GOSPEL PREACHING by Arthur T. Pierson

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Dec 8, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 47.

GOSPEL PREACHING.

By Arthur T. Pierson

THE maxim of Paul, "preach the gospel; not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect," is a golden mile-stone from which many roads lead; and into what fields of thought they open!

The church is largely leavened with the world, adopts worldly maxims, and robes the gospel in worldly charms, seeking by making it attractive to make it effective. The pulpit sometimes becomes the platform for lectures more fit for the lyceum, and sometimes a stage for dramatic acting more fit for the theater. The service of sacred song is turning into a display of art, in which an appeal to esthetic taste takes the place of the divine savor and flavor of worship. In His house, where "the Lord alone shall be exalted," classical music is exalted, pagans and papists are hired to lead us in praise; or a profane, drunken organist sometimes uses the keys of the grandest of instruments to play out the congregation, and play out the impression of the gospel! We build Gothic cathedrals, furnish them with crimson and gold, adorn them with the pencil and chisel of art; then we have concerts and lectures, fairs and festivals, entertainments and excursions; and we say, "Surely we shall draw the people to the house of God." But they do not come. The writer went to a splendid church on the Pacific Coast, where a silver-tongued preacher had his throne, and a choir of artists warbled music; there were seven performances by organ and quartette and then a grand oration, but the church was more than half empty.

Such charms do not permanently draw the eyes of men to God's house, and their feet to his altars and feasts. Zion's attractions are peculiar to herself; they "are not of the world, even as He is not of the world." The church, robed in the world's charms, instead of drawing the world to herself and to Christ, takes the infection of the worldly spirit; therefore her Master bade her "keep herself unspotted from the world," "hating even the garment that is spotted by the flesh."

If we mean to draw souls to God's house, let it be by proper charms of a pure gospel, simple and soul-satisfying; by praise full of devotion, and of prayer full of devoutness; by that atmosphere which is peculiar to the assembly of true worshipers. These secular attractions, even while their powers last, make the cross of none effect; they turn the mind from things of Christ. Even when they draw, it is in the same direction as the world does.

If the church would attract worldly souls, she must offer them what the world does not and cannot—solid, substantial satisfaction, draughts of living water from a divine fountain, and not stagnant water from a broken cistern. Quench the thirst of souls and they will come.—Arthur T. Pierson.