nd Sacraments, do not forget the Word. A Christian
Church where preaching sinks to a low ebb, where the labour of public
teaching and exhortation is neglected, in favour either of machinery or
ritual, cannot possibly--I dare to say it deliberately--be in a truly
healthy state now, and most assuredly is not laying up health and
strength for years to come. For the very life of our flocks, and of our
Church, and for the dear glory of our Master, let us "labour in the Word
and teaching." [1 Tim. v. 17.]

"LITHO SERMONS."

Is it necessary, in the case of any reader of these pages, that I should
not only appeal thus in general, but add one special entreaty--always to
preach _your own_ sermons? Probably it is not necessary; but it may be
"safe" [Phil. iii. 2.] nevertheless. Not long ago I was distressed to
read, in the advertisement columns of an excellent Church newspaper, a
conspicuous announcement of a series of "_litho sermons_," that is, I
suppose, sermons so printed as to look like manuscript. If such
literature has a sale, it is a miserable fact. Can these discourses
possibly be either written by a "man of the Spirit," or used by such a
man? I say, No. The production of them (in order to be lithographed),
and the use of them in their "litho" state, are untruthful acts,
untruthful in the very sanctuary of truth. The Lord pardon--and the Lord
forbid!

Better the most stammering and incoherent utterances of a man who loves
the Lord, and the Word, and the flock, and who in Christ's Name does his
best, than the unhallowed, and usually, I think, vapid glibness of such
acted as well as spoken falsehoods.[27] And surely, the more the
Clergyman keeps his pulpit and his parish in living relation, the less
will he be tempted, be it ever so remotely, by any exigencies, to dream
of expedients such as these.

[27] I am far from saying that the preacher should never get help from
other men's sermons. This may be done honestly and usefully, in many
ways. But to let another man's sermon pass as one's own is a sin.

"DR SOUTH IN THE AFTERNOON."

Quite conceivably, there may be rare occasions when another man's sermon
may be rightly used by you. But then, of course, you will do it
honestly and above-board, telling your people whose it is. In Addison's
_Sir Roger de Coverley_ there is a pleasant scene, where the venerable
Knight asks the Parson who the preacher for next Sunday is to be. "The
Bishop of St Asaph in the morning," repli