FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
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 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 Diriaion 
 
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HENRY ALLON D.D 
 
 PASTOR AND TEACHER 
 
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Photo : Frank Martyn, Highbury, N 
 
 HENRY ALLON D. D 
 
HENRY ALLON D.I) 
 
 PASTOR AND TEACHER 
 
 ftbc ^torn of Ijis itthustni lrritb Skkctei ^mnotts 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. W. HARDY HARWOOI) 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 The aim of this volume is simply to present a 
 picture of the activities of a long and busy life. It 
 does not profess to be, in the ordinary sense, either 
 biographical or critical: it is a straightforward 
 account of the chief events of Dr. Allon's life and 
 ministry, with such personal references as are needful 
 to the picture, and such selections from his sermons 
 and addresses as will, it is hoped, represent the 
 many sides of his public teaching. 
 
 Remembering the prominent position which Dr. 
 Allon filled, and the great number of people with 
 whom, during the many years of his ministry, he 
 came into close association, the materials for a 
 story of his life are exceedingly slight. The fact that 
 he w T as pastor of the same church for nearly half a 
 century, and that the history of that long pastorate 
 was, speaking generally, one of unbroken peace 
 
vi HENRY ALLON. 
 
 and prosperity, made one year much like another 
 in its simple record of beneficent activities. He 
 had made no preparation whatever for a biography 
 of himself, nor are there any signs that he con- 
 templated such preparation. Many of the friends, 
 moreover, to whom he would have been likely, 
 under other circumstances, to write upon subjects 
 of permanent interest, were those with whom he 
 was brought into frequent personal contact. The 
 sketch, therefore, is largely confined to the externals 
 of the life, with such light upon his work and 
 character (in the fifth chapter especially) as I have 
 been able to gather from the testimony of others, 
 confirming and supplementing my own knowledge. 
 In the preparation of the volume I have had 
 the co-operation, which I here gratefully acknow- 
 ledge, of Mrs. Allon and her family. Its production 
 has been delayed by the numberless demands upon 
 my time and strength which the sudden death of 
 Dr. Allon thrust upon me, and which, for the first 
 year or more, I found it impossible to satisfy. 
 Even had I the will or the ability, my position 
 
VREFAGE. vii 
 
 would have prevented me from attempting anything 
 like a critical analysis of Dr. Allon's work and 
 character. I send out this simple sketch as a 
 tribute of respect and affection to the memory of 
 one whom I had learnt to love, and whose suc- 
 cessor I am proud to be. 
 
 W. H. Hauwood. 
 
 Unlo)i Chapel, Islington, March, 1894. 
 
 Postscript. — The preface to this volume was 
 written, and the volume itself in type, when the 
 sudden death of Mrs. Allon added a new and 
 painful interest to the story. I had written the 
 words, to be placed on the title-page of the book — 
 
 " To Mrs. Allon this volume is affectionately inscribed/' 
 
 and I should like the spirit of them to be pre- 
 served. The deep affection and loyalty of Mrs. 
 Allon, making her home a home indeed, was one 
 of the secrets of Dr. Allon's happy and successful 
 career, and is now the cherished memory of her 
 children. Since his death she had done all she 
 
viii HENRY ALLON. 
 
 could to perpetuate the usefulness of the church 
 so long associated with his name, and to strengthen 
 the hands of his successor ; and I gratefully in- 
 scribe to her memory this brief account of her 
 husband's wise, earnest, and successful ministry. 
 
 W. H. H. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 HENRY ALLON: THE STORY OF HES 
 MINISTRY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Early Years . 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 A Successful Pastorate 22 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A Many-sided Activity .... .42 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Ministry Crowned and Ended . . .61 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Labours and Characteristics. . . . .64 
 
SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 
 
 The Glory of the Sanctuary 
 
 Family Life 
 
 The Religious Service of Common Things 
 
 Until He Come (A Communion Sermon) 
 
 ( iirist's Sympathy . 
 
 Influence 
 
 Religious Solution of Sceptical Thoughts 
 
 An Ordination Charge 
 
 . Ill 
 
 . 132 
 
 . U2 
 
 . 154 
 
 . 164 
 
 . 175 
 
 . 187 
 
 . 199 
 
 The Christ, The Book, and The Church . . 220 
 
 (Address from the Chair of the Congregational Union, lHf>4.) 
 
 The Church of the Future .... 258 
 
 (Address from the Chair of the Congregational Union. 1881.) 
 
HENRY ALLON: 
 
 THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY YEARS. 
 
 It is a commonplace of the biography of to-day to say 
 that they whose lot has been cast in the second and third 
 quarters of this nineteenth century have lived through 
 the most remarkable fifty years in the history of the 
 modern world. Whatever may be the interest of their 
 own personal history they must, if they have taken 
 any part in public life at all, have contributed some- 
 thing to a story of varied and inexhaustible interest. 
 They have been active in a period of almost miraculous 
 activity. After a long winter and a still longer spring, 
 with occasional bursts of premature summer, there 
 came almost suddenly the ripening of the fruits of 
 many a weary sowing and long waiting. In many 
 departments, material and spiritual, there has been the 
 entrance into a new world, of which the former times 
 had been only a prophecy. A Rip van Winkle, who 
 should have been lulled to sleep by the calm which 
 followed the storm of Waterloo, and been roused again 
 by the cannon of Sedan, might well have supposed 
 
 B 
 
2 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 that he had been sleeping for five centuries rather 
 than for five decades, so rapid has been the progress in 
 many directions. 
 
 And of all the changes and developments none 
 has been more remarkable than those which have 
 taken place in men's thoughts of God and of life. 
 It was obviously impossible that men should begin 
 to live in so much larger a world without some re- 
 adjustment of their intellectual attitudes; the world 
 without must have some correspondence to the world 
 within. But great intellectual changes are not made 
 without much travail and real heroism. They are 
 not produced mechanically, but are the fruit of honest 
 and fearless thought. The problem before many men 
 in such an age has been how to be free from the yoke 
 of mere tradition and yet to remain loyal to the truths 
 by which they lived. Their solution of the problem 
 has been a cause, as well as a symptom, of much of 
 the intellectual advance. The spiritual history of 
 such men, could it be written, would be of the 
 profoundest interest, and though its most significant 
 features lie hidden in the secret places of life, it is yet 
 possible to see something of the processes by which 
 that history has been produced. 
 
 Now, true as this is of all men who have shared in 
 the intellectual life of the day, it is particularly true 
 of one who is a public guide or teacher, and most of 
 all, perhaps, of one who is an intelligent and honest 
 preacher of the Gospel. Every sincere ministry is to 
 an extent autobiographical. A thoughtful and observ- 
 ant congregation will, without any direct communica- 
 tion, be constantly admitted into the preachers most 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 3 
 
 sacred confidence ; they will know him in some 
 respects better than he knows himself; they will be 
 able to measure the degree of his progress or other- 
 wise by methods of which they themselves are hardly 
 conscious. 
 
 It may further be urged, perhaps, without offence, 
 that the life of a prominent minister in the Free 
 Churches will furnish a specially striking instance of 
 this. It is no longer possible for a man in such a 
 position to live the life of a recluse ; the ties which 
 bind him to his congregation, being moral rather than 
 official, can only be preserved by healthy, living 
 sympathy, and it will be essential to that sympathy 
 that there should be knowledge of the world and its 
 doings. If he be a man of any real sensitiveness, the 
 history of his teaching and work will be in some sort 
 a reflection of the current life of his day. 
 
 There is little doubt that the most striking illus- 
 trations of this reflection of the general life in the 
 history of a ministry have been found in provincial 
 cities and towns ; many names might be mentioned 
 of Nonconformist ministers whose activity has been 
 closely interwoven with all the best life of the 
 community in the midst of which their lot was 
 cast. While faithfully fulfilling their directly pas- 
 toral responsibilities, they have been leaders and 
 helpers in all progressive and preservative move- 
 ments in the town's life, and their activity has 
 been largely the measure of the town's progress. 
 But in solitary instances here and there this pos- 
 sibility has been exemplified on a larger and an 
 almost national scale. The public ministry has been 
 B 2 
 
4 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 exercised in connection with some prominent Church, 
 and the ability and public sympathy of the minister 
 have brought him into contact with men of many 
 thoughts and many activities. When the history of 
 movements with which such a man has been asso- 
 ciated comes to be written he will not perhaps be 
 found always to have filled the most prominent 
 places ; none the less has he borne his share, and 
 from the standpoint of a religious conception of life 
 has provided a spiritual barometer for the measure- 
 ment of the intellectual and spiritual atmospheres 
 which surrounded him. 
 
 Now, useful and important as such lives have 
 been, their story is often difficult to tell ; their life 
 has become so interwoven with contemporary history, 
 social and ecclesiastical, that to write any separate 
 account of their personal history becomes almost 
 an impossibility. The man who is identified with 
 some social or moral revolution, whose story has 
 been one of constant opposition, and of a warfare, 
 the only rest from which was the final and lasting 
 rest — of him much may be said ; but in the case of 
 the man whose history has been a peaceful evolution, 
 who has grown with the larger life of the day, his 
 words and activities, great as they have been, are as 
 the waters of the stream, not upon rugged mountains, 
 but after they have become merged in the great river, 
 watering and fructifying peaceful valleys. 
 
 There have been few more distinguished instances 
 of this peaceful and progressive history* than that 
 which is provided by the life of Dr. Allon. During 
 the remarkable history of the past fifty years he 
 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 5 
 
 has occupied a position of growing importance. 
 The growth of what his colleague, Mr. Lewis, used 
 to call the " village of Islington " is only an illus- 
 tration of the general growth on every hand. 
 The life of London, the sphere of Nonconformist 
 activity, the ideal of public worship, the multiplied 
 activities of Church life — in all these directions 
 there has been an ever-increasing advance, and in 
 all of them he bore a distinguished part. But so 
 much of the service that he rendered was merged 
 in the larger movements — personal fame and honour 
 being to him of much less importance than public and 
 private duty — that the actual record which remains is 
 altogether out of proportion to the importance of the 
 place which he filled, and the work which he did. 
 
 Henry Allon was a Yorkshireman, and was born 
 October 13th, 1818. His birthplace, Welton, is a 
 prettily situated village not far from the banks of the 
 Humber, and within a few miles of Hull. There, 
 amongst the simple conditions of rural life, were laid 
 the foundations of the great physical strength by 
 means of which he w T as able in after years to 
 accomplish so much without fatigue or illness. It 
 is a fact of which our reformers may well take note, 
 that the lives of many of our strongest and most 
 successful men are rooted in the country. Many 
 who become prominent and fill high places carry 
 about with them to the end the atmosphere of 
 the simple life of some hamlet or village. The 
 town-bred child may gain something in quickness 
 and ease of manner ; he certainly loses something 
 in the lack of the natural memories and vigorous 
 
6 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 life which are the fruit of an early and wisely 
 directed life in rural places. It was impossible to 
 spend half an hour in Dr. Allon's company without 
 being sure that the roots of his life were deep 
 in the associations of some country place. One 
 or two provincial pronunciations he never lost, and 
 they added a charm to the vigorous way in which 
 he spoke, so happy a contrast to the affected manner 
 which is too often met with to-day. Of his early life 
 in the village little can be, said ; he outlived most of 
 his contemporaries, and the traditions which are to be 
 found are of the faintest; none, indeed, important 
 enough to record here. 
 
 But the love of the village life continued with 
 him always. The present writer heard him, not many 
 days before his death, describe in glowing language 
 the beauties of the neighbourhood, and especially of a 
 famous glen near the village, and tell again some of 
 the romantic stories connected with the history of old 
 families in the district. It was always a delight to 
 him when in the neighbourhood to visit again the 
 scenes of his earliest life. 
 
 Dr. Allon, like so many successful preachers, came 
 of parents whom he greatly reverenced. Of his 
 mother he always spoke with deepest affection and 
 gratitude, and for his father's uprightness of character 
 he had the profoundest and most grateful respect. 
 
 Mr. William Allon was a builder and afterwards an 
 estate steward. The first intention was that the son 
 should follow his father's business, and after the usual 
 education in the schools which the neighbourhood pro- 
 vided, he was apprenticed at Beverley. But he was 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 7 
 
 really preparing for a very different life work. From 
 very early days he had shown strong religious suscepti- 
 bilities ; but it was not until he was fifteen that he 
 was brought under definite religious influences. Some 
 Wesley an friends at Beverley induced him to become 
 a teacher in their Sunday school, and a regular 
 attendant at their chapel; and through the preaching 
 which he heard there — that of one young minister 
 especially, whom he mentioned gratefully .at his 
 ordination — a Mr. Hobkirk — he was induced at about 
 seventeen to " give his heart to God." After about 
 a year's fellowship with the Wesleyans his views of 
 Church polity and of doctrine underwent some modifi- 
 cation, and he joined the Congregational church at 
 Beverley, of which the Rev. J. Mather was pastor. 
 
 They little appreciate the value of the religious 
 revival of last century who suppose that its effects can 
 be summed up in what is known as the great Methodist 
 Church. The life of the great evangelical movement 
 has nowhere been seen more clearly than in the effects 
 which it has produced upon other churches than that 
 of Wesley's founding ; and there are many in the 
 ministry of all the Churches who owe much to the 
 evangelical fervour which has come from their asso- 
 ciation at some time with some feature of Methodist 
 life. Though, with the views of doctrine which Henry 
 Allon declared himself to hold at his ordination, 
 it would have been impossible for him to become 
 a Wesleyan minister, yet he himself, at the suitable 
 time, made public acknowledgment of the fact that 
 his chief religious inspirations were derived from 
 association with Methodist services. To the end of 
 
8 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 his life he repaid that debt by friendliness and willing 
 service, a recognition of which was made by the 
 presence at his funeral of Dr. Stephenson, the then 
 President of the Wesleyan Conference. He never 
 thought of entering the Wesleyan ministry, and was 
 never even a lay preacher of the society ; but of the 
 associations and inspiring impulses which belonged 
 to the earlier days of his religious life he spoke 
 always with sincerest gratitude. 
 
 After joining the Congregational church at 
 Beverley he became at once an active Christian 
 worker, teaching in the Sunday school, and leading 
 what were known as district prayer-meetings. After 
 much hesitation he was, Avhen about nineteen, pre- 
 vailed upon by two members of the church who used 
 to preach in the neighbouring villages, to address 
 a small congregation, and from that time began 
 regularly to preach at the village stations, and con- 
 tinued to do so for more than a year. During this 
 time .the thought of the ministry was often present 
 with him, but only as a desirable sphere of work 
 altogether out of his reach. The remoteness of the 
 country life which he was living, and his ignorance 
 of the methods of obtaining entrance to college, 
 caused him not only to keep secret to himself any 
 desires which he might entertain, but also to fight 
 against the desires as longings after the impracticable. 
 
 But one of those accidents which are really the 
 highest Providence was to put within his reach that 
 which seemed so far from him. By some unexpected 
 circumstance his business engagement terminated 
 suddenly at Beverley, and he obtained another 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 9 
 
 in Hull. On the morning of his departure he 
 happened to meet one of the deacons of the chapel, 
 and told him of his coming change of residence. At 
 the time nothing was said, but during the day the 
 deacon held a consultation with his colleagues and 
 the minister of the church, Mr. Mather, and on the 
 same evening a formal proposal was made to Mr. 
 Allon that he should devote himself to the ministry. 
 That proposal was afterwards enforced by a unani- 
 mous vote of the church, and by the expressed 
 opinions of several ministers in Hull and the neigh- 
 bourhood to whom Mr. Allon was known, and for 
 whom he had preached. He became for a while a 
 member of the church worshipping in Fish Street, 
 Hull, under the pastoral care of the Rev. T. Stratton, 
 formerly the first minister of the church in Sunderland, 
 from which Dr. Allon's co-pastor and successor was 
 long afterwards to come. At his ordination service, 
 after a very full account of all these events, he went 
 on to say : — 
 
 u I have been thus minute in mentioning these circum- 
 stances, as it has often been an unspeakable encouragement, 
 amid various discouragements, and frequent anxieties, to 
 know whether or not I was in the position which God 
 would have me to occupy — to reflect that I have not 
 intruded myself into the ministerial office, but that every 
 step which I have taken towards it has been solicited by 
 others. I have always regarded the coincidence of my 
 own earnest but unexpressed inclinations with the views 
 and wishes of my pastor and the church as an indication 
 of the Divine will ; for I have always considered the voice 
 of the church, in this matter especially, to be the voice of 
 God, and the most, if not the only, satisfactory call to the 
 
10 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 Christian ministry, and especially when it is a response to 
 strong and cherished inclinations. From these, the provi- 
 dential circumstances (as I must regard them) which led me 
 to seek admission to Cheshunt College, and also from the 
 measure of success with which God has been pleased to 
 accompany my labours in His cause, I would confidently 
 trust that I am following His will in thus seeking the 
 office of the Christian ministry." 
 
 His attitude upon this question was characteristic. 
 Few men were more modest, few more self-controlled. 
 The mere desire to enter the ministry would with some 
 men have been sufficient excuse for every possible form 
 of agitation to secure that end. With most men it 
 would, at least, have been a subject of much consulta- 
 tion and conversation ; but he, whose strength made 
 him afterwards the confidential adviser of so many, 
 was able to keep to himself that, the utterance of 
 which might possibly cause an interruption in the 
 Divinely ordered plan of his life. 
 
 No man needs to thrust himself into the Christian 
 ministry. A mere desire to preach and a zeal 
 for service are no indication of fitness for this 
 high office, and many ministers of churches are to 
 blame, in that they have, on the strength of no 
 greater qualification, encouraged young men to enter 
 college who have at once become and have re- 
 mained to the end a burden upon the churches. 
 In all the endeavours of to-day to improve the 
 standard of the ministry, there are needed stronger 
 safeguards at one point which has been somewhat 
 neglected — the taking of the first steps into the 
 ministry. The office is so sacred and is becoming 
 
 
TEE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 11 
 
 so increasingly important that the evidence of a 
 man's fitness, which is his Divine appointment, should 
 be overwhelming. If he have not that fitness, the in- 
 creased college training will only convert him into a 
 mere lecturer, and ultimately into a fossil. If he have 
 that fitness, the fuller his training the greater will be 
 his power for good in the world. Xo power in this 
 world can make a preacher, but if God have first 
 made the aspirant one, no equipment can be too great 
 for so high an office. 
 
 It will have been seen from Mr. Allon's deliberate 
 change to the Congregational order from the Wesleyan 
 that his choice of the Congregational ministry in pre- 
 ference to any other was a matter of deep conviction. 
 It may now be mentioned, since all the persons whose 
 knowledge could make it a matter of confidence are 
 dead, that it was also a matter of some sacrifice. A 
 wealthy lady, representative of one of the old families 
 of the neighbourhood of his native village, urged him 
 to enter the Church of England, promising not only to 
 defray all the expenses of a university course, but also 
 to secure to him the reversion of a good living which 
 wus in her gift. He gave, as he was of course bound 
 to do, respectful consideration to so generous an offer, 
 the strong claims of which would not be lessened by 
 the fact that his father was a member and, for some 
 time, a churchwarden of the Church of England. 
 Amongst other difficulties, however, he found himself 
 unable to subscribe to some of the Articles of the 
 Anglican Church ; and the answer he gave was that 
 he felt it right to follow his own strong convictions. 
 To the end his loyalty to those convictions did not 
 
12 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 swerve. Though recognising the greatness of the 
 Church of England, and on terms of the most cordial 
 friendliness with many of its most distinguished 
 clergymen, a friendliness sometimes misunderstood by 
 those who did not know him, he remained always a 
 firm and loyal Nonconformist, never regretting the 
 intelligent and deliberate choice which he had made 
 in early life. He based his choice of Congregation- 
 alism, he declared at his ordination, upon its purity of 
 membership, its voluntaryism, its freedom in choice of 
 ministers and officers, and in form of worship, and 
 " because its ministers are not required to subscribe 
 to any human interpretation of the Word of God." 
 
 Having thus made his choice, such help as he 
 needed was not wanting in order to prepare himself 
 for college. He went for about a year to the house of 
 the Kev. Alexander Stewart, at High Barnet, assisting 
 him in a school which he conducted there, and him- 
 self preparing for his entrance into Cheshunt College. 
 During that period he preached in the neighbourhood, 
 and for a while took charge of a village station, and in 
 due course was admitted a student. The years at 
 Cheshunt were years of great happiness and con- 
 tinual industry. He always manifested the deepest 
 possible affection for his alma mater, and tried in 
 every way in his power to pay his debt of gratitude 
 by working on behalf of the college, and securing for 
 it the sympathy and help of others. He was one of 
 its most distinguished alumni ; and no estimate of his 
 life could be complete without due recognition of the 
 part which Cheshunt College played in the formation 
 of his ministerial character. 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 13 
 
 From every point of view the history of Cheshimt 
 is one of great interest. It is one of the abiding 
 monuments of a great movement and of a useful 
 life. That masterful reformer and pious woman, 
 Selina Countess of Huntingdon, has left no greater 
 monument of her own foresight and real earnestness 
 than Cheshimt College. When, seeing the need for 
 earnest and godly preachers, she opened the college 
 at Trevecca, and placed it under the charge of the 
 holy Fletcher of Madeley, there was commenced an 
 institution of almost unique usefulness. 
 
 There has been at the college, throughout its 
 history, a succession of wise and good men who 
 have left their stamp upon students whom they 
 have trained ; and, if it has not produced a 
 large number of very distinguished preachers, it 
 has certainly maintained a record of useful and 
 earnest ministers, serving in many different branches 
 of the Christian Church. The preparation which the 
 Countess made for the continuance of the college 
 after her death showed both shrewdness and catho- 
 licity. The property is vested in seven trustees ; the 
 doctrinal standard is in fifteen selected Articles of 
 the Church of England, and the students are free to 
 accept any sphere which may offer for Christian 
 service and preaching. Though the Connexion itself 
 has somewhat decreased, and its future is not likely 
 to be of great importance, here, at least, has been 
 preserved a vital source of light and influence. 
 
 The locality of Cheshimt, as w^ell as its history, 
 is an inspiration. Standing amidst interesting royal 
 associations, it still preserves much of the beauty 
 
14 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 which must first have made it a place of royal resort. 
 Placed in the midst — in the very midst — of one of 
 the richest rose-growing districts, and in its quiet 
 lanes and old cottages full of suggestions of the past, 
 it is well suited for the quiet and healthy prepa- 
 ration for a great life-work. Its proximity to London 
 gives to its students an opportunity of mingling now 
 and again in the highest religious life of their day, 
 and of becoming known to churches which may 
 require the services of ministers. The group of 
 village churches round about Cheshunt gives to 
 them also occasions for preaching and for pastoral 
 work which must afterwards be of inestimable value 
 to them ; for the man who cannot speak to a village 
 congregation is not fit to speak upon spiritual subjects 
 to any congregation anywhere. In addition to these 
 advantages, the college at Cheshunt has always pre- 
 served a high tone of spiritual life. In the midst 
 of all these advantages, then, was the student life of 
 Henry Allon spent. 
 
 In his studies he was most . diligent, and at one 
 time during his college course came very near per- 
 manently damaging his health through excessive 
 work. How seriously he regarded the work of in- 
 tellectual preparation for the ministry is illustrated 
 by the fact — simple in itself — that he would refer to 
 the special commendation which Dr. Hamilton pub- 
 licly gave to him after some examination, as one of the 
 pleasantest and most encouraging facts of his early 
 career. The course of instruction, though shorter in 
 those days than it is now, was, as a glance at the 
 examination papers will sho^v, of a high order, and 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 15 
 
 covered wide ground, and no man could pass through 
 it without hard and conscientious study. 
 
 Those were not the least palmy days of Cheshunt 
 College ; and such men as Dr. Harris, Philip Smith, 
 and W. Sortain, with his strange, wild rush of eloquent 
 speech, were a guarantee of the character of its 
 teaching. 
 
 Into the village preaching, as well as into study, 
 Mr. Allon threw himself with energy; the interest 
 then formed he continued to show until the end, and 
 nothing delighted him more in late years than to 
 be identified with an anniversary or a scheme for 
 improvement or rebuilding in any of the chapels 
 round about Cheshunt. His affection for his college 
 was boundless, and no event of the year was to him of 
 greater pleasure than its annual festival, which he 
 attended for fifty years with scarcely a break. 
 
 His college course, short as it would in any case 
 have been, was made shorter by the illness of Dr. 
 Harris, the Principal, and, coincident with that, an 
 event which was to have the largest effect upon his 
 career — his call to the co-pastorate of Union Chapel, 
 Islington. The Rev. Thomas Lewis, who had been 
 pastor from 1802, had, in 1835, asked for the services 
 of a colleague, and for a while was joined by the 
 Rev. John Watson. Mr. Watson's health, hoAvever, 
 gave way, and it became needful to look for a suc- 
 cessor. For a while the search was fruitless, but 
 in 1843 inquiry was made of Dr. Harris whether 
 he had amongst his students any who would be 
 capable of occasionally supplying the pulpit of Union 
 Chapel. There was one student of whose piety and 
 
16 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 ability Dr, Harris had the highest possible opinion, 
 and of whom he had prophesied that "if he have 
 health and strength he will outstrip us all." Accord- 
 ingly, on the 4th of June Henry Allon preached for 
 the first time in Union Chapel, which was to be for 
 nearly half a century the scene of his labours, and to 
 which his spiritual and enlightened ministry was to 
 give a position of rare importance. 
 
 No better account can be given of the origin and 
 early history of Union Chapel than that contained in 
 the brief and clear statement which was deposited 
 in 1876 under the memorial-stone of the present 
 building : — 
 
 " Union Chapel had its origin in the spontaneous 
 association of a few earnest and devout men, in part 
 Episcopalians, and in part Nonconformists, who sought 
 for themselves — the former a more evangelical ministry 
 than at that time could be found in the parish church, 
 and the latter some provision for evangelical worship 
 in addition to the two Nonconformist chapels then 
 existing in Islington. After worshipping together for 
 about two years they formed themselves into an organised 
 church, consisting of twenty-six members, and secured as a 
 chapel a building in Highbury Grove, now the dwelling- 
 house No. 18. Shortly after this the Rev. Thomas Lewis, 
 who had occasionally ministered to them during the 
 previous two years, was invited to become their pastor. 
 
 "The ordination of Mr. Lewis took place in Orange 
 Street Chapel, Leicester Square, in 1804. 
 
 " In August, 1806, the Church and congregation re- 
 moved to the chapel in Compton Terrace, which they had 
 erected. On the 30th of that month it was opened for 
 Divine worship by the Rev. Henry Gauntlett, late Yicar of 
 Olney, and by the Rev. Dr. Bogue, of Gosport. 
 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 17 
 
 "It was called Union Chapel, to indicate the union in 
 its worshippers of Episcopalians and Nonconformists. The 
 Liturgy of the Church of England was used in the morning, 
 and extempore prayer, after the manner of Nonconformists, 
 in the evening. 
 
 " The Lord's Supper was also administered in two modes, 
 the Episcopalian members of the Church receiving it at the 
 Communion table; the Nonconformist members administered 
 from pew to pew." 
 
 This simple statement involves, of course, a great 
 deal more than it expresses. The necessity for such a 
 movement is a light upon the spiritual condition of 
 England at the end of last century and the beginning 
 of this. It was the time of the first awakening from 
 the spiritual sleep of many years. The outermost 
 waves of the evangelical revival were beginning to be 
 felt, and in all the sects there were evidences of 
 quickened life. Not only within the borders of the 
 sects themselves, but in the coining together of the 
 more spiritual men of all communions, was there 
 evidence of this fuller life. 
 
 There was a growing sense of the folly of the 
 privileged position which was claimed by certain 
 official representatives of the Established Church. 
 Bishop Horsley and his school could not surely be 
 acknowledged as the only true representatives of 
 Christ upon earth. The mere fact that in the first 
 years of this century it was seriously contemplated by 
 a great statesman to suppress village preaching and to 
 close Sunday schools shows how jealously any spiritual 
 activity which was not in official channels was re- 
 garded. More attention would be paid to a drunken 
 C 
 
18 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 sporting priest who kept within the conventional 
 bounds than to any spiritual man who in his zeal 
 exceeded those bounds. With some great and notable 
 exceptions the clergy of that day were in a wretched 
 condition — drunken, racing, and non-resident. Men 
 like Newton and Simeon were in striking contrast to 
 the general order. It was natural that the Evan- 
 gelicals of all sections should recognise their essen- 
 tial unity, and seek to act together for their own 
 purposes. Thus in 1795 the London Missionary 
 Society was formed by representatives of Evan- 
 gelical Churchmen, Scotch Presbyterians, Calvinistic 
 Methodists, and Congregationalists. Again, in 1804 
 the formation of the British and Foreign Bible 
 Society is a witness to the same spirit in the 
 Churches. 
 
 The foundation of Union Chapel was a local 
 result of that evangelical movement. Islington, with 
 its numberless churches of £o-day, possessed then 
 only the parish church and the chapel-of-ease, and 
 nowhere was there such provision as the more 
 spiritual section of the people would desire. The 
 village (one full of interest, both to the student of 
 literature and to the Nonconformist) felt the force of 
 the same influences which were at work without ; and 
 the little church meeting first in 1799 — not 1802, as 
 was stated in the document quoted above — was only 
 a microcosm of larger and more public movements. 
 
 For nearly half a century the union of the Epis- 
 copal and Nonconformist elements was maintained, 
 though the tendency of the congregation was to 
 become more and more exclusively Nonconformist, 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 19 
 
 the spiritual awakening within the Church of England 
 enabling those who desired a home within the Estab- 
 lishment to find it there. During that period there 
 was a general improvement in moral and religious life, 
 and in an interesting sermon which Mr. Lewis preached 
 in 1842, he gives, in a review of forty years' pastorate, 
 a cheerful account of the continuous progress of the 
 village. At the beginning of that period, Islington, he 
 says, " was involved in the grossest ignorance and 
 wickedness," but gradually that stain was removed. 
 Many new churches and chapels were built; two large 
 training colleges — one Episcopal and one Independent 
 — were opened within the parish, and Sunday and day 
 schools were multiplied. Union Chapel became an 
 increasingly important centre of philanthropic and 
 religious activity, and such societies as the Benevolent, 
 the Maternal, and the Tract societies, started quite 
 early in the century, are still in full activity. 
 
 In indirect ways also the influence of the church's 
 life began to be felt. The London City Mission was 
 started in the second quarter of the century by 
 David Nasmyth, then a member at Union Chapel. 
 The educational movement which must be for ever, 
 in spite of narrow attempts at disparagement, asso- 
 ciated with the name of Joseph Lancaster, found 
 ready sympathy in the congregation of Union 
 Chapel. Day schools were erected, and for many 
 years carried on by the congregation, such children 
 as needed it being clothed as well as taught at the 
 cost of the congregation. 
 
 For forty years, then, Mr. Lewis had held the 
 growingly important position of sole pastor of 
 c 2 
 
20 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 the church, with the short interval of Mr. John 
 Watson's co-pastorate. Mr. Lewis was a man of 
 great amiability and goodness, though of inferior 
 intellectual strength to many of his contemporaries ; 
 but the affection and respect which he inspired 
 enabled him to fill a position of some difficulty 
 through many years with scarcely a jar or disagree- 
 ment. 
 
 To share in this work Henry Allon was ultimately 
 called, and his great place in its after development can 
 only be understood by thus recalling its beginnings. 
 His first preaching produced so favourable an im- 
 pression that he was asked again and yet again. 
 He occupied the pulpit during the whole of August, 
 1843, in the pastor's absence, and in September a 
 most hearty and unanimous invitation was sent to 
 him by the church and congregation ; and on the 
 first Sunday of the following year he entered upon 
 his duties as junior pastor of the church. 
 
 There are few more delicate relationships than 
 that Avhich exists between two co-pastors, and in this 
 case it was found to be not without its difficulties 
 and trials. The danger does not lie so much with the 
 pastors themselves as in the zeal and indiscretions 
 of their friends. If they could only be left alone to 
 solve the problem by their own mutual confidence and 
 co-operation there would be little difficulty ; but good 
 people, who mean no harm in the world, are apt to 
 believe the old minister slighted, or the young minister 
 oppressed, when no such thought has been in the 
 mind of either. Such dangers from without were 
 not wanting in this case, but Mr. Allon's wisdom and 
 
THE STOEY OF HIS MINISTRY. 21 
 
 self-control were constantly manifested, and by their 
 means the many difficulties incident to the position 
 were met and successfully overcome. He entered 
 upon his duties in January, 1844, and continued 
 co-pastor until the death of Mr. Lewis in February, 
 1852. 
 
22 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A SUCCESSFUL PASTORATE. 
 
 It was in the June of 1844 that Mr. Allon was 
 publicly ordained to the Christian ministry. The 
 ordination service was not only impressive in itself, 
 but derived an added significance from the fact 
 that it was practically the public recognition of 
 the change which had gradually been transform- 
 ing the church from its original character to one 
 that was purely Congregationalism Dr. Bennett 
 gave the introductory address in exposition of Con- 
 gregational principles; Mr. Henry Spicer told the 
 story of the movement which had led to the pre- 
 sentation of the call ; and Mr. Allon gave very full 
 expression to his personal faith in Christ and con- 
 scious call to His ministry, as well as to his views of 
 Church polity and Church doctrine. The ordination 
 prayer was offered by Mr. Sherman, and the charge to 
 the minister delivered by Dr. Harris, whose relation 
 to Mr. Allon was almost that of father to son. 
 
 Thus much would suffice for account of this service 
 did it not supply a striking illustration of one quality 
 which was supremely characteristic of Mr. Allon — 
 his openness of mind and his capacity for growth. 
 While, speaking generally, his place must be fixed 
 amongst the moderate Evangelicals, nothing in his 
 history is more manifest than his broadening of view 
 and development of creed. 
 
HENRY ALLON. 23 
 
 Though generally throughout his ministry ranked 
 amongst the orthodox, he was yet especially sensitive 
 to the effects of the latest knowledge and research. 
 He did not mistake modes of apprehending and ex- 
 pressing truth for the truth itself; but, amidst all the 
 changes of thought and of utterance, he held firmly 
 to what he believed to be the great essential truths 
 of the Christian faith. 
 
 To those who had the privilege of being taught by 
 him in the later years of his ministry, the following 
 extracts from his ordination statement will prove 
 suggestive. They indicate both the truths which 
 were present in his teaching to the end and also 
 those doctrines and methods of stating truth which 
 he either abandoned or greatly modified : — 
 
 " I believe that God requires of all men repentance and 
 faith as the means of their obtaining an actual and personal 
 interest in the salvation thus rendered available for all \ 
 and also that the influences of the Holy Spirit are necessary 
 to produce these by removing the enmity of heart to 
 spiritual truth. I believe that none would embrace God's 
 offer of mercy unless inclined to do so by the Holy Spirit. 
 His great work, therefore, I conceive to be the removal of 
 the natural aversion to Divine truth. Those to whom the 
 regenerating influences of the Holy Spirit are given are in 
 Scripture called the elect ; by which, as I understand, that 
 as these influences are given by a special act of God, and 
 are of sovereign bestowment, they are given as the result 
 of a Divine determination to give them, for a wise Being 
 never acts without an intelligent purpose ; and as all God's 
 purposes are eternal, His purpose to give the Holy Spirit is 
 eternal also ; those to whom He thus eternally purposed to 
 give the Holy Spirit being called the elect — chosen to this 
 
24 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 special grace — not for any inherent accidental difference in 
 them, but by the sovereign pleasure of God. ... . I 
 believe that the elect, thus foreknown and predestinated, 
 are led by the Holy Spirit to comply with the requirements 
 of the Gospel, and to repent of sin, to believe in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and to strive after and practise holiness. 
 That when they believe they are justified, by which I 
 understand not only that their sins are forgiven, but that 
 they are treated as if they had never sinned, all that by 
 the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. 
 And from the nature of the new birth, as also from the 
 unchangeableness of the Divine nature and purposes, and 
 from the explicit statement of God's will, I believe in the 
 assured perseverance of all who are truly born again to 
 eternal life." 
 
 Though these words have the ring of the definite 
 theology in which he had been trained, it is impos- 
 sible not to trace in them the evidences of a reserve — 
 the reserve of an original and independent mind 
 under forms of expression which had been rather 
 received as traditions than created out of personal 
 thought. The closing sentences of the statement, 
 about to be quoted, were prophetic of what actually 
 took place in his intellectual history — the growth into 
 larger outlooks of one who never ceased to be loyal 
 to what he conceived to be the central truths of 
 Christianity. There was too much real reverence and 
 personal piety in his life to allow him lightly to regard 
 truths which had been to him the source of so much 
 spiritual strength and inspiration ; but side by side 
 with that there was the openness to truth of a strong 
 and original mind. The noblest conservatism in 
 the history of religion is in personal loyalty of 
 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 25 
 
 character, the truest progressiveness is in the teachable 
 mind. 
 
 11 This is an outline," the statement concluded, " of 
 what I consider the Bible to teach, as far as I now under- 
 stand it ; but respecting many truths, perhaps respecting 
 most, my opinions are necessarily crude and immature. I 
 trust, however, that by maintaining a humble and teach- 
 able mind, and by constantly seeking the teachings of 
 God's Holy Spirit, I shall be kept from serious error, and 
 shall be enabled to declare to those among whom I minister 
 what is the mind of the Spirit." 
 
 It is that attitude of mind which pre-eminently 
 qualifies a man to be a helper of others, and which 
 enabled Mr. Allon to be a spiritual and intellectual 
 guide to many who were perplexed and in need of 
 sympathetic and wise treatment. The mere utterance 
 of dogmas unchanged from year to year in any single 
 letter of their expression, may present an appearance 
 of great loyalty to truth, but the wise and helpful 
 teacher, who shall guide strong souls over the rough 
 and miry places, must for himself have learned how 
 to apprehend truth, and express in the language of 
 personal conviction the truths which he has to teach. 
 There is no teaching so truly inspired as that which 
 has been burned into the soul of a man by the fires 
 of conflict through which he himself has passed. 
 Growth through conflict is the law of the Christian 
 life, and evidence of such growth w T as conspicuously 
 present in the teaching of Henry Allon. 
 
 It has been said that the tendency of the life of 
 the church worshipping in Union Chapel bad been 
 more and more towards simple Congregationalism. 
 
26 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 This fact was recognised very soon after Mr. Allon's 
 settlement. The advent of the Rev. Daniel Wilson to 
 Islington parish church had been the commencement 
 of a new and more active life in the Episcopal Church, 
 and the attendance of Episcopalian worshippers at 
 Union Chapel was naturally constantly decreasing. The 
 settlement of Mr. Allon was felt to be a fitting oppor- 
 tunity for giving final effect to the necessities which 
 this change had produced, and within a comparatively 
 short time the use of the Liturgy, which had obtained 
 from the beginning, was discontinued, and the Lord's 
 Supper, which had been observed in the two forms 
 used by Episcopalians and Independents severally, 
 was thenceforth observed in the Nonconformist 
 method only. From that time Union Chapel became 
 practically what it has since remained, a Congrega- 
 tional church, though it has always preserved its 
 character for catholicity and its sympathy with all 
 kinds of religious activity. In connection with this 
 change Dr. Allon's own views of the value of extem- 
 pore prayer may be of interest. He says : "It is 
 neither the prayer of dead men, nor a past inspiration 
 of the Spirit ; it may be homely, but it is the expres- 
 sion of a present, living experience ; it is the imme- 
 diate teaching of the Spirit of Truth that dwelleth in 
 the man. Shall the Church presume to ordain that 
 the Spirit shall never inspire another prayer for 
 public worship ? Use the past, by all means, but not 
 so as to forbid the insjoirations of the present. Past 
 prayers may be useful, as past hymns are, but both in 
 prayers and in hymns we should be prepared to 
 welcome every fresh inspiration of the living Spirit." 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 27 
 
 In his conduct of public worship there was no 
 more striking feature than the beauty and reverence 
 of his prayers. He seemed to enter into the very 
 presence of God, and those who were in spiritual 
 sympathy with the purposes of the worship always 
 found in him a true leader in the act of prayer. 
 Dignified in expression and deeply reverent in spirit, 
 his prayers were always a refreshment and an in- 
 spiration. 
 
 In 1848 Mr. Allon was married, at Bluntisham, to 
 Eliza, the eldest daughter of Joseph Goodman, Esq., 
 of Witton, Huntingdonshire, Mr. Lewis officiating at 
 the ceremony. Miss Goodman was connected with 
 a family which was — and is still — doing prominent 
 service to Nonconformity. Of her place in Mr. 
 Allon's life something is said later. Let it suffice to 
 say here, that to intimate friends he always spoke 
 with deepest gratitude of the great help and joy 
 which his marriage had brought to him. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Allon took a house in Canonbury, 
 and there, with some necessary enlargement, they 
 continued to live until his death. In later years Dr. 
 Allon would sometimes say, half jestingly, but with 
 real gratitude, that he had had " one wife, one home, 
 one church." He could not, perhaps, have retained 
 the third so long if the first and second had not been 
 so helpful to him. 
 
 But little need be said of the co-pastorate. 
 On the whole it was a history of slow but sure pro- 
 gress. At one time the church seemed to be in some 
 peril of division. The young minister was becoming 
 increasingly a favourite, while the influence of the 
 
28 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 older was a little waning, and there was some fear 
 lest, through the unwisdom of friends, the church 
 which had successfully lived through discussions so 
 serious as those concerning the alteration in church 
 government and in order of service, should now suffer 
 because of mere indiscretions. But happily, the 
 spirit of forbearance and of peace prevailed, and when 
 Mr. Lewis died all traces of the temporary danger had 
 passed away. 
 
 Mr. Allon at once took his place as. sole pastor, and 
 from that time onward the record of his ministry is 
 one of increasing and rarely interrupted success. He 
 had already become well known in London, and now he 
 began to be ranked as one of its acknowledged preachers. 
 In 1852 he was invited to give one of the Exeter Hall 
 lectures in connection with the Young Men's Christian 
 Association, taking his turn with men like Thomas 
 Binney, Gilfillan, Baptist Noel, and others. The 
 subject w T hich he chose was characteristic, entitled, 
 " Christianity in its Belation to Sects and Denomina- 
 tions." And in the lecture he pleaded, as he always 
 pleaded, for recognition of the one great spiritual 
 relationship to Christ as the only essential to the 
 Christian life. 
 
 In 1853 the church at Union Chapel added to 
 its already vigorous Home Mission organisations. 
 Since 1836 a ragged school and mission had been 
 conducted in Spitalfields, and afterwards in Bethnal 
 Green, through the inspiration and labours of Mr. J. 
 Duthoit, a descendant of the Huguenots, with the 
 desire to benefit the weavers who were settled there. 
 That mission grew in importance, and has yet among 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 29 
 
 its many agencies one of the largest ragged schools in 
 London. To its operations Dr. Allon always referred 
 with lawful pride. Its early morning breakfasts for 
 poor children, its numberless agencies for the good of 
 the district, were the outcome of the life of the church 
 at Union Chapel ; and though in late years he was 
 not able very often to be present at its meetings, he 
 was full of gratitude for the good which it was doing, 
 and had perfect confidence in those who conducted 
 its affairs. His hatred of all self-advertisement often 
 led to the idea outside that his church was not mis- 
 sionary in spirit. No church in London has done 
 more mission and social work in proportion to its 
 size, and some movements which have recently been 
 announced as novel have been for years in existence 
 in connection with Dr. Allon's work. 
 
 Not satisfied, however, with this one active agency, 
 in 1853, as has been said, a new mission or branch 
 church was commenced on the borders of Hoxton, and 
 quickly became a centre of great usefulness. Just at 
 that period the whole Christian Church in England 
 was greatly exercised upon the question of the public 
 attendance upon acts of worship. A religious census 
 had been taken in 1851. The results were not pub- 
 lished until 1854, but the facts were startling. It 
 was found that more than five million persons who 
 might be present at public worship were absent, and 
 all sections of the Church began to ask why. Mr. 
 Samuel Morley at once summoned a conference of 
 leading Nonconformists, and a, discussion was aroused 
 which undoubtedly heralded a new interest and 
 activity in Home Mission work. The evangelical 
 
30 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 section of the Church of England, led by Lord 
 Shaftesbury, agitated for a repeal of the Conventicle 
 Act. The Bill passed the Commons ; but the Lords 
 first rejected, and afterwards mutilated it. In spite of 
 that opposition, however, so much freedom was gained 
 that it was possible to commence a series of united 
 services in Exeter Hall. Great crowds gathered ; but 
 by one of those ridiculous claims of authority which 
 the Church of England seems determined to preserve 
 for the use of intolerant men, the incumbent of the 
 parish forbade his brother clergymen to dare to 
 preach to men within his sacred enclosure. At once 
 some leading Nonconformists, Mr. Allon amongst 
 them, offered their services, and for a while the 
 meetings were continued. 
 
 Though Mr. Allon never cultivated what is vul- 
 garly known as the popular style in preaching, yet no 
 one could on occasion speak with greater effect at 
 meetings such as these. His preparation was always 
 full and laborious. For many years he wrote every 
 sermon twice before preaching it ; but that very fact 
 gave him a command of style which, when he was 
 called upon to speak in ways somewhat out of his 
 ordinary routine, made him the more effective. Many 
 who heard him frequently believed that he had powers 
 for mere popular address which, had he cultivated 
 them, would have given to him a more distinct place 
 in popular estimation ; but those very powers which 
 other men are tempted to cultivate for applause he 
 deliberately sought to suppress, as unworthy of his 
 ideal of what a Christian teacher should be. 
 
 In the last years of his life, coming from a political 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 31 
 
 meeting at which a speech of his had been received 
 with great enthusiasm, he said, jokingly, to a friend, 
 
 " I believe I shall make a demagogue yet." It would, 
 perhaps, be an impertinence to express the wish that 
 he had a little more freely used his powers in that 
 direction; it is, at least, allowable to bear witness 
 to their existence. Having these powers, there was, 
 at least, no ecclesiastical barrier in the way of their 
 use ; and it is surely a matter of some suggestiveness 
 to those who occupy the high places in the official 
 Church of this land that such men as Henry Allon, of 
 the irregular forces, were free to preach wherever men 
 were willing to hear them, while then our clergy 
 were (and are still, though to a less extent) bound by 
 the arbitrary limitations of humanly devised or- 
 ganisations. Imagine Christ being hindered from 
 preaching on the sea-shore because it was somebody 
 else's parish ! 
 
 In 1855, and during some time following, there was 
 raging a controversy which had more significance as a 
 sign of the times than from any question immediately 
 involved. The Rev. T. Lynch, a Congregational 
 minister of great personal piety and refinement, 
 had, during an illness, written a number of hymns, 
 which were published under the title of " The 
 Rivulet." The editor of the Morning Advertiser — 
 Mr. Grant — a paper representing the Evangelicals and 
 the licensed victuallers, attacked the book viciously, 
 denying that the poems showed " any evidence Avhat- 
 ever either of vital religion or evangelical piety." As 
 the attack continued and increased in bitterness, 
 fifteen London ministers, who knew Mr. Lynch well, 
 
32 HENRY ALLON i 
 
 and greatly respected and loved him, issued a protest 
 utterly repudiating any sympathy with the attack. 
 Mr. Allon was one of these — certainly not the least 
 active. By alphabetical arrangement his name stood 
 first in the list of those who signed the protest ; and 
 of the ministers who acted with him there still remain 
 the Kevs. Newman Hall, J. C. Harrison, Dr. Newth, 
 John Nunn, and Edward White. The champion of 
 evangelical orthodoxy, Dr. Campbell, of the Christian 
 Witness and the British Banner, of course rushed 
 into the fray, exaggerating the issues, and declaring of 
 this controversy that " nothing like it had occurred 
 within the memory of the present generation, or, 
 perhaps, since the days of the Reformation." For two 
 years the battle raged in various ways, and the feel- 
 ings aroused were most bitter and cruel. Mr. Lynch's 
 defenders were suspected of sympathy with his here- 
 sies ; and Lord Shaftesbury, whose practical sympa- 
 thies were so much wider than his theological views, 
 spoke of the horrid epidemic which had seized upon 
 some of our brightest Nonconformist divines. 
 
 In all this conflict and suspicion Mr. Allon had his 
 full share. Within his own church, as well as with- 
 out, he had to face the misrepresentation which his 
 attitude had brought upon him. He had more to lose 
 than some with whom he acted, but he was fearless, 
 then and always, when his convictions were thoroughly 
 aroused, and was willing to stand side by side on the 
 pillory with one whom he believed to be wrongly 
 treated. The position Avhich he took in replying 
 to one prominent objector is worth briefly quoting. 
 He says : (: I believe that Lynch has been falsely 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 33 
 
 accused and unfairly treated, and as a man and a 
 Christian I must say so. Whether it were wise or 
 not to meddle in the controversy is another thing, but 
 even folly in defence of an injured man is a failing 
 that leans to virtue's side. I could forgive people 
 generally for suspecting Lynch, through the oddity 
 and mistiness of his style ; but this is no excuse for a 
 critic, much less is it for garbled quotations. . . . 
 It is sad, indeed, if we cannot discuss differing opinions 
 without alienated feelings." 
 
 After a while the storm died away, having cleared 
 the air. But conflicts such as this leave scars, which 
 remain long after the questions at issue have been for- 
 gotten. Perhaps the doubt, slightly expressed in the 
 letter, whether it was wise to play into the hands of 
 the editor of the Advertiser by taking any notice of 
 his attack, will be shared by those who to-day recall 
 the controversy. But, after all Christ's protestations 
 against the tyranny of the letter, it is marvellous 
 that nothing in the world will produce so much 
 bitterness and cruel injustice as a dispute about the 
 meaning of this letter or that, and amid all the sus- 
 piciousness of narrow-minded people no man of any 
 independence of thought can hope to escape. It is no 
 small testimony to the vigour of Dr. Allon's thought 
 that while now and again he was suspected and 
 accused of sitting in the seat of the heretical, the 
 impression left by his whole life is that of an orthodox 
 and loyal servant of Christ. 
 
 Those who heard him in later years could hardly, 
 perhaps, believe possible such an attack as Dr. Camp- 
 bell made upon him for the sermon which he preached 
 
 D 
 
34 HENRY ALLON s 
 
 before the London Missionary Society a few years later. 
 That redoubtable champion had never forgiven him 
 for his action in the Lynch controversy, and now 
 declared him to be the greatest of the neologists. 
 Mr. Allon wisely, however, took no notice whatever of 
 the attack. 
 
 It was during this early period of his sole pastorate 
 that Mr. Allon began to find it possible to give 
 practical expression to his strong sense of the im- 
 portance of music in worship. When first he went to 
 Union Chapel the psalmody, according to his own 
 account, was musically at zero. There was no choir, 
 and the congregation was led by a precentor, an old 
 man of seventy. The Union tune-book was used, and 
 Rippon's and Watts's hymn books. The first step in 
 psalmody reform was taken in 1846 or 1847, when 
 the Congregational hymn-book, which had recently 
 been compiled by Conder, was adopted. In 1852 Dr. 
 Gauntlett, who had for a little while been conductor of a 
 psalmody class which had been commenced, and who 
 had been introduced to the Church by Mr. Puttick, 
 the secretary of the Sacred Harmonic Society, became 
 organist also, and did the double duty until 1861. 
 The psalmody class, which has continued to prosper 
 since 1847, has had great effect upon the congrega- 
 tional worship, besides giving performances during 
 each winter of two or three oratorios, when collections 
 are taken for local charities. The changes made were 
 undoubtedly for the better; but Mr. Allon soon 
 found that the musical provision in the tune-books 
 then extant was quite insufficient for the purposes of a 
 worship which could in any sense be called ideal. He 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY . 35 
 
 began to form a larger collection of tunes, intending 
 them to be supplemental'}' to the " Congregational 
 Psalmist;" but when about one hundred tunes were 
 ready, he decided to publish them as a separate col- 
 lection. They form Part I. of the " Congregational 
 Psalmist," 
 
 About the same time he published a book ol 
 chants, the congregation commencing to use chanting 
 in worship — then almost unknown in Nonconformist 
 chapels — in 1856 or 1857. Not, hoAvever, until 1859 
 was the choir formed. The history of all this is easy 
 to tell, but was not so easy to make. Any sugges- 
 tions by the young minister which seemed to show 
 any disrespect to the traditions of the past would be 
 regarded with suspicion ; and nowhere have Mr. 
 Allon's wisdom and patience been more clearly mani- 
 fested than in the way in which those alterations 
 were suggested and carried out. His method was 
 always to seek to convince the people of the desira- 
 bility of any proposal which he had to make, until 
 they themselves would become active in its advocacy. 
 For want of such discretion innumerable troubles in 
 churches have arisen, and in all sections of the 
 Christian Church the only real strength must lie in 
 securing the goodwill and hearty co-operation of the 
 congregation generally. During all his ministry at 
 Union Chapel Dr. Allon aimed at, and succeeded in 
 securing, that goodwill. 
 
 The next few years were years of quiet and steady 
 advance, and in 1859 the congregation felt that it was 
 time they should make some recognition of their 
 pastor's work. So successfully had he laboured that 
 
 D 2 
 
36 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 the local paper said of him, " Probably there are few 
 men in the parish of Islington (the largest in England) 
 more widely known, or more universally esteemed ; 
 the eloquence of his preaching, the kindliness of 
 his disposition, and the earnestness with which he 
 prosecutes his work, are well known to all who are 
 acquainted with him." A movement was commenced 
 in the congregation for the presentation of a testi- 
 monial ; the sum of two hundred and fifty guineas 
 was subscribed, part of which was spent upon a hand- 
 some timepiece, and the rest presented to Mr. Allon. 
 In acknowledging the gift and the uniform kindness 
 and consideration which the congregation had con- 
 tinually shown to him, he made some reference to his 
 sixteen years of association with them. He spoke 
 then, as he always spoke, with great gratitude of 
 the loyal service of the congregation, and of the 
 helpfulness and wise sympathy of the deacons. " Our 
 history has been that most blessed of all histories, in 
 which no events have to be recorded — a continuous 
 course of quiet, uneventful, and continuous prosperity ; 
 never greater, perhaps, than at the present moment — 
 the church gradually filled, and for some years our 
 chief difficulty has been want of accommodation." 
 The membership of the church had increased from 
 318 to 693, and its contribution for evangelical pur- 
 poses, apart from its own ministry, had doubled. Two 
 mission stations had been opened, and, amongst other 
 religious agencies, Bible classes, which had been very 
 successful, sometimes numbering as many as 250 
 members. 
 
 " I have seen many changes among you during 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. :W 
 
 these sixteen years ; some of you I have seen growing- 
 rich, and some — once rich — T have seen grow poor: 
 dark clouds driven across summer skies, the wintry 
 wind of poverty biting keenly where the summer 
 breeze of prosperity once whispered. Some of you I 
 knew first in budding youth, life in its spring all gay 
 and verdant to you ; then conjugal ties were formed, 
 and now children climb your knees, and life has 
 brought its cares ; and some of you I have seen sink 
 into the decrepitude of old age, waiting only for the 
 summons that must soon come. I have seen many a 
 household circle broken, many a hearth left cold, 
 many a roof-tree fall ; great changes in home and 
 heart do sixteen years bring." 
 
 These words are characteristic. Mr. Allon's pastoral 
 relationship was not that of the busybody type — in 
 and out of the people's houses in season and out 
 of season ; but at all times of real need and trouble 
 no sympathy could be more tender, no counsel 
 wiser. What was true at the end of sixteen 
 years was still truer at the end of forty-eight 
 years, and unbounded evidence was given after his 
 death of the remarkable way in which his ministry 
 had been bound up with all that was most sacred in 
 the personal and family life of many members of his 
 congregation. His real tenderness was not always 
 appreciated. One minister who knew him well, said 
 that if he had to choose in time of great trouble be- 
 tween seeking advice of Dr. Allon and of a minister 
 in London whose name was almost a synonym for ten- 
 derness and sympathy, he should without hesitation 
 have gone to Dr. Allon ; not because he doubted the 
 
38 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 tenderness of the other, but because he felt Dr. Alton's 
 to be that highest form of tenderness, the tenderness 
 of strength. 
 
 The fact to which the pastor had called attention 
 of the overcrowded state of his church had become 
 of pressing importance, and the congregation re- 
 solved upon the enlargement of the chapel. A 
 generous response was made to the appeal, and the 
 work was accomplished, many more sittings being 
 added. 
 
 It is memorable that this year of 1861 is that also 
 in which the great Metropolitan Tabernacle was 
 opened, and a ministry commenced there which was 
 in striking contrast with that of Dr. Allon, although 
 each had its own place in the needful evangelising 
 forces of London. There is no commoner, but no 
 profounder error than to suppose that the only evan- 
 gelisation is that which is known as of the revivalist 
 type. A thoughtful, progressive ministry may affect 
 numerically fewer ; but will probably, through the 
 quality of those whom it affects, produce results quite 
 as great. Union Chapel was always remarkable for 
 the number of thoughtful and intelligent men who 
 found there a spiritual home. If such men were 
 inspired for Christian life and service, the effect of 
 the ministry cannot be stated in numbers. Who 
 shall measure spiritual force, or what part of the 
 spiritual body shall boast itself over another part ? 
 
 It was about the year 1860 that Mr. Allon 
 began systematic writing and reviewing for religious 
 journals, though he had, of course, done some fugitive 
 writing before that date. He wrote largely for the 
 
THE STOEY OF HIS MINISTRY. 39 
 
 Patriot, then under the editorship of Mr. T. C. 
 Turberville. His articles and reviews for that first 
 year covered a wide ground, as may be seen 
 from the following subjects : — " Berkeley's Theory of 
 Vision/'" " Conference on Missions," " Hannah More's 
 Letters," "Vaughan on the Revision of the Liturgy," 
 etc. It was this constant habit of reviewing which 
 gave to his conversation and preaching so much of 
 its literary charm. 
 
 As education goes to-day, his preparation for the 
 ministry had not been great. He had been to no 
 public school or university, and his college course, 
 much less effective then than now, had been cut 
 short by his call to L^nion Chapel ; but by constant 
 and varied reading, and reading often with the special 
 purpose of reviewing, his strong memory soon became 
 a storehouse of much general literary information ; 
 information which his self-confidence enabled him 
 always to have at command. In the academic sense 
 he was not a scholar, but in the possession of literary 
 knowledge and power he had few superiors. If his 
 literary work took some time from his church, its 
 members certainly regained something in the breadth 
 and freedom of style which it brought to his preaching. 
 
 About this time Mr. Allon's life was darkened by 
 an occurrence which left its mark upon all his after 
 history — the loss of what was then his only son, a 
 bright boy of four years old. A very tender memory 
 was left in his life, which would sometimes, in spite of 
 himself, make itself seen, and any reference to the 
 loss of children would set the wound bleeding afresh ; 
 very often the tears in the voice would reveal the 
 
40 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 inward thought which was with him. The 3 r ear 1863 
 also witnessed the death of his mother, one of those 
 good, devoted women who dedicate all their strength 
 to the loyal discharge of the duties of motherhood, 
 and whose reward is often found in the strong and 
 useful life of some members of their family. 
 
 In 1863 he published a volume of memoirs of 
 James Sherman, the distinguished Independent 
 minister, a considerable part of the volume being 
 founded upon Mr. Sherman's own autobiograplry. 
 He was happily provided with sufficient materials, 
 and out of them produced a volume which is not only 
 a clear picture of the life whose story it tells, but 
 which manifests a large-sighted and sympathetic 
 knowledge of contemporary life. 
 
 An instance, slight in itself, but significant as a 
 revelation of character, and as indicating his inde- 
 pendence of judgment, when judgment was con- 
 vinced, occurred about this time in connection with 
 the Shakspere Tercentenary Committee. The good 
 minister who, finding a quotation from Shakspere 
 suitable to his theme, prefaced his use of it by saying, 
 "As one has said whom I will not name in this 
 pulpit," was only a type of many. Some of these good 
 souls were greatly offended that the name of Allon 
 should be found upon the list of the committee for 
 celebrating the tercentenary, and in local circles there 
 arose something like a squall of controversy. But 
 a man understanding the claims of literature and 
 Shakspere's place in them could hardly refuse to 
 join in such a national recognition. 
 
 The religiousness of Shakspere is now matter of 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. U 
 
 common acknowledgment, but we owe something to 
 the men who had the courage to recognise it in 
 days when it was less clearly seen by religious men 
 than now. Mr. Allon stood between praise and 
 blame ; but the praise was in some quarters qualified 
 by the reproach that he did not carry his champion- 
 ship of Shakspere to the extent of attending the 
 theatre, a deprivation which, for conscientious reasons, 
 he always imposed upon himself, though to others 
 he allowed full liberty of judgment. 
 
42 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A MANY-SIDED ACTIVITY. 
 
