The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-12-06

In the year 1866 we read a volume of
rmo by Rev. DR.. Thomas Guthrie,
of Edinburgh, Scotland. They were all
Ezekiel, and the book was entitled
The Gospel in Ezekiel" illustrated
in a series of d~iscourses Another work
by the same very gifted divine read by
us the next year was Christ and the
Inheritance of the Saints" illustrated
in a series of ~discourses from the
Colossians. We found these two pre-
cious volumes very edifying and en-
t%ertaining. Lately we have been ead
ing in the first volume named and with
great satisfaction and delight. We
found the thirteen sermons thus far
eloquence. DR.. Guthrie died in 1878. He
was the most eloquent Scotch Presby-
terrain divine since DR.. ThOs. Chalmers
day. He is beyond fair question n
of the most gifted and eloquent preach
ers of our century, and will always
rank high among the great pulpit or
ators of Britain. His style is elegant
and yet distinguished by clarity, fluid
ity and simplicity, although his de-
scriptions which abound are of a char
acter to call for wealth of diction as
we'll as felicity of expression. His il
Illustrations, most generally drawn
from natural scenery or human expe-
rience, are rich and full and most inn
pressive, and still there are uniform
l%ucidity. chastity of language, and
freedom from tinsel of rhetoric or
excuses of any kind.
Purity, directness, graphic power OF
presentation, rich mental are
apparent throughout. The volume we
have in han at present for Sunday
reading is one of the most beautiful
of which we know in all pulpit litera-
ture. Some British paper or monthly
of repute, at the time it was publish
ed, said it was an 'inimitable volume
of prose poems." We would not so de-
scribe it. 1t is not in the language
of true poetry although filled with
grace and most eloquent often in
thoughts exquisitely bodied forth. They
T6du wen anu dDOullu III QuOtdOiC pas
sages. Recently reading (27th ult.) the
second sermon on Man Justified we
specially so from the gath to the end
of the 227th page. The entire passage
is truly eloquent, and of a strong,
commanding kind. We said there
We're a quotable things scattered
throughout-not of the wise saws
kind, but suggestive or rich in thought
or beautiful as to style. We turn to the
volume for a few sentences taken here
and there, out of scores: 1T is true
tina like a concave spectrum c.
from a block of ice, which concentrat-
ing the rays of the sun, kindles torch
wood or g~unpowder, a preacher may
kindle fire in others, when his own
heart is as cold as frost" Like a ball
red hot from the %cannon's mouth, he
must burn himself who would set 9TH
ers on fire." Jerusalem lay in ruins;
the grass grew long and rank in her
deserted streets; an awful silence filled
the temple; the fox looked out OF the
window, and the foul satyr had her
den in the Holy of Holes "When
with slow and lingering steps Adam
and Eve came weeping forth from
Paradise, and the gate was locked be-
hind them, that was the bitterest home
leaving h world ever saw What
Siren is this, who, seated on a rock
by the deadly pool, smites to deceive,
sings to lure, kisses to betray, and
filings her arm around our neck, to leap
with us into perdition?-Sin." BE
meath this soiled raiment, all unseen
by the worlds eye, he wears the clean
linen of a Redeemer's righteousness
'Be they dug in Arctic snows, or in
desert sands, there is no land without
it's graves; nor wherever it stands, a
city without it's cemetery" "All a
are lost that fall not at the feet of
Jesus. But even the tears which battle
a S%aviour's feet wash not away u