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of American divinity and preaching; and at the same time of exhibiting to them the views of such a man as Dr. Cunningham on those points of divergence from commonly received opinions, which some have unhappily taken up of late. Nor is this all. His remarks are most solemnly instructive and impressive upon the kind of preaching that is wanted for this country, and indeed for every one, where the Gospel of the grace of God can be proclaimed. It is not the philosophical disquisition, not the intellectual discussion, nor the classic composition, nor the clear but cold exegesis, but the warm and earnest effort to save souls, that will answer the ends of the Christian minister. We must remember that sublime and comprehensive, and spirit-stirring description of the object and purpose of our calling: "They watch for your souls as those that must give account." This must be written not only over the desk at which we compose our sermons, not only on a place conspicuous to our eye in the pulpit, when we deliver them, but on our very heart. We must study and preach for the conversion of souls. We must go Sabbath after Sabbath to our pulpit, with this object before our mind, and with this hope in our heart. And we must consider well with ourselves, what kind of preaching it is that is likely to answer this end. And surely, after many and many a sermon, if we were to go into our closet, or commune with our own heart upon our bed," and ask ourselves, as in the sight of God, the question: "Has my sermon to-day been adapted and intended to convert a sinner, or edify a saint?" we should blush as we listened to the negative monosyllable which fell from the lips of conscience, and in falling pronounced our condemnation.

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But I will no longer detain the reader's attention from the admirable speech which these remarks are intended to introduce, and which I commend to the consideration of all, and especially to the notice of the rising ministry.

J. A. JAMES.

"I can truly say with Dr. Makellar, that I conscientiously respond to the various statements that have been made as to the different lines of guilt we have been contracting in the course of our ministry, which have been so impressively set before us this day; and I will further say, that I feel more especially the vast importance of the observation, which was impressed upon us in regard to the want of any adequate desire to secure the appropriate objects of a Gospel ministry. I believe we have all been sinning, in not cherishing a desire for the conversion of sinners and the edification of saints, and from not seeking the agency and blessing of God's Spirit to render our labours successful in the attainment of these objects. Not that we had no desire for their attainment, or that we desired anything else, or that we were altogether defective in that desire; but that there has been a great want of a direct and specific desire for the conversion of sinners and the edification of saints, and therefore a want of due anxiety for such a result of our labours.

"I have been an unworthy minister for thirteen years; and I regard this as one of the many sins of which I have been guilty in common with my brethren, that I have

often engaged in ministerial services, without any distinct, and positive, and ardent desire that, through God's blessing, sinners might be converted, and God's people built up in their most holy faith. But what I wish to say more particularly at present is, that I think to a considerable extent our brethren in the American churches have been influenced by a positive desire and a confident expectation of their labours being blessed to the conversion of sinners and the edification of saints; and the prevalence of this ardent and positive desire, and the existence and expression of this confident expectation, have been the means of effecting those revivals of religion which, although frequently attended with what may be injurious and offensive, have no doubt contributed largely to promote the cause of Christ's kingdom on the earth, and to add many to the church of such as should be saved.

"Allusion has been made, in the course of the day, to the feelings with which we engage in ministerial work; and it was remarked that we do not engage in it as men engage in matters of ordinary commercial business. Now, I would say, that to a large extent, in the American churches, the mode of setting about the work of the ministry is what may be called a business way, with a distinct and definite idea of the object to be aimed at,-with a real desire and determination to effect it,-with sincere regret and disappointment when it is not gained,—and with anxious inquiry into the causes of failure, when failure has been experienced. It is more common there than it has ever been with us, to inquire from time to time, with earnestness and solemnity, whether the ministry of the Word has been blessed for those objects for which it has been appointed,―searching out to what extent this may have been realised, and if not realised, inquiring seriously into the causes of its hindrance; at the same time stirring up one another to greater zeal,-to greater frequency and earnestness of prayer,—and to greater energy of exertion, till the Lord is in mercy pleased to pour down upon them showers of blessings. This impresses more on the mind the feeling of which they have more or less possessed all along,—of the importance and necessity of ministers being actuated, not by a vague, listless wish for success, but by an ardent and positive desire for the conversion of sinners and the edification of Christ's body, and a confident expectation of that as the result of their labours.

