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 CCMPILED BY 
 
 REV. WALTER P. DOE. 
 
 Hatfield, Shepard, Park, Finney, Barnes, McIlyaine, McCosh, 
 
 Beecher, Stowe, Murray, Cuyler, Taylor, Hall, 
 
 Talmadge, Spurgeon, Moody, and others. 
 
 PROVIDENCE, E. I. 
 A. CRAWFORD GREENE, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, RAILROAD HALL. 
 
 ISTG. 
 
Entered accordino: to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, toy Walter P. Doe, 
 in tlie Office of tlieLlbrarlan of Congress, at Wasliington. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE OBJECT STATED, 
 
 This Yolume is not designed to be a substitute for^ 
 or to interfere with the Yahiable teachings of the 
 Professors of Homiletics, in our Theological Semi- 
 naries, on correct principles of sermonizing. 
 
 But its aim is rather to supplement their instruc- 
 tions, and render the pulpit more effective in promoting 
 genuine and continuous revivals of religion, so far as 
 may be, mainly, fi^om the teachings of some eminent 
 ministers, who have been gTcatly prospered in the 
 practical business of preaching the Gospel, effectively^ 
 themselves. 
 
 It is thought that theological students, and young 
 ministers especially, must strongly desire to know the 
 opinions and methods of such men as God has greatly 
 blessed in preaching effectively, in promoting the 
 sanctification of Christians and the conversion of 
 sinners. For it is reasonable that they should wish 
 
lY PKEFACE. 
 
 to know liow good theories succeed, when tested by 
 experience and practical results. 
 
 The compiler of the following treatises by devoted, 
 honored and successful ministers of Christ, has been 
 long deeply impressed, by experience and observa- 
 tion, that it is both eminently desirable and prac- 
 ticable, that the Gospel should be preached much 
 more effectively than it commonly is, has collected 
 and arranged these articles in the hope of stimulating 
 and encouraging the younger ministry especially, to 
 preach with much greater pungency and power, so as 
 to glorify God in the salvation of a much greater 
 number of precious souls. 
 
 Having been under the instruction of several of 
 these authors, in college and seminary life, and fre- 
 quently attended upon the ministry of others, in the 
 Pastoral ofHce, in periods of extraordinary religious 
 refreshings, whose preaching, in point of marvelous 
 success in genuine and protracted revivals of rehgion, 
 have probably surpassed almost any others in modern, 
 times, the blessed fruits of which have been witnessed 
 in the activity, devotion and perseverance of the con- 
 verts, as pillars and earnest supporters of the 
 churches, for many years past, the v/riter early began 
 the collection of these papers, for the single purpose 
 of rendering his own personal mmistry as directly 
 successful as practicable, by the blessing of God, 
 with no design of publication. But the modern in- 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 creasing interest in revivals, and the means of their 
 promotion, lias led him, after praj^erful consideration, 
 to submit tliese (as seems to him) yery forcible and 
 practical reflections, to the attention of such persons 
 as may be interested in special refreshings from the 
 presence of the Lord, and the theories suggested in 
 these brief and pithy treatises. 
 
 And he is happy to testify that the correctness of 
 these instructions. has been repeatedly demonstrated 
 in his Gv^TL experience and that of others, by the 
 Divine blessing, in numerous reyivals of true religion. 
 For they teach the imperative necessity of such deep 
 piety in the ministry, as shall ensure a very strong desire 
 for the promotion of religion,- — a definite aim, a clear 
 and impressive method of sermonizing, and such skill, and 
 such intense earnestness and. force in the manner of de- 
 livery, as ivell as the employment of other appropriate 
 means, as shall justify a rationed expectation of positive 
 and mamifest success in preaching '' the glorious Gospel 
 of the blessed God." 
 
 They also teach that an effective sermon should 
 commonly consist of a brief and lucid explanation, in 
 its exordium, and clear and con\dncing proof in the 
 body of the discourse, and an instructive, searching 
 and direct application to the different classes of hear- 
 ers, such as saints and sinners, the young and the 
 aged, the afflicted or the worldly, in the closing in- 
 ferences, and personal and direct address. That the 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 Law of Siuai slioiild be preached with its searching 
 apphcation, that the wicked may perceive their atro- 
 cious guilt, wdth its fearful and endless penalty, as our 
 " schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we may 
 be justified as w^ell as sanctified by faith," through 
 the special and gracious operations of the " Holy 
 Ghost, sent down from Heaven, and not by w^orks of 
 the law." 
 
 And it obviously follows that if rden ''by natnre are 
 children of w^rath," under the condemnation of the 
 law% and their souls are of more value than all the 
 w^orlds that revolve in space,— than it is in the powder 
 of the human mind to compute, or human language 
 to describe, how faithfully and earnestly should the 
 ambassadors of Christ seek for and employ the most 
 efficient methods in preaching, so as to save the great- 
 est number of them 1 
 
 For if " it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-» 
 ing to save them that beheve," and " he that believ- 
 eth not is condemned already," because he believed 
 not the truth concerning Christ and his religion, and 
 if appropriate, forcible, earnest, and direct preaching 
 of the Gospel is ordained of God, as the most hopeful 
 and successful means of securing the conversion and 
 sanctification of men, how vast _ the importance of 
 preaching in such a way as shall be wdsely adapted to 
 be the powder of God unto salvation ; and thus render 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 it as effective as practicable in turning the greatest 
 number of precious souls from sin to holiness.' 
 
 And if our preaching does not seem to secure the 
 Divine blessing, in dii-ectly and manifestly sa\ing 
 men to any great extent, should we not strive to im- 
 prove its method, not only as a means of instmction 
 and consolation, but of warning, that sinners in 
 greater numbers shall be induced to "flee fi'om the 
 wrath to come." 
 
 Certainly all ministers should study to •'* show 
 themselves approved unto God," "rightly dividing 
 the word of truth," " that they may save themselves, 
 and them that hear them," " as brands plucked out 
 of the fire." 
 
 DUTIES OF THE LATTY. 
 
 And it follows as a matter of course, that the sub- 
 ordinate officers, and private members of the church 
 generally, are imperatively bound, in ^iew of the 
 judgment seat of Christ, to employ and support the 
 more devoted, effective and successful preachers of 
 the Gospel, in preference to such as are merely con- 
 genial to their differing, unreasonable, fastidious, or 
 literary tastes, whose preaching may be less adapted 
 to the awakening and salvation of sinners, " lest the 
 wicked die in their iniquity, and their blood be re- 
 quu'ed at theh hands." 
 
 And if God requires his watchmen to preach the 
 
VUl PREFACE. 
 
 Gospel faithfully and efficiently, as Prof. Park ob- 
 serves,' "so onght the people to hear. They are 
 bound to encourage the ministry in the path which 
 they are obligated to pursue. And they should never 
 condemn, but alwaj^s defend that directness and 
 pungency in preaching which is adapted to be most 
 effective and saving." 
 
 Ey thus giving their preference in employing and 
 encouraging the more devoted, earnest and efficient 
 of the ministr}^, private Christians will prove them- 
 selves "benefactors of both the church and the 
 world." 
 
 Walter P. Doe. 
 Providence, E, I., January 1st, 1876, 
 
COIN^TENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 PREFACE. The Object Stated.— Compiler iii 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Preacher's Aim.— Hatiield 1 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 The Effective Preacher. — Shepard 6 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 Power in the Pulpit. — Park 11 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Perpetuating an Interest in Hearing the Gospel. — Park 17 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Wisdom in Winning Souls. — Finney 21 
 
 CHAPTER YL 
 
 Churches should seek more Piety in the Ministry. — Finney 28 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 Take Heed of Thyself. — Finney 31 
 
 CHAPTER VHI. 
 How to Win Souls. — Finney 38 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Preaching so as to Convert Nobod3^ — Finney 52 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 How to make Sinners realize their Guilt. — Barnes 60 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 The Successful Preacher's Reward. — Barnes 65 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Clearness of Style in Preaching. — Barnes 67 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The Faithful Preacher's Chief Object.— Barnes 69 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. Page, 
 The Wiiiistry for the Times' — Barnes 76 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Revival Preaching of Dr. Nettleton. — Dr. Lyman Beecher. 87 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Revival Preaching of Lyman Beecher, D. D. — Mrs. Stowe 89 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 The Ministerial AVork.— H. W. Beecher 93 
 
 CHAPTER XVIH. 
 
 Preachers, their Need and Rarity. — Murray 1 02 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 A i'"ree Faipit a Pulpit of Power. — Murray. 110 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Extemporaneous Preaching. — Murray 116 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 The Successful Minister.— Cuyler. 122 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 How to Preach. — Cuyler 134 
 
 CHAPTER XXm. 
 Winning Souls to Christ. — Cuyler. . . . , 139 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 The Revival we need. — Cuyler 143 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 Kindling the Fire.— Cuyler 148 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 What shall I do to be Saved?— Cuyler 153 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Complete Consecration.— Cuyler 159 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 The Successful Pastor. — Cuyler 164 
 
 • CHAPTER XXIX. 
 Expository Preaching. — Taylor 169 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 Dr. Guthrie's Early Ministry.— McCosh 178 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. Page. 
 Dr. Todd as a Preacher.— J. E. Todd 152 
 
 CHAPTER XXXn. 
 The Power of Ilkistration. — Bowling 188 
 
 CHAPTER XXXHI. 
 Uses of Illustratiou. — Broadus... 2i}0 
 
 CHAPTER XXX[V. 
 Extemporaneous Speaking.— Broadus 208 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 Application. — Broadus ^ , ^ 218 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 - Extempore Sermons. — Hoppin 224 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVU. / 
 
 The Conclusion. — Hoppin 228 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVin. 
 
 How to obtain, and retain the Attention. — Spurgeon 234 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 Poetry in the Pulpit. — Grout 236 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 Force in the Pulpit. — Stearns 241 
 
 CHAPTER XLT. 
 Preaching : manner and matter. — Hall 251 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 * ' What to Preach."— Hall 26 1 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 What shall Ministers Preach. — Spear 266 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 Definite doctrinal Sermons needed. — Phelps 270 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 The relation of Theology to Preaching. — Barnes 274 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 Doctrines adapted to Awaken and Convict. — Barnes 283 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 Improvements in Theology. — Pond 295 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIir. Page. 
 
 Preaching Christ.— Mclkaine SOQ 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 The iiiinistry of Jesus. — Hep worth 306 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 Christ's practical Preaching. — Anonymous 311 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 Success in the Gospel Ministry — Walton 313 
 
 CHAPTER LH. 
 Causes of Unsuccessfulness in the Ministry. — Walton 335 
 
 CHAPTER LIIL 
 
 Characteristics and rewards of the Successful minister. — Conklin 361 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 Preaching to the masses. — Talmage 367 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 Elements of Moody and Sankey's success. — Dale 383 
 
 CHAPTER LVI. 
 What Mr. Moody can do for us.— Rankin 392 
 
 CHAPTER LVH. 
 Mr. Moody's Opening Sermon. — Moody 395 
 
 CHAPTER LVm. 
 How to instruct inquirers. — Knapp 401 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 ReTival among the Little ones. — Morss 406 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 Common sense in Revivals. — Tenney 409 
 
 CHAPTER LXL 
 The Condition of a Revival. — Blake 414 
 
 CHAPTER LXH. 
 Means of promoting Revivals. — Sprague 418 
 
 CHAPTER LXHL 
 Treatment due to awakened Sinners.— Sprague 425 
 
 CHAPTER LXIV. 
 
 Revivals contribute to the Joj^s of Heaven. — Sprague 434 
 
 CHAPTER LXV. 
 Genuine Revivals of Religion. — Compiler 438 
 
EFFECTIVE REVIVAL PREACHING. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PREACHER'S AIM. 
 E. F. Hatfield, D. D. 
 
 What is it ? What should it be ? Is it always what 
 it should be ? Look into thine own heart, and tell me 
 what, when you pray, study, write, preach, visit, is the 
 direct object of effort ? What definite end do you pro- 
 pose to yourself? 
 
 Perhaps you are mourning over the fewness of con. 
 versions among your people. But have you ever, or for 
 any considerable time, set your heart on numerous con- 
 versions, as the result of your labors ? 
 
 In preparing your discourses,* have you aimed at im- 
 mediate conversions 1 
 
 While preaching, have you looked that souls should 
 be pricked in the heart ? 
 
 If you have had some such feelings, have they been 
 so strong as to overpower every other feeling, such as 
 1 
 
2 THE preacher's AIM. 
 
 desire of applause, fear of offeose, care for temporal 
 support, reputation, and the like ? 
 
 It is time that we look well into this matter. We 
 are doing but little in the work of bringing souls to 
 Jesus. How many sermons have we preached, that 
 have savoured of nothing but death ? A learned divine, 
 not long ago, stated to a friend, that, although he had 
 preached the gospel more than forty years, he did not 
 know that his preaching had been the means of convert- 
 ing one soul ! 
 
 Is this a solitary instance of like inefficiency ? It is 
 to be feared, not. Look over the statistical tables of the 
 annual reports of the churches, for the past few years, 
 and how many report no additions to their church, dur- 
 ing the year on examination ; how many only one, two 
 or three ! Now, what did the prophet mean, when he 
 thus wrote : "Is not my word like as a fire ? saith the 
 Lord ; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in 
 pieces?" Was it hyperbole in Paul to say: "The 
 weapons of our warfare are mighty through God, to the 
 pulling down of strongholds ? " Then why are no more 
 souls converted ? 
 
 In answering this question, I beseech you, dear bro- 
 ther, to look first at the state of your own heart. What 
 is your ruling passion ? Is it to win souls, or shine in 
 courts ? ecclesiastical courts, it may be ? Do you feel 
 deeply, in view of the condition of the unconverted part 
 of your congregation, habitually feel what Paul felt 
 when he said : " My heart's desire (the hearty longing 
 desire of my soul) and prayer to God, for Israel, is that 
 they might be saved? For I could wish that myself 
 were accursed from Christ, lor my brethren?" Can 
 
THE PREACHER^S AIM. 3 
 
 tliis language, by any interpretation, be made to express 
 anything but the most intense anxiety, even to death, 
 for the salvation of souls? 
 
 But you shrink from a comparison with this inspired 
 preacher. Let me, then, ask you to look at the hearts 
 of other preachers, whose labors have not been in vain 
 in the Lord. 
 
 It is said of the learned John Smith, " that he had 
 resolved very much to lay aside other studies, and to 
 travail in the salvation of men's souls, after w^hose good 
 he most earnestly thirsted." Of Alleine, the author of 
 "An Alarm to Unconverted Sinners," it is said that 
 *' he was infinitely and insatiably greedy of the conver- 
 sion of souls, and to this end he poured out his very 
 heart in prayer and preaching." Said Bunyan : " In 
 my preaching, I could not be satisfied, unless some fruits 
 did appear in my work." ** I would think it a greater 
 happiness," said Matthew Henry, " to gain one soul to 
 Christ, than mountains of silver and gold to myself. If 
 I do not gain souls, I shall enjoy all my other gains with 
 ver}'' little satisfaction, and I would rather beg my bread 
 from door to door, than undertake this great work." 
 Dodridge, writing to a friend, remarked : " I long for 
 the conversion of souls more sensibly than for anything 
 besides. Methinks I could not only labour, but die for 
 it with pleasure." Similar is the death-bed testimony 
 of the sainted Brown, of Hadington : " Now, after near 
 forty years preaching of Christ, I think I would rather 
 beg my bread all the labouring days of the week, for an 
 opportunity of publishing the gospel on the Sabbath, 
 than, without such a privilege, to enjoy the richest pos- 
 sessions of earth. Oh ! labour, labour," said he to his 
 
4 THE preacher's AIM. 
 
 sons, " to win souls to Christ.'^ Rutherford could as- 
 s\ire his flock that they were the objects of his tears, 
 cares, fears, and daily prayers— that he laboured among 
 them early and late ; "and my witness," said he, "is 
 above, that your heaven would be two heavens to me, 
 and the salvation of you all as two salvations to me." 
 Fleming, in his " Fulfillment of Scripture," mentions 
 the case of one John Welch, often in the coldest winter 
 nights, rising for prayer, found weeping on the ground, 
 and wrestling with the Lord, on accovmt of his people, 
 and saying to his wife, when she pressed him for an ex- 
 planation of his distress, " I have the souls of 3000 to 
 answer for, while I know not how it is with many of 
 them." Brainard could say of himself, on more than 
 one occasion, " I cared not where or how I lived, or 
 what hardships I went through, so that I could but gain 
 souls to Christ. While I was asleep, I dreamed of these 
 things ; and when I waked, the first thing I thought of 
 was this great work. All my desire was for the conver- 
 sion of the heathen, and all my hope was in God; " 
 therefore he wrestled in prayer until he sweat through 
 and through, and nature seemed exhausted. 
 
 Pages might be filled with such expressions, from the 
 lips of beloved brethren, whose hearts were filled with 
 the love of souls, and an insatiable thirst for their con- 
 version, who are now enjoying the unspeakable reward 
 of those "that turn many to righteousness." 
 
 When shall such be the experience of every minister 
 of the gospel 1 Not until he has something of the same 
 spirit which animated Paul when he said, " the love of 
 Christ constraineth us," or of Whitefield, when he thus 
 wrote : " The more we do, the more we may do lor 
 
THE PREACHER'S AIM. 5 
 
 Jesus. I sleep and eat but little, and am constantly 
 employed, from morning to midnight, and yet my 
 strength is daily renewed. 0, free grace ! It fires my 
 soul, and makes me long to do something for Jesus. I 
 want more tongues, more bodies, more souls for the Lord 
 * Jesus. Had I ten thousand, he should have them all." 
 Do you think, my brother, that if you had such a 
 spirit, you would have to cry out, " Who hath believed 
 our report ? " If you should, from this hour, forsaking 
 the arena of controversy and sectarian strife, and the 
 walks of ambition, devote all your energies to the speedy 
 conversion of all your flock, lajdng yourself out in every 
 possible way to win souls, how long would it be before 
 you would have joyful reason to exclaim, " Who are 
 these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their win- 
 dows ? " Let me entreat you to answer these questions, 
 without delay, as in the sight of God. " The time is 
 short." 
 
 Therefore be sure, not only of a definite subject, but 
 a definite object in preaching, so as to save sinners now. 
 
 Note. As the ministry of Dr. Hatfield (Stated Clerk of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church), was blessed with an 
 almost annual, if not perpetual revival of religion in New York, for 
 nearly thirty years, his suggestions, in the above article, deserv* 
 very high appreciation. — Compiler, 
 \* 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THB EFFECTIVE PREACHER. 
 
 (abstract.) 
 
 Professor George Shephard, D. D. 
 
 We learn from the sacred scriptures, that when Paul 
 and Barnabas preached in Iconium, in a Synagogue of 
 the Jews, that they " so spake that a great multitude, 
 both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed." 
 
 They preached effectively, their style as preachers as 
 well as their spirit had much to do with the result. 
 The same remark holds good in reference to all preach- 
 ers. 
 
 Some ministers are more successful in saving their 
 hearers than others, because they are more skillful in 
 presenting the truth. They draw attention to it, and 
 produce conviction by it, so as to lead men to inquire 
 what they must do to be saved. They reach and stir the 
 conscience of those who hear, and plant arrows in their 
 hearts. They convince, agitate, and persuade perishing 
 sinners in all their various conditions, to flee to Christ 
 f<tr salvation. 
 
 1st. The effective preacher must understand the 
 'iruiterial he is to work withy namely : Truth, in its vwat 
 and various relations* 
 
I'HE EFFECTIVE PREACHER. 7 
 
 2(i. He must uniderstand the material he is to work 
 upon, that is, rnan, in his co'inplex and mysterious at- 
 tributes. 
 
 He must be a clear and sound theologian. He must 
 aim to impress all classes with a sense of guilt, under 
 condemnation by the law, and be able to point them 
 earnestly to the mysterious method of mercy by the 
 cross, and urge forcibly the ground of obligation, and 
 imperative duty in serving God. 
 
 The truth, the sword which the spirit will thus em- 
 ploy in all its searching operations, when wielded with 
 sure aim, may at first be painful, but it will achieve 
 benignant results. Therefore, the truth must be thrown 
 upon the hearers in luminous and heavy masses. 
 
 The preacher must speak from experience, as though 
 he had tasted of the bitter fruits of sin, of the anguish, 
 of repentance, and its consequent peace ; of faith, as one 
 fired of its visions ; of love, as a flame ; of heaven, as 
 one who had foretastes of its joys; of hell, as one who 
 has looked into its caverns of wrath and woe. 
 
 The fire of divine love must kindle and burn in his 
 heart, so that he is constrained to pour forth its swelling 
 and struggling contents. His head must be clear, and 
 his heart must be warm, in order to kindle emotion in 
 other hearts. 
 
 He shoidd combine, as far as practicable^ strong logi- 
 cal power with deep feeling, to be effective. Argu- 
 ment is necessary as a chain to conduct his feelino- to his 
 hearers. Looic will make the sinner see that he ouorht 
 to repent, and joined with emotion, will make him feel 
 that he ought to repent. They will elaborate burning 
 and luminous appeals. 
 
8 THE EFFECTIVE PREACHER. 
 
 The effective preacher must liave a practical talent. 
 He must aim to stir the souls of men, and have practical 
 tact and skill in doing it. He must have a definite and 
 pointed intention. If he preaches, it must be to en- 
 lighten and sanctify. If he preaches duty, it is that he 
 may induce men to do it. His purpose is by the grace 
 of God, to benefit his hearers directly and immediately, 
 in the very effort, and in every effort. And in order to 
 do this, he must know the human mind, not merely a.s 
 learned in books, but as read in practical life. He must 
 know its reasonings, its feelings and actions. He must 
 have a nice selective talent, so as to cull from the mass 
 of his thoughts and materials, such as are peculiarly 
 adapted to the different minds of his hearers. 
 
 Every sentence should he in its place and worthy of 
 its place. Let the preacher say just the things he ought 
 to say, that he may be interesting, stirring and pungent. 
 He should viaJce the introduction and discussion of his 
 sermon entirely subservient to great pungency and direct- 
 ness ^ in his closing practical application. 
 
 It is here the effective preacher reaches the sacred 
 recesses of the heart, and deals with its finest and noblest 
 sensibilities. His hand moves over cords which reach in 
 their vibrations to the future world and eternal ages. 
 
 He must at times insert pangs in the hearts of his 
 hearers, as the probing of the surgeon's knife. He must 
 lodge the goading stings of truth in the conscience. He 
 must uncover the pit, and give visions of its ascending 
 smoke, and audience of its wailings. He must speak with 
 great plainness. He should speak not only so that he 
 may be understood, but so that he cannot fail to be un- 
 derstood. Polished and rounded sentences and periods, 
 
THE EFFECTIVE PREACHER. 9 
 
 rarely prick the heart. The lightning does not stop to 
 polish its shafts in its rending, scorching track. He must 
 not aim at mere elegance as an end, for a beautiful ser- 
 mon is commonly an ineffective and useless one. If the 
 preacher aim at flowers in every sentence, and music in 
 every line, he may charm the people, he will be to them 
 as a very lovely song, of one that hath a pleasant voice, 
 and can play well on an instrument, they will hear hisl 
 words, but do them not. If the blade of the truth he 
 utters be burnished, it should also have a terrible keen- 
 ness of edge, so as to divide asunder the soul and spirit, 
 the joints and marrow. 
 
 In m^der to he truly effective^ he must he a truly dis. 
 criminative preacher, " rightly dividing the word of 
 truth " so as to make it felt in the hearts and consciences 
 of his hearers. He must distinsjuish the different classes 
 of his congregation, such as saints and sinners, sucb as 
 serve God and such as serve him not, such as the moral 
 and grossly immoral, and set before them clearly their 
 respective conditions and duty. 
 
 When he is thus distinctive and characteristic in his 
 message, in exhibiting their character and prospects, he 
 will awaken their attention and interest. Hence the 
 authority and effect of Christ's teaching, His blindest, 
 hardest opposers found out ere he closed that he spake of 
 them, so that the truth he employed had an intense and 
 smarting fitness to their own characters, and they went 
 away with an arrow quivering and wrankling at their 
 vitals. Let the effective preacher then endeavor to attain 
 correct views of human nature in practical life, so as to 
 make earnest and direct appeals to the consciences of 
 different classes so as to lead them in the path of upright- 
 
10 THE EFFECTIVE PREACHEK. 
 
 ness. Let him cultivate the spirit of holiness, and the 
 spirit of compassion for his hearers, and the Holy Spirit 
 will attend his message, and give it a double edge, and 
 sharpened point, so as to pierce the hearts of his hearers. 
 
 The effective preacher must also he earnest and im- 
 pressive in the delivery of divine truth. He must 
 strive to be forcible in his manner of public address, in 
 conveying his own conceptions to other minds, so as to 
 make them vivid and productive there. He must aim 
 at a full and effective delivery of his thoughts into the 
 minds of his hearers. For this he needs to cultivate 
 considerable strength of voice, as well as pleasantness 
 and variety of tone. Attitude and gesture are also to be 
 regarded and cultivated, till all gross awkwardness is 
 done away, and a reasonable ease and propriety are 
 ?ittained. At the same time he must aim to be natural 
 and not palpably artificial. His manner must be natural 
 and appropriate to himself, and not be an imitation of 
 any example or teacher of elocution. ' 
 
 Earnestness is important as a means of securing 
 naturalness, and indeed to almost all the desired results 
 of public speaking. There cannot be any truly awak- 
 ening power where there is a stupid and frozen manner. 
 It is not enough that the preacher have feeling, he must 
 be able to show it, to make it flash in the eye, glow in the 
 countenance, tremble and anon thunder in the voice. 
 
 There is a foundation in our nature for sure effect in 
 all instances of agreeable warm-hearted address. Looks, 
 tones, and gestures naturally move us. Therefore the 
 successful preacher in saving souls, must not only give 
 utterance to weighty and forcible matter, but he must 
 be very earnest and impressive in its delivery. 
 

 C, 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 POWER IN THE PULPIT. 
 
 (abstract, bibliotheca sacra for 1847.) 
 Professor Edwards A. Park, D. D. 
 
 When we call to mind the tens of thousand? of minis- 
 ters, who are exerting an influence, Sabbath after Sab- 
 bath, on hundreds of thousands of laymen ; when we 
 consider that the power of the pulpit has, in comparison 
 with other efKciencies, declined among us to an alarm- 
 ing extent, within the last fifty years, and that an ex- 
 tensive religious apathy is one of the results of this 
 decline ; when we see that our intellectual and moral 
 growth, our social order, and even our civil freedom are, 
 under God, dependent on the preacher's instrumentality, 
 and that the popular wants, if not the popular wish, 
 demand a soul. reviving dispensation of the word, we feel 
 constrained to say that the question, ivhat are the 'most 
 efficient modes of preaching the gospel, is the great ques- 
 tion of the present age. 
 
 Various methods of moral reform have been proposed, 
 but we have reason to believe that the chief and radical 
 reformation of men will be the effect of the Divine Word 
 
12 POWER IN THE PULPIT. 
 
 orally delivered, and accompanied with the influence of 
 Divine Grace. 
 
 In the first place. In order that ike pulpit shall he 
 more poiverful, the preaching must he more argumenta- 
 tive. Accordingly we find that the ablest ministers of 
 the gospel have been those " who applied their hearts to 
 seek out wisdom and the reason of thins^s." 
 
 In reading the sermons of the Elder Edwards, we 
 stand in awe ; for he speaks not as one who sings a 
 pleasant song, but in the name of Him who says, 
 "Preach the preaching that I bid thee." There is 
 something in his discourses that presses us, follows hard 
 after us, and if we flee from it, it is close upon our foot- 
 steps ; and there is no sense in our trying to escape it. 
 It is the ]Dower of God's word shown to be God's word, 
 identified as such, and therefore we cannot stay it in its 
 onward urging. Overcome by his argument, we fall a 
 prey, at once, to his appeal. His discussion interests 
 us ; we are first surprised, then taken captive, and after- 
 ward borne along " whithersoever the governor listeth." 
 ,So it was with Paul. " He reasoned in the synagogue, 
 every Sabbath, and as he once reasoned of righteousness, 
 temperance and judgment to come, Felix, trembled." 
 He was not afraid of abstruse preaching, nor of meta- 
 physical preaching ; but he uttered words hard to be 
 understood, and liable to be wrested by the unlearned 
 and unstable ; still he enforced them by such com- 
 pressed ratiocination, as to make his hearers feel, that 
 in striving against him they were striving against their 
 God. 
 
 The direct tendency of strong argument is to transfer 
 the reasoner'g appeal from the sphere of his own opinions 
 
POWER IN THE PULPIT, 13 
 
 to the sphere of divine inspiration ; and he who braces 
 himself against this appeal, strikes and presses against 
 a brazen wall. Hence it is characteristic of every 
 preacher, who fortifies his words by giving the reason for 
 them, to speak with authority. " My words are not my 
 own," he seems to declare, " but I have proved them, 
 and you know them to be true. He that receiveth 
 them, receiveth not me alone, but him that sent me. 
 He that despiseth them, poureth contempt not upon me 
 alone, but upon his own mind, and upon his Maker, and 
 shall at last wonder and perish." 
 
 Secondly. The preaching of divine truth, in (yrder to 
 be powerful, must have a positive element. 
 
 In the Scriptures there is command, there is penalty, 
 there is a strict condition, there is a " believe and be 
 saved," a "disbelieve and be lost ; " and if we Tvaver in 
 .enforcing this positive law and penalty, we cut the sinews 
 of our strength. The Scriptures do not affirm that our 
 salvation depends upon gradually cultivating our native 
 good principles merely, but they do affirm that our 
 future life depends on crossing one plainly marked line, 
 on taking one positive step. " Except a man be born 
 again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And when 
 these positive truths of entire depravity by nature, and 
 salvation by grace, through faith in Christ's atonement, 
 are urged pointedly upon the people, it makes the 
 preaching " mighty, through God, to the pulling down 
 of strongholds." 
 
 Thirdly. The power of preaching requires that the 
 truths of the gospel he often presented singly. 
 
 When a single doctrine is held out steadily to our 
 gaze, we may view it with distinctness ; its lineaments 
 2 
 
14 POWEE IN THE PULPIT. 
 
 are not confused with the lines of other truths. Thus it 
 penetrates deeply into our feelings. Hence Paul 
 preached to the Romans, " the just shall live by faith," 
 and James preached in his epistle that " faith without 
 works is dead." Both doctrines are true. But, being 
 preached separately, are the more effective. 
 
 Fourthly. The 'preaching of the gospel, in order to 
 he powerful, must he free and earnest. Every sermon 
 should be a transcript of the writer's own mind, 
 should be free from guile, from all manceuvers to gain 
 the applause of a party ; it should be instinct with the 
 spirit and truth of Jesus. His emotions should be free 
 and unrestrained. He should preach earnestly, as the 
 spirit giveth him utterance. 
 
 No man can preach with power, unless he regulate 
 his feelings by the nature of his theme, letting his 
 emotions well upward and onward, according to their 
 own sweet will. He must unveil his heart to his hear- 
 ers, if he would bring their hearts into unison with his 
 own. He should smile or weep, as his subject con- 
 strains him, A word, earnestly spoken, gushing out of 
 an honest heart, has a vitality in it which makes it 
 powerful. 
 
 In order that the hearts of the people may be stirred 
 on the subject of religion, and moved to right action, 
 there must be earnest and sympathetic appeals to their 
 feelings and their emotions, as well as to their reason 
 and judgment. 
 
 Fifthly. In order to he powerful the preacher must 
 he humhle and affectionate in his manner. He must 
 not only possess a compassionate love for his hearers, 
 but in manner he must manifest this spirit in a special 
 
POWER IN THE PQLPIT. 15 
 
 degree at the precise time of his addressiDg his auditory. 
 His benevolence must flow downward to his hearers and 
 upward to God, and thus with one hand at the hearts of 
 his people, and the other upon the throne of the Eternal, 
 he must be the medium for the transmission of those in- 
 fluences which are conducted softly and silently to the . 
 to the bosom of the church. 
 
 The effective preacher must also realize his depen- 
 dence on the sanctifying spirit of God. When he ban- 
 ishes from his heart all pride and self confidence, then 
 and then only he is filled with all the fullness of God. 
 Feeling his dependence, he does all things through Christ 
 that strengthenethhim; and he speaks eloquently, because 
 it is not he that speaks, but the grace of God which is 
 with him, transforming his speech into the wisdom of 
 God, and the power of God unto salvation. 
 
 When the preacher feels deeply that he is inadequate 
 of himself to convert his hearers, they feel that they are 
 wrestling with his God, and thus he speaks to them with 
 the "■ demonstration of the Spirit and with power. 
 
 Finally. In oi^der to he powerful^ the 'preacher must 
 aim to produce an immediate and visible result. Men 
 are more affected by what is near, than by what is far 
 off, and are more stimulated by the prospect of a visible 
 good, than by the hope of an advantage which they may 
 never recognize. 
 
 The effective preacher therefore, must distinguish 
 between those who serve God and those who serve him 
 not. He should cry aloud : Who is on the Lord's side ? 
 While he encourages the Christian in the pathway 
 of holy living, and stimulates him to faithful efforts for 
 the salvation of others, he must warn the worldly and 
 
16 POWER IN THE PULPIT. 
 
 the careless of their increasing and immediate danger, 
 and urge them to flee without a moment's delay from 
 *' the wrath to come." 
 
 He should cry aloud : " Now is the accepted time, 
 behold, now is the day of salvation. Choose you this 
 day whom ye will serve. Hasten to the city of refuge, 
 linger not in all the plain ; thy judge will come quickly, 
 and in the twinkling of an eye it may be too late.'* 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 METHODS OF PERPETUATING AN INTEREST IN 
 HEARING THE GOSPEL. 
 
 (abstract, bibliotheca sacra for 1871.) 
 
 By Professor Edwards A. Park. 
 
 The first of these methods is that of unfoldiiuj the 
 peculiar doctrines of revelation. One of the most active 
 desires of man is the desire of learning something new. 
 " Did the Almighty " says Lessing, " holding in his right 
 hand Truth, and in his left Search after truth, deign 
 to tender me the one I might prefer, in all humility, 
 but without hesitation, I should request Search after 
 truth:' 
 
 It is true that, the will of man is by nature entirely 
 sinful, but this does not benumb his sensibility to the 
 truth which concerns him ; and which rouses him, partly 
 because he is entirely sinful. He will cling to the very 
 doctrine which gives him pain. So long as the soul 
 endures, it must drink in the truth, as the lungs now 
 inhale the air. If wrong-minded men do for a time 
 refuse to hear effective preaching, right-minded men will 
 continue to love it. They will love the true and distinc- 
 tive doctrines of the Bible, as the aliment of their minds. 
 2* 
 
1 8 INTEREST IN HEARING THE GOSPEL. 
 
 A second method of securing a permanent interest in 
 preaching the gosp)el, is the rational presentation of such 
 truths as are ^mysterious. There is in man an instinc- 
 tive love of mystery. Almost every religion abounds 
 with the incomprehensible. The demand for a theology 
 somev/bat mysterious is justified, and therefore strength- 
 ened by reason. 
 
 God's absolute sovereignty in the government of men, 
 and their own free agency are both true, but the consis- 
 teucy of these truths must ever be mysterious. The 
 effective preacher in promoting the permanent interest 
 of his hearers, should not only teach the facts which may 
 be clearly understood, but teach in a rational manner, 
 whatever may be understood of things apparently mys- 
 terious. He will illustrate the difference between the 
 fact which we do understand, in which we do believe, 
 and the modes of the fact which pass our understanding 
 and with regard to which, as we have no specific appre- 
 hension, we have no specific belief. 
 
 If men see that the veil is partly raised, they are 
 the more inquisitive to look behind it ; and because they 
 on one Sabbath do not take in all the truth, they will 
 beseech that the same trutlis be repeated to them the 
 next Sabbath. 
 
 • A third method of securing a permanent interest in 
 the preaching of the gospel is to diversify the course of 
 our teaching. To the^nind a change of employment is 
 rest. 
 
 The Sabbath day becomes a relief, because it is a day 
 not of idleness, but of a new kind of work. The differ- 
 ing sensibilities of the soul will be addressed in their 
 
INTEKEST IN HEARING THE GOSPEL. 19 
 
 turn, by the. preacher, who desires to keep the attention 
 of his hearers. 
 
 These principles in regard to variety of style of ad- 
 dress, must extend not only to variety of themes and the 
 modes of treating them, to the interchange of extempora. 
 neaus with written discoursesy to the intermingling of 
 argumentative, didactiCy hortatory, historical, biograph- 
 ical and expository sermons, but to other methods. 
 
 For instance, the preacher may explain the Sabbath- 
 school lesson of the ensuing week. He may inform his 
 hearers on the previous Sabbath of the passage to be 
 explained ; may request them to present their questions 
 to him ; may read these questions and answer them, 
 may thus make his discourse a kind of dignified conver- 
 sation with his people, who thus become his scholars. 
 Thus the pastor may so diversify the services of the 
 Sabbath as to make his audience expect a freshness and 
 new life in every sermon. 
 
 Finally, In order to maintain aperm.anent interest in 
 effective preaching it must be appropriate. Every ser- 
 mon should make some one truth prominent, and the 
 style of writing and of elocution should be in harmony 
 with that one truth. The spirit of it should breathe it- 
 self forth in the prayers and in the songs of the public 
 service, and every service will have a fresh interest 
 because unique. 
 
 The sermon should be wisely adapted to the varying 
 conditions of the hearers. A doctrine or a truth has a 
 meaning to the people at one period, when it is specially 
 adapted to their character and condition, which it has not 
 at another period. Such truth continues to awaken the 
 reverence of men, if it be preached when it has peculiar 
 
20 INTEREST IN HEARING THE GOSPEL. 
 
 force. ^' A word fitly spoken how good is it." It is ap- 
 propriate to both preacher and hearers, that he so preach 
 as to make the principles of goodness prominent in his 
 ministrations. His hearers should flock into the sane 
 tuary expecting to catch a glimpse of some new glories 
 in the character of the Sovereign, to be quickened with 
 some new impulse for praising Him whom they ought to 
 prize above their chief joy. 
 
 The idea of the sanctuary ought to be an idea of holy 
 worship, and as there can be no Heaven unless the Lamb 
 be the light thereof, so there can be no real worship un. 
 less the truth of God shine through it, and in it, and 
 around it. 
 
 Note. — If any phrases, sentences or paragraphs in the 
 above abstract (Chapters III. and IV.) have been 
 changed from the original articles, it has been done 
 because it seemed necessary in using the matter in a 
 new form. — Compile7\ 
 
CHAPTER y. 
 
 WISDOM IN WINNING SOULS. 
 
 (abstract.) 
 
 President Charles G. Finnet. 
 
 The great end of preaching is to glorify God in the 
 salvation of men. 
 
 But the very end for which preaching is appointed, is 
 one against which is arrayed the most powerful opposi- 
 tion of the very sinners themselves, who are in perish- 
 ing need of salvation. Hence they are often ingeniou 
 in their efforts for defeating the means employed to save 
 their souls. 
 
 And yet, in the very face of such dire infatuation and 
 depravity, and of such formidable obstacles to the work 
 to be achieved, God has ordained that the work of con- 
 version and sanctification shall be mainly promoted by 
 appropriate and forcible preaching. 
 
 For this reason, the wise and successful laborer in 
 winning souls cannot ordinarily be indifferent and care- 
 less in the matter and manner of proclaiming saving 
 truth to his hearers. He may not reasonably expect 
 the divine blessing to crown his labors with great suc- 
 cess, unless he aims definitely to awaken the careless, 
 
22 WISDOM IN WINNING SOULS. 
 
 convict the sinful, and direct them in the shortest way 
 to Christ, for salvation. 
 
 And under our first general division, let us consider 
 the onatter of preachi7ig which is specially adapted to 
 saving men. In the first place. All preaching should he 
 practical. 
 
 The proj^er end of all doctrine is practice. Anything 
 brought forward as doctrine, which cannot be made use 
 of as practical, is not preaching the gospel. '^J'o preach 
 doctrines in an abstract way, and not in reference to 
 practice, is absurd. God always brings in doctrine to 
 regulate practice. 
 
 What can a minister preach, who preaches no doc- 
 trine ? All preaching should be doctrinal, and all 
 preaching should be practical. 
 
 2d. Preaching should he direct. The gospel should 
 be preached to men, and not about them. 
 
 The minister must address his hearers. He must 
 preach to them about themselves, and not leave the im- 
 pression that he is preaching to them about others. He 
 will never do them much good, farther than he succeeds 
 in convincing each individual that he means him. 
 
 He must preach in reference to the sins of the con- 
 gregation, in order to reform their lives and save their 
 souls. 
 
 3d. He should hunt after sinners and Christians, 
 wherever they may have entrenched themselves in in- 
 action. It is not the design of preaching to make men 
 easy and quiet, but to make them act rigtitly. 
 
 4th. The sinner should he made to feel his guilt, and 
 not he left to the impression that he is merely unfmiun- 
 
WISDOM IN WlisNING SOULS. 23 
 
 aie. He should be made to blame and condemn him. 
 self, in order that he may seek pardon. 
 
 5th. A prime object with the preacher must be to 
 iiwbke present obligation felt. Very few, indeed, in 
 ordinary times, in ordinary congregations, feel the pres- 
 sure of immediate obligation to repent. 
 
 Very few ministers make the impression upon sinners 
 that they are expected to repent now. And until the 
 sinner's conscience is reached, on this point, the preach- 
 ing affects him but little. 
 
 6th. Sinners should he made to feel that they have 
 something to do, and that is to repent, and that this 
 something they must do for themselves, because neither 
 God nor any one else can do it for them. They should 
 obey God, and not wait for anything. For religion is 
 something to do, and not something^ to wait for. 
 
 7th. All the excuses of sinners should he annihilated. 
 They should be shown that the plea of inability to love 
 and obey God, is the worst of all excuses, because it is a 
 wicked disinclination. It charges God with tyranny in 
 commanding men to serve Him, when He has given 
 them no capacity to strive to please Him. 
 
 Hence sinners should be shown that all pleas in ex- 
 cuse for continuing in impenitence and unbelief a single 
 moment, are acts of rebellion against God. 
 
 8tb. Sinners should he made to feel the danger of 
 grieving the Spirit of God,^Thej should be made to 
 understand that unless they yield, and are made willing 
 in the day of God's power, the Holy Ghost may leave 
 them forever, and their damnation may be sealed long 
 before death. 
 
24 WISDOM IN WINNING SOULS 
 
 Let us now consider the manner of preaching effec- 
 tively. 
 
 In the first place. Preaching should he conversa- 
 tional. In order to be clearly understood, it should be 
 colloquial in style. 
 
 In manner, a minister should preach more as he talks 
 in earnest, familiar conversation, if he wishes to deeply 
 impress and interest his hearers. 
 
 2d. Preaching should he in the plain language of 
 common life. It should be intelligible to the hearers. 
 It should be like the language of the gospels, easily 
 understood by the common people. 
 
 3d. It should he parabolical in style. Illustrations 
 should be frequently drawn from incidents, real or sup- 
 posed. 
 
 Jesus Christ constantly illustrated his instructions in 
 this way. He would either advance a principle, and 
 then illustrate it by a parable, that is, a short story of 
 some event, real or imaginary, or else he would bring 
 out the principle in the parable. "And the common 
 people heard him gladly." 
 
 He frequently drew his illustrations from the affairs 
 of common life. He illustrated his instructions by 
 things that were taking place among the people, — with 
 which their minds were familiar. He talked abjut hens 
 and chickens, and children in the market places, and 
 sheep and lambs, shepherds and farmers, husbands and 
 merchants. ♦ 
 
 He often referred to historical facts, well known to 
 the people at the time. 
 
 4th. Preaching should he moderately repetitious^ 
 
WISDOM IN WINNING SOULS. 25 
 
 A minister should repeat his main points, and whatever 
 he perceives is not perfectly understood by his hearers. 
 
 Said an eminent lawyer : "In addressing a jury, I 
 always expect that whatever I wish to impress upon 
 their minds, I must repeat, in the same or different lan- 
 guage. Otherwise I do not carry their minds along 
 with me, so that they can deeply feel the force of the 
 subsequent arguments or considerations." 
 
 Note. — It will commonly increase the impression and 
 give satisfaction, to recapitulate briefly, in the same or 
 different language, in substance, the main points, at the 
 close of a general head. Bat more especially is such a 
 recapitulation profitable at the close of the body of the 
 discourse, and the main discussion. — Co'inpiler. 
 
 5th. In order to he deeply impressive, a oninider 
 should deeply feel his subject. Then he will suit the ac- 
 tion to the word, and the word to the action, so as to 
 make the full impression which the truth is calculated 
 to make. He should be in solemn earnest in what he 
 says, and he will be effective. . 
 
 6th. He should avoid monotony in delivery. If he 
 preaches in a monotonous way, he will be very liable to 
 preach the people to sleep. Any monotonous sound, 
 loud or faint, if continued long, disposes people to sleep. 
 You never hear this monotonous manner from people in 
 earnest conversation. 
 
 7th. He should address the feelings enough to secure 
 attention, and then deal luith the conscience, and probe 
 it to the quick. The only way to secure sound conver- 
 sions is to deal faithfully with the conscience. 
 
 8th. In order to be natural and impressive in de^ 
 livery, preaching must be in some degree extemjyorane^ 
 
26 WISDOM IN WINNING SOULS. 
 
 ous ; especially should this be done briefly at the ter- 
 mination of the main points, and at the conclusion. 
 
 9th. 771 order to success in winning souls, the min- 
 ister 'fnust anticipate the ohjections and dijfficulties of 
 si>nners, and answer them. 
 
 What does the lawyer do, when pleading before a 
 jury? He anticipates every objection which may be 
 made by his antagonist, and carefully removes or ex- 
 plains them. 
 
 10th. A minister should aim definitely at the con. 
 version of his congregation. 
 
 But you may ask, ."does not all preaching aim at 
 this?" No. A minister always has some aim in 
 preaching, but many sermons do not seem to be aimed 
 at the conversion of sinners. And if sinners were con- 
 verted under them, the preacher hintself would be 
 amazed. 
 
 11th. And henccy if ministers are wise in winning 
 80ulSf such preaching will he revival preaching — it will 
 be blessed " to the sanctification of Christians and the 
 conversion of sinners." 
 
 CALL TO THE MINISTEY. 
 
 Note. — But in oi^der to success in promoting religion^ 
 ministers must have a divine call to the vjorJc^ and be 
 baptized ivith the Holy Ghost, 
 
 *' No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that 
 is called of God, as was Aaron." He must have such a 
 strong desire to glorify God and save men by preaching, 
 that he will exclaim, " Woe is me if I preach not the 
 gospel ! " And he must possess such natural gifts, as the 
 capacity for clear thinking, with strong feelings, and a 
 
WISDOM IN WINNING SOULS. 27 
 
 vigorous imagination, clear expression, and the power of 
 forcible* utterance, that, when thoroughly educated, he 
 shall be " apt to teach." And being thus prepared, 
 there must, in the providence of God, be an " open door 
 which no man can shut." 
 
 Without these qualifications and conditions, a minister 
 ought not, and cannot preach the Gospel. But in order 
 to great success, ministers, by strong faith and by entire 
 consecration and earnest prayer, must be baptized with 
 the Holy Ghost, so as to make the highest practicable at- 
 tainments in piety, and "have power with God and with 
 men." 
 
 As Mr. Barnes observes : " The best of all evidences 
 of a call to the office of the ministry is the divine bles- 
 sing resting on our labours. If sinners are converted ; 
 if souls are sanctified ; if the interests of pure religion 
 are advanced ; if by humble, zealous, and self-denying 
 efforts, a man is enabled so to preach as that the divine 
 blessing shall rest constantly on his labours, it is among 
 the best of all evidences that he is called of God, and is 
 approved by Him." — Canvpiler, 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CHURCH SHOULD SEEK MORE EMINENT PIETY IN 
 
 THE MINISTRY. 
 
 (abstract.) 
 
 President Charles G. Finney. 
 
 And if such are the essential qualifications on the part 
 of the ministry in order to great success in winning souls 
 to Christ, we may infer that there is need of a great re- 
 formation on the part of the churches in seeking^ as of 
 the first importance, deeply spiritual and effective min. 
 isters. 
 
 Now we have reason to believe that eminent piety and 
 a reputation for marked success in promoting the prayer- 
 ful activity and holiness of professing Christians; and the 
 conversion of sinners is to a great extent made entirely 
 subordinate to merely pleasing manners, and a popular 
 and attractive style of preaching, which shall specially 
 interest the young people and increase the size of the 
 congregation. 
 
 But if the edification and sanctification of Christian* 
 that they may be fitted for admission to heaven, and the 
 awakening and salvation of perishing sinners is of tran- 
 scendent importance, while an acceptable delivery and 
 
EMINENT PIETY IN THE MINISTRY. 29 
 
 style are to be prized, deep piety and effectiveness in 
 preaching, are vasily more indispensible to a good min- 
 ister of Jesus Christ, and a useful pastor to a Christian 
 church. 
 
 Therefore, whatever other qualifications ministers may 
 have to recommend them, if their record does not show 
 that they are '' endued with power from on high" so as 
 to render them truly effective in promoting the piety of 
 the church and the conversion of sinners, they should be 
 considered disqualified in a fundamental point. 
 
 It used to be the custom of churches, and I believe in 
 some places is so still, in presenting a call to the pasto- 
 rate, to certify, that having witnessed the spiritual fruits 
 of his labors, they deem him qualified and called of God 
 to the work of tlie ministry. And now if the churches 
 desire to be restored to their former " refreshing from 
 the presence of the Lord," they must reform their present 
 practice, and prayerfully seek for, and sustain a ministry 
 prossessing spiritual unction, and which is successful in 
 saving* men, rather than a ministry which may excel 
 merely in an attractive and pleasing essay-style of preach- 
 ing, with but little adaptation to the promotion of true 
 revivals of pure and undefiled religion. 
 
 And in order to secure such a pre-eminently desirable 
 ministry, without which the churches must be doomed to 
 perpetual barrenness, they must hold the Theological 
 Seminaries to a strict account in fulfilling their duty in 
 this matter. They should be impressed by the impera- 
 tive demands of the churches, that it is necessary for 
 them to make more special and direct efforts in striving 
 to develope a much higher type of piety on the part of 
 their students. 
 3« 
 
30 EMINENT PIETY IN THE MINISTEY. 
 
 Some years since one branch of the Scotch Church 
 was so tried with the want of unction and power in the 
 ministers furnished them by their Theological Seminary, 
 that they passed a resolution, that until the Seminary 
 reformed in this respect, they would not employ the min- 
 isters educated there. 
 
 Hence we believe that if the excellent and learned 
 Professors of the Seminaries should perceive tliat the 
 churches were earnestly seeking a ministry of truly 
 earnest piety and effectiveness, as well as fair gifts and 
 scholarship, tliey would give more attention to cultiva- 
 ting devotional and fervid piety among their students. 
 
 They would be more deeply impressed with the im- 
 portance of making the Seminaries, schools for develop- 
 ing Christian experience and true holiness, and skill in 
 soul saving, as well as sound learning in the doctrines 
 and precepts of the sacred scriptures. And then the 
 Seminaries should avoid as far as practicable, recom- 
 mending^ candidates for settlement over the churches who 
 are not "endued with power from on high," and are 
 striving for very high attainments in personal holiness. 
 For however learned and eloquent their students may 
 be, without these higher qualifications they cannot be 
 *' good ministers of Jesus Christ." 
 
CHAPTER VIl. 
 
 TAKE HEED TO THYSELF. 
 
 By Pres. Charles G. Finney. 
 
 "Take heed to thyself, and to the doctrine; continue in them: 
 for, in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear 
 thee." 1 Timothy, iv, 16. 
 
 I am not going to preach to preachers, but to suggest 
 certain conditions upon wJiich the salvation promised in 
 this text may be secured by them. 
 
 1st. See that you are constrained by love to preach 
 the Gospel, as Christ was to provide a Gospel. 
 
 2d. See that you have the special enduement of power 
 from on high, by the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 3d. See that you have a heart, and not merely a 
 head-call to undertake the preaching of the Gospel. By 
 this I mean, be heartily and most intensely inclined to 
 seek the salvation of souls as the great work of life, and 
 do not undertake what you have no heart to. 
 
 4th. Constantly maintain a close walk with God. 
 
 5th. Make the Bible your book of books. Study it 
 much, upon your knees, waiting for divine light. 
 
 6tb. Beware of leaninoj on commentaries. Consult 
 
32 TAKE HEED TO THYSELF. 
 
 them when convenient ; but judge for yourself, in the 
 light of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 7th. Keep yourself pure — in will, in thought, in feel- 
 ing, in word and action. 
 
 8th. Contemplate much the guilt and danger of sin- 
 ners, that your zeal for their salvation may be intensified. 
 
 9th Also deeply ponder and dwell much upon the 
 boundless love and compassion of Christ for them. 
 
 10th, So love them yourself as to be willing to die 
 for them. 
 
 11th. Give your most intense thought to the study 
 of ways and means by which you may save them. Make 
 this the great and intense study of your life. 
 
 12th. Refuse to b"^ diverted from this work. Guard 
 against every temptation that would abate your interest 
 in it. 
 
 13th. Believe the assertion of Christ that he is with 
 you in this work always and everywhere, to give you all 
 the help you need. 
 
 14th. " He that winneth souls is wise"; and, " if 
 any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth 
 to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and he shall 
 receive." *' But let him ask in faith." Remember, 
 therefore, that you are bound to have the wisdom that 
 shall win souls to Christ. 
 
 15th. Being called of God to the work, make your 
 calling your constant argument with God for all that you 
 need for the accomplishment of the work. 
 
 16th. Be diligent and laborious, " in season and out 
 of seaison.'* 
 
 17th. Converse much with all classes of your bear- 
 ers on the question of their salvation, that you may un- 
 
TAKE HEED TO THYSELF. 33 
 
 derstand their opinions, errors, and wants. Ascertain 
 their prejudices, ignorance, temper, habits, and whatever 
 you need to know to adapt your instruction to their 
 necessities. 
 
 18th. See that your own habits are in all respects 
 correct ; that you are temperate in all things — free from 
 the stain or smell of tobacco, alcohol, drugs, or any- 
 thing of which you have reason to be ashamed and which 
 mav stumble others. 
 
 19th. Be not "light-minded," but "set the Lord 
 always before you." ' 
 
 20th. Bridle your tongue, and be not given to idle 
 and unprofitable conversation. 
 
 21st. Always let your people see that you are in 
 solemn earnest with them, both in the pulpit and out of 
 it ; and let not your daily intercourse with them nullify 
 your serious teaching on the Sabbath. 
 
 22d. Resolve to " know nothing among your people" 
 "save Jesus Christ and him crucified"; and let them 
 understand that, as an ambassador of Christ, your busi- 
 ness with them relates wholly to the salvation of their 
 souls. 
 
 23d. Be sure to teach them as well by example as ( 
 by precept. Practice yourself what you preach. 
 
 24th. Be especially guarded in your intercourse with 
 women, to raise no thought or suspicion of the least im- 
 purity in yourself. 
 
 25th. Guard your weak points. If naturally tend, 
 ing to gayety and trifling, watch against occasions of fail- 
 ure in this direction. 
 
 26th. If naturally somber and unsocial, guard against 
 moroseness and unsociability. 
 
34 TAKE HEED TO THYSELF. 
 
 27th. Avoid all affectation and sham in all things. 
 Be what you profess to be, and you will have no temp- 
 tation to " make believe." 
 
 28th. Let simplicity, sincerity, and Christian pro- 
 priety stamp your whole life. 
 
 29th. Spend much time every day and night in 
 prayer and direct communion with God. This will make 
 you a power for salvation. No amount of learning and 
 study can compensate for the loss of this communion. 
 If you fail to maintain communion with God, you are 
 *' weak as another man. 
 
 30th. Beware of the error that there are no means 
 of regeneration; and, consequently, no connection of 
 means and ends in the regeneration of souls. 
 
 31st. Understand that regeneration" is a moral and, 
 therefore, a voluntary change. 
 
 32d, Understand that the Gospel is adapted to change 
 the hearts of men, and in a wise presentation of it, you 
 may expect the efficient co-operation of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 33d. In the selection and treatment of your texts 
 always secure the direct teaching of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 34th. Let all your sermons be heart and not merely 
 head sermons, 
 
 35th. Preach from experience, and not from hearsay, 
 or mere reading and study. 
 
 36th. Always present the subject which the Holy 
 Spirit lays upon your heart for the occasion. Seize the 
 points presented by the Holy Spirit to your own mind, 
 and present them with the greatest possible directness 
 to your congregation. 
 
 37th. Be full of prayer whenever you attempt to 
 preach, and go from your closet to your pulpit with the 
 
TAKE HEED TO THYSELF. 35 
 
 inward groanings of the Spirit pressing for utterance at 
 your lips. 
 
 38th. Get your mind fully imbued with your subject, 
 so that it will press for utterance ; then op.en your mouth, 
 and let it forth like a torrent. 
 
 39th. See that " the fear of man that bringeth a 
 snare" is not upon you. Let your people understand 
 that you fear God too much to be afraid of them. 
 
 40th. Never let the question of your popularity with 
 your people influence your preaching. 
 
 41st. Never let the question of salary deter you [ 
 from " declaring the whole counsel of God, whether men 
 will bear- or forbear." 
 
 42d. Do not temporize, lest you lose the confidence 
 ef your people, and thus fail to save them. They can- 
 not thoroughly respect you as an ambassador of Christ 
 if they see that you dare not do you duty. 
 
 43d. Be sure to " commend yourself to every man's 
 conscience in the sight of God." 
 
 44th. Be " not a lover of filthy lucre." 
 
 45th. Avoid every appearance of vanity, 
 
 46th. Compel your people to respect your sincerity 
 and your spiritual wisdom. 
 
 47th. Let them not for a moment suppose that you , 
 can be influenced in your preaching by any considera- 
 tions of salary, more or less, or none at all. 
 
 48th. Do not make the impression that you are fond 
 of good dinners, and like to be invited out to dine ; for 
 this will be a snare to you, and a stumbling block to 
 them. 
 
 49th. " Keep under your body, lest, after having 
 preached to others, y6urself should be a castaway." 
 
36 TAKE HEED TO THYSELF. 
 
 50th. " Watch for souls as one who must give an ac- 
 count to God." 
 
 51st. Be a diligent student, and thoroughly instruct 
 your people in all that is essential to their salvation. 
 
 5 2d. Never flatter the rich. 
 
 53d. Be especially attentive to the wants and in- 
 struction of the poor. 
 
 54th. Suffer not yourself to be bribed into a com- 
 promise with sin by donation parties. 
 
 55th. Suffer not yourself to be publicly treated ais a 
 mendicant, or you will come to be despised by a large 
 class of your hearers. 
 
 56th. Repel every attempt to close your mouth 
 against whatever is extravagant, wrong, or injurious 
 amongst your people. 
 
 57th. Maintain your pastoral integrity and inde- 
 pendence, lest you sear your conscience, quench the 
 Holy Spirit, forfeit the confidence of your people, and 
 lase the favor of God. 
 
 58th. Be an example to the flock, and let your life 
 ' illustrate your teaching. Remember that your actions 
 and spirit will teach even more impressively than your 
 sermons. 
 
 59th. If you preach that men should offer to God 
 and their neighbor a love service, see that you do this 
 yourself, and avoid all that tends to the belief that you 
 are working for pay. 
 
 60th. Give to your people a love service, and en- 
 courage them to render to you, not a money equivalent' 
 for your labor, but a love reward that will refresh both 
 you and them. 
 
 6] St. Repel every proposal to get money for you or 
 
TAKE HEED TO THYSELF. 37 
 
 for church purposes that will naturally disgust and ex- 
 cite the contempt of worldly but thoughtful men. 
 
 62d. Resist the introduction of tea parties, amusing 
 lectures, and dissipating sociables, especially at those 
 seasons most favorable for united efforts to convert souls 
 to Christ. Be sure the Devil will try to head you off in 
 this direction. When you are praying and planning for 
 a revival of God's work, some of your worldly church- 
 members will invite you. to a party. Go not, or you are 
 in for a circle of them, that will defeat your prayers. 
 
 63d. Do not be deceived. Your spiritual power with 
 your people will never be increased by accepting such 
 invitations at such times. If it is a good time to have 
 parties, because the people have leisure, it is also a good 
 time for religious meetings, and your influence should 
 be used to draw the people to the house of^God. 
 
 64th. See that you personally know and daily live 
 upon Christ. 
 4 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HOW TO WIN SOULS. 
 
 Bt President Charles G. Finney. 
 
 " Take heed to thyself, and unto the doctrine ; continue in them ; 
 for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear 
 thee."— I Tim., iv, 16. 
 
 I beg leave in this article to suggest to my youDger 
 brethren in the ministry some thoughts on the philosophy 
 of so preaching the Gospel as to secure the salvation of 
 souls. They are the result of much study, much prayer 
 for Divine teaching, and a practical experience of many 
 years. 
 
 I understand the admonition at the head of this 
 article to relate to the matteTy order, and manmer of 
 preaching. 
 
 The problem is, how shall we win souls wholly to 
 Christ. Certainly we must win them away from tJieTYi- 
 selves. 
 
 1st. They are free moral agents, of course — rational, 
 accountable. 
 
 2d. They are in rebellion against God, wholly alien. 
 ated, intensely prejudiced, and committed against Him. 
 
HOW TO WIN SOULS, 39 
 
 3d. They are committed to self •gratification as the 
 end of their being. 
 
 4th, This committed state is moral depravity, the 
 fountain of sin within them, from which flow, by a 
 natural law, all their sinful ways. This comniitted vol- 
 untary state is their *' wicked heart," This it is that 
 needs a radical change. 
 
 5th. God is infinitely benevolent, and unconverted 
 sinners are supremely selfish ; so that they are radical- 
 ly opposed to God. Their committal to the gratification 
 of their appetites and propensities is known in Bible 
 language as the " carnal mind ; " or, as in the margin, 
 "the minding of the flesh," which is enmity against 
 God. 
 
 6th. This enmity is voluntary, and must be over- 
 come, if at all, by the Word of God, made effectual by 
 the teaching of the Holy Spirit, 
 
 7th. The Gospel is adapted to this end, and when 
 wisely presented we may confidently expect the effect- 
 ual co-operation of the Holy Spirit. This is implied in 
 our commission, " Go and disciple all nations, and lo ! I 
 am with you alyyays, even to the end of the world." 
 
 8th. If we are unwise, illogical, unphilosophical, and 
 out of all natural order, in presenting the Gospel, we 
 have no warrant for expecting Divine co,operation. 
 
 9th. In winning souls, as in everything else, God 
 works through and in accordance with natural laws. 
 Hence, if we would win souls, we must wisely adapt 
 means to this end We must present those truths and 
 in that order adapted to the natural laws of mind, of 
 thought, and mental action. A false mental philosophy 
 will greatly mislead us, and we shall often be found 
 
40 HOW TO WIN SOULS. 
 
 ignorantly working against the agency of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 10th. Sinners must be convicted of their enmity. 
 They do not know God, and consequently are often 
 ignorant of the opposition of their hearts to Him. " By 
 the law is the knowledge of sin," because by the law the 
 sinner gets Ms first true idea of God. By the law he 
 first learns that God is perfectly benevolent, and in- 
 finitel}^ opposed to all selfishness. This law, then, 
 should be arrayed in all its majesty against the selfish- 
 ness and enmity of the sinner. 
 
 11th. This law carries irresistible conviction of its 
 righteousness, and no moral agent can doubt it. 
 
 12th. All men know that they have sinned, but all 
 are not convicted of the guilt and ill desert of sin. The 
 many are careless, and do not feel the burden of sin, 
 the horrors and terrors of remorse, and have not a sense 
 of condemnation and of being lost. 
 
 o 
 
 13th. But without this they cannot understand or 
 appreciate the Gospel method of salvation. One cannot 
 intelligently and heartily ask or accept a pardon until 
 he sees and feels the fact and justice of his condemna- 
 tion. 
 
 14th. It is absurd to suppose that a careless, uncon- 
 victed sinner can intelligently and thankfully accept the 
 Gospel offer of pardon, until he accepts tlie righteousness 
 of God in his condemnation. Conversion to Christ is an 
 intelii^^ent chano^e. Hence the conviction of ill desert 
 must precede the acceptance of mercy ; for without this 
 conviction the soul does not understand its need of 
 mercy. Of course, the offer is rejected. The Gospel is 
 no glad tidings to the careless, unconvicted sinner. 
 
HOW TO WIN SOULS. 41 
 
 15th. The spirituality of the law should be unspar- 
 ingly applied to the conscience until the sinner's self- 
 rightousness is annihilated, and he stands speechless and 
 self-condemned before a holy God. 
 
 16th. In some men this conviction is already ripe, 
 and the preacher may at once present Christ, with the 
 hope of his being accepted ; but at ordinary times such 
 cases are exceptional. The great mass of sinners are 
 careless, unconvicted, and to assume their conviction and 
 preparedness to receive Christ, and, hence, to urge sin- 
 ners immediately to accept him, is to begin at the wrong 
 end of our work — to render our teaching unintelligible. 
 Aud such a course will be found to have been a mis. 
 taken one, whatever present appearances and professions 
 may indicate. The sinner may obtain a hope under such 
 teaching ; but unless the Holy Spirit supplies something 
 which the preacher has failed to do, it will be found to 
 be a false one. All the essential links of truth must be 
 supplied, 
 
 17th. When the law has done its work, annihilated 
 self-rightousness, and shut the sinner up to the accept- 
 ance of mercy, he should be made to understand the 
 delicacy and danger of dispensing with the execution of 
 the penalty when the precept of law has been violated. 
 
 18th. Right here the sinner should be made to 
 understand that from the benevolence of Grod he cannot 
 justly infer that God can consistently forgive him. For 
 unless public justice can be satisfied the law of universal 
 benevolence forbids the forgiveness of sin. If public 
 justice is not regarded in the exercise of mercy, the good 
 of the public is sacrificed to that of the individual. 
 God will never do this. 
 4* 
 
42 HOW TO WIN SOULS. 
 
 19th. This teaching will shut the sinner up to h:)ok 
 for some offei'ing to public justice. 
 
 20th. Now give him the atonement as a revealed fact, 
 and shut him up to Christ as his own sin offering. Press 
 the revealed fact that God has accepted the death of 
 Christ as a substitute for the sinner's death, and that this 
 is to be received upon the testimony of God. 
 
 21st. Being already crushed into contrition by the 
 convicting power of the law, the revelation of the love 
 of God manifested in the death of Christ, will naturally 
 beget self-loathing, and that godly sorrow that needeth 
 not to be repented of. Under this showing the sinner 
 can never fors^ive himself. God is holv and olorious ; 
 and he a sinner, saved by sovereign grace. This teach- 
 ing may be more or less formal as the souls you address 
 are more or loss thoughtful, intelligent, and careful to 
 understand. 
 
 22d. It was not by accident that the dispensation of 
 law preceded the dispensation of grace ; but it is in the 
 natural order of things, in accordance with established 
 mental laws, and evermore the law must prepare the 
 way for the Gospel. 'J'o overlook this in instructing 
 souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the intro- 
 duction of a false standard of Christian experience, and 
 to fill the church with spurious converts. Time will 
 make this plain. 
 
 23d. The truth should be preached to the persons 
 present, and so personally applied as to compel every 
 one to feel that you mean him or her. As has been often 
 said of a certain preacher : " He does not preach, but 
 explains what otlier people preach, and seems to be talk- 
 ing directly to me." 
 
HOW TO WIN SOULS. 43 
 
 24th. This course will rivet attention, and cause 
 your hearers to lose sight of the length of your sermon. 
 They will tire if they feel no personal interest in what 
 you say. To secure their individual interest in what 
 you are saying is an indispensable condition of their 
 bein<^ converted. And, while their individual interest 
 is thus awakerid, and held fast to your subject, they will 
 seldom complain of the length of your sermon. In 
 nearly all cases, if the people complain of the length of 
 our sermons, it is because we fail to interest them per- 
 sonally in what we say. 
 
 25th. If we fail to interest them personally, it is 
 either because we do not address them personally, or 
 because we lack unction and earnestness, or because we 
 lack clearness and force, or certainly because we lack 
 something that we ought to possess. To make them feel 
 that we and God means them is indispen^^able. 
 
 26th. Do not think that earnest piety alone can 
 make you successful in winning souls. This is only one 
 condition of success. Tliere must be common sense, 
 there must be sjDiritual wisdom in adapting means to the 
 end. Matter and manner and order and time and place 
 all need to be wisely adjusted to the end we have in 
 view. ^ 
 
 27th. God may sometimes convert souls by men who 
 are not spiritually minded, when they possess that natural 
 sagacity which enables them to ada23t means to that end , 
 but the Bible warrants us in affirming that these are 
 exceptional cases. Without this sagacity and adaptation 
 of means to this end a spiritual mind will fail to win 
 souls to Christ. 
 
 28th. Souls need instruction in accordance wifh the 
 
44 HOW TO WIN SOULS. 
 
 measure of their intelligence. A few simple truths, 
 when wisely applied and illuminated by the Holy Ghost, 
 will convert Children to Christ. I say tvisely applied, 
 for they too are sinners, and need the application of the 
 laAv, as a schoolmaster, to bring them to Christ, that 
 they may be justified by faith. It will sooner or later 
 appear that supposed conversions to Christ are spurious 
 where the preparatory law work has been omitted, and 
 Christ has not been embraced as a Saviour from sin and 
 condemnation. 
 
 29th. Sinners of education and ciilturcj who are, 
 after all, unconvicted and skeptical in their hearts, need 
 a vastly more extended and thorough application of truth. 
 Professional men need the Gospel net to be thrown quite 
 around them, with no break through which they can es- 
 cape ; and, when thus dealt with, they are all the more 
 sure to be converted in proportion to their real intelli- 
 gence. I have found that a course of lectures addressed 
 to lawyers, and adapted to their habits of thought and 
 reasoning, is most sure to convert them. 
 
 30th. To be successful in winning souls, we need to 
 be observing — to study individual character, to press the 
 facts of experience, observation, and revelation upon the 
 consciences of all classes. 
 
 31st. Be sure to explain the terms you use. Before 
 I was converted, I failed to hear the terms repentance, 
 faith, regeneration, and conversion intelligibly explained. 
 Repentance was described as a feeling. Faith was rep- 
 resented as an intellectual act or state^ and not as a vol- 
 untary act of trust. Regeneration was represented as 
 some physical change in the nature, produced by the di- 
 rect power of the Holy Ghost, instead of a voluntary 
 
HOW TO WIN SOULS. 45 
 
 change of the ultimate preference of the soul, produced 
 by the spiritual illumination of the Holy Ghost. Even 
 conversion was represented as being the work of the 
 Holy Ghost in such a sense as to cover up the fact that 
 it is the sinner's own act, under the persuasions of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 32d. Urge the fact that repentance involves the vol- 
 untary and actual renunciation of all sin ; that it is a 
 radical chan2:e of mind toward God. 
 
 33d. Also the fact that savins^ faith is heart trust in 
 Christ ; that it works by love, it purifies the heart, and 
 overcomes the world ; that no faith is saving that has 
 not these attributes. 
 
 34th. The sinner is required to put forth certain 
 mental acts. What these are he needs to understand. 
 Error in mental philosophy but embarrasses, and may 
 fatally deceive the inquiring soul. Sinners are often 
 put upon a wrong track. They are often put upon a 
 strain to feel instead of putting forth the required acts 
 of will. Before my conversion I never received from 
 m.an any intelligible idea of the mental acts that God 
 required of me. 
 
 35th. The deceitfulness of sin renders the inquiring 
 soul exceedingly exposed to delusion ; therefore it be- 
 hooves teachers to beat about every bush, and to search 
 out everv nook and corner where a soul can find a false 
 refuo'e. Be so thorouo^h and discrimiuatins: as to render 
 it as nearly impossible as the nature of the case will 
 admit, that the inquirer should entertain a false hope. 
 
 36th. Do not fear to be thorough. Do not th.rough 
 false pity put on a plaster where the probe is needed. 
 Do not fear that you shall discourage the convicted sin- 
 
46 HOW TO WIN SOULS. 
 
 ner; and turn him back, by searching him out to the 
 bottom. If the Holy Spirit is dealing with him, the 
 more you search and probe the more impossible it will be 
 for the soul to turn back or rest in sin. 
 
 37th. If you would save the soul, do not spare a 
 right hand, or right eye, or any darling idol ; but see to 
 it that every form of sin is given up. Insist upon full 
 confession of wrong, to all that have a right to confes- 
 sion. Insist upon full restitution, so far as is possible, 
 to all injured parties. Do not fall short of the express 
 teachings of Christ on this subject. Whoever the sinner 
 may be, let him distinctly understand that unless he 
 forsakes all that he has he cannot be the disciple of 
 Christ. Insist upon entire and universal consecration 
 of all the powers o£ body and mind, and of all property, 
 possessions, character, and influence to God. Insist upon 
 the total abandonment to God of all ownership of self, 
 or anything else, as a condition of being accepted. 
 
 38th. Understand yourself, and, if possible, make 
 the sinner understand that nothing short of this is in- 
 volved in true faith or true repentance, and that true 
 consecration involves them all. 
 
 39th. Keep constantly before the sinner's mind that 
 it is the personal Christ with whom he is dealing, that 
 God in Christ is seeking his reconciliation to himself, 
 and that the condition of his reconciliation is that he 
 gives up his will and his whole being to God — that he 
 leave not a hoof behind. 
 
 40th. Assure him that *' God has given to him eter- 
 nal life, and this life is in his son"; that "Christ is 
 made unto him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and 
 
HOW TO WIN SOULS. 47 
 
 redemption" ; and that from first to last he is to find 
 his whole salvation in Christ. 
 
 41st. When satisfied that the soul intelligently re- 
 ceives all this doctrine, and the Christ herein revealed, 
 tlien remember that he must persevere unto the end, as 
 the further condition of his salvation. Here you have 
 before you the great work of preventing the soul from 
 backsliding, of securing its permanent sanctification and 
 sealing for eternal glory. 
 
 42d. Does not the very common backsliding in lieart 
 of converts indicate some grave defect in the teachings 
 of the pulpit on this subject ? What does it mean that 
 80 many hopeful converts, within a few months of their 
 apparent conversion, lose their first love, lose all their 
 fervency in religion, neglect their duty, and live on in 
 name CJiristians, but in spirit and life worldlings ? 
 
 43d. A truly successful preacher must not only win 
 souls to Christ, but must keep {hem won. He must not 
 only secure their conversion, but their permanent sanc- 
 tification. 
 
 44th. Nothing in the Bible is more expressly prom- 
 ised in this life than periiianent sanctification, I Thes., 
 v. 23, 24 : " The very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; 
 and I pray God your whole spirit, soul, and body be pre- 
 served blameless unto -the coming of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will 
 do it." This is unquestionably a prayer of the apostle 
 for permanent sanctification in this life, with an express 
 promise that he who has called us will Jo it. 
 
 45th. We learn from the Scriptures that " after we 
 believe ' ' we are or may be sealed with the Holy Spirit 
 of promise, and that this sealing is the earnest of our 
 
48 HOW TO WIN SOULS. 
 
 salvation. Eph., i, 13, 14 : " In whom ye also trusted 
 after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your 
 salvation ; in whom also after that ye believed, ye were 
 sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the 
 earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the 
 purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." 
 His sealing this earnest of our inheritance is that which 
 renders our salvation sure. Hence, in Eph., iv, 30, the 
 apostle says; "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, 
 whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." 
 And in 11 Cor., i, 21st and 22d verses, the apostle says : 
 " Now he which establish eth us with you in Christ, and 
 hath anointed us, is God, who hath also sealed us and 
 given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." Thus 
 we are established in Christ and anoirded by the Spirit, 
 and also sealed by the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. 
 And this, remember, is a blessing that we receive after 
 that we believe, as PauT has informed us in his Ej^istle 
 to the Ephesians, above quoted. Now it is of the last 
 importance that converts should be taught not to rest 
 short of this permanent sanctification, this sealing, this 
 being established in Christ by the special anointing of 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 46th. Now, brethren, unless we know what this 
 means by our own experience, and lead converts to this 
 experience, we fail most lamentably and essentially in 
 our teaching. We leave out tlie very cream and full- 
 ness of the Gospel. 
 
 47th. It should be understood that while this expe- 
 rience is rare amongst ministers it will be discredited by 
 the churches, and it will be next to impossible for an 
 isolated preacher of this doctrine to overcome the un- 
 
aow TO WIN SOULS. 49 
 
 belief of his church. They will feel doubtful about it, 
 because so few preach it or believe in it ; and will ac- 
 count for their pastor's insisting upon it by saying that 
 his experience is owing to his peculiar temperament, 
 and thus they will fail to receive chis anointing because 
 of their unbelief. Under such circumstances it is all 
 the more necessary to insist much upon the importance 
 and privilege of permanent sanctification. 
 
 48th. Sin consists in carnal mindedness, in " obeying 
 the desires of the flesh and of the mind." Permanent 
 sanctification consists in entire and permanent consecra- 
 tion to God. It implies the refusal to obey the desire of 
 the flesh or of the mind. The baptism or sealing of the 
 Holy Spirit subdues the power of the desires and strength- 
 ens and confirms the will in resisting the impulse of de- 
 sire, and in abiding permanently in a state of -making 
 the whole beino, an offerinor to God. 
 
 49th. If we are silent upon this subject, the natural 
 inference will be that we do not believe in it, and, ot 
 course, that we know nothing about it in experience. 
 This will enevitably be a stumbling-block to the church. 
 
 50th. Since this is undeniably an important doctrine, 
 and plainly taught in the Gospel, and is, indeed, the 
 marrow and fatness of the Gospel, to fail in teaching 
 this is to rob the church of its richest inheritance. 
 
 51st. The testimony of the church, and to a great 
 extent of the ministry, on the subject has been lament- 
 ably defective. This legacy has been withheld from 
 the church, and is it any wonder that she so disgrace- 
 fully backslides ? The testimony of the comparatively 
 
 few, here and there, that insist upon this doctrine is 
 5 
 
50 HOW TO WIN SOULS. 
 
 almost nullified by the counter testimony or culpable 
 silence of the great mass of Christ's witnesses. 
 
 52d. My dear brethren, my convictions are so ripe 
 and my feelings so deep upon this subject that I must 
 not conceal from you my fears that lack of personal ex- 
 perience, in many cases, is the reason of this great defect 
 in preaching the Gospel. 1 do not say this to reproach 
 you ; it is not in my heart to do so. It is not wonderful 
 that many of you, at least, have not this experience. 
 Your reliorious training^ nas been defective. You have 
 been led to take a different view of this subject. Vari- 
 ous causes have operated to prejudice you against this 
 blessed doctrine of the glorious Gospel. You have not 
 intellectually believed it ; and, of course^ have not re- 
 ceived Christ in his fullness into your hearts. Perhaps 
 this doctrine to you has been a stumbling-block and a 
 rock of offense ; but I pray you let not prejudice pre- 
 vail, but venture upon Christ by a present acceptance 
 of him as your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and 
 redemption, and see if he will not do for you exceeding' 
 abundantly, above all that you asked or thought. 
 
 53d. No man, wsaint or sinner, should be left by us 
 to rest or be quiet in the indulgence of any sin. No 
 one should be allowed to entertain the hope of Heaven, 
 if- we can prevent it, who lives in the indulgence of 
 known sin in any form. Our constant demand and per- 
 suasion should be, " Be ye holy, for God is holy." " Be 
 ye perfect, even as your father in Heaven is perfect." 
 Let us remember the manner in which Christ concludes 
 his memorable Sermon on the Mount, After spreading 
 out those awfully searching truths before his hearers, 
 and demanding that they should be perfect, as their 
 
HOW TO WIN SOULS. 51 
 
 Father in Heaven was perfect, he concludes by assuring 
 them that no one could be saved who did not receive and 
 obey his teachiogs. Instead of attemptiDg to please our 
 people in their sins, we should continually endeavor to 
 hunt and persuade them out of their sins. Brethren, 
 let us do it, as we would not have our skirts defiled with 
 their blood. If we pursue this course, and constantly 
 preach with unctioD and power, and abide in the full, 
 ness of the doctrine of Christ, and we may joyfully 
 expect to save* ourselves and them that hear us. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PREACHING SO AS TO CONVERT NOBODY. 
 
 By President Chas. G. Finney. 
 
 The design of this article is to propound several rules 
 by a steady conformity to any one of which a man may 
 preach so as not to convert anybody. It is generally 
 conceded at the present day that the Holy Spirit con- 
 verts souls to Christ by means of truth adapted to that 
 end. It follows that a selfish preacher will not skill- 
 fully adapt means to convert souls to Christ, for this is 
 not his end. 
 
 Rule 1st. Let your supreme liiotive be to secure 
 
 your own popularity; then, of course, your preaching 
 will be adapted to that end, and not to convert souls to 
 Christ. 
 
 2d. Aim at pleasing, rather than at converting your 
 hearers. 
 
 3d. Aim at securing for yourself the reputation of 
 a beautiful writer. 
 
 4th. Let your sermons be written with a high degree 
 of literary finish. 
 
 5th. Let them be short, occupying in the reading 
 not to exceed from twenty to twenty-five minutes. 
 
PEEACHING SO AS TO CONVERT NOBODY. 53 
 
 6th. Let your style be flowery, ornate, and quite 
 above the comprehension of the common people. 
 
 7th. Be sparing of thought, lest your sermon contain 
 truth enoug-h to convert a soul. 
 
 8th. Lest your sermon should make a saving impres- 
 sion, announce no distinct propositions or heads, that 
 will be remembered, to disturb the consciences of your 
 hearers. 
 
 9th. Make no distinct points, and take no disturbing 
 issues with the consciences of your hearers, lest they 
 remember these issues, and become alarmed about their 
 souls. 
 
 10th. Avoid a logical division and sub-division of 
 your subject, lest you should too thoroughty instruct 
 your people. 
 
 11th. Give your sermon the form and substance of a 
 flowing, beautifully written, but never- to-be remembered 
 essay ; so that your hearers will say " it was a beautiful 
 sermon," but can give no further account of it. 
 
 12th. Avoid preaching doctrines that are offensive to 
 the carnal mind, lest they should say of you, as they 
 did of Christ, " This is a hard saying. Who can hear 
 it ? " and that you are injurincj your influence. 
 
 13th. Denounce sin in the abstract, but make- no 
 allusion to the sins of your present audience. 
 
 14th. Keej) the spirituality of God's- holy law. by 
 which is the knowledge of sin, out of sight, lest th€ sin- 
 ner should see his lost condition, and flee from the wrath 
 to come. 
 
