Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-03-06
THE MATTER OF PREACHING.


British Workman.
THE NATTER OF PREACHING.
The power of the pulpit depends very much
on two things First, to know ,chat to preach,
and second, how to preach it. God says,
"Preach the wore" d"-"Preach the gospel !"
but as no one man can preach it all, and as
some parts of it are better adapted to win
souls than others, to succeed we'll, every man
must select and adapt his subjects to suit his
congregation. adaptation is essential to sue
cess. What suits one congregation will not
suit another; what suits one occasion will not
suit another. Preaching, then, to be effec
tual, must be appropriate. "a word spoken
in due season, how good is it!' Then let
every preacher pray that he may "know how
to speak word in season." lisa. Ia.
Adaptation runs through all the sermons
of Jesus Christ, his prophets, evangelists and
apostles. Hear the prophet Isaiah to the re-.
belious Jews. With his soul deeply stirred
at their base ingratitude and scottish stupidi-
ty, to arouse them, he appeals to inanimate
creation, and exclaims, Hear, 0 heavens,
and give ear, o earth, for the Lord hath
spoken: l have nourished and brought up
children, and they have rebelled against me.
The OK knoweth his owner, and the ass his
masters crib, but Israel doth not know; my
people doth not consider!'' AS though he
had said, The heavens and the earth, which
cannot hear at all, will sooner hear than these
rebellious Jews. As much as to say, "Let
the light of heaven shame your darkness, and
the fruitfulness of the earth your barrenness. "
AS much as to say, The dull OK and stupid
ass know more and serve God better than this
rebellious, stupid people. Yet God, in his in.
finite mercy, spares them, and stoops to rea-
son with them, and says, "Come, now, let us
reason together, saith the Lord: Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow though they be red like crimson, they
shall be as WOOL" Here we see Isaiah's fine
adaptation. He first labors to convince, then
to comfort. He first thoroughly probes the
wound, and then offers the healing balm
With the promise of pardon and great re-.
ward if they repented, and with the threat of
destruction if they refused, he most power
fully urged them to repentance. Cease to DO
evil; learn to do we'll, and ye shall be for
given, restored to Gods favor, and "eat the
good of the land"
Coming down to the gospel dispensation
we hear the moving appeals of John the
Baptist, crying, Repent, repent ye, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand" And when
he saw the vile Pharisees and Sadducees
aocking to hear him, with his shrewd saagaci-
ty, he exclaims, 90, generation of vipers,
who hath warned you to flee the wrath to
GOMEZ In these stirring words of warning
John shows great power of adaptation. His
exhortation to repent and the cutting title,
generation of vi ipers," he gave those vile
wretches, was we'll calculated to alarm and
convince them. While they trusted and
gloried in being of the seed of Abraham,
when unmasked, John proves them to be of
the seed of the serpent, exposed to the wrath
of God.
Again, for mastery skill in adaptation, let
US take Peters sermon on the day Of pente
cost. For Gmmediate) effect and power, this
was the greatest day the church ever saw.
And the great emergency arising from, it
sprung upon Peter very suddenly; yet, with
his Christ-like adaptation, he com pletely mas
tered it. Suddenly endued with power from
on high, the apostle spoke with overwhelm'
ing power. The effect was tremendous.
Quick and powerful, the word ran like light
ming and cut like two-edged sword. The
interest and excitement rose so high they were
all amazed, and began to ask, "What mean
eth this? ?" Some said the people were drunk !;
but Peter, rising in the majesty of his strength,
boldly said, These men are not drunk, seeing
it was but the third hour of the day, nine
o'clock in the morning, too soon to get drunk
on wine. After explaining that this was
what was spoken of by the prophet Joel, Pc.
ter went on to prove by overwhelming argu.
ments that that same Jesus whom they had
crucifed was both Lord and Christ Stung
with grief and pricked to the heart with con-
viction, thousands earnestly cried to know
what to do to be saved.
Made up of clear exposition, removing
objections, and red hot, overwhelming argu-
ments, for immediate effect, this was the
most powerful sermon ever preached. Why
so powerful 1t was owing, no doubt, very
much to its fine adaptation. Peter hit the
nail on the head every stroke. Every word
seemed to weigh pound and to do a world
of execution. A similar adaptation is seen
in Paul's sermon at Mars Hill.
Whitefeld owed much of his success to his
great powers of adaptation. Always appro-
pirate, he made every word tell with power.
Preaching often with but little special prepa-
ration, his sermons, like Christs, grew ou: of
the occasion on which they were delivered.
When he preached at Northampton, for Jon.
athan Edwards, where they had suffered
great revival almost to die away, he spoke so
appropriately of Gods goodness to them, and
so kindly reproved them of their sins and in
gratitude, that they were all melted into
tears. The cool headed Edwards wept like
a child.
The Saviour's parallels, with all their beau-
tiful simplicity, were spoken upon the emer-
gency of the occasion of their delivery; hence
their perfect adaptation and great power
When the Scribes and Pharasees murmured
because Jesus received sinners and ate with
them, to silence their complaints, he, with
great propriety, spake unto them the para
Bile of the Prodgal Son, showing the infinite
riches of Gods grace, and how willing and
ready Jesus is to forgive and receive sinners
when they repent and come to him.
THE TRUE METHoD.-The world, if ever
it is to be reformed by men, can only be so by
the personal intercourse Of living men-living
epistles not dead ones. Love, meekness, kind
ness, forbearance, unsel6shness, manifested in
souls uttering themselves by word, look and
deed, and not by mere description of these
sentiments or essays upon them, can alone
regenerate man. Neither money, nor schools,
nor churches can ever be substituted for living
men. Not ministers going their rounds like
policemen. with black clothes and white neck