Read This, Ye Lifeless Preachers by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 15, 1875

Read This, Ye Lifeless Preachers.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

My brother, do you want to learn the real reason why you have so little success in reaching the hearts of men? Read the following. May the souls of all of us be moved by it, then we can move the hearts of others. D. M. C.

“ROUTE TO SUCCESS.—When truth burns in our own souls it will force an entrance into others. Rhetoric, eccentricities, genius, are poor substitutes for the Holy Spirit. When the word of God powerfully convinces the preacher, it will move the hearer. Faith is convincing, love persuading, warmth inspiring, concern alarming, and when these are like fire in our own hearts, there is power which others will feel. Great possibilities are deposited with every preacher, yet few make them realities. It is wasteful to run our mental forces empty and alone, when we may have ‘power from on high.’ Empty, we are ‘sounding brass;’ full, we are mighty to demolish strongholds.

“Many are searching books, aping eccentric men, studying curious methods, in order to find power to take hold of people and move them. Their search is vain. They may make themselves ridiculous, they cannot become effective in that way. If they resort to the Source of Power, open their souls to the Holy Spirit, and keep trying until the rusty bolts yield, the creaky hinges turn, and every door is opened, every recess filled, their whole natures will be inspired. It may cost them a struggle, days of prayer and heart searchings, anxious waitings in some ‘upper room’ with the disciples, but the blessing is attainable, power can be had, the whole being can be set on fire.”—Baptist Union.