local preacher who, +during a revival of religion, most earnestly counselled his auditors to +exercise "fiduciary" faith; the other, of a learned divine whose +appointment in a certain village coincided with the visit of a +travelling menagerie. "I perceive," he said, in sensational tones, +"that a spirit of German transcendental ratiocination is creeping into +the Church." The congregation, remembering the adjacent caravans, left +at once in hurry and alarm. + +In that very interesting volume in which the proprietors of _The Daily +News_ tabulated the results of a census of church attendance in the +metropolis, Mr. F. C. Masterman, writing on the religious problem of +South East London, has the following words:-- + +"The prevailing theology, even more perhaps than the prevailing +liturgy, is wrapped up in an ancient language. The very terms are +technical--grace, justification, conversion, perseverance. They flow +out glibly from the student who has soaked himself in their historical +meanings; they are Greek to the general. They were once living +realities for which men fought and gladly died; they still symbolise +realities, the permanent elements of the life history of the soul--but +they are wrapped around in cobwebs and the complications of a technical +system, frozen into sterility; and they have no more meaning and no +more appeal to the audience at whom they are thrown in such profusion +than the details of the performance of the Mosaic ritual, or the +genealogies of the legendary heroes of the Hebrew Bible. We want +neither edifying lessons drawn from the wanderings of Israel or the +Book of Joshua; nor brilliant 'word-painting' of some of the scenes +described in the Bible with a more appealing eloquence; nor the +exposition of the machinery of schemes of salvation once real from +which the life has departed; but some message concerning the things of +the spirit, delivered in simplicity and humility and sincerity to men +who would fain be simple and humble and sincere." These are weighty +words, and many a preacher might do worse than take them seriously to +heart. Such an event might mean the blessing of many who have so far +been mystified rather than edified. Mr. Masterman represents, we are +sure, multitudes who could add proof to his words from frequent +experience; he speaks, also, for many more who, because of similar +experience, come no more to the house of the Lord. + +But the difficulty does not always arise from the preacher's +terminology alone. It is possible to fall into the fault of +_over-condensation_ in our preaching. Highly concentrated foods are +proverbially hard of digestion, and the same may be true of highly +concentrated sermons. "Words packed with profoundest meanings" are apt +to pass over the mind carrying much of their meaning with them +undiscovered. A "highly sententious style" may have some of the +qualities of a thunder shower, in which the rain falls so fast as to be +of little use in watering the thirsty ground, over which it courses +unabsorbed to join the brook down yonder in the vale. The maxim +"_multum in parvo_" may be an admirable one for an author whose book +will lie in the reader's hand the while he has time to grasp the full +significance of every well-filled sentence. By a public speaker, +however, packing may easily be overdone; and here is one of the dangers +of the written sermon as compared with one in which the preacher, +having gathered together his knowledge and his thought upon a matter, +leaves the choice of words to the hour of delivery. A little wise +prolixity may be necessary to the speaker. A little repetition; the +putting of a truth, first in _this_ way, then in _that_, and again +perhaps in quite a different fashion, so that different minds may have +in turn their chance--even this may be needed, and though the +preacher's impatience may find such a method irksome, duty may lie that +way while inclination turns to a more sententious and expeditious mode. +When all has been done that can be done to render every argument and +lesson absolutely transparent there will still be some who will not +have quite understood. The simplest of preachers must some day +encounter the old lady who accosted, so it is said, a former Bishop of +Chester, who, at great pains to be lucid, had unfolded the argument +against the errors of atheism, with the words, "Well, my lord, I must +say as I think there is a God after all you've told us." + +Another thing to be remembered is, that much depends upon the order and +arrangement of a sermon whether it is "easy to follow" or not. We are +old-fashioned enough to believe rather strongly in the method according +to which the preacher divided his subject into "heads." We had heard +that this method was falling into disuse, but have been surprised +during recent months to discover how many of the more acceptable and +successful preachers still find it the most effective plan. Of course +there are those who vote the method out of date; and we have listened +to the preaching of some who hold this view and act upon it. Our +experience teaches us that in respect of clearness and, perhaps +especially, of memorability, the method of distinct division has many +advantages. It is easier to the preacher; _much_ easier to the hearer. +Only, let it be remembered that an "introduction" should introduce; +that "divisions" should divide, and sub-divisions sub-divide. Needless +and trifling "majors" or "minors" are irritating and confusing. +"Firstly," "Secondly," "Thirdly," and--under very special +circumstances--even "Fourthly" may contribute to the making of the dark +places plain, but the days have long since passed away in which +"Ninthly" and "Tenthly" could be borne; though there have actually been +such days. We have read, or tried to read, discourses whose major +divisions ran to "eighteenthly" with minor divisions grouped under each +like companies in a regiment. People came