 In 1864 there was given unmistakable proof of 
 the position which Mr. Allon had gained in the 
 estimation of his brethren in the Congregational 
 ministry. The Rev. Joshua Harrison had been chosen 
 as chairman of the Congregational Union for the 
 year. A severe attack of illness made it impossible 
 for him to fulfil the duties of the position. Mr. Allon 
 was therefore chosen to fill his place, and at the com- 
 paratively early age of forty-five reached the highest 
 position which his own fellow-ministers had to offer 
 him. For the subject of his inaugural address he 
 chose " The Christ, the Book, and the Church," de- 
 claring his intention to take a wider than any mere 
 denominational outlook, and to speak of the things 
 that vitally affect the whole Catholic Church of 
 Christ. His remarks upon the Book — the Bible — 
 were not received favourably everywhere, and some 
 good but narrow souls were scandalised. He de- 
 clared that the theory of verbal inspiration was un- 
 tenable, and showed how the defence of that theory 
 was to put a powerful weapon into the hands of the 
 enemy. One very prominent layman, in the dis- 
 cussion which was in those days allowed after the 
 chairman's address, but has now been suppressed, rose 
 and said that, after listening to that address he felt 
 
HENRY ALLON. 43 
 
 he had been robbed of a dear friend, and should leave 
 the hall with a poorer Bible than he had brought in 
 with him. But many have found since then that 
 it is that poverty which has made them rich, and 
 that only by unlearning superstitious ideas of truth 
 have they come to appreciate the real value and 
 Divine inspiration of the Bible. Amongst the most 
 earnest of his defenders in the discussion was Mr. 
 Guinness Rogers, then a young minister in London, 
 whose attitude greatly touched Mr. Allon, and was 
 remembered with gratitude to the day of his death. 
 
 Upon the question of the Church also he spoke 
 plainly, demanding that whilst every attempt should 
 be made to secure ecclesiastical freedom, the Non- 
 conformist ministry must vindicate its claims by its 
 character, its culture, and its labours. It was in- 
 dicative of Mr. Allon's breadth of view that he could 
 not at such a time narrow his words to any mere de- 
 nominational question. The Colenso controversy had 
 been raging for some time : it was the year also of the 
 publication of " Essays and Reviews ;" and the excite- 
 ment which " Ecce Homo " had produced had not yet 
 died away. The ecclesiastical discussions resulting 
 from the bi-centenary celebrations of 16G2 were still 
 troubling the sea, and casting up mire, one of the 
 latest symptoms being the quarrel of Mr. Spurgeon 
 with the Evangelical Alliance. 
 
 Though the address may not have greatly en- 
 larged the sphere of the discussion, it was yet a mani- 
 festation of the largeness of thought and breadth of 
 view which were always characteristic of Mr. Allon. 
 It is an instance also of the high- water mark of the 
 
44 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 thought of the broader Nonconformist ministry of 
 that day, and as such the address has been included 
 in this volume. 
 
 After the labours of his year of office were over, 
 arrangements were made by which he was able to 
 join a party of ministers and others to visit Palestine. 
 Dr. Stoughton and Dr. Bright are the two ministerial 
 survivors of the party. 
 
 Mr. Allon was peculiarly qualified for the rich 
 enjoyment which a journey to the East can bring to 
 the reverent student. His great physical strength 
 enabled him to endure fatigues and inconveni- 
 ences as a good many of his fellow-travellers could 
 not, and his bent of mind prepared him to be a 
 close observer of the numberless facts of interest 
 which such a journey could present. One of the 
 survivors of the party vividly remembers his intense 
 enjoyment of the whole journey, and the cheerful- 
 ness and wealth of conversation which made him a 
 delightful companion. He sent home voluminous 
 letters, full of exact and interesting description ; but 
 in these days of many books upon the Holy Land it 
 is not needful to give more than one or two references. 
 
 Nothing in the whole journey seems to have im- 
 pressed him more than the days which were spent in 
 the district about Sinai. Of Sinai itself he says, 
 " There is, perhaps, no place that inspires so much 
 reverent awe, the associations of which are so thrilling, 
 the power of which is so subduing." He contrasts the 
 loneliness of Sinai with the crowded surroundings 
 and altered character of many places associated with 
 the life of Christ — Jerusalem, in which " almost 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MIXISTRY. 45 
 
 every trace of His sacred footsteps is obliterated ; " 
 Gethsemane, degraded into " a trim and gravelled 
 garden, with gaudy flowers in partitioned beds, and 
 fancy palings around its venerable olives ;" the Mount 
 of Olives, " the suburb of a great city; " but the peaks 
 of Sinai are " as when the lightnings of Jehovah 
 enwrapped them." 
 
 But though what he saw of Sinai impressed 
 him so deeply, there were, of course, more sacred 
 associations still to a Christian minister ; and his 
 letter of March 31st begins with these exulting 
 words : " The dream of my life is realised, and I 
 have been permitted to enter the gates of Jerusalem, 
 the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High." 
 
 Of a communion service which he attended in the 
 church at Mount Zion, he says : " To me it was inde- 
 scribably affecting to break bread in Jerusalem, so near 
 to the spot where Christ partook of the last Passover 
 with His disciples, and instituted the Lord's Supper." 
 Those who recall the deep spiritual reverence which 
 he always manifested in the observance of the 
 Lord's Supper will appreciate the intensity of his 
 feeling. After walking round the city he declares, 
 " Our impressions of the beauty and grandeur of the 
 city w r ere greatly enhanced. I know no city to be 
 compared with it. Jerusalem is literally ' beautiful 
 for situation, the joy of the whole earth.' ' With all 
 travellers, too, he felt the tremendous distance be- 
 tween the real associations of Jerusalem and the 
 lying legends which abound in it. 
 
 A visit was, of course, made to Bethlehem ; and, 
 after speaking of the monkish legends which abound 
 
46 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 there also, he adds : " But that we were near the spot, 
 in the very village, and possibly on the place where 
 Christ was born, and near which the wondrous star 
 rested, we all felt ; and that was enough. With 
 throbbing hearts we felt that here was the greatest 
 birth of time." 
 
 The letters abound with interesting and character- 
 istic references, and all show the intense enjoyment 
 which he found in the journey, and the high spiritual 
 profit which he derived from it. 
 
 After his return from Palestine, approaches were 
 made to him by the publishers of the British Quar- 
 terly Review, which for many years had been edited 
 by Dr. Vaughan, with a view to his accepting the 
 editorship, in conjunction with his friend Dr. Eeynolds. 
 After some hesitation he took the position, and held 
 it for twenty years, Dr. Reynolds being compelled, 
 through pressure of other work, to leave him in sole 
 charge after some eight or nine years' co-editorship. 
 The position was one of large opportunities. The 
 directorship of a review which was the recognised 
 representative of the most intellectual life of the Free 
 Churches, offered many possibilities for service, and 
 the new editors strove to realise those possibilities. 
 They gathered about them a staff' of writers repre- 
 senting every school of thought and action, and some 
 of the articles which appeared became of national 
 importance. 
 
 Mr. Allon did not himself write many of the longer 
 articles, but some which he did write were of great 
 interest — as, for instance, one on Sinai after his Eastern 
 tour ; an outspoken article on the Prayer-Book, with 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 47 
 
 special reference to its bearing on re-union; and 
 others on the Bampton lecture on Dissent, by Dr. 
 Curteis, on Disestablishment, and on Matthew Arnold 
 and Puritanism. To the shorter reviews and articles 
 he contributed a much larger share, and the great 
 majority of them were from the pens of the two editors. 
 
 This work, added to the claims of his own church, 
 and innumerable claims from outside, made enormous 
 demands upon his time and strength. Often after a 
 hard day's work and an evening preaching service he 
 would, when most men would have been exhausted, 
 return to his study, and work through the midnight 
 hours. His robust health enabled him to do the 
 work of two ordinary men. The common complaints 
 of students — nervousness and dyspepsia — were un- 
 known to him. He knew nothing, as many in- 
 tellectual w r orkers are compelled to know, of whole 
 days lost because of ill-health, but was able to prose- 
 cute his work steadily and continuously. No one 
 who witnessed his vigour in the ordinary engagements 
 of his church would have suspected the existence of 
 the many claims which he had to meet in other 
 directions. 
 
 The British Quarterly Revi* w became in several 
 instances a great force in intellectual and social dis- 
 cussions. In the first number of the year in which he 
 became co-editor there appeared an important article 
 upon attendance at places of worship, pointing out 
 especially that the increased provision which had 
 undoubtedly been made since 1851 had been ex- 
 ceedingly unequal, being much larger in the suburban 
 belt than in the more needy and populous districts. 
 
48 11 EN BY ALLON: 
 
 The article, while it was a symptom of the times, had 
 undoubtedly also considerable effect upon the future 
 action of the Churches. On January 21st, 1867, a con- 
 ference was held at the London Coffee House. Mr. Miall 
 presided, and on one side of the chairman were some 
 sixty working men, and on the other a number of 
 clergymen, ministers, and laymen, amongst them 
 Dean Stanley, F. D. Maurice, "Johnny" Ludlow, 
 Thomas Binney, Dr. Mullens, Mr. Allon, Mr. Henry 
 Spicer, etc. There was no lack of plain speaking, 
 and in many churches direct action was the result. 
 Shortly afterwards Mr. Allon gave a special address 
 on a Sunday evening to working men, and on the 
 following Wednesday there was held in his lecture 
 hall a conference upon the subject. The reasons 
 given for non-attendance were, as usual, very varied, 
 but the general testimony of the men who attended 
 was that, if the previous Sunday evening's service, 
 both in the sermon and in the attitude of the con- 
 gregation towards visitors, were a specimen of the 
 ordinary condition of things, attendance would be 
 much more frequent. The address had given evidence 
 that Mr. Allon possessed a power for clear presenta- 
 tion to popular minds of the intellectual reasons for 
 religious faith, which many of his greatest admirers 
 regretted he did not more fully cultivate and use. 
 
 It may be added that the conferences on this 
 question showed — what we are sometimes liable to for- 
 get — that working men are not as a class deliberately 
 absent from public worship, neither are those who are 
 absent to be summed up under one particular head. 
 In every grade absence is to be accounted for by all 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 49 
 
 kinds of reasons. This does not, of course, detract 
 from the value of efforts which are made to discover 
 the reasons for such absence. New ages demand new 
 methods ; but one fact will never change — that in the 
 heart of a man there must be inspired the love of 
 truth and of God before religion can be manifest in 
 any act of worship. Any inquiry which neglects to 
 make that its first test will be sure to come to wrong 
 conclusions. There is a link needed between absolute 
 unreligiousness and the enjoyment of public acts of 
 worship. Experience seems to show that such a link 
 is successfully provided by the freer services in public 
 halls, theatres, and the like. 
 
 In the interminable and unsatisfactory discussions 
 and negotiations which took place at this time upon 
 the education question, Mr. Allon took a considerable 
 part. In all the movements which the rational Non- 
 conformist standpoint made needful he was active, 
 though not always appearing, perhaps, in the forefront 
 of every agitation. He felt, with many others, gr< 
 disappointment with the results of Mr. Forster's Act. 
 In his own words, " The Nonconformists struggle to 
 win from sectarianism as much of its hold upon 
 national funds as they can. Their aim is now, as it 
 has ever been, entirely to prohibit every form of 
 sectarian teaching at the public expense. In the 
 British Quarterly Review he strongly demanded such 
 modifications of Mr. Forster's Act as the position 
 clearly made imperative. He was willing, as upon a 
 later question, to separate himself even from Mr. 
 Gladstone, for whom he had the profoundest re- 
 verence, rather than be weak upon so important a 
 
 E 
 
50 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 matter. In the Manchester Conference of 1872, 
 where the Nonconformists practically broke with the 
 Government, he took an active and distinguished 
 part. 
 
 No position has been more difficult to the 
 earnest Christian man than that into which many 
 have been forced by the controversies upon education. 
 While seeming to be opposed to religious teaching, 
 and so giving a weapon into the hands of narrow 
 and bigoted foes, they have really been contending for 
 what they earnestly believed to be the most sacred 
 interests of religion. There is undoubtedly a distinct 
 loss in all this, but the blame must lie at the doors of 
 the narrowness which has made such an attitude 
 necessary at all. 
 
 At this time, and not to be dissociated altogether 
 from some aspects of the education controversy, there 
 was the growing antagonism to the revival of High 
 Church ritual and doctrine in the Church of England. 
 The Bennett decision came in 1872, with its striking 
 lessons for Nonconformists, and in the monthly letter 
 which Mr. Allon was in the habit of writing to the 
 Christian Union of New York he strongly resents the 
 decision, and describes it as " perhaps the most im- 
 portant event, so far as the Established Church is 
 concerned, for some generations." 
 
 " Whatever the diversity of the doctrine taught," 
 he goes on to say, " the ritual of the worship must be 
 uniform and non-sectarian. The sepulchre must be 
 kept scrupulously white, but any kind of dead men's 
 bones, Sacramentarian, Puritan, or Rationalistic, may 
 be venerated with it. This is the notable com- 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 51 
 
 promise which these wise men of the world have 
 arrived at, and which they hope may save their 
 Church. From a present and violent disruption it 
 may save it ; but from the contempt of thoughtful 
 and earnest men, and from the disintegration which 
 inevitably befalls a Church which thus sacrifices truth 
 to expediency, nothing can save it. The Church has 
 often been saved by martyrdom, never by com- 
 promise." In order to appreciate Mr. Allon's position 
 it is needful always to distinguish between his atti- 
 tude to the Church of England as an establishment, 
 and to many of its prominent men as Christian minis- 
 ters. For want of this distinction he was sometimes 
 regarded with suspicion by some of his brethren as 
 not quite loyal to his distinctly Nonconformist views. 
 No mistake could be greater. He was as staunch and 
 loyal a Nonconformist as the most eloquent anti- 
 Church orator. He said again and again, that, strong 
 in the love of his people, and the possession of a place 
 for teaching, he would not change places with the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 But he was not so narrow or intolerant as to find 
 it impossible to appreciate the goodness and sincerity 
 of men with whom he could not on all points agree. 
 His friendships with clergymen were many and 
 sincere. By them he was looked upon as the repre- 
 sentative Nonconformist. Perhaps few men of his 
 generation did more to break down the stupid mis- 
 understanding of Nonconformists which even ye\ 
 sometimes darkens the Anglican mind. 
 
 An interesting and, perhaps, amusing instance of 
 the position which, in the eyes of representative 
 e 2 
 
52 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 Churchmen, Mr. Allon held was supplied about this 
 time by the Bock In an article entitled " Noncon- 
 formity Self-depicted," it lamented the disloyalty of 
 Nonconformists to evangelical truth, though surely it 
 had material enough for that kind of lament within 
 the borders of its own Church. It says, " There is a 
 generally unfavourable impression amongst Churchmen 
 as to the character of the religious teaching of Dis- 
 senters." It "had not been forward to take notice of 
 those rumours," but was now startled by a few sen- 
 tences in a disestablishment lecture of Mr. Allon's in 
 praise of some members of the High Church party in 
 the Church of England. 
 
 This sentence specially exercised the Rock : " Per- 
 haps no living clergyman is regarded by Nonconform- 
 ists with a more genuine and general reverence than 
 John Henry Newman." The Bock, in two columns, 
 lectured Mr. Allon for his ignorance of the evan- 
 gelical revival in the Church which had begun many 
 decades before the Anglican revival — an assumption 
 of ignorance which was altogether gratuitous. The 
 incident is only Avorth referring to as an illustration 
 of what was both a strength, and sometimes, perhaps, 
 a weakness in Mr. Allon's character — his clear vision 
 for the claims which could be put forward for many 
 sides of a question. Earnest men who could see 
 only one side of a question could not appreciate 
 the calmness of his judgment, or his sympathy with 
 men with whom he ought, they thought, by every 
 tradition of his life, to be in perpetual conflict. 
 The very fact which made him a wise leader and 
 safe guide caused him to be misunderstood by those 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 53 
 
 who can appreciate no service to society save that 
 of the active and aggressive reformer. 
 
 But there is the greatness of a broad mind and 
 secure judgment which cannot judge all things from a 
 narrow personal standpoint, but must look upon the 
 larger field of a general service and a catholic appre- 
 hension of truth. This was the greatness of Henry 
 Allon, and explains his strength and also the mis- 
 apprehension which sometimes possessed the minds 
 of his brethren with regard to him. Though strong 
 in conviction, and not in some matters without 
 prejudice, his attitude was essentially catholic. 
 
 To the pastor of Union Chapel, who in 1871 had 
 received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity 
 from Yale College, the year 1874 was one of con- 
 siderable importance. At the end of 1873 he had 
 completed thirty years of service, and had preached a 
 sermon upon the experiences of those thirty years, 
 " Within and Without." The review was one of great 
 interest. He spoke of the continued peace and 
 growing prosperity of the church with devout thank- 
 fulness, and he bore testimony to the fact that no 
 men " could have more freedom in their thinking or 
 be more sure of generous and loving appreciation of 
 their service than the ministers of Free Churches. 
 For himself, from the days of his youth until now, he 
 had thought as freely and expressed himself as frankly 
 as he was capable of doing." He acknowledged then, 
 as frequently at other times, the loyalty and hearty 
 co-operation of the deacons and the forbearance and 
 kindness of the congregation generally. Of the life 
 without the church, too, he spoke freely ; of the past 
 
54 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 thirty years he distinctly and unhesitatingly affirmed 
 that they had been years of great intellectual and 
 spiritual progress. " Never in the history of the world 
 had the pure spiritual truths of Christ's Gospel freer 
 play and power than they have had in England 
 since I entered public life. Many evil habits and in- 
 stitutions still remain, but there is not one of them 
 that has not desperately to struggle against powerful 
 social sentiments of righteousness and religion. In- 
 fidelity is not only, I think, far more limited than it 
 was, but it is far more reverential, and is often simply 
 perverted religious feeling. Our social life is purer, 
 nobler, and more religious than at any previous period 
 of our history. The progress of the Church itself is 
 equal cause for congratulation ; its movement, gener- 
 ally speaking, has been towards a deeper life, purer 
 light, and greater liberty. By its aggressive zeal it 
 has done much to repair the negligences of former 
 generations. One of the most notable changes in 
 Church life during my own ministry has been the 
 modified relations of religious life to theological 
 doctrine. The great dogmas have been simplified 
 and disentangled from the modes and accretions of 
 metaphysical theology. Perhaps our chief attainment 
 in theology has been that men have come to see that 
 no human creeds can exactly express Divine truths ; 
 least of all, the creeds of 300 or 1,300 or 1,500 years 
 ago, when all the conditions of theological knowledge 
 were comparatively so inferior and immature ; and 
 they are tearing away the creeds that they may get at 
 the truth. God speed them in every such endeavour." 
 He noticed, too, the broader and more sympathetic 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 55 
 
 spirit of the Church towards human life. " We have 
 come to understand that all pure pleasures are part of 
 the true ministry of life." He also thankfully recog- 
 nised the greater prominence in teaching of the 
 love of the Divine Fatherhood, the simple and full 
 preaching of Christ as the Light and Life of men, the 
 great breadth and humanity of preaching, the richer 
 musical service in worship, and the greater social 
 activity of the church. On the whole he pronounced 
 it a time of great progress and growth. 
 
 Much local interest was created by the review and 
 the completed period which it marked, and the oppor- 
 tunity was taken to present Dr. Allon with a cheque 
 for £1,200 as a mark of affection and gratitude. A 
 much more important mark of progress and proof of 
 confidence, however, was the resolve of the church 
 to erect a new building. The old one had proved 
 insufficient for the purposes of the greatly increased 
 congregation, and the resolution was formed to build 
 an edifice which should be worthy of the enlarged 
 sphere of work. 
 
 An unusual course was followed, which it may be 
 of interest to record. In addition to the ordinary 
 instructions to architects intending to submit plans. 
 there w r ere issued notes on some essentials for the 
 new church from the minister's point of view. When 
 it is remembered how in some modern church 
 buildings the preacher seems to be the last thought 
 present in the architect's mind, it may be useful 
 to compare Union Chapel with such buildings, and 
 to trace in its arrangements the effect of these 
 notes. They are printed here as a fair illustration of 
 
56 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 Dr. Allon's high ideals of the mere machinery of 
 worship : — 
 
 " The two great essentials of a Congregational church 
 building are : — adaptation (1) for Preaching, and (2) for 
 worship of the Congregation. 
 
 " I. Preaching. 
 
 " In Congregational services the sermon is longer and 
 more prominent than in Episcopal services. 
 
 "It is essential, therefore, that every person should see 
 and hear the preacher, without conscious effort. Hence (1) 
 there must be no obstruction to seeing — of internal sup- 
 ports, intercepting lights, lights on wrong levels, etc. ; and 
 (2) the acoustic properties of the building are of funda- 
 mental importance ; the form of the structure, and espe- 
 cially of the roof, should be specially considered and adapted 
 for hearing. The sermon must be heard without strain, 
 either of the ears of the auditory or of the voice of the 
 preacher. It seriously interferes with impression for the 
 hearer to be consciously making an effort to catch the 
 preacher's words ; and with effectiveness, for the preacher 
 to be solicitously straining to make himself heard. No 
 preacher can always speak on the strain through a sermon 
 of forty or forty -five minutes. It therefore follows (3) that 
 the preacher must be in vital contact with his hearers. 
 Eloquence, as has been justly said, is in the audience; the 
 preacher's inspiration is not his theme only, but also the 
 manifest sympathy with it — the kindling eyes and interested 
 countenances of the people. If, therefore, he is separated 
 from them by any such space as disables him from easily 
 catching these, his inspiration must be entirely subjective, 
 and necessarily partial. 
 
 " Hence the height of the pulpit and its distance from 
 the nearest pews on the ground floor, as also in the gallery, 
 should be reduced as much as possible. The galleries should 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 57 
 
 also be constructed at such an angle as will enable persons 
 in the back pews ensily to see the preacher. In many 
 churches the preacher sees and is seen by only the front 
 row. 
 
 "N.B. — Sufficient space round the pulpit and table- 
 pews must, however, be provided for weddings. 
 
 "II. Worship. 
 
 " (1) Prayer in Congregational churches is not litur- 
 gical, but extemporaneous. Hence, whatever necessity 
 there may be for easily hearing preaching, it exists with 
 still greater emphasis for easily hearing prayer. The 
 preacher may be loud in addressing an audience ; he who 
 prays cannot shout in addressing the Almighty. The devo- 
 tional feeling of the congregation is seriously disturbed and 
 hindered, when it is necessary to strain the ear to catch the 
 words of extemporaneous prayer. 
 
 "Where liturgical prayer is used, familiarity with the 
 prayers that the preacher reads renders it much less 
 important that he should be articulately heard. 
 
 "Thus, except during singing, the congregation through 
 the entire service are dependent upon hearing the words of 
 the minister. 
 
 " (2) Worship is not choral, but congregational. 
 
 "No hymn, chant, or anthem is sung in which the -con- 
 gregation does not join. The idea, very largely realised in 
 Union Chapel, is that the whole congregation shall sing 
 from music-books in four-part harmony. 
 
 "The choir, technically so called, is therefore only part of 
 the singing congregation ; its function is simply to lead it. 
 It should therefore be in it, and of it — under no circum- 
 stances separated from it. It should be felt in its lead and 
 control of the congregational song, but not seen or even 
 heard apart from it. Hence it should be so placed as to be 
 part of the congregation. The great attainments in musical 
 worship of the present congregation are, in my judgment, to 
 
58 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 be chiefly attributed to this arrangement, and could not be 
 realised with a separate choir in a choir gallery ; for which, 
 consciously or unconsciously, the congregation listens. The 
 choir must, of course, be contiguous to the organ, and in 
 possible communication with the organist. If by any pro- 
 jection of the manuals of the organ he can be placed in front 
 of them, all the better. 
 
 "These practical requirements of Congregational ser- 
 vices are so essential that, however desirable architectural 
 congruity and artistic beauty may be, they must, in my 
 judgment, be paramount. Our church buildings are for use, 
 not for the realisation of conventional ideas, which often 
 unfit them for use." 
 
 Though, perhaps, full consent would not at once 
 be given to all the propositions of these notes, yet 
 they undoubtedly supply a link which has too often 
 been wanting in the erection of churches. The sub- 
 ordination of everything to mere preaching produced 
 the plain, unadorned meeting-houses which still 
 stand here and there as monuments of their day. The 
 mere Gothic building, however beautiful and adapted 
 to worship, was largely unsuited to purposes of 
 preaching. Union Chapel is, perhaps, as successful 
 an attempt to combine the two forms as it would 
 be possible to find. After the usual competition 
 the plans of Mr. Cubitt were decided upon, and on 
 Saturday, 16th May, 1876, the foundation-stone of the 
 new building was laid. The occasion was made one of 
 great public congratulation to the esteemed pastor, 
 and he was surrounded by the most distinguished of 
 the Congregationalists, and by many leaders in other 
 Churches. It will be useful, as indicating Dr. Allon's 
 attitude towards worship and towards other Churches, 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 59 
 
 to give some extracts from his statement read at the 
 ceremony : — 
 
 "This ceremony is neither superstitious nor unmeaning ; 
 
 as we intend it, it has a certain religious significance, 
 
 both towards God and towards men ; but assuredly we 
 
 conceive of no priestly consecration of either place or thing 
 
 whereby inherent sacredness is given to it so as to render 
 
 any secular occupancy or use a sacrilege. The only sanctity 
 
 with which we would invest this place is the sanctity of 
 
 holy service and association. In every high and holy sense 
 
 we consecrate these buildings to whatever may tend to 
 
 God's great glory — to a special service rather than to a 
 
 special sanctity." 
 
 ****** 
 
 " We gladly avow our identity with all religious men in 
 the fundamental purpose of this erection — viz., the worship 
 and service of the one true God, as the gracious and loving 
 Father of all men whom He has made. We give glad and 
 solicitous prominence to this our essential oneness with all 
 men, whether within the bounds of Christian communities or 
 beyond them, who offer to God a sincere and holy worship 
 and service, for 'in every nation God hath them that fear 
 Him and work righteousness.' 
 
 "This, moreover, is distinctly ' a house of prayer.' It is 
 not a theological hall, although theology will have prominence 
 in its teaching. It is not a mere preaching place, although 
 here the Everlasting Gospel will bj preached. It is a 
 'house of prayer,' and the place and power of Divine 
 worship in it will, I trust, ever justify this as its prominent 
 designation." 
 
 * * * * * * 
 
 " We have further to avow a distinctive ecclesiasticism, 
 modes of Church organisation, worship, and agency, which 
 make us Congregational ists rather than Episcopalians and 
 Presbyterians. We offer no apology for this ; we mean by 
 
60 
 
 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 it no intolerance ; we simply claim and vindicate our liberty 
 and our preference. 
 
 " Finally, we are thankful that the liberties which we 
 now exercise are legally secured to us. Nonconformist 
 churches are no longer illicit ; they are as much a recognised 
 part of the British Constitution, and as sacred in the eye of 
 the law, as is the Established Church. . . . For this we 
 are thankful — first, to God ; next, to our martyr forefathers 
 and their successors, who won for us these liberties by their 
 suffering and blood; next, to a series of enlightened statesmen, 
 not always — not often — thinking with us in ecclesiastical 
 matters, but strong, faithful, and fearless in their battle for 
 civil and religious liberty, of whom Mr. Gladstone, one of 
 the most uncompromising of Episcopalians, is among the 
 most illustrious ; and last, not least, to the personal re- 
 ligiousness, catholicity, and constitutional honour of our 
 beloved Queen." 
 
61 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE MINISTRY CROWNED AND ENDED. 
 
 The progress of Dr. Allon's ministry from that time 
 was one of almost uneventful prosperity. The church, 
 which proved to be considerably more costly than 
 was at first intended, exactly fulfilled, in all other 
 respects, the conditions which had been laid down, 
 and while perfect acoustically was also of great beauty. 
 The crowds which from the first filled it showed how 
 fully the need of the day had been met, and how 
 possible it was to combine a perfect auditorium with- 
 out sacrificing beauty of design. In the Jubilee 
 number of a leading architectural journal, Union 
 Chapel was given as one of the hundred remarkable 
 buildings of the century. 
 
 The truest monument to Dr. Allon's memory is 
 Union Chapel. It speaks in many ways of his peculiar 
 tastes and of the gifts which made his strength for 
 service. The subordination of the choir and organ to 
 the congregational worship is significant. Strangers 
 on entering the building are often puzzled to find 
 out where either choir or organ is ; and though that 
 subordination is, in the opinion of some, rather 
 extreme, it remains a testimony to his strong belief 
 in the need for absolute congregational worship, as 
 distinct from any mere deputy work performed by 
 the choir. The introduction of any mere performance 
 
62 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 into the midst of an act of worship was utterly 
 repugnant to his feelings. 
 
 Then the combination of Gothic beauty with the 
 idea of a preaching place speaks of his aesthetic tastes 
 adapted to the requirements of public address. Its 
 ample provision of school-room, class-rooms, and the 
 like, is significant of his belief in service as a necessity 
 of the Christian life ; and the very existence of the 
 structure is an abiding evidence both of his own un- 
 tiring zeal and of the love and respect which he had 
 inspired. 
 
 In 1877 Union Chapel was the scene of the last 
 stages in the history of what was known as the 
 Leicester Conference, and which at the time created 
 a considerable amount of excitement. Dr. Allon 
 held strong views upon the point at issue ; but at 
 the time of the last meetings he was kept silent by 
 domestic affliction. The Eastern Question, which 
 about this time was agitating England, was to him 
 one of very great interest. He preached during the 
 year 1878 a striking sermon upon the war spirit in 
 relation to the Russo-Turkish question, and then, as 
 in his pulpit treatment of all controversial questions, 
 confined himself to laying down great principles of 
 righteousness. A story is told of his conversation at 
 this time with a well-known minister, since deceased, 
 Avho had got into trouble with his own congregation 
 for attacking Lord Beaconsfield from the pulpit by 
 name. He came to London to see Dr. Allon, and 
 declared that he had only done what other Congre- 
 gational ministers had done. Dr. Allon replied by 
 saying that they had contented themselves with 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 63 
 
 stating as clearly as they could the great principles 
 which were involved in the question. The minister 
 replied, " Ah ! I go rather in the way of the old pro- 
 phets, like Nathan, who said to David 'Thou art the 
 man.' " "Yes," said Dr. Allon, "but Nathan did not 
 go into the synagogues, and there, from that safe dis- 
 tance, accuse David, but went to David himself; if you 
 will go to Lord Beaconsfield and say to him what you 
 said in the pulpit, then we will respect your courage." 
 
 In 1881 the Jubilee of the Congregational Union 
 was celebrated ; and it was universally felt by the 
 members of the Union that there was no one to 
 whoin the chair could so suitably be offered for that 
 year as Dr. Allon. The fact that no man before 
 or since has twice received this honour is an added 
 proof of the respect with which he had inspired his 
 fellow-ministers. His two addresses from the chair 
 were appropriate, dignified, and inspiring. The one 
 in the Spring Session was on "Congregationalism;" 
 that in the Autumn Session, at Manchester, was on 
 " The Church of the Future," and is included in this 
 volume. The manner in which he fulfilled the duties 
 of Chairman in this Jubilee Year made a profound 
 impression upon the churches. His tact and courtesy, 
 together with his intellectual strength, made him a 
 more than efficient representative of a great com- 
 munity at a time of great publicity. 
 
 In this same year a further proof w r as given of the 
 vitality of the church over which Dr. Allon presided, 
 and of the fruits of his teaching, in the opening of a 
 third mission station, or branch church, in Station 
 Koad, Islington. Nothing was more emphatic in his 
 
64 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 teaching than the claims of Christian service upon 
 every member of his church ; he repeatedly, both in 
 public and private, ascribed its continued unity and 
 high spiritual life to the fact that it had been always a 
 working church. 
 
 At the time of his death it had — and has still — 
 about three hundred teachers, in charge of more 
 than three thousand children, and it included in its 
 activities every imaginable form of service — gymnasia, 
 mothers' meetings, young men's associations, Saturday- 
 night concerts, savings banks, and almost numberless 
 organisations directly or indirectly religious. All this 
 was largely the outcome of his direct teaching ; and he 
 used to say that there were many vacant places in the 
 congregation at the Sunday evening service which he 
 was delighted to see, as they were the places of those 
 who were hard at work in one or other of the missions 
 of the church. 
 
 So busy a man could not possibly give personal 
 attention to many parts of the church's work; but 
 he was surrounded by experienced, thoughtful, and 
 earnest workers, in whose hands he could leave, with 
 perfect confidence, the management of many or- 
 ganisations. It was refreshing to hear the gratitude 
 and real humility with which he spoke of the self- 
 denying labours of those who thus carried on the 
 church's work. It is one of the joys and, at the same 
 time, one of the troubles of a true-hearted minister, 
 that his name should be prominently associated with 
 so many good works which he himself cannot accom- 
 plish. The joy of such association was Dr. Allon's; 
 but no one was more ready to acknowledge the splendid 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 65 
 
 service of those whose works were much less public 
 than his own. 
 
 The remaining ten or twelve years of his life were 
 largely uneventful : their story being that of the 
 activities of a large pastorate, and the thousand and 
 one claims which come perpetually to a prominent 
 and distinguished minister. The very fact of his 
 ceaseless industry makes the story of his life more 
 difficult to tell: touching many movements at many 
 points, entering into association with many men of 
 different schools of opinion and spheres of action, he 
 has left an impression of a man who was uninter- 
 mittent in all good works. His age and experience, 
 added to his reputation, caused him in these last years 
 to be greatly sought after for advice and counsel, and 
 no small share of his time had to be devoted to cor- 
 respondence and to the reception of callers upon every 
 possible kind of business. The number of letters 
 requiring answers was about thirty a day : and it 
 would be difficult to state the average amount of 
 time to which his callers thought they were fairly 
 entitled. 
 
 In common with all busy men, he sought to devise 
 means of gently hinting to his visitors when they had 
 remained long enough. One of his most successful 
 methods was the request, after some time, that they 
 would post some letters as they passed a neighbouring 
 pillar-box, some being generally kept in reserve; but 
 even that did not always succeed, as the visitor would 
 sometimes take the letters without taking bis leave. 
 The mention of these needful defences against incon- 
 siderate visitors must not leave the impression that 
 F 
 
66 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 he received callers unwillingly. No one was more 
 ready to listen to any story of difficulty or need, or to 
 help where real help was possible ; but he was apt, 
 naturally, to become impatient under the persistent 
 urging of claims which it was impossible for him 
 to satisfy. 
 
 Side by side with these activities of the last 
 decade of his life are one or two events which need 
 special mention. 
 
 In 1884 he completed a record of forty years' 
 ministry in the church, and in a sermon specially 
 bearing upon the fact, spoke again with deepest 
 thankfulness of the peace and prosperity of the past, 
 and of the fact that " the tide of their church life 
 had been an advancing one, and that it rolled in 
 greater fulness and strength that day than ever it 
 had done before/' There was naturally some sadness 
 in his tone ; many familiar faces had vanished ; many 
 of his contemporaries in the ministry had closed their 
 earthly service, while he seemed still to be in the 
 enjoyment of full and matured strength; but the 
 whole tone of the address was one of gratitude and 
 of hope. 
 
 During these years there was a good deal of dis- 
 cussion upon the question of the nursing staff* of some 
 of the hospitals helped from the Hospital Sunday 
 Fund ; and much feeling was excited against the 
 sectarian limitations imposed in certain cases. The 
 subject was thoroughly discussed by the Council of 
 the Fund, and resolutions defining the extent of 
 its control were unanimously agreed to. The follow- 
 ing statement by Dr. Kennedy well illustrates the 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. <i7 
 
 position which Dr. Allon held in these public matters, 
 as well as his own personal courage and the practical 
 breadth of his views : — 
 
 "The part which Dr. Allon took in this matter will 
 illustrate both the difficulty and its solution. He was the 
 prime mover in calling the attention of the Council to the 
 subject ; but he became so fully convinced that the Council 
 could not interfere with the internal administration of tin- 
 hospital in matters which did not affect their soundness 
 financially and medically, that he not only agreed to these 
 resolutions, but was himself their author, as he did not 
 hesitate to avow at the public meeting." 
 
 The presence and guidance of such a man at such 
 a time were invaluable. Lacking such leadership, 
 great and humane movements may sometimes be 
 sacrificed to narrow views and imperfect judgments. 
 When, a few years later, the London Nonconformist 
 Council was formed, Dr. Allon was chosen as its first 
 chairman, and it was generally acknowledged that no 
 wiser choice could have been made than of one win 
 wisdom, discretion, and high standing would be a 
 guarantee of the serious and exalted purposes for 
 which the Council had been formed. 
 
 In 1887 there was held at Union Chapel a con- 
 ference, under Dr. Allon's presidency, which at the 
 time created some interest. The subject was "The 
 Relation of the Church to the Material Condition of 
 the Destitute Poor." The conference proved of so 
 great interest that it was adjourned once and again. 
 and resulted in the formation of a committee of 
 inquiry, and in the endeavour to secure upon the 
 Islington Vestry men who would carry out the most 
 F 2 
 
68 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 humane and practical schemes which were possible. 
 This device of holding conferences was adopted in the 
 church at other times, and upon other subjects, and 
 their usefulness was greatly helped by the genial 
 wisdom with which Dr. Allon presided. 
 
 In October, 1889, there was held in Union Chapel 
 a great meeting, which was a cause of gratification to 
 Dr. Allon, only equalled, perhaps, by the ceremony in 
 1877 at the opening of the present building. On the 
 former occasion he had been surrounded by men of all 
 sorts and conditions, eager to show their respect for the 
 pastor of the church, such as Mr. Gladstone, the Hon. 
 and Rev. W. Freeinantle, Prebendary Calthrop — always 
 a valued neighbour and friend — Mr. Tom Hughes, M. 
 de Pressense, Drs. Raleigh, Mullens, Parker, Stoughton; 
 close and intimate friends like Dr. R, W. Dale, 
 Joshua Harrison, J. G. Rogers, Newman Hall, and Dr. 
 Reynolds; Dean Stanley being absent only because 
 of illness. The later meeting marked the last stage 
 in the history of the same building. The tower was 
 just completed, and it was determined to hold a great 
 meeting for thanksgiving, and to wipe off the last few 
 hundreds of the fifty thousand pounds which the 
 chapel had cost. 
 
 Lord Mayor Whitehead, a former worshipper at 
 Union Chapel, presided, and the speakers, including 
 Drs. Stoughton, Reynolds, and Dale, Mr. Guinness 
 Rogers, Prebendary Calthrop, and Mr. H. Spicer, all 
 testified to the profound attachment which, within 
 and without the church, was felt towards Dr. Allon. 
 The amount needed — some £1,200 — was raised in the 
 meeting, and the reference in the church report of 
 
THE STOEY Ob 1 II IS MINISTRY. ^ 
 
 that year gives fitting expression to the crowning joy 
 of a long and arduous ministry: ' ; To our pastor this 
 
 outcome of his labours is peculiarly gratifying, and 
 we desire to record again our affectionate appreciation 
 of his faithful, loving, and successful service over 
 long a period." 
 
 During the last few years of Dr. Allon's ministry 
 it was felt that he should have assistance in his minis- 
 terial work ; but, from various causes, no final choice 
 could be arrived at. At last, however, the way was 
 opened for a settlement by a strange series of events, 
 which were felt by all concerned to be providential. 
 In 1885, and again in 1886, Dr. Allon had asked the 
 writer of this memoir, of whose church at Sunderland 
 his married daughter was a member, to join him in 
 the work at Union Chapel. The Sunderland church 
 was at that time, however, practically committed to a 
 scheme of building and development which made it 
 impossible to leave it, and up to the autumn of 1891 
 I had not preached at Union Chapel for five years 
 or more. At that time Dr. Allon and his deacons 
 had met with an exceedingly able and promising 
 student, who would probably prove to bo acceptable 
 to the congregation, and it was arranged that his 
 name should be submitted. 
 
 Dr. Allon called at Sunderland on his way 
 home from his holiday in Scotland, and during that 
 visit he arranged that T should supply his pulpit 
 on November 8th, when he was to preach at Wor- 
 cester. The arrangement was suL^ested on the 
 ground that the settlement of an assistant mini-' 
 
70 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 which would probably by that time be an accomplished 
 fact, would remove the reasons which had so long 
 prevented me from preaching. But when Dr. Allon 
 returned from the autumnal meetings of the 
 Congregational Union at Southport in October, he 
 was, in spite of the enthusiastic demonstration of 
 affection which had been given to him there, de- 
 pressed about the future, and, to the amazement of 
 the deacons and the congregation, sent in his resigna- 
 tion, thinking that to be the best course in the interest 
 of the church. The members of the church were at 
 once summoned, and by a most enthusiastic and unani- 
 mous vote determined to ask him to remain in the 
 pastorate until the completion of his fifty years' 
 ministry, at the end of 1893, and promised to relieve 
 him of one service each Sunday, and to look out for a 
 co-pastor and successor. 
 
 This neAv and unexpected development, prompted, 
 perhaps, chiefly by the depression which ill-health 
 had produced, of course made the contemplated 
 arrangement for an assistant-minister impracticable, 
 and led to the remarkable fact that I was the 
 first outsider to preach in Dr. Allon's pulpit after 
 the new arrangement had been made, but as the 
 result of an agreement which had been come to long 
 before such an arrangement had been thought of. 
 After the Sunday's services, meetings of the church 
 and congregation were called, and I was asked to 
 join Dr. Allon as co-pastor and successor. The 
 letters which Dr. Allon wrote conveying the re- 
 sult of the meeting were full of promises of warm 
 welcome : — 
 
THE STORY Ob 1 ILL* MINISTRY. 71 
 
 "The tone of the meeting was most hearty; I might 
 say enthusiastic. You will, I trust, have no hesitation in 
 accepting the invitation. I need only for myself say that 
 I could welcome no one with more confidence, or with 
 stronger and higher anticipations of help and fellowship. 
 I trust God has guided us and you ; we have earnestly 
 sought His guidance. If I know anything of my own heart, 
 I have no desire but for that which is most for His glory, 
 and for the good of the church. May His blessing be 
 richly given to you and to us all." 
 
 When the invitation was accepted, the difficulties 
 which first hindered existing no longer, ho wrote : 
 "We shall all receive you most heartily, and I shall 
 sing my Nunc Dimittis with hope and faith." In con- 
 versation Dr. Allon had declared that he had himself 
 known so much of the difficulties of a co-pastorate 
 that he thought he should have grace to avoid its 
 dangers ; and it is a pleasure to the present writer, who, 
 for a few weeks only, enjoyed the honour of working 
 by his side, to testify to the spirit in which he fulfilled 
 his part as senior pastor. His attitude was rather 
 that of father to son than of senior minister to junior ; 
 and had his colleague known nothing of him pre- 
 viously, the experience of those few weeks would have 
 been sufficient to show him the tenderness, the 
 strength, and the unaffected goodness which marked 
 Dr. Allon's character. In the light of after-event 
 circumstances which led to this settlement were felt 
 by all concerned to be so remarkable that their recital 
 here will not, it is hoped, be regarded as an undue 
 obtrusion of the writer's personality. 
 
 On Wednesday evening, March 23rd, Dr. Allon 
 
72 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 presided at the meeting which was held for the 
 recognition and welcome of his junior colleague ; and 
 there were one or two references and incidents in 
 that meeting which have become inspiring memories 
 to those who were present. He spoke with great 
 satisfaction and hopefulness of the association with 
 himself of one towards whom he had long felt both 
 affection and confidence ; but there was, of necessity, 
 something of sadness to him in the meeting. It was 
 the beginning of the end, though none suspected how 
 near that end was. It was given to few ministers, 
 he said, to stand as he stood that night, looking back 
 upon a single pastorate of nearly half a century, and 
 to be able to say that the history of that period had 
 been one of continuous and increasing sympathy 
 between pastor and people. He felt that he had 
 almost completed his pilgrimage, had entered into the 
 land of Beulah, and was waiting there. 
 
 After acknowledging all the kindness and help 
 which he had continually received from the deacons 
 and the church generally, he went on to speak of 
 the great changes which in these days are taking place 
 in conceptions of Church life and work ; and with a 
 sudden flash of the spirit of the young man which 
 had never died within him, he declared, with strong 
 emphasis, that he did not fear these changes, but 
 thanked God for them. He believed that both in 
 life and doctrine God was leading His people into wider 
 and greater fields, and quoted, with an enthusiasm 
 which some who heard it will not soon forget, the 
 saying of the old Puritan, that " God has ever new 
 light to break forth from His Word." When the 
 
THE STORY OF II IS MINISTRY. 73 
 
 co-pastor, at the end of his statement, had expressed 
 the joy and honour which he felt in being" able to 
 accept the call to work with Dr. Allon, and, if it were 
 (iods will, afterwards to receive from his hands tin 
 inheritance of the sole charge which he had so nobly 
 fulfilled for nearly fifty years, Dr. Allon rose, and 
 with the tears in his eyes, grasped the hand of his 
 new colleague : that shake of the hand was felt to be 
 sacramental, and of greater value than many speeches. 
 The service was of great interest in itself; but was 
 quickly to gain a new significance, which at the time 
 was quite unsuspected. 
 
 It seemed as if, after the assistance w r hich had 
 come to him, Dr. Allon had taken a new lease of life ; 
 he preached with all his old vigour, and on Sunday 
 morning, April 10, his sermon upon " Comfort in the 
 Wilderness " was, by general testimony, characterised 
 by all his old freshness and power. On the Tuesday, 
 accompanied by Dr. Glover, his friend and medical 
 adviser, he went to consult Sir James Paget upon 
 some symptoms which had troubled him, and, cheered 
 by the favourable report which he received, was full 
 of life and gaiety at a meeting of ministers the 
 same day. On the Wednesday he was unwell, but 
 suspected nothing more than an attack of indigestion ; 
 on the Thursday the symptoms had not improved, 
 and he was in some pain, but at his own door, in the 
 evening, parted from his colleague with one of his 
 customary pleasant jests, little dreaming that they 
 would never meet again. On the Friday night he 
 retired to rest, still unwell, but neither he himself nor 
 any of his friends suspected any cause for anxiety. 
 
74 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 In the early hours of the morning Mrs. Allon was, 
 however, aroused by her husband's heavy breathing ; 
 she found him unconscious, and at once called for 
 help ; he never, however, regained consciousness, and 
 before the doctor could reach the house quietly 
 passed away. 
 
 His death was a sudden and terrible blow to his 
 family and to his church — a blow which at first 
 it was almost impossible to realise ; but when it 
 became possible to look at the facts more quietly, it 
 was felt that no sublimer death could have been 
 desired for him. He, whose life had been so active 
 and useful, dreaded the day of enforced idleness. 
 His anxieties about his church had to an extent 
 been removed ; he had been able to guide the church 
 to an arrangement which he believed would per- 
 petuate its usefulness, and then quietly, while still in 
 the midst of his many activities, he passed to the 
 sphere of a nobler service. To the survivors there was 
 something unspeakably sad in so sudden a departure ; 
 but not one would afterwards have wished it other- 
 wise. It was a wonderful instance of a completed 
 life. 
 
 The congregations which assembled on the follow- 
 ing day (Easter Sunday — when a large proportion of 
 the regular attendants were out of town) were a witness 
 to the profound feeling which had been created by 
 the announcement of his death in the evening papers 
 of Saturday, and were the beginning of a demonstra- 
 tion of public sympathy and respect which surprised 
 even some of his greatest friends and admirers. At 
 the morning service the junior minister made formal 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 75 
 
 announcement of the great loss which the church 
 had sustained, and in the course of his brief address 
 
 said : — 
 
 " Our thought to-day, then, must be chiefly of the 
 more intimate bonds which have bound this church and 
 congregation to him. Much will be said, in fitting places, 
 of many aspects of his life and service, of Ids gifts of 
 leadership, of his intellectual wealth and wide learning, 
 of his catholicity and many-sided sympathies, of his great- 
 ness as a preacher, of his services to Church music : we 
 think of him as the pastor, the friend, the man whom we 
 loved. In many households there will be a blank, as 
 though one of its own members had been taken : he has 
 been closely associated with all their most sacred hours. 
 He has baptised the children ; his voice has spoken the 
 marriage prayer and blessing; he has stood beside the 
 open grave of many loved ones whom he has now joined ; 
 many knew and loved him in their childhood who now 
 have their own children about them. In forty-eight years 
 of such a ministry many ties must be formed which are 
 very hard to break — if we dare to call this breaking : there 
 will be numberless regrets which will never find a public- 
 voice, but which will be deep and heartfelt. 
 
 " In this church, too, our loss is greater than we can 
 by any possibility yet realise. So far as any church is 
 the work of man, he has gathered it, sustained it by faithful 
 ministry and wise counsel, and inspired others with his own 
 judgment and energy. He always spoke gratefully of the 
 loyalty and brotherliness of the officials of this church and 
 the members generally, and the testimony which he bore 
 in these walls only a few weeks ago will now be a consoling 
 remembrance to those who have been associated with him 
 in the administration of the affairs of this church. I hope 
 that Union Chapel and the name of Henry AJlon will be 
 inseparable so long as this building stands." 
 
76 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 The funeral service was fixed for Thursday, April 
 21st, and during the morning an opportunity was 
 given to any who wished it to look upon the coffin 
 which contained the body of a beloved pastor and 
 friend. In the midst of a great bank of beautiful 
 flowers, sent by many friends and societies within 
 and without his own church, the coffin rested at the 
 foot of the pulpit from which he had preached but 
 a few days before, and during the morning a con- 
 tinuous stream of people passed before it. Long 
 before the announced time of service, great numbers 
 of people were waiting for admission. The personal 
 friends, and those specially invited or deputed by 
 public bodies, were admitted by side doors ; and when 
 the main doors were opened the chapel was im- 
 mediately filled by a congregation of more than three 
 thousand people. In addition to the crowd in the 
 church, it was estimated that in the open spaces in the 
 immediate neighbourhood no fewer than ten thousand 
 persons were waiting to show respect to the memory 
 of one who had played so great a part in the life of 
 North London. The service was commenced by the 
 now sole pastor of the church, who, after prayer, 
 expressed in very few words the sorrow and thanks- 
 givings of the congregation. Lessons were read by 
 Dr. Stephenson, President of the Wesleyan Con- 
 ference, and prayer offered by Rev. Dr. Dykes, 
 Principal of the Presbyterian College. Addresses 
 were then given by two of Dr. Allon's oldest and 
 most intimate friends, Dr. Reynolds and Mr. Guinness 
 Rogers ; both were profoundly touching in the strong 
 affection and deep respect which they manifested. 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 
 
 A few sentences from the address of Dr. Reynolds 
 
 must be given: — 
 
 " Brothers and sisters in a crushing sorrow, fellow- 
 sufferers from an irreparable loss, — Awed and heart-struck 
 we have gathered round this silent but loved form, but we 
 have already found that we are under the shadow of the 
 Cross of Christ, where Death has lost his sting. We find 
 ourselves touching the very steps of the throne of our 
 Elder Brother, ' who liveth, and was dead, and is alive 
 for evermore.' The Lord and Giver of Life now speaks to 
 each one of us the Divine Word : ' He that liveth and 
 belie veth in me shall never die.' 
 
 u We have not assembled to tell the story of our 
 brother's life, nor to draw even the outline of his surprising 
 and beautiful pastorate. We will not venture to estimate 
 his noble character or manifold personality. We are not 
 attempting here and now to enumerate his titles to our 
 n-verence, or to recite the great things he did for the 
 Master whom he loved so well. At this moment I have 
 neither power nor words to do other than give expression 
 to our love and our humble hope. 
 
 " Have we not reason ? Did any of us wish for a truer 
 friend or for a wiser counsellor ? In deep sorrow was not 
 the clasp of his hand and his strong sympathy as much as 
 human grace could do for us 1 Have we not reason for our 
 love ? To many of you, and to hundreds and thousands 
 who have pressed on before him, he opened the door into 
 the invisible, he gave the right hand of fellowship into 
 these mysteries of the kingdom of God. He taught you to 
 understand the meaning of the cross and passion of the 
 Son of God, and to see the glory of the Eternal Father 
 in the face of Jesus Christ. He assigned you work in the 
 church. He saved some of you from utter doubt. He 
 stood shoulder-to-shoulder with you when you were weak 
 in faith. He comforted vou in bereavements and losses, 
 
78 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 and often and again led you away from and out of your- 
 selves by larger views of God and His Christ, of His work 
 and His Spirit. 
 
 " Many of the highest visions of God are incommunic- 
 able ; but others can be conveyed, and our beloved friend 
 had the grace to make us understand what he had seen, 
 felt, and handled of the word of life. We love him for his 
 vision of the Almighty, and for the sympathy with our 
 dimmer powers which enabled us to believe profoundly 
 in his experience of the spiritual and Divine, and so to 
 pass on with him into the Holy Place. All kinds of 
 personal links united us to him. He lies there in his 
 last bed with more secrets confided to his loyal breast than 
 to any father confessor. His fidelity to his friends, his love 
 of justice, his chivalry, his numberless acts of love to his 
 brethren, to his people, and to those who had no shadow 
 of claim upon his boundless generosity, compelled and 
 inspired our affection. 
 
 " Only a month ago, at a beautiful and now never-to- 
 be-forgotten service, the venerable Paul handed his sword 
 and his blessing to Timothy. Notwithstanding the pathos 
 of the words and tones, we all hoped that years of unbroken 
 fellowship awaited them both ; but without fear he has 
 passed homewards, and now all the memory of his splendid 
 career from first to last has become our dear younger 
 brother's heritage. In its full-orbed beauty and complete- 
 ness it will be an inspiration for us all. 
 
 "There is a great hope in this, too. His departure 
 from us is not like the falling crash of a great tree to 
 whose support we had clung fondly while the birds of the 
 air sang in the branches, but it is rather like the reaping 
 of a noble shock of corn fully ripe. The reaper of this 
 golden grain is not Death, but our Lord Jesus Christ 
 Himself, who had need of these ripe ears, We must be 
 willing in the day of our Lord's great power. We dare not 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 79 
 
 grudge this noble worker and soldier of the faith to the 
 armies of heaven. He has long been preparing for the 
 
 perfect service, for the joy of the Lord. Now he has 
 entered upon it, with all the deep humility of his nature, 
 with all the brightness of a hope no longer deferred, amid 
 the reverence and love of all the Churches of Christ.'' 
 
 Mr. Rogers, from the standpoint of an unbroken 
 friendship of forty-three years, bore testimony to the in- 
 tense lovableness, the true grandeur of character, and 
 the deep sympathy of Dr. Allon. He was, lie declared, 
 a broad, large-hearted, liberal Christian. He loved his 
 own principles, but he was also capable of under- 
 standing the strength that there was in other systems, 
 and of honouring those who adhered to them. All 
 his strength, governed and guided by a warm and 
 generous heart, made him a mighty power, not in our 
 own Church only, but in the Churches everywhere. 
 As a pastor he was wise, tender, and thoughtful, 
 doing everything with such tact and wisdom that 
 unity was preserved during this long series of years, 
 and showing what a wise pastor, guide, and leader of 
 a united church could accomplish. 
 
 At the close of the service, which was marked 
 by the hearty singing of several hymns of triumph 
 and thanksgiving, the benediction was pronounced 
 by the venerable Prebendary Gordon Calthrop. A 
 procession was then formed to Abney Park Cemetery, 
 where the body was to be laid at rest. The hearse 
 was followed by a great number of carriages, and 
 accompanied by many people on foot, while for the 
 whole length of the route taken — between two and 
 three miles — crowds lined the streets. Within the 
 
80 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 cemetery an immense crowd had gathered, but so 
 well was everything managed that there were no 
 signs of undue confusion or irreverent behaviour. 
 The service at the grave was, as it was believed 
 Dr. Allon would have wished it to be, exceedingly 
 brief and simple, and in the conduct of it the 
 writer was joined by Dr. Booth, secretary of the 
 Baptist Union, and the Rev. Brooke Lambert, Vicar 
 of Greenwich. The great number of public bodies 
 formally represented at the funeral, and the vast 
 crowds — large numbers of whom were in mourning 
 — which gathered wherever any glimpse of the funeral 
 procession could be seen, were an unmistakable 
 testimony to the great usefulness and goodness of 
 the life which had closed. 
 
 The place of interment was in the near neighbour- 
 hood of the graves of many distinguished Noncon- 
 formists. Drs. Binney, Raleigh, Leifchild, Fletcher, 
 Hannay, Sir Charles Reed, Mr. Henry Richard — all rest 
 in that part of the cemetery, but none of their graves 
 Avill be visited by a larger number of men and women 
 who come with grateful memories than will the cross 
 of white granite which now^ marks the last resting- 
 place of Henry Allon. 
 
 Memorial services were held in Union Chapel on 
 the following Sunday, and in the morning Dr. R, W. 
 Dale — who had so long been bound to Dr. Allon by 
 a friendship of peculiar strength and intimacy — 
 preached the funeral sermon. It was a magnificent 
 testimony to Dr. Allon's greatness; it reviewed the 
 conditions under which his life-work had been ac- 
 complished, and showed how much the various forms 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 8} 
 
 of activity demanded of the prominent minister of a 
 large London church. He had always fulfilled the 
 spirit of the text which was chosen — " They watch on 
 behalf of your souls as they that must give account." 
 The whole of the sermon should be quoted here, but 
 considerations of space must limit the choice to the 
 more personal references which concluded it : — 
 
 " To attempt this morning, while our great sorrow is 
 still fresh, any complete analysis of the varied powers 
 which enabled Dr. Allon to discharge with such efficiency 
 such great duties, and through so many years, or to give 
 any adequate account of the various elements which con- 
 tributed to his energetic personality, is impossible. All 
 that I can do is to tell you briefly what kind of a man he 
 seemed to be to one who knew and loved him well. 
 
 "He had sound health and physical vigour; for many 
 years he never knew what illness was; and he had that 
 delight in labour and those buoyant spirits which are 
 among the most felicitous endowments of a man who is 
 charged with heavy responsibilities and whose life is spent 
 in constant toil. At one time he appeared to me incapable 
 of weariness. The fibre of his intellect was firm and 
 strong. He was always eager, alert, and keen. He was 
 like an ancient Greek, and cared to know things, and to 
 know all sorts of things, for the sake of knowing them. 
 His interest was active in all kinds of literature, and there 
 was no narrowness in his intellectual sympathies ; excel- 
 lence of every kind tilled him with admiration and delight. 
 
 " His mind was literary in its strongest and most 
 characteristic tendencies rather than speculative ; he was 
 never mastered, I think, by the imperial fascination of that 
 great movement of philosophic thought which extends from 
 Kant to Hegel. But while he craved for no vast and com- 
 prehensive theory which attempted to resolve into unity 
 G 
 
82 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 the antithesis of the Infinite and the finite, he was always 
 demanding of himself a reasonable account of his own 
 beliefs. Within the range of his speculation he was 
 impatient of confusion, incoherence, disorder; his intel-. 
 lectual method was rationalistic rather than mystical. 
 And yet, while he had his own definite beliefs and his own 
 intellectual method, he had affinities with widely contrasted 
 schools of religious thought. He was strongly attracted by 
 James Martineau ; he was also strongly attracted by John 
 Henry Newman. 
 
 " He was a man of strong affections and of deep 
 emotion. There was passion in him, but, especially in his 
 more elaborate sermons, it was largely suppressed. It was 
 different in the discourses which were of a more pastoral 
 character; in these his emotion w 7 as allowed to show itself 
 freely ; in these he moved your heart as well as instructed 
 your intellect. But in discussing great subjects on great 
 occasions his powerful understanding seemed to resent the 
 disturbing ppwer of passion. It was there; you felt its 
 warmth ; and yet it was only rarely allowed to set his 
 thoughts on fire ; it showed itself in the increased strenu- 
 ousness of his purely intellectual activity. It was trans- 
 muted into intellectual energy. 
 
 " But when the intellectual strain was not upon him, 
 there was not only warmth but flame. He w-as ardent in 
 his love for his friends. His sympathy was as tender as a 
 woman's. His emotion was sometimes uncontrollable, and 
 I have seen it break out into tears. He was large and 
 generous in his thoughts of men. His admiration for 
 those whom he honoured was boundless. His delight in 
 the successes of other men was one of the largest elements 
 of his own happiness. 
 
 ; ' The regal element of his religious life was the tender- 
 ness and strength of his personal devotion to our Lord. I 
 recall times when we were sitting together in his study, 
 
THE STORY OF BIS MINISTRY. 83 
 
 and when our talk, moving quietly and without excitement 
 from subject to subject, drew near to Christ ; and then I 
 can remember the change that passed upon him : how he 
 kindled ; how sometimes his joy became radiant • how at 
 others his voice broke with emotion while he spoke of the 
 greatness of Christ's love ; how at other times there burst 
 forth exclamations of victorious faith in the Son of God 
 who had become Son of man and was Saviour of the world. 
 This was the ultimate secret of his power. Through all the 
 confusions and uncertainties of his time his faith in Christ 
 never faltered ; with growing years his devotion to Christ 
 deepened, and in Christ's service he found constantly in- 
 creasing delight. And so it was as a minister of Christ, 
 loving Christ with a vehement love, that he watched on 
 behalf of your souls as one that would have to give 
 account. " 
 
 The demonstrations of respect upon the day of 
 the funeral and on the following Sunday were only 
 in keeping with the general expressions from many 
 sources. The large space which was devoted by 
 newspapers of every shade of opinion to articles and 
 biographical sketches, and the universal agreement 
 in recognition of his useful and honourable career 
 — these, together with the great number of letters 
 received from all sorts and conditions of men 
 testified to a widespread influence exerted by his 
 life and work, the hearty acknowledgment of which 
 was a profound consolation to those who had loved 
 him most. It only remains now in a few words to 
 point out some chief features in his life and work* 
 and to indicate his strongest personal characteristics. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LABOURS AND CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 Dr. Allon's literary activity through many years 
 was altogether out of proportion to any lasting work 
 which he has left behind. In literature, as in other 
 things, he was a man of ceaseless industry, but his 
 activities were so numerous and varied that the 
 definite monuments of his energy are fewer than 
 would have been expected. He gave, for instance, 
 an enormous amount of time and labour to the 
 editorship of the British Quarterly Review, con- 
 tributing a large number of the shorter reviews and a 
 fair number of the longer articles ; but such work is 
 naturally fugitive in its character, and leaves behind 
 little testimony to generations which follow. It is 
 to be regretted, from one point of view, that some 
 of the strength which he gave to literary work 
 which was of mere passing interest, was not given to 
 enterprises which might have been more permanent 
 in their character. There were certain periods of 
 Church history which had a great attraction for him, 
 and had he brought to the production of some work 
 upon one of these periods the literary gift and great 
 industry which he gave to many smaller matters, it was 
 in him to have written a book which the world would 
 not willingly have let die. But if he has left behind 
 him no book which will take a prominent place in 
 
HENRY ALLON. 85 
 
 the literature of this half-century, the published 
 
 volumes of his sermons will long preserve their place 
 as examples of the teaching of a wise and cultured 
 Nonconformist minister, while his account of the 
 lives of Dr. Binney and Mr. Sherman will be sought 
 after so long as the memory of those distinguished 
 ministers is preserved. 
 
