ment into action, and the others smile, and the work is done: garden, field and valley, hill and meadow, and mountain side are enamelled with the choicest work of God. Truth is the grand element that originates and sustains those flowers of inspiration which you admire; and who does not? They are beautiful too, because God smiles upon them, and angels. Truth, appropriate truth, must call forth such flowers into a sermon; otherwise they will but resemble a bouquet in the hand of a corpse or an idiot! As much out of place in the hand of error or vanity, as flowers would be in the hand of Satan, or Scripture upon his lips! 3. I agree with you, also, that such figures are "an antidote to dulness." A poet hints that one cannot be melancholy where Flora reigns. It is so with a sermon, other things being equal; the heart must be dull indeed that is not cheered by the sweet and lively flowers from the gardens of the Bible. But, as a guilty conscience will introduce melancholy even where Flora reigns, it will do the same within the fragrant dominions of these flowers of Paradise; it clothes the soul in sable, though all around be fragrance and sunshine, and redolent of heaven. A most convincing argument this for pardon and purity, in order to enjoy the holiness and bliss of the upper Paradise! 4. As I observed yesterday, those blossoms of inspiration have not been neglected by your friend. But everything is beautiful in its season. More upon this shortly. I can humbly say with Origen of old, "I have plucked but a few flowers from these vast fields; not as many as the exuberance of those fields afford; but only such as by their odor I was led to select from the rest." Such have not appeared in my ser mons yet, for, to use an idea of the spouse in Solomon's Song, "the time when the flowers appear on the earth" has not come; nor "the time for the singing of birds;" nor has "the voice of the turtle" been heard in the land! There is too much of the spiritual winter remaining; it should be spring, but "winter lingers in the lap of May!" But a change is near; a breathing from a rarer world will soon pass through the religious atmosphere; and, when "the Sun of Righteousness makes a nearer approach, and brings everything that loves the sun out of doors, as a poet somewhere hints, then flowers may appear upon my sermons, as flowers upon the earth in their season. The trees know when to trust their buds boldly in the open air, and so does the stranger! The truth is, he is something of an enthusiast among such flowers! With regard to the Bible, he has too much resembled the boy who turned away from the beautiful garden of his father, straying through the distant fields in search of wild flowers, herbs, and plants; but he has quieted his conscience with the idea that he was only selecting the graces of his oratory from the same fields of nature from which his Heavenly Father has selected those which do now grace the tranquil gardens of Revelation! and, as Jesus said on a certain occasion," And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring;" and he was vain enough, the other day, to apply the thought to his own selections from the fields of nature! Other flowers there are, which do not grow in the pleasing gardens of inspiration; them also must I bring, saying of these, as of saints above and saints below, "For all the servants of our King, In earth and heaven, are one!" Nature in her sweetest harmonies often seems as if whispering the same. When a simple flower has been transplanted beside some great Gospel truth, and sheds around it a sweet perfume, this glad heart repeats the same. The flower beautifies the truth, and truth dignifies it. It is thus your friend gathers his illustrations over hill and dale. The smiling cheek of benevolent nature, and the sweeter smiles of nature's God, often cheer him, and a shout of "Glory!" not unfrequently, from regaled and happy saints! These have been his rewards. elsewhere-maybe here also in due season; and, to all this, the blissful hope of immortality! And can I be sad even in this season of dearth? Hallelujah! These remarks, simple as they are, while they seem to ventilate my heart, and somehow give it a sense of larger room, may, perhaps, convince you that "nature" and your friend are on more intimate terms than this alarming style of preaching with which "the people have been greeted," would lead you to suppose; for, though acting from principle, I like to stand. well with my friends; although, feeling as I do, I would preach as I do, were I to lose them all! I know many are disappointed; and had I come here for any other purpose than to bring sinners to God, I could hardly justify myself to myself. But you know how small a thing it is to be judged of man's judgment, when one can say, "But he that judgeth is the Lord." (1 Cor. iv. 3-5.) Nature and revelation both offer materials to the Christian orator; if some of these are unfit for war, they are for peace, and do well to celebrate a peace or a victory. But some are designed for war, and for "pushing the battle to the gates," and illustrations of truth and righteousness, and coming judgment, vivid enough to make men's souls look out of them! ay! and around them, as if seeking which way to "flee from the wrath to come !" and other illustrations or weapons, call them what you will, that fire the preacher with some such battle-cry as that of the Swiss warrior, "Make way for victory;" as he rushed, sword in hand, upon the serried files of the invaders of his country! Let the friends of Jesus take heart! "The flowers of oratory" after which they inquire, may come sooner than they expect the flowers of spring, when once our God giveth us the victory; and what if it does not occur until the depth of winter? Yet, even then, "While earth wears a mantle of snow, These pinks are as fresh and as gay But, as before remarked, everything is beautiful in its scason. Flowers may strew the path of victory, or form a wreath for the brow that conquers; but weapons of war, courageously wielded, make way for victory. I like the observation of an old minister, that, though the preachers of the word must not be time-servers, yet they may be time-observers ! Amen! CHAPTER XXIII. FURTHER THOUGHTS ON PREACHING. OUR observations are judicious. Great care should be taken that such things in the pulpit are not allowed to degenerate into mere amusement. An old author, I remember, illustrates different views of preaching by a man and child going into a field of grain together. The child falls in love with the blue and red weeds, but the man is for the solid grain. And thus it is with hearers: some are fond of curious figures, fine speculations, and flowery descriptions; while others, of more solid judgment and enlightened understanding, look for the spiritual and practical truths in Scripture. This is the corn his soul must live upon, while the others are attracted by gayeties and show! Still, he would not altogether condemn a certain kind of variety in preaching, to suit different tastes and temperaments, mingling some awakening, until they are prepared to receive more substantial things. To your friend (who, by the way, is by no means your inferior in understanding, but who is partial to such methods of illustrating truth) I admitted my preferences, when the state of the work in the hearts of the people justified such a style. Once or twice a week, a lively and ornamental style in a ser |