T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S Over Us—“Let thy mercies, O Lord, be upon us.” Psa. 33:22.—C. E. Paxson. 5.
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Empty Preaching The Archbishop of Canterbury said one day to Garrick, “Pray inform me how it is that you gentlemen of the stage can affect your auditory with things imaginary as if they were real, while we of the church speak of things real, which many of our congregation receive as things imaginary.” “Why,” replied Garrick, “the reason is plain. We actors speak of things imaginary as if they were real; .while too many in the pulpit speak of things real as if they were imaginary.” Preach Jesus, or Don’t Preach Oh, brother preacher, put your ear close to the world’s great big heart! It murmurs and sighs like a tired and restless sea. It is a weary world and longs for rest. Quit piddling with things that, in view of eternal things and the ages to come, are -but stones that jeer and mock, the famished soul. Preach Jesus! The name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease. Tell them He breaks the power of can celled sin. He sets the prisoner free. They can understand a message like that. Preach Jesus! For when He speaks new life the dead receives; and, listening to the music of His voice, the mournful, broken hearts rejoice. Let us get back to the Christ of the Ages——back to the very shadow of the Cross. Back to Calvary—the world’s final hope; that’s the supreme call of the hour! No man can have evangelis tic success who fails to preach redemp tion through atoning blood.—J. N. Nichols. NO FOOLS IN HEAVEN The wife of the Welsh minister, John Evans, asked her husband, “Do you think we shall be known ,to each other, in heaven?” He replied, “To be sure we shall: do you think we shall be greater fools there than we are here?”
PREACHING HINTS Preaching That Convicts
~ “What sort of a sermon do you like?” said Dr. Rush to Robert Morris, one day. “I like, sir,” replied Mr. Mor ris, “that kind of preaching which drives a man into the corner of his pew, and makes him think the Devil is after him.” Doctrinal Preaching Necessary Bishop Brooks in his Yale lectures on preaching says, “The. truth is, no preaching ever had any strong power that was not the preaching of doctrine. The preachers that have moved and held men have always preached doc trine. No exhortation to a good life that does not put behind it some truth as deep as eternity can seize and hold the conscience. Preach docftrine, preach it always, that men may be saved by believing it. So men shall re joice in it and not decry it, and feed on it as on the bread of life, solid and sweet.” A great preacher’s testimony. Simplicity in Preaching An old lady once walked a great way to hear the celebrated Adam Clarke preach. She had heard he was “such a scholar!” as indeed he was. But she was bitterly disappointed, “because,” she said, “I understood every thing he said.” Many in our day would be agreeably surprised should they hear a preacher who preaches with simplicity on-vital themes. Bernard, preaching one day very scholastically, noticed that the learned thanked him, but not the godly. The next day hel preached plain ly: the good people came blessing God for him, and gave him many thanks; which some scholars wondered. at. “Ah!” said he: “yesterday I preached Bernard; but today.I preached Christ.”
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