bride. But there is a reason for song that lies deeper in man's constitution still. It is found, not in the ear and voice merely, but in the spirit. God has made the inner atmosphere of the soul's emotions and affections susceptible of the thrilling pulsations of music, as He has made the atmosphere around us capable of receiving and transmitting the quivering vibrations of sound. The poet, indeed, has given to music a lower place in man's nature than this::

"For eloquence, the soul-song charms the sense;"

but there is a power of song that addresses itself as truly to the higher emotional nature of man, and that stirs it as deeply as the breathing thoughts and burning words of eloquence itself.-Ker.

PSALMS. The Book of

It is a common shop of remedies, a compendium of all divinity, a storehouse of excellent doctrine for all persons and in all conditions.-St. Basil.

It is an epitome of the Bible, adapted to the purposes of devotion.-Bishop Horne.

In the language of this Book, the prayers of the Church have been offered up to the throne of grace from age to age.-Nicholls.

There we find the thrilling language of religious emotion, now tender as softbreathing music, now sublime and soul-stirring as the roar of a mighty torrent, but ever purifying and elevating the human heart-language which has rendered this Book the everlasting psalmody of mankind!-Dr. Adler.

PSALMS.-Christ in the

If they contain not the narratives of Messiah's birth, and life, and death, where, in the whole Scriptures, can we find such declarations of the work of Christ, in its humiliation and its glory, the spiritual agonies of His death, the glorious issues of His resurrection, the wrestling of His kingdom with the powers of darkness, its triumph over the heathen, and the overthrow of all its enemies until the heads of many lands shall have been wounded, and the people made willing in the day of His power?—E. Irving.

PSALMS. The Comprehensiveness of the

There is nothing necessary for man to know which the Psalms are not able to teach. Heroic magnanimity, exquisite justice, grave moderation, exact wisdom, repentance unfeigned, unwearied patience, the mysteries of God, the sufferings of Christ, the terrors of wrath, the comforts of grace, the works of Providence over this world, and the promised joys of the world which is to come-all good necessary to be either known, or done, or had, this one celestial fountain yieldeth.— Hooker.

PSALMS.-Effects Produced by the

Consecrated in the daily service of the sanctuary, cherished in the depth of every pious heart, these songs of Zion attract the young, invigorate the active, enliven the contemplative, and encircle with a peaceful glory the venerable brow of age.-Bishop Jebb.

PSALMS. God in the

God speaks still. Listen! There are the Psalms. You have heaved these very sighs; this horror of self, you too have experienced it. These doubts of the

truth, this dread of the grave, this ignorance of God's ways, this insane condemning of His acts,-all this is indeed yours. Here, now, are hymns of triumph. Faith has returned, grace is once more possessed, joy descends in floods;—this is equally familiar to you, and this is of God. It is still the eternal encounter of the heart of man with the heart of the Father! Always light will break forth, always joy will spring from such a contact as this.—Gasparin.

PSALMS. A Panegyric on the

If we keep vigil in the Church, David comes first, last, and midst. If early in the morning we seek for the melody of hymns, first, last, and midst is David again. If we are occupied with the funeral solemnities of the departed,—if virgins sit at home and spin, David is first, and last, and midst. O marvellous wonder! many who have made but little progress in literature, nay, who have scarcely mastered its first principles, have the Psalter by heart. Nor is it in cities and churches alone, that at all times, through every age, David is illustrious; in the midst of the forum, in the wilderness and uninhabitable land, he excites the praises of God. In monasteries, among those holy choirs of angelic armies, David is first, midst, and last. In the convents of virgins, where are the bands of them that imitate Mary; in the deserts, where are men crucified to the world, and having their conversation with God, first, midst, and last is he. All other men are at night overpowered by natural sleep; David alone is active, and, congregating the servants of God into seraphic bands, turns earth into heaven, and converts men into angels !-St. Chrysostom.

