YO

oned, O Lord

r spirits and sc

ed his life-im

fulness, we qu

know-love, lea

Presence, and f

bless us and l

eak as with tongue

dream-its plea

about us-temp

and shew us th

prophets afore

their chime,-the

ed of their slot

despondent, the

joicing, that a

is o'er, and e

silence,-abide

saints then caugh

at waters shall

RTSON BRO

a foot high, and therein stood a naked sword by the point. About the sword there were letters written, saying, "Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is righteous king born of all England."

voice capable of majestic modulations, and a deep and tender heart. These phrases sound very simple, but perhaps they mean more than at first appears. Have we not all met some one, in our lifetime, whose acquaintance with us seemed to have no preliminaries?-some one who never bothered to say anything at all to us, until one day he said something that leaped and tingled throug

not believe; who does not give us a second-hand view of either life or God; who does not play with our conscience because it is not politic

e; if he desires knowledge, he is designed for a scholar; if he is always observing form, rhyme, aesthetic beauty, and striving to produce verse, he is a born poet. But if the one thing that rules his dreams is the longing for spiritual power-the th

ercise of great gifts and powers, there is a man whose heart God is calling to possibilities such as no one can measure, and to triumphs such as no one can forecast! The highest triumphs of these coming

le-minded men ask thus to stand as spiritual ministrants to t

e is true of the spiritual training. It must be larger, freer, grander, than before. Time was when a theologian, it was thought, must be separated from the world-an ascetic working in the dim half-light of the old library, or s

homas Goodwin: his favor

ulus, Zanchius, Paraeus

Theology takes the last

to

ich they make. Then realize that the men who pursue these abstruse and mediaeval subjects are the men who go out into churches where the chief topics of thought and con

, experiences, and incongruities, which stir a sense of fun. A man reads (I notice) in his seminary, St. Leo, Ad Flaeirmum, and makes his fir

g of the Christ; the vigor and the tenderness of faith. Coincident with these must be a growth in depth and dignity of life. No one likes to take spiritual instruction from men who are themselves crude, foolish, sentimental, or conceited. Many social snags on which young ministers are sure to run, are simply the rudiments of social conduct, as practised by the world. Noble manners

chools! To this end, there should be a more deeply spiritual atmosphere in our seminaries, less of the mere academic impulse. In every age, there are men just to com

h minute branch in that department-needs a lifetime for the mastery of that one theme. Hence the work of the college is quite apart from that of the school of theology. It is the place of the school of theology, not

e of the race which should enter in; the inner vitality of words, the beauty of poetic cadences, the strong flow of rhythm, noble themes, great thoughts, impressive im

n, Ecclesiastical History, Ecclesiastical Polity, monuments, texts, memorabilia-the vital thing is the power to think about G

will know-the heart-hunger of the world. When they rise to speak, there is always some one present whose breath

isdom of the centuries, concerning God, and His ways with men. Each student should feel, not that a system is being driven into him, as piles are driven into the stream, b

for the welfare of his soul, and the true progress of mankind. Exegesis is not a matter of Hebrew or Greek alone. It includes the spiritual i

ring into the social spirit of the time; the learning of friendliness, unreserve, sym

vital importance from a scientific understanding of the world, and

or not we accept it, the whole outlook over the underlying principle of conversion has been changed. We must at least recogn

physical ones. Sociology is not a system of fads and reforms. It is the scientific study of society, of its constitution, development, institutions, and growth. He must also breathe largely of the great gov

omprehends its message is receiving a fine training which shall fit him for a thorough understanding of the heart; of its practical, ethical, and spiritual problems; of its domestic

al, Guyon, Amiel, Vinet, La Brunetière, Phelps, Jeremy Taylor, Barrows, Fuller, Whitefield, Bushnell, Edwards, Bacon, Newman, Ruskin, Carlyle, Emerson, Davies, Law, Bunyan, Luther, Spalding, Robertson, Kingsley, Maurice, Chalmers, Guthrie

ls of Richter, Thackera

hould know intimately

lems, and human strife

cer, Shakespeare, Spen

ngenlied, Wordsworth, C

nte and Christina Ross

ing of Goethe, Corneill

ian, Hindu, an

ngs, not to speak of hymns and of anthems, the progress of Christian song! The Creation, the Messiah, the Redemption, Bach's Passion Music,

ok through a good hymnal-through Hymns Ancient and Modern, for instance, or the Church Hymnary-without feeling that therein is bound up the devotional

