JAN S) 1919 
 
 BV 600 .B87 
 Burnett, J. F. 1G51- 
 The church, the pillar and 
 ground of the truth 
 
JAN i^ 1919 
 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 THE PILLAR AND GROUND 
 OF THE TRUTH 
 
 / 
 
 By John Franklin Burnett 
 author of 
 
 "Christian Endeavor Addresses," "Origin and 
 Principles of the Christians," Etc. 
 
 The Christian Publishing Association 
 
 DAYTON. OHIO 
 
Copyright, 1917, by 
 
 The Christian Publishing Association, 
 
 Dayton, Ohio. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Dedication 6 
 
 Some Forewords 7 
 
 Introductory 11 
 
 The Church 13 
 
 The Idealized Church 13 
 
 Established by Christ 13 
 
 The Church One Body 15 
 
 Christ the Head 16 
 
 A Divine Institution 17 
 
 Has a Divine Builder 18 
 
 Has a Divine Foundation 19 
 
 Has a Divine Law 20 
 
 Has a Divine Membership 21 
 
 Has a Divine Name 23 
 
 The Name Includes All Believers 29 
 
 The Name Distinguishes Christ's Followers From 
 
 the World but not From Each Other 31 
 
 The Name Would Honor the Christ 32 
 
 The Church Has Two Divine Ordinances — 
 
 Baptism and the Lord's Supper 32 
 
 The Church Has a Divine Commission 34 
 
 The Church Has a Divine Assurance of Triumph 34 
 
The Local Church 35 
 
 The Church at Jerusalem the Model 36 
 
 The Local Church an Independent Unit 38 
 
 The Local Church not Buled by Bishops 41 
 
 What the Local Church Has no Right to Do 43 
 
 It Has no Right to Adopt a Creed 43 
 
 It Has no Right to Formulate a Doctrine 44 
 
 It Has no Right to Appropriate a Name Except 
 
 for Local Identification 45 
 
 It Has no Right to Limit Its Fellowship by Sec- 
 tarian Tests 46 
 
 It Has no Right to Enforce Binding Rules 47 
 
 It Has no Right to a Name That Includes All the 
 Followers of Christ if Its Test of Membership 
 
 Excludes Some 47 
 
 What the Local Church Has a Right to Do 47 
 
 A Christian Church 61 
 
 What It Is 61 
 
 Independent, but not Isolated 52 
 
 Church Officers 55 
 
 Pastors 57 
 
 Elders 59 
 
 Duties 60 
 
 Deacons 60 
 
 Origin of the Office of Deacon 60 
 
 Method of Choosing 63 
 
 Qualification 64 
 
 Office not Confined to Men 65 
 
 Duties 67 
 
Ordination and Term of Service 70 
 
 Other Church Officers 71 
 
 Discipline 73 
 
 Watch-care 74 
 
 Adjustment of Private and Personal Grievances, . 75 
 
 Offense Against the Whole Church 76 
 
 Exclusion of Members 77 
 
 Principles Set Forth 79 
 
 Receiving Members 80 
 
 Choosing a Pastor , 84 
 
 The Importance of Care 84 
 
 A Wrong Way to Do It 84 
 
 The Right Way to Do It 88 
 
 The Preacher 93 
 
 His Call and Commission 93 
 
 Qualification and Preparation 100 
 
 Preparation 105 
 
 A Vital Christian Experience 107 
 
 Preacher and Man One and the Same Personality 109 
 
 Preparation Through His Own Efforts 110 
 
 The Message and Its Preparation 118 
 
 Range of Subjects 119 
 
 Sermons Poorly Planned 120 
 
 Physical Preparation 127 
 
 Dependence and Independence 135 
 
 What Is Promised Him 137 
 
 Hints, Suggestions, Illustrations 143 
 
 Sensational Preaching 151 
 
TO THE MEMORY OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 PREACHERS WHO LIVED AND LABORED IN 
 THE LONG AGO, AND TO THEIR SUCCESSORS 
 IN SERVICE FOR ALL TIME TO COME THIS 
 LITTLE VOLUME IS SINCERELY DEDICATED. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
SOME FOREWORDS 
 
 ONE — The writing of a book is serious busi- 
 ness. If error should be taught the readers are 
 wrongly affected, and must suffer harm. On the 
 other hand, if truth is taught the author speaks 
 to many and influences many for good, who other- 
 wise would never come under his influence. 
 
 TWO — It was not the author's purpose in the 
 beginning to write a book. Indeed, such a thing 
 did not occur to him until the matter had all been 
 written one or more times. Originally he studied 
 and wrote, as he had opportunity, for the sake 
 of discovering Biblical teaching concerning the 
 Church, and when he had thus studied and writ- 
 ten, it occurred to him to offer to others the bene- 
 fit of what he had discovered. 
 &'•' 
 
 THREE — The entire work has been done at 
 such times as could be spared from the regular 
 duties and strenuous obligations of the author's 
 life, which made extensive research an impossibil- 
 
ity, and necessarily limited adequate thought and 
 literary preparedness, and yet the author feels 
 assured that in the work he offers, there will be 
 found sufficient evidence to justify his conclu- 
 sions. 
 
 FOUR — The author does not flatter himself 
 that the book is meeting a long felt want, but he 
 does feel that all too little is known about the 
 Church that Jesus Christ is building upon the 
 Rock, and hence with the hope and desire that this 
 little volume may stimulate a study of, and a love 
 for that Church, he ventures to send it forth upon 
 its mission, even though it may not possess liter- 
 ary excellence, nor the polish of a scholarly pro- 
 duction. 
 
 FIVE — The book contains and expresses the 
 author's individual conviction of the subjects he 
 treats. It is not authorized by the Church, nor 
 endorsed by an organization. The Christian 
 Church, as such, does not pronounce upon any 
 Biblical subject, and while the author most sin- 
 cerely believes all he has written, he would vote 
 against an official endorsement of it by the Church 
 to which he belongs. 
 
SIX — This book belongs to, and is issued by. 
 The Christian Publishing Association, and that 
 too without profit, compensation, or obligation to 
 the author, but The Christian Publishing Associa- 
 tion does not assume responsibility for the doc- 
 trinal utterances, being controlled by a brother- 
 hood that allows individual interpretation of the 
 Scriptures, making Christian character the only 
 test of fellowship. With our people, freedom of 
 utterance is equally a right with freedom of inter- 
 pretation ; the one implying the other. 
 
 SEVEN — The author desires to acknowledge 
 his obligation to the printers who set the type, 
 to the proof-reader who corrected the errors, to 
 the Manager who gave the manuscript personal 
 attention, to the men who made up the forms, and 
 to the superintendent, foremen, and workers of 
 the composing and press rooms, for their kindly, 
 patient service, by which the book possesses value 
 it would not otherwise have had- 
 
 EIGHT — The author acknowledges special 
 obligation to Rev. Samuel Quinn Helfenstein, 
 D. D., who verified the Greek phrases and refer- 
 ences, and to Mrs. Lulu Craig Helfenstein, for 
 
careful attention given to the literary character 
 of the manuscript. 
 
 NINE — It is a very special pleasure to have 
 the Introductory by Rev. Pressley E. Zartmann, 
 and the author feels highly complimented 
 in having his little book contain such valuable 
 matter from the pen of a fellow servant whose 
 brotherly fellowship has been a blessing and an 
 inspiration for almost a quarter of a century. 
 
 John Franklin Burnett. 
 
 Dayton, Ohio, April 16, 1917. 
 
 The sixty-sixth anniversary of his birth. 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 With no intention to overdo the privilege here 
 accorded me, it is with the utmost sincerity that 
 the reader's attention is called to the contents of 
 this volume. The author, in his own clear and 
 distinct way, sets forth the Church — its place, its 
 function, its force as a leader. Then he goes 
 about to call attention to the duties and privileges 
 of its various officers. In it all, no attempt has 
 been made to assume the attitude of "thou shalt" 
 or "thou shalt not," but specially calling the 
 reader to heed "former things," with the 
 Scriptural basis for the position taken. 
 
 The close reader will at once be convinced of 
 the absolutely Biblical setting of the Church and 
 its auxiliaries. The book does not set forth the 
 position of any denomination. It is not a rule of 
 doctrine and practice for the Presbyterian, the 
 Methodist, the Baptist, or any of the many other 
 branches of the Church, but outlines in distinct 
 simplicity the meaning of the Church of our Lord 
 
and Savior, Jesus Christ, the members of which 
 are Christ-ians. Deep-rooted and comprehensive, 
 it is clear-cut and Biblical. Speaking with 
 definiteness, the author cites Scriptural proof for 
 the position taken in things doctrinal and govern- 
 mental, with, however, emphatic notation that 
 individual interpretation is the Biblical privilege 
 of every follower of the Man of Galilee, and that 
 the divinity of Christ is above the goodness of 
 man. 
 
 In the closing pages, large place is given to "The 
 Preacher," his call, commission, qualifications, 
 preparation, his message, and his place of service 
 among and for the people. In the setting of these 
 assets of the preacher-man one discerns the close 
 student and the preparedness which he finds by 
 close fellowship with the author — a blessed priv- 
 ilege it has been mine to enjoy for many years. 
 
 This is a volume that should find its place in 
 every church library, as well as being one of the 
 most read books in every family of every church. 
 
 With his many years of close attention to, and 
 active service in, the cause of the Master, my 
 friend, the author, gives to our people a timely 
 volume. Pressley Elmer Zartmann. 
 
THE CHURCH 
 
 The idealized Church — the spiritual body of 
 Christ — ^the Church that Jesus is to "present to 
 Himself not having spot or wrinkle or any- 
 such thing," is never conceived nor spoken of as a 
 tangible entity: a Church that can meet and 
 choose a pastor, transact business, make con- 
 tracts, elect officers, appoint committees, and con- 
 duct service. All such things as these must be 
 done by the local congregation. 
 
 THE CHURCH WAS ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST 
 
 Perhaps it may be said, that in no correct sense 
 did Christ organize a Church, but He established 
 the Church, and that too while He was on the 
 earth and among men. He began to build the 
 Church during His public ministry. He said He 
 would build His Church and He began the work 
 of spiritual construction while in the flesh. The 
 words, "I will build," refer to the time in which 
 He then lived and the work He was then doing 
 as much as to the time and the work of the 
 future. He began to build then. He is building 
 yet, and He will continue to build until the 
 Church is completed and He "presents it to Him- 
 
14 THE CHURCH 
 
 self a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle 
 or any such thing." Christ had a following while 
 on the earth, and that following was His Church. 
 He spoke of having other sheep which were not 
 of that flock, and He declared His intention of 
 bringing them in, so that there would be but one 
 flock, and one shepherd. 
 
 He was not speaking of a flock which He was 
 going to get after Pentecost, but of one He already 
 had. His followers were believers in Him while 
 He was among them, and they cannot be more 
 now. They communed together, they were united 
 to Him by faith, they had left all to follow Him, 
 and they lacked nothing, absolutely nothing to 
 make them the ecclesia — the called out, or assem- 
 bled ones. Jesus told them not to fear, for it was 
 His Father's good pleasure to give them the King- 
 dom. He went so far as to give them instruction 
 as to the treatment of an offending brother 
 (Matt. 16: 17, 18) without even suggesting that 
 the Church to which they were to tell it at the 
 last was not then in existence. It is said that on 
 the day of Pentecost, "there were added unto 
 them about three thousand souls." Added unto 
 whom, and to what? Could the Lord add to some- 
 thing that had no existence? That to which they 
 were added was the Church that already existed. 
 It had not yet met for worship; it had not yet 
 
ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST 15 
 
 selected a bishop ; it had not yet chosen deacons, 
 but it existed; it was. To that Church belonged 
 Peter, and James, and John, and all the other 
 apostles who had been faithful to Jesus Christ; 
 it included Mary, His own dear mother, and the 
 Mary out of whom He had cast the devils, and 
 the woman whom the Pharisees had brought to 
 Him for judgment; it included the man who had 
 been born blind, but who could then see, and many 
 others, all of whom He had taken into His fellow- 
 ship and who had entered His Church while He 
 was on the earth and among them in the flesh. 
 That is the church which Jesus began to build, 
 and which He will complete, and, "then present 
 it to Himself, a glorious Church, not having spot 
 or wrinkle or any such thing." Paul in speaking 
 of that Church says : "For as the body is one, and 
 hath many members, and all the members of the 
 body, being many, are one body ; so also is Christ. 
 For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one 
 body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or 
 free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit. 
 For the body is not one member, but many. If 
 the foot shall say. Because I am not the hand, I 
 am not of the body ; it is therefore not of the body. 
 And if the ear shall say. Because I am not the eye, 
 I am not of the body; it is therefore not of the 
 body. If the whole body were an eye, where were 
 
16 THE CHURCH 
 
 the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where 
 were the smelling? But now hath God set the 
 members each one of them in the body, even 
 as it pleased Him. And if they were all one mem- 
 ber, where were the body? But now they are 
 many members, but one body." 1 Cor. 12 : 12-20. 
 This is not a divided Church, but a Church with 
 one Head, or Lord, one Spirit, one Faith, one Bap- 
 tism, one Hope, and one God and Father of us all. 
 The late Rev. Austin Craig, D. D., commenting 
 upon this one body of Christ says: "The mystic 
 body of Christ has one Head. It is not a deformed 
 monster; it has not many heads; it has but one 
 Head, — Jesus Christ. Queen Victoria is not the 
 head of Christ's Church, although she is the head 
 of the Church of England. Pope Pius IX. is not 
 the head of Christ's Church, although he is the 
 head of the Church of Rome. Christ is the Head 
 of His own Church." 
 
 As in the Church of Christ there is one Head, 
 so there is but one Body. Christ has not several 
 bodies. He has not a Catholic body and a Prot- 
 estant body. He has not a Calvanistic body and 
 an Arminian body. He has not a Presbyterian 
 body and a Methodist body, no! Christ has but 
 one Body; "many members, yet but one Body." 
 And this one Body, this one Church, contains all 
 the members, all the followers of Christ. There- 
 
ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST 17 
 
 fore no Church is the Church of Christ, which 
 does not contain all the members of Christ's spir- 
 itual body. The Church of Rome is not the Church 
 of Christ, unless the Church of Rome contains all 
 the good. The Church of England is not the 
 Church of Christ, because she excludes some who 
 are members of Christ. The Methodist Church is 
 not the Church of Christ, for the reason that it 
 does not contain all Christians. Nor is the Pres- 
 byterian Church, nor the Baptist Church, nor the 
 Lutheran Church, the Church of Christ. No one 
 of these churches is that One Body of Christ, for 
 the sufficient reason that no one of them contains 
 all the members of Christ's Mystic Body. 
 
 The Church Is a Divine Institution. 
 
 It is not an organization, but a divine institu- 
 tion. The interpretation that Daniel gives to the 
 vision of the king bears testimony to the above 
 statement. He told the king that he saw a great 
 image with a head of gold, and breast and arms of 
 silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron and 
 feet partly iron, and partly clay, and that he saw a 
 little stone cut from the mountain without hands, 
 and it became a great mountain, and filled the 
 whole earth. 
 
 That little stone cut from the mountainside, 
 without human hands, is the symbol of the Church 
 
18 THE CHURCH 
 
 of Jesus Christ, and it is absolutely without 
 human element, so far as its origin or power to 
 accomplish its mission is concerned. The power 
 within the Church, put there by the divine life, 
 is that which makes it effective, and will enable it 
 to fill the whole world as set forth in the vision of 
 the king and the prophet's interpretation. 
 
 The Church Has a Divine Builder. 
 
 When Jesus Christ came into the coasts of 
 Csesarea Phillippi, He held a conversation with 
 His disciples in regard to the opinion that men 
 entertained concerning Himself, and also as to 
 their own conception of Him, and when Peter con- 
 fessed that He was the Christ, Jesus told him 
 plainly that upon the Rock Christ Jesus He would 
 build His Church, and that the gates of Hades 
 should not prevail against it. The word "build" 
 as Jesus used it, does not mean to build to com- 
 pletion, as one completes the reading of a book, 
 or the building of a ship, but rather, I will be 
 building. It shall be my life's work to build my 
 Church. I shall build here, and there, and every- 
 where; I shall build in this age, and through the 
 ages to come; I shall build here in Judea, and in 
 Samaria, and in the uttermost parts of the earth, 
 to-day, to-morrow, this year, next year, on and 
 forever, until I shall complete the building and 
 
ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST 19 
 
 present it to myself a glorious Church, not having 
 spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Jesus has 
 been doing that work since then until now. Amid 
 the persecutions that befell the early Christians, 
 in the flames that burned the martyrs, in the 
 prisons that enclosed the saints, in the field, in 
 the shop, in the home, on the street, everywhere, 
 Jesus has been preparing and fitting material into 
 this spiritual brotherhood, this mystic body of His, 
 which He Himself called the Church, and which 
 He Himself is building. 
 
 I have often heard preachers say that they went 
 out and built up the Church. As well might the 
 hammer say, I built the house; as well might 
 the saw say, I shaped the board ; as well might the 
 pen say, I wrote the letter. It is the hammer in 
 the hand of the carpenter, the saw in the hand of 
 the workman, the pen in the hand of the writer, 
 and the preacher in the hand of the great Master 
 builder, who, by His own power and the proper 
 use of the means employed, is building this divine 
 structure called the Church, the mystic body of 
 the Son of God. 
 
 The Church Has a Divine Foundation. 
 
 I can quite understand how human wisdom and 
 human power might be sufficient for the laying 
 of a foundation broad enough and solid enough for 
 
20 THE CHURCH 
 
 a human organization, but I am unable to conceive 
 of human wisdom and human power sufficiently 
 great to lay the foundation for an institution that 
 is to last throughout all time and eternity, and 
 be found in every country of the world ; in every 
 age of the world, since the dawn of Christianity. 
 I am quite convinced also that God has not left 
 the laying of this foundation to any human wis- 
 dom or power, for He says: "Behold I lay in 
 Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a 
 precious corner stone a sure foundation; he that 
 believeth shall not be in haste." Paul in speak- 
 ing of the foundation says : "For other foundation 
 can no man lay than that which is laid, which is 
 Jesus Christ." The Church is not built upon the 
 teaching of men ; not upon a foundation of human 
 construction, but upon the foundation planned in 
 the counsels of heaven and laid by the power of 
 the Omnipotent. 
 
 The Church Has a Divine Law. 
 
 As with the foundation, I can see how the wis- 
 dom and power of men might be sufficient to enact 
 a law for the government of even a world-wide 
 organization, but I cannot understand how human 
 wisdom and human power could be sufficient to 
 enact a law for the government of an institution 
 that is to embrace every nation under heaven, live 
 
ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST 21 
 
 ■i^tf*'" ■" ., * 
 
 under all the varied forms of human society, 
 through all generations of men, and yet be so 
 written as to fit into all lives, all conditions, and 
 all governments of all time, and of all nations. 
 I am quite convinced too, that God has not left 
 it to the intelligence of man to enact such a law. 
 The Bible is God's divine law for the government 
 of His Church, and in it is found a remedy for all 
 evils, a cure for all diseases, a rule for all conduct, 
 a guide for every life, a penalty for every sin, a 
 reward for every good deed, and a promise for 
 every kindly service. There is not now, there 
 never has been, a condition of human society for 
 which there is not a principle and a rule in God's 
 written law for its reward, condemnation, or 
 relief, as the condition demands. The Church has 
 a divine law, as well as a divine foundation. 
 
 The Church Has a Divine Membership. 
 
 By this we are to understand that the members 
 have passed from death unto life, having been 
 made partakers of the divine nature. It is not an 
 uncommon thing to hear one ask another: "How 
 many members have you in your church?" mean- 
 ing, of course, how many Christians are there in 
 your membership, and at once the answer is given 
 from the human roll, as though that constituted 
 the divine family of God among men ; as though a 
 
22 THE CHURCH 
 
 human could count for God, as though a man 
 could look down into a human heart and weigh 
 and determine motive, and love, and loyalty, and 
 thereby decide who are worthy of the kingdom of 
 God. Elijah undertook that job and made a mis- 
 erable failure. He said. Lord, I have counted 
 them, and I am the only one left, and they seek 
 my life. God said, Elijah, you have missed a few. 
 You haven't counted all the faithful, for I know 
 of seven thousand who have not bowed the knee 
 to Baal. Whenever one begins to count the good 
 in the community, one is sure to develop that sort 
 of cynical, querulous spirit that concludes the 
 good are all dead but the one who counts. The 
 story is told of a pioneer preacher who asked a 
 man at his cabin door one evening if there were 
 any Christians in that neighborhood, and the man 
 in the cabin said, "Well, there are only two, my- 
 self and brother Jake, and I have my doubts about 
 Jake." The Jews had counted them in Christ's 
 time, and thought they had counted them cor- 
 rectly. Jesus said, you have missed a few. "And 
 other sheep I have which are not of this fold: 
 them also I must bring, and they shall hear my 
 voice; and there shall be one flock, one shep- 
 herd." I think Jesus must have said, I have them 
 on every hillside, in every valley, on every moun- 
 tain top, on every plain, in Rome, in Samaria, 
 
Established by christ 23 
 
 in the fields, in the shop, in the home, in the store ; 
 anywhere, everywhere, where the heart is loyal 
 to me, and my spirit has entered into the life, 
 there you will find those who are being prepared 
 for a place in my body on the earth, and my king- 
 dom in heaven. But whether there be many, or 
 few, they are members by virtue of their having 
 partaken of the divine nature, and in that sense 
 they constitute a divine membership. Bear in 
 mind that this is not a description of the mem- 
 bership of the local organization. There may be 
 many names enrolled on the book of the local 
 organization that will not be found in the Lamb's 
 Book of Life, and certain it is that many names 
 will be found written by the recording angel that 
 were never enrolled in the membership of any 
 local Church. Jesus said to His disciples, "Ye 
 did not choose me, but I chose you." You are my 
 sheep, and it is your Father's good pleasure to 
 give you the kingdom. 
 
 The Church Has a Divine Name. 
 
 If Jesus Christ is divine, His name is divine 
 also, and the Church is to bear His name as a wife 
 bears the name of her husband. This name was 
 promised long years before it was given to the 
 followers of Christ. "For Zion's sake will I not 
 hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not 
 
24 THE CHURCH 
 
 rest, until her righteousness go forth as bright- 
 ness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth 
 And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and 
 all kings thy glory ; and thou shalt be called by a 
 new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall 
 name." Isaiah 62 : 1, 2. The late Rev. J. J. Sum- 
 merbell, D. D., than whom few, if any, among us 
 were better able to speak, says : 
 
 What can be this "nev/ name" that the Christ speaks of? 
 May it not be that which sounds like Christ; that is, 
 Christian? There was a "new name" (Acts 11: 26). As 
 a matter of history we find that the disciples were called 
 Christians; that it was a "new name" for them. May 
 not that name be what Paul alludes to in Ephesians 3 : 14, 
 15? According to the old version it reads: "I bow my 
 knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom 
 the whole family in heaven and earth is named." If they 
 are called "Christians" they are certainly named after 
 Christ. The new version reads : "I bow my knees unto the 
 Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth 
 is named." Probably it ought to be, of whom the whole 
 family in heaven and on earth is named. That is what 
 would be expected; that God, the Father, would name His 
 whole family. From His affection for His only-begotten 
 Son, it would not be surprising if God would name the 
 whole family after Jesus Christ. That is just what he 
 has done; for, as a matter of strict Biblical statement 
 (Acts 11:26), we find that the disciples "were called of 
 God Christians." It is said that the argument for the 
 divine appointment of the name rests mainly on the 
 Greek word chrematizo. It will not be found a weak 
 argument. The word occurs but in a limited number of 
 passages. Let us examine all of them: 
 
 1. Matthew 2: 12: "And being warned (of God) in a 
 dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed 
 into their own country another way." "Warned of God" 
 represents the original word chrematizo. The translators 
 
ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST 25 
 
 (new translation) in this case have placed the words "of 
 God" in italics, thereby saying to us all that they did not 
 find them in the original; but the translators evidently 
 thought the wise men had been warned "of God" in the 
 dream, or they would not have inserted the words. It 
 would require courage to say that the wise men did not 
 have the same opinion. Matthew evidently considered 
 that the actor in the word chreinatizo was God, though 
 God is not mentioned save by the word chrematizo. God 
 chrematized the wise men not to return to Herod. 
 
