Y^rn, 
 
 1. 1922 
 
 BV 3790 .D43 
 
 Davis, Ozora Stearns, 1866j 
 
 1931. 
 Evangelistic preaching 
 
Evangelistic Preaching 
 
 With Sermon Outlines and Talks 
 to Children and Young People 
 
 By 
 OZORA S. DAVIS 
 
 President Chicago Theological Seminary 
 
 New York Chicago 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 London and Edinburgh 
 
Copyright, 1921, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street 
 
Preface 
 
 THE Christian Church in the modern 
 world is still charged, as it always has 
 been, with one supreme task, publishing a 
 message which is concerned with nothing less than 
 a new life for the individual and society. There 
 are many ways by which this message may be made 
 known ; but from the beginning it has been chiefly 
 through the oral delivery of the evangel that it 
 has been proclaimed. Christian preaching is still 
 the compelling engagement of the Church. The 
 preacher is still the messenger of life to his genera- 
 tion. Preaching is difficult, highly technical and 
 glorious business. There seems to be need of a 
 brief manual which will define again the unchanged 
 task of the preacher in the light of our exacting 
 and bewildered world, bring out the encourage- 
 ments in the preacher's task, and offer practical 
 suggestions for the prosecution of that distinct 
 kind of preaching commonly known as evangel- 
 istic. This book is offered as a word of encour- 
 agement and specific counsel to all those who are 
 toiling to publish the good news of the Kingdom of 
 God and the new life in Christ. 
 
 O. S. D. 
 Chicago Theological Seminary, 
 
Contents 
 
 PART I 
 
 The Theory of Evangelistic 
 
 Preaching 
 
 I. The Good News and Its Publication . 9 
 
 II. Preaching and the Preacher . . 22 
 
 III. The Impression and Expression of the 
 
 Good News 35 
 
 IV. Every Preacher an Evangelist . .48 
 
 V. The Evangelistic Sermon . . .61-^ 
 
 VI. Evangelism as the Organizing Prin- 
 
 ciple IN Preaching .... 78 
 
 PART II 
 A Program of Evangelistic Preach- 
 ing, WITH Sermon Outlines . 85 
 
 PART III 
 
 Talks to Children and Young • 
 
 People . . .197 
 
 PART IV 
 Special Gatherings . .215 
 
PART I 
 
 The Theory of Evangelistic 
 Preaching 
 
THE GOOD NEWS AND ITS 
 PUBLICATION 
 
 ONCE upon a time there broke upon the 
 yearning ear of humanity a message that 
 was so timely, so assuring, so comforting 
 that it was well named '' the good news." It was 
 not good news in general; it was specifically and 
 forever unique ; it was the good news. For every 
 man, for all mankind, during all the years down 
 to the end of time, whatever that may be, and un- 
 der all human circumstances, however these may 
 change, it remains the same exhaustless and won- 
 derful message. 
 
 The men who first heard it and put it into words 
 spoke Greek and they gave a name to the message, 
 which passed into Latin letters and then came to 
 us in the English word " evangel." From this we 
 derived the kindred words " evangelistic " and 
 " evangelize." Then from another source, our 
 own Anglo-Saxon, came the word " gospel," 
 shorter and more vital, meaning the same thing, 
 " good news." 
 
 How swiftly and surely words lose their pristine 
 and pictorial meaning! Like coins abraded by 
 
 9 
 
10 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 constant handling, our great words have the Im- 
 ages rubbed off and the sharp Hnes in which they 
 were originally minted smoothed down. So we 
 have lost to a great extent the precious and vivid 
 content of the word " gospel." We must use our 
 imagination and picture once more the clear scene 
 that is involved in some of the great terms of our 
 language. Here is the situation out of which the 
 word gospel was born. A battle is being fought 
 by the defenders of a city on a field far from the 
 walls where the people who cannot take their part 
 in the conflict wait and long for news. The old 
 men are there and the women and the little chil- 
 dren. They are straining their eyes as they watch 
 the road ; they are listening with every sense attent. 
 Now out of the dust, far off, appears the figure of 
 a runner. He is bending every nerve to reach the 
 city gates, for he is the messenger of good news. 
 The battle has been won and the city is saved. To 
 make that fact known is worth the utmost effort 
 that he can put forth. He knows what it will 
 mean to the waiting people ; so he spares no energy 
 to tell them the good news. 
 
 The word " evangelist " represents this mes- 
 senger. And the news that he brings is the " evan- 
 gel," or the good news. The Christian preacher 
 IS the evangelist or the bearer of good news to all 
 the yearning and beleaguered souls of men. The 
 message that he brings them Is his gospel or evan- 
 gel. It tells how the love of God has enlisted on 
 
THE GOOD NEWS 11 
 
 man's side in the struggle for truth and righteous- 
 ness. It has the accent of certainty about it. This 
 is not a guess ; it is an affirmation that grounds it- 
 self in the deepest assurance. It has the ring of 
 joy about it. The message is sure to set the bells 
 ringing. If the messenger is so enthusiastic about 
 it that he pours all his soul into the announcement 
 of his message, if sometimes he breaks over the 
 conventional forms in his proclamation, we are 
 not surprised. We would be surprised if he did 
 not do something of this sort. Who could pos- 
 sibly tell men such truth without emotion? The 
 message is so wonderful, so important, so packed 
 with joy ! 
 
 This is the earliest and the most vital content 
 of the word. But the years go by. The message 
 is repeated again and again, until the very words 
 are worn thin. Men begin to change the message 
 from a glad announcement to a fixed dogma. They 
 quarrel about it They even kill each other because 
 they cannot agree on the meaning of the words or 
 the words themselves. The form in which the 
 announcement of the good news is to be given is 
 stereotyped into what is called a " sermon." A 
 science of sermon structure and delivery grows 
 up; it bears the dismal name " homiletics." The 
 sermon is subjected to the critical treatment of 
 literary composition and oral address, and is forced 
 to conform to the canons of the science with this 
 hard name. How can we keep the kindling beauty 
 
12 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 and the radiant joy of the pristine good news, 
 brought by the messenger on the run, under such 
 conditions? You cannot conventionalize and 
 standardize a thing of beauty and joy and spon- 
 taneous expression like this and keep it in its gen- 
 uine and primitive form. The preacher, who is 
 simply the messenger or the evangelist, must fight 
 all the time to preserve the native meaning of his 
 words as he uses them. He must constantly use 
 his imagination and his reason in order to vitalize 
 the terms that he uses, his thought of his own task 
 and the truth that he gives to his comrades in the 
 act of preaching. We have almost forgotten what 
 these great words " gospel," '* evangelize," and 
 " preach " do actually mean. It is not merely the 
 people who have lost this clear conception ; but the 
 very preachers themselves have suffered the great 
 words to become hazy and inert in their thinking. 
 This word " gospel " is a noble, living word. 
 
 There are many statements of the Gospel. Some 
 are brief and some are long. Some are simple and 
 some are technical. No one is quite complete. 
 Even when they are united in one great, compre- 
 hensive definition, there are factors that are left 
 out. The good news is so wide in its reach and so 
 deep in its intention, it is so full of vast and varied 
 meaning, it is so rich and fertile in its daring affir- 
 mation that we cannot pack it all into a proposi- 
 tion. One of the most satisfactory of the early 
 statements, because it was made by a man whose 
 
THE GOOD NEWS 13 
 
 personal Christian experience was deep and genu- 
 ine, is as follows: 
 
 " But all things are of God, who reconciled us 
 to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the 
 ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in 
 Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not 
 reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having 
 committed to us the word of reconciUation " (3 
 Cor. 5: 18, 19). 
 
 As we reflect upon this passage we cannot fail 
 to catch its exalted vision and searching impera- 
 tive. It surely matches the temper which we found 
 in the earliest figure of the Gospel and the evan- 
 gelist. There is the reflection of the runner's 
 urgency and the people's expectation. Then 
 there is something courtly and imperial about it. 
 An ambassador is not a little man fussing with a 
 little job. He is not running errands or concerned 
 with pettiness. He is the representative of his 
 monarch. He stands in the place of his nation or 
 his race. When he speaks the voice of the people 
 is heard. When he affirms something the power 
 of a great corporation is behind him. This matter 
 of publishing the Gospel is royal business, dignified 
 by the weight of regal authority, and demanding 
 the utmost power of a trained and consecrated per- 
 sonality. It may call for deliberate effort of the 
 mind and imagination in order that a Christian 
 preacher to-day may catch the practical signifi- 
 cance of this thought ; but it is most legitimate for 
 
14 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 him to seek to vitalize the idea in his daily work. 
 If he will do so he will find that the old tasks are 
 lighted up with new beauty and his whole work is 
 dignified and ennobled. 
 
 The word " reconciliation " is a noble one. It 
 means to bring together, to harmonize, to over- 
 come estrangement. As we look either into our 
 own hearts or abroad into the world in which we 
 must live so long as God has work for us to do, 
 we know that there are discords and estrangements 
 which ought to be set right. Division and anguish 
 lie all around us. We cannot be permanently 
 happy or do good work under such conditions. 
 The world is not right. The soul demands that it 
 shall be made right. The nobler the human spirit, 
 the more urgent and insistent is its demand for 
 unity. This demand is not manufactured from 
 without ; it arises from within the human spirit at 
 its best. We do not need to be educated in order 
 to reason this matter out. We cry out instinctively 
 for a universe that is harmonized and happy in 
 love and good will. The most stupendous and 
 glorious enterprise that ever has commanded the 
 mind and the active powers of man is the program 
 of the Kingdom of God, which is the substance of 
 the Gospel of Christ. All dreams of Utopia, all 
 programs for social betterment, are less than the 
 message of a reconciled world in Jesus Christ. 
 
 The reconciliation is not a change wrought in 
 the nature of God. That changeless love did not 
 
THE GOOD NEWS 15 
 
 call for any new yearning. The old father in the 
 parable of the lost boy did not require a change 
 of heart while his eager eyes were peering down 
 the road hoping to see the loved figure of the re- 
 turning prodigal. But the boy needed to be 
 changed; and love was the only power that ever 
 could do that. The good news comes with such 
 mighty appeal that it does actually change our 
 hearts. 
 
 But the reconciliation that the good news pro- 
 claims is not simply between man and God; it is 
 also and most gloriously between man and man. 
 Out of new and right relations with God flow in- 
 evitably a whole world of new relations between 
 man and man. Indeed, it begins with nature it- 
 self. We seldom think that the Gospel has any 
 bearing upon the relation which man bears to the 
 physical world ; but under the sway of the Gospel 
 all nature comes into closer relations with man 
 and man with nature. A Christian is kinder to 
 his animals ; he works harder and so gets a larger 
 return from his farm ; good will is something that 
 even the fields and flocks understand. Then a new 
 set of social principles unfolds from the publish- 
 ing and accepting of the good news. Set the Gos- 
 pel at work in the worst moral conditions of a 
 great city and it will transform vileness into beauty. 
 Men under the sway of the Gospel begin to adjust 
 themselves to one another in a new spirit of sacri- 
 fice and service. It is an actual reconcilia- 
 
16 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 tion wrought out in concrete forms of mutual 
 aid. 
 
 The publication of a message so searching and 
 comprehensive calls for all the resources of the 
 herald, trained in the highest possible degree. It 
 must be sung and written and printed and preached. 
 Every possible agency of publication must be util- 
 ized to make so glorious a message known. No 
 form of announcement may be overlooked; new 
 forms must be searched out and utilized. So the 
 message must be put into word and action, into 
 spirit and program. One friend must tell another 
 about it, as they did in the beginning with exuber- 
 ant and convincing joy. This is the simplest way 
 in which to give publicity to the good news. But 
 this method is too slow. The Gospel must be 
 brought to many men and women at a time; and 
 the only way in which this can be done is by print- 
 ing and preaching. The press is a great pulpit 
 whose service to the publication of the Gospel is 
 immeasurable. Books and periodicals spread the 
 message far and wide. Every language used by 
 men must be employed in order that the races may 
 hear the message " each in his own tongue." And 
 then the assembly must be utilized, with the living 
 speaker present, to use the greatest of all agencies 
 ever employed to make truth known, namely a liv- 
 ing man speaking home to the heart of living men. 
 
 This is preaching. It is the one method that has 
 been used most effectively from the beginning to 
 
THE GOOD NEWS 17 
 
 make the good news known to men. It is not an 
 isolated act. It is carried on as a part of an order 
 or service of public worship. The preacher is also 
 the man who leads people in social worship near to 
 God and to one another. It is inevitable that as 
 the centuries have passed and men of many races 
 and civilizations have stated the good news over 
 and over, preaching has grown somewhat complex 
 and formal. But it never has fallen into a period 
 of formality and lifelessness without the final ap- 
 pearance of prophetic men who have rescued it and 
 brought it back to its place of primacy and power. 
 And thus the method of preaching has vindicated 
 its right and authority as the chief means of pub- 
 lishing the good news. As a matter of fact when- 
 ever there has been strong preaching the Gospel 
 is found to be exerting its strongest influence in the 
 life of the age. With the decline of preaching 
 there has inevitably resulted the falling off of the 
 energy of the Gospel In its command over the peo- 
 ple. And the restoration of the good news to its 
 supremacy has been invariably wrought by the 
 power of preaching. The Christian people have 
 trusted this method as the one most certain to make 
 the good news known. There have been times of 
 criticism and disparagement; but the final verdict 
 always has been in favour of preaching. 
 
 The present Is such a time. Preaching Is asked 
 to furnish its credentials. Let us meet the chal- 
 lenge. We are sometimes told that we must return 
 
18 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 to the simple apostolic method of personal and In- 
 dividual contact, by which the knowledge of the 
 Gospel was spread from person to person by the 
 contagion of friendship and through the medium of 
 conversation. One disciple of Christ will bring 
 another to the common Master and so the good 
 news will be passed along until finally the whole 
 world will hear the message. The persuasive 
 power of individual appeal from friend to friend 
 is certainly a mighty influence in extending any 
 cause. All this the advocate of the medium of 
 preaching as the agency for publishing the good 
 news recognizes and defends. Personal testimony 
 is now, however, as it was when Jesus lived among 
 His earthly friends, the greatest single agency for 
 extending the knowledge of the good news. The 
 preacher standing In his pulpit and publishing the 
 Gospel to a congregation is only a witness influenc- 
 ing many comrades at once instead of one at a 
 time. Preaching Is simply the extension of per- 
 sonal testimony by adding to the number of hear- 
 ers. Also the larger contact of the individual 
 preacher with the group of hearers does not ex- 
 clude the Individual in contact with the individual. 
 On the contrary, the most successful preachers of 
 the Gospel to large audiences have also been the 
 strongest advocates of " Individual work for in- 
 dividuals," knowing that the two methods are the 
 necessary complements to each other. 
 
 We are sometimes urged to lay less stress upon 
 
THE GOOD NEWS 19 
 
 preaching in the interests of publicity for the Gos- 
 pel through pictorial illustration, printing and the 
 distribution of literature. Printing has been 
 brought to such a high degree of efficiency as the 
 means of all kinds of publicity, especially if picto- 
 rial illustration be included with it, that it can be 
 used more than ever before to make any set of facts 
 or truths widely known. And it is being employed 
 in every sort of propaganda. But at best utterance 
 through the press lacks that which is most power- 
 ful in preaching, the person himself speaking, and 
 that richest of all instruments ever devised for the 
 expression of truth and its impression upon others, 
 the human voice. Widely as the press is used, the 
 promoters of all movements unite in their testi- 
 mony to the superior power of the personal advo- 
 cate or pleader and are constantly thus represent- 
 ing their causes in public meetings. In the sermon 
 the preacher adds himself to his message ; he there- 
 fore has the force of the spoken sentences plus his 
 own energy and influence. And the paramount fac- 
 tor in the publication of the Gospel is the convinced 
 and convincing preacher himself. So ()reaching 
 still maintains its supremacy as the means of pub- 
 lishing the Gospel. It uses the press in every pos- 
 sible way; but it still trusts the kindling word of 
 the preacher supremely. 
 
 Another claim merits consideration at this point. 
 Many earnest and sincere critics of preaching de- 
 mand that the Gospel shall be published and com- 
 
20 EVANGELISTIC PEEAOHING 
 
 mended wholly by the deeds that it inspires. They 
 point out the convincing power of conduct and say 
 truly that the good news is approved by the fact 
 that it makes good men. They are impatient with 
 so much theory and debate; they long for the 
 practical proof of the Gospel. The protest is 
 healthy and desirable. The power of Christian 
 conduct and the testimony of Christian life and 
 character in bringing knowledge of the good news 
 to the world and leading men to accept it are un- 
 bounded. We must be on guard against trusting 
 the mere words of the Gospel, apart from their 
 confirmation in life, to avail in extending the 
 knowledge of the good news to the end of its re- 
 demptive mission. The searching question of 
 Jesus in Luke 6 : 46 must be borne constantly in 
 mind: 
 
 " Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the 
 things which I say ? " 
 
 Thus the testimony of conduct is convincing 
 and it must be constantly brought into action ; but 
 it is immediately apparent that the Christian char- 
 acter is the result and the confirmation of hearing 
 the Christian Gospel. Publication of the truth 
 must precede both the knowledge of the truth and 
 action according to it. Preaching, therefore, is 
 the necessary preliminary to the proof of the Gos- 
 pel that is furnished by life and character. 
 
 Therefore we conclude that the effective publi- 
 cation of the good news depends upon continuous 
 
THE GOOD NEWS 21 
 
 and ever improved preaching. The modern 
 preacher will not need to spend any time question- 
 ing the validity of his credentials. They have been 
 confirmed by almost twenty centuries of experi- 
 ence. He will study rather how he can improve his 
 methods and make his sermons more vital and 
 convincing. If he discerns clearly the import of 
 his message and the sources of power in his work 
 he will be sure that the one supreme factor in suc- 
 cessful preaching is to make the sermon a gospel, 
 that is, a real message laden with the prophet's 
 sense of " burden." No skill in form or grace in 
 speech can take the place of this quality in the 
 sermon. It must be dominantly evangelistic, that 
 is, true In spirit and explicit in statement so that it 
 will publish in some fuller form and more con- 
 vincing appeal the good news of the reconciliation 
 in Christ. 
 
11 
 
 PREACHING AND THE PREACHER 
 
 AS preaching has gone on from century to 
 century it has inevitably become complex. 
 It has developed a technique and certain 
 standards have gradually been established. But 
 the outstanding factor in it all is, as it always has 
 been, the personality of the preacher. That is 
 what makes the sermon so radically different from 
 the essay or the scientific lecture. The writer's per- 
 sonality is not apparent in the essay or poem. In 
 the lecture the subject dominates everything. But 
 in the sermon the man speaking is so central and 
 potent that in a certain sense the sermon is the 
 man. The sermon is truth passing through the 
 preacher's personal experience, interpreted by it 
 and enforced by it. He imputes himself in all his 
 statements. This is why the hearer so often can- 
 not tell at the end so much in detail what he has 
 heard; even the text may be lost soon from his 
 memory; but he is sure that on a certain occasion 
 he saw a man who was so sure of a truth which he 
 was ardent to impart that he spent his very self in 
 making it clear and forceful. This point may ap- 
 pear more clearly If we analyze briefly the ele- 
 ments that enter into preaching. 
 
 22 
 
PEEACHING AND THE PEEACHEB 23 
 
 The earliest Christian preaching was simple, 
 positive testimony. Turn to the " sermon " of 
 Peter reported in Acts 2: 14-36. In the strict 
 sense of the word, as it has developed its full mean- 
 ing in the course of time, this is not a sermon. It 
 is primarily the giving of testimony. Peter and 
 his comrades had seen and known something ; they 
 told others about it. There was no wavering in 
 their minds. They went into the witness-box and 
 gave their evidence clearly and with complete as- 
 surance. They were not primarily interested in 
 argument. They wanted to tell what they knew. 
 Their testimony was so definite, so clear, so con- 
 vincing that hundreds and thousands believed the 
 message on the ground of their witness. Men 
 could not help believing the witness of experience 
 then ; they cannot fail to accept it now. Straight 
 forward affirmation, on the ground of somethin' 
 that is positively sure in the experience of some or 
 else always carries conviction. 
 
 This is a permanent factor in preaching. The 
 modern preacher will not often cast his evidence 
 into sentences whose subject is the first personal 
 pronoun. That does not mean that his sermon will 
 not be based on testimony. His consciousness of 
 the fact that he is a witness will form the back- 
 ground of all his thought. It will charge the prep- 
 aration of his sermon with the temper and accent 
 of affirmation. He may not say the words aloud 
 as he works ; but his mind will all the time be de- 
 
24 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 daring stoutly. This is true; I know it; I have 
 proved it. We often ask why so many sermons 
 seem to be weak in their appeal and why a minister 
 is sometimes languid in his work. It is primarily 
 because the sermon does not ring with the accent 
 of confidence and the minister has not confirmed 
 his message in his own experience before he an- 
 nounced it in the pulpit. The good news is still 
 good news. When the preacher is more sure of 
 this than he is of any other fact he will fill his 
 sermon with happy and whole-hearted testimony 
 to the truth which has found him and by which he 
 is himself living victoriously. 
 
 Testimony, however, soon passed into another 
 stage of development in early preaching. As men 
 were convinced of the truth in the good news of 
 reconciliation in Christ they discovered that they 
 had entered into a life and experience of such 
 range and richness that they needed to spend all 
 their lives in learning what was involved in the good 
 news. Thus arose the ministry of teaching. When 
 any one entered into the life of personal loyalty to 
 Christ he understood why the earliest followers of 
 the Master were called disciples or " learners." He 
 discovered that when he accepted the ruling mo- 
 tives of Jesus and made them his the whole world 
 required re-valuation. The matter could not be 
 understood in a day. He must ask those who 
 knew more than he to tell him what they had 
 learned and known. He must try to state the great 
 
PEEACHING AND THE PBEACHER 25 
 
 truth to his own mind and to the intelligence of 
 others. That is, the whole truth as found in Christ 
 must be deeply studied ; a new kind of experience, 
 briefly described as the experience of God in Christ, 
 must be interpreted and given some kind of an 
 orderly statement so that others could understand 
 and appropriate it. This involved teaching in its 
 amplest form and its deepest import. 
 
 Teaching is still an integral part of the preacher's 
 work. This does not mean that the sermon is a 
 lecture. It is something distinct and decidedly 
 more. Yet every sermon has in it to some extent 
 a teaching purpose. The good news calls for proc- 
 lamation; but it also must be expressed in many 
 forms and therefore instruction is essential to the 
 full preaching of the Gospel. Therefore the 
 preacher himself must be a clear thinker and a 
 hard worker in the field of Christian theology. It 
 is quite common for ministers to fall in with the 
 current disparagement of theology. But what his 
 appropriate science is to the botanist, the astron- 
 omer or the social worker, that theology is to the 
 preacher. It is the systematic statement of the 
 comprehensive truth in the good news. This must 
 be not only an object of respect but a subject of 
 study on the part of the preacher. It is no sign 
 of superiority or cleverness to affirm that one is 
 innocent of the great science which has claimed 
 the love and loyalty of many of the greatest minds 
 of the world. The preacher must know how to 
 
26 EVAITGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 teach as well as to exhort. He still must be " apt 
 to teach." We shall discuss this more fully in 
 Chapter V. 
 
 There is still another factor in the process of 
 preaching for which it is difficult to find a name. 
 Perhaps the best word to use is passion. Preach- 
 ing is a flame, an insight, a forth-telling. It lays 
 hold of the deeps within us and it speaks to the 
 deeps in others. It is a something that suffers and 
 yearns and trembles. This is the element in 
 preaching that least admits of formal treatment or 
 stable classification. It is reckless in a certain 
 sense. It breaks out into new forms. It defies 
 the laws that we lay down. It occasionally uses 
 the unusual form of the sermon with such power 
 that it seems as if the way had been found at last 
 to proclaim the Gospel with utter success ; and then 
 some one else tries to do the same thing and fails 
 miserably. Thus there is something elusive in the 
 great mood which we cannot classify or confine. 
 Under the spell of the prophetic mood the preacher 
 does not think or feel so much as he sees. He 
 finds that his mind is rushing under the thrust or 
 drive of a power that he dimly understands but In 
 response to which he feels great joy and power. 
 He has attained the open vision and arrived at the 
 direct grasp of truth. The vagueness of this de- 
 scription grows out of the elusiveness of the sub- 
 ject; but every preacher knows the reality and 
 power of this elevation of spirit and release of in- 
 
PEEACHING AND THE PEEACHEE 27 
 
 tellectual and emotional energy under the influ- 
 ence of the impassioned glow of insight. 
 
 We know that this experience came to the 
 prophets. It is written large in the precious re- 
 mains of their words and work. It is easy to dis- 
 cern it in the personality of Isaiah. When it 
 comes to ourselves and our modern world we are 
 less ready to believe that we, in our plain pulpit, 
 among the people who know us so well, may know 
 the lift and glory of the prophetic insight and 
 power to proclaim what we have seen. We need 
 not doubt it, however. We cannot ring up this 
 royal servant and have him wait on us at com- 
 mand. There are no known methods by which to 
 force the advent of lofty vision and flaming speech. 
 This is an angel visitor. There are certain ways, 
 however, in which we may so prepare for his 
 royal coming that he may not be delayed through 
 any fault of ours. Jesus showed what these are in 
 His wonderful promise, " Blessed are the pure in 
 heart: for they shall see God." We cannot per- 
 form mechanical exercises that will insure the com- 
 ing of the holy passion. But we can keep our 
 hearts gentle and our souls keyed to good will. 
 Then at least the flame will not be blown out. This 
 is the prophetic glow and leap which makes preach- 
 ing, under its sway, the noblest, happiest engage- 
 ment which can command the spirit of man. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the task of preaching is 
 not the simple work that it might appear at first 
 
28 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING^ 
 
 sight to be. It is necessary not only to have all the 
 factors that enter into the complex action present, 
 but also to have them preserved in their right bal- 
 ance. A sermon must not be too dogmatic, too 
 didactic, too emotional. It must be like a sym- 
 phony, balanced and controlled in full and chas- 
 tened harmony. 
 
 The chief factor, however, is the personality of 
 the preacher. The truth must be transmitted 
 through personality. We have repeated this so 
 often because the truth is so often forgotten. The 
 conviction and experience of the preacher are both 
 absolutely necessary to the true sermon and to 
 effective preaching. Therefore at this point arises 
 the great question, How deeply has the preacher 
 himself experienced the transforming power of the 
 Gospel ? And on the basis of this experience how 
 valid and tenacious is his faith in the power of the 
 Gospel to do for others and for the whole world 
 what it has done for him? It is immediately ap- 
 parent that this involves something more than an- 
 intellectual assent to a set of propositions. The 
 kind of confidence which we are now discussing 
 arises from the consent of a man's whole being to 
 something which he has tried and found true in his 
 daily life. The multiplication table never stood by 
 him with help when he was in danger of being 
 caught by evil; it never comforted him when he 
 was sorely stricken with grief. But the Gospel has 
 done all this and more for any man who preaches 
 
PEEAOHING AND THE PEEAOHER 29 
 
 it with power. As Rev. Albert J. Lyman, himself 
 a great preacher, said, " Preaching is not only an 
 * art '; it is an ' incarnation.' " When the Gospel 
 actually lives in a man then he can preach a living 
 gospel. The man who himself knows the redemp- 
 tive love and power of Christ will never need to 
 question his credentials. That which the good 
 news has done for him he knows it will do for 
 other men. His message has not lost its power 
 and his Master still lives. 
 
 Therefore preparation for Christian preaching 
 is as wide and deep as the preacher's life; indeed, it 
 is essentially just this, the preparation of the 
 preacher himself. On the academic side it in- 
 volves the severest and most constant thought and 
 study. No greater mistake could be made than to 
 disparage or discontinue study and reflection and 
 constructive thought. One of the reasons why 
 ministers fail and evangelists do not " last " is be- 
 cause they have stopped thinking and taken to 
 shouting. These are harsh words; but the situa- 
 tion warrants them. Any preacher who thinks 
 that he can be safe and not use all his mental 
 powers to their highest degree has signed his own 
 resignation letter in advance. The Christian pul- 
 pit in America to-day needs a mighty revival of 
 clear, fearless and continuous study and thought. 
 It is a tragedy to see a minister go to seed mentally. 
 
 Then there is the emotional culture of person- 
 ality which is imperative if the good news is to be 
 
30 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 given with power. The message is beautiful. So 
 is the life that it inspires. Too often the preacher 
 becomes so engrossed with the details of his work 
 that he fails to lay his spirit open to the loveliness 
 of the universe. The preacher's life is a quest for 
 beauty. All ugly things must be left out so far as 
 they are not necessary to the service that he must 
 render to his community and generation. To give 
 space to mean and petty ideas and purposes in life 
 is to make ourselves dusty attics where spiders spin 
 instead of the sunny rooms where all beauty is 
 present with love and joy. We must not fail to 
 love loveliness if we are to preach a gospel that is 
 concerned with the beauty of holiness. 
 
 On the public and social side of the preacher's 
 life must be cultivated the widest range of sym- 
 pathy and deepest relation with all aspects of our 
 bewildering modern life. The good news is a so- 
 cial message. It comes into intimate relations 
 with every phase of human endeavour. The 
 preacher cannot give his message with success un- 
 less deeply and honestly he loves " folks " and is 
 glad to enter into their loves and sorrows with true 
 appreciation. The term " good mixer " has been 
 over-worn; but it still represents one of the most 
 important characteristics of the preacher. He can- 
 not stand in his high church steeple to throw down 
 the truth one day in seven. The measure of his 
 happy and helpful mingling with men is the degree 
 of his effectiveness as an ambassador of Christ. 
 
PEEACHING AND THE PEEACHER 31 
 
 Therefore the culture of the social sympathies and 
 graces of manner is imperative. 
 
 All these are less, however, than the one domi- 
 nant factor in the preparation of the preacher, 
 which is the real preparation of the sermon. We 
 return to its discussion. Preaching is a personal 
 message. No spring will rise higher than its 
 source. The message must have behind it the 
 preacher's absolutely genuine and moving personal 
 experience of the reality and power of the Gospel. 
 The Gospel has something to do in the life and for 
 the character of the preacher himself before he is 
 prepared to do his best work in the publication of 
 the good news as the messenger of his Master. 
 
 The objection is often met at this point: How 
 can one who has grown up in a Christian home 
 and has never passed through the radical change of 
 an experience of " conversion," as it is generally 
 described in the language of the mission hall, have 
 this keen sense of the message and the urgency of 
 the Gospel. It cannot be manufactured. 
 
 The only reply to this is something as follows: 
 The external conditions of the experience of con- 
 version are manifold. There are the deep and 
 revolutionary changes: there are the equally deep 
 but evolutionary changes. It is possible to turn 
 around by swinging through so wide a circle so 
 gradually that one is unconscious of the slow 
 change of direction. It is also possible to turn 
 around at such an acute angle that everything is 
 
32 EVANGELISTIC PREACHmG 
 
 upset. If any one who has come into the Christian 
 life by the gradual processes of Christian nurture 
 will carefully revive his memories and make an in- 
 ventory of his experiences he will find that he 
 comes out just where the subject of the more sud- 
 den and dramatic change arrives. Both are con- 
 scious of a personal loyalty and a glowing love for 
 Christ, the Saviour and Lord. So there is no ex- 
 ception to the statement that preachers of both 
 types of experience have the basis laid for their 
 preaching in the fact that there has been something 
 done for them of supreme value by the Gospel. 
 
 Therefore every Christian preacher must re- 
 peatedly search his own soul and cultivate his own 
 inner life with Christ in God. If that fails all 
 *' methods'' will be utterly futile. Nothing can 
 be learned out of a book or in a conference that 
 will take the place of this personal experience and 
 conviction. The true sermon does not come into 
 being under the study lamp alone. It derives its 
 life and power from the deep wells of the preach- 
 er's profound knowledge of the reality of the 
 Gospel as he unites his life with Christ in loving 
 surrender and happy service. 
 
 Let us look at the matter once more. Here is 
 the world in bondage to sin and held under cap- 
 tivity to injustice, hate and lust. Is there anything 
 that can emancipate this world from the horrible 
 situation in which it is involved ? The Gospel of 
 Christ claims to be able to do just this and to do it 
 
PEEACHING AND THE PEEACHER 33 
 
 successfully whenever it is tried. The preacher is 
 supposed to believe this — to believe it to the tips of 
 his toes, with such utter faith that he is willing to 
 pledge his whole life to the truth of the proposition. 
 Do we believe it? The doctor trusts his remedy. 
 The surgeon believes in his operation. An advo- 
 cate has confidence in the justice of his cause. Is 
 the preacher " dead sure " of his message ? It is 
 charged that the modern pulpit is remote from life 
 and that much preaching is perfunctory. If this 
 is so, what is the reason? Lack of blazing con- 
 viction on the part of the preacher, first of all. As 
 the preacher looks into his own heart, into the 
 needy lives of the people in the parish, into the 
 nation and abroad into the vast world, he must be 
 sure, beyond any hesitation or doubt, absolutely 
 sure, that he has the message and the power that 
 will bring man and God, and man and man per- 
 fectly together. This Gospel, the modern preacher 
 must know as clearly as Paul knew it, is the very 
 ** power of God." When he reaches that point 
 he is the master of his pulpit, at least so far as the 
 initial energy for his work is concerned. He must 
 do more than merely to be sure of this. He must 
 yearn and pray and toil terribly. But he cannot, 
 he simply cannot, fail in the end because he is 
 working with the unvanquished and unconquerable 
 purposes of God. 
 
 Every preacher knows what it is to have his life 
 grow stale and to see the visions fade. Then it is 
 
34 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 time to come back and to renew convictions and 
 certainties in a fresh experience of the Gospel. 
 Think it through ; respond to it with the glow of a 
 deep affection; do something with it by means of 
 a practical program. Preachers must let the Gospel 
 do more for them in order that they may do more 
 for the Gospel. When the truth has wrought in 
 us we shall be able to " energize " well in the 
 community for the truth. Open your life more 
 fully to the influence of Christ by putting all evil 
 and selfish thoughts out of it. The more we think 
 about Him, study His teaching, imagine Him as He 
 actually lived with men, and, chiefly, as we yield 
 ourselves to His service, the more we shall be 
 brought into an experience of Christ's reality and 
 power that will fortify us in our moments of 
 weakness and give us a message and a conviction 
 against which no attack of denial or scorn will be 
 able to prevail. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE IMPRESSION AND EXPRESSION OF 
 THE GOOD NEWS 
 
 FOUR phases of the process of preaching we 
 shall study briefly in this chapter. They 
 must be understood in their right relations 
 by any one who is to preach the good news success- 
 fully in the modern age. 
 
 The first is the impression of the good news upon 
 the preacher. This has been considered at such 
 length in the previous chapter that we only revert 
 to it again here. The Gospel must have made a 
 deep impression upon the whole life of the preacher 
 before he can effectively impress it upon others. 
 It must be the greatest truth he knows, the noblest 
 engagement to which he can possibly dedicate him- 
 self. Thus the Gospel must have been impressed 
 upon his very spirit. . It must have laid hold on the 
 deepest springs of his action ; it must be translated 
 into motives; it must shape the major program 
 of the preacher's life. No man who goes into the 
 pulpit merely because he is interested in what he is 
 going to do or say there, or because he enjoys the 
 music, or because he likes the stately order of a 
 
 35 
 
36 EVANGELISTIC PKEACHING 
 
 service, will be a preacher. But something must 
 have been impressed upon him so deeply that he is 
 under the spell of its mighty urgency and feels that 
 he absolutely must do something about it. There 
 lies the source of his power. It is the drive and 
 the compulsion derived from a commanding truth. 
 It is no ground for boasting or claim to glory when 
 a man upon whom the good news has been so 
 deeply and vitally impressed seeks to preach it, or 
 to express it. Indeed, he could not do anything 
 else and be true to the deepest that is in him. Paul 
 states this fact in one of those little revelations of 
 himself that he gives occasionally in his letters: 
 " For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to 
 glory of ; for necessity is laid upon me ; for woe is 
 unto me, if I preach not the gospel" (1 Cor. 
 9: 16). 
 
