p. 1 | Duty of a Preacher by Editor

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 16, 1879

Duty of a Preacher.

By Editor

WE have long esteemed Bishop Simpson as the very best of Methodist Bishops and Methodist preachers. His Lectures on Preaching, in the Yale course fully sustain his reputation. While many Methodist ministers lean to antinomianism to serve local purposes, contrary to the very foundations of Methodism, it is pleasing to read such words as the following in Bishop Simpson's fourth lecture.—ED. SIGNS.

“The minister should grapple with great themes, and not occupy the minds of the people with trivial subjects. The issues of eternity may rest on a single sermon; and in some way, directly or indirectly, every sermon should lead to Christ. With what wonderful topics the pulpit permitted to deal! The character of God; the responsibility of man as a creature of God, formed by his divine hand, bearing the impress of his image, the object of the Saviour's death, the possible son of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ. Then, too, his glorious destiny; his conflict with and triumph over death and the grave; the resurrection of the body; and, strange and incomprehensible as it may appear, his immortality, coeval with the duration of God himself! Then, too, the thought that his destiny is in his own hands; that, accepting Christ and obeying the divine will, he may dwell beside the throne of God forever; or, rejecting Christ and the offers of salvation, he shall be ‘punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.’ These are the topics for the minister's preaching which interest every one of his hearers. How pitiable it is to hear leaders of thought say that they cannot tell whence they came nor whither they are going; that life in its origin and nature is low and unworthy of a Creator; that eternity has no voice which has reached the sense of time! Springing out of these great questions is the whole circle of subjects relating to human duty. All men are brothers, because we are the offspring of a common father. We cannot deny or ignore that common brotherhood, or shrink from its duties, without dishonoring the God and Father of us all. Not only must these important topics be carefully studied and selected, but the relation of each to the other is a matter of no small moment.

“The law of God should be distinctly set forth. The congregation should be gathered as around the base of Mount Sinai, as from the summit is heard the voice of God in those commandments which are eternal and unalterable in their character. The effect of preaching the law will be that some hearts will be opened; others may be repelled, and say ‘Let not God speak to us any more.’ Some will object to the preaching of the law, and say ‘Prophesy better things.’ But still the law must be preached. It brings the sinner to a recognition of his sins; that he has transgressed God's holy law, and shows him the fearfulness of the doom which is impending over him. The law must be followed by the gospel. The awakened sinner must be pointed to the Saviour, that he may see that, deep as his transgression may be, the blood of Christ can wash it away. There are many preachers who love to talk of the gospel alone. They dwell especially on the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of Christ. This is well. It is more than well. It is essential. But sometimes they neglect these matters of the law, and assign them a place in a past age, claiming that men now can be best moved by love alone. They may thus rear a beautiful structure; but its foundation is on the sand. No true edifice can be raised without its foundations being dug deep by repentance toward God. The gospel has no significance except as it is based on the positive law, which Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfill. The law without the gospel leads to service; the gospel without law leads to antinomianism; the two combined produce ‘charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned.’”—Independent.