Study
not to be a fine preacher. Jerichos 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. |
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