the fundamentals: volume 8, chapter 8: "preach the word"
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CHAPTER
VIII
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·PREACH THE WORD
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One of the latest · njunctions of the aged
Paul,
just
before
his martyrdom, was that to Timo
1
thy, which constitutes tl1e
text of my address, Preach the Word. Thirty years of
Christian experience, fifteen years of aPostolic survey, and
th
1
e inspiration
of
the Holy Ghost, all spoke in
those words.
It was a command frolll heaven itself, no
1
t to
Timothy only,
but to
all
who fill the
·0
1
ffice of evan ,gelists or preachers in
th ,e
N
e W
Test.ament
Church, The order thus SUCcinctly
given, is a condensation of ,all that Paul had said to
Timothy
or to the Church on the subject ojf preaching .
The sound or h,ealthy doctrine on which he lays so much
StreSS, and
the
avoi
1
dan
1
c,e
0
1
f fables and
t.he
world s
wi,s1dom,
,ar
1
e both included in
this curt command.
There
has
been
a
tend
1
en
1
cy from the very beginning to con£ orm the doctrine
of Christ to the , philosop,hy of man, to fuse the two together,
and to show that all religion,s ha ·ve the . same Divin
1
e element
at th
1
eir roots. T :hi.s was seen in gnosticis ,mt in the Alexi-
andrian school of Clement and Origen, and in a score of
heresies that .sprang up within the later Church.
· The distinctive ,character of Christianity
has
displeased
the philo ,sophic
min
1
d,, and .
men
h,ave
sought :
to ·explain
aw aY
many
of its f eatu·res f ro·m
the standpoint
of
the
human cot1-
sciousness and
by
an appeal to the teachings of nature. These
efforts have certain marks in ·commo
1
n. They diminish the
heinousness of
sin, they exaggerate
the
p,owers
of
man,,
a11d
they suggest a
unif :or·mi.ty
of destiny. Sin
i,s a
d
1
efect,
perhaps
a disease , The defect can be supplied, the dise,ase can be
cured by human applications, the Divine help being
valuable
as encouragement to the human effort. High civilization and
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Preach the Wor
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moral ref
1
orm are what man needs, an
1
d t.hes .e can be obtained
by the use of general principles common to our race, of which
Christianity is
only
one of
the for .ms.
It is natural and inevitable ti1at, with this teaching, the
written Wo
1
rd
o·f Go
1
d-should be ne,gl
1
ected, if n
1
ot ign
1
ored. No
one can
s,tudy
that Word and then ttse
it
for so broad and
1
indiscriminati ·ng a p·urpose. No one can study that
Word
an1d the -n be
contented
with ,a s11perficialpo1ish of
society,
and
a universal brotherhood founded upon such a scheme. Paul
s,aw this
tende ·ncy in
his
own day, and
he warns
t,he.
C.hurch
earnestly against it.
Beware,
is l1is, language Beware
lest
an,y
man spoil
you
through
phil ,osophy
and vain deceit,
after the tradjti ,on of
men.,
after
the
rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ ( Col. 2 :8) . The
evil prin
1
ciple is ever
at work. Hu .man , nature is ever
the
same.
The
Church is
a]ways
subject to
the
same ,efforts of human
nature
witl1in
itself to .remove tl1e
f,oundations of
grace and substitute the
inventions
of p·ride.
Whether i t ap·pear in the form of hier
archical assumption, or in the chara
1
cter of rational inquir ,y
and scientific r~search ., the evil principle hides,
mutilates,
or
Contr ,ad:icts the Ho,Jy Scripture. The [Scriptures, as they are,
with th
1
eir Divin
1
e claim and their uncompromising , teachings,
it cann
1
ot endure ,, and the ap,peal
to
1
.S,cripture
it
1
counts
las .
,a
m,ark of credulity and an exhibition of i,g11.orance.
One of the sa
1
dd
1
est sights in the Church of Christ is the
yiel,ding to this spirit of prid .e on the part . of the ordained
preachers of
the
Wo ·rd.
Many modern Timothys
·usii
the
pulpit for
dis,course .s
on
art
an
1
d literature ; ,others take the
opportttnity for the display of r hetoric and oratory; o,tl1ers
procJ,aim
an ethics
of ,expediency ; while Sti11 othe1·s seek
1
only
to tickle the ears
of
an audience that desires to be amused.
In all this you look in vain for the Go,spel.
