Preaching

From the days of the Reformation the preaching of Scotland for some generations was an echo or an exhibition of the system of truth set forth in the Reformed Confession. The system was known not only in an intellectual was as it might be learned from the Confession and Catechisms and Treatises expository and controversial. It was known as a creed, and as such it was held fast from the heart by a Gospel ministry who yearned for the salvation of the souls of their fellows. This meant that the preaching of such a pulpit was not only sound and correct, but that it was also the message of men aflame with zeal for the honour of God and the coming of His Kingdom. It was the happy lot of the Reformed Church of Scotland to have in the ranks of her ministry not a few of who what was said by David Hume when he heard John Brown of Haddington preach, might be said: "That man preaches as if Jesus Christ stood at his elbow." Preaching of this kind was to be heard not only in ordinary from week to week; it found a special centre round which it revolved in the services of a communion season.

--John McLeod, Scottish Theology in Relation to Church History, p.95-96

May God in His wonderful grace grant us this again...