The Washington herald., 1913-05-11

SO and so?' or, May ask you to sing
hymn SO and soT Then on the Sunday
before communion they venture to re-
mark that II any one desires to unite
with this church, either by letter or
confession of faith he will have the op-
portunity Of doing so the following
week. May we.' shall we,' and IF are
the words of doubt and dcfeat They
lack force and point. They denote in
difference. undue humility, or a fear
that the preacher may accidentally step
on somebody's feet.
Every time q minister gets up to
preach before large congregation he
sounds the death knell OF some soul
1t is a fearful responsibility. A doubter'
balanced on the edge is sure to be
present. 1t is the psychological half
hour for that man or woman II the
minister is not equal to the crisis, the
person ready to make the turn goes
away and may never again be in the
frame of mind that he was when he en-
tered the church. A minister must be
very much In earnest. He can't If
and may and shall and walk uncer-
tainly into the pulpit. He must be in
teEse and filed with zeal and convic-
tioh. And the Holy Ghost will help
such a man, but the Holy Ghost can't
be expected to take any more interest
chanical preacher takes In himself.
There are 10000 elders in the Pres
byterian Church. Some of them call
themselves ruling elders Well, elders
don't do any ruling these days. Church
trials are out of fashion. If a church
member takes a cocktail at his club
we don't haul him before the ruling
elder. but We say: Brother. you have
done wrong. We are not going to pu,
you on trial. but we ask you not to
do 1t again. So the elders do not rule.
Mostly. they loaf. l believe in team
work.
Tears Up All His Sermons.
IF our elders in the United States
would get together in twos We should
have 5000 teams. And il each team
were to bring one person into church
every week Presbyterianism would grow
at the rate of $1,000 converts a month, or
$4,000 year. In 1912 only 1900 persons
Joined the Presbyterian Church. I charge
the elders with the loss OF nearly 100000
new members OF our denomination.
They are mediocre men, too. as you
would call them. What 10 the smatter
with the church? The inquiry 10 heard
in all directions. What i have said may
answer the question.
How do you prepare your sermons?"
I asked next.
II dictate them-two a week-to a
stenographer, first working them out In
my mind as a lawyer would work out a
case. Then l preach them without look
ing at the manuscripts unless what say
Is likely to cause misunderstanding or q
debate When / read a sermon / read IT.
hold the manuscript up before the peo-
pie and stand away from the pulpit. I
don't sneak it onto an open Bible and
pretend l am speaking extemporaneously.
All OF my sermons are torn UP immed-
ately after they are delivered
The Dangers of a Barrel.
preachers, 1 heard~whle a boy. kept
their sermons in barrels. I decided to
deny myself that luxury. l have done
forever with a sermon the moment IL is
preached. The policy Of destruction
keeps me at work. -
Il wanted to grow when I first came |
to the ministry and was afraid to trust !
myself with q Darrell would dip into |
it occasionally. / knew. Dipping of that |
sort becomes habit by and by, and /
before one knows il sermon writing is
a hard labor and is shirked whenever
possible. The practice of throwing my
sermons into the fire or waste-basket |