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case in large towns, where a first-class minister can be obtained, (say, for instance, the Rev. D. Thomas) what are the effects of this system in smaller places? This question we shall endeavor to answer from a letter addressed to the Rev. T. Binney by one of the Congregational body.

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"It is quite apparent to every man, that although he may see spread out before him a large breadth of water, that if there be not a certain depth, a vessel of a given tonnage and draught will not float. The vessel may have been constructed upon the most approved principles-her captain may be a man who thoroughly knows how to navigate her-yet it would be ridiculous to expect him to sail her among nothing but shoals and quicksandsand where there was not sufficient depth of water, Does not this figure illustrate Independency, when attempted in small towns and villages ? If Congregationalists could reasonably calculate that an entire village would embrace their peculiar doctrines, then there might be power enough, rightly to sustain a minister; but when every village contains within it almost every variety of opinion, and is broken up into numerous sectarian divisions, it is preposterous unaided to expect to maintain there with any success, Congregationalism. And even in those places where Congregationalism has taken root and spread itself-every one who has observed the course of events, must have remarked, that after a few years, the respectable inhabitants (those from whom the funds came) who have inhabited

the farms and carried on the trades of the dis

trict, have been changed and scattered. What then becomes of the cause, and of the schools, under such circumstances? They frequently fall into decay, not because there are not a sufficient number of souls needing spiritual instruction and care, but because the emergency is unprovided for, and not met by Congregationalists; it is powerless, therefore, not merely politically, but powerless in such cases, to convey spiritual succour to its own countrymen. It may be said our small towns are supplied with ministers. But I ask, how are they maintained-and are they efficient, wellinformed men-men of sound judgment and good sense or are they not rather men, that have shown themselves in some particular, unfit for the ministry, even if well-informed--it may be without discretion, or if possessed of judgment, without soul, without affection, without mind? Notice if they have not some one of these defects--and notice if they have not this recommendation, a small income of their own-and it may be, if you will take the trouble, you will learn that it is this small income which makes the gilded pill go down, and damages and destroys the cause.

"What is the first question put by the students sent from your colleges, when they enter a town to supply a vacant pulpit? Do they not ask the amount of income and the number of the respectable families who attend the place? And although the population, from its extent, challenges for itself, and would seem to demand, an efficient minister, do not the students, if the answer is unsatisfactory, cut and run for the large towns, the fat livings of dissent, or even do they not prefer an appointment to the heathen?

"If, therefore, the small towns and villages are thus viewed and thus treated, if the emergency is unprovided for in your system, if even the heathen are better supplied, can you be surprised, that the respectable among the population, living in such districts, do not choose every week to listen to an inefficient, effete, unqualified, and frequently uneducated man? For what can be more distressing, than to have brought before you, week after week, the stale common-place and flowery nothings of some half-educated city missionary, whose foolish ambition may have misled him to seek to gain what he conceives to be a step, but if it be an elevation, it is an elevation where his defects are more visible ?"

Comment here is useless-enough appears both in regard to the student and the minister. In the next number of the Cabinet to that from which the last extract is given, there appeared a letter in defence of Congregationalism, which only makes the matter worse for the writer's system, and better for us, by suggesting something nearer to the Christian system.

"The truth seems to be, that the negative theology and worldly pride have made sad havoc among them. Where is the self-denial of our Nonconformist forefathers? The waters of wealth ran very shallow with many of them, yet they fainted not, nor deserted the poor of the flock. Where is the zeal of Wesley and Whitfield, and their companions in travail ?' The waters of wealth ran rather shallow with some of them, yet they neglected not to visit the small town or village. In the present day we want men of a kindred spirit with theirsevangelists to go out and preach the gospel with simplicity and earnestness. Let us look more to our lay brethren for help in this matter; offer them some training for it, and more encouragement in it. There are many sensible brethren in the various denominations--men who observe, read, and think, and are willing to labor-men who both love and live the gospel. Let us direct them to suitable books, and give them suitable instructions for the work. In many cases, the payment of small travelling expences would satisfy them; exten

sive classical or mathematical learning not a sine qua non to efficient preaching of the gospel. A pious, earnest preacher, with the Bible in his hand, the saving experience of gospel truths in his heart, and the affectionate appeal of a friend on his lips, cannot labor in vain. The church of God is, or ought to be, a common brotherhood, in which the gifts and talents of the whole body should be consecrated to the sacred objects of Turning sinners from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, and of building up saints upon their most holy faith.'

So say we. Let this be done, restore the eldership of the primitive churches, and a few other deserted things, and cast away the unauthorised additions, and the Congregationalism of the nineteenth century will be no more. The system is an extensive failure."

