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house to house. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, in which every word is a picture; Wesley's sermons, whose severe and neat logic is so often forgotten in their glowing unction; Baxter's Saint's Rest, wiping the dimmed eye of sad old age, and let ting it see Jerusalem that is above-these books do not only the work of religion, but that of literature. For the farmer's boy, or even the steam-boat hand, sets to read them, in the ardor of his first religious hope, by the pine-knot in the cabin, or by the ruddy glare of the coals in the engine-room; and when he reads, he opens and clears the avenue to those tracts where lie Shakspeare, and Milton, and Cowper, and Wordsworth. I can not but feel that this subsidiary advantage of the colporteur system of the Methodist itinerant is one we have too much overlooked. It involves the communication of certain grand and vital truths; but it also affords the impetus to a refined culture, of all others the most likely to sustain habits of religious fidelity and secular industry.

But that which is open to the Methodist itinerant is open to our own. The Methodists, in fact, only do a small fraction of the work. Perhaps I may be judging wrongly; but I think that which they really do, they do not do completely. In the great procession westwards, even in their own track, there is much still to come. But be this as it may, there is an enormous field on which they have not even touched. In respect to this field, have we not, as a communion, a specific duty? Now I feel that if such be the case, there is but one way open to us by which this duty can be performed. It is by the preaching and teaching, under Episcopal direction, by laymen deriving their support from their own secular labors.

Let us glance for a moment at the incidental advantages of such a plan. It is (1) self-supporting. It is (2) non-professional and pervasive. I might cite, under the latter point, the testimony of the clergy examined before the Bishop of Exeter's late Committee on Spiritual Destitution. Two agencies they recognize as peculiarly and almost solely instrumental in the great work of awakening the non-church-going classes to a sense of their religious danger. One of these is the Scripture Readers' Society. The other is the London City Mis

sion.* Both these work through laymen, who penetrate where

*The Westminster Review, well known as a bitter opponent of "Evangelical" Religion, pays the following tribute to this organization, in its issue for January, 1859:

"Many of the clergymen examined spoke most gratefully of the aid which they had received from the agents of the Scripture Readers' Society, and the London City Mission. This latter Association, which is not exclusively a Church Society, has been in operation about twenty-three years, and is under the presidency of the Earl of Shaftesbury. It will be readily understood, that the agents employed by it, although they are not subjected to the ecclesiastical test of the three Creeds and the Thirty-nine Articles, are examined as to their fitness for their work, in accordance with what are called usually Evangelical views. There will also occur naturally in the Reports of the Society phraseologies peculiar to the school of its chief supporters, and which do not sound genuine to the ears of others. But in the face of the service which they undertake, peculiarities of views may well be pardoned; and with little sympathy ourselves with those schools of pseudo-theology above indicated, we must express our astonishment at the Lords' committee having the hardihood to ignore the attempts-if they be no more-of a Society which now has, more or less, under the action of its agents one half of the metropolis; which has risen in a few years to an income of £33,000 per annum from voluntary contributions, and without whose assistance some of the regular Church clergy of London acknowledge they do not know how they could get on at all. This Society, whatever its peculiarities, does employ human agencies, and whatever the narrowness of the theology of its patrons may be at root, it does endeavor to grapple with the immorality of the metropolis."

We quote one or two other authorities to the same effect:

"The Bishop of Ripon presided at a meeting in the Leeds Town Hall on Thursday, March, 1859, for the formation of a Yorkshire Scripture Readers' Society. He explained that a West Riding Scripture Readers' Association had existed since 1852. It was now proposed to enlarge its basis, and call it "The Yorkshire Church of England Scripture Readers' Association." His Lordship, in the next place, stated what were the rules of the enlarged Association. It was not intended that the Society should in the slightest degreo interfere with the province of the parochial clergy, but that it should be an auxiliary to the usefulness of that body. The Society was intended, in the next place, to be dependent upon public support for its existence, a contingency which rendered it necessary to invoke the aid of the laity, and the rules were so framed that the lay element would have a voice in the management of the Association, without in the slightest degree interfering with the responsibilities and privileges of the clergy. The religious position of the Readers was also provided for; they must be communicants of the Church of England, and of position and ability to discharge efficiently their onerous house-tohouse duties. His Lordship next alluded to the necessity there existed for the calling in of this lay support. Parishes in the populous manufacturing districts of Yorkshire had largely increased in population of late, and had become almost too unwieldy for the management of the clergy by themselves. In the Diocese of Ripon alone the population was large in the extreme. That population was not

a clergyman by his profession could not enter. They meet error and sin in their holes. How this is done brings before us scenes in our own land. Take, for instance, the following

short of 1,120,000 souls at the present time, It was increasing at the rate of 12,500 souls per year. There were, in round numbers, in the Diocese of Ripon, only 560 clergymen to meet the spiritual wants of the population. This gave no less than 2000 souls to every clergyman. But the population was also disproportionate; in some districts it would be 2000 to every parish, while in others it would be largely in excess of that number. These facts attested, beyond dispute, the necessity there existed for additional laborers, and the lay element could discharge a great work, and materially assist the parochial clergy. It was the consideration of these facts which led him to give the present proposal his warm approval, and he had great pleasure in submitting the new Society to the notice of the meeting.

