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THREE DOLLARS PER ANNUM
Vol. XXXII.—No 21.
For the Southern Can alia n Atfvo ate.
A Dram-Driaksr’s Argument An
swered.
Dram drinker Boys, if you ever want
to be drunkards, j in some temperance or
ganization. I joined one onee, and the
first thing I km.w I wanted to drink so bad,
I didn’t know what to do. Well, the first
time the thing met I resigned, and I being
then free from all restraint, indulged to
excess, and got dead drunk. Now, you
take my advice and keep away from all
temperance traps.
The Answer. Man is a free agent:
his will governs his every act. lie can do
nothing until he wills to do it. aad when he
has willed to do a thing, if it is possible, he
is obliged to do the bidding unless he
changes his will, by concluding not to do it.
If he wills then, not to drink liquor he will
not drink, cannot drink, until he wills to
do so. Now, the question is simply this :
Will a man who has willed to quit drinking
liquor; and to restrain that wiil has pledged
his word and honor not to violate the deter
mination—a man who has formed anew as
sociation with good men around the altar
of Love, Purity and Fidelity, where the
vice is painted ii all its hideous coloring,
will he be more'liable to become a drunk
ard thap one, who willingly in a crowd of
evil associates, makes or believes the argu
ment above?
The proposition is a plain one, and I
have attempted to portray it in a simple
manner that all may draw their own conclu
sion.
Liquor drinker, I beseech you, to cease
dragging from us with your shallow argu
ment the thoughtless youth of our country.
If you want them to go with you to the
lake that burnetii with fire, weave not around
them the wily mesh, but let them know
the port to which you have steered. 1 would
suggest in tho place of your aigument
above, the reciting of the following lines,
which I am sorry to state, 1 found written
on the back of a Bible History 1 purchased
at a second-hand book store, viz :
“If there is any one here that has a de
sire to go to the place of brimstone and
fire, let him come with me, 1 am bound to
go where streams of lava (braver flow."
They will then be responsible if they
follow your advice.
A Son of Temperance.
From the N>w Orl*»na Cnrixtmn Ad r oca*.*.
Episcopal Diplomacy.
The correspondence so suddenly inaugur
ated by the Nortborn Board of Bishops
was publish'd at length in the Advocate of
last week. The singular coition with which
it was introduced, and the generalities in
which it abounds, awaken in our mind,
possibly, an undue suspicion of i te intent,
ft may he that every Southern mau has
just now in him a reigning distrust of every
thing that proceeds from ant-austral re
gions, whether from political or ecclesiasti
cal sources. Repeated reconstructions,
open violation of the terms of eapitula.
tion, and continued military rule, have doa#
their work so effectually that more grace is
required to restore confidence in any North
ern proposition than most of us have.
> However, the Northern bishops propose
union :
“It is fitting,” say they, “that tho Metho- j
(list Church, which began the disunion, i
should not he the bit *a -ichb.vo the reun-, i
ion ; and it would be a reproach to the j
ohicf pastors of the separated bodies if they j
waited until their flocks prompted them to j
the union, which both the love of country
and of religion itivokc, and which the
providence of G. and seems to render inevita
ble at no distant day.”
This matter of restoring union is now tho
rage. Episcopalians, North and South, i
Presbyterians, Old and New, are yielding j
to the new force. Then the Episcopalians ,
are proposing still further, that all Metho- i
dists allow themselves to be ordained over !
again by Moravian bishops, so that all on I
board this large craft may take passage i
upon their pirogue; this they conceive to j
be eminently for tho “interests of humani- 1
ty.’’ In vain do we assure them that j
Methodists are fully satisfied with their j
own ordination and church ; they yet con- I
stantly insist. It secures for them the !
character of catholicity, and at the same j
time unsettles some weak souls which arc j
tho more easily gobbled up
We have never been abie to sec the de- |
sirableness of “reunion,” or “union,” with
the Northern Methodists. It would in- j
crease the political force of that church !
greatly, which is already too great for the 1
country’s good. In tact all these “rcun- j
ions’’ are in the sole interest of that ten- j
dency toward a centralizing despotism which ;
threatens all civil as well as ail political
liberty. If the Church South could de- ]
liver herself from the common pressure by
placing herself under the mgis of a
body that prayed sod fasted to induce the
Lord to impeach President Johnson, she I
would not, could not do it. No, her work
is to live with her own people, and if need
be go down with them. The Methodist
Church South is full large enough to do ;
good work for Christ, the country, and the j
world. We" only seek to swell it by the j
conversion of sinners.
But let us consider more accurately the
situation of affairs as between these two
branches of Methodism, and as in view of
this spontaneous episcopal overture.
A quarter of a censury ago the General :
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal |
Church, at-ils se*sion then being held iu
New York, determined, by a vote of ono
hundred and forty seven to twenty three,
upon a friendly division of the ehurih
forming thereby two distinct churches in
place of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
To quote the language of the decree of the
Supreme Court of the United States, ren- j
dered ten years after the division : “By :
force and anthori.fi/ of the said General
Conference (of 1844) she religious associa
tion known as the Methodist Episcopal
Church in the United (Stales of America,
as then existent/, was divided into two into- I
ciations, or distinct Methodist Episcopal
Churches
At the time of this division the mem- -
bers of the General Conference from North \
ern States were largely in the majority;
but the measure was expressly declared to
be “not schism, but separation for mutual
convenience and prosperity.” By the
terms of the “Plan of Separation’’ the
membership was divided in block ; and so
was the property of its “Book Concern’’—
all the meeting houses, parsonages, colle- :
ges, schools, and cemeteries, within the
limits of the Southern or the Northern ter- !
ritory, were declared to belong respectively ■
to the Southern or the Northern division
of the ohurch. Nothing could be plainer
or fairer. The South acted upon the un- j
derstanding, but, to its surprise and annoy- j
ance, could only recover its share of the
property at the end of the law. Suits for
property arc not usually productive of chari
ty, and these made a wide breach between
the two halves of Methodism. Asa corol- j
lary to this the North refused to receive a
fraternal messenger from the South, and
occasional raid's mutually intensified these
differences. Still the two divisions pros
pered, and the increase of their member
ship, of their schools, aod their missions,
indicated the wisdom of the action of the
General Conference of 1844. The law- |
suit and the messenger, however, would j
come up, for Southern people have a per- !
pistent memory.
