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A Year's Ministry: Second Series (Classic Reprint)
by Alexander Maclaren
Excerpt from A Year's Ministry: Second Series
This name of witness bears likewise strongly upon the characteristic and remarkable manner of our Lord's testimony. The task of a Witness is to affirm; his business is to tell his story - notto argue about it, simply to state it. And there is nothing more characteristic of our Lord's words than the way in which, without attempt at proof or argumentation, He makes them stand on their own evi dence or, rather, depend upon His veracity. All His teaching is characterised by what would be insane pre sumption in any of us, and would at once rule us out of court as unfit to be listened to on any grave subject, most of all on religious truth. For His method is this a - Verily, verily, I say to you Take it on My word. You ask Me for proof of My saying: I am the proof of it; I assert it. That is enough for you Not so do men speak. So does the faithful Witness speak; and instead of the conscience and common sense of the world rising up and saying, This is the presumption of a religious madman and dic tator, they have bowed before Him and said, Thou art fairer than the children of men Grace is poured into Thy lips. He is the faithful Witness, Who lays His own character and veracity as the basis of what He has to say, and has no mightier word by which to back His testimony than His own sovereign Verily! Verily!
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comwww.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
This name of witness bears likewise strongly upon the characteristic and remarkable manner of our Lord's testimony. The task of a Witness is to affirm; his business is to tell his story - notto argue about it, simply to state it. And there is nothing more characteristic of our Lord's words than the way in which, without attempt at proof or argumentation, He makes them stand on their own evi dence or, rather, depend upon His veracity. All His teaching is characterised by what would be insane pre sumption in any of us, and would at once rule us out of court as unfit to be listened to on any grave subject, most of all on religious truth. For His method is this a - Verily, verily, I say to you Take it on My word. You ask Me for proof of My saying: I am the proof of it; I assert it. That is enough for you Not so do men speak. So does the faithful Witness speak; and instead of the conscience and common sense of the world rising up and saying, This is the presumption of a religious madman and dic tator, they have bowed before Him and said, Thou art fairer than the children of men Grace is poured into Thy lips. He is the faithful Witness, Who lays His own character and veracity as the basis of what He has to say, and has no mightier word by which to back His testimony than His own sovereign Verily! Verily!
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comwww.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Paperback, 366 pages
Published November 13th 2018 by Forgotten Books
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Maclaren had been for almost sixty-five years a minister, entirely devoted to his calling. He lived more than almost any of the great preachers of his time between his study, his pulpit, his pen.
He subdued action to thought, thought to utterance and utterance to the Gospel. His life was his ministry; his ministry was his life. In 1842 he was enrolled as a candidate for the Baptist ministry at Stepney College, London. He was tall, shy, silent and looked no older than his sixteen years. But his vocation, as he himself (a consistent Calvinist) might have said, was divinely decreed. "I cannot ever recall any hesitation as to being a minister," he said. "It just had to be."
In the College he was thoroughly grounded in Greek and Hebrew. He was taught to study the Bible in the original and so the foundation was laid for his distinctive work as an expositor and for the biblical content of his preaching. Before Maclaren had finished his course of study he was invited to Portland Chapel in Southampton for three months; those three months became twelve years. He began his ministry there on June 28, 1846. His name and fame grew.
His ministry fell into a quiet routine for which he was always grateful: two sermons on Sunday, a Monday prayer meeting and a Thursday service and lecture. His parishioners thought his sermons to them were the best he ever preached. In April 1858 he was called to be minister at Union Chapel in Manchester. No ministry could have been happier. The church prospered and a new building had to be erected to seat 1,500; every sitting was taken. His renown as preacher spread throughout the English-speaking world. His pulpit became his throne. He was twice elected President of the Baptist Union. He resigned as pastor in 1905 after a ministry of forty-five years.
Maclaren's religious life was hid with Christ in God. He walked with God day by day. He loved Jesus Christ with a reverent, holy love and lived to make Him known. In his farewell sermon at Union he said: "To efface oneself is one of a preacher's first duties."
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