/ // ^ PAPERS RKAI) Ar IIIK TohONTO Diocesan Conference Toronto, September Z)rd cind ^Itl) 1596 TOKON I O : TnK Ukyan r I'rfss. T OTAL ABSTAINERS.... Should know that an experience of thirty years covering a larg^e number of lives has demonstrated their great superiority as Life Insurance risks. They can get the . facts by addressing the Manager of THE TEMPERANCE AND GENERAL LIFE ASSURANCE CO. of N.A HON. G. W. ROSS, President. \\. SUTHERLAND, Manager. HkAI) OfFICK : (JLOBK BUILDINO, TORONTO. (nuKC/i WinDOW3 nEnOI\IAL!) A bfECIALTY • MC^AV5LAnO St. AugustiDe Wine $1.50 per Gallon Direct /ni/>orter of High Grade Foreign Wines., et<. — All Goods guaranteed pure .iiid Genuine — J. C. MOOR, Yong* Street, Telephone 625 Toronto ^ New and fm/^ortant Book published by Macinillau ^ Co. HISTORY, PROPHECY and the MONUMENTS Or, ISRAEL and the Nations BY James Frederick McCurdy,Ph.D.,LL.D. Professor of Oriental Lamjuages iu University College, Toronto. Vol. /. — To the Downfall of Samaria. Vol. II. — To the Downfall of Nineveh. Price $3.00 each Vol. ROWSELL & HUTCHISON, Agents for Canada 76 King St. East, Toronto PAPERS READ AT THE Toronto Diocesan Conference Toronto, v3epteniber Z)ri and Zltt) TORONTO : The Bryant Press. 1896. CONFERENCE COMMITTEE. Rev. Herbert Symonds, M.A.,Ashburnham, Chair, man. Rev. Canon Sweeny, M.A„ D.D., Rural Dean of Toronto. Rev. Prof. Clark, M.A., D.C.L., Trinity College. Rev. Prc?. Rigby, M.A., Uean of Trinity College. Rev. Prof. Cayley, M.A., Trinity College. Rev. Bernard Bryan, M.A., Church of the Epiph- any, Toronto, Rev. Septimus Jones, M.A., Church of the Re- deemer, Toronto. Rev. R. J. Moore, M.A., St. Margaret's, Toronto. Rev. J. C. Roper, M.A, St. Thomas', Toronto. Rev. J. H. Talbot, Oshawa. J. G. HODGINS, Esq., LL D., Toronto. S. G. Wood, Esq., LL.B., Toronto. Barlow Cumberland, Esq., M.A., Toronto. J. C. Morgan, Esq., M.A., Barrie. Allan M. Dymond, Esq., Toronto. Frank E. Hodgins, Esq., Toronto. O. A. HOWLAND, Esq., Toronto. G. B. Kirkpatrick, Esq., Toronto. Lawrence H. Baldwin, Esq., Toronto, Treasurer, Rev. T. C. Street Macklem, M.A., St. Simon's, Toronto, Secretary. PREFACE. The Toronto Diocesan Conference of 1896 was held in the city of Toronto on September 23rd and 24th, preceded by Church Services at three selected centres on the evening of September 22nd, and by the celebration of the Holy Communion on the morning of September 23rd. ' " 1 At the earnest request of a number of Churchmen, this digest of the papers read at the Confe.ence has been prepared. Several of the shorter papers are given in their entirety ; but in almost every instance considerations of space and cost rendered curtailment necessary. The curtailment has been made, not mechanically, but with judgment and freedom ; hence to some papers more space has been allowed than would relatively belong to them, for the reason that to have abridged them in the same proportion as others would have tended to obscure their general purport. Omissions, wherever made, are indicated by the dotted line. As this digest contains no report of the criticisms made by voluntary speakers, it may be well to remind the reader that the views advanced in the several papers are not bindmg upon anyone, being merely individual expressions of opinion. Some of the views advanced were animadverted upon by members of the Conference, while others were strongly endorsed. But it is not within the province of a Conference, which exists solely for the free interchange of opinion, to express itself corporately by any resolution touch- ing the matters discussed. The marked interest shown in the conference led many to express the hope that a similar gathering might be held in Toronto annually. Others are of the opinion that it would be better to enlarge the scope of such an undertaking from a Diocesan Confer- ence to the more general Church Congress, meeting annually in different centres, but in Toronto not more frequently than triennially. We commend the matter to the attention of our several synods. CONTENTS Page. Outlines of Sermons 6 AMUSEHENT AND RECREATION IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. {a) Their Place Generally : Paper by Rev. Canon Sweeny, D.D., To- ronto 9 Paper by Kirwan Martin, Esq., Hamilton. ... i8 (6) Recreation and Sunday : Paper by Rev. Canon Sheraton, D.D., To- ronto ^5 PREACHING. {a) The Layman's Consciousness of his Own Needs : Paper by Hon. S. H. Blake, Q.C., Toronto.. 36 Paper by Barlow Cumberland, Esq., M.A., Toronto 45 (d) The Preacher's Conception of the Lay- man's Needs : Paper by Rev. Prof. Clark, D.C.L., Toronto. 51 Paper by Rev. C. H. Marsh, Lindsay 60 SOCIAL PROBLEHS. {a) The Church's Message to the Capitalist : Paper by Hon. and Rev. Wm. Prall, D.D., Detroit ^4 (d) The Church and Civic and Secular Agen- cies : Paper by His Honour Judge McDonald, Brockville 73 Paper by Allan M. Dymond, Esq., Toronto. . 