THE CHURCH.

"Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."-Eph. ii. 20.

JANUARY, 1849.

SOME THINGS ESSENTIAL TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION.

BY THE REV. JABEZ BURNS, D.D.

The present low and feeble state of most evangelical churches, both in this and other lands, has been a cause of great grief and much solicitude to those who are devoutly praying and labouring for the conversion of souls. Various are the reasons assigned for this distressing state of things. The fearful influence of worldliness is supposed greatly to have injured the mercantile and trading classes of society. Political agitation and severe depression of our commerce is considered to have told very unfavourably on the masses of our working people. I think both these statements, with their conclusions, to be true, and to deserve our grave consideration, in order that we may bring a counteracting influence to bear upon them. But I fear the main causes are in, and with, the church itself. Is the pulpit as effective as it ought to be, as it must be, if the world is to be converted? Is the church itself, in its great body of members, so organized, and so energetic and active, as it might be, and must be, before the triumphs of the Saviour will be consummated?

Now, let us look at these two points, in reference to the subject under our immediate consideration. We premise that we cannot expect conversions and revivals, unless the pure evangelical truths of the gospel are preached. There is no remedy for the depravity and guilt of human nature but what the cross has provided. No preaching but Christ and him crucified will ever convert men. But may not the true doctrines of the gospel be so preached, that their efficiency will but rarely be felt?

The gospel may be so scholastically preached, that there may be little for the plain uneducated hearer to understand or profit by. Learned disquisitions, and elaborate treatises, and critical essays, may do for the classroom of the academy, or for the pages of some literary periodical; but in general they are worse than useless, when presented in the form of sermons, to mixed popular assemblies.

The gospel may be preached so tamely as to produce no effect on those who hear it. If any message should be delivered with intense earnestness, it is surely that which is essentially connected with the eternal salvation of the hearers. A stiff, lifeless exhibition of the grand realities of our religion, seems a cruel mockery, if not an absurd caricature on the work of the ministry. Besides, holy ardour and glowing zeal are now

VOL. III.

B

thrown into every enterprise, and the man who is listless and apathetic is unfitted for the movements and spirit of the age in which we live.

Then, may the gospel not be preached unbelievingly, as well as heard in that spirit? Have there ever been instances of men preaching the gospel in the power of a strong faith, and failing in the work of converting souls? Had not this much to do with the work and success of Whitfield and the Wesleys, and the noble band of men who laboured in our country a century ago? They expected the gospel to save sinners, and they preached in the spirit of that expectation, and they were not disappointed. Under the constraining power of this faith, they preached with all earnestness, and simplicity, and holy anxiety, and spake as dying men to dying men, and the word of God was as a hammer breaking rocky hearts in pieces, and as a sword by which the slain of the Lord were very many.

If preaching is to be useful, it must be adapted to the mental state and moral character of our hearers; and they must see in us every sign of faith and sincerity, with regard to the momentous truths we deliver.

Now, if we look abroad in our own churches, as well as in those of other christian denominations, we shall generally see, that plain, earnest, devoted preaching is crowned with success. While merely learned, stiff, and elaborated or profound discourses, however acceptable to the few, are really valueless to the multitude. Hence some of our most efficient ministers are among those who have been self-educated, and whose most striking characteristic is love for souls, associated with untiring effort and unquenchable ardour for their salvation. And of what value are our natural talents or learned acquirements without this? Of what avail

that we are learned, rhetorical, or eloquent, if we do not fulfil the great design of our work, in turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God? We may win the applause of the few, and the general favour of many; but can these stand in the stead of winning souls? There must be fire in the pulpit as well as light, power as well as learning, earnestness as well as arrangement, if our hearers are to become interested in the great themes of life and salvation.

But if the pulpit may in some measure be at fault, is it not evident that the CHURCH, as a whole, is equally, if not more, chargeable, as the occasion of our present religious apathy and unconcern?

In the first place, are not the great majority of our church members utterly unconcerned about the matter? They appear as if they had been converted only to be passive members of the body, to have no useful place, nor working vocation. They wish to be instructed and edified, and enjoy religion; but they seem to have no idea of labouring for Christ, nor have they any deep devotional anxiety respecting the progress of the gospel.

Now, to say the least, such persons would require, if not to be re-converted, yet to be brought to feel deep concern for Zion's welfare.

Such drowsy souls must be awakened. Such loiterers and idlers must be quickened, and they must become fully acquainted with their individual responsibility to live and labour for Christ.

