Relation of the Holy Spirit to Preaching. 57 and warms it with the showers and sunlight of heaven. The physician calls at the bedside of the suffering, carefully examines the character of the disease and its progress, and selects the best remedies, according to his knowledge. But it is because God has so formed the human frame and so fixed the qualities of the remedies that health may be thus regained. God has given to the minister His Word as the sword of the Spirit; has given to him knowledge and skill for its use and sympathy for his congregation. The Holy Spirit shines upon them all, illumining the sacred page, guiding the minister, and inclining the hearts of his congregation to receive the truth; so that, though Paul may plant and Apollos may water, God gives the increase. * Strictly speaking, extempore preaching is impossible. The minister may select a text without having his thoughts specifically arranged, and may depend upon his memory and imagination for the utterances he is about to make. But his power of speech he received in infancy. The words he employs he has used from childhood. If he quotes from Scripture or refers to any incident within his experience or observation, he is using his memory. The extemporaneousness of his speech will be only in the order in which his thoughts are presented, or in such suggestions as at the moment may occur. The office of the Holy Spirit is thus defined by our Saviour: "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." When Christ sent forth His disciples to preach, He gave them their sermon, commanding them: "As ye go, preach, saying: 'The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.'" It was a short sermon, but it stirred the hearts of those who heard it. His further directions were to re-preach the lessons they had heard from Him: "What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops." And in the great commission He directed them to "Teach all nations to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." He thus gave to His disciples the sum and substance of their preaching, which they were careful to remember and faithful to proclaim wherever дтай 58 Preparation for the Pulpit. they went. The Apostle charges Timothy: "Till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all." And again : "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words." The preparation for the pulpit may be direct or indirect. The direct preparation applies to the arrangement of the materials which may be already on hand. The indirect, to the accumulation of materials which shall be held in reserve and ready for use whenever necessary. This indirect preparation will now be considered. "Preach the Word," was the emphatic injunction uttered by St. Paul among his last words. If preaching be the declaration of a message based upon God's Word, that Word is the only thing which we should preach. We are informed that "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Timothy is congratulated: "From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." That sublime passage of the psalmist commencing with "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul," sets forth the value of the Word, in most beautiful language. And Jesus says: "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” That the minister may successfully preach the Word, he must study it diligently. He must not read it merely for his personal profit, to which reference was made in a former lecture; but that he may be able to explain it clearly to others, and draw from it such lessons as may be for their instruction and spiritual profit. For this purpose he must not only read consecutively and thoroughly. He must so study each separate book as to become fully endued with the spirit of the writer; he must study the age in which he lived and the people for whom he more especially wrote, together with the attendant circumstances which gave significance and force to the words. The relation of each part to the whole and as embraced in the whole should be so considered that the unity of the Scriptures may be more fully comprehended. It has a unity extending through the ages; made up of many parts; proceeding from the pens of many writers; yet so beautifully blended in its various hues as to make one bright, brilliant light to shine upon men both in time and eternity. For its clear elucidation Scripture must be compared with Scripture, and the helps of competent writers and commentators must also be used. Works illustrating the manners and customs of the several ages, the historic connection between the Israelites and the surrounding nations, the geography and topography of the Holy Land will also be of immense service to the Biblical student. I shall not detain you by alluding to specific points, or by attempting a comparison of the relative value of the studies that you are called to pursue under the instruction of your able and honoured professors. I would earnestly recommend, however, that your chief attention be given to the Word itself -to the illustration of Scripture by Scripture. The Bible should be so studied that it shall be at the command of the preacher at all times. Whatever else he may know or may not know, he must, in order to be successful, have a ready knowledge of sacred language. In it he will find the foundation for his best arguments, his most pointed lessons, as well as his finest illustrations. Its poetry is beautiful, its imagery sublime; but its great value is that it is Truth, stated by the Lord Himself in such form and manner as will best reach the human conscience. The preacher who quotes much from the Bible has not only in the estimation of his hearers the authority, "Thus saith the Lord," but there is also a divine unseen power so joined to those words that they cannot be uttered without effect. Words of men, however forcible and however beautiful they may be, are but words; but the Word of the Lord, revealed to men and for men, has connected with it a divine power beyond the words them 792 60 selves. The Word of the Lord. How this is I may not be able to tell; but we have illustrations throughout the Holy Scriptures. When the Israelites stood at the Red Sea, there was no power in the words of Moses more than in ordinary words; yet because God directed him to utter them the waters were parted, the dry land appeared, and the people passed over. When Elisha, with the mantle of Elijah, smote the Jordan, the cloth of the mantle was like other cloth, and Elisha's arm was no stronger than the arm of another; yet the smitten river opened a pathway, and Elisha went over. When Jesus spoke to the winds and the waves, I suppose there was nothing remarkable in His tone or manner, yet the elements obeyed, for they felt the voice of God. You remember how the seventy came back after Jesus had sent them forth to preach, and informed Him with joy that even the devils were subject unto them through His name. I suppose they were amazed when they found the words which they uttered accompanied or followed by such glorious results. It was because the words they spoke were the words which Christ gave them. So those words from your lips will be the "power of God unto salvation." You will find also that ministers the most eminent for usefulness have been the closest students of the Divine Word. Some of them knew but little else. Take Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," that wonderful work which has probably had a hundred readers where the greatest sermon that the most eloquent preacher ever uttered has but one. We have the sermons of South, Barrow, Calvin, Luther, Wesley, and Edwards in our libraries and among our standard works; but they are read and studied only by a few, while the words of the humble tinker are in almost every cottage, and have brought comfort and peace to many a troubled soul. The secret is, he used God's words more than his own. One of the highest dignitaries of the Church of England is reported to have said: "The Bible and Shakespeare made me Archbishop of York." Let me caution you against underrating any portion of the Holy Scriptures. The Psalms are full of promise and comfort; Value of the Old Testament. 61 the Gospels and Epistles are rich and instructive; but they * |