Iii.—Special Prayer.
CHAPTER II. PREPARATION FOR THE PULPIT.
How honourable was the spirit of “the man after God’s own heart,” who could not endure the thought of offering unto the Lord his God “of that which did cost him nothing:” 799 and who, in contemplating the greatness of the work, and the majesty of his God, “prepared with all his might for the house of his God!” 800 Nor did
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his illustrious son devote less preparation of heart and consecration of service to the building of the spiritual temple, than to that magnificent material temple, which was the glory of his nation, and the wonder of the world. To the one he devoted all the treasures of his kingdom; to the other, all the riches of his mind—“large and exceeding much, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore.” 801 “Because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; indeed, he gave good heed, and sought out and set in order many proverbs.” 802 His whole soul was engaged in the discovery of the best mode, as well as the best substance, of instruction; that his thoughts might be clothed in language worthy of the great subject and its Divine Author. He evidently considered the advantages of “study “to overbalance its “weariness to the flesh;” and “the words of this wisest “of men—the fruit of labour and study were as “goads” to quicken the slothful. They not only gained the ears, and moved the affections; but they fixed upon the memory, conscience, and judgment, “as nails fastened by the master of assemblies.” 803
It well becomes us to follow such an example of devoted preparation for public instruction. For indeed, to maintain a constant recollection of the specific necessities of our people; to decide on the most suitable course of Scriptural doctrine, exhortation, and comfort; to select the most appropriate vehicles for presenting the truth—these are exercises of laborious and persevering diligence. Yet with some, confidence supplies the place of premeditation. A Bible and Concordance, with a few sermon-notes, or even the impulse of the moment, with the gift of tolerable fluency—these are thought a sufficient warrant to stand up in the name of the great God. But what is solid, will alone be permanent. No powers of imagination, natural eloquence, or vehement excitement, can compensate for the lack of substantial matter. The “pastors according to God’s heart will feed the people with knowledge and understanding” 804 But unless there is a gathering that is proportionate to the expenditure, there can be no store of “knowledge and understanding” for distribution to the people.
Preachers of this stamp are known by their general lack of variety.
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It is substantially not only (what it always ought to be) the same doctrine, but nearly the same sermon. If a new text may be expected, yet it is the repetition of the same thoughts, attenuated with regular but most wearisome uniformity—semper eadem.805 They are “householders,” but without a “treasure.” The “old” indeed they can readily “bring forth;” but where is “the new?” 806 This poverty of thought cannot be justly charged to their resources. For there is no characteristic of Scripture more striking than the diversified aspects and relations in which it presents the same truths, fraught with fresh interest and important instruction. These monotonous exercises, even upon the highest of all subjects, are powerless to impress. Either this sterile sameness spreads a torpor over the congregation; or else the more intelligent part of them will give vent to their dissatisfaction.807
It is indeed a “neglect of the gift of God that is in us,” to trifle either in the study or in the pulpit. God will bless our endeavours—not our idleness. Our Master, and our people for our Master’s sake, have a just claim to our best time and talents, our most matured thoughts, and most careful studies. To venture upon this infinite work of God with slender furnishing, proves there is a guilty unconcern with our high responsibility. Admitting that some gifted Ministers may preach effectively without study; yet reverence for our Master’s name, and a due consideration of the dignity and solemn business of the pulpit, might well serve to repress a rash and undigested
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exercise of this holy function. How unequal to the exigency is the gathering of a few abstract and unconnected truths, without weighing the most forcible modes of application to the consciences and varied circumstances of our people! 808 The Scriptural model gives no countenance to loose statements—the result only of inexcusable indolence. The diligence of faith will always meet with acceptance; wilful neglect with the merited recompence of our presumption.
The style, arrangement, and substance of the sermons of the most eminent preachers, prove their diligence in pulpit preparation. President Edwards’ high reputation as a preacher arose from his great pains in composition, especially in his early Ministry.809 Philip Henry latterly would say—‘that he might now take a greater liberty to talk, as he called it, in the pulpit—that is, to speak familiarly to the people. Yet to the last he did not abate in his ‘preparation for the pulpit’ 810—like the royal preacher in Jerusalem, who in the decline of life “still taught the people knowledge.” 811 It is, however, still more important to cultivate a spiritual and experiential tone from our pulpit studies. The materials drawn from intellectual sources or from a lowered standard of orthodox theology, only bring us into the outer courts of the sanctuary. We must take a coal from the altar, so that the “hearts” of our people may “burn within them.”
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There will be, however, great injury in slavishly following any popular pattern. It is useful to observe the diversities of gifts in our brethren; but our chief business is with the discernment and cultivation of our own gifts, and the sedulous812 endeavour to acquire a competent measure of all Ministerial gifts, at least so as not to wholly come short in any part. Many young Ministers have crippled their effectiveness, by a vain attempt to exercise the higher qualifications of their more favoured brethren; instead of improving the humbler, but perhaps equally useful capabilities, which had been distributed to them.813
Yet fruitful pulpit preparation depends more on our spirituality than even upon our diligence. It is an improving and industrious habit that flows from a heart penetrated with a sense of the love of Christ, the value of souls, the shortness of time, and the supreme concerns of eternity. And when it is intelligently fixed upon the subject-matter, clear views of Scriptural truth are beautifully unfolded, flowing in perspicuous and natural order, and no less subservient to personal edification than to public instruction. Thus the Christian’s operative principle realizes an accurate perception of the main object, and concentrates all the powers of the mind upon it—so that, without this habit, the most diligent Ministerial student becomes a mere trifler in his momentous work.
