Chapter 8 - Preacher, Save Thyself 15th. Being called of God to the work, make your calling your constant argument with God for all that you need for the accomplishment of the work.
16th. Be diligent and laborious, "in season and out of season."
17th. Converse much with all classes of your hearers on the question of their salvation, that you may understand their opinions, errors, and wants. Ascertain their prejudices, ignorance, temper, habits, and whatever you need to know to adapt your instruction to their necessities.
18th. See that your own habits are in all respects correct; that you are temperate in all things—free from the stain or smell of tobacco, alcohol, drugs, or anything of which you have reason to be ashamed, and which may stumble others.
19th. Be not "light-minded," but "set the Lord always before you."
20th. Bridle your tongue, and be not given to idle and unprofitable conversation.
21st. Always let your people see that you are in solemn earnest with them, both in the pulpit and out of it; and let not your daily intercourse with them nullify your serious teaching on the Sabbath.
22nd. Resolve to "know nothing" among your people "save Jesus Christ and Him crucified"; and let them understand that, as an ambassador of Christ, your business with them relates wholly to the salvation of their souls.
23rd. Be sure to teach them as well by example as by precept. Practise yourself what you preach.
24th. Be especially guarded in your intercourse with women, to raise no thought or suspicion of the least impurity in yourself.
25th. Guard your weak points. If naturally tending to gaiety and trifling, watch against occasions of failure in this direction.
26th. If naturally sombre and unsocial, guard against moroseness and unsociability.
27th. Avoid all affectation and sham in all things. Be what you profess to be, and you will have no temptation to "make believe."
28th. Let simplicity, sincerity, and Christian propriety stamp your whole life.
29th. Spend much time every day and night in prayer and direct communion with God.
This will make you a power for salvation. No amount of learning and study can compensate for the loss of this communion. If you fail to maintain communion with God, you are "weak as another man."
30th. Beware of the error that there are no means of regeneration, and, consequently, no connection of means and ends in the regeneration of souls.
31st. Understand that regeneration is a moral, and therefore a voluntary change.
32nd. Understand that the gospel is adapted to change the hearts of men, and in a wise presentation of it you may expect the efficient co-operation of the Holy Spirit.