80 THE PARISH. (a) Church Social G'vtherings : Their Use AND Abuse : Paper by Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Huron 89 Paper by Rev. Canon Farncomb, M.A., New- castle 97 (d) Present Parish System of 1* inancial Man- agement : Paper by Rev. Septimus Jones, M.A., To- ronto 103 THE WORK OF THE CHURCH. {a) Church Clubs and Laymen's Leagues : Paper by Rev. Henry Tatlock, A.M., Ann Arbor 11 1 Paper by A. H. Dymond, Esq., Brantford. . 118 {d) Clergy Houses in Country Districts • Paper by Rev. F. H. Hartley, M.A., South Burleigh 1 29 THE SERVICES OF THE CHURCH. (a) Order and Liberty in the Use of Them : Paper by Rev. C. E. Whitcombe, Hamilton. 135 Paper by J. C. Morgan, Esq., M.A., Barrie. . 142 (d) Doctrine and Ritual : How Related : Paper by Rev. Prof. Clark, D.C.L., Toronto. 149 Paper by L. H. Baldwin, Esq., Toronto. ... 153 Paper by Rev. Rural Dean Armitage, St. Catharines 161 ERRATUM Page 107, line 18. For unquestionable r^acr se in the portrayal of char- acter, nor in vocal or instrumental music, or dancing, male or female. The whole performance must be con- sidered ; if it be clean, if the tone be good, if the costume>, words, and gestures of the actors be decent, it is diffu ult to sec harm in it. Belting and gambling are two favourite forms of amusement. Some condemn all caid-playing, but what h irm is there in it ? It leads to sin, they say — what form of amusement does not ? I grant it is a dangerous form, and one that ought to be used \^ilh caution. Some people aie bom with a love for cards ; 22 in these cases I believe that there is far less danger of disaster to the young man who is allowed to play cards at home or in respectable company than to the one who is forbidden to do so ; both, ordinarily, will play — one satisfies his craving decently, the other does so otherwise. If a man has got the gambling spirit strongly implanted in him it is bound to come out ; forbidding is of no use; when he is his own mas- ter he will plunge more deeply ; you must lead, not drive. Cards are yames of skill and chance. If there be no sin in the element of chance, it is hard to see sin in staking money on them, provided you have previ- ously done your duty as above indicated, and that you stake only moneys you have in hand, and which you can afford to lose. Should not the term " gambling," when applied to games of cards for money stakes, be lin.ited to the abuse of them ? This is a question of important ; ; for it is notorious that from whist down- wards a money stake adds enormously to the enjoy- ment of the game. Wagering, to those that like it, seems to me to be on much the same footing as card- playing ; should not the term " betting " be applied to the abuse of it ? Many who condemn them, /.t'., card-playin^ for money slakes and wagering, do not scruple to allow lotteries in church and charitable entertainments, and yet there seems to me little difference in prin- ciple. We hear in certain quarters a good deal against round dances ; great, and most innocent, enjoyment can be and is derived hoin it, and wh> should this be foiljdden? Of course, there may be sin, but surely the sin does not come from the thing itself, but from evil-minded dancers. 2\ I understood it was desired that the papers at this conference should deal with practical matters ; hence, I have referred to certain forms of amusement and recreation which are objected to by certain Christian bodies ; these, I think, enter into the everyday life of the people — their needs, their temptations ; they are real living questions ; fulminations against them are not sufficient ; they must be dealt with fully, care- fully, and reasonably. In conclusion, I may say that I fear the tendency of seekers after amusement and recreation is often selfish ; we too often seek to amuse ourselves without regard to others. I think that when we resolve upon pleasure we should look about us and think of those who are dependent upon us ; that we should avoid as much as possible forms which cast additional work or burdens upon dependents ; that we should seek for forms that we can enjoy with others, and so give pleasure to them as well as to ourselves. 24 RECREATION AND SUNDAY. By the Rev. Canon Sheraton, D.D., Principal of Wycliffe College, Toronto. We must first determine the meaning of the terms used before we can intelligently discuss their mutual relations. The Sabbath is coeval with man's crea- tion. Its obligation rests upon fundamental law in- herent in the very nature of things. It is the rescript of God's will as embodied in His work. It is an out- come and expression of the relations in which man stands to God, and is grounded in man's constitution. Hence it is universal and unchangeable, so long, at least, as the present system of things endures. As the judicious Hooker affirms, " We are to account the sanctification of one day in seven a duty which God's immutable law doth exact forever." '' The use of the Sabbath," says Bishop Horsley, "as it began, will end only with the world itself." .... The observance of the Lord's day must be in accord- ance with the mind of the Master. It is under law to the Lord of the Sabbath. The servant of Christ cannot do or permit aught on this day