tibrarjo of Che trheolo^ical ^emmarjp 
 
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PRACTICAL RELIGION 
 
x .. 
 
 PAPERS 
 
 "N ■> 
 
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 Practical Religion 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. BOOTLI. 
 
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PRACTICAL RELIGION. 
 
 It will be observed that these papers are mostly the 
 reports of addresses delivered at various times, in 
 various places where Grod has called me to witness ft)r 
 Him. I have frequently been asked to publish them 
 in one volume by those who have listened to me with 
 thankfulness to Grod and profit to themselves. 
 
 Compelled in great measure to desist for a season 
 from public speaking by bodily infirmity, I seize the 
 opportunity to repeat on paper what I have been 
 privileged to express in (to me) brighter days. 
 
 I pray that I may thus be allowed to continue my 
 testimony against the attempt, now so prevalent, to 
 serve both God and mammon, and to warn and teach 
 everyone to flee from the wrath to come by avoiding 
 every sin and the very appearance of evil, and by 
 devoting themselves without reserve to the service of 
 God and the y.Vilvati(jn of the world j and I trust that 
 He who has given to me these thoughts and words 
 may restore to me the power to speak again, and to 
 speak more lx)ldly still. 
 
PREFACE TO THE EOURTH EDITION. 
 
 Thank God, brighter days have come than I have ever 
 known liefore, God having set Ijefore me an open door 
 io vast nudtitudes all over the world who, three years 
 ago, were not within our reach. In Agrjressive 
 Christianity and Godliness may be found some of my 
 later addresses to these millions. But our views have 
 no way changed, and I am thankful to find increasing 
 need to supply the demand for the old \olume. 
 
 Catherine Bvoru. 
 
 101, Qteen Victoria Street, 
 London, E.G. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The Training of Children — An Address to 
 
 Parents ------- 1 
 
 Strong Drink versus Christianity - - - 33 
 
 Worldly Amusements and Christianity - - 51 
 
 Heart Backsliding - - - - - 73 
 
 Dealing with Anxious Souls — An Address to 
 
 Christian Workers- - - - - lOl 
 " Compel them to come in " - - - -111) 
 
 Female Ministry; or, Woman's Eight to 
 
 Preach the GtOSPel - - - - 131 
 
 Hot Saints — An Address on Uky. III. 15 : 
 
 "I would thou WERT COLD OR HOT " - 169 
 
 Conscience - - - - - - -177 
 
 Aggression - - - - - - -191 
 
 The Uses of Trial - - - - - 199 
 
 Prevailing Prayer- - = = » ^ 209 
 
THE TRAINING OF 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN. 
 
 AN ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 
 
 ]\Iy dear Friends, — I feel a special interest in 
 addressing you on the present occasion ; a sort of 
 family feeling resulting from a community of interests 
 which is always inspiring. I have sometimes thought, 
 when I have heard men talking to women on their 
 duties as wives and mothers, their trials and difficulties, 
 and so on — " Ah, it is all very good, but you don't 
 know much about it, after all." Now, I do not come to 
 speak to you to-night under this disadvantage, at any 
 rate. I do know something of the things of which I 
 speak ; having had a large and young family, I have 
 had some experience of the anxiety, toil, and diffi.culty 
 required in the training and management of young 
 children. It is because I am so well acquainted with 
 the weight of the trials and duties of maternity that I 
 sympathise so deeply with mothers, and would fain 
 help to lighten their burdens by a little practical advice 
 and instruction. 
 
 I presume that all here are agreed as to the respon- 
 sibility devolving on parents to give some sort of 
 training to their children. There is not a mother here 
 who would think it right to leave her child to grow up 
 without discipline or training of some kind ! Tlien 
 the question for us to consider is. What sort of training 
 does God, and our duty to our children, require from 
 
4 Tlie Timulug of Children. 
 
 us ? In order to get at the answer to this question, 
 the first important matter for a parent to settle in her 
 own mind, is this : To whom does this child belong ? 
 Is IT MINE, OR IS IT THE Lord's ? Surely, this question 
 should not need any discussion, at least by Christian 
 parents ! For do we not recognise, even before they 
 are born, that they are peculiarly and exclusively a 
 heritage from the Lord ; and when they came into the 
 world, the first effort we put forth was to hold them 
 up and offer them to Him ? And again, in their 
 Christening we acknowledged that they belonged to 
 Him, and promised to train them for His glory. Now 
 the keeping of this one fact before the mind of a 
 mother will be the best guiding principle in training ; 
 and it is because Christian parents so often forget whose 
 their children are, that they make such mistakes in 
 training them. I say then to you mothers here, settle 
 it in your minds that your child belongs absolutely to 
 (rod, and not to you — that you are only stewards for 
 God, holding your children to nurse them and train 
 them for Him. 
 
 This responsibility arises, 1st. — Out of the command 
 and ordination of i}oi\. Both under the old and new 
 dispensations, the Lord has, in the most emphatic and 
 solemn manner, laid the obligation on parents to train 
 their children for Him ; lie commands it, to whom 
 both parents and children exclusively belong. 
 
 Secondly. — This responsibility arises out of the 
 nature of the relationship between parent and child. 
 The parent is in the most complete sense the owner, 
 the guardian, the director, and controller of the child ; 
 its utter helplessness and ignorance when it first 
 comes into the world throws it completely under the 
 
TJip Training of CJiiJdrrn. 5 
 
 power of, and at the discretion of, its parents. Tlie 
 poor little infant has no choice but to be led as its 
 parents lead it — no option but to be directed, trained, 
 and developed physically, mentally, and spiritually as 
 its parents develop it ; and it is during these early 
 stages of helplessness and ignorance that the impetus 
 is generally given to its future life. There is an old 
 adage, that " They who rock the cradle rule the 
 world," and they certainly do ; but I am afraid that 
 the world has been very badly ruled, just because 
 those who rock the cradle have not known how to 
 train the child. Napoleon once said, that " the great 
 want of France w^as mothers ; " and I am afraid we 
 may say to a greater extent than ever before in our 
 history, that the great want of England is mothers — 
 right-minded, able, competent, Christian mothers, who 
 realise their responsibility to God and to their 
 children, and who are resolved at all costs and 
 sacrifices to discharge it. 
 
 Thirdly. — This responsibility arises out of our 
 ability for the task. We are able to train our 
 children in the way they should go, or God would 
 not have enjoined it upon us. He required every 
 father and mother in Israel to train their children 
 for Him — He admitted of no exception, no excuse ; 
 and in the New Testament it is assumed as a first 
 duty with believers to train up their children " in 
 the nurture and admonition of the Lord." The 
 training God requires is a moral training — THE 
 INSPIKING OF THE CHILD WITH THE LOVE 
 OF GOODNESS, TRUTH, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS, 
 and leading him to its practice and exercise in all the 
 duties and emergencies of life. 
 
6 The Training of Children. 
 
 Now, any parent, however poor, unlearned, or 
 occupied, can do this, if only she has the grace of 
 God in her heart, and will take the TROUBLE. 
 Training a child in the way he should go does not 
 necessarily imply a scholastic training. All parents 
 have not the power to educate their children, nor to 
 do much for them temporally ; they cannot put them 
 in a position to get much of this world's goods, but 
 these things are not included in right training. A 
 child may be trained for the highest moral and 
 spiritual development without these ; and, where 
 there is natural ability, for the highest mental 
 development also. This is abundantly established 
 in the histories of some of our great men. We know 
 what kind of homes some of them were trained in, 
 what humble parentage some of them had, what little 
 learning they had in their early days, but, neverthe- 
 less, they were trained in the way they should go, 
 and having been set going in the right path, when 
 they came to matiire years they did not fail to help 
 themselves. No poor parent need be discouraged 
 because he cannot educate his children in the popular 
 sense. 
 
 God does not require of us more than we can do, 
 and if we train our children, as far as is possible to 
 us, in the way they should go, they will then go in 
 that way for themselves ; God's providence and spirit 
 and their own bias will guide them on and on, as it 
 has done many a son of poor parents, to prosperity, 
 usefulness, and honour in this world, as well as to 
 eternal glory in the next. 
 
 But, Fourthly — This responsibility is increased by 
 the opportunity which parents possess, and especially 
 
The Trainiiifj of C/iiJJirii. 7 
 
 mothers, to train their children. Being thrown con- 
 stantly with them, having them continually under our 
 eye by night and by day, when no one else is there, 
 being acquainted with all their peculiarities of disposi- 
 tion, and entering into all their joys and sorrows, what 
 splendid opportunities occur daily for pruning, correct- 
 ing, inspiring, leading, and encouraging them, as the 
 case may require. 
 
 Then, Fifthly — What an awful responsibility arises 
 out of the influence which God has given us over our 
 children. This influence is IKRESISTIBLE until 
 parents by their own injudicious conduct fritter it 
 away. A little child wdio has been rightly trained 
 has unbounded, unquestioning, confidence in its 
 parents; what father or mother says, is to it, an end 
 of all controversy, it never seeks for further proof. 
 This influence wisely used will never wear out, but 
 will spread like an atmosphere around the child's 
 moral nature, moulding and fashioning all his future 
 life. I sometimes meet with parents who tell me 
 that at the age of sixteen or seventeen, their children 
 have become quite unmanageable, and that they have 
 lost all their influence over them. I cannot tell you 
 which I pity most, such children, or such parents. 
 One of the worst signs of our times is the little respect 
 which children seem to have for their parents. There 
 are numbers of boys and girls of from twelve to seven- 
 teen years of age, over whom their parents have little 
 or no control. But how has this come to pass ? Did 
 these children leap all at once from the restraints and 
 barriers of parental affection and authority ? Oh no, 
 it has been the result of the imperceptible growtli of 
 years of insubordination and want of proper discipline 
 
8 The Tnn'iniifi of Children. 
 
 — the gmdiial loss of parental influence until tliey 
 have thrown it ofif altogether, and resolved to do as 
 they please. Hence the terrible exhibitions we have 
 of youthful depravity, lawlessness, and rebellion. 
 
 Well, I think I hear some mother say : I see, I feel 
 my responsibility, and I long to train my children in 
 the way they should go, but 
 
 How am I to do it ? 
 
 First let us look at the meaning of the word Train. 
 It does not mean merely to teach. Some parents 
 seem to have the notion that all they have to do in 
 training their children aright is to teach tJiem ; so 
 they cram them with religious sentiment and truth, 
 making them commit to memory the Catechism, large 
 portions of Scripture, a great many hymns, and so on. 
 All very good as far as it goes, but which may all be 
 done without a single stroke of real training such as 
 Grod requires, and such as the hearts of our children 
 need. Nay, this mere teaching, informing the head 
 without interesting or influencing the heart, frequently 
 drives children off from God and goodness, and makes 
 them hate, instead of love, everything connected with 
 religion. In the early part of my married life, when 
 my dear husband was travelling very much from place 
 to place, I was frequently thrown into the houses of 
 leading families in churches for three or foiir weeks at 
 a time, and I used to say to myself, ' How is it that 
 these children seem frequently to have a more in- 
 veterate dislike for religion and religious things, than 
 the children of worldly people who make no profession ? ' 
 Subsequent observations and experience have shown 
 nie the reason. It is because such parents inform the 
 head without training the heart. They teach what 
 
The Training of Children. 9 
 
 they neither practice themselves nor take the trouble 
 to see that their children practice, and the children 
 see through the hollow sham, and learn to despise 
 both their parents and their religion. Mother, if you 
 want to TRAIN your child you must practice what you 
 teach, and you must show Aim how to practice it 
 also, and you must, at all costs of trouble and care, see 
 that he does it. 
 
 Suppose, by way of illustration, that you have a 
 vine, and that this vine is endowed with reason, and 
 will, and moral sense. You say to your vine-dresser, 
 ' Now, I want that vine trained,^ — i.e., made to grow 
 in a particular way, so that it may bear the largest 
 amount of fruit possible to it. Suppose your vine- 
 dresser goes to your vine every morning, and says to 
 it, ' Now, you must let that branch grow in this 
 ' direction, and that branch grow in another ; you are 
 ' not to put forth too many shoots here, nor too many 
 ' tendrils there ; you must not waste your sap in too 
 * many leaves ; ' and having told it what to do and 
 how to grow, he shuts it up and leaves it to itself. 
 This is precisely the way many good people act towards 
 their children. But lo ! the vine grows as it likes ; 
 nature is too strong for mere theory; words will not 
 curb its exuberance, nor check its waywardness. Your 
 vine-dresser must do something more effectual than 
 talking. He must nail that branch where he wishes 
 it to grow ; he must cut away what he sees to be 
 superfluous ; he must lop, and prune, and dress it, if 
 it is to be trained for beauty and for fruitfulness. And 
 just so, mother, if you want your child to be trained 
 for Grod and righteousness you must prune, and curb, 
 and propel, and lead it in the way in which it should 
 
 2 
 
10 The Training of Children. 
 
 go. But some mother says, ' What a deal of trouble ! ' 
 Ah, that is just why many parents fail ; they are 
 afraid of trouble ; but, as jNIrs. Stowe says, ' If you 
 will not take the trouble to train Charlie when he is a 
 little boy, he will give you a great deal more trouble 
 when he is a big one.' Many a foolish mother, to 
 spare herself trouble, has left her children to them- 
 selves, and " a child left to himself bringeth his mother 
 to shame ! " INIany parents teach their children in 
 theory the right way, but by their negligence and 
 indifference, train them in just the opposite. See 
 that mother seated at some important piece of work 
 which she is anxious to finish; her three little children 
 are playing around her — one with his picture book, 
 another with his horse and cart, and baby with lier 
 doll. It is Monday afternoon, and only yesterday she 
 was giving those children a lesson on the importance 
 of love and good-will amongst themselves ; that was 
 the teaching, now comes the training. Presently 
 Charlie gets tired of his pictures, and, without asking 
 permission, takes the horse and cart from his younger 
 brother, whereupon there is a scream, and presently a 
 fight. Instead of laying aside her work, restoring the 
 rightful property, explaining to Charlie that it is 
 unjust and unkind to take his brother's toys, and to 
 the younger one that he should rather suffer wrong 
 than scream and fight, she goes on with her work, 
 telling Charlie that he is a very naughty boy, and 
 making the very common remark that she tliiuks 
 tliere never were such troublesome children as hers! 
 Now, who cannot see the different effect it would liave 
 had on these children if that mother had taken the 
 trouble to make them realise and confess their fault, 
 
The Training of Children. 11 
 
 and voluntarily exchange the kiss of reconciliation and 
 brotherly affection ? What if it had taken half an 
 hour of her precious time, would not the gain be 
 greater than that which would accrue from any other 
 occupation, however important ? Mothers, if you 
 want your children to walk in the way they should 
 go, you must not only teach, you must be at the 
 trouble to train. 
 
 But, Secondly, How is this training to be given ? 
 
 The first and most important point is to secure 
 OBEDIENCE. Obedience to projierly constituted 
 authority is the foundation of all moral excellence, not 
 only in childhood, but all the way through life. And 
 the secret of a great deal of the lawlessness of these 
 times, both towards Grod and man, is that, when 
 children, these people were never taught to submit to 
 the authority of their parents ; and now you may 
 convince them ever so clearly that it is their duty, 
 and would be their happiness, to submit to Ood, but 
 their unrestrained, unsubdued wills have never been 
 accustomed to submit to anybody, and it is like 
 beginning to break in a wild horse in old age. Well 
 may the Prophet enquire, " Can the Ethiopian change 
 his skin, or the leopard his spots ? Then may ye 
 also do good that are accustomed to do evil." God 
 has laid it on parents to begin the work of bringing 
 the will into subjection in childhood; and to help us in 
 doing it. He has put in all children a tendency to obey. 
 Watch any young child, and you will find that, as a 
 rule, his instincts lead him to submit ; insubordination 
 is the exception, until this tendency has been trifled 
 with by those who have the care of him. Now, how 
 important it is, in right training, to take advantage 
 
12 The Training of Children. 
 
 of this tendency to obedience, and not on any account 
 allow it to be weakened by encouraging exceptional 
 rebellion ! In order to do this, you must begin early 
 ENOUGH. This is where multitudes of mothers miss 
 their mark ; they begin too late. The great majority 
 of children are ruined for the formation of character 
 before they are fiv^e years old by the foolish indulgence 
 of mothers. 
 
 I am sometimes asked, ' What do you consider the 
 secret of successful training' ? I answer, 'BEGiNNiN^(f 
 SOON ENOUGH — not letting Satan get the adv^antage of 
 us at the start.' That is the secret of success. ' Well, 
 but,' mothers say, 'it is so hard to chastise an infant.' 
 There is seldom need for chastisement where mothers 
 begin early and wisely. There is a way of speaking 
 to and handling an infant compatible with the utmost 
 love and tenderness, which teaches it that mother is 
 not to be trifled with ; that, although she loves and 
 caresses, she is to be obeyed, and will be obeyed, and 
 a child that is trained in this way will not, as a rule, 
 attempt to resist. In exceptional cases it may be 
 tempted to become obstreperous, and then the mother 
 must show her authority. Take an illustration. We 
 will suppose that your son of six months old is in a 
 fractious mood, and indisposed to take his morning 
 nap ; liis nurse has put him in his cot and struggled 
 with him till she is tired, and the child is tired too ; 
 at last you come and take the baby, after he has been 
 rolling and tumbling about, and lay him down with a 
 firm hand, saying with a firm voice, 'Baby must lie 
 still and go to sleep,' putting your hand on him at the 
 same time to prevent his rising in the cot or turning 
 over after you have spoken. Now, if this child for the 
 
The Training of Children. 13 
 
 previous three months has been trained in this line, 
 if this is not the beginning, he will, as a natural 
 consequence, lie still and go to sleep ; but if he has 
 not been accustomed to this kind of handling, he will 
 perhaps become boisterous and resist you ; if so, you 
 must persevere. You must on no account give up ; no, 
 not if you stop till night. If he conquers you this 
 time he will try harder next, and it will get more and 
 more difficult. Almost all mothers mistake here ; 
 they give up because they will not inflict on them- 
 selves the pain of a struggle, forgetting that defeat 
 now only ensures endless battles in the future. 
 
 "Remember you must conquer in the first battle, 
 whatever it may be about, or you are undone. ' Ah, 
 but what time and patience this requires ! ' Yes, but 
 it is only for once or twice ; and what is that compared 
 with the time and toil of conquering further on ? But 
 you say, ' It is so hard.' Not half so hard as the other 
 way ; for when the child finds that mother is not to be 
 got over, he will yield as a matter of course. I have 
 proved it, I think, with some as strong-willed children 
 as ever came into the world. I conquered them at six 
 and ten months old, and seldom had to contend with 
 any direct opposition after. I have a son who is now 
 preaching the Gospel, and a great joy to my heart. 
 The only decided battle I ever fought with him was at 
 ten months old. I do not say that he never disobeyed 
 rne afterwards — he sometimes forgot himself and was 
 disobedient — -but I do say that I never remember him 
 setting his will in direct antagonism to mine in all 
 the succeeding years of his childhood. It was a 
 painful struggle — that first contest, but has not the 
 result paid for it a thousand thousand times ? Oh, 
 
14 The Training of Clnldren, 
 
 mothers, if you love your children, begin early to 
 exact obedience. If chastisement be necessary, inflict 
 it ; and for every pang you suffer, every tear you 
 shed, you shall reap comfort, honour, and glory. 
 But, perhaps, there are some mothers who are saying, 
 ' Ah, I see it now ; but it is too late ; my children are 
 too old.' I say : better late than never. Begin and 
 do all you can. Perhaps you can never undo all the 
 mischief, but you may a part of it. Call your children 
 around you ; confess your past unfaithfulness in your 
 dealings with them, fall on your knees before the Lord 
 with them, and tell Him of your failure to train them 
 for Him, and ask His help to enable you to do it in 
 the future. When you rise from your knees tell 
 your children in the most solemn manner that you see 
 your mistake, and feel how awful it would be, if they 
 were to be lost through your fault, and that from this 
 hour you are going to be obeyed in everything. Begin 
 at once to exact obedience. Be judicious and for- 
 bearing, remembering that your children's habits of 
 disobedience are the result of your own folly, and deal 
 as gently as the case will permit ; but at all costs 
 secure obedience, and never more allow your commands 
 to be trifled with. Now is your only chance ; a few 
 more years, and your child is undone. 
 
 Do not be afraid to tise your authority. One would 
 think, to hear some parents talk of their relations 
 with their children, that they did not possess an iota 
 of power over them. All they dare to do, seems to be 
 to reason, to persuade, to coax. I have frequently 
 heard mothers using all manner of persuasion instead 
 of exerting the authority which God has given for 
 the safeguard and guidance of their poor children. 
 
The Training of Children. 15 
 
 They give their commands in such a voice as leaves 
 it optional whether the child shall obey them or not, 
 and this he understands very well ; there is no 
 command, no firmness, no decision, no authority, 
 and the child knows it by its instincts just as 
 an animal would. Men are much wiser in breaking 
 in and training their horses than their sons, hence 
 they generally get much better served by the former 
 than the latter! 
 
 What has God given you authority for, if He did 
 not intend you to use it — if your child can do as well 
 without it ? He has sent your child to you to be 
 guided and restrained by your authority, as much as to 
 be inspired and encouraged by your love. How will 
 you answer for the neglect or abuse of this wonderful 
 power? You recollect the fearful punishment that 
 came upon Eli, one of the most terrible strokes of 
 vengeance recorded in the whole Bible. What was it 
 for ? Not for using profane language before his 
 children, not for training them in unrighteousness or 
 immorality, for he was a good and righteous man, but 
 ' because he restrained them not : ' that means he did 
 not use his authority on the side of Grod and righteous- 
 ness. Doubtless, this had been his failing all the way 
 through ; he had indulged his sons in their own way, 
 until at last they set both him and his God at open 
 defiance. Alas ! this has been the case with millions 
 since his day : having sown the wind they have reaped 
 the whirlwind. What a contrast the conduct and fate 
 of Eli present in this respect to the conduct of 
 Abraham ! " I know him," said Jehovah, " that he 
 will command his children and his household after 
 him." Not merely remonstrate, persuade, and threaten, 
 
16 The Training of Children. 
 
 as Eli did, but " command " — he will use his authority 
 on My side ; and, as a consequence, the Lord promised 
 that they sho^ild " keep the way of the Lord, to do 
 justice and judgment." Parents, if you fulfil your part 
 of the covenant, never fear but that Cfod will perform 
 His. Only you train your children truly for Him, and 
 He will charge Himself with their future ; but do not 
 expect, if you neglect yonr sacred trust, or abuse it by 
 training them in the nurture and admonition of the 
 world and the Devil, that Grod will work a miracle to 
 convert them when they come to mature years, because 
 you cry and pray and ask Him to do so. He makes no 
 such pi'omise ; and we see, alas ! in the ex|)erience of 
 multitudes of sorrowing parents, that He does not hold 
 Himself bound to work for the salvation of their 
 children on any such conditions. 
 
 Another important point in training a child in the 
 way he should go is to train it in the practice of truth 
 AND INTEGRITY. Human nature is said to go " astray 
 from the womb — speaking lies ; " and, doubtless, 
 untruthfulness is one of the most easily besetting and 
 prevalent sins of our race. To counteract this 
 tendency, and to establish the soul in habits of truth 
 and sincerity, must be one of the first objects of right 
 training. In order to do this, parents should beware 
 of palliating or excusing the tendency to falsehood in 
 their children. In nothing have I been more amazed 
 than in this. I have actually seen mothers smile at, 
 and almost extol the little artifices of their children in 
 their attempts to deceive them and to hide some 
 childish delinquency. No wonder that such parents 
 fail to inspire their offspring with that wholesome 
 
The Training of Children. 17 
 
 dread of falseness which is one of the greatest 
 safeguards to virtue in after life. 
 
 No mother will succeed in begetting in her child a 
 greater antipathy towards any sin than she feels for it 
 herself. Children are the quickest of all analysts, and 
 instinctively detect in a moment all affectation ol 
 goodness. They judge not so much from what we say 
 as HOW WE FEEL. They are not influenced so much by 
 our teaching as by our spirit and example. For 
 instance, a mother teaches her child that he is to be 
 truthful, and on no account to tell a lie ; but what 
 effect will such teaching have if he hears her tell one, 
 or sees her act one, the next day ? Parents teach their 
 children to be sincere, and take occasion to point out 
 examples of the meanness and wickedness of deception, 
 but by their own example they very frequently train 
 them in the grossest insincerity. Take an illustration. 
 A person calls to see you whose society your child 
 knows that you neither esteem nor desire, but you are 
 all smiles and compliments, pressing her to come 
 again, and assuring her that her visit has given you 
 very great pleasure. What more effectual lesson could 
 you give your wondering little one in deception and 
 double-dealing than this ? 
 
 And yet how common is this kind of thing in many 
 households ? I once stayed in the house of a lady who 
 had a fine promising boy of about eighteen months 
 old. He used to kick and scream violently when he 
 found that she was going out of the house. This, of 
 course, was the result of previous bad training. But 
 what did she do ? Instead of facing the difficulty, and 
 in a calm, firm, and affectionate manner curing her 
 little son of this bad habit, she \ised to promise every 
 
18 The Training of Children. 
 
 time that she would bring him a pony that he could ride 
 on, and the little fellow believed and believed until he 
 got tired, and then put down his mother, in his baby- 
 mind, as a liar. Of course he would not have under- 
 stood such a definition, but the deception would be 
 burned into his soul never to be eradicated. A 
 child hurts himself against the table : the mother 
 strikes it, and says, " Oh ! naughty table ! you have 
 hurt baby;" but the child soon learns that the table 
 was not to blame, and at the same time learns to 
 distrust his mother, who said it was. 
 
 A mother invites some little friends to spend an 
 afternoon with her children, during which games are 
 played requiring skill and tact in the winner. Her 
 little boy wins several of the games, and although his 
 brother or one of his little friends says that he was 
 not fair — that is, that he cheated — she does not appear 
 to notice it, but contents herself by saying, ' Oh, you 
 must be good children and not quarrel;' thus inflicting 
 an unjust reflection on the child of honour and 
 integrity, while encouraging the other in the meanest 
 and most selfish form of sin — allowing him to rejoice 
 over the victory won, through fraud or sleight-of-hand. 
 Can such a mother wonder if her boy turns out a thief 
 or a gambler ? Well, but you say how unpleasant it 
 would be in such a case to go into particular 
 investigation, spoil the enjoyment of the party, and 
 expose your child as a cheat before them ! Certainly 
 it would be very unpleasant, and to a mother who 
 is more concerned about her son appearing to be 
 a cheat than she is about his being one the result 
 would not be worth the fuss ; but, to a mother who 
 esteems the honour and integrity of her boy more 
 
The Training of Children. 19 
 
 than all appearances or opinions in the world, such an 
 opportunity of correcting his fault and fortifying him 
 against future temptation is more than the breaking 
 up of a dozen parties. Oh, how many a promising 
 c'lild has been ruined because his mother would not 
 endure the pain and trouble of an investigation ? 
 " He that covereth his sins shall not prosper." 
 Neither does such a course win the good opinion of 
 others. The children go away feeling that your son 
 is a cheat just the same ; and, what is worse, feeling 
 that you are a party to his wickedness. 
 
 Again, Charlie is ill, and it is needful for him to take 
 a dose of unpleasant medicine ; but he has been so 
 badly trained that his mother knows he will not take 
 it if she tells him it is nasty. So she resorts to 
 stratagem, and tells him that she has got something 
 good, and thus coaxes him to take it into his mouth, 
 but before it is swallowed he detects the cheat, and 
 medicine and mother's veracity are spit out together. 
 In this way thousands of children are taught deception 
 and untruth, and you may labour in vain in after years 
 to make them truthful and sincere — the soil has been 
 ruined by early abuse. 
 
 Mothers, if you want your child to be truthful and 
 sincere you must not only teach it to be so, you must 
 be so yourself, and see that your child practices what 
 you teach. You must not wink at, or cover up any 
 kind of falseness or deception in him, because he is 
 yours. Sin should be the more awful to you because 
 jou see it in those so dear, and those for whom you 
 are responsible. If you have any reason to suspect 
 your child of insincerity or falsehood, do not rest 
 »until you have bottomed the matter ; never mind 
 
20 The Training of Children. 
 
 what trouble or pain it involves, drag it out, even * 
 though it should bring for the time exposure and 
 disgrace. This may prove a useful chastisement, and 
 a warning in the future. Anything is preferable to 
 sin covered up, and consequently encouraged. Resolve 
 that you will make your child truthful and sincere, if 
 you can do it no other way, from very despair of being 
 able to hide anything from you. God acts on this 
 principle with adults : why should not we with our 
 children ? " Be sure your sin will find you out " 
 
 I know some children amongst whom it is a 
 common remark, ' It is of no use trying to hide 
 anything from mamma, for she is sure to find it out ; 
 so it is best to tell her at once.' How much misery 
 it would save if it were thus in every family ! 
 Mothers, take the trouble to make your children 
 TRUE, and Grod will enable you to do it. If you work 
 for Him with your children. He will work ivith you in 
 them, and you shall have the joy of seeing them grow 
 up into Christ, their living Head in all things. 
 
 But further. To train a child in the way it should 
 go, we must not stop with those qualities and virtues 
 which bear on man ; but it must be trained in the 
 exercise of devotion and piety towards God. Of 
 course, none but truly Christian parents are equal to 
 impart this kind of training. The Holy Ghost must 
 needs be in the heart of the mother who undertakes 
 to lead her child to God. The bias to evil is too 
 strong to be turned aside by unassisted human wisdom 
 or strength, however great. But, bless God ! there 
 is every encouragement to those parents who are truly 
 His, to hope for success in training their children for 
 Him. 
 
The Training oj Children. 21 
 
 And, perhaps, the first important point in such 
 effort is, to lead our children to regard themselves as 
 standing in a special relationship to God. " The 
 promise is to you and to your children." 
 
 And there is a sense in which the children of 
 believers are already set apart for Him. Many 
 parents seem to lose sight of this covenant relation, 
 and bring up their children under the idea that they 
 must needs live in sin till they come to be fifteen or 
 sixteen years old, and then they hope Grod will convert 
 them in the same marvellous and sudden manner in 
 which drunkards and profligates are converted. Now, 
 I am as firm a believer in conversion as anyone can 
 be ; and I also believe that the children of believers 
 need to be converted as much as others, but I say 
 this is not the way to teach our children to expect it. 
 What is conversion but the renewal of the mind by 
 the Holy Grhost through faith in a crucified Saviour ? 
 And as there are " diversities of operations by the 
 same spirit," why may not the minds of children be 
 renewed very early ? Why may they not be led to 
 choose Christ and His yoke at seven or eight years old 
 as well as at seventeen ? If the will of a child be 
 sincerely yielded to Grod, cannot the blessed Spirit as 
 easily and as effectually renew and actuate its heart and 
 affections as those of an adult ? And does not Jesus 
 say " Suffer the little ones to come unto Me ? " 
 Alas ! how many Christian parents unwittingly forbid 
 them ? 
 
 Because in the case of those who have had no previous 
 light or training, conversion is necessarily sudden and 
 followed by a great outward change, is that any reason 
 why in the case of a child carefully trained in the 
 
22 The Training of Children. 
 
 " nurture and admonition of tbe Lord," the Holy 
 Spirit should not work together with such training, 
 adapting his operations to the capacity and require- 
 ments of the little ones who are already " of the 
 kingdom of heaven ? " thus gradually installing them 
 in all the privileges, duties, and enjoyments of that 
 kingdom. Of what advantage would it be to train 
 them in the " nurture and admonition of the Lord," 
 if He did not purpose to bless this training to their 
 conversion and salvation? The very terms of this 
 injunction show the sense in which the Holy Spirit 
 uses them. " Nurture " means " nursing, feeding, 
 strengthening, developing." " Admonition " means 
 "reproof, caution, instruction." Here is the order 
 of Grod, firstly, the feeding and strengthening of all 
 that is good in them ; and secondly, the reproof and 
 caution against evil ; and thirdly, instruction in 
 righteousness. If parents would only take the I-<ord's 
 way, they would see their sons and their daughters 
 taking their places in the temple of the Lord, as their 
 natural and abiding home. Wisely and faithfully 
 trained up for God, they would say, when solicited to 
 go away, " To whom shall we go ? " ' Ah,' says some 
 mother, ' it is very easy to talk, but you don't know 
 ' the natural antipathy which my children have to 
 ' religion. I am sure I have tried to teach them the 
 ' right way, and to make them love that which is good, 
 'but, so far, I see very little result of my labours.' 
 Perhaps, my friend, the failure has been in that you 
 have taught hut have not trained. You have told them 
 the way to take, but have not led them in it. If you 
 are to succeed you must do both, and that continually. 
 Of course right training includes right teaching, for 
 
The TmMnrj of Chihlren. 23 
 
 though, there may be much teaching without training, 
 there cannot be good traininsf without teaching. 
 Doubtless many parents and teachers fail here for want 
 of tact and wisdom in their methods of instruction. 
 
 The one great rule to be observed in all teaching is 
 to make your lessons mTERESTiNG. If you cannot 
 awaken the interest of your child you had better give 
 up, and school and inform yourself till you can. I 
 have not a doubt that many an impetuous, earnest, 
 high-spirited child is driven to hate the Bible, the 
 Sanctuary, and religious exercises in general, by the 
 cold, spiritless, insipid, canting manner in which he 
 hears them read and performed. He knows by instinct 
 that this is not the way people go through things in 
 which their hearts are deeply concerned. He hears 
 father and mother and friends talk in a natural, easy, 
 interesting manner on business and family matters, and 
 consequently he listens with interest, but the moment 
 they begin with religion he feels there is no heart in it, 
 he feels that it is because they must, and not because 
 they LIKE. He is taught to sing " Hap})y, happy 
 Sunday, the brightest of the seven ; " but he knows 
 that in his home it is the dullest day of the week, and 
 that the whole household are relieved when it is passed 
 and they are able to be back at this world's employ- 
 ments and enjoyments. 
 
 Now, if you want your child to love and enjoy the 
 Sabbath you must make it the most interestinct day 
 of the week. If you want him to love and read his 
 Bible you must so tell him its stories, and elucidate 
 its lessons as to make it interest him. If you want 
 him to love prayer you must so pray as to interest and 
 draw out his mind and heart with your own, and teach 
 
24 Tlie Training of CliUdren. 
 
 him to go to God, as he comes to you, in his own 
 natural voice and manner to tell Him his wants and to 
 express his joys or sorrows. The themes of religion are 
 of all themes most interesting to children when dealt 
 with naturally and interestingly. 
 
 I used to take my eldest boy on my knee from the 
 time when he was about two years old and tell him the 
 stories of the Old Testament in baby language and 
 adapted to baby comprehension, one at a time, so that 
 he thoroughly drank them in and also the moral 
 lessons they were calculated to convey. When between 
 three and four years old I remember once going into 
 the nursery and finding him mounted on his rocking- 
 horse, in a high state of excitement, finishing the story 
 of Joseph to his nurse and baby brother, showing them 
 how Joseph galloped on his live " gee gee " when he 
 went to fetch his father to show him to Pharoah. In 
 the same way we subsequently went through the 
 history of the flood, having a Noah's Ark, which was 
 kept for Sabbath use ; making the Ark itself the 
 foundation of one lesson, Noah and his family of 
 another, and the gathering of the animals of a third, 
 and so on until the subject w^as exhausted. 
 
 When my family increased, it was my custom before 
 these Sabbath lessons to have a short lively tune, A 
 short prayer, in which I let them all repeat after me, 
 sentence by sentence, asking the Lord to help us to 
 understand His word, and to bless our souls, and so on. 
 After the lesson another short prayer, and then another 
 tune or two. After this they would adjourn to the 
 nursery, where frequently they would go through the 
 whole service again, the eldest being the preacher. 
 When baby was asleep their nurse would read 
 
The Training of Children. 25 
 
 interesting infantile stories to the elder ones, or teach 
 them suitable bits of poetry by letting them all repeat 
 it together after her. Thus the Sabbath was made a 
 day of pleasure as well as of instruction and improve- 
 ment. I never allowed my children to attend public 
 services till they were old enough to take some interest 
 in them. We had no mission services then, or they 
 would have been able to understand, and enter into a 
 great part of them, but I deemed it an evil to make a 
 child sit still for an hour-and-a-half, dangling its legs 
 on a high seat, listening to what it could neither 
 understand nor appreciate, for alas, there is little in 
 the ordinary services of our day to interest or profit 
 children, and I am satisfied that a great deal of the 
 distaste for religious services so common amongst them 
 has been engendered in this way. My expei'ience has 
 been that my children have come so highly to appreciate 
 the privilege of attending service, that a promise of it 
 during the week would insure extra good behaviour 
 and diligence. 
 
