More scarce and precious than a bar of gold!

More scarce and precious than a bar of gold! 

(adapted from Octavius Winslow's, "The Redeemer,
the Revelation of the Father's Glory" October, 1844)

"The time is surely coming," says the Sovereign Lord,
"when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine
of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord."
Amos 8:11

Already has this famine of the true word of God commenced!

How few, forming their ministry upon the apostolic
model, can affirm with Paul, "My speech and my
preaching are not with enticing words of man's wisdom,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power!"

How few, disdaining artificial embellishment, and
scorning the applause of men won by a vain show
of intellect and eloquence, preach that simple truth
of which Jesus is the Author, the Substance, the
Glory, the Power, and the End; purely, boldly,
faithfully, affectionately, uncompromisingly!

How few who honestly and heartily desire to lift up
their Lord and Master; themselves lost behind the
glory of His person and the splendors of His cross!

How sadly, how painfully, is the Lord Jesus Christ
kept in the background! How is His glory obscured,
His beauty veiled, His honor withheld!

"The time will come, when a faithful minister
of the Gospel will be more scarce and precious
than a bar of gold!" John Owen

"The time is surely coming," says the Sovereign Lord,
"when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine
of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord."
Amos 8:11