Introductory: On the Relations That Subsist Amongst the Different Classes of Society

“And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee.” — Ruth ii. 4.

How lovely is the picture of this Hebrew harvest-field! There is a tinge of inexpressible sweetness beaming forth from that ancient landscape. It was a goodly sight. One would like to have been there when a portly magnate of Israel stalked into his own corn-field, and gravely saluted the laborers in the name of the Lord; when the laborers along the extended row simultaneously lifted up their bended backs, looked round erect upon their master, and, each with the sweat upon his brow and the sickle in his hand, gladly echoed back his salutation in the name of the Lord; — an intercourse this between rich and poor, between master and servant, which we love to think of in those patriarchal times, — which we weep the want of in our own.

Two things are conspicuous in the intercourse between Boaz and his reapers, which seem to have in a great measure disappeared from the meetings of employers and employed in modern society; — these are kindliness and godliness. In the fact of the salutation, and the form of it, we observe on both sides a genial glow of kindliness; in the subject-matter of the salutation, we observe on both sides a simple, unaffected godliness.

Instead of idle wishes for the return of that patriarchal simplicity, which, in the purposes of God and the progress of mankind, has for ever gone by, let us address ourselves, with pains and prayer, to the inquiry how the same spirit may be made to sweeten the breath of a differentlyconstituted society. This spirit, God-fearing and man-loving, dwelling richly in the hearts, and bursting spontaneously from the lips of rich and poor when they meet together, — this is what humanity needs, this is the salve for its sore. We mourn the want of it, — we long for the return of it. It seems to have fled from the earth. And yet there is hope concerning this thing, — a hope in God. From him, the Father of lights, cometh down every good gift. All the really good things that ever blessed the earth are treasured up in Christ, and conveyed by the gospel. If we seek there, we shall find. But we must beware of seeking the living among the dead: men do not gather grapes off thorns; neither will they obtain millennial peace on earth, as the result of human philosophy and political combinations.

It has often been remarked, that the Bible, in its histories, doctrines, and precepts, is suited to all nations and all times. Though written Irv Jews, it is written for the world; though addressed chiefly to Israel, it is framed to suit mankind. Mountains, rivers, seas, do not impede its progress. It has burst through the barriers of race and of language. It has found its way over obstacles that throw back the tide of war. Indeed, these two great works of God, man and the Bible, are in some of their aspects very like each other. Neither is limited to countries and climes; both are intended and fitted to replenish the earth. Man makes his home alike among polar snows and under tropical heats. In all his wanderings, the Bible seems to address him in the words of Ruth, “Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge.” It is constructed capable of being man’s companion in every journey, and shedding a heavenly light around every human home. As with the breadths of space, so is it with the lengths of time. The Word of God not only follows the footsteps of the emigrant over earth, it also flows down the stream of successive generations. It is as suitable now, in the end of the world, as it was when it began to be uttered by the shepherds of Israel or the fishermen of Galilee. Without doubt there is a progressive development of the human mind, but the race has not yet shot ahead of these ancient records. The Scriptures written of old are still as fresh as a thing of yesterday. Many new discoveries have been made; but the Bible stands unshaken in their midst. The advancing science of modern times has done much to reveal, but nothing to weaken, the rock of its foundation. God’s will revealed is as suitable to the highly-civilized condition of modern Europe, as it was to the simple state of Palestine in the days of Boaz or the Baptist. To a monarchy in one age, and a republic in another, it gives forth its saving lessons, without partiality and without embarrassment. Alike to the untutored shepherd on the plains of Bethlehem and the most learned astronomer of our day, it gives forth its commands and its promises. To him who counts the earth the centre of the universe, and sees in the heavenly bodies nothing more than lights for this lower world; and to him who measures the distance and the motions of other orbs, and knows that the globe we tread on is, in the Creator’s hands, a very little thing, — to both alike, and with equal appropriateness,, the Bible proclaims a wisdom that is from above, a way of salvation that cannot be discovered by the researches of men.*

