THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
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seen a brass-bound clock upon th e sta ir case landing, w ith th e hands fixed at the m inute and hour when Washington died. The g rand fath er of th e present owner was a pall-bearer a t th e funeral of th e g reat republican* and set th e hands where they have ever since re mained. Even so th e preacher’s finger must ever point th e m ultitude to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Self Exaltation Prof. Phelps once said— “ In sacred discourse, th e relation which a preacher sustains to his audi ence almost entirely forbids th e use of personal introductions. The preacher stands in the pulpit not to defend him self. He stands th ere as an ambassador, of God, commissioned to proclaim sub lime and awful tru th s— tru th s in whose presence a regard for his own rep u ta tion ought wholly to disappear. He should not concern himself, nor appear solicitous about th e opinions which others may have of him, bu t should be so in te n t on fulfilling his mission as to lose all though t of self. But if, a t any time, a preacher’s repu tation would seem to call for a personal introduc tio n into the sermon, it is quite time for him to consider w hether th e cause of Christ would not be promoted by his perm anent retirem en t from th e pulpit.” T ry This on Your Sermon Scotland has produced many g reat preachers, bu t in th e estim ation of many, none g reater th an Dr. Thomas Guthrie, of Edinburgh. In one th ing he excelled; th e arresting the attention of his hearers, and holding it un til he would get through his quite lengthy dis courses. God cast his lot in th e no rth ern p a rt of Scotland, and he had th ere a Sabbath afternoon class. P a rt of the exercises of th is class was to rep eat as much as each one could of th e sermon of th e morning. To th e amazement of th e preacher, and somewhat also to his reg ret, he discovered th a t those pas
sages of his sermon which he, in his ignorance, though t th e most telling and th e most likely to be remembered, were not brought up a t all; but th is and th a t illu stration , and th e tru th s connected w ith them , were repeated. So g ath er ing wisdom from th e discovery, he be gan to try to make all his sermons con sist of such things as the congregation remembered, un til a t length they came to remember the sermon from the be ginning to the end. SERMON WINDOWS The A fterward “Nevertheless afterw ard” ; (Heb 12- 11 ). They tell us th a t the springs a t the base of- the Alpine mountains are full- *est and freshest when the summer sun has dried and parched the verdure in the valleys below. The h eat th a t has burned the arid plains has melted the mountain glacier and snow, and in creased th e volume of the mountain stream s, whose onward flow enriches the valley below. Rain, rain, Beating against th e pane! How endlessly it pours Out of doors From th e blackened sky— I wonder why!
Flowers, flowers, Upspringing afte r showers Blossoming fresh and fair, Everywhere! Ah, God has explained Why it rained!
You can always count on God to make the. “ afterw ard” of difficulties, if righ tly overcome, a thousand times richer and fairer th a n the foreward. “No chastening . . . seemeth joy ous, . . . nevertheless afterw ard . . .” W hat a yield!
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