bald statements of well-known truths; but by committing them to paper the young preacher will have secured the advantage of placing before himself the main points upon which he is to speak to the people. He is to assert, on the authority of the Word of God, three important truths—(1) That every man is, by reason of his sin, at enmity with his Maker; (2), that God, the offended party, has taken the initiative towards healing the breach; (3), that complete reconciliation between God and man is made possible by Christ Jesus.

The first part of the sheet being devoted to these notes, let the second be devoted to Inferences. For example, "If the above assertions are true, then it follows-1, that I (the preacher) and you (the hearer) are at enmity with God; 2, that without the intervention of the Saviour we, and all even, must be lost; 3, that Christ's mission was divine-[do not attempt to extract a proof of Christ's divinity from the phrase 'God was in Christ;' such proof must be sought elsewhere]; 4, that the benefits of Christ's mission are offered unreservedly to every man-'the world;' 5, that if salvation is not obtained thus, there is no other way possible."

Now, devote the third part of the paper to a more systematic arrangement of these leading ideas, or, in other words, to the construction of your outline. This you may write out as fully or as concisely as you please. Your "skeleton" may contain few "bones" or many; but it will at best be a "skeleton" still, and the "flesh" with which it has to be clothed will have to be added afterwards, either as you write your discourse (if you accustom yourself to written sermons) or as you deliver it from the pulpit. The great thing to be considered in the preparation of an outline is to include all the leading points on which you resolve to speak, and to arrange those points in the best order. Some professors of homiletics construct very beautiful outlines; but they are usually very much alike in pattern, and terribly artificial. It is impossible to lay down any rigid rules for making "skeletons," and some outlines that are expressed in a few lines are often the more rich in suggestiveness than others that occupy a couple of pages.

The following is not offered in any sense as a model outline, but is merely given as an example of the way in which a young preacher, with the materials already supplied before him, might naturally set down his first draft, to be improved upon and expanded afterwards: I. THE ENMITY BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.

1. Caused by man's sin.

2. Therefore universal; "for all have sinned."

II. THE RECONCILIATION BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.

1. Originated by Divine love and mercy.

Our next article will deal with the subject of ILLUSTRATIONS.

MR. SPURGEON ON OPEN-AIR PREACHING.

I AM persuaded that the more of open-air preaching there is in London, the better. If it should become a nuisance to some, it will be a blessing to others, if properly conducted. If it be the Gospel which is spoken, and if the spirit of the preacher be one of love and truth, the results cannot be doubted: the bread cast upon the waters must be found again after many days. The Gospel must, however, be preached in a manner worth the hearing, for mere noise-making is an evil rather than a benefit.

As to style in preaching out of doors, it should certainly be different from much of that which prevails within; and perhaps if a speaker were to acquire a style fully adapted to a street audience, he would be wise to bring it indoors with him. A great deal of sermonizing may be defined as saying nothing at extreme length; but out of doors verbosity is not admired. You must say something and have done with it, and go on to say something more, or your hearers will let you know.. When these outspoken criticisms are not employed, the hearers rebuke prosiness by quietly walking away. Very unpleasant this, to find your congregation dispersing, but a very plain intimation that your ideas are also much dispersed.

In the street a man must keep himself alive, and use many illustrations and anecdotes, and sprinkle a quaint remark here and there. To dwell long on a point will never do. Reasoning must be brief, clear, and soon done with. The discourse must not be laboured or involved, neither must the second head depend upon the first; for the audience is a changing one, and each point must be complete in itself. The chain of thought must be taken to pieces, and each link melted down and turned into bullets. Come to the point at once, and

come there with all your might.

In the street a man must from beginning to end be intense, and for that very reason he must be condensed and concentrated in his thought and utterance. .. Shams and shows will have no mercy

from a street gathering. But have something to say, look the people in the face, say what you mean, put it plainly, boldly, earnestly, courteously, and they will hear you. . . .

It will be very desirable to speak so as to be heard, but there is no use in incessant bawling. The best street preaching is not that which is done at the top of your voice, for it must be impossible to lay the proper emphasis upon telling passages when all along you are shouting with all your might. . . . . A quiet, penetrating, conversational style would appear to be the most telling.-Lectures to my Students.

....

