Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1884-01-21
Rsligions department.
"OLD-FASHIONED PREACH
ING.o

s'OLD-FASHIONE PREACH
ING"
s'Well, / am thankful to hear such
good old-fashioned preaching she
said, as she came out of church on
Sunday, after hearing sermon on
Luke xix: 10, sThe Son of man
is come to seek and to save that
which was lost" 'sBGt, auntie," l
said, "why do you call it 'old-fash-
Toned preachingp" s'Because," she
replied, "because, like good old Mr..
Baxter's books, it makes one feel the
awful guilt of sin, and the wonderful
mercy of Christ in coming to save US
from its condemnation, and from its
reigning power IN our hearts and
lives" "But, auntie, is not almost
all the preaching what, in that sense,
you might call good old-fashioned
preaching? Does it not all tell us
of the sinfulness of sin, and the mer-
cy of God, in Christ Jesus, to all
who repent and believe on him?'
"No, Henry, I am sorry to say it
don't. There is too much preaching
on the outskirts of the gospel instead
of preaching the full gospel itself
and some, am sorry to say, that
don't seem to get even at the out
skirts. Why, only six weeks ago I
heard minister in Massachusetts
give a long essay, which he would
probably call sermon, on a posi-
BILE probation after death for some
who had not repented in this life.
And though he did say that he sup
posed the doctrine referred particu
larly to the heather I could not but
think that some who heard him
might believe they stood just as good
a chance as the heather could, and
so might put off repentance now,
while life and probation continue.
And then the next Sunday 1 heard,
from a young man, sermon l sup
pose he would call it, but / should
call it discourse or essay on the
beauties Of autumn and though it
was we'll written and well delivered,
there was no mention of Christ, or of
sin, or Of duty in it, and it might
just as well have been given by some
heather moralist or poet as by him."
"But, auntie, you don't think all the
preaching is like that, do your"
"Well, l can't say all, by any
means; but there is too much that
has no kind of gospel in it. Why,
only last week l read an advertise
ment in the daily paper, by a minis
ter in Harlem, N. Y, that he would
preach on "Orange peel on the side
walk" and of another in Fort Plain,
n. Y, on Sewing the wink" and
still of another who in his sermon
had seventeen quotations from the
classics and the poets and only three
from the bible What do you sup
pose Paul, or Whitfield, or Brainard,
or Edwards, or Nettleton would have
thought of that / was telling a
friend afterward of all this and he
said, 81 am sorry to say there is too
much truth in what your good old
aunt has been saying. If we had
far more of the faithful and search
ing preaching of the law, like that of
Nettleton and of Finney in their best
days, we should see far deeper i'm
pressions of the exceeding sinfulness
of sin and of the need of the grace
which is offered in Christ Jesus, and
the christian character many in of
our churches would be broader and
more substantial, and more intelli-
gent and serious than it now is. y
And he added, "There is great truth
and wisdom in what Sturgeon says.
and which l wish all our preachers
would remember, viz: Preach the
law, that men may deeply feel theil
sinfulness; then the gospel, that they
may be led to Christ for pardon
and then the law again, as the grea
rule of life, that they may so live as
to obey and honor Christ, and tina
all may so take knowledge of then
that they have been with Jesus as t.
be led to him as their Saviour" tt
all of which l could not but sa,
"Amen !''-Presbyterian.