of consolation for the bereaved. Whatever the topic, the spirit and manner should be dictated and pervaded by a genuine sympathy for the sorrowing, and a hearty appreciation of whatever was excellent in the character and life of the deceased. Though not a Christian, he may have been a valuable citizen, a just and generous man, a true and unselfish friend, a good husband and father. If any personal remarks are made, such characteristics may properly be recognized on such an occasion as honoring his memory and rendering his death a loss to the world. 4. The service at the grave should ordinarily be brief, as the people are standing, and the circumstances of the place render an extended service undesirable. Some pastors use here some one of the printed manuals of burial services, others read from Scripture, or repeat from memory, a selection of passages relating to death, the grave, and the resurrection, and others make a brief address. Whatever the method adopted, the service should be carefully prepared, and should vary in its form, in order to secure in this, as in all services, variety and adaptation to the occasion. The service is closed by the apostolic benediction, prefaced sometimes by a few words of prayer. 5. It is desirable to visit the family in which death has occurred before the funeral services, both to express your sympathy in the affliction and to learn any facts respecting the deceased and the arrangements for the funeral that may be necessary for you to know. The pastor should here have the character of an adviser and friend. In all arrangements for the funeral it is better, in general, to conform to the customs of the community; but so far as he may use influence in regard to these, it should be in favor of inexpensive simplicity and against ostentatious display. Costliness and display at funerals constitute in many communities an evil of such serious proportions and consequences that the ministry should decidedly set their face against it; for, established as an inexorable custom, it often augments and perpetuates the sorrow of a death in the family by creating debt and pecuniary embarrassment which remain for years to come. It is also important to visit the family soon after the funeral to administer further consolation, and to follow up any good impressions which affliction has made. This is often one of the pastor's best opportunities, as the heart is then tender and susceptible to religious influences. It is in these dark hours of adversity that the Gospel is felt in its saving, consoling, helping power in the soul, and the pastor here should work with Providence, carefully improving the opportunity. +SECTION XII.+ CULTIVATION OF THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT.