To My Younger Brethren Part 13

WE ARE MESSENGERS.

Yes, this is what we are to be as preachers. We are to seek "mercy of the Lord to be faithful." [1 Cor. vii. 25.] We are not popular leaders, looking for a cry, or pa.s.sing one on. We are not speculative thinkers, feeling out a philosophy, communicating our guesses at truth to a company of friends who happen to be interested in the investigation. We are "messengers, watchmen, and stewards of the Lord." We are in commissioned charge of a divine, authentic, and unalterable message. We are the expounders of a "Word which liveth and abideth for ever," [1 Pet. i. 23.] a Word which man is always trying to judge and to disparage, but which will judge man at the last day. [Joh. xii. 48.] We are the bondservants of an absolute Master, who is at once our Sender and our Message, and who overhears our every word in its delivery.

It is a grave mistake, as we saw in our last chapter, to think that faithfulness means a repellent utterance of "the faithful Word." [t.i.t.

i. 9.] But it is at least an equal mistake to think that attractiveness means a modification of that Word, which to the end of our world's day will still be a "folly" and a "stumbling-block," [1 Cor. i. 23.] in some respects, to the unconverted soul, and will always have its searching point and edge for the converted soul also.

But this consideration here is only by the way. I return from it to the matter of a right and faithful attractiveness and some of its higher conditions.

SECRETS FOR TRUE ATTRACTIVENESS.

"_Preach the Gospel--earnestly, interestingly, fully._" Such, I believe, is the prescription given, by the great preacher whom I cited in the last chapter, to the Pastor who would fill his church, and keep it full.

In the first instance, no doubt, Mr Spurgeon gives it as a prescription to the Nonconformist Pastor; but it is quite as much to the purpose for the Conformist, so far as he is a Minister of the Word.[33] What I have to say in these present pages shall run on the lines of that sentence of good counsel.

[33] And let it never be forgotten that this is his _primary_ function in the mind of the Church of England. See the Priest's Ordination, particularly its Exhortations, its Commission, and its final Collect.

"PREACH THE GOSPEL."

i. "_Preach the Gospel_," that is to say Jesus Christ, in His Person, His Work, His Offices, His Teaching, all applied to the souls and lives of men. Would you truly and permanently attract, with an attraction which G.o.d will bless? Let that be your first condition. I do not dilate upon it here, but with all the earnestness possible I lay it upon my younger Brother's heart as we pa.s.s on. Preach the Gospel, that is to say the Lord, in all He is for man as man is a sinner, a mortal, a mourner, a worker. Do not let Christ be one subject among others. As little can the sun be one among the planets. He is _the_ Subject; all others get their reality and importance for us preachers by their relation to Him.

In particular I venture to say, do not let occasional, temporal, local topics, even very important ones, dislodge Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ of the whole Bible, from His royal place in your preaching; and do not forget continually (though not monotonously) to keep to the front the fact that He is _the sinner's Saviour_. More will be said later about that point of view, but I state it at once. Speak indeed of Christ as Exemplar, Ideal, Friend, Man of Men; but do not let your brethren forget that, "_first of all, Christ died for our sins_, according to the Scriptures," [1 Cor. xv. 3.] and that His primary practical relation to us is always that of Saviour to sinner. That truth is not altogether in fashion now. But it is eternal; it is deep as the human soul, and as the Law of G.o.d, and as such it is a mighty condition to attractiveness, wisely and truly handled. It corresponds to the inmost facts of the hearers' being, whether they are aware of it yet or not; and is there not here the most powerful of magnets, at least _in posse_?

"PREACH IT EARNESTLY."

ii. "Preach the Gospel _earnestly_." This does not mean necessarily with vehemence, or even with fervour, of manner. Some men's delivery is fervent, or even vehement, in the most natural way possible; and let such men preach so, if they will do it thoughtfully and to the purpose.

But the slightest artificial cultivation of such qualities, or of the semblance of them, is a great practical mistake. And earnestness is at once a wider and a simpler matter all the while. The man who preaches earnestly is the man who is altogether in earnest, and speaks out his conviction and his purpose.

*PREACH IT AS A WITNESS.

He is the man who has the Lord's message deep in his own soul, and is conscious of its vast importance for the souls of others. He is the man who does not merely discuss, or explain, or even expound, however soundly and luminously, but whose words--well chosen, well weighed, well ordered--are _also_ the living words of one who "testifieth that he hath seen." [Joh. iii. 11.] Yes, the essence of the right sort of earnestness is the witness-character of the preacher. What is a witness? One who has personal knowledge of the matter of his words [2 Tim. i. 12.]--"_I know whom I have believed._" Is there not a great need at this time, in our dear Church, of more such witness-preaching? I do not mean preaching that advertises the preacher as a remarkable Christian, certainly not preaching that puts for one moment our "testimony" on a level with the infallible Word once written. But I do mean the preaching which, by one of the surest laws of our nature, attracts attention to that Word in a living way by the preacher's manifest confession that its message is a mighty reality and certainty to himself.

