Reading, writing, speaking.
I. "READING MAKES A FULL MAN."
1. Pushed to excess, it becomes hurtful to the body. "Much study is a weariness to the flesh," and as a consequence, reflexively, injurious to the mind.
2. Pursued in moderation, it first enlightens the understanding, next quickens the whole spiritual nature, and finally tends to stimulate the health of the body. "A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine" (Ecclesiastes 8:1).
II. "WRITING MAKES A CORRECT MAN." If professional authorship in the Preacher's day was a nuisance, much more is it so in ours. Yet in book-writing lie advantages as well as disadvantages. If, on the one band, the multiplication of books often signifies nothing more than an accumulation of literary rubbish, and a terrible infliction to those who must read them, on the other hand it secures the preservation and distribution of much valuable knowledge; while if the knowledge is not valuable, the formal deposition of it in a book, which may be quietly consigned to a library, secures that it shall not roam at large, to the disquieting of peace-loving minds. But, apart from the multiplication of volumes, the habit of setting down one's thoughts in writing is attended by distinct advantages. It promotes:
1. Clearness of thought. One who intends to write, more especially for the information of his fellows, must know what he purposes to say. The effort of putting one's ideas on paper imparts to them a definiteness of outline they might not otherwise possess.
2. Order in arrangement. No writer will, voluntarily, fling his thoughts together into a confused heap, but will strive to render them as lucid and luminous as possible. If for no other reason than this, the practice of preparing for public speech by means of writing is to be commended.
3. Brevity in expression. If brevity is the soul of wit, and loquacity the garment of dullness, then the sure way of attaining to the former, and avoiding the latter, is to write.
III. "SPEAKING MAKES A READY MAZE." "The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails." Though designed to apply to the wise man's "written words," the clause may be accepted as correct also with reference to his "spoken words." Like the former, the latter are as goads and nails.
1. They stimulate. The words of a practiced speaker, always supposing him to be a wise man, incite the minds and quicken the hearts of his hearer. The true preacher should be progressive, not only in his own discovery of truth, but in conducting his hearers into fresh fields of instruction, leading them out into "regions beyond," causing them to "forget the things that are behind, and reach forward unto those things that are before," persuading them to "leave the first principles of Christ, and to go on unto perfection."
2. They abide. They lodge themselves in the understanding and affections so firmly that they cannot be removed. Facility in arousing and fixing conviction can only be attained by diligent and wise cultivation of the art of speech.