151
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
April 1932
(Srumhsfrom THE KING ’S TABLE . . . B y T h e E ditor
hile there should be full and bold proclamation of evangelical doctrine in the pulpit, there should also be a system of teaching. We believe thoroughly in sound, critical, extensive instruction. Some men have a peculiar gift in Biblical teaching, and those men should be encour aged to pursue their laborious but most necessary vocation. The preacher and the Bible teacher should be fellow labor ers. The preacher should study to collect men into great companies, arrest their attention by earnest and convincing statements of Christian truth, and then pass them on, so to speak, to the critical and patient teacher. Thus the man of God will become “ thoroughly furnished.” Having re ceived deep instruction, he will be able to give a reason for the faith and the hope that are in him, and he will be strong to resist the importunities of those who are driven about by every wind of doctrine. We have had unjust and unrea sonable expectations respecting the ministry; we have looked for all sorts of work for the Christian leader. Min isters have been expected to be eloquent preachers, popu lar teachers, renowned lecturers, learned writers, accept able visitors, skilled controversialists, untiring evangelists, and many other important and influential characters. Let a man be one thing, and let him excel in it. Here is a brother who has been called to make the Christian pulpit his world. Here is another brother who is a teacher, learned, critical, and patient with slow scholars. Another is blessed with a high pastoral gift, by which he can make himself as an angel of God in the family. An other is a ready writer who can fascinate the eye and convince the stubborn-minded. But let each man be in his place. When Christian truth and Christian feeling revive among us, we shall be as the heart of one man, each mag nifying God in the other. We shall all be wanted. The trumpet, the flute, the organ, the stringed instruments, with the soldier, the physician, the teacher, the orator, the scholar, the poet, the strong man, the gentle woman, the tender child—all will be wanted, and the only strife among us will be who can do most and do it best for the Lamb that was slain. The Test o f Faith hat is your faith doing ? Is it criticizing ? Is it find ing fault ? Is it living upon mischief ? Is it energetic in wrong ways ? Is its purpose to spoil the lives of others ? Then it is not the true faith of the gospel. What is your church doing? Is it enjoying itself? Is it curtaining itself in luxury? Is it making a velvet path for its feet? Is it seeking that the very air which it breathes shall be per fumed ? Is it a church that hates everything that is noisy, sensational, aggressive? Is it a contemplative and slum brous church ? Then the true faith says that it is no church at all. A five dollar note is nothing in itself; it must repre sent something behind it. It must stand in the place of solid bullion. It can only be a convenience, being lighter to carry than the metal, and if there is not an equivalent value in metal behind it, the note, though genuine, is a lie.
A Crumb for Preachers and Bible Teachers W ith a distinct idea of what we truly believe, we should have a public ministry which is faithful to the Spirit and demand of Jesus Christ in seeking the salvation of men. In the pulpit these days there is too much attention paid to controversial subjects. We have a great positive work to do. We have affirmative truths to teach. We have to cast out demons, not by controversy, but by divinely revealed and authoritative truth. If we wish to take our part in the controversies of the world, the press is at our service. In the pulpit, let us preach the gospel of our Lord and Sav iour Jesus Christ and mightily plead with men to believe the old story. There is scope enough for all our powers. e shall have to acquaint ourselves deeply with hu man nature. We shall have to read the heart until we know its devices, imaginations, and cunning deceits. We shall have to study the power of sin in the soul. We shall have to suffer with Jesus Christ. We shall have to inquire diligently into God’s righteousness, mercy, and love. Night and day, we shall have to study the mystery o f redemption, and in doing all these things, our every power will be absorbed and exhausted. If now and again we may have occasion to refer to controversies, let the reference be made with the lofty earnestness of men who are intent upon the salvation of those who hear us. We must not throw off the old words, “ repentance,” “ faith,” “ salvation,” “ the cross,” “ the blood,” “ regeneration” ; and the things they signify must be the very life blood o f our ministry. In any genuine revival of interest in Christianity, there must be a revived interest in a proclaimed gospel of grace. The sanctuary will be thronged, and the thronging listeners will be justly impatient o f everything that does not bear immediately and intensely upon the salvation of men. We sometimes talk of adapting our preaching to the age in which we live, of keeping abreast of contemporary culture, and of addressing ourselves to the habits of men of taste. In all this, there may be truth enough barely to save it from the charge of insanity. However we may mod ify our manner, the doctrine which is adapted to all ages, to all tastes, and to all circumstances, is that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. We must be made to feel that the doctrines o f the gospel are humbling doctrines, that they smite down our natural pride and self-trustful ness, that they kill before they make alive, that out of our utter impoverishment and nothingness they bring all that is distinctive and enduring in Christian manhood. Disas trous is the hour in which the gospel is pared down to meet the notions of any men, in any age. The gospel is less than nothing, if it is not the grandest revelation of the heart of God to the heart of man. And since it is a revelation, it must, of necessity, be clothed with an authority peculiarly emphatic and decisive. We believe the gospel to be God’s answer to human sin and human sorrow, and if any man ask where is its authority, we answer, “ Christian living is the best explanation o f Christian believing; Christianity is the best explanation of Christianity, and more preaching is the best answer to all opposition.”
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