 Therefore we pass to the expression of the good 
 news by the preacher. He must do it. There is 
 no option about it on his part. When he is once 
 sure that here is something that has the power in 
 it to save the world he cannot be either quiet or 
 calm about it. But note the source of the urgency. 
 It is not in response to a command laid upon him 
 from without by a Sovereign that the preacher 
 publishes the good news. His constraint is from 
 within. It springs from his convictions and his 
 love. As Peter and John put it at the very begin- 
 ning of the days of Christian testimony, " Whether 
 it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you 
 
IMPEESSION AND EXPRESSION 37 
 
 rather than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but 
 speak the things which we saw and heard " (Acts 
 4: 19, 20). 
 
 The impression made by Christ upon a disciple 
 to-day is not produced as it was in the days of His 
 flesh by contacts in the realm of physical life. It 
 is none the less personal and real. While it is true 
 that the vast majority of our impressions are re- 
 ceived through the physical organs, there are many 
 which come to us in delicate and subtle ways. 
 Christ is living in our world. He is near us. He 
 touches us. Whittier was not writing something 
 that had no actual meaning to him when he sang: 
 
 " We touch Him in life's throng and press, 
 And we are whole again." 
 
 The expression of this experience is a great and 
 beautiful and rewarding task. Preaching is not an 
 engagement to be treated lightly. When a citizen 
 of the United States is appointed ambassador to 
 Great Britain he does not esteem it an empty 
 honour. It is a high privilege. It calls out the best 
 that is in him. He goes to the court of Great 
 Britain conscious of his responsibility and prepared 
 to represent his country well. 
 
 No less a sense of joy and privilege should mark 
 the temper and the work of the ambassador of 
 Christ to the community where he preaches. This 
 is not mere rhetoric. It is solid fact and there are 
 thousands of preachers, from the day of St. Paul 
 
38 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 to this very moment, who have proved the reality 
 and power of this conception of the preacher's life 
 and work. 
 
 But let us not shut up the expression of the good 
 news to the sermon alone. That would be to deny 
 the value of some of the chief agencies for publish- 
 ing the good news. The whole order of worship is 
 the affirmation of the Gospel. There is not a sin- 
 gle item of the service that fails in some way to set 
 forth or emphasize some fact in the message. 
 Scripture, hymns, prayers, offerings, all unite to 
 express the good news to the people. And yet 
 when all this is admitted. It remains clear that the 
 sermon itself is the chief form of expression into 
 which the preacher casts his message. 
 
 Yet there is a determining background that we 
 must not fail to appreciate. It Is the whole spirit 
 of the preacher. There is something magnetic, as 
 it were, about one who is giving oral expression to 
 a truth. And if he believes it, if he Is wholly sure 
 of it, there will be a sort of confirmatory bearing 
 about him which the people will discern and which 
 will help his message In ways that he never will 
 know. For somehow the truths that we do believe 
 through and through get a sort of audience even 
 when we express them poorly. And when they are 
 set forth In clear and cogent fashion the conviction 
 with which we hold the truth we declare takes on 
 added strength. 
 
 Therefore the modern preacher will work with 
 
IMPEESSION AND EXPEESSION 39 
 
 every possible medium in order that he may express 
 the message clearly. He will study the proposition 
 of his sermon until it is clear as daylight to his 
 mind. It is said that the secret of Lincoln's power 
 with a jury lay in the clearness with which he ad- 
 dressed his plea to them. In preparing for this it 
 was his custom to reduce his case to a series of 
 propositions. Every one of these he went over 
 again and again until there was not an unnecessary 
 or meaningless word in a sentence. He imagined 
 himself in the place of the jury and convinced him- 
 self first of all. He arranged his propositions until 
 they were so ordered that they led from one to an- 
 other and reached a convincing climax. This per- 
 suasive outline was filled out as the occasions 
 demanded; but it was back there as the sup- 
 porting skeleton of his plea and he never re- 
 garded as lost the time and diligent study put 
 upon it. 
 
 The preacher will work hard on his literary ex- 
 pression of the good news. The right and beauti- 
 ful word is necessary to clothe the clear thought. 
 We are sometimes told that the preacher may trust 
 the Lord to fill his mouth if only he will open it. 
 But on the whole it is the man who has studied 
 hardest and worked most diligently whom the Lord 
 can use best as His messenger. The English lan- 
 guage is too noble and rich to be treated with the 
 dishonour to which some preachers subject it. It 
 i$ the instrument for the oral expression of the 
 
40 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 good news and it ought to be handled with more 
 care than the astronomer bestows upon his tele- 
 scope. 
 
 And in the same way the preacher will be careful 
 and earnest in the use he makes of every item of 
 the service. Even the little details of his own 
 dress and manner are important in order that there 
 may be nothing but commendation for his message 
 deriving from the whole effort to deliver it. 
 Hymns that harmonize with the service are de- 
 manded, not merely for the artistic finish of it, but 
 because through them some phase of the good news 
 will be expressed. 
 
 We come next to the impression of the message 
 upon the group or the congregation. This opens 
 up a whole new field of study which sometime will 
 be carried out to a still greater degree of thorough- 
 ness ; we have only made a beginning in our study 
 of the pyschological factors involved in preaching. 
 As we come to know more of the way in which the 
 minds of many individuals react or respond to an 
 appeal to a group rather than to an individual, we 
 shall learn better how to preach the Gospel in such 
 a way that it will be forcefully impressed upon the 
 people. 
 
 There are certain principles, however, which are 
 clear and which the messenger of the good news 
 can use with skill to increase the impressive power 
 of his gospel. Among those principles are the 
 following: 
 
IMPEESSION AND EXPEESSION 41 
 
 The message must be of such a character and it 
 must be given in such a way that it will make con- 
 nections with that which the hearers already know 
 and fit in with that which they are already doing. 
 Otherwise it will be so remote from them that they 
 will see no meaning in it all, or else will regard it 
 only as interesting theory but will not adjust it to 
 their habitual activities. This is what we call 
 either vital relation or remoteness. And the Gos- 
 pel sermon must not be remote from life ; it must 
 make vital connection with the real world where 
 the people think and work. Preaching has been 
 too much concerned with mansions in the skies and 
 not enough with cottages on earth. All this must 
 be changed. 
 
 Then the Gospel as a message of new life must 
 be presented in such a way that it will not be un- 
 reasonable. It must be clear and appealing and 
 have a strong factor of common sense in it. 
 Hearers are often carried quite away by high 
 flights of oratory. It is an interesting spectacle to 
 watch a fervid speaker take a captive audience into 
 camp. And it is painfully interesting to watch the 
 slipping away of that enthusiasm and applause. 
 Men often clap their hands at a big noise; they 
 generally sit silently under the influence of great 
 thoughts. There is no use shouting, either in the 
 pulpit or " all over God's heaven/' with the idea 
 that it is going to make a deep impression on men. 
 In the end it is the clear, sensible and strong mes- 
 
42 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 sage that carries weight and drives home to the 
 hearts of the people. 
 
 Then the present value of the message counts 
 mightily in impressing the congregation. It is not 
 easy to frighten or woo men and women to-day by 
 telling them of the pains of hell or the bliss of 
 heaven. Strong people are neither scared nor 
 coaxed into the Church or the Kingdom of God 
 nowadays. But men and women want something 
 that will give them comfort and peace and joy 
 while they are working hard and trying to find 
 some reasonable explanation of the world which 
 the vast majority are finding now just a little too 
 big and hard for them to manage without some 
 help from outside. Our Christian Gospel prom- 
 ises that help. When the message is put in 
 that way the people like to hear it and they are re- 
 spectful to the messenger. Let us always remem- 
 ber that the mission of Jesus was to the whole life 
 of man here and hereafter. He seeks to save men 
 from the sin that is destroying them in time as well 
 as from the inevitable issue of those sins in eter- 
 nity. This accent of present helpfulness and 
 strength has been too much lost out of the preach- 
 ing of the Christian pulpit. We must bring it back 
 and set it before the congregations of the present 
 day in all its charm and power. The Gospel is a 
 message of new life to the world now. 
 
 Then there is another factor in preaching which 
 we must always regard. The message which has 
 
IMPRESSION AND EXPEESSION 43 
 
 been impressed upon the preacher and expressed by 
 him in a sermon that impresses the hearers is in 
 turn to be expressed by them in new forms of indi- 
 vidual and social action. We reckon too seldom 
 with this fact, that the real end of the sermon is 
 achieved in the working out of its truth in the 
 practical activities of living men and women. The 
 sermon which expresses the Gospel intends to get 
 something done in the life of the individual and the 
 community. 
 
 It is all expressed in that passage where the 
 commas do such a lot of damage in Ephesians 
 4: 12. Paul says that Christ gave different gifts 
 to the members of His body, the Church, and made 
 some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, prophets 
 and teachers, " for the perfecting of the saints, 
 unto the work of ministering, unto the building up 
 of the body of Christ." And when we read those 
 three phrases we are accustomed to regard them as 
 the three coordinate aspects of the duties of church 
 leaders. They are to perfect the saints and to do 
 the ministering work of the congregation and to 
 build up the body of Christ. But these are not co- 
 ordinates. This is an ascending scale of activities. 
 Church leaders — and just now we are thinking of 
 the preacher preeminently — are to work to make 
 the members able to do the service of the commu- 
 nity in order that thereby the great fellowship of 
 Christ on earth may be built up. Therefore the 
 sermon is designed to be something more than a 
 
44 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 part of the preacher's work ; it is the definition of 
 the congregation's community task. 
 
 Thus we have a new test of the value of the ser- 
 mon. That is not a real sermon which has merely 
 presented a phase of the Gospel so clearly that it 
 has been made plain to the minds of the congrega- 
 tion. Nor is that a real sermon which has moved 
 the people to a temporary elevation of feeling. 
 But the true sermon convinces the mind, moves the 
 emotions, and also gains such a decision of the 
 hearer that the truth in the sermon becomes a new 
 program for the daily life of the individual and 
 for the community. The good news that has been 
 impressed or driven home must be expressed or 
 driven out into action in all the phases of the com- 
 munity life. 
 
 There has been much discussion of the individual 
 and the social Gospel, as if there were some per- 
 manent contradiction between them. There is no 
 more contradiction here than there is between the 
 opposite sides of a " nickel " or the concave and 
 convex sides of a crescent moon. Each is neces- 
 sary to the other. It would be Impossible to have 
 the coin if there were not two sides to it. They 
 complete one another. The crescent moon must be 
 convex and it must be concave. We may admire 
 one side more than the other; but we know that 
 both sides are involved in the complete object. 
 
 So the expression of the truth in the sermon 
 must be wrought out by the individual. The good 
 
IMPEESSION AND EXPEESSION 45 
 
 news becomes a ruling principle by which he shapes 
 the program of his life. Occasionally we hear 
 some one disparage the idea of "saving one's soul/' 
 We are told that this is selfish and quite unworthy 
 business ; that a man who is bent on saving his soul 
 probably has a soul hardly worth saving. And 
 there is urgent warning in the statement if one who 
 is anxious about saving his soul thinks that he can 
 accomplish his purpose in solitude. No man ever 
 started out to save his own soul without finding 
 that he could not reach his end without the help 
 and encouragement of his comrades. There is no 
 such thing as sheer individual salvation. Indi- 
 vidual salvation demands the aid of the group in 
 order to its accomplishment. 
 
 Or suppose we begin at the other side of the 
 proposition and stress the social aspect of the good 
 news. We make a beginning with the endeavour 
 to work out a program for the community through 
 which the Gospel will be realized in the life of 
 the people. We have hardly taken the first step 
 until we discover that nothing can be done unless 
 we have at hand a growing number of individuals 
 who are trying to save their own souls according 
 to the plan of the Gospel of Jesus. All kinds of 
 most attractive schemes for community uplift have 
 been devised and started into operation; but they 
 have not gone far until they have failed. The plan 
 was all right ; but there was no driving energy be- 
 hind the scheme. Men and women who have 
 
46 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 caught the spirit of Jesus and are ready to give 
 themselves to the realization of His program as 
 a vital part of the process of saving their own souls 
 are the driving force behind all the practical efforts 
 that will succeed in the redemption of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 The emphasis upon the social Gospel was timely 
 and it ought never to be lost. There is no greater 
 folly than to accomplish the ** conversion " of an 
 individual and then ask him, with all the struggle 
 ahead of him as he seeks to realize his new resolu- 
 tion, to go back Into surroundings where all the 
 forces of the community will be at work against 
 him rather than for him. In fact, the individual 
 saves society and society saves the individual all the 
 time, when each is engrossed in the process of 
 working out the program of salvation which is 
 brought to the world in the good news which the 
 preacher publishes. 
 
 A wonderful sense of freedom is born in the 
 preacher's mind and heart when he catches this 
 harmony between these two phases of his message 
 and knows that he Is to speak to the Individual and 
 to the community, bringing to both a message of 
 such mighty moulding power that it will shape to 
 better conditions all the life of the generation. 
 There is no other person in the community 
 who has such a message; there is no other 
 business in the community comparable with 
 this. The preacher may have a small salary 
 
IMPEESSION AND EXPEESSION 47 
 
 and there may be many who disparage his 
 work. But when the forces of the community are 
 summed up according to their value in making for 
 the highest Hfe of all, the Christian preacher, vital- 
 ized by the consciousness of his wonderful and holy 
 task, is the chief single agent in the whole body 
 acting consistently to bring forth all the highest 
 and best qualities in the individual and society and 
 shaping it all according to the mighty ideal of the 
 Kingdom of God. That man, endowed with that 
 power and charged with that holy task, is the most 
 important and commanding figure in the whole 
 complex system of community life. He ought to 
 preach with the conviction and power of a prophet 
 for he is doing business with eternal things. He 
 is the evangelist of God. 
 
IV 
 EVERY PREACHER AN EVANGELIST 
 
 FROM the glimpses we gain of the early 
 Christian Church it seems that there are 
 several classes of recognized leaders, among 
 whom are '' evangelists " and " pastors and 
 teachers." Also we know that the distinction be- 
 tween the travelling " missionary " and the estab- 
 lished *' pastor " has been recognized and realized 
 with varying emphasis through the history of the 
 Church. 
 
 The distinction between the evangelist and the 
 preacher-pastor is clear and permanent. The 
 evangelist has specialized in the publication of the 
 message of the Gospel. He may not have a large 
 number of sermons in readiness ; but those he has 
 have been prepared for the purpose of driving 
 home the content of the Gospel as a message of 
 new life to the souls of men. Then the evangelist 
 is the student and the user of a technique of man- 
 aging meetings, carrying on propaganda work and 
 in many ways touching the community with the 
 challenge of novelty that does not come so natu- 
 rally into the work of the resident preacher and 
 pastor. The evangelist is the promoter and the 
 
 48 
 
EVEKY PEEACHEE AN EVANGELIST 49 
 
 preacher-pastor is the conserver. Both tasks are 
 necessary and therefore honourable. But men of 
 different gifts can discharge them with varying 
 effectiveness. Each plays an important part in the 
 publication of the Gospel 
 
 But while we preserve this historic distinction 
 and recognize the validity of the difference in the 
 present functions of the two groups, the proposi- 
 tion still stands that every preacher-pastor is an 
 evangelist. He preaches steadily, in one place, to 
 a stable congregation, the message of the new life 
 in Christ. This is his great and perpetual busi- 
 ness. He must not be diverted from this by any 
 other task. He must not let the successful prose- 
 cution of this task be interfered with by a mass of 
 parish " chores." He must keep it in the fore- 
 front of all his thinking concerning his work. The 
 presence of the evangelistic purpose is what insures 
 the health and strength of the pastor's conception 
 of his ministry. 
 
 Every preacher-pastor ought to have a program 
 of evangelistic work, fully planned, flexible, 
 steadfastly adhered to, and known and adopted at 
 least by his official boards. One of the sources of 
 weakness and failure In the modern Church is that i^ 
 there is no definite program or objective. Aim- 
 ing at nothing, a church will hit It with magnificent 
 success. The reports of registered gains in mem- 
 bership In the Protestant churches In America dur- 
 ing the past few years gives us ground for dismay. 
 
60 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 There are actually thousands of churches that have 
 made no gain in membership while many have lost 
 in numbers. The sign of life is growth and the 
 lack of growth is the sign of decay if not of death. 
 Searching for the cause of this most discouraging 
 situation we find it to lie chiefly in the fact that so 
 many preachers and churches have no definite pro- 
 gram for evangelistic work. They do not seek to 
 present the Gospel, to work definitely to influence 
 persons to accept the Gospel, to make the Gospel 
 the power of God in the modern community as it 
 certainly was in the early days. The chief single 
 cure for the desperate condition is an evangelistic 
 program for every church. 
 
 The word " program " as we are using it here 
 is sufficiently clear to require no elaborate discus- 
 sion. It means that the individual church ought to 
 have an objective and a method by which to reach 
 it, and that the dominant factor in this should be 
 the effort to publish the Christian Gospel and 
 through it to lead men to Christ and bring Christ to 
 the community as the Saviour and the Creator of 
 the new life. In order to do this there must be an 
 order of activities. Those which directly promote 
 this great end deserve the first place and must be 
 carried out without fail. Those that merely con- 
 tribute accidentally to this supreme objective may 
 be done or not as the energy of the working church 
 warrants. Their omission Is not destructive ; their 
 discharge is not imperative. Thus the recognition 
 
EVERY PREACHER AN EVANGELIST 51 
 
 of the evangelistic purpose of a church and its in- 
 corporation into a practical program of action 
 gives us a new scale of values and enables a minis- 
 ter and congregation to adjust their work accord- 
 ing to the importance of the things which really 
 ought to be done. 
 
 In thus defining the program of the church 
 and making it gather around the principle of evan- 
 gelistic service to the community, the minister him- 
 self is the most important single factor to be reck- 
 oned with. There are cases in which a church will 
 rise to the recognition of its supreme business in 
 such a way that the minister will catch the vision 
 from the people and shape his work accordingly. 
 However, in the majority of cases it is the minister 
 who sets the pace for the parish. He must do this 
 by virtue of the place that he holds in the thought 
 of the people. They look to him for the formation 
 of the plans that are to be carried into effect by 
 their united action. Therefore this is an important 
 question: What does the minister, the preacher- 
 pastor himself, think about the priority of evangel- 
 ism in the work of pulpit and parish ? The answer 
 to that question will, in the majority of cases, de- 
 termine the church program. 
 
 At this point we are Inevitably driven back to 
 another question, namely, What place Is given to 
 evangelism In the schools where ministers are being 
 trained? The matter Is vital We must recog- 
 nize that the prevailing emphasis in any school pre- 
 
62 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 paring candidates for the Christian ministry must 
 be academic. Scholarship is vital to the whole 
 educational process. The evangelistic value of a 
 curriculum cannot be determined by the courses 
 that are given on this particular subject or the 
 number of hours that the students spend in holding 
 meetings of an evangelistic character. It is rather 
 a matter of the whole spirit or emphasis of the cur- 
 riculum. In college the studies that a student pur- 
 sues are to a large degree for the purposes of gen- 
 eral culture. In the theological schools of a 
 graduate grade the studies are vocational. The 
 vocation of the Christian minister is to express and 
 to extend the message of the new life in Christ as 
 he leads the church committed to his care to mani- 
 fest the Christian religion in all the life of the com- 
 munity. Now it is possible to be a technical stu- 
 dent of the Semitic or Greek languages, a research 
 scholar in Christian history, a thorough scholar in 
 theology, and have the evangelistic purpose upper- 
 most in one's mind and mood all the time. The 
 purpose for which the study is carried on is to 
 make the student a better preacher of the message. 
 The highest type of theological student is a man of 
 this temper. And the best theological school is the 
 one in which this point of view obtains constantly. 
 This is not a mere theory. It has been realized 
 with especial excellence in the theological schools 
 of Scotland. It is the ideal toward which all such 
 institutions ought constantly to aim. 
 
EVEEY PEEACHEE AN EVANGELIST 63 
 
 There is no doubt that the tendency of research 
 scholarship and the tasks of the university tend to 
 obscure the primacy of the evangehstic purpose of 
 the ministry, as we are here defining and discussing 
 it. The faculties and the students both need to be 
 reminded that they are engaged in something more 
 than the work of academic research and training. 
 They are preparing preachers and pastors who 
 shall realize in their work the principal business of 
 the Church in the world, to publish and to make an 
 actual part of the environment of living men and 
 women the great Gospel of Christ. One should 
 call himself back to this truth and adjust his bear- 
 ings to it frequently in order that there may 
 be no loss of the actual scale of values in the 
 ministry. 
 
 The objection is sometimes made that anything 
 like a program of church work is too mechanical 
 and does not give the room that we need for the 
 free movement of the spirit of religion. If any 
 minister or church were to make a program so 
 rigid that it did not permit the modification of it 
 fully and flexibly according to the growing need of 
 the church and community this criticism would be 
 valid. But in all our discussion we have kept in 
 mind constantly such a program as allowed all the 
 liberty that is involved in the life of a growing 
 institution. There is such a thing as a normal line 
 of growth in all developing things. It is the part 
 of all self-conscious beings to determine the way in 
 
U EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 which development shall take place, at least within 
 the limits of human freedom. 
 
 The warrants for a church program have been 
 put so well by Rev. Charles L. Goodell that his 
 statement is quoted here as follows: 
 
 " For a successful campaign in the field, every 
 general makes a careful plan and every army wheels 
 to victory or defeat around the drill-sergeant. The 
 captains of industry are men who take an extended 
 purview of their work and adopt an accurate and 
 far-reaching method and plan. 
 
 '' The Church must be as wise in its greater task 
 for the eternities as are men in the challenge they 
 face for business or battle. Machinery without 
 power is useless, but power without proper machin- 
 ery is wasted. It clarifies a man's vision and fires 
 his faith to plan means for a desired end. Methods 
 forestall waste, method economizes time and men, 
 and makes surer and quicker dividends of service. 
 
 " The organization which ought to have most of 
 intelligent, intensive and extensive method is the 
 Church of God. The man who ought to have a com- 
 prehensive, prepared plan is the pastor to whom 
 hundreds are looking to find a way in which they 
 may best express themselves for the service of God. 
 He must know how to utilize and husband eveiy 
 fragment of time and energy of his people that noth- 
 ing be lost. His flock will have unbounded respect 
 for a pastor who takes time by the forelock and lays 
 out his work before the rush of the season is upon 
 him and drives him from one task to another with no 
 real plan through the months and years." 
 
 Turning at this point to a practical program for 
 an individual church, or, under most favourable 
 conditions, for a group of churches, we find that 
 
EVEEY PEEACHEE AN EVANGELIST 55 
 
 many such have been set up and worked out so that 
 it is not necessary to do more than to refer to a 
 typical example of such constructive work. "A 
 Program of Parish Evangelism "" is published 
 by the Congregational Commission on Evangelism, 
 287 Fourth Avenue, New York, and may be se- 
 cured by writing to the office of the Commission. 
 The outline is the result of a careful study of the 
 work of successful pastors and there is no item in 
 it that has not been tested out successfully. It is 
 not adapted merely to the large city church, but 
 may be put into effect in the ordinary parish. 
 While references to certain Communion services 
 reveal the fact that the program has grown out of 
 the work of a certain denomination, the structure 
 of the plan is easily modified to the work of any 
 Protestant church in the country. The plan in its 
 most general outline is as follows : 
 
 A YEAR'S PROGRAM 
 September — December 
 
 1. A Meeting of the Church Evangelistic Committee: 
 To face the whole year's work of the church and to 
 map out a year's program. 
 
 2. Church Rallies: To bring the church and its work 
 to the attention of all the people. 
 
 3. Parish Visitation: To locate and enlist possible 
 attendants and adherents of the church and its organ- 
 izations. 
 
 4. Fall Reception of members at the November 
 Communion. 
 
 January — Easter 
 
 1. The Preaching of fundamentals. 
 
 2. An Invitation Committee: To study the best 
 methods of winning decisions for Christ and to work 
 continuously with the pastor to secure new members. 
 
56 EYANGELISTIO PEEACHING 
 
 3. The Pastor's Training Class: To instruct children 
 twelve years of age and older in the fundamentals of 
 Christian faith and the meaning of church membership. 
 
 4. The Lenten Prayer Calendar: Extended use of 
 "The Fellowship of Prayer" in private devotions, at 
 the family altar, in prayer circles and in the work of 
 the Church. 
 
 5. Holy Week Services. 
 
 6. The Easter Ingathering: The reception of new 
 members at the Communion Service on or near Easter. 
 
 After Easter Conservation 
 
 1. Continuation Plans: To continue evangelistic en- 
 deavours in special groups to Children's Sunday, Mother's 
 Sunday or Pentecost Sunday, and to enlist new members 
 in definite tasks of Christian service. 
 
 2. Absentee Campaign: The locating and reclaiming 
 of absentee members who are living in the community 
 of the Church though holding membership in churches 
 elsewhere. 
 
 In this discussion we are concerned, however, 
 only with the factor of the preaching that is to 
 make up a part, and that the principal part, we 
 believe, in the program as it is conceived by the 
 minister and sanctioned by the church in their joint 
 effort to bring the Gospel to the whole life of the 
 community. 
 
 This proposition we need to consider a little 
 more in detail. Is the preaching such an important 
 part of the church program of evangelism? Is 
 there not grave danger that we shall emphasize too 
 heavily the giving of the message by oral address 
 and not allow enough weight to all the teaching and 
 personal interviews that must mark the program 
 if it is to succeed? 
 
 All methods of Christian service depend for 
 their success upon the harmonious use of different 
 
EYEEY PREACHEE AN EVANGELIST 57 
 
 forces and methods. All must be held wisely in 
 discriminating balance. So in any evangelistic 
 program, the best results will accrue from such a 
 use of different lines of influence as will secure the 
 most forceful and attractive publication of the 
 Gospel possible under the conditions prevailing in 
 the community. Therefore when we exalt the 
 power of preaching we do not minimize the force 
 of all the other methods that are available to carry 
 out the program. Certainly the stoutest defender 
 of the place and power of preaching would never 
 claim for it the entire credit in the case of success. 
 Without the use of other methods of expressing 
 the Gospel the sermon would, under ordinary con- 
 ditions, never accomplish the whole purpose of the 
 effort put forth by the Church through its evan- 
 gelistic program to bring the Gospel to the com- 
 munity. Preaching must be reinforced by all the 
 other lines of personal influence that are essential 
 to make the Gospel plain and to enable it to accom- 
 plish its mission in the community. 
 
 Granting all this, however, the verdict of experi- 
 ence as seen in history is clear to the effect that the 
 message is made known through preaching. It 
 may seem to the worldly wise as the very vanity of 
 effort; but successes are finally achieved, and the 
 preacher is warranted in expecting that he will re- 
 ceive the verdict of his community in favour of his 
 cause when he preaches with conviction and clear- 
 ness. 
 
58 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 Therefore we urge once more that the Christian 
 preachers of America revive their resolute faith in 
 their task and their message and that they dare to 
 beheve all the promises of final success crowning 
 their faithful work when they preach the Gospel of 
 Christ. Results will come in time and no work is 
 too hard and no confidence is too great to put into 
 the glorious work of preaching the Gospel to a 
 community either in the most favoured section of 
 America or in the heart of darkest heathendom. 
 
 In affirming as strongly as we have done that 
 every preacher is essentially an evangelist, we do 
 not disparage or dispute the right to recognition 
 and honour at the hands of the Church by that 
 group of heralds of the Gospel who are technically 
 known as evangelists. Whatever changes may 
 have come to pass in time, certainly at the very be- 
 ginning of the work of organized Christianity there 
 were preachers who bore the name evangelist. The 
 record of the work of these men and their suc- 
 cessors is too deeply cut into the history of the de- 
 veloping Church to warrant any repudiation of 
 their name and mission. 
 
 That there has been a growing tendency to dis- 
 parage the place of the evangelist in many quarters 
 admits of no doubt. There are many reasons for 
 this. In some cases the evangelists are themselves 
 to blame for the condition In considerable measure. 
 It is wholly possible for a good man to become in- 
 toxicated by big meetings and conspicuous success. 
 
EVEEY PEEACHEE AN EVANGELIST 59 
 
 It is easy to indulge in caustic criticisms. The 
 deadness of the church in many instances lends it- 
 self to attack. 
 
 Then it must be admitted that the evangelistic 
 " campaign " has lent itself to the use of all kinds 
 of methods designed to make the " free-will " of- 
 fering for the evangelist anything but free. Criti- 
 cism of the financial program of many evangelists 
 is warranted by intimate knowledge of the facts. 
 Granted that evangelists work under heavy pres- 
 sure and that their talents would command large 
 salaries in other vocations, it is still true that just 
 enough warrant for the judgment exists to make 
 the claim of " profiteering " one that plagues the 
 cause. There are many unselfish evangelists to 
 whose charge no least method of exploitation can 
 be laid; the majority of these men belong, we be- 
 lieve, in this group. But nothing is gained for the 
 cause of Christ by masking the fact that the whole 
 matter of ** professional " evangelism has been se- 
 riously injured In the minds of devoted Christian 
 men and women by the methods that have been 
 used to increase the offerings for the evangelist at 
 the close of campaigns. Ministers have known of 
 these methods and have been estranged from the 
 program of evangelism because of them. Laymen 
 in the business world have been outraged by the 
 forms of pressure to which they have been sub- 
 jected. 
 
 Out of this has grown a humiliating situation. 
 
60 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 Ministers have sometimes been attacked ; occasion- 
 ally they have been the offenders. The same is 
 true in reference to the evangelists. But both 
 types are necessary to the developing church. If 
 the preacher-pastor would only become more of an 
 evangelist and if the evangelist would occasionally 
 try out the experience of having a parish to care 
 for rather than to come in on the tide of a cam- 
 paign and flow on to another, it would be better on 
 both sides. But there ought to be a warmer sym- 
 pathy between the two forms of preaching. Each 
 is necessary to the other and both are vital to the 
 complete proclamation of the Gospel of the new 
 life in Christ. 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC SERMON 
 
 AS the practice of Christian preaching 
 went on and the general principles gov- 
 erning it were developed there appeared 
 various types of sermons. Two great classes were 
 apparent at an early date. There were those ser- 
 mons which were designed primarily to publish the 
 Gospel as a message to those who never had heard 
 it or who needed to hear some new aspects of it 
 presented. These were known as evangelistic ser- 
 mons. Then there were such sermons as were de- 
 signed especially to build up the life and character 
 of those who were already adherents of the Gospel. 
 Such discourses were called pastoral or edifying 
 sermons. In the strict sense of the word, all ser- 
 mons are evangelistic, for they are publications of 
 some phase of the manifold Gospel and are meant 
 to make it more fully known. However, for all 
 practical purposes the classification is valid and we 
 shall respect it. 
 
 An evangelistic sermon is, naturally, nearest the 
 type of the most characteristic Christian sermon. 
 For the business of the preacher is to declare the 
 Gospel ; and that sermon which most fully declares 
 
 6i 
 
62 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 the message, even if it is concerned only with an 
 essential detail of it, is closest to the best and 
 noblest form of a Christian discourse. Occasion- 
 ally one hears the evangelistic sermon disparaged 
 as if it were in some way an inferior type of Chris- 
 tian preaching. This is not the case and it is a 
 mistake to undervalue the sermon that publishes 
 the Gospel by preferring any other form of pulpit 
 address. Preaching ought to be kept close to es- 
 sential form; and the most thoroughly Christian 
 sermon is the one that admits of classification as 
 evangelistic. 
 
 We look now briefly at the outstanding marks of 
 the evangelistic sermon. The first characteristic 
 that appears is the burden of the message in the 
 sermon. There is a vast difference between a 
 proposition in mathematics, an affirmation sup- 
 ported by argument in logic, and a message direct 
 to personality on the part of a living speaker. The 
 fact that two and two equals four, or that Columbus 
 discovered America in 1492 does not make any 
 change in the conduct and character of one who 
 hears or learns these undisputed facts. They leave 
 the conduct of living persons unmodified and bring 
 no real news that is either good or bad. But if I 
 am far away from home and some one is coming 
 from the old town with a message from my mother, 
 that is quite another matter. The words take on 
 new meaning. They are laden with a beautiful 
 content and they are awaited with a wist fulness of 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC SEEMON 63 
 
 which we never v/ere conscious as we studied our 
 geometry. Love and memory and precious thought 
 are all wrought into what is said. There is a mes- 
 sage in it. It is not a proposition; it is news from 
 home. 
 
 Now put all this into the sermon that brings to 
 men the message from God and the implications 
 are plain. The preacher has something to say that 
 is so tender and urgent, so packed with yearning 
 love and gracious invitation, that his discourse, 
 both as literary form and spoken address, is dif- 
 ferent from anything else with which it might be 
 classified if this fact of the message in it were dis- 
 regarded. This sermon is spoken home to the 
 heart of the hearers. It has within it the power to 
 make a difference with human lives. It tells us 
 news. Something that we ought to know is being 
 told to us. There is warning and comfort, there is 
 help and hope in it. 
 
 This fact ought to make a real difference to the 
 preacher as he works in preparing his sermon and 
 delivers it to the people. To debate a question or 
 to deliver a formal lecture is one matter; to bring 
 a message of life to the soul of one's comrade is 
 quite a different thing. What a privilege and joy 
 it Is to bear a great, heartening message of redemp- 
 tion and new life to the yearning spirit of a genera- 
 tion! It Is simply the biggest business that any 
 living man can do In his time. 
 
 Because it is a message, the evangelistic sermon 
 
64 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 must be simple, plain and direct. These are the 
 qualities that we associate naturally with the ex- 
 pression of news. Certainly if one is to convey a 
 message that is important he will see to it first of 
 all that it is clear and easy to be understood. There 
 must be no doubt regarding what the messenger 
 means. If he has to take time to explain or to dis- 
 cuss or to defend his message we feel that he is not 
 a very good messenger. We want to know imme- 
 diately what he has on his mind to tell us. The 
 best compliment that can be paid to a sermon is not 
 to say that it was eloquent or grand but to say hon- 
 estly that it was clear and easily understood. We 
 want to know what the preacher is driving at and 
 we want him to drive at it strongly and swiftly and 
 accurately. A lecture may be in an elaborate and 
 highly finished style. We expect this form of lit- 
 erary treatment also in the essay. But an evangel- 
 istic sermon is the burning word of a man who is 
 sure of something and feels that he is sent straight 
 to men who want to know what he is sure of. 
 
 Since it is a message, the evangelistic sermon is 
 directed accurately at the hearer and at life as it is 
 being lived now. There is nothing of that " re- 
 moteness " from life, which we have noted as a 
 characteristic of modern preaching. The mes- 
 senger did not shout out his message to any one 
 who happened to be within the range of his voice; 
 he carried it most patiently and thoughtfully to the 
 one to whom it was sent. Now it Is quite possible 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC SEEMON 65 
 
 for a preacher to become absorbed in some book 
 that gains his attention or to be wrapped up in 
 some particular line of study that is proving profit- 
 able to him. He is in danger of being so sure that 
 this particular book or set of ideas is also interest- 
 ing and profitable to the congregation that he will 
 give them his book or his cogitations instead of his 
 message. The way to avoid this danger is to get 
 the consciousness of a great message so inwrought 
 into the substance of preaching that it will not 
 allow itself to be overlooked. The Gospel is aimed 
 straight at life. It has something to do with all the 
 ongoings of the most commonplace day of the 
 humblest man. So the evangelistic sermon hits the 
 mark. Not that any preacher will ever deliberately 
 single out any person or group with the intention 
 of '' hitting " them in a cowardly way from the 
 safety of the pulpit. But the message in the evan- 
 gelistic sermon is directed toward the actual life 
 of the people and it is expected to find its mark, 
 without any desire to do injustice to the personal 
 character of any one. 
 
 The evangelistic sermon must be directed to the 
 whole hearer, that is, it must seek to convince his 
 mind, to move his feelings and to persuade his 
 will to the point w^here it registers a new decision 
 concerning the dominant motives of his life. It is 
 a serious mistake to think that an evangelistic ser- 
 mon does not need to be grounded in the soundest 
 logic and to be of such a character that it will bear 
 
66 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 searching debate. It is a current notion that an 
 evangelistic sermon must be " emotional " prima- 
 rily and so make its great appeal to the feelings. 
 We are inclined to think that the preacher must put 
 the most thorough intellectual preparation upon his 
 morning or ** edifying " sermon, but his " evangel- 
 istic '* appeal must be directed especially to the 
 emotions. This is a disastrous blunder in judg- 
 ment. No permanent Christian decision will be 
 registered by any one whose mind has not been 
 thoroughly persuaded of the reasonableness of 
 Christ's claim upon him. Thorough rational con- 
 sideration of the Gospel is fundamental in order to 
 its acceptance with any hope of constancy in the 
 decision. 
 
