known. It is triumphant joy. It is joy in full assurance of hope, when there is not a single outward sign to justify it. It is believing in God, and taking him at his word. I am glad to know that this blessed place of prayer bears witness to this faith. It is that which lends an indescribable charm to this place."

For the Prayer Meeting. Feeding the Lambs.

A PREACHER and pastor, on coming out of church one Sabbath, after preaching a learned and elaborate discourse, was accosted by a pious elder, who said to the minister, in a kindly tone: "Dear sir, be careful not to put the hay so high in the rack that the lambs can't reach it." Many sermons shoot over the heads of many common people, much more over the heads of children. The parables, the plain and beautiful illustrations which the Saviour employed in speaking to the crowds who attended on his ministry, are models to be followed by modern ministers. Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost is a striking instance of the simple power of truth, plain, direct, pungent, with no efforts at oratory.

I know one minister (but would like to know hundreds of the same pattern) with whom it is quite a common thing to say, "Now, I have a word here for my young friends," or something similar. Then comes a simplification of what has been addressed to the older hearers, or a new point suited to the little folks, or a practical appeal to them, graced and pointed with figures and narratives which commend them to the juvenile part of the congregation. Why should a habit of this kind be

found in only one here and another there, with miles of manuscript and whole Sabbaths of speaking between, in which the world is falsely assumed to be peopled with adults, and adults alone?

This forgetfulness or neglect of the young must come to a conclusive end. They are there in the pews, with their lively intellects and warm hearts. Let them be spoken to. Let every minister, as he prays, as he studies the Bible, as he consults books, as he bends over his manuscript-page, bethink himself of what he has for the little ones, and so get some food ready for them. Nay, more-as he skims

the

newspaper, walks the streets, visits among his people, goes among the rich, the poor, the strong, the sick, the rejoicing, the sorrowing, let him cull materials for the bairns. So will his pulpitwork be not less acceptable or profitable to the grown people, and he will reach a wider circle than he reached before. I know a little boy, six years old, who is frequently asked, when he returns. from church: "Well, what did the minister say?" His answer on one occasion was: "He said, 'let us pray." " This was uttered after a pause full of careful reflection.

Ministerial Counsels.

1. THE ministerial office is the continuation of the prophetic of fice of Christ, or the organ through which Christ himself perpetuates his ministerial power. Hence ministers of the Gospel are called, after their official character, ambassadors in Christ's stead, (2 Cor. 520) ministers (servants) of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God, (1 Cor. 4:1 :) coworkers with God, (1 Cor

the salt of the earth and the light of the world, (Matt. 5: 13-16.)

2. The office of the ministry is the most exalted and honorable vocation; for it was the work of the Son of God and of his Apostles, the greatest teachers and benefactors of mankind on earth. It is also the most responsible and weighty office, because it treats of the weal or woe of immortal souls. It is further the most culpable and abhorrent profession, if it be followed under the promptings of worldly gain and ambition, without faith and love to Christ.

3. A preacher must have a double call an inner one from the Holy Spirit, and an outer one from the authorities of the Church. Without such a call, he has no ministerial authority, and becomes as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

4. The controlling motive of the true minister is love to Christ and undying souls. "The love of God constraineth us," saith Paul.

5. The highest example of the ministry, both in doctrine and walk, is Jesus Christ, and next to him stands the Apostle Paul.

6. In the preparation and delivery of your sermons, aim alone at pleasing God and saving souls. 7. A preacher without faith is like a statue without heart and eyes, and a sun without light and warmth; yea, like a sword without an edge, and a body without a soul.

8. Preach to yourself before you preach to others, and your exhortation will impress your hearers with double power.

9. The evangelical sermon is a living and experimental witness of Christ as the only and all-sufficient Saviour of sinners, for the awakening and edification of those who hear it. It is not mere teach

ing and exhortation, but the communication of the Christian life. What comes from the heart goes to the heart, and life begets life.

10. The true sermon has an annointing of the Holy Spirit, which accomplishes more than either learning or eloquence.

11. Each sermon should be the work both of the study and the pulpit. At home, under the influence of silent prayer and faithful study, it is begotten; in the church, under the stimulous of the inspiring countenances of attentive hearers, it is born.

12. Never preach without earnestly and thorough preparation, if you can possibly get time. Thus alone will you grow daily in richness of thought and the power of delivery. True industry never goes unrewarded, but indolence can claim no promise.

13. He who accustoms himself too early to extemporizing, and relies upon his own powers, will soon exhaust his store, and weary both himself and his auditors.

14. In your preparations examine first the text, together with the best standard literary aids within your reach, among which the Bible itself is the best, then select the principal thought for your theme, and divide it into its necessary parts. A simple, clear, and well-disposed arrangement constitutes already half the sermon. Frequently, however, the theme is first chosen, and the text to suit it selected afterwards.

15. The Bible is astonishingly rich in texts for all possible themes which are appropriate to the pulpit, and tend to edification.

16. The text should not be merely the motto, but the lifeblood and soul of the whole discourse.

17. The different parts must not be united externally and mechanically, but they ought, if possible, to grow out of each other from an internal necessity, so that the whole sermon might constitute a living organism.

18. Never forget the old proverb that the Word of God is like an oderiferous plant, which imparts the stronger fragrance the more it is rubbed, and like a richly laden fruittree, which, the more it is shaken, the more fruit it yields.

