The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-04-04
why file is More Effective than Other
Preachers.

is not utterly COuceltCd. 1t is not at al Cred-
liable to the parsons who gather around
him that they sit AT his feet rs PAUL Mt the
feet OF GAMALruL ana offer up incense TO
him. But Brother MooDY, whatever may
he said about his methods and his teach
ings, is evidently in dead earnest, and
men So propelled are not at leisure to en-
joy ilattcry.
why do AL these ministers lacl, the Sc
crct Of this mnu's power Why does
he Hi the llppodromc when perhaps
| they can only succeed in collecting Few
hundred sleepy people? They need rot
pass their days and NIGHTS ON the Hippo
dromc platform in order to get answers TO
these questions. lie goes about preaching
rs If he meant business. He has not re-
nncl away tue promises and threats Of tho
Bible, but he takes them literally, and
looks on the crowds who listen to him ms
perishing souls in actual need OF the saliva
| ton he proclaims. He thinks they are on the
broad road to destruction, and that he is a
sign board to point them To the straight
aud narrow path. Therefore he cries out
in warning and beseeches ms one who
sees them walking toward precipice I'M
revealed to their blind eyes. He puts his
whole heart in his preaching. and drives
ahead with all the steam power which he
| can turn on.
Willy should henot do this, and why should
no, every preacher who holds to the doc
! trnes he propounds do ity If they have
the pauacca for maus ills, they must omit
no effort 10 apply it. But how is 1t us mat
ter of fact? They preach elaborated SER
mons on this most vital of mems concerns,
and discuss and refine and chop logic
about il as if they were simply trying TO
prove dry proposition in geometry,
They do not in truth vitality and thor
oughly believe what they say. If they did
to the very depths of their natures believe
that the affairs of this world, the success ii
can offer. aud the enjoyment il can afford,
ore ms nothing compared with the joys or
terrors of the world to come; that saliva
ton comes only through the way they are
appointed to indicate they would be so
possessed by the idea that they would
never cease TO labor and pray for their
fellow men in order to ward OF from them
the doom which impends over their heads.
1t cannot be denied that the amount OF
practical skcptc5m ia the pulpit is onor-
nous; that the words which come from
the preacher are very often sounded from
the metallic surface of his doubling or in
dffe ent intellect, not poured forth in
living stream from an imprisoned heart.
The man in the pulpit looks at the men in
the pews, and they return the gaze, not
exactly rs the old augurs looked ut each
other, with n cynical smile, but with mu-
tual understanding that they are both
performing a merely conventional part.
II to the bottom of their hearts they be-
lieved that their eternal happiness or eter-
nal misery hung on their following these
teachings, would they not think less Of the
flow of the periods and the comfort Of the
cushions?
There aretwo theories Of religion; on the
one side that of the prelatical churches,
aud on the other that of the so-calici
evangelical denominations. The one
teaches men that their salvation depends ON
the performance of certain religious GER
emouies, and that they grow in grace
the more diligently they attend TO these
defined and practical duties. The other
teaches that the only road to heaven is
! through seutme mt Of love for CHRIST
ana II miraculous change Of heart that may
he Of Instantaneous production, This lat
ter is the doctrine Of Brother MOODY, and
he evidently believes in it as perfectly rs
the child in his mothers affection. He
has no doubtabout it, INDUCES in no reason
ing in regard to il, aud is convinced that all
else beside it is us mere dross and emptiness.
Therefore when he breaches he goes to
work in as dead earnest rs those men did
at the Lynde Brook dam, the other day,
40 10 x.YttI IL 20
his hearers from being whelmed in the
food of retribution for sin and the refusal
to accept GODS appointed means of escape
from the unspeakably terrible disaster.
That's why lie succeeds primarily, and the
secondary reason is because he has a strong
body in the which to hold his earnest soul.
Religion is no Sundays amusement or
recreation or perfunctory task with him.
lie makes it ms daily business, If all our
preachers in doctrinal sympathy with him
believed rs strongly and rs undoubtingly
us he that they had the prophylactic
against the most awful of impending ills
for immortal man III their possession, they
would just rs strenuously as he labor TO
apply IT TO their fellows
Contrast Brother MOODY with the doc
tors Of divinity who share with him the
oXhortation at the lIippodrome meetings.
They warn men foebly and suavely, as if
one who saw sleeping man on railroad
track with locomotive just upon him,
should stand at a distance and mildly and
politely say, " My good fellow, advise you
to wake up and get out OF the way of that
engine for though the engineer may see
you In time, perhaps he won't, and then
the chances of Coroner's inquest will be
more than probable" Brother MOODY
PUSHES up 10 the unawakened man and
yells out IN his ear, as he snatches his arm
and drags him from the track wake up
J aud run OF you are dead mani Nor