 2. Matthew 2 : 22 : "But when he (Joseph) heard that 
 Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the room of his 
 father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; and being 
 warned (of God) in a dream, he withdrew into the parts 
 of Galilee." In this case, also, "warned of God" repre- 
 sents the Greek word chrematizo. As in the former case, 
 the words "of God" are in italics. The translators are 
 right in their opinion that it was God that chrematized 
 Joseph. Who gave him the dream, if not God, according 
 to the tenor of the story? And yet God's action is not 
 declared in any one word, save by the word chrematizo. 
 
 3. Luke 2 : 26 : "And it had been revealed unto him by 
 the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he 
 had seen the Lord's Christ." The words "had been 
 revealed" here represent chrematizo. God's action is here 
 distinctly stated otherwise than by the word chrematizo; 
 for the words "Holy Spirit" are in the original as well as 
 English. Hence God chrematized Simeon. 
 
 In these three cases we have no other actor or agent 
 bound up in the word chrematizo but God. 
 
 4. Acts 10 : 22 : "And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, 
 a righteous man, and one that feareth God, and well 
 reported of by all the nation of the Jews, was warned (of 
 God) by a holy angel to send for thee into his house." 
 The words "warned of God" represent the Greek word 
 chrematizo. As in the first two cases, the translators have 
 placed the words "of God" in italics, as not being in the 
 original; but the English and the Greek both mention a 
 holy angel as the one that chrematized Cornelius; but 
 being a holy angel, Cornelius being a holy man, the trans- 
 
26 THE CHURCH 
 
 lators thought that God was the real actor, and the angel 
 only the messenger, as the word means. Hence the 
 cfvrematizing is by God. 
 
 In these four cases God is the chrematizer. 
 
 5. Romans 7: 1-3: "Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for 
 I gpeak to men who know the law), how that the law hath 
 dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth? For 
 the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the 
 husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is 
 discharged from the law of the husband. So then if, while 
 the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall 
 be called an adulteress." "Shall be called" represents the 
 Greek word chrematizo. The authority that chrematized 
 in this case, it is evident, is the law; but the law is the 
 law of God, as the messenger in the last case was the 
 messenger of God ; as in the preceding case the dream was 
 a dream from God. It is the law of God that called the 
 woman an adulteress. It gave her the name, but it was 
 only as the messenger of God. The law was God's law; 
 hence it is God who really chrematized the woman. 
 
 6. Hebrews 8:5: "Even as Moses is warned (of God) 
 when he is about to make the tabernacle : for. See, saith he, 
 that thou make all things according to the pattern that 
 was showed thee in the mount." In this case "is warned 
 of God" represents the Greek word chrematizo. As before, 
 the translators have put the words "of God" in italics. 
 Their using the words "of God" shows that they believed 
 that God was the one that warned Moses. Such was the 
 fact. Read Exodus 25 : 40 : "And see that thou make them 
 after their pattern, which hath been showed thee in the 
 mount." Exodus 25 : 1 : "And the Lord spake unto Moses." 
 Thus it is positive that God was the person who warned 
 Moses. God is the chremxitizer as a matter of fact. 
 
 7. Hebrews 11:7: "By faith Noah, being warned (of 
 God) concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly 
 fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house." In this 
 case "warned of God" represents the Greek word chrema- 
 tizo, and again the translators have put the words "of 
 God" in italics. As before, they believed that it was a 
 fact that Noah was warned of God. The translators were 
 
ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST 27 
 
 right as to the fact. Read Genesis 6 : 13 : "And God said 
 unto Noah, .... Make thee an ark of gopher wood." 
 Hence God is undoubtedly the one who warned Noah, and 
 we arrive at the old conclusion that God was the chrema- 
 tizer; God is the one that ch/retnatizes. 
 
 8. Hebrews 12 : 25 : "For if they escaped not, when they 
 refused him that warned them on earth, much more shall 
 not we escape, who turn away from him that warneth 
 from heaven." "Warned" represents the Greek word 
 chrematizo. The person that warned was Moses. But 
 the warnings of Moses derived their influence from the 
 fact that he was recognized as the messenger of God. 
 When Moses warned them not to touch the mountain, he 
 did it all at the command of God. He was only another 
 angel of God, earthly angel it is true, but still God's 
 angel, and if the people refused him or disobeyed him, 
 they escaped not, because it was really God's warning 
 which they refused to obey. The escape was denied them 
 because they refused God's messenger. Moses' law was 
 the law of God. Its sanctions of death were imposed by 
 God. His commands of prohibition were divine. Moses 
 made all things after the pattern showed him in the moun- 
 tain; not only in the form and arrangements of the 
 tabernacle, but in the commandments, prohibitions, and 
 penalties of the law, and the warning was thus God's 
 warning; hence, in this case also, God is the chrematizer. 
 
 9. Romans 11: 4: "But what saith the answer of God 
 unto him? I have left for myself seven thousand men, 
 who have not bowed the knee to Baal." The words "an- 
 swer of God" represent the Greek word chrennatism. The 
 translators did not consider it necessary to put the words 
 "of God" in italics; but the idea "of God" is no more 
 contained in the word chrematism than in the word chre- 
 matize. ChrematisTn means answer of God, warning of 
 God, calling of God, the speaking of God, undoubtedly. 
 (1 Kings 19: 18.) If the divine agency rests in the noun, 
 it certainly has a habitation in the verb also. It is really 
 in both. 
 
 This is the word chrematize that is found in 
 
 Acts 11 : 26, and if God chrematized in the refer- 
 
28 THE CHURCH 
 
 ences above given, we are forced to the conclusion 
 that He chrematized the Disciples Christians, and 
 so they were really named by divine authority. 
 Joseph was a man whom God wanted to warn — to 
 chrematize. He caused him to dream a dream in 
 which he received the warning. Who warned 
 Joseph to flee into Egypt? God. Here is a body 
 of believers in Jesus Christ. To this body of 
 believers God had promised a new name. And 
 the disciples were called — chrematized — Chris- 
 tians, first in Antioch. Who chrematized them? 
 God. Doctor Adam Clark, whose scholarship 
 would not be questioned, says of Acts 11 : 26 : 
 "The original word here means to appoint, warn, 
 or nominate." Who has the right to appoint, or 
 nominate, a name for the followers of Jesus 
 Christ? He who promised the new name, and He 
 alone. Albert Barns, whose technical scholarship 
 has never been questioned, says on Acts 11: 26: 
 "The original word means to be divinely admon- 
 ished, and it cannot be denied that the usual 
 meaning in the New Testament is that of divine 
 communication." How strange it is that men of 
 scholarship will say that the warning to Joseph, 
 and the information to Simeon, and the instruc- 
 tion to Cornelius, came from God, but that the 
 name Christian came from the enemies of God, 
 and that too when the same word is used in each 
 
ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST 29 
 
 case. If God's authority is found in one of the 
 references given above, it is found in all of them, 
 and we must conclude that the new name, the 
 promised name, was given by divine authority to 
 the disciples at Antioch. About the name given 
 the disciples it may be said : 
 
 It Would Be a Name That Would Include All 
 the Followers of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The name Christian is the only name that is all 
 inclusive. There would be many believers who 
 would hold immersion to be the only mode of 
 baptism. The name must include them. There 
 would be many who would believe in sprinkling as 
 a mode of baptism. The name must include them. 
 There would be many followers of Christ who 
 would not believe in any mode of water baptism, 
 and the name must include them also ; and so with 
 every other variety of intellectual conception of 
 God and of duty. 
 
 The Name Would not Only Include All the Fol- 
 lowers of Christ, hut All the Elements of Chris- 
 tian Character as Well. 
 
 No human name does this, nor can any human 
 name be found that will do it. When you speak 
 the word Baptist you do not think so much of the 
 elements of Christian character as you do of a 
 
30 THE CHURCH 
 
 mode of baptism. What is true of that name is 
 true of eveiy other human name. Here is a man 
 who never heard of America. I tell him of its 
 history, its civilization, its character, and its gen- 
 ius, and inform him that I was born in America, 
 and am a believer in the life and character of 
 the American government. What would he call 
 me? Most certainly he would call me an Amer- 
 ican. He would not call me a Mason, nor an Odd 
 Fellow, nor a Democrat, nor a Republican, nor a 
 Blacksmith, nor a Merchant — he would think of 
 me, and speak of me, as an American. Here is a 
 man who never heard of Christ. I tell him of the 
 Christ, and of the Christianity He established. I 
 tell him how Christ was God's gift to men, and 
 how He sought a following from men, and how 
 He appealed to men to believe in Him, and that I 
 am a believer in Him, and a follower of His, that 
 I have been born into His kingdom, am a partaker 
 of His nature, and am His. What would He call 
 me? If he knew, and spoke, the English language, 
 he would call me a Christian. Most certainly he 
 would not call me a Baptist, nor a Methodist, 
 nor a Presbyterian, nor any other human name, 
 but he would think of me, and speak of me as a 
 Christian. 
 
ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST 3I 
 
 The Name Would Distinguish the Followers of 
 Christ From the World, but not From Each 
 Other. 
 
 Men are free to admit that the name Pharisee 
 and the name Sadducee separated men from each 
 other, but they are unwilling to admit that the 
 human names, now given to bodies of believers, 
 do the same thing. But they do. The name of 
 Christ was the dividing name during His days on 
 the earth, and it is the dividing name to-day. It 
 is not the name that divides His followers into 
 sects, but the name that divides His followers 
 from the world, and just so far as it divides His 
 followers from the world does it unite His fol- 
 lowers in "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
 peace." 
 
 It Would Be a Name That Would Include and 
 Express the Believer's Union With Christ. 
 
 The name Nazarene would not do, for that 
 would localize the believers, as the name Amer- 
 ican, or German, localizes the inhabitants of these 
 countries. The name Disciple would not answer, 
 for the reason that Plato and Gamaliel, and others, 
 had disciples. The name Christian does include 
 the believer's union with Christ, for it includes the 
 whole name of Christ. The Christian is a partaker 
 of the divine nature, and thus the union is assured. 
 
32 THE CHURCH 
 
 The Name Would Most Certainly Honor Christ. 
 
 God was most careful to always honor His Son. 
 On the occasion of His baptism, He said : "This is 
 my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." On 
 the occasion of the transfiguration He said : "This 
 is my well beloved Son ; hear ye Him." And Paul 
 declared that he bowed the knees unto the Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ "from whom every fam- 
 ily in heaven and on earth is named." Yes, God 
 would honor His Son, and He has done it in nam- 
 ing His followers for Him. 
 
 Now when a number of Christians come togeth- 
 er in church covenant and fellowship, they of 
 necessity form a Church ; that Church is a Chris- 
 tian Church, and any other name that may be 
 given to it, except one that will localize and differ- 
 entiate it as to location, is unwarranted as well as 
 unbiblical. 
 
 The Church Has Two Divine Ordinances — Bap- 
 tism and the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Jesus Christ in commissioning His disciples to 
 preach, also commissioned them to baptize. If the 
 preaching is divinely authorized, so is the bap- 
 tizing, and Paul, in speaking of the Lord's Sup- 
 per very distinctly says: "For I received of the 
 Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that 
 
ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST 33 
 
 the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was 
 betrayed took bread; and when He had given 
 thanks, He brake it, and said, This is my body, 
 which is for you : this do in remembrance of me. 
 In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying. 
 This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this 
 do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 
 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the 
 cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till He come. 
 Wherefore, whosoever shall eat the bread or drink 
 the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall 
 be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 
 But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of 
 the bread, and drink of the cup. For he that eat- 
 eth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment 
 unto himself, if he discern not the body." 1 Cor. 
 11:23-29. 
 
 I think it should be said in this connection, that 
 baptism is not to make one a Christian, but should 
 be accepted because one is a Christian. Jesus 
 Christ was as much the Son of God before He 
 was baptized, as He was afterward. He was bap- 
 tized not to make Him a Son, but because He was 
 a Son; and believers should be baptized, not to 
 make them Christians, but because they are Chris- 
 tians. 
 
34 THE CHURCH 
 
 The Church Has a Divine Commission. 
 
 This divine commission is first to gather in, and 
 then to send out. Jesus invited all people to come 
 unto Him, and then He commissioned all people 
 who came unto him to go out and tell the story 
 of His love. First come, then go, is the divine 
 order. 
 
 The Church Has the Divine Assurance of a 
 Glorious Triumph. 
 
 The question so often asked by ministers, and 
 by laymen, too, "What is the matter with the 
 Church?" should never be asked again. There is 
 absolutely nothing whatever the matter with the 
 Church. Jesus Christ is building it, and it is just 
 as proper to criticize the builder as it is to criticize 
 his building. When we criticize the work, we 
 criticize the workman. There may be many 
 things wrong with men, and with organizations, 
 but with the spiritual brotherhood, that mystic 
 body of Jesus Christ, there can be nothing wrong, 
 or else the divine Lord is at fault in the matter 
 of His plans, and in the manner of His execution 
 of them. Christ said He would build His Church 
 and the gate of Hades should not prevail against 
 it, and He will do all that He has said. He said 
 to His disciples, "Fear not, little flock, for it is 
 your father's good pleasure to give you the king- 
 
THE LOCAL CHURCH 35 
 
 dom," and He will keep His word. The prophecy 
 of the little stone cut from the mountainside, that 
 filled the whole earth, is to be fulfilled, and the 
 kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdom 
 of our Lord and His Christ. 
 
 From the rocky isle of Patmos, John saw the 
 Church Triumphant ; he heard the redeemed sing ; 
 he saw their white robes; he looked upon their 
 crowns of glittering gold; he caught glimpses of 
 their heavenly beauty; he beheld them as they 
 encircled the great white throne, singing the song 
 of the redeemed; and he said, "Innumerable! no 
 man can number them." It was the Church that 
 Jesus Christ had built upon the Rock of Ages, 
 and was presenting to Himself, a glorious Church, 
 not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. 
 
 That is the Church into which I was born by 
 repentance toward God, and faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. The angel recorded my name in 
 the Lamb's Book of Life, and then I united with 
 a local congregation, where my name is recorded, 
 and with which I co-operate in the activities of 
 the people of God. 
 
 THE LOCAL CHURCH 
 
 The fact and the identity of the local Church 
 are recognized and spoken of throughout the 
 
36 THE CHURCH 
 
 entire New Testament scriptures. There was a 
 Church at Jerusalem, and one at Antioch, one at 
 Cenchrese, one at Corinth, one at Ephesus, one at 
 Smyrna, one at Pergamos, one at Thyatyra, one 
 at Sardis, one at Philadelphia, one at Laodicea; 
 and others are mentioned as having their exist- 
 ence and holding their worship in private houses. 
 (1 Cor. 16:19.) 
 
 All the warnings, rebukes, counsels, and encour- 
 agements of the New Testament scriptures are 
 addressed to the churches as independent units, 
 each, as such, being responsible to God. 
 
 These local Churches may unite, federate, and 
 combine until they become world-wide, but they 
 can never lose their individual and independent 
 identity and character. 
 
 THE CHURCH AT JERUSALEM THE MODEL 
 
 There was a time when the whole Church — the 
 only Church — that had a visible existence was at 
 Jerusalem, and it may be concluded that it would 
 be made the model Church in all the essential 
 fundamentals of Church life. 
 
 Some of the apostles were present during their 
 entire lifetime, so that when any matter came up 
 for consideration, or for apostolic definition, they 
 were there to render judgment and to give assist- 
 ance, thus making the Church at Jerusalem model 
 
THE LOCAL CHURCH 37 
 
 and effective in all its relations to the Kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 The Following Things are Mentioned of That 
 First Church. 
 
 1. The members continued steadfast in the 
 apostles' teaching and doctrine. 
 
 2. The members continued steadfast in fellow- 
 ship, in the breaking of bread and in prayer. 
 
 3. The members chose a competent number of 
 deacons, two of whom became evangelists. 
 
 4. The members recognized the presence and 
 authority of the apostles. 
 
 5. The members so far as known chose their 
 own bishop, or pastor. 
 
 6. The members were thoughtful of the claims 
 of each other. 
 
 7. The members consecrated their possessioav 
 along with the consecration of themselves. 
 
 8. The whole Church was evangelistic in char- 
 acter, in tone, and in conduct. 
 
 The Rights and Duties of the Church at Jeru^a^ 
 lem Are the Rights and Duties of the Local 
 Church Anywhere. 
 
 We may conclude with absolute certainty that 
 the Church at Jerusalem continued steadfast in 
 the apostles' teaching, and doctrine, and fellow- 
 
38 THE CHURCH 
 
 ship, and in the breaking of bread and in prayer 
 as a matter of duty, and that as a matter of duty 
 it selected and ordained the seven deacons, and as 
 a matter of duty it recognized the presence and 
 authority of the apostles. The same is true of all 
 else that it did ; and we may conclude with unques- 
 tioned assurance that what was the right and duty 
 of the Church at Jerusalem, is the right and duty 
 of the Church anywhere. All that inhered in the 
 Church at Jerusalem inheres in the local Church 
 anywhere. What the Church at Jerusalem did the 
 Church at Corinth, and the Church at Antioch, 
 and the Church at Thyatyra, and the Church at 
 Pergamos, and the Church at Sardis, and the 
 Church at Philadelphia, and the Church at any 
 other place had a right to do. Now it is equally 
 certain that what was true of the Church at 
 Jerusalem in this respect was true of the Church 
 at Antioch, and Corinth, and all the others, and it 
 is true of all the local churches to-day. The 
 Church at Antioch may have been very much 
 like the Church at Jerusalem, but in no sense 
 was it subservient to it, nor did the Church at 
 Jerusalem ever try to exercise any authority over 
 it or over any other Church of that time. All the 
 churches organized by the apostles were distinct, 
 independent bodies. Each Church managed its 
 
THE LOCAL CHURCH 39 
 
 own affairs, absolutely independent of every other 
 Church and never recognized any human control 
 or authority outside of itself. There was nowhere 
 an association of churches under one common 
 ecclesiastical judicatory. Jesus Christ intended 
 that His followers should form themselves into 
 churches (not sects) and when in Matthew 18 : 17, 
 He says, "Tell it unto the Church," He has in 
 mind the local Church in the place where the 
 offense was committed. In this final appeal of 
 the aggrieved party it cannot be supposable that 
 the whole body of believers could be gotten 
 together. The Church mentioned, therefore, must 
 mean the local congregation. In the case of the 
 licentious man, Paul refers both the exclusion 
 and the restoration to the whole Church (1 Cor. 
 5: 1-5; 2 Cor. 11: 4, 5). He directs the Church 
 at Corinth, when "gathered together" to "put 
 away the wicked man from among yourselves," 
 and afterward this punishment, which was 
 inflicted of many was to be remitted by the same, 
 when the offender had repented. Thus also, he 
 directs the Church at Rome to "mark them that 
 are causing the divisions and occasions of stum- 
 bling and "turn away from them." The Lord in 
 His epistles to the seven churches of Asia, clearly 
 holds each Church as such wholly responsible for 
 
40 THE CHURCH 
 
 its doctrine and its discipline; but had these 
 churches been recognized, Episcopally or Presby- 
 terially, the rebukes for unsound doctrine and life 
 would have been directed to the session or the 
 presbytery or to the bench of bishops, and not 
 as they are to the local independent congregations. 
 There is not to be found in all New Testament 
 history a single example of a Church subordi- 
 nating itself to an organization outside itself ; but 
 in all the counsels, in all the rebukes, in all the 
 warnings, in all the encouragements, each one is 
 recognized as independent and accountable only to 
 God. The fact that the Church at Jerusalem had 
 chosen seven deacons, did not obligate the Church 
 at Antioch to choose seven. That the Church at 
 Antioch should have deacons comes within the 
 necessities of its life and activities, but the num- 
 ber is quite a different thing, which illustrates 
 the independence of the local Church in all mat- 
 ters pertaining to its own life and activities. It 
 seems conclusive that each Church of the Chris- 
 tians which meets in one place for religious wor- 
 ship, and for the carrying forward of matters 
 pertaining to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, is a 
 complete Church within itself, and as such is 
 supreme in its own domain. Having entered into 
 a covenant of faith it has the right and the 
 
THE LOCAL CHURCH 41 
 
 authority to perform anything and everything 
 pertaining to itself in matters of government, in 
 matters of business, in matters of worship, in 
 matters of finance, indeed in all matters pertain- 
 ing to its own life and labors and in no sense is 
 it accountable to any other Church for its doctrine 
 or its conduct, even though the other Church be 
 of "the same faith and order." There is no 
 evidence whatever that the primitive churches 
 were national, or even provincial. There were 
 churches in the province of Asia Minor, of Gala- 
 tia, of Judea, of Samaria, and of others, too, but 
 not one word is recorded that would lead us to 
 suppose that these churches were in any sense 
 provincial in any of the localities in which they 
 were found. 
 
 It seems conclusive also that in the primitive 
 churches, instead of one bishop ruling over more 
 than one Church, sometimes more than one bishop 
 was in charge of a single Church. 
 
 The Church at Jerusalem met at one time and 
 at one place for worship, so did the Church at 
 Antioch, so did the Church at- Corinth, so did all 
 the other churches of that time and so they do 
 to-day, so they should have done, and so they 
 should continue to do. It seems quite conclusive 
 that each of these churches was independent of 
 
42 THE CHURCH 
 
 each and all the others. No other Church, no 
 matter where located, no matter how rich or influ- 
 ential, had any right whatsoever to assume arbi- 
 trary authority over another, no matter how small 
 in membership, or poor in purse that other one 
 might have been. Each one of these independent 
 units was absolutely supreme in its own domain, 
 and while they exercised no authority over any 
 man's faith or brought any compulsory power to 
 bear upon the conscience of any, they did manage 
 their own affairs in the way that approved itself 
 to them. Much and good authority could be cited 
 outside the New Testament in favor of the inde- 
 pendence of the local Church in the days of the 
 apostles. Gibbon says, "The Societies which were 
 instituted in the cities of the Roman Empire were 
 united only by the ties of faith and charity. 
 Independence and equality formed the basis of 
 their internal constitution. Such was the mild 
 and equal constitution by which Christians were 
 governed, more than a hundred years after the 
 death of the apostles. Every society formed 
 within itself a separate and independent repub- 
 lic." The late Archbishop of Dublin, (Bishop 
 Whateley) says, "It appears plainly from the 
 sacred narrative that though the many churches 
 which the apostles founded were branches of one 
 
THE LOCAL CHURCH 43 
 
 spiritual brotherhood, of which the Lord Jesus 
 Christ is the heavenly Head — though there was 
 one Lord, one faith, one baptism for all of them, 
 yet they were each a distinct, independent com- 
 munity on earth, united by the common principles 
 on which they were founded, and by their mutual 
 agreement, affection, and respect ; but not having 
 any one recognized head on earth, or acknowledg- 
 ing any sovereignty of one of these societies over 
 others." Mosheim says, the independence of the 
 primitive Church "is as clear as noonday." 
 
 It is safe to conclude that the Scriptures teach 
 that a visible congregation of believers in Jesus 
 Christ, having associated together in a covenant 
 of faith and fellowship in the gospel, remaining 
 steadfast in the teachings and doctrines of the 
 apostles and in fellowship and in the breaking of 
 bread, and in prayer, and having accepted the 
 Holy Bible as the rule of faith and conduct, meet- 
 ing at stated times for worship, is a Christian 
 Church with all the rights, privileges, and duties 
 of the Church at Jerusalem, and that in the 
 domain of its own life it is absolutely supreme. 
 
 What the Local Church Has no Right To Do. 
 
 1. It has no right to adopt a creed, not even 
 the Bible. The right to adopt the Bible as a 
 creed, implies the right to reject it. The Bible 
 
44 THE CHURCH 
 
 is not to be adopted, it is to be believed and prac- 
 ticed. There can be no Church in gospel order 
 that does not believe and obey the gospel, and 
 hence the formal adoption of it is unwarranted. 
 
