society; and it cannot be external force; it is no use sending to King Jareb; we cannot ask Parliament to fix a minimum for prices-the veriest tyro in social science knows that is out of the question; we must have a force acting on society through its heart, a force which will counteract the miserable selfishness that always keeps beating prices down. We need a force operating on society in such a way that a match manufacturer (to keep to our original illustration) might pay his employés a fair remuneration for their work, charge a corresponding price for his goods, and feel sure that there would be no less demand for the dear matches that were innocent of blood than for the cheap ones that were not. Now, where can we get such a force? Only from above; only from God, the Father of us all, through the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone teaches effectually the true brotherhood of man; not, of course, by the mere formal assent to His teaching which is given by all those who call themselves Christians, but by the genuine, living, loving Christianity which would be the result of the outpouring of the Spirit of Christ. The enthusiasm of humanity will never do it alone; especially in these days, when the social system is so complicated that we never look into the face of one in a thousand of those who are working for us. Nothing else will do it than the love of God shed abroad in the hearts of men by the Holy Spirit given to them. If this Divine love were diffused all through society, there would be no need of appealing to King Jareb, or any king but the King of Love Himself. The calf of gold would be destroyed; the miserable law of natural selection based on the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest would be dominated by another law, even the law of God, as summed up in these two golden precepts: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God

with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind-and thy neighbour as thyself."

Then would the moth perish, then would the canker disappear from our civilisation; there would be no colossal fortunes, beyond all reasonable demand of capital to carry on works of usefulness; and at the other end of the scale there would be no more destitution than could be dealt with by the natural outflow of private beneficence. And there would be an end of that rigid system of close competition, which, as things now are, is forced even upon those to whom it is most uncongenial by the imperious demand for cheapness, and the determination of some to take advantage of this demand to possess themselves of the business which belonged to their neighbours. Then we should begin to see around us the meaning of these old words of promise: "They that dwell under His shadow shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine."

Well, what can we do to hasten on that happy day? (1.) We can work and pray for the spread of the Gospel, and the establishment upon the earth of the kingdom of "righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." This is the one hope of society as of the individual. (2.) We can in all possible ways show the spirit of the Gospel in all our dealings with our neighbours, making it evident that love, not selfishness, is the mainspring of our life. So shall we best help to hasten on the day when society as a whole shall return to the Lord our God, and men shall find that "His going forth is prepared as the morning"-the morning dawn of a brighter, better day.

XVI.

LAY HELP IN CHURCH WORK.

(A Paper read at the Presbyterian General Council, held in Belfast in 1884.)

THE

HE subject is not a new one, and therefore it is not necessary to begin at the beginning of it. There are certain positions that may be fairly assumed. One is, that the great work of the Church is to win the world for Christ-a vast aggressive enterprise. It is true that there is much to be done by the Church, important, necessary work, connected with its support and the administration of its affairs; but all that should be mere "office expenses" in proportion to the whole. A man is not idle when he is eating or dressing, but he does not count these exertions into the business of the day. The work of the Church is not to maintain herself and administer her own affairs, but to "preach the Gospel to every creature."

We may further assume that the responsibility of this great enterprise rests, not on certain individuals in the Church, but on the Church as a whole, and that therefore each individual member should have a share in it. It is admitted, of course, that this is not the only field of Christian service. "Whatever we do, in word or in deed," should be done "in the name of the Lord Jesus;" and, accordingly, the Christian mother in the home, the Christian man of business in the city, all Christians in

whatever capacity they serve, have the right to be considered Christian workers. That it is the duty of all Christian people to be engaged in Christian work, in this wide sense of the word, has always been admitted; but it is now also acknowledged to be the duty and privilege of all to do what they can in the specific work of the Church, the work of carrying the Gospel to all who need it. We may, therefore, assume this point also.

But while these general principles may be fairly enough assumed, there are certain applications of them which need consideration, some of which it may be well to state. It is very often taken for granted that until a congregation is self-supporting it need have little, if anything, to do with what may be called the out-door work of the church. It is supposed to be necessary for a time to husband its resources. This may seem a common-sense policy, but it is not a Christian one. Let us not forget what the Master says, and repeats so often and so earnestly, anent husbanding resources: "He that will save his life shall lose it, and he that will lose his life for my sake shall find it." This is the foundationprinciple of Christian life. And can it be that the Church, as a Church, has nothing to do with it? Where are we to seek the guiding principles of the New Testament Church if not in the Sermon on the Mount? Have, then, weak congregations "neither part nor lot" in a certain magnificent passage of that sermon, of which the following are the salient points: "Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? ... But seek ye first the kingdom of God, . . . and all these things shall be added unto you."

Is not the word "self-sustaining" too large a word

Are not many congre

in our ecclesiastical vocabulary? gations, strong as well as weak, weak as well as strong, ready to die of saving their own lives? Think of the amount of energy, of real life and work as well as money, absorbed by hundreds of our congregations in the mere struggle to house themselves. And the question is suggested, whether all that is really needed in the way of church building and the maintaining of ordinances would not be more easily reached if it were put in the second place instead of the first, if the order of the Lord's Prayer were made the order of Church anxiety-first, the hallowing of the Divine name, the coming of the Divine kingdom, the doing of the Divine will upon the earth; and then, secondary and subordinate to these, the securing of daily bread.

This reminds us, that even the spiritual welfare of the Church, represented as it is by the two last petitions of the Lord's Prayer, should be subordinate to the general interests of the kingdom, represented by the first three. Not that spiritual welfare can be overestimated, but it is subject to the same law as to losing and saving. In the higher sphere, as well as in the lower, in our Church relations too, as well as in our private life, we should think more of giving than of getting, more of work than of food, more of edification in its active than in its passive sense. The true way to be healthy in spiritual as well as in temporal things is, to give ourselves so heartily to our work that both the food itself and the appetite for it come to us without special thought or care. And so, again, it is in Church life. "Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do;" and he does not confine his operations to the outside of the Church. It is written that "Jeshurun" (even Jeshurun, the righteous one) "waxed fat and kicked;" from which the lesson plainly is,