write; if you cannot write, work. Whatever be the means of spreading the knowledge of His Gospel which He has given you, use it, that so you may be able to say at the last day,' Behold I and the children, the spiritual children whom God hath given me.' Can those children be none? Canst thou be meant to appear alone and empty handed at that day? Ah, no; believe it not. 'God hath given thee,' God meant thee to bring safe to land all them that sail with thee.' Woe unto them, woe unto thee, if within thine appointed circle thou preach not the Gospel.

"Yet let us not suppose that it was fear only, the fear of being judged unfaithful, which thus wrought in the apostle's heart No; it was not fear only, but also and far more abundantly the constraining might of love. The Gospel was to him not merely a book, not merely a scheme of salvation; it was also a person, Christ Jesus, and to the Man Christ Jesus, his Redeemer, all the deepest and all the mightiest affections of his heart bound him. He saw-and with the eye of faith may not we see also-on the one hand, this loving, this patient Saviour, knocking at the door of every heart, waiting, waiting till entrance into his own shall be given him; on the other hand, this vast flock of sheep, whom he died to save, scattered into the wilderness, wandering without a shepherd, straying upon every desert hill, stumbling among all the perilous pit-falls of this world. Who and what shall bring these two together? Les croyants par le Temoignage,' those who already believe in Christ, by their witness-bearing unto him; not in the life-time of the apostles only, but 'lo I am with you alway, jusqu'à la fin du monde.

"Ah, and consider, my brethren, what this preaching of the Gospel in all its foolishness, with none of the wisdom of this world, did for the nations of old. We know how the philosophers of that day, the Ciceros and the Senecas, viewed some of the questions touched upon by Christianity. We see them sitting in their villas, surrounded by every luxury, with intellects trained and sharpened to the highest point of refinement, discussing, in noble and beautiful words, concerning the duty of man and the immortality of the soul; laughing at the tales of the false gods in whom the multitude believed, and proving that they perceived as clearly as we do the hollowness of that worn-out polytheism by which they were surrounded. But what did all this do for the destruction of the false, for the enthronement of the true, for the bringing in of a better hope into the world, for the placing it within the reach of all men? It did nothing; while the preaching of the Gospel, by instruments despised of men, by fishermen and tent-makers, by such instruments as Lydia and the poor exorcised Pythoness of Philippi, did everything: it demolished Paganism, and brought that new thought, the possibility of

inheriting the life to come, home to the hearts of men of every station,—not of a few philosophers in their villas only, but of millions of men-barbarian, Scythian, bond, and free-it put it within the reach of all for whom Christ had died.

"And even thus, my brethren, must it be with us. We must shake off the torpor which has benumbed our souls, we must seek to feel once again in our hearts this constraining necessity to preach the Gospel of Christ; we must be willing to preach it always and everywhere. (I do not say that we shall always be able to find entrance for it; I willingly admit that there is a 'spiritual tact' which we ought to use, but I remember also that the apostle said that he preached in season and out of season.') All this must we do, Christ's blessed Spirit helping us, if we are to conquer back that world which the apostles won for Christ, from that ever-springing, ever-recurring Paganism which invades, and now more than ever threatens to subdue, it."

The only drawback to my enjoyment of this most powerful and impressive sermon was, that it was so evidently, with many there, the sole reason for their presence. All through the earlier portions of the service, which lasted perhaps thirty to forty minutes, there had been a constant influx of fresh arrivals, the doorkeepers had been flitting about as quietly as possible, finding a seat for one party under the gallery, escorting another to their pew in the aisle, and so on. Towards the end of these preliminary services the movement had become more vigorous, so that when M. de Pressensé commenced his sermon, the chapel, which was scarcely more than two-thirds full on our entrance, had become completely crowded, chairs being placed in all the passages, and every available corner occupied. The sermon ended, although another prayer and a hymn were to follow, I regret to say that there was another general movement towards the door. It seemed at the time as if quite one-half of the congregation were leaving; they may not have been in reality so many, but it was certainly needful that the course of the services should be interrupted by about ten minutes of unspoken (but by no means of silent) worship, while they were taking their departure.