Some years ago I heard an account of the peculiarly impressive preaching of a young Mission-clergyman. It was described to me as remarkable not for energy of manner, or warmth of diction, but for the impression left on all hearers that the truths handled by the man were for himself absolute and present facts. He stated them with a directness and quietness which was emphatically matter-_of-fact_. This sort of preaching is earnest indeed.

"PREACH IT INTERESTINGLY."

iii. "Preach the Gospel _interestingly_." How shall we secure this? Some recipes for interest are familiar. There is the method of ill.u.s.tration; there is the method of anecdote: both excellent, and almost indispensable. Only, they are methods which have their risks, and must be used with care. Ill.u.s.trations are apt to overwhelm the thing ill.u.s.trated, the moment much detail is allowed; and they are apt to go on three feet, or even upon one, instead of upon four; and they may be drawn from quarters too remote to strike the hearers with effect.

Anecdotes have the same risks; and, besides, they need, if they are to be used aright, to be carefully sifted and verified. I say this not to disparage what in some preachers' hands is a most powerful and also a most delicate weapon; yet the caution is certainly needed, especially by younger men.

INTEREST OF EXPLANATION.

But the surest secrets of interesting preaching lie deeper than anecdote and ill.u.s.tration. One of them, a very simple one to state, is clearness of thought, and of the expression and explanation of thought. I entreat my Brother to be an _explanatory_ preacher, by which I mean, not that he should treat his _brethren_ as if they were his _children_ (unless indeed it is a children's sermon), but that he should handle familiar religious terms with the resolve to make them _live and speak_ to the ordinary hearer. Nothing is more opiate-like than a sentence which is unreal to the hearer because it is mere phraseology. Nothing can be made more interesting than familiar phraseology (supposing it to be true and important) so treated as to speak its meaning out fresh and living in modern ears.

INTEREST OF EXPOSITION.

Another deep and unfailing secret of interest, so that it be used intelligently and prayerfully, is close akin to this last. It lies in the right sort of _expository_ preaching. I have in my mind such exposition as will be found in Dr Vaughan's sermons on the Philippian Epistle. The charm and power of those sermons lie, I know, very much in the extraordinary excellence, the _curiosa simplicitas_, of their literary style, so unpretentious and so masterly. But it lies also in the fact that the preacher takes us over a familiar Scripture pa.s.sage, verse by verse, phrase by phrase, and translates it into the dialect of present circ.u.mstances. Let me heartily commend this sort of preaching from my own parochial experience in past days. In a congregation consisting chiefly of the poor, I found that the most intelligent and sustained interest was excited by a series of Sunday evening sermons on a selected chapter or paragraph, in which the aim was first to paraphrase the sacred phrases, as it were, into modern shapes, and then at the close to enforce some main message of the portion. The method is as old as the Homilies of Chrysostom, and older.

INTEREST OF PRACTICALITY.

Another secret of interest, permanent and effectual, is _practicality_ in preaching. I protest, whenever I can, and I hope to do so to the last, against the common but unhappy fallacy of an outcry against doctrine: "_Give us not a creed, but a life_." The whole New Testament, the whole Bible, protests against such a sentence. There, a divine creed is always seen as necessary for a divine life. Supernatural facts, livingly apprehended, are necessary for supernatural peace and power in this formidable natural world. But then, on the other side, it is a fallacy almost as fatal to preach the supernatural fact and truth without a constant and practical application of them to the crude and stern realities of life. A young pastoral preacher was once, in my hearing, warmly and lovingly thanked for his pulpit-work, on the eve of his quitting his Curacy; and the point on which his humble friends dwelt was that he had always preached Christ, _and_ always showed them how to make use of His presence and power in the actual circ.u.mstances of their lives. Eloquent words, aye and true words, spoken _in vacuo_, will be dull to most hearers; eternal truths laid alongside the weekday work and temptation will always be interesting.

