The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-06-04
Let Us Have Done With Notions
Men Want Staple Goods
BY BISHOP WARREN A. GAMBLER.

of popular curiosity to know actfy
what il was, and how 1t was done. The
remarkable thing about it seems to be
that there was no remarkable thing
about 1t save in its results Against
such demonstrations Of the power OF
Christ and Christianity as are aTordei
by the London and New York meet
lngS infldelity can make no headway.
They prove that man wants religion.
and that when he finds what he wants
in its purity and simplicity, he will get
It. They prove that Christianity only
needs to be preached In pgrity and
simplicity to win the triumphs for
which the church has looked and
prayed SO long"
Now all these mighty men whom I
nave mentioned tand many more like
them, such as Knox. Whitfield Ed
wards and Finney, might be men
tfoned), preached the old common
place dogmas that certain class OF
men are perpetually decrying. Yet
they wrought results never equalled.
or even approached. by the apostles
of liberalism and the opponents or
dogma. How did they do it, They did
It by honestly believing and sincerely
preaching, under tbs power OF the
Spirit. the eSsential truths Of Chris
tfan1ty, severeiy' letting alone specu1a-
tive novelties end vulgar sunsa tionai-
ism. They were able believers rather
pulpiteers
And the world needs more Of their
sort today. The world can never have
too many men like them.
We have plenty CT men who preach
LET Us HAVE DONE-TSEO
the commonplace truths in tho Gullest
and most commonplace fashion Trey
have never really made those truths
their own, and they cannot preach
them in any other than a dull way
They are intellectually too lazy to dis
Germ the existence of their own doubts
and they think they believe because
they do not deny the fundamentals OF
the Christianity which they profess.
BY consequence thcre is 10 ring of
genuineness end reality in what they
say, T,heir speech betrayeth their
faithlessn esq
On the other hand. we have plenty
Of men who try to get attention for
their preaching by discussing sensa-
tional topics, current events, city poll
tiles and popular reforms, And not
utterly unlike them IS another class
who are perpetaaily proclaimtng how
advanced is their thought and how lib
e-al Is their creed AL these several
.slasses-the duh sermonizers and the
agitated a itas ors--despise each other
and 10 not see that In truth they are
all of the same class. VIZ: the class OF
strongly enough to preach it with in
terest- and who. therefore, preach
prosliy or resort to naeretrici Gus meth
Ods to disguise the poverty and sterility
of their faith-
Let a man really believe and sin
cereiy proclaim the tremendous truths
of sin and salvation as they are ser
forth in the Holy Scriptures, and he
will command a hearing without re
sort to any pulpit tricks or cleri-
cal chariatanry In very noble
sense his preaching Will be sensational,
just as the preaching Of Jesus was SEN
sationa1 whcn 1t was said of Him,
1.-The common people heard him glad
ly.' But he VIII not be what is COM
monty called "a scnsationa,iSt."
There is nothing more pit!ful and
painful in the present time than the
methods employed by many preach
ers to make their pulpit draw" All
sorts OF advertising wiles and spurious
sensationalism are adopted to get at
tention for a ministry which having
lost grip on essential truth lives in
mortal dread that it will lose its
hold ion the public ear. Hence
these parodie5 on preaching Of which
I have been speaking.
What is needed is, that men in the
pulpit go out OF the motion business"
and begin to deal honestly in staple
goods Pulpit peddhng of shoddy
wares is a poor business for full
grown man to engage in.
In one of his charming books
Thomas Nelson Page makes one Of his
strongest chara cters utter these weigh
ty words: The CLERGY no longer
preach with power because they no
longer believe with strength. 3
Continued on Page Seven.)