But the importance of this subject calls us to consider it more in detail, under the three particulars of—Composition of Sermons—Habit of Meditation—and Special Prayer.
I.—COMPOSITION OF SERMONS.
How much responsibility attaches to our pulpit addresses! It cannot be of light moment, whether our people are “fed with knowledge and understanding,” or with ill-prepared and unsuitable provision. The pulpit is the ordinary distribution of the bread of life; and much wisdom indeed is required, “to rightly divide the word of truth,” 814 so that each may be ready to say—“A word spoken in season, how good it is!” 815
In the selection of our subjects, the Sacred Volume opens a field of almost infinite extent. We can only seize the most suitable points of present interest, without pretending to occupy the whole field. The Apostle gives us some wise cautionary rules respecting
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our choice of subjects—marking with equal distinctness “the things that are good and profitable to men,” and in the things that are un-profitable and vain.” 816 He warns us against curious or speculative matters, as inconsistent with our office, and hurtful in their results.817 He would have us “affirm constantly” the doctrine of man’s ruin and recovery as the sole efficient spring of practical godliness;818 and after his own example,819 bend all subjects naturally to Christ, and concentrate them all in the full exhibition of his cross. The materials for this system of instruction occur in the daily course of reading, in secret retirement with God, in the habit of family intercourse, in unlooked for, or even ordinary, providences. And thus rising before us, they will always find a responsive interest in their adaptation to the present wants and sympathies of our people. Cases also in our parochial intercourse—of ignorance, of hardened obstinacy, of perplexity, or of awakened conviction—furnish some of the best matter for our Sabbath Ministrations.820
The meaning and object of a text is a definite passage from the word of God, used as the ground-work of some statement of truth, also drawn from the word. This is natural and obvious. But we question the propriety of selecting texts merely as mottos for pulpit dissertations. Instead of the sermon being made from the text, the text is made from the sermon. It is read as a customary introduction. It furnishes the occasion of the discursive inquiry, but its component parts, or its connexion with the context, are left
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untouched. This method loses the office of the expositor and scarcely seems to acknowledge due reverence to the word of God. And though it may sometimes afford opportunities for useful discussion, yet it tends to ‘divert the mind from the inspection, meditation, and weighing of sacred scripture, which is the true food of the soul, and the treasury of Divine wisdom—and to which alone the converting grace of the Holy Spirit is annexed.’ 821
Some of Cotton Mather’s rules for his student’s treatment of texts are excellent; such as—if possible—to read the text in the original and consult commentators before he composed his sermon—to carefully consider the scriptural style of his sermons, and to confirm his several heads of discourse with some Scripture proof or illustration—to have much of Christ in all his sermons, knowing that the Holy Ghost loves to glorify Christ; and hoping that, if he followed this rule, the Holy Spirit would favour him with much of his influence in the exercise of his Ministry—and to crowd every sermon as full of matter as possible without obscurity.822
A remark on some of these rules may be allowed. The use of commentators is good before we compose our sermons, but not before we have considered and arranged them. This was Mr. Cecil’s plan of preparation; not to forestall his own views by the use of commentaries; but first to talk over the subject to himself, writing down whatever struck his mind; and after having arranged what he had written, settled his plan, and exhausted his own resources—to avail himself of all extrinsic help.823 There is no greater hindrance to solid learning, than to make such use of other men’s resources as to neglect our own. The use of helps generally, and especially ‘Helps for Composition’ in the form of ‘Skeletons’—needs great discretion, discrimination, and diligence, lest by restraining the active energy of our native powers, they prove serious hindrances to composition. Mr. Simeon’s well-known and most useful work may be said to give precisely that measure of help which is required—encouragement to inexperienced diligence, and at the same time a fair scope for
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the exercise of personal talent. The care and thought requisite to produce from his volume a complete and well-proportioned discourse, are fully equal to the labour of an original composition—so skilfully are the breaks contrived to exercise the judgment in suitably filling the vacuum, and in the accurate arrangement of the scriptural matter.824 Perhaps the highest commendation of the work is that a mere copyist would exhibit the Skeletons like the bones in the prophetic vision: very dry. Whereas a thoughtful mind would find ample and profitable employment in clothing them with solid matter, in the form of symmetry and strength.825
As to Cotton Mather’s rule of crowding his sermons with matter—It would be good for our discourses to be like Elihu’s, “full of matter;” 826 and we must regret, that a good man is not always a wise or a full man. Yet we must remember our people’s capabilities, the limited nature of their digestive powers, and the serious injury of stretching them beyond their natural exercise. The principle of our Lord’s instruction was, to “speak the word unto the people, as they were able to hear it.” 827 Had he said all that he could have said, it would have been infinitely more than they would have been able to receive; and consequently the grand end of his instruction would have been lost. It needs much prudence to select the most appropriate instruction, rather than by sweeping over too large a surface, to weaken the distinctness of the impression. Mr. Cecil justly remarks, that ‘it requires as much reflection to know what is not to be put in a sermon, as what is.’ 828 It is not how much can be said, but what can best be said. Let us not aim
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at exhausting ourselves at every point of our subject. Let our thoughts be select, solid, naturally flowing out of the discussion, without breaking into the unity of our scheme.
