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I 1 4 TIlE PREACIIER'S MAGAZINE THE PREACHER'S MAGAZINE $ is rejected, the harder it becomes t_ accept England and Amcrlca. He has recently written: DOCTR INAL and ,hooe,tl,me. obey will, soth In lime, render ,tro one's consdence atedroIooistoaceept so spirhualism, the verdict of -lhe Sen'pluto is absohard that the truth no longer affects him. "My [ule and final. In Deuteronomy 18:10, It, we for .... " " _llCod Spirit,shall not alway_ strive with map." As use read: 'There shall not be found among you any- ,c of the hand_ eaose_ callousness, so resistance.of one that maketh his son or his danghter to pass PREDESTINATION . knows hefore one's hirlh whether he will choose truth makes hardness of.heart and conscience. It Ihrouah the fire, or that useth divination, or an "Aga,nstneeeomancy, whic! ,slhetruen By F_, M. Mr.sSF.S'a_:R the right or shoose lhe wrong way, and fie has is the free agent that resists, it is the natural law . observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or doclrine Ot predestiffation is an old one, THE hut as taugbt in the da)_s preceding the foreordained mg the wrong orchoice predestined anil the the' Nessing.accompany- fale of Does God agalnst-resistipg God ever suspend gHisAaw t which ofhardens, free grace in" achaimer, a wizard, or ora anecromancer. consulter withForall familiar lhatspirits, dc these or great Wesleyan revivals we he:re compar- htg the r_gbt and those laws are as unaherable as a single case and for the good of man create him things are abomination unto the Lord.'" atively little about it. and ye!, llke lind _ed sown the laws of nature. . . to be damned? No. Ah_ but God said in the Mr. Wilson further says: "For fifty yeal's or in a field, one i_ surprised to learn how many pet}- ' But lie says lie will have. mercy on whom He case of Pharanl_ thaL He--God--hardened his" more spirithalism, substantially as it is manifest pie.are tinctured with tile belief that semebi_w we will have mercy,--what must a soul do if He will henri, and adderl. "In very deed for this cause Ioday, has been exposed to ridicule by masters of are creatures'of fale anti although we m_y bane not have mercy? Let us ask first on whom will have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my legerdemain like the Maskelynes of London or power and that my name may be declared Houdini. These men have reprotluced the 'pherece/ved a blessed "exparlence in grace, we were .lie bane mercy? Let Isaiah answer. "Let the throu_houlall the earth" _tEX. 9:16). nomena' a_ a part of he_r prod'ram of .tricks, predestined to receive that experience, wicked forsake his way, and Ibe unrighteous man Knowing even before the children are born who And at a multitude of performances thotlght read'- That there is truth in the idea of pr_edestinalion • bis th_mahts: and let him return unto the Lord it is that will exercise fheir own will against His ing has been ,'t. feature. Thatinnumerable frauds no one tan itttefiigently deny" but when taught as .,,and He will have mercy '_ (l_a. S&TI. Then On will, it is an eosy'matler for God to-select such a have been exposed is undeniable?' fatalism, it destroys man's free moral agency nn whom will lie nol have mercy ? On the.wicked one one as will serve any particular purpose and to do' Houdini has written v01uminously, after painstile one hand. and God's Iree _raee offered to all . who re; sea o turn from his way and on the unmen on tile other. It nullifies the meaning o[ the riabteou's man who refuses to forsake his thoughts, so without interfering with any man's free moral taking investigation, that all spMtualistlc seances agency, can readily be .reproduced and tha't they are atonement, it denies that "prayer chan_es thitms." "He that covereth his sins shall nos prospee; but ii makes lhe sacrificial offering of Christ unneces- whoso confesseth an_ forsakelh, them shall have The Bible says God hardened Pharaoh's. heart, frauds pure and simple. sary,.and does _way with 'the power of Jcsus' mercy." and agairl thai Pharaoh hardened.his own heart; Cbr_stlans who face such pernicious teaching, blood to cleanse away and save from sin I was on a traio between Seattle, _,_'ashlngton, both statements are true. The light, and the there is hut one safe folk. It is to assiduously 0roofs of God's hand in the miracles performed