to preaching early in those +days and stayed late. Can it be one result of their experiences that +we, their posterity, have inherited that strange weariness which so +frequently attacks us as "One word more" is announced from the sacred +desk? + +Simplicity in language, and in putting things; as much repetition as +may be needed; great care not to assume more knowledge in the hearer +than he possesses; much allowance for the fact that the minds addressed +may not be trained in the theme under discussion, and that there is a +wide difference between the catching of an idea which waits upon a +printed page and of an idea in flight of spoken discourse; clear and +memorable arrangement of the whole address--all these concessions must +be made if men are to be sent away from the sanctuary carrying with +them any considerable part of the provision with which the preacher +climbed the pulpit stair. And after all these concessions have been +allowed the _great_ effort to make things plain has yet to be begun! + +This _great effort_ for the attainment of transparency will be made, we +need hardly say, along two lines, the line of illustration and the line +of application. Possibly it may be held by some that these two lines +are really one. + +And concerning illustration:--The greatest preachers, and the most +effective, have been those who have shown the greatest mastery of this +art. The writing of these words brings to our minds names sufficient +to establish their truth. Who can forget the illustrations of C. H. +Spurgeon; the illustrations of McLaren of Manchester, whose expositions +of Scripture received illumination in this way at every turning of the +path along which the preacher led us, happy and entranced? It has been +pronounced by some a mistake to class D. L. Moody among the _great_ +preachers. The answer will depend upon our definition of a great +preacher. _We_ would support the inclusion and our reason lies +here:--We heard the man in boyhood and so clear, by simplicity and +aptness of language, of phrase and of illustration did he make his +every contention, that we understood him from beginning to end. An +example happily still with us has already been named in the earlier +part of this chapter. Every preacher should hear the Rev. W. L. +Watkinson, if he walk a score of miles to do it! + +But the art of illustration, excepting in those rare cases where a man +brings to its learning a natural gift waiting only to be brought into +use, is not easily acquired. Every preacher of experience will be +prepared to testify that in attempting to illustrate it is not only +easy to make mistakes but difficult to avoid making them at times. +Sometimes an illustration, intended to light up a subject, rather takes +away the thought of a congregation from that subject than otherwise. +Sometimes, again, the illustration may be found to carry other +suggestions than were intended. The lad, to whom the wisdom of early +rising was sought to be illustrated by the good fortune of the early +bird in securing the first worm, drew precisely the opposite moral, +holding that the fate of the worm taught the wisdom of remaining in bed +until a later hour. Then an illustration may be even less clear than +the argument to be illustrated. We have heard scientific illustrations +of this character, from which the hearer derived a supplementary dose +of mystification rather than an elucidation of the problem with which +he was already manfully grappling. An illustration may be too +pathetic, and people may weep from the wrong cause, an event which +often occurs in church. It is one thing to shed tears over a touching +story and another to shed them from penitence. An illustration should +not be more sublime than the lesson to be taught lest there follow a +swift descent with loss of reverence by the way. There is a place for +humour in the pulpit, if it be natural to the preacher and flow +spontaneously, but a humorous illustration requires to be very +carefully chosen, lest, instead of the healthy and holy laughter often +so fatal to anger and meanness and pride, you have the guffaw in which +blessing is lost in excess. Other reflections as to illustrations are +the following:--First, the illustration, if a story, ought at least to +contain the element of probability. No preacher can _always_ satisfy +himself as to the literal truth of a story he may hear and wish to use, +but he can, at least, consider whether the event recounted was +possible. We have heard stories from the pulpit which were so hard to +swallow as to leave no room for the moral. We have heard illustrations +in sermons which have led to criticisms wherein the strength of the +preacher's imagination has not been passed over unrecognised. Further, +an illustration derives power from being drawn from sources familiar to +those to whom it is addressed. In some confessions regarding his early +ministry, Henry Ward Beecher enforces this very lesson in telling of +his failure to impress the people until he turned for his illustrations +to fields well known to them. Who has not seen a farm-labouring +audience lift their heads when a preacher, saying, "It is like," has +led his hearers into the fields where they had toiled during the +previous week? Often have we seen a mining congregation captured _en +bloc_ when some brother miner, speaking in native doric from the wagon +at a camp meeting, has taken them "doon the pit," or "in bye." We have +watched the faces of sea-going men gleam with a new interest as the +preacher drew a simile, or caught a metaphor from the mighty deep. +Only, in using such illustrations as these, let the user be quite +certain that he is _accurate_. One mistake about the farm, the mine, +the sea, and all is over! With accuracy as a quality constantly +present, those illustrations are most effective whose material is most +homely and familiar. Things startling, novel and foreign, may arouse +interest and excite wonder, but it will probably be at the expense of +that realisation of truth which was sought to be created. Jesus said +"Like unto leaven," "Like to a grain of mustard seed," "Behold a sower +went forth to sow," "Consider the lilies of the field." His hearers +saw these things every day. Perhaps they were in view as He spoke. +Finally, the less hackneyed our illustrations are, the better. If this +were more generally remembered we would miss, and that with a sense of +relief, a few grey-headed similes which, having haunted our youth, +threaten to haunt also our age; and which have assailed us so often as +to create the kind of familiarity that breeds contempt. In how many +Sunday school addresses--and a Sunday school address is preaching in a +way--in how many such addresses have we seen the twig bent; in how many +the giant oak which none can train? How often have we heard of that +boy in Holland who saved his country by the simple expedient of pushing +his finger into a hole in the dyke through which the dammed-up waters +had begun to escape? There is that other lad, too, who has come down +in history by reason of his insane resolve to climb "one niche the +higher"--how often have we been told his thrilling story? These two +boys are no longer young and have surely earned an honourable +superannuation. That little incident of Michael Angelo and the block +of marble from which he "let the angel out"--even that improving +narrative might with advantage be pigeon-holed for a generation or two. +The reason why these hardy perennials are seen in the gardens of so +many preachers must surely be, that every "Treasury of Illustrations" +contains them. We have nothing to say in praise of such treasuries. +We have none to recommend for purchase. The best treasury of +illustrations is the memory of that man who keeps his eyes and ears +open and has a preaching mind. + +Following the naming of illustration as a means of lighting up the +sermon comes the mention of application. Truth must be related to be +understood. How wonderfully the application of a truth to familiar +circumstances makes it clear. It may be laboriously defined and leave +but a dim and indistinct impression upon the mind; but apply it to the +age, to the life of men; show its relation to the passing days, to +daily duties, daily trials, daily sins, and how deeply is it impressed. +In the greater shops are models whose business it is to "show off" the +gown the shopkeeper wishes to sell by wearing it before the possible +purchaser. The advantage of the plan is obvious. We must show truth +in the wear to make it understood! + +After all these reflections, the fundamental word still remains to be +said:--_Clear preaching can only come from clear thinking_. What we +see _ourselves_ we may, by great effort and rare good fortune, make +others see; but when the preacher only beholds men as trees walking, +how can he make clear their features to his fellows? The foggy sermon +often proves the preacher's possession of a foggy mind. "If the light +that is in _thee_ be darkness, how great is that darkness," so said One +of old. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +On Appeal. + +It is set before us in this last chapter of our lecture to say +something in reference to appeal as an essential quality of the sermon. +The discourse, it must always be borne in mind, is not an end in +itself, but a means to an end, and that end the bending of the human +will to "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus +Christ." To the full and perfect surrender which this implies men are +found to be opposed in every possible way. Pride is against it; +selfishness is against it; self-indulgence and the lusts of the flesh +are against it. Often, in addition to these natural elements of +opposition, a man's reluctance to yield himself to God will be +fortified by tradition and strengthened by association. A hundred +circumstances affecting his life, his comfort, his general well-being +may seem to encourage, almost necessitate his refusal. Then, again, +the teaching of all scripture goes to create and establish the belief +that there are supernatural prompters of the sinner in his rebellion +against God; that the warfare of the preacher for his deliverance is +not against flesh and blood only, but also "against principalities and +powers and spiritual wickedness in high places." We do not always +quite realise all that it may mean to a man to take the step to which +we invite him--sometimes so lightly. To begin the following of Christ, +or, having already begun that following, to arise from slackness to +whole-hearted service, may involve the snapping of long cherished ties +and an absolute revolution in every habit and mode of life and thought. +By many men the Kingdom of Heaven can only be entered at the cost of +what seems to them a stupendous sacrifice and the facing of what +appears an appalling risk. Against all these forces and considerations +has the preacher to prevail, and that, through no compulsive power, but +by exercise of such gifts of persuasion as are given unto him to be +cultivated to that end, God's Spirit helping his efforts. He is here +to make men _do_--do that which on every earthly account they had +rather not do. Unless he accomplishes this result his work has been in +vain. + +Now, it is well that the nature of the work, its greatness and the +hardness of it, should be fully realised and constantly remembered. +There is always a danger of being misled by the shows of incomplete, or +false, success. In no branch of service is this more true than in +preaching. It is such a glorious thing to be able to gather great +congregations; but even this may be done and the messenger fail. It is +such a delightful thing to a preacher to watch a multitude waiting +spellbound beneath his eloquence in rapt attention, or swept by waves +of emotion; but that multitude may disperse, the great