thing at all unusual, which, of course, | produced that it had not only entered the reading of a sermon interspersed but possessed the reader's nature. If a with comments by the reader of a kind clergyman seems to his people the mere to show the effect the sermon has had conduit-pipe for another and unknown upon his own mind and heart, unques- voice, it is perhaps not unnatural that tionably at present would be. The objec- they should feel their interest weak; but tion stated by the Times of Saturday to if instead of being the mere conduit-pipe, young men's sermons appears to us to he shows his people that the life and bebe conceived in the same conventional lief in him have been to some extent school. Young men's sermons may be moulded by that voice, so far from quite as easily the better as the worse their interest being weakened, it would, for being the sermons of young men. It we suspect, be greatly strengthened by is absurd to treat experience as the one that experience. Clergymen little know and only sine quâ non for the power to how much more interesting is any evigive good moral and spiritual counsel.dence they may on rare occasions give Experience tells both ways. It enor- of the influences which have affected mously increases, of course, the insight their own spiritual nature, evidence, for of men who really do know the cunning instance, of their favourite authors and of the heart. But it also blunts very poets, and of the habitual direction of much the sense of uneasiness excited by their own thoughts on critical subjects, all habitual sins, errors, and artificialities, than the conventional platitudes which and leads men to acquiesce in what they seem to have in them nothing of the hu have always been accustomed to as if it man being who utters them. The pulpit, were a law of nature, instead of a mere instead of concealing the life of the man convention of human life. We feel very who speaks in it, as it too often does, little doubt that young men's sermons ought to reveal it, and nothing reveals it might be quite as useful as older men's more effectively than a frank disclosure sermons, other things being equal,-of the thoughts and feelings which have were there but in our religious services a had the greatest charm for the moral and little less of that terrible conventionality spiritual nature of the preacher. Of which now imprisons both the hearers course all we have said assumes that and the preachers within its own whimsi- there is a vivid moral and spiritual life in cal rules of propriety. There is nothing the preacher to reveal,- which is often for which the young have a greater gen- far from true. But where it is not true, ius than for admiration; and were young there is no remedy possible for the mis preachers only allowed, whenever they fortune that the preacher has undertaken cannot find time to write their own ser- a career for which he is wholly unfitted, mons, to introduce their people to one and which, more than any other career, which they themselves thoroughly ad- needs men who have a special aptitude mire, not without briefly giving the rea- for it. Still, even clergymen who have a sons for their admiration, and recounting very real moral and spiritual life, waste some of the thoughts it has brought half the beneficial influence they might them, we should get some good out of exert by a conventional reserve, which in their enthusiasm, without taxing them so the pulpit more than anywhere is out of severely as we now do. It is the imper-place. Reserve is a luxury in which sonality of printed sermons,- the feeling many of us, perhaps, indulge too much; that they don't come from the pastor be- but certainly it is one in which men who fore them, but from somebody else un-enter the pulpit, forfeit, in some measure known, which produces the chilling ef- at least, their right to indulge. If a fect which they always seem to have on clergyman having, as he ought to have, congregations. But that sense of im- the deepest possible moral and religious personality would, we believe, be entirely convictions, conceals from his people the removed by a very few sentences indicat- sort of influence which these convictions ing the relation the sermon in question exercise over him, he voluntarily throws nje had really held to the mind of the reader, aside the greatest of all instruments for and the influence it had had upon his diffusing these convictions. What the thought. Dr. Newman's or Dr. Robert- pulpit wants is more freshness, and less son's thought would not be less, but conviction; more character, and less formore vivid than the ordinary incumbent's mula; more freedom, and less fear. or curate's, if with it there was evidence 12mo. Fancy Stamped Cloth. $1.75. "It is one of the best of Mrs. Stowe's novels; and Mrs. Stowe is incapable of writing a poor one."- St. Louis Globe. "The story is in the author's best and liveliest vein, and never flags even for a moment. The illustrations will bear a much closer examination than the average engravings of the period. Detroit Free Press. ... OTHER GOOD NOVELS. MY WIFE AND 1: or, Harry Henderson's History. A Novel. By HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. 12mo. Illustrated. $1.75. Always bright, piquant, and entertaining, with an occasional touch of tenderness, strong, because subtle, keen in sarcasm, full of womanly logic directed against unwomanly tendencies."