32 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



This is quite a fair specimen of the average style of 

 his notes, which were generally written out in small 

 handwriting upon half a half-sheet of note-paper, and 

 upon which alone he depended as an aid to his memory 

 while in the pulpit. How he even contrived to read 

 them is a mystery, for he was very short-sighted, and 

 could scarcely see at all without the aid of spectacles ; 

 how he managed to make anything of them when 

 he did read them is a greater mystery still. But every 

 single word in those brief jottings suggested some 

 chain of ideas to his mind, which he had, of course, 

 carefully thought out before, and which a "key- 

 word," so to speak, would instantly bring before him 

 again. 



He was always very nervous in beginning a sermon ; 

 and generally the first few sentences, carefully prepared 

 beforehand, were a little laboured and heavy. But then 

 by degrees he would quite forget himself, and become 

 wholly carried away by his subject ; and the remainder 

 of the sermon was always most instructive and striking. 

 He well understood the use of those sudden, startling 

 sayings which keep the attention of a congregation 

 fixed, and cause them to hang on the lips of the preacher 

 with a sort of breathless interest. I remember one 

 occasion, for instance, in which he had been treating 

 of the various phases of modern infidelity, especially as 

 shown in the atheistical writings of a certain well-known 

 platform orator; and his subject had led him to the 

 question of the existence of the soul. " If," he said, 

 " that man were to confront me, and to ask me whether 