end of preaching +still unwrought and the whole attempt a splendid failure. It is +possible to attract people to your preaching, possible to win the crown +of their approval, and yet come short of accomplishing the very results +for which you were commissioned from on high. To please is one thing; +to prevail against the heart of sin another. + +And with the recollection of this much-to-be-remembered truth it will +be well that a sense of the difficulty of the real task should abide +continually with us. Some of these difficulties, we have already +mentioned. The hardest to overcome are the obstacles within the mind +and heart of the hearer himself. It is always finally _the man_ who +has to be conquered. This, we surely know through our own spiritual +experiences. He is bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. Here is +surely one reason why the Master sets men to preach to men:--Because +every preacher has been himself a rebel and knows the way rebellion +takes in heart and brain. Ours also was once the stubborn will; ours +the stiff neck; ours the evil heart of unbelief. We, as well as he +whom we now assail for Jesus' sake, have said, "I will not have this +man to reign over me." Once upon a time we, also, bore ourselves +proudly and contemptuously. Never are we weary of thinking of the +wonder that ever we were brought to ground our arms at the Master's +feet. Will the winning of others be easier than was the victory won +over ourselves? Now that we battle against what once we were and did, +we should understand from memory the immensity of the task. Once +realised, it should never be forgotten. There is no miracle in all the +Gospel history greater than the miracle of a broken human will. + +Yes, the preacher's work is at the best a supremely hard one. The +sense of this hardness must get into his soul, or else all hope of +success will be vain. Should there ever come to him a moment in which +it shall appear an easy thing to preach, or when his knowledge of the +congregation awaiting him shall seem to indicate that "anything will +do," then let him, in that moment, consider himself in peril of missing +the true end of his calling. _Anything will not do_. The very best +will hardly do! Think of the hardness of the heart! Think of the +arguments of the tempter! Think how fair and sweet sin often seems! +Think of all the sacrifice and self-denial and self-surrender we are +asking from men! Here is need for the utmost diligence; for the +development of every latent power of persuasion; for the employment of +every ounce of energy, of every resource of skill; for the expenditure +of every volt of passion the soul can contain. We can only hope to +capture the citadel when the utmost possibilities of attack are brought +to bear upon it. Even then the garrison may hold out against us! + +And the ultimate possibilities of attack are the ultimate possibilities +of appeal. We speak of appeal as a quality that must pervade the whole +of the sermon. We have heard counsels on preaching in which advice was +given about "_the_ appeal" or "the _final_ appeal," whereby were meant +certain perorative paragraphs; the remainder of the discourse being +divided into "introduction," "exegesis," "argument," "illustration," +"application." We remember some of these perorative paragraphs, and +sometimes we have been tempted to ask whether the same note is struck +in the preaching of to-day as was sounded forth in their stirring +words. In spite of the homilists the sermon was generally better than +their advice concerning its making and its form. The paragraph in +question, though, perhaps, neither the preacher nor his adviser +suspected the truth, was only powerful because it formed the climax of +all that had gone before. It was the final assault following upon +processes of sapping and mining, bombardment and fusillade. The appeal +must commence _with the first word of the sermon_. The very +introduction must be persuasive. The _motif_ of the whole composition +must be the wooing note. Obviously this note will need to be struck in +many keys. The appeal will have many expressions; and in their variety +and form the skill of the preacher will have such room for exercise and +such need for it as no other duty of his life displays. + +To mention some of the elements of this appeal, of which, again, the +whole sermon is the expression:--There is first, that gift, or +endowment, or talent--call it what you will--which we speak of as Tact. +In some men this power amounts almost to genius. Of such an one we +say, "he has a way with him." He is the man to bring about +"settlements." His very voice, his very manner, bring disputations to +an end. In political conflicts, in social misunderstandings, in labour +troubles he is invaluable. In the church he is a treasure. In the +Sunday school his price is above rubies. In the pulpit he enjoys an +immeasurable advantage. Happy the congregation whose preacher "has a +way with him." We have known such men and envied them. Their gift +defies analysis. It is an element! + +Of men such as these there are, alas, comparatively few! They are born +into the world with a genius for always doing the right thing in the +right way. Most of us enter into life with a genius for doing +everything in the wrong way, and we can only look enviously upon our +more richly endowed brethren and learn from them to practise as an art +what they do as the result of an inheritance. We _can_ do this and, +indeed, we _must_ do it if it be any part of our life's work to +influence men to courses against their minds. The sermon must be +tactful or else, though it possess every other excellence, it will most +surely fail. How often have we heard, as a criticism, the one word +"tactless," which meant that the truth had been expressed in such +language, or in such a manner as to accentuate, rather than allay, the +opposition of the hearer; that, instead of getting _round_ the +prejudices of the congregation by a flanking movement, the preacher had +assailed them by a frontal attack, and so called to the ramparts every +sleeping power of opposition. Many a well conceived and convincing +sermon fails from just this cause. + +So then we feel inclined to urge that the cultivation of tactfulness +should be reckoned an indispensable part of every preacher's training, +for there is no prevailing with men without it. For this, among other +things, he will require that thorough understanding of men of which we +spoke in an earlier chapter--an understanding which must include a +familiarity with their tastes, their prejudices, their weaknesses and +infirmities. To this understanding must be added the fruits of much +self-study and criticism. To be able so to speak as to secure +acceptance for the Word of Life is worth it all. The basis of appeal +is conciliation. The instrument of conciliation is tact! + +And having, through the exercise of this gift of tact, secured for +himself and his message the toleration of the hearer, the preacher will +proceed to make the best of the advantage thus obtained. He has made +his man a listener but the great work still remains to be done, and +again we say that it is of all work the hardest to accomplish. At +once, let us acknowledge the impossibility of outlining a method that +will be effective in every case. At once, too, let us say that in no +branch of Christian service is so much left to the inventive and +initiative faculties of the worker as in preaching. Still some +principles there are which may well be named as worthy of remembrance +in the day of action. + +And the first of these may well be this:--That the first assault should +be made through the intellect. The sermon must contain, at least, a +solid foundation of good reasoning. "Come now and let us reason +together, saith the Lord," was the prophet's invitation to Israel in +the day of her rebellion. The preacher should see to it that he +"render a reason." It is no compliment to an audience to fail to +recognise its mental powers. It is something less than a compliment +merely to _pretend_ to argue, as is so often done. That is not only to +fail to produce the result we desire but to estrange the hearer still +further and so make his case more hopeless than before. + +It is one of the many accusations made against the modern pulpit, that +it has fallen into the habit of begging the question and basing its +appeals upon assumptions. Men of mind come to hear the preacher and go +away disappointed. The good man declaims, but makes no real attempt to +_prove_ the truth of his declamation, or to anticipate the mental +difficulties into which his statements may lead the hearer. He makes +statements, but does not substantiate them. How often we hear of the +intellectual barrenness of the modern sermon! How often we are told +that men are asked to take the most important steps, and make the most +astounding sacrifices upon arguments which would not convince a seventh +standard schoolboy. In speaking of a certain orator, some one said, +"There was physical power, for the preacher shouted; ho(a)rse power, +for in his roaring he fortunately lost his voice; water power, because +he wept most copiously; everything but brain power." We cannot proceed +on the exploded fiction that ignorance is the mother of devotion. The +schoolmaster is abroad. More than this, the denier is busy, and, +though his reasoning may be packed with fallacies, he can only be +answered by arguments as sound as his are false. Perhaps there was +never a time in which the literature of unbelief had so great and +general a currency as it has to-day. It circulates in our workshops in +unnumbered pages, for its special attack seems to be directed against +our working men, especially the younger members of the class. Here, +undoubtedly, is one of the causes of the apparent drift of the toiling +masses from the churches. A preaching that is merely declamatory, +visionary, emotional; that takes its stand upon tradition, the +authority of great names the dim antiquity of its far-off past, +failing, meanwhile, to recognise the eager questioning of the modern +man, must be prepared for non-success, though there may come from +certain quarters, even in the hour of its failure, the meed of +popularity and applause. + +Let this, therefore, be laid down:--That the appeal of the sermon must +at the beginning be the appeal of intellect to intellect. Let no one +be made afraid by this statement. It is not contended that every +sermon must be an elaborate argument of the case for the Christian +demand. This would necessitate that every preacher be a specialist in +theology and apologetics, which is obviously impossible. Happily, the +situation, strained as it is, is not such as to render it needful that +only experts should venture to preach the gospel. But it is needful +that the sermon stand the test of common sense and, in that way, carry +in it its own defence. It is needful that, as the preacher proceeds to +develop his subject, the hearer shall find cause to assent to the +positions taken up. Otherwise it will be useless to invite him to +forsake his own ground in order to share that from which he has been +addressed. Of course it must be conceded that even this modest demand +will mean much study for the preacher and a careful preparation of the +sermon. Surely, however, the end is worth the labour. In no work is +proficiency gained without some taking of pains. That preacher who is +afraid of a little toil in order that he may thereby improve his +usefulness, and increase his success, should find proof in this fear of +effort that his commission--if ever he had one--has expired. One thing +is sure:--That a sermon which fails to satisfy the intellect--we do not +say of the atheist or the agnostic, to whom, by the way, we are hardly +ever called to preach, but of the average hearer--will