The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-22


the exposition and extension of the gospel.
Let genius, learning, accomplishment of
every kind stand aside to make way for the
coming of the Holy Spirit
Nothing contributes more to the mag
netic power Of preacher than moral sim
certify. Men show little regard any more
for the clerical garb or the clerical man
ner. Neither do they attach the old time
weight to the officialism, the functional au-
thority of a minister. The cloth no longer
commands Difference from the multitude
Miltons formula for successful writing is
that the poet ought himself to be true
poem. In like sense the successful preach
er must be the incarnation of the gospel
which he breaches. He must be animated
by an overmastering conviction OF the
truth of what he breaches. Like Thomas
Carlyle's father he must be a Christian
with all his faculties. Only through the
force and nobility of his character, together
with the vitality and worth of his message,
can the preacher of to-day expect TO re-
ceive a large and patient hearing.
ONLY INTELLIGENT PREACHING Eff
FECTIVE.
But while the minister must be devout
as man, it must be borne in mind that
no amount of devoutness in a preacher can,
in any wise, atone for poverty of thought
IN his sermons. Whatever isolated instances
may be adduced to the contrary the gen.
eral principle holds that among intelligent,
thoughtful people only intelligent and
thoughtful preaching is effective. Solid
food for full-grown men, is Paurs rule as
translated by the revisers. Faithful men
able to teach is his description
of the kind of preachers whom
he enjoned Timothy to install
instructors in the churches. Christian
people are beginning to learn the unWis-
don Of sending men as missionaries to
heather lands, matter how great their
piety and ZEAL who do not possess suffi-
cient intellectual capacity and force of
character to become leaders of men at
home. 1t ought to be evident that large and
AMIR &c ir,lfc Ia
hcation for the successful preaching of the
gospel everywhere.
1T may be freely conceded that excep-
tional attainments in science and literature
are not absolutely requisite 1t may even
be grs nted that there is much liability Of
the spiritual vision being so refracted and
distorted by the wisdom of this world as to
become a fatal obstacle to effectiveness in
religious teaching But there is no neces-
Sary incompatibility between the profound
est scholarship of the present age and the
truest Christian faith. There is not in all
Chrstendom a conspicuously successful de-
nomination of believers whose ministry has
not furnished eminent examples of the eff
clent preaching of the gospel by college
Dred men who are linked TO God. The Meth
odist Church, which belts the globe with
its unrivaled evangelism among men of all
classes, was born in a college. Certainly
no Christian body in modern times has sur
passed it in ChriStianiZing the so-called
common people among whom, it might be
supposed, an intelligent, cultivated minis
| try would be of least avail. 1t must not be
| forgotten that its founder to whom ii owes
| of the people was the legitimate outcome
| OF university life and tie grace of Christ.
| history of the Christian ministry than the
| fact that a man may be unlettered and at
| the same time have such soundness and
vigor of mind and so mastery a type of
| character that, under the baptism of the
| Holy Ghost he may preach the gospel with
great power, despite his lack of educa-
| ton in the schools. But this affords no
| support to the theory that intellectual i'm
| potence is in some way conducive to spir-
| itual power
| SOIL FOR TRUE PROPHETIC SPIRIT.
Ignorance and limited intelligence have
never been the soil in which the true pro-
phetic spirit has been nurtured. Amos was
! a humble herdsman and dresser of fig-trees,
| but it by no means followed that he was
wanting in intellectual capacity or attain
| mentS. His calling did not necessarily ex-
| clude him from opportunities of becoming
| well-informed man and cogent thinker.
| The tide of travel over the great high
way from Hebron to the North country
passed hard by his Tekoan home. Hebrew
pilgrims bound to or from their national
| shrine, on Mount Zion, Egyptian trades
men on their way to Tyre, Canaanitish and
| Syrian merchants going down to Egypt,
| soldiers, Statemen, ScholarS-all fulfilled for
MN the service that periodical literature
| and the circulating library do for men to-
| day. 1t is reasonable to conclude that the
| disposal OF his annual product OF wool took
| him to such centers OF trade Jerusalem
| and Samaria. Markets and sanctuaries,
| festivals and fairs were for him so many
| schools in which he came in contact with
| the latest news and thought of his day.
| Hence when we read his prophecies we hear
| not the utteranceS of recluse with a mar
! row and cloudy mental horizon. but the
| commanding voice of a brainy man who is
fully abreast Of the social, political and
| religious life OF his day. No sufficient eVi-
| dence has been adduced to show that the
| first disciples chosen by our Lord were not
| educated men in the truest sense. IMMERSED
n a
| were. 1t is equally clear, too, that they
| were taken from the ranks of the common
| people. But the fact that there were peas
ants and fishermen among them argues
nothing to the sagacity and mental
men of men in Palestine in age when
| learning and manual labor were consid-
| cred as nowise incompatible and often went
| hand in hand. No one supposes that the
| forceful character and rigorous mental
| nothing to the peerless preaching of the
| good tidings by the Apostle to the Gen
| tiles.
Let it be said with all possible emphasis
| that education is not and cannot be the
secret of true preaching. power For UNI
| derStanding of the mysteries of divine grace
and insight into the needs of human hearts
which are fundamental and Indispensable
qualifications for the Christian ministry
nothing avails but the baptism of the Holy
Ghost But given this the value of a
sound education is an equipment in the use
of spiritual gifts which cannot easily be
oVereStimated.
mo church can permanently prosper that
d
circumstances draws a large proportion of
it's preaching force from the ranks of me-
diOcrity and illiteracy. This is but another
way of saying that church that does not
place high value upon educated min
iStry can make any wide or lasting impress
sion upon the present generation. If for
malism and philosophy falsely so called
and lifelessEess are the perils of edu-
Gated ministry (and they are), none the less
are narrowness and fanaticism and empty
emotionalism the perilS of an uneducated
ministry. And this leads us to the conclu-
sion that for effectiveness in preaching the
emotional and intellectual elements in the
minister must be rightly balanced. On the
one hand he must be man of vigorous and
be quick and hearty. He must have warm
and unaffected fellow-feeling for the learn
ed and ignorant the old and the young.
the rich and the poor No brilliancy
vigor of intellectual gifts will supply in
him the want of tender sympathy for the
erring, the perpleXed, the weak, the sorrow
ing. the fallen.
1.-The essential function of preaching is
not SO much to teach, important as 1t may
be- as to stimulate and strengthen and en-
courage He that propheseth,' says Paul,
'speaketh unto men to edification and COM
fort and consolation The gospel in every
age is good tidings to the poor the broken
Isaiah said of himself: The Lord hath Civ
en- me the tongue of them that are taught,
that | should know how to sustain with
words them that are weary.
'Ciceronian thought. diction and delivery
may elicit admiration and applause, and
yet utterly fail to accomplish any worthy
results A great speech before q jury is a
fine thing said O'Connell. the noted irish
orator. but after all, the real thing is the
verdict And so of a sermon. The IN Ssag e