Plato
or Aris
totle,
and ,
in
some cases Lt1.cian, ,
could have said it a11~
Churches are filled
by
a
1
pp
1
ealing to
1
carnal
1
desires and aesthetic
•
t,astes. Bri11iant oratory, scientific music, s
1
en,sational topics
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102
The Fundamentals
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and
·fas'hionable
pew holders, are the baits
to
lure people
in·to
the
churcl1es
1
and
a church is called
p
1
rosperous
as
these
wretched d
1
e·vices
succe
1
ed.
The
preacher
deligl1ts
to· get
him~
.self int ,o
the
11ewspap
1
er an
1
d he accom ·modates
his
preach ing
to the newspaper level. Sucl1 churches will, o,f course, have
worldly-mi ·nde,d.
0
1
ffi·cers
a·n.d
a. worldly~minded
membership,
while godly sou ls either flee from ' them, or else 1nrourn
in
secret, if the.y are not tl1emselv
1
es chilled by the lack of Go·spel
heat.
It
is
directly again st
all
this
that the holy
apostle utters
his clarion cry
down throug ·h the ages, ''Preach the Wo,rd.,'
What
is the
Woi'd?
It
i.s
n.ot man's philo sophy
n,or
man's
rhetoric. It is the Divine revelation. It is called '
the
Word
.
of
God,I be
1
cause
it is no·t of m.an. As God's , it has
both
authority and povver--g utho
1
rity to demand attention, and
power to
convert
and
save tl1e soul.
It is
not to
be
pounded
in ma11's n1,orta1 . n.or run into
1
man' ,s .mould. It is
not
to be·
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•
twi sted and fitt
1
ed to n1an's preconceived
ideas. ·
It is not to ·
be filtered thro -ugh man's strainer, nor mixed with man's
conc
1
eits. It ·is.
1
God's and as ·(;-od' 's l
1
et
110
.n1an
d.a.re
add t
it, or take
from it,
or alt,er
it
in any way. The Lor
1
d Jesus
stands b y His cross, where He offered up tl1e sacii--
fice for si,n, ,and poin·ts b.ac.kward to t·he-
1
01d T,estan1ent,
and forward to the New, as alike the Word of God.
0£
t11e forme ,r
He
cries,
''S
1
earch
the Scriptttres'';
o
the latter He tell s }Iis
apost'les
that the · Paraclete
would
come a11d
teach them all things, and
tl1ey
shou ld bear
witness.
Thi s
Old
and N
1
ew Testament is one
reve.lation o·f
God one Bible one uner1·ing· rule of faith. Goc;Ih.as not
given us a
doubtful
and
deceitful
light
for
0
1
ur path.
He
has
not ,given tts a bundle of t.ruth and fabJe tied up
1
together~
He has not left us to our weak and ,discordant reason, and
thus made revelation sup,erfluous. He has given His people a
'"s,ure word d·f pro ,phec.y'' as the only reasonab
1
]e
guide ,for
I
. ou r wealc reason and o·ur sinful natures; and on this
sure
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Preach the Word
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103
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Word is His Church built. The doctrines ,of grace have
. neithe ,r h11man origin
no,r
human support . They are alto
gether Divine,
and are
r
1
ec,eived
only
by
th
1
e
soul
th ,at
becomes.
partaker of
the Divine natute.
To
go:, there£
ore,
to
human
philosophy or to man s inne1· consciousness for · their con
firmation
01·
exp ,lanation, is
to go to the
sentenced criminal
•
to understand
tl1e
exce,llences of criminal law.
Tl1e
error
of e,r,ro
1
·r·s is the see~ing fo
1
r th
1
e
truths
of
religion ·from ma ,n.
It is, but the adaptatio ,n
of
religion to ,
the
carnal heart. It
is t·he essence
0
1
£
pride and
1.
ebellion ag,ainst
God.
Thousands
of tomes have , been Written by men who called themselves
•
Christia .n s,cholars and Chri sti,an p,hilosophers, wl1ich are but
·volumes of C
onf ,t1.ing n1etap,hysics
and . specious rationalizing
,from the
basis of
natural exper ien
1
c,e, ,and ,vl1ich hav
1
e under-
. mined fai ·th in the Wo ,rd o.f God, and utterly perve ·rted ·the
Gospel of
Christ.
