The most common reason for the adoption of written sermons -is concession to the temper and prejudices of our people. It seems incurring a fearful responsibility, to repel any from our Ministry on account of an offensive mode. "The offence of the cross "the only offence unconnected with personal guiltrespects the matter, and not the mode, of our Ministrations. The principle of "becoming all things to all men,' ,"1 surely extends to every particular of the mode of address, though not to one particle of the fundamental matter; and if the Apostle Paul was accustomed to speak from the immediate impulse of his mind, it is hard to believe, that he, who felt himself "a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise," would not have used a different mode, had it been at any time necessary to answer his great end. Few but would admit the spirit of Henry Martyn's concession to his Anglo-Indian congregation, on his extempore preaching'saying, that he would give them a folio sermon book, if they would receive the word of God on that account.' Nor is the propriety of conformity to established usage commonly questioned, in the occasion of conciones ad clerum, whether in University, Cathedral, or Visitation Pulpits. The appendage of a written composition might here be made the vehicle of statements as faithful and as important, as has been delivered by the preacher in his ordinary Ministration through a more free medium. The writer, therefore, fully accords with Archbishop Secker's view of the question- After all, every man (as the Apostle saith on a very different occasion) hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, another after that. Let each cultivate his own, and no one censure or despise his brother.' 5 This was Mr. Robinson's judgment of the matter, who with a decided preference for extempore preaching, taught his people to relish either; and to consider book or no book, as one of those circumstantials in the fulfilment of the ordinance, which was of secondary, or rather of no moment.' 6-However this is one of those questions that can never be decided upon paper. The conscientious Minister will consider the nature of his situation, 11 Cor. ix. 22. 2 See Gal. ii. 5. 3 Rom. i. 14. the temper of his people, the character and suitableness of his individual talent—which mode is most adapted to subserve his own Ministerial efficiency. It will probably be well for him to use himself to both methods-to combine the freedom and vigour of extempore preaching with that clearness, regularity, and fulness of matter, which is best secured by much reflection and writing. It might be his duty to yield to a decided preference for extempore preaching among his people; though it would be wise to avail himself of the judgment of his more discerning brethren in forming his ultimate determination. CHAPTER VI. THE SPIRIT OF SCRIPTURAL PREACHING. A THOUGHTFUL study of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, will afford the best illustrations of this subject. Our Lord's Ministry furnishes the perfect exemplification, of which the Apostolic Ministry exhibited a close detailed imitation; and therefore as entrusted with the same commission, opposed by the same hindrances, and sustained by the same promises with the first Ministers of the Church, an attentive consideration of their spirit must be replete with most important instruction and support. A few leading particulars will be specified, which may be filled up with advantage, even in the most contracted sphere of the Christian Ministry. I. BOLDNESS-THE SPIRIT OF SCRIPTURAL PREACHING. OUR Lord's pungent addresses to the Scribes and Pharisees 1 exhibit the boldness of a Christian Ministration. The same spirit in the Apostles-unaccountable upon human calculations 2 See Matt. xxiii. 2 Acts ii. 13. 1 -confounded their judges to their face. 1 Witness Paul before Felix-a prisoner on his trial for life-" no man standing by him "-hated even to death by the influential body of his countrymen; yet, mean, and in peril, looking his Judge in the face, with the power of life and death in his hands; and—remembering only the dignity of his office-delivering to this noble sinner and his guilty partner the most personal and offensive truths. How did this splendid example of Ministerial boldness "magnify his office!" For what can be more degrading to our Divine commission, than that we should fear the face. of men ? What unmindfulness does it argue of our Master's presence and authority, and of our high responsibilities, as "set forth for the defence of the Gospel!" The independence, that disregards alike the praise and the censure of man, is indispensable for the integrity of the Christian Ministry. 3 Luther would have been tolerated on many truths of general application; but his bold statements of justification could not be endured. How different from Erasmus, who, though a layman, delivered his doctrines ex cathedrá, yet with an unworthy carefulness to avoid inconvenient offence! But the question is not, how our people may be pleased; but how they may be warned, instructed, and saved. We would indeed strongly rebuke that modesty, which makes us ashamed of our grand message; or that tremulous timidity, which seems to imply, that we are only half-believers in our grand commission. To keep offensive doctrines out of view, or to apologize for the occasional mention of them, or to be over-cautious respecting the rudeness of disquieting the conscience with unwelcome truth; to compromise with the world; to connive at fashionable sins; or to be silent, where the cause of God demands an open confession-this is not the spirit which honours our Master, and which he "delighteth to honour.” 