occurs that I have no text or subject in my mind, before I give myself
to prayer for the sake of ascertaining the Lord's will concerning it. In
this case, I wait some time on my knees for an answer, trying to listen
to the voice of the Spirit to direct me. If, then, a passage or subject,
whilst I am on my knees, or after I have finished praying for a text, is
brought to my mind, I again ask the Lord, and that sometimes repeatedly,
especially if, humanly speaking, the subject or text should be a
peculiar one, whether it be his will that I should speak on such a
subject or passage. If, after prayer, my mind is peaceful about it, I
take this to be the text, but still desire to leave myself open to the
Lord for direction, should he please to alter it, or should I have been
mistaken. Frequently, also, in the third place, it happens that I not
only have no text nor subject on my mind previous to my praying for
guidance in this matter, but also I do not obtain one after once, or
twice, or more times praying about it. I used formerly at times to be
much perplexed when this was the case, but, for more than twenty years,
it has pleased the Lord, in general at least, to keep me in peace about
it. What I do is, to go on with my regular reading of the Scriptures,
where I left off the last time, praying (whilst I read) for a text, now
and then also laying aside my Bible for prayer, till I get one. Thus it
has happened that I have had to read five, ten, yea, twenty chapters,
before it has pleased the Lord to give me a text; yea, many times I have
even had to go to the place of meeting without one, and obtained it,
perhaps, only a few minutes before I was going to speak; but I have
never lacked the Lord's assistance at the time of preaching, provided I
had earnestly sought it in private. The preacher cannot know the
particular state of the various individuals who compose the
congregation, nor what they require, but the Lord knows it; and if the
preacher renounces his own wisdom, he will be assisted by the Lord; but
if he will choose in his own wisdom, then let him not be surprised if he
should see little benefit result from his labors.

Before I leave this part of the subject, I would just observe one
temptation concerning the choice of a text. We may see a subject to be
so very full that it may strike us it would do for some other occasion.
For instance, sometimes a text brought to one's mind for a week-evening
meeting may appear more