introduced him to a godly shoemaker of plain mind but good understanding, and well informed in scripture theology. Under the teaching of this poor man the learned professor was led to a saving knowledge of "the truth as it is in Jesus," and a true apprehension of the Apostle's meaning. He had previously written a History of the Church, bnt not sent it to the press. With the large accession of light received through the instrumentality of the son of Crispin, he found himself under the necessity of shelving his manuscript and writing the history anew. The case is illustrative of our position, that scripture generally may be understood by plain good sense in combination with experimental religion.

Not only should the true meaning of a text, but also its exact meaning, be ascertained, if possible. This cannot always be done by an unlearned reader. There are shades of meaning in all languages, and especially in the Greek of the New Testament, and in some places in the Hebrew of the Old, that cannot be exactly rendered into English. They can be rendered only partially and defectively. The English reader, therefore, misses the precise thought. The translators did what they could to compensate for this defect of language by inserting in the margin some one or more word or phrase, or by using a round-about form of speech to express a difficult word or phrase of the original. These marginal renderings, therefore, should have careful attention, and recourse should be had to approved commentaries, and whatever accredited criticisms may be accessible. An important part of a preacher's duty, when he has ascertained the true and exact meaning of his text, is, to give it to the people, taking particular pains to make it as plain and clear to them as language can convey it from his own mind to theirs.

The writer of these papers once heard a young man preach who took for his text that beautiful and instructive simile, describing the provident care and diligence of the "virtuous woman," the truly honourable matron,—contained in Prov. xxxi. 14: "She is like the merchants' ships, she bringeth her food from afar." Instead of giving the true meaning of the text, he at once wrenched it from its surroundings, and applied it to the Christian Church, delivering a sermon on the spiritual resources of the Church, and the truths obtained from heaven for the nourishment and enjoyment of souls in this world. Now, all this was fanciful, foreign to the text, and beside the meaning of the Holy Ghost Every young preacher should be on his guard against such wresting of the scriptures as this.

Another preacher, of some repute in his day, both for gifts and usefulness, nearly forty years ago, fixed upon four words in Acts iv. 12, on one occasion, as a text for a sermon. The words chosen were, "We must be saved." The words belong to a speech addressed by the Apostle Peter to the chiefs of the priesthood and ecclesiastical rulers of the Jews at Jerusalem. Having charged upon them the sins of rejecting and crucifying Christ, he declares the impossibility of their obtaining salvation except through Him whom they had so treated; closing his vehement address

with the words: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." The last four words were torn off from the preceding part of the sentence, and treated as an affirmative proposition: "We must be saved;" and the sermon was framed accordingly, showing I. In what respects we must be saved; II. Why we must thus be saved. Now, what was said, and urged by the preacher upon his hearers, was in itself true and good: but it was not truth legitimately drawn from the text. That belongs to the negative declaration that we can be saved by none but Christ; and the auxiliary verb may would more exactly have expressed the force of the original. The preacher either missed or disregarded the exact meaning of his text.

In addition to the true and exact meaning of a text, it is equally desirable to get at its full meaning. In many texts there are a depth and fulness of meaning which belong not to ordinary language. The words of the Holy Ghost are of wide compass. They are symbols of thoughts that are deep and vast. They imply more than they express. They ought to be pondered and prayed over, and pondered yet again and again. Let no meaning be assigned to any one of them that does not belong to it; let there be no drawing out of a doctrine or a thought until it snaps asunder, no beating out of an idea until its substance is gone, no elaboration of a word into a monstrosity, or of a principle into a muddle: but let the full, bold, strong, or the fine, delicate, tender, and whole meaning of a text be reached, and set forth, and be made the basis of the entire sermon.