 15th. Preach the Gospel as a remedy, but conceal 
 
 or ignore the fatal disease of the sinner. 
 
 16th. Preach salvation by grace ; but ignore the 
 5* 
 
64 PREACHING SO AS TO CONVERT NOBODY. 
 
 condemned and lost condition of the sinner, lest he 
 should understand what you mean by grace, and feel 
 his need of it. 
 
 17th. Preach Christ as an infinitely amiable and 
 good-natured being ; but ignore those scathing rebukes 
 of sinners and hypocrites which so often made his hear- 
 ers tremble. 
 
 18th, Avoid especially preaching to those who are 
 present. Preach about sinners, and not to them. Say 
 they^ and not you, lest any one should make a personal 
 and saving ap|'lication of your subject. 
 
 19th. Aim to make your hearers pleased with them- 
 selves and pleased with you, and be careful not to wound 
 the feelings of any one. 
 
 20th. Preach no searching sermons, lest you convict 
 and convert the worldly members of your church. 
 
 21st. Avoid awakening uncomfortable memories by 
 reminding your hearers of their past sins. 
 
 22d. Do not make the impression that God commands 
 your hearers now and here to obey the truth. 
 
 23d. Do not make the impression that you expect 
 your hearers to 'commit themselves upon the spot and 
 give their hearts to God. 
 
 24th. Leave the impression that they are expected 
 to go away in their sins, and to consider the matter at 
 their convenience. 
 / 25th. Dvv^ell much upon their inability to obey, and 
 leave the impression that they must wait for God to 
 chans:e their natures. 
 
 26th. Make no appeals to the fears of sinners ; but 
 leave' the impression that they have no reason to fear. 
 
PKEACHING SO AS TO COJTn^EET :N-0B0DT. 55 
 
 27th. Say so little of Hell that your people will in- 
 fer that you do not believe in its existence. 
 
 28th. Make the impression that, if God is as good as 
 you are, He will send no one to Hell. 
 
 29th. . Preach the love of God, but ignore the holi- 
 ness of His love, that will by no means clear the impen- 
 itent sinner. 
 
 30th. Often present God in his parental love and 
 relations ; but ignore His governmental and legal rela- 
 tions to His subjects, lest the sinner should find him. 
 self condemned already, and the wrath of God abidino- 
 on him. 
 
 31st. Preach God as all mercy, lest a fuller repre- 
 sentation of His character should alarm the consciences 
 of your hearers. 
 
 32d. Try to convert sinners to Christ without jDro- 
 ducing any uncomfortable convictions of sin. 
 
 33d. Flatter the rich, so as to repel the poor^ and 
 vou will convert none of either class. 
 
 34th. Make no disagreeable allusions to the doc- 
 trines of self-denial, cross-bearing, and crucifixion to the 
 world, lest you should convict and convert some of your 
 church members. 
 
 35th. Admit, either expressly or impliedly, that all 
 men have some moral goodness in them ; lest sinners 
 should understand that they need a radical change of 
 heart, from sin to holiness. 
 
 36th. Avoid pressing the doctrine of total moral de- 
 pravity; Jest you should offend, or even convict and 
 convert, the moralist. 
 
 37th. Do not rebuke the worldly tendencies of the 
 
56 PREACHING SO AS TO CONVEET NOBODY. 
 
 church, lest you should hurt their feelings, and finally 
 convert some of them. 
 
 38th. Should any express anxiety about their souls, 
 do not probe them by any uncomfortable allusion to 
 their sin and ill-desert ; but encourage them to join the 
 church at once, and exhort them to assume their perfect 
 safety within the fold. 
 
 39th. Preach the love of Christ not as enlightened 
 benevolence, that is holy, just, and sin.hating ; but as a 
 sentiment, an involuntary and undiscriminating fond. 
 ness. 
 
 40th. Be sure not to represent religion as a state of 
 loving self-sacrifice for God and souls ; but rather as a 
 free and easy state of self-indulgence. By thus doing, 
 you will prevent sound conversions to Christ, and con- 
 vert your hearers to yourself. 
 
 41st. So select your themes, and so present them, as 
 to attract and flatter the wealthy, aristocratic, self- 
 indulgent, extravagant, pleasure-seeking classes, and 
 you will not convert any of them to the cross-bearing 
 religion of Christ. 
 
 42d. Be time-serving, or you will endanger your 
 salary ; and, besides, if you speak out and are faithful, 
 you may convert somebody. 
 
 43d. Do not preach with a divine unction, lest your 
 preaching make a saving impression, 
 
 44th. To avoid this, do not maintain a close walk 
 with God, but rely upon your learning and study. 
 
 45th. Lest you should pray too much, engage in 
 light reading and worldly amusements. 
 
 46th. That your people may not think you in earnest 
 to save their souls, and, as a consequence, heed your 
 
PEEACHIKG SO AS TO COiTVEET NOBODY. 57 
 
 preaching, encourage church- fairs, lotteries, and other 
 gambling and worldly expedients to raise money for 
 church purposes. 
 
 47th. If you do not yourself approve of such things, 
 make no public mention of your disapprobation, lest 
 your church should give them up, and turn their atten- 
 tion to saving: souls and be saved themselves. 
 
 48th. Do not rebuke extravagance in dress, lest you 
 should uncomfortably impress your vain and worldly 
 church. members. 
 
 49th, Lest you should be troubled with revival 
 scenes and labors, encourage parties, pic-nics, excur- 
 sions, and worldly amusements, so as to divert attention 
 from the serious work of saving souls. 
 
 50th. Ridicule solemn earnestness in pulling sinners 
 out of the fire, and recommend, by precej^t and« ex- 
 ample, a jovial, fun-loving religion, and sinners will 
 have little respect for your serious preaching. 
 
 51st. Cultivate a fastidious taste in your people', by 
 avoiding all disagreeable allusions to the last judgment 
 and final retribution. 
 
 52d. Treat such uncomfortable doctrines as obsolete 
 and out of place in these days of Christian refinement. 
 
 53d. Do not commit yourself to much.needed re- 
 forms, lest you should compromise your popularity and 
 injure your influence. Or you may make some branch 
 of outward reform a hobby, and dwell so much upon it 
 as to divert attention from the great work of converting 
 souls to Chri^. 
 
 54th. So exhibit religion as to encourage the selfish 
 pursuit of it. Make the impression upon sinners that 
 
58 PEE ACHING SO AS TO CONVERT NOBODY. 
 
 their own safety and happiness is the supreme motive 
 for being religious. 
 
 55th. Do not lay much stress upon the efficacy and 
 necessity of prayer, lest the Holy Spirit should be 
 poured out upon you and the congregation, and sinners 
 should be converted. 
 
 56th. Make little or no impression upon your hear- 
 ers, so that you can repeat your old sermons often with, 
 out its beins^ noticed. 
 
 57th. If your text suggest any alarming thought, 
 pass lightly over it, and by no means dwell upon and 
 enforce it. 
 
 58th. Avoid all illustrations, repetitions, and em- 
 phatic sentences, that may compel your people to re- 
 member what you say. 
 
 59th. Avoid all heat and earnestness in your de- 
 livery, lest you make the impression that you really 
 believe what you say. 
 
 60th. Address the imagination, and not ihe con. 
 science, of yovir hearers. 
 
 61st. Make it your great aim to be personally pop- 
 ular with all classes of your hearers. 
 
 62d. Be tame and timid in presenting the claims of 
 God, as would become you in presenting your own 
 claims. 
 
 63d. Be careful not to testify from your own personal 
 experience of the power of the Gospel, lest you should 
 produce the conviction upon your hearers that you have 
 something which they need. 
 
 64th. See that you say nothing that will appear to 
 any of your hearers to mean him or her, unless it be 
 something flattering. 
 
PREACHING SO AS TO CONVEET NOBODY. 59 
 
 65th. Encourage church sociables, and attend them 
 yourself, because they tend so strongly to levity as to 
 compromise Christian dignity and sobriety, and thus 
 paralyze the power of your preaching. 
 
 66th. Encourage the cultivation of the social in so 
 many ways as to divert the attention of yourself and 
 your church-members from the infinite guilt and danger 
 of the unconverted among you. 
 
 67th. In those sociables talk a little about religion? 
 but avoid any serious appeal to the heart and conscience 
 of those who attend, lest you should discourage their at- 
 tendance, always remembering that they do not go to 
 socials to be earnestly dealt- with in regard to their re- 
 lations to God. In this way you will effectually so em- 
 ploy yourself and church-members as that your preach- 
 ing will not convert anybody. 
 
 The experience of ministers who have steadily ad- 
 hered to any of the above rules, will attest the soul- 
 destroying efficacy of such a course, and churches whose 
 ministers have steadily conformed to any of these rules, 
 can testify that such preaching does not convert souls to 
 Christ, 
 
 Note. — As President Finney's ministry, in the opinion of good 
 judges of modern times, was pro^abh* blessed with more numerous, 
 thorough, and permanent conversions, during fifty j^ears, than al- 
 most any other minister of Christ, the above counsels are entitled to 
 corresponding appreciation . — Compiler. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW TO MAKE SINNERS REALIZE THEIR 
 
 GUILT. 
 
 (abstract.) 
 
 Rev. Albert Barnes. 
 
 As men, in their natural state, are very insensible 
 and apathetic on the subject of religion, " being dead 
 in trespasses and sins," where tbey are instructed in the 
 truthfulness and fundamental doctrines and precepts of 
 Christianity, the first and indispensable efforts of .the 
 preaclier who aims at the conversion of his hearers, must 
 be, by the divine blessing, to awaken the careless and 
 slumbering to a realizing sense of their aggravating 
 guilt and imminent danger. And of course, in so doing, 
 he must present with clearness and force the searching 
 and absolute claims of God's holy law over the secret 
 thoughts, intentions and volitions, as well as the words 
 and deeds of sinners, with its fearful and eternal penalty 
 of retribution, pronounced by God upon all who continue 
 impenitent and unbelieving. 
 
 For " the law is our schoolmaster to bring us unto 
 Christ, that we may be justified by faith." 
 
 But in achieving this great work, formidable obstacles 
 
GUILT OF MORALISTS. 61 
 
 are to be encountered. Therefore, let us inquire how 
 shall the effective preacher make the sinner feel his 
 guilt and danger /" 
 
 The first obstacle he must meet and overcome as far 
 as practicable, is the sinner's natural reluctance to feel 
 a consciousness of his personal guilt and danger. 
 
 2d. The preacher must himself deeply realize tha 
 sinner's unwillingness to confess his absolute guilt. 
 
 He will find not only the pharasaic moralist but the 
 most wicked of men, ever ready to justify themselves 
 and plead extenuating circumstances for their sinfulness 
 and netrlect of relioion. 
 
 3d. He must explain and correct the false philosophy 
 and wnscriptural opinions, behind which, the sinner 
 may have entrenched himself , concerning his physical 
 depravity and inability to obey God ^nd turn from sin. 
 The sinner must be made to realize that his own free- 
 dom in the choice of sin renders him wholly inexcusible. 
 
 4th. The preacher must show that the moral blind- 
 ness of the sinner, leads him to view sin as a mere 
 trifle, while God with his perfect holiness, regards it 
 exceedingly wicked, and deserving of a most fearful pen- 
 alty. 
 
 5 M. He must aim to make the pharisaic 'nv^ralist 
 realize the aggravating sin of ivorldliness. 
 
 6th. He must consider that many remain insensible 
 to the claims of religiorf because they have some un- 
 finished j9^^7^s/o?' gain^ or of criminal indulgence. 
 
 All such obstacles must be removed as far as possible 
 
 in preparing the way, that the sinner may more fully 
 
 realize the immediate and imperative claims of the 
 
 Gospel. 
 
 6 
 
62 GUILT OF MORALISTS. 
 
 And under my second general division, I observe 
 that the successful preacher must keep in mind the sus- 
 ceptibilities on which the call to repentance may act 
 with greater force. 
 
 1st. He must appeal to reason. 2d. To conscience, 
 3d. To the emotions y hopes and fears. 
 
 Then let him inquire what does the Gospel furnish, 
 adapted to produce repentance. 
 
 1st. The Gospel comes to men under the full benefit 
 of a concession to its demands. 
 
 2d. And with this assumption the preacher must 
 enforce the terrors and demands of the law. 
 
 3d. He must approach men with all the proofs of 
 revelation, for the end of these things is to make them 
 feel their guilt. 
 
 4th. The history of the world shows that men are 
 guilty, and the guilty must suffer. 
 
 5th. The preacher must show them how the siffer- 
 ings and death of Christ are adapted to m^ake them feel 
 their guilt. 
 
 6th. And then he should brings before them the 
 scenes of the judgment, and they will be constrained to 
 inquire with real earnestness as they did on the day of 
 Pentacost. " Men and brethren what must we do ? " 
 
 Note. — It is one of the most difficult achievements in 
 preaching, to deeply impress the more amiable and 
 moral of the community in their relations with men, 
 of their absolute wickedness in the sight of the " Searcher 
 of hearts.'' But in the employment of truth, by the 
 illuminating influence of the Holy Ghost it may be done. 
 
 Saul of Tarsus, before he was enlightened on his way 
 
GUILT OF MORALISTS. 63 
 
 to Damascus, was really sincerej conscientious ^ and 
 moral, but when he realized his true condition as a sin- 
 ner, he said " I was alive without the law once, but 
 when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." 
 
 SINS OF OMISSION. 
 
 The great guilt of all classes who are merely amiable 
 m/yralists, consists chiefiy in sins of omissiwi. ^^ All 
 have sinned and come short of the glory of God,'' and 
 are under the condemnation of the divine law. He 
 only can enter the Kingdom of Heaven that doeth the 
 will of '' My Father which is in Heaven." In the day 
 of judgment they will be condemned for having neglected 
 the positive service of God. 
 
 The foolish virg^ins will then be charc^ed with' havinof 
 neglected to procure oil in their lamps. The unfaithful 
 servant will then be condemned for having neglected the 
 right improvement of his one talent. And for such 
 omissions the Master will say, " Cast ye the unprofitable 
 servant into outer darkness." And the charg^e ag^ainst 
 the condemned in the last Great Day, will be for neg- 
 lecting to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit 
 the sick. 
 
 " I say unto you inasmuch as ye did it not to one of 
 these my brethren, ye did it not to me." 
 
 And it appears, from the teachings of the Scriptures, 
 that the sin of unbelief, at the final judgment, will be 
 seen to have been emphatically the greatest of sins, " I 
 tell jT'ou the truth," says our Lord, " when he, the Com- 
 forter, is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of 
 righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin because they 
 believe not on me," 
 
64 GUILT OF MORALISTS. 
 
 Men are condemned already, and will be condemned 
 at last, not merely for positive transgressions, but for 
 having neglected to trust in Christ, as their Saviour, 
 from sin and its dreadful ^penalty. 
 
 We are all required to love God supremely, and our 
 neighbor impartially as ourselves, to repent of all sin, 
 to believe in our Lord's sacrificial atonement, '' with the 
 heart unto righteousness,^' to search the Scriptures j to 
 pray without ceasing, and those who do not are guilty of 
 sins of omission. And the Divine Master saith " That 
 except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness 
 of the Scribes and Pharisees, ve shall in no case enter 
 the Kingdom of Heaven," 
 
 As there is but one way to be saved revealed in the 
 Bible, " repentance toward God, and faith toward our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, how shall we escape if we neglect so 
 great salvation ? ' ' — Compiler, 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE SUCCESSFUL PREACHER'S REWARD. 
 
 Rev. Albert Barnss. 
 
 It is a proof of the favor of God, that ministers are 
 permitted to preach the Gospel effectively. 
 
 It is a privilege and honOr thus to preach. It is an 
 honor far above that of conquerers, and he who does it 
 will win a brighter and more glorious crown than he 
 who goes forth to obtain glory by dethroning Kings, and 
 laying nations waste. The warrior's path is marked with 
 blood and with smouldering ruins. Yet he is honored 
 and his name is blazoned abroad, he is crowned with 
 laurel, and triumphal arches are reared and monuments 
 are erected to perpetuate his fame. 
 
 But the minister of Christ who preaches the Gospel 
 effectively is the minister of peace. 
 
 He tells of salvation and a Heaven of blessedness. 
 He elevates the intellect, he moulds the heart to virtue, 
 he establishes schools and colleges, he promotes temper- 
 ance and chastity, he wipes away tears and tells of 
 Heaven. 
 
 His course is marked by intelligence and order, by 
 
 peace and purity, by the joy of the domestic circle, and 
 
 the happiness of a virtuous fireside, by consolation on 
 6* 
 
66 THE SUCCESSFUL PEEACHER'S EEWAHD. 
 
 the bed of pain, and by the hopes of Heaven that cheer 
 the dying. 
 
 Who would not rather be a successful preacher of the 
 glorious Gospel of the blessed God than have the honors 
 of a blood-stained warrior ? 
 
 Who would not rather have the wreath that shall 
 encircle the brow of the successful minister of Christ, 
 than the ephemeral' laurels of Alexander and Csesar ? 
 
 In view of such a reward said the faithful Apostle of 
 the Gentiles " There is laid up for me a crown of right- 
 eousness, which the Lord the righeous Judge shall give 
 me at that day." 
 
 A crown won in the cause of righteousness, and con- 
 ferred as the reward of conflicts and efforts in the cause 
 of holiness, in spreading the principles of holiness as 
 far as possible through the world. 
 
 ** There is a crown of dazzling light, 
 
 Which he shall surely win, 
 Who clad with heavenly panoply, 
 Has triumphed over sin. 
 
 The preacher's crown — what priceless gems 
 
 Triumphant he shall wear ; 
 Of wanderer's saved from death and gin, 
 And placed by Jesus there. 
 
 Wlien those of earth have crumbled all 
 
 To dust and past away, 
 This brilliant gem forever shines 
 
 In realms of endless day. 
 
 Who would not wear this diadem 
 
 Of life, and bliss, and peace ; 
 Who would not press to gain a prize 
 
 Whose glory ne'er shall cease? " 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 CLEARNESS OF STYLE IN PREACHING. 
 
 Rev. Albert Barnes. 
 
 Preaching should be simple and intelligible. It 
 should not be dry and abstruse, metaphysical, remote 
 from the common manner of expression, and the com- 
 mon habits of thousfht among men. 
 
 The preaching of th.e Lord Jesus was simple, and in- 
 telligible even to a child. The most successful preach- 
 ers have been those who have been most remarkable for 
 their simplicity and clearness. Nor is simplicity and 
 intellio^ibleness of manner inconsistent with brisht 
 thought and profound sentiments. A diamond is the 
 most pure of all minerals ; a river may be deep, and 
 yet its water so pure that the bottom may be seen at a 
 great depth ; and glass in the window is most valuable, 
 the clearer and purer it is, when it is itself least seen, 
 and when it gives no obstruction to the light. If the 
 purpose is that the glass may be itself an ornament, it 
 may be well to stain it ; if to give light, it should be 
 pure. A very shallow stream may be very muddy ; and 
 because the bottom cannot be seen, it is no evidence 
 that it is- deep. 
 
68 CLEARNESS OF STYLE IN PREACHING. 
 
 So it is with style. If the purpose is to convey 
 thought, to enlighten and save the soul, the style 
 should be plain and simple and pure. 
 
 If it be to bewilder and confound, or be admired as 
 unintelligible, or perhaps as profound, then an abstruse 
 and metaphysical, or a flowery manner may be adopted 
 in the pulpit. 
 
 Preaching should always be characterized indeed by 
 good sense, and ministers should show that they are not 
 fools, and their preaching should be such as to interest 
 thinking men — for there is no folly or nonsense in the 
 Bible. But their preaching should not be obscure, 
 metaphysical, enigmatical, and abstruse. It should be 
 so simple that the unlettered may learn the plan of 
 salvation ; so plain that no one shall mistake it except 
 by his own fault. The hopes of the Gospel are so clear 
 that there is no need of ambiguity or enigma ; no need 
 of abstruse metaphysical reasoning in the pulpit. Nor 
 should there be an attempt to appear wise or profound, 
 by studying a dry, abtruse, and cold style and manner. 
 The preacher should be open, plain, simple, sincere ; he 
 should testify what he feels ; should be able to speak as 
 himself animated by hope, and to tell of a world of glory 
 to which he is himself looking forward with unspef^kable 
 
 joy. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 THE FAITHFUL PREACHER'S CHIEF OBJECT. 
 
 Rev. Albert Barnes. 
 
 " He that hath my word, let him speak my word 
 faithfully," saith the prophet, "for I seek not yours, 
 but you. 
 
 ** Ministers of the Gospel who preach as they should 
 do, enofao^e in their work to win souls to Christ, not to 
 induce them to admire eloquence ; they come to teach 
 men to adore the great and dreadful God, not to be loud 
 in their praises of a mortal man. They should not aim 
 to be admired. They should seek to be useful. They 
 should seek to build up the people of God in holy faith 
 and the conversion of sinners. The pulpit is the last 
 place in which to seek admiration for mere gracefulness 
 of manner, or mere fervid eloquence, or well timed 
 periods, for the sake of securing a popular reputation 
 among men." 
 
 *' For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus 
 the Lord." 
 
 We are merely the ambassadors of another. We are 
 not principals in this business, and do not dispatch it as 
 a business of our own, but we transact it as the agents 
 
70 THE FAITHFUL PREACHER'S CHIEF OBJECT. 
 
 for anotlier, i. e. for the Lord Jesus, and we feel our- 
 selves bound, therefore, to do it as he would have done 
 it himself ; and as he was free from all trick and dis- 
 honest art, we feel bound to be also. 
 
 Ministers may be said to preach themselves in the 
 following ways : 
 
 1st. When their preaching has a primary reference 
 to their own interest ; and when they engage in it to 
 advance their reputation, or to secure in some way their 
 own advantage. When they aim at exalting their au- 
 thority, extending their influence, or in any way promot- 
 ing their own welfare. 
 
 2d. When they proclaim their own opinions and not 
 the gospel of Christ ; when they derive their doctrines 
 from their own reasonings, and not from tlie Bible. 
 
 3d. When they put themselves forward ; speak much 
 of themselves ; refer often to themselves ; are vain of 
 their powers of reasoning, of their eloquence, and of 
 their learning, and seek to make these known rather 
 than the simple truth of the gospel. In one word, when 
 self is primary, and the gospel is secondary ; when they 
 prostitute the ministry to gain popularity ; to live a life 
 of ease ; to be respected ; to obtain a livelihood ; to gain 
 influence ; to rule over a people ; and to make the 
 preaching of the gospel merely an occasion of advanc- 
 ing themselves in the world. 
 
 PROOFS OF THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 *' But Christ Jesus the Lord.'' This Paul states to be 
 the only purpose of the ministry. It is so far the sole 
 design of the ministry that had it not been known to the 
 Lord Jesus, it would never have been established ; and 
 
THE FAITHFUL PREACHER'S CHIEF OBJECT. 71 
 
 whatever otlier objects are secured by its appointment, 
 and whatever other truths are to be illustrated and en- 
 forced by the ministry, yet, if this is not the primary 
 subject, and if every other object is not made subser- 
 vient to this, the desi^ of the ministry is not secured. 
 
 The Apostles, thererore made it their sole business^ to 
 make known Jesus the Messiah, or the Christ, as the 
 supreme head and Lord of the people ; i. e. to set forth 
 the Messiahship and the lordship of Jesus of Nazareth, 
 appointed to these high offices by God. To do this, or 
 to preach Jesus Christ the Lord, implies the following 
 things : 
 
 ] st. To prove that he is the Messiah so often predic- 
 ted in the Old Testament, and so long expected by the 
 Jewish people. To do this was a very vital part of the 
 work of the ministry in the time of the apostles, and 
 most essential to their success in all their attempts to 
 convert the Jews ; and to do this will be no less impor- 
 tant in all attempts to biing the Jews now or in future 
 times to the knowledge of the truth. No man can be 
 successful among them who is not able to prove that 
 Jesus is the Messiah. — It is not indeed so vital and lead- 
 ing a point now in reference to those to whom the min- 
 isters of the gospel usually preach ; and it is probable 
 that the importance of this argument is by many over- 
 looked, and that it is not urged as it should be by those 
 who " preach Christ Jesu& the Lord." It involves the 
 whole argument for the truth of Christianity. It leads 
 to all the demonstrations that this religion is from God ; 
 and the establishment of the proposition that Jesus is 
 the Messiah, is one of the most direct and certain ways 
 of proving that his religion is from heaven. For (a) 
 
72 THE FAITHFUL PREACHER'S CHIEF OBJECT. 
 
 It contains the argument from the fulfilment of the pro- 
 phecies — one of the main evidences of the truth of rev- 
 elation ; and (h) It involves an examination of all the 
 evidences that Jesus gave that he was the Messiah sent 
 from God, and of course an examination of all the mira- 
 cles that he wrought in attestatidl of his divine mission. 
 Th5 first object of a preacher, therefore, is to demon- 
 strate that Jesus is sent from God in accordance with 
 the predictions of the prophets. 
 
 DOCTRINES OF CHRIST. 
 
 2d. To proclaim the truths that he taught. To make 
 known his sentiments, and his doctrines, and not our 
 own. This includes, of course, all that he taught re- 
 specting God, and respecting man ; all that he taught 
 respecting his own nature, and the design of his coming, 
 all that he taught respecting the character of the human 
 heart, and about human obligation and duty ; all that 
 he taught resjoecting death, the judgment and eternity — 
 respecting an eternal heaven, and an eternal hell. To 
 explain, enforce, and vindicate his doctrines, is one great 
 design of the ministry ; and were there nothing else, 
 this would be a field sufficiently ample to employ the ■ 
 life ; sufficiently glorious to employ the best talents of 
 man. The minister of the gospel is to teach the senti- 
 ments and doctrines of Jesus Christ, in contradistinction 
 from all his own sentiments, and from all the doctrines 
 of mere philosophy. He is not to teach science, or mere 
 morals, but he is to proclaim and defend the doctrines 
 of the Eedeemer. 
 
 EXAMPLE OF CHRIST. 
 
 3d. He is to make known the facts of the Saviour's life. 
 
THE FAITHFUL PEEACHER'S CHIEF OBJECT. 73 
 
 He is to show how he lived — to hold up his example in 
 all the trying circumstances in which he was placed. 
 For he came to show by his life wh^ the law required ; 
 and to show how men should live. And it is the office of 
 the Christian ministry, or a part of their work in preach, 
 ing " Christ Jesus the Lord," to show how he lived, and to 
 set forth his self-deoial, his meekness, his purity, his 
 blameless life, his spirit of prayer, his submission to the 
 divine will, his patience in suffering, his forgiveness of 
 his enemies, his tenderness to the afflicted, the weak, 
 and the tempted ; and the manner of his death. Were 
 this all, it would be enough to employ the whole of a 
 minister's life, and to command the best talents of the 
 world. For he was the only perfectly pure model ; and 
 his example is to be followed by all his people, and his 
 example is designed to exert a deep and wide influence 
 on the world. Piety flourishes just in proportion as the 
 pure example of Jesus Christ is kept before a people ; 
 and the world is made happier and better just as that 
 example is kept constantly in view. To the gay and the 
 thoughtless, the ministers of the s^ospel are to show how 
 seriovis and calm was the Redeemer ; to the worldly- 
 minded, to show how he lived above the world ; to the 
 avaricious, how benevolent he was ; to the profane and 
 licentious, how pure he was ; to the tempted, how he en- 
 dured temptation ; to the afflicted, how patient and 
 resigned ; to the dying, how he died : — to all, to show 
 how holy, and heavenly-minded, and prayerful, and pure 
 he was ; in order that they may be won to the same 
 purity, and be prepared to dwell with him in his king- 
 dom. 
 
74 THE FAITHFUL PREACHER'S CHIEF OBJECT. 
 
 SUFFERINGS AND DEATH. 
 
 4tli. To set forth the design of his death. To show why 
 he came to die ; and what was the great object to be 
 effected by his sufferings and death. To exhibit, there- 
 fore, the sorrows of his life ; to describe his many trials ; 
 to dwell upon his sufferings in the garden of Gethse- 
 mane, and on the cross. To show why he died, and what 
 was to be the influence of his death on the destiny of 
 man. To show how it makes an atonement for sin ; how 
 it reconciles God to man ; how. it is made efficacious in 
 the justification and the sanctification of the sinner. 
 And were there nothing else, this would be sufficient to 
 employ all the time, and the best talents in tl)^ ministry. 
 For the salvation of the soul depends on the proper ex- 
 hibition of the design of the death of the Redeemer. 
 There is no salvation but through his blood ; and hence 
 the nature and design of his atoning sacrifice is to be 
 exhibited to every man, and the offers of mercy through 
 that death to be pressed upon the attention of every 
 
 sinner. 
 
 RESURRECTION. 
 
 5th. To set forth the truth and the design of his resur- 
 rection. To prove that he rose from the dead, and that he 
 ascended to heaven ; and to show the influence of his 
 resurrection on our hopes and destiny. The whole 
 structure of -Christianity is dependent on making out 
 the fact that he rose ; and if he rose, all the difficulties 
 in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead are re- 
 moved at once, and his people will also rise. The influ- 
 ence of that fact, therefore, on our hopes and on our 
 prospects for eternity, is to be shown by the ministry of 
 the gospel ; and were there nothing else, this would be 
 
THE FAITHFUL PREACHER'S CHIEF OBJECT, 75 
 
 ample to command all the time, and tlie best talents of 
 the ministry. _ 
 
 CHRIST'S SUPREME AUTHORITY. 
 
 6th, To proclaim him as " Lord." This is expressly 
 specified in the passage before us. " For we preach Christ 
 Jesus THE Lord ; " we proclaim him as the Lord. That 
 is, he is to be preached as having dominion over the 
 conscience ; as the supreme Ruler in his Church ; as 
 above all councils, and synods, and conferences, and all 
 human authority ; as having a right to legislate for his 
 people ; a right to prescribe their mode of worship ; a 
 right to define and determine the doctrines which they 
 shall believe. He is to be proclaimed also as ruling 
 over all, and as exalted in his mediatorial character 
 over all worlds, and as having all things put beneath 
 his feet. 
 
CHAPTEK XIV. 
 
 THE MINISTRY FOR THE TIMES. 
 
 (extracts.) 
 Rev. Albert Barnes. 
 
 The qualifications for the ministry, at all times, and 
 in all lands, are essentially the same : a pious heart, a 
 prudent mind, a sober judgment, well-directed and glow- 
 ing zeal, self-denial, simplicity of aim, and deadness to the 
 world ; but that these qualifications are to be somewhat 
 modified by the peculiarities of each age ; and that the 
 ftge in which men live must be studied in order that they 
 may make " full proof of their ministry." 
 
 What are the qualifications for the ministry which 
 are peculiarly demanded by our times and country ? 
 What should be the grand aim of the ministry ? For 
 what should the ministers of the gospel be peculiarly 
 distino^uished ? 
 
 1st. The times in which we live demand of the min- 
 istry a close, and patient, and honest investigation of the 
 Bible. The truths which the ministry is to present are 
 to be derived from the word of God, 
 
 The age in which we live is not, as it seems to me, 
 
THE MINISTRY FOR THE TIMES. 77 
 
 distinguished for simple and direct appeals to the Bible, 
 in defence of the doctrines of religion. 
 . By many it is held or rather felty that the system of 
 religious doctrine has been settled by the investigations 
 of the past; that there is no hope of discovering any 
 new truth ; that theology, as now held, is not suscepti- 
 ble of improvement ; that the whole field has been dug 
 over and over again with instruments as finished as our 
 own, and by as keen-sighted laborers as any of the pres- 
 ent age can be ; and that it is presumption for a man to 
 hope to find in those mines a new gem that would spar- 
 kle in the grown of truth. 
 
 But can there be any improvement in theology ? Can 
 there be any a.dvance made on the discoveries of other 
 times ? Is it not presumptuous for us to hope to see 
 what the keen- sighted vision of other times has not seen ? 
 Is not the system of theology perfect as it came from 
 God ? I answer, yes. And so was astronomy a perfect 
 system when the "morning stars sang together;" but 
 it is one thing for the system to be perfect as it came 
 from God, and another for it to be perfect as it appears 
 in the form in which we hold it. 
 
 So were the sciences of botany,- and chemistry, and 
 anatomy perfect as they came from God ; but ages have 
 been required to understand them as they existed in His 
 mind ; and other ages may yet furnish the means of im- 
 provement on those systems as held by man. So God 
 has placed the gold under ground, and the pearls at the 
 bottom of the sea for man — perfect in their nature as 
 they came from his hand. Has all the gold been dug 
 from the mines ? have all the pearls been fished from 
 the bottom of the ocean ? The whole system of science 
 7* 
 
78 THE MINISTRY FOR THE TIMES. 
 
 was as perfect in the mind of God as the system of re- 
 vealed truth ; yet all are given to man to be sought out ; 
 to be elaborated by the process of ages ; to reward hu- 
 man diligence, and to make man a " co-worker with 
 God." " Truth is the daughter of time ; " and is to be 
 assumed that all the truth is now known ? That there 
 is no error in the views with which we now hold it ? 
 That ail is known of the power of truth yet on the hu- 
 man soul ? 
 
 I am now speaking of the ministry, and not of theol- 
 ogy in general ; and I am urging to the study of the 
 Bible with a view to a more successful preaching of the 
 gospel. It seems to me that as yet we know compara- 
 tively little of the power of preaching the truths of the 
 Bible. 
 
 That man has gained much as a preacher who is wil- 
 ling to investigate, by honest rules, the meaning of the 
 Bible, and then to suffer the truth of God to speak out — 
 no matter where it leads, and no matter on what man, 
 or customs, or systems it impinges. Let it take its course 
 like an unobstructed stream, or like a beam of light di- 
 rect from the sun to the eyes of men. But when we 
 seek to make embankments for the stream, to confine it 
 within channels, such as we choose, how much of its 
 beauty is lost, and how often do we obstruct it ! When 
 we interpose media between us and the pure light of the 
 sun that we deem ever so clear, how often do we turn 
 aside the rays or divide the beam into scattered rays 
 that may make a pretty picture, but which prevent the 
 full glory of the unobstructed sun ! 
 
 There is a power yet to be seen in preaching the Bible 
 which the world has not fully understood ; and he does 
 
THE MINISTEY FOR THE TIMES. 79 
 
 an incalculable service to his own times and to the world, 
 who derives the truths which he inculcates directly from 
 the Book of life. Besides, the Bible is receivinsf con. 
 stant illustrations and confirmations from every science, 
 and from every traveler into the oriental world. Not a 
 man comes back to us from the east who does not give us 
 some new illustration of the truth or the beauty of the 
 Bible. 
 
 2d. The times in which we live demand a ministry 
 that shall be distins^uished for sound and solid learning. 
 Never, indeed, can this qualification be safely dispensed 
 with ; but there is not a little in our age and country 
 that peculiarly demands it. In no nation on the face 
 of the eai^h has there been a more prevailing and per- 
 manent conviction that this was an important, if not an 
 essential qualification for the ministry, than in our own ; 
 and to this conviction, and the natural result of that 
 conviction in preparing the ministry for its work, is to 
 be traced no small measure of the respect shown to the 
 sacred office in our land. 
 
 But it is with reference to the office of Pastor ; to the 
 work of the ministry ; to the business of saving souls, 
 that I now urge the argument that the times demand a 
 ministry that shall be distinguished for solid learning. 
 And I am not ignorant of the objections which may be 
 felt and urged to these remarks. I know it may be 
 asked how is time to be found for these attainments ? 
 How shall health be secured for these objects? And 
 another question, not less important, how shall the heart 
 be kept, and the fire of devotion be maintained, brightly 
 burninor on the altar of the heart, while making these 
 preparations \ 
 
80 THE MINISTRY FOR THE TIMES. 
 
 The sum of my remarks is, that we may not in this 
 age have learned the art of making full proof of our 
 ministry, there may be a blending of study, and piety, 
 and pastoral fidelity such as shall greatly augment the 
 usefulness of those who minister at the altar. 
 
 3d. The times demand a ministry of sober views ; 
 of settled habits of industry ; of plain, practical good 
 sense ; of sound and judicious modes of thinking ; a 
 ministry that shall be patient, equable, persevering, and 
 that shall look for success in the proper results of patient 
 toil. 
 
 The age demands a ministry distinguished for sober 
 industry. There is enough to accomplish to demand all 
 the time, and it cannot be accomjolished by naere genius, 
 or by fitful efforts. It must be by patient toil. An in- 
 dustrious man, no matter what his talents, will always 
 make himself respectable ; an indolent man, no matter 
 what his genius, never can be. 
 
 In the ministr}^, pre-eminently, no man should pre- 
 sume on his genius, or talents, or superiority to the mass 
 of minds around him. A man owes his best efforts to 
 his people, and to his master ; to the one by a solemn 
 compact when he becomes their pastor, to the other by 
 sacred covenant when deeply feeling the guilt of sin 
 and the grateful sense of pardon, he gave himself to the 
 great Eedeemer in the ministry of reconciliation. An 
 idle man in the ministry is a violator of at least two 
 sacred compacts ; and upon such a man God will not, 
 does not smile. 
 
 4th. The times demand men in the ministry who 
 shall be the warm and unflinching advocates of every 
 good cause. 
 
THE MINISTRY FOR THE TIMES. 81 
 
 1st. Men are required who shall have so well-settled 
 aud iDtelli2:ent views of truth as not to be afraid of the 
 examination of any opinion, or afraid to defend any sen, 
 timeDt which is in accordance with the word of God. 
 They should be men of such independence ot mind, that 
 they will examine every subject, and every opinion that 
 may be submitted to them, or on which they may be 
 called to act. 
 
 The man of God is to enter the pulpit with his Bible 
 as his guide, and is to be unawed in its exposition by any 
 great names ; by any fear of personal violence ; by any 
 decrees of councils ; or by any laws which this world 
 can ever promulgate to fetter the freedom of t^iought. 
 There, at least, is to be one place where truth may be 
 examined, and where the voice of God may be heard in 
 our world ; and there, as long as he who holds the stars 
 in his right hand shall continue life, is the triith to shine 
 forth on a dark world. 
 
 2d. Men are required in the ministry who shall be 
 the warm and decided friends of the temperance refor- 
 mation ; and whose opinions and practice on this subject 
 shall be shaped by the strictest laws of morals. For this 
 opinion, the reasons are plain. The temperance reform 
 is one of the features of the ase- Revolutions do not 
 go backward ; and this cause is destined, it is believed, 
 to triumph, and ultimately to settle down on the princi- 
 ples of the most strict morals. 
 
 It was a sage remark of Jefferson, that no good cause 
 is undertaken and persevered in, which does not ulti- 
 mately overcome every obstacle and secure a final tri- 
 umph ; and if anything certain respecting the future 
 
82 THE MINISTRY FOR THE TIMES. 
 
 can be argued from the past, it is that this cause will 
 secure an ultimate victory. 
 
 3(1. In like manner, the times demand a ministry 
 that shall be unflinching advocates of revivals of reli- 
 gion. Such men lived in other times j and such scenes 
 blessed the land where Dayies, and Edwards, and Whit- 
 field, and the Tennents lived. 
 
 What is needed now is the ministry of men who have 
 an intelligent faith in revivals ; who have no fear of the 
 effects which truth, under the direction of the Holy 
 Spirit, shall have on the mind ; who shall so far under- 
 stand the philosophy of revivals as to be able to vindi. 
 cate them when assailed, and to show to men of 
 intelligence that they are in accordance with the laws 
 of our nature ; and whose preaching shall be such as 
 shall be fitted, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, 
 to secure such results on the minds of men. To revivals 
 of religion our country owes more than to all other 
 moral causes put together ; and if our institutions are 
 preserved in safety, it must be by such extraordinary 
 manifestations of the presence and the power of God. 
 
 Our sons forsake the homes of their fathers ; they wan- 
 der away from the place of schools and churches to the 
 wilderness of the west ; they go from the sound of the 
 Sabbath. bell, and they forget the Sabbath and the Bible, 
 and the place of prayer ; they leave the place where 
 their fathers sleep in their graves, and they forget the 
 religion which sustained and comforted them. They go 
 for gold, and they wander over the prairie, they fell the 
 forest, they ascend the stream in pursuit of it, and they 
 trample down the law of the Sabbath ; and soon, too, 
 
THE MINISTET FOR THE TIMES. 83 
 
 forget the laws of honesty and fair-dealing, in the insat- 
 iable love of gain. 
 
 Meantime, every man, such is our freedom, may ad- 
 vance any sentiments he pleases. He may defend them 
 by all the power of argument, and enforce them by all 
 the eloquence of persuasion. He may clothe his corrupt 
 sentiments in the charms of verse, and he may make a 
 thousand -cottages beyond the mountains re-echo with 
 the corrupt and corrupting strain. He may call to his 
 aid the power of the press, and may secure a lodgment 
 for his infidel sentiments in the most distant habitation 
 in the republic. 
 
 What can meet this state of things, and arrest the 
 evils that spread with the fleetness of the courser or the 
 wind ? What can pursue and overtake these wanderers 
 but revivals of religion — but that Spirit which, like the 
 wind, acts where it pleases ? Yet they must be pur- 
 sued. If our sons go thus, they are to be followed and 
 reminded of the commands of God. None of them are 
 to be suffered to go to any fertile vale or prairie in the 
 west without the institutions of the gospel ; nor are they 
 to be suffered to construct a hamlet, or to establish a 
 village, or to build a city that shall be devoted to any 
 other God than the God of their fathers. 
 
 By all the self-denials of benevolence ; by all the 
 power of argument ; by all the implored influences of 
 the Holy Ghost, they are to be persuaded to plant 
 there the rose of Sharon, and to make the wilderness 
 and the solitary place to be glad, and the desert to bud 
 and blossom as the rose. In such circumstances God 
 HAS interposed ; and he has thus blessed our own land 
 and times with signal revivals of religion. 
 
84 THE MINISTRY FOR THE TIMES. 
 
 Our whole country, thus far, has been guarded and pro- 
 tected by the presence of the Spirit of God ; and 
 " American revivals " have been the objects of the most 
 intense interest among those in other lands who have 
 sought to understand the secret of our prrsperity. That 
 man who enters the pulpit with a cold heart and a 
 doubtful mind, in regard to such works of grace ; who 
 looks with suspicion on the means which the Spirit of 
 God has appointed and blessed for this object in past 
 times ; and who coincides with the enemies of revivals 
 in denouncing them as fanaticism, understands as little 
 the history of Ms own country as he does the laws of the 
 human mind and the Bible, and lacks the spirit which 
 a man should have who stands in an American pulpit. 
 
 4th. Men are required who shall stand up as the firm 
 advocates of missions, and of every proper project for 
 the world's conversion. That great design of bringing 
 this whole world, by the divine blessing, under the in- 
 fluence of Christian truth, is one of the strong features 
 of the age ; and the hope and expectation of it has 
 seized upon the churches with a tenacity which will not 
 be relaxed. 
 
 He who does not enter on this work prepared to de- 
 vote his talents and learning, his heart and bodily powers 
 to the advancement of this cause, has not the spirit of 
 the age, and falls behind the times in which he lives. 
 
 5th. The times demand men in the ministry who 
 shall be men of peace. The period has arrived in the 
 history of the world when there should be a full and 
 fair illustration of the power of the gospel to produce a 
 spirit of peace in the hearts of all the ambassadors of 
 him who was the " Prince of Peace." 
 
THE MI^'ISTRY.FOR THE TIMES. 85 
 
 There is now needed a ministry that shall " follow 
 after the things that make for peace ; " where there 
 shall be mutual confidence and charity ; where there 
 shall be candor for one another's imperfections ; where 
 there shall be toleration of opinions on points that do 
 not affect the essentials of Christian doctrine ; and 
 where there shall be harmony of view and action on the 
 great work of saving the world. 
 
 REFORMATORY. 
 
 Note. — And much of the preacher's power in admin- 
 istering God's reproof of wickedness, in high places as 
 well as among the common people, will depend upon 
 the boldness and courage of his manner as an ambas- 
 sadyr from the Court of Heaven. " Now, when they 
 saw the boldness of Peter and John, they took knowledge, 
 of them that they had been with Jesus." 
 
 Preaching needs to be more practical in teaching 
 business 'men what is right on the principles of the 
 golden ride, and what is right in the acquisition and use 
 of property. And families need to be taught from the 
 pulpit more definitely what the law of God enjoins in 
 all their relations to each other, as husbands and wives, 
 parents and children. And the people need now 
 especially to be impressed, from the pulpit, with the 
 fearful guilt of the 'masses in perverting the holy Sab- 
 bath to a holiday. 
 
 For if the sacred rights of the marriage and family 
 relation^ and the sanctity of the Sabbath be destroyed 
 as a day oi public worship, how fearful must the conse- 
 quences be ! Certainly attendance upon the Sanctuary 
 should be secured, and the Sabbath school should be re- 
 formed. It should be changed into, or united with a 
 Young People's Bible Service, under pastoral super- 
 vision with his closing examination and instruction 
 with the co-operation of the superintendent and teachers. 
 8 
 
86 THE MINISTEY FOR TEE TIMES. 
 
 Still further, preaching adapted to the religious wants 
 of these times, must advocate every religious and inoral 
 reform v^hich tends to glorify God, and promote the sal- 
 vation of men. The preacher should " reason of right- 
 eousness, temperance and judgment to come," so as to 
 make all who indulge the grosser vices, tremble. 
 
 And in these times ef abounding worldliness, the lines 
 should be drawn more plainly between the church and 
 the world, and the great sin and danger of worldly and 
 fashionable indulgences should be exposed, however up- 
 right the people may be in point of common morals. 
 '• For the friendship of the world is enmity with God." 
 
 From the pulpit, in these times, the people should 
 be shown the broad distinction " between the righteous 
 and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him 
 that serveth Him not." — Compiler. 
 
 ♦* Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul, 
 Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own, 
 Paul should himself direct me. I would trace 
 His master-strokes, and draw from his design ; 
 I would express him simple, grave, sincere ; 
 In doctrine uncorrupt ; in language plain, 
 And plain in manner, decent, solemn, chaste. 
 And natural in gesture ; much impressed 
 Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, 
 And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 
 May feel it too ; affectionate in look, 
 And tender in address, as well becomes, 
 A messenger of grace to guilty men." , 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE REyiVAL PREACHING OF DR. NETTLETON. 
 
 { authorized autobiography . ) 
 
 Rev. Lyman Beecher, D. D. 
 
 ■" The power of his preaching included many things. 
 It was highly intellectual, as opposed to declamation or 
 oratorical, pathetic appeal, to imagination or the emo- 
 tions. It was discriminatingly doctrinal, giving a clear 
 and strong exhibition of doctrines denominated Calvin- 
 istic, explained, defined, proved and applied, and objec- 
 tions stated and answered. It was deeply experimental 
 in the graphic development of the experience of saints 
 and sinners." 
 
 But, with all 'this intellectualization and discriminat- 
 ing argument, there was, in some of his sermons, unsur- 
 passed power of description, which made the subject a 
 matter of present reality. Such was his sermon on the 
 deluge, one evening, in a village a few miles north of 
 Albany. 
 
 It was in a very large and crowded hall, and the 
 house was filled with consternation, as if they heard the 
 falling of the rain, the roaring of the waves, the cries of 
 the drowning, the bellowing of cattle, and neighing of 
 
88 REVIVAL PREACHING OF DR. NETTLETON. 
 
 horses, amid the darkness and desolation. The emotion 
 rose to such a pitch that the floor seemed to tremble 
 under the tones of his deep voice. He would say, point- 
 ing with his finger, " Will you take up the subject im- 
 mediately?" and each would reply, *' Yes, sir! Yes, 
 sir ! " as if Christ was speaking, and the day of judg- 
 ment had come. 
 
 But there was another thing which gave accumulat- 
 ing power to his sermons. They were adapted to every 
 state and stage of a revival, and condition of individual 
 experience.. 
 
 His revivals usually commenced with the church in 
 confessions of sin and reformation. He introduced the 
 doctrine of depravity, and made direct assaults on the 
 conscience of sinners, explained regeneration, and cut off 
 self-righteousness, and enforced immediate repentance 
 and faith, and pressed to immediate submission in the 
 earlier stages. 
 
 Toward the close he had a set of sermons to guard 
 sinners against drojDping the subject, such as " Putting 
 the hand to the plow," " Quenching the spirit," '^ When 
 the unclean spirit is gone out of a man," etc. To this 
 was added whatever was necessary on the signs of self, 
 deception and the evidences of true religion, with ser, 
 mons to young converts. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE REVIVAL PREACHING OF LYMAN BEECHER, D. D. 
 
 (authorized autobiography.) 
 
 Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. 
 
 As to his preaching, it consisted commonly of three 
 parts : first, careful explanatory statement concerning 
 the real meaning of the text and subject ; second, a 
 logical and plain argument in the body of the discourse, 
 addressed to the understanding, and third a passionate 
 and direct appeal, designed to urge his audience to 
 some immediate, practical result. 
 
 The first part was often very clear, and as dry and 
 
 condensed as a series of mathematical axioms. If 
 
 preaching upon a doctrine, he commenced by the most 
 
 clear and carefully worded statement of what it was not 
 
 and what it was, before attempting to prove or disprove. 
 
 It very often happened that these simple statements 
 
 disarmed prejudice and removed antipathy, and to a 
 
 people somewhat disposed to return to the faith of their 
 
 fathers, if they could see their way clear, (as were many 
 
 of the Unitarians,) rendered the succeeding argument 
 
 almost needless. 
 
 I remember the introductory statement of a sermon 
 8* 
 
90 REVIVAL PliEACniNG OF LYMAN BEECHER. 
 
 on the doctrine of total depravity, in which, after telling 
 much that it did not include, he reduced it simply to 
 this proposition : That men, hy nature, do not love 
 God supremely, and their neighbor as themselves. 
 
 "All that is cultivated in intellect and refined in 
 taste, much that is honorable in feeling and amiable in 
 social relations," he said, " we concede. The temple is 
 beautiful, but it is a temple in ruins ; -the divinity has 
 departed, and the fire on the altar is extinct." 
 
 After this followed the scriptural argument, on which 
 he always and unhesitatingly relied, without a shadow 
 of a doubt that we do have, in our English translation, 
 the authoritative, inspired declarations of God. Then 
 came the answering of objections. Here he was con- 
 versational, sprightly, acute, and often drew the laugh 
 by the involuutary suddenness and aptness of his replies 
 and illustrations. Easy and colloquial in his dialect, 
 he carried his audience with him through this part. 
 They were stirred up and enlivened, and, as a plain 
 countryman once said, " He says it so that you feel you 
 could have said it all yourself." 
 
 Last of all came what he considered the heart of his 
 discourse — the pungent application. His previous ex- 
 planation and argument he regarded as a mere prepara. 
 tion, or a bridge to pass over, to reach the effective ap- 
 peal. A sermon that did not induce anybody to do any- 
 -^ thing, he considered a sermon thrown away ^ 
 
 The object of preaching, in his view, was not merely 
 to enlighten the understanding, or even to induce pleas- 
 ing and devout contemplation, but to make people set 
 about a thorough change of heart and life. These clos- 
 ing portions of his sermons were the peculiarity of his 
 
REVIVAL PREACHING OP LYMAN BEECHER. 91 
 
 preaching. He warned, he entreated, he pleaded, urg, 
 ing now this motive and now that, talking as if his 
 audience were one individual, whom he must, before he 
 left the pulpit, persuade to take a certain step. " If 
 these things are so," he would say, "you, my friend, 
 have neglected this matter too long. Are you not con. 
 vinced that you ought to do something now, to-night, 
 this moment i Do you say, ' What shall I do ? ' One 
 thing I will tell you, that if you do not do something 
 more than you have, you will be lost. That you 
 acknowledge, do you not ? " 
 
 Then, changing the tone of his voice to the lowest key 
 of personal con¥>ersation, he would say, *' Now, there is 
 one thing you can do : You can resolve before God from 
 this moment, that the salvation of your soul shall be 
 'your first object, and that, whatever it may mean to be 
 a Christian, you will nr)t rest till you are one. You can 
 do that. Are you not conscious that you can ? I put it 
 to you, — will you do it? You cannot refuse without 
 periling your salvation. When you leave this place to- 
 night, you can avoid distracting conversation. You can 
 preserve this resolve as carefully as you would shade a 
 lamp which the winds of heaven are seeking to extin- 
 guish. Will you do it ? Will you go to some solitary 
 place to-night, and there kneel down and pray ? You 
 are conscious that you can do it. Will you do it? Will 
 you open your Bible and read a chapter ? And lest you 
 should not know where to look, I will tell you. Read 
 the first chapter of Proverbs, and then kneel down, con- 
 fess your sins, and try to give yourself to God for the 
 rest of your life. Then seek the instruction of your 
 minister, or Christian friends ; break off all outward 
 
92 BEVITAL PEEACHING OF LYMAN BEECHEE. 
 
 and known sins ; put yourself in the way of all religious 
 influences, and I will venture to say, you cannot pursue 
 this course a fortnight, a week, without finding a new 
 and blessed life dawning within you." 
 
 I recollect •one sermon that he preached in Boston, 
 addressed to business men, those who luere so engrossed 
 and burdened with cares that they were tempted to feel 
 that they could not give the time necessary to become 
 Christians. The practical point for which he pleaded 
 was, that they would come to a resolution to give half 
 an hour a day to religious reading and prayer. 
 
 He plead with all his eloquence for this one thing. 
 " You cannot give half an hour this week, without giv- 
 ing an hour the next ; your eternal life or death may 
 turn on your granting or refusing this one thing." 
 
 The manv business men who became members of his * 
 church, attest the practical value of this style of appeal. 
 As he preached, he watched the faces of his hearers, and 
 when he saw that one was moved, he followed him. 
 
 "A — B — has seemed to feel a good deal," he would 
 say, " these several Sundays. I must go after him. 
 Somethincr seems to block his wheels." 
 
 Often he used to say to me, speaking of one and an- 
 olher with whom he had been talking, " I've been feel- 
 ing round to find where the block is. I put my finger 
 on this and that, and it don't move ; but sometimes the 
 Lord helps me, and I touch the right thing, and all croes 
 right." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE MINISTERIAL WORK. 
 
 (college couraxt.) 
 
 Rev. Hknrt Ward Beecher. 
 
 Why is the pulpit less strong now than it was once ? 
 You reply : *'Is it ? " I do not think that there are 
 fewer able sermons now than formerly, though I be- 
 lieve that there are many better-educated peojDle. 
 
 Men think that the rjuljDit has lost its power. The 
 pulpit has not ; the truth is, the community has grown 
 relatively faster than the minister. The church was 
 formerly the college of the people, but now the minister 
 is shut up into a narrower sphere, many of his former 
 duties having been distributed to other aoencies, such as 
 newspapers, magazines, etc. ; and since his work is less 
 difficult, the church should be rewarded with better ser- 
 mons. 
 
 The first and fundamental difficulty to a young min- 
 ister when entering the field of labor, is the want of a 
 deep Christian experience ; for though a man may have 
 great power in simply teaching morality^ and though he 
 may do great good with, his power, yet he does not know 
 his own power until it has been found in love to God 
 
94 THE MINISTERIAL WORK. 
 
 and to his fellow-men. And after it has been found, the 
 minister preaches from his very soul. Before, he did 
 not preach, he merely gave forth so much theology, 
 which our books can do. 
 
 I may mention in connection with this, the custom of 
 binding men to speak from written discourse, I only 
 call this lecturing, not preaching. This intolerable bon- 
 dage let every minister avoid — let him not be shut up 
 in such narrow limits, having no more power than a 
 canal whose channel is dug for it. 
 
 It is said that a minister who speaks extemporane- 
 ously, grows careless and cannot express his thoughts in 
 such good language — but we do not wish to hear merely 
 words that go to the head and not to the heart, destroy- 
 ing the enthusiasm, animation and efflorescence of a 
 speaker who has a dull leaden page before him. 
 
 This extemporaneous speaking is personal sympathy, 
 and has great power in this world ; so our thought 
 should be in preaching, not so much theoretically, as 
 " God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
 son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish 
 but have everlasting life." Jesus came into the world 
 and became a servant, and employed Himself unto 
 death, and all for the love which He bore to men. It 
 is this love we should strive after, so that we can be more 
 like Jesus. 
 
 The Apostles were chosen for this great power of sym. 
 pathy, but were not very strong men, except Paul, 
 Christ tells us that our hearts should yearn after Him. 
 " Follow me and I will make you fishers of men," He 
 says. This single phrase will apply to us. As the hun- 
 ter makes himself master of natural history, becomes 
 
THE MINISTEEIAL WOEK. 95 
 
 acquainted with the forest, knows every hiding-place so 
 that he can run down the game, so the minister should 
 understand men. 
 
 if you would fish for men as we fish for fish ! We 
 do not dig nice ponds and invite the trout to come there, 
 so that we, standing upon the banks with beautiful poles 
 and exquisite tackle, may catch them. We go where 
 the trout are, through brambles and marshes, soiling and 
 tearing our clothes — we watch for them, study their 
 whims and ways, and eagerly persevere until we have 
 caught them. O, would that ministers would fish after 
 men, as they do after trout ! 
 
 A minister should be a fanatic after men, and care 
 nothing for a sermon, however good, unless it catches 
 them. Christ does not say : "I will make you fishers 
 of sermons." 
 
 1 remark further : How should young ministers know 
 human nature, when they have never been trained to it, 
 when they have not had an opportunity to get acquain- 
 ted with men, after having been three years in the 
 academy, four years at colloge, and three at the theo- 
 logical school ? Being these ten or twelve years away 
 from people of the world, in a scholastic atmosphere 
 pursuing their studies, they breed a class feeling. And 
 when they are ready to preach, they have but a vague 
 ?dea what they are going into the pulpit for. 
 
 If ever a man went into the pulpit and preached 
 thinking he had done no good, and came down again 
 determining never to go into the pulpit again, it was I. 
 
 Most young ministers go into a parish with the idea 
 that they will run the church — will run theology — will 
 
96 THE MINISTEEIAL WORK. 
 
 preach the round of doctrines, and with what result they 
 will wait to see. 
 
 They preach, then wait for their charge to take effect, 
 like the hunter, who, not knowing precisely what game 
 he would like to shoot, loads generally, holds the gun in 
 the air, shuts both his eyes, then fires, and looks up to 
 see if anything has fallen, O, that our ministers could 
 take better aim at men ! But few theological students 
 are taught this, for it can be taught but little in a sem- 
 inary. They go out as carpenters who know how to use 
 their saw and chisel and other instruments, but have 
 never seen the pine, the oak, and the other materials of 
 building. They can run the saw, but they cannot build. 
 
 Now, how can a man preach without this practical 
 study of human nature, which is indispensable ? He 
 must know a man at sight, and bring him down at the 
 first shot. We preach to ideas instead of preaching to 
 people, 
 
 A true preacher should know how to attack a proud 
 man. He should not have a man in his parish whose 
 character he has not studied, just as the engineer care- 
 fully inspects a fort, discovers its weakest spot, and there 
 makes the attack. 
 
 What relation has fear to the higher and lower nature ? 
 What is the power of conscience ? What relation has 
 the power of hope and good cheer ? What relation has 
 the power of love, of imagination, and good humor ? 
 Such questions as these the minister must ask and answer 
 for himself. 
 
 New England preaching has done a magnificent and 
 noble work, but has been confined mainly to three things, 
 reason coming upon the conscience until it has filled life 
 
THE MINISTERIAL WORK. 97 
 
 with fear : it has no imac^ination and love ; softness and 
 sympathy have come in only lately. What can a man 
 do with these if he preaches all his life? V/e must 
 preach with s^ purpose, 
 
 I preached for three years in the dark, without doing 
 myself good, and little, if any, to my congregation, but 
 I determined to find out the way the Apostles had suc- 
 ceeded. I went throusrh the New Testament from 
 beginning to end, studied the character of the Apostles 
 and their serimons and framed one on the plan ot that 
 of Peter on the day of Pentecost, of course making al- 
 lowance for the age in wliich I lived, and the people 
 whomIdea.lt with. I preached- it feeling that I had 
 done some good, taking such aim that I made men drop 
 before the muzzle. 
 
 This want of the knowledgre of the human heart 
 keeps men away from the strong sympathies which they 
 would otherwise have to their lellow-men. 
 
 You may divide men into two classes, the one sympa- 
 thizing with the government, and the other with the 
 governed. The Calvinists, who belong to the first class, 
 are those who believe in a change of heart by the Spirit 
 of God, justification by free grace, and the Trinity. The 
 latter class are their opposers, and sympathize more with 
 the rights of man. The true theology combines both. 
 A true heart which has a great power of sympathy, is 
 .vith God, On the one hand a minister obtains no ad- 
 vantage in preaching unless he has a strong faith in 
 doctrine and system, and does not fall as many do into a 
 sentimentalism and feeble morality, forgetting that 
 every educational process ought to dig its own grave. 
 
 There is no use for a man to be a minister who goes 
 
98 THE MINISTERIAL WOEK. 
 
 into the pulpit doubting and fearing. These men, on 
 the other hand, are so afraid of doius: somethingr to dis- 
 please their congregation, are so afraid of dogmas, that 
 they lose their power and become sentimental ; they talk 
 about the beauty of nature, and assure you that if you 
 will be good you will be happy and be saved. To this 
 class belong the young men who have been studying 
 some twelve years and are not acquainted with the hu- 
 man soul as they should be. They enter the pulpit and 
 speak their carefully studied sentences very eloquently. 
 They are mere pipers at a feast. 
 
 The minister is called a wrestler with men ; they are 
 called warriors for the" battle with the human soul. A 
 minister that is not such, has in his sword no steel. 
 Everything he grapples witli he should overcome ; he 
 must have power. It is power, power, power, that a 
 man wants if he is to become a minister, and then let 
 there be as much sweetness as you please ; the honey in 
 the lion can then be all eaten. Many men lose this power 
 by trying to confine themselves to some particular sect, 
 I believe that there will always be distinct sects in the 
 Church. The Episcopal, the Methodist, the Congrega- 
 tional, and Presbyterian churches all have power. Tliey 
 all sustain one another. It is said that we must be set 
 in a candlestick so that our light may shine throughout 
 all the house. Many of our ministers are set up in a 
 pulpit hardly large enough for them to turn around in ; 
 there they try to preach or rather expectorate. 
 
 I am of the opinion that great harm is done by class- 
 preaching. Education ought to make a man broad, but 
 it often narrows him ; it ought to make, not fastidious- 
 ness, but manliness ; it ought not to make men study 
 
THE MINISTERIAL WORK. 99 
 
 too much for words, and make them become so sensitive 
 about their language as to set apart a day of fasting and 
 prayer in order that they may get rid,of their grammat- 
 ical errors. The rich man is not afraid of wearino- a 
 shabby coat, but the poor man is. The rich man dares 
 to use a plain and simple word, but the poor man vainly 
 studies after what he calls elegance. We hear one man 
 saying to another . " Oh, where is your residence ? " 
 W' hv d^m't he say home ? There is more in that word 
 which carries us back to the days when we were young, 
 than in all others. That word is pure English, and 
 there is thunder in a Saxon word, where there is only 
 heat-li2:htnincr in the Latin. 
 
 The majority of our ministers like the heat-lightning 
 the better ; they wish to write sermons uf the choicest 
 words, to be heard by literary men, retired scholars, and 
 especially by retired ministers. They go into the pulpit 
 and preaoh their sweet words. Here is a minister just 
 going out of church, after having preached one of this 
 kind of sermons. The sexton speaks to him of his re 
 markablv fine sermon, the deacoils shake their heads in 
 approval, and the lawyer saj's, " It is the finest discourse 
 that I have heard within a month." This very internal 
 refinement which the minister has, is most destructive 
 of all o^ood. 
 
 We should strive, like Christ, to use the language of 
 every day life, so that not only the older ones may un- 
 derstand what he says, but all. Some men j^reach over 
 an hour when they could say, if they wished, what they 
 want to say in half that time ; and cruel is the father 
 or mother who wakes their child up when the minister 
 is preaching one of these kind of sermons. 
 
100 THE MINISTEEIAL WOBK. 
 
 Men seem, lately, to pay more attention to display. 
 If they intend to hire a minister they must pay him the 
 largest salary of all the ministers in the city. If they 
 are going to build a new church they must build it ten 
 feet higher than the Methodist, one of tber rival churches, 
 and fifteen feet longer than the Congregational, another 
 of their rivals. I know of a church in New York, a 
 very beautiful one, and very costly, but it has a great 
 column standing up in one part of it — for beauty, I sup- 
 pose, but how is it to the people behind it, who cannot 
 see the minister ? 
 
 At the present day a congregation and the minister 
 think too much of this display. The congregation lis- 
 tens to the minister who dares not put half his faculties 
 to work, who does not put forth all his power ; and the 
 poiver of a sermon is in the variety of faculties employed, 
 and'every one of these faculties should be used, if greater 
 good can be done. 
 
 Men talk about the " dignity " of the pulpit, and that 
 our ministers are not dignified enough ! I tell you that 
 the dignity of the pulpit has destroyed more souls than 
 it' has saved. We do not want pulpits which are noth- 
 ing but ministerial prisons. But we should strive after 
 true dignity which can do no harm, but is a great aim 
 greatly carried out, and has no petty proprieties. 
 
 My friends, it is time I should close, although I have 
 some of my best passages as yet unspoken. In closing, 
 I would say a few words to these young men and to those 
 who have serious thought in regard to becoming minis- 
 ters. 
 
 The pulpit is now in a state of transition awaiting a 
 future greater than ever. Young men are thinking of 
 
THE MINISTERIAL WOEK. 101 
 
 becoming ministers, but still have some doubts. Many 
 more are turning away from the pulpit because as they 
 say, it is too confined, it is not free enough for thought. 
 If this is so, why do they not come in and make it still 
 more free. Why do they not come in as men full-blown, 
 ready to act, not so gently as merely to make friends, 
 but as men ? 
 
 Happy should be the mother whose son is going into 
 the ministry, and the father, who, having seen his son 
 not always walking in upright paths, is now rewarded 
 by beholding him to-night among those who have just 
 graduated, and I hope that my sons some day will follow 
 their example. 
 
 If I couTd go back thirty five years, and commence 
 my life again in preaching, whether in the backwoods, 
 or in the city, in poverty, or in wealth, in a log cabin or 
 in a palace, I would choose the pulpit again, whether I 
 would do any good or not, simply for my own enjoy- 
 ment ! Oh may you find this enjoyment ! May you be 
 rewarded i 
 
 When we think not only of the enjoyment and pleas- 
 obtained in this world from the ministry, but also of the 
 glorious reward in Heaven, we cannot but be convinced 
 that this is the profession of professions to be chosen. 
 There is no other work like this in the world, no other 
 commerce so clean, which gives us thoughts that are 
 holy, nothing that makes it so pleasant to work in this 
 world ; this work will bring others as well as ourselves 
 to the world to come. ' 
 9* 
 
CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 PREACHERS, THEIR NEED AND RARiTY. 
 
 By Rev. W. H. H. Murray. 
 
 That preacbing — by which I mean clear, powerful, 
 persuasive statements of truth — was intended by the 
 Divine Author of Christianity to be, and in point of fact 
 is, the foremost agency to advance it among men, there 
 can be no debate. Books can do much, but books can 
 never do what the voice, eye and hand of the living 
 preacher can do. No religion evej did, or ever cac, rest 
 on literature alone. The ^priest, prophet, preacher ; 
 men, real men, live men ; personal force, power, sym- 
 pathy and authority iadividualized, these are what all 
 religions, false as well as true, have builded on, as a 
 wise man builds his house upon a rock. Not alone the 
 prime author oi a religion, but its prime agents, must 
 be incarnated also, or ever it has fit adveriisement 
 among men, or the proper and needed forces to push it 
 
 onward. 
 
 What would Mahometanism be without Mahomet ? 
 or Papacy without the Pope ? or Christianity without 
 the personal Christ? How would the early churches 
 have gathered and organized, but for Peter and Paul 
 
PREACHERS, THEIR NEED AND RARITY. 103 
 
 find their co-laborers ? or how could missions be estab- 
 lished but for the living raissionary t All religious 
 force is enshrioed first in a religious personality, and 
 through that personality is best expressed to men. Uni. 
 versal truth centers in the person of God, and from His 
 personality flows out in the form of laws, precepts, in- 
 fluence. These are His thoughts. Law is only the way 
 in which He thinks. Commandments the way in which 
 He speaks. - Influence only the natural sequence of the 
 marvelous outranking of His life. Words are only 
 symbols of a force that was personal before it was verbal. 
 The sayings of Christ, which compose the bulk of the 
 Gospels, are only thfe flowering out in human language 
 of that wise and sweet righteousness, which had existed 
 forever in the inner perception and»character of Christ. 
 And so, from whatever point of view you contemplate 
 the subject, you reach the same conclusion — that truth 
 has its finest and fullest existence in, and receives. its 
 noblest and most powerful expression through, the living 
 person. 
 
 It was, no doubt, in harmony with this perception of 
 this real locality of, and best medium through which to 
 express, religious truth, that Christ was prompted to 
 leave, as almost His farewell command to His disciples, 
 the injunction, "Go ye into all the world, and preach 
 the Gospel to every creature." Thai) is, take the power 
 of personality, the power of the eye ; of the voice ; of 
 the face ; of the sympathetic heart ; and with these, and 
 through these, advertise my faith to, and impress it 
 upon, every living creature. That was His idea: the 
 wisdom of which was vindicated in its first great trial 
 upon the heterogeneous masses upon which Peter 
 
104 PREACHEES, THEIR NEED AND RARITY. 
 
 brought to bear tbe power of his divinely inspired per- 
 sonality at the Day of Pentecost, and in all the mighty 
 labors and mightier triumphs that attended the apostolic 
 labors that followed. 
 
 The question that arises naturally, therefore, for dis- 
 cussion among Christians to-day, is this. Has the church 
 discovered any better method than the one the Saviour 
 adopted before He left the earth, by which to advance 
 Christianity ? Preaching was the power, and preachers 
 the power. makers, by which He expected to convert 
 men and women to His faith ; who has a better way to 
 suggest ? Can a religious literature, and mere teachers 
 of it, take the place of the living,' inspired preacher ? 
 Will perfection of organization make good the lack of 
 personal ability and fervor in the pulpit? Will alliance 
 with social, domestic and educational influences answer? 
 Will mere scholarly acumen, the finest culture that 
 study and travel and familiarity with the books and 
 book-makers of all ao^es can give the brain, suffice ? 
 Will the professorial ability to define, to dogmatize, to 
 put the divine nature, its impulses, its sympathies, its 
 yearnings, into a retort, and crystallize them into a 
 brilliant block of smooth, hard, cold brilliancy — called 
 systematic theology — supply the Saviour with a force 
 able to push the subjugating and regenerating power of 
 His life and death into wicked and stubbornly rebellious 
 hearts? No, a thousand times no. These were not 
 what He wanted in His day ; • nor are these what He 
 needs in His church now. He called not for ors2faniza- 
 tions ; not for alliances with other forces, however sweet, 
 such as the family and the university supply ; not for 
 logicians ; not for withered and dim- eyed scholars. He 
 
PREACHEES, THEIR NEED AND RAEITY. 105 
 
 called for preachers — and preachers rose up at His call, 
 and lacking much, as we should judge, yet had that in 
 them which made multitudes bow at the sound of their 
 voice, and kinoes tremble at the liftino^ of their hand. 
 
 Without carrying the discussion further along this 
 line, let us glance at some of the reasons why the young 
 men now coming into our pulpits are so little distin- 
 guished as preachers. The first I will mention is that 
 the churches do not demand preachers. The pulpit 
 comes under the action of the law of demand and supply 
 in this respect as truly as if its associations were mer- 
 cantile. When the churches say, "we demand ^preachers 
 for our pulpits, not mere sermonizers," preachers will 
 be forthcoming, and not before. Now up to within a 
 few years, the churches were content with sermonizers ; 
 or if not content, they did not see how they could change 
 the state of things. They had, as it were, voted the 
 matter out of their own hands into those of other parties. 
 When the theological seminary system was adopted as 
 the best one by which the American ministry could be 
 supplied continually with new men ; when the churches 
 said to half-a-dozen- reiioious 2:entlemen : "Here, take 
 our young men and make us ministers out of them ; we 
 leave the v/hole matter to you," they deliberately 
 ignored both their own intelligence and responsibility as 
 to what kind of ability should occupy their pulpits. 
 
 Now I know all that can be said in favor of theolooical 
 seminaries. I know the stol^y and the arguments by 
 heart. I do not wish to enter into discussion, or provoke 
 discussion, with any friend of the system. I only say, 
 that, regarded as schools in which young men are to be 
 trained to become preachers, they have been from the 
 
106 PREACHERS, THEIR NEED AND RARITY. 
 
 beginning, and are to-day, failures, dead failures. They 
 take a young man and teach him how to reason, how to 
 think, how to interpret, how to compose a fair religious 
 composition in Englih ; but they do not teach him how 
 to preach. They teach him how to unfold a religious 
 truth to men's understandings, but they do not teach 
 him how to g.jpply it to Tnen's consciences, or how to en., 
 force it on their affections. This is where they have 
 always failed, and do yet fail. That they need not fail, 
 I thoroughly believe. The failure does not inhere in 
 the system, but in the way it is adniinistered. I believe 
 that Andover Seminary, and every other in the land, 
 might graduate preachers as truly as scholars ; men who 
 could apply divine truth as well as unfold it ; who 
 could persuade as well as argue, convict as well as con- 
 vince ; exhort as truly as define. But as they are run 
 to-day, they do not do this ; and no one ever learns to 
 preach until he has left his seminary ; yea, more, until 
 he has unlearned and cast aside much that the seminary 
 taught and bound upon him. 
 
 Another reason that the American ministry is full of 
 men who cannot preach, is because men have entered it, 
 and been urged to enter it, who were never intended by 
 God, when He created them, to be in it. I would speak 
 in tenderness, not in the way of reproach to any, but in 
 the way of warning to the whole church, as to the 
 future. Natural unfitness cannot be cured by any pro- 
 cess of instruction or prep^alion whatever. Piety does 
 not give capacity. A man that talks so low, or so fastf 
 that you cannot understand him half across a church, or 
 who cannot talk at all, can never become a preacher. 
 He may be a gentleman, a scholar, a fine logician, a de- 
 
PEEACHEES, THEIR NEED AND RARITY. 107 
 
 votedly good man ; but until these parts and qualities 
 become the prime ones needed in the pulpit, they do not 
 in any way the least fit him for it. That this ruling is 
 a sensible and true one, every reader knows ; and yet 
 how fearfully it has been overlooked in the selection of 
 candidates, in the past, for the ministry. If a young 
 man was extraordinarily good, why he must be sent to 
 college, and then to the theological seminary. In the 
 place of men armed with power from on high, in the 
 former as truly as the latter birth ; in the place of men 
 born strong after the flesh, as truly as after the Spirit ? 
 the custom of the age and country has put weak, 
 lymphatic men into the pulpits ; or men who might 
 have been strong in other professions, but who could 
 only be ponderous failures in the ministry ; until the 
 pulpit has been perilously diluted in the currents of its 
 old apostolic vigor, or become the object with which to 
 point the moral of misadapted and ill-placed ability. 
 
 To all this the churches must cry, "Hold, enough. 
 No more consecrated weakness, no more religious stupid- 
 ity, no more educated incapacity, no more misplacing of 
 abilities in the professions, so far as the pulpit goes." 
 They must also say to the theological seminaries : " No 
 more mere sermonizers, gentlemen ; no more mere 
 helles-lettres men ; no more men who know everythino- 
 but cannot tell it ; henceforth give us preachers ; strong 
 bodied and strong minded men ; men with good voices 
 and good public address, able to think on their feet — 
 not TYiere essay readers, but living, fervent, powerful 
 preachers ; men that the Holy Ghost can use, and will 
 use, for men^s conversion and the confounding of wickedm 
 ness, as He used Peter at the Pentecost, and Paul as he 
 
108 PREACHEItS, THEIR NEED AND RARITY. 
 
 stood before Agrippa " When tLe churcbes, speaking 
 through the voice of their prominent and spiritual lay- 
 men, say this to the seminaries, then will they send 
 preachers, and nothing less, down to the churches — and 
 not before. The demand will bring the supply, and 
 nothing else will. 
 
 Why is it that American audiences are charmed with 
 the preachers that have come to us from abroad *?* No 
 one that has heard them can say that they are mentally 
 more able than American preachers. Indeed intellec- 
 tually they cannot be ranked so high as scores of our 
 native clergymen. As logicians, as rhetoricians, as stu- 
 dents, as theologians, they comparatively excel us in 
 nothing. Whence, then, their superior power ? whence 
 the charm of their address and the attraction thev have 
 to our audiences ? It is in this. They are preachers of 
 the Word. They are simple. They are natural. Their 
 utteracce is not smothered under the pressure of books 
 and book-learning. They analyze less, and proclaim 
 more. Their definitions blossom into exhortation, and 
 fruit into entreaty and appeals. They are strong in 
 those things which belong naturally to the pulpit. They 
 preach. That is the whole of it ; they preach, we ser- 
 monize. 
 
 To all in the pulpit, and about to enter the pulpit, I 
 W(flald say, then : Brethren, let us seek help of God to 
 become preachers of the Vv^ord. He who is blessed 
 evermore has jDut a command upon us to preach His gos- 
 pel : not to the rich, and learned, and good, but to every 
 creature. Oh the power of preaching. Oh the blessed- 
 ness of preaching. Oh the reward of preaching. Power 
 to convert men to Christ ; the joy of seeing them come 
 
PREACHERS, THEIR NEED AND RARITY. 109* 
 
 to Christ ; the reward of hearing from Christ Himself, 
 when tJie preaching at last is ended, " Well done, 
 good and faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful over 
 few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. 
 Enter into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 PREACHING IN DEMAND. 
 
 Note — Tt is probable that there are about as many ministers as 
 churches in our country. But at the same time it is" a lamentable 
 fact that a very lara;e minority of the ivell qualified ministry are 
 habitually without employment and salary, so that they sufier great 
 pecuniary embarrassment, while as many churches are without reg-, 
 ular and constant f reaching, so that many of them have merely a 
 name to live, while, religiously, they are spiritually dying or ready 
 to expire. And unless there shall be a radical reformation in the re- 
 lation of these unemployed ministers to the vacant parishes, the 
 cause o^ religion must be greatly hindered. 
 
 With this embarrassed and abnormal state of things, there is at 
 the same time a very great and perpetual demand for effective preach' 
 ers of the Word, with little or no immediate prospect of an adequate 
 supply. Two very diverse classes of churches are in imperative need 
 if effective preachers, with no suitable candidates before them, in 
 their estimation, from which to select. The first class, having largo 
 congregations of high intelligence, and ready to give liberal support, 
 have no good reason for rejecting the ministers who appear before 
 them, for deficiency in native talent or ripeness of culture, but their 
 record and experience shows that they are not revival, harvest 
 preachers. And the humbler class of churches know that they can 
 never flourish and be greatly increased in piety or numbers, unless 
 they cnn secure a ministry who can preach in demonstration of the 
 spirit and of power. Hence this loud call for effective preachers. — Com. 
 10 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A FKEE PULPIT A PULPIT OF POWER, 
 By Ret. W. H. H. Murrat. 
 
 Many say that the pulpits of New England are weak ; 
 that they represent no such average of power as they 
 might and should ; that they are not winning the ear of 
 the naasses or inspiring with respect the educated classes. 
 I think that to a certain extent this is true, and also that 
 the causes of this weakness are not hidden. 
 
 One cause, as the writer of this article thinks, is be- 
 cause those who stand in our pulpits do yiot speak their 
 latest thoughts. An excessive caution — not to use a stron- 
 ger word — obstructs a free and frank expression of their 
 opinions. A fear to say anything that shall be out of 
 harmony with what has been said, or that shall run 
 counter to long cherished impressions and customary in- 
 terpretation of Scripture, stands at the gates of speech 
 and puts a check upon free utterance. Thus much that 
 is finest in scholarship, and most •suggestive in interpre- 
 tation, is never given to the public. The old changes 
 are rung annually. What the audience hear one year 
 they hear the next ; and preaching becomes only a re- 
 pitition of moral and spiritual truisms. Fear of saying 
 
A FREE PULPIT A PULPIT OF POWER. Ill 
 
 something that may not be true, causes needed truth to 
 go unspoken. 
 
 Instead of being an interpretation and application of 
 the divine nature and principles as they are being re- 
 vealed by the Holy Ghost to-day, the sermon becomes 
 only a rehearsal of what the old divines thought and 
 said in their day and generation. 
 
 Now, there are two ways to look at Christianity. Tbe 
 first is to regard it as a system of truth, complete in all 
 its parts, from the time of its introduction into the 
 world ; needing no addition and capable of no expan- 
 sion. 
 
 The second way is to study it as a system of truth, 
 incomplete but growthful ; a system of force, not yet 
 wholly developed ; of principles not yet fully under, 
 stood, even by its disciples ; of adaptations to human 
 necessities not, at present, half applied. The writer 
 looks at it in this latter light. 
 
 Christianity is not a set system promulgated, in its 
 entirety, at the beginning. Christ did not deliver it to 
 man like a building fully built, a structure erected and 
 fiinished, even to its capstone. Christianity is not a pyra- 
 mid to which no stone can be added ; it is not a block 
 of hewn and polished marble, three cubits long by three 
 wide, to which there can come no change. It is a germ 
 force rather ; a seed planted for growth ; a principle 
 capable of infinite evolution. 
 
 As a revelation it was not perfect in Christ. It is a 
 revelation being revealed ; a book which contains all 
 knowledge of God, being studied by the race ; and each 
 successive generation masters only its own appropriate 
 leaf. God the Son, in his character and work, was a 
 
112 A FREE PULPIT A PULPIT OF POWER. 
 
 revelation of the Godhead. God the Spirit, in his char- 
 acter and work, is equally a revelation of the Godhead. 
 
 The son revealed the disposition of God. The Spirit 
 is revealing the power and energies of God ; and not 
 onlv so, but God's nature as well. Have two thousand 
 years of the Spirit's working taught the church nothing 
 of the Father ? Have the trials and joys, the failures 
 and triumphs of a hundred generations added nothing 
 to human knowledge of the Deity ? Did the old pro- 
 phets understand their prophecies as well as Vv^e ? Does 
 he who has seen a flower only in the bulb know the 
 flower, as does he who stands beholding the fragrance of 
 the open blossom ? Is the work of God's revelation of 
 Hiniself finished, or i*it still going 4.>n, and do our ej^es 
 behold all the glory which shall yet be revealed ? Who 
 can think that the Spirit has completed His work, and 
 unto us has been granted the perfect insight of the Di- 
 vine nature ? 
 