 The evangelistic sermon does not stop with the 
 rational presentation of the message. While back 
 of the sermon must lie the deepest and sinctrest 
 thinking that the preacher can give to his great 
 proclamation, it must all be warmed and bathed in 
 the passion with which he believes and presents it. 
 The intellectual content of the sermon will not lie 
 apparent on the surface; if it does we shall get 
 nothing more than a lecture in divinity out of it. 
 But it will be there ; it will not disappear wholly ; it 
 will give warrant to the whole appeal. So the 
 emotional factor steps strongly forward in the 
 evangelistic sermon. The preacher wants to make 
 his hearers feel the message; then he must feel it 
 himself. Nothing will kindle emotion but emo- 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC SERMON 67 
 
 tion. The preacher whose voice never breaks 
 never will see any hard hearts broken by his mes- 
 sage. But deep feeling cannot be summoned into 
 action at the word of command. In fact, the 
 preacher who is not habitually earnest and moved 
 in respect to his message will evoke only slight and 
 occasional response. So what the preacher feels 
 permanently concerning his message will determine 
 the emotional content of the individual sermon. 
 Thus the best emotional preparation for an evan- 
 gelistic sermon will be made as the preacher re- 
 views his own indebtedness to Christ, and warms 
 his heart once more as he reflects upon the love and 
 loyalty that he owes to his Master in consequence. 
 If we appraise repeatedly the grounds of our love 
 and gratitude to Christ we shall find ourselves 
 tuned to the right emotional mood and shall be able 
 to kindle others to a similar glow and flame of 
 affection. 
 
 The most important factor, however, in the 
 evangelistic sermon is the direct drive for a deci- 
 sion in favour of the message on the part of the 
 hearers. The evangelistic preacher is a pleader, an 
 advocate, a champion. He attacks fearlessly, posi- 
 tively and by the persuasive power of love the wills 
 of his congregation and he asks for their verdict. 
 He expects this. This note of confidence and ex- 
 pectation will colour his whole action. He will not 
 be timid or hesitant ; he will have what has been so 
 aptly called " holy boldness." This is the temper 
 
68 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 in which Peter and Paul preached the Gospel at the 
 beginning. It is appropriate to the bearer of the 
 message now. The direct appeal may take the 
 form of a call to register the decision in some spe- 
 cific act, the signing of a card, the raising of the 
 hand, coming to the front, attending an after-meet- 
 ing, or some other form of expression. This must 
 be settled according to the preacher's own judg- 
 ment and taste. To some preachers it is difficult 
 to call for any register of decision; others do it 
 easily and happily. It is not imperative in every 
 sermon: it may be omitted altogether. Yet such is 
 the urgency in this kind of a sermon that probably 
 some kind of an appeal for a definite and registered 
 decision is desirable. 
 
 More important than any single act of decision, 
 however, is the persuasive character of the sermon 
 as a whole. The evangelistic sermon must be 
 simply keyed to the note of invitation and per- 
 suasion. Here is where many a preacher makes a 
 mistake. He feels that it is his duty to rebuke, to 
 scold, to chastise, rather than to persuade and to 
 invite and to woo. He is more like John the Bap- 
 tist and less like Jesus. His task is to persuade 
 and invite. Any preacher can provide for this as 
 he prepares and preaches his sermon. It all re- 
 solves itself into the simple habit of putting the 
 element of appeal and invitation into the sermon, 
 deliberately and constantly, because it belongs 
 there. It is so much better to see men come to 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC SEEMON 69 
 
 their Saviour rather than to suffer under their sin ! 
 Therefore in taking his very first step of prepara- 
 tion, in all his gathering of material, in his prepara- 
 tion and delivery of his sermon, let the preacher 
 say to himself, I am going to get results through 
 this sermon by making it so persuasive that God 
 can use it to reach the wills of hearers and make 
 them decide for Christ because it seems like a rea- 
 sonable and desirable act to them. With this aim 
 constantly in his mind, the material going into the 
 sermon will be selected and ordered in such a way 
 that the persuasive factor will never be lost for a 
 moment from beginning to end. 
 
 It must be apparent from what has been said re- 
 garding the evangelistic sermon that most diligent 
 care must be taken in its preparation. There is an 
 element of spontaneous testimony in it; the winds 
 of the free spirit blow through it ; but it is thought 
 over, felt through, and written and corrected be- 
 cause it is the finest expression of the good news 
 that the preacher knows how to give, and so noth- 
 ing less than the best will answer. 
 
 An item to which great care must be given is the 
 selection of the illustrations in the evangelistic ser- 
 mon. They are the windows that let in the light 
 upon the truth; they are exceedingly important. 
 Abstract statements are remembered with difficulty 
 even if they are comprehended. The most finely 
 finished and incisive sentences may not get them- 
 selves understood. A vivid figure or an appealing 
 
70 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 incident will often drive a truth home and fix it 
 there quickly and permanently. In selecting and 
 preparing the illustrations keep them close to life. 
 Jesus is the great example of the effective illustra- 
 tion of the good news. If He used a figure it was 
 taken from the daily life of the people so that it was 
 plain and vivid. If He told a story it was drawn 
 from the common experience of men so that they 
 saw the analogy and felt its force. Jesus took 
 simple things and made them the vehicle of moral 
 and spiritual truth. Another principle to be ob- 
 served in choosing and working out the illustra- 
 tions is accuracy. " Thou shalt not bear false wit- 
 ness " is an ancient commandment that is still valid 
 even in the making of a sermon. There are many 
 illustrations that have been used often and are quite 
 current among ministers ; new examples and anec- 
 dotes will be met as one reads and observes; and 
 every one ought to be subjected to the test of truth- 
 fulness. A false or overdrawn illustration, how- 
 ever vivid it may appear at the moment and how- 
 ever forceful it might be at the time of use will, in 
 the end, defeat its own object. Reject the illustra- 
 tion that bears the suspicion of exaggeration or 
 untruthfulness. Probably the tendency to use 
 *' death bed " illustrations or stories of a tragic 
 character in order to appeal strongly to the emo- 
 tions and thereby produce quick decisions has 
 nearly passed away. If it still persists in a 
 preacher's habit it ought to be held resolutely in 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC SEEMON 71 
 
 check. We do not seek to make men believe the 
 good news by frightening them. We are better 
 students of psychology than that. The appeal that 
 wins the will's consent is cast into the terms of in- 
 vitation and of love. Also a preacher will act un- 
 der the principle of reserve and repression as he 
 uses personal illustrations. Testimony may be 
 given in the sermon. The first personal pronoun 
 belongs there occasionally. But never suffer the 
 lugging in of irrelevant personal details and the 
 dragging out of personal experiences. The 
 preacher has the right to say " I " in his sermon ; 
 but always modestly and with becoming reserve. 
 
 Since it is a message, the evangelistic sermon 
 will be delivered with a glowing confidence. The 
 method of delivery ought to be carefully worked 
 out. Grotesque performances in the pulpit or on 
 the platform, extravagant gestures and postures are 
 a hindrance in the end to the delivery of the mes- 
 sage. That is not the way in which sensible men, 
 dead in earnest about anything, act in other places. 
 There are always certain persons in a circus who 
 specialize in antics ; but the Christian preacher is not 
 a clown and the evangelistic meeting is not a circus. 
 On the other hand, the Gospel is something to feel 
 excited about. If it is the greatest message that 
 ever has been given to the world — and it is — then 
 the man who knows that message fully cannot tell 
 his comrades about it with an unimpassioned mind 
 and manner. The preacher simply must throw 
 
72 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 himself into his sermon with his heart aflame. He 
 must give himself lavishly in the utterance of this 
 truth. He will hold himself within the firm leash 
 of good taste and consistent manners ; but also he 
 will " let go " without apology. He cannot do 
 otherwise. He is telling his fellow men the most 
 wonderful story that human lips can frame into 
 words. 
 
 Of all the sermons that a preacher delivers the 
 evangelistic is the one that he commits to the future 
 with the greatest confidence in the final achieve- 
 ment of its purpose. The evangelistic sermon is 
 the object of our faith. It is like the farmer sow- 
 ing his seed. He prepares the ground and puts the 
 seed into it according to his best judgment. Then 
 he trusts the patient and benevolent processes of 
 nature to bring the fruit. He does not try to hurry 
 it. He believes and waits. The illustration, like 
 all others, is not quite suited to the truth, for the 
 preacher's personal influence avails more with the 
 truth in his sermon than the farmer's skill does 
 with the sown seed. But it illustrates the truth 
 that the evangelistic preacher implicitly trusts the 
 quickening power of the Spirit. When he has 
 done his best he must wait and pray and expect re- 
 sults in God's own time and way. We are respon- 
 sible for the contact between the truth and the 
 souls of men ; we are not ultimately responsible for 
 the conversion of the souls of men to that truth. 
 There is a higher power than ours at work in the 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC SEEMON 73 
 
 process. It is the Holy Spirit. We rely upon 
 that. If we were obHged to bear the whole respon- 
 sibility of quickening our community through the 
 power of the Gospel it would crush us. We do 
 not. We are agents and voices and messengers; 
 but results rest with God. Jesus made that fact 
 clear to His disciples. For our peace and power 
 as preachers we need to learn the lesson. With 
 convincing power, working in manifold ways, the 
 Holy Spirit takes the truth, even poorly expressed 
 in our sermon, and brings it home with divine 
 power to the souls of men. This is the source of 
 our joy and confidence as preachers of the everlast- 
 ing Gospel. 
 
 What is the relation of the Christian message to 
 the Christian theology F We are often inclined to 
 think that there is such a difference between them 
 that either the one or the other is to be maintained 
 or disregarded. Every preacher who sets out to 
 realize the supreme purpose of his work, that is, 
 to give the Gospel to the community in every pos- 
 sible way because it is the very message of life and 
 power, ought to be clear in his own mind concern- 
 ing the relation between the message and the the- 
 ology of the Christian religion. Certain facts are 
 apparent. 
 
 The message was first in order of time; the the- 
 ology followed as a matter of necessity. The dis- 
 ciples and first followers of Jesus did not concern 
 themselves with any logical effort to reduce the 
 
74 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 truth that He had taught them to systematic form. 
 Their purpose was not interpretation or explana- 
 tion; it was proclamation and declaration. They 
 had learned something that seemed to them so im- 
 mensely important that they immediately gave 
 themselves up to the task of letting their new- 
 found truth be known as widely as possible and in 
 every way at their command. That was their one 
 immediate, urgent and almost desperate business. 
 The world was in deadly danger; they knew how 
 to save it ; they were willing to go through fire and 
 water to tell men that there was a way out of peril. 
 As we read this story we are sensitive to the hero- 
 ism and the power of it. These men were so splen- 
 did in their devotion! They shame us with our 
 easy-going comforts. They met danger and death 
 with superb courage. We growl because the chair 
 is not cushioned and the room is not warm. There 
 is no doubt that the passion and the heroism of the 
 early years of the Christian enterprise are alto- 
 gether too lacking in our modern Christian life. 
 The days of the message were the days of heroism 
 and advance. 
 
 The work of the theologians began early. It 
 was imperative and vital. The mind must engage 
 with the facts of life and seek to reduce them to 
 order. God made us with eager minds as well as 
 loving hearts. The young faith was attacked by 
 enemies from outside; it was threatened by divi- 
 sions from within. Under the strain of this situa- 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC SEEMON 75 
 
 tion the defenders of the faith worked out the first 
 apologies for it; the champions of one aspect of it 
 in contrast with another set forth the details of the 
 message with logical completeness. Every active 
 mind inevitably set to work to reduce the message 
 to a logical unity ; the reason must demand this of 
 everything that asks the consent of our wills. So 
 came the days of the theologians. And inevitably 
 with them there came also a lowering of the degree 
 of passion and a diminishing of the apostolic assur- 
 ance. Not that they were lost. Far from it. Not 
 that the losses were more than the gains. That 
 was not true at all. In the end the gains more than 
 compensated for the apparent losses. But it is im- 
 possible to reduce the work of the messenger to the 
 propositions of the logician without the loss of the 
 herald's first ardour. It is like a young lover who 
 experiences the first chastening of his logic as he 
 tries to think out the reasons for his sudden devo- 
 tion. In the end he will be a better lover if he sits 
 down with himself in the solemn wrestling de- 
 manded by his logic and his economic sense. He 
 may squander a little less money on roses and en^ 
 tertainments ; but he gives promise of being an alto- 
 gether better husband because he can give a little 
 stronger reason for the love that is in him. 
 
 The question is often asked, Why not return to 
 the simplicity of the early testimony? That was 
 the method at the beginning. Why not now ? The 
 first answer is, Because the conditions have 
 
76 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 changed. There is now a great body of Christian 
 truth in our possession, the rich resuU of the expe- 
 rience of the past and the thought that has been 
 put upon it. This has immensely enriched the con- 
 tent of the Gospel. It has not changed its essential 
 factors, which are what they were in the beginning ; 
 but it has enlarged them until they are more ample 
 and appealing. It is easier now to make the appeal 
 for Christ because we have the testimony of almost 
 two thousand years from which to draw for con- 
 firmation. 
 
 And also the age is immensely more complex in 
 its interests and demands. Men have the right to 
 ask for something more than simply the testimony 
 of the disciple or the ardent words of the recent 
 convert. Persuasion is a varied art and makes 
 many demands upon us. It calls for the accurate 
 and reasoned statement as well as for the fervid 
 testimony. The Christian pleader and advocate 
 cannot afford to spare the formal and systematic 
 statement of the Gospel in the form of theology. 
 It is the vital complement to the testimony of the 
 Christian witness. 
 
 Therefore the evangelist should be a theologian 
 as the true theologian ought also to be the evan- 
 gelist. Each task is necessary to the other. It is 
 a great loss to the evangelist if he disparages the- 
 ology. Occasionally one hears an evangelistic 
 preacher say that he is no theologian. If this is a 
 confession of humility it may be permitted ; but if 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC SEEMON 77 
 
 it is a disparagement of theology it is a fearful 
 mistake. He ought to be a theologian; or at 
 least he ought to try to be one. Back of every 
 serious attempt to publish the Gospel lies a review 
 and fresh statement of the fundamental theology 
 of the Christian religion. It will not be presented 
 as a theology, of course; but it will be the sup- 
 porting framework of the sermons. They will 
 be organized around the great basic truths of the 
 Christian religion as these have been wrought out 
 by the earnest work of the theologians of the past 
 and as they represent the deepest thinking that the 
 preacher can do himself. 
 
 In the sermons that are suggested in this study 
 of evangelistic preaching the theological sources 
 and values have been kept constantly in mind. No 
 effort is made to include all the truths that com- 
 pose the body of Christian theology ; but the main 
 facts have been kept in view and the purpose in 
 the sermons is to bring the whole Christian mes- 
 sage to the community. 
 
VI 
 
 EVANGELISM AS THE ORGANIZING 
 PRINCIPLE IN PREACHING 
 
 ONE of the greatest dangers in the work of 
 preaching is the tendency to work from 
 hand to mouth in preparing the weekly 
 sermon instead of having a plan worked out in 
 advance by which one great line of thought is 
 carried through the church year from autumn to 
 spring, inclusive. It never ought to be necessary 
 to ask, What shall I preach about next Sunday ? as 
 the new week begins. The sermons of the year 
 should be so well defined that the preacher will 
 be sure what he is to do even three months in 
 advance. 
 
 This organization of the year's preaching around 
 some great subject or axis of vital interest we call 
 Organized Preaching. It is the way out of un- 
 certainty and the path to power for every preacher 
 who will work according to some method of this 
 general kind. 
 
 There are many principal subjects or centers of 
 interest around which the preaching of the year 
 may be organized. The life and message of Jesus, 
 the proofs of the Christian religion, Christ^s idea 
 
 78 
 
THE OEGANIZING PKINCIPLE 79 
 
 of the Kingdom of God, essential Christian truths, 
 expository treatment of important Bible passages, 
 and the social application of Christian principles 
 are all vital and full of interest. There is no other 
 single subject, however, that affords so much in 
 the way of subject matter and variety as the pre- 
 sentation in its fullness of the Gospel as a message 
 with the purpose of securing acceptance of it by a 
 surrender of life to the claims of Christ. Our 
 problem is not to find material but rather to select 
 wisely from the vast amount of material such sub- 
 jects, arguments, illustrations and appeals as shall 
 present the greatest of all messages to the world 
 in adequate fashion. 
 
 Yielding all the Sundays which must be given 
 up to the church occasions and to those interests 
 in the community which demand recognition from 
 the pulpit, there remain about thirty-two Sundays 
 during the year when the preacher may speak on 
 the subjects that he chooses. No better program 
 can be devised than to present the appeal of the 
 Gospel consecutively and with growing emphasis 
 during these Sundays. This would not, of course, 
 be done every year; but with the variations that 
 are possible it is feasible to go over the ground at 
 least every four or five years. The time to make 
 the program is late in the summer, near the close 
 of the vacation. It should be shaped with the ex- 
 perience of the past year or years clearly in mind, 
 surveyed at such a distance that perspective is pos- 
 
80 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 sible. Let the matter grow quietly in your calm 
 reflection concerning the work and problems in the 
 field until August or early September. Then take 
 time enough for more positive and consecutive 
 thinking. This is one of the most important ac- 
 tions of the whole year. Do not bring to it either 
 a fatigued or distracted mind. Be sure that you 
 are at your best when you take up the preaching 
 program for the year. Keep the whole problem 
 in mind so far as that is possible while you think 
 and make notes. Do not work on the matter too 
 long; but work with concentration while you are 
 engaged with it. Now imagine the community; 
 renew in your consciousness the meaning and 
 urgency of the Gospel; then determine what great 
 aspects of the message you will present during 
 thirty-two Sundays, more or less, and broken as 
 they must be by the claims of the occasions that 
 call for pulpit recognition. It is best to work with 
 small cards or slips of paper, noting subjects, texts 
 or key thoughts which will express the message to 
 the community. If these are jotted down on cards 
 they can be arranged at will. Finally, at least the 
 major part of the year's sermons ought to be in 
 hand, well arranged, with many notes already in 
 shape for the fuller study. A preacher can go 
 back to his autumn task with a happy sense of 
 certainty and freedom If he has this little package 
 of material with him. He will not be feeling out 
 after subjects during the year. He knows where 
 
THE OEGANIZING PRINCIPLE 81 
 
 he is going and he is sure that, so far as he has 
 been able to shape his program, the preaching will 
 be unified during the year and will tend steadily 
 toward one supreme objective. It is like a blue 
 print to the engineer and contractor. It shows 
 what is to be done ; it keeps the relationships clear ; 
 it is the standard to which the work conforms from 
 day to day. 
 
 This organization of the year's preaching 
 around the presentation of the Gospel as a message 
 is based on the idea that the preacher-pastor is an 
 evangelist and that he can do this work while he 
 carries on his regular duties as the organizer and 
 administrator of parish activities and the pastor of 
 the congregation as well. But it may be that the 
 needs of the community cannot be met without the 
 carrying on of a series of evangelistic services, 
 apart from the regular appointments for public 
 worship and preaching. There are many names 
 for this series of meetings: evangelistic services, 
 revival meetings, special services for the religious 
 life. On the whole the term " mission " is grow- 
 ing in favour. It stands for the purpose of the 
 meetings. They may be organized and carried out 
 by a church with its own preacher and lay work- 
 ers. There h help enough to be had if the plans 
 are well made and the people will work. It is bet- 
 ter in many cases to have such a church mission 
 with the people themselves carrying the responsi- 
 bility than it is to bring in an evangelist and staff, 
 
82 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 for the people are inclined to shift their burden of 
 responsibility under these conditions and put it 
 wholly on the evangelist and his organized cam- 
 paign. 
 
 We now take up an outline of thirty-two sermon 
 subjects which are organized around the evangel- 
 istic message. These are simply texts, titles, and 
 certain suggestive " seed thoughts," which are de- 
 signed to stimulate the preacher in his thinking. 
 They are not sermon " outlines " which are to be 
 followed in the development of the subject. They 
 are intended for three possible uses: 
 
 1. These suggestions show how a preacher 
 may organize his year*s pulpit work around the 
 evangelistic subject and preach steadily on the 
 great message. Let it be clearly understood that 
 we do not advocate the use of any of these sub- 
 jects and texts just as they are given. And it 
 would probably be quite impossible for a preacher 
 to follow the order as it is given. The purpose 
 of the course is not to present a plan to be followed, 
 but rather to show how it is possible to draw up 
 such a plan and carry it out during the church year. 
 We cannot stress too strongly the point that the 
 material that follows is simply in the way of sug- 
 gestion, to provoke thinking rather than to fetter 
 it. and that so far as it may be used by a preacher 
 it must be worked over and adapted to his own 
 methods and to the needs of the community. 
 
 3. It is hoped that the suggestions that follow 
 
THE OEGANIZING PEINCIPLE 83 
 
 will be of use in the conduct of a church mission. 
 We have in mind a series of meetings beginning 
 on Sunday and lasting fifteen days, excluding 
 evening services on the two Saturdays. Out of 
 the thirty-two subjects given, sixteen are to be se- 
 lected for these meetings, namely, two for each of 
 the three Sundays, and one for each of the five 
 week days during the fortnight of meetings. These 
 subjects may be developed according to the char- 
 acter of the services; but the suggestions will be 
 useful, it is to be hoped, whatever kind of service 
 is used in the meeting. 
 
 3. In making these suggestions it is also our 
 purpose to propose an order of sermons that would 
 be fitted to use in a regular evangelistic campaign. 
 Every evangelist has worked out his program with 
 such care that little is needed by him in the way of 
 suggestion as to the unity and the progress of his 
 messages from day to day. Yet every fresh ar- 
 rangement has in it some value, and therefore we 
 hope that this plan of sermons may have some- 
 thing of worth in it because it presents another 
 arrangement of the subjects into which the great 
 message may fall. The preaching task of an evan- 
 gelist is not an easy one. There is the danger on 
 the one hand that his messages will become stereo- 
 typed; on the other, that they will lack cohesion 
 and will not reach any real climax. Possibly the 
 plan outlined in the following pages will be of 
 service in escaping either or both of these dangers. 
 
PART II 
 
 A Program of Evangelistic Preach- 
 ing, with Sermon Outlines 
 
A PROGRAM OF EVANGELISTIC 
 PREACHING 
 
 ON the basis of what has been said in the 
 preceding chapters we now undertake to 
 set forth thirty- two texts and subjects 
 which present the Gospel as a message to the com- 
 munity. They rest on a certain definite theolog- 
 ical basis which seems to us the simple evangelical 
 foundation of the New Testament, interpreted and 
 illustrated by the best results of modern thinking. 
 This theology is not that of any particular school 
 or name. It is the most consistent statement that 
 we can make of the simplest Christian message. 
 It gathers about the fact of the living Christ and 
 the possibility of the soul finding its complete reali- 
 zation in allegiance to Christ. It involves the 
 teaching of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God 
 which was perfectly exemplified in His own life of 
 love and service among men. 
 
 This Is a message. Every preacher will organize 
 his own subjects and material according to his own 
 ideas, taste and sense of adaptation to his com- 
 munity. But his message he must give. The com- 
 munity needs and the Church demands evangelistic 
 preaching. 
 
 That this is the supreme business of the Chris- 
 87 
 
88 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 tian pulpit requires no detailed discussion or de- 
 fense. It has been thus from the very beginning 
 of Christian activity. The disciples rallied their 
 faith in their living Master and then went out to 
 tell all the world that they knew Him as the Saviour 
 and Lord. This testimony was simple, direct, and 
 positive at the beginning, and, in spite of the way 
 in which the content of the message has enlarged 
 as time has gone on, it still remains the great and 
 permanent business of the preacher. The increased 
 meaning of the message and its application to the 
 whole life of mankind has made the work of 
 preaching the Gospel more complex and exacting; 
 but it never has changed its warrants or released 
 the preacher from his obligation to be a herald and 
 a witness of the message of good news that Jesus 
 brought to the world and for which He lived and 
 died. 
 
 There are certain fundamental convictions that 
 are imperative before a preacher will undertake 
 this program. He must renew his ardent convic- 
 tion of the truth of his message and the worth of 
 his task as its herald. Christian preachers need to 
 study their charter often in order that they may 
 not lose their accurate sense of the work that it is 
 their first duty to carry on in the community. 
 
 The tendency of parish work is to crowd to the 
 wall the primacy of preaching and especially the 
 supremacy of that kind of preaching which is con- 
 cerned with the giving of the message to the com- 
 
SEEMON OUTLIIiTES 89 
 
 munity. There are so many errands to be run ; so 
 many entries to be made on cards; so many inter- 
 ests to be served ! But there is only one dominant 
 purpose in the minister's pulpit work; it is to give 
 in every possible phase and accent the old message 
 that Jesus first announced in Palestine and which 
 the apostolic succession of Christian preachers has 
 perpetuated ever since. In the midst of the be- 
 wildering demands of the modern parish the 
 preacher needs to reaffirm this principle daily as 
 he prepares for his preaching. 
 
 The idea prevails widely that the work of the 
 resident minister in his pulpit is to lay emphasis 
 on the teaching aspect of preaching and delegate 
 the more purely evangelistic task to men who spe- 
 cialize in this form of the sermon and who travel 
 among the churches holding evangelistic meetings 
 or conducting campaigns. There is a permanent 
 place for the technical evangelist; there are times 
 and communities that demand the organized move- 
 ment carried on by the evangelist and his staff of 
 workers. But there is a far larger place for dis- 
 tinctly evangelistic preaching and action in the 
 program of every congregation. It Is what Is 
 sometimes called Evangelism Church-wide and All 
 the Year Through. It means that the preaching is 
 organized around the purpose to present the Gospel 
 to the community as a message of life; that the 
 people are united and directed In the support of 
 the program so that they will make personal and 
 
90 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 persistent efforts to introduce men and women to 
 Christ. It involves a movement of the whole 
 Church steadily and steadfastly toward the impres- 
 sion of the Gospel upon the total life of the com- 
 munity. It defines the chief business of the Church 
 in this endeavour and calls for all the possible re- 
 sources of the people, drives us to new consecra- 
 tion and prayer, and fuses the energies of the 
 faithful friends of Christ into one supreme loyalty 
 and service. The organization of the church for 
 this purpose is the highest privilege of the pastor. 
 As a part of this program the preaching of the 
 year will be planned to present the Gospel with 
 new force and conviction. Therefore it is neces- 
 sary to define again in one's mind and restore in 
 one's experience the pristine meaning of the mes- 
 sage which Jesus brought to the world and which 
 was experienced by His earliest followers. A re- 
 reading of the New Testament with this purpose 
 in mind will be the best single way in which to 
 gather the material for the sermons and to deter- 
 mine what subjects should be preached upon. 
 What is the Gospel F The word has been used so 
 long that its first clear-cut meaning has been worn 
 away like the face of a coin that has suffered hard 
 usage. We must review and renew our conscious- 
 ness of this noble word. It was good news in the 
 first century ; it is still good news where men strive 
 with the underlying sins of the spirit; our work 
 is to make it good news to ourselves and to others 
 
8EEM0N OUTLINES 91 
 
 in spite of the commonplace character that time and 
 custom have given to it. 
 
 Then, having selected the requisite thirty-two 
 subjects which seem to be concerned with the pub- 
 lication of a real message to the modern commu- 
 nity, a message which has *' found " you and in 
 which you believe with all your powers, the work 
 of sermon preparation will begin. Of all the 
 preaching to which the minister has devoted him- 
 self he will find that this is the most stimulating, 
 delightful, and rewarding. The happiest business 
 in life is to set forth with all the powers at one's 
 command the Gospel of the reconciliation in Christ. 
 
 In attempting to give the message which we call 
 the Gospel, with what shall we begin ? Perhaps the 
 most familiar point of departure is the doctrine of 
 God. Certainly this is the underlying truth that 
 warrants the message and it must never be allowed 
 to become obscured. Occasionally a preacher 
 starts with the nature of man, his yearning for 
 God, his essential religious character. This is vital. 
 We must be sure that religion is an integral part 
 of man's normal life. If it is something artificial 
 or accidental, then there is no reason to expect that 
 there will be a permanent response to the message. 
 Preachers sometimes begin with the fact of Christ. 
 He was the Messenger; in certain respects it is 
 true that He is the Message. If we gain at the out- 
 set a clear idea of Jesus, if we are warmed by the 
 appeal that comes from His radiant Person, we 
 
92 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 shall be disposed to accept the Gospel and to trust 
 in it as the way into a new life for ourselves and 
 for the world. 
 
 The place that Jesus has occupied in the Chris- 
 tian experience of the world makes it seem reason- 
 able to begin with a brief setting forth of Christ 
 as the object of faith and love, with the expecta- 
 tion that through Him we shall come to know God, 
 to understand the meaning of sin and repentance, 
 shall appreciate the new life that begins when we 
 unite ourselves in obedience to Christ, and shall 
 bring out the practical results in conduct that are 
 the issue of this allegiance to Christ as Master 
 and Saviour. Therefore we begin this series of 
 sermons which is to present the Gospel to the com- 
 munity as a claim upon their surrendered wills with 
 a presentation of Christ as the object of love and 
 trust. 
 
 In preparing these sermons the New Testament 
 is the primary source of material. To read and re- 
 read its records of the life and message of Jesus 
 is the first privilege of the preacher. In addition 
 two books will be found of great value. The first 
 is Outlines of the Life of Christ, by William San- 
 day (2d ed. New York: Scribner's, 1912). 
 Among the numerous books on the life of Christ 
 this is on the whole the most satisfactory as a 
 working manual for the preacher. The second is 
 The Pact of Christ, by P. Carnegie Simpson 
 (Revell, about 1900). This is a study of the char- 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 93 
 
 actcr and work of Jesus in a constructive way and 
 is especially valuable because it sets forth the mean- 
 ing of the Christian life in terms of a personal 
 relation to Christ which is peculiarly adapted to 
 preaching. There are many other studies of the 
 character of Christ that will be of value; but we 
 mention only these two because we do not wish to 
 load our pages with references to books. And the 
 most valuable material which the preacher will use 
 in his sermons on Christ is that which will come 
 hot from his own affectionate reflection on the 
 record of the matchless life of the Master and the 
 " wonder of his gracious words." 
 
 The purpose of these first sermons is to present 
 Jesus in such an attractive way that those who hear 
 will be disposed to receive His message favourably 
 because they admire and love Him as the Mes- 
 senger. Therefore we shall seek to bring out the 
 lovely character of the Jesus of the New Testa- 
 ment, who is the basis of the Christ of the doc- 
 trines. We shall avoid at the outset any divisive 
 doctrine in order that we may come with open 
 minds, as the first disciples did, to the virile, noble, 
 winsome Man of Nazareth. 
 
 SERMON ONE 
 
 The first seven sermons are devoted to the char- 
 acter of Jesus and His claim upon our allegiance. 
 The purpose of this first division of the sermons is 
 
94 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 to get the call of Christ clearly before the people. 
 It is necessary to show the way in which that claim 
 may be recognized and responded to. Especially 
 must we show that the Christ whom we love and 
 serve is not a dead Example but a living Lord. 
 
 We begin with the human life of Jesus. In this 
 first sermon the preacher will do his best to set 
 forth the consummate beauty of the Great Life. 
 Read and think and even wonder and adore in the 
 presence of the figure of Jesus of Nazareth. Use 
 the imagination until His personality is vivid. 
 Ponder on His words until their searching and 
 painful beauty sinks into your soul. Do not preach 
 this sermon until you are actually glowing with 
 your renewed appreciation of Jesus. Let your 
 emotions play around the scenes from His life until 
 those qualities which you have selected to present 
 in the sermon are radiant and vivid. Do not be 
 afraid that there will be any loss to the divine 
 Christ as a result of the intensity with which the 
 figure of the historic Jesus is presented. Remem- 
 ber how Phillips Brooks brought out the figure of 
 Christ by stressing the human perfection of Jesus. 
 
 In preparing this sermon it may help us to 
 read again the poem by Sidney Lanier entitled 
 " The Crystal," found in his Poems at page 29. 
 He reviews the names and characters of the 
 great spirits of the ages, in each of which some- 
 thing imperfect is found. Then he comes to 
 Christ: 
 
SEBMON OUTLINES 95 
 
 " But Thee, but Thee, O sovereign Seer of time, 
 But Thee, O poet's Poet, Wisdom's Tongue, 
 But Thee, O man's best Man, O love's best Love, 
 O perfect life in perfect labour writ, 
 O all men's Comrade, Servant, King, or Priest, — 
 What if or yet, what mole, what flaw, what lapse,' 
 What least defect or shadow of defect, 
 What rumour, tattled by an enemy, 
 Of inference loose, what lack of grace 
 Even in torture's grasp, or sleep's, or death's, — 
 Oh, what amiss may I forgive in Thee, 
 Jesus, good Paragon, thou Crystal Christ." 
 
 This is the way that Jesus impresses the devout 
 and honest student of His matchless life. Having 
 gained this impression it is the preacher's glad priv- 
 ilege to seek to impress it upon others. This we 
 undertake in the first instance by means of a ser- 
 mon on The Man of Nazareth. We want to create 
 a presumption in favour of Jesus that will make 
 the favourable response to His divine claims natu- 
 ral and imperative. 
 
 The Man of Nazareth 
 
 Behold, the man! (John 19: 5). 
 
 An exclamation of contempt becomes the highest 
 tribute that could be given to a human being. Jesus 
 is the one supreme Man. The way to know Christ 
 is to know God. His life and experience furnish the 
 base line from which we run our survey of life and 
 chart the moral and spiritual universe. 
 
 His complete and glorious humanity commands 
 
96 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHTNG 
 
 our admiration and discipleship. We are sure when 
 we are in His presence that we are in contact with 
 everything that is noblest and best in our humanity. 
 What we would like to become in our highest mo- 
 ments Jesus was constantly. 
 
 His courage commands our trust and confidence. 
 Courage is admirable in all men under all circum- 
 stances. The brave man is the defender of truth, the 
 champion of justice, the guardian of the weak. Jesus 
 never showed the white feather. 
 
 His loyalty commands our allegiance. It crowned 
 His courage. He never once failed His God, His 
 comrades, or His Cause. It cost Him labour and 
 watching, pain and death. He kept faith with His 
 ideals; He stood steadfast with the unpopular truth. 
 
 His unselfishness commands our service. Jesus 
 was endowed with wonderful personal gifts. Men 
 and women loved to be in His company because He 
 was so friendly and so kind. He was utterly un- 
 selfish. He never put His own interests first. 
 
 His joy kindles our yearnings and invites our de- 
 cision in His favour. Jesus was a happy man. The 
 so-called " Beatitudes " are the assurances of happi- 
 ness ; and Jesus realized all of them in His own life 
 from day to day. Men never would have inferred 
 from the life of Jesus that the world was a gloomy 
 place or this life a " vale of tears." Men asked 
 Jesus to be their guest because they liked to have Him 
 around. 
 
 On each of these counts the life of Jesus commends 
 His message to us. What He was creates a presup- 
 position that what He said is true and that it is de- 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 97 
 
 sirable. Therefore Jesus Himself is the best final 
 warrant for accepting the Gospel which He brought 
 to the world. 
 
 SERMON TWO 
 
 The name by which Jesus was commonly known 
 was Rabbi, which means Teacher. Therefore it is 
 natural that we should take this aspect of His work 
 and character as the subject for the second sermon 
 that is to present Christ to the community. 
 
 We remember that the subject matter of the 
 Master's teaching is different from that with which 
 the academic teachers are concerned. He gave men 
 truth by which to live ; He was neither a scientist 
 nor a philosopher as we understand these terms 
 now. Also His method was simple. He put the 
 truth in the plainest form and then illustrated it 
 perfectly by His own life. This conformity of His 
 words and deeds makes Him supremely great as a 
 teacher ; we learn quite as much from what He was 
 as from what He said. 
 
 It is only within recent years that attention has 
 been turned to Jesus as a World Teacher. We are 
 fortunate in having a book now which sets forth 
 the subject in the form of studies for class or dis- 
 cussion groups and which ought to be worked 
 through carefully by preachers. We refer to Jesus 
 the Master Teacher, by Herman Harrell Home, 
 N. Y.: Association Press, 1920, price $2.00. 
 