lo, Francesca, Veronese, Botticelli, Titian, Raphael, Tintoretto, and Corregg

ed as a minister should be to be edu

Every truth is important to him, but not all truths are vital. When a man such as Caspar Rene Gregory speaks, something of the holy mystery and inspiration of b

ns, an objective appeal to God. The true life of prayer is as simple, as unteachable, and as vital as the life of a child with its mother-

o there are unmeasured regions whereon prayer has never been. The more we pray, the more illimitable appears this spi

growth. No man has reached his full possibilities of achievement who has not c

itefield, Finney, Moody, is to feel a strange, deep thrill. They are men who spake, and men listened; who called, and men came to God. Others, alas, so of

ricacies of conscience and conduct, the possibilities of spiritual development or of moral downfall, and the many questionings, agonies, and ecstasies of the soul of man. And they are to be studied and understood with the definite and positive aim

ere rises before the mind's eye a figure that is both knightly and kingly-a man earnest in the redress of wrong, and who yet holds a subtle authority over the forces that make for wrong; a man burdened with the cares and sorrows of many others, and yet conducting his own life with serenity, enthusiasm, dignity, and hope; a man to

OF SPIRI

must strive, not to keep up an unhealthy excitement which shall make conscience introspective and morbid, but to preserve a sane moral outlook, to encourage freedom of thought and judgment, and to develop a normal conscience which reacts

the life of man. It is the office of the spiritual teacher to pluck out sin; to pierce the heart with a recognition of the enormity of sin, and of its far-reaching consequences; to stir the seared conscience, rouse the apathetic life

That like a lyon he would cry and rare, An

ke the faithful

And raise againe to life th

lone. No man may arrogate it-no pastor for people, no husband for wife, no wife for husband, no parent for child. The sadness of the world has been, that men have not always been spiritually free. Freedom

sent to testify. These are not the catch-words of a new sort of Fear King who uses oral terrors to affright the

of evil which makes for pain. Each broken law exacts a penalty. Each deed of sin is a forerunner of personal and of so

he "Populating Power of the Christian Faith"? Do you recall the history of the infamous Jukes family? That of the seven devout and noble generations of the Murrays? The Day of Judgment is not onl

must proclaim hell in the ears of all mankind. For wherever hell may be, and we do not yet know, and whatever h

. The true lover of souls allows for the hereditary weaknesses of man, for his infirmities of will and temper, for his excuses, w

ting thought in the world is that God knows all we do. There c

ual life of those whom he would help. Perhaps the best way to emphasize this point w

spiritual authority and helpfulness to my life. We church-going and Christian men and women of the educated class are almost wholly let alone; apparently no one takes thought for our souls. We are not in the least infallible; we come face to face with fie

Holy Ghost; new aims and purposes were born within me. My friend loves me-that does not matter-it is his spiritual intensity I care for. And this is his reward for his fidelity and tenderness: In the hour when I come to die, when one does not ask for father or mother

nister from sorrow and from pain? Who is there to comfort and help him? You think we can just go on, and preach, preach, preach, standing utterl

he lives about him, there must be a loyal and loving congregation, with here and there in it some one who more fully appreciates and understands. Nothing b

ce from an hour of exalted and uplifted prayer, serene, happy, strong, and prepared to speak words of power and life. Gazing at his people-he can never tell why-the words freeze on his lips. An icy hand

and sorrow. He has not had full time to study-he feels quite unprepared, and e

im on, to deeper thoughts, to nobler words, to modulations of voice that carry him quite beyond himself. His voice rises, and every syllable is firm and musical. His language springs from some far centre of inspiration. He is conscious of superb power,

great men. In return, there flows from a pastor towa

hysterical and passing type-with sensational disturbances, falling exercises, shouts, weeping, and the like. A revival is something fa

iotism which breaks forth in tears and cheers as troops go out to war is a finer type than the mere excitement and fervor of one patriotic man. What would the Queen's Jubilee have been, if but one soldier had marched up and down? A great commemoration! If we grant the reality of national rejoic

dds; to-day the intellectual phalanxes are sweeping Christward with an impetus that is sublime! Thinkers are finding in the large life of religion a motive power for their thought, their growth-a reason for their existence-a forecast of their destiny. We are beginning to realize the dyn

who can preach the gospel to a scientific age, and to a thinking coterie-a coterie of college men and mechanics, of society women and servant-girls, of poets and of mine-diggers, of convicts an

