p. 163 | DON'T TAKE.-

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 4, 1876

DON'T TAKE.—

How few persons in any congregation regard the truth preached, as intended for them! In our earlier ministry, we visited an old German couple, who, though highly respectable, frequently in conversation broke out into exclamations of surprise, bordering closely on blasphemy. We concluded to condemn this practice in a public discourse, taking for our text the words, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The whole sermon, though free from any expression of personality, fell upon the venerable German pair as directly as if it had passed through a funnel on their heads, for we knew of no other persons in the church chargeable with such a practice. When we descended from the pulpit, we expected to get some sour looks, but instead of this, the kind-hearted old man approached us and, patting us on the back, said, “That’s right, preacher, give it to them—that’s the preaching that’s going to do good.”—Presbyterian Journal.