In all the principal parties there are some clerical pretensions. They nearly all have some kind of clerical standard, that a man must pass, to enter into holy orders at all. They have some kind of regular process through which a man must pass, to be an authorized minister, or to be permitted to minister in holy things at all, or to make ordinances valid administered by his hands, or to give him official grace and functions. But here come Moody and Sankey, Whittle and Bliss, or Hammond, without ever having been tried by the _clerical standard_, or ever having passed through the regular process to holy orders, and never made clergymen at all, preaching and exercising ministerial functions. All sorts of clergymen are rallying to them, recognizing and indorsing their work! What becomes of clerical pretensions in all this? Clergymen of all sorts recognizing and indorsing _laymen preaching_, and laymen exercising all the functions of the ministry, who have never been measured by the ministerial standard, and never have been made clergymen. In this they are conceding that their clerical pretensions and claims are empty—that there is nothing in them, that men that have never been measured by the standard, nor made clergymen at all, have as good a right to preach and minister in holy things as they. In this they concede that the clerical cloak is nothing, and that men can and may rightfully preach the word of God, without having it on. The people ought to lay hold of this concession, read the Scriptures, learn them and teach others, and thus go on till they fill the earth with the knowledge of God. No man need wait to have clerical hands laid on him to authorize to preach Jesus, or teach the saints in the way of righteousness. To know the gospel and the teaching of Christ, and be able to preach Christ and teach saints the way to heaven, prepares any man to preach and teach. To appear in a proper manner and exercise a good influence in preaching and teaching, a man must be a christian, and have a good life as such, a life of piety and devotion, corresponding to the preaching and teaching. But a man is in no shape to appear before the world as a preacher of Christ, and a teacher in the kingdom of God, who has no standing in the church of God, where his home is, and a good recommendation to satisfy those abroad that his standing is good at home. TOO LATE FOR THE CARS. On going to the depot we found our information about car time was wrong, and we got to the depot just in time to see the train go out and leave us. This has two lessons in it: 1. That it is not true “that what a man thinks is right, is right to him.” The time we _thought was right_ proved _not to be right_. 2. That we ought to be cautious about saying, “There is time enough yet.” LORD’S DAY MEETINGS.