Earnestness in the Way of Individual Exertion, and Direct Action for the Salvation of Souls

Parriorism is a part of religion, and he who is a true lover of God will be a genuine lover of his country also. It is true the Bible knows nothing of national antipathies, but on the contrary ‘condemns the absurd and wicked prejudice which leads the people of one land to hate those of another, because they are under another government, talk another language, and are separated

m them by a sea, a river, or a land-mark. Still there are grounds of affection, and motives for benevoleft action, relating to our own country, which do not appertain to any other. One of these is contiguity. We are bound to do good to all men as opportunity shall present itself, and especially to those in our own vicinity. The people who are starving at the antipodes ought to receive our bounty as soon and as far as we can send it to them, but the man who has just dropped down in utter exhaustion, and is dying at our door, has especial claim upon us. We must care for the perishing heathen — but shall we forget the perishing Englishman! To the former we can send missionaries, to the latter we can go ourselves. This, then, is the subject of the present chapter, the obligation of individual earnestness in the way of direct action for the conversion of souls. This must of course respect our countrymen, our neighbors, our families, our friends. Is such individual action necessary?

Look at the moral aspect of your country. It is now more than three centuries since the Reformation from Popery; almost two since the era of toleration; more than one since the revival of religion by the labors of Whitfield and Wesley; nearly seventy years since the setting up of Sunday-schools by Robert Raikes; fifty since the spread of evangelical religion in the Church of England; forty-three since the establishment of the Bible Society, and a little more than that since the formation of the Religious Treet Society, and somewhat less since the invention and promulgation of the popular systeins of education by Bell and Lancaster: to say notiiag of the various institutions, such as Home Mis-

- sionary Societies, Town Missions, District Visiting Societles, and other organizations, which have since then been set up for improving the spiritual condition of the people. The Bible Society has issued twenty million copies of the Scriptures. Tract Society has sent out hearly five hundred million copies of books and tracts: other institutions have added millions more of Bibles, tracts, and prayer-books. Churches, chapels, and schools, have i multiplied beyond all precedent in former times.

d yet what is the moral condition of the people of England, of Protestant England, at this moment? The town in which I live contains, with its suburbs, about two hundred and ten thousand inhabitants, and of these perhaps not more than forty thousands, above twelve years of age, are ever at public worship at the same time. Take from these all Roman Catholics, Unitarians, and other denominations who do not hold evangelical sentitients, and what a small portion remains out of the whole population who are enjoying those soul-converting means of grace which stand so intimately connected with eternal salvation. Where are the bulk of the remainder, and what is their state and character as regards eternity! This is but a specimen of other large towns, and of the state of the metropolis. What, then, it may be asked, must be the

piritual condition of this land of Bibles, of sanctuaries, of ministers; this valley of vision, this land of light?

If, however, it were merely the paucity of means of doing good we had to complain of, it would be a matter of less grief and horror; but let any one think also of the agencies, instruments, and means of doing evil, which are in active operation. The moral, or rather demoralized, condition of a large propartion of the people of this country is beyond the conception of thase who have not been inquisitive into the subject. All persons know the prevalence ef drunkenness and sensuality, and most are impressed vaguely with the idea that there is a great deal of infidelity at work; but the depths of iniquity, the,

tagnant, iferous siaka of vice which are ever sendrjng forth their destructive miasmata into the moral atmasr phere, and poisoning the souls of the people of these yealms, are neither known nor conjectured by thoee who are ignorant of the statistics of the kingdom of darkness,

A writer to whom the religious public are much indebted, hag lately published a work, entitled ‘* The Power of the Press,’ in which he has sent forth a statemnent, derived from authentic sources, and sustained by mnquestionable evidence, which is enough, if anything ‘can do it, to circulate a thrill of horror through the whole nation, and to rouse into activity every friend of his Bjble, hia country, and his Gad.

This indefatigable investigator informs us that 11,702,» @00 copies of absolutely vicious and Sabbath-breaking hewapapers are annually circulated m these realms; while the issues of the British and Foreign Bible Saciety, the Trinitarian Bible Society, the Coldstream Freg Press ,Bible Society, and the grants of the Religious Tract Society, did not amount last year to one-third of this immense number!

‘¢ But a more fearfal revelation still remains. There are about seventy cheap periodicals (varying in pri from three half-pence to one half-penny) issued wee and supposing an extensively circulated series of popular works issued from Edinburgh, the tendency of which is believed by many to be injurious, are omitted, there re-Main at least sexty of a positively pernicious tendency. Of these the most innocent is one which has perhaps the largest circulation. It is said to issue 100,000 weekly. But though vicious principles are avowedly repudiated, yet a depraved and disordered imagination is fostered in this journal, by the introduction into its. af Pyrenchbevels, ad’ sie trash, a8 a principal feature. Thep é. ‘. comes a less scrupulous paper, with a weekly issue of about 80,000; followed by six papers, all a degree lower in the scale of corruption, with an average weekly circu- Jation of 20,000 each, or yearly sale for the six, of 6,240,000. And lastly comes a catalogue of intolerably

olluting trash, which, closely examined, will make the Christian shudder at its contemplation; wondering where readers can be found, and amazed at the neglect and indifference of the church of Christ. The works thus alluded to may be classified thus: Ist, infidel; 2nd, polluting. Of these two there are circulated a yearly average of 10,400,000.