PSALMS.-The Use made by the Church of the

The symphonies which the Church singeth with Christ out of this Book are not all a fellowship of suffering; for, not only by the shedding of His blood did Messiah make propitiation for her sins, and destroy her writing of condemnation, and put a new song in her mouth-"Who is He that condemneth?" but also for her hath He purchased the raiment of an everlasting righteousness, and the beauties of holiness, and the spirit of a perfect obedience, which, by precious justifying faith, she claimeth as her own, and over which she singeth other symphonies of gladness:-"The Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteous dealing, according to the cleanness of my hands in His eyesight." And in the greatness of her loyal love, how many a song singeth the daughter of Zion touching the things that belong unto the King, when her tongue is as the pen of a ready writer!-"Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy lips; therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever." And with what a brave pulse of glory doth her heart exult towards the accomplishment of Messish's kingdom, and the fulness of His power, when all lands shall call upon His name. and all nations shall bow before Him, and there shall be given to Him of Sheba's gold, and His name shall endure for ever, and last like the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him, and all nations shall call Him blessed! Then His people sing in high symphony with their triumphant King and all-conquering LordE. Irving.

PULPIT.-The

The pulpit is the ancient throne of truth.-E. Irving.

The pulpit is the Thermopyle of Protestantism, the tower of the flock, the palladium of the Church of God.--Spurgeon.

The pulpit is the minister's joy.-G. Herbert.

PULPIT.-The Awfulness of the

That awful place-the pulpit.-T. Spencer.

PULPIT.-Awkwardness Learned in the

In this sacred mahogany tub or rectangular box, the preacher learns every kind of hidden awkwardness. He stands on one leg, and crooks the other, like a slumbering horse at a hitching-post; he leans now on one side of the cushion, or lolls on the other. And when a man, thoroughly trained by one of these dungeon pulpits to regard his legs and feet as superflous, is brought out upon an open platform, it is amusing to watch the inconvenience to him of having legs at all, and his various experiments and blushing considerations of what he shall do with them!-H. W. Beecher.

PULPIT.-The Best

That is the best pulpit, whatever it be made of, that holds the most faithful minister.-Dr. Cumming.

PULPIT.—Charges against the

Have you not heard the mere novice in science bring against the Christian pulpit the wholesale charge of poverty and dulness, fancying himself the while proof against all contradiction? Why, if it were not for the perversity of the human heart, and the consequent dulness and opacity of the understanding, every man would feel and acknowledge that all the philosophical schools, and royal scientific institutions, conversed about old rags and bones, straws and nonentities, compared with the subjects which are presented from the humblest pulpit.-Dr. Pulsford.

PULPIT.-Controversy and the

The pulpit is certainly not a place for controversy, but for instruction.Bishop Coleridge.

PULPIT. The Dignity of the

Men sacrifice the best part of themselves for what is called the dignity of the pulpit. They are afraid to speak of common things-to introduce home matters; things of which men think and speak, and in which every day a part of their lives consist, are thought not to be of enough dignity for the pulpit. And so the interests of men are sacrificed to an idol; for when the pulpit is of more importance than the joys and the sorrows, the hopes and the fears, the minute temptations and frets of daily life, it has become an idol, and, to feed its dignity, bread is taken from the mouths of the children and the common people. There are few things that have power to make men good or bad, happy or unhappy, that are beneath the pulpit for the preacher to handle.-H. W. Beecher.

PULPIT.-Entering the

The time is happily gone by when the preacher used to enter the pulpit with great formality, a flushed countenance, and hair most carefully got up; then place by his side a fine white handkerchief, sometimes of costly silk, which ever and anon he methodically passed over his face. These airs no longer suit the times: the preacher now-a-days must not be engrossed with self, with his handkerchief, or his hair, or his surplice; neither must he cause others to be taken up with such trifles. In the pulpit the man should disappear, and the apostle alone be seen. Mullois.

The Christian orator makes his appearance in the pulpit with simplicity and