p. 24 | The Minister's Source of Power

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 5, 1911

The Minister's Source of Power

The minister of the gospel is in a class all by himself so far as his particular work and calling are concerned. When his work becomes mechanical, and he loses from his heart the power and spirit of his holy calling, the effect will be seen in his labor. Speaking of this, a recent writer says:—

“A doctor may be an invalid and yet cure the sick; a lawyer may be a law-breaker and enforce the law on others. But a minister can not be spiritually inert and impart spirituality to his fellow men. He can not pick it up as a thing alien to his nature and carry it with him into the pulpit. The congregation instinctively recognizes the difference between the minister whose prayers are a private habit and the one whose prayers are only a public exercise. It instinctively recognizes the difference between the preacher whose sermon is the prepared exposition of a doctrine and the one whose sermon is instinct with his own spiritual life. The first preaches as the scribes; the second as one having authority.”