‘¢ But even beyond this dreadful limit, there is a very large annual circulation, into which the writer dare not enter, so awfully polluting is the character. In the last mentioned class, engravings and colorings are employed to excite the lowest passions. It is true, these last works are supposed to be sold by stealth, but they are easily procurable from the same sources as the papers and periodicals before mentioned. The vendors of the one generally procure the other; moreover, the unstamped journals previously alluded to usually contain advertisements of these works; and as the sale of these journals is large, they obtain a wide circulation for the filth, which, bad as they are themselves, they would profess to abominate.

‘¢‘ Now, if we sum up the entire yearly circulation of the different kinds of popular, but manifestly pernicious literature, which has been passed in review before the reader, it will stand thus,

10 stamped papers...... 11,702,000
6 unstamped papers...... 6,240,000
About 60 miscellaneous papers.. 10,400,000
Worst class.. ....... 520,000

Being a total of 28,862,000

‘The effect of this immense annual issue, which if at all mis-stated, the writer believes to be considerably below the average, can scarcely be contemplated by the Christian for one moment without producing, we repeat, a thrill of horror! Week after week — week after week — year after year — year after year, does this literature meet the mind which may have been for a few weeks or months, perhaps, under Christian control one day in seven; or it arrests the attention of those who have never been so privileged. ‘The process and effect are alike in both. cases, though in one results may be more gradual. ‘The mental appetite exists and must be fed; it meets with the food which we have just analyzed, at every turn, in every variety, to suit every taste.”

hat has been done (by the press) to meet this evil? Putting together the annual issues of Bibles, Testaments, Religious Tracts, Newspapers, and Periodicals of every kind, we find a total of 24,418,620, leaving a balance of 4,443,380 in favor of pernicious and corrupting literature.*

Let it, then, be imagined, if imagined it can be, what must be the moral state of multitudes in this country, when nearly thirty millions of such pestiferous publications are annually going out among the masses of our population. Let the minds of all Christian people be fixed upon these facts. Let them dwell upon the insult offered to God, the ruin brought upon souls, the injury done to morals, and the mischief perpetrated in the nation, by such a state of things. Arends of Christ, lovers of your species, professors of religion, you must

* As a supplement to this appalling statement, I may state that a few weeks since I received a copy of a number of one of these low, cheap, infidel publications, containing strictures on “The Anxious Inquirer.” The writer of these strictures avowed himself an atheist, and indeed he has done ample justice to his profession, by effusions of the most vulgar, ‘ lasphemous, and

rrid atheism I ever read. But what was most alarming is, this wretched messenger of mischief announced on its cover twelve places in London, where infidel meetings are held, and

ve a list of subjects to be discussed, all intended to bring the

hristian religion into contempt and derision. This number of the publication alluded to was ostentatiously exhibited in the window of a shop in this town where this and similar works are soid.

pause and ponder these statements. You must net read and dismiss them, as you would the statistics of politica) economy. The writer of these facts has led you to the very door of Satan’s workshop, and has thrown open ta you the ecenes of that awful laboratory of mental and moral poison. He has shown you authors, compositors, printers, engravers, publishers, booksellers, vendors, b ‘ayriads, all busy and indefatigable, to do — what? Ta destroy the Bible — - to pull down the cross — -to dethrone God — to subvert religion — to uproot the church — to turn man into a thinking and speaking brute, and, as a necessary consequence, to overturn all morality, to poison the spriags of domestic happiness, to dissolve the ties of social order, and to involve our country in ruin. Is this so, or is it not? If it be, you are summoned to ponder this awful state of things, and to ask what can be done to arrest this tide of ruin, this awful cataract of perdition, which is dashing over the precipice of infidelity into the of the bottomless pit, and precipitating millions of Immortal souls into the boiling surges and tremendouq whirlpools below. Hell is in earnest in ruining men’s souls, if the church is not in earnest in saving them.

But what is to be done, and who is to do it? Much of course is to be done by the pulpit, and it is never to he forgotten that the preaching of the gospel is God’s great instrument for the conversion of souls. Nothing cam ever supersede this. ‘Towering above all other means. will the sacred desk, and he that fills it, ever stand, as ‘God’s chosen means for reclaiming the wandering and lost soul of apostate man to his Saviour. There must be no suspicion coming over the preacher or the hearer of the gospel, that the pulpit has had its day, done its work, and must give place to something else. It will never have had its day till the world has had ss day. Preéminently adapted to man as man, through every period of his history, and every change of his condition, it will remain to the end of time, the great means for the sinner’s conversion, and the gaint’s edification, sanctification and coneclation. And the infidel operations we have just witnessed do but proclaim with trumpet-call the morq

t necessity of an earnest ministry.

e appalling activity in corrupting the public mind just related, must be met also by religious organizations, such as Home Missionary Societies, and Town and City Missions, those admirable institutions for carrying light into the regions of darkness, and purity into the deng of filth. Churches and chapels, however numerous and well supplied with ministers and preachers, will not ens tirely meet the case, since multitudes who most need the instructions of the pulpit never come to receive them, There are millions to whom, if they ever know anything of the gospel, it must be carried. Under the pressure of want, men will seek the food of their bodies with an eagerness proportioned to the cravings of hunger; but though perishing for the lack of the bread of life, they will take no pains to obtain it, for they are unconscious of their necessities. What is wanted, then, is the plan of domiciliary visitation, and appeals to the people in their ewn localities, carried out to a still wider extent, and by a still larger and more perfect organization. Shall we ever have well-educated and devoted men, versed in all the popular systems of infidelity, fluent, eloquent, and bold, who will go upon a mission to the masses, and be able to conciliate them by kindness, and to convince them by argument, and thus to win them to Christ and to his church? Our town missionaries and scripture readers are doing great good, but we still want a class of agents above them in mental stature, who shall, by sound logic, acriptural knowledge, and commanding intellect, grapple with the demon of infidelity in its own domain.

