modesty. He kneels reverently, and prays devoutly; rises up, and then looks round upon his audience with a kindly expression; announces his text distinctly, and then begins his sermon, thinking only how to arrest the attention of his hearers, and win their souls to Christ.-Dr. Davies.

PULPIT.-The Fall from the

It is shocking to fall into hell from under the pulpit; how much more so from out of the pulpit !—Gurnall.

PULPIT.-Genius in the

Genius of the highest order, fresh, untrammelled, and free, seldom finds its way into the pulpit, and not unfrequently looks out of place when it gets there; it is always out of place when it gets there when the place is only a subservient one. We have several illustrations of genius which has obtained a foothold in the pulpit, but it has not carried into the pulpit the highest exercises of its powers; these it has given to the novel, to the poem, to the literary adventure of some kind or other. And there is another order of genius which perhaps as seldom finds itself in the pulpit as that of the merely natural order—the genius of holiness, that pure abandonment to the introvisions of the spiritual life, and the realizing them in corresponding volitions and exercises-absolute consecration of faculty and life; it does not fit easily into the grooves of things; it has usually suffered in the indignity, and cruelty, and neglect of men; it is not clever, cannot condescend to the low-to mean artifices, cannot be a politician, often finds itself thoroughly worsted, cannot make itself understood.-E. P. Hood. PULPIT.-The Importance of the

The pulpit-in the sober use

Of its legitimate peculiar powers—

Must stand acknowledged while the world shall stand,
The most important and effectual guard,

Support and ornament of virtue's cause:

There stands the messenger of truth; there stands

The legate of the skies; his theme divine,

His office sacred, his credentials clear:

By him the violated Law speaks out

Its thunders, and by him, in strains as sweet

As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace:
He stablishes the strong, restores the weak,
Reclaims the wand'rer, binds the broken heart,
And, armed himself in panoply complete
Of heav'nly temper, furnishes with arms
Bright as his own, and trains, by ev'ry rule
Of holy discipline, to glorious war,

The sacramental host of God's elect.-Cowper.

PULPIT.-Impressions from the

The state of the pulpit among any people is, generally, no bad criterion of the state of religion itself. It does not indeed indicate, as infallibly as the thermometer, or the water-mark, the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere, or the height to which the river of the water of life has risen. In some places there may be much light and heat in the pulpit, while the people, to a con

siderable extent, may be frigid and sitting in darkness: in other places, on the contrary, there may be much more vital godliness among the people than among their teachers; just as the lowlands may be bathed in sunlight while the uplands are shrouded in mists. But these cases are like exceptions to a general rule. The continual droppings from the pulpit make an impression, for good or evil, in the hearts of the millions that come under them.-T. Pearson.

PULPIT.-The Influence of the Press on the

The pulpit, indeed, has lost somewhat of its supremacy since the printingpress has become so active. The printing-press addresses far greater congregations than the preacher; and if the latter, like Saul, has slain its thousands, the former, like David, may be said to have slain its tens of thousands.—J. A. James. PULPIT. Interest Felt in the

Nothing brings out more strongly the difference in the tastes and likings of different men than their feeling as to the pulpit. As for the great majority of educated men, the pulpit is the very last place of which they ever think in relation to themselves; but the man who has in him the spirit and making of the preacher, could not be kept out of the pulpit. Not the railway and the locomotive have greater affinity one to the other than that singular elevation and he. Indeed, men have renounced fame and fortune, heartily and cheerfully, that they might devote strength and life to the sacred office; who made their choice with the enthusiasm of early youth, but never lived to regret it though they lived to fourscore.-Dr. Boyd.

PULPIT.-Knowledge Conveyed from the

The pulpit, as it has come down to us, has had an extraordinary history. For one reason and another it has, in many periods of time, been almost the exclusive source of knowledge among the common people. Before books were either plenty or cheap; before the era of the newspaper, the magazine, or the tract; before knowledge was poured in, as now, from a hundred quarters,—an era almost flooded with it, the people imbibing it, so to speak, through the very pores of their skin,-the pulpit was the school, the legislative hall, the court of law; in short, the university of the common people.-H. W. Beecher.

PULPIT.-Ornaments of the

Whatever ornaments we admit ought clearly to be of a chaste, grave, and noble kind; and what furniture we employ, evidently more for the honouring of God's Word than for the ease of the preacher.-Ruskin.

