Looking for a quote on preaching

[Romans922]

I'm looking for a quote on preaching that could be paraphrased like this:

Before you preach to others, you must preach to yourself.

Could be puritan, could have thou, thys, etc. I forgot.. Help please

 

[Contra_Mundum]

John Owen "A man preacheth that sermon only well unto others, which preacheth itself in his own soul. And he that doth not feed on and thrive in the digestion of the food which he provides for others will scarce make it savoury unto them; yea, he knows not but the food he hath provided may be poison, unless he have really tasted of it himself. If the word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us."

Vol 16. p.76

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1830 ed.), p. 223:

My second particular exhortation is this: Content not yourselves to have the main work of grace, but be also very careful that your graces be kept in life and action, and that you preach to yourselves the sermons that you study, before you preach them to others.

Arthur Stephen Hoyt, The Work of Preaching (1905), p. 97:

You must preach to yourself before you can preach to others.

 

[Wannabee]

There are several good quotes in Spugeon's Lectures - Vol 3, Lecture 8. Pick one

If he knows nothing of
the inward power of the truth within his own heart, if he has never tasted
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and handled of the good word of life, how can he be enthusiastic? But if
the Holy (}host has taught us in secret places, and made our soul to
understand within itself the doctrine which we are to proclaim, then shall
we speak evermore with the tongue of fire. Brother, do not begin to teach
others till the Lord has taught you. It must be dreary work to parrot forth
dogmas which have no interest for your heart, and carry no conviction to
your understanding. I would prefer to pick oakum or turn a crank for my
breakfast, like the paupers in the casual ward, rather than be the slave of a
congregation and bring them spiritual meat of which I never taste myself.
And then how dreadful the end of such a course must be! How fearful the
account to be rendered at the last by one who publicly taught what he did
not heartily believe, and perpetrated this detestable hypocrisy in the name
of God!
Brethren, if the fire is brought from the right place to the right place, we
have a good beginning; and the main elements of a glorious ending.
Kindled by a live coal, borne to our lips from off the altar by the winged
cherub, the fire has begun to feed upon our inmost spirit, and there it will
burn though Satan himself should labor to stamp it out.
Yet the best flame in the world needs renewing. I know not whether
immortal spirits, like the angels, drink on the wing, and feed on stone
superior manna prepared in heaven for them; but the probability is that no
created being, though immortal, is quite free from the necessity to receive
from without sustenance for its strength. Certainly the flame of zeal in the
renewed heart, however divine, must be continually fed with fresh fuel.
Even the lamps of the sanctuary needed oil. Feed the flame, my brother,
feed it frequently; feed it with holy thought and contemplation, especially
with thought about your work, your motives in pursuing it, the design of it,
the helps that are waiting for you, and the grand results of it if the Lord be
with you. Dwell much upon the love of God to sinners, and the death of
Christ on their behalf, and the work of the Spirit upon men’s hearts. Think
of what must be wrought in men’s hearts ere they can be saved.
Remember, you are not; .sent to whiten tombs, but to open them, and this
is a work which no man can perform unless, like the Lord Jesus at the
grave of Lazarus, he groans in spirit; and even then he is powerless apart
from the Holy Ghost. Meditate with deep solemnity upon the fate of the
lost sinner, and, like Abraham, when you get up early to go to the place
where you commune with God, cast an eye towards Sodom and see the
smoke thereof going up like the smoke of a furnace. Shun all views of
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future punishment which would make it appear less terrible, and so take off
the edge of your anxiety to save immortals from the quenchless flame. If
men are indeed only a nobler kind of ape, and expire as the beasts, you may
well enough let them die unpitied; but if their creation in the image of God
involves immortality, and there is any fear that through their unbelief they
will bring upon themselves endless woe, arouse yourselves to the agonies
of the occasion, anti be ashamed at the bare suspicion of unconcern. Think
much also of the bliss of the sinner saved, and like holy Baxter derive rich
arguments for earnestness from “the saints’ everlasting rest.” Go to the
heavenly hills and gather fuel there; pile on the glorious logs of the wood
of Lebanon, and the fire will burn freely and yield a sweet perfume as each
piece of choice cedar glows in the flame. There will be no fear of your
being lethargic if you are continually familiar with eternal, realities.
Above all, feed the flame with intimate fellowship with Christ. No! man
was ever cold in heart who lived with Jesus on such terms as ,john and
Mary did of old, for he makes men’s hearts burn within them.! never met
with a half-hearted preacher who was much in communion with the Lord
Jesus. The zeal of God’s house ate up our Lord, and when we come into
contact with him it begins to consume us also, and we feel that we cannot
but speak the things which we have seen and heard in his company, nor can
we help speaking of them with the fervent which comes out of actual
acquaintance with them. Those of us who have been preaching for these
five-and-twenty years sometimes feel that the same work, the same subject,
the same people, and the same pulpit, are together apt to beget a feeling of
monotony, and monotony may soon lead on to weariness. ]But then we
call to mind another sameness, which becomes our complete deliverance;
there is the same Savior, and we may go to him in the same way as we did
at the first, since he is “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for
ever.” In his presence we drink in the new wine and renew our youth. He is
the fountain, for ever flowing with the cool, refreshing water of life, and in
fellowship with him we find our souls quickened into perpetual energy.
Beneath his smile our long-accustomed work is always delightful, and
wears a brighter charm than novelty could have conferred. We gather new
manna for our people every morning, and as we go to distribute it we feel
an anointing of fresh oil distilling upon us. “They that wait upon tile Lord
shall renew their strength; they shah mount up with wings as eagles; they
shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Newly
come from the presence of him that walketh among the golden candlesticks
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we are ready to write or speak unto the churches in the power which he
alone can give. Soldiers of Christ, you can only be worthy of your Captain
by abiding in fellowship with him, and listening to his voice as Joshua did
when he stood by Jordan, and inquired — ”What saith my Lord unto his
servant?”

Isaiah 6 - I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips.

 

[Romans922]

Baxter's is the one I knew of. The others are great as well, thanks.

 

[Presbyterian Deacon]

Pastor Barnes:

Not exactly what you're looking for, but along the same lines:

We can preach the Gospel of Christ no further than we have experienced the power of it in our own hearts.

-- George Whitefield

 

[py3ak]

When Lloyd-Jones' wife asked him how he knew he could preach to others he replied, "I can preach to myself."