For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle.
Uncertain sounds
There are many sounds in nature which are uncertain and yet pleasing. The murmur of the winds among the leaves of the forests; the soft, regular lapse of the waves on the sandy shore; the roar of Niagara, confused with the cry of blended and intertangled voices, as though every particle of water in falling uttered its own wail of grief or shout of exultation or scream of fear; the hum of insects on a summer’s day; all such sounds are uncertain. Yet all awaken inus some feeling, convey some sentiment. The murmuring voices of nature seem to express longing and aspiration; they sound almost like prayer and praise. These voices of nature, therefore, though uncertain, are often full of expression. But of man’s voice we require more. We ask that it shall be distinct and clear; that it shall convey meaning; that it shall not darken counsel with vague utterance. To speak plainly, distinctly, with precision, is one of the first accomplishments to be studied, and one of the last to be fully attained. Education begins and ends in telling us how to express ourselves; for the word, in ancient languages, means not only utterance, but also the reason which lies behind utterance. My friend gives himself to me in his speech. If his speech is obscure, perplexed, uncertain, vague, then he is not in it. But a fulness of thought and life makes language very clear. That is why we like simple, direct, straightforward talk. It is sincere, itis moral. “Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay,” says Jesus; “for whatsoever is more than this cometh of evil.” Uncertain sounds, inexact expressions, extravagant utterances, come of evil. They mean that the speaker cares more for effect than for truth. Perhaps the most uncertain sounds of all are the words of a politician. Politics, the government of a state, the laws which affect a nation, ought to be the most elevating of pursuits. But it is like religion or art or poetry. They ennoble those who give themselves to them with sincerity and love; but make a trade of them, and they degrade to the utmost. Make a trade of religion, andyou become a hypocrite. Make a trade of art, and you become a charlatan. One of the remarkable exploits of Abraham Lincoln was that he expressed himself so as to be understood. His healthy Saxon English dispelled the miasma of falsehood which hung over Washington. “And one of Plutarch’s men talked with you, face to face.” A clear, distinct meaning is so important in a speaker that it is of itself almost enough. An audience will listen very willingly to a man who makes himself perfectly plain, even if he does nothing else. He need not be rhetorical, he need use no figures of speech, no captivating oratorical arts; he need not be original or profound. Let him only be clear--that of itself is satisfactory. In religion, especially, we want no uncertain sounds. What all men need, what all men long for, is certainty. We need to know; not merely to speculate, not merely to think, to hope, to wish, to fancy; we need to know. Now the difference between Christianity and speculation is simply this--that speculation, by its very nature, gives an uncertain sound; but Christianity gives certainty. Speculation gives us thoughts about God, Christianity gives us the knowledge of God. I once read a lecture by an able writer, in which Christ and Socrates were compared, rather to the disadvantage of the former. Socrates was considered to be, on the whole, rather the stronger and more manly person of the two. But, ifso, why did he not do more? Socrates produced a school in philosophy; Christ makes a religion for mankind. One gave thought, the other life. The life of Socrates is known to a few scholars, the life of Jesus is known to millions. The words of Jesus bring strength, comfort, purity, peace; not to students only, but to the ignorant, the lowly, the fallen, the desolate. Why this immense difference in the work of the two teachers? Because the words of the one give an uncertain sound, those of the other a certain sound. One teaches us how to speculate, to conjecture, and to think about the realities of eternity; the other lets us look into the realities themselves, face to face. Striking opinions, noble speculations, came by Socrates, but truth itself came by Jesus Christ. The power--the undying power--of Christianity is that it is everywhere a new revelation of the eternal truth and love of God; that it continually makes souls alive; that it continually renews itself in renewed souls. Therefore it can never grow old, any more than birth, marriage, death, love, can grow old. These have been in the world since the beginning, but they always come as new as at first. And Christianity, appealing ever to new hearts, reforming manners, curing sinners, saving the lost, kindling the soul with faith, hope, and love, is the one certain sound in the world, never vague, never confused. Theology is uncertain; speculation is uncertain; creeds are uncertain; but Christianity is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. (Jas Freeman Clarke.)
The ministerial trumpet giving an uncertain sound
I. The “battle.” In every battle you must suppose two parties. Ever since the fall there always have been two parties. In the first family Cain was on the one side and Abel on the other. And so it was after the flood--it was so in the patriarchial ages, the Mosaical dispensation, and when Christ appeared on the earth, and up to this very moment. Sometimes efforts are made to multiply these divisions--the righteous on the one hand, and the wicked on the other, with different gradations. But the lip of truth says, “He that is not with Me is against Me.” “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” There are but two parties--the people of God and the people against God and with the devil. The two armies are in combat. What constitutes the sorest point is this--they have separate interests, feelings, hopes, ambitions. The grand interest of the people of God is the glory of their Redeemer in the salvation of their souls; the other party are for their own glory. One man belongs to the party because he loves pleasure, another man because he loves power and influence, another because he loves money, another because he is the slave of some lust. But, however these regiments have a little distinction in their facings, they have but one heart, one spirit, one interest!
2. Some people say, “There is no need of a battle. Cannot the irreligious and the people of God go on comfortably and happy, and let each other alone?” No; the people of God must beseech all those who are not His people “to be reconciled to God.” The great commander on one side is Christ, and on the other the devil; but let the hordes of Satan do their best, Christ must conquer.
