then, reason, enlightened by Scripture, has pointed out our way.

But all that we have hitherto advanced is abundantly confirmed so soon as we take our next step. So soon as we come to the Sacred Oracles, and inquire what they teach respecting the acquisition, the possession, and the use of property, (it is these things which occupy ninetenths of the waking moments of men generally), we perceive more clearly than ever how defective are prevailing notions; and how ignorant the church is of this portion of divine requisition. An inquirer is startled at the very outset. If he goes about the inquiry as he ought, he seeks to know both the precepts and examples given him in the Scriptures. But

so soon as he considers the precepts as to this particular, he finds that the whole of the explicit, strong, and decisive passages, with scarcely an exception, are overlooked or manifestly explained away. That scarcely one of them is ever made the subject of a sermon, nor does one man in a thousand look upon them as commands to be obeyed by him. And then, if he considers the example of the early Christians, he finds it utterly opposed to the practice of modern Christians. Nay, so far is it from being regarded as an example, that it is looked upon as altogether wild and foolish. Nay, more, it is considered in any but its proper light. It is generally believed to have been a renunciation of all private property; but an impartial inquirer at once perceives this was not the case. conduct we refer to, is now supposed to have been peculiar to the church at Jerusalem; but all Christian antiquity declares the contrary. Hence the inquirer after truth, finds both precept and example unceremoniously and fatally set aside, and the appalling cause of the church's continued degeneracy flashes still more vividly before his mind.

The

We must now refer our readers to several of the pamphlets and tracts which have recently appeared on this particular subject, the Doctrine of Holy Scripture, as to the Desires and Pursuits of a Christian, with Reference to Worldly Good. They are advertised on the cover of this, our periodical, and are, as will be seen, by various authors, and on various

branches of the subject. In one or other of them we believe the whole matter is discussed.

We cannot now enter into the question, but in future numbers of the Investigator it will have due attention, and special efforts will be made to destroy "the love of money," and to bring men to employ their worldly property in strict accordance with the directions of Holy Writ. The matter is of first-rate, nay, of paramount importance. The prevailing ignorance on this subject, as we have seen, is fatally and fearfully destructive of religion.Even the terms which must be used require to be explained. The words covetousness, "treasure," wealth," riches,' property," &c., &c., must be much more definitely used than they now are, or we shall be unable to distinguish between vice and virtue: between truth and error.

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Our next article will conclude the present series, and in it we shall endeavour to present an outline of scriptural requisition as to the particulars in which prevailing systems of religion have been found to be deficient, and a few hints as to the means by which, and by which only, universal, entire, and permanently efficient Christianity may be revived. And this will be the answer to the two last of our proposed questions.

(To be concluded in our next.)

REPROOFS GIVEN TO UNBE-
LIEVERS, &c.

REV. J. ARMSTRONG.

[The following anecdote may be it right to give it a place in the Inknown to many, but still we think vestigator.]

SEVERAL years ago, the Rev. James Armstrong preached at Harmony, near the Wabash, in America; when a doctor of that place, a professed deist or infidel, called on his associates to accompany him while he "attacked the methodists," as he said. At first, he asked Mr. Armstrong if he followed preaching to save souls. He answered in the affirmative. then inquired, "Did you ever see a soul?" "No." "Did you ever hear a soul?" "No." "Did you ever taste a soul?" "No." "Did you

He

ever smell a soul?" "No." "Did you ever feel a soul?" "Yes, thank God," said Mr. Armstrong. "Well," said the doctor, "there are four of the five senses against one that there is no soul." Mr. Armstrong then asked the gentleman if he was a doctor of medicine, and he was also answered in the affirmative. He then asked the doctor, "Did you ever see a pain?" "No." "Did you ever hear a pain?" "No." "Did you ever taste a pain?" "No." "Did you ever smell a pain!" "No." "Did you ever feel a pain?" "Yes." Mr. Armstrong then said, "There are also four senses against one, to prove that there is no such thing as a pain; and yet, sir, you know that there is a pain, and I know there is a soul." The doctor appeared confounded, and walked off.

