Christian Theology - Media Sabda Org

on the shortest notice, and pour forth such a torrent of important matter,
and all flowing out of the text, as Dr. Clarke frequently did? I trow not.
He might not in every instance please the admirers of "elaborate, artificial
eloquence, of studied grace and euphony, of methodical exactness and
imaginative brilliancy;" yet he possessed, beyond all doubt,—even if the
unbounded popularity and success of fifty years, from the Norman Isles
in the south, to the Shetlands in the north, were the only proof—the
essentials of a great preacher. His matter was rich and various; his heart
was fervid; and he excelled in the power of selecting from his stores,
almost at once, the suitable materials for the instant occasion, which he
poured forth with energy and freedom. His plan was to prepare his mind,
rather than his paper of particular arrangements; to keep the fountain full,
and he knew that at his bidding it would flow; and by his commanding
genius he gave the proper measure and direction of the streams; while
God accompanied his word with an extraordinary unction of the Holy
Spirit. Dr. Clarke's preaching was chiefly expository. He endeavoured to
explain the terms in his text; to ascertain the precise meaning of the Holy
Ghost; and then to apply to the understandings and consciences of his
hearers the hallowing truths thus discovered. His preaching, though
argumentative, was decidedly evangelical. No minister ever lived, who
gave a greater prominence in his discourses to the vital truths of
Christianity, or who contended for them with more consistency and zeal.
In all his ministrations, there was a constant reference to the divinity and
atonement of Christ, to the doctrines of justification through faith in his
blood, and sanctification through the all-pervading and all-purifying
energy of the Spirit. The "illimitable mercy of Heaven," the universal
redemption of mankind, and especially the witness of the Spirit to the fact
of the believer's adoption into the family of God, and Christian
perfection, were his favourite topics, those on which he laid the greatest
stress; and he frequently said, that, if the Methodists gave up these
doctrines, they would soon lose their glory. He had also a peculiarly
happy method of describing the simple, adapted, expeditions terms of
salvation; and was the honoured instrument of leading many a penitent
sinner immediately to the Saviour. The religion which he recommended
to his hearers was eminently of an experimental, practical, and happy