To enlighten the mind and affect the heart are the two main ends of the Christian ministry. The first demands wisdom and plainness, the second fervency, as the spirit of scriptural preaching. This combination exhibits the minister as ‘a burning and a shining light’… ‘imparting the spiritual light of divine truth, as well as the spiritual heat of divine fervour.’ As to fervency–if it be natural to express ourselves with earnestness upon subjects of deep and acknowledged interest–much more in the delivery of our great commission. Nothing, says, Baxter, is more indecent than a dead preacher speaking to dead sinners the living truth of the living God.
~Charles Bridges~
The Christian Ministry (Edinburgh, Scotland; The Banner of Truth Trust; 1958) p. 318.
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