The record-union., 1899-10-22

suffered IN eXplatlOn OIL HuHieiu Sullt,
suffered in the place of men, offered
Himself as sacrifice for sin, and hears
on the other side that Gethsemane ana
the Cross We're only a manifestation or
the love of God made TO conciliate men
and to induce them to be at one with
God. 1t is also enough to awaken
doubt when men are told that they can
not know just what they ought 10
think about the Bible until the critics
are agreed in regard to the amount OF
credit to be given to this or that por-
ton of the Scriptures. Apart, however,
from these features of the time we i've
in, it is true that seasons OF religious
declension have occurred frequently in
the history of the Christian church, and
have been followed by periods of re-
vival when thousands have been led to
repentance towards God and faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ. One fact can
be relied upon, namely, that faithful
proclamation of the whole counsel or
God has always been followed by
rich blessing from God. But it must
be the whole COUNSEL and not a one
sided or partial presentation OF truth.
Men must preach righteousness as we'll
as love, condemnation as well as saliva
ton, peril as we'll as privilege.
y Il
zone Of the serious defects of modern
preaching" says. the "Watchman"
Rapt), of Boston, 'is that it is too
practical in the sense of being too par
ticular. The minister feels called upon
to tell the statesman, the business man,
the employer, and the employe, just
how he should act. In the nature OF
the case the minister has only the most
superficial knowledge of the special
conditions as to which be is giving di-
rections. If he knew more about them
he might reverse his counsel, but he
brings ito bear the entire weight of his
position, as an accredited religious
teacher, to the enforcement of a course
of action which the man in the pew
knows would be unjust or unwise. The
minister knows just enough about So
ciology or economics to make his ap-
peals worthless. What, then, is the min
lister to do? Preach doctrines about
which no one cares, or lash the sins Of
the scribes and Pharisees? By no
means, we answer. He is to preach
Righteousness and Christianity. He is to
seek to reinforce the moral motive in
the hearts of his hearers. He is to re-
vivify their consciences; and that is a
apt to think for. The trouble with
most men is not that they are in doubt
as to what the right thing is, but they
are too weak to do it. They see what
they ought to do with perfect clearness,
but self-interest, the lust of gain or
pleasure, come in to peryert their
action. A sermon that terminated their
sense Of God, and Of the supreme claims
of righteousness, would be far more apt
to lead them to do the right thing than
any labored exposition of what the ma n
who necessarily looks on from without
conjectures that the right thing is"
paul thanked God that he had been
called not to baptize but to preach the
Gospel The meaning of that phrase
few have attained' says the "Interior''
Pres.) of Chicago but it would be
well for us all if we could reach that
sense of proportion without which our
Christian life must be a thing of mot
ley The preacher to whom there is no
little and no big makes a sad mess of
it; but he does worse who always puts
the trifle to the fore. We have in all
our professions thinkers and advocates
of this class. There are physicians who
will talk as learnedly upon an in-grow-
ing toe-nail as upon tuberculosis; and
lawyers who arr ;as fiery in pressing a
suit for recovery of a shoat as in de
nse of fundam ntal pliaciple Of law;
and ministers to whom a rule of the
presbyrett,f
presbytery is as inviolable as a COM
mandment of the decalogue The
preacher who exhausts his strength in
denouncing trifles and who puts mat
ters of propriety upon the same plane
as the cardinal virtues, has much yet
to learn from Jthe silences of the
epistles"