 If our understanding of Christianity, as a system or a 
 revelation, is the correct one, then does it become not 
 only a matter of wisdom but of duty for ever}^ expoun- 
 der of Christianity to study and teach to others not only 
 the revelation which hojS been made, but also the reve- 
 lation which is to day hcing made. He is to keep his 
 mind open to receive daily communication from on high. 
 
 Through conviction, through impulse, through in- 
 crease of sensitiveness, resulting from fuller application 
 by the Holy Ghost of sanctifying power, through a truer 
 understanding of God, based upon a wider observation 
 of His workings on the earth than the ancients pos- 
 sessed; he is to feel that day by day he is being better 
 prepared for his great work. But to have this increase 
 
A FREE PULPIT A PULPIT OP POWER. 113 
 
 of power felt ; to make this growth of knowledge and 
 grace useful to men, he must speak out. his latest thought. 
 
 Vain to mill and miller are watershed and rain ; vain 
 the overflow of hillside springs and contribution of many 
 streams, if the pond will not yield its increased volume 
 of water to the waiting flume and expectant wheels. If 
 the prophet will not speak it, of what benefit is the 
 heavenly communication ? What new revelation shall 
 ever be made, if the heralds of God shall only repeat 
 the proclamations of the past ? 
 
 The Spirit within the oracle is warm and clamorous 
 for utterance, but timidity or cowardness seals the lips 
 that should be quick to speak the messages of saving 
 and directing wisdom. A free pulpit, ready and accus- 
 tomed to speak its latest thought, if it be reverent, is 
 the only thing that insures freedom to the Spirit. 
 
 This also is needed by every preacher who would be 
 obedient to heavenly communications, or strong for good, 
 viz — fearlessness of verbal forms. No form of words 
 can ever express more than the wisdom of the genera- 
 tion that used it as a vehicle of its thousfht. 
 
 A creed, for instance, written in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, is only the highest expression of the theological 
 knowledge of that century. Adequate for its own age 
 it may be, and probably will be most inadequate for the 
 age that follows it. To hold any other opinion is to hold 
 that the human mind is not subject to growth, or the 
 souls of men capable of successive additions in spiritual 
 apprehension. 
 
 A creed is significant and valuable, for the most part, 
 
 only to the generation that wrote it. It was the best 
 
 expression it could write out of its faith — that is all. 
 10* 
 
114 A FREE PULPIT A PULPIT OF POWEE. 
 
 No expression of faith is sacred, save to the man making 
 it. He may be outgrown and then it is outgrown, un. 
 less he has embodied in it the elements of all truth, 
 which none but God himself can do. The Bible is sac- 
 red ; nothing else. And the Bible is like the heavens, 
 of which men learn continually more and more. 
 
 The magi knew the heavens only by eyesight. We 
 know them to day with the telescope, and we can easily 
 conceive that spaces that are now dark, unliglited by a 
 singly luminous point, to the eye of some future genera- 
 tion of astronomers shall blaze with the radiance of a 
 thousand revolving suns. God has never given to one 
 man, or any company of men, full knowledge of Him- 
 self: and, therefore, they could not write of Him in 
 such a way as to bind us, of to-day, to their views. 
 
 I urge, therefore, that every preacher should deliver 
 himself from all bondage to form ; all timidity and hes- 
 itation touching acceptance or rejection of creeds writ- 
 ten in the past, by men as fallible and probably less 
 enlightened than he. I urge it as a duty he owes to 
 God and his own soul. I urge it in the interest of his 
 usefulness, and of a reverence more profound than can 
 ever be felt toward the opinions of any man or class of 
 men. I urge it in the interest of his own spiritual 
 growth and the growth of his people unto whom he is to 
 minister from things, both new and old. 
 
 Let us, therefore have a free pulpit, in order that it 
 may be a strong pulpit ; untrammeled utterance ; un- 
 fettered thought, reverent toward God, but not subser- 
 vient to men, either living or dead, to the end that the 
 Spirit may be able to inspire and direct it ; above all a 
 pulpit that respects its own integrity of intellect and 
 
A FREE PULPIT A PULPIT 0^ POWER. 115 
 
 Conscience too much to be influenced by tlie hostile crit- 
 icism, either of the ignorance or the bigotry of a few of 
 the pews. 
 
 Brethren, speak your latest thought. It is doubtless 
 your best and strongest thought. Start discussion. A 
 church under good preaching, is like a pond of water 
 when a breeze is on it ; it is full of movement and rip- 
 ple. Timid preaching makes stagnant churches. Like 
 old feathers, it does church members good to shake them 
 up occasionally. Animated difference is better, a hun- 
 dred-fold better, than dead unanimity. The reason that 
 it helps ministers to meet for discussion is because they 
 shake each other up. Like flint and steel, when they 
 come in contact, the sparks fly. 
 
 I borrow the wisdom of a noted servant of God with 
 which to close this article. Being asked by a young 
 preacher what he should do when he came before his 
 people — " Do," replied the Leader of a hundred revi- 
 vals, " ma.ke the sparks fly 1 " 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 3EXTEMP0RANE0US PREACHINa. 
 Bt Rev. W. H. H. Murray. 
 
 I propose Id this article to state briefly how the ques^ 
 Hon, which is now attracting so muck attention from 
 pulpit and press, looks to me. 
 
 In the first place then, extemporaneous does not, in 
 the sense I shall use it, mean unprepared. The extem- 
 poraneous speaker in the pulpit, should beyond all 
 others, be fully supplied with facts, analogies, scriptural 
 proofs, illustrations. The act of speaking should only 
 be the putting together the material that had been pre- 
 viously quarried and hewn and placed ready to his hand. 
 To start out in an address with no such material provi- 
 ded, is to publicly commit oratorical hari-kari. No 
 sane man would ever risk his reputation, or ignore the 
 prime necessities of the case, in that manner. "With 
 this explanation made and excepted, let us look at some 
 of the objections more commonly urged against preach- 
 ing unwritten sermons. 
 
 It is said by many that the extemporaneous speaker 
 is less accurate then he would be with the use of manu- 
 script. I am disposed to think that the point is well 
 
EXTEMPOEANEOUS PEE ACHING. 117 
 
 made. For instance, grammatical accuracy is probably 
 unattainable in extemporaneous effort. 
 
 Wendell Phillips may be taken doubtless as verbally 
 the most exact speaker in speaking* without manuscript 
 that America has now, or ever has had. His command 
 of good Ecgiish is something truly wonderful. And yet 
 I have never heard Mr. Phillips make but one speech 
 without makinoj at least two decided grammatical errors. 
 If fifty years of culture and forty years of forensic ex. 
 perience have been unable to bring so facile a mind as 
 Mr. Phillips's up to the level of perfect utterance, ver- 
 bal perfection in extemporaneous speaking may well be 
 regarded as impossible. The point therefore is granted 
 to the opposition. 
 
 It is also said, that a more important accuracy is lost 
 in extemporaneous preaching, viz : the accuracy of cor- 
 rect definition, and precise statement. At first thought 
 one would be inclined to grant the opposition this point 
 also. But I am inclined to question its correctness. If 
 there were but one formula of words, for the use of defi- 
 nition touching any certain scriptural doctrine, the«i any 
 deviation from that formula would be fatal to precision, 
 and the doctrine would suffer, owino- to the verbal varia- 
 bleness of hurried, perchance confused, utterance. But 
 the fact is, the truths of Scripture are tree-like truths, 
 full of out-branching significance, and leaf-like sugges- 
 tions ; and therefore no one naked form of statement 
 Ciin properly define them. 
 
 Instead of verbal variableness being a loss, it is again 
 to the doctrine being discussed. You cannot say that a 
 tree is a pole, and stop there as if 3^ou had perfectly 
 defined a tree. A tree is more than a pole, and great 
 
118 EXTEMPORANEOUS PREACHING. 
 
 variety of statement, and much imagery can be, nay, 
 must be, employed by him who would perfectly define 
 and describe it. Now this repetitious definition is pre- 
 cisely what the extemporaneous preacher gives to a doc- 
 trine. His mind conceives of it in particles as it were. 
 The first thouglit is only a partial thought, and so the 
 second thought is suggested, and then the third, and so 
 on, until the man's mind lias worked entirely around 
 the truth he would fain inculcate. I claim that the defi- 
 nition is ultimately fuller, more spherical, and therefore 
 more exacts than any single written statement, however 
 precisely formulated could ever have been. What seemed 
 partial and inaccurate became complete and absolutely 
 explicit at the close. The audience were evidently 
 gainers, for the average popular mind cannot compre- 
 hend the closest forms of logical statement sounded forth 
 in the rapidity of public utterance. 
 
 So, then, in order that they may understand it, a doc- 
 trine must be put as a lawyer puts his points of law 
 before the jury, repetitiously, and with many illustra- 
 tions^ and quotations, and apt analogies, and it may be 
 even anecdotes, in order to fully explain and powerful l}!^ 
 enforce it upon their minds. The object of doctrinal 
 preaching is not merely to make a verbal statement of 
 it in the presence of an audience. Some preachers state 
 things so precisely that you remember the precision, and 
 forget the statement. They admire the skill of the 
 marksman so much, that they forget what he is shooting 
 at. 
 
 Now the true object of doctrinal preaching is not to 
 read an accurate statement of the doctrine in the pres- 
 ence of an audience, but to fix the doctrine itself in the 
 
EXTEMPORANEOUS PEE ACHING. 119 
 
 hearts and minds of the hearers. This fixiny of things 
 is just what written sermons rarely do. The very repe- 
 tition which the writer avoids is absolutely needed to 
 drive the truth home, and embed in it the very cod- 
 sciousness of the listener. 
 
 Another objection to extemporaneous speaking is that 
 the language of the speaker is not only less accurate, 
 but less elegant, than would be the case if he wrote his 
 sermons out. 
 
 Ear be it from me to deride elegant diction. At times 
 it is to an argument what the great clusters are to the 
 vine, the choicest expression of its choicest life. It is 
 to the stalwart body and stout trunk of argumentation 
 what the opened flower is to the fibrous stalk. But ele- 
 gance of diction is not the great essential in preaching 
 the gospel, as even those who most admire it would, I 
 presume, admit. 
 
 To cause men to understand and feel the truth in their 
 hearts, to quicken the torpid conscience, to stir the dor- 
 mant faculty of reverence, to nourish into maturest 
 growth humane impulse, to persuade men to accept sal- , 
 vation of their souls through Christ, this is the object of 
 preaching the gospel. The pulpit, while it is sympa- 
 thetic with culture, is not a place intended for a display 
 of culture. Nor does it derive its great vitality from 
 intellectual forces. Its puissance is of God, and not of 
 man, and if it be said that God works through man, I / 
 reply, yes, through the sanctified man, not through the 
 merely cultured man. A successful preaching of the 
 Word can never be based upon that kind of oratory 
 which has only, or even chiefly, its verbal elegance to 
 commend it to the audience. 
 
120 EXTEMPORANEOUS PREACHING. 
 
 Such, in brief, are some of the objections urged 
 against extemporaneous preaching. The ottier side 
 should be at least stated. The first point to be made in 
 tkc statement is, that written and read or recited ser- 
 mons are an innovation on the immemorial method of 
 preaching, and for the most part an Americanism. 
 
 Reading sermons was never a habit of the pulpit save 
 in recent times, and especially in this country, Neither 
 among the apostles or tlieir more immediate successors 
 was it a custom. ISi either in France, save with some of 
 the Court preachers, nor Scotland, nor Ireland, nor Eng- 
 land — outside the Established Church — nor in Wales, 
 was it ever a settled habit. JNor has this style of preach- 
 ing ever been efficient in times of revolution and emer- 
 gency. The Waldenses, the Covenanters of Scotland, 
 the Methodists of Enoland and America, these eaoies of 
 spiritual fervor, bred amid crags, and exposed to storms 
 of peril, illustrate in their history the truth of the state- 
 ment that the living eyes and voice and animated pres- 
 ence of the preacher, his whold mind and body charged 
 with the electric forces of the skies, are alone able to 
 uphold men's souls when the horrors of persecution and 
 the terrors of death o'et hold on them. 
 
 The second suogestion is this. Does the written ser- 
 
 CO 
 
 mon style of preaching allow of the free and full opera- 
 tions of the Holy Spirit in the mind and heart o^the 
 preacher i This is a most grave question ; perhaps the 
 gravest a preacher of divine truth can consider. It 
 ^brings one face to lace Avith the office work of the Spirit, 
 'ihe question is. Has the Holy Spirit a special relation 
 ^O'he mind of the speaker while he is speaking. Does 
 ^® perate on the intellect and on the emotional forces 
 
EXTEMPORANEOUS PKE ACHING. 121 
 
 of the orator's nature when in its hi^^hest mood, and en- 
 gay ed in the very act of converting souls ? Now, for 
 one, I hold that this connection between the Holy Ghost 
 and the preacher's mind, when reverently and prayer- 
 fully engaged in the act oi preaching, does take i^lace* 
 Through the quickened faculty, the awakened sympa- 
 thies, the lively going forth of the emotions, the fervor 
 and flow of tbjught, God does actually make an impart- 
 ment of celestial force to his servant. It needs the day, 
 the place, the audience, the previous spiritual prepara- 
 tion of head and heart on the part of the preacher, to 
 stir these faculties, which, when in action, can be, and 
 actually are, inspired with divine power. Only when 
 the conditions are fit, and circumstances providentially 
 conspire, is this inspiration given, and hence sermons 
 written out, as one might say, in cold blood, are gener- 
 ally delivered in cold blood. The Divine Spirit did not 
 find the temperamental conditions on the week day and 
 in the study which could serve His lourj^ose and so 
 there was a lack in the sermon on the Sabbath. It was 
 verbally exact ; it was suggestive ; it was ornate ; but 
 alas, something was lacking. That something' would 
 have been to it what odor is to a flower or beams to a 
 star. That something was God, the Sanctifier and 
 Qaickener. 
 
 11 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE SUCCESSFUL MINISTEIt. 
 By Rey. T. L. Cuyler. 
 
 What shall the man do who cometh after the king T 
 And not only one, but after a royal family of "kings and 
 priests unto God ? " I feel that the eminent brethren 
 who have preceded me have reaped the field ; let me 
 glean for you a few spears and kernels from my own 
 personal experience. I congratulate you on chooi-ing 
 the poorest of trades, and the noblest of callings. 
 
 How shall each of you become, by God's blessing, a 
 successful minister ? To this, let me attempt a half 
 dozen practical answers. 
 
 ] St. Put your whole soul into your work. Love it 
 more than a hungry man loves to eat his dinner. Other- 
 wise the manufacture of just so much sermon-matter 
 every week, and the routine of calls from house to house 
 will soon become the dreariest of drudgeries. Your 
 chief aim must be, not merely to produce good sermons, 
 or to make numerous visits, or to attract large auditories, 
 but to save souls from hell and to guide souls to heaven. 
 Your prayer must be, " give me souls or I die ! " To 
 
THE SUCCESSFUL MINISTER. 123 
 
 the godly minister who knows how to handle his tools 
 success is the rule ; utter failure is the rare exception. 
 2d. In preparing your sermons, aim to preach 
 
 THE WHOLE BIBLE. 
 
 Some ministers ride hobbies — such as the prophecies, or 
 popular reforms, or metaphysical systems. They com- 
 monly fall into ruts. To ensure variety and freshness 
 every Sabbath, explore the whole Word of God. Your 
 own brain will soon run dry ; but you can never exhaust 
 the Bible. 
 
 Preach one Sunday a biographical sermon ; then a 
 thoi'ough arousing doctrinal sermon ; then a tender dis- 
 course of consolation ; then an experimental discourse 
 on Christian living, with illustrations drawn from daily 
 life. By going over every part of the Scriptures, and 
 every phase of human experience, you will escape the 
 wearisome fault of monotony. Whatever you do, pray 
 keejj clear of monotony in themes, and monotony in style, 
 and monotony in delivery. That was a sharp criticism 
 which old Dr. Emmons passed on a certain sermon, 
 when he said that it was " like Seekonk Plain, long and 
 leveV^ Rich preaching should be as varied with moun- 
 tain, vale, and running stream as a picturesque land- 
 scape. But never take your auditors where they cannot 
 see the cross of Christ. 
 
 3d. In selecting your topics for the pulpit, choose the 
 
 GEEAT THEMES, 
 
 such as the attributes of God, the Divine Love in redemp- 
 tion, Sin and its roots. Repentance, Faith, Atonement, 
 Conversion and its evidences, the Resurrection, the 
 
124 THE SUCCESSFUL MINISTER. 
 
 Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Yet as daily life is made 
 up of minute acts, do not overlook the minute points of 
 duty or of dangei\ If Paul was inspired to say '' be 
 courteous," then you may preach on Christian polite- 
 ness; if the Bible says that " wine is a mocker," then 
 you have a right to break every decanter you can reach 
 from the pulpit. Set forth every grace that beautifies a 
 Christian ; and wherever you see a sin hit it I 
 
 Chuose your texts where you can find them, Christ 
 gathered His oflf of fig trees and in corn fields. If you 
 are in an orchard, you grasp and stone or club that will 
 bring down the apples. What you are afier is — the 
 apples. So wherever you find a passage that will defend 
 a truth, or kill a doubt, or awaken a sinner, or relieve a 
 human trouble, seize it and use it. Always get your text 
 first, and plant it, and let it grow up into your sermon ; 
 and let the main idea of your text be the trunk. thought 
 of your sermon. Out of this central trunk let the limbs 
 expand, and on its branches let the '' fruits of the Spirit " 
 grow. Kever commit the absurd folly of building a 
 sermon, and then perching a text on top of it. Never 
 attempt either to cheat your people into the belief that 
 they are hearing a new sermon by swapping off an old 
 text fur a new one ; for the decapitation of its text ought 
 to be as su7'e death to a good discourse as would be the 
 stroke of your own head from your body. The sap of 
 the text should reach the farthest twig of the sermon. 
 
 It is a happy thing to find sometimes an out-of-the- 
 way pas>age, and get a new and fresh truth out of it. I 
 always thank the ingenious and diligent preacher who 
 drives his pick- axe down in an unexpected .spot and 
 opens up to me a gold mine. Spurgeon often excels in 
 
THE SUCCESSFUL MimSTER. 125 
 
 a novel selection and handling of Scripture passages. 
 But never stoop to the sensational trick of choosing texts 
 for their 
 
 MERE ODDITY. 
 
 That was a paltry pun which was made by the min- 
 ister who preached from those words in the 27 th chapter 
 of Acts, " let her dmve ! " That rustic preacher fancied 
 that he had quite sett^d our Baptist brethren when he 
 delivered a sermon against immersion from the words 
 *' beware of divers:^' and then added the concludino: 
 words — " and strange doctrines." When Mr. Spurgeon 
 began to preach he indulged in puns and drolleries, but 
 the orrace of God and the orandeur of His work have 
 cohered him in later years. To-day he is the first of liv- 
 ing preachers on the globe. 
 
 4th. In these days I fear that good, sound, old fash- 
 ioned, stout, 
 
 DOCTRINAL PREACHING 
 
 is going out of vogue. I beg of you do not yield to 
 this unhappy drift — no ! not for an hour. Sound doc- 
 trine is the backbone of truly successful preaching. The 
 mightiest discourses that have shaken vast assemblies, 
 and sent sinners trembling to the Cross of Christ, have 
 been vitalized by some stupendous '' djjctrina'' or re- 
 vealed teaching of Almighty God. My brilliant neigh- 
 bor, Beecher, has unwisely said that " doctrine is only 
 the skin of truth set up, and stuffed ! " Just imagine 
 St. Paul writing to Timothy "give attendance to — the 
 stuffed skin of truth .' " 
 
 If you are ever dry, never be dry in your doctrinal 
 sermons. Always preach doctrine with intense emotion. 
 
 Heat your argument red hot Introduce all the lively 
 11* 
 
12G THE SUCCESSrUL MINISTER. 
 
 and picturesque illustrations you can into your doctrinal 
 discourses ; it will make them interesting, and the truth 
 will become pictorial to the mind's eye and to the mem- 
 ory. This was our Saviour's method. What a match- 
 less discourse on the doctrine of God's mercy to the 
 sinner is the parable of the Prodigal Son ? A good 
 minister is nourished in the words of faith and of good 
 doctrine. • 
 
 The successful preacher must always have a method 
 of his otvn. Find out your forte and then stick to it. 
 Study Lyman Beecher ; study Griffin and Addison Alex- 
 ander, and Spurgeon, but don't try to be either. Be 
 yourself. The worst form of plagiarism is to attempt 
 to stand in another man's shoes. As to the metliods of 
 preparation for the pulpit, no rule is the heat rule. God 
 made some men to write, and made some men to extem- 
 porize. Dr. Chalmers wrote every syllable of his ser- 
 mons, and delivered them like a tornado. Spurgeon 
 never writes a single sentence for the pulpit. B>th 
 these men used tbe best method. If I may be allowed 
 to refer to myself, my own custom is to use all methods. 
 Sometimes I use no manuscript ; sometimes I write 
 two-thirds, and sometimes only one half of the sermon. 
 The remainder 1 deliver under the heat of the moment. 
 I change too the ivords of my manuscript as I go on ; I 
 make them shorter and shar[ er. If in my study I wrote 
 the word " avocations," when I come to preach I say 
 hubiness ; if I wrote "this commercial metropolis" I 
 shorten it into " this great city " ; and never either in 
 writing or speaking do I use two fashionable words, so 
 puzzling to the common people — oljective and subjective. 
 \ Always preach to the plainest part of your audience. 
 
THE SUCCESSFQL MINISTER. J 27 
 
 If you elaborate your discourse for the most cultivated 
 portion, they aloue can understand you. But if you 
 have the rich man in your church and also his coachman 
 or gardener or servant, tlien preach to the coachman and 
 the gardener, and you will sweep in the whole audience 
 to the door. Even the most cidtivated lawj^er or col- 
 l.egian will be best pleased with simplicity and earneaU 
 ness. The profoundest men do not come to church to 
 have their brains taxed, but lo have their hearts made 
 holier and their lives made better. 
 
 Do not begin your sermons in a slovenly or stupid 
 manner — expecting to recover your audience afterwards. 
 People will endure a prosy introduction, when their 
 curiosity is piqued to hear a distinguished preacher ; 
 but the great mass of preachers are not distinguitihed. 
 If you let 3'our auditors wander oif to " their farms and 
 thtir merchandise," or drop fast asleep at the outset, it 
 will be difficult to bring them back to you. Put the 
 strength of your sermon into the first ten minutes, and 
 the last ten minutes. Begin to preach in such a style 
 that you shall nail every ear to the pulpit ; end your 
 discourse with an appeal that shall clench the truth and 
 send your hearer home with God's Word ringing in his 
 memory. 
 
 Preach positive truths. I^egations never touch a sin- 
 ner's heart. Unitarianism has no push in it, because it 
 is a mere loose aggregation of negatives. Confirm your 
 auditors ; give them tonics ! Pray do not be a discoura- 
 ging or disconsolate drawler ; do not be everlastingly 
 bemoaning and bewailing everything It is something 
 indeed to give a man a very poor opinion of himself; but 
 it is a far better thing to lead him to a warmer and 
 
128 THE SUCCESSFUL MINISTER. 
 
 loftier love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and to strengthen 
 him with the posiiive power of a stalwart faith. 
 
 Let me remind you in the next place, my young 
 brethren, that the successful preacher must always be a 
 
 fearless preacher. I know well the temptations which 
 we have to say popular things instead of true things ; 
 and when a pastor is sore pressed to maintain his family, 
 he is even tempted sometimes to put salary above souls. 
 The Evil One whispers to h.im, " You get only $1000 a 
 
 year and you must not drive ^way Judge A or Col, 
 
 B , your best supporters." To such subtle whispers 
 
 say. evermore "Get thee behind me, Satan!" The 
 moment you begin to tremble before an auditor, you are 
 gone ! Fear God always ; but man never ! 
 
 In dealing faithfully with popular sins, you must 
 
 . expect opposition ; but it will come quite as often from 
 timid Christians, as from wrong-doers themselves. 
 Sometimes you really please those whom you expected 
 to offend. On a certain Sabbath in my early ministry, 
 I preached pretty plainly and emphatically against the 
 sin of making and vending alcoholic poisons. I do 
 allude to that subject occasionally. A prominent 
 trustee in my church who had made all his money by 
 the manufacture of liquor, sat during the sermon and 
 nibbled the head of his cane under the gaze of the 
 whole congregation. After service, some people said, 
 " That sermon will drive the Squire off, sure.'' But 
 when a friend said to him timidly, " Squire, how did 
 you relish that V he very nobly replied, " If the little 
 man believes it, let him say it.'' Years afterwards he 
 sent for me to come fifty miles and stand by his dying 
 bed. 
 
THE SUCCESSFUL MINISTER. 1'29 
 
 Another temptation is to write "splendid sermons," 
 and to covet popular applause. To be told after 
 preaching, " you gave us a magnificent discourse," may 
 be a curse to you ; but to be told " that sermon cut me 
 to the heart," or " sent me to Jesus," is a blessing beyond 
 measure. It is the seal of the spirit. You may toil all 
 the week on an elaborate, ornamental discourse, and 
 polish it with the pumi^-e-stoue to the last syllable, and 
 say to yourself, '* There ! I fancy that is a great sermon." 
 But it is probable that God will not think it a very great 
 sermon, and He will smash your pride and self conceit, 
 by making it as barren of results as the East wind. On 
 the other hand you will sometimes deliver a plain, simple 
 sermon that you are almost ashamed of, and you shall 
 afterwards learn that it drew some poor sinner to the 
 Saviour. 
 
 The year after my licensure, I preached at Saratoga. 
 The next day a b iker in the village said to me, " Young 
 man! you are a stranger here, and yesterday I pitied 
 you when you began, for you did n^ t know what a critical 
 audience you had to address. But I have noticed that 
 if a minister can only convince his congregation during 
 the first five minutes that he cares for nothing^ but to 
 save their souls, he will kill all the critics in the houaeJ' 
 I have always thanked that baker for the best practical 
 hint I ever grot. Old Dr. Alexander never said a truer 
 thing to us in the Seminary. 
 
 6th. This leads me to say that the highest element 
 of power in the successful preacher is 
 
 HEART POWER. 
 
 At the outset, aim to win the affections of your people, 
 
130 - THE SUCCESSFUL MINISTER. 
 
 Love them, and they will love you. You can do but 
 little good to your auditors if they do not like you, and 
 none at all, if they don't think enough of you to come 
 and hear you. Give full play to your own heart while 
 writing, and while you are preaching. Touch the tender 
 chords. ■ I very much doubt whether the man who has 
 no pathos in his nature was ever called of God to the 
 sacred ministry. Beecher's highest power is in his 
 pathos; so is Gough's ; so is Dr. Guthrie's. Remember 
 that your people have cradles in their houses, and sick 
 beds, and are all of them men and women " of like pas- 
 sions " with yourself. If you can't help weei^ing, then 
 weep ; if your feelings overcome you, then break down I 
 It may break some others down too, and reach the fount 
 of their tears. President McCosh lately described to 
 me a wonderful scene in the Scotch General Assembly, 
 when Alexander Duff spoke for two hours to an audience, 
 who for the most part were opposed to his views, and 
 yet he so completely broke them down by his over- 
 whelming pathos, that every man in the multitude was 
 weeping ; and the member of Parliamebt who went 
 around to " lift " the missionary collection afterwards, 
 walked with his hankerchief to his eyes, and the tears 
 dropping from his cheeks ! The vast assembly was a 
 perfect Bochim. 
 
 The two most successful ministers in this city are not 
 men who preach splendid intellectual discourses, but are 
 possessed of this heart-power both in the pulpit, the 
 prayer- meeting, and in their 
 
 PASTORAL V^ORK. 
 7th. Young brethren ! aim from the start to be 
 
. THE SUCCESSFUL MINISTER. ]3l 
 
 thorough pastors. During the week go to those whom 
 you expect to come to you on the Sabbath. In the 
 morning of each day, study l)ooks ; in the afternoon, 
 study door-plates and — human nature. Your people 
 will give you material for your best practical sermons. 
 After an effective Sunday work, go around among your 
 flock, as Napoleon rode over the field after a battle, to 
 see where the shot struck, and who were amonof the 
 wounded. 
 
 In pastoral visiting, go Y\^here you are needed the 
 most. If you neglect anybody, neglect the strong, the 
 cultured and the godly. Go to the unconverted ; go to 
 the suffering ; and go to those houses where the world 
 comes the least. Get acquainted with everybody, and 
 don't forge t.to recognize everybody in the street. Always 
 have a tract or two in your pocket and a kind word on 
 your lips. Be sure of this, that every person, hioh or 
 humble, likes personal attention. 
 
 There are two requisites for a successful minister that 
 I must just allude to beforee I close these rambling re- 
 marks. The one is — and a very essential one too — that 
 he possess 
 
 VIGOROUS HEALTH. 
 
 The men who have produced the greatest effect in the 
 pulpit, — Chalmers, Lyman Beecher, Spurgeon, Guthrie, 
 &c., — h0-ve been men who had great volumes of animal 
 heat. To preserve health, secure sound sleep. Never 
 touch a sermon on Saturday night. Eat nourishing 
 food, and use tea and coffee " as not abusing them." 
 [Note — By abstaining from them as a common bevera.£je 
 entirely. — Com.] However jaded you may be, never 
 touch any such treacherous stimulants as port wine and 
 
132 THE SUCCESSFCTL MINISTER. 
 
 ale. When I cannot utter the message of the Holy 
 Ghost without putting a bottle to my lips, I shall be 
 quite sure that the Lord has demitted me from the 
 Christian ministry. The weak point with many minis- 
 ters is the throat ; and they get bronchial diseases by 
 reading in the pulpit with their chins dropped down On 
 the breast. Hold up your heads ! Auctioneers and 
 Methodist circuit- riders seldom have bronchitis. 
 
 In these days it is quite indispensable to success that 
 a pastor have Administrative ability. Common sense is 
 a part of the divine call to the ministry ; and you must 
 use discretion and zeal in the direction and develop- 
 ment of your church activities. Aim to keep everybody 
 at work. Set the new converts at some work straight- 
 way. One great element of success witli Dr. Asa D. 
 Smith was the development of his flock in laboring and 
 giving. But when you have done your utmost to spur on 
 your people to work for Christ, you will have drones 
 enough left to vex your souls beyond measure. 
 
 Study the best models ; road carefully the lives and 
 the methods of such men as Robert McCheyne, Payson, 
 Chalmers, thie elder Beecher, and the apostolic William 
 C. Burns. Work for RESULTS. "" Preach for RESULTS. 
 In your audience nearly every sabbath will be some 
 immortal soul who is hearing his lad sermon. When 
 I preached once in Grant's army I said to myself 
 *' Yonder is the man who will soon be carried wounded 
 and dying to the real' .'" 
 
 And now as you look out upon the vast field white to 
 the harvest, and much of it perishing for want of reapers, 
 let the view only quicken you to redouble your diligence, 
 and to make your sickles sharp by study and by prayer ! 
 
THE SUCCESSFUL MINISTER. 133 
 
 Do not go until the blade is keen ; and then grasp and 
 wield it until your hand is vstiff in death ! Yonder waits 
 your pulpit. Prepare to enter it in the love of Christ. 
 When you are in it, remember that you will always 
 have Almighty God as one of your auditors, and every 
 sermon you preach may possibly be your last. 
 
 Father of mercies, bow thine ear, 
 Attentive to our earnest prayer ; 
 We plead for those who plead for thee ; 
 Successful may they ever be. 
 
 Clothe them with energy divine, 
 And let their messages be thine ; 
 To them thy sacred truth reveal ; 
 Suppress their fear, inflame their zeal. 
 
 Teach them to sow the precious seed ; 
 Teach them, thy chosen flock to feed ; 
 Teach them, immortal souls to gain — 
 Souls that will well reward their pain. 
 
 12 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 HOW TO PKEACH, 
 By Rev. Theodore L. Cutler. 
 
 " Shall I write my sermons, or shall I preach extem- 
 poraneously 1 Please reply through The Independent, 
 for the benefit of other young beginners like myself." 
 
 The good brother who sends this ancient and oft. agi- 
 tated question might as well have accompanied it with 
 the other equally ancient one, " What shall I eat for my 
 dinner? " To both questions we would render the same 
 answer: "Just what agrees with you best." Some 
 men — like President Edwards and Dr. Chalmers— were 
 created to preach with notes. Their minds worked ta 
 the best advantage in that method. Some other men — 
 like Whitefield and Spurgeon — were created to preach 
 without a line of prepared manuscript. Yet both of 
 these latter preachers made thorough preparation for the 
 pulpit, or they never would have won their marvelous 
 success as effective preachers of the Gospel. 
 
 To the question of our young brother, " Shall I write 
 my sermons ? " we would unhesitatingly answer : " Yes, 
 Write out just as carefully and thoroughly as possible 
 at least one sermon every week." To a novice in the 
 
HOW TO PREACH. 135 
 
 ministry this is almost indispensable. Writing makes 
 *an exact man, just as reading makes a full man. Thought 
 should be bestowed on every sentence, and on every 
 word in the sentence. Dr. Bethume once told us that 
 he spent a whole day on a single sentence in his oration 
 before the *' Porter Society," at Andover ; but those ' 
 half dozen lines are a masterpiece of powerful compo- 
 sition. Painful writing makes easy hearing for the 
 auditors. 
 
 After you have written out your sermon, and pruned 
 it to the last degree, you may either take the notes with 
 you to the pulpit, or not, just as you prefer. It does 
 not follow that, because you have written your discourse, 
 you should read it afterward. If you can train your 
 memory to recall the whole sermon, then so much the 
 better ; you can give your eyes to your audience, and 
 not to your "parchments." Our excellent friend. Dr. 
 John Hall, ranks as an extempore preacher, and one of 
 the best; and yet he said to us, lately : " I make it a 
 rule to write one sermon every week." He writes it on 
 his meriiory at the same time. This is a habit easily 
 acquired. The Rev. Newman Hall delivered a capital 
 discourse in our pulpit from a " brief " of twenty lines. 
 Three months afterward he wrote out the same discourse 
 verbatim for publication ! Such a memory as that is a 
 treasure. Our young brother can probably have just 
 such a well-trained "beast of burden" of his own, if 
 he chooses. Memory is the most docile of mental fac- 
 ulties. Its best strengthener is exercise. 
 
 Suppose that you take your notes to the pulpit. Must 
 you pin your eyes upon them, and read them with slav- 
 ish monotony ? By no means. Dr. Chalmers wrote out 
 
136 HOW TO PEEACH. * 
 
 his magnificent astronomical discourses, and then deliv- 
 ered them in tones that "made the rafters roar." Dn 
 Addison Alexander, in his best days, was never more 
 eloquent than over his manuscript. Dr. Griffin's splen- 
 did sermon on the " Worth of the Soul " was finished to 
 the last syllable, and then delivered with a tremendous 
 vehemence, that made his auditors tremble. It is not 
 80 difficult a feat as many imagine to grow impassioned 
 over a manuscript. A preacher of God's Word has no 
 business to go into the sacred desk unless he has the 
 "fire in his bones," and that inward fire will kindle his 
 paper into a blaze. 
 
 The man who is master of the situation may use 
 notes, " as not abusing^ them.'* He mav manage to 
 interject in the midst of his written matter the most 
 effective passages which flash upon him in the heat of 
 the moment. This is one of Mr. Beecher's methods. 
 For a true orator should have many methods, and be the 
 slave of none. We have sat in the Ph^mouth pulpit 
 with Boanerges, when he had fully one-half of his dis- 
 course on loose sheets before him. After readinor a few 
 moments with great animation, he stepped to the end of 
 his desk, threw up a rocket or two, or else introduced 
 one of his pathetic master-strokes in a sweet undertone, 
 and then returned to his notes again. This method 
 combines the advantages of previous preparation and 
 loo^ical arrano'ement with the freedom of offhand utter- 
 ance. If the word in the manuscript is not so short or 
 so strong as it ought to be, the collected speaker can 
 make the change on the instant. . If in the quiet of his 
 study he wrote the phrase " eternal retribution," he will 
 be very apt to condense two big words into the single 
 
KOW. TO PREACH. 137 
 
 one, hell. If he had described a man as laboring under 
 a " remarkable obliquity of intellect," he will probabiy 
 pack the same thought into the wordfooL The best 
 word is often the very word that suggests itself in the 
 heat of Xhe occasion. One element of Spurgeon's power 
 is the short, sharp, simple English which he always 
 uses. 
 
 But Mr. Spurgeon, you may say, always extemporizes. 
 So he does. His is one of those minds which work bet- 
 ter under the magnetism of the pulpit and the crowd, 
 than in the more chilling atmosphere of his study. 
 There are some men who are oftener inspired through 
 the tongue than they are through the pen. They are 
 weak writers, but powerful speakers. Henry Clay was 
 such a man. So was the eloquent John Breckenridge, 
 of Princeton Seminary. Even grand old Lyman Beecher 
 was never so overwhelminor as when in the full torrent 
 of argument before an audience. He wrote with ad- 
 mirable tigor ; but it required the electricity of the 
 pulpit to make him "thunder all round the horizon " 
 of truth. Lyman Beecher was the king of American 
 preachers, and he never diluted his discourses with the 
 wish-wash of what is often called in our day " liberal 
 Christianity." 
 
 Three things are essential to success in extemporane- 
 ous oratory. The first is, that the preacher be a master 
 of his subject ; and this requires previous study. The 
 second is, that he be a master of lanoruao-e, and have a 
 ready and copious supply of words at his command. The| 
 third is, that he have good digestion. It is a desperately 
 difficult thing for a man to preach well when he is under 
 
 the nightmare of dyspepsia. The highest success in the 
 12* 
 
138 HOW TO PEEACH. 
 
 pulpit must depend not only on the help of God, but on 
 abound bodily constitution. Even the peerless Dr. 
 Guthrie, of Scotland, whom the London Times well 
 styled "the most eloquent man in Europe," has been 
 stricken down from his work by physical disease. 
 
 If our young questioner has the gift of a ready utter- 
 ance, let him by all means cultivate it. JjqI him pay 
 DO heed to old Dr. Emmons's famous witticism, that 
 *' extempore preaching is 'pro tempore preaching." Let 
 him study his subject thoroughly, and with prayer. Let 
 him write often and carefully, and then leave his notes 
 at home, if he can get on possibly without them. Let 
 him give full play _ to his instincts and his affections. 
 The grandest p»wer in the pulpit is heart-potuer. 
 
 Eloquence is truth, in earnest. When God's truth 
 gets full possession of a man's conscience ; when all his 
 sympathies are in full play ; when the soul becomes 
 luminous until the interior glow blazes out through 
 every crevice ; when the whole man is on fire irom head 
 to foot ; then is he naturally and honestly and irresis- 
 tibly eloquent. To this result the heart contributes 
 even more than the head. The grandest achievements 
 of the pulpit have been reached when the minister of 
 Christ has received the fullest celestial baptism of love, 
 when self has been swallowed up in the love of souls 
 and in the glory that surrounds the cross of Calvary. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 WINNING SOULS TO CHRIST. 
 By Theodore L. Cutler, D. D. 
 
 Let me suggest as the key-note for the coming year — 
 winning souls. Some one inquired of Dr. Lyman 
 Beecher, in his old age, *' Doctor, j^ou know many 
 things ; but what do you think the main thing ? " The 
 sturdy old hero of forty revivals answered, " It is not 
 theology ; it is not controver.-^y ; it is saving souls,''' 
 
 Tiiis is a personal work. Each man and woman must 
 be a- fisher. It is a great mistake to suppose that a 
 whole church can lay hold of a huge drag-net, and draw 
 in, at a single haul, a " multitude of fishes." This is an 
 individual work upon individual hearts. The pastor 
 must do his part in the pulpit and in personal inter- 
 views. The Sunday school teacher must take hold of 
 his pupils one by one. The Christian who v^^ould win 
 Harlan Page's success must adopt Harlan Page's method ; 
 and that was to try to do some good to every one he met. 
 Sometimes it was only a kind but impressive word ; 
 sometimes it was a faithful private conversation ; some- 
 times he wrote a letter to the unconverted, invitino- to 
 the Saviour ; sometimes he did a kindness to unlock the 
 
140 WINNING SOULS TO CHRIST. 
 
 heart, and then followed it by a close appeal. A great 
 many crude things have been said about the "machinery 
 of revivals; " but there is one sort of machinery as old 
 as the apostles, and vv^hich never wears out — it is the 
 simple method of personal effort, prompted by love. 
 The Acts of the Apostles are not a history of churches, 
 but of individual Christians ; the fishery for souls was 
 not by a combined pull on an ecclesiastical drag-net, 
 but each fisher dropped his own hook, baited with love. 
 
 We emphasize this last pithy word. Souls must be 
 loved toward Christ. He that winneth is wise. Cutting 
 words to the unconverted are only the foolish attempt to 
 bait flies with vineojar. " Truthinof it in love" is the 
 literal reading of Paul's method which he commends in 
 his letter to the brethren at Ephesus. Sinners will bear 
 tremendously close and searching truth, if it is only 
 spoken out of a heart that is unmistakably moved by an 
 unselfish affection. The first point is persuasion ; or, in 
 other words, to move the sinner to move himself. It has 
 been well said that the divine method for winning' souls 
 is not by a " thou shall ; " but by persuading each sin- 
 ner to say for himself, "I will." To accomplish this 
 persuasion, the first essential is to love a man's soul, and 
 to convince him that you do love him. The only people 
 in our churches who really do much good are those who 
 have established a confidence in their own sincerity, and 
 who get credit for a disinterested benevolence. Ungodly 
 persons will sometimes phrase their opinions of a church. 
 
 member on this wise : " I believe in Mr. A . He 
 
 pays his debts, and he came to sit up with me when I 
 
 was sick. He's no Pharisee." Now, such a Mr. A 
 
 is the only one who has sufiiciently won the confidence 
 
WINNING SOULS TO CHRIST. 141 
 
 of impenitent people to win them over to Christ. No 
 others need make the attempt. 
 
 There is a class of censorious Christians who pray and 
 speak vitriol and vinegar in the prayer, meetings, who 
 are perpetually berating the whole church for its cold- 
 ness and lethargy, and wliose stereotyped harangue is : 
 " Men and brethren, sinners all around us are going 
 down by thousands to Hell ! " These are the fishermen 
 who perpetually lash the waters into commotion with 
 their fishins^.rods, but who never catch even a nibble. 
 These people need a "revival" themselves — a revival 
 of the spirit of Christ in their own hearts. Our All-wise 
 Master never would have won Zaccheus over by denounc- 
 ing him as an extortionate publican. He did win him 
 by personal attention. When the man whom all Jericho 
 was in the habit of kicking at, found at last a friend, 
 who had a "fellow-feeling" for him, he opened his 
 heart to him. Christ " went to be a guest with a man 
 who was a sinner." He not only got into that sinner's 
 house, but into his heart. 
 
 Whenever I think of winniiig souls to Christ, I recall 
 the history of a beloved friend, who thirty years ago 
 was a wretched waif on the current of "fast living" 
 (which really means fast dying). The reckless youth 
 seemed a,bandoned of God and man. He spent his 
 nights in the buffooneries of the dram-shop, and his days 
 in the waking remorse of a drunkard. On a certain 
 Sabbath afternoon he was sauntering through the public 
 square of WorcOvSter, out of humor with all the world 
 and-^p^ith himself. A kind voice suddenly saluted him. 
 It was from a stranger, who touched him on the shoulder, 
 and said, very cordially : " Mr. Gough, I believe ? " 
 
142 WINNING SOtJLS TO CHRIST. 
 
 " Yes, sir, that's my name." Then followed a few kind 
 words from the benevolent stranger, with a pressing in- 
 vitation to *' to come to our meeting: to-morrow night, 
 where I will introduce you to good friends, who will help 
 you to keep a temperance pledge." The promise was 
 made on the spot, and faithfully kept. The pledge was 
 taken, and by God^ help is kept to this hour. The poor 
 boot maker who tapped that youth on the shoulder has 
 gone to Heaven. But the man he saved has touched 
 more hearts to tears than any other liviDg man on the 
 globe. Methinks, when I listen to the thunders of ap- 
 plause which greet John B. Gough in vast crowded lec- 
 ture-halls, I am only hearing the echoes of that tap on 
 the shoulder under the elms of Worcester. He that 
 winneth souls is wise. 
 
 If I may be allowed to suggest the class upon whom 
 the soul-winning process should be attempted, I would 
 suggest, not the easy cases, but the hardest. It is not 
 enouoh to reach those who are nearest to the Kino^dom 
 of Heaven. Let us try for those who are farthest oflf. 
 A " revival " that shall gather in the scoffers and the 
 Sabbath-breakers, the drunkards and the sensualists — 
 in " high lifLi," as well as in low — can only come from a 
 revival of Christ's loving and laborious spirit in the 
 hearts of his people. The best warfare against the 
 Devil is to win away his victims, one by one, to the side 
 of Jesus. 
 
CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 THE REVIVAL WE NEED. 
 
 a revival op righteousness. — compiler, 
 
 By Theodore L. Cutler, D. D. 
 
 The departure of the veteran Finney to his rest and 
 the return of Messrs. Moody and Sankey to their native 
 shores both c^ll up to men's minds at once the word re~ 
 vival. The ascending Elijah of Oberlin, leaving his 
 mantle to the returning Elisha, has entered upon his 
 heavenly joys ; and not the least of these joys must be 
 his discovery of many souls in Heaven whom his labors 
 brought thither. That one successful " revivalist" has 
 gone, and that another one, accompanied by his singicg 
 associate, has come to us, is very certain, but it is not 
 absolutely certain that a general and powerful awakening 
 is to come with him. To human eye it looks probable. 
 Good men and women are looking, longing, and earnestly 
 praying for a new Pentecost. But what kind of a revi- 
 val is most needed ? What graces and forces of the 
 Christian Church need most to be revived, what weak 
 points need most to be strengthened, what brot^n walls 
 require to be rebuilt ? God knoweth best, and His ways 
 
144 THE REVIVAL WE NEED. 
 
 are higher than our ways. But there are some things 
 that we mortals can see, and, seeing them, can strive to 
 secure them. 
 
 It is very certain that one thing which sensible men 
 ought not to strive after is a mere outbreak of spasmodic 
 excitement, kindled by artificial methods. All religious 
 awakenings must be attended with some degree of excite- 
 ment. Peter and John made no small stir in Jerusalem, 
 as Brother Moody has made no small stir in London. 
 But the excitement was an incident, not an end. When 
 the noise of the thunder and the rain has passed away, 
 the blessings of the spiritual shower remain. Good men 
 should neither seek after popular excitement nor be 
 afraid of it if it comes. The spiritual result is what 
 should be aimed at, whether God shall order it in si- 
 lence or amid violent demonstrations of popular feeling. 
 
 There were some methods employed by the late Pres- 
 ident Finney in the days of his grandest success, which 
 were copied after the apostolic models and which cannot 
 be easily improved. He preached God's Word, clear 
 through, and without flinching. Never muffling the 
 Sword of the Spirit, he made it cut to the very marrow. 
 Sometimes he indulged in extravagant phrases, and often 
 rung changes upon the word " hell " until the oft-reiter- 
 ation somewhat cheapened its etfect on the conscience. 
 These were small blemishes upon a glorious work. 
 
 Finney's great aim was to make every hearer feel 
 that he was a sinner against a holy God ; that sin was 
 exceeding henious and justly damnable ; that sin should 
 be abandoned straightway, and the sinner should turn 
 immediately unto God, who would abundantly pardon 
 him, through Jesus Christ as a complete Saviour. It 
 
THE REVIVAL WE NEED. 145 
 
 was no scrimped and shallow gospel ttiat our American 
 Boanerges preached ; but a thorough depravity to be 
 fled from, and a thorough holiness of heart and life to be 
 striven for. He put his plow in deep, clear under men's 
 secret motives, and it often made ripping work. 
 
 The conviction of personal guilt produced by the Holy 
 Spirit under Finney's powerful preaching was usually 
 very acute and pungent. The conversions to a better 
 life bore, usually, an impression as clean-cut as the 
 stamp of the die on a new dollar from the mint. Men 
 of intellect and culture were reached by his trenchant 
 arguments. Skeptics were revolutionized. The stan- 
 dard of daily life which he held up was a high and pure 
 and manly and noble one. It demanded stern self-de- 
 nial and proved its love of Jesus Christ by keeping his 
 commandments. 
 
 As a surbordinate agency to the preaching of the 
 Word, Mr. Finney employed the " anxious seat " and the 
 inquiry meeting very much as Mr. Moody has employed 
 the inquiry meeting in Great Britian. The two-fold object 
 was spiritual direction in order to immediate decision 
 for Christ. Conversion was set forth not as an end, but 
 only as the starting-point of a true and righteous life, 
 with Heaven's perfection as its goal. It is not to be won- 
 •dered at, that such methods wrought glorious results. 
 Many of the best men and women of the last quarter of 
 a century, who have led in Christian effort and in moral 
 reforms, were the shining products of Charles G. Finney's 
 powerful ministry. 
 
 We have outlined some of the chief characteristics of 
 
 the preaching and the methods employed in the great 
 
 revivals from 1820 to 1810, because we believe that 
 13 
 
146 THE EEVIVAL WE NEED. 
 
 those same features deserve to be employed again. Sub- 
 stantially, they have their foundations in God's Word 
 and in the necesities of human nature, which are always 
 the same. 
 
 We need now more thorough study of God's Word ; 
 and, what is far more important still, a thorough keeping 
 of God's law. That law is no more obsolete than is the 
 precious atoning blood of Calvary. The pulpit of our 
 day needs to give greater emphasis to the guilt of sin 
 and its inevitable retributions. A sinner needs to know 
 just what he now is, before he is likely to seek to be- 
 come better. Of a certain sort of mushy sentimentalism 
 w^e have had enough and too much. May God teach all 
 his teachers how to teach dying souls the only way to 
 Life. 
 
 The revival we need is not only a revival of sounder 
 scriptural preaching, but a revival of true Christian liv- 
 ing. We have had quite a surfeit of the religion which 
 luxuriates in the devout fervors of the prayer-meeting 
 and the camp-ground, which sings sweet hymns and ap- 
 plauds sweet sermons, and then goes straight off to its 
 money.grasping and its pleasure-seeking and its pander- 
 ings to self and sin. God forbid that we speak lightly 
 of true spiritual emotion 1 But the Christianity which 
 Christ demands is something deeper than a song or a 
 sermon or a sacrament. It is the holyj,and the humble 
 imitation of himself. 
 
 The revival, then, which we need, is a revival of the 
 religion which keeps God's commandments ; which tells 
 the truth and sticks to its promises ; which pays twenty 
 shillings to the pound; which cares more for a good 
 character than a fine coat ; which votes at the ballot- 
 
THE REVIVAL WE NEED. 147 
 
 box in the same direction that it prays ; which denies 
 ungodly lusts, and wbich can be trusted in every stress 
 of temptation. A revival which will sweeten our homes^ 
 and chasten our press and purify our politics and cleanse 
 our business and commerce from roguery and rottenness, 
 would be a boon from Heaven. A revival which will 
 bring not only a Bible-knowledge, but a Bible conscience 
 to all, is what tne land is dying for. The world's sorest 
 want to-day is more Christ-like men and women. The 
 preaching it needs is — more sermons in shoes. 
 
 If our honored and beloved countrymen. Moody and 
 Sankey, have come to us freighted with such messages 
 and aims and holy purposes, then may God give them 
 an abundant entrance everywhere, and a mighty suc- 
 cess. The field is ripe and ready for their sickles. The 
 Divine Spirit will surely attend them. God's true 
 people will welcome them with prayers and eager sym- 
 patliy. Scoffers may sneer and devils may rage ; but 
 the word of Jehovah will grow mightily and prevail. To 
 prepare for such a revival, let us be putting away sin 
 from our hearts and be seeking.an inflow of the Spirit of 
 Jesus. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 9 
 
 KINDLING THE FIRE. 
 By Rev. Theo. L. Cutler, D. D. 
 
 " This looks like slow work," we remarked to Brother 
 Moody, in the little prayer-room of Calvary Chapel, 
 Brooklyn, during the winter of 1872. 
 
 " Yes," replied the modest evangelist, "it is slow, and 
 it looks like a small work. But if you want to kindle a 
 fire you collect a handful of sticks, light them with a 
 match, and keep blowing until they begin to blaze 
 After the fire is once fairly started, you may heap on as 
 much wood as you can get. So I am working here with 
 a handful of Christians, endeavoring to get them to con- 
 secrate themselves fully to Jesus ; and if they get well 
 warmed with divine love, 1 have no fear but that a gen- 
 uine revival will begin and sinners will be converted." 
 
 Mr. Moody was right. The handful of disciples in 
 that meeting did receive a fresh baptism, and within two 
 months over one hundred souls were converted and re- 
 ceived into the fellowship of our church. 
 
 This little incident not only gives a clew to the suc- 
 cess of Mr. Moody in more than one of his evangelistic 
 campaigns, but it affords a timely hint to those pastors 
 
KINDLING THE FIEE. 149 
 
 and working Christians who are longing for a revival in 
 their own churches. God's word teaches us never to 
 despise the day of small things. The mightiest flame 
 which dyes the heavens with its crimson glow, was once 
 a spark — a mere seed of fire. 
 
 Pentecost began with a small prayer-meeting in an 
 upper room. Had there been a daily paper in Jerusa- 
 lem about those times, it would probably have bestowed 
 but a scanty notice upon that gathering of one hundred 
 and twenty fishermen and publicans and other despised 
 " fanatics," who assembled to pay honor to the crucified 
 Nazarene. But the fire was kindled in that upper room 
 which, within a dozen years, had leaped over the civil- 
 ized world. The Eeformation of the sixteenth century 
 had its seed of fire in Martin Luther's chamber at 
 Erfurth. 
 
 This is the way that revivals begin. Jeremiah Lam- 
 phier and Mahloa T. Hewitt, and one or two other 
 zealous spirits, came together in the upper room in Ful- 
 ton street. New York, and prayed together till their 
 hearts burned within them. Brother Hewitt told me 
 that it seemed an even chance for several days whether 
 the meeting would live or die. The Holy Spirit's breath 
 fanned the spark. It kindled, and by the end of four 
 months New York was in a blaze. No one has yet seen 
 the ashes of that fire in Fulton street, it has burned for 
 eighteen years. 
 
 The late Dr. Thomas H. Skinner used to tell of a 
 
 wonderful coming together of three men in his study in 
 
 Philadelphia when he was pastor of the Arch Street 
 
 church. They travailed with God in prayer. They 
 
 made a clean breast in confession of sin, and broke down 
 13* 
 
150 KINDLING THE FIRE. 
 
 before God. One and another church officer came in 
 and joined them. The heavenly flame soon spread 
 through the whole church in one of the most powerful 
 revivals ever known in Philadelphia. It was during 
 that awakening that Dr. Lyman Beecher delivered his 
 celebrated discourse on the " Goyernment of God," and 
 when he came down from the pulpit he was asked, 
 " Doctor, how long did it take you to prepare that ser- 
 mon?" "About forty years," replied the veteran. 
 Such sermons as that are a growth, not a momentary 
 inspiration. Oaks do not spring up like gourds. 
 
 Many a pastor has had some such experience as Dr. 
 Skinner's in Arch Street. While going through my 
 congregation one afternoon on pastoral visitation, I found 
 three persons under deep conviction of sin. I at once 
 summoned mv church-officers together and recommended 
 a daily prayer- meeting for the outporing of the Holy 
 Spirit. When the first inquiry-meeting was held the 
 officers took their hats and went home. I wrote each 
 one of them a sharp note. One or two were affronted, 
 but the irritation proved a means of grace. It is a good 
 thing to get a sleepy backslider thoroughly angry ; when 
 a wound smarts it is commonly healing. Mr. Moody 
 wittily says, " When God awakens a sleeping soul it 
 generally wakes up cross.'' Let us never be alarmed 
 when the truth, working in a conscience, produces sharp 
 words. The fire is getting into the bones. In a few 
 days I found all my staff of elders and deacons well 
 warmed to the work. A blessed revival followed. 
 
 All these instances which I have cited — and I could 
 multiply them largely — point one way. They all show 
 that in kindling a spiritual fire the true method is for 
 
KINDLING THE FIRE. 151 
 
 two or three earnest Christians to come together humbly, 
 and in a penitential spirit, lay themselves down at the 
 feet of Jesus, and ask him to pour into them his quick- 
 ening Spirit. Let their consecration of themselves be 
 entire and unreserved. First let them put away sin and 
 unbelief, and ask the Lord to cleanse them thoroughly 
 for his work. We have got to be emptied before we are 
 j&lled. Selfishness, and evil thoughts, and grudges, and 
 the devil of unbelief, must be cast out before the Master 
 will "make his abode " in our hearts. When a Chris- 
 tian has received the inporing of Jesus into his or her 
 soul, then is he or she prepared to go and labor for the 
 conversion of the impenitent. 
 
 This labor must be personal and directed to individual 
 cases. When Philip has received Jesus he goes off at 
 once to find his friend Nathaniel and brings him to the 
 Saviour. The Acts cf the Apostles is mainly a record 
 of individual labor, for, and with individual sinners. 
 Paul did not think it beneath him to work upon one 
 poor cripple at Lystra. Jesus himself gave a whole 
 evening to one anxious inquirer, and a whole noonday 
 to a single sinful woman at Sychar. These Scriptural 
 lessons all teach the power of personal effort. 
 
 The danger in our churches is that individual respon- 
 sibility will be lost sight of and each Christian will 
 neglect his own duty while waiting for others to move. 
 Instead of this let the ones who have consecrated them- 
 selves to Jesus begin at once to labor upon the cases that 
 lie nearest to their hands. Thus the fire spreads. The 
 few who are red-hot kindle others. 
 
 It is a humiliatinor fact that a church of blood-bouorht 
 disciples should need a " revival." But there is only 
 
152 KINDLING THE FIEE. 
 
 one remedy, and that is the new baptism of the Holy 
 Ghost. Those who first feel the desire for this spiritual 
 power from on high mast betake themselves to peniten- 
 tial prayer and then to work. A half dozen such live 
 coals are likely to kindle a whole church. Instead of 
 waiting for a Moody or a Sankey to come, why will not the 
 reader of this article implore the Divine Spirit to light 
 his torch, and then let him carry his fire to his neighbor. 
 
 "Go preach my Gospel," saith the Lord, 
 "Bid the whole earth my grace receive ; 
 
 He shall be sav'd that trusts my word 
 And he condemn'd that won't believe." 
 
 "I'll make yom' great commission known; 
 
 And ye shall prove my gospel true, 
 By all the works that I have done, 
 
 By all the wonders ye shall do," 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED? 
 
 INQDTBEKS DIRECTED. — COMPILER. 
 
 By Rev. T. L. Cutler. 
 
 " Men and brethren, what shall we do / " This was 
 the eager question of a large company of people at Je- 
 rusalem who were " pricked to the heart." Their con- 
 sciences were aroused under plain preaching to them as 
 sinners who had "crucified and slain" the Messiah. 
 They/eZf keenly. But the Apostle Peter did not stop to 
 commend them for feeling so tenderly, or to exhort them 
 to deepen their emotions. He endeavored to lift the 
 whole matter of their salvation out of the vapory region 
 of emotion, and to base it on the solid ground of priu' 
 ciple. 
 
 It is a sad mischief to thousands in our couOTeo^ations 
 that they feel so much and do so little. They melt un- 
 der eloquent preaching, perhaps shed tears. (So they 
 do over a pathetic novel.) Their consciences. are touched. 
 They make good resolutions, and then go home, and 
 straightway forget what manner of persons they have 
 been. This is a most dangerous and damaging process. 
 My friend, don't you know that to weep over sin, and 
 
154 WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED ? 
 
 then not to quit the sin — to have a good feeling, and not 
 to carry it out into practice — does you a most serious 
 harm ? It is a wrong upon the Holy Spirit, and a most ter- 
 rible wrong to yourself. It hardens your heart most 
 fearfully. The most difficult person in our congregations 
 to deal with are those emotional people who have wept 
 and resolved an hundred times, and yet have never lifted 
 a finger to obey Christ. , I am afraid that their tears in 
 this world are but a prelude to bitterer tears in perdi- 
 tion. Hell is full of weepers. Even Satan himself may 
 be wrung with intense and inconceivable anguish. It is 
 well to feel ; but it is not enough to feel. An ounce of 
 faith is worth a ton of feeling. 
 
 But what answer does Peter make to his awakened 
 and anxious auditors? Does he tell them that they 
 have no natural ability to do their duty ? Does he ad- 
 dress them as " poor sinners," more to be pitied than to 
 be blamed ? Does he offer to pray for them, and thus 
 lead them to cling to his skirts, instead of clinging to 
 the Saviour ? Does he urge them to take to good read- 
 ing, or even to come often to hear him preach the Gos- 
 pel \ No, indeed ! All such inventions and devices he 
 leaves to modern pretenders and false guides in divinity. 
 His auditors demanded to know what they should do ; 
 and he gives them at once a piece of worh — of thorough 
 work for the heart and the daily life. He knew that 
 sinners must " work out their own salvation," even while 
 God was " working in them to will and to do of his good 
 pleasure." 
 
 Peter's answer to their question begins with one short 
 word, that flashes like a saber, and cuts like a saber too : 
 "Repent!" "Oh! but," they might say, "we are 
 
WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED? 155 
 
 penitent ; we feel sorely; we are pierced to the heart." 
 Very true. But feeling keenly is not always repent- 
 ance. For, if so, then every inebriate would be repen- 
 tant ; no men suffer keener self-loathing and misery 
 than does a drunkard while he is sober. Repentance is 
 an infiDitely deeper thing than sorrow, or suffering, or 
 dread of a wrath to come. It is the taking a right view 
 of sin as sinful, and then quitting it. I look at a glass 
 of exhilarating drink which I hold in my hand, and say 
 to myself: " That is a poison. It has an adder in it ; it 
 is death I " and then I dr(yp it in a moment. That is a 
 genuine repentance of the sin of tippling ; and it is the 
 only, kind of repentance that can save an inebriate. 
 God's grace may be operating upon the inebriate ; but 
 still he must renounce the fatal cup of his own accord 
 and for himself. 
 
 The fact that God's Spirit awakens repentance and 
 promotes repentance in a sinner's heart does not alter 
 one whit that other fact that repentance must be your 
 own act. You must forsake your sins voluntarily. 
 There is no merit in a criminal's giving up the practice 
 of plundering when he has no longer the power to plun- 
 der. If you only give up wrong- doing reluctantly, and 
 then hanker after your sinful practices again, that is not 
 repentance. Evangelical repentance implies change of 
 mind, change of purpose, change of conduct. We re- 
 peat once more that it is a taking of a right view of all 
 sin as utterly wicked^ and then quitting it. ^ My friend, 
 have you done this ] Then you have put your foot on 
 the first round of the ladder that leads upward and 
 heavenward* 
 
 2d. Another vital point is unconditional submission 
 
156 WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED ? 
 
 to God. When a certain commander of a conquered 
 fort inquired of his conqueror on what terms the fortress 
 should be given up, the memorable reply was : " Uncon- 
 ditional surrender." If. you are a sinner, then your 
 heart is a rebel fortress. It must be yielded to the Lord ; 
 yielded entirely and yielded without any conditions on 
 your side. Do not stop to bargain with God. Put in 
 no selfish demands. Saul of Tarsus yielded up every 
 point when he cried out from the ground : " Lord, what 
 wilt thou have me to do 1 An intelligent woman, who 
 had been in deep distress for many weeks, finally said : 
 " Peace with God, I know nothing about ; but / have 
 done quarreliw^ with him. I am justly condemned. 
 I have resolved to submit to God, and serve him, and do 
 all the good I can as long as I live ; and then go to Hell^ 
 as I deserve." Her pastor quietly replied : " You will 
 find it hard work to get to Hell in that way." He said 
 no more. The frank honest-hearted woman soon found 
 that her calm, willing submission to God — her willing- 
 ness that Qod should reign^ while she patiently did her 
 duty was bringing her abiding peace and strength. She 
 became a strong, consistent christian. Her will yielded 
 to God's will. To know the will of the Lord Jesus, and 
 to do it in his strength, is the very core of true religion. 
 
 Especially I entreat you not to demand of God the 
 ready pay of " comfort " and "joy." Don't stop to think 
 about happiness. A wounded soldier must not expect 
 any comfort until the bullet has been extracted. When 
 the festering rifle-ball is out he will feel better and get 
 well. So, when the festering sin comes out of your 
 heart, and all the wicked enmity to God, you will find 
 true comfort ; but not before. Do not be selfishly greedy 
 
WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED? 157 
 
 of enjoyment. Paul was perfectly content to suffer hun- 
 ger, and weariness, and prisons, and death for Jesus' 
 sake. He was not everlastingly begging to be " happy, 
 happy, happy," like certain w^atery professors nowadays. 
 To do Christ's will and to save souls was his joy and 
 crown. If Paul were living to-day, I venture to say that 
 he would love those sweet lines of Anna L. Waring : 
 
 ** Lord ! I would have my spirit filled 
 With grateful love to Thee, 
 More careful not to serve Thee much, 
 But to please Theex>erfectlyy 
 
 ** There are briers besetting every path, 
 
 That call for patient care ; 
 There is a cross in every lot, 
 
 And an hourly need of prayer ; 
 And a lowly heart that leans on Thee 
 
 Is happy anywhere,'''' 
 
 3d. Peter did not stop with preaching repentance of 
 sin. He pointed to ChIiist, and enjoined immediate 
 confession of the Lord Jesus. To quit sin and to follow 
 the Divine Saviour w^as the sum and substance of the 
 duty which Peter laid upon those anxious inquirers. 
 This, too, is your duty. Begin at once to do the first 
 thing which Christ bids you. At whatever point Christ 
 is pressing you, yield ! Obey ! When you yield even 
 one single point to please Christ the change is begun. 
 When you yield one point from principle, you will be 
 ready to yield all. To be willing to trust on Christ and 
 to go with Christ is to be a converted man or woman. 
 When you consent to obey Christ, and to do this at all 
 hazards, and cost what it will, you are a Christian. As 
 14 
 
158 WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED? 
 
 to raptures and ecstacies, it will be time enough to look 
 for them when you get into heaven. 
 
 In these plain, practical counsels I have said nothing 
 about prayer. For, if you are trying to do what the 
 Word of God and the Holy Spirit command you, it must 
 inevitably lead you lo pray fervently. And, unless you 
 actually do what the Lord requires of you, all the prayer 
 in the universe cannot save your soul. 
 
 Come, humble sinner, in whose breast 
 
 A thousand thoughts revolve ; 
 Come, with your guilt and fear oppress'd^ 
 
 And make this last resolve : — 
 
 " I'll go to Jesus, though my sin 
 
 " Hath like a mountain rose ; 
 "I know his courts, I'll enter in, 
 
 " Whatever may oppose. 
 
 " Prostrate I'll lie before his throne, 
 
 " And there my guilt confess ; 
 "I'll tell him I'm a wretch undone, 
 
 " Without his sov'reign grace. 
 
 " I'll to the gracious King approach, 
 
 *' Whose sceptre pardon gives ; 
 " Perhaps he may command my touch— 
 
 " And then the supplient lives. 
 
 "Perhaps he will admit my plea, 
 
 *' Perhaps will hear my prayer ; 
 "But if I perish, I will pray, 
 
 " And perish only there. 
 
 " I can but perish if I go, 
 
 " I am resolv'd to tiy ; 
 " For if I stay away, 1 know 
 
 " I must forever die." 
 
CHAPTER XXVIL ; 
 
 COMPLETE CONSECRATION. 
 By Theodore L. Cutler, D. D. 
 
 Complete consecration ! The very mention of these 
 words makes the heart of some of our readers leap up 
 within them. It is for that blessing they are now long- 
 ing ; toward that goal of spiritual attainment they are 
 pressing and struggling. And for all such earnest souls 
 let us breathe anew that wonderful prayer of the Apostle 
 Paul for his Thessalonian brethren : " May the very 
 God of peace sanctify you luholly ; and I pray God your 
 whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless unto 
 the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 This comprehensive prayer is worthy our most devout 
 study. It bears more closely upon the great vital ques- 
 tion before us than almost any passage in God's precious 
 Word. It is a petition for complete consecration. The 
 word translated " sanctify " in our version often has the 
 meaning.of consecrate, or set apart to a holy use. In the 
 twenty-third chapter of Matthew we read that " the 
 temple consecrates (i. e.j makes sacred) the gold." Paul 
 speaks of a " vessel consecrated and meet for the Mas- 
 ter's use." In his beautiful and extended prayer for his 
 
160 COMPLETE CONSECEATION. 
 
 disciples our Lord might have used this same Greek 
 word in this very sense. If so, he prayed as follows : 
 ** Consecrate them for thy truth." And then he adds : 
 " For their sakes I consecrate my self, that they also may 
 be consecrated through [or for] the truth." He might 
 thus mean to declare : I devote myself body and soul to 
 my great atoning work, now to be consummated by my 
 sacrificial death; and then he prays for their consecration 
 by the truth and for the preaching of the truth. Such 
 eminent scholars as Moses Stuart and Dr. Edward Rob- 
 inson hold that this is the proper interpretation of this 
 word in our Lord's wonderful prayer on the eve of his 
 sufferings. 
 
 Suppose we give the same meaning to the same word 
 in Paul's prayer now before us. It would then read : 
 " May the very God of peace consecrate you wholly.'^ 
 That is, ma}^ God set you apart to do his will. May God 
 purify you for his service. May God employ you in his 
 glorious work. May he endow you with his Holy Spirit. 
 What a prayer that is. It sweeps in the entire man, 
 physical and mental, the mortal part and the immortal, 
 the portion of us that has to do with present material 
 things and that higher part of us that has to do with 
 things spiritual and eternal. 
 
 Paul goes still further, and " prays God that the whole 
 spirit and soul and body be preserved without blame 
 unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." About the 
 meaning of this passage there has always been contro- 
 versy. Two views are held ; and for each of them wise 
 and devout men have contended. We will state them 
 both very briefly. 
 
 1st. The first view is that the apostle intended to 
 
COMPLETE CONSECRATION. 161 
 
 teach a three-fold nature, a " tripartite " nature in man. 
 these three powers are body, soul, and spirit. Each one 
 links us to a particular state of being. The " body " is 
 our gross material part, with its physicial senses, suffer- 
 ings, and enjoyments. The "soul," according to this 
 theory, is the thinkrng and reasoning faculty in man. 
 It reasons. It chooses. It loves the right or hates the 
 wrong. It has to do with the rest of humanity and the 
 domain of thought. It is as much above the body as 
 mind is above matter ; but it does not reach into the 
 sublime regions of the divine and eternal. That prov. 
 ince belongs to the third and highest power of man — 
 viz., his " spirit." The " spirit " is that immortal part 
 which is untouched by death, which " pants after " God, 
 which communes with him, and which shall be like unto 
 Jesus when the believer meets him in glory. If this 
 view be the correct one, then Paul prayed for a three ^ 
 fold consecration or sanctification of his triple nature by 
 the Divine Spirit. We simply state this theory, and 
 leave it to stand upon its own merits. 
 
 2d. The other view and the popular view is that 
 man has but a double nature. He is composed of a 
 material body, with its senses and appetites ; and of a 
 living, reasoning, immaterial " soul " or " spirit." These 
 two last-mentioned words mean substantially the same 
 thing. According to this view, there is a mortal body. 
 And there is a soul or spirit which survives the body, 
 which loves and hates, which sins and is converted, 
 which is "saved" or " lost." "The soul that sinneth 
 shall die." "Give me thy heart." Hope is said to be 
 the " anchor of the soul." " The end of our faith is the 
 
 salvation of our souls." In all these passages it is 
 14* 
 
162 COMPLETE CONSECRATION. 
 
 claimed that the words ''heart" and "soul" describe 
 the immortal and spiritual part of us. It is also claimed 
 that we are only conscious of a body and a soul, and are 
 not conscious of any third " spirit," as separate from the 
 soul. 
 
 This has been and is the common view of the great 
 majority of Christian people in past ages and at the 
 present time. Dr. Hodge, in his profound and candid 
 work on " Systematic Theology," stands strongly for this 
 view. He claims that when Paul speaks of " spirit and 
 soul and body " he simply uses a periphrasis to describe 
 the whole man. In the same way Dr. Hodge interprets 
 that command, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
 all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
 strength, and with all thy mind." It was not intended 
 to enumerate four distinct parts or substances in the hu- 
 man being. It was not intended to prove a four-fold 
 nature. In all our prayers Dr. Hodge claims that we 
 recognize only a frail mortal body and an immortal, 
 thinking "soul" or "heart" or "spirit," whichever 
 word we may see fit to employ. 
 
 Now, we do not contend here for either one of these 
 views as against the other. That is not our purpose in 
 this article. Our readers must decide for themselves. 
 But we do claim that, whether our natures be double or 
 "tripartite," this glorious prayer of Paul's covers both 
 views and embraces the whole man. Paul certainly 
 prayed for a complete consecration. And for that we 
 ought to pray. Nor can any Christian attain to the full 
 measure of peace and strength and joy and victory over 
 sin until this becomes the master purpose and desire of 
 his soul. He can never reach the highest usefulness 
 
COMPLETE CONSECRATION. 163 
 
 until he has this entire consecration. Heart, tongue, 
 purse, and will must all be Christ's. 
 
 But who is to do it? Are we to consecrate ourselves, 
 purify ourselves, and make ourselves holy ? Did Paul 
 command his brethren to undertake a self sanctification ? 
 No. He was wiser than that. He called upon God to 
 consecrate them. He looked up the fountain-head of ^ 
 all grace and light and power, and asked for them " the 
 power from on high." Ah ! how often some of us have 
 cried out with presumptuous zeal : " I will consecrate 
 myself to the Lord." And presently there came a strain 
 on us too hard for our poor weakness, and w^e had to cry 
 out : " Hold thou us up, O God ! for our feet had well 
 nigh slipped.'' Peter imagined that he had devoted him- 
 self entirely and unalterably to his Master when he spoke 
 out so boldly : " Though all men forsake thee, yet will 
 not I." The poor, crestfallen disciple soon discovered 
 that only the Divine. Strength could hold him fast to his 
 loyalty. And so will we disc )ver, to our sorrow. 
 
 But the God of peace can consecrate us, if we ask 
 him fervently and it we put our whole trust in him. 
 We must pray for this glorious and fruitful and joy. in- 
 spiring consecration by our conduct as well as with our 
 lips. When we thus seek it, it will come ! Those who 
 thus seek it will possess this Christ given boon. The 
 infinite Jesus will keep us until his triumphant coming. 
 Then we shall like him and we shall see him as he is. 
 Oh ! for this complete consecration ! 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE SUCCESSFUL PASTOR. 
 By Ret. Theodore L. Cutler. 
 
 " The sermon always sounds better to me on Sunday, 
 when I have had a shake of my minister's hand during 
 the week." 
 
 This was a very natural remark of a very sensible 
 parishioner. We always listen with a more open- 
 hearted readiness to everything which falls from the lips 
 of one who has won our friendship, or showed us a grate- 
 ful attention. Even the instructions from God's word, 
 and the precious invitations of the Gospel come more 
 acceptably from one we Ibve than from him who treats 
 us with indifference or neglect. 
 
 After all, the great power of a good pastor over his 
 people is heart potuer. Intellectual brilliancy may 
 awaken the pride of a congregation in their minister, 
 but it is his affectionate sympathy and personal kind- 
 ness to them that awakens their love for him, and keeps 
 it burning. When a pastor has gained a strong hold on 
 the affections of his people, he may preach ever so 
 pointedly against popular sins, and the people will re- 
 
THE SUCCESSFUL PASTOE. 165 
 
 ceive his unpalatable truths without flinching, or hurl- 
 ing a reproach at him. 
 
 On the other hand, we have known fearless denounc- 
 el's of wrong. doing to be ousted from their pulpits, 
 simply because the radical thunderers had no grip on 
 the affections" of their flocks. The sermon against rum- 
 drinking or dishonesty was a mere pretext for black- 
 balling him : the secret was that they did not love the 
 man. 
 
 Conscience sometimes requires a faithful ambassador 
 of Christ to put a severe strain on the "tether" that 
 binds him to his pastorate ; at such times it is a happy 
 thing for him, if that tether is securely fastened to a 
 hundred family altars and firesides. The great mass of 
 the ministry are not men of genius ; and, even if they 
 were, they could not afford to di.-pense with that heart- 
 power which can only be acquired by personal kindness 
 and sympathy with the people. 
 
 We could certainly name a certain successful pastor 
 who, for a quarter of a century, has kept his church full 
 and prosperous ; he has sided with most of the moral 
 reforms of the day, and his vineyard has been irrigated 
 with many a copious revival -shower. Yet he never 
 could be accused of brilliant talents or profound learn- 
 ing. He has, in their stead, a warm heart, good sense, 
 tact, winning manners, and fervent piety. He is not a 
 powerful preacher, but he is a powerful pastor. He 
 knows where all his congregation live, and he visits 
 them. He never com.es as a stranger, or in a cere- 
 monious manner. If the parlor is cold, or locked up 
 for repairs he drops into the nursery, takes a youngster 
 on his lap, chats with the mother, inquires about the 
 
166 THE SUCCESSFUL PASTOR. 
 
 spiritual welfare of the family, and probably offers a 
 fervent prayer with them before he departs. That fam- 
 ily are pretty certain to be at church on the next Sunday. 
 
 If a business man in his concjreoation has met with a 
 reverse, he calls in at his counting-room, gives him a 
 warm shake of the hand and a kind word of encourage- 
 ment. The unfortunate merchant feels the warm pres- 
 sure of that hand the next time he goes to church ; he 
 is ready to put in that hand the key to his own heart. 
 If there is a sick child in the flock, the pastor is kneel- 
 ing beside its little crib ; if there is a bit of crape 
 hanging at the door-knob, the pastor is quite sure to be 
 found amid the weeping family within. 
 
 At every pastoral visit he makes he weaves a new 
 strand into the cord of love that binds that household to 
 him and to the sanctuary. Such a pastor bases the pul- 
 pit on the hearts of his people, and all the mischief- 
 making Guy Fawkes in the parish cannot put enough 
 powder-kegs of discontent under that pulpit to blow out 
 the incumbent. 
 
 It may be said that all this pastoral visitation con- 
 sumes a vast amount of time. So it does, but it can 
 generally be made in the afternoon, while the morning 
 is devoted to study ; and the minister is studying human 
 nature at every visit. Is not this next in importance to 
 a knowledge of God's word ? It is idle for any pastor 
 to plead that his flock is too large for him to visit them. 
 The writer of this paragraph has over three hundred 
 pews in his church, every one of them rented, to the last 
 sitting, and he finds no difliculty in reaching every fam- 
 ily, at least once in each year. 
 
 The very exercise of walking from house to house is a 
 
THE SUCCESSFUL PASTOR. 167 
 
 life-preserver. Every visit gives an observant pastor 
 some information that he wants, and some new materials 
 for a sermon. It would be a great mercy to many a 
 minister, aod to his people, if he could be dragged out 
 of his books, and be brought into personal contact with 
 e very-day life. 
 
 There is about one minister in every generation who 
 is so situated that he cannot be a visitant of his flock, 
 Charles H. Spur^eon is such a one. With a cono-reo-a- 
 tion of five thousand souls, and a membership of over 
 three thousand, with the charge of a theological school, 
 the editorship of a religious magazine, and the oversicrht 
 ^f a dozen mission stations, he cannot be expected to 
 visit six or seven hundred families. Spurgeon is the hun- 
 dred. handed Briareus of the modern pulpit ; but the 
 visitation of his immense flock he necessarily leaves to 
 his board of elders. When he does encounter his parish- 
 ioners, he is said to be very cordial and alfable. 
 
 Many arguments might be urged in favor of regular 
 and systematic visitation on the part of every Christian 
 minister. For what* is the real object and end of a min- 
 isters office ? Is it simply to preach sermons ? No ! 
 It is to Christianize and save immortal souls. It is to 
 edify Christ's church, to purify society, to fight sin, to 
 lead souls to Jesus. Preaching sermons is one of the 
 means to this end. It is, indeed a chief and indispen- 
 sable agency. But if a pastor can prepare more practi- 
 cal sermons, and can lodge those sermous more effectually 
 in the hearts of his auditors, by constant pastoral inter- 
 course with them, then is he morally bound to keep up 
 that intercourse. 
 
 The mass of sinful men are only to be reached through 
 
168 THE SUCCESSFUL PASTOE. 
 
 their affections. Sympathy is power. Christ Jesus did 
 not win Zacheus the publican by argument. He simply 
 went to his home and won him by a divine sympathy. 
 Methinks, as I close this article, I hear some good, 
 plain, humble " fisher of souls," whisper tome : "Brother 
 C I thank you for your words of cheer. My Mas- 
 ter never trusted me with ten talents, but he gave me 
 one talent in my heart. I cannot be a Spurgeon, but I 
 can go out and love somebody into the sphere of the 
 gospel. With God's help I may become a successful 
 pastor." 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 EXPOSITORY PREACHING. 
 By Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D. D., New York. 
 
 By expository preaching I mean that methed of pulpit 
 discourse which consists in the consecutive explanation 
 and practical enforcement of an epistle, or a gospel, or a 
 sacred narrative. It is distinguished from topical 
 preaching, which consists in the selection of a clause, or 
 a verse, or a section of the inspired word, out of which 
 some one principle is evolved, and kept continuously be- 
 fore the hearer's mind, as the speaker traces its manifold 
 applications to present circumstances, and to human 
 life. The two are not inconsistent with each other, or 
 contradictory to each other. An efficient minister will 
 systematically employ both. While, therefore, I proceed 
 to say a few words in favor of the expositorial method, 
 let no one suppose that I undervalue the other. In my 
 own view, as in my own practice, they are coordinate, 
 and we may apply to both of them the principle that 
 underlies the Saviour's words : " This ought ye to have 
 done, and not to have left the other undone." 
 
 Briefly, then, let me advert to the advantages of the 
 
 systematic exposition of the word of God, and among 
 15 
 
170 EXPOSITOBY PREACHING. 
 
 these I place first the fact that it brings both preacher 
 and hearer into a close contact with the mind of the 
 SpioHt. The open Bible on the sacred desk is a witness 
 to the fact that both speaker and auditors regard it as 
 the ultimate standard of appeal. In the pulpit the 
 minister is not, in ordinary circumstances, dealing with 
 those who repudiate the authority of the word of God, 
 The very presence of his hearers in the sanctuary may 
 be taken as an admission on their part that, like Corne- 
 lius before Peter, " they are all together before him to 
 hear what is commanded them oi God." There may be 
 exceptional occasions on which he feels bound to deal 
 with sceptical objectors, but, as a general rule, the pul- 
 pit is not the place for that. As a brother said to us 
 once, with great point : " When I am in the pulpit, I 
 am not there to defend the Bible ; the Bible is there to 
 defend me." The great aim of the preacher, therefore, 
 ought to be to set before the people the mind of God» 
 Now, in so far as he is successful as an expositor, this is 
 precisely what he does. 
 
