Careful preparation of thought, but of especially of spirit should be made for the meeting. No man should trust to the inspiration of the occasion either for the thought which shall give the keynote to the meeting or for the quickened spiritual life which, existing in the leader, shall touch and quicken the life of the church. 2. Be punctual in opening and closing at the appointed time; nothing so effectually secures a prompt attendance, and the neglect of it will prevent many from coming, especially females, because they cannot know how late may be the hour of dismission. 3. Be brief in your own exercises, showing yourself a pattern, and insist on brevity in others, whether in prayer, remarks, or singing. Let your opening remarks be suggestive rather than exhaustive, so that when you sit down the people, instead of feeling that all has been said, will find the subject opening before them and be inspired to carry out the thought into other phases and applications. 4. Avoid uniformity and monotony. To secure natural variety, give each meeting its own keynote, now of thanksgiving and praise, now of confession and humiliation, now of Christian hope, and again of some great truth or some practical duty. If it becomes evident, as it sometimes will, that you have struck the wrong key and thought and feeling are running in another channel, throw yourself heartily into that and make the most of it. If a pause occurs, be ready with a passage of Scripture, a hymn or remark, or call on individuals either to pray or relate experience, or to state some interesting fact you may know they possess. A pastor in vital relations with the people, by his knowledge of the experiences and condition of the individuals before him, will be able to give perpetual variety to the meetings by evoking in various ways their experience and utilizing their power. 5. In regard to the presentation of special cases for prayer, my judgment is that this should be encouraged; since, even apart from the power of prayer with God in behalf of such cases and the answer of blessing it brings, the special presentation itself serves to give directness and fervency to supplication and adds freshness and power to the exercise. It is possible, however, to have too much machinery in a prayer-meeting, making its movement mechanical and destroying spontaneity. Expression of interest in the subject of personal religion by rising or other forms may be so often repeated as to be worse than useless and become justly offensive. In calling, therefore, for an expression, great care must be taken not to overdo, and not to do it at all unless there is good reason to expect a response. A failure usually chills the interest of a meeting. 6. Use all exertions to bring the gifts of the church into full exercise; there is always a large amount of latent power which it should be the special care of the pastor to develop and make effective for Christ. This will not be done by