 Of course, mothers who have no one to leave with 
 their children cannot always stay at home, and must 
 take them as often as is necessary for their own 
 edification. To those parents who are able to keep 
 servants, I would say, make any sacrifice to keep a 
 really good Christian girl with your children. I have 
 made it a rule never to have an}' other as a nurse, and 
 have sometimes put up with great inexperience and 
 incompetency, because it was associated with gcjodness. 
 lietter take a girl whom you have to teach how to 
 wash a child's face, or to stitch a button on, if she is 
 true and sincere, than have one ever so clever who will 
 teach your children to lie and deceive. 
 
 3 
 
26 The Training of Children. 
 
 But to return to the subject of teacliing. Not only 
 must you make your teaching interesting, but also 
 practical, in the highest degree. Your children want 
 to know how to comport themselves naiu in the little 
 duties, trials, and enjoyments of their daily life. It is 
 to be feared that, as with adults so with children, a 
 deal of so-called teaching is right away above their 
 heads, dealing with abstract truths and far-off 
 illustrations, instead of coming down to such every-day 
 matters as obedience to parents and teachers ; the 
 learning of their lessons ; their treatment of brothers, 
 sisters, and servants ; their companionships ; their 
 amusements ; the spending and giving of their pocket- 
 money ; their dealings with the poor ; their treatment 
 of animals — in short, everything embraced in their 
 daily life. The great end of Christian training is to 
 lead c' ildren to realise the fact that they belong TO 
 GrOD, and are under a solemn obligation to do every- 
 thing in a way which they think will please Him. 
 Parents cannot begin too early, nor labour too 
 continuously, to keep this fact before the minds of 
 their children. In the family devotion in the morning, 
 the father or mother, or whoever conducts it, should 
 bring the children specially before the Lord, asking 
 Him ' to give them grace this day, to be obedient to 
 
 * those who have the care of them. To be diligent at 
 ' their lessons, so that they may lay in knowledge, 
 ' which shall make thera useful to their felloiv-creatiires^ 
 
 * and enable them to do something for Grod and souls, 
 ' if He sees fit to spare them.' 
 
 Above all things, parents should labour to counteract 
 the natuml selfishness of the hearts of their children 
 by showing them that they are not to live unto them- 
 
The Tminhig of Children. 27 
 
 selves — that they are not to be good, and industrious, 
 and studious, in order that thev themselves may be 
 learned, or hai)py, or successful in the world. For 
 these are the things after which the Gfentiles — the 
 unbelieving world — seek ; but that they, as belonging 
 to God, are to live unto Him, who hath given Himself 
 for them, seeking ^irs^ His kingdom and righteousness. 
 Seeking first to glorify Him, and do good to their 
 generation, leaving it with Him to fix the bounds of 
 their habitation, and to choose their inheritance for 
 them. Alas ! how few Christian parents seem to 
 understand this first principle of right training — hence 
 their anxiety to push their children on, and up, in the 
 learning, principles, customs, and ambitions of this 
 world. Surely "Grod is not mocked," for as they "sow 
 to the flesh," they "of the flesh reap corruption;" 
 and alas ! their poor children's SOULS are sacrificed in 
 the bargain. 
 
 Oh, mothers, don't be deceived if you want your 
 children to be the Lord's when they grow up, if you 
 want your boy to withstand the unknown temptations 
 of the future — if you want him to come out a man of 
 righteous principle, integrity, and honour — superior 
 to all the doubleness, chicanery, and devilry of the 
 world, you must train him to look upon all the world's 
 prizes as dross compared with the joy of a pure 
 conscience and a life of usefulness to his fellow-men. 
 If you want your daughter to be a true woman, willing 
 to sacrifice and to suffer in the interests of humanity 
 and truth, you must inspire her NOW with a contempt 
 for the baubles for which so many women barter 
 their lives and tlieir souls — you must teach her 
 that she is an independent, responsible being, whom 
 
28 The Traiiunii of Children. 
 
 God will call to as severe a reckoning for the use ot 
 abuse of her talents as that of her brother man. Da}* 
 by day, as it flies, you must labour to wake up your 
 children's souls to the realisation of the fact that they 
 belong to God, and that He has sent them into the 
 world, not to look after their own little petty, personal 
 interests, but to devote themselves to the promotion 
 of His ! and that, in doing this, they will find happi- 
 ness, usefulness, and glory. — ^latt. xxv. 14 — 16. 
 
 I would like, in conclusion, to add a few cautions 
 against evils which I have seen to be very common 
 in families, and which I believe exert a very baneful 
 influence on the formation of character. First amongst 
 these ;s an INORDINATE ESTIMATE OF THE 
 VALUE OF MONEY. One would think from the 
 meanness and the discomfort of the ordering of many 
 families, that money was the household god at whose 
 shrine every consideration of comfort, health, friend- 
 ship and benevolence had been sacrificed. ' What will 
 it cost?' — is the first question that meets every 
 suggestion of improvement in any direction, and this 
 frequently, not because money is scarce, but simply 
 because it cannot be parted with ! 
 
 Now children soon find out the ruling principle in 
 the family administration, and if they see it to be 
 covetousness, or avariciousness, parents may teach all 
 the catalogue of Christian virtues from morning till 
 night, but their children will grow up selfish in the 
 very core of their souls. Like begets like the world 
 over, and you show me a household where the spirit 
 of covetousness reigns, and I will show you ungenerous, 
 cunning children. " T' e love ok money is the root 
 of all' evil " is an axiom as true as it is neglected > 
 
The Trauiuiij of Children. 22 
 
 and until parents, by their actions, show their children 
 that they deem domestic comfort and religion, the 
 claims of Christian hospitality, the blood and lives of 
 their servants, the claims of the sutfering and the 
 destitute, and the crying need of the benighted 
 multitude, of more importance than the hoarding of 
 MONEY, they must go on reaping the reward of their 
 covetousness in the selfish indulgence, ungrateful 
 neglect, and open profligacy of their children. Ah, 
 how many a parent, who has sacrificed all the higher 
 and nobler impulses of his own and his children's 
 natures to money-making, has had it scattered by 
 thousands by wicked, selfish sons ? 
 
 Another great evil which I have seen even in families 
 where there has in the main been much good training, 
 is the yielding in an emergency on points of principle 
 for the sake of expediency. Take an illustration. 
 Here is a family who are trained in the principles of 
 abstinence from intoxicating drinks, as all Christian 
 families undoubtedly ought to be. These parents 
 have wisely taught their children that strong drink is 
 an evil and bitter thing, and that all traffic and 
 countenance of it brings a curse; but on a certain 
 day, a letter comes announcing that General So-and-so, 
 or Captain Somebody is coming to pay a visit to 
 his cousin, on his return from India. Of course 
 there is much excitement and expectation among 
 the junior members of the family, and a becoming 
 anxiety on the part of the parents, worthily to 
 entertain their guest, but a difficulty presents itself. 
 The General is not an abstainer, he has always 
 been accustomed to his wine and spirits. ' What 
 shall we do,' savs the mother, 'he will think it 
 
30 The Training of Children. 
 
 inhospitable and mean to deny him his favourite 
 beverage ' ? ' Well, yes,' says the father, * I don't 
 
 * see how we can do it in this instance ; you see 
 
 * he is an old man, and would not appreciate our 
 
 * views or our motives. I fear we shall have to order 
 
 * a little wine for him. I don't like to bring it in 
 
 * sight of the children, but we must explain the 
 
 * circumstances to them, and we will hope no harm 
 ' will come of it.' These parents sacrifice principle to 
 expediency, and admit the mocker to their family 
 circle. Can they be sur^Drised if one of their sons 
 turns out a drunkard ? ' Ah ! ' said a broken-hearted 
 father once to my husband — ' I trained my boy in 
 
 * abstinence principles, but I did not keep him out of 
 ' the society of those who thought there was no harm 
 ' in moderate drinking, and now ho is an outcast and 
 
 * an alien whom I cannot allow to cross my threshold 
 ' — he has killed his mother, and will bring down my 
 
 * grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.' " Have no 
 fellowship with the unfruitful works " — or instruments, 
 " of darkness " — of evil. " Wine is a mocker." WiNE 
 ITSELF, not the abuse of it. Here is the secret why 
 so many thousands of the fair and promising fall by it. 
 Christian parents, fear it as you would the bite of a 
 serpent, and as you value the souls of your children 
 keep it out of their very sight. 
 
 Another great enemy to the formation of righteous 
 character is ambition for what is called position in 
 society ! Some parents are continually putting before 
 their children future aggrandisement and fortune, as 
 a stimulus to industry and effort, thus liolding up to 
 their young minds this world's prosperity and a])i)lause 
 as til'.: great aim and oliject of lifb. To get to be 
 
TiiC Tnvininrj of Children. 81 
 
 more learned, inoic /genteel, more wealthy than men 
 of their own olass, ;:o that they may be received into 
 higher circles cf "v^crldly society. Such parents often 
 fail, and in the atter pt to leap the chasm which bars 
 his upward ccrrse, many a son falls headlong through 
 the abyss of disappointed ambition, down to damnation, 
 and many a daughter to that path, the steps of which 
 " take hold on hell." Ah, but some succeed ! Yes, 
 and what reward do the parents often get ? The son 
 and daughter, whom they toiled and struggled so hard 
 to push up, get so high, they can ficarcely see the 
 poor, neglected parents down below, and often leave 
 them to die in poverty, and with a broken heart. 
 Truly " Grodliness with contentment is Grreat Grain." 
 
 I cannot close these remarks without lifting up my 
 voice against the practice now so prevalent amongst 
 respectable families, of sending children to boarding 
 schools before their principles are formed or their 
 characters developed. Parents are led away by the 
 professedly religious character of schools, forgetting 
 that, even supposing the master or governess may be 
 all that can be desired, a school is a little ivorlcl where 
 all the elements of unrenewed human nature are at 
 Tfork with as great variety, subtlety, and power as in 
 the great world outside. You would shrink from 
 exposing your child to the temptation and danger of 
 association with unconverted worldly men and women, 
 why should you ex^xjse them to the influence of 
 children of the same character, who are not un- 
 frequently sent to these schools because they have 
 become utterly vitiated and unmanageable at home ? 
 I have listened to many a sad story of the consequences 
 of these school associations, and early made up my 
 
oi The Training of Children. 
 
 mind to keep my children under my own injluence, 
 at least until they had attained that maturity in grace 
 and principle which would be an effectual safeguard 
 against ungodly associations. To this end I have 
 rejected several very tempting offers in the way of 
 educational advantage, and every day I am increasingly 
 thankful for having been enabled to do so. (fod has 
 laid on you, parents, the responsibility of training 
 your children, and you cannot possibly delegate that 
 responsibility to another without endangering their 
 highest interests for time and for eternity. 
 
STRONG DRINK versus 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
STRONG DRINK VERSUS 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 The subject upon which I have been requested to 
 write a paper is, " The Value of Temperance in 
 connection with Religious Aggressive Effort." 
 
 Before entering directly on the subject, I want to 
 make two or three preliminary remarks, and, 
 
 I. It may be well to explain that we understand 
 religious aggressive effort to be, that interference mi 
 the 'part of Christians with the thoughts and actions 
 of ungodly 7)ien tchich the Bible shoius to be necessary, 
 in order to secure their present and eternal well-being. 
 
 We, Christians, see around us everywhere men and 
 women under the influence of false ideas, given up to 
 selfish indulgences and evil practices, which enslave 
 their faculties and render real happiness impossible to 
 them, either in this life or in that which is to come. 
 Now, religious aggressive effort implies measures 
 taken for their deliverance from these evil habits, 
 and from the bondage of Satan, and the actual 
 bringing of these souls into the liberty, power, and 
 blessedness of the family of Grod. It is, in short, a 
 holy warfare, prosecuted under the direction and power 
 of the Holy Spirit, to bring men from darkness to 
 light, from the power of Satan unto God. 
 
36 Strong Drinl- versus Christianity. 
 
 ir. I want to remark tliat the very nature of 
 Christianity renders this aggressive effort incumbent 
 on all Christians. Not only are there many passages 
 directly enforcing this duty, but it is assumed as a 
 fundamental principle, underlying the whole economy 
 of grace, that the truly regenerate will be benevolently 
 active for the good of others. A desire to save the 
 lost seems to be a divinely-inspired impulse in the 
 soul of every real child of God, as it were a holy 
 instinct, in which the disciple ever resembles his 
 jMaster, and the servant his Lord. I am aware that 
 there is a great deal of professed Christianity in these 
 days which lacks this lineament of the Divine likeness, 
 and makes so much of f;^ith that love is deemed almost 
 superfluous. An inspired Apostle, however, declares 
 that there is something greater even than faith, 
 which is charity, and though we have a faith that will 
 remove mountains, if we have not charity it profiteth 
 us nothing. Truly an inoperative faith neither 
 profiteth its possessor nor those around him, but is 
 only as sounding brass or tinkling cymbal. The faith 
 which is of the operati(jn of the Spirit " worketh by 
 love," and ever leads its possessor to follow Him who 
 went about doing good, and who persistently taught 
 His disciples that self-love, self-interest, and self- 
 indulgence must be sacrificed to the utmost, when- 
 ever the interests of His kingdom or tiie salvation of 
 their fellow-men should demand such sacrifice. 
 
 III. I want to observe further that THE use of 
 
 INTOXICATING DRINKS AS A BEVERAGE IS TIIE CAUSE 
 AND STRENGTH OF A VERY LARGE PROPORTION OF THE 
 WICKEDNESS, C:RI.MK, VICE, AND MISERY \\Hl('iI EXIST 
 
Stroiifj DriiiJv versus Christ ianity. 87 
 
 AROUND us. With this proposition many of us here 
 are sadly too familiar ; it needs neither proof nor 
 illustration ; indeed, with some little modification, it 
 is coming to be admitted in almost all quarters, even 
 amongst the greatest enemies of our principles. The 
 time is fast passing in which there has existed a 
 difference of opinion amongst the wise and good, as 
 to the real character of these drinks. The baneful 
 harvest of crime and misery which their consumption 
 has entailed on us as a nation, has opened the eyes of 
 almost every thinking and patriotic mind to the fact 
 that the drink, not the abuse of it, but the drink itself, 
 is an evil thing, in very truth a " mocker," the product 
 of Satanic art and malice, to be rejected and eschewed 
 by all who have any regard for their own or their 
 neighbour's well-being. We might adduce over- 
 whelming evidence that strong drink is the natural 
 ally of all wickedness. Unquestionable statistics have 
 been produced which show that its stimulus is essential 
 to the plotting and commission of almost every kind 
 of villainy. The gambler seeks it to aid him in the 
 craft and cunning by which he lures his victim on to 
 financial ruin. The seducer has recourse to its deceptive 
 power to pave the way for his cruel licentiousness. The 
 burglar braces his courage and hardens his conscience 
 by its exhilarating fames. The harlot drowns in the 
 intoxicating cup her sense of shame, and from it gathers 
 strength to trample out the deepest, tenderest instincts 
 of womanhood. The murderer is powerless to strike 
 the fatal blow till maddened by its infernal stimulus. 
 In short, all classes and sizes of criminals unite to 
 testify, ' By the influence of drink we are what we are,' 
 and missionaries, Bible-women, chaplains, jailors, 
 
38 Strong Brlnl: versus Christiamti/. 
 
 magistrates, and judges, say, "Amen" to their 
 testimony. 
 
 We have no hesitation in afi&rming that strong drink 
 is Satan's chief instrumentality for keeping tlie masses 
 of this country under his power. 
 
 IV. If the foregoing propositions are correct — If 
 Christians are bound to aggress on the kingdom of 
 Satan, and if strong drink constitutes one of the 
 mightiest forces of that kingdom, then it follows 
 inevitably that to ee successful in ackjressive effort 
 Christians must deal with the drink. To attempt 
 to make war on the enemy's territory without con- 
 templating this gigantic force, is kindred folly to that 
 of France in going to war with Prussia without having 
 duly estimated the strategic skill of their great general. 
 Such folly must always be followed by failure and defeat. 
 Doubtless one secret of the church's failure in nearly 
 all aggressive measures has been her ignoring the power 
 of this great adversary. Why, even heathen chiefs, 
 the heads of savage tribes, have sent us word that ' it 
 is of no use to send them the Bible, if at the same time 
 we send them strong drink.' Alas ! that Christians 
 have been so slow to learn the power of this mitrailleuse 
 of hell, but, thank God, some of them are beginning 
 to appreciate it at last, and these are crying, what is 
 to be done? How shall we deal with the drink ? We 
 answer, in the name of Christ and humanity, deal with 
 it as you do with all other Satan-invented, Christ- 
 dishonouring, soul-ruining abominations. Wash your 
 hands of it at once, and for ever ! And give a united 
 and straightforward testimony to the world that you 
 
Strong Dfuih versiu^ Chrldlamtij. o9 
 
 considei- it an enemy of all righteousness and the 
 legitimate offspring of Satan ! 
 
 I submit that there is no other way for Christians to 
 deal with strong drink. All other ways have been tried 
 and have failed. The time has come for Christians to 
 denounce the use of intoxicating drinks as in^eligious 
 and immoral ; and God Almighty will put immortal 
 renown on those of His servants who are sufificiently 
 true, and brave, and self-sacrificing first to run the 
 gauntlet of earth and hell in doing this. " They shall 
 be had in everlasting remembrance," and counted, 
 amongst the greatest benefactors of their race. 
 
 We contend that the attempt to make what is termed 
 the moderate use of strong drink consistent with a 
 profession of religion has signally and ignominiously 
 failed; and the common sense of mankind is turning 
 upon those who have made it with these most pertinent 
 questions — How can that which produces all this crime 
 and misery be a good thing? and if it he an evil 
 thing ^ how can it he moderately used ? 
 
 This question comes with overwhelming force to those 
 who stand forth as labourers for the spiritual benefit of 
 mankind. At every step the drink difficulty meets 
 them. They can no longer ignore it, it must be met 
 and grappled with. In America, the importance of 
 this question in its bearing on Christianity, has been so 
 fully recognised, that almost every Christian minister 
 has become an abstainer ; and I venture to affirm, 
 that the religious instinct of Christians in both 
 countries has pronounced this action to be consistent 
 and praiseworthy. If consistent and praiseworthy in 
 America, would it not be equally so in England ? God 
 grant that such may soon be the case here ? 
 
40 Strong Driiih versus Christianity. 
 
 But I must hasten to point out two or three 
 particulars in which this principle is specially valuable 
 in connection with religious aggressive effort. 
 
 1. Abstinence is valuable to those who are 
 
 CALLED TO MAKE SUCH EFFORT — 1st. As a SOUTCe of 
 
 strength. 
 
 No man can deny himself, constrained by Divine 
 love for the good of others, without improving his own 
 moral nature and giving increased scope for the 
 operation of the Divine Spirit within him. " Let us 
 not love in word, neither in tongue ; but in deed and 
 in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the 
 truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." 
 
 2. Abstinence is valuable to the Christian labourer 
 as a safe-guard against temptation. It is well known 
 that a large majority of those who become subjects for 
 church discipline, owe their fall directly or indirectly 
 to drink. The man who never uses it can never fall 
 through its influence. He is safe thus far, because he 
 goes not into temptation. 
 
 3. Abstinence is valuable to the labourer, because it 
 helps to beget a conviction of his disinterestedness ini 
 the minds of those whom he seeks to benefit, v^hich 
 conviction is indispensable to his success. Doubtless 
 the unwillingness of religious teachers to forego their 
 own indulgence in the use of wine and spirits has 
 greatly diminished their influence, and helped largely 
 to beget that prejudice with which great numbers of 
 the common people regard them. We are satisfied 
 that if the Grospel is to make any great advance on the 
 masses of this country, those who seek to propagate it 
 must abandon the use of drink. As Dr. Guthrie 
 
Struiuj JJriiih versus Christianiti/. 41 
 
 remarks, in his preface to ' Scriptural Claims of 
 Teetolalism,' ' I am astonished that so many ministers 
 of the Oospel and Christian people can turn aside from 
 the fight as they do. When I laboured among the 
 lower, and, indeed, lowest classes of society in this city, 
 I was met at every corner by the demon of drink. I 
 found it utterly useless to attempt to evangelise the 
 heathen and raise the lapsed masses without the aid 
 of total abstinence. With all ray trust in the promises 
 of Grod, and blessings of the Holy Spirit, I felt that I 
 must be able to say to the people not ' Forward,' but 
 ' Follow.' This first induced me to become an 
 abstainer ; and I am convinced that it is the duty of 
 every man, who would do his utmost for the gloiy of 
 God and the good of his fellow-creatures, to dis- 
 countenance by his example the use of intoxicating 
 stimulants.' 
 
 II. We remark further the value of abstinence 
 TO those on whom he has to aggress, 1st. It is 
 indispensable as a jnoneer in reaching the drunkard. 
 The motives, arguments, and persuasions of the Gospel 
 are addressed to the reason, conscience, and feelings of 
 men, and, of course, presuppose a sane condition of 
 mind. Everybody knows that it is useless to present 
 these to a man when intoxicated ; therefore, in the 
 case of thousands who live in a perpetual state of 
 intoxication, the only chance of salvation is to rescue 
 them from the influence of drink. Drunkenness is a 
 physical, as well as moral disease, and if we would 
 remove it, we must proceed on the same principle as 
 we do with the insane ; we must restore the reason 
 before we can sanctify the heart. Some of our 
 
 4 
 
42 Strong Drinlc versus Chrisfiambj. 
 
 Christian friends object to this, and say, ' Then it is 
 the Gospel and total abstinence.' We say emphatically, 
 Yes, just in the same sense as in the ease of a lunatic 
 or a man raving in a fev^er ; it is the Gospel and the 
 Physician. 
 
 If any of our friends doubt whether so many are 
 thus perpetually under the influence of drink, let them 
 pay us a visit in the East of London ; and, alas ! we 
 can point them to multitudes of besotted, benighted 
 beings, who are never sufficiently sober to be able 
 intelligently to comprehend the truth, even if they 
 could be got to listen to it. Their mental faculties 
 are so benumbed with the imbruting drink, that a 
 vacant stare is often the only response to the first 
 attempt at arousing and reclaiming them ; and all our 
 labourers feel that there is but little hope unless they 
 can by some means be kept from the drink, until 
 reason and conscience have a chance to operate. 
 Thanks be to God, many of this class have been 
 reclaimed and transformed in connection with our 
 mission work ; but I am not acquainted with a single 
 instance in which the drink has not been entirely 
 abandoned. In our last year's report, " The Masses 
 Eeached," INIr. Booth has selected one hundred 
 instances, out of hundreds of a similar character, of 
 the power of the Gospel to save the vilest and worst of 
 sinners, and at least eighty of these were drunkards 
 of the most terrible description. Let any friends, 
 sceptical as to the thoroughly imbruting effects of 
 drunkenness, read these instances. It would be 
 difficult to believe that man could fall so low, unless 
 one had indi6putal)le proof. 
 
 We would ask those who object to tlie use of 
 
iStromj Dr'uilc, versus Ghristianity. 43 
 
 abstinence as an instrumentality in saving the 
 drunkard, what plan they would suggest for his 
 restoration to sense and reason ? 
 
 The plan hitherto adopted by many of them, we 
 lament to say, has been simply to leave him to his 
 fate. While giving countenance and patronage to the 
 drink which has made him what he is, they have left 
 him. in his helplessness and misery to sink into a 
 drunkard's hell ! We might ask how it has come to 
 pass that with such a confessedly alarming number 
 of drunkards in our midst, there has not been put 
 in operation one Christian organisation specially 
 adapted to reach and save them ! Has not the felt 
 inconsistency of trying to save the drunkard while 
 patronising the drink, had something to do with this 
 anomaly ? It is a significant fact, that we rarely find 
 any who are not abstainers who care for the drunkard. 
 We admit, however, and believe, that the pioneering 
 work to be done in order to reach the drunkard, and 
 bring him under the influence of the Gospel, ought to 
 be done by Christians ; but until Christian ministers 
 and people will forego their own indulgence, and 
 imdertake the labour of hunting down the drunkard, 
 we say, for pity's sake, let those do it who will, for any 
 man has a better chance of salvation sober than drunk, 
 under any circumstances. 
 
 2nd. Total abstinence, is valuable in '"'^parating 
 men froini those associatians and habits ivhich prevent 
 them from hearing the Gospel. How shall they believe 
 oxcept they hear ? We find large numbers of people 
 who, though not drunkards, are so mixed up with, and 
 hedged in by drinking customs, that it is impossible 
 to get at them with religious truth. The streets and 
 
44 Strong Dr'inli lersus Christian if ij. 
 
 public thoroughfares are the only places where even a 
 solitary sentence of Divine truth can be sounded in 
 their ears ; and, alas ! there are but few Christians who 
 attempt to catch them in this vulgar and out-of-season 
 fashion ; consequently, tens of thousands of them never 
 hear at all that Word by which alone they can be 
 saved. Now, abstinence reaches many of these, and 
 by separating them from old associations, and creating 
 a vacuum in their social life, throws them in the way 
 of religious teaching and influence. When a man who 
 has been accustomed to spend his Sabbath evenings, 
 as thousands do, in pleasure-parties, tea-gardens, or in 
 family gatherings, where the social glass forms the 
 principal bond of union, when such a one becomes an 
 abstainer, he is thrown out of his orbit, and necessarily 
 looks round for some way of disposing of himself. He 
 wants somewhere to go, and somebody with whom to 
 associate, and in numbers of instances betakes himself 
 to the house of God, because this offers the readiest 
 way of meeting his diflficulty. We know of numbers 
 who have thus been won to Christ and happiness, 
 and doubtless there will be many more when the 
 Church learns better to adapt her measures and 
 services to the capacities and necessities of this 
 class of hearers. 
 
 3rd. Abstinence is a valuable ally of the Gospel in 
 the case of those already under its influence, because 
 it tends to keep the intellect clear and the conscience 
 awake for the perception and application of Divine 
 truth. There is every reason to believe that vast 
 numbers who regularly sit under Sciiptural teaching 
 are enabled to stifle the voice of conscience and resist 
 Dhe claims of God, through the exhilarating or stupifying 
 
Strong IJriiih uersus Christianiti/. 45 
 
 effects of, what is termed, " moderate " quantities 
 of stimulating drinks. We have spoken with numbers 
 of people after religious services whose breath has been 
 laden with the fumes of wine or brandy, indicating 
 that sufficient has been taken during the afternoon, 
 to blunt the moral susceptibilities and to beget a 
 self-complacency just the reverse of that state of mind 
 necessary for the proper reception of Divine truth. 
 Satan seems to have got wiser for his malicious 
 purposes since our Lord uttered the parable of the 
 sower. He does not wait now till the seed is sown, 
 but is, in the case of thousands, beforehand with the 
 sower, rendering the soul impervious to the precious 
 seed by deadly opiates of diabolical concoction. We 
 believe this indirect result of drinking to be even 
 more widespread and ruinous than the more direct ; 
 and that in the great day of account it will be found 
 that multitudes in this Grospel-enlightened land of 
 ours were enabled to resist the most pungent appeals 
 of truth, to silence conscience, and effectually to 
 resist the strivings of the Holy Cfhost, only through 
 the influence of strong drink. 
 
 III. Total abstinencr is a valuable ally of the 
 Gospel, as a conserving power. We must not only 
 aggress on the kingdom of darkness, but we must use 
 every means to keep the spoils. When the evil spirit 
 is cast out, we must do our utmost to keep him out, or 
 the last state of our convert will be worse than the 
 first. When a man is brought under the influence 
 of the Spirit, to see himself a sinner, and to embrace 
 the Saviour, he should be taught that he has only 
 just entered on his heavenward course, and in Oider 
 
46 Strc/ig Drinh versvs Christianity. 
 
 that he ma;; jo run as to obtain, he must cast aside 
 every weigl.t^ Iceep his bod}^ under, watch and pray, 
 and keep out cf temptation. In the case of those who 
 have been r.d<Hcted to intemperance, all but universal 
 experience proves that there is absolutely no hope 
 of their " ■jtandinsf fast " without the entire abandon- 
 ment of the drink. Our Lord taught His disciples to 
 pray to bs kept out of temptation ; and again and 
 again we are warned and enjoined to keep ourselves 
 out, and on this condition all His promises of grace 
 and deliverance are suspended. God has nowhere 
 promised to keep the man who needlessly, and for the 
 sake of his own indulgence, runs into temptation. 
 How fearful, then, the responsibility of those 
 Christians who tell the reclaimed inebriate, aye who 
 tell any man, ' You may safely tamper with the drink ! 
 ' You may play with this fire of hell, and trust in God 
 ' to keep you from being burnt.' Alas, how do such 
 counsellors unwittingly play the part of Satan in his 
 cunning approaches to our Lord. " Cast thyself down, 
 for it is written, He shall give His angels charge 
 concerning thee ; and in their hands they stiall bear 
 thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy fooL against- 
 a stone." Oh, that all our brethren and sisters would 
 ever bear in mind the memorable answer, " Thou shalt 
 not tempt thy Lord thy God." 
 
 Bat, further, not only is abstinence valuable, nay, 
 indispensable, in order to preserve those rescued out of 
 the poiver of this great destroyer, hut it is equally 
 valuable to prevent others from falling into it. We 
 all profess to believe that prevention is better than 
 cure ; seeing, then, that strong drink is proved to be 
 the most dangerous foe to ])erscvcrance in righteous- 
 
Strong Drink versus Christianity. 4i1 
 
 ness, and the most potent cause of declension, 
 inconsistency, and apostasy, ought not Christians 
 to strive, both by example and precept, to warn the 
 young, the weak, and the inexperienced from touching 
 it ? Can any man answer for the consequences of 
 putting a bottle to his neighbour's mouth, be it ever 
 such a small one, or ever such a genteel one ? Grod has 
 recorded His curse against the man who does this, and 
 thousands of hoary-headed parents, broken-hearted 
 wives, and weeping, blighted children groan their 
 amens to the dreadful sentence ! Perchance, there are 
 some men who can take these drinks in what they call 
 moderation, and suffer no visible injury; nevertheless, 
 let that man beware who touches that which Gfod has 
 cursed, for there are injuries invisible more to be 
 dreaded than all the plagues of Egypt ! 
 
 But, suppose some people could take these drinks 
 without hurting themselves, will they dare ansiuer for 
 their children ? Alas ! there are \ housands of parents 
 to-day in connection with the various churches of our 
 land, whose gray hairs are sinking in sorrow to the 
 grave through the intemperance of sons and daughters, 
 who first acquired a taste for drink by sipping out of 
 their own glasses, never used hut in moderation/ I 
 ask these parents, I ask you. Christians, was not the 
 curse of Grod on the liqitor rather than on the size of 
 the glass which contained it; and might not these 
 parents have known, if they did not, that if they sowed 
 the east wind they must reap the whirlwind. If time 
 would permit, we might give illustrations here that 
 would almost wring tears from demons, but doubtless 
 you are familiar with too many already. Christian 
 parents, save your children from this moral pestilences 
 
48 Strung Drinlc versus Christianity. 
 
 oh ! as ) oil value their happiness, their chastity, their 
 godliness in this life, and their felicity in the next, 
 save them from acquiring a taste for drink. Christian 
 oninisters, deacons, elders, members, warn your young 
 'people that they come not luithin the fatal gaze of this 
 m^oral basilisk. Oh ! warn them that they enter not 
 the outermost circle of this eddying maelstrom of 
 perdition, crimsoned already with the blood of myriads 
 once as fair and pure, as virtuous and true, as they are 
 now. 
 
 Oh Christians ! by your peace of conscience on a 
 
 dying bed ; by the eternal destinies of your children ; 
 
 by your concern for the glory of your Grod ; by your 
 
 care for never dying souls ; by the love you owe your 
 
 Saviour, I beseech you baxisii the drink. Banish it 
 
 from your tables, banish it from your houses, and oh ! 
 
 for Christ's sake, banish it from His house. Put no 
 
 longer the sacrifice of Christ and of devils on the saine 
 
 altar ! Banish also those who manufacture this 
 
 " distilled damnation " from your communion, aye, 
 
 from your society. Have no fellowship with those who 
 
 get rich by robbing man of his reason, woman of her 
 
 virtue, and children of their patrimony and their bread. 
 
 Cease to recognise, not only as Christians, but as men, 
 
 those who fatten on the weakness, wickedness, and 
 
 suffering of their fellow-men. Hoist the flag of death 
 
 over their breweries, distilleries, and dram-shops, 
 
 warning the unwary that death and damnation lurk 
 
 beliind their finely-decorated bars, and run like the 
 
 lurid fires of perdition through their brightly-polished 
 
 taps! Christians of England! the time has come 
 
 WHEN to trim on THIS DRINK QUESTION IS THE HIGHEST 
 TREASON TO THE CATSE OF (^HHIST, AND THE GUOSSEST 
 
Sfroiit] Di-iiiJr /vr.s/r.s' CJiristlrniif//. 49 
 
 INHUMANITY TO SUFFERING, PERISHING MILLIONS. Tell 
 
 me no more of charity towards brewers, distillers, and 
 publicans. Your false charity to these has already 
 
 CONSIGNED millions TO AN UNTIMELY HELL ! Tell US not 
 
 of a charity that takes sides with the Pharisees who- 
 devour widows' houses, and leaves tlie poor victims of 
 avarice and power to groan, and suffer, and die. 
 
 Tell us not of the charity that would have welded 
 the shackles on three millions of slaves in America 
 yonder, rather than have disturbed the comfort and 
 impoverished the wealth of a few rich planters. Such 
 charity savoureth of the old serpent, its speech betrayeth 
 it. Such was not the charity of Jesus. His charity 
 went out after the suffering multitudes, while it 
 consigned those, who fattened on their wrongs and 
 sorrows, to their own place, notwithstanding that they 
 garnished the tombs of the prophets and paid tithes of 
 mint, anise, and cummin ! But, say some of our 
 Christian friends, we must have patience. We answer 
 we have had long patience, and the times of ignorance 
 both God and man were willing to wink at, but we 
 declare that the time for patience has passed. The 
 land is flooded ivith lights and if these men do not see, 
 it is because they unit not. And this is the crowning, 
 finishing condemnation of any class of sinners, that 
 "Light is come into the world, and men love 
 darkness rather than light, because their deeds 
 are evil," or we might interpret it, because their 
 gains are great. 
 
 Charity, were we speaking of? O Christians! look 
 on the multitudes who are led as sheep to the shambles 
 by this great destroyer. Look on thousands, yea, tens 
 of tliousands of your fellow-conntrvmen, husbands and 
 
50 Stroug DrlnJc versus Ghristianity. 
 
 fatliers, robbed at once of their earnings, their manhood, 
 tlieir reason, and turned loose on their hapless wives 
 «,nd children, worse, more unreasonable, tyrannical and 
 savage, than the wild beasts of the forest. liOok upon 
 thousands of poor suffering women called wives, who 
 have to endure all a drunkard's tyranny and fury, while 
 working for the children's bread, and struggling vainly 
 to keep a home where they may lay their heads. Look 
 on multitudes of our youth, lured from their homes, 
 inspired with contempt of parental counsel, drawn into 
 gay and immoral society ; dragged down- from com- 
 parative innocence and virtue to idleness, debauchery, 
 and crime ! 
 
 Look on hosts of helpless, neglected children, ten 
 times more to be pitied than those whom the heathen 
 mother casts into the Ganges or the Nile ; look on 
 their half-starved, half-clad bodies, their untaught, 
 benighted minds and souls, and then say how long this 
 modern Juggernauth shall roll down your streets un- 
 challenged — this chief of Satan's empire sway his 
 sceptre over this vaunted Christian land ! 
 
