arithmetic will startle him, and bear us out fully in the above position.

Of very little more weight is the plea, sometimes urged, of inability to obtain the necessary books. The amount of money actually received by Methodist preachers is, indeed, in many places, pitifully small; but, by the admirable economy of our church, just in proportion to his fidelity to the duty enjoined upon him of circulating the publications of our own press, will be, if he is so disposed, the enlargement of his own library. The possession, merely, of a great many books, is not an object of so much importance as is by some imagined. A man may own a great many volumes, while of the contents of a single one he is not thoroughly master.*

The selection of works suitable for the study of a young minister is a matter of great importance. It depends so much on his previous habits and attainments, that it is impossible to prepare a catalogue that would not, on the one hand, contain works beyond the present ability of some to read with profit; or, on the other, omit volumes that would be of essential service to those further advanced. The theological student must, in a great degree, be governed in this matter by his own good sense: aided, as he may generally be, by the advice of judicious friends.

A few remarks on this topic, such as will commend themselves to the reader's own judgment, are all that may be ventured in the present article.

And, first, it will be seen at once, that no man is worthy the name of a Methodist preacher who is not thoroughly versed, not only in the system of revealed truth as held by the generality of evangelical denominations, but especially with those peculiarities by which the church of his choice is distinguished. There is no scarcity of standard works, from elementary treatises up to logical and profound dissertations on these subjects. There is no good reason why any Methodist preacher should be without them; and

Observing a handsome copy of Watson's Institutes in possession of a young minister who was lamenting his want of a suitable library, we ventured to ask him if he had read that work? "Why," said he, "yes; I have looked it over." Think of a Methodist minister satisfied with having looked over such a work as Watson's Institutes! Of what use would a library be to him? An occasional lounging visit to a large book-store, where in a little while he might look over thousands of volumes, would be quite as beneficial, and much more economical.

absolutely no excuse for his being ignorant of their contents. There would be certainly a great advantage to the young minister, as well as a saving of time, if there were among us a school for the prophets, where he might hear these things from the lips of the living lecturer, and receive that direction and counsel relative to his theological and literary studies which his peculiar circumstances require. The church will see this, and act: our successors will reap the benefit; and, in the mean time, the ministry of the present age must aim, by their own efforts, to supply the deficiency, each for himself.

Another indispensable qualification is, a knowledge of the language in which he is to preach; a familiar acquaintance with the strength, beauty, and peculiar idioms of the English tongue. It is perfectly preposterous for any man to waste his money and his time in purchasing, and poring over grammars and lexicons of foreign languages, until he has acquired sufficient knowledge of his own to speak and write it with purity and precision. Then he may soar away into the classic regions of the ancients; then let him slake his thirst at the fountain head of the living oracles. But not till then. For while it is indisputable that his mind may be replenished and expanded by an acquaintance with the writings of the ancients, it is also equally clear, that his only medium of communicating the results of this study must be the common language of his hearers; and that in order to arrest their attention, he must be able to present his thoughts in language that will not only command the attention of the ignorant and uneducated; but in such as will not shock the intelligent and the well informed. There are more or less of such in almost every religious congregation of the present day.*

* "But it may be said, the greater part of congregations consist chiefly, and not a few wholly, of plain, illiterate people. Being no judges of language, all they require, or need, is the communication of interesting truths, without exact regard to words. What then? Because the choice of words claims not the preacher's first attention, does it follow that it is a matter of entire indifference? Or that the plain language, in which it is necessary to address plain hearers, may with propriety, or must, of course, be incorrect?" "In every congregation there are hearers of some taste, who will hardly excuse coarse and incorrect language in a preacher any more than they would excuse him for appearing on the sabbath in the apparel of a clown."-Porter's Lect. on Style.

"Vulgarity of language does inexpressible injury to the thought conveyed

We were present once, at a meeting, where every feeling of solemnity was absolutely overpowered by the ludicrous blunder of one who was called on to lead the devotions. He told us, designing, doubtless, to improve on that passage in the Acts of the Apostles where it is said that prayer was wont to be made by the side of a certain river, that the place where we then were was a place where prayer was much wanted to be made. But this was not so bad as an example quoted from the Christian Observet by Dr. Porter in one of his lectures on style :-" A preacher in discoursing on that text, WRITE, blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, made this observation, 'There is a RIGHT blessedness, and a WRONG blessedness, and departed saints are RIGHT blessed, that is, truly blessed.' A striking proof," subjoins the Christian Observer, "how desirable it is that public teachers should be able not only to read and write, but also to SPELL."

The choice of suitable subjects for pulpit discussion, the best method of arrangement, and the manner most likely to produce the designed effect, are topics to which the attention of him whose whole business it is to instruct cannot be too forcibly directed. The age in which we live abounds in models for the instruction of the young preacher, and the press is constantly teeming with the productions of profound research and impassioned eloquence. The difficulty is not, as we have intimated above, that there is any scarcity of suitable works of this kind, but in directing the attention of those, who are not cursed with a superabundance of this world's wealth, to such as will be most beneficial in their peculiar cir

cumstances.

