One of the rising weaknesses endemic to evangelicalism today is its tendency to shy away from the plain and sometimes offensive presentation of the gospel. The assumption is that men will not be saved if they are turned off by the gospel's strict claims. That is to fail on two counts--the belief that fallen men can be drawn to salvation by persuasion alone, and the presumption against the Spirit's necessary influence in an otherwise impossible situation. In his "Epistle Dedicatory" from The Saints Spiritual Delight, Thomas Watson clarifies his purpose for having written so plainly upon Psalm 1, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord.” In the process, he also poignantly exposes the misguided notion that the Gospel needs to be "dressed up" before it can go out.
For the style of it, it is plain; but truth, when it is in its plainest dress is most comely. The star shines brightest in its native luster. Divinity hath so much intrinsical beauty, that it needs no art of wit or fancy to set it off. Who goes to embroider a pearl, or paint over gold? This would but debase and eclipse it; it is a sign of a wanton Christian to look most at the fringing and garnishing of a truth. I wish it be not the sin of many in this city; they like the dressing but loathe the food. . . . Rhetorical flashes may please the fancies of men, but I much question whether they will not lessen Christ’s spiritual harvest at the end of the world. When men preach rather words than matter, they catch men’s ears, not their souls; they do but court, not convert. If the patient’s wound bleeds, nay rankles [festers], it is better for him to have a deep incision made in the flesh, than to bind it about with silk, or dress it with aromatic ointments [emphasis mine].
Granted, we ministers are not to be intentionally belligerent or obnoxious and thus smart for our own foolishness. Scripture commends the use of gracious words (Col. 4:6). But that very graciousness must not obfuscate the truth. Again,
True it is, ministers ought to clothe the truths they preach in decent expressions, to preserve them from contempt; though they must come in plainness of speech, not in rudeness of speech. But let them take heed, lest, with their affected new-coined phrases, unsuitable to that gravity the apostle speaks of (Titus 2:7), they adulterate and corrupt the simplicity of the word; like some kind of sauces and compounds which take away the natural taste and savor of the meat. . . .
Let us herald the Gospel unashamedly and we will find the Spirit carrying the truth directly to men's heart with all assurance.
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