speak, quietly but firmly decline to do so. I have done this myself, and daresay I may have occasion to do it again.

You will usually find that those who are most guilty in this respect are those whose speeches contain little or nothing that can be called the result of thought. If you will be at the pains of careful preparation you will be the less liable to this error of prosiness. Careful reading and clear thinking will greatly help you to compress your meaning into few words. I saw an advertisement one day, commencing thus :"A Good Packer wanted!" That is just the want of the platforma man who can "pack" his ideas into a small compass, and say as much in a quarter of an hour as Mr. Long-and-prosey would do in an hour and an half.

It will help you considerably to avoid long speeches if you aim at saying one thing, and no more. By this I mean, have one definite point in your address, and let all you say be so arranged as to illustrate and enforce that one point. Some speakers are very prone to have two or more topics, and as these are often so unlike and disconnected that passing from one to the other is like commencing a new speech, the effect is anything but satisfactory. The peroration of a set speech is usually most effective when a speaker briefly gathers up the different parts of his subject, and in a few telling sentences shows their bearing upon each other, fastening the whole upon the mind of the hearer by an easily remembered phrase. Now, if the speech has been one of those rambling ones going from Dan to Beersheba-this is an impossibility. Any attempt to gather up the threads of argument only shows still more clearly how entangled and disconnected they are, and the confusion of the speech is rendered more perplexing by its termination. One closing word :-Leave off when you have done, if not before. You will laugh at this, I know; but experience will convince you that the counsel is wise. Some men can do anything but leave off. They are like birds, flying round and round a tree, apparently not able to decide on which twig to settle. Such speakers usually make a tame conclusion; and if, by chance, they utter some happy sentence that the audience, deeming it the ending applaud loudly, they will stand still till the applause dies away, and then awkwardly flounder through a dozen sentences and close up as flat as a Lincolnshire fen. I heard two speakers a little time since whose endings were suggestive. One of them provoked a loud outburst of applause before he had actually finished, but at a point when he could have closed had he been wise enough to do so. He went on, and wound up at last very poorly. The other met with a similar experience, but had presence of mind enough to sit down as the applause rang through the building. He could have said more; but having made an impression he left it there, and the audience carried it away with them.

ANDREW: AN EXAMPLE TO CHRISTIAN WORKERS.

I. A USEFUL MAN THOUGH OF HUMBLE ORIGIN.-Peter and Andrew, both fishermen, working at their trade: "We have toiled all the night." Honest labour dignified. We ennoble our worldly calling when we connect God with our daily work.

II. DILIGENT STUDENT OF THE SCRIPTURES.-Infer this from his quick recognition of Jesus as the Messiah (John i, 35-42).

III. EXERCISED SELF-DENIAL.-To become a fisher of men he "left all." Began at home-often the hardest work; his own brother "first."

A quiet obser

IV. CONTENT TO BE A SILENT WORKER.-Never mentioned as a leader; contrast with Peter who was always foremost. vant man (John vi, 9). Ready to introduce others to Christ (John An earnest inquirer (Mark xiii, 3).

xii, 22). workers.

We want more quiet.

W.

WORK AMONG THE YOUNG.

THE RACE SET BEFORE US.

REFER to school treat, and to the running for prizes, which often takes place then. In life we have "a race set before us" (Heb. xii, 1). Learn the text. Spell the word R A CE; each letter suggests something.

1. The Runners in the Race.-Only men in the races of Greece, Rome, &c.; but in this race all may run, even children. But the runners must (1) deny themselves; (2) endure; .e., have patience.

2. The Aids to the Runners.-Aids are helps. (1) To learn that the road is good; (2) that others have gone over it before us; (3) the presence of wise companions.

3. The Course to be Run.-The Christian life, beginning in repentance and faith, and continuing in obedience and devotion to Christ.. Often hard, but always safe.

4. The End of the Course.-What are races run for? A prize. Our prize a crown. Who will give it? To whom? When? Have you begun this race?

REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES.

W.

HAVE our younger readers ever met with the Rev. Paxton Hood's "Self Formation?" Probably not, as the book has long been out of print. We remember to have read it with great interest when a youth, and the remembrance of the stimulus which it gave to our studies re

mains with us to this day. Many pages of an old Commonplace Book were devoted to extracts from it, or to an abstract of its chapters. We observe with pleasure that a new and cheaper edition is announced by Messrs. James Clarke and Co., of Fleet Street, and recommend every young local preacher who can spare half-a-crown to procure a copy without delay.

"The Freedom of Faith," by the Rev. Theodore Munger (price 3s 6d), issued by the same publishers, has reached a third edition in a few weeks. We are not surprised at this, since the sermons-seventeen in number are unquestionably among the freshest, the most vigorous, and the best that have been introduced to the notice of English readers for a long time past.

Yet another Life of Christ is announced. A work on which Dr. Edersheim has been engaged for several years is about to be issued, under the title of "Life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah." It will be in two large volumes, and the publishers are Messrs. Longmans and Co. Mr. T. H. Aston, of Birmingham, has just issued his admirable and interesting lecture on "John Rogers, the Deritend Martyr."

