By REV. CHARLES G. FINNEY.
The design of this article is to propound several rules, by a
steady conformity to any one of which a man may preach so as not to
convert anybody. It is generally conceded at the present day that
the Holy Spirit converts souls to Christ by means of truth adapted
to that end.
It follows that a selfish preacher will not skillfully adapt means
to convert souls to Christ, for this is not his end.
Rule 1st. Let your supreme motive be to secure
your own popularity; then, of course, your preaching will be
adapted to that end, and not to convert souls to Christ.
2d. Aim at pleasing, rather than at converting
your hearers.
3d. Aim at securing for yourself the reputation of
a beautiful writer.
4th. Let your sermons be written with a high
degree of literary finish.
5th. Let them be short, occupying in the reading
not to exceed from twenty to twenty-five minutes.
6th. Let your style be flowery, ornate, and quite
above the comprehension of the common people.
7th. Be sparing of thought, lest your sermon contain truth
enough to convert a soul.
8th. Lest your sermon should make a saving
impression, announce no distinct propositions or heads, that will
be remembered, to disturb the consciences of your hearers.
9th. Make no distinct points, and take no
disturbing issues with the consciences of your hearers, lest they
remember these issues, and become alarmed about their souls.
10th. Avoid a logical division and sub-division of
your subject, lest you should too thoroughly instruct your
people.
11th. Give your sermon the form and substance of
a. flowing, beautifully written, but never-to-be-remembered essay;
so that your hearers will say "it was a beautiful sermon," but can
give no further account of it.
12th. Avoid preaching doctrines that are offensive
to the carnal mind, lest they should say of you, as they did of
Christ, "This is a hard saying. Who can hear it? and that you are
injuring your influence.
13th. Denounce sin in the abstract, but make no
allusion to the sins of your present audience.
14th. Keep the spirituality of God's holy law, by
which is the knowledge of sin, out of sight, lest the sinner should
see his lost condition, and flee from the wrath to come.
15th. Preach the Gospel as a remedy, but conceal,
or ignore the fatal disease of the sinner.
16th. Preach salvation by grace; but ignore the
condemned' and lost condition of the sinner, lest be should
understand what you mean by grace, and feel his need of it.
17th. Preach Christ as an infinitely amiable and
good-natured being; but ignore those scathing rebukes of sinners
and hypocrites which so often made his hearers tremble.
18th. Avoid especially preaching to those who are
present. Preach about sinners, and not to them. Say they, and not
you, lest any one should make a personal and saving application of
your subject.
19th. Aim to make your hearers pleased with
themselves and pleased with you, and be careful not to wound the
feelings of any one.
20th. Preach no searching sermons, lest you
convict and convert the worldly members of your church.
21st. Avoid awakening uncomfortable memories by
reminding your hearers of their past sins.
22d. Do not make the impression that God commands
your hearers now and here to obey the truth.
23d. Do not make the impression that you expect
your hearers to commit themselves upon the spot and give their
hearts to God.
24th. Leave the impression that they are expected
to go away in their sins, and to consider the matter at their
convenience.
25th. Dwell much upon their inability to obey, and
leave the impression that they must wait for God to change their
natures.
26th. Make no appeals to the fears of sinners; but
leave the impression that they have no reason to fear.
27th. Say so little of Hell that your people will
infer that you do not believe in its existence.
28th. Make the impression that, if God is as good
as you are, He will send no one to Hell.
29th. Preach the love of God, but ignore the
holiness of His love, that will by no means clear the impenitent
sinner.
30th. Often present God in His parental love and
relations; but ignore His governmental and legal relations to His
subjects, lest the sinner should find himself condemned already,
and the wrath of God abiding on him.
31st. Preach God as all mercy, lest a fuller
representation of His character should alarm the consciences of
your hearers.
32d. Try to convert sinners to Christ without
producing any uncomfortable convictions of sin.
33d. Flatter the rich, so as to repel the poor,
and you will convert none of either class.
34th. Make no disagreeable allusions to the
doctrines of self-denial, cross-bearing, and crucifixion to the
world, lest you should convict and convert some of your church
members.
35th. Admit, either expressly or impliedly, that
all men have some moral goodness in them; lest sinners should
understand that they need a radical change of heart, from sin to
holiness.
36th. Avoid pressing the doctrine of total moral
depravity; lest you should offend, or even convict and convert, the
moralist.
37th. Do not rebuke the worldly tendencies of the
church, lest you should hurt their feelings, and finally convert
some of them.
