There is a difference between the subject of a discourse and its object; the latter is the motive that impels us to speak, while the former is what we speak about. It is not uncommon for ministers to have a subject without any very distinct object. Their engagements require them to speak, and a subject is a necessity. That which can be treated most easily is taken, and all the ideas they possess, or can collect about it, are given forth, and the matter left. Until such persons grow in earnest, and really desire to accomplish something, they cannot advance the cause of God.
The object of a sermon is the soul, while the subject is only the body; or, we may say, the one is the end, and the other the means by which it is accomplished. After the object is fixed the subject can be chosen to much better advantage; for instance, if it be our object to lead the penitent to the Cross, we may select any of the themes connected with the crucifixion and dying love of Christ; we may show the sinner his inability to fulfill the requirements of the law, and that he needs an atoning sacrifice to save him from its penalty; we may show that the salvation purchased is full and free. Many other branches of the same great topic will be found suitable for the purpose in view.
This order of selection may sometimes be reversed to good advantage. When a minister is stationed with a certain congregation, there are many objects he wishes to accomplish, and often no strong reason for preferring one in the order of time to another. It will then be well for him to take that subject which may impress him, and bend his mind toward an object he can enforce most powerfully through it.
On other occasions there is a particular end to be attained, which is for the time all-important, and which thus furnishes the proper object. Nothing then remains but for the preacher to choose a subject through which he can work to the best advantage.
This is one great advantage the Methodists have in protracted meetings. An object is always in view, and the congregation expect it to be pressed home with power. No plea of general instruction will then save a sermon from being thought worthless, if it does not produce an immediate result. And even the much calumniated “mourners’ bench” contributes most powerfully to the same result. There is something proposed which the congregation can see, and through it judge of the preacher’s success or failure. An outward act is urged upon the unbelieving portion of the audience, by which they signify that they yield to the power of the Gospel; and the very fact of having that before him as an immediate, though not an ultimate aim, will stimulate the preacher’s zeal, and cause him to put forth every possible exertion.
After all, the order in which subject and object are selected is not very material. It is enough that the preacher has a subject that he understands, and an object that warms his heart and enlists all his powers. Then he can preach, not as if dealing with abstractions, but as one who has a living mission to perform.
Every subject we treat should be complete in itself, and rounded off from everything else. Its boundaries should be run with such precision as not to include anything but what properly belongs to it. It is a common but grievous fault to have the same cast of ideas flowing round every text that may be preached from. There are few things in the universe that have not some relation to everything else, and if our topics are not very strictly bounded, we will fall into the vice of perpetual repetition. Thus, in a book of sermon sketches we have examined, nearly every one begins by proving that man is a fallen creature, and needs the helps or is liable to the ills mentioned afterward. No other thought is introduced until that primal point is settled. This doctrine is of great importance, and does affect all man’s relations, but we can sometimes take it for granted, without endangering the edifice we build upon it, and occasional silence will be far more impressive than that continual iteration, which may even induce a doubt of what seems to need so much proof.
Ministers sometime acquire such a stereotyped form of thought and expression that what they say in one sermon will be sure to recur, perhaps in a modified form, in all others. This kind of preaching is intolerable. There is an end to the patience of man. He tires of the same old ideas, and wishes when a text is taken that it may bring with it a new sermon. The remedy against this evil is to give each sermon its own territory, and then guard rigidly against trespass. It is not a sufficient excuse for the minister who preaches continually in one place, that what he says has a natural connection with the subject in hand, but it must have a closer connection with it, than with any other he may use. By observing this rule, we make each theme the solar centre around which may cluster a great number of secondary ideas, all of which naturally belong to it, and are undisturbed by satellites from other systems.
The subjects from which a preacher may choose are innumerable. The Bible is an inexhaustible storehouse. Its histories, precepts, prophecies, promises and threatenings, are almost endless. Then all the duties of human life, and especially those born of the Christian character; the best methods of making our way to the end of our journey; the hopes after which we follow; the dangers that beset our path; the mighty destinies of time and eternity, are a few of the themes that suggest themselves, and afford room enough for the loftiest talent, during all the time that man is allowed to preach on earth. If we would search carefully for the best subjects, and, when found, isolate them from all others, we would never need to weary the people by the repetition of thoughts and ideas.
While, as a rule, we ought to shun controversial points, we should not be afraid to lay hold of the most important subjects that are revealed to man. These will always command attention; heaven and hell, judgment, redemption, faith, the fall, and all those great doctrines upon which the Christian religion rests, need to be frequently impressed on the people. It is also profitable to preach serial sermons on great subjects. The rise of the Jewish nation and economy would afford a fine field for instruction. The life and work of Jesus Christ would be still better. This latter series might consist of discourses on His birth, baptism, temptation, first sermon, His teaching in general, some miracle as a type of all others, transfiguration, last coming to Jerusalem, Gethsemane, betrayal and arrest, trial, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and second advent. Many other subdivisions might be made. Such linked sermons, covering a wide scope, instruct the people better than isolated ones could, and afford equal opportunities for enforcing all Christian lessons. Yet it would not be well to employ them exclusively, or even generally, as such a practice would tend to wearisome sameness.