The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1899-11-25

was satisfied, Oh, my lfenuA' N""'
,,.orrJ wants is not a cold Christ ho'"u
intellectual Christ not seNettit mug
;sterioI Christ. but a loving NhFls'
spreading out His arms of sympathy 10
press the whole world TO Ills LOVING
heart. .,..,..riai,us
discourse of the future Will have to De
short. Condensation is demaheeo pg
The oac fuWhich we live. No more noeu
of lono introductious and long appIiea-
tiops and So many divisions to us
course that it may be said to be hlGIo-
headed. In other days men got atl t'''''
information from the pulpit, lheTe
wore few books and there were no
newspapers, and there was little traNel
from place to place, and people WOMB
sit and listen two and half hours 10
n religious discourse, and "aeNeulte"''-
~, would find them fresh and chlpper'
In those DAYS there was enough u'ue
fo,. , man 10 take an hour to warm MN
self mn TO the subject and an houf 70
COOL off But what was necessity theh
is superiority now. Congregations
are fun of knowledge from books. rom
newspapers, from rapid and cohtInu-
ous iutercommunication and long as
ouisitions of what they know already
will not be abided IfareligiouS teach
err cannot compress what he wishes 10
say TO the people in the space OF % MN
utes. better adjourn it 10 some other
day.
The trouble is we preach audiences
into a Christian frame, and then we
preach them out of it, We forget thal
every auditor has so much capacity OF
attention, and when that is exhausted
he is restless. That accident on the
Long Island railroad years ago came
from the fact that the brakes were out
of order, and when they wanted TO stop
the train they could not stop, and hence
the casualty was terrific. In all ISL
gious discourse we want locomotive
power and propulsion. We want at the
same time stout brakes to let down at
the right instant. 1t is dismal thing
after a hearer has comprehended the
whole subject to hear man say; Now
TO recapitulate," and "A few words by
way of application" and Once more .
and "Finailv." and "Now TO conclude"
But | remark also that the religious
discourse of the future of which speak
will be a popular discourse. There are
those in these times who speak of pop
ular sermon as though there must be
something wrong about it. As these
critics are dun themselves. the world
oets the impression that sermon is
oood in Droportion as it is stupid. Christ
Tyos the most popular preacher the
world ever saw and, considering the
small number of the worlds popula.
ton. had the largest audiences ever
gathered. He never preached anywhere
without making a great sensation. PEG
Dle rushed out in the wilderness to heal
| him reckless of their physical necessi
ties So great was their anxiety t.
hear Christ that, taking no food witt
! them. they would have tainted anC
starved had not Christ performed {
miracle and fed them. Why did 81
many ppople take the truth at Christ,
hands? Because they all understood
IT, He illustrated his subject by a her
and her chickens. by bushel measure
nv handful of salt, by birds figh
and by lilv's aroma. All the peopll
knew what he meant, and they fockeC
10 Him. And when the religious dis
course of the future appears it will no
be Princetonian, not Rochesterian, no
Andoyerian. not Middletonian, but Oil
vetic-plain, practical, unique. earnest
comprehensive of all the woes. wants
sins and sorrows of an auditory.
Rut when the exhortation or dis
course does come there will be thou
sand oleaminp scimeters to charge OF
u There are in so many theologica
Summaries professors telling vouni
men how to preach. themselves no
l,,oyiDq how and I am told that il
vouno man in some Of our Theological
seminaries saws ANYTHING quaint o
thrilling or UNIQUE faculty and student
fv at him and set him right an
straipbten him out and smooth hir
down and chop him off until he says e,
ervthino inst as everybody else saws i
oh. when the future religious discours
of the Christian church arrives all tn
churches of Christ in our great cite
will he thronged! The world want
sniritual helm. All who have burfe
tl,eir dead want comfort All kno,
themselves TO be mortal and TO be in
mortal, and they want to hear abou
the great future. I tell YOU, my friend,
if the people Of our great cities VIII
have had trouble only thought the
could oct practical and svmnatheti
helm in the Christian church, tber
would MOI no a strea4 IN Jyaabiro+o,, r