ject brought before them, a subject which ought to be, in itself, and, apart from all consideration of the character and ability of the preacher, of deepest interest. How few are there who shew signs of humble teachableness! How few are there who are hungering and thirsting after heavenly food! And these are the souls you have to "win to Christ." You have to rouse the slumberer to attention, to awe the supercilious critic and make him learn humility, to convince the giddy sons and daughters of the world of the peril in which they stand, to infuse a spirit of heavenlymindedness into the breast of the cold formalist;in short, your task is to subdue the various evil propensities of your hearers' corrupt nature, and to make them know and feel, that it is no indifferent matter on which you address them, but an affair of life and death -of happiness or woe eternal.

What adds still more to the arduous nature of your task is, that it is necessary to create, not merely a powerful, but a permanent effect; you must not barely cause a transient qualm of conscience, a momentary ebullition of feeling, but you have to make a lasting impression on the heart, and effect a corresponding change of conduct. This point is essential. If you have not done this, you have done nothing. And, if we look at this point only, how far easier is the task of every other speaker'. The advocate has gained his

point when he has obtained a verdict for his client. It matters little to him what may be the opinion of the jury to-morrow. The speaker at the election, the convivial party, or public meeting, has generally little more to do than to ingratiate himself with his partisans, by expressing sentiments congenial with When the last cheer has died away, his task is done. Even the senator speaks principally for present effect. But with the Christian preacher a permanent impression is every thing; if he fails in this, his labour is thrown away.

their own.

Again, you will find, that though, in reality, the subject of your address is the most momentous business in which any human being can be employed, it is next to impossible to give it that character of reality, which at other times so greatly assists the speaker. Your message, though it be from heaven, is an oft-told tale; the sound of the Gospel falls like lead on the ear; the same persons have heard the same truths discussed week after week; and the utmost you can accomplish is, by some variety of argument or illustration, to prepare the same heavenly food in a more palatable shape: and even then they will listen to you rather as to one playing on "a pleasant instrument," than as if you were speaking on a matter of important business. On all other occasions of public speaking men come, with eager looks and anxious minds, to hear something in which they really have a personal interest; but, strange to say, it

requires your whole power of persuasion to give this business-like character to a sermon. One cause of this apathy is because you speak of things, not persons'. There is no personal collision; you miss the excitement of opposition; and many of the most effective instruments of oratory are forbidden. You may not rouse the more easily-excited passions of your hearers, nor flatter their vanity, nor give in to their prejudices. There is no place for cutting, sarcasm, nor fierce invective, nor cool and dignified irony; all these spirit-stirring topics, all that is most agreeable to the natural man, must be avoided, and you must confine yourself to the plain words of soberness and truth.

Another disadvantage is, that you have to provide a sermon, or perhaps more, every Sunday. You are obliged to husband your resources, and confine yourself closely to the subject; which though profitable for all parties in the long run, yet certainly curtails the flights of your eloquence. Then you have to preach in the same place, and before the same congregation. No man is a prophet in his own country; no preacher an apostle in his own pulpit. A new preacher, with half his talent, would be more attended to, till the novelty was worn off. So let me tell you here for your comfort—for it is time to give you some comfort -that you need not be alarmed nor mortified, if an

1 See Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric, book i. ch. x. sect. 3.

itinerant preacher or lecturer comes into your parish, and draws away half your congregation. Take no notice, do nothing to obstruct him, only let him have his own way, and be diligent in your own duty; and in two or three Sundays most of your stray sheep will find their way back.

The last difficulty to which I shall allude, is the circumstance of your having to address an assembly composed of so great a variety of persons. An ordinary church congregation is, of all audiences, the most promiscuous. High and low, rich and poor, old and young, one with another, all must be instructed, convinced, persuaded. The preacher has to adapt his arguments, and language, to the comprehension and edification of every class; and not only every class as to external circumstances, but also in spiritual attainments. "It is no easy matter to excite and awaken drowsy souls without terrifying and disturbing some tender conscience, to bear home the conviction of sin without the appearance of personal reflection."

All these things are against the preacher; and, if he looks only to this side of the question, he may be inclined to say" who is sufficient for these things?" and either give up his office in despair, or content himself with reading the compositions of others. But remember, my dear friend, that the preacher of the Gospel has placed himself in the situation of God's ambassador, and is acknowledged as such; he has put his hand to the plough, and may not look back. "To

preach the Gospel," says Mr. Benson, "is a burden which they have laid upon their own shoulders; to bear it for life is a task which they have assumed, and woe be unto them if they preach not the Gospel daily and duly, and in all their ways, and words, and works."

It is indeed a difficult task-not less than to say to the dead, arise! to bid the blind open their eyes, the deaf hear, and the lepers be cleansed-but remember that you speak in the name of God. You stand as the representative of the Apostolic ministry, bearing God's commission and credentials. "It is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you."-"We are labourers together with God"." Remember that he is with you who is able to smooth all difficulties, to make the crooked paths straight, and out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, to ordain strength, and He will give His blessing to faith, and prayer, and earnestness,-not to human ability. The office of a preacher may indeed furnish ample scope for the application of first-rate talent; still first-rate talent is not essential ; prayer and faithfulness are of far more real value.

Consider this also,-that the subject which you handle is the most sublime imaginable; so sublime as to make the most illiterate preacher eloquent, if