 The very fact that this is a book for study rather 
 
98 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 than for consecutive reading, with every page 
 bristHng with questions that provoke thought and 
 study makes the volume especially valuable for the 
 preacher who must work diligently and for a long 
 time on this sermon concerning Jesus the Teacher. 
 If it is impossible to give sufficient time to the 
 study to carry it through to the end, at least the 
 contents of Chapter XXV on " His Qualities as a 
 Teacher " ought to be worked through carefully. 
 Prof. Home indicates the following as the essen- 
 tial qualifications of a World-Teacher: 
 
 1. A vision that encompasses the world. 
 
 2. Knowledge of the heart of man. 
 
 3. Mastery of the subject taught. 
 
 4. Aptness in teaching. 
 
 5. A life that embodies the teaching. 
 
 In selecting the points to be presented in the 
 sermon we must use our own best judgment and 
 treat the items that appear to us most vital. How 
 do these strike you? Are they arranged in the 
 right order for the climax of the sermon? What 
 practical illustrations of them occur to you as you 
 reflect upon them ? 
 
 This will be one of the sermons that will grow 
 with brooding upon the subject and It will be a 
 great pleasure to perfect it gradually through re- 
 flection and formal preparation. 
 
 The Great Teacher 
 And every day he was teaching in the temple. • . • 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 99 
 
 And all the people came early in the morning to him 
 in the temple, to hear him (Luke 21 : 37, 38). 
 
 We all must learn to live. Somewhere there must 
 be found a teacher who can give us the truth. Jesus 
 can meet this need. 
 
 The Teacher. — Jesus was a simple, natural, sym- 
 pathetic Teacher. The scribes were dull, technical, 
 out of touch with life. They argued at weary length 
 about laws, ceremonies, and abstruse speculations. 
 Jesus understood men, set forth the truth vividly, 
 transfused it with warm human affection. 
 
 The truth. — As Jesus taught it truth bore directly 
 upon life. The Sermon on the Mount is not a formal 
 discourse on a religious subject; it is a workable 
 program for individual and social living. Every 
 principle that Jesus taught connects directly with the 
 common work of the average man. 
 
 The method. — Jesus used homely figures and simple 
 stories to express truth. He did not give detailed 
 definitions or carry on elaborate discussions. For 
 example, the stories of the Prodigal Son and the 
 Good Samaritan make the truth plain, vivid, and 
 commanding. They are descriptions rather than 
 definitions or debates. 
 
 The learners. — They were of all kinds. Little 
 children heard Him gladly ; old men listened eagerly. 
 Tired toilers stopped to take in His words ; rich men 
 asked Him to dinner. He had a message for every 
 one. 
 
 The results. — Those who became Christ's disciples 
 found that their lives were changed. The truth 
 began at once to do something with them. They did 
 
100 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 not receive merely a new set of ideas from Jesus; 
 they found a new way of life in listening to His 
 words. The whole content of their relation to God 
 and to one another was changed by what they learned 
 from Jesus. The old scenes and duties remained ; but 
 the disciples of Jesus became new actors in the midst 
 of old engagements. The result of learning in the 
 school of Christ was a new practical life. 
 
 SERMON THREE 
 
 In preaching the third sermon in this series we 
 propose to present the claim of Christ as the moral 
 Master. He demands a transformed moral stand- 
 ard; He insists upon action on new and higher 
 ethical levels. This is the peculiar characteristic 
 of the truth that He taught: it demands that we do 
 something with it; it changes our lives; it works 
 moral transformations. 
 
 We think first of all of the way in which the 
 message of Jesus differed from that of the religious 
 leaders of His day. They were constantly insist- 
 ing upon some refinement of the ceremonies or the 
 detailed legal conformities which were supposed 
 to determine the religious character of a man. 
 And Jesus went instantly far beneath all this and 
 discovered the underlying motives of life. He 
 wasted no time in fruitless discussion of the exter- 
 nals of life. He wanted men to act from the right 
 motives that produce the true life. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 101 
 
 A suggestion for this sermon may come from the 
 following quotation: 
 
 " It is not too much to say that the very warp 
 and woof of the ethical life of the contemporary 
 man comes from Jesus. Even the man least 
 friendly to the Church, even the man least respon- 
 sive to the ministries of religion, cannot avoid look- 
 ing upon multitudes of problems of right and 
 wrong through the eyes of Jesus. This is true be- 
 cause the eyes of Jesus have become the eyes of 
 civilization itself. And all the while, in ages bright 
 and in ages dark, individual lives have been 
 moulded and refashioned by the influence of Jesus. 
 A multitude which no man can number has found 
 the way into purity and integrity and brotherly 
 love through the power of the Man of Galilee. In 
 the darkest ages He has produced white lives. 
 . . . Slavery went down before the spirit of 
 Jesus. Every reform has received wings of power 
 from Him. The great movement for making the 
 lot of all workers fairer and more secure has a 
 pressure back of it from the spirit of Jesus which 
 many men have never realized. The movement 
 for more democratic government has had an ally in 
 the thought of every man as a possible son of God 
 through the touch of Jesus Christ which has under- 
 mined slavish political conservatism and has has- 
 tened the coming of the new day." * 
 
 *Lynn Harold Hough, The Productive Beliefs, 1919, P« 
 106. 
 
102 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 Jesus the Moral Radical 
 
 For from imthin, out of the heart of men, evil 
 thoughts proceed (Mark 7:21). 
 
 Jesus went to the root of the moral and spiritual 
 life in His teaching. His claim was asserted upon 
 the ruling motives which actuate us in daily life. 
 
 Jesus affirmed the primary importance of purpose. 
 — The old law dealt with actions; Jesus, with the 
 ideas and purposes that inspire them. Jesus dealt 
 with causes ; the law, with effects. Jesus demanded a 
 transformed life; the Pharisees, a conformed life. 
 The conduct and character demanded by the law were 
 mechanical and superficial; Jesus called for radical 
 changes of purpose and a vital religion. 
 
 Jesus proposed a supreme standard. — Men were to 
 be good as God is good and because God is good; 
 loving as God loves. The standards of the Old 
 Testament seemed high and difficult to reach; the 
 standard proposed by Jesus was higher and more 
 difficult. This makes it challenging and attractive; 
 we are won by the fact of its difficulty to attempt to 
 reach it. No other program of living compares with 
 that which Jesus sets before His disciples. 
 
 Jesus provides resources to help us attain His 
 standard. — This makes Jesus and His message dif- 
 ferent from any other teacher or truth. Other 
 ethical and religious masters and systems propose 
 ideals and standards; but they leave their disciples 
 without help in attaining them. The Christian Gospel 
 brings with it a new, resident energy which rein- 
 forces our highest human powers in our struggle to 
 reach the standard set by Jesus. God takes a part in 
 the problem. Help comes to us from the unseen. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 103 
 
 God breaks through. We are furnished with fresh 
 troops. We may not be able to explain it; but we 
 can feel and know it. It is a fact in our conscious- 
 ness. There are millions of witnesses to it. God 
 does not mock us with the definition of a purpose 
 that we may never attain. With His help we are 
 bound to win our battle. 
 
 SERMON FOUR 
 
 The purpose of the fourth sermon is to present 
 the claim of Jesus the Man, Teacher and Moral 
 Master upon us. It is taken for granted that we 
 cannot come into the presence of such a character 
 without feeling the demand that it makes upon us 
 and desiring to respond to the upward pull of it. 
 
 The great principle that lies in the background 
 of the sermon is that every friend and every situa- 
 tion exerts upon us a definite influence either for 
 the lower or the higher. There are some friends 
 and some situations that depress and degrade us; 
 we may not be keenly conscious of the fact, but 
 the influences are silently and ceaselessly at work. 
 On the other hand there are comrades and circum- 
 stances which elevate us. They lay a silent claim 
 upon all that is best in us and call it Into action. 
 We cannot remain the same in the presence of 
 these Invigorating forces. 
 
 The greatest single energy that can possibly act 
 upon our moral and spiritual resources evoking 
 their response to all that is good and noble is the 
 Personality of Jesus. In the presence of His im- 
 
104 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 perial claim it is impossible to remain neutral or to 
 allow ourselves to be passive if we are conscious 
 and alert to the meaning of His life and message. 
 Jesus lays His strong hand upon us and claims us 
 for a higher life than the one we are living now. 
 The best way in which to prepare for this sermon 
 is for the preacher himself to feel this demand and 
 to yield himself to it in a new dedication of spirit. 
 The sermon that has power on this subject will 
 grow out of a preacher's enriched experience of 
 the truth. We do not need to make an inventory 
 of our literary resources, but rather to increase our 
 own spiritual resources. 
 
 An interpreter of the character of Peter has 
 written : 
 
 " Beyond high aims and burning enthusiasm it 
 is not easy to say precisely what Peter saw in 
 Christ. But we are sure to love the highest when 
 we see it, and it is a common experience that we 
 yield to the magnetism of a personality when ex- 
 planations are altogether beyond us. It is not so 
 much the doctrine of Christ that masters us as it 
 is the story of His life; and while we are baffled 
 by His nature and must continue to be we are 
 conquered by His love." * 
 
 Christ Claims Us for the Highest Life 
 Thou art Simon the son of John: thou shalt he 
 
 called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter) 
 
 (John 1:42). 
 * Albert J, Southouse, The Making of Simon Peter, p. II. 
 
SERMON OUTLINES 106 
 
 There is something better in us than we have yet 
 realized. — We are two persons: the one that is and 
 the one that we may become. This '* potential bet- 
 ter " and " possible best " is our true self. The task 
 of life is to bring this out into complete expression. 
 
 Christ claims the best in us. — Peter was only a 
 fisherman to the people who knew him ; he was a 
 great, durable foundation-man to Jesus. Thus Jesus 
 always sees the best in every one. He claims us for 
 our highest life. We may decline to yield to this 
 claim ; but we dare not ignore it. Certain comrades 
 bring out the worst in us; Christ always evokes the 
 best in us. 
 
 Christ joins forces with us to enable us to realize 
 our highest life. — It is possible to catch so lofty a 
 vision of life that we are disheartened by it. The 
 challenge is so great that we lose hope of attainment. 
 But Jesus does not leave us there. He is with us 
 and on our side from the beginning. 
 
 The new character. — When Simon had become 
 Peter he had not simply added more of the qualities 
 of old Simon to his character. He had added Christ. 
 The equation of his life was Simon-|-Christ=:Peter. 
 The same change may take place in us. The old 
 self+Christ=the new self. That which has been 
 added in the process of development has been the 
 very Person of Christ, actually entering into our 
 thoughts, feelings, and actions, and helping us to 
 realize our highest life. 
 
 Our response to the claim. — It is therefore su- 
 premely important that we recognize Christ^s claim 
 upon us, yield to the mastery of His motives and 
 spirit, and work in friendly partnership with Him to 
 accomplish His purpose for us. 
 
106 EVAKGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 SERMON FIVE 
 
 We must now show in what ways it is possible to 
 estabHsh vital relations with Christ, whom we 
 think of as living although invisible and within 
 spiritual reach of every one who will respond to 
 His claim upon them for the highest. We must 
 show that there are ways of approach and acts to 
 be performed or we shall leave the whole matter 
 in the realm of the mystical and unreal. This re- 
 lation with Christ is as actual an experience as is 
 the beating of our hearts. 
 
 The approach to this subject is through psy- 
 chology, which is a long and technical word to 
 describe what we know of the way in which the 
 non-bodily part of us works. We do know how a 
 great friendship is established and maintained; we 
 understand how a child becomes a member of the 
 family group, not merely by his physical presence 
 in it, but by the way in which he blends his own 
 purpose with that of the family as a whole, and 
 thus becomes the possessor of his true rights and 
 privileges as a child. 
 
 Now it is clear that the most important fact 
 about any human being is not the physical condi- 
 tions in which he lives, his personal appearance or 
 social prestige. The supreme matter is the mo- 
 tives which steadily actuate him in his daily con- 
 duct ; it is his dominant desires and his ruling pur- 
 poses. These really count in determining the 
 worth of a person to himself, his family, societj^ 
 
SEBMON OUTLINES 107 
 
 and God. This group of motives from which a 
 person acts habitually is called by William James 
 the habitual center of his personal energy. It is, 
 essentially, his religion, which Carlyle said was the 
 principal fact about any man. Now when the 
 group of ideas from which one acts habitually 
 center in loyalty to God and Christ we are Chris- 
 tian. When that set of ideas escapes to the region 
 of the dim and unreal instead of remaining warm 
 and vivid at the center of our habitual action, we 
 have suffered a commensurate loss in our Christian 
 life. When no such set of motives has swayed us 
 habitually we are not Christian. When we take 
 the ruling motives of Jesus and deliberately place 
 them at the center of our habitual action and hold 
 them there we are Christian. The rise and fall of 
 our Christian experience is determined by the 
 loyalty and conscious deliberation with which we 
 put the motives that ruled the life of Jesus at the 
 center of our " habitual center of personal energy." 
 
 This involves, it will be readily seen, a moral 
 and spiritual union with Christ. When we are 
 " motivating " our actions habitually by His ruling 
 motives we are one with Him in the spiritual pur- 
 poses that swayed Him in daily life. In this way 
 He is in us, as He promised that He would be. 
 And we are in Him, as becomes our privilege when 
 we yield ourselves to Him in such a personal union 
 of purpose as we have described. 
 
 This is a general description of what happens 
 
108 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 in the beginning and development of the Christian 
 life ; but it is not and cannot be a full account of the 
 forces at work in the accomplishment of the mighty 
 change in purpose and character which makes up 
 the whole process of conversion to Christ and 
 growth into the likeness to His character and spirit 
 which is the goal of the Christian experience. 
 We know that there are deeper energies at work; 
 we cannot analyze them or classify them fully. 
 But for practical purposes this surrender to the 
 mastery of the motives of Christ is the step that 
 opens the way for the following experiences in 
 which the relationship of loyalty to Him is com- 
 pleted. It shows us what we may do on our side 
 to avail ourselves of the new life in Christ. 
 
 The Master's Motive Our Master Motive 
 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ 
 Jesus (Phil. 2:5). 
 
 How shall we respond to the claim that Jesus the 
 Man, the Teacher, and the Moral Master makes upon 
 us? By acting constantly from the motives which 
 controlled Him habitually. 
 
 The importance of motives. — William James said 
 that the group of ideas to which a man devotes him- 
 self and from which he works habitually, not spas- 
 modically, is the most important fact about him. It 
 is the habitual center of his personal energy. George 
 Bernard Shaw said that what a man believes may 
 be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the 
 assumptions on which he habitually acts. Therefore 
 
SEBMON OUTLINES 109 
 
 the way into moral and spiritual union with Christ 
 is to make our own the " group of ideas " from 
 which He acted habitually. 
 
 The Master's motives. — At least three are clear: 
 Jesus was constantly sure of the love, nearness, and 
 care of the Father God. No failure could shake 
 Him from this working principle. He was true to it 
 " as the needle to the pole." It was more real to 
 Him than the dusty roads or the boats on the lake. 
 Again, Jesus never failed to have faith in His fellows 
 and to believe in the worth of life. He was no cynic, 
 no pessimist. There was no selfish motive or mood 
 in Him. He gave Himself in boundless love and serv- 
 ice to others and He helped them so much because 
 He believed in them so greatly. Again, He had perfect 
 confidence in the final full triumph of His Cause. He 
 was sure that man could finally be brought back to 
 the Father from whom his sin was separating him. 
 He was sure that the Kingdom of God, which He 
 proclaimed and to which He gave His life, not only 
 was worth while but that it would surely conquer the 
 world in the end. He gave up His life when He was 
 a young man; but these great working convictions 
 He never abandoned. 
 
 Accepting Chrisfs motives. — Can we act habit- 
 ually from such high motives as these? Yes. They 
 are as valid now as they were when Jesus lived in 
 Galilee. They are the very foundations of the moral 
 and spiritual universe. If they seem reasonable, if 
 our affections are warmed toward them, we need 
 only to choose them resolutely and firmly act accord- 
 ing to them and we shall experience the new life in 
 
110 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 Christ. This is the great choice by which we become 
 Christians. 
 
 SERMON SIX 
 
 We now reach the point at which we must bring 
 out the distinctive item of faith that rests upon 
 Christ as its object. It is clear that when He was 
 living with His friends in the intimate contacts of 
 daily duties He made the relation that they bore 
 to Himself the dominant fact in the relations of 
 disciple and Teacher. He did not ask men to ac- 
 cept truths about Him or even principles that He 
 taught; He asked them to become loyal personal 
 friends to Himself. He tested men by the character 
 of their allegiance to Him. Now the same condi- 
 tions obtain. We cannot see Christ; but we can 
 know the full value of His friendship as we 
 identify ourselves with Him by adopting as our 
 own the personal motives according to which He 
 acted habitually. 
 
 Remind yourself again how true it is that the 
 sweet and blessed friendships of life do not in- 
 sistently demand physical contacts; some of the 
 holiest comradeships that ever have been known 
 have been almost entirely in the realm of the in- 
 visible. And it is precisely as reasonable to cherish 
 a friendship with the Christ whom we may love un- 
 seen as with a friend to whom we may be loyal in 
 spite of separation. 
 
 We think now of a love and devotion that has 
 
SEEMOK OUTLINES 111 
 
 existed since girlhood between two women. They 
 have not seen each other for half a century. It is 
 altogether likely that they might pass each other on 
 the street and neither recognize the friend of the 
 long ago. But the beautiful loyalty has grown 
 rather than diminished as the years have run 
 swiftly by. They have not written many letters; 
 they have seldom exchanged greetings through 
 mutual friends. All this has not been necessary; 
 they loved each other ; years ago they promised that 
 they would forever be true to each other whatever 
 life might have in store for them. And they have 
 kept the faith. 
 
 This is a poor parable of the way in which Christ 
 may become the object of a personal devotion that 
 nothing ever can extinguish. The writer of the 
 text which we are to unfold was sure about this 
 experience. He admitted at the outset that it was 
 loyalty to an invisible Friend ; but he insisted that 
 the allegiance was none the less real and profitable. 
 He got deep satisfaction out of it. It brought him 
 nothing less than the salvation of his soul. 
 
 Christ the Object of Love and Faith 
 
 Jesus Christ: whom not having seen ye love; on 
 whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye 
 rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: re- 
 ceiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of 
 your souls ( i Pet. i : 8, 9) . 
 
 The unseen but living Christ, whom the disciples 
 
112 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 knew and trusted, is still the object of love and faith 
 and the source of our salvation. 
 
 The unseen Christ is the object of love. — Every one 
 who responds to the appeal of nobleness and beauty 
 of soul loves Jesus of Nazareth. He was all that is 
 admirable in His relations with others. What He was 
 when He was living on earth He must be still in His 
 eternal life. Therefore He is still the highest object 
 of our affection, even if we do not see Him or talk 
 with Him. 
 
 The unseen Christ is the object of faith. — Men gave 
 their utmost loyalty to Jesus of Nazareth ; they " left 
 all " to follow Him. They did not defend a theory 
 about Him ; they yielded their lives to Him. The un- 
 seen, living Christ is worthy of a similar surrender of 
 life to Him. We accept what He tells us to be true 
 and we give ourselves up to loyal allegiance to Him. 
 
 The unseen Christ is the source of joy. — The dis- 
 ciples of Jesus of Nazareth were happy. Others saw 
 this and were attracted to them by this fact. Hu- 
 manity yearns for happiness. It is eager for joy. 
 The unseen, living Christ still has power to come 
 into our hearts, homes, and all our social relations 
 and give us the deepest joy and satisfaction. The 
 consciousness that we are united with Christ in the 
 supreme motives of life gives us a kind of happiness 
 that no other source can possibly provide. 
 
 The unseen Christ is the ground of salvation. — 
 When Jesus of Nazareth lived in Palestine He brought 
 a new vision and standard of conduct to those who 
 loved and trusted Him. It was a new life, as if He 
 had created them again. He helped men realize 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 113 
 
 God's purpose for them. Thus He saved them from 
 their sins and into wholly new realms of thought and 
 action. The unseen Christ still does this for us when 
 we love and trust Him. A higher set of ruling 
 motives is permanently established at the center of 
 our habitual action. Thus Christ becomes Saviour 
 and Master. 
 
 SERMON SEVEN 
 
 What is the very essential truth or fact of the 
 Christian religion? We seek not those doctrines 
 or experiences which Christians share with those 
 who belong to the other great religions of the 
 world, but rather that which is distinct and peculiar 
 to Christianity. As we press our search we find 
 that there are many respects in which the religions 
 of the world are one ; but there are certain respects 
 in which each one is distinct. The distinctions may 
 generally be reduced to one or two. If we try to 
 bring the essential and the distinct character of the 
 Christian religion into one item it may be stated 
 thus: Personal relations, invisible but most real, 
 between living persons and Jesus Christ, loved and 
 obeyed as Saviour and Lord, which issue in a 
 transformed life for the individual and society. 
 That is, the true Christian religion consists es- 
 sentially In an experience. It Is a relationship, a 
 friendship, a loyalty between persons. Jesus did 
 not simply live and die In Palestine centuries ago. 
 He lives and bears personal relations to us now. 
 
114 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 He did something unspeakably important for us 
 by His perfect life and sacrificial death on earth 
 in physical relations with living men and women 
 in the past; but He is doing something unspeak- 
 ably important with us and in us by His invisible 
 presence and power in spiritual and actual rela- 
 tions at this very moment if we will join our wills 
 with His to let Him accomplish His purpose for 
 us. This is the fact of the Living Christ which 
 ought to be the most wonderful and commanding 
 truth that the Christian minister preaches. 
 
 Into this sermon we must put all the insight and 
 passion at our command. All the preceding ser- 
 mons have led up to it. It must not be simply a 
 mystical treatment of the subject. Back it up by 
 evidence. Make it concrete. Start with the text. 
 The man who said that the very center of his life 
 was Christ was alive to his finger tips. He did one 
 of the most virile and constructive pieces of work 
 that any man ever accomplished. He had the mind 
 and the practical genius of a modern captain of 
 industry. He was a statesman and builder. 
 
 Then draw on all the resources of Christian 
 biography. Use Livingstone and Mary Slessor. 
 Call into the witness box teachers like Mark Hop- 
 kins; business men like Samuel B. Capen; the 
 wonderful type of young Christian students like 
 Hugh McA. Beaver; the men and women rescued 
 into a new life, like the characters In Harold Beg- 
 bie's Twice Born Men, Other Sheep, and Souls in 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 115 
 
 Action. The testimonies must be brief and direct, 
 for the time is short. But there are milHons who 
 will confirm the statement that Christ has become 
 for them, not a doctrine but a Friend, not a theory 
 but a Saviour. 
 
 The Living Christ Our Constant Comrade 
 
 It is no longer I that live, hut Christ liveth in me 
 (Gal. 2: 20). 
 
 The Christian life is a ceaseless friendship, an 
 actual comradeship, between the soul and the unseen, 
 personal Christ. 
 
 Physical presence is not essential to the highest 
 friendship. — It is highly desirable. It is the condi- 
 tion of the vast majority of our human friendships. 
 But it is not absolutely essential. The highest rela- 
 tions of life are maintained on the plane of spiritual 
 sympathy, union in noble purpose, and the fusion of 
 ideals in the supreme quest of life. 
 
 Jesus promised continued comradeship with His 
 disciples. — His death separated Him from His 
 friends; but He prepared them for this separation 
 by the definite promise to be with them in spiritual 
 union. "And lo, I am with you always, even unto 
 the end of the world." " I in them, and thou in me, 
 that they may be perfected into one." This was more 
 than vague spiritual influence ; it was such a personal 
 comradeship that those who experienced it could be 
 sure of it. 
 
 Millions of men have attested the experience. — 
 The records of the race show that Jesus' promise 
 has been realized in millions of cases. It is just and 
 
116 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 logical that we should believe that the ground of this 
 experience is what the Christians have said it was, 
 the positive union of the personal Christ with them- 
 selves as living beings. They have not been able to 
 explain it; but they have affirmed it and have con- 
 firmed their testimony by their life and, often, by 
 their death. 
 
 This fact satisfies our deepest yearnings. — We 
 know that we hunger and thirst for the satisfaction 
 of spiritual desires. We cannot live by bread alone. 
 And Christ comes into the eager heart with a peace 
 and joy that cannot be described or defined. He 
 meets the deepest desires of the spirit for certainty 
 and power. We know what help sometimes comes 
 to us from the great inspiration of a human friend. 
 All this derives from Christ when we meet Him in 
 the intimate union of the spirit. 
 
 SERMON EIGHT 
 
 We have proceeded thus far to present Christ as 
 the one living Lord and Master, since He is the 
 revelation and the reality of our Christian faith 
 and practice. We now go on to lay the basis for 
 the full realization of this religion. 
 
 There may be preachers v^rho prefer to begin 
 with the more general fact of religion and to bring 
 the subject of Christ In after the disaster of sin and 
 the meaning of salvation have been discussed. In 
 this case, sermons one to seven could be used logic- 
 ally after sermon eleven, and the sermon we are 
 now describing could be used as number one. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 117 
 
 Having shown that Jesus Christ is the Fact and 
 the Doctrine of the Christian rehgion, we now go 
 back to the fundamental proposition that a rehgion 
 of some kind is the possession of every person. It 
 may be most vague; it may seldom rise into con- 
 sciousness; but it is there and it exerts ceaseless 
 influence in daily life. Note carefully the method 
 of approach in this sermon. It does not come at 
 the congregation with a criticism or attack. It is 
 positive and conciliatory. It begins by revealing 
 to every hearer depths in his own nature of which 
 he may not have been aware. It tells men, not that 
 they are renegade or void of native and noble im- 
 pulses; it reveals the yearnings and the answering 
 hearts of men in a way that encourages them to 
 respond to the voice of God. We shall come to the 
 fact of sin soon and shall stress it with all our 
 power. But we start with the possibihties and the 
 encouragements in the situation. This is good 
 pedagogy and good pleading. 
 
 We connect this sermon with those that have 
 preceded by bringing out the primacy of Christ as 
 the Word of God to the yearning souls of men. 
 Therefore the method is logical. 
 
 This universal yearning for God was put in the 
 familiar words of Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha 
 as follows: 
 
 " Ye whose Hearts are fresh and simple, 
 Who believe in God and Nature, 
 Who believe, that in all ages 
 
118 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 Every human heart is human, 
 
 That in even savage bosoms 
 
 There are longings, yearnings, strivings 
 
 For the good they comprehend not, 
 
 That the feeble hands and helpless. 
 
 Groping blindly in the darkness. 
 
 Touch God's right hand in that darkness 
 
 And are lifted up and strengthened; — 
 
 Listen to this simple story. 
 
 To this Song of Hiawatha ! " 
 
 Religion Inevitable 
 
 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said 
 unto thee. Thy face. Lord, will I seek (Ps. 27:8). 
 
 Religion is the soul's instinctive and inevitable re- 
 sponse to God. It is a part of every normal life. It 
 exists whenever God is made a conscious factor in 
 one's environment. It is a communion with the 
 Divine. 
 
 How has God spoken? — In nature, in which He 
 clothes Himself with a living garment and through 
 which shines His beauty and power. In human ex- 
 perience, as it is reported and recorded in history and 
 literature. The past is not the record of chance 
 events but the register of God's purpose for our 
 highest good. In our inmost souls, where in our 
 highest and best moments we are conscious of the 
 reality and movement of something higher than our- 
 selves. Finally, God has spoken to us in Christ, the 
 Word of the Father. In that perfect life and match- 
 less character we hear most clearly God's voice 
 speaking to our yearning and answering spirits. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 119 
 
 How shall we answer God's voice? — First, by seek- 
 ing in every possible way to hear it more clearly. 
 We must keep in touch and tune with the holiest and 
 noblest facts and forces in the universe and open our 
 hearts to the great avenues of revelation noted above. 
 The highest answer to God's voice is the happy and 
 constant obedience that we render to every truth we 
 know or discover. When we make the revelation of 
 the Father's will the supreme law of our daily life 
 we discover still more fully the meaning of His pur- 
 pose. Thus an obedient life becomes " an organ of 
 knowledge." It is like a musician learning to master 
 his instrument; only as he practices constantly and 
 gives himself up to the art that he is seeking to 
 acquire will he become the skilled musician. The 
 way to seek God's face is to yield our lives to the 
 doing of His will with full devotion. Religion is 
 learned by doing, as are all other great endeavours of 
 life. 
 
 SERMON NINE 
 
 It is apparent that no religion can be satisfactory 
 or enduring that does not rest upon a clear idea of 
 God. This does not demand a definition of God; 
 but it calls for some kind of a description of His 
 character that will furnish the basis of our hope 
 and confidence in the relationships which compose 
 the experience of religion. The Christian Gospel 
 finds the adequate description of God in Christ. 
 
 This represents a new appreciation of the revela- 
 tion of Christ. The Christian Church has been 
 
120 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 eager to publish the fact of the Godlike Christ. 
 It must also proclaim the Christlike God. It has 
 been put in the following words: 
 
 *' How He [Jesus] strove to present the vision 
 of the heavenly Father in terms of moral char- 
 acter and human experience, not absolute philoso- 
 phy and metaphysical definition. If you want to 
 know what God is like, look at me ! He said : ' He 
 that hath seen me hath seen the Father.' What 
 did He mean by that? Not that He, Jesus, was 
 like God, but that God was like Him. . . . 
 
 " Jesus said : Read me into God. So far as man 
 can know and understand Him, what I am He is 
 like. In short, it was in the terms of human ex- 
 perience, moral and spiritual, experience, not of 
 a priori reasoning, that He declared men could best 
 approach Him. How modern and intelligible that 
 sounds. The characteristics of Jesus are not im- 
 perial power, absolute understanding, for all His 
 intellectual subtlety and courageous and acute 
 dialectic. He is greatest in His moral splendour, 
 His ethical sublimity, and if we speak of Him, and 
 of His God and Father, in these terms, we are on 
 comprehensible grounds.'* * 
 
 This statement, however, that God is like Jesus, 
 or that the Gospel is concerned with a Christlike 
 God, must not be stressed to such an extent that 
 we lose also the idea of the Almighty Father. 
 
 * Albert P. Fitch, Can the Church Survive in the Changing 
 Order f 1920, p. 66. 
 
8EEM0N OUTLINES 121 
 
 Clearly the God of whom Jesus was aware every 
 moment was the Infinite and the Adorable. Our 
 Gospel gathers around the idea of a great God; 
 nothing less than this ever will issue in a great 
 salvation and a great religious experience. We 
 use the phrase " a Christlike God " to make the 
 thought of God clear and sublime. Be sure that 
 the God of Jesus was a Sovereign Lord before 
 whom we bow our hearts in reverence and adora- 
 tion. 
 
 What is God Like? 
 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father (John 
 
 14:9)- 
 For centuries men have defended the proposition 
 
 that Jesus is like God. Now we are learning also 
 
 that God is like Jesus. We come to the Father 
 
 through the matchless human consciousness of Jesus. 
 
 There we find out what God is like. 
 
 How can we see Jesiisf — Not with our physical 
 eyes, since He lives no longer on earth. But we may 
 see Him in the reports of His life and words as they 
 are given to us in the New Testament. By the use 
 of our imagination, picturing Him vividly, we may 
 see and understand Him. Also by observing the re- 
 sults of His influence upon men now we may come to 
 sense His life and character. But most perfectly by 
 yielding ourselves to His service we feel His pres- 
 ence and power upon us and understand Him. 
 
 What we discover when we see Jesus. — Complete 
 moral integrity. There is no sense or taint of fault 
 in Him. His most common acts bear successfully 
 
122 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 our closest inspection. Perfect service to the needs 
 of the world in which He lived. There is not a single 
 failure to give His best to every human need as He 
 perceived it. Perfect love for all His fellows marked 
 His human life. He realized completely all the most 
 exacting requirements of the Serm^on on the Mount 
 and the Golden Rule. 
 
 God is like what we discover in Jesus. — God is 
 good. His moral integrity is the warrant for all hu- 
 man goodness. God desires the highest welfare of 
 all His children. He gives us nothing less than Him- 
 self in order that this may be realized; He takes a 
 part in our development into the character that He 
 desires for us. God is love. He loves us in spite of 
 our sins; He loves us out of our sins; He loves us 
 into a new life that must finally conquer all sin and 
 weakness. God is nearer to us than the very beating 
 of our hearts. God is the chief factor in our sur- 
 roundings and the supreme item in our conscious- 
 ness. God was all this to Jesus ; He can and will be 
 all this to us. Our highest name for God is " the 
 God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 SERMON TEN 
 
 We now run straight into a universal human 
 experience which calls for our utmost insight and 
 skill in understanding. Why does not the Father 
 God of Jesus win an immediate and unqualified 
 response from the yearning soul? Why does not 
 religion become at once the dominant and blessed 
 experience of every human being? It is due to the 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 123 
 
 fact of sin, which in some form holds us all in 
 bondage and which must be forgiven and eradi- 
 cated if we are to enter into abundant life with 
 God. 
 
 Preaching on sin has always been one of the dif- 
 ficult tasks of the pulpit, not because the fact is 
 not apparent, but because it is difficult to set it out 
 in such terms as will bring conviction and peni- 
 tence to men. We suggest the following approach 
 to the subject. The terrible character of sin is 
 due to the worth and beauty of that which it des- 
 troys. For example, if one were to spill ink over 
 an old mop-cloth it would not be a serious matter. 
 But if one were to pour the same amount of ink 
 down the length of an exquisite lace dress the de- 
 struction would be irreparable. It was the same 
 ink in both cases; the difference in the havoc 
 wrought was caused by the worth of the fabric 
 involved. 
 
 If two beasts in the jungle fly at each other's 
 throats and one of them dies it is not a terrible 
 loss to the highest life of the human race ; but when 
 Booth shoots Lincoln the disaster Is beyond esti- 
 mate. The difference in the quality of the life in- 
 volved makes the difference in the character of the 
 act. 
 
 Now this is the way in which to get a true con- 
 ception of the meaning of sin. It Is because the 
 soul of man Is so precious and its preservation in 
 all the wealth of it so imperative that the thing that 
 
124 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 destroys it must be fought and exterminated. It 
 is claimed that we have lost the old intensity of at- 
 tack upon sin, that the perils of hell are no more 
 dwelt upon in the pulpit, that we are so urgent in 
 our statement of the love of God that we have 
 made Him an indulgent " grandmother/' If this 
 is so, the way to a recovery of the old emphasis is 
 through a fresh appraisal of the worth of man and 
 the divine value of human life. By as much as we 
 exalt the worth of the soul do we intensify the 
 peril of that which destroys it. So a true sense of 
 sin must come from a fresh emphasis upon the 
 priceless and eternal worth of that which it des- 
 troys. Concerning the havoc that sin brings 
 about in the individual and in society there is no 
 doubt. Therefore sin is the awful and ultimate 
 enemy of mankind. 
 
 The deadly damage that sin does in the soul is 
 well illustrated by the following paragraph from 
 Men in War by Andreas Latzko : 
 
 " I remember a trip I took before the war from 
 Munich to Vienna on the Oriental Express. I 
 looked out upon the autumnal mellowness of the 
 country around the Bavarian lakes and the golden 
 glow of the Wiener Wald. But across all this 
 glory that I drank in leaning back on the comfort- 
 able seat in luxurious contentment, there steadily 
 ran an ugly black spot — a flaw in the window- 
 pane." 
 
 That is the way in which sin, deep and deadly. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 125 
 
 rooted in our nature, degrades everything to the 
 quality of the background that it makes, warps all 
 the beautiful landscape of life and twists into ugly 
 contortions the fair shapes of a world that would 
 be surpassingly harmonious without the flaw. 
 
 Sundering Sin 
 
 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of 
 God (Rom. 3:23). 
 
 Why do we fail to answer when God speaks? 
 Why do we not quickly and completely respond to 
 the Father whom we discover in Jesus ? It is due to 
 the fact of sin, which sunders us from God. 
 
 Sin is universal. — In its grossest forms we are 
 aware of it and shrink from it. It finds expression 
 in hate and robbery and lust. But even those whom 
 the world regards as saints are also most keenly con- 
 scious of their sins. The literature of the Christian 
 people reveals this deep penitence for the sins that 
 make Christ mourn. Sin clutches all human life in 
 its fell grasp. 
 
 Sin is disobedience to God's will. — This is not a 
 definition of sin but the description of one of its most 
 apparent aspects. We ought to live habitually under 
 the reign of God's will of perfect love. This de- 
 mands our obedience. Its purpose is our highest 
 welfare. To thwart that purpose is to miss the true 
 aim of life. The New Testament word for sin 
 means " to miss the mark," that is, to lose the high- 
 est achievements of life by disobedience. 
 
