A 00 - Introduction

    INTRODUCTION

THESIS addresses on the Christian Ministry are unique in their combination of comprehensiveness and condensation. They are replete, witn suggestion, adequate in conception, and, forthright and epigrammatic in expression. After reading these addresses many far more pretentious volumes will suffer by comparison. It has been my good fortune to hear this subject discussed by those who were themselves models of the preacher’s sublime art. It was my privilege to hear these addresses, and in my humble opinion they are, in some very important respects, superior to any previous deliverances on this great theme.

I desire particularly to commend the style here employed. There is no rhetorical splurge or garish display. Too much color is as suspicious in composition as in complexion. Here is strength rather than sheen; force rather than flare. There are no trick phrases, no artful alliterations, no startling antitheses, and no attempt to cover deficiencies in thought and argument with the gloss of verbal veneer.

Brevity, clarity, simplicity, are here combined with the deepest reflections and the most striking and appropriate forms of expression and illustration. In scholarship, mental poise, intuitive perception, terse and luminous phraseology, the author is one of the best-equipped men to conduct such a series of didactic addresses for the benefit of young preachers. The author has exalted his theme. The preacher is here presented in his call, his preparation, his mission, his message, his methods of study and work, his personal Christian experience, and his private and public life. One is surprised to find so much included, and so little omitted, in a volume of this size. May God speed it upon its carer of usefulness and make it a blessing and inspiration to those for whom it is intended.

A. W. LIGHTBOURNE.

Dover, Delaware.