home to him without resenting it. It is more than likely that very few
were in the secret. Crafty Joab was not the man to let that story get
out. It gave him power over the king all the time it was his secret, so
that he could put pressure on David whenever he liked. We read, "The
Lord sent Nathan unto David." If we would know how to deal with our
congregations, we must have the Lord's commission.

MEN MAY BE ON THE CIRCUIT PLAN, AND GOD LEAVE THEM WITHOUT APPOINTMENTS!

Let us never set off to preach without a message from God to the people,
then we shall make folks say, what a plain Yorkshire Methodist said of
Stoner, "Yon David's varry thick with the Almighty."

If the Lord send us, He will teach us how to talk, and most likely He
will take us off the pulpit track. Some of us have given up the old
"three-decker" style of preaching, feeling that it is as useless as last
year's almanack. Our hearers often knew what was coming, they heard the
heads of the discourse, and began to see the end before we got there,
wrapping themselves in a habit of indifference which shielded them from
the convictions we had hoped to produce. What "CALIFORNIAN TAYLOR" calls
"Surprise Power," ought to be in every discourse. David had no idea what
the prophet meant to do before he had ended his story, and we should wait
upon God until He has given us, not only the subject of our sermons, but
the skill we need to TAKE THE SINNER EITHER BY STORM OR HOLY SUBTILTY.

The charming story with which Nathan began his address is instructive to
those who wish to succeed as preachers. How interested the King became
as he heard of the rich man's greed and the poor man's loss, until he was
so stirred that he threatened the death of the tyrant! May not we
preachers learn something here, that is, to interest our hearers, in
order that we may profit them? Do we sufficiently care for this matter?
Would it not be well, in the preparation of our addresses and sermons, to
make sure that we are so interesting that our hearers cannot fail but
listen? We should not be content with soundness of faith, or
truthfulness of doctrine, but be so interesting as to command the
attention of our audience. It is a question whether any man, who cannot
make the people listen, should not be content to take his place in a pew.
It is better to be able to heat or light the chapel well, than to wear
out the patience of a congregation by prosy preaching, and it will be