The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-01-11
prencher. Must Deliver aoa's message.

Some recent events have led to a reviv-
al of the "btoad Church. plea. that a
preacher should speak out all that he be-
iieves to be the truth. without fear Of the
Congregation, and unfettered by ortho-
doxy or heterodoxy. This frankness is
supposed to be warranted by PauFs word,
'tas of sincerity n we speak" The
whole emphasis is, put upon sincerity"
But tie first emphasis should not be
| placed there. Sincerity is, of course, an
absolutely essential thing IN, q preacher,
but fidelity is a prime essential. A man
may be sincerely mistaken, and has mis-
take may have far-reaching consequences
Of i'll for others.
| The first business of . Christian teacher
| is to receive His message, and then, sim
cerely, to transmit it. The fundamentals
| of that message are permanently fixed
they arc historical-and no plea of sin.
| c~erity" must be allowed to interfere with
them. If the chief emphasis be placed
upon subjective sincerity, the door is cas-
ily opened to every heresy and every fad.
This, in fact. is what hes happened times
without number.
It is sometimes asserted. that the
"charches are empty" because people will
not believe in the miraculous. We are
| bound to object to the statement; 1t -
not true. But it is, unfortunately, true
that many occupants Of the Iavss. are
in a state of amaZement at the hagrant
| contradiction between the truths an.
nounced week by week in the Greed, and
| the denials of these truths, or the watering
| down OF them by many who live by
tfera.
The crux OF the whole question is not
lin any detail concerning miracle, but In
this: Is God Master in His own world, or
lis He not? And has He interfered or
not with its order for the purpose OF saw
ing Ilcn? If the answer IS mo-" Is a
man entitled to call himself a believer at
all? Eut if God has interviewed IN the
Person Of Jesus Christ to save the world,
il Jesus really came from Him to reveal
Him, then something out OF the Ordinary
must have happened. -.
Our Lord either commenced His exis.
| tence for the first time at Bethlehem, or
| He came from "the other side" into our
| world. If the former, then He was simp.
| ly one member of our race, and there was
no true incarnation. If the latter, then
miracle" is not simply possible, it is i'm.
| peratively demanded. A true incarnation
| demands Al exceptional entrance into and
| an exceptional exit from our world. 30
| the whole matter comes to this: Have We
o Saviour or not? Yes or no! CompIom'
ise here is Psychological and impossible.
One further thing, since the matter is
30 vital. We hear of preachers who
would have the stories of the virgin birth,
the resurrection and the ascension, either
| eliminated from the Gospel record. or SO
etherealned as to be denuded. of ali their
historic significance
They have no reasons save their dislike
for the supernatural. But their nearest
approach to a reason is: the fact OF the
silence of the Gospels concerning these
great things. Our Lord, it is said, never
mentions His W miraculous birth; some
evangelists omit the story. st. Paul new
er mentioned it, and this is saidrto be
"evidence to the contrary" Evidence!
It is playing. with words. Fhey testified
to the ultimate truth which included it;
And that is the great thing after all. DID
not our Lord. say repeatedly that He had
come down from heaven? Did not john
speak of Him as come from the bosom. OF
the Father, and as being in the beginning
with God? Did not Paul speak of His
pre-existence with God? It is not Just to
omit reference to these things. What,
then, becomes of this Wanted argument
from silence?"-London Christian.