HERALDS OF GOD
defence against that grim and tragic loss of reality and zeal and faith except in a daily renewed surrender of life to Christ, nor is there any easy alternative by which to evade the cost of this rigorous and surgical self-discipline and commitment. There is no by-pass road round Calvary. "He is like a refiner's fire, and He shall purify the sons of Levi."
Let us inquire, then, what manner of man the preacher must be in his inner life. What are the seals and marks of his apostleship? It is, of course, not possible here to explore the full range of this theme, or indeed to do more than touch upon certain distinctive qualities, singling them out from many others which might equally have been mentioned. I suggest the following points.
First, the true preacher will be a man utterly dedicated to his work. "This one thing I do." The Christian ministry opens a door into the most absorbing life-work under heaven; and there is something seriously wrong with the man who, entering it, is not wholly absorbed. Unless we are prepared, with joyous and deliberate abandon, to be mastered, dominated and controlled by the great task, we ought to thrust it from us once for all, and not mock Christ with tepid loyalties and divided interests. This kind of spiritual concentration is, of course, a totally different thing from the strained and stubborn austerity which refuses to relax. It is hardly likely that any preacher will enhance his
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