[*The Bible is indeed a fount of perennial wisdom and knowledge. It is not only demonstrated to be so by the history of God’s Providence in the past, but it is receiving additional proof in modern development of human progress. We find that as civilization proceeds — as society is continually undergoing great changes — as new phases in human affairs are occurring vitally affecting the welfare and hopes of men — as science is enlarged, knowledge increased, and philosophy becomes more profound, the Bible enlarges its claims upon our reverence and our obedience, and exhibits a length and breadth of wisdom adequate to guide men in the highest places to which human attainments can raise them. They find that as their intellectual and emotional powers become enlarged, the Bible affords an ample field for their utmost exertions; — and not only opens such a field, but demands that it should be occupied. — C]

The patriarchal institutes that prevailed in the time of Boaz were very different from the political constitutions of modern Europe. The subjection of the servant to his master which prevailed in those days, was very different from the freedom and equal rights of all classes in our own land. But it is not in the servitude of those days and the liberty of ours that the good or the evil chiefly lies. If any one shall condemn the patriarchal despotism, and point to modern political freedom as the cure of human ills, I bid him take a glance at that primitive harvest-field, and behold humanity in one of its most winning aspects, — the rich and the poor meeting together in perfect love. I could point out, on the other hand, many a scene of mutual distrust and hate, where complete political equality is demanded on the one side, and conceded on the other. If, on the contrary, any one shall condemn all free institutions as unsuitable for fallen men, and sigh for patriarchal autocracy as the only form of government adapted to the race, I can show him free institutions really bearing their expected good fruit; and I can point also to quarters of the world where the primitive authority remains with the chief, and yet the roll of the people’s history is written, “Lamentation, mourning, and woe.”

Human happiness and misery do not turn on the form which the organization of society may assume. With the most perfect political freedom, there may be every thing that galls the spirit and makes existence miserable. “With a very defective measure of emancipation constitutionally guaranteed, there may be, in its best sense, the enjoyment of life. It is a baptism by the Spirit that will sweeten and hallow the relations of life, whatever the external form may be into which they have been cast.

The present condition of modern society, as to civil and political organization, is, beyond doubt, an improvement on all that has gone before it. The human race is, in an important sense, advancing. Whereunto we have already attained in the enfranchisement of mind and body, let us hold it fast as a boon, and endeavor to transmit it not less, but larger, to the generation following. On the whole, under the governing and superintending care of Providence, mankind are making progress. Human institutions, like human knowledge, are evolving themselves into fitter forms. The childhood and the youth of the race are gone, at least in the more civilized portions of the earth. The acts and institutes of the nations are gradually laying aside the shape and lineaments of childhood, and assuming the aspect that suits the manhood of our beinor. The regret and lonsdnsr that seize on some minds for the return of ancient organism to the body politic, are blind and vain. We cannot bring back the old forms, even though we would; we should not, even though we could. Forward we must go, and forward we ought to go. The tide of social, material, and intellectual development will, under a favoring Providence, continue to advance, although, from special causes, and in particular places, there will be from time to time an ominous far-receding wave. The progress, in some of its aspects, has been accelerated in a prodigious ratio of late years. The impetus that it has now acquired, seems fitted to produce in the years coming still more stupendous results.*

In view of the condition and tendencies of society, what is the duty of a Christian patriot?

[ * Our author clearly perceives that progress is the order of the day. It is the duty of Christians to unite in this social progress. “Forward we must go, and forward we ought to go,” — but he would have this progress a Christian movement. He would derive its principles and guidance from the Word of God. He understands that the resources of Revelation are not exhausted, and however much those who have preceded us have drawn from that treasury, there remains in it wisdom, infinite wisdom, upon which men may draw for their social progress for ages to come. — C]