The Press also must be worked with still greater

power and efficiency. If it has a power for evil, it hag

aleo a power for good. The pulpit cannot do everything - — some think it cannot do most in this educated age and nation — at any rate it is not jealous of the press as a rival, but invites its assistance es an auxiliary. The minlaters of the sanctuary hail as coadjutors the priesthood of —

letters. The presa must not be left, thank God is not left, in the hands of the men of the world, and the mat ley crew of all grades of scepticism. ‘Are they its friendst So are we. Are their liberties the offspring of its efforts? So are ours. Does it minister to their idol-gods? And shall it not minister to the one living and true God! Let us therefore consecrate the press in the midst of our churches. Let some of our most talented ministers of the gospel, who are adapted to the work, (and have no gift of” elocution) devote themselves entirely to teaching by the press. ‘THE WORLD REQUIRES THEIR SER-Vices. MILLIONS OF MINDS CAN BE REACHED ONLY BY MEANS oF THE PREss.”’ The Religious Tract Society is doing wonders, and will do greater wonders yet; let it be well supported. Our journals and periodical literature, from the bulky quarterly down to the penny magazine are doing great things. Let them be liberally sustained. If infidels and immoral writers are pouring forth a deluge of scepticism and vice, let us send forth a higher and a more mighty flood, to sweep away by its force the turbid streams, in the waters of which nothing lives, and which are depositing a pernicious and pestiferous slime, instead of a fertile soil. Christians, support well the religious press; remunerate and encourage your editors, authors, and societies, by pushing, to the widest possible extent, their publications. Grudge not the money you spend in supporting the press; very little is better spent.

till this, even this, all this, is not enough. Give to the pulpit all the power that is claimed for it; give to social organization all the efficiency that it may be supposed and made by God’s blessing to possess; and add to this the well directed energy of the press, — we have an evil to contend with, so gigantic in its strength, so diffused in its influence on all sides of us, and so infectious and malignant in its efforts, that nothing short of the engagement, the energies, and the earnestness, of the whole church can cope with it. ‘The whole church must be employed for the conversion of the whole country. The levy en masse must be called out. The enemy is coming in like a flood; infidelity and immorality are invading us; the tocsin must be rung; the beacon-fire must be kindled on every hill of Zion; the sound must float from every tower and every or battlement, ‘‘ To arms, To arms!’’ and every man that can shoulder a musket, or bear a pike, must take the field, and array himself against the foe. There is not a single member of a single church, male or female, young or old, Tich or poor, but what ought to be engaged in personal efforts for the salvation of souls. An army may as rationy leave the battle to be fought by the officers alone, as the church may leave the conversion of the world to the ministers of the gospel. It is a fundamental error, a practical heresy of most pernicious and deadly influence, to consider the conversion of souls as merely ministerial work. This is Popery and Puseyism, which would restrict the conveyance of renewing grace to the medium of priestly hands, and sacramental channels. Against this the whole church of God ought to rise up in the attitude of firm resistance, and with the language of indignant protestation, as an invasion of the rights of the Christian people, a robbery of the privileges of the “chosen generation,” and a deposition of the “royal priesthood.’”’ As an honor, — and it is one of the brightest and richest that can light upon the head of mortal or immortal, — the work of saving souls is as truly and as legitimately within the reach of the pious pauper in the work-house, or the godly child in the Sunday school, or the religious maid-servant in a family, as within the grasp of the mitred prelate. The church, the whole church, and nothing less than the whole church, inclusive of members as well as ministers, is the priesthood by which the work of conversion is to be carried on upon earth. The clergy-church, that is, a church consisting only of minisisters apart from the people, is a figment, which may do well enough at Rome, or at Oxford, but it will not do wherever the New Testament is possessed, read, and understood. ‘This divine, heavenly Magna Charta of the Christian church must be held up to wrest from the usurpation of tyrannizing ecclesiastics the assumed exclusive patent for saving souls; and as a divine right of the. people, must be bestowed upon any one who has grace énough to claim it, and virtue enough to exercise it. Delightful and auspicious it is to see this admitted and ae BABRNESTNESS IX

put forward by authorities which will have weight with those who will not be swayed by the same statementy coming from other quarters.

In the North British Review for November last, ia a critique on a work by the Chevalier Bunsen, Prussian ambassador to the British Court, entitled ‘‘ The Chureh ef the Future;” which, though it be well worthy the at. tention of every thoughtful mind, contains many strange views, and yet many deserving of approval; among the latter is the following extract selected and commented upon in the Review:,

‘* But, in considering the assistance rendered to the pastors in the evangelical instruction and education of the people, we have met with a mighty institution, the only one of its kind, the 17,000 schoolmasters who stand at the side of the parochial clergy, and assist them in the congregation. ‘That which is good and evangelical in the system of the clergy-church is still to be found in it, and new and vigorous shoots present themselves on every side, and manifest a life full of hope for the future. We found the most startling and important signs of this in the help afforded to the church in her care of the poor, the sick, and the prisoners. We were met by a zealoug company of nen and women, who had founded instituetions of helpful love, for the reformation of those who had gone astray, for the maintenance of homeless and orphan children, for the comfort of the sick and the prisoner. We were met by operatives full of faith, and by a holy band of deaconesses performing the works of the mercifull sisters of the clergy-church, without vows, in the full freedom of the Gospel, and in the might of free, because thankful, love. Now every one who considers the wa in which the diaconate first decayed and died, and how it ig especially wanting in the clergy-church, because it requires for its free development the full communion of the laity, and the full acknowledgment of the universal