S'mi Hunt Christian AdtotaU,
Next cime the war, full of dreadful
things, and if it had been waged even after
the most civilized methods, was not favora
ble to any increase of love. It was diffi
cult to conceive how any church, as a
church, could be seen amid its fires, or he
found at work fanning its flames. But to
the chagrin of all gx>d men, the Northern
division of Methodism entered the lists in
propria persona, and threw itself actively
into the conflict.
One of its bishops armed himself with
the following document, singled out and
seized the principal churches of the South
ern division of Methodism, ejected its min
isters, and occupied them with his own
men:
Hiamgakvhs D»p’» of in Gwir,
yew Orleans, Jan. 18. 1184.
i»p**ial Ordara > T o. 15.
[Extract.]
5 In accordance with instructions, con
tained in a letter from the Secretary of
Yfar, under date of November 30, 1863,
all houses of worship within this depart
ment, belonging to the Methodist Episco
pal Church, South, in which a loyal minis
ter, who has been appointed by a loyal
bishop of said church, does not. now effioi
ate, are hereby plated at the disposal of the
Rev. Bishop Ames.
Commanding officers at the various points,
where such houses of worship may be loca
ted, are directed to extend to the minis
ters, that may be appointed by Bishop
Ames to conduct divine service in said
hou'«s of worship, all the aid, countenance,
and support practicable in the execution of
their mission.
Officers of the quartermaster’s and com
missary departments are authorized and di
rected to furnish Bishop Ames and his
eleik with transportation and subsistence,
when it can be done without prejudice to
the service ; and all officers will afford them
courtesy, assistance, and protection.
Ur command of Major General Banks
ttlOR vE B DRAKE.
Assistant Adjuvant <j*ner*l.
lIADqUARTIM DlP’t OF 111 CiOLP.
New Orleana, La., July 13 lift#.
Official:
J. BCHUTLER CROSBY,
Brevtt Liauianant Coloaal,
A. D. C. and A. A. A. Gan.
Here was something worse than the law
suit, harder to swallow, and much harder
to forget.
But at length peace unfolded her benign
wings The thunders of war went down
beyond the sky, the voice of the turtle
was heard once more, and timid creatures
which had been frightoned away by the
dreadful roar of tho combat, now crept
forth again into God's sunshine. The holy
angels ope ned the treasured vials of prayer,
and shed love’s sweet odors once more upon
the sanctuaries of the laud. But long af
ter the pursuit of war had ceased tie pul
pits of Southern Methodism continued to
he filled hy this war-installed ministry. It
was only by peremptory order from Presi
dent Johnson that the appointees of Bishop
Ames could be gotten out of tho churches
of the Southwest. They were literally
ejected against their will; and in all those
houses from which they were not then
ejected the; still remain, to tho scandal of
the ciusc of Christ. There arc threo such
churches cow in this city, and not a few in
East Tennessee and elsewhere.
Hero again was something more than tho
special order seizure, worse than the law
suit, W the rsjtcDd messenger—a etiuicli
claiming to hold property, after peace is
restored, by virtue of “military conquest.’’
A few months after this ejection was ef
fected the General Conference of the South
ern Methodist Church met in this city. All
of a sudden, like a thought from heaven,
there came to this venerable body a tele
gram from a Northern Confercno# proposing
mutual prayer. Rather startling, thought
we, but no doubt honestly meant. It was
honestly accepted; we prayed. When lo !
the parties who proposed prayer flash a re
consideration and a refusal! Memory,
that same Southern memory, writes down
another time, “These people are not sin
cere ” And again there comes up the law
suit—the messenger —the “special order
15’’ —the “military conquest.’’
About this time Bishop Ames published
a letter in which he proposed in good faith
to leave the question of Southern Metho
dist property to Chief Justice Chase!
though the Supreme Court had, without a
dissenting opinion, ordered and decreed it
to be the property of the Methodist Epis
copal Church, South, ten years before !
And latterly the organ of Northern Metho
dism published in Atlanta, Georgia, by the
book agents at Cincinnati, denits that the
decinoa has any force, and still claims all
Southeru Methodist churches!
Is k.epitig with all this the principal
paper ,'f tbs Methodist Episcopal Church,
the New York Christian Advocate, an
nounces it to be the policy of that church
to disintegrate and absorb Southern Metho
dism an announcement which has the
double force of being made by the most in
fluential person in that church, and of ba
ing exactly descriptive of its horn* miision
ary policy. This idea of recovering a na
tional breadth by forming a Methodist Epis
copal Conference in every Southern State,
met with great favor both from its Mission
ary Board and its Bench of Biahops.
Preachers were sent out, were sustained as
missionaries, and some made large returns
of membership. In East Tennessee Bishop
Clark reported a great succaes among whites
as well as blacks But ia all these gains
it was virtually but a transfer of members
from Southern to Northern Methodism.
Tho two hundred thousand blacks who be
longed to the former might be ‘ disintegra
ted’’ very rapidly ; by some military pres
sure, some appeal to the obligations which
they were under to their liberators, and a
slight application made to exhorters and
leaders in the shape of missionary appro
priations, they could be melted off in large
masses and floated out into the wide sea of
Northern Meihodism. This kind of mia
sionary enterprise adds nothing to the cause
of the Saviour, because it only repeats in a
new form among His people the conflict of
passion which had oeased elsewhere. No
sinner* are convicted or added to the
church, but the war of States is changad
into a war of churches. We know this ia
putting the matter strongly, but truly. We
do not object to the presence of Northern
Methodism in Southern States ; but we se
riously object to any church that carries on
an ecclesiastical piracy and parades its spoil
as an achievement of tho spirit of mia
sions.
■Without going further in thi* bill, we
lum up the items which oause the present
wide divergence between two Methodisms :
the law suit aod its corollary, the rejeoted
messenger, tho “special order” seizures, the
“military conquest” titles, the “net re
sult” telegram, the “disintegrating” policy.
It is in this attitude of affairs that we
are surprised by anew phenomenon —a
visit from the Northern bishops ! —Angels
coming out of a thunder storm! We ad
mire, and then ask, What sort of angels
are these? Charity always regards the
messengers of peace with favor, no mattsr
in what shape they oome; much more
when they oome as the angels of the chur
ches. Can this vision efface the memory
of the past and the facts of the presaut?
That is the question. And upon regarding
this company of godly persons we find one
of them, at least, to be mortal —Bishop
Ames, him of “special order 15,” not to
mention one or two others of earthly mould.
They unfold their message, and our readers
and the whole church have by this time
pondered it. It seems to be in the interest
of peace. “Their words are smoother than
butter.”
