Him that marks true spiritual prosperity must have some kindred manifestation if opportunity be given; and blessed be His name, in His gracious Providence, that opportunity is afforded.

It was competent for Him, having redeemed His people by His blood, at once to have perfected them in holiness by His Spirit, and to have removed them from this dark, this sin-sick world. It was competent for Him to have carried on the work of redemption throughout the ages by spiritual influences without human intervention. What then? We should have been but as perfected machines, rejoicing, admiring, loving spectators of His grace, without the privilege of doing aught for Him who died for us. Not thus-not thus did He act toward the children whom He formed in His own likeness. He leaves us in the world, renewed but not perfected, to go on to perfection in the midst of temptation. He leaves us here to battle for Him with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Every act of self-denial in obedience to His law, every temptation resisted, every turning from paths of wealth, of pleasure, of honour, because they cannot be entered without disloyalty to Him, is an offering of gratitude sweet in His sight. It is an increase of my spiritual strength. It is part of the light that we cause to shine in the midst of darkness; nay, more, He leaves us here to be co-workers with His Spirit in carrying on His work of redemption by labour, by sacrifice, to bring those for whom He died to His loving arms. It is given unto us with our redeemed hands to prepare and gather jewels for our Saviour's crown of glory. Jewels! what are they? The ruby is but crystallised clay, the dirt you tread upon; the diamond is but crystallised carbon, the coal with which we feed our furnaces. The base materials of heavenly jewels are all around us. They are to be found in the unconverted of our own families, in the outcasts that crowd the slums of London and New York, in the heathen of China and India and Africa, and the islands of the sea, in the baptized heathen of the Continent of Europe. These, then, in countless multitude, are the rude, rough, black lumps of carbon, valueless or valuable only as the media through which we are to send the electric flashes of the Gospel, transforming them into priceless diamonds to shine for ever on that dear majestic Head once wounded for us. And here, brethren, let us not fall into the mistake of supposing that all of labour and of wealth that the Church of the present day has to give in order to produce effects equal to those produced by the primitive Church, is only what was given by the primitive Church. In the markets of earth a guinea in the hands of a millionaire is as valuable, as effective, as the guinea in the hands of a poor man; not so in the exchequer of heaven. There value, effectiveness, is in proportion to ability. The mite of the widow

was more than all the gifts of the wealthy; but mark, the mite of the widow and the millions of the millionaire are alike powerless to work results in the spiritual world: they are valueless unless energised by the Spirit. And let us not fall into the still greater mistake of supposing that because all the power must come from the Spirit of the Lord, and He can bless the feeblest instrumentality, that therefore all that we, rejoicing in strength, have to do in our intervals of business is to passively incline our hands to the Master's work. True, the faithful pressure of a weakling, energised by the Spirit, may cast down some stronghold of Satan; but when a Samson grasps the pillars of Dagon's temple he must put forth the strength of Samson and bow himself. That which the law of God's house demands, that which grateful love requires, is that each man, each woman, in his own sphere, should hold himself and all for Christ; should give, should labour, according to his ability, in His behalf-should pour out himself for Jesus, even as Jesus poured out Himself for us. This, this is the chief element of a prosperous church; when in the spirit of the Master, and for the Master, and those for whom the Master died, the Church thus pours herself out into the world; then, indeed, shall she arise and shine, her light being come, and the glory of the Lord being risen upon her; then shall nations come to her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising.

The next address, on ORGANISED CHRISTIAN WORK, was delivered by the Rev. Dr. A. T. PIERSON, Philadelphia (Presbyterian Church, U.S., North). There are crises which are continually arising in the history of the Church of Christ. There are issues which confront the Church, and which demand decision and compel consideration; issues which are not only critical but pivotal; issues upon which turn history and destiny. Two such crises confront the Church of God to-day. One is the crisis in Missions-open doors throughout the world, inadequate men and means as a supply for filling the vast vacancies in evangelisation. The other crisis is the crisis especially in the cities, in the reaching of the vast multitudes that are separated from the Churches, if not alienated from the Churches.

I have been asked to address myself, and call your attention, to the consideration of the second of those two critical questions-the crisis in the cities; the question of the contact of congregational life and work with the vast masses of our population. I use the word "masses" in no invidious sense; let that be distinctly understood. We use the word mass to indicate an aggregation in which individuality is lost sight of; and precisely in that sense as applied to human beings, not at all forgetting the dignity and majesty of every

responsible soul in that mass, do we speak of the masses of the men when they have become so immense that the individual is lost sight of in the multitude. Now there is no question which confronts the Church of our day more majestic and imperial in its importance, more majestic and imperious in its demand for decision, than the question to which I have now referred. The coming statesman will be the man who most successfully adjusts or reduces to a minimum in the matter of friction the antagonism between labour and capital. To that question the wisest and best of our philanthropists are even now addressing themselves by tongue and pen. The biggest brains and the warmest hearts in the community are throbbing together with the intensity of the desire to throw light upon these momentous questions; and if the coming statesman is the man that does this service, or contributes largely to this service for humanity, the coming Churchman-using that word in its best sense-will be the man who throws most light upon this practical question: How the Church of God may successfully reach, or at least reduce to a minimum in point of friction, the existing antagonism between the Churches and the multitudes of the common people. I am not going to stop to demonstrate what needs no demonstration. The logic of argument may be conclusive, but the logic of events is overwhelming. Whatever may be the philosophy of the fact, there has grown up, and perhaps is still growing between the Church and the common people, a separation and an alienation; there is a gulf between the Church and the common people which we all desire not only to bridge, but to annihilate. If by anything I speak to-night, in the prayerful spirit of a Christian man, I can help to throw even a ray of light on these great issues, I shall not have crossed the Atlantic in vain.