When a preacher has done all he can to ascertain the true, exact, and full meaning of his text, he should solemnly and diligently consider what use he ought to make of it in the pulpit. He should have a definite end in view. Let him determine that. When he has done so he should commit his thoughts upon it to writing, together with such illustrative texts and cases as occur to him, and those that turn up in the course of his investigations of scripture and reading upon the subject. He should endeavour to study his text and subject in an orderly and systematic form. The order should be natural and just, thought following thought in such a way that the connection could not be broken without violence and damage to the composition. If what he has written be not of this order, his duty will be to reduce it to order. He ought not to deal out in fragments, but in connected order, what he has to say. There is a beautiful and consummate order in the discourses of our Lord, as there is in all God's works in nature. It is seen in every flower, every tree, every organic being and substance. It is found in the solar system, and prevails throughout the universe. Sermons should be modelled with like order. They should be pictures of beauty, as to their structure, whilst full of life and energy as to their spirit. The aim should be so to place each paragraph, each sentence, and each word, that nothing can be improved, and that any change would be a blemish.

Many preachers have poor memories; some of them very poor. Such must have recourse to artificial aids. The order we have recommended is itself a great help to memory. There are numerical and other signs of order that have been long in use, and that may here be mentioned. The leading divisions of a sermon may be suitably headed, and marked by Roman numerals: as I., II., III., IV., and so on, if there be more heads than four, which rarely should be the case, as they should not be more numerous than necessary. It is always advisable to comprise in as few general divisions as possible what has to be said, and to express the matter of each division in as few words as possible. Under each general head will come a number of secondary thoughts. These should be marked by Arabic numbers: as 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on, if more. Out of these, again, subordinate thoughts may arise, which may be distinguished by smaller numerals with a curve to the right: as 1), 2), 3), 4). If thoughts subordinate to these come up they may be noted by such numerals within parentheses as (1), (2), (3), (4); and any yet lower in the scale, by such signs with a dash underneath as (1), (2), (3), (4), &c. Some writers, who make use of Roman numerals for their general heads, and Arabic for subdivisions, avail themselves of letters,-Roman, Italic, and Greek, for minor divisions. This artificial system should not appear in the spoken sermon, which would make it mechanical and prolix. It is simply to aid the preacher's memory, and help him to avoid confusion and disorder.

To crowd a sermon with minor thoughts is bad judgment. A man should go into the pulpit with a few, and only a few, great thoughts. These should be placed in a strong clear light, and all the mind's resources should be brought to their service. They should be presented to the people's understandings, pressed upon their consciences, commended to their affection and fealty, and all with a view to their present and eternal salvation. How to do this should be every preacher's solemn and anxious consideration, and power to do it should be importunately sought of God by prayer.

Let us suppose a sermon thus prepared, continual prayer having

attended its composition. The framework and substance of the sermon have a place in the mind of the preacher like a picture hung upon the wall of a room, or an optical image upon canvas, or a negative portrait upon a photographer's glass. Well, there it is. What he wants to do is to place before other minds what is in his own, to put copies of the picture into the minds of all who give attention to him; and also that he may move their whole moral and spiritual nature, and bring them either to God or nearer than they are to God. If a desire to set off himself and to win admiration or commendation to himself, arise and be entertained, all the beauty of his work, however excellent, will be marred, and he will incur God's frown, and Christ will disown him. He may preach, if preaching it may be called, but it will be without "power from on high," and without saving results. Let him cry out against this "unclean spirit," this robber of Christ and destroyer of souls, this self-seeking demon of deadly idolatry.

Lay thy sermon, man, at the feet of Jesus. Beg of him to own it. Ask his blessing on this part and on that. Ask him to give thee the Holy Spirit to help thee in the delivery of it. Implore him to save thee" from pride and vain glory," and to use thee and thy sermon as a workman his tools, for his own great and gracious purposes. Wrestle in prayer until you feel that you prevail. And then, go into the house of the Lord, stand before the people, cast thyself upon Christ, open thy mouth, deliver the word as best thou canst, whether in full accordance with the prepared sermon or not, taking heed only to deliver truth, nothing but the truth, and such truth as thou wouldst willingly die for, if need were, rather than part with it.