 In the topical sermon, there may be many of his own 
 particular opinions which are matters of private inter- 
 pretation or of " doubtful disputation." But when he 
 has succeeded in making plain the meaning of the pas- 
 sage which he is expounding, he can say .* " This is the 
 word of Christ," and the force of this upon his own heart 
 and the hearts of his hearers will be overwhelming. 
 When he so speaks, he will speak " with authority, and 
 not as the scribes," and men will feel that they have 
 been brought face to face with God. It is this, indeed, 
 that gives the pulpit its peculiar power. Other men 
 have genius, and can produce wondrous effects by the 
 
EXPOSITORY PREACHING. 171 
 
 flashes* of its erratic lightning or the beauty of its poetic 
 musings ; other men have stores of information, on which 
 they can draw at will, and with which they can enrich 
 their utterances ; other men have force of logic, or power 
 of invective, by which they can bear down all opposition ; 
 but these are not the differential of the preacher. His 
 special power is that he has GocVs luord behind him, and 
 if throus^h the neo^lect of expounding that word he fails 
 to use this power with effect, he is like Sampson shorn 
 of his locks, and will be sure to be made sport of by the 
 Philistines of his generation. Hence, as an engine of 
 power, I advocate most earnestly the systematic pulpit 
 exposition of the sacred Scriptures. 
 
 Another advantag;e of this method of discourse is that 
 it secures variety in the ministrations of the preacher. 
 Every man has his own idiosyncracies, and will be drawn 
 more powerfully to some subjects than others. Unless, 
 therefore, the preacher pursues some regular course of 
 exposition, he will be in danger of confining } imself to a 
 few favorite themes, and ringing the changes upon them, 
 until his hearers are well-nio;h sick both of him and of 
 them. But if he will follow the course of some book, or 
 trace out consecutively some sacred biography, he will 
 find the same old truths with ever fresh surroundings, 
 ani will secure that variety in unity which is the charm 
 of God's book of revelation as much as of his book of 
 nature. He will come upon principles, in situ as the 
 practical geologist comes upon the rocks in his survey, 
 and thereby much that is of novel interest will be sug- 
 gested to him. The topical preacher very soon wears 
 himself out, because all through he is drawing mainly 
 upon himself. But the expositor has the word of God 
 
172 EXPOSITORY PREACHING. 
 
 before him, and his lifetime will not exhaust that. As 
 he follows the discourses of Jesus, the infinite variety of 
 these utterances will keep him from "running into ruts" 
 of thought or of expression or of topic, and he will be 
 like the w^ell-instructed scribe of whom the Master 
 speaks, " bringing out of his treasure-house things new 
 and old." 
 
 Again, by following this plan, the preacher will be 
 compelled to treat many subjects from which otherwise 
 he mioht have shrunk, but which he feels must be dealt 
 with if he would not " shun to declare all the counsel 
 of God." Every pastor knows that there are almost 
 always members of his church who specially need to be 
 enlightened on some points of duty or of danger. But 
 if he were to select a subject purely for them, his object 
 would be defeated, just because they would resent that 
 which tliey felt to be a preaching at them rather than 
 to them. Now, in following a regular course of exposi- 
 tion, opportunities are continually occurring for the 
 presentation of timely truths, while yet no one can say 
 that the subject was chosen with the special view of 
 reaching him. Besides, there are whole classes of topics 
 which would be completely ignore'! if we were to yield 
 only to our own testes and feelings in the selection of 
 subjects. Odo man would dwell exclusively on doctrinal 
 matters to the neglect of practical. Another, catching 
 the modern infection which denounces dogma, would 
 present practical subjects witliout thinking or saying 
 much about the cross. One would deal with the love of 
 God as if there were no other text in the Bible than 
 "God is love;" another would present the govern- 
 mental features of the Divine administration, as if there 
 
SXPOSITORY PREACHING. 173 
 
 * 
 
 were do fatherly heart in Him who rules the world. 
 And thus, in spite of themselves, a defective presenta- 
 tion of the truth would be the result. Half-truths are 
 ever the most insidious forms of error, and it is to be 
 feared that many of the half-truths which are so poj^ular 
 in these days, have had their origin in the neglect of a 
 thorough and systematic treatment of the Word of God 
 as a vjliole. Now in expository preaching, we, as it 
 were, go round the whole globe of truth, and have our 
 one-sided prepossessions and opinions corrected by its 
 full rounded completeness. 
 
 Again, the regular prosecution of this method of 
 preaching will tend to promote the Biblical intelligence 
 of a congregation. Those who have not investigated the 
 matter will be astonished to find how limited an acquain- 
 tance the average church-goer has with the sacred Scrip- 
 tures. He may be acute in business, and well '"up" 
 in all political knowledge, while yet he has never read 
 through the more important portions of the Word of 
 God. There are whole books of the Bible which to many 
 worshippers in our pews are nearly as much a terra 
 incognita as in the interior of the continent of Africa. 
 They know the gospels pretty well, but they do not care 
 much for the epistles ; they have read many of the 
 psalms again and aga.in, but they have no acquaintance 
 with or relish for the historical or prophetical books of 
 the Old Testament. • 
 
 I lately met with a young woman to whom I said 
 
 something of Hagar, and the name which she gave to 
 
 Jehovah when she said, " Thou God seest me ; " when to 
 
 my astonishment, I discovered that she knew nothing 
 
 about the incident to which I had referred. When, 
 15* 
 
174 EXPOSITOEY PKEACHING. 
 
 some six or seven years ago, Mr. John Bright, with that 
 happy knack of giving appropriate names by which he 
 is distinguished, spoke of Mr. Robert Lowe and his 
 friends as having gone to the cave of Adullam (from 
 which they were afterv/ards called the party of the 
 cave), two members of Parliament were overheard con- 
 versing thus, as they were leaving the house : , 
 
 " I say, where did Bright get that illustration of his 
 to-night, about the cave?" 
 
 " 0," was the reply, " I see what you're up to ; you 
 think I don't know ; but do you suppose I haven't read 
 the Arabian Nights ? " 
 
 And yet these men were tolerably fair senators, ac- 
 cording as senators go. I am persuaded that most of us 
 in the pulpit overrate immensely the Biblical knowl- 
 edge of our hearers, and that it would be of immense 
 consequence to them as well as to ourselves that we 
 should give ourselves to consecutive exposition of the 
 Scriptures. Even if the Bible were no more than a 
 valuable production, its earnest study by pastor and 
 people would tend to develop in them mental vigor and 
 moral robustness, on the old principle, " Beware of 
 the man of one book." But when we take its holy char- 
 acter and divine inspiration into the account, it becomes 
 infinitely more important that we should concentrate 
 our attention more thoroughly upon it. Men in the par« 
 lor and in the closet and in the counting-room are over- 
 laying the Bible beneath the mountain of new books 
 that are forever coming from the press ; therefore in the 
 pulpit we should more and more exalt it and seek to 
 increase at once the acquaintance of our hearers with it, 
 and their reverence for it. 
 
EXPOSITORY PEEACHING. 175 
 
 Other advantages might be named, such as that, in ^ 
 the process of preparing his expository discourses, the 
 preacher acquires great store of materials which he can 
 use for other purposes, and in particular has constantly 
 suggested to him subjects for topical sermons, so tliat he 
 never knows what it is to lose whole days in himting fur a 
 text. But I pass on to consider the great objection which 
 is constantly made against this mode of preaching. " It 
 is not popular," so it is .-aid. " The people do not like 
 it, and they will not stand it." Now in reply to tnis I 
 have two things to say. First, the minister has to con- 
 sult for the beuefit of his hearers, as well as for their 
 pleasure, and if he is persuaded in his own mind that 
 they need such instruction as expository preaching alone 
 can furnish, then he should give himself to it even at 
 the risk of creating some little dissatisfaction at first ; 
 for as he goes on they will become more deeply inter- 
 ested and will come at length to enjoy it. 
 
 But, second, why is this sort of preaching not popular 1 
 Is it not because those who have attempted it have done 
 so w^ithout any adequate idea of its importance, and 
 have gone on with it in the most slovenly and perfunc- 
 tory fashion. They have taken to it because, as they 
 imagined, it was easier for themselves than the writing 
 of sermons, and so they have given to their people only 
 a paraphrase of the passage, weakly diluted by the 
 water of their undigested and extempore additions. 
 They have had recourse to it with " feeling akin to those 
 of him who said that he liked to take a chapter at a 
 time, for when he was persecuted in one verse he could 
 flee to another." Now this is fatal. Such preaching 
 does not deserve to be popular, and it is a proof of the 
 
176 EXPOSITORY PREACHING. 
 
 , good sense of our congregations that is not popular. Let 
 no man who wishes to succeed in expository preaching 
 imagine tliat he can do so without great labor. The oil 
 must be well-heaten or the light will not shine. No 
 mere cursory perusal of the passage, no mere hasty study 
 of it even, will suffice. He needs to enter into the spirit 
 of the writer, to live and move and have his being for 
 the time in the argument or narrative or parable which 
 he is considering. He must follow the old canon : te to- 
 turn ad textum applica, ac totum textum applica ad te. 
 He must give himself wholly to the investigation of the 
 passage, and then he must practically apply its whole 
 teaching to his own heart. 
 
 Thus he will discover how he can reach the hearts of 
 his hearers, and when he speaks to them, his words will 
 have in them that "accent of conviction" which will 
 make all who hear him feel that he is in earnest. Let 
 him study the passage in the original, with such helps 
 as he has at command. Let him read everything on the 
 subject which his library contains (and to this end let 
 him keep beside him an interleaved Bible in which he, 
 as it were, indexes his reading, ma-rking over each verse 
 anything bearing on it which he has met with). Then, 
 having finished his reading, which ought if possible to 
 be accomplished in the early days of the week, let him, 
 so to say, lay the whole matter to steep in his heart and 
 brain for a time, and when he has found some principle 
 of Older which he can employ, or some thread round 
 which his thoughts will crystallize, let him sit down and 
 carefully prepare his discourse, as carefully as he would 
 any other, and he has mistaken his profession if he be 
 not able to make it interesting. 
 
EXPOSITORY PREACHING. 177 
 
 One tbiDg, however, he must guard against. He must 
 not turn the pulpit into the chair of the exegetical pro- 
 fessor, and spend a quarter of an hour in hunting down 
 some poor Greek particle or digging up some obscure 
 Hebrew root. These processes are to be gone through 
 in the study, and the people should receive only the re- 
 sults. They do not want to know, either, what this or 
 that German, English or American commentator has 
 thought. Let liim tell them what he has concluded for 
 himself, with the ground on which he has adopted his 
 opinion, and then let him pass on to press the practical 
 application of the truth in the passage to the hearts and 
 consciences and lives of his hearers. 
 
 That this kind of preaching will be both profitable 
 and jjopular, we have abundant evidence, both from the 
 past history of the pulpit and from many living ex- 
 amples. Let the young minister who is desirous to 
 know how to do it, study such books as Dr. John Brown's 
 " Discourses and Sayings of our Lord Illustrated," or 
 the same autlior's " Expository Discourses on I, Peter ; " 
 or th.e good Leigh ton's work on the same Epistle ; or 
 Dr. Hanna's " Life of Christ," and his more recent ex- 
 position on L Corinthians x\^., which he has entitled 
 " The Resurrection." Or, if he would see how to make 
 a history at once attractive and richly suggestive, let 
 him read ai^ain and aoain Dr. Vaucjhan's volumes on the 
 Acts of the Apostles. Above all let him remember 
 here, as in all other things, his dependence on the help 
 of the Holy Spirit, and prayerfully seeking that in the 
 closet, while he diligently does his best in the study, Jet 
 him go forward in the confidence that he will succeed. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 DR. GUTHRIE'S EARLY MINISTRY. 
 
 By Rev. James McCosh, D. D., LL.D. 
 
 His preaching had already the characteristic which 
 afterwards made him so marked a man, and made him 
 what I was accustomed to call him, " the pictorial 
 preacher" of the age. I was told that when he was 
 licensed to preach the gospel he preached like other 
 people, (always preaching sound scriptural truth), but 
 was not more popular than other people. Some* years 
 before. I went to Arbroath he preached in the church of 
 which I was afterwards minister, in order, it was under- 
 stood, to receive a call, but the call did not come. When 
 he became minister in Arberlot, he began with preach- 
 ing after the approved evangelical model and delivered 
 useful sermons. On the Sabbath afternoon he held an 
 exercise for the young, and there he began to let out, at 
 first timidly his peculiar gifts. He would tell such a 
 story as this : " If a man suffers for doing a good deed, 
 God in his providence may find means of recompensing 
 him." When the great preacher Willison was about to 
 remove from Brechin to Dundee, he was so obnoxious to 
 the Jacobite Lords who ruled in the district, that he 
 
DR. Guthrie's early ministry. 179 
 
 Could get no one for love nor money to convey his furni- 
 ture. An ancestor of mine, a farmer in Kincraig, in 
 the parish of Brechin, knowing him to be a great and 
 good man, came forward boldly and lent him his horses 
 to cart his o-oods without fee or reward. 
 
 Years rolled on, and in the year 1746, the Duke of 
 Cumberland passed through the region in pursuit of 
 Prince Charlie, and took away my forefathers horses. 
 Wondering how he might get his property restored, he 
 bethought him of his friend Willison, who wrote to the 
 proper parties and got his horses returned. " Do what 
 is right and kind, and you will be recompensed." The 
 dull eye of the 'plough hoy and the servant girl who had 
 been toiling all the week among the horses and cows, 
 immediately brightened up as he spoke in this way^ 
 and they were sure to go back next Sabbath, and take 
 others with them. The farmer and his wife beo-an to 
 think that they might spend their Sabbath afternoons as 
 pleasantly in this way as in any other, and went with 
 their children and domestics to the meeting. They were 
 not sure that he was a profound, scholarly preacher, like 
 some of the men in the neighborhood who were made 
 D. D.'s, by the colleges ; but they were sure their new 
 minister was a warm hearted man, and they were pleased 
 to see him so attracting their sons and their daughters. 
 He made it part of his afternoon '^ exercise^' to cate- 
 chise the young people on the sermon they had heard in 
 the forenoon. "This," he was accustomed to say, "is 
 a severe trial to a minister ; it is sure to be so humblinsf. 
 and yet he may profit much by it. How disappointed 
 we feel when we find our people remembering little or 
 nothing of the passages we have written with such care. 
 
180 DR. GUTHRIE'S EARLY MINISTRY. 
 
 It was thus I learned to preach. I noticed the parts 
 that had not interested my audience and were not re- 
 membered, henceforth I avoided that style of preaching. 
 I marked the passages that stuck in the minds of rny 
 young people, and set about preaching so as to interest 
 them.'^ As he told me this shortly after my settlement 
 in my first charge, I sought to profit by it, and came 
 through an experience somewhat like his. I did not try 
 to c^py his graphic manner, but I endeavored to 'preach 
 so that everybody could understand me. It should be 
 added that his unsurpassed power of illustration was 
 always employed to set forth the grand old cardinal 
 truths of the Gospel. 
 
 His preparation for the pulpit was conscientiously 
 careful. Possessed of a ready power of speech, he could 
 have extemporized a sermon at any time, and thus saved 
 himself much labor. But during all the years he was 
 in Arberlot I believe he never entered the pulpit w^ith- 
 out having his discourse written and committed. Had 
 he acted in any other way, he might have been left, in 
 Arberlot all his life, greatly esteemed in the district, 
 but without occupying the wide sphere which God opened 
 to him. Not that he kept slavishly to what he had writ- 
 ten, being fully master of his subject, he felt himself 
 free to utter anything that occurred to him at the mow.ent. 
 Even in writing he kept an audience before his mind's 
 eye, and he prepared not an abdract essay, but an ad^ 
 dress to be spoken to men and women, to young men and 
 maidens. I often foimd him on the Saturday night 
 amendinor and correcting: what he had written, and fill- 
 ing his mind with the subject. His illustrative style 
 
DR. Guthrie's early ministry. 181 
 
 made his discourse move easily remeinhered by himself ^ 
 as it was more easily understood by his audience. 
 
 He was already the most popular minister by far in 
 the district, though as yet not much known beyond it. 
 In all the surrounding country parishes, when he 
 preached at the week-day services in connection with 
 the dispensation of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, 
 the whole peop/e rushed to hear him. In Arbroath, 
 where he often preached on the Sabbath evenings after 
 officiating at home during the day, the churches were 
 craivded to excess, acd you would have seen young men 
 and women evidently moved, and old men and women 
 striving to conceal the tears that were running down 
 their furrovjed cheeks. Some hard men thought that his 
 discourses were not very logical ; some finical men and 
 women regarded his Forfarshire pronunciation as very 
 broad, and his illustrations rather vivid ; they all luent 
 to hear him because their hearts luere warmed. And here 
 I am tempted to remark that those critics have commit- 
 ted a great mistake who represent him as having no 
 other quality than that of being able to move the feel- 
 ings. Deeper down than even his power of exciting 
 emotions by his pictures was a foundation of sound com- 
 mon sense with a profound knowledge of iiuman nature, 
 and his pathos was an efflorescence from this root. Some 
 years after, Sir William Hamilton said to me quietly, 
 " Your friend, Dr. Guthrie, is the best preacher I ever 
 heard." I answered that I did not wonder at the opinion. 
 16 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 DR. TODD AS A PREACHER. 
 
 [AUTHORIZED EXTRACT— STORY OF HIS LIFE.] 
 
 Rev. John E. Todd^ 
 
 In liis conception of the office of a preacher, the appli- 
 cation of divine truth to the hearts and consciences of 
 men stood most prominent. Hence the most important 
 qualification for the ministry, after a sanctified heart, 
 was, in his opinion, a thorough theological training ; and 
 whenever he was called to aid in settling a minister, he 
 never failed to judge of the candidate's abilities and 
 probable success by his appearance in his theological 
 examination. Not that he approved of preaching scien- 
 tific theology — in all his ministry he never preached but 
 one course of sermons on theology, and could never be 
 induced to repeat it — but he took the ground that no 
 man can present truth clearly and forcibly, who has not 
 its piinciples thoroughly comprehended and scientifically 
 unfolded in his own mind. His own studies in theology 
 were from the first unremitted and severe, and there 
 was no subject which had such interest for him as this 
 "greatest of sciences." 
 
 Oi practical preaching, as it is called, the rebuking 
 
DE, TODD AS A PEEACHER. 183 
 
 of specific sins of his hearers, he did very little ; and the 
 preaching of politics, and the cheap eloquence of the 
 denunciation of those who did not hear him, he left 
 wholly to others. In this, no one who knew him, or who 
 reads the story of his Groton ministry, will accuse him 
 oifear, a feeling of which he seems to have been incapa- 
 ble, or of a desire to propitiate his hearers. The course 
 which he pursued was adopted from principle, and a 
 settled conviction that it was the one most likely to 
 make his hearers better. " I have not been accustomed 
 to name and preach against any particular aonusements 
 — theatres, dramas, card-playing, and the like. I have 
 thought it best to inculcate the great principles of the 
 Bible on the conscience, to make the tree good, and the 
 hearts holy, and then to trust the tree would bring forth 
 good fruits. I have tried to make you live and act as 
 seeing Him that is invisible. In my own experiences I 
 have got along very comfortably, and been measurably 
 cheerful, though I was never in a theatre, at the opera, 
 or in a ball-room ; never saw a game of cards or billiards 
 played. And you have all known l>y my way of educa- 
 ting my own family, precisely how I have looked upon 
 these things. I have often noticed that peojle are so 
 much like children, that if j^ou denounce an amusement, 
 or a bad book, they will be sure to seek it. Let the 
 pulpit recommend one good book, and perhaps one will 
 buy it ; let it denounce a bad book, and ten will buy it. 
 That is human nature." 
 
 The basis of this theology, and of all his preaching, 
 was the Bible. In accepting^his call to the first cnurch 
 under his care, he wrote : " In my preaching I shall 
 keep closely to the Word of God j by this I would have 
 
184 DE. TODD AS A PEEACHEE. 
 
 you test my instructions." And to this he faithfully 
 adhered, through his whole ministry. To interpret and 
 expound the Word of God, rather than to pliilosophize 
 and speculate, was, in his opinion, the business of the 
 jDreacher. Often his sermons were expository ; often 
 they were studies of Scripture characters ; often they 
 were presentations of great facts and truths taught in 
 the Scriptures ; and always they were full of Scripture 
 language and imagery, and appealed to Scripture au- 
 thority. For the Bible he always entertained the deep- 
 est reverence. To him it was truly the Word of God. 
 It was a fueling which the Andover professors of his day 
 entertained to a remarkable degree, and with which 
 they inspired the students. It was a feeling derived 
 from his very earliest training. No objections or diffi- 
 culties raised by scientific men ever shook his confidence 
 in the Scriptures ; he was ready to reject at once all 
 scientific speculations that conflicted with what he knew 
 to be true. Perhaps he was too ready to scout at scien- 
 tific theories, and had too little consideration for honest 
 doubt; but to him skepticism was not merely unkonwn, 
 it was simply unintelligible. He probably never had 
 an hour of doubt of the Bible in all his life. To him it 
 was like the sun in the heavens, as great and as indubi- 
 table. 
 
 It was his original intention to preach much of the 
 time without notes. "1 intend to preach extemporane- 
 ously half of the time after I am settled, and half writ- 
 ten sermons. I am persuaded that no man can be really 
 eloquent very frequently, who is wholly confined to 
 notes." For some years this resolution was faithfully 
 kept — in part of necessity — and not without satisfactory 
 
BR. TODD AS A PllEACHER. 185 
 
 results. *' I preach extempore in the pulpit about one 
 half of the time, and these sermons do by far the most 
 good." But gradually a practical difficulty arose. " I 
 have been applying myself more closely to study than 
 usual, of late, and I feel it brings me back to my old 
 feelings. I cannot speak extempore when I study hard. 
 The reason I cannot assign ; the fact I am sure of." As 
 he was determined not to abandon study, and become 
 an empty-headed, flashy speaker, he was naturally led 
 to write out his sermons more and more, till in the last 
 part of his ministry he seldom spoke from the pulpit 
 without at least very full notes. His habit in writing 
 was, first, to select a text and map out a train of thought 
 upon it. This was done, generally, not in his study, but 
 in his walks or rides, or in sleepless hours, or wherever 
 his mind met a suggestion, or fell into a constructive 
 mood. The next step was to trace the skeleton on 
 paper, as quickly and as fully as possible. "A few 
 nights since, as I was watching over my sick child, the 
 text, 'As for God, His way is perfect,' came into my 
 mind wdth great force, and, taking my pencil, I worked 
 out the particular train of thoughts which I am about to 
 present you." 
 
 In writing out the sermon, he did not bind himself to 
 any regular hours, though he usually wrote in the fore- 
 noon, when he was freshest and strongest ; nor did he 
 have to wait for inspiration ; he seemed to have power 
 of commanding the faculty of composition at pleasure. 
 While writing, he sat in a low rocking-chair, so that his 
 eyes were near the desk, his coat off, and his shirt-cuffs 
 rolled back, his collar loosened or torn off, his glasses 
 laid aside, and a warm soapstone at his feet to counter- 
 16* 
 
186 DR. TODD AS A PREACHER, 
 
 act the tendency of the blood to the head. He always 
 wrote with a quill, and he wrote without stopping for an 
 instant. While engaged in writing, he was entirely 
 absorbed in his work. One of his first parishioners, re- 
 ferring to an occasion when several persons were in his 
 study, writes : " While we were sewing, and chatting, 
 and laughing in his study, all in the most hilarious 
 spirits, he wouy sit at his table, so absorbed in writing 
 a sermon as to be unconscious of persons or conversation 
 in the room. But when he reached a point, or was 
 tired, he would instantly drop the pen, and strike off in 
 conversation with wonderful buoyancy and humor. 
 Then, feeling rested, he would as suddenly take up the 
 pen and fall back into abstraction. He possessed con- 
 centration and elasticity of mind in far greater degree 
 than any man I ever knew." 
 
 These qualities remained with him through life. His 
 study door was seldom locked, and conversation, and 
 even children's play, unless too boisterous, rarely dis- 
 turbed him. In fact, his abstraction was so great that 
 he became unconscious of what he was doing, and in 
 pursuing a train of thought would fall into most ludic- 
 rous errors of spelling and grammar, and into a very 
 imperfect and disjointed style. " I strike only for the 
 thought, write with great rapidity, and have no time to 
 examine the wheelbarrow in which I trundle my ideas 
 and impressions." Most of his errors he would detect 
 as quickly, and laugh at as heartily, as any one, on 
 reading over what he had written ; but, unfortunately, 
 it was not always so easy to correct his sentences as to 
 detect their faults, without wholly reconstructing them ; 
 and as he cared but little for rhetorical finish, provided 
 
DR. TODD AS A PREACHER. 187 
 
 he was understood, he allowed iiis works to remain full 
 of linguistic errors, for the enjoyment of critics who 
 strain at gnats and swallow camels. After writing for 
 an hour or so, he would drop his pen, and spring up and 
 stretch himself, and walk up and down the room, or 
 busy himself with his tools or traps, singing meantime, 
 in a not unmelodious but perfectly uncultivated voice, 
 some stave of a tune that ear never heard, and it never 
 entered the heart of man to conceive before. In later 
 years he often made a %iBg visit down to " Mary's 
 room," and exchanged a few words and laughs with the 
 suffering prisoner there, and those who were with her. 
 After such an interval of a few moments, he would re- 
 turn to his desk, and in a moment be as rapidly at work 
 as ever. Dinner seldom came before the sheets of at 
 least half a sermon lay scattered on the floor. On Sun- 
 day morning he invariably shut himself up in his study 
 with his sermons, and we would hear him for an hour or 
 more, reading over in a low voice, and familiarizing 
 himself with, what he was about to preach. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE POWER OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 {ABSTRACT.] 
 
 John Bowling, D. D. 
 
 " Eloquence is the art of speaking in such a way as is 
 best adapted to attract^ to instruct^ to convince, and to 
 persuade.'' 
 
 For it is the power of pleasing which attracts ; it is 
 the material of truth which instructs ; it is the force of 
 argument which convinces ; and it is the power of appeal 
 which persuades ; — while the faculty of perceiving and 
 applying analogies, in other words the power of illustra- 
 tion, contributes attractiveness, beauty and force to 
 oratory. 
 
 There is therefore, probably, no single qualification 
 of the orator so well adapted to attract, and to instruct 
 an audience as a happy faculty of illustration. And 
 here, unquestionably, is to be found the reason why many 
 a man of limited literary attainments and entirely 
 ignorant of the sciences of the schools, yet eminently 
 endowed with the faculty of perceiving analogies, with 
 industry enough by observation and reading to supply 
 himself with the material of analogies, and strong com- 
 
THE POWER OF ILLUSTRATION. 189 
 
 mon sense in their application, has wielded an influence 
 'over the popular mind and achieved an amount of solid 
 good far beyond the accomplished scholar and learned 
 divine who may have passed half a life-time in the halls 
 of learning ; but with all his acquisitions, has failed to 
 cultivate the power of illustration. 
 
 The power of illustration must therefore be a very 
 important element, of Pulpit success. 
 
 The great advantages resulting from the use of striking 
 and vivid illustrations are, that they serve, (1) to attract 
 and secure attention ; (2) to afford ;^cope for copiousness 
 and variety in the exhibition of truths which have long 
 been familiar ; (3) to impress the memory by their point 
 and force ; and (4) to render complex and difficult sub- 
 jects easy and plain. 
 
 I. The word illustration signifies to make clear or 
 manifest, to clear from darkness or obscurity by analo-. 
 gies, comparisons, or examples ; whether they be meta- 
 phors, similes, parables, illustrative examples, or historic 
 illusions. 
 
 (1.) Both metaphors and similes a.re used hy the 
 inspired ivr iters for illustrating the truth. When the 
 Psalmist says : "The Lord is my rock and my fortress," 
 he illustrates by a metaphor the probition of the Al- 
 mighty, for the comparison is implied. When he says : 
 *' As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the 
 Lord is round about his people," he illustrates the same 
 idea by the simile ; for here the comparison is expressed. 
 
 Some preachers have a delightful faculty of illustra- 
 ting truth, by means of happy and appropriate supposi^ 
 tions employed by way of simile or comparison. Dr. 
 Payson had this faculty in an eminent degree. 
 
190 THE POWEE OF ILLUSTEATION. 
 
 " Suppose (said he) you wished to separate a quantity 
 of brass and steel filings mixed together in one vessel ; 
 how would you effect this separation ? " Apply a load- 
 stone, and immediately every particle of iron v/ill attach 
 itself to it, while the brass tilings remain behind. Thus 
 if we see a company of true and false professors of relig- 
 ion, we may not be able to distinguish between them ; 
 but let Christ by the special renewing influences of his 
 Spirit come among them, and all sincere followers will 
 be attracted towards him, as the steel is drawn to the 
 magnet, while those who have none of his spirit will 
 remain at a distance and neolect his cause. 
 
 (2.) Leaving the consideration of the metaphor, let 
 us now proceed to the parabolic form of illustration, 
 
 A parable is a fable or allegorical relation or repre- 
 sentation of something in real life or nature, from which 
 a moral is drawn for instruction. 
 
 It consists of a continued narration of a fictitious event, 
 applied by way of simile, to the illustration of some 
 important truth. 
 
 With what inimitable beauty and skill does the Great 
 Teacher employ this mode of enlightening the ignorance, 
 rebuking the ingratitude or condemning the obduracy of 
 his hearers ! 
 
 His parables constitute a complete and invaluable 
 model for the study and imitation of all whose duty it 
 is to teach and to preach the truths of that Gospel which 
 Christ himself proclaimed in such a way that the multi- 
 tudes " hung upon his lips, and the common jpeople 
 heard him gladly.'' "All the people were very atten- 
 tive to hear him." 
 
 And it is certainly a sufficient reply to those who affect 
 
THE POWER OF ILLUSTRATION. 191 
 
 to undervalue or to dispise the illustrative mode of 
 preaching or of teaching, that of all the public instruc- 
 tions of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only perfect preacher 
 that ever lived, a very large proportion, probably more 
 than one.half ci all that are recorded, were delivered in 
 the form of comparison or parable. 
 
 And ministers of the Gospel should never be ashamed 
 to adopt Christ himself as their model in preaching. 
 They cannot be in better company than when traveling 
 by his side. They cannot be in better employment than 
 when listening to his words, and studying his example. 
 They cannot be safer, than when the shaft of criticism 
 or of censure hurled at themselves, must before it 
 reaches them light upon the Master whom thej serve. 
 
 And here, I observe, there is another class of illustra- 
 tions, which may be termed illustrations by parabolic 
 facts, in distinction from parabolic suppositions. 
 
 In the latter, the narrative which forms the basis of 
 the parable, is fictitious ; in the former it is real. In 
 the one, the events of the narrative are imaginary ; in 
 the other they are true. 
 
 The field of illustration thus opened in the class of 
 parabolic or analogical facts, is one of vast extent and 
 almost infinite variety. Its sources are well-nigh ex- 
 haustless, from Scripture, from history, and from anec- 
 dotes and facts of daily occurrence in all times. 
 
 (3.) The illustrative example, which is the next kind 
 of illustration, consists in the relation of, or allusion to, 
 actual occurrences, for the purpose of warning, encour- 
 agement, emulation or example. In an illustrative ex- 
 ample, the illustration given is always similar in its 
 nature to the truth illustrated. The 13th chapter of 
 
192 THE POWEE^OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 Matthew is a collection of parables. The 11th cliapter 
 of Hebrews is a collection of illustrative examples. 
 
 II. Having thus explained the science of illustration 
 and specified the principal classes of illustrations, let us 
 noiu show what we mean by the power of illustration in 
 the pulpit, and give some brief suggestions for its suc- 
 cess fid cultivation and improven^ent. 
 
 " The power of illustration, says Dr. Bacon, is nothing 
 else than the ready perception of analogies, with an 
 abundant store of various and familiar information. The 
 ready perception of analogies, and the p issession of 
 analogies to be perceived." In order that the power of 
 illustration may be possessed in a high degree, there 
 must be»(l) a habit of observation; (2) extensive and 
 varied reading ; (3) a retentive memory, to be used as 
 a store-house of facts, collected bv observation and read- 
 ing ; (4) a thorough acquaintance with the truths to be 
 illustrated, and (5) a readiness in perceiving analogies, 
 that the facts collected may be. applied to the illustra- 
 tion of the truths to be taught. 
 
 How frequently do the inspired writers draw their 
 tribute of illustration from the nature and habits of the 
 animal creation ! 
 
 " The eagle stirring up her nest," or " fluttering over 
 her young/' or " bea^ring them on her wings ; " the lion 
 " greedy of his prey," or "lying in wait secretly," or 
 " walking about, roaring, seeking whom he may devour ;" 
 the bear " robbed of her whelps; " the wolf " catching 
 and scattering the sheep ; " the " ox which knoweth his 
 owner," and the "ass, his master's crib;" the ant, 
 which " provideth her meat in the summer, and gath- 
 ereth her food in the harvest ; " the bird, in whose sight 
 
* THE POWER OF ILLUSTRATION. 193 
 
 ** the net is spread in vain;" the fowls of the air, 
 *' which sow not, neither do they reap ; " the hen 
 " gathereth her chickens under her wings," — these, and 
 a vast variety of sinciilar illustrations are employed by 
 the sacred writers, or by our blessed Lord himself, to 
 add force, and beauty, and point, to their instructions, 
 expostulations, arguments and entreaties. 
 
 If we turn to other fields of illustration, explored py 
 the sacred writers, we shall find in them all a copious- 
 ness and variety almost equally rich. 
 
 In the Bible, we find all nature and all history laid 
 under tribute, to furnish illustrations of the truth. The 
 sun, the moon and the stars ; the ocean, the troubled 
 sea when it cannot rest, and the waters casting up mire 
 and dirt ; the winds, the rivers, and the still waters ; 
 the rocks, the hills, the mountains and the valley ; the 
 trees planted by the rivers of water ; the oaks of 
 Bashaw, and the cedars of Lebanon ; the vine, the olive, 
 the pomegranate, the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the 
 valley ; the mustard plant, the wheat and the tares ; 
 the process of vegetation, the decomposition or death of 
 the graiu of wheat ; the blade, the ear, and the full corn 
 in the ear ; the occupations of men, the husbandman, 
 waiting for the precious fruits of the earth, the sower 
 going forth to sow, the shepherd tending his flock, or the 
 refiner j)urifying his silver and his gold ; buildings, 
 corner-stones, foundation-stones, precious stones, and 
 jewels. 
 
 The common events of life, the discovery of a pearl 
 
 in a field, the finding of a lost coin or a stray sheep, 
 
 the casting of a net into the sea, the return of a spend- 
 17 
 
194 THE POWER OF ILLTJSTRATlOK. 
 
 thrift son, the compassion of a benevolent traveler, and 
 the ceremonies of a marriaoe feast. 
 
 The events of history, the characters of good men or 
 bad, the virtues they exercised or the vices they exhib- 
 ited, the influence they exerted, the rewards or the pun- 
 ishments that resulted from their conduct. 
 
 All these, besides a multitude of other objects and 
 events, formed the material of the rich and almost ex- 
 haustless fund of illustration, found in the inspired 
 records. And no sermon can be complete unless its in- 
 structions are illustrated, and its positions are confirmed 
 by the authoritative declarations of inspiration. 
 
 And if such were the practices of the primitive and 
 inspired preachers of God's Word in the free use of il- 
 lustration, and by whose ministry the glorious Gospel 
 made such rapid progress throughout the known world in 
 the early ages of the church, may not the great decline of 
 interest in the nfwdern pulpit, and in its success in the 
 promotion of the kingdom of Christ be attributable in a 
 great measure to its neylect of illustrating God's truth 
 as was done by the inspired models ? 
 
 We have seen how largely our Lord himself employed 
 this interesting and impressive method of instructing the 
 multitudes which thronged his ministry. This was ob- 
 viously one of the strong reasons why " the common 
 'people heard him gladly,'' And 1 apprehend it has been 
 the common practice of nearly all successful revival 
 preachers, from the Apostle Peter on the day of Pente- 
 cost, to that of the late Dr. Guthrie, Scotland's best 
 preacher, and to the honored and successful Moody of 
 the present day. And shall not the present generation 
 
THE POWER OF ILLUSTRATION. 195 
 
 of ministers endeavor to restore the interest and poiver 
 of the pulpit ? 
 
 It is now much more difficult to awaken and keep the 
 attention than formerly, even those who look at the min- 
 ister steadily, are too frequently jolanning their business, 
 and their minds like the fools eye, roving to the ends of 
 the earth. 
 
 A few brief directions will conclude the present dis- 
 course. Would you acquire and retain in a high degree, 
 the power of illustration my ministerial brethren ? Then 
 (1) cultivate aiul give free scope to your habits of obser- 
 vation, and your opportunities of inquiring and research. 
 Keep your eyes and ears constantly open. Study men 
 and things as you will meet them in the common walks 
 of life. 
 
 Instead of isolating yourselves from the masses, as is 
 too frequently done by men of study and literature, 
 mingle freely with the people, and while you aim to do 
 them good by a holy example, never be ashamed to ask 
 and receive information, from any who are able to give 
 it. However humble their occupation, and however 
 limited their literary attainments compared with your 
 own, you will often discover a vein of good common 
 sense, and a fund of valuable information on common 
 things, possessed by the farmer, the mechanic, or the 
 laborer, which cannot be acquired in the halls of learn- 
 ing or of sciences, and of which you will find it much 
 to your advantage to avail yourselves. 
 
 (2.) Give attendance to reacZin^. Cultivate a famil- 
 iar acquaintance, next to the sacred Scriptures, with the 
 history of the Church in every age, and the lives of the 
 holy men who have been its defenders or its ornaments. 
 
196 THE POWEE OF ILLUSTEATIOS". 
 
 Study the secular history, too, of every age and nation, 
 and the biography of the men who have become famous, 
 either in ancient or modern times, for their power, their 
 learning, their genius or their eloquence. 
 
 Explore, if possible, every field from which sources of 
 illustrations can be drawn. Let the starry heavens 
 above you, and the verdant earth beneath you, with its 
 trees and plants and flowers ; the air with its winged 
 inhabitants ; the sea with its finny tribes ; the land with 
 its beasts and creeping things, all be the subjects of 
 reading, observation and study, for all contribute their 
 share to the illustration of the momentous themes of the 
 pulpit. 
 
 (3.) Cultivate your power of perceiving analogies. 
 Acquire the habit of pulpit. appropriation throughout 
 the whole circle of your reading, observation and study . 
 Whether you are reading history, or biography, or travel, 
 science, or eloquence, or poetry, or any other department 
 of literature, be constantly on the watch for analogies to 
 illustrate the themes of the pulpit. To a mind ever 
 thus on the watch for illustrations of truth or of duty, 
 no intellectual pursuit will be barren of instruction or 
 profit. All his mental acquisitions will be made to pay 
 their tribute to the pulpit ; and even the common oc- 
 currences of every day life, and the common journals 
 of every day news, will contribute their quota to enrich 
 that treasury of illustration laid up in the store-house 
 of his memory, to be used as occasion may require, and 
 seldom will a single day be allowed to pass without ad- 
 dins^ to the stock on hand. 
 
 (4.) Finally, I would say, above all, cultivate 'a 
 habit of spiritual mindedness, and that will turn every- 
 
THE POWER OF ILLUSTRATION. 197 
 
 tiling Id to pulpit gold. Set your affections upon things 
 above. Set your affections upon things above. Think 
 much of Christ and of Heaven. Breathe the atmos- 
 phere of Gethsemane and of Calvary, and let the eye of 
 faith and of love be habitually fixed on the Saviour 
 who there agonized and died. 
 
 To borrow the words of another : "I would say, 
 Baptize your souls in ' Baxter's Saint's Rest,' " to which 
 I would add, and in such works as " Flavel's Fountain 
 of Life," or " Owen's Spiritual Mindedness," or his 
 "Person and Glory of Christ," or " Ambrose's Looking 
 to Jesus." 
 
 This habit of meditating upon the tender and subdu- 
 ing: themes connected with the work of redeemino^ s^race 
 and love, will prepare the mind to pluck the flowers of 
 spiritual instruction and delight from every field, and 
 will consequently tend pre-eminently to qualif}^ that 
 minister or that teacher who thus lives, quite on the 
 verge of Heaven, to be a successful spiritual instructor 
 to others. 
 
 Let it be your aim, therefore, my ministerial brethren, 
 so to live and so to labor, as you would if Christ himself, 
 in a form which your bodily eyes might see, were stand- 
 ing by your side, and fixing on you his eyes of tender- 
 ness and love, as he did upon that disciple whom he 
 loved, when leaning on his breast at supper, or when he 
 spoke to him from his cross of agony ; or as he did upon 
 Peter who denied him, when that look of mingled ten- 
 derness, pity and reproach caused the too confident but 
 now broken-hearted disciple "to go out and weep bit- 
 terly." 
 
 And is it not in reality true, that Jesus still lives ? 
 
 17* 
 
198 THE POWER OF ILLtrSTEATION. 
 
 that " He liveth and was dead, and is alive for ever- 
 more 1 ' ' 
 
 Is it not literally true, ye ministers of Christ, that 
 the eye of the Master whom ye serve, is every moment 
 resting its piercing glance upon you, just as really and 
 just as truly as though your bodily eyes could behold 
 him ? 
 
 And is it not for your special encouragement that he 
 assures you of the fact, when he says : " Lo, I am with 
 you always, even unto the end of the world ? " 
 
 It is related of a chief of the MacGregors, a Jligh- 
 land clan, who had warmly espoused the cause of the 
 exiled Stuarts, that when advancing under the banners 
 of Charles Edward, against the English troops at the 
 battle of Preston Pans, in 1715, he was struck to the 
 ground by two balls from the enemy. The MacGregor 
 clan seeing their loved chieftain fall, began to waver, 
 when the wounded captain instantly raised himself upon 
 his elbow, and as the blood streamed from his wounds, 
 exclaimed aloud : " I am not dead my children ! I am 
 looking at you to see if you do your duty ! ' ' 
 
 Thus ye ministers of Christ, as ye go forth to battle 
 with the hosts of darkness, if ever your hearts falter, or 
 your faith gives way, if ever your spiritual adversaries 
 should seem to gain a temporary advantage, remember 
 that the Master whom you serve, and who is at once 
 your Saviour and your captain — the great captain of 
 your salvation, is not dead but alive, and that from his 
 throne on high, He is looking at you, to see if you do your 
 duty. Therefore, " Press toward the mark for theprize,^* 
 Remember, " they that be wise shall shine, as the bright- 
 
iENCOQRAGEMENTS. 199 
 
 est of the firmament, and they that turn many to right- 
 eousness as the stars forever and ever." 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 George Duffield, D. D. 
 
 Stand up ! — stand up for Jesus ! 
 
 Ye soldiers of the cross ; 
 Lift high his royal banner, 
 
 It must not suffer loss : 
 From victory unto victory 
 
 His army shall be lead, 
 Till every foe is vanquished, 
 
 And Christ is Lord indeed. 
 
 Stand up ! — stand up for Jesus ! 
 
 The trumpet call obey; 
 Forth to the mighty conflict, 
 
 In this his glorious day : 
 "Ye that are men, now serve him," 
 
 Against unnumbered foes ;■ 
 Your courage rise with danger, 
 
 And strength to strength oppose. 
 
 Stand up ! — Stand up for Jesus ! 
 
 Stand in his strength alone ; 
 The arm of flesh will fail you — 
 
 Ye dare not trust your own : 
 Put on the gospel armor. 
 
 And, watching unto prayer. 
 Where duty calls, or danger, 
 
 Be never wanting there, 
 
 Stand up ! — stand up for Jesus ! 
 
 The strife will not be longf ; 
 This day the noise of battle. 
 
 The next the victor's song : 
 To him that evercometh, 
 
 A crown of life shall be ; 
 He with the King of Glory 
 
 Shall reign eternally ! 
 
CHAPTEK XXXIIL 
 USES OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 (AUTHORIZED EXTRACTS.) 
 
 Prof. J. A. Broadus, D. D., L. L. D. 
 
 I. Illustrations are used to explain, to prove, to adorn, 
 and to render impressive. 
 
 (1.) Perhaps the principal use of illustrations is to 
 explain. This they do either by presenting an example 
 of the matter in hand, a case in point, or by presenting 
 something similar or analogous to it, which will make 
 the matter plain. 
 
 (2.) But illustrations are also very frequently em- 
 ployed to prove. This is done in some rare cases, by 
 presenting an example which warrants an induction; 
 commonly it is an argument from analogy, 
 
 (3.) Illustrations are valuable as an ornament. 
 Their use, for this purpose, as terkind and amount, must 
 be governed by the general principles which pertain to 
 elegance of style. 
 
 (4.) Finally, they frequently serve to render a sub- 
 ject impressive, by exciting some- kindred or preparatory 
 emotion. Thus, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, the 
 natural pathos of the story itself touches the heart, and 
 
USES OF ILLUSTRATION. 201 
 
 prepares it to be all tbe more impressed by tbe thougbt 
 of God's readiness to welcome tbe returning sinner. 
 
 Tbe ir}i2?ortance of illustration in jpreaching is beyond 
 compression. In numerous cases it is our best means of 
 explaining religious trutb, and often, to tbe ijopidar 
 mind, our only means of proving it. Sucb was fre- 
 quently tbe case witb tbe first bearers of our Lord's 
 parables. 
 
 In preacbing to cbildren, and to tbe great mass of 
 adults, illustration is simply indispensable, if we would 
 eitber invest, instruct or impress tbem ; wbile good il- 
 lustration is always acceptable and useful to bearers of 
 tbe bigbest talent and culture. Tbe example of our 
 Lord decides tbe wbole question ; and tbe illustrations 
 wbicb so abound in tbe records of bis preacbing ought 
 to be beedfuUy studied by every preacher, as to tbeir 
 source, tbeir aim, tbeir style, and tbeir relation to tbe 
 otber elements of bis teacbing. 
 
 Among tbe Cbristian preacbers of different ages wbo 
 bave been most remarkable for affluence and felicity of 
 illustration, tbere may be mentioned Cbrysostom 
 Jeremy Taylor, Cbristmas Evans, Cbalmers, Spurgeon 
 and Beecber. 
 
 II. Sources of Illustration. 
 
 (1.) Observation. It is pre-eminently important 
 tbat tbe teacber of religion sbould be a close observer. 
 Nature teems witb analogies to moral trutb, and we 
 sbould not merely accept tbose wbicb force tbemselves 
 on our attention, but sbould be constantly searching for 
 them. 
 
 A still ricber field, if possible, is human life, witb all 
 its social relations and varied callings and pursuits, its 
 
202 USES OF ILLUSTEATION. • 
 
 business usages, mechanical processes, etc., and with all 
 its changing experiences. Beecher has always been 
 asking himself, till that has become a fixed habit of his 
 mind, " What is this like ? What will this illustrate ? " 
 Hence the boundless variety, and the sparkling fresh- 
 ness of his illustrations ; and these form the chief ele- 
 ment of his power as a preacher. Spurgeon, though not 
 equal to Beecher in this respect, and though accustomed 
 to draw much from his reading, has been a close ob- 
 server, too, in many and various directions. 
 
 The great mass of our Lord's illustrations are drawn 
 from ordinary human life. The observation of children 
 is particularly profitable to a religious teacher. Narra- 
 tions of actual experience of the religious life^ whether 
 our own or that of others known to us, are apt to be 
 generally interesting, and will often, as cases in point, 
 furnish admirable illustration. The great revival 
 preachers usually have a multitude of such narratives^ 
 drawn from their observation at other places, and they 
 often use them with great effect. 
 
 (2.) Pure invention. It is perfectly lawful to in- 
 vent an illustration^ even in the form of a story, pro- 
 vided that it possess versimilitude, and provided that we 
 either show it to be imaginary, or let nothing depend 
 upon the idea that it is real. It seems almost certain 
 that some of our Lord's parables are, in this sense, 
 fictitious. 
 
 (3.) Science, Besides what is derived from our own 
 observation of nature and of human life, there is an im- 
 mense fund of illustration in science, which, collecting 
 the results of a far wider observation, classifies and seeks 
 to explain them. Much of the finest scientific illustra- 
 
USES OF ILLUSTRATION. 203 
 
 tion demands more knowledge of science than the great 
 mass of hearers really possess. 
 
 Now, an illustration which would be particularly ac- 
 ceptable and profitable to a few, may sometimes be em- 
 ployed, provided we introduce it with some quiet 
 remark, not saying that most persons are unacquainted 
 with this subject, but that such persons as happen to 
 have paid attention to such or such a matter, will re- 
 member, etc. Then no one will complain of our allud- 
 ing to a topic of which he is ignorant. 
 
 (4.) History Preachers have always made much 
 use of illustration from history, ^he field is itself 
 boundless, but is in practice greatly limited by the popu- 
 lar lack of extensive acquaintance with it. Here, as in 
 the case of science, we may skilfully introduce what is 
 familiar to but few, and many often give briefly, without 
 ostentation, and in an interesting manner, the requisite 
 information. Spurgeon is very fond of illustrations 
 from devout men ; and Richard Fuller employs all man- 
 ner of historical and biographical iQcidents, both secular 
 and religious, with rare felicity and power. 
 
 All preachers derive illustration from the news of the 
 day. Some carry this too far, warranting the reproach 
 that they " get the text from the Bible, and the sermon 
 from the newspapers." 
 
 Anecdotes are a valuable means of illustration, which 
 some preachers employ excessively or in bad taste, but 
 which others ought to employ much more largely than 
 they do. He who feels that his style would be degraded 
 by introducing an anecdote, may profitably inquire 
 whether his style be not too stilted, or at any rate too 
 monotonous in its sustained elevation, for popular dis- 
 
204 USES OF ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 course. Let anecdotes be certainly true, if we present 
 them as true, and let them be told without exaggeration 
 or " embellishments." Let them not be ludicrous — 
 thouofh a slisfht tincre of delicate humor is sometimes 
 lawful — not trivial, and especially not tedious. And as 
 illustration is in general a subordinate thing in preach- 
 ing, and that which is subordinate should rarely be 
 allowed to become prominent, a preacher should avoid 
 such a multiplication of anecdotes in the same sermon, 
 or in successive sermons, as would attract very special 
 attention. A greater freedom, both as J^o aniount and 
 kind, is more admissible in platform-speaking, than in 
 those more grave discourses which are usually called 
 sermons. * 
 
 (5.) Literature and Art. Even when science and 
 history have been excluded, literature, ancient and mod- 
 ern, in prose and in verse, covers an immense field, and 
 offers a vast store of illustrative material. Suggestions, 
 pleasing or impressive sentiments, and striking express- 
 ions may be quoted, and illusion made to well known 
 literary works and characters, whenever it will help to 
 render the discourse interesting and useful. Quotations 
 of poetry, though made by some men in offensive excess, 
 are employed by very many with admirable effect ; and 
 while a few need to check their exuberance in this 
 respect, the great mass of mini.^ters should stimulate 
 themselves to observe and retain more largely, and to 
 use more freely, any appropriate poetical quotations. 
 No one can have failed to notice how often quotations 
 
 * Arvine's Cyclopaedia of Anecdotes is good. But Bible Illustra- 
 tions are better. Whitecrosses Anecdotes Illustrative of Select 
 Passages are also valuable. 
 
USES OF ILLUSTEATION. 205 
 
 from hymns, particularly when they are familiar, add 
 greatly to the interest and impressiveness of a sermon. 
 Spurgeon often uses these very effectively. The Pil- 
 grim's Progress, with its strong sense and homely sim- 
 plicity, its poetical charm and devotional sweetness, is 
 so rich in the choicest illustration that every preacher 
 ought to make himself thoroughly familiar with it, and 
 to refresh his knowledge again and again through life. 
 
 Proverbs are a singularly valuable means of stating 
 truth forcibly and impressively. 
 
 Great preachers for the people, such as have found 
 their way to the universal heart of their fellows, have 
 been ever great employers of Proverbs* Our Lord once 
 expressly employs a proverb, and repeatedly uses ex- 
 pressions which appear to have been proverbial. This 
 was one of the various ways in which he sought to strike 
 the common minds, and impress the popular heart. 
 
 (6.) Scripture. The scriptures present materials 
 of illustration suited to every legitimate subject of 
 preaching, and belonging to almost every one of the 
 above mentioned classes, especially history and bi- 
 ography, poetry and proverbs, and all manner of pointed 
 sayings. Several causes combine to make this the best 
 of all the "Sources of illustration. The material is to 
 some extent familiar to all, and thus the illustration 
 will be readily intelligible. Again, this material will 
 be much more impressive than any other, because of its 
 sacredness, and its known and felt relations to ourselves. 
 Besides, the frequent use of Scripture illustration serve 
 to revive and extend the knowledge of Scripture among 
 
 the hearers. 
 
 18 
 
206 USES OF ILLUSTEATIO:^'. 
 
 III. Cautions as to the Ilr)iployment of Illustration. 
 
 (1.) Do not use every illustration that occurs to you, 
 nor seek after them for their own sake. The question is, 
 whether this or that will really conduce to the objects 
 of the discourse, or make it more interesting or impressive. 
 Some men get a general notion that illustration is a good 
 thing, and that it is their duty to employ it, and they 
 laboriously bring forward so-called illustrations which 
 really effect nothing, and are therefore but useless lum- 
 ber. Others who have a fertile fancy or a well-stocked 
 memory, while wanting in genuine culture and good 
 taste, will excessively multiply or expand their illustra- 
 tions. They forget that commands of illustration, like 
 command of words, involves not only copious production, 
 but judicious selection and felicitous adaptation. 
 
 (2.) As a general rule, it is not well to talk about 
 illustrating, but just to illustrate. If you can tKrow 
 the light vividly on your subjects, it will seldom be nec- 
 essary to give notice beforehand that you are about to 
 do so. 
 
 (3.) Carefully avoid turning attention away from 
 the subject illustrated to the illustration itself This is 
 obvious by a very grave fault, but is often committed. 
 Illustrations stated at great length, with high- wrought 
 imagery and polished phrases, such as Guthrie frequently 
 employs, will almost inevitably have this effect ; though 
 sometimes, as in the case of Chalmers, they may be so 
 felicitous, and applied with such passionate earnestness, 
 that we at last forget everything in the subject illustra- 
 ted. So many hearers are caring mainly for entertain- 
 ments, that it is a sad thing if we divert their minds 
 from some subject they ought to consider to the curious 
 
USES OF ILLUSTRATION. 207 
 
 or admiring examination of the mere apparatus by which 
 we throw light on it. 
 
 This fault occurs very frequently in speaking to chil. 
 dren. There is a mere succession of stories or pictures, 
 which teach nothing, impress nothing, and, serve as idle 
 entertainments, are nothinsf. 
 
 Note. — The reader is referred to Drs. Guthrie, Todd, Messrs. 
 Beecher, Spurgeon, Tallmadge, Stuart and Moody, as examples in 
 the use of Illustration. — Compiler. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING. 
 
 (authorized extract — PREPARATION AND DELIVERY OF SERMONS.) 
 
 Prof. John A. Broadus, D. D. L.L. D. 
 
 In writing and reading sermons there are some advan- 
 tages. Such as ease in fixing the mind on the subject, 
 completness of preparation, excellence in style and ease 
 in delivery. The sermon can be used again, is ready for 
 publication and gives facility in writing. 
 
 DISADVANTAGES OF WEITING. 
 
 But there are some disadvantages. Such as render- 
 ing the writer dependent on such assistance, the writing 
 may be hurried and superficial, it consumes much time 
 in mere mechanical effort, and it compels the preacher 
 to follow out the plan, when subsequent thought may 
 show that another plan would be better. It deprives 
 the preacher of the mental quickening produced by the 
 exciting presence and sympathy of an attentive congre- 
 gation. 
 
 As to delivery itself, reading is of necessity less effective^ 
 and in most cases immensely less effective, for all the 
 great purposes of oratory, than speaking. Greater cold- 
 
# 
 lEXTEMPORAISrEOUS SPEAKING. 209 
 
 ness of manner is almost inevitable. If one attempts 
 to be very animated or pathetic it will look unnatural. 
 
 The tones of voice^are monotonous, or have a forced 
 variety. The gestures are nearly always unnatural, 
 because it is not natural to s^esticulate much in readinsf, 
 and they scarcely ever raise us higher than to feel that 
 this man reoAs ahnost like speaking. 
 
 Consider, too, that the most potent element in the 
 delivery of a real orator is often the expressiveness of 
 the eye. Every man hasipft the marvelous, magical, at. 
 times almost superhuman power of an orator's eye. That 
 look, how it pierces our inmost soul, now kindling us to 
 passion, now melting us to tenderness. 
 
 Note. — Our Lord looked upon Peter and he wept bitterly. It is 
 thought that President Finney and others looked many sinners into 
 repentance with their pathetic piercing eyes. — Compiler, 
 
 Now in reading, this wonderful expressiveness of the 
 eye is interrupted, grievously diminished in power, re- 
 duced to be nothing better than occasional sunbeams, 
 breaking out for a moment among wintry clouds. 
 
 Reading is merely a substitute for speaking, and it 
 can at best only approximate, never fully attain the same 
 or equal effect in preaching. The habit of reading is 
 injurious to the voice^ and is liable to greatly embarrass 
 a minister when circumstances demand that he should 
 attempt to speak without manuscript. 
 
 Note. — But if any man finds after earnest and persevering experi- 
 ence, he cannot become an effective and acceptable extemporizer, 
 let him prepare his manuscript in a larffe legible hand, with wide 
 spaces between every period and the next paragraph. Then let the 
 manuscript be so thoroughly and repeatedly readjust before entering 
 the pulpit, that it can be delivered freely ^ without confining the eyes 
 18* 
 
210 EXTIMPOEANEOUS SPEAKING. 
 
 to anything more than an occasional and slight glance at the begin- 
 ing of each successive paragraph. — Compiler. 
 
 EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING DEFINED. 
 
 Extemporaneous speaking is applied to cases in which 
 there has been preparation of the thought, but the lan- 
 guage is left to he suggested at the nio'inent. 
 
 When the })lan of the discourse is drawn out on paper, 
 and all the principal points are stated or suggested, we 
 call it extemporaneous speaking, because all this is re- 
 garded only as a means of arranging and recalling the 
 thoughts, and the language is extemporized. If the 
 brief notes are before him in delivery, he may read 
 them. But if left at home and he repeats precisely 
 their language, his delivery is so far a memoriter recita- 
 tion and cannot be called entirely extemporaneous. 
 
 THE ADVANTAGES. 
 
 (1.) In preparation, this method accustoms one to 
 think more rapidly and with less dependence on exter- 
 nal helps, than if he habitually wrote in full. 
 
 (2.) It also enables a man to spend his strength 
 chiefly upon the more difficult or more important parts 
 of the subject. Says President Wayland : " A large 
 proportion of our written discourses is prepared in a 
 driving hurry, with little meditation." If the same 
 time had been spent in earnest thought the sermon 
 would have been better. 
 
 (3.) In general, this method saves time for general 
 improvement and other pastoral work, after he has 
 gained facility and self-reliance in preparation. 
 
 (4.) In the act of delivery, the extemporaneous 
 speaker has immense, advantages. With far greater 
 
EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING. 211 
 
 ease and effectiveness he can turn to account ideas which 
 occur at the time. Some of the noblest and most in- 
 spiring thoughts he ever gains will come while he is 
 engaged in speaking. If full of his theme and im- 
 pressed with its importance, he presently secures the 
 interested and sympathizing attention of even a few 
 good listeners, and the fire of his eyes comes reflected 
 hack from theirs, till electric flashes pass to and fro be- 
 tween them, and his very soul gloivs, and blazes, and 
 fl/imes, he cannot fail sometimes to strike out thoughts 
 more splendid and more py^ecious than ever visit his 
 mind in solitary musing. 
 
 (5.) And there is a more important gain than the 
 new thoughts. The luhole mass of prepared material 
 becomes brightened, warmed, and sometimes transfigured 
 by this inspiration of delivery, 
 
 (6.) Moreover, the preacher can watch the effect as 
 he proceeds, and purposely alter the forms of expression, 
 as well as the manner of delivery , according to his own 
 feelings and that of the audience. Especially in the 
 ho7'tatory p)arts of a sermon, which are often the most 
 important parts, will their adoption be desirable. A few 
 sentences then striking precisely the right key will won- 
 derfully enhance the effect of the whole discourse. 
 
 (7.) It leads to more dependence upon the Holy 
 Spirit, and prayer for his help in preaching, 
 
 (8.) As to the delivery itself, it is only in extempo- 
 raneous speaking, of one or another variety, that this 
 can ever be perfectly natural, and achieve the highest 
 effect. The ideal of speaking cannot l)e reached in any 
 other way. Only thus will the voice, the action, the 
 
212 EXTEMPOEAJSTIOUS SPEAKING. 
 
 eye, he just what nature dictates, and attain their full 
 power. 
 
 It is also an advantage of this method that it gives 
 facility in speaking without immediate preparation. 
 
 (10.) With the masses of the people, it is the more 
 popular method, (while a small minority prefer reading. ) 
 
 DISADYA^'TAGES. 
 
 (1.) There may be a tendency to neglect prepara. 
 tion, after one has gained facility in this way. This is 
 an abuse and not a good reason for neglecting a valua- 
 hie privilege. 
 
 (2.) There is difficulty in fixing the mind upon the 
 work of preparation without writing in full. This may 
 be removed hy practice. At the outset, it can be over- 
 come either by making copious notes, or by speaking the 
 subject over in private. 
 
 (3.) The extemporizer cannot quote so largely as the 
 reader, from Scripture, or from the writings of others. 
 But he is likely to quote only luhat is important to the 
 subject, and thus easily remembered. 
 
 EEAD QUOTATIONS. 
 
 Where the quotation of the language itself is really 
 important, and the passages long, one may read it from 
 the Bible, or if from some other source, may lurite it off 
 and read it, expressly as an important quotation. 
 
 (4.) The style of an extemporaneous sermon is apt 
 to be less condensed and less finished, than if it were 
 written out and read. But this is not '^necessarily a fault. 
 The style may be all the better adapted to speaking, as 
 distinguished from the essay style. 
 
EXTEMPOEAKEOES SPEAKING. 213 
 
 Copiousness, amplification, even the frequent repeti. 
 twn of a thought under new forms or withi other illws- 
 tratvons, are often absolutely necessary in addressing a 
 popular audience. 
 
 In the case of definitions, or other brief passages in 
 which the language becomes especially imjwrtant, one 
 may fix beforehand, whether with or without writing, 
 the precise terms to be employed. 
 
 (5.) The success of an extemporaneous sermon is 
 largely dependent upon tJoe precwlier's feelings at the 
 time of delivery, and upon the circumstances ; so that 
 he is liable to decided failure. A man not capable of 
 failure can never be eloquent. 
 
 A method of preaching which renders failure impossi- 
 ble, also renders the greatest itnpressiveness impossible. 
 
 (6.) If the sermon is to be used again, and has not 
 been written out in full, it requires some renewed pre- 
 paration. But this too is rather a profit than a loss ; 
 for thus the discourse can be more easily and exactly 
 adapted to the new circumstances. And then the neces- 
 sity for reworking the prejDaration makes it all fresh to 
 the preacher's mind, and warm again to his heart. So 
 the extemi^oraneous method does make the repeated use 
 of the same sermon more laborious, but it also serves to 
 make it much mm'e efi'ective. 
 
 (7.) Still another disadvantage is its tendency to 
 prevent ones forming the habit of writing. 
 
 Note — This evil may be readily obviated bj' -vrriting carefully in 
 full, one sermon a week, or occasionallj^ and delivering it if thought 
 expedient, in eases where the preacher needs it, or many of the 
 intelligent portion of the congregation prefer it. — Compiler. 
 
 All the disadvantages of extemporaneous speaking can 
 
214 EXTEMPOEANEOUS SPEAKING. 
 
 be obviated by resolute and judicious effort, while read- 
 ing has many inherent disadvantages, which may, of 
 course be more or less diminished, but can never be re- 
 moved. 
 
 The born speaker will be able to overcome the diffi- 
 culties of extemporaneous speaking, and will find here, 
 and here alone free play for his powers. 
 
 GENEEAL AND SPECIAL PEEPAEATIONS FOE EXTEM- 
 POEANEOUS PEEACHING. 
 
 (Health.) 
 
 The preacher should be careful of his health, not only 
 on other, accounts, but because speaking, real speaking, 
 demands a high degree of nervous energy^ and power of 
 endurance. Many a noble sermon is spoiled by the fact 
 that the preacher begins to flag physicially towards the 
 close, and can neither feel high wrought emotion, nor 
 speak with passion and power. 
 
 (Language.) 
 
 Great attention ought to be given to the use of Ian. 
 guage, in ordinary writing and conversation. There 
 should be the habit of seeking the most exact terms, 
 and of constructing sentences which shall be grammatical 
 and yet simple and easy. In order to speak well some- 
 times, it is necessary to speak well always. 
 
 (Begin immediately.) 
 A young preacher who wishes to extemporize ought to 
 begin at once. If extemporaneous preaching is best if 
 properly practiced, the young minister should begin im- 
 mediately to learn to extemporize. He should begin at 
 once what he intends to make the habit of his life. 
 
SXTEMPOEANEOUS SPEAKING. 215 
 
 ( Arrrangermnt.) 
 
 The extemporaneous preacher must carefully arrange 
 his sermon, according to the natural order of the 
 thoughts, and then he will have no difficulty in remem- 
 bering. 
 
 The sermon must not wander at will on the subject, 
 but have its distinct and luelL'^naThed points, and advance 
 steadily from one to another. 
 
 In both these respects, what helps him, will also help 
 the hearer. Whether it has any formal division or not, 
 a popular address should always have points. And it 
 is one advantage of extemporaneous speaking, that it 
 compels to such an arrangement. If now one has 
 stretching before him a well-defined track of thought, 
 divided hy natural land-marks into distinct sections, 
 he can diverge from it upon occasion and return without 
 difficulty. 
 
 (Matter.) 
 
 Says Alexander : " Never make the attempt to ex- 
 temporize without being sure of your matter. Of all 
 the defects of utterance, the niost serious is having noth- 
 ing to say. 
 
 NOTES SELDOM IN THE PULPIT. 
 
 If a preacher makes notes in preparing as it is usually 
 best to do, he ought in general, not to carry them into 
 the pulpit. Particular subjects and modes of treatment 
 may sometimes make this desirable. 
 
 (Reviewing,) 
 
 But in general one should take time enough before- 
 hand, to get matter of the sermon in solution in his 
 mind, so that it flow freely, and get the track he is to 
 
216 EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING. 
 
 follow SO clear to his mental vision, that he can flash a 
 single glance from beginning to end of it. 
 
 Great benefit too will be derived from this necessity of 
 going thorough over the prepared matter shortly before 
 preaching, for thus the mind and heart become kindled, 
 and brought into sympathy with the particular subject 
 treated. Sometimes the very words ought to be fixed 
 beforehand. This applies generally to definitions, fre- 
 quently to transitions, and sometimes to images, such as 
 must be presented with precision and elegance, or they 
 will be worse than nothing. 
 
 Passages of Scripture which are to be quoted, or other 
 proposed quotations, should be gone over in the mind 
 during the immediate preparationf that there may be 
 no blundering or hesitation. 
 
 Arrange the discourse with great care, and again and 
 again think through the whole, making no effort to retain 
 the words (same as to definitions, etc.) but getting the 
 thoughts, and their succession, perfectly familiar. Speak 
 it over in the study, or in the forest may be profitable. 
 Then pray for help and go forward, and facility will 
 rapidly increase. 
 
 (Don't stop,) 
 
 In actual preaching if you forget what you meant to 
 say next, do not stop. Nothing is so awkward as a dead 
 pause, and the awkwardness increases in geometrical 
 ratio to the seconds of time. 8ay something , repeat, re- 
 capitulate, talk at random even anything rather than 
 stop. 
 
 REMEDY FOR EMBARRASSMENT. 
 
 Note. — If in beginning to practice extemporaneous preaching, 
 there is a deficiency of courage and self-rehant composure let the 
 
ESTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING. 217 
 
 larger portion of the sermon be written carefully, and read freely, 
 while there may be some vacancy at the termination of the several 
 heads or points, for suggestive words, for additional thoughts and 
 illustrations, to be improved by brief extemporaneous delivery. 
 
 It will be like the young eaglet indulging in short flights . in his 
 first attempts, until he gains confidence and strength for more exten- 
 ded excursions on the wing. And profitable experience may be 
 gained by continued and repeated extempore addresses, well pre- 
 pared for the familiar lecture exposition and exhortation in the 
 lecture room and cenference meeting. 
 
 Let all then be encouraged to improve in this method, knowing 
 that it is absolutely essential to any great success in promoting revi- 
 vals of religion , and to the highest rewards of those who turn many 
 to righteousness. 
 
 PRIMITIVE PREACHING. 
 
 It is commonly believed that the preaching of Christ and the 
 Apostles was without notes. 
 
 It seems strongly probable if not certain that the early Fathers of 
 the Church composed and delivered their sermons without writing. 
 
 And why may we not presume that a return to their custom in 
 some approved form, adapted to our present advanced exigences, 
 might serve in some measure to secure the promised help of the 
 Holy Spirit in reviving primitive piety in the churches, and the special 
 help needed in preaching, so as to render the modern pulpit more effi- 
 cient in '' power with God and with men ? " For the Holy Ghost on 
 the day of Pentecost, it is said distributed '^ fiery tongues and not 
 pens. ' ' — Compiler » 
 19 
 
CHAPTEE XXXV. 
 APPLICATION. 
 
 (ArTHORlZED EXTRACTS — PREPARATION AND DELIVERY OF SERMONS.) 
 
 Prof. John A. Broadus, D. D. L.L. D. 
 
 The application in a sermon is not merely an append- 
 age to the discussion, or a subordinate part of it, but is 
 the main thing to be done. Spurgeon says : " Where 
 the application begins, there the sermon begins,'' We 
 are not to speak before the people, but to them, and 
 must earnestly strive to make them take what we say 
 to themselves. Daniel Webster once said, and repeated 
 it with emphasis : " When a man preaches to me I want 
 him to make it a personal matter, a personal matter, a 
 personal matter 1 ' ' And it is our solemn duty thus to 
 address all men, whether they wish it or not. 
 
 The sermons of Jonathan Edwards, with all their 
 power, show the evil of having always a regular " appli- 
 cation," formally announced or indicated. Often a brief 
 and informal application is best. Often, too, it is better 
 not to reserve the application for the latter part of the 
 discourse, but to apply each thought as it is presented, 
 provided they all conspire towards a common result. 
 
a:^plication. 219 
 
 The term application is in general somewhat loosely 
 employed in regard to preaching, for it includes two or 
 three distinct things. Besides the application proper, 
 in wtiich we show the hearer how the truths of the ser- 
 mon apply to him, and besides the frequent practical 
 suggestions as to the best mode and means of perform- 
 ing the duty urged, there is also commonly included all 
 that we denote by the terms "persuasion" and "ex- 
 hortation." But if the ideas conveyed are kept distinct, 
 it is probably better to retain the term, with which all 
 preachers and hearers are so familiar. 
 
 The application proper is often effected by means of 
 " inferences " or " remarks ^ The former must not be 
 theoretical or general deductions from the truths pre- 
 sented, but must really give to those truths a practical 
 hearing. 
 
 But the chief part of what we commonly call appli- 
 cation is persuasion. It is not enough to convince men 
 of truth, nor enough to make them see how it applies to 
 themselves, and how it might be practicable for them to 
 act it out — but we must "persuade men." A distin- 
 guished minister once said that he could never exhort ; 
 he could explain and prove what was truth and duty, 
 but then he must leave people to themselves. The apos- 
 tle Paul, however, could not only argue, but could say : 
 " We pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to 
 God." Do we not well know, from observation and from 
 experience, that a man may see his duty and still neglec^ 
 it ? Have we not often been led by persuasion to do 
 something, good or bad, from which we were shrinking ? 
 It is proper, then, to persuade, to exhort, even to entreat. 
 
 Persuasion is not generally best accomplished by a 
 
220 APPLICATION. . 
 
 mere appeal to the feelings, but by urging, in the first 
 place, some motive or motives for acting, or determin- 
 ing to act, as we propose. This is not properly called a 
 process of argument. The motive presented may require 
 previous proof that it is sosnething true, or right, or good, 
 but this proving is distinct from the act of presenting it 
 as a motive ; and if when bringing a motive to bear we 
 have to prove anything concerning it, the proof ought to 
 have great brevity and directness, or it will delay and 
 hinder the designed effect. 
 
 A preacher must of course appeal to none but worthy 
 motives. The principal motives he is at liberty to use 
 may be classed under three heads, viz : happiness, holi- 
 ness, love. 
 
 We may lawfully appeal to the desire for happiness. 
 Those philosophers who insist that man ought always to 
 do right simply and alone because it is right, are no phi- 
 losophers at all, for they are either grossly ignorant of 
 human nature, are else are indulginsx in mere fanciful 
 speculation. No doubt some preachers err in that they 
 treat happiness as the almost exclusive, at any rate as 
 the chief motive. Certainly this should always be sub- 
 ordinated to duty and affection ; but when thus subor- 
 dinated, it is a legitimate and a powerful motive. The 
 Scriptures appeal not only to our feelings of moral obli. 
 gation but to our hopes and fears for time and for 
 eternity. " It is profitable for thee," is a consideration 
 which the Great Teacher repeatedly employs in encour- 
 aging to self denial. A desire for the pleasures of piety 
 in this life, or even for the happiness of Heaven, would 
 never, of itself alone, lead men to become Christians, 
 or strengthen them to live as such ; but combined with 
 
APPLICATION. 22 1 
 
 other motives, it does a great and useful work. And 
 there is here included not only the pleasure to be de- 
 rived from gratification of appetite and passion, but of 
 taste, and of ambition. 
 
 All men desire holiness, at least in one sense of the 
 term, though they often wish it united with sinful grati- 
 fications. The most abandoned man sometimes wishes 
 to be good, nay, persuades himself that in certain re- 
 spects he is good ; and the great mass of mankind fully 
 intend, alter indulging a little longer in sinful pleasure, 
 to become thoroughly good before they die. Here then 
 is a great motive to which the preacher may appeal. 
 The thorough depravity of human nature should not 
 make us forget that goodness can always touch at least 
 a faintly responsive chord in the human breast. We 
 ought to hold up before men the beauty of holiness, to 
 educate the regenerate into doing right for its own sake, 
 and not merely for the sake of its rewards. We ought 
 to stimulate, and at the same time control, that hatred 
 of evil, which is the natural and necessary counterpart 
 to the love of holiness. And as regards the future life, 
 we should habitually point men, not only to its happi- 
 ness, but still more earnestly to its purity, and strive by 
 God's blessing to make them long after its freedom from 
 all sin and from all fear of sinning. Such noble and 
 ennobling aspirations it is the preacher's high duty and 
 privilege to cherish in his hearers, by the very fact of 
 appealing to them. And the mightiest of all motives is 
 love. In the relations of the present life, love is the 
 great antagonist of selfishness. 
 
 But our task is not merely the calm exhibition of mo- 
 tives, that men may coolly act according to them. Many 
 19* 
 
222 APPLICATION. 
 
 truths of religion are eminently adapted to stir the feel- 
 ings, and to speak of such truths without feeling and 
 awakening emotion, is unnatural and wrong. And so 
 mighty is the opposition which th<? Gospel encounters in 
 human nature, so averse is the natural heart to the 
 obedience of faith, so powerful are the temptations of 
 life, that we must arouse men to intense earnestness and 
 often to impassioned emotion, if we would bring them 
 to surmount all obstacles, and to conquer the world, the 
 flesh, and the devil. 
 
 It is a matter of universal observation that a speaker 
 who would excite deep feeling must feel deeply hhnself. 
 
 In order to excite any of the passions b}^ speech, we 
 have to operate chiefly through the imagination, " A 
 passion is most strongly excited by sensation. The sight 
 of dangler, immediate or near, instantly rouseth fear ; 
 the feeling of an injury, and the presence of the in- 
 jurer, in a moment kindle anger. Next to the influ- 
 ence of sense is that of memory, the effect of which 
 upon passion, if the fact be recent and remembered dis- 
 tinctly and circumstantially, is almost equal. Next lo 
 the influence of memory is that of imagination." In 
 proportion as the hearer's imagination is kindled, he 
 seems to see that which we present, and the effect upon 
 his feelings approximates to the effect of sight. 
 
 Comparison is often very effective in awakening emo. 
 tion. Thus we make men feel more deeply how shameful 
 is ingratitude to God, by first presenting some affecting 
 case of ingratitude to a human benefactor. The emo- 
 tion excited by something as regards which men feel 
 readily and deeply, is transferred to the object com- 
 pared. E. g. *' Like as a father pitieth his children, 'so 
 
APPLICATION. 223 
 
 the Lord pitietli them that fear him." The effect of 
 climax, gradually working the feelings up to the highest 
 pitch, may also be very great, as every one has observed. 
 We must not try to be highly impassioned on all sub- 
 jects, on all occasions, or in all parts of a discourse. 
 Appeals to the feelings will usually be made only at 
 the conclusion ; sometimes, after the discussion of each 
 successive topic, but then we must be sure that the in- 
 terest first excited can be renewed, and gradually 
 increased. It is a common fault with inexperienced 
 preachers to make vehement appeals in the early part, 
 even in the very beginning, of a sermon ; in such cases 
 there will almost inevitably be a reaction, and a decay 
 of interest before the close. If several impassioned 
 passages are to occur, those which come first should be 
 comparatively brief, and followed by something calm or 
 familiar. It is also important to avoid exhausting our 
 physical force, before reaching that portion of the ser- 
 mon which calls for the most passionate earnestness. He 
 who is exhausted not only cannot speak forcibly, but 
 cannot feel deeply. And a concluding exhortation should 
 never be prolonged beyond the point at which the 
 preacher is still in full vigor, and the hearers feel a 
 sustained interest. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 EXTEMPORE SERMONS. 
 
 (authorized extracts.— the officb and work of the christian ministry.) 
 
 By Prof. James M. Hoppin. 
 
 There is, without doubt, a wide-spread impression that 
 something is greatly wanting in our preaching, and that 
 there is a decided demand for more of practical effect, 
 iveness, simplicity and common interest, in this part of 
 divine service. 
 
 No thought or logic qan make up for the lack of 
 that which excites a real interest in the audience. 
 
 Would not the more general cultivation of- the extem- 
 poraneous style of sermonizing tend to make preaching 
 more natural, free, and popularly interesting ? 
 
 It is certainly well for the younger ministers to hear 
 the mutterings of the coming storm, and direct their at- 
 tention to this inquiry. 
 
 Many preachers, who have produced the profoundest 
 results, have been extempore preachers ; these have been 
 preachers like Whitefield, Nettleton, Spurgeon, and 
 Newman Hall. 
 
 (1.) Extempore preaching stimulates the preacher. 
 
EXTEMPORE SERMONS. 225 
 
 It makes him a quick thinker. It goads him by the 
 presence and sympathy of an expectant audience. It 
 often originates new thoughts of living power that could 
 not have come into the mind in the calm silence of the 
 study. 
 
 (2.) It breaks up a stiff artificial style. He who is 
 a true preacher, must mount the pulpit and speak even 
 as on the day of Pentecost — fiery tongues, not writing 
 pens, fell from Heaven on the apostles. He learns in 
 this way to express himself in a direct 'manner. 
 
 (3.) It is adapted to produce immediate effect. It 
 makes the speaker thus to feel the pulse of an audience, 
 to meet its exact wants. It gives the impression that 
 one is really talking to the audience before him, and to 
 no other. 
 
 Hence, extemporaneous preaching is peculiarly adap. 
 ted to times of revivals ; and it is a strong argument in 
 its favor, that it does unconciously take the place of other 
 methods in times of real urgency. 
 
 (4.) It has Tnore of outward and inward freedom. 
 It gives play to the eye, the arm, the finger, the whole 
 body, so that the whole man becomes an instrument of 
 God's Spirit to speak through men. Then speech is elec 
 trie; then there can be eloquence. There is a kind of 
 inspiration, which at favored moments, comes upon true 
 preachers, in which they do become the mouth-pieces of 
 God's Spirit. 
 
 We will give a few practical hints on extempore 
 speaking, 
 
 (a.) Train yourself to think luithout writing. 
 
 Q>.) Think through the subject beforehand. Never 
 
226 EXTEMPORE SERMONS. 
 
 trust to the inspiration of the moment for the solid parts 
 of the discourse — the main ideas, the arguments, the 
 proofs, the conclusion. These should be thoroughly ar- 
 ranged in the mind. 
 
 (c.) Prepare beforehand, either mentally or on papers 
 the actual wording of your main proposition and the 
 principal divisions, and perhaps of some of the most im- 
 important passages. It may be recommended indeed to 
 some beginners to combine the tivo methods of the writ- 
 ten and exte'inporaneous sermon ; i. e., to write a good 
 portion of the sermon, the body of the sermon, and trust 
 the rest to the utterance of the moment. The illustra- 
 tions, for example, may be given extemporaneously, and 
 will gain decidedly in freedom, vividness and life. 
 
 (d.) Cultivate the faculty oifree and correct expres- 
 sion. 
 
 (e.) Make a beginning at once. Eloquent speaking 
 is gained by always working and straining for the power 
 of free and forceful utterance. 
 
 (/;) Do not choose too easy or familiar subjects. 
 
 {g.) Look above the opinion of men upon your 
 preaching. Have courage and think more of duty than 
 reputation. 
 
 (Ji.) Mingle the written and extemporaneous onethods. 
 Let one preach a turitten sermon in the morning, and 
 an extemporaneous one in the afternoon, and let him 
 never think of writing out his weekly lectures or other 
 public addresses. 
 
 (i.) Cultivate oratoi^ical delivery. Here elocution 
 is of great importance. The extern porizer should acquire 
 a clear, distinct articulation, rising and falling naturally 
 
EXTEMPORE SERMONS. 227 
 
 with the thought; varied and yet even; neat and yet 
 capable of feeling, and of vehement, rending force ; and 
 above all, free from tones of earthly passion, and breath- 
 ing pure, holy spiritual emotions 
 
 Those who would influence the age must think quickly 
 and act boldly. We are bound to try every method, to 
 strain every nerve, to be preachers equal to the demands 
 of the tiniey and to sieze its opportunities.. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIL 
 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 (AUTHORIZED BXTRjLCTS.— THE OFFICE AND WORK OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.) 
 
