ommand
reverence by their character, but what they say does not find its way
to men's business and bosoms.

I have seen the same truth put in another way. Tholuck, one of the
most gifted of modern preachers, has made the remark that a sermon
ought to have heaven for its father and the earth for its mother. Why,
he asks, do one half of our sermons miss the mark? It is because,
while they treat of the circumstances and relationships of life in an
interesting way, they do so only in the light which springs from
below, not in that which streams from above; they have the earth for
their mother, but not heaven for their father. And why do the other
half of our sermons fail to touch the heart? It is because, while they
display the heavenly things shining at a distance, they do not bring
them down to the homes and workshops, the highways and byways of
ordinary life; they have heaven for their father, but not the earth
for their mother.[27]

* * * * *

Indeed, gentlemen, the definition of the preacher as a Man of the Word
covers a very large area of our duty, and an analysis of its contents
will furnish a kind of natural history of that which is the most
important part of a minister's work from week to week.

1. To be a Man of the Word is to be a master of the Divine Word. In
the pulpit not only must a man have something to say, but it must be a
message from God. Where is this to be found? We do not now require to
seek it, as the prophets had to do, in the empty void. Their work was
not in vain. They were working for their own times, but they were also
working for all time. The prophets and apostles put into a permanent
form the principles on which the world is governed, and gave classical
expression to the most important truths which man requires to know for
salvation and for the conduct of his life. Thus they are still serving
us, and we can begin where they left off. He who receives the message
of God now finds it in the Word of God.

Hence one of the primary qualifications of the ministry is an intimate
familiarity with the Scriptures. To this end a large proportion of the
study required of you at college is directed; and the subsequent
habits of ministerial life have to be formed with the same object in
view. A large portion of our work is the searching of the Scriptures,
and a preacher of the highest order will always be a man mighty in
the Scriptures. We chance at present to be living