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554 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION
In the final period, monarchy fails; the theocracy is restored; the
Jews accept dependence on one condition — they must be allowed to
follow their own religion; this becomes the basis of nationality, and by
a process of elimination of the undesirables, it makes the Jewish state
a smaller, but a more compact social unit than ever before. In this
period arises a new doctrine— the worth of man as man — and a new
problem, the problem of the free individual. These take various forms
and in one way or another are the theme of most of the literature pro-
duced in this epoch. The four fold righteousness of the former period
is supplemented by a new element, that of humility, and righteousness
itself becomes the character rather than the will of God. Thus were
the experiences of a suffering people enriched and mellowed;
The evolution of religion was complete with Jesus, in whom the
perfect relation of man to God was realized. Social evolution, however,
proceeds much more slowly, and is yet far from completed realization.
It will finally come about by the universal practice of that distinctively
Christian social quality so perfectly exemplified by Jesus himself, the
characteristic commonly termed love, but which this author prefers to
call meekness.
The writer has amassed an immense amount of material under a
very large number of subdivisions. In most cases he has illustrated
his theses by the citation of a number of Scripture references. When
we keep in mind the rather limited approach he has set for himself in
preparing the book and when we allow for the strange and somewhat
venturesome vocabulary used in a number of places, we must credit
the author with a seriousness of purposes and with a certain construct-
ive result, more in the realm of biblical theology, as it seems to the
reviewer, than in that of the social sciences.
D. E. Thomas
Lincoln, Nebraska
A MASTER PREACHER ON PREACHING 1
Dr. Cadman's study of the work of preaching begins with a chapter
on "The Scriptural Basis for Preaching," which is not an examination
of the warrants for preaching as they are found in the Bible, but is an
enlightening study of the homiletic values of various sections of Scripture.
Especially valuable are the studies of the Prophets and Jesus. The
second chapter, "Prophets and Preachers of the Christian Church," is
far removed from an outline sketch of the history of preaching, although
based on careful study in this field. Dr. Cadman presents the personality
1 Ambassadors of God. S. Parkes Cadman. New York: Macmillan, 1021.
353 Pages. $2.50.
BOOK REVIEWS 555
of Wesley vividly, as one would expect after reading the middle section
of The Three Religious Leaders of Oxford. He says, " Study Wesley as
you study no other modern preacher, and do this the more because a
certain parochialism, tinctured with condescension, is occasionally to be
detected in Puritan references to him" (p. 67). He describes the manner
of Whitefield thus: "Truths he could neither formulate nor cast in
literary fashion were fused within him by his glow of soul and expressed
with fluid energy. Even the small change of discourse was reminted by
his volcanic manner." He calls Dr. W. L. Watkinson "one of our few
surviving great preachers." "The Modern Attitude toward Preach-
ing" is a careful study of the popular attitude toward the pulpit today
based upon the author's wide experience in pulpit and platform work.
Taking a thorough inventory of the forces at work in modern life, he
finds that there is little new or disheartening in the prejudices and mis-
apprehensions unfavorable to preaching in the modern world. He feels
that " the primary cause of the present dearth of pulpit influence in many
centers, learned or otherwise, can be traced to its breach with nineteenth-
century science" (p. 107). Also the pulpit has been too remote from
the current social unrest and yearning, although this fault is rapidly
being remedied. Dr. Cadman writes with wisdom on the matter of
preaching what is called the "social gospel." He says:
I venture to break a lance with those who contend that the advocacy of
social righteousness should be the absorbing theme of your ministry. When
everything has been said for it that can be said, the fact remains that the resti-
tution of the entire man after the pattern of his Creator is the whole of which
social righteousness is but a part At all times insist upon the New
Testament doctrines as the absolute principles of a Christian sociology
Many to whom you appeal exceed you in the knowledge of classes and their
callings, of groups and their necessities; but you have the effective Word that
covers them all as the sky over-arches the landscape. That Word should
become by your dispensation the source of those lasting benefits for society
which, as history demonstrates, proceed from the moral and religious changes
effected by the Gospel in the heart of man (p. 122).
The two following chapters are closely related in subject-matter and
are entitled, "Cross Currents Which Affect Preaching," and "Present-
Day Intellectualism and Preaching." Here the fine insight and the
balanced discrimination of Dr. Cadman appear attractively. No
preacher can read these pages without feeling that there is every incen-
tive awaiting him and no fears to daunt him in the way as he threads
the tangled path of modern thinking. "The best preaching you will
achieve," says the author, "which in the long run will prove its accepta-
bility to mind and heart, will not be that of the pietists who
deplore scientific dominancy, not that of negativists who deny religious
556 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION
mysteries, but the preaching in which religion interprets and is interpreted
by science; in which faith and knowledge subsist together and reenforce
each other" (p. 175). A stimulating study of "The Nature and Ideals
of the Christian Ministry" follows; it is filled with common-sense
counsel, such as this: "Shun as you would a plague the clerical manner-
ism which has the appearance of downfalled amiability dashed with
professional pretentiousness" (p. 214). "Preaching: Its Preparation
and Practice" requires two chapters and is written in a friendly and
intimate way. The man who has been doing the work here tells his
comrades how he has done it. One is sensitive to the note of reality in
this section; the counsels grow out of experience. At best, however,
there is not much to be said in the field of technique over what has been
put in form by" Phelps and Broadus. It is interesting to see how another
man works. It is comforting to hear him tell his brethren to study
Bunyan and Lincoln for their terse and biting Saxon style, and then
read his own sentences, loaded with polysyllabic Latinity. It refreshes
one to find again the classic illustration of the preacher who can give
counsel but cannot follow it. The next book on technique must be
written from the standpoint of psychology, evaluating all methods
according to the nature of the preacher and the congregation, and using
the last results in psychological and pedagogical research. Until then,
such chapters as these, valuable as they are, will only rehearse the mas-
ters with the added factor of fresh personal experience. The final
chapter is on "Preaching and Worship," and is wisely constructive in
its exaltation of worship as the paramount activity of the church and
its minister. The volume as a whole is one of the most stimulating of
recent homiletical studies. It does not possess the compass or solidity
of Dr. Garvie's new book, but it is a thorough piece of work.
Ozora S. Davis
Chicago Theological Seminary
PREACHING AND LIFE 1
Professor Hoyt brings together here thirteen papers consisting of
biographical studies and essays, designed to show that the preachers of
the Christian gospel have exerted a deep and potent influence in the
development of American life. The first paper is on "The Puritan
Preacher," a discerning study of the sources of power in the earliest
American preaching. Then follow chapters on Edwards, Lyman
Beecher, Channing, Bushnell, Henry Ward Beecher, and Brooks, each
proportioned well and indicating the ways in which the preaching of
1 The Pulpit and American Life. Arthur S. Hoyt. New York: Macmillan,
1921. xii+286 pages.