"Now, so far from our really desiring this, and confidently expecting this, it is not a very uncommon feeling, when we hear of the success of our preaching, and of the conversion, it may be, of a single sinner, to receive the instruction with joy and delight indeed, but with something also like a feeling of surprise. These things ought not to be. If the Gospel of the grace of God is faithfully preached, it should be not merely desired, but confidently expected, that, through the agency of his Spirit, it should be rendered effectual in opening men's eyes, and in turning them from darkness to light. No doubt this confidence may be abused and perverted; and among the American churches it has been abused and perverted, and to some extent, although not probably to the extent we may sometimes have supposed it has been abused and perverted in the way of leading men to the virtual denial or compromise of the great truth of the agency of the Spirit in the conversion of the soul to God, and also, to some extent, of the doctrine of the sovereignty of God in the work of conversion; and it has also brought into some of the American churches a state of mind and feeling, and measures based upon some such idea as this, that by means of a definite amount of prayer and labour, ministers may make sure, every time they preach, of a certain number of conversions. This is undoubtedly an abuse of the principle; but we may have the use without the abuse of it.

"And in passing, I may make another observation with regard to the American churches. When we hear of anything extreme, or ultra, or extravagant, in reference to any of them, we are very apt to hold up this and say, This is a specimen of the state of matters in the American churches; when, in point of fact, it may be only

a specimen of the views of some individuals in a particular locality, and may be as decidedly condemned by the ministers of the American churches generally, as it would be in this country; and in connexion with this, we may remember that a few years ago, when we heard of a great many extreme and extravagant measures being based upon the idea of certain outward schemes and external arrangements, such as anxious seats, and public prayers of women before the congregation, and prayers for individuals by name, who were unconverted men,-when we heard of these and other proceedings, we were apt to think that these were to be taken as specimens of the American churches; whereas they were confined to a comparatively small number of individuals, and to a comparatively small portion of the country, and were decidedly condemned and opposed, under the name of new measures,' by the great body of ministers, and the great body of the churches in the United States. "Many of these evils have undoubtedly arisen from dwelling exclusively upon particular parts of Christian doctrine, which is very apt, just as in their new measures,' to lead to an erroneous and injurious kind of preaching, to an exaggerated estimate of man's ability to do the will of God, and to very imperfect views of Divine truth. We are required to be earnestly desirous for the conversion of sinners; but must we confine ourselves to only one or two portions of Divine truth, as if we had only to impress upon our hearers their responsibility, and then to call upon them to come to Christ? This is prosecuted to some extent there, and has led in some cases to virtually holding that men can convert themselves; and this has been carried so far as to have received the name of self-conversionism.' But here again I have to say, that this is condemned by the great body of the American Churches, who are opposed to the preaching of various views of Divine truth, and are seeking more and more to cultivate the preaching of the principles of a full Christ, a full Gospel, and a full development of the whole scheme of Divine truth, as it is revealed in the Word of God,-it being the scheme of Divine truth in all its parts and in all its branches, and not only particular portions of it, that God employs for the conversion of sinners and the edification of saints.

"There is one other topic which has been pressed upon my attention by what I have seen in the American churches. It is the subject of church discipline, or the principles and objects bearing upon the admission of men to sealing ordinances. There can be no reasonable doubt, on the one hand, that the practice of the churches in this country is characterised by unwarrantable laxity; and there can be no reasonable doubt, on the other, that in the American churches there has. been a much more complete separation between the church and the world; in other words, there can be no reason able doubt, that in the churches of that country it has usually been the case that a larger proportion of those who sat down at the Lord's table were converted men, than has been usually the case with the great body of the churches in this country. Now this is a very important matter, although I don't mean to enter at present into an explanation of the particular principles by which it may and ought to be regulated. I dare say, however, that practically the Presbyterians generally in the American churches seem to act very much on the same principles as the Congregational churches in that country. There is not any definite or tangible line of demarcation between them; and however the one may still retain what are usually the views of Presbyterians, as distinguished from those of Congregationalists in that point, there can be no reasonable doubt that the common practice of most of other Presbyterian churches has gone to the opposite extreme of laxness in admitting men to sealing ordinances.

