us destiny. That human creature must be studied
at first hand. It is not enough to know the heart of man according to
theological classification and description. Consciously or
unconsciously, the effective preacher will be first a practical
psychologist and _afterwards_ a theologian. If he cannot be greatly
both he had better be a psychologist with small knowledge of theology
than a theologian with small knowledge of psychology. He has not to
speak to abstractions; not to speak to _sinners_ merely, nor to
_saints_ as he knows them through descriptions whereof the subjects
were simply types, but he has to preach to _men_ and _women_, men and
women who all have their individual and peculiar tastes, tendencies,
likes and dislikes, desires and passions; men and women looking at
things in ways of their own, influenced by such and such prejudices,
such and such hopes and fears. Every one has his own disposition, his
own history, which began long e'er he came upon the earth in far-off
ancestors, who bequeathed to him the inheritance of themselves to be a
blessing or a curse, or, what is more frequent, both a blessing and a
curse, as circumstances and free-will may decide. Here are racial
instincts, tribal qualities, individual idiosyncrasies, and all to be
studied with care and perseverance. The preacher may preach to five
hundred people to-night, and he has so to preach as to bless them all.

The first study of the messenger, then, must be the study of men. He
must specialise in human nature, and his understanding must go down
into its very depths. Every addition to the volume and accuracy of his
knowledge will mean addition of power and competence. Those writers
who impress us most are those who understand us best. The physician
who most commands our confidence and, as a consequence, does us most
good is he whose description of our symptoms most nearly corresponds
with our own experience, who, we reason, obviously "knows our case."
Putting his finger upon the painful spot, the aching limb, he says:
"Thou ailest here and here," and we feel the cure begun, for the
diagnosis is nine-tenths of the treatment. Similarly when the man in
the pew _feels_ that the man in the pulpit understands _him_--and he
soon makes the discovery--he listens for what has yet to come. How
often the true preacher hears the remark:--"Sir, your sermon was _about
me_ and _to me_!" That is a certificate of efficiency which may well
make a p