Aid of the Spirit

In the pulpit do we really and truly rest upon the aid of the Spirit ?  I do not censure any brother for his mode of preaching , but I must confess that it seems very odd to me when a brother prays that the Holy Ghost may help him in preaching , and then I see him put his hand behind him  and draw a manuscript out of his pocket , so fashioned that he can place it in the middle of his Bible , and read from it without being suspected of doing so . These precautions for ensuring secrecy look as though the man was a little ashamed of his paper ; but I think that he should be far more ashamed of his precautions. Does he expect the Spirit of God to bless himwhile he is practising a trick ? And how can He help him when he reads out of a paper from which anyone else can read without the Spirit's help?  What has the Holy Ghost to do with this business ? Truly He may have had something to do with the manuscript in the composing of it  , but in the pulpit his aid is superfluous  .  The truer thing would be to thank the Holy Spirit for assistance rendered , and ask that what he has enabled us to get into our pockets may now enter the people's hearts . Still, if the Holy Ghost should have anything to say to the people that is not in the paper , how can He say say it by us ? He seems to me to be very effectually blocked as to the freshness of utterance by that method of ministry . Still, it is not for me to censure , although I may quietly plead for liberty in prophesying , and room for the Lord to give us in the same hour what we shall speak .spurgeon

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