The Writer feels that he can add nothing of importance to the rules of more practised writers. The great matter to keep in mind is the opening of Scripture—expounding the mind of God—not opening our subject abstractedly, but through the medium of Scripture, beaten out, and laid full and large before our people. In order to meet this primary end of preaching, every text should contain a complete sense. The selection of materials in beating out and applying this sense requires much care. In avoiding the technical plan, which would reduce all subjects into one precise form, we must carefully apply those fixed rules and principles which belong to the science of preaching as a science, giving it the best method and expression. The subject probably should be digested prior to arranging the sermon. This will best secure unity of design, combined with an interesting and varied method. It will also guard us against the common evil of dissecting [the content] based on the principle of verbal rather than logical analysis. That would distribute the words under their several heads, rather than the materials for discussion; thus it would obscure the primary topics, amplify secondary points, and bring much irrelevant matter into the scheme. The exordium 829 opens no sphere for artificial structure or for studied ornament, or generally even for fervid appeals. We might introduce the text naturally to view by some brief exposition of the context or of the subject in hand.830 The clearness of the discussion materially depends on ‘having no more heads than can be sufficiently amplified within the bounds of the discourse, so as to be rendered sensible to the hearers. They should be quite distinct from one another, and at the same time, they should all center on the main point.’ 831 This assists the hearer in the survey and retention of truth—‘method being a chain, in which, if a man should let slip any one part, he may easily recover it again by that relation and dependence which it has with the whole.’ 832 Some of the best
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pulpit talents—such as fluency of speech, richness and variety of illustration—without an orderly distribution, fail to arrest the attention, or fix a permanent impression. Indeed, there may be a danger even on this side, of having a mode that is too artificial, and of fettering even the Divine Spirit (who “blows where he wills”) by the restriction of rules that are sometimes too exact for the free and popular flow of Scripture.833 It is, however, most desirable to avoid that habit of running away from our text, which has gained for some of us the name of ‘fugitive preachers.’ The best matter loses its interest by an unnatural connection. The simplest subjects are obscured by the introduction of irrelevant detail.
Bishop Wilkins states that the three component parts of a sermon are method, matter, and expression. ‘Each of these’ (he observes) contribute mutual assistance to each other. A good method will direct to the proper matter; and proper matter will enable good expression.’834 The method is seen in laying down the scheme—the matter in filling it up—and the expression in clothing it with an appropriate garb. We have already referred to method. A sermon, in order to edify, must be rich in matter. Any deficiency of substance proportionally diminishes its usefulness. The primary sources of matter are found in a close analysis of every important word in the text, and of the design of the whole; illustrated by the examination of the parallel references, by an attentive ruminating inspection of the context, and by a clear reference to the analogy of faith.835 Any historical circumstance connected with the text—the clear exposition of the meaning (though not distracting the mind needlessly with jarring interpretations) the scope of the sacred writer—the successive steps, and consecutive reasoning, by which he arrives at his point—must all be noticed. Consider also the speaker, the occasion, the person addressed—trace the principles developed in the text to their consequences, or the consequences referred back to their original principles—the connexion and suitableness of means to
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their end—these points will furnish instructive substance with practical and experiential application. Collateral matter may be found, diversified in the form of parallelism, contrast, illustration—the pursuit of the object in direct inference, objections, or hypothetical suppositions,836 etc. The effective use of these helps obviously requires sound judgment, and a mind stored with active intellectual furnishing that enlarge our capabilities for communicating instruction.
But after all,—as an old man remarked to Musculus, one of the Swiss reformers—‘Si vis fieri bonus concionator, da operant, ut sis bonus Biblicus.’ 837 The Scripture is the inexhaustible store-house of our most valuable materials—whether of clear instruction; convincing argument; powerful or melting address; or even the higher strokes of eloquence—‘thoughts that breathe in words that burn.’838 Any just complaint, therefore, of the barrenness or sameness of our preaching, must arise (as we have hinted) from lack of industry in our research, not from the lack of opulence of our resources. Augustine rightly estimates that ‘the preacher’s wisdom is according to his proficiency in the diligent and intelligent search of the Scriptures. The more he sees the poverty of his own store, the more necessary it is that he enrich himself in these treasures.’ 839 Not that we would recommend a long string of texts, or what Burnet calls ‘a bare concordance exercise’ (for ill-digested quotations, even from the sacred treasury, may be very unprofitable); but an express reference to Scripture in confirmation of the distinct points of our discourses—not overcharging our sermons,840 yet at the same time giving a full prominence to the Divine testimony. To dilute our proofs in the natural flow of our own style, proportionally weakens the impression that Thus God has spoken; whereas a distinct reference to the authority of Scripture, confirms our statements with the stamp of God, and brings our hearers, like the camp at Sinai, prostrate before his awful majesty. On this account the Apostle’s
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“speech and preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom;” but “in the words which the Holy Ghost teaches,” “that the faith of his people should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God.” 841
Generally speaking—the discussion should be comprehended within two or three divisions, the matter so clearly arranged as to fall readily under the several main heads; the principal points strengthened and illustrated by Scriptural testimony, and closely applied to the respective cases of our congregation.842 If the discussion were likely to extend beyond its due bounds, it would be better to sketch a short outline in the introduction, or to seize the most prominent points, rather than be constrained to press its personal interest upon minds ill-prepared by weariness to receive a deep and permanent impression. It is not enough that the sermon should contain striking or good thoughts. The materials must be arranged so as to produce an effect upon the whole—a growing interest, conducting to a clear and powerful conclusion. We must beware, however, of fixing our minds upon the mechanism of the sermon, so as to forget what alone can infuse life and power into it. We may produce a skeleton clothed with flesh, and exhibiting the most exact proportion of its several parts; yet like the dry bones recently referred to, it may still lack the quickening breath of heaven. A spiritual, as well as an intellectual habit, is essential both to the composition and the delivery of our discourses.
