in all Christendom. much exaggerated, as antithetical proverbs usually are; yet it is very certain that our country is not remarkable for general eloquence, and that in the church it is less visible than either in the senate or at the bar. Much of the disesteem in which the cultivation of this useful talent is held, arises from a false supposition that by eloquence is meant an affected and artificial manner of speaking; or, what is worse, the mere trick of "making the worse appear the better reason" by the blandishments of a meretricious oratory. From such eloquence may we ever be preserved! But the eloquence which arises from an appropriate unsophisticated mode of speaking-and which not merely tunes the organs of speech to an agreeable modulation, but allows the speaker to follow the dictates of nature in reciting energetically what he feels strongly-deserves to be assiduously cultivated.

This censure is doubtless

But another current and far more weighty objection to the cultivation of just elocution by young men intended for the sacred profession, is, that it is inconsistent with the simplicity and sincerity of their vocation as ministers of Christ. St. Paul is often quoted as an authority to decide this question; and because he abjured

"the enticing words of man's wisdom," and "determined to know nothing among men but Jesus Christ, and him crucified," it is argued that the rules of forcible composition and just enunciation are unbecoming the study of a Christian teacher. But it is very clear, that the reprobation expressed by the Apostle was levelled at that spurious oratory which prevailed both among the Greeks and the Romans at the time when he wrote, and has nothing to do with a sober view of the present question. Many of the classic rhetoricians, it is well known, taught little else than dialectic subtlety and sophistry: too often they instructed their pupils how to speak either for or against a question, without any reference to truth or moral feeling; and were content with the triumph of their art, independently of any valuable end to be obtained by its exertion. It was against such practices that the great Apostle of the Gentiles so zealously remonstrated. Very different was his own style of eloquence," not with wisdom of words," but "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Yet who was a greater master of true eloquence? Who knew better how to "convince and persuade ?" Who felt his subject more deeply, or knew how to convey his conceptions more

forcibly to others? To be truly in earnest, as was St. Paul, is the best source of genuine eloquence.

We find this well illustrated in the following remarks of the pious Isaac Walton in speaking of Dr. Donne: "He preached so as shewed his own heart was possessed with those very thoughts and joys that he laboured to distil into others: a preacher in earnest; weeping sometimes for his auditory, sometimes with them: always preaching to himself like an angel from a cloud (but in none), carrying some, as St. Paul was carried to heaven, in holy raptures, and enticing others by a sacred art and courtship to amend their lives: here picturing a vice so as to make it ugly to those that practised it; and a virtue, so as to make it be beloved even by those that loved it not; and all this with a most particular grace, and an inexpressible addition of comeliness."

The Christian pulpit owes its most persuasive eloquence to the peculiar character of the dispensation which it unfolds. "The cross of Christ" is a theme capable of melting the most obdurate heart. It was doubtless intended to be so; for the God who made man, knew not only what would best suit his wants, but what would most powerfully affect his feelings and

influence his conduct. In reference to the blessed results which should follow from the all-sufficient atonement offered upon Calvary, and the promulgation of the Gospel in the world, our Saviour himself prophesied: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die." "The very circumstance which might have been supposed to tend most forcibly to render our Lord's doctrine displeasing to mankind—namely, his crucifixion—is here expressly adduced as the very means of drawing men to him. How inexplicable was the conduct of the Almighty in this plan of reducing the world to the obedience of Jesus Christ! How utterly opposed to all the natural suggestions of the human heart! Let us suppose the problem had been given to find a method of bringing men to embrace a new religion. How different would have been the projects of the wise and learned from that simple result which is here announced by our blessed Saviour! I hear the votary of natural reason, the adorer of. human learning and intellect, exclaim, Let your new religion be invested with the characters of deep philosophy; let it appeal to the dialectics of the logician and the subtleties

* The following remarks on this passage are transcribed from the author's "Christian Missions."

of human science.

Thus will it make its

way in the world.' Ah, no-' And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.'-I hear another exclaim, Adorn it with the splendid diction of Greece and Rome; introduce it to the notice of mankind in the trappings of an overpowering eloquence; clothe it with the thunders of a Demosthenes, or the golden periods of a Tully; so will you attract converts and invite disciples." Ah, no-' And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.'-I hear still another, the admirer of earthly grandeur, exclaim, 'Decorate your new religion with the splendour of rank, the refinements of eloquence, the magnificence of royalty; let it charm the eye, and captivate the heart by its external pomp; so shall it become popular, so shall it win universal suffrage and approbation.' Still wrong: the ways of God are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts: he needed nothing splendid, or eloquent, or philosophical: the cross of Christ (including, of course, all that is intended in that comprehensive expression) was enough; and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me."

vii. By the due administration of the sacraments, and attention to the rites, services, and discipline of the Church.

The remarks which have been made on ac