"What I wish to bring under the notice of my fathers and brethren is not the principle applicable to the admission of men to sealing ordinances; but the extent of the responsibility that lies on those who admit them, as to the qualifications they may require, and the means they may adopt in order to secure these qualifications.

Now, there is no difference of opinion amongst us on this, that every man not converted, and not under the exercise of genuine faith in some degree or other, who has received the memorials of Christ's broken body and shed blood, has eaten and drunk damnation to himself. In this we are all agreed; and therefore, the important bearing of the matter of fact is, that it is undeniable that a large number of those who are in the habit of sitting down at the Lord's table are unconverted men ; and what I wish to direct your attention to is this, the existence of a large amount of guilt somewhere. The sin lies primarily and principally on the individual himself; but if there be any church or churches where this practice of unconverted men sitting down at the Lord's table obtains to any considerable extent, or in any considerable proportion, and even where a majority of the communicants are unconverted men, or any large number of them when they are not a majority, a vast amount of guilt must attach, not merely to the individuals of whom it is composed, but must attach more or less also to those who are connected with the administration of its affairs; and, wherever it attaches, there is, in the sight of God, an amount of guilt which must be attended with injurious consequences to the church where it exists, by restraining the blessing of God upon its ministrations.

"I don't mean to make any suggestions as to the way and manner in which the interests of religion ought to be promoted amongst us; but I may just mention, that it is a common practice in America, which might be adopted with advantage by us, and which I take the liberty of throwing out as a practical suggestion,-it is the practice of the Presbyterian churches to instruct the different presbyteries to prepare and transmit every year to the Assembly, a report on the state of religion within their bounds. These reports are examined and compared by the Assembly, who appoint a committee to draw up from them a general account of the state of religion throughout the church, with such warnings and admonitions as circumstances may require. This seems a useful plan, and might be done by us, and done at once, without resorting to any series of queries to presbyteries. I do not see how the revival of religion among us could be better commenced than just by instructing presbyteries to investigate and report on the state of religion within their own borders for the purpose of bringing a general review of the state of religion throughout the church before the next General Assembly. This would lead to friendly intercourse between the members of presbyteries as to the state of religion in their own congregations and neighbourhoods; and they would thus be brought into the very position of doing what we desire, inasmuch as each would have before him the distinct and definite object of the work in which we were engaged. I think, then, that this plan is worthy of being followed by us, with such modifications as circumstances may require."

THE MAN OF SIN.

A FRAGMENT.

ETERNAL Fount of light, my heart inspire!
May truth and liberty and love now shed,
While tremblingly I touch the sacred lyre,
Their quickening virtue on the poet's head,-
To trace a power malign, mysterious, dread,
Who robed the church in pestilential gloom,
And hath for many dreary ages fed

The souls of men with poisonous plants that bloom,
In gaudy colours false, around blest freedom's tomb !

Though dark his nature-lawless god of night-
Foul minister of error, fraud and crime !—
He shines in borrowed robes as prince of light;
O'er hierarchies enthroned, he sits sublime,
Anointing mitred heads with serpents' slime.
The sanctuary he made a cheating mart,

Where through dull centuries of leaden time
Priestcraft sat practising her subtle art,
While demon-masters did their native skill impart.

There, human souls are daily bought and sold;
There, vile iniquity by law is framed,

And CHRIST is bartered by base men for gold!
There, conscience is condemned, and virtue shamed,
And vice by bonds unnatural inflamed;

There, truth, cast out, lies fettered at the door,
Nor dare her claims divine by men be named,

For martyrs' bones bestrew the horrid floor,

The darkling altar's steps are stained with human gore.

But now Jehovah to his people turns,-

Sets free his mighty, long-imprisoned word,

And while at length his righteous vengeance burns,
Girds on for victory his flaming sword!

Ye nations, bow before creation's Lord!
He comes upon the waking world to shine,-
To be by universal man adored !—

I see in heaven His looked-for, blissful "sign "—

"THE MAN OF SIN" consumes before His breath divine!

Dublin.

J. G.

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