[27] The same idea has long been helpful to me in a third form--in the following lines of Platen-- "Was stets und aller Orten Sich ewig jung erweist Ist, in gebundenen Worten Ein ungebundener Geist." [28] "Into Ezekiel's hand there was put a roll written within and without with lamentation and mourning and woe, an objective revelation which he himself had not written; but, before he could deliver it to others, he had to eat it: all that was written on it had to become a part of himself, had to be taken into his inmost experience and be digested by him, and become his own very life's blood."--MARCUS DODS, D.D. [29] This is what our Lord chiefly meant by a teacher's "treasure"--"Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of God bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." How much the treasures of different preachers differ in magnitude! It is worthy of note that the Saviour calls the preachers of the New Testament "scribes." In spite of the evil associations of the name He retained it, because it emphasizes the fact that the Christian preacher is to be a student and an expounder of Scripture. [30] Some preachers keep an interleaved Bible, in which references to passages in their reading are entered opposite the texts which they illustrate--an excellent device. [31] "The strongest part of all great sermons is the close. More depends on the last two minutes than on the first ten."--From a choice little tract on Preaching, by "Prediger." [32] He is quoting Cicero. Dixit ergo quidam eloquens, et verum dixit, ita dicere debere eloquentem, ut doceat, ut delectet, ut flectat. Deinde addidit: Docere necessitatis est, delectare suavitatis, flectere victoriae.... Oportet igitur eloquentem ecclesiasticum, quando suadet aliquid quod agendum est, non solum docere ut instruat, et delectare ut teneat, verum etiam flectere ut vincat.--_De Doctrina Christiana_, IV. 13. [33] An esteemed friend, the Rev. John McMillan of Ullapool, some years ago repeated to me the following rhyme on the method of constructing a sermon, and, although I have never succeeded in coming up to its standard, yet it has often floated before me with advantage in the hours of composition-- "Begin low; Proceed slow; Rise higher; Take fire; When most impressed Be self-possessed; To spirit wed form; Sit down in a storm." [34] It will be remembered that John Bright used regularly, during the session of Parliament, to read aloud from one of the poets the last thing at night. [35] Tholuck gives another weighty reason why ministers should know the best literature: In einer Zeit wo Shakespeare eine staerkere Autoritaet fuer Viele ist als Paulus, und ein Distichon Goethes eine kraeftigere Belegstelle als der ganze Roemer-und Galaterbrief, darf der Geistliche, welcher auf seine Gemeinde wuerken will, mit ihren Gewaehrsmaenern nicht unbekannt seyn. Wenn irgendwo, so gilt auch hier des Apostels Wort: _Alles ist Euer_.