THE KING’S BtTSINESS
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My Kind of a Preacher I desire my minister to preach every Sun day the simple Gospel. The “old, old story” never wearies the average congregation, if it comes from a devout mind, with prepara tion in the message. My ideal sermon is one which has an appeal to the unconverted and a spiritual uplift for the Christian. I want my minister to be abreast of the times on all- new theological questions and re search, but I do not want him to bring them into the pulpit. I have formed certain fixed views of Christ, his Gospel, and the inspiration of the Bible from a careful reading of that Book of books and of the shorter catechism, and it will not make me a better Christian or profit my spiritual life to unsettle these views by a discussion in the pulpit of new theories of Christ and the Holy Scriptures. Finally, I want my minister to act upon the belief that Christ's Gospel is the surest cure of all social and political evils, and that his best method of promoting temperance, social morality and good citizenship, is to bring men into the church. .In a word, I want my minister to emphasize -in his life work the declaration of the most successful preacher, Paul. “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”— William J. Bryan. Goldsmith’s Preacher Unpracticed he to fawn, or seek for power, By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour, For other aims his heart had learned to prize, More skilled to raise the wretched than to rise. And in his duty prompt at every call, He watched, and wept, and prayed, and felt for all; And as a bird each fond endearment tries To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies, He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way. Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray.— Oliver Goldsmith.
provision which God made afforded protec tion for all who were obedient to His command. The method was simple, the means at hand, once the fact of the com ing judgment and the way of escape were made known. Those who fell under the weight of Divine wrath were without ex cuse. The Lamb without blemish and without spot was foreordained before the founda tion of the world. When sin came in by reason of Adam’s transgression, the blood of the Lamb was immediately seen in type in the provision which God made for the clothing of the guilty pair. The doctrine of the blood does not appeal to the esthetic taste of the flesh, but blood and only blood can satisfy the demands of God’s justice and meet the need of guilty sinners. God said, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” The blood is for His eye. When God sees the blood of Christ He does not see our sins. When we by faith put the blood upon the door of our heart God sees and is satisfied. A lamb, no" matter how pure and spotless, tied to the door of an Israelite home would be of no avail to stay the judgment of God, neither could the spotless, matchless life of Christ as an example atone for sin. It was that life poured out in the drops of red blood which sprinkled the cross upon which He died that met all our. need. Neither is it our appreciation of the value of that blood that satisfies God, but the blood itself. Our faith in the Word of God concerning the blood of His Son and our acceptance of Him as*God’s Lamb slain in our behalf af fords us shelter from wrath arid gives us the desired peace and joy, in the midst of a wrath deserving-world. Life More Abundant. “Draw the lines a little tighter, Spirit mine! Make the life a little ¡brighter, Spirit mine! For the truth’s sake be a fighter, Show the world life may be whiter, Purer, stronger, dearer, lighter, More divine.” \
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