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THE KING’ S BUSINESS
subjects. It would be better to preach about the Christ who wore the crown of thorns; the, Resurrection, o f which the folded napkin was but an incident; the Judge who sits upon 'the throne. The sculptors o f Greece, famous in history, did not spend their time carving cherry stones; they carved Minervas, Apollos, and Jupi- ters. Preach on the great doctrines, the fundamentals, the stupendous truths o f the Bible and our redemption. As some one has said, it is not necessary to expend con secrated energy in Striking gnats with a club o f Hercules. 4 . Have a Definite Aim in the Treatment o f Your Theme. Do not go into the pulpit simply because it is Sunday and you are expected to deliver a message. It is not so much the question o f preaching something, as preaching with a definite end and aim in view. Preach so that if anyone were to stop you in the midst o f your preaching and ask you what you were aiming at, you could give a defi nite answer. Aim to hit something. Do not ramble here and there. Have a mark; aim at it; hit it; stop and see where the shot struck, and then fire another shot straight from the shoulder. Letters not addressed, or addressed wrongly, are sent to the dead-letter office: they are o f no use to anybody. Preach for conversions, for decisions. There is too much general ized preaching nowadays—in fact, there always has been since apostolic times. A young preacher once expressed his sorrow to Mr. Sprugeon that there had been so few conversions under his preaching. “Why,” said Mr. Spurgeon, “you don’t expect conversions to follow every sermon, do you?” “ Oh, no, o f course not,” the young man replied. “Then you certainly won’t have them,” responded Mr. Spur geon. One minister said to another o f a newly settled metropolitan pastor, “ They say he actually expects conversions at the morning service!” How would it do if this winter every evangelist and pastor were to “ expect conversions in the morn ing,” and preach with that end in view?
to young preachers: the older ones do not need it, they know it- from experience, and ofttimes bitter experience at that. A Be Sure Y o w Theme is One That the People You Preach to Can Readily Understand. Do not preach -over people’s heads. Remember that they dp not live in the same kind o f atmosphere that the preacher does throughout the' week. What is very commonplace to him, may be quite strange to them. Hence it is not prudent to dis cuss - from the pulpit the authorship o f the Pentateuch, or whether one or two authors wrote Isaiah. The average audi ence is not at all interested in the discus sion o f such questipns. The people are soul-hungry; they want bread and not stones. How disinterested the average audience is in such themes may be seen by watching their faces. How bored they look when such abstract subj ects are discussed! How bright and interested whén the appeal is made to something that will help them in their évery-day life! It is not intended by these remarks that one must never preach on a theme unless the audience is familiar with it. The preacher is an educator, and as such there aré times when he will find it necessary to deal with a theme which may be new and strange to the hearers. But even in such cases let the arguments, illustrations, and analogies be such as the congregation may reasonably be expected to understand. 3 . Do Not Let Your Theme Be a Trivial One. Usually one has but two sermons a week to preach, therefore, choose a theme that has weight and dignity. Read the head lines in the daily papers and learn a lesson from them in this direction. Sermons have been preached on such themes as “ The Crown o f Thorns,” “The Folded Napkin,” “ The Rairibow About the Throne,” details which *rio doubt are interesting in them selves, but which are not in themselves big enough to constitute a sermon. These things make nice scenery, but very small
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