Stud
1
ents
of
Christian
theology
waste
pr
1
ecious time
in studying the
works
of these
1
conceited thin k
ers, whose
nam
1
es
are lauded ,as. those of giants in the
Church,
while the y are ,corrupting
the
pulpit
and
secu larizin ,g
th
1
e pew.
•
, It is a favo1·ite cl1ar·g,e of
the
advocat es 0
1
f
this lo,osenes \s
that
we are worshipping a
Boal{.
Bibl ·iolatry
is
the
for
mi1dable
word. that
they cast at us.
But
we worship no book.
We
o
wo,rsh .ip, God who sent
the
Book, and
it
is no t.rue
worship,
of
1
G,od th,at sligl1ts
th
1
e
Bo
1
ol
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The Fundament als
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by
the se
learned enemies
of
R,evelation ·
Myth,
roman,ce, the
fiction
of poe
try,
,a
patchwork of tra
1
ditions, contradictory rec
ords,
pious
fraud,
these are
some of the labels -hat the strut
·ting pride of man has affixed to the
books
of the
Bible,
while ·
not
one of
his
sneei:s ha s been sustained in the light , of
honest criticism. No scientific truth has been found op--
•
posed, and no historic truth misstated, in all the sacred writ-
ings, f r0m Moses to
John.
The
most microscopic investiga
tio11s
have been made by the most
eager
and
learn ,ed enemies,
0£
the truth in order
to,
find some inaccuracy, but
not
one
has,
been discovered, except those
necessaril.y
res ,ulting from the
process of transcrip ·tion,
an,d
th
1
ose
imaginar ,y ones whic'h are
perf
e,ct,ly
re solv,able by ordinary common
s,en,se.
Apply thes,e
tes ,ts to the
Veda,s,
the Avesta, or the Koran, and the
c,on,ra ,st
is ove,rwhe1m1ng. These fairly bristle with -error and
f1lse- ·
hood, , but the Bible · comes
o~t fro,m t,he crucibl,e·
Witho~ ,t
spot,
•
as the pur ,e Word of
1
God. Men
just .
a,s learned a,s the
inimical critic ,s, and jus ,t as
thorou ,gh ,i:n
their
iriv,esltigation,
men known and
revered in the
world of
let.ter'S,1
h,ave accep,ted
the Bible ,, the
whole
Bible,
as,
the inerrant truth
0
1
f God,, I'f
the
verdict
of
the
inimical
critic s
,can,
be
tl1us
set
aside
in an
equally learned
1
Court, the 1
1
esult shows
that
their learning
· goes
for
nothing
in
th
1
e matter. ·
But far above all this te stimony to the letter is the wit
ness of millions who have found the joy unutterable , ,and the
· peac
1
e which pas ,se.th all understanding in the sacred Volume,
and who , are drawn to i·t as
a
child is drawn t,o
its
father,
without ques ,tion regarding
l1is
worth
and authority. They
never suppo se ( and the position is a
right
one) that the
fountain
that
refreshes their
soul
is defective or corrupt, but
they value its every drop a s a gift of the
Divine gr,ace.
They
go constantly to its bles sed waters and always derive strength ·
from the dra,u,gh,t. To
s,ucl1
the ca1·plng critics are as
u11-
wo,rthy 0£
regard as tho
1
se, who wou.l,d argue against the: sun
shine.
The
knowledge of the hear·t is a ,prof
ound,er
thinr.
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than
the ·k.nowled,ge
of
the head, and,
in
the Spirit--led dis
ciple, can
correct and rebuke the errors
of
the latter.
Now,
it
is this
holy
Word, thus spo
1
tless
and
thus
powerful
for
right ie,ousness .and
1
comfort, that t.he Christian preacher is
to pr ,each. The
preacher
is a procl ainie·r, a
herald,
no
t
a col·
legie prof ie,ssor or an
or(ginator of theories.
H
1
e has the Word
g.iven
.h,,.m,.
and
that
he , is to
proclaim. He
isl
not
to draw
from the wells of h·uman philosophy, but from the
stream
th,at
flows ·dir,ec·tly from the throne
1
0£ God. He is to tell the
peo,ple what God has s.ai.d. He is to hide 'himse·tf behind
his message, and to receive it equally with those he addresses. ·
Nor i.s tlie pre
acher ]he mouthpiece of a Church t
0
issite
ecclesiastical decrees a id fitlminate ec,clesiastical cenSt.Wes.
