position? Such elevation of piety, by casting out of the mind every obstacle to the clearest perception of the truth, and giving to the tongue the most apt and persuasive eloquence for the utterance of it, and hallowing the life with the exact and glowing impression of it, and seeking in prayer the influences of the Holy Spirit, would secure all the conditions of the purest and noblest success. With those who have already been conciliated to the gospel, there is a power, as all experience testifies, in the wise instructions, the luminous example, the holy intercourse, and the vigorous efforts of an efficient ministry, which it is impossible to resist. And had such been the general character of the ministry of the present day, it would have proved an agency for moving the church and bearing on the world, which would have conducted the former many degrees nearer the strength and glory of the millennial age. What other solution, than that which is suggested by these considerations, can be given of the melancholy fact, that, with such a host of enlightened and able preachers, and such an amount of labour performed by them, and such a variety of means, in incessant operation, for diffusing the truths of the gospel, as our country has so long enjoyed, the work of conversion has proceeded so slowly? Never were ministers so multiplied, never were they supported by such bands of intelligent auxiliaries, and never, on the whole, was evangelical truth so freely uttered or so widely spread among the myriads of our congregations; but when we ask for the result, what inroads have been made on the world, what conquests have enlarged and strengthened the church, the answer is painfully disappointing. One who formed his expectations on the design of the gospel, its adaptation to the exigencies of sinful men, its assurance of Divine aid, and its predicted triumphs, would be prepared to hear of thousands being daily added to the church by so varied and extensive an agency. But in some places the number of the faithful is on the decline, in others they are stationary, elsewhere they are reinforced but slowly, and scarcely anywhere with the rapidity which might have been anticipated; while the population is augmenting at a fearful ratio. For one minister who can say, "Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ," there are at least ten who are crying, "Who hath believed our report, and to

whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ?" -and a still greater number whose success is so partial as to perplex and sadden, rather than cheer.

We should impugn the character of the gospel as the designed renovator of universal man, and blaspheme the wisdom of its Author, were we to say that there exists under the sun any form of human evil too strong for it to correct; still more, were we to say that the invincible woe exists on British ground, where the ameliorating influences of the gospel have been so long vouchsafed, and light has sprung up for the guidance of other nations. The accumulation of wealth, the growth of luxury, the fluctuations in trade and commerce, the consequent rapid changes from comfort to want in the condition of the working classes, the difficulty of finding room for the crowds ever pressing into every walk of human business and emolument, and the temptation which competition everywhere gives to the over-straining of invention and industry-these, not to mention our political strifes, tend to produce a state of mind unfriendly to the spirituality and self-denial of the gospel. But over what

evils, as formidable as these, has not the gospel already triumphed?

Neither can we impute the slow progress of the truth to a judicial withdrawment of Divine influence. That could have happened only in consequence of some peculiar atrocity of national guilt; and, though heavily burdened with sin, none, it is hoped, will take so extreme a view of our case.

As little can we impute it to any mysterious act of sovereignty on the part of God. That he has a right to bestow and recall his favours at pleasure, none will dispute. But that a land should be so provided with the means of saving instruction, and the public ear urged with it from so many points, and that with all fidelity, and that he should, nevertheless, so restrain his life-giving Spirit, as to leave his servants comparatively unblest, has nothing like it in the whole history of his past dispensations to men, and is utterly irreconcilable with the free proclamation of his yearning love to men of every clime and age, and the promise of his blessing to every faithful herald of that love. Let it be that, in order to admonish us of the dependence of the ministry on the sovereign grace of God, Paul says, "I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase;" yet when did any so plant and water as

Paul and Apollos, and God withhold the increase?

If it be said that the very limited success of the present ministry is owing to its labours not being properly sustained by the impressive example, the fervent prayers, and the zealous co-operation of the church; that if those labours have been comparatively unproductive, they have for the most part been confined to the same congregations, and not spread over the miscellaneous population; and that, therefore, after all, the scene of action has been comparatively narrow; that if the spirit and doings of the church had been more convincing, not only would the converts have been multiplied in the stated congregations, but the ministry would have been in a condition for acting on the surrounding masses of ignorance and irreligion: all this may be true, but it touches only the surface of the present inquiry. The question still returns, Why is it that the church, on the whole, has been, and is, so languid and inefficient? Is not this an effect which bespeaks the corresponding inefficiency of the ministry? What is human society, in any of its conditions, but the material which the plastic power of a ministry, uttering the truth, and pervaded by the Spirit of God, is to mould into the purest and noblest forms? And what is there in any existing state of human society which the calculations of Divine wisdom and mercy regard as too stubborn and untractable for such a ministry to subdue? The church can be replete with life and energy only as the effect of an agency which is to infuse into it its own spirit. Now and then, when an emergency had arisen, an individual has, by solitary study, and a remarkable concurrence of providential circumstances, and under the special promptings of the Spirit of God, risen to distinguished knowledge, sanctity, and zeal, while all around him have been dark and dead. But when a confederacy like the church has to be created and organized, a union and concert of minds lifting up their testimony and putting forth their energies for God and the best interests of men, this is to be done, not by the self-originating movements of separate individuals, but by an agency which shall impress its own qualities on the mass of human beings within its reach. The Lord of the church has committed its edification to the ministry, and this under the operation of a law which ordains that faithful instruction,

