to write any part of a sermon that I propose to deliver extemporaneously, because I find that the two processes interfere with each other; endeavoring to recollect what is written is one mental operation; to present thought previously thought out or prepared is a different thing. I confine myself altogether to the latter. I take it for granted, if I thoroughly understand a subject, that the best words to present it will come at the moment of delivery. In the beginning of my ministry I wrote every word of a sermon and committed it to memory. After awhile I wrote and did not commit to memorysimply impressed the heads and subdivisions, memorized something, but left the rest for extemporaneous consideration. And so I gradually passed over into the other method. I was brought up in a part of the Church in which it was altogether out of the question for a minister to appear in the pulpit with a manuscript; I was brought up in the German Church. In Germany it is the rarest thing in the world for any one to preach from manuscript. Some of the ablest and most eloquent ministers in Germany have written and committed their sermons verbatim for years, but never appear with a manuscript in the pulpit. So that, in the very beginning of my ministry, it was, to me, almost a sine qua on to prepare myself to preach without a manuscript before me. I am strongly in favor of extemporaneous preaching. Different persons must try different methods, but the object should be to arrive at the extemporaneous method. Of course the written method has its advantages. A man can prepare his language: more carefully; he can be more he has prepared is of service afterward; heis always ready, and he is not subject to those various disturbing circumstances and influences that very often precise; the manuscript that affect the extemporaneous preacher. I have never been absolutely wedded to either written sermons or extem REV. DR. WEDEKIND. poraneous preaching. My practice has generally been the use of a manuscript in the morning, and of a tolerably full skeleton in the evening. Of late years I rarely take a manuscript into the pulpit. My conviction is decidedly in favor of thorough preparation, and then of free, or, as it is commonly called, extemporaneous delivery. Nine-tenths of the laity, I am pretty sure, are generally in favor of this method. The practice of writing a sermon and then committing it to memory is simply monstrous. SHUNNING EVIL MEN. Then said Saul * ** I will no more do thee harm.-1 Sam. xxvi: 21. And David said * I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.-1 Sam. xxvii: 1. The two passages show us Saul profuse in professions of penitence, and David more than ever afraid of this royal penitent. David had several times spared Saul's life, when he had the power to slay him. After each act of mercy Saul repents, and David takes new precautions. Saul never sincerely repented. After the disobedience at Shur (see chap. xv.) Saul repented in fear of a penalty. After each escape, by David's forbearance, he repented that he had been in great peril. But his wicked will remained unchanged. He was deliberately and persistently wicked. There are other such evil men in the world. We are apt to forget it; we want to believe that all men are as good, or as bad, as ourselves; and so good people are always surprised at a deceit or a crime. David's lesson-that he had to do with a man who could not be trusted-we also may have to learn. There is no value in a sentimental good opinion of all men: it is as unwise to deny that the bad man exists, as to doubt that there are good men. A wise caution in shunning the bad man is a duty. Perhaps, like David, we may have our chances of personal victory over him: but David could not touch the Lord's anointed: we cannot do evil to evil men, but we can avoid them. THE MISSIONARY SERVICE. "The Gospel in the regions beyond.”—2 Cor. x: 16. The First Band of Christian Missionaries. They therefore that were scattered abroad went about preaching the Word.-Acts viii: 4. THE late Dr. Wayland said that "this little band did more for the conversion of the world than all the Christians of the present day united have done." This was so 1. Because every individual felt that the conversion of the world was a work for which he himself, and not an ab straction called the Church, was responsible. 2. Instead of relying on man for aid, every one looked directly up to God to forward the work. 3. God was exalted. His power was confessed, and very soon, in a few years, the standard of the Cross was carried to every part of the then known world. Texts and Themes of two Prominent Missionary Sermons of the Past. I. William Staughton, D.D. (Philadelphia, 1798): "Ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."—Isa. lv: 12. Theme: A review of the old dispensation leads one to justify the application of this text to the Gospel times, and to explain it as illustrative of the influence of Christianity— 1. On the missionaries themselves. 2. On the people to whom their mission is directed. II. Horace Bushnell (New York, 1847): "Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest."-Judges xvii: 13. Theme: Barbarism the First Danger. After many illustrations of tendencies to barbarism to the emigrant from life in the woods, etc., he asks: "What, then, shall we do?" In answer to which, he says: "We must throw ourselves out, therefore, upon Home Missions as the first and sublimest Christian duty that the age lays upon us." Ho! for Alaska! "If a bishop and four clergymen, with at least $12,000 per annum, could be secured for Alaska, and these men could get into the field and take possession before whiskey settles there and the people are demoralized by it, there might be a work done among these Indians equal to that in the Fiji Islands, and in as short a time." "There will be no trouble about the men or the money; and, even though the new bishop should have no cathedral, no staff of clergy, and no endowment,' he could have a good support, a steam yacht, and a dozen dog teams, and with these, if he were the right man in body as well as in spirit, he could