 A strong characteristic of Dr. Allon's literary 
 work was his intense impatience of all that was slip- 
 shod. He believed that words were capable of giving 
 the clearest possible expression to the thought that 
 was in the writer's mind, and he had patiently culti- 
 vated the power of setting forth in clear and felicitous 
 phrase the meaning which he wished to convey. It 
 was his deep sense of the importance of style in all 
 literary work which caused him, in the early years of 
 his ministry, to write every sermon twice ; in that way 
 he gained the mastery of expression which was 
 afterwards so characteristic of all his work. If in 
 his literary manner there was a danger, it was, per- 
 haps, -that of sacrificing force of expression to per- 
 fection of style ; but the strength of his thinking 
 generally saved him from that peril. There can, 
 however, be no doubt that sometimes in the wonderful 
 finish of his productions there was some loss of 
 power — a loss which was felt to be all the greater 
 because the power was in him, had he but let himself 
 
 go. 
 
 His numerous literary engagements and his broad 
 intellectual sympathies naturally brought him into 
 contact with men of many creeds and classes. Literary 
 men of all schools were heartily welcomed to his 
 
86 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 hospitable home, and there were gathered round his 
 table at times groups of men, comparatively few in 
 numbers, but presenting a variety as great as could 
 be found in any house in London. Dr. Keynolds, in 
 some reminiscences of his friend which were pub- 
 lished shortly after his death, speaks of two occasions 
 which recurred to his memory, and which will illus- 
 trate his large and varied circle of acquaintance. One 
 party was composed of leading Church dignitaries, 
 Koman Catholic scholars, Quakers, Nonconformist 
 advocates, and others, and to them Dr. Allon read the 
 paper on "Worship" afterwards published in Ecclesia. 
 The other party was made up of men like Deans Alford 
 and Stanley, Matthew Arnold, George Macdonald, 
 and Thomas Binney. Though there were, of course, 
 other bonds more sacred even than that of literature 
 between Dr. Allon and many of those who were thus 
 his guests, his first introduction to most of them was 
 through literature, and there were many who were 
 drawn to him by bonds which were entirely literary. 
 
 He was a constant and omnivorous reader ; history 
 was perhaps his favourite study, though in one who 
 seemed to read everything it is difficult to say 
 exactly what did occupy the first place. A great 
 scholar in the academic sense he was not, but of 
 English literature he had a wide and intimate 
 knowledge. Poetry he did not read, though in early 
 years he had himself written much. In fiction he 
 remained loyal to Scott and Dickens, and regretted 
 the evidence that Scott was being less generally read. 
 To see him in his library was to have the best* proof 
 of his constant love of reading ; the spacious room was 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 87 
 
 crowded with books, and the shelves which covered 
 all the wall-space were filled with books three deep, 
 while piles of volumes were to be seen at every 
 possible point — on tables, chairs, the floor — wherever 
 room could be found for them. But so completely 
 had his reading kept pace with the growth of his 
 library, that with scarcely any hesitation he could 
 put his hand upon any book be wanted, even though 
 it might have been hidden for years behind two rows 
 of more recent volumes. 
 
 Perhaps the distinctive place which will be given 
 to Dr. Allon in the history of the Nonconformity 
 of this half-century will be that of the strong up- 
 builder and the wise leader of a large and active 
 church, and the spiritual teacher of a thoughtful 
 people. The numerous duties which involved in- 
 creasing demands upon his time made it impossible 
 for him to undertake what is known as systematic 
 pastoral visiting, although of that he did more than 
 some people gave him credit for ; but in any time 
 of need, when his counsel or sympathy could be 
 of use, he was at once ready and active. Again and 
 again have members of the congregation said to his 
 successor that it was not until they were plunged into 
 some trouble that they found how great-hearted was 
 the pastor whom before they had but little under- 
 stood. In matters of perplexity, matters of business, 
 matters of public duty, his strength and his wise 
 common-sense made his advice often sought for by 
 members of his congregation, and to such approaches 
 lie always responded willingly. 
 
88 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 One exceedingly beautiful aspect of his character 
 was seen in his attitude to j^oung people who went 
 to see him with a view to the membership of the 
 church. Many of them entered his room with 
 something like fear and trembling, expecting some 
 hard doctrinal examination — they found him all 
 tenderness and sympathy, and came out with new 
 understanding of the man who was their pastor. 
 In the sick-room and in the house of sorrow the 
 kindness of his heart was very quickly and delicately 
 shown. There was little of the ordinary phraseology 
 that makes speech at such hours often so empty ; 
 he did not always even offer prayer : there were times 
 when he thought that that would be comparatively 
 meaningless ; but when he was leaving the house the 
 hearty hand-shake and the warm " God bless you " 
 were felt to be a veritable benediction. 
 
 In his pastoral work Dr. Allon was never happier 
 than in the services connected with the domestic 
 life of the congregation. His addresses at Baptismal 
 Services and his conduct of the Marriage Service 
 were not performances of a mere formal ritual, 
 but were felt to be personal, hearty, and most real. 
 Many who remember his conduct of such services 
 will be glad to recall some of his words. He would 
 address himself to the bride and bridegroom at a 
 marriage service in some such words as these : — 
 "You will not regard this relationship ... as of 
 trifling importance. Well and wisely has it been said, 
 ' they that enter into the state of marriage cast a die 
 of the greatest contingency and yet of the greatest 
 interest in the world;' a lasting felicity or a lasting 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 
 
 sorrow arc in the power of marriage. Next to your 
 
 personal dedication to God you never have and you 
 never can take any step so deeply involving your 
 destinies in both worlds. If in all our ways God is to 
 be acknowledged, pre-eminently should He be so in a 
 step involving so much that is momentous as this. 
 You will need to cherish much mutual respect, and 
 to exercise much mutual forbearance ; where the 
 purest and highest affection exists this is necessary. 
 Our poor imperfect nature suffers many moods and 
 needs constant watch and control, especially in the 
 thousand little things which make up daily life, and 
 which chiefly determine its happiness. Let there be 
 no cause for peevishness or irritability ; Ave see some 
 — and life presents nothing more beautiful or holy — 
 who spend a long married life without a jarring 
 feeling. Let this be the case with you ; resolve from 
 this day of your marriage that neither by thoughtless 
 words nor resentful look shall the bright sun of your 
 married joy be clouded. You will constitute a house- 
 hold — let it be dedicated to God. Wherever you 
 have a tent, there let God have an altar. And 
 through all your course see that ye be helpers of 
 each other's piety. You will influence each other 
 much ; see to it that your influence be rightly 
 directed. Seek eminent personal holiness. Be kindly 
 watchful over each other's spiritual welfare. Let 
 there be nothing in your married life, towards each 
 other and towards God, that you will at last re- 
 member with erriet" 
 
 His work as a religious teacher is best illustrated 
 
90 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 by the sermons which are included in this volume. 
 They have been chosen as instances of the different 
 aspects of personal and public life with which he con- 
 scientiously dealt. There was never in him, as has 
 been said, any attempt at the mere popular preacher. 
 Indeed, he had a contempt for any mere effort to 
 win applause ; and that fact, which to many of his 
 hearers constituted the secret of his abiding strength 
 and of his growing leadership, was, perhaps, the 
 reason of his never being ranked amongst those who 
 are called, with more or less discrimination, popular 
 preachers. His own personal preference was for the 
 argumentative and exhaustive style of preaching. He 
 sometimes said that no man could preach a good 
 sermon under fifty minutes. It was the natural 
 verdict of one whose ideal of a sermon was a finished 
 exposition of some particular text, or a fair and all- 
 round examination of some special theme. But when 
 now and again he departed from his ordinary method, 
 and in one of his delightful studies of some Old 
 Testament character, or in a passionate appeal to 
 young men, came a little nearer to the level of 
 common life, all his hearers, and not least those who 
 were most attracted by his more usual method, felt 
 that there was in him a great reserve of capacity. 
 
 Perhaps no contemporary of the later years of Dr. 
 Alton's life held quite the same position in the esti- 
 mation of Congregational ministers and churches as 
 did he. To say that by those who knew him inti- 
 mately he was greatly beloved, and that by all outside 
 the circle of that intimate knowledge he was re- 
 
THE 8T0BT OF HIS MINISTRY. 91 
 
 spected, is only to put the fact in the barest state- 
 ment possible. His services to the Congregational 
 churches were numerous, and of almost every pos- 
 sible character : but no minister, perhaps, was more 
 frequently called upon to preach at the opening of 
 new chapels. His sympathy with, and labours for, 
 the elevation of Nonconformist worship made him 
 the most appropriate leader in the Dedication Service 
 of any building for worship, and especially of those in 
 which an effort was being made to attain the higher 
 forms ; and as time and opportunity served, he was 
 always ready to respond to such invitations. Occasion- 
 ally his visits for such purposes were made the occa- 
 sion of conferences on the subject of psalmody with 
 the members of the choir or of the congregation 
 generally, and often there followed a marked improve- 
 ment in the service of song in the house of God. 
 These visits, too, were sometimes occasions of con- 
 siderable private beneficence. He would find, in his 
 journeyings about the country, ministers and others 
 whom he had known in more prosperous days, and 
 not seldom he came back a poorer man than he went. 
 As a representative of his order he undoubtedly occu- 
 pied the first place. If in later years anyone had to 
 be chosen to represent the Congregational Churches, 
 or even the Nonconformist Churches generally, Dr. 
 Allon was one of the first to be thought of. During 
 his visit to America in 1870, where he preached and 
 lectured in many places, he was heartily welcomed by 
 the churches as a representative English Congre- 
 gationalist. 
 
 Tn connection with such organisations as the 
 
92 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 Hospital Sunday Fund, the British and Foreign Bible 
 Society, and other similar societies, his position was 
 universally felt to be a representative one ; and, not 
 long before his death, the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 having to leave the chair early at some united 
 gathering in Lambeth Palace, recognised that position 
 by asking him to take the vacant place. His hand- 
 some face, his refined manner, corresponded to the 
 ability and tact with which he fulfilled the responsi- 
 bilities of such positions. There are some unseen 
 services that he rendered to the ministers and churches 
 of his own order which at the time were not always 
 known in large circles, but which it would be wrong 
 to pass over now. Perhaps no man ever gave more 
 financial help and real brotherly sympathy to poor 
 ministers. A sad story of want, and of battling 
 with imperfect means, would move him to tears ; 
 and his was a sympathy which did not expend itself 
 in mere emotion, but took very practical and helpful 
 forms. Many a man greatly needing sympathy lost 
 a good friend when Dr. Allon died. 
 
 Perhaps no minister, again, was more sought 
 after by those of his brethren especially who in 
 times of perplexity were in need of counsel. Young 
 ministers of other denominations seeking larger oppor- 
 tunities than they thought they found where they 
 were ; ministers of his own order, troubled about 
 matters of Church government or of doctrine, asked 
 his advice, and were always heartily helped. The 
 testimony of Dr. Reynolds at his funeral, that he had 
 been regarded by many as a father-confessor, was 
 profoundly true. 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 93 
 
 More than once, too, did he come publicly to the 
 rescue of men who were suspected, and by showing 
 countenance at critical times to those who were being- 
 somewhat persecuted, he helped, without doubt, to 
 strengthen them in their faith and purpose. At the 
 last autumnal meeting of the Congregational Union 
 which he attended — that at Southport in LSDJ — the 
 incident, already alluded to, occurred which happily 
 emphasised the position he held in the estimation 
 of his brethren. The chairman mentioned almost 
 incidentally that it was Dr. Allon's birthday, and at 
 once the whole assembly rose with a demonstration 
 of respect and of affection which he found himself 
 almost unable to bear. It was an illustration of his 
 modesty that at first he could hardly believe the 
 demonstration was intended for himself. 
 
 One word should, perhaps, be added in acknow- 
 ledgment of the service which he rendered to Con- 
 gregationalism in the various committees of which 
 he w^as a member. His great business capacity and 
 wide experience made his advice invaluable, and to 
 many institutions and societies, his beloved Cheshunt 
 College amongst the rest, he did invaluable service 
 in this quiet way. 
 
 No part of Dr. Allon's work was more widely 
 known than his endeavours to promote a nobler 
 service of song in public worship. It is difficult for 
 worshippers of this generation to realise how utterly 
 poverty-stricken — so far as the service of praise is 
 concerned — was the worship of the house of God half 
 a century ago. The severe repression of everything 
 
94 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 which could be suspected of any tendency towards 
 ceremonialism resulted in a bare and meagre service, 
 which — however it might satisfy the merely spiritual 
 instincts of the worshipper — left no room for the 
 sense of beauty in form or in sound. The long, long 
 prayer and the slowly sung hymn were the only 
 outlets for all the possibilities of worship-aspiration ; 
 and that which, to the spiritual few, might be a 
 source of inspiration and of strength, was to the 
 many a stumbling-block and a weariness. But the 
 great advance in the public taste for things beauti- 
 ful has been as manifest in the conduct of public 
 worship as elsewhere, and it is only right that the 
 names of those who braved the opposition to this 
 advance should be held in continual honour by the 
 Church. 
 
 There is no need — nor, if there were need, is this 
 the place for it — to enter upon the discussion of the 
 relative claims to this honour; but no impartial 
 observer of the progress of Nonconformist worship 
 could deny the great influence which, in the earlier 
 days of the movement especially, was exercised by Dr. 
 Allon. His hymn, anthem, and chant books were for 
 a long time very largely used in the Congregational 
 churches of England, and became models to other 
 Churches ; and while their use has become somewhat 
 restricted by the issue of the officially authorised 
 books of the Congregational Union, they have left 
 a very deep and abiding mark upon Congregational 
 worship generally. His volume of hymns for children's 
 worship is in the front rank of such volumes, and 
 is still very popular. In the earlier years of his 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 95 
 
 work he had the advantage of the co-operation of 
 Dr. Gauntlett. 
 
 It would be impossible to represent Dr. Al Ion's 
 views on the importance of Church song, or on the 
 great improvement which has taken place, half so 
 well or clearly as he himself has done. There are 
 given here, therefore, extracts from his preface to 
 the latest issue, in 1886, of his Psalmist Hymnal 
 — the fruit of many years' labour — and from a lecture 
 on the subject delivered in 1861, before the improve- 
 ment in Church song had become so general as it is 
 to-day. 
 
 " The amazing advance of Congregational singing in 
 
 English-speaking churches can be fully realised only by 
 those who can personally remember what, in Parish church 
 and Nonconformist chapel alike, it was forty years ago. 
 In the Anglican Church the neglected Hymn has become 
 prominent in Congregational worship, in the Puritan 
 Churches worship has developed in aesthetic forms. The 
 art-music of ritual worship has deepened and broadened 
 into Congregational song, while the rude fervour of 
 Evangelical Hymn singing has developed into a higher 
 art-expression. Both tendencies have thus combined to 
 produce what is perhaps a more consentaneous and extended 
 culture of the worship of the congregation than the Church 
 of Christ has ever known. One effect has been fresh 
 contributions to the Hymnology of the Church of a very 
 rich and precious character. It is impossible to exaggerate 
 the contributions to worship-song of the Evangelical Revival 
 of the Eighteenth Century — of Watts and Wesley, Toplady 
 and Doddridge, Cowper and John Newton ; but the deeper 
 and broader spiritual life of our own age has produced 
 contributions of equal and more diversified excellence. 
 James Montgomery and Josiah Conder, Keble and Lyte, 
 
96 HENRY ALLON : 
 
 Newman and Faber, C. Elliott and Monsell, Bishop Words- 
 worth and Bishop Walsham How, George Bawson and 
 Horatius Bonar, John Ellerton and Godfrey Turing, Bay 
 Palmer and Bishop Bickersteth, Frances Havergal and 
 Mrs. Alexander, with many others, have raised our Church 
 Hymnody to a very high level indeed, and have supplied 
 congregations with exhaustless stores of worshipping in- 
 spiration. It is given to no one man or generation to 
 furnish adequate and permanent expression for the manifold 
 devotional life of the Christian Church. To this all ages, 
 all Churches, all individualities, must contribute. The 
 transitions in religious thought, experience, tone, circum- 
 stance, and work, which are continually going on, necessitate 
 fresh modes of devotional expression — 
 
 ' The old order chang-eth, yielding place to new, 
 And God fulfils Himself in many ways, 
 Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.' 
 
 There are Hymns, the glorious possession of all the Christian 
 ages, which in their fitness and fulness as expressions of 
 common Christian life, no changing forms can affect ; and 
 there are also individualities of religious inspiration and 
 expression that are born of each generation and address 
 themselves to it. It is in the latter that the mutations of 
 Hymnody are seen and felt. Old leaves drop from the 
 Hymnological tree, and fresh and more affluent foliage 
 forms. The large proportion in this selection of Hymns 
 by contemporary writers — nearly one half — will surprise 
 many. 
 
 " Transcendent, therefore, as were the excellences of 
 Watts and Wesley as hymn writers, many of their composi- 
 tions have necessarily become obsolete. The forms have 
 changed in which theological idea embodied itself, and in 
 which religious life was realised. New fields and modes of 
 Christian work have become imperative ; new embodiments 
 of social, family, and Church life have been generated ; 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 97 
 
 conceptions of Christian habit and relationship have been 
 modified: even the suggestive metaphor of one generation 
 becomes obsolete or ludicrous in the generation following 
 it. All these things, while they do not affect the radical 
 elements of Christian life, necessarily change its modes 
 of expression. 
 
 "A Hymn is the inspiration of piety and poetry — both; 
 and the piety is more than the poetry. It is not too much 
 to say that, were it an alternative, the devotional purposes 
 of Hymnody would be better accomplished by the rudest 
 forms of devotional fervour than by the most perfect 
 embodiments of poetical genius. Few great poets have 
 contributed to our Hymnody; while some of the Hymns 
 that have taken an inflexible hold of the heart of the 
 Church have been written by men concerning whom almost 
 all we know is that they wrote them. 
 
 "It is to be remembered also that the Hymn Book of the 
 Church is the manual not of the literary and the cultured 
 only, but also of the uncultured and the ignorant. .It must 
 therefore address itself to their modes of apprehension, 
 unless artistic and literary selfishness is to leave them 
 uncared for. Not that either good taste or refined feeling 
 need be violated in the compositions of such an appeal. 
 We need not have recourse to what is vulgar in order to 
 secure what is popular and inspiring : but this aim puts a 
 limit upon over-fastidiousness. If the common people are 
 to be the care of the Church, its Hymnal must be an 
 embodiment for their use. The Hymns of the Church, 
 like the Ballads of the nation, are for popular lyrical use, 
 and are to be tested not by mere literary canons, but by 
 their power of devotional inspiration. That is the best 
 Hymn which has in it the most potent spiritual inspiration 
 for the greatest number of worshipping men and women. 
 
 " The same principles apply to Tunes. Many Tunes that, 
 tested solely by canons of Musical Art, would be pronounced 
 
 H 
 
98 HENUY ALLON: 
 
 inferior, have in them — like many ballad tunes — a power of 
 popular inspiration that would cause their excision to be a 
 devotional loss. While, therefore, ever seeking, both in 
 the Hymns and in the Tunes, to avoid what is incongruous, 
 and to elevate both poetical and musical taste, it has been 
 felt that the admission of a Hymn, or of a Tune, was not to 
 be determined by art-canons alone, but rather by its 
 practical power of popular inspiration. 
 
 "Such Hymns have been selected as seemed best calcu- 
 lated to bring men directly into spiritual communion with God 
 in Christ, not so much through Theologies, or Sacraments, or 
 Churches, as through the deep sense of spiritual realities — 
 the affinities and necessities of their spiritual nature. This 
 is helped by the spiritual as distinguished from the 
 ecclesiastical and ritual traditions of past ages. The 
 problem of a devotional manual is neither unduly to relax 
 nor to overstrain the associations of the religious life, but 
 to make all things, past and present, minister to its highest 
 development." 
 
 " It is impossible to exaggerate the practical importance 
 of a rich and cultured worship-music. It is true that we 
 worship a spiritual God, who requires of us only a spiritual 
 service ; but it is true also that we who worship are 
 sensuous as well as spiritual beings, and that we are largely 
 dependent upon our sensuous nature for the excitement of 
 spiritual feeling. If we read the Bible we are greatly 
 influenced by the beauty of David's poetry, the splendour 
 of Isaiah's eloquence, and the intellectual force of Paul's 
 reasoning. If we hear sermons, we are affected by the 
 eloquence as well as by the orthodoxy of the preacher. If 
 we pray, our devotions are winged by the fitness and tender- 
 ness of the words that we employ. So, if we sing, we are 
 affected by tune as well as by words. 
 
 " I would not test Church song by its mere poetry and 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 99 
 
 music. These may be of the very highest artistic excellence, 
 and yet for all purposes of worship be but ' as sounding 
 brass or a tinkling cymbal ; ' they may possess only the 
 intellect and the sensibilities. A man may have the most 
 exquisite enjoyment of both, and his heart of worship 
 remain untouched. Neither would I test Church song by 
 mere ecclesiastical usages or traditions, either episcopal or 
 nonconforming, for these are often as unreasoning and 
 injurious as the traditions of the Pharisees. 
 
 " But I would test Church song by its practical fitness 
 for inciting and expressing true worshipping feeling — by its 
 power, experimentally proved, of appealing to that which is 
 highest and holiest in our spiritual life, of making us forget 
 self and think about God, of making the love of evil depart 
 out of us, and of producing godliness within us. That may 
 be the best form of worship for one congregation which 
 is not the best for another. Why not recognise in con- 
 gregations differences of character, education, habit, and 
 ability] Why should all congregations worship alike? 
 Why not approve in each that which is the most conducive 
 to its own worshipping joy ] 
 
 " The only uniform canon that I would impose is — that 
 whatever the form selected, it be the worship of the 
 people, the united vocal praise of the whole congregation, a 
 form of song in which every worshipper can easily and 
 heartily join. We do not sing when we merely listen to a 
 choir, any more than we preach when we merely listen to a 
 sermon : the song or the sermon may affect us, but it is the 
 act of another and not our own. Cod cannot be worshipped 
 vicariously ; and few perversions of worship are more 
 incongruous than for a congregation to be Listening while 
 a choir is performing — than for a worshipper, with his 
 heart full of praise, to be unable to give utterance to it. 
 from inability to join in the singing, or else to be checked 
 in his attempt to do so by the sexton's well-known rebuke : 
 
 H 2 
 
100 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 ' Stop, sir, stop ! we do all the singing here ourselves ! ' 
 In Nonconforming churches, Church song is the only congre- 
 gational act. The people are preached to, and prayed for, 
 surely they are not to be sung to as well. 
 
 " Whether, therefore, it be choir or precentor, organ or 
 unaccompanied voices ; whether the rustic pomposities of 
 the village church, or the artistic slovenliness of the town 
 cathedral ; whether the barbarous vocalisation of the 
 ' Denmarks/ and ' Polands,' and ' Calcuttas,' of the last 
 generation, or the skilful combinations of Handel and 
 Mendelssohn in this ; in these things let every church be 
 ' fully persuaded in its own mind.' I would ' lay upon it 
 no greater burden than this necessary thing,' that from a 
 service of worship every form of song be resolutely excluded 
 in which every worshipper cannot join. Worship is a 
 sacrifice to God, not to musical art. 
 
 " I hold that all debatings about worship-music, whether 
 it should be chanted psalm or metrical hymn, are simply 
 absurd. By the A^ail of tradition or of prejudice they cover 
 up the true point at issue, and make the very worship of 
 God a badge of sectarianism. If it be conceded that both 
 psalms and hymns are to be sung, the question is resolved. 
 If it be a psalm that we sing, we sing it to a rhythmical 
 tune ; if a hymn, we sing it to a metrical tune. Both are 
 chants, for ' chanting ' is simply singing, whatever may be 
 the structure of the music adopted. 
 
 " In our uninspired hymnody, God has given us a 
 precious possession of devotional wealth, the inheritance of 
 many generations. It has enriched our worship, expressed 
 our religious emotions, been the bond of our Church praise, 
 and the joy of our pious homes. It has strengthened us in 
 great duties, solaced us in great sorrows, and cheered our 
 dying beds. Next to the Bible, the greatest loss that the 
 Church could sustain would be the loss of its hymnody. 
 Germany could do better without Luther's sermons than 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 101 
 
 without his songs. England could spare all that her 
 Doctors have written better than her Evangelical hymns ; 
 there can be no comparison between the religious power of 
 dead books and of living songs. 
 
 " But precious as our hymns are, we may not exalt their 
 religious power above that of the inspired Psalms — sanc- 
 tioned as these are by a millennium of worship in the 
 Jewish temple ; by the worshipping use of our Lord and 
 His Apostles; by the almost exclusive use of the Christian 
 Church for four hundred years, and by their perpetuated 
 use to the present day ; for from the day in which they 
 were written to the present day there never has been a time 
 when they were not the worship-song of the almost universal 
 Church. 
 
 " In conclusion, I have but one canon of Church song 
 to insist upon. I would not prescribe either its form or its 
 character, further than to require that it be reverent and 
 devotional, ' fit for a seraph to sing, and an angel to hear.' 
 But I do demand that it be, not a choir song to which 
 people must listen, but a congregational song in which 
 people may join — a worship, not of priests, but of the whole 
 church. For this end I regard that as the best worship- 
 music which in the greatest degree combines simplicity 
 and beauty, devoutness and fervour." 
 
 A few last words must be said upon Dr. Allon's 
 personal characteristics. At all periods of his life his 
 appearance was striking, and produced upon the mind 
 of an observer the impression of a strong man, strong 
 in intellect as well as in physique. Dr. Reynolds, 
 describing his appearance in the earlier days of his 
 ministry, has spoken of "his raven locks, his remark- 
 able eyes of deep blue, his blanched face, his refined 
 expression." To this generation, however, the memory 
 
102 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 is rather of the silver-grey hair, the handsome mobile 
 face, which was only seen at its best when lighted up 
 in the midst of conversation or in the earnestness 
 of some public address. His mouth was remarkable, 
 and those who knew him well could tell at once from 
 its slight movements what emotions possessed him : 
 sorrow or laughter might be sternly suppressed, but 
 some revelation was always in the play of the lips. 
 
 He had, during the greater part of his life, re^ 
 markably good health ; the disease which asserted 
 itself during his later years did not, until the last 
 year or two, interfere seriously with his work, and 
 then only for one or two comparatively brief periods. 
 No man who had not great physical strength could 
 possibly have accomplished all that he was able 
 to do. 
 
 Without intruding unduly into spheres which 
 have a sacredness not to be lightly touched, it should 
 be said that nowhere did the character of Dr. Allon 
 appear stronger or more beautiful than in the privacy 
 of his home life. That life of freedom from outward 
 restraint, in which the virtues and defects of character 
 are most clearly seen, only showed him to be a man 
 greater and better in himself than in all his outward 
 activities. 
 
 Those who were privileged to see it will not 
 easily forget his chivalrous behaviour to, and tender 
 regard for, his wife. Her affection and unselfishness 
 made his home a place of continual rest and renewal 
 for his work. Mrs. Alton's early days had been spent 
 in the midst of striking religious influence, and for 
 some years, between the death of her father and her 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 103 
 
 marriage, she was largely influenced by the strong 
 character of the late Mr. Potto Brown. The lessons 
 which she had learned in these early years she 
 brought to her new position, and they enabled her to 
 be a true helper to one whose position was becoming 
 every year of increasing importance. Mrs. Allon 
 willingly and ably took her share in many of the 
 organisations connected with the church, but the 
 chief sphere of her influence was in less public forms 
 of service ; chiefly in the sympathy and affection with 
 which she sustained her husband throughout his long 
 minis try. Her sudden death, just as this volume was 
 going through the press, called forth many tributes 
 of regard and affection, and the grateful love of her 
 children, which no words could exaggerate, bear 
 testimony to the beautiful spirit of the home. 
 
 Dr. Allon was a wise and tender father, seeking 
 rather to train the judgment of his children than 
 to coerce their will ; their memory of him is one of 
 unceasing gratitude and affection. Remembering 
 the great love which bound him to his home, 
 nothing has been more pathetic in connection 
 with his death than the fact that his youngest 
 and greatly loved son, who only returned from sea 
 just in time for his father's funeral, sailed again 
 within a few days and has never since been heard of, 
 nor has there been seen any trace whatever of the 
 ship in which he sailed. In the midst of all the 
 sorrow it was almost a matter of thankfulness that 
 Dr. Allon had been spared a grief which would have 
 been all but intolerable, and which undoubtedly 
 hastened the death of Mrs. Allon. Those who saw 
 
104 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 him most nearly and frequently had most knowledge 
 of his tenderness of heart, and would often see tears 
 in his eyes at the mention of troubles or kindnesses 
 of others which had been spoken of largely as a 
 matter of course. The coldness which some people 
 thought they saw in him had no existence in a 
 nearer knowledge. 
 
 Owing partly to his physical strength, and chiefly 
 to his thoroughly healthy nature, Dr. Allon had a 
 vigorous enjoyment of life. His social powers were 
 great, and he was never happier than when hospitably 
 presiding at his own table. One frequent guest has 
 said that it was interesting to see the skill with which 
 he would, by a chance question or remark, draw into 
 the conversation some guest who seemed likely to 
 be left in solitude. The large and varied circle of 
 his acquaintance made hospitality a duty; but it 
 was just as truly a delight. Many distinguished 
 men gathered in his dining-room. Some few may 
 be named, as Mr. Gladstone, who was always a 
 staunch admirer of Dr. Allon, and who, when divided 
 from him by a still burning question, declared the 
 separation to have been a real grief to him ; Dean 
 Stanley, Dean Alford, Dr. (now Archbishop) Maclagan, 
 George Macdonald, Matthew Arnold, John Bright, 
 Mortimer Collins, distinguished ministers and laymen 
 from America, where he had many friends ; and 
 always, for part of his English visits, his firm friend 
 Henry Ward Beecher. The host was never, as is the 
 fate of some, lost in his hospitalities, but always 
 contributed largely to the enjoyment and profit of 
 the conversation. 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 105 
 
 He had a strong sense of humour, sometimes too 
 sternly suppressed. No man could perpetrate a 
 worse pun or tell a better story. He loved a jest, 
 but never a jest doubtful in character. His part- 
 ing with his friends was often accompanied by some 
 apt pleasantry. In his preaching there were occa- 
 sional glimpses of a quiet humour which perhaps 
 he might have indulged more frequently with effect. 
 His hearty laugh at some good story or some inno- 
 cent jest, was the expression of a healthy and whole- 
 some nature. He had his favourite stories, which his 
 friends heard more than once, and perhaps his chief 
 favourites were those which exposed the emptiness 
 of the mere cant of religion, for which he had an 
 unspeakable contempt. One story he invariably told 
 with much zest, of a man who always saw God's hand 
 in his success, by whatever means he might have 
 gained it. The hero of the story was speaking in a 
 religious meeting, and publicly thanked God for his 
 success in business, which, he said, began thus : " When 
 a youth, he was standing by a toll-bar when a gentle- 
 man drove up, and taking out his purse to pay the 
 toll, dropped, without knowing it, a shilling to the 
 ground. The youth put his foot upon it, and when 
 the gentleman had gone pocketed it. That," he added, 
 " was the first shilling the Lord sent me, and He has 
 blessed me ever since." His enjoyment of the joke 
 was nearly connected with his strong conviction, 
 which he sometimes preached very earnestly — of the 
 need of righteousness in business transactions. In 
 conversation with friends he was exceedingly frank 
 and outspoken, and was, from this cause, once or 
 
106 HENRY ALLON: 
 
 twice involved in misunderstandings and conflicts 
 which might otherwise have been avoided. 
 
 In political and social matters he was a strong 
 Individualist, and never quite understood the newer 
 tendencies of to-day. His emphasis was upon indi- 
 vidual enterprise and character rather than collective 
 action, and he used constantly to remind others that 
 the second of these must fail unless the first be 
 maintained. 
 
 In another connection something has been said 
 of his generosity. Like many good men, he was 
 harder in theory than in practice. None could say 
 stronger things of those who, by their own fault, had 
 become failures in life, but none were more ready to 
 help the very men whom in theory he denounced. If 
 sometimes he turned from his door one who, he was 
 certain, was a mere professional beggar, it was at the 
 cost afterwards of many self-reproaches. His gifts 
 were many and generous. 
 
 He had some strong and long-continued friend- 
 ships, the memory of which is a sacred possession to 
 those who survive. Of these, Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Dale, 
 Mr. Joshua Harrison, Mr. Guinness Rogers, and Dr. 
 Newman Hall may be specially mentioned. They 
 were all friends of many years' standing, and no 
 greater testimony can be given to his worth than 
 the words they have spoken of their deep love and 
 admiration for him. 
 
 His habits were exceedingly methodical and 
 orderly. He kept most careful and exact account of 
 all the sermons which he preached and places which 
 he visited, and could always, at short notice, find a 
 
THE STORY OF HIS MINISTRY. 107 
 
 paper or book which he required. Method in his 
 work enabled him to get the maximum of results out 
 of the minimum of time. 
 
 He was a man of great moral courage, though 
 strangely enough the common sense and breadth of 
 view with which it was tempered sometimes gave the 
 impression of one who was supremely a lover of 
 compromise. No man would speak out more boldly 
 for what he felt to be true, or more warmly champion 
 a truth which was attacked, or a man who he thought 
 was ill-treated. 
 
 Finally, he was a loyal and warm-hearted servant 
 of Jesus Christ. To Him in early days he " gave his 
 heart," and afterwards his life ; and he has left behind 
 a record which must long be a gracious memory to 
 his family, his church, and his friends. He "served 
 his generation by the will of God." 
 
SERMONS 
 
 A^D ADDBESSES. 
 
SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 
 
 [1867.] 
 THE GLORY OF THE SANCTUARY. 
 
 " I will make the place of my feet glorious." — Isaiah lx. 13. 
 
 These glowing pictures of the final glory of the 
 Church are the Apocalypse of the Old Testament, 
 and they produced upon the Jew the effect that the 
 Apocalypse of John produces upon us. 
 
 The expectation of a golden age has ever been 
 the imagination and the hope of men. The Bible 
 presents it in its religious form. It makes this the 
 light of all our anticipations of the future, the in- 
 spiration by Avhich all endeavour is animated, all 
 endurance sustained. 
 
 Like other dreams of a golden age, this would be 
 a mere imagination but for the evidence of Divine 
 purpose and assurance upon which it rests. Instead 
 of saying religion dreams of a golden age because it 
 is the common illusion of men, would it not be truer 
 to say all men dream of a golden age because of the 
 traditional religious assurance of it ? Here is the re- 
 ligious conception of the millennium, set in sublime 
 spiritual lights, commending itself by its transcendent 
 spiritual glory and by its practical effects upon 
 human character and feeling, just as the sunshine is 
 demonstrated by the light that it diffiises and by the 
 life that it quietens. 
 
 The Babylonish Captivity was a groat civil and 
 religious darkness: the throne was overturned, the 
 Temple and its worship destroyed, and the religious 
 
112 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 condition of the people was sadly demoralised ; out- 
 wardly and inwardly it was a dark night of bitter 
 sorrow and troubled dreams. 
 
 In the midst of this condition the prophet unrolls 
 his apocalypse. He has represented Jehovah as 
 triumphing over idols, and the Servant of Jehovah, 
 the Messiah, as triumphing in His sufferings ; and 
 then, with an urgent cry, almost a shout, he sum- 
 mons the Church to its spiritual development and 
 triumph. " Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and 
 the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Its 
 scattered children shall be gathered, the favour of 
 Jehovah shall be upon it, He shall dwell in the 
 midst of it, and the whole earth shall contribute 
 to its glory. 
 
 As in John's description of the New Jerusalem, 
 the metaphors employed are largely taken from 
 the Temple service ; but all resources of physical 
 nature, of national power, of intellectual genius, of 
 spiritual grandeur — from the cedar of Lebanon and 
 the gold of Ophir to the tribute of nations and 
 the homage of their kings — are laid under contri- 
 bution for the glorious picture. Lustrous beauty, 
 affluent grace, spiritual honours, transcendent bless- 
 ings, are lavishly promised, and are wrought into a 
 description with which only the vision of the New 
 Jerusalem can compare. 
 
 No wonder that the prophet gathers his singing 
 robes about him. How could he expound such 
 glories in prosaic modes of thought, or rejoice in 
 them but in the words of a rich rhetorical imagina- 
 tion and in language of poetic vividness, sublimity, 
 and power ? 
 
 It is a marvellous religious apocalypse that is 
 unrolled before him ; transcendent spiritual concep- 
 tions break upon him, the spirit of the prophet is 
 not subject to the prophet, and he is inspired to 
 raptures that have no parallel save in John's visions 
 
THE GLORY OF THE SANCTUARY. 113 
 
 of the Christian apotheosis of men. The thought 
 and language of both are congruous with their theme. 
 Hence these last twenty-six chapters of Isaiah's pro- 
 phecies are luminous with spiritual conceptions of 
 religious truth and life and catholicity such as .Judaism 
 itself never conceived. 
 
 The central idea of this great glory of the Church 
 is the presence in it of Jehovah Himself. " I will 
 glorify the house of my glory." "I will make the 
 place of my feet glorious/' "As for me, I had it in 
 mine heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the 
 covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our 
 God." " We will go into His tabernacle, we will 
 worship at His footstool." In the place of His worship 
 His footstool partakes the glory of His throne. 
 
 To common spots of earth the place of Divine 
 worship is what the Holy Place of the Jewish Temple 
 was to its outer court, what the Temple itself was to 
 the rest of Palestine — the place of special manifesta- 
 tion, grace, and joy. " The Lord loveth the gates of 
 Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob." " This is 
 my rest for ever ; here will I dwell, for I have a 
 delight therein " " Wheresoever two or three are 
 gathered together in my name, there am I in the 
 midst of them." 
 
 The representation may suggest to us the con- 
 ditions and characteristics of God's true worship. 
 
 Two things seem essential to the glory of a 
 church : 
 
 Firstly — That it be a place of Divine manifestation. 
 
 Secondly — That the Divine manifestation pro- 
 duce its proper spiritual effects upon the worshippers. 
 
 I. A church will be glorious just in the degree in 
 which it is a place of Divine manifestation. 
 
 The glory of any place is the presence that fills 
 it: the glory of the throne is the character of the 
 monarch, the glory of a country the patriotism of 
 its inhabitants, the glory of a house the virtues of 
 
 I 
 
114 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 its inhabitants. The glory of Solomon's Temple had 
 its renown, not from its transcendent architecture or 
 its consecrated wealth — in these it was far surpassed 
 by pagan temples — but from the Divine manifestation 
 that filled it. Its mercy-seat was the theocratic throne 
 of Jehovah ; its Shechinah- splendour was His sj^mbol ; 
 its oracle declared His will ; the ark of the covenant 
 contained His law ; the altars of sacrifice and of 
 incense, with sprinkled blood on the mercy-seat, indi- 
 cated the way of approach to Him. These filled the 
 Temple with sanctity and awe, and gave it a renown 
 throughout the world. 
 
 Who thought of the plates of gold that covered 
 the mercy-seat, or of the gorgeous carvings that 
 adorned it, when both were enveloped in the mystic 
 flame of the Shechinah ? Who thought of the purple 
 hangings, the costly vessels, or the gorgeous vestments 
 of the high priest, when all were dimly seen through 
 the awful cloud which filled the place ? The Lord 
 of Hosts was there in palpable manifestation ; the 
 Majesty of heaven and earth dwelt in the thick dark- 
 ness. What were the material splendours of the 
 temple of Diana at Ephesus compared with these 
 spiritual glories of the Temple at Jerusalem ? 
 
 This Temple was about to pass away. Already 
 the axes of Nebuchadnezzar's army were lifted to 
 destroy it ; already the torches were lighted that 
 should ignite it; and yet Isaiah predicts a worship 
 that in its glory should far transcend all that had 
 consecrated it. 
 
 In material splendours, and in inspiring associa- 
 tions, the Temple of the restoration was far inferior 
 to the Temple of Solomon. No ark of the covenant 
 was there ; the rich and precious memorials of God's 
 great interposition had perished ; no Shechinah -glory 
 rested upon the mercy— seat. There was no pal- 
 pable symbol of the Divine Presence to meet the 
 eye and to awe the heart of the worshipper. The 
 
THE GLORY OF THE SANCTUARY. 115 
 
 service continued, but with an impoverished ritual 
 and a faded splendour. Well might the old men 
 weep, and mingle their wails with the songs of 
 consecration. " Who is left among you that saw 
 the house in its first glory ? and how do ye see it 
 now ? Is it not in your eyes in comparison with it 
 as nothing ? " 
 
 And yet their lament was rebuked by the strange 
 announcement that " the glory of the latter house 
 would exceed the glory of the former." How ? 
 Purely because it would be filled with a more 
 august Presence. The " Messenger of the covenant " 
 would come to this Temple, the "Desire of all nations" 
 would appear in it. The august splendours of the 
 old Temple were but symbols of His spiritual glory, 
 who was " the brightness of the Father's glory, and 
 the express image of his person." " A greater than 
 Solomon is here." " The law came by Moses, but 
 grace and truth by Jesus Christ." " He that hath 
 seen me hath seen the Father." 
 
 It was but an unconscious child in the arms of a 
 peasant mother; it was but an intelligent boy asking 
 questions of the doctors ; it was but a Xazarene 
 peasant disputing with the Pharisees. No signature 
 of divinity was stamped upon His countenance, no 
 nimbus was around His brow, no Levite ministered 
 to Him, no Rabbi sought teaching from His lips. 
 He " had no form nor comeliness ; " the slow de- 
 terioration of years had been anticipated by the ruth- 
 less ravages of sorrow ; and to the man of thirty it 
 was objected, "Thou art not yet fifty years old." 
 And yet His presence was the greatest glory that 
 had filled any Temple. Could they have recognised 
 it, there was a spiritual glory such as the world had 
 never seen in the mystery of His incarnation, in His 
 sublime teaching about the Father, in the perfect 
 purity of His character, in His ineffable sympathies 
 with sorrow, in the mysterious agonies of His soul 
 
 I 2 
 
116 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 because of human sin. Had they rightly marked His 
 mien, they might have discerned somewhat of the 
 glory which Isaiah saw when he spake of Him. Had 
 they looked upon Him with spiritual and loving eyes, 
 He would have been transfigured before them. " In 
 him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." 
 The first house was the manifestation of the Father, 
 the second house is the manifestation of the incarnate 
 Son. 
 
 It is only an upper room in Jerusalem, a seques- 
 tered and modest place of prayer, altogether without 
 material splendours. To an onlooker the conditions 
 would appear mean. Not far distant is the august 
 Temple that Herod has restored, its sacrifice blazing, 
 its incense ascending, its gorgeously-arrayed priests 
 performing their ritual, Levites chanting jubilant 
 psalms, Scribes expounding the law and the prophets. 
 It is the national Temple, the Established Church of 
 the people, and multitudes of devotees throng its 
 stately courts. 
 
 The number of the disciples is about one hun- 
 dred and twenty, a few peasants and ministering 
 women. Neither altar nor sacrifice nor priest gives 
 sanction to their worship ; not even their Master is 
 with them as heretofore ; no sign from heaven has 
 consecrated the place, or given assurance to their 
 hearts — they are simply a few men and women 
 praying. But power from on high comes upon 
 them ; the promise of the Father is fulfilled ; men 
 are " pricked in their hearts ; " spiritual gifts are con- 
 ferred ; spiritual transformations are wrought. Excited 
 multitudes crowd upon the apostles, and break in upon 
 their preaching and praying with the passionate in- 
 quiry, " Men and brethren, what shall we do ? " The 
 gorgeous Temple is the sepulchre of spiritual life, the 
 upper room is its birth-chamber; three thousand 
 souls are added to the Church, "men being saved." 
 This was the still greater glory of the upper room. 
 
THE GLORY OF THE SANCTUARY. 117 
 
 It was not, as in the first Temple, a symbolical manifes- 
 tation of the Father ; it was not, as in Herod's Temple, 
 an incarnation of the Son; it was a manifestation of 
 the Holy Spirit in actual processes of spiritual life- 
 giving, each individual man made a living temple. 
 " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God ? " 
 It was a manifestation of God, not, as heretofore, 
 to men, but in men — the great end for which all 
 other manifestations were given. 
 
 This, the dispensation of the Spirit, is our own. 
 It is the ultimate manifestation of God. Its perfect 
 issue will be the restoration of redeemed souls to the 
 perfect image and blessedness of God. " The mani- 
 festation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit 
 withal." 
 
 Nothing external to a man can be compared in 
 moral glory to this recreative process within him. 
 We might bring together for the adornment of a 
 church-building silver and gold, art and ritual, until 
 it vied with Solomon's Temple itself. We might 
 conceive a Shechinah-cloud over the pulpit, and the 
 Christ Himself as the preacher in it, and yet the 
 worshippers might be as unspiritual as these 
 manifestations left the Jews. 
 
 But the mysterious processes of the Holy Spirit 
 work in the very soul of the man, quickening in 
 him the new life of the Spirit and renewing him day 
 by day. The power that converted Peter's hearers 
 was a greater power than that which brake the rocks 
 of Sinai. The glory of the Day of Pentecost tran- 
 scended the glory of the Mount of Transfiguration. 
 The moral miracle that quickens a dead soul is more 
 than the physical miracle that raises Lazarus from 
 the dead. 
 
 It is not meant by this contrast that the older 
 dispensations were destitute of spiritual presence and 
 power. Messianic ideas and the workings of the Holy 
 Spirit have characterised every dispensation. Christ 
 
118 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 is the only way to God ; quickenings of spiritual life 
 are the only true religiousness. Without spiritual 
 realisation there can be no worship. Who can imagine 
 David performing a mere ritual, or think of his 
 passionate songs as a mere form of prayer ? 
 
 But we cannot conceive of worship without fitting 
 form of ritual embodiment. Every human feeling 
 finds expression in material forms of speech or act. 
 Even a silent Quaker's meeting is a material assem- 
 blage for the purpose of spiritual excitement and ex- 
 pression. Our hymns are praise in prearranged 
 words and music ; our prayers find expression in 
 human speech. Constituted as we are, "it needs a 
 body to keep a soul. 1 ' 
 
 Nor does it follow, because of the spiritual cha- 
 racter of our Christian dispensation, that our methods 
 of worship are of little importance, and may be 
 slovenly and impoverished. Difference of worship- 
 form there must be. Wherever there is true worship 
 there is God's house. Jacob found it in the Syrian 
 desert ; the early Christians in dens and caves of the 
 earth ; Huguenots and Covenanters worshipped on 
 mountain-sides ; humble men in cottage rooms and 
 village barns ; seamen in smoky cabins ; prisoners in 
 condemned cells. Wesley preached to Bristol miners 
 at the mouths of their pits ; Whitfield to London 
 costermongers in Moorfields, and there, amid dis- 
 cordant " Hallelujahs " or broken words of penitence, 
 God manifested Himself in fulness of spiritual glory. 
 
 But it does not follow that their necessity should 
 be our choice ; that, with liberty, wealth, and culture, 
 with ceiled houses, august temples of commerce, 
 sumptuous theatres of pleasure, the house of God 
 is to be exceptional in its selfish parsimony, and 
 repellent in its ascetic discomfort. 
 
 If spiritual worship does not consist in lavish 
 ornament, neither does it in repulsive baldness. 
 Selfishness is apt to disguise itself in the subtle garb 
 
THE GLORY OF THK SANCTUARY. 1 1 ( > 
 
 of spirituality. If there be waste in the precious 
 ointment which love lavishes, is there not some thin- 
 worse than waste in the demur which is made to it. 
 What love is worthy that is not lavish in its offerings ? 
 Is, then, love to God to be stinted by the plausible 
 spirituality of mere selfishness? Is everything that 
 it brings to be sublimated by the tests of a spurious 
 spirituality, or to be reduced by arithmetic to the 
 cold measure of utility? If our love build a house 
 for God, are we to enshrine the jewel of our worship 
 in a coarse, repulsive casket ? Should not its adorn- 
 ments have some congruity with the wealth and 
 social habits of those who build it ? 
 
 •lacob, the exile, has visions of God as he sleeps 
 upon his stone at Bethel; David, the king, will build 
 Him a house : while Mary opens to herself the heart 
 of her Lord by breaking over His feet her box of 
 spikenard. 
 
 True, He who " dwells not in temples made with 
 hands " needs neither gilded columns nor gorgeous 
 ritual, even to assure Him of our love. Jesus did 
 not so need Mary's spikenard; but, because it was 
 love spontaneously offering its best, He lovingly re- 
 ceives, generouslv commends it, and gives it an ever- 
 lasting memorial. Nothing is too costly if it be an 
 offering of love ; nothing is too poor if it be all that 
 love can bring. It is a cold love that nicely calcu- 
 lates ; the love that does not is often called extra- 
 vagant by that which does. 
 
 The impulse that prompts us to offer our best to 
 God is holy and noble, and it is wronged by our refusal. 
 Love itself is narrowed by its niggardliness of offering. 
 AVhen we lavish upon ourselves what is costly and 
 beautiful, and bring to God only parsimonious offer- 
 ings, the very heart of love is damaged and destroyed. 
 It can live only in expression. 
 
 The house that God has built for us is adorned 
 with rich and varied beauty, filled with a thousand 
 
120 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 things for new delight — colour and form, tree and 
 flower, gleaming sunshine and moving cloud— the 
 beautiful, as well as the useful. Shall we, then, in 
 building our temples for His worship, restrict their 
 provisions to the stones of the wall and the timber 
 of the seats ? 
 
 It is one thing to confound material forms with 
 spiritual offerings ; it is another to be coarsely care- 
 less or meanly parsimonious in the offering that we 
 bring. We may vitiate even our own benefaction 
 by our mode and temper of giving. Nothing that 
 we can offer can bear a worthy proportion to His 
 majesty, but it may indicate our reverent sense of it. 
 
 We might adduce the constituents of our worship 
 in demonstration of its spiritual glory. 
 
 (1) The Bible, for instance, as the revelation and 
 law of our religious life. May we not designate it a 
 marvellous historic and permanent incarnation of the 
 Holy Spirit ? 
 
 Mutely it lies upon the desks of our pulpits, but 
 how wonderfully it informs our thought and inspires 
 our heart ! A Divine revelation of God's thoughts 
 and purposes in Jesus Christ — but not, like other re- 
 ligious books, in the form of theological treatises and 
 authoritative precepts — it is a historical record of 
 God's dealings with men at different stages of their 
 religious development. At sundry times, and little 
 by little, God spake to our fathers by the prophets, in 
 the latter days by His Son. It is the Divinest, the 
 most authoritative, of all revelations, and yet it 
 affirms no theory of its own inspiration, and vainly 
 and foolishly we seek to supply the defect by formu- 
 lating theories of inspiration for it. 
 
 When the Divine incarnates itself in the human, 
 no theory of it is possible. All that we can do is to 
 recognise the result, and demonstrate that both the 
 Divine and the human are there ; so it is in personal 
 life, so it is in Providence, so it is in the person of 
 
THE GLORY OF THE SANCTUARY. 121 
 
 Christ, so it is in the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. 
 The Divine and the human blend in an incarnate 
 whole, and who shall discriminate their elements ? 
 Divine thought and the quickenings of Divine life are 
 embodied in human experiences. The evidence that 
 compelled Nicodemus to say of the Christ, " Master, 
 Ave know that thou art from God ; " that compelled 
 the Pharisees to say, " Never man spake like this 
 man:" that compelled the centurion to say, " Truly 
 this man was the Son of God;" compels us to say 
 of the Bible, Truly this is the Word of God. 
 
 What can be more incontestably Divine than its 
 revelations of the very thought and heart and pur- 
 pose of God ; what more truly human than its 
 forms of human thought, its limitations of human 
 knowledge, tenderness, and sympathy, the personal 
 experiences and emotions, the throbbing heart, the 
 unmistakable individuality of every book, of every 
 page ? 
 
 And what can be more indissolubly one : the 
 marvellous congruity of Divine thought and pur- 
 pose through forty generations : the first promise to 
 Abraham fulfilled in Christ ; Christ coming not to 
 destroy, but to fulfil all the Divine idea that had been 
 embodied in the law and the prophets before Him ? 
 From Genesis to Revelation one grand idea of Divine 
 character and human salvation, gradually developed 
 by some forty writers of different books, and in almost 
 every form of literature, from history to sacred drama. 
 
 Is it not a conclusive proof of the Divine inspira- 
 tion of the Bible that it propounds no theory of its 
 own inspiration ? A book less Divine would have 
 been more imperative in its claims. 
 
 Or, if we look to its spiritual power — its power 
 to quicken and sanctify religious life — its glory far 
 transcends that of the cloven tongues, the miraculous 
 gifts of Pentecost. It is quick and powerful, sharper 
 than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing 
 
122 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 asunder of soul and spirit. What a mighty practical 
 power it has of lofty spiritual ideas, of holy spiritual 
 life ! What moral force that the world possesses can 
 be compared with it ? It is one of the moral 
 miracles of human experience ; it satisfies every 
 spiritual imagination of a man ; it is adequate to 
 every religious necessity. We consult it as an oracle ; 
 we submit ourselves to it as a law of life ; all our 
 preaching is contained in it ; it talks with us in the 
 morning ; we hide it in our hearts that we may 
 not sin. It is the devotional manual of our closets, 
 the teacher of our families ; its wisdom directs us ; 
 its principles inspire us ; its precious promises comfort 
 and animate us ; it " makes us wise unto salvation." 
 Little children learn from it their incipient religious- 
 ness ; busy men, struggling, wearied, tempted, sinful, 
 find it the only anchor of their soul ; dying men read 
 or remember it ; and when all other voices are silenced 
 it tills them with a sure and certain hope. It is the 
 Avord of eternal life. Where is the religious oracle 
 that in moral glory can compare with the Bible ? 
 
 (2) So we might speak of the distinctive ideas of 
 Christian theology. 
 
 For instance, the unique conception of God that 
 inspires our worship. 
 
 A purely spiritual, a perfectly holy and righteous, 
 an infinitely loving and merciful God ; so represented 
 in the earliest records of the Bible in the midst of 
 Pagan deities, centuries before Homer sang or Plato 
 lived. So that, save in our increasing knowledge of 
 Him, there is no change in Biblical representations of 
 Him. The God of Abraham is the God and Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ ; so unspeakable in His 
 goodness, His pity, His tenderness, that in order to 
 represent His transcendent love, J esus Christ has to 
 exhaust all our most endearing conceptions of father- 
 hood. All the common attributes of deity, almighti- 
 ness, omniscience, holiness, goodness, enshrined and 
 
THE GLORY OF THE SANCTUARY. 123 
 
 glorified by the tender love of fatherhood. Think of 
 a worship, think of a religious fellowship of which 
 this is the inspiring sentiment. Dread, an impossible 
 feeling ; entreaty, a superfluous prayer. More ready 
 to forgive than we to ask ; more ready to bless than we 
 to receive. " Waiting to be gracious ; " preventing us 
 by " the blessing of His goodness ; " even sacrificing 
 Himself for our salvation. He " spares not his only 
 begotten Son, but freely delivers him up for us all." 
 What a sentiment of religious life and relationships 
 and worship it is. 
 
 (3) Think again of the representation of Jesus 
 Christ as the incarnate Son of God. 
 
 A presentation of perfect manhood in the strug- 
 gling, suffering, responsible conditions of human life ; 
 " in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin ; " 
 passing through all the natural stages of human life, 
 discharging all duties, exemplifying all excellences, 
 no man convincing him of sin, the one perfect man 
 of human history. And combined with all this a 
 human sympathy, tenderness, pity, self-sacrifice, that 
 are equally peerless. u A brother born for the day of 
 adversity," " touched with the feeling of our infirmi- 
 ties ; " a benevolence beautified with every thought- 
 fulness, delicacy, and gracious service; so that John 
 has to say, " The Word was made flesh and dwelt 
 among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of 
 the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
 truth." 
 
 Whatever the historic truth of this record, the 
 conception and the delineation of it are the most 
 wonderful and glorious ever presented to human 
 thought. Think of a worship with such an inspira- 
 tion! Beyond all conceivable teaching, the personal 
 representation of Jesus of Nazareth inspires us. With 
 what sedulousness we imitate Him ; with what conse- 
 cration we serve him : with what rapture wo worship 
 him ! We " put on ( lirist." 
 
124 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 Add to this idea of His incarnation the still more 
 wonderful conception of His atonement for sin. 
 
 The moral grandeur of its root idea — that even love 
 may not set aside righteousness for its gratification ; 
 that in the forgiveness of sins even God must show 
 forth His righteousness as well as His mercy, — how 
 our moral sense responds to it ! Were it possible for 
 God to forgive my sin of His mere pitiful feeling — 
 for bygone transgressions to be simply blotted out ; 
 for the dishonour put upon holiness and law to have 
 no reparation — my self-interest might be satisfied, 
 but my conscience, my sense of right, would be 
 wounded ; just as it Avould be if the benevolence of a 
 magistrate turned away the righteous penalty from a 
 wrong-doer. A man is not saved who evades righteous 
 punishment or who breaks prison. 
 
 The conception of Christ's atonement is of homage 
 paid to the holiness that has been desecrated, to the 
 righteousness that has been violated. In this I can 
 have perfect moral satisfaction. My conscience is 
 satisfied with the conditions of my forgiveness. God 
 is a just God as well as a Saviour ; He declares not 
 His love only, but His righteousness in the remission 
 of sins. Again I say, whichever may be the actual fact, 
 there can be no question which is the grander in 
 moral idea. 
 
 If again I think of the way in which atonement is 
 made I see the same transcendent moral glory. 
 Because atonement cannot be made by those who 
 have sinned, " God spares not his only begotten 
 Son." He becomes incarnate, that as a proper and 
 perfect man — a partaker of the nature of those who 
 have sinned — He might suffer and die. 
 
 Not to appease an angry feeling in God by an 
 oblation of human blood, as we be slanderously 
 affirmed to maintain. How can physical blood- 
 shedding atone for moral guilt ? Is it not written 
 that " God so loved the world that he gave his only 
 
THE GLORY OF THE SANOTUAIiY. 125 
 
 begotten Son ? " Did not Christ Himself say, " There- 
 fore the Father loveth me because I lay down my 
 life for the sheep ? " Is it not time that men should 
 forbear these mendacious representations, and rever- 
 ently and candidly, simply consider what the New 
 Testament teaches concerning the atoning sacrifice of 
 Christ ? 
 
 What did He suffer ? Not merely the physical 
 death of the cross, there could be no sin-offering in 
 that. It was only the outward symbol of His spiritual 
 crucifixion, His agony of soul — as in Gethsemane — 
 when no human hand touched Him, and when He 
 prayed, being in an agony, " my Father, if it be 
 possible, let this cup pass from me." 
 
 It could not be the literal anguish of the sinner's 
 hell. He could have no sense of baseness, no anguish 
 of remorse, no consciousness that sin had separated 
 between Him and God. To represent Christ as in 
 this sense having our sins laid upon Him, or imputed 
 to Him, is to affirm a moral fiction ; there can be 
 nothing that is not actually real in the processes of 
 Christ's atonement. 
 
 Is it not enough to recognise His anguish as that 
 of a holy man realising the sins of his brother men ; 
 the feeling as of a virtuous father over a reprobate 
 son ; the feeling as of a pure mother over a fallen 
 daughter ; a feeling of anguish often keener than 
 that of the wrong-doer himself, because of his purer, 
 more sensitive soul. 
 
 Was not this a homage to the essential right of 
 holiness and to the essential wrong of sin ; was not 
 this a vicarious suffering for sin — the holy man 
 suffering this unspeakable anguish because of the sin 
 of his brother man ? Was not this manifestly to 
 magnify the law and to make it honourable : a demon- 
 stration to all men that transgression of righteous law 
 inevitably involves penalty ? 
 
 Again I say, whatever the actual truth may be as 
 
126 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 to the conditions of forgiveness, there is in this 
 conception a perfect naturalness ; the absence of 
 everything that is unreal, or arbitrary, or unjust — a 
 transcendent moral glory. " Righteousness and peace 
 kiss each other." Both conscience and heart join in 
 thankful recognition. " I am not ashamed of the 
 gospel of Christ." 
 
 (4) So the conception of the manifestation of the 
 Holy Spirit in the Christian church is transcendent 
 in its glory. An economy of simple truth, appealing 
 to the reason and heart of men, and made effective 
 by the mystic processes of life wrought by the Holy 
 Spirit. Precisely as in the economy of physical life 
 God makes food the sustenance of life ; or as in the 
 field God giveth the increase to the seed-corn. 
 
