It is not easy to define what that subtle something is which we call pulpit magnetism.  As near as I can come to a definition I would say it is the quality or faculty in the speaker that arouses the attention and strengthens the interest of his auditors and which, when aided by the Holy Spirit, produces conviction in their minds by the truth that is in Jesus.  The heart in the speaker’s voice sends that voice into the hearts of his hearers.  It is an undoubted fact that pulpit fervor has been a characteristic of almost all the preachers of a soul-winning Gospel.  The fire was kindled in the pulpit that kindled the pews.  The discourses of Frederick W. Robertson, of Brighton, were masterpieces of fresh thought, but the crowds were drawn to his church because they were delivered with a fiery glow.  The king of living sermon-makers is Dr. McLaren, of Manchester.  His vigorous thought is put into vigorous language and then vigorously spoken.  He commits his grand sermons to memory, and then looks his audience in the eyes, and sends his strong voice to the furthest gallery.  Last year after I had thanked him for his powerful “Address on Preaching” to a thousand ministers in London, he wrote to me:  “It was an effort; for I could not trust myself to do without a manuscript, and I am so unaccustomed to reading what I have to say that it was like dancing a hornpipe in fetters,” Yet manuscripts are not always fetters; for Dr. Chalmers read every line of his sermons with thrilling and tremendous effect.  So did Dr. Charles Wadsworth in Philadelphia, and so did Phillips Brooks in Boston.  In my own experience I have as often found spiritual results from the discourses partly or mainly written out as from those spoken extemporaneously.  While much may depend upon the conditions in the congregation and much aid may be drawn from the intercessory prayers of our people, the main thing is to have a baptism of fire in our own hearts.  Sometimes a sermon may produce but little impression, yet the same sermon at another time and place may deeply move an audience, and yield rich spiritual results.  Physical condition may have some influence on a minister’s delivery; but the chief element in the eloquence that awakens and converts sinners and strengthens Christians is the unction of the Holy Spirit.  Our best power is the power from on high.

I would say to young ministers—­look at your auditors as bound to the judgment seat and see the light of eternity flash into their faces.  Then the more fervor of soul you put into your preaching the more souls you will win to your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.