the intellectual world; minds, though agreeing in essence and laws, differ widely in the relative force of their emotions and faculties." TRUE PHILANTHROPY.-"The true Christian is the only philosophic philanthropist; he strikes the serpent upon the head; he seeks to make the heart of humanity right, and he knows, that if that be right, the poets' golden age will dawn and Eden bloom again." GOODNESS.-"Goodness is a ubiquitous presence to the open eye-an eternal anthem to the open ear of reason." PROVERBS. 66 'Proverbs are well tested truths; they have been tried in the crucible of the world's experience, and received the endorsement of the world's heart. Hence they pass from age to age as current coin in the mental realm, and few, if any, question their genuine ness. SOCIETY.-"A man generally receives back from society that which he gives out to it, and that too, oftentimes, with considerable interest. Society is to him what he makes it, it is generally a reflection of himself; the merciful finds mercy in it, and the malicious, malice. With what measure ye mete to it, it measures to you again." THOUGHT.-"Who shall tell the value of one true thought? It is a quenchless ray from the infinite sun, an ever-multiplying bread-seed for millions, a fountain of vital influences which no time shall exhaust." TRUST IN GOD.-"When a soul loses its trust in God, it is like the eagle that has lost its wings; instead of basking in sunny azure, it must wallow in the dirt; like the star that has lost its centre, instead of rolling in radiance, and swimming in sunshine, it must rush into blackness and darkness for ever." PIETY AND PHILANTHROPY.— "As the growing acorn runs into branches and foliage, piety runs into sympathy with the race." REASON." Reason in the atmosphere of a guilty conscience is like the eye amidst the shower of pyrotechnic lights, dazzled with false visions." HELL." As we build up our houses and our cities out of the rough materials taken from the earth, so the imagination of a mind consciously deserted by God, will build up its world of woe out of the corrupt materials of its own heart.' SIN.-"With every sin a man commits he quenches a star inthe firmament of hope. As he steps onward, one by one, the bright orbs faint from his sight, until at last the sky of his soul is in sackcloth. A man pursuing a course of sin is like one walking with a heavy burden towards some terrible precipice, with his back to the setting sun, the shadow of his person and his burden deepen and widen with every step, until at last it enshrouds him in midnight, and he tumbles into ruin. HATRED." God made the person, man made the character; and a bad character is an offence to the Almighty and an injury to the universe; therefore, it is holy to hate it." 66 RELIGIOUSNESS. Religiousness is the only soil in which man's spiritual faculties can grow into heroic vigour. In materialism they wither; in mere intellectualism they are only skeletonic at best; in religiousness they are like the tree planted by the rivers of waters; their roots are in the Everlasting; they drink into them the very life of God." GRATITUDE." Gratitude is a binding sentiment. It binds the heart of the receiver to the giver. It is the golden chain that links the good man's heart to God. The mind full of gratitude is the mind full of happi The Preacher's Confidential CouncilRoom. [There arise in the pulpit and pastoral experience of almost every minister certain questions of casuistry and doctrine which he would not care to have opened in a general journal, but upon which he would like the judgment of his brethren. This department will be available to such. Ministers of all denominations are invited to it.] THE PULPIT. "DEAR SIR,-Your correspondent who signs himself ‘Luther,' wrote in your last Number a capital letter on the modern pulpit. He says that the pulpit seems always in the 'region of theological dogmas, pietistic sentiment, and sect-politics, and comes not down to the consciousness of the over-reaching traders, the fleshly pleasure-seekers, the grinding masters, and the starving peoples.' This is true, terribly true. "May I be permitted to point out what I consider to be another, most grave and growing defect ?—I mean professionalism. Preaching has become as truly a profession as any other art by which men obtain their livelihood. Men preach to live, rather than live to preach. Men who have burning convictions concerning the moral wrongness of the world, the necessity of a soul regeneration, and the evangelical methods of putting humanity right, will preach because 'necessity is laid upon them,' not because they want to deliver a grand sermon or get a livelihood. "I learn from the public papers that a student from a Dissenting College is so impressed with the importance of delivering eloquent sermons, that he wrote a letter to Mr. Bright to help him in the matter. My impression is, that if a preacher has the true spirit of his mission, and has his heart charged with the right class of convictions, he will not be anxious on this point, his own instincts will teach him better than any rhetorician as to the most powerful way of making others feel what he feels. With your permission, I will quote the letter of Mr. Bright to