Bible Truths Illustrated by J. C. Ferdinand Pittman

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BIBLE TRUTHS ILLUSTRATED
deliver gospel messages. He did not mean by that a mere
reiteration of "the terms of pardon," nor did he suggest that
the preacher's reputation for orthodoxy should be gauged by
the frequency of his use of the baptismal formula. Our brother
was concerned with a bigger thing; he pleaded for a constant
emphasis on the vital matters. He wished Christ and Him
crucified to be the theme, Jesus to be exalted as Son of God
and only Saviour, His atoning death to be presented, faith in
Him to be induced, and the duty of obedience to Him, both in
baptism and in a subsequent life of loving service, to be inculcated.
No philosophies or literary production, no moral essay,
no plea for social reform or civic righteousness, no war sermon,
should be allowed to crowd out the simple word of the
cross. . . . There are some churches in which the old gospel
would seem as a new revelation. Nothing can take the
place of the apostolic message, lovingly told. Jesus, as the
Saviour of men to-day ;
Jesus, whose saving power has been
manifestly experienced by the preacher; the Christ who died
of old and who lives now—is, or should be, our constant theme.
— A. R. Main.
393. The world has always had a great many more philosophers
than it knew what to do with. Do not be proud, my young
fellow, and pull your moustache, and put a glass on your eye,
and talk about "philosophy." It is about the windiest of nonsense,
and it has filled the ears of intellectual people for far too
long a time. Philosophy has had its innings, and scored very
little. We might give a chance to the gospel, might we not?
/. McNeil.
394. The well-known James Inglis was pastor of a large
church in Detroit, U. S. A. He was a graduate of Edinburgh
University and Divinity School, and was very learned. He was
afterwards requested to act with the American New Testament
Revision Committee. He was unusually eloquent, and he was
having a most successful ministerial career. Indeed, he was the
most popular preacher in Detroit, if not in Michigan, having
large audiences on Sundays, with people seated in the aisles and
upon the pulpit stairs of his church, and with his listeners hanging
upon his words. One week-day, at this period, he sat in his
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