ask in vain for +the surrender of men to God. It may be full of sentiment and +overflowing with emotion; it holds no true appeal! + +But the intellect is not the whole of a man. The sermon that contains +no appeal to a hearer's emotions will fail, just as certainly as one +that contains no address to his reason. If sermons are full of +emotion, and empty of arguments, they are invertebrate and produce but +transient effects. If the sermon be simply and solely an intellectual +effort it will be cold and nerveless and ineffective. You may +_convince_ a man beyond all possibility of contradiction or protest, +and at the same time utterly fail to bring him to the decision you +desire him to register. Probably an analysis of most of our +congregations would prove that so far as merely intellectual agreement +is concerned the great majority of hearers are already on the +preacher's side as a result of years of hearing while, as yet, +undecided to attempt the path so plainly stretching away before them. + +The preacher must address himself to _all_ the emotions of the heart +for any one of them may be the means of carrying his message to that +innermost chamber whither he desires that it shall come. Fear and +courage, doubt and confidence, all should be assailed, for the +awakening of any one of them may bring to pass the accomplishment of +the preacher's glorious purpose. Of course we have become familiar +with all that is said by superior persons about what they are pleased +to decry as "mere sentiment." We know, but too well, the man who at +once, and invariably, characterises any preaching that touches the +hearts of men as "playing to the gallery,"--the man whose one and only +demand is for intellectualism. Him we know in his superiority to +feeling, his scorn of smiles and tears. We know him and, thank God! we +generally ignore him; as we must learn to do more and more. The city +of Mansoul has many gates--more, indeed, than honest Bunyan saw--and +happy may the preacher be if he can gain admission by any one of them! + +Then, although the hearer is "a sinner," and must be approached as +such, the sermon that will lead him furthest along the upward way will +be one in which it is recognised that he is not so utterly depraved as +to be without some lingering, or latent, good to which appeal may, and +ought to be made. Find the good in a child and by the use of it lead +him to the best, is a sound principle in the training of the young. It +is equally sound as a rule for dealing with their elders. Find the +good in a man if you would save him wholly and for ever. + +For "good" there is, and that in the very worst of men. No doctrine of +human depravity that theologians may teach can alter the fact, that, +deep in the heart of man, may be found a starting point whence the +highest heights may be gained if we have but the skill to lead him +forward. We may speak of him as being sick in head and heart, as "full +of wounds and bruises and putrifying sores." It is all true and yet, +paradoxical as it may appear, there are still in him the power to love; +some gift of gratitude; some sense of fair play; an elemental idea of +justice. There is still some secret reverence for purity and modesty +and truth. The preacher, notwithstanding all the schoolmen may tell +him, must believe this, or else he will not effectively preach. + +There is much to be gained by every one in believing the best of human +nature. For the preacher such a belief will provide ways into the +city, the inner fortress of which he means to capture for his Lord. He +will call upon the best qualities in his hearer to help him as he +pushes home the siege. There is a power of loving. Surely he will +enlist the aid of this by reminding the wanderer of the love wherewith +_He_ has loved him. "We love Him because He first loved us," so wrote +one whose will had been brought low what time his affection was +entreated. There is a sense of gratitude. Surely this will be called +to look upon that sacrifice on which the ages gaze! That sense of +justice; that elementary instinct of fair play--they, too, may be rare +colleagues of the messenger, if he will but enlist them on his side. +For this method of prosecuting his saving warfare he has precedent +enough in the prophets:--"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men +of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt Me and My vineyard! What could +have been done more in My vineyard, that I have not done in it? +Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it +forth wild grapes?" Here is an appeal to the inborn sense of equity +which still lingered in the heart of the chosen people. The claims of +honesty and chastity, of truthfulness and benevolence and gentleness +will not always be in vain, if the preacher will remember that some +reverence for these things still lingers in the heart of even the most +abandoned of men and address himself thereto. He is the wisest of all +campaigners who enlists the enemy against himself. + +To all these elements of human nature, then, the preacher will address +himself. He will do more:--He will study times and seasons and events, +for times and seasons and events often produce moods which infect a +whole people. We have examples of this in the moral influence of the +festivals of the Christian year. They were wise men who, for all +futurity, connected with certain dates the outstanding events of the +sacred history, the memory of great saints, confessors and martyrs. +Probably we of the Nonconformist pulpits might here learn a lesson in +homiletic tactics from our friends of the Roman and Anglican churches. +There should only be one subject for Good Friday; one for Easter morn; +one for Christmastide; one for the hour wherein the old year dies. It +is not merely a tribute to convention to observe these seasons. It is +strategically wise to do so. The preacher should use Whitsun as an +opportunity