into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all; even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."

Two days before his death, surrounded by a malignant knot of casuists, who were trying to catch his words and confound him, he denounced upon them those scathing "woes," which he seldom used, but which, when he did use them, were doubtless remembered by his shrinking foes to their dying day; and the final climax was this thunder burst of malediction, which heaped upon them the consequences of all the martyrdoms which history had recorded, from the first days down to their own: "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar."

Such was the example of the " Author and finisher of our faith." To awaken his hearers-to explain his doctrines-to fortify and enforce his precepts-to make eternal things present and real,-he appealed to the vital force of facts. The grand sweep of his teaching gathered in metaphor, and allegory, and event by turns; but the favourite source of illustration was the field of history; from that field he drew the memorable instances, which were so startlingly transformed into arguments the most weighty, and admonitions the most solemn.

After all, however elaborate the sermon, we can but fall back on the recollection that it is only an instrument, and a human instrument too. It is our part to give it the utmost completeness and efficiency within the compass of our endeavours; then leave it in the hands of God, to be used or not used as his good pleasure may direct. We read of an apostolic discourse preached in Jerusalem, which was followed by the conversion of no less than three thousand; but that result was the work of the Spirit, not of Peter. We read of a sermon preached two centuries ago in Scotland, whose fruits may be recorded side by side with the labours of the apostle. "Toward the close of the sermon," writes Fleming, "The audience, and even the preacher himself, were affected with a deep unusual awe." There was a melting of multitudes. Five hundred converts united with the neighbouring churches. A vast revival began, whose influence endured through the century. But it was due not to the sermon, nor to young Livingstone the preacher, but to the Spirit of God. Paul may plant, Apollos may water, but the increase must come from God. Unless the Spirit accompany and enforce the preaching of the word, it must fall powerless upon the heart. How finely soever tempered and sharpened at the forge

of the brain, without the Spirit to guide the stroke, it can never penetrate to the soul. When the Saracen Amrou was asked to show the sword with which he had slain so many Christians, he produced a common cimetar. "Alas," said the warrior, "the sword itself, without the arm of its master, is neither sharper nor more weighty than the sword of Pharezdak the poet." Let us fashion the weapon with what skill God has given us, then entreat him to take it and strike the blow. The most elaborate sermon is not finished till it has been laid on the altar of prayer." To pray well," said Luther, "is the better half of study." It was the custom of Dr. Shepard of Cambridge to complete his preparation for the pulpit by Saturday noon, that he might spend the remainder of the day on his knees over the sermon, pleading for the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon its use. President Dwight used to charge his graduating classes with such words of sober wisdom as these: "Young men, it is not great talent, it is not great learning, that is to enable you to do good, but abiding in Christ." It was the same profound sense of the futility of human endeavour, unblessed by the Spirit, that led Bengel the commentator to commence his long tutorship at Denkendorf with an address to prove "The diligent pursuit of piety the surest method of attaining true learning," and to close it twenty-eight years after with an eloquent exhibition of "The beneficial influence of piety upon the studies of the rising generation." If we will listen to the voice of a later and more prominent actor on the stage of Europe, we shall gather a double testimony, at once to the value of the studies we have been considering, and to the admitted need of some higher motive than mere learning to inspire the human soul. In the Emperor's last letter to his son, dictated to Count Montholon during those last days of dreariness and feebleness at Longwood, occur these words of dying counsel: "Let my son often read and reflect on history. This is the only true philosophy. Let him read and meditate on the wars of the greatest captains. This is the only means of rightly learning the science of war. But all that you say to him, or all that he learns, will be of little use to him if he has not in the depth of his heart that sacred fire and love of good which alone can effect great things."-The New Englander.

ART. VIII.-HOMILETICAL PARAGRAPHS. Self-repetition in Preaching.-It has been often observed, that preachers who rely on their extemporaneous powers, are very apt to fall into a great sameness. They repeat the same thoughts and the ame trains of thought, and at length almost the same sermons: and this they do without being conscious of it. The same thing

occurs to them which happens to some story-tellers: who remember the anecdote perfectly, but forget that they have told it before. Mere writing is not a certain preventive of this evil, but it has an excellent tendency to prevent it; as insuring an excellent amount of fresh study, and by keeping the mind, for longer periods and with greater deliberation, in view of the truth.

The evil is so disastrous, that there should be a constant effort to avoid it. Without this struggle, the preacher, on arriving at certain topics, which are familiar, will, by the simple influence of association, hitch into the old rut, and treat them exactly as he has treated them before. We observe this in extemporaneous prayers, which with some good men become as stereotyped as if they had been committed to memory: as, indeed, though unconsciously, they have been. We observe the same thing in that part of sermons, on which least of new meditation has been bestowed, namely, the conclusion. This accounts for the familiar fact, that some very fluent extemporaneous preachers are quite popular abroad, while at home, among their own flocks, they have lost all power, and seem to the people to be preaching the same discourse over and

over.

