The Lecture proper is only one part of the public meeting at which it is given, and there are other issues not primarily the lecturer's concern. Yet they are so closely bound up with the success of our ministry, that they cannot be neglected in a work on preaching. The lecture must not only be given, but it must be arranged, presided over, and supported.

The chapter title covers both those who arrange and attend, and him who presides. " The preacher's platform and audience " means, in the first place, the president and the other members present (or avoidably absent); in the second, " The preacher's platform " means the place at which the preaching is done. The first is a matter, which concerns each one of us individually; the second is a problem of organization and policy which concerns the ecclesia as a body.

THE AUDIENCE
For our purpose, this concerns all who could be present at the meeting, whether they are or not, and it begins by suggesting reasons, for those who cannot themselves see sufficient, why their attendance is required. We well recognize that by no means the greatest work in bringing men and women to the Way of Life is wrought in public, and are under no temptation to exaggerate its importance. The public lecture may be the means of first introduction, or it may not, and in any case, our eventual brother or sister is not converted by lectures. That which is openly preached must be privately understood, and he who makes our faith his own either does so privately until he comes to announce his conviction to the ecclesia and seek baptism and fellowship, or (more often) he is helped in his learning by the ready ministration of one of us at home. Always, the source of his knowledge is the Word; always he must receive it for himself, and himself confess his faith. Usually, nevertheless, he is brought near by the service of those who privately lead him; but in none of these has the lecturer as such any power.

Yet the lecture service is vital. Altogether apart from what the preacher himself has to say, the meeting plays a part which, in our day, has no easy alternative. When the stranger is learning of Christ, he will either know already that the Christadelphians meet week by week at the Christadelphian Hall (or the Co-operative assembly rooms, or the Bluebird Caf;), for the proclamation of the Truth, or he will quickly find out. " Who are they who hold this faith? " he will ask in effect, " Where do they meet, and in what manner do they proclaim their gospel? " Sooner or later, if he pursues his search, he will come to the ecclesia to join its number, and his earlier acquaintance will have its influence on his decision, and its very profound effect on his future life. He learns the Truth in his personal enlightenment, and makes it his own by his own obedience; but he knows us as prospective brethren in truth only from seeing and hearing as we meet to proclaim it.

This he does at our lectures. At these alone can he know, not only that a certain faith is true, but that it is the authentic teaching of Christadelphians. Our regular meetings constitute for him the Church in the place where he attends.

This is one big reason why, in the happy times when many came in to listen, and in the leaner times when there are few, we held and hold our lectures. That is why we will scrutinize very carefully any reason we have to offer for non-attendance, often or only occasionally. The enquiring visitor will soon find out what proportion of our number they are who say and do not. He will be quick to appreciate the differences in numbers between those who turn out to pay their respects to a far-famed visiting speaker, and those who punctuate the vacant rows when the hard-worked and familiar local lecturer takes his frequent place. He will sense readily enough the difference between a burning enthusiasm and apathy close to boredom, and he can recognize a yawn or a snore better than they who sleep.

He will see, at such a meeting, what he takes to be the ecclesia, and as he sees he will judge. With half an audience there, he will know how lightly we hold our treasure; with a lecture ill-prepared and colourless, damped by the limp listlessness of those who do come, chilled by the indifference of those who do not, he will marvel that so glorious a hope can call forth so desolate a response. By contrast, with a hall well filled to the available numbers of the ecclesia, and a lecturer bright and confident with a well-apprehended, vigorous message, and cheered with the encouragement he draws from his brethren whose hearts are with him, he will see that we believe what we know, and rejoice in what we believe. We set before him a standard of values upon which his own will be formed. If we prize our pearl lightly, he will think it cheap also, and perhaps not worth the buying. If we show that it is above our chief joy, he also may be brought to desire it.

We who listen are watchmen also. If we show that we appreciate the warning the speaker gives, the stranger will be alert. If we sleep while he proclaims, the stranger will see no need for wakefulness. God, who has committed to us all the ministry of reconciliation, will hold us all accountable, for praise or rebuke, for the humblest discharge of that duty.

These things will also govern our behaviour when we come. Our purpose, let us always remember, is to worship God in proclaiming His Word, and to let our good conversation appear in the sight of the men there present. But to see our " conversation" in the New Testament meaning of that word, he will need not to hear our " conversation " as we now use the word, during the meeting proper. Our " manner of life " should include silence at the right time. This is true throughout the meeting, and before and after, on any subject other than the matter in hand; it is true during the meeting on any subject whatever. When the president reads the words of the opening hymn, he is reading the terms on which we propose to praise God, or ask His blessing, and we are seriously to be blamed if we prefer on such occasions to engage our neighbour in trivialities, or avoidably to arrive or depart. And when the speaker is speaking, we cannot add. to his message, whatever we say, though we may easily distract attention from it.

We can learn from those we teach. There are those who enter our lecture-halls and bend their heads silently for a moment before waiting for the meeting to begin. From a commendable desire to dispense with appearances, which may belie the state of our hearts, we have not imitated that custom. Yet we can copy its spirit with the utmost sincerity and with great propriety, and to be devoutly and gravely silent as we come to the service will remove occasion from the adversary, and perplexity from the friend.

There is occasion after the lecture for speaking. Those with the first claim on our words are those for whom we attend, and we can now continue our preaching to the visitors present where the lecturer has stopped. It is a fleeting occasion not to be lost, and not until it is used to the full can we blamelessly talk among ourselves. Even then, our talk will be blameless, only so long as the passing stranger could see no cause to blame it. He must not be able to wonder that the priceless truth in Jesus can be so readily and eagerly exchanged for discussion of clothing, and eating and drinking, or buying and selling and getting gain. On such occasions, as always when there is no restraint, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh; 2 our freedom after the formality of the meeting shows what we are more truly than the constrained reverence which went before, and the stranger must be able to praise God also for that with which our heart overflows.