Preamble

“ And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
And we, brethren, when we came unto you, came with excellency of speech, and with the wisdom and learning of man; and our speech and our preaching were with enticing words of man's wisdom, not in demonstration of the Spirit and power, for that is done away; that your faith should not stand in the power of God, but in the wisdom of man. ”

“ Those who infuse into their speech the spirit and strength of the Word of God speak, "not in words only, but in power also, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much fulness." Hence those preachers are foolish and improvident who, in preaching religion and proclaiming the precepts of God, use no words but those of human science and human prudence, trusting to their own reasonings rather than to those that are divine. ”

“ The preacher’s license is to the ‘end o’ the warld.’ The Word o’ the Lord must be gien to men, as long as men people the earth.”
“Vera weel! The Word o’ the Lord is in everybody’s hands the now; and everyone is being taught to read it. Maist folk can read it as weel as the minister.”
“The Word must be made flesh! Nae book can tak’ the place o’ the face-to-face argument. Preaching will last as long as men live.” ”

“ And what is more than speech, even that which goes to the heart, is the action by which Thou, Lord, hast proved Thy speech. Thy life has given Thee the right to speak of what Thou givest as Thy peace. ”

“ This great and perpetual office of the preacher is not discharged. Preaching is the expression of the moral sentiment in application to the duties of life. In how many churches, by how many prophets, tell me, is man made sensible that he is an infinite Soul; that the earth and heavens are passing into his mind; that he is drinking forever the soul of God? ”

“ And I said to him, "Sir, a book is nothing else but a thing coupled together of diverse creatures [created things] ; and to swear by any creature, both GOD's Law and man's law is against. But, Sir, this thing I say here to you, before these your Clerks, with my foresaid Protestation, that how, where, when, and to whom, men are bounden to swear or to obey, in any wise, after GOD's Laws, and Saints and good Doctors according with GOD's Law; I will, through GOD's grace, be ever ready thereto, with all my cunning and power! ”

“ And is there a topic in the whole compass of oratory, is there an argument amidst all the stores of reason, so admirably calculated to touch the finest movements of the soul? to strike all the inmost springs of action, with the most persuasive, the most commanding energy?— Would we alarm the supine, or intimidate the presumptuous? we may call them to behold God’s own Son weltering in blood. ”

“ One might easily gather from his way of preaching, how sensible he was of a mistake in many preachers, who content themselves, supposing there be but demonstration in their sermons, that they have spoken things which cannot be gainsay’d. Whereas if there be nothing more than clearness of demonstration, it may indeed be said to the preacher, thou preachest well; but what then? Who are quickened in their pursuit of God and heaven? Who hates his sins? Or who loves God the more for your discourse? ”

“ Has it been generous, so as not to be ashamed of the doctrine of thy heavenly Master, or the maxims of his gospel? Has it shewed itself in thy actions? Or hast thou not been of the number of those whose life gives the lie to their faith? ”

“ See how the sin of falsehood and deception runs riot there! How does the Lord look down and behold his Commandment broken every hour! We may judge what an age we live in, when truth, the guardian and preserver of all that is good and pure, is so little regarded. ”

“ Behold the reflections which ought to occupy your faith; and, when you enter the assembly of believers, you ought, while trembling over the past, to demand of yourself, — am I going to hear a word which shall judge me, or truths which shall deliver me? ”

“ Our Lord then teaches by proverbs. In emphasizing one principle He expresses it as an absolute direction in an extreme instance: “If a man will take thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.” In emphasizing another principle He expresses it in a similar form: “If thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault” and follow the matter up to its extreme consequences.
And every one must recognize that the right application of each proverb depends on the question, What is the particular principle which at a particular moment is to be brought into play? ”

“ The New Testament idea of preaching involves three elements—the announcement of joyful tidings; the proclamation of truth as by a herald, urgently and authoritatively; and the conviction and persuasion of men to belief by means of arguments. The preacher is the ambassador of God, and the message must be delivered as coming from Him, in His name, and by His authority.
2. Admonitory.—“Warning every man” (ver. 28) . Sin has placed man in imminent peril, and its tendency is to deaden his sensibilities and render him oblivious of his danger. ”

“ There are men in these times, who by custom, mere habit, indifferently float along with the current to the place of worship, and sit, lean down, lie down, or lounge in an audience before a preacher, who seem to say, by every motion, every cuticle of the face, expression of the countenance and move of the eye, in thunder tones, to the discerning preacher, I do not care what you say—whether your doctrine is true or false. ”

“ And just as it is necessary to expound, or to express in human language the Divine truth contained in the Word, in order that it may be received by the hearer,—so is it of service to expound, as it were, or simplify, by expressing in human language, the truth and good comprehended in the Lord's Prayer, in order to reach and stir up to devotion both our own spirits and those of our fellow-worshipers. ”

“ Is it not manifest that the ultimate secret of true preaching—the preaching which begets worship and mediates a Presence and wields converting power—is something quite apart from any rules of logical structure or artistic form? ”

“ Let it be supposed that the subject of discourse is that one which, of all others, should be the most solemnly affecting to those who admit the truth of Christianity—the awful process of the last judgment. ”

“ If we had considered the preacher as sincere in a belief of his own denunciations, or only moderately actuated by kind feeling in the exercise of his assumed powers, we should have immediately addressed ourselves to him, and endeavoured with our best arguments to soften and humanize his views. ”

“ On these two parables we may remark: -
1. That a preacher is a person employed by God, and sent out to sow the good seed of his kingdom in the souls of men.
2. That it is a sin against God to stay in the field and not sow.
3. That it is a sin to pretend to sow, when a man is not furnished by the keeper of the granary with any more seed. ”