sesthood, will readily comprehend the historical signifircanee of the fact, that amongst the vigorous offshoots of the church life of the present day, the diaconate is the wet distinetly and gloriously prominent. Thig is the ministry of love, and in spate! ial manner the menistry the serch of the Future. e may here behold waite to the birth the new element of that church of the Future, «whose birth-throes we all feel, of that free congregation of faithful men, to which the groaning of the creature, and the ever more fearful revelations of the misery of mankind, are pointing. Here is that ministry which is open to all; here is that approval of our faith to which every one is called; here is that -exercise of the priesthood for which every constitution of the church gives liberty; here is that centre from which the constitution of this church of the Future must proceed, if it is to be & pattaker of an inward and spiritual life.’’ — Bunsen.

All hail to such a church of the Future! The world

arns for it, creation groans for it. Society is sick at

eart, sick of sore maladies which politics ean scarcely cure; sick of many empirics and few physicians. And Christ’s church alone has the panacea — the universal ¢ure. Deacons and deaconesses, brothers and sisters of charity, with Christ’s love in their hearts, and no’ pope’s yoke on their necks — priests and priestesses, self-de ‘voted to the High Priest’s own work of going about to do food - — such is the ministry the age, the church, and the ‘world all demand. Otherwise, churches are self-consum fing; light and life go out in a cold vacuum. Pastors, tiders, deacons, schoolmasters, people, eat in on thet» selves and on one another. Forms of polity and worship #tand; rights of rule and rights of choice are balanced; but love dies, and with love, all peace and joy. An ear hest out-going ministry, in all who are the Lord’s — in Dorcas as in Paul — is the grand want of the times. What church will realize this! That is the church of the Future. Bunsen, Arnold, Vinet, Chalmers, all are one here. For at the last, intellect, humanity, piety, are always one.’’

Yes, this is all true, and just, and impressive; we want the Christian people to come forth, and claim and exercise to the utmost their privilege as God’s priesthood, fully commissioned by the Divine Head of the church, to evangelize the world. The remainder of this chapter must now be devoted to a consideration of personal effort for ‘the salvation of souls, viewed in the light of a duty. Yes, it is the duty of every one; not an individual can lead exemption. Is it not the duty of every one to love with all his heart, and his neighbor as himself? 80, does not this love demand that we should seek the conversion of souls? Can we pretend to love God, and not seek that others should love him too? Or can we love our neighbor, and not seek his salvation? Are not all Christians represented as the salt of the earth, and the light of the world? And can they answer to these impressive figurative representations of their duty and design, if they never attempt to diffuse by personal effort their holy religiont As we have opportunity, we are commanded to do good. What good is so good as savin souls, and have we not all ever-recurring opportunities Consider your capability; you can do something for the salvation of souls. Every one who has the knowledge of the way of salvation, and a tongue to speak, can explain it to others. Or if too timid to speak, he can give a tract, or write a letter, which will speak for him. There is not, in all the family of God, a single child who can do nothing for the cause of his heavenly Father, in our apostate world; and nothing more is necessary to constitute obligation in such a matter as this, but the means and an opportunity. If, when the ability and opportunity concur to rescue a fellow-creature from a watery grave, or a fiery death, the obligation is complete; how much more 80, where the means and opportunity are possessed to save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins! Souls are perishing all around you; in your town; in your streets; in your neighbor’s houses, and in your own.

Say not you can do nothing. Have you ever tried! Have you ever taken a bundle of tracts, and gone out into a dark street, and entered the houses of the poor, and begun a conversation with them about their souls? You have a Bible: have you ever put it in your pocket, and gone to some habitation of ignorance and sin, and asked permission to read a chapter? Have you ever written a letter to an unconverted friend or relative, on the subject of religion, and the salvation of the soul? Have you ever mildly expostulated with a relative on the negect of this momentous concern? Have you ever gently and gracefully reproved a swearer or a Sabbath breaker, for his sin against the Lord? Have you ever dropped a word to a fellow-traveller in a steamboat, or a railway carriage? Not do anything! Will you, till you have tried some such simple and easy methods as these, have the courage to tell sot Not do anything! Will you degrade yourself so much, and sink so low in your own estimation, as to say you are a nonenity in the church as regards the church’s mission to our world? Not do anything! What is it in you that says so, your indolence or your modesty? You must do something, or answer for it at the bar of God, why you have not done anything. Be it that you have only one talent, or a fraction of a talent; that fraction, or that unit, must be employed, or you must bear the character and meet the doom of the slothful. servant.

Of course each professing Christian, in his efforts to do good, must consult his own abilities, means, and opportunities. It is admitted that there are varieties here which must not be overlooked. Every one must say ‘¢ Lord, what wilt thou have me do?’’ and each should honestly, and with good intent, look into his circumstances to see what are Christ’s claims upon him. Perhaps it will be found, upon examination, that those do least in the way of personal effort who have the ability to do most; I mean the talented, the wealthy, and the manufacturer who has a large number of persons in his employ, and who might be supposed to have a great influence over them. it happens that with the exception ofious females of the upper classes, men of talent and

usiness are most rarely found engaged in personal effort for the salvation of their neighbors; they will give their money, and perhaps will also give their time, to the business of committees; and this so far is well, for many will not do this; but how seldom are they found engaged in personal effort for the conversion and salvation of a a Sd others. Yet what might they not do in this way if they ttied! Their station and their talents would give them advantages for this sublime occupation, which others Wo not possess. Conceive of the effect which might be expected to result, if all the wealthy and intelligent members of our churches would give only one hour a week to the labor of diffusing religion, by endeavoring to influence the minds of others, and win their attention to the great concerns of religion.