 Arise, Christians, arise, and fight this foe ! You, 
 
 AND YOU ALONE ARE AHLE, FOR YOUR GOD AVILL FIGHT 
 
 FOR YOU ! Oh, come up , TO His help against this 
 
 MIGHTY champion OF HELL, AND He WILL EMPOWER YOU 
 TO LAY HIM LOW, AND TAKE ALL HIS ARMOUR WHEREIN HE 
 TRUSTED. 
 
WORLDLY AMUSEMENT 
 AND CHRISTIANITY. 
 
WORLDLY AMUSEMENT AND 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 We are constantly meeting with persons in perplexity 
 as to how far they may participate in worldly amuse- 
 ments without compromising their Christian profession. 
 Many confess having been for years in controversy on 
 the subject of attending or assisting at concerts, penny 
 readinors, and iratherinffs of a similar thouoh more 
 private and social character, and not a few have admitted 
 having sufifered spiritual loss and declension through 
 being mixed up with such entertainments. On this 
 question there seems to be amongst the Lord's professing 
 people a sad indefiniteness of view. Indeed, many 
 appear to have no settled convictions on the subject. 
 Hence, we fear, arises much of the abounding 
 worldliness, that prevails in the Church, and hence the 
 extinction of the demarcation line between so many 
 thousands of the professing Christians of our day and 
 the ungodly throngs around them. 
 
 We propose briefly in this paper to consider, first, is 
 it latvful, and secondly, is it expedient for Christians 
 either to provide or attend such entertainments as 
 penny readings, concerts, private theatricals and the 
 like ? 
 
54 WorJdhj Amusement and (Jurist In nihj, 
 
 I. — Is it laivftd ? To the la^v and to the testimony. 
 What saith the Scriptures ? " For thou art an holy 
 people unto the Lord thy God ; the Lord thy God 
 hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, 
 above all the 2)eople that are upon the face of the 
 earth " (Deut. vii. 6). " And ye shall be holy unto 
 me : for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you 
 from other j)eople, that ye should be mine " (Lev. xx. 26). 
 " Be not conformed to this world ; but be ye transformed 
 by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what 
 is that good and acceptable and perfect will of Gocl " 
 (Rom. xii. 2). " If ye were of the world, the world 
 would love his own ; but because ye are not of the 
 world, therefore the world hateth you" (John xv. 19). 
 " For all that is in the world, the lust of the eyes, and 
 the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the 
 world " (1 John ii. 16). '* Wherefore come out from 
 among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and 
 touch not the unclean thing : and I will recei\'e 
 you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be 
 my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty " 
 (2 Cor. vi. 17-18). "Whosoever therefore will be the 
 friend of the world is the enemy of God " (James iv. 4). 
 
 We presume that all Christians attach some meaning 
 to such passages as these; but one says they do not 
 apply to this worldly custom, and another says they 
 do not apply to that, until, as in the case of the 
 Mahometan pig, the whole is swallowed, and every 
 worldly-minded professor manages to get the piece 
 he likes best, or which appears most to his interest : 
 thus the law of Christ is frittered away, and the whole 
 body of His professing Church given over to the god of 
 this world. What then is the conformity to, and friend- 
 
WorJdJ// Amusement ami Cjirlstlaaltij. 5o 
 
 ship with, the world, which these and a ho,^t of similar 
 j)assages prohibit ? In other words, tvhat is luorldliness ? 
 
 We reply — 1st. We take that to be worldly which 
 professes to be so. Neither men nor things are, as 
 a rale, better than they profess to be. I 
 
 2nd. We take that to be worldly which, in sentiment 
 and spirit, the children of the world love, esteem, and 
 enjoy. 
 
 3rd. We count whatever has no reference to Grod, 
 righteousness, or eternity, which " savoureth not of 
 the things of Grod," as worldly. 
 
 4th. Everything that is adverse in spirit to the' 
 dignity, gravity, and usefulness of the Christian 
 character we regard as worldly. 
 
 It seems to us that these propositions are so self- 
 evident, that no thoughtful Christian can gainsay 
 them. Some professors seem to regard nothing as 
 worldly which is not absolutely devilish, such as 
 profanity, blasphemy, or obscenity. But the Scriptures 
 carefully and clearly distinguish between the two. 
 They prohibit Christians conforming to the world in 
 the habits and usages of daily life. 
 
 They are not to talk like the world, in the way of 
 " foolish jesting," " swelling words," &c. But, on the 
 contrary, their conversation is to " be seasoned with 
 salt," meet to " minister grace to the hearers." It is 
 to be " pure," proceeding from " a good " (not a 
 doubtful) " conscience." It is to be "in heaven, from 
 whence we look for the appearing of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 The Sciiptures prohil^it Christians dressing like the 
 world. " Whose adorning let it not be that outward 
 adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, 
 
5G WorJdlij Amusement and Chri^finnifij. 
 
 or of putting on of apparel" (1 Peter iii. 3). "In 
 like manner also, that women adorn themselves in 
 modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, 
 not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array ; 
 but, which becometh women professing godliness, with 
 good works'" (1 Tim. ii. 9, 10). "Moreover the Lord 
 saith. Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and 
 walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, 
 walking and mincing as they go : therefore the Lord 
 will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the 
 daughters of Zion" (Isa. iii. 16, 17). We commend 
 this whole chapter to the consideration of all whom 
 it may concern, and we would suggest that as the 
 Lord Jehovah regarded the dress of those Israelitish 
 women as a sign of their backslidden condition, and 
 thought it sufficiently important to be recorded by 
 His holy prophet, it may be well for us to consider how 
 far the same signs are manifest amongst us in our day. 
 
 The Scriptures prohibit Christians singing the songs 
 of the world, for they expressly enjoin that when 
 they are merry or glad they are to sing psalms and 
 make melody in their heart UNTO THE LOKD. 
 
 The Scriptures prohibit Christians from joining in 
 the amusements of the world; forbidding any felloiv- 
 ship with the unfruitful works of darkness, commanding 
 to abstain from the very appearance of evil, and to 
 
 COME OUT FROM AMONGST THE UNGODLY AND BE SEPARATE; 
 
 and our Lord declared that his real disciples were not 
 of the world, even as he was not of the world. 
 
 Now in the light of these Scriptures, and of the 
 propositions we have laid down, let us examine the 
 character of some of the entertainments so popular 
 with many professing Christians. We find that it is 
 
Worldhj Amusement and CJiristianit//. 57 
 
 no uncommon thino- for entertainments to be held 
 in pri^■ate drawing-rooms and in rooms connected with 
 churches and chapels, over which ministers and leading 
 men in churches preside, at which Shakespearian 
 readings are given, with extracts from the works of 
 the most po^^ular and worldly novelists, and the same 
 songs feung as are echoed and applauded in the public- 
 house and the dancing-room. 
 
 Now, viewed in the light of the Scriptures we have 
 quoted and tried by the propositions we have drawn 
 from them, how do these practices strike you, 
 Christian reader ? 
 
 1st. Are they not professedly worldly? Do they 
 not savour of the w^orld, all of the w'orld, and of the 
 world only ? Were not the authors of the things 
 said and sung at such entertainments thoroughly 
 Christless men, and some of them professed infidels ? 
 
 2nd. Are not these the songs and sentiments which 
 worldlings have always claimed as their own? Are 
 they not sung in their ball-rooms, theatres, and casinoes? 
 And is not this proof enough that they are congenial 
 to their tastes, and in keeping with their spirit ? 
 
 3rd. Such songs, recitations, and performances have 
 no reference whatever to Grod, righteousness, or 
 eternity. God is not only " not in all their thoughts," 
 but he is not in any of them, therefore they must be 
 thoroughly worldly. 
 
 4th. The spirit of such amusements is manifestly 
 adverse to the dignity, gravity, and usefulness of the 
 Christian character. What are its effects ? Lightness, 
 foolish jesting, a false estimate of creature delights, 
 obtuseness to spiritual things, and frequently up- 
 roarious merrinient and godless mirth, 
 
 5 
 
58 Worldhj Amusement and Ghristianity . 
 
 We put it to any Christian who has ever allowed 
 .himself to take part in such amusements whether 
 these are not their inevitable and bitter fruits, and 
 whether he has not found their spirit to be utterly 
 antagonistic to the spirit of Christ ? We have heard 
 many backsliders in heart attribute their declension 
 to mingling in such scenes of folly and frivolity, and 
 we never met with one whom we had reason to believe 
 had been renewed in the spirit of his mind who could 
 say he could enter into them without condemnation. 
 
 Doubtless there are thousands of professing Christians 
 who live in perpetual strife with their consciences and 
 with the Holy Spirit on this subject; atid verily they 
 have their reward. Trying to hold Christ in one hand 
 and the world in the other, they lose both. They have 
 no joy in their godless amusements, neither have they 
 any joy in the Lord. All is darkness, condemnation, 
 and death. " Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know 
 ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with 
 God ? " 
 
 The testimony of the Word is too explicit, and the 
 voice of the Spirit too clear, for any child of Grod to 
 err for want of light if he will but listen to his Divine 
 counsellor. But, alas ! too many seek to silence llis 
 voice by vain and worldly reasoning, lowering the 
 standard which He has gi\en them because somebody 
 else does so. They do not hear him saying, " What is 
 that to thee? follow thou Me." *'Love not the world, 
 neither the tlnngs of the w'orld. If any man love the 
 world the love of the Father is not in him." 
 
 Not only is the testimony of the Word and of the 
 Spirit against these amusements, but the testimony 
 and example of the most devoted and intelligent 
 
WovlJIij Ainusemciit and Clir'istlaibitij. 59 
 
 Christians of all ages have been against them. The 
 following are a few extracts bearing on the subject : — 
 
 " There is no earthly pleasure which has not the 
 inseparable attendance of grief — and that followino- it 
 as closely as Jacob came after Esau. Yea, worldly 
 delight is but a sliadov>" ; and when we catch after it, 
 all that we grasp is substantial sorrow in its room. 
 The honey should not be very delightful, when the 
 sting is so near." — Alleine. 
 
 " If there be any sorceress upon earth it is 
 Pleasure ; which so enchanteth the minds of men, and 
 "worketh the disturbance of our peace with such secret 
 delight, that foolish men think this want of tranquility 
 happiness. She turneth man into swine with such 
 sweet charms, that they would not change their 
 brutish nature for their former reason." — Bishop Hall. 
 
 " Consider, this is not the season that should be for 
 pleasure ! The Apostle James lays it as a great charge 
 upon many in his time, that they lived in pleasure on 
 earth. This is the time to do the great business for 
 which we were born." — Ambrose. 
 
 " How often shall it be protested to the Christian 
 world, by men of the greatest seriousness and devotion, 
 that it is vain to dream of entering the kingdom of 
 heaven hereafter, except the kingdom of heaven enter 
 into their souls in this life ! How long shall the Son 
 of God, who came into the world to be the most 
 glorious example of purity, self-denial, and mortifi- 
 cation—How long shall He lie by in his word as an 
 antiquated pattern, only cut out for the Apostolic ages, 
 and only suited to some few morose and melancholy 
 men ? With what face can we pretend to true religion, 
 or a feeling acquaintance with God, and the things of 
 
60 Worlillij Amusement and CJiristianifi/. 
 
 His kingdom, whilst the continual Heatings and lowings 
 of our souls after creature good betray us so manifestly, 
 and proclaim before all the world, that the beast, the 
 brutish life, is still so powerful in us ? " — Shaw. 
 
 " I would, that you should use this world as not 
 abusing it, that you should be crucified to the world, 
 and the world to you, that you should declare plainly 
 that you seek a better country, which is an heavenly. 
 Ah ! my dear brethren, I beseech you carry it like 
 pilgrims and strangers, abstain from fleshly lusts which 
 war against the soul ; FOR what have we to do with 
 the customs and fashions of this luorld, who are 
 strangers in it ? Be contented with travellers' lots ; 
 know you not that you are in a strange land ? " — 
 Joseph Alleine's Letters. 
 
 " I would dissuade thee from unnecessary society of 
 ungodly men, and unprofitable companions, though 
 they be not so apparently ungodly. It is not only the 
 openly profane, the swearer, the drunkard, that will 
 prove hurtful to us ; but dead-hearted formalists, or 
 persons merely civil and moral, or whose conference is 
 empty, unsavory, and barren, may much divert our 
 thoughts from heaven. As mere idleness and forgetting 
 God will keep a soul as certainly from heaven as a 
 profane licentious life ; so also will useless company as 
 surely keep our hearts from heaven." — Baxter. 
 
 " In speaking of the laws and limits of recreation, 
 observe generally, that whatever is offensive to God, 
 whatever is injurious to others, whatever is hurtful, 
 whether remotely or proximately to our own soul or 
 body, is evil; to be avoided in ourselves and to be 
 condemned in others. The principles involved in the 
 foregoing remarks will answer the queries go frequently 
 
Worldli/ ADiiLseDieiit and Ghristianit[/. Gl 
 
 put — Is it right to frequent a theatre ? — to attend the 
 ball-room? — to sit at the card table? — to mingle 
 indiscriminately in gay and fashionable society ? The 
 study of the Bible quotations so largely made will 
 furnish a reply. Read and you will know." — Samuel 
 Martin. 
 
 " ' I bade farewell for ever,' says, Madame Guyon, 
 ' to assemblies which I had visited, to plays and 
 diversions, dancing, unprofitable walks, and parties of 
 pleasure. The amusements and pleasures, so much 
 prized and esteemed by the world, now appeared 
 to me dull and insipid — so much so, that I wondered 
 how I ever could have enjoyed them.' " — MadoAue 
 Guyon. 
 
 " I heard also tliat this new clergyman preached 
 against all my favourite di\'ersions, such as going to 
 plays, reading novels, attending balls, assemblies, card 
 tables, &c. 
 
 '' I asked, ' Is it true that he preaches against 
 dancing ? ' I said I was resolved to take the first 
 opportunity of conversing with him, being certain I 
 could easily prove such amusements were not sinful. 
 Being told what arguments he made use of, I revolved 
 them in my mind, fully determined if I found upon 
 reflection I could answer them, I would. 
 
 " I first considered if any Scripture example could be 
 brought, . . . but found nothing there which 
 countenanced dancing in any measure. I then began 
 to consider the objections urged against it. One of 
 them was, that as it tends to lively and trifling mirth, 
 so it enervates the mind, dissipates the thoughts, 
 weakens if not stifles serious and good impressions, 
 and quite indisposes the mind for prayer. I asked in 
 
6:2 Worlilhj Amuf^ement aiul Citrisfianif)/. 
 
 my own mind, Is not this a truth ? Conscience 
 answered in the affirmative." 
 
 After much controversy, consideration, and prayer, 
 she says : " For my own part I was conscious that it 
 led me to dress and expenses not suited to my present 
 situation in life. These thoughts brought powerful 
 convictions to my mind, notwithstanding my desire to 
 resist them. I could not deny that truth, in particular, 
 that those who habitually attend such pleasures lose all 
 relish for spiritual things. God is shut out of their 
 thoughts and hearts ; prayer, if they use any, is full of 
 wanderings, or perhaps, wholly neglected; and death 
 put as far as possible out of sight, lest the thought 
 should spoil their pleasure." — Mrs. Rogers. 
 
 Did our space permit we could give hundreds of 
 quotations of similar bearing by such writers as 
 Augustine, Thomas a'Kempis, Luther, Knox, Howe, 
 Leighton, Newton, Cecil, Henry, Locke, Bunyan, 
 Whitfield, Wesley, Clarke, Barnes, Steir, Doddridge, 
 Young, and others. But our space prevents the calling 
 of these witnesses. Christian reader, let those we have 
 called suffice. 
 
 " As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves 
 according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as 
 He w^hich hath called you is holy, so ye be holy in all 
 manner of conversation." 
 
 IL \yQ come now to the question of expediency. 
 
 The principal arguments brought forward by 
 Christians in favour of providing and attending worldly 
 amusements are — 
 
 1st. Seeing that our young people will have 
 amusement, it is better to provide them with that 
 
Worldhj Amuse iucnt and Chrisfiaitih/. 63 
 
 wliich is moral and comparatively innocent, than to 
 drive them to that which is positixely vicions. 
 
 2nd. Seeing that we cannot get hold of the unconverted 
 by the Grospel, it is better to meet them half way, and 
 try, as it were, to catch them by guile. 
 
 These arguments look very plausible : let us honestly 
 consider them in the light of Scripture and actual 
 experience. 1st. On whose behalf are they urged? 
 Are the young people referred to the children of 
 Christian parents, or the children of votaries of this 
 world ? If the latter, we reply that Christians are 
 nowhere taught, either directly or indirectly, that it is 
 any part of their duty to provide aniusemeut for the 
 children of this world ; nay, the direct teaching and 
 the whole tenor of Scripture go to prove that it is their 
 duty to seek to alarm and convict them. There is not 
 a line in the whole Bible on which an argument can be 
 built for amusing people while yet in their sins. The 
 Scriptures ever represent the unconverted as under 
 condemnation, in imminent danger, ready to be 
 destroyed, a state rendering them far more fit objects 
 for pity, concern, and earnest Christian effort than for 
 amusement. To keep them amused and self-satisfied 
 is just what Satan desires, and all the better for his 
 purpose if he can get it done by professed Christians, 
 
 Well, but, say some of our expediency friends, if by 
 getting unconverted young people to attend our penny 
 readings, moral concerts, and private parties, where 
 dancing, charades, and such like pastimes are practised, 
 we can show them that religion is not such a melancholy 
 thing as they have imagined, and that to become 
 Christians need not exclude them from such recreations, 
 may we not hope so to induce them to attend our 
 
G4 Worldhj Amusement and Christianity. 
 
 sanctuaries, and thus get them converted by our more 
 direct Christian instrumentalities ? We answer, if j'ou 
 could thus promote good by doing evil, the end would 
 fail to justify the means, for God says, "to obey is better 
 than sacrifice ; " but there is the if still undisposed of. 
 We ask, does this worldly policy succeed ? Do your 
 evening parties, your miniature pantomimes, dancing, 
 and song singing, lead to the conversion of " Our 
 young people ? " Do the hotch-potch mixtures of 
 Christ and Shakespeare, Paul and Dickens of our 
 times, serve to fill our sanctuaries, and bring the 
 people to Jesus? Nay, verily; the crowds who will 
 go fast enough to hear their favourite songs and 
 flippant rhymes piped through the instruments of the 
 temple on the week night, remorselessly leave those 
 who have stooped to pander to their taste to chant the 
 songs of Zion to empty pews on the Sabbath. 
 
 But supposing that in some instances worldlings are 
 won by these means, what of all the mischief that is 
 done ? These amusements are pleaded for on the 
 ground that they will save our young people from 
 those of a vicious and immoral character, but we 
 contend that they are quite as likely, in many 
 instances, to pave the way to the vicious, as in others 
 to save from it. They will do this : 
 
 1st. By throwing over that which is i)urely sensuous 
 and godless, and therefore sinful, the sanctity of 
 association with Christ and religion. 
 
 2nd. F)V lowering the standard of the purity and 
 sanctity of the Christian character. 
 
 3rd. By destroying the respect and awe with which 
 many of the iinconverted have been accustomed to 
 regard Christianity and Christian Ministers. 
 
Woiidlij Amusement and Chrlstiaiutij. G5 
 
 4th. By begetting a sense of security in sin, leading 
 them to say, 'We cannot be so very far wrong, or these 
 Christians would not associate with us, and find 
 pleasure in our amusements. There is not so much 
 difference between us after all. We fear that by 
 these and similar means, the half-awakened conscience 
 of many a young man and woman has been silenced, 
 and their hearts hardened ; and instead of being won 
 from vice, they have been driven faster into it. Alas, 
 who can tell the convictions that are stifled, the serious 
 impressions that are lost, the good resolutions that are 
 scattered, and the heavenly aspirations that are blasted 
 in these religious pantomimes, these Christian-Belial 
 festivities ! Many sad stories come out, but eternity 
 alone will reveal their full and awful consequences. 
 
 But the argument of expediency is not only urged 
 on behalf of our unconverted young people, but (0 tell 
 it not in Gath!) also on behalf of the children 
 of professing Christians ! ' What are we to do ? ' 
 say some professedly Christian parents. ' Our 
 ' children must have recreation and amusement, and 
 ' unless we allow them to mingle to some extent in 
 ' fashionable society, and attend such parties as you 
 ' refer to, we must needs keep them out of society 
 ' altogether, and make recluses of them, for all our 
 ' Christian friends patronise such entertainments, and 
 ' consider them innocent and lawful.' If this be true, 
 we reply, that it reveals more clearly than anything 
 we could say, the backslidden and awful state of the 
 professing Church, and calls loudly for some attempt 
 to stem the tide of worldly comformity, while there 
 remains a spark of spiritual life in her midst. 
 
 Alas, and has it come to pass that there is no strictly 
 
()(] ]V<)rl(llij Aitiiiii^i'incut ami Chrldiaiiltij. 
 
 Christian social intercourse and enjoyment ? Have 
 the topics of our glorious Christianity become so 
 stale and uninteresting ? Have the themes of Gospel 
 enterprise and individual effort lost all their inspira- 
 tion ? Have the songs of Zion lost their enchanting 
 and inspiriting influence ? Has the voice of social 
 prayer become quite silent? Has every spark of real 
 enthusiasm in religion gone out, that when Christians 
 want to find interest and enjoyment, they must seek 
 it in themes and things peculiarly belonging to the 
 god of this world, and his votaries ? Has it come to 
 pass that Christians have so little confidence in the 
 God of the Bible, and the religion of Jesus, tbat they 
 must seek an alliance between Christ and the world in 
 order to interest their children and save them from 
 0})en profligacy and vice ? H so, how does this reflect 
 on themselves ? What sort of training does it imply ? 
 Have they trained their sons and daughters so truly in 
 tlie spirit of the world, under the garb of a religious 
 profession, that nothing but the most sensuous amuse- 
 ments of worldlings (who make any pretence to 
 morality) will satisfy them? Has it come to pass that 
 the children of Christians must dress like harlots, — 
 dance, sing songs, read novels, attend concerts, where 
 worldly and even comic songs are sung, evoking 
 u[)roarious laughter and unseemly jests ? and all this 
 for their amusement; their parents, and even ministers, 
 looking on, and striving by the most blind and wicked 
 perversion of the word of God, to justify their 
 worldliness and salve their consciences ? Alas, it has 
 COME to this! "Oh that my head were waters, and 
 mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day 
 and night for tlu^ slain of the daughter of my people." 
 
Worldlij A')iinsciiit'nt and Chrisfidnif//. (57 
 
 Well, I think I hear some Christian say, 'AVhat is to 
 be done?' Done! Let every one who Jicis any 
 convictions on this snbject act ON them. Half the 
 mischief has resulted from Christians turning away 
 from the simple teachings of the Word in order to 
 pander to one another ; " measuring themselves 
 amongst themselves," instead of measuring themselves 
 by the standard of the Word. We have heard them 
 say, 'Well, I never felt quite satisfied that such things 
 were right or consistent ; but then, many far higher 
 in Christian attainments than I am allow them; and 
 it seems like condemning others, and making one's self 
 to be holier than they.' Thus the voice of individual 
 consience has been stifled, and the standard gradually 
 lowered, until Christ and Shakespeare are openly 
 affianced, and Paul and Dickens bracketed together as 
 equal benefactors of their race. 
 
 ' But what am I to do ? ' is the still recurring cry of 
 some timid Christian mother or father. 'Must I keep 
 my children out of society altogether?' Yes, verily, if 
 you cannot find any truly Christian society for them. 
 Humble yourself deeply before God for having trained 
 your children Avith worldly tastes and associations, and 
 set yourself, as far as possible, to remedy the evil. 
 Gret more spirituality, more real life, and you will 
 find your religion astonishingly more interesting 
 both to yourself and to your children. ' Well, but my 
 children mu,-t have companions.' Oh, no, there in no 
 ■must in the case ; better live without them than have 
 such as lead them aivcty from God, and into friendship 
 with the world. If you have not yet learnt this, I fear 
 you have never realised your responsibility to Grod for 
 your children's souls. Do you regard j-our children as 
 
68 Worldhj Amusement and Clirisfianihj. 
 
 your oiun or the Lord's? — If your own, you will train 
 them on worldly principles ; but if the Lord's, you will 
 surely train them for Him, that they may serve their 
 generation according to His will. You have nothing 
 to do with consequences ; it is yours to obey. God 
 will take care of His own. Act on your convictions of 
 duty. If you stand alone in your family — your circle 
 — your church — never mind ; act for yourself, as 
 you must give account for yourself Perhaps, if you 
 make a beginning, somebody else will follow. Some- 
 body must begin — somebody must make a stand, tvhy 
 not you ? You say,' I am so uninfluential — so weak — 
 and the cross will be so heavy.' All the more blessing 
 in carrying it ; and He who chooses the weak things 
 will bless your testimony, and use it for His glory. 
 Only honour Grod, and He will honour you. 
 
 But I must hasten to consider the second argument 
 urged in support of this expediency Christianity. 
 
 ' Seeing that the Gospel fails to attract our young 
 'people, it is better to meet them half-way, and try, as 
 'it were, to catch them by guile.' We reply, 1st, Is the 
 success of the Gospel dependent on worldly expediency 
 or on spiritual power? If on the former, we can see 
 the force of this argument ; but if on the latter, it is 
 utterly irrelevant. There are but two kinds of intluence 
 or power in operation in the Church ; the material 
 and the spiritual. Jesus Christ utterly and continually 
 abjured the material as being of any value in His 
 kingdom. He systematically ignored, both by example 
 and precept, all the influence of mere learning — 
 traditional religion — wealth — ])Osition — worldly power 
 and policy : and steadily maintained that " J lis kingdom 
 was not of this world." He solemnly abjured all other 
 
WorJdJij Amusement and Cliristlanlfij. G9 
 
 kinds of influence or power save that of the Divinf, and 
 laboured incessantly to imbue His disciples with the 
 conviction that nothing short of this endowment could 
 empower them for their work (Acts i. 4, 5 ; Luke xxiv. 
 48, 49 ; John xv.). 
 
 We all know how completely Paul and his fellow 
 Apostles learnt this lesson, and how they continually 
 gloried in the testimony that it was " not by might 
 nor by power, but by ' the Spirit ' of the Lord," that 
 they did all their wonderful works. While the early 
 Christians were true to the example and teaching of 
 their Master, we never find them bemoaning their lack 
 of ability to attract or to convert the people. So 
 mighty was their influence, though comparatively few 
 in number, and insignificant in social position, that 
 wherever they went they were said to have "turned 
 the world upside down," and large and flourishing 
 churches sprang up in all directions. They did not 
 feel the necessity for any half-way meeting place 
 between themselves and the world ; they did not lower 
 the tone of their Christian morality in order to meet 
 the corrupt and heathenish notions of those around 
 them ; neither did they alijure their spirituality lest it 
 should disgust them. On the contrary, the Apostles 
 and early Christians seem to have had the conviction 
 that the more complete their devotion to their Master, 
 — the more separate from the world, — the more truly 
 spiritual and divine they were, — the greater would be 
 their influence for Grod, and the greater their success 
 in winning men to Christ. It never seems to have 
 entered into their minds to descend from the high 
 vantage ground on which their Lord had placed them, 
 to fight the enemy with his own weapons, and to try 
 
70 Worhlhj A'mu,'<cinenf and CJiristianifiJ. 
 
 to cast liiui out by a partial conformity to liis darling 
 lusts (1 Jolni ii. 16). The source of their power was 
 DIVI^■E ; therefore they needed no adjuncts of human 
 policy, or of worldly expediency. They were mighty 
 " TPIKOUGH GrOD," and could well dispense with the 
 heathen poets and fashionable novelists of their times. 
 Their Y)reaching was with the " demonstration of the 
 Spirit and of tower ; " consequently, multitudes 
 listened, believed, and turned to the Lord. 
 
 It was not until the primitive Christians began to 
 admit worldly principles of action, and to substitute 
 the material for the spiritual, that their influence 
 began to wane, and their testimony to lose its power. 
 It was the gradual substitution of the human for the 
 Divine, the material for the spiritual, that overspread 
 Christendom for ages with papal darkness and death. 
 Durino- that long; nicht of error and suffering, however, 
 God raised up many witnesses to the sufficiency of the 
 Holy Ghost to attract and convert men — many making 
 long pilgrimages and suffering great privations, in 
 order to visit and converse with those endued with this 
 Divine Gift. And when at length the light of the 
 Eeformation broke over the nations, this one great 
 lesson was again engra\en on the hearts of God's chosen 
 instruments : " Not by might, nor by power, but by 
 My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts ! " Thus, after the 
 lapse of ages, we find the Gospel, when preached with 
 the old power, the same mighty instrumentality, both 
 for attractinrj the multitudes and converting the soul. 
 
 From the Eeformation down to the present time, we 
 find that wherever tlie same Gospel has been preached 
 with the same accompanying power, the same results 
 have followed, even when the preacher has been 
 
Wovldbj Amuscv.ient and Chri;iilaiiifi/. 71 
 
 trammelled by a false creed, or beset with liosts of 
 opposing influences from earth and hell. Where the 
 Spirit of the Lord is, there spiritual miracles are 
 wrought, and wherever miracles are wrought, the 
 people luill congregate ; be it by the riverside, in the 
 temple, in kirk, church, chapel, theatre, meeting-house, 
 attic or cellar. There is no quicker detective of the 
 presence of the Spirit of Jesus than the spirit which 
 worketh in the hearts of the children of disobedience. 
 But He has always been more than a match for 
 woidd-be exorcists. " Jesus I know, and Paul I know ; 
 but who are ye ? " 
 
 You will perceive, Christian reader, that we regard 
 this plea, " that the Gospel fails to attract," as a 
 very suspicious one. We ask those who urge it, in 
 the light of the foregoing summary of facts, to tell us 
 WHY IT FAILS ? We ha\'e no hesitation in saying 
 O^LY for want of the Holy Ghost. The great 
 desideratum in connection with all our organisations, 
 societies, churches, agencies, and instrumentalities, is 
 Life ! Life I ! Life ! ! ! The people want a LIVING- 
 GOSPEL, preached by LIVINO SPIRIT-BAPTISED 
 SOULS. Dare we, in the light of the past, instead oi 
 this Divine bread, give them the stone of materialism ? 
 If so, we must prepare for the consequences. 
 
HEART BACKSLIDING. 
 
HEART BACKSLIDING. 
 
 Rev. ii, 1-5. — Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write: 
 These thinga saith He thut holdeth the seven stars in His 
 right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden 
 candlesticks. 
 
 2. I know thy works f^nd thy labour, and thy patience, and how 
 
 thou canst not bear them which are evil ; and thou hast tried 
 them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast 
 found them liars : 
 
 3. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for My name's sake 
 
 hast laboured and hast not fainted. 
 
 4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast 
 
 left thy first love. 
 
 5. Remember therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, 
 
 and do the first works ; or else I will come unto thee 
 quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, 
 except thou repent. 
 
 As introductory to my remarks on this passage, I 
 want you to observe that this is a direct message from 
 Christ Himself to a company of His own people in a 
 certain state of religious experience. These Ephesians 
 were Christians, born into the family of Grod, and for 
 a long time, and to a great extent, had faithfully 
 served Him. Hear what He says of them in this 
 second verse : " I know thy works, and thy labour, 
 and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them 
 which are evil; and thou hast tried them which say 
 they are Apostles, and are not, and hast found them 
 liars : and hast borne, and hast patience, and for 
 My name's sake hast lalioured, and hast not fainted," 
 
76 Heart Bacl'sliding. 
 
 He sums up their character most carefully, giving 
 them the utmost credit for all the fruits of the Spirit 
 found in them. He remembers their labour, their 
 patience, their hatred of evil, their zeal for His glory 
 in their intolerance of false teachers, their constancy 
 in suffering, their purity of motive, and their con- 
 tinuance in well doing. Not one of their good deeds 
 is forgotten before Him ; but the brilliancy and 
 preciousness of the whole is marred by one defect which 
 only He could see, but which His love and faithfulness 
 compelled Him to reveal and to reprove. " Neverthe- 
 less I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast 
 left thy iirst love." 
 
 After such a repetition of their fidelities and graces, 
 we, in our carnal wisdom, might have looked for a 
 THEREFOKE, instead of a nevertheless. We might 
 have expected Him to say, ' Thou hast laboured for me 
 ' with much zeal, patience, and perseverance ; there- 
 ' fore, I will excuse and pass over thy declension in 
 * love, thy defection of heart.' This is the way in 
 which many of Grod's people seem to imagine that He 
 regards heart unfaithfulness ; but not so the Lord 
 Himself. Notwithstanding all their labours, sufferings, 
 patience, and zeal. He had a nevertheless against 
 them, which compelled His reproof and endangered His 
 anger. 
 
 And oh, is not this His attitude towards thousands 
 of His people now ? Is not this message to these 
 Ephesian Christians equally applicable to multitudes 
 in our day, who are serving Him with much zeal and 
 })ati('nce ; but they have left their iirst love, and are, 
 notwithstanding all their outward professions and 
 labour, backsliders in heart ? Some of you start at 
 
Heart Bachsliding. 77 
 
 the use of such a phrase, and you say, ' But these 
 Ephesians were not hacksKders.' Not in the general 
 acceptation of the term, but in the estimation of their 
 Lord they were backsliders in heart. They had 
 partially fallen, partially gone from that whole-hearted 
 service which once they rendered Him, and without 
 which all outward works, however worthy or zealous, 
 will not suffice. I fear that after this manner the 
 great majority of Christians are backsliders. I have 
 conversed with numbers up and down this land, and 
 many who have occupied prominent positions in 
 Christian Churches, who have confessed that they were 
 secret backsliders, having lost much that they once 
 enjoyed, and walking far less carefully than they once 
 did. Taking these as representatives of others in 
 similar circumstances I say, I cannot but fear that a 
 very large majority of professing Christians have, like 
 these Ephesian converts, left their j&rst love. I have 
 no doubt that there are many of this class here this 
 morning, and I desire to speak especially to these. 
 
 Let me entreat you, my dear friends, to open your 
 hearts to the reception of the truth. Forget the 
 feeble instrumentality through which it comes, and if 
 it commends itself to your consciences as God's truth, 
 let it have its full weight upon your hearts. If you 
 are right, it will do you no harm to examine yourselves. 
 It will establish you and help you " to assure your 
 hearts before Him." And if you are not right, who 
 can tell the importance of making the discovery in 
 time, while there is opportunity and grace offered by 
 which you may be made right ? I beseech you be 
 honest with yourselves and with God. There is 
 
 hp rr-iippr) h\T r-rvintr, T*p-ieP, PPRCP, wIlPU 
 
78 Heart BacMidhig. 
 
 there is no peace. It is no use trying to persuade 
 yourselves that you are right with God if your con- 
 sciences tell you that you are not. You will find your 
 consciousness too strong for all tlie false theories of 
 men and devils, and true peace will be impossible to 
 you until you come back to your first love. I think I 
 hear some one say, ' Ah ! that is just what I want ! but 
 how am I to do it ? I know that I am a backslider in 
 heart ; it is not with me now as it once was ; but I 
 have tried and tried in vain to get back what I once 
 enjoyed, and to live as I once lived.' My dear friend, 
 you have not tried in the right way. Try your Lord's 
 way ; take His council, obey His commands, and you 
 shall not only get back all you have lost, but an 
 abundant increase of peace and power. This way, as 
 pointed our here, seems to me to be — 
 
 1. Remember : — realise your unfaithfulness. 
 
 2. Kepent : — humble yourself, confess and renounce 
 your sin. 
 
 3. Do your first works : — consecration and faith. 
 
 1. Remember: — realise your unfaithfulness. Re- 
 member from whence thou art fallen. There are 
 different degrees of backsliding ; some have fallen 
 from greater heights, and some to lower dejiths than 
 others. But if you ever were higher on the ladder of 
 Christian experience than you are this morning, to 
 just that extent you are a backslider. Our Lord does 
 not wish us to condemn ourselves for losing that 
 which we never possessed ; but to remember from 
 whence, the exact degree of spiritual attainment we 
 once realised, and to compare our present state with 
 it. " Remember ! " consider it ; ponder over it ; strive 
 to realise it as the evil and bitter thing it is. 
 