 By Prof. James M. Hoppin. 
 
 The conclusion of a sermon is the fit winding up and 
 the practical application of all that has preceded. It is 
 not really the sermon itself, but is the taking leave of 
 the subject in such a way -as to gather up and forcibly 
 impress its teachings. It is indeed a great thing to 
 know when to stop. Many an effective sermon has been 
 greatly weakened by drawing out its conclusion to too 
 great length. 
 
 The importance and advantages of a good conclusion 
 are seen in the following reasons : — 
 
 1. It enables the preacher to carry out the true idea 
 of preaching ; i. e., to give a practical application to 
 what he preaches, directing it to the conscience and 
 heart of his hearers. The end of preaching is the actual 
 conversion and sanctification of souls. There may be, 
 however, exceptions to the rule that the application 
 should come in the conclusion, (a.) When, from the 
 nature of the discussion, there is necessarily a contin- 
 uous application in the body of the sermon. (6.) When, 
 
THE CONdLUSION. 229 
 
 frorrb the nature of the audience or the occasion, there is 
 necessarily a continuous application of the subject. 
 
 But, notwithstanding these exceptions, a good con- 
 clusion is needed to enforce the moral impression of a 
 whole sermon ; and in the case of a strictly topical and 
 argumentative discourse, it is almost without exception 
 essential. 
 
 2. It combines the scattered impressions of a sermon 
 into one powerful impression, and thus adds to the 
 effect of whatever has gone before. The skilful preacher 
 understands this, and shapes his whole sermon so as to 
 make the conclusion effective, and to leave a deep im- 
 pression at last. 
 
 3. It preserves the sensibilities of preacher and 
 hearer from being exhausted. It does this by retaining 
 all the freshness and force of feeling for the final ap- 
 peal. 
 
 In modern times, and especially in the sermon, the 
 conclusion, rhetorically treated, is commonly divided 
 into, I. Recapitulation; 2. Applications, inferences ^ 
 and remarks ; 3, Appeal to the feelings, or personal ap- 
 peal. Each of these, or all combined, may form the 
 conclusion. 
 
 1. Recapitulation. This can be borne only by a 
 decidedly argumentative discussion, and it is borrowed 
 from forensic address. That kind of recapitulation often 
 increases the power of a discourse by compressing its 
 substance into a small space. It should not repeat ar- 
 guments in precisely the same language as that era- 
 ployed in the body of the sermon^ but should be cast in a 
 fresh form. 
 
 2. Applicatory inferences and remarks. " Infer- 
 
 20 
 
230 THE CONCLUSIOlJf. 
 
 ences are logical deductions from the argument; re- 
 marks are natural suggestions drawn from it." Taken 
 both together, they indicate the use which is made of 
 the subject immediately after the discussion. They 
 form a method of making the direct application of the 
 arguments. 
 
 As to rules for inferences: — 
 
 1 . They should he drawn directly from the whole 
 character and developTnent of the sermon. Thus in the 
 argumentative sermon, after we have given the hearers 
 a, view of the proofs, we may in the application bring 
 home the truth that has been proved, more particularly 
 to the hearers' own minds ; we follow out the same de: 
 sign we have heretofore pursued. 
 
 In the expository sermon, we may close with the uses 
 and lessons we have gained, as applied to the different 
 conditions of our hearers. In the persuasive sermon, 
 there should be at the end a more close application of 
 the motives as directed to the particular action to which 
 we would persuade men. 
 
 2. They should be forcible, and drawn from the body 
 of the sermon. As a general rule, it is more forcible to 
 make, in the conclusion, a final concentration upon one 
 point which has been more widely discussed and illus- 
 trated in the body of the sermon, rather than to make a 
 final diffusion of thought, or widening out of the discus- 
 sion into general remarks. 
 
 3. Jhey should have regard to the character and 
 states of mind of the hearers^ as well as to the character 
 and design of the subject ; e. g., when the hearer is 
 reasonably supposed to be persuaded of the truth or 
 necessity of a certain duty, he should then be told how 
 
THE CONCLUSION. 231 
 
 to perform that duty, and should be helped to overcome 
 its difficulties. 
 
 Remarks relating to truth or conviction should precede 
 those respecting duty or persuasion. And in persuasion 
 we should address those first who are most favorably 
 disposed, and therefore ceteris paribus we should ad- 
 dress the converted before the unconverted. 
 
 In the application there is more occasion for vehe- 
 mence and force than in any other part. 
 
 3. Appeal to the feelings. There are usually three 
 modes of ending a sermon : (a.) In the form of a series 
 of inferences as just suggested ; (6.) In the form of 
 detached observations following generally biographical 
 and historical subjects ; (c.) In the form of direct ad- 
 dress or appeal, which follow out the aim of the sermon, 
 or are appended directly to the body of the discourse. 
 In this direct address is generally tlae place for the ap. 
 peal to the feelings. 
 
 This address to the feelinfjs is something above all 
 art, and the more spontaneous and natural it is the bet- 
 ter. That is often the inspired moment of the discourse ; 
 it is inspired or not ; it is real or artificial ; it is every^ 
 thing or nothing. There should be true feeling in it, or 
 the speaker should not attempt an appeal to the feelings 
 of others. 
 
 » 
 
 1. The whole sermon should he more or less arranged 
 for the inoral and emotional effect of the conclusion. 
 This should be unconsciously rather than artfully done. 
 All should hasten to the end. One should begin the 
 sermon with the end in view. He should strike the 
 same chord at the end which he did at the beginning, 
 
232 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 thoug^h with tenfold force. If one has this aim to leave 
 a deep and lasting impression on the heart of the hear- 
 ers, pathetic and passionate tli^-efi-^'^ win present them- 
 selves wmie lie is composing the sermon. These should 
 be remembered and gathered up for the conclusive 
 appeal. 
 
 2. The appeal should not he for rhetorical', hut for 
 
 true effect. 
 
 3. All appeals to feeling should he hrief. For the 
 real close itself, so far as the feelings are concerned, 
 nothing is more impressive and moving than a feeling, 
 solemn passage of the Scripture, either the text or some 
 other perhaps still more pointed word of Scripture. 
 Then the sermon begins and ends with the word of God. 
 
 A return now and then to the old method of direct 
 appeal to the impenitent, at the close of the sermon, 
 might, in some cases, be deeply effective. 
 
 As a suggestion in closing a sermon, let the preacher 
 be hind in his words and manner ev^en to the wickedest 
 and worst. In the moment of the most solemn adjura- 
 tion, or even burning rebuke and denunciation, let the 
 tender afFectionateness of the gospel glow. This per- 
 sonal appeal in all cases is difficult, and is often better 
 to be indicated than actually made ; but there should 
 be, directly or indirectly, with boldness, but in love, a 
 personal application of the sermon ; and there may be 
 times when nothing else is suitable, or nothing will 
 reach the point, excepting the words of Nathan to 
 David, " Thou art the man ! " Love in 'the heart will 
 teach us, and it alone will teach us, how to reach the 
 hearts of our sinful fellow-men. 
 
THE CONCLUSION. 233 
 
 Let the preacher keep in mind that the end of preach- 
 ing is not preaching itself, but a lodgment of the reno- 
 vating truth in the hearts of those who hear ; in the 
 language of Vinet, " God has purposed that man should 
 be the channel of truth to man. Not only are words to 
 be transmitted and repeated ; a life is to he corri' 
 mnnicatedy 
 
 20* 
 
CHAPTER. XXXVIII. 
 
 HOW TO OBTAIN AND RETAIN THE ATTEN- 
 TION OF OUR HEARERS. 
 
 (AUTHORIZED IXTRACTS.) 
 
 Rev. 0. IT. Spurgeon." 
 
 We ought to interest all the audience, from the eldest 
 to the youngest. We ought to make even children at- 
 tentive. We want all eyes fixed upon us and all ears 
 open to us. 
 
 You must secure your people's undistracted thoughts, 
 turning them out of the channel in which they have 
 been running six days into one suitable for the Sabbath. 
 
 Frequently it is very difficult for congregations to 
 attend^ because of the place and the atmosphere. 
 
 The next best thing to the grace of God for a preacher 
 is oxygen. Pray that the windows of Heaven may be 
 opened, but begin by opening the windows of your 
 meeting-house. 
 
 Bad air makes me dull, and my hearers dull too. A 
 gust of fresh air through the building might be to the 
 people the next best thing to the gospel itself, at least 
 it would put them in a fit frame of mind to receive the 
 truth. 
 
HOW TO OBTAIN THE ATTENTION OE HEAREES. 235 
 
 What next ? In order to get attention, the first golden 
 rule is, ahuays say soinething worth hearing. Most 
 persons possess an instinct which leads them to desire to 
 hear a good thing. Give your hearers something which 
 they can treasure up and remember ; something likely 
 to be useful to them, the best matter from the best of 
 places, solid doctrine from the divine Word. Do it, 
 brethren. Do it continually, and you will have all the 
 attention you can desire. 
 
 Let the good matter which you, give them he vei^ 
 clearly arranged. Be sure, moreover to speak plainly ; 
 because, however excellent your matter, if a man does 
 not comprehend it, it can be of no use to him. Go up 
 to his level if he is a poor man ; go down to his under- 
 standing- if he is an educated person. 
 
 Let your hearts indite a good matter, clearly arranged 
 and plainly put, and you are pretty sure to gain the ear, 
 and so the heart. 
 
 Attend also to your m^anner of address ; aim in that 
 at the promotion of attention. And here I should say, 
 as a rule do not read your sermons. If you must read, 
 mind that you do it to perfection. Be the very best 
 of readers, and you had need to be if you would secure 
 attention. 
 
 In order to gef attention, make your manner as pleas, 
 ing as it can possibly be. Do not, for instance, indulge 
 in monotones. Vary your voice continually. Vary your 
 speed as well — dash as rapidly as a lightning flash, and 
 anon, travel forward in quiet majesty. Shift your accent, 
 move your emphasis, and avoid sing-song. Vary the 
 tone ; use the bass sometimes, and let the thunders roll 
 within ; at other Jtimes speak as you ought to gene- 
 
236 HOW TO OBTAIN THE ATTENTION OF HEABERS. 
 
 rally — from the lips, and let your speech he conversa- 
 tional. Anything for a change. Human nature craves 
 for variety, and God grants it in nature, providence and 
 grace ; let us have it in sermons also. 
 
 As a rule, do not make the introduction TOO LONG. It 
 is always a pity to build a great porch to a little house. 
 The introduction should have something striking in it. 
 It is well to fire a startling shot as a signal gun to clear 
 the decks for action. 
 
 If you want to have the attention of your people — to 
 have it thoroughly and always, it can only he accorrim 
 plished hy their heing led hy the Spirit of God into an 
 elevated and devout state of mind. 
 
 Be interested yourself, and you will interest others. 
 And then when your hearers see that the topic 'has en- 
 grossed you, it will by degrees engross them. 
 
 Do you wonder that people do not attend to a man 
 who does not feel that he has anything important to 
 say ? Have something to say, and say it earnestly, and 
 the congregation will be at your feet. 
 
 It may be superfluous to remark that for the mass of 
 our people it is well that there should he a goodly num" 
 her of illustrations in our discourses. We have the 
 example of our Lord for that : and most of the greatest 
 preachers have abounded in similes, metaphors^ alle- 
 gories, and anecdotes. But beware of overdoing this 
 business. 
 
 In your sermons cultivate what Father Taylor calls 
 " the surprise power.* ^ There is a great deal of force in 
 that for winning attention. Do not say what everybody 
 expected you would say. Brethren, take them at una- 
 wares. Let your thunderbolt drop out of a clear sky. 
 
HOW TO OBTAIN THE ATTENTION OF HEAEERS. 237 
 
 When all is calm and- bright let the tempest rush up, 
 and by contrast make its terrors all the greater. 
 
 A very useful help in securing attention is a pause. 
 
 On a sultry Summer's day, if nothing will keep off 
 the drowsy feeling, he very shoi't, sing more than usual. 
 
 Again, we must tnake the people feel that they have 
 an interest in what loe are saying to them. 
 
 Preach upon practical themes, pressing, present, per- 
 sonal matters, and you will secure an earnest hearing. 
 
 I will now give you a diamond rule, and conclude. 
 
 Be yourself clothed tuith the spirit of God. 
 
 You have golden chains in your mouth which will 
 hold them fast. 
 
 " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 POETRY IN THE PULPIT. 
 
 (CONGREGATIONALIST.) 
 
 By Ret. H. M. Grout. 
 
 A good lady, both devout and intellectual, once said 
 to me : " If I were a preacher I should cultivate the 
 poets, and should make a more frequent use of poetical 
 quotations than most ministers do." The remark has 
 suggested some thoughts upon a subject which has al- 
 ready been aired in certain quarters, but upon which it 
 is easy to say more. I refer to the use of poetry in the 
 pulpit, for which a variety of reasons occur to me* 
 Some of these may strike the reader as of less gravity 
 than the rest, but altogether they will be acknowledged 
 to have a good deal of weight. 
 
 1st. In the first place, a judicious use of poetical 
 quotations is to be commended as rendering pulpit dis- 
 courses more pleasing and impressive. There is na merit 
 in pulpit dryness. A proper amount of adornment does 
 not weaken the power of the truth. That kind of adorn, 
 ment under consideration is particularly agreeable to 
 persons of aesthetic natures and literary tastes. We 
 have observed that, to sentimental young ladies, extracts 
 
POETRY IN THE PULPIT. 239 '■ 
 
 from the poets are far more pleasing than those from 
 Jonathan Edwards, Jeremy Taylor, or Josephus. To 
 preachers afflicted with poverty of thought, there could 
 not be a more admirable resort, when other expedients 
 have failed of arresting attention. It gives the preacher 
 a chance to show what elocutionary studies and exer- 
 cises have done for him. To all this may be added the 
 considerations that an appropriate quotaltion may be 
 made use of to fix a thought in the memory ; to deepen 
 its immediate impressiveness ; and to kindle devout 
 emotions. 
 
 2d. Then, to quote poetry one must read poetry. 
 This improves aesthetic faculty; strengthens and- en- 
 riches the imagination ; is a restful and exhilarating 
 change from severer studies ; and is of particular ad- 
 vantage not only in the formation of a graceful and 
 rhythmic style, but in the acquisition of copiousness ; 
 if not of ideas, at least of fitting words for their expres- 
 sion. The two mental powers of especial importance to 
 the composer of sermons, are that of analysis, by means 
 of which one is able to divide, sub-divide, and trace into 
 its several branches the central thought to be expanded, 
 and that of imagination, which clothes what would 
 otherwise be a dry skeleton with living flesh ; what 
 would otherwise be a leafless tree with rich and beau- 
 tiful foliage. Scientific, theological, and similar studies 
 improve the former, poetry the latter. 
 
 3d. In the third place, it should be said that a very 
 liberal use of poetry in the pulpit may be a means of 
 grace. This is quite likely to be the case when the 
 preacher discovers that half a dozen lines from some 
 hymn of the ages have quite overshadowed, in the hear- 
 
240 POETEY IN THE PULPIT. . 
 
 ers mind, all the good things he has tried to spread over 
 a dozen or twenty pages. When an enthusiastic hearer 
 remarks to the minister, as he descends from the pulpit : 
 " That was a lovely quotation you gave us this morn- 
 ing," he is to be blamed if he does not go home a 
 humbler and a better man. 
 
 It is hardly the thing to conclude these thoughts with- 
 out an attempt to illustrate the excellence of the prac- 
 tice advocated ; which I do by quoting, in the way of an 
 apology for so brief treatment of so high a theme, the 
 words of a distinguished master of noble English verse : 
 
 *♦ Man wants but little here below. 
 Nor wants that little long." 
 
CHAPTER XL. 
 
 FORCE IN THE PULPIT. 
 
 [authokizeb exteact.— bib. sac] 
 Pres. Wm. a. Stearns, D. D. 
 
 The leading quality of eloquence, and that which 
 expresses its combined elements- in one word is rOECE. 
 We sB,y force, rather than earnestness, for while we can- 
 not be forceful without earnestness, we may, through 
 lack of wisdom, be earnest without force. 
 
 Let us illustrate this quality by examples both secu- 
 lar and sacred, and then show some of the principles 
 on which it depends. 
 
 Begin with Homer. The Iliad, though an epic poem, 
 is everywhere alive with oratory. Its speeches are of 
 course the creations of the poet, yet they are unquestion- 
 ably conceived in the spirit of ancient eloquence, and 
 become realities to the vivid imagination of the blind 
 old bard. They are clear, rapid, concentrated, wisely 
 directed, irresistible utterances. They burst out like 
 lava from a volcanic mountain, pouring down in rivers 
 of fire. They always have an end, a meaning, an object, 
 and never forget that " a straight line is the shortest 
 distance between two points. 
 / 21 
 
242 FOECB IN THE PULPIO:^. 
 
 Demosthenes was the very personification of force. In 
 the oration for the crown, which Bossouet has somewhere 
 pronounced the greatest work of the human mind, and 
 of which Cicero says : " that in this oration for Ctesiphon, 
 where the orator speaks of his own deeds, councils and 
 merits in respect to the republic, the ideal is filled, so 
 that no higher eloquence can be required," in this ora- 
 tion for the crown, we say force is the predominating 
 quality. In this master-piece of oratory, genius and 
 judgment, logic and passion, vehemence and self-control, 
 combine like so many chemical elements, to produce 
 that livid intense heat, by which rock is melted and iron 
 is consumed. 
 
 Cicero himself was like the Amazon, great in all its 
 windings, and on the whole the broadest, largest, mighti- 
 est river in the world. But Demosthenes was one whole 
 Niagara whose awful thundering flood nothing could re- 
 sist. At the same time Cicero excelled most if not all 
 other orators in those very attributes which made De- 
 mosthenes super-eminent. At the close of his great 
 orations, he gathers his arguments and thoughts into one 
 mass which by ardor of emotion, he kindles into a de- 
 vouring flame. It was this intenseness of feeling, especi- 
 ally in the peroration, to which he attributes principally 
 his success. 
 
 In our own country, we need but mention Patrick 
 Henry and Fisher Ames, as illustrations of the power 
 which earnest feeling combined with wisdom gives to 
 speech. Nor is one of our modern orators an exception. 
 With a mind expansive as the globe, fertile as the coun- 
 try whose constitution he defended, solid and massive as 
 the granite of his native state, his wise positions, his clear 
 
FORCE IN THE PULPIT. 243 
 
 logic, bis compact thought, his burning spirit, mani- 
 fest in the eye, the cheek, the hand, the whole body, 
 gave to his eloquence a ]Dower before which enemies 
 quailed, and under the influence of which men some- 
 times held their breath, or shouted with involuntary 
 applause. The leading characteristic of Webster's elo- 
 quence was force. 
 
 We pass from secular oratory to the pulpit. But here 
 let it be premised that force is not vehemence alone. 
 There is force in the still small voice, as well as in the 
 earthquake. That which produces conviction, that which 
 deeply affects the feelings, that which moves to action 
 partakes of this excellence. 
 
 Christian oratory demands its sons of consolation as 
 well as its sons of thunder. Pathos and unction, so<C 
 rarely seen or required in the senate, have their proper 
 throne, in the sacred desk. The Christian religion is 
 characterized less by vehemence than by tenderness. It 
 appeals indeed to all the powers of the human mind. It 
 affords o^jportunity for cool statement and reasoning, for 
 awful sublimities, for gorgeous descriptions, for utter- 
 ances of chilling horror ; it does not forbid sometimes a 
 chastened wit, but its favorite theme is ' ' that dear blood 
 for sinners spilt, which shows my sin in all its guilt." 
 This is the key note of that holy psalm which, sweet as 
 the harps of angels, more softly sad than the dirge of 
 Mozart, is to be sounded out from Calvary's cross through 
 all the world. 
 
 Wiiitefield belonged to two continents. He had a 
 deep experimental perception of gospel truth, and an 
 almost infinite sense of its importance. He saw, or 
 thought he saw, the English and American churches 
 
244 FORCE IN THE PULPIT. 
 
 reposing on the pillows of a dead orthodoxy, or in the 
 freezing slumbers of a delusive Arminianism. The doc- 
 trines of regeneration, and justification by faith alone 
 had to a great extent faded out of view. He looked 
 upon our congregations as in immediate, fearful danger. 
 He looked upon the cross of Christ as the only refuge. 
 He felt the great truths of our religion, as almost no 
 other man ever did. To him they, were an ever present 
 reality He thought himself raised up to enforce them ; 
 they were as a fire in his bones till he spoke. With great 
 majesty and persuasiveness, he went forth as a divinely 
 commissioned messenger to announce the wrath and 
 mercy of God. At one moment he stands by the roar- 
 ing flames of hell and cries, Flee, flee, flee O sinner, 
 flee 1 at another by the cross, crying. Come, come, come 
 poor sinner, come ! He united the courage, the judg- 
 ment, and the passions essential to a perfect popular 
 orator, and by a complete self-abandonment to his work, 
 and to its appropriate emotions, he became. the onost 
 effective of preachers. 
 
 Our own great Edwards was eloquent, but in a dif- 
 ferent way. His mind was of crystal clearness, acute, 
 logical, ratiocinative, ardent. His convictions of truth 
 were as decided as Whitefield's. He was more solid, if 
 possible more solemn, soul-searching, and soberly earn- 
 est. But he had not that power of appealing to all the 
 passions of men in popular address. He wrote his ser- 
 mons and confined himself to his notes. But he went 
 on uncovering men's hearts, bringing out evil from the 
 deepest recesses ; exhibiting the hideousness of sin in 
 the magnifying glass of truth ; arresting the guilty and 
 arraying them before the judgment seat of Christ ; 
 
F02CE IN THE PULPIT. 245 
 
 painting heaven above and hell burning beneath, and 
 wretched sinners suspended by a hair over its horrors ; 
 till a whole assembly on one occasion rose and stood 
 pale and trembling, ready to exclaim, where, O where 
 shall guilty souls find refuge ! 
 
 We have not time to proceed further in our illustra- 
 tions of force, or the power of real, unaffected, heartfelt 
 but wisely managed earnestness. We see that it is the 
 soul of eloquence, and are now prepared to inquire more 
 particularly on what it depends. 
 
 It depends first, and as a prerequisite, especially in 
 this country, upon a well trained and well disciplined 
 mind. 
 
 In any attempt to enforce divine truth, it is the 
 preacher's business, first to convince the understanding. 
 Error must be opposed, its walls must be assailed and 
 shattered by the hard-headed battering rams of logic. 
 Sound doctrine must be presented, shown up, proved. 
 The reasoner must be reasoned down, the arguer must 
 be out-argued, the questioner mightily convinced, and 
 the caviller silenced. 
 
 But here force requires condensation and concentra- 
 tion. Two or three invincible arguments clearly, fully 
 stated, without redundance of detail or of qualification, 
 and expressed in the fewest possible words, will com- 
 plete the work of conviction in the minds of a popular 
 audience, better than long- continued processes, or in- 
 numerable feebler proofs. Whatever force there may 
 be, over here and there a highly disciplined mind, in 
 conclusions arrived at, after wearisome and tortuous 
 wanderings through the labyrinths of a thoroughly 
 
 metaphysical discourse, the mass of the people will 
 21* 
 
246 FORCE IN THE PULPIT'. 
 
 neither be edified nor convinced. They must have 
 argument, but it must be clear, invincible, and so brief, 
 that the media of proof can be seen from beginning to 
 end, and recollected. This is the preaching which cap- 
 tures the strong common-sense intellect of an American, 
 and prepares the way for those effects which, based on 
 solid and well remembered argument, rouses to action 
 the powerful energies 'of his mind. 
 
 Next to argument comes passion. From the cooler 
 region of the understanding we descend to the heart, 
 and by metaphor, by imagination, by emotion, we kindle 
 our foregoing logic into a flame. When the machinery 
 and everything else is in readiness, the steam, which has 
 been gradually rising and condensing, is made to press 
 upon the wheels of discourse and set it in rapid motion, 
 But here there is a point to be reached, there is an end 
 to be obtained. 
 
 We should never commeuce our journey till we know 
 where we are going to. Let the exordium and perora. 
 tion of a discourse stand over against each other like the 
 two continents at Beering's Straits, with one or both of 
 which always in sight, while you cross as soon as prac- 
 ticable the intermediate sea of discussion, and complete 
 the voyage. 
 
 With this clear perception of the whole subject, force 
 requires a deep sense of its importance, with correspond- 
 ing self-forgetfulness and abandonment to its power. He 
 who attempts eloquence for the sake of being eloquent, 
 or securing a reputation for oratory, or gaining applause, 
 may be sure of failure and of deserved contempt. Let 
 no man speak till he has something to say. We must 
 have a subject, and deeply feel our subject, and try to 
 
 .ss^' 
 
I^OECE IN THE PULPIT*. 247 
 
 impress not ourselves but our subject upon our bearers. 
 Even the stage-player must enter, for the time being, 
 into the character be assumes. He must he frenzied 
 Lear, maddened by the ingratitude of his daughters ; or 
 thoughtful Hamlet, shaken in spirit by his mother's 
 crime and troubled by his father's ghost. We must 
 sincerely feel what we say, and never think to excite 
 emotions in others which we do not experience ourselves. 
 
 "If you wish me to weep, you must first weep yourself; 
 then will your misfortunes grieve me, O Telephus or 
 Peleus ; but if you speak badly things commanded or on 
 commission, I shall either sleep or laugh." 
 
 Robert Hail may have been constitutionally ambitious. 
 But by self-discipline and by the power with which his 
 gigantic intellect grappled an important truth, Robert 
 Hall became distinguished for the manifest absorption 
 of self in the greatness of his subjects. And this was 
 one secret of his power. It was not so much the dissent- 
 ing minister of Cambridge that Brougham and Jeffries 
 ran to hear, as it was truth itself, moving in measured 
 cadences, with irresistible cogency of argument, authority 
 and emotion, right onward to its results. 
 
 And why should not the preacher abandon himself to 
 his subject ? In whose presence does he speak ? First, 
 in the presence of the Almighty, whose minister he is. 
 Second, in the presence of miserable men whom he is 
 commissioned to accuse. Third, of Jesus Christ who 
 suffered death for them all and whose mercy he is to 
 announce and enforce ! Consider the awful circumstan- 
 ces in which he speaks — heaven glittering from afar, hell 
 rumbling beneath, sinners hesitating, the time for decis- 
 ion coming to an end! iCan one think of self, of his 
 
248 f ORCE IN THE ?ULPI^. 
 
 reputation, of the applause his demonstrations, his 
 fiorures, his balanced sentences, his fine intonations are 
 to secure ? Shall he sue for flattery, or canvass for votes, 
 or shrink from the breath of censure ? Remember he is 
 the minister of God Almighty to the dying men whom 
 he addresses. 
 
 In this connection we see the necessity of faith. We 
 speak of it now not as an essential to salvation, but as 
 a requisite to Christian eloquence. When religious truth 
 fades out of view, when themes of eternity, as awful 
 verities, cease to stir the soul, something insincere, arti- 
 ficial, unreal, is suggested to the hearer, and the speaker 
 finds himself lifeless and inefficient. Unbelief relaxes 
 the nerves of oratory, and makes one an empty declaimer, 
 instead of a powerful preacher. It requires the elec- 
 tricity of faith to produce sons of thunder. 
 
 It was this firm faith in the scriptural revelations, 
 this vivid realization of the spiritual and the unseen, 
 although of course never disconnected from divine influ- 
 ence, that gave the simple hearted Brainerd such irre- 
 sistible power over the sons of the wilderness. Paul 
 always spoke of eternal things as one who knew, and 
 prophets uttered their terrific maledictions, and foretold 
 coming glories^with the conviction of a conscious certainty. 
 Grasp the truth with the simple but gigantic faith of a 
 patriarch ; live in the atmosphere of the invisible when 
 its night stars beam steadily upon the soul ; converse 
 with God like old John Bunyan, like the reformer Knox, 
 like the puritan Shepard ; penetrate eternity, by a living 
 confidence in its revelations ; looking up steadfastly into 
 Heaven, like the martyr Stephen, see Jesus, — and there 
 
rOECE IN THE PULPIT. 249 
 
 will be an earnestness, a reality, a power which, if at- 
 tended also with appropriate evidences, few can resist. 
 
 The force of speech depends also upon personal char, 
 acter. The ancients had a maxim, that no one could be 
 eloquent but a good man. This is especially true of the 
 pulpit. How can one recommend goodness, earnestly, 
 powerfully, successfully, and for a series of years, unless 
 he possesses it ? How can he impress upon us the beauty 
 of holiness, the bliss of harmony and communion with 
 God, the infinite value of the crucifixion, the tenderness 
 of Jesus, unless he has experienced it ? 
 
 In order to successful pulpit eloquence, (we speak 
 now only in reference to oratory,) the orator must at 
 least seevfi good ; and the only way to seem good, taking 
 life together, is to be so. 
 
 Some of the conditions have been stated, on which the 
 power of the pulpit depends, such as a well trained and 
 well furnished mind, including continued study, both of 
 a general and particular character ; a clear perception 
 of one whole subject, with precise statements, conclusive 
 demonstrations, and earnest conclusions ; a deep feeling 
 of the importance of what is delivered with self-forgetful - 
 ness in the utterance of truth and self-abandonment to 
 its power ; also faith, judgment and character. 
 
 It remains, in conclusion, and as a stimulus to effort, 
 that we allude to some of the motives by which the 
 American pulpit excites its orators to a fulfillment of 
 their mission. 
 
 These are found in the truth, in its author, and in its 
 objects. 
 
 In the truth. Every Christian minister is an apostle 
 of the truth. His commission is the highest ever given. 
 
250 FOECE IN THE PULPIT. 
 
 "Is there a nobler work of God in the souls of men," 
 .says Herder, " than the divine thoughts, impulses, aims, 
 and energies which he sometimes imparts to one chosen 
 man for the cultivation of a thousand ? " ^' God himself 
 is truth,'' says Milton, "in propagating which, as men 
 display a greater integrity and zeal, they approach nearer 
 to the similitude of God, and possess a greater portion of 
 his love.'' And a wiser than Herder, a more sublime 
 than Milton, exclaims : " How beautiful upon the moun- 
 tains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, 
 that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, 
 that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion thy God 
 reigneth." As ministers of Christ, we are e'ntrusted 
 with that whose value the whole material creation does 
 not equal. We are brought into partnership with God. 
 As he spake stars and suns into existence by his word ; 
 so as co-workers together with him, we are to create, in 
 the souls of men, new heavens and new earths, wherein 
 dwelleth righteousness. 
 
 There is the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. This is 
 the nerve, the energy, the soul of the true Christian 
 orator. Its influence will often come upon him, and 
 while he utters the Spirit's truth, as revealed in the 
 holy word, he will preach with the Spirit's demonstra- 
 tion and the Spirit's power ; for it is not he that speaks,- 
 but his Father that speaketh in him. 
 
.^ 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 PREACHING:— MANNER AND MATTER, 
 
 (authorized extbact8.) 
 By Rev. John Hall, D. D. 
 
 We must pre-sjippose on the part of those who will 
 be preachers, good personal character — ^goodm^ral quali- 
 ties — especially sincerity, mtegrity, uprightness, truth- 
 fulness, goodness. Any good preacher must give 'the 
 impression that the man is greater than any thing he 
 says ; that behind what he utters to the people there is 
 the great and noble personality of the man, that gives 
 weight and force to what he says. A bullet thrown out 
 of the human hand will have comparatively little power ; ^ 
 but let there be a cannon behind that bullet, and the. ■ 
 explosive force of powder, and it will crush or penetrate. 
 And the personal character of the man behind the things 
 that he utters to the people must give them momentum 
 and penetrating power. Even a heathen could see that 
 one of the necessary qualifications to a good orator is, 
 that he be a good man. Emphatically must this be the 
 case with the Christian orator who would speak the truth 
 as it is in Jesus, and win men to purity and goodness. 
 
 Over and above personal piety in preparation for the 
 
 ■•^/^y t./ 
 
 u<. 
 
252 PREACHING : — MANNER AND MATTER. 
 
 work of preaching, when a man goes to preach a partic- 
 ular sermon, it seems to me that special preparation for 
 that occasion is essentially necessary. 1 think I ought to 
 emphasize this statement. 
 
 For a particualar discourse, at any time, in order that 
 that discourse may be thorough and effective, there must 
 needs be special preparation. I do not mean by that, that 
 every time a minister is to conduct a service he must neces- 
 sarily prepare a new sermon for that service. I mean 
 that if he is to preach well, he must make a special and 
 peculiar preparation for that special service. If a man 
 says to himself, " Well, I have a general knowledge of 
 this subject, and 1 shall talk to the people of my knowl- 
 edge of it," you may be reasonably sure he will not 
 produce a very edifying discourse. That which is foun- 
 ded upon mere general knowledge will be so usually 
 general in its character as to produce no particular re- 
 sults. It will be like those general invitations that are 
 sometimes given, that are not supposed to involve any 
 particulars. If any one says to me : " Come and see 
 me some time," I shall not be very likely to go; but if 
 a person says : "Come and see me at four o'clock next 
 Tuesday," he fixes upon something distinct and definite, 
 and the chances are that I shall go. And that is just 
 the difference between the general talks that are foun- 
 ded on general knowledge, and a distinct and specific 
 preparation made for a distinct and specific occasion. I 
 do not now speak only from what I have known by ex- 
 perience ] 1 speak of what I have heard from many men 
 who have made it their business to study how best to 
 impress their fellow-creatures, when I say, that with 
 very rare exceptions, a man never speaks to his fellow- 
 
PEEACHING : — MANNER AND MATTER. 253 
 
 creatures with genuine and thorougli effect but as the 
 result of preparation. In some cases he is recalling and 
 repeating what he has prepared upon previous occasions : 
 then he is utilizing his past resources ; but the addresses 
 that are founded upon mere general understanding of 
 particular subjects, as a rule are comparativly ineffec- 
 tive, and in the end become tiresome. 
 
 This brings me to the question. How should men make 
 their preparations for the preaching of a sermon ? He 
 would make a very great mistake, it seems to me, who 
 would lay down any cast-iron rule for all men upon this 
 subject. There are diversities of tastes, gifts, and apti- 
 tudes ; and some men work remarkably well in one way 
 who would fail in another. 
 
 Note. — The author refers here merely to preparation for extem- 
 poraneous preaching. — Compiler. 
 
 There is a way, and when I mention that this is the 
 way recommended by the late Dr. James W. Alexander, 
 a man of the finest taste and the richest Christian ex- 
 perience, you will see that it deserves, at least, a passing 
 notice at your hands. It is the plan of carefully think- 
 ing out what a man should say, and definitely arranging 
 the thoughts, and writing them out, not necessarily with 
 verbal accuracy and precision, but so that all the 
 thought will be represented to the man's own eye, mak- 
 ing his preparation thorough in this way, and then, 
 barely fixing in his mind the illustrations and argu- 
 ments, to go to the pulpit and talk over to the people as 
 well as he knows how, in the languaore that the moment 
 supplies, what he has prepared in this way in his study. 
 The thing is hardly worth mentioning, but that is the 
 
 way \ipon which, for my own part, I have been working 
 22 
 
254 PEEACHING : — MANNER AND MATTER. 
 
 now for twenty.five years, and all my own experience is 
 in favor of it. It consists simply in thinking out the 
 matter as clearly as one can, and writing down all the 
 thoughts, so that they can be produced at any future 
 time, if necessary ; fixing the order of argument and 
 illustration in the mind, taking no heed of the words ; 
 and then proceeding to the pulpit and talking over to 
 the people what has thus been prepared and fixed in the 
 way I now mention. 
 
 " Now," says some one with reference to that plan, 
 *' what can be the possible use of writing — what is the 
 good of it ? " A very proper question, and it ought to 
 be answered. I shall tell you exactly how it strikes 
 myself ; I cannot speak for others. In the first place, it 
 has the great advantage of enabling a man to know with 
 some tolerable clearness whether he has anything to say 
 or not. In England they have specie, as you know. 
 A man may have in his pocket a whole handful of coins, 
 and feeling them with his hand, he may persuade him- 
 suade himself that he is tolerably well off — sovereigns, 
 half-crowns, and pence will all feel and sound very much 
 alike in his pocket ; but if he takes out a handful of 
 money and spreads it out, and looks at it, then he sees 
 just how "much he has. It is barely possible that the 
 copper may greatly predominate over the silver or the 
 gold. Just so I feel in the matter of making prepara- 
 tion in this way for preaching. A man thinks he has a 
 great thought. Let him write it down and see how it 
 looks on paper. I tell you that sometimes what would 
 seem very great thoughts shrivel immensely when they 
 are put down in black and white ! There is something, 
 perhaps, in your mind, something of which you have 
 
PREACHING : — MANNER AND MATTER. 255 
 
 often talked, that has been very impressive to you, and 
 you have given expression to your feeling by a series of 
 interjections : " my ! " " awful 1 " " tremendous ! " 
 *' wonderful 1 " " astonishing ! " But a man cannot go 
 on and repeat these interjections to the people ; he must 
 say something that will give an impression of what is 
 *' awful " and " tremendous." When he writes it down 
 he will be able to see whether it is really awful and 
 tremendous. That is one sufficient reason, it seems to 
 me, for this process of writing out, and to me this is the 
 main reason. The other two are subsidiarv. 
 
 In the second place, a man has a comfortable sense of 
 having honestly tried to do his duty when he has put 
 down upon paper the thoughts that he is to give to the 
 people, and when he knows what he has to say to th#m. 
 I speak for myself — I hope the egotism will be forgiven, 
 for I have been directed to talk in this way — I should 
 not feel free to speak in the most simple and informal 
 manner without putting down on paper what I aimed to 
 say. I came home very tired last night about half-past 
 ten o'clock, and I knew I had to speak here this evening, 
 but I should not have been able to sleep with a good 
 conscience without putting down that line of thought I 
 am evolving — (of no great value, I admit) — but, such 
 as it is, I should not be free in my own mind if I had 
 not done that, for I knew that I had to work all this 
 day. 
 
 In the third place, if it should happen that a man has 
 occasion to make subsequent use of j)repared discourses, 
 this plan enables him to turn his former labors to account, 
 and after honest and careful preparation of this kind, as 
 I know, he will be able to go back upon a manuscript of 
 
256 PREACHING : — MANNEE ^iND MATTEE. 
 
 twenty years, and in a couple of hours, he will be able 
 to so possess his own mind with what he wrote at that 
 period as to communicate it freely and usefully to an 
 ordinary congregation. That is the method, it seems to 
 me, on the whole more wise for ordinary men to adopt. 
 
 If I write a sermon, and then take it to the pulpit 
 and read it, it seems to me, as a matter of common- 
 sense, that by my reading it to the people I confess to 
 them that I am not able to remember it myself ; and it 
 does seem a little unreasonable to expect the people to 
 remember what the preacher confesses, by his reading, 
 he himself is not able to remember. 
 
 Let us not briog into the pulpit the smart hits that are 
 so successful with many a lecturer on the lecturing stage. 
 He may do lawfully what we can only do at the cost of 
 lowering ourselves and our mission. On the same prin- 
 ciple all coarseness, or mere colloquialism or slang, every 
 thing, in fact, that vulgarizes the Gospel,- the man, and 
 the pulpit, ought to be religiously and earnestly kept 
 away. 
 
 In enlarging a little upon that point I think I shall 
 be safe in adding, that we ought to teach the truth in the 
 proportions in which we find the truths in the book, in 
 the proportions in which the truths are placed in this 
 book. If we do that, we cannot fail to be evangelical 
 preachers. That is to say, we cannot fail to make Jesus 
 Christ the sum and substance of our ministry, for he is 
 the sum and substance of this blessed book And if we 
 preach the truths in the proportions in which they are 
 put in the word of God, we shall be most likely to edify 
 the people and to build them up on their most holy faith. 
 Shall I illustrate what I mean by this phrase — teach- 
 
PEEACHING: — ^MANNER AND MATTER. 257 
 
 ing the truths in the proportions they occupy in the 
 Bible ? In England the idea took possession of the minds 
 of men — a very just and true idea — that the. Church is 
 not a mere voluntary society like a club or a debating 
 union, but an organization called into existence by the 
 Almighty, and therefore a divine institution. This truth 
 ought to be taught in its place, and have as much place 
 in our teaching as it has in the Bible. But certain good 
 men gave that truth disproportionate place, and Church- 
 ism grew up ; then they proceeded to give to it more 
 place, until they became High-Churchmen ; then they 
 proceeded to give it more place, and they became Ritu- 
 alist ; and I am sorry to say that upon that same line 
 many of them proceeded until they became Romanists. 
 So men have exaggerated the truth, giving it a propor- 
 tion in their teachings that it does not have in the word. 
 
 We must speak to the people in the loving, gentle, 
 patient spirit of the Gospel ; and that need not hinder 
 our speaking of what is called " the terror of the law,' 
 and the awfulness of eternal ruin. Dear brethren, just 
 because we love the people, just because we would fain 
 have them saved, just because we see the glory of Christ 
 and the awfulness of external exile from him, we should 
 speak as to try to win them to him. 
 
 And so we must speak always, and the hardest and 
 sternest truths of God's word we may speak with awe, 
 speak with melting words, with stammering tongues, 
 with flowing tears, if we would speak the truth in the 
 spirit of him who " beheld the city and wept over it." 
 
 I am of opinion, for example, that in this country at 
 
 this moment, it is a present truth to make the people 
 
 understand something of the nature of Romanism. We 
 22* 
 
258 PREACHING: — MANNEE AND MATTEU. 
 
 shall have to fight that battle before a great many years, 
 and we are singularly unprepared for it. There are 
 great multitudes of leaders of public opinion — public 
 educators — who have not the slightest readiness of mind ; 
 they have not begun to acquire even that condition of 
 mind in which they are capable of dealing with that 
 great Romish controversy. You will meet with very 
 intelligent people who pooh-pnoh Romanism — " The 
 thing is absurd, ridiculous ; the idea of intelligent, sen- 
 sible men accepting a system like that! " I tell you, 
 dear brethren, and I tell the students of this Seminary, 
 that a man in that temper is in no condition to deal with 
 Romanism. Romanism is a compact, concatenated, log- 
 ical system, in which, having accepted premises, you are 
 compelled to come to its conclusion. Educated Roman- 
 ists know that very well, aod feel the power of it. I 
 tell you if I came to that state of mind that is now 
 called " High.Church," as an honest man I would not 
 stay there three days ; I could not — the relentless, un- 
 answerable logic of the system would compel me to 
 go where I should stand under papal infallibility. If I 
 may be pardoned for making the suggestion, young men 
 who are in college and seminary now might do many 
 things worse than to give a little patient and careful 
 study to that great controversy. 
 
 Romanism is a political corporation, as well as a reli- 
 gious creed ; it is an organization for ruling the bodies, 
 the estates, and the consciences of men together, and 
 when kings of the earth draw their swords and strike the 
 scepter out of its hand it has no right to remonstrate, 
 for its scepter is of a double character, secular and sac- 
 red, as well as tyrannical and destructive in its sway. 
 
PREACHING: — MANNER AND MATTER, 259 
 
 Now, I have in a very rapid, sketchy, colloquial way 
 indicated to you a line of thought which I hope you will 
 be ahle to follow out for yourselves. Will you permit 
 me to conclude by saying one or two words of a more 
 strictly personal character ? 
 
 Youns^ men of this Seminary, I have a good enough 
 memory to be able to put myself back in the position 
 in which you are now, and to have some sympathy with 
 you in pour present aims, pursuits, and studies. Let me 
 beg of you to aim at being pure and holy men. There 
 are other things that will be of great advantage to you, 
 and which, you will see, I do not depreciate. I am in 
 favor of the hio-hest intellectual culture beinsj subsi- 
 dized to the defense and statement of the Gospel. I 
 would have ministers in every respect such men as to 
 command the respect and confidence of educated and 
 intellectual worldlings ; and as I read the character of 
 Jesus Christ he produced this impression. 
 
 I should, if I could — make ministers stand forth as 
 men who had trained, cultivated, able, vigorous minds ; 
 who can see through the sophistries with which men cheat 
 and beguile themselves, while holding forth the truth 
 as it is in Jesus. Christian simplicity is not Christian 
 simpleness by any means. 
 
 But, gentlemen, it is of all things important, with all 
 these advantages, that you be holy and pure men. Some- 
 body may not like the word holy. I like it. I don't 
 see why we shoul not all like it ; but if they like another 
 let them take it — consecrated men, godly men, spiritual 
 men, Christ-like men, men filled with the Holy Ghost 
 and with power. Be such men if you would have a 
 ministry of power ! This makes all religious eflfort, ad- 
 
260 PREACHING: — MANNER AND MATTER. 
 
 dress and conversation in the truest sense, natural and 
 spontaneous. When a vessel is filled to the very brim 
 with water, the least agitation sends some over the side ; 
 and when a man's heart is filled with love to God and 
 filled with love to souls, what else shall he do than 
 speak these great things to his fellow-creatures ? 
 
 I had one person in my congregation, a Sabbath-school 
 teacher, a few years back — she is in Heaven now. The 
 ladies will not be angry at my mentioning this here. 
 She was comparatively young ; personally, very lovely ; 
 but her main charm was, that she loved Christ. He 
 filled her heart. I tell you it was as easy and as nat- 
 ural to til at young girl to speak of Jesus Christ and the 
 things of eternal life as it is to most of us to speak about 
 the whether. That is what I mean by being at heart — 
 thoroughl}^, through and through ; not so much possess- 
 ing the truth, as, possessed by the truth ; and then there 
 will be freedom, there will be spontaneity to our efforts ; 
 we shall be able by the manifestation of the truth to 
 commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight 
 of God. May you be helped, dear young brethren, so to 
 do ; and may God's blessing rest upon you ! 
 
CHAPTER XLIL 
 
 "WHAT TO PREACH." 
 
 (evangelical PREACHINQ. — COMPILER.) 
 
 [AUTHORIZKD.— EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.] 
 
 Rev. John Hall, D. D. 
 
 The sinners to whom we preach are to be pitied, and 
 we cannot show too much compassion for them ; but 
 they are also to be blamed, and we are bound to tell 
 them that they are culpable for rejecting and despising 
 the Gospel we are sent to proclaim. Their condition, 
 until they believe, is dreadful in the extreme, and we 
 should labor to make them understand and feel that ; 
 but it is the dreadful misery not of a misfortune that 
 has come upon them, an evil chance that has happened 
 to them, but of a crime which they are still committing 
 and willingly persisting in. 
 
 Very likely this will not always gratify them ; very 
 likely, instead of soothing them, this will vex and irritate 
 them, and make them secretly angry ; and then we must 
 go on and preach so and live so, that they shall, by the 
 blessing of the Holy Ghost, see that they have no reason 
 to be angry with us, who only carry God's message, but 
 that, in point of fact, they are angry with the truth — in 
 
262 "WHAT TO PREACH." 
 
 other words, with the message which the Lord sends 
 them concerning themselves. 
 
 We cannot, again, feel too keen a sympathy with the 
 people who hear us — some of them altogether in the 
 dark, some of them opening their eyes a little, some of 
 them seeing men as trees walking, some of them loving 
 the light, and craving more, and some of them sorely 
 beaten down and crushed by trials and difficulties in 
 their life. 
 
 We cannot feel too keen a sympathy with them, 
 especially when we remember our own struggles, and 
 the dim twilight through which many of us have groped, 
 if now in God's light, we see light clearly. 
 
 But what shall we do ? What sympathy is best for 
 all these varied conditions of the human spirit 1 
 
 Here it is that the evangelical system, — that is, the 
 system which magnifies at every turn the objective truth 
 regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ, gives, it 
 seems to me, its true and proper power to the pulpit. 
 
 My sympathy is good as far as it goes ; but divine 
 sympathy is infinitely better. 
 
 And what do I know, what can I present of divine 
 sympathy but in Jesus Christ ? What can I gather and 
 disclose of this sympathy from general considerations 
 regarding Deity ? 
 
 The world — .God's world — is a mystery to all of us. 
 Even 10 Christians Providence is a perpetual puzzle, and 
 they must wait to see how good and wise God is by see- 
 ing the end. 
 
 But in the face of Jesus Christ, God's glory, aye, the 
 light of the knowledge of it shines. Him we can preach 
 to the people ; on his sympathy we can expatiate, him 
 
" WHAT TO PEEACH." 263 
 
 we can lift up and unfold, the personal Eedeemer, Son 
 of God and son of man — divine — human, the might of 
 omnipotence in his arm, even when it was nailed to the 
 tree, him the prophet for the ignorance of man, the priest 
 for the guilt of man, and the daily securing wants and 
 sins of man, the king for the defence and government of 
 man, the true and tender brother to the believer, the 
 captain of salvation to the Christian soldier, the good 
 master to the disciple, the Lord and Saviour to the 
 meanest and poorest believer, yes, to the weakest and 
 least effective of his servants here, as truly as to the 
 apostle Paul. 
 
 When we preach this Jesus to men, and they receive 
 him, it is not only that they get more light, are elevated, 
 helped, carried forward beyond the lengths to which 
 other forms of teaching carry them; it is not this only, 
 nor, indeed, this at all. It is that they are now enlight- 
 ened with this kind of light for the first time, and they 
 find out that whatever they knew before, in this kind of 
 light they were blind, and in this kind of knowledge 
 they were utterly ignorant. 
 
 Now they are the subjects of a change more or less 
 conscious ; call it conversion, or regeneration, or illu- 
 mination, or any other name you will, that is understood 
 in its meaning by the people, and in the preacher's sense 
 of it, which ought to be the scriptural sense of it. 
 
 Now they have pardon, they are accepted, they are 
 in Christ, they are in a new condition, and are set out 
 upon the attainment of a new character. 
 
 It is not that this revelation of God's mercy, through 
 belief of which they are in Christ, has made them better, 
 has improved their manhood, or elevated them, — a tern- 
 
264 "what to preach/' 
 
 perance society might do that, — it is that they are 
 changed, that the secret springs of the will are touched. 
 If any man be in Christ he is a better man ? No. A 
 broader man ? No. He is a new creature — made a new 
 man by an act of God, by his word — as truly a divine 
 act as w^hen God said : " Let there be light, and there 
 was light." 
 
 And that we ministers ourselves thus enlightened by 
 divine grace can preach this glorious gospel of the blessed 
 God, and in lifting up Jesus Christ produce instru- 
 mentally these results. This seems to me to be the real 
 power, and when done, the dignity and glory of the 
 pulpit — any pulpit, ancient or modern. 
 
 We who preach are poor creatures ; but the word of 
 the Lord is mighty. Of that word Jesus Christ is the 
 sum and substance ; and the sum and substance of any 
 ministry of permanent spiritual power must be the set- 
 ting forth of him, the living Christ for dead souls, the 
 bread of life for starving souls, the water of life for 
 thirsty souls, the one life given of divine appointment, 
 in coming to whom the dead in sins are quickened, and 
 in cleaving to whom the new life of believers is fed and 
 strengthened. 
 
 Now, as to this sensationalism in the pulpit there is 
 but a word to be said. 
 
 When a minister, by the selection of odd and queer 
 topics, in form or reality away from the Gospel — by 
 unique or grotesque ways of putting himself, or putting 
 his things before the people, by vulgarisms, or startling 
 novelties of expression, aims at making a sensation, that 
 terminates with the hour, or at least terminate upon the 
 preacher, there is sensational preaching, which is ofifen- 
 
" WHAT TO PEEACH.^' 265 
 
 sive to true taste, as it is away from the spirit of the 
 Gospel, and the dignity and power of the pulpit. 
 
 That is not only contemptible as trifling with the most 
 solemn themes for selfish ends. 
 
 I hope there is not much such sensationalism. 
 
 But give us the ministers who go directly with Bible 
 truth to the souls of men — who preach to them of their 
 guilt in denying the Holy One and the Just, who urge 
 this home on judgment and conscience with an earnest- 
 ness, begotten of the Spirit of God, and flowing out of 
 souls set on fire from above, until the crowds, carried 
 away subdued, and terrified cry out : " What shall we do 
 to be. saved ? " Let us have sensations like this, produced 
 anywhere, by any ministry, and I for one — if no part of 
 this honor is given me — shall yet fall on my knees, and 
 give thanks to God who hath given such power unto men. 
 
 Note. — "When we have said the most possible for the Christianity 
 of the present day, its strength and efficiency, it remains a fact 
 patent that its success is exceedingly limited, compared to the de- 
 mands, and to its first achievements. 
 
 There is a reason for this — more than one, doubtless — but much 
 of the defect is attributable to the want of evangelical preaching. It 
 is in God's plan to save men by preaching, and if this be defective, 
 the results will be also. 
 
 What can we expect of very much of the pulpit displays of our 
 times? The learned essays, the oratorical declamations, the pulpit 
 eulogies, the philosophical speculations, the metaphysical, hair- 
 splitting distinctions — these and kindred productions? Good enough 
 in some men, good enough in their place and in their time, but as 
 Christless a-s the Shaster, pitiable substitutes for the Gospel of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. The one thing needful for the ministry of our 
 times is more of Christ , more of Christ in their personal experience, 
 in their life and in their messages to the people. It is becoming an 
 anxious question. How shall we answer to the arguments of modem 
 skeptics, and who is the forthcoming man that shall be sufl&cient for 
 the task? — Anonymous. 
 23 
 
CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 WHAT SHALL MINISTERS PREACH? 
 
 [INDEPENDENT,} 
 
 S. T. Spear, D. D. 
 
 There are two classes of extremists in respect to 
 preaching, with neither of which are we able fully to 
 agree. Neither states the whole truth, and neither 
 states even half of it so as properly to represent it. The 
 one class claims that the themes of the pulpit should be 
 almost exclusively spiritualf having reference to the 
 thoughts, affections, and purposes of the heart toward 
 God, and leaving these to work out their proper results 
 in the ethical and mundane relations of the present life. 
 This is deemed to be spiritual preaching, and no other 
 is proper on the lips of the Christian ministry. The 
 other class demands that the pulpit shall be as exclu- 
 sively devoted to temporal moralities, growing out ot 
 the present relations of men, leaving dogmas, creeds, 
 theologies, and what they deem spiritual abstractions 
 and impalpabilities to books and professional experts. 
 This is practical preaching, and just the kind most 
 wanted in this world. 
 
WHAT SHALL MINISTEES PEEACH ? 267 
 
 Both of these classes are right, and both wrong, in 
 some respects ; and hence neither presents the whole 
 truth in its rounded, completed, and symmetrical form. 
 Blend the two views together, so that each shall modify 
 the other, and thus produce a compound somewhat dif- 
 ferent from either by a simple change of proportions ; 
 and we then have the whole truth, as appearing in the 
 Word of God, and enforced by a comprehensive reason. 
 The Christian pulpit, when moving in such an orbit, is 
 never out of its sphere. Though not preaching at any 
 one time a whole system of theology, or a whole system 
 of morals, and never running hobbies at the expense of 
 general harmony, it aims to give to every man what the 
 Bible calls a portion in due season. 
 
 Those doctrines and duties which have their center in 
 God, especially as revealed in the Gospel of Christ, are 
 not mere ornamental parts of religion, simply to supply 
 the rhetoric and the sanctions of preaching. Nor are 
 they so obscure and impalpable as to embarrass utter- 
 ance or perplex thought. They are vital, and withal 
 indispensable to the formation of a sound religious char- 
 acter. They constitute really the strongest elements of 
 appeal to human nature. It should always be a pri- 
 mary object with the Christian pulpit to turn men's 
 hearts unto God ; and that, too, by preaching the true 
 God in his attributes, relations, moral government, plan 
 of grace, and providence over the world. A pulpit 
 without a distinct and positive theology, which it enun- 
 ciates, would be like a cranium without any brains in- 
 side. It would be a mere unvitalized shell. Virtue, 
 even if it were possible, that has no basis in God, would 
 not exist for the strongest reason, or be energized by the 
 
268 WHAT SHALL MINISTERS PEEACH ? 
 
 Highest motives. A bad theology in the pulpit, as in 
 the press and everywhere else, is a prodigious evil to 
 humanity. It may not be as formidable in all respects 
 as atheisiical morality ; yet, as compared with truth and 
 the normal effects thereof, it is a grave calamity to the 
 world. 
 
 Equally clear is it that the ethics of time which grow 
 out of the temporal relations of men, whether they be 
 domestic, social, or political, should have the freest 
 scope in the utterances of the Christian teacher. There 
 is nothing in this world too good to be commended, or 
 too bad to be condemned ; and the Christian teacher is 
 just the man of all others to commend the good and con- 
 demn the bad. There are no select vices, licensed by 
 usage or sanctioned by law, which limit his functions of 
 exposure and rebuke. The idea of some that because 
 a subject has political relations it must be carefully 
 ignored by the preacher, whatever may be its moral 
 merits, is an error of thought founded in either sin or 
 ignorant prejudice. Whatever concerns morality in any 
 of its departments is an appropriate theme for Christian 
 utterance, whether in the pulpit or out of it. The only 
 question is one of opportune selection, due proportion, 
 wise adaptation to existing wants, and discreet presenta- 
 tion so as best to gain the end. 
 
 The right and the duty of the pulpit, in things spirit- 
 ual and things moral, to exercise the largest liberty of 
 discussion ought to be most cheerfully conceded by the 
 pew. A gagged ministry is not worth paying for. A 
 timid ministry courts more criticism than it avoids, and 
 licenses more opposition than it conciliates. A time- 
 
WHAT SHALL MINISTERS PREACH ? 269 
 
 serving ministry is too contemptible to be entitled even 
 to toleration. A one-sided ministry is not broad enough 
 to meet the wants of its own position or those of the 
 world. A bold and comprehensive ministry, metropoli- 
 tan in the great elements of truth and cosmopolitan in 
 their application, best honors itself while it best serves 
 the purposes of preaching. 
 23* 
 
CHAPTER XLIY. 
 
 DEFINITE DOCTRINAL SERMONS NEEDED. 
 
 [congkegationalist.] 
 By Prof. Austin Phelps, D. D. 
 
 A straw may show which way the wind blows. So 
 the drift of opinion indicates, as it seems to me, 
 certain perils which we shall do well to ponder. 
 
 1. It indicates the dangler of a disuse of Doctrinal 
 preaching. 
 
 2. A second peril is that our theological faith it- 
 self will become obsolete. In this matter, the pew is 
 dependent on the pulpit. The taste of the hearer, 
 will be formed by the practice of the preacher. Si- 
 lence of doctrine in the pulpit, means ignorance, and 
 at last unbelief, in the pew. 
 
 The result does not come in the form of a catastro- 
 phe. No moral convulsion scatters the faith of cen- 
 turies in a night. The end comes insidiously. A 
 single doctrine of the system grows dim ; the people 
 cannot give a reason for their faith in it ; a phospho- 
 rescent skepticism throws odium upon it ; fellowship 
 with unbelievers in it becomes an open question ; and 
 then the end of it is not far oflf. Yet it is more than 
 
DEFINITE DOCTEINAL SEEMO^S NEEDED. 271 
 
 the end of that doctrine. The faith we hold is a sys- 
 tem. No mind can self-consistently^ and no thought- 
 ful mind will, surrender one element of it, without 
 putting in pawn its faith in all the rest. 
 
 Do we not see signs of such theological degeneracy 
 in our own times ? Is not the taste for theological 
 inquiry declining in our churches ? Thirty years 
 ago, I once heard Rev. Wm. M. Rogers, the brilliant 
 pastor of the Central Church in Boston, say that 
 there were laymen in his church who had read more 
 theology than he had. Are there such laymen in the 
 Central Church now? Who of our laymen now store 
 their libraries with the standards of theological sci- 
 ence ? Who, outside of the clergy, reads now the 
 works of President Edwards ? Yet, I have in my li- 
 brary a copy of those works, well-worn by the thought- 
 ful and devout study of the senior deacon of the Pine 
 Street Church of Boston in 1845. His Sabbath rec- 
 reation he used to find in reading Edwards on God's 
 End in Creation. 
 
 I may be wrong ; I surely do not mean to croak. 
 But to my view, one of the most formidable signs of 
 a decline of theological taste among us, is this clamor 
 of the people for sermons that are not doctrinal. * 
 
 3. One other peril follows, as a matter of course. 
 It is that our Congregational churches will deteriorate 
 in character by a radical change of stock. From their 
 beginning, these churches have appealed to the most 
 thoughtful classes of the people. They have been 
 built up from a thinking stock. We have always de- 
 manded an educated clergy in our pulpits. We have 
 esteemed as above all price a high-toned theological 
 
272 DEFINITE DOCTRINAL SERMONS NEEDED. 
 
 literature. "Wherever New England Congregational- 
 ism goes, one of the first signs of its existence is a 
 college. We build colleges before we build bridges. 
 
 Hence our denominational strength is in our pul- 
 pits. Our forms of worship are needlessly and peri- 
 lously bare. Our ministry are not a priesthood, and 
 our communion-tables are not altars. Our architec- 
 tural taste is not fascinating. Our antiquity is noth- 
 ing burthensome. Our strength is in our pulpits, or 
 nowhere. In this respect we but represent the stal- 
 wart character of our theology. It is yet to be proved 
 that we can change our record in these things, with- 
 out alienating from us the thoughtful and conserva- 
 tive classes, on whose support Congregationalism has 
 lived, and whose religious sympathies it represents. 
 It is a dangerous experiment to tamper with the old 
 stock. 
 
 Specially is anything a. peril to us which under- 
 mines our pulpit. Ours must be a reasoning pulpit. 
 It must penetrate things, prove things, build deep and 
 build high. To do this, it must discuss great themes 
 in great ways. It must handle strong doctrines, ele- 
 mental truths, the landmarks of Christian thought, 
 which centuries have elaborated. It can never live 
 on evangelistic labors, nor what is now understood 
 by " revival-preaching." 
 
 The danger is that the result will be to hand over 
 to wiser builders the natural stock of Congregational 
 churches, and leave us to — the East wind I 
 
 But we do beg our thoughtful laymen, who can, 
 and who ought to, give character to the public taste 
 
DEFINITE DOCTEINAL SERMONS NEEDED. 273 
 
 in this thing, that they will reconsider their apparent 
 verdict, thus far expressed. 
 
 Encourage a thinking ministry. Cultivate studious 
 hearing. Welcome doctrinal discussions. And that 
 these things may be done, give the preachers oppor- 
 tunity to say their best wisdom, their richest expe- 
 rience, their profoundest teachings of the Holy Spirit. 
 Do not make the tastes of your little children the rule 
 of your pulpits. Are ye not 7nen? We are but men. 
 We cannot preach by telegraph. The lightning does 
 not play upon our tongue. Some of us are slow of 
 speech. The bees did not drop honey on our lips in 
 our cradles. Bear with our infirmity ; and do not 
 double it by requiring ol us what apostles never did, 
 and could not have done if they would. 
 
CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 THE RELATION OF THEOLOGY TO PREACHING. 
 By Rev. Albert Barnes. 
 
 What is the theology which experience has shown 
 to be best adapted to the ends of preaching, and 
 which we can preach with a hope of success? What 
 may be preached so as to answer the ends of preach- 
 ing — so that men will perceive it to be true, and so 
 that they will be converted to God? 
 
 It is of but little use to preach tD a sinner as hav- 
 ing some strong propensities to evil ; but that he is 
 not in such a state that what is needful for him is 
 a radical and total change, but the development of 
 internal virtues still living within him ; the cultiva- 
 tion of his noble and god-like powers. That he does 
 not need an entire transformation, securing the very 
 beginning of goodness in the soul, but to cultivate the 
 virtues already existing there, which need only to be 
 unfolded. 
 
 The thing to be done in man is not what philoso- 
 phy contemplates — development, but it is recovery and 
 rescue — a work peculiar to the gospel of Christ. 
 Preaching, addresses man as in ruins ; philosophy ad- 
 
THE RELATION OF THEOLOGY TO PREACHING. 275 
 
 dresses him as what mind would he if the fall had 
 never occured — and that is not a system which can be 
 preached. The primary thought, every one instinc- 
 tively feels, in addressing man from the pulpit, is that 
 he is a sinner ; the grand theme is redemption, and 
 reconciliation with God ; the issues referred to are an 
 eternal heaven and hell ; the world, though full of 
 beauty, is a world of probation, from which the results 
 of humam conduct are borne ever onward into far- 
 distant worlds ; and in reference to these things, and 
 to the eternal judgment, the most amazing and won- 
 derful events have occurred on earth — the incarna- 
 tion and the atonement. 
 
 As a matter of fact, therefore, the doctrine of 
 limited atonement, is not and cannot be preached. 
 It is not preached when the soul is on fire with the 
 love of men, and when the cross in its true grandeur 
 and glory rises to view. It is never preached in a re- 
 vival of religion — a proof, not fable, that the doctrine 
 is not true. 
 
 Akin to this is the doctrine of man's natural inabil- 
 ity to do the will of God, to repent of his sins, and to 
 beheve the gospel. This doctrine too has been taught 
 in the schools ; it is found in books of theology ; it is 
 embodied in creeds ; it is based on an ingenious 
 philosophy ; it has been held by not a few eminent 
 men ; but it is not a doctrine to be preached. If, here 
 and there, a man has the moral courage to preach it 
 and means honestly to apply his philosophy, and to 
 make "full proof" of divinity, as he understands it, 
 he soon ''has his reward," and will see abundantly the 
 fruit of his ministry. For why should men make an 
 
276 THE RELATION OF THEOLOGY TO PREACHING. 
 
 effort to be saved, when they are told that all effort is 
 vain? And why should they hear a message which 
 is only to tell them that they have no power, and 
 that all exertion is fruitless ? And why should they 
 put themselves under teaching which makes religion 
 at varience with everything else that they do, and 
 which, in a most active world, and where men do ac- 
 complish wonders by their efforts, tells them that ef- 
 fort is vain ? How will they be persuaded that the 
 same God is the author of the two systems ; and that 
 in reference to transitory and temporary matters he 
 has so made man that he can accomplish everything; 
 in reference to things of real and permanent interest, 
 nothing? 
 
 Thus too, it is with the doctrine of the imputation 
 of the sin of Adam — the doctrine that we are to 
 blame for his transgression, — and condemed for an 
 act which was performed ages before we had a being. 
 Such dogmas so come athwart the common sense of 
 mankind ; they are so at variance with the principles 
 on which men act in other things ; they so much iso- 
 late theology from common life, and from what men 
 know to be just principles, that a preacher who at- 
 tempts to defend them goes against the common 
 sense and the consciences of his fellow-men, and 
 against all the principles which prevail in the world, 
 and they cannot be preached. Theology as viewed 
 from an intelligent Christian pulpit, is often quite a 
 different thing from what it is in the lecture room. 
 The theology which Baxter, and Payson, and White- 
 field preached, was quite a different thing from what 
 theology is in Turretin. 
 
THE RELATION OF THEOLOGY TO PREACHING. 277 
 
 I proceed to inquire more definitely what kind of 
 theology may be preached. I refer to that which 
 will be an element of power in the pulpit ; which so 
 far as theology is concerned, will make the pulpit 
 what it should be. The Inquiry is substantially simi- 
 lar to what the inquiry would be, what kind of doc- 
 trines would have been adapted to make the Beiiwb in 
 Athens what it should be ; or would be fitted to call 
 forth the eloquence of Roman orators : or what kind 
 of doctrines became the House of Lords, or the 
 House of Commons in the days of Earl of Chatham 
 and of Burke. We wish to know what truths are 
 appropriate to the place, and will stir up the soul 
 to eloquence. 
 
 It is not enough to say that the end be reached by 
 grace of manner, or by any rules of enunciation or 
 gesture, or by the precepts which mere rhetoricians 
 give, or by elegant diction and powerful declamation. 
 The end is to be reached by the kind of theology 
 which is taken into the pulpit, and which is habitually 
 presented there. I refer to that kind of theolugy 
 which will make the pulpit in the eyes of an intelli- 
 gent community what it is designed to be ; w^hich 
 will secure the largest measure of success acf^ording 
 to the talent that is given us ; which will make the 
 pulpit what it should be in this age of the world, 
 honorable and eminent among the places of influen- 
 cing men by public speaking ; and which will be best 
 adapted to secure the progress of religion. 
 
 What kind of theolog/, then, may be preached, to 
 make the pulpit what it should be ? 
 
 1. First, it must be that which is based on obvi- 
 
 24 
 
278 TEE RELATION OF THEOLOGY TO PREACHING. 
 
 ous and honest principles of interpretation. The 
 preacher, more than any other public speaker, is the 
 interpreter of a hooh ; and no inconsiderable part of 
 his work consists in explaining the volume which lies 
 before him. And the truth is, that among the advan- 
 ces made on subjects connected with theology, there 
 are none which are more manifest than those which 
 pertain to the interpretation of the Bible. 
 
 2. That theology which can be preached must be 
 such as shall coniTnend itself to the common sense of 
 mankind. It must be such as will find a response in 
 the laws of our nature, and be in accordance with 
 the principles on which men everywhere feel and act. 
 In other words, a man who undertakes to preach 
 theology should be a man of common sense, and 
 should be acquainted* with what man is. There is 
 nothing in which theology has been more defective 
 than in the want of adapting itself to the ways in 
 which men ordinarily think, and speak, and act. 
 There is no one thing — take the world over — in 
 in which ministers are supposed to be so deficient as 
 in regard to the maxims of common prudence, and a 
 knowledge of human nature. There is no one thing 
 in which the theology of the books needs a more 
 thorough reformation, than in adapting it to the max- 
 ims of common sense. 
 
 What is eminently needed in a theology that is to 
 be preached is, that its philosophy shall he such as 
 shall accord with the true laws of the mind; that it 
 shall be adapted to human nature as it is ; and that 
 the ministers of religion shall show that they think 
 act like other men. It was one of the most striking 
 
THE EELATION OF THEOLOGY TO PREACHING. 279 
 
 % 
 
 peculiarities in the theology of our Grear Master, 
 that, knowing all the secret springs of the human 
 heart, and commending himself to his hearers by siai- 
 ple illustrations which every man understood, the 
 ^' common people heard him gladly." 
 
 The man who would preach theology successfully 
 must study man — ' the proper study' of the theolo- 
 gian as of other men — man in the great principles of 
 his nature, and when off his guard. But how shall 
 he do this and when? I cannot go largely into the 
 answer to this question ; but I will throw out a few 
 hints. Let him, then, study man profoundly, as he is 
 exhibited in the Bible, and feel habitually when he 
 approaches that book which is to be his familiar 
 guide, that he sees man as he has been drawn by Him 
 who knows all the secret springs of the heart, and be- 
 fore whose eyes there was no veil or disguise when 
 the character of man was drawn there — man as he 
 always has been and will be. 
 
 3. The theology that is to be preached should sus- 
 tain a proper relation to the spirit of the age. I mean 
 that it should be adapted to the habits of thinking, 
 and the modes of doing things, and the enterprises of 
 the generation in which we live. 
 
 (a) One is, that each age of the world has its own 
 peculiarity of thinking and method of doing things ; 
 and that a man who wishes to accomplish any thing 
 must be a man of that generation, and not a man of 
 a by-gone age. It is an age of enterprise and action ; 
 of rapid changes ; of new forms of thought ; of a dis- 
 position to apply any suggestion in science or morafs, 
 however slight, or however bad it may be, to new ex- 
 
280 THE EELATION OF THEOLCGY TO PEE ACHING. 
 
 periments, and to make the most of it ; of methods 
 of rapid interchanges of thought among men ; an age 
 when old barriers of opinion, and interests, and 
 religion, and laws, are everywhere tumbling down, 
 and the nations of the earth are becoming one. Now 
 he who intends to preach the gospel, makes a great 
 mistake if he does not study the age in which he 
 lives, and does not appear as one belonging to that 
 age. 
 
 (h) Again. In a theology that is to be preached, 
 the ministry should not only be endowed with the ge- 
 nial spirit of the age, but should be able to meet the 
 new questions that are coming up in every genera- 
 tion, and to apply to them, in view of an intelligent 
 community, the great principles of religion. Never 
 were more such questions started 'than in this age, 
 and never was there more need of studying pro- 
 foundly the great principles of religion, by those who 
 take upon themselves to be the guides of the public 
 mind. 
 
 Great questions of liberty, of government, of edu- 
 cation, of freedom of thought, of temperance, of the 
 right to the Bible, of exclusiveness, of war and peace, 
 of the social organization, of the adaptation of the 
 Christian religion to man, are the points which this 
 age, as such, are looking at. 
 
 (c) But further. A preacher should not only be 
 able to appreciate his age, and to come up to it in 
 adapting his instructions to the great questions which 
 are started in the times in which he lives, but he 
 stould be in advance of his age. He should be able 
 intelligently to take positions to which society in iti 
 
THE RELATION OF THEOLOGY TO PREACHING. 281 
 
 progress has not yet come np, but which it will most 
 certainly reach in its onward progress. He should 
 be able to throw himself into the future, and, taking 
 his stand on great principles which are to live in all 
 times, and which are yet to be regarded as settled 
 principles, he should be prepared to defend them, and 
 to do what in him lies to bring the world to embrace 
 them. There are not a few such in the Bible: — in 
 the comparatively unexplored views of divine truth, 
 which are to be wrought out, and which are to make 
 the world what it is yet to be. Whether those posi, 
 tions have been held in the past or not; whether his 
 own age adopts and practices on them or not, he who 
 preaches the theology of the Bible should defend 
 them, and should be able to show what important 
 changes the fair application of the principles of the 
 New Testament would make in the world The men 
 who have done much for the race have gone in ad. 
 vance of their age ; they have maintained positions, 
 often in the midst of much persecution, which soci 
 ety has not yet reached, but to which it was destined 
 yet to come, and have shown their greatness and 
 their sagacity, and their acquaintance with the oracles 
 of truth, by being able to take such advanced posi* 
 tions, and by holding and defending them in the face 
 of the sneers and the frowns of the world. Such 
 men were Luther and Knox ; such men were the Pur- 
 itans and Pilgrims ; such a man in relation to the 
 rights of conscience, to war and slavery, was Wil- 
 liam Penn. Thus, now, we are to take our stations 
 on the watch-towers, and defend not only what has 
 been defended, and maintain not only what has been 
 24* 
 
282 THE RELATION OF THEOLOGY TO PREACHING. 
 
 inwrought into the texture of society, but we are to 
 search out and maintain those great principles which 
 will prevail in the world's nriillennium, and to which^ 
 though slowly, yet most certainly, the world is advan- 
 cing. The theology to be preached is not only that 
 which has been settled as true in past times by expe^ 
 rience ; not only that which is fitted to the great 
 questions of these times, but that which will be fitted 
 to the state of the world when society shall have 
 made its highest progress, and shall have reached the 
 point on which the eyes of prophets and apostles 
 were fixed. 
 
 I had designed to have made some remarks on 
 another point, by showing that the theology which is 
 to be preached, should be in accordance with the dis- 
 closures of science ; and that the minister of religion 
 should be able to show that the system which he de- 
 fends is not antagonistic with what is revealed by the 
 blowpipe, the crucible, and the telescope ; that noth- 
 ing is gained in the end by making war on such men 
 as Galileo, and that much is lost by- leaving it prob- 
 lematical in the view of the world whether the friends 
 of the Christian revelation can hold their system con- 
 sistently with the revelations of science. 
 
CHAPTER XLTL 
 
 DOCTRINES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN AND CONVICT. 
 
 [EXTRACTS.] 
 
 Rev. Albert Barnes. 
 
 « 
 
 Why are not men in greater number more seriously 
 awakened and convicted on the subject of religion ? 
 The reason why men do not feel their guilt, is found 
 in the fact, that they have different views of sin from 
 those of God. He commands renentence on the 
 ground of what He believes to be the human charac- 
 ter, and repentance naturally results from the sinner^s 
 enteitaining the same views. When our feelings co- 
 incide with those of God, it is impossible but that 
 men should repent. Yet on no subject do men differ 
 more from their maker, than in this. He has declared 
 His views in every possible form. No man can mis- 
 take what God thinks of him, if he will give credit to 
 his declarations! He has expressed views of every 
 man which no human law, and no poetic description, 
 has ever expressed of the worst of men. 
 
 To charge a man with being a hater of God, is to 
 sum up all crimes in one ; and beyond that charge 
 you cannot go. Yet, God has charged this in man. 
 
284 DOCTEINES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN AND CONVICT. 
 
 He has done it not as an abstract and cold proceed- 
 ing ; not as a matter of poetry, romance, or declama- 
 tion ; not merely to produce to terror, but as the re- 
 sult of his profound knowledge of the human heart, 
 and of the secret deeds of every rnau. He has done 
 it, too, in the most solemn and tender manner. In 
 the midst of judgments, in his threatenings, in his 
 promises, in the dying groans and agonies of his own 
 Son. 
 
 While men diflfer from their maker, " far as from 
 the center thrice to the utmost pole," while they re- 
 gard sin as a trifle ; hell as an arbitrary appointment, 
 a place of holy martyrdom in the cause of injured in- 
 nocence ; and the scenes of Calvary as a pompous 
 show, our unmeaning displays, and a gorgeous parade, 
 they will not repent. This single reason would ac- 
 count for the fact that, men will not repent of their 
 sins. The power of the mind to which the system of 
 divine truth adapts itself is that of conscience. Its 
 province is not to communicate truth, but to coin- 
 cide with it and press it with convicting power on 
 the mind It seems almost to be an independent 
 agent, which Grod has fitted up for the special designs 
 or moral government — answering the purposes of an 
 ever present divinity : — using the language which God 
 himself would u?e ; and performing the office which 
 the divinity would perform, if he attended us every 
 moment, spoke in our hstening ears in solitude, or 
 when allured by the world, or when under the influ- 
 ence of mighty and infatuating passions. It performs 
 to men that office which Socrates fabled to be per- 
 formed by his attending genius. 
 
DOCTRINES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN AND CONVICT. 285 
 
 There is no more striking proof of God's power 
 and wisdom, than in placing this tremendous wisdom 
 in any part of his moral government; and in mak- 
 ing the guilty mind to be its own tormentor and exe- 
 cutioner. Its power — its full power has not yet been 
 known. Intimations of its terrible inflictions have 
 been given in this world, just enough to tell us what 
 it mny be in hell. Again, man is a creature of emo- 
 tions^ of hopes, and fears, and love ; susceptible of 
 pain, and joy ; of anxiety, or sorrow ; seeking peace 
 here, and capable of immortal joys in another world. 
 The gospel addresses itself to all these; and it is the 
 gospel alone which meets them fully. The utmost 
 power of /ear may be felt when a man looks at an 
 eternal hell. The farthest limit of hope may be met 
 when he looks at an eternal heaven. All the desires 
 of sympathy, friendship, love, may be gratified in the 
 prospect of an eternal heaven. The utmost intensity 
 of love may be exhausted in the effort to love God. 
 And all the mightiest powers of the soul may be sum" 
 moned in an effort to understand the works and word 
 of God and to do his will. How does his heaving 
 bosom, and the last kindliui^ of his eye. and the last 
 sighs of ambition show that he has never found what 
 was adapted to all the original propensities of men. 
 niat is the gospel of the blessed God — the voice of 
 pardon the hopes of immortality. There the mind re- 
 poses and is at ease. There, like the weary traveler 
 at. the end of his journey, not among strangers, but 
 at last at home it finds that which meets his demands ; 
 nor is there a desire of happiness, or peace ; a sus- 
 ceptibility of hope, of fancy, of friendship, of love, of 
 
286 DOCTEINES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN AND CONVICT. 
 
 botindless wishes, that is not fully met by the gospel 
 of God, acd the looking forward to immortality. 
 
 When man feels this, he weeps over the sins which 
 so long shut it from his view, and repents and turns 
 to God. He reclines his head on his redeemer's bos- 
 om, and every desire is satisfied, and he calmly waits 
 his change. Further to man the gospel comes with 
 all the terrors and the demands of law. The thun- 
 ders of Sinai, were preliminary to the designs of ttie 
 gospel. They denounce, for the purpose of arousing 
 men to seek for mercy. 
 
 The law was a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ* 
 It is designed to affect the hearts of men with a con" 
 sciousness of guilt, that they may be led to seek for 
 pardon. Men are called upon to repent by all the 
 evils of violated laws ; by all its solemn and awful 
 claims ; by the beauty and order which obeyed law 
 would confer on the universe. That law, if obeyed, 
 would have diffused peace and happiness in all worlds. 
 That law broken, has been the source o/all our woes, 
 and is now the great terrifier of men in view of future 
 calamities. 
 
 Man may be made to feel that this law is right. 
 His reason, his conscience, his fears, may all be rous- 
 ed, and his eye be fixed on the terrors of justice, and 
 the pains of hell, till he trembles, turns pale, and his 
 heart sinks within him at the remembrance of his 
 sins. Yet Ihat man should hear those truths; and 
 see that law ; and be fixed in contemplation of them, 
 is indespensable in order that they may see their guilt. 
 And we come to men with this advantage — present- 
 ing a law which conscience approves, and whose pen. 
 
DOCTEINES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN AND CONVICT. 287 
 
 alty has been fixed by the unerring decision of. the 
 wisest mind in the universe. When a man sees that 
 he has injured a friend or a benefactor, he will weep. 
 When a child is made conscious that he has violated 
 the law of a parent, and that that law is good, he will 
 weep. When a fellon feels that he has injured his 
 country ; that he has aimed a blow at its interests ; 
 that in violating law, he has, aimed a stab at all which 
 gives to his felWw men security of property, reputa- 
 tion, or life ; when a man can be made to see that, 
 you have found the way to bring him to repentance. 
 And when to all this you add the higher laws of the 
 universe, you have completed the pressure on the 
 man's conscience, and the mighty sinner miust bow 
 before God and bewail his crimes. 
 
 And here we may remark, that the goepel owes 
 much of its success in modern times, to the doctrine 
 of the hnmediate ohligation of man to obey that law. 
 In the preaching of the most successful ministers, and 
 in the revivals of religion which have characterized 
 this age and land, this doctrine has more prominently 
 than any other been kept before the view. Nor is it 
 known, that any marked success has attended any 
 other preaching than that which is based on this doc- 
 trine. This I regard as the cardinal point ; the limit 
 which separates schools of divinity ; and draws the 
 boundaries around the places where Grod eminently 
 blesses the ministry. Let a man honestly and fully 
 press this point, and on other subjects of practical 
 preaching, he will not be likely to go wrong. It was 
 this which was connected with the prototype and 
 grand exemplar of all true revivals of religion, 
 
288 DOCTEINES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN AND CONVICT. 
 
 on the day of Pentecost. And the reason of this 
 fact is easily understood. Leave a man with the 
 impression, that it is not his duty now to repent 
 and believe, but that it may he at some future time, 
 or under some more favorable influence from heaven, 
 and you send a paralysis through his whole moral 
 frame. No man will feel it and no man will care 
 about future duty. No man will tremble or be alarm- 
 ed unless he feels that he is guilty noiv and now bound 
 to obey. On a sinner's soul there is now pressing all 
 the elements of obligation that can sink it down in 
 any future scenes. Duty relates not to the luture. 
 It presses now ; and that amazing pressure the sin- 
 ner must be made to feel, or must jeopard the eternal 
 interests of his soul. 
 
