Note 53 — THE PREACHER AND HIS MODELS (continued 3)
Reading edition
Here may be introduced a few notes which are to me of inestimable value. The happiness of my visit to the States, which was great, was overshadowed at the close by the news of the death of the best friend I had on earth—the Rev. Robert W. Barbour, of Bonskeid. None who knew him will need to have it explained why I should think of him at this point; because, while he had drunk deeply of the spirit of the time and was possessed of a rare love for men, the deepest source of the sacred extravagance with which he lavished himself and his many talents on every good cause was nothing else than the passion for Christ which I am trying in this lecture to illustrate. He took a warm interest in this course of lectures, and sent me the following Aphorisms on Preaching, to be used as I might think fit. I reproduce them entire, as they came from him. Perhaps they were the very last literary work he did:—
The Book and the Library. The preacher must be master of many books, and servant of one.
Closet and Desk. Study as though thou mightest preach for fifty years; pray as though thou mightest preach for five.
Divine and Human. Speak as though the mouth were God's; but let the voice be a man's.
First and Second Aims. All gifts (presence, voice, gesture, culture, style, and so on) may be wings, if kept behind one's back; the moment they are seen they become dead weights.
Two strings to one's bow will do with any shafts but the arrows of the King. Letters, the press, the lyre, the porch, must stand in the background behind "this one thing."
Think less and less of everything else, and more and more of thy message.
Aims and No Aims. Aim at something, you will hit it; also draw your bow at a venture.
"Make full proof of thy ministry." Try every method—writing, reading, committing, extending, extemporising. Imitate every man, but mimic none. Nothing makes a preacher like preaching.
Whence comes it that my nature is subdued To that it works in, like the dyer's hand.
Pulpit Form. Respect your hearers. Do not gird at them; angle for them—and agonize. Address yourself to one at a time—first to the man in the pulpit. He who has hit himself first will not miss others. He who trembles at the word of the Lord, men will tremble at his word. (Borrowed) A preacher must either be afraid of his audience or his audience of him.
Janua Domini. Always enter the pulpit by the Door (John x. 7).
Contents and Omissions. Put everything you can into every address. Omit everything you can from every address.
"Faith cometh by hearing." Therefore, to begin with, be audible. The Sermon on the Mount commences thus: "He opened His mouth" (Matt. v. 2).
Time and Eternity. Speak to men's fleeting hopes and passing interests; speak also to their grey hairs and to their midnight hours.
Ultimata. Desire to prophesy (1 Cor. xiv. 1); covet to prophesy (ib. 39); do not preach if thou darest be silent (1 Cor. ix. 16).