American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-09-07


words. for when. months later, her frs
love came back, faithful and tender, will
his old tale to tell. she would not listen.
/ NAY. lad" she said. II ANNA feather
to blow wi tn wind. I've had my shar,
o. trouble wi men foak, an ha' no mine
to try again. Him as lies i tn church
yard loved me i his way-men foak's way
is apt to be 4 poor un- an I'm wore Ou
| wi life. Dumnot come here cOurtin'-
tax Il better manifestations for Sep
| TENDER.
Modern Preaching.
We cannot more forcibly Illustrate the
difference between ancient and modern
preaching than by imagining the transla-
ton of a preacher of fifty years ago to 4
modern pulpit. The dry and formal es-
says, the long homilies, the dOgmatism
and controversy that then formed the sta.
| pie of public religious teaching, would
| be, to-day, altogether unsatisfactory in
| the hearing, and untruitful in the result.
Experience has proved that Christians
are more rarely made by arguments adj
dressed to the reason than by motives adj
dressed to the heart. The reliable and
satisfactory evidences of Christianity are
| found less in the sacred records than in
its transformations of character and its
| inspirations of life. Though Il thousand
| Strallsses and Remains were at work ell
| deavOring to undermine the historical
basis of the Christian scheme, their efforts
| would prove nugatOry when met by the
practical results of that scheme in reform
| ing character, in substituting benevolence
| for selfishnesS rs the dominant motive in
| human commerce, in sustaining the heart
| in trial, in comforting it in sickness. and
| supporting it in dissolution. With the
| results of Christianity before him and in
him. the Christian may confidently to say
to all his enemies: '.If a lie can do all
this. then lie is better than all your truth.
tor your truth does not pretend to do it :;
and if your lie is better in every possible
legitimate result than your truth, then
your truth is proved to be a lie, and your
lie is the truth The argument is not
only fair but it is unanswerable, and saves
a world OF trouble. OF all ''short meth
ods' with infidelity, this is the shortest.
1t is like the argument of design in prov
ing the existence of an intelligent first
cause. The man who ignores OF denies it.
is either incapable of reason or viciously
perverse.
So the modern preacher breaches more
and argues less. He declares. promul-
gates, explains, advises. exhorts, appeals.
He does more than this. Instead OF re-
garding Christianity solely rs scheme
of belief and faith, and thus becoming the
narrow eXpOunder of creed, he broad
ems into critic and cultivator of human
motive and character. We do not assert
that modern preaching is entirely released
from its old narrOwness. There are still
too many who heat over the old broth, and
ladle it out in the old way which they
learned in the seminary. This ''preach-
ing of Jesus Christi is still to multitudes
the preaching of a scheme of religion.
the explanation of plan. the prOmlil ga
ton of dogmata. But these men, except in
the most ignorant and unprogressive COM
munities, preach to empty. walls, or con-
temptuous audiences. The man who
breaches Christ the most effectively and
acceptably. in these days, is he who tries
all motive and character and life by the
divine standard, who applies the divine
life TO the everyday life of the world, and
whose grand endeavOr is not SO much to
save men to make them worth saving.
He denOunceS wrong in public and pri-
waite life; he exposes and reproves the
sins of society; he applies and urges the
motives ofpurity, sObriety. honesty, char
ity, and good neighborhoOd he shows
them tc themselves, and then shows them
the mode by which they may correct
themselves. In all this he meets with
won ,erful acceptance, and, most frequent
ly, in direct proportion to his faithful
ness. This. after all, Is the kind of talk
men are willing to hear, even if it con-
dennis them. All truth relating to the
faults OF character and life, if presented
in Il Christian spirit, by man who as
stImes nothin" for himself, and who never
loses sight of his own weakness and his
brotherhood with the erring masses whom
he addresses, is received gladly.
The world has come to the comprehen-
sion of the fact that. after all that may be
said of dOgmatic Christianity, character is
the final result at which it's author aimed.
The aim and end of Christianity is to
make men better, and in making them
better to secure their safety and happiness
in this world and the world to come. The
Christianity which narrOws the sympa-
thies of 4 man, and binds him to his seat,
which makes the Christian name of small
er significance to him than the name of
his party, which thinks more of sOundness
of belief than soundness of character, is
the meanest kind of Christianity, and be-
longs to the old and OutgrOwn time. 1t
savors of schools and books and tradition.
The human element in it predominates
over the divine. The typical modern
preacher mingles with men. He goes into
the world of businesS-into its cares, its
trials. its great temptations, its Overreach-
ings, its dangers and disasters learns
the character and needs of the men he
meets there. He sits in the humble
dwelling of the labOrOr, and reads the
wants of the humanity he finds there. In
workshops, in social assemblies, in
schools. among men. women, and chill
drcn, wherever they live, or meet for labor
or for pleasure. his presence is familiar
Human life is the book he reads prepara-
tory to his pulpit labOrs. and without the
faithful reading of this book he has no
fitting preparation for his task. No mat
ter how much a preacher knows of the
divine life, if he has not an equal knowl-
edge of the human, his message will be a
barren one.
The great mistake of the modern preach
thought of his time. 1t is quite rs essen
tial to the preacher to know what men are
thinking about as what they are doing.
Comparatively few preachers are ut home
i'll the current progress of science. and too
many of them look cOidly upon it, as upon
something necessarily inimic:il To the sys-
TEN of religion to which they have com
mittcd their lives. They apparently for
get that their indifference or opposition
wins only contempt for themselves and
their scheme. There are few laymen so
devoid of common sense rs to be unable
to see that any scheme which is afraid of
scientific truth-nay. any scheme which
does not gladly welcome every new realm
won to the grand domain of human
knOwledge-is unworthy of confidence.
An unreasonin@ loyalty to old interpreta-
lions of revealed truth is weakness OF
the prtl pit that becomes practically n re-
preach to Christianity itself II the God
of nature undenably disputes the God of
revelation. rs the preacher interprets HIM,
let him give up his Interpretation gladly,
and receive the correction rs from the
mouth of God himself Ii is only i'm this
way that he can maintain his hold upon
his age, and win homer to the religion he
ft. A t,-.rI I, = J;t,;,, II