PREACHING-WITH PASSION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1557, 28 September 1912, Page 9

PREACHING-WITH PASSION.

REV. G. JACKSON'S FERNLEY LECTURE. Both tho topic of the Fernley Lecturc, ill connection with the Wesleyan Conference, and the fame of the lecturer combined to bring together an unusually largo andience in St. John's Chnrcli, Liverpool. The Rev. George Jackson's ■ topic was "The Preacher and tho Modern Mind." The first part of the lecture dealt with the duty of tlio preacher towards modern thought. Jle must not rail against it, nor be afraid of it and ignore if. It was not to the credit of the Church that tliev should think it nccessary, in order to "safeguard tlio interests committed to them, to clamour for tho head of a theoloirical pioneer. Preachers should avoid labelling Biblical scholars with whom they did not happen to agree as "extreme" or "advanced." Tho question was not whether they were advanced, but. whether tliev were right. Tlio word which best described the Church's duty in the present crisis was not resistance nor acceotance, but rather readjustment, tlcing the nccessitv of passion in preaching- Jlr. .Tack-on said that modom preachin' was' too drv-e.ved. The work of the Church would'never .be done by fervid ignorance or nassionless culture. Nothing was so catchfn® as an honest enthusiasm. The nreachcr's lack of passion to-dav was lnr?elv due to the multiplying of his activities and the dissipation of his strength. When a man's study becainc all office, and tho minister regarded as the man that ran the Church, no one should wonder nt what, came to pass. The modern'type of minister was an organiser, a man of affairs, something, perhaps, of a politician, and very much of a social reformer A wise man would refuse to be hustled into tasks which he knew wore not Ills appointed work. Spiritual passion was ail essential element, in all preaching. Moon-lit-lit preaching ripened no harvests. Tfealitv was always passionate, and at whatever cost the preacher must be real.