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(J.C. Ryle)
"John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by
him: You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath! Produce
fruit in keeping with repentance!" Luke 3:7-8
Well would it be for the Church of Christ, if it possessed
more plain-speaking ministers like John the Baptist.
A morbid dislike to
strong language;
an excessive fear of
giving offence;
a constant flinching
from directness and plain speaking--
are, unhappily, too much the characteristics of the modern
Christian pulpit!
Uncharitable language is no doubt always to be deprecated.
But there is no 'charity' in flattering unconverted people--by abstaining from
any mention of their vices, or in applying smooth names to their damnable sins!
There are two texts which are too much forgotten by
Christian preachers. In one it is written, "Woe unto you--when all men
shall speak well of you!" (Luke 6:26)
In the other it is written, "Obviously, I'm not trying
to be a people pleaser! No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to
please people--I would not be Christ's servant." (Galatians 1:10)
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