This is as fa·r from
preaching
the Word as the other. As ,a
herald of Chr ,ist, while
tl1,ere is
nothing bef
1
ore him
but
human
hear ,ts
and
consciences
to
appeal
to
1
,.
there ·
is nothing , behind
him but the revealed
W
or
1
d
0
1
f
God to utter and enforce.
All Church commands laid upon him as to his ·preaching are . .
as nothing
except
·as
they
are
1
conformed ·to
that
Wor
1
d.
He
is responsible as a
herald to
God
and not
to the
Churcl1t
He is God's he·rald and not
tl1
e·
Church' ,s.
The
same
rea ,son
that
f
o,rb,ids him . ro,m making th,e pe.ople' 's, approbation the
guide to his preaching wi.11 forbid him from m.a'king Church
authori .ty
the guide ..
He will be happy
to
please
both
peo.ple
and a11thorities,
but
he
cannot ·make that
pleasing a criterion
or standard. His duty is above all that. His allegiance is
higher.
IN THUS LIMITING HIMSELF T
1
0 THE PREACHING OF GOD'S
WORDJ THE , PREACHER IS NOT
1
CIRCUMSCRIBING
HIS POWER,
BUT ENLARGING IT. By the j:ealous
use
of ·
that
Word alone
he will accomplish f'ar more for
the
k·ingdom of Christ and
the salvation of men
than
by
mixing
human
expedients
with
the Word. H ·u·ma·n e·xpedients a·re very specious ,and
at
tractive,
and,
alas
many p,r·eachers
betake
themselve .s
to them.
They think
they
will ~tt ·ract th.e m.ultit .ude and fill up the pews
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The Fundamen tals
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f
and prOduce
a
larger rental;
and so they may,
but
these are
not the
objects
for
which the Lord
sent
out
His
heralds.
Success
is not
to
be reckoned
by
full
houses
and popular
applause,
but
by
convicted
and converted
hearts, and
b)f
the ,
strengthening of the
faith
and piety of God's people. A
· holier
life, a more
pronounced
separation
from
the
world,
a
stainless integrity
in
business
pursuits, a
Christly
devotion
to
the
interests
of
others,
a moie
thorough
know edge of the
Word these
are
the true signs
of
success which
the preacher
may justly
seek, even though he
wear
ho1nespttn
and his
people
meet
in
a
barn.
These
are
the
glorious
results
which
tl1e
conse ·crated soul wil,l p
1
ray £0
1
1·,
and in th
1
em .h,l will re-
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''Preach .the W.ord '
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It
is a
lamenta rb,Ie
fact,
that in
too many
of our
seminaries
where preachers are prepared for their work, the _Word of
God
is, not
taught,
but
in its
st
1
ea,d
the
philosophic
schemes [
of so-called
1
fathers
and great
divines,
ar
1
e
given
as the
basis of doctrinal belief. It is t rue, th,at the se sche,m
1
es are
brought to the Scripture for support, and texts are quoted in
their
defence.
It is tru .e also
tha,t ,S0
1
me. of tl1ese sch
1
emes
are consoi:iant with Scripture more or less. But, with thes ,e
admissions ,, the mistake still
exi ,sts, that the Word of God
plays a secondary part in the instruction. It is not ta .ught ;
that is, it is n.ot made th,e authoritative text-book. It is e-ven
sometimes introduc
1
ed as a, .subje
1
ct f,or critici sm,, land men ·
like Reuss and Robertson Smith are brought ·
n
as ·the cri tical
guides o,r, at least, helpers ,. As
if
a school of the prophets
was intended to examine tl1e credentia ls ,of God s Word, , and
not
tor
take it
humbly
and
grateft1lly
for
personal
t1se
a·nd
for
use before
the people.
