henceforth beleaguered. The enemy is everywhere, in open field and secret recess. Insidious are the snares, and in all pathways. Old-Ironsides-like, there is no other way but to "Trust Providence, and keep your powder dry." "Pray, indeed," said Eteocles, "but look well to the fortifications.” * Sell thy garment, if need be, but at all events be qualified. The crisis of crises approaches. It is not God, but the devil, who tries to persuade that we have nothing to do. "The devil is not dead," though sentenced. The nature of things, and eternal necessity, demand that we be armed for the fray! Things that were are no more. forces, and new arenas are sword, and its heroic use. istry to enter the arena, and spring for the spot where the conflict is fiercest. These new methods, new shouting for a gleaming They plead with the min Such, if we mistake not, is the first thought of the parable, and the voice of divine Providence. * Eteocles to the Chorus, as they prayed for the safety of beleaguered Thebes. SWORD. 1. BIBLE KNOWLEDGE AND INTERPRETATION. 2. REVEALED THEOLOGY AND ITS BEARINGS. 3. HISTORY AND THE HISTORIC SPIRIT. 4. PRACTICAL THEOLOGY IN THE PARISH AND THE PULPIT. "One finished man is worth a thousand ill-disciplined and grovelling ones." From the Greek. "We want not green ministers. Give us mature and strong ones, or give us none." PROFESSOR SHEPHERD. "Give us abler, better, and more spiritual preachers, even if they must be fewer." DR. SPRING. "What the church wants is not more men, but better trained men." BISHOP SIMPSON. "We do not want any more undecided ministers; but we want men of courage, who hold clear opinions, who have a strong sense of duty, and who will not shrink from doing or saying what they think to be right both in doctrine and life." HOPPIN. "The church wants no more 'new divinity' nor new measures, but she does need, and urgently demands, a set of ministers greatly exceeding, in spirituality and in profound knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, those who have preceded them." DR. Alexander. 34 III. SWORD. UNDERI tutional endowments. NDERLYING the theory of professional and acquired qualifications is the thought of constiThe sword in the sheath is powerless. The sword must be drawn, then held in a strong and valiant hand. It would be unpardonable, therefore, even in a brief treatise, not to allude to this fundamental idea of natural endowments. Take, first, a general view. Successful business men, of trustworthy and extensive observation, tell us that success in commercial life depends upon certain essential qualifications; a character, for instance, in which are found indomitable resolution and power of rigid application. These are looked upon by the experienced as good as capital; sometimes better. Without them the merchant will be beaten, as the mercantile contest thickens and the heat of business day advances. The young merchant can afford to be without coat and shoes (as many have been), but not without these grand and substantial elements of a business char acter. The same thing is also true in other relations. Every kind of business, every occupation and profession, and, indeed, every situation in life, demand special, if we may so call them, original qualifications. Never has this thought impressed itself upon the popular mind with such force and clearness as within the past half score years. The laws of adaptation and application are now studied as never before. Here are found the elements of social harmony and success. Division of labor and of interest in society, together with unity of character and purpose in the individual, constitute the basis of modern political economy. It is reduced to this, that it is "easy enough for sugar to be sweet, and for nitre to be salt," and that one must not dabble with solder even, unless he be a born tinker. We presume that no intelligent man will entertain, for a moment, the thought that the modern Christian ministry is an exception to a law so general. All must feel that independent of supernatural helps and considerations, the ministry of to-day, to be successful, must stand, in a measure, upon its own feet, and employ and rely upon ordinary resources, and have mind. and heart fitted both by nature and culture for ministerial work. In this age of universal requirements and conditions, it is not to be expected that God will work unnecessary miracles upon unsuitable materials, or place premiums upon ignorance and indolence. His atonement was wrought in a spotless and faultless victim. He always works best through best agencies. His |