avoid the forbidden path. Trance production be- It may be asked. "Does God look down the .and Porthnd, Oregon: before leaving Sdattle a by Moses .shone on Pharaoh's resisting heart and comes a h.'ibit. And at sconces it may happen tha_ ages and .determine a soul's destiny befora its ticket scalper tried to sell me a ticke_ at a reduced God by HIs nat u[al-law hardened it, and Pharaoh the mediumds the only person present whois not death?" Certainlyt "For the children being not rate, I didn't choose to2 buyil, but purchased a by .resisting this light-and refusing to choose to in a trancc This is the myslery o] "iniquity, yet born. neither, having done any good or evil regular _ ticket at'full price at the ticket.office. On obey hardened his own heart. The housewife spoken'of in the Scripture. Or in-otHer words, that the purpose of God according to 'election the train the conductor took my ticket, looked'at prcphres the pan of biscu ts, puts them in the hot "the soul losing its way," Keep off the enemies' might stand, not of works, but of him that call- it. punched it, and pa._sed on lo the next seat. He droll and by so doing the housewife bakes the territory, warm by some other fire_ if you would eth," How can this statement be reconciled with looked at the man's ticket, refused to accept it. biscuits, and the oven', having been heated to the be safe, the many invitations "of Christ, like "The Spirit and demanded full cash fare payment. The pas- proper temperature imparts the proper heat to the and lhe Bride _ay come, and let him that heareth senger didn't know what to do; but finally paid. biscuits and the' oven bak_ the biseuits; the say come, anti let'bim that is athirst come, "anti his fare while the conduclor took it and passed on. housewife bakes them by a 'voluntary act on her whosoever will_ let ldm take of the water of llfe The conductor would, accept tickets from whom part, the oven bakes them by a natural law on its Dr. A. C. ,Dixon once wrote the following serfreely.".fff a pe_on is born to be damned--fore- he would accept tickets and whom he would he ordained'to pertlition--_how ca n such a _ng come? refused, hut it was no whim of tbe conductor, my . part, mofiette: " "Ever Z church is divided into two Just here is WhY'co the 'error creeps in " .ticket was good, my neighbor's .was not, and the classes that may be called trees and posts. Plant No child is bor_i to be damned. God is infit_ite ru]_ and orders were laM down and decided long the, tree and'it begins to grow. Plant the post. while we: axe finite. ,He _n look forward into the before either.my neighbor or I bought our tlekets, THE SUBTLETY AND DANGER OF and /l begins to rot. The difference between future just as well as He can look backward'Into But suppose the situation is relieved on the SPIRITUALISM .the tree anti the post is simply a matter of [he past, While we can do only the latter, and ground that Ills will is arhitrarliy fxcd only with- I By C. E. COn_=LL life. The tree is alive While the post is 'dead. The pastor enjoys the living trees of bis church, that imperfectly, God has made laws which are in the limits of divine law w_th regard to which _ When such distinguished men as Sir Arthur watching them _row and bear fruit, while he is unchangeable--laws whish no one but He himself tlie human subject has no option. How is the Conan Doyle, Sir Oliver Lodge and William T, often perplexed to .know what to do with the __ can suspend. Man is created fully capable of statement "Whom he will he hardeheth" relieved,. Stead, advocate a teaching, their ififiuenee attracts posts that show no signs of life. It takes much choosin_z to obey or to disobey those laws. A seeing that a._oul becoming sufficiently hardened • general attention, anti many are ready to follow' of his time and strength, to paint and prop up choice to obe Z usually requir_'s humiliation, con- would then be incapable of choosing? True, but and believe their subtle teaching. 'and finally have carried off the posts when they leasing one's sinful past, aceepllng .God's pardon the hardening process c6mes with the exercise of P. Whit'aell Wilson, the author of "The CIMst have fallen down." Which are you, tree or and tliLgrace, and equipment for tbe future. God free choi.ce on the part of the individual. _t is a We Forget," and "The Church We Forg©t,_' hhs post?--Selected.