 Truth alone will not produce spiritual life any 
 more than food alone will produce physical life. Men 
 have always had more truth than they have realised. 
 The coming into our life of higher truth is like re- 
 ceiving better food, it is the entrance of a greater 
 moral force for the production of life ; the life-giving 
 is the essential thing, not the word of life only, but 
 the entrance of life. Do we not feel the moral 
 grandeur of the imperative demand even upon the 
 righteous Nicodemus, " Ye must be born again." 
 Religiousness is an inward life as well as an outw T ard 
 act. " Neither circumcision availeth anything nor 
 uncircumcision, but a new creature." 
 
 II. Which brings us to the other great condition of 
 moral glory — viz., that if the place of God's feet is to 
 be made glorious, the Divine manifestation must pro- 
 duce its proper spiritual effects upon the worshippers. 
 Here, then, all the distinctive characteristics of church 
 life present themselves for consideration. I cannot, 
 of course, speak of them in detail, any more than I 
 can of the constituents of Christian theology, but 
 they are all contributive elements of moral glory. 
 
 (1) Think, for instance, of the conception and 
 
THE GLORY OF THE SANCTUARY. 127 
 
 culture of Christian holiness in the church. Every 
 command of Sinai, every precept of righteousness, 
 
 spiritually interpreted and applied to the inmost 
 heart of a man ; not only must he do holy things, he 
 must be a holy man — holy in every feeling, faithful in 
 every responsibility, loving in every relationship. 
 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy 
 heart and soul and strength, and thy neighbour as 
 thyself." " Be ye perfect even as your Father which 
 is in heaven is perfect." 
 
 Again I say, whatever the actual, practical realisa- 
 tion, the moral conception of a holy character is 
 perfect and sublime. Nor is it a mere " counsel of 
 perfection." As a simple matter of fact it has pro- 
 duced the noblest practical life that the world has 
 seen. Xo men so strenuously strive after holiness or 
 realise such a godly sensitive sanctity. We " work 
 out our own salvation with fear and trembling, because 
 it is God who worketh in us to will and to do of his 
 good pleasure." 
 
 In transformations of personal character, in the 
 conversion of individual men — often from the grossest 
 wickedness to the most strenuous holiness — in the 
 elevation of common goodness in men to saintliness 
 of feeling, nobleness of character, consecration of 
 service and self-sacrificing love ; or, again, in the 
 inspiration of philanthropic and purifying enterprises, 
 benevolent institutions, and beneficent achievements, 
 the Church of Christ stands supreme. Scarcely can 
 we imagine the condition of the world, destitute 
 of Christian agencies and influences. Annihilate 
 Christian churches, neutralise Christian influences, 
 exclude Christian sentiments, and what to-day would 
 be the character and condition of our English towns 
 and villages ? Even as tested by actual experience, 
 did our Lord exaggerate when he said of Christian 
 disciples, " Ye are the light of the world, ye are the 
 salt of the earth ( " 
 
128 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 (2) And to the moral glory of Christian character 
 add the moral glory of Christian worship, the beauty 
 of holiness in a worshipping assembly, — men in pure 
 spirituality of conception and in radical love of heart 
 " bowing down before the Lord their maker," realising 
 His presence, expressing their reverence and love, and 
 consecrating their service. 
 
 What a lofty imagination inspires it ! Sometimes 
 in their cynical unspiritualness or flippancy men 
 sneer at the worship of a Puritan or a Quaker 
 assembly as being prosaic and unimaginative. Partial 
 and ascetic it may be, forgetful that men consist of 
 body as well as soul, but surely not unimaginative. 
 Rather must we say, that so to realise God ; to see the 
 invisible, to be spiritually absorbed in His worship, is 
 the very highest imaginative effort of a man. 
 
 We provide no visible symbol, we erect no material 
 altar, we bring no sacrificial offerings, we perform no 
 sumptuous rites, we are urged by no sensuous excite- 
 ments. To a mere observer of outward things it is 
 but an ordinary assembly of men and women. Simple 
 words are uttered, spiritual truths are set forth, the 
 appeal is solely to intellectual conception and to 
 religious consciousness. Our worship depends upon 
 neither consecrated place nor ordained priest, only 
 upon what we ourselves are and feel in God's spiritual 
 presence. "Wheresoever two or three are gathered 
 together in my name, there am I in the midst of 
 them." 
 
 Surely the lack of imagination is with those who 
 need an elaborate ceremonial appealing to the 
 physical sense, to enable them to realise spiritual 
 things. 
 
 To the spiritual eye is there not in worship such 
 as this a surpassing glory ? It is the direct spiritual 
 communion with God of each individual heart. Man's 
 heart speaking to God its love and need ; God speak- 
 ing to man his love and blessing. However vast the 
 
THE GLORY OF THE SANCTUARY. L29 
 
 assembly, each individual heart waits upon God; how- 
 ever consentaneous the common hymn or prayer, each 
 puts into it an individual and confidential meaning, 
 utters its own deepest and most personal feeling; and 
 yet the common act, the common presence, the 
 common grace, blends all individual prayers and feel- 
 ings into one great worshipping heart of love and 
 praise. 
 
 Surely pompous rite and processional pageantry 
 and priestly interposition are an intrusion here — a 
 lessening of the pure spiritual glory. Does not 
 elaborate rite hamper and hinder simple spiritual 
 feeling ? Is it not a cumbrous robe that embarrasses 
 the loot of our approach to God ; a coloured medium 
 that obscures the pure vision of faith ; a prescribed 
 performance that distracts the worshipping thought 
 and checks the worshipping impulse ? We may not 
 say that it absolutely disables spiritual worship ; but 
 it makes it so difficult that men adopt it as a 
 substitute, and commonly it is the barometer of 
 spiritual decay. 
 
 Men thirsting for the living God and coining to 
 seek Him are impatient of cumbrous forms ; they 
 tolerate only such forms as are the unconscious 
 vehicles of vivid thought and rapturous feeling. 
 Only when the Israelities lost their sense of the 
 spiritual presence of Jehovah did they make a golden 
 calf to represent Him. Is not much of the elaborate 
 ritual that men construct as a medium of approaching 
 God a perilous approximation to that great sin I If 
 we would realise the true glory of worship we shall 
 surely find it where men the most directly approach 
 ( Hid — each heart expressing its spiritual feeling 
 and realising God's spiritual blessing. The place of 
 such worship is in its glory more awful than Sinai, 
 in its sanctity more holy than the mercy seat in 
 the temple. 
 
 These, my friends, are the constituents of the 
 
 J 
 
130 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 glory with which we seek to fill this " place of God's 
 feet/' 
 
 Here, when His worshippers are gathered together, 
 Christ will " be in the midst of them," and will 
 " manifest Himself unto them as He does not unto the 
 world." Here penitence will smite upon its breast, 
 and faith lift up its eye, and the mysterious processes 
 of spiritual life be wrought, and the glorious sanctities 
 of the Christian character be perfected. " Of this 
 and of that man it shall be said, ' He was born there/ 
 and ( the Highest himself shall establish her.' ' 
 
 What other places have such associations ? What 
 other acts and processes of men have such sublimity ? 
 What other assemblies of men are crowned with such 
 moral glory ? Where else do men so nearly touch the 
 spiritual — so immediately look into the face of God ? 
 It is the mount of human transfiguration ; men 
 shine with the spiritual glories of God, and converse 
 with his saintliest servants. In the consciousness of 
 this we are subdued to Jacob's feeling : " Surely 
 God is in this place ; this is none other than the house 
 of God, this is the gate of heaven." 
 
 But whether or not this place will actually be made 
 glorious will depend upon those who worship in it — 
 upon the simplicity and entireness of their dedication 
 of it to God's glory — upon the character that they 
 maintain as God's worshippers — upon their consecra- 
 tion as God's servants. 
 
 Shall the name of the house be " The Lord is 
 there," or shall " Ichabod " be inscribed upon its 
 portals ? All depends upon the spirituality with 
 which you worship, the sanctity of your life and 
 fellowship, the service and self-sacrifice of your church 
 life. 
 
 Christ may come to this temple only to drive out 
 the money-changers, or He may come with loving 
 purpose to heal the broken-hearted, and to appoint to 
 them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes, the oil of 
 
THE GLORY OF THE SANCTUARY. 131 
 
 joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the 
 spirit of heaviness. 
 
 Oh, brethren, amid all the toil and strife and 
 pollution of life keep this place holy — a home for 
 peaceful pieties — a sanctuary for blessed communings 
 with God — a rest where your wearied souls may find 
 comfort and blessedness ; whenever you approach it 
 put your shoes off your feet, for it is holy ground. 
 
 And if this be only the place of God's feet, what 
 must be the glory of His throne, where they see Him 
 as He is, worship with the new song, and know even 
 as they are known ? 
 
 " And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God 
 Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And 
 the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, 
 to shine in it, for the glory of the Lord doth lighten it, 
 and the Lamb is the light thereof." 
 
 J 2 
 
132 
 
 [1870.] 
 FAMILY LIFE. 
 
 " God setteth the solitary in families." — Psalm lxviii. 6. 
 
 Literally, " God maketh the solitary to dwell in 
 a house." A promise to the Babylonian exile of 
 restoration to the crowning blessing of social life. 
 It may furnish occasion for saying some things about 
 the constitution and character of family life, especially 
 as conceived and realised among ourselves. 
 
 The promise implies the blessing ; we need no 
 demonstration of it ; our strongest instincts confess 
 it. However men may realise family life — whether in 
 the pure refinements and joys of cultured love, or in 
 the mere utilitarian services of simple association and 
 dependence — all men seek it; the hard, sensuous, 
 exacting Indian in his wigwam, as well as the refined 
 and chivalrous European in his mansion. Family 
 association is so universal and imperative that it can 
 spring only out of one of the primal instincts of our 
 nature. It was not an arbitrary law that the Creator 
 was appointing, it was a natural necessity that He 
 was declaring when, looking upon the man that He 
 had just created, He said, " It is not good that the 
 man should be alone." He can neither develop the 
 faculties nor satisfy the affections of his nature in 
 solitude. 
 
 At any rate, God has so constituted us that family 
 life is the necessity of our being; and I think it 
 is part of His own image in which God has created us. 
 I do not think that the supreme conception of God is 
 a self-sufficiency that does not care for companion- 
 ship. I cannot lift even the Infinite One above all 
 
FAMILY LIFE. 133 
 
 joy in the exercise of the social affections, and picture 
 Him in His creation in lonely solitude, just as the 
 Matterhorn is lifted above the bosom of the Alps — 
 sublime in its altitude, but among the eternal snows. 
 He delighteth in the habitable parts of the earth : He 
 delighteth in the companionship, in the moral a!'i*< ■<•- 
 tions of His creatures, in loving and being loved : 
 His delights are with the sons of men: He has no 
 designation more dear to Him or to us than " Our 
 Father who art in heaven." 
 
 In making us instinctively crave companionship, 
 therefore, he has made us, like Himself, to delight in 
 intercourse — intellectual, moral, affectional — with all 
 capable of reciprocating our feeling. 
 
 Whatever men's theories about the origin or con- 
 stitution of society, the family is an institution of 
 God, and is founded upon great and indisputable facts 
 of our nature. 
 
 They are such as these : — The craving for society 
 is instinctive and imperative. It is the instinct which 
 cements human life, which enables human brother- 
 hood, which binds us together in mutual dependence 
 and affection. A man who is a misanthrope and shuns 
 his kind is regarded as a social maniac. Solitary 
 confinement is more terrible and maddening than the 
 severest affliction : the infancy of human life, in its 
 prolonged weakness and dependence, makes the family 
 society and family affections imperative ; its helpless- 
 ness could not be otherwise nurtured, its burdensome- 
 ness would not be otherwise borne. 
 
 The benevolent affections of our nature demand 
 society for their activity, their culture, and their 
 gratification. Can we conceive of the repulsiveness of 
 a life lived alone, and caring only for itself } Our 
 intellectual powers, again, are chiefly developed by our 
 social life, our highest enjoyments spring out of it ; 
 the cup of life which is the sweetest is the loving cup, 
 which we pass from hand to hand. Our nature 
 
134 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 craves approbation and love and service; we have 
 affinities that irrepressibly seek companionship. The 
 family is the centre and crown of all our social rela- 
 tions ; we do not construct it so much as find ourselves 
 in it. Save the earliest human pair, the first conscious- 
 ness of every human being is, not that he is an inde- 
 pendent unit, having to form relations for himself, 
 but that he is a dependent child, related to parents. 
 His relationship is as independent of his own volition 
 as is the relationship of the creature to the Creator. 
 This is not the first theoretic notion, but it is the 
 first fact of our experience. We begin life as members 
 of a family, we are the centre of a family circle. We 
 may isolate ourselves from our kind as we grow up, 
 but we begin by inevitable relationships and de- 
 pendence. You cannot reverse this ; you cannot 
 begin human life as it began at the creation. The 
 family is for each of us the beginning of all life and 
 experience. I am a related being, a being under 
 authority, a being owing duty, a being the object of 
 affection, and instinctively returning it. 
 
 With the family, then, all life begins. The rela- 
 tionship is not one of choice ; it is for each of us a 
 relationship of necessity. It is the most perfect con- 
 ception of life : two beings related to each other by a 
 tender and indissoluble tie, serving one another by 
 no harsh law of dominion, but by the silken authority 
 and constraint of love ; and a child as their offspring, 
 the object of a strange, mystic, instinctive, indomit- 
 able affection in both, nurtured in a sheltered home 
 of virtue and tenderness, the love of a mother tem- 
 pering the authority of a father, the love of a father 
 modifying the weak passion of a mother : in its ideal 
 a trinity of perfect being, of purest love and blessed- 
 ness, the simplest, most powerful, most blessed of all 
 institutions, the germ of all that is good, the sancti- 
 fying example and grace of all that is pure and beau- 
 tiful in social life ; the quiet, noiseless nursery of our 
 
FAMILY LIFE. 135 
 
 best affections, in which the parent is taught and 
 softened and sanctified by the child ; in which the 
 child is nurtured in as much of human love as has 
 survived the fall ; in which, silently and unconsciously, 
 selfishness is limited and chased away, and the first 
 principles of duty learned, and joy and sorrow 
 soothed and sanctified. It is not too much to say 
 that a man is what the home of his childhood makes 
 him. No man is a perfectly nurtured man who has 
 had no home, or w T hose home has been poisoned or 
 deteriorated in any of its great affections and virtues. 
 The home of our childhood is with us throughout our 
 lives — an atmosphere about us, a temper within us. 
 It is the first mould of character, and no after in- 
 fluence can wholly transmute it. 
 
 No study would be more profitable than the 
 history of the family — the ideas that have entered 
 into it, the influences that have created its temper, 
 the discipline that has regulated its habits, the place 
 that it has had in the formation of nations and in 
 the social character that they have borne : the patri- 
 archal family, with its hierarchy and its monarchy ; 
 the family of savage tribes, with its hard selfishness 
 and brutality ; the heathen family as in Greece or 
 Rome, corrupt and dissolute in the one, hard and 
 despotic in the other; and the Christian family, filled 
 with purities and refinements, with amenities of love 
 and delicacies of respect, and self-abnegations of 
 service, of which even Plato never dreamed. 
 
 No institution owes more to the benignant 
 religion of Christ than the family : the elevation of 
 woman to be the companion and counsellor and the 
 object of chivalrous and reverent affection to man ; 
 the gentle culture of children ; no longer, as in old 
 pagan times, the mere property of irresponsible parents, 
 when the father regarded both wife and child as mere 
 chattels, and from whose tyranny, however brutal, and 
 from whose power, over even life itself, there was no 
 
136 HENRY ALLOJST. 
 
 appeal. Children are now regarded as a trust, not a 
 property: parental power, the old patria potestas, 
 limited in its exercise by Christian obligations, and 
 softened by Christian affections. The penetrating, per- 
 meating feeling of our Lord's great teaching about 
 the Father in heaven has changed the parent from 
 a despot into a constitutional ruler, and his authority 
 from that of stern natural right into that of loving 
 influence. Through the generations the influence 
 has wrought : the Christian father is less stern now, 
 and family life more loving and free than even in 
 the childhood of our sires. We receive our children as 
 an entrustment from God, and under the genial and 
 tender influence of Christianity we seek to develop 
 in them all principles and affections that are pure 
 and loving. We may not provoke them to wrath, but 
 bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
 Lord — not for our own selfish ends, but for His holy 
 service and kingdom. They are ours only for this, 
 that we may nurse them for God. 
 
 As we grow out of childhood our individuality 
 and independence develop, and we take upon our- 
 selves the responsibility of founding new families. 
 Every time a marriage is made, a new family life 
 begins. God made man male and female, as if the 
 proper generic man were neither the male alone nor 
 the female alone, but male and female both. It is not 
 good for man to be alone, and God gives him a wife as 
 a helpmeet for him ; not a companion male, not a 
 friend, but a wife. Marriage is the sacred bond of 
 the family. Where marriage is disregarded, where it 
 is permitted to deteriorate, where the conjugal tie is 
 lightly regarded, or easily broken, or violated by un- 
 faithfulness, or desecrated by hard, selfish contentions, 
 family life is degraded — deprived of its most pre- 
 cious elements. Woman has been deposed from her 
 proper place, and children have been deprived of their 
 most essential nurture — the nurture of pure affection. 
 
FAMILY LIFE. 137 
 
 Throughout the world just now the elevation of the 
 family is regulated by the sanctity of marriage. 
 
 The position of woman has ever been determined 
 by the family; in proportion as the family has been 
 a sacred, a pure, and blessed thing, in that proportion 
 has woman been elevated and respected! As the 
 uniform influence of religion has been to elevate 
 woman — and the process is going on still ; as the 
 dominion of the parent over the child is every gener- 
 ation becoming more genial, moral, and loving, so is 
 the subordination of the woman lessened. Even yet 
 there is much to be redressed ; there are disabilities 
 and restrictions from which woman has yet to be 
 emancipated; there is yet to come a larger develop- 
 ment, a nobler culture, destined to render higher 
 service to the world. God has given to woman her 
 womanly nature : and it needs not, in order to main- 
 tain that, that either disability of law or of custom 
 should be imposed. Nature — God — will take care of 
 the qualities that make woman what she is. 
 
 It is not the weakness of woman that is her 
 charm, it is her love, her tenderness, her sympathy, 
 her motherly instinct, her religiousness, her pity. 
 Freedom, power, such as are hers of natural right, will 
 not deteriorate these, but rather deepen and enrich 
 them. Make woman great intellectually and morally : 
 make her strong by every possible culture, and 
 free by every natural right, and you make her a 
 more perfect and tender woman, wife, and mother. 
 Feminine qualities are neither weak nor trail: the 
 love, the tenderness, the faithful sympathy of 
 woman are, perhaps, the strongest things in human 
 nature : while surely the noblest work of life — 
 the work of which the greatest genius, the most 
 exquisite culture may be proud, and for which it is, 
 after it has done its best, inadequate, is to nurse a 
 child, to fashion its thought and heart after the 
 image of God. Can any literature or art or public 
 
138 
 
 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 service to which a woman can give herself vie in 
 arduousness or moral grandeur with this ? If an 
 angel from heaven could select a task of human life 
 the most worthy of his powers, it would not be to 
 write a book, fashion a statue or rule an empire — 
 it would be to tend a child. God help the conceited 
 blindness of the woman who calls herself strong- 
 minded and superior, because she has a smattering of 
 art or philosophy, who scorns motherhood or neglects 
 her nursery and relegates it to nursemaids, that 
 she may take her part in learned life. There is no 
 philosopher, however wise, there is no artist, however 
 great, who can conceive an achievement so arduous 
 or noble as the training of a child — the nurture and 
 development of its physical powers, its intellectual 
 mind, its moral and religious soul. Even artistically 
 speaking, she is not a strong-minded but a weak- 
 minded woman who is not prouder of her motherly 
 prerogative of nursing and bringing up children — 
 moulding them in God's image— than she would be 
 of the achievements of a Phidias. 
 
 If, then, we would have noble, pure, and happy 
 families, our first care must be the mothers, their 
 utmost culture and power, their endowment with 
 every social freedom and prerogative that can give 
 their womanly nature full play. The nobler the 
 woman, the richer and better the wife and the 
 mother. 
 
 Another thing important — I had almost said essen- 
 tial — to the highest development of families is, that 
 they should be early formed — in plain words, early 
 marriages. Nothing is more contradictory to nature, 
 more injurious to men and women, than to defer 
 marriage until middle life, and to have children to 
 educate when those children should have been forming 
 families of their own. I can conceive of no greater 
 violation of the Creator's purposes than the growing 
 habits of our modern social life — men and women re- 
 
FAMILY LIFE. 139 
 
 fusing to marry ten or twelve or twenty years after they 
 have reached the age which nature indicates as fitting 
 — depriving themselves of the rich educational in- 
 fluences of youthful conjugal love, exposing themselves 
 to perilous temptations, wronging their offspring in 
 every way, and bringing to the domestic hearth only 
 cold calculation instead of the glowing affections 
 that have been selfishly denied their object until 
 their force is Avasted. What wonder that we have 
 families filled with cold prudence when there should 
 be warm affection, a deteriorated atmosphere for the 
 nurture of children, an adulterated or enfeebled love 
 for conjugal life ? 
 
 There is no period of life when young men 
 especially more need the strengthening and happi- 
 ness of pure domestic love than when they are 
 beginning their business or their profession. It is 
 God's ordinance ; it is one of the sweetest rewards 
 of toil, and one of the most satisfactory retrospects 
 of life, to have struggled up the hill together. In 
 nine cases out of ten progress is more rapid, property 
 is sooner acquired. 
 
 The things that in these days hinder marriage 
 at the time that nature intends it are : first, the 
 foolish notions or extravagant habits of women, whose 
 manifest passion for dress and gaiety may well deter 
 from marriage a prudent man. When a man thus 
 early would look for a wife, he naturally looks for one 
 who, by her quiet tastes and prudence, will help him 
 to get on, and not by her extravagance hinder him. 
 Next, the miserable mistake of thinking that they 
 must begin life in a style equal to that in which their 
 parents are ending it : hence years must pass before 
 the means are acquired, and many pure enjoyments 
 are sacrificed to a foolish vanity, and perhaps much 
 more than this. Be sensible enough to begin in a 
 cottage: nothing will rive such a zest to the mansion 
 when it is Avon. Next, selfish indulgence, or equally 
 
140 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 selfish ambition. A man prefers his solitary ease and 
 luxuries to the joyous struggle and rewards of married 
 love. Alas ! for the man who does not marry until 
 cold prudence can control, and even substitute itself 
 for, his love. Alas ! for the woman whose husband 
 has never been her sweetheart, and has never felt for 
 her the inspiration of pure and passionate love. What 
 wonder that our families are degenerate when the very 
 fires that should kindle their affections do not exist. 
 Prudence should ever enter into love ; but, oh. ! it is a 
 poor love that can sit down to the multiplication 
 table, and calculate before it yields to sweet impulses. 
 
 If our families are to be what they should be, 
 man and wife must not be afraid, under the inspira- 
 tion of love, and in the fear of God, to link their 
 hands together at the foot of the hill and, come weal 
 or woe, bravely climb it together. Is such love dying 
 out of our modern, prudent, bachelorhood society ? 
 God forbid ! When the romance of love has gone, 
 and calculations of prudence take its place, the de- 
 terioration of our social life has advanced very far. 
 They who for love's sake take each other for better 
 and worse, go with each other into the home they can 
 afford to live in, and struggle together at the beginning 
 of life, Avhen its battle is the sorest, and gather children 
 around their knees while their hearts are yet fresh 
 and fervent, will form the noblest families, and will 
 the most enjoy the good of life. Better a cottage 
 where love is than a mansion with prudence as a sub- 
 stitute for it. There is only one true key in which 
 the music of life can be set — young love. They who 
 begin life in another key will never when a dozen 
 years are passed be able to modulate it into this ; their 
 whole life will be a mistake — its first true principle is 
 wanting. 
 
 I had intended to speak of children and their 
 education as a constituent of noble family life ; but 
 this is too great a theme for a passing reference. 
 
FAMILY LIFE. 11! 
 
 And I need not add that the fear of God — the 
 beginning of all wisdom — is essential. If human love 
 be not crowned and sanctified by Divine, it will not 
 suffice to realise the highest good. It may do some- 
 thing — much even — for all virtuous love is true and 
 good ; but it will not put the crown upon married 
 blessedness, it will not supply the most potent and 
 essential element of the nurture of children. Let the 
 love of God enwrap and permeate and sanctify all 
 other love, and the family will realise the most of 
 Eden that has survived the Fall, and anticipate the 
 most that we can conceive of heaven. 
 
 Need I vindicate the kind of remark that I have 
 permitted myself this morning? I hope not: I hope 
 we have all of us learned the true and deep religious- 
 ness of our human and household affections. With 
 these things pre-eminently — the love of man and 
 woman, the formation of households, the nurture of 
 children — religion has to do. Is it to shut itself up 
 in the cloister or the church, and leave these affections 
 wdiich play so great and serious a part in life to the 
 calculations of prudence, the selfishness of men, or the 
 badinage of friends? I trow not. Religion would 
 bless this rapturous joy as a God-given thing, would 
 demand that nothing unworthy may be permitted to 
 hinder or deteriorate it, would by her gracious in- 
 fluence sanctify it, would join together man and wife 
 with her benediction and prayer, and would rest her 
 chief hope of a holy family life upon the purity, 
 enthusiasm, and unselfishness of early affections. 
 
142 
 
 [1880.] 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS SERVICE OF COMMON 
 
 THINGS. 
 
 "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not 
 unto men ; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward 
 of the inheritance : for ye serve the Lord Christ." — Col. iii. 23, 24. 
 
 This is a striking example of the cogent and far- 
 reaching ethics of Christianity, its close and impera- 
 tive requirement of practical moral righteousness. 
 Unlike some religious systems, it deals minutely and 
 holily with the least things of daily life and duty. It 
 is not a mere metaphysical theology or philosophy, or 
 ecclesiasticism ; it is a religion. It binds moral law 
 upon men, and makes righteousness and fidelity and 
 conscientiousness the law of the inward conscience. 
 And whenever men fail in this, as they often do, 
 they as much violate essential Christianity as if they 
 were to deny the being of a God, or the divinity 
 of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Why do Christian men sometimes fail of practical 
 righteousness, and, full of doctrinal jealousy or 
 spiritual fervours, neglect truth and purity of life ? 
 Why, for the same reason that some good men, who 
 are upright and truthful, and scrupulous in moral 
 virtues, disregard Christian theology, and never think 
 of spiritual communion with God. They see only a 
 part of Christianity, that part of it which they may 
 have special affinities for, and shut their eyes to the 
 rest. 
 
 Christianity is a more comprehensive thing than 
 
UELIGIOVS SERVICE OF COMMON THINGS. 143 
 
 most men conceive. It has its lofty doctrines con- 
 cerning God and human nature and the future life — 
 the sublimest of all theologies, the grandest of all 
 philosophies, the most spiritual of all metaphysics. 
 And a man may so think and contend for Christian 
 beliefs as to forget that it is anything else but beliefs. 
 
 It has its fellowship with God, its realisations of 
 spiritual inspiration and worship and prayer, of 
 thought and feeling, and a man may so vividly 
 realise these as to feel impatient of the plain pro- 
 saic things of every-day life ; he becomes a mystic, 
 an enthusiast, a fanatic. A man's very piety may 
 hinder his practical usefulness and make him neg- 
 lectful of ordinary moralities. It is a phenomenon 
 often seen — a man keeping up spiritual fervours and 
 failing in moral virtues. And so in a Christian 
 church a man may subscribe his creed and be very 
 fervent in his worship, and not be a hypocrite either, 
 while his moral virtues — his truthfulness, integrity, 
 purity — are very inferior. He simply takes part of 
 Christianity, not the whole of it. 
 
 Christianity is as much a morality as it is a 
 theology, or a Church worship. Every teaching of 
 it aims at moral life. It is a great deal more than 
 morality, it is a theological doctrine, it is a spiritual 
 life ; but the special, the supreme end of both the 
 doctrine and the life is practical holiness. 
 
 And whatever may be the actual state of morals 
 at any period, whatever may be the individual moral 
 sentiment of any Christian man, it never lowers its 
 ideal, it never compromises its principles, it never 
 relaxes its urgencies. Morality is never made an 
 expediency, it is a universal and imperative prin- 
 ciple, pervading the entire life of men and ruling all 
 their relations. In politics, in business, in personal 
 pursuits and pleasures, a man may try to accommo- 
 date moral principles, but the sublime ideal of Chris- 
 tianity remains, and whenever the inconsistent man 
 
1U HENRY ALLON. 
 
 conies back to the teachings and principles of Christ 
 he is loftily rebuked and condemned. 
 
 The variable goodness of ages or men does not 
 affect the great religious rule and obligation — the 
 teaching of the Bible without and the verdict of 
 the moral sense within. And however the morals 
 of society or men may fluctuate, the calm, lofty, un- 
 changeable demand of Christ remains to test and 
 correct it. Another thing is— Jesus Christ has iden- 
 tified his religion with humanity in its entireness. 
 He neither selects nor favours any particular class. 
 He lays down no principle, makes no requirement 
 that is not as applicable to one class as to another. 
 He assails no rights of property, he tolerates no in- 
 vasion of just liberties. Every man has talents 
 entrusted to him for use, every man discharges com- 
 mon duties on broad religious principles. In all we 
 do, we act not only towards one another, but towards 
 Christ. Every personal duty is also a religious service. 
 An essential part of our duty to God is our discharge 
 of the common duties of life ; there is a personal 
 service in the most unlikely things, and there is 
 religious obligation in every personal service. The 
 religion of Christ penetrates life and comprehends life 
 in everything. There is no single thought or act of 
 a man that you can put outside religious obligation. 
 A thousand things are unrecognised by his fellow- 
 men. A thousand things that he does could not be 
 claimed of him ; but God imposes upon him the 
 obligation first of essential right and then of unselfish 
 benevolence. Every thing is a service of the Lord 
 Christ. 
 
 I will pass by with a simple recognition the 
 place and dignity that are here simply and almost 
 as a matter of course assigned to Christ. He is 
 recognised as the Lord of human life, and as the 
 rewarder of its faithful service. We serve the Lord 
 Christ, and we shall receive from Him the reward of 
 
RELIGIOUS SERVICE OF COMMON THINGS. 145 
 
 the inheritance. He is the Master of human life, 
 whatever earthly masters may be. 
 
 Much also might be said concerning the new 
 motive of human duty which is here set forth. We 
 are to do everything " as to the Lord "■ — Christ being 
 referred to, not the Divine Father — but He is to be 
 the object of our service, and the approver of what 
 we do. He is to be the religious conscience of our 
 life, a claim for Him altogether unique, and that 
 admits, I think, of but one interpretation and sig- 
 nificance. 
 
 But I wish chiefly to speak on the religious 
 character of the common service of life. Great 
 emphasis is put upon this by the reference here 
 to the service of slaves. These Christian slaves are 
 faithfully to serve even arbitrary and cruel masters, 
 and their service will be counted as a service to 
 Christ. 
 
 But is not this a recognition and sanction of 
 slavery ? Ought not the incitement to have been 
 resistance and revolt ? Why is it that Christianity 
 tolerated the social institutions amid which it was 
 born — the despotism of the monarch, the vassalage 
 of his subjects, the tyranny of masters, the bondage 
 of slaves? Slavery especially, proprietorship and 
 traffic in human flesh, is so abhorrent to all natural 
 justice and morality, that we put the brand of social 
 anathema upon the civilised nation that practises it. 
 It existed in the most revolting forms in countries 
 into which the apostles introduced Christianity : and 
 yet Christianity pronounced no indignant condemna- 
 tion of it, and did not demand its immediate abolition. 
 
 It is purely a question of procedure. No one can 
 deny that the entire spirit and genius of Christianity 
 — that its every principle and sympathy is intensely 
 antagonistic to slavery, and that where Christianity 
 does its proper work slavery is extinguished by 
 it. The Christian religion came into the world 
 
 K 
 
146 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 simply to create a new and holy spiritual life, which 
 by its inward moral force should constrain universal 
 righteousness and benevolence. It did not begin with 
 forms of civil government or organised societies of 
 men. It began with the individual man, and with 
 his inward heart and conscience, rather than with 
 his forms of life. It trusted to the new life that it 
 created, to the spiritual conscience that it illumined, 
 for the effectual reform of all wrong institutions and 
 habits. To have begun with these would have been a 
 very shortsighted policy, and would have ended in a 
 very inadequate reformation, perhaps in the localising 
 of Christianity, in stamping it with a conventional 
 character ; certainly it would have made its work far 
 more difficult. It would have arrayed against it all 
 the social forces and prejudices of organised life. 
 
 Its method is far wiser, far more radical; it incul- 
 cates principles, it changes feelings, it creates sym- 
 pathies which radically transform all social and 
 individual life. Leaving social institutions as they 
 were, our Lord simply, and with profoundest wisdom, 
 addressed Himself to the conscience and heart of the 
 individual man, and created a new life there, a silent 
 but mighty and effective corrector of all that was 
 wrong. He purified the stream at its source. 
 
 Christianity even enjoins submission to the laws 
 of society, however iniquitous, until moral convic- 
 tions shall have wrought their change. The apostle 
 enjoins even upon Roman slaves that they be subject 
 not only for wrath, but for conscience sake. They 
 are to abide in the same calling wherein they are 
 called, and to console themselves by remembering 
 that there is no respect of persons with God. Paul 
 sends back Onesimus to Philemon, simply appealing 
 in a noble and tender way to Christian principle 
 and feeling. The consolation is that, morally and 
 spiritually, all are on a perfect equality. " He that is 
 called in the Lord, being a slave, is the Lord's free 
 
RELIGIOUS SERVICE OF COMMON THINGS. 147 
 
 man ; while he that is called being free is the slave 
 of Christ : " thus both reconciling men to the in- 
 equalities of their lot, and quietly and effectively 
 working their redress. This is the spiritual method 
 of Christianity. 
 
 Here the injunction is, that notwithstanding the 
 iniquity of their bondage, they are to render a faithful 
 and hearty service, obeying their masters in all 
 things, not merely as a social duty to them, but 
 as a religious duty to God. This principle is involved, 
 that so far from the secular duties of life being 
 limited in their reference and character to the persons 
 and obligations around us, they have a high religious 
 reference and result. 
 
 Nothing is more common than for men to speak 
 of certain actions as being naturally and essentially 
 distinct from other actions, religious or secular, as 
 the case may be. The assumption is that in the 
 great bulk of our common-life duties, our labour and 
 our merchandise, our professional and literary pur- 
 suits, our literature and art, and social recreations, 
 there is no necessarily religious character. Men en- 
 gaged in these pursuits as the business of their lives 
 may find time to attend to religious things, and may 
 attain to religious character and temper ; but we do 
 not think of them as inherently involving the exercise 
 of the principles and motives of religion, or as being 
 part of its duty and discipline of life. 
 
 When we speak of men as engaged in the service 
 of Christ, Ave think of public worship or evangelising 
 work. We think of ministers of religion, set apart 
 to expound and urge the truths of Christ, and to 
 claim for religious interest at least a proportion of 
 men's time and care. We think of missionaries con- 
 secrating their lives to the great conflict of Chris- 
 tianity with barbarism and idolatry; or we think of 
 deacons, or evangelists, or school teachers, devoting 
 some portion of their time to religious work. And 
 
 K 2 
 
148 
 
 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 we think of attendance upon public worship, of 
 private devotions, and of religious deportment when 
 great temptations come or great issues of right and 
 wrong 1 have to be determined. But we do not often 
 think of a man as actively engaged in the service of 
 Christ when he is buying and selling, or ploughing a 
 field, driving a cab, or sweeping a crossing. We make 
 a great moral distinction between things that we 
 call sacred and things that we call secular; and we 
 think of these as somewhat antagonistic ; the secular 
 as, to say the least, preventive of that progress in 
 religion which, but for them, we should make. If we 
 had not this common work to do, and could be always 
 in church, or engaged in religious things, how much 
 better religiously we should be ! 
 
 Now, if this estimate be a right one, it presents 
 human life in an aspect that is very mournful, almost 
 appalling ; for, beyond all doubt, there is nothing in 
 life so important as the formation of religious cha- 
 racter and the securing of religious interests. If, 
 then, I am doomed to spend ten or twelve hours of 
 each workday in occupations which prevent religious 
 culture and attainment, and my only chance of holi- 
 ness is during the jaded intervals of weekday work 
 and on the Sabbath, when I can go to God's house 
 and repair the religious damage I have sustained, it is 
 a melancholy condition of human life. It gives the 
 leisurely a far better chance of moral goodness and of 
 heaven than the busy. For if you make religion the 
 distinct pursuit of life, he will the most successfully 
 attain to it who has the most leisure. Unhappy 
 indeed is the worker's lot. For these pursuits are 
 indispensable ; they are the lot that God has ordained 
 for us, so that it comes to this : men's actual and 
 indispensable duty in life has no part in securing the 
 moral ends of life. The whole heaven-appointed 
 activity, the care, the occupation, the industry of my 
 daily existence is at war with the moral character and 
 
RELIGIOUS SERVICE OF COMMON THINGS. 149 
 
 ends of it. It is my duty, therefore, to leave it as 
 soon as I can, and to lessen it as much as I can ; to 
 leave my ploughing and my merchandise, and to 
 betake myself to some church or prayer-meeting or 
 religious mission. 
 
 I think this is not a true theory of life. This 
 passage gives us a much nobler conception. The 
 Christian slave of a heathen master may in the 
 faithful discharge of his daily duties be doing a 
 religious thing; he may serve the Lord Christ, If 
 any condition could be imagined too servile, or 
 inimical to religious service and character, it is surely 
 the services that might be exacted of a heathen 
 slave ; and yet the apostle claims these as a religious 
 service of Christ. He does not tell these slaves that 
 in the midst of their sorrowful oppressions they 
 may find time for thus serving ; but that their very 
 occupations were a service of Christ. An emphatic 
 teaching of the fitness and religiousness of every true 
 service of life. He is the holiest man who in the 
 holiest way discharges the duties of his calling. 
 
 No matter what department of human life you 
 take, this principle holds good. It may be a high 
 religious service. Christianity concerns itself with 
 everything in human life; there is a religion of toil 
 as great and sacred as the religion of worship. 
 
 It is not all plrysical drudgery — a stretching of the 
 sinews and a straining of the limbs to tasks. We 
 may not think exclusively of strenuous toils and be- 
 setting cares, of the sad necessity of w r eariness to the 
 body, perplexities to the mind, and care to the 
 heart, or of the humiliation of having to spend so 
 large a part of every day in unprofitable tasks. 
 AVe can think of all this as part of our religious 
 culture and expression ; toil enters into the moral 
 grandeur of human lives, into the supreme greatness 
 of our spirits. The evils of toil are its accidents — 
 the crowded manufactory, the bustle and energy and 
 
150 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 selfishness of the market, the anxious trader, the 
 sickly artisan, the jaded shopman, the weary porter, 
 the feverish and immoral competition. These are not 
 the whole of toil, they are not even its necessities : 
 they are its perversions and accidents. Beneath all 
 these there is the sphere of moral duty and feeling, 
 the sense of obligation to God and man, the main- 
 tenance of right, the heart of endurance and patience 
 and faith, the spirit of human helpfulness and social 
 order and divine purpose. All the active principles 
 and affections of the religious life may find full play. 
 They never can be laid aside or reduced to a con- 
 dition of suspended animation. Man labours for more 
 than secular ends. Warm affections stimulate his 
 weary hands, a kind of natural sanctity is thrown 
 over his toil by thoughts of his home, his wife and 
 children, for whom he is providing. Why do these 
 toils go on at all ? The man might satisfy personal 
 necessities with far less. Is there not religiousness of 
 a very high kind in the provision thus made for the 
 clothing and feeding of the family, for the education 
 of children, for the need of sickness and the infirmi- 
 ties of age, for the feebleness of women and the 
 helplessness of children? 
 
 Rough as may be the manner, and harsh as may 
 be the words of many of these sons of toil, beneath it 
 all this natural religiousness of purpose and of feeling 
 works in its inarticulate way, needing only to be sanc- 
 tified by Christ's Gospel to become an intelligent 
 service of Him. 
 
 There is religiousness, too, in the very spirit in 
 which we accept toil as an ordinance of God, and in 
 the uses we make of it for moral discipline, and in 
 the temper in which we bear its burdens. What a 
 means it is of restraining evil and developing good ; 
 what a mine of virtues ; what a school of improve- 
 ment! How much better we learn patience and 
 gentleness, and righteousness and magnanimity, when 
 
RELIGIOUS SERVICE OF COMMON THINGS. 151 
 
 thus exercising' them, than in the excited feelings, the 
 theoretic purposes of the closet or the sanctuary. 
 
 And what a grand witness of the power of godli- 
 ness it is when in his counting-house or his shop, in 
 his profession or his handicraft, a man maintains his 
 steadfast righteousness, and refuses to swerve to the 
 right or left for advantage. Whatever the worth of 
 beauty or holiness in worship, it is far greater m 
 common work, and far more difficult to maintain. A 
 man is just as much discharging a religious duty and 
 cultivating his religious character when thus plying 
 his handicraft or selling his goods, or rendering his 
 menial service, as when praying in his closet or 
 worshipping in God's house. If a man will do his 
 common business upon religious principles, and in a 
 religious spirit, he will have as tine opportunities of 
 serving and glorifying God as if he were engaged in 
 the services or the Church or by the beds of the dying. 
 
 We shall never conceive of religion aright if we 
 distinguish times and places and things of life as 
 specially belonging to it. It must rule the whole of 
 our lite, and take up into its sanctions its veriest 
 trifle. Whether w r e eat or drink, or whatsoever we 
 do, we must do it to the glory of God. 
 
 What a grand incentive it is to do well and 
 heartily the every-day work of life, that Christ re- 
 gards it as a service to Himself. We are not, there- 
 fore, to grudge the time and strength given to these 
 common services, or to discharge them with languor 
 or with impatience. We are to put heartiness into 
 them, as being a service of Christ. Whatever glorifies 
 Him should be heartily done, and He may be more 
 glorified by the way we do our work than by the way 
 we do our worship. What can be a greater honour to 
 the religion of Christ than such a proof of its power, 
 that it so possesses us and rules us that we never for 
 a moment forget Him or the principles of life which 
 He enjoins ? 
 
152 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 The act that is not heartily done as unto Christ — 
 that is done grudgingly and by compulsion — cannot 
 be a religious act. What a grand law of life and 
 responsibility it is ! How it gathers all the things of 
 human life, and puts upon them the stamp of divine 
 approval and possibility ! 
 
 Are there not many even of formal religious 
 duties that are not done heartily as unto the Lord, 
 but rituaily, languidly, coldly ; our want of earnest- 
 ness manifest in every movement ; irregularity in 
 work, frequent neglect of worship, perfunctory service 
 when working at all ? 
 
 How often our contributions are grudged or stinted. 
 It is not every giver who is a cheerful one, who feels 
 that the privilege is in giving — the blessedness for him 
 that gives more than for him that receives. 
 
 To serve the Lord Christ is motive enough. If 
 He will accept any form of our poor service, surely we 
 should be glad and eager to render it. 
 
 And then there is " the reward of the inheritance." 
 However the earthly master may regard our service, 
 or refuse to reward it even with his thanks, He whom 
 we serve is not unmindful; He will reward it, not 
 merely with wages — the commercial equivalent of 
 service — but with the inheritance of sons, the realised 
 character and blessedness of fidelity. The reward of 
 true service is in what we become, not in what is 
 given to us. The ruler of five cities becomes by his 
 faithful rule qualified to rule ten cities. It is inherit- 
 ance, not wages ; an inward moral process, making us 
 noble sons of God, not an arbitrary gift. 
 
 And the emphasis of the whole is, that the teach- 
 ing here, and throughout Scripture, is that preparation 
 for the future life consists in a faithful discharge of 
 the common duties of this one, not so much of its 
 religious services as of its daily tasks. The future life 
 is prepared for by the qualities of character that we 
 develop, by the exercise of a daily conscience, by the 
 
RELIGIOUS SERVICE OF COMMON THINGS. 153 
 
 practice of daily virtues, and by the discipline of 
 daily duty. The future life is simply the continuance 
 of this ; and he the best prepares for life after death 
 who is faithful in things before death. He alone pro- 
 perly lives who makes the best of both worlds, who is 
 true to every service and possibility of life. He only 
 is the religious man who is religious in all things, 
 who builds up the being that he is, who lives under 
 the powers of the world to come. It is by patient 
 continuance in well doing that we inherit glory, 
 honour, immortality, and eternal life. k 
 
 And thus the inheritance may be the meed of all 
 alike ; the patient slave of a heathen master may be 
 meetening for it as much as the missionary or the 
 martyr who is filling the church with the renown of 
 his achievements. Let us but consecrate whatever 
 may be our life, make every work a service, and so 
 shall the commonest duties work out for us " a far 
 more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 
 
154 
 
 [1878.] 
 UNTIL HE COME. 
 
 A COMMUNION SERMON. 
 " Ye do shew^. the Lord's death till he come." — 1 Cor. xi. 26. 
 
 Nothing is more remarkable in Christianity, con- 
 sidering its Jewish development and period, than the 
 characteristic absence from it of ritual ordinances, 
 the perfect freedom and spirituality of its church 
 fellowship. That our Lord intended His disciples 
 to associate together in religious fellowship is 
 certain. But He did not prescribe any particular 
 method of so doing. He laid down no plan, He 
 appointed no order, He gave no rules for the formation 
 of Christian churches. Associate yourselves together 
 for the brotherhood, the edification, the joy of your 
 Christian life. Not a word beyond this general 
 requirement can be found in the New Testament. 
 The form of our social fellowship, the regulations of 
 its worship and service are left entirely to ourselves. 
 Keligious teachers and pastors there must be, and 
 deacons to administer its secular affairs, but we have 
 no prescriptions concerning them. All is left to the 
 promptings and expediencies of Christian brother- 
 hood. 
 
 Nothing can be freer and more flexible than the 
 ideas of the New Testament concerning church life 
 and worship. Our modern ecclesiastical conceptions 
 and controversies are the deteriorations and harden- 
 ings of the tendency in us that finds it difficult to 
 believe in purely spiritual forces, and that has a deep 
 distrust of liberty. 
 
UXTIL HE COME. 155 
 
 And if this be true bf the church organisations, it is 
 also true of what we call church ordinances — worship, 
 
 ritual, work; all are left to the expediency and pre- 
 ference of religious men. 
 
 Our Protestant reformers thought that they had 
 advanced very far towards pure spirituality when they 
 reduced the seven sacraments of the corrupt Church 
 of Rome to two — Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
 And yet even these have been the germs out of which 
 the modern sacramentarianism of the English Estab- 
 lishment has developed— the points round which the 
 monstrous pretensions of its priestcraft have gathered. 
 So much of the old sacramentarian leaven was re- 
 tained as virtually to have leavened the whole lump. 
 
 Is there not room for the suspicion that the true 
 idea of these ordinances has not yet been reached 1 » y 
 that Church ? Can the Divine Lord have ordained in 
 His Church sacraments of such a character as almost 
 uniformly and inevitably to develop into priestisin and 
 superstition ? 
 
 ( an either baptism or the Lord's Supper in any 
 strict sense be called Church ordinances at all ? 
 Baptism is an ordinance not so much within the 
 Church as at its threshold. It was not ordained by 
 Christ, it was simply adopted. John the Baptist bap- 
 tised before Him, so did the Jews, so did even pagans. 
 Our Lord simply adopted the customary method of 
 receiving and declaring disciples. He did not devise 
 a new mode, but gave His sanction to one already 
 existing, as being in every way simple and suitable. 
 When a dispute arose about it between John's dis- 
 ciples and His at Enon, He did not think it important 
 enough to take part in it, but went into ( ralilee, leaving 
 John's disciples to continue their baptising, and it is 
 not said that He Himself ever baptised again. Exactly 
 in the same spirit Paul, while accepting baptism as the 
 mode of receiving disciples which Christ had sanctioned, 
 thanked God that he himself had baptised but few. 
 
156 
 
 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 And yet oat of this simple and accidental initial rite 
 of discipleship priestism has developed a theory of 
 baptismal regeneration, and our Baptist brethren have 
 conditioned it upon the entirely new test of spiritual 
 conversion. 
 
 Was the Lord's Supper, when instituted, a church 
 ordinance at all ? Certainly no organised church 
 existed. It is only by a figure of speech that the 
 little company of the twelve can be called a church ; 
 they were a fellowship, not an organisation. Not a 
 word is said about the relation of the Lord's Supper 
 to the church when it should come into existence. 
 Was not the idea of it social, not ecclesiastical ? It 
 was simply a commemoration of personal love, and as 
 such it was afterwards observed. The disciples 
 brake bread, not in churches only, but from house 
 to house. They did this in remembrance of Christ 
 whenever and wherever in their social life their 
 love prompted them to do it. No doubt they 
 did it in their church assemblies — it could not be 
 omitted. It is pre-eminently a social ordinance, 
 an ordinance for the church fellowship. Nay, it is 
 probable that the first assemblies of the church met 
 simply for the purpose of observing it, and that all 
 other worship gathered round it. 
 
 But what simple associations the churches were. 
 How we have stiffened them and made them formal 
 and authoritative ! No one thought of the presence of 
 an apostle or minister as essential to breaking bread. 
 We forsooth cannot observe the Lord's Supper with- 
 out one. The evil is not in placing the observance in 
 the midst of our church assemblies — they are its most 
 natural and convenient place — but in permitting eccle- 
 siastical superstitions to overshadow it. In the church 
 we gather round the Lord's Table, but not as round an 
 altar for church sacrifice, not as an ecclesiastical cor- 
 poration giving validity to it by our church character, 
 but as a simple brotherhood of Christian men, who 
 
UNTIL HE GOME. L57 
 
 love Christ and together remember Him, who may or 
 may not be ecclesiastical church members. Its con- 
 ditions are spiritual, not ecclesiastical. It is enough if 
 avc be men of spiritual hearts — men who love Christ 
 and have a thankful remembrance of His death. It has 
 no necessary connection with a church building, nor 
 with a ritual service, nor with ecclesiastical member- 
 ship. It is a fellowship of loving remembrance for all 
 who love Christ, whatever else they may be, and 
 is equally valid anywhere, whoever be the adminis- 
 trator, in a common dwelling, on the mountain 
 side, in the cabin of a ship, in catacombs or prisons, 
 wherever true hearts seek Christ. It is not an 
 ecclesiastical ordinance, it is a social one, instituted 
 before all organised churches, and for the simple 
 fellowship of disciples. 
 
 This great commemoration of Christian love is 
 of a death. Why a death rather than a life, a teach- 
 ing, a holiness, a benevolence \ No life is so full 
 of light and o'ooclness and love as the life of Christ. 
 In no life is there so much to be remembered. But it 
 is not His life, not His incarnation, that the Lord's 
 Supper specially commemorates, or that is the distinc- 
 tive theme and power of Christian preaching. There 
 is no reasoning away this peculiarity of Christian com- 
 memoration. If Unitarianism be right, this great 
 commemoration exaggerates the death of Christ and 
 perverts the sentiment ol natural sorrow for His 
 death into a morbid feeling, of abnormal importance. 
 It is not too much to say that all the emphasis of 
 Christian teaching, all the distinctiveness of Christian 
 spiritual power, lie in Christ's death. We do not 
 so think of other martyrs. Paul and Peter died as 
 martyrs: Socrates and John Huss — how rarely we 
 even think of their death. When we study their 
 teachings or commemorate their work, it is their life- 
 work that we think of, their death is a subordinate 
 incident. When we read Plato we think only of 
 
158 HEN BY ALLOK. 
 
 Socrates' wise teaching, his death scarcely intrudes 
 upon our thoughts. Who thinks of Paul's death as 
 we read his history or his letters ? It is not even 
 recorded. But in this commemoration we distinguish 
 the death of Christ from everything else connected 
 with Him. He ordained this feast to preserve the 
 memory of it ; surely the strangest of all commemo- 
 rations, the strangest of all ordinances ! a feast to com- 
 memorate a death, a feast around a cross, at the door 
 of a sepulchre. His life is subordinate to His death ; 
 the death gives its significance to the life. 
 
 Then did He come a minister of darkness, of 
 despair ? If His death was simply the extinction of 
 the light of His life, it is for a sorrow, not for a joy. 
 What can there be in that to celebrate in a feast ? 
 Other deaths are celebrated in requiems, funeral 
 orations, days of mourning; this death by a eucharist. 
 Not His life, not His resurrection, but His death is 
 to be thus commemorated with the joyous love of a 
 feast. And with this every other allusion to it 
 accords. It was His " lifting up " that was to draw all 
 men unto Him. Moses and Elias spake with Him 
 about " the decease that he should accomplish 
 at Jerusalem." Paul preached " Christ crucified/' 
 and would " know nothing else among men." 
 
 All this is utterly inexplicable on the theory of 
 the ordinary termination of a life. Christ Himself 
 could never have asked us to commemorate His 
 martyrdom unless more than the loss of life had been 
 in it. Only the common conception of His death as 
 an atonement, as a sacrifice for the sin of the world, 
 can explain it in any rational way. We are to com- 
 memorate His death because from it our true life 
 flows. His grave was not the tomb of life, it was 
 the womb. Death is in many ways the gate of life. 
 His death was the gate of the world's life ; all the 
 great ideas of spiritual life through Him are centred 
 in it — and we commemorate that. The relations of 
 
UNTIL HE GOME. L59 
 
 His death to our life involve mysteries that arc in- 
 scrutable : all theories of the Atonement, therefore, 
 are partial and unsatisfactory. I doubt whether any 
 philosophical explanation of it is possible. We are 
 contented with general conceptions and the assurance 
 of the fact; and our feast of joy commemorates His 
 death because it is, in fact and in experience, the 
 fount of the world's life. 
 
 And yet I think it was the personal human feeling 
 that chiefly found expression nere — " This do . . in 
 remembrance of me." Was He not thinking more of 
 the love which His death expressed than of its 
 atoning efficacy. It is the request of tender affection. 
 He yearns to be remembered, He who so loved 
 them as to die for them. Whenever we gather round 
 His table Ave think of His personal love. He does not 
 say, re-enact my death in figure ; He does not say 
 that miracles of stupendous mystery shall be enacted 
 in the commemoration : He does not say, present my 
 death afresh to God as a sacrifice. All these ideas 
 are utterly foreign to His feelings, foreign to His 
 words, foreign to the entire genius of Christianity. It 
 is a simple yearning, a request to be remembered ; 
 it is the love of the human Christ that yearns, it is 
 not the mandate of the Divine Christ that enjoins. 
 He does not say build an altar for a sacrifice — it is a 
 simple sitting at table ; He does not speak of paten 
 or chalice — it is simple bread and wine ; He suggests 
 no consecration of a priest — only the consecration of 
 loving hearts. It is not so much the Divi n<' Christ 
 that the Lord's Supper commemorates as the loving 
 man, Christ Jesus; His human heart craves to be 
 remembered and loved, the Lord's Supper is J I is 
 parting keepsake, and He bids us do this as a means 
 of remembering Him. * 
 
 We are to show forth His death. From its very 
 nature the Lord's Supper is not, like baptism, a soli- 
 tary individual act. It is a common fellowship, a 
 
160 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 participation ; we break bread together ; we show forth 
 His death in our common relations to it, our joint 
 participation of it. By this peculiar commemoration 
 — breaking bread and drinking wine — we show forth 
 His death as that in which distinctively we trust and 
 glory. It is not Bethlehem we commemorate, it is 
 Calvary. Our whole Christian life, our personal faith, 
 our church fellowship, rests upon His death as its basis 
 and root. If we are asked concerning our salvation 
 through Christ, we show forth, not His teaching, His 
 character, His resurrection, peerless as these were, but 
 His death. 
 
 There is need thus perpetually to witness con- 
 cerning His death as the chief expression of His love, 
 the chief purpose of His mission. We need to keep 
 it continually before our own thoughts and hearts. 
 As with the keepsake of a departed friend when we 
 look upon it, so whenever we come to the Lord's table 
 we renew our thoughts of Him, we excite afresh our 
 affections, we produce the tenderest moods, the deepest 
 gratitude, the most sanctified feelings of our religious 
 soul. 
 
 We show forth His death to one another. The 
 Lord's Supper is the closest, strongest bond of our 
 religious fellowship. Nothing so draws us together, 
 nothing so hallows our memories of one another and 
 makes them tender, as the table of the Lord. It is a 
 true instinct that brings us there in all special church 
 gatherings, in all solemn crises, in all seasons of thanks- 
 giving, in all Christian partings. Our strongest emo- 
 tions are here embodied : we have not put the seal 
 upon our affection and our joy and our fidelity until 
 we have gathered round the table of the Lord. 
 
 What memories of it we have — personal memories, 
 church memories. We have no other recollections 
 so vivid, so pleasant, and so tender. There, if any- 
 where, the heart is softened from its hardness, re- 
 deemed from its sin, discharged of its selfishness. 
 
UNTIL BE COME. 16] 
 
 How it holds the Church together in persecution ! 
 Then the Lord's Supper becomes a sacrament. How 
 it holds us together in our dislodgments and separa- 
 tions ! The thought of the distant traveller is of 
 the church around the Lord's table. Our fidelity 
 in our temporary dispersions is kept strong and fresh 
 by it. We anticipate no moment of reunion more 
 tenderly than round the table of the Lord, and to the 
 world we show forth His death. 
 
 There is no tendency stronger than that of self- 
 righteousness, the tendency to resolve all religion into 
 mere personal goodness. We need perpetually to 
 insist upon spiritual principles and force, upon the 
 atoning death of Christ as the beginning of all new 
 life, as the inspiration of all holiness. We show forth 
 to men our trust in His death, our fellowship in it. 
 That is the source of our life, the inspiration of 
 its brotherhood. There is no thought that has such 
 strength to preserve and sanctify our own souls, there 
 is no truth that has such moral power for the re- 
 demption of the world. 
 
 " Until he come." It is a link between the two 
 comings. We look backward to the first, forward to 
 the second ; we remember His cross, anticipate His 
 throne. 
 
 " Death is the only thing in death that dies." Out 
 of death the life, the triumph, the glory come. We 
 should be orphans indeed had we not this faith, this 
 blessed hope of the glorious appearance of the great 
 God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. He fills the future 
 as well as the past, He will lc come again the second 
 time without a sin-offering unto salvation." AVe live 
 and work and wait for His glorious appearing. Our 
 trust is in one that died, not in one that is dead, for 
 He is alive for evermore. 
 
 While, therefore, we specially commemorate His 
 death, it is as the condition of His more glorious life. 
 The death is not the end, it is only the beginning ; 
 
 L 
 
162 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 not the issue, only tlie means. This commemor- 
 ation is intended to carry our thoughts to the 
 glorious consummation ; it connects the sufferings of 
 Christ with the glory that follows. He rose because 
 He died, He is glorified because He was crucified — 
 glorified through the moral power of His cross; "there- 
 fore God hath highly exalted Him." And the Lord's 
 Supper, therefore, is the espousal of faith and hope ; 
 faith looks back to the cross, hope looks on to the 
 crown; both fill our eye and heart with a thankful 
 
 The first advent put an end to the Jewish rites 
 and sacrifices which foreshadoAved Christ, the second 
 advent will put an end to all services and expedients 
 for remembering Him in His absence. Christ Himself 
 will be better than the most precious remembrance of 
 Him, His presence will be more than His memory. 
 We shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 
 in the kingdom of His Father. " Blessed are they 
 who are called to the marriage supper of the 
 Lamb." 
 
 May I ask 3^011 who trust in Christ and love Him, 
 but do not come to His table, why you neglect a com- 
 memoration so touchingly solicited, so tender in its 
 associations with the greatest proof of His love, so 
 singularly beautiful in its character, and practically, so 
 unspeakably beneficial and blessed ? How can you 
 lift your foot to turn away when Christ so tenderly 
 asks you to stay ? How can you refuse when He bids 
 you so remember His love, so to show forth His 
 death, so to avow your hope, so to rejoice with your 
 brethren ? Why refuse such a Eucharist, such a com- 
 memoration of love and joy, such a sanctifying and 
 assuring grace ? 
 
 It is a simple observance, but the roots of ineffable 
 consolations are in it. You may think that you can 
 maintain your religious life and love without it. Pos- 
 sibly : but surely that is an ungracious reply to such 
 
UNTIL HE COME. 163 
 
 a request of yearning infinite love, to push back the 
 proffered keepsake, saying, "My love can do without 
 
 it." Rather should it be an eager joy to "do this" 
 also. 
 
 May God give to us all that grace, of which all 
 ordinances are only means, and after sitting down at 
 this table on earth, grant us to sit down at the 
 marriage supper of the Lamb. 
 
 L 2 
 
164 
 
 [1881.] 
 CHRIST'S SYMPATHY. 
 
 " For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able 
 to succour them that are tempted." — Heb. ii. 18. 
 
 The common things of life need the most constant 
 ministry. Daily hunger needs daily food, and the 
 homely meal is more to life than the festive banquet, 
 the common provision than the luxuries of the wealthy. 
 Hence we constantly recur to the central truths of 
 the Gospel of Christ, to the forgiveness of sins, to the 
 quickening of the new life, to the nurture of holy 
 character, to the ministry to human sorrow, to the 
 revelation of immortal life. 
 
