Papers on Preaching

In 1999 I was in a used Christian book store in York, England. Books lined the walls of this little shop and I scanned the room for something interesting to take home. At the time all I wanted to do was find a cool, old, book that I could take home as a souvenir. What I ended up finding that day was much more then just a souvenir. It was a book entitled Papers On Preaching. It was published in 1887. It is a series of articles on sermon preparation and preaching written by different pastors. Since that day in York, England I have probably read one particular chapter well over two hundred times. I have not come across such powerful words in any other book, besides the Bible, that encourages me so much to lift up the name of Jesus. I read these words often before I teach. They have brought me so much encouragement in my life that I thought I would share them with you.

I.

BY THE RIGHT REV. MAURICE S. BALDWIN, D.D,

BISHOP OF HURON.

"We need a ministry that believes in Jesus Christ. I mean by this, a ministry that believes in Jesus Christ against the whole world; that not only merely believes that Jesus Christ is a power, or even a great power, but that all power in heaven and earth is His; that he is before all things, and by Him all things consist; that He is not only King, but King of kings, and Lord of lords; that believes when it enters the pulpit, Bible in hand, to lift up Christ as the infinite salvation of God, a blessing not only may, but must follow, because He is the power of God, and because this is the hour when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.

This is the ministry we need: one not afraid , as has been well said, to step out on the deep blue of God's promise and trust where the whole world derides ; not afraid to stake the awful inviolability of Christ's word against the despair of a nation, and to rejoice in sunlight where the world sees only the blackness of the storm. Oh, we need always to be wrapped round in the very folds of the Redeemer's garments, to realise Him so personally present, that above us we can see His glorious form towering up into infinite divinity ; His head crowned with many crowns, and shining above the brightness of the sun ; beneath us, as the Rock of Ages upholding the whole church with the omnipotency of His power ; around us, as the hills are about Jerusalem, that we being encircled with His presence may be saved from all our adversaries, and rest in the fulness of His peace."