"The first resolution, moved by the Rev. Dr. Hook, Vicar of Leeds, was as follows: 'That a Society be now formed, to be called the Yorkshire Church of England Scripture Readers' Society.' The resolution, seconded by Mr. J. W. Childers, (High Sheriff,) was unanimously approved. Sir Peter Fairbairn (Mayor of Leeds) next proposed: 'That the regulations, as read from the chair, be and are hereby constituted the rules of the new Society.' The Rev. Dr. Sale (Vicar of Sheffield) seconded the resolution in a highly practical speech, and it was then also affirmed by the meeting. Major Fawkes next proposed: 'That a Committee, to consist of equal numbers of the clergy and laity, be now formed, and that the following gentlemen be appointed to serve thereon: The Rev. Dr. Hook, the Rev. Dr. Sale, and the Revs. C. J. Camidge, J. Bell, J. Fawcett, and B. Crosthwaite, Mr. J. W. Childers, Mr. E. B. Denison,' etc. The motion was also unanimously passed, and the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the Bishop."

The Rev. Mr. Champney, well known as one of the most efficient of the London clergy, thus testified before the Committee of the House of Lords:

"I can not speak too strongly of the great results which have been produced. We have gained a thorough knowledge of the state of the people, which, with the staff of clergy I could command, would have been impossible. We have ascertained the need of schools, and also have been enabled to open school after school, until we nearly have now an adequate supply of schools for the entire parish; that is greatly owing to the work of the lay-agents. We have been able to visit. through them, every case of ascertained sickness and infirmity; and every house, or nearly so, has had some one to go to it, who has endeavored to draw them from carelessness to godliness. We have been able to exercise the supervision of our communicants, who are a very large number; so that, in fact, if one of the communicants has acted inconsistently, that has been immediately communicated to me, and I have had the person in my library, to speak to him seriously, and in many instances effectually to stop what was beginning, and might have been a serious evil, giving great occasion to worldly people to speak evil. Generally, I think the result has been to bring the clergy into closer contact with the people, and enabling us both to know them, and them to know us; that has given us an

animated sketch from a tract published by the Open-air Preaching Society. One of the "preachers" writes:

"Here is what I found in the streets, and that without seeking it, all on one Sunday afternoon. First, there was a Mormonite exhorting, and accompanied by others giving tracts; next a spurious teetotaler, exalting abstinence above grace; and lastly, a Romanist with vehemence upholding idolatry. These false preachers are not called forth by the preaching of the truth, but are fewer in proportion to the increase of Gospel missionaries."

And here is what we find in still greater variety and richer luxuriance in the Missouri Valley. I well remember standing on the great thoroughfare that passes through Council Bluffs, and viewing stretched to the distant horizon a motley procession of proselyte emigrants. As every thing is odd in these distant recruiting grounds of the vast future, at last nothing seems odd. The white-topped wagons of the Mormons arranged in a semi-circle round the camp in which they are about to hitch up, and the women, who form the advance guard of the train, are already, under the influence of the balmy morning, tramping ahead. A little way behind is a detachment of long-frocked and bonneted Norwegians, be

influence in the parish over the people generally, which, without them, I should have conceived would have been impossible in so large a number."

And Dr. Hook, whose loyalty to the extremest theory of priestly prerogative none can doubt, thus addressed the same committee:

"We want something in addition to this. There are among the workingclasses, many good Biblical scholars, men well informed in English, and especially in sacred literature, who are able, if I may use the expression, to talk the Gospel, where no minister would be admitted, and who might be very useful in visiting the sick. They can be employed without quitting their trades; but still, for the time taken from their trade, they may require some occasional compensation. I have employed such myself, paying them no salary, but having an understanding with them that in times of bad trade, or in cases of sickness, they were to make their case known to me, and I would give them what they needed. It would be well if money were supplied to the poorer clergy, to be accounted for, to meet cases of this sort. These persons would be qualified even for out-door preaching. I think that those who, like myself, believe in the Divine institution of the Christian ministry, and who think that the stewards of the mysteries of God should be regularly ordained, would prefer the employment of working-men to invite people of their class to repair to Church, and to participate in the ordinances of the Gospel, to the adoption of any system of out-door preaching by the clergy. It would undoubtedly be more effective; and out-door preaching can never amount to more than a stirring call to the thoughtless to arise and to inquire."

longing to a new sect, one of whose peculiarities, as far as I could understand, was men wearing women's clothes, and women wearing those of men. Next we meet an Owenite or Socialist orator. There, a little way to the west of us, is a Dutch town, neat and prim as if it had just been transferred from some gigantic toy-shop, but with its old-fashioned little church sheltering any thing but old-fashioned doctrines. There, worse than all, is practical infidelity in the shape of mammonworship, burrowing into every crevice, passing into every ferryboat, raising its shrine in every new-built town. And these errors fit themselves to the popular standard; stoop to enter under the lowliest doorway; expand, if necessary, their literary pretensions so as to captivate at least the semi-educated; resolve themselves almost into their elements, so as to enter into every society or condition which they meet.

How can we, if we speak that which is in part an unknown tongue-the tongue of technical, classical theology, of high literary culture, of a liturgy, sublime, it is true, but to the rude and unfamiliar taste too often oppressive, from its very grandeur and symmetrical length-how can we, speaking only through a professional class, follow those who address Elamites, Medes, Parthians, each in their own language; who talk to men wherever they find them, in words which the hearer best comprehends, and from the platform only of a common brotherhood? Now let us take a lesson in this respect from the policy of the world. When an ambassador is to be sent, the more delicate and difficult his errand, the more do those who select him seek for qualities which open to him avenues to the people whom he is to approach. to approach. Lord Aberdeen, an American, at least by strong family and business ties, comes to this country to negotiate the treaty of Washington. Cardinal Pole, of royal Anglican descent, goes to England to negotiate for the reëstablishment of Romanism, Cardinal Wiseman, a British subject, three hundred years afterwards, to negotiate for its increased ecclesiastical toleration. Or, take those great periods in Christian history, in which the Church, casting aside the shell which was crusting round her, sprang forth, with a leaping heart and a free breath, conquering and to conquer. Even

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