 2. It has no right to formulate a doctrine. 
 The doctrine is written in the Book. 
 
 I have often been asked to preach on the doc- 
 trines of the people called Christians. To all such 
 requests I have invariably replied that the Chris- 
 tian Church, as such, has no doctrine, and more, 
 it has no right to a formulated doctrine which 
 might exist by reason of a vote of the Church. 
 The doctrine is of God. It is older than the 
 Church. It is written in the Book, and it is the 
 duty of the Church to believe and practice the 
 doctrine as it finds it revealed in God's Book. 
 The doctrine of God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, 
 of repentance, of faith, of baptism, of forgiveness, 
 of justification, of sanctification, of prayer, of 
 heaven, of immortality, of rewards and punish- 
 ment, is written in the Book. It is of God, and 
 is eternal in character and duration and no man 
 or number of men have any right to change one 
 "jot or one tittle," add to, or take from, under 
 penalty of having their names taken out of the 
 Book of Life. With a charity as broad as truth 
 itself, the Christian Church has stood, not for 
 
THE LOCAL CHURCH 45 
 
 formulated doctrine, but for an honest belief of 
 the doctrine as written. 
 
 3. It has no right to appropriate a name except 
 for local identification. The disciples were called 
 Christians, and that being the family name the 
 only right a local Church has, is to adopt a name 
 that will localize it, for example, Bible Chapel, 
 designates a local Church, and distinguishes that 
 Church from Center Grove, and is the name of 
 the meeting-house; but not the name of the con- 
 gregation of Christians which worship within its 
 walls. 
 
 Some years ago a gentleman said to the writer, 
 and said it quite sharply too, "You people have no 
 right to appropriate a name to yourselves which 
 belongs to all the followers of Christ." I replied, 
 "You are right, my brother, and I wish you would 
 repeat your declaration." He did, and with more 
 force than at the first, when I again replied, "You 
 are absolutely right, and I wish that fact could be 
 made known and emphasized everywhere." 
 
 "Now," said I, "seeing that we agree, will you 
 kindly answer a question or two for me?" He 
 replied that he would be glad to answer as many 
 as I cared to ask. I asked how he got the name 
 Christian. He said, by repenting of his sins and 
 exercising faith in Jesus Christ. "Then," said I, 
 
46 THE CHURCH 
 
 "you received the family name by being born into 
 the family." "Certainly," said he. "Well," said I, 
 "that is the way I got the same name." By 
 repentance toward God and faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ I was made alive in Jesus Christ — 
 born into the family of Christians. We both got 
 the name in the same way. "Please tell me," said 
 I, "how you got the name Presbyterian." He 
 smiled and said, "I guess we have been doing the 
 appropriating." I said, "You certainly have." 
 We never appropriated the name. We simply 
 refuse to appropriate any name no matter how 
 desirable or suggestive it may be. We wear the 
 family name and we wear no other. 
 
 4. It has no right to limit its fellowship by sec- 
 tarian tests. Romans 14 : 1-5. "But him that is 
 weak in faith receive ye, yet not for decision of 
 scruples. One man hath faith to eat all things: 
 but he that is weak eateth herbs. Let not him 
 that eateth set at nought him that eateth not ; and 
 let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth : 
 for God hath received him. Who art thou that 
 judgest the servant of another? to his own lord 
 he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to 
 stand; for the Lord hath power to make him 
 stand. One man esteemeth one day above 
 
THE LOCAL CHURCH 47 
 
 another : another esteemeth every day alike. Let 
 each man be fully assured in his own mind." 
 
 5. It has no right to enact rules that will bind 
 men's consciences. 
 
 6. It has no right to a name that includes all 
 the followers of Christ, if its test of fellowship 
 excludes some of the followers of Christ — indeed 
 if it excludes but one of the followers of Christ. 
 
 What the Local Church Has a Right To Do. 
 
 1. To determine the time and place of its meet- 
 ings for worship or for business. 
 
 2. To arrange with a minister for pastoral 
 service, and to agree upon the plans of service and 
 the amount to be contributed. 
 
 3. To provide for the collecting of money for 
 pastoral or other current expenses. 
 
 4. To have a choir, or congregational singing, 
 or an orchestra, or all of them, or none of them, 
 as the Church may determine. 
 
 5. To organize an official board, and appoint 
 all necessary committees. 
 
 6. To create departments of Church activities, 
 and to appoint secretaries or superintendents over 
 them. 
 
 7. To organize a Sunday-school, a Christian 
 Endeavor Society, a Ladies' Aid, a Men's Brother- 
 
48 THE CHURCH 
 
 hood, a Woman's Missionary Society, or any other 
 organization which does not do violence to the 
 teaching of the Scriptures. 
 
 8. To receive members and to dismiss them on 
 stated days, in ways and by methods of their own 
 choosing, provided the Bible instruction is not 
 violated. 
 
 9. To determine the time of prayer-meetings, 
 communion services, and other special or 
 extraordinary occasions. 
 
 10. To determine the number of deacons 
 needed and to ordain them, also to determine the 
 names and number of all other officers needed for 
 the carrying forward of the work which the 
 Church has undertaken to do. 
 
 11. To elect such officers for special services 
 as may from time to time be needed, and to 
 appoint committees for the same purposes. 
 
 12. To determine the time and to plan for the 
 special evangelistic meetings which the Church 
 may desire to hold. 
 
 13. To determine the location, the size, the 
 style, and the cost of its house of worship, the time 
 of its dedication, and the order of service. 
 
 14. To hear from an offended brother of the 
 effort made toward a reconciliation, and to have 
 
THE LOCAL CHURCH 49 
 
 it told to the Church if he failed to effect recon- 
 ciliation. 
 
 15. To carry out the Scriptural instruction 
 to let such an one be to them as an heathen man 
 and a publican. 
 
 16. To combine, unite, federate, or associate 
 with any number of other local churches in con- 
 ference relationship, or to form an association or 
 federation with other local churches for agres- 
 sive work in the Kingdom of the Christ. 
 
 17. Unless by joining a conference it transfers 
 its right to the conference, it has the right to 
 examine candidates for the ministry, and to ordain 
 them thereto. Indeed that was the usual way 
 among the Christian churches during the early 
 years and it is quite questionable whether the 
 right of the local Church is displaced in matters 
 of ordination even by its conference associations. 
 
 Now let me call your attention to the fact that 
 the things mentioned which the local Church has 
 a right to do, are the things the local Church has 
 always and ever been doing, and that, too, abso- 
 lutely independent of all other local churches or 
 an association of them. From every view-point 
 from every angle of observation, the local Church 
 is a perfect Church, with absolute rights and priv- 
 ileges which cannot be limited, annulled, added to, 
 
50 THE CHURCH 
 
 or changed by any other Church in all the King- 
 dom of God. For myself I believe the local 
 Church is absolutely supreme in its own domain 
 in all matters pertaining to its faith and to its 
 practice, with an absolute and perfect right to 
 regulate its own affairs, independent of any and 
 all other local churches or any combination of 
 them. Of course in so far as it combines or unites 
 with other churches in conference or association 
 work, just so far does it obligate itself for co-op- 
 eration, but no further, and unless hindered by 
 the terms of association has a right at any time to 
 withdraw. 
 
 The local Church has the right of deciding all 
 matters which are not already decided by Scrip- 
 ture. Such things as may be determined by "Holy 
 Writ," become unchangeable law to the Church. 
 As has elsewhere been stated, the time and the 
 place of meeting, the order of worship and all 
 business matters as well as the observance of the 
 ordinances are to be determined by the local 
 Church. This right is inherent in it as a volun- 
 tary body, and its exercise is recognized as a duty 
 by the reproofs administered to the whole congre- 
 gation at Corinth, for disorderly conduct at the 
 Lord's Supper. Furthermore, the epistles are 
 directed to local Churches thus plainly, definitely, 
 
A CHRISTIAN CHURCH 51 
 
 and forcefully recognizing the right as well as the 
 responsibility of each Church as a congregation 
 with reference to conducting its own affairs. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 A Christian Church is a congregation of 
 believers in Jesus Christ, united in covenant, wor- 
 shiping together, associated in the faith and in 
 the fellowship of the gospel; practicing its pre- 
 cepts, observing its ordinances, recognizing and 
 receiving Jesus Christ as the rightful ruler and 
 supreme head of all; each member taking the 
 Bible as his only rule of faith and practice, and 
 dwelling together in the unity of the Spirit and 
 the bond of peace. Such a body of believers con- 
 stitutes the body of Christ — a spiritual temple — 
 the pillar and ground of the truth. Such churches 
 are divinely instituted, and become the light- 
 bearers to the world; they are ordained of God 
 for His glory and the proclamation of His gospel 
 and the establishment of His Kingdom ; they exist 
 for the edification of the saints, the conversion of 
 sinners and the comfort of the sorrowing. They 
 are not to make laws, but to obey and administer 
 the laws which are written in the New Testament. 
 
52 THE CHURCH 
 
 The law is written in the Book and it should be 
 obeyed and administered by the Church, Now 
 such a Church is single, separate, visible, inde- 
 pendent, having its own officers, its own arrange- 
 ment for worship and service; answerable to no 
 other Church and having no authority over any 
 other Church ; it is bound to and under the law of 
 Christ, but otherwise it is independent of, and 
 free from the control and authority of all persons 
 other than its own members. 
 
 Independent, but not Isolated. 
 
 The local Church is an independent unit, but 
 not an isolated unit ; it is a unit among a multitude 
 of units which form one great whole. No Church 
 can stand alone; churches are bound together 
 making a community of churches and the tie is 
 the mightiest which even God can make. 
 Churches have a common faith; a common rela- 
 tionship to Christ; a common law; a common 
 experience; a common life; a common hope; a 
 common service; a common responsibility; and a 
 common destiny. Thus each Church forms one 
 in the great fellowship of churches, all of which 
 and each of which is commonly effected in char- 
 acter and activity. The churches in any given 
 locality should combine in conference relationship 
 for the purpose of carrying forward in a united 
 
A CHRISTIAN CHURCH 53 
 
 way that which no Church could do single handed 
 and alone. To thus combine is the obvious duty 
 of local churches, and the purpose should be for 
 evangelistic, missionary, educational, and benev- 
 olent work as authorized by the Scriptures or 
 approved by the general judgment of the Confer- 
 ence. The united effort of churches in a stated 
 interest is clearly set forth by the united effort 
 of the Gentile churches for the relief of the 
 Judean Christians, and the common support of 
 Paul and other missionaries, who went forth to 
 labor in the interest of the Kingdom. A Confer- 
 ence is composed of ministers and churches occu- 
 pying a particular district and is purely a volun- 
 tary body; no Church is compelled to unite with 
 it, and a man's call to preach the gospel is not 
 determined by it ; it has no ecclesiastical authority 
 and holds the independence of the Church in 
 matters of faith and doctrine inviolate ; its ofiicial 
 acts must be and are strictly confined to the 
 objects, purposes, and methods as prescribed by 
 its constitution ; it may offer a friendly hand and 
 Christian service to churches that may be rent 
 and torn by dissention or otherwise troubled, but 
 it has no power to discipline or dissolve them ; it 
 can at the last only have them withdraw from 
 the Conference, or the Conference withdraw from 
 
54 THE CHURCH 
 
 them ; it has no right or authority to put a Church 
 on trial, or in any way act as a court of review 
 except as the character and conduct of a Church 
 may effect its relation to the Conference. A 
 Church cannot delegate to another body the rights 
 and functions which Christ has committed to it as 
 such, and hence a Conference is not a body that 
 can in any sense whatever perform the duties of 
 administering the ordinances, disciplining the 
 unruly, receiving, or dismissing members, electing 
 or displacing officers of a local Church, or doing 
 any other thing that falls to the Church to do. 
 There is no place in the plan and economy of the 
 Church for the Episcopacy. Both the Episcopal 
 and the Presbyterial form of government take 
 from the local Church those rights and privileges 
 which were prominent and dominant in the primi- 
 tive churches. In the really Episcopal form, the 
 ecclesiastical power belongs to the priesthood 
 which exists in three orders : bishops, priests, and 
 deacons, who constitute a hierarchy or priestly 
 government. This is the form of the Roman Cath- 
 olic Church — in which the pope is supreme bishop. 
 The Presbyterial form of government is that 
 form by which the reception of members and the 
 Church discipline are committed to the session 
 composed of the pastor and elders elected by the 
 
OFFICERS 55 
 
 congregation, and in which all ecclesiastical acts 
 are subject to revision before higher Church 
 courts composed of pastors and elders from many- 
 congregations. The contention herein maintained 
 is that the Church constituted according to the 
 New Testament is an independent congregation 
 of believers with full right and authority to decide 
 all matters concerning itself, and that its decisions 
 are not subject to review, modification, or reversal 
 by any other body of believers. 
 
 OFFICERS IN A CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 If the Church is a divine institution, its officers 
 must be divinely authorized and appointed. A 
 few things should be kept in mind. 
 
 One Church officers are by divine authority. 
 
 Two No human authority can change, multiply, 
 or abrogate them. 
 
 Three Nor can the power and right belonging to 
 Church officers be increased or lessened by 
 the acts of men. 
 
 Four Church officers being divinely established 
 are to be received as God's appointed ones, 
 and as such are to be perpetuated and 
 remain unchanged to the end of time. 
 
56 THE CHURCH 
 
 Five There are other officers which are proper 
 and useful, but they are of human origin 
 and authority and may be changed, 
 increased, or discontinued according to the 
 varying exigencies of the Church. 
 
 The officers of the Church are clearly and defi- 
 nitely named by Paul in his letter to the 
 Ephesians. "Where he ascended on high, * * * 
 And he gave some to be apostles ; some, prophets ; 
 and some evangelists; and some, pastors and 
 teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the 
 work of ministering, unto the building up of the 
 body of Christ." (Eph. 4 : 8-13.) 
 
 Paul also speaks of the Church as having 
 "bishops and deacons." (Phil. 1:1.) (1 Tim. 3 : 
 1-13.) 
 
 It would not be in keeping with the plan and 
 purpose of this production to treat of the char- 
 acter or to define the work of the above named 
 officers ; but it should be said that quite evidently 
 the offices of apostle and prophet were temporary, 
 and ceased with the expiration of the necessity for 
 their service; and that evangelist, teacher, and 
 preacher, while not essential to the complete 
 organization of the Church, exist because of a 
 necessity for their service, but certainly they can 
 have no official authority in the Church. The 
 
OFFICERS 57 
 
 Church as constituted by the New Testament rule 
 has but two classes of officers — pastors and dea- 
 cons. It is quite evident that in Scripture these 
 are the only officers mentioned whose qualifica- 
 tions and duties are stated in connection with the 
 ordinary offices of the Church. 
 
 Pastors. — It seems conclusive that the terms 
 presbyter, bishop, pastor, are designations of one 
 office and used interchangeably throughout the 
 New Testament. The elders of the Church at 
 Ephesus are called overseers. Paul in his charge 
 to Timothy, concerning the ordination of the class 
 of officers, speaks of them interchangeably as 
 elders and bishops, and Peter exhorts the elders 
 to take the oversight or act as bishops of the 
 flock. 
 
 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him 
 the elders of the church. And when they were come to 
 him, he said unto them, Ye yourselves know, from the first 
 day that I set foot in Asia, after what manner I was with 
 you all the time, serving the Lord with all lowliness of 
 mind, and with tears, and with trials which befell me 
 by the plots of the Jews; how I shrank not from declaring 
 unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you 
 publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews 
 and to Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in 
 the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that 
 shall befall me there: save that the Holy Spirit testifieth 
 unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions 
 abide me. But I hold not my life of any account as dear 
 unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course, and 
 
58 THE CHURCH 
 
 the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to 
 testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, 
 I know that ye all, among whom I went about preaching 
 the kingdom, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I 
 testify unto you this day, that I am pure from the blood 
 of all men. For I shrank not from declaring unto you 
 the whole counsel of God. — Acts 20: 17-28. 
 
 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldast 
 set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint 
 elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is 
 blameless, the husband of ona wife, having children that 
 believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. — Titus 
 1:5-7. 
 
 The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a 
 fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, 
 who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed; 
 tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the 
 oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the 
 will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. 
 1 Peter 5: 1, 2. 
 
 And in further testimony of the claim that 
 these various terms designate but one office we 
 cite the fact that the qualifications and duties 
 were and are identical. 
 
 Faithful is the saying. If a man seeketh the office of a 
 bishop, he desireth a good work. The bishop therefore 
 must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, tem- 
 perate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to 
 teach; no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, 
 no lover of money; one that ruleth well his own house, 
 having his children in subjection with all gravity; but if 
 a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall 
 he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest 
 being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the devil. 
 — 1 Tim. 3: 1-7. 
 
 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest 
 set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint 
 elders in every city, as I gave thee charge. — Titus 1 : 5. 
 
OFFICERS 59 
 
 It may be safely concluded that an elder was, 
 
 1. An aged person whether male or female. 
 
 Likewise ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all 
 of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: 
 for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the hum- 
 ble.— 1 Peter 5 : 5. 
 
 The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in 
 all purity.— 1 Tim. 5 : 2. 
 
 2. A member of the Jewish Sanhedrin or a 
 presiding officer in a Jewish Synagogue. 
 
 Why do thy disciples trangress the tradition of the 
 elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat 
 bread.— Matt. 15 : 2. 
 
 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and 
 be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and 
 be killed, and the third day be raised up. — Luke 9 : 22. 
 
 3. A patriarch or prophet. 
 
 For therein the elders had witness borne to them. — 
 Hebrews 11 : 2. 
 
 4. A Christian bishop or pastor, one ordained 
 to preach the gospel. 
 
 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest 
 set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint 
 elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is 
 blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that 
 believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. — Titus 
 1:5-7. 
 
 The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a 
 fellow-elder, and a witness of the suffering of Christ, who 
 am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed; 
 tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the 
 oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to 
 the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready 
 mind.— 1 Peter 5:1, 2. 
 
60 THE CHURCH 
 
 Briefly stated the duties of the pastor may be 
 mentioned in the following order : 
 
 1. To direct the public religious instruction of 
 the Church in the pulpit and all the departments 
 of Church work. 
 
 2. To administer the ordinances of the Church. 
 
 3. To preside at all meetings of the Church 
 whether for worship or for business. 
 
 4. To watch over and develop the members 
 in their personal experience and conduct, to 
 exhort, reprove, rebuke with all long-suffering and 
 gentleness. They are in a word the spiritual 
 guides of the churches over which they preside; 
 and they should remember that the powers and 
 duties belonging to the pastoral office, and exer- 
 cised within the sphere of pastoral relations are 
 the functions devolving upon them by divine 
 authority; but they should remember, too, that 
 inasmuch as they received their office through the 
 Church, if these powers are abused or duties 
 neglected, the Church may take the office from 
 them. 
 
 DEACON — THE ORIGIN OF THE OFFICE 
 
 The first deacons were not chosen by Christ, 
 but we should keep in mind that they were 
 chosen by the authority and under the direc- 
 tion of the inspired apostles, which carries with it 
 
OFFICERS 61 
 
 the same force as though done under the personal 
 direction of Christ Himself. The story of choos- 
 ing and ordaining the first deacons is told in the 
 sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, from the 
 first to the sixth verses inclusive. In this brief 
 story we have set forth 
 
 The necessity of the office, 
 
 The qualifications of the officer, 
 
 The manner of election, and 
 
 The method of ordination. 
 
 While it is true that these seven were not called 
 deacons in this connection, yet men possessing 
 these qualifications, and occupying the same posi- 
 tions were so designated by the New Testament 
 writers, hence the name need not be questioned. 
 The office originated in two conditions of the 
 Church. 
 
 One — The Temporal Necessities of the Poor. — 
 Jesus had always taken great interest in the poor, 
 a fact well known to the apostles; they had seen 
 His interest in the poor people and His care for 
 them. The poor people not only followed Jesus, 
 but they joined the Church. There seems not to 
 have been an equitable distribution of the common 
 funds among the disciples. The Grecians mur- 
 mured against the Hebrews, because their widows 
 were neglected in the daily ministrations. The 
 
62 THE CHURCH 
 
 apostles who up to this period seem to have had 
 control of the treasury, no longer had time to 
 attend to the secular affairs of the Church. The 
 Church was organized for worship, but not for 
 service. The poor were there ; they must be cared 
 for and the deaconship was the solution of the 
 problem. These deacons were God's first ministers 
 to the poor. The Seventy had been sent to the lost 
 sheep of the House of Israel; the apostles had 
 been commissioned to preach the gospel to the 
 whole world ; Paul was to be a special messenger 
 to the Gentiles, and the deacon was to minister to 
 the poor. 
 
 Two — The All Absorbing Task of the Ministry. 
 
 — These twelve men had not been ordained to 
 
 secular service ; they were not appointed to serve 
 
 tables; they had been commissioned to preach, 
 
 and they felt the divine limitation and sought 
 
 release. It is probable also, that attention to this 
 
 part of the work would have created prejudice 
 
 and lessened and hindered their work in spiritual 
 
 things. For these reasons the Twelve called the 
 
 multitude of the disciples together and said : 
 
 It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, 
 and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among 
 yourselves seven men of honest report, full of the Holy 
 Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this busi- 
 ness. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and 
 the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the 
 
OFFICERS 63 
 
 whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of 
 faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Phillip, and Nicanor, and 
 Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of 
 Antioch; whom they set before the apostles; and when 
 they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. (Acts 
 6:1-6.) 
 
 That a Church can exist and be in gospel order 
 for a time, without deacons, seems not to admit 
 of doubt, for the Church at Jerusalem, previous 
 to the election of the seven deacons mentioned is a 
 case in point ; but a Church is not fully organized 
 until deacons are elected and ordained. Deacons 
 are not essential to the being of a Church, but to 
 the well being. 
 
 THE METHOD OF CHOOSING DEACONS 
 
 One. Chosen of the Church. — "Look ye out 
 among yourselves;" examine; make inquiry; 
 investigate ; pry into, etc., etc. But the emphatic 
 injunction is found in the words, "Among your- 
 selves." This is a Church affair; do not go out- 
 side your membership ; this is a matter in which 
 the world hath neither part nor lot. 
 
 Two. — Chosen by the Church. — It was distinct- 
 ively a Church matter, and in it the world was not 
 to be recognized. The fact that they were to be 
 chosen of the Church, and by the Church, is a 
 convincing testimony, and conclusive argument 
 in favor of the independence of the local Church. 
 
64 THE CHURCH 
 
 The authority to choose from the Church and by 
 the Church, involves the whole doctrine of the 
 independence of the Church. The matter was 
 referred to, and acted upon, by the whole multi- 
 tude of the disciples. There were two methods of 
 election in New Testament times, one by ballot, 
 the other by lot. The lot, as in case of the election 
 of Matthias, was by writing two names on strips 
 of parchment, perhaps several duplicates of them, 
 and then shaken up; the one first drawn out 
 decided the choice. It is altogether likely that this 
 method was used in electing the seven deacons. 
 The other method was the ballot, or the stretching 
 forth of the hand in approval. When the churches 
 chose Titus, as mentioned in 2 Cor. 8 : 19, this 
 method was used. The word chosen in the above 
 reference is from cheirotoneo, which means to 
 stretch forth the hand. The same word is used in 
 Acts 14 : 23, and is translated "ordain" in the com- 
 mon version, but "appointed" in the Revised. The 
 word is a compound from cheir, the hand, and 
 teino, to vote, or choose by holding forth the hand. 
 
 THE REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS 
 
 These men were not to be picked up in any hap- 
 hazard way, but were to be carefully chosen, and 
 that, too, after mature deliberation and earnest 
 prayer. The qualifications, as set forth in the 
 
OFFICERS 65 
 
 New Testament, and in force to-day, are very- 
 definite and imperative. In addition to the 
 requirements mentioned at the time the first seven 
 were chosen, are the ones mentioned by Paul in 
 his Epistle to Timothy. He says, "Deacons in like 
 manner must be grave, not double-tongued, not 
 given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; 
 holding the mystery of the faith in a pure con- 
 science. And let these also first be proved ; then 
 let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless. 
 Women in like manner must be grave, not slan- 
 derers, temperate, faithful in all things. Let dea- 
 cons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children 
 and their own houses well. For they that have 
 served well as deacons gain to themselves a good 
 standing, and great boldness in the faith which 
 is in Christ Jesus." 1 Tim. 3 : 8-13. 
 