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

FAITH. In the LAY PREACHER for August is an article on "Faith," in which the writer says some excellent things, while some others seem confused and misleading. I know your magazine is intended to be didactic rather than polemical; but if it is in accordance with your rules I should like to submit the following:-1st, The writer says, “I believe it is possible to have a hope without faith." But what kind of hope would it be? "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." It must be the dead hope of the formalist, or the delusive hope of the hypocrite. Hope, in the proper sense of the word, is, "An expectation of future good and a desire for it;" but such a hope must spring from, and be preceded by, saving faith. The blessing must necessarily be apprehended by faith before it can be anticipated (see 1 Pet. i, 3-5). Faith sees the blessing-Hope makes it ours; it borrows from future happiness without diminishing it, and produces within us those qualifications which are necessary for its attainment (see 1 John iii, 3), for attainment ends hope (Rom. viii, 24). It is not an antecedent, nor yet a concomitant of faith, but an effect-(Rom. v, 1-4, and Heb. iii, 6)— as stated by the writer afterwards (p. 173). 2nd-The leper mentioned (p. 172) is doubtless an oversight; the meaning seems to refer to the man with the withered hand, mentioned Mark iii, 5. 3rd-The writer is right when he says: "I believe it (faith) is both an act of the mind and a gift from God;" but afterwards, speaking of the men who brought the "man sick of the palsy," he says, "To my mind it appears that these men produced their own faith," which I think erroTheir faith was excited by the miracles He wrought, and the fame of Him that was spread on every hand (Matt. iv, 23-25; and

neous.

viii, 16-18). They would have been culpable had they resisted such evidence; they believed He was as willing as able, and He honoured their faith. Man cannot "produce his own faith;" it is the work of Divine grace. God produces it-man exercises it. Naturally man is dark, and dead to all spiritual good, "without God and without hope," consequently without faith. Repentance, faith, and hope are all Divine gifts, and given in the order above (Acts ii, 18). "We are to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith " (Rom. xii, 3); "To another faith by the same spirit" (1 Cor. xii, 9); "God fills His people with all joy and peace in believing, that they may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost" (Rom. xv, 13); "For we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith" (Gal. v, 5), and is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. v, 22); "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but to suffer also for His sake" (Phil. i, 29); "His power is exceeding great to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power" (Eph. i, 19); "through the faith of the operation of God" (Col. ii, 12); and "being the author of faith" (Heb. xii, 2)," He fulfils in His people all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power" (2 Thess. i, 11), so that they may know "they have obtained like precious faith" with His apostles through the righteousness of God our Saviour (2 Pet. ii, 1; see 2 Thess. ii, 16).—W. H. H.

NOTES ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.

XII. CHRISTIAN LIBERTY.-(vi, 12-20.)

SOME of the members of the Corinthian Church thought that, because they bore the name of Christ, therefore they could set all law at defiance, whether moral or spiritual; that they could live as they listed, do what they pleased; hence they had used this motto, "All things are lawful for us." This the apostle takes up, and says, "Well granted, for the sake of the argument, that your motto is true, yet there are certain limitations to it. I could, were I so minded, say, 'All things are lawful for me;' but then I can't help seeing that there is something beyond that, and I express it in this sentence, All things are not expedient;' and whatever is not expedient had better be left undone, whether it be lawful or not." Understand that I use this word expediency" in its highest sense. I have no sympathy, and I am

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sure Paul had not, with that so-called expediency which will always

hold its tongue lest there should be a battle. In my estimation, the proper name for such conduct would be cowardice, although it is often called by a milder phrase. By expediency Paul here means profitableness; all things are not profitable, either for myself or anyone else; all things are not good. But here is another answer to your motto"I will not be brought under the power of any," because the moment that took place I should be in captivity. In the exercise of my liberty I may delight to cry upon the house-top, "All things are lawful for me;" but the moment any one of these things becomes my master I am a slave. To be forced to do a thing to show my freedom is a badge of servitude; or, as Robertson beautifully puts it, "To be forced to use liberty is actually a surrender of liberty; if I turn I may into I must, I am in bondage again. All things are lawful for me; but if I say that I must use them to show that I may, I am brought under their power." And thus the apostle shows the Corinthians the fallacy of their much vaunted proposition; it is not true liberty, however much it may appear so, which expresses itself in the formula, “All things are lawful for me." The Corinthians had applied this false principle in a twofold way. They had said, "This being so, we can eat and drink what we like, and as much as we like, and we can live in unrestrained license;" and thus they made their so-called Christian liberty a cloak for their sin; the religion of Jesus became a mantle to cover over hideous deformity. "All things are lawful for us," they said; therefore we can eat and drink what we like, when we like, and as much as we like, and here is a motto that will justify our conduct— "Meats for the belly and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them;" "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." This was their argument: God has given us natural appetites, therefore we may gratify them even to satiety, and we are to do this the more because the appetites will soon be destroyed. Reasoning thus, they were led into awful sin. Even the celebration of the Lord's Supper was to these people an occasion for drunkenness and gluttony. The second application the Corinthians made of the principle was with respect to fornication. They said, "All things are lawful for us" —we may then even commit fornication. This Paul meets

1. By a flat denial. "Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." You say the highest end in life, so far as the body is concerned, is to live in such a way that the physical appetites may be gratified. I say no. The highest end in life is to use the body in such a way that the Lord may be honoured.

2. By showing the close relationship which exists between the believer and the Lord (ver. 15-17).