 Sometimes we have to preach about Christianity, 
 its truth, its moral beauty, its form, its authority ; 
 but our chief business is to preach Christianity itself, 
 to demonstrate not the validity of the weapon, but 
 its efficiency when practically applied. The com- 
 mandment is exceeding broad, and has applications 
 to the remotest interests and minutest graces of 
 human life, the ruling of a temper, the gladness of a 
 feeling ; but from these again we return to the grave 
 and constant vitalities of the religious life. Sins and 
 sorrows do not cease for us. We need daily forgive- 
 ness and daily grace. Men are suffering, and need 
 comforting, and must be constantly brought to the 
 saving, helping Christ, our very present help in time 
 of need. It is not novelty that the hungry man 
 craves, but common bread ; it is not the last new 
 thing in medical science for which the sick man 
 seeks the physician, but the remedy that will effect a 
 
CHRIST'S SYMPATHY. 165 
 
 cure. What it lacks in novelty is more than compen- 
 sated by its practical efficacy ; so he who provides the 
 spiritual food or medicine of hungry or diseased souls 
 must mainly think of daily conditions and chronic 
 wants, and bring to each his portion of meat in due 
 season. 
 
 So we come again to this great mission of Christ 
 the Comforter, the Christus Consolator, the eager 
 recognition of eighteen centuries of Christian teach- 
 ing, and of repeated necessities in individual lives ; to 
 which all sorrowful men listen still with as much 
 avidity as if it were for the first time enunciated. 
 Let us again look at this divine provision for our 
 human sorrows, and try to urge it. It would be 
 strange were there not some anxious, some sorrowful 
 hearts in a congregation like this. It will be much if 
 even one troubled soul goes away feeling that there is 
 " consolation in Christ" Blessed is the man who 
 passing through the valley of Baca — the valley of 
 weeping — makes it a fountain of blessing. 
 
 It is an assertion of the great moral purpose of our 
 Lord's suffering life. It was to give Him power, not 
 of Divine pity, but of human sympathy. It was the 
 Divine taking a form that enables us easily to realise 
 this. Both comfort and faith depend very much upon 
 our own easy realisations. It is not easy to realise the 
 love and pity of pure Deity ; of a Being purely 
 spiritual, august, perfect, infinitely remote from the 
 conditions of our actual life. We can think of it 
 only as a good-natured condescension, a distant 
 Almightiness turning aside for a moment to help. 
 There is comfort in this, but not all the comfort we 
 crave. We need sympathy as well as help — the sym- 
 pathy that may not lift the actual burden, but that 
 cheers and strengthens the spirit to bear it. Often 
 sympathy has no other power, and yet it is very pre- 
 cious. It is a word of very tender meaning. It implies 
 suffering with a man, not helping him in the muscular 
 
166 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 sense of the term, but making him feel that we feel 
 with him in the pity and sorrow of our soul. Sym- 
 pathy is more than help ; the noblest souls would 
 sooner have helpless sympathy than unsympathising 
 help. And to enable us to feel sympathy, the sym- 
 pathiser must have suffered. It needs experience to 
 engender it, until in advanced life men become very 
 pitiful and tender. Christ was in this way made 
 perfect through suffering ; this was the purpose of 
 His incarnation, of His sorrowful human experiences 
 of temptation and pain. We can through the in- 
 carnation of Christ realise the Divine, feel the love and 
 pity of God, and trust His help much more easily 
 than when we think of pure Deity. 
 
 A thousand problems, of course, start up — meta- 
 physical, economical, moral. Can a Divine being 
 suffer ? How can the human in Christ suffer apart 
 from the Divine ? 
 
 May we not say that all love — and therefore God's 
 love — is power of sympathy ? It is not essential to 
 sympathy that the same exact experiences should be 
 endured. We can sympathise very really with 
 calamities and sorrows that have never befallen our- 
 selves. Imagination does its part in individualising 
 suffering. We know what it is to suffer generally, 
 and love gives us divinations of the special sufferings 
 of others. Can the Divine heart suffer ? May we 
 answer the question by another ? If it could not. 
 could it truly love those who have to suffer ? God is 
 not a marble perfection, a passive quiescence, an 
 absorbed selfishness. Love in God is what love is in 
 us — a quick affection and sympathy. If He did not 
 sorrow when we suffered He would be anything but 
 perfect. Do not let us be afraid to conceive of 
 quick sympathetic emotion in the heart of the great 
 loving Father; He sorrows over our sins and suffer- 
 ings. It is part of His supreme blessedness that He 
 does. Even the metaphysics need not trouble us ; a 
 
CHRIST'S SYMPATHY. l>w 
 
 perfect God can so suffer in our suffering because He 
 is perfect. Assuredly the incarnate Christ can ; and 
 I think there is no incongruity between His suffering 
 humanity and the sympathising divinity which it 
 enshrined. He was tempted in every way in which 
 human nature can be tempted, His purity and iidelity 
 put to every test. 
 
 In itself, as God intended and made it, human 
 nature is a holy thing — perfectly, immaculately pure. 
 We know it only as tainted and corrupted with strong 
 inclinations to moral evil — selfish, sensuous, dis- 
 obedient. Even if we were not taught that this is 
 a fallen, a disordered, a diseased condition, we 
 should naturally so conclude. It would be a moral 
 incongruity to conceive of moral imperfection as a 
 creation of God. Reason and common sense are on 
 the side of the Scripture doctrine of the Fall. 
 
 The teaching concerning Christ — the second man 
 — is equally reasonable. If the incarnation be a truth 
 at all, clearly the human nature which the Divine 
 Christ took upon Him was not ordinary, tainted, 
 fallen human nature. Every instinct would be 
 offended by such a supposition. We are compelled 
 to recognise a pure type of human nature free from 
 all stain or tendency to sin. This is the theory of 
 the miracle of the incarnation, and without miracle 
 the incarnation could not be at all ; the one difference, 
 and the only difference, between Christ and ordinary 
 men is this. 
 
 But there is in perfect holiness no exemption from 
 trial, from temptation, from tests of obedience and 
 iidelity, from positive solicitations to evil. He was 
 tempted in all points as we are ; only He did not, as 
 we, sin in His sympathies with the temptation, in 
 His yieldings to it. The Prince of this world, when 
 he came, found nothing in Him. 
 
 A moral being, however, is tested and tempted 
 according to the sympathies of his own character. 
 
168 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 Temptation is possible only Avhere there is suscepti- 
 bility. Eve was tempted according to her suscepti- 
 bility ; so were the angels who fell. 
 
 There are some temptations that are possible only 
 to an evil nature. A gin-shop is no temptation to a 
 well-regulated moral nature. A drunkard cannot pass 
 it ; his depraved appetite craves it, as by a fascination 
 he is drawn into it. Perhaps there is no moral nature 
 that is not insensible to some form of temptation. 
 Our Lord's temptations were only such as could appeal 
 to a pure human nature. He could not be tempted 
 as the drunkard, or licentious, or selfish man is 
 tempted. He could not be tempted as man is tempted 
 whose conscience is depraved, whose moral feeling is 
 corrupted. He was without sin. 
 
 There are natural appetites and desires of pure 
 human nature as well as depraved appetites and 
 passions of sinful human nature ; and through these 
 He could be tempted. He could feel hunger, and was 
 tempted by unlawful ways to satisfy it. He could feel 
 pain, and therefore could be tempted to evade it or 
 to murmur at it. All the suffering conditions of His 
 life would urge evasion. Why should He be poor ? 
 Why should He so weary Himself in toiling for 
 ungrateful men ? Why should He drink so bitter a 
 cup, endure so cruel a cross ? If He prayed that it 
 might pass, would not His human feeling be urged to 
 refuse it ? 
 
 He desired the triumph of His mission ; He was 
 tempted to sensational means of securing popularity. 
 The people wished to make Him a king. Why should 
 not the natural ambition be gratified ? The sinless 
 appetites of the flesh, the lawful desires of the mind, 
 might all be urged to indulgence ; and in this way He 
 was tried ; not only tested as to His purity and 
 fidelity, but positively solicited by the evil one to 
 wrong gratification. He could so be tempted because 
 He had these natural human susceptibilities and 
 
CHRIST'S SYMPATHY. 169 
 
 feelings. There was no sin in them, as there is in de- 
 praved appetites and passions. All moral natures can 
 be assailed, appealed to, whether they will do right or 
 not ; but they may refuse every gratification that is 
 wrong. 
 
 The Divine Lord did this : whatever His human 
 craving for food, or ease, or success, He instantly 
 repelled every suggestion of wrong methods. No 
 such suggestion could spring up in His pure soul : 
 but it could be suggested from without. And the 
 suggestion was met by the strong instinct of holi- 
 ness, of right, of love, of obedience — " Get thee behind 
 me, Satan." 
 
 The sin lies not in evil solicitation, but in sym- 
 pathy with the solicitation, in the wish that it might 
 be yielded to, that the gratification were possible. We 
 do not conquer temptation when we merely refuse to 
 yield to it, when some urging of conscience, some fear 
 of consequences, some sense of stern law restrains us. 
 A man may not dare to do, and yet may wish that he 
 might do. A man conquers temptation only when 
 his very desire repels it, when his whole nature rises 
 up against its wrong, when the sense of law is lost in 
 strong moral feeling, and he would not do it if he 
 might. This was our Lord's victory ; His entire soul 
 was antagonistic to wrong. The tempter had nothing 
 in Him. 
 
 It follows from this that a moral nature suffers 
 from temptation in proportion as it is pure and per- 
 fect. It is not the mere temptation that causes the 
 suffering, but the moral refinements and sensitive].' 
 of the nature that is tempted. It may abhor 1 1 1 r * 
 suggestion, may be fur removed from all fear of 
 yielding to it, and yet from its very perfection 
 suiter most intensely. In this way Christ suffered 
 being tempted. His power of suffering from evil 
 suggestion was infinitely greater than that of a man 
 whose feeling is tainted by sinful sympathy; just 
 
170 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 as some men are both physically, emotionally, and 
 morally far more sensitive than other men. The 
 greatest nature is capable of the greatest feeling ; the 
 purest nature endures the most from the suggestion of 
 sin. The lower the scale of being, the lower the sen- 
 sibility. The greatest soul has the greatest vibrations 
 when it is touched. Some are cut to the quick by an 
 unkind word, an unloving look ; others are so pachy- 
 dermatous that such things are scarcely noticed by 
 them. There are men who could follow to the grave 
 their nearest friend and not shed a tear ; there are 
 others who would wail in anguish. 
 
 All this applies to moral natures. The purest and 
 most sensitive suffer most. The very thought of 
 human sin — the sin of others, not His own — caused 
 the agony of Gethsemane. Every moral feeling is 
 stronger and more sensitive in God than in man ; sin 
 offends Him more. It is that abominable thing which 
 He hates. 
 
 The same temptation has very different measures 
 of intensity and pain, according to the nature to 
 which it is addressed ; the feeling in us becomes 
 infinite in God. In this way Christ was perfected 
 in sympathy ; the things that He so exquisitely 
 suffered from the temptation are a qualification for 
 a power of sympathy in Him, so that in all solicita- 
 tions to sin, in all sorrow and cares, in all pain and 
 struggles, He feels the keenest interest, the tenderest 
 sympathy. 
 
 It follows that the holier we ordinary men are, the 
 more keenly we shall suffer from temptation; the 
 more like Christ we are, the more will evil grieve us. 
 His salvation is much more than the forgiveness of 
 sins, it is a deliverance from the power of sin, help in 
 resisting it, power in putting off' the old man and his 
 deeds : a process of spiritual quickening, culture, and 
 refinement, brimnnof us to a state of feeling which shall 
 repel evil suggestion by sheer intrinsic antipathy to it. 
 
CHRIST'S SYMPATHY. 171 
 
 Even in enduring physical pain, human care, and 
 disappointment and sorrow, the desertion of friends, 
 the privations of life, He who had not where to lay 
 His head suffered more than we can suffer. His very 
 physical organism must have been finely strung. His 
 intellectual and emotional nature, His social affections 
 and human sensibilities, must have been in exquisite 
 congruity with His spiritual perfection. Common trials 
 would be far keener to Him than they are to us. 
 Indeed, this is implied in the urgency to (; consider 
 him who endured such contradiction of sinners 
 against himself." When the men of Nazareth would 
 have cast Him from the precipice, when His dis- 
 ciples walked no more with Him because of His hard 
 sayings, when Peter denied Him, when Judas be- 
 trayed Him, when they all forsook Him and fled, it was 
 more than the sensitiveness of common men that was 
 wounded — it was a soul, tender in its sensibilities 
 even to anguish, silently enduring unsuspected pain. 
 All this is full of comforting suggestion. 
 
 1. For instance, there is a great difference between 
 the instinctive yearning of the flesh and the intel- 
 ligent desire of the spirit, between the physical hunger 
 that craves and the moral sense that controls the 
 gratification of the craving. How often we confound 
 them, and blame the suffering which the sense causes, 
 as if it were a moral wrong of the soul. How often 
 "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'' Such 
 temptations Christ felt, and in such there is no sin. 
 
 2. Christ was tempted to seek the success of His 
 mission by wrong means, and He refused. How this 
 should assure us when good men in the name of 
 religion ask us to do foolish or even wrong things. 
 How often we do things that our judgment does not, 
 approve, through fear of being thought indifferent 
 about the interests of Christ's kingdom. How often 
 we are asked in the interests of religion to do some- 
 thing sensational, to cast ourselves down from the 
 
172 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 pinnacle of the temple. It will gather a crowd, it 
 will fill a chapel, it will secure a good collection, it 
 will bring men to hear the Gospel. In the name of 
 Christ do not do it. No end can justify unworthy 
 means. God's kingdom does not need our folly or 
 our falsehood. And yet the only way in which some 
 men can be tempted is through their religious zeal. 
 Money, pleasure, fame, sense cannot tempt them. 
 The lurid lights of hell or of earth cannot even lead 
 them astray ; but lights from Heaven may : let Satan 
 transform himself into an angel of light — lead them 
 to a church or a revival meeting — and he may play 
 with their moral rectitude almost any prank he likes. 
 It is not the less a sin because it is a pinnacle of the 
 temple to which he takes men. Men will strain their 
 consciences in a church to accomplish religious ends, 
 as they would never think of doing in the market for 
 secular ends. There is but one rule for us in such 
 temptation, simply and absolutely to refuse. The 
 means must be as holy as the end. We shall not 
 imitate Christ unless we refuse every means of doing 
 religious work that is not righteous and fitting. 
 
 3. Human suffering is not the mere infliction 
 of God's almighty power. Its reasons, its feelings 
 enter very deeply into the Divine heart. It is not 
 a hard stroke of wanton power. It is a going 
 forth of God's fatherly heart. Our earthly fathers 
 may chasten us as may seem good to them, the 
 heavenly Father for our profit, that we may be par- 
 takers of His holiness. It is a great assimilating 
 process — His moral nature assimilating ours. We 
 imperfectly interpret, we greatly wrong the Divine 
 doing when Ave think that it has no compelling reason, 
 that it might have been done without; and we 
 impetuously pray that He would reverse or take it 
 away : " Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother 
 had not died." True, perhaps ; but what an unutter- 
 able loss had he not died. To have been spared the 
 
GITRJSrS SYMPATHY. 173 
 
 sorrow of the death would have been to be deprived 
 of the love and grace and glory of the resurrection. 
 We see only the process, and it seems causeless and 
 painful. God sees the issue, and it is infinitely 
 glorious; it is the ordinance of His deepest moral 
 feeling, of His intensest love : a working of His very 
 heart. 
 
 Has not God most joy in His greatest pity, in 
 seeking and saving him who is the most lost ? He 
 delighteth in mercy, and most in the farthest reaches 
 of His mercy, just as a physician rejoices in his 
 greatest cure, the philanthropist in his greatest rescue, 
 the preacher in his greatest conversion. Is it not a 
 necessary law of benevolence ? Does not Christ 
 express it when He says that there is more joy in 
 heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over 
 ninety and nine just persons ? The sheep that was 
 lost is a greater joy to Him than the whole flock. 
 
 4. What an assurance it is of the common nature 
 of God and man that such sympathy is possible! If 
 His nature were not like our nature, if we were not 
 His offspring, His breath, children of His image, such 
 sympathy could not be. 
 
 The incarnation is only the means of making it 
 more palpable to us. The Christ, too, was a partaker 
 of our nature, and in virtue of its common elements 
 He can sympathise with us. Our poor, weary, sinful 
 hearts can go to Him, and invoke His human, His 
 sinless pity. If we are tempted of the devil, so was 
 He ; if avo are hungry and weary, and wrung with 
 pain, He likewise took part of the same. He knows 
 them all with quick intuition and tender experience; 
 He knows the heart of the tempted, suffering man. 
 
 So He yearns towards us in His saving purpose 
 and work ; for this cause came He into the world, that 
 He, the strong Son of God, might be the consoler of 
 sorrowful men. He seeks them that He may com- 
 fort them, as tender women go into hospitals to nurse 
 
174 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 rough men, moved by the Divine sentiment, the 
 gracious enthusiasm of humanity. 
 
 And since He knows all that we are and feel, there 
 is no defect of sympathy through ignorance. He 
 does not mistake us as Eli mistook Hannah. He has 
 nothing to discover in us ; our shame and sin and 
 sorrow cannot hide itself from Him. From the first 
 He has perfect knowledge of us. He accepts us as 
 we are — accepts us to save and comfort us. Our 
 suffering comes from various sources ; from infirmity, 
 from misfortune, from sin. Christ knows the suffering, 
 although not the sin. He was familiar with hunger 
 and poverty, misfortune and bereavement, anguish 
 and death. The man of sorrows, men crowned Him 
 its king. He knoweth our frame ; Ave have no sorrow 
 that His sorrows did not overpass. 
 
 " In that he himself hath suffered being tempted, 
 he is able to succour them that are tempted/' 
 
 "Wherefore let us come boldly unto the throne 
 of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace 
 to help in time of need." 
 
IT-", 
 
 [1888.] 
 I N ¥ L QE N C E. 
 
 •• Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his 
 savour, wherewith shall it be salted I it is thenceforth grood for 
 nothing', hut to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. 
 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot 
 be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, 
 but on a candlestick ; and it giveth light to all that are in the 
 house. Let your light so shine before men. that they may Bee your 
 good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.'* — Matt. 
 v. 13—16. 
 
 The metaphors by which our Lord sets forth the 
 influence of the Christian disciple, the qualities of 
 his life, and the way in which they operate in social 
 life, are very striking. 
 
 " Ye are the salt of the earth," the qualifying, 
 preserving, purifying influence of human society. 
 The assumption is that the earth — the world of men 
 — is in a state of spiritual corruption, with a charac- 
 teristic tendency to become worse and worse. This 
 we have seen is literally true. It needs salt, therefore 
 — some powerful antiseptic element — to arrest and 
 counteract the tendency to moral putrefaction. What 
 salt is in physical processes, that Christianity is in 
 moral processes. 
 
 So again, when speaking of individual life, our 
 Lord says, "Have salt in yourselves," let Christian 
 principles and sympathies arrest and eradicate the 
 moral corruption of the personal character. 
 
 Here the idea is that Christian men are to be to 
 society what Christian truth is to the individual 
 heart. The life of Cod is as salt in the personal 
 
176 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 disciple ; the true disciple is as salt in the social life 
 of men. 
 
 Salt had a large and significant place in the 
 natural symbolism of ancient peoples. In eastern 
 countries it is a scarce and precious condiment. The 
 ideas associated with it were various and interesting, 
 as readers of Plutarch will remember. It has, there- 
 fore, furnished the sacred writers with some of their 
 most suggestive analogies. Hence, too, it was so im- 
 portant an element in Hebrew sacrifice. It was, as 
 here used by our Lord, the symbol of moral vitality 
 and purity, therefore pre-eminently of the purifying 
 forces of Christianity. This symbol was derived 
 from the specific qualities and uses of salt as an 
 antiseptic. 
 
 It was also the ancient symbol of hospitality, 
 because of its being so essential an ingredient of 
 human food; hence also of- friendship, brotherhood, 
 fidelity. A covenant of salt was sacred and inviolable. 
 To eat salt with an Arab is to the present day to 
 secure the pledge of his friendship ; hence it becomes 
 the fitting symbol of the assuaging, healing, uniting 
 influences of the religion whose watchword is " peace 
 on earth and goodwill to men." 
 
 Salt, again, was the symbol of wisdom. Pliny 
 calls the Greeks the salt of the nations, and the 
 Apostle Paul urges us to let our speech be seasoned 
 with salt that we may know how to answer every 
 man. Like salt, wisdom is an antiseptic ; it arrests 
 and counteracts ignorance and error, and is a fitting 
 symbol, therefore, of His teaching who is " the wisdom 
 of God." 
 
 Salt was used in sacrifices to symbolise the incor- 
 ruptness of that which expiated sin — " Every sacrifice 
 shall be salted with salt " — and also to symbolise the 
 sacredness, fidelity, and permanence of the covenant 
 between God and the sacrificer ; so that every item of 
 this varied and expressive symbolism is a fitting and 
 
INFLUENCE. Ill 
 
 suggestive representation of the religion of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 By a slightly varied use of the symbol our Lord 
 intimates its value as manure for land — " Salt is good, 
 but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it 
 be salted ? It is neither tit for the land, nor yet for 
 the dunghill" They who were the salt of the earth, 
 therefore, were to fertilise " the field which is the 
 world," and in which the good seed of the kingdom is 
 sown, as manure fertilises the arable glebe, so that 
 the sterile human soil shall bring forth richly fruits 
 of righteousness. 
 
 The other metaphor carries a still larger meaning 
 — it is at once more noble in idea and more com- 
 prehensive in reference. " Ye are the light of the 
 world." If the one metaphor represent that fertilising 
 agency, without which the very aliment of life would 
 be wanting, the other represents the illumining and 
 quickening power whereby ignorance and moral death 
 are destroyed, and men are lifted to the utmost 
 height of intellectual grandeur and spiritual life, 
 even to the very knowledge and blessedness of God 
 Himself. The light shines from heaven to earth : it 
 is God's manifestation of Himself to the darkness and 
 death of human souls. Light prefigures to us the 
 two great ideas of knowledge and purity. 
 
 Both metaphors together furnish a very sug- 
 gestive representation of the various forces which 
 Christianity exerts in regenerating human society ; 
 the salt of the earth operating upon the cold, passive 
 clod, counteracting its elements of corruption, and 
 invigorating it with powers of life ; and the light of 
 the world making the very firmament of life luminous 
 and filling its entire sphere with intelligence and 
 warmth. 
 
 Both affirmations are startling and bold. 
 
 " Ye are the salt of the earth." They would 
 quicken into life that which was dead, fertilise that 
 
 M 
 
178 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 which was sterile, make that which was barren to be 
 prolific in fruits of righteousness — they were to be 
 charged with a truth and a life that would lift men 
 to God. 
 
 " Ye are the light of the world " — a greater affirm- 
 ation still. They would fill the moral firmament with 
 the highest spiritual knowledge — make it resplendent 
 with the purest glory. The influence of their light, 
 like that of the sun, would be illimitable, all per- 
 vading, charged with illuminating and vitalising in- 
 fluence ; wherever it came it would diffuse lustre and 
 quicken life. 
 
 The two metaphors supplement and perfect each 
 other, as life and light do. A man must be quickened 
 to spiritual life to have the power of perceiving 
 spiritual light — the more life there is in a man, the 
 greater his power of receiving light ; while the more 
 light that he receives, the larger his vision of God, 
 the stronger and purer and richer his life will be. 
 
 The two metaphors, again, suggest different types 
 of religious character, different degrees of religious 
 life, different forms of religious influence. 
 
 The salt works secretly, silently, slowly. Many 
 men, true disciples of Christ, realise but a low 
 degree of Christian life. They are good, but not 
 very intelligent ; right in heart, but narrow and pre- 
 judiced in their views. To be quickened to religious 
 life is a great and blessed thing; but to have that life 
 made luminous and wise and noble by intelligence, to 
 understand the mind of God, the ways and purposes 
 of God, as well as to feel His heart, is a thing 
 still greater and more blessed. Paul ministers milk 
 to them that are babes in Christ, he speaks wisdom 
 among them that are perfect. To the one he is as 
 salt, a quickening, purifying influence ; to the other 
 he is as light, an illuminating, fructifying power. 
 
 No true disciple of Christ will be contented with 
 the lower condition of life, any more than a true man 
 
INFLUENCE. L79 
 
 is contented with mere animal conditions of being. 
 " Leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, 
 we go on to perfection." 
 
 The two types, however, do exist, and they demand 
 corresponding treatment. 
 
 In our ragged churches, in heathen missions, we 
 go to the ignorant and degraded. The agency is that 
 of the salt, arresting the process of decay, preserving 
 sweetness and wholesomeness. We appeal to men by 
 stronger and more sensuous means — through the 
 senses, or the lower emotions, or the coarser intel- 
 ligence. AYe work upon fear and self-interest, and 
 so bring men to Christ. 
 
 The appeal to cultured congregations is higher 
 and more intellectual, more refined and subtle. We 
 work upon their reason and nobler sentiments ; we 
 minister the glorious light of the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 This is simply sa}dng that in applying the Gospel 
 of Christ you must use means suitable to the culture 
 and moral intelligence of those whom you would save. 
 The appeal that would arrest and bring one man to 
 Christ may have even a deterrent effect upon another 
 man. The moral process is alike in all, the Divine 
 Spirit is the common quickener, the spiritual truths 
 of God are the common agency, but there are divers 
 operations. In one the process is that of the salt — 
 sensible contact, pungent applications — a kind of 
 chemical conversion. In another the process is that 
 of the light — a kind of spiritual revelation through 
 the reason, the mental tastes, the moral feelings. 
 Some are grossly unintellectual ; scarcely any appeal 
 to reason is possible. Some are inquiring and acquisi- 
 tive ; their reason must be convinced. 
 
 Some have their hearts broken as by a stroke, 
 like the gaoler at Philippi; some have their hearts 
 opened as by the morning sunbeam, like Lydia : 
 some, like the men of Nineveh, will repent only when 
 a .Jonah goes to them with alarming preaching ; some 
 
 M 2 
 
180 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 are eager for knowledge, like the Ethiopian eunuch. 
 To some, address must be poignant as salt, to others 
 it must be gentle and insinuating as light. Paul does 
 not preach to the barbarians at Lystra as he does to 
 the philosophers at Athens ; the Baptist comes with 
 his message of repentance ; the Christ with His in- 
 vitation to rest. One man's preaching is specially 
 adapted to convert, another to instruct and nurture 
 him that is converted. Both are requisite — the salt 
 in its pungency, the light in its penetrating gentleness. 
 
 As this injunction follows immediately upon the 
 Beatitudes as a practical application of their teaching, 
 it is evident that our Lord regards the moral qualities 
 which he has specified and pronounced blessed as 
 having this virtue. Spiritual poverty, a mourning 
 sense of moral evil and meekness of heart, hunger 
 for righteousness, mercifulness, purity, peacemaking, 
 fidelity to Christ in persecution — these are the 
 spiritual qualities which make up the true disciple of 
 Christ and make him the salt of the earth and the 
 light of the world. They define a distinctive character. 
 They indicate wherein true spiritual power consists ; 
 not in dogmas or activities, but in essential qualities 
 of heart ; not in sacramental mystery, or consecrated 
 priest, or legitimate church, but in inward spirituali- 
 ties of soul. All who are thus spiritually good may 
 enlighten and bless mankind. It is the prerogative 
 of no church, or caste, or creed, it is the property of 
 every true disciple of Christ. It follows therefore : — 
 
 1. That Christian men are the salt of the earth in 
 virtue of their being in it. Pure men in the midst of 
 impurity, men in broad and palpable contrast with the 
 ungodly ; their Christianity not merely received by 
 them as a doctrine or about them as a profession, but 
 within them as life and manifest as character, its prin- 
 ciples embodied in living forms, in holy practice ; 
 quietly, unconsciously, yet potently exerting a subtle 
 moral influence upon all who come within their reach. 
 
INFLUENCE. 181 
 
 2. They arc the salt of the earth by their active 
 assimilating power upon its corruptness. Even un- 
 conscious piety is aggressive. Purity in itself is an 
 assault upon vice — a protest and rebuke. Every holy 
 life restrains and transforms the unholy lives around 
 it. Every pious man is a living witness for God. 
 He testifies to his claims, demonstrates the reasonable- 
 ness and blessedness of piety ; he is an argument for 
 religion and an example of it. 
 
 Actively he seeks to bring others under its influ- 
 ence, to make them holy as he is holy, happy as he 
 is happy. He dissuades from sin, he incites to holi- 
 ness, he labours and prays and sacrifices himself if 
 by any means he may save some. 
 
 Nor can it be questioned that practically Christian 
 men seek by their holy lives to enforce their prin- 
 ciples. Make what allowance you will for the in- 
 consistences and even the hypocrisies of men, it still 
 remains true that the morality of Christian life is 
 higher than that of any other life. More is expected 
 from it, more is found in it — more of sanctified feeling, 
 more of holy grace, more of godly service, more of 
 brotherly beneficence and self-sacrifice. Christian men 
 may in their zeal strive ignorantly and unwisely, but 
 they do strive to convert men from sin, to conform 
 them to the holy character of Jesus Christ ; they do 
 labour and pray, and sacrifice property and time to 
 redeem the world from sin. 
 
 The teaching of the second metaphor is precisely 
 to the same effect. As lights of the world Christian 
 men communicate to men their highest spiritual ideas, 
 their supreme conceptions of purity. True or false, 
 the world possesses no ideas so great as those of 
 Christianity. Only this divine light of God can 
 illumine the spiritual darkness of men. Enlightened 
 themselves, Christian men are enlighteners of others. 
 In relation to Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, 
 they shine with a light derived from Him. It is the 
 
182 HENRY ALLON, 
 
 necessary property of light to transmit its rays. Every 
 object receiving light must reflect it, as the moon and 
 the planets reflect the light of the sun. 
 
 It is therefore the necessary law as well as the 
 duty of the Christian man to shine as a light in the 
 world, to reflect and diffuse the light he has derived 
 from Christ. 
 
 In whatever locality we may be, Christ expects us 
 to disperse its darkness. In our families, our neigh- 
 bourhoods, our country we are to be as lights " in a 
 dark place." Men do not light a candle and put it 
 under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth 
 light to all that are in the house. Christian men 
 are not enlightened by Christ to retire into deserts, 
 to be immured in cloisters, or even to indulge in the 
 pious quietude of the house, or the rural seclusion of 
 the country. Where the world is darkest they must 
 carry their light. They may not even leave it to 
 shine by its own lustre — they must place it where it 
 will shine the most, live where they can shed the 
 greatest enlightenment, set the most beneficial 
 example, exercise the most gracious influence. Our 
 Lord did not seek the seclusion of Nazareth, nor His 
 Apostles the solitudes of Judasa ; they sought the 
 great centres of men — crowded cities — that they might 
 affect the greatest numbers. How we forget this obliga- 
 tion in our plans of life, in our choice of a residence, in 
 our yearnings for quiet. " Let your light so shine " — 
 so place it, so keep its lustre unimpaired — " as that men 
 may see your good works and glorify your Father who 
 is in heaven." 
 
 This is the practical application of the whole — 
 the responsibility resting upon disciples of Christ 
 that the character and influence of their religion 
 shall in their hands have the utmost possible efficacy. 
 If the dignity and moral beauty of Christian disciple- 
 ship be great, equally great is its responsibility, and 
 the peril and doom of unfaithfulness. 
 
INFLUENCE. 183 
 
 Our Lord mentions two forms of peril : — 
 
 The salt may lose its savour, the light may he 
 deteriorated or placed where it does not shine ; that 
 the former may do its work its vitality and pungency 
 must be conserved. If it become stale and insipid, 
 all its uses are lost. A man, that is, may lose the 
 power and unction of his piety, the fervour and 
 spirituality of his faith and love ; the influence of his 
 Christian beliefs upon his practical life may become 
 slight and imperceptible. His Christian activities 
 may cease, his power of moral contagion may die out 
 of him, so that he shall no longer be a savour of 
 Christ in every place. He may, indeed, like trees in 
 winter, still retain his Christian vitality, but practically 
 it is dormant. It has lost the out-bursting energy, the 
 aggressive power of life. 
 
 Every church has members, every Christian man 
 has acquaintances in this torpid condition. What 
 Job calls the root of the matter may be in them, but 
 it is as a root out of a dry ground. It gladdens with 
 no vegetation, gratifies w r ith no fragrance, enriches 
 with no fruit. We do not say of such that they are 
 not disciples, that the salt is not in them — only that 
 it has lost its savour ; they are fit for no uses of the 
 Christian life, they exert no practical influence, put no 
 constraint upon evil, urge men with no importunity, 
 hallow social life with no sanctity. To an onlooker it 
 is impossible to distinguish them from the un- 
 spiritual. 
 
 In various degrees of decadence and power you see 
 men thus losing the savour of their piety. 
 
 It would be difficult to note all the causes and 
 indications of the process. When a man loses his 
 religious fervour and moral earnestness he begins to 
 take life in an easy, self-indulgent way. Selfish con- 
 siderations determine his actions. His purposes are 
 ruled by calculation as to what will be most advan- 
 tageous or agreeable to himself. He surrenders himself 
 
184 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 to a cold, eager worldliness. Religious work is irk- 
 some to him ; he becomes niggardly in his gifts. 
 By these sure indications his salt is losing its savour. 
 
 Perhaps he lives for years in the church and does 
 no recognised service; for years in a neighbourhood, 
 and does no religious good to a single individual soul. 
 So that were he to give his account to God he could 
 instance no one whom he has benefited. Surely the 
 savour is well-nigh gone. Christ pronounces such 
 " good for nothing." Salt is valuable only as salt. 
 It has no other uses. Some things may fail of one 
 purpose and fulfil another. Salt losing its saltness 
 falls into unmitigated worthlessness, not fit even for 
 the dunghill, only to be cast out as refuse. An un- 
 spiritual man is fit for no religious uses. Worse 
 than useless, he becomes a spiritual incumbrance and 
 nuisance. Filling his place in the church assembly, 
 he is cold as the stone beneath his feet, barren as the 
 pillar against which he leans. Without enthusiasm or 
 sympathy, he is a cold critic and obstructive in all 
 church councils, bearing a Christian name, but with- 
 out a Christian heart ; subscribing a Christian creed, 
 but faithless in Christian life : not so much a temple 
 of piety as an urn containing its ashes, over which 
 angels bend and weep. 
 
 And it is despicable. a Cast out and trodden 
 under foot of men." There is nothing that men 
 despise more than inconsistent life and selfish com- 
 promise. Uncompromising piety they will honour ; 
 they feel a kind of respect for open, reckless god- 
 lessness ; but for truckling meanness, for canting 
 hypocrisy that would serve both God and mammon, 
 that would pose for a saint in the Church and a 
 worldling in the world, they feel an unmitigated 
 scorn. 
 
 The loss is irrevocable. " Wherewith shall it be 
 salted ? " There is no salt for salt. Salt may correct 
 unsavoury meat, but there is nothing to correct 
 
INFLUENCE. 185 
 
 unsavoury salt. The best things arc capable of the 
 worst corruption. A Christian man who has lost 
 his piety is commonly worse than the man who never 
 had piety to lose, the Pharisee than the Publican. 
 If the conservators of the world are unfaithful, who 
 is there to save it ? Who shall keep the keeper ? 
 
 It is a question for each of us. Am I preserving the 
 saltness of my Christian character and exerting a holy 
 influence upon my family, my social circle, my neigh- 
 bourhood, the world ? Whatever the power of truth 
 over my personal heart, has its power been exerted 
 upon others ? Am I purifying the world, or is the 
 world corrupting me ? Is the salt giving its properties 
 to the flesh, or the flesh to the salt ? Am I making 
 society more spiritual, or is society making me more 
 carnal ? Is my savour of heaven or of earth ? Do 
 I bless the world with spiritual healing, or curse it 
 with insipidity ? Does it honour me for my useful- 
 ness, or tread me under foot as barren ? Am I a 
 savour of life unto life or of death unto death ? 
 
 How are those nearest me affected by me ? Are 
 they becoming more thoughtful, earnest, and holy, or 
 growing in indifference and unspirituality ? Are my 
 children, my servants, my friends, the better for my 
 influence or the worse ? — seasoned by the pungency 
 of the salt, or has the salt lost its savour ? 
 
 Does my light shine ; am I myself illumined ; not 
 merely an instructed theologian, but a luminous 
 saint, a man irradiated with the light of the life of 
 God ? A man of manifest penitence, faith, holiness, 
 love ? You cannot be a mere light-bearer, you must 
 yourself be light. " Among whom ye shine as lights 
 in the world," living epistles of Christ, " known and 
 read of all men." 
 
 If not a converted man, you are doing nothing to 
 enlighten others ; you shed your darkness upon them, 
 increase the density and noxiousness of the moral 
 atmosphere, make it a darkness that may be felt. 
 
186 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 Keep the lustre of your life unimpaired, feed the 
 lamp of your life with the oil of heavenly grace, 
 keep it trimmed with the careful discipline of life. 
 Let no impure passion, no subtle selfishness, de- 
 teriorate it. 
 
 Let it shine so as to be seen. Let the flame of 
 piety be distinct, palpable, unmistakable. You are 
 enlightened not for yourselves only, but for others. 
 
 " Heaven doth with us as we with torches do ; 
 Not light them for themselves : for if our virtues 
 Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike 
 As if we had them not." 
 
 Your place in the world is where there is the 
 most darkness, where your light may shine with the 
 greatest effect. Your care is demanded for the sur- 
 roundings of your religious life, that no waywardness, 
 no eccentricities of character, no seeming inconsist- 
 encies may dim the perception of your piety. Men 
 may see only a distorted or discoloured piety, because 
 you do not avoid the very appearance of evil. It is 
 not enough to be harmless ; you must be blameless, 
 and without rebuke. Many a man wastes half the 
 influence of his piety by sheer follies — foolish speech, 
 reckless actions. The light shines, but it shines in- 
 effectually. 
 
 If Ave may not parade our good doing, neither may 
 we conceal it. Let it shine so as to glorify our 
 Father who is in heaven. Only this as our supreme 
 motive can be our sure guide of life. " Holding forth 
 the word of life in the midst of a crooked and per- 
 verse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in 
 the world," a light to glorify not ourselves, but " our 
 Father who is in heaven." 
 
187 
 
 [1883.] 
 
 RELIGIOUS SOLUTION OF SCEPTICAL 
 
 THOUGHTS. 
 
 "Nevertheless lam continually with thee: thou hast holden 
 me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, 
 and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but 
 thee? and there is none npon earth that I desire beside thee. My 
 flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, 
 and my portion for ever.*' — PSALM lxxiii. 23—26. 
 
 This is a strange conclusion to a dark mood of scep- 
 ticism. It is like the rejoicing of an exhausted 
 warrior after a fierce battle. It is like rest after 
 sore temptation, when angels come and minister to 
 us. It is as light in a dark place, deliverance out of 
 a sore strait. 
 
 The Psalm is the outcry of a troubled and mili- 
 tant soul. The mystery of life is very great, its 
 conflict is very sore. The singer felt as it he, a good 
 man, had been very badly treated; as if piety and 
 virtue counted for nothing, as if He who governed 
 the world made no moral distinctions. " Surely I 
 have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my 
 hands in innocency.'' 
 
 Nay, looking merely at external things, it almost 
 med as if it were better to do wrong than right, 
 better not to be restrained by moral scruples. Wicked 
 men have manifestly the best of it: they prosper 
 because of the unscrupulousness of their wickedin iss, 
 while good men suffer from the restraints of their 
 righteousness. It seemed a sadly confused world, a 
 world all a muddle : there seemed no moral principles 
 in its rule. 
 
188 • HENRY ALLON. 
 
 Is it not one of the greatest of a good man's trials, 
 one of the most terrible straits of a pious man's 
 faith, to feel as if in a world that God does not care 
 for, or does not govern righteously ? Tossed as into a 
 seething, bubbling cauldron of circumstance ; driven 
 hither and thither by lawless forces, no firm hand 
 laying hold of him; buffeted by troubles; beaten oft* 
 his feet, as it were, by the wind and the hail ; whirled 
 high into the air, and dashed down again to the 
 ground — a helpless waif of life. 
 
 He, a good man, surely ought to be held firmly, 
 to find a sure footing. God might, by a kind of 
 natural retribution, let His tempests loose upon the 
 wicked ; but for wrong always to come right, for right 
 always to find itself in the wrong, was a sore perplexity 
 for a man's religious faith. It sorely tried Asaph. 
 He was tempted, as Job was tempted, to " let go his 
 integrity," to " curse God and die." 
 
 He describes this turmoil of his feeling in lan- 
 guage of almost unrivalled dramatic power and 
 pathos. One puts this Psalm with the Book of Job, 
 or with Paul's description of his conflict with carnal 
 passion. 
 
 But his sceptical mood has a sudden and strange 
 solution. Light unexpectedly breaks in upon the 
 pitchy darkness of his soul. There is no apparent 
 process of reasoning, no elaborate demonstration of 
 the righteousness and philosophy of Providence, as in 
 the Book of Job. The solution of religious problems 
 does not often come in this way. Intellectual pro- 
 cesses do not often settle moral questions, any more 
 than physical processes settle questions of reason. 
 Spiritual problems demand spiritual solutions. It is 
 a flash of spiritual light. 
 
 It is a sudden religious thought that resolves 
 Asaph's difficulties, " Nevertheless I am continually 
 with thee." The problem is brought to the test of 
 religious principles and experience. Neither material 
 
SOLUTION OF SCEPTICAL THOUGHTS. 189 
 
 considerations, nor intellectual reasonings can solve 
 it. Has religious principle any power? He will 
 estimate the value of godless men's methods and 
 gains, in their relationship to righteous principles and 
 moral satisfactions. 
 
 " Until I went into the sanctuary of God," until I 
 brought religious teachings and considerations to bear ; 
 <: then understood I their end." Only spiritual truths 
 can shed light upon the world's darkness; the prob- 
 lems of life can be solved only by spiritual realities. 
 A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of 
 things that he possesses — a truth that men are very 
 slow to learn, but that every man's own conscious- 
 ness abundantly proves. 
 
 There is the inner world of soul, as well as the 
 outer world of sense ; the domain of spiritual prin- 
 ciples, affections, and satisfactions, as well as the 
 domain of physical gratifications. What is the value 
 of this wicked prosperity — the man himself being 
 judge — as compared with the consciousness of noble 
 character, the ineffable joys of pious feeling ? When 
 by his godless ways the man has gained his wealth 
 and honours, gotten the things into his hand, what 
 consciousness do they inspire ? How far do they 
 satisfy his complex and mysterious nature ? How far 
 do they realise his expectations from them ? Is he 
 as happy as he thought he would be I Can his heart 
 rest in them ? Do they assure his thought, his 
 feeling, his anticipation of what shall come after he 
 has done with them ? 
 
 It was worth the sceptical distress, the doubt, 
 the conflict, the anguish, so to have solved such a 
 problem. What an outburst it is : " Nevertheless I 
 am continually with thee: thou hast holder me by my 
 right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, 
 and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I 
 in heaven but thee \ and there is none upon earth 
 that I desire beside thee." It is as if his scepticism 
 
190 HEN11Y ALLON. 
 
 had dammed up the religious feeling of his soul, 
 blocked its channels of pious faith and expression, 
 until it has gathered volume and strength, when all 
 the barriers are broken down, and the flood spreads 
 over his entire being. What a torrent of religious 
 faith and passion it is ! 
 
 However perplexing the problems, however plaus- 
 ible the doubts, the religious trust of his intuitive 
 soul asserts itself. He will confide in the righteous- 
 ness and benignity of his God ; the instincts of his 
 heart are true and strong. God is greater and 
 better than anything that He does. He can under- 
 stand his great Father Himself better than he can 
 understand His doings. His error has been in trying 
 to interpret God by His doings — nay, but he will 
 interpret the doings by God. He has a thousand 
 assurances of His rectitude and love, and he will 
 believe Him to be right even in these apparent con- 
 tradictions. Sooner or later they will come right, 
 because He who does them is right. 
 
 This was Asaph's remedy for his scepticism — the 
 loving trust of his heart shall correct the perplexed 
 thought of his head. His religious experience shall 
 determine his theology ; his piety shall rule his faith, 
 not his understanding. It is a great lesson for us all 
 to learn. 
 
 Are not all our great religious problems solved in 
 this way ? Is not experiment the method of all 
 science ? The religious life can have no other 
 method. There are many things that I can know 
 only by doing them. I test light by seeing ; I under- 
 stand love by loving; I know life by living. So 
 I know God and Christ and spiritual life by 
 experience of them. I cannot demonstrate them by 
 intellectual evidence or argument, any more than I 
 can demonstrate life. I have no means of proving 
 the being of a God, the incarnation and atone- 
 ment of the Christ, the new life of the Holy Spirit. 
 
SOLUTION OF SCEPTICAL THOUGHTS. 191 
 
 Let me test them practically — receive the teaching, 
 and embody it — try what it will do for my character, 
 my life, my consciousness. I do not ask the astro- 
 nomer to demonstrate the sun. I look upon its 
 brightness — I see the fruits and the flowers which it 
 quickens; so I know God by the moral light and 
 beauty and fruitfulness with which He tills me. It 
 is the vision of the spiritual life : that is to me the 
 truest theology which produces in me the noblest life. 
 
 The Psalmist mentions three or four of his 
 conclusions : — 
 
 I. That there is a providential government of the 
 world, and that in His government of the world God 
 has special regard for religious men. 
 
 This was the first reaction of his sceptical rea- 
 sonings, the conclusion to which his first religious 
 impulse led him: "Nevertheless I am still with thee." 
 It is the only possible conception of a Divine Pro- 
 vidence. In all the complications of this wonderful 
 world, in all its distresses, disruptions, and convul- 
 sions, I, the individual man, am never for a moment 
 lost sight of. 
 
 What a conviction to be wrought into a man's con- 
 sciousness ! What an assurance and inspiration for his 
 daily life — the infinite Father never forgets me. Heaven 
 is crowded with worshippers; earth is filled with 
 sinning, struggling, clamouring, cursing, praying men, 
 movements of nations, disruptions of society, battles 
 and devastation : I, God's solitary child, am never for- 
 gotten. He knows me, calls me by my name, watches 
 over me, hears me, helps me, loves me. Infinite in 
 knowledge and power, He can do this : infinite in 
 love, He will. I am not merely one in a crowd, a 
 grain in the great heap of humanity ; I am a person, 
 distinct and individual as in my own consciousn< - 
 before God. He knows the way I take : the hairs of 
 my head are all numbered. It is not the mere 
 poetry, it is the logic of omniscience. 
 
192 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 It is a conception of God's providence full of 
 inspiration, of assurance, strength and joy, infinitely 
 more fruitful than any providence of pantheism, of 
 fatalism, of materialism. 
 
 It is the only conclusion of religious recognition 
 that the entire consciousness of a man can rest in. 
 If He be the creator of the world, He governs it ; 
 His hand moves in it everywhere — none the less 
 because of the order of its laws. We are all of us 
 directing and modifying the actions of law — from the 
 physician who heals disease, to the man who turns 
 his foot from a stone in his path. It is not necessary 
 for a personal providence that laws of Nature should 
 be abrogated ; it is enough that the operation of law 
 should be directed. Can we think of the world as 
 released from His control, rolled by His creating 
 hand into space to find its godless destiny ? Must 
 not He who ordained its laws administer them ? 
 Must not He, as the necessity of His perfections, 
 discriminate men and things ? Can we think of an 
 omniscience that does not know ; a law or a motion 
 that is self-sustained or self-directed ; a love that 
 does not bless ? 
 
 It is the necessary conclusion of all intelligent 
 theology, the necessary assurance of all true religion, 
 that He is not far from any one of us ; that in Him 
 we live, and move, and have our being ; that by the 
 necessary law of His benevolence He is ever seeking, 
 not His own arbitrary pleasure, but His creatures' 
 good ; that His power is the instrument of His wise 
 love, seeking, through a thousand ways of discipline 
 and development, our holiness and happiness. 
 
 There is a winter of the spiritual life when vital 
 processes are latent — when neither fruit, nor foliage, 
 nor sap is manifest ; but the processes that shall 
 issue in the harvest are not the less going on ; and 
 the great Husbandman patiently watches their de- 
 velopment ; the quickened seed looks forward to the 
 
SOLUTION OF SCEPTICAL THOUGHTS. 193 
 
 blossom ; the blossom is in order to the fruit ; and 
 the entire culture of the plant is subordinate to 
 the harvest. "Every branch in me that beareth fruit, 
 
 he purgcth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." 
 
 Comfort has but a small place in the great pur- 
 poses of life. It is an ignoble seeking. Comfort ! yes, 
 if it conies as the sequence and issue of great duty 
 and noble feeling ; but the only worthy purpose of 
 life is character, service, God-likeness — and every 
 means is blessed that produces this. 
 
 As a man lives for high spiritual ends he under- 
 stands this, and joyfully accepts God's curative 
 medicine, God's perfecting discipline of life. His is 
 the great Gospel of suffering, which is the revelation 
 of Christianity — the Christian solution of the Old 
 Testament problem, " Our light affliction . . . worketh 
 for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory ; while we look not at the things which are seen, 
 but at the things which are not seen " — the effect of 
 the suffering being conditioned upon the looking, the 
 aim, and the temper of the man — the attitude deter- 
 mines the process. 
 
 So God, the great Father, is personally dealing 
 with each one of us. And then, besides the Provid- 
 ence without us, there is a spiritual world within. 
 His Spirit speaks to our spirit ; touches, quickens, 
 sanctifies, blesses it. How ? do you ask ? Who may 
 construe the things of the Spirit ? Do we not touch 
 each other's spirit — exert an influence by thoughts, 
 by feelings, by mysterious sympathies and affiniti< 
 Can God be denied such access to human hearts ? 
 Does He not speak to us in His Word ? Do we not 
 speak to Him in prayer ? He, the giver of life, 
 quickens life in us. Who may prescribe limits t<> 
 spiritual intercourse ? We cannot even to one anol her 
 impart the whole of ourselves, or the best of our- 
 selves ; there are unknown possibilities we never 
 attain. What mother can speak her love to her 
 
194 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 child ? We are ever striving to say to the great 
 Father more than we can say. God would fain 
 impart to us more of Himself. A greater and more 
 blessed communion with Him is possible than any 
 soul has realised. 
 
 It would be a cold doctrine of God's personal 
 presence that did not include this inward communion 
 with Him, " setting God always before us ; " the subtle, 
 mystic, half unconscious sense of God in our daily 
 life — God dwelling in us, we in Him. 
 
 This is the consciousness of every religious life, 
 the meaning of all prayer, the home and rest of 
 outcast, wearied hearts — "Oh, that I knew where I 
 might find him ! " 
 
 I do not, like Lear, wail to the winds ; " my heart 
 and my flesh cry out for the living God/' To tell me 
 that I moan only as the wind moans ; that my tears 
 are shed only as the ocean foam is scattered ; that for 
 my yearnings after God there is no satisfaction ; that 
 all that is greatest and strongest within me is a self- 
 delusion, a capacity that there is nothing to till ; that 
 this living, throbbing soul of mine can find no response 
 but the cold, lifeless, cruel laws of Nature, is to mock 
 all that I am most conscious of — my affinities, my 
 yearnings, my love. I must have a personal God, a 
 Heavenly Father, to whom I can bring my want, my 
 sorrow, my crying ; whose bosom I can feel, of whose 
 sympathy I am assured, whose help will not fail. 
 
 It is the first teaching of all religion. It was the 
 first great truth that the dumb, yearning, religious 
 heart of the Psalmist laid hold of: "I have set God 
 always before me." Not only was God with him — 
 he was with God ; ever looking to Him and trusting 
 in His love — "Nevertheless I am continually with 
 thee." 
 
 II. Allied with this is the further recognition of 
 God as the smide of the religious man's life. 
 
 Not, of course, by any external agency, save by 
 
SOLUTION OF SCEPTICAL THOUGHTS, 195 
 
 unrecognised orderings of His providence; but by 
 quickenings of religious sensibility and grace, whereby 
 we are made discerning and wise in the orderings of 
 our spiritual life. The true wisdom of a man is not 
 in the direction of an external hand, but in the 
 guidance of an understanding heart. " I will instruct 
 thee and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go ; I 
 willguide thee with mine eye." It is a promise that 
 can be fulfilled only to the watchful and the obedient, 
 who are observant of indications of the Divine will, 
 and are eagerly responsive to them. God's hand 
 might lay hold of us when most unobservant, His 
 words might arrest us when most careless ; but 
 direction by a glance is possible only when we are 
 habitually observant, when our attitude is attentive, 
 our uplooking constant. It is a delicacy of Divine 
 method, a simple suggestiveness which is the neces- 
 sary way of spiritual influence. All spiritual things 
 solicit us gently, touch us delicately ; they are whis- 
 pers and hints, not rude, overmastering forces ; He 
 who cannot hear God's still small voice will not be 
 guided at all. How many of the spiritual teachings 
 of the Bible are conveyed to us in suggestions rather 
 than in broad explicit statements. How little of 
 explicit demonstration it contains. For the accept- 
 ance of doctrine, for obedience to commands, a docile, 
 sympathetic heart is imperative — a heart that is of 
 the truth, and responds to the faintest touch of truth, 
 as the ^Eolian harp to the summer breeze. To be 
 guided by demonstration or law is one thing ; to be 
 guided by the eye is another — this is possible only to 
 sympathetic life. He will miss the most precious 
 truths that the Bible yields, the most precious expe- 
 riences of the religious life, who demands logical 
 pmof for all its spiritual teachings; they are illumina- 
 tions rather than reasonings. 
 
 There are readings between the lines, intimations 
 and possibilities, divinings of meaning, which logic 
 
 N 2 
 
196 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 cannot touch — only the intuitions of a loving and 
 docile heart. What a profound and wonderful philo- 
 sophy of life it is. No man is so wise as the re- 
 ligious man. The spiritual man brought into har- 
 mony with all God's purposes, made susceptible to 
 all spiritual influences, capable of responding to all 
 God's methods, the controlling power of God perfectly 
 harmonising with the inviolable freedom of men. How 
 often He girds us when we do not know Him ; chooses 
 our inheritance when we think the choice our own. 
 He guides us by qualifying us to guide ourselves — to 
 aim at high purposes and to form right judgments. 
 
 How wisely He orders our circumstances, places us 
 amid difficulties, exposes us to temptations, compels 
 our struggle and resistance and judgment. The wise 
 Father knows that we are educated best, not by being 
 sequestered, but by being exposed. It is not the 
 education of a man to seek monkish seclusion, to 
 abjure use because of abuse. It is better to struggle 
 with evil, even though sometimes Ave have the worst 
 of it ; therefore God exposes us to fierce temptations, 
 makes us perfect through suffering, develops manly 
 strength in us by strenuous exercises of it. The 
 innocence of a child is one thing ; the holiness of a 
 man is another. Our inheritance is not the less 
 chosen of God because it is an experience of conflict 
 and suffering ; it is no less the right way because Ave 
 are disappointed in it. For this very reason God may 
 choose it ; the roughest way leads to the loftiest 
 moral heights. 
 
 III. And finally, God Himself is recognised as the 
 supreme good of life : " Whom have I in heaven but 
 thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire 
 beside thee." God is more than His gifts — a suffi- 
 cient good should all gifts fail. His gifts are more 
 when He is recognised as their giver. No man so 
 greatly enjoys the material good of life as the re- 
 ligious man does. Life in all its departments is more 
 
SOLUTION OF SCEPTICAL THOUGHTS. 197 
 
 to him than it is to any other man. " God visits him 
 ever) 7 ' morning, and tries him every moment. " 
 
 And when the things of life can no longer be 
 possessed — when heart and flesh fail, God is the 
 strength of his heart, and his portion for ever : a 
 trained and developed and perfected spiritual man, he 
 enters into the joy of his Lord. 
 
 Is not this a wonderful philosophy of life, a 
 w r onderful interpretation of its great problems ? Ay, 
 you say, if it were but true — you only wish that it 
 were true ; but is not the wish a presumption of its 
 truth ? Can I, think you, imagine better things than 
 God has ordained ? Can I imagine greater satis- 
 factions for these marvellous affections and faculties 
 of mine than He has provided ? Is man to be God's 
 greatest failure \ Has He endowed him so greatly 
 only to disappoint him ? Philosophy tells us that 
 every faculty finds its functions ; then man, surely, 
 will not fail of his satisfactions. 
 
 So our Christian philosophy teaches us to turn 
 away from mere outward material experience to 
 inward spiritual processes ; to estimate things, not in 
 their carnal, but in their spiritual relations. Let the 
 wicked enjoy his great prosperity. His very success 
 may be God's most terrible retribution upon him ; 
 more than anything else, it may make him hard and 
 unspiritual ; he is filled with his own ways — bidding 
 his soul eat, drink, and be merry. Would it not 
 have been better for Dives had his torment begun a 
 little sooner ? Were the Master to pronounce a judg- 
 ment upon him, he would say, "Thou fool." 
 
 Let the righteous be in great adversity if but his 
 worldliness be purged out of him — his purity, and 
 faith, and love be perfected ; it will be good for him 
 in the moral estimate of things that he has been 
 afflicted. 
 
 God will guide us by His counsel, and afterwards 
 receive us to glory : but it will be only through our 
 
198 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 own spirituality and wisdom. In the domain of moral 
 life there are things which God cannot do for us, He 
 can only enable us to do ; so we conquer circumstance 
 by becoming greater than circumstance. " In the 
 world ye shall have tribulation ; in me ye shall have 
 peace." 
 
 Whatever else may fail me, the Heavenly Father 
 never can. He knows me by name, His providence 
 is about me, His Spirit is within me — not as a 
 general law merely, but as a personal care ; not 
 shining indiscriminately as the sun, knowing not 
 whether it falls upon a flower or a stone, but shining 
 as a loving intelligence, a special sympathy, appre- 
 hended by the discerning and sympathetic soul. My 
 life needs a God, not one who sits upon a distant 
 throne, ruling a multitude of subjects, but one who 
 holds me by my right hand, walks by my side, and 
 is my very present help in every time of need. 
 
 What a privilege of life this consciousness is! 
 He would have me " without carefulness " — " Casting 
 all your care upon him, for he careth for you." 
 
 Trust in Him with a true heart ; trust, and living 
 you shall suffer no ill, and dying you shall feel no 
 death. 
 
199 
 
 AN ORDINATION CHARGE. 
 
 M Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine ; continue in 
 them : for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that 
 hear thee/'— 1 Timothy iv. 16. 
 
 My Beloved Brother, — From the earliest ages of 
 the Church these words have been consecrated to 
 services like the present, their aptness and momen- 
 tousness spontaneously suggesting them to everyone 
 discharging such a duty as, at your request, I have 
 to-day undertaken. A live coal from off the altar, 
 laid upon the hearts of God's consecrated servants, 
 they have, probably, kindled the sacrifice of minis- 
 terial service more frequently than any other scrip- 
 ture, perhaps than all others combined ; they seem to 
 have been indited by the Holy Spirit for this especial 
 use. My own ordination charge was founded upon 
 them ; they are themselves a charge ; and I should 
 abundantly justify to myself the service which I now 
 undertake, could I hope to produce in your mind and 
 heart to-day impressions, and purposes, and prayers, 
 like those then produced in my own. 
 
 Assuredly, I shall not be unmindful of the ad- 
 monition, u Thou, therefore, that teachest another, 
 teachest thou not thyself?" but in addressing you 
 upon the responsibilities of the Christian ministry I 
 shall put myself in the foremost place, and endeavour 
 to reach your conscience and heart through my own. 
 
 May the Holy Spirit enable all of us, whom He 
 has counted faithful and put into the ministry, to 
 place ourselves by your side, to recall our own ordi- 
 nation impressions and vows ; so that, with you, we 
 may now search our hearts, and pray our prayers, and 
 
200 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 renew the dedication of body, soul, and spirit to Him 
 " whose we are and whom we serve." 
 
 Hardly, however, can we feel as you feel : a first 
 ordination to the ministry comes only once ; we can 
 hope only faintly to reproduce its impressions. To 
 you this will be a day long to be remembered, a day 
 to date from henceforth and for ever, a day from 
 which incalculable results must flow. What sanctities 
 gather round it ; what prayers and purposes mark it ; 
 what memories will reproduce it ; even through 
 eternity it will be in your heart and your history, 
 distinct and solemn and transcendent — a day of days, 
 " the day of your showing to Israel." 
 
 Will you try, then, to realise the resemblance of 
 your position to-day to that of Timothy ; — a young 
 minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, your ministry just 
 commencing and about to shape for itself a character 
 and a history ? You will then be prepared to listen 
 with docility, and even with awe, to the apostle's 
 injunction that you " take heed " to it, that with all 
 watchfulness and prayerfulness you set yourself to 
 realise its great spiritual ends, " to save yourself and 
 them that hear you." 
 
 I. First, then, the apostle enjoins you to take heed 
 to the character of your ministry. 
 
 Two things make a minister of Jesus Christ — the 
 man and his message, the "self" and "the doctrine." 
 And in a ministry of spiritual things the character of 
 the man is as momentous as that of his message. 
 Not only will your ministry be what your labour 
 makes it, but it will be what you yourself are. Your 
 personal character is the basis of your official cha- 
 racter ; your life is the condition of your work. You 
 are not a mere instrument for doing a mechanical 
 thing. It is not the mere exercise of certain faculties 
 of thought and speech, and official act, that is re- 
 quired of you. It is not a manipulated thing, a brief, 
 a book, a ritual that you are to produce. You are an 
 
AN ORDINATION CHARGE. 201 
 
 " ambassador in Christ's stead ; " your work is to pro- 
 duce states of feeling in men's hearts, conviction of 
 the truth, and impressions of the goodness of the 
 Gospel which you preach ; that you may practically 
 win men to the love and discipleship of the Saviour. 
 
 It is essential, therefore, that not only that which 
 you speak is true and holy, but that you who speak it 
 are true and holy also ; for men will transfer to the 
 message, even unconsciously, the impressions which 
 they receive of the messenger. 
 
