follow the spontaneous courses of our thought. But for this an accurate preparation of the subject-matter with pen and ink, analysed and divided logically, with terms and propositions well defined, is absolutely necessary. Then this outline or synopsis must be thought out and impressed, not upon the memory, but upon the intellect, so that the whole, with its parts and its continuity, is present to the mind, not by remembering, but by reasoning. This kind of preparation requires more thought and mental industry than writing out a composition and learning it by heart. The difference between the two processes is this: the written sermon is what we thought when we wrote it; the spoken sermon is what we think at the moment of speaking. It is our present conviction of intellect and feeling of heart: it is therefore real, and felt to be real by those who hear. Happy are they who by such a discipline, intellectual and moral, identify themselves with the Word of God and speak it as their own.
We shall not indeed be inspired, but we know of no limit to the light and grace that God will give to those who ask it. He will give to us os et sapientiam, a mouth and wisdom in speaking for Him to the world. He is working His own purposes by us.