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SHORT SERMONS FROM TEXTS NOT IN THE BIBLE.-No. I. "You are right, but there are difficulties in the way."

COULD the reader open our record of conversations upon the things of the kingdom, he would find the above words not in one chapter only, but in several. "You are theoretically right, but there are difficulties in the way," is frequently the reply of both preachers and hearers, when we call upon them to restore the original order of the church. One Rev. Gentleman says-" My dear Sir, we cannot deny the correctness of your positions, but the people are not prepared, and we cannot restore these things yet, the difficulties are great and consequently he upholds the side opposed to the right, because, for the present, that side upholds him, and he is only one of a multitude. Another

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The truth is, Sir, I find myself at times giving up. an inquiry, lest it should lead me to what, in my circumstances, I cannot teach ;" and he remains in those circumstances, and continues to close the apertures when he feels light coming in, and he also is one of the multitude. A third says, You are right, Sir, but Christianity as you present it, finds something considerable for us to do-it puts so much upon us, the difficulties are so great, that while we admit the theory, we cannot undertake the practice.' There are many

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such men, but what then? Why man's proper work is the overcoming of difficulties, and he who does not overcome them, is not worthy of manhood. John proclaimed a coming kingdom, uttered plain truths to titled hypocrites, and made straight the way of the Lord. There were difficulties in the way, but he overcame them, and did his life's work. Jesus came to do the will of God, and the wilderness, the garden, and the cross tell us of the difficulties in his way. But what it was right for him to do he did. The Apostles went forth in his spirit, and their difficulties were neither few nor small; and though God wrought mighty wonders by them and for them, he did not sweep their pathway clean from difficulties. thing, for us, had he done so. We love them for their suffering, their patience, their firmness-their triumph over difficulties is a power by which we are strong. Those Christians in Rome who would not curse Jesus and do homage to the gods, were "theoretically right, but there were difficulties in the way"royal edicts, dreadful dangers, cruel tortures, painful lingering death; but because they were theoretically and мORALLY right, they were willing to endure, and able to

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"Smile at drawn daggers, and defy their points.” The old English Nonconformists and Pilgrim Fathers were theoretically right, but there were difficulties in the way; yet, because they were right, they faced the difficulties like men. Confiscation, imprisonment, and death were among the lions that stood in their path, but they said, "We take joyfully the spoiling of our goods-in prison, like Paul and Silas, we can sing praises to God: as to our lives, whether we die now or a little hence, whether by lingering disease or the executioner's sudden stroke, we leave to Him who knows the end from the beginning, for our times are in his hands.' Sampson slew one lion they overcame many. We enjoy the fruit of their labor, while too many of us partake not of their shadows do enough appal us. Let us spirit. Lions we would never meetbe earnest for the right, as were they, and remember

"Time is earnest, passing by-
Death is earnest, drawing nigh."

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There is, however, another side to look at, another question to put the side theoretically wrong, and the question, Are there not difficulties on that side?" We insist that the difficulties on the wrong side are more and greater - the danger imminent. The right way is the easier way, if we walk erect like men. We would certainly prove this point, but our sermon is to be a short one. Do you doubt? We challenge to the test-give it a fair trialmanfully enter upon the right course. We promise great difficulties, but sweet overcomings severe conflicts, but glorious triumphs-and for every loss present compensation and an eternal gain. Say, then, with us-

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"SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES." MOST admirable command! Let there be honest, earnest seeking, and depend upon it there will be a blessed finding. Among those who confess the Christ, there are three classes those who believe upon the testimony of teachers, who are convinced that their excellent ministers" have examined the evidences of Christianity, and found them sufficient-those who have passed from this low state to another, in which they can say, Once I believed on your testimony; now, having examined the prophecies and history, together with additional external evidence, I stand upon higher ground, and seem to know that my Redeemer liveth." The third class, are those who have taken yet another step-one, too, which might have been a first step-we mean those who have diligently studied the words and deeds of Jesus. And this third class rises as much above the second, (if it be possible) as does the second above the first. We rejoice in the assurance the teaching of Jesus bears all the proof of his divine mission which man needs. We say, his teaching-we ask not that ye believe his words because he rose from the dead, but we claim your faith in his resurrection on the

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ground of his teaching, for only the Son of God could speak as he did. The excellency thus belonging to his sayings, we in a measure claim for his Apostles, and insist that "the written word" is not only not a dead letter," but ample evidence that "Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.”