This applies with especial force to master manufabturers, and others who have a large number of men m their employ, and under their influence. One gentleman is known to me who has several hundred men in his betrvice, and who takes a deep interest in the spiritual welfare of his workmen. He has a Bible class for all ‘who are willing to attend. He holds a prayer meeting With them every week; distributes religious tracts; gives them counsel and admonition; encourages their attend ‘ance upon public worship without at all exerting any sectarian influence, and is about to establish for their benefit a library and reading-room. He is a catholicspirited churchman, but never suffers his predilections for the Church of England to influence him in his endeavors for the spiritual welfare of the objects of his solicitude. What might not be expected to our population if all our manufacturers and large retail shop-keep- érs felt the same pious solicitude for the souls of their work-people and shopmen as does this devoted and eminent servant of our Lord! How this would counteract the infidelity and immorality which so extensivel prevail among our laboring population, and which, wi such busy assiduity, are cherished by a corrupt press, and by those emissaries of Satan, the teachers of scepticism, profanity, and licentiousness! Our factories are the strongholds of infidelity. It is there that all the elements of moral mischief mingle and ferment. The chaplain of the hospital in Birmingham was informed by one of the patients whom he visited, that out of three hundred men who worked in the same manufactory as he did, he could affirm of his.own personal knowledge that one hundred of them were avowed infidels. Now there is no reason to suppose that this is a solitary case, but on the contrary a specimen of what very extensively prevails. It is among these men that the publications already alluded to are circulated. Surely it becomes Christian masters to ask whether they cannot do something to arrest the progress of this dreadful mischief. But alas! too many of the men of trade, and even of the Christian masters, are either so little concerned about their workmen as to care for nothing just what measure of profit they can get from their labor, or else they are on such bad terms with them as to render nugatory any efforts they might make for their spiritual welfare.

Pious females have ever been foremost in this work of saving souls by personal effort, and have been eminently successful in their labors of love. Married women, who have but few domestic cares to confine them at home, and unmarried ones of a sufficiently advanced age, who have much leisure at command, may be singularly useful. ‘‘ Devout and honorable women, not a few,’’ are already busily employed in this way. Christian women, we appeal to you all, to join this noble sisterhood of benevolence. We would not have you lessen that attention to the temporal wants, sorrows, and cares of your sex, for which you are already so eminent, but we would have you add to it a still deeper solicitude for the miseries that oppress and ruin their souls. You know how the church of Rome boasts of her ‘ Sisters of Mercy,’’ whom she sends out from her convents into the abodes of ignorance, disease, and want. It is, after all, but a shallow device, though a plausible means, for drawing attention to Popery, and conciliating public favor towards it. We call, therefore, upon you, without abjuring the names, the duties, or the comforts, of the wife and the mother, to perform the service of an evangelist, and by such acts as fall within your own sphere to spread abroad the knowledge of religion, in order to save the souls of your own sex, and thus to be, in the fullest sense of the words, the Sisters of Mercy indeed.

Whatever be our situation, there is no hope of our doing much good in this way without having a definite object in view, and pursuing it in a right way, and with a proper spirit. The direct aim should, of course, be the actual conversion of the soul to God. Where nothing else, however, can be accomplished, besides inducing people to read the Word of God and religious books, to attend upon the preaching of the Gospel, something 4s done; but the aim of a Christian should be, to be the instrament of making others truly and really such as he is himself. 4

To accomplish this end, and to find out the best means within your power, you must be studious and inventive. It is astonishing what means will occur to him, who is deeply anxious and firmly resolved upon the accomplish-, ment of some great object. Let the heart be once on fire with zeal, and then the light of this sacred flame will ascend into the judgment, as well as fall upon surround- ‘ng objects, and disclose means and methods of action which will be hidden from colder intellects. When ‘once the passion for saving souls has got possession of the heart, it will supply not only mcentives but instruments. Necessity is the mother of invention, and when we are brought to this determination, ‘‘ I must be useful; I must do something to save souls; I must find means of doing good;’? means will present themselves; and ‘opportunities will occur. Invention is a secondary creation, and he who cannot find opportunities will certainly make them. Read the life of Harlan Page, a reference to which will be contained m a future chapter, and learn in how many ways a man, even in humble life, may be useful, whose heart is set upon doing good.