With regard to the style of our sermons—simplicity and point seem to be the most important characteristics—simplicity, without undignified familiarity—point and energy, without unnatural labour to produce an effect. Archbishop Whately admirably warns us against the two extremes of conciseness and prolixity connected with this style. ‘It is obvious’ (he observes) ‘that extreme conciseness is ill-suited to hearers whose intellectual powers and cultivation are small. The usual expedient, however, of employing a prolix style to accommodate such minds, is seldom successful. They are likely to be bewildered by tedious expansion; and being unable to maintain a steady attention to what is said, they forget part of what they have heard before the whole is completed. Add to this that the feebleness produced by excessive
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dilution, occasions the listeners’ attention to languish. And what is imperfectly attended to, however clear in itself, will usually be only imperfectly understood. Young writers and speakers are apt to fall into a style of pompous verbosity, from an idea that they are adding both perspicuity and force to what is said, when they are only encumbering the sense with a needless load of words. It is not indeed uncommon to hear a speaker of this class mentioned, as having ‘a very fine command of language;’ when perhaps it might be said with more correctness, that ‘his language has a command of him’—that is, that he follows a train of words rather than of thought.’ 843
The Bible furnishes unquestionably the perfect model of this clear, natural, and vigorous style. We see, therefore, the propriety of Cotton Mather’s rule—to mould even the garb of our sermons after the Scriptural pattern. The phraseology dictated by the Holy Ghost is particularly calculated for public preaching.844 There is no book so intelligible as the book of God; no book that so clearly reveals man to himself; or that has such inexpressible power over his heart; or that connects itself so naturally with his popular feelings and interests. The savour of Divine truth is sensibly diminished by passing it under the conceptions or expressions of men. No language—whether of exposition, address, or illustration—is so generally acceptable as that of the inspired volume. Few readers of Saurin and French Divines of his class (orthodox in their views, and forcible in their statement of Scriptural truth), that have not felt a lack of unction, warmth, and spiritual excitement arising from their scanty infusion of the sacred dialect into their writings—a deficiency for which no powers of genius or eloquence can compensate to a spiritual mind.845 The matter and manner that is drawn fresh from the spring will always be most enlivening.
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We need scarcely comment on the pitiful practice of a copyist in preaching. Mr. Addison (a name of far higher authority in accomplished literature than in theology) commends Sir Roger de Coverley’s Chaplain for having his list of sermons from the best divines, ready drawn up in course for the whole year, adding — I would heartily wish, that more of your country Clergymen would follow this example; and instead of wasting their spirits in laborious compositions of their own, would endeavour after a handsome elocution, and all those other talents, which are proper to enforce what has been penned by greater masters. This would not only be easier for themselves, but it would edify their people.’ 846 Such a system of idleness would doubtless be ‘easier for ourselves.’ But the results of edification are most questionable. No merely passive agent can make a solid or useful Minister. The talent entrusted to him, thus “hidden in a napkin,” instead of being put out to daily use, awfully stamps him as an “unprofitable servant.” 847 Where “the gift is neglected,” instead of “stirred up,” 848 what blessing can the Spirit, thus grieved and dishonoured, be expected to assure? Mr. Addison’s conception of the power of a sermon was probably rather the magical effect of eloquence, or of moral persuasion, than that fruit of faith and prayer which the Divine pleasure has ordinarily connected with “the weak,”—not with the wise things of this world.849 George Herbert justly replies to the objection—‘that where there are so many excellent sermons in print, there is no excuse for preaching bad ones.’—‘Though the world is full of such compositions; yet every man’s own is fittest, readiest, and most savoury to him.” 850 Indeed, it may be questioned, whether
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any course of sermons can be framed for general use. For, according to the different shades of ignorance or knowledge that may be found in different spheres, a sermon would be too elementary—or too full and enlarged—or not sufficiently systematic or detailed for that sphere, and therefore, to a greater or lesser degree, it would be inapplicable there. Yet this comment on the slavish use of foreign resources does not imply that every sentiment or sentence of our sermon must be (strictly speaking) original. The habit of reading will furnish many illustrations and trains of thought which are insensibly moulded into our minds, and become our own by our individual method of application. Thus while we learn from all, we may almost be said to borrow from none. The Ministerial student will find this exercise both useful to his mind, and a means of grace to his soul. The fruits of his own study and acquaintance with his people’s wants, consecrated to the Lord in the simplicity of faith, prayer, and love (though perhaps not according to rule, and of very inferior substance) will be honoured; while human dependence, sloth, and indifference, will be unblessed. We cannot tell to what extent the meanest gifts might have been cultivated with success. At all events the weakest effort of our own mind is more acceptable than the indolent use of the most talented exercises of another. Therefore, while we would aim high, and keep the best rules before us, we are encouraged to “stir up the gift that is in us” 851 (however small it may be in our own eyes), and the excuse of a lack of ability is thereby disallowed.