A LITERARY GENTLEMAN.

MANY years ago, a gentleman lived in intimate association with some literary friends, who met together once a week. In the freedom of this social intercourse, he had ample opportunities of ascertaining their pecufiar habits of mind, and remarked, with deep regret, a general alienation from the sentiments and principles of real religion. One of them in particular, to whom he was on many accounts most attached, scorned the restraints of religion, and abandoned himself to the pleasures of the world. Circumstances at length led the gentleman to leave that place, and on parting with his acquaintance at the corner of a street, he summoned up his moral courage to pronounce the following words: "We now part, probably to meet no more on earth. We have sometimes discussed, and you have always refused to regard the appeals of scriptural truth. One word, and I have done. O remember that you have a soul, an immortal soul: will you finally consent to lose it in endless perdition, for the sake of paltry and fleeting indulgences? Farewell."

Each now disappeared from the other, in the crowd of life; and pursued a very different course. Ten, twenty, thirty years elapsed. The gentleman was one day standing at his door, when another gentleman was passing by in great haste; but a

momentary glance induced him to stop, and to address him, "Sir, is not your name M-?"

"It is;" and a sudden reminiscence led him to add, "And is not yours G—?”

"You are right. Do you remember what you said at our separation at the corner of S- street, thirty years ago?"

I am

"I have a faint recollection." "But I have a strong one. another man. You left me a man of the world, and an enemy of the cross of Christ: I am now, and have been during many years, a member of a Christian church, and you are the cause. The word was in season:' I could not rid myself of it; I was forced by it to reflection; yes, I thought on my ways, and turned to God and happiness."

MINISTERS AND THE YOUNG.

No. 2.

WE said that in the behaviour of some professing Christians there is a particular want of attention to the spiritual interests of those young persons, the children of other parents, that come into their hands as servants and apprentices, or are under their employ in other ways. There are those, we know, and we are happy in being able to say it, who adopt the young placed in their hands as children given them by the Lord, and who take them to their hearts as well as to their tables, and with the affection and solicitude of genuine Christians, strive in every way they can to do them good. They use them kindly, and win their love; they live before them as becomes the Gospel of Christ, and to their good example they add their instructions and their prayers. They call them to the famiÎy altar; they take them to the house of God, and they allow them every opportunity, and furnish them with every facility in their power, for improving in knowledge and in holiness. There are some also who pay considerable attention to the moral and spiritual welfare of the young who are merely in their employ. They have built schools in connexion with their factories, erected places of worship in their neighbourhoods, and procured for their work-people the privilege

of religious instruction both on the Sabbath and on the week day. They have forbidden alehouses to be opened on their premises, and have dismissed incorrigible drunkards and profligates from their employ. Some have established evening schools for the benefit of elder youths, to place within their reach a knowledge of those branches of useful learning, which, without such means, they would not be able to acquire. Some have distributed tracts amongst their work-people, formed libraries, and paid peculiar attention to the general management of their establishments with a view to the highest interests of the persons in their employ. These are lovely and laudable examples; but there are many who make mention of the name of Christ, by whom they are not yet followed. There are many, alas, whose behaviour towards the young who live in their houses, or work in their factories or fields, is of a very different character. Many masters appear to consider their apprentices as placed in their hands to learn a business merely, or to be kept from want; and they use them accordingly. They look at their indentures, and keep in mind the law of the land perhaps; but they forget the great law of love. To one apprentice they give instruction in his business, and to another they give commands and food, and then consider their work as done. They will attend to their morals so far as may seem necessary to prevent their youthful charge from becoming troublesome to themselves; but as for sedulous, and pious, and continued efforts for their salvation, these form no part of their plan.

