New-York tribune., 1875-02-15
THE YALE LECTURES.
nR. IoHN HAI.Ls THIRD dBCTURR.

DIR. John HALLS THIRD LECTURE
souRcys or rHR PREVALENT PREACHING OF H. ~.
yaUrHs-ArPEAL FOR THE PREsESIs1T q or
FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE -xxposr.
TORY PREACHING ILLUSTRATED Az a URGED
POLITICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PREAcT I've DIsooUR-
L0ED.
rson A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. OF ira rRrnuNE.l
NEw-HAyEN, Feb. 12-'Dr. John Hall delivered
his third Lyman Beecher lecture" ON " Preaching"
before the Yale Divinity School, IN harquand
Chanel ut D. m. yesterday After pointing out the
source of "half-truth preaching" he made an elo-
saent appeal for the preaching Of fundamental
t atbs and followed tins by earnest advocacy of
snpository preaching. as distinguished frem the
-ssTy method Despite the storm he IN excellent
tone and spoke with great warmth, the substance
OF his address beng as follows:
The Church's imperfect state had one manifestation
IN is subdivisions and these subdivisions eccasioned
nagnifyng OF special truths and often half truths,
fundamental truths. This natural for one always
most liked what OF his local interest," and the
fact Of being the minister Of denomination was cbal
lenge to give amply the for mins;erng TO that
denomination These speciates had their origin partly
in the tendency OF to attack special points,
and in the tendency OF the Church to special
tormsating those points. This special stress
occasion in turn for the sefsane men 10 attack the
Church for the narrow specialization which their ewn
attitude had occasioned Hence the undue train
every congreBdtfOu 10 some spteiAi
to the hurt of symmetry and the eclipse Of broader
truth.
II also 10 be noticed that there TOO often
angular facility among church members IN letting
CHRISTIAN faith. and this facility would accord
with that with which the Christian hfe sld into.
Surely there need Of thOrou going prelmi-
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES as TO which the natural
reyulsion extreme exaetions Of earher days
Jbere also need that Joining the church should
be less thought OF than the growth into the Christian
nie requisite thereto II by tins the church rolls
less rapidly. quality rather than quantity
after all the main thiHg. Nor there enc law for
those of Christ and another for those Him. but
law for both Thus Paul aROnized" to present his
hearers perfect" As TO the first steps aud the later
growth of Christian life there surely need that
preacher should realize the force Of cpl epa0geIlo,
and the wide reach OF the to be addressed by
Christs ambassador. In short. there need of a
deeper and specific teaching OF New Testament
fundamentals; not "cOme 70 Christ alone but law,
su wrath. mercy honessall the elements Of the full
rounded Truth, aud not shyshay appeals and disser
talions
Eut some one would object that preaching these
fundamentals would preclude many invaluable themes
This objection must arise from shallow thinking There
all tine wealth of the Old Testament: the Pena-
teuch with its nterse interest; the Psalms with their
aiincaes. which would vanish under tue true historic
eprt ana with their infinite treasures; the Prophets
perhaps greater 70 the Church IN late Cen-
sraIiOns but invaluabe-Daniei for instance ana IT
s conferred around the Christ, who thus narrow
theme. but infnitely varied and profound The very
fact OF mystic extremes in the early Church In inter
JrttiDg the Old Testament was evdence Of how mucA
There to be got from 1t under proper and sympa-
As part OF a more ihoroughgoing preaching, and Ia
expositOry preaching should he more general
TlaI kind OF preacning like eKtcmpore Suffered
cOunereits or the latter something would be
sald later but TO exDOsitOry preaching by 1t was
meant neither rambling paraphrase nor pieus medlia-
tlons our LOUD AFTER the manner or SCOTS Frdctea
OBSERVATIONS nor subjective yagdros. ike those Of
Mvsties; hypotHetcal deductions like those of
Matthew Henry, IN winch azness preeluded nnd,hg OUT
st what "a xt meant but made variety of assuup-
DJns, with the CONSEQUENCE OF lnv.fdalng ne INFER
from cODdli nature OF the
b. expository preaehng was meant prayer1ul anu ul
gem study o Gods Word III connected passaGes rather
fragments with the nim OF getting Ihe full force
through the of grammar, dictionary, and other
helps and the presenting OF the result IN It's unity.
TLos, the speaker wanted to preach the right use
wealth 10y tue essay method, lie might speak from
win a man rob GojT grouping about these words
his best arguments. Bat ny the other method
lie would he likely to take Acts v, Ill, The account OF
tue judgment on an Anspas and sappplra ana drawnS
a parallel with the punishment OF AehaIu would snow
how the beginning OF two great eras of the Church
COvetOusness by miracle punished aud wOuli pre-
subject form with such force Ihat
tie passage ever after would be sermon Of Itself to
his hearers There great arguments for this
~thOd OF preaching First the quicKeuing nature Of
tHe fact while the method, Dy depending on
originality, soon drew men dry three essays week
Lord Bacon reproduce hiInsell, thus being
OF short pasOrates aud tho loss OF force
preaching would a1ord lts own ma
teIlal and enrich constantly father tnan dram the
preacher. That kind Of preaching Was, indeed, the
hardest kind succeed in first, but one soon 80 grew
Gods Word Tia: the TASK would become easy and de-
AEutful
In advocating the preaching OF fundamental truths,
speaker would ia particular against political
preacnInR rule. ln grave enc geneles, however as
rOvaly done in the American revolution II was
pulpits duty speak powerfully and earlessy de
also PARTICULARLY against sentnc p0lienlcs
pulpit, because these generally overshOt the peO-
pie lacked sufficient mastering OF tue situation IN the
preacher. ana css refreshing FOOD Of sabbath
ilau the soul needed Hugh Miller left DR.. Kennedy's
church. the latter forced 100 much bau drudg
upOu GOds Of rest and spiritual refresh
ing.
ae speaker spent q part OF last Summer on the Can
nGa frontier and place visited during nls stay
by tue Governor General OF Canada, win consequent
International coursesies which that Oflcal pariei
paed Wtth such diDtsy and hearIiness tnat only the
noble sde OF royalty thought OF even BY Americans
and the season OF an almost Ylpg Joy ana
good Will. so the representative OF sue Ang OF k1ngs
Olity, humility genJen-ss, holIness, should iencct
sOnrtn!ug OF divinity everywhere, commenting hIn-
seif 10 every mans in ne sght OF God"