470
THE KING’S BUSINESS
preach just to preach, as the old countryman admitted, “Just to fill our app’intments.” When the preach er’s place is carried on in a perfunc tory, professional way, and when he goes like a galley slave to his task, and when he is rapturous with delight when he finishes his task, he is al ready shorn of his power. The pulpit is to have in it those mighty tides of passion; and if we find ourselves wanting in passion, if we fyid our selves bound about with the clothes of formalism and professionalism, we are to fight with all diligence, we are to pray with prayers unutterable in their desire, that we may come back with the freshness of men who have seen the King, and then come to tell men what we have seen and felt and heard. We must come with our mes sages to preach to men. CIVILIZATION’S BANE. Another thing we must watch against is the love of ease. The bane of religion is the }pve of ease; the bane of civilization is the love of ease; the nation is even now plung ing on the rocks if its supreme con cern is to be at ease, and the church is but a grinning skeleton if her dom inant thought Ts the love of ease. And the preacher is a snickering ca terer to the crowd, and is not a prophet of God, if he loves ease. I had a letter once from a man who said, “I want you to help me get an easy job. I have had a hard job, now I want an easy job.” Do you know what I wrote back to him ? I wrote back, “If I were you, I would give up the Christian ministry or change my motives.” God’s prophets looking for ease! Look in this Book Divine and see there the men who wrote their deepest selves, their life blood in the social order. Not a man of them was out for ease. “I count not my life 3ear unto myself,” said Paul, “if I can do the things He asks
of me to do.” A good soldier of Jesus Christ endures hardships. Thè preacher is going on the rocks if he is affected with the idea that the great thing in the ministry is some soft snap, some easy job. I don’t think many ministers have that con ception. I know the preachers of this country; they are the dearest crowd of men beneath these stars, and it stirs all my soul that there are such men, and such men of God. MUST BE GENUINE. And all along the line the preacher has to watch as to his spirit. I have already said the supreme thing about us is our Spirit, that all along we should watch our spirit; we impart ourselves. O, what need for us to be transparent as the sunlight, honest as truth itself, genuine to the Gore, for we impart ourselves. We impart our selves! Our spirit—what a differ ence in the spirit of men! Think of old Caleb. Old Caleb had a differ ent spirit. They went out to look at the land of promise; they came back saying, “We are as grasshoppers in their sight.” Old Caleb said, “They are giants and we are as grasshop pers, but we are able to overcome.” Caleb won at the age of eighty and five years because he had another spirit from the other men. O, our spirit, brothers; let’s not mistake hys terics for piety. Now that is pretty easy. Let us not mistake hysterics for piety; let us not imagine we are especially pious because we are emo tional. Let us not be blubberers; let us not be whiners ; let us not be sniv ellers. Let us meet our task without any impatience or murmuring. Let us not tease the people to death with 'Jeremiahs ; let’s paint golden mor rows because .ours is a great God, ours is a great God, and we have a message of reinforcement superhu man, and let us worthily illustrate it in voice and life.
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker