299
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
May 1928
- The Presbyterian Banner prints the fol lowing, which will undoubtedly draw forth an “Amen” from many of our min isterial readers: Call me Brother, if you will. " Call me Parson, better still. Or if, perchance, the Catholic frill Doth your heart with longing fill— Though plain Mister fills the bill, If that title lackefh thrill, Then even Father brings no chill O f hurt or rancor or ill will. To no D.D. do I pretend, Though Doctor doth some honor lend. Preacher, Pastor, Rector, Friend, Titles, almost without end, Never grate and ne’er offend; A loving ear to all I bend. But bow the man my heart doth rend Wbo blithely calls me Reverend!
learners, uniformly rendered disciples, in our versions, occurring 267 times. The word ‘brethren’ is next, occurring 262 times, and the next in frequency is ‘saints.’ The word ‘Christians’ only occurs three- times in the New Testament.” It seems quite evident that teaching is an indispens able part of the Gospel and its propaga tion. — o — .“Almost as much of the helpful Char acter of the service depends upon the or ganist as upon the preacher,” says a writer in a Methodist periodical. Wesley himself was tried almost beyond endurance: by the music at some of the chapels he visited. At one place the inferior and dilapidated organ got on his nerves to such an extent that, after the first verse of the hymn, un able to bear the noise,, he exclaimed, “ Let that organ stop, and let the women take their parts.’’ :' The choirmaster Ventured to interject, “ They cannot sing, sir, with out the organ.” The appeal was vain. Wesley was not a man to be trifled with. “How did they do before they got one?” he asked sternly.
A little story—this from a bishop. An old Scotchwoman to her neighbor who had just come home from the kirk: “Mon, is the sermon doon?” “Woman, the ser mon is preached but it’s no’ doon.” —o— Says The Methodist Review. “Doubtless sermons may be too long. Yet there is something silly about ser- monettes, They will soon turn the House o f God into a churchette; filled with no body but Christianettes. May the Lord deliver us from those gentle ushers who are mere preacherettes.” f I Dr. James I. Vance says: “ The preacher should respect his pul pit. I t . is where he stands to speak to God, where God authenticates His servant., It is the place where heaiven and earth meet. It should be entered reverently, but not with 'ostentatious devotion. It is no place for a mountebank, an actor, or even an entertainer. It is at home only to an ambassador o f the most high God.” “Undoubtedly the grace and dignity of the Christian pulpitrwould be considerably increased if the ministers’ wives could be induced to take their needles and thread before next Sunday and sew up firmly and tightly the pockets in every pair of ministerial trousers throughput the coun try. 'There are few things more grotesque and awkward than the sight of a well- dressed, Well-set-up Speaker at the very beginning ¡of his address or sermon ram ming his fists. down, into his trousers pockets and keeping them there during a considerable 1 part o f 1 the time he is speaking.” : Church Management tells the following on Pat and Mike, who went to church: “ Pat inquired, ‘What’s the preacher sob bing about!’ Mike replied, ‘If you did not have any more to say than he has, you would be crying tool’ When a minister finds that he cannot stir people by his rea soning, he ’is tempted to resort to an emo tional appeal. Because it works once or twice he thinks that it will work all the time .1 Ultimately the genuineness goes out o f it, and he becomes a joke.” - -o— _ The following strong words came from Dr. Newton W r a y ; “ It is the truth preached with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven that dem onstrates the reality of a preacher’s com mission and becomes a, saving force in the world. A ministry without the Spirit- of God is worse than a failure, for it creates a false impression of the Gospel and con firms men in sin. To think o f convicting them of sin by the 'mere utterance of words would be like shooting peas at Gibraltar.” ■ — o — “A glance at the sermons of inspired men, as given in the Acts of the Apostles, will show how unlike they are to most of the sermons of our day, for they consist rather o f teaching than preaching.” A writer, in The Friends’ Witness, said: “ The name given to the followers of Christ most frequentlyin the New Testa ment, unquestionably their most proper and characteristic name, is ‘mathaytahee,’ The; following suggestion comes from The Watchman Examiner :
Prayer is the breath of a newborn soul, and there can be no Christian life without itlS-Rowland Hill.
Gilliams Service WHERE ONE OF THE EARLIEST CHRISTIAN MARTYRS DIED. s t . S t e p h e n ’ s g a te , in P a l e s t in e , w h ic h is . su ppo se d to MARK THE SPOT ON WHICH STEPHEN WAS STONED TO DEATH BY ANGRY JEWS WHO OBJECTED TO HIS PREACHING. THE GATE WAS BUILT BY THE CRUSADERS AND STILL RE MAINS INTACT, THOUGH MOST OF THE ADJACENT WALL HAS FALLEN.
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