 Sin is selfishness. — Another fundamental aspect 
 of sin. It consists in preferring our own interests 
 
126 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 to those that are higher, either the will of God or the 
 welfare of our comrades. It refuses to accept social 
 obligation. It acts either from pure selfishness or 
 the " herd instinct " rather than from the motive of 
 unselfish love which Jesus made the supreme law of 
 the Kingdom of God. So it makes us cold and vain. 
 It narrows the range of life and kills all altruism. 
 
 Sin is destruction. — Such a selfish and disobedient 
 motive destroys all the finer responses and powers of 
 the human spirit. It cripples our own loyalty to the 
 motive of sacrifice, which has developed all the 
 noblest traits of humanity. It injures others, whose 
 well-being is in our keeping and whose welfare we 
 ought constantly to seek. It sunders us from God, 
 whose moral demand cannot be satisfied by a sinful 
 life. If the disaster goes on unchecked life swings 
 into growing chaos and ruin. Is there any way of 
 escape ? 
 
 SERMON ELEVEN 
 
 Now we are ready for the full publication of the 
 good news that theu'e is a way in which man, whose 
 sin has sundered him from God, may be brought 
 back to right relations with the Father. In pre- 
 paring for this sermon the preacher may saturate 
 his mind with the Parable of the Prodigal Son, as 
 it is reported in Luke 16 : 11-32. We have already 
 noted this in Chapter I. It is so familiar that it 
 seems almost unnecessary to cite it again as the 
 great expression of the Gospel in story form. But 
 the very fact that it is so familiar makes it all the 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 127 
 
 more necessary for the preacher to review it and to 
 dwell upon it so reverently that he will sense again 
 its wonderful meaning. It was one of the focal 
 points in the preaching of Phillips Brooks, who 
 used it repeatedly and who found in it the most 
 illuminating expression of the message and the 
 mission of Jesus. It will reveal new meanings con- 
 stantly as we reflect upon it. It is one of the most 
 exquisite and forceful stories in all literature. 
 And the greatest truth that ever has been given to 
 humanity is perfectly enshrined in it. 
 
 The point to be kept clearly in mind is that noth- 
 ing was necessary to be done to the father to 
 change his attitude toward the boy who had gone 
 off into the far country. Any objection to the 
 word '' reconciliation " is perfectly met by the con- 
 ditions set forth in the parable. We have heard 
 the idea of reconciliation criticized severely on the 
 ground that it involved a mutual change of disposi- 
 tion and relationship. But no fair consideration 
 of the gospel of reconciliation as it is presented in 
 the New Testament can possibly warrant this criti- 
 cism. It is not the father, gazing eagerly down the 
 road day after day with his tired eyes longing for 
 the sight of his returning boy, who needs to have 
 his heart changed; it is the boy at his miserable 
 business In the far country who must have a new 
 heart. And when that came he set out for home; 
 the reconciliation was brought about in the arms of 
 his forgiving father. 
 
128 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHIKG 
 
 Good News 
 
 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto him- 
 self (2 Cor. 5: 19). 
 
 This is one of many interpretations of " the Gos- 
 pel." The meaning of this word has become so 
 frayed and worn that its early meaning is almost 
 gone. To its early users it was a kindling and holy 
 word. What does it mean? 
 
 God and man, sundered through sin, may he recon- 
 ciled. — God's love is strong enough to find a way to 
 the citadel of man's will and change its supreme de- 
 cisions. Selfishness can be overcome, lawlessness 
 can be conquered, and the course of life, which has 
 been missing the mark, can be so changed that its 
 true objective will be reached. Thus man may be 
 brought back to God. This is good news. 
 
 This reconciliation is wrought through Christ. — 
 God wanted to prove His love for man and His pur- 
 pose to save him from sin. So God took on, or 
 clothed Himself in human form in order that His 
 compelling love and saving purpose might be clear 
 beyond doubt. Christ is the world's Saviour. In 
 Him alone is the way to a new life. That way is 
 easy to find. This is good news. 
 
 By trust and obedience we receive the reconcilia- 
 tion. — On our part we must trust the good news so 
 fully that we yield ourselves to it. We must be- 
 lieve to the extent of personal loyalty. Obedience 
 to the good news means that we make it a way of 
 life. The Gospel comes with a command. It calls 
 for changes in conduct. Thus the ruin of sin is re- 
 paired. This is good news. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 129 
 
 The reconciliation is for the whole world. — Not 
 for a selected group of persons; not for a particular 
 race or religious class ; not for humanity alone/ but 
 for all the world. The scope of the Gospel is the 
 reach of all creation. This is good news. 
 
 SERMON TWELVE 
 
 When Jesus told the story of the sower He was 
 labouring under a deep concern for the result of 
 His message in the lives of the people who were 
 crowding around to hear Him. He knew that the 
 result would be conditioned by the way in which 
 they heard His words and understood their deep 
 meaning. He wanted to have them understand 
 and respond; but this would depend upon the at- 
 tention that they gave, the kind of ideas with which 
 the truth in His message was able to connect, and 
 the response by appropriate action that they re- 
 turned to the message. 
 
 Precisely the same conditions obtain now in any 
 community where the preacher of the Christian 
 Gospel is publishing the good news. He will get 
 varied responses; and these responses will deter- 
 mine the results of the message in the lives of those 
 who hear him. This is the warrant for a sermon 
 at this point on the right response to the Gospel. 
 The Parable of the Soils furnishes the best of texts 
 for this purpose. 
 
 Our warrant for this sermon lies in the fact that, 
 while the soil of the field, which Jesus used for an 
 
130 EVANGELISTIC PKEAOIIING 
 
 illustration of His great principle, was c[uite power- 
 less to change its character, the human mind can be 
 changed by the action of the person himself. The 
 hard and shallow and preoccupied soil was no more 
 responsible for its condition than was the fertile 
 ground. But men and women can change the 
 character of their response to the claim of the 
 truth. This must be borne in mind as we prepare 
 the sermon. Every parable breaks down some- 
 where, and all analogies which attempt to describe 
 human life according to that of the lower kingdoms 
 in nature fail at the point of volition. 
 
 Therefore this sermon must lay great emphasis 
 upon the power of the individual to control the in- 
 fluence of the truth upon him. There is a cow- 
 ardly tendency in all men to shift the weight of 
 personal responsibility upon either heredity or sur- 
 roundings. It is undoubtedly a fact that our re- 
 sponse to truth is conditioned upon our inheritance 
 and our circumstances; but on the whole we are 
 equipped to bear the responsibility of making deci- 
 sions and we can choose the loyalties which will 
 master our lives. We are able to decide for Christ. 
 Make this option clear in the sermon and press for 
 the decision of the supreme question which every 
 individual is able to make for himself. 
 
 Parable of the Soils 
 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear (Mark 4:9). 
 What kind of a response will the good news re- 
 
BEKMON OUTLINES 131 
 
 ceive? This depends on the kind of mind with 
 which we attend to it. Jesus set forth this truth in 
 the story of the four kinds of soil into which the 
 good seed of the Gospel fell. 
 
 The hardened mind. — Like the pathway, beaten 
 down by daily work and the pressure of heavy bur- 
 dens. No response to deep appeals or high enthusi- 
 asms because the mind has been rendered inert 
 through ceaseless pressure by the beating of routme 
 labour. We must break up the hardened areas of life 
 by cultivating imagination and vision. 
 
 The shallow mind. — Like the rocky soil with thin 
 earth over the ledge, responds quickly to any stimu- 
 lus. Easily moved by an emotional appeal. Cannot 
 carry out its decisions in sustained action. No re- 
 liance to be placed upon it for permanence or en- 
 durance. Deceives through its lack of power to 
 " carry on." We must train the will so that it will 
 make permanent decisions. .Strengthen our resolu- 
 tion and persistence by holding on stubbornly when 
 we might easily let go. 
 
 The preoccupied mind. — Like the soil, full of the 
 old roots. As soon as natural conditions cause the 
 seed to sprout the old brambles appear and the young 
 plants have no chance. We are congested with in- 
 terests and activities in these busy days. We allow 
 so many to take up our time and strength that the 
 supreme matters are crowded out. We must dis- 
 criminate more carefully and put first things first. 
 
 The fertile mind. — The larger part of the field is 
 good soil. It responds to the seed with the resources 
 which cause it to spring into life. The Gospel tends 
 to find root; to grow steadily; to yield fruit. We 
 
132 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 must increase the fertile areas. We must cooperate 
 with God to make our life rich in Christian fruitage. 
 
 SERMON THIRTEEN 
 
 The right response of the mind to which the 
 Gospel is addressed is the act which we commonly 
 give the name repentance. At this point in the 
 publication of the good news in the community, 
 therefore, we ought to consider what this action is 
 and how radically it involves all the powers of the 
 personality. 
 
 It is most accurately described in the words " a 
 new mind." But we must define carefully what 
 we mean by " mind." It is a word of vital signifi- 
 cance in the vocabulary of the Christian religion. 
 We have discussed it in sermon five. There we 
 saw that it does not mean merely the set of ideas 
 with which our minds are furnished, but rather the 
 set of motives according to which we act habitu- 
 ally. The ruling purposes of daily living are the 
 real content of the " mind " as we use it here in 
 reference to repentance. 
 
 In preparing this sermon we must stress the 
 place that the will occupies in the process of re- 
 pentance. It is a clear conviction, backed by a pro- 
 found feeling, and all cast into a resolute decision 
 that issues in a complete change in the motives 
 which ordinarily govern our conduct. This makes 
 repentance an act of such thoroughgoing intention 
 
SERMON OUTLINES 133 
 
 that it brings nothing less than a shift in the center 
 of interest and desire. It places new objects be- 
 fore us as the goal of endeavour. It is revolution- 
 ary in the deepest sense of that word. 
 
 G. H. C. MacGregor has a clear study of re- 
 pentance in his little book Into His Likeness. He 
 describes the legal call to repentance in the familiar 
 words, ''Amend your ways and your doings." 
 This is the command of the law. But there is a 
 deeper call than this, which is characteristic of the 
 New Testament. It was " uttered first in its full- 
 ness when our Lord, taking up the Baptist's work, 
 proclaimed, * The Kingdom of God is at hand ; 
 repent ye, and believe the Gospel.' It concerns it- 
 self with the inner thoughts and feelings. It 
 strikes at the life ere it manifests itself in action. 
 It keeps close to the etymology of the Greek word. 
 It cries not, * Change your actions,' but * Change 
 your minds,' It does not say, ' Thou shalt not take 
 the name of the Lord thy God in vain ' ; it says, 
 * Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
 heart.' It does not say, * Thou shalt not kill ' ; it 
 says, * Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' 
 Its demand is not so much ' Do new deeds,' as 'Act 
 from new principles.' I call it evangelical, because 
 it springs out of that doctrine which is the founda- 
 tion of all evangelical religion: * Except a man be 
 born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.' " 
 
 Therefore repentance means a change of mind 
 toward God, toward duty and also toward Christ. 
 
134 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 We must think differently about sin. We must 
 not only hate it but we must also with the deepest 
 resolution turn away from it. This includes also 
 a change of mind toward the Saviour from sin. It 
 means that we are ready to let Christ do something 
 for us. This involves a fundamental decision. 
 We shift the whole balance of our life to the side 
 of a new set of ideas which govern us habitually in 
 our conduct. Toward this decision the sermon 
 should point the congregation. 
 
 A New Mind 
 
 The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, 
 (Rom. 2:4). 
 
 Sin separates men from God. The Father's mighty 
 love, revealed in Christ, brings him back. This in- 
 volves a deep, inward change, repentance. What 
 is it? 
 
 Negatively. — It is not simply sorrow for the fact 
 that we are caught in the mesh of our sin and dis- 
 graced. Repentance sometimes goes no deeper than 
 this. No lasting change results. It is cowardly. 
 
 It Is not simply sorrow for the wrong act or mo- 
 tive that led to the act. This Is deeper than sorrow 
 for consequences. It tends to hold us from com- 
 mitting the same wrong act again. Not radical 
 enough. 
 
 It is not simply a resolution not to cherish the evil 
 motive or do the wrong act again. This Is a neces- 
 sary part of repentance ; but It is not the root of it. 
 
 Positively. — Repentance Involves a complete 
 change of mind or ruling pui-pose of action. It re- 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 135 
 
 verses the scale of values according to which we 
 have acted in the past. It is the resolute decision 
 to regulate our conduct by a new set of principles. 
 Repentance sets new objects before us and enthrones 
 a new series of positive purposes at the center of our 
 habitual activity. The word for repentance means 
 a new mind, that is a complete change in the funda- 
 mental convictions with which we do regular busi- 
 ness in the control of daily life. 
 
 God's goodness leads tts to repentance. — We are 
 not frightened or forced into this new way of living. 
 We are won to it by the compelling power of the love 
 of the Father. God's goodness is the one final force 
 that makes us good. 
 
 SERMON FOURTEEN 
 
 We follow up in sermon fourteen the central 
 idea in the discussion of repentance, namely, that 
 it is an act of such profound and inclusive meaning 
 that it involves a practical dedication of life to a 
 new set of ideals and principles. This calls for 
 surrender or obedience. 
 
 The first impression made upon us by the idea 
 of surrender is not a happy one. It stands for the 
 yielding of our liberties; and this Is something that 
 does not find ready consent. Therefore the prin- 
 ciple to be cleared up In our thinking Is that the 
 path to the largest freedom Is through the accept- 
 ance of obligation. It Is summed up In the famil- 
 iar words describing the Christian life of loyalty 
 
136 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 to Christ, *' whose service is perfect freedom." 
 How can service, which must consist in yielding to 
 obHgation and devotion to practical efforts of min- 
 istry, be consistent with freedom and actually re- 
 sult in the highest freedom? This is one of the 
 paradoxes of life; but there is no truth that finds 
 more constant confirmation in our daily life than 
 this. We see it illustrated in our homes every day. 
 The member of the family who accepts the com- 
 mon purpose of the group and makes it most fully 
 his is the one whose life in the home is the freest 
 and happiest. Take so apparently trivial a matter 
 as getting out of bed promptly, sharing the fellow- 
 ship of the family cheerfully at breakfast, and go- 
 ing about the day's duties in the right spirit. This 
 seems to be the path of surrender; it is actually the 
 only path to freedom. 
 
 It is like the planets in the solar system. Their 
 beauty and permanence are the result of the yield- 
 ing of each to the ordering pull of gravitation. 
 Each does not go its own way ; but all go the ways 
 that together make up the " system " of the plan- 
 etary universe. 
 
 The tyrant Nero tried to degrade some of the 
 great Roman nobles to as low a level as his own, by 
 making them appear as actors in the arena on the 
 stage. To disobey was death. Florus was bidden 
 thus to appear, and, doubting whether to obe}^ con- 
 sulted the virtuous and resolute Agrippinus. " Go, 
 by all means," answered Agrippinus. " Well, but," 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 137 
 
 replied Florus with astonishment, '' you yourself 
 refused to obey." " Yes," answered Agrippinus, 
 " because I did not deliberate about it." The cate- 
 gorical imperative, the naked, absolute imperative 
 of duty must be implicitly, unquestioningly, in- 
 stantly, obeyed. To deliberate about it is to be 
 secret traitor ; and the line which separates the se- 
 cret traitor from the open rebel is thin as the 
 spider's web. 
 
 Obedience the Test of Love 
 
 Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things 
 that I say? (Luke 6:46). 
 
 It is easy to announce one's loyalty by one's words. 
 The final act of allegiance consists in obedience with 
 the changes in conduct and character that issue 
 from it. 
 
 Obedience is the universal test of life. — In master- 
 ing the world we must obey its laws, as a child learns 
 to walk by conforming to the laws that govern the 
 physical world. In study we must obey the prin- 
 ciples learned and the propositions proved in order 
 to make progress. In industry, as we learn a trade 
 we use the skill acquired as the means of further ad- 
 vance. In personal friendship we always have to 
 submit ourselves to the needs and desires of others 
 in order to make the friendship strong and lasting. 
 In moral relations it is not enough to know what is 
 right ; we must submit to the right and do it. So in 
 the Christian life obedience is the test of love and the 
 condition of growth. 
 
 Christ commands us. — Jesus is an Example ; but He 
 
138 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 is also Lord and Master. Christ brings new laws to 
 govern the daily life of men. These principles make 
 a practical demand upon us and effect a difference in 
 our behaviour. It is serious business to follow Christ 
 because we must yield ourselves so completely to the 
 principles which He proposes. We must give our- 
 selves up to Him in the joy and devotion of a per- 
 sonal surrender. 
 
 Obedience is the supreme item in our confession 
 of Christ. — Words are easily spoken. It is not dif- 
 ficult to unite with others ii. an institution or to 
 carry out a program of religious activities. The test 
 of all our theories and creeds is the kind of life that 
 issues from them. They are the inspiring sources of 
 action ; but the action itself is the proof of the quality 
 and power of the principle. The community right- 
 fully demands that we shall not only reflect but re- 
 peat the spirit and the conduct of Jesus. We cannot 
 do this unless we yield ourselves completely to Him. 
 What did He say about the cultivation of our per- 
 sonal character; our daily dealings with men; our 
 practice of justice ; our willingness to follow Him to 
 the limit? Are we obeying our Master's commands 
 in these and other respects? 
 
 SERMON FIFTEEN 
 
 Few religious ideas are more constantly misused 
 than the conception of faith. It is commonly 
 made to connote the acceptance of something that 
 is unreasonable and even absurd. It Is set over 
 against reason and one Is asked to choose whether 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 139 
 
 he will be governed by his rational faculties or his 
 credulity. 
 
 But as a matter of fact faith is trust in an object 
 which is worthy of confidence although it may not 
 be capable of proof or demonstration. Faith is 
 essentially an act of the whole personality in which 
 we commit ourselves to the object defined by the 
 faith. It is what Horace Bushnell called "the 
 faith of a transaction." This great preacher set 
 the matter forth so clearly that we quote from his 
 sermons. 
 
 " The Christian facts are stored in history, and 
 are scarcely more significant to us than if they 
 were stored in the moon. What is wanted just 
 here in the case of Christ, and what also is justified 
 and even required by the facts of His life, is a 
 faith that goes beyond the mere evidence of propo- 
 sitions or propositional verities about Christ, — the 
 faith of a transaction; and this faith is Christian 
 faith. It is the act of trust by zvhich one being, a 
 sinner, commits himself to another being, a Sa- 
 viour. It is not mind dealing with notions or na- 
 tional truths. It IS what cannot be a proposition at 
 all. But it is being trusting itself to being, and so 
 becoming other and different by a relation wholly 
 transactional. 
 
 " If a man comes to a banker with a letter of 
 credit from some other banker, that letter may be 
 read and seen to be a real letter. The signature also 
 may be approved, and the credits of the drawing 
 
140 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 party honoured by the other as being wholly reli- 
 able. So far what is done is merely opinionative 
 or notional, and there is no transactional faith. 
 And yet there is a good preparation for this; just 
 that is done which makes it intelligent. When the 
 receiving party therefore accepts the letter and in- 
 trusts himself actually to the drawing party in so 
 much money, there is the real act of faith, an act 
 which answers to the operative or transactional 
 faith of a disciple. 
 
 "Another and perhaps better illustration may be 
 taken from the patient or sick person as related to 
 his physician. He sends for a physician just be- 
 cause he has been led to have a certain favourable 
 opinion of his faithfulness and capacity. But the 
 suffering him to feel his pulse, investigate his 
 symptoms and make the diagnosis of his disease, 
 imports nothing. It is only the committing of his 
 being and life to this other being, consenting to re- 
 ceive and take his medicine, that imports a real 
 faith, the faith of a transaction." * 
 
 This is the aspect of Christian faith that we seek 
 to present so clearly that it will no longer appear as 
 simply the assent to something undemonstrated by 
 the mind, but an act in which the whole being is 
 committed to a new relationship with Christ. 
 
 Faith That Saves 
 By grace have ye been saved through faith (Eph. 
 2:8). 
 
 ^Sermons for the New Life, p. 94. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 141 
 
 When we speak of " salvation by faith " we mean 
 only that faith is the means by which the result is 
 realized. The source is the gracious love of God. 
 We are put into relations with this source, however, 
 by the act of faith. 
 
 Faith involves an idea about Christ. — In analyzing 
 the complex act of faith we cannot always affirm 
 which factor comes first; but all are present in the 
 complete transaction. There is an approval of the 
 claims of Christ by our minds. He has created a 
 favourable impression upon us. A decision to follow 
 Him seems logically valid. 
 
 Faith involves a feeling toward Christ. — Our emo- 
 tions follow our minds. There is a warmth and glow 
 of feeling. Christ seems to be lovely. He is desir- 
 able, like any object that has evoked our love. This 
 draws us toward Him. We are happy in the ap- 
 proach. 
 
 Faith involves a decision for Christ. — The will ap- 
 proves by a positive decision what the mind has ac- 
 cepted and the feelings have desired. This decision 
 embraces the whole personality and commits one to 
 a personal relationship. It is often called " the faith 
 of a transaction." It is trust. It calls for loyalty. 
 It is like the highest human friendship of which we 
 are capable. 
 
 Faith grows through experience. — Faith is like all 
 vital experiences; it develops and is perfected 
 through its exercise. The faith of maturity is not 
 the faith of childhood. Courage and confidence come 
 from the exercise of faith. It is necessary to trust 
 more fully in order to have the power of trusting in- 
 creased. 
 
142 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 SERMON SIXTEEN 
 
 In the sixteenth sermon we come to the matter 
 of an open confession of allegiance or loyalty to 
 Christ. In preparing the sermon we will think 
 through the fact that Jesus has a claim upon us 
 which we simply cannot ignore or decline to con- 
 sider. It has been put in the following way by 
 P. Carnegie Simpson in The Pact of Christ: 
 
 " The more we candidly keep our hearts and 
 minds and consciences open to the impression that 
 even an historical appreciation of the fact of Christ 
 makes upon them, the more does that impression 
 turn to moral issues within us. We had thought 
 intellectually to examine Him ; we find He is spir- 
 itually examining us. . . . We study Aris- 
 totle and are intellectually edified thereby ; we study 
 Jesus and are, in the profoundest way, spiritually 
 disturbed. The question — apparently so inno- 
 cently historical and morally non-committal — of 
 'What think ye of Christ?* passes into the most 
 morally practical and personal of questions: ' What 
 shall I then do with Him? ' And this presses for 
 an answer. ... A man may study Jesus with 
 intellectual impartiality ; he cannot do it with moral 
 neutrality. If the words, the character, the person 
 of Jesus at all awaken within us such issues as 
 these, we cannot go on, nor can we even leave off, 
 as if they never had been raised. Such questions, 
 once raised, do have their answer ; to try to ignore 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 143 
 
 them is an answer as real as any other. And thus 
 it is that, as I say, we are compelled to take up 
 some attitude toward this fact of Christ." 
 
 Therefore the purpose of this sermon is to make 
 clear the inevitable decision which must be reached 
 by any one who faces the moral and spiritual claims 
 of Jesus. It must appear that to postpone a deci- 
 sion or to ignore a decision is really to make one, 
 since neutrality is impossible and the whole issue is 
 too great and urgent to be allowed to go by default. 
 There are some truths that are so imperative that 
 they must be met and action in reference to them 
 settled; this fact of Christ and His mighty claim 
 upon our love and service is such a truth. The 
 sermon on Confession of Christ must be filled with 
 this urgency and keyed to the note of confident ex- 
 pectation that when men actually face the claim of 
 Christ they will yield to it. 
 
 True to the Colours 
 
 Every one therefore who shall confess me before 
 men, him will I also confess before my Father who 
 is in heaven (Matt. lo: 32). 
 
 Open loyalty is a practical test of love. Our " con- 
 fession of faith " is the affirmation of our loyalty to 
 Christ and His Kingdom. He asked His disciples 
 to be true to their standards. 
 
 Why should we confess Christ? — In order to de- 
 fine our position before our comrades. The world 
 has the right to know where we stand in reference to 
 the supreme problems. A "trimmer" never is re- 
 
144 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 spected. We must prove our loyalty to Christ by 
 expressing our allegiance to Him and recording our- 
 selves as champions of His Cause. Our confession 
 sets a standard toward v^hich we strive and there- 
 fore gives us precise aims and positive purposes. 
 
 How shall zve confess Christ? — By our loyal 
 words. Men estimate our loyalties first by what we 
 say. Therefore it is the right thing to speak out 
 boldly our inmost loyalty to Christ. We prove the 
 reality of our words by our conduct. Therefore our 
 actions are confessions of faith. When we do what 
 Jesus commands out of loyalty to Him we are true 
 to the colours. Then we confirm our loyalty by the 
 personal and specific service that we render to Christ, 
 especially in introducing others to Him as Master. 
 The first disciples were made in this way. We could 
 not try to bring others into an allegiance in which 
 we ourselves had no confidence. The greatest need 
 of the churches now is a more constant and loyal 
 testimony to Christ on the part of His disciples. 
 
 What are the results of confessing Christ? — It de- 
 fines and strengthens our own faith and practice. 
 When we openly take a stand for any truth we are 
 clarified in our thinking and sustained in our prac- 
 tical duties. The best way to appreciate any idea Is 
 to make some positive statement and perform some 
 service in its behalf. Open confession Is the surest 
 proof of the claims of Christ upon others and the 
 greatest human Influence to lead them to Him. 
 Other disciples are always made as a result of brave 
 and loving testimony. Open confession gives the 
 highest honour to Christ as Saviour and Lord. When 
 
SERMON OUTLINES 146 
 
 we stand squarely for Him and speak and act boldly 
 in His behalf we show Him the highest honour. 
 Loyalty is the key to the Christian life. 
 
 SERMON SEVENTEEN 
 
 Up to this point we have been concerned with the 
 presentation of the Gospel as a message and the 
 way in which it is to be appropriated through the 
 yielding of the whole personality in a new rela- 
 tionship with the living Christ. This acceptance 
 of His motives as ours marks the beginning of a 
 life that is so new and beautiful that Paul in sheer 
 joy called it " a new creation." The best descrip- 
 tion of this experience is to call it the " Christian 
 life." 
 
 Like all forms of life, therefore, the Christian 
 experience is subject to the laws of development. 
 There is an ideal toward the realization of which it 
 steadily works. 
 
 The briefest statement of this supreme objective 
 of the Christian is to say that we seek to be con- 
 formed to the character of Christ. Christians can 
 be fully satisfied with nothing less. We shall de- 
 vote two sermons to the definition of the goal of 
 the Christian life ; but both are simply an enlarge- 
 ment of the proposition that the Christian is to 
 seek to become like his Master. 
 
 In preparing these two sermons the preacher will 
 keep clearly in his mind the value of the objectives 
 that we must deliberately set out to vv^in in life. 
 
146 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 *' Life toward a clear-purposed goal/* Matthew 
 Arnold called it. Such a definition of the domi- 
 nant purpose of life is imperative if we are to suc- 
 ceed in making our work in the world count. 
 
 The best way in which to make this Christian 
 ideal vivid and commanding is to show how it has 
 actually been the objective and the passion of Chris- 
 tian men and women ever since the time when Paul 
 defined it for the first time. A conspicuous ex- 
 ample of this is Arthur Frame Jackson, who died 
 in China in 1911 when he was only twenty-six 
 years old, giving his life for the people during a 
 terrible attack of plague. The Viceroy, a follower 
 of Confucius, said concerning Jackson: 
 
 " We have shown ourselves unworthy of the 
 great trust laid upon us by our Emperor. We 
 have allowed a dire pestilence to overrun the sacred 
 capital. His Majesty the King of Great Britain 
 shows sympathy with every country when calamity 
 overtakes it; his subject. Dr. Jackson, moved by 
 his Sovereign's spirit, and with the heart of the 
 Saviour, who gave His life to deliver the world, 
 responded nobly when we asked him to help our 
 country in its need." 
 
 To this wonderful tribute from the official. Dr. 
 Jackson's biographer adds: 
 
 " To me the remarkable fact about these tributes 
 is this — that they all get behind his sacrificial act to 
 the central fact of the Christian religion. The 
 eyes of these men were opened, and they saw an- 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 147 
 
 other Man, and He was on a Cross. Thus in a day 
 Christ Crucified was preached to milHons, for the 
 eyes of China were upon Moukden at that hour." * 
 There are scores of similar illustrations to be 
 found. The essential Christian ideal is being real- 
 ized now as it has been steadily from the beginning. 
 We are too slow to bring the evidence forward in 
 its convincing power. 
 
 The Christian Ideal of Life 
 
 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet 
 more and more in knowledge and all discernment; 
 so that ye may approve the things that are excellent; 
 that ye may he sincere and void of offense unto the 
 day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of right- 
 eousness, which are through Jesus Christ, unto the 
 glory and praise of God (Phil. 1:9-11). 
 
 This was Paul's ideal for his friends in Philippi; 
 but it is still an adequate ideal for the friends of 
 Christ. 
 
 Abounding love. — This is the first essential for the 
 Christian life, as it has been from the beginning. 
 Christ was the resistless and undiscouraged Lover 
 of men. His disciples must follow Him in this re- 
 spect. We must love abundantly; love all kinds of 
 persons; love at the cost of service and sacrifice. 
 This is the spirit and habit of the followers of 
 Christ. 
 
 Knowledge and discernment. — Christian love is not 
 ignorant or reckless. It calls for knowledge and 
 
 'Alfred J. Costain, The Life of Dr. Arthur Jackson of 
 Manchuria. 
 
148 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 discernment or insight. Each is necessary to the 
 other. The surest way to know is to love; the best 
 way to love is to use insight and wisdom. Love is 
 saved from sentimentality by wisdom; wisdom is 
 saved from coldness by love. Wisdom is the sub- 
 stance of our acquired knowledge; discernment is 
 the accurate vision into the true character of life 
 that is given us by love. 
 
 Approving the excellent. — Ordinarily we waste a 
 vast amount of time and energy on things that are 
 not worth while and let more important aims go by 
 default. The Christian ideal approves those pur- 
 poses which are excellent and so makes our labour 
 rewarding. The way in which to decide what is 
 worth while is to see how Jesus lived. That which 
 He sought is worth our seeking. 
 
 Righteous. — Three aspects of Christian righteous- 
 ness are defined: Negatively, it consists in being 
 void of any valid charge of evil. This is good so 
 far as it goes ; but it is merely negative. Therefore, 
 we seek the positive life, which is full of the fruits 
 of right living. Finally, this righteousness is not 
 something that we gain by struggle; it issues from 
 our allegiance to Christ. 
 
 Bringing glory and praise to God. — The Christian 
 life does not seek its own honour and praise alone ; it 
 seeks to yield honour to God. If this is achieved our 
 reward is sufficient. 
 
 SERMON EIGHTEEN 
 
 Christian salvation has been regarded as the 
 putting of a warrant into one's hands by which he 
 
SERMON OUTLINES 149 
 
 would be assured a blessed eternal life. This is a 
 poor and inadequate conception of what it means 
 to be brought into a new life through faith in 
 Christ. It is a development, lasting through all the 
 years of our earthly living and demanding for its 
 completion the life immortal. It is a movement 
 into the larger achievements of Christian enter- 
 prise, the pursuit of a " flying goal." It is a 
 growth. 
 
 Prof. Luther A. Weigle has given the following 
 description of growth in the Christian life: 
 
 *' How shall we describe the natural growth of 
 religion in a human life? It seems almost an im- 
 possible task. For religion is more than a natural 
 growth. It is a living, personal relation with God. 
 It cannot be described in terms merely of ' laws * 
 and ' periods of development.' It depends upon 
 God's uncounted, resourceful ways, as in love and 
 mercy He seeks to reach the minds and hearts and 
 to enlist the wills of His children. And it depends 
 upon their ways — ways sometimes reasonable but 
 often ignorant, capricious and self-willed — to 
 which He adapts His measures of redeeming grace. 
 The growth in the soul of real religion — as distin- 
 guished from pious convention — is a matter su- 
 premely individual. One touches here upon the 
 inmost secret of each separate life. 
 
 " In a general way, three stages may be distin- 
 guished through which most persons pass as they 
 grow in religion. There is the stage, first, of nur- 
 
150 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHINQ 
 
 ture in religion and learning about religion ; second, 
 of getting religion as a conscious personal posses- 
 sion; third, of using and understanding religion in 
 maturing Christian service and experience. Char- 
 acterizing each by a single phrase, we may speak of 
 the stages of Christian nurture. Christian decision 
 or conversion, and Christian experience. The first 
 stage corresponds in general to childhood ; the sec- 
 ond, to adolescence; the third, to mature life."' 
 
 In these sermons v^e have not dwelt upon the 
 matter of Christian nurture in childhood, having in 
 mind the second item, conversion, and especially 
 those who have passed the adolescent time, to 
 whom we have been seeking to bring the Gospel as 
 a message of new life. We are now seeking to 
 define the standards and discuss the aspects of that 
 Christian experience which follows the surrender 
 of the will to the claim of Christ as Saviour and 
 Lord. 
 
 Growing a Soul 
 
 But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3 : 18). 
 
 The Christian life, like all life, is subject to the 
 law of growth. We are Christians; but also we are 
 becoming Christians. This text shows us not only 
 the end but the sphere of Christian development, the 
 grace and the knowledge of Christ. 
 
 Grow into a deeper knowledge of Christ. — Read, 
 study, and think about Him. Imagine Jesus as He 
 * Talks to Sunday-School Teachers, 1920, p. 93. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 151 
 
 lived with His friends in Galilee. Reflect on His ac- 
 tions. Ponder His teachings. Make these real and 
 concrete. Compare them with the words and deeds 
 of Christians now. 
 
 Try to make yours the knowledge that Jesus pos- 
 sessed. — He knew more fully than any other man 
 who ever has lived the truth about God, about man, 
 and about their right and normal relationships to 
 one another. We can master this necessary knowl- 
 edge only as we obey the principles contained in it. 
 
 Grow into the Master's gracious life. — Jesus was 
 the most unselfish, loving, and gracious Comrade who 
 ever lived. " Manners make men." We must be- 
 have as He did in our contacts with our fellows. If 
 the world could rise to the level of the chivalrous 
 life of Jesus the day of the Kingdom of God would 
 break. 
 
 Grow into the grace of Christ's personal sacri- 
 fice. — The grace of Christ does not appear alone in 
 His courteous life; it is the very substance of His 
 spirit and motive. Christ gave Himself without 
 reservation to all mankind. He showed unmerited 
 favour to all mankind. This involved sacrifice. The 
 grace of Christ appears in the cross. Until we rise 
 to the height of personal sacrifice for the Master we 
 have not attained the grace of the Master. 
 
 SERMON NINETEEN 
 
 There has been endless discussion especially 
 within the past generation concerning the individ- 
 ual and social aspects of the Gospel. On the one 
 hand have been the defenders of the proposition 
 
162 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 that the salvation of the individual soul was the 
 goal of Christian preaching and of the work of the 
 Christian Church; on the other hand line up the 
 champions of the claim that the world is the sub- 
 ject of redemption and all preaching and church 
 work are designed for the salvation of society. 
 Two books of comparatively recent date represent 
 these two accents or programs: 
 
 The Social Gospel and the New Era, by John 
 Marshall Barker. The Individualistic Gospel and 
 Other Essays, by Andrew Gillies. Both books 
 were published in 1919; both are by well-known 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 Each is clear in the note that it sounds. Prof. 
 Barker affirms that " the superlative duty of the 
 Church is to teach a correct notion of the Kingdom 
 and keep it alive in the hearts of men. The con- 
 ception should never fall below the social vision of 
 Christ. The Church is to help shape the mind of 
 the world about the Kingdom ideal." Dr. Gillies 
 cites the work of Wesley with approval, showing 
 clearly that " a great deal that is made primary to- 
 day was made secondary by him because he was 
 convinced that the only way to bring these reforms 
 to pass was to get individual men soundly con- 
 verted, and that the only way to get hardened sin- 
 ners and smug hypocrites converted was not by an 
 altruistic appeal, but by a solemn summons to get 
 right with God." 
 
 Now what might seem to be a sharp difference 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 163 
 
 here resolves itself into no difference at all when 
 we bring the matter into the light of the radiant 
 character of Jesus. The text that we take for the 
 sermon unites the two accents perfectly. Begin at 
 either side and you come to the other. Suppose we 
 seek to save the soul of the individual: it cannot be 
 accomplished apart from the fellowship of com- 
 rades. Suppose we try to save the community: it 
 is impossible apart from the service and devotion 
 of a group of saved men and women. So the two 
 processes go on mutually strengthening each other. 
 Individual and social salvation are seen to be two 
 sides of the one truth. The coin has two sides; 
 each is necessary; both make the complete coin. 
 The apparent contradiction is thus perfectly re- 
 solved in the life of Jesus, the great statement of 
 whose purpose in life is found in the text that 
 follows. 
 
