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The art of preaching
(Letters
of J. C. Philpot)
We are overrun with a shallow, superficial ministry,
which is destitute of all life, savor, and power. A dry,
dead-letter scheme of doctrine, as mathematically
correct as the squares of a chess-board, prevails,
where what is called "truth" is preached. And to
move Bible texts on the squares as pawns, is called
"the art of preaching".
How simple is truth!
Man's misery--God's mercy.
The aboundings of sin--the super-aboundings of grace.
The depths of the fall--the heights of the recovery.
The old man--the new man.
The diseases of the soul--the balm of a Savior's blood.
These lessons learned are in the furnace of inward
experience. How different from . . .
the monkish austerity of the Ritualist,
the lip service of the Pharisee, and
the dry Calvinistic formulary!
What a dreadful lack is there of true preaching now!
I look round and see so few men qualified to feed the
church of God. We are overrun with parsons, but, oh
dear! what are they? I cannot but attribute much
of the low state of the churches to the ministers!
Ezekiel 34 is a true picture of the false shepherds.
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