f ..... THE 6 THE PREACIIER'S MAGAZINE _!_ PREACHER'S MAGAZINE '/ . _ • c]taritabie figure of speech that such ineonsequen- helps the congregation to carry home the dtvlne _ not sltow respect for the intelLigence of the au- "Some thirty yeats ago we were leading a revival ' . dienee. , in AIpena. ]_lichJgan. A young lawyer was there ,, J 'L ' . .._,_._ :", " "" . " " _ at hldwever limes, such brilliant pu)pitand addresses eloquent mayandbe attractive- they will from minister. Virginia It was oninhasln(.ss_ the month sot, ofht April. a Methodist He was - : inevitabl_ fall short of the good that mitfltt have impressed by tile homiletical method of my dis- '_, VI. LETTERS ON PREACHING ever have'before his soul the reminder that he is been accomplished, cottrsra-and invited me to dine with him at the i " By A. M. Htt._ not there on his own basiner,z but on God's busi- There is altogether too much of such preaching hotel. The next winter we chaneed to meet him ; TIIE TEX_ ness: that he is not uttering _me inventipn or at the present time: and aLl ministers, so inclined. Jn Cblcago and be'told us this: "Last 'sur_mee I imagination' _f his own little mind, but is pro- should diligently study anti learn from .the giant visited my father in Virginia. He had a camp- _N our third visit to England we were claiming• a message from high heaven as "an meeting on his hands and a preacher had lailed _linviled tO speak_at the Soulhport conven- ambassador of Christ," reprt*,enting tile govern- preashers of other days how to unfold a text. him. He ask,_d me _.o preach and I had never tinn. the grev,t annual holiness ct'mventlon meal of the infinite Dudl If he has any con- Ill. Tile faithful anti honest development of preached in my life. But I remembeeecl one of ! of English Methodism.. We could be spared from science or sense of.Christian honor how _tudious each lext will tend to variety in preaching. The your texts anti'every, point you made in tile _er. *_ our regular work to preach only three times, and chreful he will be to find :the exact meaning pulpit thew.t_sare few: and they who preach only men and I peeachcd them. and seven persons came The convcntlon afforded a startLin_ revdalion of the text, and tile very thought of God con- on lbeme_ Will soon run their round in tiresome to the altar and were saved." Now I am sure if ._ of the deplorable comlition of things in the _,{eth- tained in-ill It will be weft nigh" impossible for repetition, and pastorates Will be short. -1 had not preached in. a systematic anti orderly odist churches of. England. It seems that their such a preacher to be a lazy-minded, careless. But God's texts are innumerable; arM* the way my discourse would have made no such ira-. minlslers have pegleded to preach holiness until prayerlcss person. He will put a.holy purpose and preacher who learns how to develop them will presston upon that legal mint1 and that blessed they have forgotten how, or the present generation ambition into his sacred calling, and "study to always have freshness and variety, and will not r_ultwould not bare followed. of preachet_ never knew..how. ._hnw.hlmself a workman that needeth not to be wear out, This is one of the secrets of lpng anti Now this ant[ many other' like facts should They had two sermons at each serviee_ but no ashamed, rightly dividing the ,Word o[ Truth." fruitful pastorates. Med studied their Bibles and .teach the ministry the folly of.aimless, rambling altar call and no altar service. The man that And with such a conception of preaching in dug deep'into the greaLgold mines of truth,.nnd and desultory preaching that does not drive home • *w preached before me was the leading official of ldm Who occupies the pulpit, will the congregation "continually "brought things new and old" _.nd the truth upon the minds and learts and cbn- English Methodism for that year, He stood up, he slow tofind it out? No, [nde/MI The house kept the ment#l appetites of their people keen for sciences of.men. All of us should learn to preach leaned against t_e desk. thrust his right hand.in of worship itself will soon be to them a sacred fresh food from God.. the truth that is in tile text, and preach nathing his pocket, took no text. and made rambling re- place where God, speaks to their ihmost._ouls_ Doctor Hawes and Albert Bushne[l of Hartfo_, out el harmony with it. marks for r half