- Boston Journal. NORWOOD; or, Village Life in New England. A Novel. By HENRY WARD BEECHER. Illustrated by ALFRED FREDERICKS. 12mo. Price, $2.00. "Embodies more of the high art of fiction than any half dozen of the best novels of the best authors of the day. — Albany Evening Journal. TOINETTE: A Tale of Transition. By HENRY CHURTON. 12mo. 516 pp. $1.50. "A picturesque, vivid, passionate story. Calculated to entertain and deeply impress. The average novel reader will be delighted, and there is that in it which will attract the most cultivated and fastidious.". Cincinnati Times. THE CIRCUIT RIDER: A Tale of the Heroic Age. By EDWARD EGGLESTON. 12mo. Illustrated. $1.75. "The breezy freshness of the Western prairie, blended with the refinements of literary culture. It is alive with the sound of rushing streams and the echoes of the forest, but shows a certain graceful self-possesssion which betrays the presence of the artist's power.-N. Y. Tribune. BRAVE HEARTS. A Novel. By ROBERTSON GRAY. (R. W. Raymond). 12mo. Illustrated. $1.75. "Its pictures of the strange life of those early California days are simply admirable, quite as good as anything Bret Harte has written." - Literary World A GOOD MATCH. A Novel. By AMELIA PERRIER. I vol. 12mo. Cloth, 66 $1.50. A very readable love story, tenderly told."- Hearth and Home. "The characters appear and act with a real life." - Providence Press. To be had of all Booksellers, or will be sent to any address post-paid, ou receipt. of the price by J. B. FORD & COMPANY, Publishers, 27 PARK PLAce, New YORK. 5597 9.1. THE ATLANTIC FOR JULY, Now ready, and for sale everywhere, Commences the THIRTY-SIXTH VOLUME with two timely historical papers, - one a clear and graphic description of The Battle of Bunker Hill, By HORACE E. SCUDDER, and the other a very interesting account of Washington in Cambridge, Narrating the incidents of his residence there during the siege of Boston, by ALEXANDER MCKENZIE. These alone would make the number a noteworthy one, but it is rich in attractions besides. CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER Gives an entertaing description of Passing the Cataract of the Nile, and W. D. HOWELLS Writes of An Obsolete Fine Gentleman, being an Essay on Parini, the Italian poet. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Contributes two Sonnets from Over Sen, and there are other poems by MRS. FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE, T. B. ALDRICH, and HENRY JAMES, Jr. Continues his delightful serial novel Roderick A CHARMING STORY OF NORSE LIFE. BY PROF. H. H. BOYESEN, of Cornell University, and author of "Gunnar.” A NORSEMAN'S PILGRIMAGE I vol. Small 12mo. Laid paper, $1.50. There is a charm about Prof. Boyesen's style which few can resist. A Norseman's Pilgrimage is a perfect gem in the way of a novel, as well as a most beautiful picture of Norse life. RECENTLY PUBLISHED: PAUL MASSIE. By JUSTIN McCarthy, Author of "Linley Rochford," "A Fair Saxon," etc. I vol. 12mo. Price, Cloth, Black Stamp, $1.50. Paper, $1.00. From the Pall Mall Gazette, London. We may say that altogether we have not read many books so full promise as Paul Massie.'" Hudson, and there is a clever story entitled Broke A STORY OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. Jail, by D. H. JOHNSON, a new writer. The Publishers refer with pride to the fact that the six numbers of the ATLANTIC published this year have contained four poems by LONGFELLOW, two by LOWELL, two by WHITTIER, and one by BRYANT, which are among the best that these leading American poets have ever written. DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES has furnished two brilliant articles, in his happiest vein, and contributions have also appeared from BAYARD TAYLOR, T. B. ALDRICH, W. D. HOWELLS, E. C. STEDMAN, J. T. TROWBRIDGE, R. H. STODDARD, CELIA THAXTER, MISS PHELPS, and other favorite writers: not to omit MARK TWAIN, whose Mississippi River papers have been so widely read. The list of attractions for 1875 does not stop here. In early numbers will be commenced a series of Autobiographical Papers by MRS. FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE, and several Papers on Railroads by CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Jr.; a New American Novel by W. D. HOWELLS will follow Mr. James's story. BAYARD TAYLOR resumes in August his "Autumn Days in Weimar;" and in September COL. GEORGE E. WARING begins a series of papers of great practical value. Other contributions are expected from the writers named above, who have so long been identified with the ATLANTIC, and the Publishers will spare no pains or expense to keep the magazine, where it has always stood, AT THE HEAD OF AMERICAN LIT ERATURE. TERMS: 35 cents a number; $4.00 a year, H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY, Boston.; TON, New York. HURD LOVE AFLOAT. By F. H. SHEPPARD, U.S.N. Price, Cloth, Black Stamp, $1.50. Paper, $1. Besides being a most charming story, it gives a real and vivid picture of life on board an American man-of war. MRS. ANNIE EDWARDS' POWERFUL STORY, ESTELLE. Price, Cloth, $1.50. Paper, $1.00 GENERAL CUSTER'S GREAT BOOK. MY LIFE ON THE PLAINS. Elegantly Illustrated. Price, $2.00. THEODORE TILTON'S GREAT NOVEL. TEMPEST-TOSSED. Price, $1.75. Thirteen editions sold. JUSTIN MCCARTHY'S STORY. LINLEY ROCHFORD. Price, $1.00, or $1.75 cloth. Either of the above sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of the price. SHIELDON & COMPANY, NEW YORK. |