ence; that fish, reptile, mammiferous quadrupeds have reigned in turn; that responsible man, made in the image of God, and with dominion over all creatures, ultimately entered into a world ripened for his reception; but, farther, that this passing scene, in which he is the prominent figure, is not the final one in the long series, but merely last of the preliminary scenes; and that that period to which the byegone ages incalculable in amount, with all their well-proportioned gradations of being, form the imposing vestibule, shall have perfection for its occupant and eternity for its duration.” 10

Bating a few words of detail, we joyfully set our seal also to these high and solemn thoughts, and feel that views such as these, speaking from the geologic earth, are a worthy response to those visions from the astronomic skies which do forever proclaim the goodness and wisdom, the power and glory of Him, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things.

E. F.

ART. XXIX.

Preaching and Hearing.

INSTRUCTION of whatever kind, always implies two parties the teacher and the pupil. For its success it demands certain conditions and qualifications on the part of each; and the results at which it aims may be defeated by the incompetency of the teacher to impart the necessary instruction, or by the incapacity, whether moral or mental, of the pupil to receive the instruction. So far as the consequences are concerned, it is immaterial whether the fault be on the part of the teacher or pupil, whether it originate in mental imbecility on the one part that cannot teach, or on the other part that cannot understand; or whether it arise from moral imbecility on the part of the 10 Religion of Geology, p. 324.

teacher which prompts him to avoid the care, labor, or consequences of his teaching, or on the part of the pupil who desires to shun the labor or duty which the teaching would impose upon him. Either of these causes, according to the extent of its influence, must defeat the object at which all instruction aims. A teacher, if mentally incompetent, cannot teach; if morally incompetent, he will not teach. So the pupil, mentally imbecile, cannot receive instruction; morally imbecile, he will not receive it. It is only when the necessary qualifications are combined in both teacher and pupil-only when both come to their labor mentally and morally prepared-that the true results can be expected.

These remarks hold good, not alone in literary and scientific teaching; they apply especially and emphatically to moral and religious teaching. In order that such teaching should be attended by its proper results, it demands on the part of the teacher a mental ability to teach; a spiritual insight to seize, analyze and appreciate the great moral principles and spiritual elements of Christianity, and a moral integrity which will not shrink under any circumstances from applying those principles to the religious faith and practical life of men. And on the part of those who seek to profit by such instruction, it requires no less imperatively that they come with hearts open to the reception of such principles; that they come with no household gods of their own to set up for worship in the sanctuary of the Most High; that they bring no idols of selfishness, prejudice, pleasure, fashion, individual or party interest, to usurp the authority or silence the voice of God; that they come with ears to hear and hearts to understand the gospel of Christ.

We are thus brought to the subject of Preaching and Hearing a subject which seems to be strangely misunderstood in the present age and community, and which, therefore, is worthy of whatever explanation and illustration we may be able to bestow upon it. The matter of preaching involves two particulars, each requiring a somewhat distinct treatment-first, the subject-matter of preaching, and second, its application.

First we are to ask, what is the Christian minister to preach? This question was answered at the time Christ

empowered his disciples to promulgate his doctrines to the world. His command was brief but exhaustive: "Preach the Gospel." (Mark xvi. 15.)

It will be admitted that the first disciples had received peculiar qualifications, enabling them rightly to apprehend this command. They had been with him through all his public ministry; they had received the divine truths which he came to reveal directly from his own lips; and in his life, in the sanctity of his daily demeanor, in the gentleness of his daily intercourse with the suffering and oppressed, in the purity of all the relations he sustained to man, and in the earnest prayerfulness of his constant communion with God, they possessed a commentary upon his doctrines such as no theologian or scribe of the present day can equal. They had not only listened to his instructions under the quiet shadows of the mount of Olives, on the shore of the sea of Galilee, by the well of Sychar, on the banks of the Jordan, by the way-side, in the streets of the busy city and in the temple of God; but they had also seen his theory of life developed into the fact of life, and the faith, trust and love which he required of others all harmonized in himself. Thus both by precept and example, they had been brought to comprehend in some measure the great doctrines and principles which God had given for the redemption of the world, which had already been brought in contact with human life and no less certainly in conflict with the prevalent systems of morals and religion; as yet accepted by but few, and those among the most humble and despised.