 THE OFFICE NOT CONFINED TO MEN 
 
 That women were chosen to this sacred office 
 is too well established by the Scriptures and 
 Church history to be questioned, and as the limits 
 of this work forbid any lengthy discussion of the 
 matter, the reader must be referred, with the few 
 references made, to Church history for further 
 investigation, should he so desire. Phoebe and 
 Priscilla were deaconesses, and fellow-servants 
 with Paul. It is a well-known fact that Pliny put 
 
66 THE CHURCH 
 
 two deaconesses to the torture, but the pagan was 
 compelled to acknowledge that they were faithful, 
 even in suffering. Church historians are in agree- 
 ment upon the fact of their appointment, their 
 ordination, and their service. Neander says: 
 
 Besides the deacons, there were appointed also deacon- 
 esses, for the female portion of the communities, because 
 the free access of men to the female sex, especially in the 
 East, where custom demanded so careful a separation of 
 the sexes, might excite suspicion and give offense. If the 
 women, in conformity with their natural destination, were 
 excluded from the offices of teaching and Church govern- 
 ment, yet the peculiar qualifications of the sex were now 
 claimed, in this way, as peculiar gifts for the service of 
 the communities. By means of such deaconesses the gospel 
 could be introduced into the bosom of families, where, 
 owing to the customs of the East, no man could gain 
 admittance. They were also bound, as Christian Avives 
 and mothers of tried experience in all the relations of 
 their sex, to assist the younger women of the communities 
 with their counsel and encouragement. 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke says : 
 
 "There were deaconesses in the primitive Church whose 
 duty it was to attend to the female converts at baptisms, 
 instruct the candidates for baptism," etc. "It is evident 
 that they were ordained to their office by the imposition 
 of the hands of the bishop," etc. "In the tenth or eleventh 
 century the order became extinct in the Latin Church ; but 
 continued in the Greek Church to the end of the twelfth 
 century." Clarke, on Rom. 16: 1. Summerbell, page 135. 
 
 In the summing up of their duties we have seen 
 that they visited the women who had been 
 imprisoned for their faith in Jesus Christ; that 
 they baptized their own sex, and later on, when 
 
OFFICERS 67 
 
 men baptized women, they dressed and redressed 
 them for and after the baptismal service. 
 
 THE DUTIES OF THE DEACON 
 
 Their duties were then, and are now : 
 
 1. To have the oversight of the poor. 
 
 2. To serve the tables of the poor. 
 
 3. To serve the table of the Lord (the com- 
 
 munion). 
 
 4. To serve the table of the minister. 
 
 Of course it must be understood that these 
 duties are not to be interpreted to mean that they 
 serve at the tables of the poor, and at the table 
 of the minister, but rather that they see that the 
 poor and the minister have tables, and that they 
 have something on them to eat. In many churches 
 now the office of deacon is only nominal and in no 
 sense practical. In all too many churches the 
 duty of the deacon means nothing more than the 
 passing of the emblems on communion days, by 
 which is ignored the Biblical requirements, and 
 as a rule the Church suffers greatly from its 
 action. The writer is of the opinion that no con- 
 dition can exist that will justify a Church in 
 departing from the apostolic order, or in any way 
 neglecting to do things required by the Bible in 
 the government of its affairs. The apostolic order 
 must be established and obeyed, or the Church 
 
68 THE CHURCH 
 
 cannot attain to apostolic success in spiritual 
 things. No human plans, no matter how wisely 
 devised, or how generally used, can be substituted 
 for the divine order and government of the 
 Church, and he who does such things should fear 
 lest the condemnation of God should come upon 
 him. The only law-maker for the Church is its 
 builder and head. The Church is not to make 
 laws, but should obey and administer the laws, as 
 given by Jesus Christ in the New Testament. The 
 duties of the deacon did not end, nor do they end 
 now, when these tables have been provided for. 
 The deacon is a spiritual officer of the Church, as 
 well as a server of tables. The word translated 
 deacon, Diakonas, is also translated minister, 
 servant, ministers, servants, deacon, deaconess, 
 and bishop. "But he that is greatest among you 
 shall be your servant." Matt. 23 : 11. "Paul and 
 Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints 
 in Christ Jesus that are at Phillippi, with the 
 bishops and deacons." Philippians 1 : 1. "What 
 then is Apollos, and what is Paul? Ministers 
 through whom ye believed ; and each as the Lord 
 gave to him." 1 Corinthians 3 : 5. "I commend 
 unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of 
 the church that is at Cenchrese." Romans 16 : 1. 
 "Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever 
 
OFFICERS 69 
 
 would become great among you shall be your min- 
 ister." Matthew 20 : 26. "Whereof I was made a 
 minister, according to the gift of that grace of 
 God which was given me according to the working 
 of his power." Ephesians 3 : 7. 
 
 Phillip was one of the seven ordained deacons, 
 and Phillip preached and baptized, and so far as 
 we know without other authority than that given 
 him by the original ordination. This leads me to 
 says that the ordinations of preachers and deacons 
 in the Christian Church, so far as known to me, 
 are exactly alike. In the ordination of the seven, 
 the apostles enjoined the multitude to make the 
 selection, and when that was done, the apostles 
 prayed, and then laid their hands upon them. 
 They did not lay their hands upon them during 
 the prayer, as is often done by presbyteries now, 
 but "when they had prayed." Now in that man- 
 ner the writer was ordained a minister of the 
 Word, and in that manner has assisted in the ordi- 
 nation of ministers and deacons, and were he a 
 deacon with only the ordination of a deacon, he 
 would not hesitate to preach if he could, nor would 
 he hesitate to baptize should he be called upon to 
 do so, especially in the absence of the pastor, or 
 minister, regularly in charge. The writer does 
 not think that he oversteps the bounds of pro- 
 
70 THE CHURCH 
 
 priety when he says that the ordination of a 
 preacher carries with it the obligation upon his 
 part to be true to the Church that confers the rite. 
 When a preacher changes his views, so as to 
 affect his standing in the denomination which 
 ordained him, he is morally bound to surrender 
 his credentials, or withdraw, according to the 
 methods of the Church. To do otherwise is to 
 misrepresent the Church conferring the ordina- 
 tion, and do it dishonor and injury. Now what is 
 true of the preacher, is true of the deacon. In 
 accepting the office and submitting to ordination, 
 the deacon lays himself under obligation to be 
 true to the office and the Church in which he holds 
 it, and when he can no longer so do, he is duty 
 bound to resign and surrender his credentials as 
 an officer of that Church. This does not mean 
 that his ordination is annulled, that could not be. 
 Holy hands once imposed, are imposed for all 
 time, and so the deacon is ordained for life, but 
 his term of service in any particular Church may 
 be, and indeed should be, determined by a vote of 
 the Church. The writer is an ordained minister 
 of the Word, and that ordination is for life, but 
 the term that he may serve any particular Church 
 as pastor is not determined by the ordination, but 
 by the will of the Church which he serves. To 
 
OFFICERS 71 
 
 illustrate this point the writer may be pardoned 
 a personal reference. Once when I was in the 
 pastorate a brother, who had been ordained as a 
 deacon in another Church, was received to mem- 
 bership. Soon afterward he said to me, "I sup- 
 pose that I am now a deacon in this Church." I 
 said, "No, you are not." "Why," said he, "I have 
 been ordained, and you have taken me into mem- 
 bership." "Yes," said I, "that is what we have 
 done ; we have taken you into membership, but we 
 have not chosen you a deacon yet, and most cer- 
 tainly did not by receiving you into membership." 
 Later on, he was elected deacon, but not until the 
 Church was convinced of his fitness for the place. 
 The number of deacons in any one Church must 
 of course be determined by the size of the mem- 
 ship, the work to be done, and other considerations 
 which will appear to those who have the work in 
 hand. 
 
 OTHER OFFICERS OF THE LOCAL CHURCH 
 
 So far, we have dealt only with the officers 
 which have Biblical authority for their existence 
 and service, but there are other officers which 
 grow out of the character and conditions of the 
 Church, and the work it has to do, and while there 
 is no Biblical authority or example for them, or 
 their occupants, there are many and valid reasons 
 
72 THE CHURCH 
 
 why they should be, one of which is, let all things 
 be done decently and in order. 
 
 Clerk. — Each local Church should have a compe- 
 tent, faithful clerk, who not only attends the busi- 
 ness sessions of the Church and its Official Board, 
 but who keeps an accurate record of all proceed- 
 ings of the Church, the names of the members, the 
 date of admission, the date of baptism, whether 
 admitted by letter or upon confession, date and 
 reason for all dismissals and withdrawals, 
 together with a brief history of the Sunday serv- 
 ices, the attendance, the text of the sermon, the 
 name of the preacher, and such notations as his 
 judgment approves. The clerk of the Church 
 should be the connecting link between the Church 
 and all individuals and organizations with which 
 the Church has to do. 
 
 Treas^trer. — Each local Church should have a 
 treasurer, who should be chosen upon the facts of 
 his honesty in businesf'. and his efficiency in serv- 
 ice. Simply because one is good is not sufficient 
 reason for electing one to a place of trust in the 
 house of the Lord. 
 
 Trustees. — The Common Law of the land pro- 
 vides that no trust shall fail for the want of a 
 trustee, and each local Church should see to it that 
 
OFFICERS 73 
 
 the legal number of competent trustees are elected 
 in accordance with the requirements of the state 
 laws, to whose care and keeping all Church prop- 
 erty should be entrusted. In this connection the 
 writer would like to recommend to each and every 
 local Church of the Christians, to deed its prop- 
 erty in trust to the Conference in which the 
 Church has membership. 
 
 DISCIPLINE 
 
 The word discipline is a military term, and 
 refers to the training of soldiers for service. It 
 does not have to do so much with what we ordi- 
 narily think when we think discipline, as it does 
 with the training of the members of a local con- 
 gregation for service in the Kingdom of Jesus 
 Christ. The life of Christ in the soul must be 
 developed, and the hands trained in service, and 
 the discipline of the Church has to do with this. 
 Discipline includes all the methods by which a 
 Church educates its members for service, and 
 fits them for heaven; it includes private instruc- 
 tion, the maintenance of the prayer and social 
 services, and every other process by which the 
 Church deals with the souls of men. Evangelism 
 and training are the two divine lines of Church 
 activity, and under discipline both of these may 
 be included. Of course discipline in a narrower 
 
74 THE CHURCH 
 
 sense denotes the action of the Church with refer- 
 ence to offenses committed by the individual mem- 
 ber, either against the Church as a whole, or some 
 one or more members of it, and in the light of the 
 above statement I shall mention : — 
 
 /. Mutual Watch-care. This is rather pre- 
 ventive than disciplinary. Were the members of 
 the Church to watch over each other in loving 
 tender care in the earnest spirit of the religion of 
 their Lord, there would be but few instances of 
 personal offense, and but rare cases of individuals 
 going astray. A true Christian watch-care, a 
 tender regard for each other's welfare, is the 
 highest development of Christian life, and the best 
 service a Church can render to its members. 
 David said : "Let the righteous smite me, it shall 
 be a kindness ; and let him reprove me, it shall be 
 as oil upon the head; let not my head refuse it: 
 for even in their wickedness shall my prayer con- 
 tinue." Psalm 141 : 5. And Paul lays emphasis 
 upon this beautiful service when he says: 
 "Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any tres- 
 pass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a 
 spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou 
 also be tempted." Gal. 6 : 1. "Put on therefore, 
 as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of com- 
 passion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suf- 
 
OFFICERS 75 
 
 fering; forbearing one another, and forgiving 
 each other, if any man have a complaint against 
 any ; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye ; 
 and above all these things put on love, which is 
 the bond of perfectness." Col. 3 : 12-14. Even a 
 close approach of the Church to this grand ideal 
 of Christian service changes the atmosphere of 
 the entire membership, and charges it with vital- 
 izing forces that become an irresistible influence 
 in developing human life into the life and charac- 
 ter of Jesus Christ. 
 
 //. The Adjustment of Private and Personal 
 Grievances. Offenses seem inevitable, even among 
 men who profess to follow their Lord. The Mas- 
 ter said they should come, but pronounced a woe 
 upon the ones by whom they should come. When 
 they do arise in the membership of a Church, 
 there is but one line to follow, but one course to 
 pursue, and that is clearly laid down in the New 
 Testament. "And if thy brother sin against 
 thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him 
 alone: if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy 
 brother. But if he hear thee not, take with thee 
 one or two more, that at the mouth of two wit- 
 nesses or three every word may be established. 
 And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the 
 Church : and if he refuse to hear the Church also. 
 
76 THE CHURCH 
 
 let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the pub- 
 lican." Matt. 18 : 15, 16, 17. It should be observed 
 here that if the offended brother should fail in his 
 duty, then the offending one is to take the initiative, 
 and seek the interview. If this fails, then one or 
 two judicious fellow members are to be chosen as 
 witnesses, and the whole case is to be heard before 
 them. If this should fail, then the whole matter 
 is to be told to the Church, the proof adduced and 
 the opportunity given for defense. Should the 
 offense be proven, the offender is to make repara- 
 tion, or no longer be considered a member of the 
 body. It should be observed further that there is 
 no substitute, or discretionary rights, granted by 
 the divine law. The duty is imperative and should 
 at once be taken up and discharged. The one 
 object ever and always to have in mind is the sav- 
 ing of the brother. The Church and the individ- 
 ual member should always think of what it means 
 to lose a brother. 
 
 ///. An Offense Against the Whole Church. 
 Should an offense be committed against the 
 Church it should be dealt with in exactly the same 
 way that individual offenses are handled. In case 
 of a public offense against the Church, the dea- 
 cons, representing the Church, should at once see 
 the offending, or the offended member, and should 
 
OFFICERS 77 
 
 they fail to adjust the matter, then some addi- 
 tional members should go with them, and should 
 that method fail to bring about a reconciliation, 
 then the whole Church should hear of the matter 
 and pass upon it. These are the Biblical ways, 
 and God always honors His way, and certainly 
 Jesus knew better than we how to deal with 
 private and public offenses. The Church that fol- 
 lows His instruction does well, and the Church 
 that fails to follow His instruction need not expect 
 His help, or His blessing. 
 
 Exclusion is the final act of Church power. It 
 is solemn withdrawal of fellowship, and the eras- 
 ing of the name from the roll of members. This 
 act can only affect the membership of the individ- 
 ual in the local Church. He was born into the 
 Kingdom, if in at all, but he was voted into the 
 local membership, and by vote that membership 
 may be discontinued; but let it be remembered 
 that no vote of any local Church can affect one 
 way or the other the standing of the individual in 
 the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. A Scriptural dis- 
 cipline administered in loving tenderness and sin- 
 cerity, is essential to the welfare of the Church 
 and the good of the individual, and the Church 
 should never hesitate in the discharge of this 
 divinely authorized duty. In thirty and more 
 
78 THE CHURCH 
 
 years of pastoral service, I recall one case of disci- 
 pline. I had in my membership a brother who 
 had been brought up in a Church that had ways of 
 proceeding against an offender different from that 
 of the Christians. He felt that a brother had 
 offended him, and lodged with me, as his pastor, 
 the complaint, and asked, to have a Church trial. 
 I publically announced that the trial would 
 occur on a certain evening, and that the whole 
 Church would be expected to be present. I did 
 not need to urge an attendance. The house was 
 filled at a very early hour. After prayer I 
 announced the purpose of the meeting, and called 
 for the brethren involved to come forward, which 
 they did. In the presence of the entire congrega- 
 tion I asked the offended brother if he felt himself 
 aggrieved, and if the brother by his side was the 
 offender. He answered very promptly and very 
 decidedly, yes. I then asked if he had taken the 
 first step in the proceedings against the offender, 
 and read to him the instruction of Christ in the 
 matter. He said he had not. I simply said the 
 case is suspended until the first step in the pro- 
 ceedings is taken, and at once pronounced the 
 benediction. I never heard of the matter after- 
 ward, except that the two men had adjusted their 
 
OFFICERS 79 
 
 differences and became good friends and fellow- 
 servants in the Lord. 
 
 The following principles have been set forth 
 thus far in this discussion. 
 
 First. That the Church which Christ Himself 
 is building is His spiritual body on the earth, and 
 at the last He will present this Church to Himself, 
 a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or 
 any such thing. In the membership of this Church 
 is found all the good and the true, of all ages, 
 countries, climes, and conditions of men. 
 
 Second. That a local Church, or congregation, 
 is absolutely independent, though vitally related 
 to all other churches and congregations of 
 believers. 
 
 Third. That a divine constitution of the 
 Church is given in form of government authorized 
 by Christ. 
 
 Fourth. That all members of the local Church 
 have equal rights and privileges in matters of 
 worship, and in conducting the business affairs 
 of the congregation. 
 
 Fifth. That the officers of the Church, as 
 authorized by the divine constitution, are pastors, 
 called also bishops, presbyters, elders, and over- 
 
80 THE CHURCH 
 
 seers, whose oversight, authority, and duties are 
 mainly in spiritual things; and deacons, whose 
 official duties are chiefly an oversight of the tem- 
 poral concerns of the Church, and in general as 
 helpers of the pastor. The qualifications for both 
 officers are definitely set forth by Paul in his 
 letters to Timothy and to Titus. 
 
 RECEIVING MEMBERS INTO THE LOCAL 
 CHURCH 
 
 When one comes forward in the public audience 
 and confesses Christ, should the Church be asked 
 to vote upon one's reception? Yes, if such a one 
 desires to be enrolled as a member of that partic- 
 ular body of believers. 
 
 "Repentance toward God and faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ," brings one into the Church that 
 Jesus is building upon the rock, and no one is 
 voted into that Church. One must be born into it, 
 but being born into the Church that Jesus Christ 
 is building, does not make one a member of any 
 local organization, and certainly such membership 
 is desirable and profitable. 
 
 Here are four or five different congregations In 
 the same city. They may all be of the same faith 
 and order — all Christian churches — and one is 
 
RECEIVING MEMBERS 81 
 
 born into the kingdom of God, and desires mem- 
 bership in one of the five, it seems to be per- 
 fectly proper for that local Church to extend to 
 such applicant the blessing of membership by a 
 hearty vote, and a good old-fashioned handshake. 
 Such vote has nothing vi^hatsoever to do with the 
 admission of one into the Kingdom of God. We 
 mistake when we conclude that receiving one into 
 the local Church is the same as receiving one into 
 the Church that Jesus is building, for with mem- 
 bership in the latter we have nothing whatsoever 
 to do. The Lord adds to the Church daily such as 
 are being saved. The local Church holds the 
 supreme right in all matters pertaining to itself, 
 and nothing could be more fitting than for such 
 Church to vote membership to one who seeks it 
 and whose life and conduct will harmonize with 
 the rules that govern that particular congregation 
 of believers. Times of meeting, the personnel of 
 the Church officiary, the ability of the minister, 
 the relationship of members, and many another 
 thing may have to do in deciding one's choice of 
 local membership, all of which no doubt had been 
 previously determined by a vote of the body, and 
 now that it deals with an addition to its member- 
 ship the logical thing to do is to vote upon the 
 application. 
 
82 THE CHURCH 
 
 If the Scriptures were silent (but they are not) 
 the general practices among men would suggest 
 the propriety of such expression. As far as 
 known to the writer all fraternal organizations 
 vote upon the reception of members. A man 
 must not only be a mason, but he must belong to 
 some local lodge of masons. The enrolment as a 
 member of any particular lodge could not make 
 him a mason, nor does the vote of the lodge grant- 
 ing him membership make him such, but because 
 he is a mason he seeks to be enrolled. The vote 
 of the local Church cannot make one a Christian, 
 nor will the enrolment of one's name on any 
 ing him membership make him such, but because 
 one is a Christian one seeks such enrolment 
 somewhere among some local body of believers. 
 
 By such membership one becomes specifically 
 identified and acknowledges his obligation and 
 responsibility to some locality and where his 
 activities may be directed so as to accomplish the 
 greatest good for the cause. When it comes to 
 dismissing one from membership a vote is taken 
 and indeed voting is the usual method of deciding 
 almost every question among our churches, and an 
 exception to this rule should not be made when 
 one is to be received to membership. 
 
RECEIVING MEMBERS 83 
 
 A careful study of the question will show that 
 Jesus laid the foundation of His Church on com- 
 mon sense principles and the world in its organiza- 
 tions has adopted His principles of government 
 and find that they work satisfactorily, and local 
 churches would do well to keep to the strait and 
 narrow way marked out by the Master. 
 
 The fact that the Church in any locality is the 
 Church in its organized capacity, and a sovereign 
 body in itself, transacting its own business with- 
 out interference or dictation from any other 
 Church or outside body, either preachers or 
 laymen, is a strong testimony in favor of its right 
 and duty to receive by public approval any who 
 might apply for membership. 
 
 The churches mentioned by Paul were not sim- 
 ply promiscuous gatherings of Christians for 
 prayer and praise, but were Christians organized 
 for service, to which the command "Let every- 
 thing be done decently and in order" was given. 
 Churches so organized are to transact business for 
 the Lord's Kingdom and the whole organization is 
 to participate in all the business, so that when it 
 comes to receiving members, a vote of that partic- 
 ular Church or congregation is certainly not only 
 in order, but a very impressive and stimulating 
 expression of their willingness to grant member- 
 
84 THE CHURCH 
 
 ship to the applicant, and if that be followed with 
 an old-time cordial handshake it becomes all the 
 more so. 
 
 CHOOSING A PASTOR 
 
 There is nothing we do which demands more 
 care, or is worthy of more thoughtful considera- 
 tion, than the choosing of a pastor, and yet fre- 
 quently nothing is done more carelessly or with 
 so little thought. The misfits in pastoral service, 
 and the limitations in many pastorates, reveal the 
 careless and inefficient way by which we do the 
 most important things. There is a lamentable 
 want of wisdom manifested, both by congregation 
 and preacher, when it comes to the matter of 
 engaging a pastor. 
 
 The average Church exercises less sense in this 
 matter, though of such vital importance, than a 
 prudent man does in buying a horse or a cow 
 for his use on the farm. The many churches 
 longing for another man, and the many men anx- 
 ious for more congenial fields, is an earnest plea 
 for a carefully devised plan by which the many 
 evils of the past may not be repeated and future 
 mistakes and misfits avoided. The way the pastor 
 
CHOOSING A PASTOR 85 
 
 is often chosen, is to throw open the pulpit to the 
 innumerable candidates that may choose to come. 
 Their personal request to be heard, or the desire 
 of some personal friend or admirer, is quite suffi- 
 cient to secure for each one in turn a hearing. 
 The people are often encouraged to take a side, 
 and stand for the man they like to hear preach, 
 and do not hesitate to say that they know that the 
 Church will lose some members, and some money, 
 too, if their particular preacher is not employed. 
 Then, sometimes they sing their little song : 
 
 I know something I won't tell. 
 
 When the candidates have all been heard, and 
 the Church thoroughly divided and the members 
 worked up to fever heat in their effort to secure 
 their favorite, then a meeting of the Church is 
 called to decide the all-important matter of a 
 preacher for the "coming year." Their prices 
 have been secured, and often the original amount 
 reduced in order to increase their influence with 
 the brethren, and with evorybody ready for final 
 struggle they go into session. Deacon Economy is 
 made chairman, and opens the meeting with 
 prayer, in which he asks the Lord to direct their 
 minds to the right man, which, in his judgment, 
 means the one who has named the lowest price to 
 the committee. But to Brother Selfish it means 
 
86 THE CHURCH 
 
 the man who can get the most done, calling on him 
 for the least amount of service. 
 
 And so each one determines who the right man 
 is, and leaves the Lord very little to do in the 
 matter. When the meeting is ready for business, 
 one after another presents his favorite candidate, 
 and lays particular stress upon his ability to do 
 the thing which, in his judgment, the others do 
 not want done, which they insist is greatly needed 
 in that particular community. One wants an old- 
 fashioned preacher, one wants a new-fashioned 
 preacher, one wants a good singer, one wants one 
 that will not forget the people, another wants 
 one that will be popular with the young people, one 
 wants one that will be sociable, another wants 
 one that will not lower his dignity, one wants one 
 that will call on the members, another wants 
 one that will study and prepare his sermons, one 
 wants one that is interested in missions, another 
 wants one that will take care of the local Church, 
 one wants one that is interested in education, 
 another wants one that can preach to the common 
 people, one wants one that will take all the collec- 
 tions, another wants one that will not always be 
 harping about money, one wants one that keeps 
 up with the times, another wants one that was 
 like the good old preachers of his boyhood days. 
 
