Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-12-25
[From the Baltimore Episcopal Methodist
Preaching to the Times. 9n5

l. The great success attendant on the ministry
of st. Paul was attributable to two cause.-the
theme of his discourses, and the dgencyby which
he was assisted. To these causes emphatic re-
ference is made in his inspired writing. They
meet the eye ON every page, and appear as lu-
minous as if written with sunbeams.
"We preach Christ crucifed. 1--WE preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus our Lord.
Christ in you the hope of glory: whom we
| preach, warning every man, and teaching every
man in all wisdom that we may present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus: whereunto | also
labor, striving according to his working, which
worketh in me nightly" My speech and
my preaching aods not with enticing words of
man IS wisdom, but in demonstration of the
| Spirit and of power" Thus preaching Christ
| as the Saviour of sinners, as the one, sole,
| efcacious sacrifice offered up for the salvation
| OF a lost world, and relying on the power of the
| Holy Ghoet to apply to the conscience and heart
| the word spoken, God wrought wondrously and
| gloriously through the instrumentality of his
| chosen servant; thousands were saved and the
Church's borders were greatly enlarged.
Is not the signal success which marked the
ministrations Of the Wesleys and the first race
of Methodist preachers, both in England and in
| this country, plainly to be traced to the same
two causes? Did they not preach 'Christ cru
cifed' in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power? Did they not act as men of God, as
men of one purpose, leaving s'the dead to bury
the dead, and going forth in the name of their
divine Master, under the deepest and constant
ly operating conviction, that it was their only
souls from death? The history of the Church
In both hemispheres teachers us the glorious
result. Wesley and his coadjutors in the Old,
and Mr.. Asbury and his co-laborers in tbs New
World, gathered their thousands within the
ample fold of the Church as trophies of redeem
ing grace. Revival followed revival like waves
of the sea- and the word came not in the "en-
tieing words ofman' $ wisdom, but sin power"
Let me here seriously ask: What would
have been the condition of the world in paHline
days, and in the days Of the fathers of Method
ism, if Paul and other of the Apostles, if Wes-
ley, Coke, Fletcher, Asbury, &C., had turned
| aside from the plain path of evangelical truth,
and foundered into the mire and quicksands of
party politics? If, instead of preaching Christ
they had abused their sacred office by indulg-
ing in political diatribes?
To secure success in these days, ministers
must regard their theme and secure the ,PoEvor
of the Holy Sp:rif Pnli-ics IN the pulpit Is a
disgrace. PoilaTss IN the pulpit viii efFeetually
destroy the spirit of true religion. Politics In
the pulpit will act on the soul like poison on
| the body. Decay and death will be the result
Ii some say they must preach to the times,
L reply they have mistaken their calling-they
have mistaken their Masters voice. They are
not ministers of Christ, but political demagogues
They cannot truthfully say to their focks with
st. Paul: Il determined not to know any
thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him
crucifed
The following anecdote has its moral, on which
our political pastors would doYell for themselves
and their people to mediate. Perhaps, if they
tried, they might see its, point Once seeing
the point, they might possibly feel it: ~
i The learned and excellent Archbishop Leig-
hton, whilst a minister of the Church of Scot
land, was once publicly reprimanded in Synod
for not preaching to the times ssWho, !, he
asked, 'does preach to the tiIaes 1t was
answered that all the brethrendidif. Then"
he answered, IF all Of you preach to hat times,
you may surely allow one poor brother TO preach
Jesus Christ and eternity snGsaf