 It is not, therefore, concerning your talents, nor 
 even concerning your message, but concerning your- 
 self, that your first solicitude is to be felt. Therefore, 
 it is that in giving you your charge as a minister, 
 God first renews His charge to you as a man. He bids 
 you take heed to your ministry by taking heed to 
 yourself. 
 
 There are two classes of things about which you 
 are to be solicitous. There are things pertaining to 
 you as a Christian man, and there are things per- 
 taining to you as a Christian minister. 
 
 1. In the first place, do not permit your work as 
 a minister to hinder your piety as a man. 
 
 As a Christian man, and in order to your per- 
 sonal piety and salvation, you need to " Take heed to 
 yourself." You will not be saved as a minister, but 
 as a man ; " lest/' says the apostle, "... when I have 
 preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." 
 
 How little men imagine the need of such solici- 
 tudes in a minister ! Can it be necessary to urge any 
 special care for personal piety upon one who, by the 
 consecration of his office, is " a man of God " ? 
 Does not the office itself avouch and secure the 
 character ? Does not the work sanctify the life, and 
 make the maintenance of personal piety an easy and 
 unencumbered thing ? Is not a minister's life neces- 
 sarily sequestered from evil and enshrined in good ? 
 How little they understand the human heart who 
 
202 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 reason thus ! In no sphere of life, perhaps, may- 
 piety be so easily and unconsciously lost— -just because 
 it is so taken for granted. Our form and habit of life 
 presume devoutness, and maintain the seeming of it. 
 And so our own vigilance may be lulled to sleep, and 
 ministerial piety may be lost in the very routine of 
 ministerial duty. 
 
 You, my brother, will doubtless have discovered, 
 ere this, that if by the assumption of the ministerial 
 office you have escaped one form of temptation, it has 
 been only to encounter another, more perilous still, 
 because more refined and subtle. 
 
 Other men study God's truth as food for the 
 nutriment of their own spiritual life ; you study it as 
 a science for producing spiritual life in others. Theo- 
 logical study is your professional business. You live 
 officially near to the most solemn things ; they are 
 the means and instruments of your work. 
 
 What, then, if your familiarity with them, as 
 instruments, should lessen your sense of them as 
 spiritual influences ! What if, while you wield God's 
 truth, so as that others tremble, you yourself are un- 
 moved by it! What if you should call others to 
 earnestness and holiness, and you yourself be trifling 
 and unspiritual ! What if you should lead the devo- 
 tions of others, and your own heart be undevout ! 
 What if you should minister at others' death-beds, 
 and be forgetful of your own ! What if the very 
 preacher of salvation should himself fail of it ! 
 
 Have you not already discovered that the asylum 
 which shuts some evils out, shuts others in ; that it is 
 possible, in studying the philosophy of spiritual life, 
 to neglect its experience ; for the theology of the 
 head to supersede the religion of the heart; to neglect 
 the tree of life in pursuit of the tree of knowledge ; 
 to be made the keeper of others' vineyards, and not 
 to keep your own ? May you not appeal to other 
 men's consciences and leave your own untouched ? 
 
AN OliDINATION CHARGE. 203 
 
 May you not lose the fervour and tenderness of your 
 own piety in your busy solicitudes about the piety of 
 others ? Oh, my brother, it is very much easier to 
 care for other men's souls than for our own ; to sustain 
 an outward activity than an inward religiousness — 
 that is, it is much easier to do than to be. 
 
 Take heed then to yourself, lest you come to live 
 too much an official, outside life — a life of mechanical 
 acts rather than of moral feelings. Remember that 
 great doing really depends upon great being. Let 
 our doing be but the fair intelligent product of our 
 inward being, of our thought, our culture, our com- 
 munion with God, and we cannot do too much. But 
 everything that we do outwardly w r e ought first to be 
 inwardly. God, that is, will not accept even the holi- 
 ness that you may produce in others as a substitute 
 for your own. You must give account of yoursdf to 
 God. You may become as unspiritual in the ministry 
 of spiritual as of secular things. You may so give 
 yourself to public preaching and prayer as that your 
 self-culture and private communion with God are 
 neglected. 
 
 And the temptation is all the more perilous, inas- 
 much as the reason for it seems to excuse it. We 
 might refuse to abridge our closet duties for any 
 secular business, but religious occupation seems 
 almost to justify it. Under any circumstances, the 
 care of our own souls requires of us the exercise of 
 the highest principle, and the most resolute determin- 
 ation. We are always too ready to substitute for 
 it anything which may seem to be an equivalent. 
 Spiritual solicitude for others does not demand the 
 judicial severity, the self-discipline and penance, that 
 self-culture involves. It is easier to preach a dozen 
 sermons than to conduct one half-hour's serious ex- 
 amination of our own souls. 
 
 And yet, whatever hinders our self-culture, be it 
 the work of the pulpit or the work of the market, is 
 
204 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 essentially pernicious. To keep our personal soul is 
 the first of all duties. If I lose my hold upon God 
 with the one hand, it will not compensate me that I 
 save men's souls with the other, " lest . . . when I have 
 preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." 
 
 Forgive me this urgency, my brother; I speak in 
 the presence of an urgent peril, and from the con- 
 sciousness of my own experience. " Keep thy heart 
 with all diligence ; " and whenever you detect in your- 
 self the first disinclination to secret prayer, the first 
 impatient feeling in sacred duties, the first substi- 
 tution of that which is official for that which is per- 
 sonal, then be sure that you are in peril, and cry unto 
 Him who can preserve you. 
 
 2. There are also things that pertain to you as a 
 minister. If you are not to permit your work as a 
 minister to hinder your piety as a man, neither may 
 you permit your piety as a man to fall short of your 
 work as a minister. For you are more than a " man 
 of God ; " you are a " minister of Jesus Christ," and 
 your character must sustain your office, your piety be 
 adequate to the functions that you discharge. It has 
 not been always so. Even setting aside those who 
 have presumed to take upon them an office for which 
 they were consciously unfitted, and those who have 
 guiltily permitted what was once a true and noble 
 spiritual life to decline, have there not been periods 
 in our Church history when the indispensableness of 
 ministerial piety was timidly maintained, and when 
 mere moral habits and intellectual aptitudes were the 
 chief things required ? Can we marvel at the sad 
 entail of woe that this brought ; that lowness of piety 
 engendered laxity of sentiment — for it is the heart 
 that is ever the true guardian of orthodoxy— and that 
 the declension and apostasy of many followed ? Many 
 a Puritan church stands like a tombstone over a grave 
 — a grave in which evangelical truth and life have 
 been entombed. Many a holy place in which our 
 
AN ORDINATION CHARGE. 205 
 
 fathers worshipped still witnesses a worship without a 
 mediator, the preaching of a cross upon which no 
 atoning Saviour hangs, and of a resurrection which 
 does not declare the Son of God with power. 
 
 Hardly, we trust, can the sin be repeated : the 
 penitence of many generations has bewailed it ; the 
 jealousy of the present generation has very pardonably 
 become almost morbid. And for me to-day to say 
 to you, my brother, that the exercise of your ministry 
 presupposes your piety, is, thank God, almost to utter 
 a truism. The latter is the required and fundamental 
 condition of the former. The first avowals of your 
 novitiate were of personal godliness, and before these 
 witnesses to-day, you have again professed repent- 
 ance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 You have recalled old memories of household 
 piety, of church consecration, of providential circum- 
 stance, of manifold grace, which have been listened to, 
 as well as recited, with swelling hearts. What pro- 
 cesses of Divine grace you have confessed, what 
 emotions you have hinted. How deep and earnest 
 the spiritual life that you have described ; how 
 prayerful your feeling, as, in the first solicitudes 
 of your ministerial purpose, you interrogated your 
 spiritual life. We have " glorified God in 3 7 ou," as we 
 have seen your own manifest conviction that this is 
 the essential condition of your spiritual w r ork, sancti- 
 fying by its presence, or invalidating by its absence, 
 every other. 
 
 Still there may be need to remind you that minis- 
 terial sanctity must be not only maintained, but 
 assiduously cultured, raised to a high tone, made 
 a pervading power ; and that, above ail other things, 
 it will determine your ministerial efficiency. And it 
 may not be unnecessary to caution you against the 
 subtle and insidious influences that are always oper- 
 ating to deteriorate it. With what emphatic and 
 
206 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 solicitous reiteration does Paul urge these things 
 upon Timothy, reminding him that in personal god- 
 liness he is to be an ensample to believers, an example 
 to those who are examples to the world ! 
 
 Ponder, then, my brother, the official importance 
 of a high spiritual character. The very obviousness 
 of it may diminish your sense of it. You may so 
 take it for granted as practically to neglect it. Other 
 men need piety as the essential condition of salvation ; 
 you need it, further, as the essential condition of your 
 work. Not that God requires less of other men than 
 He does of you ; but shortcoming in you would be more 
 flagrant, incongruous, and injurious. Above all men, 
 you need a piety that shall pervade and imbue your 
 whole being — that shall be so paramount and con- 
 trolling as manifestly to attemper your whole heart 
 and life, your studies and your prayers, your teachings 
 in the pulpit, and your ministerings as a pastor, your 
 sanction of the joys of life, and your solacing of its 
 sorrows — a piety that only communion with God can 
 generate, and only entire consecration express. You 
 are set apart not only to teach men godliness, but to 
 stimulate them to its attainment ; and your sermons 
 and prayers must live and burn, through the vital 
 spirit that is in them, ere they will awaken the re- 
 sponsive sympathies that you solicit. You cannot 
 separate your ministry from yourself — as you are, it 
 must be. Far more are you than a professor of 
 theological science ; far more than an ordinary 
 believer, or a saint. You are chosen to serve at the 
 altar of the church ; to be a " leader of the sacra- 
 mental host of God's elect ; " to be the spiritual guide 
 and exemplar of multitudes of immortal souls. To 
 you the Master commits, not the stewardship of 
 wealth, or the government of empires — that were 
 comparatively a light entrustment — but the keeping 
 of souls, of souls for whom He died. You receive it 
 from Him as your sole commission, your solemn 
 
AN ORDINATION CHARGE. 207 
 
 charge, that " you save yourself and those who hear 
 
 There is not one of us who does not feel how pos- 
 sible it is to commend a holiness that we do not cul- 
 tivate ; to point a path that we do not tread : to 
 speak of the love, even of a Christ, with a cold heart 
 to argue, even for the truth, in a spirit of unbelief; to 
 speak of comforts which we ourselves do not feel ; to 
 yearn for success from other motives than the love of 
 souls — " deceiving and being deceived." Our very 
 expressions of humility may be the utterances of a 
 proud spirit ; our rebukes of negligence spring from 
 a mortified vanity; our pastoral ministrations may 
 have " respect of persons " ; our faithful preaching be 
 a courting of popular applause ; yea, the very fruit of 
 our labours be "a sacrifice to our own drag, and 
 incense to our own net." And if we acquire facdity in 
 ministerial work, we may consecrate to indolence and 
 selfishness the leisure that it gives. 
 
 Others will refer to us their doubts or their com- 
 plicate experiences. What if we cannot deal with 
 them without exposing our own spiritual ignorance ! 
 What if, to their deep disappointment, they find us 
 " physicians of no value " ! The topics of your 
 ministry will relate to the various experiences of 
 men's tempted, struggling, sinful life ; their penitence, 
 their hopes, their fears, their duties. Suppose that 
 you lack the instinctive sympathies which true sanc- 
 tity gives ! Only the pure in heart see God : suppose 
 you lack such power of spiritual perception, and 
 the secrets of the most High be hidden from you ! 
 The great mysteries of godliness, which form the 
 staple of an efficient ministry, are penetrated, not by 
 a keen intellect, but by a sympathetic, prayerful 
 heart. You will know only as you yourself are, "If 
 any man will do the will of God, he shall know of the 
 doctrine whether it be of God." You will "grow in 
 knowledge" as a spiritual teacher only as you "grow 
 
208 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 in grace " as a spiritual man. Your preaching of the 
 things of God must largely be a history of your 
 experience of them. " I publish to my flock," says 
 Baxter, " the distempers of my own soul." 
 
 Oh, my brother, realise the true character of the 
 work that you have to do, and all injunctions will be 
 superfluous. It will form a channel in your heart, 
 into which every stream of thought, and feeling, and 
 purpose will flow. You will guard with a godly 
 jealousy the purities and refinements of spiritual 
 character. Your face will shine before the people as 
 you come down to them from the mount ; they will 
 " take knowledge of you that you have been with 
 Jesus." Your work will be to you a holy passion, a 
 thing of prayerful solicitude and trembling awe. You 
 will labour in the spirit of the Master's consecration, 
 and sacrifice yourself in the spirit of the Master's 
 passion. Your motto will be : " If by any means I 
 may save some." Your feeling : " Neither count I my 
 life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my 
 course with joy, and the ministry which I have re- 
 ceived of the Lord Jesus." 
 
 Forgive me, my brother, this importunity on this 
 point. It includes all counsels needful on my part ; 
 it touches all impulses on yours. 
 
 3. It is only another form of the same injunction 
 to say to you, in the next place, take heed to your 
 Ministerial Deportment. And this respects : 
 
 First, your conception of your office. How do 
 you conceive of its relation to the truth ? Where 
 does it rank ? What are its prerogatives ? How do 
 you wish men to account of you ? How do you 
 account of yourself? Questions which have agitated 
 the Church throughout its history, and which have 
 divided attention, even with the truth itself Nay, 
 the truth has often been subordinated to them, for 
 the office has been magnified above its functions. 
 Just in proportion as the Church has become corrupt, 
 
AN ORDINATION CHARGE. 209 
 
 the truth has been subordinated to the man — not the 
 man to the truth. Few more terrible histories have 
 been written than that of priestcraft, with its struggles 
 of unholy ambition, its tyrannies of successful intrigue 
 and unscrupulous power. The bishop of souls, a lord 
 of God's heritage ; the servant of Christ, a ruler of 
 nations, seating himself upon a throne, laying hold of 
 the powers of both worlds, and " exalting himself 
 above all that is called God, and worshipped ; " a 
 " mystery of iniquity " that began to work even before 
 the inspired pen dropped from the failing hand of the 
 seer, and while he could yet earnestly and beseechingly 
 warn the churches against it; and which, in countless 
 forms, is still working in all Churches. " Who," he 
 vehemently asks, " Who is Paul, and who is Apollos, 
 but ministers by whom ye believed ? " 
 
 Theoretically, you repudiate all lordly claims and 
 titles. " One is our Master, even Christ, and all we 
 are brethren." Your reply to all who ask concerning 
 your office is, " Let a man so account of us as of the 
 ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of 
 God." 
 
 Your office, rightly conceived of, claims an autho- 
 rity that is Divine ; but a wrong conception of it may 
 lead you to contend for an authority that Christ has 
 not given you, or to concede authority that it is un- 
 faithfulness to Him to part with. As a pastor, you 
 are to " feed the flock ; " as a bishop, you are to " rule 
 the church; " and of the members of the church, God 
 requires that they obey you and " submit themselves." 
 
 But then, your authority is not an arbitrary thing; 
 it is clearly defined and limited. It is restricted to the 
 administration of Christ's laws, to the enforcement of 
 Christ's truth. The submission that you may require 
 is only " in things that are the Lord's." 
 
 With this limitation you will, I trust, " magnify 
 your office," respect yourself as a minister of Christ, 
 and cause others to respect you as such. While you 
 
 o 
 
210 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 will avoid all foolish assumptions on the one hand, 
 you will not, by any unworthy subserviency on the 
 other, justify the reproach that they who " live to 
 please must please to live." You will be faithful and 
 fearless ; you will honestly witness for God ; you will 
 not shun to " declare the whole counsel of God ; " 
 you will not permit the truth and sanctity of God's 
 message to be disparaged in your hands. " Let no 
 man despise thee." The surrender of your inde- 
 pendence, the compromise of your fidelity, were 
 the death-signal to your usefulness and peace. 
 
 To be a servant of Christ is enough for your 
 highest ambition — your purest joys. "He that will 
 be greatest amongst you, let him be the servant of 
 all." The apostle had no higher glory than to sub- 
 scribe himself " Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ." As 
 such you stand in the true apostolical succession. 
 Add, my brother, one more to the countless in- 
 stances, so often ignored, of ministers of Christ, free 
 and fearless in the discharge of their duties, com- 
 mending themselves to every man's conscience, en- 
 shrining themselves in every man's heart. Be a 
 faithful servant of Jesus Christ, and there will be 
 no need of unseemly strife for church power. Be 
 assured that your influence will be proportionate to 
 your fidelity. Your place in the hearts of your 
 people will be secured neither by unworthy sub- 
 serviency, nor by official assertion, but "by pureness, 
 by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the 
 Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned." 
 
 Kemember, too, that your conscience is not the 
 law of other men's consciences. You may not, as a 
 religious instructor, overbear other men's personal 
 convictions. In many things you can give only 
 judgments — proffer only advice. Be careful not to 
 confound conscience and expediency ; some of the 
 most troublesome men amongst us are men of ex- 
 cessive conscientiousness, men who make a morality 
 
AN ORDINATION CHARGE. 211 
 
 of everything, and who, by claiming a conscientious 
 regard to things of mere expediency, really destroy 
 morals. Do not, my brother, be afraid of either the 
 existence or the expression of differing opinions ; 
 these must obtain where men are intelligent and 
 true, and your respect for them will secure respect 
 for your own. 
 
 Secondly, fill your soul with the magnitude of 
 your office. While you take care not to exaggerate 
 its official and social importance, it will be impos- 
 sible for you to exaggerate its moral importance. 
 What work that God gives a man to do on earth 
 can for a moment be compared with it ? You wield 
 " the powers of the world to come." You minister 
 truths that are transforming the world, its thoughts 
 and its life, its literature and its laws, its heart 
 and its social habits; truths that have quickened 
 dead souls to life, and that have made saints of 
 the worlds reprobates. At any moment the words 
 that you speak, made mighty through God, may 
 transform the man who hears you ; the man w T hom 
 social laws and mere moral influences have failed to 
 touch ; over whom a mother has wept, and a father 
 prayed in vain ; around whom wife and children 
 have clung in unavailing entreaty, and whom all 
 considerations of interest and character have failed 
 to constrain. You may transform a very child of 
 the devil into a child of God ; so that to-morrow 
 he shall listen to you with penitent heart and 
 hungry ears, prayer breaking from his lips, and 
 tears rolling down his cheeks, the demon of sin cast 
 out, and he sitting at the feet of the Saviour, 
 " clothed, and in his right mind." 
 
 Oh, my brother, never for a moment forget that 
 your preaching may save men ; that it is intended 
 to save men, and that, as you are faithful, God 
 will make it effectual for saving men. Oh, how is 
 this mighty Gospel wronged by those who minister 
 
 o 2 
 
212 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 it ; how its resources are limited ; its agency ham- 
 pered ; its powers permitted to slumber. How rarely 
 we make "full proof" of it; test it to the utmost; 
 try how much it can do ; sow as the husbandman 
 sows ; fight as the warrior fights ; reason as the 
 pleader reasons; expecting results, and watching for 
 them. 
 
 Thirdly, such conception of yom ministry will 
 determine your discharge of its various functions. 
 I will not enumerate them. The spirit of duty may 
 well dispense with a catalogue of duties. I need 
 not remind you how much wise care you will need 
 to give to the conduct of worship, the teaching of 
 Bible classes, the visitings of the pastor. 
 
 One thing only will I venture to specify, and 
 it is this : that whatever else you may do, you 
 will " take heed " to your preaching. Preaching is 
 the great function, preaching is the great practical 
 power of your ministry ; " the power of God unto 
 salvation." 
 
 Above all other moral agencies, oratory touches 
 and sways human passions, and for your oratory 
 you have the most potent of all themes. You may 
 not be able to achieve great scholarship, to become 
 an accomplished classic, a profound metaphysician, a 
 learned philosopher — although the better the scholar, 
 other things being equal, the more effective will 
 be the preacher. With scarcely an exception, the 
 greatest preachers have been great scholars. Luther, 
 Calvin, Howe, Watts, Hall, Chalmers, were all ac- 
 complished men, eminently combining science and 
 sanctity, the professor and the apostle, intellectual 
 gifts with spiritual fervour. But if for any cause it 
 should be with you an alternative, I beseech you, 
 my brother, by all that is solemn in your office, by 
 all that is precious in human souls, by all that 
 is pitiful in Christian compassion, by the passion 
 of Christ, by the love of the Spirit, by the great 
 
AN ORDINATION CHARGE. 213 
 
 purpose and yearning of the Father, cultivate that 
 which will save men. Strive, with all your powers, 
 to be an " able minister of the New Testament." 
 Let every thought and purpose, every sympathy 
 and effort — yea, your very life itself, be bound up 
 with the doing of this. " Give thyself iv/tully to it," 
 — literally be in it. Let no temptations to literary 
 ambition or to social enjoyment seduce you from 
 it ; let all your studies be pursued with a reference 
 to it ; let it be the passion of your undivided heart ; 
 fill the soul of every purpose with it — " determine 
 to know nothing else amongst men." Men excel in 
 no pursuit of life without enthusiasm, least of all 
 in preaching. Let, then, effective preaching be your 
 great ambition — your sermons the focus into which 
 you bring all the rays of your thought, and scholar- 
 ship, and feeling, to be enkindled by the Holy Spirit 
 into a blaze of sacred eloquence. Make everything 
 contribute to the wealth, lucidity, and power of your 
 sermons. And preach sermons that shall be not 
 the mere putting together of theological platitudes, 
 or moral aphorisms, but that shall be a nurture of 
 spiritual life, inclusive of all things, meddling w r ith 
 all interests, uniting all objects, concentrating all 
 energies, sermons dealing not with metaphysical 
 subtleties, but with the practical moralities that 
 come home to the business and bosoms of the 
 living, every-day men of this nineteenth century. 
 
 Your only possibility of eminent success is to 
 choose your end, and to make everything contri- 
 bute to it. And this, if an enthusiast, you will do. 
 All men and all things, conversation and books, 
 histories and travels, philosophies and fictions, news- 
 papers and every-day experiences — you will compel 
 all to contribute their wisdom and suggestion. And 
 you will preach with singleness, enthusiasm, passion, 
 and absorption. Be assured that over-preparation 
 for preaching, if of the right kind, is an impossibility 
 
214 RE NET ALLON. 
 
 Your danger is not in over-study, but in separating 
 any study from this one supreme one. 
 
 Hence so many pitiful failures in our ministers ; 
 it is not the want of adequate talent, but of deter- 
 mined aim and adjusted culture — their utter lack 
 of passionate earnestness. There is no fire burning 
 within them ; no zeal of the Lord among them. If 
 they have purposed at all, they have purposed 
 something else — either to be scholars, or writers, 
 or thinkers, or eloquent discoursers of religious philo- 
 sophy; they have not, that is, purposed the great 
 end of the orator — to carry his point. Be this, 
 then, your end and passion ; speak to men with 
 the words of God burning on your lips. Magnify 
 your preaching office ; feel it to be a " grace given 
 unto you ; " watch over the sacred fire, and nurture 
 it with holy prayers, and sympathies, and purposes. 
 Whenever you preach it, if only in a cottage, preach 
 your best; "seek out acceptable words," and the 
 most effective manner of uttering them ; reverence 
 human souls, and think how solemn a thing it is 
 to come to them from God. You find them dead 
 in trespasses and sins ; speak to them words where- 
 by they may be saved — words of yearning, burning 
 sympathy ; words of gracious Gospel, of holy, helpful, 
 transforming truth. 
 
 II. And this reminds me that you are specially 
 enjoined to take heed not only to yourself, but also to 
 the doctrine — that is, you are not to mistake the 
 thing to be preached. It is here designated "the 
 doctrine," the truth of Christ, the doctrine involved in 
 Christ's life and death, and revealed in Christ's word ; 
 the doctrine exclusively, without additions of human 
 supposition ; the doctrine entirely, without any with- 
 holdment ; the doctrine as Christ Himself has dis- 
 tributed and proportioned it, in all its wise and won- 
 derful adaptations to men of different thoughts and 
 different characters. " Teaching every man, warning 
 
AN ORDINATION CHARGE. 215 
 
 every man in all wisdom." Let no one escape your 
 appeal, or evade your aim ; let your ministry be, as it 
 were, an anticipatory bar of judgment, to which every 
 man must " give account." Let every heart feel your 
 searching in turn ; let the hypocrite feel that he can 
 wear no disguise that God's truth cannot penetrate, 
 and the unbeliever that he can never so harden his 
 heart as that God cannot touch it ; speak to the 
 worldly as he brings hither the world in his heart, 
 and to the undecided as he halts betwixt two opinions, 
 to the penitent as he smites upon his breast, and to 
 the feeble as he wearily struggles with his burdens. 
 Let each be warned, and encouraged, and taught, 
 "rightly dividing the word of truth." 
 
 Above all, my brother, preach Christ Never 
 forget your character as His ambassador, nor your 
 message as the preacher of His cross. Let every 
 reference of your preaching be to the living, personal 
 Christ. In the strictest sense of the term, you are to 
 " know nothing amongst men save Jesus Christ, and 
 Him crucified." In this, Christianity knows no 
 change, is capable of no development ; the things 
 which Paul committed to Timothy are still to be 
 " committed to faithful men." You have not a truth 
 to discover, but a discovered truth to proclaim. You 
 have simply to connect the Christ that Paul preached 
 with all the varied forms of our modern life. The 
 cross of Christ is a Gospel for universal humanity ; 
 the world can never outgrow it until it outgroAvs 
 its sin. 
 
 Be not ashamed, then, of this Gospel of Christ. A 
 more fatal invalidation could not befall humanity 
 than reserve or incertitude here. Clear and undoubt- 
 ing faith is the essential condition of your success. 
 Whatever your reverent sense of the mysteries of 
 the Divine counsels, you are surely entitled to hold 
 firmly by revealed facts, and to proclaim them de- 
 cisively and authoritatively. Reverent diffidence, 
 
216 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 modest inquiry, and well-discerned limitations, will 
 commend themselves to all who are wise ; but for 
 God's ambassador to have only doubts to utter, is 
 to turn the ministry into an impertinence. 
 
 Preach Christ, then, my brother; bear constant 
 and decisive testimony to His death and resurrection ; 
 assured that there is " no other sacrifice for sin," " no 
 other blood that cleanseth," that it is still " a faithful 
 saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ 
 Jesus came into the world to save sinners." The 
 truest philosophy is to preach the thing that men's 
 necessities crave. When hungry souls ask you for 
 bread, you may not give them stones. 
 
 And preach Christ for Christ's sake ; not because 
 the people will have it so, and because thereby 
 you may secure the greatest following ; but from a 
 deep and pervading sense of His presence in Christ- 
 ianity. Paul gloried in His cross, and would glory in 
 nothing else. It was the paramount topic of His 
 ministry. Wherever he went he so paraded it as to 
 make it a local spectacle, so that he could say to them 
 of Galatia : " Before your eyes Jesus Christ is evidently 
 set forth, crucified amongst you." So do you make 
 every place a Calvary, where affection may weep, and 
 carelessness tremble, and penitence pray, and infidelity 
 smite upon its breast. Such a theme is in itself a 
 power ; a moral magnet, which the weakest may hold. 
 " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." 
 
 III. And then this care for yourself and for the doc- 
 trine is to " 'continue!' "Continue in them." Your 
 moral and ministerial fitness are to be persistent and 
 habitual. You may not permit your pious fervour to 
 evaporate in to-day's emotions, nor your fidelity to be 
 circumscribed by to-day's vows, nor your yearning 
 desire for usefulness to expend itself in next Sabbath's 
 sermons. Your effort is not to be spasmodic and 
 fitful. To the primary power of piety and zeal you 
 must add the cumulative influence of consistency and 
 
• AN ORDINATION CHARGE. 217 
 
 perseverance. The fire upon the altar must be kept 
 ever burning. Do not permit anything to divert you 
 from your ministry or to lessen its efficiency. " It is 
 not meet that you should leave the word of God and 
 serve tables." " Let the potsherd strive with the pot- 
 sherds of the earth." Your w r ork is your sufficient 
 vocation. Can you, think you, ever so discharge it as 
 to deem yourself at leisure for some supplementary 
 occupation ? " Give tlryself wholly to it," and, if 
 solicited to literary struggles or to political strifes, let 
 your sufficient answer be, " I am doing a great work, 
 and cannot come down." 
 
 Continue in it, even to the end; knowing no 
 pause, keeping no Sabbath, augmenting your influ- 
 ence, and multiplying your talents. Be " faithful unto 
 death, and you shall receive a crown of life." 
 
 " Ye who your Lord's commission bear, 
 His way of mercy to prepare ; 
 Angels, he calls you — be your strife 
 To lead on earth an angel's life. 
 Think not of rest — though dreams be sweet, 
 Start up and ply your heavenward feet ; 
 Is not God's oath upon your head, 
 Ne'er to sink back on slothful bed 1 
 Never again your loins untie, 
 Nor let your torches waste and die, 
 Till, when the shadows darkest fall, 
 Ye hear your Master's midnight call." 
 
 I Y. And, finally, if competently and faithfully 
 discharged, your ministry will realise its proper aims 
 and issues. You will both " save yourself and them 
 that hear you." The Master will graciously recognise 
 the simplicity of your purpose, and the moral fitness 
 of your methods, and will bless you with His saving 
 grace. 
 
 This, therefore, you are to aim at and to expect. 
 There is a sense in which you are not responsible for 
 success, it is " God " who giveth the " increase." 
 
218 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 But God forbid that you, my brother, should ever 
 know the feeling that, because of this, can be con- 
 tented without the increase. 
 
 Paul agonised for success, " travailed in soul " for it 
 until Christ was formed in his converts, had " continual 
 sorrow and heaviness of heart," " besought them day 
 and night with tears," was " ready to be made a curse," 
 if thereby they might be saved. Paul's Master and 
 yours was made a curse for the salvation of the souls 
 to which you preach. It was the " travail of his 
 soul," the "joy that was set before him." Let it be 
 also your travail and joy ; for this do you " strive 
 mightily," if " hy any means you may save some." As 
 Christ gives these souls into your charge, He commands 
 you to save them. 
 
 And you know the appalling consequences if they 
 are not saved. Oh, my brother, how will you feel and 
 preach, as from Sabbath to Sabbath you ascend this 
 sacred desk, and look round upon men and women 
 who, you have but too much reason to fear, are not 
 saved ? In imagination you will see them passing to 
 the bar of God, to give account to Him who shall 
 judge both quick and dead. In a sense that is true 
 of no other human being, the destiny of these par- 
 ticular souls depends upon you. Oh, how deeply, 
 prayerfully, painfully solicitous will you be, so "to 
 warn every man, and to teach every man in all 
 wisdom, as that you may present every man faultless." 
 The text warrants you to expect this. It speaks of 
 their salvation as a natural consequence of your 
 fidelity ; there is no suggestion of the possibility of 
 your being faithful, and they not saved. Exceptions 
 there may be — men will perish under the most faith- 
 ful ministry ; but these are exceptions ; the rule of 
 God's blessing is that in proportion as you are faithful 
 those who hear you will be saved. 
 
 Be faithful, then, my brother — faithful to the 
 truth, faithful to yourself, faithful to Christ, faithful 
 
AN ORDINATION CHARGE. 219 
 
 to these souls, faithful even unto death ; and you will 
 receive, not only the guerdon of other men, not only " a 
 crown of life," not only the personal commendations 
 of the Master : " Well done, good and faithful servant " 
 — a wondrous recognition of our poor service — but 
 your special service will result in living fruits and 
 witnesses of your fidelity — in saved men, who will 
 stand w r ith you before God, and by their personal 
 gratitude and love will crown even your joy in 
 heaven. Next in fervency to their love for their 
 Lord will be their love to you ; through eternity they 
 will " call you blessed," and in its surprise and joy the 
 rapture of your "Here am I" will be rivalled by that 
 of the " Here are the children whom Thou hast mven 
 
 me." 
 
 My brother, 
 
 " I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead, at his 
 appearing and his kingdom ; preach the word ; be 
 instant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, 
 exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. . . . 
 Watch thou in all things, ... do the work of 
 an evangelist ; make full proof of thy ministry." 
 
 0, man of God, fight the good fight of faith, lay 
 hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, 
 and hast professed a good profession before many wit- 
 nesses. 
 
 " I give thee charge in the sight of God, wdio 
 quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ, who 
 before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that 
 thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebuk- 
 able, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 " And when the chief Shepherd shall appear thou 
 shalt receive a crown of glory." 
 
 " Consider what I say ; and the Lord give thee 
 understanding in all things." 
 
220 
 
 THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, AND THE 
 CHURCH. 
 
 ADDRESS FROM THE CHAIR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL 
 
 UNION. 
 
 [This address, though delivered so long ago as 1864, and upon 
 subjects concerning which there has been, since then, much 
 controversy, causing of necessit}*- some changes of opinion, is 
 inserted here as belonging to the years in which Dr. Allon 
 was in the prime of life, and as an illustration of the position 
 held in that day by the broader school of Congregational 
 ministers.] 
 
 Beloved and Honoured Fathers and Brethren, 
 — In assuming the position to which I have been 
 thus called, it were vain for me to deny some degree 
 of even trembling anxiety. This, however, would be 
 greater still were it not for the character of this 
 assembly — an assembly of free men, whose conclusions 
 are reached by honest independence of thought, and 
 by frank and fearless debate. Were your chairman in 
 any sense the arbiter of ecclesiastical matters, " such 
 an one as Paul the aged " would alone be suitable for 
 the office. Kesponsible only for my own individual 
 opinions, and with no fear for the perfect brotherliness 
 of our proceedings, I tremble only in the sense of per- 
 sonal prominence and speech among older and wiser 
 brethren. 
 
 It would be ungrateful were I not also to confess 
 a humble and thankful joy ; I thank the God and 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom I serve in the 
 Gospel of His Son, for every indication of the con- 
 fidence and love of my brethren ; for by these only 
 could any man be placed here. The mere place were 
 a carnal and unworthy ambition, but the spontaneous 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH. 221 
 
 love that confers the place is, next to the favour of 
 the Master, the highest and purest glorying of my 
 life. In the deep sense of it I will try to be more 
 thankful to Christ, and more useful to His Church, 
 and to you. 
 
 My service, however, is a vicarious one. Our 
 brother Mr. Harrison was first designated for this 
 honour. Standing high in our esteem, and living 
 warmly in our affections, we were prepared to greet 
 him this morning with no ordinary expressions of our 
 confidence and love. But God has otherwise deter- 
 mined ; a severe and protracted sickness has disabled 
 his ministry to us, and his still more important 
 ministry to his own church. Our sympathies with 
 him take another form than that which Ave had 
 anticipated. Happily, however, they are relieved 
 from fears which a few months asfo would have 
 weighted them with sadness; and we can rejoice that 
 his disability is nearly removed. A shadow of 
 great darkness had fallen upon him, but the brightness 
 which made it a shadow was there also ; and like a 
 cloud from a landscape the shadow has passed away, 
 and the blessed and rejoicing light of God again shines 
 upon his home, his church, and us. " For indeed he 
 was sick nigh unto death : but God had mercy on him ; 
 and not on him only but on us also, lest we should 
 have sorrow upon sorrow." 
 
 When most unexpectedly requested to supply his 
 lack of service, I did not confer " with flesh and 
 blood ; " I gave a more unhesitating assent than I 
 should have done to a request in the ordinary course 
 of things ; I gave myself no time for even the fluttering 
 hesitancy that the most confident might well feel. 
 My brotherly sympathies, the exigencies of the 
 circumstances, and my deference to whatever may be 
 the wishes of my brethren constrained me — " therefore 
 I came unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I 
 was sent for." I will urge no plea of unworthiness, 
 
222 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 however I may feel it ; I will utter no word of depreca- 
 tion, however naturally such may rise to my lips ; I 
 will make no avowals, however earnest and prayerful 
 my purposes. I would rather try, so far as personal 
 feelings must obtain, to realise the " perfect love 
 which casteth out fear," and to feel myself "your 
 servant for Jesus' sake ; " and as rapidly as possible I 
 would hasten from all personal references to things 
 broader and higher ; and in the simplicity and 
 absorption of a common service to our Divine Master, 
 forget everything but your brotherly love and His 
 great glory. May He, the ever present Head of His 
 Church, "whose we are, and whom we serve," be con- 
 sciously and helpfully present with us all, in all our 
 words and works ! 
 
 If I gather into a single sentence the greetings cus- 
 tomary on these occasions, it is because I can so take 
 for granted our mutual love as to feel no necessity for 
 their detailed affirmation. We meet in peace, no dis- 
 cord disturbs the harmony of our churches ; no 
 angry purpose threatens the joy of our intercourse. 
 The God of peace is with us. Our " churches have 
 rest." The Lord grant that, " walking in the fear of 
 the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost, they 
 may be multiplied." " Peace be to the brethren, and 
 love with faith, from God our Father and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 Brethren of other churches we joyfully recognise 
 as fellow-servants with us, and "fellow-heirs of the 
 grace of life ; " we bear a common name, " their Lord's 
 and ours." Those present we gladly welcome to a full 
 brotherly fellowship ; for all others we cherish 
 brotherly sympathies and proffer brotherly prayers. 
 " Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus 
 Christ in sincerity. Amen." 
 
 Year by year our greetings change, and every 
 year there are some that we cannot renew. The law 
 of change — instructive and solemn — passes upon this, 
 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHUBOIL 223 
 
 as upon all periodic gatherings of men. The majority 
 of faces upon which I look to-day are the familiar 
 faces of last year and* the j r ear before ; but upon every 
 one change has passed. 
 
 The great glaciers of the Alps fulfil their course like 
 the history of human lives ; noiselessly and imper- 
 ceptibly they slide from the place of their mountain 
 birth to the valley in which they are dissolved ; and 
 yet each year marks every part with change — the 
 fresh snow consolidates into ice at their cradle — the 
 various marks and fissures of progress attest their 
 course — they melt and pass away at their terminus — 
 the snowy child of the mountain having become a 
 river of living waters to fructify the sunny plain. 
 Similar to this is our course. Every year we look upon 
 faces grown older and heads grown whiter. Even the 
 most youthful advance by palpable stages ; the stu- 
 dent of last year is a pastor this ; the fluttering hopes 
 and fears of a first year's pastorate pass into calmer 
 assurance ; the auguries of those who prayerfully laid 
 hands on the young minister are more decisively ful- 
 filled — he makes good his claim to confidence and 
 honour, perhaps takes a junior place among the 
 " elders who have obtained a good report." He who 
 but yesterday felt insignificant in this assembly, and 
 as from an obscure distance looked with reverence to 
 its fathers, is amazed to find himself presiding over its 
 councils. With some the foot begins to falter, the 
 familiar voice to tremble, and the consciousness dawns 
 that for good or for evil the great work of life is done, 
 and that only gleanings can be added to its garnered 
 sheaves. Then the reverent head bows beneath its 
 crown of glory ; it is the land of Beulah, where for a 
 little time the pilgrims of life wait for the summons to 
 cross the river. Again we come together, and the 
 familiar presence is missed, and with a chastened 
 sadness and a tender affection it is said, " he is not, for 
 God hath taken him." 
 
224 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 Every year adds to our necrology, and the past has 
 been no exception. Some — youthful soldiers — have 
 fallen early in the field ; others — men of maturer 
 wisdom and strength — have been taken away in the 
 midst of their days ; some few, who after their task 
 was done had lingered until busy workers had almost 
 forgotten them, have gathered up their patriarchal 
 feet, and another generation has become a tradition of 
 the past. Our fathers — where are they ? The prophets 
 — do they live for ever ? 
 
 Thus, while our assembly remains, its constituents 
 change, and our heritage of honoured names, of 
 precious memories, of fruitful work, grows richer. 
 Each succeeding year we are " compassed " with a 
 greater " cloud of witnesses." Blessed be the great 
 Head of the Church, for the fathers whom we rever- 
 ence who are yet spared to us, and for younger 
 brethren in whom we hope, whom He does not cease 
 to give — a true and holy apostolical succession, as 
 useful and as honoured, as qualified to " feed the flock 
 of Christ," and to "speak with the enemy in the 
 gate " — as princely in liberality, and as simple in con- 
 secration, as the men of any previous generation. 
 " Instead of the fathers come up the children, and 
 they are princes in the land." 
 
 It has been the custom for my predecessors in 
 this office to speak concerning the position and 
 aptitudes of our own denomination, and the part 
 which it is taking, or ought to take, in the great 
 work of evangelising the world. Naturally and 
 necessarily, the excellences and defects of our own 
 distinctive Church system have been the most 
 prominent subjects of our annual thought and debate. 
 The very able addresses of my immediate predecessor* 
 were very inclusive of these ; they discussed most of 
 the prominent matters of our interior church life, 
 and with so much of suggestive wisdom and telling 
 * The late Dr. Mellor, of Halifax. 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH. 225 
 
 point, that holy and thankful response was elicited 
 from all our hearts. 
 
 May I venture on this occasion to depart from 
 these precedents, to assume that our own denomination 
 has for the present been sufficiently discriminated and 
 discussed, although it will ever behove us jealously to 
 guard its position, and to stimulate its agencies ? 
 But the denomination is not the Church, and every 
 now and then there is need that the tribes forget their 
 distinctive interests, and yield themselves to the 
 inspirations of a common patriotism. At the present 
 time, I think, the things that the most fill men's 
 minds and hearts are not things distinctive and 
 denominational, but things that vitally affect the 
 whole Catholic Church of Christ. Will you permit 
 me to occupy the rest of your time this morning with 
 a few remarks concerning some of these ? 
 
 No one can fail to see that the atmosphere of the 
 Church is heavy and troubled ; portentous clouds 
 have gathered ; some have broken in fierce tempests ; 
 and we hardly know yet what has been uprooted, and 
 what has been rocked, only to take a more vigorous 
 hold upon the soil. 
 
 The Christ, the Book, and the Church, with all 
 that is vital in them, are now challenged. It is no 
 longer a dispute about meanings, it is a demand for 
 authority. It is no longer, " What does the Christ 
 say ? " but " Who is the Christ that He should speak 
 at all ? Is He really the Saviour and Master that He 
 claims to be ? " The Bible is no longer, as heretofore, 
 asked simply concerning its meaning, but concerning 
 its authorship and authority. By what right does it 
 speak at all ? Who authorised it to declare God's 
 counsels and to give law to men's consciences ? Is it 
 in any distinctive sense an inspired and' authoritative 
 revelation from God, or is it simply a surpassing 
 inspiration of ordinary sanctified humanity ? These 
 matters, moreover, are no longer, as hitherto, debated 
 
226 
 
 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 with opponents without the Church, but with teachers 
 within it. So long as the Church presented a con- 
 sentaneous and compact array against foes without, 
 or simply lacked the aid of her own indifferent and 
 unspiritual members, she wap but fighting the battle 
 for which she was ordained ; now her accepted and 
 fundamental truths are assailed by some of the most 
 able and earnest of her sons. It is " heresy/' strictly 
 so called, that challenges orthodoxy ; like Saul the 
 Pharisee, good men " verily think within themselves 
 that they ought to do many things contrary " to the 
 traditional authority of the Bible, " which things they 
 do/' It is no longer a Tom Paine necessitating the 
 " Apology " of a Bishop Watson ; the foes of the Bible 
 are " those of its own household." And the supreme 
 judicature declares that within the same ecclesiastical 
 enclosure one party must recognise, as fellow members 
 and authorised ministers, others who deny what, to 
 say the least, they themselves deem essential to the 
 Divine authority of the Bible. The civil authority is 
 not only supreme over the ecclesiastical in the deter- 
 mination of doctrine, but it gives its legal sanction 
 to that which it does not deny to be theological 
 heresy. 
 
 This greatly adds to the gravity of the crisis. 
 While the personal excellences and official position 
 of many who thus teach error are melancholy proofs 
 of the practical inefficiency of creeds and establish- 
 ments to secure the orthodoxy even of their own 
 members, they are a great vantage-ground for those 
 with whom we have to contend. Who can fail to 
 feel how much the controversy would be relieved were 
 the issue simply one of Scriptural truth — were there no 
 questions of civil law, or official prerogative, or 
 authoritative creeds complicated with it ? 
 
 If ever the advantages of our own simple Church 
 system were manifest it is surely now. Were one of 
 our bishops to fall into heresy, save as he might be 
 
TEE CHRIST, TEE BOOK, TEE OEURCE. 227 
 
 able to produce convictions in others it would begin 
 and end with himself. No legal decision would com- 
 pel the toleration of his heresy in his own communion ; 
 recognition would be refused him, and there an end. 
 Surely men will see ere long that a system which 
 places law above truth, and which imposes upon 
 both churches and ministers such incongruous and 
 humiliating disabilities, can be neither scriptural 
 nor expedient. 
 
 Let me very emphatically say that questions like 
 these vitally concern us; they have, therefore, imperative 
 claims upon us. The Church that, when such matters 
 were in debate, either remained indifferent, or pur- 
 posely stood aloof, would fatally isolate itself, manifest 
 a selfish sectarianism, and guiltily betray the entrust- 
 ment of the Master. It was a maxim of Socrates that 
 u in times of danger all good men should take sides/ 5 
 The curse fell upon Meroz simply because she stood 
 aloof. It is impossible for more momentous issues to 
 be imperilled. Upon what the Christ really is — upon 
 what the Bible really is — upon what the Church 
 really is — everything vital in Christianity depends. 
 All wise men shrink from controversy; where the 
 spirit of contention is, the Church is grievously 
 vexed with a devil, and until it is cast out she can do 
 no healthy work. But sometimes controversy may be 
 the first and most pressing of her duties. The greatest 
 evil that can afflict a land is war ; but to w\age war 
 may sometimes be the highest and holiest patriotism. 
 He who morbidly or passionately exalts into the 
 domain of controversy things of mere expediency, and 
 by fierce, untiring debate distracts the Church, sins 
 against " unity, peace, and concord." But equally 
 guilty is he who permits things of vital principle to 
 be lowered to the sphere of mere expediency, and 
 who, for the sake of an unfaithful peace, refuses to 
 " contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the 
 saints." In its effeminacy, in its damaged conscience, 
 
 p 2 
 
228 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 in its unholy compromises, peace may be more 
 iniquitous and disastrous than war. 
 
 And yet in all Churches there are men whom 
 moral cowardice, or mistaken conceptions of duty, 
 hinder from taking part in the settlement of great 
 questions ; and who gladly leave to others the 
 responsibility of maintaining the truth. The}' are 
 not unfaithful to their convictions, but they are un- 
 faithful to the truth, concerning their duty to which 
 their convictions are mistaken. Nobly absorbed, 
 perhaps, in spiritual work — in preaching, in pastoral 
 duties, in various efforts to save men's souls — they 
 refuse both to examine their own ecclesiastical posi- 
 tion and to defend the theological truths upon which 
 the spiritual power of all Churches must depend. 
 They fear, perhaps, lest their own loosely-formed con- 
 victions should be disturbed, or their practical spiritual 
 work be hindered. To every Sanballat who challenges 
 them they reply, " We are doing a great work, so that 
 we cannot come down " — the wisest of all replies so 
 long as the enemy remains below in the " plain of 
 Ono," but what if he has climbed to the very walls of 
 the Holy City ? What if he assaults the builders on 
 its scaffold — what if he is tampering with its watch- 
 men, and raising an insurrection in its streets ? To 
 refuse to fight then were a cowardly infidelity to 
 Christ, which even the most pious occupation could 
 not justify. It is as if the harvestman were to 
 persist in the ingathering of his sheaves, regardless of 
 the enemy who had landed upon his coasts. It may 
 be a duty to sacrifice even a spiritual harvest in order 
 to defend the territory upon which all spiritual 
 harvests are to be produced. 
 
 Wise workers for Christ, like Christ Himself, will 
 let duties be dictated by circumstances. Sometimes 
 it may be a duty to labour in the city, and sometimes 
 to retire into the desert — sometimes to preach to the 
 multitude, and sometimes to dispute with the 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH 229 
 
 Pharisee and the Sadducee. Ours is not yet the 
 
 enviable condition in which we can work without 
 fighting. The flocks of the Church do not yet pasture 
 round dismantled and grass-grow r n cannon. As with 
 the old Jews, " the walls of the city are built in 
 troublous times/' and the builders stand upon the 
 scaffold, " every one with one of his hands labouring in 
 the work, and with the other holding a weapon." 
 AVould that there were no Samaritans to contend 
 against. How pleasant then would it be to build ! 
 How rapidly the work of conversion would advance ! 
 But God appoints it otherwise, and we may not 
 refuse His conditions of service. No man is per- 
 mitted so to do peaceful work as to be exempted from 
 rough conflicts. Nor, in the long run, will any man 
 attain to great nobility, reap great spiritual harvests 
 or win the Master's highest commendation, who is 
 unfaithful to the claims of great principles. 
 
 Upon the question of the Christ — His character and 
 claims, the whole of Christianity rests. Upon our 
 conceptions of His person and work, all Christian 
 doctrine, and all Christian heresy depend. All 
 Christian " truth is in Jesus." They who worship 
 him as the incarnate God, they who, through His 
 atoning death, seek reconciliation with God, neces- 
 sarily differ vitally from those who regard Him 
 as merely a perfect man, and as dying merely a 
 martyr's death. Nothing surely is more fundamental 
 in a religion than the object of w r orship, and the way 
 in which the sinful are restored to God. So long as 
 these are held in common, agreement is fundamental, 
 and other differences are but accidents : but these 
 denied, all that is distinctive in Christianity is denied 
 only a common morality is recognised. 
 
 It is simply, therefore, delusive and false to speak 
 of the common Christianity of men who thus differ. 
 " Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is 
 come in the flesh is not of God ; and this is that spirit 
 
230 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 of anti-Christ whereof ye have heard that it should 
 come, and even now already is it in the world." It is 
 not upon any will or assertion of ours that this rests, 
 it is an essential antagonism of things ; Christianity, 
 regardless of accidental diversities, is necessarily in- 
 tolerant of all who deny its fundamentals. 
 
 And yet these are the questions concerning the 
 Christ which are debated just now. He whom we 
 have worshipped as God is declared to be less than a 
 mere good man. In the great cause between Christ 
 and the Pharisees, the verdict on one count is given 
 in favour of the Pharisees, " he tuas a deceiver of the 
 people." With His disciples at Bethany He conspired 
 to put a living man into a tomb, that his emergence 
 therefrom might pass for a miraculous resurrection. 
 The cross, which our penitence has clasped, and up to 
 which the streaming eye of our faith has dared to 
 look, is but the martyr's death-tree of a handsome and 
 amiable Jewish shepherd, whose popularity had 
 deteriorated his noble moral character. We may 
 not, therefore, render it a higher homage than to 
 wreathe it with the garlands of a human sympathy, 
 and of a poetic sentiment. Moved by the divine 
 power of love, and under the influence of a hallucina- 
 tion, Mary of Magdala "gave to the world a 
 resuscitated God ; " so that for two thousand years 
 Christendom has believed, and worshipped, and 
 apologists have striven, and missionaries have toiled, 
 and martyrs have shed their blood for — a delusion and 
 a lie. 
 
 To this the controversy concerning the Christ has 
 come ! This is the apotheosis of infidelity ! This is 
 the utmost revelation of the spiritual faculty ! It 
 provokes our indignant resentment of its impertinence, 
 but it wonderfully reassures us by its folly. When 
 argument thus degenerates into absurdity and impos- 
 sibility a cause is lost. We are not, therefore, troubled 
 concerning the Christ. 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH. 231 
 
 The signal failures of rationalism to construct a 
 theory of the Christ, properly historic, but neither 
 divine nor supernatural, and that shall account for 
 all the phenomena of the Gospels, have well-nigh 
 exhausted the controversy. The field in which the 
 Divine Master walks and is worshipped by His 
 disciples is well-nigh cleared of gainsayers. Strauss 
 and Kenan simply prove that counter-theories are 
 exhausted. 
 
 Even the sober and reverent theory of English 
 Unitarianism makes no impression upon our religious 
 and social life. It continues traditionally, but it has 
 no living assimilating power ; and when now and 
 then, under the relentless exigencies of logic, some 
 venturesome writer impugns the perfect human 
 sanctity of the Christ, he excites only a passionate 
 resentment or an apologetic pity. It is manifest that 
 he is arguing from a priori principles rather than 
 from the constraint of resistless evidence. 
 
 The perfect holiness of Jesus is the world's one 
 sacred thing, that it has enshrined in its heart of 
 hearts — its one bright star of hope amid the darkness 
 and tempest of sin — its one ideal of conceivable perfec- 
 tion amid the fragments of God's broken image — its 
 one calm and faultless life amid those who madly sin 
 or weakly struggle — its one redeeming thought and 
 hope amid the wrong and ruin, the degradation 
 and woe, that almost compel our despair of 
 humanity, and our denial of God. Men's religious 
 sensibilities cling to Him, their spiritual intuitions 
 confess Him. And when their own logic would con- 
 strain them to say, "Give glory to God, for we know 
 that this man is a sinner ;" they revolt from logic, and 
 incongruously take refuge in the inexplicable. 
 
 The " Leben Jesv," of Dr. Strauss, which a little 
 more than a quarter of a century ago startled 
 Christendom by its plausible theory of the Christ, is 
 not only almost forgotten, but it has been abjured by 
 
232 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 its author. With great learning and ingenuity it por- 
 trayed a merely human Christ, transcendent in good- 
 ness, but exalted to a Divinity only by the legends of 
 his ignorant and credulous fellows — which in the 
 course of the first two centuries shaped themselves 
 into the four Gospels. But this theory laboured 
 under a capital defect. Reducing the Christ to a 
 mere man, it left unexplained the universal belief that 
 He was a God. It made the effect greater than the 
 cause. It was compelled to confess a supernatural 
 Christianity, while it denied a supernatural Christ. 
 The precious fruit is acknowledged, but the living 
 vine that produced it is denied. And it is not one of 
 the least of the triumphs of modern scholarship, that 
 it has made this theory of the gradual growth of 
 legends untenable, by triumphantly demonstrating 
 that all the four Gospels belong to the first century ; 
 so that in a new edition of the " Leben Jesu " just pub- 
 lished Strauss himself confesses its untenableness, and 
 charges the Evangelists with wilful fraud. 
 
 And now comes M. Renan's new and still more 
 preposterous theory, already on all hands confessed to 
 be the most signal of the failures of Rationalism. 
 Few books of modern times have obtained so great a 
 notoriety. It is the one book of this generation 
 which has aroused the whole Christian world. This, 
 however, I venture to think, is an accident of the 
 man, rather than an excitement about his theme. M. 
 Renan's genius — his reputation as a Semitic scholar, 
 the richness of his conceptions, the romance of his 
 sentiment, the felicity and splendour of his style, his 
 marvellous power of reproductive imagination — of re- 
 peopling the scenes of history — of revivifying the 
 incidents and circumstances of personal life — and of 
 surrounding it with local accessories, are character- 
 istics which have placed him among the foremost 
 literary men of his age. The daring, too, with which 
 he assails the most reverent beliefs of men, and the 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE OHJJROH. 233 
 
 eagerness with which in Catholic countries every 
 assault upon the Church is hailed ; all these things 
 have given to the " Vie de Jesus " an extraordinary but 
 factitious interest. Apart from these, it neither ex- 
 presses any widespread feeling, nor has it produced 
 any. A thing of summer lightning, it plays harm- 
 lessly in an almost cloudless sky, launching no bolt 
 either to harm or to terrify whose who walk in the 
 peaceful fields of faith. 
 
 Few have felt that serious refutation was necessary. 
 A cry of surprise at its absurdity, or of indignation at 
 its blasphemy, has been the chief response elicited by 
 it. Argument is impossible with a writer of mere 
 romance. Historical criticism cannot deal with a 
 man so arbitrary and disingenuous in his use of 
 evidence. Philosophy refuses to recognise a man 
 who, repudiating her inductive processes, starts with 
 an a priori principle which is to determine what are 
 facts. Religion cannot appeal to a man who is so 
 destitute of spiritual conception, as that he can stand 
 before the holy Christ and see in Him the perpetrator 
 of pious frauds. For in nothing has M. Renan more 
 signally failed than in the inituitive power of inter- 
 pretation which constitutes the true historian. What- 
 ever the reproductive power of his intellectual imagina- 
 tion he must be absolutely denied the spiritual faculty 
 which recognises truth and goodness. Again we are 
 compelled to ask, " Where is the wise, where is the 
 scribe, where is the disputer of this world ? Hath not 
 God made foolish the wisdom of this world \ " 
 Falling upon this stone, the mightiest are " broken." 
 He who can stand before the Christ of the Gospels — 
 so sublime in intellect, so transcendent in goodness, so 
 spiritual in conception — and conceive the possibility 
 of the intellectual absurdities and the moral delin- 
 quencies which M. Renan charges upon Him, must, if 
 there be any reality in moral perception, be utterly 
 destitute of the faculty by which, according to the 
 
234 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 Apostle Paul, " spiritual things are discerned." Con- 
 cerning the Pharisees, Christ Himself said that, 
 " having eyes, they saw not." Standing in the full 
 blaze of His spiritual power and goodness, they could 
 blindly ask Him for a sign ; whereas, to all who were 
 not spiritually blind, He was His own sufficient sign — 
 His life was its own sufficient light — His goodness its 
 own sufficient attraction. As the tides respond to the 
 moon, as the corn bows before the wind, so do all 
 spiritual souls to the Holy Christ. Had their moral 
 sense been pure, they would have felt that the truth 
 in Him could not be a lie — that the right in Him 
 could not be wrong — that the Divine in Him could 
 not be of Beelzebub, nor even of poor imperfect 
 humanity. These things surely needed no prophetic 
 attestation, no miraculous endorsement, no historical 
 corroboration. 
 
 Must we not apply the same test, and say that he 
 who does not in the Gospels see the spiritual Christ is 
 spiritually blind ? The Divine Master does not need 
 to bring credentials with Him. His is a life that only 
 Divine wisdom could conceive, that only Divine good- 
 ness could constitute. But applying such a criterion 
 as this to scholarly and philosophic men like M. 
 Kenan, we must, of course, lay our account with the 
 contemptuous rejoinder, "Are we blind also ? " And 
 yet we may not forbear it. It is Christ's own test of 
 the spiritual. " Flesh and blood cannot reveal to us " 
 the divinity and moral glory of the Christ ; only " our 
 Father who is in Heaven." Following and worshipping 
 our Divine Lord, we must be willing to bear this 
 reproach also — to the ingenuous and modest one of the 
 most painful that can be borne — that we think our- 
 selves wiser than the gifted and the learned. 
 
 The controversy concerning the Christ does not, 
 then, disquiet us ; save, perhaps, in France, we venture 
 to think that it is nearly exhausted, and that His 
 position is virtually conceded. 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK THE CHURCH. 235 
 
 Our own churches are unswerving in their fealty 
 and worship. They are quick and sensitive, even to 
 passionateness, in their resentment of any suspected 
 wavering. He is the Deity whom we worship, the 
 Redeemer by whom we are saved, the one perfect 
 example whose steps we are to follow. Even the 
 insidious heresy that resolves the death of the cross 
 into simple self-sacrifice, and the atonement into mere 
 moral influence, finds little favour amongst us. The 
 healthy instinct which tells us that righteousness must 
 have precedence, even of love — must be that to which 
 love conforms — the necessary form that all expres- 
 sions of love assume, resents the maudlin theology 
 that finds its ultimate root and rest in mere benevo- 
 lence Our churches hold to the conception of 
 ( 'hrist's death as a proper expiatory atonement, having 
 a legal aspect Godwards, as well as a moral aspect 
 manwards. 
 
 These great truths are our life and our power. 
 They constitute the difference between negations and 
 beliefs. Negations cannot save men. He who truly 
 believes has greater power than thousands who only 
 deny. Precious and indispensable as are intellectual 
 gifts and acquisitions, these are neither the power of 
 our pulpits nor the life of our churches ; our strength 
 is in our message, and not in the learning or eloquence 
 with which we clothe it. It may be but the hand of 
 a child, but if it holds up the cross, it holds the power 
 that can save the world. " I, if I be lifted up from 
 the earth, will draw all men unto me." 
 
 Far distant be the day — as we devoutly believe it 
 is — when our churches shall falter in these beliefs, or 
 hesitate in their utterance. The spiritual forces of 
 every age of the past, of every agency of the present, 
 they must also be of the future. The world can never 
 outgrow its need of the Christ — of His divinity i'^r its 
 worship — of His atonement for its sin — of His 
 example for its imitation. Forms of preaching ma v 
 
236 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 change, misinterpretations may be rectified, new har- 
 monies and glories of Christianity may be discovered ; 
 but the Christ will be enthroned upon men's hearts, 
 as He is enthroned now — their utmost conception of 
 divinity, love, and goodness. " Thou art the King of 
 Glory, Christ, Thou art the everlasting Son of the 
 Father. When Thou tookest upon Thee to deliver 
 man Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb. When 
 Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death Thou 
 didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers. 
 Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of 
 the Father." 
 
 The controversy concerning the Book is much 
 more radical and pervading. It has long been foreseen 
 as the next inevitable controversy of Protestantism. 
 The infallible Bible superseded the infallible Pope ; 
 and being what it is — a collection of miscellaneous 
 writings, the productions of some twelve centuries 
 — it was inevitable that, sooner or later, many complex 
 questions concerning its authorship and authority 
 would arise. The marvel is that the conflict has 
 been so long delayed. But it has come upon us at 
 length, and perhaps none of us now living will see its 
 issue. Dogma has been superseded by criticism. 
 Every claim of the Book is subjected to the most 
 searching tests — whence it came, what it is, and what 
 authority it assumes. 
 
