Study not to be a fine preacher. Jericho's are blown down
with rams' horns. Look simply unto Jesus for preaching food; and what
is wanted will be given, and what is given will be blessed, whether it
be a barley grain or a wheaten loaf, a crust or a crumb. Your mouth will
be a flowing stream or a fountain sealed, according as your heart is.
Avoid all controversy in preaching, talking, or writing; preach nothing
down but the devil, and nothing up but Jesus Christ. -- Berridge
THE heart is the Saviour of the world. Heads do not save. Genius, brains,
brilliancy, strength, natural gifts do not save. The gospel flows through
hearts. All the mightiest forces are heart forces. All the sweetest and
loveliest graces are heart graces. Great hearts make great characters; great
hearts make divine characters. God is love. There is nothing greater than
love, nothing greater than God. Hearts make heaven; heaven is love. There
is nothing higher, nothing sweeter, than heaven. It is the heart and not
the head which makes God's great preachers. The heart counts much every
way in religion. The heart must speak from the pulpit. The heart must hear
in the pew. In fact, we serve God with our hearts. Head homage does not
pass current in heaven.
We believe that one of the serious and most popular errors of the modern
pulpit is the putting of more thought than prayer, of more head than of
heart in its sermons. Big hearts make big preachers; good hearts make good
preachers. A theological school to enlarge and cultivate the heart is the
golden desideratum of the gospel. The pastor binds his people to him and
rules his people by his heart. They may admire his gifts, they may be proud
of his ability, they may be affected for the time by his sermons; but the
stronghold of his power is his heart. His scepter is love. The throne of
his power is his heart.
The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Heads never make martyrs.
It is the heart which surrenders the life to love and fidelity. It takes
great courage to be a faithful pastor, but the heart alone can supply this
courage. Gifts and genius may be brave, but it is the gifts and genius of
the heart and not of the head.
It is easier to fill the head than it is to prepare the heart. It is easier
to make a brain sermon than a heart sermon. It was heart that drew the Son
of God from heaven. It is heart that will draw men to heaven. Men of heart
is what the world needs to sympathize with its woe, to kiss away its sorrows,
to compassionate its misery, and to alleviate its pain. Christ was eminently
the man of sorrows, because he was preeminently the man of heart.
"Give me thy heart," is God's requisition of men. "Give me
thy heart!" is man's demand of man.
A professional ministry is a heartless ministry. When salary plays a great
part in the ministry, the heart plays little part. We may make preaching
our business, and not put our hearts in the business. He who puts self to
the front in his preaching puts heart to the rear. He who does not sow with
his heart in his study will never reap a harvest for God. The closet is
the heart's study. We will learn more about how to preach and what to preach
there than we can learn in our libraries. "Jesus wept" is the
shortest and biggest verse in the Bible. It is he who goes forth weeping
(not preaching great sermons), bearing precious seed, who shall come again
rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Praying gives sense, brings wisdom, broadens and strengthens the mind. The
closet is a perfect school-teacher and schoolhouse for the preacher. Thought
is not only brightened and clarified in prayer, but thought is born in prayer.
We can learn more in an hour praying, when praying indeed, than from many
hours in the study. Books are in the closet which can be found and read
nowhere else. Revelations are made in the closet which are made nowhere
else. |