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The Fundamentals and produce a larger rental; and so they may, but these are not the objects for which the Lord sent out His heralds. Success is not to be reckoned by full houses and popular applause, but by convicted and converted hearts, and by the strengthening of the faith and piety of God’s people. A holier life, a more pronounced separation from the world, a stainless integrity in business pursuits, a Christly devotion to the interests of others, a more thorough knowledge of the Word—th ese are the true signs of success which the preacher may justly seek, even though he wear homespun and his people meet in a barn. These are the glorious results which the consecrated soul will pray for, and in them he will re- joice with a purer, holier joy than that which comes from numbers, wealth, or popular admiration. IF THE PREACHER PREACHES THE WORD ONLY, THEN HE WILL TEACH HIS PEOPLE TO HANDLE THE WORD —t o follow! him in his reading and expounding—to study over the Scrip- ture lesson at home, and to pray its blessed truths into their souls. A people will, in this way, become mighty in the Scriptures; and he who is mighty in the Scriptures is a mighty power for Christ and salvation, and in his own soul will have a full experience of the power of Divine truth, deriving it directly from its source, and proving how the entrance of God’s Word giveth light. STILL AGAIN, IF THE PREACHER PREACH THE WORD ONLY, HE WILL HIMSELF BE A DILIGENT STUDENT OF THE WORD, He will bathe in God’s revelation and be permeated by it; and so be proof against all the shafts of ignorance and con- ceit. He will become familiar with every detail of the sacred history, chronology, ethnology, geography, prophecy, precept, and doctrine, and will take nothing at second hand. He will not go to Pope or Council, nor to Calvin or Schleier- macher, to know what to preach, but his delight will be in the law of the Lord, and in His law will he meditate day and night.
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