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tell our people, "We beheld His glory, and therefore we speak of it; it is not from report we
speak, but we have seen the King in His beauty"—how lofty the position we occupy! Our
power in drawing men to Christ springs chiefly from the fullness of our personal joy in Him,
and the nearness of our personal communion with Him. The countenance that reflects most of
Christ, and shines most with His love and grace, is most fitted to attract the gaze of a careless,
giddy world, and win restless souls from the fascinations of creature-love and creature-
beauty. A ministry of power

must be the fruit of a holy, peaceful, loving intimacy with the Lord.

"The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me
in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity" (Malachi 2:6). Let us observe
the connection here declared to subsist between faithfulness and success in the work of the
ministry; between a godly life and the "turning away many from iniquity." The end for
which we first took office, as we declared at ordination, was the saving of souls; the
end for which we still live and labor is the same; the means to this end are a holy life and a
faithful fulfillment of our ministry. The connection between these two things is close
and sure. We are entitled to calculate upon it. We are called upon to pray and labor with the
confident expectation of its being realized; and where it is not, to examine ourselves with
all diligence, lest the cause of the failure be found in ourselves; in our want of faith,
love, prayer, zeal and warmth, spirituality and holiness of life; for it is by these that the
Holy Spirit is grieved away. Success is attainable; success is desirable; success is
promised by God; and nothing on earth can be more bitter to the soul of a faithful minister
than the want of it. To walk with God, and to be faithful to our trust, is declared to be the
certain way of attaining it. Oh, how much depends on the holiness of our life, the
consistency of our character, the heavenliness of our walk and conversation! Our position is
such that we cannot remain neutral. Our life cannot be one of harmless obscurity. We must
either repel or attract—save or ruin souls! How loud, then, the call, how strong the motive, to
spirituality of soul and circumspectness of life! How solemn the warning against worldly-
mindedness and vanity, against levity and frivolity, against negligence, sloth and cold
formality!

Of all men, a minister of Christ is especially called to walk with God. Everything depends on
this; his own peace and joy, his own future reward at the coming of the Lord. But especially
does God point to this as the true and sure way of securing the blessing. This is the grand
secret of ministerial success. One who walks with God reflects the light of His countenance
upon a benighted world; and the closer he walks, the more of this light does he reflect. One
who walks with God carries in his very air and countenance a sweet serenity and holy joy that
diffuses tranquility

around. One who walks with God receives and imparts life whithersoever he goes; as it is
written, "out of him shall flow rivers of living water." He is not merely the world's light
but the world's fountain, dispensing the water of life on every side and making the barren
waste to blossom as the rose. He waters the world's wilderness as he moves along his