With respect to those who have young men only as work-people in their factories, or mines, or fields, neglect of their souls is still more prevalent perhaps, and shows itself more openly. "What business is it of mine," said one, when application was made to him in behalf of one of his aged and worn-out workmen, who had spent upwards of sixty years in his and in his father's service; "What business is it of mine, to provide for old helpless men; I paid him his wages while he did his work." There are some who would join us in condemning the inhuman and unnatural con

duct of this man towards the body of his aged servant, who are themselves grievously defective in their duty to the souls of their workmen. There are those who would not leave a worn-out servant to famish, who yet leave the souls of their workmen a prey to the devil. "What business is it of ours," their actions say, "to look after their souls? There are places of worship and schools, they may go if they please: they have parents and teachers, and they may learn if they please; we do not hinder them." Thus some myriads of our young men are in the hands of those who care not for their souls;" thus some thousands of masters, who would wish to be reckoned Christians, suffer opportunities of doing everlasting good to so important a portion of society, to pass away unimproved without concern.

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Not only is nothing done for the cultivation of their minds, and the promotion of their spiritual interests, but many things are allowed which tend directly to corrupt their morals and undo their souls. Drunken, and debauched, and blaspheming characters are allowed to remain in their establishments, and sow the seeds of infidelity and all iniquity in the hearts of the young. Nurseries of drunkenness and gaming are even allowed on their premises, and in some cases the gains of unrighteousness are put into the master's purse. A multitude of lawless and godless men grow up under their eye, and go forth into society to spread immoral and destructive influences through all the land, and they make not an effort to bring the evil to a close.

The influence of the minister of the Gospel may reach this order of delinquents also, and do something towards their reformation. Most of those masters of whom we have been speaking, and indeed a great portion of all the masters in the kingdom, attend some place of worship, and thus furnish the minister of Christ with opportunities of showing them their sins, and pointing out to them the way of duty. Many would take offence, no doubt, if they found that the Gospel was made each Sabbath to condemn their practices, and some of them would leave

our ministry; but whither would they go? If all the ambassadors of Christ would unite together in the faithful discharge of their duties, the guilty masters would have to give up every place of worship, and renounce their pretensions to religion altogether, or else be content to hear the truth and repent. If the truth were unfolded and applied in a faithful and affectionate manner, many would repent, and would set themselves to correct the evil in the fear of God. Their example would not be lost upon their neighbours, but others also would be drawn to duty, and led to consult the welfare of their people's souls. If books were joined with sermons, and if faithful and tender admonition and expostulation in private were also added, the happy results would be more extensive. An entirely new course of proceeding on the part of masters might be looked for, and the thousands of young persons who now grow up in ignorance and depravity, might become in early life the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.

I dare not say that, as ministers of the Gospel, we are not in part guilty of the evil of which we complain, in that we have so seldom and so partially, and in terms so general and so vague, urged upon our hearers the principles of Christian duty. It would seem impossible that, in a land like ours, people bearing the Christian name, and attending weekly on the ministry of the word, should be so indifferent to the interests of their brethren, if the word were administered with fidelity. We have slept while these unchristian customs have sprung up around us; we have been at ease, while Satan has been undermining the order and happiness of society, and making even the professed disciples of Christ the instruments of his destructive schemes. But let the ministers of truth arise, and commence their work afresh. Let the precepts of Jesus, and the principles of his benevolent doctrine, be made plain to all that hear them. Let it be perpetually published, that masters and servants are alike the servants and the offspring of God; that rich and poor are fashioned by the same hand, and ransomed with the same blood; that it is the appointment of God

that we should do each other good as we have opportunity, and that every one should especially labour to do good to the souls that are placed under his care ; and we may then expect to see the day when our merchants and our manufacturers shall make their premises nurseries of piety, and when all that have had entrusted to them a human being, shall nurse and rear it as a candidate for glory.

