December 1928
739
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personality; but he has in equal measure a grasp of the Truth—God’s Truth as embodied in the Scriptures. To ‘let the Word of God shine in its own revealing light/ as an admirer has expressed it, is his supreme aim in life, and magnificently is he fulfilling that mission.” R eview and A ppreciation In a subsequent issue of the same paper appears an editorial “review and appreciation” of Dr. Morgan’s three months’ work in London and the provinces. We would that space permitted the full reproduction of this article, but we can only quote briefly: “At the end of May a Harley Street specialist was discussing with me in his consulting room the prospective visit of Dr. Campbell Morgan. “ ‘What is it,’ he queried, ‘draws a crowd to hear one man preach? At a certain church I go to, unless I get there before seven o’clock, I have to stand. What brings the people?’ And then he answered his own question. ‘I ’ll tell you what it is,’ he said; ‘it is this. Whenever a man preaches the Bible as if he believed it, the people will always flock to hear him.’ “That has been proved unquestionably true during the three months that Dr. Morgan has been ministering again in his former pastorate at Westminster Chapel. From June 17 until his concluding service on Sunday evening last, the church has been crowded out, and in addition to the 3,000 people who have heard him there, the school halls behind were ultimately called into use and the ser vices transmitted. The same has been true at the Bible lectures given there on twelve Friday nights. Similar scenes have been witnessed at Cannon Street Hotel, where on twelve Fridays, at mid-day the Doctor has addressed business people on ‘Studies in our Lord’s Methods with Individuals.’ And probably not since the days of Charles Haddon Spurgeon himself has the Metropolitan Taber nacle been packed in every available corner, as was the case when Dr. Morgan lectured there one August Thurs day evening on ‘The Old Bible and the New Child—How to Keep Them Together.’ A B ible M in istry “Inevitably, therefore, any description of Dr. Camp bell Morgan’s ministry at Westminster Chapel resolves itself more truthfully into ‘The Ministry of the Bible at Westminster Chapel/ for that is what the Doctor has sought to do. Again and again he will say to his hearers, expounding some Scripture passage and its inherent teach ing, ‘Look it up for yourselves when you get home. It is your business to correct the preacher with your Bible.’ He tries to send people to their homes to study the Bible in quietness for themselves. His passion is the Bible; and whilst to the expounding of It he brings the trained mind of the teacher, he makes It a living force because to him
the study and teaching and preaching of the Bible have but one aim-Sthat of bringing men and women through faith to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. “The keynote of his ministry has been Revival. It was the text of his first June sermon, and it has been the theme throughout: the energising of the Church through the energised and consecrated life of its individual mem bers. “If one could name one or two of the things which mark the Doctor’s preaching and attract men particularly, in such hosts—for I have seen many wealthy and influ ential city magnates at the Cannon Street meetings, and, seated side by side, with equally rapt attention, were ordi nary working men and women, the rank and file, who build up our cities and our churches—if distinction could be made, I would put the Doctor’s knowledge. Not only his knowledge of the Bible—-that has already been touched on—but his knowledge of humanity, which makes him able to put the Bible before them so that they shall individually understand and fall in love with it. He never talks down to his hearers. He pays them all the compli ment of their intelligence, though, side by side with rapid enunciation of Scripture in the original Hebrew or Greek, he will always give a translation, and many of his running commentaries upon idiomatic translations have illumined the Scripture for his hearers. He attracts the intelligent and the scholars, and he enters into the thoughts and diffi culties, desires and hopes of the simple and unlearned/’ 7, si» Thus Speaketh Christ In an ancient cathedral of Lubeck, North Germany, there is an old slab bearing the admonitory inscription: “Thus speaketh Christ, our Lord, to u s :
Ye call Me Master, and obey me not; Ye call Me Light, and see Me not; Ye call Me Way, and walk Me no t; Ye call Me Life, and desire Me no t; Ye call Me Wise, and follow Me not; Ye call Me Fair, and love Me not; Ye call Me Rich, and ask Me not; Ye call Me Eternal, and seek Me no t; , Ye call Me Gracious, and trust Me not; Ye call Me Noble, and serve Me not; Ye call Me Mighty, and honor Me not; Ye call Me Just, and fear Me not; If I condemn you, blame Me not.”
GOSPEL SHOP TEAMS AND BUSSES OF THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES REV. ERNEST STUCHBERV IS SUPERINTENDENT OF THIS BRANCH OF THE WORK.
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