CHOOSING A PASTOR 87 
 
 Some want him to preach loud, some want him to 
 preach low, some want him to preach long, some 
 want him to preach brief, some want him to 
 preach fast, some want him to preach slow, some 
 want him to preach on doctrinal subjects, some on 
 practical subjects, some want him to dress well 
 and look tidy, and others think a fop of a preacher 
 is the "awfullest" thing in the world. And thus 
 they go on until they are ready to vote, when lo 
 and behold, the man they want cannot be found! 
 He is dead. He died a good many years before. 
 
 There is another way of choosing a pastor that 
 is evil, and always evil, and that is to start a sub- 
 scription for two candidates, with the understand- 
 ing that the one receiving the largest amount shall 
 be "the preacher." The writer knew a Church 
 that at one time had three candidates, but could 
 not agree upon any one of them. One was a holi- 
 ness man, one was given to abusing the members of 
 the Church for their failures, and the other a faith- 
 ful man of average ability as a preacher. The 
 Church agreed to start three subscriptions, and 
 the one to whom the most money was subscribed 
 should be called. The result was that the worldly 
 people rallied to the man that pleased them, 
 because of his caustic way of dealing with the 
 faulty members, and the Church had for one year 
 
88 THE CHURCH 
 
 a preacher "hired'' by the world and for which 
 he preached, to the great detriment of the Church 
 and the growth of righteousness in that com- 
 munity. Never start a subscription for a 
 preacher. That will work harm and only harm 
 every time. Take your subscription, if taken at 
 all, for the Church, no matter who the preacher 
 may be. In raising funds for Church purposes 
 the preacher should never be named. 
 
 There is a way to choose a pastor and a right 
 way, too. A pastor is a preacher, plus his ability 
 to do pastoral work among the people, and choos- 
 ing one is manifestly the Lord's work and hence 
 every step taken by the congregation should be in 
 a humble spirit of submission and dependence on 
 Him. The prayers of the Church ought to make 
 it sure that the coming pastor will be the right 
 man, for if he comes in answer to their prayers 
 for guidance it cannot be otherwise. Let me 
 suggest : — 
 
 First. That in selecting a pastor all prelim- 
 inary work be intrusted to the Official Board of 
 the Church, or to a committee carefully chosen 
 for the special duty of investigating and reporting 
 their findings to the Church, and not to the entire 
 congregation, as is often done. 
 
CHOOSING A PASTOR 89 
 
 Second. The Official Board, or Special Com- 
 mittee, thus charged with such duty should first 
 of all make a list of eligible men, and men who 
 might be especially desired by the Church. From 
 this list should then be eliminated (a) all such as 
 the Board, or Committee, has reason to think 
 could not be induced to leave their present field of 
 labor, (b) All who ought not to be tempted to 
 leave their present field of labor, no matter how 
 desirable they might be. (c) All those who, no 
 matter how desirable and efficient elsewhere, 
 might be unfit for their particular pulpit, (d) 
 And all who are pulpit seekers and who make 
 frequent changes in their pastoral relations. 
 
 Third. Before any of the men thus selected 
 should be written to, or any consideration given 
 them, the Board, or Committee, should make dili- 
 gent inquiry as to the following : 
 
 1. Is he a believer in the fundamental truths 
 of Christianity? — such as the Divinity of Jesus 
 Christ ; the atonement for sin ; the necessity of the 
 new birth, and the inspiration of the Bible, for a 
 man in holy orders who does not believe and teach 
 these things cannot do the work of an evangelist, 
 nor feed the flock of God over which the Holy 
 Ghost hath made him overseer, and no greater 
 calamity could befall a Church than to have its 
 
90 THE CHURCH 
 
 pulpit occupied by one recreant to truth and false 
 to the sacred vows of ordination. 
 
 2. Inquiry should be made concerning his per- 
 sonal character, for though a man may preach 
 well, unless he lives well his preaching is vain. Is 
 he a loyal citizen? Is he a good neighbor? Is he 
 a kindly man and godly in his home? Is he honest 
 in his dealings? Does he pay his debts promptly 
 and fully? Is he trustworthy in his personal char- 
 acter and conduct? 
 
 3. As to his spirituality — and here let us not 
 mistake. To be tender hearted is not spirituality ; 
 loud and boisterous utterances, ignoring reason 
 and good manners, and many other things of like 
 character, are not spirituality. A common sense 
 religion, manifesting itself in personal faith and 
 spotless conduct is of far more value than the 
 mere sentiment of it, but it yet remains true that 
 nothing needs emphasis and expression more than 
 spirituality, and Churches seeking pastors should 
 not overlook this supremely important qualifica- 
 tion in the man they call. 
 
 4. Diligent and adequate inquiry should be 
 made regarding his pastoral character. Is he 
 faithful, prompt and efficient as a pastor? Does 
 he visit his families? Does he know his people? 
 Does he call on, and pray with the sick? Has he 
 
CHOOSING A PASTOR 91 
 
 influence with the young people of the Church? 
 Does he take an interest in the Sunday-school, the 
 Christian Endeavor Society, and other organiza- 
 tions of the Church ? 
 
 5. As to his ability to administer in Church 
 matters. How does he get along with his official 
 members? Is he dictatorial, or considerate in 
 relation to the business affairs of the Church? Is 
 he in harmony with the Ladies' Aid Society, the 
 Missionary Society, and other auxiliary organiza- 
 tions of the Church? 
 
 6. As to his family. It is true that the wife 
 is not "nominated in the bond" but it is also true 
 that she is bound to be a very important factor in 
 the problem of pastoral service. Many an incom- 
 petent minister succeeds because of the intelligent, 
 faithful service of his wife, while many a com- 
 petent one fails because of the frivolities and 
 indiscretion of a helpmate that does not help. 
 
 7. Having been assured of the things above 
 mentioned, it is time to find out whether or not 
 the man can preach, for his business is to preach, 
 and his commission is confined to that. He may 
 do other things, but this thing he must do; he 
 must preach. It may not be always advisable to 
 have the man selected to visit the Church before 
 the call is formally extended, and many good men 
 
92 THE CHURCH 
 
 refuse to "candidate," but on the other hand, it is 
 but fair to minister and Church that they see each 
 other and to a degree at least understand the con- 
 ditions and circumstances under which they are to 
 live. A wise preacher will, when visiting a 
 Church, avoid the "star sermon." Some Churches 
 prefer to send committees to visit the Church of 
 the prospective man, and, unknown to him, hear 
 him preach an average sermon under the usual 
 conditions of his life. This method has its advan- 
 tages, but it is not wholly free from weakness and 
 limitation. 
 
 The safest way to proceed in such an important 
 matter is by prayer and common sense methods, 
 and a pastor thus secured is likely to prove efficient 
 and satisfactory, and continue long in the good 
 graces of his people, while the preacher in common 
 garb, who comes down the street displaying a list 
 of organizations needed, a stereopticon, and plan 
 for efficiency, may draw for a while, but it will 
 be found that he can tarry, he can tarry but a 
 night. The pastor's life, conduct, and efficiency 
 are well set forth in the following lines by 
 Dryden : 
 
 The proud he tamed, the penitent he cheered, 
 Nor to rebuke the rich offended feared; 
 His preaching much, but more his practice wrought 
 A living sermon of the truths he taught. 
 
THE PREACHER 
 
 HIS CALL AND COMMISSION 
 
 To be a minister of Jesus Christ is to be called 
 of God to the greatest work ever committed to 
 man. The ministry is not a mere matter of 
 human preference, but is of divine appointment. 
 It is not a profession to be chosen, but a calling 
 to be received. Jesus said to His disciples : 
 
 "Ye did not choose me, but I chose you and 
 appointed you." "As the Father hath sent me, 
 even so send I you." 
 
 Among the last things He said to His disciples 
 was: 
 
 "All authority hath been given unto me in 
 heaven and on earth. Go ye, therefore, and make 
 disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into 
 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things 
 whatsoever I commanded you : and lo, I am with 
 you always, even unto the end of the world." 
 
 Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, was not 
 present at the time that Jesus commissioned the 
 disciples, but was called to the same work, as he 
 puts it, "As one born out of due time." He 
 declares that his apostleship was not of man, but 
 of God. "For I make known to you, brethren, as 
 
94 THE CHURCH 
 
 touching the gospel which was preached by me 
 that it is not after man ; For neither did I receive 
 it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me 
 through revelation of Jesus Christ." 
 
 It is interesting to find how the different writers 
 of the epistles introduce themselves by one simple 
 phrase, which indicates their call to the gospel 
 ministry. Paul, who had sat at the feet of Gama- 
 liel, Peter the impulsive but devoted fisherman of 
 Galilee, James the practical son of Zebedee, and 
 the loving-hearted John, all speak of themselves as 
 "The servant of Jesus Christ." 
 
 I know that there is a divine vocation for 
 every man; that the farmer, the blacksmith, the 
 carpenter, the doctor, the teacher, the mason, the 
 artificer in brass and iron, and all others are 
 called to do their work and may truly say that 
 they are "Servants of Jesus Christ," but above the 
 call given to all men there comes to the minister 
 of the Word such a consciousness of his life's work 
 that like Paul, he feels, "For if I preach the 
 gospel I have nothing to glory of ; for necessity is 
 laid upon me ; for, woe is unto me, if I preach not 
 the gospel." Paul seems to think that he might 
 be entitled to some glory for preaching the gospel 
 without charge to them, but he could not glory in 
 being a preacher of the gospel, for God laid upon 
 
THE PREACHER 95 
 
 him the necessity. Paul would say I have received 
 both the office and the grace with which I execute 
 the office from God. I have not only His authority 
 to preach, but that authority obliges me to preach ; 
 "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel." Dr. 
 Clark, in commenting on this expression of Paul, 
 says: "As every genuine preacher receives his 
 commission from God alone, it is God alone who 
 can take it away. Woe to that man who runs 
 when God has not sent him ; and woe to him who 
 refuses to run, or who ceases to run, when God 
 has sent him." 
 
 The man who enters the sacred calling aright 
 does not follow some caprice of his will, but what 
 he believes to be a distinct call from heaven. God 
 has not left the publication of the message of 
 salvation to any loose and uncertain methods, but 
 ever calls His messengers with the same divine 
 interest and care, and clothes them with the same 
 authority included in the first great call and com- 
 mission. The true minister of Jesus Christ must 
 speak the Word of God and not his own. He is an 
 ambassador from the court of heaven and if he 
 speak, he must speak as the oracle of God. To an 
 ancient preacher God said, "Preach unto it the 
 preaching that I bid thee," and to another He 
 said: "Be not afraid because of them; for I am 
 
96 THE CHURCH 
 
 with thee to deliver thee, saith Jehovah." "Thou 
 therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak 
 unto them all that I command thee: be not dis- 
 mayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them." 
 The man who goes forth to preach must go in the 
 consciousness of God's choice of him and of God's 
 will expressed through him as an ambassador. 
 
 The late Joseph Parker says : 
 
 Ministers are often asked by young men how to enter 
 the ministry. This question seems to arise out of the 
 conception that the ministry is a profession. My answer 
 to such men is: Examine yourselves, talk out the matter 
 in secret communion with God, and then enter the ministry 
 by entering it. This does not exclude any wise arrange- 
 ments for preliminary culture; but it often helps to deter- 
 mine whether that culture should be undertaken, and what 
 the range of that culture ought to be. How do men learn 
 to swim? Often by plunging into the water. We learn to 
 do many things simply by doing them. As a matter of 
 fact, a man is either a preacher, or he is not a preacher. 
 I repeat the doctrine which I have laid down again and 
 again. The matter begins in a deep conviction on the 
 part of the man himself; then it passes into the region of 
 public experiment; then it may become the subject of 
 friendly consultation, especially with Christian pastors 
 and leaders; and then final responsibility rests upon the 
 man himself. I have never undertaken to introduce any 
 man into the ministry — I have encouraged many; but the 
 responsibility I have always left with the men them- 
 selves. I began my own ministry under the inspiration of 
 the Holy Spirit by standing up in the open air and talking 
 to anybody who cared to gather around me. If they 
 invited me to go again, I accepted the invitation as a 
 divine sign. I went from place to place, standing upon 
 blocks of wood, standing in carts and wagons, standing on 
 broad walls, or ledges of rock, and telling the peasants 
 
THE PREACHER 97 
 
 who halted to hear me that the Kingdom of heaven was at 
 hand, and that I have been entrusted with an invitation 
 to them all to come to the cross, to receive pardon. Under 
 this call I have labored for forty years without ever chang- 
 ing my doctrine or suspecting my credentials. I will be 
 no party to organizing a ministry which sets pedantic 
 limits on its official sanctions. I will support no college 
 that looks upon scholarship as an essential to entrance. 
 I live now to protest against the degradation of the Chris- 
 tian ministry into a "learned profession." By all means 
 let the ministry be instructed and even learned in a pro- 
 found sense; but never let it exclude the men who have 
 companied with Jesus for many a day, and have received 
 from His own lips the commiBsion to go forth and teach 
 the gospel of salvation. 
 
 There is a sense in which every man has a 
 divine vocation, and that any man who has the 
 desire and the ability may call sinners to repent- 
 ance; but He whom God wants to preach His 
 Word, him He calls, for no man taketh the honor 
 to Himself, and no man can with any assurance 
 of authority represent the Kingdom of God unless 
 he be commissioned and sent. 
 
 To the writer the most beautiful picture of all 
 pictures is that of Jesus Christ in the synagogue 
 at Nazareth, just after His return from the 
 temptation in the wilderness, and His contest with 
 Satan. He stands up to read. He is yet a young 
 man; the glow of youth is on His cheek, and the 
 glory of young manhood enthroned upon His 
 brow. He is straight, tall, and commanding, the 
 fire of enterprise is in His eye, and the resonance 
 
98 THE CHURCH 
 
 of love in His voice ; a picture of rugged, stalwart, 
 pure, unsullied young manhood devoted to a cause, 
 and consecrated to a purpose. In His reading He 
 outlines His life-work. He says, I am — 
 
 To preach good tidings to the poor ; I am 
 To proclaim release to the captives ; I am 
 To proclaim the recovering of sight to the blind ; 
 I am 
 
 To set at liberty them that are bruised ; I am 
 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord ; 
 
 but I can do it. I have been called. I am qualified. 
 
 I am prepared ; the Spirit of the Lord is upon me ; 
 
 I have been anointed, I can do it. 
 
 When He would send men out to do exactly 
 what He had been anointed to do and had done. 
 He had them tarry at Jerusalem until they, too, 
 were anointed for their work. But were there 
 no other proofs or suggestions of the divine call 
 other than the names given to the preachers of 
 righteousness, they would be sufficient to establish 
 the call beyond reasonable doubt. They are called 
 servants, chosen vessels, shepherds, overseers, 
 stewards, and ambassadors. 
 
 All these names imply selection, and appoint- 
 ment in the absence of which there can be no 
 authority. Certainly no one would suppose that a 
 
THE PREACHER 99 
 
 steward would assume the duties and responsibil- 
 ities of the office uncalled, unchosen, and unap- 
 pointed. But when you consider that word 
 "ambassador," you are face to face with conditions 
 which forever settle the question of the preacher's 
 call. Paul says, "We are ambassadors therefore 
 on behalf of Christ." 
 
 Tell me, please, how there can be an ambassador 
 without previous appointment ? If it be said, that 
 this is restricted to the apostles, we answer that 
 the epistles were not written in the name of Paul 
 only, but of Timothy, also, and hence include other 
 ministers besides those directly included in the 
 apostolic circle. Every one knows that the essence 
 of ambassadorial office lies in the appointment 
 which is made by the government, or sovereign, 
 making it. An ambassador unsent would not only 
 be destitute of authority and without power, but 
 he would be reprehensible, to say the least. 
 Earthly rulers insist upon the right to appoint 
 their representatives, saying that by such means, 
 only, can the integrity of the government be main- 
 tained, and in this all thinking men concur, for 
 no man would for a moment sanction a self -con- 
 stituted ambassador to the government of China, 
 as a representative of this country, though there 
 are some men who think that the great God, the 
 
100 THE CHURCH 
 
 supreme Sovereign of the universe, the King of 
 kings and Lord of lords, so loose in His methods 
 and so averse to formalities, that He will allow 
 any little jackanapes to set himself up in the 
 ambassador business. Is not the government of 
 the Almighty infinitely more important than any, 
 yea, than all of the governments of earth? and 
 shall the governments of men outdo the govern- 
 ment of heaven in matters of such supreme 
 importance? Nay, verily, brethren, God does not 
 allow men to take the honor to themselves now, 
 any more than He did when Aaron was made high 
 priest ; and the commission that should be insisted 
 upon as essential, is the authority to preach, and 
 that, too, not from a conference, or a body of 
 elders, deacons, or officials, but from God Himself. 
 
 HIS QUALIFICATION AND PREPARATION 
 
 In the writer's thought of the preacher there is 
 a diiference between the qualification and the 
 preparation. The qualification comes alone from 
 God, who calls him to His work and gives to 
 him that conviction of duty which gives power to 
 the brain for thinking and to the body for doing. 
 This is the life which comes from a close walk 
 with God, an enduement of the Spirit, and a holy 
 communion with the Infinite which prompts the 
 God-called man to seek for spiritual things. To 
 
THE PREACHER 101 
 
 develop the intellect and neglect the heart is to 
 produce a one-sided character, wholly unqualified 
 for life's best work, while the other extreme 
 results in a zeal which is not always according to 
 knowledge. Repairs to ceilings and windows 
 often result from this sort of "sound preaching," 
 rather than the leading of the soul to God. But as 
 I make a distinction between qualification and 
 preparation in the gospel ministry, it will be well 
 for me to make plain the difference between the 
 two, as I see it. 
 
 Here is a man who wants to be a soldier. He 
 offers himself to his country. He is carefully 
 examined and is not found wanting in any of the 
 requirements of the army. He is of proper age 
 and of correct height and weight. Lungs good, 
 heart good, sight good, hearing good, all good. 
 He volunteers ; is sworn in ; is dressed in the uni- 
 form of his country ; is given a gun ; is drilled and 
 disciplined until he is familiar with all the varied 
 and numerous movements of military tactics. See 
 him stand erect with true soldiery bearing. Is he 
 prepared for war ? Yes. Is he qualified as a sol- 
 dier? I do not know. Is he brave? Will he be 
 loyal to his country ? Has he true love of home in 
 his heart? Will he obey the commands of his 
 superior officer? Will he endure hardness? Will 
 
102 THE CHURCH 
 
 he suffer, and if needs be, die for the dear old 
 flag? If so, he is qualified to be a soldier, and 
 with these qualifications he would slay more with 
 the jawbone of an ass, than he could possibly do 
 without them, even though he be panoplied with 
 the king's armor, or fitted out with all the modern 
 equipment for battle. 
 
 Here is a man who wants to preach. He offers 
 himself to the Church and then to the conference. 
 He is examined in language, in rhetoric, in logic, 
 in psychology, in history, in science, in art, in 
 literature, indeed he has the polish of the schools 
 and the learning of the age. Is he prepared to 
 preach? Yes. Is he qualified? I don't know. 
 Has he been called of God? Has he listened to 
 the still small voice, speaking to his soul of diviner 
 things and holier living? Will he be true to God, 
 the Church, his home, and himself? Will he 
 preach the Word? Will he give diligence to pre- 
 sent himself approved unto God, a workman that 
 needeth not to be ashamed ? Will he endure hard- 
 ness as a good soldier for Christ? Will he suffer 
 and sacrifice? Has he character into which has 
 been wrought the life of the Son of God? Has he 
 tarried at Jerusalem until the Spirit came upon 
 him? If so, he is qualified to preach, and will not 
 fail of a hearing. But the qualified man who may 
 
THE PREACHER 103 
 
 not be prepared will seek the needful preparation, 
 and will not be content until he find it. 
 
 Ours is an age distinguished by intellectuality, 
 with well-equipped schools and qualified teachers, 
 and our pews are no longer filled with men and 
 women whose educational opportunities were con- 
 fined to a few months in log schoolhouses with 
 incompetent instructors. There are no backwoods 
 preachers. Indeed, civilization has obliterated the 
 backwoods, and the world is living and moving 
 in the light of the tireless sun of advancement, 
 and the preacher must keep pace with the onward 
 march, or fall before the trained intellect and cul- 
 tured heart of a people who have been disciplined 
 in schools and colleges under competent and thor- 
 oughly drilled teachers. This is an age of careful 
 thinking, of extensive investigation, of deep pro- 
 bing, and persistent asking, until earth, sea, and 
 sky are ransacked for their hidden treasures. 
 Accuracy in speech, correction in diction, fault- 
 lessness in pronunciation, impressiveness in man- 
 nerism, and much more, are now required of the 
 gospel minister, which even a few years ago were 
 not only considered unnecessary, but wrong. But 
 that age had its demands to which the ministry 
 responded, which are not in existence to-day, but 
 with their passing away have come others equally 
 
104 THE CHURCH 
 
 important and much more exacting, and to which 
 the present ministry must promptly respond. In 
 this age of the world, no profession among men 
 requires an intelligence and education so broad, 
 so thorough, so deep, so full, as that of the Chris- 
 tian ministry. The minister who takes his right- 
 ful place and holds it must be able to cope with 
 the living questions that stir and move the mind 
 and thought of the day. There is no room in this 
 age of literature, of mental energy, of mighty 
 problems, for the public teacher who fails to apply 
 himself to the tasks of his calling. The world has 
 not stood still, nor is it standing still to-day, and 
 the minister who comes to cultivate the moral 
 fields with the old-time methods will find himself 
 as far outgone as he who would if he should 
 undertake to farm with the old-time wooden 
 mold-board plow and the ground-hog thresher. 
 All hail to the pioneer ministry of the Christian 
 Church, both dead and living. They did their 
 duty and they did it well, and upon their brows 
 God puts a crown of honor and the people respond. 
 Amen ; but for their successors to go about their 
 work in the same way is to invite defeat and suffer 
 failure. The carefully prepared sermon was not 
 then demanded, or even desired ; and yet some of 
 the sermons that have stood the severest literary 
 
THE PREACHER 105 
 
 test, were written by our ministerial fathers, and 
 shine as stars of the first magnitude in the literary 
 and homiletic heavens of to-day. But in this age 
 of active thought, and deep mental inquiry, with 
 books, papers, and periodicals in every home, the 
 minister dare not be indifferent to the careful 
 study and thorough preparation of his sermon. 
 The demand for a prepared ministry was not born 
 in the nineteenth century. It was not legislated 
 into existence by modern conferences, assemblies, 
 or conventions. Indeed, their only work relative 
 to a prepared ministry is to enforce the require- 
 ments of the divine law. Jesus trained His apos- 
 tles for years before He laid upon them the 
 responsibilities of the ministry, thus insisting that 
 a preparation must precede operation. He knew 
 that they could not turn from their fishing and 
 their merchandising, and at will, according to 
 their own ambition or fancy, preach the gospel 
 successfully. 
 
 HIS PREPAEATION 
 
 If by preparation is meant the things he must 
 know and possess in order to preach, then the line 
 of thought now under consideration will lead to 
 the discussion of certain intellectual, literary, and 
 social attainments indispensable to the man called 
 of God to preach the gospel of His Son. 
 
106 THE CHURCH 
 
 But if by preparation is meant his personal life 
 as well — under the word preparation will be 
 included all that otherwise would be said under 
 the two, separately. One's preparation is deter- 
 mined most wholly, and in nearly every case by 
 what one has to do. 
 
 The fisherman is prepared to fish when he has a 
 line, hook, and some bait. He does not even need 
 a pond into which to cast his line ; and his entire 
 tackle may belong to another, having been bor- 
 rowed in a neighborly, honest way, or pirated 
 without the owner's knowledge or consent ; but no 
 matter, so far as the preparation to fish is con- 
 cerned, the man is prepared. Now, if such an one 
 shall possess the spirit of the fisherman, and shall 
 find a pond into which he may cast his line, it may 
 be said of him that he is a fisherman. If his 
 outfit should be a borrowed one, he will usually 
 acknowledge the same, and return it to the owner 
 with thanks after he has done with it. 
 
 What the preacher is to do, determines the kind 
 and degree of his preparation. Fortunately we 
 are not left to guess as to his line of service, for 
 He who has called him to be a minister of His 
 grace, has caused the lines of his activities to be 
 very definitely announced. 
 
THE PREACHER 107 
 
 He is to live a life. 
 