“At a meeting,” say they, “of the Board
of Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, held in Erie, Pennsylvania, in
June, 1865, we made and published the
following declaration:
“That the great cause which led to the
separation from us of both the Wesleyan
Methodists of this country and the Metho
dist Episcopal Church, South, has passed
away, and we trust the day is not far dis
tant when there shall be but one organiza
tion, which shall embrace the whole Jletho
di»t family in tho United States.
“This declaration was made in good faith,
and shows what were then our sentiments
and feelings, and was deemed by us as the
utmost we were authorized to say or do on
the subject at that time.
“Although our iate Genera! Conference
did not directly authorize us to take further
specific action in the matter, yet we judge
that some of its acts justify advanced steps
on our part.
“In our quadrennial address to the Gen
al Conference we referred to the declara
tion above quoted, aad ro exception was
taken to it by that body.”
In June, 1865, these were their “senti
ments aad feelings, uttered in good faith.”
And while they were uttering these senti
ments we were on our way to Washington
to obtain our churches in Louisiana from
the hand of the President and the Secreta
ry of War. We waited through July, Au
gust, September, October, and November,
of 1865, and then by the intervention of
Mr. Johnson we, after four munths, obtain
ed that which those angels of the Northern
Methodist Church might have given us in
one moment. But that was the year after
the war They now feel “justified” iu
taking soma “advanced steps,” the Gener
al Conference having taken ‘‘no exception”
to their “declaration’’ of 1865 We sup
pose not, for that body took the “declara
tion” at its worth, by weighing it against
their episcopal acta. The Conference
doubtless felt that so long as they went in
that, direction they needed no further spe
cific instruction, that the policy of “disin
tegration and absorption’’ was being well
enough managed. We may, therefore, b*
pardoned if we look at the acts, not at the
“declarations” of this episcopal board.—
What is it doing “for the interest* of hu
manity and the glory of God ?’’ It is hold
ing on to every church in the South in which
it was placed hy Secretary Stanton, freon
which it has not been forcibly ejected by Mr.
Johnson. In Maryland it holds on to chur
ches bscsuse the deeds run in its favor,
though congregations which built the chur
ches are turned ont of doors; in Louisiana
and Tennasse* it holds on to churches where
the deeds do not run in its favor, but holds
by “military conquest.”
Now let these venerable representatives
of chaiity begin their mission ia tho “in
terests of humanity” by giving up every
church which they occupy in violation of
either law or equity, and by abstaining
from all acts likely to disintegrate the love
which remains between us and them. Oth
erwise let them not expect to have the
credit of doing something without doing
it—to seem to do something, not to do it,
and yet to get the credit of doing it.
A Touching Talo of Truth.
There was not a ripple in the Channel
that would have spilled a glass full of wine,
if you could have placed it upright on the
water. I shall not mention the correct
route which I traveled, because, although
I am not bound to secrecy, and although
the facts may possibly come before the pub
lie in a less peaceable manner than this, I
thiak it wiser at present, to disguise the
names of persons and places. I shall say,
therefore, that tha Channel was perfectly
smooth, on a certain Thursday in July of
this year, between Havre and Southamp
ton.
Nobody was ill, if you exespt one
French lady, who had clearly made up her
mind that she ought to bo, twenty minutes
before the steamer left the wharf. She of
oourse, gasped “Mon Diets!'’ aud went
down to her berth. Otherwise, we had a
perfectly clean bill of health, as f*r as mal
de mer wn concerned. Bat, on going into
the ctbin tor one of tho innumerable lun
cheons I always require on board ship, I
found the conversation waxing warm on
the great topic of the day—the Irish
Church, of course. All were agreed that
the Radical measure was neither more nor
leas than a cunning assault on the Eaglish
Church, and, through it, upon the English
Constitution. But there was one passen
ger who and ffared from the rest on the side
which would probably be taken by the high
Ritualist party, whan the fight fairly sets
in, at election tin e. His companions seam
ed to think that the affinity between Ox
ford and Rima was rather apparant than
real, and that Traetarians and the Millinary
Church generally would be found English
at the core when the brunt of battle came.
The old gantleman who sat by the cabin
door knew better, and assumed the tone of
one who had a right to speak. He was a
fine specimen of a substantial, well-to do-
Euglishmao, verging, perhaps, on seventy.
ITe had clearly gone through most deep and
sore trouble, and vary lately too; and it
scarcely requirsd two glances to find ont
that the trouble was somehow eonnacted
with the topic of conversation. As he
apoke upon it his lip quivered, and his
white cheeks grew paler still; aad his eyes,
underneath the pent-house bushy brows,
aetually glared upon the more moderate or
more charitable of the company, who evi
dently thought him prejudiced.
“I think I ought to know sir,” he 3aid.
“whsther Ritualism leads to Popsry. If
any body knows, I should know, air.”
And the old man’s voice quivered as he
rubbed hi* knee very nervously with his
hand looking down to hide what he was
feeling terribly.
“You’ve seen something of them your
salf?’’ I said, after listening a minute or
10.
He didn’t apeak at first, but droopod his
bead still more, and his mouth was work
ing so painfully that evarybody felt the sub
ject getting too serious, and even embar
raasing. (And now, I wish it to be under
stood that lam relating almoat word for
word what followed )
“They’ve cost me my favorite child, sir
—that’* what those scoundrels have done,
air. So I think I ought to know.’’
“Indeed ! How was that ? That's no tri
fit. How did that occur?”
“Well sir,’’ he said, “I had five daugh
ters. Aud I lost lour, one after another,
by death.’’
And the poor old gentleman took out his
handkerchief, and burying his face in it,
didn’t speak for a few seconds.
“I followed them, sir, one by one, to
thair graves—as fine gir.s as perhaps ever
graw ; and I think I brought them up with
out grudging expanse, and certainly loved
them well, if ever a father did. But if
you’ll believe me, sir, I wish, as I sit here,
that, instead of burying four daughters, I
had buried all the five.
“What happened then ?’’
“My favorite girl, sir, who was spared to
me for a year or two after her sisters were
gone, turned her back on her mother and
me, and she is now worse than dead to us—
-0 ! a thousand times worse than dead I”
PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & CO., FOR THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH,
Macon, Ga., Friday, June 11, 1869.
And never have I seen more, real grief
in human countenance, or heaW it in hu
man tones
“Then where is she now ?’’
“I don’t know, sir—l don’f know. I
think some where in Birmingham. But I
cannot find cut. She never writes. And
I am told, that ai she is twenty-three and
her own mistress, I am powerless, and can
do nothing
“Then, I suppose, she is in some Pro
testant religious house —a sister, or some
thing of that sort ?”
