man how he got the wound. By quarrelling; a Mussulman lifted up his club and knocked me down.' Then you see sin is the cause of it; do you know where sin comes from?' 'No.' I told him, and added, 'I have given you a plaster to cure your body, and I know of one to cure your soul.' I then preached the great and good Physician, and I believe a deep impression was left by my discourse about the plaster." Memoirs, p. 345. The Rev. C. B. Leupolt says: "We also make use of similes, drawn from the different objects we have before us. Thus, I have heard one Native Catechist speak of the well of sin. The public wells in India are all uncovered, and without a crane. I have made use of : this simile. I have said, We are all sinners our forefather, Adam, fell into this well of sin; we, too, are therefore, born in this well the well is deep, wide, and full of weeds, so that it is impossible for any person to get out without assistance.' Some of our hearers will say, we Hindus have our Saviours.' On which I have replied : Very true; but, my friends, were these gods within the well of sin, or without it? They were, as may be seen from their works, within the well of sin; and if they could not extricate themselves from the well of sin, how is it possible for them to save us? The worst part of the case, however, is, that we in the well are not aware that our condition is so bad, because the well is so very deep that we have no light, and cannot see the condition in which we are; and if we are not delivered by a Saviour from above, we must all inevitably perish. Satan is the lord of the well. In this deplorable condition the Saviour finds us. He, as the Sun of Righteousness,' shines into the well. What do you think will be the first effects of this light? The unhappy creatures in the well will see their wretched condition; that is, Christ becomes their wisdom; but they are not yet delivered; they are merely awakened to their sinful state. Now, Christ commences a deliverance from the well of sin: He throws the rope of the gospel to them, and bids them lay hold of it. With the command to lay hold, He gives them power to do so. Those who lay hold on it by faith, He draws out and delivers from destruction. Having been drawn out of the well of sin, they now live in a new atmosphere: the Saviour does not leave them in the wretched filthy condition in which he found them. He washes and purifies them; not with the waters of their own well, for these cannot cleanse, but by His own blood and by His Spirit. He commences a new work in them, and this work is sanctification. By drawing them out of the well of sin he gave them a right to live in a new kingdom. Now he proceeds to make them meet for enjoying it. It is now the time for washing. If he had commenced washing while they were in the well of sin, His labor would have been fruitless; but now they must walk and work in this kingdom, for the Saviour saith, Follow me, and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit.' This, however, is extremely difficult; for though the people of Christ are no longer subjects of the lord of the well, and though they are safely delivered from it, yet they are but weak creatures, who stumble and fall. Some desire to run before Christ, some by his side; nevertheless, amid much weakness and many infirmities, they are brought safely to heaven. And then they sing, It is all grace, grace! grace chose us, grace enlightened us, grace enabled us to lay hold on the rope, grace drew us out, grace purified us, and grace brought us safe to heaven. Grace, therefore, shall be the theme of our praise !""* Lacroix, the "most eloquent of Bengali preachers," "turned to account a natural gift he possessed of devising striking similes, in which some clear analogy could be shewn to some principle of religion. These similes were constantly in his mouth, and as the Natives are very fond of them, his preaching was very acceptable."+ Graphic illustrations have great power even over a cultivated audience, as is shown by the popularity of preachers like Guthrie and Spurgeon. All men take pleasure in narratives. Hence the historical parts of Scripture afford a variety of suitable subjects, e. g. the Creation and Fall, the Flood, the Call of Abraham, Elijah and the prophets of Baal, Daniel, and especially the Life of our Lord. Paul's sermon at Athens is a perfect model of an * Recollections, pp. 67-9. Memoirs, p. 153. Examples are given pp. 154-156. See also Leupolt's Recollections, Salter's Book of Illustrations, Keach's Scripture Metaphors, Flavel's Husbandry Spiritualized, &c. address to heathen, whose minds have been somewhat cultivated. It will, however, be useful to all. The practice of Mr. Lacey of Orissa, thus described by the Rev. J. Wenger, might be followed with great advantage: "He had selected a number of subjects,—not a very large number--on which he had prepared discourses. Thus he had a harvest sermon; a sermon on paying rent to the Zamindar; a sermon about a barren mango tree; another about the judg ment day. These sermons, if by that name they may be called, he preached again and again from year to year, though not in the same places. It was his constant endeavour to make the old sermon more impressive in its delivery on each successive occasion. It is said of Whitfield, that prince of preachers, that the full power of his oratory, was not developed until he had become perfectly familiar with a sermon by preaching it thirty times. In addressing a heathen audience, we need not be nearly so much afraid of repetition, as we should have occasion to be in a Christian place of worship.' Native Proverbs and Stanzas.