it is of immense consequence to remember that what- ‘ever you do for the salvation of souls must be in the eurmmestness of love, expressed with the meekness and gentleness of Christ. There is a boisterousness and vehemence, not ‘to say rudeness, in the manner of some, which defeat their own object. They seem determined to take the citadel by storm; while love undermines it, and enters it almost unperceived. There is a beautiful illustration of this in the life of Mr. Simeon, of Cambridge. Koenig, the only sen of a rich merchant of Amete, came over to England, and was received ag a guest by Mr. Simcon’s brother in the Isle of Wight. It soon appeared that young Konig was destitute of true religion, and ignorant of its principles; but his appearance and manners were such as to invite kindly attention and feeling. Mr. Simeon’s benevolent heart was drawn towards him, and he earnestly desired to win this soul for Christ. One day he was riding a few Yards in advance of a party of which Konig was one. Konig, seeing Mr. Simeon alone, rede up to jom him; and perceiving that his lips were in motion, though he was not engaged in conversation, inquired, with his usual simplicity, ‘* What he was saying.’? Mr. Simeon replied, ‘J was praying for my young friend.’”’ ‘These werds made a deep impression upon the interesting youth, and caused him to regard Mr. Simeon as one who was tenderly concerned for his welfare. His mind had in fact been prepared by the providence of God for this impression, which might otherwise have been transient. The party, who were making the tour of the island, arrived at an inn, where Konig and another gentleman were necessitated to occupy a double-bedded room. The gentleman, before he retired to rest, knelt down and prayed by his bed-side. ‘This, it afterwards appeared, was a new sight to the young Hollander; but it went to his heart. He had long been unhappy, from feeling the unsatisfactoriness of the things which are ordinarily accounted capable of conferring happiness; but knew not the better way. Immediately, however, as he afterwards declared, he said to himself, ‘‘ How happy is that man! What would I give to feel myself in the hands of an Almighty Guide and Protector, as he surely does!’’ Under this conviction, he fell upon his knees, which he had not before done in private for years, and the very next morning he unbosomed himself to his companion. He was thus prepared for the reply of Mr. Simeon to his inquiry, and was not repelled, but encouraged by it. Mr. Simeon, perceiving that the Spirit of God had marked this straager for himeelf, reeolved to do all in his power to train him for happiness and usefulness. His exertions were blessed for his conversion: and the writer who gives the account says, in referring to it afterwards, ‘‘ The remembrance of that youth, graceful in person and beaming with benignity, is even now redolent with everything lovely and of good report. He was in fact ripening for early removal to a higher sphere. He returned to Holland, where he died of consumption; but not till he had been permitted and enabled to witness for his Saviour a good confession in his native city. The report of his behavior during his death illness ‘excited considerable interest and surprise in Amsterdam, where his family were well known. Many, it has been stated, seemed to say, ‘ What new thing is this?’”’ This beautiful story is replete with instruction on the subject of this chapter. uch efforts require a high state of personal religion to supply the impulse, and keep up the motion. The fire of zeal must be fed with the fuel of piety, or it will be only as ‘“‘ the crackling of thorns beneath a pot,’ a noisy blaze, atid a momentary one also. And then, to be useful, a Christian must be consistent. A diseased or

dying physician may be the means of healing others; but an inconsistent Christian only inspires revulsion and disgust by all his endeavors to do good; disgust not only against himself as a hypocrite, but against the very religion he would teach as being all hypocrisy also, wanting the confirmation of example. They who would save others, then, should exhibit in themselves ali the holiness and happiness of that salvation which it is their aim to communicate. ‘There are some persons whom we could wish never to say a word to recommend religion unless they would show its beauty in a consistent example; and whom we could desire never to attempt to save their friends, unless they gave better proof they were really and in earnest seeking to save themselves. Not that the instrument of conversion must of necessity himself be absolutely perfect; for then none but an angel from heaven could be employed in saving man, but he ought to approach as near to it as possible. It should, moreover, be recollected as an encouragement to Christian exertion, that it is with the instrument of conversion as it is with many other instruments, it improves by use. If you would grow in grace yourselves, seek to be the means of communicating grace to others. A light is brightened by kindling other lights, and a fire is made to burn with greater intensity by the neighboring fire which it has ignited. We get good by doing it; and if we save not others, the very attempt aids, and in one sense increases, our own salvation.

Take the following anecdote from America, in illustration of the necessity of consistency in those who would make personal effort for the salvation of sinners.

‘‘ An excellent minister, referring to his own conversion, said, ‘ When I was yet a young and thoughtless man, a pious deacon addressed me about my salvation. I was angry; my heart rose in bitterness against him. [ reproached him; pointed out the inconsistencies of profes-Bors, talked indeed like a madman, while my conscience was grinding me like a mill-stone. He bore it all with meekness, perfectly unmoved. If he had only given one retort, shown one angry feeling, it would have relieved me. His Christian meekness was too much for me. I went into the woods, smarting with my wounds, fell under what he had said to me, and went and asked his pardon.’”’