 He is to fight a battle. 
 
 He is to preach the gospel. 
 
 He IS to exhort the wayward. 
 
 He is to rebuke the unruly. 
 
 He is to warn the wanderer. 
 
 He is to open the eyes of the blind. 
 
 He is to proclaim deliverance to the captive. 
 
 He is to heal the broken-hearted. 
 
 He is to open the prison doors to the captives. 
 
 In a word, he is to re-live the life of Jesus Christ 
 on the earth. There can be no other plan or pur- 
 pose for the life and activities of the Christian 
 preacher. Now these being the things he has to 
 do, what is the preparation needful ? 
 
 I. A VITAL CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 This, you observe, touches the life of the man. 
 It is not something to be attained, cultivated, or 
 purchased; it is an experience in the soul of the 
 power and life of Jesus Christ. To know God is 
 not an intellectual conception, but a soul experi- 
 ence, and to represent him on the earth is not cut- 
 ting intellectual gymnastics before an audience, 
 but holding up the cross and inviting men to be 
 cleansed in its blood. 
 
 Jesus said of Himself, that He was the "good 
 Shepherd." The qualification certainly referred 
 
108 THE CHURCH 
 
 to some life trait ; some heart quality. He did not 
 say, I am the good organizer, the good social 
 caller, the good evangelist, the good mixer, He 
 said, I am essentially good ; good at heart ; good in 
 life; good in love; good in service; I am substan- 
 tially, fundamentally good, — life quality; neither 
 intellectual, literary, nor social attainments, but 
 essential goodness. He mentions two character- 
 istics of the good Shepherd. He says : "The good 
 shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep" and 
 "I lay down my life for the sheep." Both of these 
 Jesus did, and says to all His representatives on 
 the earth, "Go and do thou likewise." The one 
 needful preparation of the preacher at the very 
 beginning of his ministry is to be good enough to 
 be unselfish, a condition which is wholly unattain- 
 able, except through a vital touch with Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 The necessity for this vital Christian life will 
 appear all the more important when you call to 
 mind that the preacher cannot preach independ- 
 ently of himself. The scientist can teach science 
 without any reference to moral character. The 
 mechanic may teach his art most thoroughly, and 
 at the same time be a moral degenerate; the 
 teacher of art may impart his knowledge and train 
 the student's hand to the skill of painting, while 
 
THE PREACHER 109 
 
 at the same time his heart may be full of vile pic- 
 tures painted on the foul canvas of a corrupt 
 imagination ; the college professor may direct the 
 classes in his school in all the arts, sciences, phi- 
 losophies, and intellectual exploits known to man, 
 without having ever tasted of the sweets of 
 redeeming grace. But not so with the preacher. 
 He himself is essentially blended with the truth 
 he teaches, and he cannot enforce it without a 
 realization of it in his own life. 
 
 The preacher and the man must be one and the 
 same personality ; his sermon must be a transcript 
 of his heart; then, and only then, will he be a 
 chosen vessel of the Lord to bear the good news to 
 a dying world. It is unreasonable and contrary 
 to all human experience to suppose that any man 
 could for any length of time inspire a love for the 
 truth and a desire for holiness when he himself 
 is a stranger to the one, and an opposer of the 
 other. Under the Old Dispensation, no man with 
 any bodily blemish was to offer the oblations to 
 the Lord. The priest was to have his robes, bells, 
 and pomegranates ; the one a figure of sound doc- 
 trine, and the other of a fruitful life; and Jesus 
 did not come to set aside the fundamentals of the 
 priesthood, nor any other essential of the divine 
 government, and hence the man who represents 
 
110 THE CHURCH 
 
 Him on earth must be like Him, "a lamb without 
 blemish." Mere orthodoxy will not save; a man 
 and a minister may go to perdition with a cate- 
 chism in one hand, and a confession of faith in the 
 other. Mere intellectual assent to a truth will not 
 answer; a man may go to ruin with the best 
 written creed of Christendom in his pocket, and 
 the latest revised edition of the discipline stored 
 away in his hat. 
 
 The reason given for so many being added unto 
 the Lord under the preaching of Barnabas was, 
 "for he was a good man, and full of the Holy 
 Spirit and of faith." 
 
 II. A PREPARATION V^HICH COMES THROUGH HIS 
 OWN EFFORTS 
 
 Here we enter more concisely the realm of per- 
 sonal preparation. This preparation is none the 
 less important because it is to be effected largely 
 by the preacher's own efforts, for in the absence 
 of the preparation now mentioned, he must live a 
 bungler and die a failure, even though God gave 
 him a call to work. When God calls men He calls 
 them as they are at the time, but what they shall 
 become is left largely with themselves. Peter was 
 a fisherman, and Matthew a tax-gatherer when 
 Jesus called them into His ministry, but He never 
 intended for them to remain such. Peter was to 
 
THE PREACHER 111 
 
 leave his fishing boat, and Matthew was to close 
 up his office, and both were to become fishers of 
 men. 
 
 This preparation includes his ability to stand 
 erect, to walk gracefully, to ring the door-bell 
 correctly, to bid the time of day pleasantly, to 
 greet a parishioner mannerly, to read the Scrip- 
 tures plainly, to eat becomingly, to leave a home 
 properly, to tie his neckwear attractively, to shine 
 his boots regularly, to shave his face or trim his 
 beard tastefully and cleanly, to comb his hair daily, 
 to keep his finger nails free from the accumulation 
 of ages, and to do many another thing which com- 
 mon sense and propriety will suggest to him as 
 the days of his service wear on. 
 
 But we must enter into that broader culture and 
 keener intellectuality which this age, especially, 
 demands of its preachers as an essential prepara- 
 tion for their life-work. It is true that among the 
 ministers of the Christians were and are some of 
 the most successful preachers that ever adorned, 
 or ever will adorn, the pulpit who never enjoyed 
 the advantages of a collegiate or theological train- 
 ing. They entered the ministry against "princi- 
 palities and powers," and fought their way to 
 high positions. Language cannot do them the 
 honor they deserve. God bless the memory of 
 
112 THE CHURCH 
 
 dead ones, and the services of living ones, and 
 give them successors many times multiplied. The 
 lives and services of such men demonstrate the 
 fact that a preacher may be unable to read the 
 classics, be wholly ignorant of higher mathe- 
 matics, and still be, in the true sense of the word, 
 an educated man — may know how to think, may 
 be able to investigate closely, reason logically, and 
 conclude correctly, may be indeed a good English 
 scholar, and a man of extensive reading, yea, may 
 be much more efficient as a preacher of the gospel 
 than scores of others, who flaunt their sheep-skins, 
 and tack up their diplomas from some of the 
 highly honored institutions of the land. But 
 because that is true, it emphasizes all the more 
 the importance of an educated ministry. What 
 the Church needs, ever has needed, and ever will 
 need, is a ministry adapted to the culture of the 
 age. 
 
 Society, like a pyramid, has the largest amount 
 of material at the base. The Jews were unwise 
 and unphilosophical when they asked as a test 
 question, "Hath any of the rulers believed on 
 him?" The common people heard Him gladly; 
 they were the base of the pyramid, and the kind- 
 ling at the base of the fire, and when kindled, the 
 flame shot upward until such men as Paul were 
 
THE PREACHER 113 
 
 enveloped and enlisted in service. Jesus Christ 
 knew that religion develops upward, and not 
 downward, and hence He went to the seashore for 
 the first preachers of the gospel. But He wouldn't 
 go there to-day. Ever since Christianity has been 
 fully established, God has been asking for the 
 Pauls, and using the Peters only when the Pauls 
 were not responding. 
 
 It was Paul who said to his son in the gospel, 
 "Give diligence to present thyself approved unto 
 God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed." 
 No one for a moment can doubt that the ministry 
 of this century would profit by that advice. Per- 
 haps Paul would say now, were he to attend our 
 conferences, "Young man, go to college. Go where 
 men of learning, and teachers of culture are at 
 the head of the classes, and where you may be 
 taught the things a preacher should know and do." 
 The minister who enters the sacred office now 
 expecting to succeed simply because he feels called 
 of God to preach, will find himself without a field 
 or a friend within an incredibly short time. The 
 world's culture demands of the Church a ministry 
 equal to the culture found in the pew, and when 
 the preacher is in any measure behind the times 
 in manners, in intellectuality, in the necessary 
 education and mental development, he will not be 
 
114 THE CHURCH 
 
 long in finding out that he is stranded. No 
 preacher can sustain himself who is not a student. 
 He must be constantly accumulating fresh and 
 invigorating thought, else he will soon exhaust the 
 stock on hand, and find himself dead broke in a 
 market where souls might be purchased for the 
 Kingdom. The people will no longer listen to dry 
 and senseless platitudes, nor will they, except 
 under protest, pay for services which they have 
 reason to believe cost the preacher neither time 
 nor thought. The truth is, that a lazy preacher, 
 one who will not study, and thus dishonors his 
 Master, and bores his hearers, is a fraud, and 
 deserves to be arraigned before the common 
 court of the country for obtaining money under 
 false pretense. Services in the pulpit which cost 
 the preacher nothing, nothing in the way of prepa- 
 ration, hard study, and sermon-building, are 
 worth nothing to his hearers, and the preacher 
 who attempts to get his living that way is a thief 
 and a robber, and to such the porter ought not to 
 open. 
 
 It would be an untold calamity to the cause 
 of Jesus Christ to have the pulpits of the Church 
 occupied only by uncultivated men. On the con- 
 trary, nothing enhances the cause of Christianity 
 more than to have its sacred platforms occupied 
 
THE PREACHER 115 
 
 by men of vigorous intellect, or profound scholar- 
 ship, and thorough cultivation — men fitted to rule 
 by force of character, and weight of mind, while 
 they constantly bow in deepest humiliation to the 
 mind and heart of Jesus Christ. It is said that a 
 certain king instructed his son in the art of gov- 
 erning men. "The great art," said the king, "in 
 governing men, is to make them believe that the 
 king knows more than his subjects." "But how," 
 asked his son, "shall he make them believe that he 
 knows more?" "By knowing more," said the king. 
 The only way for a preacher to govern the people 
 in matters of religion, and become a leader and 
 a helper to the people, is by knowing more than 
 they do. 
 
 Paul was a highly cultured man, preaching in 
 Jerusalem, in the Hebrew language; in Rome, in 
 the Latin language; in Athens, in the Greek lan- 
 guage; and that, too, so logically and so elo- 
 quently, so correctly and forcefully that his learn- 
 ing astonished the profound and awed the igno- 
 rant. Now this thoroughly cultured man, this 
 polished speaker, who knew the advantages of 
 preparation, commanded Timothy to "give dili- 
 gence to present himself approved unto God, a 
 workman that needeth not to be ashamed." And 
 he might have added, of whom the people will not 
 
116 THE CHURCH 
 
 be ashamed. Also that he give heed to reading, 
 to exhortation, to teaching ; to give himself wholly 
 to them. Thus the demand for an educated min- 
 istry which finds such prominent and pronounced 
 expression in this age was laid by the authority of 
 God and enforced in the example of Christ more 
 than eighteen hundred years ago, and has been 
 recognized and emphasized by the thoughtful, 
 progressive men of each succeeding generation. 
 Some of the old-time preachers, the fruit of whose 
 labor is seen to-day, were ignorant men and 
 seemed to dote on their ignorance, and thought 
 that God held their illiteracy at a premium, but 
 could they rise and speak to-day their united voice 
 would be in favor of a prepared ministry. In our 
 thought of the ministerial preparation we seem to 
 reverse the divine order. Jesus put the prepara- 
 tion first and the qualification last. He fully 
 intended that the story of His life should be per- 
 petuated, and that, too, through thoroughly pre- 
 pared men. His life's work was far too important 
 to be entrusted to men, no matter how good, who 
 were unprepared to properly handle it. He chose 
 twelve men, and spared no pains in preparing 
 them for the duties and responsibilities of the 
 ministry. He gave them practical lessons in what 
 to do, and how to do it. They listened to His ser- 
 
THE PREACHER 117 
 
 mons ; they heard Him tell His parables ; they went 
 with Him into the homes of the sick and the sor- 
 rowing; they watched Him in His daily associa- 
 tions with men ; they witnessed His conduct in the 
 presence of death ; they felt the force of the divine 
 presence and the thrill of that matchless voice; 
 they journeyed with Him over hill and dale, and 
 were shown, as no class in theology was ever 
 shown, what to preach and how to preach it. 
 Were they prepared ? They certainly were. And 
 now, said the Master, your preparation is com- 
 plete, it only remains for you to tarry at Jeru- 
 salem until you are endued with the Spirit, which 
 came upon them in such power as to make them 
 mighty forces in the salvation of the world. 
 
 Rev. H. Y. Rush once said, at a session of the 
 Miami Ohio Conference : "Christianity will stand 
 the test of scholarship, of history, of exploration, 
 of discovery, but it cannot live in an ignorant 
 Church, nor survive an ignorant ministry." To 
 be a minister of Jesus Christ means preparation, 
 and it should. When you want a house built, 
 whom do you employ? A prepared carpenter. 
 When you want a school taught, who teaches it? 
 The prepared teacher. When you want an engine 
 run, whom do you engage to run it? The pre- 
 pared engineer. When your child is sick and the 
 
118 THE CHURCH 
 
 fever burns and scorches, and the chill shakes its 
 little frame, and you moisten its parched lips, and 
 tiptoe across the room, and speak in subdued 
 tones, to what doctor do you entrust that little 
 darling? Why, to the prepared doctor. When 
 one is called to break to your souls the bread of 
 life, and point out to you a higher and holier way, 
 to lead your erring children back to the path of 
 virtue and assist them in developing a character 
 gemmed with life's virtues and molded into the 
 likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom do you 
 call to do that important work? A prepared car- 
 penter to build the house, a prepared teacher to 
 teach the school, a prepared doctor to treat the 
 child, a prepared blacksmith to shoe the horse, a 
 prepared cook to cook the meals, a prepared 
 engineer to run the engine, and a cheap and often 
 unprepared preacher to do the most important 
 work of all. But often times there is no other 
 kind available. 
 
 THE MESSAGE AND ITS PREPARATION 
 
 There is little or nothing to say about the mes- 
 sage, except that it must be biblical. Some insist 
 upon doctrinal preaching; others upon the prac- 
 tical. Some clamor for the scientific, and others 
 for the sympathetic, and still others would turn 
 the pulpit into a sort of political, religious, scien- 
 
THE PREACHER 119 
 
 tific, social, literary, and theatrical gymnasium, 
 and open it alike to the discussion of all sorts of 
 themes. Some say commerce, politics, newspa- 
 pers, economics, novels, plays, current literature, 
 theosophy, occultism, spiritualism, and Christian 
 Science, are fit subjects for pulpit discussion. 
 God never commissioned men to preach other than 
 that which pertains to man's salvation from sin 
 and his happiness in heaven. It may be freely 
 admitted that ministers need to guard against tak- 
 ing too narrow a view of the scope of pulpit 
 themes. When Paul said, "For I determined not 
 to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, 
 and Him crucified," he evidently did not mean 
 that this literally should be his only and exclusive 
 theme, for in his epistles he discusses many other 
 subjects relating to matters of faith and duty. 
 All questions of moral duty are fit topics for the 
 pulpit. All themes, the discussion of which is in 
 harmony with the mission of the Church and the 
 work of the ministry, are proper subjects for the 
 Christian preacher. The range of topics pre- 
 sented in the Scripture is by no means narrow; 
 and a preacher may always feel that he is on safe 
 ground when he is expounding and enforcing the 
 truths taught in the Bible. He should exhort. 
 
120 THE CHURCH 
 
 rebuke, condemn, encourage, and inspire with the 
 truth of God. 
 
 But whatever his theme may be, whatever line 
 of thought he may choose for his sermon, both 
 himself and his sermon must be prepared, but 
 especially himself. 
 
 The writer has heard preaching (so called) that 
 was to the sermon what a load of lumber is to the 
 building before the trained carpenter had meas- 
 ured and determined the various fittings of each 
 particular piece. Material enough, to be sure, but 
 all mixed up, and when the sermon (so called) 
 was ended it resembled a house with the doors in 
 the gables, the windows in the roof, and the floors 
 on top, and the sleeping apartments in the cellar, 
 and the parlor where the kitchen ought to be. A 
 sermon, like a house, is to be erected, properly 
 proportioned, and solidly put together. It is not 
 a spontaneous growth, but the result of a work- 
 man whose knowledge of symmetry, strength, and 
 beauty find expression in its construction. A ser- 
 mon is the building; the text, the foundation; 
 the material, Bible truths, historic incidents, and 
 illustrative story; the tools, the minister's books, 
 mind, and heart. There are lines to be drawn, 
 mortises to be chiseled, tenons to be shaped, 
 braces to be cut, joints to be fitted, and the meas- 
 
THE PREACHER 121 
 
 uring to be so exact that when the building is 
 raised each piece will so perfectly fit the place for 
 which it was intended that it will be firmly bound 
 together and at once present solidity, beauty, and 
 proportion. 
 
 There is nothing more distasteful than an ill- 
 shaped sermon, and nothing more likely to be 
 displeasing to the congregation. If it is too nar- 
 row for its length, or too deep for its breadth, or 
 too shallow for its width, it is likely to repel 
 rather than attract the hearers. The sermon is an 
 important thing, and the making of it is a large 
 part of the preacher's work, which work is made 
 all the easier by the preparation of which I have 
 spoken. There are almost as many different ways 
 of making sermons as there are men to make 
 them. And a sermon is only well made when it 
 includes and expresses the personality of the 
 maker. Beecher could make his special prepara- 
 tion on Sunday morning; Finney could take a 
 topic as the Church bells began to ring ; Spurgeon 
 could sometimes select a text after entering the 
 pulpit; Craig could outline a sermon suggested 
 by the song of a bird, as he stood upon the door- 
 step of the meeting-house, and all these could with 
 thrilling effectiveness proclaim the gospel to both 
 cultured and uncultured hearers; but these gen- 
 
122 THE CHURCH 
 
 iuses are dead and their progeny is not large 
 enough to fill the pulpits of the land. 
 
 The great thing in sermon-making is to get into 
 usable shape the material that the general study 
 and reading gives on the special theme or text 
 chosen. Some can "think" sermonically only as 
 they sit at their own study table with pen in hand. 
 Another can get the "think" started and contin- 
 ued only by walking about his room. Some must 
 literally take to the woods. Each one must study 
 to find the most effective way for himself. In a 
 general way, we can say: Take a text and think 
 on it first of all. Get together what is in the 
 library, or can easily be secured, on the theme or 
 text. Read reflectively. Formulate the plan. Fill 
 it in. Generally it can best be done by writing. 
 It is truly wonderful how our long train of "idees" 
 gets down to a single small car, if a pen or pencil 
 is used in going through to uncouple the empty 
 cars. Before the writing there seems a lot of 
 material and often is, but it is without form and 
 void, and it is the preacher's work to shape the 
 material into a sermon. Our sermons should show 
 truth to the hearer. The aim in all sermons 
 should be to interest, instruct, impart some appro- 
 priate spiritual truth. The character of the audi- 
 
THE PREACHER 123 
 
 ence should always be kept in view. No unknown 
 tongue should be indulged. 
 
 Every Church should be a people's Church, and 
 every sermon a people's sermon. Especially is 
 this applicable to large cities. It was the Church 
 at Smyrna, Pergamos, etc.; not the emotional 
 Church, the sesthetic Church, the philosophical 
 Church. Churches should not be divided on such 
 lines. The study of men's minds, with a view to 
 reaching all, should be made. Great care should 
 be taken not to get into a mold or "rut" in sermon . 
 making. By study, to the same man will come 
 ability to prepare emotional sermons, intellectual 
 sermons, suggestive sermons, and exhaustive ser- 
 mons. All these kinds should be delivered to con- 
 gregations, no matter whether in town or country, 
 among highly cultured people, or those not so 
 highly favored. Whether to read from full manu- 
 scripts, memorize, have brief notes, or no notes, 
 in the pulpit, is a matter for each one to decide 
 upon. 
 
 However well the preacher may prepare his 
 sermon, the most important thing is the prepara- 
 tion of himself. The problem in the preacher's 
 study is mainly the making of the sermon, but the 
 vitally important thing is the making of the 
 preacher. Many preachers are sermon makers 
 
124 THE CHURCH 
 
 and but little more. Sometimes I am almost 
 tempted to advocate doing away with sermon 
 making as a part of the preacher's business. 
 When a man puts something he has manufactured 
 in place of himself and at the expense of his own 
 development, it may mean a good sermon, for the 
 people, but it means death to the preacher. He 
 has made something, but he may not have become 
 something. Sermons as things separate and 
 apart from their authors and of themselves can do 
 nothing. When sermons are merely prepared and 
 preached, the audience may get a sermon, but they 
 do not get a preacher. No sermon can have power 
 that does not flow from the preacher's personality. 
 If the sermon maker shall have form and style and 
 thought, and beauty, they will be found in the 
 sermon. They will leap out of the maker's life 
 into the thing he makes. The road to successful 
 preaching is not so much in the making of the 
 sermon as it is in the making of the preacher. Get 
 the preacher made right and the sermon he makes 
 will be made right. It will take shape and size 
 and height and depth and breadth to the glory of 
 God and the salvation of men. 
 
 Rev. David H. Bauslin, D. D., is the author of 
 the following paragraph, which most clearly illus- 
 trates the fact set forth : 
 
THE PREACHER 125 
 
 There may possibly be found ministers such as Elspeth 
 McFadyan describes in Ian Maclaren's charming story as 
 "Maister Popinjay," who is thus outlined "as neat an' 
 fikey a little mannie as ever a' sair in a black goon. His 
 bit sermon was six poems — five a' had heard afore — four 
 anecdotes — three aboot himsel' and ain about a lord — twa 
 bumies, ae floo'r gairden, and a snowstorm, wi' the text 
 thirteen times and 'baloved twal.' " 
 
 Certainly in this there is a destitution of any 
 sort of attraction for the robust piety and earnest 
 inquiring of any high-souled man asking for the 
 way of duty. 
 
 But turn from this to the young preacher of 
 Drumtochty, drawn by the same master delinea- 
 tor. His mother, in the lingering moments just 
 before her entrance into the city of God, had said 
 to her boy : "If God calls ye to the ministry, ye'll 
 no refuse, an' the first day ye preach in yir ain 
 kirk, speak a gude word for Jesus Christ, an', 
 John, I'll hear ye that day, though ye'll no see me, 
 and I'll be satisfied." 
 
 Years passed and the boy's education was fin- 
 ished; a call was accepted, and the first sermon 
 had been completed and was ready for delivery. 
 "He had finished his last page," says the narrator, 
 "with honest pride that afternoon, and had 
 declaimed it facing the southern window, with a 
 success that amazed himself. His hope was that 
 he might be kept humble, and not be called to 
 
126 THE CHURCH 
 
 Edinburgh for at least two years; and now he 
 lifted the sheets with fear. The brilliant opening, 
 with its historical parallel, the review of modern 
 thought, reinforced by telling quotations, that 
 trenchant criticism of old-fashioned views would 
 not deliver. His imaginary audience now had 
 vanished, and in its place there came the vision of 
 the sweet face, ever the fact of his vanished but 
 translated mother," and "then in the stillness of 
 the room he heard a voice, 'Speak a gude word for 
 Jesus Christ.' " The next minute John was kneel- 
 ing on the hearth, pressing the sermon, which was 
 intended to shake Drumtochty, into the red fire. 
 The last of his labored discourse which he saw in 
 this the hour of his sacrifice and triumph was 
 something about the "Semitic Environment." "As 
 the last black flake fluttered out of sight, the face 
 looked at him again, but this time the sweet brown 
 eyes were full of peace." The next day John went 
 to his pulpit resplendent with gown and bands, 
 without his alleged learning about the "Semetic 
 Environment," 'tis true, but with a real message 
 from God. His "gude word for Jesus" found the 
 hearts of Drumtochty, and Donald Menzies was 
 heard to exclaim, "There was a man sent from 
 God whose name was John." Genuine, heartfelt, 
 earnest "gude words for Jesus Christ," such as 
 
THE PREACHER 127 
 
 bring men face to face with God ; such as always 
 grapple with the individual conscience and sum- 
 mon the soul to bow to the moral judgment which 
 it passes upon itself, are not only the great 
 urgency of our times, and of all times, but likewise 
 the ample reward of the man who bears them unto 
 the people. 
 