How few, indeed, make Christ's concerns theirs, his cause theirs! How rare it is to see more than a score or two of lively, devoted members even in churches which consist of hundreds! Ought these things so to be, with a rapidly increasing population, with the restless spirit of Romanism, and the hostile influences of scepticism, or mere rationalism, surrounding us?

Then are our home and neighbourhood influences piously and earnestly directed? Do we bring the lovely and attractive spirit of our heavenly

religion to bear on our domestic spheres, on our children and servants? Is family worship conducted in a spiritual, edifying manner? Do religious books and periodicals have their full and fair share of room in our libraries and in our domestic readings? Do we endeavour to take to the house of God with us our thoughtless neighbours? and are we devoutly anxious to bring into our Sabbath schools the neglected children of our populous neighbourhoods? Do we ply well our crowded courts and alleys with well-adapted tracts, with "The Appeal," or similar cheap publications?

Is a sufficient degree of importance given to the prayer-meeting? or is hearing everything, and the Divine blessing disregarded or unsought for? How can religion prosper if the spirit of unconcern, formalism, and ease, pervades the church? And here again I appeal to facts, where is the church that does not prosper where the Divine means and appliances are earnestly carried on and out by the people? I know of no such case. Rely on it, wherever God's people honour him, by cherishing a spirit of holy activity and burning zeal for the prosperity of his kingdom, and cultivate with it a spirit of faith and devotion, depending on the Holy Spirit for success, that there the Divine blessing will descend, and to that church the Lord will send prosperity.

Let the church then awake to her solemn responsibility; let ministers preach and members live and work in the spirit of their Divine Head and Pattern, and be assured, the Lord will appear both to build up and beautify Zion. He will clothe his ministers with salvation, and his saints shall shout aloud for joy. He will bless her provision, and satisfy her poor with bread. He will arise and plead his own cause, and so pour out the plenitude of his Holy Spirit, that the church shall be as a well-watered garden, green and fruitful, yielding a gracious and rich return to the honour and glory of his name. Oh, may this day of spiritual activity and mighty energy dawn upon the church, and bless the world!

WOMAN IN THE CHURCH.

BY MRS. C. L. BALFour.

It is a melancholy fact, admitted by all pious thoughtful observers, that in the present day the world is encroaching on the church. That in numbers, in earnestness, and in spirituality, the church, instead of increasing, decreases. This statement, which is not a matter of opinion but of demonstration, cannot fail to be a subject of the deepest concern to all who desire the prosperity of Zion; but more particularly should it arouse the sympathies and awaken the energies of women, seeing that they constitute the majority in the church, and that, therefore, all charges of want of vital piety, of diminution of numbers, of stagnation of zeal, as they necessarily refer to the majority in the church, must forcibly apply to woman, as undoubtedly constituting that majority.

The world in the present day not only confesses the influence of woman on social, moral, and mental advancement, but displays some amount of anxiety that an engine manifestly so powerful should be carefully directed, so as to subserve the cause of human improvement. The church never denied either the spiritual or intellectual influence of woman. Christianity, in contradistinction from every other system of religious belief, recognizes the spiritual equality of the sexes; and by this means has elevated woman to a position of dignity, influence, and responsibility, never elsewhere conceded to her. But a great practical mistake has

arisen from this circumstance, that woman herself has too often been either ignorant of, or indifferent to, her own responsibilities. Her susceptibility to religious impressions, the comparative tenderness of her conscience, and the fervour of her spiritual aspirations, have all been active instruments in fulfilling the beneficent will of her Creator, by conducing to her individual conversion, and bringing her sex in greatest numbers into the visible church. But when there, it is too often the case that woman believes that every end has been attained by her own personal salvation, and that very little relative duty rests upon her. She argues, that because men should labour as ministers, as deacons, as prayer-leaders, that the spiritual and secular concerns of the church, and consequently its extension, rest alone with them, and that woman, once in the church, may be at ease in Zion. These may not be the actually spoken opinions of the female members of the church; but it is too often the argument manifested by actions, the sentiment embodied in the practice.

It surely is not too much to assert, that the church will never be triumphant until all its members feel the deep conviction that it is their duty to labour, as much as it is their privilege to enjoy. It is a great error to suppose that the extension of the cause of Christ rests only with those who fill public and official stations. The law manifest in the realm of nature and of art, applies with equal force to the operations of mind; that the efficiency of every instrumentality depends as much on the wise arrangement of subordinate agency, of careful detail, and elaborate minutia, as on the leading and more apparent powers employed. There are a multitude of minute springs connected with the machinery of the church, the working of which may either retard or promote its efficiency, as they are rightly or wrongly directed by woman.

The first of these is domestic piety. Pious homes are the store-houses of the church. There the materials are garnered up the treasures are accumulated—that are to make Zion a praise in the earth. Over these homes woman is the presiding genius. In the apostolic phrase, she is “to guide the house." The pious matron, "who openeth her mouth with wisdom, and on whose tongue was the law of kindness," is there a teacher of divinity, both by precept and practice. Oh, happy for the church if every mother were like Hannah of old, resolved to consecrate her best beloved earthly treasure to the service of the Lord! If every mother, like Eunice and Lois, so taught her offspring, that it might be said of each of them, when arrived at maturity, "from a child thou hast known the scriptures!" Happy would it be for the church, if every mother, looking on her sons, remembered that the most faithful ministers, the most devoted missionaries, and the most conscientious teachers that the church has ever possessed, have been found among those who learned their divinity, who acquired their principles, and who gained their habits, from the precepts and practice of their mothers!

Domestic piety does not refer only to the training of children,—it comprehends dependents and servants. All enlightened persons in the present day must rejoice in the diffusion of knowledge. But knowledge without piety is only a partial good. It is the duty of pious women to endeavour to diffuse religious instruction to all within the circle of their influence. And here it must be remembered, that as she has not that hold on the affections, nor that natural sympathy with the objects of her superintendence, which she possesses in the maternal relation, there is a necessity for the utmost care and caution that her conduct be consistent, that her actions make christianity loveable, by shewing in her deportment that it is really lovely. If a mistress of a family, professing to be a christian, is exacting, harsh, unsympathizing, selfish,—if she is careless, indif

ferent, indolent, how can she recommend the gospel of Christ? Is she not a stumbling block, a hindrance? for it must ever be remembered, that the unconverted, the uninformed, will judge of christianity, not by its abstract principles, but by the conduct of those who profess it. O for the possession of that gentle charity that is not easily offended, that seeketh not her own, that, while firm in the maintenance of order and propriety, still ever strives to "overcome evil with good." A mistress imbued with this spirit, is surely likely to be instrumental in winning souls.

Domestic piety comprehends the duties of a christian wife. Happy, thrice happy, honoured, and useful, are those blest abodes where husband and wife are heirs together of the grace of life; their sorrows are lightened,—their joys enhanced, their duties made delights, by participation. The manly reason gives direction and permanence to the feminine plans, the womanly tenderness softens and refines the masculine rule,piety throws its halo of light around them,--the church rejoices in their joy, the world takes knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus.

But there are multitudes of christian wives whose nearest earthly connexion does not participate with them in the pure enjoyments of religion, and hence sorrows, difficulties, trials, persecutions, which tongue or pen can never describe. Yet droop not, gentle mourner, "be strong and of good courage," for blessed promises are yours. It may be that hope deferred has long made the heart sick; still continue earnest in prayer. The apostle says, "If any (husbands) obey not the word, they also may, without the word, be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear" (1 Peter iii. 1, 2). Surely, perverse as human nature is, it must be influenced by a consistent practice. Strive to maintain a cheerful demeanour, a serene temper. Religion, to be made attractive, must be free from gloom, repining, and complaint. A murmuring spirit must repel; a cheerful spirit can scarcely fail to allure.

Next to domestic piety, as an efficient means of promoting the extension of the church, there is the intellectual and benevolent activity of woman. Though home is the first and dearest sphere of woman's labours, society has its just claims on her time and talents. The Sabbath school demands her aid. Ah! when our gentle christian sisters behold some poor neglected child left destitute in the mud and slime of iniquity, ready to be destroyed by the swelling tide of profligacy, how can they refrain from thinking of those sweet words, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." The hopes of the church must rest on the young; not merely on the favoured youth who are growing up like goodly plants under wise domestic culture, but on the poor wildings who would probably thrive as vigourously if transplanted to the garden of the Lord. Who can tell which shall flourish, this or that? Though it is God alone who causeth to grow, it is the duty of the church to plant and water continually.

Woman's intimate acquaintance with childhood, her aptitude to teach, point her out as especially the educator of the young; but, in order to instruct efficiently, she must herself be instructed. The mind must imbibe, or it cannot impart. This is too much lost sight of by female teachers. There must be a systematic course of reading,-a careful preparation of lessons,-a habit of attention and punctuality, a discipline of the mind, or there will be no efficient teaching. It is not always those who know the most who are the best teachers, but those who arrange what they know.