faultless example, and the actings of an enlightened and untiring zeal are the only channel through which he can pour that plenitude of grace which is to give the church its destined enlargement and strength. Were it otherwise, and the church not expected to bear an invariable relation to the moral power of the ministry, strong in its strength, and languishing in its feebleness, we should be tempted to think, whenever the church was unapt and reluctant to fulfil its vocation, that there was something in the state of society, out of which the church of that period had been called, hopelessly incorrigible by moral means, and that we must wait for its extinction in some other way; whereas, if unresisted, it will be sure to survive in some form or other, and is of a nature to yield only to moral power, and to that power as wielded by the ministry. Where there is zeal for God, and a determination to try the utmost efficacy of that remedy which he has provided for men in every possible exigency of their sinful state, there is nothing in the condition of the church at any period, or in the state of society on which it has to act, to justify despair of the highest invigoration of the one, or of the extensive conversion of the other. If the evils which cramp and enfeeble the church, and render it unmeet for its appropriate work, yield not to the power already acting upon it, it is a call to the ministry to renew its strength and to rise to higher efforts. Nothing is ever to be allowed to engender the disheartening suspicion that a crisis has arisen to which the resources of mercy and power in the gospel and its right administration are inadequate. Ignorance is to be put to flight by a more forcible and reiterated declaration of Divine truth; apathy is to be kindled into sensibility by a more earnest and ardent zeal; worldliness is to disappear in the presence of a higher spirituality; selfishness is to melt away before a more commanding disinterestedness; the love of ease is to be made to blush by the sight of a readiness to do and suffer to the utmost limit of human sacrifice and endurance; a weak and hesitating faith is to be nurtured to strength and courage by a confidence in God which trusts him to the extent of his

truth and power. And the ministry which is not prepared for this may be fit for moderate achievements, but cannot have the honour, because it has not the capacity and will, of urging on the church to the pitch of attainment and effort

which shall make it the joy and glory of the earth.

These remarks will indicate in what sense it is conceived that the existing ministry is not possessed of those commanding and energetic qualities calculated to render it pre-eminently useful, and a select instrument of the Divine purposes. Nothing could be further from my design, or from my unfeigned estimation of it, than to speak of it disparagingly, or in terms which could detract one particle from the love and confidence with which it is generally regarded. That it has been useful, and, therefore, possessed of a corresponding measure of excellence, the extent and character of the church at this hour, with all its defects, are a sufficient proof. And let all the honour due to it on this ground be scrupulously guarded, lest we should offend God as well as undervalue it. But the church, which, to the extent explained, has just reason to revere the ministry, has a very imperfect sense of its own obligations, and of the height of Christian attainment to which they should stimulate it; and both the church requires to be informed, and the ministry to be reminded, what are the only means of the felicitous state which is to be sought. Here and there the church already begins to betray some consciousness of its not being in its proper condition; the feeling is deeper and more widely spread in the ministry, and many an aspiration for something worthier and nobler has begun to stir its bosom: but it does not seem to be sufficiently understood and recognised, that nothing less than the renovation of the ministry itself can prepare the way for that happier condition. And it is only in reference to the high function of training the church to the condition which it should and must have, and not for preserving it as it now is, that the belief of the want of adaptedness in the ministry has been diffidently and tremblingly expressed.

