which it possessed when published fifty years ago, and is superseded by Canon Benham's Epitome, which, though brief, is full of authentic information and affectionate respect, and has for its frontispiece a charming portrait, from the original picture, in the vestry of the Church of St. Andrew, Aberdeen, of good Bishop Samuel Seabury.

I was privileged to know and hear two other of those famous preachers, who now "have crossed the flood," Bishop, afterwards Archbishop, Magee, and Canon Liddon of St. Paul's. The former made an oration in the House of Lords, in defence of his native Church, which was pronounced by Lord Salisbury to be "the finest speech ever delivered by any living man in the Houses of our Parliament," and he was a most eloquent and convincing preacher. He had an inexhaustible supply of wit and humour, severe sometimes, as when he declared that a bishop must know how to suffer fools gladly," but kind and genial almost always, as when he described himself as being 'in such a gentle mood, that even a curate might play with him!"

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Canon Liddon, from his marvellous combination of spiritual, intellectual, and oratorical power, was the greatest preacher in England. I always think of him when I read in the sacred history the description of Apollos, "an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, who, being instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the spirit, spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord." But the Christian

had, of course, a more Divine inspiration and wisdom than the Jew; and as he stood up to preach, with the light of love upon his face, as it had been the face of an angel, and the music of love in his sweet, pathetic voice, and brought from the treasuries of his thoughts, his wisdom, and his prayers, things new and old, truths, which no adversaries were able to gainsay nor resist, terrible warnings, tender sympathies, touches sometimes of exquisite humour, an incisive irony, never used but to expose sin and expel it, we who saw and heard were reminded of the scenes when the Baptist preached on the banks of the Jordan, and St. Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, and St. Paul from Mars' Hill, and great multitudes came and confessed their sins, and were pricked at the heart, and cried out, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

He won our confidence at once, and absorbed our attention, by the conviction, which assured us of his simple faith, his pure sincerity, his intense anxiety to comfort others with the comfort wherewith he himself was comforted of GOD. The mouth spake from the fulness of the heart, and the speaker was unconscious of the manner and the tone which came spontaneously with his words. Reality needs no rehearsals and despises imitation.

"O imitatores, servum pecus, ut mihi sæpe

Bilem, sæpe jocum, vestri movere tumultus!"

And where that earnestness is absent, how all attempts to copy it collapse and fail. There is a lugubrious twang, affected by certain preachers and speakers,

which, I regret to confess, always arouses in my bosom feelings unbecoming a dean.

As to our living preachers, I have only time to say, that they have excellent examples set before them by our two Archbishops of Canterbury and York. Every sermon delivered by the Primate is an embarras des richesses; and if I might compare natural with spiritual food, I should say, that each sentence is like a small piece of Liebig's Essence. You feel an impulse to plead, "Oh, please, wait a while, your Grace, that I may enjoy and digest that good, nutritious thought," and it seems as though you were travelling by an express train through a great gallery of precious pictures! Although I have not had the advantage of hearing all our bishops, I have listened with great admiration to the sermons of the Bishops of Lincoln, Winchester, Ripon, Manchester, Rochester, Wakefield, Derry (Ireland), St. Andrew (Scotland), and St. Asaph (Wales). The sarcastic commentary, "He really preaches rather nicely for a bishop," is no longer more appropriate to our Episcopate than to yours, which includes some of the most famous of modern preachers. I remember that when I attended some forty years ago a great function in an adjoining diocese at which the bishop was to preach, my cousin, who was the vicar of the parish, said to me, “Our excellent bishop has only three sermons, designated by certain satirists as 'Lullaby,'' Mesmeric,' and ' Æther.' We like 'Lullaby' the best: the process is slower, but there's less pain."

.

Among deans, great is the company of the preachers, in alphabetical order, Eliot, Forrest, Ingram, Lefroy, Luckock, Paget, Pigou, Spence, and Vaughan.

Strange to say, I have only heard one of those archdeacons who are famous as preachers, "but you must remember," as the lioness said to the fox, when they were conversing on the relative number of their families, "that this one of mine is a lion!"-Archdeacon Farrar. He is well known in the States, and therefore I need not enlarge on his brilliant endowments, his power of word-painting, which, to quote a quaint Oriental notion, turned the ears of his audience into eyes, his infinite and apt illustration. Listening to him, I seem to be as one of those, whom Goldsmith describes in his "Deserted Village "

"While words of learn'd strength and thundering sound
Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around;

And still they gazed, and much the wonder grew,
How one small head contained all he knew."

Preaching canons are numerous as when, through that
miserable mistake, the charge of the Light Brigade at
Balaclava-

"Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them,

so numerous that I can name but two, Canon Knox Little, who attracts larger congregations than any other preacher, and Canon George Body, the most successful of all our mission priests.

IV.

CHURCH SERVICES AND MISSIONS.

American admiration of English cathedrals-Hawthorne-Wendell Holmes-Lowell-"A petrified Religion," fifty years ago-Recent progress, structural and devotional-Elaborate and congregational music-Multiplication of servicesForeign and Home Missions-Plan and progress of the latter, occasional and permanent-Organization and successful work of the Universities' and Public Schools' Missions.

We

BUT there are better things than sermons. They are only prescriptions, and the patients, as a rule, don't like the medicine, and then, of course, there is no cure. Sometimes the physician does not inspire confidence ; he is in flabby condition, or in a doleful mood. preachers are intended to be something more than wooden posts by the roadside, pointing the way and informing the traveller that he is far away from home. It is a journey which should be personally conducted, and we are sent to be guides, not milestones. He, who teaches the most momentous of all truths, should teach by object-lessons, and the object should be his own example. George Herbert had his prayer-desk and pulpit side by side and of equal height, because,