The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-12-03

| Oh, in that coming sermon CT the
! Christian church there will be living
! illustrations taken from everyday life
! of vicarioUs suffering illustrations
| that will bring TO mind the ghastlier
of Him who, in the high places of the
! field and on the cross, fought our bat
ties and wept our griefs and endured
our struggles and died our death.
/ 4 German sculptor made an image of
/ Christ, and he asked his little child,
/ two years old, who it was, and she
/ said: THAT must be some very great
/ man." The sculptor was displeased
with the criticism, so he got another
/ block of marble and ehiseled away on
( IS two or three years, and then he
| brought in his little child, four or FIVE
| years of age, md lie said to her: ''Who
/ do you thiuk thatiSP' 5be said: "That
must be the one who took little chill
| dren in His arms and blessed them?"
! Then the sculptor was satisfied. Oh,
my friends, what the world wants is
not n cold Christ, not an intellectual
Christ, not q severely magisterial
Christ but loving Christ, spreading
out His arms of sympathy to press the
whole world to His loving heart.
But l remark again that the coming
sermon of the Christian church will be
a short sermon. Condensation is de-
manded by the age in which we live.
No more need of long introductions
and long applications, and so many di-
visions to a discourse that it may be
said to be hydraheaded. In other days
men got all their information from the
pulpit. There were few books and
there were no newspapers, and there
was little travel from place to place,
and people would sit and listen two
and half hours to q religious discourse,
and "seyenteenthly" would find them
fresh and clipper. In those times
there was enough room for man to
take an hour to warm himself up to
the subject and an hour to cool off
But what was a necessity then is O
superfuity now. Congregations are
full of knowledge from books, from
newspapers, from rapid and continuous
ntercOmmunication; and long dis
qusitions of what they know already
will not be abided. If a religious
teacher can not compress what he
wishes to say to the people in the space
of 40 minutes, better adjourn to
some other day.
Paul preached until midnight, and
Eutychus got sound asleep, and fell
out of a window and broke his neck.
Some would say; Good for him"
would rather be sympathetic like Paul,
and resuscitate him. That accident is
often quoted now in religious circles
as q warning against sOmnolence in
church. 1t is just as much a warning
to ministers against prOlixity. Euty-
chuS was wrong in his sOmnOlence, but
Paul made mistake when he kept on
until midnight. He ought to h ave
stopped at i o'clock, and there would
have been no accident. If Paul might
have gone on to too great length, let
all those of US who are now preaching
the Gospel remember that there is
limit to religious discourse or
ought to be, and that in our time we
have no apostolic power or miracles.
Napoleon, in an address of seven
minutes thrilled his army and thrilled
Europe. Christ's sermon on the mount
the model sermon-was less than Is
minutes long at ordinary mode of de-
livery. 1t is not electricity scattered
all over the sky that strikes, but cleo
tricity gathered into a thunderbolt
and hurled, and it is not religious
truth scattered over, spread out over
vast reach of time, but religious
truth projected in compact form that
flashes light upon the soul and rives
its Indifference.
But l remark also that the coming
sermon of which L speak will be pop
ular sermon. There are those in these
times who speak of populas sermon
as though there must be something
wrong about it. AS these critics are
dull themselves, the world gets the i'm
preston that sermon is good in pro-
portion as it is stupid. Christ was the
most popular preacher the world ever
saw, and considering the small number
of the wold's population, He had the
largest audiences ever gathered. He
never preached anywhere without MAX
ing great sensation. People rushed out |
in the wilderness to hear Him, reckless
of their physical necessities. So great !
was their anxiety to hear Christ that,
taking no food with them, they would |
have tainted and starved had not !
Christ performed a miracle and fed |
them. Why did so many people take |
the truth at Christ's hands? Because |
they all understood it. He illustrated !
His subject by hen and her chickens, |
by i bushel measure, by a handful of |
salt, by birds flight and by IiIy's |
aroma. All the people knew what He /
and they focked to Hum. And |
when the coming sermon of the Chris |
tian church appears, it will not be |
not Rochesterian, not |
not IMiddletonian, but |
Olivetic - plain, practical, unique |
earnest, comprehensive of all the woes,
wants, sins, sorrows and necessities of |
an auditory.
But when that sermon does come |
there will be a thousand cleaning |
scimiters to charge on it. There are |
so many theological seminaries profess !
sors telling young men how to preach, |
not knowing how; and / /
am told if young man in some of our
Summaries says anything |
quaint or thrilling, or unique, faculty /
and students fly at him, and set him |
right, and stralghten him out, and |
smooth him down, and chop him off |
until he says everything just as every
body else says it. Oh, when the com
ing sermon of the Christian church ar
rives, all the churches of Christ in our
great cities will be thronged. The /
world wants spiritual help. All
who have buried their dead want COM
fort All know themselves to be NOR
tal and to be immortal, and they want
10 hear about the great future. tell
you, my friends, il the people of these
great cities who have had trouble only
thought they could get practical and
help in the Christian