“Protestant! Lord bless ye, sir—noth
ing of the kind ! She is a Romanist, sir ;
and one of the most rigid and austere of
tha lot. She never told a lie, sir, to her
mother or me, till she was one-ai-d-twenty.
I gave her the best education a girl could
have. She could translate any Latin or
Greek yon could set her down to. And, al
together, though I say it as her father, a
fioer, lovelier, and grander girl in every
way never stepped!”
The old min’* love, and misery, and en
ergy, were a fine sight to see in ;he cabin
that day.
“Then what brought about tfetAhauga ?’’
“Why, sir, I live at have
dona for many years—and my poor girl
took it into her head, on Sunday anernoons,
that she would go to hear the music—first
at one of these high churches, then at
another. She went to Mr. Lagaer’s one
Sunday, and to Mr. Paalaad’s the nett;
and so on —till she got thoroughly infected ;
and than, (though she denied it, and told
her very first lies about it,) she went to
oonfession —and so on, from one Tilling to
another, til!, at last, shs went up tc London,
aQd saw the Arahtoshop himself.”
“What, of Canterbury?”
“No, no, the other— ’’
(And I am afraid that I must omit the
speaker's irreverent conelusioa of tho sen
tence )
“And he advised her to go inti a nun
nery ?”
“God knows what he advised her, sir;
but one dav she told ua she was going tho
next morning; aad gj she did, Lord love
her!”
And then the old man fairly down,
and we all wished we had not leJLhim on
so long. ' *
“But you could sen her,” I said, “occa
sionally, if you like ?”
“Yes She on one side of an irra grat
ing, and her mother or I on the other!
Besides, she doesn’t want to see u-: She
says she is dead to us; at Icast-so her
brother has heard.’’
“Then you have a son ?’’
“Yes; one child left, sir. lie’s in the
Church, and a great blessing to u-.. But
he’s not my dariing—he can't b«—as she
was. I think f ought to know witch way
these traitors iu ths Church are carrying
us What do you think, sir ?
We all agreed that it was a sad story,
and joined in fearing that there were many
more quite as sad.
“It’s bringing the mother fast down into
her grave, sir, that’s what it’s doing. She
takes it worst, sir, naturally.” t
And when, at the end of the par-age, I
saw the poor old couple walk oft' the pier
together, I wondered whether Mr. Lavner’s
and Mr. Peaiand’s churches had he ten
commandments printed up ia
place near the communion table if
they had, I wondered whether the fifth had
been painted out or not. And when I shook
hands with my companion, and wished him
“good bye,” I said to him “God save us
all, sir, from any religion which teaches
children not to honour their father and
mother !’’ If it be true, that Radicals and
Romanist* are going to join together, and
bring our happy Eaglish homes to this pass,
or anything like it, why, then, we hype the
cry of “No Popery,” unfashionable as it
may be, will once more become one of the
echoes of the times. — Rock ( London ,)
from tha Msmahis Christian Advocate.
Tho Ministry and the Church—Thoir
Eolations.
it tiii a*y de lotick piamca.
The Church of God is either a divine
order, or else it is without any established
order. It is a divine institution, or a hu
man institution, because it is emphatically
an institution. If it is a divine institu
tion, it must have a divine order, if it
has a divine older, all disobedience (o that
order is disobedience toward God, anli can
not bo indulged iu without the guilt c; mor
al delinquency.
Paul said of tha liberal saints, alluded to
in 2 Cor. viii. 5., that they had done what
they had done in his ordered collection :
First, because they had given their own
selves unto the Lord ; and secondly, be
cause they had given themselves unto His
ministers as their pastors, and done so by
the will of God. This was a feature in
the organic relations of a divinely called
and appointed pastorate ia the Church of
Christ, which eould not exist in it then,
and be dismissed from it now; because its
incorporation into this relation then, cer
tifies it to be an indiapensable element in
Church organization, or else it involves the
unerring mind of God, in the organization
of the Christian Church, in the monitroui
conception of inserting in its primitive
structure a principle of 00-operatirenvss
with the pastoral authority and relation,
which was to be eliminated from thorn at
the will of Church members, and this, as
exaotly by the will of God as the foj|jter;
for if it is still the will of God *hat Those
who give themselves to God should 1 also
give themselves to Ilis ministers, as co
workers with them, then is disobedience to
their divinely appointed overseers an act of
rebellion agaiosc divine order.
The order of God is between a ministe
rial pastor and his flock : “Obey them that
have the rule over you, and submit your
selves.” But the duty of submission ean
not exist in this case, unless the right to
rule ii absolute and divine. This order, of
right, however, must always be understood
as issuing, aot from lord* over God’s heri
tage, but from ensample* to his flock. God
has not invested His ministers wi’h any
right to command their members to do any
work but such as ho is an exemplar of in
himself. Take, for instance, our glorious
Sunday-school cause—say it is a pastor’*
duty to put the children of bis charge into
a Sabbath-school for their instruction in re
ligioui knowledge, and then, say it is the
religiouv right of his members to refuse to
superintend and to teach, as he directs
what a farce would Church organization fie ?
Or, suppose when a pastor summoo%Jhis
people to assemble at church lor a solemn
prayer-meeting, to pray for the peace or
the prosperity of Zion, three fourths of them
should voluntarily decline to attend, and
not a few ol them do so, because they chose
the gossip of a parlor sociable, or the dissi
pation of an evening stroll. But he says :
“My brethren, I require your attendance
upon prayer-meeting because these are
meetings of the Church for social, religious
communion ; meetings which you are com
manded especially not to forsake, but to
take part in them for mutual help and com
fort. I require your attendance on these
meetings iu the name of the .Lord, for lie
has so ordered it. And I urge it because
in this order of God it is made your duty
to obey them that have the rule over you,
those that have spoken to you the Word of
God, and whose faith you are required to
follow. But you say practically that I, as
your pastor, have no right to assign you to
any work in tho Church, nor hold you res
ponsible in view of your right of member
ship in the Church, under my aare of it as
Christ's household, for attendance upon
prayer-meetings and church meetings, as
the meetings in the order of God over
which, as pastor of the flock, I am consti
tutsd and appointed to be the moral and
spiritual ruler.”
Well, if so, there is no rule, no order in
the Church, for the Churpb, as a body,
cannot rule itself. As well might a militia
company, in time of war, be expected to
becomo efficient in battle while the men
claimed the right to order their own move
ments. The analogy between moral and
military law is striking The requirements
in both must be absolute, in order to make
them available. If a soldier can say: I
will march when I choose, and decline
when I please, military law is a bauble.