38th. Should any express anxiety about their souls, do not
probe them by any uncomfortable allusion to their sin and
ill-desert; but encourage them to join the church at once, and
exhort them to assume their perfect safety within the fold.
39th. Preach the love of Christ not as enlightened
benevolence, that is holy, just, and sin-hating; but as a
sentiment, an involuntary and undiscriminating fondness.
40th. Be sure not to represent religion as a state
of loving self-sacrifice for God and soul; but rather as a free and
easy state of self-indulgence. By thus doing, you will prevent
sound conversions to Christ, and convert your hearers to
yourself.
41st. So select your themes, and so present them,
as to attract and flatter the wealthy, aristocratic, self-indulgent
extravagant, pleasure-seeking classes, and you will not convert any
of them to the cross-bearing religion of Christ.
42d. Be time-serving, or you will endanger your
salary and, besides, if you speak out and are faithful, you may
convert somebody.
43d. Do not preach with a divine unction, lest
your preaching make a saving impression.
44th. To avoid this, do not maintain a close walk
with God, but rely upon your learning and study.
45th. Lest you should pray too much, engage in
light reading and worldly amusements.
46th. That your people may not think you in
earnest to save their souls, and, as a consequence, heed your
preaching, encourage church-fairs, lotteries and other gambling and
worldly expedients to raise money for church purposes.
47th. If you do not approve of such things, make
no public mention of your disapprobation, lest your church should
give them up, and turn their attention to saving souls and be saved
themselves.
48th. Do not rebuke extravagance in dress, lest
you should uncomfortably impress your vain and worldly
church-members.
49th. Lest you should be troubled with revival
scenes and labors, encourage parties, picnics, excursions, and
worldly amusements, so as to divert attention from the serious work
of saving souls.
50th. Ridicule solemn earnestness in pulling
sinners out of the fire, and recommend, by precept and example, it
jovial, fun-loving religion, and sinners will have little respect
for your serious preaching.
51st. Cultivate a fastidious taste in your people,
by avoiding all disagreeable allusions to the last judgment and
final retribution.
52d. Treat such uncomfortable doctrines as
obsolete and out of place in these days of Christian
refinement.
53d. Do not commit yourself to much-needed
reforms, lest you should compromise your popularity and injure your
influence. Or you may make some branch of outward reform a hobby,
and dwell so much upon it as to divert attention from the great
work of converting souls to Christ.
54th. So exhibit religion as to encourage the
selfish pursuit of it. Make the impression upon sinners that their
own safety and happiness is the supreme motive for being
religious.
55th. Do not lay much stress upon the efficacy and
necessity of prayer, lest the Holy Spirit should be poured out upon
you and the congregation, and sinners should be converted.
56th. Make little or no impression upon your
hearers, so that you can repeat your old sermons of ten without its
being noticed.
57th. If your text suggest any alarming thought,
pass lightly over it, and by no means dwell upon and enforce
it.
58th. Avoid all illustrations, repetitions, and
emphatic sentences, that may compel your people to remember what
you say.
59th. Avoid all heat and earnestness in your
delivery, lest you make the impression that you really believe what
you say.
60th. Address the imagination, and not the
conscience, of your hearers.
61st. Make it your great aim to be personally
popular with all classes of your hearers.
62d. Be tame and timid in presenting the claims of
God, as would become you in presenting your own claims,
63d. Be careful not to testify from your own
personal experience of the power of the Gospel, lest you should
produce the conviction upon your hearers that you have something
which they need.
64th. See that you say nothing that will appear to
any of your hearers to mean him or her, unless it be something
flattering.
65th. Encourage church sociables, and attend them
yourself, because they tend so strongly to levity as to compromise
Christian dignity and sobriety, and thus paralyze the power of your
preaching.
66th. Encourage the cultivation of the social in
so many ways as to divert the attention of yourself and your
church-members from the infinite guilt and danger of the
unconverted among you.
67th. In those sociables talk a little about
religion, but avoid any serious appeal to the heart and conscience
of those who attend, lest you should discourage their attendance,
always remembering that they do not go to socials to be earnestly
dealt with in regard to their relations to God. In this way you
will effectually so employ yourself and church-members as that your
preaching will not convert anybody.
The experience of ministers who have steadily adhered to any of the
above rules, will attest the soul-destroying efficacy of such a
course, and churches whose ministers have steadily conformed to any
of these rules can testify that such preaching does not convert
souls to Christ.
