"To make me weep,

"You must be first in tears."

If his hearers are not convinced that the minister of religion be lieves his own message, and is in earnest when he addresses himself to them, they will most probably give little heed to what he says, and suffer him to speak in vain. Labour, by meditation and prayer, to attain a suitable frame of spirit, and study to have your mind agreeable to the mould of the gospel; then you will be prepared to deliver your message with becoming earnestness.

When I exhort you to preach the gospel in earnest, I do not mean that you should bawl and vociferate after the manner of some. Without this, indeed, according to the opinion of many, a minister cannot be in earnest, or affected with what he says. This, however, is a very uncertain sign of almost all the passions of which a godly minister desires to feel the influence: It is not the language of nature, nor does it represent many of those emotions which the noisy and boisterous declaimer would be thought to express. Any man possessed of strong lungs can, in a moment, command it at pleasure; while the true signs of such emotions are not so easily exhibited for they can be well expressed only by him who feels them.

Let every day's discourses contain, in one form or another, an exhibition of the plan of salvation.

This is abundantly consistent with all the attention to unity, requisite in preaching the gospel. An elaborate discussion of some particular truth or a philosophical recommendation of some duty, from which, in consequence of an extreme regard to refinement of method or composition, a view of the scheme of salvation is excluded, after the manner of many modern sermons, will be of little use either for the conviction of sinners or the edification of the followers of Christ.

Some of your hearers may be ignorant of the plan of redemption, and therefore need to be instructed concerning it others will need to be put in remembrance of what they have already known, that its practical influence may be successfully enforced. The execution of this part of his work, with a variety of method, manner and expression, suitable to fix the attention of the human mind, is one of the great difficulties which belong to the labours of a gospel minister. The attainment of it in a high degree, is a most valuable, though a rare acquisition. Here the messenger of Jesus, without design, may display the rich furniture of a well stored mind, and exercise all the powers of an inventive genius. It is by shewing their intimate connection with each other, and by presenting to view their grand references to the plan of salvation,

that you will most successfully illustrate particular truths of the gospel, and enforce moral and religious duties upon your hearers. When you preach the gospel, speak to the consciences of men. With a view to the accomplishment of this design, apply your doctrine to the different classes of which you may have reason to suppose that your audience may consist. I do not say that every discourse you deliver must uniformly be concluded with something which bears the name of inferences or an application: This may be proper and necessary in many, perhaps in most cases. The same design may also be frequently pursued to greater advantage by constructing your discourses in such a manner as to address the consciences of your hearers while you go along: But in one form or another, an address to the consciences of those who hear you, must always be attempted.

Sermons containing a doctrinal exhibition of the truths of the gospel, while the hearts of the audience are not addressed, want a principal, I had almost said, an essential part, of the proper message of a gospel minister; and leave the hearers without the advantage arising from a precious means of divine appointment: A means often blessed for bringing sinners to Christ; for awakening the secure; for raising believers in the decline of grace from their state of spiritual slumbering; and for removing the doubts and perplexities which may distract the minds of the people of God.

That mode of preaching the gospel is the most proper, which is best calculated to lay open the secrets of their hearts to the hearers, who may thereby know that God is truly present in the assembly. Therefore, let the practical part of your discourses form a considerable part of the whole. After having finished the illustration of the doctrines contained in your text, would you wish to know what things will form a suitable application with which you may conclude; you have only to review what you have done, and to reflect what improvement the different classes of your hearers ought to make of it; this reflection will furnish you with proper materials for an application, and shew you by what means you may deal with the consciences of men.

It is a great mistake in preaching the gospel, to suppose that the conclusion of a sermon should embrace as many inferences as a logical genius can fairly deduce from the subject: This may be called an application; but many things of this kind may be unworthy of the name: For those things only which correspond with the situation and circumstances of the audience, deserve a place here. And, except what may be necessary to confute some

dangerous or prevalent error, or to defend or illustrate some truth greatly misunderstood or directly opposed in the place where he labours, the wise and faithful minister will select his inferences only for the purpose of addressing the consciences and the hearts of his hearers.

In the application of your doctrine, see that the profane be faithfully warned of their danger. Say to the hypocrite what, by probing his wounds and laying open his sores, may tend to destroy his foolish confidence. Thus, without personal reflections, without suffering yourself to be prevented by the influence of unreasonable modesty, and without fearing the face of man, let your application of the gospel to the consciences of sinners be pointed and explicit, such as may be calculated to overthrow and counteract those means which your hearers will naturally employ to exclude the word from their hearts. But while you speak to the consciences of the profane and of the hypocrite, beware lest you wound the spirit or lay a stumbling block in the way of the real Christian let him also have his portion. When you speak of sin and duty in regard to him, you will do well to proceed in a different strain. Some believers need to be admonished, warned, reproved, though in a manner suitable to their condition; while words of consolation, to dispel their fears and banish their distressing anxieties, may be more answerable to the case of others. That you may grow in skill for this part of your work

:

Endeavour to attain an intimate acquaintance with your own

heart.

