people there." Bishop Jewel's saying- A Bishop ought to die preaching'-was strikingly confirmed in his own death, which appears to have been hastened, if not to have been caused by the ardour of his Episcopal zeal.* Of Bishop Matthew (Bishop of Durham in Queen Elizabeth's days, and subsequently translated to York) it was said that "it was easy to trace his journies by the churches he preached at.' The most inveterate haters of prelacy were silenced by the example of this Apostolic Bishop.'t Preaching he used to call 'his beloved work,' from which he did not consider himself to be discharged even by the government of the province of York, so that a challenge was thrown out to Popery That Tobias Matthew, the Archbishop of York, though almost eighty years of age, preacheth, more sermons in a year, than you (the Popish party) can prove have been preached by all your Popes from Gregory the Great's days.' The examples of Grimshawe and Wesley, in days nearer our own time, may well serve to stimulate to greater devotedness to our public employ. Twelve or fourteen preaching engagements were included in Mr. Grimshawe's idle week. The number was doubled, in what he called his working week.§ Wesley is calculated to have preached upwards of forty thousand sermons (exclusive of a large number of exhortations) during a course of itinerancy of nearly fifty years, * The motto at the bottom of a curious portrait of Jewel preserved in Salisbury Palace is- Væ mihi, si non evangelizavero.' This was also the motto of Usher's own selection for his Archiepiscopal seal--illustrated by his increasing constancy in preaching, subsequent to his elevation. No mention of him occurs in Prynne's celebrated work of invective against prelates. Granger's Biog Hist. Vol. i. p. 343. and an average annual ratio of travelling four thousand five hundred miles. Whatever irregularity or enthusiasm belonged to their unprecedented labours, the large success with which they were honoured, showed the main-spring of their exertion--" the love of Christ constrained them." Let us beware that our censure of their system does not hinder us from transferring an impulse of zeal, self-denial, and self-devotedness, to a more chastised system of Ministration. 66 But preaching diligence includes not only frequency of employ, but constant repetition of truth. The workman is more anxious to fasten one nail by reiterated blows, than slightly to fix many upon the outward surface. To preach "the same things is not grievous" to the Christian Minister, and for his people, it is often "safe."* The fruitfulness of the earth arises from its drinking in the rain that cometh oft upon it." Not the weight, but the constant repetition of the heavenly showers makes impressions on the hardest substances. That our "doctrine," therefore, may "drop as the rain," it must fall not only in the gentleness of love, but in the frequency of diligence. The constant enforcement of fundamental truths is necessary for their deeper and more practical influence. Truths that have been marked out by gainsayers or seducers, must form prominent topics of our Ministry. Truths also of daily use and practice, entering into the mind and time, will be sound doctrine to hear and preach to the end of our course.§ * Phil. iii. 1. † Deut. xxxii. 2. with Heb. vi. 7. Isa. xxviii. 10. § The apostle exhorts to pulpit diligence by a most foreboding anticipation. 2 Tim. iv. 2, 3. SECTION VI. SINGLENESS-THE SPIRIT OF SCRIPTURAL PREACHING. THE Ministerial work must be managed purely for God and the salvation of the people, and not for any private ends of our own. This is our sincerity in it. A wrong end makes all the work bad from us, however good in itself. Self-denial is of absolute necessity in every Christian, but of a double necessity in a Minister, as he hath a double sanctification and dedication to God. And without self-denial he cannot do God an hour's faithful service. Hard studies, much knowledge, and excellent preaching is but more glorious hypocritical sinning, if the ends be not right." "* The main end in the employ of the Ministry is the glory of God. It is the single eyeing' of this end, that makes all things sweet and holy.' This was the purpose that filled the heart that directed the course of our Great Exemplar. This was also the spirit of the Apostle S --the true spirit of a Christian Minister--the result of serious self-scrutiny and severe spiritual conflict. Experience (for it must plainly be more a matter of experience than of observation,) assures us of the extreme difficulty of preaching with singleness of heart. How much of our study in the very composition of our sermons, flows from a selfish principle, and rolls on in the same corrupt channel! In the pulpit itself-in our Master's immediate presence--what is it that sometimes gives animation to our delivery, tone to our voice, and emphasis to our words? Are we never "preaching ourselves" in the very form and act *Baxter's Reformed Pastor. John viii. 50. v. 41. † Leighton. of preaching "Christ Jesus the Lord?" If in the impulse of the moment, any forcible matter falls from us, how seldom it is unaccompanied with self-complacency, expectation of present effect, or disappointment in its failure! How hard is it to preach without undue regard to the approbation of the Christian or intelligent part of our congregation! What a struggle often to repress the apprehension of being considered commonplace, or the desire to be original and powerful! How difficult thus to sink our gifts in the grace of humility, and so to suppress what might recommend us to men of taste and talent, in order to clothe the same sentiment in a less imposing but a more useful garb! How natural the desire rather to know whether the sermon has been approved, than whether it has been profitably applied. And when we feel that we have made but an indifferent figure, it is as if we had missed the prize of the day. We cannot bear that " our God should humble us among "" our flock, and that they should think of us as vessels of inferior value-not" of gold and of silver," but of" wood and earth."* Baxter's serious remarks are equally applicable to our own day, as to his- Consider, I beseech you, brethren, what baits there are in the work of the Ministry to entice a man to be selfish, that is, to be carnal and impious, even in the highest works of piety. The * See Solomon's wise aphorism, Prov. xxv. 27. It is said of one of the ancient Fathers, that he would weep at the applause that was frequently given to his sermons. Would to God,' said he, they had rather gone away silent and thoughtful!' 'Docente te in Ecclesia, non clamor populi, sed gemitus suscitatur. Lachryma auditorum laudes tuæ sunt.'-Hieron. ad Nepot 'Libenter vocem audio, non qui sibi plausum, sed qui mihi planctum movet.' Bern. Serm. 59. Cantic. I love a serious preacher, who speaks for my sake, and not for his own, who seeks my salvation, and not his own vain-glory.' Fenelon's Letter to the French Academy, p. 230. fame of a godly man is as great a snare as the fame of a learned man. And wo to him that takes up with the fame of godliness instead of godliness. "Verily I say unto you, they have their reward." When the times were all for learning and empty formalities, then the temptation of the proud did lie that way. But now, through the unspeakable mercy of God, the most lively practical preaching is in credit, and godliness itself is in credit: and now the temptation to proud men is here, even to pretend to be zealous preachers and godly men. O what a fine thing doth it seem, to have the people crowd to hear us, and to be affected with what we say, and that we can command their judgments and affections. To have the people call you the chariots and horsemen of Israel-to have them depend upon you, and ruled by you, though this may be more than their duty, yet a little grace may serve to make you seem zealous men for them. Nay, pride may do it without any special grace.'* This sin of vain-glory cleaves to the most eminent Ministers. The following exercise from the diary of a late excellent Minister striks a chord of sympathy with many of us-'I have to observe in my mind a sinful anxiety to preach well, rather than a holy anxiety to preach usefully. I fear I rather seek my own honour than God's. I confess this sin, I trust I repent of it from my heart: I hope for its forgiveness, and its removal from my breast.' Again-The evening spoiled with * Reformed Pastor. "That which many times causes uneasiness in Pastors, is a principle of self-love, which prompts us to seek a private unwarranted delight in that change of men's minds, which we have effected. The spirit of man pleases itself with the success of its own travail; and when we seem to propose no other aim but God's glory, the deceitfulness of self-love is less capable of discovery.' Bishop Godeau's Past. Instructions, pp. 44, 45. |