 The first result of such questioning has been fierce 
 conflict, and some degree of confusion on both sides. 
 Science, flushed with new discoveries, has rashly pro- 
 nounced its facts to be incompatible with the declara- 
 tions of the Bible — geology has dug up stones to 
 throw at it — philology has assailed it with hard 
 words — astronomy has declared that " the stars in their 
 courses fight against it " — history has summoned wit- 
 nesses to prove it legendary. And the natural effect 
 of this combined assault has been alarm and exaspera- 
 tion in those to whom it is precious as life itself, and 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH. 237 
 
 dear as the holiest hopes. These in their turn have 
 rashly denied the facts from which science has drawn 
 such premature inferences, or have put forward pre- 
 posterous theories to account for them. On neither side 
 can either the methods or the tone of controversy be 
 commended. Science has been arrogant, inimical, 
 premature. Theology has been dogmatic, jealous, and 
 ignorant. Science has been eagerly irreligious, full of 
 moral scepticism. Theology has been eagerly denunci- 
 atory, full of dogmatic intolerance. Science has in- 
 sisted upon crude theories and unproven hypotheses 
 as if they were demonstrated facts. Theology has 
 refused to admit that even its human interpretations 
 of Scripture may be wrong. 
 
 And this is the present attitude of the students of 
 these two great records of God — unreasoning hostility 
 on the one hand, unreasoning fear and objurgation on 
 the other. Instead of humbly sitting down side by 
 side, to help each other and to find out Him, they 
 have excommunicated and anathematised each other. 
 Perhaps it was inevitable that in their first contact, 
 new science, proud of her youthful achievements and 
 excited by the future before her ; and old theology, to 
 whom science was largely a sealed book and entrenched 
 in her traditional interpretation, should thus mis- 
 understand each other. Esau disparages the birth- 
 right, and Jacob employs reprehensible means to 
 secure it. 
 
 But this can be only for a little while. It is the 
 property of truth to discover and harmonise all 
 things. Science, by her own progress, will be com- 
 pelled to reconsider her speculations, and theology to 
 revise her interpretations. Science needs the Bible to 
 make it devout ; the Bible needs science in all its 
 departments to help in its interpretation. And as 
 surely as the God of truth is one, so surely will these 
 two volumes of His revelation to man be found 
 equally true and authoritative ; the one expounding 
 
238 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 the meaning of and bearing a wondrous witness to the 
 other. Already, indeed, we see this in part, for some 
 of the greatest names of modern science are among 
 the devoutest believers of the Bible. Faraday is one 
 of its preachers, and Owen one of its defenders against 
 infidel science ; and, with a goodly array of others, 
 they have testified that science, when conclusively 
 ascertained, is in perfect harmony with Scripture, 
 when rightly interpreted. 
 
 The course and issue of this great controversy will 
 probably be analogous to that concerning the Christ. 
 Rationalistic theories will be exhausted, inasmuch as, 
 one after another, they will fail to account for all the 
 facts and phenomena of Scripture ; until at length the 
 Holy Book established upon, not a traditional and 
 dogmatic, but upon an intelligible and critical basis, 
 is demonstrated to be God's supernatural and authori- 
 tative revelation to man. But do not let us be afraid 
 of saying that this can be only by a process of mutual 
 adjustment. In every age the true instinct of the 
 Church has recognised the Divine and Holy in the 
 Book, just as it has in the Christ. In this it cannot 
 be mistaken ; but it does not therefore follow that its 
 intuitive recognition has always been justified by 
 tenable arguments, or that its interpretations have 
 always been right. The divine record is one thing, 
 the human interpretation of it is another ; and everj^ 
 interpretation must be rejected as erroneous that does 
 not include a full and fair consideration of all the 
 phenomena. 
 
 It is sad enough that, instead of simply exploring 
 the rich Gospel field, and satisfying our souls with its 
 precious fruits of life, we should thus have to defend 
 it against invaders. Instead of garnering its truths 
 into our hearts we have thus to make them matter of 
 intellectual controversy. Instead of speaking them to 
 sorrowful hearts and into dying ears we are compelled 
 to debate whether they be God's truths at all, and 
 
THE CUEIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH. 239 
 
 have any right thus to speak life and comfort to men. 
 But we may not shrink ; we can have no satisfaction 
 in an unproven faith, no strength in vague misgivings. 
 Let the Book and all that is in it be fully submitted 
 to every test of both friend and foe, and " may God 
 defend the right ! " We seek no victory but for truth, 
 we believe that in the long run no other is possible. 
 And if from our religious side of the controversy we 
 confidently say we have no fear for the issue, w r e do not 
 utter w r ords of ignorant and foolish boasting, but words 
 that the history of eighteen centuries, that a thousand 
 proofs of the divine presence and ten thousand in- 
 stances of divine power, abundantly justify. Diffi- 
 culties there are, some of which the light of advancing 
 knowledge has removed ; others, for which, as yet, w r e 
 have found no solution. But unless our moral sense 
 has absolutely befooled us — unless the spiritual history 
 of this marvellous Book is a lie — unless our own expe- 
 rience of its spiritual power be a delusion, it will be 
 abundantly demonstrated to be " the word of the Lord 
 which endureth for ever." 
 
 Some of the most damaging assaults upon the Divine 
 Authorship of the Bible have really been assaults only 
 upon untenable theories of inspiration, which a more 
 justifiable position utterly disables. From my own 
 intercourse with the more intelligent members of 
 different evangelical Churches I verily believe that the 
 dogma of verbal inspiration has, in thousands of 
 religious men, produced a widespread revolt, and a 
 very painful and perplexing unsettledness respecting 
 the true character and claims of Scripture. It is 
 affirmed to be necessary for the divine authority and 
 infallibility of Scripture, that every word of it should 
 have been dictated by the H0I3- Spirit — as an author 
 dictates sentences to an amanuensis. Not contented 
 with the Catholic formula of Thomas Aquinas 
 " Auctor Sacrse Scriptune est Deus," some of the old 
 divines venture to say that " singula verba a Spirit u 
 
240 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 Sancto in calamum dictata," that " notarii sive tabel- 
 liones Spiritus Sancti, manus Christi, calami Dei 
 auctoris." One old dogmatist even maintained that 
 " the very style of Scripture is vitiated by no false 
 grammar, no barbarisms, no solecisms. " Were these 
 merely fancies of the schoolmen, we should simply 
 smile at them ; but they are reiterated by modern 
 writers. Thus Professor Gaussen represents the 
 sacred writers as different instruments of music, upon 
 which in turns the Holy Spirit plays. a The Lord 
 God, mighty in harmony, applied as it were the finger 
 of his Spirit to the stops which He had chosen for the 
 hour of His purpose, and for the unity of His celestial 
 hymn." Mr. Burgon says : — " Every book of the 
 Bible, every chapter of it, every verse of it, every word 
 of it, every syllable of it (where are we to stop ?), 
 every letter of it is the direct utterance of the Most 
 High." Dr. Candlish does not hesitate to say, 
 " Not merely the whole treatise, but every sentence 
 and syllable of it, shall be as much to be ascribed to 
 God as its author as if He had Himself written it 
 with His own hand." " They are very miscellaneous 
 papers ; every sort of character is "personated, as it 
 were, in the preparation of them ; every different style is 
 employed ; every age is represented, and every calling/' 
 Surely these are very solemn and daring claims, 
 and involve very momentous consequences. If this 
 be the claim of Scripture itself, where is the proof? 
 If it be merely a human conception of what is neces- 
 sary to constitute the infallible authority which the 
 Scripture does claim, irreverent temerity and perilous 
 presumption can hardly go farther. Who are we 
 that Ave should prescribe the conditions of a divine 
 book ; that we should have such exact knowledge of 
 the process whereby God inspired His servants ; that 
 we should thus rashly carry the ark of God into 
 battle, and stake the whole credit of divine revelation 
 upon a human theory of verbal infallibility ? 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK. THE CHURCH. 241 
 
 Is it not presumption to approach the Book of 
 God with a theory of any kind ? Does not true 
 philosophy as well as true piety demand that we 
 simply and humbly search the Scriptures to ascertain 
 what they themselves testify concerning their author- 
 ship 1 To settle beforehand a theory of inspiration, 
 and to support it by just such facts as will tit it in dis- 
 regard of the rest, is to be every bit as arbitrary and 
 rationalistic as M. Kenan himself. In both cases it is 
 the rationalism that makes human reason determine 
 what ought to be the phenomena of divine revelation. 
 The very point is assumed which has to be proved. 
 
 Without any such theories we may, I think, easily 
 discern in the Book phenomena that will satisfy both 
 our reason and our faith. Permit me, in very few 
 words, to indicate where I venture to think we may 
 confidently rest. 
 
 Xo reader of these marvellous writings can deny 
 that they put forth supernatural claims, and none of 
 us will question that they establish these by over- 
 whelming evidence. The sacred writers claim to be 
 filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and to speak " in the 
 name of the Lord." This they demonstrate by their 
 superhuman knowledge, their superhuman wisdom, 
 and their superhuman acts — by a manner of history, 
 a gift of prophecy, a sublime theology, a transcendent 
 morality, a knowledge of human nature, and a wondrous 
 harmony of continuous revelation through twelve hun- 
 dred years, utterly inconceivable to unassisted human 
 thought. 
 
 As a crucial instance we take the book of ( fenesis ; 
 its theology, so utterly contrasted with all coeval 
 mythologies, so perfectly divine, so faultlessly pure. 
 Its lun, mil cha racters — Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abra- 
 ham, neither demigods nor heroes ; but, although in 
 constant intercourse with Jehovah, always proper 
 men. Its elevated and unfaltering morality, so that 
 even in such a complex character as that of Jacob, 
 
 Q 
 
242 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 the distinction between right and wrong is never for a 
 moment left doubtful. A morality that wonder- 
 fully contrasts with the morality even of Plato, a 
 thousand years later — that anticipates even the 
 elevated Christian morality of this nineteenth century. 
 And blended with all this, a pervading and prominent 
 supematuralism — a miraculous record of the be- 
 ginnings of the human race, which furnishes the only 
 explanation of the phenomena of human character, 
 and of the facts of human history. And this, the 
 product of a writer of calm, intellectual greatness, of 
 almost unparalleled sagacity, of unmistakable moral 
 goodness ; one of the sublimest intellects, one of the 
 saintliest men that the world has seen ; whom it is 
 impossible, with any regard to intellectual or moral 
 congruities, to regard either as a fool who is deceived, 
 or a knave who deceives. Here, then, is unmistakable 
 proof of the Divine. 
 
 And this book of Genesis is only the first of a long 
 series of tracts, produced during a long series of cen- 
 turies, all of which, more or less, have the same 
 characteristics, and bear testimony to their proto- 
 type, all of which are in wonderful harmony — his- 
 torical, doctrinal, and moral — with it and with each 
 other — each casual in its origin, distinctive in its 
 form, complete in itself, and impressed with the 
 strongly-marked individuality of its author ; and yet 
 all constituting one great and developing system of 
 Divine theology, growing with the growth of the 
 world, and widening with its enlarging experience — 
 history, prophecy, sermon, and psalm — all combining 
 into one harmonious whole ; full of deep theological 
 and spiritual harmonies ; each workman preparing his 
 contribution apart, but the whole brought together by 
 the Great Architect, and combined into one august and 
 symmetrical temple of truth. This is the true miracle 
 of the Bible — its inward unity, not its outward 
 uniformity ; nay, would not the outward uniformity 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH 243 
 
 infinitely lessen, if not destroy, the miracle of the 
 inward unity ? " There are diversities of operation, 
 but it is the same God which worketh all in all." 
 
 Or, as one more illustration, take the New Testa- 
 ment records of the Christ ; which, wdiatever their re- 
 semblances, are at any rate as remarkable for their 
 diversities ; each author manifestly writing with per- 
 fect naturalness and spontaneousness, and with the 
 independence and confidence of perfect truth. If 
 there be any psychological characteristics of a writer, 
 or any historical criteria of a narrative that can be 
 relied upon, it is impossible to doubt the perfect 
 honesty and trustworthiness of the four Evangelists. 
 They cannot be discredited without the utmost moral 
 scepticism, without outraging all the probabilities that 
 constitute moral certainty, and sacrificing all sober 
 judgment to an insane credulity. For the alternative 
 is this — either these men are truthful witnesses or 
 they have dared to profane the most awful things of 
 God, and to tamper with the most sacred feelings of 
 men ; either they are faithful historians, or they are 
 the most audacious of the world's impostors. Com- 
 binations of ignorance and fanaticism may be sup- 
 posed, but beyond certain limits the result is a 
 monstrosity of the imagination, not a possibility of 
 experience. And yet, the four narratives of these 
 four Galilean peasants combine to give us the peerless, 
 perfect character of the Christ. Whence came this 
 wonderful conception, presented thus in fourfold por- 
 traiture ? For one human imagination to create such 
 a character were a greater miracle than Jesus Himself, 
 and yet here are four. How is this Jesus to be 
 accounted for ? How came He, a peasant of Judea, 
 first to have such divine ideas, and then such a mar- 
 vellous power of inspiring four other peasants so to 
 record them, as that through nineteen centuries of 
 Christian belief and literature no holy man has ever 
 produced a fifth Gospel, or a second " Acts of the 
 
 Q 2 
 
244 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 Apostles/' or an additional Apostolical Epistle ? A 
 supernatural authorship is the only rational explana- 
 tion of such phenomena. 
 
 Or again we might ask — How is it that the topics 
 of Scripture throughout are so wonderfully selected, 
 so wonderfully recorded, that precisely the things are 
 taught and the omissions made that their religious 
 purpose requires, and that adapt Christianity and its 
 Bible to the religious life of all the nations of the 
 earth ? 
 
 How is it that these simple herdsmen and 
 fishermen restrict themselves to a mere narrative 
 of facts ; that they indulge in no expressions of 
 surprise, no exclamations of indignation, no com- 
 ments, no moralisings ? How is it that these 
 men, being Jews, push aside all the circumstantials of 
 their Judaism, and by an unerring intuition lay a 
 simple and firm hold upon the spiritual, the catholic, 
 and the eternal ? Here, again, are phenomena that 
 no theory of mere human authorship can account for. 
 Indeed, the proof of the Divine in Scripture is 
 literally inexhaustible ; almost every week some un- 
 suspected but beautiful and harmonious line of proof 
 is opened out, compelling us to recognise in the 
 authorship of Scripture the indubitable marks of the 
 supernatural and the Divine. 
 
 Equally indubitable, on the other hand, are the 
 marks of human authorship. Who can read any 
 book of Scripture and not feel that a genuine human 
 heart beats in it ? If our consciousness can tell us 
 anything it tells us that these are proper men, in- 
 spired by God, but yet retaining the full exercise of 
 every human faculty and feeling — the human instru- 
 ments of a Divine power, but expressing in their 
 writings all their varied human personality, circum- 
 stances, and moods. 
 
 Else were the Bible unspeakably less precious to 
 us. Were it written as the tables of the law were 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHUROIL 245 
 
 written, as the inscription on Belshazzar's banquetting 
 house was written — did God speak to us as the 
 musician speaks through his instrument, as the 
 ventriloquist simulates a voice, the Word might come 
 to us Avith Divine authority, but it would come with- 
 out human sympathy. It might find us in the secret 
 place of our soul, but it would awe and terrify us 
 there. Its wonderful knowledge of us is bearable, 
 only in virtue of its human tenderness. It finds in us 
 depths that no other plumb-line has fathomed — it 
 enters chambers of our soul that nothing else has 
 searched — it shows itself familiar with experiences 
 that even the wife of our bosom may not share — it 
 puts into words the deepest mysteries of our being — 
 it understands all our feelings — it anticipates all our 
 experience — it gives definiteness and intelligence to 
 what we ourselves realise only dimly and vaguely — it 
 is as if we stood before God — it bears faithful witness 
 for Him — it tolerates no sin, excuses no evil — abates no 
 assertion of the wrong, no impression of the enormity 
 of evil. How unbearable all this, were it not for the 
 wonderful human sympathies with which this Divine 
 knowledge is clothed ! Wherever we open it — at the 
 sorrows of Job, the mission of Moses, the penitence of 
 David, the labours of Paul, or, chief of all, the tragedy 
 of the Cross, it is tenderly, intensely human — full of 
 the thoughts, and feelings, and struggles of " men of 
 like passions with ourselves " — a human soul informed 
 by a Divine prescience, a Divine knowledge incarnated 
 in human sympathies. It were as great a loss to 
 eliminate the human element from the Christ as the 
 human element from the Bible. The human expe- 
 rience is as precious as the Divine communication. 
 AVhencver either 'element is lost sight of, both the 
 Christ and the Bible are reduced and damaged. 
 DoceUe or Corinthians, they are alike heretics and 
 injurious. 
 
 The sacred writers, therefore, are no mere bearers 
 
246 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 of despatches from the court of Heaven. They are 
 God-inspired, God-filled men. Their human intellect 
 and their human soul alike employed in the author- 
 ship of Scripture — " Holy men of old spake as they 
 were moved by the Holy Ghost." The old Eutychean 
 heresy represented humanity as absorbed and lost 
 whenever it came into contact with the Divine ; 
 hence it denied the human character of the sorrows 
 and sympathies of Jesus. And what is it but to 
 repeat this heresy, to resolve the humanity of the 
 sacred writers into passive instruments of the Divine ? 
 Is it not to make all the pious passion of David, all 
 the personal avowals of Paul unreal, to reduce these 
 men to the mock personages of a sacred drama, and 
 the Divine Spirit to the simulator of various human 
 voices and feelings ? Does not every instinct within 
 us, every reverential and holy feeling, shrink from 
 this ? Be the inspiration of Scripture what it may, 
 the product in all its characteristics must be genuine. 
 
 We read the Pentateuch, and we sympathise with 
 the hopes, and fears, and strivings, and prayers of the 
 great Jewish leader dealing with a rude and disorderly 
 multitude. We read the Psalms, and we sympathise 
 with the many-stringed soul of the Psalmist, with his 
 great pulsing heart, full of beliefs and doubts, and 
 sins and sorrows, and hopes and fears. And we can 
 believe anything rather than that the 51st Psalm is 
 not a genuine personal penitence, and the 103rd 
 Psalm a genuine personal gratitude, and that we are 
 listening to mere dramatic passion, as in the broodings 
 of a " Hamlet " or the ravings of a " Lear." 
 
 We read the Gospels, and when John tells us 
 that " he who saw it bare witness," we cannot con- 
 ceive that the Holy Spirit dictated the words of the 
 evidence that he was to give, for wherein would this 
 differ from a forgery ? We read the Epistles of Paul, 
 and on every page we feel our contact with a peculiar 
 and strongly-marked religious experience ; with 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH. 247 
 
 Christianity incarnated in a remarkable and self- 
 asserting man. And we could as soon disbelieve in 
 our own consciousness as believe that all this personal 
 religious feeling is unreal, and that words merely 
 representing it were dictated to him. Is it not as 
 truly Paul speaking to us as the Divine Spirit ? Are 
 not his epistolary familiarities — his affectionate greet- 
 ings and solicitudes — his directions about his cloak and 
 parchments — his naive acknowledgments that he had 
 repented of his first letter to the Corinthians, although 
 he no longer repented — not only inimitably natural, 
 but unmistakably genuine ? 
 
 It is only by thus fully and fearlessly recognising 
 the human element in the authorship of Scripture 
 that we can understand it and find reality in it. And 
 is it not monstrous that a man, delivering a great 
 religious message from God, is to be declared invali- 
 dated because incidentally he makes a scientific allu- 
 sion according to the notions of his day ? Difficulty 
 there is if it be insisted upon that the very words were 
 dictated by the Holy Spirit; for then he would be 
 made to simulate human ignorance as well as human 
 character. But this is most gratuitously to put an 
 irresistible Aveapon of offence into the hand of infi- 
 delity. An untenable position always compromises 
 more than itself. Exaggerated claims provoke exagge- 
 rated repudiation ; and. it were difficult to say whether 
 the Bible has suffered more from unrighteous assailants 
 or from unwise defenders. 
 
 May we not, then, rest with the simple recognition 
 of these two elements of Biblical authorship, and with 
 the inferences which they enable ? Why should we 
 crave a scientific harmony of them, a theory that will 
 account for all the phenomena, and that may be reduced 
 to a formula ? Is this either necessary or possible ? 
 Has God given us exact formulae of other truths — of 
 the Incarnation, of the Atonement, for instance ? Has 
 He not left room for the exercise of moral faculty 
 
248 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 in their investigation ? Conscientious Deism, con- 
 scientious Socianism, conscientious Bationalism, are 
 all possible. There is no demonstration, logical or 
 otherwise, to force the convictions of the un- 
 willing or unspiritual. For the man of spiritual eye 
 and spiritual sympathy there is abundant proof; but 
 it is not so drawn out into propositions as that a man 
 must outrage reason to disbelieve. The investigation 
 of all spiritual things demands spiritual faculties. 
 Only the soul that is spiritual can see the spiritual 
 God. " He that is of the truth heareth my voice." 
 Such exercise of moral faculty, therefore, is demanded 
 for the interpretation of Scripture. He who will array 
 a difficulty arising from the human element of author- 
 ship against a proof of the Divine element of author- 
 ship may do so, but he is guilty of the moral per- 
 versity of making a mere human ignorance a ground 
 for denying God. 
 
 From the very nature of the case a scientific 
 theory of Biblical inspiration appears to be impos- 
 sible. That God is supernaturally present in the 
 authorship of the Bible is attested by a thousand 
 proofs of miraculous knowledge, miraculous act, and 
 miraculous goodness ; but how the Divine Spirit came 
 into conjunction with the human thought, and will, 
 and experiences of the sacred writers we may not 
 know. It is enough to be assured that " holy men of 
 old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost " — 
 that " all Scripture is given by inspiration of God," or if 
 the reading be preferred, that " all Scripture given by 
 inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for re- 
 proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," 
 declarations which certainly affirm that every part of 
 the holy writings is full of God, but which give us no 
 information respecting the methods of His inspiration. 
 Concerning these, neither the assertions nor the phe- 
 nomena of Scripture teach us anything, and where 
 Scripture itself is silent surely human theorising is 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE 0HU11U1L 249 
 
 intrusive. On what authority is it affirmed, on the 
 one hand, that the men were inspired and not the 
 writings ; or, on the other, that the writings were in- 
 spired and not the men ; or that because all Scripture 
 is given by inspiration of God, every word of it is 
 miraculously dictated ; or, again, that only the religious 
 utterances of the sacred writers were inspired ? What 
 is all this but being " wise above what is written," 
 but prescribing human conditions, within which alone 
 Divine revelation is possible ? So, doubtless, we 
 should have prescribed conditions for the Incarnation 
 of the Christ. Who of us would not have shrunk 
 from saying that He could " grow in knowledge," that 
 He could pray that His cup might pass, that He 
 could be made " perfect by suffering " ? In this 
 Divine wisdom has not hesitated to disregard our 
 narrow and arbitrary human conditions, and to rest 
 the infallibility of the incarnate Christ upon higher 
 and broader grounds. 
 
 Who, then, are we that we should lay down con- 
 ditions for the incarnation of the Divine Spirit, and 
 declare that we cannot conceive of it — that we shall 
 be left in doubt and embarrassment, unless we are 
 assured that every human word was supernaturally 
 dictated ? What if God has thought fit to discredit 
 our narrow limitations by phenomena incompatible 
 with them ? What if He purposely leave us to 
 certain difficulties and doubts, through discrepancies 
 which we cannot explain and lacunar which we cannot 
 supply ? What if in this also " the foolishness of 
 God is wiser than men"? What if He demand of 
 our spiritual souls a constant exercise of holy sympa- 
 pathies and conscientious judgments ? Is the Book a 
 worse moral teacher, or shall we be worse as learners 
 of it for such demands ? Even when insuperable, 
 difficulties are not disproofs ; they are simply relative 
 to our knowledge, and tests of our candour and 
 humility. A thousand things that we do not know 
 
 
250 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 cannot disprove a single thing that we do know. 
 Who ever presumes to construct a scientific theory of 
 the Incarnation of the Christ — to draw a boundary 
 line — or to describe the harmony of what is Divine 
 and what is human in Jesus of Nazareth ? Who ever 
 attempts a scientific theory of the regeneration and 
 indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and a discrimination of 
 the Divine and human elements in the acts and 
 processes of a spiritual life ? And these are the only 
 other conjunctions of the Divine and human that we 
 know. Why, then, should we insist on a scientific theory 
 of inspiration ? Why should we not be satisfied with a 
 simple recognition of facts, and judge each phenomenon 
 and try to solve each difficulty in the light of these ? 
 Why should we so passionately seek to get rid of 
 responsibility for individual judgments by a pre- 
 liminary theory which shall rule all cases ? We are 
 all prone to wish that God had made doctrines some- 
 what more explicit, evidences somewhat more demon- 
 strative ; that He had more exactly told us what we 
 are to believe, what service to render, how much 
 property to give, how many prayers to proffer ; and by 
 a thousand creeds, and traditions, and self-imposed 
 rules, we try to furnish ourselves with formulae for 
 these things. It were an easy, but it were also an 
 injurious and ignoble thing, by a simple recitation of 
 articles, to dispose of all the individual difficulties of 
 revelation. Creeds and formularies have their great 
 and manifold uses — Scientific Theology cannot be dis- 
 pensed with — as " aids to faith " they are a precious 
 possession ; but alas for our Christian intelligence and 
 manhood, if we prefix our formulae to the sacred 
 volume, and thereby absolve ourselves from further 
 interpretation of its contents. It is part of our moral 
 probation to " prove all things," to examine and weigh 
 evidence, to form judgments, to exercise spiritual 
 faculty, to follow the guidance of the light within us, 
 and to keep it purely and brightly burning that it 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH. 251 
 
 may guide us rightly. It is the great law of Clod's 
 spiritual kingdom that wrong moral feeling will lead 
 us into error, and right moral feeling will guide us 
 into truth. Like the light of God in the lower revela- 
 tion of His works, the light of God in the higher reve- 
 lation of His word shines by its own light ; and 
 they who fail to see it are the blind. To the man 
 with a spiritual eye, an eye formed for receiving 
 spiritual light, it is its own witness — a manifest revela- 
 tion from God, inspired and sacred as no other book 
 is — related to other books as the incarnate Christ is 
 related to other men. 
 
 It is well, too, that we should sometimes be made 
 to feel the necessary limitations of our human science — 
 to have our ambitious speculations reduced to a simple 
 recognition of Divine facts — to be compelled to stand 
 still on the margin of the great deep of Divine opera- 
 tion, and to feel that its waves will not roll back at 
 our bidding. One half of our disabling perplexities 
 and unprofitable controversies spring from the un- 
 hallowed demands of the speculative reason — from our 
 inability to discern where the ripple-mark of Divine 
 mystery must arrest the foot of eager inquiry. Our 
 science would analyse the very Shechinah flame that 
 indicates the presence of God, when our piety should 
 simply worship and obey. 
 
 But if there is a Divine element in the authorship 
 of Scripture, there are moral certainties in which we 
 may assuredly rest. 
 
 We cannot doubt, for instance, that the Book is 
 sufficient for all the purposes for which it was given — 
 for the revelation to man of God's purpose and will. 
 It may be only a bush that burns with tire, but the 
 tire that burns in it is the glory whereby God reveals 
 Himself; and in virtue of it the place becomes holy 
 ground. We have assuredly to do with the living 
 God, and his were blindness indeed who saw only the 
 bush and did not see Him who is manifested in it. 
 
252 SENRY ALLON. 
 
 God never speaks in vain ; however men may refuse 
 to see and hear, the manifestation is sufficient — it is 
 all the illumination, all the authority that were 
 needed. The Book is " able to make us wise unto 
 salvation." Whatever the mode of its production, Ave 
 are bound to receive the product as a sufficient and 
 authoritative revelation of God's will. Before this can 
 be refused it must be shown, not only that it contains 
 elements of human authorship, but that it contains no 
 elements of Divine authorship. 
 
 And we may also be certain that the human 
 element of authorship in which the Divine is incar- 
 nated is essentially true and holy. We cannot, with- 
 out blasphemy, conceive of the Divine as thus coming 
 into conjunction with anything false or evil — lending 
 the sanction of its sacredness to the promulgation of 
 any untruth, either historical, scientific, or religious. 
 However the human element may work in its con- 
 junction with the Divine, a moral limit to the possi- 
 bility of error is thus put ; and we are bold to affirm 
 that the first instance of essential untruth has yet to 
 be proved. Difficulties there are, but if, as demon- 
 strated by its own proper proofs, there be a Divine 
 element in Scripture, some solution of every difficulty 
 is possible. The one impossible thing is, that by any 
 presence of His in the authorship of Scripture, the 
 God of perfect knowledge and truth should sanction 
 a delusion or a lie. 
 
 Brethren, in this great matter may we not calmly 
 rest here ? Do not these proven facts and moral cer- 
 tainties enable us to enthrone the Bible in a place as 
 high and as sacred as could be given to it by any 
 theory of verbal inspiration ? Must not the soul that 
 demurs to these be vitiated in all high spiritual 
 feeling ? We deeply resent all disparagement of the 
 Bible. He who assails it assails that which, next to 
 the Christ, is our most sacred thing. It is not our 
 salvation, but it is the record and witness of it — it is 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH. 253 
 
 not our spiritual inheritance, but it is the title-deed of 
 it — it is not our spiritual life, but it is the guide, and 
 sustenance, and stimulus of it. He who damages it, 
 therefore, diminishes our assurance, and confuses our 
 faith and love. If the Bible be not the infallible truth 
 of God, the Divine revelation of Jesus Christ, then 
 " are we of all men most miserable." 
 
 Whatever, therefore, we find in it, that let us 
 fully admit ; whether our science can explain it or not. 
 Though carried upon a common cart, the ark of God 
 needs not our profane human hands to steady it. In 
 a thousand things its divinity has been manifested, a 
 thousand times its sacredness has been vindicated. 
 It has survived the assaults, and the corruptions, and 
 — what, perhaps, is more — the unauthorised claims and 
 foolish defences of eighteen centuries. It has quick- 
 ened myriads of human hearts, and sanctified myriads 
 of human lives. Wherever it has come it has brought 
 civilisation and virtue, religion and charity. 
 
 It lias won and ruled all that is good in the world. 
 All holy affinities are drawn to it. It has received the 
 homage of all who are noble, and has sanctified them 
 to a greater nobleness still. And never was it so vital 
 and potent as it is now — a richer fount of spiritual 
 blessing — a more absolute law of spiritual life. " The 
 words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a 
 furnace of earth purified seven times." "The Law of 
 the Lord is perfect, converting the soul ; the testimony 
 of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The 
 statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart : the 
 commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the 
 eyes." a Do not my words do good to him that 
 walketh uprightly ? " 
 
 Concerning the Church, many and vital are the 
 questions which are just now vehemently debated. 
 These, however, I must forbear : I have already br< s- 
 passed to the utmost limit of the indulgence accorded 
 to your chairman. I will simply say that on all 
 
254 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 matters that affect the interests of the Church of 
 Christ it is our right and duty to speak ; and that 
 on matters affecting the Established Church every 
 Englishman is bound to speak ; for, theoretically, that 
 Church claims our allegiance, and, practically, it en- 
 forces our support. These things, however, with 
 others that have occurred to me, I must leave to 
 your own intelligence and care. 
 
 To conclude, should we not — as one of the great 
 sections of the Church of Christ in these lands — very 
 earnestly ask ourselves how far we are qualified to do 
 the great work, and to fight the great battles of the 
 times upon which we are fallen ? 
 
 First : there is qualification of ecclesiastical 
 character and position. In this, I think, we are pre- 
 eminent. We stand in perfect freedom — to inquire, 
 believe, and serve according to the convictions of con- 
 science ; we stand discharged of all liabilities for our 
 faith to sovereigns, parliaments, or synods — each 
 church is responsible only to Christ. So far we are 
 in the best of all positions for the investigation and 
 service of truth ; there is nothing to hinder the in- 
 corporation into our theology of all the results of 
 advancing scholarship. No creeds of former cen- 
 turies come into incongruous conflict with the 
 enlightenment of this. Nor, our enemies being judges, 
 is our orthodoxy the less firm for this liberty. We 
 need no tortuous devices for reconciling our beliefs 
 with our formularies — our conscience with our sub- 
 scription. We may not advance further than 
 other Churches — perhaps not so far — for the revolt of 
 thought from restrictions is apt to be lawless ; but we 
 can embody our advance in free and natural practical 
 expression. We can freely follow the light which 
 " breaks forth from God's word," accepting all that we 
 believe to be truth, and repudiating all that we believe 
 to be heresy. 
 
 Secondly : there is a qualification of educational 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH. 255 
 
 culture. Tt were foolish to affirm that in this respect 
 our ministers are equal to the clergy of the Establish- 
 ment. Unrighteous exclusion from the universities of 
 the nation, with other social disabilities, have not been 
 without their effect. But with the removal of these 
 the traditions of old Nonconformist erudition are 
 beginning to revive. Some amongst us are not a whit 
 behind the very chiefest, in both Biblical and classical 
 scholarship ; while our general ministerial culture is 
 advancing with rapid strides upon that of the national 
 clergy — reluctant as some may be to recognise this. 
 
 Our pulpits are occupied by men whose sermons 
 and defences of the truth, for breadth, learning, and 
 power, will bear a favourable comparison with those of 
 any section of the Church. 
 
 Our periodical literature is comparatively large, 
 and with few exceptions it is able, Christian, and 
 Catholic. Perhaps we need a higher appreciation of 
 its value — a more practical use of its power. Of 
 larger contributions to theological science we cannot 
 boast much ; not because we lack scholarly and able 
 men, but because we cannot provide for adequate 
 leisure for the production of elaborate works. The 
 theological literature of the Establishment is not 
 supplied by its parochial clergy. And when one 
 thinks of the men amongst us of cultured power, who 
 might be " set for the defence of the Gospel," but who 
 are hindered by the pressing demands of pastoral or 
 tutorial life — for which, perhaps, they have no special 
 aptitudes — why, one sighs for some canonry, arch- 
 deaconry, or deanery, that would enable works which 
 might enrich the whole Church of Christ. 
 
 Finally: there is a qualification of earnest practical 
 "', ,/•/• — of personal consecration, sanctity and self- 
 sacrifice — of successful labour in saving souls, for 
 which our churches are honourably distinguished. 
 And, after all, the best vindication of Christianity, 
 and of any specific part of it, is its practical results. 
 
256 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 To those who question either the Christ or the Bible, 
 the best possible reply is their spiritual history ; the 
 demonstrations of their Divine power in ten thousand 
 times ten thousand saved souls. Other names have 
 no such power to charm men's guilt, other books have 
 no such power to transform men's lives. If truths 
 may be tested by their practical results, then the 
 world has seen no worship, no sanctity, no consecra- 
 tion, no hope, like those inspired by the manger and 
 the Cross. Robbed of these, the Church would be 
 poor indeed — its heart left cold, its life unblessed, its 
 power paralysed. When, therefore, men put forth 
 their negations or disparagements, it is a sufficient 
 answer to show them the effect of the Cross, when it 
 is held up before the despairing eye of the guilty ; how 
 magically the heavy burden of guilt falls off, the 
 serpent-bitten soul is healed, and the dark, despairing 
 eye is reillumined Avith hope and rapture — or the effect 
 of the Book when it becomes the guide and comforter 
 of a forgiven man's life, or when its precious words are 
 spoken into " the dull cold ear of death." 
 
 Blessed be God that if we live in an age of daring 
 and desperate heresies, it is an age also of abounding 
 and successful work — of missions abroad and of un- 
 resting energies at home ; and " God always maketh 
 us to triumph in every place." Never in the history 
 of the Church have the Cross and the Book won more 
 signal triumphs. Healed men are more unanswerable 
 vindications than all the eloquence of a Peter and a 
 John. One saved soul is a more triumphant demon- 
 stration of divinity than a thousand reasonings. 
 They who are healed will be slow to question the 
 power that healed them ; while they who behold such 
 " notable miracles " can " say nothing against them." 
 This argument, then, may be employed by us all. Be 
 it ours mightily to ply it ! Whilst earnestly employing 
 all the resources of reasoning and scholarship, let 
 us mainly trust to the demonstration furnished by 
 
THE CHRIST, THE BOOK, THE CHURCH. 257 
 
 renewed souls — the practical fruit of a full and fervent 
 preaching of Christ crucified. As Christ is preached 
 — in churches, in theatres, in ragged-schools, by the 
 wayside, souls will be saved : and as souls are saved, 
 gainsayers will be silenced. 
 
 Shall we not, then, even now seek afresh anointing 
 for this ? Spirit of the living God, Revealer of the 
 glorified Christ, Inspirer of the living Word, enkindle 
 our cold hearts into a supreme and passionate 
 yearning for this ; endow us with that " power from on 
 high " which alone can accomplish this ; help us from 
 this hour to go forth in the spirit of the Master's ser- 
 vice, in the spirit of the Master's compassion, in the 
 spirit of the Master's passion ; and mightily to preach 
 the Word so that many may be saved ; and that again 
 it may be demonstrated that while the crucified Christ 
 whom we preach is " a stumbling-block to the Jew, 
 and foolishness to the Greek ; yet, to them that are 
 saved, He is Christ the power of God and the wisdom 
 of God." 
 
 it 
 
258 
 
 THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 [An address from the chair of the Congregational Union at the 
 Autumnal Session of its Jubilee year, 1881.] 
 
 Dear and Honoured Brethren, — The free course of 
 the spirit is grievously hindered by vindications of its 
 embodiments. To men intent upon spiritual purposes 
 it is irritating and humiliating to have to expend time 
 and energies in contentions for the validity of mere 
 organisation. Compared with the life of the spirit, 
 forms of Church construction are of trivial import- 
 ance ; of no importance at all, indeed, save as they 
 embody and nurture the life itself. Some embodi- 
 ment or other all spiritual things must take; and 
 upon the fitness of it, the fulness and the fruitfulness, 
 the freedom and the aggressive power, nay, sometimes 
 the very continuance of the life may depend. 
 
 Great principles, moreover, are often determined 
 by very subordinate conditions. Battles upon which 
 the freedom or the fate of nations may turn are often 
 joined on trivial occasions. This, to sensible men, is 
 the only excuse for ecclesiastical polemics, and for 
 such vindications of the legitimacy and fitness of our 
 Congregational Church order as this Jubilee seemed 
 to demand in my address from the chair in May. 
 
 We may, I think, to-day venture upon ground 
 intrinsically higher. We very gladly turn from mere 
 embodiments of the spiritual life to the spiritual life 
 itself. It will be equally congruous with our Jubilee 
 to attempt to set some principles of it in the light of 
 clear definitions, to appraise their intrinsic qualities, 
 and to urge their practical application to the interests 
 of our churches. 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 259 
 
 For while, in their own high place of right, prin- 
 ciples themselves are eternal and unswerving, and 
 amid the conflicting and confusing forces of human 
 life work out their purposed issues, we, in our igno- 
 rance or waywardness, may discern them mistily, or 
 leave them weakly, and find them again only when, 
 after confused and hurtful wanderings, we return to 
 the paths which they rule. 
 
 Even in our noblest contentions, chance impulses 
 or passing prejudices and passions too often usurp the 
 place of simple principles, Divine methods, and imper- 
 sonal ends. Kight itself may be pursued as a mere 
 expediency, and for selfish purposes. Victory may be 
 sought for the passion of the polemic rather than for 
 the conscience of truth. 
 
 At the best, there is in our contention much of 
 blind instinct, and of the maintenance of a line of 
 tradition along which the light of principles fitfully 
 plays rather than steadily shines. 
 
 We all need, therefore, to keep our ideal before us, 
 to set ourselves in the light of God's thought and pur- 
 poses, and honestly to test our aims, our methods, and 
 our tempers by the lofty principles of the Divine 
 order. It is not so easy to free ourselves from the 
 dominant passions of the hour, from the traditions of 
 Churches and schools — to appraise movements and 
 qualities as it were in vacuo ; to determine whether 
 our guiding star be solar or planetary ; whether our 
 ideal itself will bear the tests of the pure white light 
 of truth, whether it satisfies the spiritual principles 
 and instincts of our own moral nature and of our 
 concept of God Himself. 
 
 For such an inquiry, indeed, few men are adequate, 
 and yet it is imperative upon even the feeblest. My 
 own modest purpose is in some simple, practical ways 
 to apply to our Church aims and methods such tests 
 as our spiritual principles and our own moral con- 
 sciousness may supply. 
 
 R 2 
 
260 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 For the domain of principles is not so much that 
 of metaphysics as of practical experience ; principles 
 themselves are tested not so much by theories as by 
 the uses of life. 
 
 I. The first essential in the maintenance of a true 
 Church life is the fundamental distinction between 
 Divine ordinations and human circumstance — the 
 former determining principles, the latter expediencies. 
 
 In practical Church life these are continually 
 getting intermixed. In subtle forms the foot of ex- 
 pediency intrudes into the domain of Divine prin- 
 ciples, and sometimes great principles are permitted 
 to lapse into mere expediencies. Few things are more 
 difficult than the practical maintenance of the boun- 
 dary line between the two. Disregard of it is the 
 fruitful parent of most of our ecclesiastical strifes, our 
 mistakes, and our weaknesses. To exalt mere human 
 expediency to the place and inviolability of Divine 
 principle, or to reduce Divine principle to the place of 
 mere human expediency, is fatal to the authority of 
 both, and confuses both the Divine order and human 
 conduct. 
 
 The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes the 
 distinction even in Divine institutions — the "things" 
 of Judaism " that are ready to vanish away," and the 
 things of Christianity that abide, " the kingdom that 
 cannot be moved." 
 
 In Christianity itself the distinction between the 
 essential and the circumstantial is just as imperative. 
 It is the distinction between spirit and body, the 
 building and the scaffolding, the warfare and its 
 weapons, the end and the means. And in proportion 
 as the means are effective — when the spirit is greatly 
 ministered to by the body, when the building rapidly 
 rises, when signal victories are won — it becomes diffi- 
 cult to keep them from usurping a vital place. 
 
 Forms of truth are shaped by the exigences of 
 polemical warfare ; and because they are made mighty 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 261 
 
 through God, we give to the casual creed the place of 
 normal truth ; the strategic position becomes part of 
 the city of God. 
 
 Forms of Church life which the expediency of 
 special circumstances may dictate are made normal 
 and authoritative, irrespective altogether of varying 
 conditions. Because certain forms of Church life have 
 counteracted special abuses, vindicated spiritual pre- 
 rogatives, and enshrined precious liberties, we contend 
 for them as in all circumstances and ages essential to 
 spiritual life. 
 
 Forms of Church worship which have specially 
 ministered to peculiar conditions of culture or feel- 
 ing, or which were the imperative alternatives of a 
 degraded sensuousness, or a mechanical Church life, 
 and which gave a new enthusiasm to life, new Avings 
 to faith, a new domain to liberty, opening for us, 
 maybe, a new way into the holy place of God, are 
 forthwith stereotyped and canonised as the only forms 
 of worship compatible with spiritual life itself. 
 
 Things may claim honourable place in the historic 
 records of the Church : weapons and trophies of great 
 theological or spiritual victories may claim an admir- 
 ing reverence in the museum of the Church, inasmuch 
 as they mark notable epochs of past development; 
 but they are not conditions of imperative conformity, 
 weapons for our present warfare, or the means and 
 measure of our present development. Emphatically 
 are they " things behind," worthy of historical remem- 
 brance, but to be forgotten in our " stretching forward 
 to the things that are before." 
 
 Often, therefore, the prophet of more spiritual 
 vision has had sternly to disallow even the claims of 
 natural sentiment. The memorial serpent of brass, at 
 one time enshrined in the very ark of God for the 
 nourishment of pious feeling, so perverts it at another 
 time that it has to be designated Xehushtan, and 
 ruthlessly destroyed. For it is one of the curses of 
 
262 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 superstition that it disables natural reverence. To 
 preserve the city from invasion, its pleasant suburbs 
 may have to be razed ; to save the country, its harvest 
 may have to be sacrificed. When human things, in 
 themselves legitimate, are exalted to the place of the 
 Divine, it becomes imperative altogether to disallow 
 them, "hating even the garments spotted by the 
 flesh." 
 
 At every cost the clear distinction between the 
 circumstantial and the essential, the human and the 
 Divine, must be firmly maintained. Upon this the 
 purity, the vigour, and the progress of the Churches 
 depend. 
 
 There is, I venture to think, need for the urgency, 
 not only in relation to sacerdotal Churches on the one 
 hand, and to rationalistic theories on the other, but 
 also to Churches which, like our own, the most 
 strenuously oppose to these their Evangelical faith 
 and methods. We, all of us, build into the city of 
 God " wood, hay, stubble." We are continually put- 
 ting over its portals tablets inscribed with denomina- 
 tional or human names ; or demanding at its barriers 
 some sectarian shibboleth by which all who would 
 enter are tested ; or imposing upon its common life 
 some sumptuary laws incongruous with its true 
 freedom and interests ; or upon its worship some 
 ritual or ordinance in which the human and the 
 Divine are subtly mixed up, and a common sanction 
 claimed for both. So that, instead of the pure spirit- 
 uality, the broad catholicity, and the noble liberties of 
 the true kingdom of God, Churches organise them- 
 selves in sects, take upon them the bondage of creeds, 
 and constrain their lives into mechanical conformity to 
 ritual ordinances. How rapidly the catholic liberties 
 of Primitive Church life were narrowed into arbitrary 
 conventionalisms, first of the Greek, then of the 
 Roman Church ! How suggestive of narrowness and 
 intolerance the controversies of the third and fourth 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 263 
 
 centuries ; the schism, for instance, on the observance 
 of Easter ! With what fatal facility the Churches of 
 the Reformation took the impress of Luther and 
 Calvin, of Cranmer and Knox, of Anglican and 
 Puritan ! How modern Churches designate them- 
 selves by individual names or peculiar observances, 
 dissent from which is unconsciously regarded as the 
 measure of departure from Christ ! Even when, in 
 revolt from all conventional Churches men have repu- 
 diated Paul and Cephas and Apollos, and have made 
 it their boast "We are of Christ," they have only 
 recoiled into a sectarian repudiation of sectarianism, 
 having a special animosity of its own. 
 
 Theoretically, two things are clear — 
 
 First, that the human can have no co-ordinate or 
 permanent place with the Divine. 
 
 The Divine is spiritual, vital, essential; therefore 
 it is catholic and eternal. The human is material, 
 circumstantial, fortuitous ; therefore it is local, fluc- 
 tuating, and temporary. However pertinent and 
 effective for its special occasion, it becomes incon- 
 gruous and effete through changing circumstances. 
 It cannot, therefore, continue ; it is a " fashion of this 
 world which passeth away ; " and if it be not thrown 
 off* in the natural development of things, it will be 
 perversely built into the edifice as " wood, hay, 
 stubble," and will have at last to be burned out by 
 the fire of God. And the more assiduously it has 
 been built into the fabric, the more inextricably it has 
 been intermixed with the Divine, the more dislocating 
 will be the rectifying process, and the more devas- 
 tating its issue. Think of the melancholy debris to 
 which God's fire must reduce many august ecclesias- 
 tical fabrics ; the huge and manifold carnality, super- 
 stition, and ceremony, the meagre residuum of genuine 
 spiritual life ! 
 
 Secoyidly, the weakness and worthlessness of 
 Church systems must be in proportion to the " wood, 
 
264 HE KEY ALLON. 
 
 hay, stubble" built into them. What a fractious 
 mixture of eternal truths with human expediencies it 
 often is ! How the spiritual is corrupted and ham- 
 pered by the carnal ! 
 
 Do we, then, as churches clearly maintain this 
 distinction between the two, and, while freely em- 
 ploying human expedients, keep them from usurping 
 the place of Divine verities ? 
 
 There is no formula that can designate them, no 
 rubric that can assign them. Like all things of the 
 spirit, they are " spiritually discerned." It is the 
 culture of a life that has to be inculcated, not a 
 Church order that has to be regulated; only, more 
 than in most Churches, our traditions and our spi- 
 ritual culture will, we think, facilitate its attainment. 
 
 We need, therefore, a clear spiritual eye, to keep 
 constant watch against the intrusion of the ecclesias- 
 tical into the domain of the spiritual, and a firm dis- 
 criminating hand which, while using the circum- 
 stantial for its purposes, resolutely refuses it further 
 place, however potent it may have been. Often, 
 indeed, the best things must be the most impera- 
 tively disallowed. There are "lights from heaven 
 that lead astray ; " there are virtues that destroy 
 Churches as well as nations : 
 
 " Lest one good custom should corrupt the world." 
 
 The human form of apprehending truth must 
 not be confounded with its Divine substance ; which 
 determines the place of Church creeds. The human 
 embodiment must not be confounded with the spi- 
 ritual life ; which determines the place of ecclesiastical 
 organisations. The human mode may not dominate 
 the worshipping inspiration ; which determines the 
 place of Church ritual. The human implement may 
 not be confounded with vital processes ; which deter- 
 mines the place of religious agencies. 
 
 Than such discriminations few things demand a 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 265 
 
 finer spiritual faculty, or arc practically more arduous. 
 Who is there who precisely maintains them ? Who 
 draws firmly the boundary line between the domains 
 of the spiritual and the material ? or could be certain 
 how much is of the Divine life, how much of the 
 human organism ? 
 
 We ourselves, moreover, are ever growing to greater 
 power of spiritual understanding. As we " become 
 men, we put away childish things." Church creeds 
 change and loosen ; Church forms are reduced to ex- 
 pediencies ; the formative husk falls away as the spi- 
 ritual fruit ripens ; the letter is increasingly dominated 
 by the spirit ; that which yesterday was full of in- 
 herent sanctity is to-day but an ark of gopher-wood, 
 a depository for God's truth, a point for His Shechinah 
 to rest upon. Sometimes, that He may rebuke our 
 superstition, God will permit His very ark itself to be 
 delivered into the hands of Philistines. The sancti- 
 ties of one age become the expediencies of another, 
 the obstacles and corruptions of a third. 
 
 Only spiritual aptitudes and sympathies can rule 
 the process. With ourselves it rests to hasten or to 
 retard the development of the spiritual. Both in 
 individual life and in Church life the education of the 
 spiritual is our own responsibility. Religious sym- 
 pathy, true idea, cultured sensibilities, right endeavour, 
 guarded habit, do much to give keenness to intuition, 
 and ascendency to the spiritual — " A conscience exer- 
 cised to discern between good and evil." 
 
 How striking the persistency and the development 
 of type in Churches ! 
 
 Think of Greek and Roman, Anglican and Puritan 
 Churches. How invariable the type, how persistent 
 the tendency, how continuous the development of each 
 — "they go from strength to strength." Sacerdotal 
 Churches become more and more imperious and ritual ; 
 Evangelical Churches more and more spiritual and 
 free. Hence the responsibility of our Congregational 
 
266 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 churches to cultivate and develop the spiritual prin- 
 ciples and tendencies of our forefathers, so that we 
 may attain to clearer heights of spiritual discernment, 
 to larger ways of spiritual freedom, to richer fruits of 
 spiritual life. 
 
 It never, indeed, can be an absolute alternative. So 
 far as we know, pure spirit cannot exist either in life 
 or in thought. Some body must be prepared for it. 
 Some medium of communication is essential to it. 
 Thought must have material and inspiration and 
 forms of expression. Life must have its quickening, 
 its vital causation and nurture, from Him who is the 
 Fountain of life, and for its ministry it must find some 
 form of embodiment. 
 
 Hence in the discrimination of the human and the 
 Divine, which I am insisting upon, the encroachment 
 of the material and the sensual of which I have spoken 
 is not the only antagonist to be guarded against. If, 
 on the one hand, we have to contend against the 
 sensuous degradation of the spiritual ; on the other 
 hand, we have to contend against the emasculation of 
 the ultra- or the pseudo-spiritual, the entire or undue 
 disallowance of the human. 
 
 Thus, a school of modern thinkers is strongly 
 asserting itself, Avhich, rightly apprehending the 
 transcendency of the spiritual in religious life, presses 
 as a logical inference that all that is not intrinsically 
 spiritual is to be disallowed or disparaged. A kind of 
 resuscitated Manicheism arrays their thought and 
 their feeling against all material ministries to spiritual 
 life. Not only creeds and Churches, but the Bible and 
 the Christ are relegated, and somewhat contemp- 
 tuously, to the domain of the circumstantial and the 
 superfluous, if not the inimical. It is a kind of 
 Persian Cosmos of the Spirit. Ormuzd is antago- 
 nistically arrayed against Ahriman. Instead of the 
 deeper harmony of life, which determines the place 
 and mutual relations of spirit and body, the shallower 
 

 THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 267 
 
 and discredited conception of an antinomy of life is 
 set up ; spirit and matter are essential and eternal 
 foes. 
 
 Thus in the address of Dr. James Martineau — 
 clarum et venerabile nomen — recently delivered to 
 his Unitarian brethren, and entitled " Our Loss and 
 Gain in Recent Theology," this position is taken. 
 Personally, I cannot refer to this great thinker with- 
 out a respectful tribute to the literary beauty, religious 
 sincerity, and spiritual sensibility that characterise 
 him. Few men regard the Lord Jesus Christ with a 
 purer or more passionate spiritual affection. Few 
 have rendered to Him a more reverential homage, a 
 worship absolute in everything but in name, and more, 
 I often think, than he himself knows — " the spirit of 
 the prophet is not subject to the prophet/' Few men 
 dogmatically denying evangelical beliefs have yielded 
 their hearts more fully to their influence. None the 
 less do I feel it imperative to take strong exception to 
 the positions taken in this address. 
 
 Congratulating his co-religionists on the " total 
 disappearance of all external authority in religion," 
 Dr. Martineau tells them that " the yoke of the Bible 
 has followed the yoke of the Church ;" and that, in 
 relation to their present standpoint, " the conception 
 of a canonical literature that shall for ever serve as a 
 Divine Statute Book belongs to an age of culture that 
 has passed away. ... It is simply a, fact that dicta 
 faith and duty are no longer possible, and that by way 
 of textual oracle, you can carry to the soul no vision 
 of God, no contrition for sin, no sigh for righteous- 
 ness ; " that that which " was once used as a text-book 
 has become a human literature ; " that we are " driven 
 from words to realities, and must sink right home to 
 the inward springs of religion in our nature and 
 experience." 
 
 In the orator's judgment, therefore, emancipa- 
 tion from the " book-theology " of the Bible, as he 
 
268 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 designates it, is the first great step in an advance 
 to the spiritual. 
 
 Of course it is true that, on any conception of it, 
 the Bible is only an external ministry to the inward 
 spiritual life ; but is it, as here represented, only a 
 minister of the transient thought of darker ages, of 
 intermediate stages of development ? Is it not rather, 
 as for eighteen centuries most Christian men have 
 deemed it, a record of indubitable facts, of successive 
 manifestations of God, a developing revelation of 
 fundamental and eternal truths in the theology of 
 the true God, and of essential requirements in a true 
 religious life ? In all human sciences there are phases 
 of belief that pass with more perfect knowledge ; but 
 are there not also fundamental truths that no changes 
 of opinion affect ? To which category do the funda- 
 mental teachings of the Bible belong ? 
 
 I must confess to a little surprise that so acute a 
 thinker as Dr. Martineau should have so conceived of 
 the Bible which he repudiates. Is it an accurate 
 representation of the Bible that it is, primarily at 
 least, a " dictated faith and duty," a " book-theology," 
 a book of words as contrasted with realities, a " textual 
 oracle," a theological creed, an ethical code ? Is not 
 its true character that of a historical record ? The 
 Bible does involve theological truths, it does inculcate 
 religious duties ; but it does not take the form either 
 of an oracle, a creed, or a code. Other religious books 
 do this — the Vedas and the Koran, for example — the 
 result of which is an ever-growing anachronism, a 
 mass of obsolete ideas and prescriptions. So mis- 
 represent the Bible, and it is not easy to avoid 
 confusion and paradox. 
 
 The Scriptures of the older dispensations contain 
 institutions and rules, partial ideas and prescriptions, 
 which the Christian life of the New Testament has 
 altogether outgrown. The religious ideal of Sinai and 
 of the Jewish Leviticus is even formally superseded by 
 
THE % CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 269 
 
 the religious ideal of Jesus Christ. The Christian con- 
 science avowedly transcends the Jewish conscience. 
 But this only proves that the Bible is formally a 
 history. Its one great purpose is to record, in a scries 
 of historic revelations, the development of God's groat 
 saving purpose in Jesus Christ, a purpose demanding 
 gradual preparation and religious education. It neces- 
 sarily, therefore, presents the thought of God in its 
 relation to the religious life of man in various aspects, 
 and in successive stages of development. God " spake 
 unto the fathers by divers portions and in clivers 
 manners until at the end of the days he spake in His 
 Son ; " a manner of revelation altogether incompatible 
 with the idea of an oracle, a creed, or a code. It is a 
 series of successive revelations of God to man, exhi- 
 bited as life only can be exhibited, in dramatic in- 
 cidents, in individual biographies, in national history, 
 in contemporary song and sermon, poem and prophecy; 
 in forms, that is, as varied as the thinkings and moods 
 and experiences of actual human life. 
 
 Whatever theological or religious teaching there 
 is, it takes the form that all historic teaching takes. 
 We see the Divine teachings, we see phases of human 
 character, we see the moral sequence of human actions. 
 God gives institutions and laws to Israel suited to its 
 stage of religious development ; David pours out in 
 song the religious ideas of his age ; Isaiah prophesies 
 to the actual condition of the people. God reveals 
 His thoughts and urges forward His great purpose 
 through the characters and histories of men. Divine 
 truths take form in human thought ; Divine purposes 
 are advanced by human conduct. Patriarch, prophet, 
 king — Abraham, Moses, David — all contribute the 
 service of their respective epochs. God's truth and 
 holiness are seen in their practical conflicts with 
 human error and sin. With lofty over-ruling purpose 
 He urges His steady course against even the strongest 
 human passions, the strongest national tendencies. 
 
270 HENRY ALLOK 
 
 Nothing is more wonderful than the steady advance 
 of generation after generation ; each actor, each event, 
 a reluctant or an unconscious contributor to the 
 Divine working, until the whole process is explained 
 by its consummation in Christ. From the first vague 
 promise of a deliverer to the transgressor in Eden, 
 through a thousand forms, institutions, and expe- 
 riences of human life, each a natural and progressive 
 stage of development, we see the grand process uncon- 
 sciously advancing, until, when from the advent of 
 the Christ we look back upon it, we see an orderly 
 plan and a continuous development, which in its 
 manifold conditions and harmonies is a miracle of 
 history. It does not lessen the inspiration of lawgiver 
 or prophet that he prophesies to his own generation. 
 It does not affect the inspiration of the Bible writers 
 that they record contemporary events, contemporary 
 relations of God to man ; it simply enhances the 
 harmony of the whole series of writings — so uncon- 
 sciously and providentially gathered into the canon 
 — into a miracle which only the supernatural can 
 explain. 
 
 If, then, this be the character of the Bible, as it 
 indisputably is — not an oracle, not a theological creed, 
 not a code of religious precepts, but the historical 
 development of a saving purpose — in what rational 
 sense can the Bible be dispensed with, or religious 
 men emancipate themselves from its yoke ? As well 
 talk of dispensing with the history of the Peloponnesian 
 War, of being emancipated from the yoke of the 
 constitutional history of England. As well talk of 
 dispensing with the phenomena of the physical crea- 
 tion, or of man's intellectual or moral nature, through 
 which, according to our ever-developing intelligence, 
 God reveals Himself, and man grows to His science. 
 
 The only rational and pertinent question concerning 
 the Bible is, Is it true ? Are the representations of God 
 which it develops historically and morally accurate ? 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 271 
 
 Did these Divine manifestations occur, and are they 
 congruous with our own moral nature, and with our 
 conceptions of God ? Is the historical testimony 
 sustained by our moral consciousness ? Does the 
 Bible as a whole — as a progressive revelation of God 
 finding its consummation in Christ — realise our highest 
 moral idea of what God should be and do ? 
 
 All other questions concerning the Bible— its 
 canon, its inspiration, its authors — arc important only 
 as they concern this. All other phenomena of the 
 Bible record — its dispensations, its ordinances, its 
 miracles, its prophecies — are subordinate to this great 
 moral conception of the formal and developing 
 purpose of the whole. Imperfect in relation to the 
 ultimate revelation of Christ the earlier teachings of 
 the Bible may and must be ; but imperfection is not 
 error, save as childhood is error, as pupilage is error ; 
 rather is it undeveloped truth. 
 
 Theological doctrines and religious precepts lie in 
 the Bible as scientific doctrines and physical injunc- 
 tions lie in the phenomena and properties of Nature : 
 they have to be gradually formulated by study and 
 experience. Just as the science and physical ministry 
 of each generation are proportionate to its developing 
 knowledge of Nature, so its theological wisdom and 
 religious goodness are proportionate to its developing 
 knowledge of the Bible. Neither faith nor duty is 
 dictated in the pedagogic way that Dr. Martineau 
 assumes ; " a Divine text-book," in this sense, the 
 Bible nowhere professes to be. But that it is something 
 more than a mere " human literature " its marvellous 
 phenomena compel us to conclude. If it be not the 
 supernatural record of God's historic revelation of 
 Himself, it is a miracle of fortuitous plan and purpose, 
 of intellectual and moral harmony, more inexplicable 
 still. 
 