He is not to whine idly for the return of the good old days, when society consisted only of two classes, kind masters and happy serfs; neither is he madly to plant himself in the breach, with the view of stemming and turning the advancing tide. Let believing men, whatever may be their views of the optimism in political organization, fix it as an axiom in then minds, that, for the highest good of the species, much more depends on the spirit which animates persons than on the forms which institutes may assume. Let all who hope in God and love their brethren act on this principle, and act together on it. Their time and strength will not be wasted in useless lamentations, or more useless attempts to arrest the very tide of time. They will find in this age and in this land a crying necessity for the help of all the good; but they will find, too, a hopeful field for the employment of all their energies. I don’t want to return to the old institutes, for I think our own are better; but I would rather live under the old, or under any form of regular society that ever existed, with the Spirit of God animating its members, than under the freest possible constitution of government, where men full of envy and hatred stood, each in his well-defined, well-defended position, scowling defiance against each other. I would rather be the reaper of Boaz, a stranger to political freedom, respectfully submitting to the will of my master, yet gladly hailing my master’s approach, and with frank confidence returning his kind salutation, than the spinner in one of our factories, possessed of the franchise as well as my employer, — he combining with other masters to reduce my pay, and I combining with other workmen to set him at defiance. Though I delight to bear testimony to the value of free institutions, as far as they go, I proclaim earnestly, that, if there be not the fear of God and love to men which the Gospel teaches and the Holy Spirit inspires, the improved apparatus only serves to increase our misery.

God intends a progress down the generations of the race as well as across the continents of the world; but this is altogether a different thing from the coming of his kingdom. The material and social advancement of nations may prepare the way, but cannot supply the place, of the Lord. To those who expect too much from it, this social progress answers, “One cometh after me worthier than I.” The kingdom of God does not consist in certain forms of society. It is not, “Lo, here! and lo, there!” The kingdom of God is within you. If social progress be not baptized with the

Spirit, it is destitute of real good to immortal beings.* When the natural advancement is complete, and the spiritual reformation effected, then may the millennial glory be. When fully developed human faculties shall be saturated in all their actings by the Spirit of the living God, then shall the end be, — the issue of preceding providential dispensations. Meantime, what we most need is sanctification by the truth upon persons, — the whole law of God rewritten by the Spirit upon the tables of human hearts. Look at the condition of the continental nations during these three years past, and learn how little mere natural development can do for men. Compare the harvest-

[ * If social progress is to be baptized with the Spirit, it must be such progress as is taught in the Word of God. If that Word contains such teachings, the time has come for their full development; for the world is now full of devices for social progress, of men’s devising. We must now resort more earnestly to the “New Commandment,” which is exceeding broad, and see if it be not adequate to cover the whole ground of human well-being. Let it now be inquired if Christ and his apostles have not left us lessons of social wisdom which teach us how social evils may be extirpated by the force of moral power, without upturning or disturbing injuriously to the interests of society any social edifice. Let all our systems of political economy and social philosophy, and all our theories of politics and our speculations upon human well-being, be examined anew, under the full light of the New Commandment, as stated and developed in the New Testament. — C] field of Boaz with the bloody streets * of Rome, Paris, Vienna, Berlin; and learn, that the smallest measure of human advancement, with the grace of God in the persons, makes a happier community than the very highest degrees of unsanctified civilization.

Consider now, more particularly, the two features that characterised the intercourse between Boaz and his reapers. These are kindliness and godliness; — there is love of men, and there is reverence of God. We need these in their union to sweeten the intercourse between master and man in our own day, and in our own city. These heavenwrought characteristics, if our spirits were imbued with them, would be found as applicable to the forms of modern as of ancient institutes. Love, divine and human, bedded in the breast, would smooth, and soften, and hallow the connection between manufacturer and operative in the thoroughfores of Glasgow, as fully as it did the connection between farmer and laborer of old in the fields of Palestine. Love, like light, is the same now as it was then, — the same in its origin, nature, and effects.f

* Written soon after the Revolution of 1848. [f The attentive observer of the progress of human amelioration in its religious and social aspects, is now fully aware that

I. Kindliness is greatly to be desired in the intercourse of employers and employed in our day. The master and the men must meet often for the transaction of business that is of common concern. If the meetings be devoid of kindness, they are unpleasant and injurious. The intercourse of human beings, acting with and for each other, without human sympathy, is like the acting of wheel upon wheel in machinery without oil. The wheels strike hard, one upon another. They waste each other, and shake the whole fabric in which they are fastened. The driver wheel harshly strikes and wears the driven wheel; and the driven wheel harshly receives, and reciprocally wears the driver. If the motion becomes quick, and the strokes frequent — tooth upon tooth striking hard and dry — there will be generated at the point of contact a consuming fire. Is not this a