 Still further, the gospel, in the sufferings and death' 
 of Jesus Christ, has exhausted all the appeals which 
 can be made to mens' sensibilities to make them feel 
 their guilt. It comes in at the end of law ; and when 
 all other topics of persuasion, have been found to be 
 ineffectual. 
 
 For four thousand years, in Pagan and Jewish lands, 
 law had uttered its denunciations almost in vain. God 
 had exhausted the forms of those appeals in the ter- 
 rors of Sinai, the inflictions of a guilty conscience ; 
 and the threatening of hell. Men were guilty — they 
 felt it — knew it. They mocked him with vain obla- 
 tions ; holy hands, and then returned to their pollu- 
 tion. It became needful that some other plan should 
 be tried to see whether men could be made so effec- 
 tually to see their guilt, and ill-desert, as to hate it, 
 and abandon it. That plan is what was expressed in 
 
DOCTRINES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN 4ND CONVICT. 289 
 
 the cross of Christ. The essence of that plan consists 
 in man's being made to see an innocent Being suffer- 
 ing unutterable agonies in his stead, and as the prop- 
 er expression of his crime. Now the value of that 
 plan may be seen by supposing, that human law had. 
 some such device. 
 
 One thing strikes every man in going into a court 
 of justice. It is that criminal, who knows his guilt, 
 and who may expect to die, is so unmoved by the 
 scene, and the danger; and especially that he seems 
 to have so little sense of the evil of the crime for 
 which he is to die. One reason is, that there is little 
 in the law that will make him feel ; and less in the 
 proceedings. His mind is taken off from his guilt, by 
 the technicalities of the law ; by the contests of ad- 
 vocates ; by the discrepancies of witnesses ; often by 
 the coldness and want of feeling in the judge, the jury 
 and hardened spectators. But suppose there could 
 be placed in full view, where the man alone could see 
 it, some innocent being voluntarily suffering what his 
 crime deserved — illustrating on the rock, or amid 
 flames just what he ought to suffer, and bearing this 
 so patiently, so mildly, as he sank into the arms of 
 death, as to be the highest expression of pure friend- 
 ship. Suppose this was the brother or the father of 
 the man he had slain, and that the dying man should 
 tell him thf.t he bore this to show the importance of 
 maintaining violated laws, and that hut for these suf- 
 ferings the guilty wretch could not be saved from 
 death, and how much more affecting would be tl i^, 
 than the mere dryness of statutes, and the pleadings 
 
 of counsels, and the charge of the judge- You may 
 25 
 
290 DOCTEINES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN AND CONVICT. 
 
 find here, perhaps, a slight illustration of the princi- 
 ple on which the gospel acts. Law had tried its pow- 
 er in vain, and the only effectual scheme is to place 
 before the sinner the innocent Lamb of God, bleeding 
 for his sins. 
 
 Thus it was said of him: '^ He shall be set for the 
 fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign 
 to be spoken against," that thereby the thoughts of 
 many hearts may be revealed. And thus, also, it was 
 prophesied : '^ They shall look upon him whom they 
 have pierced ; and shall mourn." Hence the apostles 
 met with such success; whose preaching was a little 
 more than a simple statement of the truth that Je^us 
 died and rose. And however it is to be accounted 
 for, it is this which has in all ages been attended with 
 the convictions of guilt among men. Gosner, the 
 celebrated Bavarian Catholic priest, at present a 
 protestant clergyman in Berlin, who has probably been 
 the means of the immediate conversion of more souls 
 than any man living, is said seldom to vary in his 
 manner of preaching. The love of Christ is almost 
 his constant theme, and his preaching is almost a con- 
 stant pointing out of the warm effusions of the heart 
 in the love of God, the preciousness of the Saviour, 
 and the desirableness of heaven. 
 
 The affecting experience of the Moravian mission- 
 aries in Greenland is well known. For many years 
 they endeavored to teach the benighted Pagans the 
 existence and attributes of God, and the doctrines of 
 retribution. Never was the work more unsuccessful 
 than this. The heart of the Greenlander, cold as his 
 own snowS; was unmoved ; and the missionaries ap- 
 
DOCTRINES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN AND CONVICT. 291 
 
 \ peared to toil in vain. On one occasion it happened 
 that one of them read in the hearing of a savage the 
 account of the Saviour's sufferings in the garden and 
 on the cross. ''How is this," said one of the savages, 
 "tell me it once more, for I would be saved"— and 
 laid his hand on his mouth and wept. Here was 
 learned, almost by accident, the great secret of their 
 success in the world. Pere was illustrated anew the 
 principle of the gospel, adapted to all ages and peo 
 pie, that the account of a suffering Redeemer, is to 
 be the grand means of teaching sinners everywhere 
 their guilt; and of drawing forth tears of repentance 
 from eyes, that, but for this, would never weep. 
 
 One other mode consists in bringing before a man, 
 so thet he must see it, the trenneitdoiis scenes of the 
 fud'jment. We must diminish the apparent journey 
 which he has to tread, and place him amid the scenes 
 of the judgment day. This help religion famishes to 
 bring guilty men to repentance. It assures us that 
 we shall be there ; and that that tribunal is a place 
 where the sinner must feel. You, perhaps, have 
 marked in a court of justice, some guilty man, who 
 at the beginning of his trial, assnmed the Stoic, and 
 was bold, and apparently unconcerned. Yet, you have 
 marked the change in the man when the witnesses 
 have been called ; when one circumstance after anoth- 
 er has pointed at his guilt ; when an argument to con- 
 demn him might already have been made out. And 
 you may have marked the cloud on his brow, and the 
 paleness on his cheek, when he sees some witness ad- 
 vance deliberately, who he knows is acquainted with 
 his guilt, who he hoped or believed would not have 
 
292 DOCTEINES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN AND CONVICT. 
 
 been there, and who now solemnly swears to declare 
 the whole truth. His last refuge has failed, and he 
 must die. So the sinner must be made to draw near 
 to the judgment. His delusions and evasions must 
 be swept away. He must be borne onward, and 
 must look at those scenes. Time, and friends, and 
 pleasures, and honors, must be made to leave him — 
 and he must be shut up and ejicompassed in the still, 
 solemn scenes, where conscience shall no more be si- 
 lent; where the eye of the all seeing Judge shall be 
 witness enough of guilt; and where he must stand 
 riveted by that eye, quailing beneath its piercing, hor- 
 ror stricken at an opening hell ; and amidst that vast 
 multitude, trembling by himself — surrounded by num- 
 berless millions, yet weeping apart. All this powder 
 the gospel wields ; and with this, it intends to press 
 on the soul till the haughty man is bowed down ; and 
 the hardened man melts into tears, and the profligate 
 man trembles in view of jndgment and of helL We 
 see here what makes death so teriible to a sinner. 
 The mask is then off. The world recedes and appears 
 as' it is. Its delusions have vanished. The mist is 
 gone, and the naked soul, the conscience, the feelings, 
 the apprehensions, are laid bare to the insufferable 
 blaze of truth, ane the piercings of the eye of God. 
 The tossed sinner cannot help himself then. There is 
 no delusion; no new mist; no cavern there; no far- 
 projecting rock; no way to silence the voice, or turn 
 away the eye of God. Thus it is everywhere. The 
 sinner dying, may roll and toss, but the eye of God is 
 there — everywhere— just as bright, as keen, as riving 
 — as justice and indignation can make it — and as it 
 
DOCTRINES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN AND OONVIOT. 293 
 
 will be, an eternal hell. And there too, is a finger 
 mysteriously raoviag on the wall, nor can he turn 
 from that — and writing his damnation. The man is 
 afraid to live, and afraid to die. Verily, it is a fear- 
 ful thing to die a sinner; and to lie in such a death- 
 bed as that. God grant that no sach struggling spir- 
 it of any of ray readers, may go to the judgment seat 
 of the eternal God ! 
 
 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat 
 of Christ; that every one may receive the things done 
 in his body, according to that he hath done, whether 
 it be good or bad. 
 
 Knowing therefore, the terror of the Lord, we per- 
 suade men ; but we are made manifest unto God, and' 
 I trust also are made manifest in vour consciences." 
 
 Therefore, we, who are appointed to preach the 
 gospel, having the fullest assurance of the terrors of 
 the da}^ of judgment, and of the wrath of God, en- 
 deavor to persuade men to be prepared to meet Him, 
 and to give up their account. The Lord Jesus, will 
 be seated on the throne of judgment, and will de- 
 cide the destiny of all men. Knowing how much 
 the Lord is to be feared ; what an object of terror 
 and alarm it will be to stand at the judgment seatj 
 bow fearful and awful will be the consequences of the 
 trial of that day. The Lord Jesus will be an ob- 
 ject of terror and alarm, or it will be a subject 
 inspiring terror and alarm to stand there on that 
 day because (1) He has all power, and is appoint- 
 ed to execute judgment ; (2) Because all must there 
 give a strict and impartial account of all that they 
 have done; (3) Because the wrath of God will be 
 
 23* 
 
294 DOCTKTNES ADAPTED TO AWAKEN AND CONVICT. 
 
 shown in the condemnation of the guilty. It will 
 be a day of awful wailing and alarm when all the liv- 
 ing and the dead shall be arraigned on trial with ref- 
 erence to their eternal destiny ; and when countless 
 hosts of the guilty and impenitent shall be thrust 
 down to an eternal hell. Who can describe the 
 amazing terror of the scene ? Who can fancy the 
 horrors of the hosts of the guilty and the wretched 
 who shall then hear that their doom is to be fixed 
 forever in a world of unspeakable wo ? Therefore, 
 We persuade men. We endeavor to persuade them to 
 flee from the wrath to come ; to be prepared to stand 
 before the judgment seat, and to be fitted to enter 
 ^into heaven; we endeavor to induce them by all the 
 arts of persuasion and argument to flee from the 
 wrath to come. 
 
CHAPTER XLVIL 
 IMPROVEMENTS IN THEOLOGY. 
 
 (CONGREGATIONALIST.) 
 
 By Rev. Enoch Pond, D. D. 
 
 We live, it is continually said, in an age of improve 
 ment. Tlie world moves, and while everything else is 
 going forward, why should theology be stationary ? Why 
 may we not expect improvements in that, as well as in 
 other things ? 
 
 We may expect improvements in theology. But how ? 
 In what respects ? In what ways ? Let us ascertain, as 
 well as we can, and in the fewest words ; 'in ivhat respects 
 our theology may he improved or changed. 
 
 It cannot be changed, as to the great truths, or facts f 
 which go to constitute it. These are as immutable as 
 the great facts of natural science — as immutable as the 
 eternal throne. Among these facts are the existence and 
 personal attributes and perfections of God ; the inspira- 
 tion of the Scriptures ; the facts of the Trinity — the One 
 God existing in three distinct and equal persons, Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost ; the universal purposes and provi. 
 dence of God ; the natural and entire depravity of ud- 
 renewed men ; the all sufficiency of Christ, and of the 
 
296 IMPROVEMENTS IN THEOLOGY. 
 
 atonement by His death ; tlie necessity of regeneration ; 
 justification by faith in Christ ; the eternal salvation of 
 all true believers ; the immortality of the soul ; the 
 resurrection of the dead ; the final and general judg-. 
 ment ; and the endless retributions of reward or punish- 
 ment which lie beyond it. These facts are clear ly taught, 
 some of them by the light of nature, and all of them in 
 the Bible, and are essential to the system of evangelical 
 theology. They are essential to the gospel, constitute 
 the gospel, and, as facts, can never be removed or 
 changed. Any alleged improvement which displaces 
 these great facts, or either of them, is a progress back- 
 ward — a progress tending, not to edification, but to dis- 
 integration and destruction. " Thy truth endureth to 
 all generations." 
 
 But if this be so, it will be asked : What room for 
 improvement in theology ? And what remains to the 
 theological student but to use the same form of words, 
 and run in the same ruts, forever ? These are fair ques- 
 tions, and I will attempt to answer them. 
 
 Although the great facts of theology cannot be removed 
 or changed, there may be improvement, and I trust there 
 will yet be great improvement, in the manner of stating, 
 explaining, guarding, applying, and defending them. 
 New light may* be shed upon them, their mutual con- 
 nections and dependencies may be better understood, 
 and they may be used to better purpose, " for doctrine, 
 for reproof, for correction and instruction in righteous- 
 ness." 
 
 In the respects here mentioned, there have already 
 been great improvements in theology. Any one may be 
 satisfied of this who will compare our standard theology 
 
IMPEOVEMENTS IN THEOLOGY. 297 
 
 with that of the church fathers. The early fathers of 
 the church, though of great importance to us as tvitnesses, 
 were miser;ible theohjgians. Whenever they went be- 
 yond the pLain language of Scripture — whenever they 
 undertook to restate and 'philotiophize, tbey were sure to 
 go astray. Much improvement has been made in the. 
 manner of stating and explaning the doctrine of atone- 
 ment, since the days of Origen and his follower?, who 
 represented the death of Christ as a ransom to Satan ; 
 and also since the time of Anselm, who represented it as 
 the payment of a debt. Our theology has been im- 
 proved, in some of its statements, since the time of 
 Luther and Calvin, making it more conformable to 
 Scripture, better adapting it to human want^, and ren- 
 dering it more effectual in the salvation of souls. 
 
 And as there have been improvements in theology in 
 times past, without disturbing any of its great facts and 
 principles, so, 1 "trust, tliere may be in time to come. I 
 fully sympathize with John Robinson in the belief that 
 ** more light may yet break forth out of God's Holy 
 Word " — not to contradict what that Word has already 
 settled, or to subvert any of the great truths of the 
 gospel — but to show them in fairer and better lights, 
 and make them more effective in their savino- influence. 
 In the progress of study and improvement, the truths of 
 the Gospel may be more accurately defined ; apparent 
 difficulties may be cleared away ; objections may be 
 obviated ; and the defences of the Bible and its doc- 
 trines may be strengthened. Help in this matter may 
 be gained, not only from the labors of critics and theo- 
 logians, but b}^ advances in the natural sciences. Much 
 light has broken forth already, and more may be expec- 
 
298 IMPROVEMENTS IN THEOLOGY. 
 
 ted, from the researches of the sreologrist, the tombs of 
 the Pharaohs, the relics of ruined cities, and explora- 
 tions in the holy land. 
 
 Especially do I hope that there may be gy^eat im- 
 proveinent in the mode of presenting the truths of the 
 Gospel, so as to give them increased ptoiuer and effect. 
 In themselves, these truths are of the most arousing, 
 heartstirring character. They are like " the fire and 
 the hammer which break the rock iu pieces." And 
 though their efficiency depends ultimately on the prom- 
 ised aids of the Spirit, yet much also depends on the 
 feeling and manner with which they are presented. 
 They may be so presented as to repel and harden ; and 
 they may be so presented as to melt and subdue. There 
 is room for great improvement here ; and my expecta- 
 tion is, that as we approach the millennium, great im- 
 provements, in this respect, may be realized. 
 
 But in attempting the improvements at which I have 
 hinted, one caution is to be strictly observed. In our 
 attempts to clear away rubbish, and make better expla- 
 nations of Gospel truths, we must be sure we do not 
 explain them away. That there is great danger in this 
 direction, no one at all acquainted with the history of 
 G jd's church can doubt. Most of the fatal subversions 
 of Christian doctrines have been caused in this way. 
 They have grown out of futile attempts to explain these 
 doctrines, and make them more acceptable to the carnal 
 mind and heart. The doctrine of God has been ex- 
 plained away into pantheism, and a mere figure of speech. 
 
 The doctrine of the Trinity has been explained away 
 into Sabellianism, Arianism, Socinianism, and infidelity. 
 The atonement has been explained away to a shadow ; 
 
IMPEOVEMENTS IN THEOLOGY. 299 
 
 and regeneration to a gradual improvement of life. 
 There must be, I repeat, the strictest watchfulness on 
 this point. The great facts of the Gospel, as before 
 stated, must be held with an unflinching hand ; and the 
 result of all our attempted im23rovements must be, not 
 to blink them out of sight, but to set them forth with 
 increased vividness and prominence ; not to rob them of 
 their saving power, but to make it more searching and 
 effective. Thus may the Gospel go forth in its strength 
 and brio^htness, till all the nations are blest with its 
 influence, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. 
 
CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 PREACHING CHRIST. 
 
 (AUTHORIZED ABSTRACT.) 
 
 Bishop Charles P. McIlvaine. 
 
 *^Go preacJt the gospel,'' is the substance of our Lord's 
 com'inission to his oninisters. 
 
 And the apostles so understood Him, that they 
 "ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." Re- 
 garding it as the central point of all strictly evangelic 
 cal p)reachingj they testify : '^ We preach Christ cru- 
 cified.^^ 
 
 Thus we liavQ our lesson and example. 
 
 In the way they preached, so must we endeavor to 
 preach the glorious gospel of the blessed God, the 
 truth as it is in Jesus. His work of justification by 
 his righteousness, through faith, and of sanctification 
 by his spirit through faith. When we preach the 
 law, with its searching and strict application and fear- 
 ful penalty, it must be as our school master, to bring 
 us unto Christ, that w^e may be justified by faith and 
 not by works. 
 
 But more specifically, we may enquire : ^^What is 
 it to preach Christ '} " 
 
PREACHING CHRIST. 301 
 
 We have a great example, our Lord^s own teaching. 
 It is written that after His resurrection, meeting His 
 disciples, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He 
 expounded unto them, in all the Scriptures, the things 
 concerning Himself. We, therefore, must teach sin- 
 ners to know Christ, and to count all things but lost 
 for the excellency of the knowledge of Him. 
 
 He is the central point of a vast system of grace, 
 around 'which there is a circle of doctrines, and duties, 
 and promises, mutically dependent upon Him and each 
 other. That system, like that of our sun, has a centre 
 by which all the parts are held in place, from which 
 all their light and life proceeds, and around which all 
 revolve. 
 
 Now, what is the best method of setting forth this 
 system of divine grace ? 
 
 We should begin by directing the sinner , conscious of 
 guilt and ruin, to the Lamb of God. 
 
 " For I delivered unto you, first of all," said St. 
 Paul, ^'that which also I received, how that Christ 
 died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." We 
 tnust "expound in all the Scriptures the things con- 
 cerning Himself." 
 
 We must preach Christ in His essential glory, His 
 divinity and humanity, ^^equal luith God*^ — 'Hhe man, 
 Christ Jesus," — not only His atoning death, but His 
 perfect, exemplary life. We must remember that 
 "He is able to save to the uttermost, seeing He ever 
 liveth to make intercessions for us." 
 
 As we preach a glorified, risen Saviour, we must 
 
 proclaim His supreme authority, in receiving His 
 26 
 
302 PREACHING CHRIST. 
 
 redeemed children to heavenly felicity, and in casting 
 rejectors of His gospel down to hell. 
 
 In all the tenderness of His invitations and prom- 
 ises to penitent sinners, He still threatens the rebel- 
 lions and wicked with the consequences of sin. He 
 points them to "the great day of the wrath of the 
 Lamhy 
 
 He should also be preached as being Himself in 
 His glory and communion, the htaven of His people. 
 His promise to them is : ''I will come again and 
 receive you to myself; that where I am, there ye may 
 be also." 
 
 We must also preach His ever-present, personal 
 ministry in and to His Church on earth. He is the 
 good Shepherd who calleth every one of His flock 
 by name and leadeth him out. O, what a help and 
 comfort it is to know that we have His living, loving, 
 all-powerful presence ! 
 
 We must preach, too, the fullness and freeness of 
 His offers of salvation. The light of the sun is not 
 more free to every man that cometh into the world, 
 than is the salvation of Jesus to every believing 
 sinner. 
 
 Again, we must preach Christ, not only as our 
 Hghteousness, but as our sanctification. 
 
 The beginning of sanctification is to be born again 
 of the Holy Ghost. But how shall we speak of so 
 great a spiritual change, without speaking with equal 
 stress of Him who produced it. Jesus said of the Ho- 
 ly Ghost: "He shall take of mine and show it unto 
 you. He shall quicken your mortal bodies by His 
 spirit that dwelleth in you. 
 
PEEACHING CHRIST. S03 
 
 We must also preach Christ as a gracious Saviour. 
 For it is written, 'By grace are ye saved, through 
 faith ; and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of 
 God; not of works lest any man should boast. For 
 we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto 
 good works." 
 
 Therefore we must preach such good luorks, first, 
 as absolutely excluded from having any part in pro- 
 curing our justification before God; secondly, as 
 essential fruits and evidences of our having obtained 
 such justification. 
 
 Further, we read of " the goodness and severity of 
 GodJ^ "We beseech you," says the apostle, " by the 
 mercies of God ;" and again, "Knowing the terror of 
 the Lordj we jpersuade men ;" the love of God in 
 Christ as a Saviour, and the wrath of God in Christ 
 as a judge of quick and dead — a cloud of light 
 and a cloud of darkness, each proceeding from the 
 Cross as accepted or rejected. We must do all in 
 teiidernessj but all in faithfulness . 
 
 From what has now been said, we learn that in 
 confining our preaching to so great an extent to 
 Christ, we are not circuniscribed. ]n reality, we have 
 in preaching Christ crucified, the luhole vast range of 
 truth — of natural and revealed religion. You may 
 take truth from the immediate neighborhood of the 
 cross, or from the farthest domain of Christianity, 
 and when its just relation to Christ and his redemp- 
 tion is exhibited, Christ is preached. Thus, there is 
 no reason why, in the most faithful ministry, there 
 may not be abundant variety of topics of instruction. 
 
 The sermon may be always shining in the light of 
 
804 PREACHING CHEIST.' 
 
 our glorious Lord, while receiving it either by direct 
 looking unto Him, or indirectly from secondary ob- 
 jects, which as satellites of the sun, revolve around 
 Him and shine in His glory. It may in all its spirit 
 and tendency say : "Behold the Lamb of God." 
 
 In closing, I observe that in order to preach Christ 
 with effect, the minister must be thorough in faith» 
 Although the results of preaching should not immedi- 
 ately appear, it must not be diluted with any subter- 
 fuges or devices of men's wisdom. The minister 
 must believe that God will bless as his own "His 
 wisdom and power unto salvation." For we preach 
 not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. 
 
 We must not change the 'message to gratify the de- 
 pravity of men. "We believe and therefore speak." 
 The more the saving truth of the evangelical system 
 is disrelished, so much the more must we proclaim 
 it. God will see to the issue. "So we preach not as 
 pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. 
 
 The old exhortation still sounds aloud through the 
 church, and will to the end, ^'preach the word," — the 
 same old word — instant in season, and so do the work 
 of an evangelist, and make full proof of thy ministry. 
 Expect great residts, and labor for great results, and 
 you shall see the hearts of the disobedient, under the 
 power of God, turned unto the wisdom of the jusf^ 
 
 But to preach Christ effectively is not only a " work 
 of faith, it is a labor of love^ 
 
 It is vastly important that ministers have a very 
 earnest, tender, and overcoming love, to give living 
 religion to oar theology and the mind of Christ to 
 our teachings concerning him. He will preach most 
 
PEEACHING CHRIST. 305 
 
 effectively who loves most His preaching will go 
 most to the heart, and will be attended with most of 
 the Spirit, who in all he says and does is most con- 
 strained by the love of Christ dictating, animating, 
 sanctifying with the tenderness and patient earnest- 
 ness of his Master's mind, his whole discourse. 
 
 Oh, that we were more earnest to grow in this 
 grace ! What ought we to value in personal attain- 
 ments compared with it ! 
 
 And still with a trustful and loving spirit we must 
 ever remember that " We have this treasure in earthen 
 vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of 
 God and not of us.'^ Therefore "I commend you to 
 God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to 
 build you up and make you good stewards of the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ," 
 26* 
 
CHAPTER XLIX. 
 THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. 
 
 [CONGREGATIONALIST.] 
 
 By Ret. Geo. H. Hepworth. 
 *' Wie know that his testimony is true. — John xxi: 24, 25., 
 
 As we sit at the feet of the Lord, how perfectly his 
 words tit our experience, and develop for our acceptance 
 the only course of education that can make us whole. 
 We hear Him saying : " Except a man be born again, 
 he cannot see the kingdom of God." It is evident, then 
 that it is not a matter of improvement, of which the 
 moralist delights to speak, that He demands, but a 
 thorough, change of base. If we look at Rom. iii : ] 0, 11 , 
 12, 23, we shall find what God thinks of human nature and 
 its needs; and if we then carefully study our own 
 hearts, we shall be compelled to confess that, until some 
 change takes place, we are aliens and strangers. - 
 
 We must never cease to think of Christ with deep 
 gratitude, because in the fullness of His pity for us He 
 was willing to undergo so great misery for our good. 
 When I pray, I have a certain satisfaction in the feel- 
 ing that Christ, though risen and glorified, is not forget- 
 ful of the weaknesses of the flesh, since He himself 
 
THE MINISTEY OF JESUS. 307 
 
 wrestled with and overcome them ; and that for this 
 reason He will have the more mercy on me. We know 
 that God is acquainted with all these things ; our Clirist 
 has experienced them in his own person ; and that fact- 
 is a personal tie between us and him. 
 
 Then we will not forget that in the use of the simile 
 of the vine and the branches, Christ made our duty to 
 consist in trustinsj Him and receivingr from Him. It 
 will never do for the branch to be ambitious to have a 
 root of its own, or for the soul to feel that it is person. 
 8.11y responsible to find its own way through life. -The 
 glory of the branch is that it receives its life from the 
 vine, and is satisfied simply to grow, and blossom, and 
 bear fruit with thanksgiving ; and the glory of the soul 
 is to know that Christ will take care that the life is all 
 right if only it love Him and cling to Him with trust. 
 The worry drops out of life, and the peace comes in, when' 
 we give up trying to be the vine, and rest content to 
 draw our life from the Lord. 
 
 Keitlier will we forget that we are taught self-denial 
 and love of others as the shortest road to happiness. 
 This is a novel doctrine, but not more novel than true. 
 The supreme satisfactions come when we work and pray 
 for others. We cannot find peace except by giving peace 
 to our neighbors. Losing is finding, is the Gospel doc* 
 trine. Love yourself last, is a motto hard to adopt, bufe 
 it contains the secret of life. Jesus talked of this con#' 
 stantly, and exemplified it perfectly. Never did one? 
 tread the earth who loved as He did, or w^ho was s& 
 willincr to give himself if only the world could find light: 
 in? darkness thereby. The cross is the symbol of an utter 
 lo^ssof self, and of an abounding and, abiding love. 
 
308 THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. 
 
 And lastly, when we turn our thoughts towards the 
 setting sun, we find that even the shadows of night are 
 tipped with glory. " I go to prepare a place for you," 
 the Master said to his disciples, and ever since we have 
 felt sure oi the future. This life is like a winding 
 country road that leads over the hill, across the plain, 
 through the forest, and finally ends apparently at the 
 margin of the river. But the ending is only apparent, 
 for with the eye of faith we can see that beyond the 
 washing fiood it continues through a country as yet un- 
 explored. 
 
 And so we have found, in the lessons that stretch 
 through the Bible, that Jesus holds every possible prob- 
 lera in his grasp. No man can have an experience in 
 which the Lord cannot help him, and none can have a 
 doubt wliich he cannot satisfy. It is our privilege to 
 cling to the cross. In Europe the priests of certain 
 churches will show you a minute atom, or splinter, of 
 the cross, as a sacred r^ilic. It is not enough. The whole 
 cross is ours ; and he that was nailed thereon is our best, 
 our strongest, and our most loving friend. If we obey 
 Him, life will be sweet, and death will be robbed of its 
 terror?. 
 
 We have followed the footsteps of Jesus with such in. 
 creasing wonder and awe, that we are now ready to 
 exclaim with Thomas : " My Lord, and my God." He 
 has been very tender in his dealings with the penitent, 
 very upcompromising with the persistently evil-minded, 
 and very compassionate towards every one in great sor- 
 row and affliction. 
 
 I. From what we have seen hiin do, we have learned 
 that he is the Counsellor, the Mighty God, prophesied by 
 
THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. 309 
 
 Isaiah. We believe this, if not by faith, at least for the 
 *' works' sake." Hence the authority that attaches to 
 His commands. Our method of living is not left to our 
 personal convictions at all ; it is ordered by the Lord. 
 We are never asked what we think of this or that duty, 
 we are called upon to obey ; and our best and truest 
 convictions come alwavs as the result of that obedience. 
 We wrong ourselves, and put obstacles in our way, when 
 we first theorize concerning right and wrong, and then 
 search the Book for proof texts. If the Book is the Word 
 of G()d, its authority is final, and we have no right to 
 disobey its injunctions or call in question its assertions. 
 The hiohest life is the life of strictest obedience. The 
 most important revelations of God's will come when the 
 soul is passive and self-forgetful. 
 
 II. Christ's blessed ministry did not end at the cross. 
 When he said : " I will come again," it was equivalent 
 to a premise never to leave those that trust in Him. He 
 said, also : " He that loveth me shall be loved of my 
 Father ; and I will love him, and manifest myself to 
 him." Christ is in the world to. day, then, in answer to 
 prayer. We can be "hidden with Christ," and, as it 
 were, lose ourselves in graininof Him. When He was on 
 earth. He was subject to the limitations of His body. 
 He could not be in Galilee and Jerusalem at the same 
 moment. Now that He has risen, however. He has be- 
 come tlie very Spirit of God, that is neither confined by 
 time nor space. I never tire of reading the fourteenth 
 chapter of John, because it is full of the promise to 
 minister to us at all times ; and I take especial delight 
 in the twentieth verse of the seventeenth chapter, in 
 which, while yet in the flesh, he actually prayed for you 
 
310 THE MINISTRY OP JESUS. 
 
 and me. It imposes on the soul a peculiar responsibility 
 to know that Jesus remembered us in His petitions. 
 
 III. The written word, then, becomes our infallible 
 guide, because it is the gift of God. It must not be for- 
 gotten, however, that to many the Bible is still '* a 
 stumbling-block " and " an offence.'^ *' The mystery of 
 holiness " must not be denied. No one understands the 
 Bible, or gets much comfort from it, unless he feels his 
 need of it, and goes to it in that spirit. The critic, 
 though he may recognize its rhetorical grandeur, can 
 form no conception of its helpfulness so long as the 
 critical spirit prevails. The hungry man appreciates 
 food, and the souLsick man understands the Bible. 
 Standing outside the cathedral, you may see enough of 
 the stained windows to know that they must be beautiful 
 and costly ; but it is only when you cross the threshold 
 and enter into the building when the sun is shining 
 through them, that you see them in all their splendor. 
 The Christian, not the critic, knows Christ. 
 
CHAPTER L. 
 
 CHRIST'S PRACTICAL PREACHING. 
 
 [ANONYMOUS.] 
 
 The minister who aims at reforming his hearers in 
 the practical duties of life must follow the example of 
 the Divine Teacher himself. He must inquire, how did 
 Jesus Christ preach the Gospel ? ^ 
 
 He forbade family quarrels. He warned his hearers 
 against the evil practices of the Scribes and Pharisees. 
 He bade no one dare to come to the temple to worship 
 until he had paid his debts. He not only enjoined upon 
 them not to commit adultery, but told them what the 
 first step in adultery ivas that they might shun it. He 
 talked to them about their fannilies and their latu-suitsy 
 and their habits of harrowing. He told them how they 
 should accost people in the streets, what they should give 
 away, and how they should do it, how they should prayy 
 and how they should keep fast. day. He told them how 
 religion bore upon their business and their associations. 
 He bade them not to bach-bite or slander. He warned 
 them against preachers who came preaching false doc- 
 trines. He taught them the true principles of temper- 
 ancCj in eating and drinking, and the moderate indul- 
 gence of all the passions. He taught the doctrine of 
 
312 CHRIST'S PRACTICAL PREACHING. 
 
 total abstinence from everything 'positively injurious to 
 the body or the soul, and moderation and temperance in 
 the indulgence of everything healthful and innocent. 
 He taught that we should /ee(i? the hungry and clothe the 
 naked, that we should not oppress or rob the poor ; but 
 obey the golden rule in all our relations with our fellow 
 men whether rich or poor. 
 
 Common things the great teacher discussed in common 
 language, enlivening his discourse with pungent question^ 
 ing, illustrating it by numerous stories, and garnishing 
 it with vivid and beautiful pictures, drawn from summer 
 fields and humble homes. Throuoh it all sans; the ten- 
 der undertone of love, pity far the suffering, strength for 
 the lueaJc, trust and comfartfar the poor, 
 
 O ! no wonder the people were astonished at his doc- 
 trine, and that whence came down from the mountain 
 great multitudes followed him ! " And the common 
 people heard him gladly," " for all the people were very 
 attentive to hear Him." 
 
 1st. He was the servant and messenger of God. He 
 came to do the work of his Father. lie spake by His 
 authority. So ministers are the servants and messen- 
 gers of Christ. They are engaged in His work ; they 
 speak by His authority. 
 
 2d. The ministry of Christ was characterized by love 
 to m.an as man — as a lost and sinful being. The vilest 
 sinners were objects of Mis compassion. The same love 
 should actuate his ministers, and carry them to the 
 abodes of the knuly and vile wherever found. 
 
 3d. Christ's ministry was characterized by a hopeful 
 spirit. Publicans and harlots and the thief upon the 
 cross, He did not regard as beyond the reach of salvation. 
 
CHAPTER LI. 
 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 (EXTRACTS.) 
 
 By Ret. Wm. C. Walton. 
 
 While Dr. Robert Finley, of Basking Ridge, was 
 preaching on a subject which had not in tlie preparation 
 excited any unusual interest in his mind, he said : " there 
 was given to him a view which was worth the world." 
 This " vieiv " formed an era in his ministerial life ; it 
 was the covunencement oj a.pcnuerfal revival of religion ; 
 it gave a new character to his preaching, and to it may 
 be traced nearly all his subsequent usefulness; 
 
 It was no new revelation. It was only a correct view 
 of a truth which he had before seen but very indis- 
 tinctly, and believed as though he believed it not. 
 Before it had made only a feeble impression ; now it 
 thrilled through his soul with all the power and enthu- 
 siasm of a new discovery ; and prepared him to exhibit 
 the Gospel message to his dying fellow-men, not as one 
 who had learned it by hearsay, but as one who had 
 " seen, and felt, and handled of the word of life." 
 
 The same has been true of many others ; and it is '■ 
 
 doubtless, in a great measure, owing to the want of such 
 27 
 
314 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 views and feelings, that the "ministrations of some "men 
 are so powerless. Facts con oborate this conclusion. It 
 was while the ministers of the Gospel weie "full of 
 faith and of the Holy Ghost," that the " word of the 
 Lord grew and multiplied " in primitive times. 
 
 The success of Luther was evidently connected with 
 those discoveries of divine truths which he said were 
 " like opening to him the gates of paradise." 
 
 Livingston's sermon at the Kirk of Shotts, by which 
 five hundred souls were converted, was preached under 
 a similar influence. It was after a whole night spent in 
 prayer and communion with God. His soul was filled 
 with the spirit of Heaven, which caused his face to shine 
 as did the face of Moses when he descended from the 
 mount ; and gave a power and an unction to his appeals 
 which melted the hearts of his hearers. And while 
 hundreds and thousands were converted by the ministry 
 of Whitefield, he said his experience verified our Sav- 
 iour's declaration : " He that believeth in me, as the 
 scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of 
 living water." 
 
 Brainerd had such views of the worth of souls, of the 
 guilt and wretchedness of their condition while impeni- 
 tent, and such a desire that God might be glorified in 
 their salvation, that at times he declared he felt as 
 though he could not live, unless the Indians among 
 whom he labored were converted. . Those who have read 
 his life will recollect with what amazing power his min- 
 istry was attended after such exercises. Besides the dis- 
 coveries made to the Rev. Wm. Tennent, during the 
 period of his suspended animation, he had on one occa- 
 sion such views, while walking alone in a grove, just 
 
SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 315 
 
 before preaching, that he fell prostrate upon the earth, 
 and was unable to walk to the church without assis- 
 tance. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Flavel, while on a journey to a place 
 where, I think, he had an appointment to preach, had 
 views of the divine glory, and of heavenly things, 
 which so absorbed and entranced his mind as to 
 produce an entire oblivion of surrounding objects, and 
 such an excitement of feeling as caused a profuse bleed, 
 inof at the nose. When he became conscious of his 
 situation, he found himself sitting by a brook in the 
 road, faint from the loss of blood. He continued in the 
 same ecstatic state of mind during the whole of afternoon 
 and night — slept none at all, but said it was one of the 
 most refreshing nights he ever spent. He used after- 
 wards to call that day *' one of the days of heaven. 
 
 As to many too, whose ministry has life and interest 
 in it and whose discourses often produce a solemn im- 
 pression, it is a serious question, whether they do not 
 too generally preach without aiming at ihQ immediate 
 conversion of sinners ? Is not such an event so far from 
 *heir thoughts, that if it were to occur, it would occasion 
 surprise ? Do not their views terminate upon the mere 
 discussion of the subject, or at most, on laying the foun- 
 dation for future good to their hearers ? Are they look- 
 ing for any jpresent results, corresponding to the objects 
 contemplated in the ministerial commission ? 
 
 Tne more we look at this subject, then, the more im^ 
 portant will its discussion appear, especially to theo- 
 logical students and to young ministers. For such it 
 it was commenced, and to such it is affectionately ad- 
 dressed. My plan is to present, as far as my limits will 
 
316 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 permit, an analysis of the vietus and feelings yvhich have 
 been found by experience to be coDnected with success 
 in preaching the Gospel, What are they ? Among 
 them are the followinsr : 
 
 1. An affecting view of our personal ohligations to 
 Christ J not only for redeeming ^inercy, hut for the honor 
 conferred upon us by putting us into the ministry. 
 
 If God had associated with himself the angels in the 
 work of creation, they would doubtless have regarded it 
 as a high honor, but it would have been as far inferior 
 to the honor conferred upon those who are employed in 
 carrying forward the work of redemption, as this world 
 is inferior to the paradise above. 
 
 Yet all this superior honoris conferred upon ministers 
 of the Gospel. They are called " laborers together with 
 God." They are his " builders," his under. workmen in 
 carrying forward that spiritual temple, which is to be a 
 habitation for himself, which he has so magnificently 
 described in the Bible, and which will doubtless be a 
 theme of admiration and joy to the universe, to all eter- 
 nity. 
 
 . The Apostle Paul thought Moses judged correctly in 
 preferring the reproach of Christ to the treasures of 
 Egypt. And so he himself regarded all the obloquy 
 and suffering connected with the Gospel ministry. What 
 though he was cast off by his friends and kindred, and 
 despised by the world, he could look to the thousands 
 whom he had converted to Christ as his glory and joy, 
 and his crown of rejoicing ! He appeared to be amazed 
 at the honor conferred upon him by putting him into the 
 ministry, although it was connected with the most ardu- 
 
SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 317 
 
 ous, incessant, and exhausting labors, and exposed hina 
 to scorn and reproach, to suffering and death. 
 
 At the close of his career, standing as it were on the 
 wreck of all he had sacrificed for Christ, and on the very 
 verge of Heaven, he utters this triumphant language : 
 " I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my de- 
 parture is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have 
 finished my cause, I have kept the faith, henceforth 
 there is laid up for me a crcmn of righteousness which 
 the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to me in that 
 day." 
 
 Similar views and feelings have sweetened the toils 
 of successful ministers in every age ; reconciled them to 
 hardship and suffering ; given an unction to their 
 preaching, and stimulated their minds to a holy and 
 persevering activity ; while those who were under the 
 influence of other views and feelings, have yielded to 
 indolence, or sunk in despondency ; or like Salmasius, 
 wasted their lives in laboriously doiog nothing 1 
 
 2. A peculiar sensibility to the honor of Godf and a 
 desire for His glory ^ so strong as to amount to a ruling 
 passion. Worldly men feel that the honor of God is 
 his own concern, and that an omnipotent being can take 
 care of his own glory, without any care or co-operation 
 on their part. Such, too, are the real feelings of cold- 
 hearted Christians ; and nothing is a more certain indi- 
 cation of incipient backsliding, than a diminished anxiety 
 for the honor of God, or a less acute sensibility to the 
 contempt which is thrown upon him by impenitent sin- 
 ners. 
 
 The faithful servant of Christ will spontaneously say 
 
 with the Psalmist : " I beheld the transgressors and was 
 27* 
 
318 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 grieved.'''' " Rivers of waters run down my eyes, because 
 men keep not thy law." " Horror has taken hold of me, 
 because of the wicked who transgress thy law." The 
 honor of his Saviour lies nearer to his heart than any 
 other interest. The precious name of Jesas is as oint- 
 ment poured forth to his soul ; and he desires above all 
 thiogs to see it honored by redeemed sinners. 
 
 3. An affecting view of the guilt and luretchedness 
 of those who are living without hope, and without God 
 in the world. 
 
 Those who have been most successful will testify that 
 the pungency and power of their preaching have been 
 almost in exact proportion to the clearne.ss of their views 
 of the sfuilt and wretchedness of the sinner. 
 
 Perhaps there is no one respect in which ministers and 
 Christians in a revival, differ from what they are out of 
 a revival, more than in this. Never will a feeble im- 
 pression of such a subject lead us to dwell upon it, and 
 to give it that prominence in our pra3''ers and preaching, 
 which are essential to any proper effect in the minds of 
 others. Every experienced minister knows that the 
 most pathetic appeals, founded on the mere danger to 
 which the impenitent are exposed, and tlie most thun- 
 dering representations of Hell and damnation, seldom 
 produce any permanent effect, while the cause which 
 exposes the sinner to danger is kept out of view. That 
 cause is his guilt ; and that guilt arises from the viola, 
 tion of his obligations. 
 
 The sinner must be made to see this ; and he never 
 can see it, until he is made to feel that he acted freely, 
 and might have done otherwise ; that this is true, not 
 only in reference to some sins, but in reference to every 
 
SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 3J9 
 
 sin. In this way alone cdn he be made to feel that he 
 is without excuse for being an enemy to God, and for all 
 his disobedience both to the law and to the Gospel. 
 
 It is evident that such views are adapted to produce 
 conviction, and to lead to repentance ; and that where 
 these points are made clear, and urged in such a 7)ian- 
 ner as the feelings of a minister will dictate, who him- 
 self sees them clearly and feels them deeply, an effect 
 will be produced, very different from anything which 
 could be expected to result from confused or erroneous 
 representations of human agency, or from a cold and 
 heartless exhibition, even of the truth itself. 
 
 Whatever may be the speculative opinions of min- 
 isters with regard to the nature of depravit}', inability, 
 regeneration, etc., it is a fact, that where their ministry 
 is successful, as it is in revivals, they preach to siiiners 
 as if they believed them to be possessed of all the 
 powers of moral agency, capable of turning to God, and 
 on this account (and no other), inexcusible lor not doing 
 so. 
 
 But further : -There must also be such a view of the 
 sinner's present and prospective ivretchedness, as will 
 excite feelings of deep and tender sympathy, or that 
 compassion which will prompt a minister to put in to 
 requisition the whole force of his mind, in the employ- 
 ment of the wisest and best adapted instrumentalities 
 for saving those that are lost. 
 
 Under the influence of such feelings, he " gives him- 
 self to prayer and to the ministry of the word." He is 
 " instani in season and out of season ; " " becomes all 
 things to all men, if by any means he may save some." 
 And while he keeps his mind fixed upon the object for 
 
320 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 which he is laboring, his " head is often as waters, and 
 his eyes as a fountain of tears; " for, in the light of 
 divine truth, he sees his fellow-men accumulating guilt 
 and wretchedness upon themselves, and sinking to end- 
 less sorrow and despair ; and he cannot but weep to 
 think how many will be lost in spite of all his efforts to 
 save them ; and also, to see how few Christians and 
 ministers are laboring as if they really felt that they 
 were '^pulling sinners out of the fire,'' and rescuing 
 them from the damnation of hell. 
 
 4. A strong sense of the absolute certainty of the 
 proraises to the church, and a correspondent joy and 
 confidence of success in the work of the ministry. 
 
 No man is prepared to speak with boldness, and min- 
 isterial authority, while he staggers at the pi'omises ; or 
 while his faith falters as to the aid which he may expect 
 from God, in every well directed effort for the salvation 
 of souls. And yet there is hardly any point in which 
 ministers, as well as private Christians, fail more lament- 
 ably than they do here. 
 
 Who can doubt, that in a majority -of cases, where 
 efforts for a revival are without success, it is because the 
 people of God do not expect to succeed ? On the con- 
 trary, when their confidence has been high, and yet hum- 
 ble, resting on the mighty power of the Spirit, and the 
 efficacy of the word preached, when has God ever failed 
 to send down his blessing ? 
 
 Two things, however, are absolutely essential to a 
 well founded confidence of this kind. First, Christians 
 must live such lives, as to enjoy full, full and decisive 
 evidence, that they are the children of God, and are 
 entitled to plead the promises as belonging to them- 
 
SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 321 
 
 selves. Secondly, they must be settled immovably, and 
 on strict inquiry of their own, in the belief of the dis- 
 tinguishing doctrines of the Gospel — the great doctrines 
 of grace. 
 
 Said Brainerd : " My soul breathed after God, and 
 pleaded with him that ' a double portion of that spirit ' 
 which was given to Elijah, might rest on me. And that 
 which was divinely refreshing and strengthening to my 
 soul was I saw, that God is the same that he tvas in the 
 days of Elijah. Nothing seemed too hard for God to 
 perform; nothing too great for me to hope for frotn 
 Him,'' Again he says : " I saw with the greatest cer- 
 tainty, that the arm. of the Lord must he revealed for 
 the help of these poor heathen, if ever they were de- 
 livered from the bondage of the powers of da,rkness. 
 Tiiough the work of their conversion appeared impos- 
 sible luith man, yet tuith God I saw all things were 
 possible.^' 
 
 Said Payson: — "0 what a Master do I serve 1 I have 
 known nothing, felt nothing all my days, even in com- 
 parison witii what I now see in him. Never was preach- 
 ing such sweet work as it is now. Never did the world 
 seem such a nothing ; never did heaven appear so near, 
 so sweet, overwhelmingly glorious ! God's promises 
 appear so strong^ so solids, so real, so substantial, more 
 so than the rocks and everlasting hills. And His per- 
 fections — what shall I say of them. When I think of 
 one, I wish to dwell upon it forever. But another and 
 another, equally glorious, claims a share of admiration ; 
 and when I begin to praise I wish never to cease, but 
 have it the commencement of that sons; which will never 
 end. Let who will be rich, or admired, or prosperous. 
 
822 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 it is enough for me that there is such a God as Jehovah, 
 such a Saviour as Jesus, and that they are infinitely and 
 unchangeably glorious and happy." 
 
 Abraham believed that " what God had promised, He 
 was able also to perform." 
 
 An eminent servant of God in our day believed that 
 "God could stop a steamboat " when it was necessary 
 to accomplish an object of importance connected with 
 his own glory ; and the event, in both cases, proved that 
 it was not a vain thing to trust in God, and the circum- 
 stances of the one were almost as remarkable a proof of 
 a divine interposition as those of the other. An ancient 
 prophet, with the most appalling difficulties before him, 
 could say Avith confidence, "/s anything too hard for the 
 LordV And Paul with equal confidence could say: 
 '^ I believe God, that it shall he even as He hath said*'' 
 Such is the faith that is necessary to success in the min- 
 istry of the present day. It must be such as to give us 
 the certainty of actual vision. It must be the confidence 
 of things hoped for ; the persuasion of things not seen. 
 With such a faith, a minister cannot only preach confi- 
 dently, but act boldly and decidedly. It serves him as 
 a sort of optical instrument, by which he can take such 
 views of spiritual and eternal things, as will stimulate 
 his mind, warm his heart, and fill his mouth with argu. 
 ments. And preaching under the influence of such views 
 and feelings, he will make impressions upon the minds of 
 others with regard to the reality of religion, and the 
 certainty of God's declarations, which could never be 
 made by one in the confused and doubtful state of mind 
 before described. Garrick's reply to the minister who 
 questioned him in regard to the comparative effects of 
 
SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 323 
 
 pulpit and stage oratory, will here be remembered ; 
 and notbing could be more correct. " Why is it," said 
 the minister, "that we who preach truth produce so little 
 effect, while you who deliver nothing but fiction often 
 excite such powerful emotions 1" The reason is this, 
 said Garrick ; " You preach truth as if it were fiction ; 
 and we deliver fiction as if it were truth." 
 
 Let every man who may read these pages, ask himself, 
 how far he believes things simply on the ground of Gad's 
 declarations? How far he is prepared to take God 
 at his word, and to act upon what He states as being 
 truth itself, more certain than the evidence of the senses, 
 or the demonstrations of science ? The answer to these 
 questions will furnish him not only with a test of his 
 own character, but with the probable measure of his fu- 
 ture usefulness. To the want of faith in the divine 
 promises and threatenings may be attributed, in a great 
 degree, the want of feeling, which is apparent in most 
 sermons we hear. 
 
 5. A deep conviction of personal responsibiliti/ in 
 reference to the conversion of sinners, and the advance- 
 inient of the Redeemer's kingdom. 
 
 The real and practical feeling of many respecting this 
 subject, is, that it is God's cause, and that he will take 
 care of it, and convert as many sinners as he intended to 
 convert, from the foundation of the world, whether 
 means are used or not. But the successful preacher, 
 while he believes that salvation is the work of God, does 
 not believe so in any sense which would release ministers 
 or private Christians from responsibility in relation to 
 it. He understands the divine plan as so connecting the 
 conversion of sinners with the right application of means, 
 
324 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 that he can find no rest to his soul in the neolect of these 
 means. He believes further, that God will make use of 
 ministers, in building up his kingdom, in proportion to 
 the skill and assiduity with which they employ the 
 means, so that if they are unwise to win souls to Christ, 
 or unfaithful in regard to the use of means, souls will 
 be lost which mi^ht have been saved. That this sense 
 of responsibility is connected with ministerial success, 
 we have evidence in the fact, that it is always felt most 
 deeply before a revival, and during its progress. It is 
 indeed one of the most powerful stimulants to those 
 efforts which God is wont to bless to the conversion of 
 sinners. 
 
 6. A strong sense of the folly and luicJcedness of suf. 
 fering the mind to he unduly influenced hy the opinions 
 of men. 
 
 Said Paul : — " It is a light thing to be 'judged of you, 
 or of man's judgment." Again he says : — " Even so we 
 preach, not as pleasing men, but God who trieth our 
 hearts." "If I yet pleased men, I should not be the 
 servant of Jesus Christ." 
 
 It was necessary to our Lord's success in the great 
 work He had to accomplish, " that he should make hinfi- 
 self of no reputation.'" It is no less necessary, that his 
 ministers should in an important sense do the same. 
 
 Said Pearce : " I feel a superiority to all fear and a 
 conscious dignity in being an ambassador of God." 
 
 I thank God that I possess an abiding determination 
 to aim at the consciences of the people in every dis- 
 course. I have borne the most positive testimony against 
 the prevailijig evils of professors here ; — and last night 
 told an immense crowd 'of professors, of the first rank, 
 
SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 325 
 
 that if they made custom and fashion their plea, they 
 were awfully deluding their own souls. For it had always 
 been the fashion to insult God, to dissipate time, and to 
 pursue the broad road to hell ; but it would not lessen 
 their torments there, that the way to damnation was the 
 fashion. 
 
 7. A strong, habitual sense of the one great object 
 of our vocation lohich exerts a governing influence over 
 the mind. 
 
 It is pleasing to believe, that an increasing number 
 are, every year, entering the ministry from correct 
 motives, and it is pleasing to anticipate the success of 
 such. But there is reason to fear, that not a few are 
 led to adopt the ministry as a profession, only because 
 they think it preferable to law or medicine. Without 
 first apprehensions of the ministry ; and without these 
 feelings which have been described as requisite to' its 
 success. 
 
 8. Practical Wisdom. 
 
 This is shown in the adaptation of public discourses, 
 private conversation, and all the other measures used to 
 the characters and circumstances of the people addressed. 
 Men of this character, study to acquire such a knowledge 
 of the state of things in their congregations, as will ena- 
 ble them to operate upon the minds of their people to 
 the greatest advantage. They avail themselves of every 
 passing occurrence that excites interest, and of every 
 rising tide of events or favorable state of feeling in the 
 church ; and endeavor to make all such things sub- 
 servient to the best interests of religion. When they see 
 a good opjDortunity for making a ^'special effort," they 
 
 do not shrink from any additional labor or responsibility 
 28 
 
326 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 it will devolve upon them, but meet both the labor and 
 the responsibility, with cheerfulness and confidence in 
 God ; rejoicing to be counted worthy either to do or to 
 suffer anything which shall advance the Eedeemer's 
 glory. By cherisfiing an habitual and intense solicitude 
 for the conversion of sinners, they require a peculiar tact 
 in conducting meetings, and conversing with persons in 
 an anxious state of mind. 
 
 Again. Errors have often been committed, in the 
 appointment and management of protracted meetings. 
 After these meetings became popular, and had been 
 attended with great success, in some places, one was ap- 
 pointed at . No special efforts were made to pre- 
 pare for it either by the minister or the church. They 
 came together unhumbled, without the spirit of prayer, 
 few or none prepared to take hold of the work in earnest. 
 They had no preaching but such as the people were ac- 
 customed to hear from the neighboring ministers, who 
 excited but little attention. They went through the 
 routine of services, and it was a protracted meeting ! 
 
 But no souls were converted, and the church was not 
 aroused from its slumbers. The result was, the people 
 lost their confidence in protracted meetings, instead of 
 humbling themselves in the dust, and imputing the fail, 
 ure to their own folly and wickedness. 
 
 Another meeting was held under more favorable cir- 
 
 c\imstances, at . They had preaching of the best 
 
 kind, but it was nearly all addressed to the impenitent, 
 while the church remained cold, faithless, prayerless. 
 They bad prayer-meetings enough, but there was no 
 broken hearted agonizing prayer. The result was, that 
 some hundreds appeared to be awakened, but few 
 
SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 327 
 
 or none were converted, and when the meeting closed, 
 the church remained unalBfected and the wicked were 
 glad to be released from that pressure of truth and obli- 
 gation which, for some days had held them very uneasy. 
 Men of practical wisdom and experience in such matters, 
 would labor iviih the churchy both before the meeting: 
 and during its progress, and feel as if nothing would be 
 accomplished, until the church should awake and call 
 mightily upon God in the true spirit of prayer, confessing 
 and putting away their sins, and striving together for 
 the promotion of the work. 
 
 Further. In the discussion of subjects, ministers often 
 consume much time, most unprofitably, in proving what 
 nobody doubts ; multiplying arguments, dwelling upon 
 narratives with which most of their hearers are familiar, 
 or in "declaiming about Noah, Abraham, and Job; — 
 laying the scene of action so far off that the present 
 company can feel no special interest in it.'' And thus 
 the effort is spent without producing any of those effects 
 in which a minister should aim at in preaching. There 
 is no close grappling with the conscience and the heart ; 
 '»one of the warmth and animation of direct appeal, and 
 of earnest expostulation ; conveying to the hearers, irre- 
 sistibly, the impression that they have a great work to 
 do, and ought immediately to engage in the doing of it, 
 and that everlasting consequences are depending upon 
 the present hour. 
 
 Once more. A great want of wisdom is sometimes 
 displayed in the manner of conducting prayer -meetings ; 
 the consequence of which is that few attend, and no spirit 
 of prayer is awakened, and thus one of the most power- 
 ful weapons which the church has to wield, is divested 
 
328 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 of all its efficacy. The use of long and unappropriate 
 prayers and hymns, and the neglect of weekly efforts to 
 gather the impenitent into the meetings, and to labor 
 with faith and zeal for their conversion when there are 
 errors which often pass without animated version ; but 
 which men of practical wisdom, in such matters do 
 always endeavor to correct. Such men generally accom. 
 plish a great deal, too, by setting others to work and 
 teaching them how to work. They pay diligent attention 
 to persons who begin to evince a serious concern for their 
 spiritual condition; and their active minds are ever de- 
 visiMg ways and means to awaken the attention of the 
 careless, and to give the greatest effect to divine truth, 
 as the instrument of conversion. As to measures, they 
 believe that neither old or new measures will succeed 
 without the blessing of God. And while they rely upon 
 that blessing, they feel themselves at liberty to pursue 
 any course which circumstances and appearances may 
 indicate ; always, however, taking care to keep clearly 
 within the limits prescribed in the Bible ; willing that 
 all their brethren should enjoy the same liberty and dis- 
 cretion. All they insist upon in the relation to this 
 point, is, that some measure must be adopted which shall 
 be efficient for the accomplishment of the object they 
 have in view; for they really believe that sinners, 
 living without God and religion are on their way to 
 Hell, and must be converted, or they will soon be there. 
 
 9. A disposition heartily to rejoice in the good done 
 by others. 
 
 When Barnabas visited " Antioch, and saw the grace 
 of God " bestowed upon the disciples of Christ " he was 
 glad," although he had no hand in their conversion, ^^for 
 
SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MIKISTRY. 329 
 
 he was a great man^ and full of the Holy Ghost and of 
 faith.^^ Paul rejoiced that the gospel was preached, 
 even though it was done in " strife." by those who envied 
 his reputation, and thought it would add affliction to his 
 bonds, while he was a prisoner at Rome. " He that will 
 be great among you, let him be least of all and servant 
 of all." The spirit of Diotrephes has never been found 
 in connection with eminent usefulness. We should ever 
 be willing to acknowledge the gifts and graces bestowed 
 upon the ministry, as well as upon the churches, and to 
 give the glory of all to God, to whom alone it is due. 
 The success of such nien is secured by the divine promise. 
 "They shall prosper that love Thee;'' i. e. those who 
 love "Jerusalem " shall prosper. So it has been and so 
 it will be. Let those who love the cause of Christ, then 
 go on with their work ; and let it be seen that -God is 
 with them, and prospers them ; that souls are saved, and 
 the tone of piety elevated, by their instrumentality ; and 
 verily, all good men — all who are full of the Holy Ghost 
 and of faith, will rejoice in their work. 
 
 10. A spirit of deep humility. 
 
 "The chief of sinners," and "least of all saints,'* 
 are the epithets by which Paul characterizes himself. 
 He said he was " least of the apostles, and not meet to 
 be called an apostle, because he had persecuted the 
 church of God." He speaks of himself as " nothing ; " 
 and when truth required him to admit that he had 
 "labored more abundantly than all" the apostles, he 
 adds, ^' yet not I, but the grace of God which was with 
 me." 
 
 11. A full and deep conviction of the necessity of the 
 
 Holy Spirifs operations to give success* 
 28* 
 
330 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 Paul, with all his pre-eminent abilities and super- 
 natural endowments, felt that he had no sufficiency of 
 himself to accomplish the object of his ministry. He 
 felt that he was " nothing, and ApoUos nothing ; " that 
 while he " planted and ApoUos watered, God gave the 
 increase." To this sentiment all successful ministers of 
 the gospel will not only heartily subscribe, but they are 
 often heard to dwell upon it with great emphasis in 
 prayer, and on all suitable occasions.* Whitefield speaks 
 of his hearers as " melted down under the word and 
 power of God." He ascribes his success, everywhere, to 
 his "Master's presence," — to "the arm of the Lord; " 
 and speaks of revivals and conversions as " the work of 
 Godr 
 
 12. Exalted apprehensions of the fullness and free- 
 ness of divine grace, flowing to sinners through the 
 atonement and mediation of Christ. 
 
 Ministers may not always have consistent theories 
 with regard to election, or the extent of the atonement ; 
 but when successful in their preaching, they address 
 sinners as if they believed all might be saved, if all 
 would repent ; and that there is no necessity, arising 
 from any limitation of the atonement, or from any un- 
 willingness on the part of God, or any arbitrary decree 
 of heaven against them, why any should be lost. 
 
 The sermons of President Davies are remarkable for 
 this characteristic. "If," says he, "you are really 
 willing to fly to Jesus, and be saved by Him in His 
 own way, you may be sure He i^ infinitely more willing 
 than you are. Sinners cemplain of the want of ability ; 
 but what is their inability but their unwillingness? 
 Coming to Christ is an act of the will, and therefore to 
 
SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTET. 331 
 
 will it heartily, is to perform the act." And he repre- 
 sents the sinner's excuse, founded upon his supposed in- 
 ability, to be as absurd as that of a thief who should 
 say, " I have such an aversion to honesty, that I cannot 
 possibly help stealing." 
 
 13. A strong sense of the incomparable excellence of 
 divine truth, and its ad'inirahle adaptation to convert 
 the hearts of sinnerz. Says the Apostle Paul, " I de- 
 termined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ, 
 and him crucified ; ' ' and every successful preacher 
 must have those absorbing views of the excellency of 
 divine truth, which shall make him regardless of all 
 other knowledge which does not very directly contribute 
 to give efficacy to this. Nor is this all. Such views 
 give unspeakable encouragement and support to a min- 
 ister, in addressing these truths to the consciences of 
 men. He knows the nature of the weapon which he is 
 called to wield. It is " the sword of the spirit," 
 " piercing to the dividing asunder of the joints and the 
 marrow, and proving a discerner of the thoughts and 
 intents of the heart." While he presses upon the sin- 
 ner the earnest expostulations, and pathetic entreaties, 
 and tremendous denunciations of the Gospel, how is he 
 encouraged to put forth every effort, by the reflection 
 that these appeals are perfectly adapted to the nature 
 of man ! The truths he preaches now given by the in. 
 spiration of that very Spirit to whose converting in- 
 fluences he looks for success. Well may he hope, then, 
 that God, even through his feeble instrumentality, will 
 ** honor his word above all his name." 
 
 14. A high degree of enjoyment in the work of the 
 ministry. 
 
332 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTEY. 
 
 Paul and Silas in prison, and with their feet fast in 
 the stocks, and stripes on their backs, were so happy 
 that they could not sleep. At midnight they prayed and 
 sang praises to God. Paul says at another time : I am 
 filled with comfort ; I am exceeding joyful. Thanks be to 
 God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ." 
 
 Whitefield, speaking ot a place in London, where he 
 and others held their prayer-meetings, says : " It was a 
 Pentecost season indeed. Sometimes whole nights were 
 spent in prayer. Often have we been filled as with new 
 wine ; and often have I seen them overwhelmed with 
 the divine presence, and crying out : ' Will God indeed 
 dwell with men upon earth ' ? How dreadful is this 
 place ! There is no other than the house of God and 
 the gates of Heaven." 
 
 He says in his journal : "I have been upon the stretch 
 preaching constantly for almost three weeks, my body is 
 often extremely weak, but the joy of the Lord is my 
 strength, and by the help of God I intend going on till 
 I dr:>p, or this poor carcase can hold out no more." 
 Again he complains of being sick, but says : The Re- 
 deemer fills me with comfort. I am determined in his 
 strength to die fighting." " Go where I will says he, 
 " in the Island of Bermuda, upon the least notice, 
 houses are crowded, and the poor souls that follow are 
 soon drenched in tears." " In Scotland, he says : " Thou- 
 sands and thousands have I seen, before it was possible 
 to catch it by sympathy, melted down under the word 
 and power of God." With such scenes almost constantly 
 before him, how could he be otherwise than happy ? 
 
 It is said of Pearce, that " he seemed to have learnt 
 that heavenly art, so conspicuous among the primitive 
 
SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 333 
 
 Christians, of convertiog everything he met with into 
 materials for love and joy, and praise. The constant 
 happiness he enjoyed in God, was apparent in the effects 
 of his sermons upon others. Whatever we feel our- 
 selves, we shall ordinarily, communicate to our hearers ; 
 and it has been noticed that one of the distinguishing 
 properties of his discourses was that they inspired the 
 serious mind with the liveliest sensations of happiness. 
 They descended upon the audience, not indeed like a 
 transporting flood, but like a shower of dew, gently in- 
 sinuating itself into the heart, insensibly dissipating its 
 gloom, and gradually drawing forth the graces of faith, 
 hope, love, and joy. While the countenance was bright- 
 ened almost into a smile, tears of pleasure would rise, 
 and glisten, and fall from the admiring eye." 
 
 Much of Payson's experience was like that of Brain- 
 erd. After passing through many dark hours and pain- 
 ful conflicts, the scene brightens, and he was favored with 
 seasons of ecstatic enjoyment, equal to anything to be 
 found in the records of experimental religion. O what 
 a Master do I serve ! " says he : "I have known nothing, 
 felt nothing all my days, even in comparison with what 
 I now see in him. Never was preaching such sweet 
 work as it is now." 
 
 " This good news," (refering to some indications of a 
 revival), " filled me with joy and triumph. O, I wanted, 
 even then, to begin my eternal song ; and excess of hap- 
 piness became almost painful. Could scarcely sleep for 
 joy." At another time he speaks of his having such a 
 manifestation that he says : " I would not have given a 
 straw for the additional proof which a visible appear- 
 ance of Christ would have afforded of his presence." 
 
334 SUCCESS IN THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 
 
 Again, towards the close of life, he says : " If my hap- 
 piness continues to increase, I cannot support it much 
 longer. '^ On being asked if his views of Heaven were 
 clearer -and brighter than ever, he said : " For a few 
 moments I may have had as bright, but formerly my 
 joys were tumultuous ; now all is calm and peaceful." 
 " I think the happiness I enjoy is similar to that enjoyed 
 by* glorified spirits before the rusurrection." 
 
 His letter to his sister will be remembered by all who 
 have read his life, as one of the most astonishing pro- 
 ductions ever dictated by man while clothed with the 
 garments of morality. " I can find no words to express 
 my happiness ; I seem to be swimming in a river of 
 pleasure which is carrying me on to the great fountain." 
 Thus he continued until his sun set in a flood of glory, 
 and he died exclaiming, " peace ! peace ! victory ! vic- 
 tory ! " May the writer, and all who may read these 
 pages, so live, that through grace we may end our lives 
 thus triumphantly. 
 
CHAPTER LII. 
 
 CAUSES OF UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 
 
 [EXTBACTS SUPPOSED TO BE BY RE"^. WM. C. WALTON.] 
 
 The christian ministry is an institution of God. Its 
 object is the salvation of lost men ; and for the at- 
 tainment of this object, it is clothed with mighty en- 
 ergies. It is intrusted with the dispensation of a gos- 
 pel, which is declared to be the wisdom and the pow- 
 er of God to salvation. Whatever is great and ven- 
 erable in the character of the infinite God ; whatever 
 is imperative and binding in his moral government 
 over men ; whatever is tender and winning in his 
 boundless love in Christ Jesus, or momentous and 
 solemn in the realities of eternity, " the immortality 
 of the soul, the feUcities of heaven, and the punish- 
 ments of hell ;" all is committed to the ministry of re- 
 conciHation, as means of accomplishing the great end 
 of its institution, — the recovery of ruined man to the 
 image and favor of his God. Yet this ministry, in the 
 hands of men at the present day, seems, in many cas- 
 es, strangely divested of its life-giving power. Its 
 practical results, in the conversion and spiritual im- 
 provement of mankind, are far less than might be ex- 
 
336 UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 
 
 pected from the nature and design of the institution, 
 far less than they were in the early days of Christian- 
 ity, and far less, we may be sure, than they will be 
 before the arrival of the latter-day glory of the 
 church. 
 
 The evidences of this lamentable want of ministerial 
 success, are many and decisive. Look at the state of 
 religion in our churches. Is it such as might be ex- 
 pected from the ample means of grace furnished in 
 the gospel of Christ ? The number, indeed, is not 
 small, of those who, qn the whole, appear to be chris- 
 tians ; but how very imperfectly is the image of Christ 
 drawn upon their hearts, or exemplified in their lives I 
 Of the greater part of the members of our churches, it 
 may with the strictest truth, be said, " that when for 
 the time they ought to be teachers, they have need that 
 one teach them again which be the first principles of 
 the oracles of God, and are such as have need of milk, 
 and not of strong meat." • 
 
 How too, is it, that so many under the preaching of 
 the present day, are deceiving themselves with a false 
 hope? The fact cannot be questioned. No one who 
 forms his views of christian character from the bible, 
 can avoid the painful conviction, that there are many 
 in our churches who have a name to live, while they 
 are dead, and are going down to ruin with a lie in 
 their right hand. Would it be so, if the gospel, in 
 its discriminating and exposing power, were duly 
 pressed on the heart and conscience ? 
 
 Look, too, at the multidude of impenitent persons, 
 who sit from year to year under the preaching of the 
 present day, entirely secure in their sins. They come 
 
tJNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 337 
 
 to and go from the house of God, from sabbath to 
 sabbath, and that too, perhaps, for a long Ufe,and yet 
 remain wholly ignorant of their character and destiny, 
 and receive their first conviction of guilt and con- 
 demnation on opening their eyes in a miserable eter- 
 nitv. 
 
 Notice, also, the infrequency and short continuance 
 of revivals of religion. These precious visitations of 
 mercy generally come at far distant intervals, last but 
 a little while, and are too often greatly marred and in- 
 jured by a large mixture of deception and false re- 
 ligion, — a fact which has long appeared to us to in- 
 dicate something wrong in the mode of conducting 
 revivals of religion, — something deficient, unskilful 
 and erroneous, in the manner of presenting God's 
 truth, and using the other means of carrying on a 
 work of grace. 
 
 But we need not enlarge on the evidences of a want 
 of success in the ministry. The fact is as obvious as 
 it is melancholy. The question now arises, to what 
 causes is this want of success to be attributed ? Why 
 is it, that the gospel, as preached at the present day, 
 so often fails of its end? Why is it not more gen- 
 erally proved by actual results, to be the power of 
 God unto the salvation of them that hear it? Is it 
 said that the heart of man is desparately wicked, and 
 that the Holy Spirit only can change the heart and 
 bring men to repentance ? Nothing is more true. 
 But the gospel, it should be remembered, is God's own 
 ordinance, — his own appointed instrument for effect- 
 ing this great spiritual change ; and the divine influ- 
 ence, which is admitted to be indispensable to the 
 29 
 
'^■'^8 unsuccessful:ness in the ministiiy. 
 
 t»C'i 
 
 conversion of a sinner, instead of rendering this in- 
 strument powerless, is the very thing which invests 
 it with the high character claimed for it, of being the 
 power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation. 
 
 The question then returns, — What are the causes 
 of unsuccessfulness in the ministry? Why are the 
 preaching of the gospel, and the influence of the Holy 
 Spirit to render it effectual, so often found in separa- 
 tion and at a distance, one from the other ? Is the 
 cause, every minister should seriously inquire, in no 
 degree identified with myself? Is there nothing in 
 the spirit and manner of my ministration?, which de- 
 prives them of the co-operating influences of God's 
 spirit, and prevents their appropriate fruits from be- 
 ing more abundantly realized among the people of 
 my charge ? 
 
 In pursuing the question before us, we shall spend 
 no time in remarks upon that sort of preaching, which 
 denies or conceals the great doctrines of the gospel, 
 which substitutes the inventions of men for the veri- 
 ties of God, and aims onlv to deceive its hearers with 
 the sophistries of error, or to amuse them with pret- 
 tiness of style and manner. There is much of this 
 kind of preaching in our land and the cause of its utter 
 unfruitfulness is too plain to need pointing out. The 
 question relates to preaching which is essentially 
 correct in doctrine, and evengelical in spirit and aim. 
 
 1. One cause, then, we apprehend, why preaching 
 of this character is not more generally successful, is 
 found in a faulty method of presenting the doctrine of 
 God's sovereignty and man's dependence. 
 
 These doctrines we hold to be true and important, 
 
UNSaCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTEY. 339 
 
 and a scriptuml exhibition of them is of eminent use 
 in bringing sinners to repentance and salvation. The 
 exhibition wldch we regard as scriptural, is that 
 which brings the greatest amount of moral influence 
 to bear on the heart and conscience ; which, while it 
 cuts off se]f-confidence on the one hand, prevents self, 
 justification and sloth on the other, and impels the 
 subject, under a persuasion, that it is ''God who work- 
 eth in him to will and to do" to '^vork out his own 
 salvation with fear and trembling." This is the true, 
 practical effect of the doctrine ot God's sovereignty 
 and ma'i's dependence, as taught in the bible. 
 
 But the doctrine may be so stated, and if we mis- 
 take not, often has been so stated, as to weaken or 
 destroy a sense of obligation, and lay the conscience 
 asleep. Why is it, that so many are to be found sit. 
 ting under the ministry of the present day, who con- 
 stantly assert their dependence on God, as an excuse 
 for continuance in sin, — who are wont to meet every 
 call to repentance, with the plea, that they cannot, 
 but must wait God's time ; and are actually quieting 
 *hemselves in a state of condemnation, under an im. 
 pression that they have nothing to do, and can do 
 nothing, in the great business of securing salvation ? 
 Why is it, too, that there are in our churches so many 
 professors of religion, who, whenever summoned to 
 prayer and eflbr*-, as the appointed and hopeful means 
 of a revival in religion, fold their arms in sloth, and 
 excuse themselves on the ground, that this is the work 
 of God, and they must wait his time to accomplish it ? 
 Here is a practical perversion of the doctrine of 
 God's sovereignty and man's dependence, — a perver- 
 
340 UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN TUB MINISTRY. 
 
 sion of wide-spread and most pernicious influence ; 
 and whatever other causes may be assigned for its 
 prevalence, it must, we think, in no small part, be 
 traced to a faulty method of stating the doctrine in 
 question. 
 
 There is a theology quite too prevalent in some 
 parts of our country, which is wont to present the 
 sovereignty of God in such a light, as to make it little 
 else than the mere dictation of arbitrary will and 
 power, — binding men in the chains of an inexorable 
 fate ; which denies to man all proper ability to obey 
 God, and makes his dependance on divine grace such, 
 as renders it physically impossible for him to perform 
 spiritual duties. And even where this crude theology 
 is not carried to the extent here represented, where, 
 indeed, it is discarded as false, language is sometimes 
 heard from the pulpit, respecting the doctrine now 
 under consideration, which can hardly fail to make a 
 WTong impression on the minds of sinners, ready as 
 they always are to seize upon anything as an excuse 
 for neglect of duty. If, for example, the doctrine of 
 divine sovereignty and human dependence is so pre- 
 eented, as to infringe on free agency, or set aside tha 
 connection between means and ends; if men are told 
 that they have no power to repen-t or do their duty; 
 that they are directly dependent on God for all their 
 exercises, and are so under the dominion of a de- 
 praved nature, inherited from Adam, (or born with 
 , them and making a part of them,) and that they can 
 do nothing to help, but only to hinder, their salvation ; 
 they wnll always receive the impression, that they 
 cannot "be to blame" for being what and where they 
 
UNSUCCESSrULNESS IN IHE MINISTRY. 341 
 
 are, — that sin is their misfortune and not their crime, 
 and that any attempt to escape from their condition 
 and turn to God, is absurd and useless. The preach- 
 er who uses this language, may perhaps mean b}' it, 
 what is true and important; but there is a great deal 
 of the most hurtful error involved in it, and if he 
 does not carefully guard his statements on this sub 
 ject, he is sure to be misunderstood. While he seri- 
 ously aims, it may be, to awaken and save his hear- 
 ers, he is, in fact, administering to them a deadly opi- 
 ate, and quieting them in the repose of undisturbed 
 impenitence and sin. 
 
 Against this false and ruinous impression, every 
 minister who would be successful in winning souls to 
 Christ, must direct his most strenuous efforts. While 
 it remains, the case of the sinner is hopeless. In- 
 struction and warning, exhortation and entreaty, can 
 do him no good. The delusion that he has nothing 
 to do, and can do nothing to secure salvation, is a 
 triple shield to his conscience, and stupid continu- 
 ance in sin is the inevitable consequence. The great 
 aim of the preacher should be, so to present the doc- 
 trine of the bible, as to lay upon the conscience of 
 the sinner the full weight of his obligations, and to 
 make him feel that whatever may be true respecting 
 the sovereigty of God and man's dependence, there 
 is nothing in either, which in the least militates against 
 free agency and accountability, or allows the slightest 
 hope of salvation in a state of carlessness and sloth. 
 
 It should be made to appear, as it certainly may be, 
 that the sinner's dependence on God for repentance 
 is a dependence of his own creating, growing out of 
 39* 
 
342 UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 
 
 his love of sin and voluntary aversion to duty, and 
 which^ while it suspends his salvation on the good 
 pleasure of God, renders him altogether inexcusable 
 and guilty for continuing a moment longer in his sins* 
 This view of the subject cuts off excuse, and fixes 
 the blame where it ought to rest. It leaves the whole 
 weight of the sinner's obligation pressing on the 
 conscience, and is well fitted to make him feel, that if 
 he perishes, his blood will be upon his own head.. 
 
 We close this topic with the remarks, that, if a 
 minister entertains any such views of the doctrines 
 just considered, or of any other doctrines of the Bible, 
 as in the least embarrass him, in urging upon sinners 
 an immediate ccmpliance with the terms of salvation, 
 or which when duly presented, would diminish in the 
 transgressor a sense of obligation, and of guilt for 
 neglect of duty ; such views, he may be sure, are 
 radically false, and of pernicious tendency. This is 
 a practical test, by which every minister would do 
 to tr}'' his theological views. 
 
 2. Ministers are not enough in the habit of pre- 
 senting the gospel to the minds of their hearers, as a 
 cause fitted and designed to bring them to immediate 
 repentance and submission to God. In its nature 
 and design, the gospel is such a cause. While it 
 comes with the offer of pardon and life to lost men, 
 its authoritative demand is, that they report and ac» 
 cept the offer, and that they do it now. In this 
 character it was uniformly presented by the apostles ; 
 and thus urged, it wrought wonders in the hearts 
 and lives of men. They met their hearers in the 
 most free and unembarrassed manner, just as if they 
 
ttNStJCCEiSSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. S4^ 
 
 intended and expected to persuade them to become 
 christians on the spot. In pressing home the claims 
 of duty they appear not to have felt the least difficulty 
 from any doctrinal views of the atonement, or of 
 man's dependence, or of God's sovereignty and pur- 
 poses. They addressed men as free moral agents, 
 every way capacitated to hear and obey the voice of 
 God. They addressed them as guilty, perishing sin- 
 ners, standing in infinite need of the mercy offered 
 them in the gospel ; and having made known to them 
 the way of salvation by Christ, they urged home the 
 duty of an immediate acceptance of him, as the only 
 and all-sufficient Saviour of lost men. 
 
 In their manner of delivering God's message, we 
 see no protracted process of using the means of 
 grace pointed out : no analysis of difficulties to be 
 gotten over; no philosophical explanation of the 
 origin and nature of sii', or of the mode of the change 
 effected in regeneration ; no allowance of any future 
 time to repent, or of any delay of duty in the attitude 
 of passively waiting God's time to give repentance. 
 All was plain matter of fact. — direct summons to duty. 
 And was not this straight-forward, direct way of 
 prc'-iching the gospel, with the fixed design and earn- 
 est expectation of its being immediately and power- 
 fully efficacious, which in primitive times produced 
 such great and sudden results in the conviction and 
 conversion of sinners? Repentance and faith are in- 
 deed preached at the present day, as duties of immedi- 
 obligation ; but frequently, it is believed, with other 
 statements which break the force of these duties, and 
 quiet the conscience in sin ; and instead of looking 
 
344 UKSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 
 
 for effects in accordance with such preaching, noth- 
 ing, perhaps, would strike the preacher hinfiself with 
 greater astonishment, than to see his hearers actually 
 repenting, as did those of Peter, while he was yet 
 announcing to them the message of God. The most 
 he expects even from his best efforts is, that possibly 
 some of his hearers may be induced to attend to the 
 subject ; or, to use a common illustration, that the 
 seed sown may, perchance, spring up and bear fruit 
 at some future day. Of anything beyond this, 
 neither preacher or hearer scarcely ever dreams. 
 The consequence is, that the gospel is in a great 
 measure deprived of its power, and comparatively 
 few immediate effects are realized from its min* 
 istrations. 
 
 The preacher too often expects little from the 
 publication of God's message ; and this expectation 
 is, ordinarily, the cause of its own fulfillment. It 
 paralizes effort, and prayer, and hope — makes his dis- 
 courses from the pulpit abstract, cold, and distant, 
 and renders the sword of the Spirit an ineffective, 
 powerless weapon. For if ministers preach, or peo- 
 ple hear, under an impression, that no immediate 
 effects ^re to be produced, what more can be ex- 
 pected, than that they should preach in vain, and the 
 people hear in vain ? The gospel, ministered and 
 heard in this manner, is not brought to bear in the 
 heart and conscience. It does not so much as 
 touch the main-springs of feeling and action in the 
 fcoul. A wide space is created between it and the 
 mind — a region of vacancy, over which no influence 
 can pass, to awaken fear or impel to effort. No 
 
UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 345 
 
 sinner ever repent, till he is made to feel, that sub- 
 mission to God can be delayed no longer — that the 
 surrendry of the soul is a duty binding now, and to 
 be done now. To produce this irapresion, should be 
 the great aim of a minister in all his preaching, con- 
 versation and prayers. Let him regard the gospel of 
 Christ a- an instrument of heavenly temper, adapted 
 and intended to produce present re-ults; let him, in 
 reijance upon the promised aids of the Spirit, prepare 
 and deliver his discourses under the inspiring ex- 
 pectation of realizing such results, and who can doubt 
 whether new life and power would be imparted 
 to his ministry ; and new and more abundant 
 fruits be gathered therefrom ? It is said of White- 
 field, that he always entered the pulpit with an 
 expectation, that the message he had to deliver would 
 be blessed to the salvation of some of his hearers. 
 This is the true principle of faith — the vitality and 
 power of the minisrry ; it honors God and honors his 
 truth ; and to a defect of this principle may be traced 
 in no small degree, the want of success in the 
 ministry. 
 
 3. And the cause of this is, the want of skill in 
 adapting divine truth to the particular state and 
 character of those ivho attend upon the preaching of 
 the gospel. There is an exact correspondence be- 
 tween the truths of the Bible and the principles of the 
 human mind : and when these truths are clearly 
 presented, and faithfully applied, they never fail to 
 produce impression and feeling. The skill thus to 
 present and apply the truth of God, is the perfection 
 of preaching. It was this which gave the preaching 
 
346 UNSUCCESSFCJLNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 
 
 of Christ such amazing pungency and power. He 
 always aimed at the heart ; afid as he knew what 
 was in man, he was always able to apply to each one 
 of his hearers, the truth best adapted to meet his 
 particular state and character. Hence it is worthy of 
 special notice, that our Saviour rarely preached a 
 Bermnn which did not produce very visible and 
 marked effect — which did not confirm and comfort 
 his friends, and disturb and distress his enemies. 
 We know some preachers at the present day who 
 possess, in a very high degree, this divine skill of 
 dissecting the heart, and adapting the truths of God's 
 word to the principles of the human mind; and such 
 preachers are always impressive and powerful. 
 Wliile Christians are edified and established in the 
 faith, under their clear and discriminating application 
 of truth, sinners are distressed and alarmed, and are 
 compelled to feel the guilt and misery of their condi- 
 tion. Such a preacher was Edwards. With almost no 
 aid from voice, or gesture and manner, he could fix an 
 audience in breathless silence and deep solemnity of 
 feeling. His profound knowledge of the Bible, and of 
 the human heart enabled him to speak to the consci- 
 ousness of every one who heard him ; so that each 
 one was bound to reflect, in language like that of the 
 woman of Sychar: ^'Here is a man revealing to me 
 the secrets of my own heart and life ; is not this man 
 from God ?" 
 
