PASSING OF THE PREACHER

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 47, 19 November 1919, Page 8

PASSING OF THE PREACHER

. $—; INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT. Olf DRIFT CAUSES REVIEWED Dr. ■ Cyril Norwood, Master °f Marlborough'College, speaking at the recent Conference on Modern Preaching, said , :— "All great movements in the past wero brought about by this agency. By preaching the religion of Mohammed in one century ia.n like firo over much of two continents. By preaching in churches, markets ami highways Peter the Hermit roused the First Crusade, and filled all Western Europe with a flame that was long in dying down. By preaching tho Reformation, was inspired and its vigour maintained. By preaching a thousand times a year, and riding eight thousand miles to do it, John Wesley made himself tho greatest force- of the eighteenth century in England. Would as much happen if he rodo and preached now? I very much doubt it, The Great Preachers. "In all tlio cases in history of which I knoiv in which preaching has had great effects, there has either been present a man of learning and Renins preaching to those far beneath him both in mental and spiritual attainment, _or ii visionary and enthusiast inspiring with his own passionate ideal men as visionary and as ignorant as himself. St. Paul and John Wesley can be taken as examples of the one, and Peter the Hermit of tho other type. The hearers must bo simple, ignorant and uneducated; the speaker must stand head and shoulders above them, if preaching is to havo its full force. "When St.- Paul himself foil in with the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers at Athens, and they heard liim on Mare Hill, he did not have a triumphant success. For when they heard of the resnrrectiou of tho dead, some mocked, and others said: 'Wo will hear thee again on the matter.' It is the simple who catch enthusiasm; but tho educated aro sophisticated, and always anxious to hear tlio interesting preacher again. Hearors Who Read. "Tho plain fact has to be faced that the numbers of men and women who can neither read nor write are in Western Europe, America- and other parts of tho world too, growing very much smaller. Tho preacher who faces a modern congregation knows that probably all have some measure of education, that probably some, and possibly many, are as well educated and as learned as himself. He can no longer tower above them as ho once "Until tho last century tho majority could not Tead or write, and books wore expensive and difficult to come by. But now books uro readily obtained, and the earnest inquirer can read at largo upon any theological question in which he is interested, nnd on both sides of tlio question. It will not be from tho eer. mon that ho will expect to derive the main part of his enlightenment. "And thero are many i competing interests and rival studies which draw off largo armies of followers, modern ballios who care for r.ono of these things because they care for something eleo, artists scientists, profeESion.il men, politicians, men of all sorts Their interests Ho elsewhere. And again the daily newspaper and the periodical magazine aro great and growing rivals to tlio preacher. AVhere in former days mon obtained guidance from their parsons and from no one else, they are now led from a scoro of different sides, and the religions preacher is but one among the many influences that, touch their lives. Afraid of New Light. "There is another weakness and source of difficulty which I must point out, the responsibility for which may be fairly divided between the clergy and their congregations. It is that preachers are i.fraid to speak out, to welcome new lMit, or to apply Christianity even, ton-: talively to tho pressing questions of the day. 'To do this properly would require much moro study and thought than they give and perhaps they are unwilling to give it. To do this properly is likely to offend some, if not many, of their hearers, since one of tho main reaeons why people say that they do not like a 1 politician in the pulpit is that they are instinctively aware that, there is no Christianity in their politics. Consequently the preacher stands up and preaches the sort of sermon which he knows that the congregation exports, nnd the congregation is satisfied because their minister is n. safe man, does not up?et them, and does not make them think."