convert that world." This is the way the Episcopalians talk about Alaska. Such a spirit will insure success. THE BARBARISM OF CHRISTIAN NATIONS. -This work in Alaska should be undertaken at once, before our mariners, explorers and traders lodge and deeproot in the minds of the natives prejudices against the whites. Even now it will take many a good word and many a good deed to overcome the educational effect of the unnecessary destruction of a village on the Alaskan coast, a year or so ago, by one of our government vessels. Familiar Anglo-Saxon cruelties begin to crowd each other. Lieutenant Schwatka, of fair Arctic fame, telegraphs across the continent that he found it necessary to shoot three out of six of his native guides, because they would not pilot him through the rapids on the Yukon River! After half their number were shot the "others submitted," we are naively told, "and the rapids were run." No doubt! To these surviving simple natives the rapids did not seem so cruel as the guns of the Christian whites. These are the kind of John the Baptists we are sending into heathen lands, to prepare the way for our missionaries. Is it a wonder that our Christian teachers make so poor headway? The barbarism of the whites, more than anything else, stands in the way of the conversion of our American Indians, of the success of the Gospel in Africa, in India, in China. LIVING ISSUES FOR PULPIT TREATMENT. The world will not let die a religion which helps it to solve its vital problems. Divorce An Alarming Evil. Every one that putteth away his wife and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth one that is put away from a husband, committeth adul tery-Luke xvi: 18. AMONG the social problems which are forced upon us for solution, none are more radical in their relation to society at large than the matter of divorce; none are charged with greater danger for the future of the United States. 'If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Ps. xi: 3.) I. THE LAW OF CHRIST IN RELATION TO THE SUBJECT. This is found in the passage given from Luke; also in Matthew v: 31, 32; rix: 3-9, and Mark x: 2-12. Observe how Christ increased the scope and strictness of the Jewish law (Deut. xxiv: 1) and put the woman on a footing of equality with the man. According to Christ's precepts marriage is dissolved by adultery, so that the innocent party may marry again, but for no other offence. And yet divorces have come to be granted for other causes; causes often of the most trivial character. Human law is thus brought into direct antagonism with the divine law. II. THIS SIN AND SOCIAL EVIL IS SPREADING LIKE A CONTAGION AMONG US. Recent statistics are appalling. Where we should least expect it, as in New England, the land of the Puritans, the evil is assuming large proportions. The ratio of divorce to marriage in several States is now as one to ten, or even greater in some States, and in one State the ratio has within twenty years increased from one to fifty-one, to one, to twenty-one! In this city, in only three of our courts, nearly 3,000 divorces have been decreed since 1870, and the numler in 1882 was almost double that in 1872. Whereunto will this grow? Is it not time to sound the alarm? Is not the marriage bond fast becoming a mere rope of sand? III. THE CAUSES OF THIS TERRIBLE LAXITY. They are manifold. Among them may be specified 1. The tendencies of modern social life. Extravagance in living. The attractions away from home life. The general loosening of moral restraints. 2. Secrecy in obtaining divorce. Instead of the publicity of an open court, cases are now generally sent to a ref"DetecThis favors collusion. tives," too, are employed to collect or manufacture testimony. eree. 3. The rapacity of a class of lawyers, who agree to obtain a divorce without publicity, for a consideration. 4. The extreme laxity of divorce laws in several States, by which every facility is afforded for annulling the marriage contract. 5. The recent decision of the Court of Appeals of this State, which practically removes all restraint upon the subsequent marriage of persons, even where they were divorced for acts of marital infidelity. IV. THE REMEDY. 1. The Church has a duty to perform. (1) To vindicate the law of Christ in relation to divorce. (2) To maintain discipline and duly punish offend ers. (3) Her ministry must refuse to marry divorced persons, unless they have a clear right to remarry, according to Christ's precepts. 2. Our courts have a duty in the case. In the interest of morality and public virtue, they are bound to frown upon this growing laxity, and lay a strong hand upon the evil to the full extent of their power. Also to take the lead in a movement for a reform of State divorce laws, and to secure a national law that shall be uniform and wholesome in its operations. "No more important question can come before Congress than that of preparing for a national divorce law by a constitutional amendment. Eminent judges and lawyers favor that mode of relief from our present embarrassments." 3. The community at large are profoundly interested in this matter. They should agitate it; rouse public sentiment; form leagues everywhere, as they have in New England, in which all denominations are heartily united petition Congress; offer special prayer. No time is to be lost. The peril is imminent. In striking down the family, you destroy the "foundations ;" and the State and the Church must fall with it. HINTS AT THE MEANING OF TEXTS. "It is not always best, I think, to have the frame of a sermon like the frame of a Swiss cottage-all shown on the outside."-R. S. STORRS, D.D. Funeral Service. PRAYER IN DEATH. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.