Heart Bacl-slidiiuj. 79 
 
 We fear that numbers of Christians reach a fearful 
 degree of backsliding without knowing it. " Grrey 
 hairs are here and there upon Ephraim, yet he 
 knoweth not;" and no wonder; they are so occupied 
 with the externals of religion ; they are so absorbed 
 in business, or care, or pleasure, that they have no 
 time to remember. They never stop to compare 
 notes, to observe the landmarks, or take the sound- 
 ings of their spiritual state. They have no time for 
 the old-fashioned duty of self-examination ; or if they 
 have, it is so distasteful that they prefer to read, or 
 hear, or talk. Sometimes the Holy Spirit, by some 
 Word of God, some sermon, or providence, flashes the 
 conviction on their minds that they have lost ground, 
 that they " have forsaken iNIe, the fountain of living 
 waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, 
 that can hold no water." But the conviction is 
 painful ; they are afraid of the revelation, they shrink 
 from the consequences of its admission even to them- 
 selves, and instead of honestly examining into the 
 state of their hearts, they fall back upon their con- 
 version and early experience, and say, ' Surely it must 
 'be all right with me, although I have no communion 
 ' with God, no sensible joy or peace, and but little 
 'power over sin. I must be a child of God. Salvation 
 ' is by feith, not by works ; God does not look at me, 
 y ' but at Jesus.' Instead of remembering from tvhence 
 -^they have fallen, they look only to what they have 
 fallen, and try to accommodate the requirements of- 
 ^ the word to their miserable experience. Having lost 
 the faith that purifies the heart and manifests its 
 existence by obedience, they try to take refuge in 
 an Antinomian faith, which does neither the one or 
 
80 Heart Bachdiding. 
 
 the other — a faith which makes void the Law of God, 
 and mal<es Christ the minister of sin. Thank God, 
 however, they cannot get peace this way ; their 
 countenances belie their creed, and their powerless 
 lives tell to all around that they have only got the 
 shell without the kernel, the form without the power. 
 
 If there are any of this class here this morning, my 
 friends, I beseech you take your Lord's counsel — 
 Eemember from whence you have fallen. Eeflect on 
 what you once enjoyed. How was it with you in days 
 gone by ? Let me help you to remember by a few 
 practical questions. Did you not once realise a sweet 
 and blessed sense of j'our acceptance with God ? and 
 did not His Spirit Avitness with your spirit that you 
 were a child of God ? and did you not realise that 
 " there is therefore now no condemnation to them 
 which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the 
 flesh, but after the Spirit ? " How is it with you 
 now ? As you received the Lord Jesus, have you so 
 walked in Him that your path has been like tliat of 
 the just, shining brighter and brighter unto the 
 perfect day ? or have 3'ou lost your roll, and with it 
 your peace and the joy of the Lord which once was 
 your strength ? Again, did you not once walk in daily 
 communion with God, your prayers being not merely 
 petitions, but mediums of sensible intercourse with 
 Him ? and did not His candle shine brightly on your 
 head; What of your present experience in this respect ? 
 Do you still rejoice in this light ? or are you groping 
 after Him as an absent and far distant God ? You once 
 realised the power of Christ to rest ui)on you, so that 
 you were more than conrjueror over the world, tiie flesh, 
 and the devil ; sin had no more dominion over you ; 
 
Heart Backsliding. 81 
 
 " old things were passed away ; " the old spirit of 
 bondage and the helpless misery of a merely convicted 
 state were passed away, and you could sing, " Thanks 
 be unto God, who giveth us the victory, through Jesus 
 Christ ; " and, " I can do all things through Christ, 
 which strengthen eth me." 
 
 How is it with you ? Do you walk in the liberty 
 wherewith Christ made you free ? or are you gone back 
 to the spirit of bondage again to fear, and to the 
 helplessness of your convicted state, by reason of which 
 you are crying, " 0, wretched man that I am ! " If so, 
 oh, " remember from whence thou art fallen." 
 
 Your conscience was once tender as the apple of the 
 eye ; you eschewed evil, and kept as far from its very 
 appearance as you could. You had no fellowship with 
 the godless multitudes who crucified your Lord, and 
 trampled under foot His blessed laws. You kept as far 
 aloof from the world as you might, weeping over its 
 sins, and looking down with pity on its hollow amuse- 
 ments. What is your present attitude in this matter ? 
 Are you still separate from sinners, following the Lamb 
 wheresoever He goeth ? or has the daughter of Zion 
 come down from her holy mountain, and defiled herself 
 with the abominations of the heathen round about ? 
 You were once full of zeal for the glory of your Divine 
 Deliverer, and the salvation of those for whom He died. 
 You could then reprove sin, and weep over and 
 expostulate with sinners. You could deny yourself 
 almost your necessary sleep and food, in order to 
 promote the interests of your Redeemer's kingdom. 
 Where is now your zeal for the Lord of Hosts ? Can 
 you deny self, sacrifice your ease, honour, reputation, 
 or wealth, for His glory, as you once did ! Keineniber ! 
 
82 Heart BacJcsUdrng. 
 
 Compare your present state with your former one. Let 
 conscience speak, let facts speak, and honestly admit the 
 truth ; and if you are condemned, write yourself down 
 — Backslider in heart. You say ' I do not like the 
 conclusion.' Perhajis not ; but if it be true, honesty 
 will be the best policy here, as in everything else. 
 Look the fact in the face, and try to realise its 
 desperate meaning. I fear too many Christians have 
 far too light an estimate of heart-unfaithfulness. I 
 have sometimes heard them speak of five or ten years' 
 half-heartedness as a very light thing, slurring it over, 
 as it were, with a very thin and superficial sort of 
 confession ; but our Lord does not so regard it ; He 
 looks upon it as a very serious matter, a very heinous 
 sin, a most Grod-dishonouring experience ; so much so, 
 that He threatens these Ephesian backsliders that, 
 unless they repent, notwithstanding all their good 
 works. He will come unto them in judgement, and 
 remove their candlestick out of its place. 
 
 This is a far greater sin than any you ever committed 
 before you were converted ; and you must look at it, 
 reflect on it, remember it, until you have realised its 
 bitterness. Do not be afraid because of the painfulness 
 of the process. Painful operations are often necessary 
 to save life. If you had a bad wound, which required 
 examining and probing, 3^ou would not say to the 
 surgeon, ' I cannot bear to look at it ; I cannot endure 
 the pain of dressing ; cover it up and let it alone.' 
 No! you would know that, painful as would be the 
 process of probing and dressing, it was necessary to 
 save your limb, and ];)erhaps your life ; and you wouhl, 
 like a reasonable being, endure the pain, and save yoiu- 
 hfe. .Just so, if you have spiritual wounds; they need • 
 
Heart Bacl'tilicUng. 83 
 
 probing, and perhaps cauterising, before they can be 
 healed ; and it is of no use to shrink from the knife of 
 tlie Great Physician. He knows that it will cause 
 pain ; yea, bitter anguish ; yet he says, " Remember ! " 
 Oh, my backsliding friend, bare your heart before Him 
 who walks amid the golden candlesticks, and ask Him 
 to search it as with a lighted candle. Ask for the 
 realising light of the Holy Spirit to reveal to you 
 your backslidings, and to set your secret sins in the 
 light of His countenance. Ask Him to help you to 
 remember by quickening your spiritual perceptions, 
 and opening your eyes, to see the monstrous ingratitude 
 and cruel infidelity of which you have been guilty. 
 Instead of refusing to remember, because of the mental 
 suffering involved in the process, methinks we should 
 rejoice to suffer. Seeing that we have wounded our 
 Lord in the house of His friends, we ought to be 
 willing to weep our lives away, at the remembrance 
 of our sin, and if we could, to shed tears of blood, as 
 an evidence of our penitence. To have been unfaith- 
 ful to His saving grace ; to have been untrue to His 
 dying love ; to have withheld from Him that which 
 He purchased with His heart's blood, demands a 
 deeper grief, a more bitter repentance, than that of 
 rour unconverted state. jMay the Lord help those of 
 you who are convicted of this sin to remem^ber ; until 
 the fallow ground of your heart is broken up, and 
 your souls cry ' 0, remember not against us former , 
 
 iniquities ; let Thy tender mercies .speedily preventj^iT" c!5«^ 
 us, for we are brought very low. Help us, God of 
 our salvation, and deliver us, and purge away our sins, 
 fcr Thy name's sake. 
 
 2. The next step is repentance. Now, true repentance 
 
84 Heart Backsliding. 
 
 implies humiliation, confession, and renunciation. 
 When the backslider has remembered until he 
 realises his unfaithfulness in its true heinousness, he 
 will be so deeply humbled that he will be willing to 
 confess his sin before God and His people. I have 
 known Christians deeply convicted of backsliding, who 
 were yet too proud to confess it. I have known them 
 cover up their sin, and struggle, and pray, and weep, 
 and labour to get back their peace and power, till 
 they were almost driven to distraction ; but I never 
 knew one succeed who refused to make an honest 
 confession. While the backslider in heart is too proud 
 to confess that he is one, the laws of mind, as well as 
 the Word of Grod, forbid that he should be restored 
 to pardon and peace. 
 
 " When I kept silence," says David, describing such 
 a state, " my bones waxed old through my roaring all 
 the day long ; (then) I said I will confess my 
 transgressions unto the Lord ; and Thou forgavest the 
 iniquity of my sin." If we sin against an earthly 
 friend or benefactor, the laws of mind require that, 
 before we can obtain a sense of reconciliation and 
 peace, we must confess the wrong. And all God's 
 requirements and conditions are beautifully adjusted 
 to the laws of our nature ; therefore he requires us to 
 confess our sins, and then " He is faithful and just to 
 forgive us our sins." Perhaps some one asks. But if T 
 confess to God is not that enough ? We answer, it 
 depends on the nature of the offence : if it has been 
 against God only, it may be so ; but if it has involved 
 or injured others, it must be confessed to them. "If 
 thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remetnberest 
 tlmt thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there 
 
Heart Backsliding. 85 
 
 thy gift before the altar, and go thy way ; first be 
 reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy 
 gift." "Confess your faults one to another, that ye 
 may be healed." Now, the backslider in heart has 
 necessarily influenced and injured others by his 
 coldness, deadness, and inconsistency, and in many 
 cases so deeply, that nothing but an honest straight- 
 forward confession on his part can win for the truth 
 any influence over them. 
 
 The backsliding Christian falsely represents the 
 religion of Jesus, and indirectly teaches men that it is 
 what he exhibits it to be. Now, on conviction of his 
 unfaithfulness, he is bound in common honesty to 
 redeem his Christianity from the stigma which his 
 inconsistency has brought upon it and to tell those 
 who have witnessed his life, that its defects have been 
 attributable, not to the religion of Jesus, but to the 
 want of it. I have sometimes thought , on hearing the 
 professions of the Lord's people, that a little confession 
 would do a great deal more good. There is a mighty 
 power in confession. A thorough and honest confession 
 of backsliding and inconsistency on the part of 
 Christians would do more to convince and arouse the 
 unconverted within their influence than all their 
 professions have done for years gone by ; because it 
 would convince the unsaved that they were real and 
 SINCERE, which at present they do not believe. Many 
 of you will remember reading a beautiful illustration 
 of what I am saying in the Report of the American 
 Revival, some seven or eight years ago, respecting a 
 Christian merchant in that country. He does not 
 appear to have been by any means an indifferent 
 professor ; on the contrary, he had felt some anxiety 
 
86 Heart Bdclslidrng. 
 
 about the J^oiing men in his employ, and had, as he 
 tells us, lent them books, and invited them to hear 
 earnest ministers, and talked piously to them in a 
 general and indirect sort of way; but all this, as it 
 generally does, had failed to win any of them to 
 Ciirist, or even to convince them that they were 
 sinners. One day, as he was walking through the 
 streets, reflecting on the failure of all his efforts, he 
 was led, doubtless by the Divine Spirit, to see the 
 reason of this failure. He remembered. ' Is it any 
 wonder,' said he to himself, ' that I have failed, seeing 
 ' how inconsistently I have often acted ; what a 
 
 * worldly spirit I have exhibited, what an undue 
 
 * absortion in business, and how little real anxiety I 
 ' have manifested about the souls of my young men ? 
 
 * I never took one of them aside and spoke to him 
 ' directly and feelingly of his accountability and 
 
 • ' danger. 0, how cold and dead and indifferent I 
 
 * have been.' These reflections so filled him with 
 grief and humiliation, that he resolved on taking the 
 first opportunity for confessing his unfaithfulness, and 
 speaking pointedly and faithfully to them about their 
 soul. This he did, and in a few weeks the majority 
 of them were blessedly converted to God. 
 
 This was the effect of confession. That merchant 
 might have gone on talking good to those young men 
 until now, and no effect would have been produced. 
 While his practice was so far below his profession, all 
 his direct efforts were neutralised, and thus it is with 
 thousands of professing Christians ; they are not 
 altogether indifferent about others, they try to do a 
 little *for the Lord ; but their endeavours are all lost, 
 because of their half-heartedness and inconsistency. 
 
Eeart BacMidlng. 87 
 
 If there are any here who feel this to be true in 
 their case, my dear friends let me urge you to follow 
 the example of the merchant. Remember your un- 
 faithfulness, till you are sufficiently humbled to be 
 willing to confess it to those whom you have injured 
 by it. This is just what is needful, and ALL that is 
 needful in many an instance where Christians have 
 been pra^ang for years for unconverted relatives and 
 friends. Suppose a Christian wife here this morning : 
 you have an unconverted husband for whom you have 
 been praying for many years ; but you are conscious 
 that he has witnessed much in your conduct and spirit 
 which has been at variance with the Christianity 
 which you have professed. Now, this discrepancy 
 between your practice and profession lies like an 
 enemy in ambush against all extraneous efforts to 
 bring saving truth to bear on the conscience of your 
 husband ; and no doubt an honest confession on your 
 part would do more to break his heart and win him to 
 the Saviour than all the sermons he has heard for 
 years gone by. If you are in doubt, try it. If you 
 are convicted of backsliding, go home, and with meek- 
 ness and tears of bitter penitence tell your husband so; 
 tell him that the Spirit has convinced you of your 
 half-heartedness and inconsistency ; tell him that you 
 are ashamed of the past, and resolved by God's grace 
 to lead a new life. Put your arm round his neck, and 
 ask him to join you : then get on your knees and pour 
 out your soul in confession to Grod, and see whether 
 your husband's heart will not be moved, and admittance 
 gained for the truth and Spirit of Grod. And vice- 
 verso, let the husband do so with his wife. I tell you 
 
88 Heart Backsliding. 
 
 that your confession will do more than all your pro- 
 fessions have ever done. 
 
 And just so in the ease of Christian parents who 
 have lived in a half-hearted state before their children. 
 Oh, how much has been said and written as to the 
 reasons why so few comparatively of the children of 
 Christians get converted in early life. I think the 
 answer could be given, and the mystery explained in 
 in one word — unfaithfulness. How can parents expect 
 to win their children to Christ if they constantly 
 exhibit an un-Christlike spirit, and trample under 
 foot the plainest teachings of His Word ? How 
 frequently the children of professing parents seem to 
 entertain a greater malignity against the religion of 
 Jesus than do the children of thorough worldlings ; 
 and no wonder, seeing that the very name of 
 Christianity has been made to stink in their nostrils by 
 the inconsistency of the parents. They are taught in 
 precept that they are to be sincere, truthful, unselfish, 
 unworldly, but they see in practice the constant 
 exhibition of principles directly contrary ; and hence 
 they learn to despise both their parents and the religion 
 which they profess. If there are any inconsistent 
 parents here this morning, my friends, if you desire 
 the conversion of your children, go home and take 
 down the barriers which your unfaithfulness has raised 
 in their hearts against the reception of the Gospel. 
 Go and confess to your children, or, if their youth 
 renders this inexpedient, gather them around the 
 family altar, and confess it all to God in their 
 presence ; make a fresh and full dedication of your- 
 selves, of your children, of your all to Him ; beseeching 
 Him with strong cries and tears to give you grace tq 
 
Heart BacJisJidiiuj. 81^ 
 
 live wholly for Him. Do this with godly sincerit'i 
 your own hearts being truly broken up, and no mattei 
 how careless or ungracious your children may have 
 been, you will find them melted into tenderness, and 
 in all probability convinced of sin. 
 
 So greatly does Grod delight in honesty of heart in 
 His people, that He never fails to give the accompany- 
 ing power of the Spirit to those who exercise it. I 
 have not a doubt that an honest confession of 
 backsliding on the part of all unfaithful ministers 
 would open the windows of heaven, and bring down 
 such a flood of grace on their barren and worldly 
 churches as would shake our land from end to end. 
 
 I remember reading a very striking and affecting 
 illustration of this some years ago, in connection with 
 the experience of a dear man of God, who, during the 
 early years of his Christian career, had been a man of 
 extraordinary devotedness, zeal, and self-sacrifice, but 
 gradually and almost imperceptibly to himself he had 
 fallen from his first love. Though still abounding in 
 good works, and looked up to by all as a pattern of 
 piety, he had lost the power which once characterised 
 him. The Lord showed him from whence he had 
 fallen in a very simple and effective manner, by 
 bringing him into close contact with a man filled with 
 the Spirit, and burning with zeal for the salvation of 
 souls, thus, by the law of contrast, flashing on him 
 the conviction that he had lost his first love. The 
 backslider in heart began to " remember." He said to 
 himself, ' I was once like that man ; I felt as he does ; 
 I rejoiced as he does ; I prayed as he does ; I laboured 
 as he does ; but I am not like him now. Oh, my Grod, 
 I am a backslider in heart.' The discovery almost 
 
 7 
 
90 Heart Bachsliding. 
 
 overwhelmed him. He realised its bitterness, and 
 agonised over its consequences, until his distress 
 reached a climax, and kneeling down he prayed in an 
 agony, telling the Lord that if He would restore him 
 to his first love, he would confess his heart-backsliding 
 to his brethren, and do all in his power to counteract 
 the evil effects of his former coldness and unfaithful- 
 ness. I need not say that the Lord heard and 
 answered. This was all He wanted of His servant, in 
 order to His pouring in the oil and wine of His love 
 and consolation. Like the disciples on the day of 
 Pentecost he rose from his knees filled with the Spirit. 
 The next day there was an official meeting, in which 
 he had to take part. At the appointed time some dozen 
 of the leading men assembled. After the business was 
 gone through, he asked to be allowed to make a few 
 remarks ; and then, with the simplicity of a little child, 
 like an honest-hearted man as he was, he related the 
 experience of the last few days. He confessed to his 
 brethren his heart-backsliding, told them how the 
 Lord had convinced him of it, and how graciously 
 He had restored him to his first love. The brethren 
 present were melted into tears ; they sobbed and 
 cried like children ; and when he had done, 
 broke out into a general confession of backsliding 
 and unfaithfulness. They continued in the deepest 
 humiliation of soul, confessing and bewailing their 
 sins until midnight. As one after another poured out 
 his soul in confession and supplication, the Holy Ghost 
 fell on them, and there commenced in that room on 
 that memorable night a revival which swept hundreds 
 into the Church of Christ, many of whom are now in 
 heaven. All this was brought about by the power of 
 
Heart BachsluHiuj. 91 
 
 confession. That man might have preached on until 
 the end of his days, and never have done one tithe of 
 the good which this one open, honest confession did. 
 y Oh, what a deal of praying there is for revivals, 
 ^and for spiritual visitations, which is sheer hypocris}'. 
 The Church might have a revival as wide and deep 
 and powerful as she asks, if she would only comply 
 with the conditions on which God can grant it- — if 
 she would remember her unfaithfulness, honestly 
 confess and forsake her sins, and bring into God's 
 storehouse the tithes of which she is so flagrantly 
 robbing Him ; but it is easier to utter vain repetitions 
 and leave the responsibility of the damnation of souls 
 upon God, than for Christians to humble themselves, 
 confess before the world their fallen and powerless 
 condition, and pay their vows unto the Lord. The 
 Lord only wants a whole-hearted faithful people, and 
 the walls of many a Jericho would fall, and a nation 
 be born in a day. Oh, may the Lord send upon his 
 backsliding Israel the spirit of conviction and of 
 mourning ! May He open her eyes to see from 
 whence she has fallen, and enable her to repent, to 
 come down into the dust, and cry, " Unclean, unclerra!'' 
 until her iniquity is purged, her backslidings healed, 
 and her lips touched with living fire from olf His pure 
 and holy altar. 
 
 But further, repentance not only implies humilia- 
 tion and confession, but kenunciation, sometimes the 
 hardest of all. "Put away the evil of your doings," 
 is an indispensable condition of restoration to the 
 favour and peace of God. Christ Jesus came to save ^ 
 His people from their sins, not in them, and those'' 
 who will not be saved from their sins prove beyond a/^ 
 
92 Heart Baclsltding. 
 
 question that they are none of His. I have known 
 many professing Christians try hard to get peace while 
 holding on to some sin, or allowing some idol, but I 
 never knew one succeed. You may preach faith for 
 ever to a soul thus temporising with evil, but its 
 consciousness will be too strong for your theories. 
 You must show that soul that it can never believe 
 till it is willing to part with evil. Not that it must 
 save itself, but that it must be willing to be saved 
 FKOM sm. 
 
 This was the principle on which Christ dealt with 
 the young ruler, and which is insisted on again and 
 again by Christ and His Apostles. I am satisfied that 
 thousands of professing Christians are kept in bondage 
 and darkness through not understanding this funda- 
 mental principle of the economy of salvation. They 
 ^hear so much about faith, and so little about the 
 ^ conditions of faith, that they get bewildered ; and 
 y instead of repenting and putting away the evil, that 
 •their sins may be blotted out, they spend all their 
 ^ time in trying to work themselves up into a faith as 
 unphilosophical as it is unscriptural. Consequently, 
 they fuil to get peace, and live in perpetual condem- 
 nation and misery. So it must ever be with those 
 who ignore Grod's way, and take their own. 
 
 I remembei a striking illustration of this, in connec- 
 tion with some services I held in a distant part of the 
 country. A gentleman called on me, and sent in to 
 ask if I would see him wiihout an introduction, as 
 he did not wish to reveal his name. I said, ' Oh, 
 certainly ; if I could be of any service to him, I did 
 not wish to know who he was.' Accordingly, he came 
 in., and told me his story. lie saicl that he had 
 
Heart Bachslidliig. 93 
 
 been attending my Thursday morning meetings for 
 believers, and he thought perhaps I could help him, 
 as he was in a most difficult and painful position. 1 
 found that he had once lived very near to God, and 
 known much of His grace and love ; but, in a time 
 of partial backsliding, he had been induced to enter 
 into partnership in business with an unconverted man. 
 His partner, though a respectable, moral man, after 
 the standard of the world, practised and allowed things, 
 in the management of the business, which my visitor's 
 conscience condemned ; ' and though,' said he, ' I 
 'protest against them, and have no share in their 
 ' preparation, yet I share in the profits of the business, 
 ' and my name goes forth to the public as responsible 
 ' for all that is done, and I feel condemned on account 
 ' of it.' He told me that he had lost his peace, and 
 had tried in every way to regain it. He had fasted 
 and prayed, and wept and struggled, till his body was 
 quite worn. He had been to seek the advice of every 
 minister for miles around, and had sought the counsels 
 and prayers of his Christian friends, in vain. ' What 
 am I to do ? ' said he. ' I have considerable capital 
 
 * invested ; my friends are very anxious that I should 
 
 * get on ; and others are involved in my success.' 
 
 I felt the importance of the case, and truly 
 sympathised with the young man ; but to me his path 
 seemed plain as daylight. 
 
 I looked up for a word that should convince him, 
 and then said, ' Well, my dear sir, I can only say, that 
 ' for myself, I should as soon expect the favour of Grod 
 ' in hell, as on earth, while I was doing or allowing 
 'anything for which my conscience condemned me.' 
 The arrow went home. He said, ' 1 see, I see ; I shall 
 
y 
 
 94 Heart Back. sliding. 
 
 have to come out at all costs.' I said, ' I believe you 
 will ; ' and then I tried to show him how much richer 
 he would be with an approving conscience and the 
 smile of God, even in poverty, if the Lord should so 
 will, than with wealth and affluence in his present 
 wretched state of mind. I afterwards learnt who he 
 was, and was most thankful to find that he had followed 
 the light, and given up the ungodly alliance. Now, I 
 say, this young man might have wept himself into the 
 grave, and never have regained his ])eace, unless he 
 had RENOUNCED HIS SIN, It was utterly useless telling 
 him to exercise faith for deliverance. It was as 
 impossible for him to believe as it was for him to fly, 
 while he was maintaining this controversy with his 
 conscience and with the Spirit. He must first put 
 away the evil, and then it was easy to believe. 
 
 Another case illustrative of what I have been saying 
 occurred in connection with my labours in the North 
 of England. The gentleman in whose house I was 
 staying said to me, one morning, on our return from 
 the chapel, ' Do you know what I have done ? I have 
 ' thrown my pipe and cigars and tobacco-box on to the 
 ' dunghill and I have made up my mind to smoke no 
 ' more.' He then said that he had waged a controversy 
 with his conscience and with the Spirit of Grod for 
 fifteen years about this paltry gratification, living in a 
 state of perpetual condemnation, and sacrificing the 
 power and usefulness which he had once realised for 
 the sake of this idol. Immediately on putting away 
 the indulgence, peace was restored to his soul, and he 
 began to labour for the Lord as in days gone by. 
 
 I could give numbers of similar illustrations ; but 
 the.-e will suffice to show vou that it matters not 
 
Hsjrt Bacl'sliding. 95 
 
 whether the controverted practice involves the loss of 
 hundreds of pounds^ or only of a pipe of tobacco. It is 
 not the greatness or smallness of the matter in itself, 
 but the principle of obedience which is involved in the 
 controversy. While there is a vestige of insubordination 
 to the requirements of conscience and of Grod, there 
 can be no peace. On this point thousands of professing 
 Christians mistake. They allow themselves in things 
 which they feel to be unlawful, and then strive and 
 pray to obtain a sense of acceptance through Christ. 
 They want the Spirit to witness with their spirits that 
 their ways please Grod, while they know that their 
 ways are such as cannot please Him : therefore, they 
 want the Spirit to witness to a lie, which is impossible. 
 
 No! my backsliding friend, there is but one way 
 back to peace and joy and usefulness, and that is your 
 Lord's own way — repentance, which always implies 
 forsaking sin, putting away the evil. Christ Jesus is 
 too much in love with His Father's will to dwell with 
 those who will not obey it ; the unalterable condition of 
 His presence and His smile is doing the will of His 
 Father. The " sons of Grod are led by the Spirit of 
 Grod;" and if you refuse to be thus led, you cannot 
 have the spirit of adoption. Do you see this ? Do 
 you feel it ? If so, will you put away those sins and 
 iniquities which have separated you from your God ? 
 Will you let your idols go, and now for ever renounce 
 all that is contrary to His holy will ? If you will, you 
 will find it easy to take the next step in your Lord's 
 way of restoration ; nay, you will come with gladness 
 to do " your first works." 
 
 3. I think the Lord has enabled me to show you 
 that restoration to first love is impossible witliout the 
 
96 Heart Bade sliding. 
 
 renunciation of evil ; so I think, by the aid of the 
 Blessed Spirit, I shall be able to show that it is equally 
 impossible without consecration to known duty. I 
 have known backsliders in heart who liave " remem- 
 bered " till their hearts have been well-nigh broken, and 
 who, I believe, have honestly put away the occasions 
 of their backsliding, who have nevertheless shrunk 
 from embracing the cross in the form of some suffering 
 or duty to which the Spirit has called them, and thus 
 have found it impossible to exercise the faith necessary 
 to their healing. 
 
 I once knew a widow lady, who, though she tried 
 every method, and that for a long time, to regain her 
 peace, could not, because she refused to conduct family 
 prayers, to which duty the Spirit of God urged her. I 
 have known others who have felt that they ought to 
 confess their backsliding state, and they have tried 
 anything and everything else in vain, but immediately 
 on confessing have obtained a sense of acceptance. I 
 have known some who have felt it a duty to be 
 baptised, but refused because of thecross, but they got 
 no peace till they yielded. I know a lady who 
 maintained a controversy with the Spirit for four years, 
 about giving up her husband to a work to which she 
 believed God liad called him, but which involved much 
 sacrifice and trial. Many a time she said, with 
 anguish of spirit, " Anything but this Lord ! " but this 
 was the very thing which the Lord required ; and not 
 until, like Abraham, she gave up the best beloved of 
 her soul to the will of God, did she recover her peace 
 and joy. I am acquainted with a minister, wlio, after 
 trying for a long time to lead a deeply convicted 
 sinner into faith, paused, and sciid, ' Excuse me. 
 
Heart Bac]rsl!duiiJ. 97 
 
 ' madam, but I think there is something that you are 
 ' not willing to give up, or to do.' After a few 
 minutes' silence, she burst out weeping afresh, and, 
 after a terrible struggle, said, ' Oh, I cannot forgive 
 the murderer of my husband.' Surely if any coin- 
 promise in the conditions of salvation were possible in 
 any case, it was in this. But no ; the Spirit of God 
 had already shown that lady what hindered her 
 reception of Christ, and instead of urging her to 
 believe, that minister, as a wise co-worker with the 
 Spirit, told her that difficult as the duty might appear, 
 she must embrace it and foi-give the man who had so 
 deeply injured her. She made the effort ; that is, her 
 will submitted; and immediately the Spirit helped her 
 infirmities, and enabled her fully and freely to forgive. 
 Almost at the same moment she was enabled to believe 
 unto salvation. 
 
 I might give you numbers of similar cases which 
 
 have come under my own observation, but I trust these 
 
 will be sufficient to show what I mean by consecration 
 
 as a condition of faith. I think I may say, without 
 
 exaggeration, that I have conversed with hundreds of 
 
 ^backsliders of different degrees, and I never knew one 
 
 ^ restored to first love who refused compliance with 
 
 known duty. " To him who knoweth to do good and 
 
 doeth it not, to him it is sin ; " and in wilful sin there 
 
 is no salvation. Do you see this, my dear friends, you 
 
 who are mourning an absent God ? Are you willing 
 
 to consecrate yourselves this day unto the Lord ? Do 
 
 ^you honestly renounce those things through which you 
 
 ,' have lost your peace, and brought leanness into your 
 
 souls? Do you embrace the will, the whole will uf 
 
 God, as your rule of life? Will you !;iing into Jlid 
 
08 Heart Baddldl,i<j. 
 
 .store-house the tithes of a whole-hearted service, and a 
 clieerful obedience ? In short, will you give Him that 
 which He claims, — yourself and your all ? If so, His 
 word to you is, " I will heal your backslidings, I will 
 love you freely ; for mine anger is turned away from 
 you ; " "I will betroth thee unto jMe for ever ; yea, I 
 will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in 
 judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies; 
 I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness, 
 and thou shalt know the Lord." 
 
 Satan tempts you to shrink from a fall consecration 
 for fear you should not he able to live up to it ; but 
 if you will comply with the conditions, God will fulfil 
 this promise. If you will only yield yourself up 
 without reserve. He will work in you to will and to 
 do of His good pleasure. Hear your Lord's Word ; " If 
 a man love j\Ie, he will keep My words ; and jNIy 
 Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and 
 make Our abode with him." Surely, with the Father 
 and Son, you will be able to do and suffer all things. 
 The reason for your past failures has been the WA^'T 
 of God. When God comes to dwell in you, when He 
 betroths you to Him in faithfulness for ever, you will 
 fitil no more ; His strength will be made perfect in 
 your weakness ; you will be able to do all things 
 through Christ, who strengtheneth you. 
 
 I doubt not some of you are saying, ' How shall I 
 realise the fulfilment of these blessed promises ? ' I 
 answer, by simple faith. Just as you trusted at first 
 for justification, and rested not on your feelings, but 
 on His promises, so now you must cast yourself on His 
 blessed assurances of healing and of strength. Having 
 the testimony of your own s[)irit that you comply with 
 
Heart hactcsitding. 1)9 
 
 Ihe conditions, in putting away the evil and embracing 
 the will of Grod, you have nothing to do but to throw 
 yourself on His bosom, and rest in His love. The 
 mercy-seat is sprinkled with the blood of an all- 
 sufficient atonement, so that He can receive and pardon 
 even backsliders, if they will only believe. He says, 
 " Eeturn unto Me and I will heal your backslidings." 
 Now you DO return, will you not believe that He heals 
 you ? He says He will ; dare you make Him a liar ? 
 You have no alternative. If you come. He either 
 does, or does not receive you. He says He does. 
 believe Him, and He will betroth you unto Him in 
 faithfulness for ever. 
 
DEALING WITH ANXIOUS 
 SOULS. 
 
DEALING WITH ANXIOUS SOULS. 
 
 AN ADDRESS TO CHRISTIAN WORKERS. 
 
 I HAVE long desired to say a few words on the subject 
 of dealing with the anxious. It seems to me that if 
 there is one work in the vineyard more important than 
 another it is that of guiding souls in this the most 
 momentous crisis of their being. A mistake here will 
 probably prove a fatal mistake, blighting all the joy 
 and strength of future life. 
 
 I fear thousands have been mistaken here. Mere 
 impression has been mistaken for conviction, and an 
 intellectual faith for saving faith of the heart ; hence so 
 much of the spurious Christianity prevalent amongst us. 
 
 We should be very careful, in all our dealings with 
 / anxious souls, first to find out their exact position with 
 regard to sin. In all spiritual awakenings there are 
 always numbers of individuals who are partially 
 awakened and sufficiently impressed to become anxious, 
 like the young ruler and Agrippa, but who, like them, 
 ,are not sufficiently so to be willing to give up their 
 sins. Such individuals frequently present themselves 
 as penitents desiring to be saved, and too often those 
 who have to deal with them, instead of finding out 
 their true state, and working together with the Holy 
 Grhost to deepen conviction and drive them up to real 
 submission to Grod. besfin at once to talk of Christ 
 
104 Draliruj irith Aihvious SouJ.'^. 
 
 having paid their debt and done everything for them, 
 so that they have nothing to do but to believe and 
 they are saved. Now it seems to me that to prevent 
 such a grievous mistake, with all its bitter consequences, 
 ^ every one who deals with souls should have a clear and 
 ^definite understanding of the conditions on which 
 alone Grod pardons and receives repenting sinners. 
 These conditions always have been, and ever must 
 remain, the same, seeing that the principles of the 
 Divine government can never change. 
 
 Hence we find that, alike under the old and new 
 dispensations, GOD'S UNALTERABLE CONDITION 
 OF PARDON IS THE FORSAKING OF EVIL. 
 
 " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous 
 man his thoughts : and let him return unto the Lord, 
 and he will have mercy upon him ; and to our God, 
 and He will abundantly pardon." " Turn ye, turn ye, 
 from your evil ways, for why will ye die, house of 
 Israel." " Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked 
 may die ? saith the Lord God, and not that he should 
 return from his ways and live ? " Of course the wicked 
 were then to return in the appointed way of sacrifice 
 and offering, but the condition of the acceptance of the 
 offering, and the pardon of the transgressor, was the 
 forsaking of evil. Just so now ; the sinner nuist return 
 to God by the new and living way, the " sacrifice once 
 offered," but the condition of his acceptance through 
 this sacrifice is the forsaking of evil. Unless he is 
 willing to let go his sins and be separated from his 
 idols, tlie sacrifice of Christ will avail him nothing but 
 to increase his condemnation tenfold. It seems astound- 
 ing that, with the Bible in their hands, so many 
 professing to be guides of souls should mistake here ; 
 
Dealing ivith Anxious Soiih. 105 
 
 and, oh ! it makes one's heart bleed to think of the 
 consequences. We have thousands self-deceived, 
 counting themselves believers, who never knew the 
 pangs of real repentance ; whose hearts never really 
 turned from sin to righteousness, from Satan to God, 
 who suppose they have been converted, but who have 
 manifestly never been regenerated : who live as the 
 slaves and votaries of the world while they profess to 
 be children of God ; in short, who regard themselves 
 as Christians while they are still in the gall of 
 bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Let us mind 
 not to be partakers of other men's sins in this matter. 
 Let us settle in our minds that there can be no 
 conversion without conviction of sin, and such convic- 
 tion as makes the soul willing to abandon evil. 
 Casting ourselves on the Spirit for the necessary 
 tenderness in doing it, let us not be afraid to probe 
 the wounds with which every unregenerate soul is 
 covered, and above all things let us avoid giving false 
 comfort and pressing the inquirer into a mere intellec- 
 
 'tual faith, while he is cleaving to idols. Let us ever 
 remember that saving faith is impossible while the 
 soul's desires are set on that which is evil. It must be 
 so awakened and convicted as to turn its face towards 
 God, and so intensely desire His favour and love as to 
 be willing to give up all evil as a condition of 
 attaining it. 
 
