Preaching to Sinners [pp. 616-629]

618 Preaching to Sinners. [Oc~o~~~
testify to this, and also to a consequent oft-occurring carefulness and study as to what truths should by him be presented,
in what most fitting way, to particular minds. In pulpit preparation, in pastoral labour, the minister is often conscious of
studying the characteristics of his people, the special wants
known to him, in order that~he may, under the Spirit's blessing, bring just such medicine as shall effect a cure. If such
and such convictions can be forced upon this soul, then he shall
have large hope for its entering the kingdom.
And there is one great and indispensa6le conviction, without
the production of which all the labour of the preacher will be
in vain. Whatsoever may be the doctrine presented, the soul
will not be led' to the blessed Saviour until there is felt within
it the conviction of which we speak. This is the conviction
that the salvation of the soul derends entirei~y upon the grace
of ~od. This may be said to include all the convictions of the
soul felt in the application to it of the truths of salvation. To
this, in fact, does every sinner come, who gives himself to
Christ; to this in its substance, whether thoroughly comprehended in its length and breadth, or not, for the soul will not
cast itself upon the mercies of the Lord, until the fact is felt
that salvation is given to the sincere applicant. This may,
then, be taken as the special aim of the preacher in opening to
the sinner the truth of redemption, in order that immediately,
if possible, the sinner may realize that he must in every way
depend upon Divine grace. This shall be for the soul the step.
ping-stone, whence it may rise to the full experience of conversion's joys.
Of this conviction it may be said, in the first place, that it
must be a sincere conviction, according to the evident meaning
of the Scriptures. In other words, it is a conviction in the
heart, and not a mere intellectual judgment; for a religion of
the head only is no religion, and the command of God is not,
"Give me thy mind," but "Give me thy heart." Preaching
deals with the mind, and must deal with the mind by every possible and cogent argument, but only thus that it may touch
the heart. A thought or truth, which has found its way into
the heart, is one that in so doing has become a living reality
for that heart. Formerly, as a mere judgment of the mind,