Broken Bread Part 12

II.--Interest your Audience.

How skilfully Jesus went to work to lay hold of this giddy woman! He spoke of what to a native of the East must have been a surprise, and a delightful idea. He goes on to tell of being delivered from that plague of those hot climates, thirst, and excites her wonder by speaking of a well of water springing up in a man!

To our younger brethren, let us say that it is not easy to succeed if we do not make what we say interesting. We do not love sensationalism, but we do love savouryness. Let all your sermons be seasoned with salt. Not a few of us fail because we forget to make what we say savoury. Let us excite the imagination of those who listen to us, and then we may pour into the attentive ear that which will be of solid benefit. How shopkeepers strive to strike the eye of the pa.s.sengers by skilfully dressing their windows, so as to catch the attention! Shall it be said that they take more pains to sell their goods than we do to get the gospel into the hearts of our hearers!

III.--Make your hearers conscious of the supernatural.

"Sir," said the woman, "I perceive thou art a prophet." And this we can all do. We can every one be on such terms with heaven as to make those who listen to us know that we hold commerce with the skies. We may not be eloquent or learned, but we may be prayerful and impa.s.sioned.

Preaching is unlike all other kinds of speaking. We have no business in the pulpit except when under the direct influence of the Holy Ghost. We knew a man who, for some years of his ministry, was dull and unpractical, but there came upon him a baptism of power, and then we heard his preaching described as "white heat." Why should not this be in every one of us? It is not possible for us to be alike, nor is it desirable, but we may all make our hearers say, "This man comes from G.o.d. His prayers and his preaching convince us that he is owned by the G.o.d of Elijah."

IV.--Set your converts to work.

We read "The woman then left her waterpot, and went into the city," and soon there was a crowd round the Saviour. It is not said that Jesus told her to do so, but she had heard words that were like fire in her bones.

She had been convinced of sin, and knew that G.o.d had spoken to her. Is not this the way to fill our chapels? Say things that wake up the conscience, and alarm the sinner, and he must tell about it. Or shew the cross so plainly that the anxious one finds the Lord, and is able to rejoice, and very soon there will be an unpaid agency at work. Of course it will not obtain to the same extent in every case. We are among those who have to mourn that our preaching is not as effective as it ought to be, but we are taking our own physic, and can testify that since we have acted on the lines we have laid down, G.o.d has been pleased to give us greater power over our congregations, and we have seen greater results follow the preaching, poor as it is.

FOR PREACHERS WHO MAKE THE PEOPLE THINK.

THE GRINDSTONE IS THE MOST USEFUL TOOL IN THE CARPENTER'S SHOP.

x.x.xIII. ANSWERED PRAYER.

"_And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah_."--1 KINGS xvii. 22.

Yes, and He will hear your voice if you are as much in earnest as he was!

Why should not G.o.d hear the voice of William, or Robert, Sarah or Edith?

He is no respecter of persons. Is it not written over the door of mercy, "Knock, and it shall be opened?" Aye, and the knocker is so low a child's hand may reach it. St. James tells us that Elijah was "a man of like pa.s.sions." He was a human being like you and me, but he had faith in G.o.d. Why should we not believe in G.o.d as much as the prophet did? Is He not G.o.d yet? Have any of these sceptics removed Him from His throne?

If He is still there, let us come with boldness as Elijah did.

This was not the first time G.o.d had heard the voice of His servant, and answered his prayer, and there is no reason why we should not have repeated and continuous replies in answer to our requests. Had Elijah the same wealth of promise we have? JESUS CHRIST has spoken since those times, and has said things which ought to fill us with hopefulness whenever we pray. What wonderful words of cheer He said in those last few days of His life, such as "Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." Look up the references to that verse, and you will feel you must kneel down and ask for something.

But is there not suggested by that word "Ask," the secret of so much failure? Do we ask? How often, in what is called prayer, there is little or no supplication? We are to make our requests known. Listen to Elijah: "Lord, let this child's soul come into him again." Why should we not pray in the same direct style? Our prayers would not weary others by their length, if, before we knelt down, we thought

WHAT IS NEEDED, AND NEEDED NOW.

What a scene when the child began to breathe again! and when the anxious mother was summoned to receive her boy from the dead. "Now," said she, "I know thou art a man of G.o.d, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth." When the church fights its battles on its knees, it prevails.

Only let us, who say we believe in G.o.d, put our faith into pet.i.tion, and obtain answers, then Infidelity will hide its head. Mr. Finney tells that when he first began to attend a place of worship, it was as an honest inquirer after truth. The members of the church noticed his coming to the prayer meetings with regularity, and presently it occurred to them that the young man might be anxious about his soul. Accordingly they asked him if he would like them to pray for him. He somewhat roughly declined, for, said he, "You don't get any answers to your prayers for yourselves. You have been for months praying to be revived, and you are not any better." Perhaps he was right, though rude. We may have in our midst those who would believe the Bible if they saw that we had only to ask to receive.