“ In an old book of morals we find the precept, "In relating anything extraordinary it is better, in case of doubt, to be within rather than beyond the line of fact"—a somewhat half-hearted precept this! ”

“ This is the way to convey truth in its light and power, and to overcome evil with good, Rom. xii. 21. 3. That which ministers must have in their eyes, in instructing those who oppose themselves, must be their recovery: If God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Observe, (1.) Repentance is God's gift. (2.) It is a gift with a peradventure in the case of those who oppose themselves; and therefore, though we are not to despair of the grace of God, yet we must take heed of presuming upon it. To the acknowledging of the truth. ”

“ Arrived at the pulpit, he declares to his audience the plain truth, word for word, as it stands in the Gospel: in the presence of God, all intellectual pretensions are called upon to be silent; the very reason ceases to be reasonable; nor is anything reasonable in the sight of God but a sincere and upright heart. ”

“ They all came early in the morning, flocking to the temple, like doves to their windows, to hear him, though the chief priests and scribes did all they could to prejudice them against him. Sometimes the taste and relish which serious, honest, plain people have of good preaching are more to be valued and judged by than the opinion of the witty and learned, and those in authority. ”

“ And next, from this affirmed, that every one may be so certain in all Fundamentals, it must be maintained also, that their spiritual Guides, in a conjunction of them, nay more, every single Prelate, or Presbyter, if they are not, yet may be, an infallible Guide to the people in all Points necessary. ”

“ Is it so certain that the preaching comes before the reading? Human words, when they are best, give the forms of what truth the speakers see, but the brightest forms have neither the lustre nor the grace of the forms of the Spirit. ”

“ The preacher will, in this way, have the boldness to say many things which ought to be said, but about which, in his study, he would feel reluctant and timid. And granting that he might be led to say some things improperly, yet if his mind be well disciplined, and well governed, and his discretion habitual, he will do it exceedingly seldom; while no one, who estimates the object of preaching as highly as he should, will think an occasional false step any objection against that mode which ensures upon the whole the greatest boldness and earnestness. ”

“ Let us preach righteousness, and practise it. I do not wish to preach what I do not practise. If I wish to preach to others wholesome doctrine, let me practise it myself—show that example to others I wish them to imitate. ”

“ I like a man to preach to my intellect.” Or, “He appeals too much to the will; he does not give enough prominence to the doctrine of election.” Or, again, “There is no backbone in his preaching; he does not lay sufficient stress on doctrine.” ”

“ It is certain that this is achieved with great success. The clearness of the preacher’s thoughts, and equal clearness and felicity of his language, make one feel as though sitting in the calm light of intellect, reflected from every point of the compass. ”

“ By a like habitual and vigilant attention, the preacher will find scarce any thing but may be made to minister to his great design, by either giving rise to some new train of thought, or suggesting an argument, or placing some truth in a new light, or furnishing some useful illustration. Thus none of his reading will be lost; every poem and play, every treatise on science, and speculation in philosophy, and even every ephemeral tale may be made to give hints toward the better management of sermons and the more effectual proposing and communicating of truth. ”

“ But precept is of little avail if not backed by a good example; the words and the deeds of such a man are as ill-matched as those of a cripple who has one sound and useful limb, but whose other is shrunken and useless. ”

“ I have written at some length against the survival of the lawyer’s and politician’s arts of Persuasion, and of the priestly arts of Exhortation and Denunciation, both sets of them intended to influence men to think, feel and act differently from how they would otherwise do, but in compliance with the persuasive person’s wishes. ”

“ Our Lord has given to the preacher of His Word, a help which is not to be found elsewhere. The commonest truths, in the mouth of the preacher, have a strength and unction which can alone move and convert the most hardened heart.
In what disposition do you come to hear the Word of God? ”

“ God's truth is set forth in sermons, and shewn in the preacher's life: with rather less exactness, but with sufficient truth, and with admirable suggestion, we may say that God's truth is set forth in the good life of a preacher, and shewn in his sermons. ”

“ In all cases the Christian must prefer to suffer wrong rather than to do it.
IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. This commandment, converted from the negative—the prohibition of wilful slander—to the positive, becomes an injunction to make the law of love the motive of all our speech, with as tender a regard to others’ reputation as to our own. We may have to speak painful truth against others, to rebuke, to accuse, to punish, etc., but the motive of all speech is to be a deliberate good will. ”

“ Much more he said which I will not try to repeat—about the little crosses of every day, the thwarting of our plans, the fault-findings and injustice of those we are trying our best to save, and other such like trials, which might all be turned—so said the preacher—from curses to crosses, if only met in the right spirit. ”

“ The discourses are vital, bright, interesting and helpful. It makes a preacher feel like preaching once more on this exhaustless parable, and will prove helpful to all young people—and elder ones, too. ”

“ Now, what the Lord said in general of all the precepts of the law, that we have no occasion to seek beyond ourselves for the knowledge of them, but that they may be all accomplished in our heart and in our mouth, may more particularly be said of the precept of prayer, which is, as if the first and the most essential of all. ”

“ These things were by God instituted, and proposed to us for purposes quite different; to compose our hearts, and settle our fancies in a most serious frame; to breed inward satisfaction, and joy purely spiritual; to exercise our most solemn thoughts, and employ our gravest discourses: all our speech therefore about them should be wholesome, apt to afford good instruction, or to excite good affections ”

“ If it be speech unmeet for the hearing of a grave and reverend man, will you speak it before God? Will you speak wantonly, or filthily, or foolishly, or maliciously, when God forbiddeth it, and when he is present and heareth every word, and when you must certainly give account to him of all? ”