 The Purpose of Christian Character 
 And for their sakes I sanctify myself (John 17 : 19) . 
 There has been wide discussion as to whether the 
 Gospel is designed for the individual or for society. 
 In this verse Jesus reveals His own attitude toward 
 His life and answers the question as to the indi- 
 vidual and social values of the Kingdom of God. 
 Both are involved; there is no essential conflict be- 
 tween them. 
 
 The duty of self-development. — The word trans- 
 lated " sanctify " means to perfect or to make whole. 
 Jesus thinks of Himself as the Son of God whose 
 
164 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 sacred obligation is to make Himself complete in 
 every possible way. In one sense of the word this 
 is a doctrine of unrelieved selfishness or of the self- 
 hood. It contemplates one's self as worth every 
 possible effort in the way of self-culture or develop- 
 ment. It insists upon the supreme worth of the 
 whole personality, body, mind, and spirit. These 
 are to receive constant attention and culture in or- 
 der that the individual may become perfect or com- 
 plete. The most powerful instrument that God can 
 use to make the world what He designs it to be is 
 perfected and consecrated human personality. Such 
 development of completeness of personality is im- 
 possible, however, without the discipline and culture 
 of service to others. 
 
 The duty of service to others. — A perfected per- 
 sonality that is not employed for an unselfish pur- 
 pose may be a curse instead of a blessing. So 
 Jesus perfected His own life in order that He might 
 give it lavishly for the good of others. All gains in 
 individual character are for the purpose of using 
 them in a wider ministry to others. It is the inten- 
 tion of the gift that warrants the struggle to possess 
 it. So we do not ask merely what a gain in Chris- 
 tian character is; we ask what it is for. If it is for 
 the welfare of our comrades and for the highest good 
 of the community we are warranted in seeking it 
 with all our strength. This constant and beneficent 
 reaction goes on all the time in the building of Chris- 
 tian character : Do we want to serve our age ? Then 
 we must perfect ourselves. Do we want to perfect 
 ourselves ? Then we must serve our age for we can 
 reach perfection in no other way. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 156 
 
 SERMON TWENTY 
 
 The idea which we are to bring out in sermon 
 twenty is that the Christian life is a beautiful har- 
 mony of singing virtues, a chorus of qualities 
 which is prepared and trained and renders the very 
 music of God in an earthly life. The first step in 
 the preparation of the sermon is to grasp the full 
 meaning of the figure used in the text. It comes 
 from a people who loved music and who knew 
 what was involved in selecting the singers for a 
 chorus, in training them, and then, under the direc- 
 tion of the leader, in rendering a great composition. 
 
 Study carefully the meaning of this interesting 
 and illuminating analogy as it is seen in the work 
 of a modern orchestra or chorus. In the first place 
 the Christian character is more beautiful and satis- 
 fying than any other fact or experience in life. 
 No oratorio or symphony is so rich in all loveliness, 
 so elevating in its influence, so strong in its uplift 
 as a true Christian character. The Christian life 
 has sometimes been regarded as a stern and un- 
 lovely experience; but it is the contrary. The 
 character of Jesus is the proof that the normal 
 Christian way of living is full of strength and 
 beauty. 
 
 Now study the assembling of the Christian vir- 
 tues. This is one of the highest privileges that can 
 come to us. We are given the duty of calling into 
 being and expression the finest, noblest qualities of 
 
156 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 the human spirit. No chorus leader ever was per- 
 mitted to assemble such select and beautiful agents 
 for the expression of a great musical theme. Then 
 note the way in which the various qualities are 
 unified and balanced. Just as a great chorus must 
 have enough but not more than enough singers for 
 the different parts, so the Christian character con- 
 sists in a balance of qualities which insures har- 
 mony in the rendering of the music. 
 
 Then review the matter of the discipline or the 
 training of the assembled parts to the chorus. 
 How much must be done to modulate the loudness 
 of some and to increase the strength of attack and 
 tone on the part of others. Time and again the 
 score must be rehearsed and every time the trained 
 ear of the leader will discover some point at which 
 more practice is necessary. 
 
 But the most important item in the figure is the 
 music that is to be rendered by the harmonious life. 
 The great privilege of repeating the majestic music 
 of the character of Jesus is given to us. There is 
 no other vocation or possibility that can compare 
 with this. It is the supreme privilege of existence. 
 This fact ought to inspire us with the determina- 
 tion to live well as never before. 
 
 The Choras of Christian Character 
 
 Yea, and for this cause adding on your part all 
 diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your vir- 
 tue knowledge; and in your knowledge self-control; 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 157 
 
 and in your self-control patience; and in your patience 
 godliness; and in your godliness brotherly kindness; 
 and in your brotherly kindness love (2 Pet. i : 5-7). 
 
 The verb translated " supply " means to " furnish 
 and train a chorus." It involves all possible skill 
 and diligence and patience. It is like gathering, re- 
 hearsing, and conducting an orchestra. These eight 
 graces of Christian character — an octave — are to be 
 furnished by the disciples of Christ. 
 
 Faith. — We begin here logically. By our volun- 
 tary trust we come into a league of love and loyalty 
 with Christ. Faith is not a single, finished act; it 
 is a constant attitude and activity of the spirit. 
 
 Virtue. — This refers to the tested strength and 
 proved powers of the soldier. It is gained in the 
 process of struggle. It can be relied upon because 
 we have won it under stress. 
 
 Knowledge. — This is the practical fruit of experi- 
 ence. We do not gain it from books or theories ; we 
 attain it in the great school of experience. Chris- 
 tians are always learners. 
 
 Self-control. — This is another word for temper- 
 ance. We must know ourselves and master our- 
 selves. This is the first step in knowing and master- 
 ing the world around us. 
 
 Patience. — This extends self-control to the whole 
 of life and makes us long-suffering. It takes time 
 to lift a continent. God is patient in making the 
 world; we must be patient In making our character 
 like that of Christ. 
 
 Godliness. — This is the true name for goodness. 
 The highest manhood is divine. We propose the 
 
158 EVAl^GELISTIC PEE ACHING 
 
 noblest ideal to ourselves when we seek to become 
 like God. This is the highest reverence. 
 
 Brotherly kindness, — Every one is fighting a hard 
 battle. The souls of men need kindness. True 
 brotherhood defines the sort of kindness that we are 
 to show to others. This issues from our knowledge 
 and experience of God's Fatherhood. 
 
 Love. — This is the inclusive and crowning virtue 
 of the Christian life and character, God is love; 
 this is the reason why we are to love others. No 
 other point of view will reveal our duties to others 
 as love will show them. 
 
 These eight qualities of Christian character we 
 must assemble and train and use in complete har- 
 mony. They will render God's music. 
 
 SERMON TWENTY-ONE 
 
 In this sermon we are to take up the message of 
 Christ to the physical life. The Gospel has some- 
 thing to say to the physical man. It does not con- 
 template saving the soul and letting the body go. 
 It means the salvation of the physical man. 
 
 By this we do not mean to claim that the Chris- 
 tian experience insures the healing of all wounds 
 or the assurance of freedom from disease. We 
 mean that the Christian Is a better Insurance risk 
 and that on the whole health comes with the deep- 
 ening of the Christian life. The gifts of Christ 
 are peace and joy; these are directly concerned 
 with the whole matter of physical well-being. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 159 
 
 Back of this sermon must lie a clear idea of the 
 Christian view of the physical body. It is not an 
 enemy of the spirit to be crushed ; it is the helper of 
 the spirit when it is rightly regarded. We do not 
 think that the body is to be scourged ; we think that 
 it is to be developed and disciplined until it shall be 
 the instrument and temple of the immortal spirit. 
 As Josiah Strong once said: 
 
 " There cannot be a high intellectual and spir- 
 itual growth without an adequate physical basis. 
 Man is the most perfect animal in the world. It 
 was the highest physical organism which received 
 the double crown of intellectual and spiritual life. 
 In human experience, the higher is conditioned by 
 the lower, as the superstructure is limited by the 
 foundation. But it is quite possible to develop the 
 lower life at the expense of the higher. The splen- 
 did physique of the prize-fighter does not imply a 
 corresponding intellectual and spiritual develop- 
 ment, but quite the contrary. As an animal, he is 
 admirable ; as a man, he is monstrous." * 
 
 Therefore our emphasis is to be on the value of 
 the physical as the basis of the spiritual. The 
 body is to be cultivated and honoured rather than 
 neglected or despised because it is the warrant for 
 all advance in the mental and spiritual achievements 
 of man. There are some conspicuous examples of 
 superb attainments in spite of physical limitations; 
 but in general it is the person who has a clean and 
 * The Twentieth Century City, p. 13. 
 
160 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 strong body who can do the best work for Christ 
 in the Kingdom of God. 
 
 The House of Man's Soul 
 
 Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the 
 Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from 
 Godf and ye are not your own; for ye were bought 
 with a price: glorify God therefore in your body 
 (I Cor. 6: 19, 20; see also 3: 16). 
 
 The Gospel is good news to the whole of life and 
 therefore it has a message to the body. It does not 
 despise the physical; it exalts it as the organ of 
 the spirit and the temple of the divine. How shall 
 we treat our bodies as the temple of God? 
 
 The honour we pay the temple. — A sanctuary is 
 the place which we honour both for its own sake and 
 for that which resides there. The body is the spirit's 
 sanctuary. Every organ and function is to be 
 highly regarded on this account. The highest re- 
 spect that we can pay the spirit is to provide for 
 it the cleanest and most beautiful temple possible. 
 
 The care we take of the temple. — We must give 
 ceaseless care to the building of the temple that it 
 may be strong enough to serve the needs of a strong 
 and deathless spirit. The soul is here to do great 
 deeds ; it must have an instrument fitted to this end. 
 We must take great care to keep the temple clean. 
 Nothing coarse or vulgar has the right to be there. 
 No foul thought or base motive may be allowed to 
 take its place in this physical temple. It must be 
 made beautiful with every possible adornment of 
 loveliness. The spirit is exquisitely beautiful; its 
 house must be of the same kind. 
 
SERMON OUTLINES 161 
 
 The services rendered through the temple. — ^We 
 speak of the " services " in a church or temple. This 
 indicates the real business of the body ; it is to serve 
 the needs of the spirit as it in turn serves the needs 
 of the community. The whole business of the body 
 is summed up in this idea of service. When the 
 body is being used by the spirit rather than existing 
 for itself it is discharging its highest function. 
 Therefore we think first of the resident spirit. What 
 use is it getting out of the body? Is our physical 
 equipment of such a kind that the spirit can express 
 itself without hindrance through it? If not, how 
 can we change the relation so that we shall make our 
 bodies the residence and the agent of the spirit? 
 
 SERMON TWENTY-TWO 
 
 Since the Christian experience is a part of the 
 whole life of the individual who is living in rela- 
 tion with the complete world where he perfects his 
 life, it must be subject to the tests and trials of that 
 world. It cannot claim immunity from the com- 
 mon lot. If it should It would miss one of the 
 principal sources of its power and growth. Temp- 
 tation is only another name for test. And tests 
 are of the utmost importance for the proving of the 
 worth of anything. 
 
 The subject of this sermon, therefore, is the 
 place of test or temptation in the development of 
 the Christian life and the place of God in our test- 
 ing. It calls for a clear idea of the method of de- 
 
162 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 velopment and the power of God in the growth of 
 the spirit. In other words, God does not make us 
 complete Christians all at once by an act of miracle 
 or magic. He takes time. The process is the 
 same as that by which we make advances in the 
 cultivation of our physical or mental powers. 
 Take the familiar example of the training of the 
 athlete. It is necessary for the candidate for an 
 athletic team to submit to all kinds of tests and 
 training. The readiness with which one is ready 
 to surrender his private interest or his selfish desire 
 is the first indication of his fitness to be a candidate 
 for the team. And his initial act of surrender to 
 the training and denial must be followed by a series 
 of tests that will last all the time he is in the par- 
 ticular group to whose success he yields his indi- 
 vidual taste or desire. 
 
 Or think of the way in which we acquire an edu- 
 cation. The test or examination must be success- 
 fully met during the entire time of discipline. 
 Oral and written examinations are only the neces- 
 sary test by which we determine our mastery of the 
 truth which we are seeking to grasp. They are 
 sometimes Irritating; but they are vitally neces- 
 sary, at least In some form. 
 
 This lays the foundation for the reasonableness 
 and the kindness that are both Involved In tempta- 
 tion. It IS God's way of testing us. Therefore a 
 temptation Is, In a real sense, a privilege. It Is no 
 sin to be tempted; the sin can be only in the yield- 
 
SERMON OUTLINES 163 
 
 ing to the temptation. This we need not do if we 
 will give God the place in the struggle that Jesus 
 has promised that He will take. It is the purpose 
 of this sermon to show what that place is and to 
 enable us to meet our tests as Jesus met His. 
 
 Temptation — And God 
 
 There hath no temptation taken you hut such as 
 men can hear; hut God is faithful, who will not 
 suffer you to he tempted above that ye are ahle; hut 
 will with the temptation make also the way of es- 
 cape, that ye may he ahle to endure it (i Cor. 
 
 10:13). 
 
 The function of tests in the realization of the 
 Gospel life, — Tests are imperative in building and 
 manufacture. All materials are proved before they 
 are built into enduring structures. In mathematics 
 and logic we demand that propositions shall be sub- 
 jected to proof. In the development of life accord- 
 ing to the form and laws of the Gospel we make the 
 same demand. Tests ought to be welcomed and 
 their results uised. Temptations are tests; they 
 prove the worth and durability of the materials of 
 Christian character. 
 
 The endurance of tests. — Tests involve strain and 
 suffering. They call for the utmost resolution, 
 patience, and courage. They are not welcome at 
 the moment. How are they to be met? Not by 
 seeking to avoid them. No problem is ever solved 
 by running away from it. Face the temptation 
 squarely. All difficulties generally look largest at 
 a distance, as a hill appears steepest before we 
 
164 EVANGELISTIC PREACHIKG 
 
 actually begin to climb it. A determined stand is 
 the only Christian way in which to submit to a test. 
 God's part in our tests. — At the moment when we 
 seem nearest the point of breaking God comes in 
 with help. Millions of witnesses confirm this state- 
 ment. They have fought until it seemed as if they 
 must surrender, and then, at the moment when de- 
 feat seemed inevitable, something has broken the 
 power of the temptation. Energy from God has 
 rushed in, reinforced their feeble powers, given them 
 the help they needed. We can rely upon God. He 
 will not fail the soul. Strength will come to match 
 the trial. 
 
 SERMON TWENTY-THREE 
 
 The Great War has given an added impetus to 
 discussions on the subject of prayer. The whole 
 question was thrown into prominence by the prac- 
 tical situation In which millions of people were in- 
 volved; they prayed against the coming of the war 
 and they prayed for victory; they prayed for the 
 safety of their friends, and often it seemed as if 
 their prayers were Idle mockery. What did It all 
 mean ? What was the use of prayer ? 
 
 On the other hand there appears as never before 
 the soundness of the fundamental principle that 
 prayer is of the very nature of religion. The 
 statement of William James at the conclusion of 
 his Varieties of Religious Experience Is more than 
 ever timely and true: 
 
SEBMON OUTLINES 165 
 
 ** 1. That the visible world is part of a more 
 spiritual universe from v^hich it draws its chief 
 significance ; 
 
 " 2. That union or harmonious relation with 
 that higher universe is our true end ; 
 
 " 3. That prayer or inner communion with the 
 spirit thereof — be that spirit * God ' or ' law ' — is a 
 process wherein work is really done, and spiritual 
 energy flows in and produces effects, psychological 
 or material, within the phenomenal world." * 
 
 In preparing this sermon let us emphasize cer- 
 tain factors in this statement of Prof. James in 
 our own minds. Prayer is the noble name for 
 the whole range of communion between the soul 
 in man and the Eternal Spirit which we call God, 
 and which, as Christians, we name the heavenly 
 Father. It does not consist simply in certain for- 
 mal acts ; it is the entire attitude of the personality 
 in reference to God ; it is every expression of love 
 and service as well as words and postures. It is 
 communion. 
 
 And in this communion work actually gets done 
 or energy is released and applied to specific ends. 
 This is what Sir Oliver Lodge calls " an engine of 
 achievement." We must be sure that through 
 prayer " more things are wrought than this world 
 dreams of." It is not simply a satisfying emotion 
 or experience. God joins forces with man through 
 prayer to accomplish the great ends of the divine 
 ^Page 485. 
 
L66 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 will. He adds strength to us. He breaks through 
 with power for our help. It takes great faith to 
 be sure of this; but there are unlimited proofs of 
 the reality of the finding of Prof. James in his 
 great study. What we need in our present bewil- 
 dering generation is to be sure of this fact and act 
 upon it with joy. Put this confidence behind the 
 people in this sermon. 
 
 Prevailing Prayer 
 
 The supplication of a righteous man availeth much 
 in its working (Jas. 5: 16). 
 
 Prayer is communion between the soul and God. 
 It has as many forms of expression as a human 
 friendship has. Sometimes it is silent, consisting 
 entirely in the joy of "togetherness." Sometimes 
 it is audible, consisting of praise and adoration and 
 petition. It always is a vital and beautiful part of 
 the Christian life, the " vital breath " and " native 
 air " of Christian experience. 
 
 The righteous man's prayer. — While men pray be- 
 cause they are good, they also are good because they 
 pray. The promise of achievement in the life of 
 prayer is not indiscriminate and unconditioned. It 
 is realized fully by those whose life merits the bless- 
 ings that flow from communion with the Father. 
 Just as a child's fellowship with his earthly parents 
 Is made profitable In the end by the character of his 
 relations with them, so the life of prayer depends 
 for its rewards and satisfactions upon the rightness 
 of our life. 
 
 The gradual results. — Note the phrase, "in its 
 
SERMON OUTLINES 167 
 
 working." The results may be delayed. They may 
 not come as swiftly as we could wish. God takes 
 time to bring about the results which we desire. It 
 is necessary to enter into partnership with Him and 
 to share the long processes by which His great ends 
 are gained. This tests and trains our patience and 
 endurance. It is desirable. If everything were ac- 
 complished in a moment we would not receive the 
 discipline that is necessary for our highest welfare. 
 Prayer an engine of achievement, — It finally 
 " availeth much." Prayer does actually get results. 
 We may not be able to explain this ; but in some way 
 through communion with God union is effected with 
 the higher powers outside ourselves and energy 
 comes in to give the resources w^e need in the en- 
 deavour to lead the Christian life. It is like the re- 
 sult that is derived from a talk with some one 
 stronger than ourselves when help is actually given 
 to match our need. We do not wait perfectly to un- 
 derstand all the reasons that warrant the action. We 
 simply take the help that is offered and thank God 
 for it. 
 
 SERMON TWENTY-FOUR 
 
 When the lawyer asked Jesus the test ques- 
 tion reported in Ltike 10 he received an answer 
 from the Bible and then a story from real life. 
 This is one of the most wonderful of all the par- 
 ables, the tender and searching story of the Good 
 Samaritan. The inmost meaning of this we are 
 to interpret in sermon twenty- four. It shows us 
 
168 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 the grounds of true brotherhood and the meaning 
 of Christian service. It leads in the end to the 
 conception of human Hfe which is summed up in 
 the noble phrase, ** The Beloved Community.'* 
 Concerning this a recent book says: 
 
 " Jesus sought to lead His followers on to the 
 full stature of the perfect man and woman. There- 
 fore He set before them the ideal of the beloved 
 community. It included all who, like themselves, 
 were intent upon doing the will of God. These 
 Jesus implied were not only His but their brothers 
 and sisters and mothers. This beloved community 
 was the larger family, capable through their united 
 efforts of unlimited expansion, to which He di- 
 rected their supreme devotion and loyalty. Jesus 
 sought to build up about each individual an eager, 
 kindly, fraternal group, ever growing until it in- 
 cluded all members of the local community. In 
 this each found not only friendship, sympathy, and 
 help but ample opportunity for self-expression and 
 growth through service. This was the only type 
 of church that Jesus ever founded. It was the 
 family ideal expanded until it included all members 
 of the local community who were responsive to the 
 feelings of brotherhood and then expanded again 
 until it bound together, through common loyalties, 
 all men of all races who accepted Jesus' principles 
 of living. Like a mother bird, He longed to 
 gather all of the scattered sons of Abraham under 
 His enfolding wings. The Gospel of John also 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 169 
 
 reminds us that the great Shepherd had sheep not 
 of the Jewish fold under His care." ' 
 
 This is the inevitable conclusion to which the 
 Parable of the Good Samaritan leads. It may not be 
 wise to stress the universal application of the story 
 strongly in the sermon; but no preacher can handle 
 it accurately and draw out the full values in it un- 
 less he works from this fundamental place that the 
 beloved community held in the thought and action 
 of Jesus. The simple incident on the Jericho road, 
 told with such exquisite sense of its application to 
 individual life, is universal in its application. To 
 give this impression is essential to the purpose of 
 this sermon. 
 
 Who is My Neighbour? 
 
 Exposition of Parable of Good Samaritan (Luk& 
 10:29-37). 
 
 The cynical question that called out the story. 
 The telling force of the answer ; not a discussion but 
 a story, the meaning of which admitted of no de- 
 bate and enforced the truth with wholesome direct- 
 ness. 
 
 The wounded man. — In the unsettled condition of 
 the country the event would be readily understood. 
 This hurt, plundered man stands for every kind of 
 human need that is constantly pressing upon us. 
 Sin has robbed men of their treasures and left them 
 hurt and bleeding along all the highways of the 
 world. They need help ; they need neighbours. 
 
 ' Kent and Jenks, Jesu^ Principles of Living, 1920, p. loi. 
 
170 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 The priest. — His business was the representation 
 and administration of religion. Mercy and helpful- 
 ness were his function. The care of bleeding men 
 should have been the very technique of his daily 
 life. He saw the wounded man but apparently did 
 not even break his walk. He passed along on the 
 opposite side of the road. 
 
 The Levite. — He also was trained in the exercise 
 of religion. The ceremonies were the object of his 
 study and devotion. He would not have conducted 
 one inaccurately; a stickler for form. He saw the 
 wounded man plainly. But he did not stop to help 
 him. 
 
 The Samaritan. — Remember that Jews and Sa- 
 maritans were bitter enemies. Their ancestors had 
 quarreled; that was enough to keep the quarrel hot 
 for centuries. This Samaritan had every racial 
 prejudice against the Jews. He might have said, 
 " Good enough for him ! There is one less Jew 
 to abuse me and my people." But this Samaritan 
 was a true neighbour. He did not inquire for names 
 and relationships. He broke his journey; got the 
 wounded man on his horse; took him to his own 
 room; watched the man personally; took the re- 
 sponsibility of providing him a room and board. He 
 stands for the true neighbour who will never give up 
 a permanent relationship of love and service to any 
 needy soul anywhere at any time. 
 
 SERMON TWENTY-FIVE 
 
 This sermon is based on the fundamental Idea 
 that we cannot complete our Christian life apart 
 
SEBMON OUTLINES 171 
 
 from the fellowship with others which is absolutely 
 necessary. No person can be a Christian alone; 
 we require one another to perfect our life in union 
 with Christ on earth. 
 
 The great realm of this fellowship is the Church, 
 which is here represented as an organism or cor- 
 poration of Christ. This is St. Paul's definition of 
 the Church and no more satisfactory one ever has 
 been given. Concerning this conception of the 
 Church Bishop Charles H. Brent says: 
 
 " The Church has a visible body ; it is an organ- 
 ism rather than an organization ; there is one Body 
 and one Spirit. It is perhaps rather difficult to 
 make clear the difference between an organism 
 and an organization, but there is a difference which 
 is fundamental. An organism is a unitary form ; 
 life is inherent in it and energizes and permeates it 
 fully. An organization is an assembling and co- 
 ordination of congenial elements, a communicating 
 of life as the life. Organization is, so to speak, 
 manufactured. The family, the nation, and the 
 Church are all organisms, and every voluntary as- 
 sociation, such as the Christian Association, for in- 
 stance, is an organization. The Church is the only 
 eternal society, and all voluntary associations, if 
 they fulfill their complete functions, pour their life 
 into the Church, finding their highest and fullest 
 realization In giving themselves in all their com- 
 pleteness to the Church. . . . Man Is not body 
 aione: body without soul is corpse. Neither is he 
 
172 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 soul alone: soul without body is ghost. Man is 
 body and soul." * 
 
 Now what the soul is to the body of man, that 
 the living Christ is to His body the Church now on 
 earth and forever in union with Him in the unseen 
 world. This figure is one of the most clarifying 
 symbols which we could possibly use to make clear 
 the eternal value and the present importance of the 
 Christian Church. There is no theory or doctrine 
 of the Church that ever has been framed that lets 
 us into its very inner meaning so surely and com- 
 pletely as this. The more the preacher ponders it 
 the more he will see its consummate and revealing 
 beauty. The sermon will grow swiftly around this 
 central figure. 
 
 The Living Church 
 
 The Church which is his body (Eph. 1:22,23). 
 
 This is a description of the Church according to 
 an analogy which we all appreciate and understand. 
 The Church is at this moment the organism, or group 
 of living persons, in whose daily life the purpose of 
 Jesus works so radically that it gets its will done 
 through them. We note: 
 
 The unity of the Church. — Just as any living plant 
 or animal Is a diversity of organs unified and con- 
 trolled for a common purpose, so the living Church 
 is composed of a great number of persons and pro- 
 grams, united and directed by the unseen Christ, 
 resident within them. The ground of unity in the 
 * The Inspiration of Responsibility, 1915, pp. 98, 100. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 173 
 
 living Church is the will of Christ. It is working 
 to accomplish its purpose now as it did when Jesus 
 lived in Palestine; only it now uses a vast number 
 of living persons as it then used His physical body 
 and His comrades in daily life. 
 
 The diversity of the Church. — The highest organ- 
 isms are those which have the greatest diversity of 
 organs blended into a common purpose, e. g., the 
 wider the range of variety the greater the useful- 
 ness, provided they are fused in a common pur- 
 pose. 
 
 The Church and its environment. — The organism 
 derives its sustenance from its environment, which 
 it serves in return. The organism exists for the 
 environment. The Church has the right to expect 
 support from the community; the community has 
 the right to demand service from the Church. 
 
 Organ and organism. — This alone insures a living 
 Church. Life must animate the organism; Christ 
 must animate the Church. Only thus can it func- 
 tion in its environment and reproduce its own life. 
 
 SERMON TWENTY-SIX 
 
 There are many ways in which to describe the 
 Christian life. It is so varied that figures and il- 
 lustrations of many sorts are required to set forth 
 its characteristics and activities. Among the in- 
 teresting and picturesque descriptions of the Chris- 
 tian experience are the two figures that we have 
 taken for the text of the twenty-sixth sermon. 
 
174 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 Only one caution is necessary. In developing a 
 sermon from an illustration or likeness we must 
 remember that no figure ever can be pressed into 
 details without its failing at some point. *' No 
 example can go on all fours." So the preacher 
 must select those factors in the figure that are es- 
 sential and which bear upon the subject to be inter- 
 preted by the analogy and hold steadfastly to them 
 in his treatment of the proposition. Whatever we 
 say about the citizen and the athlete must be valid 
 in its application to the Christian life and experi- 
 ence. Not many items are to be brought forward ; 
 those which are selected must be carefully handled ; 
 their bearing upon the proposition must always be 
 legitimate. Beware the temptation to rush into 
 fanciful comparisons; never let details clutter up 
 the treatment of the analogy. We are trying to 
 make an unfamiliar truth plain by the use of one 
 that is familiar. Confusion comes from too many 
 " points." 
 
 Citizens and Athletes of the Gospel 
 
 Only let your manner of life he worthy of the 
 Gospel of Christ; that, whether I come and see you 
 or he ahsent, I may hear of your state, that ye stand 
 fast in one spirit, with one soul striving for the 
 faith of the Gospel (Phil. 1:27). 
 
 The meaning of the text is clarified by two fig- 
 ures : the word translated let your manner of life he 
 means literally act as a citizen; the word translated 
 
SERMON OUTLINES 176 
 
 striving for means literally being an athlete. To be 
 a Christian means to be a citizen and an athlete for 
 Christ. 
 
 Citizens of the Gospel, — Consider the rights or 
 privileges of Gospel citizenship. Membership in the 
 commonwealth of Christ involves the right to know- 
 God; the Father is discovered and appropriated 
 through Christ. It involves the privilege of know- 
 ing what right is and how to do it; we derive our 
 moral insight and energy from Christ. It involves 
 the right to immortal life; the commonwealth of 
 Christ embraces earth and heaven. Consider the 
 duties of Gospel citizenship. These are more im- 
 portant than rights. There is the duty to perfect 
 our personality ; to serve our generation in the spirit 
 of Christ ; to know and do God's will. Consider the 
 mutual loyalties of Gospel citizenship. No man 
 lives to himself. We must sympathize with each 
 other; help each other; sacrifice for each other. 
 
 Athletes of the Gospel. — Loyalty to Christ Is not 
 negative or puny; it Is martial and athletic busi- 
 ness. It calls for red blood, for daring, for train- 
 ing, for resolution, and for persistence. Consider 
 the athlete's purpose: he means to win. He means 
 to win honourably. He loses in fine spirit as a good 
 sportsman. Consider the athlete's disclpli'ne. No 
 denial is too great to put him In fit condition. He 
 plays the game with the team, merging individual 
 desire In the victory for the group. Consider the 
 athlete's determination. He does not give up even 
 when he Is apparently beaten. These characteristics 
 are called for by the Gospel. 
 
176 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 SERMON TWENTY-SEVEN 
 
 We draw near the conclusion of this series of 
 sermons in which we have attempted to set forth 
 the good news of the reconciHation in Christ before 
 the community. The message is concluded with 
 the statement of Christ's doctrine and program of 
 the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 Two books of fairly recent date are recom- 
 mended: What is the Kingdom of Heaven f by 
 A. Clutton Brock. 1920. Scribner's. The Chris- 
 tian Adventure, by A. Herbert Gray. 1920. As- 
 sociation Press. Each of these books handles the 
 great subject with a fresh and suggestive style. 
 They will stimulate a preacher's thinking most 
 profitably. 
 
 It must be admitted that the idea of the King- 
 dom of God has been sadly neglected in the teach- 
 ing of the Church and the work of preaching. The 
 following statement is most important, coming 
 from an investigation of the religious ideas and life 
 of the soldiers in the Great War: 
 
 " Should we not include education in the idea of 
 the Kingdom of God? I found when It came to 
 this that I had to begin at the beginning and lead 
 men gradually to the idea. Not one in a hundred 
 had apparently ever heard of it. I mean among 
 the churchgoers. Religion was to them a personal 
 and individual matter. Of course there must be 
 the foundation, but it ought not to stop there, and 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 177 
 
 as far as I can see ministers in general have been 
 letting it stop there, or have been so vague about 
 the Kingdom that men haven't caught the idea at 
 all." ' 
 
 Dr. Gray confirms this opinion in the following 
 paragraph : 
 
 " It may be doubted whether two per cent, of the 
 people who attend churches have any clear concep- 
 tion of the meaning of this phrase which was so 
 constantly on the lips of Jesus. It might have been 
 expected that it would have been the very first 
 thing to be explained to children in connection with 
 Christianity, and that church members would re- 
 ceive abundant instruction about it. It would have 
 been natural if it had filled a central place in cate- 
 chisms, and in confessions of faith. But as a 
 matter of fact, it hardly has any place at all in 
 creeds, or catechisms. A man might read a great 
 deal of ordinary Christian literature and never 
 come across the expression." ^ 
 
 Every preacher will wish to frame his own defi- 
 nition of the Kingdom of God. There are many 
 discussions of the idea to be found. We give here 
 simply the one proposed by Dr. Gray: 
 
 " What, then, did Jesus mean by the Kingdom 
 of God? I think a partial answer at least is to say 
 
 * Religion Among American Men, 1920, Association Press, 
 
 p. 15- 
 ^Ihid,, p. 20. 
 
178 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 that He used that phrase as a description of what 
 human life becomes when it is lived under the con- 
 straint of two truths — the Fatherhood of God, and 
 the Brotherhood of man. Those were the two 
 great truths He came to reveal both by life and by 
 death, and when any man fully receives them and 
 lives under their dominion he enters the Kingdom. 
 When any group of people live in that way the 
 Kingdom appears as a social fact in this life. 
 
 * 'Another way in which Jesus put the same truth 
 was to say that there are only two great command- 
 ments — to love God and to love one's neighbour. 
 And when any man begins to obey those command- 
 ments he enters the Kingdom. The Kingdom 
 means human life dominated through and through 
 by love. To a certain extent the Kingdom comes 
 into being when even one man achieves this kind of 
 life. It began to come when Jesus Himself came, 
 and individuals can realize many of its blessings in 
 their own lives even though they are isolated indi- 
 viduals. And yet the Kingdom cannot fully come 
 for any individual until others also have entered it. 
 It means a society of a certain kind. Indeed, it 
 cannot fully come until all men have entered it, and 
 life the wide world over is life dominated by its 
 principles." * 
 
 It will be immediately apparent that this idea of 
 the Kingdom of God is consistent with the message 
 that we have been giving in these sermons thus far. 
 ^Religion Among American Men, pp. 2i, 22. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 179 
 
 It gathers about Christ ; it involves loyahy to Him ; 
 it is a matter of choice and decision; it is a practical 
 endeavour for the individual and it includes the 
 whole of his life. On the basis of these truths we 
 proceed to unfold the first text of the five devoted 
 to this primary Christian doctrine. 
 
 The Gospel of the Kingdom 
 
 And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in 
 their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the 
 Kingdom (Matt. 4:23). 
 
 The message of Jesus was expressed in the 
 analogy of a kingdom. It was the only analogy that 
 could have been understood. It was a heavenly or- 
 der of earthly life; it represented the reign of God 
 in the whole life of man. 
 
 The reality of the Kingdom. — This is more than a 
 clear and forceful figure of rhetoric. The King- 
 dom has reality. We cannot see its regal head, its 
 court, its palaces, its splendour; but there are actual 
 facts in the spiritual Kingdom that correspond to 
 these temporal things. There is vast energy in the 
 Kingdom; its laws are valid; its rights and duties 
 claim our power and loyalty as much as those of the 
 civil state. Jesus established a real order of life. 
 
 Our neglect of the Kingdom. — Strangely, this 
 truth was central in all the teaching and action of 
 Jesus; but It has been given scant place in the 
 thought and life of the Christian Church. Other 
 doctrines and duties have usurped Its primary place 
 and claim. Jesus exalted the reality of the King- 
 dom of Heaven as an order of life meant for the 
 
180 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 world; we have thought of it chiefly as describing 
 the Hfe after death or a far-off consummation of 
 development. 
 
 The reaffirming of the Kingdom. — This is the day 
 in which to affirm and realize the doctrine of the 
 Kingdom of God. The Great War has revealed 
 depths of sin and hate never before expressed by 
 men; it has uncovered yearnings for unity and lov- 
 ing service never defined before. The conception 
 of the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus made plain 
 in His words and life shows us the only workable 
 program that can meet these aspirations of the hu- 
 man spirit in the modern age. Therefore the pulpit 
 must publish the good news of the Kingdom and it 
 must be made the program for the world. 
 
 SERMON TWENTY-EIGHT 
 
 We now pass to a study of the conditions on 
 which we may enter the Kingdom of God. It is 
 not difficult. The terms are easy to understand 
 and we can fulfill them if we will without any 
 heavy external conditions being imposed upon us. 
 We have given in the suggestions connected with 
 sermon twenty-seven a statement by Dr. Gray con- 
 cerning the way in which the conditions of en- 
 trance may be met. 
 