Its vitality is in its power. It is just so
with moral law in the Church. Its vitality
and its worth are in its immediate power.
If it eould allow of any gainsayings, or
could compromise its absoluteness in de
mand for accommodation terms, it would bo
null as to organic efficiency. I, therefore,
maintain that this gift of ourselves unto
God’s ministers, as His executive officers
in Hie organie Chureh, is as much an ele
meat in a divinely constituted Church, as
is the gift of ourselves unto the Lord ; be
cause a Church cannot be divinely consti
tuted unless the constituency is bound by
divine law to obey all the orders issuing
from its immediate executive head; and to
this place and offioc Christ did assign His
ministers when, in token and demonstra
tion thereof, he delivered unto them the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, which
meant their right by divine appointment,
both to declare the laws of the Chureh and
to enforce them. Unless this were so, the
Church would be nothing but a restless,
changeable, religious democracy. But God
has iastituted and ordained it to be a divine
monarchy. It is the Chureh that is called
tho kingdom of heaven. It is a kingdom
because its laws issue from one mind. To
the Church it is emphatiellly true that
there is only one Law giver, and to the di
vinely constituted pastorate has been con-,
sided the explanation and the application of
the divine law to the lives of the corpora
tors in this spiritual association, and from
the decree of his judgment the Church cat*
have no appeal except to the Bible, on the
ground of wilful or of accidental mal ad
ministration. To the Church, on the
ground of relief by a mere majority vote,
there is in tho divine economy no resort.
If the Church wou and know its place and
fulfil its destiny, it would see that its execu
tive work is to maintain inviolate the laws
of the kiogdom of heaven, even at the cost
of every member of the divine corporation
who shows any want of godiy obedience to
ail the laws of the kingdom.
Wc aro ambassadors for Christ, a very
different thing from our being mere ambas
sadors of Christ. Wo can hold no treaty
with any one outside ts Christ as lie is.
We are appointed only to treat with per
sons inside of the laws of His kingdom
These laws we must uphold if the heavens
fall. It is our duty to exact upon you up
to the measure of the laws of His king
dom, and if we fail to do it, up to the point
of separating ihe preoious Lorn the vile,
we fail to be as the mouth of God. How
forcibly does this Old Testament rule ro
miud us of Christ’s investment of His apos
tolic ministers with this tremendous judi
cial and executive power: “Whatever ye
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
snd whatever ye loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven.’’ Why ? Because you
*re appointed to settle the law of duty,
and compel compliance. And while you
stick to the law aud to the testimony, you
are as My mouth, and the Church must
know that what I do by My agents, is done
by Myself, and will bo endorsed by Me.
Therefore, if a minister were to settle a di
vine law question aright, and expel a mem
ber at his own iastance ou that decision,
and that member could get restored to the
Church by a majority vote, yet would the
sentence pronounced against him by Christ’s
executive agent, ramain affirmed as betweeu
Christ and the excommunicated member.
The Church will slowly or rapidly decline
wherever the miuistry is degraded from
tlnir executive relation to tho Church;
and also, wherever holding it, the ministry
succumbs to the tear of ouiside pressure, or
yields to the corruption of an inside latitu
dinsrianiam.
To the mistaken notion of our pcoplo
that they are undsr no divine obligation to
fall into orderly working line, along with
their chosen or appointsd pastors, at their
call and appointment, and especially our
chief male members, may be traced the
reasons of oar partial failure to carry out
Methodism in its original, marvelous glory.
These men assumed that they did not give
themselves unto us by tho will of God
when they professed to give their own
selves unto God at the first. Thus, what
God had joined together in Ills Church,
they scif-willedly put asunder, so that when
we wanted we eould not get class-leaders
who could have sustaii ed this good old in
stitution. which I now declare, if it had
been well carried out, can never be substi
tuted by anything else equal to itself. In
the same way, in some places, the Church
is doomed to great future loss because our
members utterly refuse to obey their pas
tors in fiflins places in Sunday schools, to
which they are appointed, and will let a
school utterly fail rather than fill the place
to which they have been solemnly and
Seripturaily appointed by the v«ry man to
whom God in Ilis Word has required thorn
to submit themselves. And in tLe name way
Church extension is cut off. Let a pastor
of a Chureh devis* work for Churoh exten
sion in this city, for icstaece, no matter how
wisely, if iteannot be carrieJ out without the
aid of certain leading men —members of his
charge —aad let him appoint them to load
meetings among these people as his helpers,
and many of them will feel under no more
moral obligation to obey his pastoral behest
than if it had been issued from a common
court bailiff.
How can we carry on the work assigned
us with a male membership who do not
scruple to set aside our divine right to
their co operative help? It cannot be done,
only slowly and imperfectly, because the
Church, to which this home work belongs
—as the corporate body—will not do its
part. Church members refuse to give
themselves unto us by the will of God, as
was the wont of apostolio converts. And
we dare not spread out beyond our own ca
pacities to hold meetings, for if we pledge
help in advance, and send brother A. B.
word to go and lead a prayer-meeting there,
he will tell you he cannot do it, and he will
not do it. He feels no scruple to disobey
you, because he has not left the settlement
of this question with the Bible, but settles
it for himself, and in doing so puts himsel;
in antagonism with his Bible and with his
God : for he refuses to be either the salt of
the earth ortho light of the world.
Politics and Religion. —A Congrega
tionalism in the Boston Courier, says:
“Within the knowledge of the writer of
this article, there were in a neighboring
New England State, less than twenty years
ago, seven Congregational churches in con
tiguous parishes, all flourishing, and with
settled ministers. Now there is but one of
these ohurches over whioh there is a pastor
—the others have been abandoned from
the inability of the societies to support stat
ed preaching. Thtre are large numbers ol
churches iu New England which, within
this period, have met a similar fate, and
the end is not yet. In fact, there are but
few country churches which are not to-day
making desperate struggles for very life.
And all this because the professed ministers
of Christ have given up the preaching of
Christ and him crucified, and used their
pulpits for only the vilest of partisan pur
poses.”
Jgodrtne anb Csgerience.
Salutation to Jesus Christ.
DT JOIN CALVIN.
