June 9

It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them, that believe. - 1 Corinthians 1:21.

FAITH cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The highest view we can take of preaching is, that it is a divine institution; and we are expressly assured of this by the apostle, who tells us that “when the Saviour ascended on high he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” It is a permanent appointment. The trumpet of the gospel is to be blown till we hear the last trumpet sound. And if it be an appointment of God, the only wise God, it must be a wise appointment. It displays much of the wisdom of God. Nothing in the communication of knowledge has ever yet been found like a living address from man to man. Nothing is capable of producing so much impression and effect. Hence all our modern institutions employ their orators and lecturers.

It is certain our blessed Lord left nothing behind him in manuscript; but he was a prophet, and he was a preacher; and. “never man spake like this man; the common people heard him gladly.” The poor were evangelized, and multitudes followed him wherever he went. If he preached on the mountain or on the sea-shore, there were they. “He came down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth.” “His doctrine dropped as the rain, and his speech distilled as the dew.” It was by preaching that the nations were Christianized at first; and it was by this means that the work of the Reformation was so successful. By the preaching of Knox and others, Scotland was evangelized; and by the preaching of the everlasting gospel by Whitefield and others, the revival of religion in our country was so greatly promoted.

It is well ascertained, that the largest proportion of persons who have been awakened to a concern about their spiritual state has resulted not so much from reading the word as by the preaching of it.