19. Do not permit yourself to be unnecessarily disturbed and distracted before going into the pulpit, but lock yourself up in your closet, so that your discourse may receive, through prayer and the concentration of your mind, the baptism of the spirit of fire.

20. Forget every thing in the pulpit except God and the salvation of sinners.

21. Remember every time you preach that it may be the last opportunity which your hearers may have of hearing the word of life and saving their souls.-REV. DR. SCHAFF.

Prayerless Parents.

PRAYERLESS parents! Your irreligion may prove your children's ruifi. They might have been within the fold of the Saviour by this time, had not you hindered them when entering in. That time when God visited your family with a heavy stroke, they were thoughtful for a season, but there was no church in your house to give a heavenly direction to that thoughtfulness, and it soon died away. That evening, when they came home from the Sabbath-school, so serious, if you had been a pious father or mother, you would have taken your boy aside, and spoken tenderly to him, and asked what his teacher had been telling him, and you would have prayed with him and tried to deepen the impression. But your children came in from the church or school and found no church in their father's house. Their hearts softened, but your worldliness soon hardened them. The seed of the kingdom was just springing in their souls, and by this time might have been a

rich harvest of salvation; but in the atmosphere of your ungodly house the tender blade withered instantly. Your idle talk, your frivolity, your Sunday visitors, your prayerless evenings ruined all. Your children were coming to Christ, and you suffered them not. And you will not need to hinder them long. The carnal mind is enmity against God; but no enmity so deep as theirs who were almost reconciled and then drew back. You drove your children back. You hardened them. They may never more be moved. They may grow up as prayerless and ungodly as yourself. If God should change yourself, they may soon be too hard for your own tears and entreaties. If you die as you are, their evil works will follow you to the world of woe, and pour new ingredients into your own cup of wrath. Oh! think of these things. A prayerless house is not only a cheerless one, but it is a guilty one; for where God is not, there Satan is.

Christ Alone.

"MEN and brethren, what shall we do?" These are the words of men who are at a total loss; it is the voice of poor, distressed souls, that saw themselves in misery, but knew not, saw not, nor could devise any way of escape from it, by any thing they could do for themselves, or any other creature for them. And hence the Apostle uses that emphatic word, "Shut up to the faith," as men besieged and distressed in a garrison in time of a storm, when the enemy pours in upon them through the breaches and overpowers them. There is but one sallyport or gate, at which they can escape, and to that they all throng, as despairing of life, if they take any other course. Just so do men's convictions besiege them, distress them, beat them off from all their holds and intrenchments, and bring them to a pinching distress in themselves, shutting them up to Christ as the only way of escape. Duties can not save me; reformation can not save me, nor angels, nor men can save me; there is no way but one-Christ, or condemnation for

ever. I thought once, that a little repentence, reformation, restitution, and a stricken life might be a way to escape wrath to come, but I find the bed is too short, and the covering to narrow. All is but loss, dung, dross, in comparison with Jesus Christ. If I trust to those Egyptian reeds, they will not only fail me, but pierce and wound me too; I see no hope within the whole horizon of sense.-JOHN FLAVEL.

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Beginning Family Prayer. THE Commencement of this sacred and delightful duty must often be attended by difficulties where the head of the family has for years neglected it. "I have never done any thing since I became a Christian," writes one, which required so much selfdenial, and which was so truly a bearing of the cross, as beginning family worship. I felt that it was a duty from the time that I devoted myself to the service of Christ; but I shrunk from its performance so painfully, that day after day and week after week passed away without my attempting it. At length conscience remonstrated so loudly, and my conviction that it was a sin to neglect it so long was so strong, I determined to make the effort to perform it the next morning, cost what it would. It occasioned me a wakeful night; again and again I implored strength from on high. I was constitutionally timid, and when the morning came was much agitated. "Before breakfast I said to my wife: 'I feel, C., as if we ought to have prayer in the family. We all have souls to be saved, and need God's blessing. I am sure you will not object to it.' 'No,' she replied; but the

tone in which she said it was not encouraging. When we rose from the breakfast-table it seemed to me the children had never been so noisy before, and it required an effort to request them to keep silence and be seated. They did so, but I felt that their eyes were fixed wonderingly on me. I took the large Bible from the shelf and sat down. I wished to preface the service with some remarks, but I could not trust my voice, and I opened the book and read the first chapter that presented itself. I then knelt, and with faltering voice began to address the Creator. But my hesitation soon passed off. I know not why it was, but during the performance of the service my soul was so filled with thought's of God's great goodness in permitting me to approach him, and to place myself and those dear to me under the shelter of his protecting love, that I forgot the presence of others, and poured out my heart in supplications for his blessing with as much freedom and fervor as I had ever done in secret. When I arose I perceived my wife's eyes were moistened with tears.

"The conflict was over, the duty was entered on, and the peace which follows the consciousness of having done right came into my heart. Prayer with my beloved ones was no longer a burden, but a delightful privilege; and ere long I had the satisfaction of knowing that the heart of my companion ascended in full unison with my own to the throne of grace. I can now speak freely in my family of the value and sweetness of this service, and to many of them I believe the hour of prayer has become one of the most highly prized of all the day brings us.”