Revival Preaching

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 14, 1865

Revival Preaching.

Preaching to promote revivals should be scriptural. One plain text proves more than a dozen arguments. Logic can be met with logic, but from the word of God there is no appeal. Your opinion will convict nobody; your say-so's possess no authority; your thoughts may be profound, but no one will expect to be damned for not receiving them; but a Thus saith the Lord will arrest the attention, disarm logic and, if anything, will bring the sinner to his knees. Metaphysical dissertations may confound the intellect; historical disquisitions may instruct; rhetorical flourishes may captivate the imagination, but the conscience will remain untouched. Give the people the simple word of God. Explain it clearly, apply it faithfully and with the authority of Heaven, and with the unction of the Holy Ghost, and men will quail and tremble before you. If you are an ambassador of God, talk like one. Your business is not to give currency to your own views, but to make known the requirements of your Master. Tell us the nature of his demands and the consequences of non-compliance. You cannot coax men to become saints. You may induce them to come to church by flattering their pride, in giving, for a suitable consideration, a prominent pew, where, Sabbath after Sabbath, the gay attire of the family may be displayed for admiration. You may induce them to assume the profession of a Christian by persuading them that little or no self-denial is required; and that such a step will be, in every respect, greatly for their advantage, but what has the cause of Christ gained by your seeming success? You have deceived souls—it may be to their eternal ruin. You have made hypocrites, and not Christians. You have betrayed Jesus into the hands of his enemies. For whosoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God, and you have filled the church with those whose friendship for the world has never abated one jot or tittle. And yet you report a glorious revival! Such revivals have made the Romish church what she is, and are in a fair way of bringing the Protestant churches into a state of formalism far less respectable than hers, and equally damning.—Earnest Christian.