Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-11-26

at him and thought, "You would be
Just as much Of q hero In the same
crisis.
Oh, In that coming sermon Of the
Christian church there will be living
illustrations taken from everyday life
Of vicarious sufferings - illustrations
that will bring to mind the ghastlier
sacrifice Of him who, in the high places
of the field and ON the cross, fought our
battles and wept our griefs and endured
our struggles and died our death.
A German sculptor made an image Of
Christ, and he asked his little child, .
years old, who it was, and she said,
THAT must be some very great man.
The sculptor was displeased with the
criticism, so be got another block OF
marble and chiseled away on it two or
three years, and then he brought in his
little child. or . years Of age. and he
said to her, "Who do you think that
is?' She said, THAT must be the One
who took little children in his arms and
blessed them" Then the sculptor was
satisfied. Oh, my friends, what the
world wants is not cold Christ, not an
Intellectual Christ, not severely mag
isterial Christ, but a loving Christ,
spreading out his arms Of sympathy to
press the whole world to his loving
heart.
But I 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 divisions
to a discourse that it may be said to be
hydra headed In other days men got all
their information from the pulpit There
were few books and there were no news
papers and there was little travel from
place to place, and people would SIT and
listen two and a half hours to reli-
gious discourse, and "seventeenthly"
would find them fresh and clipper. In
those times there was enough room for
q man to take an hour to warm himself
up to the subject and an hour to cool
of. But what was a necessity then Is
superfuity now Congregations are full
of knowledge from books, from newspa-
pers, from rapid and continuous inter-
communication, and long disquisitions
Of what they know already will not be
abided. II a religious teacher cannot
compress what he wishes to say to the
people in the space Of 40 minutes, bet
ter adjourn it to some other day.
The Time to Stop.
The trouble is we preach audiences
into q Christian frame and then we
preach them out Of it. We forget that
every auditor has so much capacity OF
attention, and when that is exhausted
he is restless That accident on the Long
Island railroad came from the fact that
the brakes were out Of order, and when
they wanted to stop the train they could
not stop, hence the casualty was terri
ac In all religious discourse we want
locomotive power and propulsion; we
want at the same time stout brakes to
let down at the right instant Ii Is
dismal thing, after hearer has compre-
hended the whole subject, to hear man
saw. Now to recapitulate, " and "a
few words by way of application, and
"once more" and finally. " and now
to conclude.
Paul preached until midnight, and
Eutychus got sound asleep and fell out
of 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
warning against somnolence in church
lt is lust as much warning TO minis
ters against prolixity Eutychus wa
wrong in his somnolence, but Pau
made a mistake when he kept on until
midnight He ought TO have stopped a
fl o'clock, and there would have beer
, no accident II Paul might have gon'
on to too great length, let all those o
} us who are now preaching the gospe
remember that there is limit 70 TO
} ligious discourse, or ought to be- ant
, that in or time we have no apoStoll
power or miracles Napoleon. III an ad
dress Of seven minutes, thrilled his arm
, and thrilled Europe. Christ sermon o.
the mount-the model sermon-was les
than Is minutes long at ordinary mod
. of delivery 1t is not electricity scatter
ed all over the sky that strikes, bu
electricity gathered into thunderbol
| and hurled, and it is not religious trut
scattered over. spread out over vas
reach of time, but religious truth pro
jected in compact form that flashes ligh
upon the soul and rives its indifference
3 When the coming sermon arrives u
J this land and in the Christian church
\ the sermon which is to arouse the worl'
and startle the nations and usher in tn
kinedom-it will bs a brief sermon
Hear it, all theological students. all y
: Just entering upon religious work, al
= We men and women who In Sabbatl
! schools and other departments are toll
q ing for Christ and the salvation OF i'm
4 mortals BSevity, brevityl
r But remark also that the coming ser
: mon of which speak will be a popula
( sermon. There are those in these time
9 who speak Of q popular sermon
9 though there must be something wron
: about it, AS these critics are dull them
i selves, the world gets the impression
!. that a sermon is good in proportion a
+ il is stupid Christ was the most popu
4 lar preacher the world ever saw and
= considering the small number OF tn
= worlds population, had the largest au
e di0nces ever gathered He never preache
It anywhere without making great sen
p sstion. People rushed out In the wiide'
l. ness to hear him. reckless Of their ply
o ical necessities So great was their anx
9 ety to hear Christ that, taking no 100
Is with them, they would have fainte
y and starved had not Christ performed
g miracle and fec them. Why did
y many people take the truth at Christ
8 handsl Because they all understood
= He illustrated his subject by hen az
Is her chickens. by bushel measure by
d handful of salt, by birds flight al
% by lily's aroma All the people kne
~. A.. r..1 ff,h n IN