There are three ways which have been chosen, more or less successful, to solve the problem to which I have called your thought. The first is the method of sending out selected workmen to labour as evangelists in the midst of the masses of the people. The second method is the erecting of mission churches or chapels for the special use of the poor and those whom we somewhat invidiously style the labouring classes, as though the people who do not belong to them were not to be included among the labourers. The third way in which this question has been partially solved has been by bringing these masses into contact and co-operation with the congregational life and work of the Church of Jesus Christ. The first method is liable to the objection that it is not sufficiently universal, and the second method is liable to the objection that it is not sufficiently democratic, and the third, in my judgment, is the true, primitive, Apostolic, and Scriptural method by which the problem should be solved.

When I speak of the first method as being open to the objection of lack of universality, I call your attention to the fact that the command of Jesus Christ, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," is marked by a strikingly double universality"Go ye," that is, all disciples-"into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." All are to go, and to go to all. That is the fundamental principle of the New Testament evangelism. If you compare the close of the Gospels with the Acts of the Apostles and with the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, you will be satisfied that when Christ gave that command He spake not to His apostles only, but to "above five hundred brethren at once." He spoke to them not as to a select class, but as believers of the primitive Church; and because they, the common body of the disciples, did go and preach, the Christian Church made more progress, comparatively and proportionately, during the first century of the Christian era, than she has ever made in any subsequent century, and than she ever will make in any future century, unless the Church returns to the principle of universal evangelism; and only so will she ever satisfy the demands of these vast populations. If you send a few, however trained, and however educated, and however selected workers into the midst of these populations, they cannot do the work for the Church; they cannot reach the masses of the people, and the Church ought not to depend upon doing this work by proxy.

I said with regard to the second method-the erection of mission churches or chapels for the use of the poor-that it lacks the spirit of democracy. There is no more formidable barrier to the oncoming of the kingdom of Christ than that contained in the word c-a-s-t-e. In whatever form it has existed, it has been the gigantic obstacle between man and man, between the Church and the world. Invidious distinctions founded upon the accident of blood and birth, upon the accident of wealth and culture, upon the accident of social position and personal influence in society, God never meant should invade the Christian Church. To keep up these barriers of caste within the body of the Church of Christ is fatal to the highest growth of the Church, and to the highest success of the Church in evangelism. Therefore, the erection of mission churches or chapels for the specific use of the poor lacks in the element of democracy. It helps to promote in the minds of the poor and labouring man the impression that he is not wanted in the grand cathedrals of the Church, and that he is expected to remain apart from the higher classes that are represented in the Church, and that the Church itself is the organ and the expression of the aristocracy. I am satisfied that, however successful churches of this character may

be, we shall never, as a Church, attain the large success to which God has called us, and to which He has invited us, unless this method gives place to another that is more democratic and more thoroughly Scriptural.

What is that method? I believe it is the incorporation into our church life of the various elements of society that they may be naturally assimilated one to the other, and give unity to one body in Christ. This is axiomatic when we speak it, but it becomes problematic when we come to put it into action. Let us notice some of the conditions upon which this may be done successfully within our church life. I believe it is perfectly feasible, because I believe that any idea which God puts before us, and any ideal which the Scriptures present to us, may at least be approximately attained; for God. will never mock us by asking us to make an endeavour that is impossible of attainment. We need a congregational life and work modelled on the basis of a Christian democracy. We sometimes say that the masses outside the churches need the churches. Did it ever occur to us that the churches need the masses? God never meant that the rich and poor should meet in separate places of assembly, "for the Lord is Maker of them all." They all need the contact, and the Church is the better for embracing them all within the bounds of its membership and its work. If the rich and the poor come together, the cultivated and the ignorant, what we call "high" and "low," contact promotes acquaintance, acquaintance promotes attachment, attachment promotes co-operation, which is precisely what we need. If the masses are alienated from the churches, it is largely because they misunderstand the churches. We help to promote this misunderstanding by the policy on which, in many cases, our churches are conducted. Let the poor and rich man come together in our churches; let the ignorant man face the lady or gentleman, the educated and refined, and the rich man discovers that behind the working dress and the rude manners of the poor unlettered man, there beats the heart of a true nobleman. In our church life the contact of rich and poor helps the rich man to see the signs of true nobility in the poor man, even though he may wear neither star nor garter; and the poor man, brought into contact with the rich, finds that behind broadcloth or brocade there beats the heart of a true servant of God that recognises in every believer a brother. Moreover, what we call "a working man" sometimes makes the most efficient church member. Our men of high position in life find their time taken up with great public interests. They stand in the centre of a great network, as a spider presides at the centre of a vast web. It may appear to be not a noble illustration, but I mean nothing except what is complimentary