Christian Theology - Media Sabda Org

popular; but God scarcely ever employs them to convert sinners, or build
up saints in their most holy faith. I do not recommend in this case a blind
reliance upon God; taking a text which you do not know how to handle,
and depending upon God to give you something to say. He will not be
thus employed. Go into the pulpit with your understanding full of light,
and your heart full of God; and his Spirit will help you, and then you will
find a wonderful assemblage of ideas coming in to your assistance; and
you will feel the benefit of the doctrine of association, of which the
reciters and memory men can make no use. The finest, the best, and the
most impressive thoughts are obtained in the pulpit when the preacher
enters it with the preparation mentioned above.
"As to Hebrew, I advise you to learn it with the points. Dr. C. Bayley's
Hebrew Grammar is one of the best; as it has several analyzed portions
of the Hebrew text in it, which are a great help to learners. And
Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon exceeds all that ever went before it. It gives
the ideal meaning of the roots without which who can understand the
Hebrew language? Get your verbs and nouns so well fixed in your
memory that you shall be able to tell the conjugation, mood, tense,
person, and number of every word; and thus you will feel that you tread
on sure ground as you proceed. Genesis is the simplest book to begin
with; and although the Psalms are highly poetic, and it is not well for a
man to begin to acquire a knowledge of any language by beginning with
the highest poetic production in it; yet the short hemistich form of the
verses, and the powerful experimental religion which the Psalms
inculcate, render them comparatively easy to him who has the life of God
in his soul. Bythner's Lyra-Prophetica, in which all the Psalms are
analyzed, is a great help; but the roots should be sought for in Parkhurst.
Mr. Bell has published a good Greek grammar in English; so have several
others. The Greek, like the Hebrew, depends so much on its verbs, their
formation and power, that, to make any thing successfully out, you must
thoroughly acquaint yourself with them in all their conjugations, &c. It
is no mean labour to acquire these; for, in the above, even one regular
verb will occur up ward of eight hundred different times! Mr. Dawson
has published a lexicon for the Greek Testament, in which you may find