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are only the boughs branching off from the central trunk, giving unity,
vigor and spiritual beauty to the whole organic production. The unity
and spiritual power of a discourse usually depend upon the adherence to
the great divine truth contained in the inspired Book. The Bible text is
God's part of our sermon; and the more thoroughly we get the text into
our own souls, the more will we get it into the sermon, and into the
consciences of our hearers. To keep out of a rut I studied the infinite
variety of Sacred Scripture; its narratives and matchless biographies,
its jubilant Psalms, its profound doctrines, its tender pathos, its
rolling thunder of Sinai, and its sweet melodies of Calvary's redeeming
love. I laid hold of the great themes, and I found a half hour of
earnest prayer was more helpful than two or three hours of study. It
sometimes let a flash from the Throne flame over the page I was writing.

To me, when preparing my Sabbath messages, God's Holy Word was the sum
of all knowledge, and a "Thus saith the Lord" was my invariable guide. I
found that in theology the true things were not new, and most of the new
things were not true. I remember how a visitor in New Haven was looking
for a certain house, and found himself in front of the residence of
Professor Olmstead, the eminent astronomer, whose stoves were then very
popular. The visitor inquired of an Irishman, who was working in front
of the house, "Who lives here?" The very Hibernian answer was, "Shure,
sur, 'tis Profissor Olmstead, a very great man; he _invents_ comets, and
has _discovered_ a new stove." In searching the Scriptures I used the
very best spiritual telescopes in my possession, and gladly availed
myself of all discoveries of divine truths made by profounder intellects
and keener visions than my own; but I leave this self-styled "advanced
age" to invent its own comets, and follow its own meteors.

In one respect I have not followed the practice of many of my brethren,
for I never have wasted a single moment in defending God's Word in my
pulpit. I have always held that the Bible is a self-evidencing book; God
will take care of His Word if we ministers only take care to preach it.
We are no more called upon to defend the Bible than we are to defend the
law of gravitation. My beloved friend, Dr. McLaren, of Manchester, has
well said that if ministers, "instead of trying to _prop_ the Cross of
Christ, would simply _point_ men to that Cross, more s