In watching this scene one could not but feel that

here was at least one reason why French Protestantism is not more successful in its struggle with Romanism. It is written, "My house shall be called an house of prayer for all nations," and with all the admixture of error, perhaps of idolatry, with which her worship is overlaid, there is an element of truth in the supplication and thanksgiving of the poor old woman telling her beads in the Madeleine, which is lacking in the religious life of the enlightened Protestant, who elaborately times his arrival so as to hear only the beginning of the sermon, and who departs as soon as it is concluded, having joined in no prayer, silent or vocal, during the whole time of his presence in the so-called house of prayer (Oratoire).

Nor is it difficult to see that this undue dependence upon the preacher, and undue exaltation of his office, is likely to lead to injurious results with reference to the doctrine of the Church. It is unfortunately only in human nature that the minister who feels that some of the wealth and fashion, and more of the intellect, of a great metropolis, are coming to his chapel week after week, solely to hear him preach, should strain the resources of his mind and spirit to find always some new food for theirs; and, unless he be guarded by God's especial grace, he is very likely thus to slide from truth into paradox, from paradox into error. The one-man system" has not, one may thankfully trust, harmed a Pressensé; but who can say how much it may have done towards developing the Unitarian speculations of a Coquerel.

66

With some such thoughts as these, but also with many of the earnest words of the preacher still ringing in their ears, we walked back along the Rue St. Honoré to our hotel, and sitting down to the table d'hôte, heard, strange discord with those earnest tones,— busy bookmakers discussing the running of the various horses at the great event in the Bois de Boulogne.

H.

NO LIVING MEMBER EXEMPT FROM SERVICE.

“From whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."

THERE are two lessons to be learnt from this passage; the one similar to that which our Lord himself taught to His disciples when, under the figure of the vine, He showed how union with Him is essential to the believer's life; the other, that every joint, every member, whether larger or smaller, is required for the fit joining together and compacting of the spiritual body and its consequent increase. Taken together, they need to be deeply pondered by every one amongst us, and honest answers given to the questions which they suggest:-"Am I myself, through my junction with Christ, a living member of the body; and, if so, am I, by the effectual working of his Spirit in me, contributing my full share to its prosperity."

Close questions these, though none the less requiring distinct reply, and that from all who would bear the name of Christian; but I would now more especially bring them before the notice of some amongst us, and they are confined to no class, no order of education, who need to be practically reminded that they have as actual a part in this matter as any member of the community. I allude to those who, owing to circumstances, to slenderer mental endowments, to timidity, to youth, to any of those manifold causes with which all are so familiar, seem to themselves of less account than their brethren; of such small account indeed, according to their own humble estimate of their powers,

that to be joined to the Head, and thereby to be assured of individual life, is all that they hope for, forgetting, or perhaps I ought rather to say, not daring to believe, that what is true of the physical is true also of the spiritual body, that every portion has its own function and measure of labour assigned to it specially, and that, failing its due performance, other members must be overtasked, or, in many cases, from simple necessity, the work be left wholly undone.

Such backwardness of apprehension is very far from being peculiar to the Society of Friends; all Christian sects have more or less to deplore it, though amongst us, owing to the remarkable freedom of our Church arrangements, it seems still more grievous than elsewhere. Yet, while we may earnestly deprecate the error, those who commit it claim the sympathy of all who understand their position; and not sympathy alone, but that helping hand which, were it wisely extended to them, they would often in their turn be enabled to hold forth to others. There are doubts and discouragements in their way, and difficulties, too, peculiar to themselves. Perhaps if they could be convinced that their brethren at large have their special trials also, the feeling of kinship might do much to loosen the fetters that restrain them; if the habit of more general interchange of thought and religious experience were cultivated amongst our members; if they that fear the Lord, be they who they may, spoke more often one to another, there would be fewer feeble knees, and hands hanging down, than weaken us now: the effectual working in the measure of every part would make an increase of the body of which, under present conditions, we can have but a faint idea.

Probably of all divisions of labour in the Church, that relating to the ministry least needs to be dwelt on here. So strongly does our teaching from childhood up inculcate a regard of what we hold to be a direct call