And now by what arguments can you be persuaded, by what inducements moved, by what incentives excited, to make these efforts? Consider your principLes. You believe in the immortality of the soul — ain the evil of sin — in the curse of the law — jin the wrath of God — in the reality of hell — §in the horrors of damnation — in the intensity and ctérnity of the quenchless fire. You believe in a merciful God — a redeeming Saviour — a converting Spirit — in the possibility of salvation for each one of the perishing millions around you — in the ineffable and eternal bliss of heaven. You believe that it is God’s will that those men should be saved, and that they should be saved by human instrumentality, and by Pia exertions among the other means of life eternal. is, all this, is in your creed. Christians, stady afresh your articles of faith, that you may know more accurately than you seem to do, what ought to be the obligations of your conscience, and the actions of your life. Indeed, you must do more, or believe less; your creed and your conduct are at variance. Follow only one human soul into eternity; trace its endless course through delights which flesh and blood could not sustain; or through torments which human nature must have supernatural strength to endure; pursue it along the course of its eternal progression, and contemplate it making acquisitions in know] holiness, and happiness, all but infinite, and leaving behind even the former attainments of cherubim and seraphim- — or forever sinking from gulf to gulf of misery and despair m the bottomless abyss — — and then coneeive, if it be possible, in some tolerable degree, what an event is the salvation of a single soul! And when you have revolved the comprehension of this mighty and mysterious unit of a single soul, carry it on to the tens, and hundreds, and thousands, or tens of thousands of such souls that are hurrying on to eternity, even in the town where you dwell! Christians, again I say, abjure these vast ideas, or act more conformably to them. Abandon your belief in these stupendous realities, or at any rate prove that you are absolved from the obligation of arresting this tide of ruin, and swelling this stream of salvation, or else be more in earnest in your endeavor to save souls. You must do one or the other. In your present conduct, with such a profession upon your lips, and with such lukewarmness in ‘your zeal, your conduct is the most monstrous inconsistency in our world. Infidels gee it, and comparing your creed and your conduct, taunt you with your hypocrisy. ‘‘ I remember,’’ says Mr. Binney, ‘‘ a very striking circumstance which a neighboring minister mentioned to me in proof of this. ‘There was in the town in which he preached, an avowed and determined infidel. He saw this man one Sunday evening in his place of worship. He was preaching on some of the great verities of faith, and the duties resulting therefrom. As he was, the next morning, passing the door of the man, he was standing at it, and he said to him, ‘I saw you at worship last night, and was rather surprised to sea you there, as you do not believe what I was preaching.’ ‘ No,’ said he, ‘nor you either.’ ‘Indeed.’ ‘No;’ he went on to say, ‘why, if I were to believe the things ou affirm to be true, and which are written in your ks, J should not know how to contain myself. I should feel their importance so much, that I should exhibit them wherever I went. I should not know how to hold in the enthusiasm they would excite. But I do not believe them, nor do you, or you would be very different people from what you are.’’’ Dreadful sarcasm! Cutting irony! Withering rebuke! But how deserved! Shall we not feel itt Shall we not learn our defect, our duty, our inconsistency, even from an infidel? Let us look at and judge

ourselves as ipfidels do, who examine us and ty us by our creed and profession. Rise, rise to action! do something worthy of your principles! Roll away the reproach, and silence the taunt, of your adversaries!

Think of THE HONOR or success! What a volume, never to be fully known in this world, is comprehended in the apostle’s beautiful language, ‘‘ Brethren, if any of

u do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him

ow that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” A vagrant sinner, wandering from God, from holiness, and bliss, restored to the fountain of life and light — a soul, dead in trespasses and sins, quickened into life — a multitude of sins, each one of which containing the sentence and the venom of an eternal curse, all covered over by an act of pardoning mercy, — what an achievement! The liberation of a nation from the fetters of slavery, and the rescue of an empire from the ravages of a pestilence, viewed as temporal deliverances, are not to be compared with the eternal salvation of one immortal soul! Had one of the planets of our system broken the chain of gravity, and was rushing off into space, threatening ruin to itself, and to other orbs, into collision with which, in its course of destruction, * might

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be brought, and it were in our power to restore it agai to its place, its dependence, and its order; it would be less a matter of exultation, than to be the instrument of saving a single soul from the bitter pains of eternal death.. What was the civic crown awarded to him who had saved the life of a Roman soldier on the field of battle; or the statue of brass erected to him who had defeated his country’s foe in a hundred battles; or the shrine prepared in the temple of fame for him who had enriched his country and the world by some splendid discovery in science, or invention in the arts, compared with the crown of amaranth which shall flourish forever on the brow of the Christian who hath saved a soul from death? Medals, statues, arches, processions, are all puerilities compared with this; and such is the distinction placed within the reach of every child of God! What an incentive to earnestness this! and yet how few the competitors for such a crown, and such an honor!

Consider, moreover, what OTHERS HAVE DONE, and done with no greater advantages than you have possessed. Instances have occurred, perhaps within the range of your own observation, of persons who have laid themselves out with extraordinary earnestness, and with as extraordinary success, for the salvation of souls. They have been the honored instruments of bringing many to Christ. It is their exquisite felicity on earth, and will be their still higher felicity in heaven, to receive the grateful acknowledgments of those whom they have plucked as brands from the burning. This is a happiness which angels know not. They indeed rejoice over souls converted by others, but never over any converted by themselves: in this particular, they are inferior to many poor peasant, who has been the instrument of saving a soul from death. Envy not such persons, but imitate them. Their bliss may be yours. What they have done, you, by God’s grace, may do. It was not by might nor by power that they did it, but by God’s truth and by God’s g irit. The truth may be presented by you as it was by them, and God’s Spirit is as willing to come on your humble labors, as he was upon theirs. He loves to

en

ee eee eee eee ee eee ee ee eee bless feeble but willing instruments, that he may magnify his own power.

As proof of what some others have done, take the following instance, which has been brought under my notice by one of our home missionaries, in a letter I lately received from him. After describing the great spiritual destitution of large tracts of our country, and our inability to supply by any organization we now have, or are ever likely to have, this lamented deficiency, he adds, ‘© T have been thinking of a plan, which in some instances has been tried and greatly blessed, for the spread of the gospel and the conversion of souls. Are there not in the churches of our cities and large towns, men of ardent piety and love to souls, of ability to preach the gospel with simplcty, affection, and, of wealth to support themselves, and leisure to labor for God and precious souls? Are not some of their talents buried, for want of a proper sphere for their exertion? Could they not obtain a comfortable residence for themselves in these districts, and devote themselves to the eternal welfare of those for whom no other spiritual provision is made?