Mr. Cecil remarks on deliberate preparation for the pulpit—‘If it is driven off late, accidents may occur, which may prevent due attention to the subject. If the latter days of the week are occupied, and the mind is driven into a corner, the sermon will usually be raw and undigested. Take time to reject what ought to be rejected, and to supply what ought to be supplied.’852 Dr. Hammond always had a subject in hand, and no sooner had he finished one sermon, than he commenced another.853 Though perhaps it would not be desirable to follow this constant routine, yet the habit of turning our studies to present account is of the first moment. A lively imagination may indeed serve an itinerant; but the sermons of a stationary Minister, preaching twice or three times in a week to
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the same congregation will, without a storehouse, be insipid, tautological, and unedifying—keeping back as babes in elementary instruction, those who might have been “fathers in Christ” under a more digested administration [of the word]. The minister’s life must, to the end, be a life of holy meditation and study. No man who neglects the apostle’s exhortation to “give attendance to reading,”854 will long continue to be a profitable preacher to an intelligent congregation. The native resources even of the most powerful minds need to be replenished; and therefore the preacher ‘must not merely have been a man of reading; he must read still; or his sermons will be trite and barren of thought.’ 855 He would do better, however possible, to bring his old stores into fresh service, than trust to the impulse at the moment of duty, or draw imprudently on the resources of a mind that is already too scantily stocked. At all events, to allow the week to draw to a close without ready furnishing for our Sabbath work, is the mark of indolence and presumption; and it promises a very inadequate and unfruitful performance of this weighty responsibility.’ 856
II.—HABITS OF MEDITATION.
‘Lectio inquirit—oratio postulat—meditatio invenit—contemplatio disgustat.’ Here we have Augustine’s distinction of the relative departments of pulpit preparation.857 The two last may illustrate the ruminating habit, without which the results of study and composition, like undigested food lying on the stomach, clog and weaken the powers of action. No mental compartment can be a storehouse for receiving a confused mass of unshapen materials, unfitted for practical purposes. Composition, therefore, without a meditative mind, will present only what has been tersely called ‘a mob of ideas.’
Meditation is essential to intellectual vigour. Without it, we
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may indeed acquire a foreign store of knowledge, but we will never make it our own. It is important also to cultivate this habit in the bent of our own work—that is, that a Preacher should think as a Preacher—marking everything (like any other man of business) with the eyes of his own profession. This course of drawing all the objects around him into connexion with his great work, enriches him with much valuable material for Christian instruction, and it gives great richness and variety of illustration to his sermons. Habit of thought is also the best means to obtain a good style, when the mind has full control of its own powers. Without the discipline of patient and accurate thinking, words are applied in an unmeaning and faulty arrangement. We may spend hours in this way without any mental exercise.
The lack of this meditative habit is one cause of superficial religious knowledge. Valuable books are turned over, and the most striking and instructive passages are jotted down—but without the digested analytical study of the subject-matter, it will not convey substantial food to the mind. Every intelligent Christian must be conscious of the loss in relaxing this habit. The mind is occupied only in notions, not in thinking: and therefore it presents all the difference between passing lightly over the power of truth, or leaving a deep and practical impression of it. In the one case, the surface is barely swept. In the other, the bottom principles have been touched and called into action. The sudden flash of light will leave no influence. There is no movement from the heart till the truth is clearly exhibited to the mind—till it is set strongly and constantly in view, deeply pondered, and closely applied. This reflective habit often supplies the deficiency of extrinsic help: constant excitement increases intellectual fertility; the mind is brought to know the extent of its capabilities. And being strengthened and supported by frequent exercise (to use Luther’s words), it ‘suggests more, much more, than all our commentators combined.’ A mind thus invigorated, stamps its own character on all its exercises. It instinctively turns over and over again the matter presented to it; apprehends it in its connexion and dependencies with other trains of thought and principles of action; and thus it successfully adapts to the present circumstances.
No part of pulpit preparation ought to be merely intellectual employ. The habit of meditation (to which we now refer) is the exercise of the mind, on spiritual objects, for spiritual purposes, fixing a clear and permanent impression of truth. Our Divine Master inculcates this habit as the immediate preparation for our public
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work.858 Indeed, one of the difficulties (might we not add—one of the privileges?) of the ministry is this: that it requires the continual revolving of spiritual subjects in order to cast our minds into the mould of those truths, which we place before our people. The cultivation of this habit has a most important bearing on our general efficiency;859 it forms “the man of God” into the character of “a good Minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of sound doctrine.” 860 For (as Quesnel observes) ‘how will anyone be able to nourish others with the word, who does not first nourish himself with it? It is one thing for a man to enlighten his understanding, to fill his imagination, and to load his memory; and it is another to nourish his heart with it. A man nourishes himself with it if he lives on it; and he lives on it if he changes it, as it were, into his own substance—if he practises it himself; if he renders it proper and familiar to himself—so as to make it the food and nourishment with which he ought to feed others.’ 861
It is most important that our successive pulpit preparations should increase our store of matter, strengthen our tone of thinking, and direct us to the most effectual mode of communication. The solid study of our best Scriptural Divines will be of essential service; at the same time remembering that sermons which are drawn from books other than God’s book will be poor and unspiritual. Let the substance of our text be first beaten out from the pure word of God, and then digested in meditation and prayer—let our matter gather clearness of arrangement, force and spirit, from human resources. This sacred exercise will bring rich results in the enlarged strength, activity, intelligence, and joy of our faith. The superficial student indeed (if he should be called a student) has read only for the exercise of his memory, and neglected the investigation of the meaning. ‘Much to be preferred’ (says Augustine) ‘are those who have had little care for retaining the words, and yet have beheld the very heart of Scripture with the eyes of their hearts.’ 862
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Nor is this habit of meditation less important in the immediate discharge of our public Ministry. It greatly assists our freedom, self-possession, and personal comfort in the act of delivering our message, to have our subject-matter inwrought, as it were, both in our head and heart. It also enables us to pertinently avail ourselves of any ready suggestions for the moment, and to engraft them into their proper place without hurry and confusion. Thus every way, the devoted concentration of the powers of our mind to the service of God will prove us to be “vessels for honour, sanctified and fit for the Master’s use, and prepared for every good work.” 863 ‘Allow me therefore’ (wrote Brainerd to a Ministerial student) ‘to entreat you earnestly to give yourself to prayer, to reading, and meditation on Divine truths; strive to penetrate to the bottom of them, and never be content with a superficial knowledge. By this means your thoughts will gradually grow weighty and judicious; and hereby you will gain possession of a valuable treasure, out of which you may produce “things new and old “to the glory of God.864
III.—SPECIAL PRAYER.