the great desideratum in both respects is a stricter obedience to the command — “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” If we obey not this command, we hold but to the half of Christianity. The command to love God, is of no higher authority than the command to love man. There is a difference in the degree of the love, but none in the nature, authority, or stringency of the obligation. Our disobedience in either case is equally fatal. Indeed — “All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Gal. v. 14. “For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” 1 John, iv. 20. -C] picture of the intercourse that we often see betwixt the classes, in a mercantile and manufacturing community? The master distributes his capital to drive the man, precisely as he distributes his steam-power to drive the wheels of his mill. The man submits himself to that power to be driven, compelled to do so by the necessity of having daily bread for himself and his family. In most cases, there is no oil of human kindness poured upon the wheels at the point of contact. The master has no interest in the man; the man feels no regard for the master. Oh, if there were kindness between man and man — a brother’s sympathy shown on the one hand, and received on the other — how much more softly would the machine of society move, and how much more productive would its movements be, both to the capitalist and the laborer! How much we suffer from harsh supercilious pride on the one hand, and dogged discontented pride on the other! Here is a noble field for the philanthropist to labor on. He who shall increase the kindliness between operatives and their employers, will be a benefactor of his race. All does not lie with the masters, but the initiative is with them. They have more in their power. People speak sometimes of the species advancing on to perfection. ‘Well, perfection lies farther off than these sanguine renovators are aware of; but those are truly making a step in advance, who treat men in common transactions with a brother’s love, and not as mere producing machines.

AVe shall lose all the benefit of our vast machinery: it will be blighted by a curse, if we use living men as a part of it — if we make no distinction between the most wonderful work of God, and these dead mindless workers which our own hands have set up. If we take the symmetrical limbs, the cunning hands, the contracting sinews, the warm circling blood, the mind, the life, the soul, of a being made in the image of God, and set them in our estimation on a level with the wheels and cranks and cylinders of our inanimate machines — the Maker is dishonored in his work. God is displeased. His law is violated. His image is defaced. Society is out of joint, her motions are uneasy; she is sick, and knows not what ails her. Ails her! Look at this! Man has been pieced-in to complete an engine, that it may spin and weave and make money! Human brains have been weighed in the same balance with the dross that feeds the furnace! You take the girth of a man’s soul, as you do of a wroughtiron piston, with the view of ascertaining the amount of propulsion that may be expected out of it. Both, and both alike, you put under the steam, and work them till they be worn: then you toss them away, and look out for others. This is the ailment of society. 3Ian is not a brother to man.*

Having introduced the wheel, and found it serviceable, let us employ it to teach another lesson. The wheel that drives is as necessary a part of the machine as those that are driven. Itself is driven by some other and higher power. It would not be good for any portion, if one were removed or disabled. It is thus with the classes of society, especially the employers and the employed. The laborer should not fret against the employer as such. He is part of the organization of Providence. We do n’t want this wheel that racks you taken out of the way. We want it oiled with holy human sympathy. We wish it to touch you still, and impel you to industry, with such softness

[ * Our author advances here opinions at variance with the science of political economy as taught in the schools of our day. This science regards wealth — riches mainly, and discards humane and moral considerations. It excludes Christianity from its path, and claims to put forth all the laws which relate to the formation, distribution, and consumption of wealth — thus rejecting the comprehensive rules of duty which bind Christians every where and in every thing. — C] as will be pleasant at the time, and such power as will be profitable afterwards to yourselves and your families.

But how shall we get such kindliness poured out upon the too, too sharp spirits of men, when the classes meet in a bristling array of mutual suspicion and defiance? “We must go to seek it in the source of all good.* The sympathy of which we have been speaking is the second commandment; in order to reach it we must climb up to the first. We must begin at the beginning. The first commandment is, Thou shalt love tlry neighbour as thyself. “Hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole of man.” — (Eccl. xii. 13). We are thus brought to the other leading characteristic of the intercourse depicted in the text.

