William Fristoe On Preaching To Emotion

Elder William Fristoe, one of the first leaders of the Ketocton Association of Baptists, in his history of the churches of Virginia and of her oldest Association, wrote:

"It is a matter understood by us, that the great Creator endowed rational creatures with noble passions, and made them capable of sorrow, joy, love, hatred, desire, etc. and proper use of those passions ought to be exercised, when under the ministry of the gospel, or employed in divine contemplation, or otherwise; the understanding is enlightened and spiritual ideas possessed; it is no wonder the passions are raised while the heart glows with love to God and Christ, and everything sacred and divine; at such a time the conversation will be lively, and divine subjects will be conversed on intelligibly and with good sense; songs of praise will be offered up with true devotion, and an aspiring after perfection and the complete enjoyment of God; such a frame fits man to live or die. But for the passions to be overwhelmed by sound, and fabulous reports, by clash and noise, to the confounding of reason where the understanding remains uninformed and the person so exercised quite unable to give any rational account of himself, what discovery he had more than at other times, or why it was that he was wrought upon, is a great abuse of the passions, and although it may be a momentary satisfaction to seducers, to obtain such ascendency over their hearers, the consequence has often been very dreadful, and injurious to the souls of men; it is an invariable rule with many of us, to appeal to the scriptures for precedent or example, both in preaching and worship; for all is darkness, error, and confusion that stands opposed to the law and testimony."

I found, during my years with the "Primitive Baptists" that many of their preachers were able to stir the emotions of their hearers to a level where there were lots of tears, shouting, and laughing, and some of this was holy, as Fristoe points out, and the result of being moved by truth being received by the mind; however, too much preaching is geared to stirring the emotions without any real instruction in the things of God. Some preachers become skilled in how to stir the emotions and they do it because they know that stirring emotions is the sure way to gain popularity and a following with their brotherhood. Let us be sober.