[Tha following sacred hymu is taken from Dr
Se.iaff'* volume, entitled “Guriai in Song ” Dr tJchaff
»*▼.*: “This hymn, together with eieren other*,
(mostly translations from Psalms ) written in Frenoa,
was recently discovered by Felix Bovat. of Neuchatel.
in an old Genevese prayer-book, and first published
in the sixth volume of t he new edition of the works of
Calfio, hy Baum. Uui-itz and Kenes, ItKK It reveals a
poetic vein arid a devotional fervor and tenderness,
which one would hardly have suspected in the nevere
logician ” The English translation is by tae wife of
Prof. H*nrv B. Smith. D. D., of the Union Theological
Seminar t, N\ w York •-!
I greet trie*, who my sure Red*amer art,
Trua Bridegroom and sole Saviour ol’ my heart!
Who so much toil and woe
And pain didst undergo.
For toy poor, worthless sake:
And pray Thee, from our hearts,
AM idla gri«f and smarts,
And foolish cares to take.
Thou art the king of merev and of grace,
Reigning omnipo'ent in evary place;
So come. O king! and deign
Within our hearts to reign,
And our whole being away ;
Shine in us by Thy M^ht,
And lead us to the height
Os Thy pure, heavanly day.
Thou art the life by which alone we live,
And all our substance and • ur strength receive ;
Comfort us by Thy faith
Against th<» pains of Death ;
Sustain us by Thv power;
Let not < ur fears prevail,
Nor our hearts faint or fail,
When comes the trying hour.
Thou art the true and perfect gentlanes*;
No haishmss bast Thou, and no tuterncss;
Make us to taste an t prove,
Make ii“ adore and b ve
The sweet grace found in Thee ;
With longing abide
Ever at Thy dear sido,
In Thy sweet un tv.
Our hope is in no other save in Thee.
Our faith is built upon Thy promise free ;
Gome! and our holm increase,
Comfort and “ire us peace,
Make us so strong and pure
Teat we sha'l conquerors be,
And well and patiently
Shall every ill endure.
Poor, banished exilf s, wretched «ons cf Fvs,
Full of ab sorrows, not ■ Thee we grieve !
To w » bring our sighs,
Our groaning* an I our cries ;
Thy city. Lord, we crave ;
’ We take the sinner’- plane.
And prav Th»e. of Thy grace,
Turn Thy sweet eyes upon our low estate,
Our Mediator aud our Advocate,
Propitiator best 1
The God of gods. Most High!
And let u- by Tav milt,
Enter the bleated light
And glories of the sky !
Oh, pitiful and gracious as Thou art..
The lovely Bridegroom c.f the ho y heart,
Lord Jean* Christ, meet Thou
The Antichrist. *>ur foe,
In all his cruel nub !
The Spirit give that we
May. tn true verity.
Follow Thy word of truth.
Look to mo for the Ront.
“Have you ever thought of the great sal
vation ?” I asked one ovening of a work
ing man who had been hearing the Gospel
preached, and with whom I had to walk
some miles.
“O, yes,” ho replied; “I have often
thought about it.”
“And are you saved ?”
“Weil, I could not say that—l don’t feel
as I would like.”
“I quite believe that ; but do you think
any of us eould ever feel perfectly rieht
here? But are you in peace with God ?’’
“I never could say that I am satisfied
with myself.”
“But, iny friend, I never asked if you
were. It would boa very bad sign if you
were sailsßfid with yourself. But are you
at peace with God
“Well, I never could foci that C have
peace. ,7
“But I don’t ask if you have peace with
yourself. I hope you never will. Have
you peace with God ?’’
“To tell you the tmth, I am not right.”
“How !o£!£ i- it since you began to think
of these things ?’’
“About atven or eight years ago, in the
north of Ireland, I was first awakened by a
minister preaching on ‘Y'e must be born
again.’ And often since that time, I have
been trying to feel God’s Spirit working iu
me.’’
“And you never have?”
“No ; I could not be sure.”
“llow could ever any one be sure of
what was going on within him, especially
as our enemy comes as an angel of light.
That is God’s part, not yours.”
“Well, what am I to do then ?”
“Jesus was the one, you remember, that
said *Y e must be born again ’ ‘Except a
man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
can not enter into the kingdom of God.’
Now, at the end of ail this conversation,
Nicodcmus knew nothing about how to be
saved for himself, but only said, ‘llow can
these things be ?’ even when Jesus himself
wss the gr at teacher.”
“That’s just where I am.’’
“Now, what did Jesus do ? He took
him away to the picture book for children,
and showed him the picture of a dying
man looking away from himself to a serpent
oq a pole and thus living; and then told
that ‘as Moses lifted up the serpent in tho
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have eternal life.*
Now. all you have to do is to look and
live.”
“But that is just what I’ve been trying
to, and which I don’t know how to do;
wbat is it to look to Christ?”
“Now I understand your difficulty—you
can not s*e Christ with the eyes of your
body—you can’t see him in vision—you
say that you can’t fael his presence within
you—you can’t feel that you have faith.”
“Exactly; whit am Itodo ?”
“Allow me to give you an illustration.”
In some such words I spoke with my friend,
and gave him the substance of the follow
ing illustration, which seemed to clear
awsy his difficulty ; and I thought l would
write it for you, as by God’s blessing it
may »nable you to receive God’s simple
plan, and accept God's salvation for noth
ing.
“You have a rent —say £lO a year to
pay —having to maintain a large family,
and having been recently in distress and
out of work, you find it impossible to pay
it. Suppose that I was able, and knew
your difficulty, and took pity on you, and
said to jou,
“ ‘John, I hear you have a heavy rent,
and have had very hard times, you will
never be ablo to pay it. Now I wish you
to use your money for your most pressing
wants, to get food and clothing for your
wife, and look to me for the rent ’ You,
knowing me, and hence believing me,
would go away homo with a burden off
your mind, and a happy heart. When you
came home next Saturday with yonr wages,
you would tell your wife to spend all the
money in getting food and clothing.
“‘But,’ she would say, ‘are we not to
lay aside something for the rent?’
“ ‘O, no,’ you would answer, ‘I met a
man whom I know, and who said, look to
me for the rent, and I know him and be
lieve him.’
“And thus weeks would go ou, till a
month before the rent day a neighbor
comes in and says,
“‘John, I’ve got only £5 gathered for
inv rent, and I don’t know what I’m to do.
How much have you ?’
“ ‘None at all.'
“ ‘What! are you to do nothing ?’
“ ‘O, a friend of mine said, look to me
for the rent.'
“ ‘And are you not getting anxious
about it ?’
“ ‘No.’
“ ‘Why ?’
“ ‘Because I trust him.’
“ ‘Why ?’
