racter; but, upon hearing this, I suspected he might be a good Christian. I therefore went to his room, and, without any ceremony, desired the benefit of his conversation." This was his first contact with Methodism, just five months after its first meeting. He was now a Methodist, but not yet a Christian. For years after this, although he was ordained and presented to the living of StantonHarcourt, his religion was nothing better than a modern edition of the ancient Mysticism. He lived amid the shadows of the early churches, buried himself in the most abstruse writings of the fathers, and moulded his Christianity upon their model, but still he was unhappy; his heart panted for something it could not find. At last, after eight years of struggle, the first shadows of the weary night begin to pass, and morning, serene and bright, is breaking on his skies. Help, too, is at hand from unexpected quarters; Wesley opportunely arrives from Georgia, and Bohler from Germany, and these, with Charles Wesley, meet at Oxford, but their former friends had left; Gambold was the nearest, they visit him. "We went to Stanton-Harcourt, to Mr. Gambold, and found my old friend recovered from his mystic delusion, and convinced that St. Paul was a better writer than either Tauler or Jacob Behmen.” At such a moment Bohler's presence was of the highest importance, as it commenced an acquaintance which resulted in Gambold's conversion. How tenaciously he clung to his philosophy! how he was carried away by metaphysical reasonings! and what a tremendous struggle it cost him to throw these overboard, and exercise a living faith in Christ for acceptance with God! He did it all, and was a new man. He can talk sweetly and clearly now about the plan of salvation-yea, and write too: "Now, after all this long talk the chief thing that, by my calling and my conscience, I ought to have spoken of and recommended to you, I have passed over, and that is faith in Christ. This is the thing that I ought to speak of with zeal and delight; that ought to be the brightest in my imagination, and nearest my heart. How little do any other speculations and reasonings conduce to this faith; and how insignificant are they if they do not conduce to it; I know, and actually make the reflection upon myself, that, whatever I read, or write, or speak upon any other subject but this, I am a miserable trifler. It may be, then, I do very ill to trifle with you. Perhaps you have felt the great work of faith, cleansing you from all sin in the blood of Christ, that, being righteous before God, you have peace which passes all understanding." This is a piece of sound Methodist theology. Soon after this great change had taken place in Gambold's soul, Molther, another German Moravian, arrived in this country, and with him came theological discord and warfare. His pet theme was, that "to search the Scriptures, to pray, or communicate before we have

faith, is to seek salvation by works, and such works must be laid aside before faith can be received." Strange to say, the newly-enlightened Gambold adopted these views. Ingham turned Moravian, and so did Gambold; and Gambold, like Ingham, turned his back on Wesley. In July, 1741, Wesley writes: "I met Mr. Gambold again, who honestly told me he was ashamed of my company, and, therefore, must be excused from going to the society with me. This is plain dealing at last." How long this shame of Gambold's lasted, we cannot say. After a lapse of eighteen years, Wesley wrote again: "I spent some time with my old friend, John Gambold. Who but Count Zinzendorf could have separated such friends as we were? Shall we never unite again ?” The fault was not Wesley's; his heart still glowed with affectionate esteem for his former friend, and his pen eulogised him as "one of the most sensible men in England." It was not till 1742 that Gambold formally resigned his connection with the English Church, and as formally joined the Moravians, though he had been coquetting with them for two years and-a-half. The step was not rashly taken; his newborn soul yearned for some means of mutual fellowship and sympathy, which his own church did not supply, and which Methodism had scarcely yet established. Mr. Wesley was taking steps to form the class-meeting, and had there been no coldness between him and the parish priest of StantonHarcourt, Gambold probably would have become a Methodist.

"It is not good for man to be alone." So thought Gambold, and at Haverfordwest he spent the first eighteen months of his married life, dividing his time between teaching a school and preaching the Gospel. The scene of these dual labours was exchanged for London, where most of his after life was spent. Here his ecclesiastical science turned out to be as hazy as his theology. In 1749, he addressed to "Papa," alias "Most dear and Paternal heart," alias Count Zinzendorf, his utopian scheme for some of the brethren to communicate in the English Church. This scheme, to say the least, was inconsistent, as the Moravians held that they were a distinct Church. Gambold's project, if carried out, would have made them members of two churches. It failed, although the count went in for it.

Zinzendorf-inflated with ambition, albeit deified by the brethren-was unmercifully handled by the outside world. Newspapers, speeches and pamphlets hissed and pelted him from all imaginable quarters; Gambold came to the rescue; made himself both shield and target, and by letters, pamphlets, and books, proved himself the count's unflinching friend-he was more-he was the saviour of English Moravianism. When torn by factions, and nearly wrecked by internal bickerings, he threw oil upon the troubled waters, harmonised the jarring and discordant ele

ments, won the respect of foes, strengthened the affections of friends, and gave it a new lease of life. Gambold lived a laborious and useful life, but it was quiet and retiring. He was too bashful and timid to make a great name-to leave any very deep "Footprints on the sands of time," or kindle the "Lightening's lurid glare," and stir the "Applauding thunder at its heels which men call fame;" but he gained the highest esteem and love of the Moravians, and in 1754 was created a bishop as a recognition of his services to their church.