S
1
ome th~ological schools nlight without
1
exaggeration be
called schools for turning beli
1
ever ,s into doubters. The
excuse, that men wh,o
ar ,e
going to be
prea ,chers sh,ould know
all
that is said
against
the credibility, genuineness ., and au
th1nticity of
the Scriptures, is
a
flimsy one. If th .at were
the object,
tl1ese objec·tions wo·ul
1
d b
1
e
consrdered
only
b1y way
of parenth ,esis, and the overwhelming
evidence
of the
Scrip
tures would b
1
e the ·main current of tho,ught; but this is not
the way it is ,clone,. On
the
c,ontrary,
t·he
obj ,ections are ,
magnified, and their a,uthors are commended to the stud ents
f
o,r their perusal, and ·the hint is of ten thrown out that con- ·
servat ,ive
views
0
1
f
the inspiration
of
God s
Word
a1·e
an
tiquated,
o,bsolete,
and ma rks of ignorance. We have ~hus,
in · he very places where, most of all, Ye should expect to
see the profound ,est rev ,erence
for God s
Word, ,
and
its
faith-
£
ul study
for the understan
1
ding ·0
1
f the Div·ine
will, the
ma
chinery for un
1
dermining the doctrin ,e of Scripture inspiration ,
and
author ,ity,
on
whi ,ch all Chris ,tian truth
rests, an,d that,
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The Fundamentals
too in the young minds which are being prepared to become
Christ s preachers to a sinful and dying world. It is a most
painful thought, and it becomes the Church of Jesus Christ
to arise to a sense of the evil, and to correct it before the ·
whole Church is poisoned by this insidious influence. ·
We wish our young Timothys to go out to their work with
the one controlling desire to put God s Word before the people
and to avoid questions ·and strifes of words which do not
minister to godly edifying, knowing that the power to con~
vert and edify is not the wisdom of man, but the power of
God.
In these days when so much is made of science, let them
leave science alone. All the knowledge of the material world,
which science deals in, has nothing to do with the soul s
salvation. That ·is in a different sphere altogether. While it
is in accordance with propriety that a p~eacher should have
a gene·ral acquaintance with life and things about him, w·hich
would include the main principles of natural science (which
is simply to say that he ought to be an educated man), yet
it
is not through material science that he is to teach heavenly
truths, nor is he to waste his time on protoplasm, bathybius,
and natural selection, into which and like sµbjects Satan
would gladly draw him, that he may not present the sub
jects of sin and the cross of Christ. If a preacher illustrate
Scripture doctrine from facts in the natural world, it is well.
He follows the Master s example. But i he puts the natural
world in its scientific aspects forward as the text of his
discourse, he is using a Bible of a very weak and uncertain
sort, and of which he knows very little, and he is making the
Word of God subordinate to his own inferences and guesses
from nature. Science and religion are too often spoken of
as if they occupied the same plane. Both those who say
they are antagonistic, and those who say they are at one,
equally talk of the two as on a level. You might as well
talk of bread-baking and religion as if they were co-ordinates.
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Of
1
Course there is a. connection between science and r·eligion.
So the1~e s between bread-baking and religi
1
on. The s·cientiiic
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man
ought
to be religiou :s.
So
ought
the bread~baker~
Science
can furnish examples of God·,s wo
1
nders in natu ·re. So ca11
bread-baking. But such c,onnec ·tio~s cannot put the subjects
on the .same . levre].,
Sc.ience is m,er,ely· the study of matte ·r, an ex
1
amination
into natural sequence ,s; b,ttt what has that to do witl~ man's
imm.01·tal soul, and the W or ·d of God to that soul ? Who , .
dares ·to bring the latter down to the level
of
the
f
orme .r?
What has th·e: a.nalysis of any body and its division into
carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen to
do
with my eternal relation
t.o God as a responsible and si·nf ul being? Why mingle
things so utterly d·iverse
?
And yet this babble abo
1
ut science
and r,eligion (wh
1
ere science is always ever put fir ,st) is heard
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ad naus.eam
from those
who
are
commissioned
to preach the
Word. Is this
Paul's . w.ay?
Is this
.John's way?
Is this
Christ's way
?
Then w·hy should it be the way o,f our ·modern
Timothys ? Science at its utmost reach can never touch the · ·
sphere of the soul's pressing wants. All its truths together
can make no impr
1
ession on a guilty conscience needing ·the
Divine p,ardon. Nature is as dumb as any of its own stones
in the matter of the soul's
salva ·tion.
Then
why
meddle with
i·t in the p
1
ulpit? Why bow to it. a.s a tea
1
cher? Why be
guilty of the blasphemy of putting it on a level with the Word
of God?
It is as preachers depart from that
Word
that their
preaching becomes barren and fruitless. The Divine Spirit
'Will
only accompany the Divine Word. His , mighty power
will act only in· His own way and
by
His own means. The
Wprd is
su·pernatural,
a.nd woe to the preacher
who leaves
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the supernatural for the natural; who sets aside the sword
of the Spirit to use in its stead a blade o,f his own tempering
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