September 1927
568
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
the singing goes on, with the arrange ment of their notices or looking over their sermons, or still worse, it may be, hy whispering to some other clergyman in the pulpit. Unless under strict necessity in the time of singing, do nothing of that sort which you would not do while listening to prayer. Many of our hymns are prayers. Take your book, and sing with the people. If you cannot sing, join in heart at least with those who can. Says The Watchman-Examiner, “This is what a good woman wrote to a min ister’s wife: “I wish you were here to give some hint to our pastor that he needs to get his clothes pressed, and put on a clean collar, and several other things that we can’t say out loud. He is a good man, and can preach very good sermons; but ~:'l And his wife is much the same.” An able preacher may make his people ashamed of him because of his slovenly and untidy appearance. He is discount ing his work, handicapping his influence, -and lessening the appeal nnd power of the Gospel in the community by habits for which there is no possible excuse or palliation. A minister must first of all be a gentleman, and soiled linen, dirty hands, grimy nails, and spotted and rumpled clothes are not the marks of a gentleman. It may not always be possible for him to be well dressed, but it will always be possible for him to be clean. Soap and water are cheap, and neatness in dress and person will cover a multitude of de fects. Cleanliness is not only next to godliness, as John Wesley said, but it is a good recommendation for- godliness, particularly when it is characteristic of a minister of the Gospel.
work. It vitally affects all his contacts with the community. It has much to do with his outlook on life. It powerfully affects his theological views, and deter mines to an extent the character,of his message. This is not saying that a lame body may not become the King’s messen ger. Paul had a thorn in the flesh, what ever it was, and often some shut-in, through holy intercessions, rules the world from a bed of invalidism, and by the sheer glory of spiritual contact shapes the coming kingdom.” — o — A clergyman was having dinner with a parishioner preceding the afternoon ser vice. He ate very, sparingly, explaining that he must not eat too hearty a meal before preaching if he was to do him self justice in the pulpit. The housewife was unable to attend the service, so when her husband returned she inquired, “And how was he?” “Oh, well,” he replied, wearily, “he might as well have et.” “A thoroughly good illustration of your main theme is a capital way to finish a sermon,” says an exchange. “It must not be a mere anecdote or pretty story, but the very best illustration of- your topic, forcible and obvious in its teaching. Sometimes finish unexpectedly; Indeed, let the unexpected often occur in your speaking. Do not finish how and when your audience thinks you will. Most of all, be unexpectedly full of the Holy Ghost in your closing. — o — The Expositor advises ministers to treat the service of song as the serious act of worship that it is. Ministers sometimes desecrate it, and, by their example, lead their people to desecrate it. They busy themselves, while
dominate. It is well to recognize this trait when we see it cropping up in our selves. It is what has made the mon archies of history. If you wish, there fore, that one should be drawn toward you, see to it that your constant desire is not to dictate, but, as far as possible, to serve. A man who has been in intimate con tact with ministers and churches for more than a full generation, asserts that the function of the ordinary minister has changed. He said recently: “Many of our ministers do not read or think as much as they ought to do. The people always used to speak of the pastor’s study; now they almost invariably speak of the pas tor’s office. Dr. James Moffat, on his re turn to England, said, among other things concerning the ministers in America: “Ministers have few studies, and their libraries are distressingly thin, but they all seem to have motor cars.” The following is most significant be cause taken from The London Times'. “It is to be feared that modern preach ing fails to give that primacy to the Cross which it has in the New Testament, and has had in every time of revival in Chris tendom. The Christian teacher today has become too self-conscious or too much occupied with presenting his message in terms which will placate men’s prejudices or comply with their theories. This is not the apostolic method. The Cross must be held up before all men. It must be set up that all may see it. The vigor of Christianity depends on its bold presenta tion to the world.” : —o— “Physical fitness,” says Dr. Vance, “re acts on the preacher’s ability to do his
“who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through JeSus Christ our Lord.” — o — Mezentius S in , the Cruel Hearted T he R epulsiveness of Rom. 7 :24; Isa. 1:6 ; Rom. 7 :13; Rom. 7 :8. Aeneas, having safely arrived upon the shores of Hesperia, was directed in a dream, as he lay sleeping on the bank of the river Tiber, to ascend the stream in search of allies for the pending battle with the Latins. He came to the place where Evander, the aged, exiled king of the Arcadians, dwelt, and by him was told of the Etruscans, a rich and mighty people who held the country beyond the river, and in whom Aeneas would find his most powerful ally. The king of these Etruscans, Mez entius by name, had been driven out by his own people because of his detestable cruelty. Mezentius was a stranger to mercy, and no torture which his cruel heart could invent was too hor rible to gratify his vengeance. One of his methods of punish ment was to fasten the living to the dead, hand to hand, face to face and lip to lip, and thus, leave the wretched victim to die in this terrible and disgusting embrace. Virgil gives an inter esting account of this horrible practice in his Aeneid, and by many it is thought that here Paul got his figure of speech when he cried, “O wretched man that I am I who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Whether this be so or not, what a striking illustration it is of the thing Paul had in mind. He was crying for deliverance from sin, from the impure and unholy passions and appetities which use this body with its weakness and its lust as the instrument of their activity and so bring us under the power of death. And what a picture it is of the real nature of sin, foul, offensive and polluting, It may not appear so at first to the sinner who loves his sin; but to the one who has found the way and experienced the delights of a holy life in Christ, the cry of Paul comes with telling significance. And if sin can thus appear to a mortal like Paul and like you and me, how must it appear in the eyes of Him in whose sight the very heavens are unclean and whose angels He has charged with folly I
Dr. W. E. Biederwolfs Illustrated Texts For Preachers
The Poisoned Kobe
S in , O vercoming W ages of
Heb. 12 :1; Rom. 8:2; Rom. 7 :2; Rom. 7 :23. “Wherefore,” says the writer of Hebrews, “let us lay aside the sin that so easily besets us.” But this is never an easy thing to do. That sin is like the poisoned robe that Dejanira sent to Hercules. Nessus, the Centaur, had attempted to steal Dejanira, the wife of Hercules, away from him, whereupon an arrow from the bow of Hercules pierced his heart. Dejanira, at the request of the dying Centaur, took a portion of his blood, which she was informed could be used as a charm to preserve her hus band’s love. She later became jealous of Iole, a captive maiden, and steeping a robe in the blood of Nessus, she gave it to Her cules by the hand of Lichas. Hercules put it on, and as soon as it became warm the poison entered his flesh. In his frenzy he seized the man who had brought it to him and threw him into the sea, and then tried to tear the fatal garment off; but it stuck to his flesh and tore away huge pieces from his body, and strong man that he was he had to die. Where is the man who has known nothing of the law in his members warring against the law that makes for righteousness, that law which assails us at our weakest point, and when we would do good, comes with all its desperate and deadly temptation and sweeps us away in the fierce storm of our unrestrained passion? Many a man strong in a hundred other ways, loses ,thus the one decisive battle that would have redeemed his whole life. But there is victory. Her cules had to die, but “O wretched man that I am !” says Paul,
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