The last days of Bishop Gambold were burdened with a most. painful and distressing malady, but he bore up bravely; without, there was the desolating tempest, but within there was the calm splendour of the setting sun. "With respect to myself," said he, "if I may judge from what I feel, I can think no otherwise than that I am very near the end of my course. Therefore, all my prayers are centered in this, that my gracious Lord may wash me, a sinner, in his blood, and abide always near me, especially in my last extremity." We see a group in the sanctuary, bending round the table of the Lord; Gambold, weak and wasted, is in the midst. His trembling fingers take the emblems of his Saviour's bruised body-the chalice meets his quivering lip, and he drinks in memory of the precious blood; then, rising from his knees, he faintly sings a hymn of praise to God, and the listening congregation gives way to sobs and tears. He returns to his home, and the shades of death gather thick and fast about him. "Dear Saviour, remember my poor name, and come- -come soon." The prayer was answered-Gambold was dead.

Gambold was a talented preacher, but the intensely metaphysical tone of his sermons robbed them of usefulness, popularity, and power. Still, he rendered eminent service to the Moravian Church; he purified and elevated it, and, in no small degree, contributed to perpetuate its life.

Four of the Oxford Methodists changed earth for heaven within a short time of each other-Whitfield in 1770, Gambold in 1771, Ingham in 1772, and Clayton in 1773. Five of them identified themselves, more or less, with the Moravian movement-the two Wesleys, Westley Hall, Ingham, and Gambold; but Gambold was the only one of the five who died a Moravian. Beyond doubt, the Moravians had many sterling virtues, but we cannot deny that they had many defects too. Some of their views were exceedingly crotchety and Quixotic, and created no small amount of strife and bad feeling between them and the Methodists. Still, the Methodists were indebted to them for a large amount of good, and they were indebted to the Methodists for much in return.

It is only in the light of history that we can read many of the purposes of God; and it is well for the world. Were Providence

to draw aside the veil that shuts out the future from the ken of mortals, many of earth's great deeds would remain unacted; the actors would not only turn pale at the difficulties in their pathway, but would be appalled at the tremendous issues before them. What would have been the consequences if these Oxford Methodists could have seen fifty years before them? We cannot tell. It is probable that Methodism would have no existence to-day; for, considering the divergent and conflicting opinions of the early brotherhood, and Wesley's passion for establishments, it can scarcely be supposed that they would have laboured harmoniously to create a gigantic system of Dissent. J. N.

ART. IV. THE CONSTITUTION AND POLITY OF
THE APOSTOLIC CHURCHES.

A Paper read before the Sunderland District Preachers' Association, May 7th, 1874.

THE

HE Church of Christ is one, not because it is one society, but because, while composed of many societies, they are all formed on the same principles, viz., spirituality, equality, universality, and unity. To the Church at large, and to every society based on these principles, is assigned the duty of perpetuating and extending itself. In order to this it has three functions to perform:-Ist. That of preserving and judiciously dispensing the truths of revelation. 2nd. It has to be the means of conveying grace to men; and 3rd. It has to take such steps as may be necessary for its preservation from internal corruption and external aggression. Such was a society or church of the Apostolic type. They who formed it had "one faith-one Lord-one baptism." The doctrines Christ and his Apostles taught, they believed; the precepts of Christ their Lord they obeyed; the sacraments and worship Christ ordained they observed. Faith, obedience, and worship must always characterise a true church, for these things exhaust what is essential to corporate Christian life.

*

And now for a definition of the title of our subject. It is a maxim of Coleridge that, "in order to get the full sense of a word, we should first present to our minds the visual image that forms its primary meaning." Let us do this with the words " constitution" and "polity." By the constitution of anything we mean the way in which the elements or particles that compose it are put or ranged together, the result being a certain particular outward configuration as well as internal adjustment. A body, be *See Hind's History of the Christian Church.

it natural or artificial, is constituted with a view to its final end. A machine is made up of various parts, all fitted together in such wise that it may accomplish its purpose. The word "polity" calls up a different visual image before the mind. We see a city or state having a certain form of government, be it monarchical, oligarchical, or democratic, and ordering and administering all its affairs according to certain laws. This is its polity. Now, by the Constitution and Polity of the Apostolic Churches, we mean all that these churches devised for the carrying out of their purpose, which was the perpetuation and extension of themselves as associations of believing, Christ-obeying, and Christ-worshipping men. We use the word polity in the same sense that Hooker uses it. He says that "for his purpose the name of church polity will better suit than government, because it containeth both government and also whatsoever besides belongeth to the ordering of the church in public. Neither is anything in this degree more necessary than church polity, which is a form of ordering the public spiritual affairs of the Church of God." Book III. p. 89.

Again:-"The matters wherein church polity is conversant are the public religious duties of the church, as the administration of the word and sacraments, prayers, spiritual censures, and the like. To these the church standeth always bound. Laws of polity are laws which appoint in what manner these duties shall be performed." Book III. p. 124.

Now our view is that polity is not one of the essentials of a church like doctrine, evangelical obedience and worship, but that it is one of the variable properties of a church. It is, therefore, not some one thing enjoined in Scripture, but is a matter of expediency." Whether there must be of necessity contained in the Scriptures a form of church polity, the laws whereof may in no wise be altered," this, yea or nay, is the citadel round which a controversial war has raged for more than three hundred years. It was against Cartwright, who stoutly defended the affirmative of this view, that Hooker wrote his famous "Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity." It was for maintaining that the civil power should compel men to acknowledge the Divine Institution and obligatoriness of the form of polity which Calvin had invented or discovered in Eph. iv. 2, and 1 Cor. xii. 28, that Penry, Barrowe, and Greenwood gave up their lives on the gallows in 1593.

Nor is this old and battered citadel yet forsaken or dismantled. There are many Presbyterians who have held that the Church has no right to enact for its own guidance any laws other than those contained in the Scriptures, and that what the Scriptures do not enjoin they forbid. Some ardent advocates of Congregationalism do not scruple to avow that their system of Church government should be embraced because "the institutions adopted by the