The Divine Art of Preaching

Eing unexpectedly called to service at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, during the illness and after the departure of the beloved pastor, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, from October, 1891, to June, 1892, it became a part of my privilege to speak from week to week before that intelligent and most responsive body of students then in the Pastor’s College founded by Mr. Spurgeon.

I had left in America all memoranda of every sort which might have aided in this part of my work, as this sort of service was wholly unforeseen by me; and I could only speak with such hasty preparations as the severe strain of other duties allowed. These lectures lay no claim to completeness either of matter or style. But the interest which they awakened led to their reproduction, after delivery, by the aid of a stenographer.

X PREFATORY WORD.

If any to whom the Word of the Lord is. precious in these days, when there are so few true seers of God to whom the open vision is ^Mven, find herein any help to the preaching which is born of deep conviction, and baptized of the Holy Spirit, the one desire of my heart is fulfilled.

Metropolitan Tahkrnacle,
London, /?/;/<•, 1892.

Reaching is a divine art, and therefore the finest of the fine arts. There is, about the logical structure of a true sermon, that which suggests all that is most beautiful in architecture; about the elaboration of its rhetorical features, all that is most symmetrical in sculpture; and about the use of imagination in illustration and metaphor, all that is most fascinating in painting; while oratory, itself a fine art, suggests that other kindred art of music to which it is so closely allied in the utilization of all that is most attractive and persuasive, melodious and martial, in the human voice. As Paul Veronese said of painting, preaching is “a gift from God.”

The essence of a sermon is sermo — a speech, spoken in behalf of, and in the name of God; in other words, it is in the best sense a divine oration. The ethics of etymology, always so instructive, suggest in

Xll INTRODUCTION.

that word, oratory, which is appHed both to prayer and to effective speech, that in such a sermonic oration there is imph’ed always the prayer element and factor.

An oration is a speech, or discourse, addressed to hearers with reference to a definite end or result, namely, conviction and persuasion. What we call eloquence, is simply the means to that end, and covers all the conditions of such effective utterance. The true, divine orator will seek to make himself master, therefore, of all real helps to his high art, whether they pertain to his physical, mental, moral, or spiritual being.

The first effective sermon of proper Christian history — that of Peter on the Day of Pentecost — was in some sense a model for all subsequent preaching. In Acts ii. 40 we are told, “with many other words did he testify and exhort.” Previously there is recorded the outline of Peter’s argument, which consisted mainly of a presentation of predictive prophecy as fulfilled in Christ’s character and career. May we not therefore find here, in this one verse, a kind of inspired outline of the elements which enter into a normal sermon? How marvelously complete, at least, is the suggestive analysis, which thus makes a sermon to consist of an argument, a testimony, and an exhortation! The argument, or logical presentation of fact and truth, lays the foundation; then upon this basis is built the confirmatory witness of experience; and both find their crowning completeness and ultimate object in the exhortation which moves the hearer to repentance and faith. It is not necessary, it may not always be wise, that each of these parts of the sermon shall be obvious or announced; but they should be present, whether latent or patent; and when they are there, the sermon appeals to the whole man. The argument addresses his reason and intellect; the testimony witnesses to his feeling and heart; and the exhortation appeals to the will and choice.

It is a first requisite of the preacher, therefore, that he shall magnify his office. The appreciation of the dignity of his art, the high character of a true sermon, the eternal issues that hang upon its preparation and delivery, cannot but impel him to studious and prayerful fitting of himself for the conscientious and successful discharge of his exalted office. No schools should

XIV INTRODUCTIOy.

command so high an order of instruction, or inspire so careful and devout a diligence on the part of the student, as the schools of theology. The preacher, as God’s ambassador, is a mediator between God and men, and slovenliness or even sluggishness in getting one’s self ready for such service is a fundamental if not unpardonable fault; it reveals a lack not only of conscience, but of competency for such a holy trust. A hallowed atmosphere should surely pervade the halls where men study the saving truth of God with reference to its use in saving souls.

The consciousness that the speaker is moving an audience to think and feel and choose in sympathy with himself is an interesting and fascinating experience — but it is something awfully responsible, for such a speaker is touching the mysterious springs of all character, conduct, and destiny.

It would be dififlcult to improve upon the simple analysis of the sermon already borrowed from the inspired word; for it hints the conditions of power in the preacher, as well as the hearer. How can the preacher use argument as a mighty weapon, unless he is himself a logical thinker and has mastered his theme? Only intelligent acquaintance with his subject, and the plain path whereby he has first been himself convinced, can fit him to address the intelligence of his audience and to compel his hearer to think too, and admit the truth to the sacred shrine of his own convictions. To give his testimony implies that the truth he preaches has laid hold on his own heart’s affections, and so enabled him to utter the language of experimental certainty, to speak what he knows and testify what he has seen. And a true exhortation implies that he feels such a deep passion for souls, that are outside of the safe position of believers, as that he yearns to rescue them, by persuading them to lay hold of the hope set before them in the gospel. Surely such a preacher will be a man in earnest, and will win an earnest hearing, compelling attention by his contagious zeal and enthusiasm.

In the chapters which follow, the main purpose is to make emphatic three great requisites of convincing and persuasive preaching; first, a proper use of the intellectual faculties; secondly, a diligent culture of spiritual power; and, thirdly, a reverent faith in the message as divine and authoritative. Accordingly the sermon is treated as an intellectual product, and as the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s illumination and sanctification; and somewhat is added as to the true estimate in which the preacher must hold the Word of God, whence he derives both his commission and his credentials. If any matter introduced in the discussion may appear irrelevant, it has in the author’s mind a relation more or less intimate to the full equipment of the preacher for his work. And, if no other chapter be attentively read, the reader is besought to bestow no little thought on that which treats of spiritual homiletics, and which is the outcome of the most sacred and secret history of the writer. To do however little to secure a new era of pulpit power — of real spiritual efTectiveness in preaching — of such divine pungency, fervor, force, as caused three thousand hearers on the day of Pentecost to be pricked in their hearts and earnestly to ask, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” — this is the humble errand on which these unpretending suggestions are sent forth.

Keep reading