II. The meaning of the sentence, “if the trumpet give an uncertain sound.” There can be no doubt that the “trumpet” means the gospel ministry. The gospel minister is to warn men lest they peril and eventually ruin their souls, and to press them to secure the eternal happiness which is offered them, drawing the telling conclusion, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” But the blessed trumpet is not only a trumpet of warning, but is a trumpet of welcome to Calvary’s cross, to the fountain for sin and all uncleanness. The trumpet gives an “uncertain sound,” therefore, if it does not state--
1. Man’s entire inability.
2. Completely and fully the work of Christ.
3. The holiness of the gospel.
4. If firings of confessedly minor importance, Church government, discipline, etc., have an undue importance. (H. Allon, D. D.)
The worthlessness of mere sounds, apart from their meaning
The apostle speaks of the lute, the harp, the trumpet. Concerning this last instrument it was most of all important that the meaning of its tones should be understood. For now, just as the trumpet had its special function in pealing forth distinct, definite sounds, so all things in the economy of nature, of human life, and of Christian life, have their precise and exact function, on the right discharge of which vast results--results often comparable to those of a gigantic war--are depending.
I. The principle here indicated. It is not far to seek--
1. In what we may term our a priori argument, concerning a Divinely ordered universe. Since all events are related to each other in the mighty chain of cause and effect, we should expect that the failure of any link would involve disastrous results. There are many voices in nature--every law is a voice--and none of them is without signification. Uncertainty in the sound of any of them would be scarcely less evil than silence. So, too, with every atom and every event, as well as every law.
2. In the history of human affairs. On every hand, in our march along the great highways of time, or our research in its quieter by-ways, we confront instances of the momentousness of a right fulfilment by the man, or the institution, or the nation, of the precise mission devolving on such man, or institution, or nation. An uncertain sound at some given epoch, and the course of all succeeding history, would have been changed.
II. Some practical applications of this principle. It is true in regard--
1. To the discharge of Christian activities. There are multiform methods of philanthropic activity; never so many as to-day. Each one of us has his special adaptation for the use of such methods, just as each method has its peculiar adaptation to some need. If those who are qualified to teach, do not instruct; to console, do not comfort; to contrive, do not organise, who shall? Some tone on the trumpet of truth depends on you. If you refrain, or hesitate, or yield uncertain sounds, who shall prepare for the day of battle?
2. To Christian giving. The gold, the silver, the copper has to be given, each metal, as it were, making its own music. Withhold just what, by claim and capacity, you ought to have given, and there is an uncertain sound, and that uncertain sound means beggary here, discouragement yonder, and hopeless inanition elsewhere. Nay, the very spirit of the giving may make all the difference, for is not the sounding brass and tinkling cymbal--which is gift without love--an uncertain sound?
3. To prayers. Who can tell the mischief of uncertain sounds here in a region where Moses and Elijah were so mighty?
4. Of every life. Each life is trumpet-tongued with the message of truth or error, good or ill. Silence is impossible. Uncertainty is failure, for it misleads and bewilders. Minister, parent, teacher, if your life gives an uncertain sound who shall prepare your people, your family, your class for battle?--the battle for which music prepares, and which will be succeeded by yet nobler and sweeter music. As Bishop Webb says, “You are yourself; none of you are like your fellows. And you are what you are by God’s arrangement, because you have a certain part to play in God’s providence, in the history of the world, and the development of the body of Christ. God the Holy Ghost is brooding over you as the great musician. He can bring out the music that is wanted. He can enable you to furnish some strain that would be lacking in the ears of God if you did not bring it, if you did not strike your string, nor touch your key.” (U. R. Thomas.)
The responsibility of the pulpit
I. Its power.
1. To warn.
2. Arouse.
3. Direct.
4. Encourage.
II. Its inefficiency. No certain sound through want of--
1. Plainness.
2. Clearness.
3. Point.
4. Spiritual power.
III. Diastrous result.
1. None prepares.
2. Destruction comes.
3. The unfaithful watchman must bear the responsibility. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to he understood, how shall it be known what is spokes?--
Plain preaching
I. What it implies.
1. Not vulgarity.
2. But a plain statement of the truth in easy words.
II. Its necessity.
1. Many are very ignorant.
2. Some will not take the trouble to understand what costs them effort.
3. All are more accessible to plain truth.
4. God will have all the glory.
III. Its importance.
1. Souls imperilled.
2. The preacher incurs a tremendous responsibility. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Need of plain preaching
Alady went one day to hear Dr.
preach, and, as usual, carried a pocket Bible with her that shemight turn to any of the passages the preacher might happen to refer to. But she found that she had no use for the Bible then, and on coming away said to a friend, “I should have left my Bible at home to-day, and have brought my dictionary; the doctor does not deal in Scripture, but in such learned words and phrases as require the help of an interpreter to render them intelligible.” (J. C. Gray.)
Simplicity in preaching
Whenever Archbishop Whately came to preach at the chapel of the castle it was observed that a rough private soldier was always in his place, mouth open, as if in sympathy with his ears. Some of the gentlemen playfully took him to task for it, supposing it was due to the usual vulgar admiration of a celebrity. But the man had a better reason, and was aide to give it. He said, “That isn’t it at all. The archbishop is easy to understand; there are no fine words in him. A fellow like me, now, can follow along and take every bit of it in.” (Sir Arthur Helps.)
