The Preacher's Influence

Today, both in print and from the platform, the minister and his work are frequently ridiculed and spoken of with contempt. Science, phi­losophy, and modern industrialism are lauded to the skies, while the preacher and his message and influence are belittled, if not charged as weak, and sometimes even as pernicious and evil. Nor is it in mod­ern times alone that such reproaches have been cast upon the minister and his work; but from the days of early Christian evangelism in the first century till now these accusations have been made.

Are they true? Does this stigma deserve to rest upon the ministry? Let us consider the position, responsibility, and influence of the ministry on the world past and present. We would not convey the impression that the ministry has never failed, or even that it has ever risen to the fullness of its privileges; but failing as it may, its work under divine guidance has been the mightiest of all human influences to elevate the world.

Perhaps aside from Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul stands foremost among preachers as wielding the strongest uplifting influence on mankind. Paul was a minister of the "gospel of the kingdom." While his life was largely spent among ordinary, common people, he has greatly influenced all succeeding gen­erations by his ministry and writings. Today practically the whole world have his epistles to read in their vernaculars. Eight hundred million of the world's population have declared their belief in the writings of this great man, and profess to accept his moral injunctions.

Paul lived in the days when it was the proud boast of the Caesars that they ruled the world. They flaunted their power and glory and riches, and by war and diplomacy became supreme. By a Roman emperor Paul was put to death. But where is the influence of the Caears today as compared with that of Paul? They are little known and rarely thought of; their palaces have long since moldered back to dust; their civilization has passed away; as world rulers they are practically forgotten; while the life and teachings of Paul are stronger a thousandfold than in the days when he lived and worked. Millions of sermons have been built upon his writings, and preached for eighteen centuries in every leading language of the world. As a result of his influence, reformations have been promoted for the betterment of mankind; hospitals have been built and supported for the sick; asylums have been provided for the unfortunate; schools have been maintained for the education of the masses; art has been fostered and encouraged; music has grown and developed; governments have been sustained; the whole world has been lifted to a higher state mor­ally and intellectually by the life and writings of this great man; and best of all, millions have been brought to a spiritual regeneration.

Other apostles than Paul were preachers. Peter and James and John were taught in the greatest school of the ages, and entered upon their work filled with the Holy Spirit. The influ­ence of their writings and ministry has widened and expanded through the centuries, till now 1,800,000,000 of the population of the world have the teach­ings of these men in their own ver­naculars.

Martin Luther stands as pre-emi­nently the^-greateSt of alI Germans in his influence upon his own people, as well as the greatest character and influence of his century in all lands.. By his trans­lation of the Scriptures into the lan­guage of the people; by his preaching and his voluminous works as an au­thor; by his contact with civil rulers as well as with the Papacy; by his doctrines of faith and the value he placed upon the word of God, his life may be said to have touched the peo­ple of the world above that of any other public man or ruler almost since the days of the apostle Paul. Nor is the influence of Luther confined to the language he spoke. His teachings con­cerning the living word of God as the rule of life belong to all mankind. He endeared himself to his own genera­tions as well as to all succeeding gen­erations for the courage he manifested before the greatest tribunal that any man has been called upon to face alone, when he said: "Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me."

We have the works of John Bunyan to reckon with when we think of the influence of the clergy. Next to the Scriptures, Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Prog­ress" has perhaps had the widest cir­culation of any book ever penned by mortal man. The reading world from English to Chinese knows this book, and among Christians it stands next to the Bible in influence and moral help­fulness. From the nursery to the grave, in every clime and in every land, Christians have read this story, wept over its characters, and shaped their lives by its teachings. Preach­ers have drawn from it for doctrine and illustration; we all have read it to our own betterment.

Taylor and Wilberforce, the Wesleys and Whitefield, as reformers and influ­encers of men, have no competitors from the realms of science and law and government in English history. They were all preachers of the first or­der, awl by their sermons—and writings, as well as by their godly lives, they changed the current of thought and action in their day. Woodrow Wilson said of Wesley:

"The church was dead and Wesley awakened it; the poor were neglected and Wesley sought them out; the gos­pel was shrunken into formulas, and Wesley flung it fresh upon the air once more in the speech of common men. . . . And men's spirits responded, leaped at the message, and were made wholesome as they comprehended."

