THE PREACHER'S STUDY
I name it filled
With solemn awe, that bids me well beware
With what intent I touch that holy thing;
and he prophesies that it
Must stand acknowledged, while the world shall stand.
Indeed, as I pointed out in an earlier lecture, the fashion of disparaging preaching is simply due to muddled thinking. It represents a failure to understand what preaching essentially is—the heralding of the eternal Word of God—and a consequent inability to grasp its integral place in all true worship. Nor should we be misled by any strictures on "popular" preaching. To aim at a cheap popularity would indeed be a despicable disloyalty. But does it not stand written of our Lord that "the common people heard Him gladly"? John Kelman was a popular preacher: and there are scores of men to-day who would confess that it was to Kelman, under God, that they owe their souls, Studdert-Kennedy was a popular preacher: and Studdert-Kennedy did far more to stir the social conscience of the country than any of the critics who label popular preaching as dope. This disparaging of preaching is a passing phase. Do not be misled by it. Resist the suggestion that to sweat blood over your sermon preparation is a subtle form of pride and selfishness, or at the least a reprehensible misdirection of time and energy. Long after all such pontifical utterances of a one-eyed dogmatism have passed away, it will still
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