n find for that which he believes
others to be passing through, but as the exact equivalent of that
which he has passed through himself. There are many rules for praying
in public, and a competent minister will not neglect them; but there
is one rule worth all the rest put together, and it is this: Be a man
of prayer yourself; and then the congregation will feel, as you open
your lips to lead their devotions, that you are entering an accustomed
presence and speaking to a well-known Friend. There are arts of study
by which the contents of the Bible can be made available for the
edification of others; but this is the best rule: Study God's Word
diligently for your own edification; and then, when it has become
more to you than your necessary food and sweeter than honey or the
honey-comb, it will be impossible for you to speak of it to others
without a glow passing into your words which will betray the delight
with which it has inspired yourself.[13]

Perhaps of all causes of ministerial failure the commonest lies here;
and of all ministerial qualifications, this, although the simplest, is
the most trying. Either we have never had a spiritual experience deep
and thorough enough to lay bare to us the mysteries of the soul; or
our experience is too old, and we have repeated it so often that it
has become stale to ourselves; or we have made reading a substitute
for thinking; or we have allowed the number and the pressure of the
duties of our office to curtail our prayers and shut us out of our
studies; or we have learned the professional tone in which things
ought to be said, and we can fall into it without present feeling.
Power for work like ours is only to be acquired in secret; it is only
the man who has a large, varied and original life with God who can go
on speaking about the things of God with fresh interest; but a
thousand things happen to interfere with such a prayerful and
meditative life. It is not because our arguments for religion are not
strong enough that we fail to convince, but because the argument is
wanting which never fails to tell; and this is religion itself. People
everywhere can appreciate this, and nothing can supply the lack of it.
The hearers may not know why their minister, with all his gifts, does
not make a religious impression on them; but it is because he is not
himself a spiritual power.[14]

There comes to my mind a reminiscence from college days, which grows
more significant to me the long