The Sermon of To-day by Dudley Marvin Canright

California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists · Oakland, Cal. · Jan 28, 1875

The Sermon of To-day.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

Under the above heading the San Francisco Chronicle, of Dec. 13, has the following just remarks. After describing the old time sermon, it says:

"Now, however, this is all changed. Our preachers are politicians as much as ecclesiastics. The spirit of the times teaches them equally with the spirit of the Lord. Lessons are drawn as frequently from the world history of to-day as from the sacred history of long, long ago. Theology has become but the adjunct of a shrewd and easy morality. The preacher who expounds simply as a Biblical student is left behind in the race for popularity and a full flock. The shepherd of 1874 depends not on the simple crook to keep his flock from straying, but explodes a Chinese cracker—in the shape of a flash text and sermon—before the errant ones, and so drives them into corral, at least for this Sunday, and then looks about him during the rest of the week for another explosive to drive them back on Sunday next. The gentle dew of old-fashioned ministrations has no effect on the dry bones; it needs a topical bombshell to cause a moving in the valley. The sermon of to-day is generally a cross between an essay and a stump speech. Every week there is a series of the most seductive titles published of sufficient variety to suit all "earnest seekers" after truth, amusement or excitement."

This picture is but too true to the facts. No wonder that the power of God is no longer seen in the church. They rely not on the Lord, but their own powers for success. Let us be careful that we do not fall into the same pit. D. M. C.