When we survey the ministry in the several sections of the church, there are some symptoms of moral weakness which cannot but awaken just anxiety for its highest interests and honour. With respect to the Church of England, there is no hope of its genuine renovation from either Puseyism or cold orthodoxy. The evangelical clergy are the only men, under God, to whom we can look for such a work. But not only are they few, compared with the host who hold a different creed, but there are considerations

which tend to repress any ardent expectations from them. It is true that they do not preach the efficacy of the sacraments, and the fiction of the apostolic succession; but, with here and there an exception worthy of all honour, they are so far influenced by the denunciations which the rest of the clergy are perpetually uttering against every form of dissent from the Established Church, that they now shrink with increased sensitiveness from all co-operation and contact with every class of nonconformist ministers, though contending, with intelligence and fidelity, and no small measure of Divine approval, for the same vital doctrines with themselves. This shows defective decision and firmness for the truth itself, and so draws suspicion on the strength of their attachment to it; for where love to it is paramount, and zeal for its defence and propagation superior to all other considerations, it may justly be expected that there will be a sympathetic and undisguised recognition of all who are worthily labouring in the same cause. But the most affecting view of it is thisthey who are wanting in moral courage for the truth in one form, are liable to be unfaithful to it in another. Nor can the truth be propagated, and bring forth its hallowed fruits, without the blessing of the Spirit which dictated it. But that Spirit is also jealous of any slight or wrong done to the truth, and cannot be expected to shed its selectest influences on the labours of men who have shown such equivocal attachment to it. Moreover, the ministers thus shunned are but men, and can resent as well as feel a disparagement; and hence may arise distrust, uncharitableness, and the imputation of unworthy motives. But the lifegiving Spirit, which presides over and directs the interests of the truth, delights in the atmosphere of love and harmony, and can be estranged by a want of charity as well as of uncompromising fidelity. And thus both parties suffer in a vital point. Mutual sympathy, the strength of the associated combatants for the truth, is weak, and there is an abstraction of Divine influence.

Turning to the Wesleyan body, and contemplating its rise and astonishing progress, the unanimity of its counsels, and the success vouchsafed to its unremitting and devoted labours, who cannot but regard it as one of the richest dispensations of mercy to our country and to the world, and feel how largely the interests of religion are comprised in its

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continued prosperity? A revival, however, of the simple and self-denying piety which animated its first evangelists, would give a new spring and energy to its movements, and shed new life and freshness on all its ministrations. to be feared that the superintending brethren do not exercise that zealous and affectionate vigilance, for nourishing and strengthening the piety of their juniors in the ministry, which was once practised. And the difficulty experienced every Conference in placing the itinerant preachers in their new stations, with sufficient regard to the convenience of each, would seem to show that a generation have sprung up less nerved for privation and toil, and more considerate of their ease, than their early predecessors.

Among the other Dissenting bodies, particular notice is due to the Independents, as the most numerous. Consider

ing the general order of talent and mental culture in the ministers of that body, their intelligence and popular gifts, their uniform and unflinching maintenance of evangelical truth, together with that free spirit of inquiry and observation which disposes them to look beyond their own denomination, and to receive light from any quarter, what might not be expected for the revival of religion, throughout the widest circle of their influence, were their piety, certainly not inferior to that of any other body, to undergo the renovation which the times require, and to bring all their resources into the fullest and most energetic action? But there are some things observable in them which justify remark. They do not sufficiently bring their strength to bear on the humblest classes. They are not without zeal and laboriousness, but what they do must be in a genteel way. Of the numerous students annually sent forth from their colleges, we hear of none who are candidates for the self-denying and toilsome, though ill-remunerated, labours of the Home Mission field. Yet many of them do not find it easy to settle in more inviting spheres. It seems not impossible to forget that poverty is not the last reproach of the Christian ministry. It has also been long felt that many of their largest congregations require the labours of more than a single pastor, and that especially would it be advantageous for a minister, in the maturity of his judgment and experience, but in the wane of his physical powers, to have one associated with him who is new in the duties of the sacred office; the senior reinforcing himself by the youth and activity

of the junior, and the junior borrowing from the wisdom of the senior, and the objects of their joint care deriving benefit from both. But how very rarely is this realized! Nor is the hinderance always a pecuniary one. It is oftener, perhaps, the fear that too much deference would be exacted on the one hand, and too little yielded on the other. But when age cannot lean on youth, and youth cannot revere and minister to age, what does this bespeak but a low state of piety, and the prevalence of other feelings than absorbing solicitude for the highest welfare of the church? There is also another circumstance, though not peculiar to this Denomination. Whose cheek has not burned at seeing it publicly advertised that ministers of piety and talents would be glad to treat with some vacant church? Has it come to this, that the service of God is so overstocked with superfluous agents, or churches so wanting in discrimination, that piety and talents need to proclaim themselves? Whoever has been induced to take this step, is it not to be regretted that, before so committing himself, there was no friendly voice to suggest, that, to solicit employment is to wrong the high spirituality of the service of Christ, and to stoop to voluntary dishonour, and that it would have been better to toil for his bread in the meanest calling than, as aspiring to the cure of souls, to publish either his need or his pretensions? It could not have sprung from a scrupulous and hightoned piety.