[* We must seek a remedy for the great social evils of the day in the Bible — we can only find it there. It is in that development of His commandment which we find so largely set forth in the teachings of our Saviour. It is there, and no where else, that we shall find the philosophy which can reach the moral and social evils of our day. We have arrived at a point in human history when we must betake ourselves to the application of Christ’s precepts to the social condition of men: in no other way can we obey the command to love our neighbor as ourselves, and no other wisdom can reach the evils of which we complain. — C.J

II. Its godliness. Look to the subject matter of that kind mutual salutation, and you will find that master and men lived in the fear of God, and were not ashamed to own their religion in each other’s presence. “The Lord be with you,” said the master: “The Lord bless thee,” echoed the men. From the 129th Psalm, it appears that this salutation was common in Israel.

The secret lies here. There would be more of human kindness amongst us, if there were more of genuine faith in God. If, as dear children, we all exercised confidence in the Father, we would find it easier to embrace each other. It is a beautiful characteristic of the Scriptures, that they recognise God throughout. You meet him at every step, not only in direct religious worship, but in the public history of nations and the private intercourse of friends. It is here that our defect lies. In great measure God is banished from history, from politics, from merchandise, from manufactures. God is not willing to be banished from any of his works. In him we live, and move, and have our being. He giveth us life and breath, and all things. He would have holiness to the Lord written on the bridles of the horses, and stamped upon the beams of our machinery. This practical ungodliness is the dislocation that makes modern society so painfully to halt, notwithstandall its advantages.

“We do not propose that at your desks or your counters you should set aside your ledgers and commence a debate on systems of theology. Every thing in its own time and place. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but there is such a thing as laboring in the Lord, though you labor on common materials. There is such a thing as grace dwelling richly in the heart, ever ready to flow forth, but not ostentatiously protruded at unseasonable times. There is such a thing as doing common business in a Christian spirit. There is such a thing as walking about on earth like one who is going home to heaven. Probably Boaz, after that graceful salutation, would go about and give directions to the reapers, like an ordinary farmer. The treasurer of the Ethiopian queen, when he found in Christ crucified the satisfying portion for his anxious soul, “went on his way rejoicing.” Doubtless, after that journey to Jerusalem, and that interview with Philip in the desert, he would gather in the taxes, and disburse the revenue of the barbarian monarchy, at once with the accuracy of a man of business, and the tenderness of conscience which characterises the new-born child of God.

We are very low as to the existence of godliness in the heart; and we are still lower as to the manifestation of it in the ordinary intercourse of society. Very little of it is possessed: and even that little is not Drought into exercise. A strongbodied stream will easily sweep away even considerable obstructions that may be thrown in its course; but a driblet trickling in the bottom of a furrow is stopped short, and turned aside by a clod or a handful of straw. There are difficulties in the way of making religion tell on common concerns. These difficulties are in the mean time mountains, although in a day of revival they would be carried away. We are persuaded that few masters are to be found at present who would not be ashamed to acknowledge a sinner’s hope in a precious Saviour in presence of their workmen; and comparatively few mechanics, who, if such an acknowledgment were made, would not openly sneer, or secretly impute it to hypocrisy. The two classes distrust each other. Even the religion that they have, they hide in each other’s presence.* Alas, the only salve is by a tacit compact kept far away from the sores of society!

[ * How much of this distrust and want of mutual confidence among Christians! How little the interchange of doubts and difficulties compared with what should be the nature of our

The motions of the community are jarring and painful, because they are not softened by divine grace. It is a short-sighted policy to shut up religion in churches and prayer-meetings, or even in households. Religion is intended for the world. The world has need of it. Your weary, weary, clanking machinery, — ever going, never resting — how much will you give for this, and what wages will you work for, — the hard edges of that huge, complex money-making machine are sawing into your very flesh and bones. If the name and Spirit of Christ were poured upon your business, your business would not rack you so sore, nor waste you so soon.*

There cannot in the nature of things be a proper intercourse between human beings, if the fear of God and the faith of the gospel do not pervade

daily intercourse! If he upon whose mind a religious doubt supervenes could reveal it frankly to the first intelligent Christian Brother he met, how many errors would be stayed, how many souls comforted! The mere stickler for orthodoxy never doubts — never has occasion to cry, “Lord, help mine unbelief”: — he has no sympathy, therefore, for weaker brethren who hold to the truth with timid and prayerful anxiety, ever desirous of increasing their store. — C]

