ctory
laid on the locks of a faithful teacher is the characters of those whom
he has taught. 'Who is my joy and hope, and crown of rejoicing?' Are not
even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming?

Now, notice, further, how such mutual affection is needed to give force
to the teacher's exhortation. Preaching from unloved lips never does any
good. It irritates, or leaves untouched. Affection melts and opens the
heart to the entrance of the word. And preaching from unloving lips does
very little good either. So speaking, I condemn myself. There are men
who handle God's great, throbbing message of love so coldly as that they
ice even the Gospel. There are men who have a strange gift of taking all
the sap and the fervour out of the word that they proclaim, making the
very grapes of Eshcol into dried raisins. And I feel for myself that my
ministry may well have failed in this respect. For who is there that can
modulate his voice so as to reproduce the music of that great message,
or who can soften and open his heart so as that it shall be a worthy
vehicle of the infinite love of God?

But, dear brethren, though conscious of many failures in this respect, I
yet thank God that here, at the end of nearly forty years of a ministry,
I can look you in the face and believe that your look responds to mine,
and that I can take these words as the feathers for my arrow, as that
which will make words otherwise weak go further, and may help to write
the precepts upon hearts, and to bring them to bear in practice--'My
beloved and longed for'; 'my joy and my crown.'

Such feelings do not need to be always spoken. There is very little
chance of us Northerners erring on the side of letting our hearts speak
too fully and frequently. Perhaps we should be all the better if we were
a little less reticent, but at any rate you and I can surely trust each
other after so many years, and now and then, as to-day, let our hearts
speak.

II. Secondly, notice the all-sufficient precept which such love gives.
'So stand fast in the Lord.'

That is a very favourite figure of Paul's, as those of you who have any
reasonable degree of familiarity with his letters will know. Here it
carries with it, as it generally does, the idea of resistance against
antagonistic force. But the main thought of it is that of continuous
steadfastness in our union with Jesus Christ. It applies, of course, to
the intellect, but not mainly, and certainly not exclusi