Connecticut western news., 1893-06-29
THE SAVING POWER.
REV. THOMAS DIXON ON THE NEED OF MORE EARNEST PREACHING.

REV. THOMAS DIXON ON THE NEED
 OF MORE EARNEST PREACHING. 1ssssstantism Apparently Failing In the
 Great C1tiss-Causss Thersfor-Church
 HsrAalisn-Lack of vitality-Too Much
 Dignity.
 Nnw YORK, June 25.-Rev. Thomas Dixon, IT,, closed this morning in Asso- ciAtion hall the series of sermons that hAve been running since the 17th of April on ssThe Gates of He'll In Modern Baby lon" The series have been one attended with sxtraordinsry interest from the be- ginning. The Sundays work also closed tho years ministry in Association hail. Tho months of July and August he will hewe e vacation and will preach prob ably in the south during those two months somewhere on the eastern shore of Virginia, N. 0. The pulpit in As sociation hall will be supplied by the Rsv. Frank Dixon of California, his youngsr brother. The Subject of the sermon this morning was ''The Church Triumphant" The text chosen was And tho gates of hell shall not prevail against it" 4atthew xvi, 1S).
 Thsrs never was 8 time in the history of Christendom when the church faced Rraysr problems than the church of the modern city Is now confronted with. The past % years have been conspicuous in church work for its dismal failure in our cities. The progress of Protestant ism has been beneath contempt. Does this mean that the gospel of Christ has fhilsdf Does this mean that the church is on the down grade and must perish in tho twentieth century? All things are sursly being tested by the supreme test of tho furnace of these latter times. All things must stand the test or go the way of the past. Before all things holy, all things sacred, as we'll as all things traditional and secular, this modsgn world has written large interro- ea*ion point. The very existence of the church h questioned by large class of thinksg1, and the need of priest or preacher is called in issue. The Chris tan ninistry that survives must be wcgthy, and tho church that survives mHst answer with good reason for its existence.
 do not hesitate to say that believe e clearly e bshsve in my own exist- snce that tho church of Jesus Christ. in its inadsquAcy, in Its simplicity, in It's power, will triumph. Jesus has cer- tat1ly promised that 1t shall. However dark ths problems, however overwhelm- ing the fogces that oppose, "The gates of hl0 aAAll not prevail against it." Upon whak b this promise of triumph basedf It was bassd upon the confession of faith mede by tho apostle. Peter said, "I be- hsvs." If the church Is to triumph and receive this promise, it must be through ths exercise of . triumphant. militant fAttA. If the church really believes in tts misslon and In its Saviour, three thines must come to pass in securing its triumph and must come to pass of ne- osssfty because of that faith.
 MAGNxxIo POWER.
 1irst-6he must present to the hosts of sv1l In cur civto esnters . ministry of power. Tho preacher who survives in ths twsntlsth century must be man of power. He must be man called of God to tho work. The ministry that will snxvive cannot therefore be 8 mere pro- tsasion. It must, in the highest sense, b . calling, and that calling must be bassd upon the bestowment of divine gifts- -gi1ts of brain, gifts of heart, gifts Of personality, gifts Of magnetic power inadsnt to personality. A ministry of powse in the modern city must show in the pulpit manhood first. The preacher who h man of power today must first b. . man-not clothes or ceremonies of ecclesiastical machinery nor churches nor xituals-but man. The office is nothing. the man everything. Manhood is sacred; office is name. The minister of the future who is man of power He must have the ordination of nature. TAa personal equation must grow neces- sAz11y larger.
 A man will be sacred not because he is In tho line of traditions, but because of tho inhsrsnt, the irresistible force of his manhood. Jesus Christ declared that he had chosen men; that he had ordained the personality of men. "I have chosen and ordained you and sent you forth that you should % and bring forth fruit" A man delivered . speech in the assembly nationals of France which fell upon hstless ears. Rousseau heard 1t, ssw it in it's power, its thought, memo rixsd 1t. and charged with his personal fly as delivered the next day 1t electri- hsd the assembly,. Such must be the power of personality in the ministry that will cosnmand the rushing throng of the city that now is and that Is grow ins. A minister, finding the fire in the grats had gone out. asked his wife to bring in something dry with which to light 1t. The good woman went out and pulled from . barrel an armful of her husband's old sermons. The day has gons by when that sort of sermons can command even the listless attention of tho pasing few.
 A COUNTRY CLERGYMAN.
 Such . ministry must abide in Christ. Tho scope and method of its work must b. ok the scope and method of Ohrist's wogk. To be successful it must be as beoaA = his gospel. He came to save the world Behold the Lamb of God ths* tsketh away the En of the world" His mission was tc save the whole world. '"Ths Lord hath anointed me to preach the Oespsl to the poor, to proclaim the acceptable year"-to preach to an inn prisoned world the gospel of liberty. He preached an intensely practical gospel. He cut to ths very hearts of mems secret live. He preached an applied gospel. To prsach is not merely proclamation. It is an application practical to life. Ono of tho secrets of the failure of the church today in its ministry is that 1t lacks the elements of dirsctnsss. We are not toushsd with the personal, everyday life of tho world. We do not get at the per- sonahty of the people.
 The old msthod of Engling out men was moro ehlcacious in really reaching them. A country clergyman recently had an experience that 1t might be well for tho pastors of some dead odty churches to adopt. The young people in the congre-