 But there is another phase of ministerial prep- 
 aration that must not be overlooked. It is one, 
 however, that is most seriously overlooked, the 
 result of which is harm and only harm continually. 
 It is a physical preparation. This physical prepa- 
 ration includes the style of dress, cut of whiskers, 
 color of tie, and a hundred other little matters 
 that go to make up the minister's preparation. It 
 also includes the handling of his feet, the move- 
 ment of his body, the raising of his hands, the 
 erect posture and graceful movement. Many a 
 thoughtful, earnest sermon has come short of its 
 purpose because the preacher failed to comb his 
 hair or black his boots, or during his delivery 
 lounged upon the Bible-stand, or stormed about on 
 the platform. 
 
 No man called of God to preach the gospel can 
 afford to be negligent of his personal appearance. 
 John dressed in the wilderness in keeping with 
 the custom of his class, and set an inflexible rule 
 
128 THE CHURCH 
 
 for the gospel minister, the violation of which 
 means only harm to the cause. The camel's hair 
 coat is as inappropriate to this age as the broad- 
 cloth would have been in John's. The little nice- 
 ties required of the minister in his physical prepa- 
 ration are not to be overlooked nor undervalued, 
 for they mean much; for audiences have eyes as 
 well as ears. In this physical preparation may be 
 included the voice. Some preachers have a 
 "preacher's voice." Indeed, some have two voices, 
 one for preaching and one for conversation, and 
 of all things this is the most repulsive, and from 
 affectation, good Lord, deliver us. Very few 
 preachers have what the preacher really needs 
 and in many cases needs most of all — a suitable 
 voice for public speaking. The ear-splitting ser- 
 mons to which some audiences are compelled to 
 listen are enough to discourage even the most 
 pious of us all. Whatever voice the preacher may 
 have, whether it be a manufactured voice, a nat- 
 ural voice, a Sunday voice, a preacher's voice, or 
 just a common ordinary one, it should be the one 
 he ever uses. He should talk in it, read in it, joke 
 in it, sing in it, preach in it, shout in it, whis- 
 per in it, scold in it, pray in it, and think in it. 
 Yes, one can think in it as easily as one can speak 
 in it when once one knows how. The preacher 
 
THE PREACHER 129 
 
 should get acquainted with his voice, should listen 
 to it, and make it behave itself. The roof -lifting 
 tones of the early days are not needed now, and 
 we poor fellows that were made to believe in our 
 first preaching that the loud tone was the chief 
 virtue of our preaching, have found it out by the 
 scowls and frowns of the people who would teach 
 us better did they but have the chance. Nathan 
 Shepherd, in his book entitled, "Before An Audi- 
 ence," has this to say about the voice : 
 
 ^he puMic speaker has no use for the physiology of the 
 voice. It is quite inunaterial to him whether his voice is 
 produced by the larnyx or the calf of the leg. It is not 
 of the slightest assistance to him to be informed that 
 "nasality is produced by the lowering of the velum on 
 one side and the lifting of the base of the tongue on the 
 other." He will get rid of his nasality, not by talking 
 about it, but by talking without it. The only way to 
 avoid it is^ — to avoid it. No drunkard was ever reformed 
 by a diagnosis of delirium tremens. If there is no will of 
 his own to appeal to, no appeal will be of any avail. You 
 may make him weep, but you cannot make him act. You 
 cannot reach a bad habit unless you set the will against 
 it. A bad vofce is a bad habit, to be got rid of just as any 
 other bad habit is to be got rid of, by turning the will 
 upon it; a good voice is a good habit to be acquired, just 
 as any other good habit is to be acquired, by setting the 
 will to acquire it. If your voice has a tendency to go up, 
 you are to do with it just as you should do with your 
 elbow if it has a tendency to go up at the table — put it 
 down and keep it down by an exercise of the will. Will 
 it down, and put it down, and keep it down until it stays 
 down without a conscious exercise of the will. 
 
130 THE CHURCH 
 
 He who is unconcerned about his preparation 
 for preaching the gospel must be destitute of all 
 evidence that God has called him to preach. Not 
 that a preparation cannot be made outside of col- 
 lege walls, however advantageous a collegiate 
 education may be, but that a preparation can and 
 will be made by him whom God hath called to 
 "preach the Word." For it is impossible to con- 
 ceive that God is pleased, and that He will own 
 and bless the man as a preacher of righteousness, 
 who is unprepared and unconcerned as to a prepa- 
 ration for such services. Yet, I have seen men 
 assuming to be preachers whose only ambition 
 seemed to be to edge their way into the pulpit and 
 thereby advertise themselves as preachers of the 
 Word of God. Let me say that the day has passed 
 when the people will tolerate such an imposition. 
 For with the advantages of this age of books, 
 cheap as they are, and with the helps furnished 
 for the study of the Bible, any man of talent, if 
 he has purpose and energy, may make a commend- 
 able preparation for the work of the ministry. 
 And he that is too indolent and lazy to "give dili- 
 gence to present himself a workman approved 
 unto God, handling aright the word of truth," will 
 not, and should not, be respected as a preacher 
 of the gospel by any intelligent people. Think 
 not, my brother, to say that you have not time for 
 
THE PREACHER 131 
 
 this preparation. You haven't time for anything 
 else. And time taken by the God-called man for 
 any other purpose than that which is legitimately 
 connected with his work does himself a wrong, 
 and the cause he represents an inseparable injus- 
 tice. Besides, it requires but a small portion of 
 our time as evidenced in the fact that the mosi 
 stupendous literary works have been wrought ou\. 
 in the spare moments of the day. Hale wrote his 
 contemplations while riding from place to place 
 and staying at the homes on his circuit. Dr. 
 Mason Good made a noted translation of the 
 Scriptures while riding in his carriage from door 
 to door. One of the chancellors of France wrote a 
 bulky volume in the successive intervals of daily 
 waiting for dinner. Doddridge wrote his expo- 
 sitions chiefly before breakfast. Kirk White 
 studied Greek, going over the nouns and verbs 
 while on his way to and from a lawyer's office. 
 Burney learned French and Italian while riding 
 on horseback. Franklin laid his stock of knowl- 
 edge in his dinner hours and evenings while 
 working as a printer boy. Dr. Barnes wrote his 
 "Notes" between four and nine o'clock, a. m., 
 during all the years of which he had on his heart 
 and in his hands all the responsibilities and labor 
 of a large pastorate. Edison, the world's most 
 famous electrician, sold peanuts on railroad trains 
 
132 THE CHURCH 
 
 and studied electricity while waiting at stations 
 for his train to go. It is not a question of time. 
 It is a question of will. The man who earnestly 
 desires a preparation will find time and oppor- 
 tunity to secure it. But even if it requires much 
 time and strength, it should be done, yea, it must 
 be done. Pick out any one hundred names that 
 to-day stand inscribed upon the roll of fame, high 
 up amid the national glories, intellectual grand- 
 eurs, and ministerial honors, and I will show you 
 one hundred hearts that braved the storms and 
 ceaselessly labored for a purpose. "For forty 
 years," said Thomas Jefferson, "the rising sun has 
 not found me in bed." 
 
 The heights of great men reached and kept 
 Were not attained by sudden flight, 
 
 But they, while their companions slept, 
 Were toiling upward in the night. 
 
 In this general preparation a certain amount of 
 reading and a certain kind of reading is absolutely 
 necessary and without it no man is prepared to 
 stand the test of this age. For general reading 
 and study I name the Bible first, of course. It is 
 the minister's specialty, his text-book and basis 
 for the truth he preaches. This does not neces- 
 sarily mean that only texts should be quoted to the 
 hearers. The Bible is suggestive along the lines 
 of every truth helpful to man in every age. Next 
 
THE PREACHER 133 
 
 I briefly mention good commentaries, theology, 
 and Church doctrines. Theology should be studied 
 but not preached — Christian evidences, Jewish 
 manners, laws, customs, Palestinian geography, 
 principles of other religions — Church history, 
 philosophy, science, art, music, general history, 
 standard prose, and poetical literature — news- 
 papers, magazines, religious papers, other high- 
 class papers — novels. The preacher should take 
 the time to read high-class novels occasionally. It 
 is ever the same gospel but not the same stereo- 
 typed presentation of it. Even the Lord's Prayer 
 is not identically reported by the evangelists. 
 Paul had the same gospel in the synagogue as on 
 Mars' hill, but his synagogue sermon was not the 
 same as his Mars' hill one. It used to be more 
 common than now to say that the apostles and 
 prophets were not educated, but have we not read 
 of the "schools of the prophets" in Elijah's day? 
 Is not Christ called the Great Teacher? Did He 
 not insist on a three years' course and then the 
 diploma of the Holy Ghost? And the world's cul- 
 ture then was not a tithe of what it is to-day. If 
 on earth now, I think the Master would give at 
 least a twelve-year course, and even more for 
 some of us. 
 
 Even though I had the time to write and you 
 the patience to read, this subject would remain too 
 
134 THE CHURCH 
 
 high, and deep, and broad, and grand, and 
 important for our comprehension. The preacher 
 is called of God to preach the gladdest news to 
 which human ears ever listened; he is to tell 
 the sweetest story to which human minds and 
 hearts have ever given attention ; he is to repeat the 
 mightiest truths which ever stirred human intel- 
 lect or impressed human souls; he is to lead men 
 to the highest and holiest life ever revealed to 
 man; he is to comfort the sorrowing with a com- 
 fort not his own ; he is to put into human life the 
 glad news that Jesus Christ is the sinners' friend ; 
 he is to point the erring to the strait and narrow 
 way, tell the sinner of a Savior, the lost of a 
 Redeemer, the penitent of a full and free pardon, 
 the sick of the Heavenly Physician, the dying of a 
 home wherein dwelleth only purity whose glories 
 outshine the sun by day and the moon by night; 
 he is commissioned of the Most High God to 
 preach the gospel to every creature, to baptize in 
 the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Spirit ; he is anointed to preach the gospel to the 
 poor; he is sent to heal the broken-hearted, to 
 preach deliverance to the captives and the recov- 
 ering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them 
 
THE PREACHER 135 
 
 that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of 
 the Lord. 
 
 HIS DEPENDENCE AND HIS INDEPENDENCE 
 
 As paradoxical as it may seem the preacher is 
 at one and the same time dependent and independ- 
 ent. In the commission and authority given to the 
 Twelve we find their work outlined, their depend- 
 ence and their independence established and 
 announced. 
 
 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them saying. 
 Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into 
 any city of the Samaritans; but go rather to the lost 
 sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying 
 The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise 
 the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely ye 
 received, freely give. Get you no gold, nor silver, nor 
 brass in your purses, no wallet for your journey, neither 
 two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy 
 of his food. And into whatsoever city or village ye shall 
 enter, search out who in it is worthy; and there abide till 
 ye go forth. And as ye enter into the house, salute it. 
 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: 
 but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And 
 whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, as 
 ye go forth out of that house or that city, shake off the 
 dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more 
 tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day 
 of judgment, than for that city. Behold, I send you forth 
 as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as 
 serpents, and harmless as doves. 
 
 Of all men the minister of Jesus Christ is the 
 most dependent and the most independent. Jesus 
 told the disciples how to treat the cities that 
 
136 THE CHURCH 
 
 received them kindly and how to treat the ones 
 that rejected them, in which is shown how abso- 
 lutely dependent they were to be, and at the same 
 time how absolutely independent they were to be. 
 They were to go on foot into strange countries; 
 they were to make no provisions whatever for 
 their comforts or even necessities, but depend 
 wholly upon the hospitality of the people to whom 
 they ministered. They were to take no silver, nor 
 gold, nor brass, nor wallet, nor coat, nor staff, but 
 go empty handed and alone into the homes of the 
 people and depend upon them for their daily 
 bread. But at the same time He told them that 
 if the people did not treat them as men of such 
 high rank and having such a great mission should 
 be treated to shake the dust from their feet in 
 testimony against them. Jesus would have them 
 know and appreciate their exalted mission, and 
 dignity of character. It seems that He would 
 say to them, you are of too much value, and your 
 mission is too important for you to spend any 
 time with a quibbling, fault-finding, grumbling 
 people; just get out of their city and as quickly 
 as possible. When I was pastor I think I loved 
 my people as tenderly as a man with no more 
 heart than I, could love a people, and they have 
 loved me, for which I have many times thanked 
 
THE PREACHER 137 
 
 God and promised Him the best of my life for the 
 people He had given me ; and yet there never was 
 a time in my life when I did not feel 
 wholly independent of the people I served. 
 And now if I felt competent to give advice 
 to the younger ministers, it would be to 
 cultivate a feeling of dependence upon your peo- 
 ple. Depend upon them for your living, your 
 standing in the community, your efficiency, for the 
 full measure of their confidence and the depth of 
 their sympathy and my word for it you will not 
 be disappointed. And at the same time cultivate 
 a feeling of independence. Do not become the 
 slave of any man or of any Church. Call no man 
 master for one is your Master, even Christ. Be 
 free to speak the truth in love. Always express 
 your own convictions of duty. Let the people feel 
 that you are sent of God as well as called of Him. 
 Never pander to a sickly sentimentality, but be 
 free and independent as was your Master. 
 
 To the preacher is promised two things: 
 Christ's presence and a necessary compensation. 
 Christ said. Go and preach, and lo I am with you. 
 That is compensation enough aside from the 
 material things necessary to sustain life. It is 
 helpful to have the sympathy and good-will of the 
 people, and to feel that they appreciate you, 
 
138 THE CHURCH 
 
 and to feel that Christ is with you, But 
 the same Christ who said, "Lo I am with you," also 
 said, "The laborer is worthy of his food." The 
 law of compensation is universal, and inflexible. 
 The God who said the ox that treaded out the corn 
 should not be muzzled, also said that the 
 preacher who faithfully preaches the gospel of 
 His Son shall not go without pay. We accept the 
 service of the teacher, the doctor, the lawyer, the 
 clerk, the carpenter, and compensate them accord- 
 ingly ; but we forget that Paul expressly declares 
 that "Even so did the Lord ordain, that they that 
 proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel." 
 The word ordain as Paul used it, means to arrange 
 throughout. So that God has arranged, that 
 throughout the man's ministry he should live of it. 
 It was a maxim among the Jews that the inhabi- 
 tants of a town where a wise man had made his 
 abode, should support him: because he had for- 
 saken the world and its pleasures to study those 
 things by which he might please God and be use- 
 ful to men. 
 
 Dr. Barnes, in commenting on 1 Cor. 9 : 14, 
 "Even so did the Lord ordain that they that pro- 
 claim the gospel should live of the gospel," says : 
 
 (1) That the command is they shall "live of the gospel." 
 It is not they should grow rich, or lay up treasures, or 
 speculate in it, or become merchants, farmers, teachers, or 
 
THE PREACHER 139 
 
 book-makers for a living; but it is that they should have 
 such a maintenance as to constitute a livelihood. They 
 should be made comfortable; not rich. They should receive 
 so much as to keep their minds from being harassed with 
 cares, and their families from want; not so much as to 
 lead them to forget their dependence on God, or on the 
 people. Probably the true rule is that they should be able 
 to live as the mass of people among whom they labor, 
 that they should be able to receive and entertain the poor, 
 and be willing to do it; and as that the rich also may not 
 despise them, or turn away from their dwellings. (2) 
 This is a command of the Lord Jesus; and if it is a com- 
 mand, it should be obeyed as much as any other law of the 
 Redeemer. And if this is a command, then the minister is 
 entitled to a support; and then also a people are not at 
 liberty to withhold it. Further, there are as strong rea- 
 sons why they should support him, as there are why they 
 should pay a school-master, a lawyer, a physician, or a 
 day laborer. The ministers usually toil as hard as others; 
 expend as much in preparing for his work; and do as much 
 good; and there is even a higher claim in this case. God 
 has given an express command in this case and He has not 
 in others. (3) The salary of a minister should not be 
 regarded as a gift merely, any more than the pay of a 
 congressman, a physician, or a lawyer. He has to claim it; 
 and God has commanded it should be paid. It is, moreover, 
 a matter of stipulation and compact, by which a people 
 agree to compensate him for service. And yet, is there 
 anything in the shape of debt where there is so much loose- 
 ness as in regard to this subject? Are men usually as 
 conscientious in this as they are in paying a physician or 
 merchant? Are not ministers often in distress for that 
 which has been promised them, and which they have a 
 right to expect ? And is not their usefulness, and the hap- 
 piness of the people, and the honor of religion intimately 
 connected with obeying the rule of the Lord Jesus in this 
 respect ? 
 
 One of my good friends, once said to me, "I have 
 just given five dollars toward your support." I 
 
140 THE CHURCH 
 
 said to him, that I was not aware that I had 
 become helpless or indigent. I said, "Look at these 
 hands, and feet, and arms, and eyes, and tell me 
 if you think I am not able to support myself." 
 Said I, "You support criminals, and paupers, but 
 you compensate labor." A minister is a 
 laborer, and is worthy of his hire. Aside from the 
 salvation of souls, the community gets the benefit 
 of the preacher's brains, scholarship, and service, 
 and he should be paid, not supported. A wild 
 cry rends the air. A child has fallen into the 
 water and is drowning! We see its white face as 
 it lies there in a background of death! A little 
 hand is thrust above the wave in a frantic 
 endeavor to find help. A man rushes in at the 
 risk of his own life, and rescues the child from a 
 watery grave. It proves to be your child! He 
 brings your child back to you for which he offered 
 the price of his own life. You undertake to com- 
 pensate him for it. Where would you begin? 
 What would be the first amount offered for such 
 service? The child, handed back to your arms 
 snatched from the sea, grows to a beautiful young 
 manhood or womanhood. It is seized with a 
 dreaded disease which threatens its life. The 
 fever burns and scorches the child, and shakes the 
 fair, young frame. The old family physician is 
 
THE PREACHER 141 
 
 called in, who with brain, and heart, and skill, and 
 love goes to work to stay the awful ravages of 
 death. He succeeds. He cools the fever, he 
 arrests the chill, he stays the disease, he pushes 
 back the death, and saves your child ! Back from 
 the shadow of the grave he comes bearing it tri- 
 umphantly, and placing it in your arms he takes 
 his departure. Some time afterwards you go into 
 his office and propose to pay him for saving your 
 child! What would be your first payment? 
 Would all your money, all your farm, all your bank 
 stock, all your notes, all your mortgages, in any 
 sense represent the love you have for the child or 
 your appreciation of the work done by the physi- 
 cian? Later on the same child loses it way and 
 strays out into the paths of wrong. Its soul is 
 sick and in a sea of sin, away from home, from 
 God, and the good. That once pure life so white 
 and stainless, is outlined in the red flames of an 
 awful hell. The minister of the parish finds it so, 
 and leads it to the "Lamb of God that taketh away 
 the sin of the world," and the soul is washed in 
 the blood of the Christ and cleansed and saved. 
 Peans of praise, and loud hallelujahs go up to God 
 amid which the angels lift their voices in thanks- 
 giving for a soul that was lost and is found. 
 Where will you find money enough to compensate 
 
142 THE CHURCH 
 
 a man for such work as that? And yet there are 
 people by the score and multitude who think that 
 if they give a dollar a year to the "support of their 
 preacher" they are doing well. Such people have 
 not the slightest conception of the value of the 
 Christian ministry. Ministers are not to be sup- 
 ported, they are to be paid. They can support 
 themselves. They can support themselves, by 
 farming, by carpentering, by teaching school, by 
 selling goods, or in many other ways not neces- 
 sary to mention, but if they preach the gospel 
 they are to live of the gospel, and they who hear 
 it and fail to contribute toward the compensation 
 of the preacher will die hopelessly in debt and the 
 collecting be done in the next world. 
 
 Compensating the minister for his service is in 
 no sense paying for the gospel; that is without 
 money and without price. We pay for the book 
 in which the gospel is written; we pay for the 
 building in which it is preached and we pay the 
 minister who preaches it to us, in the same sense 
 that we pay for the window through which the 
 light comes into our houses, or for the spouts that 
 carry the water from the roofs of them into the 
 cistern which holds it, and, and for which we also 
 pay, but we do not pay for the light, nor for the 
 water. The gospel itself is as free as the light or 
 
THE PREACHER 143 
 
 the rain. When we get the gospel we do not pay 
 for what we get any more than we pay for the 
 rain that falls, the dew that gathers, or the air 
 that circulates about us. We pay for the means 
 of getting them, and the man in any community 
 who will not share with his neighbors in getting 
 the gospel into the community ought also to ask 
 them to construct his windows, spout his roof, and 
 build his cistern. The last would be as consistent 
 and as honorable as the first. 
 
 HINTS, SUGGESTIONS, ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 The preacher should be industrious, honest, and 
 economical. A lazy preacher is a nuisance, a dis- 
 honest preacher, a criminal, and a spendthrift, a 
 disgrace. 
 
 He should dress well for his public service. A 
 lady parishioner of mine once said to her husband 
 who was a member of the pastoral committee, 
 "Well, do get a preacher that we are not ashamed 
 to look at." 
 
 The sermons should be Scriptural. To be 
 "mighty in the scriptures" should be the aim of 
 every minister who speaks to the souls of men. 
 Jesus Christ went into the synagogue and stood 
 up to read. 
 
 Always seize the main point of the text and 
 press it home. Martin Luther likens those who 
 
144 THE CHURCH 
 
 wander from their texts to a maid going to mar- 
 ket, who wastes her time in talking with this one 
 and that one on the road, and then arrives too 
 late. Digressions often weaken the impression of 
 a good sermon. 
 
 "Just put a little common sense into your ser- 
 mons," said an old Oxford professor to a "clever" 
 young preacher. The common people heard Christ 
 gladly because He was always understood by the 
 people, although there are a great many "uncom- 
 mon" people who are pleased with learned or elo- 
 quent sermons which they do not comprehend. 
 We have all heard of the old woman who went to 
 Church because she was so charmed with that 
 beautiful word Mesopotamia, but it did not do her 
 much good. 
 
 Always know when to stop. This is the sixth of 
 Luther's nine qualities of a good preacher. Boyle 
 has an excellent essay on "Patience Under Long 
 Preaching." The advice is good, but the defini- 
 tion is too difficult. What is a long sermon? 
 Nowadays ministers of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church, especially those designated "High Church 
 men," usually keep within twenty minutes ; but it 
 is often difficult to preach a really good sermon 
 within such limits. George Herbert, in his 
 "Country Parson" advocates the use of a short 
 
THE PREACHER 145 
 
 sermon. He says: "The parson exceeds not an 
 hour in preaching, because all ages have taught 
 that a competence." William Jay, of Bath, who 
 was a popular Congregational preacher in his day, 
 says : "I saw one excellency was within my reach, 
 and it was brevity ; and I determined to obtain it. 
 I never exceed three-quarters of an hour at most." 
 But both George Herbert and William Jay 
 belonged to a generation that is gone. 
 
 "Nothing," says Lamont, "can justify a long 
 sermon. If it be a good one it need not be long; 
 and if it be a bad one, it ought not be long." 
 
 A Scotch preacher had preached his audience 
 out of the Church. When one of the weary ones 
 asked another if the sermon was done yet, the 
 reply was, "His tow's dune lang syne; but he's 
 spinnin' awa' yet." 
 
 A quftint writer has said, "A preacher should 
 begin low, proceed slow, rise higher, and catch 
 Are." The writer used to keep that saying lying 
 on the open Bible before him when he preached. 
 
 On a rainy Sunday do your best. Never weary 
 the people who do come, with scoldings intended 
 for those who have stayed away. Reserve that for 
 the people who need it. If you have a good ser- 
 mon, give it to those who have been to some 
 trouble to attend the service. 
 
146 THE CHURCH 
 
 Be sure you have something to say before you 
 open your mouth. A preacher once declared that 
 all he had to do was to open his mouth and the 
 Lord filled it. "Yes," said a good old woman, 
 "that He will — with wind." It is said in the early 
 day of Methodism that the young preachers were 
 not permitted to write their sermons. One young 
 man feeling very deeply the need of a better prep- 
 aration, would clandestinely write his sermons. 
 It is told that one day while this young man was 
 deeply engrossed in his secret task that the pre- 
 siding elder came upon him unawares and 
 severely chastised him for so doing, saying, "While 
 you write the devil looks over your shoulder and 
 knows what you are going to say and tells it to 
 your congregation before you can. "Now," said 
 he, "I do not write a word of my sermons, and 
 when I get up to preach the devil himself does not 
 know what I will say." 
 