[* Ah, what a change in the aspects of business, if Christ’s precepts were mingled in its progress! But the application remains to be made — that application has yet to be developed in our religious literature and in the thousand-fold processes of daily business. — C] it. How can you treat a man aright, when you have in view only the lowest part of his nature — the briefest period in his destiny? If the only data you take into account be the strength of his sinews and the suppleness of his joints, you will necessarily form an erring estimate of the man. If all that your mind takes in regarding him be his work and his wages — the profit and loss in money of retaining or dismissing him, your treatment of him cannot possibly be right. It is only when you learn to take in the whole man, that your conception can be accurate, and your conduct wise. It is only while you regard men as’ your brethren, born in sin, and under condemnation — as living by God’s permission a day of grace, and going soon to a settled eternity — it is only while you thus conceive of them, that you can act your part aright in the common relations of life. It is generally acknowledged, that without religion a man is not fit for dying: it is equally true, that without religion a man is not fit for living. I would not like to go into the unknown, untrodden valley of death with a religion hastily snatched up for the occasion. I would like to have a religion then which had been tried and found not wanting in the various concerns of a busy life. Faith worketh by love; and this world of sin and suffering is the appointed sphere of its operation. Godliness dwelling in the soul, and in simplicity brought to the harvest-field, or the workshop, will effect a marvellous transformation on the character of your employment; it will elevate the toil and traffic of earth into a fitting exercise for an heir of heaven.

The conclusion of the whole matter is, — 1. Those who are of the world still brine: no srodliness to bear upon human intercourse to soften it; and, 2. Those, who are born from above bring too little.

1. Those who have no chief end for their souls, and no chief aim of their lives beyond things seen and temporal, bring no godliness to bear on the business of society. You cannot apply to a brother what you have not experienced yourself. The unconverted, whatever may be the variety of their natural dispositions, are themselves a part of a disordered, dislocated world. Its motions are uneasy; its several parts tear one another as they turn round. Blow after blow chafes the spirit and sears the conscience. Sorrows, disappointments, vexations, come rolling on like the waves of the sea; but the sorrows do not soothe and heal. Their common effect is to make the disappointed remove his trust from men, without enabling him to transfer it to God. The description given by an apostle suits all unrenewed men better than they are willing to allow, — “living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.” It is a poor, weary life, friends; the gains at the best are but small. Even those who do succeed in making money, experience many secret heartburnings, and encounter many painful collisions. The money which they make is a poor substitute for the blessedness of doing good through life, — for the blessed hope in Jesus at its close. The many things most unmercifully cumber a man as he journeys over earth, and they treacherously leave him portionless as he enters on eternity. One thing is needful. If you are not working for God, you are idle; if you have not gained your soul, you have lost all.

2. Those who are born from above bring too little godliness to bear on the common interests of life. In so far as this backwardness is caused by a low spiritual state in the persons, it does not properly come under notice at present. It is not argument that is needed, but prayer. We must have recourse to the ancient weapon of the church, ever ready. We must awaken the cry, “Wilt thou not revive us again? “And when the grace which Christ gives shall be in his people a well of living water, it will spring up unto everlasting life, and flow out a refreshing stream. But, in so far as Christians keep back their Christianity from the thoroughfare of human life, on account of a despondent feeling that it would be of no avail, I venture to suggest that it is a serious practical error. In the first place, duty is ours, and results belong to God. Our own expectations of success are not the measure of our obedience. And farther, the argument from want of success is unsound. Practical withdrawment of Christian influence from our marts and manufactures, is the cause, and not the effect, of the general indifference of which we complain. Most firmly do we believe that every Christian man who tries to make his religion bear on business, will succeed in very proportion to the prudence and perseverance of his effort; more especially Christian masters, who have a number of men in their employment, could do much if they would. If you point to the present alienated and suspicious state of the workmen’s minds, and excuse your neutrality by averring that your motives would be suspected and your advances repelled, what is this but to say, The need of Christian influence is great, and therefore we will entirely withhold it? This is not the attitude to be taken by a disciple of Christ. If he had retired from the field on the plea that His first advances were not welcomed, where now would have been the hope of this miserable world? He has left ns an example that we should follow His steps. Besides, the subject is really not so hopeless as our indolence would represent it to be. If the essence of that farmer’s salutation on the fields of Bethlehem were transfused into the hearts and lips of Christian masters amongst us, it would certainly win a kindlier response from many an artizan who is at present regardless of his master, because he thinks his master is regardless of him. If the ancient watchword,” The Lord be with you,’’ should become the honest utterance of the masters’ conduct in their dealings with the men, it would awaken yet the ancient echo, “The Lord bless thee,” even from that frowning array of what you think rocky and unimpressible hearts. We have no right to give up the masses as conclusively indurated, and incapable of being fused again into one with the other portions of the social body, until we have made greater efforts than this generation has yet seen to melt them, by heaping Christian love and human sympathy as coals of fire upon their head. We have no right to pronounce the subject impracticable until we have tried it; raid, in point of fact, those who are doing nothing, most confidently cry out, Nothing can be done. Tv hen we have done all, we shall be, as to merit, in the Lord’s sight, unprofitable servants; but if we really do all that is in our power to do, he will not leave us unprofitable servants as to the success of our efforts for the good of men.