‘‘A dear relative of mine, some years, had a considerable amount of property left him. He at once retired from business, to devote himself entirely to the work of the Lord. He was the instrument of introducing the gospel to this town where IJ now labor. He went to reside at a village about eight miles from hence. He there began to preach, built one chapel, then another, and then another, in different hamlets. We have two village chapels connected with us besides. Other chapels in this locality sprung from his efforts. It is gratifying and astonishing to consider how the gospel has spread, and is still spreading; and we trace back these streams to the blessing of God upon the efforts of this servant of his. He died in the pulpit, nearly four years ago. His son, now residing upon his own farm, is the zealous and successful pastor of the church which his father was the instrument of gathering. Two day schools and four Sabbath schools have arisen from the same efforts.

‘Now, sir, are there not others connected with our churches who may go and do likewise? May we not believe that God would crown with his blessing such efforts as these?’’

Believe! We are sure of it. This is what we want. This we must have, or we can never overtake the population of our country with the means of grace. say again and again, and I say it with all possible emphasis, and would send it, if I could, with a trumpet-blast over the land, ‘‘ Societies must not be substitutes for personal labors. Organization must not crush individualism.” Here was an individual waiting for no society, but going off himself to the scene of moral desolation — venturng alone into the wildemness — going single-handed, but strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, to pour the light of truth over a dark neighborhood. See

ow God honored and blessed him! what good he did! — what a name he left! Ye pious, well-read, gifted, and zealous tradesmen, who have talents as well as piety, and, in addition to all these, abundant wealth, or a competency, at any rate, why not imitate this beautiful example? by content yourselves with getting more wealth, which you do not want, when you might be employed in building chapels, forming churches, saving souls, and planting schools? How noble an association — the country gentleman and the village pastor! the retired tradesman and the preacher of the gospel! Is there nothing to fire your ambition, to excite your ardor, to kindle a holy enthusiasm, in such a prospect and such a hope? I am not setting aside an educated ministry, by a system of lay preaching, but am speaking of spots where no congregation exists, no chapel is built, and where none is ever likely to exist without some such plan as this.

Remember HOW LITTLE YOU HAVE HITHERTO DONE. You have experimentally known the way of salvation, and the value of a soul, these ten, twenty, thirty years, and yet, up to this hour, you have perhaps never won a soul to God! perhaps have never tried. Marvellous! Painful neglect, irretrievable omission! The wasted hours can never be recalled, the lost souls that have dropped into the pit from beneath your very eye and hand ‘ mistresses at the can never be placed again within the circle of your inftaence. As you saw them falling, you stretched out no helping hand, and there amidst the torments of despair they are, uttering their reproaches upon your cruel indifference. Time 3s still rolling on; souls are still crowding to perdition, and soon, soon, both you and they will be in eternity! Hasten, oh hasten, to the scene of ruin! put forth every energy! their damnation lingers not, and shall your compassion linger? Shall your efforts still be withheld?

Once more consider what would be the result, were ALL THE MEMBERS of our churches stirred up to an earnest endeavor to save souls. Take a community of Christians, of three, four, or five hundred communicants, yea, of a lesser number, and think of all these, each in his own sphere, and according to his own talents, means, and opportunity, laboring for God and souls. Think of five hundred, or even of one hundred, scattered over the whole expanse of a town or village, communicating more or less with the whole population: some of them masters and

Mead of families; others manufacturers presiding over large establishments of workmen; others servants in the midst of godless families; others workmen surrounded by wicked fellow-workers; others rich or well informed, and possessing considerable influence in séciety; others poor and inhabiting courts where neighbors on all hands have an opportunity to see their conduct and hear their conversation; others young and possess in. all the health and energy of their years, and in the habit of meeting with persons of their own age; — let such a community be conceived of, where all these members were walking in holy conversation and godliness, sending forth the light of a beautiful] example, full of zeal, laboring for the salvation of their fellows, and inspired with the ambition and animated with the hope of saving souls by personal effort, each studying what he could do, and each doing what he could — what might not be looked for as the glorious result of such general activity, zeal, and earnestness? What an awakening would take place, what revivals would come on! Would not God pour out me ene

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112 S£ARNESTNESS IN INDIVIDUAL EXEHTION.

his Spirit on such churches as these? What prayer would ascend, and what showers of blessings would come down in their season! When our churches shall exhibit such scenes as these, then will God’s work go on in the earth! And why do they not exhibit such scenes? Are not these the scenes they ought to exhibit? Is not this the intention for which they are raised up! Friends of Christ, and truth, and God, look back for a moment again to the horrifying details of a former part of this chapter — read again the statistics of the Pandemonium of infidelity and immorality, and say if the passion for ruining souls shall be more intense among the emissaries of Satan, than the passion for saving them shall be among the followers of the Lamb. O what, and who, shall rouse the church of God to a sense of her duty, her destiny, and her honor, as God’s instrument fo¥converting an ungodly world? Where is the more than ¢rumpet breath that with the thunders of the skies and the voice of eternal truth shall break in upon the slumber of a luxurious church, and rouse her to her mission as a witnessing and a proselyting body! What visitations of mercy or of judgment; what internal commotions, or external assaults; what national convulsions or social disruptions, are necessary to call her to her work, and prepare her to perform it? When shall all controversies seem to be little or nothing, compared with the church’s one great controversy against sih, Satan, and perdition? When shall every Christian feel that God’s chief end of keeping him out of heaven for a season is that he might keep immortal souls out of hell! When shall another Luther rise up- in the midst of the Protestant church, and reform us from our worldly-mindedness, even as the first delivered us from Popery! When shall another Whitfield pass through the midst of us, and with his burning eloquence kindle a fire of zeal in

our hearts which shall consume the dross of earthliness,

and purify the gold of our faith? Shall infidelity, popery, and false philosophy, share the world between them! Individual Christians, priesthood of God, consider and decide.