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THE PREACHER'S STUDY

I

In any case, take courage! It is right that the vast difficulty of the task should humble you. It is wrong that it should paralyse you. When you sit down in your study to write a sermon, you are not without vital resources behind you. All your experience of God, all your acquaintance with life, all your knowledge of men, all your fellowship with the great minds of the centuries, will come in then to your aid.

I do not dwell here on the fundamental resource—your personal, first-hand communion with God. Of that I hope to speak in a subsequent lecture. But what of your acquaintance with the world, your knowledge of your fellows, your understanding of the problems and vexations that besiege the souls of men? To be merely bookish and academic is quite fatal. It is a damaging criticism of any preacher, that he is out of touch with the actualities of other men's lives, ignorant of the conditions with which they have to grapple, and therefore incompetent to speak to their needs or to give them counsel and guidance for their struggle. There 105