We cannot feel too deeply the importance of this part of pulpit preparation. To study and meditate much, and to pray little, paralyses all. On the other hand (as Dr. Doddridge found by experience) ‘the better we pray, the better we study.’ 865 Therefore (as Augustine admirably exhorts) ‘let our Christian orator, who would be understood and heard with pleasure, pray before he speak. Let him lift up his thirsty soul to God, before he pronounces anything. For since there are many things which may be said, and many modes of saying the same thing; who but the Searcher of all hearts knows what is most expedient to be said at the present hour? And who can make us speak as we ought, except he in whose hands we and our words are kept; and by these means a pastor may learn all that is to be taught, and may acquire a faculty of speaking as becomes him. At the hour of speaking itself, the Lord’s
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words will occur to a faithful spirit—“Do not think how or what you will speak; for it is not you that speaks, but the Spirit of your Father, which speaks in you.” If the Holy Spirit speaks in those who are delivered to their persecutors for Christ, why not also to those who deliver Christ to learners. But if any say that, if the Holy Ghost makes men teachers, they do not need to know any rules, then it might also be said that men do not need to pray, because the Lord says—“Your Father knows what you need, before you ask him; and St. Paul’s rules to Timothy and Titus might be superseded.866
The most valuable results of meditative study are essentially defective without prayer. They are the effusions of the head rather than of the heart—cold, spiritless, dead. However important it may be that the preacher’s head be well furnished, it is of far higher moment that his heart be deeply affected. He must himself draw nourishment from his subject in fervent prayer, so that he may bring it out to his people in fulness, simplicity, and love. Indeed his success in composition mainly depends on the state of his own soul. He cannot make an edifying sermon when his heart is motionless. None but God can teach him to teach his people. Converse with Him in the study will give its own stamp of sanctity and energy upon his preparations for the pulpit. Our object is not to set off our talents or eloquence; but to excite and strengthen a habit of holy sensibility. Our very employment, therefore, in the word and work of God especially binds us to study our sermons in a devotional spirit; and thus only can we receive from above a blessing to impart to our people. Our message is applied with life and interest—not when it is set forth in human eloquence—but when the spirituality and unction of its delivery savours of real communion with God.
We may suggest a few distinct subjects for supplication, in reference to preparation for our public work.
Direction in the choice of texts and topics should be sought from above. This was Cotton Mather’s general rule: making more solemn supplication before he entered upon extended discursions, or undertook a large course of Scripture. This spiritual habit
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enables us to receive direction from circumstances of Providence, or the secret guidance of the Spirit, to suitable and edifying subjects.
Much matter for supplication offers itself in entering upon and pursuing our subject. Cotton Mather’s rule was to stop at the end of every paragraph, in prayer and self-examination, and endeavour to fix upon his heart some holy impressions of the subject. Thus the seven hours, which he usually gave to a sermon, proved so many hours of devotion to his soul, and a most effectual means of infusing life, warmth, and spirituality into his compositions.867 By this rule we will never preach a sermon to our people which has not been previously made a blessing to our own souls.
The frame of our own minds in the pulpit is another matter for distinct supplication—that we may “speak as the oracles of God “—that “a door of utterance may be opened to us”—that we may have a special message for our people—that our hearts may be tenderly affected by their state—that our preaching may flow from love for their souls, and from hearts powerfully excited by zeal for our Master’s glory—that we may be assisted to deliver our sermons in a suitable frame; preserved from the influence of the fear of man, and with a simple, earnest dependence on the Divine blessing—and that the Lord may preach our sermons to our own hearts, both in the study, and in the moment of delivering them.868
We must not forget the main end of our labour, in the power of our Ministry upon the hearts and consciences of our people. We need to pray for them, as well as to preach to them—to bring our Ministry on their account before God, and to entreat for them; that their attention may be engaged, and their hearts opened to receive our commission; that all hindrances of prejudice, ignorance,
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indifference, worldliness, and unbelief, may be removed; that the spirit of humility and simplicity, sanctification and faith, may be granted to them; in a word—(to use the beautiful language of our church) ‘that it may please you to give to all your people increase of grace, to hear meekly your word, and to receive it with pure affection, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit.’
