eat! Shall I tremble when an ecclesiastical Leo utters a
roar? Shall I halt and stammer because a top-heavy lad from a
theological seminary, hopelessly in love with himself, scowls at the
word "sanctification"?

QUEER COURAGE.

There are some who bolster their courage by saying ostentatiously, "I
don't care what folks say," but their very vehemence shows that they DO
care a very great deal. We boys all remember how we used to whistle
when we passed a graveyard after dark to show we "weren't afraid"; and
how hard it was to keep our mouths puckered and how shaky our legs felt!

AFRAID TO BREAK STEP

The folks we are afraid of are afraid of us. What a situation! A great
regiment of people marching straight down to hell, everyone afraid to
break step for fear the others will laugh! That is precisely the
condition of nearly every sinner.

COURAGE OF THERMOPYLAE

Sanctification takes away the shrinking timidity and puts in a courage
like that at Thermopylae. There was once a young man who, previous to
his sanctification, was so timid that he frequently stayed away from
church for no other reason than that he feared God might ask him to
testify. He enjoyed meetings and loved to hear preaching, but the very
idea of testimony would frighten him almost ill. Now he frequently
addresses many hundreds and never feels the slightest embarrassment.

UNMASK PRURIENCY.

The ministry is sadly in need of a blessing which will give it courage
to attack sin of all kinds and degrees. We need men who will rip the
mask off the putrid face of corruption and pronounce God's sentence
upon it; who will lift up the trap-door of the cess-pools of men's
hearts and bid them look within at their own slime and filth; who will
"cry aloud and spare not," though the infuriated cohorts of bat-winged
demons snarl and shriek.

SPEAK PLAINLY.

There will be a day when men will curse us because we have not preached
more plainly. You can call a spade "a spade" or you can designate it as
"an iron utensil employed for excavating purposes," but if you want
folks to understand what you are driving at use the shorter term.

SHOOTING OVER MEN'S HEADS.

There is too little plain Anglo-Saxon preaching. We shoot far over the
heads of our congregations and do not even scar the varnish on the
gallery banister. We dwell on the points of distinction between
Calvinism and Arminianism when the greater part of our people do not
know the difference between an Armi