this student, and make a few remarks upon the same in your next number. "DEAR SIR,-Your letter, written in May last, only met my eye a few days ago; it has been at the Reform Club and was not forwarded to me until quite recently. You asked me two questions. To one of which I can give a ready answer. I have never been in the habit of writing out my speeches, certainly not for more than thirty years past. The labour of writing is bad enough, and the labour of committing to memory would be intolerable; and speeches read to a meeting are not likely to be received with much favour. It is enough to think, however, what is to be said, and to form an outline in a few brief, notes. But first of all a real knowledge of the subjects spoken of is required; with that, practice should make speaking easy. As to what is best for the pulpit, I may not venture to say much. It would seem that rules applicable to other speaking will be equally applicable to the pulpit. But in a pulpit a man is expected to speak for a given time on a great theme and with less of exact material than is obtainable on other occasions and on ordinary subjects. And further, a majority of preachers are not good speakers, and could not be made such. They have no natural gift for good speaking. They are not logical in mind, nor full of ideas, nor free of speech; and they have none of that natural readiness which is essential to a powerful and interesting speaker. "It is possible, nay probable, that if reading sermons was abolished, while some sermons would be better than they now are, the majority of them would be simple chaos and utterly unendurable to the most patient congregation. Given a man with knowledge of his subject and a gift for public speaking, then, I think, reading a mischief; but given a man who knows little and who has no gift of speaking, then reading seems to be inevitable, because speaking, as I deem it, is impossible. But it must be a terrible thing to have to read or speak a sermon every week on the same topic to the same people-terrible to the speaker and hardly less so to the hearers. Only men of great mind, great knowledge, and great power can do this with success. any man can do it. I wonder that "I often doubt if any man has ever done it. I forbear, therefore, from giving a strong opinion on the point you submit to me. Where a man can speak, let him speak. It is, no doubt, effective, but where a man cannot speak he must read. Is not this the sum of the whole matter? "I am, truly yours, "JOHN BRIGHT." HYMNOLOGY. Thanks, Mr. Editor, for inserting my letter on the subject of hymns in your last issue. With your permission I will now redeem my pledge and give specimens of a few out of the many objectionable hymns used in Sunday-schools. I call attention first to a well-known and popular hymn, beginning with the words— "I want to be an angel, and with the angels stand, A crown upon my forehead, and a harp within my hand, Here the child at the outset is made to utter a falsehood. What does a child know about an 66 angel ?" Indeed, how little does the greatest theologian know of an angel! We know that whenever an angel has appeared to a man, it has struck him with terror. No child wants to be angel; it is simply a lie. Besides, if a child did want to be an angel, it would be a very wrong desire. The child should be taught to be contented with the nature God has given it, and to get that nature inspired with the true spirit, the spirit of humility, contentment, and love. But the child in this verse is not only made to express a desire to be an "angel," but to be a king. The poor little creature is made to wish to have a "crown" upon his forehead. A thing it has never seen in its life, and it has no idea what it is! In addition to a crown, it wants a “harp,” an instrument of which it has perhaps no notion. In fact the child in such a hymn-if hymn it can be called—is made throughout to express discontent with its present lot, a desire to be happy rather than to be good, and taught to look for happiness, not in the right cultivation of its nature, but to some distant sphere, and in things of which it knows nothing. "I lay my sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, He bears them all, and frees us from the accursed load; I bring my guilt to Jesus to wash away my stains, White in His blood most precious, till not a spot remains," etc. Here again the child is made to utter a falsehood. When he says he lays his "sins on Jesus," he does not know what it means: no one does. The language itself is unscriptural. The doctrine of Christ's substitution is one on which our leading bishops, eminent theologians, and most useful Christians disagree. How absurd, how impious it is, then, to put such words into the mouth of a child. I ask the writer of this verse what he means by the expression, "I lay my sins on Jesus"? Here is another, "Beautiful Zion built above; Beautiful gates of pearly white ! Beautiful temple, God is light! Beautiful trees for ever there! Beautiful fruits they always bear. Beautiful rivers gliding by; Beautiful fountains never dry!" etc., etc. What instruction or devotion can be found in this hymn? It is rhapsodic rubbish, nothing else. Yours truly, "CLERICUS." [To be continued.] |