The only remedy for this evil is the obvious one of devoting the mind to the origination of new trains of thought, which may vary, complete, or supersede the old ones. There may be superficial reflection and even superficial writing; but the meditation which is intended must go deeply into thorough investigation, and follow out the thoughts into new relations. It must be the habit of the preacher to be continually opening new veins, and deeply considering subjects allied to those on which he is to preach. This habit is greatly aided by judicious reading on theological topics. A man will be as his books. But of all means, none is so effectual as the perpetual study of the Scriptures. Let a man be interested in them day and night, continually labouring in this mine, and whether he write or not, he will be effectually secured against selfrepetition. There is such profundity, comprehensiveness and variety in the Word of God, that it is a library of itself. There is such a freshness in its mode of presenting truth, that he who is perpetually conversant with it can scarcely be dull."

The liveliest preachers are those who are most familiar with the Bible, without note or comment; and we frequently find them among men who have had no education better than that of the common school. It was this which gave such animation to the vivid books and discourses of the Puritans. As there is no poetry so rich and bold as that of the Bible, so he who daily makes this his study, will even on human principles be awakened, and acquire a striking manner of conveying his thoughts. The sacred books are full of fact, example, and illustration, which with copiousness

and variety will cluster around the truths which the man of God derives from the same source. One preacher gives us naked heads of theology; they are true, scriptural, and important, but they are uninteresting, especially when reiterated for the thousandth time in the same naked manner. Another gives us the same truths, but each of them brings in its train a retinue of scriptural example, history, and figure by way of illustration; and a variety hence arises which is perpetually becoming richer as the preacher goes more deeply into the mine of Scripture. There are some great preachers, who, like Whitfield, do not appear to bestow great labour on the preparation of particular discourses; but it may be observed, that these are always persons whose life is a study of the Word. Each sermon is an outflowing from a fountain which is constantly full. The Bible is, after all, the one book of the preacher. He who is most familiar with it, will become most like it; and this in respect to every one of its wonderful qualities; and will bring forth from its treasury things new and old.

Scripture Citation in Preaching.-Do not cite many Scripture references in your notes. You often find them less available than those which occur inter loquendum. The best way of preparing for prompt quotation, is to be daily conversant with Scripture, and to commit large portions to memory. I regret more than I can express, my neglect of this in former years. The next best way, and a means of getting the facility just mentioned, is, in preparing for a given performance, to read attentively and with meditation all the pertinent Scriptures, committing as many as possible to memory, but not referring them to particular places, or determining to use this or that without fail; it is enough to imbue the mind with them, and leave the use of any or all to be prompted by the impulse of the moment. The best effect of many Scripture texts on a sermon is often that which does not lead to a direct rehearsal of them. They suggest new thoughts and illustrations, and afford the very best preventive of that sameness and routine, into which most extempore preachers fall. The tendency in all, is to be contented with a narrow stock of texts. Take almost any extemporaneous preacher, whom you hear often, and observe how seldom he quotes a new text, one which you have not heard him quote before. How many noble incidents in the Old Testament history, touching emblems in the Levitical ritual, and poetic strains of the Prophets, are never introduced into the pulpit! All which commends the daily interested study of the Bible.

Uninvited Trains of Thought.-The thoughts which come to us unasked, and the trains which float in the twilight of our careless hours, are often those which are most precious, longest remembered, and most deep in their influence on future life. They are some

times the result of long studies pursued at irregular intervals during previous years, the distillation from many gathered flowers, and therefore they cannot be looked for as daily visitations. As they will not come for being called, so they will not stay for being courted. And when they give the first intimations of their approach, we should lay aside lesser employments and joys; as we open our windows when the fragrance of orchards is wafted on the breeze. Yet there is a posture of soul, better fitted than all others. for the reception of these revelations; and there are pursuits and habits so alien to them as to be almost prohibitions.

:

We must not look for them in the crowd of mammon-mongers, or amidst the clangour of political array, or the mining drudgery of technical study. They steal over us rather when we close the eye at nightfall, listening to the drowsy music of the autumnal insect tribe; when we walk alone in the sight of mountains, or on the sea-shore or when we kneel before the open Bible, and meditate on the oriental usages of inspiration. Enthusiasts of various sects have taken these goodly visions for direct revelations of new truths and mystics have deemed themselves inspired. But they are, after all, only higher manifestations of the Reason which is common to us all. We deny not that a Divine agent is sometimes at work, but the operation follows the laws of our rational humanity, and conforms itself to the conditions of all influence from above upon free creatures. The mind though elevated is not overborne. The free-thinking principle is the same as before, though raised to a loftier point of observation. God, who speaks in this silence, speaks by the word which was recorded hundreds of years ago; and though chapter or verse or textual phrase may not always be recognised, the truths which ring in the ear are echoes from Sinai or from Zion. That word of the Lord which abideth for ever, has an infinite variety in its combinations and suggestions. It is a well whose sources are hidden in infinite wisdom, and whose flow is fresh and abundant and sparkling to everlasting periods.

We place ourselves in the way of such favoured contemplations, when we linger long and often over the holy pages, and imbue our thoughts with the lessons of Apostles and Prophets. To be inspired like them, we may not pray for, in this world, but we may catch a kindred glow from their heavenly rapture, sympathise with their affections, carry out the trains which they have begun, harmonise the scattered propositions which they have announced, and live over again in our experience the divine happiness of their sanctification. Though our circumstances may be unlike theirs, in the proportion in which the new world is unlike the old, our faith and love may be essentially the same, and may at some favoured moments realise to us glories of religious awe or fruition, which, after many years of scriptural study, shall still be new and unwonted.