IMPORTANT TO HOME AND FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS. Either of the four volumes of the EDITOR'S SERIES of the 'HOMILIST," will be sent POST FREE DIRECT to any address in England for 58. 6d. per volume, and in Australia or America for Address-George Harris, Homilist Bookseller, Stockwell Road, Stockwell, London. 68. 9d. DUBLIN STEAM PRINTING COMPANY. PREFACE. THIS Volume, the TWENTY-NINTH of the entire Work, is the fourth of the New Series-THE EDITOR'S SERIES. It is so called because the Editor has determined to bestow upon it special attention, and make it in every respect the best that has appeared. He is certain that no competent and impartial critic will compare these Volumes with any of the preceding ones without pronouncing a verdict for their superiority. If success is to be taken as a test of merit, these Volumes have the advantage, for their circulation has been unsurpassed. Although upwards of ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND VOLUMES have been sold, it will be gratifying for our friends to know that the demand is as great as ever. As the old key-note will still rule the melodies of the HOMILIST, and no new specific description is requisite, the former Preface may be again transcribed. First: The book has no finish. The Editor had not only not the time to give an artistic finish to his productions, but not even the design. Their incompleteness is intentional. He has drawn some marble slabs together, and hewn them roughly; but has left other hands to delineate minute features, and so polish them into beauty. He has dug up from the Biblical mine some precious ore, smelted a little, but left all the smithing to others. He has presented "germs" which if sown in good soil, under a free air and an open sky, will produce fruit that may draw many famishing spirits into the vineyard of the Church. Secondly: The book has no denominationalism. It has no special reference to "our body" or to "our Church." As denominational strength is not necessarily soul strength, nor denominational religion necessarily the religion of humanity, it is the aim of the HOMILIST to minister that which universal man requires. It is for man as a citizen of the universe, and not for him as the limb of a sect. Thirdly: The book has no polemical Theology. The Editor-holding, as he does, with a tenacious grasp, the cardinal doctrines which constitute what is called the "orthodox creed"-has, nevertheless, the deep and ever-deepening conviction, first, that such creed is but a very small portion of the truth that God has revealed, or that man requires; and that no theological system can fully represent all the contents and suggestions of the great Book of God; and, secondly, that systematic theology is but means to an end. Spiritual morality is that end. Consequently, to the heart and life every Biblical thought and idea should be directed. Your systems of divinity the author will not disparage; but his impression is, that they can no more answer the purpose of the Gospel, than pneumatics can answer the purpose of the atmosphere. In the case of Christianity, as well as the air, the world can live without its scientific truths; but it must have the free flowings of their vital elements. Coleridge has well said, "Too soon did the doctors of the Church forget that the heart-the moral nature was the beginning and the end, and that truth, knowledge, and insight were comprehended in its expansion." The Editor would record his grateful acknowledgments to those free spirits of all Churches, who have so earnestly rallied round him; to the many who have encouraged him by their letters, and to those, especially, who have aided him by their valuable contributions. May the "last day" prove that the help rendered has been worthily bestowed; and that the HOMILIST did something towards the spiritual education of humanity, in its endeavours to bring the Bible, through the instrumentality of the pulpit, into a more immediate and practical contact with the every-day life of man! Holly Bush, Loughborough Park, Brixton. DAVID THOMAS. CONTENTS. All the articles in this volume are written by the Editor, with the exception of those which have a signature attached. HOMILIES. The Unknown God (continued). (J. C. Jones) The Uses of Suffering. (T. W. Mays, M.A.) PAGE 1 65 129 193 257 321 HOMILETIC SKETCHES ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS. A Thanksgiving truly Inspiring An Intercession sublimely Catholic Man in the Thunder-Storm The First and Final Stage in True Worship The Conditions and Acts of Life, the Springs of Solemn Issues HOMILETIC SKETCHES ON THE BOOK OF JOB. The Maddening Force of Suffering (continued) 14 77, 147, 205, 271, 333 SERMONIC GLANCES AT THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. Christ the Transcendent One John the Baptist and the Jews-a Religious Teacher and Society Man's Work and Christ's Work in the Reformation of Souls 276 GERMS OF THOUGHT. Truths respecting Human Nature and Christianity. (Caleb Morris) Threefold Aspect of True Sainthood. (F. W. Brown) A Subject for Every Day Life. (J. C.) Christian Progress in the face of Difficulties. (W. Jones) 24 27 32 88 91 93 155 God's Government of the Sea, and Man's Revolting Tendencies. (T. B.) 218 Helps and Hindrances of the Christian Life. (H. T. Miller) The Duty of Christians towards the Jews. (David Roberts) - S. Exell) Eternal Life. (H. Rees) Providence. (E. D. Cornish) 283 285 (Joseph 340 345 348 THE PITH OF RENOWNED SERMONS. XVIII. Unconscious Influence. (Rev. Horace Bushnell, D.D.) |