student will exercise himself sufficiently upon these, with the leading effect in view in the use of each topic, he will have matter enough for study, and still wider fields will open themselves before him. The reader may rest assured that there are few compensations more immediate in the return, as a reward for close study, than those which relate to the expressive reading of the Lessons. And, while consciously imperfect utterance is a source of the greatest annoyance, the approval of the ear in heartfelt and appropriate expression is one of the richest sources of comfort which attends honest, earnest, intelligent effort to read impressively and appropriately the Word of God.

THE DECALOGUE.

A full analysis of this portion of the Service would properly fill many pages. Its treatment here must be brief, and simply suggestive. The first thing to be insisted upon is that the Commandments should be read as Commandments of God. This thought gives dignity and authority to the expression. The two extremes of the faulty reading are 1. The feeble effect of a petition, or a pathetic request that these laws should be observed, setting the words to a minor tune, and imparting the sound of complaint, in place of command. 2. The pompous authority which gives a personal effect, as though the reader himself had enacted these laws, and was personally requiring obedience to them. Besides these there are many other errors, such as undue rapidity, suppression of the force, too high a key, pauses too long or too short, etc. The utterance should be deliberately and expressively emphatic, so as to leave no room in the mind of the hearer for misinterpretation or doubt as to the meaning and application of the law. The voice of authority must be sustained throughout. The reading should be expression of the Law, from which there is no appeal, mandatory and absolute, not a narrative, not the feeble expression of a desire, but the firm utterance of

unyielding and inexorable law-"Thou shalt," and "Thou shalt not."

It is well to observe the change in the character of the utterance as the reader passes from the voice of instruction or prayer to the voice of command. The use of it in this part of the Service calls for a different expression from that found in its narrative form, when read as a Lesson, and it would be well for every reader of the Commandments to recall, before he reads them, the awful scene on Sinai, and the majesty and the mystery attendant upon the giving of the Law.

"And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice."-Deut. xix., 16–19.

With such a scene in mind, and the preceding prayer for purity of heart, before Him Who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and unto Whom all hearts are open, let the reader consider the dignity, character, and authority of the introduction, "God spake these words and said." Anything less than a deliberate, firm, and emphatic utterance of the preface is not a fitting preparation for the reading of the entire Law.

First Commandment.-The deliberation is to be fully marked, the authority more emphatically expressed than in the preface.

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"I am the Lord thy God: Thou shalt have none other gods but me."

Second Commandment. tive in the Commandments throughout takes a secondary emphasis. No one would read, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon," except in contradiction. Goddard, in his "Reading of the Liturgy," changes the authorized punctuation of the period, and gives a comma after the phrase "under the earth," to avoid the prohibition of all forms of graven images. But surely there is little danger of imperiling the noble art of sculpture by the stolid, literal rendering, when the application is so obvious. Following Sheridan, Bishop Henshaw, Goddard, and others, it is correct to make it apparent that the sins of the fathers are visited unto the third or fourth generation of their children, which places the pause after "generation." With deliberate emphasis upon "children" and "hate," we are the better prepared to give the rhythmical emphasis of antithesis upon "thousands," and "love me and keep my commandments." The expressive emphasis of the lamented Dr. Francis Hawks on the word "thousands" was peculiarly suggestive of the infinitude of the Divine mercy.

"Thou shalt not-" the nega

"Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them: For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God; and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and show mercy unto thousands in them that love me, and keep my commandments."

Third Commandment.-The prohibition should be purposely emphatic, and the warning so solemnly and threateningly given, that the profane swearer may indeed feel that he is not held guiltless before his GOD. Strong emphasis and full pause at "guiltless" enforce the expression.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

Fourth Commandment.-Emphasize "remember,” and pause after it, making it monitory. The emphatic word in the first sentence is not "day," but "Sabbath-day." The falling inflection upon every clause gives the best expression of prohibition and command. The pause after "sea connects it properly with "heaven and earth." A common error is to unite "sea" directly with "and all that in them is." Full emphasis should be given upon "rested"; also upon "blessed and hallowed." The sounding of the syllable "-ed" in "blessed and hallowed" destroys the grammatical character, making the verbs take the construction of adjectives.

"Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work; thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, thy cattle, and the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it."

Fifth Commandment.-"Honour," "father," and "mother" are especially emphatic. The pause and emphasis are upon "long" rather than "land.”

"Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Commandments.-A very effective reader of the Commandments is said to make murder horrible, adultery vile, and theft mean, by the interpretation of his reading. This would be suggestive as a study, but no mere imitation should be attempted, unless the reader is sure that his utterance imparts the same effect. These three words are primarily emphatic, and the emphasis upon the negative should be secondary. In the Seventh Commandment the pause is after "not" rather than "commit." "Thou shalt do no murder."

"Thou shalt not commit adultery."

"Thou shalt not steal."

Ninth Commandment. "False witness" receives the emphasis on both words, with a pause following.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness | against thy neigh

bour."

Tenth Commandment.-The falling slide, with emphasis upon each clause, makes the expression prohibitory. Emphasis should be placed upon "anything" and "his."

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his.”

Now, if the reading has given interpretation to the unyielding rigor and the inexorable authority of the law of works, we are prepared for the comforting and sympathetic instructions of the law of love. The fullness of the voice of authority is chastened and subdued by the gentler attribute which is described. Especial meaning and emphasis should be given upon the clause, "as thyself."

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

THE SENTENCES OF THE OFFERTORY.

These passages are very useful as studies of expression in the effort to awaken good impulses and generosity in almsgiving. If they are read as so many instructive exhortations, and with the actual purpose of moving Christian people to their duty, it will give a clearness, an emphasis, and an effect, not to be secured equally well by any other process.

A general summary of the varying character of the passages would classify them as : 1, injunctions; 2, explanatory declarations; 3, oratorical interrogations implying exhorta