Nothing will give such power to our sermons, as when they are the sermons of many prayers.869 The best sermons are lost unless they are watered by prayer. But if, like the ancient prophet, we “stand upon our watch, and watch to see what he will say to us,” 870 we shall have a word to speak from his mouth; commending it in prayer, faith, and expectation for his blessing. It is easy to bring to our people the product of our own study; but the blessing belongs to the message delivered to them, as from the mouth of God. And waiting on God renews this commission from time to time, supplies our present need, strengthens our confidence; and obtains for us that parrhsia 871—that flowing unction of grace, which gives life and power to our preaching, and unites our stammering tongues to “speak boldly, as we ought to speak.” 872
This spirit of prayer implies the renunciation of all dependence upon our best preparations, ministerial gifts, or spiritual habits; an acknowledgment of their insufficiency to qualify us for the discharge of our commission; and a simple dependence upon our Glorious Head for his present influence. This is “simplicity and godly sincerity;” not as if we were seeking with Saul to be “honoured before our people,” but desiring only “by manifestation of the truth to commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” 873 Mr. Scott speaks of the great assistance in preaching which he derived from this spirit—‘The degree in which, after the most careful preparation for the pulpit; new thoughts, new arguments, animated address, often flow into my mind while speaking to a congregation, even on very common subjects, makes me feel as if I was quite another man, than when poring over them in my study. There will be inaccuracies: but generally the most striking things in my sermons are unpremeditated.’ 874 This testimony
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is familiar with the experience of many of our brethren, who thus in this frame have often found luminous and affecting views of truth almost instantaneously presented to their minds. This however, being realized only in the use of the appointed means, it does not countenance a relaxed system of preparation; but it does encourage the exercise of faith for present assistance; it gives additional liveliness to our ministry; and it brings down from heaven the warmest matter of our sermons at the time of their delivery.
The highest style of a preacher, therefore, is that he gives himself to prayer.875 On this account some inferior preachers are more honoured than others of their more talented brethren.876 For sermons obtained chiefly by meditation and prayer, “are weighty and powerful;” while those of a far higher intellectual character, by the neglect of prayer, are unblessed. It is therefore on good grounds that the most eminent servants of God have given the pre-eminence to this part of pulpit preparation.877
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Massillon—after remarking the lack of prayer, as the cause of the ineffectiveness even of conscientious Pastors—adds, ‘The Minister, who does not habituate himself to devout prayer, will speak only to the ears of his people; because the Spirit of God, who alone knows how to speak to the heart, and who, through the neglect of prayer, not having taken up his abode within him, will not speak by his mouth.’ 878 Philip Henry thus wrote on a day of study—‘I forgot explicitly and expressly when I began, to crave help from God; and the chariot wheels drove accordingly. Lord, forgive my omissions, and keep me in the way of duty.’ 879 Indeed, as an old divine observes—‘If God does not drop down his assistance, we write with a pen that has no ink. If anyone in the world needs to walk in dependency upon God more than others, it is the Minister.’ 880 We also need much prayer in respect to the delivery, as well as in the composition of our sermons—in special consideration of the heart before we go into the congregation. ‘For,’—as Mr. Baxter observes—‘if it is then cold, how is it to warm the hearts of the hearers? Go therefore’ (he recommends) ‘especially to God for life.’ 881
Nor must we forget the work of subsequent as well as preparatory prayer—like our Master who, when he had taught the multitude, and sent them away, “departed into a mountain to pray.” 882 Our work is not over, when our people are dismissed from the house of God. While in the pulpit, there was one as active as ourselves, and much more powerful, incessantly employed in turning aside our every word from its destined object. Nor will he be less diligent in seeking to undo what had been done in spite of his efforts, and what will easily be undone by his persevering subtlety, unless we are diligently counterworking in watchfulness and prayer. Dr. Owen reminds us: ‘To preach the word, therefore, and not to follow it with constant and fervent prayer for its success, is to disbelieve its use, neglect its end, and to cast away the seed of the gospel at random.’ 883
We want to be as deeply concerned after the conclusion, as we are at
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the commencement of our work. Some convictions may have been awakened or strengthened by the first stroke of the hammer that had just been uplifted. But may not some cases of a mere transient impression be charged to our secret neglect of the labour needed to drive the nail in further, once it had entered? May not some soul have then received its first impression of Divine grace? These cases need all the power and unction of our prayer combined with Ministerial counsel. On all accounts, therefore, ‘a systematic delivery of the doctrines of the Gospel is essentially requisite to the formation and gradual development of Christian principles; but it must be accompanied by many an earnest prayer for the effusion of some portion of that Divine grace which, in primitive times, added to the church in one day three thousand souls.’884 This exercise of prayer, though subsequent to the delivery of the word, is still truly a part of pulpit preparation; as keeping the mind in the spirit of prayer, and ready for action on the next preparatory occasion. Besides, the connection of the prospect with the retrospect is so natural, that every supplication for a blessing on the past, would be accompanied with earnest desires, and assured expectations of a continued and necessary supply. ‘Be much in prayer to God,’ (was the direction of an excellent Minister); ‘thereby you shall find more succour and success in your ministry, than by all your study.’ 885
We conclude the subject of Pulpit Preparation with a few remarks on the combined effect of the several detailed parts, and on the precise measure of warranted assistance.