. Any one thinks he can be an altruist. Why not? Take a class in a college settlement, make some bibs for a day nursery, give tramps a C.O.S. card, with

s run by cranks. Cranks attach themselves to any social movement, as a shaggy gown will gather burrs. It is not all of philanthropy to classify degenerates, titter at ignorance, and to go a-peeping through the slums! We have not yet realized the ful

reformer is the dream of the reformer, the meditation of the mystic, the seer. He must first have in mind a plain, clear conception of what the relation is of man to God, of what man's environment should be, and of what the society of the Kingdom should be. The reformer is one who changes an existing social environment for approximately this ideal envir

he material forces which are moulding the age-images, money, conquest, or whatever they may be. He wishes to maintain a spiritual hold on civilizati

lsewhere in the town; it is not alone to give them baths, playgrounds, circulating libraries of books and pictures, dancing-parties, and social clubs. To reform the slums is to set up a new ideal of God, and of righteous conduct in the heart of the slum-dwellers. One must

advanced, idleness, indolence, brutality, tyranny, drunkenness, cant, and social scorn are gradually being cast o

of reform, instead of plain, direct upbuilding work in the souls and consciences of men. To preach upon horse-stealing is one thing. The horse-stealer may be impressed, convicted, made penitent, and return the stolen horse. But not until his heart is imbued with a spiritual conception of honesty, as the law of God, will he steal a str

ailing influence extending over the ages, of holy men of God, who have preached and taught and prayed; who have preserved o

To further missions is to further govern

eed. He is inevitably

t is also, in church matters, a system of truth which has been believed in, and

upright. "You must bind nothing upon your charges," says Jeremy Taylor, "but what God hath bound upon you." Conviction is at the root of the lasting trad

proposition rests either upon a scientific fact, or upon that which, for want of a more definite term, we call the religious instinct of man. But a proposition cannot standalone. It is conn

spirit and understanding. To-day, in one's library, one has a thousand books. They are shelved and catalogued, for reference, in a special order. But years hence, one's grandson, who inherits these books, may have ten thousand books. The

cts so far examined, determined, and classified. But no system of theology can be final. Thought is moving on. Experience is progressiv

e spiritual problems of the race and to present a theory of redemption which shall be adequate, spiritually progressive, and the exact expression, so far as yet revealed, of the will of God for

rom death. But in order to command the intellectual respect of the race, there must be another form of teaching yet than this, a teaching which presents Christ in the historic and philosophic setting: the central Figure in a great body of associated spir

or prelate, as one shakes a rattle, for noise, for play! A doctrine is not a toy; it is the crystallized belief of earn

on as his mind matures. A doctrine is a practical and definite thing to work with; in later life to believe, and to approve of, or disbelieve, and disapprove of. If a man wishes to build a house, does it fetter him to know square measure, cubic con

pe, a stalwart aid to a practical, devout, and duty-doing life. A catechism is a system of doctrine expressed in its simplest form. Therefore, f

e home from school and talk glibly of a parallelepipedon, a rhombus, rhomboid, polyhedral angle, archipelago, law of primogenitu

ific, and convincing, who, out of the vast array of new facts brought forth by modern science, will produce new creeds, a new catechism, a new dogmatic series. It is worth while to live in these days-to know the possibility of such monumental co

historic Theological Council, to revise and restate, not one denominational catechism, but the creed of Christendom; t

chism? Who is dictator of doctrine? How far are the limits of authority to be pressed? Wha

se he announces that there are two manuscripts of Layamon's Brut, and that the text of Beówulf has been many times worked over, before we have received it in its present form. Yet there are accredited professors of English who do not know these facts, and who, if called upon, could neither prove them nor disprove t

ress consists in each man's doing his best to advance the interests of the kingdom of God in his own special sphere. From others he must take something for grant

ve her children in their charge, and for whose teaching the Church, as a whole, is responsible. There is doubtless a time when the man who is really in advance of his times intellectually must be misunderstood, must be disagreed with, must be cast out. But all truth may await the verdict of time. If he has discovered something new, something true, the centuries will make it plain. There remains a chance-and the Church dare not risk too great a chance-that he is mistaken, impious, presumptuous, or self-deceived. We dare not rush to

m? is therefore one which the common-sense of Christendom is left to solve-not to-day,