“ ‘Because I believe him,’
“ ‘Why ?’
“ ‘Because I know him.’
“Soon the rent-day comes, and even
your wife begins to be suspicious and
doubtful, but you have implicit trust in
what I said—you have no difficulty in un
derstanding what look to me for the rent
means, and so at the appointed hour 1 walk
in and make my word good, and you would
be happy to find that, against all your
neighbor’s doubts, against all your wife’s
fears, and even against all your own trem
blings, you had trusted my word and looked
to me for the rent This of course is only
an illustration, as I have no doubt you are
at the present quito able and willieg to pay
your own rent; but in the matter of our
salvation, though we might be willing, we
are totally unable; so ths Lord now says,
‘Look to me and be ye saved.’ Christ on
the cross is God’s fulfillment of this. He
paid the debt of the sinner. Men are do
ing right enough things; praying, living
moral lives, giving money, etc., but all for
the wrong end—all will never save. God
says, 'look to me for salvation,’ and then be
gin to use your time, talents, money, pow
ers, eto., for their legitimate end, to glori
fy God. Don’t try to bo holy in order to
be saved. ’That would b* like a man lay
ing up for a rent which he oould never
pay. '■Look to me and be saved,’ says
God, and then be holy, because you aro
sutc of salvation on the authority of God.
Religion will never save you—even pure
religion. God defines pure religion iu
James i. 27 : ‘Pure religion and uudefiled,
before God and the Father is this, to visit
the fatherless and the widows in their af
fliction, and to keep himself unspotted from
the world ‘ By the deeds of the law we
can not ba justified; therefore by doing all
this we cannot be saved. But religion is
the life of a saved man, not the efforts of
an unsaved man to get. saved. The work
is not to the cross, it is from the cross to
the crown. Jesus did ALL to save. He
brought the cross to our level. Get saved
by looking to him and then work to God.
Don’t look to the feeling as being saved—
look away from what is being wrought in
you to what is being wrought./br you We
are not saved on account of the Spirit
working in us, but hy means of his work
—we are saved on account of Christ dying
for us. ‘Look to me and be ye saved, all
the ends of the earth.’’’— British Ileraltl.
Apostolic Church—All thing* Common
In the first place wc must beware of vagu*
aud fantastic conceptions as to what this
having all things common really was ; what
it looked like as a veritable and visiblo faot.
Wc must not supposo that the first Chris
tian community lived like monks in one
vast establishment; or that they all clus
tered together in one collection of alma
houses, all built on ono model, something
like tha great Moravian institutions; or
that they all took their meals at a common
table, like the Spartans of old. No ; thsy
still occupied their own homes ; they broke
bread from house to house. No one was
required to alienate his estate, as Peter dis
tinctly reminded Ananias and Sapphira.
“Whiles it remained, was it not thine own f
and after it was sold, wai it not in thine
own power ?’’ What, then, wa.s the real
state of the ease ?
To save ourselves from hasty and extrava
gant ideas on this subject it may be well,
first of all, to ask ourselves, What was the
economical and financial system adopted by
Christ and his Apostles ? The twelve who
were in constant attendance upon the Mas
ter, who moved where he moved, save when
at liis bidding they left him alone for pray
er, turned all that th«y could turn, sensibly
and with advantage, into ready money, and
cast it all into a common stock. Os this
Judas was appointed treasurer, doubtless
because he was tho moat skilled, probably
because he was most experienced in money
matters.
Most likely Judas had been a shrewd,
succtfcsful man ol business, and the covet
ousness which became his ruin was but a
relapse into an abandoned sin, as Peter’s
cursing betrayed the early habits of voci
ferous blasphemy, which he could not as
readily cast off as “his fisher’s coat.’’ Now
any one can see that this throwing all their
available cash into a common fund was not
only the most brotherly, but the mest com
mon-sense, arrangement; in fact, the only
practical arrangement for an itinerant asso
ciation whose life was to be henceforth de
voted to the one common object of preach
ing the kingdom of God, and learning tbe
laws of that kiugdom from the lips of Christ.
Yet even then there was no reckless aban
donment of their previous possessions.
When Peter and his brother Andrew left
their ship and nets to follow Christ they
retained the ownership of them; for they
were owners, and not iu a state of abject
poverty. Their ship was henceforth placed
at the disposal of tho Master; its deck was
his pulpit, its stei* cabin was his sleeping
room. When ont upon the lake it was for
his transit, retirement, and convenient
standtng»room, so long as he tarrmd oa the
borders on the Sea of Galilee But when
the brothers wure away with the Master,
Peter’s wife and her neighbors knew very
well to whom the ship belonged ; and Peter
did not leave her or her mother without a
house over their heads. This ship and
those nets remained in the possession of
the brothers until after the resurrection of
Christ, for they returned to them and re
sumed their old employment. John, too,
the youngest of tho brotherhood, had a
house of his own which he retained with the
knowledge and approval of the master, since
fiorn the hour of the crucifixion, he toot the
Loru’s mother “to his own home.’’ When
Matthew, at a moment’s notice, left tho tax
collector’s booth, he took his money with
him, and his account* too, *nd held his
house, for a time at least, since ha invited
his brother-publicans to meet tho Maater
there at a great suit.
In the few dftys’ interval between the
Ascension and Peutecost, the hundred and
twenty brethren and sisters then tarrying
at Jerusalem, and devoting themselves whol
ly to prayer and srdent sxpeotation, would
live as one household, though too numerous
to eat at one table, or lodge under on* roof.
They were a community, the expenses of
which would bo met at onoe in the most
economical and th* most generous manner,
in the way most noble and considerate on
the part of tho better-off, and the least ex
acting and encroaching on the part of the
poor. But the hundred and twenty who
had been present at the Ascension from the
Mount of Olives, although they had formed
themselves into an enrolled association, as
certaining “the number of the names, ’
were not the whole existing Churoh of
Christ. They were not even the majority.
