be carried; and nails were forbidden in shoes, because they were considered as a burden. A tailor must not have his needle in his pocket towards sunset on Friday, for fear the sun should set while he was not thinking about it, and he should find himself with the burden of his needle still on his person. Indeed, all persons carefully emptied their pockets, lest they might carry about with them some forbidden burden. The amount of weight that might be carried was specially ordered, and no one dared go beyond what was permitted. Thus, one man alone might not carry a loaf, but two men together might, as they divided the weight. Only particular knots might be tied on the Sabbath. The sailor's knot and the camel-driver's were both forbidden; and no knot might be untied that required the use of both hands, but as it could be unfastened by one hand it might be done. No food might be cooked on the Sabbath, no vessels washed, and no fires lighted. All these things had to be done during the Friday night before the sun set, in preparation for the Sabbath.-From "The Child's Life of Christ."

As daylight can be seen through very small holes, so little things will illustrate a person's character.

BRIDGING THE STREAM.-When engineers would bridge a stream, they often carry over a single thread. With that they next stretch a wire across. Then strand is added to strand, until a foundation is laid for planks; and now the bold engineer finds safe footway, and walks from side to side. So God takes from us some golden-threaded pleasures, and stretches it hence into heaven; then He takes a child, and then a friend. Thus He bridges death, and teaches the thoughts: of the most timid to find their way hither and thither between the two spheres.-American National Preacher.

DUTY is the first step to greatness-the helm that steers man safely over the billows of life. If we fail in our duty we bid farewell to the land of promise, to the haven of hope; man's honourable occupation gone.

is

MEN of the noblest disposition think themselves happiest when others share their happiness with them.

Ir thou wouldst be informed what God hath written concerning thee in heaven, look into thine own bosom, and see what graces he hath there wrought in thee.—Fuller.

THE accumulation of wealth is followed by an increase of care, and by an appetite for more. He who seeks for much will ever be in want of much. It is best with him to whom God has given that which is sufficient, though every superfluity be withheld.-Horace.

To the brave man, good and evil fortune are as his right and left. hand; he makes use of both.

MAN is a creature designed for two different states of being, or rather for two different lives. His first life is short and transient; his second, permanent and lasting. The question we are all concerned in is this, in which of these two lives is our chief interest to make ourselves happy?-Spectator.

THE WISH OF THE HEART.-A deaf and dumb girl was once asked by a lady, who wrote the question on a slate, " What is prayer?" The little girl took the pencil and wrote the reply, " Prayer is the wish of the heart." So it is. Fine words and beautiful verses said to God do not make real prayer without the sincere wish of the heart.

JOHN WESLEY.-His views on temperance were whole-hearted and thorough. He writes in his journal :—“ I can hardly believe that I am this day entered into the sixty-eighth year of my age! How marvellous are the ways of God! How has He kept me even from a child! From ten to thirteen or fourteen, I had little but bread to eat, and not great plenty of that. I believe this was so far from hurting me that it laid the foundation of lasting health. When I grew up, in consequence of reading Dr. Cheyne, I chose to eat sparingly, and drink water. This was another means of continuing my health." In a letter to the Bishop of London in 1747, he says: "Since I have taken Dr. Cheyne's advice I have been free-blessed be God-from all bodily disorders.”— From "Heroes in the Strife."

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS AND OTHERS.

CORRESPONDENTS, in sending outlines, &c., are particularly requested NOT to underscore any part of the manuscript; to write on paper not larger than this printed page; to leave plenty of space at top and bottom for corrections; and to write plainly, and on one side of the paper only.

CONTRIBUTIONS in the shape of terse, suggestive outlines are solicited, but correspondents will please to study brevity.

All Literary Communications should be addressed to the EditorRev. F. WAGSTAFF, Church Hill, Wednesbury.

Books for Review may be sent to the Editor, or may be left at the Office of the Publisher, 39, Warwick Lane, London, E.C.

THE LAY PREACHER VOLUME for 1881, containing the numbers for 1880, printed on thicker paper, and handsomely bound, is now on sale, and may be had post free from the Publisher for 3s. 6d.

The MONTHLY NUMBERS will be sent post free for twelve months on receipt of P.O.O. for 2s. 6d., by the Publisher, F. E. LONGLEY, 39, Warwick Lane, London, F.C.

THE LAY PREACHER.

IT

THE ECUMENICAL COUNCIL ON LAY

PREACHING.

