Preaching and Preachers

The Character of the Messagelisten to this man whom God has called, and appointed, and sent toperform this task, with joy and with keen anticipation, I take leave toquery whether that man is a Christian at all. It is a matter of spiritualauthority, not intellectual or cultural authority; and all should recognisethis and therefore be ready to listen to the preacher.This brings us to the end of this general consideration of what preachingis, this 'act' of preaching. In order to make it complete I must addanother word which may sound most un-spiritual after what I havebeen saying. But it is really important; and that is, the building. Afterall the congregation is in a building, sitting and listening to the manwho is preaching to them. The building is therefore of importance. Itcan help or hinder the carrying out of the purpose of their coming.The building has its importance, but it must not be overdone. TheRoman Catholics and their various successors and imitators haveoverdone this. One can recognise that at their best they were animatedby excellent motives. The great and imposing and ornate buildingsthat they erected-the cathedrals and so on-were an attempt to giveexpression to their sense of the glory and greatness of God Whomthey desired to worship 'in the beauty of holiness'. But they so overdidthat as to make such places almost impossible from the standpointof preaching, and so they became guilty of neglecting the most importantthing of all. A church building tells us a great deal about thepeople who built it.A most interesting change took place about the middle of the lastcentury, not only in Britain but also in the U.S.A. Until then thechurches, the chapels, were generally very simple buildings. Theywere called 'meeting-houses' because they were built in order thatpeople might meet together to worship God and to listen to thepreaching of the Gospel. What was needed was a place that wasappropriate and suitable for that end. But towards the middle of thelast century a change came in and they began to erect these great andornate buildings in the mock-Gothic style. Vast sums of money were161