T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S PULPIT POINTERS T hink About This Unless God h as first spoken to a man it is vain fo r a m an to attem p t to speak fo r God.— Jam es Stalker. P ra y Audibly— But— One day a little girl, about'five years old, heard a ran tin g preacher praying most lustily, till the roof rang w ith the streng th of his supplication. Turning to her mother, and beckoning th e ma ternal ‘ear down to a, speaking-placej she whispered: “Mother, don’t you th ink th a t if he lived n earer to God he wouldn’t have to ta lk so loud?” > Poverty of Thought When illu stration s will help to make your argum ent more simple, they are to be used w ith discretion; bu t when they are employed purely for th e sake of the stories of which they consist, and to hide the poverty of the thought, they are a snare to the p reach er and an of fense to the h e a re r.- W. M. Taylor. The P reach er’s Success H - “B rethren, pray for us.” P au l m akes th is request seven times in his epistles. He knew th a t the success of th e minis te r depended largely on the prayers of God’s people. Some congregations seem to be pervaded largely by a heavenly atmosphere. You feel its hallowed in fluence th e moment you en ter th e house. It m atters not how rich may be the tones of a bell; if it. be stru ck in vacuo or under w ater, you get no sound or only a heavy thud ; strik e it in the air and how mellow its notes ring out. So w ith preaching in or out of th e atmos phere of devotion. A praying people make a strong pulpit. A P aul may plant and an Apollos may w ater, bu t it is God who gives the increase, and He gives it only in answer to prayer. Sermonizing in th e Clouds One would imagine th a t some minis-
157 ters supposed themselves to be called of God to make as many mysteries as pos sible. I have no doubt th a t it is quite w ithin the range of th e power of ec centric genius to tu rn the multiplication table itself into a metaphysical jungle, .and to show by an endless use of unin telligible words how dangerous a thing it is to risk anything upon the seduc tive bu t malign proposition th a t two and two áre four. Do you know how exciting it is to live next door to a young analytical chemist and candidate for membership in a microscopic so ciety? It is a serious trial. His calls are alarm ing visitations. He has ju st discovered th a t in the. household w ater th ere is something like .09 per cent of lead; he has looked at th e household bread th rough a microscope, and he simply forbears to sta te what he has seen. A ltogether you feel, when he has gone, th a t he has made a considerable subtraction from your comfort, and sent a general uneasiness through the family. It is much the same, w ith more serious results, in hearing Unprofitable controversy in the pulpit. When it is all over, you have a confused* impres sion th a t you have been somewhere up in the clouds, th a t you have heard words which, though it is quite lawful, it is impossible to repeat; you have, too, a feeling th a t th e less you have to do w ith religion the better, th a t to believe is to be mad, and to deny it is to oc cupy an exciting position somewhere be tween respectability and wickedness. Against such preaching I protest. It is trifling w ith human life. I t grieves the Spirit of God.— Dr. P arker. ¿>¡4 m m NEW TESTAMENT PROPHECY The Second Coming of Christ is the great and indeed th e only prophecy of the New Testament.— Dr. N athaniel West.
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker