The Waning Pulpit # 1

The Waning Pulpit # 1

This is a day when the minister is under sharpest fire. By some his motives are questioned, his spirit is censured, and his failure to secure such results as came in days gone by, when the gospel was preached, is used as an argument against him. However, in the midst of such criticism it should not be forgotten that it is, by no means, as easy to preach today as in the olden times. The minister formerly was recognized as a man under authority, his words were generally received as the truth; now the genuineness of his message is sharply questioned, and even his authority is subject to criticism. When Mr. D. L. Moody preached the gospel and urged men to turn to God, his statements were accepted without question; but today all this is changed, and one must not only preach his sermon, but he must prove his authority and be ready to substantiate the integrity and genuineness of the Book on the basis of which his message is delivered. But a brighter day will come for the minister, and it is only necessary that he should be watchful in these troublesome times, have the approval of his own conscience in the matter of preaching, and also be sure that he has Christ's approval in whose name he speaks and from whom he has received his call to preach.

As an illustration of the sharpness of the criticism it may be well to note the words spoken by a professor of law, in an Eastern university, in an address before a minister's conference:

"The waning power of the pulpit is one of the most lamentable signs of the times. The intellectual preeminence of the preacher has passed and gone. The pulpit no longer attracts the brightest minds, and theological seminaries swarm with intellectual weaklings. Pulpit deliverances of our day often lack every element of real oratory; they are largely dreary monologues and complacent soliloquy. The speaker's wits, instead of being sharpened by adversity and defeat, are blunted by his unvaried weekly duel with an imaginary foe. Our present day divines are not deficient in the arts of finished elocution, but they have dropped the old theme of salvation from an inherited curse of sin. But when the pulpit has moral earnestness, it rises to the loftiest elevation of eloquent expression. It was homely language of a country deacon speaking to a person who had prayed long and loudly for power."

This opinion may or may not be correct; the one who gave it evidently thinks it is, and unquestionably he represents a certain element in the Church. Whether true or not, it is the sort of criticism facing the preacher today. It is claimed that we have failed to give sufficient emphasis to the importance of prayer, and we read that this was the secret of true greatness in the pulpit of other days. It is said we have lost our power because we have not given sufficient attention to Bible study; not Bible study in the preparation of sermons, but Bible study in the development of our own spiritual of our own spiritual life. Unquestionably the secret of Spurgeon's power was found just here. During the days of the week we must become saturated with the Scriptures so that on Sunday the message comes flowing forth like the current of a mighty river. Men tell us we have lost this, that we preach about God's Word, but not the Word itself.

It has been said that we have given up personal work, and depend too much upon our pulpit efforts to turn men to God. "How do you like your minister?" said one of my friends to a plain woman in the mountains of Kentucky. She hesitated a moment and replied: "We don't like him so very well. He preaches well enough, but he has the college habit, and studies so much that we do not see him except on Sundays," and, she said, "you know a minister must speak to you out of the pulpit as well as in it if he is to influence you."

We are told that we have also failed in the matter of direct preaching. The son of a minister told me that he had never in his life heard his father, when preaching, give a personal invitation from the pulpit to those listening to him to accept Christ. While this is, of course, the greatest exception to the rule, yet it seems strange that even one man feeling called to preach the gospel should not urge men at all times, in season and out of season, to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as a Saviour. I am quite persuaded that we would be able to meet and overcome these criticisms, whether they be just or unjust, had we firm convictions on the following essential points.

~Wilbur Chapman~

(continued with # 2)