ページの画像
PDF
ePub

SERMON XI.

The End of Preaching, and the Way to attain it.

By JOHN SCOTLAND, Minifter of Linlithgow..

Preached at the opening of the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, in the High-Church of Edin burgh, May 2. 1780.

ECCLES. xii. 9..

And morcover, because the preacher was wife,.. he fill taught the people knowledge.

THE text affords occafion for difcourfing: of the duties of a Chriftian preacher.. The task is arduous: And I cannot propofe, though I had otherwise the ability, to do juftice to the fubject in a fhort difcourfe. It is only a flight view of one corner of it that I can now take. And, in the few hints which may be offered, it will not furely be thought that I prefume to dictate to my reverend fathers and brethren, of whom it would much

better

better become me to learn. I mean only, as my place requires, to stir up your minds by way of remembrance; to fuggeft fome things, of which, though we may know them already, it cannot be improper that we fhould be reminded from time to time. What I have to advance will appear, I hope, to be juft, and in nothing materially different from the fentiments of men of greater improvement, or better experience: But, if otherwife, and I should exprefs myfelf without hefitation, the decifive manner, allowed and expected in a fermon, must be my apology.

Give me leave, then, briefly to point out the purpose of preaching, and the manner of profecuting that purpose.

I. The purpofe of preaching is, faith the text, to teach the people knowledge. Know ledge hath been called "the food of the "mind;" because to this it gives nourishment and ftrength, fimilar to that which common food gives to the body. And if this pofition be, in fome measure, true of all real knowledge, it holds peculiarly of that which is moral and religious. This fpecies of knowledge gives fubfiftence: All other kinds fervet chiefly to give a relifh; while, to an undebauched mind, the pureft, most grateful, and abiding relish, arifes likewife from the former: Just as in a found conftitution of body, the plainest and most neceflary food gives a more lafting

I 4

lafting gratification, than that which is given by delicacies.

Knowledge, or the perception of truth, real or fuppofed, lies at the bottom of all that we contrive or do. This arifes from our nature as intelligent beings, in whom every exercise of thought, and every thing they do with confcioufnefs, implies forming a notion or opinion. The more important the object of our minds, the more neceffary is our knowledge concerning it; and, therefore, as religion is our highest concern, knowledge of its facts and doctrines is indifpenfable. To this its feveral modes of administration and addrefs conftantly refer. Admonitions and exhortations, in which all addreffes from this place do terminate, always fuppofe fome truths, fome points of knowledge, as their ground: And the clearer, the juster, and the more comprehenfive, the views which we communicate of religious truths, the more will the religious practice, which is founded in them, become, as the Apostle exhorts, a reasonable fervice.

But how will the wife preacher propofe these truths? In a way that is eafy and intelligible to all. For it is not learning, but the refult of learning, the fruits of well digested knowledge, in a display of fentiments adapted to common capacities, that mark not only the ufeful, but the wife and able preacher. And as fuch a preacher will be careful, on one hand, not to be superficial or sparing; so he

[blocks in formation]

will avoid, on the other hand, being impro perly profufe. Better it is to fay what we fay with effect, than to fay every thing that may be faid. In a country where the gospel hath been long taught and profeffed, much may be safely left, on almost every subject, to the general anticipations of the people. And true knowledge arifes from a clear united view of a fubject, where the mind can eafily furvey the feveral parts, and comprehend the whole at once, rather than from the broken prospect of feparate parts, extended without limit. On which account, what is called exhaufting a fubject, is often nothing more than a learned kind of trifling; where, because each divine truth is connected nearly or more remotely with every other, men fet themselves to fay every thing upon every fubject; at leaft, to run different fubjects into one another, till the mind of the hearer, inftead of being enligh tened, is left incumbered and perplexed.

But we are not yet arrived at the great end of preaching. Speculative knowledge is no more than the means, practical knowledge is the end; or, the former is the foil, the latter is the fruit, which if the other fail to produce, it becomes unprofitable, or worse; it may abound in noxious weeds. In religion, true knowledge is attained more by the heart than by the bead. I will give them an heart to know me, faith God by the prophet. The fcripture fpeaks of believing with the heart, understanding with the heart, and being of quick

[ocr errors][merged small]

understanding in the fear of the Lord. The practice of religion is, in the account of fcrip. ture, the only wifdom, and vice the only folly deserving our notice. Nay more, as religion is a practical science, though fome degrees of fpeculative knowledge are neceffary as a foun-dation, and, where they take place, may or may not give rife to good practice; a good difpofition and practice, on the other hand, are: the certain inlets to all valuable improvements in fpeculation.. Doing the will of God, is re presented by our Saviour as the great requifitefor discovering whether any doctrine be di vine; and to the fame purpose the ApostleJohn: Te have an unction. from the Holy One,. and know all things.. It is a maxim which holds univerfally, that thofe things which when we learn we ought to do, we learn by doing them. A fcorner feeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: But knowledge is easy to him that understandeth. From all which it follows, that the knowledge which the wife preacher will teach the people, is that which tends to make them wife to falvation; or, in other words, which refolves itself into practice.. Happy the preacher who, whatever he fails in, fucceeds in this. For he who is thus taught, is to be accounted the only wife Chriftian. As the end of Christianity is to influence the heart and actions, not he who is able to talk much and dispute about it, but he whofe character and

* Jʊbn vii. 17.

conduct

« 前へ次へ »