THE K I N G ' S BUS I NE S S Rimini.................. ....... Pulpit Pointers PREACHING WITHOUT PASSION By Dr. J. Stuart Holden GREAT deal of modern preaching fails of all spiritual result because it is passion less. Hundreds of men in the pulpits of our land preach, and preach well, but nothing happens; and in view of the seriousness of the re ligious and moral situation everywhere evident, we are constrained to ask, Why? Many reasons might be adduced with more or less justification. The chief of them all is the lack of Evan gelical passion. For it is all-inclusive. The preacher who lacks it is altogether out of place in a Christian pulpit. The congregations who suffer it are to be pitied for the wrong done to them and to their children. The Church which loves to have it so is in peril of having its candlestick removed from its place. I. How seldom in sermons today is the note of urgency heard! Even where the truth of the Gospel is the subject matter, it is often declared in such a way as to savor of death rather than of life. It is presented as a noble phil osophy, a flawless argument, an over towering ethic, and as such it may move men’s minds to some slight measure of interest. The greater number of its hearers it leaves unmo/ed. They are conscious of no moral demand for re pentance and of no imperative call to faith. By no means hostile— for, in deed, the ordinary preaching is not calculated to arouse hostility— they are simply indifferent t o . a matter which, as presented to them, is more or less negligible. Not so is it with the clamorous call
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missionaries under the denominational boards who are denying the faith: Nevertheless the letters from loyal miS-! sionaries on the field pour in to us, quoting the liberal statements made by some .of these new missionaries. A let ter from South America says: “ One of the shocking things on the mission field is the unorthodoxy of some of the men sent out by the home boards. I heard one of these say, ‘I hate this bloody religion,’ and he went on to shamefully ridicule an old missionary who had preached on ‘Without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin.’ He says ‘the new birth’ is a farce. It is a shame and disgrace to send out such men.” Another letter before us reports that, following the example of the orthoaox. missionaries of China who organized the Bible Union of China to combat the higher critics, the missionaries of India have now or ganized the Bible League of India). Many missionaries of India have al ready joined the movement. The following is from the Literary Digest of Dec. 3rd: “ A London alien ist of repute boldly expresses his belief that certain cases of acute mania are due to diabolical influence or posses sion. Recently Dr. Montague Lomax told a London conference that he had been consulted by a woman who, if not the victim of some obsessing dis- carnate entity, baffled all medical ex planation. ‘This is pot a fashionable belief among men of science and psy chologists today,’ he admitted. ' ‘Even some clergymen, I am told, no longer believe in demoniacal possession and regard Christ and His early followers as victims of delusion in this matter, a delusion which modern science has outgrown. None the less, I hold it firmly.’ These are significant words coming from a man of wide medical ex perience.” You may have but a SMALL AMOUNT j § to give to God, but you CAN BE SURE that § 1 it will be used to His glory, if you will read I I carefully the inside of back cover. You can INVEST In an ANNUITYwhich | | will be SAFE-GUARDED forever. How? § I Read carefully the Inside of back cover. giiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniuiiiiiiHNiiiiiiintiiiuiiii|iiiiiiiiiiiingiiiiiiiiiiiiiiNiiiiniHjiii|iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii]iii£ |
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