724
November 1927
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
*— —------------------------- :---------------- * POINTERS FO R PREACHERS #■— ------------ ----- --------------------- — -------4 Preaching is a divinely solemn business. When Summerfield was dying he said, “Oh, if I could only return to my pulpit now for one hour, how I could preach, for I have been looking into eternity.” — -o —• Dr. Lawrence Bates, once said from the pulpit of a church, “The plot of ground in front of this church reminds me of a ragged negro who hadn’t combed' his hair.” It produced results. Grass was planted, and the front of the church was much improved. — o — “I wish my preacher would stop play ing the martyr,” says a layman. “I know the work of a minister is difficult. So is mine. It has long drags, and heartaches in it. But why make a parade of it? Let him step up and take his medicine like a little man. He was not forced to choose that calling. There were plenty of others. Let him remember also that not only is the exit door unlocked, but that it is wide open. If he felt the call of God sufficiently in the beginning of his minis try, then he should take what that calling brings. Jesus did and His life had a cross in it:” — o — Spurgeon when near the end said, “All my theology may be summed up in four little words: ‘Jesus died for me’;” and Dr. Denny, that great writer on the Atonement, says: “Not Bethlehem, but Calvary is the great center of gravity in the New Testament.” It is at Calvary we see the tragedy of the ages. It is at Calvary we see the sacrifice Jesus made for a world of sinners lost. Dr. Cuyler said something strong in the words: ■“I am sick of all this talk of advanced thought in religion. Wh e n thought advances beyond the cross of Calvary it goes over the precipice.” —o— Here is the lesson one preacher has learned by listening to the radio: “I have heard so much careless talking and careless preparation over the radio that I have resolved never again to go into a pulpit or to a public address without care fully and prayerfully getting ready for that event. If it is worth doing, it is worth doing to the best of one’s ability.” — o — An exchange has the following story: A minister preached on 1 Cor. 13 :1. The reporter for the daily paper, strangely enough, got it right, but the linotype operator, in setting ■ the word “charity,” made the mistake of using an “ 1 ” instead of an “h,” and the proofreader overlooked it. So the minister was reported in the morning paper as having preached from the following text:. “Though I s p e a k with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not clarity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” Commenting on the story the editor says: “As it appears in print it was not New Testament truth, but it was truth, never theless. The people want the preacher to be luminous rather than voluminous, and the preacher who is without clarity will soon be without a congregation.” —o— Bruce Barton is right when he says some churches should learn honesty from business firms. “When the directors of
V-------------------------- -------------- --- ---___ ^ P ep tim ists “The Rotarian” tells of a new species of human being s' that has been discovered, known as “Pep-ti-mists.” From the de scription we would say 'that these are the very folks we need in the church today: A Pessimist" closes an eye, wrinkles his face, draws up the corner of his' mouth, and says, "It can’t be done.” An optimist has a face full of sunshine. He beams oh you and says, “It can be done”—and then lets George do it. But a "pep-ti-mist” takes off his hat, rolls up his sleeves, goes to it, and does it. the largest business of its kind in the world came into control, the concern had on its balance sheet tremendous inven tories of raw materials which were car ried at cost, though the current market was much iower ; it had a number of plants built to manufacture products that had proved unprofitable or unsuitable for the line. In the firs't year of its new management that great company wrote off its books more than 38 million dollars. The result was no dividends for that year. I asked one of the directors why it wouldn’t have been wiser to spread the write-off over a longer period. His an swer was. emphatic. “We wanted to clear away everything about which there could be any possible doubt. Then we knew that what was left was solid, and on that we could begin to build.” That is the habit of sound business. It is not the habit of the church. There is hardly a church-membership roll that does not carry as active members a large percent age of people who are no longer active. Yet their names swell the misleading totals which give the impression that the church is gaining, when one has only to drop into a Sunday morning service to learn the contrary. —o— God regardeth not the sum of our toils, but the sum of our love and humility. ■—°T Don’t pray for, tasks equal to your powers but powers equal to your tasks.
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