This is a qualification very necessary to the right preaching of the gospel. The man who derives all his philosophy from books, may seem to speculate about the human soul and to describe its faculties, in a metaphysical and learned manner; but it is impossible for such a man truly to delineate the operations of the mind, when he has not availed himself of the discoveries which might be made by attending to the operations of his own mind. A painter who works from a copy can never be so well assured that he draws a proper likeness as if the original had been presented to his view. A man born blind can neither distinguish colours nor describe them with propriety; so a minister of the gospel cannot be a fit instrument to lay open the secrets of the hearts of others, when he has little or no acquaintance with his own heart. For speaking with propriety and success to the hearts of your audience, without despising or refusing foreign aid, you will find the knowledge of your own heart, improved by the light of the Holy Scriptures, to be attended with vastly greater advantage than all the assistance

derived from the labours of others. When you wish to remove the prejudices, to answer the false reasonings, or to banish the delusive hopes of sinners; look back to the prejudices by which you were once actuated; think in what manner you were accustomed to reason; and reflect upon the foundation of the hopes which you were wont to cherish, before you felt the power of the gospel: thus you will very probably hold out to them a faithful picture of their hearts and exercises. And the same means which you found advantageous in your own experience, will be, in some ineasure, suitable for them. From your own heart you will find out the enemies with whom you have to combat in preaching the gospel; and from your own experience you will best discover the means by which they may be successfully opposed.

Your temptations, as a minister, may, in many respects, differ from those of private Christians; yet your own experience may be used as a school where you may learn how to address yourself. to believers. A view of the evil and deceit which may still be found in your own heart, may be improved as a medium through which many things that pass in their hearts, will be seen. In short, your temptations, your doubts, your fears, your perplexities, will shew you many of those with which other Christians are distressed; and a careful attention to the means and the manner of your own deliverance, will enable you to speak a word in season to weary souls, and "to comfort them who are in any trouble, by the consolation wherewith you yourself are comforted of God."

Beware of sinking into despondency, from a view of the difficul ties which attend your work, or in consequence of your seeming want of success in the performance of it.

When the minister of Christ reflects upon these things, he is sometimes ready to wish that divine providence had assigned him another station in life, and had never called him to such a great and arduous undertaking: But this is a temptation of satan, and to entertain it is the exercise of unbelief. You may expect to meet with many difficulties and discouragements; but you know who hath said, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Here you have your supply and your security. You have, I trust, some comfortable evidence of your call to preach the everlasting gospel. He who called you to the work is abundantly able to support and assist you under all the labours and difficulties which attend it; yes, my dear brother, that Jesus whom we serve has promised his presence to accomny all his faithful messengers,-" Lo," said he, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Cast your burdens upon

him, and leave your success in his hands. Your want of success, if you should appear in a great measure to want success in your labours, will be a temptation, and no doubt prove a source of grief and disquietude. In this way you may perhaps soon find some occasion of uneasiness. A fondness for novelty, or other circumstances of a similar kind, may draw out many to hear you for sometime, who will afterwards turn their backs upon your ministry, and suffer you to see them no more when you preach the gospel. Some will not be able to endure a long continued attendance upon serious things; some will not like to have their consciences troubled by the preaching of the word; some will be carried away by the cares of this world or the pleasures of sin; and others, it may be, will go off in anger because you faithfully reprove them, and be disposed to account you their enemy, because you tell them the truth. Should all this happen in your experience, you need not be greatly surprised, nor too much discouraged: for the ministry of Christ himself was treated with the same neglect; many who followed him for a time, "went back and walked no more with him."

It is also probable, that publicly and privately, you will have occasion to exhort, to warn, and to reprove, some, who would be thought professors of religion; and find to your sorrow that you have not seldom spoken in vain. Amidst all discouragements, arising from the want of success,-remember, for your consolation, that your ministerial duties will be approved, not according to their sccess, but according to the motives from which they proceed, and the fidelity with which they are performed. The labours of the prophet Elijah appeared so fruitless in his own eye as to excite the melancholy supposition, that, in the whole kingdom of Israel, none but himself was inclined to serve the true God: Yet this personage was one of the most illustrious and highly favoured messengers of heaven, and received a testimony of the divine approbation in its kind so peculiar, that no mortal after him will ever enjoy it. Depending upon the grace of Christ, be faithful in his service, and your fidelity will be followed with the approbation of your Master: Thus you may look forward in the expectation of attaining your gracious reward-a crown of life, when Jesus shall say, "well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Finally: Let your conduct be agreeable to the gospel of Christ. Inattention to this, on the part of them who preach the gospel, is a great stumbling block to the men of world, and affords them a strong handle to oppose the truth-a handle which they will not