 If the condition of entrance into the Kingdom is 
 self-surrender or meekness or humility, we must 
 consider this fact in reference to another promise 
 of Jesus, where He said, " I came that they may 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 181 
 
 have life, and may have it abundantly." The doc- 
 trines of self-sacrifice and self-realization are the 
 two opposite sides of the one truth that the way of 
 entrance into the Kingdom of God was the attain- 
 ment of life through the yielding of life. 
 It has been put by Dr. Gray as follows: 
 " What, then, of this call to self-denial? Well, 
 it was a call to self-surrender, but not a call to 
 world renunciation. Men and women were to go 
 on living in the world, and were to continue to ex- 
 ercise their gifts and talents there, only all now 
 with a new motive. They were to be busy not for 
 self but for all men. The statesman was to be 
 busy, not that he might rise to some supreme place 
 of power, but that national affairs might be well 
 administered. The fisherman was to catch fish, 
 not that he might make a corner in the fish market 
 and so become rich, but that the people might have 
 fresh and wholesome food. . . . The trader 
 was to go on with his business and put all his brains 
 into it, not that he might make a pile and retire 
 early into idleness, but that he might help the free 
 exchange of the world's goods, and bring ease to 
 lives that were straitened. ... In fact the 
 self-regarding element was to pass out of every 
 life, and so each life was to be set free to become 
 something finer and larger and happier. It does 
 in literal fact turn out to be true, that he who loseth 
 his life shall find it, and none but those who have 
 so lost life can ever imagine what a great and satis- 
 
18^ EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 fying and romantic thing life may be through all its 
 course." ' 
 
 So let us present the truth in its whole measure. 
 The self-sacrifice is necessary; and the self-realiza- 
 tion follows. The self must be more fully realized 
 before it may be sacrificed. Both truths are vital 
 and they support one another. 
 
 Entering the Kingdom 
 
 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
 shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; hut he that 
 doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. 
 
 Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye 
 shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven 
 (Matt. 7:21; 18:3). 
 
 We come voluntarily into the Kingdom of Heaven 
 rather than becoming its members by the accident of 
 birth or environment. 
 
 Humility and trust. — These are represented by the 
 attitude and action of the child, who came to Jesus 
 happily and confidently when he was asked to do so. 
 Jesus does not make childishness the condition of 
 entering the Kingdom, but the childlike spirit of 
 humility and trustfulness. The Kingdom is the 
 realm of service; therefore humble hearts alone can 
 share it. The Kingdom is the realm of loving 
 deeds; therefore mutual confidence alone can meet 
 its obligations. The child did not stop to argue or 
 protest when Jesus placed him among the disciples; 
 he put himself into the care of Jesus immediately 
 and happily. Thus we enter the Kingdom. 
 * The Christian Adventure, p. 32. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 183 
 
 Obedience to God's will. — The laws of the King- 
 dom of Heaven are determined by the will of God, 
 which is dictated by personal love. When love de- 
 cides the program of life it must be good. To yield 
 our lives to the program which infinite love and 
 wisdom have determined is to be sure of all the best 
 satisfactions which can possibly come to us. Obedi- 
 ence is an unwelcome proposal to all proud and 
 self-conscious men. They do not like to submit 
 their wills to a higher will or to subject their hves to 
 a program that they did not shape. Like the lowly 
 entrance to a lofty room; however, obedience is the 
 way by which we enter upon the Christian life. The 
 act of surrender is one of yielding; but the gain is 
 eternal in its rewards and satisfactions. 
 
 SERMON TWENTY-NINE 
 
 Every kingdom must be founded on established 
 laws and programs of orderly procedure. The 
 Kingdom of Heaven is no exception to this. Jesus 
 laid the foundation of the new order of life in 
 certain profound principles. Three of these we 
 are to treat in the sermon of the day. 
 
 The first point to be borne in mind is the exceed- 
 ing simplicity of the three laws. They are so well 
 known, so plain, so practical that we do not regard 
 them as seriously as we might if they were not a 
 part of the very fundamental morality and relig- 
 ious training which is in our best homes. These 
 three laws are much like an axiom in mathematics ; 
 
184 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 they do not admit of discussion. They are ac- 
 cepted without dissent. The reason approves at 
 least the first two with no debate. 
 
 Now this makes it all the more difficult to handle 
 these great laws. Of course, the instinctive reply 
 is, we believe in the law of love and the Golden 
 Rule and the great rules of life contained in the 
 Sermon on the Mount. And it is the task of the 
 preacher in this sermon to make these old and ac- 
 cepted laws glow with new meaning and drive 
 home to the practical life of the congregation with 
 new power. This sermon seems to be easy to 
 prepare; as a matter of fact, it is difficult to inform 
 these old and familiar laws with new content. We 
 must gather illustrations and make application that 
 will bring the laws out of the abstract and make 
 them live in the daily lives of men. 
 
 Some years ago Samuel M. Jones of Toledo 
 gained the name of " Golden Rule " Jones because 
 of the way in which he tried to run his business and 
 the affairs of the city of which he was Mayor. He 
 wrote a great many letters to all sorts of people 
 connected with his corporation, and many of these 
 are gathered in a volume rare now but worth many 
 times the price of some of the " best sellers." Here 
 is one of his illustrations of one of the laws of the 
 kingdom : 
 
 "A recent instance of heroism in every-day life 
 indicates the growing power of the Golden Rule. 
 A couple of months ago two negroes in Indianapo- 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 185 
 
 lis were inside a steam-boiler cleaning it, when some 
 one who was not aware that the men were inside, 
 opened a cock and turned scalding hot steam from 
 another boiler in on the men. The only way of 
 escape was up a ladder through a manhole. In- 
 stantly both men jumped for the ladder; the man 
 reaching it first had ascended two or three steps ; a 
 thought struck him and he stepped down ; he turned 
 to his companion and said : ' You go first, Jim, you 
 are married/ Jim was saved to his family and the 
 other black-skinned hero was cooked to his death 
 by the boiling steam." 
 
 There are scores of similar stories that illustrate 
 the power of the great laws of the Kingdom. 
 They do actually work. Men are saved from sin 
 and selfishness by the power of the ruling principles 
 of the Kingdom. We must be careful not to use 
 what is commonly called the " sob stuff " in our 
 sermons; but a piece of honest narrative like the 
 foregoing drives the truth home and makes the 
 laws of the Kingdom glorious. 
 
 Laws of the Kingdom 
 
 Every kingdom is an " order " of life, a practical 
 way of living. Therefore it must have Its laws, in 
 obedience to which freedom is found. The har- 
 monious relationships of life are Imperative to wel- 
 fare and progress. 
 
 The law of love. — See Matt. 22 : 35-40. Summed 
 up briefly, this says: Love God with all your being. 
 There must be nothing partial in the loyal affection 
 
186 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 that we render our God. He must be given an in- 
 telligent love. We are not to love blindly or vi^ith 
 bigoted tenacity. Christ wins the approval of our 
 minds as well as of our hearts. Our wills must go 
 into it as well as our emotions ; the whole personality 
 must answer God's claim. Then we must love our 
 neighbour as we love ourselves; we must love our 
 neighbour in order to increase our love for our own 
 best selves; we must love and perfect our best 
 selves in order to love and serve our neighbour. 
 
 The Golden Rule. — See Matt. 7 : 12. Summed up 
 briefly this means that we must perform for others 
 all those acts which, done to us by others, would 
 promote our highest welfare. We want just treat- 
 ment; then we must treat others justly. We want 
 to be forgiven; then we must forgive others. We 
 want to be dealt with patiently; then we must deal 
 patiently with others. Setting the standard by 
 which others are to determine their conduct toward 
 us, we set the standard by which our conduct to- 
 ward others is to be determined. 
 
 The Sermon on the Mount. — See Matt. 5-7. 
 Summed up briefly this offers a simple program for 
 daily conduct which would issue in such a just, kind 
 world as humanity never yet has known. Here the 
 great motives of life that lead to noble action are 
 set forth simply. It begins with the promise of 
 earthly happiness and closes with the promise of 
 eternal satisfaction. It is the greatest program of 
 human joy and well-being that ever has been of- 
 fered to mankind. Jesus proved by His own life 
 that its principles could be successfully carried out. 
 
SEEMON OUTLINES 187 
 
 It is worth our highest endeavours to attain it; it is 
 God's way for us to follow. 
 
 SERMON THIRTY 
 
 We now come to study the rewards and perma- 
 nent satisfactions of the Christian life as they are 
 realized in the relationships of the Kingdom of 
 God. Too little has been said about the durable 
 gifts of this relationship as they appear in daily 
 life. Three of them are to be considered ; but these 
 are only examples of the gifts which come to men 
 in the service of Christ. 
 
 The one that we emphasize at the conclusion of 
 the sermon ought to be stressed more often in our 
 preaching. The world sorely needs the gift of joy 
 and men are seeking it in all kinds of ways. There 
 is only one true source of happiness. It is found 
 in the service of Christ. Every other ground of 
 satisfaction fails; this never ceases to be the firm 
 foundation. No disappointment or disaster can 
 possibly overwhelm us when we are in personal 
 union with the living Christ. Men have proved 
 this with apparently every obstacle against them 
 and have sung their hymn of victory in the face of 
 those experiences which have struck others dumb. 
 
 The great expression of this truth is in the life 
 of Jesus Himself. We have represented Him so 
 long as the Man of Sorrows that we have missed 
 the fact of His perfectly glorious happiness. He 
 met the hardest experiences that can come to a 
 
188 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 human being; but in the very crisis of His Hfe He 
 talked about His joy. 
 
 Not only was He happy Himself but He shared 
 the happiness of others. He understood the for- 
 gotten aspect of sympathy, " rejoice with them 
 that rejoice." Jesus entered into the happiness of 
 a wedding feast and He shared the joy of the ban- 
 quet. 
 
 His happiness was grounded in His conscious- 
 ness of the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 "As Chesterton has said, we cannot in the end 
 rejoice in anything less than the whole scheme of 
 things. The profoundest truths which theology 
 has ever tried to handle are involved in the issue as 
 to whether life can be happy. In the last resort it 
 depends upon God, and upon the kind of God He 
 Is, whether we can rejoice. But Jesus was quite 
 sure of God — quite sure that the best we can think 
 or imagine about Him is not so good as the reality. 
 He exhausted Himself in finding words and simi- 
 lies to suggest the greatness and splendour of God, 
 and seems to have felt that He had never managed 
 to convey the truth. Of course He was a happy 
 man. And He holds the supreme secret for all 
 who want to be happy." * 
 
 The Privileges of the Kingdom 
 
 For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drink- 
 ing, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy 
 Spirit (Rom. 14:17), 
 
 *Gray, The Christian Adventure, p. 18. 
 
SERMON OUTLINES 189 
 
 Membership in the Kingdom of Heaven brings 
 many duties; but also great privileges and rights 
 that are highly desirable. 
 
 Righteousness. — The result of allegiance to Christ 
 and loyalty to the Kingdom is a changed life. Good- 
 ness, honour, integrity, take the place of the old, 
 mean, and selfish motives which formally controlled 
 our actions. A good life is not gained by the 
 mechanical addition of virtues one by one; it issues 
 from the habitual practice of the ruling principles 
 of Jesus which we accept in faith and obedience. 
 A good life is therefore the effect of union with 
 Christ in the master-motives of life. 
 
 Peace. — The only way in which the world ever 
 will unite in the covenants and institutions that will 
 end war and conflict of all kinds will be to make the 
 laws of the Kingdom of Heaven the laws of indi- 
 vidual and social life. There is no permanent " bal- 
 ance of power" that can insure the world's peace. 
 Love and self-sacrifice and justice, recognized and 
 obeyed as the fundamental laws of life, will bring 
 the day of peace. 
 
 Joy. — The race demands happiness with eager 
 hearts. We have the right to be happy. But our 
 joy often rests in shallow and passing experiences. 
 The joys of the Kingdom are deep and permanent. 
 Our profoundest happiness Is secured when we are 
 investing our lives in the general program in which 
 Jesus found His joy and satisfaction. We know 
 His happiness, which nothing could prevent; it 
 rested in His loving service to others, which noth- 
 ing could discourage or stop. We are to do as Jesus 
 did in order to be happy as Jesus was happy^ 
 
190 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 SERMON THIRTY-ONE 
 
 Now we close the series of sermons on the King- 
 dom of God as expressing the message of Jesus and 
 summing up the Gospel of the reconciliation of 
 men to God through union with Christ. 
 
 What is the essential fact in the peace and per- 
 manence of a kingdom? It is loyalty. Without 
 this the administration of the kingdom is impos- 
 sible. When loyalty breaks down the kingdom 
 perishes. 
 
 The book which sets this truth forth in its re- 
 ligious bearing is The Philosophy of Loyalty by 
 Josiah Royce. The essential meaning of this great 
 human trait is interpreted by Prof. Royce and it is 
 clearly explained that this truth applied to the re- 
 ligious life gives seriousness and effectiveness to 
 the great experience. 
 
 When we pass into the distinctly Christian life 
 we recognize how valid this great principle is. 
 Christianity consists essentially in loyalty to a Per- 
 son. Perhaps there is no better way in which to 
 prepare for this sermon than to review the situa- 
 tion in which we all live and see how central loyalty 
 is to the joy and permanence of the highest human 
 relationships. The whole business world is 
 founded upon it. Loyalty to one's work and em- 
 ployer is fundamental to industry and will be what- 
 ever changes may come into the relations be- 
 tween labour and capital. Every friendship is 
 
SEEMON OUTLIlSrES 191 
 
 founded in loyalty. Unless we can rely upon one 
 another in all kinds of weather we cannot be real 
 friends. Every home is based on simply trust- 
 worthiness on the part of each member of the 
 group. The neighbourhood depends for its wel- 
 fare upon the loyalty to the common interests of 
 the families that compose it. That which will pro- 
 mote the commonwealth lays its imperial claim 
 upon the interest and the loyal devotion of the 
 members of the community. The Church is also 
 founded upon the same principle. Allegiance to 
 creeds that are to be defended must be crowned by 
 personal loyalties of the finest type if the Church is 
 really to become the corporation of Christ. The 
 political order depends upon loyalty. Every civic 
 institution calls for the exercise of this high virtue. 
 The betrayal of public trust is only a sign of the 
 breakdown of loyalty. And thus the background 
 is prepared for the truth that the Christian religion 
 consists in loyalty to a Person. As we have main- 
 tained from the beginning, it Is through personal 
 relations with a divine and living Saviour that we 
 complete the Christian experience. The supreme 
 test is loyalty to the Master Christ. 
 
 Loyalty to the King 
 
 Ye call me Teacher, and Lord; and ye say well; 
 for so I am (John 13: 13). 
 
 Jesus did not hesitate to affirm His place of su- 
 preme authority in the Kingdom of God. He placed 
 
192 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 His own Person at the center as the object of loyalty 
 on the part of all Christians. The test still is that 
 of loyalty to Christ. 
 
 Loyalty to the King's truth. — Jesus brought the 
 truth by which men may live well and presented it 
 plainly so that all may xmderstand it. But under- 
 standing is not enough. We must take the truth 
 that Jesus taught and exemplified and make it into 
 workable principles to guide us in daily living. It 
 has a sacred claim upon us; it is not a merely ab- 
 stract truth. Test life by what we are doing with 
 the King's truth. 
 
 Loyalty to the King's spirit, — More important and 
 imperial than all that Jesus taught was the spirit in 
 which He lived and served His age. There is per- 
 fect union between His words and His spirit ; but it 
 is the spirit that is supreme. This spirit also comes 
 to us with a personal claim. It demands that we 
 shall bring our own lives under the sway of the 
 same high mood and sacrificial temper. When we 
 do this we are sure that our life will be useful and 
 happy. We may miss the attainments that the world 
 calls fortunate; but we shall have the inner peace 
 and joy that the world cannot give or take away. 
 Test life by what we are doing with the King's 
 spirit. 
 
 Loyalty to the King's Person. — Either Jesus was 
 the rightful Commander of men's lives or He was 
 the most audacious of proud leaders ; for He dared 
 to make loyalty to His Person the test of life in the 
 Kingdom of God. He said, Follow me. He put 
 Himself at the center of the love and the service that 
 
SERMOl^ OUTLINES 19S 
 
 men should seek to render to God and to one an- 
 other. It is still so. Christians are those who have 
 yielded their wills to Christ and are utterly loyal to 
 Him as well as to His truth and spirit. They think 
 of themselves as still the followers and disciples of 
 a Person. Jesus does not walk at their sides but 
 He reigns in their hearts. He is not with them at 
 the table or in the street; but He is actually with 
 them in their inmost purposes and endeavours. When 
 they are sure of this and loyal to all that the truth 
 involves they are strong and happy. Test life by 
 loyalty to Christ Himself. 
 
 SERMON THIRTY-TWO 
 
 In this last sermon of the series in which the 
 Gospel is presented to the community we undertake 
 to show the practical meaning of the truth concern- 
 ing eternal life. One of the most serious charges 
 made against Christians is to claim that, whatever 
 they may believe about the immortality of the soul, 
 they behave as if they were simply mortal. The 
 great truth may be in their theories; but it is not 
 active in their lives. Now if this is so, it is a most 
 serious fault. We need not discuss the validity of 
 the charge ; we must present the fact of immortality 
 with such clearness and conviction that men will be 
 ready to make practical use of the truth and regu- 
 late their conduct according to it. 
 
 The matter has been put vividly as follows: 
 
194 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 " The truth is, we must live, and we must Hvc 
 by some kind of beUef or disbeHef. Now either 
 the soul persists after death or it does not. These 
 are the alternatives, there is no other. You may 
 ignore the whole question, and even pour contempt 
 on those who expend thought upon it, but you do 
 not thereby get rid of either horn of the dilemma, 
 the great Either-Or on which hang interests un- 
 speakably momentous. Immortality is either a fact 
 or it is a falsehood. Do you say: Granted, but I 
 am in no position to prove it to be either one or 
 other, therefore I can make no affirmation either by 
 way of belief or disbelief. Very well, but you are 
 living as if one or the other were true. Logically 
 you may be entitled to the name ' agnostic,' but in 
 actual practice you are a believer' or a disbe- 
 liever." ' 
 
 This is the point that we are seeking to bring 
 out in this sermon. Dr. McComb speaks of our 
 action as " the ethics of an eternal being." 
 The ordinary standards and the great life ob- 
 jectives of the Christian must be those of " an 
 eternal being." We are not here as citizens of 
 time only. The work that we do is not carried on 
 as if it were to cease or to come to its full fruition 
 within the scope of an average human life. There 
 are far deeper values in it. We must not act ac- 
 cording to mortal but rather according to immortal 
 
 * The Future Life in the Light of Modern Inquiry, by 
 Samuel McComb, 1920, p. 25. 
 
SERMON OUTLINES 195 
 
 standards. This is a truth that we can apply in 
 the busiest day and from which we can derive in- 
 spiration and hope in the darkest hour. 
 
 Sons of the Resurrection 
 
 Sons of God, being sons of the resurrection (Luke 
 20:36). 
 
 Christians have been well called the Children of 
 the Resurrection. The Christian life is accurately 
 described as the practice of the life eternal. The 
 peril attending our belief in immortality is that it 
 will be immortal in our theories but dead in our 
 lives. The urgent obligation upon all Christians is 
 to live day by day as if each were a part of the 
 eternal life, imparting immortal meaning to mortal 
 life. Four principles are valid: 
 
 All acts have eternal value. — No deed is some- 
 thing simply done and ended. It goes on forever 
 in its influence. It must reach its conclusion some- 
 time and bear its inevitable fruit. We cannot say 
 good-bye to our deeds; we shall meet them again! 
 Therefore the fact of immortality adds the greatest 
 possible meaning and worth to all our deeds and 
 duties. 
 
 All souls have eternal worth. — If the soul is en- 
 dowed with immortal value how can we injure it 
 whether it be our own or that of a comrade. It is 
 more durable and precious than anything else we 
 know. True respect for ourselves and for others is 
 derived from this fact of the deathless value of the 
 human spirit. Kindness and social obligation find 
 their highest warrant in this truth. God's image 
 
196 EVANGELISTIC PEE ACHING 
 
 in man and the fact of immortality make our earthly 
 life significant and beautiful. 
 
 God's highest purposes for man's welfare involve 
 eternity. — We know how short the span of human 
 life on earth is. But the resources of eternity are 
 in God's hands. We may see only the broken arc 
 here ; but there is still possible the " perfect round " 
 in the eternal world. We might easily despair if 
 the span of mortal life and the small resources of 
 earth were available for the perfection of God's pur- 
 poses. But when we reckon with eternity we take 
 courage and join more eagerly in partnership with 
 God to realize our supreme good. 
 
 New power for daily life issues from this truth. — 
 The treasures of hope and fresh resolution open 
 from this truth. Immortality does not remain a 
 doctrine about which to speculate but a truth by 
 which to live. It brings confidence and joy into 
 even the hardest situations, for heaven and earth 
 are one and eternity will see time's task completed. 
 
PART III 
 
 Talks to Children and Young 
 People 
 
TALKS TO CHILDREN AND YOUNG 
 PEOPLE 
 
 APART of the work of the preacher or 
 evangeUst in a church mission or campaign 
 will be concerned with the children and 
 young people, to whom he will seek to bring the 
 Gospel as a message of life, suited to their needs 
 and designed to bring them into such a natural 
 and deliberate union with Christ as will make them 
 happy and victorious Christians. 
 
 It will be necessary at the outset to present the 
 Christian message to them in such ways as will 
 show them that the Christian religion has some- 
 thing to do with their lives in home and school and 
 as they begin their business careers. That there is 
 need of this admits of no doubt. After a talk to a 
 group of High School pupils an earnest girl said: 
 " I never supposed before that religion had any- 
 thing to do with my home or school work." When 
 she was questioned she added that she had thought 
 of religion as something that involved going to 
 church and saying prayers and not doing certain 
 things which the church people were supposed to 
 object to. But she never had thought that religion 
 had any power to determine the quality of the 
 work one did at school, the kind of a game one 
 
 199 
 
200 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 played and the sort of a friend one proved to be 
 in the week-day relationships of an office. When 
 she saw that this was just the world in which the 
 fact of her loyalty to Christ was to be tested and 
 proved she had a new conception of religion. 
 
 It is this old problem of remoteness that we have 
 to reckon with. The message of Christ had been 
 connected up in her mind with certain duties car- 
 ried out on Sundays, with distant rewards and 
 punishments in a far-away heaven, with certain 
 denials and restraints. She never had seen that to 
 be a Christian meant to gain power to become 
 what she ought to be as a child of God. 
 
 Therefore if it is possible in the church mission 
 to gather the children and young people for meet- 
 ings by themselves, let the subjects be such as suit 
 their particular problems and surroundings. The 
 same message that is brought to the adults may be 
 brought to them ; but it must be in different terms 
 and with a different approach. 
 
 The following suggestions are therefore offered 
 for the meetings of the children and young people, 
 in the hope that, as in the case of the sermons, they 
 may be freely adapted to the occasions and fitted to 
 the temper and the problems of childhood and 
 youth. 
 
 The nine talks that follow are grouped around 
 the idea of Loyalty, which is one that all children 
 and young people understand thoroughly. It is 
 fundamental to their action. It figures in their 
 
TALKS TO YOUNG PEOPLE 201 
 
 groups and gangs. The whole matter of " snitch- 
 ing " or " tattHng " gathers around a conception of 
 loyalty for which they will often suffer intensely. 
 The subjects chosen are those that have to do 
 with the daily living of those to whom the talks 
 are addressed. This seem.s better than to take 
 anything at all remote from life. One need not 
 fear to be specific and to hew to the line in talking 
 with children and youth about the fundamental 
 problems of life. They are willing to listen to 
 plain speaking. Therefore make the applications 
 of the truth clear and do not flinch. They will 
 respect complete honesty of statement. They like 
 to have the truth put with perfect impartiality, and 
 above all things they do not like to be patronized 
 or talked down to. Respect their intelligence, their 
 honesty and their willingness to respond to the 
 claims of a truth even if it involves some sacrifices. 
 
 TALK ONE 
 Loyal to Christ 
 
 ''Follow me" (Matt. 9:9). 
 
 We all follow leaders and are loyal to those who 
 command our respect and friendship. We ought 
 to be loyal to the noblest and best leader. Jesus 
 is the best Leader whom we possibly could follow. 
 These are some of the reasons: 
 
 Because of the happy, useful life that He lived. 
 We catch glimpses of Him from the time He was a 
 child until He died when He was a little more than 
 
202 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 thirty years old, and always He is helping others, 
 living in a brave and happy way, and being the kind 
 of a person that we would like to be. It is worth 
 while to be loyal to such a Leader. 
 
 Because of the noble rules for life that He gave. 
 There is no other great teacher whose rules for liv- 
 ing are so lofty and so simple and so possible to 
 carry out. Take the so-called Sermon on the Mount 
 in Matthew 5-7 as an example. If we would prac- 
 tice these principles steadily the whole world would 
 be changed. It would prevent the sins and the wars 
 that make life miserable for mankind. It would 
 take away the strife from our homes, the conflict 
 from our labour world, and give us peace and good 
 will everywhere. 
 
 Because of the character which His friendship 
 creates. No one would claim that the followers of 
 Christ have been perfect men and women. Many 
 have come into the church claiming to be loyal to 
 Him who have not been worthy of the relationship. 
 But on the whole, during all the course of Chris- 
 tian history, there has been a type of people who 
 have been the loyal followers of Christ; and these 
 have been the best, the bravest and the happiest peo- 
 ple that the world ever has seen. The leaders in 
 all the movements for the uplift of mankind have 
 been the followers of Jesus. The men and women 
 who have made the greatest sacrifices for others 
 have been Christians. The finest ideal characters 
 have been created through loyalty to Christ. 
 
 This is the warrant for accepting Jesus as Master 
 and giving Him the first place in our lives. 
 
TALKS TO YOUNG PEOPLE 203 
 
 TALK TWO 
 Loyal to Christ at Home 
 
 *'And he went down with them, and came to Naza- 
 reth; and he was subject unto them: and his mother 
 kept all these sayings in her heart'* (Luke 2: 51). 
 
 One of the places where we are to show our 
 loyalty to Jesus is in our home life. Every glimpse 
 that we have of Jesus shows Him to have been true 
 to all the relations of His home in Nazareth. Are 
 we also happy and comfortable to live with? Make 
 the following tests : 
 
 Getting the unselfish family spirit. Jesus had 
 this: He was " subject unto " his father and mother. 
 He obeyed. He fitted His life into the life of the 
 home. He gave up His individual rights and pleas- 
 ures for the higher duties and privileges of the 
 home. We cannot have our own way all the time 
 if we are to live with others. The unselfish spirit 
 of Jesus is the only one that ever will produce a 
 happy home. 
 
 Doing our part of the family work. This tests 
 the unselfish spirit. No home can be happy and 
 prosperous unless the labour is divided and each one 
 according to his ability does his fair share. The 
 family does not exist simply to serve its members; 
 the members are to serve one another in the family. 
 The same faithfulness and happy temper that we 
 put into some great work we must also put into the 
 little duties that are our part of the home life. 
 
 Being patient in home life. We know each other 
 so well in our homes that it is difficult to get along 
 
204 EVANGELISTIC PBEACHING 
 
 with one another and be sympathetic and patient. 
 It is so much easier to be poHte at a party or when 
 others are looking on than it is to keep from quick 
 answers and provoking acts with our own brothers 
 and sisters. But courtesy to our own home folk is 
 essential in being loyal to Christ. He was consid- 
 erate of His mother and always a gentleman, even 
 with those who knew Him best. 
 
 Bringing out the best in others. So many times 
 members of the same family irritate and nag one 
 another! So they bring out the worst in one an- 
 other instead of the best. But people were always 
 aroused to be and do their best when they were 
 with Jesus. We must see the best in each other 
 and try to bring it out. This tests our loyalty to 
 Christ. 
 
 TALK THREE 
 Loyal to Christ in School Life 
 
 " Give diligence to present thyself approved unto 
 God, a workman that needeth not to he ashamed, 
 handling aright the word of truth " (2 Tim. 2: 15). 
 
 The way in which we prepare our lessons, meet 
 our friends, prove our loyalty to the highest ideals 
 of our school, is a true test of our sincerity In fol- 
 lowing Christ. 
 
 Christ and our lessons. Has our loyalty to Christ 
 anything to do with the way in which we prepare 
 our school work? Yes. If we are honestly loyal 
 to Christ we shall do our hardest home work with 
 all our might, and work as faithfully when we are 
 
TALKS TO YOUNG PEOPLE 205 
 
 not being watched as we would when we sit in study 
 period with the teacher present. If we are sure 
 that Christ is our Master we will not need to be 
 watched or prodded to work hard. He was a 
 worker who did not need to be ashamed. We shall 
 be if we follow Him. 
 
 Christ and examinations. The tendency to cheat 
 is one of the hardest temptations that we meet in our 
 school life. We have no more right to steal each 
 other's thoughts and knowledge than we have to rob 
 the gymnasium lockers. To gain information by 
 whispering and looking over the papers of others, to 
 use " cribs " in an examination, to be dishonest in 
 any test is to fail Christ. Nothing less than com- 
 plete honesty in school work will meet the conditions 
 of being loyal to Christ. 
 
 Christ and the spirit of the school. Every school 
 has what we call its " spirit." It is the sum of its 
 ideals, its enthusiasms and its noblest loyalties. 
 Every member of the school makes or hurts the 
 school spirit. Our individual honour, courtesy, 
 faithfulness contributes to the spirit of the school 
 as a whole. The greatest gift we could make to our 
 school is to put the spirit of Christ into all our acts. 
 It would raise the whole temper of the group. Christ 
 is the supreme example of what loyalty to others in 
 a group will do. He changed the whole life of each 
 disciple by what He did for him as a Friend. The 
 spirit of the Twelve Disciples was the finest that 
 we can discover. Jesus wants us to do for the 
 spirit of our school what He did for His friends. 
 
206 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 TALK FOUR 
 Loyal to Christ in Our Friendships 
 
 "/ have called you friends" (John 15: 15). 
 
 There is a place for our reHgion in the working 
 out of our friendships. The help that we give to 
 one another is of the greatest importance in the mak- 
 ing of our character. To be the kind of a friend 
 that Jesus was is to measure up to the highest stand- 
 ards of help and happiness. 
 
 Appreciating the best in others. We are always 
 happy when our friends find out the best that is in 
 us and appreciate and approve it. It encourages us 
 to try to be what those who love us think we are 
 able to become. If we do to others as we would 
 like to have others do to us we will also find and 
 appreciate the best that is in our friends. If there 
 are faults in them we will give our friends the bene- 
 fit of the doubt. 
 
 Being kind and patient with our friends. How 
 patient Jesus was with such disciples as Peter, who 
 did not understand Him, and, in the hardest hour 
 of His life, denied Him ! It looked as if there were 
 nothing left of Peter but a miserable traitor and 
 failure. But Jesus stood by him and in time he be- 
 came one of the great apostles and gave his life at 
 last for the Master whom he had denied. If we 
 are loyal to Christ we are ready to be patient and 
 kind with our comrades and daily work and school. 
 They make mistakes ; but so do we. They need an- 
 other chance; so do we. They generally will make 
 good; so shall we. 
 
TALKS TO YOUNG PEOPLE 207 
 
 Taking a real part in the personal problems of our 
 friends. The way in which Jesus added His per- 
 sonal influence to the struggle of His friends to at- 
 tain their ideals points out the way in which we may 
 be of the greatest help to others. It is more im- 
 portant that we should give our friends the force 
 of a right example, the strength of real encourage- 
 ment, the lift of a high ideal than that we should 
 take them to parties, give them rides in our auto- 
 mobiles or do any other pleasant thing that will 
 simply make them happy and comfortable. 
 
 TALK FIVE 
 
 Loyal to Christ in Play 
 "And if also a man contend in the games, he is not 
 crowned, except he have contended lawfully" (2 Tim. 
 
 2:5)- 
 
 Is sport religious ? Is it not " worldly " ? Does 
 being loyal to Christ have anything to do with the 
 way we play? 
 
 The secret of true sport is the game, not the victory. 
 Start with this fact. It is not supremely important 
 whether or not we win ; it is all important whether or 
 not we play fair. A victory won by foul means is a 
 real defeat. Many a man carries a foul conscience 
 because he knows that he won by an undetected trick. 
 We cannot be loyal to Christ and use any dishonour- 
 able method even to gain a most desirable end. 
 Christian players have white consciences and clean 
 hands. 
 
 Fair play is a Christian art. It starts with self- 
 
208 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 control. One must gain mastery of himself before 
 he can control a group play. Jesus was always in 
 command of Himself. He never let go in fits of 
 passion. He never let His vanity get the upper hand 
 so that He preferred an individual play to a team 
 play. The success of the whole was put ahead of 
 His own reputation or advantage. Then fair play 
 goes on to a clear sense of comradeship and loyalty 
 to the group. Fair play is always social. It brings 
 the action and the interests of others into considera- 
 tion. Jesus was a perfect example of this sense. He 
 thought of the interests of every member of His group 
 of friends and He sought first the welfare of the 
 whole company. Thus fair play sometimes involves 
 the sacrifice of the individual to the success of the 
 game as a whole. It is what is known as the prin- 
 ciple of the " sacrifice hit," where an individual 
 player, for the sake of the runners on bases, places 
 his hit and is put out in order to give running time 
 to his comrades. The team is always more than the 
 ** star " player. Sometimes the " star " is a nuisance 
 to the team. To blend our own interests with those 
 of the group and then to yield them willingly to the 
 success of the whole Is one of the best tests we can 
 make of our loyalty to Christ. 
 
 TALK SIX 
 
 Loyal to Christ in Daily Work 
 "Is not this the carpenter? " (Mark 6:3). 
 The way in which we do our daily work con- 
 stantly tests our loyalty to Christ. 
 
TALKS TO YOUNG PEOPLE 209 
 
 There is a Christian standard for labour. It 
 grows out of the Golden Rule. If any one were 
 working for us we would feel that he should give an 
 honest return for the wages he was paid. Any one 
 who does less than his best, therefore, in working for 
 others is not doing to others as he would have others 
 do to him. Also, out of loyalty to the work itself, 
 we ought to do our utmost and best. All work is 
 done, not for wages alone, but for the work itself f 
 If it is worth doing it is worth doing in the best 
 possible way that we can do it. 
 
 There is a Christian spirit in labour. This demands 
 more than just the amount of work that we do; it 
 has to do with the temper or mood in which we 
 work. One may do all that is required, but accom- 
 plish it in such a temper of grudging complaint that 
 the beauty of it is quite spoiled. To whine through 
 a job may ruin it, even although we succeed in 
 getting it fully done on time. Christian work is 
 happy work. That is the way in which Jesus threw 
 Himself into labour. 
 
 There is a Christian reward of labour. It ought to 
 be first a fair return in wages, based not merely on 
 the price in labour in the market, but upon a just 
 division of the product of the work done. But the 
 greater reward comes from seeing a piece of neces- 
 sary work done and done well. One of the highest 
 joys we know is to look at something that we have 
 done and feel the satisfaction of knowing that we 
 have put our very best self into it and that it is a 
 credit to us. If this is an office job, or a task on the 
 farm, or something done around the house for the 
 
210 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 good of the family, or a hard lesson in school, the 
 principle holds in each case. This reward cannot be 
 estimated in dollars and cents. It is the inner satis- 
 faction that comes from knowing that our hands 
 have shared in the doing of something that makes it 
 easier and better for others to live. This is to be 
 loyal to Christ. 
 
 TALK SEVEN 
 
 Loyal to Christ in Our Personal Example 
 
 "Let no man despise thy youth; but he thou an 
 ensample to them that believe, in word, in manner of 
 life, in love, in faith, in purity " (i Tim. 4: 12). 
 
 The power of personal example is almost bound- 
 less ; we begin our life as imitators of others and we 
 never cease to be swayed by personal example. Our 
 highest duty in setting an example to others is to 
 represent Christ to them. Five aspects of personal 
 example are indicated in the text : 
 
 In our words. Note the power of speech. What 
 we say not only reveals the quality of our lives; but 
 it exerts deep and strong influence upon others. To 
 speak the right word in the right way at the right 
 time is a Christian art. We must guard our words 
 carefully. 
 
 " Boys flying kites pull in their white winged birds ; 
 You can't do that when you are flying words." 
 
 In daily action. What we do speaks louder than 
 what we say. There is no such thing as a trivial 
 deed. It may escape us with little thought of its 
 
TALKS TO YOUNG PEOPLE 211 
 
 power; but it may exert the deepest influence upon 
 another. We know that some of the greatest men 
 have had their lives swayed by the smallest acts of 
 others. 
 
 In love. We cannot all be famous or rich ; but we 
 can all love and be kind. The strongest forces in all 
 the world are those that spring from a loving pur- 
 pose. Love is not easy. It takes all the strength and 
 decision of the strongest character to love good 
 causes and all one's comrades truly. But it is the 
 only life that is worth while. In the end our worth 
 and influence are both measured by our love. 
 
