Morning journal and courier., 1886-03-19
LymAN REEoHER LECTUREs.

Rev. Dr. TaylOr's Fifth Lecture I'm
 the Lyman Beecher Course Xester-
 day-ssThe scottish PulPit''-A Large
 Attendance.
 Dr. William M. Taylor continued his lec- lures on the Scottish pulpit yesterday after ternoon in the Marquand chapel. The chap ell was crowded. Many clergymen were present in addition to the theological stu dents. There were about sixty ladies pres ent The speaker said In the beginning of the eighteenth century there was change in the pulpit of Scotland, and the love for
 theological teaching and the conversion of souls suffered, as it were, a dark eclipse.
 The sixty survivors of the four hundred who had been outed in 1869 formed the nucleus of q reorganization and the Moderate party wah
 formed The majority of the preachers were
 without education and not versed in doctri'
 nal matters, tolerating for years Socinian
 teachings. In the seventeenth century little
 attention had been given to literary matters for the man who preached where and wher
 hecould was not able to give much attention to his style. The Moderate party as party
 gave themselves to literary cultivation ,bu
 not for the higher ends of the gospel. A mere
 literary product was the result ant
 not an influence for the conversion
 of souls; the secondary took the place of tn.
 primary. ''The body is more than raiment.
 and the preacher should cultivate the best
 style of his times that his style may clothe
 the living truth. Of the moderates Hugh
 Blair was the most prominent. In his ser, mons no allusion was made to the cross oi
 Christ, to repentance or to the existence oi
 agency of the holy spirit They contain doctrines of natural religion and are only moral disquisitions without the background
 of the cross. Others began where Blair left oil and, bye and bye, people lost their relish for the gospel in it's purity. Among the faithful who remained was Thomas Boston, whose "Four Told State" was for a long time a handbook of theology among the peasants His sermons had few of the graces of style they were cast in the mold of the times Though not interesting except from an his torical standpoint they are nevertheless full of Christ.
 Of the Erskines, Ebenezer was the more stately and dignifed, while Ralph was the more fervid in manners and unction. The latter is noted for the closing pas sages of his sermons in which he showed great freedom and powe, ill urging souls to accept Christ. But fol the secession the influence of the Erskines would have been confined to their own par ishes, but that enabled them to scatter sparks in different directions and these sparks found access to the ready hearts of the peo- pIe Macleod and Witherspoon should not be left out in the survey of these times and Andrew Thompson, who was the leader of the reaction, was too eminent for his compo-
 sition and eloquence to be passed over in si- lence. Both the moderates and the evangel- icals ran into extremes, but of these the for mer was the worse 'The body is better than raiment, ''but the moderates were nothing
 but raiment, and consequently resulted in a tailor's dummy, as it were, while the evan gelicals represented the raiment, and that torn and showing the body in places to the
 sarcasm of the people. Between these two extremes the ideal preacher must choose his course and select his method for clothing the truth. The next lecture will be given this afternoon at three o'clock.
 DIR. TAYLOR MEETS THE STUDENTS LAST EVEN
 Last evening Dr. Taylor met the students of the seminary in the chapel. The students availed themselves of the opportunity to ask questions concerning the pastor and the pas toral work. Dr. Taylor gave extended an- swers based upon his wide and successful experience. The meeting was informal and much valuable information and many sug- oyaStioDl ware rainad hv inc vOunp men