In concluding this paper, mention may be made of "Sturtevant's Preacher's Manual," the most complete work on the art of composing sermons that ever came under the writer's notice. It should be read studiously, but not followed implicitly. All minds are differently constituted. All cannot, therefore, follow precisely the same plan in anything, There is very much, however, in that work, that may be of incalculable service to young preachers in that important part of their duty, methodical composition, especially in the preparation of sermons.

THE POWER OF THE CHURCH, AND THE THINGS WHICH HINDER THE PROSPERITY OF ZION.

BY GEORGE SIMS.
No. I.

HAVING previously written an article on "The Great Want of the Church" (see "LOCAL PREACHERS' MAGAZINE" for April, page 111), we have been requested by several of our friends to furnish another on the subject indicated by the above heading.

It has long been the conviction of our own mind that, while "salvation is of the Lord," He has been pleased to a very great extent to place it in the hands of the church. Our present purpose, therefore, is to look at the "power" the church possesses, and the "things which hinder the prosperity of Zion."

It is the religious, and not the ecclesiastical power of the church which is to form the subject of our present paper. A church may be complete in its organisation, and perfect in its discipline, and yet possess no power for good. It is high time we were awake, and putting on and putting forth our might and influence for God and humanity. If there are declensions, let us look at the causes, and apply the remedy. Do we regard the professedly Christian church as possessing and wielding a power to-day, such as it never wielded before? It is the power of social combination, of great moral and educational enterprises, a political power which makes the church a recognised glory in the world. Its gatherings and movements are

chronicled by the secular press, and its leading ministers are the nation's gifted orators.

In proportion to our elevation in the social and political scale, it is sometimes seen that spirituality declines. Alas! that it should be so. But need this be the case? Cannot this recognised status be made subservient to an increase of "faith, hope, charity," or love, and all other elements which make up the Christian life and character?

The times in which we live are, in many respects, wonderful. Great, mighty, stirring, and almost miraculous events are transpiring. Everything outside the church is intensely active. Men of business are pushing their various enterprises with all their power and skill, aided by all the facilities which the inventive genius of modern science has placed within their reach. The devotees of pleasure and those who would gratify them, are equally in earnest. Scarcely anything is now done as it used to be. Steam and machinery have taken the place of manual labour, stimulating and accelerating all the pulses of modern life. Fifty years ago everything was moving at a very slow rate. Compared with that period this may be regarded as a "fast age," and we have become a "fast" people. We are rushing on, and perhaps may be in some danger of rushing on too fast, unless we be guided by wise heads and skilful hands.

The mind is not only thus quickened from the business side of life, it is powerfully stimulated through the intellect. New speculations in philo sophy, startling discoveries in science, the inauguration of great enterprises, new and captivating theories of business, government, and religion, challenge the attention of all classes. The weekly journal conveys to the inhabitants of the rural districts, as well as to those of large cities, intelligence of what is going on in all parts of the world. In country towns and villages where the conservatives insist upon keeping everything as it was in the days of our fathers, "young England" is rushing on in life and enterprise.

To write or speak in the style of fifty years ago would be to waste time and talent, as 66 one that beateth the air." Such a writer, could he find a publisher, would not be read; and such a speaker would have to address empty seats or sleepy congregations. Books that are popular now are for the most part, both in their subject and style, vastly different from those that were popular one hundred years ago. In this changed state of society, men have found out new methods of sinning. The augmented forces of society seem to hurry men more rapidly along the road to ruin than formerly. Sinners become hardened in sin, and sealed over to destruction at a much earlier period in life than when those who are now old men were mere boys. A new order of things is appearing. Old ideas are becoming obsolete, old foundations are upheaving-old things are passing away.

If, then, the Christian church is to succeed in her mission, she must become more active than the world around her. Men naturally turn their attention and thoughts towards the strongest currents and the points of greatest