PULPIT.-The Position of the

As to the pulpit, but one thing is usually considered necessary, and that is— that it should be put as far as possible from all sympathetic contact with the people to be influenced by it; that it should be so constructed as to take away from the speaker, as far as it can be done, every chance of exerting any influence upon those whom he addresses; therefore the pulpit is ribbed up on the sides, set back against the wall, where it looks like a barn-swallow's nest plastered on some beam. Thus posture, free gesture, motion, advance or retreat, and the most effective of all gestures-the full form of an earnest man, from head to foot, right before the people, in short, the whole advantage which the body gives when thrown into argument or persuasion, are lost without any equivalent gain.H. W. Beecher.

LL

PULPIT. The Power of the

The pulpit, although abused and vilified, possesses immense power, because it is honoured, and influenced, and swayed by the Almighty. The sword has had great power it has influenced many; it has banished kings from their thrones, and raised, in their stead, beggars from the dunghill; and it has also spread woe, and terror, and desolation through a land. Tyranny has had a mighty sway over the destinies of men. Superstition has chilled with fear thousands of the human race; she has frozen the genial current of the soul. But the pulpit is possessed of a far more gigantic influence, when it is influenced by the love of Christ.-Douglas.

PULPIT.-The Pre-Eminence of the

The pulpit is a place worthy of the highest talent and the holiest piety—it is a place fit even for an angel's intellect and a seraph's fire.-Dr. Guthrie.

The pulpit can never be superseded. It is pre-eminently Heaven's instrumentality in operating on men's minds and hearts; and so it will continue to be. By this the battles of the Lord must be fought, darkness and error driven back, and the "kingdom not of this world" extended.-T. Pearson.

PULPIT.-Preparation for the

I study and prepare for the pulpit as if there were no Holy Ghost to help me there, and when I enter upon my public work, I cast my preparation at the feet of Jesus Christ, depending upon divine influence as much as if I had not premeditated.-Longden.

PULPIT.-The Purpose of the

Essentially it is, and ever has been, a popular, not a scientific instrument. It belongs to the "congregation" rather than to the "schools," addresses itself to the indiscriminate many rather than to the select few. Its sphere is life, not speculation; religion, not theology. Its business is not to solve problems, but to stir and quicken souls; and it does so not by the development of a philosophy, but by the delivery of a message. What it was in the days of Paul, such is it essentially still-the proclaiming of certain great facts concerning human sin and the divine remedy, which require not so much to be proved as to be manifested, and which, when so manifested, are themselves their own witness: and so its speech and its preaching are not with excellency of speech or man's wisdom, but by manifestation of the truth commending itself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. In one way, indeed, it deals, and often effectually deals, with speculative problems too; but it deals with them not speculatively, but practically. It relieves the pressure of intellectual difficulties not so much by solving them, as by superseding them; by placing the soul on such a sure vantage-ground of tried and experienced truth, that it can quietly and patiently await the solution of still outstanding questions, imparting to it such an assured sense of the reality of the divine, as that it may well meanwhile meekly endure its mystery.Dr. Burns.

PULPIT.-Religion's Influence on the

Wherever religion is a matter of course, the pulpit must be conventional and formal. It lacks the high powers of rebuke and persuasion, the main elements

of the noblest and most effective pulpit oratory. When practical religious life is reduced to a system and becomes a routine, according to a natural law, the pulpit is shorn of its reasons for animated appeals and deep spiritual convictions. Its voice then becomes a measured song, and its power is simply intellectual and aesthetic.-Dr. Lord.

PULPIT.-Spiritual Force in the

We want a spiritual force exercised in the pulpit which shall be correspondent to bodily force in its efficient energy, its promptness, power, and variety. But look yonder! See that fragment of broken glass! It throws up in our faces a solar glory. Now, shall that fragment have a glory for the beholder,-shall it witness of the sun and make his power known, and shall you and I, poor fragments of humanity though we be, never have a light in our speech and upon our faces that witnesses of God that He is great and good? If a man have a soul that never brightens in heavenly light, let him not be a preacher; and if preach he will, let all men bid him come down. He is a mere pinnacle of darkness, and the chill shadow of death lies around him.-Lynch.

