Year: 1870

all Gods creatures were judged il


this way, we shonld wiring the devif'


meek for being too tame, shoot thu


robins for eating spiders, kill th'


COWS for swinging their tails, ant


the hens for not giving US milk


When a man wants to beat dog, h


can soon find a stick; and at thi!


rate any fool may have something
to saw against the best minister il


England. As to a preachers man


ner, if there be but plain speaking


none should cavil at it because il


wants polish, for if thing is goot


and earnestly spoken, it cannot


sound much amiss. Noman should


use bad language in the pulpit-and


all language is bad which common


people cannot make head or tail of


but godly, sober, decent, plain


words, none should carp at. A


countryman is as warm in fustian as


a king in velvet, and a truth is as


comfortable in homely words as in


fine speech. AS to the way of dish.


ing up the meat, hungry men leave


that to the cook, only let the meat


be sweet and substantial. If hearers


were better, sermons would be bet
ter. When men say they can't hear,


l recommend them to buy a horn,
and remember the old saying,


'There's none so deaf as those who
will not hear" When young speak
ers get downhearted because OF
hard, unkind remarks, l generally
tell them of the old man and his
boy and his ass, and what came OF
trying to please everybody. No
piper ever suited all ears. Where
whims and fancies sit in the seat of
Judgment, a mans opinion is only
so much wind, therefore take no
more notice of it than of the wind
whistling through keyhole.


have heard men find fault with
a discourse for what was not in it;
no matter how well the subject in
hand was brought out, there was
another subject about which nothing
was said, and so all was wrong;
which is as reasonable as finding
fault with my ploughing because it
does not dibble the holes for the
beans, or abusing good corn field
because there are no turnips in it.
Does any man look for every trnth
in one sermon? As well look for
every dish at one meal, and rail at
a joint of beef because there are
neither bacon, nor veal, nor green
peas, nor parsnips on the table.
Suppose a sermon is not full of
comfort to the saint, yet if it warn
the sinner, shall we despise it? A
handsaw would be a poor tool to
shave with, shall we therefore throw
it away? Where is the use of al
ways trying to hunt out faults? l
hate to see a man with fine nose
smelling about for things to rail at
like a rat-catcher's dog shifting at
rat holes. By all means let us down
with error, root and branch, but do
let us save our billhooks till there
are brambles to chop, and not fall
foul of our own mercies.


Judging preachers is poor trade,
for it pays neither party concerned
in it. At ploughing match they
do give a prize to the best of us; but
these judges of preaching are pre-
cious slow to give anything even
to those whom they profess
to think so much of. They
pay in praise, but give no pudding.
They get the gospel for nothing,
and if they do not grumble, think
that they have made an abundant re-
turn.


Everybody thinks himself a judge
of a sermon, but nine out Of ten
might as well pretend to weigh the
moon. l believe that at bottom,
most people think it an uncommonly
easy thing to preach, and that they
could do it amazingly well them
selves. Every donkey thinks itself
worthy to stand with the kings
horses; every girl thinks she could
keep house better than her mother;
but thoughts are not facts, for the
sprat thought itself a herring, but
the fisherman knew better. 1 dare
say those who can whistle, fancy
that they can plough; but there's
more than whistling in good
ploughman, and so let me tell you
there's more in good preaching than
taking a text, and saying, firstly,
secondly, and thirdly. l try my
hand at preaching myself, and in my
poor way 1 find it no very easy
thing to give the folks something
worth hearing; and if the fine critics,
who reckon us up on their thumbs,
would but try their own hands at it,
they might be a little more quiet.
Dogs, however, always will bark,
and what is worse, some of them
will bite too; but let decent people
do all they can, if not to muzzle
them, yet to prevent their doing any
great mischief. 1t is a dreadful
thing to see happy family of Chris
tians broken up by talkative fault
finders, and all about nothing, or
less than nothing. Small is the
edge of the wedge, but when the
devil handles the beetle, churches
are soon split to pieces, and men
wonder why. The fact is, the worst
wheel of the cart creaks most, and
one fool makes many, and thus
many a congregation is set at ears
with a good and faithful minister,
who would have been a lasting bless
ing to them if they had not chased
away their best friend. Those who
are at the bottom of the mischief
have generally no part or lot in the
matter of true godliness, but, like
sparrows, fight over corn which is
not their own, and, like jackdaws,
pull to pieces what they never helped
to build. From mad dogs, and
grumbling professors, may we all be
and may we never take the
from either of them.