What thinkest thou, O my soul, of that doctrine that lays aside this power of the Spirit, and makes moral suasion all that is requisite to the fishing of men? That doctrine is hateful to thee. My soul loaths it, as attributing too much to the preacher, and too much to corrupt nature in taking away its natural impotency to good, and as against the work of God's Spirit, contrary to experience; and is to me a sign of the rottenness of the heart that embraces it. Alas! that it should be owned by any among us, where so much of the Spirit's power has been felt.
Thomas Boston, The Art of Manfishing (Joseph Kreifels).
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 2:2-5
Is there not a fine line between dependence on the Spirit and the moral suasion of which Boston speaks?
Preachers who are rightly concerned to be clear and effective communicators can easily and sometimes unintentionally cross the line into moral suasion. How much we need to guard ourselves against confidence in our rhetoric, or in our study and organization of the message.
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