let them wonder. The time may come, when they would be very glad to have access to your shelf of hard earned manuscripts.

But aside from the greater difficulty of doing justice to some topics than others, it is not necessary that all your discourses should be equally labored and finished. Some of the plainest, provided they are well timed, warm and practical, will do as much good as any others. But in a congregation like yours, where there are many educated, shrewd and intelligent hearers, it is necessary, now and then, to come out with a performance, which shall not only increase the esteem and confidence of your pious friends, but secure the respect of those, who make no pretensions to piety. In this way you will gain an influence over them, which you could scarcely hope to acquire in any other.

In giving shape and body to your preaching, you may make it either topical, textual, or expository; or you may, for the sake of variety, and to secure the peculiar advantages of each, sometimes construct your discourses upon one of these plans and sometimes upon another.

A topical preacher chooses his text with reference to some one point, which he wishes to prove, and having derived his doctrine from it, proceeds to establish it by such arguments and illustrations, as seem to him most pertinent and conclusive. Edwards, Bellamy, Dwight, Smalley, Strong and Emmons, were distinguished and powerful topical preachers. I do not mean, that all their discourses were constructed upon this plan, but that many of them were.

His

We have an example of this in Dr. Smalley's sermon, from Eph. 2: 10. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." doctrine is, that fallen men must be new created, before they can do any works truly good. The plan of this discourse is exceedingly simple. I. To explain the doctrine. II. To prove it; and III. To answer objections. Another example we find in the first volume of Dr. Emmons's sermons. Gen. 32: 28. "For as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."

Doctrine.

It is the design of prayer to move God to bestow mercy.

In the same volume he has a sermon from Rom. 8: 7, 8. "For the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be; so then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

Doctrine.

The total depravity of sinners renders all their actions totally depraved.

This way of making sermons is recommended by some striking advantages. It better secures than any other the unity of a discourse, a capital excellence at which every preacher should aim. Every sermon ought to contain some one leading truth, to be proved, illustrated and applied, so as to leave the most distinct and powerful impression upon the audience. And it is much easier for any man to keep to the point, after he has laid down his proposition and bound himself to sustain it, than it is under any

more general statement. You will usually find, that topical sermons are clearer, more logical, better studied and more easily remembered, than almost any that you hear. As a class, those ministers who adopt this method of sermonizing are the ablest reasoners, if they are not the most eloquent and popular preachers. Some of your most elaborate discourses, I will not undertake to decide how large a proportion, but some of them ought to be constructed upon the topical plan. It will augment your strength and increase your usefulness.

But I must hasten to offer a few thoughts upon textual preaching. When a preacher selects a passage of scripture, and instead of making it the theme of some doctrinal or topical discussion, lays out his strength in explaining, opening and applying it, his sermon is textual. The verse which he chooses is not the foundation merely, it is also the frame work, it is the whole superstructure, from the foundation to the top stone. A good textual discourse brings out the full meaning of the passage, and shows us how much richer it is, how much more of divine truth is wrapped up in it, than we had been wont to suppose. One of the most charming textual preachers that I ever heard, is the Rev. William Jay of Bath, England. A volume of his sermons is now before me, and I cannot deny myself the pleasure of transcribing two or three of his plans, as among the finest specimens of textual developement, as well as the most concise, comprehensive and perfect skeletons, I have ever met with.

The first is from Ezek. 11: 19, 20. "And I will

give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." Genuine religion, says Mr. Jay, is here developed in four essential articles. I. Its Author. II. The disposition it produces. III. The obedience it demands. IV. The blessedness it ensures. Another of his admirable plans is from Mark 4: 23. "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." We shall view these words, I. As implying the authority of the speaker. II. As suggesting the importance of the subject. III. As appealing to impartial considerations. IV. As demanding practical improvement. Another of Mr. Jay's discourses in this volume, is from Psalm 84: 11. "For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Let us consider what he is-A sun and shield. What he givesGrace and glory. What he withholds—No good thing.

Another eminent textual preacher is the Rev. Henry Melville, minister of Camden Chapel, London. His plans are not so neat and perspicuous as Mr. Jay's; but in bringing out the sense and marrow of scripture he is exceedingly happy. Upon plain common texts, I do not know where I can point you to his equal. He presents almost every passage he touches, in a light so original and striking, that it seems almost like a new text, and at the same time, his thoughts and illustrations grow so naturally out of

the text, that you wonder they had never occurred to you before. The style of these volumes is not exactly what I should recommend, though they contain some beautiful and a great deal of powerful writing; but they are rich, they are sweet, they are full of the ripe clusters of Eshcol. I have said already, my dear E., that I do not wish you to confine yourself exclusively to the textual method of sermonizing, but if you generally adopt it, I am persuaded you will read and study the Bible with more interest and profit to yourself, and make your discourses more strictly scriptural, as well as more instructive to your people.

It only remains, that I offer a few remarks upon expository preaching. This is recommended to us by the example of Christ and his Apostles, as well as by that of most of the christian fathers in the first three centuries. In looking back upon my own ministry of five and thirty years, I exceedingly regret, that I did not adopt this method early, and pursue it as one of the regular exercises of the sabbath; and I think the laying aside of this kind of public instruction is one of the great defects of modern preaching. I believe but few ministers now take up any of the books, either of the Old Testament or the New, systematically in the pulpit, on the Lord's day, and before the whole congregation. There is certainly a great deal of Biblical instruction in our Sabbath Schools and Bible Classes; and it is not uncommon, I suppose, for pastors in every part of the land, to have weekly expository exercises, in their vestries and lecture-rooms. But this I conceive is not enough.