Ministers of the Gospel will have greater influence over others, in proportion to the holiness and excellence of their own character, and the ability and zeal with which they fulfil their ministry. To increase our opportunities of doing good, and to enable us the more extensively and speedily to form the sentiments and habits of mankind according to the truth and precepts of the Gospel, we ought to give all diligence to improve in every branch of holiness, and to abound in all the excellencies of the ministerial character. We should live above the world, and be uninfected with its spirit. We should have but one object, to glorify God in the salvation of souls; and to this object we should make ourselves a living sacrifice. It should be seen in all our tempers and behaviour,-it should be heard in all our conversation,-it__should be manifest from all our labours, that we have renounced all selfish interests, and that we are living and labouring only for our Saviour and the souls of men. There should be that decision in our character, and that elevation and fervour in our piety, and that devotedness and singleness of aim in all our labours, as should make both the christian and the worldling feel that we are men of God, and that we are living for another world. This would give force to all we say. Our advices would be revered as oracles, our reproofs and warnings would shake the souls of the guilty like thunder. While careful thus to excel in piety, we should labour to excel in knowledge also. We should store our minds with all the treasures of divine truth, and furnish ourselves with so much knowledge of the works of God and of the ways of men, as would enable us to give the best instruction to every man, according as

his necessities might require. We should seek fuller measures of the mercy and benevolence of Christ, that the truth we preach may be steeped in tenderness and love. We should improve our talents to the utmost, that the influence of our labours may be increased as much as possible. Ministers thus qualified for their office, would be enabled to turn the empire of the devil upside down. Doing God's work in God's own way, and with no other wish but their Maker's Glory and Men's Salvation, they would move onward, like their great captain, "conquering and to conquer." It has been said by an author of the present day, that if the ministers of the Gospel now in the churches of God sustained their proper character, and laboured in the spirit and in the manner which the Word of God requires, "in seven years the world would be at our feet." Perhaps this is saying more than is true, but we have certainly reason to believe, that an improvement in the Christian ministry would be followed by a revival of pure religion in the churches, and by the more rapid spread of religion through the world. It is certain that in proportion as ministers approach nearer to the Gospel standard of excellence, will be the success of their labours. Their word will work with increasing power, and infuse new life and energy through every part of the church. Professors of religion will be brought to a sense of their duty to the souls of their fellow-men, and sinners will be converted to God on every hand.

Much has been done for the welfare of the young, by some ministers, by the encouragement which they have given to Sabbath Schools, to the institution of libraries, to the formation of temperance societies, tract societies, and young men's societies, and of many other salutary institutions; and the success of those ministers in guiding youth into the ways of holiness, and conducting them to excellence and usefulness, may teach us how much might be done towards saving all the youth of our congregations, if the same plans were adopted and acted upon by ministers generally. Hitherto we have spoken principally of what ministers of the Gospel might do towards the conversion of

the young; we come now to speak of what they may do to promote the welfare of such young persons as are pious and members of the church. What is to be desired in reference to them is, first, that they should be established in religion; secondly, that they should increase in knowledge and in holiness; and, thirdly, that they should be rendered useful to the church and to the world.

The first thing to be desired with respect to the young disciples of Christ is, that they should be stable. Many that promise well for a time, fall back into the world; and of those who retain their station in the church, many appear to make but little progress in knowledge and piety, and still fewer do much for the cause of God and the salvation of mankind. What can ministers of the Gospel do to remedy or prevent these evils?

1. The first thing is frequently to make the establishment and improvement of young Christians the express object of our pulpit labours. That our pulpit labours may be the more successful, we should endeavour to find out the dangers and temptations to which the young members of our churches are particularly exposed, and order our remarks accordingly. We should seek an acquaintance with their views and habits, their peculiarities of disposition and situation, that we may be qualified to speak seasonably and profitably to them on all occasions, whether in public or private.

2. We should adopt some plan for bringing the young members of our churches into more frequent intercourse with those who are more experienced, more judicious, and more advanced in piety. Those churches in which the members are not brought into frequent intercourse and intimate fellowship with each other, are not rightly regulated. "They that feared the Lord," in ancient times, "spoke often one to another," and frequent assemblies of the saints, for mutual conversation and prayer, were common in the first ages of the Christian church. The Apostles urged the followers of Christ to "exhort one another daily, lest any should be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.' They cautioned them "not to for get the assembling of themselves together, but to exhort one another, and provoke one another to love and