have forgotten. Give them something weighty if not new, so that an
intelligent listener may feel when the service is over that he has
learned at least a little.
Again, avoid all pedantry. As a general rule, it may be observed
that those gentlemen who know the least Greek are the most sure to
air their rags of learning in the pulpit; they miss no chance of
saying, "The Greek is so and so." It makes a man an inch and a half
taller by a foolometer, if he everlastingly lets fall bits of Greek
and Hebrew, and even tells the people the tense of the verb and the
case of the noun, as I have known some do. Those who have no
learning usually make a point of displaying the pegs on which
learning ought to hang. Brethren, the whole process of
interpretation is to be carried on in your study; you are not to
show your congregation the process, but to give them the result;
like a good cook who would never think of bringing up dishes, and
pans, and rolling pin, and spice box into the dining hall, but
without ostentation sends up the feast.
Never strain passages when you are expounding. Be thoroughly
honest with the word: even if the Scriptures were the writing of
mere men, conscience would demand fairness of you; but when it is
the Lord's own word, be careful not to pervert it even in the
smallest degree. Let it be said of you, as I have heard a venerable
hearer of Mr. Simeon say of him, "Sir, he was very Calvinistic when
the text was so, and people thought him an Arminian when the text
was that way, for he always stuck to its plain sense." A very sound
neighbour of ours once said, by way of depreciating the grand old
reformer, "John Calvin was not half a Calvinist", and the remark
was correct as to his expositions, for in them, as we have seen, he
always gave his Lord's mind and not his own. In the church of St.
Zeno, in Verona, I saw ancient frescoes which had been plastered
over, and then covered with other designs; I fear many do this with
Scripture, daubing the text with their own glosses, and laying on
their own conceits. There are enough of these plasterers abroad,
let us leave the evil trade to them and follow all honest calling.
Remember Cowper's lines--
"A critic on the sacred text should be
Candid and learn'd, dispassionate and free;
Free from the wayward bias bigots feel,
From fancy's influence and intemperate zeal;
For of all arts sagacious dupes invent,
To cheat themselves and gain the world's assent,
The worst is--Scripture warped from its intent."
Use your judgment more than your fancy. Flowers are well enough,
but hungry souls prefer bread. To allegorize with Origen may make
men stare at you, but your work is to fill men's mouths with truth,
not to open them with wonder.
Do not be carried away with new meanings. Plymouth Brethren
delight to fish up some hitherto undiscovered tadpole of
interpretation, and cry it round the town as a rare dainty; let us
be content with more ordinary and more wholesome fishery. No one
text is to be exalted above the plain analogy of faith; and no
solitary expression is to shape our theology for us. Other men and
wiser men have expounded before us, and anything undiscovered by
them it were well to put to test and trial before we boast too
loudly of the treasure trove.
Do not needlessly amend our authorized version. It is faulty in
many places, but still it is a grand work taking it for all in all,
and it is unwise to be making every old lady distrust the only
Bible she can get at, or what is more likely, mistrust you for
falling out with her cherished treasure. Correct where correction
must be for truth's sake, but never for the vainglorious display of
your critical ability. When reading short psalms, or connected
passages of the other books, do not split up the authors utterances
by interjecting your notes. Read the paragraph through, and then go
over it again with your explanations; breaking it up as you may
think fit at the second reading. No one would dream of dividing a
stanza of a poet with an explanatory remark; it would be treason to
common sense to do so: sound judgment will forbid your thus marring
the word of God. Better far never to comment than to cut and carve
the utterances of inspiration, and obscure their meaning by
impertinently thrusting in untimely remarks of your own. Upon many
passages comments would be gross folly: never think of painting the
lily or gilding refined gold; leave the sublime sentences alone in
their glory. I speak as unto wise men; prove your wisdom in this
thing also.
If I were bound to deliver a sermon upon the subject in hand, I
could not desire a better text than Ne 8:8 : "So they read in the
book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused
them to understand the reading." Here is a hint for the reader as
to his reading. Let it always be distinct. Aim to be good readers,
and be the more anxious about it because few men are so, and all
preachers ought to be so. It is as good as a sermon to hear our
best men read the Scriptures; they bring out the meaning by their
correct emphasis and tone. Never fall into the idea that the mere
utterance of the words before you is all that is required of you in
reading; good reading is: a high, but rare attainment. Even if you
do not comment, yet read the chapter previously, and become
familiar with it; it is inexcusable for a man to betray the fact
that he is out of his latitude in the reading, traversing untrodden
ground, floundering and picking his way across country, like a
huntsman who has lost his bearings. Never open the Bible in the
pulpit to read the chapter for the first time, but go to the
familiar page after many rehearsals. You will be doubly useful if
in addition to this you "gave the sense." You will then, by God's
blessing, be the pastor of an intelligent, Bible loving people. You
will hear in your meeting house that delightful rustle of Bible
leaves which is so dear to the lover of the Word; your people will
open their Bibles, looking for a feast. The Word will become
increasingly precious to yourself, your knowledge will enlarge, and
your aptness to teach will become every day more apparent. Try it,
my brethren, for even if you should see cause to discontinue it, at
least no harm will come of the attempt.
In all that I have said I have given you another reason for
seeking the aid of the Holy Spirit. If you do not understand a book
by a departed writer you are unable to ask him his meaning, but the
Spirit, who inspired Holy Scripture, lives forever, and he delights
to open up the Word to those who seek his instruction. He is always
accessible: "He dwelleth with you and shall be in you." Go to him
for yourselves and cry, "Open thou mine eyes that I may behold
wondrous things out of thy law"; and, this being granted you,
entreat him to send forth his light and power with the Word when
you expound it, that your hearers also may be led into all truth.
Commentaries, expositions, interpretations, are all mere
scaffolding; the Holy Ghost himself must edify you and help you to
build up the church of the living God.