Thoughts on preaching by J. W. Alexander (Available from Amazon or free here) -
The first letter encourages the minister to devote himself wholly to the work: '...in the ordinary ministerial day, there should be no hour not devoted to something helpful towards the great work. This should give direction to all your reading, writing, and conversation.'
The second letter speaks of the cultivation of personal piety: 'To prevent such declension, the best advice I know of, is to be much in secret devotion ; including in this term the reflective reading of Scripture, meditation, self-examination, prayer and praise.'
The third letter describes the happiness of Christ's ministry: 'Yet it is happy ; indeed I hesitate not to express my conviction, that the life of a faithful minister is the happiest on earth.'
Oh, this section is a vast improvement to the collection of paragraphs. These letters are great!
Particularly enjoyed the letter on the happiness of the ministry with its emphasis on the joy of preaching : 'There is happiness in preaching. It may be so performed as to be as dull to the speaker, as it is to the hearers ; but in favoured instances it furnishes the purest and noblest excitements, and in these is happiness. Nowhere are experienced, more than in the pulpit, the clear, heavenward soaring of the intellect, the daring flight of imagination, or the sweet agitations of holy passion. The declaration of what one believes, and the praise of what one loves, always give delight: and what but this is the minister's work ? He is called to converse with the highest truths of which humanity can be cognizant, and, if God so favour him, to experience the noblest emotions; and this most, while he is standing " in Christ's stead."
I am persuaded, that previously to trial, no young man can duly estimate the glow of public discourse as a source of pleasure. When the soul is carried by the greatness of the subject, and the solemnity of the occasion, above its ordinary tracts, so . as to be at once heated and enlarged by passion, while the kindled countenances of the hearers, and the reflected ardour of their glance, carry a repercussive influence to the speaker ; or when the tear twinkles in the eye of penitence, and weeping throngs attest the power of truth and affection ; then it is that preaching becomes its own reward. This is more than rhetorical excitement and stage-heat; it is caused by Christian emotion. Call it sympathy, if you please ; I am yet to learn what harm there is in this: it is legitimate sympathy. If a Christian minister ever has deep impressions of truth, we may expect it to be in the pulpit; there, if anywhere, we may hope for special gifts from above ; and these gifts are dispensed for the sake of the hearer, and are reckoned on, as graces, or tokens of individual piety. Yet they constitute a great part of the preacher's happiness. They are not dependent on eloquence, in its common meaning; for they fall equally to the share of the humblest, rudest preacher, provided he be all on fire with his subject, and bursting with love to his people. No scholarship, filing, or varnish, can compass this ; it comes from the heart: and many a minister has chipped at the edges of his sermon, and veneered it with nice bits of extract, only to find that its strength had been whittled away. There may be more awakening or melting, in a backwoodman's improvisation, than in all the climacteric periods of Melville, or all the balanced splendour of Macaulay. Certainly the delight of soul is on the side of him who is most in earnest. It is especially love that moves the souls of hearers, and love, in its very nature, gives happiness. It cannot be, that a man can be frequently the subject of those feelings which belong to evangelical preaching, without being for that very reason a happier man.'
I do think Alexander is right that the joy of preaching is very much underestimated.
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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