MISCELLANY.-(Six leaves from the end of the Book.)

Year. Day. Place. Locality. MA. E. Book. c. v.

Remarks.

Extracts from Dr. Adam Clarke's "Letter to a Preacher.”

I will now add to my own remarks some quotations from those who were themselves wise master-builders.

"There is a power as well as form of godliness; a soul as well as a body of religion; and to produce this, is God's extraordinary work; and to produce it, he not only communicates, but employs extraordinary means. In this work God often chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and the weak things of the world, to confound the things that are mighty; and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, hath he chosen to bring to nought the things that are, that no flesh might glory in his presence.

Ever remember, God is the Fountain of all good; whatever comes from him will lead to him. His blessing is on his own productions, and his curse on every thing besides. Son of man,' saith the Lord, 'receive the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.' Deeply consider that to be successful in bringing souls to God, you must bring the spirit of the gospel into the work of the ministry. In order to this, see that you retain a clear sense of God's pardoning mercy to your own soul, and of your call to the work; and while you feel his love in your heart, it will not only support you in all trials and difficulties, but it will induce you cheerfully to spend and be spent for the salvation of those for whom Christ has died."

"Never take a text which you do not fully understand, and make it a point of conscience to give the literal meaning of it to the people. This is a matter of great and solemn importance. To give God's words a different meaning to what he intended to convey by them, or to put a construction upon them which we have not the fullest proof he has intended, is awful indeed.

Seldom take a very short text; because a short one may not afford you sufficient matter to entertain and instruct your congregation. There are not many to be found who have the ability to use a few words of Scripture as Addison and Steele did the Greek and Latin mottos of their 'Spectators;' and those who have the ability should not use it in this way, for this plain reason: that, in preaching, God should be heard more than man. But where imagination and invention are put to the rack to supply the place of the words of God, the hearers may admire the address of the preacher, but they are not likely to be fed with the bread of life. In such cases man speaks most, God least. Such preaching must leave the people ignorant of the Scriptures. With many, at present, preaching has become more of a human art, than of a Divine science; and, when this is considered, we need not wonder that the pulpit is so often employed without becoming the mean of salvation to them that hear."

"There is another species of preaching, against which I would most solemnly guard you; namely, what is termed fine or flowery preaching. I do not mean preaching in elegant, correct, and dignified language;* as every thing

The subjoined sketches are designed as examples of the simple, easy style of preaching.

of this kind is quite in place, when employed in proclaiming and illustrating the records of our salvation; but I mean a spurious birth, which endeavours to honour itself by this title. Some preachers think they greatly improve their own discourses by borrowing the fine sayings of others; and when these are frequently brought forward in the course of a sermon, the preacher is said to be a flowery preacher. Such flowers, used in such a way, bring to my remembrance the custom in some countries, of putting full-blown roses, or sprigs of rosemary, lavender and thyme, in the hands of the dead when they are put in their coffins. And may I be permitted to say, that the unnatural association of words and sentences in a fine dignified style with the general tenor of a discourse which is often of a widely different character, is to me as ridiculous and absurd as the union of a cart-wheel with elegant clockwork."

"But the principal fault in this kind of preaching is the using a vast number of words, long and high-sounding, to which the preacher himself appears to have affixed no specific ideas, and which are often foreign, in the connexion in which he places them, to the meaning which they radically convey.'

Get a renewal of

"Go from your knees to the chapel. your commission every time you go to preach, in a renewed sense of the favour of God. Carry your authority to declare the Gospel of Christ, not in your hand, but in your heart. When in the pulpit, be always solemn; say nothing to make your congregation laugh. Remember you are speaking for eternity; and trifling is inconsistent with such awful subjects as the great God, the agony and

death of Christ, the torments of hell, and the blessedness of heaven."

"Never assume an air of importance while in the pulpit; you stand in an awful place, and God hates the proud man. Never be boisterous or dogmatical. Let your demeanour prove, that you feel that you are speaking before Him who tries the spirit, and to whom you are responsible word you utter. Self-confidence will soon lead

for

every

to a forgetfulness of the presence of God; and then you will speak your own words, and, perhaps, in your own spirit too."

"Endeavour to gain the attention of your congregation. Remind them of the presence of God. Get their spirits deeply impressed with this truth,-'Thou, God, seest me!' and assure them, He is in the midst, not to judge, but to bless them; and that they should wait as for eternity, for now is the day of salvation. I have ever found that a few words of this kind, spoken before the sermon, have done very great good."

"The pulpit appears to me analogous to the box in which the witnesses are sworn in a court of justice, To say the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.' You are a witness for God; and are bound by more, if possible, than an oath, to speak the truth in righteousness and love; and to declare faithfully and solemnly, according to the best of your knowledge, the whole counsel of God."

"In whatever way you may handle your text, take care, when you have exhausted the matter of it, not to go over it again. Apply every thing of importance as you go along; and when you have done, learn to make an end.

B