rd
has in His heart for us.

To the preacher, then, we would say:--Here is a task which must not be
neglected however hard it be. The word should be a hammer to break, a
sword to pierce, an arrow in the heart. Here is something for us all
to do:--To cultivate the arts of the counsel for the prosecution. In
the exercise of those arts all our knowledge of human nature, all
possible learning in the word will be needed to their very last
syllable. It is not true that any one is qualified to wave the lamp
that shall reveal the pitfall in the path of the over-confident
disciple. He must be a wise physician who has to diagnose the sickness
of the soul. He must be a lawyer learned in the law who has to explain
the position of the rebel before his flouted Sovereign. He must have
larger skill than most who has to bring home the broken will of God to
the soul. A reflection, more important still, has yet to be suggested.
For this work the preacher will need to be a man of holiness, for,
though he speak to his brother only as a fellow-sinner saved by Grace,
he must speak as one who has escaped from bonds. Thus comes character
into the business. "Woe is me," said the prophet, called to witness
against the transgression of Judah, "for I am a man of unclean lips."
Only by prayer, by the cleansing of the fountain, by sustaining grace
shall we be sufficient for these things. For this manner of preaching
one man alone can ascend into the hill of the Lord:--"He that hath
clean hands and a pure heart, and hath not lifted up himself unto
vanity, nor sworn deceitfully."

CHAPTER II.

The Note of Pity.

In the chapter just concluded we have tried to lay down that one
essential of the preacher's message is the note of sternness, that the
preacher is, on God's behalf, the accuser of his hearers, charging them
before the bar of conscience, declaring to the soul its state and
condition, pronouncing, also, the punishment which must follow
persistent rebellion against God. It becomes us immediately to say
something as to another note which must be heard in unison with this of
sternness, and that is the note of pity. It is time to insist upon
this. Only that man can declare the terrors of the law who knows
something of the spirit of the prophet who cried, "Oh, that my head
were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day
and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" Only he can cry
out against