How serious of an issue is sermon plagiarism?

To talk about Him from what others say is to misrepresent Him, and to damage the soul of the speaker; to trade with what others write is dishonesty; to take the place of an "ambassador," without being long in HIS company, is to be false to the One you assume to represent.

This is peculiarly solemn, and demands the grave consideration of all who are called to open their lips in the midst of God's people. It is one thing to utter a certain amount of true sentiment, and quite another to be the living channel of communication between the very heart of God and the souls of God's people. It is this latter, and this alone, that constitutes true ministry. A man who speaks according to this most excellent principle will so affect the hearts and consciences of his hearers that each one will feel tempted to think that some one has been telling tales to the speaker, and revealing to him the very feelings of his own heart. In short, a man who speaks as an oracle of God will bring the conscience of the hearer so into the very light of the Divine presence, that every chamber of the heart is laid open, and every moral spring touched. This is true ministry. All else is powerless, valueless, fruitless. Nothing is more deplorable and humiliating than to listen to a man who is evidently drawing from his own poor and scanty resources, or trafficking in second-hand truth, in borrowed thoughts. Better far for such to be silent — better for their hearers, better for themselves. Nor this only. We may often hear a man giving forth to his fellows that on which his own mind has been dwelling in private with much interest and profit. He may utter truth, and important truth; but it is not the truth for the souls of the people — the truth for the moment. He has spoken according to Scripture, so far as his matter is concerned; but he has not spoken as an oracle of God.

What a word is this for those of us who preach the Gospel! Are we rightly affected by the awful solemnity of preaching the Word of God? Have we renounced every "hidden thing," whether of dishonesty, craft, deceit, or anything else unworthy? Do we make manifest the truth, and only the truth? These are tremendous questions. If we do not, the unbelief of our hearers may not be attributable to their blindness, but to our unfaithfulness.

It is a good thing to dwell upon the joy and the blessing, for these are great, “ The faithful man shall abound with blessings ” (Prov. 28:20), but warnings are also needed, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall, ” “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.” Paul preached with power, and the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance, but he never could have done it, if he could not have added, “Ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes.” So we read in his letter to the Thessalonians. He followed the Lord in his living; he was like his Master. The man who carries the Master's message and yet falsifies it by his life is a false witness, and “ a false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish ” (Prov. 19:9). “No man, ” said a wise old puritan, “preaches his sermon well to others if he doth not first preach it to himself.” And certainly no man affects others by the truth he speaks except as he has been affected by it himself. “Who is sufficient for these things?” “Our sufficiency is of God, ” and if any man thinks himself able for this service of preaching the word apart from dependence upon God, he is surely heading for a fall as great and terrible as that of Simon Peter's.

It is a good thing to dwell upon the joy and the blessing, for these are great, "The faithful man shall abound with blessings" (Prov. 28:20), but warnings are also needed, "Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall, " "Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint." Paul preached with power, and the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance, but he never could have done it, if he could not have added, "Ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes." So we read in his letter to the Thessalonians. He followed the Lord in his living; he was like his Master. The man who carries the Master's message and yet falsifies it by his life is a false witness, and "a false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaks lies shall perish" (Prov. 19:9). "No man," said a wise old puritan, "preaches his sermon well to others if he does not first preach it to himself." And certainly no man affects others by the truth he speaks except as he has been affected by it himself. "Who is sufficient for these things?" "Our sufficiency is of God," and if any man thinks himself able for this service of preaching the word apart from dependence upon God, he is surely heading for a fall as great and terrible as that of Simon Peter's.

How the beloved Apostle John could write in the 3rd Epistle that he rejoiced exceedingly when the brethren came and bore testimony to Gaius holding fast the truth and that he had NO greater joy than to hear of his children walking in the truth. But in these days alas! how many have become vendors of other men's thoughts, instead of drinking at the fountain head they drink at the streams of opinion: they lose originality, simplicity and power and become the merest copyists, if not miserable caricatures. Instead of giving forth those "rivers of living water" they drop into the barren technicalities and out of mere systematised control of thought.

But, instead of going on with God, they allowed themselves to get under human influence; they got truth second-hand, and became the vendors of other men's thoughts; instead of drinking at the fountain head, they drank at the streams of human opinion; they lost originality, simplicity, freshness, and power, and became the merest copyists, if not miserable caricatures. Instead of giving forth those "rivers of living water" which flow from the true believer in Jesus, they dropped into the barren technicalities and cut and dry common-places of mere systematised religion.

To take oath that I sincerely assent and consent to a doctrine which I do not believe, would to my conscience appear little short of perjury, if not absolute downright perjury; but those who do so must be judged by their own Lord. For me to take money for defending what I do not believe, for me to take the money of a Church, and then to preach against what are most evidently its doctrines say, for me to do this (I judge others as I would that they should judge me) for me, or for any other simple, honest man to do so, were an atrocity so great, that if I had perpetrated the deed, I should consider myself out of the pale of truthfulness, honesty, and common morality.

Sirs, when I accepted the office of minister of this congregation, I looked to see what were your articles of faith; if I had not believed them I should not have accepted your call, and when I change my opinions, rest assured that as an honest man I shall resign the office, for how could I profess one thing in your declaration of faith, and quite another thing in my own preaching? Would I accept your pay, and then stand up [.] and talk against the doctrines of your standards?

[The foregoing statement is printed as explanatory of the circumstances. Every unbiassed reader will see that it is no real justification. If a christian writer does not reserve his legal rights, this leaves it open to any one to translate but not to mutilate. I do not agree with "B.," that this is a question of acting graciously or not, but rather a plain moral wrong. Even a worldly person of upright mind ought to feel the impropriety of such mutilation without leave first obtained on good and candid and christian grounds. A money compensation might suit the world but hardly a Christian: the publisher did right to refuse.

The following pages lay no claim to originality in the strict sense of that word. The Author has read with attention much that has been written on prophetic subjects by others; and he has never hesitated to avail himself of any sentiment which has commended itself to him as in accordance with the word of God. How much he is indebted thus to some who have preceded him, it would be impossible for him to determine. Some subjects discussed in this volume he is not aware of having seen similarly treated in any previous work; but as to these, as well as all else that the volume contains, he would have it understood that he has given expression to nothing (unless presented as a mere suggestion) which has not been judged by him, on comparison with the alone test of truth, to be the doctrine of God's blessed book. The reader is intreated rigidly to subject all that these pages contain to the same test.