From the volumes named at the head of this article, much

under it, how just and important soever it may be. You will say that this is the effect of mere prejudice in the hearers, consequently unreasonable, and not to be regarded. Be it that this is prejudice in the hearers, and, therefore, unreasonable. It is the business of the orator to accommodate himself to men, such as he sees they are, not such as he imagines they should be. But, upon impartial examination, the thing perhaps will not be found so unreasonable as at first sight it may appear. That the thought may enter deeply into the mind of the reader, or hearer, there is need of all the assistance possible from the expression. Little progress can it be expected, then, that the former shall make, if there be any thing in the latter which serves to divert the attention from it. And this effect, at least, of diverting the attention, even mere grammatical blunders are but too apt to produce."-Campbell's Phil. Rhet.

valuable instruction may be derived. They are written in a clear and pleasing style; and embody the results of much study and practical experience. Bating an unnecessary fling, here and there, at Arminianism, but with which we are not disposed to cavil, coming, as it does, from a Calvinistic instructor, they may be confidently recommended to the study of young ministers of every sect.

Two thoughts suggested by a review of our preceding remarks may be here added on the subject of the selection of suitable books. The one is, that with the exception of mere works of reference, such as Concordances, for instance, it is unwise for a minister to lumber the shelves of his library with books that he does not intend to study. His time may be better employed, and his money laid out to better advantage, than in the purchase and perusal of works designed merely for recreation or literary amusement. His leisure would be more profitably spent in composing an essay, or writing out a sermon at full length.*

The other thought to which we advert is, a caution against rejecting valuable treatises, merely because they emanate from those who differ from us on doctrinal points. The bee gathers honey from the poisonous flower; and it is an old adage, fas est ab hoste doceri. Several of the Calvinistic divines of the present day, who have been recently endeavoring to throw light on the doctrine of Christian perfection, would have escaped the ridiculous position they occupy, had their attention been directed to, and had they condescended to study the works of Wesley and Fletcher on that subject.

We take great pleasure in transcribing the following note from Dr. Porter's lecture on the style of the pulpit. It has ten-fold force, now that the green grass waves above his silent pillow. "The question has often been put to me, 'To what extent ought a theological student to read the modern works of fiction with a view to improve his own style?' The inquiry has commonly had a primary regard to the writings of Walter Scott. To the magic of his genius, my own sensibilities have responded, whenever I have opened his pages; but the very enchantment which he throws around his subject has warned me to beware of putting myself in his power. This is one reason why I have read but two or three of all the volumes of fiction from his prolific pen. Another reason is, that as an instructor of young ministers I could not, with a good conscience, devote the time requisite for all this reading of romance; nor am I willing that my example should be made an occasion for others to do so when I am in my grave."

The frequent changes, consequent upon our system of itinerancy, are, not necessarily indeed, but, nevertheless, really one reason why study is neglected, and so many of our teachers are themselves untaught. The mind is naturally predisposed to sluggishness and inactivity. It requires resolute determination to curb its waywardness and to bring it down to patient study. Whatever may be the opinion of the thoughtless, it is hard work to think, and mental labor is even more fatiguing than bodily toil. Hence it follows that many who have been called to the ministry, after the first year or two, seem disposed to study as little as possible; to get along as easily as they can. Instead, therefore, of pursuing a systematic course of mental culture and improvement, they sink into a state of torpid apathy; reading, if they do read, without order, without method, without design. They pass their year, or two years, if there is not a remonstrance against their being sent back, in preaching over and over again the same course of sermons which fear of being rejected on their examination induced them to prepare during the first two years of their ministry. The pulpit efforts of such men have been compared, with as much truth as quaintness, to the manna provided for the children of Israel in the wilderness, which although fresh and wholesome when gathered, yet, when kept over, notwithstanding all their care, bred worms and stank. There is an air of dishonesty about such conduct, that ought to make a Christian minister tremble; it is a species of imposition upon the people, who have a right to expect the best of his intellectual efforts, and that he, above all men, will not attempt to serve God with that, which having been memorized years ago, now costs him nothing. Let the young preacher beware of attempting to get along easy. He is sent into God's vineyard to labor; and the mere repetition of a stale sermon, though he may exert his lungs in its delivery, is not labor; it is mere "bodily exercise which profiteth little."

We would not be understood here, to imply that a text, because it has been made the subject of a sermon once, may not be again used by the preacher. On the contrary, we are not speaking about the text at all, but about the discourse founded thereon. More labor may be spent, and spent profitably, in altering, improving, and remodeling a sermon, than it cost in its original composition. We care nothing how often the young preacher discourses on the same