Their whole being was pervaded by the divine facts and truths, the eternal realities of which they spoke. They needed no preparation, no study, not even reflection. They spoke as their Master had spoken before them: "We speak what we know, and we testify what we have seen."[1]
3. But perhaps it will be answered that our state is so absolutely unlike, and so remote from theirs, that our preaching must be the result of preparation, study, and intellectual effort. To this the answer may be both yes and no. And first, in the affirmative. Not only is preparation needed for a preacher, but such preparation as perhaps goes far beyond what the objector intends. By preparation is commonly understood a carefully-written composition, carefully committed to memory. It were well if all priests faithfully made such preparation. But the preparation required for a preacher goes farther back, and is deeper than this. It is the preparation, not of the sermon, but of the man. It is the remote, not the proximate, preparation which is chiefly needed. The man preaches, not the sermon, and the sermon is as the man is. S. Paul says, "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus our Lord."[2] Now they who were full of His mind and presence could so