 In every sense, moreover, that is not trifling, words 
 are not the antitheses of realities, but their necessary 
 
272 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 expression, the means whereby the knowledge of 
 realities is conveyed ; without which, indeed, every 
 department of science would be incalculably im- 
 poverished. Why should words be a more incongruous 
 medium for making us acquainted with the history of 
 God's revelation of Himself, and with His thoughts 
 concerning man's religious life, than for making us 
 acquainted with the history of Julius Caesar, or with 
 the ideas of Plato ? 
 
 How, again, in the sense intended, is it philo- 
 sophically possible to find " the inward springs of 
 religion in our own nature and experience," any more 
 than to find there the inward springs of history, or 
 of science, or of philosophy, or of social conduct ? 
 Capacity we possess, but capacity is not inspiration. 
 It is not even the material which supplies it ; much less 
 is it a " spring." Before religion can well up in " our 
 own nature," knowledge of Divine things must be 
 imparted to it ; and if experience bears any testimony, 
 the very disposition for true religiousness, what we 
 figuratively call " life," must be quickened by that 
 Divine touch from which all life comes. What other 
 part of our nature is sufficient for its own knowledge 
 and development ? In virtue of what analogy can 
 this be claimed for our religiousness ? 
 
 In thus repudiating the Bible and its yoke, Dr. Mar- 
 tineau can hardly, I think, mean that in their advance 
 towards the spiritual in religion he and his co- 
 religionists have soared so high that they have left 
 beneath their feet as effete things the theological 
 teachings and ethical ideals of the Bible. He would, I 
 think, be the first to acknowledge that in the entire 
 range of human speculation there is no conception of 
 God so sublime as that of " the God and Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ," and no ideal of moral life com- 
 parable to that of the precepts and of the example 
 which the peerless life of Christ constitutes. But 
 should not this have been said ? Has he not been 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 273 
 
 betrayed by dogmatic exigences into a position sub- 
 limely regardless of facts — a confusion, at any rate, of 
 the imperfect forms of the historic embodiments of the 
 Bible with its underlying and ultimate truths ? It 
 ought not to be difficult to distinguish between the 
 Divine ideal and its poor and pitiful realisation in 
 human lives. 
 
 A still graver affirmation follows. Dr. Martineau 
 congratulates his co-religionists that, in their advance 
 towards the spiritual religion, they have effected " the 
 disappearance from our religion of the entire Messianic 
 mythology . . . the total discharge from our re- 
 ligious conceptions of that central Jewish dream w r hich 
 was always asking, ' Art thou he that should come, or 
 look we for another ? ' Meaning, their dismissal of 
 everything supernatural connected with the person 
 and work of Jesus Christ as contained in the records of 
 the evangelists. " From the person of Jesus," he says, 
 " everything official attached to Him by the evangelists 
 or by divines has fallen away. . . He has no 
 consciously (!) exceptional part to play, but only to be 
 what He is ; to follow the momentary love, to do and 
 say what the hour may bring, to be quiet under the 
 sorrows which piety and purity incur, and die away in 
 the prayer of inextinguishable trust." And further, 
 he designates this emancipation from old faiths 
 concerning the Christ as " the dissolution of scenic 
 dreams." 
 
 These old faiths in the historic facts narrated by 
 the evangelists stand or fall by their own proper his- 
 toric evidence. This of course cannot be touched 
 here ; but it may be legitimate for us to ask, Is the 
 assumption that this is the true condition of the 
 spiritual justified by either moral philosophy or the 
 experience of human lives ? Is such renunciation of 
 the Christ of the New Testament an essential condi- 
 tion of the highest spiritual life ? Does His rejection 
 by a Church or by an individual life ordinarily mark 
 
274 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 a stage in the advance from the spiritual to the more 
 spiritual ; from a cold, formal type of religious life to 
 fervid piety, transcendent holiness, enthusiastic con- 
 secration ? 
 
 Does not such a congratulation deny, first, the 
 very laws and possibilities of the spiritual ; and next, 
 the emphatic testimony of all actual religious expe- 
 rience ? Is not Dr. Martineau again confounding igno- 
 rant and accidental perversions of Messianic form 
 with the normal Messianic idea ; and thus unceremo- 
 niously sweeping away not only the human accretion, 
 but the Divine substance ? Another illustration of 
 the law that the pseudo-spiritual is as fatal to the 
 truly spiritual by evaporating it as the materialistic is 
 by denying it. 
 
 Is it a true philosophy thus to confound spiritual 
 life with its quickening source and nutriment in 
 Christ, any more than, as we have seen, it is a true 
 philosophy to confound the religious understanding 
 with the Biblical knowledge that ministered to it ? 
 The highest Christian life we know is the most ample 
 in its confession of dependence upon the Christ : " I 
 live, yet not I, it is Christ that liveth in me." 
 
 Assuming the historic truth of the Biblical 
 revelation of Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son and 
 Mediator, is there anything in His relations to the 
 spiritual life of men that is incompatible with its 
 highest development ? Whether the answer be asked 
 of moral philosophy or religious experience it is surely 
 unequivocal. 
 
 Is there any form of conscious life, physical, intel- 
 lectual, or moral, that is not dependent for its exist- 
 ence, its nurture, and its continuance upon some 
 " power not ourselves," and that is altogether external 
 to us ? Why should the spiritual life be an exception 
 or be incongruous with the analogies of other life ? 
 In what way is it inconsistent with spiritual religious- 
 ness that it should be made possible by the incarnation 
 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 275 
 
 and atonement of a Divine ( Ihrist, quickened and sus- 
 tained by His Spirit, and instructed and inspired by 
 His teaching ? 
 
 Of course the external power is not the subjective 
 life. The Scripture which reveals its conditions is 
 not the personal life. The Christ by whom it is made 
 possible is not the personal life. The Divine Spirit 
 by wdiom it is quickened is not the personal life. But 
 what is there anomalous in this ? AVe may go farther 
 — as logically Dr. Martineau must, if he would not 
 lapse into a vague and unintelligible pantheism — and 
 say, God Himself — the Source of all life ; whose secret, 
 life in all its springs and modes is, and upon whose 
 sustenance it is momently dependent — God Himself 
 is not the personal life. But the personal life is not 
 the less individual, or the less able to find its per- 
 fection, because thus conditioned. What is the logic, 
 what is the philosophy, that affirms that in order for 
 the spiritual life to attain to its perfection, it must be 
 emancipated from " the entire Messianic mythology." 
 
 This tendency to ultra-spiritualism is perhaps as 
 strong in human nature as the opposite tendency to 
 superstition. It is a tendency of the noblest souls. 
 They imagine the perfection of pure spirit, liberated 
 from all conditions of body and circumstance. Seeking 
 after what can exist only in the spiritual imagina- 
 tion, they refuse the legitimate and necessary ministry 
 of the sensible, and thus they not only fail to realise 
 their ideal, but they make direr shipwreck than more 
 prosaic souls. It is the mirage of religious life ; it 
 simply mocks the necessities of the soul. 
 
 It has been a delusion of all religious ages. 
 Anchorites and Ascetics, Manicheans and Mystics, 
 Monks and Puritans, Quakers and philosophic Spi- 
 ritualists, are alike in their revolt against the compo- 
 site and fundamental laws of our being, and have 
 invariably wrought their own Nemesis. The phe- 
 nomena of human nature, the facts of human life 
 
 s 2 
 
276 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 are against them ; and facts laugh at philosophies, 
 while their discomfited votaries pa^s into fanaticism 
 or despair. So long as the spirit itself is conditioned, 
 so long will its nurture depend upon material circum- 
 stances. 
 
 The true philosophy of life, therefore, is the right 
 adjustment of things as they really are. It does not 
 follow, because the spirit is not the body, that the 
 spirit therefore is independent of the body : " it takes 
 a body to keep a soul ; " or, because true progress is 
 from the less spiritual to the more spiritual, that the 
 ideal aim is spirit disembodied, or the ideal method 
 a disparagement of material things. This were as 
 philosophically absurd as it is naturally impossible ; 
 therefore, whenever religion in her imaginative 
 dreams has in this way sought her spiritual ends, 
 she has simply disabled and dishonoured herself. 
 Better for faith to walk surely though humbly on the 
 solid earth, and slowly and painfully to climb to 
 spiritual heights, than to make itself artificial wings, 
 which, melting in the sunlight of heaven, only pre- 
 cipitate an ignominious and destructive fall. 
 
 How experience answers the question we shall see 
 by-and-by. I will only add here, that the true func- 
 tion of the spiritual seer — he who discerns the future, 
 and would lead men on to its attainment — is not to 
 imagine spiritual Utopias, or to urge fanatical expe- 
 dients ; it is to point out the true uses of life as it is, 
 to adjust the true conditions of the spiritual and the 
 material, and, while maintaining the distinction be- 
 tween that which is ministered to and that which 
 ministers, to respect and regulate both. That we 
 keep before the eyes of men a true and lofty spiritual 
 ideal, after which they are to strive and which all 
 things must serve, is imperative ; but we may starve 
 the spiritual by disallowing the proper ministry of the 
 material, just as we may overbear and corrupt, the 
 spiritual by an undue encroachment of the material. 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 277 
 
 It is, therefore, a question of degree and adjust- 
 ment, concerning which different men and different 
 ages will give different answers. We can give only 
 the answer of our own day ; according to the lights we 
 have, adjust degrees and determine relations, ever 
 aiming at a more spiritual condition still. There 
 can be no more fatal betrayal of the truly spiritual 
 than to deliver it over to the delusive imagina- 
 tions and the impracticable methods of the falsely 
 spiritual. 
 
 II. May we, then, in the light of these principles, 
 venture to prognosticate the Church developments of 
 the future ? 
 
 Events and the fortune of institutions are hidden 
 from us. Xo man without folly may presume to 
 forecast the course of God's providential method. Our 
 most cherished Church systems, our forms of religious 
 life, the best that w^e know and realise, may be modified 
 or superseded by something better. But the condi- 
 tions of spiritual development itself can scarcely be 
 mistaken. And if forecast has any value, it is to 
 demonstrate tendencies and to anticipate issues, that 
 we maybe incited to a constant and strenuous striving 
 after the eternal truths and purposes of God. 
 
 In the Divine order of things it is almost a truism 
 to say that that which is morally the truest, which 
 realises the spiritual the most purely and fully, must 
 ultimately be triumphant. 
 
 The one guiding star of the soul amid the per- 
 plexity and darkness of human things, the one sure 
 anchoring amid the tempests of human passion, and 
 the shipwreck of human devices, is fidelity to the 
 instincts and convictions of our spiritual nature. 
 Whatever the desolations of intellectual doubt, what- 
 ever the dismay when familiar forms and sacred beliefs 
 fall away from us, the man or the Church that is 
 faithful to his spiritual apprehensions will be saved 
 from shipwreck, and will, sooner or later, find God. 
 
278 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 If with honest hearts we simply strive to discover the 
 true, and to attain the right, we are on the lines of 
 the Divine working, the sanction of all that is best in 
 human experience is upon us, and we have bound 
 ourselves to the destiny of God's purposes. In the 
 final issue of things he will find himself most in har- 
 mony with God whose conceptions have been the most 
 spiritual, whose strivings have been the most holy. 
 
 1. May we not, for instance, confidently conclude 
 that the Church of the future will be that which in 
 theological teaching and religious nurture the most 
 fully provides for the spiritual necessities of men ? 
 
 To this test theologies must finally be brought ; 
 and in proportion as we find them at variance with the 
 deepest instincts and necessities of human nature, 
 their ultimate failure may, without presumption, be 
 affirmed. 
 
 That there should be any divorce between theology 
 and practical religious life is in every way disastrous. 
 But when the alternative is between theoretical 
 theology and the facts of human nature, there can be 
 but little hesitancy as to either the truth or the issue ; 
 the philosophy that has to " pity the facts " has not a 
 very hopeful future. 
 
 It scarcely needs be said that religious life is 
 vitally dependent upon a true theology, that in the 
 actual realisation of things there must be perfect 
 harmony between theological truth and the highest 
 religious life. We are made to know ; truth for its 
 own sake is the imperious obligation of a man. The 
 intellect is as much made for truth as the moral 
 nature is for goodness. It is its natural impulse to 
 seek truth ; simply to know is the religious satisfac- 
 tion of the intellect. Truth, again, is alone nutritive ; 
 error is essentially sterile — it is the mother of death. 
 No life can grow or continue save as it is fed by truth ; 
 there can, therefore, be no religious life save as there 
 is theological truth. 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 279 
 
 In inquiries after theological truth 1 am as 
 imperatively bound to reverence the intellectual con- 
 science as in inquiries after scientific truth. I may not 
 make mere tastes or sympathies, therefore, the criterion 
 of my theology. If a theology cannot be historically 
 established or morally justified, intellectual science has 
 every right to forbid it. And it need not make the 
 process of inquiry less judicial that great interests are 
 involved in the result. There are few processes of 
 inquiry in which we are not practically interested. 
 Xo interests are so great or vital as religious interests, 
 and upon our theological knowledge they must 
 depend. Knowledge is not life, but it is the nutriment 
 of life, and upon its quality life depends. 
 
 It is, to say the least, a strong presumption that 
 that theology is both scientifically and historically 
 true which finds human nature in its deepest needs, 
 and most fully accounts for all its phenomena : which 
 remedies its greatest ills, which satisfies its broadest 
 sympathies, which inspires its noblest holiness, which 
 fills its largest hopes. And it is an equal presumption 
 against any theological system, whatever its scientific 
 pretension, when it fails to do this. The moral instincts 
 are a surer indication of truth than the intellectual 
 understanding. On any theory of final causes we can 
 scarcely imagine that theology to be wrong which, as 
 tested by experience, is fullest of spiritual satisfaction 
 and power. We cannot without moral absurdity 
 imagine falsehood to be more fruitful than truth. In 
 the very nature of things the highest religious life 
 must be the product of the truest theology. 
 
 We may fairly, I think, bring to this test the 
 comparative claims of the Rationalistic and the Evan- 
 gelical systems. 
 
 The future will be with the Church that has in it 
 the greatest moral forces, and the greatest moral forces 
 are those that most powerfully affect the conscience 
 and the religious heart of men. 
 
280 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 In the light of Christian history, then, and of 
 almost every variety of religious experience, are we not 
 warranted in affirming that no theological ideas are 
 comparable in fitness and power to those that are 
 significantly designated Evangelical ? While, as an 
 equally certain historical fact, no Church repudiating 
 these ideas has developed either strength or per- 
 manence. Where is the Rationalistic Church to be 
 found that is either historic, powerful, or missionary ? 
 Just in proportion as Evangelical ideas take possession 
 of men they have stricken deep roots in human 
 nature, they have excited a fervent, spiritual life, 
 they have inspired a pitiful, self-sacrificing, aggressive 
 zeal. 
 
 Thus Romanism has been a greater and more 
 permanent religious force than Rationalism, Evan- 
 gelicanism than Unitarianism or Moderatism. Super- 
 stition even, which is the ignorant fervour of the 
 religious life, is a greater spiritual power than Scepti- 
 cism, which is the negation of it. 
 
 Their differentiae are not constituted by intellect, 
 learning, or zeal, but palpably by the life which dis- 
 tinctive Evangelical theology inspires ; sometimes 
 working in despite of ignorance, fanaticism, supersti- 
 tion, or disadvantageous circumstance. The history 
 of Puritanism, of the Evangelical revival of the 
 eighteenth century, of different Churches in our own 
 day, are familiar British illustrations of phenomena of 
 which the entire history of the Church is full. 
 
 So soon as any Church rids itself of the " mythology 
 of the Christ " — rejects, that is, the great theological 
 beliefs of His Incarnation, His Atonement, His Resur- 
 rection from the Dead — it is emasculated as a moral 
 force. The Church of living, assimilating, aggressive, 
 religious men degenerates into a coterie of men 
 learnedly holding theological opinions which for the 
 most part are negations. It may imagine itself to 
 have attained to a profounder theological philosophy, 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 281 
 
 a more articulate scientific certainty, a more un- 
 embarrassed religious ethic — to be, in short, a society 
 of superior persons ; but the curse of religious impo- 
 tence has smitten it. It has lost the power of popular 
 appeal ; it is a pecidiam of the elect, 
 
 In the ordinary sequence of things the thinker, 
 the philosopher, the scientific discoverer, is the pioneer 
 of popular faith. Knowledge exhaled into the higher 
 firmament of science descends in rain and fertilises 
 the earth. The probation of witness-bearing may be 
 long and arduous, but it has a uniform issue ; sooner 
 or later truth compels conviction. In rationalistic 
 theology the process is reversed. Instead of the 
 cloud gathering richness and emptying itself in ferti- 
 lising showers, it becomes more and more attenuated, 
 assumes forms more and more fantastic, and evaporates 
 in infinite space. 
 
 Rationalistic theology fails of historic permanence. 
 It wins only the suffrages of the speculative ; men who 
 seek for working power in religious life turn away 
 from it. The multitude in their practical religious 
 needs almost instinctively recoil from its barren meta- 
 physic. We never find the record in its history, " the 
 common people heard it gladly." The similes of its 
 processes are not the mustard seed that filled the 
 earth, the leaven that leavened the whole lump. 
 Rather is it a theological Sisyphus, an intermittent 
 fever, a fitful sectarianism, blending with the nega- 
 tions of the Sadducee the self-complacency of the 
 Pharisee, proudly standing aloof and declaring that 
 " the people that knoweth not the law are accursed." 
 Few things in the history of thought are more 
 emphatic than the evanescence, the rapid transforma- 
 tions of materialism. " It cometh up and is cut down 
 like a flower, and never continueth in one stay." Why 
 should it be so ? 
 
 For obvious reasons thinkers are with it in larsrer 
 relative proportions than with Evangelical Churches — 
 
282 
 
 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 scarcely any, indeed, who are not thinkers, or do not 
 think themselves to be such. Intellectual power and 
 acquirement are with it ; oratory is with it ; why can- 
 not it establish itself in permanent forms ? It has the 
 anomalous and fatal defect of popular powerlessness, 
 popular incongruity. 
 
 Is it, then, the true inference that potent religious 
 life repudiates thought and culture, and allies itself 
 with ignorance and fanaticism ? that " ignorance is 
 the mother of devotion " ? The illustrious record of 
 Christian philosophers, theologians, scholars, and 
 thinkers, from Paul to Augustine, from Aquinas to 
 Bacon, from Pascal to Butler, and to the host of 
 eminent men who believe in our own day, make this 
 theory untenable. Among modern philosophers the 
 rejectors of Christianity are a very small minority 
 indeed. 
 
 It is simply the old dilemma. The facts are more 
 than the philosophy ; and its most ingenious theories, 
 its most vehement reasoning, cannot alter them. 
 When, with any school, its theory is at variance with 
 the common human instinct, we may be sure that 
 it is the philosophy that is false, not the human 
 fact. 
 
 With the mass of men religious life is a practical 
 necessity, not a speculative philosophy. They need 
 for their moral disability of life, for its historic 
 despair, for its dark forebodings and blind yearnings 
 the " strong Son of God " which the Christ proclaims 
 Himself to be. They need for their sin the Atone- 
 ment which His Cross provides ; for their death in 
 sin the quickening which His Spirit brings ; for their 
 example and inspiration the ideal life of perfect 
 purity, sympathy, and help which the Christ Himself 
 is ; and for their future the living hope of immortality 
 which His resurrection creates. 
 
 These are not theoretic dogmas concerning a super- 
 natural personage, any more than the illuminating, 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 283 
 
 quickening, fructifying beams of the sun are an 
 astronomical speculation concerning that luminary ; 
 they are practical powers of religious life, they reveal 
 religious possibilities to men, and enable their attain- 
 ment. Men know the Christ as the earth knows the 
 sun, by the quickenings of life which He causes. Our 
 entire nature responds to His presentation. He is 
 " all our salvation and all our desire." 
 
 Not, indeed, that the majority of those who receive 
 these great Christian truths can demonstrate them 
 theologically, or establish them historically. As with 
 all other scientific truth, only the scholars and philo- 
 sophers of Christianity can do this. Neither logic 
 nor historical evidence enters into the process of 
 popular conviction. Cultured rejectors of these 
 truths can easily secure an argumentative refutation. 
 But the conviction lies deeper than argument. It is 
 an intuitive recognition of fitness, an experimental 
 proof of sufficiency. As the eye recognises the light, 
 as the heart feels love, as hunger is satisfied by food, 
 as life is demonstrated by living, so the truths of 
 Christ are made certain to sinful men ; new forces 
 enter into them, new satisfactions fill them, changes 
 and processes are wrought in them that nothing else 
 can work. Men cannot mistake the consciousness of 
 life, or of that which produces it ; their new powers 
 of religious penitence, faith, holiness ; their new reli- 
 gious affections, worship, love, self-sacrifice, sympathy 
 with God, joy in Christ. Life is more than reasonings, 
 more than testimony. Against its throbbing con- 
 sciousness, its potent processes and issues, there are 
 no reasons ; the learned demonstrations of theological 
 philosophy are powerless. " Whether this man be of 
 God I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I 
 was blind now I see." Seeing the man who Avas 
 healed standing with the disciples, the rulers of the 
 Sanhedrin could say nothing against it. No evidence 
 is so demonstrative as that of healed men. 
 
284 
 
 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 When, therefore, on the one hand the scientific 
 rationalist tells us that by rejecting the supernatural 
 Christ he escapes difficulties of the intellectual reason, 
 and men and women who are trying to live a prac- 
 tical religious life tell us, on the other, that by 
 accepting Him they overcome the moral difficulties 
 of the soul, and achieve holy lives, there can be no 
 hesitancy as to which we should give credence. If 
 history has any testimony to bear concerning the 
 moral forces of human life, it is that the highest 
 morality and piety that men attain is in virtue of the 
 distinctive inspirations of Evangelical beliefs. It is one 
 of the phases of the great cause, Theory versus Fact, 
 argued in every department of human thought. 
 Which is to be accepted as true — the intellectual verdict 
 of the few, discredited by a paralysed righteousness, 
 or the moral verdict of the many, sustained by 
 changes and sanctities of character which are simply 
 miracles of life ? 
 
 To this broad vital test we may fairly put the 
 question ; not, of course, meaning that there is no 
 religiousness in the one, or that there is no failure of 
 religiousness in the other. We simply adduce a 
 general characterisation so indubitable as scarcely to 
 admit of question. The ultimate test of theology is 
 religious life. " If I by the Spirit of God cast out 
 devils, then is the kingdom of God come unto you." 
 
 The two great criteria of Evangelical belief which 
 give it this distinctive moral power are — 
 
 (1) The profound moral righteousness of its theory 
 of forgiveness. 
 
 The salvation which it propounds is infinitely more 
 than mere safety. It is a theory of forgiveness which 
 perfectly satisfies the moral conscience, so that we 
 reverence its principles as much as we rejoice in its 
 immunities. It is a satisfaction for our entire moral 
 nature. In this every rationalistic theory of religious- 
 ness fails. It has something to slur over, or to resolve 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 285 
 
 into evasive feeling. Unable to deny the fact of 
 human sin, it proffers no solution of its relations to 
 Divine righteousness. It simply suggests that bygones 
 should be bygones. It resolves the entire moral 
 problem by mere pitiful feeling, a merciful act of 
 oblivion in which righteousness is entirely left out of 
 the account. 
 
 This is not satisfactory to the moral consciousness. 
 The Evangelical theory of Atonement is. It may, as 
 we are told, be a misconception, but it is perfect in its 
 moral harmonies with our highest conceptions of the 
 righteousness of God, and with the deepest moral 
 consciousness of human nature. It does not leave 
 law a dishonoured thing. It does not leave the con- 
 science unsatisfied. It does not climb to God's favour 
 over prostrate principles of righteousness. It does 
 not refuse a solution of the relations of " sins that are 
 past " to perfect rectitude and inviolable law. It does 
 not escape penalty as a man who breaks prison. From 
 first to last, in the least thing as in the greatest, the 
 moral process is thorough, the moral sense approves. 
 Justice itself pronounces the acquittal. The process 
 is as righteous as the issue is blessed. 
 
 And the constitution of our moral nature is such 
 that it demands this satisfaction. Moral sequence 
 cannot be violated without resentment ; the nobler 
 the moral feeling, the deeper the sense of sin, the 
 more imperative the demand for perfect righteousness 
 in forgiveness. 
 
 It follows, therefore, that the more perfect the 
 moral satisfaction which a theology gives, the more 
 potent will be its appeal to human nature. This 
 appeal of the gospel forgiveness in every part of its 
 process to our inherent sense of righteousness, to the 
 indestructible instincts of our moral nature, is the 
 secret of its distinctive power. If ii be ;i popular 
 misconception, the misconception carries a proioiinder 
 principle of righteousness than any of its substitutes. 
 
286 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 In completeness of idea it satisfies even the moral 
 imagination. 
 
 (2) The other element of moral power is its perfect 
 ethic ; and that not only in its ideal, but in its dynamic 
 force, its provision for practically attaining its ideal. 
 For the criterion of moral excellence is practicability. 
 A Utopian Christianity would constrain no serious 
 endeavour ; men have always known a holiness higher 
 than they could realise. 
 
 The peculiarity of the Christian ethic is that, while 
 the holiness that it demands transcends all that men 
 have dreamed, it supplies an inspiration that not only 
 makes it attainable, but makes its pursuit an enthu- 
 siasm. 
 
 For such, again, is the moral constitution of our 
 nature, that nothing can satisfy us in the Deity that 
 we conceive, or in the religious life proposed to us, but 
 the utmost imagination of holiness, " We give thanks 
 at the remembrance of His holiness." Believing men 
 may practically fail ; their lives may contradict their 
 discipleship ; but they borrow no excuses from the 
 loftiness or the impracticability of the Christian re- 
 quirements. The failure is their conscious shame, 
 their admitted culpability ; they fall short of their 
 yearning, but it is their yearning notwithstanding. 
 They would resent the suggestion that the Christian 
 standard should be lowered or its demand lessened. 
 Who ever heard an Evangelical believer lay the blame 
 of his failure upon the inadequacy of the spiritual 
 forces that are in Christ ? 
 
 A man like Paul will groan over the inadequacy of 
 Judaism, and complain that his progress is hindered 
 by the " body of death " to which he is chained. Let 
 him find Christ, and he shouts in the joy of a glad 
 surprise ; the hateful ligatures are severed, he is con- 
 sciously full of spiritual power and grace. 
 
 Is it not, on the other hand, both characteristic and 
 ominous that when Evangelical beliefs are abandoned 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 287 
 
 spiritual forces arc weakened and moral life relaxed ? 
 Under all systems individual men have attained 
 righteousness and godliness, often beautiful and 
 tender: there were noble lives amid the festering 
 corruptions of Greek and Roman paganism. Chris- 
 tianity itself as a moral force works far beyond the 
 dogmatic recognition of it. Nevertheless the general 
 moral tendencies of systems are unmistakable. The 
 tendency of rationalistic life in modern communities 
 is as uniform as the tendencies of old Pagan life in 
 Greece and Rome. The history is lengthened enough 
 and the phenomena are diversified enough for a certain 
 induction. 
 
 The uniform tendency of a rationalistic theology is 
 to relax the moral sanctions of life, to weaken the 
 moral forces of virtue, far beyond the margin of any 
 Puritan asceticism. 
 
 Not only are the dogmas of Evangelical belief 
 denied, its moral restraints are resented. A sufficient 
 illustration of this may be found in theories of the 
 relationship of the sexes. One of the first and most 
 uniform speculations of rationalistic ethics is an 
 assault upon the sacredness of marriage. Nothing 
 would be easier than a large induction, from both 
 precept and instance, of men and Avomen, otherwise 
 virtuous and distinguished, revolting from the Chris- 
 tian obligation of marriage and from its lofty demands 
 upon chastity ; while the removal of Christian social 
 restraints from the lax and dissolute leads to rapid 
 and flagrant social demoralisation ; with fatal precision 
 they follow the example of their Pagan prototypes. 
 
 And, more generally, one is almost appalled ;if the 
 depression of moral enthusiasm, at the chill of the 
 religious sensibilities where Rationalism prevails. 
 What a cold sardonic satisfaction the iconoclasts of 
 scepticism evince if they can but overthrow an evan- 
 gelic creed! The desolations which they cause, the 
 moral forces which they paralyse, give them no 
 
288 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 concern. They can destroy a tender faith with a 
 chuckle, and pitilessly uproot the moralities of a man 
 because, as they think, they grow in an illicit soil. 
 Add to this their own deteriorated spirit of earnest 
 inquiry, the flippant insouciance with which, like 
 skaters over thin ice, they skim over depths of 
 spiritual and moral truths which are perplexing and 
 agonising the souls of men ; together with their utter 
 lack of missionary self-sacrifice. Whatever their 
 characteristics, they cannot be charged with either 
 an enthusiasm for truth or an enthusiasm for 
 humanity. 
 
 Human nature being what it is, there can be no 
 hazard in affirming that this will not be the Church 
 of the future. Men will demand that which satisfies 
 the noblest aspirations of their moral and spiritual 
 nature. And so far as the experience of nearly two 
 thousand years bears testimony, this satisfaction is 
 most fully realised by the Evangelical constituents of 
 humanity. Only so far as they include these do 
 corrupt Churches maintain their hold, and only in 
 virtue of their prominent presentation of these do 
 pure Churches win their triumphs. 
 
 Many things may be associated with Evangelical 
 beliefs which modify their operation, but even these 
 cannot destroy their vitality. Excessive ritual, priestly 
 superstitions, sacramentarian corruptions, obscure 
 their lustre and weaken their spiritual appeal, for 
 these are the substitution of material for moral forces. 
 On the other hand, ignorance may hold Evangelical 
 beliefs in crude and repellent forms. Fanaticism may 
 narrow religious recognitions and refuse religious 
 charities, and in this way the force of Evangelical 
 truths may be impaired. However true a religious 
 life, however powerful an Evangelical agency, if it be 
 not characterised by clear thinking, by profound prin- 
 ciples, by catholic sympathies, its crudeness will 
 dissipate its force, its intolerance will provoke resent- 
 
THE CHURCIL OF THE FUTURE. 289 
 
 inent. It is not easy to calculate how much the 
 meagre thinking, the drivelling sentiment, the in- 
 tolerant Pharisaism, and the fanatical cant-words of 
 some sections of the Evangelical school have pre- 
 judiced its theology, limited its efficiency, and hindered 
 its progress. 
 
 It is, too, to be fully recognised that the forms in 
 which Evangelical truths are held must change in the 
 future, as they have changed in the past. Subject to 
 the laws of human developments, they have ever 
 been in constant flux. Amid the changes that with, 
 perhaps, unwonted violence are just now passing upon 
 all theological thought, many modes of apprehending 
 Evangelical truths will perish. We need not be afraid 
 of this. It is not necessarily unspiritual in its cause, 
 or evil in its result. Forms of thought perish by a 
 natural law, as forms of childhood perish. Valid while 
 they continue, they are necessarily transitory, and give 
 way to others that are larger and more adequate. As 
 spiritual understanding develops we necessarily attain 
 to clearer vision and more spiritual apprehension. 
 Doubt is an essential factor in processes of faith. A 
 man who does not doubt never believes. Let the 
 spirit of doubt be reverent, anxious, inquiring, and it 
 is the very truth of a man's soul. He will not believe 
 until he has proved. Lower forms of belief perish for 
 higher forms to become possible. Ignorantly to re- 
 ceive and stubbornly to hold to traditional forms, to 
 refuse all quest and to call it faith, is to substitute 
 superstition and prejudice for intelligent belief, to 
 constitute an infallibility of the darker ages of the 
 Church. To be afraid of fairly meeting questionings, 
 of looking provisional dogmas fully in the face, of 
 modifying or abandoning them as increasing light 
 may demand, is not faith, but a cowardly form of 
 unbelief. Only by an eye open to all light, a heart 
 implicitly obedient to all truth, can Evangelical beliefs 
 be held ; and with an ever-advancing intelligence, 
 
 T 
 
290 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 an ever-deepening hold, and an ever-broadening 
 acceptance. 
 
 r lhe truths which were the strength and inspiration 
 of our fathers ; which possessed the convictions of 
 Paul when — denouncing the superstition of the Jew 
 and the rationalism of the Greek — he declared Christ 
 to be the power of God and the wisdom of God, and 
 avowed his determination to know nothing else 
 among men — are still, and in largely augmented 
 power, the moral forces of our own generation, con- 
 stituting its religious strength, and inspiring its self- 
 sacrificing philanthropy. And in these they have 
 given indubitable earnest that they will be the con- 
 quering strength of the future. 
 
 Our own churches are not, perhaps, in so great 
 peril from the superstition of the Jew ; their more 
 characteristic peril is the still more deadly rationalism 
 of the Greek. Let any church preach a philosophy 
 of Christianity instead of Christ, a science of religion 
 instead of*a vital force; let any church make it its 
 suicidal boast that it has emancipated itself from " the 
 mythology of the Christ," and has retained for itself 
 only the Christian ethic, and, whatever the religious 
 goodness of individual men, or the reflected influence 
 upon them of Evangelical ideas, its power as a church 
 will be paralysed. A learned philosophy has no 
 chance against the rudest life. 
 
 It is for us, therefore, the dictate of truest philo- 
 sophy that we urge one another to an unswerving 
 fidelity to the Evangelical faith of our fathers ; that 
 simply and prominently as they, only in the lights of 
 modern thought and requirement, we " preach Christ," 
 the only moral force that can redeem the world from 
 sin; and with whatever of philosophical science, of 
 learned illustration, of aesthetic form, of effective elo- 
 quence, contemporary culture or personal genius may 
 supply. For this preaching, which is " foolishness " in 
 the estimates of man's wisdom, is by no means a foolish 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 291 
 
 manner of preaching, a magical reiteration of Evan- 
 gelical words. It lias no affinities with either ignorance 
 or intellectual weakness, coarseness, or fanaticism. 
 It may prove its power of life notwithstanding these. 
 But " Christ is the wisdom of God as well as the 
 power of God ; " and the wisdom as the condition of 
 the power. 
 
 Whatever changes of form may pass upon our 
 Church life and thought, so* long as the life and 
 the thought themselves are held fast, the apostolic 
 tradition will maintain its vitality. Lifted to purer 
 heights, disencumbered of hindering superstitions and 
 disabling ignorances, it will be to the world more 
 than it has ever been. The future will belong to it. 
 Against the Church built upon this rock the gates of 
 Hades shall not prevail. 
 
 2. Is it not equally clear that the future will 
 be with the Church that the most fully recognises 
 the prerogatives and responsibilities of the individual 
 religious man ? 
 
 That Churches differ immeasurably in such recog- 
 nition scarcely needs be said ; it marks the difference 
 between oligarchical and democratic Churches. And 
 the cause of all progress, the final cause of all govern- 
 ment, is the perfection of the people — the priesthood 
 of God. 
 
 Between Churches like that of Rome, which 
 organically precludes individualism, and makes 
 implicit submission and self-effacement a cardinal 
 principle of its discipline, and Congregational 
 churches, which are organised on the principle of 
 indefeasible individual prerogatives, there is the 
 distance of the entire diameter. Between the 
 two there are many gradations of Episcopal and 
 Tresbyteral rule, and to each in its measure the prin- 
 ciple applies. 
 
 If the ideal and consummation of religious life be 
 the Church development of a perfect manhood — " to 
 
 t 2 
 
292 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 present every man perfect in Christ Jesus," " growing 
 up to Him the living Head in all things " — the Church 
 of the future must be that which, employing the most 
 fully the discipline of spiritual freedom, realises most 
 perfectly the individual result. The end of all teach- 
 ing and training is to make the pupil independent of 
 the teacher, " a law to himself." 
 
 Authoritative Churches like Rome do not even 
 tend to this result ; all function save passive acquies- 
 cence in what is ruled for him is denied to the 
 individual. By a summary act of faith he renounces 
 all individual responsibility. Exercises of thought 
 are precluded by authoritative creeds and an in- 
 fallible priesthood. Freedom of action is forbidden 
 by prescriptions of authority — Pope, council, or 
 synod ; by Acts of Uniformity, or episcopal dicta. 
 Ecclesiastical franchise is precluded by proprietary 
 patronage — episcopal, regal, or private. Worship is 
 minutely regulated by rubrics. Discipline is adminis- 
 tered by ecclesiastical courts. In every department of 
 Church life, and to the minutest particular, the con- 
 gregation is absolutely disfranchised. Even the regu- 
 lation of the individual conscience, the culture of the 
 personal soul, is prescribed by priest and rubric. 
 Scarcely a single function of thought, feeling, or 
 action is left to the determination of individual respon- 
 sibility ; this is as nearly disfranchised as the moral 
 powers of a man can be. Ecclesiastical authority, 
 sacramental administration, and priestly function 
 control every faculty of his nature, and provide for 
 every necessity of his life. The priesthood is the 
 Church, the body of believers its functionless adjunct. 
 
 Can the Church of the future be developed on the 
 lines of such an organisation ? Must not the spirit 
 thus inculcated necessarily be of the most deteriorated 
 and invertebrate character ? It is the characteristic 
 vice of Diocesan Episcopacy. Even where most Evan- 
 gelical and least priestly, the congregation — at any 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 293 
 
 rate, under the conditions of Establishment as in 
 England — has no responsible function, no recognised 
 place for the exercise of its thought about doctrine, of 
 its discretion about ritual, of its judgment about the 
 methods of Church life and work. 
 
 The self-governing functions of Congregational 
 churches are not merely prerogatives, they are educa- 
 tional processes, whereby the faculties of the religious 
 life are developed. They are in the Church what 
 local self-government is in a nation, an education of 
 the individual for intelligent and well-ordered cor- 
 porate life. No peoples are so ignorant and incom- 
 petent as the subjects of autocratic, oligarchical, or 
 bureaucratic rule. None are so sagacious and strong 
 as self-governed communities. 
 
 In the Ecclesia of God the individual is sacred. 
 The Church exists for the individual, not the indi- 
 vidual for the Church. The unit of Church life is 
 the personal soul, and the end of Church life is its 
 development. No prescribed creed may supersede 
 personal processes of inquiry and conviction. The Bible 
 lies open to the individual judgment and conscience. 
 God's appeal is always directly to the individual soul. 
 "Every one of us must give account of himself to 
 God." " Prove all things, hold fast that which is 
 good." No ecclesiastical patron or synod may impose 
 his bishop or religious teacher. A free man in Christ, 
 responsible to God for his entire religious life, charged 
 with the exercise of personal responsibilities, he takes 
 counsel with those associated with him, free men like 
 himself, and the pastor is the appointment of their 
 collective wisdom and will. In all things per- 
 taining to worship and work, to discipline and 
 expediency, the prerogative is with the individual 
 church society. In the very nature of things it can- 
 not without a solecism be delegated. 
 
 Not by binding traditions of the past, not by 
 external authority of the present, is the Church ruled, 
 
294 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 but by the counsel and will of its own membership, 
 determined by the present expediency of things, and 
 by such light as the New Testament and the collective 
 wisdom of the past or of other Churches may afford. 
 It is a direct appeal to personal intelligence, conscience, 
 and common sense, calculated by its very nature to 
 develop the utmost wisdom and strength both in the 
 church member and the citizen. 
 
 For the strength of a church consists not in the 
 orthodoxy of its creed, the organisation of its govern- 
 ment, or the completeness of its code, but in the 
 developed faculty and moral feeling of its individual 
 members, whereby it becomes a law unto itself, and 
 endures though all official p-overnment should fail. 
 And, in the very nature of things, this can be secured 
 only by exercises of personal responsibility, demand, 
 and struggle, experiment and mistake, failure and 
 success. 
 
 The pursuit of truth is the essential qualification for 
 the use of truth. He only can use truth rightly who 
 has attained it by personal inquiry, who searches after 
 it, assays it, learns to discriminate it, proves it by 
 applications of it. Hence Lessing's dictum, that " if 
 the Almighty were to give him as an alternative the 
 possession of truth or the pursuit of it, he would 
 humbly choose the pursuit," is the exaggeration of a 
 true idea into a paradox and an absurdity ; for it 
 implies a preference for error. The possession of 
 truth is a higher condition than its pursuit. Truth is 
 to be obtained at all costs. The true alternative is 
 not the possession and the search, but the different 
 methods of obtaining possession. Even truth itself 
 is a precarious and unfruitful possession for a man, if 
 strenuous personal search has not qualified him for its 
 use. 
 
 Were it, therefore, possible for infallible Church or 
 traditional creed to present to a man complete and 
 absolute truth, or to prescribe for him the best condi- 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 295 
 
 tions of Church life, he would be disqualified for their 
 use, even could he receive them at all. The law of 
 all knowledge is that it "grows from less to more." 
 He who would have even " a conscience void of 
 offence " must " exercise himself herein." Manhood is 
 the product of growth, not of manipulation. 
 
 Hence the anomalies so often seen in the religious 
 life of oligarchical Churches — the divorce of theological 
 creed from religious conduct, of sacrament from 
 holiness, of ritual and devotional acts from spiritual 
 feeling and moral rectitude. What strange hybrids 
 of life present themselves — devotion and dissipation, 
 superstition and frivolity, early celebration and 
 evening licentiousness, the viaticum of a priest con- 
 doning a life of sin, the courtesan becoming a religieuse, 
 the father of Beatrice Cenci preparing a set-off for his 
 contemplated crime by the religious dedication of a 
 chapel ! It is the natural result of the divorce 
 between Churchism and individual spiritual life, 
 between theological dicta and a trained understanding, 
 between prescribed acts and conscience — things done 
 in obedience to authority and things done in recog- 
 nition of individual responsibility, and in the exercise 
 of personal intelligence, will, and. religious conscious- 
 ness. And it has its exemplifications in other Churches 
 than that of Rome. 
 
 Inconsistencies of religious life there will be in all 
 Churches ; but there is a radical difference between 
 wrong-doing which the moral sense condemns, and 
 wrong-doing through sheer incompetence of the un- 
 trained conscience. The sense of individual responsi- 
 bility, exercises of moral freedom, train and strengthen 
 the religious conscience. Authoritative dicta, rubrical 
 religiousness, demoralise and deaden it. 
 
 It may possibly be urged that all this is but theory, 
 which facts contradict ; that authoritative and ritual 
 Churches have hitherto ruled the religious world, and 
 have thus shown themselves the best adapted for 
 
296 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 human nature as it is ; that the suffrages of men are with 
 them, as, for instance, with the Greek, the Roman, and 
 the Anglican Churches, which secure the adhesion, not 
 only of the greatest numbers, but of the highest classes 
 of society, men of the greatest wealth, possibly of the 
 largest learning and the highest intellect, the most 
 sumptuous churches, the most crowded congregations, 
 and that therefore the future will presumably be with 
 them. 
 
 The obvious reply is, that he who would wisely 
 judge human institutions must look, not so much at 
 existing conditions, as at principles and tendencies. 
 The test of truth is not the suffrage of any given 
 period, least of all when that suffrage is given under 
 sensuous inducements ; else much in the Church 
 history of the past would have been canonised as true 
 which the growth of spiritual intelligence and life has 
 demonstrated to be false. Truth has not usually been 
 with majorities. The progress of men towards ideal 
 religiousness is very gradual, and through various 
 stages. We grope through darkness into the light of 
 God ; through many errors we advance to truth. 
 The leaven that is leavening the lump was once 
 but a particle ; the tree that is filling the earth so that 
 the birds of the heaven come and lodge in the 
 branches thereof was once but a grain of mustard 
 seed. 
 
 If as yet spiritual Christianity has but half con- 
 quered sensual paganism, superstitious religiousness, 
 and worldly selfishness, let us remember that the 
 supreme difficulty is in the first half conquest, which 
 therefore is a fair earnest of the whole. And according 
 to normal laws of progress it will advance in an ever- 
 accelerating ratio. 
 
 And although in Churches the most spiritual in 
 conception and method much has yet to be done 
 before the religious ideal is attained', before life is as 
 holy as its theories and aims, before sensuouness, 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 297 
 
 worldliness, and selfishness are wholly purged out, yet 
 it is much that spiritual Churches, as such, do main- 
 tain their existence, win an ever-enlarging suffrage, 
 and exert an ever-increasing influence. 
 
 We are bound, therefore, to insist — first, upon the 
 validity and Divine sanction of our ideal, and, next, 
 upon fidelity to the forces and methods that the most 
 tend to realise it. And we may, I think, claim for our 
 Congregational churches, and for Evangelical Churches 
 of like spirit, that they are honestly striving after both. 
 Ours may be the more arduous path and the slower 
 process, but it is the surer way of success. Gradually 
 to teach men spiritual idea, to deepen the sense of 
 individual responsibility, to train spiritual faculty and 
 trust ; steadily to refuse mechanical means, sensuous 
 substitutes, and doubtful expedients in doing religious 
 work ; and absolutely to rely upon purely spiritual 
 processes, must develop a type and spirit of Church 
 life that is characteristic and abiding, full of Divine 
 truth and religious power — " the royal priesthood of 
 God, the peculiar people, the holy nation." 
 
 The plea for hierarchical rule is truth and order ; 
 the unfitness of the people to determine the one and 
 to maintain the other ; their ignorance, self-will, and 
 disorder ; their lack of consentaneousness, precision, 
 and force. 
 
 But does this mean that authority is only to be 
 provisionally maintained, and for educational purposes, 
 or does it mean that this is the normal, the ideal order 
 of the Church, and that all ideas of training it for 
 exercises of liberty are repudiated ? If the end of all 
 training be to qualify men for wise exercises of self- 
 regulated liberty, does not the Church that refuses or 
 neglects it, pervert its function of ruling service into 
 a function of tyrannous usurpation ? The avowed 
 purpose of God's gift to the Church of apostles and 
 prophets, pastors and teachers, is " for the perfecting 
 of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the 
 
298 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 building up of the body of Christ ; till we all attain unto 
 the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son 
 of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the 
 stature of the fulness of Christ " — a development, not 
 of individual saints merely, but of the Church. 
 
 Upon this process authoritative Churches put a 
 positive arrest. They abjure even the aim of Church 
 development ; they recognise no progressiveness of 
 Church life; their sole idea is the development of 
 rule. They strengthen their authority, and multiply 
 their regulations, and, by an inversion of natural 
 process, increase the helpless dependence of the 
 people, perpetuating the childhood of the Church to 
 the end. 
 
 In this way the Eomish Church has developed. 
 It has become more and more autocratic ; by succes- 
 sive acts of popular disfranchisement, from the very 
 beginning of its history, it has at length attained an 
 ecclesiastical and spiritual tyranny that is absolute 
 and unique. Each successive generation has only in- 
 tensified its spirit and extended its prerogative, until, 
 " sitting in the temple of God and setting himself forth 
 as God, he exalteth himself above all that is called 
 God, or is worshipped." It has been reserved for our 
 own day to formulate its dogma of Papal Infallibility, 
 the corner-stone of its spiritual tyranny ; which would 
 have been impossible even a century ago. This has 
 been made possible by successive acts of usurpation 
 which, after more or less of resistance, have been sub- 
 mitted to. The last wrong of slavery, and that which 
 makes it absolute, is the heart of a slave; and that at 
 length has been wrought in the final acceptance of 
 the Vatican decrees. The very conditions of growth 
 and development have been destroyed. 
 
 Is it conceivable that a Church so utterly opposed 
 to all human progress, so deliberately reversing all 
 natural processes of development, can be the Church 
 of the future ? And just in proportion as other 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 299 
 
 Churches, Greek, Anglican, Presbyterian, Congrega- 
 tional, do this — disallow, or fail to cherish individual 
 liberties — they oppose the final cause of human life 
 
 itself, the historic processes of God's dealings, the 
 entire spirit of modern society, the very principles 
 and instincts of human nature. 
 
 Even order may be purchased too dearly. Order 
 is not the final cause of humanity, but manhood. To 
 make a solitude is not peace ; to fill prisons is not to 
 establish virtue ; a slave plantation, a reign of terror, 
 is not social order. The wildest excesses of liberty are 
 preferable to the negation of it; for by experiment, 
 by failure, by suffering, self-restraint and wisdom may 
 be learned ; but for death there is no possibility of 
 development or hope. To perpetuate helplessness in 
 the name of peace, to make the attainment of sponta- 
 neous order impossible by denying exercises of free- 
 dom, is simply suicide. God has endowed men with 
 the noble gift of freedom, and no follies or sufferings 
 or sins can prevail upon His wise love to withdraw or 
 restrain it. 
 
 The only condition of true order is liberty ; the 
 only process by which it can be evolved is by experi- 
 mental exercises of it. They whose only remedy for 
 disorders is repression by law, whose only avoidance 
 of error is to make it impossible by the denial of 
 liberty, have neither faith in God nor respect for 
 their own manhood. 
 
 They attempt, indeed, the impossible. Human 
 nature cannot be repressed. If outward development 
 be denied it, inward distemper will be engendered : if 
 the volcano be sealed, the earthquake is inevitable. 
 No despotism is at peace. The most absolute are the 
 least secure. England is more orderly and stable 
 than Russia. Protestant Churches are more homo- 
 geneous than the Church of Rome. The spontaneous 
 order of Free Churches is profounder, more satisfying, 
 more stable than the enforced discipline of Established 
 
300 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 Churches. Their schisms are fewer, their diversities 
 less extreme, their sympathies are stronger, because 
 they are freer ; their differences are not so much 
 discords as harmonies, in which the grand organ of 
 the Church blends a thousand voices of faith and 
 worship. 
 
 So that on all grounds — of common sense, of 
 reasonable philosophy, of spiritual life, of historic 
 experience — this prognostication also is justified. 
 The future will be with the Church that the most 
 fully and practically recognises the prerogatives and 
 responsibilities of the individual life. For thus only 
 can the highest conditions of belief, the truest sym- 
 pathies of brotherhood, and the most vital bonds of 
 union, be constituted. 
 
 Our own churches stand on these lines of pro- 
 gress. Their distinctive principle is that of indivi- 
 dualism ; their only recognised methods are spiritual 
 forces. 
 
 And yet they also may practically fail. Intolerance 
 of spirit may be as fatal to development as disallow- 
 ance of law ; unspiritualness of feeling may neutralise 
 the divinest method. Congregational churches may 
 be held in the voluntary bondage of traditional forms 
 of belief, or worship, or work. And the more excel- 
 lent the traditions, the greater the peril. The divinest 
 things become the most subtle tyrannies. Freedom 
 may be imprisoned in her own house. 
 
 Are we, for instance, always tolerant of inde- 
 pendent thinkers and novel methods ? Does not 
 earnest contention for the truth sometimes become 
 contention for our own forms of it ? Do we strive to 
 be on the side of truth, or to have truth on our side ? 
 Let the thinker have freest course for his thought, 
 and the worker for his work. Let us put no moral 
 disability upon men whom no Church statutes hinder. 
 Let us be jealous of all moral ban, of all social re- 
 pression, of all intolerant feeling or biassing prejudice, 
 
THE CILURUH OF THE FUTURE. 301 
 
 of any test or disallowance of thought or method, 
 but that of candid intelligence, generous construction, 
 and freest spiritual judgment. 
 
 I must forbear, or other prognostications might 
 have been hazarded. 
 
 3. The Church of the future will surely be that 
 which in its worship and fellowship provides most 
 fully for our entire religious nature. 
 
 How much has yet to be said concerning the 
 spiritualising or the sensualising influence of worship, 
 the means whereby our entire religious feeling ex- 
 presses itself to God : the suitableness for spiritual 
 ends of Congregational provision for worship — esthetic 
 embodiments of spiritual feeling, whereby our whole 
 nature is lifted to God and glorified, or icsthetic 
 substitutes for it, whereby we are hindered and 
 deteriorated ! 
 
 How much has to be said about the realisation of 
 brotherhood in Church life: its ideal, its means, its 
 hindrances ! This surely belongs to the great hope of 
 the future, and is a present tendency towards it. 
 
 4. It might, too, be added, the future will belong 
 to the Church which, in its ministry within and with- 
 out, makes requisition not merely upon its official 
 ministers or organised agencies, but upon the indi- 
 vidual service of its entire membership. 
 
 " Every man in his place ; " " each according to 
 his several ability : " a secret of power and progress 
 more fully and practically recognised by Free Pro- 
 testant Churches than by any other, and both philo- 
 sophically and historically the cause of their success ; 
 and of which the splendid achievements of our 
 Methodist brethren, celebrated in their recent Oecu- 
 menical Council, are such a notable illustration. How 
 fatally all priestly assumption and sacramental theories 
 discourage and depress this development! And yet 
 surely the aggregate of spiritual force in a Church is 
 
302 HENRY ALLON. 
 
 constituted by the spirituality and zeal of its indi- 
 vidual members. 
 
 What a large field for suggestion and urgency the 
 true economy of Church work presents to us ! But 
 alas for the man who attempts to say everything. 
 
 Let it be for us a congratulation and an urgency 
 that, in theory at least, both our principles of Church 
 life, and our methods of Church worship and work, 
 are spiritual and tend only to spiritual issues. So far 
 as we fail of these, and become ecclesiastical, or formal, 
 or carnal, the failure is due to the imperfections of 
 human nature rather than to inimical Church idea. 
 Our frequent reproach, indeed, is that our Congre- 
 gationalism is a Utopia too lofty for practical realisa- 
 tion by imperfect human nature. Be it so ; the re- 
 proach is that of Christianity itself. A lofty ideal 
 which we fail to attain is better than an ignoble 
 imperfection with which we content ourselves. In 
 falling short of our ideal, we only share the experience 
 of all disciples of spiritual Christianity. Presump- 
 tuous ignorance and carnal feeling may adulterate 
 the spirituality of our Church life ; wayward will and 
 the strivings of selfishness may disturb the harmony 
 of our counsels and embarrass our action ; unspiritual 
 conceptions and unworthy expedients may impair and 
 discredit the simplicity of our methods : these are the 
 defects of human nature, not of a Church system. 
 They are an unfaithfulness to our own ideas, inimical 
 to our convictions and yearnings. Against these we 
 have to wage the common spiritual warfare of men, 
 that our Church life may be practically lifted to its 
 own lofty ideal. 
 
 We need only to conform our practice to our 
 admitted and cherished principles, and, whatever the 
 exigence, to be faithful to pure spiritual aims and 
 methods. Let us but apprehend all truth in its 
 spirit, not in its letter ; present it to men in its 
 spiritual aspects, and insist upon its spiritual em- 
 
THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 303 
 
 bodiment in a free religious life ; and our Churches 
 will advance the most rapidly, and realise the most 
 directly and fully the spiritual kingdom of the truth 
 which the Divine Lord came to establish. They who 
 wield spiritual force are invincible. His Church is 
 to be " His body," identified with His own spiritual 
 work and methods ; and its destiny is to realise " the 
 fulness of Him that filleth all in all" 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 Technical Educator, Cassell's NEW. An entirely New Cyclopaedia of 
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Selections from Cassell § Company's Publications. 
 
 gooha far llouna people. 
 
 "Little Folks" Half-Yearly Volume. Containing 432 4to pages, with 
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 lor Girls. By Maggie Symington. 
 
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 Him. By Edward S. Ellis. 
 
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 L, T. Meade. 
 "Follow My Leader." By Talbot 
 
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 *The Cost of a Mistake. By Sarah 
 
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 *A World of Girls: The Story of 
 
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 Lost among White Africans. Bv 
 
 David Ker. ' 
 
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 trations. 
 
Selections from Cassell #• Company's Publications, 
 
 The "Cross and Crown" Series. Illustrated. 2s.6d. each. 
 
 Freedom's Sword : A Story of the 
 
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 Strong to Suffer: A Story of 
 
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 Heroes of the Indian Empire: 
 
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 In Letters of Flame : A Story 
 
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 Through Trial to Triumph. By 
 
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 Little Bird, Life and Adven 
 
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 Diamonds in the Sand. 
 
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Selections from Cassell $ Company's Publications. 
 
 44 Wanted— a King" Series. Cheap Edition. Illustrated. 2s. 6d. each. 
 Great Grandmamma. By Georgina M. Synge. 
 Robin's Ride. By Ellinor Davenport Adams. 
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 Dr. Arnold of Rugby. By Rose 
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 The Earl of Shaftesbury. By 
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 Sarah Robinson, Agnes Wes- 
 ton, and Mrs. Meredith. By 
 
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 Thomas A. Edison and Samuel 
 
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 Mrs. Somerville and Mary Car- 
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 General Gordon. By the Rev. 
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 Charles Dickens. By his Eldest 
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 Sir Titus Salt and George 
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 Florence Nightingale, Catherine 
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 By John W. Kirton, LL.D. 
 
 Sir Henry Haveloctc and Colin 
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 Abraham Lincoln. By Ernest Foster. 
 
 Georee Mulier and Andrew Reed. 
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 Benjamin Franklin. By E. M. 
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 Handel. By Eliza Clarke. [Swaine. 
 
 Turner the Artist. By the Rev. S. A. 
 
 George and Robert Stephenson. 
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 David Livingstone. By Robert Smiles. 
 
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 Library of Wonders. Illustrated Gift-books for Boys. Paper, is.; 
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 Wonderful Balloon Ascents. Wonders of Animal Instinct. 
 
 Wonderful Adventures. Wonders of Bodily Strength 
 
 Wonderful Escapes. and Skill. 
 
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 Wee Willie Winkie. 
 
 Ups and Downs of a Donkey's 
 
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 Up the Ladder. 
 
 Dick's Hero; and other Stories. 
 The Chip Boy. 
 Raggles, Baggies, and the 
 
 Emperor. 
 Roses from Thorns. 
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 The Boy Hunters of Kentucky. 
 
 By Edward S.Ellis. 
 Red Feather: a Tale of 
 
 American Frontier. 
 
 Edward S. Ellis. 
 
 Seeking a City. 
 
 Rhoda's Reward; or. 
 Wishes were Horses." 
 
 Jack Marston's Anchor. 
 
 Frank's Life-Battle ; or, 
 Three Friends. 
 
 Fritters. By Sarah Pitt. 
 
 The Two Hardcastles. By Made- 
 line Bonavia Hunt. 
 
 the 
 By 
 
 If 
 
 The 
 
 Cassell's Two-Shilling Story Books. Illustrated. 
 
 Faith's Father. 
 
 By Land and Sea. 
 
 The Young Berringtons. 
 
 Jeff and Leff. 
 
 Tom Morris's Error. 
 
 Worth more than Gold. 
 
 " Through Flood— Through Fire;" 
 
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 Stories of the Olden Time. 
 By Popular Authors. With Four 
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 Major Monk's Motto. By the Rev. 
 
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 Trixy. By Maggie Symington. 
 Rags and Rainbows: A Story of 
 
 Thanksgiving. 
 Uncle William's Charges; or, The 
 
 Broken Trust. 
 Pretty Pink's Purpose; or, The 
 
 Little Street Merchants. 
 Tim Thomson's Trial. By George 
 
 Weatherly. 
 Ursula's S tumbling-Block. By Julia 
 
 Goddard. 
 Ruth's Life-Work. By the Rev. 
 
 Joseph Johnson. 
 
 Stories of the Tower. 
 Mr. Burke's Nieces. 
 May Cunningham's Trial. 
 The Top of the Ladder : How to 
 
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 Little Flotsam. 
 Madge and Her Friends. 
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 Maid Marjory. 
 Peggy, and other Tales- 
 
 The Four Cats of the Tippertona. 
 
 Marion's Two Homes. 
 
 Little Folks' Sunday Book. 
 
 Two Fourpenny Bits. 
 
 Poor Nelly. 
 
 Tom Heriot. 
 
 Through Peril to Fortune. 
 
 Aunt Tabitha's Waifs. 
 
 In Mischief Again. 
 
Selections from Casscll § Company's Publications. 
 
 Cheap Editions of Popular Volumes for Young People. 
 cloth, gilt edges, 2S. 6d. each. 
 
 Bound in 
 
 In Quest of Gold; or, 
 the Whanga Falls. 
 
 Under 
 
 On 
 
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 For Queen and King. 
 Esther West. 
 Three Homes. 
 Working to Win. 
 Perils Afloat and Brigands 
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 The " Deerfoot" Series. By Edward S. Ellis. With Four full-page 
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 Down the Mississippi. Lost in the Wilds. 
 
 Up the Tapaj os ; or, Adventures in Brazil. 
 
 The " Boy Pioneer" Series. By Edward S. Ellis. With Four Full- 
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 Ned in the Woods. A Tale of I Ned on the River. A Tale of Indian 
 Early Days in the West. River Warfare. 
 
 Ned in the Block House. A Story of Pioneer Life in Kentucky. 
 
 The "World in Pictures." Illustrated throughout. 2s. 6d. each. 
 
 A Ramble Round France. 
 All the Russias. 
 Chats about G-ermany. 
 The Eastern Wonderland 
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 Half-Crown Story Books. 
 
 Margaret's Enemy. 
 Pen's Perplexities. 
 
 Books for the Little Ones. 
 Rhymes for the Young Folk. 
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 The History Scrap Book: 
 nearly 1,000 Engravings; 
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 With 
 
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 Glimpses of South America. 
 Round Airiea. 
 
 The Land of Temples (India). 
 The Isles of the Pacific. 
 Peeps into China 
 
 Notable Shipwrecks. 
 At the South Pole. 
 
 My Diary. With 12 Coloured Plates 
 
 and 366 Woodcuts. Is. 
 The Sunday Scrap Book. With 
 
 Several Hundred Illustrations. Paper 
 
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 The Old Fairy Tales. With Original 
 
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 My Own Album of Animals. 
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 Picture Album of All Sorts. 
 
 Full-page Illustrations. 
 The Chit-Chat Album. Illustrated 
 
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 Cassell & Company's Complete Catalogue will be sent post 
 
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 CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited, Ludgate Hill, London.