Was stamped on Adam's heart,
Before he fell;

But in rebellion found,
Upright notes lost their sound,
When sent to till the ground,
The Scriptures tell.

Moses that saint of old,
His songs we have enrolled,
In sacred page;

David, that psalmist sweet,
Set music on its feet,
And wrote his psalms complete,
For every age.

Moses the Red Sea cross'd,
While Pharaoh's hosts were lost,
Drowned in the seas;

Miriam marched along,
With her triumphant song,
Likewise her maidens young

Sung hymns of praise.
In Samuel's book we read
The sweet song Hannah made,
And sung the same;
Her silent prayer address'd,
She obtained her request,
And with a son was blest,
Samuel by name.

Barak and Deborah,
When they their conquest saw,
Sung hymns of praise;

Solomon sung we see,
All love and harmony,
Left in the church to be,
In Gospel days.

Angels in joyful strains,

Sung in Judea's plains,

The Gospel plan;
Let Christians all agree
United still to be,
Praising his love so free,

Who died for man:
While Judas went away,
His master to betray,

A hymn was sung;
This left a pattern bright,
Which should our hearts invite,
To sing psalms day and night,
With heart and tongue.
Silas and Paul they sung,
When bound in prison strong,
Hymns at midnight;

Their sacred holy strains
Loosed all the prisoners' chains-
The jailor by this means

Was brought to light.
Martyrs, bound to the stake,
Who for the Gospel's sake
Were put to death,

Sung in the burning blaze,
One ancient penman says,

With psalms and hymns of praise,
Sung their last breath.
Our singing here abounds
With much uncertain sounds,
On this dark shore;
But through eternity
No jarring sounds shall be
In the Lamb's company
For evermore.

ON PREACHING.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX PRESBYTERIAN.

SIB, I PROCEED with the same freedom which you have kindly permitted me to use in the two preceding Numbers of your valuable publication, to throw together a few remarks on the most profitable mode, under God, of addressing an audience from the pulpit in the public ministrations of the sanctuary.

1. The effective preacher deals with the consciences of the people. So did the Apostle Paul: "by manifestation of the truth commending himself to every man's conscience in the

now is

sight of God."-2 Cor. iv. 2. The conscience, it is almost at once the object of the follower of Paul to grasp and search, and so to make ready the sinner for the reception of the Saviour. Truth, conscience, and God are the solemn and eternal realities with which he has to do. He has no time to lose-souls are perishing the judgment is at hand-he knows not whether he may have another opportunity of preaching to the assembly before him-whether some of those who now hear him may not be removed far beyond the reach of his voice, or whether he himself may not be called to give an account of his stewardship before the returning sabbath. He therefore brings his whole soul to bear upon every sermon which he preaches. Having learned that now God commandeth all men every where to repent,' for that " the accepted time, now is the day of salvation," he presses repentance upon his audience,-he entreats-beseeches warns-remonstrates-by the mercy of God-by the love of Christ-by the terrors of the law-by the long-suffering patience of the Lord, experienced in past years-by all the motives which the Scripture addresses to the minds and hearts of sinners; he urges them to "repent and believe the Gospel." He does not, like some preachers, deal in long introductions to his discourses. He does not deem it necessary to give a critical analysis of the text, to find fault with the present translation of the Bible, and suggest improvements-to enter upon a laboured and ingenious disquisition on some abstract truth, which not one twentieth portion of his hearers are able, or will give themselves the trouble to understand, and which would profit them nothing if they did understand it. He feels convinced, that by thus disappointing or wearying the attention of an audience at the very outset of his address, he could have little hope of regaining it afterwards.

Neither does he, like others, give a dry and didactic essay, to which the text is prefixed as a motto; and after the announcement of which, the people listen for a few moments, and then perceiving that nothing interesting is to be expected, quietly give themselves over to their own meditations, and seem to forget the presence of the preacher until the welcome intimation of an approaching conclusion strikes upon their ears, when they assume the attitude of devout attention, and listen with the greatest apparent anxiety for the few moments that elapse till the sermon, of which there is hardly one solitary fragment abiding on their memories, come to its expected and much-desired end.

Neither does he, like others, give long and tedious expositions of doctrine, which may instruct a few, and make them critical and captious; but which put the mass of the audience to sleep, and leave the consciences of all unaffected and untouched. Neither does he, like others, give utterance to cold and barren generalities, which every one acknowledges to be very true and very good, but which no one applies to himself, nor seems to suppose any other object intended by them than to fill up the time and space usually devoted to this part of the public service. No! the preacher who looks to Paul as his model, almost immediately takes hold of his subject, exhibits it in a few prominent lights, and then presses it home upon the consciences of his hearers. He preaches to his people, not before them: his aim is not to dazzle the imagination, but to reach the heart; not to argue so much as to persuade; not to instruct the mind so much as to stir up the affections; not to change opinions, but principles; not merely to reform the morals, but to renovate the soul. The conversion of sinners unto God is the object for which he prays preaches labours incessantly in his public and private ministrations. This leads me to observe