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The following passages on the Inspiration of the Scriptures, are from a work recently published in Paris, entitled " Les Adieux d'Adolphe Monod"

and contain some of the last words of that distinguished and devoted man. During the last half year of his life, when almost daily expecting to die, he regularly collected a circle of friends around the bed from which he never rose, and addressed to them a series of discourses, from one of which the following thoughts are gathered :

"I here declare, as before the tribunal of Jesus Christ, at which I so soon expect to appear, that all my researches and study of the Scriptures, of the history of the church, and of my own heart, and all the discussions which have taken place of late years on the inspiration and divine authority of the word of God, have only served to strengthen me in the unshaken conviction that when the Scriptures speak, it is God who speaks; and that when they proclaim his will, the way of salvation, and the great doctrines of sin and pardon, and of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the words they speak to us are not less certainly true, than they would be if the heavens were to open of God were to sound forth as it once did on at this moment above our heads, and the voice Sinai, and declare the things in our hearing."

"The Scriptures are the word of God in the

highest sense, and also in the most simple and They are the only safe rule of popular sense. faith and life, a rule to which every other should be submitted. All the meetings in the world, all committees and conferences, all prayers and studies, are destitute of worth, except so far as they are submitted and subordinated to the sovereign, infallible, and unchangeable authority of the word of God."

It is a

"It is not, then, a question of personal holiness, since the holiness which we meet with in the Scriptures appears no less in the discourses of Paul than in those of Jesus Christ. question of divine direction. This divine direction appears most clearly when we consider that the book was written in historical order, and although it was spread over two thousand years. it contains on every point a continuous and harmonious doctrine. The Bible is a book by itself, which no other has ever equalled, or ever can equal-a book which reigns supreme

over all the systems, all the uncertainties, and all the questions that engage or agitate the world."

"But-to enter here upon a fresh train of thought-I have no sooner given my sanction to the name word of God, which the Bible has received from God himself and from Jesus Christ, than I find, on close examination, that it is full of man, so many are the marks of humanity which it bears. And for a moment I almost shrink back with alarm, as if I had been too forward with the testimony I have rendered. I find in the writers of the books so marked an individuality of style and character, that if it could by any possibility happen that any lost book should be discovered, which has hitherto by mistake been omitted from the canon, there is not a man, who knows anything of the Sacred Scriptures, who would not be able to say at once whether it had been written by Isaiah or Jeremiah, by Peter, John, or Paul, so great are the differences between these writers, and so thoroughly has each imprinted his own character on that which he has written. I find, too, many things which the writers of this book could have penned without any specia! assistance from the Spirit of God (2 Tim. iv. 13, &c.); and as God works no unnecessary miracles, we see in this the mind of man performing its part in the preparation of the word of God. Moreover, I find there certain things which call to mind the weakness of human nature-as, for example, when Paul tries to refresh his memory, without venturing to trust entirely to it, for the number of persons he had baptized at Corinth. It was clearly a part of the plan of God, that in every page of the book which we call the word of God, we should also meet

with some word of man. But if, for want of reflection, a man might feel some sort of alarm, he would soon recover himself, and find, on the other hand, a guarantee of blessing, of light, and of spirituality in the human element, which enters into the composition of the Scriptures. For how could it have been avoided? It could only have been avoided if the Bible had been dictated word for word, and both the character of the writer and the historical circumstances had been precluded from exerting the slightest influence. Let us take an example which I quote, with profound reverence. When God placed in the mouth of a stupid animal words of reproof, directed against a faithless prophet, it is evident that his word must have taken effect without an intermediate ageut endowed with will; and the inspiration (for such it was,) is the more apparent, because the instrument is so completely passive. But what is there in this inspiration of a creature destitute of reason, that will bear comparison with the inspiration of an apostle, thoroughly impregnated with his