T was scarcely to be expected that the Methodist Ecumenical Council should overlook the subject of lay preaching. Accordingly part of one sitting was occupied by a discussion on this topic, in the course of which many excellent things were said, but we cannot help thinking that a grand opportunity for placing an important institution in a proper light before the world was lost. The paper read by Mr. WHITE, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while recognising the absolute necessity, for moral and spiritual purposes, of organised churches and ministers regularly set apart for the purpose of preaching and administering the sacraments and ordinances, insisted upon the importance and value of lay agency. The great mass of mankind, the writer contended, were and always would be plain, common people, who did not want or need learned or eloquent sermons. They wanted a Gospel with soul in it—with life and power-a preacher whose heart was in sympathy with theirs; one of their own class could reach their hearts most quickly, and was generally the most successful. It was by lay preachers that the glorious work of Methodism, that of preaching the Gospel to the poor, was chiefly sustained, and lay preachers were needed as much, or even more, in the cities and large towns as in the rural districts. The church was conforming too much to the world, and the claims of the poor were neglected. What was required was greater harmony between the regular ministry and the lay preachers, and they should mutually help each other; and instead of selecting the poorest for the work they should select the very best men they could from among their merchants, lawyers, bankers, and artisans-men with ability and with known piety, and who could adapt themselves to their work.

In all this it is, perhaps, easy to agree; but, then, almost all that was said by the gentleman who opened the discussion, and even by Mr. SHEPHERD ALLEN, who followed him, was, at best, a mere tissue of mild platitudes. Far more to the point were the remarks of Mr. WADDY, who so forcibly contended that there needed less and not more distinction between the two branches of the ministry. It had been said, he remarked, that they were "poor preachers." They did not enjoy a monopoly of that; he had met with a poor preacher elsewhere, as well as amongst local preachers. "Send local preachers to mission

halls, certainly; send travelling preachers too; send local preachers to commons by all means, but send also the travelling preachers; let there be fair play, equal work, equal rank, equal call in the sight of God Almighty."

Other speeches followed in the same strain; but nothing practical seems to have been suggested by any one of them. All admitted that more and better men were needed to do the work of preaching, but no one was at the trouble of offering any suggestions as to how the supply could be increased, or the quality improved; and the council passed to the consideration of other subjects in a way strongly suggestive of the idea that if anything is to be done to make lay preaching more efficient it will never be the outcome of conferences even so large, so representative, and so imposing as that which sat in London during the greater part of the month of September. In fact, humanly speaking, lay preachers must assert their own rights, claim their own position, and train themselves for the work to which they feel themselves called of God. Neither conference, synod, nor assembly, however much they may talk in vague generalities about the importance of the work and the desirability of securing for it the best and most qualified men, can do much to promote these ends. Lay preachers should work in thorough harmony with church organisations. The less we have of "unattached evangelists" the better. But it is not in the power of organisations to do the work of training and qualifying lay preachers. Every man who feels moved by the Spirit to undertake the task of preaching salvation through Christ, must, in simple dependence upon that Spirit, and by the use of every means in his power, seek to qualify himself by study and meditation, and a diligent cultivation of the talents with which he may have been endowed. It is a grievous mistake to supposed that goodness is sufficient endowment for a preacher. Mr. WHITE's remarks about the great mass of mankind always being plain, common people, are altogether wide of the question. Even if that be the case it does not follow that such people should not have the best, the most "learned,” and the most " elegant sermons-to use his own words-that we can give them. A "learned " sermon is not one in which Greek is quoted, nor is an elegant" sermon one in which words of five or six syllables threaten to choke the speaker and stun the hearer. But such sermons are discourses in which the preacher gives of his best to the noblest work in which a man can be engaged. They are the result of much prayer, of much thought, of as much careful study and reading as the preacher's opportunities will allow of, and they place before the hearer the highest truths, arranged in the best possible order, and expressed in the most impressible and convincing language.

We have already said in these pages that study and preparation are not, after all, so much matters of time as of earnest determination and careful thought. Some lay preachers who have little absolute leisure study a great deal more than others who have a great deal of time on their hands. With a due regard to the best use of spare moments, most men, whatever their occupation, may find opportunity for thinking over carefully and prayerfully the subjects on which they propose to discourse when next they occupy the pulpit, and by reading a little at a time, and reading it slowly, and pondering that little carefully while the hands are busily engaged in some manual labour, even the man who has to toil from morning till night, day after day, may, if he will, accomplish a great deal in the direction of making himself an able, efficient, and successful lay preacher.

BUTLER'S "ANALOGY OF RELIGION."

In the January number of the LAY PREACHER will be commenced a series of articles on Butler's "Analogy of Religion." From letters that have reached us from time to time we have reason to believe that many young preachers would be glad to avail themselves of some assistance in the study of this celebrated book, the value of which is no way diminished by the lapse of time. The controversies of the present day largely relate to points dealt with by the masterly hand that wrote the "Analogy," and the articles above referred to will be designed to aid our younger friends in their study of a most able but confessedly difficult book.

[It is scarcely necessary to state that the Editor does not hold himself responsible for any of the opinions expressed under this heading.]

THE FALLEN TREE.-The words, "In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be" (Eccles. xi, 3) are constantly quoted as equivalent to the assertion that the state of the soul remains fixed through eternity as it is at death. But is this the true application of the passage?-J. M.

CHRIST'S TEACHING.-I have an impression that somewhere I have met with a statement to the effect that Christ taught more by His life than by His words. Can any reader of the LAY PREACHER refer me to any book in which this idea is argued out ?-X. X.