 Make sure of your calling. Do not mistake the 
 letters, P. C, seen in the vision of the night. They 
 may not mean preach Christ, but plow corn, and 
 it is more pleasing to God, and far more accept- 
 able to the people, for some men to preach Christ 
 by plowing corn than by any other way open to 
 them. 
 
THE PREACHER 147 
 
 The preacher should make his sermons worth 
 his salary. An Indian, being asked what he did 
 for a living, replied, "Oh ! me preach." "Preach !" 
 said a bystander; "what do you get paid for 
 preaching?" "Sometimes me get shillin', some- 
 time two shillin'." "Isn't that mighty poor pay?" 
 "Oh, yes, and it's mighty poor preach!" 
 
 The preaching may be scholarly, but should be 
 experimental. Henry Ward Beecher was fond of 
 saying : "There is no such preaching as the experi- 
 ence which a man gives who has just realized 
 the sinfulness of his soul. I have often heard 
 myself out-preached by some new convert who 
 could hardly put words together." 
 
 Some say experimental preaching is shallow. 
 Shallow — is deep as the soul of God ! 
 
 The hearers should always be made to feel the 
 power of the message. It is said that a man who 
 was fond of hearing both Beecher and Spurgeon 
 was asked to name the difference, as he saw it, 
 between the two men. "Well," said he, "when I 
 hear Mr. Beecher I say, 'What a great preacher he 
 is!' and when I hear Mr. Spurgeon, I say, 'What a 
 great sinner I am!' " Dr. Hickington, chaplain to 
 Charles II., used to preach at the king's vice. 
 This the king took to himself ; and so one day he 
 said: "Doctor, you and I ought to be better 
 
148 THE CHURCH 
 
 friends ; give up being so sharp on me, and see if I 
 don't mend on your hand." "Well, well," quoth 
 the doctor, "I'll make it up with your majesty on 
 these terms : as you mend I'll mend." 
 
 The preacher should be a man of fervent prayer, 
 and his sermons should be steeped in petition. 
 Flavel says, "There was a husbandman that 
 always sowed good seed, but never had corn. At 
 last a neighbor came to him, and said, 'I will tell 
 you what probably may be the cause of it. It may 
 be that you do not steep your seed.' 'No, truly,* 
 replied the other, 'nor did I ever hear that seed 
 must be steeped.' 'Yes, surely,' said his neighbor ; 
 'and I will tell you how; it must be steeped in 
 prayer.' When the party heard this he thanked 
 him for his counsel, reformed his faults, and had 
 as good corn as other persons." 
 
 The preacher should simply do his best. There 
 can be no rule. A preacher that is always "call- 
 ing" may be a nuisance and need "calling down." 
 A preacher that never calls, needs "calling out." 
 But no set of rules has ever yet worked success- 
 fully in all cases. A pastor, the preacher should 
 be, and as such should feed the flock of God over 
 which the Holy Ghost hath made him overseer. A 
 good old deacon in one of the writer's first charges 
 always referred to him as his "pasture," not an 
 
THE PREACHER 149 
 
 unappropriate reference, provided the preacher 
 had something for his sheep to eat. 
 
 In his public address he should be careful of his 
 gestures. It is of no use to pound the Bible. A 
 Bible-smasher in the pulpit is in the wrong place. 
 It avails nothing to walk from side to side of the 
 platform. The days of the traveling preachers 
 are past and it is perfectly proper for one to stand 
 still while preaching, providing he does not 
 become a post. An old colored man who was 
 always present at the service when a certain man 
 preached, was asked by the preacher what it was 
 in his sermons that attracted him to come, when 
 he never came on any other occasion. "Oh, noth- 
 in', sir. Nothin', sir." "Then why do you come?" 
 "Oh, I like to see you fling your arms around, it 
 kinder 'muses me." 
 
 He should not make himself a nuisance in the 
 homes of his people. Be friendly and even famil- 
 iar, but do not be a burden or suppose that it is 
 no trouble to them to care for you. The home is 
 a sacred place, and it has its duties, its obligations, 
 and its rights, and upon them even a preacher has 
 no right to intrude. A hotel bill once in a while 
 will not weaken the preacher's influence with his 
 parishioners. 
 
150 THE CHURCH 
 
 The preacher should be prompt in commencing 
 the public service. Of all the bad habits into 
 which a preacher may fall, that of "waiting" is 
 the worst. No preacher has any moral right to 
 take my time to give to another. Ten thirty a. m. 
 should mean ten thirty a. m., and not ten thirty- 
 one a. m. Some one has said that there are three 
 hands: the right hand, the left hand, and the 
 "little behind hand." Schools open and close 
 according to the time announced ; so do banks and 
 stores; and the preacher who suffers himself to 
 wait for people, or for any other reason allows 
 the service to be delayed, ought, in justice to the 
 cause, resign the ministry and accept a position 
 in which prevaricating would not be so grievous. 
 
 The preacher should not allow himself to be but- 
 tonholed by every one- A little self-respect will 
 often save him annoyance from bores. 
 
 The preacher should not be on the lookout for 
 injuries or snubs. Preachers who go about hunt- 
 ing trouble soon find trouble hunting them. 
 
SENSATIONAL PREACHING 
 
 To understand sensational preaching, it is nec- 
 essary that we understand preaching as defined in 
 the Bible. 
 
 To preach means the following things : 
 
 1. To Bring or Tell Good Tidings. (Isaiah 
 61:1) 
 
 This Jesus applied to Himself, and thus becomes 
 the preacher whose life we should live, and whose 
 preaching we should copy. 
 
 2. To Call or Proclaim a Given Message. 
 (Jonah 3 : 2) 
 
 3. To Tell or Announce Thoroughly. (Luke 
 9:60) 
 
 4. To Speak Throughout — That Is, It Is to 
 Absorb the Preacher. (Acts 20 : 7) 
 
 5. To Tell the Good News or Tidings. (Luke 
 3: 18; 4: 43; Acts 8: 35) 
 
 6. To Tell Thoroughly. (Acts 4:2; 13:38; 
 ICor. 9:14;Col. 1:28) 
 
 7. To Cry or Proclaim as a Herald. (Matt. 
 3:1; 4: 17; 10: 7; 10: 27) 
 
 8. To Talk or Discourse. (Mark 2:2) 
 
152 THE CHURCH 
 
 A PREACHER IS- 
 
 1. A Caller, A Congregator. (Ecclesiastes 
 12:9,10) 
 
 2. A Crier, or Proclaimer. (1 Tim. 2:7; 2 
 Tim. 1:11) 
 
 3. To Proclaim as a Herald. (Rom. 10: 14) 
 These references are quite sufficient to define 
 
 for us the fact of preaching; the plan of preach- 
 ing; the purpose of preaching, and the theme of 
 the sermon. 
 
 Let us now give attention to 
 
 SENSATIONAL PREACHING 
 
 Let us not overlook some facts. Every sermon 
 produces a sensation. It may be, and often is, a 
 sensation of drowsiness, or it may be the sensation 
 of being lifted into a higher and holier spiritual 
 atmosphere. There is a sensationalism which is 
 unbiblical, degrading to the ministry, and injuri- 
 ous to the people. There is to-day in many 
 churches, and especially during evangelistic serv- 
 ices, a mawkish, overdone, spectacular sensation- 
 alism, which should have no place in the house of 
 God, and can have no part in the saving of souls. 
 To make a stir simply to keep things stirred, does 
 nobody any good, and often results in great harm 
 to a large number of people. 
 
SENSATIONAL PREACHING 153 
 
 A thousand censures upon the man, who, while 
 wearing a clerical coat acts the clown and 
 degrades the sacred office by unholy speech. But 
 there is a just difference between, and a just dis- 
 tinction to be made between that sort of artificial 
 striving to "get up" a sensation, and that sort of 
 spiritual stir which comes from an earnest pulpit 
 appeal, and which profoundly moves the feeling of 
 the people. But when preachers think more of 
 effect than of exactness in statements; when the 
 sacred associations of religion are cheapened by 
 trivial and catchy themes; when, instead of 
 preaching upon repentance, the preacher conceals 
 that great theme in a boisterous, flippant tirade 
 upon the Rottenest Man in the Rottenest City, 
 then it is time to return to the old paths and 
 inquire more perfectly the way of the Lord. Let 
 it be understood by every preacher that anything 
 and everything done in the pulpit which calls 
 attention to the preacher, detracts just that much 
 from the message. 
 
 Sensational preaching may be classified as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 1. Advertising, Absurd, and "Catchy" Sub- 
 jects. 
 
 To announce a subject beforehand may be both 
 wise and right, and in many instances commend- 
 
154 THE CHURCH 
 
 able and helpful, but distinction should be made 
 between attractive subjects and the grotesque and 
 spicy kind. Let a preacher announce that he is 
 going to discuss Repentance, The New Birth, or 
 any other distinctively Biblical subject, and the 
 worldly-minded take due notice thereof and stay 
 at home. But let him announce that he will 
 preach on "How to Fatten an Oyster," or "The 
 Search-light Turned on the Last Election," or "The 
 Latest Social Scandal," and the multitudes will 
 fill his temple. In this connection it should be 
 stated that oftentimes such methods violate good 
 taste and become offensive to the esthetic sense, 
 as for instance a preacher announced that he 
 would perform in the pulpit the famous handcuff 
 act in real expert burglar style. A certain evan- 
 gelist announced that his subject was "Hen," and 
 took his text from the passionate cry of our Lord 
 when he wept over Jerusalem. In our National 
 Capital a would-be popular preacher took for his 
 subjects on Sunday evening, "Do Washington 
 Women Flirt?" "Have Washington Men and 
 Women Quit Blushing?" "A Virginia Lover's 
 Shot-gun." Let me say that even though such 
 topics draw crowds for a while, a heavy price must 
 be paid in ministerial dignity and church character 
 for the crowds they draw. It may be said by some 
 that preachers do not discuss these subjects even 
 
SENSATIONAL PREACHING 155 
 
 though they announce them, but present some gos- 
 pel theme under these catchy captions. If that 
 be so, then the preacher has schemed, and tricked 
 the people into coming, and even fair-minded 
 worldy men would condemn such sculduggery as 
 belittling, dishonest, untruthful, and full of wick- 
 edness. The preacher who, for the sake of getting 
 a hearing, announces that he will preach on "How 
 Jonah Lost His Umbrella," and then discusses 
 another subject under that caption, is not in the 
 youthful George Washington class. Such a 
 preacher may deliver ever so helpful a message, 
 and by it some may be led to a better life, but it 
 yet remains true that the people came under false 
 pretenses, and were tricked into attendance. But 
 the harm is not found alone in the trick, the false- 
 hood, and the loss of dignity, it demands of the 
 preacher a steady decline from the high and lofty 
 themes of the gospel, to the catchpenny methods 
 of the fakir. A preacher who had resorted to this 
 sensational topic method finding his crowd leaving 
 him, and the self-respecting people of the com- 
 munity turning against him, went so far in his 
 downward course to announce as his theme for a 
 certain Sunday evening, "Four Kisses at the Bap- 
 tist Church by the Pastor." Such sensationalism 
 is a shame to the high calling of the gospel minis- 
 
156 THE CHURCH 
 
 ter, and should be put out of the synagogue with a 
 scourge. 
 
 2. Another Form of Sensationalism Is Ludi- 
 crous Pulpit Methods. 
 
 I do not mean by these the Jumping Jack, nor 
 the clown method, nor any other boorish, capering, 
 prancing way. Sometimes the pulpit is an oppor- 
 tunity for queer antics, oddity of manner, course 
 jokes, and rude witticism, but I do not mean these. 
 There is a real place for humor in the pulpit, as 
 I shall show later on, but the pulpit clown, and 
 clerical montebank do vastly more harm than 
 good, even though they preach the gospel. But 
 what I mean is the way some modern preachers 
 decorate their pulpits. Some years ago a preacher 
 was to have the barbers of the city present on a 
 certain occasion. To show them how up-to-date 
 he was he had his pulpit decorated with barber 
 chairs, razors, cups, etc., in short, he stood in a 
 barber shop, the laughing stock of the men he 
 sought to entertain. They knew more about bar- 
 ber shops than he did, and spent six days in the 
 week in them, and now this up-to-date preacher 
 feasted their eyes upon them on the seventh. Fol- 
 lowing this method, wash-tubs and clothes-lines 
 should form the background of the pulpit when 
 preaching to laundrymen. A stable and another 
 
SENSATIONAL PREACHING 157 
 
 donkey on the platform would look well, should 
 horse dealers be invited to attend in a body. A 
 preacher called of God to warn men of death, hell, 
 and the judgment resorting to such methods calls 
 for no uncertain condemnation from those who 
 have followed their Master's way of proclaiming 
 the "Good News." The tendency is from bad to 
 worse until the church becomes a playhouse, and 
 entertainment is substituted for worship. 
 
 3. Another Form of Sensationalism Is the 
 Assaulting of Fundamental Truth. 
 
 Sensational preachers often really assault the 
 evils of the day, and they should be commended 
 for it, but more often than we know in these latter 
 days, the real foundations of the church are being 
 assaulted. The advocacy of modern times, mod- 
 ern methods, modern service, modern everything 
 is a form of sensationalism which may in the end, 
 to say the least, destroy the faith of some and 
 strew the highway of life with wreck and ruin. 
 The miraculous, the supernatural, the spiritual, 
 the almost everything that was once accepted as 
 sacred truth is now being held up to ridicule, crit- 
 icism, and condemnation. It is indeed time for 
 faithful men to stand guard at the door of the 
 sanctuary, and demand of every man who would 
 
158 THE CHURCH 
 
 be a shepherd in Israel to give proof of his min- 
 istry. 
 
 In this age when sensationalism is prominent 
 everywhere; when nerves are strung to the high- 
 est tension; when life is one unbroken round of 
 change and excitement, there is greater need than 
 ever before for a message in direct contrast to the 
 daily temper, experience, and grind ; a message of 
 love direct from God, and such a message can only 
 be found where Spurgeon found it ; where Finney 
 found it; where Whitfield found it; where Moody 
 found it; where many preachers and evangelists 
 are finding it to-day; a message of strength and 
 peace in the "unsearchable riches of Christ." 
 
 BUT THERE IS A FORM OF SENSATIONALISM THAT 
 SHOULD NOT BE CONDEMNED 
 
 A single illustration of this statement will suf- 
 fice. In the days of Henry Ward Beecher's popu- 
 larity, a gentleman of rare taste and great ability, 
 and who was averse to all manner of sensational- 
 ism, attended his service for the first and only 
 time. He says, "I do not remember his text, but I 
 do vividly remember several of his dramatic 
 periods. In the course of his sermon he used the 
 expression, 'Grinding out propositional dogmas,' 
 and as he was uttering the words he stepped to 
 the right side of the little desk and went through 
 
SENSATIONAL PREACHING 159 
 
 the motions of turning an imaginary crank, as 
 though he were grinding something, and then 
 many in the audience laughed. I should not have 
 been able to remember that phrase so long if it 
 had not been for the dramatic illustration. It 
 made," said this gentleman, "an indelible impres- 
 sion." This same man tells that in the same ser- 
 mon in speaking of the element of mercy in true 
 justice, the preacher illustrated his thought by 
 saying that when he was a lad, and was in a dirty 
 and disordered condition one day, his sister took 
 him in hand and put him in good order and 
 appearance again. He said his sister was "seek- 
 ing for traces of beauty" in him, and then with a 
 twinkle in his eye he ran his right hand through 
 his hair and said, "I hope she found them." "Had 
 it not been," said the gentleman, "for that dra- 
 matic action, I would not have continued to this 
 day to remember both the words and the point he 
 was making." In this dramatic realm some men 
 are master hands, others can do nothing and it is 
 unwise for them to try. It would not be advisable 
 for all preachers to try to be humorists in the 
 pulpit, for they might succeed. 
 
 This element so valuable in Henry Ward 
 Beecher was not only dramatic, it was humorous, 
 and the preacher who possesses real humor seldom 
 
160 THE CHURCH 
 
 fails to interest, instruct, inspire, and help his 
 hearers. No man can tell what it is ; it has never 
 yet been analyzed ; try to mold it into a definition 
 and it rebels and runs away; try to force it into 
 a contrast and it disappears. Humor is not buf- 
 foonery; it is pathos; it is sympathy; it is opti- 
 mism; it is soul bubbling over with fellowship. 
 We have two great American citizens, the very 
 names of whom stir every heart to its depth — 
 Washington, Lincoln. Washington's character, 
 heroism, and attainments, demand loyalty and 
 love, and yet honest old Abe, with his smiling face 
 and twinkling eye enframed in lines of serious 
 anxiety wins our love, our admiration, and our 
 loyalty in a way that Washington is powerless to 
 command. Washington, we are told, was deficient 
 in humor, but Lincoln could not make a gesture, 
 open his mouth, cross his legs, or say "That 
 reminds me," without opening up the fountain of 
 humor that bubbled in his heart. Humor, like the 
 watering-cart on a city street, lays the dust, cools 
 the atmosphere, and leaves all happier than it found 
 them, and which will be remembered for many a 
 grateful moment after the cart itself has been lost 
 to sight and sound around the corner. Do not 
 confound humor with sensationalism, nor with 
 antic cutting in the pulpit. It is none of these, 
 
SENSATIONAL PREACHING 161 
 
 nor is it like them. They are of their father, the 
 devil ; humor is heaven born and heaven bred, for 
 God Himself shall laugh at the desolation of the 
 wicked. Kindred to these elements of pulpit 
 power, and far, too, from sensationalism, is that 
 of surprise ; taking the audience unawares, as did 
 Paul at Athens by his quick, adroit reference to 
 the altar to agnosticism — the shrine of the 
 unknown — on which he immediately inscribed the 
 name of the true God. An old Scotch preacher 
 read for his text one day, "I can do all things." 
 Stepping a little away from the pulpit, he said, 
 "Paul, I'll bet a penny you are mistaken." That 
 sentence secured the attention of his audience, 
 when he proceeded to read the remainder of the 
 text, "through Christ who strengtheneth me," and 
 then said, "Paul, had ye bet, I should have lost." 
 This, like humor, is not sensationalism, not even 
 akin to it in the remotest sense, and the man who 
 can turn the sharp corners, do the unexpected 
 thing, say the unlooked-for word, awaken interest 
 by surprising us when he speaks, is the man whom 
 the King delighteth to honor. How often through- 
 out the public discourses of Jesus, it is stated that 
 the people were astonished at his doctrine. They 
 were surprised at the turns he made, at the 
 method he employed, and certainly it is well for 
 
162 THE CHURCH 
 
 his ambassadors to follow his example. It would 
 be a surprise to some congregations did their pas- 
 tors preach the gospel; to others if theirs should 
 preach a new sermon, or discuss a living issue. 
 This, my brethren, is not sensational preaching, it 
 is playing upon a few of the many thousand 
 chords which vibrate in that wonderful harp we 
 call life. 
 
 And let me emphasize tremendously, if I am 
 able, the fact that preaching calls for an expres- 
 sion of mental and soul force up to the limit of the 
 preacher's capability. The tone of his voice, the 
 emphasis he puts upon his words, the flash of his 
 eye, and the movement of his body, all tell upon 
 the life of those who hear. If a man should make 
 love in an ordinary tone and indifferent spirit, his 
 sweetheart would laugh him to scorn. Should a 
 man cry Fire, or Murder, in an ordinary tone of 
 voice, nobody would respond to his cry. Should a 
 mad dog be loose in the highway, who would not 
 cry out, who would not shout, and scream, and 
 yell? Turn a lion, or a viper loose in the com- 
 munity and hear the uproar, and yet when it 
 comes to telling of the love of God; to warning 
 men against the fire of an endless hell ; of a mur- 
 derer whose bloody hands have reeked through all 
 the centuries; of a poison more suttle, more sure 
 
SENSATIONAL PREACHING 163 
 
 than that of the mad dog, or serpent ; of a power 
 that crushes, ruins, and devours more dreadfully 
 than does the lion, the watchman upon the wall 
 must be genteel, very polite, sweet-toned, and 
 modest-mannered. It would be sensationalism to 
 cut up antics, to play the clown, to cut gymnas- 
 tics while crying fire or murder, but it would be 
 mighty good, common sense to put some vim in 
 the movement, some strain into the voice, and 
 some intensity into the cry. Mawkish, clownish 
 antics when dealing with sin and salvation, are 
 sensational, but earnestness, intensity, and fervor, 
 or expressions of interest, are forces that win. 
 
 THE PEEACHING THAT WINS 
 
 Not the preaching that draws. Were a preacher 
 to stand on his head when he pronounced the 
 benediction, that would draw, but it would not 
 win. Were he to wear one trousers leg made of 
 blue and the other of red, that would draw, but it 
 wouldn't win. Were he to dance a jig in the 
 pulpit, or kiss the prettiest old maid in the audi- 
 ence, that would draw, but it wouldn't win. It 
 would be sensational enough for even modern life, 
 but it would lack the power to win men from sin 
 to God. 
 
 It is as true now as ever in the history of the 
 world that souls are hungering for the bread of 
 
164 THE CHURCH 
 
 life. The Greeks are still saying, "Sirs, we wovld 
 see Jesus," and penitent men are still saying, 
 "What must we do to he saved?" and the preacher 
 mistakes his calling, tramples upon his commis- 
 sion, and violates his most sacred obligation, when 
 he fails to present Jesus Christ and point the way 
 to Him. All too often stones are given for bread, 
 and scorpions palmed off for eggs. Preachers of 
 Paul's stamp scorn the preaching that shuts the 
 Bible as if it were of no use, and then emphasize 
 philosophy, systems of ethics, popular literature, 
 signs of the times, the social and political prob- 
 lems of the age, or the needs of modern civiliza- 
 tion, while Jesus knocks for admittance and the 
 Holy Spirit pleads for the life. No, my brethren, 
 it is not sensational preaching the world needs, it 
 is sensible preaching. 
 
 There is room, I grant, in the pulpit for refer- 
 ence to the events of the day, but it should be 
 subordinate to the great theme of the gospel. 
 Many preachers act upon th« assumption that 
 discussions on public questions excite more inter- 
 est and draw larger crowds than the old truths of 
 the gospel. "Swat the Fly," "Gather Up Sticks and 
 Stones From the Highway," become sweet sub- 
 jects to some preachers, while the call to repent- 
 ance, and the announcement of His resurrection 
 
SENSATIONAL PREACHING 165 
 
 are forgotten. Why is it so? For the simple 
 reason that such preachers are more at home with 
 current events than they are with the truths of 
 the Bible. They read the newspapers more than 
 they do the law of heaven and earth. The 
 preacher who knows more of the fringe and the 
 frame of the Bible than he does about its living 
 truth and its burning heart, who attracts the 
 crowd by the discussion of sensational themes, and 
 the passing questions of the day, is destined at no 
 distant period to lose his place in the realm of 
 moral teaching. When the gospel is vitally 
 preached, the people are as much interested as 
 they ever were. It is the freshest and most 
 attractive theme men have ever handled. The 
 preacher who is filled with the Holy Spirit of God, 
 and has his gospel interpreted to him from above, 
 tells the old story of the Cross and the resurrec- 
 tion of the Christ with irresistible power and 
 charm. What the people really turn from are 
 sermons on religion by men who do not under- 
 stand religion. The half converted, unconse- 
 crated, intellectual preacher with a smattering of 
 higher criticism, and a desire for social heroism, 
 undertaking to interpret infinite love and its call 
 to repentance, makes but a sorry out of it at best. 
 A weary, tired heart went not long ago to hear a 
 
166 THE CHURCH 
 
 returned missionary, saying over and over, he can 
 tell me where to find comfort. The returned mis- 
 sionary talked abowt the good that children could 
 do by picking up the sticks off the public highway, 
 and of the many little ministries within their 
 reach, and the poor tired soul that had gone to the 
 sanctuary to see Jesus, never had as much as a 
 glimpse of Him. 
 
 Depend upon it that when the gospel is sincerely 
 and vitally preached, it is to-day, as it ever has 
 been, and forever will be, the world's greatest 
 need, and preacher's greatest theme. 
 
Date Due