It was no narrow dogma which Jesus committed to his followers, and through which the world is yet to be redeemed from ignorance and sin. It was no quack nostrum to act locally and partially upon some special organ or tissue of the great body of humanity, leaving all the rest not only diseased but to die without hope of remedy. It was rather the "Water of Life" given from the wellspring of a Father's infinite and unchangeable love, to purify the heart of humanity, and send through all the veins and arteries the restoring tide of moral and spiritual health. It was no impotent principle of a new ethical philosophy, able to redeem only a small corner of human life, leaving the broad fields of human action a desolate

and barren waste, to be sown by the enemy with the tares of iniquity, falsehood and oppression. It was rather the doctrine of our whole life. Its authority extends from the cradle to the grave; there is no nook or corner of practical life that may be concealed from its inspection; there is no duty, however humble, which man owes to his brother, his country, or his God, which can escape the judgment of this divine law. It is the doctrine of life and death; of this world and the world to come; of God and his relations to humanity; of man and his relations to the race, to God, to time, and eternity, to sin and holiness, to mortality and immortality. There is no sphere—there can be none-where man ceases to be responsible to those immutable laws of justice, truth and righteousness, which God has given in the gospel for the government and guid-ance of human life. Such was the gospel which those disciples had received from the lips of their divine Master-which they had seen embodied in his life, exemplified in his death, and demonstrated in his resurrection. And it was the gospel in this broad, comprehensive sense― in this divine, all-pervading authority, which they were commanded to preach.

Whence, then, comes the idea (so prevalent at the present day, as false in theory as it is pernicious in practice,) that the gospel consists only of some abstract theological dogmas, some fine-spun metaphysical notions about the existence, nature and attributes of God; some abstruse doctrines about the introduction, office and duration of evil in the universe; and some tenets concerning the final result of the divine economy,-involving, of course, the questions whether sin shall cease, or be perpetuated forever, and whether man shall be forever the victim of evil, or be redeemed from that base bondage and restored to the glorious liberty of the children of God? No one will question the importance of these great doctrines; they are indeed the foundation upon which the whole superstructure of Christianity must rest; they are the seed-germs from which the whole harvest of a purer civilization for nations, a more righteous legislation for governments, a better social state for communities, and a more divine life for the individual must all grow. But if we deem that the gospel consists only of these primary elements, how

ever great their importance, we fall into an error as preposterous as the architect who forgets the very purpose for which his foundation is laid; forgets that, however essential and important, its value consists only in the permanence and stability which it gives to the superstructure; or as the husbandman, who, at great expense, procures the most excellent seed-grain and stores it away in his garner, while his fields lie uncultivated and overgrown with thorns and brambles. If we only accept theoretically the great fundamental doctrines of the gospel; if we give only an intellectual assent to the truth of the fatherhood of God, or the brotherhood of man, without attempting to mould our lives by the practical spirit growing out of these principles, we are like the mariner who carefully selects his compass, quadrant, charts, and chronometer, stores them safely on board his vessel, but refuses to avail himself of their assistance during the voyage.

Yet, into just such errors, equally preposterous and subversive of the great practical results, do those fall who would limit the gospel to mere theological teaching, or attempt to divorce its precepts from any sphere of human life, or exclude its authority from any duty that man is ever called to perform. If we admit that there is a field where man ceases to be responsible to the great principles of righteousness and truth contained in the gospel; where sin ceases to be sin; where men may serve the devil, without let or hindrance, rebuke or penalty; where falsehood, fraud, knavery, perjury, slander, drunkenness, gambling and licentiousness, are transmuted from vices to virtues; then, for the guidance of human life, we must have a new revelation; but if such is to be its character, it must come from hell, and not from heaven. And if ever the time shall come, when, from whatever cause or under whatever circumstances, the gospel shall be decided to contain no condemnation of such iniquities, or the teachers of religion be silenced upon them, that time may well be regarded as the reign, not of light and truth, but of darkness and falsehood.

If, now, we have obtained some definite idea of what the gospel is, the extent of its jurisdiction, and the authority of its commandments, we are prepared to inquire how it should be preached-what is its proper application.