 I repeat, it is astounding that, with the Bible in 
 their hands, some teachers can so confound things that 
 
 , differ, and so wrongly '• divide the word of truth " as 
 to make " Christ the minister of sin," by preaching 
 " only believe " to people who are holding on to sin. You 
 will hear some of these good people asserting that we 
 
 8 
 
106 Dealing wWb Anxious Souls. 
 
 have nothing to do with conditions now, that repen- 
 tance is not necessary to faith, &o. " Only believe 
 and you shall be saved." " Jesus did it all, long, long 
 ago." Truly ! But what was it Jesus did ? His own 
 work, not mine? He lived, laboured, wept, suffered, 
 and died and atoned for me, and He did it all — till He 
 cried, " It is finished ;" but I nowhere read that He 
 " repented " and " turned to Grod," and did " works 
 meet for repentance," and " believed " and " obeyed 
 ..-• the Gospel " for me. This He commands every soul 
 to do for itself, or perish. The only way in which 
 Jesus is represented as saving men is in " turning 
 them away from their iniquities," and until a soul is 
 willing to let Him save it from sin. He cannot save it 
 .-•at all. Let us always try to find out, whether inquirers 
 ^are willing or desire to be saved from evil, and are 
 y coining to Christ for this end, or whether they are 
 ^ only desirous of being saved from hell, and consequently 
 holding on to sin. Here is just the difference between 
 the true and spurious repentance, and on this 
 hinges the result whether we shall bring into the 
 Church another mere professor, a Simon Magus, or 
 one who will follow Christ in the regeneration of the 
 spirit, having his heart purified by a living faith. 
 * Oh,' but say some, ' what did Paul say to the jailor ? 
 He did not say anything about conditions or repentance, 
 but simply, ' Believe,' &c.' I answer we do not know 
 all that Paul said on tliis occasion, for in the next 
 verse we read that " they (Paul and kSilas) spake unto 
 him the Word of the Lord, and to all his hoiise." 
 Mark ! this was before his profession of faith and 
 baptism. 
 
 Now who can tell how nuich this Word of the Lord 
 
Di'idiiKj tcltli Aihdou^ Souls. 107 
 
 implied ? Doubtless the Apostle explained on tliis, as 
 on other occasions, what constituted that " obedience 
 to the truth " through which the jailor, in common 
 with all other penitents, was to be purified. But, 
 supposing that the Apostle had spoken no other words 
 tLian "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," this would 
 only prove that in this particular instance no other 
 counsel was necessary, because the jailor was prepared 
 for it. He had come to the point of fidl submission 
 where saving faith first becomes possible. The whole 
 tenor of the narrative shows that the jailor was a fully 
 awakened, truly repeating, deeply humbled sinner, 
 ready to do anything. " He sprang in, and came 
 trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and 
 brought them out, and said. Sirs, what must I do to be 
 saved?" Observe, "He brought them out." He 
 began immediately to bring forth fruits meet for 
 repentance. The earthquake had torn the bandages 
 from his eyes, and the Spirit, through its instrumen- 
 tality, had shaken his guilty soul and made him 
 realise his danger in the hands of a Grod who could 
 avenge the wrongs of His people after such a fashion. 
 
 He was so deeply convicted, so fully turned round 
 " from darkness to light," that he was ready to do 
 anything. He was not ashamed to confess his wicked- 
 ness — to kneel before his prisoners and plead with 
 them to show him what to do. And if Paul had told 
 him, as Jesus did the young ruler, to sell his goods 
 and give to the poor, there cannot be a doubt but he 
 would have embraced the command at once, as Zacchseus 
 did the obligation to make restitution. The intense 
 earnestness of his gesture and question shows that he 
 was willing to be saved at any cost — ready to do 
 
108 DealliKj with Anxious Souls. 
 
 anything — and, therefore, nothing more remained to 
 be done but to believe. 
 
 Now, wherever we find a soul in this attitude, be it 
 our highest privilege — our chief joy — to point him to 
 the Lamb of God, and to show him the way of faith 
 more perfectly; but, oh! let us mind not to do it 
 (except as a motive to submission) until this attitude 
 is attained. Let us beware of a theoretical or senti- 
 mental faith, which leaves the heart unwashed, 
 unrenewed, unsanctified. It is just here that thousands 
 get the faith of devils, which is like the body without 
 the spirit — dead ! From this bitter root springs 
 nearly all the Antinomianism of this age. With this 
 untempered slime of the old serpent half the super- 
 structure of the professing Church is joined together. 
 Let us spurn it, and warn souls against it. 
 
 Let us mind the ORDER OF GOD in our dealing 
 with souls. He made them, and He knows best how 
 to dissect them. It seems astonishing that any 
 difference of view can have obtained on the point with 
 passages so direct, full, and relevant as Acts xxvi. 18, 20. 
 Surely our glorified Lord understood the constitution 
 of the human soul, and knew best as to the method or 
 order in which His truth and spirit operate upon it. 
 
 There are two or three considerations which give 
 this passage special weight. It comes from the lips 
 of our risen Lord. It was given after the Gospel 
 dispensation was 02)ened in all its fulness. It was 
 given to Paul, the principal expounder of the doctrine 
 of justification by faith, and therefore his Wews of 
 faith could not have been contradictory to its teaching. 
 
 It was applied alike to Jews and Gentiles. " To 
 open their eyes " — to awaken and make them realise 
 
Dealing 'with Anxious Souls. 109 
 
 their danger as sinners, " and to turn them from 
 
 darkness" — or evil — "to light" — or righteousness — that 
 
 is, from the choice or embrace of evil, to the choice or 
 
 embrace of righteousness, and " From the power of 
 
 Satan unto Gfod" — that is, from being committed to 
 
 the power of Satan to committal to the power of God. 
 
 "That they may receive forgiveness of sins and 
 
 inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith 
 
 that is in me." Observe here what a deal has to be 
 
 done in the soul before it can receive forgiveness of 
 
 sins. Its eyes must be opened — to what ? Its own 
 
 sinfulness and danger and misery. Then, under the 
 
 sight of this, it must be turned right round from the 
 
 embrace or desire of evil, to the embrace or desire of 
 
 ^righteousness (though yet powerless to DO, it must 
 
 , choose and desire, righteousness). The attitude of the 
 
 y WILL MUST CHANGE with respect to evil and 
 
 ,^ good. It must turn round from the one to the other 
 
 ^ in purpose and desire. Then "it must be^turned from — 
 
 committal to — the power of Satan unto God." It must 
 
 ^abjure Satan as its rightful sovereign, and at least 
 
 ^ 'WILL to put itself under the power of God. And all 
 
 ^-this i7i order that it may receive forgiveness of sin. 
 
 ''^^^This is made an absolute condition of its receiving. 
 
 forgiveness. Now, I maintain that this is tlie only 
 
 possible interpretation of this important text, not only 
 
 of our version but of the original in all its purity ; and 
 
 - if so, wiiat becomes of the theory that there are no 
 
 conditions, and that repentance and forsaking of evil 
 
 . and choosing good is not necessary to saving faith ! 
 
 Flirt lier, we see in the 18th verse how literally Paul 
 
 understood, and how im})licitly he followed, this 
 
 l)i\iue order, for he says he "showed iirst unto them 
 
110 Deal ill ff u'ifh. Anxious Souls. 
 
 of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all 
 the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles that 
 -^they should repent and tu7m to God, and do works 
 _^meet for repentance." 
 
 Now, certainly Paul knew what he preached, and 
 there could not be any contradiction in his mind 
 between these necessary conditions of faith, and faith 
 itself. Therefore, when he speaks of faith only being 
 necessary to a sinner's justification, he must always 
 assume that these conditions are complied with, 
 otherwise he contradicts himself and sets aside the 
 order of this Divine commission. 
 
 I know that Paul teaches that faith alone is the 
 hand tha,t takes hold of Christ, but of course he 
 y assumes that the feet of repentance and submission 
 ^have brought the soul near enough for this hand to 
 _^reach Him ; in other words, that, by the Spirit's 
 power, he is so convinced of sin, of righteousness, and 
 of judgment, as to be willing to forsake every evil way, 
 and to flee for refuge to the hope set before him. It 
 seems difficult to imagine how any idea of pardon 
 and reconciliation can have obtained in the Church 
 which does not pre-suppose these conditions, seeing 
 that Jesus laid it down again and again as a funda- 
 mental principle that no man could become His 
 ^disciple, or follow Him, till he was willing to renounce 
 • every thing, and every being, antagonistic to His 
 supreme love and dominion in the soul (Luke xiv. 26, 
 30 ; Matt. v. 29, 30 ; x. 37). We find also that 
 the Apostles invariably acted on the assumption that 
 until the soul turned round from evil to Cxod it could 
 not believe (Acts xxiv. 2o). I would ask, Why did not 
 Paul press Felix to believe on the Lord Jesus ? He 
 
Deah'fKj irifJi Amvious Souls. Ill 
 
 tremhled, as did the j;\ilor. The reason is evident — be 
 did not submit to God and forsake sin (Acts viii. 22, 
 23 ; Acts XX. 21 ; Luke xxiv. 47 ; Acts v. 31 ; Eomans 
 i. 18 ; Romans ii. 3-10.) Tbe principle laid down in 
 these texts is recognised by Jesus in His messages to 
 the seven churches: there is no promise of pardon, > 
 even to backsliders, without such repentance as leads 
 to the putting away of evil. This, then, is the test 
 of genuine repentance, WILLINGNESS TO PUT 
 AWAY SIN. Until this is attained, let us not dare 
 to attempt to comfort any soul, for in so doing we- 
 shall not be workers together wi^h God, but the tools ■ 
 -of Satan, doing exactly what he desires to be done.- 
 My dear friends, ponder on these suggestions : they 
 will bear examination. Carefully compare Scripture 
 with Scripture on this point, seeking the light of the 
 Holy Spirit, and you will be saved from healing the- 
 - health of the Lord's people slightly — from increasing 
 the number of those who have a form of godliness 
 without the power. 
 
 The next important step in dealing with anxious 
 souls is to present to them THE PEOPER OBJECT 
 OF FAITH, which is Christ Jesus Himself, and not 
 •merely the Divine testimony concerning Him. 
 
 There is a vast difference between these two objects 
 of faith. The one ends with the intellect, the other 
 purifies the heart. That method of leading souls into 
 faith which presents the truth as a system, or 
 declaration, on the reception or belief of which the 
 soul is to reckon itself saved, fails to bring the soul into 
 contact with a living personal Christ, and possesses no 
 living principle by which to graft it into the vine as 
 a liviuii bnineh. 
 
112 JJcaliiKj irith AiLciouii Souls. 
 
 Truly the Divine testimony concerning Christ must 
 be received and believed ; but this is not to be the 
 ultimate object of faitli, but only the medium through 
 which the soul's trust is to be transferred to the 
 living jperson testified of. Here arises another fatal 
 error of this day, through which, I fear, numbers 
 never realise any other Grod than the Bible, or any 
 other Saviour than a powerless, intellectual belief in 
 the letter of it. They believe the truth about Christ, 
 about His life and death, His sacrifice and intercession ; 
 they believe, as enquirers often tell me they do, that 
 Jesus died for them and that He intercedes for them ; 
 but they do not believe that His sacrifice actually 
 satisfies the Father for their sins, or that His inter- 
 cession so far prevails with Grod for them that He 
 does nou) actually pardon and receive them because 
 of it. If they believe this, of course their anxiety 
 would immediately cease, and they would begin to 
 sing the new song of praise and thanksgiving. 
 
 The mind is too often occupied with the theory of 
 Divine truth instead of the living person whom the 
 truth sets forth. Now, it seems clear to me that the 
 Divine testimony concerning Christ may be believed, 
 and frequently is believed, without their existing a 
 particle of saving trust in Him as a personal Saviour. 
 Here is the secret of so many apparently believing 
 and devout people living in systematic disobedience 
 to God. Their minds are convinced of the truth, and\ 
 their emotions are frequently stirred by it ; but they N 
 have no life, no spiritual power in them by which to 
 resist temptation or live above the world, because their 
 faith does not embrace a living Saviour able to save 
 them to the uttermost, but only the truth about Him. 
 
Dealing ivith Arixious Souls. 113 
 
 Take an illustration. Suppose you are sick almost 
 unto death. A friend brings you a testimony 
 concerning some wonderful physician who has cured 
 many such cases, and is fully able and willing to 
 undertake yours. Now, you may receive the record of 
 your friend concerning the skill and success of this 
 physician's treatment, and you may frdly believe it, 
 and yet their may be some reason why you shrink 
 from putting yourself into his hands and trusting him 
 with your life. You may believe all that is said about 
 him, and yet fail so to trust in his person as to give ' 
 yourself up fully into his power. Just so there are ' 
 numbers who believe God's testimony concerning His 
 Son, that Jesus has atoned for their sin, and that His 
 treatment would cure them of its disease, who do not 
 trust Him to do it for them — no, not for a single 
 moment. Here is the difference between a dead and 
 a living faith ; between a faith that lies useless on 
 the shelves of the intellect, or bubbles up on the waves 
 of mere emotion, and that which renews the soul in 
 righteousness, and makes it the abode of an indwelling 
 Christ. 
 
 The term faith is used in several different senses in 
 the Scrii)ture, but when used to designate that act 
 throagh which the soul is justified before God, acd 
 renewed by His Spirit, it always signifies trust in, or 
 committal to, a living Saviour. The word used to 
 signify this trust is sometimes rendered " commit,'' as 
 in John ii. 24 : " But Jesus did not commit Himself 
 unto them, because He knew all men." He did not 
 believe in them, or trust them with His person — He 
 did not commit Himself into their power. This is 
 just \i:hat God requires the sinner to do in order to be 
 
114 Dealing tv'ith Anxious Souls. 
 
 saved — to commit himself to the faithfulness and 
 power of Jesus. Again, we have the same word in 
 Luke xvi. 11: "If, therefore, ye have not been 
 faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will 
 commit to your trust the true riches " — who shall 
 give over into your keeping, or power, the true riches. 
 
 Now, it is evident that the Scriptural idea of saving 
 faith is that of the absolute committal of the whole 
 being over to the faithfulness and power of Jesus, and 
 not merely a belief, however firm, of the records of 
 certain facts concerning Him. I may believe that 
 He is the Saviour — that He died for me — that He 
 intercedes for me — that He has promised to save me, 
 as thousands do ; and yet I may have no trust in Him 
 as now doing all this for me, and consequently di-aw 
 no sap, no spiritual virtue, from Him. 
 
 Saving faith consists in a firm trust in the person 
 of Jesus, and committal of the soul to Him by an 
 unwavering act of confidence in Him for all that the 
 Bible presents Him to be, as the Redeemer and 
 Saviour of men — " For I know whom I have believed, 
 and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which 
 I have committed unto UiTn against that day " 
 (2 Tim. i. 12). And as soon as this trust is exercised, 
 the testimony of the Spirit is given to adoption, and 
 the soul knows that it has passed from death unto 
 life. Of course this trust is exercised through the 
 testimony of God to His Son, but the Son is the object 
 of trust, and not the testimony merely. This is most 
 important to bear in mind in our efforts to lead souls 
 into saving faith. 
 
 And now it becomes a question of deepest interest — 
 hoiu best to lead true penitent sinners to exercise this 
 
Dcallinj ii'itli Aii.vloii^ Soiih, 115 
 
 trust. The first thing generally to be done is to present 
 Jesus as tvilling to meet the realised desperateness of 
 the sinner's case, as every true penitent thinks himself 
 the chief of sinners, and his own a peculiarly bad case. 
 We should try to show him that the question of salvation 
 does not hinge on the greatness or smallness of a 
 sinner's guilt, but on the fact of his accepting Jesus as 
 a sufficient atonement for it. We should try to show 
 him how almost all the instances of conversion recorded 
 in the Bible were great sinners, and how Jesus came to 
 - seek that which was absolutely lost, and how the depths 
 
 ^of His love can only be shown on very bad cases. 
 
 When we have succeeded in leading the soul to 
 apprehend the sufficiency of the atonement to cover, 
 and the willingness of Jesus to pardon the past, unbelief 
 will generally fasten on the future, and the inquirer 
 will say, ' Ah ! but if I were forgiven, I should fall again 
 into sin,' Now is the time to bring the soul face to 
 face with a personal, living Saviour. We must present 
 Christ's ABILITY to save to the uttermost — of the soul's 
 need and circumstances — all them who come unto God 
 by Him. We must get the soul's eye fixed on Jesus, 
 
 ,/^not only as a sacrifice but as a Saviour, a Deliverer, an 
 Almi ght y Friend, who has promised to dwell and abide 
 with the belie\'er, delivering him out of the hands of 
 all his enemies. We should not give up till, by the 
 
 ^--Irelp of the Spirit, we can lead the soul to expect in 
 Jesus the sup])ly of all its needs. When this is 
 accomplished, we should lead the soul on to claim this 
 
 y Saviour NOW. 
 
 When arrived at this point, I have sometimes found 
 it very helpful to ask, Well, now, luhen did Jesus 
 pardon and receive the penitents who came to Him in 
 
116 Dealing lulth Anxious Souls. 
 
 the days of His flesh. ? — waiting for an annwer, tlius 
 compeUing the mind's attention to the point. The 
 
 /inquirer will generally say, ' I suppose when they came 
 to Him.' I reply, Of course that was the only time to 
 receive them — when they came, not an hour before or 
 an hour after, but at the moment they came, and it is 
 the same now. He receives returning sinners luhen 
 they come. Now, you come, confessing and forsaking 
 all your sins, and willing to follow Him wherever He 
 may lead you. Does he receive you ? He said He 
 would in no wise cast you out if you came. Does He 
 cast you out ? The penitent will generally say, ' No, I 
 trust not.' Then what does He ? He must either 
 take you in or cast you out just now, because you come 
 
 - just now. Which is it ? Sometimes we get the 
 answer, ' I hope He takes me in.' Then we try to show 
 that this is not the place for hope. Only to hope that' 
 Jesus means what He says is to insult Him and drive 
 Him away. You must trust Him and believe now 
 that He takes you in. Oh, what struggles I have often 
 
 '--witnessed just at this point ! Satan understands the 
 power of this committal, and withstands it with all his 
 subtlety and malice; but if we are firm, and armed 
 with the power of the Sjiiit^, and persistently and 
 relentlessly press the soul up to 'present trust, the result 
 is certain. Condemnation is taken away, light breaks 
 on the soul, and the new song bursts spontaneously 
 from the lips, even praise and thanksgiving to our God. 
 In some cases it requires no little sympathy, tact, 
 and tirnmess to meet the wiles of unbelief and the 
 stratagems of Satan even in dealing with very sincere 
 and truly submissive souls. Fear of being deceived is 
 generally one of the greatest difficulties. In such cases 
 
Dealing with Anmous Souls. Ill 
 
 it is well to explain to the penitent that there is no 
 ground for this fear, seeing that this way of salvation 
 is of God's own appointing, and that, although it seems 
 an easy way to be saved, after living so long in sin and 
 rebellion — the ease of it is all on the sinner's side, and 
 not on the side of the Saviour — w^e should explain at 
 what a terrible cost of sacrifice and suffering to the Son 
 of Grod this simple, easy way was opened, and how 
 ungrateful it is to put it away, as if it were too good to 
 be true, because Grod has made it so simple. 
 
 It is well to encourage the inquirer to trust by remind- 
 ing him that every truly saved soul on earth, and every 
 redeemed spirit in heaven, was saved in this way — by 
 simple faith alone. It is often very helpful to get the 
 penitent to use the language of faith with his lips, 
 even before his heart can fully go with it. I have 
 seen many a one rise into faith, while repeating after 
 me the text, rendered in the first person, " He was 
 wounded for viy transgressions," &c. ; or, ' Thou hast 
 ' said. Him that cometh to Thee Thou wilt in no wise 
 ' cast out. Lord, I come ; Thou dost not cast me out ; 
 ' Thou takest ojie in ; ' or, " ' Tis done — the great 
 transaction done ; I am my Lord's, and He is mine ; " 
 or, " I can believe — I do believe — that Jesus saves me 
 now," repeating such passages or stanzas over and 
 over again till the heart follows the tongue and the 
 venture is made. 
 
 Of course we cannot give counsels for every indi- 
 vidual case ; there are great diversities in the tempera- 
 ments and circumstances of different individuals 
 requiring a wise adaption of treatment at the moment 
 for which the^Dirit alone can endow us. Let us, 
 however, only be clear and faithful on the two 
 
118 
 
 Dealintj irith Anxious Souls. 
 
 momentous points of a TRUE AND thorough repentance, 
 and an intelligent and implicit trust IN A living 
 Saviour, and every minor question will easily be met, 
 and the souls whom the Lord shall honour us to bring 
 into His family will not be still-born ghosts of a 
 sinewless sentimentalism ; but strong, hanly, cross- 
 bearing, Christ-honouring, soul-winning men and 
 women, able to open heaven and shake hell by their 
 faith and zeal and effort in our Redeemer's kingdom. 
 
COMPEL THEM TO 
 COME IN." 
 
COMPEL THEM TO COME IN, 
 
 On a certain Sabbath, some years ago, I was j Cling 
 down a narrow, thickly-populated street on my way to 
 hear a much-honoured minister of Christ, anticipating 
 an evening's enjoyment for myself and hoping to see 
 some anxious ones brought into the kingdom, when I 
 chanced to look up at the thick rows of small windows 
 above me, where numbers of women were sitting, 
 peering through at the passers-by, or listlessly gossiping 
 with each other. It was suggested to my mind with 
 great power, 'Would you not be doing God more service, 
 ' and acting more like your Kedeemer, by turning into 
 ' some of these houses, speaking to these careless 
 ' sinners, and inviting them to the service, than by 
 ' going to enjoy it 3-ourself ? ' I was startled ; it was a 
 new thought ; and while I was reasoning about it, the 
 same inaudible interrogator demanded, ' What effort 
 ' do Christians put forth, answerable to the command, 
 " Compel them to come in, that my house may be 
 filled ? " ' This was accompanied with a light and 
 unction which I knew to be divine. I felt greatly 
 agitated. I felt very guilty. I knew that / had never 
 thus laboured to bring lost sinners to Christ, and 
 trembling with a sense of my utter weakness, I 
 ■stood still for a moment, looked u}) to heaven, and said, 
 ' Lord, if Thou wilt help me, I will try ; ' and without 
 stopping longer to confer with flesh and blood, turned 
 back and con^menced my work. 
 
 9 
 
122 " Compel ilunn to come in.'" 
 
 I spoke first to a group of women sitting on a doorv 
 step ; and oh ! what that effort cost me, words cannot 
 describe ; but the Spirit helped my infirmities, and 
 secured for me a patient and respectful hearing with a 
 promise from some of them to attend the house of Grod. 
 Tliis much encouraged me: Ibegan to taste the joy which 
 lies hidden under the cross ; and to realise, in some faint 
 degree, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. 
 With this timely, loving cordial from my blessed JNIaster, 
 I went on to the next group standing at the entrance 
 of a low, dirty court. Here, again, I was received 
 kindly, and promises were given — no rude repulse, no 
 bitter ridicule were allowed to shake my new-found 
 confidence, or chill my feeble zeal. I began to realise 
 that my Master's feet were behind me; nay, before me, 
 smoothing my path and preparing my way. 
 
 This blessed assurance so increased my courage and 
 enkindled my hope, that I ventured to knock at the 
 door of the next house, and when it was opened, to go 
 in and speak to the inmates of Jesus, death, judgment, 
 and eternity. The man, who appeared to be one of 
 the better class of mechanics, seemed to be much 
 interested and affected by my words, and promised with 
 his wife to attend the revival services which were being 
 held at the chapel farther on. With a heart full of 
 gratitude and eyes full of tears, I was thinking where 
 I should go next, when I observed a woman standing 
 on an adjoining door-step, with a jug in her hand. Isiy 
 Divine Teacher said, ' Speak to that woman.' Satan 
 suggested, ' Perhaps she is intoxicated ; ' but after a 
 momentary struggle, I introduced myself to her by 
 saying, 'Are the people out who live on this floor?' 
 observing that the lower part of the house was closed. 
 
" Compel them to come in.'^ 123 
 
 'Yes,' she said, 'they are gone to chapel;' and I 
 thought I perceived a weary sadness in her voice and 
 manner. I said, ' Oh, I am so glad to hear that : how 
 'is it that you are not gone to a place of worship?' 
 ' Me ! ' she said, looking down upon her forlorn 
 appearance ; ' I can't go to chapel ; I am kept at home 
 ' by a drunken husband. I have to stop with him to 
 'keep him from the public-house, and I have just been 
 ' fetching him some drink.' I expressed my sorrow 
 for her, and asked if I might come in and see her 
 husband. ' No,' she said, ' he is drunk ; you could do 
 ' nothing with him now.' I replied, ' I do not mind 
 ' his being drank, if you will let me come in ; I am not, 
 'afraid ; he will not hurt me.' 'Well,' said the woman, 
 ' you can come if you like ; but he will only abuse you.' 
 I said, ' Xever mind that,' and followed her up the 
 stairs. 
 
 I felt strong now in the Lord, and in the power of 
 His might, and as safe as a babe in the arms of its 
 mother, I felt that I was in the path of obedience, and 
 I feared no evil. Oh, how much the Lord's people lose 
 through disobedience to the leadings of the Holy Spirit ! 
 If they would only keep His words. He wovild dwell 
 with them, and then they need fear neither men nor 
 devils. The woman led me to a small room on the first 
 floor, where I found a fine, intelligent man, about forty, 
 sitting almost double in a chair, with a jug by his side 
 out of which he had. been drinking that which had 
 reduced him beneath the level of the beasts that perish. 
 I leaned on my heavenly Gruide for strength and 
 wisdom, love and power, and He gave me all I needed. 
 He silenced the demon, Strong Drink, and quickened 
 the man's perceptions to receive my words. As I 
 
124 " Compel them to come iny 
 
 began to talk to him, with mj heart full of sympathy, 
 he gradually raised himself in his chair and listened 
 with a surprised and half-vacant stare. I spoke to 
 him of his present deploi'able condition, of the 
 folly and wickedness of his course, of the interests 
 of his wife and children, nntil he was thoroughly 
 waked up and aroused from the stupor in which I 
 found him. 
 
 During this conversation his wife wept bitterly, and 
 by fragments told me a little of their previous history. 
 I found that she had once known the Lord, but had 
 allowed herself to be dragged down by trouble, had 
 cast away her confidence, and fallen into sin. She 
 told me that her husband had a brother in the 
 Wesleyan ministry, who had done all that a brother 
 could do to save him ; that they had buried a daughter 
 two years before, who died triumphantly in the Lord, 
 and besought her father with her dying breath to 
 leave off drinking, and prepare to meet her in heaven ; 
 that she had a son, then about eighteen, who, she 
 feared, was going into a consumption ; that her husband 
 was a clever woi-kman, and could earn three or four 
 pounds per week as a journeyman, but he drank it 
 nearly all, so that they were compelled to live in two 
 rooms, and often went without necessary food. I read 
 to him the parable of the prodigal son, while the tears 
 ran down his fece like rain. I then prayed with him 
 as the Spirit gave me utterance,^ and left, promising to 
 call the next day with a temperance-pledge book, 
 which he promised to sign. 
 
 I now felt that my work was done for that time. 
 Exhausted in body, but hapi)y in soul, I wended my 
 way to the sanctuary, just in time for the conclusion 
 
" Compel tJieiih to come in.'' 125 
 
 of the service, and to lend a helping hand in the 
 prayer-meeting. 
 
 On the following day I visited this man again. He 
 sio-ned the pledge, and listened attentively to all I 
 said. Full of hope I left him, to find others similarly 
 lost and fallen. From that time I commenced a 
 systematic course of house-to-house visitation, devoting 
 two evenings per week to the work. The Lord so 
 blessed my efforts that in a few weeks I succeeded in 
 getting ten drunkards to abandon their soul-destroying 
 habits, and to meet me once a week for reading and 
 expounding the Scriptures, and prayer. We held 
 three or four blessed little meetings, and I doubt not 
 our numbers would have increased more and more, but, 
 in the inscrutable workings of Divine Providence, my 
 health gave way, and I was most reluctantly compelled 
 to abandon my happy and promising sphere of labour. 
 I was shortly after removed from the town, and my 
 way opened to a uew and still more fruitful work in 
 the vineyard. 
 
 You will not be surprised, dear reader, after this 
 little sketch, to hear me say that I esteem this work 
 of house-to-house visitation next in importoMce to the 
 preaching of the Grospel itself. Who can tell the 
 amount of influence and power which might be 
 brought to bear on the careless, godless inhabitants of 
 our large towns and cities — nay, on our whole nation 
 — if all real Christians would only do a little of this 
 kind of work ! The masses of the people look upon 
 Christians as a separate and secluded class, with 
 whom they have no concern and possess nothing in 
 common. They watch them go \yd^t their houses to 
 their various places of worship with utter indifference 
 
126 " Coiiipd fhem fo come in^ 
 
 or bitter contempt ; and, alas ! has there not been too 
 much in our past conduct calculated to beget this kind 
 of feeling, much of Pharisaic pride and selfish unconcern ? 
 If the zeal of the Lord's house had eaten us up, if 
 we had realised more fellowship with Christ in His 
 sufferings, if we had understood the meaning of His 
 words, " Compel them to come in," if we had been 
 baptised with Paul's spirit, when he could almost have 
 wished himself accursed from Christ for his brethren's 
 sakes, should we not have gone out amongst the people 
 as our Master did, by the road-side and into their 
 houses, to have spoken to them the " words of this life," 
 — to have persuaded, implored, and compelled them to 
 come in ? Alas, we are verily guilty ? nor has it been 
 in many instances for want of light, or for want of the 
 leadings of the Holy Spirit ; but it has been for want 
 of OBEDIENCE, and because of our pride, or shame, or 
 fear. 
 
 that, with all who read this, the time past might 
 suffice to have walked after the flesh in this matter ! 
 Oh that from this hour you, my dear reader (if you are 
 a child of God), would set yourself individually to this 
 work ; You can do it. However weak, timid, or 
 " slow of speech," He says, " I will be with thy mouth, 
 and teach thee what thou shalt say ; " and " It shall 
 be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak." 
 All that is needful is for you to give yourself up to the 
 leadings of the Spirit. Lean on Him for all you want. 
 I[e will inspire you with the constraining love, the 
 melting sympathy, the holy zeal, and the mighty faith 
 alone necessary for the task. 
 
 This is the work that most needs doing of any work 
 in the vineyard There are teeming thousands who 
 
'"Compel tlipuh to come hi.''' 1^7 
 
 never cross the threshold of church, chapel, or mission- 
 hall, to whom all connected with religion is as an old 
 song, a byword, and a reproach. They need to be 
 brought into contact with a living Christ in the 
 characters and persons of His people. They want to 
 see and handle the Word of Life in a living form. 
 Christianity must come to them embodied in men and 
 women, who are not ashamed to " eat with publicans 
 and sinners ; " they must see it looking through their 
 eyes, and speaking in loving accents through their 
 tongues, sympathising with their sorrows, bearing 
 their burdens, reproving their sins, instructing their 
 ignorance, inspiring their hope, and wooing them to 
 the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. Dear 
 reader, here is a sphere for you ! You have long 
 wished to do something for your " blessed, blessed 
 Master." Here is work, boundless in extent, and 
 momentous beyond an angel's power to conceive. For 
 it, you need no human ordination, no long and tedious 
 preparation, no high-flown language, no towering 
 eloquence ; all you want is the full baptism of the 
 Spirit on your heart, the Bible in your hand, and 
 humility and simpUcity in your manner. Thus 
 equipped, you will be mighty through God to the 
 pulling down of strongholds. You will find your way 
 to many a heart long since abandoned by hope and 
 given up to despair ; and in the great day of account 
 you shall have many a sheaf as the result of your 
 labour, and the reward of your self-denial. 
 
 I think I hear some timid one saying, ' Ah ! I wish 
 ' I could : the Lord knows how I long to be doing 
 ' some real work for him ; but I am so weak, and so 
 
128 " Compel them to come iu.^' 
 
 ' little adapted to this kiud of labour, I fear I should 
 ' not succeed.' 
 
 My dear brother, — sister, — we are of little use in 
 any department of the vineyard until we have been 
 
 .'made to realise our- own weakness. The weaker we 
 feel ourselves to be, the better. It is not a question 
 
 ' of our STRENGTH, but of our FAITH. " Why look ye so 
 earnestly on us (said Peter to those who marvelled at 
 the miracle wrought on the lame), as though by our 
 own power or holiness we had made this man to walk ? 
 Faith in the name of Jesus has made this 
 man strong, whom ye see and know." God does not 
 call us to any work in our own strength ; He bids ns 
 go and do it in His. " Grive ye them to eat," said He 
 to the Disciples, but He knew wh® must supply the 
 bread ; so now he requires us to break the Bread 
 of Life to the multitude, trusting in Him for the 
 supply. He hath chosen the weak things of the 
 world to confound the mighty. Why? That the 
 excellency of the power may lie seen to be of God, 
 and not of man. 
 
 No matter how simple the words, or how tremulous 
 the voice, if He blesses, then it shall be blessed. The 
 * Does you love God ?' of a little child, accompanied 
 by the " demonstration of the Spirit and of power," 
 will do more for Christ and souls than the most 
 talented and eloquent sermon without it ; for it is 
 " not by might nor by power, but by INIy Spirit, saith 
 the Lord of Hosts." Dear reader, are you ivUllng to 
 be one of God's chosen ones? or will you anger Him 
 by saying, ' Send by whom Thou wilt send," but not 
 by me ? Are you tvilling to trample on self, and, 
 
" Compel them to come in. 
 
 129 
 
 taking hold of the strength of omnipotence, to go in 
 the power of His might, and do what you can ? If so, 
 His word to you is, " Fear not ; be strong, and of good 
 courage ; neither be thou dismayed : for the Lord thy 
 God is with thee whithersoever thou goest ; " and 
 "Lo, I am with you ahvaij, even to the end of the 
 world." 
 
FEMALE MINISTRY. 
 
FEMALE MINISTRY; 
 
 OK, 
 
 WOMAN'S EIGHT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 
 
 The first and most common objection urged against 
 the public exercises of women, is, that they are 
 unnatural and unfeminine. JMany labour mider a very 
 great but common mistake, viz., that of confounding 
 nature with custom. Use, or custom, makes things 
 appear to us natural, which, in reality, are very 
 unnatural ; while, on the other hand, novelty and 
 rarity make very natural things appear strange and 
 contrary to nature. So universally has this power of 
 custom been felt and admitted, that it has given birth 
 to the proverb, " Use is second nature." Making 
 allowance for the novelty of the thing, we cannot 
 discover anything either unnatural or immodest in a 
 Christian woman, becomingly attired, appearing on a 
 platform or in a pulpit. By nakii^e she seems fitted to 
 grace either. God has given to woman a graceful form 
 and attitude, winning manners, persuasive speech, and, 
 above all, a finely-toned emotional nature, all of which 
 appear to us eminent natural qualifications for public 
 speaking. We admit that want of mental culture, the 
 trammels of custom, the force of prejudice, and one- 
 sided interpretations of Scripture, have hitherto almost 
 excluded her from this sphere; but before such a sphere 
 is pronounced to be unnatural, it must be proved either 
 
134 Female Ministry. 
 
 that woman has not the ahility to teach or to preach, 
 or that the possession and exercise of this ability 
 iinnaturaHses her in other respects; that so soon as she 
 presumes to step on the platform or into the })alpit she 
 loses the delicacy and grace of the female character. 
 Whereas, we have numerous instances of her retaining 
 all that is most esteemed in her sex, and faithfully 
 discharging the duties peculiar to her own sphere, 
 and at the same time taking her place with many of 
 our most useful speakers and writers. Why should 
 woman be confined exclusively to the kitchen and the 
 distaff, any more than man to the field and workshop ? 
 Did not God, and has not nature, assigned to man his 
 sphere of labour, " to till the ground and to dress it? " 
 And, if exemption is claimed from this kind of toil for a 
 portion of the mail sex, on the ground of their possess- 
 ing ability for intellectual and moral pursuits, we must 
 be allowed to claim the same privilege for women ; nor 
 can Ave see the exception more imnatural in the one 
 
 y case than in the other, or why God in this solitary 
 ^instance has endowed a being with powers which He 
 
 yr never intended her to employ. 
 