"PREACH THE GOSPEL FULLY."

iv. "Preach the Gospel _fully_." Here is our great Nonconformist's last adverb, in his recipe for attractive preaching. Its point is not so obvious perhaps as that of the other words, but it is n.o.bly true. "The Gospel" is, as I have said, and as we know, nothing less than Jesus Christ the Lord, in His whole harmonious glory of Person, Work, and Word. It is deeply true that in that mighty and manifold theme there are points which must be always prominent and ruling; and most surely the man-humbling and soul-blessing truths of the Atoning Sacrifice are such points. "First of all" (we have recalled that all-significant sentence already), "first of all, Christ died for our sins." [1 Cor. xv. 3.] Alas for the Church, for the congregation, for the pulpit, where that is forgotten, obscured, or put into a secondary, or perhaps a tertiary place! One thing is certain; that pulpit cannot be bearing its right witness meanwhile to the "exceeding sinfulness" of sin--not merely the deformity of sin, but the awful evil and condemnable guilt of sin. [SN: Rom. vii. 13.] But then it is a thing to be regretted (and corrected) when the Pastor's preaching is _always and only_ concerned with the urgent need, and wonderful provision, for the pardon and acceptance of the believing sinner. I dare to say it is impossible that such preaching should be permanently, or even long, interesting and attractive, and this because of the nature of the case.

*PREACH PARDON, BUT MORE ALSO.

Man's fallen and sinful soul needs pardon unspeakably, and always, but it needs it as a means to an end; and that end is nearness to G.o.d, conformity to Him, power to do His blessed will as His servant for ever.

For this same great end the soul needs, even in the range of truths which are of the order of means, to learn more than the glorious _rudiments_ of forgiveness. It needs to know something of the heavenly Offices of the once Crucified One: His Mediation, Suretyship, and Intercession; His Priesthood; His Royalty; His Headship. In Him lie stored the divine treasures with which our _whole_ extent of need is to be met. And the preacher who would permanently attract his people, by bringing out of his storehouse things eternally old and new, must seek and pray to preach Christ fully.

CHRIST FOR US AND IN US.

To some devoted men it seems impossible not to be always preaching the glory of "Christ _for_ us"; others can never leave the precious theme of "Christ _in_ us." But if they are not missioners, but pastors, they will a.s.suredly find that a _permanent_ attraction can only be secured by doing what the Word of G.o.d does--setting forth _both_ glorious sets of truths in fulness, in harmony, and in application to the realities of sin and of life.

So we have thought awhile about attractive preaching. Need I say again what the sort of attractiveness is which I have in view? It is indeed, on the surface, attraction to the church, attraction to the sermon; but its whole inner purpose is an attraction which neither church nor sermon can in the least degree cause, but which the Eternal Spirit, sovereign and loving, can cause through them--an attraction to Jesus Christ, in true repentance, living faith, genuine surrender, and patient, happy service.

"_Ye servants of G.o.d, your Master proclaim, And publish abroad His wonderful Name; The Name all victorious of Jesus extol, His kingdom is glorious and rules over all._

"_Then let us adore and give Him His right, All glory and power, all wisdom and might, All honour and blessing with angels above, And thanks never ceasing, and infinite love._"

C. WESLEY.

CHAPTER XII.

_PREACHING_ (iii.).

_Eternal Fulness, overflow to me Till I, Thy vessel, overflow for Thee; For sure the streams that make Thy garden grow Are never fed but by an overflow: Not till Thy prophets with Thyself run o'er Are Israel's watercourses full once more._

Again I treat of the sermon. We have looked, my younger Brother and I, at some main secrets and prescriptions for attractive preaching. What shall I more say on the subject of the pulpit? In the first place I will offer a few miscellaneous suggestions, and then come in closing to the deepest theme of the whole matter--Spiritual Power in Preaching.

NOTES FOR A SERMON-LECTURE.

I address myself to write, soon after delivering to my students, in the library adjoining my study, a lecture on Preaching. Let me call it rather, a talk on Sermons, which is a term less grandiose and much more true; for in fact the discourse has been a most informal series of remarks and suggestions on topics suggested by a collection of sermons written for me, and which I now came to give back, annotated, to their writers. It occurs to me to offer my kind reader a written version of some of these remarks just made _viva voce_ to my friends. They happen to touch on a variety of points which are not unimportant in themselves and also typical of very many more.

For the purposes of the lecture, they have been divided between matters of form and matters of substance; and I report them, or rather some of them, in that order.

I. _Remarks on Diction, Style, etc._

(_a_) Take care to "pull the sentences together," to avoid loose and redundant phrases and words. Why write "_grief and sorrow_," "_fatigued and tired out_," "_attacks and a.s.saults_"? A subtle intellect may see distinctions here, but it is too much for me, and, I am sure, for most plain people in church.

(_b_) Respect the Queen's English. "_The one_ who lives a Christian life" is scarcely English; say "the man," not "the one." "_Like_ Adam and Eve walked in Paradise"! This is a serious, though common, piece of bad grammar. Say, "_Like Adam_, when he walked," but "_As_ Adam _walked_."

(_c_) Remember that the genius of English eschews a large use of _connecting words_, particularly in spoken discourse. Not often is a sentence the better for an "_and_" at the beginning. Many a "_therefore_" and "_because_" are well away, if you would speak with freedom and vigour.

AVOID RHETORICAL DICTION.