Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-12-28
Henry Ward Beecher on Preaching.

There are two elements in every truly
christian ministry, the Divine and the HUI
man. The grand instrument the minister
employs is his knowledge Of divine truth,
his knowledge of God in Christ Preach
ing is the utterance of the life and soul of |
Christ, in so far as you have been able to
take it into yours. For, hold that we are
but extensions of God, and that Christ |
brought down into this world is the truest
manhood ever expressed in the world, or
that ever will be- Man perfected becomes
like God We are able to reproduce in
ourselves, in small degrees the divine ma
ture. When a man is filled with this spirit
and then brings it to bear upon his fellow
men, he is a christian preacher. The other
element is the Human. You are employ
ing all this knowledge Of the divine nature
for the purpose Of producing definite re-
suits upon the minds Of your fellow men.
A christian preacher ought to know, first
Christ and him crucifed, and then heought,
in that most profound expression Of hu-
man feeling anywhere recorded, to be able
even to wish himself accused for his breth-
ren's sake, his kinsmen according to the
flesh. He must have a feeling of intense
sympathy, affection, yearning toward men.
My first criticism upon much of the preach
ing which hear is that it is a preaching
about God. 1t is my misfortune not to
hear much preaching, but in summer va
cations | occasionally hear sermons, but
they are about divine existence, proving
the Trinity, the divinity Of Christ, the di-
vine DEGREES, and what not, but they do
not take hold Of me. | find myself long
ing for something more specified and per-
sonal. You must distinguish between that
part ola ministers life which is a lecture
ship, and that part which is preaching
The preaching part Of man is the heart
power, the kindling of enthusiasm by en-
thusiasm, of love by love. The chief in
strument in your ministry is that subtle
underlying element that fires up your con-
seriousness and everything you do. Young
gentlemen, l give this as my testimony to
you. If God has blessed my labor it has
been because ! have had fervent, grow
ing, intense, personal love for Christ, and
admiration unspeakabe 1t has been the
handspring of my ministry. 1t amuses me
to hear people speculate on the causes of
what they term my success. One says, 1T
is because he is witty; another says, 1T is
because he illustrates so much another
says, oh, know, it is because he knows
how to set his sail to catch the gale and
so they all disagree. But | tell you, young
gentlemen, if | have succeeded it has been
due to the power Of Love-what power
it isl 1t is very easy to baptize a mans
forehead, but to wash folks feet is very diff
ferent and ministers that sometimes take
to one extreme, don't like the other
have often thought of the deep significance
Of that expression: 4 am the way Not
simply as if Christ pointed out the direc-
ton, but am the road. Come We weak,
ye down hearted, We Responding, come and
walk on me. Christ is the bridge between
the finite and the infinite. 1t is hard to
pride, hard to vanity, but we must be SER
wants for Christ's sake. 1t is hard to every
thing but Love. To Love it is natural,
sweet, omnipotent. Think of the pale,
weary mother bearing about her little, suf-
fering, sick child-changing its garments
and performing disagreeable offices for it,
all because Of love. She breads to leave
the little one, lest she be cheated out of the
privilege and pleasure Of wearing herself
out for it. That is love. Other emotions
mount and soar. But love aliases itself
and the lower down it gets the better it
likes it. If we are to preach Christ, we
must ourselves be like Him. He loved to
do good, not upon earth alone, but he lives
forever and sympathizes for others, acts for
Others. 1t is that which moves the uni
verse today. Ii, therefore, a man goes into
the ministry, thinking that he is the great
engineer Of the machine, that his whole
business is to keep the instrument all oiled
and secured, he is not preacher, he is a
conductor. He is freshman, not nearly
prepared tograduate. Still he may do good
even so. 1t is better to be adoorkeeper in
the house of my God, than to dwell in tn,
tents of wickedness Arthur n Smith