Mather thus details the practice of Mr. Mitchel, an American divine:
‘In writing his discourses for the pulpit, he (as they say, Aristotle did, when he wrote one of his famous books) ‘dipped his pen into his very soul.’ When he was going to compose a sermon, he began with prayer, thinking ‘Bene orasse est bene studuisse.’886 He then read over the text in the original, and weighed the language of the Holy Ghost. If any difficulty occurred in the interpretation, he was wary if he ran against the stream of the most solid interpreters whom he still consulted. He was then desirous to draw forth his doctrines, and perhaps other heads of his discourse, at the beginning of the week, so that his occasional thoughts might be useful to it. And he would ordinarily make use of his own meditations to shape his discourse before he would consult any other authors who addressed the subject, so that their notions might serve only to adorn and correct his
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own. Lastly, having finished his composition, he concluded with a thanksgiving to the Lord his helper.’ 887
This example aptly illustrates our view of the completeness of pulpit preparation—including careful study, close meditation, and fervent prayer—that we may set aside all crude and indigested matter, and bring forth from our treasure-house solid and edifying food. We may expect extraordinary assistance in emergencies; yet in the ordinary course, to produce what we have neither weighed in our minds, nor compared with the word of truth, is to “offer offerings to the Lord from what cost us nothing;”—no, more than that—it is to “offer the blind, the lame, the sick,” and even “a corrupt thing for sacrifice.” 888 Yet with the most accurate study of Divine truth, unless we realize its holy impression, and we are delivered into its mould, and speak from heart to heart, we will lose our own interest in our labour—the edification of our own souls. How delightful is our public work when we taste a heavenly sweetness in our message! In the power of this enjoyment (alas! too seldom fully realized) we might almost take up Elihu’s words—“I am full of matter; the spirit within me constrains me; behold my belly is like new wine which has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst. I must speak, that I may find relief.” 889 This is something far above study, and above artificial means of excitement or improvement. It is the exercise of faith, the fruit of earnest persevering prayer, and accompanied with mighty energy upon our Ministry—enabling us “so to speak, that many believe.” 890 Such sermons ‘have the blood of our Saviour sprinkled on them, and his good Spirit breathing in them.’ 891
Pulpit preparation is therefore in every way the great ordinance both for ourselves and for our people. It embraces our glorious Master as the grand centre of our subjects. It spiritualizes our soul in prayerful as well as intellectual meditation. It concentrates the mind to definite points, and to fixed apprehensions of these points, instead of wandering vaguely and unprofitably upon the field of infinite space. This brings solid knowledge with warm feelings—statements condensed, yet simple and enlarged—full of light as well as matter—of power as well as interest. We can only see, therefore, the necessity,
‘that Ministers should attend to the direction of conscience; that they should mark the workings and convictions of the Holy Spirit, their exercises of mind, and the effects resulting from them; that they should give their attention
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to the different changes in Christian experience, utterly unknown to men in their natural state; that they should maintain constant communion with God by meditation and prayer—in order to obtain an intimate knowledge of “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” and be apt to administer it to the consciences of others, that they may escape the severe censure with which the Lord rebuked Nicodemus—“Are you a master in Israel, and do not know these things?”’ 892
The consciences of serious Christians discover the value of a judicious and experiential Ministry. They feel themselves more soundly comforted by one discourse, woven and wrought out of a feeling heart, spiritually schooled in the ways of God and the methods of Satan, supported and sinewed by the solid expositions of the word of God, and enforced ‘with the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit,’893 than from cold and abstract Scriptural statements. A high relish of sacred truth naturally gives great insight into human character; and it enables the Minister to skilfully set out his commission for the conviction of the judgment, the awakening of the conscience, and the solid instruction of the heart. This direct application will find a response in the consciences of the ungodly, and in the sympathies of sincere Christians.
The maxim of practical religion applies in full force to our subject: Labour in the preparation for the pulpit as if our whole success depended on it. Pray and depend wholly upon Christ; as feeling that “without him we can do nothing.” In neglecting preparation, we tempt God to depart from his ordinary course; in trusting to our preparation, we make a god of our gifts. It is more curious than important to inquire into the modes of Divine assistance in the composition or delivery of our sermons; or to endeavour to determine the precise boundaries between the result of our own thought, and the efflux 894 from a higher source. But it will be safe to ascribe all the honour of the success to the Heavenly agent, and to attribute to ourselves all the infirmities attendant upon the work. We are warranted to expect assistance to the utmost extent of our need; and we must lay our whole stress upon it as the only source of effective meditation, composition, or delivery. But any dependence which supersedes the necessity of preparation, is unscriptural and delusive. We must not expect aid in the way of mechanical sufficiency, as if it could be purchased by a certain quantum or routine of preparation. After we have preached with power and acceptance for successive years, we are just as dependent for present help as we were at the first. The supply is only continued in the renewed acting
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of faith, replenishing our souls from the overflowing fountain of life.
Mr. Cecil, however, gives the sum of all that needs to be said on this subject.—‘I have been cured’ (he remarks) ‘of expecting the Holy Spirit’s influence without due preparation on our part, by observing how men preach, who take up that error. We must combine Luther with St. Paul.—‘Bene orasse est bene studuisse’895—must be united with St. Paul’s—‘Meditate upon these things; give yourself wholly to them, that your profiting may appear to all.’896 ‘One errs who says—I will preach a reputable sermon;’ and another errs who says—‘I will leave all to the assistance of the Holy Spirit’ while neglecting diligent preparation.’ 897