Section 2 of Lischer's book focuses on the preacher's character and nature. In this section we are treated to eight essays/sermons/lectures on the desired nature of the preacher. This time we hear from John Chrysostom (347-407), George Herbert (1593-1633, this guy is one of my favorites), Richard Baxter (1615-1691), Jarena Lee (1783-1850), Horace Bushnell (1802-1876), Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874), PT Forsyth (1848-1921), Gardner C. Taylor (still living, as far as I know).I'll keep this review short! They all touched on the need for humility, but each touched on it in his or her own way. The two women, Phoebe and Jarena, give a good account of their calls to preach when those around them were unsure that women should preach. Jarena Lee became the first female evangelist in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She was not just battling the idea that women could not be preachers, she preached to some people who believed Black people did not even have souls (talk about a rough crowd!). Phoebe Palmer was an American Methodist evangelist and spiritual leader.
I think my favorite line in this section comes from Horace Bushnell who laments that every little church around thinks they deserve a great preacher and that these churches "are not as much baffled commonly in the matter of salvation itself as in finding just the minister that is worthy of them." He goes on to say about these churches, "Nay, there is, I fear, a silent scolding of Providence that so few [great preachers] are born."
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