HERALDS OF GOD
Christ. But what mainly concerns us here is its place in preaching. The great landmarks of the Christian Year—Advent, Christmas, Lent, Good Friday, Easter, Whitsunday, Trinity set us our course, and suggest our basic themes. They compel us to keep close to the fundamental doctrines of the faith. They summon us back from the bypaths where we might be prone to linger, to the great highway of redemption. They ensure that in our preaching we shall constantly be returning to those mighty acts of God which the Church exists to declare. In passing, I would remind you that the true meaning of Christmas can unfold itself only to those who have climbed the slopes of Advent, that the joy of Easter in all its splendour of victory can lay hold only upon those who have watched through Lent and have been with Christ in His passion, and that the power of Pentecost can be fully revealed only to those who, "with one accord in one place," have waited expectantly for the gift from heaven. Throughout these periods of the year, therefore, our preaching ought to be specifically directed, Sunday by Sunday, towards preparing our people in mind and heart for the fresh disclosure of Himself which it is God's will to send. Then indeed the great triumphant festivals of universal Christendom will become high places of the spirit: a mighty means of grace to a people prepared for the Lord.
My third plea is this. Put into your sermon-making the very best you have in you. Stint no toil to achieve clear thought, fit language, true construction, decisive in
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