PULPIT.-Themes for the

From the pulpit there should now and ever flow a pure river of water of life clear as crystal. The grand doctrine of justification by faith only should be uplifted as a beacon on a thousand hills. Hearers should be distinctly taught our grand verities:-the Father's eternal love-the terms of the unfailing Covenant-the Son's perfect and finished work-the Spirit's indwelling-the beauty and simplicity and purport of our Sacraments-the evidence of faith-the might of prayer-the delight of praise-the labour of love-the patience of hope-the loveliness of purity-the high walk of uprightness-the solemnity of worshipthe happiness of godly life. Where such faithful teaching abounds there is no room for fear. Them that honour God, God will honour. Holy lips may shout in the courts of our Church-"God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early.”—Dean Law.

What varieties there are! You have possibly seen pulpits of all degrees, from the huge erection piled up against a pillar in the nave of a great foreign Cathedral, down to the rickety box of deal stuck against the wall of a little country Church, unpainted, undraped, and worm-eaten. Then there are pulpits of wood and of stone, the latter sometimes of one block of freestone, gracefully carved over its surface; sometimes of marble, a costly piece of inlaid work,-sometimes resting on a clustered shaft of porphyry or granite, and displaying panels enriched with figures in high relief. Sometimes those stone pulpits are warmly padded inside with crimson cloth; sometimes they are cold white marble within, unrelieved by a vestige of drapery, very chilling to look at, and to preach from.-Dr. Boyd.

PUNCTUAL.-Not Easy to be

It may seem an easy thing to be punctual, but it is not so. It does not come to us naturally. No habits of order do. Hence, punctuality is something we have all to learn; and of every profession-of all work,-it is one of the first lessons.-Professor Tullock.

utterance of praise. "Is any joyful?”—joyful on the highest of all grounds,— "let him sing psalms." The psalmody of the Church is her purest oblation of gratitude to her God and King,—an oblation that was presented under the ancient dispensation, and that has survived all its other sacrifices," the fruit of the lips, by which we give thanks to His name." It has not only its aspect toward God, but toward the world. It is the sole part of divine service in which Christians give bold and open testimony that they are not ashamed of Christ or of His Gospel. They stir up one another to make confession of Him:-" Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation!" and in doing this, they invite the world to approach and share in their joy. It is a fine incident which is recorded in the Book of Acts, that Paul and Silas sang praises at midnight in the dungeon, and the prisoners heard them. God their Maker gave them "songs in the night;" and the listeners must have felt awe and wonder at melody in circumstances so strange. It might lead them, through God's grace, to inquire, and in due time to believe. The psalmody of the Christian Church still fulfils this end; "the voice of rejoicing and salvation is heard in the tabernacles of the righteous;" and men cannot but mark it, and ask the meaning. It is a proclamation to them that we have in the midst of us a great heart-gladdening truth, of which they too may partake. Our tongue is filled with singing, that they may be led to say-" The Lord hath done great things for them." When we praise God aloud, we preach His Gospel. We go to the world, as did the angels who were its first heralds, and address it—" Behold! we bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." The march of the pilgrims of Zion to the heavenly city must not be a silent one: "They return and come to Zion with songs;" and for this reason among others that their ranks may swell as they move upward,-that they may gather fresh adherents by their joyful praises of their King and country. "Come with us, and we will do you good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.”—Ker. PSALMODY.-The Perversion of

When the psalmody, which is recommended to us by the practice of Christ and His Apostles, does sensibly pass further into art than into religion, and serves pleasure more than devotion; when it recedes from that native simplicity and gravity which served the affections and holy aspirations of so many ages of the Church; when it is so conducted that it shall not be for edification, that is, when it is so made accurate and curious that none can join in it but musicians, and they also are not so recitative, they do not sing and express the words so plainly that they which hear do understand, then the greatest benefit and use of edification is lost, and psalmody becomes an evil instead of a positive good.— Bishop Taylor.

PSALMODY.-The Reason of

The reason for psalmody is found in the human constitution, and in the nature of that revelation which God has brought to bear upon it. The great Being who made man has given to him an ear that perceives and appreciates modulated sounds, and a voice that is curiously and wonderfully constructed to express them. We can conceive that man might have been endowed with the power of speech without that of song. There could have been language without melody, as there could have been forms without colour, or flowers without perfume. But God has been pleased that on every side the useful should blossom out into the beautiful; and so speech has music wedded to it like an ethereal