ne-dresser and all the stages of the growth of the vines. We see
the tearing up of the hillside with the mattock, the accumulation of
soil, the gathering out of the stones, the construction of the
winepress and the watch-tower. Then we see the roots planted and
growing from stage to stage--from that "afore the harvest, when the
bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower," to that
when the vineyard is ringing with the songs of the vintage and the
gleaners are picking the last relics from the outermost branches.

At whatever period these pictures of nature were laid up in the memory
of Isaiah, they came back to him when he was engaged in the work of a
prophet, and supplied the imagery by means of which the Divine truths
which he heralded were made impressive and attractive to his
countrymen and acceptable to all subsequent generations; for men are
so made that they are never so won by the truth as when they see it
reflected in a physical image.

These two sides of the prophet's activity nearly correspond to what we
should call Thought and Expression. Or, to put it still more broadly,
the preacher must be a man who both has something to say and knows how
to say it. On these two apparently simple qualifications hang all the
science and art of our vocation.

In reality they are not simple. To have the right thing to say is a
great commandment, and to know the right way to say it is, though
second to it, hardly inferior. But the problem of the ministry is to
have both in perfect equipoise--to utter a word which is at the same
time both a message from God and a message to men.

It would be possible to be so taken possession of by the message from
God as to lose self-control and even reason itself. In Scripture we
meet with manifestations of prophecy which are akin to madness. Just
as the wind, catching the sail, would, if the ropes were not adjusted
to relieve the strain, overturn the boat, so the Wind of God might
sweep the mind off its balance, the human personality being overborne
by the inrushing inspiration. Thus religion may make a man a fanatic,
who has no control over his own spirit, and no wisdom to choose the
times at which to speak or the terms in which to address his
fellow-men. On the other hand, the opposite excess is still more
easy. So much stress may be laid on the form of words, and so much
mastery obtained of the art of winning attention, that the necessity
of having a Divine message to