I am aware of one device whereby Christ’s true disciples are often rendered silent. Very many men of good standing and reputable character assert frequently, confidently, and in precise terms, that religious people are less to be trusted in business than those who make no profession. This, I have no doubt, is one of the old serpent’s lies, invented and propagated in order to silence the voice of disciples in the world’s market-place, and allow Mammon to retain undisputed possession of the field. No one denies that there are hypocrites who endeavor to make gain by a Christian profession. From the nature of the case, their profession is loud and obtrusive; therefore, when their duplicity is discovered, it obtains much notoriety. Those who suffer by the pretender to religion, if they know not the power of it themselves, very naturally, but very illogically, conclude that professors of religion are not to be trusted. They would not make so great an error on other subjects. Their hasty and erroneous conclusion shows that religion touches them somewhere upon a tender place. Why are they so glad of an opportunity of dealing it a blow? Is it to weaken an adversary? Of necessity the religion of Christ is felt to be the enemy of the man who neglects and despises it. In so far as that man feels it at all, he feels it an arrow in his bones; he is fain, in self-defence, to get something that promises to blunt its point and weaken its power.

It is against reason and common sense to say that religious men are less to be trusted in business than others. The very existence of hypocrisy proves the power of the truth. If there were no real Christians, there would be no hypocritical pretenders. Those who cheat their neighbors under the cloak of a religious profession are, of course, insincere Christians, for they are acting in direct opposition to the known laws of their faith. Demonstrably they assume the profession of Christianity, while they are destitute of its power. But, if it were true that religious men generally are, in point of fact, not to be depended on for honesty, no wicked man would assume the disguise. The false pretender finds a profession profitable, otherwise he would not assume it. But if

Christians, on the whole, are less honest than sceptics and worldlings, it would he a losing game for the hypocrite to adopt the Christian name. Merchants are sharp enough in matters of their own interests. If Christians were as slippery as their adversaries represent them, society would not be troubled with swindlers under a religious garb. If no gold sovereigns were in circulation, no base sovereigns would be uttered; for this plain reason, they would not go. If there were not a real religion in the church, whose truth is felt by the world, no selfish adventurer would be found plying his vocation under cover of its honored name. It would not pay. There is true religion in contact with the world, in spite of the world’s awkward attempts to deny it; but, Christians, there might, there should be a great deal more.

But the best way, after all, of making the world feel more of our religion, is to have more of it. “When Moses was long in the mount with God, his face shone before the people though he wist it not. So, if we be much in the secret of the Lord — exposing our souls in communion with God to the light of his countenance, men, when we mingle with them, will take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. If we live in Christ, and walk with him; if we habitually realize the redemption of the soul as very precious, and the danger of all who are out of Christ as very great; if we pass through life as strangers and pilgrims, and display the bearing that beseems the heirs of glory, the evidence of our faith will in some way be felt by our neighbors. When our spirits touch theirs in common intercourse, they will feel somewhat of the gentleness of Christ. Thus might Christians be the salt, which, though it sharply irritates at first, is, in the end, the sweetener, preserver, refresher, of a soured, self-tormented, corrupted, decaying society.

“Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.”