p. 251 | PREACH THE WORD

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Tuesday, April 21, 1885

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 62, No. 16

PREACH THE WORD.

Thus the apostle Paul charged his son Timothy. It is a charge and exhortation which needs much to be repeated in these days to preachers, both young and old. As we have occasion to read and look through many sermons, to say nothing of those we are occasionally privileged to hear, we are struck with the poverty of scriptural thought and quotation. There is a text, indeed, to begin with, and that is from the Bible; and in the text there is a theme, if not evolved, at least suggested; but, for the rest, in many—too many—cases, there is little else than the excogitation of the preacher. We would not venture to say that such sermons are not good sermons of their kind, nor that they do not do good. Certainly they are often very interesting to hear, and give evidence of much careful study, and have in them the suggestion of personal earnestness; but there is little or no preaching of the word in them.

It is a question whether the modern seminary training given to young men is any improvement on the old-fashioned way of training up young men in the studies and in the parishes of the more learned and successful ministers, where the chief text book is the Bible itself, studied in close proximity with the people of the parish. Whether the large place given to the study of science and philosophy and the systems of theology current in our day, is not doing much to train the young preachers away from the constant study and practical use of the Bible, is a question that is fairly open to debate. It probably would not be practicable, in this “fast age,” to preach such sermons as the fathers of the seventeenth century did; but it is certainly refreshing to turn away from modern sermons, even the best of them, and spend an hour or two with one of John Flavel’s masterly productions, saturated and buttressed as they are from beginning to end with the Scriptures; or with one of Richard Sibb’s or Henry Smith’s or David Clarkson’s or John Bunyan’s. The young minister who has not read and studied the sermons of Stephen Charnock or Thomas Adams has lost a treat and help which he can ill afford to lose. After being in company with these old masters of the word, the ordinary sermon, or even the very best of modern sermons, which are found in the printed volumes of the day, seem like the veriest skimmed milk, to say nothing of the lack of the flavor and taste of strong meat.

A return to a more scriptural method of preaching, a wider use of the actual word of God, both in the construction and body of our sermons, is, in our judgment, one of the imperative demands of the present necessity. With a revival of scriptural preaching, by which the conscience and heart of our audiences would be brought face to face with the very word of God, we have no doubt there would be a widespread revival of religion among the churches, and a great ingathering of souls from among those who believe not. It is the word of God that is “quick and powerful,” and not our thoughts about that word, or our conclusions drawn from it. It is well enough, and of course necessary, that the preacher furnish the sword of the Spirit with a handle by means of which he may wield it; but it is the sword and not the handle that is to do the work of conviction and conversion. The Holy Spirit is not pledged to make our words powerful, but he is pledged to energize and fill with life and power the words of God. We fear that most of us have fallen into the habit of going out to battle with the handle only, or, at least, we have made the handle so largely out of proportion with the heavenly blade that it is of little use in the conflict.

It was the method of our Lord to instruct his disciples, confound his enemies, and comfort, cheer, and bring life and hope to the perishing, by means of the Scriptures. The great sermons of Peter, Stephen, and Paul were all drawn from the word of God. It is true that in all probability, we have but the outline of their discourses given us in the New Testament. But admitting that these records be but the skeleton of their discourses, we have in them the suggestion of the true method of preaching.

Not a few persons are often perplexed to know why it is that some unlearned evangelist, who has had no training in the college or seminary, is more successful in winning souls than are some of the most eminent preachers and learned divines. May the question not be answered and the wonder explained by a reference to the fact that their sermons are hardly more than a collocation of Scriptures, arranged and set forth with a view to move the mind and heart of the hearer. “A mere stringing together of Scripture without any evidence of original thought,” said a critical preacher in our hearing once, with something very like a sneer, as he turned away from one of Mr. Moody’s Bible readings. And he was rather disgusted, and we fear a little angry, because, at the close of the reading and short, pointed appeal based upon the word preached, some forty or fifty men and women followed the unlearned preacher to the inquiry room, to be instructed in the way of life more fully. He could not see where the homely evangelist’s power was. Let our readers, both ministerial and lay, ponder this inspired exhortation, “Preach the word;” and, perhaps, if the former class will adopt it and follow it a little more closely, and the latter class insist that more of the word be given in the sermons they go to hear, we will soon see a different state of things in our churches. Professor Park is said once to have given as a reason why he omitted the reading of the word during a hot afternoon service, that his sermon was rather long, and he felt that, in order to bring the whole service within the usual hour, he had to leave out something; and so he omitted the scriptural reading. “Humph!” said the old deacon who had noted the omission of the Scripture lesson: “Suppose you leave out some of your own stuff the next time.” Perhaps we might do well to take the deacon’s advice, too.—Independent.