More than three hundred and eighty “breth
ren,” the larger number of the “above five
hundred” who had “as onoe’’ worshipped
tho risen Master, had been unable to spend
in the neighborhood of the holy city tho
E. H. MYERS, D. D., EDITOR.
Whole Number 1755
whole six weeks, whioh intervened from
the crucifixion to the ascension. Yet they
formed an integral and a large portion of
the Church to which the three thousand
were “added” on one exemplary diy. And
they, too, were “partakers of the Hedy
Ghost,” “the Spirit of love,’’ and in their
several localities were of one heart and soul,
and “had all things common.” Os oourse,
arrangements would diffi-r with differing
circumstances; but while there were “dif
ferences of administration,’’ there was “the
same Spirit.” Scattered over Judea and
Galileo, they were “ together ,’’ and “contin
ued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine
and fellowship .’’ The brethren at Jerusa
lem “continued daily in the temple and
from houso to house,” not neglcoting the
duties of homo and business, or spending
tha months in one unbroken string of ser
vices, as is now done sometimes at a peri
odical or occasional camp meeting Tho
■uaxim was in force then as ever, “If any
piovid* not for his owu, aad especially for
thoso of his own house, he hath denied the
faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Tho
believing tradesmen, couu-.ellor, cr .v.-fcbt tf.J
not throw his wife and children, along with
his money, upon the funds of the commu
nity, nor did he leave them to starve. But
many a believing tradesman lost his busi
ness, scores of mechanics were turned adrift,
hundreds of hired seivants were dismissed,
dependent widows were turned out upm
the street. “ Loss of all things'' was tho
penalty of professing faith in the crucified
Jesus. What then? Could their indepen
dent brethren see then starve ? No; they
mot the emergency in a prompt, noble, and
right brotherly spirit. “Neither was there
any among them that lacked : for as many
as were possessors of lands or houses sold
them, and brought the price of the things
that were sold, and laid them down at tho
Apostles’ feet; and distribution was made
unto every man, as every man had need.’’
“Lands;” “houses.’’ The market-gardener,
whoso children’s bread depended on tho
produce of his half acre, did not put it up
to auction so long as the market was open
to him ; but the landed proprietor sold his
suburban or distant estate, and devoted tIY"
proceeds to tho necessities of his destitute
brethren. The small frrcho tier dii not
sell his humble homestead, and thus make
one less house of prayer among the dwel
ling-places of Mount Zion ; but the weil- o
do owner of house property secured tho best
possible prioo for his block of buildings
without disturbing his tenants or turning
his wife and family out of doors.
In short, every one who had private pro
perty more than was sufficient to meet the
current demands of necessity, of home, and
of business, held that property available
for the exigencies of his needy brethren;
so that without all dressing in a similar fab
ric, or all limiting themselves to the same
daily bill of fare, they took good care that
no poor Christian should be at a loss for a
meal as long as a brother Christian had
meat in his larder, or milk in bis dairy, or
bread in his bin ; and no Christian shoul 1
go scantily clothed, so long as another
Christian had raiment, ia his
robe, or money in his purse. That io •
general all held their private property
their own hands, until the necessit'
their brethren mitrht call ior dishy ■■
and distribution, is plain Irom the narrai'
It is not sail that no <jue continued to ’
■ess anything. Oj the contrary, he /
stated them till tho wants of his brethicn
laid olaitns on them ; but none said that
aught of things whicn ho still “possessed”
was his own He fold them, yet not lor
himself, but as a steward, for the necessities
of the household ot faith. Now all this
in spirit would bo reproduced tvero wo all
to obey the exhortation of tho uposllo,
“ Distributing to the neoessity of saints.”
This passage in the Epistle to the 1! nnons
shows that there was nothing local or tem
porary in this “community of goods,” noth
ing which would not work just as well in
Romo as in Joruialem, in tho year of grace
60 as in A. D. S3 ; just as well in London
as in either, when an 18 has been prefixed
to fi, and the 0 changed into a !). “Distri
buting to the necessity of saints.’’ (Rom.
xii 13 ) The word there rendered “dis
tributing” has no derivative relation to the
word rendered in the Acts, ‘'Distribution
was made;” but it is of the same r iotas
that which is there translated, “They had
all thing* common.’' It is therefore literal
ly, “having in common the neoessity of tho
saints,” or taking your share in the neces
sity of the saints, or making your own, the
nacossity of the saints. The word is sig
nificant of something far beyond tho bare
distribution "8T alms. It implies that fellow
feeling which proverbially "makes us won
drous kind.” It enjoins a double sharing;
the more wealthy snaring by stueore, hearty,
thorough sympathy in the sorrows, wants,
and woes of the destitute; aud making tho
poor share in the abundance with which
God has blessed the wealthy. As tho Sav
iour promises to the penitent soul, “1 will
sup with him, and he with me ” Christ
graciously engages first to tako his part, in
the burdans and the bitterness of a broken
spirit, aud then to cause that broken spirit
to eat and drink its fiil of heaven’s own
happiness. So, the relief which we afford
to our hungry brethren should not, be cold,
but sympathetic. We should feel in our
owu hearts the pressure aod tl e pangs of
their necessity. We should gather around
us in spirit the poor man’s pining little
ones, and make our hearts hear thorn say,
“O, mother, lam so hungry !” Wo must
feel tho hollow eyes of want rest upon us
We mutt not think that after having asked
the divine blessing upon his bounties, and
returned thanks for his indulgences, we
may heartily enjoy the superfluities with
which we are favored, and wrap ourselves
luxuriously in our costly apparel, without
oaring that a brother or sister is naked or
destitute of daily food. No; we must
share in thtir necessities, and let them
share in our comforts.
There is, therefore, nothing Utopian,
nothing impracticable in the “all things
common ” The mi-takes which have been
made on every hand about these verses in
the Acts of the Apostles from hasty, unre
fleotive roading, and smart, self ooufideut
interpretation, are much upon a par with
those made on the first chapter of Genesis.
These verses have boon, and still are, often
made to identify Christianity with vagaries
of Communism and Socialism. See, for
example, a very able article on “Trades
Unionism” in “Fraser” for Ootober last.
The only difficulty in th* reproduction o! tho
state of thiugs in Jerusalem is in realizing
the dispensation of the Spirit, as a "spirit
of power, of love, and of a sound mind It
was but the carrying out of our Lord’s di
rection to his disciples in all ages, t-Sdl
that ye have" —more exactly, “your super
fluities that is, what you might parr, with,
without bringing youruCives into diffiouities
—and “give alms-” “Bear ye one anoth
er’s burdens, and so fulfill the law oj Christ.”
In a thoroughly Christianized community
uo such spectacle eould bo witnessed as a
rich man faring sumptuously every day,
while a believing beggar was lying at his
gate “full of sores.’’ “Sell that thou hast,
and give alms, and thou shalt have treasure
in heaven: and oome, follow Me,’’ is a
standing admonition to wealthy individual
Christians to make tho safest aud ino-t ac
cruing investment of oapital by in.king
their superfluities available for meeting the
necessities of their pining brethren. — (Loq
don) Wesleyan Magazine.