 In no respect, perhaps, are sermons more apt to fail 
 than in this. We hear a great deal of preaching 
 which is entirely powerless, because it is not true to 
 nature — not exact in its delineation of character, nor 
 
UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN TEE MINISTRY. 347 
 
 discriminating in its applications of truth. It is 
 vague^ declamatory, and pointless ; proving what 
 needs no proof; explaining what needs no explana- 
 tions ; keeping always at a distance from the heart 
 and conscience, forever going round and round, but 
 never coming directly to the point. It speaks of de- 
 pravity and wickedness, of guilt and danger, of re- 
 pentance and salvation, of heaven and hell; but all in 
 such an indefinite, indiscriminate manner, that no one 
 feels himself described, or personally interested in 
 what is said. Such preaching may have many at- 
 tractive qualities ; it may be learned, and elegant, 
 and popular; but it altogether fails of the great end 
 of preaching. It robs divine truth of its power to 
 sanctify and save, and leaves the hearer to slumber 
 on in his sins, utterly ignorant of himself and his 
 future destiny. Such is the stupidity and blindness 
 of man, that general truths do not affect him. To 
 arouse him from his slumbers, and excite him to 
 action, the preacher must come nearer, and speak so 
 as to meet his particular case He should aim to set 
 each hearer by himself, and to make him feel that the 
 truth uttered is the very truth meant for him. This 
 rarely fails to produce effect. It brings the gospel 
 of God in direct contact with the conscience ; and 
 when this is done, its power to awaken and impress 
 must be felt. 
 
 4. Preaching often fails of success, for tvant of 
 boldness and directness in its exhibitions of Ood^s 
 truth. We do not mean, by these qualities, any 
 harshness of language or manner, or calling sinners 
 by hard and irritating names : as if to do them good, 
 
348 UNSUCCESSFtFLIs^ESg li? THE MiNISTrvY. 
 
 it were necessary to make them angry. Nothing 
 like this should ever be uttered from the sacred desk. 
 There all should be respectful, kind, and winning. 
 We mean by boldness, an undisguised, honest declar- 
 ation of the whole counsel of God ; and by direct- 
 ness, such an application of the truths of his word, as 
 will make an audience feel that the preacher, means 
 them. There is in the preaching of the present day 
 a great want of this plain, faithful dealing with the 
 conf^ciences ot men. There is too much of what one 
 very properly calls ''pulpit exhibition," — a mere flour- 
 ish of fine language and brilliant images,'' or what is 
 quite as bad, of useless disquisition, consisting in the 
 discussion of topics foreign to the great business of 
 salvation, — ''in making nice and intricate distinctions, 
 whicl], like the lines of the spider, are invisible, ex- 
 cept to an eye of peculiar acuteness, and which, when 
 seen, are like the same lines, of no possible use to 
 man." All ministers are apt to think, that they are 
 plain preachers : and it may be admitted, that no 
 preachers on earth have a juster claim to this charac- 
 ter than the evangelical ministers of this country. 
 But when we look into the New Testament, and see 
 how Christ and his apostles dealt with their hearers ; 
 when we consider the nature of the case, and reflect, 
 that ministers are embassadors for Christ to guilty 
 men — that they stand daily in the midst of the dead 
 and the dying, and are going, with the immortal beings 
 committed to their charge, to the bar of Christ, to 
 meet the joyous or dread awards of His judgment 
 seat ; we cannot but feel that the most faithful need 
 much more boldness and directness in the discharge 
 
UNSCrCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 349 
 
 of their ministerial duties. They are in clanger of 
 destroying their people, through fear of offending 
 them. The case is desperate. Sinners must be 
 awakened, or lost ; they must be converted oi damned. 
 This is the only alternative. The malady with which 
 they are afi'ected is so obstinate that no slight reme- 
 dies will avail. The discussion of abstract principles, 
 soft and distant bints of danger, cold and unimpas- 
 sioned calls to repentance, meet not the exigency 
 of the case. 
 
 Such treatment serves rather to delude and destroy, 
 than to awaken and save. The whole truth of God 
 must be told, — told, too, in plain and direct applica- 
 tion to the hearers, and pressed on the conscience so 
 closely, that each one shall feel that he has a person- 
 al interest in the message delivered. Thus did Christ 
 preach ; thus did the apostles preach ; and all history 
 and observation go to show, that it is the preaching 
 which, in every age, has been crowned with the great- 
 est success. There is, also, in the preaching of the 
 present day, too much of a dry, cold, analytical meth- 
 od, — less indeed than formerly, — but still too much. 
 Instead of expressing strong feeling in delivering the 
 messages of God, many go about to analyze it. In- 
 stead of throwing themselves upon their hearers by 
 bold fervid, direct annunciation of the great facts, and 
 duties, and promises, and threatenings of the bible, 
 they proceed too much with the reserve and caution 
 of a special pleader, as if they expected every position 
 to be assailed, and every argument controverted. 
 Hence their sermons have more of the character of a 
 dissertation, or a theological lecture, than of a warm 
 
 30 
 
350 UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTEY. 
 
 solemn, persuasive address to the heart and con-^ 
 science. The train of thought, the illustration and 
 language, though perhaps very ingenious, and adjust- 
 ed with the greatest precision and taste, are entirely 
 above the mass of hearers, and consequently convey 
 no instruction, and make no impression. Discourses 
 from the pulpit, too, are often greatly deficient in a 
 straight-forward, business-like character. They are 
 formed too much according to rule, and not enough 
 under the impulse of feeling and prayer, and with di- 
 rect reference to impression and effect. They do not 
 come home sufficiently to the bosoms and business of 
 men ; meetinif them in their every-day character and 
 wants, and appealing directly to known and common 
 principles of action. 
 
 Religion is treated too much as a strange, anomo* 
 ious concern, — as something that is to be taught, ac- 
 quired and acted upon, in a manner entirely foreign 
 to all that belongs to the common business and pur- 
 suits of men : whereas it ought to be presented as the 
 plainest and most important concern of every man, — 
 as a thing that addresses itself to every principle and 
 feeling of the human mind, and as connected with all 
 the relations and duties of life. Sermons often fail 
 of effect, because they teach nothing, — are mere essays 
 or fancy pieces, — have no method, no point, no weight J 
 are composed without object and without aim; are as 
 applicable to one audience as to another, and to the 
 inhabitants of the planets, as to sinners on earth. 
 
 All this tends directly to obstruct and defeat the 
 great end of preaching. Every sermon ought to be 
 made with reference to a particular object j and ev- 
 
"DNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 351 
 
 ery illustration and argument should have a direct 
 bearing on the attainment of that objeo,t. In treating 
 with men on the high concerns of judgment and mer- 
 cy, there is no time for playing with the imagination 
 and passions ; none for metaphysical subtleties, or cu- 
 rious speculations, or vague and general reasonings, 
 which have no reference to the case in hand. This is 
 never done by the successful advocate at the bar; it 
 is never done by any man whose soul is set upon 
 great objects, and who is deeply in earnest to accom- 
 plish them. Here all is plain, direct, and glowing. 
 So it should be with the preacher. He should come 
 directly to the point, — should feel that his business 
 is with the immortal beings now before him ; and 
 rejecting everything that is foreign to his object, he 
 shall aim, by a fearless, direct, earnest application of 
 God's truth to their particular state and character, to 
 rouse them from their slumbers and bring them to 
 Christ for salvation. So he would preach, if he knew 
 it were his last sermon ; and no minister knows, when 
 he meets his people in the house of God, but that it 
 is the last time he shall meet them, till he meets them 
 before the bar of judgment. 
 
 5. It deserves to be inquired, in this connection, 
 whether, in the discourse of the present day, sufficient 
 prominence is gi^en to what is appropriately called 
 preaching Christ That in many of the pulpits of our 
 land, there is a lamentable deficiency in this respect, 
 admits of no question, Christ, in his appropriate char- 
 acter and work, is entirely lost sight of; and his gos- 
 pel, of course, is wholly deprived of its power to reno- 
 vate and save. But, may not the deficiency extend 
 
352 UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 
 
 farther than is generally supposed ? May it not reacih 
 even the pulpits of our evangelical ministers, and op- 
 erate, in some cahes at least, to prevent the success 
 of their ministrations ? Any one who has attentively 
 observed the style of preaching most prevalent at the 
 present day, must, we think, have noticed, that the 
 most common topics of pulpit discussion have been 
 the moral law and government of God ; the full and 
 depravity of man ; the nature and necessity of regen- 
 eration, natural and moral ability, the entire capacity 
 and full obligation of sinners to obey God, together 
 with their just and certain condemnation if they neg- 
 lect to do this. 
 
 Now, we are not saying that these topics are unim- 
 portant. They are plainly of imriiense importance. 
 Without a distinct and full exhibition of them, the 
 gospel cannot be preached intelh'gibly, or with the 
 least hope of success. But then, they may fill too 
 large a place in a minister's time and attentionj and 
 be exhibited by him too much in the form of dry, 
 philosophical speculations, with no suitable reference 
 to Christ and the great purpose of his mediation. 
 Whenever this is the case, the effect, we cannot 
 doubt, must be eminently unhappy. It is a remark of 
 the excellent Cecil, that "men who lean toward the 
 extreme of evangelical privileges in their ministry, 
 do much more for the conversion of their hearers, 
 than those who lean toward the extreme of require- 
 ment." A proper union of the two, is the happy 
 medium. The preaching that leaves Christ out of 
 view, and dwells unduly upon what may be called the 
 severer parts of religion, tends to produce insensibil- 
 
trNSrrCCESHFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 353 
 
 ity and hardness. It spreads over a congregation the 
 frosts and snows of a moral winter. All is dark, and 
 cold, and cheerless, till warm and vivifying beams 
 from the sun of rigliteousness penetrate and melt the 
 ice, and quicken into life and fruitfulness the seed of 
 the word. 
 
 "Christ is God's great ordinance," — the grand ex- 
 pedient of infinite wisdom to subdue the enmity of 
 the heart, and reclaim an alienated world to holiness 
 and heaven. Nothing ever has been, or can be done 
 to any good purpose, in saving sinners, and especially 
 in perfecting the saints in holiness and love, any fur-' 
 ther than Christ is held forth in the true glory of his 
 character and excellence of his work. In this view, 
 it may safely be affirmed, that the preaching which 
 has in it most of Christ, — of Christ in the divine dig- 
 nity of his person, in his mediation ; of Christ in his 
 atonement, in* his exaltation and intercession; of 
 Christ reigning in glory, and coming hereafter in 
 judgment, — is the preaching which will be most suc- 
 cessful in winning souls to him ; in forming them into 
 a divine resemblance of himself, and in fitting them 
 for his holy Kingdom. There is a softening, subdu- 
 ing influence thrown over the ministry, that is deeply 
 imbued with the spirit and doctrine of Christ, which 
 tarns into feebleness all the efforts of mere learning, 
 and talents, and genius. Of this, the apostle was 
 aware, and therefore determined to know nothing 
 among his hearers, save Christ and him crucified. 
 Every minister who would see the work of the Lord 
 prosper in his hands, must come to the same deter- - 
 
 mination. He must not rest satisfied with making 
 30* 
 
354 UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 
 
 the doctrine of the cross, — of Christ crucified, a top- 
 ic of occasional exhibition. He must dwell upon it 
 much and often, and with affectionate earnestness 
 and interest, naaking it the very basis and burden of 
 his ministry, and the life of all his services. He must 
 have his heart and mind so filled with the spirit and 
 meaning of this doctrine, that on whatever subject 
 he preaches, or whatever duties he performs, Christ 
 crucified to atone, and reigning to save, shall support 
 all, illustrate all, enforce all, pervade all with its 
 heavenly light and quickening power. All his in- 
 structions must tend toward Christ; all his exhorta- 
 tions point to Christ ; all the lines of his ministry, 
 and labors of his life, meet and cemlre in Christ, 
 and be made subservient to the one grand purpose of 
 displaying his glory, and extending the triumphs of 
 his cross. 
 
 • 
 
 This is the preaching which wrought such wonders 
 in primitive times; which caused the temples and 
 the altars of idolatry to crumble into dust, and dark- 
 ness to flee away from a thousand lands ; the preach- 
 ing which kindled the light and extended the glory of 
 the reformation ; the preaching in whic^h Brainerd; 
 was engaged, when the Holy Spirit, like a mighty, 
 rushing wind, pervaded his assembly of Indians, and 
 melted and subdued them unto the obedience of 
 faith; the preaching which the Moravian missionaries 
 found so efficacious in the salvation of the poor, be- 
 nignted Greenlanders, after all other modes of in- 
 struction had been tried and proved ineffectual ; and 
 ithe nearer we approximate to this kind of preaching, 
 
tTNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 355 
 
 the more abundantly will the Holy Spirit shed down 
 his influence to crown our doctrine with success. 
 
 6. Another cause of the unsuccessfulness of preach- 
 ing, is the want of obvious entire devotedness on the 
 part of ministers, to the great business of their call- 
 ing. Far be it from us to intimate, that the great 
 body of the ministers of the present day are not 
 pious men. We only mean to say, that if they were 
 more eminently pious and devoted j they would be 
 more emfiinently successful in winning souls to Christ. 
 Of this, who can entertain a doubt? Nothing gave 
 such power to the ministrations of the apostles, as 
 their obvious, unreserved consecration to the service 
 of God, and the good of their fellow-men. It was a 
 standing miracle in the eyes of the heathen, and did 
 more than all arguments, to convince them of the 
 truth and importance of religion. 
 
 They saw in the men who spake to them the word 
 of God, a living illustration of the gospel which they 
 were called to embrace, and the effect was great. 
 So it must be from the nature of the case. Nothing 
 will preach like a holy life ; nothing come home to 
 the heart and conscience, like that disinterested, self- 
 consecrating benevolence, which, while it speaks the 
 truth in love, shows itself ready to spend and be 
 spent for the good of its object. Brainerd in his last 
 sickness, often spoke of the great need which minis- 
 isters have of much of the spirit of Christ in their 
 work, and how little good they are likely to do with- 
 out it. "When ministers," he said, "were under the 
 special influences of the spirit of God, it assisted them 
 to come at the consciences of men, and, as he ex- 
 
356 UKSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINlSTllY. 
 
 pressed it, to handle them with hands ; whereas, with- 
 out the spirit of God, said he, whatever reason and 
 oratory we employ, we do but make use of stumps, 
 instead of hands. 
 
 When we read the life of Baxter, and witness his 
 burning zeal, his untiring diligence, his supreme devo' 
 tion to the cause of his Saviour, we are not sur- 
 prised at the great and almost unequaled success of 
 his ministry. When he settled in Kidderminster, the 
 whole place was overrun with ignorance and profane- 
 ness ; but in a short time, under his wise and faithful 
 labors, it became as the garden of God, — havings 
 church of more than six hundred members, of whom 
 there were not twelve, as he tells us, concerning 
 whose piety he did not entertain good hopes. Always 
 in earnest, always alive and engaged in his Master's 
 work, he conversed, and preached, and prayed, as if 
 he saw the great white throne before him, and expect- 
 ed soon to be called to give up his account. So when 
 w^e read the life of Shepard, and learn from his writ- 
 ings, particularly his ^'Parable of the Ten Virgins," 
 the holy emotions of his spirit, his deep acquaintance 
 with the heart, and his Avonderful skill in opening 
 and applying the truths of God's word, we are pre- 
 pared to hear it stated of him, that he rarely preached 
 a sermon without marked and visible effect; so that 
 it was common for those who had been detained from 
 the services of the sanctuary, to ask of them who had 
 been present, " On whom has the word wrought to 
 
 dav?'' 
 
 A minister who has a deep, habitual sense of divine 
 things ; who is seen to be devoted in body, soul and 
 
UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTEY. 357 
 
 spirit, to the great duties of his calling, possesses a 
 power of awakening the conscience and impressing 
 the heart, which no acquisition of talents or learning 
 can bestow. The spirit of holiness which dwells and 
 reigns within, throws around his ministry a healthful, 
 life-giving influence. It cau'^'es all his studies and 
 attainments, — all his public and private services, to be 
 instinct with life and feeling ; and under the influence 
 of this inward, heart-felt conviction of eternal things, 
 he will choose his subjects, not for show, but for 
 profit ; He will handle them, not to set ojBf himself, 
 but to honor his Saviour ; he will preach, not to please, 
 but to save his hearers ; he will deliver his message, 
 " not coldly," as if he did not believe it ; but with the 
 sincerity and earnestness of a man bent upon great 
 efforts, and who feels, in the very depths of his soul 
 the momentous realities of religion and eternity. In 
 the same spirit he will move among his people as an 
 angel of light. He is seen to be a man of God in the 
 pulpit, and he is seen to be a man of God out of the 
 pal pit. Every day, and on all occasions, his great gov- 
 erning purpose is manifest, — the salvation of those for 
 whom God has appointed him to watch. For this 
 purpose he is early and late in his study, that he may 
 bring out of his treasure things new and old. For 
 this purpose, he will throw himself ahead of his peo- 
 ple in zeal and efforts to do good, — manifesting among 
 them the spirit of a reformer, and leading them on to 
 higher attainments in piety and usefulness. For this 
 purpose he gathers around him the children and youth 
 of his charge, in the sabbath-school and bible-class, — 
 appoints and maintains stated meetings for conference 
 
358 UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN THE MINISTRY. 
 
 and prayer, — visits from house to bouse, that he may 
 learn the character and wants of his people, and know 
 how to give to each a portion in due season. To 
 crown all, he daily and humbly waits on God for his 
 blessing, knowing, that without this, all means are 
 unavailing. He waits not in the way of indolence, as 
 if he had nothing to do; nor in the way of presump- 
 tion, as if God in his sovereignty would interpose, 
 without regard to the connection between means and 
 ends ; but he waits in humble, believing prayer, fol- 
 lowed with corresponding exertions, — praying with a 
 fervency and simplicity of reliance on God, as if all 
 depended on him ; and at the same time, studying, 
 preaching, and laboring, as if.all depended on hinnself. 
 This is the true-spirit of the ministry ; and is it not 
 to a deficiency of this spirit, to a want of this entire 
 devotedness to the duties of the sacred office, that we 
 are to trace the frequent, the lamentable unsuccess- 
 fulness of ministerial labors ? We mean not here to 
 reprove or accuse. Rather would we confess and 
 mourn over our own unfruitfulness in the vineyard 
 of our Lord. But when or where, we ask, was it ev- 
 er known, that a minister, giving himself wholly to hia 
 work, and conducting his ministrations in the spirit 
 and manner here sketched, has been -left to labor with- 
 out manifest and most encouraging tokens of success ? 
 True, God is a sovereign, and when the best means 
 are used, it is he who giveth the increase. But he is 
 a sovereign in no such sense as to invalidate his 
 promises, or break the connection between means and 
 ends. In dispensing the blessings of his grace, he 
 acts in the line of second causes ; and all facts, as 
 
tJNSUCCESSFtrLNESS IN THE MINISTEY. 359 
 
 Well as all scripture, go to prove that the ministry 
 which is most deeply imbued with the spiiit of Clirist, 
 and labors most assiduously and wisely in his cause, 
 is the ministry which he will crown with tlie greatest 
 success. How weighty and solemn, then, are the mo- 
 tives which urge the ministry to high and untiring 
 effort in the great work to which God has called them I 
 They watch for souls, as those who must give ac- 
 count ; and the destiny of many, for eternal ages, de- 
 pends, in no small degree, on the manner in which 
 they perform the duties of their high calling. O, what 
 manner of persons, then, ought they to be, in all holy 
 conversation and godliness ! What simplicity of pur- 
 pose, what purity of motive, what piety and devoted- 
 ness, that they may save both themselves and those 
 who hear them ! Two things that are exceeding 
 needful in ministers," says Edwards, as they would 
 do any great matters to advance the kingdom of 
 Christ, ai^e zeal and resolution. The influence and 
 power of these things, to bring to pass great effects, 
 is greater than can well be imagioed. A man of an 
 ordinary capacity will do more with them, than one 
 of ten times the parts and learning can do without 
 them. The very sight of a thoroughly engaged spir- 
 it with a fearless courage and unyielding resolution, 
 in any person that has undertaken the managing of 
 any affair among mankind, goes a great wiy toward 
 accomplishing the effect arrived at. When the peo- 
 ple see these things apparently in a person, and to a 
 great degree, it awes them, and has a commanding in- 
 fluence upon their minds ; it seems to them they must 
 yield, without standing to contest or dispute the mat- 
 
360 UNSUCCESSFULNESS IN TEE MINISTRY. 
 
 ter. But, while we are cold and heartless, and only 
 go on in a dull manner, in an old formal round, we 
 shall never do any great matters. 
 
 Our attempts, connected with the appearance of 
 such coldness and irresolution, will not so much 
 as make persons think of jielding ; they will hardly 
 be sufficient to put it into their minds. He adds, " our 
 misery is want of zeal and courage ; for not only 
 through want of these, does all fail, that we seem to 
 attempt, but it prevents our attempting any thing very 
 remarkable for the kingdom of Christ." O, for larg- 
 er measures of spiritual influence to be shed down 
 upon the ministry, to awaken in the heralds of salva- 
 tion a warmer zeal, and a more entire devotedness to 
 the great work to which God has called them. 
 
CHAPTER LIU. 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS AND REWARDS OF THE SUCCESSFUL 
 
 MINISTER. 
 
 (BXTRACT.) 
 
 By Rev. R. H. Conklin. 
 
 As Christ came into the world to save siniiersy ih-Q 
 successful minister must be a "wo7^ker together with 
 Him^^ in aQComplishing His great object. 
 
 Wis ruling purpose must be to glorify God in the 
 salvation of men. 
 
 He must drink deeply from the wells of salvation^ 
 that his preaching may become a tributary stream to 
 the river of life, bearing on its broad bosom great 
 multitudes of renewed and sanctified souls. So His 
 ministers should look upon no class as beyond the 
 hope of mercy. 
 
 Christ preached a system of definite truth, adapted 
 to the wants of men. His ministers should preach in 
 a similar manner, the same truths — no more — no 
 less. 
 
 Christ sought to secure the immediate conversion 
 of individual men. In this regard his ministers should 
 imitate their Lord and Master, rather than make it 
 
 31 
 
362 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SUCCESSFUL MINISTER. 
 
 their endeavors to exert a generalinfluence by vest- 
 ments, cathedrals and musicj or by the delivery of 
 mere Tnoral essays. 
 
 If; as ministers, we desire the greatest religious 
 success, we must aim supremely to live perfectly holy 
 as Christ did, and imitate his example in preaching his 
 gospel, as he preached it when on earth. 
 
 The minister of Christ must preach a pure gospel, 
 and concentrate around the Cross the last hope of a 
 dying world. His confidence must be in the efficacy 
 of the word and spirit of Almighty God. For truth is 
 the moral conductor of God's spirit — the divine elec- 
 tric power to vitalize the world with positive influence, 
 that it may become a savor of life unto life. He 
 must look beyond the most formidable obstacles and 
 both seek and expect the interposition of the Almighty 
 with whom nothing is imposible. *^ 
 
 When he is aiming directly and specifically at a 
 special revival among christians and the conversion of 
 sinners^ he must be careful not to dissipate or divert 
 the attention of his hearers by too great a variety of 
 subjects, but concentrate plain and appropriate truthy 
 and press it earnestly on the conscience with unbroken 
 force, until the grace of God triumphs and the object 
 is gained. With direct efforts he must confidently eoj- 
 pect success, for the Almighty hath said : ^' He that 
 goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall 
 doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his 
 sheaves with him." 
 
 But he must also have an earnest mangier. His 
 words must fall with convincing power, because 
 they glow with the intense anxiety of his soul for the 
 
CHARACTEKISTICS OF THE SUCCESSFUL MINISTER. 363 
 
 conversion and sanctification of men. His own soul 
 must be di furnace of heat, that he may pour a flood of 
 burning truth into the hearts of his hearers^ so that by 
 the divine blessing, souls shall be saved. 
 
 Finally, the glorious reward of the successful preach- 
 er should stimulate him to great faithfulness in his 
 efforts. 
 
 "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness 
 of the firmament ; and they that turn many to right- 
 eousness, as the stars forever and ever." 
 
 That you may more highly appreciate this divine 
 promise, go in the cloudless night, when the firma- 
 ment of heaven is radiant with a thousand stars, gaze 
 upward till your soul is overwhelmed with the inex- 
 pressible glory that surrounds you ; then remember it 
 is only the type of glory that awaits the faithful minis- 
 ter in the future world. But before he shall attain 
 that blessedness, God will give him o. foretaste of what 
 is to come. 
 
 The final approval of "Well done good and faithful 
 servant," may be reserved to the last day, when the 
 steals and trophies of his ministry shall appear with 
 him in glory ; but even on earth, mingling with his 
 sufferings and toil, communion with the Father, Son, 
 and Spirit, and the sweet consciousness of a success- 
 ful instrumentality in the conversion of great multi- 
 tudes of sinners, will constitute an amount of 
 blessedness far transcending the enjoyment of men 
 who live for this world without God and the Chris- 
 tian hope. 
 
 Truly, in keeping the commandments of God, there 
 is great reward. 
 
364 CHARACTEEISTICS OF THE SUCCESSFUL MINISTEE. 
 
 Does the noble-hearted philanthropist who toils 
 hard on the field of humanity, view with delight the 
 reults of his labors — the miserable and unfortunate 
 restored to virtue and happiness — the tear of sorrow 
 wiped away, and the smile of gladness, as once more 
 the sun of prosperity sheds its cheerful light on the 
 pathway of life ? How much more the successful 
 preacher of the glorious gospel of the blessed 
 God, whose success passes heyond the limits of time, 
 and spreads itself over an eternity to come — the esti- 
 mation of whose labor is not merely in temporal 
 advantage, but an eternal weight of glory I Even the 
 anticipation of a joyful recognition in heaven of indi- 
 viduals, saved through our ministry, is full of sacred 
 pleasure. What then will be the reality — the unut- 
 terable emotions of the first interviews in heaven, 
 when conflict, doubt and fear no longer mar the com- 
 munion of saint? 
 
 We read that "one star difiereth from another star 
 in glory." 
 
 Each star has its glory. But he who has turned 
 many to righteousness, shall become a central star in 
 u constellation of gkyrnfled spirits saved by his instrii- 
 mentality. 
 
 Each shall reflect his proper light, hut he shall shine 
 with peculiar lustre and brilliancy^ as the brightness 
 of the firmament in the kingdom of God "forever and 
 ever, when Sun, Moon and Stars wax old, and pass 
 away from the firmament." 
 
THE PREACHER'S WORK AND REWARD. 
 By Rev. S. D. Phelps, D. D. 
 
 Preach the Word in every nation, 
 
 Gospel truth to all our race ; 
 Let them know the great salvation, 
 
 Let them find recovering grace. 
 Glorious message! blest evangel! 
 
 Which the Lord ascending gave; 
 Work most royal ! not an angel 
 
 Souls immortal thus could save. 
 
 How they flew to distant regions — 
 
 Pioneers of Jesus' cross — 
 Met and vanquished Satan's legions, 
 
 Oft in peril, pain and loss : 
 Preaching still 'mid scorn, disaster. 
 
 Gladly was redemption hailed; 
 Glorified was Christ the Master, 
 
 Mightily the word prevailed. 
 
 Oh, ye heralds ! now appointed 
 
 To this noblest service known, 
 By the Spirit called — anointed — 
 
 Be your true credentials shown. 
 In the zeal that knows no waning 
 
 Christ to preach and souls to gain, 
 In the churches' holy training 
 
 Till the Lord in each shall reign. 
 31» 
 
366 THE preacher's work and reward. 
 
 On the power of God depending, 
 
 By the Spirit strong in prayer, 
 Armed by faith, in love contending, 
 
 Gracious victories you share. 
 Heaven drops down its showers of blessing, 
 
 Reapers sheaves abundant bring, 
 Sinners come to Christ confessing. 
 
 Harvest home the reapers sing! 
 
 Sweet your rest, and sweeter waking. 
 
 When is closed the work of love. 
 Grateful from the Master taking 
 
 Glorious crowns of life above. 
 Farewell, fears and self-denials! 
 
 Mortal night hath passed away ; 
 Farewell, vigils, toils and trials ! 
 
 Welcome, everlasting day! 
 
 See in Heaven the faithful preacher, 
 
 With the seals of his reward ; 
 How they throng to bless the teacher 
 
 Who had led them to the Lord ! 
 Wise to save ! — a sunlike lustre 
 
 Brightens all their home divine ; 
 As the stars — a radiant cluster — 
 
 They in endless glory shine ! 
 
CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 
 
 [AUTHORIZED EXTRACTS] 
 
 By Rev. T. Db Witt Talmage, D. D. 
 
 Who are the masses ? The very great majority. 
 
 The people who do not belong to this class are the ex- 
 ception ; they are men who, through vast accumulation 
 of wealth or through unusual culture of mind, are set 
 apart from other people in the community. What I 
 understand by the word "masses" is, "the most of 
 folks." Well, now it is a settled fact that the great 
 majority of people in our cities and country do not come 
 under religious influence. There are fifty thousand people 
 in Edinburgh who receive not the Gospel ; there are one 
 hundred thousand in Glasgow who come not under Chris- 
 tian influences ; there are three hundred thousand 
 people in the city of Brooklyn who are not touched by 
 the Churches ; there are at least five or six hundred 
 thousand people in the city of New York who are no 
 more interested in the Church of the Lord Jesus than if 
 they had never heard of a Church. And the great and 
 growing question of to-day is, " How shall we bring these 
 people in contact with the great heart of Christ ? " 
 
S68 PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 
 
 We talk about large churches and large audiences. 
 The largest audiences are not in the churches ; they are 
 in the temples of sin. The tears of unutterable woe are 
 their baptism ; the blood of crushed hearts is the wine 
 of their awful sacrament ; blasphemies their litany ; the 
 groans of a lost world the organ-dirge of their worship. 
 A vast multitude outside the kingdom of God are un- 
 touched. We do not come within five thousand miles 
 of reaching them. We talk about people living four, 
 five or six blocks from a church. There are in our great 
 cities those who practically live thousands of miles from 
 any church. A great many people suppose that the 
 Gospel is a sort of " swamp angel gun," with which you 
 can stand away off and shoot six miles. The Gospel of 
 Jesus Christ is a sword ; you have to clutch it in your 
 right hand and go down where men are and strike right 
 and left, slaying their sorrows and their sins. We must 
 go down where the people are. If the Lord Jesus 
 Christ had stood in the door of heaven inviting a lost 
 world, would the world have come ? No, no 1 Jesus 
 Christ came down, and amid the sorrows, the sins, and 
 the sufiferings of the world, invited men up to something 
 better. 
 
 The condition of a great majority of the people in our 
 cities is illustrated by a lad who stood at the gate of one 
 of our parks sometime ago. A minister of Jesus Christ 
 was passing along, and said : " You seem to be poorly off. 
 Do you go to Sabbath-school? " " No." " Do you go to 
 church ? " " No." '* You ought to be a good boy." He 
 answered : " We poor chaps aint got no chance." That 
 just expresses the condition, the desolation, the moral 
 bankruptcy of a great multitude of people scattered all 
 
PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 369 
 
 through the towns, villages, and cities of this country. 
 The great sufifering class in this day is the middle class. 
 Go into the cities and larger towns and you find the rich 
 and the poor. The rich can go anywhere they please ; 
 they can get any kind of religious influence they please ; 
 they can pay large pew rentals ; they can move in bril- 
 liant society, and if they do not like one church they can 
 go to another. They are not the suffering class. For 
 the miserably poor, as they are called, there are mission- 
 schools established, and these people, who are the very 
 dregs of society, or so called, may be gathered up into 
 these mission. schools. But how about the middle classes ? 
 and what do I mean by the middle classes 1 I mean the 
 men who have to tug to get a living, who make a thou- 
 sand dollars a year and spend a thousand, or who make 
 two thousand and spend two thousand dollars a year of 
 their income. That is the history of a vast majority of 
 the people both in the country and in the city. The vast 
 majority of people have no worldly surplus at the end of 
 the year. These are the men who do not get the Gos- 
 pel ; these are really the suffering classes. They cannot 
 go to the high-rented pew church ; they cannot seek out 
 the brilliant sphere in which they would like to move, 
 and they are too proud to go down into the mission- 
 schools, and so they get no kind of religious influence. 
 
 This great mass outside the Church of Jesus Christ 
 need to be brought in. They have their sorrows and 
 their trials ; they have their dead children in their 
 houses ; they have their sicknesses. Why is it thsst they 
 are not brought to Christ ? why is it not now, as it was 
 when the Lord Jesus was upon earth and he went through 
 the streets, and the people brought out their palsied and 
 
370 PEEACHING TO THE MASSES. 
 
 leprous 1 We have just as mucli suffering now as there 
 was then, and far more ; for the population of the world 
 is so much increased. Why is it that the masses 
 of the people do not bring out their suffering ones to 
 Jesus Christ ? Why don't mothers bring their little 
 ones, and say : " Lord Jesus, if thou canst not bless me, 
 bless my child ; and if thou canst not bless this one that 
 is well, bless this poor little crippled one ; let thy mercy 
 fall on him." 
 
 I will now mention three or four reasons why the 
 masses are not reached, and then give you some brotherly 
 advice as to how you may be qualified to reach them, 
 
 The first reason of failure is, intense denominational- 
 ism. The world watches, and thinks we want to make 
 them all Methodists, or all Presbyterians, or all Episco- 
 palians. There is an intense denominational ism abroad 
 in the Church of Jesus Christ. There are too many who 
 cannot look over the wall of their own particular de- 
 nomination. I believe that every denomination ought 
 to look after its own interests, and that the fences ought 
 to be kept up between the denominations ; but in every 
 fence there ought to be a gate that might swing open, 
 or bars that you might let down. 
 
 Now we need to show the world that we have a desire 
 dominant over all sectarianism, and that our first desire 
 is to bring the people into the kingdom of our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ, whether they join our Church or some other 
 Church. 
 
 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Christ, one dox- 
 ology, one heaven ! The time must come w^hen all the 
 people belonging to the kingdom of Christ, of all names 
 and denominations can join hands around the cross and 
 
PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 371 
 
 recite the creed, " I believe in God the Father Almighty, 
 maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, and in 
 the communion of saints." But depend upon it, as long 
 as the masses of the people outside have an idea that we 
 are chiefly anxious to have our own sect and denomina- 
 tion prospered and dominant they will not come in. 
 
 Another reason why the masses have not yet been 
 reached is because we have adhered too m^uch to the con- 
 ventionalities and severe proprieties of the Church. Take 
 the matter of church architecture. For the most part 
 the churches in this country are not so attractive as the 
 halls and the theatres. By a natural law, it seems to 
 me that all audiences ought to be gathered as around a 
 great fireplace, in a semicircular form of architecture. 
 Then, instead of seeing simply the back of a man's head, 
 which is the most uninteresting part of him, you see his 
 face or his side face. When there is a half-circle form 
 there is a law of sympathy flowing through from heart 
 to heart that you cannot get in an angular church. 
 While other buildings have been comparatively well 
 ventilated, churches have been but poorly ventilated ; 
 while other edifices have been brilliantly lighted, 
 churches were but dimly lighted. Christianity sits 
 shivering in Gothic churches, and religion is laid out in 
 state. Let every^Church committee that is going to put 
 up a building resolve to have a church just to suit them- 
 selves, regardless of stereotyped notions. This dispo- 
 sition from generation to generation to stick to the angu- 
 lar kind of church has hindered the kingdom of God 
 mightily among the masses. The people outside who 
 have not been brought up to go to church will not go 
 into a building which is unsympathethic and cold. 
 
372 PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 
 
 We have been attempting, also, to adhere too much 
 to conventionalities in the item of preaching. The ques- 
 tion is, " How do others preach ? " Then we must preach 
 just as they do. If we cannot save the world in our way 
 we won't have it saved at all. Let the twelve hundred 
 millions of the race die, but do not spoil our patent 
 leathers ! We have no right to be stopping to consider 
 how otliers do the work. The question is, " How does 
 God want us to do the work?" But the mere con- 
 ventionalities and severe proprieties of the Church of 
 God have kept back the people. To us who have been 
 brought up in Christian families, and have been taught 
 all our days to go to church, and to whom going to church 
 is natural, it does not make so much difference what is 
 said, or the way it is said — we will go to church anyhow. 
 But those people who come in from the outside, who 
 have no proclivities toward the Church of Jesus Christ, 
 if they sit down and find everything is cold, conventional, 
 formal, and on stilts, they will not come a second time. 
 So, I think, the Gospel has been kept back from the 
 masses because we have been such sticklers for the mere 
 technicalities of religion. I think it is very important 
 that we have all the definitions of religion, and that, in 
 our own mind, we have the technicalities ; but we never 
 must bring them before the people. We must come in 
 the plain vernacular, or they will not receive or under- 
 stand us. I do not think there is anything more impor- 
 tant than that the young man going out of a theological 
 seminary should have all the definitions of faith, repen. 
 tance, adoption, and sanctification in his mind. There 
 are those men who think they are orthodox when they 
 
PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 373 
 
 are not ; they simply do not know what are the grand 
 definitions of religion. 
 
 But while every young man going into the ministry 
 ought to be familiar with " theological terms," he must 
 not employ them before the people. After we get into 
 the ministry we spend the first ten years in letting the 
 people hear how much we know ; we spend the next ten 
 years in getting them to know as much as we do ; and 
 the next ten in finding out that none of us know any- 
 thing as we ought. It is always a failure when a man 
 in any depart uient carries his technicalities into busi- 
 ness. What would you think of a physician who should 
 go among the j^eople and talk about the " pericardium," 
 or the " intercostal muscles," or " scorbutic symptoms." 
 He would scare a man to death. A man would be as 
 much confounded as the one who was studying up the 
 case of his wife who was ill. He prided himself on 
 doing ev^ery thing by the book. He had a book upon 
 practical medicine. He was talking with his neighbors, 
 and said he had been reading his wife's case up, and, as 
 far as he could tell by the book, she was thretened with 
 a diagnosis, and if she got that it would certainly kill 
 her ! Away with all your technicalities. If you want 
 to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the masses do not 
 talk about " complutensian edition," " hypostatic union," 
 'Trench encyclopedism," " Erastianism," and "the 
 eucharist." The would not listen ten minutes to it. 
 
 If you talked about these things you would see the 
 
 people take their hats and clear out. When you come 
 
 into the ministry there will sit before you hundreds of 
 
 sinning, suffering, struggling, dying people. They come 
 
 in hungry for the bread of life ; they want to know how 
 32 
 
374 PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 
 
 to be saved ; they are fully persuaded that this world is" 
 a cheat, and cannot satisfy their immortal nature. 
 There will be hundreds of people in the audience who 
 do not care about your definitions. Give them some- 
 thing practical from the Bible and from your own heart, 
 and they will take it ; and they will not take it in any 
 other way. Suppose when you get into the ministry 
 you rise and preach an orthodox sermon on justifica- 
 tion, and you say, in the words of a learned divine of 
 the past century, whose definition I copied, for I could 
 not remember it : " Justification is purely a forensic 
 act, the act of a judge sitting in the forum in which the 
 supreme ruler and judge, who is accountable to none, 
 who alone knows the manner in which the ends of his 
 universal government can best be attained, reckons that 
 which was done by the substitute in the same manner as 
 if it had been done by those who believe in the substi- 
 tute, and not on account of anything done by them, but 
 purely on account of this gracious method of reckoning,, 
 grants them the full remission of their sins." Now, can 
 any of you tell what justification is ? A man would 
 want a directory to find his way out of church after 
 hearing that. While this definition of justification may 
 be most excellent, I should rather tell the people, 
 " Justification is this : you trust in Christ and God will 
 let you off." 
 
 I had in my first charge an Irish girl, who came to my 
 house one Friday afternoon and said : " I would like to 
 join the Church to. morrow evening." I said : *' Bridget, 
 do you think you are ready to come in ? " She replied : 
 " I think I am." " Well now," said I, " you come to- 
 morrow night to the meeting of Church officers and we 
 
PREACHINO TO THE MASSES. 375 
 
 will talk it over, and if you are ready we will be very 
 glad to have you." So on Saturday night she came. I 
 put a few plain and simple questions to her, and she 
 answered them all satisfactorily, whereupon a very good 
 man in the consistory (for then I was in the Reformed 
 Dutch Church) said : '' Bridget, how many covenants 
 are there V^ Well, she burst out crying. Of course 
 she could not answer. The good Scotchman who asked 
 the question shook his head, as much as to say, " I don't 
 hardly think she is ready to come." Well, I said I 
 would like to ask that question all around of the consis. 
 tory to see how many could tell how many covenants 
 there are, and what they are. Then I said : " Bridget, 
 do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?" "Yes, I do." 
 ^' Are you sure you love him ? " Yes, I am." " How 
 do they treat you up in that place where you are now 
 since you became a Christian ? " " They treat me very 
 badly because I have become a Christian, and they laugh 
 at me a great deal." " How do you feel when they 
 laugh and scoif at you ? " "I feel very sorry for them, 
 and I pray for them." I said : " I think that will do." 
 She was just as fit to come into the Church as any man 
 in all that consistory. She did not know how many 
 covenants there are, but she knew Christ. 
 
 Another reason why we do not succeed in bringing the 
 masses into the kingdom of God is because of a real lack 
 of sympathy for them. 
 
 The masses come on the outside and they see, by 
 reason of the conventionalities of the Church, " No ad- 
 mittance ; " they go on to the second door, and there is 
 fiomething in the chilling frigidity which says again : 
 " Ko admittance ; " but they press on through, out of 
 
376 PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 
 
 curiosity, and they get inside, and there they find us 
 hammering out our little nicities of religious belief, 
 pounding into shape our little peculiarities of theological 
 sentiment — making pins. We seem to act as though we 
 were disposed to say to these people who come in from 
 the outside, " Why, this is a church for respectable sin- 
 ners with a gloss on, and not for such sinners as you. 
 The few people that we get into our Churches are the 
 exceptional cases. The Church of God is very much 
 like a hospital, into which you might go in the summer 
 time, after a severe battle, and there find a thousand 
 patients, and up in one corner of the hospital you find a 
 doctor who is taking care of two or three patients ; he is 
 taking very good care of them. You say, " Doctor, 
 haven't you attended to these other cases ■? " " No," he 
 says : " I have three interesting cases." " How long 
 have you have you been here.^" "I have been here 
 three days ; these are ver}^ interesting cases ; I am 
 keeping the flies off." We have got a few nice cases in 
 the Church, very interesting people, indeed. We are 
 looking after them ; but the great battle field is outside, 
 and thousands and tens of thousands are dying of their 
 wounds, and we have not the courage to go out and get 
 them. I ask if those thousands outside are not worth 
 more than the three or four inside ? 
 
 Mark this : there is a judgment seat in every man's 
 heart. Now the idea is abroad that in order to have an 
 audience, especially in the cities, you must preach 
 humanitarianism, or you must preach the doctrine of 
 development, or you must hold back the idea of the 
 necessity of the new birth, or that you must not tell the 
 people that there is a hell, while on the other hand you 
 
PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 377 
 
 tell them there is a heaven. There never was a greater 
 mistake. There is in every man's heart a judgment-seat. 
 You come before that man : he knows he is a sinner, and 
 there is do need of your trying to persuade him any. 
 thing else. You may please his ear by another story 
 for a little while, but he goes away despising you. That 
 judgment seat, which is in every man's heart, is what 
 you need to appeal to ; and coming before an audience 
 in that feeling and in that appreciation, you will make 
 them hear and make them feel. It is not a question 
 whether they like what you say or not : they will come 
 again, and the more you disturb them the more certainly 
 will they come again. Do not be afraid of such holy 
 recklessness, or of driving people away from your church. 
 Where one man goes because you tell the whole and the 
 flat-footed truth, the will be five men that will want his 
 place. 
 
 I advise you, also young gentlemen, in your effort to 
 address the masses, to study tact in the presentation of 
 Christian truth. 
 
 It is amazing how men with but little mental faculty, 
 and little mental furniture, may accomplish great things 
 for God just by studying the best way of doing the thing, 
 by exercising Christian tact and strategy. I never was 
 more impressed with that than by the conduct of Mr. 
 Osborn, an American evangelist. Perhaps none of you 
 ever saw him. He was an old man when I was a mere 
 boy. He came to my father's house, and I was the only 
 one of the whole family that was not a Christian. We 
 sat down by the fireside in the evening in the country, 
 and Mr. Osborn said to my father : " Are all your chil- 
 dren Christians ? " Father said , " Yes, all but DeWitt." 
 32* 
 
378 PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 
 
 Well, the old evangelist sittiug by the fire, did not even 
 turn toward me, but looking into the fire, he began to 
 tell a story about a lost lamb on a mountain, and it was 
 a stormy night, very much like this, the wind blowing 
 and howdinor around the house. He described the lost 
 Iamb out on the mountain, and how they tried to find 
 it ; how everything was warm in the sheepfold, and at 
 last that lamb perished. It was all still in the room. 
 Every body knew it meant me ; I knew it meant me ; 
 but he did not say it meant me, and still kept looking 
 into the fire. I never found any peace till I became a 
 Christian. That is what I call Christian strategy. If 
 he had turned to me after he got through and said : 
 " DeWitt, I mean you ! " I should have been as mad as 
 fire. 
 
 Let us be cautious when we come to speak of the ter- 
 rors of the law, and not preach as though we were glad 
 to preach on that theme — not preach as though we were 
 glad to have them perish if they kept on in their sins. 
 Let there be something in the tone, something in the 
 manner, which will represent to them the fact, " I am a 
 sinner, too ; if God by his infinite grace, had not changed 
 my heart, I should have been under the same condem- 
 nation." 
 
 Again : Use great naturalness of manner. Do not 
 try to preach like any one else. See what you can do 
 the easiest, and then do that. By that I do not mean to 
 inculcate laziness, or to put a premium upon any kind 
 of indolence ; but it is generally the case that that 
 which you can do easiest at the start, you can do the 
 best and most successfully all the way tlirough. In re- 
 gard to preaching without notes — a subject which every 
 
PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 379 
 
 man discusses in this day who has any idea of the min- 
 istry — while it may best for the majority of those who 
 enter the ministry to preach without notes, I think there 
 are marked cases where it is not a man's duty so to do. 
 I know men who have ruined their life-time work by 
 perpetual struggle to speak without notes. Though they 
 had large intellect and warm Christian hearts, they 
 never got facility in the extemporaneous use of language. 
 
 Let every man judge for himself the best way of 
 preaching ; but be natural, and let it be an improved 
 naturalness. Why is it when men come to talk on reli- 
 gious themes they talk in a different tone and in a 
 different way from that in which they talk on any other 
 subject ? I think we could reach the masses a good deal 
 better if we had the naturalness of tone which we have 
 in the street and shop. I do not know why there should 
 be any such thing as a pulpit tone. It not only goes 
 into the pulpit, but it goes into the pew — this disposition 
 to act out a peculiar manner and a peculiar tone as 
 fitted for religious service. You will find a man who 
 stands on Friday afternoon in his store on Broadway 
 selling a bill of goods. He wants so sell a bill of sus- 
 penders. Now he talks naturally and persuasively. 
 He says to the purchaser that these are really the best 
 suspenders in all the city, and the customer buys them 
 saying : " What a delightful merchant this is ! Where do 
 you attend church ? " "I attend such and such a church. 
 We have a prayer-meeting to night ; won't you come 
 around?" The customer says: "Yes." Well, Friday 
 night he goes into the prayer- meeting, and the merchant 
 who that afternoon had been talking ,'•0 cheerfully about 
 the suspenders, and in such a successful way, stands up 
 
3S0 PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 
 
 in the prayer-meeting to recommend the religion of 
 Jesus Christ ; but he talks in such a funereal tone, and 
 in such a lugubrious manner, that it is enough to make 
 an imdertaker burst into tears. Now, why not have the 
 same cheerfulness of tone in speaking of religion as in 
 speaking of secular matters ? The religion of Jesus 
 Christ is the brightest thing that ever came down from 
 Heaven. It is compared to sunlight, to flowers, and to 
 all that is beautiful and glorious. Why should we, in 
 our manner and in our tones, indicate that it is any- 
 thing else ? We should certainly be as natural in the 
 pulpit as in the street and in the home. 
 
 I advise you also to go forth in the spirit of all prayer. 
 Certainly you believe, we oyight to believe, in the power 
 of prayer. 
 
 Make every service decisive for eternity. If you preach 
 to the masses, the people will come in to one service and 
 they will never come back again. It is an awful thing to 
 stand in the pulpit and feel, " Now here is an audience, 
 some of whom I will never meet until the thunders of the 
 last day break on the world ; if I do not touch them to- 
 night they will never be touched." Just as certainly as 
 you go into a service before the masses and resolve that 
 there and then souls shall be saved, they will be saved. 
 There will be no experiment about it. Now just single 
 out one man. I think it is a grand thing to single out a 
 man ^n the audience and preach to him. My custom is to 
 single out a man on the last seat in the gallery — I mean in 
 that line, or standing clear out by the door — for the reason 
 that I have noticed I can make all the people hear between 
 that point and this. I like everybody to hear in the church 
 and if I preach to the last man in the gallery, I am pretty 
 
PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 381 
 
 certain they will all hear me. I take a man far back, I im- 
 agine to myself that that man has never been in the church 
 before, or has not been in a church for twenty years, and 
 perhaps he will never be in again ; he may come from 
 curiosity ; this is my last chance ; the Lord help me ! 
 Then I think of what man's soul is worth. What is a 
 soul ? Why, it is enough to break a minister down in 
 the midst of his sermon to think of what a soul is. A 
 wheel within a wheel, wound up for endless revolutions ; 
 a realm in which love shall forever lift its smile, or des- 
 pair gnash its teeth, or pain strike its poignard, or hope 
 kindle its auroras : a soul just poised on the pivot, and 
 if it swing off or break away the lightnings of heaven 
 have not feet swift enough to catch up with it. No won- 
 der that many a man in his last moment has awakened 
 to think he had a soul and was not prepared to go, and 
 in the excitement of the moment ran his fingers through 
 his hair, and then, though a minute before he lay help- 
 less on the bed from disease, not able to turn his head, 
 in the anguish of the moment rose up and shook off the 
 three waichers and looked out into the darkness and 
 cried, " my soul, my soul, my SOUL ! " Now to have 
 fifty such souls or twenty such souls in the audience, and 
 to feel that this is the only chance at those souls : it is 
 awful. It seems to me it is like empaneling a jury for 
 a trial. The verdict is to be rendered, the Judge of 
 quick and dead has given the charge, the minister has 
 now come to the close of his sermon, and they are to 
 render the verdict, not about somebody else, but about 
 themselves. What an overwhelming consideration ! 
 
 I wish you great joy, young men. Great fields are 
 opening for you. Be praying men ; be holy men. Re- 
 
882 PREACHING TO THE MASSES. 
 
 member tliat you can never 'lift your people higher up 
 than the place on which you stand. Consecrate yourself, 
 body, mind, and soul, to God. Have high anticipations 
 in the ministry. There are great solemnities, great 
 trials, and great hardships ; but where there is one hard- 
 ship there are five hundred compensations in the inward 
 consciousness of doing the Lord's service. I know a great 
 many things are written in books this day about the 
 hardships and the trials of the ministry, and they are all 
 true. O for somebody to write a good, vivacious, enthu- 
 siastic. Christian book about the joys of the Christian 
 ministry ! I "have not wanted to make anything I say 
 to-nigbt personal ; I have not wanted to say anything 
 about myself; but I will tell you before I quit, the 
 ministry to me is one long exhilaration. I believe I 
 should have been dead if I had been engaged in anything 
 else than in preaching the Gospel of the grace of God. 
 It is healthy ; it is good for tlie body, it is good for the 
 mind, and it is good for the soul. 
 
 Note. — The above is regarded as a very superior specimen of spicy 
 illustrative writing. — Compiler. 
 
CHAPTER LT, 
 
 ELF,MENTS OF SUCCESS IN THE SERVICES OF MESSRS. 
 
 MOODY AND SANKEY. 
 
 Rey. R. W. Dale. 
 
 Of Mr. Moody's own power I find it difficult to speak. 
 It is so real, and yet so unlike the power of ordinary 
 preachers, that I hardly know how to analyze it. Its 
 reality is indisputable. Any man who can interest 
 and impress an audience varying from l^hree thousand 
 to six thousand people for half an hour in the morn- 
 ing, and for three-quarters of an hour in the afternoon, 
 and who can interest a third audience of thirteen or 
 fifteen thousand people for three-quarters of an hour 
 again in the evening, must have power of some kind. 
 Of course, some people listened without caring much 
 for what he said ; but though I generally sat in a po- 
 sition which enabled me to see the kind of impression 
 he produced, I rarely saw many faces which did not 
 indicate the most active and earnest interest. The 
 people where of all sorts, old and young, rich and poor, 
 keen tradesmen, manufacturers and merchants, and 
 young ladies who had just left school, rough boys who 
 knew more about dogs and pigeons than about books, 
 and cultivated women. For a time I could not un- 
 
384 ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN THE SERVICES OF MOODY. 
 
 derstand it — I am not sure that I understand it now. 
 At the first meeting, Mr. Moody's address was simple, 
 direct, kindly, and hopeful ; it had a touch of humor 
 and a touch of pathos j it was lit up with a story or 
 two that filled most eyes with tears ; but there seem- 
 ed nothing in it very remarkable. Yet it told. A 
 prayer-meeting with an address, at eight o'clock on a 
 damp, cold January morning, was hardly the kind of 
 thing — let me say it frankly — that I should generally 
 regard as attractive ; but 1 enjoyed it heartily ; it 
 seemed one of the happiest meetings I had ever at- 
 tended; there was warmth and there was sunlight in 
 it. At the evening meeting the same day, at Bingley 
 Hall, I was still unable to make it out how it was that 
 he had done so much in other parts of the kingdom. 
 I listened with interest; everybody listened with in- 
 terest ; and I was conscious again of a certain warmth 
 and brightness which made the service very pleasant, 
 but I could not see that there was much to impress 
 those that were careless about religious duty. The 
 next morning at the prayer-meeting the address was 
 more incisive and striking, and at the evening service 
 I began to see that the stranger had a faculty for mak- 
 ing the elementary truths of the Gospel intensely 
 clear and vivid. But it still seemed most remarkable 
 that he should have done so much, and on Tuesday 
 I told Mr Moody that the work was most plainly of 
 God, for I could see no real relation between him and 
 what he had done. He laughed cheerily, and said he 
 sho^ild be very sorry if it were otherwise. I began 
 to wonder whether what I had supposed to be a law 
 of the Divine kingdom was perfectly uniform. I 
 
ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN THE SERVICES OF MOODY. 385 
 
 thought thai there were scores ot us who could preach 
 as effectively as Mr. Moody, and who might therefore, 
 with God's good help, be equally successful. 
 
 In the course of a day or two my mistake was cor- 
 rected : but to the last there were sensible people who 
 listened to him with a kind of interest and delight 
 with which they never listen to very '^ distinguished" 
 and eloquent preachers, and who yet thought that 
 though Mr. Moody was '^ very simple and earnest," 
 he had no particular power as a speaker. I do not 
 intend to suggest any comparison between Mr. Moody 
 and our great English orator, but I have met people 
 who have talked in the same way about Mr. Bright 
 and who seem to think that to speak like Mr. Bright 
 was possible to nearly everybody. 
 
 One of the elements of Mr. Moody's power consists 
 in his perfect naturalness. He has something to say, 
 and he says it — says it as simply and directly to thir- 
 teen thousand people as to thirteen. He has nothing 
 of the impudence into which some speakers are be- 
 trayed when they try to be easy and unconventional; 
 but ho talks in a perfectly unconstrained and straight- 
 forward way, just as he would talk to half-a-dozen old 
 friends at his fireside. The effect of this is very in- 
 telligible You no more think of criticising him than 
 you think of critising a man that you meet in the 
 street, and who tells you the shortest way to a railway 
 station. I can criticise most preachers and speakers ; 
 T criticised Dr. Guthrie, though I was either laughing 
 or crying the greater part of the time that I was list- 
 ening to him ; but so-mehow I did not think of criti- 
 cising Mr. Moody until I had got home. Generally 
 33 
 
3.86 ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN THE SEE VICES OF MOODY. 
 
 there seemed nothing to criticise ; once or twice in 
 the simplist and most inartistic manner, he said things 
 which at the moment he said them I felt were of the 
 kind to give a popular speaker a great triumph, but 
 his whole manner threw me out of the critical atti- 
 tude. Some men force you to be critical. It is im- 
 p )ssible to take a single coin from them without ring- 
 ing it on the table and looking to see whether it is 
 properly '^ milled." From first to last, thej^ provoke 
 " watchful jealousy." It is clear that they are taking 
 a great deal of trouble with their sentences ; it is dis- 
 respectful not to examine their work. It is clear, too, 
 that they are giving you their best thoughts, their 
 best arguments, and their best illustrations, and they 
 show them to you just as a collector of gems shows you 
 his last triumphant acquisition. It is impossible — it 
 is almost insulting — not to criticise. When a speech 
 or sermon is plainly a work of art, criticism is inevi- 
 table. It is not necessary for any-one to paint pic- 
 tures, to sing songs, or ta deliver artistic addresses ; 
 but if a man insists on being an artist, and lets you 
 know it, he forces upon you a critical examination of 
 his performance. 
 
 Mr. Moody — so it seems to me — has an ^' art" of a 
 very effective kind ; but he is infinitely more than an 
 artist, and therefore most people listen without criti- 
 cising. This is an immense element of power. If 
 our congregations came to hear us preach, instead of 
 coming to hear how we preach, the effects of our ser- 
 mons would be immeasurably great. Now and then 
 Mr. Moody quoted a text in a very illegitimate sense ; 
 Now and then he advanced an argument which would 
 
ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN THE SERVICES OF MOODY. 387 
 
 not hold water; now and then he laid down princi- 
 ples which seemed untenable ; and there was a mo 
 mentary protest on the part of the critical faculty ; 
 but the protest was only momentarily. I was not 
 thrown out of sympathy with him. 
 
 It is objected that he is too '' familiar" with sacred 
 things. Generally — not always — the objection comes 
 from persons who are extremely unfamiliar with 
 them. The fault that is charged against him — if it be 
 a fault — is perhaps not too common in these days. 
 There are not too many people who live, and move, 
 and have their being in the fair provinces of Chris- 
 tian truth, and Christian hope, and Christian joy. 
 Mr. Moody is, no doubt, very " familiar" with things 
 about which he talks. He is like a man who keeps 
 Sunday every day in the week; his mind does not 
 put on Sunday clothes when he begins to speak about 
 religion. Religious truth is the subject of his con- 
 stant thought ; he does not therefore assume the 
 " Bible tone" when he begins to pray or preach. He 
 does not tell stories because they are amusing ; but 
 if an amusing story helps him to make a truth clearer, 
 or to expose a common mistake, he does not refase to 
 tell it merely because it is amusing. The common 
 things of common life are about him all the time he 
 is speaking. He uses the words of the home and the 
 street: the plainer they are the better he likes them. 
 The gowns and bands which some of our preachers 
 wear are the symbols of the special costume in which 
 they think it proper to array religious truth. Mr. 
 Moody does without gown or bands, and speaks to 
 men as he would speak to them at a meeting of the 
 
388 ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN THE SERVICES OF MOODY. 
 
 " United Kingdom Alliance," or at a political meeting 
 during a contested election. He has given himself to 
 God, all that he has, all that he is, and he uses every 
 faculty and resource of his nature to prevail upon 
 men to hate sin and to trust and love Christ. To 
 him nothing is common or unclean. He has humor, 
 and he uses it ; he has passion, and he uses it; he can 
 tell racy anecdotes, and he tells them ; he can make 
 people cry as well as laugh, and he does it. 
 
 Reverence is due to God alone, and to Him in whom 
 God is manifest in the flesh ; of God, of our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ, there was never a word which was not in- 
 spired by fervent love, perfect trust, and devout wor- 
 ship. Of great saints, good men will speak with af- 
 fection and respect; and it was thus that Mr. Moody 
 spoke of them. 
 
 There was something in his way of telling Scrip- 
 ture narratives from which preachers may learn very 
 much. The Oriental drapery was stripped off, and 
 he told the stories as though they had happened in 
 Chicago just before he had left home, or in Birming- 
 ham an hour or two before the service began. At 
 times this gave the stories a certain air of grotesque- 
 ness, but it made the moral element in them intensely 
 real. We are in the habit of making a double de- 
 mand on our hearers ; we ask them, first, to repro- 
 duce, by a strong effort of imagination, the Oriental 
 circumstances of the narratives and we then ask them 
 to apprehend the human passions and follies and vir- 
 tues which the narratives illustrate. I believe that 
 they get so interested in the mere drapery that the 
 substantial facts are often missed ; or else the endur- 
 
ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN THE SERVICES OF MOODY. 389 
 
 ing human element looks so strange in its unfamiliar 
 costume that it? power is lost. 
 
 Of the aspect of the truth on which he dwells it is 
 not necessary to say much. His groat topic is the in- 
 finite love and power of Christ. That Christ wants 
 to save men, and can do it, is the substance of nearly 
 all his discourses. I asked him, after one of the 
 morning services, whether he never used the element 
 of terror in his preaching ? He said that he did 
 sometimes, but that " a man's heart ought to be very 
 tender" when speaking about the doom of the impeni- 
 tent ; that the manner in which some preachers 
 threatened unbelievers with the wrath to come, as 
 though they had a kind of satisfaction of thinking of 
 the sufferings of the lost, was to him very shocking. 
 He added that in the course of his visit to a town he 
 generally preached one sermon on hell and one on 
 heaven. That night he preached on the text, " Son 
 remember !" I greatly regret that I happened to be 
 absent ; I should like to have heard how he dealt with 
 this difficult subject. As the readers of the Congre- 
 gationalist know, I believe that in modern preaching 
 there is too little said about the awful words of our 
 Lord concerning the destiny of those who resist His 
 authority and reject his salvation. The unwilling- 
 ness of most of us to speak of this terrible subject 
 ought to suggest very earnest self-examination. 
 Christ's love for men, which was infinitely more ten- 
 der than ours, did not prevent Him from speaking of 
 " the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not 
 quenched," and it is curely presumptuous of us to as- 
 sume that we are prevented from speaking of future 
 33* 
 
390 ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN THE SERVICES OF MOODY. 
 
 punishment by the depth of our sympathy with the 
 Divine mercy. 
 
 The possibility of ""instantaneous conversions^ was 
 one of the points on which he insisted incessantly 
 I think I should prefer to speak of the ccMainty of 
 Chris fs immediate response to a frank trust in His 
 love and frank submission to his authority. These 
 however, are only two ways of presenting the same 
 truth ; and the vigor and earnestness with which he 
 charged his hearers to obtain at once the pardon of 
 sin and power to break away from a sinful life, were 
 extremely effective. 
 
 Some of the most remarkable results of the visit of 
 our American friends are to be found, perhaps, among 
 those who have been long members of Christian 
 Churches. I hardly know how to <ie.scri6e the change 
 which has passed over them. It is like the change, 
 which comes upon a landscape when clouds which 
 have been hanging over it for hours suddenly vanish, 
 and the sunlight seems to fill both heaven and earth. 
 There is a joyousness, and an elasticity of spirit, 
 and a hopefulness, which have completely transformed 
 them ; and the transformation shows itself in the un- 
 ostentatious eagerness with which they are taking 
 up Christian work. 
 
 If I thought it worth while, I could speak of some 
 things in this work which are not to my taste, and 
 some things which my judgment disapproves. But 
 before Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey came to Birming- 
 ham I had arrived at the conclusion that what was. 
 said of the e^rly evangelists at Antioch, was the tri^-. 
 e^t account of tho 'worl^ of tjiese American eva,nger 
 
ELEMENTS OP SUCCESS IN THE SEEVICES OF MOODY. 391 
 
 lists in Scotland and Ireland. ''The hand of the Lord 
 was with them : and a greater number believed and 
 turned unto the Lord." This conviction has been 
 deepened and confirmed by all that I have seen of 
 them. 
 
 Those men especially who are in the habit of in- 
 sisting on "breadth" of sympathy with all in -whom 
 there is genuine Christian earnestness, and who are 
 always saying that rigid accuracy in doctrinal defini- 
 tions is of inferior importance to .a living faith in 
 Christ, ought to be able to rise above the kind of ob- 
 jections which seem likely to alienate some of them 
 from' this work. 
 
 It is possible that in some places our American visi- 
 tors may not achieve the kind of success which has 
 hitherto followed them. Before they came to Bir- 
 mingham I felt very doubtful whether the}'' would ac- 
 complish here what they had accomplished in Dublin 
 and Belfast. I believe they will accomplish very 
 little in any place ivhere they are not sustained hy 
 the hearty sympathy of Christian 2^6oplej and where 
 Christian Churches do not earnestly entreat Cod to 
 manifest in connection with their work the transcen- 
 dent greatness of His power and love. There were 
 people among whom our Lord Himself "could do no 
 mighty works, because of their unbelief." 
 
CHAPTER LVI. 
 
 WHAT MR. MOODY CAN DO FOR US. 
 
 By Key. J. E. Rankin, D. D. 
 
 We cannot all have Mr. Moody, now that God has so 
 distino'uished him as a winner of souls. But we can all 
 be taught by him. He can teach us, in the first place, 
 how to use the English Bible. The best commentary on 
 the Bible, is the Bible. The use of the Bible as our 
 only authority ; that use of it too, which makes history 
 and narrative illustrate and enforce doctrine which em- 
 bodies truth in living instances, 4s the wisest and most 
 forcible. Mr. Moody is a man of one book ; and that 
 book the mightiest intellectual, moral and spiritual 
 force in the whole universe ; that book the sword of the 
 living God ! It is said that he has no time to read any. 
 thing else. If so, he escapes the dissipating and corrupt 
 influence of books and papers which are inspired by the 
 spirit of this world's life, and he lives in the atmosphere 
 of thino^s not seen and eternal ; he is the constant com- 
 panion of prophets and apostles, who spoke as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost ; he walks with God, and God 
 talks with him face to face. 
 
 Mr. Moody teaches us, too, what is the layman's oppor- 
 etunity. It is not to mount the rostrum ; it is to guid 
 
WHAT MR. MOODY CAN DO FOE US. 303 
 
 inquirers. Mr. Moody evidently prefers the inquiry- 
 meet iog as his place of work. 
 
 And what does he find 7)iost lacking I Competent 
 men and women to guide inquirers. Here, then, is the 
 layman's opportunity. Let men and women learn the 
 art of personally winning souls. Let the Sabbath. school 
 teachers^ who have so long sat face to face with their 
 classes, and expected God some time to save them, now 
 gird themselves for the work of bringing them at once 
 into the fold of Christ. 
 
 Revivals, so called, of late years scarcely reach one- 
 tenth of the church members. There is no general 
 repentance, no general turning to God. There is no 
 general renewal of effort to save men. The minister, 
 and a few of the more spiritual members of the church, 
 devote themselves to revival work. The bulk of the 
 church attend as many j^laces of fashionable dissipation 
 as ever ; live just as ever. 
 
 Now, let any minister and his church agree to give 
 themselves for the next three months, for instance, to the 
 work of convincing men of their sins, and turning them 
 to God ; let the preaching and the teaching be aimed at 
 this, and all has been gained without Mr. Moody, which 
 Mr. Moody can bring. Mr Moody aims to compel Chris- 
 tians to give up the world long enough to humble them- 
 selves before God, and to eng^a^e in active efforts for the 
 salvation of men. 
 
 Another thino- which Mr. Moodv teaches us, is the wis- 
 dom oi frequently drawing the net. Probably, no Lord's 
 Day goes by, whether in the sanctuary or the Sabbath 
 school, when some souls are not set to unusual thinking. 
 The prevalent custom is, to let the net remain in the 
 
394 WHAT ME. MOODY CAN DO FOR US. 
 
 deep water, where the fish can escape, instead of pulling 
 it always to the shore. Our closing exercises on the 
 Lord's Day, the artificial and set arrangement of every- 
 thing, and especially the organ voluntary, with which 
 and by which we are encouraged to forget all that has 
 been said and d?ne in God's house, seem well adapted to 
 render this the only arrangement possible. Could the 
 congregation be tenderly and seriously dismissed ; and 
 there be an enquiry. meeting, to which warm. hearted 
 Christians and all thoughtful persons among the impeni- 
 tent are especially invited, at the close of each service, 
 or, at any rate, at the close of the final service on the 
 Lord's Day, the result might be very difierent. 
 
 In a word, then, Mr. Moody teaches us that he relies 
 upon the Holy Spirit within himself and his co-workers 
 — the Bible in their hands, and common sense in their 
 method.^ — to save the souls of men. The first God will 
 give us if we ask Him ; the second we have, if we will 
 only learn to use it ; and the third is only the wisdom 
 of this world, applied to things spiritual and eternal. 
 
CHAPTER LYIl. 
 MR. MOODY'S OPENING SERMON. 
 
 THE GREAT HINDRANCES TO REVIVAL. 
 
 "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are 
 well able to overcome it. Numb, xiii : 30. 
 
 Let us get the surroundings of this text. You will 
 remember that Moses was commanded to send men 
 into the promised land to see how the land looked. 
 I suppose they wanted to find out if God's Avord was 
 true, and they said : "We will pick twelve men. We 
 will send them the length and breadth of the land, 
 and we will get their report before we go over." 
 All of the twelve admitted it was a land flowing with 
 milk and honey, but these other ten — the unbelievers 
 — said, "Oh, the people are strong that dwell in the 
 land, and the cities are walled and very great, and we 
 saw giants there and the sons of Anak. We are not 
 able to possess the land." I can imagine one of these 
 ten men when he stood close to a tall giant and had 
 had to look up into his face, seemed to himself, as 
 the history states, Jike unto a grasshopper. When 
 •QUbelief comes in we are like grasshoppers in the 
 
396 MR. MOODY'S OPENING SERMON. 
 
 world's eyes, and when faith is with 113 these giants 
 are like grasshoppers in our eyes. 
 
 Thank God, there were two men that had faith. 
 Caleb said, "Just lot me speak a few words. I have 
 been through the land. lam one of the spies that 
 went out, and I tell you we are well able to go up 
 and possess the land. We can take it at once. Let 
 us go up at once and possess the land. There is no 
 power that can hinder us if God is with us." If the 
 people had only followed Caleb's advice they might 
 have saved their forty years in the wilderness. 
 
 Bring it down to the present day. Four-fifths of 
 the professed children of God are saying, "We are 
 not able to go up and possess the land." I don't 
 know how many people I have heard say tome since 
 I came back, "Now, Mr. Moody, you must not expect 
 so great a work in this country as in the old." I tell 
 you if we dont expect it we won't have it. If we will 
 cross at Kadesh-barnea, and just go right over, we can 
 take the land at once. There isn't anything to hin- 
 der. If God delight in us, are we not able to go up 
 and possess it? How easy it would be for God to 
 pour us out such a blessing that there would not be 
 room enough to recieve it ; how easy for him to turn 
 away these dark waves of hell that come dashing 
 against ns. The difference between Caleb and 
 Josha and these ten men was this : The ten had their 
 eyes on the great walls of those cities and the giants 
 and the sons of Anak, but Caleb and Joshua lifted 
 their eyes above that wall and saw Him who sitteth 
 upon the throne of God, and I can imagine Caleb and 
 Joshua, when they came back, saying, ''It will be very 
 
MR. MOODY'S OPENING SERMOInT. 397 
 
 easy for God to give us that country. He brought us 
 through the Red Sea wheu we wanted to go through 
 the wilderness. He opened his hand and gave us food ; 
 when we wanted water he spoke to the rock and it 
 came bubbling out." "If God delight in us," says 
 Joshua, "we are well able to go up and take the land. 
 These giants are like grasshoppers in our sight." 
 
 That is the difference between the man of faith and 
 the man of unbelief ; and the greatest obstacle to a 
 pure revival in this country is the wretched unbelief 
 in the Church of God. Our God is able, and what 
 we want is to move forward, trusting in God and be- 
 lieving that he is able to give great and exceedingly 
 abundant blessings above what we may ask or think. 
 
 My friends, if we are going to have our churches 
 filled with fear and unbelief, and don't expect a bless- 
 ing, we will not see one. What we want is men like 
 Caleb and Joshua, who have got faith in a living 
 God, who are able to go over and possess the land ; 
 not looking at the wall or the giants, but to Him 
 who is mighty to save — no other. If we are going 
 to have a work in this country we must have this les- 
 son, and the quicker the better — that is, let God work 
 in his own way. This idea of marking a channel for 
 God to work in, the idea of making plans for him, is 
 preposterous. When the Holy Ghost comes he will 
 mark out a way for himself. When he comes he will 
 make his own channel, and God, we must bear in 
 mind, is the Sovereign, and he will use whom he will. 
 And we want to say, "Lord, use me. If thou canst 
 not, lay me aside and use some one else, only let 
 the work be done." We have got to do away with 
 34 
 
398 MR. MOODY'S OPENING SERMON. 
 
 all bickering and jealousy, and to stand in our place 
 and say, "Lord, here I am. Let me take a part or let 
 me have no position at all, onlylet God be glorified." 
 Sometimes the Lord comes to us in a way we are 
 unprepared for. Sometimes we look for him in the 
 east and he comes right from the west. He takes, 
 too, the weak and the foolish things to confound the 
 mighty, that no flesh may glory in his sight. So if 
 God is going to take Jericho he will do it how and 
 when he pleases. And we must have faith to believe 
 God can use us. I heard something in Scotland that 
 did me good. A man said in one of our conventions 
 that there was not a man in the whole camp of Israel 
 but that knew God could use any one of them to slay 
 Goliath. They believed God could do it, but there 
 was only one man that believed God would do it, 
 and so he took him. We know he can do this work. 
 All admit that, but let us believe that we are the men 
 he will use. 
 
 If tve are going to have a revival worh in this coun. 
 try it has got to he an individual effort : this man trying 
 to urge his neighbor to come to Christ; this woman 
 trying to urge her neighbor, her companion, her asso- 
 ciate ; this young man bringing his companion to 
 Christ. We have got to give up much; we must give 
 up the world ; we must give up our bazaars and festi- 
 vals and these church amusements, and " come up to 
 the help of the Lord against the mighty." This is 
 what we must do. " Press toward the prize of the 
 high calling." If I had the trumpet of God I should 
 like to ask the American people, " Shall we go on and 
 take the land ? " The seven hundred thousand Sun. 
 
MR. Moody's opening sermon. 399 
 
 day-school teachers in this land can each bring a child 
 to God. Christ died for us, and should we not 
 be willing to do this? Shall we not try to bring our 
 neighbors to Christ? I should like to speak to the 
 hundred thousand men in the Young Men's Christian 
 Associations and ask them if we shall go on and take 
 the land ? Shall we rise up and cross at Kadesh- 
 barnea and take the land in the name of God. 
 
REVIVAL HYMN. 
 By Rey. S. D. Phelps, D. D. 
 
 Come, O Spirit ! make this hour 
 V^^itness thy reviving power ; 
 Touch our hearts with sacred fire, 
 Faith and prayer and zeal inspire. 
 
 Some have left their early love, 
 Some have gi'ieved thee, holy Dove, 
 Proved unfaithful, worldly, cold, 
 Straying from the Master's fold. 
 
 Call them back, for thou canst reach 
 Farthest ones with thy sweet speech ; 
 Broken-hearted they shall come, 
 Find a joyful welcome home. 
 
 Many near us long have been 
 In the deadly sleep of sin. 
 Till their hearts refuse to move 
 When they hear of Jesus' love. 
 
 Show their guilt-imperiled state, 
 Hopes delusive dissipate, . 
 Flash the truth upon their sight, 
 Bid them wake to life and light. 
 
 Oh, we long thy work to see, 
 Precious souls renewed by thee ; 
 Let salvation now appear 
 Out of Zion, glorious here. 
 
CHAPTER LVIIL 
 
 HOW TO INSTRUCT INQUIHERS. 
 
 [AUTHORIZED EXTRACTS— AUTOBIOGRAPHY. ] 
 
 By Elder Jacob Knapp. 
 
 On this subject the Bible is our guide, Peter said 
 to those who asked "What must we do?" "Repent 
 and be baptized," When the jailer asked a similar 
 question, Paul answered, "Believe on the liord Jesus 
 Christ." Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that are 
 weary and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." 
 These directions are substantially alike. No man re- 
 pents without believing. No man believes in Christ 
 without repenting, and no man comes to Christ with- 
 out doing both ; and baptism is the symbol and pro- 
 fession of this moral experience. 
 
 The apo.stles called upon men to make an immedi- 
 ate surrender of their hearts to God. They required 
 the exercise of repentance and faith on the spot. 
 They made no provision for delays, and clearly im- 
 plied that this very hesitancy was a resistance of the 
 Holy Spirit, and an act of hostiUty to God. Any other 
 instruction seems like tolerating impenitence, unbe- 
 lief, and a rejection of Christ. 
 34* 
 
402 HOW TO INSTRUCT INQUIRERS. 
 
 There are Dumerous influences which operate on 
 inquirers to embarrass their efforts after salvation. 
 Some are holding on to their companions and are un- 
 willing to give them up for Christ. Others are de- 
 pending on something which they have done, or in- 
 tend to do, instead of depending on Christ alone. 
 Some are unwilling to abandon an unlawful business, 
 or to give up their unlawful gain. Others again have 
 contracted bad habits, such as the use of tobacco, 
 wine, rum, whiskey, or dancing. Every person is 
 willing to give up something, but not the particular 
 idol they worship. They make reservations, and say? 
 "Pardon, Lord, thy servant in this one thing." 
 But Christ says, "Whosoever doth not forsake all 
 that he hath, cannot be my disciple." 
 
 If persons who have been converted, are in a back- 
 slidden state, now hoping and now doubting, it is safe 
 to bring them to the same test that you do an enqui- 
 rer. The great necessity is to bring every soul to 
 trust in Chiist solely and implicitly, and to serve him 
 unreservedly, and leave all consequences with Him^ 
 who, with Christ, freely giveth us all things. It is 
 ours to serve God; it is his to save. 
 . We are all directed to pray. The apostle told Simon 
 to "pray God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart 
 may be forgiven thee." God "will have all men to 
 pray everywhere." The mercy-seat should be the 
 sinner's first resort. O, how strange it is that the 
 soul should be so loatli to come to Jesus, the sinner'a 
 friend, and his only " helper in time of trouble" — to 
 him who has done for him more than any other being, 
 and stands ready to save I 
 
HOW TO INSTEUCT IKQUIREES. 403 
 
 There is a difference to be observed in the kind of 
 truth to be presented to different persons with a view 
 to awakening them. Some can be moved by the con- 
 strainings of the love of Christ; others maybe aroused 
 by the terrors of the law. It is common for most 
 persons to place a great estimate on the value of that" 
 particular class of truths that interested them, and to 
 think the method which secured their attention pre- 
 ferable to any other. 
 
 There is a difference in the length of time in which 
 the Spirit strives with men. Some persons he follows 
 after for years ; others may never have more than one 
 distinct call. If that is rejected, they are forever lost. 
 
 These differences of operations are owing, in part, 
 to the way in which the Spirit is treated. If it is re- 
 jected deliberately, he may leave the soul at once. 
 But in other cases men sin ignorantly : seeking the 
 truth, but unconsciously submitting to some unrecog- 
 nized influences which hinder the Spirit's operations ; 
 and God forbears. All these cases are to be treated 
 differently. 
 
 There is also a difference in the degree or depth of 
 conviction in different persons. Some need only to 
 know the will of God concerning them, and they yield 
 at once. Others are more stubborn in the natural dis- 
 position, and will not yield unless God puts the 
 scre'ws to them and almost kills them. Our instruc- 
 tions to the anxious must make'^a difference" accord- 
 ing to the different conditions of the person with 
 whom the Spirit is striving. 
 
 There is a difference in the manner in which relief 
 comes to persons. Some find it gradually, hardly 
 
404 HOW TO INSTRUCT INQUIREHS. 
 
 knowing how or when. Others find the relief at once, 
 alid never forget the time or place when the burden 
 rolls off from their minds. The conversion may be 
 as genuine in the one case as in the other. Two men 
 may be going up a long, steep hill, each with a bag of 
 -sand on his back. In one of these bags there is a hole, 
 and the sand gradually falls out, and the man hardly 
 perceives the lessening of the load, but soon it is all 
 gone ; the other carries his load, and it seems to grow 
 heavier and heavier. All at once the straps break, 
 and the bag falls to the ground. He knows the mo- 
 ment when the burden fell. But in the one case the 
 relief is as actual and real as in the other. Each 
 has got rid of his burden. 
 
 So also there is a difference as to the way in which 
 light comes into the soul. Some see but a very few 
 rays at first. Conversion is to them like the dawning 
 of day. They never see any great light ; can hardly 
 tell whether any change has come over them or not; 
 and because they have not felt, as some say they have, 
 they are tempted to doubt the reality of their hopes- 
 Still they love God, and love his people, and love his 
 service. Others experience a divine illumination. 
 All at once light is poured into their souls. The 
 change is so great that they never forget the time. 
 These persons need to be taught that the genuineness 
 of their conversion does not depend on the degree of 
 light they have enjoyed, but on the state of their af- 
 fections ; whether they love God and keep his com- 
 mandinents ; whether they are in sympathy with 
 Christ, his service, and his people. There was a dif- 
 ference between the conversion of the eunuch and that 
 
HOW TO INSTEUCT INQUIRERS. . 405 
 
 of Paul. But Paul never bases the reality of his con- 
 version on the mere miraculous circumstances which 
 attended it. 
 