Part 43 of "The New Testament Commentary for English Readers" (Cassell and Co.) is of peculiar interest and value, as containing a lengthened introduction to the Epistle to the Hebrews, in which, among other matters, the arguments for assigning its authorship to Apollos are stated with great clearness.

We notice that the same publishers have prepared what they term the bijou edition of Farrar's "Life of Christ," in five small volumes, bound in cloth, in cloth box, specially adapted for presentation.

The Luther Commemoration renders timely the re-issue of Wylie's "History of Protestantism," which Messrs. Cassell are now publishing in monthly parts.

Such of our readers as have time and inclination to study Christian evidences will find the latest volume of the "Theological Library," which Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton are bringing out, exceedingly helpful. It is entitled "Are Miracles Credible?" and is written by the Rev. J. J. Lias, M.A. To present, even in briefest outline, a synopsis of the contents of a work of this nature would require more space than we can spare; but we would strongly urge those who wish to understand how to defend their belief in the credibility of miracles, to peruse this book with close attention. Its style is simple and popular, without being superficial; and altogether the subject is handled in a manner characterised by intelligence, reverence, and clearness.

ANECDOTES.

THE MYSTERY OF EVIL.-Why there is pain and death in the world it has not yet pleased the Father to declare; but since His goodness is abundant, and His wisdom and power have no bounds, we cannot doubt but that the reasons, when they shall be made known, will attest some hidden wisdom, which man is not yet able to comprehend. All that we yet know is, that everything exists by God's absolute decree: that evil exists; and therefore that evil exists by God's absolute decree. Why plagues and earthquakes have desolated the earth, why pain and guilt have troubled mankind, we may hope to learn hereafter; and till then we may wait patiently, since we see how beauty rises up out of the dust, how peace issues from woe, and how purity is wrought out of repentance.- Martineau's "Essays."

SINGLE-HANDED WORK.-The great things of this world have been accomplished by individuals. Past social reformations have originated in individual souls. Truths, that now sway the world, were first proclaimed by individual lips. No warlike hosts delivered the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, but one man- -Moses. No senate: or statesmen raised Israel to a pitch of greatness that proclaimed to the world the glory and safety of a theonation, but one man-David.. No school of divines gave to England the Bible in the mother tongue, but one man-Wycliffe. No learned society discovered America, but one man-Columbus. No association of science revealed the clue to interpret the laws of the heavenly bodies, but one man-Galileo. No. Parliament saved English liberties, but one man-Pym. No assembly of theologians wrote the book which, next to the Bible, has had the most potent influence on the English language and on English hearts. but one man-Bunyan. No confederate nations rescued Scotland from her political and ecclesiastical enemies, but one man-Knox. And the same might be said of almost every great step since in the progress of the race. Doubtless these men found their coadjutors; but all through the ages God has put immense honour upon individuals. Christ most instructively teaches that it is not to corporate associations of men He gives the talents which will prepare for the grand approbation of faithfulness on the last day, but "to every man according to his several ability."

THE THREE FRIENDS.-A man had three friends, two of whom he loved dearly, but the third indifferently, although this one had the sincerest affection for him. On one occasion he was summoned to the seat of justice, where, though innocent, he was strongly accused.

"Which of you," said he, "will go with me and give evidence on my behalf, for I am strongly accused, and the king is angry?" The first of his friends excused himself immediately. "He could not go with him on account of business." The second accompanied him to the door of the tribunal, but turned again and went back from fear of the angry judge. The third, upon whom he had the least relied, went in, spoke to him, and testified so courageously for his innocence that the judge acquitted and rewarded him. Man has three friends in the world-how do they behave in the hour of death, when God demands him to judgment? Gold, his best friend, forsakes him first, and goes not with him. His relations and friends accompany him to the door of the grave, and return again to their houses. The third, which, while living, he often forgot the most, are his good deeds. They alone accompany him to the throne of the Judge-they precede him, speak for him, and find mercy and grace.-Herder.

ONE ACCORD.-The true thermometer of a church is its prayer meeting. When a church has been down to its lowest point—" below zero"-the true place to make its religious feelings rise is the prayerroom. A revival commonly begins there. Everything about the service feels the returning glow. Instead of a few listless, careless hearers, the vast assembly will be, not an impetuous bonfire of excitement, but rather a steady anthracite glow, heated through and through by the love of Christ. Soon the thermometer will rise to "blood heat," and then make each the point which made that upper room in Jerusalem a meeting formed of holy affections.-Dr. Cuyler. THE HOLY SPIRIT.-It is as if you saw a locomotive engine upon a railway, and it would not go; and they put up a driver and they said, "Now that driver will just do." They try another and another. One proposes that such and such a wheel shall be altered; but still it will not go. Someone then bursts in among those that are conversing, and says, "No, friends, but the reason why it will not go is because there is no steam; you have no fire; you have no water in the boiler; that's why it will not go. It will go well enough if you but get the steam up." But now people are saying, "This must be altered, and that must be altered." But the church's great want is the Holy Spirit; and until that want be supplied, we may reform and reform, and still be just the same.-C. H. Spurgeon.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS AND OTHERS.

All Literary Communications should be addressed to the EditorRev. F. WAGSTAFF, Epping, Essex.

Books for Review may be sent to the Editor, or may be left at the -Office of the Publisher, 39, Warwick Lane, London, E.C.