Lecky, the historian, also paid high tribute to Wesley's influence:

"It is no exaggeration to say that he has had a wider constructive influence in the sphere of practical religion than any other man who has appeared since the sixteenth century. . . . His preaching was of greater historic importance than all the splendid victories by land and sea won under Pitt."

We need not mention such outstand­ing preachers as Savonarola, Melanchthon, Calvin, Knox, Edwards, Chalmers, Spurgeon, Moody, Finney, and a multitude of others to show the influence of Christian ministers upon the world. Their lives are known, and their influence has touched other lives which have in turn touched others in an ever-widening circle.

Other ministers must work in hum­bler spheres and smaller areas, yet they do an important service for God.

They are counselors for young and old; they urge the young and timid to continue their studies; they encourage and prepare young people for college, and are alert to discover talent; they lend a helping hand to lead the tempted and wavering to a better, fuller Christian life. Their influence is like the tide, which lifts the vessel from the sands that hold it to the earth, and so enables it to start toward its desired haven.

All honor to these toiling ministers, hidden in the press and crowd of the city throng or in rural and village communities, lifting up and blessing all whose lives they touch, uniting in marriage the young, praying for the sick, baptizing the converted, comfort­ing the dying, burying the dead. No, these men are not idlers nor shirkers nor preachers for hire; they are the "chief men" of their environment, touching with hope and faith and courage the lives with which they come in contact. Their influence is like that of the sunshine on man and nature. They are to be loved and re­spected for their works. Their teach­ings are an inspiration to better liv­ing, happier homes, purer thinking, nobler endeavors, and fellowship with God.

Truly a sermon, if it be worthy of that name, reaches the innermost re­cesses of the soul and the will. It is a message from God, and compels the hearer to face eternity with a trem­bling, prayerful heart. Sinai and Cal­vary there meet, and under their mighty influence millions of men and women have been born again, begotten new creatures in Christ Jesus.

"The preacher stands like one insu­lated and charged with the electric fluid; the touch is now startling, which a few minutes ago was like the touch of a common man."

In the minister are pent up the fires of God's wrath against sin, Christ's love and agony on Calvary, and the consciousness that he is Jehovah's voice to reach to the lowest depths to save the lost. He is the surgeon with the knife to cut and the physician with the balm of Gilead to dress and heal the wounded soul. In him all art, and culture, and rhetoric, and eloquence may dwell, to reach to the uttermost those who hear his voice.

If the influence of the ministry should be wholly eliminated from the world today; if the word of God should be removed from every human soul; if there were to be no more crying out against sin from any minister, no more demanding of a higher, better life, civ­ilization could not endure. The black­est night of all the ages would creep over civilization like a hopeless pa­ralysis.

There is no doubt that one primary cause of the rapid increase of crime during recent years has been the fail­ure of the ministry to preach against sin. The movies, the trend of current literature, and higher criticism have lowered the ideals of the masses. The people, unwilling to support men who preach of "judgment to come," wish smooth things preached to them; so many of the present-day ministers have drifted into science and culture, and failed to preach the word. Their influence is still mighty, but not against sin. Antinomianism and evo­lution have been substituted for the plain testimony drawn from the word of God. Losing the spirit of the Mas­ter and neglecting the word of God, they endeavor to effect the betterment of man by social reforms, physical ac­tivities, and civil laws.

The crying need of the hour is for a Spirit-filled ministry who will preach the word of God, and give the trumpet a certain sound. If the ministry should drift into Modernism, forget­ting its message from God, it will lose its influence among men. Then will be the dark hour for the world. The need is here for a great spiritual revival; the opportunity for service is at our very doors; sin is abounding; and the world will still respond as it has ever responded to the plain, "Thus saith the Lord."

"God give us men! The time demands

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and willing hands;

Men whom the lust of office does not kill;

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;

Men who possess opinions, and a will;

Men who have honor ; men who will not lie;

Men who can stand before a demagogue

And damn his treacherous flatteries with­out winking;

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog

In public duty and in private thinking."

I. H. E.