 But I am constrained to say that I have never de- 
 pended as much as some have on instructions to the 
 anxious. Rather I have insisted on immediate decis- 
 ion — on instantaneous repentance, and faith in the 
 Lord Jesus. In the anxious room I depend more on 
 prayer, on prevailing supplication with God, than on 
 all the instructions which can be given. Everything 
 is dark to the sinner until enlightened by the Spirit ; 
 no coaxing, no teaching, no driving will compel or 
 induce the devil to leave his palace in the human soul, 
 until the stronger than the strong man armed comes 
 upon him and binds him. Then the work is done, 
 and done effectually. Hence I get all on their knees, 
 and set them to crying to God (both saints and sin- 
 ners), till he sends down salvation. I have known 
 fifty souls to be converted in one season of prayer, 
 that is, before we have risen from our knees. 
 
CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 REVIVAL AMONG THE LITTLE ONES. 
 
 [extract— conqregationalist.] 
 
 By Rev. G. H. Morss. 
 
 It came about on this wise. The teachers of our 
 Sabbath, school met together to pray for, and consult as 
 to what more we could do for the spiritual welfare of 
 the children and young people. It was decided to hold 
 class prayer-meetings. Each male teacher was to be 
 responsible for the conducting of the meeting with his 
 class, the superintendent being responsible for the con- 
 duct of the meetings of classes taught by female 
 teachers. 
 
 The meetings commenced in private houses ; but soon 
 it became apparent that larger room must be sought, 
 and we were obliged to go to our mission school-room. 
 From the first meeting religious interest was manifested ; 
 the children nvere deeply affected and in tears. 
 
 Dr, Todd's lectures to children were read to them, 
 remarks made upon the subject thus introduced, prayers 
 offered intersper-sed with singing. Soon the inquiry arose 
 from many hearts : What must I do to be saved ? And 
 after each meeting personal conversation was had with 
 
REVIVAL AMONG THE LITTLE ONES. 407 
 
 those who wished it. Our Sabbath service was followed 
 witli prayer and inquiry meetings. A deep and quiet 
 interest pervaded each session of the school. Conver- 
 sions were frequent, till soon twenty-five were rejoicing 
 in a new-found Saviour. 
 
 Beside the class prayer meeting, the teachers' prayer- 
 meeting was kept up during the religious interest, and 
 several appointed special seasons of prayfer, each agree- 
 ing to be in his closet at a certain hour each day, pour- 
 ing out their hearts to God for each individual member 
 of their classes, expressed by name. The children, also, 
 deeply pervaded by the Holy Spirit's influence, of their 
 own accord met together, and prayed for their classes, 
 teachers, and unconverted members of the school ; 
 spending a half hour thus, at some private house, on 
 Sabbath afternoon before the session of the school ; 
 meeting also on Wednesday afternoon for the same pur- 
 pose. 
 
 An incident connected with this meeting, illustrates 
 the faith of the children. They were under ten years 
 of age. The Sabbath after their first meeting one of 
 them said to her teacher : *' We had a little prayer- 
 meeting last week.*' "Did you?" said the teacher. 
 " Who was there ? " The little girl repeated over the 
 names of two of her mates. "Was that all?" asked 
 the teacher. " No," was the quick reply of the child ; 
 " there was one more." " And who was that ? " asked 
 the teacher. "Jesus," said the child. "But," said 
 the teacher, " how do you know Jesus was there ? " 
 "Because," replied the child, "He has said: 'Where 
 two or three are met together in my name, there am I in 
 the midst of them,' and we felt he was there." 
 
408 EEVIVAL AMONG THE LITTLE ONES. 
 
 The genuineness of the conversion which took place 
 became apparent, not only in their countenances and 
 words, but in little, though touching, acts of kindness 
 towards each other at school, and in a very marked 
 change in their behavior at home, to which their parents 
 bore witness. While this was a mission school, most of 
 these converts subsequently conaected themselves, we 
 believe, with some church. 
 
 The measures adopted to bring about this religious 
 interest were such as might be made practicable in Sab- 
 bath schools where there are also church privileges. 
 The class prayer.meeting, not directly after the Metho- 
 dist order, though that is good, may become a helpful 
 aid to the teacher in making the spiritual application of 
 the truths taught on the Sabbath. Try it teacher. Try 
 it superintendent. 
 
CHAPTER LX. 
 COMMON SENSE IN REVIVALS. 
 
 [CONGKEGATIONALIST.] 
 
 By Key. E. P. Tinney. 
 
 Said Dr. Witherspoon to a divinity student : '' If 
 yoQ have no piety, you know how to get it; if you 
 have no learning, you know where to get it ; but if 
 yoQ have no common sense, God have mercy on your 
 sou)." It is certain that nothing can take the place 
 of what John Locke calls " good roundabout sense," 
 in promoting revival works. 
 
 In the first place, a man must know enough to keep 
 well. The moment one's nerves are unstrung, he 
 loses his hold on men. Coarse, rough and ready men 
 have no appreciation of the fine sensibilities and over- 
 work which break down a pastor. The common 
 people have a great respect for tough clergymen. 
 Revivalists must be able to endure hardness. The 
 kingdom is to the strongest. A good digestion and 
 capacity for sleep are needful. Beef-steak and sound 
 sleep will save souls ; but restless nights will not. 
 Good judgment is a prime factor in successful revival 
 work. 
 
 35 
 
410 COMMON SENSE IN EEVIVALS. 
 
 Further, it is a common sense rule in revivals to 
 take things by the rii,^ht handle, and handle the saint* 
 before v^^restling with sinners. If God's people stand 
 aloof, the devil's people will not turn to. The way 
 of the Lord must be prepared. Sometimes it takea 
 several months to get ready for a revival, but a steady 
 pressure in one line will clear the way. The end must 
 be kept in sight Sunday and week day. Dr. Porter 
 used to believe that, where there was no revival, the 
 minister tuas the greatest obstacle; and he confessed 
 that his own early ministry was at fault. Revivals 
 do not come without seeking them; they do come hy 
 seeJcing. Yet, out of every hundred Congregational 
 ministers, a great number are afraid lest the ark of 
 God should move on some cart that is new, and be 
 drawn by bullocks half wild. Many are afraid of 
 multiplying meetings, and do not seem to know that 
 the early church held daily meetings for 300 years. 
 If men thoroughly believe in revivals, and vehemently 
 give themselves to the work, the way will be prepar- 
 ed. But it is imperative to keep the people to this 
 one line. Do pastor and people try to prepare for' 
 revival works during a fortnight, and then stop to 
 tickle the young people by an evening's entertainment, 
 or raise a few dollars by a fair? It is hard to get a 
 half water-logged church into motion up the stream^ 
 and if the motion is stopped every now and then, to 
 give the crew time to sell gew-gaws, or play at blind 
 man's buff, there will be no more progress than in an 
 Arab boat ascending the Nile, when the boatmen 
 throw out drags — to make their job hold out longer — 
 and then explain the slow sailing by crying, " God 
 
COMMON SENSE IN REVIVALS. 411 
 
 wills it ! " There inay he a revival in any parish, 
 where there has been no general revival for some 
 years, if the church ivill rise up and prepare the way. 
 There must be preaching in on3 line till the way is 
 prepared. Sometimes an evangelist with a new voice 
 may come in at the critical moment, and supplement 
 the work of the pastor, turning the tide. But abso- 
 lutely nothing can be done if the pastor, and the lead- 
 ing church members, are afraid of disturbing the regu- 
 lar order of the meetings and getting out of the ruts 
 to save souls. 
 
 Some Christians will sit upon a fence waiting an 
 eminent evangelist to tell them to get down and go 
 to work ; and multitudes will perish before they reach 
 out a hand. Is there no other name under heaven 
 than that of Moody, whereby men can be saved ? 
 What about an evangelist? The churches may rely 
 upon a man : but unless the power of God is brought 
 down from heaven, there will be no more light and 
 warmth than if one were to kindle a handful of thorns, 
 and let them crackle for an hour, hoping thereby to 
 thaw out the frozen zone. 
 
 The only possible hope for a revival in any church 
 is when, by the presence of an evangelist, or of a 'tnin. 
 ister full of the Holy Ghost, the people stir themselves 
 up to lay hold on God. If several persons will put 
 themselves in such spiritual posture that God loves 
 to hear them pray, and then the truth is clearly and 
 continuously urged upon the people, the Holy Ghost 
 will certainly descend in connection with these two 
 instrumentalities. This is attainable by common 
 church members and common ministers. Fourteen 
 
412 COMMON SENSE IN EEYIYALS. 
 
 winters of reviva]in one church, according to Finney, 
 rose out of a habit the brethren had of praying for 
 their minister far into the night just before each 
 Sabbath. John Welsh someiimes spent seven or 
 eight hours a day in prayer, and occasionally a 
 whole night, shut up in his church pleading for his 
 congregation. 
 
 The common sense rule about preaching is to let 
 the Hohj Ghost do the preaching. And if the unction 
 of God be not in the delivery of the sermon, it falls 
 to the ground. The minister is ti he the instru-,npnt 
 of the Holy Ghost. " Every sermon," says Joseph 
 Cooke, " should be a chain : but chain-lightnin^r-" It 
 is God who electrifies through the preacher, His in- 
 strument. Sermon making is merely a tinker's job, un- 
 less a man prays over his seimon till the Holy Ghost 
 puts life into it. Upon two memorable occasions, 
 Augustine preached eloquently and the people ap- 
 plauded; but he kept on until they cried, and he 
 broke down and cried with them : and then thev did 
 what he wanted them to do. Knox and the reform- 
 ers were like the Hebrew prophets, speaking by in- 
 spiration. Payson in the pulpit plead with men ; and 
 if they were not moved, he came down out of the 
 pulpit and plead, until the men were moved, yielding 
 to God, or spurning him. The most effective Welch 
 preachers used to expect present results, and were 
 unwilling to leave off the service till they saw visible 
 signs of the spirit's presence. Robert Roberts would, 
 on any great occasion, prostrate himself upon the 
 floor of his room all night, agonizing with God pray- 
 ing that he might feel the power of the truth he was 
 
COMMON SENSE IN REVIVALS. 413 
 
 to utter. Two school boys went one day to hear him ; 
 and they saw that the preacher began by an intensely 
 earnest look upon the audience, his eyes piercing the 
 people, and as he grew more and more earnest, some 
 fainted and others cried out, and the place was thril- 
 led, " as if an angel stood at his back to encourage 
 him." One of the boys turned to the other, and with 
 pale face, asked,'' is he a man or an angel ?'' " ^^hy, 
 an angel ; did not you know?" ''Great heaven ! but 
 how much better an angel preaches than a man I" 
 
 Angels live near to God. Let the angels of the 
 churches live near to God, and revivals of rehgion 
 will multiply. 
 35* 
 
CHAPTER LXI. 
 THE CONDITION. 
 
 [CONGREGATIONALIST.] 
 
 By Rey. L. H. Blake. 
 
 This morning I received through the post office this 
 note from one of my church members : 
 
 " Brother : Do you think the time has arrived — or are 
 we very near it — when there should be a greater effort 
 on the part of the church to induce men and women to 
 come to Christ ? " 
 
 It seems to me that that postal card contained the 
 key-note of revival interest; namely: " /s the church 
 ready to work for it ?" I have thought, sometimes, that 
 the church were marvelously insensible to this. And I 
 doubt not that more than one pastor has been discour- 
 aged because his people gave so little response to his 
 earnest appeals to them to begin revival work. Do 
 Christian people suppose that there can be a revival 
 when they make no effort for it, or perhaps are them, 
 selves spiritually cold ? 
 
 Very many Christian people, while zealously talking 
 of a revival, hoping for it, praying about it in the meet- 
 ings, even expecting it, and descanting sensibly on 
 
THE CONDITION. 415 
 
 " what needs to be," yet cannot be induced to commit 
 themselves individually to active revival efforts. A 
 pastor of our acquaintance, whose church had been for 
 weeks in an expectant state respecting a revival, but 
 who began to feel at length that something more definite 
 was needed, finally put the question definitely before his 
 brethren one evening, at the church meeting : '' If you 
 are expecting and longing for a revival, and if, as you 
 say, the work must begin in the church, are you willing 
 individually to enter into active revival effort?" To 
 this question no response was made whatever, but the 
 hour was consumed with the same spirited generalities 
 as heretofore. Again he placed the matter before his 
 church members in the same light ; result, the same as 
 before. Then he preached on the subject, with the 
 object of making it appear that a revived church meant 
 revived individuals, an active church, active church 
 members. But the result was to call out one response : 
 " I am glad the pastor preached on that subject," and 
 then — the usual generalities. 
 
 There seems to he a wide- spread expectation of a great 
 revival this tuinter. " The feeling is m the atmosphere,'* 
 etc., etc., etc. But that all amounts to little. If there 
 is to be a far-reaching work of grace, then very many 
 communities must be revived. And if a community be 
 revived, the church must be revived and active ; for as 
 a rule, revivals begin with the church, and if a church 
 is to become revived and active, why then — it is the 
 plainest sort of logic — the individual members must 
 become revived, and begin to work. 
 
 So, then, the whole matter comes down to this : each 
 member must consecrate himself. Generalities will not 
 
416 THE CONDITION. 
 
 do. When cliurch members stop talking about what 
 may, can, must, might, could, would, and should be 
 done, and begin to ask : " Lord, what wilt thou have me 
 to do ? " the revival will come with power. 
 
 PERSONAL WORK. 
 
 Note. — Some of the churches anticipate the assistance 
 of an evangelist. That God may work glorious things 
 by his agency, we will all pray. Others will pursue 
 their way without an evangelist. In either case I coun- 
 sel more attention to the work given to us individually, 
 than lo any extraneous thing. We will shut our mouths 
 tight against narrow criticism and petty fault-finding. 
 If lue gain no benefit from any measures adopted, we 
 will at least decline to stand in the way of men who do. 
 Our want is the drawing of souls God-ward. Oar duty 
 lies largely in the personal work of self-humbling before 
 God and before men ; of fresh and full consecration, and 
 the work which shall show it to be true ; and the whole, 
 inspired and sustained by faith, strong and hearty, in the 
 Almighty Saviour, who leads individuals and churches 
 on to the conquest of sin and of Satan. — Rev. G, iV. 
 Anthony, 
 
 god's way. 
 
 Note. — *' I feel sure we shall have a revival 
 soon." We were startled one evening, while returning 
 from our weekly prayer meeting, by hearing this remark 
 at our very elbow. The meeting had been unusually 
 cold and barren — at least we thought so. 
 
 "Why do you expect a revival?" we asked. The 
 reply was characteristic of one whose faith looked be- 
 yond the bounds of sense. " I learned this evening ttiat 
 
THE CONDITION. 417 
 
 tliree different members of our church are praying for 
 the same individuals," was the reply. "Each is igno- 
 rant of the other's stronor desire for the conversion of 
 these souls, and I conclude God's spirit only can thus 
 simultaneously operate upon these minds, prompting 
 them to pray for one and the same object. We shall 
 surely enjoy a revival soon." 
 
 True tt) this prophecy, a few weeks elapsed ere a new 
 atmosphere pervaded our prayer-meetings, and numbers 
 were inquirers. Among these were those for whom 
 prayer had been offered in secret, and they were the 
 first fruits of a precious harvest. — E. G. E. 
 
 ^^A revival is not to be waited for or sought inac 
 tively. To engage earnestly and constantly, in strong 
 and simple faith, in doiog the Lord's work lying all 
 around us, will bring about all the results of a revival 
 to Chrisistians and to sinners, 
 
CHAPTER LXII. 
 
 MEANS OF PROMOTING REVIVALS. 
 
 (EXTRACTS.) 
 
 , Wm. B. Sprague, D. D. 
 
 Much is to be done in producing and sustaining a 
 revival by means of conversation. 
 
 This is a duty which devolves not only upon the min- 
 ister and other officers or the church, but upon all 
 private Christians according to their ability. And it is 
 a duty which may be performed in a great variety of 
 circumstances. There may be frequent opportunities 
 for it in the common intercourse of life ; and no doubt a 
 suitable degree of attention would discover many oppor- 
 tunities which are suffered to pass without observation. 
 But this is a duty which, especially in a season of revi- 
 val, should hold a distinct and prominent place among 
 Christian duties ; and should not be left to the control 
 of any contingency. 'J'here should be, so far asposible, 
 a regular system of visiting, especially on the part of 
 church officers ; with a view to alarm, to direct, or to 
 quicken, according to the circumstances of each individ- 
 ual with whom they may converse. 
 
 It belongs to Christians on these occasions to stir up 
 
MEANS OF PPtOMOTING EEVIVALS. 419 
 
 the minds of each other ; to endeavor to make each 
 other ieel more deeply their responsibility, and the value 
 of the souls around them, and the danger of their beinsf 
 lost : and if there be among their number any who are 
 sluggish, and disposed to excuse themselves from coming 
 up to the help of the Lord, they are to be entreated 
 affectionately, yet earnestly, to shake off their apathy, 
 and give themselves actively to the great work. And 
 while Christians are to.be faithful in their conversation 
 with each other, — to encourage, to arouse, to quicken, so 
 also are they to be faithful in warning the wicked of his 
 wicked way, and in endeavoring to open his eyes on 
 the destruction that threatens him. And those whose 
 consciences are awake they are to press with the obliga- 
 tion of immediate repentance ; explaining to them, if 
 need be, the terms of the gospel, and endeavoring to 
 lead them without delay to the cross of Christ. They 
 have an important duty to perform also in respect to 
 those who have professedly come out of darkness into 
 light ; in assisting to detect false hopes and confirm good 
 hopes ; to guard against temptation, and establish jmn- 
 ciples of holy living, and form plans for future useful- 
 ness. Many a Christian has had occasion, through his 
 whole religious life, to reflect that much of his useful- 
 ness and much of his happiness, was to be referred under 
 God, to an unreserved intimacy, or perhaps to a single 
 conversation, with some judicious Christian friend, at 
 that critical moment subsequent to his conversion, when 
 he was adopting principles for the regulation of his 
 conduct. 
 
 Another important means for producing and sustain- 
 ing a revival is Sahlath^school and Bible class instmCm 
 
420 MEANS OF PEOMOTING REVIVALS. 
 
 tion. It ought to be, and we doubt not, is, to a great 
 extent, regarded as the duty of every teacher, not merely 
 to enlighten the understanding, but to impress divine 
 truth upon the heart and conscience of each of his 
 pupils ; aiming at nothing short of a thorough moral 
 renovation. Here is the best possible opportunity for 
 the teacher to find his way to the heart. If, in the 
 intercourse which he holds with his pupils, he is amiable 
 and conciliatory, he will almost of course secure their 
 confidence ; and this is a most important preparation for 
 their listening to him with attention and profit. And 
 then let him, from time to time, commune faithfully 
 with their consciences ; let him show them how the truths 
 which he inculcates involve their interests and destiny 
 for eternity ; let him press them frequently with those 
 considerations which are most fitted to make them feel 
 that religion is the one things needful, and that there is 
 no apology for neglecting it. Let him carefully watch 
 every serious imjjression, following it up by suitable 
 admonitions and counsels ; and finally let him bear the 
 interests of these children before the throne of the 
 heavenly grace; and he has good reason to expect that 
 such instrumentality will be honored in saving souls 
 from death. It is familiar to you all that the records of 
 Sabbath-Fchools and the records of revivals are to a 
 great extent identified ; that the noblest triumphs of 
 God's grace have often been found in these nurseries of 
 knowledge, virtue, and piety. 
 
 Revivals hsive frequently commenced in Bible- classes ^ 
 and not a few instances have occurred, in which all or 
 nearly all the members of a class have become hopefully 
 the subjects of renewing grace ; while the work, which 
 
MEANS OF PEOMOTING BEVIVALS. 421 
 
 had its beginniog here, has extended on the right hand 
 and on the left, till multitudes have experienced its 
 quickening and renovating influence. 
 
 Again, the faithful discharge of parental duty, is 
 another important means of promoting a revival. 
 
 There is no human influence ever exerted in forming 
 the character, more decisive, whether for good or evil, 
 than that of parents ; and if it be a well directed relig- 
 ious influence, we have a right to expect, both from the 
 nature of the case and from actual experience, that it 
 will secure the happiest results. Let a parent train up 
 his children in the way which the Bible prescribes ; let 
 him faithfully instruct them in the truths of God's 
 word as soon as they are capable of being taught ; let 
 him render his instructions as familiar and practical as 
 possible, mingling with them appropriate counsels and 
 admonitions ; and let him pray with them, and for them, 
 and teacn them to pray for themselves ; and if all this 
 is not immediately instrumental of their conversion, it 
 will, at least in all ordinary cases, render them pecu- 
 liarly promising Candida- es for converting grace ; will 
 be a happy preparation for the effectual work of God's 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 It deserves also to be remarked that much devolves 
 upon Christian parents in immediately sustaining and 
 carrying forward a revival. If they see their children, 
 at such a time, manifesting an indifference lo the things 
 of religion, they are to press them most earnestly and 
 affectionately with its obligations. If they see in them 
 the least anxiety, they are to endeavor by every means, 
 to cherish it, and put them on their guard against griev- 
 ing away the Holy Spirit, and take them by the hand, 
 36 
 
422 MEANS OF PEOMOTING REVIVALS. 
 
 and lead them if possible, to the Lamb of God. If they 
 see them rejoicing in the hope that their sins are for- 
 given, they are to aid them by lessons from God's word 
 and their own experience, to ascertain the true char- 
 acter of their religious exercises, and to avoid the hope 
 of the hypocrite. It is a reproach to many Christian 
 parents, that they suffer a false delicacy to prevail against 
 the faithful discharge of their duty in these most inter- 
 esting circumstances. As God has constituted them the 
 guardians of their children, it devolves upon them to be 
 especially watchful in respect to their immortal interests J 
 and never is neglect more culpable, than when the Holy 
 Spirit is offering to co-operate with them to secure their 
 children's salvation. 
 
 The last means for promoting a revival which I shall 
 notice, is, an exercise designed particularly for awak- 
 ened sinners. 
 
 At the close of a public service in which God^s truth 
 has been exhibited and enforced, let those who have 
 been impressed by it, and who wish to have their im- 
 pressions deepened, and to be instructed in reference to 
 their duty and salvation, be requested to remain after 
 the rest of the assembly have retired. And then let 
 the minister, or some other competent person, address 
 them earnestly and affectionately in reference to their 
 peculiar condition ; connecting with the address one or 
 more prayers ; and afterwards, so far as circumstances 
 may admit, or occasion require, let them be met in a 
 more private way, and let the particular state of each 
 mind be ascertained ; and let each receive appropriate 
 counsel and instruction. 
 
MEANS OF PROMOTING REVIVALS. 423 
 
 Our subject may assist us to discover the cause of the 
 decline of a revival, 
 
 I admit that there is more or less of sovereignity here ; 
 and that the Spirit of God operates whenever and wher- 
 ever, in infinite wisdom, he pleases. I acknowledge too 
 that the strongs excitement which often attends a revival 
 cannot, so far as respects the same individuals, be kept 
 up fur a long time ; nor is it at all essential, or even 
 desirable, that it should be. But so far as a healthful 
 and vigorous state of relisrious feeling^ is connected on the 
 part of Christians, and I may add, in view of the prom- 
 ises of God to answer prayer, so far as the conversion of 
 sinners is concered, it is not irreverent to say, that while 
 he is himself the great agent, he commits his work in an 
 important sense, into the hands of his people ; and if it 
 decline, there is blame resting upon them. It is because 
 they have grown v/eary in their supplications, or because 
 they have relaxed in the use of some other of the means 
 which he has put within their reach. Let Cbristians 
 then tremble in view of their responsibility ; and when 
 God is sending down his Spirit to work with them, let 
 them take heed that they render a hearty and perse- 
 vering co-operation. Let them take heed that they 
 grieve not this divine agent to depart either from their 
 own souls, lest they should be given up to barrenness ; 
 or from the souls of inquiring sinners, lest there should 
 fall upon them them the curse of reprobation. 
 
 Once more : Hmv great is the privilege and the honor 
 which Christians enjoy, of being permitted to co-operate 
 with Ood in carrying forioard his work. 
 
 When you are laboring for the salvation of sinners 
 around you, when you are using the various means which 
 
424 MEANS OF PROMOTING REVIVALS. 
 
 God has put into your hands to waken them to conviction 
 and bring them to repentance, you are laboring in the 
 very cause which is identified with the success and the 
 glory of Christ's mediation. Nay, you are a fellow 
 worker with the Holy Ghost ; and while he honors your 
 efforts with his saving blessing, they are set down to 
 your account in the book of God's remembrance. Yes, 
 Christians, all that you do in this cause brings glory to 
 God in the highest, contributes to brighten your immortal 
 crown, and subserves the great cause of man's salvation. 
 What remains then but that you take these considera- 
 tions to your heart as so many arguments, to labor in this 
 holy cause with more untiring zeal, with more holy fi(]el- 
 ity] Is it a cause that demands sacrifices? You can 
 well afford to make them, for it brings happiness, and 
 glory, and honor in its train. Let it be seen on earth , 
 and let the an^ls report it in heaven, that you are co- 
 workers with God, in giving effect to the purposes of his 
 grace, and in training up immortal souls for the glories 
 of his kingdom. 
 
CHAPTER LXIII. 
 
 TREATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS, 
 
 (extracts,) 
 Wm. B, Sprague, D. D. 
 
 I. I am to present before you the general course proper 
 to he taken iviih an awakened sinner. 
 
 When a person in these circumstances comes to ask 
 your counsel, the first thing you have to determine is, 
 what is his amount of knowledge, and his amount of 
 feeling. 
 
 Let him be admonished, first of all, that the duty of 
 devoting himself to God by a compliance with the term!^ 
 of the gospelj is of immediate obligation ; and that he is 
 guilty, and becoming more and rnore guilty^ in the 
 neglect of it. 
 
 Let the awakened sinner be admonished farther that 
 the present is the best time for securing his souVs salva- 
 tion. For then there are facilities for becoming religious 
 which do not exist at any other period. Supposing him, 
 as I here do, to be in the midst of a revival, there is an 
 energy and efficiency in all the means of grace which is, 
 to a great extent, peculiar to such a scene. Ministers 
 are encouraged to preach with unaccustomed earnestness, 
 36» 
 
426 TEEATMENT DUB TO AWAKENED SINNEES. 
 
 and are enabled to bring out the truth of God with great 
 pungency and effect. Christians too pray with unwonted 
 fervor, and converse with peculiar fidelity ; and there is 
 the current of example setting strongly in favor of re- 
 ligion ; and tlie very atmosphere around seems to be 
 pervaded by deep solemnity ; and with all this the sin- 
 ner's own attention is awake ; and the Holy Spirit is 
 striving wiih him to bring him to repentence. Let him 
 be inquired of what circumstances can exist more favor- 
 able to his conversion than now exist. Let him be re- 
 minded that he has no reason to expect that such an 
 assemblage of circumstances will again occur in the 
 course of his life ; and that even if they should, the 
 same disposition which would lead him to resist the 
 Spirit now, might lead him to resist it then. Dwell 
 upon the appalling fact, that trifling with divine influ- 
 ences must serve greatly to harden the heart ; and that 
 if he return to the world from the point which he has 
 now gained, he will in all probability, go back to a point 
 of obduracy at which he will be left, without any farther 
 divine interposition, to take his own way down to the 
 chambers of eternal death. 
 
 Admonish him, farther, that he is in danger, from 
 various causes, of losing his serious iinpressions. This 
 is a point in relation to which he may not improbably 
 think himself safe ; and though he may not be able ta 
 anticipate any favorable result of his convictions, yet so 
 pungent and overwhelming are they, that he cannot 
 realize that there is any danger of their leaving him* 
 But even the strongest religious impressions are some- 
 times driven away from the soul almost in an hour ; 
 though in general the process is a gradual and almost 
 
TREATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS. 427 
 
 imperceptible one. Admonish him to beware of the 
 levities of the world ; for one light conversation with a 
 careless friend, may change decisively the current of his 
 thoughts. Guard him against the influence of worldly 
 care — even of his necessary daily employments ; for any 
 thing of a mere worldly nature that occupies the mind, 
 is liable to turn it off from the great subject of salvation. 
 Caution him, also, against yielding to a false shame ; for 
 this cannot long prevail without grieving away the Holy 
 Spirit. Urge upon him, the importance of holding God's ' 
 truth to his mind as constantly as possible, that thus the 
 impressions which have already been made by it, may 
 have no opportunity to escape. And to give the greatest 
 effect to all these cautions, point him to examples in the 
 way of illustrating them ; and let him know that there 
 are multitudes now in the ranks of profligacy and infi- 
 delity, who once even trembled under the awakening 
 influences of God's Spirit. In view of the tremendous 
 evil which must reseult from the departure of this divine 
 agent from the soul on the one hand, and of the ease 
 with which he may be grieved away on the other, you 
 are to ring a monitory peal in the ear of the awakened 
 sinner, adapted to make him cherish his impressions 
 with the most watchful diligence. 
 
 And then, again, you are to put him on his guard 
 against seeking salvation in a spirit of self-righteous. ■ 
 ness. There is no natural predilection in man for the 
 gospel plan of salvation : on the contrary, there is a 
 strong original bias in favor of being saved by the deeds 
 of the law : though unhappily there is no disposition to 
 perform the deeds which the law requires. Hence the 
 sinner, when he is first awakened, almost always puts 
 
428 TREATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS. 
 
 himself upon a course of self righteous effort ; and prac- 
 tically asks with the young man in the gospel : " whut 
 good thing he shall do that he may inherit eternal life." 
 He forthwith begins an attendance upon all the means 
 of grace, if he has neglected them before, or if he has 
 been accustomed to attend upon them, he does it now 
 with an increased deo;ree of seriousness. He listens 
 attentively to God's word ; is found in the meeting for 
 social prayer, and religious conference ; passes much 
 time in his closet, and in conversing with Christian 
 friends : and in short, aims to perform externally every 
 duty which God requires of him. And in all this the 
 secret feeling of his heart, is, even though he may not 
 always be sensible of it, that he is performing something 
 meritorious, which will catch and please the eye of God. 
 and cause his name to be enrolled in the Lamb's book 
 of life. Now it devolves upon you carefully to guard 
 him against this error ; for so long as it is retained, it 
 must be an effectual barrier to a compliance with the 
 terms of the gospel. Do not discourage him from striving; 
 but admonish him to strive in the spirit of the new 
 covenant, and not of the old. Tell him that there is no 
 merit in any of his striving, and that he can never be 
 saved till he becomes convinced of this, and falls down 
 helpless at the feet of mercy, and is willing to accept of 
 salvation as a gift of God through Christ, without any 
 respect to his own deservings. The mistake to which I 
 here refer may be made by those who speculatively 
 understand the way of salvation, as well as those who do 
 not ; and the only means by which it is discovered, is 
 faithful communiijn with one's own heart. To the duty 
 of self-communion then, with special reference to this 
 
TEEATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS. 429 
 
 point, every inquiring sinner should be earnestly ex- 
 horted. 
 
 Council him, moreover, to beware of making comfort 
 rather than duty an ultimate end. A state of convic- 
 tion IS a state of anxiety and alarm, and of course 
 unhappiness. As the sinner, from the very constitution 
 of his nature, desires happiness, it is not strange that in 
 the agony of conviction he should often fasten his eye 
 upon that as an ultimate object ; though nothing is more 
 certain than that, so long as he pursues it as such, true 
 reliojious comfort will never be attained. In doinor this, 
 he places himself before God merely as a sufferer desir- 
 ing to be relieved from distress ; whereas, the attitude 
 which he ought to assume is that of a guilty offender, 
 acknowledging and forsakins^ his evil courses, and turningr 
 unto the Lord. What God requires of him is the dis- 
 charge of duty ; repentence, faith, obedience ; and in 
 this way only has he a right either to seek or to expect 
 comfort. He is to regard himself first as a sinner, and 
 then'as a sufferer : if he repent of his sins he. has reason 
 to expect relief from his sufferings ; but if he hold fast 
 his sins, how much soever he may supplicate God's mercy, 
 he will either experience no relief, or none which he 
 ought to desire. He must understand that it is the 
 economy of God's grace that true Christian comfort can 
 never be gained except as it is made a secondary con- 
 sideration. He must keep his eye constantly fixed on 
 duty : he must stir himself up to do what God requires 
 of him ; and God will take care that he is no stranger to 
 the joys of his salvation. 
 
 It may be well to caution him also against seeking 
 
430 TEEATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS. 
 
 aid from too many advisers; especially where their 
 religious views do not harmonize, 
 
 . I add, ouce more, that he should be advised to pass 
 much of his time in the closet. 
 
 II. Having now marked out a general course of treat- 
 ment adapted to an awakened sinner, I proceed, sec- 
 ondly, to contemplate some of the great variety of cases 
 which require more special counsel and instruction. 
 
 Suppose the sinner says that, though he is aware that 
 his case is as bad as you represent it, yet he can do noth- 
 ing to render it any better^ and therefore must he con- 
 tented to remain where he is. You are to endeavor, in 
 the first place, to convince him by a direct appeal to his 
 conscience, that the inability under which he labors is 
 nothing^ more than a settled aversion of the heart from 
 God ; and therefore is entirely without excuse. Let him 
 see that he has all the powers of a moiral agent ; that he 
 has a conscience to distinguish between right and wrong, 
 and a will by which he may choose the one and refuse 
 the other. Let him see that in withholding his heart 
 from God, he is as free as in any other course of action ; 
 and therefore blameworthy ; and therefore condemned 
 in the plea which he sets up for doing nothing. 
 
 But what if he. should plead still farther, as a ground 
 of argument, that many of his friends who were aiuak- 
 ened at the same time with himself, have apparently 
 given themselves to the Saviour^ rnd are rejoicing in 
 hope ; and that hence he has no reason to believe that 
 there is any mercy for him — Answer this plea by show- 
 ing that God has given the same powers of moral agency 
 to him as to them ; that he has made the same gracious 
 provision for him as for them ; and that in both cases 
 
TEEATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS. -431 
 
 the offer is equally free, equally sincere. Remind him 
 that God has no where promised that he shall have the 
 comforts of a good hope at any particular time, but he 
 has promised that they who seek him in a proper manner 
 shall find ; and that promise he will certainly fulfil. 
 
 Suppose the sinner should complain of gyeat insensU 
 bility, and should express an earnest desire that he might 
 have more pungent convictions — While you endeavor to 
 keep his thoughts fastened upon those great truths which 
 are most fitted to convince and to dissolve, such as the 
 holiness of God, the perfection of his law, the deep depra- 
 vity of the heart, and the compassion aud grace of a dying 
 Saviour, you are to institute a faithful inquiry as to the 
 ground of this desire ; and it is not improbable that you 
 will discover that its leadingr element is self- righteous- 
 ness ; that the sinner desires conviction because he 
 imagines that there will be somethincr of merit in it, to 
 recommend him to divine favor. Let him see that in 
 conviction he only looks at himself as he is ; and let his 
 own conscience decide whether there can be any merit 
 in merely beholding his guilt. The man who is con- 
 vinced that his house is on fire, and that he shall be 
 burnt to death if he remain in it, will make a hasty 
 escape ; and his conviction of danger will have brought 
 him to it ; though no one would say that there was any- 
 thins; of merit in that conviction. In like manner, the 
 sinner who is effectually convinced that he must perish 
 if he remains impenitent, and that he can be saved only 
 by the free grace of God in Christ, actually throws him- 
 self a guilty and helpless creature into his Saviour's 
 arms ; and it is the conviction he has of his ruin that 
 leads him to do this ; but will the sinner himself say 
 
482 TREATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS. 
 
 tbat there is more of merit in this case than in the 
 other? 
 
 Suppose the sinner to be sinking down under the huvm 
 den of his guilt into a state of despair, with an impres- 
 sion that his sins have been so aggravated that mercy 
 cannot be extended to him — what you have to do in this 
 case is to give him juster views of the gospel. He has 
 particularly lost sight of the truth that the blood of 
 Christ cleanseth from all sin ; and this is the doctrine 
 which you are to hold up to him in all its extent and 
 glory. Bring to his mind God's own declarations, that 
 he is abie and willing to save all that come unto him ; 
 that whosoever believeth on the Son hath everlasting 
 life ; and whosoever will may come and take the water 
 of life freely. 
 
 Suppose the sinner to become impressed with the idea 
 that he has had no conviction of sin, and that all that 
 he supposed to be conviction was delusion ; when at the 
 same time he furnishes the most conclusive evidence 
 that he is really a subject of powerful divine operation 
 — in a case of this kind, I would endeavor to convince 
 him, what is beyond all peradventure true — that the 
 adversary is at work, trying to drive away his convic- 
 tions, by making him believe that he has none. I would 
 show him how reasonable it were to expect that it should 
 be so ; — that the great enemy of all good should be upon 
 the alert, in the use of his wiles, when he sees that he 
 is in danger of losing one of his subjects. And I would 
 refer to the experience of many others, who have passed 
 through similar trials, and who have at length become 
 fully satisfied that they were suffering under a delusion, 
 which was the effect of satanic influence. And when 
 
TREATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS. 433 
 
 the point is once gained, that the sinner really believes 
 that this impression in respect to his having no convic- 
 tions is from below, he is prepared to resign it, and the 
 delusion vanishes. 
 
 Finally, our subject teaches us ivhat are the, best qua" 
 lifications for directing and counselling awakened 
 sinners. 
 
 It is essential that a person who undertaken this office 
 should have a q-ood knowledge of God's w^rd ; for this 
 is the great instrument by which the whole work is to 
 be accomplished. It will not suffice that there should 
 be a mere superficial acquaintance with divine truth ; 
 but it should be deep and thorough ; the doctrines of the 
 Bible should be understood in their various bearings and 
 connections. There should also be an intimate knowl- 
 edge of the human heart — the subject on which this 
 work is to be performed. There should be an ability to 
 guide the sinner in the work of self- examination ; to 
 ferret sin out from its various lurking places ; to bring 
 principles and motives to bear upon the various faculties 
 and affections of the soul, with discrimination and good 
 effect. In short, there should be an intelligeut and de- 
 voted piety ; for this secures a knowledge of divine 
 truth on tiie one hand, and an acquaintance with the 
 springs of human conduct on the other. 
 
 Go then. Christian, often into your closet, and study 
 your own heart. Open God's blessed word, and apply 
 yourself to its precious truths. Keep your soul con- 
 stantly imbued with its spirit. Then the inquiring 
 sinner may find in you a safe and skilful guide, Then 
 you may hope that God will honor you as an instrument 
 of saving souls from death, and hiding a multitude of sins. 
 37 
 
CHAPTER LXIT. 
 
 REVIVALS COJ^TRIBUTE TO THE JOYS OF HEAVEN. 
 
 [EXTRACTS.] 
 
 Wm. B. Sprague, D. D. 
 
 Revivals irdnister directly to the joy of the heavenly 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The angels are by no means indifferent spectators 
 of these scenes. Our Saviour himself hath declared 
 that " there is joy among the angels over one sinner 
 that repenteth." Much more then must they rejoice 
 when multitudes repent and believe, and have their 
 destiny for eternity reversed. 
 
 But while revivals are a source of rich joy to the 
 angels, we may suppose that they are so in a still 
 higher degree to that part of the population of heav- 
 en who have washed their rohes and made them ivhite 
 in the blood of the La^mb. It is with them, in common 
 with angels, a reason for joy that, in these triumphs 
 of divine grace, they gain the most glorious view of 
 the divine character ; and also that they contemplate 
 in them a mighty addition to the amount of human 
 happiness. 
 
 Moreover, it is reasonable to suppose that the joy 
 
REVIVALS CONTRIBUTE TO THE JOYS OF HEAVEN. 435 
 
 which the redeemed feel in view of the triumph of 
 God's grace on earth, must be heightened in many 
 cases by the relations which they have themselves 
 sustained to those who are the subjects of a gracious 
 renovation. Suppose the glorified parent looks down 
 and sees the children whom he left walking in the 
 broad road to death, turning into the path to life and 
 setting their faces firmly towards heaven ; or suppose 
 the wife beholds her husband, or the sister her broth- 
 er for whom she had ofi*ered a thousand prayers but 
 had died without seeing them answered, now waking 
 up to a concern for his salvation, and laying hold on 
 the hope set before him in the gospel, and solemnly 
 dedicating himself to the Lord; or suppose the faith- 
 ful pastor to have gone down to his grave mourning 
 over the obduracy of hearts which he could never 
 reach, and to look down from Mount Zion above and 
 see them pierced with conviction, and melted in pen- 
 itence, and rejoicing in hope ; and I ask you whether 
 you do not believe that in each of these cases, there 
 would be a new and deeper thrill of joy in the breast 
 of that glorified immortal? Do you not believe that 
 he Would strike his harp to a Ijigher and nobler note 
 of thanksgiving, that those whom he loved while he 
 was on earth and whom he still loves though he is in 
 heaven, have not only been redeemed by the blood 
 but renewed by the spirit of Christ, and are training 
 up to be his companions through ages of happiness 
 that will know no end. 
 
 Revivals tend to the same grand result, hy increas- 
 ing the number of the heavenly inhabitants. 
 
 Who can estimate the number that have already not 
 
436 EEVIVALS CONTEIBUTE TO THE JOYS OF HEAVEN. 
 
 only bad their names written among the redeemed, 
 but have actually entered through the gate into the 
 cit}^ and taken up the anthems of heaven, who but 
 for revivals of religion would have had no part nor 
 lot in the matter? All this countless multitude have 
 escaped the pollution, and degradation, and wailing of 
 the pit, and have risen to the purity, and glorv, and 
 eci>tacy of heaven. The day of the resurrection and 
 the judgment which, but for the renovation they have 
 experienced, would have aw^akened in them nothing 
 but shame and agony, is a signal for exultation and 
 triumph. They walk in the light of the Lamb. They 
 know how to use angelic harps. Tliey are kings and 
 priests unto God. They go on from glory to glory, 
 constantly approaching the perfection of the Highest, 
 while immortality endures. Whose mind is not lost 
 in coiitemplating the amount of felicity which revi- 
 vals will secure to their subjects through all the ages 
 of eternity. Pause now for a moment on the emi- 
 nence to which we are brought, and so far as you 
 can, let your eye take in at a glance the results of re- 
 vivals, as they respect both worlds. Under their in- 
 fluence see the cause of moral renovation advancing, 
 until this earth every where brightens into a field of 
 millenial beauty. Behold also the inhabitants of heav- 
 en kindling with higher raptures in view of these won" 
 derful works of God ! Not t)nly those who have been 
 subjects of revivals, but those who have not, not only 
 the ransomed of the Lord but the principalities and 
 powers in heavenly places, and even Jehovah who is 
 over all blessed forever, rejoice, and will eternally re- 
 joice, in these triumphs of redeeming grace. And 
 
REVIVALS CONTEIBUTE TO THE JOYS OF HEAVEN. 437 
 
 this joy and glory is not only to be perpetual, but to 
 be perpetually progressive. Say then whether such 
 results will not justify the church even now in begin- 
 ning her song of triumph? From the most distant 
 point in eternity which an angel's mind can reach, 
 let the church, when she remembers these scenes of 
 mercy through which she is now passing, still shout 
 forth her high praises in the same noble song ; and 
 let seraphim and cherubim, and the whole angelic 
 choir of the third heavens, join to increase the melody : 
 " Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto 
 him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, 
 forever and ever, Amen !" 
 37* 
 
CHAPTER LXV. 
 GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 
 
 Compiler. 
 
 DEFINITION. 
 
 What are genuine Revivals ot religion ? They are 
 revivals of the spirit of true piety and practical right- 
 eousness in the hearts of some of God's children. They 
 commonly result in the conversion and reformation of 
 fiinners. Hence, the prayer of the Psalmist, — " Create 
 in me a clean heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit 
 within me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, 
 and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach 
 transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted 
 unto thee." And the consequence is a religious reforma- 
 tion in the church, and a marked improvement in the 
 private and public morals of our community. 
 
 As true religion consists in loving arid obeying God, 
 its genuine revival in a church and congregation consists 
 in an increased degree of zeal and activity in this ser- 
 vice, on the part of a considerable number of christians, 
 and the multiplied conversion of sinners occurring about 
 the same ^ime. And it seems desirable that such an 
 improved condition should be perpetual and become the 
 normal state of the church. But such a state has never 
 
GENDINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 439 
 
 yet been realized for any very protracted period of time. 
 Declensions too frequently occur and often continue 
 through many years of comparatively little life and pro- 
 gress on the part of, by far too many professing Chris- 
 tians. Then God again interposes by the special out. 
 poring of His Spirit in answer to pra.yevj and produces 
 through human agency a religious excitement, and 
 attention to eternal realities of more controling power 
 than the mere worldly excitements by which the people 
 are surrounded. But while excitements are not always 
 revivals, there are no revivals without excitements. 
 
 Hence the churches have always been distinsjuished 
 for special manifestations of grace at special times. As 
 Prof. Park observes : " The rain does not fall every day, 
 nor the snow descend every month, seed time and har- 
 vest, summer and winter run tlieir alternate rounds, and 
 in our spiritual world there has been a like succession of 
 influences. At one time the whole community are 
 aroused to religious thought, the conscience of multitudes 
 is quickened to a new remorse, their foars are impelling 
 them to rush together for the narrow path. It has been 
 said that these reasons of special excitement may be 
 protracted through life. But they would not be special. 
 Then they could not be awakening processes. It is not 
 in human nature to endure a loner continued aLatation 
 of those sensibilities which are prominent in the simulta- 
 neous rousing of an entire parish to the work of pressing 
 sinners into the kingdom of God. 
 
 There need be no inequality between the degree of 
 holiness exercised during a religious awakening, and the 
 degree put forth when there is no concentrated attention 
 of multitudes on the one query : * What must we do to 
 
440 GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 
 
 be saved ] ' But there should be variety in the mode of 
 manifesting that unchanged degree of holiness. As the 
 farmer will not plant in v^rinter, nor reap in spring time, 
 nor always busy himself in breaking up the fallow ground 
 but must sometimes lift up the axerupon the thick trees, 
 and sometimes gently train the vine upon the trellis and 
 sometimes may sit down in the cool of the evening, and 
 enjoy the fruits of his toil, and regale himself with the 
 freshness of the new mown hay ; so the spiritual bus- 
 bandman may be equally faithful in his Service while he 
 varieo;ates the method of it." 
 
 While, therefore, some may mistake in maintaining 
 that it is both practicable and expedient for all Chris- 
 tians to live constantly in an exalted state of religious 
 fervor, it seems to ns that they should constantly grow 
 in grace, and be " always abounding in the work of the 
 Lord, knowing that their labour is not in vain in the 
 Lord." It may seem very desirable to us that we should 
 always enjoy physicial health. But if, as a matter of 
 fact, we fall sick, it is reasonable that we seek earnestly 
 speedy restoration. And if Christians backslide, and lose 
 in any.measure their first love, they are bound to return 
 immediately for restoration to the Shepherd and Bishop 
 
 of their souls. 
 
 MEANS. 
 
 Let us therefore inquire what are the means to he 
 employed in promoting genuine revivals of religion ? 
 
 Some consider that these works of divine grace are 
 nearly analagous to miracles, and are occasionally pro- 
 duced at remote periods from each other, by a species of 
 independent and arbitrary sovereignty f with little or no 
 hum/in agency or special responsihility. Regarding 
 
GENUINE EEVIVALS OF RELIGION. 441 
 
 them tbe work of the Holy Ghost, beyond human power 
 with God aud with men to secure them by working in 
 harmony with established and permanent Divine laws, 
 thnnigh defiui;;e channels and appvi^i^riate prayer and 
 effcnis. • 
 
 But those who are the most successful in efforts for 
 promoting revivals, commonly hold that they are in a 
 most rational and reasonable sense under the reoula- 
 tion and ccmtrol of the law of causae and effect in the 
 kingdom of divine grace. They maintain that the work 
 of reviving grace in the hearts of Christians, may be se- 
 cured and the graces and fruits of the Spirit may be 
 developed by obedience to definite and established dis^ine 
 laws. 
 
 And with the proper employment of appropriate 
 means of divine ordination, the special gifts of the 
 Spirit are to be as definitely and reasonably expected 
 under earneor prayerfuhiess and rirht culture as the 
 fruits of the soil. 
 
 The wnrk of God in revivals and its results are com. 
 patible with His system of moral laws aud are produc- 
 ible by takmg advantage of these laws. God in His 
 righteous omcI reasonable sovereignty has ordained that 
 man^s agency -hall be essential in promoting true revi. 
 vals of religion by obedience to His laws. 
 
 Therefore, revivals, at appropriate seasons, and under 
 favorable circumstances, with appropriate and judicious 
 means, are as sure to follow as an abundant harvest is 
 with good husbandry, when God sends the sunshine and 
 rains of heaven. 
 
 Hence, (as Pres. Finney has observed) " the connec 
 tion between the right use of means for a revival, and 
 
442 GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 
 
 a revival, is as philosophically sure as between the right 
 use of rnean=^, to raise grain and a crop of wheat. I 
 believe, in fact, it is more certain, and that there are 
 fewer instances of failure. The effect is more certain 
 to follow. Probably the law conneciing cause and effect 
 is more undeviating in spiritual than in natural things, 
 and so there are fewer exceptions. The paramount im- 
 portance of spiritual things makes it reasonable that it 
 should be so. 
 
 Take the Bible, the nature of the case," and the his- 
 tory of the Church,, all together, and you will find fewer 
 failures in the use of means for a revival, than in farm- 
 ing, or any other wordly business. In worldly busmess 
 there are sometimes cases where counteracting causes 
 annihilate all that a man can do. 
 
 In raising grain, for instance, there are cases which 
 are beyond the control of man, such as droughts, hard 
 winter, worms and so on. So in laboring to promote a 
 revival, there may many things occur to counteract it, 
 something or other turning up to divert the public atten- 
 tion from religion, which may baffle every effort. 
 
 But I believe there are fewer cases of failure in the 
 moral than in the natural world. I believe a minister 
 or any other Christian may enter on the work of promo- 
 ting a revival, with as reasonable expectation of success, 
 as he can enter on any other work with an expectation 
 of success, with the same expectation as the farmer has 
 of a crop when he sows his grain " 
 
 Therefore, a genuine revival of religion must be pro- 
 moted by the right use of appropriate means. "The 
 means which God has enjoined for the production of a 
 revival, doubtless, have a natural and gracious tendency 
 
GENUINE EEVIVALS OF EELIGION. 443 
 
 to pro luce a revival. Otherwise God would not have 
 enjoined them. But means will not produce a revival, 
 we all know, without the blessing of God. It is impossi- 
 ble, also, for grain when it is sowed, to produce a crop, 
 without the blessing of God. It is unreasonablt^fcr us 
 to say that there is not as direct an influence or agency 
 from God to produce a crop of grain, as there is to pro- 
 duce a revival. What are the laws of nature, according 
 to which, it is supposed the grain yields a crop ? They 
 are nothing but the constituted manner of the opera- 
 tions of God. In the Bible, the word of God is com- 
 pared to grain, and preaching is compared to sowing seed, 
 and the results to the springing up and growth of the 
 crop. And the result is just as philosophical in the one 
 case as in the other, and is as naturally connected with 
 the cause." 
 
 Now, if such are the facts in the judgment of those 
 who have had the largest experience in religious revivals, 
 how great must be the mistake, if not aggravating guilt 
 of that lar^e class of ministers and churches, who througrh 
 the influence of a false theory concerning divine SoV' 
 ereigiity, labor on. from year to year, sowing and cultiva- 
 ting the spiritual vineyard, with comparatively no special 
 concerted efforts in the pulpit or congregation at any 
 period of the year, to revive christians or gather into 
 the kingdom of the Lord a harvest of souls ! 
 
 As there is commonly, some degree of revival interest 
 in the churches about the beginning of the year — during 
 the week of prayer, if it should he attended by apprOm 
 priate preaching and holy living on the part of minis- 
 ters and private christians, is it not reasonable to expect 
 
444 GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 
 
 that God would add unto the churches many more 
 precious souls ? 
 
 Under such hopeful circumstances it is probcible that 
 the intellio-ent and devoted friends of true reli<j:ion sel- 
 dom or never pass through a more melancholy experi- 
 ence, than w.hen, as^it too frequently occurs, that after 
 God has revived his work in their hearts in some meas- 
 ure, and they intensely yearn -for the salvation of winners, 
 for the want of appropriate pungent revival preaching 
 the period is suffered to pass with very few ur no con- 
 versions from the world of perishing sinners. 
 
 0, hoiv greatj'then, must he the responsibility of the 
 ministry, luho do nut arouse themselves ami make spec- 
 ial 'efforts, and with definite and prayerful aim^ so 
 preachy as to justify the rational expectation tJiat God 
 will give special efficacy to the preached ivord. Through 
 such neglect may not souls perish for whom Christ died? 
 And may not the blood of souls at the last great day, 
 be required at the watchman's hand ? 
 
 In what estimate would the conduct of the asfricultur- 
 ist be held, who should steadily and industriousFy plow 
 and sow his fields and cultivate his crops from year to 
 year, and when the period for the autumnal harvests 
 should arrive, should unaJce no special and cJianged ef- 
 forts to gather the crops, \.intil the ripened grain in large 
 portions should fall back again, to be buried in the 
 earth or be rotted by the wintry storms ? 
 
 Would not his unreasonable and ung^rateful conduct 
 justify his friends and neighbors in leaving hitn to beg 
 in harvest and have nothincr ? 
 
 Is there not a striking analogy between the laws 
 which govern the labors of the husbandman- in agricul- 
 
GENUINE EEVIVALS OF RELIGION. 445 
 
 ture and those which control the ministers of Christ in 
 their spiritual husbandry ? 
 
 And if God, upon whom the former depends for fertile 
 soil and warm seasons, with rain and sunshine, holds 
 him responsible for making special and appropriate 
 efforts for harvesting in autumn, will He not require the 
 ministers of Christ to give an account for the souls 
 whom they might have saved by special efforts in re- 
 vivals ? 
 
 If this be so, it certainly seems reasonable that while 
 all Christians are bound to live habitually in a state of 
 complete consecration^ as they commonly do not, but, al« 
 most imperceptibly to themselves, it may be, decline 
 into a state of lessened sensibility on the subject of re- 
 ligion, the ndnister and more devoted and intelligent 
 niemhers of the church are under special obligations to 
 lead in seeking a refreshing upon their oivn souls, 
 " For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall 
 much be required." 
 
 And at the same time, the more indifferent and back- 
 slidden members of the church may be expected to fol- 
 low in the work of revival, in proportion to their capa- 
 bilities in their ready perception of truth and capacities 
 to realize obligation. " For he that knew not, and did 
 commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with 
 few stripes." 
 
 And the practical question may still press right here, 
 
 koiv shall Christians seek a revival in their oivn hearts, 
 
 as a personal and immediate duty and privilege? God 
 
 has given an inspired answer — an infallible prescription, 
 
 which never fails : " Break up your fallow ground ; 
 38 
 
446 GENtJINE REVIVALS OF RELIGIOK. 
 
 for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain 
 righteousness upon you." 
 
 By this we understand, " break up your hearts — pre- 
 pare your minds to bring forth fruit unto God." But 
 how is this to be done ? each individual may ask as a 
 personal matter. Certainly it cannot be done by mak- 
 ing direct efforts to increase religious feeling. For the 
 emotions are involuntary, and not under the direct and 
 immediate control of the will. But we may excite them 
 by indirect and voluntary efforts in harmony with the 
 fixed laws of the mind. 
 
 And in beginning the work of revival in our hearts, 
 our sense of dependence must lead us to importunate 
 and extraordinary prayer, in the closet, in the family, 
 and conference meeting. " For with God is the residue 
 of the spirit." But it must not be formal and indiffer- 
 ent prayer. God says : " Ye ask and receive not, be- 
 cause ye ask amiss.' ' There are faults in prayer which 
 prevent its efficacy. Such as a feeble sense of want, or 
 praying in advance of our re d desires, or without a fixed 
 determination to att in such a way as shall be adapted 
 to answer our own prayers to the extent of our ability, 
 or we may have wrong ends in view in our requests. 
 The motive may be selfish, and not for the glory of God ; 
 or we may not sufficiently ^appreciate the efficacy of 
 Christ's name in prayer ; or there may be a deficiency 
 of faith. For " without faith it is impossible to please 
 God." " For let not that man think that he shall re- 
 ceive anything of the Lord." 
 
 Really efficacious prayer for revival must he the 
 'prayer of faith. And this must be indited by the Holy 
 Ghost and His prevailing intercessions. 
 
GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 447 
 
 ** Believers," (says Dr. Griffin) " are called the temple 
 of the Holy Ghost, and He is represented as seated in that 
 temple and praying for them, and God, as He comes 
 down to examine the heart, is represented as hearing 
 and understanding^ this intercession." 
 
 *^ The spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know 
 not what to pray for as we ought ; but the spirit itself 
 maketh intercession for the saints accordinor to the will 
 of God." In such prayer there will be earnest desire, 
 submission, dependence, dilligent use of means, humility, 
 perseverance, and such trustful expectancy as shall pre- 
 vail with God in securing revivals in the hearts of 
 Christians, 
 
 And then, if we expect God to ansiver our earnest 
 prayers, we must employ reasonable human tncans to 
 secure the blessing. We must, by self-eooamination and 
 meditation, make our mAnds deeply feel on the subject 
 of religion. If we contemplate the character of God as 
 a gracious and holy being, and think of Christ's love 
 manifested, in our redemption, and think of the per- 
 suasive strivings of the Holy Ghost, in our regeneration 
 and sanctification, our hearts must melt in penitence 
 and love. Thus if we are indeed Christians, by perse- 
 verance in this course, we shall as certainly increase 
 our feelings on the subject of religion as we shall revive 
 and increase the emotion of love and earnest regard for 
 our dearest earthly firiends, by meditating on their excel- 
 lencies, and recounting with gratitude their many deeds 
 of lovinor kindness towards us. 
 
 Hence, in beginning to labor for a special work of 
 grace, when the providence and grace of God indicates 
 that the " set time to favor zion has come," the minister 
 
448 GENUINE EEVIVALS OF RELIGION. 
 
 should obviously begin with his own heart and the hearts 
 of professing Christians. 
 
 And in preaching he should labor specifically to bring 
 the Church by the blessing of God under conviction^ and 
 secure their hearty confession and penitence. At such 
 times it is profitable to publicly and unitedly renew 
 their church covenant. 
 
 In doing this he may point out the sins of ingratitude, 
 want of love to God and the brethren, neglect of the 
 Bible, distrust and unbelief, neglect of prayer and other 
 means of trrace, neglect in warnincr sinners to " flee from 
 the wrath to come," neglect of watchfulness over them* 
 selves and their brethren, as well as common neglect of 
 self denial and faithfulness in the service of the Lord, 
 and too prevalent worldly mindedness and impatience. 
 
 For " the friendship of the world is enmity with God." 
 But ministers who anxiously desire a special tvo^^Jc of 
 grace may earnestly inquire what subjects and texts 
 have been found by repeated experience to signally fav r 
 a revival among Christians ? What truths should be 
 specially emphasized to revive Christians ? I reply, such 
 as are calcuhited to urge them to thorough self-exami- 
 nation, in reference to consistent Christian character and 
 show them their sins of omission as well as .commission. 
 
 And such as urge them to increased prayerful ness, 
 entire consecration, and active personal efforts. Such 
 texts as the following, in about the same order, when 
 ap}tropriately and legitimately treated, have frequently 
 produced great results, by preaching them in alternate 
 order, one a day, to each class of saints and sinners. 
 
 *'Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him," etc. 
 " Woe to the wicked it shall be ill with him," etc. Show- 
 
GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION, 449 
 
 iDg the radical, pliilosopbical and scriptural distinction 
 between the most defective of real Christians, and the 
 best of impenitent sinners, showing that the former avm 
 supremely to please God, while the latter seek habitu- 
 ally the gratification of their own natural desires. 
 
 " Prepare ye the way of the Lord." " Take up the 
 stumbling blocks out of the way." " Where art thou ? " 
 ■•* Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he 
 hath," etc. " Wilt thou not revive us again," etc. 
 *' Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation," etc. " Bring 
 ye all the tithes unto the store house," etc. " If my people 
 which are called by my name," etc. " The backslider 
 in heart," etc. " Break up your fallow ground," etc. 
 "Awake, awake, put on thy strength O Zion," etc. 
 ** Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is 
 come upon you," etc, " All things whatsoever ye shall 
 ask in prayer believing ye shall receive." " The people 
 had a mind to work." " He that converteth a sinner 
 from the error of his way," etc. "They that be wise 
 shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and 
 they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for- 
 ever and ever." " Be filled with the spirit," etc. " If two 
 of you shall agree," etc " Ye are my witnesses," etc. 
 ^'He that winneth souls is wise." " Aaron and Hurr," 
 etc. 
 
 But the 'practical question may here arise^ what truths 
 ought to he specially errophasized in order to aivaken the 
 impenitent ? 
 
 It has been found by experience to be expedient to 
 
 preach in a practical way on the moral attributes of 
 
 Grod, " the purity and perfection of his law, with its 
 
 endless penalty, the entire native depravity of the human 
 
 38* 
 
450 GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 
 
 heart, in its destitution of holiness and voluntary neglect 
 of God's service ; the sufficieDcy of the atonement of 
 Christ ; the freeness of the offer of pardon to all, on 
 condition of faith and repentance ; the necessity of a 
 voluntary and radical change of heart and life, by the 
 Holy Ghost ; the utter inexcusibleness of sinners in 
 neglecting the free offers of mercy, and the duty and 
 reasonableness of immediate and unconditional submis- 
 sion to God, and the permanent choice of his service 
 through life, and throughout eternity." 
 
 Sinners should he convicted of guilt and awful de- 
 pravity before presenting to them the justice and fearful, 
 ness of their future doom and misery. 
 
 Therefore, they should be shown the holiness of God, 
 and the infinite evil of sin ; the spirituality and search- 
 inof claims of the divine law. 
 
 After showincr them the moral vileness of the' human 
 heart, they may be alarmed by showing them the misery 
 that awaits them on earth and in eternity, and the limi- 
 tations of the day of grace. 
 
 Then it is expedient to exhibit the freeness of salvation 
 through Christ, with the pathetic exhortations and invi- 
 tations of the Gospel. And all excuses must be swept 
 away by the truth. 
 
 In awakening and convicting sinners therefore, it is 
 commonly found expedient to preach on such texts as 
 the following : " Be troubled ye careless ones." " Ye do 
 always resist the Holy Ghost," etc. " There is no hope.'* 
 •' Have me excused." '* Except a man be born again," 
 etc. " Make you a new heart," etc. " That sin by the 
 commandment," etc. Explain the ten commandments, 
 and apply them to the thoughts and intents of the 
 
GENUINE EEVIVALS OF RELIGION. 451 
 
 heart. " Except ye repent," etc. " By the deeds of the 
 law," etc. " Being justified by faith," etc. "Of sin 
 because ye believe not on me," etc. " What must I do 
 to be saved ? " " The wages of sin is death." " He 
 that is unjust let him be unjust still," etc. " Marvel not at 
 this," etc. " Prepare to meet thy God." " Go ihy way 
 for tjhe time," etc. " In thy presence is fullness of joy," 
 etc. " These shall go away into everlasting punish, 
 ment." " Secret faults," etc. " His thoughts troubled 
 him," etc. " He that covereth his sins," etc. " God so 
 loved the world," etc. " Choose ye this day whom ye 
 will serve," etc. " Son remember," etc. " Go thy way," 
 etc. " Woe also to them when I depart from them." 
 " How long halt ye," etc. " He that being often 
 reproved," etc. " Why should the work cease." *' The 
 harvest is past," etc. " The Lord added to the Church, 
 daily," etc. "The door was shut," etc. "Examine 
 yourselves," etc. " What wilt thou have me to do?" 
 " Whosoever therefore shall confess me," etc. " Go 
 work to-day," etc. " Let us not be weary in well doing," 
 etc. " My spirit shall not always strive," etc. "The 
 heart is deceitful," etc. " It is a fearful thing to fall," 
 etc. " Who hath warned you," etc. " Because I have 
 called," etc. " To.day after so long a time," etc. 
 ** What shall it profit," etc. " Seek ye the Lord while 
 he may be found," etc. " How shall we escape," etc. 
 " Ho ! every one that thirsteth," etc. " What more could 
 I have done," etc. " I will have mercy on whom I will 
 have mercy," etc. " I was alive without the law once," 
 etc. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," etc. "Be 
 ye steadfast," etc. " He that endureth unto the end," 
 etc. " Feed my Lambs," etc. 
 
452 GENUINE REVIVALS OP RELIGION. 
 
 But do any iuquire what additional means may be 
 wisely employed beside appropriate subjects and texts 
 and appropriate preaching. 
 
 INQUIRY MEETINGS. 
 
 I reply : Inquiry meetings especially, properly con- 
 ducted, are very favorable opportunities for persuading 
 anxious and seriously minded sinners to decide immedi- 
 ately to begin the service of God by prayer and holy 
 living. If the numbers are large, the anxious may be 
 invited to rise in the Church or Lecture room. But if 
 the numbers are few who attend, at the minister's home 
 or in any private residence, it may be well for them to 
 be seated around the parlor table, and begin by singing 
 an appropriate hymn. Then all may be requested to 
 kneel wliile the minister leads them in praying for a 
 special blessing and guidance in entering the path of 
 eternal life. Then it may be profitable to read sespon- 
 sively such appropriate Scriptures as the 51st Psalm, 
 the 15th of Luke, the 2d of Acts, or the 2d of Romans ; 
 with such brief and practical comments as shall have 
 direct reference to the instruction and guidance of the 
 anxious enquirers for salvation. At the close all should 
 kneel and be urged to offer oral jprayer for themselves, 
 even if they can say nothing more than " God be merci- 
 ful to me, a sinner, for Christ's sake ; " or the Lord's 
 prayer. 
 
 On such occasions their sins of omission as well as 
 commission should be explained and enforced with great 
 plainness as well as directness, and practical and obedi- 
 ent trust in Christ as their only and all sufficient 
 Saviour, should be urged upon them, while they abandon 
 
GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 453 
 
 entirely all reliance upon their oivn Tnorality and trust 
 in their good works for either justification or sanctification. 
 If they fear to begin God's service, lest they fail to 
 persevere, they should be shown that in trusting to the 
 help of divine grace in Christ Jesus, he is pledged to 
 keep them from falling, and bring them safely to his 
 heavenly kingdom. 
 
 MEASURES. 
 
 In the minister's earnest desire for the progress of a 
 genuine work of divine grace, he will break loose, when 
 it shall seem expedient to some extent, from the old 
 established methods of saving men, and exercise a more 
 practical faith in devising new plans and experiments 
 for doing good. He will be a bold operator in relio^ious 
 work. His faith in God's readiness to bless new means, 
 will lead him to push out new lines to secure increased 
 attention, to rouse the church, and to awaken careless 
 sinners. 
 
 Jehovah encourages new and special efforts. He 
 says : " Prove me and see if I will not pour you out a 
 blessing." etc. " Put me to the test and see the results." 
 He has delighted in the practical faith of his people not 
 only in prayer, but in the diligent use of appropriate 
 means. 
 
 'J'herefore, we should cherish a faith with unfettered 
 wings, not a faith limited, bound hand and foot in the 
 stocks of established and ordinary means. We must 
 not hesitate to try new measures which appear promis- 
 ing. We must use. sanctified ingenuity and good sense 
 in devising new plans, v/hile we use as far as expedient 
 our old ways. 
 
454 GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 
 
 Let us give practical heed to siicli earnest suggestions 
 as the following, from Rev. S, R. Dennen, a successful 
 preacher and laborer in the revivals. He inquires : — 
 
 " How^, for instance, shall I reach and win to Christ 
 such a person ? I study my subject ; he or she may be 
 reticent and shy, or open and accessible. I become 
 familiar with temperament ; the best time and way of 
 approach ; I pick up some thread of personal experience 
 or family history ; I reach out now on this side, now on 
 that, in tentative experiments, praying that the Spirit 
 may accept and bless some of them. I reach that soul, 
 and all heaven breaks forth into strains of joy ; some 
 one of my lines hooks the fish. Suppose I put out only 
 the regulation line of God's sovereignity and established 
 means, should I have landed my game ? Perhaps so ; 
 perhaps not. I use regular means ; but others also. I 
 cast the net on both sides of the boat." 
 
 The prayer-meeting is in the ruts ; no unusual thing ; 
 smitten with chronic dullness ; prayers long and wander- 
 ing and prosy ; singing nasal and twangy ; same routine, 
 prayer, singing. Scripture, a whole chapter ; exhortation 
 by leader ; remarks, prayers and pauses by brethren ; 
 benediction ; dispersion. The young are not there ; the 
 sounds are too doleful. The church are not there for 
 the same reason. 
 
 How shall it be raised to newness of life and freshness 
 of power ? Try experiments ; have variety, spring, 
 sparkle. Mix things ; now a praise-meeting, now a 
 promise-meeting, now both in one. Have topic>', discuss 
 them ; a Bible service in which all shall join ; bring 
 along some passage on which your owq soul has feasted, 
 talk about it; come full of enthusiasm for whatever 
 
GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 455 
 
 means- is to be tried, never criticising measures, and you 
 will find the conference room a very Bethel. The prac- 
 tical value is this : you offer the Spirit a variety of means 
 to use and energize. You give scope and range to the 
 Blessed Comforter, and a pleasant variety to different 
 minds. 
 
 The same may be' said of the Sabbath school and Sab- 
 bath service. We should resort to Bunyan's tactics — 
 take the ear-gate first, then, pressing in through this, 
 storm the citadel. 
 
 Our churches have- lost power, lost their hold of the 
 masses, by our regulation style of work and worship. It 
 seems to me often to amount to this : a manifesto to the 
 Spirit, if He is pleased to bless in a certain way and by 
 time-honored means, we welcome His presence ; other- 
 wise we must forego His visit. Times, people, themes, 
 habits, vary. What avails now, fails sometime hence. 
 Methods that succeed in one revival, fail in another, in 
 the same place and among the same people. 
 
 To go on in the same way year after year in the work 
 of savinor men, using: the same means, is like sailino^ a 
 ship with just so much canvas, blow high or low, steering 
 her the same way from whichever quarter the wind may 
 chance to blow, ahead or astern. Oh for the versatility 
 and D-ood sense in laborincr for the kinojdon of Christ 
 which men show in secular affairs. This certainly is 
 possible and practical ; and this I suggest to use in 
 Christ's service ; such a variety of means have so much 
 flexibility and life ; so much that is solidly and vari- 
 antly attractive ; so much .the Spirit can energize ; so 
 many channels all open along which His converting 
 grace may descend upon our churches ; that we shall 
 
456 GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 
 
 not fail the cominof season to secure more and more 
 powerful revivals, and reap a richer, broader harvest of 
 precious souls. This will we do, God helping us. 
 
 PERIODS FOR A SERIES OF RELIGIOUS MEETINGS. 
 
 In the beginning of every year let special efforts be 
 made to promote a harvest season of souls. Have we 
 reason to apprehend that about all the year is commonly 
 spent in sowing and cultivating the crop in the moral 
 viDeyard of the Lord, with comparatively but little very 
 direct aud specific measures for gatheiing in the harvest 
 any more at one season than another. 
 
 But oidinarily I apprehend that the winter season in 
 connection with the observance of the week of prayer in 
 the beginning of the year, a protracted meeting of several 
 days duration may wisely be appointed for appropriate 
 revival preaching, with other direct and specific efforts 
 for gathering in a harvest of souls. For while Christians 
 give themselves to earnest and importunate prayer, and' 
 puDgeDt and personal exhortation, if the attendance and 
 continued attention of the impenitent can be secured 
 for a few days to pungent revival preaching, they must 
 be converted in great numbers, by "the Holy Ghost sent 
 down from heaven." 
 
 Whild spring and summer may be favorable for sow- 
 ing and cultivating a crop, doubtless faithful efforts may 
 be expected to be blessed of heaven in gathering in 
 occasional sheaves, and sometimes many. The autumn 
 and winter are, in the nature and peculiarity of the 
 seasons, more favorable periods for protracted meetings 
 and larger harvests, by God's good 'providence, as well 
 as by his special grace. 
 
GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 457 
 
 It is for the want of more earnest and protracted con- 
 sideration on the subject of religion that Christians 
 backslide, and sinners remain careless. But the invigo- 
 rating influence of the winter season, is favorable for 
 securing their continuous attention during a protracted 
 meetinor so as to secure a revival. 
 
 Hence it is obvious that ministers and churches who 
 appreciate genuine revivals as the richest of heaven^ s bless- 
 ings, and as indispensihle to the 'preservation of our 
 nation and the conversion of the world, should avail 
 themselves of the most^ favorable periods and circum- 
 stances for making special efforts for their promotion, 
 knowing that God hath " !^et times to favor Zion, when 
 He will arise and have mercy upon her and make her 
 fruitful in every good work." 
 
 In anticipation of a series of daily and evening meet- 
 ings, it is commonly expedient for the minister to preach . 
 on the nature, history, importance, and means of promo- 
 ting true revivals of relig^ion. 
 
 And also on God's moral attributes and the moral 
 evidences for the truth of his inspired word, and the 
 duty and method of preparing the way of the Lord. 
 
 And, during the week of daily meetings. Christians 
 should not only lay aside as far as practicable their orcZi- 
 Tiary business ; but they should engage in thorough 
 religious visitation from house to house during the 
 forenoons of each day ; but attend the meetings regu- 
 la.rly in the afternoons and evenings. 
 
 In the afternoons it may be expedient for the minis- 
 ter to preach, as I have before stated, on such subjects 
 as backsliding, worldliness, self examination, entire con- 
 secration, sanctification, the prayer of faith, and personal 
 39 
 
458 GENUINE EEVIVALS OF KELIGION. 
 
 efforts for the conversion of sinners. In the evening, on 
 preparation to meet God, on the new birth, on the great 
 sinfulness of impenitent sinners, and on endless punish- 
 ment ; on Heaven, and qualifications for admission there, 
 on the atonement and justification by faith, on quench- 
 ing the spirit the prodigal son, confessing Christ before 
 men, and procrastiuation. Then seek for the immediate 
 results of each sermon at the close, and God will revive 
 his work. 
 
 HOW SHALL THE INFLUENCE OF A EEVIVAL BE 
 
 PERPETUATED ? 
 
 And in order to secure the most effective snad perTYianent 
 results of our direct preaching, in promoting the revival 
 by the regular services of the sanctuary, we should seek 
 for the culmination of its power by announcing the se- 
 lect scriptural passages beforehand, to be read in the 
 week-day evening meetings for conference and prayer, 
 and thai the passages for prayer meetings on sabbath 
 evenings, when such meetings are held on that evening, 
 will be the texts and their contexts, so that the lay- 
 brethren may enforce in their familiar and direct way, 
 the great truths they have recently heard from the pul- 
 pit. And in the judicious use of such means, the min- 
 ister will have his own faith strengthened. He will have 
 stronger confidence in the efiicacy of divine truth and in 
 God's promises and intention to give it efiicacy in saving 
 perishing men. 
 
 He will not only have increasing reasons to expect 
 success, but such expectation is essential to the best and 
 most effective results. It will influence his choice of 
 appropriate texts and the preparation of his sermons. 
 
GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 459 
 
 In aiming at and expecting to make decided impres- 
 sion, he will carefully consider the character and con- 
 ditions of his hearers, and will seek to adapt means to 
 that end. The expectation of success will also have a 
 powerful influence upon the delivery of a discourse and 
 render him peculiarly vsympathetic, tender and earnest. 
 Will he not naturally throw his whole soul into it, and 
 compel his hearers to feel that he feels himself speaking 
 to immortal beings, in view of judgment and eternity. 
 In using such appropriate and prayerful application of 
 divine truth, he will expect God's blessing. For he 
 hath said : " He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing 
 precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, 
 bringing his sheaves with him." Knowing God's readi- 
 ness to bless, if the work does not progress, he will 
 seek to remove the hindrances in his own heart, and in- 
 quire of his people for the stumbling blocks, lest any 
 perish for whom Christ died, lest any wicked man, 
 through his neglect or unfaithfulness, die in his iniquity 
 and his, blood be required at the watchman's hand. 
 
 FINAL APPEAL TO MINISTERS. 
 
 Is it not for the want of a deeper sense of ministerial 
 responsibility for the salvation of perishing souls and for 
 the want of more earnest and direct appeals in warning 
 men to flee from the wrath to come, that such wide 
 spread apathy prevails among the people, on the subject 
 of true religion, for a series of years as the rule and 
 revivals occur only occasionaly as an exception. 
 
 The impenitent who are " dead in trespasses and sins," 
 relieve themselves of a sense of ouilt and danger with 
 the inquiry : " Who is the Almighty that we should 
 
460 * GENUINE EEVIVALS OP EELIGION. 
 
 serve him ? and what profit shall we have if we pray 
 unto him ? " 
 
 Professors of religion excuse their backsliding and de- 
 clension, as well as neglect of growth in grace and per- 
 sonal sanctification, with the plea of worldly care, and 
 their encouraging hope of heaven, which may prove 
 spurious when God shall try the hearts of men. 
 
 And may not the ministry be in danger of exhonera- 
 ting themselves to an alarming degree, from a realizing 
 sense of their responsibility in awakening and saving 
 their hearers with the plea that "with God is the residue of 
 the spirit, and it is his prerogative to regenerate the heart. 
 And thus they may fail to realize the great and indis- 
 pensable importance of appropriate human agency, and 
 the truth that, " He which converteth the sinner from 
 the error of his way, shall save a soul from death." If 
 this be so, does it not follow as Pres. Davies has said, 
 that "ministers should preach as in the sight of God, as if 
 they were to step from the pulpit to the supreme tribu- 
 nal," 
 
 Certainly they should deeply feel their subject. They 
 should " melt with emotion and tears, or shudder with 
 horror when faithfulness constrains them to denounce 
 *' the terrors of the Lord," " the wrath of the Lamb." 
 
 They should " gL)W and melt with sacred ecstacies, 
 when the love of Jesus and the way of salvation is the 
 theme of pathetic entreaty. 
 
 "They shovilcl preach as if they ne'er should preach again, 
 And as dying men to dying men." 
 
 Should not the ministry of our times, in these days 
 " of the right hand of the Most High/' be stimulated to 
 
GENUINE REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 461 
 
 greater earnestness and fidelity in preaching, by the 
 eloquent appeals of the sainted Griffin, whose labors 
 were crowned with genuine, powei'ful and numerous 
 revivals of true religion, through a long and successful 
 life in saving souls ? 
 
 " How soon my brethren," said this •minent minister 
 of Christ, " will the amazing reality of the judgment 
 and eternity break upon our unearthly vision, and fill 
 us with ecstacy or despair ! 
 
 " I cast my thoughts forward but a little, and behold 
 the dead are rising, the elements melting, saints rejoic- 
 ing, devils trembling. The Judge appears upon the 
 great white throne. In a moment, in the twinkling of 
 an eye, we are before the judgment seat with our respec- 
 tive flocks. The faithful and the unfaithful shepherds 
 of every age are there. The trial proceeds, the books 
 are closed, the final sentence is pronounced. The heavens 
 are opened, and the pit yawns, the eternal song and the 
 eternal wail are both begun. ! may we then rise, to 
 shine with a great multitude, saved through our unworthy 
 instrumentality, to shine with them, as the brightness of 
 the firmament, as the stars forever and ever." 
 39* 
 
THE STARLESS CROWN. 
 
 " That they turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ev. 
 ef and ever."— Daniel xii. 3. 
 
 Wearied and worn with earthly cares, I yielded to repose, 
 
 And, soon before my raptured sight, a glorious vision rose : 
 
 I thought, whilst slumbering on my couch, in midnight's solemn 
 gloomy 
 
 I heard an angeFs silvery voice, and radience filled my room. 
 A gentle touch awaken'd me, — a gentle whisper said, 
 " Arise, O sleeper, follow me ;" and through the air we fled: 
 We left the earth, so far away that like a speck it seem'd. 
 And heavenly glory, calm and pure, across our pathway 
 
 streamed. 
 Still on we went, — my soul was wrapped in silent ecstacy ; 
 
 I wondered what the end would be, what next should meet 
 
 mine eye. 
 I knew not how we journeyed through the pathless fields of 
 
 light. 
 When suddenly a change was wrought, and I was clothed in 
 
 white. 
 We stood before a city's walls most glorious to behold ; 
 We passed through gates of glistening pearl, o'er streets of 
 
 purest gold ; 
 It needed not the sun by day, the silver moon by night ; 
 The glory of the Lord was there, the Lamb himself its light. 
 
THE STARLESS CROWN. 463 
 
 Bright angels paced the shinmg streets, sweet music filled the 
 air, 
 
 And white-robed saints with glittering crowns, from every 
 clime were there ; 
 
 And some that I had loved on earth stood with them round the 
 throne. 
 
 ** All worthy is the Lamb," they sang, " the glory his alone/' 
 
 But fairer far than all beside, I saw my Saviour's face ; 
 
 And as I gazed he smiled on me with wondrous love and grace. 
 
 Lowly I bowed before his throne, o'erjoyed that I at last 
 
 Had gained the object of my hopes; that earth at length was 
 past, 
 
 And then in solemn tones he said, " where is the diadem 
 
 That ought to sparkle on thy brow — adorned with many a gem ? 
 
 I know thou hast believed on me, and life through me is thine, 
 
 But where are all those radiant stars that in thy crown should 
 shine ? 
 
 Yonder thou seest a glorious throng, and stars on every brow ! 
 
 For every, soul they led -to me they wear a jeivel now ! 
 
 And such ^% bright reward had been if such had been thy deed 
 
 If thou hadst sought some wand'ring feet in path of peace to 
 lead. 
 
 I did not mean that thou should'st tread the way of life alone, 
 
 But that the clear and shining light which round thy footsteps 
 shone, 
 
 Should guide some other weary feet to my bright home of rest. 
 
 And thus, in blessing those aroujid, thou hadst thyself been blest. "^^ 
 
 The vision faded fi'om my sight, the voice no longer spake, 
 
 A spell seemed brooding o'er my soul which long I feared to 
 break, 
 
464 THE STABLESS CROWN. 
 
 And when at last I gazed around in morning's glimmering 
 light. 
 
 My spirit fell overwhelmed beneath that vision's awful might. 
 
 I rose and wept with chastened joy that yet I dwelt below, 
 
 That yet another hour was mine my faith by works to show ; 
 
 That yet some sinner I might tell of Jesus' dying love, 
 
 And help to lead some weary soul to seek a home above. 
 
 And now, while on the earth I stay, my motto this shall be, 
 
 " To live no longer to myself, butliim who died for me!" 
 
 And graven on my inmost soul this word of truth divine, 
 
 " They that turn many to the Lord, brigJd as Hie stars shall 
 shine.''' 
 
 iK 
 
 -../- ''■' 
 
 Note.— For furtlier excellent Instnictions on this subject, the reader ia 
 referred to Finney's Autohiography and Lectures, SpragTie, KLrk, and Flab 
 on Revivals, 
 
'nil I III li*'rrl'"i'?^i' Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1 
 
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