TWO SERMONS | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 3, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 34.

TWO SERMONS.

It is fair to judge of a sermon, not only by the pleasure which it gives a hearer while listening to it, but by the abiding impression it leaves upon his mind. Two friends, on a recent Sabbath, went to hear two distinguished metropolitan preachers, and at the close of the evening were comparing notes as to the day's experiences. "I cannot exactly define the flaw in the morning's discourse," remarked one friend. "It was able, brilliant, and, in a certain sense, spiritual; but it sent me home to speculate and philosophize over matters which heretofore I had accepted in simple faith. It unsettled old beliefs, and gave me nothing satisfying in return. But from the other sermon," he continued, "I came away with a great longing to get on my knees before the Lord and implore him to make me the man he designed me to be, and then send me forth to wider service for the blessing of mankind." One preacher stimulated the mental faculties; the other quickened the soul's noblest aspirations. Which sermon was the better of the two? Which effect is most to be desired?—Congregationalist.