ou have a Dr. Parker. He has come to London--a difficult thing for
any man to do, but in this case the step has been undertaken under
peculiarly difficult circumstances. Time was when the City was the home
of citizens, and many of the wealthiest and most influential of them went
to the Poultry. That time has long gone by. It was when deacons shook
their heads at Mr. Binney as not quite sound. Of all places on the earth
the most deadly on a Sunday is the City of London, and especially that
part of it in which the Poultry stands. At St. Mildred's, close by, it
is impossible, or seems to be so, to collect a decent congregation. Will
Dr. Parker succeed better? Some sort of answer was given to the
question, when to a crowded and attentive congregation he preached what I
may term his inaugural discourse. If I say it was an eloquent display I
shall excite the Doctor's indignation, as he contemned the use of such
phraseology in his sternest and most indignant manner. Nor indeed with
regard to the discourse in question would the phrase be literally
correct. No one can doubt the Doctor's eloquence, but in speaking of
himself and his hopes and purposes in connexion with the Poultry--in
showing the grand principles upon which he took his stand, and by means
of which he was placed beyond the fear of failure, he aimed at something
more than eloquent display. "I am preaching to myself as well as to
you," said the Doctor in the course of his sermon; and such was in
reality the case. For the work which he has to do, for the programme
which he trusts to work out, truly indeed does the Doctor need the
guidance of that Providence which shall go before, and which shall make
the crooked places straight. This, indeed, was the Doctor's text. You
will find it in Isaiah xlv. 2. From the beginning to the end of the
service this was the leading and appropriate idea. He commenced with
Cowper's magnificent hymn, "God moves in a mysterious way." The portion
of Scripture read was Christ's commission to the seventy to go and preach
the Gospel all over the world; the prayer was an acknowledgment that the
human will should be subordinated to the Divine; and it was "Guide me, O
Thou great Jehovah," which formed the closing song.

As Dr. Parker told us he was going to publish his sermon (his sermons now
appear weekly, under the title of "The City Temple"), I need say little
of the discourse, of which I have already given the text. It began