 There seems to be a great deal of unnecessary fear of 
 women- occupying any position which involves publicity, 
 lest she should be rendered unfeminine by the indul- 
 gence of ambition or vanity ; but why should woman any 
 more than man be charged with ambition when 
 impelled to use her talents for the good of her race ? 
 Moreover, as a labourer in the Gospel her joosition is 
 much higher than in any other public capacity ; she is 
 at once shielded from all coarse and unrefined influences 
 and associations ; her very vocation tending to exalt 
 and refine all the tenderest and most womanly instincts 
 
Female Miiiistiij. lo5 
 
 of her nature. As a matter of fact it is well known to 
 those who have had opportunities of observing the 
 private character and deportment of women engaged 
 in preaching the Gospel, that they have been amongst 
 the most amiable, self-sacrificing, and unobtrusive of 
 their sex. 
 
 "We well know," says the late Islw Gurney, a 
 minister of the Society of Friends, " that there are 
 no women among us more generally distinguished 
 for modesty, gentleness, order, and right submission 
 to their bretheren, than those who have been called 
 by their Divine ]Master into the exercise of the 
 Christian ministry." 
 
 Who would dare to charge the sainted Madame 
 Guyon, Lady ]Maxwell, the talented mother of the 
 Wesleys, Mrs. Fletcher, INIrs. Elizabeth Fry, ]\Irs. 
 Smith, Mrs. Whiteman, or Miss jNIarsh with being 
 unwomanly or ambitious. Some of these ladies we 
 know have adorned by their private virtues the 
 highest ranks of society, and won alike from friends 
 and enemies the highest eulogiums as to the devoted- 
 ness, purity, and sweetness of their lives. Yet these 
 were all more or less public women, every one of 
 them expounding and exhorting from the Scriptures 
 to mixed companies of men and women. Ambitious 
 doubtless they were ; but theirs was an ambition akin 
 to His, who for the "joy that was set before Him, 
 endured the cross, despising the shame : " and to liis, 
 who counted all things but dung and dross, and M'as 
 willing to be regarded as the off-scouring of all things 
 that he might win souls to Jesus and bring glory to 
 God. Would that the Lord's people had more of this 
 ambition. 
 
136 Female Mlnisfn/. 
 
 Well, but, say our objecting friends, how is it that 
 these whose names you mention, and many others, 
 should venture to preach when female ministry is 
 forbidden in the Word of God ? This is by far the 
 most serious objection which we have to consider — and if 
 capable of substantiation, should receive our immediate 
 and cheerful acquiescence ; but we think that we shall 
 be able to show, by a fair and consistent interpret.a- 
 tion, that the very opposite view is the truth ; that 
 not only is the public ministry of woman unforbidden, 
 but absolutely enjoined by both precept and example 
 in the Word of God. 
 
 And, first, we will select the most prominent and 
 explicit passages of the New Testament referring to 
 the subject, beginning with 1 Corinthians xi. 4, 5 : 
 / "Every man praying or prophesying, having his head 
 covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman 
 that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered, 
 dishonoureth her head; for that is all one as if she were 
 shaven," etc. " The character," says a talented writer, 
 " of the prophesying here referred to by the Apostle 
 is defined 1 Corinthians xiv. 3, 4, and 31st verses. 
 The reader will see that it was directed to the 
 edification, exhortation, and comfort of believers ; 
 and the result anticipated was the conviction of 
 unbelievers and unlearned persons. Such were the 
 ,.- public services of women which the Apostle allowed, 
 ^ and such was the ministry of females predicted by the 
 -- prophet Joel, and described as a leading feature of the 
 Gospel dispensation. Women who speak in assemblies 
 for worship under the influence of the Holy Spirit, 
 assume thereby no personal authority over others; 
 they simply deliver the messages of the Gospel, which 
 
FrmaJr Miuisfry. 137 
 
 imply obedience, subjection, and responsibility, rather 
 than authority and power." Dr. A. Cla»'ke, on this 
 verse, says, " Whatever may be the meaning of 
 praying and prophesying in respect to the man, they 
 have precisely the same meaning in respect to the 
 woman ! So that some women at least, as well as some 
 men, might speak to others to edilication, exhortation, 
 and comfort. And this kind of prophesying or 
 teaching was predicted by Joel ii. 28, and referred to 
 by Peter (Acts ii. 17). And had there not been such 
 .gifts bestowed on woman, the prophesy could not have 
 ' ,had its fulfilment. The only difference marked by the 
 Apostle was, the man had his head uncovered, because 
 he was the the representative of Christ; the woman 
 had hers covered, because she was placed by the order 
 of God in subjection to the man ; and because it was 
 the custom both among Grreeks and Romans, and 
 among the Jews an express law that no woman should 
 be seen abroad without a veil. This was and is the 
 y^ custom through all the East, and none but public prosti- 
 tutes go without veils ; if a woman should a2:)pear in 
 public without a veil, she would dishonour Iter head 
 — her husband. And she must appear like those 
 women who have their hair shaven off as tho 
 punishment of adultery." See also Doddridge, Whitby, 
 and Cobbin. 
 
 We think that the view above given is the only fair 
 
 and common-sense interpretation of this passage. If 
 
 ^Paul does not here recognise the fact that women did 
 
 /actually pray and prophesy in the primitive Churches, 
 
 y his language has no meaning at all ; and if he does not 
 
 recognise their right to do so by dictating the 
 
 proprieties of their appearance while so engaged, we 
 
 10 
 
138 Female Ministry. 
 
 ^leave to objectors the task of educing any sense 
 ^whatever from his language. If, according to the 
 logic of Dr. Barnes, the Apostle here, in arguing 
 against an improper and indecorous mode of perfor- 
 mance, forbids the performance itself, the prohibition 
 extends to the onen as well as to the women ; for Paul 
 as expressly reprehends a man praying with his head 
 covered, as he does a woman with hers uncovered. 
 With as much force might the Doctor assert that in 
 reproving the same Church for their improper celebration 
 of the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. xi. 20, 21), Paul prohibits 
 all Christians, in every age, celebrating it at all." 
 " The question with the Corinthians was not whether 
 or not the woman should pra,y or prophesy at all ; that 
 question had been settled on the day of Pentecost ; 
 but whether, as a matter of convenience, they might 
 do so without their veils." The Apostle kindly and 
 clearly explains that by the law of nature and of 
 society it would be improper to uncover her head while 
 engaged in acts of public worship. We think that 
 the reflections cast on these women by Dr. Barnes and 
 other commentators are quite gratuitous and uncalled 
 for. Here is no intimation that they ever had 
 uncovered their heads while so engaged ; the fairest 
 presumption is that they had not, nor ever would till 
 they knew the Apostle's mind on the subject. We 
 have precisely the same evidence that the men prayed 
 and preached with their hats on, as that women 
 removed their veils, and wore their hair dishevelled, 
 which is simply none at all. We cannot but regard it 
 as a signal evidence of tlie power of prejudice, that a 
 man of Dr. Barnes's general clearness and acumen 
 should condescend to treat this passage in the manner 
 
Female Ministry. 189 
 
 he does. The Doctor evidently feels the imtenableness 
 of his position ; and endeavours, by muddling two 
 passages of distinct and different bearing, to annihilate 
 the argument fairly deducible from the first. We 
 would like to ask the Doctor on what authority he 
 makes such an exception as the following ; " But this 
 cannot be interpreted as meaning that it is improper 
 for females to speak or pray in meetings of their own 
 sex." Indeed but according to the most reliable 
 \^statistics we possess, two-thirds of the whole Church is, 
 and always has been, composed of their own sex. If, 
 then, " no rule of the New Testament is more positive 
 than this, viz., that women are to keep silence in the 
 Churches," on whose authority does the Doctor license^ 
 them to speak to by far the larger portion of the -^ 
 Church ? 
 
 A barrister writing to us on the above passage, says, 
 " Paul here takes for granted that women were in the 
 habit of praying and prophesying ; he expresses no 
 surprise nor utters a syllable of censure ; he was only 
 anxious that they should not provoke unnecessary 
 obloquy by laying aside their customary head-dress 
 or departing from the dress which was an indicative 
 of modesty in the country in which they lived. This 
 passage seems to prove beyond the possibility of dispute 
 that in the early times women were permitted to speak 
 to the ' edification and comfort ' of Christians, and that 
 the Lord graciously endowed them with grace and gifts 
 for this service. What He did then, may He not be doing 
 now ? It seems truly astonishing that Bible students, 
 with the second chapter of the Acts before them, 
 should not see that an imperative decree has gone 
 forth from Cfod, the execution of which women cannot 
 
uv[A*^u\4^a^ii:4 Cf>tyWf (AAt^i 
 
 ^ ^^^-^(^tp4d^ 
 
 140 Female Minlsfri/. 
 
 escape ; whether they like or not, they ' slialV 
 prophesy throughout the whole course of this dispensa- 
 tion ; and they have been doing so, though they and 
 their blessed labours are not much noticed." 
 
 Well, but say our objecting friends, hear what Paul 
 says in another place : — " Let your women keep silence 
 in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to 
 speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, 
 as also saith the law. And if they will learn* anything, y 
 let them ask their husbands at home ; for it is a shame 
 for women to speak in the Church" (1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35). 
 Now let it be borne in mind this is the same Apostle, 
 writing to the same Church, as in the above instance. 
 Will any one maintain that Paul here refers to the 
 same kind of speaking as before ? If so, we insist 
 on his supplying us with some rule of interpretation 
 which will harmonise this unparalled contradiction and 
 absurdity. Taking the simple and common-sense 
 view of the two passages, viz., that one refers to the 
 devotional and religious exercises in the Church, and 
 the other to inconvenient asking of questions, and 
 imprudent or ignorant talking, there is no contradiction 
 or discrepancy, no straining or twisting of either. ' If, 
 on the other hand, we assume that the Apostle refers 
 in both instances to the same thing, we make him in 
 one page give the most explicit directions how a thing 
 shall be performed, which in a page or two further on, 
 
 * " Learninfj anything by asking their husbands at home," cannot 
 mean preaching, which is not learning. \n\t tcac/iinf/ the way of God. 
 It cannot mean being inspired liy the Holy Ghost to foretell future 
 events. No woman, having either tauglit or prophesied, would have 
 to ask her husband at home before she knew what she had done, or 
 understood what she had said. Such women would Ije only rit to 
 " learn in silence with all subjection." The reference is evidently to 
 subjects vndrr dehnte. 
 
Female Minisfn/. 141 
 
 aud writing to tlie same Church, he expressly forbids 
 being performed at all. We admit that " it is a shame 
 for women to speak in the Church," in the sense here 
 intended by the Apostle; but before the argument 
 based on these words can be deemed of any worth, 
 objectors must prove that the "speaking" here is 
 synonymous with that concerning the manner of which 
 the Apostle legislates in 1 Corinthians xi. Dr. A. 
 Clarke, on this passage, says, " According to the 
 
 ^prediction of Joel, the Spirit of Grod was to be poured 
 out on the women as well as the men, that theij might 
 prophesy, that is, teach. And that they did prophesy 
 or teach is evident from what tlie Apostle says ( 1 Cor. 
 xi.), where he lays down rules to regulate this part of 
 their conduct while ministering in the Church. All 
 that the Apostle opposes here is their questioning, 
 
 y finding fault, dispiding, etc., in the Christian Church, 
 as the Jewish men were permitted to do in their 
 synagogues (see Luke ii. 46); together with attempts 
 to usurp authority over men by setting up their 
 judgment in opposition to them; for the Apostle has 
 reference to acts of disobedience and arrogance, of 
 which no woman would be guilty who was under the 
 influence of the Spirit of God. 
 
 The Rev. J. H, Robinson, writing on this passage, 
 remarks: "The silence imposed here must be explained 
 by the verb, to speak {XaKelv), used afterwards. What- 
 ever that verb means in this verse, I admit and believe 
 the women were forbidden to do in the Church. But 
 what does it mean ? It is used nearly three hundred 
 times in the New Testament, and scarcely any verb is 
 used with so great a variety of adj uncts. In Schleusners 
 Lexicon, its meaning is traced under seventeen distinct 
 
142 Female Ministry. 
 
 beads, and he occupies two full pages of the book 
 in explaining it. Among other meanings be gives 
 respondeo, rationein reddo, prcmipio, jubeo ; I answer, 
 I return a reason, I give rule or precept, I order, 
 decree." In Rohinsoii's Lexicon (Bloomfield's edition), 
 two pages nearly are occupied with tiie explanation of 
 this word; and he gives instances of its meaning, "as 
 modified by the context, where the sense lies, not so 
 much in XaXdv (lalein) as in the adjuncts." The 
 
 I'ASSAGE UNDER CONSIDERATION IS ONE OF THOSE TO 
 WHICH HE REFERS AS BEING SO "MODIFIED BY THE 
 
 CONTEXT." Greenfield gives, with others, the following 
 meanings of the word: "to prattle — be loquacious as 
 a child ; to speak in ansiver — to answer, as in John 
 xix. 10 ; harangue, jjlead, Acts ix. 29 ; xxi. To direct, 
 command. Acts iii. 22." In Liddel and Scotfs Lexicon, 
 the following meanings are given : to chatter, babble ; 
 of birds, to twitter, chirp; strictly, to make an 
 inarticulate sound, opposed to articulate speech : but 
 also generally, to talk, say. 
 
 " It is clear then that XaXelv may mean something 
 different from mere speaking, and that to use this 
 word in a proliibition does not imply that absolute 
 silence or abstinence from speaking is enjoined, but, 
 on the contrary, that the proliibition applies to an 
 improper kind of sjieaking which is to be understood, 
 not from the word itself, but, as Mr. Robinson says, 
 from ' the context.' Now, ' the context ' shows that it 
 was not silence which was imposed upon women in the 
 Church, but only a refraining from such speaking as 
 was inconsistent with tlie words, 'they are commanded 
 to be under obedience,' or, more literally, ' to be 
 obedient : ' that is, they were to refrain from such 
 
l''3vml(' Afiiilstfi/. 1'!.") 
 
 questionings^ dpgnigtical assertions, and disputations' 
 as would bring ihcin into collision with the men — as 
 would ruffle their tempers, and occasion an unamiable 
 volubility of speech. This kind of speaking, and this 
 alone, as it appears to me, was forbidden by the 
 Apostle in the passage before us. This kind of 
 speaking was the only snpposable antagonist to, and 
 violation of, 'obedience.' Absolute silence was not 
 essential to that ' obedience.' My studies in ' Bible 
 Criticism,' &c., have not informed me that a woman 
 must cease to speak before she can obey ; and I am 
 therefore led to the irresistible conclusion that it is 
 not all speaking in the Church which the Apostle 
 forbids, and which he pronounces to be shameful ; but, 
 on the contrary, a pertinacious, inquisitive, domineer- 
 ing, dogmatical kind of speaking, which, while it is 
 unbecoming in a onan, is shameful and odious in a 
 moman, and especially when that woman is in the 
 Church, and is speaking on the deep things of religion." 
 Parkhurst is his lexicon, tells us that the Greek 
 word "'lalein,' which our translation renders speak, 
 is not the word used in Greek to signify to speak 
 with premeditation and prudence, but is the word 
 used to signify to speak imprudently and without 
 consideration, and is that applied to one who lets his 
 tongue run but does not speak to the purpose, but 
 says nothing." Now unless Parkinson is utterly wrong 
 in his Greek, which it is apprehended no one will 
 venture to affirm, Paul's fulmination is not launched 
 ^ against speech with premeditation and prudence, but 
 ^against speech devoid of these qualities. It would be 
 ^well if all speakers of the male as well as the female 
 /sex were obedient to this rule. 
 
144 Female Ministry. 
 
 We think that with the light cast on this text b} 
 the four eminent Greek scholars above quoted, there 
 can be no doubt in any un})rejudiced mind as to the 
 true meaning of "lalein" in this connection. And we 
 find from Church history that the primitive Christians 
 thus understood it, for that women did actually speak 
 and preach amongst them we have indisputable proof. 
 
 God had promised in the last days to pour out His 
 Spirit upon all flesh, and that the datujliters, as well as 
 the sons of mankind, should prophesy. And Peter 
 says most emphatically, respecting the outpouring of 
 the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, " This is that 
 which is spoken of hy the prophet Joel" &c. (Acts ii. 
 16-18). Words more explicit, and an application of 
 prophesy more direct than this, does not occur within 
 the range of the New Testament. 
 
 Commentators say, " If women have the gift of 
 prophesy, they must not use that gift in public." 
 ^-But God says, by His prophet Joel, they shall use it, 
 just in the same sense as the sons use it. When the 
 dictation of men so flatly opposes the express declara- 
 tion of the " sure word of projihesy," we make no 
 apology for its uller and indignant rejection. 
 
 Presbuteros, a talented writer of the Protestant 
 Electoral Union, in his reply to a priest of Eome,* 
 says : — 
 
 " Habituated for ages, as men had been, to the 
 diabolical teaching and delusions practised upon them 
 by the Papal 'priesthood,' it was difficult for them 
 
 * We strongly cominond this jiiiiiiphlct to the peTnsal of our 
 readers It (ontains iimrh \nliial)lc iiiforiinuhm as to the ()ri;:iii of 
 much of tlie, I\)]iis!i nonsense of cmr times. Published by tlie 
 rrotestiiTit Electoral Union, 14, Ta\iBtock Street, Coveut (iarden. 
 ]'rice G.l. 
 
Female Minidry. 145 
 
 when they did get possession of the Scriptures to 
 
 discern therein the plain fact, that among the primitive 
 
 ^Christians preaching was not confined to men; but 
 
 ^that women also, gifted with power by the Holy 
 
 ^Spirit, preached the Gospel ; and hence the slowness 
 
 /-with which, even at the present time, this truth 
 
 has been admitted by those giving heed to the 
 
 Word of Gfod, and especially those setting themselves 
 
 up as a ' priesthood ' or a 'clergy.' Grod had, according 
 
 to His promise, on the day of Pentecost poured out His 
 
 Holy Spirit upon believers — men and women, old and 
 
 young — that they should prophesy, and they did so. 
 
 The prophesying spoken of was not the foretelling of 
 
 events, but the preaching to the world at large the 
 
 glad tidings of salvation by Jesus Christ. For this 
 
 purpose it pleased God to make use of tvomen as well 
 
 as men. It is ])lainly the duty of every Christian to 
 
 insist upon the fulfilment of the will of God, and the 
 
 abrogation of every single thing inconsistent therewith. 
 
 ^1 would draw attention to the fact that Phebe, a 
 
 Christian woman whom we find in our version of the 
 
 ^^Scripture (Eom. xvi. 1) spoken of only as any common 
 
 servant attached to a congregation, was nothing less 
 
 than one of those gifted by the Holy Spirit for 
 
 publishing the glad tidings, or preaching the Gosjjel. 
 
 The manner iii which the Apostle (whose only care was 
 
 the propagation of evangelical truth) speaks of her, 
 
 ^ shows that she was what he in Greek styled her, a 
 
 ^deacon (diaconon) or preacher of the word. Other 
 
 translators speak of her (because she was a vjoirian) 
 
 xonly as 'a servant of the Cliurch which is at Cenchrea.' 
 
 ^Tlie men 'deacons' they styled ministers, but a woman 
 
 on the same level as themselves would be an anomaly. 
 
14() Female Ministry. 
 
 and therefore she was to be only the servant of men 
 ministers, who, in the Popish sense, constituted the 
 Church!" The Apostle says of her — "I command 
 
 / unto jou Phebe our sister, who is a minister (diaconon) 
 
 ^' of the Church which is at Cenchrea : that ye receive 
 
 - her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist 
 
 her in whatever business she hath need of you." To 
 
 the common sense of disinterested minds it will be 
 
 evident that the Apostle could not have requested more 
 
 ^^or any one of the most zealous of men preachere than 
 he did for Phebe ! They were to assist " her in what- 
 ever business she" might require their aid. Hence we 
 
 ydiscem that she had no such trifling position in the 
 
 ^primitive Church as at the present time episcopal 
 dignitaries attach to deacons and deaconesses ! Observe, 
 the same Greek word is used to designate her that was 
 applied to all the Apostles and to Jesus Himself. For 
 example : " Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister 
 (diaconon) of the circumcision " (Rom. xv. 8). " Who 
 then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers 
 (diaconoi) by whom ye believed" (1 Cor. iii. 5). " Our 
 sufficiency is of Grod ; who also hath made us able 
 ministers (diaconous) of the new testament " 
 (2 Cor. iii. 6). "In all things approving ourselves as 
 the ministers (diaconoi) of God " (vi. 4). The idea of 
 a woman deacon in the " three orders ! " — it was 
 intolerable, therefore let her be a " servant." Theodoret 
 ' however says, "The fame of Phebe was spoken of 
 
 .' throughout the world. She was known not only to the 
 ,^ Greeks and Romans, but also to tlie Barbarians," which 
 
 .implies that she had travelled much, and propagated 
 . the Gospel in foreign countries. See Dodbridge, Cobbin, 
 and Wesley, on this passage. 
 
Female I\l(itn-trij. 14 7 
 
 " Salute Andronicus and Jimia, my kinsmen and my 
 
 fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the Apostles; 
 
 who also vrere in Christ before me " (Rom. x^. 7). By 
 
 the word '"kinsmen" one would take Junia to have 
 
 l)een a man ; but Chrysostom and Theophylaet, who 
 
 were both Greeks, and consequently knew their mother 
 
 tongue better than our translators, say Junia was a 
 
 ivoman. " Kinsmen " should therefore have been rendered 
 
 " kinsfolk ; " but with our translators it was out of all 
 
 character to have a woman of note amongst the 
 
 Apostles, and a fellow-prisoner with Paul for the Grospel : 
 
 therefore let tJi.eyii be kinsmen \ - •- V^ -'^ 
 
 Justin Martyr, who lived till about a.d. 150, says, in 
 
 , ' his dialogue with Trypho, the Jew, "that both men and 
 
 ^women were seen among them who had the extraordinary 
 
 /gifts of the Spirit of Grod, according as the prophet Joel 
 
 . had foretold, by which he endeavoured to convince the 
 
 ^^Jews that the latter days were come." 
 
 Dodwell, in his dissertations of Irenaeus says, " that 
 
 the gift of the spirit of prophesy was given to others 
 
 besides the Apostles : and that not only in first and 
 
 second, but in the third century — even to the time of 
 
 ^Constantine — all sorts and ranks of men had these 
 
 /gifts ; yea, and tuonien too." 
 
 Eusebius speaks of Potoraania Ammias, a prophetess, 
 in Philadelphia, and others, " who were equally 
 distinguished for their love and zeal in the cause of 
 Christ." 
 
 " The scriptural idea," says Mrs. Palmer, " of the 
 terms preach and prophesy, stands so inseparably 
 connected as one and the same thing, that we should 
 find it difficult to get aside from the fact that women 
 did preach, or, in other words, prophesy, in the early 
 
148 Female MlnUtrtj. 
 
 ages of Christianity, and have continued to do so down 
 to the present time to just the degree that the spirit 
 of the Christian dispensation had been recognised. 
 And it is also a significant fact, that to the degree 
 denominations, who have once favoured the practice, 
 lose the freshness of their zeal, and as a consequence, 
 their primitive simplicity, and, as ancient Israel, yield 
 to a desire to be like surrounding communities, in a 
 corresponding ratio are the labours of females 
 discountenanced." 
 
 If any one still insists on a literal application of this 
 text, we beg to ask how he disposes of the preceding 
 part of the chapter where it occurs. Surely, if one 
 verse be so authoritative and binding, the whole chapter 
 is equally so ; and therefore, those who insist on a 
 literal application of the words of Paul, under all 
 circumstances and through all time, will be careful to 
 observe the Apostle's order of worship in their own 
 'congregations. But, we ask, where is the minister 
 /who lets his whole Church prophesy one by one, and 
 he himself sits still and listens while they are speaking, 
 so that all things may be done decently and in order ? 
 But Paul as expressly lays down this order as he does 
 the rule for women, and he adds, " The things that I 
 write unto you are the commandments of the Lord "' 
 (ver. 37). Why then do not ministers abide by these 
 directions ? We antici})a.te their reply — " liecause 
 these directions were given to the Corinthians as 
 temporary arrangements ; and, though they were the 
 commandments of the Lord to them at that time, they 
 do not .•ii)[)ly to all Christians in all times." Indeed ; 
 but unfortunalt'ly for their argument, the prohibition 
 of v.'omen speaking v\v\\ if it meant what they wish, 
 
Fnrinle Mhiistrj/. 149 
 
 was given amongst those very directions, and to the 
 Corinthians only : for it reads, " Let your women keep 
 silence," t^c. ; and for aught this passage teaches to 
 the contrary. Christian women of all other Churches 
 might do what these women were forbidden to do; 
 until, therefore, learned divines make a personal 
 application of the rest of the chapter, they must excuse 
 us declining to do so of the ^th verse ; and we 
 challenge them to show any breach of the Divine law 
 in one case more than the other. 
 
 Another passage frequently cited as prohibitory of 
 female labour in the Church, is 1 Timothy ii. 12, 13. 
 Though we have never met with the slightest proof that 
 this text has any reference to the public exercises of 
 women ; nevertheless, as it is often quoted, we will 
 give it a fair and thorough examination. " It is 
 primarily an injunction," says the Rev. J. H. Robinson, 
 " respecting her personal behaviour at home. It stands 
 in connection with precepts respecting her apparel and 
 her domestic position ; especially her relation to her 
 husband. No one will su])pose that the Apostle forbids 
 a woman to ' teach ' absolutely and universally. Even 
 objectors would allow her to teach her own sex in 
 private ; they would let her teach her servants and 
 children, and, perhaps, her husband too. If he were 
 ignorant of the Saviour, might she not teach him the 
 way to Christ ? If she were acquainted with languages, 
 arts, or sciences, which he did not know, might she not 
 teach him these things ? Certainly she might ! The 
 ' teaching,' therefore which is forbidden by the Apostle, 
 is not every kind of teaching any more than, in the 
 previous instance, his prohibition of speaking applied 
 to every kind of speaking in the Church ; but it 
 
150 Female Ministrj/. 
 
 is such teaching as is domineering, and as involves 
 the usurpation of authority over the man. This is 
 the only teaching forbidden by St. Paul in the jjassage 
 under consideration." 
 
 " If this passage be not a prohibition of every kind 
 of teaching, we can only ascertain what kind of 
 teaching is forbidden by the modifying expressions 
 
 ^with which didaskein stands associated : and for 
 anything these modifying expressions affirm to the 
 contrary, her teaching may be piiblic, reiterated, 
 urgent, and may comprehend a variety of subjects, 
 provided it be not dictatorial, domineering, nor 
 vociferous; for then, and then only, would it be 
 incompatible with her obedience." 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Taft says, "This passage should be 
 rendered ' I suffer not a woman to teach by usurping 
 authority over the man.' This rendering removes all 
 the difficukies and contradictions involved in the 
 ordinary reading, and evidently gives the meaning of 
 the Aj)ostle." " If the nature of society," says the 
 same writer, " its good and prosperity, in which 
 women are jointly and equally concerned with men ; 
 if in many cases their fitness and capacity for 
 instructors, being admitted to be equal to the other 
 sex, be not reasons sufficient to convince the candid 
 reader of woman's right to preach and teach because 
 of two texts in Paul's epistles, let him consult the 
 
 ^paraphrase of Locke, where he has proved to a 
 . demonstration that the Apostle, in these texts, never 
 intended to prohibit women from praying and })reach- 
 ing in the Church, provided they were dressed as 
 became women professing godliness, and were qualified 
 for the sacred office." 
 
Female Miiiisfri/. ];■)! 
 
 " It will be found," says another writer, " by an 
 examination of this text witli its connections, that the 
 teaching here alluded to stands in necessary connection 
 with usurping authority, as though the Apostle had- 
 said, the Gospel does not alter rhe relation of women 
 in view of priority, for Adam was first formed, then 
 Eve." 
 
 / " This prohibition," says the before-named barrister, 
 -" refers exclusively to the private life and domestic 
 character of woman, and simply means that an 
 ignorant or unruly woman is not to force her opinions 
 on the man whether he will or no. It has no reference 
 whatever to good women living in obedience to God 
 . and their husbands, or to women sent out to preach 
 the Gospel by the call of the Holy Spirit." 
 
 If the context is allowed to iix the meaning of 
 didaskein in this text, as it would be in any other, 
 there can be no doubt in any honest mind that the 
 above is the only consistent interpretation ; and if it 
 be, then this prohibition has no bearing whatever on the 
 religious exercises of women led and taught by the 
 Spirit of God : and we cannot forbear asking on whose 
 f,^;^/^^^x^kirts the mischief resulting from the false application 
 HiMt^ ''of this text will be found ? Thank God the day is 
 dawning with respect to this subject. Women are 
 studying and investigating for themselves. They are 
 claiming to be recognised as responsible beings, 
 answerable to God for their convictions of duty ; and, 
 urged by the Divine Spirit they are overstepping those 
 unscriptural barriers which the Church has so long 
 reared against its performance. 
 
 "Whether the Church will allow women to speak in 
 her assemblies can only be a question of time ; 
 
L/k}o U'l /' s ^ /^^.t '1 ^2^/vA^ ^ ^ 5^ ^^ 
 152 > r- -'Female Ministry. x-iJ /// 
 
 common sense, public opinion, and the olessed results 
 of female agency will force her to give us an honest 
 and impartial rendering of the solitary text on which 
 -she grounds her prohibitions. Then, when the true 
 light shines and Grod's works take the place of man's 
 traditions, the doctor of divinity who shall teach that 
 Paul commands woman to be silent when God's Spirit 
 urges her to speak, will be regarded much the same as 
 we should regard an astronomer who should teach that 
 the sun is the earth's satellite. 
 
 Another argument urged against female preaching 
 is, that it is unnecessary ; that there is plenty of 
 scope for her efforts in private, in visiting the sick 
 and poor and working for the temporalities of the 
 Church. Doubtless woman ought to be thankful for 
 any sphere for benefiting her race and glorifying Grod. 
 But we cannot be blind to the supreme selfishness of 
 making her so welcome to the hidden toil and 
 self-sacrifice, the hewing of wood and the drawing of 
 water, the watching and waiting, the reproach and 
 persecution attaching to her Master's service, without 
 allowing her a tittle of the honour which He has attached 
 to the ministration of His Grospel. Here, again, man's 
 theory and Gfod's order are at variance. God says, 
 *' Tliem that honour Me I will honour." Our Lord 
 links the joy with the suffering, the glory with the 
 shame, the exultation with the humiliation, the crown 
 with the cross, the finding of life with the losing of it. 
 Nor did He manifest any such horror at female 
 publicity in His cause, as many of His professed people 
 appear to entertain in these days. We have nc^. 
 intimation of His I'eproving the Samaritan woman fov 
 her public ])roclamati(m of Him to her countrymen ; nor ^ 
 
Female Mmhfrn. 153 
 
 of His rebuking the women who followed Him amidst a 
 taunting mob on His way to the cross. And yet, 
 surely, 'privacy was their proper sphere. On one 
 occasion He did say, with reference to a woman, 
 " Verily, I say mito you, wheresoever this Gospel shall 
 be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, 
 that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of 
 her" (Matt. xxvi. 13 ; see also Luke vii. 37-50). 
 
 As to the obligation devolving on woman to labour 
 
 for her Master, I presume there will be no controversy. 
 
 The particular sphere in which each individual shall do 
 
 this must be dictated by the teachings of the Holy 
 
 Spirit and the gifts with which God has endowed her. 
 
 If she have the necessary gifts, and feels herself called 
 
 , by the Spirit to preach, there is not a single word in 
 
 .'the whole book of God to restrain her, but many, very 
 
 y many, to urge and encourage her. God says she shall 
 
 do so, and Paul prescribed the manner in which she 
 
 shall do it, and Phebe, Junia, Philip's four daughters, - 
 
 and many other women, actually did preach and speak 
 
 in the primitive Churches. If this had not been the 
 
 .-case, there would have been less freedom under the new 
 
 than under the old dispensation, a greater paucity of 
 
 gifts and agencies under the Spirit than under the law, 
 
 fewer labourers when more work to be done. Instead of 
 
 the destruction of caste and division between the 
 
 priesthood and the people, and the setting up of a 
 
 spiritual kingdom in which all true believers were " kings 
 
 ^ and ]_)riest s unto God," the division would have been 
 
 more stringent and the disabilities of the common people 
 
 greater. "Whereas we are told again and again in effect, 
 
 that in " Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free, 
 
 male nor female , but ye are all one in Christ Jesus." 
 
lo4 FcinaTc Miin'sii-if. 
 
 We commend a few passages bearing on the 
 ministrations of women under the old dispensation to 
 the careful considerations of our readers. "And 
 Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Ijapidoth, she 
 judged Israel at that time," etc. (Jud. iv. 4-10). 
 There are two particulars in this passage worthy of 
 note. P'irst, the authority of Deliorah as a prophetess, 
 or revealer of God's will to Israel, was acknowledged 
 and submitted to as implicitly as in the cases of the 
 male judges who succeeded her. Secondly, she is 
 made the military head of ten thousand men, Barak 
 refusing to go to battle without her. 
 
 Again, in 2 Kings xxii. 12-20, we have an account of 
 
 the king sending the high-priest, the scribe, etc., to 
 
 Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, who dwelt 
 
 at Jerusalem, in the college, to enquire at her mouth 
 
 the will of God in reference to the book of the law which 
 
 had been found in the House of the Lord. The 
 
 .-authority and dignity of Huldah's message to the king 
 
 ^does not betray anything of that trembling diffidence 
 
 ■ or abject servility which some persons seem to think 
 
 should characterise the religious exercises of woman. 
 
 She answers him as the prophetess of the I/ord, having 
 
 the signet of the Kingr of kinirs attached to her 
 
 utterances. 
 
 " The Lord gave the word, and groat was the 
 company of those that published it" (Ps. Ixviii. 11). 
 _^In the original Hebrew it is, 'Kireat was the com])any 
 ^ of women publishers, or women evangelists."' Grotiiis 
 explains this ])assage, "The Lord shall give the word, 
 that is plentiful matter of si)eaking; so that he v>oiild 
 call those whicli follow the great army oT ])r!'acji!ug 
 women, victories, or female concjuerors." Huw co.ues 
 
Female Ministry. 15.'> 
 
 ^it that the feminine word is actually excluded in this 
 /^text ? That it is there as plainly as any other word 
 ^no Hebrew scholar will deny. It is too much to 
 ' assume that as our translators could not alter it, as 
 they did " Diaconon " when applied to Phebe, they 
 ,. preferred to leave it out altogether rather than give a 
 ^prophesy so unpalatable to their prejudice. ^ But the 
 Lord gives the word, and He will choose whom He 
 pleases to publish it, notwithstanding the condemna- 
 tion of translators and divines. 
 
 "For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, 
 and redeemed thee out of the house of servants ; and 
 - 1 sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miria m " (Mic. 
 vi. 4). 
 
 God here classes Miriam with Moses and Aaron, and 
 declares that He sent her before His people. We fear ■ 
 that had some of our friends been men of Israel at that 
 time, they would have disputed such a leadership. 
 
 In the light of such passages as these, who will 
 dare to dispute the fact that God did under the old 
 dispensation endue His handmaidens with the gifts and 
 calling of prophets ansv*ering to our present idea of 
 preachers. Strange indeed would it be if under the 
 fulness of the Gospel dispensation, there were nothing 
 analogous to this, but " positive and explicit rules," to 
 prevent any approximation thereto. We are thankful 
 to find, however, abundant evidence that the* " spirit 
 ,^ of prophesy which is the testimony of Jesus," was 
 poured out on the female as fully as on the male 
 disciple, and " His daughters and His handmaidens '' 
 prophesied. We commend the following text's from 
 the New Testament to the caicTul consideration of our 
 readers. 
 
