Today Spring begins to answer the inquiry: 'What course of conduct is incumbent on ministers themselves, in order to make full proof of the power with which the pulpit is invested?'
He teaches us the importance of the minister having a single eye to the great object of preaching: the Gospel. 'Of all the agencies he thus employs, the most important is the Gospel of his grace ; the most effective dispensation of that Gospel is the preached word, — the living ministry of his Son. All the goodness, and all the high-borb hopes in this fallen world, are to be attributed to the revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ, and to a cordial reception of him as there revealed.'
A good chapter.
Gospel centered preaching is certainly not a new concept. I liked the way Spring put it here: 'In this great object, the mind and heart of the preacher must be concentrated ; this great end he must pursue with great singleness of purpose, and great strength and ardor of affection. His efforts will rise as high as his own impressions of the importance of his object, and no higher. He may expect to accomplish very little, unless his own mind is absorbed in his high calling. He need not be afraid of being too much excited in the pursuit of such an end; for it is impossible that the affections of an enlightened and well-balanced mind should be too strong and ardent, where those affections can be gratified only by the salvation of men, and through the instrumentality of God's truth; It is but for the salvation of men to become his great object ; his thoughts are but to dwell here, and his desires centre so habitually, so tenderly, so solemnly, on this great object, as to make it the paramount passion ; and his pulpit would read different lessons from those it often reads. Let this be wanting, and the preacher's heart freezes, his lips freeze, and his pulpit is but an icy tablet. '
Amen!
R
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