And when we look northward, to the sister kingdom, its religious position, interesting and hopeful as it is, is not unmingled with grounds of fear. The separation from the National church of so many hundreds of its ablest and most faithful ministers, with so large a portion of their flocks, is an event which has drawn the attention of the whole Christian world, and from which the happiest results are anticipated. Well have these confessors for the "Crown Rights of the Redeemer" vindicated their deep sincerity and earnestness! But is there no danger of their making an idol of the "Free Church of Scotland," as if it were destined to overtop the Establishment, and to absorb every other form of Dissent? As one great division of the army of the faithful in that, land, who would not wish them extensive conquests, and that they may plant themselves deep in the affections of increasing myriads of their countrymen? And for this they have distinguished advantages. Their

number and organization, their individual and combined strength, the devotion and abilities of their leaders-men worthy of the best days of Scottish history--and, above all, that preparation for acting with unwonted unction and power which springs from the consciousness of having sacrificed much in their righteous cause, and left themselves nothing but that cause and its almighty Patron, on which to rely; these are considerations which justify the hope of their labours producing a mighty and salutary effect. But should they imagine that they have some peculiar title to take possession of the length and breadth of the land, and that others, who have been longer freed from, or were never under, the bonds which they have cast off, are to merge in them, or to rest under their shadow,-this would be to forget that it is they who humble themselves that shall be exalted, and to repress the sympathy with which others are disposed to regard them. On the other hand, it must be confessed that their new position will test the candour and charity of the older bodies of Scottish Dissenters. Not remembering against them, in their altered circumstances, the hard things which they once said of Voluntaryism and Voluntaries, nor unduly jealous when they see their extending labours approach their own territory, the latter should hail their accession to the advocacy of those fundamental principles which they hold in common, and both resolve to rival one another only in the reciprocation of generous sentiments and deeds. Were their rivalry of any other kind, the recent secession, instead of conducing to strengthen and unite the faithful, would prove only a new element of discord and animosity.

What can prevent this? Nothing but the diffusion, through all the parties concerned, of a piety utterly purged from all private and selfish aims. As yet, however, this is not the felicity of Scotland any more than of England.

Glancing at the existing ministry, then, even in its most hopeful divisions, both in North and South Britain, we perceive that it is not fully possessed of the attributes necessary to render it an efficient agency for the highest renovation and prosperity of the body of Christ. Blest already in degree, it may be more blest, and its blessedness would be the forerunner of increased life and energy to the church.*

* See the notice, in our review department, of A Revived Ministry our only Hope," &c.

MEANS TO BE USED BY CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES FOR PROMOTING THEIR OWN PROSPERITY.

By Joel Hawes, D.D., U. S.

LET us inquire what means are to be used by the members of our churches, in order to perpetuate their existence and promote their prosperity. In their associated capacity then, the first thing required of them, is, that they use great caution in the admission of members to their communion. It is plain, from the Bible, that our Lord Jesus Christ designed that the church, his spiritual body, should be composed only of living, spiritual members. This principle was uniformly regarded and acted upon in the primitive churches, and also in the first churches of New England. And while it was maintained, those churches flourished, and sent forth a healthful, regenerating influence over the land. But, as the relinquishment of that principle brought on the papal apostacy, and shrouded the world in ages of darkness, so in New England it brought on the apostacy from the faith of our fathers, and has reduced many of the churches planted by their care, to mere societies of unsanctified, worldly men. And such must always be the consequence of opening the door of the church to persons who afford no evidence of piety. The necessary effect is to destroy the distinctive character of the church, as a holy community, and to introduce into it the seeds of corruption and decay.

Let the churches, then, that still retain the faith once delivered to the saints, carefully guard against the admission of persons to their communion, who furnish no satisfactory, scriptural evidence of having been born of God. It is only such as have been renewed by the Holy Spirit, that Christ judges worthy of a place in his spiritual temple; and if any of a different character are introduced into it, they will, in the day of trial, prove to be "hay, wood, and stubble," and only serve to weaken, deform, and destroy the glorious edifice.

It is not enough considered, that the strength of a church is in the piety of its members, that its influence, in promoting the cause of God and the salvation of men, depends entirely upon its possessing a holy, distinctive character;such a character as shall attract the attention of the world, and cause them to mark and consider its members, as a society of holy and devoted men and

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