of leading the Church to prayer for new pentecosts; harvest +time to stir the slumbering thankfulness of men. He who neglects these +ready-made chances throws away precious advantage for his appeal and +misses the psychological moment. + +So much for the seasons and their memories. We have experience, also, +of the way in which the watchful and tactful preacher will profit from +the occurrences of his time. In the events of the day much material +for the pointing of appeal may often be found. The calamities which +befall; the happenings which arrest the attention of the multitude and +often hush a whole nation with the hush of awe--he will find in these +things an opening to be entered on behalf of the enterprise he has in +hand. Very watchful must he be, for everything that touches the heart +may mean "a way in" which it were a misfortune to miss. He must look +for the very slightest change of mood in his people, for so his +long-hoped-for chance may come. With all he may do; after every plea +he may still find that the victory is unwon. He has gained the +intellect it may be or moved the heart; but the stubborn will still +holds out against him. + +Yes, notwithstanding all he may do the will may resist him still, but +this fact, instead of causing the preacher to give up in despair, +should move him to still greater efforts. The more difficult the task, +the greater the honour laid upon him who is sent to attempt it. This +is the understanding of military life, and this should be the +understanding of the preacher. He will not fail with _all_. Some +there will be who will ground their arms at Jesus' feet; some who will +give themselves to the living of the new life, who will accept the +invitation to climb the hills of God. In every one of these the +preacher will have ample reward for all his "work of faith and labour +of love"; for he who "converteth a sinner from the error of his ways +saveth a soul from death and hideth a multitude of sins." To know that +he has done these things for one brother man will be better than the +breath of popularity. Sweeter than all the compliments of men will be +the far-echoing "Well done" of Christ in that day when the messenger +lays his commission at His feet. + + + + +CONCLUSION + + +"And ye are witnesses of these things. + +"And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in +the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. + +"And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands +and blessed them. + +"And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, +and carried up into heaven."--_Luke_. + + + +CONCLUSION. + +We approach, at last, the end of our poor attempt. Its purpose has +been to furnish a reminder of some things that are absolutely essential +to the effective preaching of the Gospel. Let us recall the steps by +which we have come thus far upon our way. + +And first, it appeared to us that for true preaching you must have the +true preacher; and the true preacher is he who, designated by Nature +and by Divine calling, endowment and baptism, has come to personal +certainty in respect of the great and vital truths committed to his +keeping. Surrendered to God and his work, he nevertheless realises +that among the trusts of which he holds stewardship is that of his own +individuality to be used for the ends he is sent to consummate. He is +a man of understanding gathered in the study of truth; of men; of the +Church; of his own heart; of many other fields of knowledge. He lives +in constant realisation of the greatness of his calling; the sublimity +of his message and the certainty of victory for Israel's side. His +soul is aflame with the passion of his labour; with devotion to his +Master; with a love for his fellows learned at the foot of the cross. +The supreme fact of his life is the fact of his own spiritual +experience and in holy, happy memories he finds continual evidence of +things Divine, and constant inspiration to prosecute his mission to the +end. He is a man whose heart God has touched for the sake of the +world. He is the chosen, qualified, and sworn ambassador of the King +of Kings. He is the very representative and mouthpiece of God and of +the Church to all with whom opportunity shall give him speech. In all +this he is the successor of the first-called and qualified of the +preaching band, making proof of his succession by faithfulness, +holiness and success. Such is the true preacher, whether separated +altogether to the work of the ministry or working with his hands, as +did the greatest preacher of the Apostolic band, that he may "not be +chargeable to any." + +From speaking of the messenger we turned to mention what seem to us to +be the notes essential to a complete rendering of the message confided +to him for transmission. The notes of accusation and of pity, of +idealism and edification and cheer all need to be sounded by the +preacher who would go back, at last, to the Lord who sent him with the +joyful boast that he has "not shunned to declare the whole counsel of +God." Not only this, but we heard, as we came along our way, from the +lips of those to whom the preacher would speak, enough to prove that it +is for a message in which these notes are heard that they wait and +listen. The world longs for a Gospel which shall satisfy the mind, +guide the conscience and comfort the heart, the while it shows the way +to the best in the life that is and the life that is to come. Such a +Gospel we have. It remains only that we preach it in all its plenitude +and promise. + +"That we preach it":--Of this actual preaching we have also had +something to say, both as to its form and as to certain great +principles to be remembered by the messenger always and everywhere. It +_does_ matter much as to the manner in which the truth is expressed. +It is possible to prevent the glorious results the message should +produce by avoidable faults in the presentation of it. It is the +preacher's duty, for the truth's sake, to make his sermons so +attractive and so interesting that hearers shall not be repelled from +partaking of the Divine provision for hungry and thirsty souls. It is +his duty to make his sermons so simple in phrasing, so intelligible in +arrangement, so luminous by illustration that the average hearer shall +readily understand them. To the arts of persuasion and appeal he must +devote special attention, for the purpose of the sermon is to induce +men to believe and to act upon that belief. He must be a master of +argument and of tact. He must learn to use every occasion; to find and +enter every door; to turn everything to the advantage of his one great +end. The sermon must be at once a work of wisdom, of grace and of art. +It is the preacher's weapon in the warfare of his Lord. How carefully +it should be fashioned; how bright it ought to be, how sharp, to reach +the heart of the King's enemies! + +And all these things we have brought to remembrance that, having them +before us, we may be the better able to answer the question with which +we started out:--Whether this preaching of ours is in any way to blame +for that spiritual and moral slide of which we hear so much? Are _we_ +such men as we have seen that preachers ought to be; so surely +designated for our ministry; so wise; so sure; so full of the passion +of our calling? Has the message we have sought to deliver expressed +the whole that God has taught us and provided an answer to the deep +questions and strange perplexing needs of those to whom we have +ministered? Have the sermons in which our message has been set forth +always been the best attempt we could make to reach the ear, subdue the +mind and win the hearts of those who waited upon our utterance? Is +there any need for self-reproach on our part, or can we answer all +these questions with a gladness increasing with each successive reply? +The reader will have a rejoinder ready. We do not ask to hear it. It +will be enough that he whisper it to his own soul and into the ear of +God. It might be of infinite service to the Church and to our fellows +if, one and all, we pushed such an inquisition to an end in our secret +hearts. + +There remains now only one word to be added, and that word, the reader +will perhaps have looked for earlier, for in every such discussion as +the present it must come to utterance. For two reasons we have +withheld it until the last and they are these. It is a word with which +every reader will agree, and it is the most important word which can be +spoken or written upon the subject. Is it necessary to say that it has +reference to the deepest and most constant of all the preacher's +needs--the need of the Holy Spirit as an abiding presence in his heart, +his mind, his work? Little did the Master say, as He charged those +early preachers, concerning the methods of their preaching; little also +as to its substance, but many were His words concerning the Holy Ghost +who was to be their teacher, their remembrancer, their comforter and +support. For Him they were to tarry "until the promise be fulfilled." + +And they _did_ so tarry, and lo, He came and the young men saw visions +and the old men dreamed dreams! Then, through the lips of plain, +unlettered, toiling men there broke forth a new evangel upon the age +which turned all the currents of the world. New things were spoken; +new ideals lifted up; new hopes proclaimed, but the secret energy of it +all was the new power that thrilled in every word. + +New things the world had often heard, hopes, ideals, philosophies; some +one was always bringing such wares to market, as they bring them to +market still; but scarce a ripple on the sea of life did they one and +all produce. These words _lived and burned_. _Life_ was in them, and +_fire_! That life and fire were His whose coming had filled the upper +room with wind and flame! + +The Holy Ghost in the heart of the preacher, and therefore in his +message, filling every sermon with unction, spirituality, throb, +_life_--can there be effective and successful preaching without THIS? +No, never; study you never so hard; train you never so carefully; bring +to the work never such talents, such grace of diction, of construction, +of delivery. "It is not by might nor by power, but by My spirit saith +the Lord"! + +And yet there _is_ a duty of study and an obligation of training, and +it _is_ incumbent that the most precious of our gifts be polished and +dedicated, that the best possibilities of argument, illustration and +delivery be attained. In preaching, as in all the works and ways of +life, God helps those who help themselves and nothing is worthy but the +noblest and the highest. + +The Holy Ghost in the heart of the preacher honoured by the grandest +effort the preacher can make, the utmost faithfulness he can +display:--Can it be possible that in these words the twofold need of +this very hour finds definition? Can we be sure, that if such a +sentence were turned into a prayer, and came back upon us as a gracious +answer to cries that would not be denied, the multitudes would not turn +to us once again? What preaching would there be _then_; how warm would +be the sanctuary; what a house of healing would it become; what a place +of consolation and encouragement for hard-pressed men; how many +problems would find solution; what visions would form themselves upon +the darkened clouds overhanging many a human life! Preaching would be +a living thing. Can it be possible that _here_ and _now_ LIFE is its +greatest need and that the only way to obtain this life is by a return +to that upper room of long ago? So we end with a question, as with a +question we commenced. Since the world began it has been by the asking +of questions that men have come to truth. + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Message and the Man:, by J. 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