-One great mode of securing attention, is to make a copious use of sayings familiar to the people. They employ them largely in conversation among themselves. The Rev. I. Stubbins says: "I very much like the plan of introducing pertinent quotations from their own books and shastras into addresses. Some of them are very striking and beautiful; and my impression is that the people will generally understand your subject, as these references serve as a key. They are familiar with them; and doubtless such an address is more attractive to them, while it increases their respect for your character and person, as man who knows their books and system.'"+ a wise The example of Paul at Athens will be a sufficient justification. A few proverbs and stanzas may be quoted as examples: Will the darkness subside in the light of a fire-fly? * Calcutta Conference Report, p. 48. Though he wash three times a day, will the crow become a white crane ? It is said that the lizard that is the oracle of the whole village has fallen into the broth. A cart, a slave, and a foolish son, follow the beaten track ; a poet, a lion, and a sensible son, are independent in their move ments. Man comes into the world with his hands shut, and goes out of it with his hands open. There is no merit like truth, and no sin equal to falsehood. Refer not virtue to another day; receive her now and at thy dying hour she will prove thy never-dying friend. What is the fruit that human knowledge gives, if at the feet of Him who is pure knowledge due reverence be not paid ? The anxious mind against corroding thought no refuge hath save at the sacred feet of Him to whom no likeness is. Many valuable quotations may be made from the sacred books of the Hindus : Should he whose heart is unclean, rubbing his body with earth equal to a mountain, bathe till death with all the water of the Ganges, still he will not become clean. How can he who himself is not perfect, make another perfect? I am sin, I commit sin, my nature is sinful, I am conceived in 'sin. A number of the most striking should be carefully committed to memory. Proverbs should be used chiefly at the commencement to enliven the address; quotations from sacred books will be more suitable in the middle; the conclusion should be characterized by increased solemnity, when Scripture passages and direct appeals to the conscience, are most appropriate. As already mentioned, it is very desirable to have a volume of proverbs and quotations in each language, arranged under different heads for Missionary purposes. Intelligible Language-It was stated in a previous chapter that the style of books differs very considerably from that of ordinary conversation. A Missionary who uses the former in addressing villagers cannot be understood. Arthur remarks, Many a good man in England would hesitate to say that furtive acquisition,' was criminal, who would at once pronounce it sinful' to steal;' and many a good housewife would plumply deny that it was any duty of hers to supervise the domestic economy,' who would at once own that she was bound to see to the house." * But there is another difficulty-attaching heathenish meanings to the terms employed. The Rev. W. Smith thus explains it : "We speak, for instance of Parmeshwar, and they think we are talking of Rama. We speak of salvation (Mukti) and they think we mean absorption. We talk of God's omnipresence, and they take it for granted that we believe, with them, that the spirit in man is God, or a portion of him. We tell them that they must not worship idols, and they jump to the conclusion that they must become Vedantists." † A few Missionaries unacquainted with the native languages, have therefore asserted, that it is useless to preach to the masses, as they cannot understand what is said to them. If the directions given in the following extracts be observed, the Gospel can be made intelligible to all :— "A Native will not understand what you mean by 'justification;' but will fully understand what you mean by a man having all his sins forgiven. He will be confounded by the term ' regeneration,' but will readily comprehend when you speak of making a bad man good. Thus, by speaking of the thing, rather than harping on the term, the Missionary may easily give the people his own ideas, and place himself in a position to use them in an appeal to the conscience." Arthur's Mysore, p. 279. "It is, therefore, evidently of the first importance that we explain ourselves as we go on, and define the terms which we use; and when we have done, it is a good plan, if practicable, to ask them what we have been saying, and what they have understood, and to give them, in a single sentence almost, an epitome of it to take away with them." Rev. W. Smith. |