Let every father bear this in mind when he leads the devotions of his family. Nothing is so likely to save our children from infidelity as their knowing that we receive when we ask, and that our knock brings an open door. If only the family altar were the meeting place between G.o.d and man, Atheists might sneer and chatter, but they would never be able to cause our children to listen, for would not they say, "I know my father is a man of G.o.d, and the word of the Lord in his mouth is true."

Reader, is the family altar at your house a bridge from earth to heaven, or is it a sham, and a helper to those who say, Prayer is an exploded superst.i.tion?

PREACH REPENTANCE.

Is there any truth in the allegation that we do not preach Repentance as much as we ought to do? There is a soft sort of preaching abroad which we Methodists should abhor, namely, a gospel which has no dread of h.e.l.l in it. We do not say that we should spend much time in proving the eternity of punishment, but certainly the thought of the fate of the impenitent should be in solution in the preacher's mind, and then, like the bitter herbs eaten with the Paschal Lamb, penitence will make the gospel relishing. We have little doubt that

THE DOCTRINE OF THE CROSS IS AND MUST BE, TASTELESS TO THOSE WHO DO NOT SORROW FOR SIN.

Those who preach repentance are in good company. He who fails here does not tread in the steps of Jesus, who said, "Repent ye, and believe the gospel." Is human nature any better now than it was then, that we should cease to say to the people what Christ said? Depend upon it, He knew what to preach. None of the New Testament preachers said as much about h.e.l.l as He did, and yet, forsooth! we are told that such preaching is coa.r.s.e, and behind the age. When the age is astray, the farther we are behind it the better for us. It is sickening to hear men talk as though they were more refined than was the Son of G.o.d! Such preaching is like raking the garden with the teeth upwards. You may as well have no rake at all, if you do not use the teeth.

x.x.xIV. HOW DAVID PREVAILED.

"_So David prevailed over the Philistine_!"--1 SAMUEL xvii. 50.

Yes, he did, but he would not have done so if he had remained as quiet as the other Israelites. David was one of those who could not be easy so long as the enemies of his country were in the ascendant. To see a Philistine strutting about, defying the armies of the living G.o.d, was more than he could bear. Is not this the spirit which should animate Christians to-day? It is not one GOLIATH merely, there are many.

DRUNKENNESS, PROFANITY, SUPERSt.i.tION, INFIDELITY, and a host of others are not only defying us, but destroying us. Is it not true that the armies of the alien are robbing our families and churches, plundering us of the results of years of toil? Think, in one department alone, how we are spoiled. We refer to the Sabbath school. What a small percentage of those who pa.s.s through our schools become stable members of the church!

What crowds of our children become the slaves of sin! How long do we mean to bear it? When shall we, like David, say, "THY SERVANT WILL GO AND FIGHT WITH THIS PHILISTINE?"

We read that "David hasted, and ran towards the army to meet the Philistine." He was aggressive. There is a great deal to be said in favour of what is called "working on the old lines," but

DAVID DESPISED THE OLD LINES.

His countrymen had remained too long there; he would dare and do, therefore ran into the lines of the Philistines. Is it not too true that we stay in our entrenchments too long? Why should we not carry the war into the enemy's country? WESLEY and his fellow-labourers would not have had the success they had, if they had not, like David, run towards the enemy. It was time, for the sake of his country's prestige, that he ran with his face towards the foe. Shall we not imitate him, and dare something for G.o.d? Saul's army had too often showed their backs to the enemy. When a man runs towards his foe, he looks bigger every stride, while if he runs away, he looks less, and becomes more contemptible the more active he is!

David prevailed over the Philistine with very simple weapons, but

THEY WERE HIS OWN.

If he had gone in Saul's armour, he might have perished. He was no match for the giant if it came to a sword fight. The long reach of the giant's arm would have ended the conflict very soon. On the contrary, the sling gave David an immense advantage. He could strike a blow, and be out of Goliath's reach. Have we not known some men more mighty, and more often victorious when they were plain and unlettered, than they were after years of culture? How is it? Perhaps because they, knowing their ignorance, were more earnest in prayer. We know that some of us feel, when we have preached;--That was a good sermon, the arguments were irresistible, the ill.u.s.trations were beautiful, and so the people ought to have yielded, but they did not! Did they?

If the pictures of this event we often see are to describe the future of Christianity, we shall have to be as daring as though G.o.d did not fight the battle, and as trustful as though we had never driven the alien army back. When COURAGE is united to HUMILITY, the Philistine may get measured for his coffin (leaving out the head), and the damsels of Israel have their timbrels tuned, for there will be a procession goodly to look upon!

BURNING THE BOOKS AT EPHESUS.

This was one of the results of faithful preaching. Paul had declared the whole counsel of G.o.d, both in powerful addresses and in visiting from door to door. Miracles were wrought, but what seems to have impressed the writer of this account most of all, was not the healing of the sick, or the casting out of devils, but men parting with that which was worth so much money.