 In faith. The way we believe in God, in goodness 
 and in one another exerts a mighty influence. Some- 
 times the highest duty that comes to us in school or in 
 business is to stand true to a noble and unselfish 
 principle, having faith in it when others refuse to 
 believe. We must prove that we believe in goodness 
 and truth and will stand by them whatever the cost. 
 Such an example counts. 
 
 In purity. This means a clean heart first of all, 
 one that cherishes no hatreds and harbours no coarse 
 thoughts. It means pure talk and courteous action 
 with our friends. It scorns stories that have an un- 
 clean meaning and suggestions that easily may be 
 turned into impure suggestions. It stands for the 
 noblest treatment of boys and girls by one another. 
 
 TALK EIGHT 
 Loyal to Christ in Personal Habits 
 
 " / do always the things that are pleasing to him " 
 (John 8:29). 
 
212 EVANGELISTIC PEEAOHING 
 
 It is said that we all are bundles of habits. That 
 which we do regularly, habitually, without thinking 
 about it, is the real index of our character. The 
 finest example of personal habits is Jesus. We 
 ought to work hard to grow like Him in our habitual 
 action. Study these four habits: 
 
 The habit of hard work. Industry and diligence 
 lay the foundations of success and are the sign of 
 our religion. Only a few men and women succeed 
 by what seems to be genius or especial talent. Even 
 genius is nine-tenths hard work. Laziness is im- 
 moral. It is one way to deny God when we loaf and 
 shirk. Christ was a worker. We must follow Him. 
 
 The habit of kindness. Hard work alone may 
 produce a hard character. Kindness is the force 
 that binds the family group together and makes the 
 whole home cheerful. It comes into business life 
 with the richest blessings. It seems only a slight 
 thing to be kind; but it is one of the noblest of 
 habits. It means that we put ourselves into the 
 place of another and try to use generous judgments. 
 It brings help and courage to others quite beyond 
 the apparent power of the kind act or generous word. 
 
 The habit of helping. We all need help. We 
 are neither wise enough nor strong enough to live 
 wholly by ourselves. So we must gain the habit of 
 lifting loads for others as we need help ourselves. 
 A divided task brings greater joy to both who share 
 the burden. We all like to be independent and we 
 must not thrust ourselves upon others; but we need 
 help and we must learn to give help in the natural 
 and beautiful way in which Jesus did. No person 
 
TALKS TO YOUNG PEOPLE 213 
 
 ever met Jesus without gaining new strength in some 
 way for the work that he was doing. 
 
 The habit of faith. What a large place is occu- 
 pied in life by faith or trust! We must trust na- 
 ture, of which we are a part. We must trust our 
 comrades, with whom we have to work out the 
 problems of our common life. We must trust ideals 
 and hopes, which inspire us to high and noble living. 
 Most of all, we must trust God, the great object of 
 faith, and Christ, the great Master. We can learn 
 to do this so steadily that it grows into a habit. So 
 we shall live well because we trust great principles 
 and are loyal to Christ. 
 
 TALK NINE 
 Loyal to Christ in Personal Ambition 
 
 "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, 
 and to accomplish his work " (John 4: 34). 
 
 Our personal ambition is, like the chart and com- 
 pass to the navigator or the base line to the surveyor, 
 essential to our success or failure in life. The high- 
 est ambition that we possibly could have is that 
 which controlled Jesus. There are different aspects 
 of it. 
 
 The ambition to live the best life possible. Jesus 
 had this ambition. He was eager to " sanctify " or 
 " perfect " Himself for the good of others. This 
 means simply that He yearned to live the best possi- 
 ble life. See John 17:19. He took care of His 
 body, trained His mind, made His will power strong, 
 entered into the largest number of available rela- 
 tions with others, all in order that He might live a 
 
214 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 complete life. This outlines our ambition for the 
 best life possible. 
 
 The ambition to make the world better. Jesus had 
 this ambition. He was ready to help the sick and 
 the poor; He gave every kind of aid to those who 
 were missing the meaning of life as a result of their 
 sin. He tried to make it a more joyful and satis- 
 factory experience to live. When He had ended His 
 life it could be truly said that He had made this 
 world a better place to live in as long as it should 
 last because He had given His best to it. There is 
 a real approval of this kind of an ambition in all 
 honest hearts ; the way in which to realize it is to be 
 loyal to Christ in our daily thought and action. 
 
 The ambition to please God. Our ambition to use 
 our lives for the highest purpose and to help others 
 is summed up in our desire to know and do God's 
 will in such a way that we may please Him. It is 
 like a child's relation to his own home. Parents 
 have high ideals for their children. When those 
 ideals are taken up and carried out by their children, 
 parents are pleased. That is, the purpose of the par- 
 ents for their children becomes the highest ambition 
 of the children themselves. To follow Christ in our 
 personal ambitions, therefore, means to do what He 
 did : learn in every possible way the will of God and 
 then make it the law of our lives. We know what 
 God's will for us is, namely, that we should be the 
 kind of a person that Jesus was, true and brave and 
 trustful, making the utmost of ourselves and giving 
 ourselves at our utmost to the world in which we live. 
 
PART IV 
 Special Gatherings 
 
MEN'S MEETINGS, WOMEN'S MEETINGS, 
 BIBLE TALKS 
 
 AS a part of the church mission, the evan- 
 geUstic campaign or even the year's 
 preaching organized around the evangeHs- 
 tic message, there will probably be meetings for 
 men alone, for women alone, or at least for such 
 adult meetings as will call for addresses of a dif- 
 ferent type from that required in the sermons that 
 we have proposed. 
 
 In view of this need we make suggestions of 
 texts, subjects and expositions of Scripture (which 
 we have called Bible Talks for lack of a better 
 name) suited to these group meetings. The hear- 
 ers will generally be men and women who have 
 been Christians for some years and whose experi- 
 ence may be trusted to afford the necessary back- 
 ground for edifying and interpreting addresses on 
 the great characters, doctrines, promises, and as- 
 surances of the Bible. Mr. Moody used to give 
 these as " Bible Readings," and those who remem- 
 ber his directness, his knowledge of the Bible, his 
 sense of the needs of his audiences will know what 
 power lay in these simple studies of Bible truth. 
 
 The same adaptation of these suggestions to the 
 needs of the situation will, of course, be made by 
 the preacher or evangelist as are expected in con- 
 nection with all the texts and subjects that have 
 
 217 
 
218 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 been proposed. The topics are proposed more as 
 examples of what may be done than as things to 
 be done as they are suggested. But with the pro- 
 gram of the meetings in mind as we have proposed 
 it these and similar subjects seem to be suited to 
 use. 
 
 Addresses for Men's Meetings 
 In selecting the subjects for the addresses we 
 have kept in mind the particular problems of the 
 religious life of the men of a community. We 
 have had clearly before us the informal character 
 of the meeting, and have aimed at the directness 
 of style and address that are characteristic of the 
 vigorous thinking of groups of men. 
 
 There has been no change in the message that 
 we have been trying to give ; the only modification 
 has been in the close adaptation of the subjects and 
 method of treatment to a particular group. 
 
 Make the applications of truth close; seek con- 
 crete and forceful illustrations ; speak with direct- 
 ness and great frankness. The one characteristic 
 of effective addresses to groups of men should be 
 complete sincerity. No artifice is tolerable. 
 
 MEN'S MEETING, I 
 Being a Man is a Man's Job 
 " Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like 
 men, he strong" (i Cor. i6: 13). 
 The greatest task ever given to any man is simply 
 
SPECIAL GATHEEINGS 219 
 
 to live a manly life, to be a complete man. Our 
 supreme business is the development of our own per- 
 sonal character so that it may please God and serve 
 our generation in the highest possible way. 
 
 We have to Fight for Manhood. Character is not 
 a gift ; it is an achievement. It costs more to attain 
 it than it does to secure any other good in life. The 
 whole world is marked by struggle. It begins with 
 the lowest forms of life and ends with the endeavour 
 to attain a Christlike character. Therefore this is 
 not an exception in the order of life. Our own mo- 
 tives are weak and unworthy ; outward circumstances 
 drag us down. Obstacles would force us to yield 
 the fight; our friends sometimes lose faith in us. 
 This is the fight before us. 
 
 Our Determination to Win is Half the Battle. 
 The text is a command addressed to the will of the 
 individual. It recognizes the fact that determination 
 is a large factor in the fight. Therefore we are told 
 that we must determine to win our battle for Chris- 
 tian character. The decision to press the fight to 
 the end is the greatest single assurance of victory. 
 Without it the fight is lost at the outset. Our de- 
 cision must be positive and tenacious. We must hold 
 to the decision to win by God's help in spite of every 
 circumstance and failure that would divert or dis- 
 hearten us. 
 
 Manly Action is a Warrant of Victory. Not only 
 are we summoned to firm decision by the text, but we 
 are encouraged to definite and manly action to 
 achieve success. The problem must be worked at 
 with specific and constant action. To will is not 
 
220 EVANGELISTIC PEEAOHING 
 
 enough ; we must carry out the decision in a specific 
 program of service. Duties must be assumed and 
 responsibiHties accepted. Hardships must be met. 
 Surrender of that which we would Uke to enjoy must 
 be often made. Ridicule must sometimes be experi- 
 enced. Patience is also necessary. It is a man's 
 fight and a man's achievement. This fact makes 
 the challenge of Christ all the more attractive. We 
 are not offered a primrose path and something for 
 nothing. We are summoned to hard fighting. 
 
 MEN'S MEETING, II 
 Christ the Helper of Men 
 
 " For verily not to angels doth he give help, hut he 
 giveth help to the seed of Abraham" (Heb. 2: i6). 
 
 Note the tendency to remove Jesus from our real 
 human world. We think of Christ in some far-off 
 heaven. But Christ is not remote from life. He is 
 in the midst of our daily, common life. Study the 
 areas of our daily needs where Christ is present to 
 help us. 
 
 In our Moral Struggle. We recall the fact that 
 there is an inevitable and fierce struggle on for char- 
 acter. We cannot win this fight alone. It is the 
 testimony of millions of men and women since the 
 beginnings of Christian history that Christ does 
 actually bring fresh resources to the soul in its 
 struggle and turns the tide of battle in favour of 
 goodness and truth in the conflict with sin. Through 
 trust and prayer the ener^^^ arrives ; our spent souls 
 
SPECIAL GATHEEINGS 221 
 
 may be given new courage and power. Christ is our 
 helper when the hour of crisis comes. 
 
 In Determining the Meaning and Worth of Life. 
 It is not easy to be sure either what the world means 
 or what life is worth. In hours of dismay we some- 
 times question seriously whether the order of life is 
 good or whether living is worth while. But Christ 
 has solved this problem. His own life is the answer 
 to the question. Our human life is the opportunity 
 for God's love and wisdom to find its results achieved 
 through human cooperation. This world is the place 
 in which the Kingdom of God is to be realized. So, 
 however long or short our life may be, it is good and 
 glorious to live. 
 
 In ovir Fear of Failure and Death. Men always 
 have lived under the grim foreboding lest somehow 
 God's plans should be thwarted. Death is a for- 
 bidding experience at best. On both these points 
 Christ brings us practical help. We feel sure that 
 sometime God will bring His Kingdom into realiza- 
 tion since the eternal life is assured through Christ. 
 We need not fear death since we have seen that it 
 is robbed of its terror in the case of Jesus. We 
 know that death Is an episode in the continuous life 
 of the spirit and because Christ lives we shall live 
 also. 
 
 MEN^S MEETING, III 
 The Flame of New Life 
 " Stir up the gift of God that is in thee " (2 Tim. 
 1:6). 
 The figure in the Greek word is vivid and pictur- 
 
222 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 esque. It means to fan and to kindle into flame liv- 
 ing embers. So the text really reads: Kindle into 
 flame the smouldering life of the soul. 
 
 The Flame of our Life often Burns out. Our 
 early enthusiasms wear away and leave us; the 
 freshness of our dreams often fades. The abrasion 
 of daily work is hard on the finer texture of the 
 spirit. Selfish ambitions invade our purposes and 
 the nobler visions of former days wane. Unless we 
 are constantly on the watch we see the flame dwindle 
 and finally even the glow cease in the embers. We 
 must stir and fan the coals and kindle the spark to 
 flame. 
 
 The Spark of Life is still there. In spite of all 
 the loss of our higher ideals, there still remain the 
 glowing coals of aspiration and yearning in our 
 souls. In our deepest and sincerest moments we 
 know that we are the children of the Eternal. We 
 are sure that we are built too large for earth. We 
 cannot be wholly satisfied either with our highest 
 human attainment or the best of our earthly suc- 
 cesses. We want something more. We yearn for 
 higher levels of life and our spirit goes out in a 
 quest for God. All these are indications of the 
 smouldering sparks of the new life. We must kindle 
 them. 
 
 The Live Coals must he Fanned into Flame, How 
 can this be done? We must get into touch with new 
 truths that have power to inspire and strengthen the 
 soul. We can find these in Christ. We must sec 
 the world in finer and holier aspects. This we can 
 do when we look at it through the eyes of Christ. 
 
SPECIAL GATHEEINGS 223 
 
 We must discover .new duties and get into touch 
 with new comrades. These are furnished to us 
 when we come into vital relations with Christ. 
 Nothing causes our life to break into flame more 
 quickly than to confront it with great opportunities 
 for service. When we sense a big task for Christ 
 we feel that there is something in us responding to 
 it. Just this task Christ presents to us now. It is 
 nothing less than the redemption of the whole world, 
 including ourselves, from sin into a new life of love 
 and joy and peace. That is the biggest program 
 that ever was set before American men. We must 
 meet it, 
 
 MEN'S MEETING, IV 
 Wind for Seed: Whirlwinds for Harvest 
 
 "For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the 
 whirlwind" (Hos. 8:7). 
 
 Note the principle, Whatsoever a man soweth that 
 shall he also reap. The seed sown in the field and 
 the harvest reaped from it are identical in kind. 
 This is universal law. Study some of its applica- 
 tions : 
 
 Evil Seed. In this include some of the sinful pur- 
 poses and actions that are characteristic of Amer- 
 ican men to-day. 
 
 Violent Passion. Surrender of our self-control 
 and yielding to outbreaks of temper lea'd at last to 
 fury and violence, with rash and profane speech. 
 We must learn to control ourselves. 
 
 Coarse and Unclean Ideas, Language, Stories. 
 Vulgar jests, stories with double meaning, dwelling 
 
224 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 on unclean subjects finally and often quickly bring 
 the habit of vicious thought and action. In the end 
 whirlwinds of sensual emotion sweep over and over- 
 whelm us. 
 
 Small Dishonesties. The temptation to indulge 
 in small dishonesties, the result of which will ac- 
 crue to our immediate advantage, crowd upon us. 
 We are certain in our minds that we never shall be 
 caught. But one deception demands another and 
 still greater fraud; so before we know it we are 
 hopelessly involved in ruin. 
 
 Doubt of God's Love and Goodness. We begin 
 sometimes by yielding to the doubts that arise when 
 we study modern science or attempt to explain all 
 the experiences of religion. Slowly we give up the 
 faith of a simple, childlike heart ; prayer and church 
 relationships are slowly abandoned. Finally we do 
 not make Christ the chief factor in our environment. 
 The whirlwinds of doubt and denial sweep over us. 
 
 Good Seed. The subject must not be left in this 
 negative condition. It is equally true that whoever 
 sows the good seed of self-control, purity, honour, 
 reverence, faith, love will reap an abundant harvest, 
 also of the same kind. The text is one of encour- 
 agement as well as of warning. The way to be 
 happy and prosperous is to change the kind of seed 
 we are sowing. 
 
 For Women's Meetings 
 During the course of the Mission there will be 
 several occasions on which addresses must be 
 given to meetings for women. In choosing the 
 
SPECIAL GATHBEINGS 225 
 
 subjects for these we have especially in mind those 
 problems and experiences of the Christian life that 
 are appropriate or peculiar to women. It is not 
 difficult to determine at least some of these and to 
 speak of them. 
 
 There are certain reactions that are especially 
 pleasant in addressing groups of women. They 
 are generally quite eager listeners and their re- 
 sponse is often more apparent than in the case of 
 men. Perhaps they do not think so deeply when 
 they give themselves to a religious problem or sub- 
 ject; but they at least present the appearance of 
 more general thought fulness than will often be ex- 
 perienced in speaking to men. 
 
 We have generally found that the opportunity 
 for conversation following the meetings is readily 
 given by women, either singly or in small groups. 
 Women know how to state their difficulties clearly ; 
 they are quick to respond to a suggestion of spiri- 
 tual direction. 
 
 The following subjects are suggestive of others 
 that will quickly come to a preacher's mind and 
 grow out of his experience in evangelistic preach- 
 ing. 
 
 WOMEN'S MEETING, I 
 
 The Treasury of a Mother's Heart 
 " But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them 
 
 in her heart" (Luke 2: 19). 
 
 The great men probably soon forgot all about what 
 
 had taken place; but Mary remembered and laid up 
 
226 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 each reference and suggestion in the treasury of 
 her heart. 
 
 The Sayings. They indicated wonderful things in 
 store for the child. He was a helpless baby; but 
 there were such great promises and prophecies 
 wrapped up in Him that one hardly dared to dream 
 of what would unfold in time. Every little life 
 is a prophecy of great achievements. We must 
 dare to believe great things for our children. When 
 we expect much from them they tend to rise to the 
 level of our ideals and desires. 
 
 The Memory. Selfishness soon forgets; but love 
 always remembers. The tablets of memory are 
 made sensitive and the images impressed upon them 
 are fixed by affection. So love is tenacious. We 
 must remember the good and try to forget the bad. 
 In the end it is the kind and the right that remains 
 in our minds. Try to give loving memories to 
 others to keep of you. Try to find the good and the 
 loving to keep in your memories of others. 
 
 The Pondering. Mary went over the details 
 again and again. Each time some new beauty and 
 suggestion flashed forth. That is the result of 
 brooding on beautiful things. When life was full 
 of hard work, Mary went back in her memory and 
 lived over the blessed experiences of those wonder- 
 ful days. She heard the music about which the 
 shepherds had told her above all the monotony of 
 her daily toil. It is a blessed thing to have a glori- 
 ous memory and a great ideal to stand by us while 
 we work. It lifts us above the monotony and the 
 complaint of dreary days. 
 
SPECIAL GATHERINGS 227 
 
 The Result. It was twofold. It gave Mary a 
 new view of life and filled dull days with beauty. 
 It set a song going in her soul. And it cast a glory 
 around Jesus that made His hfe more wonderful 
 in her eyes. It made her expect more of Him ; and 
 He inevitably rose to meet the expectation. We are 
 lifted by the hopes and ambitions that others cherish 
 for us. Even if He never defined the matter to 
 Himself, Jesus knew that He was destined to a 
 great character by His mother's ideals. He could 
 not fail her. He did not 
 
 WOMEN'S MEETING, II 
 Our Utmost 
 
 "She hath done what she could" (Mark 14:8). 
 
 In the house of Simon of Bethany a woman 
 anointed Jesus at the cost of her chief treasure. 
 She did what she could for Christ. Have we done 
 as much? 
 
 With our Money and Material. The precious 
 nard was expensive; the woman had saved it for 
 a long time. But she never hesitated; she gave it 
 all to Christ. Are we ready to sacrifice our posses- 
 sions for the Kingdom? Are we honest and ac- 
 curate stewards of God's gifts? 
 
 With our Time. " Time is money." Every min- 
 ute is valuable in our crowded days. Some are 
 spendthrifts of their time; others, misers. We must 
 give time every day to Christ. How much did we 
 spend yesterday for Him? 
 
 With our Thoughts. The world needs clear and 
 honest thinking. Christians must be leaders in 
 
228 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 thinking out the problems of the day. We must 
 also think about Christ and the meaning of His 
 message for the whole of life. What mental con- 
 tribution are we making to the Kingdom of God? 
 
 With our Love. The world is hungrier for love 
 than it is for bread. We cannot command others 
 to come to Christ. The Kingdom of God cannot be 
 brought into being by violence. We must love men 
 to Christ. Good will alone will make a new world. 
 The Master has first claim on our loyalty and love. 
 Are we giving these to Him? 
 
 With our Personal Influence. Every one pos- 
 sesses a certain power over his comrades which is 
 sometimes called personal *' magnetism." It is the 
 ability to sway the lives of others to higher or lower 
 levels. We ceaselessly and for the most part con- 
 stantly influence each other. Are we devoting this 
 wonderful power fully to Christ? 
 
 With our Prayer, Aspiration and Spiritual 
 Energy. We are endowed with all these gifts by 
 God. The world needs the uplifting power of these 
 energies. Our comrades must have our prayer. 
 We must aspire to higher levels ourselves and help 
 others attain them. Our supreme gift to our gen- 
 eration is ourselves. Such a gift honours Christ. 
 Are we devoting these highest powers to Him? 
 
 WOMEN'S MEETING, III 
 Leaking Cisterns 
 ** For my people have committed two evils: they 
 have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, arid 
 
SPECIAL GATHEEINGS 229 
 
 hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can 
 hold no water" (Jer. 2: 13). 
 
 The broken cisterns are a symbol of a human life 
 that leaves out Christ; the spring of running water 
 is the symbol of a life in which Christ is given the 
 first place. 
 
 The Leaking Cisterns. These are the selfish am- 
 bitions, the lower purposes, the passing pleasures 
 and talk with which we tend to fill our lives. We 
 work hard for them. We "hew them out." Such 
 a life costs labour. " It is hard work to be tough." 
 Then the cisterns leak after we have worked hard to 
 hew them out. It is a vivid figure of the way in 
 which all the material side of life fails to satisfy 
 the deepest needs of the soul. In the mad rush for 
 pleasure we go on stimulating the jaded senses until 
 at last there is no excitement quite keen enough. 
 The whole effort fails. Our own self is not a big 
 enough object on which to spend our lives. If we 
 start out simply to be comfortable we quickly come 
 to the place where nothing makes us quite com- 
 fortable. The cistern is leaking again. If we try 
 to make money we are never quite satisfied with 
 the pace ; we want more. 
 
 The Fountain of Life. Over against this symbol 
 we set the thought of God as the Giver of life. It 
 is not something that we work for; it is something 
 that is given to us. God does not work for wages; 
 neither do we earn His bounty. Then the spring 
 is constantly flowing. There is no end to the good- 
 ness of God. It is life-giving. We could not live 
 without water. It is absolutely necessary to the 
 
230 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 keeping up of life. God is necessary. The spirit 
 fails without Him. We are trying to keep up life 
 on all kinds of food and exercise; try Christ and 
 the service of the Kingdom of God. It will not 
 fail. This life is pure and beautiful, like the run- 
 ning spring. Stagnant waters grow putrid; running 
 streams are fresh and fair. They bless all the land 
 through which they flow. This also is a symbol of 
 Christ and the service and character which He cre- 
 ates. Dig no longer on a leaking cistern; drink of 
 the water of life. 
 
 WOMEN'S MEETING, IV 
 The Water Jar by the Well Curb 
 
 " So the woman left her waterpot, and went away 
 into the city" (John 4:28). 
 
 A woman came from the village to Jacob's well to 
 fill her heavy jar with water and carry it home for 
 her house work ; but when she met Jesus, she gained 
 such a vision of truth that she left her waterpot 
 and ran to the village to share the good news with 
 her people; she probably came back later and took 
 up the old burden; but she carried her load in a 
 new spirit. 
 
 The Waterpot, an old Burden. Woman's work 
 is never done. There is no end to housekeeping. 
 Day after day the woman carried the heavy jar. 
 The song died from her lips and the colour faded 
 from her cheeks. She felt no high joy to help her 
 sustain the pressure of the load. She could not 
 sing, Blessed be drudgery; for there was no up- 
 
SPECIAL GATHEEINGS 231 
 
 lifting spirit in her heart. Hard and unchanging 
 work kills in time if there is no relief. 
 
 The Good News. At the well this woman found 
 Christ. He was kind and firm and assuring. He 
 met all the secret yearnings of her soul. He was 
 just the kind of a Master that her spirit had craved 
 through all the dreary years. He had told her the 
 truth. He had been willing to be her Friend. She 
 could do nothing less than hurry up to the town and 
 tell every one that she had found the Christ. It 
 was such a wonderful discovery! Now there was 
 something to work for. Now there was a new life 
 possible. 
 
 The Old Water pot and the New Song. After a 
 little time she took up her housekeeping as usual. 
 Daily she went to the well and lifted the heavy 
 bucket; daily she filled her jar and carried it up to 
 her house. But it was not so heavy any more. She 
 had found Someone who said that His burden was 
 light. And so it proved. To be a Christian does 
 not mean to he released from labour. It does not 
 mean, necessarily, to have even an easier or a dif- 
 ferent job. But it means to have a new faith and 
 courage with which to do the old work. Christ 
 honours us most when He sets us to doing the 
 familiar work in His spirit and joy. Just as a 
 young mother can do work that she never dreamed 
 possible when it is for her child ; so we can take up 
 services that seemed impossible when we do it for 
 Christ, who has done so much for us. Christians 
 sing while they work. Underneath them is the sus- 
 taining strength of Christ's mighty love and power. 
 
232 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 Bible Talks 
 
 There is undoubtedly a better name for that 
 which we have in mind. Mr. Moody used to call 
 them *' Bible Readings." That may be a better 
 term. What we have in mind is not precisely Ex- 
 pository Sermons, for a sermon is more formal 
 and is given generally as a part of an order of 
 worship, which adds to it a certain stateliness. 
 The address which we are describing is less formal. 
 It may often be interrupted by question and an- 
 swer. It is adapted to the simple assemblies that 
 gather in an evangelistic Mission. 
 
 The great value in these addresses lies in the fact 
 that they help bring the Bible back to the lives of 
 the people. The Bible is our most praised and most 
 neglected book. Christians are constantly told that 
 they should read and study it; but, in spite of all 
 the effort that is put into the Sunday Schools, the 
 real study of the Bible is neglected in a shameful 
 degree among Christian people. 
 
 The Bible is the most interesting book in the 
 world. If it is read and studied honestly it yields 
 such results in life and character as come from no 
 other source. People love to hear it interpreted. 
 When they are guided in the right way they will 
 give time to it and will enrich their experience from 
 it 
 
 One fruitful method in evangelistic preaching is 
 to read and comment upon the Bible in public meet- 
 ings in such a way that the Bible will appear in its 
 
SPECIAL GATHEEINGS 233 
 
 true light as a principal factor in the development 
 of the Christian life. It is not only necessary to 
 do this in order that the truths in the Bible may 
 be clarified and pressed upon the attention of the 
 people, but also in order to show by the addresses 
 how the Bible may be interpreted and used. The 
 method of the talks is quite as important as their 
 substance. 
 
 In giving such talks it is necessary to be pictorial, 
 graphic and vivid in style. The imagination must 
 be used. Let the preacher dwell upon the scene 
 until it is so clear in his mind that he sees every 
 person moving through the scene and catches every 
 detail plainly. Use pictures and travels and de- 
 scriptions of all kinds to make the events in the 
 Bible narratives actual and moving. Do not be 
 afraid of the dramatic. The Bible is preeminently 
 a dramatic book. Romance is in it, and tragedy 
 and comedy. The characters are brilliant with 
 human interest and value. Get them out of the 
 past and into the living present by the use of your 
 imagination. Then represent them with loving 
 pictorial earnestness. 
 
 BIBLE TALK, I 
 
 Religion in Action 
 
 This is an interpretation of Micah 6, especially 
 
 of verse 8 : "He hath showed thee;, O man, what 
 
 is good ; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but 
 
234 EVANGELISTIC PEEACHING 
 
 to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk 
 humbly with thy God ? " 
 
 Huxley said concerning the ideal of religion con- 
 tained in this chapter: "A perfect ideal of religion! 
 A conception of religion which appears to me as 
 wonderful an inspiration of genius as the art of 
 Phidias or the science of Aristotle." 
 
 The Ceremonial Conception of Religion and its 
 Failure. This does not mean that there is no place 
 in religion for the ceremony and the sacrament. 
 There is a great and essential part for them to per- 
 form in the expression of religion. But they are 
 not able alone to give utterance to the deepest im- 
 pulses of religion. They can do their part; but not 
 all. The danger is that the ceremonies will become 
 simply an end in themselves and therefore become 
 a menace to religion instead of a help. " To say 
 our prayers is not to pray." The form must be 
 constantly vitalized by the spirit or it is worse than 
 useless. 
 
 The Vital Conception of Religion and its Satisfac- 
 tion, Religion must come into practical and social 
 expression. It must add social action to ceremonial 
 expression. It must take the beautiful form and 
 fill it with beneficent service. 
 
 Christianity consists in doing Justice. Nothing 
 can take the place of righteous living. The per- 
 formance of ceremonies is not a substitute for the 
 most rigid justice. The ritual is justified by the 
 kind of life it produces. It is folly to repeat a creed 
 in public worship declaring that we believe in God 
 the Father Almighty if we go out and treat our 
 
SPECIAL GATHEEING8 235 
 
 fellow men as if there were no God. At that mo- 
 ment we have become practical atheists. 
 
 Christianity consists in a loving life. To love 
 kindness means to take hold practically and do some- 
 thing to set the hatreds and the sufferings of the 
 world right. Misery is so abundant that all the 
 energies of the Christian people are called for to set 
 them right. Especially is this true as we set about 
 to repair the damage of war. 
 
 Christianity consists in a reverent relation of 
 loyalty to God. To walk humbly does not mean to 
 cringe and fear; it means to bear ourselves nobly 
 and to share the very nature and joy of God. It 
 is the life of fellowship and power. 
 
 BIBLE TALK, II 
 A Song of Good Courage 
 
 This is a study of Psalms 42 and 43 for the par- 
 ticular purpose of seeing the way in which the dis- 
 couraged soul wins its victory over despair through 
 its faith in God. We first study the structure of 
 the poem. It consists of three stanzas each fol- 
 lowed by a chorus. Each stanza is a monologue. 
 The lower or disheartened soul speaks in the mono- 
 logue. The higher or encouraging soul tries to 
 bring help and hope to the disheartened in the 
 chorus. There is a most interesting parallel in 
 Tennyson's The Two Voices, 
 
 Stanza i. This shows the soul in the very depths 
 of depression. Tears are its food. The taunts of 
 its enemies ring in the gloomy spirit's ears. Even 
 the memory of happier days and former blessed ex- 
 
236 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 periences becomes an instrument of torture. Yet it 
 is a faint suggestion of comfort and peace, dimly 
 heard among the disheartening voices. 
 
 Chorus I, The nobler soul commands the de- 
 pressed soul to hope in God, affirming that it surely 
 will finally triumph through its resolute faith. This 
 is a positive, glad and most confident note of cheer. 
 
 Stanza 2. In this stanza the two moods of hope 
 and fear are nearly balanced. Despair has held the 
 field almost wholly in stanza i. Now the balance 
 is gradually shifting. Neither quite wins over the 
 other ; but hope has gained so much that it begins to 
 be sure that it will win in the end. There is no 
 effort to deny the despair; it is like the waterfalls 
 and the engulfing billows. Yet the love of God is 
 greater than all these. God is the rock on which the 
 soul rests, even if it seems for the moment as if he 
 had failed. 
 
 Chorus 2. Once more the braver soul affirms the 
 wisdom and love of God and appeals for the do- 
 minion of courage. 
 
 Stanza j. We now hear the song of good cour- 
 age fully sung. Hope has conquered fear. It 
 rings like a great bell, proclaiming the victory. God 
 is the giver of strength. The confident soul will 
 go singing back to the old experience that was once 
 so beautiful. Hope has insisted upon the reality 
 of the divine love and wisdom and so has con- 
 quered. There will be no more despair. God is in 
 His heaven and the world cannot be lost in gloom. 
 
 Chorus J. Finally God is acclaimed again as one 
 who will save those who keep faith in Him, 
 
SPECIAL GATHEBINGS 237 
 
 BIBLE TALK, III 
 
 The Vision and Mission of Life 
 This is a study of Isaiah 6. It was an experience 
 from the Hfe of a young man. The hour when one 
 sees the vision of hfe and hears the call to service 
 is a supreme experience. We shall seek to give 
 modern meaning to this old record. 
 
 1. A Young Man's Vision of God. It can be 
 described only dimly; but it was vivid and mighty 
 as it came to him. 
 
 A. In a Time of Upheaval and Crisis. The 
 death of an Oriental despot was a tremendous 
 event. Young Isaiah saw the ostentatious funeral; 
 he heard all the expressions of sorrow and fear; 
 but he saw also the Lord. 
 
 B. The Vision of Holiness. It was a vision of 
 splendour and majesty; also a vision of power. Su- 
 premely, a vision of holiness, perfection, complete 
 moral beauty. This was the real grandeur that 
 abased while it lifted the young man. 
 
 C. The Resultant Vision of Sin. Out of the 
 vision of God's holiness grew the inevitable convic- 
 tion of human sin. We never know how weak or 
 wicked we are until we see ourselves in the light 
 of God's holy strength. Then we are driven to 
 penitence and the plea for pardon. 
 
 2. A Young Man's Cleansing, Call and Conse- 
 cration. 
 
 A. The Cleansing Fire. It stands for the purga- 
 tion of life. Evil must be stripped away In order 
 that the mission of life may be carried out. We 
 
238 EVANGELISTIC PREACHING 
 
 cannot do God's will when we are crippled by sin. 
 Only the pure in heart see God. 
 
 B. The Call. It is personal— " whom," ** I," 
 " us." It is urgent. It is specific — " go." There 
 is no guesswork about either the need or the work. 
 They are on every side. 
 
 C. The Answer. It was immediate. No time 
 was spent in debate. It was definite and positive. 
 It was cheerful; there was no rebellion or com- 
 plaint. 
 
 3. A Man's Report of his Life Work. The ap- 
 parent problem in the passage is explained by un- 
 derstanding that here the mature Isaiah writes the 
 result of his later experience as if it were a specific 
 item in his call. 
 
 A. Truth makes Slow Headway. E-very cham- 
 pion and defender of truth finds this out. We can- 
 not hasten the coming of the Kingdom of God by 
 rash means or by violence. 
 
 B. God's Final Judgments are Inexorable. 
 There is no escape from the divine program. It 
 can be hindered, not stalled. 
 
 C. The Hope in the Remnant. Generally it is 
 a minority that sees the divine vision and stands 
 true. But one with God is a majority. 
 
 BIBLE TALK, IV 
 
 Following the Ideal 
 Study Phir ians 3. This is a tenderly personal 
 chapter from the heart of St. Paul. It Is the re- 
 port of his experience as a Christian, given largely 
 
SPECIAL GATHEEINGS 239 
 
 in the terms of explanation. We may agree or dis- 
 agree with his interpretation; but we must feel the 
 genuineness of his report of his experience. 
 
 The Past (vs. i-6). The invitation to happiness 
 is an introduction to what he means to say in the 
 chapter. The warning to avoid enemies leads him 
 to review his own life. There were abundant 
 grounds for his boasting: his Hebrew lineage; a 
 Pharisee; zealous to the point of persecuting those 
 who differed from him; so far as moral integrity 
 was concerned, blameless before the law. That 
 was a record of which one might justly be proud. 
 
 The Present (vs. 7-11). A wholly new idea of 
 life has become his. Instead of trusting to the law 
 and obedience to it in order to achieve righteous- 
 ness, he now- trusts Christ. A new standing is 
 given to him before God. He becomes righteous, 
 not because he has achieved a character by obedi- 
 ence to law, but because he has been granted a new 
 relationship to God through his faith in Christ. It 
 is all so different that it cannot be described in any 
 other way than a new life or a new creation. Christ 
 has laid hold on him and he has laid hold on Christ. 
 In that mutual grasp his soul wins a new life. 
 
 The Future (vs. 12-21). It is like a foot-race 
 in the great stadium; there is a goal ahead, toward 
 which the runner presses with every nerve tense. 
 He lets nothing divert him from that one objective, 
 on which he has fixed his gaze. His citizenship is 
 not merely on earth; it is also in heaven. He is 
 living in two worlds at a time, in one of which he 
 keeps up his strenuous pace and in the other of 
 
240 BVANGELISTrC PEEACHING 
 
 which dwell his hopes and from which he looks for 
 the final fulfilment of his great desires. He dares 
 to make this attitude of such moment that he can 
 commend it to others as one to follow. To him the 
 final achievement is safe and sure because he has 
 committed himself to Christ in such a complete 
 abandonment of devotion that he trusts Him fully 
 to bring the desire of his heart to pass. 
 
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