THE HOUR BEFORE CHURCH.
By William Arnot
THE note struck then is likely to give tone to your spirits all the day. Redeem it. Redeem it as much as you can from family duties. Redeem it wholly from "plaiting of the hair and putting on of apparel." Redeem it wholly from vain conversation. How very much the power of the minister's preaching depends on the preparing of the hearer's heart! If you come up to the church with your mind crowded with trifles, and puffed up with vanity, what can ministers do? They can do nothing but beat the air. What else can they do if there be nothing before them but air to beat at? It will make a sound, and that is all. I fear that many dear people spend more time on the Sabbath morning in putting veils on their faces than in taking the veil off their hearts; more time in trying to make themselves appear before men what they are not than in trying to make themselves appear before God what they are.—W. Arnot.