—Acts vii: 59. A CHRISTIAN should die praying. Other men die in a way fitting their lives. The ruling passion of life is strong in death. Julius Cæsar died adjusting his robes, that he might fall gracefully; Augustus died in a compliment to Livia, his wife; Tiberius in dissimulations; Vespasian in jest. The infidel, Hume, died with pitiful jokes about Charon and his boat; Rosseau with boasting; Voltaire with mingled imprecations and supplications; Paine with shrieks of agonizing remorse; multitudes die with sullenness, others with blasphemies faltering on their tongues. But the Christian should die praying. For "Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, The Christian's native air; His watch-word at the gate of death, He enters heaven with prayer." "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" This is the prayer of faith, commending the immortal spirit to the covenant care of Jesus. THE CERTAINTY AND PROXIMITY OF THE LIFE BEYOND? To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise. Luke xxiii: 43. 1. To-day. No long period of sleep in the grave. No intermediate state. The transition direct and immediate. 2. Heaven a place, as well as a blissful state. "To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." "With Me"-not in the grave, not in the spirit world simply, or in a sinless state, but with Me in the world of glory. A place so near that it could be entered that day. "I go to prepare a place for you," said Christ to His sorrowing disciples, "that where I am there ye may be also." "In my Father's house are many mansions." It is a precious thought that we can locate our friends, who have died in the Lord; think of them as actually in heaven, before the throne, and in fellowship with angels and the spirits of the just made perfect. 3. The ground of this faith. (1.) We have Christ's own words, "To-day," etc (2.) Christ knew whereof He affirmed. He came down from heaven and knew all about the spirit world. He knew also His power over death and the grave. At His word Lazarus came forth from the grave, and the widow's son of Nain, while on the way to burial, was restored to his mother. "I am the resurrection and the life!" He proclaimed as a cardinal doctrine of His teaching. We can implicitly trust His teachings, and they illumine the Christian's death chamber and the grave with celestial radiance. Revival Service. REVIVALS AND SINGING. I will praise Thee with my whole heart. Ps. cxxxviii: 1. COTTON MATHER says: "It is remarkable that when the kingdom of God has been making any new appearance, a mighty zeal for the singing of psalms has attended it and assisted it." During the great awakening in this country in the last century, the people so abounded in the singing of praises to God that President Edwards felt there was need of guarding and restraining influences. Hence he wrote some cautions concerning this subject, and discussed the pro priety of companies singing in the streets going to or coming from the place of public worship." But if there be joy and shouts of praise among the angels over repenting sinners, why should there not be in the Church below? Singing is the fitting expression of a joyful heart. There is never so much singing as in a revival. There is power in sacred song not yet fully developed. The devil understands this and reaps a great harvest from song. The "service of song" ought to be made a permanent feature in our public worship. The burden of the Psalms is praise and song. We have quite too many doleful Christians, and not enough singing Christians. "Why should the children of a king THE SILENCE OF SIN. And no man after that durst ask Him any question.—Mark xii: 34. I. HOW CHRIST SILENCED SIN. 1. He was conclusive in His reply. He did not endeavor to evade the questions put to him. He resorted to no subterfuge, no tricks of logic, no beclouding with technical terms. He spoke right to the point, simply, directly, clearly, and stopped when His answer was complete. 2. He was consistent in His life. It is comparatively easy to silence a man as far as your reasoning is concerned, but your practice must correspond to your theory before you can be invulnerable. Jesus had just expressed the highest truth of the Gospel, the one most difficult of attainment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself,” and yet by the side of such a standard His life afforded no ground for criticism. II. WHAT THIS SILENCE INDICATED. 1. That they were dumbfounded. They had been trained all their lifetime in the discussion of these matters, but Christ spoke to them from a higher plane, where they could not hope to meet Him with success. They were wranglers; He was a lover of truth, and He refused to descend to their level. Let Christians imitate Him. 2. That they were insincere. Here was one who spoke words of wisdom, such as they had never heard, yet they had nothing to ask Him. They cared nothing for the truth, everything for an argumentative triumph. Now all their doubts might be set at rest, but they hug them to their hearts, and are silent. III. A PRACTICAL APPLICATION. There are many who refuse to come to Christ because they have doubts and perplexities which they cannot set at rest. But He can set them all at rest if they will bring them to Him. He is the fountain of truth, and if they will not resort to Him their insincerity is confessed. They do not wish the light because of the darkness of their hearts. DUTY PERSONAL AND IMPERATIVE. What is that to thee? Follow thou Me. PETER was more concerned about the duty of another than about his own, and hence our Lord's rebuke. Peter has a multitude of imitators in this thing. One of the strongest tendencies of human nature is to shuffle off individual obligation; to note and blame faults of character and omissions of duty on the part of our neighbors, while unconscious of our own sins, and neglecting the plainest personal duties. What John shall do or be has no connection with Peter's responsibility or welfare. I. VARIOUS CLASSES OF SINNERS ΤΟ WHOM THIS REBUKE APPLIES. 1. Those who refuse to follow Christ because there is so much that is difficult and hard to be understood in the Bible. 2. Those who are not willing to repent, and obey the Gospel, until they have settled all the great doctrinal questions involved in the plan of salvation. 3. Those who refuse to repent of their sins and believe in Christ because they cannot know just how they became sinners, or whether or not they are responsible for Adam's sin. 4. Those who refuse to take a bold, |