means of grace, the ministry of the Gospel, or, in other words, the preaching of God's holy word. I have done so, not only because preaching is to be regarded as the great instrumentality whereby it pleases God to accomplish the spread of the Gospel, the conversion of souls, and the establishment of believers, but also because in the minds of many at the present day there is a tendency to undervalue preaching, and to give to this ordinance a secondary and subordinate importance. And yet, if we would be guided by the testimony of God's own word, if we would consult the record of historical facts with respect to the revival or the progress of true religion in every period of the world's history, we should discover that the proclamation of Divine truth has universally been as I believe it is appointed to be the chief instrumentality whereby the Spirit works to convince, to convert, to sanctify, and to establish souls. Preaching is not an ordinance confined to the Gospel institution, although its importance has increased in proportion to the immeasurably clearer and fuller intelligence which is unfolded by the Gospel. The preaching of God's truth began from the earliest times. Enoch, the seventh from Adam,' as we learn by St. Jude, discharged this office. He prophesied, or in other words, preached to the men of his generation the great doctrines of which the ambassadors for Christ have still to make mention, the second advent of the Redeemer in glory, and the erection of that dread tribunal before which the gathered tribes of mankind must universally appear. Noah is expressly termed "a preacher of righteousness ;" and we further know that his preaching was accompanied by the striving of God's own Spirit, even as the same striving invariably accompanies the faithful proclamation of Divine truth at the present day. What were all the prophets of God in sub2 2 Peter, ii. 5. 1 Jude, 14. sequent ages but men who discharged the office of preachers? Righteous King David could say of himself, "I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest." Solomon is continually styled "the Preacher;" and because he was wise, it is written, he still taught the people.2 So that preaching is an ordinance, the existence whereof may be traced from the remotest periods up to the time of the Redeemer's first advent. From the time when Christ began His personal ministry I need scarcely point out the increased dignity and importance which has attached to the ordinance. Our blessed Lord Himself was anointed"to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." His forerunner, John the Baptist, was a preacher 1 Psalm, xl. 9. 3 2 Ecclesiastes, xii. 9. 3 Isaiah, lxi. 1; and Luke, iv. 8. 3 2 of repentance. John, it is written, did 'preach the baptism of repentance. The seventy whom Christ chose to send forth as pioneers of His Gospel, were to preach in every city where they came. The twelve apostles whom Christ ordained to be the heralds of His truth, He ordained, it is expressly written, that they might be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach. After the completion of our Saviour's personal ministry upon earth, the Apostles, to whom the commission was entrusted to make disciples of all nations, "ceased not," as we are told," to preach Jesus Christ." They pleaded the express command of the Saviour for preaching to the people." St. Paul, writing to the Romans, exhibits the importance of this ordinance by the threefold question,-"How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and 1 Mark, i. 4. 2 Luke, x. 8, 9. 5 Acts, x. 42. Mark, iii. 14. 4 Acts, v. 42. 5 how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher ?" By the foolishness, that is to say, the apparent weakness and insufficiency, of preaching, we are told, it pleases God to save them that believe." One exhortation which St. Paul gave to Timothy was, "Preach the word, be instant in season and out of season ;" and the truth of God, he reminded Titus, is "manifested through preaching." Need more be said in order to vindicate the pre-eminent importance of this mean of grace, unless it, indeed, be to refer to experience in confirmation of this truth; that the degree to which the cause of piety in a church has ever flourished has always been in proportion to the degree in which the preaching of the Gospel has been bold, and energetic, and faithful? Remove the pulpit from our churches, silence the voice of preachers in our land, and the 1 Rom. x. 14. 3 2 Tim. iv. 2. • Titus, i. 3. с |