The Globe-republican., 1897-11-25

~ that will be the
Go thou and preach the kingdom OF
Sod" We hear great deal in these
days about the coming man, and the
coming woman, and the coming time.
Some one ought to tell of the coming
sermon. 1t is simple fact that every
body knows that most of the sermons
Of today do not reach the world. The
vast majority of the people Of our
great cities never enter church.
. Fhe sermon Of today carries along
with it the deadwood of all ages. Hun
dreds OF years ago it was decided what
sermon ought to be. and it is the at
tempt of many theological seminaries
and doctors Of divinity to hew the
modern pulpit utterances into the same
old-style proportions. Booksellers
will tell you they dispose of hundred
histories, hundred novels, hundred
poems. to one book of sermons. What
Is the matter? Some say the age is the
worst OF all ages. 1t is better. Some
say religion is wearing out, when it is
wearing in. Some say there are so
many who despise the Christian reli-
gion. l answer. there never was an
age when there were so many Chris
ians, or SO many friends of Christian
!ty as this age has-our age; as 70
matter, then? 1t is simply because
our sermon of today is not suited to
The age. 1t is the canal boat in an age
of locomotive and electric telegraph.
The sermon will have to be shaken out
OF the old grooves or it will not be
heard and it will not be read.
Before the world is converted, the
sermon will have to be converted. You
might as well go into a modern Sc
dan or Gettysburg with bows and ar
rows instead of rifles and bombshells
and parks of artillery as to expect to
conquer this world for God by the old
styles OF sermonology. Jonathan Ed
wards. preached the sermons best
adapted to the age in which he lived,
but If those sermons were preached
now they would divide an audience in
to two classes; those sound asleep and
those wanting to go home.
But there is coming sermon-who
will preach it have no idea: in what
part of the earth it will be born have
no idea; in which denomination of
Christians it will be delivered, l can
not guess. That coming sermon may
be born in the country meeting house
or on the banks of the ST. Lawrence,
or the Oregon, OF the Ohio, or the Tom
bigbee. or the Alabama The person
who may deliver it may this moment
Sierra Nevadas, or in New England
farmhouse, or amid the rice fields of
Southern savannas. Or this moment
there may be some young man in some
of our theological seminaries, in the
junior, or middle, or senior class, shap-
ing that weapon of power Or there
may be coming some new baptisms of
the Holy Ghost on the churches. so
that some of us who now stand in the
watch towers Of Zion, waking to the
realization of our present ineficiency,
may preach it ourselves. That coming
sermon may not be twenty years of.
And let us pray God that its arrival
may be fastened. while announce to
you what think will be the chief char
acteristics of that sermon when it does
arrive; and l want to make the re-
marks appropriate and suggestive to
all classes Of Christian workers.
First Of all. 1 remark that the com
ing sermon will be full of a living
Christ. in contradistinction to didactic
technicalities. A sermon may be full
of Christ. though hardly mentioning
his name, and a sermon may be empty
of Christ while every sentence is repe-
titious of his titles. The world wants
a living Christ. not a Christ standing
at the head of a formal system of the
ology. but a Christ who means pardon
and sympathy and coincidence and
and life and heaven.
poor mans Christ. An over-worked |
mans Christ. An invalid's Christ. 4
farmers Christ. A merchants Christ |
An artisans Christ An every mans
Christ
A symmetrical and finely worded
system of theology is well enough for
theological classes, but it has no more
business in pulpit than have the
technical phrases of an anatomist. or
4 physician. in the sick room of a pa-
lient. The world wants help, imme-
date and world uplifting. and it will
,ome through sermon in which Christ
shall walk right down into the i'm
mortal sou; and take everlasting pos
session of it. filling it as full Of light
Is is the MONDAY armament. That
sermon of the future will not deal with
men in the threadbare illustrations of
Iesus Christ. In that coming sermon
here will be instances of vicarious
sacrifice taken right out of everyday
lie. for there Is not day somebody
. not dying for others. As the physi-
ian. saving his diphtheric patient by
his own life: as the ship
.2ptain going down With his vessel