The Metropolis of the Scriptures
A YOUNG man had been preaching in the presence of a venerable divine, and after he had done, he went to the old minister, and said:— “What do you think of my sermon?” “A very poor sermon, indeed,” said he. “A poor sermon?” said the young man. “It took me a long time to study it.” “Why! Did you not think my explanation of the text a very good one?” “O, yes,” said the old preacher, “very good, indeed.” “Well, then, why do you say it is a poor sermon? Didn’t you think the metaphors were appropriate, and the arguments conclusive?” “Yes, that was very good, so far as that goes; but still it was a very poor sermon.” “Will you tell me why you think it was a very poor sermon?” “Because,” said he, “there was no Christ in it.” “Well,” said the young man, “Christ was not in the text; we are not to be preaching Christ always; we must preach what is in the text.” So the old man said, “Don’t you know, young man, that from every town and every village and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London?” “Yes,” said the young man. “Ah!” said the old divine, “and from every text in Scripture there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures—that is, Christ. And, my dear brother, your business is, when you get a text, to say, ‘Now what is the road to Christ?’ and then preach a sermon running along the road to the metropolis—Christ. And,” said he, “I have not yet found a text that hasn’t a road to Christ in it. If I should, I would make one. I would go over hedge and ditch, but I would get at my Master, for the sermon can not do any good unless there is a savor of Christ in it.”—Selected.