Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-18

| Clcdf aiiougcucut al III ". 1ne nearer uas y
desire to know, and needs to know, just
what the chief points are. And the preacher
ought TO tell him. He need not take the
skeleton of the sermon out of its flesh and
shake 1t In the eyes of the congregation, but
he ought to make it evident which is "sec-
ondly," and which is "fourthly," which ia
premise and which is conclusion. At the
end Of the sermon the congregation ought
to have in their minds with accuracy the
chief truths and applications in their order.
Influencing tho Congregation.
The purpose of the parson in the pulpit
ought to be 10 interest the people, not for
the sake of interesting them, but for the
sake of influencing them. The purpose to
interest Is only the beginning of the preach
| er's good intention. Interest must be the
ambassador of instruction. Interest gets
the preacher hearing. Now what shall
the preacher say? The preachers pre-emi-
nens purpose ought to be to profit the peo-
| pie.
The people will be profted by being
taught the truth. The preacher ought to
teach the truth impartially and religiously.
| By the impartial teaching of truth I
| mean what st. Paul meant when he spoke
of BRIGHTLY dividing the word of truth. ="
| Truth may be taught in such fashion, with
such an emphasis, with such exclusive at
| tention to one or two phases of it, as to
transform the truth itself into lie. 1t is
| an old story how the devil, clad in gown
| and cowl, preached in the parish church,
and took for his theme the everlasting tor
lures Of the damned There are few that be
saved, he said as for all the rest OF you, let
me tell you into what condition you will
comel And then he described the neither
country till the horror-stricken hearers, like
the farmers of Northampton, clung to the
hon Rc ut hn 70 10 la from eli int
the yawning pit. And he boasted after
ward, the story says, that that was the most
diabolical sermon he knew how to preach,
because there WAS not a mention in it of the
love of God.
Rounding Up Truth in Year.
The preacher ought to get the whole
truth of the gospel into his preaching.
Not in evervv sermon, as some divinity
students attempt to do, but into the SER
mons of the year. Every year in every
parish the great truths of the Christian
faith ought to be dwelt upon in order. Only
by a systematic arrangement, as careful as
that which is made in the curriculum Of
theological seminary, can parson declare
unto his people the whole gospel of God.
Let the parson define his purpose to his
own mind; let him say, now, this is what
1 want to teach-these are the truths that
want to get into the hearts and lives of this
parish this year-and thus and thus will
set out these things before my people; there
ought to be as much difference between that
kind of instruction and the Saturday night
text kind which is common among us, as
there is between an assault upon fortress
which is made by q battalion of trained SOL
diers and an assault made by disorderly
mob
The purpose of the parson ought to be not
only to preach truth impartially. but to
preach it religiously. By the religious
preaching OF truth 1 mean the bringing of
it to bear directly upon the better living of
men and women. The supreme purpose of
the preacher is to make good Christians.
However it may be in the theological SEM
inaries, no truth has any business in the
pulpit which is not related practically and
vitallY to common life.
The Application of Religion.
Thus the preacher ought not to preach
doctrine except in its bearing on Christian
living. Jesus never did. Paul never did.
All the doctrinal teaching of the New Tes-
lament is for the purpose of helping men
and women into better living. Doctrine is
the foundation of right ethics. The preach
er has no right to build the cellar wall and
not put house on it.
The preacher as professor of church his
tory, the preacher as the instructor in e1-
egesis must have a distinct spiritual pur-
pose in his words. Everybody knows how
Coleredge said to Lamb: "Did you ever
hear me preach?' To which Lamb an
swered: Il never heard you do anything
else" The preacher never ought to do
anything else. His work is to uplift, to
guide, to inspire, to bring the living Christ
and living men together. .
The only time 1 ever heard Spurge on
preach he was speaking in a music hall in
London, at a meeting called in furtheran ce
of certain outdoor services that were being
held on Sunday in Hyde Park. He had
been asked to make an address upon this oc-
casion. 81 have been asked, he said, "to
make an address. But warn you at the
beginning that my address will be good |
deal like the angel which the sign painter de-
signed for the tavernkeeper. The tavern
keeper said to the gn-painter, I want you |
to paint me an angel for my sign But the
sign painters specially was painting green |
dragons 'An angelo said the sign painter, |
You would much better have a green |
dragon No, no. answered the tavern
keeper, there are already 20 OF your green
dragons in the parish. I must have an |
angel Very well, said the artist, L will |
paint you an angel, but 1 give you warning |
beforehand that it will look great deal |
like green dragon So ] will make you
L
hand that it will sound great deal like
sermonl
The True Spirit of the Real Sermon.
Every utterance of the. preacher in the
pulpit ought to sound great deal like
sermon; or, better still, ought to have in it
the true spirit of a real sermon. This need
not mean either the setting of a text out of
the Bible at the beginning of it, nor the
statement of a moral application at the end.
People are probably helped most by the
moral applications which they make them
selves. The test of right utterance in the
pulpit is the measure of spiritual utility.
Are the people helped? Are they better
fitted to meet their daily temptations, to
solve their daily problems, to put the en-
phasis of life on that part OF it which
lasts?
I'm that day shall there be upon the bells
of the horses Holiness to the Lord. Yea,
every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall
be Holiness unto the Lord of hosts" In
that day shall Holiness to the Lord be in
scribed upon the cups and saucers of all
the banqueting tables OF society. Yea,
every furnace in every mill and every
kitchen stove in every house in Pittsburg
shall be holiness unto the Lord. To hasten
the dawning of that day is the great pur-
pose of the preacher. GEORGE HODGES.