1,56 Female Ministry. 
 
 " And she (Anna) was a widow of about fonrscore 
 and four years, which departed not from the temple, 
 but served God with fastings and prayers night and 
 day. And she coming in at that instant, gave thanks 
 likewise unto the Lord, and spake of Him to all them 
 that looked for redemption in Jerusalem " ( Luke ii. 
 37, 38). Can any one explain wherein this exercise 
 of Anna's differed from that of Simeon, recorded just 
 before ? It was in the same public place, the temple. 
 It was during the same service. It was equally public, 
 for she " spake of Him to all who looked for redemption 
 in Jerusalem " (see Watson on this passage). 
 
 Jesus said to the two Mary's, " All hail ! And 
 they came and held Him by the feet, and worshipped 
 Him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: 
 go, tell my brethren that they go before me into 
 Galilee " (^latt. xxviii. 9, 10). There are two or three 
 points in this beautiful narrative to which we wish to 
 call the attention of our readers. 
 
 First, it was the ji,rst announcement of the glorious 
 news to a lost world and a company of forsaking 
 disciples. Second, it was as public as the nature of 
 the case demanded ; and intended ultimately to be 
 published to the ends of the earth. Third, Mary was 
 expressly commissioned to rexeal the fact to the 
 ''Apostles ; and thus she literally became their teacher 
 X on that memorable occasion. Oh, glorious privilege, 
 to be allowed to herald the glad tidings of a Sa\iour 
 risen ! How could it be that our Lord chose a woman 
 to this honour ? Well, one reason might be that the 
 male disciples were all missing at the time. They all 
 forsook Him and fled. But woman was there, as she 
 
Female Ministry. 157 
 
 had ever been, ready to minister to her risenj as to 
 her dying, Lord — 
 
 " Not she with traitorous lips her Saviour stung ; 
 Not she denied Ilim with unholy tongue ; 
 She, whilst Apostles shrunk, could danger brave ; 
 Last at the cross, and earliest at the grave." 
 
 But, surely, if the dignity of our Lord or His message 
 ■were Kkely to be imperilled by committing this sacred 
 trust to a woman. He who was guarded by legions of 
 angels could have commanded another messenger ; 
 but, as if intent on doing her honour and rewarding 
 her unwavering fidelity. He reveals Himself first to 
 her ; and, as an evidence that He had taken out of the 
 way the curse under which she had so long groaned, 
 nailing it to His cross, He makes her who had been 
 first in the transgression, first also in the glorious 
 knowledge of complete redemption. 
 
 "Acts i. 14, and ii. 1, 4. We are in the first of 
 these passages expressly told that the women were 
 assembled with the disciples on the day of Pentecost ; 
 and in the second, that the cloven tongues sat upon 
 them each, and the Holy Ghost filled them all., and 
 they spake as the Spirit gave them utterance. It is 
 nothing to the point to argue that the gift of tongues 
 was a miraculous gift, seeing that the Spirit was 
 the primary bestowment. The tongues were only 
 emblematical of the office which the Spirit was 
 henceforth to sustain to His people. The Spirit was 
 ^ given alike to the female as to the male disciple, and 
 -^.- this is cited by Peter (16, 1^, as a peculiar speciality 
 of the latter dispensation. What a remarkable device 
 of the Devil that he has so long succeeded in hiding 
 this characteristic of the latter day glory! He knows,- 
 
\^ j-^Jemale Mtntstry. 
 
 v.hetljcr tlie Charch //does or not, how eminently 
 detrimental to the inte*rests of liis kingdom have been 
 the religious labours of woman ; and while her Seed 
 has mortally bruised his head, he ceases not to bruise 
 her heel ; but the time of her deliverance draweth 
 nigh. 
 
 "Philip the Evangelist had four daughters, 
 VIRGINS, which did PROPHESY" (Acts xxi. 9). From 
 
 EUSEBIUS, THE ANCIENT ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORIAN, WE 
 LEARN THAT PhILIP'S DAUGHTERS LIVED TO A GOOD OLD 
 
 age, always abounding in the work of the lord. 
 " Mighty luminaries," he writes, " have fallen 
 ASLEEP IN Asia. Philip, and two of his virgin 
 
 daughters, SLEEP AT HiERAPOLlS ; THE OTHER, AND 
 THE BELOVED DISCIPLE, JOHN, REST AT EpHESUS." 
 
 " And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those 
 women which laboured with me in the Gospel, with 
 Clement also, and with other my fellow-lubourers " 
 (Phil. iv. 3). ^ 
 
 / This is a recognition of female labourers, not con- 
 ■^.- ceming the Gospel but in the Gospel, whom Paul 
 classes with Clement, and other his fellow-labourers. 
 Precisely the same terms are applied to Timotheus, 
 v/hom Paul styles a " minister of God, and his fellow- 
 labourer in the Gospel of Christ " (1 Thess. iii. 2). 
 
 Again, " Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in 
 Christ Jesus ; who have fur my life laid down their 
 own necks ; unto v>^hom not only I give thanks, but 
 all the Churches of the Gentiles " (Kom. xvi. 3, 4). 
 
 The WORD rendered helpers means a fellow- 
 
 LABOURER, ASSOCIATE, COADJUTOR,* WORKING TOGETHER, 
 
 AN ASSISTANT, A JOINT T ABOURFR, A COLLEAGUE.f 1N 
 
 * Greenlield. r i^unbur. 
 
Female Miui.sfri/. 15!) 
 
 THE Xew Testament spoken ONLY ()F A CO- 
 WOEKER, helper in a Chkistian work, that is of 
 Christian teachers. X How can these terms, with 
 
 ANY SHOW OF CONSISTENCY, BE MADE TO APPLY MERELY 
 TO THE EXERCISE OF HOSPITALITY TOWARDS TPIE APOSTLE, 
 OR THE DUTY OF PRIVATE VISITATION. To BE A PARTNER, 
 COADJUTOR, OR JOINT WORKER WITH A PREACHER OF 
 THE (tOSPEL, MUST BE SOMETHING MORE THAN TO BE 
 HIS WAITING-MAID. 
 
 Again, " Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour 
 in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which 
 laboured much in the Lord" (Rom. xvi. 12). Dr. 
 Clarke, on this verse, says, " Many have spent much 
 useless labour in endeavouring to prove that these 
 women did not preach. That there were i:)rophetesses 
 as well as prophets in the Church we learn, and that 
 a woman might pray or prophesy provided that she 
 had her head covered we know ; and, according to 
 St. Paul (1 Cor. xiv. 3), whoever prophesied spoke 
 unto others to edification, exhortation, and comfort, 
 and that no preacher can do more every person must 
 acknowledge. Because, to edify, exhort, and comfort, 
 are the prime ends of the Gospel ministry. If women- 
 -thus prophesied, then women preached." 
 
 " There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither 
 male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus " 
 (Gal. iii. 28). If this passage does not teach thac in 
 the privileges, duties, and responsibilities of Christ's 
 Kingdom, all differences of nation, caste, and sex are 
 abolished, we should like to know what it does teach, 
 and wherefore it was written. (See also 1 Cor. vii. 22.) 
 
 As we have before observed, the text, 1 Cor. xiv 34, 3o, 
 + Robiiisou. 
 
160 Female Miuistri/. 
 
 is the only one in the wliole Book of CtocI which even 
 bj a false translation can be made prohibitory of female 
 speaking in the church ; how comes it then, that by 
 this one isolated passage, which, according to our best 
 Grreek authorities,* is wrongly rendered and wrongly 
 applied, woman's lips have been sealed for centuries, 
 /'and the " testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of 
 ^prophesy," silenced, when bestowed on her ? How is 
 ^^t that this solitary text has been allowed to stand 
 unexamined and unexplained, nay, that learned com- 
 mentators who have known its true meaning as 
 perfectly as either Eobinson, Bloomfield, Greenfield, 
 Scott, Parkhurst, or Locke have upheld the delusion, 
 _-and enforced it as a Divine precept binding on all 
 , female disciples through all time ? Surely there 
 ^ must have been some unfaithfulness, "craftiness," and- 
 "^ " handling of the Word of Life deceitfully " somewhere.-- 
 Surely the love of caste and unscriptural jealousy for- 
 a separated priesthood has had something to do with 
 this anomaly. By this course divines and commenta- 
 tors have involved themselves in all sorts of incon- 
 sistencies and contradictions ; and worse, they have 
 ^* nullified some of the most precious promises of Grod's 
 Word. They have set the most explicit predictions of 
 prophesy at variance with apostolic injunctions, and 
 the most immediate and wonderful operations of the 
 Holy Grhost in direct opposition ''to positive, explicit, 
 and universal rules." 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, all (liis oppositioii to 
 
 female ministry on the part of those deemed authorities 
 
 in tlie Church, there have been some in all ages in 
 
 wluMu the Holy Ghost has wrought so mightily, that 
 
 * Disinterested witnesses every one will allow. 
 
Fn)uiJe Mhisfri/. 161 
 
 at the sacrifice of reputation and all things most dear, 
 they have been compelled to come out as witnesses for 
 Jesus and ambassadors of His Gospel. As a rule, these 
 women have been auKnigst the most devoted and self- 
 denying of the Lord's people, giving indisputable 
 evidence by the purity and beauty of their lives, that 
 they were led by the ISj)irit of God. Now, if the Word 
 of God forbids female ministry, we would ask how it 
 happens that so many of the most de\'oted hand- 
 maidens of the Lord have felt themselves constrained 
 ^by the Holy Ghost to exercise it ? .Surely there must 
 be some mistake somewhere, for the word and the 
 Spirit cannot contradict each other. Either the word 
 does not condenm women preaching, or these con- 
 fessedly holy women have been deceived. Will anyone 
 venture to assert tliat such women as Mrs. Elizabeth 
 PVy, Mrs. Fletcher of JMadeley, and ^Nlrs. Smith, have 
 been deceived with respect to their call to deliver the 
 Gospel messages to their fellow-creatures ? If not, 
 then God does not call and qualify women to preach, 
 and His Word, rightly understood, cannot forbid what 
 His Spirit enjoins. Further, it is a significant fact, 
 which we connnend to the consideration of all thought- 
 ful Christians, that the public ministry of women has 
 been eminently owned of God in the salvation of souls 
 and the edification of His people. Paul refers to 
 the fruits of his labours as evidence of his Divine 
 commission (1 Cor. ix. 2). "If I am not an Apostle 
 unto others, yet doubtless I am to you : for the seal 
 of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord." If this 
 criterion be allowed to settle the question respecting 
 woman's call to ])reach, we have no fear as to the 
 result. A few examples of the blessiug which has 
 
162 Femahi Miiiistrij. 
 
 attended the ministrations of females, may help to 
 throw some light on tliis matter of a Divine call. 
 
 At a missionary meeting held at Columbia, March 
 26th, 1824, the name of Mrs. Smith, of the Cape of 
 Good Hope, was brought before the meeting, when 
 Sir Eichard Otley, the cliairman, said, " The name of 
 Mrs. Smith has been justly celebrated by the religious 
 world and in the colony of the Cape of Crood Hope. 
 I heard a talented missionary state, that whei'ever he 
 went in that colony, at 600 or 1,000 miles from the 
 principal seat of government, among the natives of 
 Africa, and wherever he saw persons converted to 
 Christianity, the name of Mrs. Smith was hailed as 
 the person from whom they received their religious 
 impressions ; and although no less than ten missionaries, 
 all men of piety and industry, were stationed in that 
 settlement, the exertions of JNIrs. Smith alone were 
 more efficacious, and had been attended with greater 
 success, than the labours of those missionaries combined." 
 The Kev. J. Cam])bell, missionary to Africa, says, " So 
 extensive were the good effects of her pious exhorta- 
 tions, that on my first visit to the colony, wherever I 
 met with persons of evangelical piety, I generally 
 found that their first ini[)ressions of religion were 
 ascribed to Mrs. Smith." 
 
 :\Irs. Mary Taft, the talented lady of the Kev. Dr. 
 Taft, was another eminently successful labourer in 
 the Lord's vineyard. " H," says jAIrs. Palmer, " the 
 criterion by which we may judge of a Divine call to 
 proclaim salvation be by the proportion of fruit 
 gathered, then to the commission of JNIrs. Taft is 
 ap[)ended the Divine signature, to a degree pre- 
 eminently uiHuistakable. In reviewing her diary, we 
 
Female Mlnldnj. ' 1<)3 
 
 are constrained to believe that not one minister in five 
 lumdred could produce so many seals to their ministry. 
 An eminent minister informed us that of those who 
 had been brought to Clirist through her labours, over 
 two hundred entered the ministry. She seldom opened 
 her mouth in public assemblies, either in prayer or 
 speaking, but the Holy Spirit accompanied her words 
 in such a wonderful manner, that sinners were con- 
 victed, and, as in apostolic times, were constrained to 
 cry out, ' What must we do to be saved ? ' She 
 laboured under the sanction and was hailed as a 
 fellow-helper in the Grospel by the Revs. Messrs. 
 Mather, Pawson, Hearnshaw, Blackborne, Marsden, 
 Bramwell, Vasey, and many other equally distinguished 
 ministers of her time." The Rev. Mr. Pawson, v/hen 
 President of the Wesleyan Conference, writes as follows 
 to a circuit where jMrs. Taft was stationed with her 
 husband, where she met with some gain say ers : — "It 
 is well known that religion has been for some time at 
 a very low ebb in Dover. I therefore could not help 
 thinking that it was a kind providence that Mrs. Taft 
 was stationed among you, and that, by the blessing of 
 God, she nught be the instrument of reviving the 
 work of God among you. I seriously believe Mrs. 
 Taft to be a deeply pious, prudent, modest woman. 
 I believe the Lord hath owned and blessed her labours 
 very much, and many, yea, very many souls have been 
 brought to the saving knowledge of God by her 
 preaching. Many have come to hear her out of 
 curiosity, who would not have come to hear a man, 
 and have been awakened and converted to God. I do 
 assure you there is much fruit of her labours in many 
 parts of our connection." V 
 
I^i4 Female Ministry. 
 
 Mrs. Fletcher, the wife of the sainted vicar of 
 Madely, was another of the daughters of the Lord, 
 on whom was poured the spirit of prophesy. This 
 eminently devoted lady opened an orphan house, and 
 devoted her time, her heart, and her fortune, to the 
 work of the Lord. The Rev. Mr. Hodson, in referring 
 to her public labours, says, " j\Irs. Fletcher was not 
 only luminous but truly eloquent — her discourses 
 displayed much good sense, and were fraught with the 
 riches of the Gfospel. She excelled in the poetry of an 
 orator which can alone supply the place of all the rest, 
 that eloquence which goes directly to the heart. She 
 was the honoured instrument of doing much good ; 
 and the fruit of her labours is now manifest in the 
 lives and tempers of numbers who will be her crown of 
 rejoicing in the day of the Lord." The Rev. Henry 
 Moore sums up a tine eulogium on her character and 
 labours by saying, " May not every pious churchman 
 say. Would to Grod all the Lord's people were such 
 prophets and prophetesses ! " 
 
 Miss Elizabeth Hurrell travelled through many 
 counties in England, preaching the unsearchable riches 
 of Christ ; and very many were, through her instru- 
 mentality, brought to a knowledge of the truth, not a 
 few of whom were afterwards called to fill very 
 honourable stations in the Church. 
 
 From the Methodist Conference, held at Manchester, 
 1787, Mr. Wesley wrote to Miss Sarah JNIallett, whose 
 labours, while very acceptable to the people, had been 
 opposed by soine of the preachers: — "We give the 
 right hand of fellowship to Sarah Mallett, and have no 
 objection to her being a preacher in our connection^ 
 
Female Mini'-fn/. 105 
 
 so long as she preaches Methodist doctrine, and attends 
 to our discipline." 
 
 Such are a few examples of the success attending the 
 public labours of females in the gospel. We might 
 give many more, but our space only admits of a bare 
 mention of Mrs. Wesley, Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. President 
 Edwards, Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Gilbert, 
 Miss Lawrence, Miss Newman, Miss Miller, Miss Tooth, 
 and Miss Cutler, whose holy lives and zealous labours 
 were owned of Grod in the conversion of thousands of 
 souls, and the abundant edification of the Lord's people. 
 
 Nor are the instances of the spirit of prophesy 
 bestowed on women confined to bygone generations : 
 the revival of this age, as well as of every other, has 
 been marked by this endowment, and the labours of 
 such pious and talented ladies as Mrs. Palmer, Mrs. 
 Finney, Mrs. Wightman, Miss ^Nlarsh,* with numberless 
 other Marys and Phebes, have contributed in no small 
 degree to its extension and power. 
 
 We have endeavoured in the foregoing pages to 
 establish, what we sincerely believe, that woman has a 
 right to teach. Here the whole question hinges. If 
 she has the right, she has it independently of any man- 
 made restrictions, which do not equally refer to the 
 opposite sex. If she has the right, and possesses the 
 necessary qualifications, we maintain that, where the 
 law of expediency does not prevent, she is at liberty 
 tQ exercise it without any further pretensions to 
 
 * The record of this lady's labours has long been before the public. 
 " EnyJish Hearts and Hands," in a truly fascinating manner, <let-oril>es 
 the wonderful success with which those labours have been attended. 
 Well has it been for the spiritual interest of hundreds that no 
 sacerdotal conclave has been able to place the seal of silence upon 
 her lips, and assign her to " jirivury as her proner sji/iere." 
 
166 Female Miin'sfrj/. 
 
 inspiration than those put forth by the male sex. If, 
 on the other hand, it nan be proved that she has not 
 the right, but that imperative silence is imposed upon 
 her by the word of God, we cannot see who has 
 authority to relax or make exceptions to the law. 
 
 If commentators had dealt with the Bible, on other 
 subjects as they have dealt with it on this, taking 
 isolated passages, separated from their explanatory con- 
 nections, and insisting on a literal interpretation of the 
 words of ourversion, what errors and contradictions would 
 have been forced upon the acceptance of the Church, 
 and what terrible results would have accrued to the 
 world. On this principle the Universalist will have all 
 men unconditionally saved, because the Bible says 
 " Christ is the Saviour of all men," etc. The 
 Antinomian, according to this rule of interpretation, has 
 most unquestionable foundation for his dead faith and 
 hollow profession, seeing that St. Paul declares over 
 and over again that men are " saved by faith and 
 not by works." The Unitarian, also, in support ot 
 that soul-withering doctrine, triuniphanily refers to 
 numerous passages which, taken alone, teach only the 
 
 - humanity of Jesus. In short, " there is no end to the 
 ^ errors in faith and practice which have resulted from 
 
 . ' taking isolated passages, wrested from their proper 
 ^ connections, or the light thrown upon them by other 
 
 - Scriptures, and applying tliem to sustain a favourite 
 theory." Judging from the blessed results which have 
 almost invariably followed the ministrations of women 
 in the cause of Christ, we fear it will be found, in the 
 great day of account, that a mistaken and unjustifiable 
 application of the passage, " Let your women keep 
 silence in the Churches," has resulted in more loss to 
 
Female Miiiisfvu. 
 
 Ifj7 
 
 ^the Church, evil to the world, and dishonour to God, 
 ^ than any of the errors we have already referred to. 
 
 And feeling, as we have long felt, that this is a subject 
 of vast importance to the interests of Christ's kingdom 
 and the glory of God, we would most earnestly 
 commend its consideration to those who have influence 
 in the Churches. We think it a matter worthy of 
 their consideration whether God intended woman to 
 bury her talents and influence as she now does ? And 
 whether the circumscribed sphere of woman's religious 
 labours may not have something to do with the 
 comparative non-success of the Gospel in these latter 
 days. 
 
HOT SAINTS. 
 
HOT SAINTS. 
 
 Rev. iii. 1~). — " / v:ould t/iou wert cold or hot." 
 
 Why does God like people to be hot in His service ? — ■ 
 For the same reasons that we like people to be hot in 
 ours. We have no confidence in half-and-half, fast- 
 and-loose friends ; milk-warm adherents who in times 
 of danger wait to see which way the wind blows before 
 they commit themselves to our views or interests — • 
 servants who will serve us, while at the same time they 
 can serve themselves, but the moment our interests 
 and theirs appear to clash will leave us to c-ur fate. 
 We like thorough, whole-hearted, all length friends 
 and servants, and to such only do we confide our secrets, 
 or trust our important enterprises. We may use the 
 half-hearted as far as they serve our purpose, but we- 
 have no confidence in them — no heart-fellowship with 
 them, no joy over them : we would rather they were 
 hot or cold — out-and-out friends or foes. 
 
 Eead in your own heart and niii>d, in this respect, 
 a transcript of His, and see the reason why He says, 
 " I would thou wert cold or hot." I want you to note 
 two or three characteristics of hot saints so that you 
 may know whether you belong to the number. To be 
 hot implies the possession of — I. Light; II. Purity; 
 III. Pungency ; IV. Power. 
 
 I. Light. — Hot saints have such a halo round about 
 them that they reveal— make manifest sins in otlievs. 
 
172 Hot Sahit.^. 
 
 They do this — 1st, by contrast. "What fellowship 
 hath light with darkness ? " The light of God flashed 
 from a hot saint on the dark consciences of sinners 
 makes them feel their sin, misery, and danger, and if 
 they will receive it, leads to their conversion. It 
 " opens their eyes," and if they will follow it, leads 
 them to Jesus. " Almost thou persuadest me to be a 
 Christian." "Come, see a man which told me all 
 things that ever I did." " Ye are the light of the 
 world." If sinners reject this light their rejection 
 seals their sins upon them, and renders their condem- 
 nation double. " If I had not come and spoken unto 
 them, they had not had sin ; but now they have no 
 cloke for their sin." What a fearful responsibility 
 rests on all sinners who are brought into contact with 
 saints who are filled with the light of God. Some of 
 you here arp living under this light : How are you 
 using it ? Beware ! 
 
 2nd. Light reveals sin by antipathy. " Everyone 
 that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the 
 light, lest his deeds should be reproved." The 
 presence of a certain degree of spiritual light must 
 produce either repentance or opposition. A dark soul 
 cannot dwell in the presence of a soul full of light 
 without either repenting or opposing, if it does not 
 submit it will rebel. It was under the hot blaze of 
 this light that the Jews round about Stephen " were 
 cut to the heart, and gnashed upon him with their 
 teeth." The effect of his light on their darkness was 
 to reveal their enmity and scorch them into a fury 
 of opposition. When intense spiritual light and 
 darkness are brought in contact, their innate antipathy 
 makes them reveal each other. The Devil could not 
 
Hot Saints. 17.3 
 
 endure the presence of Jesus without crying out, " I 
 know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of Grod." 
 
 How is it with you saints here in this respect ? Can 
 you get along with dark souls without eliciting their 
 enmity? If so, depend upon it you have not much light 
 - — not that light which accompanies great heat. If 
 you don't want to be spewed out of the mouth of God, 
 see to it, that you get it ! 
 
 3rd. Light reveals sin by reproof. Hot saints will 
 " rebuke their neighbour and not suffer sin upon him." 
 They are full of zeal for the glory of God, and jealousy 
 for His honour ; it breaks their hearts because men 
 keep not His law. They know that they have the light 
 of life, and they feel that they must hold it up over the 
 wrong-doing, deception, and hypocrisy of their fellow- 
 men in order to " open their eyes, and turn them from 
 darkness to light." Yqu never hear them apologising 
 for sin, or calling it by smooth names ; they feel 
 towards sin, in their measure, as God feels towards it. 
 It is the abominable thing which they hate, and 
 therefore they cannot in any case allow it, pander to it, 
 or excuse it. Hot saints will mercilessly turn the 
 blazing lamp of God's truth on the conscience of a 
 sinner with reproof as pungent, pointed, and personal, 
 as Nathan gave to David, Jehu to Jehoshaphat, or 
 Jesus to the Jews. 
 
 II. Purity. — Heat cleanses, purges away dross, 
 destroys noxious vapours. So the burning fire of the 
 Holy Ghost purifies the soul which is filled, permeated 
 with it, hence hot saints are pure. They purify 
 themselves, as He is pure. Their garments are white, 
 they keep themselves "unspotted from the world." 
 
174 Hot Saints. 
 
 Thej improve the moral atmosphere whM'ever they go. 
 Their very presence reproves and holds in cheek the 
 unfruitfal works of darkness, and sinners feel as Peter 
 felt when he said, " Depart from me, for I am a sinful 
 man, Lord." 
 
 IIT. Pungency, Heat burns. Hot saints set on fire 
 the hearts of other saints. They singe the consciences 
 of sinners, burn the fingers of Pharisees, melt the 
 hearts of backsliders, and warm up those who have left 
 their first love. 
 
 IV. Power. — Hot saints are mighty. The Spirit is not 
 given by measure unto them. They may not be very 
 intellectual or learned, btit their heat makes more 
 impression on the hearts of sinners, and stirs more 
 opposition from hell than all the intellect and learning 
 of a whole generation of lukewarm professors. The 
 fishermen of Gfalilee produced more impression on the 
 world in a few years, than all the learning of the Jews 
 had done in centuries, because they were hot in the 
 love and service of God. Hot saints are more than a 
 match for their enemies. Satan himself is afraid of 
 them. "Paul I know," said he; yea, and he knows 
 and fears all such. AVicked men cannot stand before 
 them ; the power of their testimony cuts them to the 
 heart, and makes them either cry out, "What must we 
 do to be saved?" or, "Away with him! away with 
 him." Hot people are not only able to work, liut to 
 suffer. They can endure hardness, suffer reproach, 
 contend with principalitie:; and powers, fight with wild 
 beasts, hail persecution and death ! 
 
Hot Snlnt^. 175 
 
 V. Q'o be hot ensures opposition — 1st, from Pharisees. 
 They look with contempt on hot people, call them 
 fanatics, extreme people, tronblers of Israel, disturbers 
 of the peace of the Church, occasions of reproach to the 
 resj^ectable and reasonable part of the Church. 
 
 The Pharisees were the bitterest enemies of Him 
 who said, "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up." 
 And they are still the bitterest enemies of those who 
 ai'o filled with His Spirit. It matters not that they 
 have now a Christian creed instead of a Jewish ; the 
 spirit is the same, and will not tolerate " God manifest 
 in the flesh." A formal, ceremonious, respectable 
 religion they do not object to; but a living, burning, 
 enthusiastic Christianity is still Beelzebub ! to them. 
 
 2nd. To be hot ensures opposition from the world. 
 The world hates hot saints, because they look with 
 contempt on its pleasures, set at naught its maxims 
 and customs, trample on its ambition and applause, 
 ignore its rewards, abjure its spirit, and live altogether 
 above its level. " Because ye are not of the world, there- 
 fore the world hateth you." It can tolerate hike- warm 
 religionists— rational, decent people, who appreciate 
 this world as well as the next, and can see how to make 
 the best of it ; but these " hot," " pestilent," " mad " 
 " fools," who obtrude their religion everywhere, who 
 are at everybody about their souls, who are always 
 talking about God, death, judgment, heaven, and hell 
 — "Away with them ! they are not fit to live." 
 
 3rd. To be hot ensures opposition from the Devil. 
 
 Oh, how he hates these hot saints ! What trouble he 
 
 takes to trip them. He knows they are worth it. 
 
 'Many a council is held in hell over these. They set 
 
 fire to his standing corn. They rout his best trained 
 
176 Hot Saints. 
 
 legions. They shake the foundations of his throne. 
 They take the prey out of his very jaws ; they pull it 
 out of his fires. He 'nittst do something ! He sets his 
 princi[)alities and powers to work on them. Loose and 
 feeble fiends will do for lukewarm people, but these he 
 must take in hand himself, and try all the guile and 
 force of his gigantic intellect on them. He troubles 
 them on every side, and at last, when God permits, he 
 has their heads off. He got Paul's, but they defy him 
 even when they are between his teeth ; he cannot 
 swallow them ; they escape out of his very jaws to 
 glory, and who knows the mischief they work his 
 kingdom, up there. Hallelujah ! our arch enemy is a 
 conquered foe. Let me remind you, in conclusion, 
 that to be hot ensures God's special favour, protection 
 and fellowship, and our final victory. " Be Wion faithful 
 unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." 
 Whereas to be lukewarm is to be spewed out of His 
 mouth, which indicates special dislike, disgrace, and 
 final abandonment. 
 WHICH WILL YOU BE, HOT OK LUKEWARM? 
 
CONSCIENCE. 
 
CONSCIENCE. 
 
 Acts xxiv. 16. — "And herein do I exercise vnjself, to have always 
 a co7isc7ence void of offence toward God and toiuard men." 
 
 PERHArs there is no complaint more frequently on the 
 lips of those who mourn over leanness of soul than this ; 
 " My faith is so weak : I want more faith ; " and 
 doubtless a weak faith is the secret of a great deal of 
 the barrenness and misery of many Christians ; but 
 it never seems to occur to them to ask why their 
 faith is weak ? why they find themselves powerless to 
 appropriate the promises of God? "Yes," said a 
 dying backslider to a man of Grod who was trying to 
 comfort him by quoting the promises ; " yes, I believe 
 they are true, but somehow they won't stick ! " The 
 fault was in the state of his own heart. He could not 
 appropriate the promises, because he knew that he was 
 not the character to whom they were made. 
 
 Now it seems to me that a great deal of failure in 
 faith is simply the result of a defiled conscience, and 
 if those who find themselves weak and sickly in 
 spiritual life would turn iheir attention to the 
 condition of their co>wclences,\h.Qy would soon discover 
 the reason for all their f;xilure. The fact is, we have 
 a great deal of so-called Christianity in these days 
 which dispenses with conscience altogether. We 
 sometimes meet with persons who tell us that they 
 are not under the law, but under grace, and therefore 
 they are not oonrlcmncfl, do what they v,-ill. 
 
180 Conscience. 
 
 Now the question is, Does the Gospel contemplate 
 such a state ? Does it propose to depose or abjure 
 conscience, or to purify and restore it to sovereign 
 control ? 
 
 I. Let us define conscience. 
 
 Conscience is that faculty of the soul which jjronounces 
 on the character of our actions (Rom. ii. lo). This 
 faculty is a constituent part of our nature, and is 
 common to man everywhere and at all times. All 
 men have a conscience ; whether enlightened, or un- 
 enlightened, active or torpid, there it is : it cannot be 
 destroyed. Therefore Christianity cannot propose to 
 dispense with it, as God in no case proposes to destroy, 
 but to sanctify, human nature. 
 
 There has been much philosophising as to the exact 
 position of conscience in the soul — whether it be a 
 separate faculty, as the will and the understanding, or 
 whether it be a universal spiritual sense pervading 
 and taking cognisance of all the faculties, as feeling 
 in the body. It matters little which of these theories 
 we accept, seeing that the vocation of conscience 
 remains the same in both. 
 
 II, Let us glance at the office which conscience 
 sustains to the soul. 
 
 This office is to determine or pronounce upon the 
 moral quality of our actions — to say whether this or 
 that is good or bad. Conscience is an independent 
 witness standing as it were between God and man ; it 
 is in man, but for God, and it cannot be bribed or 
 silenced. 8ome one has called it " God's Spirit in' 
 yinan's soul." Another, " God's vicegerent in the soul 
 
Conscience. 181 
 
 oi man ; *' and certainly it is the moBt wonderful part 
 of man. All other of our faculties can be subdued by 
 our will ; but this cannot ; it stands erect, taking 
 sides against ourselves whenever we transgress its 
 fiat: something in us bearing witness against us when 
 we offend its integrity. 
 
 Now it is a question of vital importance to our 
 spiritual life whether the Gospel is intended to deliver 
 us from this reigning power of conscience, and make 
 us independent of its verdict ; or whether it is 
 intended to purify and enlighten conscience, and to 
 endow us with power to live in obedience to its voice. 
 Let us examine a few passages on this point. First, 
 let us see what is done with conscience in regeneration. 
 Heb. ix. 14 : " How much more shall the blood of 
 Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit^ offered Him- 
 self without spot to God, purge your conscience from 
 dead works to serve the living God ? " See also 
 Heb. X. 22. Second, let us see the office which 
 conscience sustains in regenerate men. 1 Tim. i. 19: 
 " Holding faith and a good conscience, which some, 
 having put away, concerning faith have made shi})- 
 wreck." Komans ix. 1 : " I say the truth in Christ ; 
 I lie not ; my conscience also bearing me witness in 
 the Holy Ghost." See 1 Tim. iii. 9 and Acts xxiii. 1. 
 We have also set forth the consequences of allowing 
 conscience to become defiled. 1 Tim. iv. 2 : " Speak- 
 ing lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared 
 with a hot iron." Also Titus i. 15. 
 
 There are many other texts quite as much to the 
 point, but these are abundantly sufficient to show that 
 Paul had no idea of a wild, lawless faith, which ignored 
 the tribunal of conscience and talked of liberty, while 
 
182 Con 
 
 soence. 
 
 leaving its possessor the bond-slave of liis own lusts. 
 The Apostles clearly show that true Christianity no 
 more dispenses with conscience, than it does with the 
 great moral law by which conscience is set, and to 
 which it is amenable. Hence Paul tells us in our text, 
 that he exercised himself to ha\e always a conscience 
 void of oifence. 
 
 III. We want to point out what is implied in having 
 a conscience void of offence. 
 
 This implies — First, a ^^ purged '^ conscience, made 
 clean ; conscience must be made clean, before it can be 
 kept clean. The residuum of all sin settles on the 
 conscience, and, as all have sinned, there can be no 
 consciences clean by nature. There is only one way 
 by which consciences can be purified — purged from 
 guilt and made ready for new service. Heb. ix. 14 : 
 " From dead works " — from all pollution, uucleanness, 
 sterility. Conscience is not only polluted by sin, 
 but outraged, incensed, made angry ; it needs to be 
 pacified as well as purged, and this can only be done 
 by the blood of atonement. Every believer remembers 
 the precious sense of purity and peace which spread 
 over his soul, when first he realised a saving interest in 
 the blood of Christ ; how sweet it was to feel that all 
 the stains left by the sins of a past life were washed 
 out — to realise that the anger and vengeance of an 
 aggrieved conscience were appeased — that God, having 
 accepted the Lamb as a sufficient atonement, conscience 
 accoiited Him also, and was pacified ! The offence and 
 condeumation of past sin is washed away, and now the 
 conscience is void of offence — clean, and ready to serve 
 the LiviNci God. There is a beautiful significance in 
 
Conscience. 183 
 
 the word " living " in tluH! connection ; it seems to 
 intimate that there is a titness, an appropriateness, 
 between the character of the Being to be served, and 
 the quality of that fticulty of the soul which has 
 specially to preside over His service. It is now not 
 only made clean, but light, quick, tender, ready to 
 detect' and reject everything old, rotten, impure, 
 unholy, and to keep it out of the sanctuary of the 
 believer's soul, as u.nfit for the service of the living 
 (rod, who sees every thought, motive, and desire. 
 And oh, how true is conscience to its trust, if only the 
 soul would exercise itself cdivays to obey ! 
 
 The Apostle laboured to have always a conscience 
 void of offence. This must have been possible, or he 
 could not have exercised himself to maintain it ; he 
 was too good a philosopher for that. What unpai'don- 
 able and wilful mistakes are made about Paul's 
 experience ! His personification of the ineffectual 
 struggles of a convicted sinner in the v»"ords, " Oh, 
 wretched man that I am," have been wrested from 
 their explanatory connection and set in solitary and 
 mocking contradiction to every exposition of his 
 experience from the hour of his conversion to" that of 
 his martyrdom. Paul was either a sanctified man, 
 " more than conqueror," — " doing all things through 
 Christ strengthening him " — counting all things but 
 " loss and dung " — " knowing nothing amongst men 
 save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified;" or he was the 
 greatest egotist that ever lived. Neither was he 
 honest, for we have not a word about failure or defeat 
 after he once attained the liberty wherewith Christ 
 Jesus made him free; and yet no Apostle gives us 
 so much of his personal experience as Paul. He 
 
184 Conscience. 
 
 continually exhorts the churches to follow his example, 
 to walk as he walked; and tells Agrippa, that he would 
 both he and all that heard him were altogether such 
 as he was, save his bonds. He continually challenged 
 his enemies to point out a single selfish or inconsistent 
 action, declaring that whatever he did, or wherever he 
 went, or whatever he suffered, it was all for the 
 interests of his Kedeemer's kingdom ; and when his 
 work was done, like some mighty conqueror about to 
 seize the crown of victory, he stretches forth his hand 
 and cries, " I am now ready to be offered, and the 
 time of my departure is at hand. I have fought « //^ 6. 
 good fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept 
 the faith." Surely Paul had found it possible to 
 maintain a conscience void of offence ! And so may 
 we ; but this implies. Secondly, systematic obedience to 
 the dictates of conscience. Being made pure, light and 
 quick, and set on the throne of the soul to communicate 
 the light and truth of Grod, and to witness impartially 
 whether it is obeyed or not, of course there can be but 
 one way to keep this conscience void of offence, and 
 that is by so acting as not to offend, grieve, or incense 
 it again ! You see, if the soul — nay, the whole being — 
 refuses to be in subjection to it — will not obey it — 
 then conscience must needs take offence again, because 
 it cannot be cheated, or bribed, or silenced. To be 
 kept void of offence it must be obeyed with pro7nptness ; 
 to parley is to defile. How many a soul has dated its 
 ruin to temporising with a suggestion, which conscience 
 asserted ought to have been put down at once ! 
 