5 Acts iv. 13. See the power that rested upon this spirit; 29-33: xiv. 3. St. Paul's deep sense of its importance. Eph. vi. 19, 20. Col. iv. 3, 4—the same spirit characterizing the Jewish prophets, 1 Kings xxi. 20; xxii. 14-25. 2 Chron. xvi. 7; xxiv. 20. Isaiah lviii. 1; lxv. 2, with Rom. x. 20. Amos vii. 10-13. Micah iii. 8. Matt. iii. 7. 2 Acts xxiv. 24, 25. 4 See Jer. xxiii. 28. 3 Phil. i. 17. 5 See some searching views, in a sermon entitled The Gospel Message, by Rev. Dr. Dealtry, pp. 24-26. Be afraid of nothing more'-said a holy Minister than the detestable cowardice of a selfish and unbelieving heart.' Correspondence of the late Rev. Henry Venn, p. 248. Lord, turn the fear of men's faces into a love of their souls 'was Mr. Walker's godly prayer.-Life, p. 356. The reproof of sin is an important part of Ministerial boldness. Even the courtesies of life never restrained our Lord from this office. The Pharisees' dinners were made the seasons of rebuke, and never used as an excuse for declining it. The Scriptural rules and exhortations in the Ministerial Epistles show, that it should be, when occasion required, public, as a warning to others-sharp, as a means of conviction to the offender-with authority, in our Master's name-with love,5 in the hope of ultimate restoration. It should, however, be always aimed at the sin, not at the sinner. There was no need for the Apostle to make any personal allusion to Felix. Conscience told the trembling criminal-" Thou art the man."6 3 Yet it is not every kind of boldness, that commends the glory of our message, and the dignity of our office. It is not an affected faithfulness, that makes a merit of provoking hostility to the truth-(a temper more closely connected with a man's own spirit than with the Gospel)-not a presumptuous rashness, that utters the holy oracles without premeditation of what is most fitting to be said, or most likely to be effective. But it is a spiritual, holy principle, combined with meekness, humility, and love, and with a deep consciousness of our own weakness and infirmities. 7 This spirit is "a door of utterance "-a door shut, till the Lord opens it-a matter of special difficulty-and therefore a subject of special prayer, both with the Minister and with the people on his account. 8 This Ministerial boldness is fenced on either side by warning and encouragement. 9 Yet many probably know, and even feel, more truth, than they have courage to preach. Want we then a further motive? Think of the despised Saviour in the judgment hall, "before Pontius Pilate, witnessing a good confession " 10—an example of fidelity enough to make a coward bold! The deficiency of this spirit lowers us in the estimation of our people, as time-servers, whose moral and religious integrity are alike suspected. Many who love the smooth things' we should 1 Luke vii. 36-46; xi. 37-54. 3 Titus i. 13. 1 Tim. v. 1. 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25. 8 See Eph. vi. 19, 20. 2 1 Tim. v. 20. 7 See 1 Cor. ii. 3. 4 Ib. ii. 15. with 1 Cor. v. 4. 6 Acts xxiv. 25. Comp. Jer. i. 17-19. Ezek. ii. 6-8. 2 Tim. iv. 16. This thought seems to have been the last prop of Jeremiah's sinking spirit, chap. xx. 9—11. 10 1 Tim. vi. 13. 'prophesy,' would despise us in their hearts for this accommodation to their sinful indulgences; whilst Christian boldness awes the haters of our message, and secures the confidence of the true flock of Christ, and the approbation of our conscience in the sight of God. II.-WISDOM-THE SPIRIT OF SCRIPTURAL PREACHING. 3 2 "WISDOM "-observes the wise king of Jerusalem, who had known its value in public instruction-" is profitable to direct." i We may be useful without learning, but not without wisdom. This was a part of our Master's furniture for his work; to which the multitude, and even his enemies, bore ample testimony. His sermons were fraught with solemn, weighty, unmingled truth, judicious appeals to Scripture, an intimate acquaintance with the heart, and a suitable adaptation of incidental occurrences to the great end of his mission; so that in every view it was the manifestation of the "wisdom of God." In the same spirit his Apostle bore testimony to his own labours; "teaching every man in all wisdom, that he might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." 5 The wisdom of our public Ministration includes the character of our compositions-that they should be such, that the lowest may understand, and the intelligent may have no cause to complain; that the weak may not be offended, nor the captious gratified. There must be unity of subject, that the minds of our hearers may not be distracted; perspicuity of arrangement, that they may enter into every part of the subject; and simplicity of diction, that no part of it may be concealed by artificial language. The precise view of the mind of the Spirit in the text itself will naturally give unity of subject. Discern 1 Eccl. x. 10, with xii. 10. Isaiah xi. 2, 3, 1, 4. 3 Luke iv. 22. xxi. 40, with John vii. 46. 4 This particular of the Ministry of Christ is admirably illustrated by the Bishop of Winchester.-Minister. Char. of Christ, ch. vi. 5 Col. i. 28. |