The test proposed would be nugatory for another rea- son— prayer could not be so offered. It is impossible so to dam up Christian sympathy. It would burst overall such artificial banks like a spring freshet. Such forms of prayer would be mere magical incantations, impious shams, which would cither be dinned over with no thought of their scope, or else would paralyze the lips that uttered them. Imagine the whole Church on earth thus to pray, "Grant, O Lord, thy special mercy to the one hundred sick persons in the west wing of St. Luke's Hospital. New York, U. S. of America." If any influence could move the Church to begin a three years' course of such prayer, long before the time was up the Spirit of God wotdd be searching many hearts with questions J like this : " Who taught you so to limit your petitions?" " Professor Tyndall." " Why do you confine such sup- plications to one hundred of my needy millions, individ- uals towards whom you have no reasons for special sym- pathy?" "To prove thee, Lord, whether thou hearest prayers for the sick." "If you doubt it, you cannot offer such prayers acceptably ; and if you believe it, why test me thus at the dictation of unbelievers? Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
Answers are promised only to sincere, single-minded prayer, which looks simply for the object, it asks. Such prayer must be double-minded — one eye resting faintly on the hospital, the other intently scanning the scien- tific world. Under such circumstances faith would be impossible: for faith rests solely on God's promise, and God has nowhere promised to answer any prayer offered as a test of himself.
3. Our final objection to the proposition before us is that it proposes an unnecessary test. There are allow- able experiments which afford abundant proof of the mooted point. What these are must be determined by the Word of Cod and the experience of praying men. For a scientific atheist, or pantheist, or deist, or mere nominal Christian to insist on other tests is as unscien- tific— we say not as irreligious, but as unscientific — as it would be for us to say, " If electricity be so powerful as
PKEACHERS
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PREACIIIXG
you assert, let it run along this hempen cord as you claim ii does along the telegraphic wires," or, "Make your magnet attracl copper." The prompl reply would be, "The laws of nature forbid." Our reply is, "The economy of grace forbids."
\\ , , in conceive of a strictly scientific tes( which might have been proposed by the author of this inad- missible, nugatory test. He might have sent out a cir- cular letter to ten thousand of the ablest, most expe- rienced, and most devout ministers of the Gospel and other Christians in all land-, explaining his object, and inviting careful answers to these questions: How many cases have you ever known of persons desperately sick who were made the subjects of fervent, importunate prayer? What were the particulars, and what the re- sults? The candid and unbiassed collation of the facts so obtained from witnesses whose capacity and honesty would give their testimony on all other matters the highest credit, might or might not cast some light upon the subject But it would not convince unbelievers, lor unbelief is a matter of the heart more than of the intel- lect; and very probably the secret and unsearchable workings of the divine providence would remove the whole business beyond the range of the laws of induc- tion. I lie scientists discard faith, while the Bible tells us that only by faith can we know either the person or the providence of Cod. A scientific test, in what- ever pertains to the divine action, is impossible and absurd — a truth that Christians need to understand scarcely less than sceptics. — Christian Advocate. See Pbayee; Pkovidknck.
Preachers, Local. See Local Pjri uan rs.
Preaching is usually and with literal correctness defined as the act of delivering religious discourses. Kut this definition fails to suggest the most important signification of the term. That can only be reached by considering it as designating the objective idea of a ure.it and peculiar appointment of the Lord Jesus ( hrist. In this broad hut legitimate sense, preaching means more than an individual act or series of acts. It rep- resents an institution of Christianity which has been in existence some nineteen centuries, and an agency of re- ligious influence destined to continue in action through- out the « hole period of human affairs.
I. //<< Proper Character and Design of Preaching.— As Christ himself was the DivineWord made flesh, so, designing to employ human agency lor the promotion of his kingdom among men. he made a special appro- priation of man's distinguishing faculty of speech by appointing it as the primary and principal means of diffusing God's word of truth and message of salvation throughout the world. Having chosen disciples from among his own earliest hearers, "he ordained twelve,
that they should he with him, and that he might -end
them forth to preach" (Mark iii, 14). To those disci- ples lie said. "What I tell you in darkness that speak ye in light : and u hat ye hear in the ear that preach \ e upon the house-tops" | Matt. x. 27 I. As had been fore- shadowed in prophecy, 30 ( hri-t represented the preach- ing of the < iospel to t he | r as the distinguishing char- acteristic of hi- kingdom. The great Preacher himself. having completed his earthly mission, crowned it with the ever-binding command given to his disciples. -(hi ye into all the world, and preach the Co-pd to every creature" (Mark scvi, 15). <'hri-iian preaching, there- fore, implies not only preacher-, hut hearer-. ]i pri - Bupposi - a personal conviction and a deep sense oftruth in the mind of the preacher, accompanied by a purpose to transfer his com ictions to the minds and heart- of his hearer-. Although preaching is designed to embody an important element ol instruction, yet, if properly exe- cuted, it rises in character superior to lecturing, or any <>f the forms of didactic discourse. It resembles the best forms of demonstrative address, hut transcends all secu- lar oratory in the moral orandeur ol it- themes, and e—