 Thirdly, to keep a conscience void of offence requires 
 unremitting effwt, exertion, " exercise," determination ; 
 a bringing up, so to speak, of nil the other powers and 
 
Conscience. 18.5 
 
 faculties of the being ; " herein do I exercise myself " 
 — the whole man, soul, mind, body — myself. 
 
 Here is need for " exercise " indeed ; this signifies 
 no child's play, no mere effervescing emotion, expend- 
 ing itself in sentimental songs or idle speculations. 
 Here is " the fight of faith," the faith of the saints, 
 which can dare, and do, and suffer anything rather 
 than defile its garments Only those who thus fight, 
 have the Apostle's kind of faith. Satan knows this, 
 and he waylays such souls with every temptation 
 possible to them. He tries considerations of ease, 
 interest, honour, reputation, friends, fashion, health, 
 life ! and sometimes puts all these in one scale at the 
 same time, over against a pure conscience in the other. 
 Alas ! how many for such considerations " have put 
 away a good conscience, and concerning faith have 
 made shipwreck." 
 
 It is no uncommon thing to meet with people in 
 this condition, who, " having built again the things 
 they once destroyed, have made themselves trans- 
 gressors." Conscience is defiled and incensed, and 
 demands that the evil shall be put away and repented 
 of, and the soul cast afresh on the blood of atonement 
 for pardon and healing. Instead of doing this, however, 
 we are constantly meeting with people who try to 
 cling on to what they call faith, and who quibble and 
 reason to try to make it out that they are right ; but 
 between their sentences we fancy we can hear their 
 consciences mutter, ' You know you are wrong, you 
 know you are guilty ; confess, and forsake your sin.' 
 I know a young lady, a professing Christian, who 
 was deeply convinced by the Spirit of God that the 
 business in which she was engaged was inconsistent 
 
 13 
 
186 Conscience. 
 
 with her profession, and also with her becoming a 
 Q^eal follower of Jesus. After much controversy she 
 took three days to debate with conscience as to 
 whether she should give it up or not. Minister, 
 friends, everybody but conscience, said, No. She 
 yielded, and " put away a good conscience " in order 
 to keep a good business. Shortly after she married a 
 young man with the same sort of religion as her 
 own ; they rushed into imprudent and extra'N'agant 
 expenditure ; he soon failed, and now she is in seas of 
 trouble and sorrow. Surely " Thine own wickedness 
 shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove 
 thee." 
 
 IV. To keep a conscience void of offence requires 
 the subjection of the whole being to the will. 
 
 As conscience is the reigning power of the soul, the 
 will is the executive, and in order to keep a pure 
 conscience the will must act out its teaching. When 
 inclination lures, when the flesh incites to that which 
 conscience condemns, the will must say. No ! and be 
 firm as adamant, counting all things but dung and 
 dross. When Satan take.s us up to the pinnacle and 
 says, " All these things will I give thee " if thou wilt 
 do this or that, the will must say. No ! and repel the 
 tempter. This is just the point where human nature 
 has failed from the beginning. Oar first parents fell 
 here. Their consciences were on the right side, but 
 their wills yielded to the persuasions of the enemy. 
 'This is sin. The committal of the will to unlawful 
 self-gratification. Joseph's conscience thundered the 
 right path, and his will acted it out. Pilate's 
 conscience also thundered the right course, but his 
 
Conscience. 187 
 
 will failed to carry it out. In one we behold a hero, in 
 the other a traitor! 
 
 Voung man, when you have got the fiat of your 
 conscience act on it. At all costs carry it out. Better 
 be counted a fool, and die poor, than be damned as a 
 traitor to God and righteousness ! 
 
 Young woman ! what says your own conscience about 
 accepting that unconverted lover? I entreat you, obey! 
 Never mind what friends say — what inclination says — 
 what apparent interest says ; they all lie, if they 
 contradict God ! And miserable comforters will they 
 all prove when His chastisements overtake you. Let 
 your will be firm, though it slay you. Man of business! 
 conscience intrudes even on the arena of trade. You 
 hear its voice about this and that practice, or such and 
 such a scheme. Does your will carry out its dictates ? 
 Do you resolutely say, I will not " do this thing and 
 sin against God?'' This is the test of faith. Real 
 faith dares trust God with consequences ; a spurious 
 faith must look after consequences itself! It must 
 save its life whatever becomes of a good conscience. 
 Judge ye how much it is worth ! 
 
 V. To keep a pure conscience requires great vigilance, 
 lest by surprise or inattention we defile it. 
 
 " What I say unto you, I say unto all — watch." Our 
 enemy is always watching to put an occasion of 
 stumbling in our way. He knows the power of surprise. 
 He lays many a snare to take us unawares ; many a 
 nicely-laid plot; many carefully-adjusted circumstances 
 to catch us by guile. Oh, what need for vigilance ! 
 If by subtlety we ever get overcome, what must we do? 
 Lie down in guilt and despair— allow conscience to 
 
188 Conscience. 
 
 Jao^^^ CPi^cc 
 
 remain polluted and incensed ? — No ! up and confess, 
 and forsake, and wash again. 
 
 VI. To keep a pure conscience requires patience. 
 
 Often necessitates our walking in an isolated path — 
 taking a course which men condemn. Men judge from 
 outward appearance ; they do not see the intricacies of 
 individual experience. The very course which they 
 condemn, may be that which conscience insists on, and 
 which must be done or suffered, or conscience and God 
 be grieved and offended. 
 
 Patience will wait till Grod, by time and providence, 
 / justifies our course. Paul said it was a small matter 
 with him to be judged of man's judgment. Why? 
 Because his conscience acquitted — ^justified, and Grod 
 witnessed that he was right. Such a soul can go on 
 with all the world up in arms against it. This is just 
 what the martyrs did — nothing more, nothing less. 
 
 Ijastly. — A pure conscience is its own reward. 
 
 No matter who condemns, if it approves, there is peace 
 and sunshine in the soul. And whatever our trials or 
 persecutions, we can draw near to Grod without 
 wavering, for " If our heart condemn us not, then we 
 have confidence towards God ; and whatsoever we ask 
 we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, 
 and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" 
 (1 John iii. 21, 22). As a clean conscience is its own 
 reward, so an offended conscience is its own punishment. 
 Conscience frequently offended soon becomes " seared" 
 — mark, not destroyed ; quick and raw enough under- 
 neath, ready to be probed and fretted by the worm tliat 
 dieth not, and scorched by the fire that never goes out 
 — but seared on the surface, of no use for present 
 
Conscience. 189 
 
 service; numbed, dark, useless. People with their 
 
 ,- consciences in this state often tell us they do not feel 
 
 . condemned for dispositions and practices, which are 
 
 '' evidently forbidden by the Word of God, nor for things 
 
 which they once would have trembled to do. Poor 
 
 things, they do not see that their consciences are seared. 
 
 A lady once told us that early in her religious 
 
 experience, she would have felt very much condemned 
 
 if she had gone to a theatre, but now she could go 
 
 there, and feel that she was sitting with Christ in 
 
 heavenly places at the same time ! 8he had got such 
 
 an increase of light, or rather darkness, that the godless 
 
 entertainment, the worldly multitude, the flippant 
 
 jokes, and pot-house songs, did not strike her as 
 
 inconsistent with the teaching and profession of Him 
 
 who said, " They are not of the world, even as I am not 
 
 of the world." Truly, it is an awful thing to have a 
 
 ^ seared conscience ! There is but one step between that 
 
 .-^soul and everlasting death. Is there one of this class 
 
 here ? My friend, make haste back to the foot of the 
 
 cross, confessing and forsaking your sins, and get your 
 
 " conscience purged (again) from dead works to serve the 
 
 living God." For " without holiness no man shall see 
 
 the Lord !" 
 
AGGRESSION. 
 
AGGRESSION 
 
 Mark xvi. IT). — " Go ye into all the uvrld, a7td preach the Gospel 
 to every creature." 
 
 Acts xxvi. 16-18. — "Hise, and stand upon thy feet : for I have 
 appeared unto thee for this pwpose, to maJce thee a minister 
 and a ivitness . . . unto whom now I send thee, to open their 
 eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from, the 
 potcer of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of 
 sins, and inheritance among them ichich are sanctified by faith 
 that is in Me." 
 
 I WANT you to note that the great idea in both these 
 texts is that of determined aggression on the territory 
 of Satan. " Go ye into all the ivorld and preach the 
 Gospel to every creature." What a commission ! ! 
 Who has ever yet grasped all that it implies ? The vast 
 obligations imposed on the people of God in this 
 command have never yet been more than half realised. 
 Go ye, not build temples or churches, and wait for 
 them to come to you, but go ye, run after them, seek 
 them out, and preach My Grospel to every creature. 
 Thrust yourselves and your message on the attention 
 of men. The commission to Paul, and through him 
 to us, embodies the same idea, " Unto whom noiv I 
 send thee to open their eyes^ They are indifferent, 
 preoccupied, asleep in their sin and danger. I send 
 thee as My herald to arouse them, shake them, open 
 their eyes, make them think, and realise the verities 
 of eternal things ! We are to do this as God's 
 ambassadors, whether men like it or not. We are 
 
194 Aggression. 
 
 not to wait for convenient seasons, but in this 
 most urgent business to be instant " out of season." 
 We are not to shrink from pressing the truth on men's 
 attention for fear of giving oifence. He wlio gave the 
 commission has foreseen and provided for this result. 
 ' T will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the 
 peo])le, and from the (jentiles unto whom now I send 
 thee" (verse 17). 
 
 II. Then it is implied in both these commissions 
 that this aggression will provoke opposition. Of course 
 it will. Who ever heard of aggression on the territory 
 of an enemy without opposition, according to the power 
 possessed by that enemy ? Such a thing is impossible 
 naturally, and even more so spiritually. " The whole 
 world lieth in (the arms of) the wicked one." " The 
 strong man armed keepeth his goods ; " and if we, 
 armed by a stronger than he, take them, we must 
 expect opposition. Our Lord systematically taught 
 His disciples to expect and prepare for persecution 
 He taught them, that their principles, motives, and 
 objects, would be so incomprehensible to men of a 
 worldly spirit, whether Pharisees or worldlings, that 
 they would inevitably persecute and oppose them. 
 iSuch we find was the case wherever the Gospel was 
 introduced. Magistrates, rulers, and mobs, set them- 
 selves in array against both the preachers and their 
 truths. I take it as one of the worst signs of the 
 Christianity of this age, that it provokes so little 
 opposition, for it is as true now as it ever was, that if 
 we are not of the world, the world will hate us, and he 
 that is born after the flesh will persecute him who is 
 born after the Spirit. 
 
Aggression. 195 
 
 in. I want you to note that the only law laid down 
 m the New Testament for the prosecution of this 
 aggressive warfare is the law of adaptation. 
 
 " I am made all things to all men, that I might by 
 all means save some" (1 Cor. ix. 22). "And of 
 some have compassion, 'iiiakiiig a difference ; and 
 others save with fear, pulling them out of the tire " 
 (Jude, verses 22 and 23). The Grospel message is laid 
 down with unerring accuracy, in unalterable terms. 
 We are not at liberty to change even the order of it as 
 given from the glorified lips of our risen Lord to Paul. 
 " To open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to 
 light, from the power of Satan unto Grod, that they 
 may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among 
 them that are sanctified by faith that is in me." Here 
 is the Divine order — 1st, conviction; 2nd, repentance; 
 3rd, forgiveness ; and woe be to the man who transposes 
 this order. He makes as great a mistake as one would 
 make in putting the key into the lock upside down. 
 He who made man laid down this order, and it fits our 
 mental and spiritual constitution. Let us take care to 
 preserve it intact. Let us keep the message itself 
 unadulterated and the order of it undisturbed ; but in 
 our modes of bringing it to bear on men, we are left 
 free as the air and sunlight. 
 
 Adaptation, expediency, is our only law. I may 
 convey it in any kind of language so that it carries 
 the true meaning to the mind of the hearer — words are 
 nothing, only as they convey ideas. I may send it 
 through any kind of agent, from the acute and polished 
 intellect of a profound theologian down to the new-born 
 babe in Christ, scarcely able to read a letter in the 
 Book. Any man, however common or unclean he may 
 
196 Aggression. 
 
 have been, if God hath cleansed him, may be used to 
 open the eyes of his fellow-men, and turn them from 
 darkness to light. Adaptation is the great thing we 
 ought to consider. If one method or agent fails, we 
 should try another — God does so. How He tries by 
 various methods and strokes of providence to bring 
 men to Himself ! In how many ways did He strive 
 with you, my brother, my sister. He did not try one 
 providence, one sermon, one consideration, one call, 
 but oh, how many, with some of us, before our stubborn 
 hearts yielded to His grace ! And as He works, so He 
 calls us to work with Him. In this sense, to become 
 all things to all men, if by any means we may save 
 some; of some making a difference, pulling them out 
 of the fire. That is, adapt ourselves and our measures 
 to the social and spiritual condition of those whom 
 we seek to benefit. It is here I conceive, that our 
 Churches have fallen into such grievous mistakes with 
 reference to the propagation of the Gospel in our own 
 times. We have stood to our stereotyped forms, 
 refusing to come down from the routine of our 
 forefathers, although this routine has ceased to be 
 attractive to the people, nay, in many instances, the 
 very thing that drives them away. 
 
 The most thoughtful writers on education tell us 
 that the first essential in a teacher of youth is to be 
 able to interest his pupils. True. This is equally 
 true of the people — if you would benefit and bless 
 them, you viust interest them. You must clothe the 
 truth in such garb, and convey it by such mediums, as 
 will arouse their attention and interest their minds. 
 In short, ive must come down to them. Whatever has 
 caused it, it is a fact, that the masses of the people 
 
Aggression. 197 
 
 have come to associate ideas of stiffness, formality, and 
 uninteresting routine with our church and chapel 
 worship, and if we are to be co-workers with God for 
 them, we must move out of our jog-trot paces and 
 become all things to them in order to win them. If 
 they will not come inside our consecrated buildings, we 
 must get at them in uneonsecrated ones, or out under 
 the canopy of heaven. And has not Jesus by His blood 
 consecrated every spot of earth to soul-saving purposes ? 
 If they will not listen to our college-trained and 
 polished divines, we must send them men of their own 
 stamp, whose habits of thought and modes of expression 
 are familiar and congenial to them, and who, washed 
 and filled with the Holy Ghost, are as well adapted to 
 preach to them, as were the fishermen of Galilee to the 
 men of their generation. 
 
 Why did not our Lord fit and call the divines of His 
 own times to go to the people ? He certainly could 
 have done so ! Surely he must have had a sound and 
 philosophical reason for choosing fishermen. He acted 
 on the principle of adaptation. Instead of working a 
 miracle to unteach and set loose the divines for this 
 work, He acted on existing natural law, as He always 
 did when there was no necessity to break it, and 
 chose the best adapted instruments for His purpose ; 
 hence He chose men from amongst the people to be 
 workers together with Himself, and sent them out into 
 the bye-ways and hedges, the fields, the market-place, 
 the sea-shore, and the hill-side ; in short. He sent them 
 wherever the people were to be got at. Oh ! if the 
 Church had steadily adhered to the tactics of our Lordj 
 who can tell whether the kingdoms of this world would 
 not long since have been subjected to His sway ? 
 
198 
 
 Aggression. 
 
 For our part, at any rate, we cannot hesitate for a 
 moment as to the conduct rlemanded of us by the 
 teachings of our Master, and of experience, as well as 
 by the exigencies of a perishing world. We would a 
 thousand times rather err in too readily utilising men 
 and means that are manifestly suitable to the 
 accomplishment of the great end in view, than in 
 re:]ecting any man or any means as " common " or 
 " improper " which may aid us in the gigantic labours 
 which a dying world stands in such terrible need of. 
 
THE USES OF TRIAL. 
 
THE USES OF TRIAL. 
 
 James v. 11. — Te hate heard of the patience of Job, and have seen 
 the end of the Lord ; that the Lord 7S very pitiful and of tender 
 mercyy 
 
 Affliction occupies a large place in the economy of 
 salvation, for though suffering is the result of sin, God 
 takes hold of it and transmutes it into one of the 
 richest blessings to His own people. From whatever 
 secondary causes the afflictions of the righteous may 
 arise, whether from the sins of their forefathers, the 
 cruelty of their enemies, their own mistakes, or the 
 mistakes of their friends, or the malice of Satan, it is 
 their blessed privilege to realise that the Lord permits 
 and overrules all, and that He has a gracious END in 
 every sorrow which He allows to overtake them. 
 Happy the Christian who, though he cannot see this 
 " end " at present, is able to trust in the goodness 
 which chastens, and cleaves to the hand that smites. 
 
 It may help us, however, to " endure chastening " if 
 we consider two or three of the gracious ends, or uses 
 of our trials. 
 
 I. Trial reveals us to God. 
 
 There is a sense, doubtless, in which trial reveals us 
 to God ; makes manifest to Him, what is in our heait. 
 Perhaps someone may object, and say, no, no ; we 
 need nothing to make manifest to God what we are, 
 He understands us perfectly. He knows what is in 
 
 14 
 
202 The uses of Trial 
 
 man, and needs not anything to tell Him. True ! and 
 yet He says of Abraham, " Xow I know that thou 
 fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy 
 son, thine only son, from me." And to the Israelites. 
 "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord 
 thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to 
 humble thee and to prove thee, to know what was in 
 thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep My command- 
 ments or no." Now God knew that Abraham feared 
 Him, and He also knew how far Israel would keep His 
 commandments, but He did not know as a matter of 
 actual fact, until the fact transpired. He must ha\'e 
 the latent principle developed in action, before he could 
 hnoiv it as action. Thus Abraham by his obedience to 
 the painful command made his love manifest to God. 
 Not that God had previously any doubts of Abraham's 
 love, but He desired a practical manifestation of it 
 towards Himself, or to know- it in action. The Divine 
 love is like all other love in this respect, it delights in 
 practical proof of love in return, nor will it be satisfied 
 without. Kemember this. Christian, in thy various 
 afflictions. The Lord is leading thee about in the 
 wilderness to prove thee, and to see (to make manifest 
 to Himself) what is in thy heart, and whether thou wilt 
 keep His commandments or no. Kemeinber also that in 
 nothing is love made so manifest as in willing, cheerful 
 suffering for the sake of its object. It is easy, nay, 
 joyful to labour, but patient, cheerful suffering requires 
 a deeper love, a more perfect self-abandonment. 
 " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
 down his life for his friends." " We glory in tribula- 
 tions also." 
 
The Uses of Trial 203 
 
 II. Trial also reveals us to ourselves. 
 
 Although we do not agree with the adage that 
 untried grace is no grace at all, yet unquestionably 
 much fancied grace has proved itself, in the hour of 
 trial, to be but as the early cload and the morning 
 dew. " How many who have received the Word with 
 joy and for a while have believed, in time of temptation 
 have fallen away." How many a professing Christian 
 if he could have had predicted to him the effect of 
 adversity upon his heart and life, would have said with 
 Hazael, " Is thy servant a dog that he should do this? " 
 And yet when the true test of character was applied he 
 fell. When he had eaten and was full, then his heart 
 rebelled, or when he was chastened by the Lord he 
 grew weary and said, "Verily I have cleansed my heart 
 in vain, and washed my hands in innocency." There is 
 no surer test for the Christian as to the state of his 
 heart than the way in which he receives affiiction. 
 How often, when all has appeared prosperous and 
 peaceful, and the child of God has been congratulating 
 himself on spiritual growth and increased power over 
 inward corrugation, has some fiery trial overtaken him, 
 which, instead of being met with perfect submission and 
 cheerful acquiescence, has produced sudden confusion, 
 dismay, and perhaps rebellion, revealing to him that 
 his heart was far from that state of Divine conformity 
 which he had hoped and supposed. 
 
 Thus the Christian often suffers more from a 
 consciousness of insubordination under affliction than 
 from the affliction itself. Dear reader, how is it with 
 you in this respect? W^hen trials overtake you, are you 
 able to say " It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth 
 Him good," and, " I kiiovv that Thou in faithfulness 
 
204 The Uses of Trial. 
 
 hast afflicted me." Are you able to realise that " whom 
 
 the Lord loveth He chasteneth," and that these light 
 
 afflictions are working a future increase of glory ? If 
 
 so, happy are you. This is the best of all evidence 
 
 to yourself that the Divine »Spirit is working in you to 
 
 will and to do of your Father's good pleasure. This 
 
 fruit does not grow on the corrupt soil of unregenerate 
 
 nature ; it springs only from a heart renewed by the 
 
 Holy Ghost and baptized into fellowship with Christ in 
 
 His sufferings. But is it otherwise with you? Does 
 
 your heart chafe, and fret, and rebel ? Are you saying, 
 
 " All these things are against me ? " If so, this is proof 
 
 that the work of grace is at a low ebb in your soul, that 
 
 your faith is weak, and your spiritual perceptions dim. 
 
 It is high time for you to awake out of sleep and cry 
 
 mightily unto God for a revival of His work in your 
 
 heart and for a sanctified use of the affliction which has 
 
 overtaken you. " If God dries up the water on the lake, 
 
 it is to lead you to the unfailing fountain. If He blights 
 
 the ground, it is to drive you to the tree of life. If He 
 
 sends the cross, it is to brighten the crown. Nothing 
 
 is so hard as our heart ; and as they lay copper in 
 
 aquafortis before they begin to engrave it, so the Lord 
 
 usually prepares us by the searching, softening disci})line 
 
 of affliction for making a deep lasting impression upon 
 
 our hearts." 
 
 The fire our graces sliall refine, 
 
 Till, moulded from above, 
 A\'e bear the character Divine, 
 
 The stamp of perfect love. 
 
 III. Trial also reveals us to the world. 
 
 As the greatest manifestation of God to the world 
 was by suffering, so the most influential revelation of 
 His people to the world has been by suffering. They 
 
Ths Uses of Trial. 205 
 
 are seen to the best advantage in the furnace. The 
 blood of martyrs has ever been the seed of the Church. 
 The patience, meekness, firmness, and happiness of 
 Grod's people in circumstances of suffering, persecution, 
 and death, have paved the way for the Grospel in almost 
 all lands and all ages. A baptism of blood has prepared 
 the hard and sterile soil of humanity for the good seed 
 of the kingdom, and made it doubly fruitful. The 
 exhibition of the meek and loving spirit of Christianity 
 under suffering has doubtless won thousands of hearts 
 to its Divine Author, and tamed and awed many a 
 savage persecutor, besides Saul of Tarsus. When men 
 see their fellow-men enduring with patience and meek- 
 ness, what they know would fill themselves with hatred, 
 anger, and revenge, they naturally conclude that there 
 must be a different spirit in them. When they see 
 Christians suffering the loss of all things, and cheerfully 
 resigning themselves to bonds, imprisonment, and 
 death, they cannot help feeling that they have sources 
 of strength and springs of consolation all unknown to 
 themselves. 
 
 Patient suffering, cheerful acquiescence in affliction 
 and anguish, mental or physical, is the most convincing 
 proof of the Divine in man which it is possible for 
 humanity to give. " Truly this was the Son of Grod,'' 
 said those who stood by the cross when they saw how 
 He suffered. And how many who have been thoroughly 
 sceptical as to the professions of their converted 
 kindred, and have most bitterly persecuted them, and 
 withstood every argument and entreaty advanced in 
 health and activity ; have yielded almost without a 
 word before the patience and peace with whicli the 
 billows of suffering and death have been braved, nay, 
 
206 The Uses of Trial. 
 
 welcomed ! Such evidence is too mighty, such proof 
 too positive to be resisted, even by persecutors and 
 blasphemers. 
 
 Abraham might have written a book and preached 
 all his life long, as doubtless he did, but the whole, ten 
 times told, would not have convinced his family, his 
 contemporaries and posterity, of the depth and fervency 
 of his love to God, as did that holy calm surrender of 
 the best beloved of his soul to the requirements of (fod. 
 Job might have been the upright, benevolent, righteous 
 man he was, but probably we should never have heard 
 of him but for his wonderful submission, patience, and 
 faith, under suffering. It is this which lifts him up as 
 an example and a teacher to all succeeding generations. 
 It was when sitting on the dunghill, apparently 
 forsaken of God and man, and suffering the direst 
 physical agony which Satan could inflict, that Job 
 attained his greatest \ictory and made that wonderful 
 exhibition of trust in God which has been the comfort 
 and admiration of God's people from that day to this. 
 
 It was in the fiery furnace that Shadrach, Meshach, 
 and Abed-nego won such glory to the God of Israel, 
 that even a heathen king proclaimed His majesty and 
 dominion, and commanded his subjects to worship Him 
 who could deliver after this manner. It was in the 
 furnace of persecution that Stephen, Peter, James, John 
 and Paul proved tlie divinity of their characters and 
 the genuineness of tlieir faith. Witliout suffering the 
 world could never have known the strength of their 
 faith, the fervency of their love, or the purity of their 
 lives. Their trials made thcni "spectacles unto the 
 world, to angels and to men," and won for their .Master 
 tne ears and hearts of thousands. 
 
The Uses of Trial 207 
 
 When an Apostle would present to us the mightiest 
 achievements of faith, and the most wonderful 
 exhibitions of the power of Divine grace, he refers us 
 not so much to the doings of God's people, as to their 
 cheerful and triumphant sufferings (Heb. xi). Dear 
 reader, how are your afflictions revealing you to those 
 around you ? Are you adding your testimony to that 
 of the cloud of witnesses who are gone before, to the 
 sufficiency of Divine grace to sustain and comfort in the 
 hour of sorrow and suffering ? Is your patient 
 endurance saying to those who are watching you, I 
 can do (and suffer) all things through Christ which 
 strengtheneth me ? 
 
 "Watched by the world's malignant eye, 
 Who load us with reproach and sliame ; 
 
 As servants of the Lord Most High, 
 As zealous for His glorious name, 
 
 We ought in all His paths to move 
 
 With holy fear and humble love. 
 
 That wisdom, Lord, on us bettow, 
 
 From every evil to depart : 
 To stop the mouths of every foe, 
 
 W^hile, upright both in life and heart. 
 The proofs of godly love we give. 
 And show them how the Christians live. 
 
PREVAILING PRAYER. 
 
PREVAILING PRAYER. 
 
 I FEAR there are comparatively few Christians who 
 know what prevailing prayer is, because they do not 
 comply with the conditions on which alone it can be 
 offered. I regard these conditions as threefold : 
 
 1st. Living and abiding union with Jesus. "7/ ye 
 abide in Me, and My vjords abide in you, ye shall ask 
 what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.'" (John 
 XV. 7.) 
 
 2nd. .S3^stematic obedience to the teaching of the 
 word and of the Spirit. " Beloved, if our heart 
 condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God. 
 And whatsoever toe ask, ive receive of Him, because we 
 keep His commandments, and do those things that are 
 pleasing in His sight." (1 John iii 21, 22.) 
 
 3rd. Unwavering faith in the veracity and feithful- 
 ness of Grod. " But let him ask in faith, nothing 
 ivavering ; for he that wavereth is like a luave of ths 
 sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let mt that 
 man think that he shdl receive anything of the Lord." 
 (James i. 6, 7.) 
 
 Of course there are many other passages of similar 
 bearing and of equal weight, but I regard these three 
 as clearly setting forth the conditions of prevailing 
 prayer, constituting, as it were, the three steps of 
 successful approach to the mercy seat. They are like 
 three links of a golden chain connecting our souls with 
 God, and if one be missing or defective, the power to 
 
212 Prevailing Prayer. 
 
 prevail in prayer is lost. Does not this explain the 
 reason why there is so much ineffectual prayer in our 
 day? Christians get hold of a promise, and try to 
 work themselves up to faith for its fulfilment, but, alas! 
 one of the conditions is wanting, one of the links is 
 broken ; their own hearts condemn them ; " then have 
 they (no) confidence toward God, and whatsoever they 
 ask they receive (not) of Him, because they keep (not) 
 His commandments, and do (not; those things that 
 are pleasing in His sight." How can a man approach 
 God in confidence, when he is living in the daily 
 practice of something for which his own heart con. 
 demns him ? Impossible ! As soon might Satan offer 
 effectual prayer. Before that man can truly approach 
 to God, he must " cleanse his hands," " purify his 
 heart," and " put away his iniquity." 
 
 No matter what our creed or opinion, God has made 
 it a law of our spiritual being, that without submission 
 and obedience there can be no confidence. Faith in 
 Jesus is God's expedient for bringing us back to 
 obedience, and not for saving us in disobedience. And 
 all the way through the New Testament He refuses to 
 accept any other proof of discipleship than that of 
 obedience. No less than six times in the 14th and 
 15th chapters of John is this criterion insisted on. 
 " Faith without works (obedience) is dead," and there- 
 fore has no power to take hold of God, or to appropriate 
 His promises. I am satisfied that this is the "missing 
 link" in the experience of umltitudes of professors; 
 and in vain do they cry " Lord, Lord, while they do not 
 the things that He says." In vain do tliey try to 
 assure their hearts before Him, while they love not in 
 deed, but onlv in word and in tongue. I am afraid 
 
Prevailing Prayer. 213 
 
 there is much Antinomianism abroad, which makes 
 Christ the minister of sin, and which is always crying, 
 " P^aith ! faith ! only believe ! " while consecration and 
 obedience, as indispensable accompaniments of faith, 
 are entirely lost sight of. " How can ye believe," said 
 our Lord to some in His day, " while ye receive honour 
 one of another, and seek not the honour tliat cometh 
 from God only?" And we may say to some in our day — 
 how can ye believe who prefer self-indulgence, wealth, 
 or worldly conformity, to Christ and His cross, and the 
 extension of His kingdom ? Is it not still true that " if 
 any man love the world, the lo^'e of the Father is not 
 in him," and that " the friendship of the world is 
 enmity towards God ? '.' Saving faith in the sinner, 
 and prevailing faith in the believer are alike impossible 
 without full consecration to known duty. K any one 
 disputes this, let him try to exercise faith in any given 
 promise or for any given blessing, while he is refusing 
 obedience to the claims of God, or withholding part of 
 the price which God retpiires, and he will find, 
 whatever may be his preconceived notions on the 
 subject, that it is sirtiply impossible. Herein is the 
 solution of the question so often asked — How is it that 
 there are so few answers to prayer ? David affirmed it 
 when he said, " K I regard iniquity in my heart, the 
 Lord will not hear me." Neither will God hear and 
 answer us, call we ever so loudly, and ever so long, if 
 we willingly consent to any known unrighteousness. 
 How fares it with your prayers, dear reader ? Do you 
 know that God hears you by the answers He vouch- 
 safes ? If not may not this be the reason for the 
 miscarriage ? God is unchanged and unchangeable, 
 the promise faileth not. " All things whatsoever ye 
 
214 Prevailing Prayer. 
 
 shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." God 
 must be true ; and if your experience contradicts the 
 sure word of promise, you may be certain that it is 
 your experience which is at fault. Examine yourself. 
 Eepent, and do your first works. He is faithful and 
 JQst to forgive the sins of His people, and to cleanse 
 them from all unrighteousness. And then bring all 
 the tithes of a whole-hearted, loving, and believing 
 service into His store-house, and prove Him there- 
 with, and see if He will not open you the windows of 
 heaven, and poar you out such a blessing that there 
 shall not be room enough to receive it. 
 
THE SALVATION ARMY. 
 
 Nothing is more eoninioiily set up as a plua for the nejflect of such H\ iny as is 
 described in the foregoing papers, than that "there are no people who carry 
 religion to such an extren\e as this." 
 
 Wretched as is tliis excuse. I thank God that, as a result of the delivery of 
 these and i-imilar addresses, by myself, my husband, our natural and spiritual 
 children, and those others whom we have set to work from time to time, God 
 has raised u)) for Himself a people who are acting, in no small degree, up to the 
 light which they ha\e received. 
 
 "The Salvation Army," fonnerly called "The Ciiristi.\x Mission," is a force 
 consisting chiefly of working men and women who have been turned from lives 
 of unbelief and open wickedness to serve the living God with all their might. 
 
 From July, 18ti.'), when my husband commenced the work alone in the Kast of 
 London, up to the present time, December, 1888, 528 x'ennanent Coqis or bands 
 of these soul-savers have been established, and 245 field outposts, with 10.'3 Corps 
 abroad. 
 
 Here are tens of thousands of men and women, who have either been Com- 
 pelled to Coiiw. In from the streets and lanes to listen to a Gospel thej' do not care 
 to hear, or ha> e been roused from a state of Heart Backdidhig and led to give 
 themselves afresh to God vith all the ardour of first lo^ e. 
 
 From amongst tliese, up to the date just mentioned, no less than 1,500 persons 
 have given up occuiiation, friends, and home to go forth, with no human 
 guarantee of reward, to seek and sa\e the lost. In the sj^read of this work over 
 l.OOU Females have ^tla.yed a most conspicuous part, God ha\ing sealed their 
 labours with miracles, and signs, and wonders wrought amongst the Gentiles 
 through their instrumentality. 
 
 These people havii.g, in multitudes of cases, been, at one time, the slaves of 
 Stroaij Drink, not only flee from it themselves, hut teach everyone to abstain 
 from its u.se, and from tobacco, and finery, and Worldly Aiiiusementis. 
 
 Having known what it is to be in real anxiety about their own souls' sahation, 
 and to be really sa\ed from sin and fear and guilt and shame into righteousness 
 and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, these ignorant and unlearned men and 
 women understand Dealiivi tritli Anxioim Souh as, alas I many better instructed, 
 and more highly stationed, do not. 
 
 I fear that manj' of these — who have themsehes rather been "dragged up bj' 
 the hair of the head," as one of them exjircssed it, than brought up— little under- 
 stand The Traininii of Children. But of one thing I am thankful to feel 
 confident ; namel\ , that thousands of children are being brought up to devote all 
 available time and strength to the salvation of others. 
 
 Of tliis the letters of thousands of childrrii to Tlie Little Soldier, as well as the 
 fact that about 50,000 copies of it are bought weekly, furnish plentiful evidence. 
 
 Full, detailed infonnation as to the system by which these slaves of sin have 
 been rescued from the Tempter's snares and made Soldiers of the King of kings, 
 and reports of the conquests being dailii" made bj' this Army, ma\' be found in 
 The War Cry every week, and in Heathen England. 
 
 New Undertakings. — The Generd is always prepared to undertake the 
 establishment of a Corps in any town or district, however full of the vilest 
 iniquity and the most extreme ruffianism, provided suitable buildings, such as 
 Theatres, Music Halls, &c., for Sunday services, and a large room for week-nights, 
 can be got on reasonable terms. 
 
 Alway.s Wanted.— Men and Women willing to devote themselves to the 
 sahation of souls, and capable of being made good Officers of The Salvation 
 Ar.my. No salary beyond food and clothing guaranteed. 
 
 CATHERINE BOOTH. 
 
 P.S.— FHjnds to assist in the raising and equipment of Corps in all parts of the 
 country, and the training of young Officers, are always greatly needed, and may 
 be paid into the City Bank, or sent to William Booth, 101, Queen \'ictoria Street 
 London, E.C. 
 
 215 
 

 
 
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