hour. never once mentioning ".ho- They will. take heed how they hear," and they Charles Spurgeon, Dr. Albert Barnes of Philadel- V. The grea_ texts o/ Scripture, /aith/ully de- Iir_es_,""sanctification," "Chdstlan perfection." or ' will leave the sanctuary feeling that "God was _n phia, D[', Richard Storrs, Henry Ward Beeeher of "the baptism with the' Hfiy Spirit P It _;as the that place" and they had heard from heaven. . • . Brookyn,. DeWitt Talmage Charles G. Finney, velol_ed, piton /urni_h an abiding intellectuo_srim. -tamest, vaguest, most gripless sermnn I ever lis- II. The honest uze el a tex_ will _ure the Alexander Maclaren.and ]mndeeds of others that _du*1o whole communities oJ #eopie. The founds. toned to on such an oeacsion. It was a most strik, preacher oJ the wretched habit o/ intetfeaual [ might be named had wonderful pastorates of tiofs of this republic were laid and the cradle of ing illusfraiion of how not to preach, umndering. Many people are not naturally very thirty or forty years' duration, and their flocks liberty war rocked by the hands o| our godly The custom of ministers preaching from a text logical in their mental make.up. " They.do not _rew fat under their mlnhtry beeau_ they knew sires. And they were trained and their civic and of Scripture, more or less extended, comes down know how to reason. Their training has been how to unfold texts and get the water _nd. the domestic virtues, their thurnls and their reLigi6n to us, sacred" frfm the usage of many centuries, deficient. They may have marked gifts in other itoney from the rocks of t_uth _vbeeever they were developed by a. noble band of trained Luke 4:18 shows that even _'esus,.the greatest of directions and God may call them to preach, touched them. It Is a disgrace to u preacher to preachers who knew the Holy Word and"shunned all preachers, took a text and from it preached With real piety and a rich "_,ocahularyand fine wear out in a few months; fur the mine of truth hot to.declare the whole counsel of God." The preachers made that marvelous New. England, His ministry of mercy to the World. imagin,'ition they mhy have a marked success and from which he can draw is inexhaustible., which for virtue and piety, was tile wonder of the There arc many m_'nifest advantages in preach- . rise hlgb in the clerical profession. But such per- "To bc impressed with the infinite variety which world. ing |rein a text sons have a spedal need of a text to bold them to the Scriptures contain and suggest, one has only I." 1_ give_ the aeal o] God'# authorlly to the a subject and keep tbem from desultory rambling, to reflect that while for ages they have supplied What a white spot an a Mn-be_mirched world message. The :Scripture comes by inspiration, And they should carefully study'how (o develop therichest theme_ lot human thought and lnstruc- that Pilgrim and Puritan New England was] Its '. I_aha-singing_ g/ad.bearted people_"its family atfrom God. Therefor, when a thoughtful, prayer- ._ a text. and get out of it in an orderly way the - tion they are now, like a living fountain or a tars, its devout convertmtion and its holy Sabbaths ful, _tndiou_, intelligent preacher unfolds the great truths God put Into it. b0undle_ ocean, as exhaustless as ever. Who, made it a deLight to Gndl And no'wendell It - thoughts of .God really contained in the text, or It is a notorious fact that many. preachers take " then, would not resort for sdhjects of pulpit nd- was a land built on the Bible, whose rulers and log cally-deduced from it, the.congregation must a text simply because i't is a ministerial custom_ .dress to this well spring of living waters ,rather tilinkers and state_men were denou_ Chritliam, feel soul_, that it is a. "Thus saith the Lord" to their In the their outset so-caLled and never seimon get back Ihey to bid renew lt'goodby their acat than In that' shallow source--his own ingenuity." and _/,h_e el.de/ men were l_rt_acherxwho knew ,, lbe advantage , , of this Is immeasurable both" to quaintance with it. If the text had the small-pox IV.' An approprtat;_text, well-developed, utds how to proclaim "the unsearchable riches of the ' " lhe preacher and the hearer, The preacher will the wrmon would not' catch it. It is only.by a the_memory and stimulate_ luture relteetion. It gospel ol Christi"
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