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own experience and his personal sentiments? A similar remark, applied to all the steps of the intervening ladder, according to the active or passive condition of the instrument, would lead to the conviction that inspiration gains in interest the more personal it becomes, without losing anything of its authority. How much more beautiful, too, how much more affecting are the Scriptures in the form in which they have been given: given by God in the course of history, by the instrumentality of men, whose minds were directed by the Spirit of God, men like ourselves, who could say, I believe, and therefore have I spoken;' and of whom it could be said, 'Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six months.' God, given as it has been, in the course of history, to men like ourselves, and brought, not by invisible beings of a higher order, but by men weak as we are, saved as we are, who first believed, and could therefore say, I exhort you to believe what I believe myself, posand a power, which touch our hearts most sesses for that very reason a life, a freshness, deeply, and establish an intimacy, and, as it were, a secret friendship between our hearts and the word. The most solemn of all books becomes, at the same time, the most tender and dear; and this fact indicates a profound acquaintance with the human heart, and conword of God. Thus the Bible is not only not stitutes one of the greatest beauties of the less the word of God, because it was composed by simple men, who never ceased whilst writing to strive against sin, and rest upon the faith they preached, but its very humanity makes it the more divine. That is to say, and his influence upon our souls all the more, we perceive the presence of the Spirit of God because God made use of instruments, to whom his Spirit alone was able to impart the power and the supernatural light which fitted them to be vessels destined to carry the truth to the ends of the earth. Thus it is that the Holy Scriptures lay hold of the very depths of our hearts; and that, whilst instructing us on the part of God, they instruct us at the same time, by means of men-combining all the condito convert to God, to deliver us out of the tious which are required to touch, to enlighten, darkness of the world, and to make all things perfect within us.”

PROTESTANTISM & ITS DUTIES.

"SINCE God has set us in families, no man liveth to himself; and no man may confine the life-giving thought he

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No Maynooth,' and, at the same time, there may be as many popes as there are churches.

has received to himself. He must not merely a claim of right a right to be only hold, but spread the truth; for by used by them as a toy or an ornament, so doing alone can he lastingly benefit or a means of ministering to the gratihis fellow-men. There is, it is true, an fication of their insatiable lust, intellecalms-giving style of doing good, which tual or sensual-a mere cloak for licendispenses with this assertion and dis- tiousness-it will become a vain cry of semination of reformatory and good-No Pope,' 'No Papal Aggression,' bringing thoughts. But the good accomplished thereby is merely external and evanescent. The good accomplished by the assertion of truth, and the consequent awakening of true thought and stirring of right-feeling is perennial -it is the concealing of living waters in the soul. No wonder, then, that we are required not only to rejoice in the light we have received, but to hold it forth for the joy and enlightenment of others.

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Responsible to God, then, as each of us is, for our thoughts and for our thoughtful utterances, we have, without question, the right, as assuredly we have the God-given power, to think, and to utter what we think. But, in the consideration of this responsibility, we find Protestantism assume a more earnest and a nobler aspect than that of a boisterous assertion of a disputed right -a right which, having won, we may employ, or sell, or trample under foot, as our fancy dictates. It is a duty from which it is at our peril if we shrink-a duty, the discharge of which is a test of our allegiance to our God; but a duty which being faithfully and earnestly encountered, becomes a pleasure, ravishing and elevating the soul. Because they recognized it as such a duty, the great men of the past were concerned to brave all temporal evil for its assertion. There was with them no empty, selfish, egotistic claim of a right, but an honest, earnest, self-denying, and Godobeying assertion of that right in the doing of their duty. They had already answered the question, whether it was right to hearken unto men more than unto God, in the noble declaration, 'We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard;' and, as they were brought before Councils, who at once hated and feared the truth, they saw not the men because of the transcending glory of their God, and they spoke only what they felt when they said, 'We stand in the presence of the King of kings for Him we speak, and we can do no other." When, and in so far as, men look on Protestantism as

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"But true Protestantism has its feints, and a few of these may be brought before our readers. Where this sense of responsibility to God alone for our belief is present, there will be fearless, and yet conscientious exercise of thought and employment of all available means of arriving at a knowledge of the truth. No rising thought will be crushed-no branch of study avoided-lest it shake some cherished conclusion-some darling dogma. Had such a Protestantism been characteristic of the church, we should never have heard of the persecution of a Galileo; and the marriage of science and religion would have been long ago consummated, instead of being, as it still unfortunately is, only 'on the carpet.' Truth would not have needed to build herself a cathedral, in order to be listened to by the great; or to tabernacle in a barn, that the commonalty might recognize her. Her words would have been equally reverenced and obeyed, whether uttered by a surpliced priest, a gowned minister, an unadorned preacher, or even one of the unlettered, though learned, workers who are hid under fustians or 'hodden grey.

Under the influence of this conscientiously-fearless search after truth, there would have been a becoming respect for all similarly employed. The hesitancies, doubts, and tentative speculations of other thinkers would have been tenderly dealt with; and instead of making a brother an offender for a word, and eagerly branding him (not on the cheek, perhaps) as a heretic, there would have been gentle lifting up of the hands that hang down, and a brotherly smoothing of the way, that the lame one might not be stumbled or turned aside.

"When the duty of free-thought shall be universally recognized and obeyed, the great end of Christianity will speedily be gained; for the thinkers, coming to the Great Teacher, will

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