THE MODERN PREACHER by W.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 4, 1889

"THE MODERN PREACHER."

By W.

A FEW weeks ago the San Francisco Chronicle had in its Sunday edition an editorial entitled, "The Modern Sermon," in which it gravely told the preachers what they ought to do in order to be useful; for the modern newspaper imagines that it is as competent to guide erring souls to Heaven as it is to unearth the details of the latest scandal. In the article there was the following paragraph:—

"The type of preacher who comes nearest to the modern ideal is the one who tells his hearers in substance:—

"You know who Christ was and is—that he died to save sinners. You have been taught that from childhood. You are acquainted with the plan of salvation, acknowledge the power of grace, and all that. Well, it is not necessary for me to preach that over to you every week to the end of the year, until you grow more sleepy Sabbath by Sabbath, and less interested in pulpit utterances. Now, I am going to talk to you about something that is near to your life; something with which your every-day human nature can sympathize; something which, in fact, will rouse your interest and enchain your attention, and with this I will mix enough of doctrinal truth and religious precept to point you toward Heaven and make your nature, for which I have a sympathetic feeling, better and purer and more charitable toward your fellow-creatures. You may not 'accept Christ' in the purely religious sense, but I will not consign you to perdition on that account."

Unfortunately, this picture is too much like the reality. The "modern" preacher has very largely come to understand what modern hearers want, and, unlike those ancient preachers, Noah, Elijah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Paul, he gives them, not what they ought to have, but what they want. It is this characteristic which endears him to the modern hearers. That such a picture as the above could be drawn, is an evidence of the fulfillment of the words of Paul, given as a reason why he should exhort, reprove, and rebuke his hearers. Said he:—

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2 Tim. 4:3, 4.

"The type of preacher who comes nearest to the modern ideal," is the one who is moulded by the people. The Lord speaks of the same thing when he says by the prophet: "They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. And there shall be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings." Hosea 4:8, 9. But a preacher who is made by the people, and who preaches the things that please the people, is an ambassador of the people, and not of Christ. People generally have such confidence in their own judgment that they think that whatever pleases them must be good, and their highest praise of a preacher is, "He preaches just what I have always believed;" but that may be the worst condemnation that he could receive.

It is not necessarily any disparagement to a preacher to have it said that the people do not like his preaching. Ahab did not like to hear Elijah, neither did Herod like to hear John. It is a good thing that there are preachers to-day who will heed the injunction to Ezekiel, and will preach the word, whether the people will hear, or whether they will forbear.—Eze. 2:7. Such ones will preach Christ, and will preach the absolute necessity of those believing on him, who would have eternal life. They will not consign any man to perdition because he does not believe, for that is not their office. That work has already been done by the Lord, who said: "He that believeth not is condemned already." But while the preacher of Christ will not consign anyone to perdition, he will not hesitate to declare the words of Christ, that "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." He will not have so large congregations as the "modern" preacher, who yields to the demand to preach "smooth things," but out of the few who do hear him he will gather sheaves for the heavenly garner.