TACLES AND

ethargic, that men are so engrossed by material aims, indifference, or sin that a pastor can get no hold upon their hearts. Second,

sked to project a road was steep? Of a doctor who would grieve that hosts of people about him were very ill? Of a statesman who would cry out that horrid folks opposed him? It is t

that shall hold their powers subject to eternal influences and aims. The times are not wholly unfavorable: our era, which spurns many ecclesiastical forms, is at heart essentially religious. The World for Chri

nary. He has had a good education, followed by perhaps a year or two abroad, and some practical experience in so

entence; of poorer men who are, in church affairs, unscrupulous politicians; of women who carp and gossip; and of all sorts of men and women who desire to rule, criticise, hinder, and distrain. They,

kers are spitting and going off. Whichever way he turns, and whatever he does, something pops angrily, and a new blaze begins! And this business, incredibly petty as it is, blocks the progress of the Christian faith. Men and women of education and refinement, of a wide outlook

nd masterful and say, This shall not be! Let him not listen to the barking and baying: let him hearken to the great primal voices of man and

y, attach many new members to the organization, and build up, out of discordant and erstwhile discontented elements, a harmonious and active church. This is the man for these martial times! If there are born leaders in every other department of the world's

personal development? Does he not miss much from the lack of the world's hearty give-and-take? He gets criticism, but not of a just or all-round kind. Small things may be pecked at, trifles may be made mountains of by the disgr

ploughing-field, the counting-room, they rub up against each other, and no mercy is shown by man to man until primary signs of crudeness are worn off. Let a conceited professor get in a college chair! Watch a hundred st

ions, opposition, comments, shafts of wit and envy, jovial teasing and correction. He goes out from the meeting with a keener love of truth and exactness, and a less exalt

st of a high-strung, spirited, and hard-working generation. Let him be turned out of doors. Let him travel, look, learn, meet men and women, and conquer in the arena of manhood

ant to listen to, though, in the nature of things, they can have scarcely a word in them of that deep, life-giving experience and counsel which come from the hearts of men and women who have lived, and know the truth of life. He is told that these sermons are "lovely," "beautif

nics, tennis, charity-bazaars. Other men are frankly too busy for much of these things, except for healthful recreation

iety-bound, must long to kick over a few afternoon tea-tables, and sm

n tell him almost nothing. Watch any group of men talking, as the minister comes in. A moment before they were eager, alert, argumentative. Now they are polite or mildly bored. He is not of their world. Some assert that he is not even of their se

mpatible with courtesy and friendly ways. They shoulder responsibility; they do not flirt; they sort out cranks; they flee from simpers; they put down presumption. If married, they laugh heartily with their wives over any letter or episode that is comical

rage, inspire. By and by the scales drop from his eyes; he sees himself, not as one who has already achieved, but as one to whom the radiant gates of life are opening, so that he, too, can one day speak t

efficiency of the world's work. When men do not consciously compete with others, they inevitably drop behind. What a minister was intended for, was to stand head and shoulders above other men. God seem

e who is adjusting the new world-powers and the new world-relations, over-seeing the development of our country, and planning for its laws and commerce. Close to him comes the physician, who is laying his hand on world-plagues, and is studying the c

ons of the country. We have trusts, syndicates, and corporation-problems h

e openings, scientific discoveries, forms of church-work and philanthropy, accidents, murders, and marriages, to our breakfast-table. The press of to-day has

. Carnegie's Thirty Partners, most of whom have come from the working-ranks, demonstrate that a man

s under consideration and analysis. The farmer is learning, through chemistry and other forms of science, new ways of making his farm productive, and t

pt pace with this advance? Do many sermons thrill us in this large

astoral talk, though this one or another may have united with the Church after a special sermon, revival, or personal appeal. It was the memory and influence of a mother's prayers; of early associations; of a teacher, a lover, a friend. The conversion came direct from God-the soul was acted upon by some sp

to blame? Certainly! Such an outcry would go up as would echo across the country. Where were the quarantine

ur country-gambling, social drinking, and many other ills; a

ests of his country or community, so the minister should stand, yet more largely than to-day, as a break-water between the world and the tides of sin! He should not only be able to keep alive in a country an atmosphere of prayer, devotion, and unselfish service-he should, by God's help, make piety the general estate of the land; he should not only be intellectually able t

akes microscopes, instruments, and drugs; he buries himself in a laboratory, and gives his whole mind to the problem, until one day he can come forth and tell ho

olve a special moral problem-that of, say, a disobedient child in the congregation? Have they spent six months, hours and hours a day, to make the law of God, the word Obedience, ring in that child's ears? Spiritual guidance is definitely and positively a scientific task. The mastery of one fact may lead to the correlation of a psychic law. When a minister can help a soul to overcome temptation, and a parent to bring up a child, he is in touch with two final human problems. As he gradually enlarges his

their judgment and appeal; they should be moral arbiters, and spiritual guides in national crises. By a word they should be able to rous

and trade. Who, to-day, holds the spiritual destiny of the world in his hand? I long to see men appear upon whom the eyes of

O World-Evangelist, not only neighborhood disputes, but international dissensions; project a creed that shall be profound and universal; sweep sects together, un