2. The effective preacher, in every address from the pulpit, makes a clear distinction between the converted and unconverted. The Scriptures, with amazing perspicuity and emphasis of expression, lay down the tests by which the natural man is characterized, as well as the believer; and these should not on any occasion be kept out of view by the preacher, if he wish to preserve his hearers from self-deception. The natural man, we are informed by the word of God, and our own experience amply confirms the statement, fulfils the desires of the flesh and the mind;'-he 'walks according to the course of this world;' he is a 'lover of himself,' and 'lives to himself;' he 'is flesh, and minds the things of the flesh.'

The believer, on the other hand, crucifies the flesh with its affections and lusts'-'minds the things of the Spirit-is 'not conformed to the world-loves the brethren-walks humbly and tenderly with God.

The be

Here are obvious and irreconcilable differences. liever and the sinner differ in the motives and objects of their conduct; in the principles and rules of their course of sentiment and action; in their joys and sorrows; in their hopes and fears; in the whole spirit and aspect of their character; for every hearer, it should be remembered, belongs either to one of these classes or to the other; is either a child of God

or a child of the devil; is moving either towards heaven or hell; and he should be distinctly told what he is, and whither he is going, that he may be preserved from despondency on the one hand, and from presumption on the other. He should be specially guarded against those delusions which are most apt to deceive and destroy immortal souls, even under the superintendence of a Gospel ministry. It should be impressed upon him, that he may have an Orthodox creed, and may be able to combat with success every form of heresy that en ters into controversy with him, and yet may have no claims to the title of Christian after all; that he may be a scrupulous attendant on all the ordinances of religion, and yet be no Christian; that he may be blameless and harmless; nay, he may hold the highest place of estimation in the world and even in the church, and yet be no Christian. "If any man be in Christ," that is, if he be indeed a Christian, "he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are be come new." And if a man be not a new creature, then it matters not what may be his knowledge of Orthodoxy, and general acquaintance with the word of God; it matters not what his sayings or doings, his character in his own estimation, or in that of his brethren, he is not in Christ-he is no Christian. In Presbyterian congregations, which are gene rally well-informed in the first principles of the Gospel, the attention of the members should be habitually called, not only to the elementary question, 'What must I do to be saved?" but to one which belongs to a more advanced stage of inquiry, How do I know that I am in the way of salvation? What evidence have I that I am a Christian? Let me try myself by the infallible tests laid down in the word of God.' It is astonishing to find how many years individuals may continue to sit under the sound of the Gospel without putting to themselves the simple and obvious interrogation-Let it not be forgotten from the pulpit.

3. The effective preacher should carefully distinguish not only the two great and leading divisions of converted and unconverted hearers, but also the several varieties into which these two divisions are distributed. It is this discriminating skill in addressing his audience that the apostle urges Timothy so sedulously to acquire, 2 Tim. 11-15: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." A minister is a steward in the house of God, and he must dispense the heavenly food entrusted to his care, according to the spiritual

constitution and necessities of those for whose health and well-being he is appointed to labour. "Who is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season.' "Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing." The application or improvement of sermons is, in general, too little studied; yet it is here that the preacher's knowledge of the human character, and experimental acquaintance with the divine life are most clearly discovered; and here should the collective force of the various truths brought forward in the progress of the sermon, be concentrated, and made to bear with accumulated and irresistible power upon the hearts and consciences of the various classes of the audience.

Throughout the whole of the previous address there may be, and I think ought to be, inferential applications occasionally deduced from doctrines laid down and principles explained; by which means the attention of the audience would be more effectually maintained, and opportunity would be afforded for more lengthened and diversified improvement of the subject. But in the conclusion, the preacher should gather up all his strength, and with holy boldness and uncompromising fidelity, yet with all gentleness and affection, declare the counsel of God in a direct appeal to the several distinctions of character before him. Sometimes he should address. the aged, sometimes the young, on their respective duties and privileges; sometimes the rich and sometimes the poor. The merchant, the mechanic, the apprentice, the husbandman, ought not to be overlooked. The husband and wife, the parent and child, the master and servant have their respective characteristics delineated in the word of God. Most frequently, however, the preacher should classify his hearers according to their spiritual state and history. The Sabbathbreaker, the drunkard, the liar, the profligate, the hypocrite, the backslider, should each be addressed, as opportunity permits, with affectionate faithfulness, and their condition in the sight of God be described, with its fearful consequences, from the holy and incorrupted word of truth. Believers also are to be treated according to the amount of spiritual strength they have acquired. A different style of address is requisite for children; for young men ; for fathers in Christ; for those who are skilful, and those who are unskilful in the word of righteousness; for those who have just tasted the heavenly gift, and 'those who, by reason of use, have their senses ex