is very wonderful to the merely secular mind, which recognizes glory and honor only in high position and worldly wealth, and does not see that the noblest purpose to which the human mind can devote its energies is the advancement of true religion upon earth. So is it across the water, and so, we may say with all thankfulness, in this great country too, which competes, not unsuccessfully, with all other nations, in religious earnestness, in the production of biblical literature, in the spread of scriptural education, and in missionary enterprise. We must not forget, when we speak of the mothercountry, that even yet Dr. Cooke, of Belfast, in Ireland, takes rank, far advanced though his years be, among the most eloquent and successful preachers of the age; nor that Scotland, which so proudly cherishes the memory of Chalmers, still possesses Guthrie and Candlish. For obvious reasons, we do not single out, in this notice, the names of eminent American preachers.

The high character of the Preacher is sometimes thought too lightly of, or disregarded. Were a man to visit us, clothed with high powers, and bearing gracious promises from an earthly potentate, we would receive him with all due respect, pay him all usual honor, and be grateful for the boon. he brought or promised. Far greater than an ambassador from any human power, is he who stands in the pulpit, to teach to man the saving truths revealed in the holy and inspired Word of God. In that pulpit he stands, only a human being like ourselves; but his mission invests him with a dignity which, simply as a man, he would have no claim to. In the pulpit, teaching the lessons which the Gospel gives, the preacher really should be considered as the messenger, the servant, the orator of God himself. He has to persuade, as well as to teach. It is not enough that his own mind is filled with the glorious truths which he is commissioned to com

municate to all mankind; but he has to imbue other minds with them also. Not enough that he feels-he must endeavor to impress the feeling into the heart, not alone the head, of every person who hears him. As the parable tells us, some of the seed may be choked up with thorns; some may fall upon stony places, where, because they have no root, they wither away; some may fall by the way-side, where the fowls come and devour them up; some may fall into good ground, and bring forth fruit, some an hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold. He addresses his congregation, as a divine messenger, and the whole subtlety of his intellect, the depth of his information, the affluence of his language must be combined, with God's blessing, to make God's power, promises, justice, and mercy sink deeply and effectively into men's souls. He has not only to declare the Truth, but to bring his hearers to know and feel and practice it. The ministration in the pulpit is necessarily peculiar. If subtle argument alone could convert sinners, the process might as well be done in the preacher's library as in the pulpit. But more than human intellect is needed. Men of limited learning and small pretensions, of rude manners and rough appearance,such as were many of those who did so much good to God's cause, under John Wesley; men with worn garments and labor-hardened hands; men who literally knew nothing of letters, save what the Book of books taught them, addressed multitudes upon the vital question of repentance and faith, and numbers were converted, who thereupon became, in turn, practical exemplifiers of the mercy of God. What caused this?-for a cause there must have been. Uncultured, unkempt, and apparently uncared for, these preachers were made strong, and convincing, and eloquent by the grace of God. It was the Saviour's command, to spread the Gospel, which they were carrying out, and that made them powerful;

just as, at the feast of Pentecost, after the Crucifixion, the Holy Spirit miraculously descended upon the Apostles, filling their minds, and bestowing upon them the gift of speaking to all nations in their own numerous tongues. And thus, even in the present time, it cannot be too much to believe that the ministers who, by His gracious permission, preach the Word of God, are more or less filled with the Holy Ghost, when they exercise the pastoral office, and preach the glad tidings of Salvation. So certainly, also, as nature gives various faculties to various men, does she peculiarly fit the preacher for his particular duties. A man may be eloquent at the bar, in the legislature, in the lyceum, in the popular assembly, and yet wholly inadequate, by any human training, for what may to him seem to be the not difficult labor of preaching a sermon.

For this there must be a peculiar eloquence-a particular way of bringing home to the listeners' minds the great and sustaining truths of the Gospel.

To enter into the consciences of the congregation-to hold up, as it were, a mirror to each in which he could see the reflection of his own inner self-to pierce through the triple armor of indifference, contempt, and carelessness,-to awaken him to a conviction of his own insufficiency and his Saviour's great sacrifice, this is the duty of the preacher, ordained by God to do His own work; and no learning however deep, no intellect however powerful, no imagination however rich, no eloquence however thrilling, can do this work, unless there be sustaining sanction and inspiration from on high. The mysteries of science, the buried secrets of antiquity, the hoarded treasures of learning, the delicate wonders of art, the lustrous gems of poetry, the exquisite charms of music, can all be mastered by no very extraordinary efforts of the human intellect; but to preach so that in his full security of self-pride or carelessness, the sinner's consciousness shall be awakened, so that

he desires to enter upon the processes of Belief and Faith, which will save his soul alive, is not to be done, we believe, by any preacher, without special inspiration from God. To awaken the conscience and the consciousness of the sinner; to pierce through the mail of indifference, or disbelief, or coldness with which he has enveloped his heart; to compel him to hear and to believe; to show him how dark is his mind and how feeble are all human substitutes for a trusting faith; to point out the way and mode of a reconciliation with a Saviour, long suffering and slow to anger: these are what the preacher has to do. It is the sinner whom he has to call to repentance, and where he does this efficiently, as he often does, it is God's own will which gives him the ability to do it, God's own spirit which breathes a holy influence over the blessed work of faith, grace, and reconciliation.

What, in an ordinary place, and upon a merely worldly subject, would probably decidedly influence the mind of a large assembly, would possibly not succeed in the pulpit. For human intellect alone does little avail there. Rhetoric, imagination, poetry, metaphysics, and scholastic logic may avail in a secular arena, but a peculiar quality or form of mind is wanted in the pulpit. There, finely elaborated sentences have no weight, no force. There, simple and sublime truths and hopes of Revelation cannot be stated in language too plain. The ignorant as well as the highly educated are to be addressed at one and the same time, and the discourse must be adapted to each and to all. The preacher may bring to his work the resources of a richly-stored mind, but the great point is to be plain and practical. It must be the pleading of a fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer with other sinners and sufferers,―the outpouring of a mind which has itself sorrowed over sin, and which, sanctified by Faith, has isolated itself from worldly am

bition and desire, and dedicated itself to point out to others the path to Eternal Light.

Preaching may be said to reflect the spirit of the time and country. Here and in England, the style of composition will immediately show at what period a volume of sermons was written. Of late years, during which vital religion has been preached more than at any time since the ministration of John Wesley and George Whitefield, sermons contain comparatively few classical allusions, such as were formerly introduced to exhibit the erudition of the preacher. At a period when such a member of the English hierarchy as Dr. Tate, Bishop of London, preaches to a large congregation of omnibus-men, ostlers, stable-boys, conductors, drivers, horse-keepers, and so on, in an omnibus yard, in the city of London, we may easily predicate that far-fetched and high sounding allusions to classical literature and antiquarian lore will scarcely find favor with preacher or congregation. That pedantry has had its day. Instead of it, the preacher uses the plainest and most intelligible language. See, for example, the sermons of Mr. Spurgeon, one of the most popular preachers of the day; learn how extremely effective these discourses have been; and then satisfy yourself, by perusal, that his language is unadorned, plain, and even familiar.

It is deplorable, but probably inevitable under the existing circumstances of society, that there is a great want of church accommodation in great cities. When money has to be annually disbursed as rental for sittings in a place of religious worship, the amount, if the household be large, is prohibitory upon the great bulk of the working classes, who constitute the bone and sinew of the population. When thousands upon thousands of dollars are the stipendiary income of "popular preachers," and the place of worship often is a monetary investment on the part of its proprietors, pew-rents will be, as