which he be- lieves io be opposed to the will of Christ. He must so use the day, so guard and honour it, as Christ would. He must, as Christ did, make it the means of bringing men into closer fellowship with God, and lift- ing them to the ideal of true manhood in righteous- ness and holiness. Recreation is a word often abused. It is applied to pastimes, pleasures, sports, and diversions which may or may not be true recreation. At the outset, we 25 must rule oUt many things lawful on other days, all that is worldly, as well as what belongs to mere pleas- ure-seeking and self-gratification. Recreation is that which recreates, refreshes, re-invigorates, infuses new life and strength. It includes, I conceive, three es- sential elements — rest, change, and fellowship. The first essential element in recreation is rest, and the Sabbath is the great rest day. To secure rest for the toiler is one main purpose of this prim;uval insti- tution, embodied in its original name. Hence the Sabbath, the Lord's day, is a day established for true recreation. The Sabbath was made for man, and man needs it because he is a toiler and must have rest. The hygienic value of the Sabbath is insisted upon by physiologists. Physicians dwell upon the vicious effects of unintermitting toil, and the insuffi- ciency of the nightly rest without additional intermis- sions of labour. Scientific observations made of sub- jects during a succession of weeks of continuous labour show that where there is no Sunday rest there is a progressive decline in power, but that when the Sunday rest intervenes the man returns to his work on Monday in as good condition as on the preceding Monday. There is a law of fatigue and refreshment even in inorganic substances. Even machinery suffers deterioration from which it recovers by rest. Abundant testimony could be cited to these facts. The president of the Federal Committee of the International Federa- tion at Geneva said : " It (the Sunday question) is not a question of simple pleasure ; it is a question of the right to live, because repose is necessary to life." The first resolution adopted after exhaustive discussion at the Paris Congress declared that Sunday rest " is a condition essential to the ability to work and to long life." Sir Robert Peel, who, like Gladstone, was most 36 strenuous in maintaining not only the rest, but the religious observance, of Sunday, testified that he " never knew a man to escape failure, in either body or mind, who worked seven days in the week." We may, therefore, lay it down as a primary and essential relation of the Lord's day to recreation, that it be pre- served unimpaired as the great rest dav of the world. Let us take care to observe it ourselves, and to guard its liberties for others. Its maintenance unim- paired is essential to wholesome living, and the effi- ciency of body and mind. Two cautions are here in place : (i) Much of so-called recreation is not rest. Ciames and athletic exercises do not furnish rest. They have their place, but it is on the week day, not on the rest day. SL.nday excursions, whether by rail or street car, picnics and bicycle rallies, do not furnish rest. Hundreds of testimonies can be cited to prove that a Sunday spent in pleasure-seeking is not refreshing, but exhaustmg. Employers are emphatic in testifying to the demoralizing effects of a Sunday spent in so- called pleasure. " The Monday blight " is in many places the significant designation of the worn-out and useless condition of the workman who has spent his Sunday in'pleasure. One of the arguments advanced in England against the Sunday closing of taverns and bar-rooms was that Sunday excursionists were found to be so wearied by their day's pleasure as to need the help of stimulants. Moreover, the tendency of these excursions is always to riot and excess. The New York Sun testi- fies that the Sunday excursions out of New York are a terror to the inhabitants of the resorts to which they go. And this testimony applies to every city where such excursions are permitted. The records of our police courts furnish abundant confirmation of the statement of lilackstnne, the great jurist, that "a corruption of morals usually follows a profanation of the Sabbath." (2) Then, again, to make Sunday a day of pleasure for the few t's to make it a day oj labour Jor the many. Unimpeachable testimony establishes this proposi- tion in regard to the continent of Europe. In France and Germany the great body of the people labour on Sunday as on other days. The same is true in the United States, so far as the continental Sunday usages prevail. Moreover, the increased labour brmgs no increase of compensation. "Operatives,'' said John Stuart Mill, " are perfectly right in thinking that if there were no Sunday rest seven days' work would have to be given for six days' pay." Let us be warned in time. Universal experience proves that to make Sunday a day of mere amuse- ment and pleasure-seeking is opposed to the best interests of the peojjle, as well as destructive of the mstitution itself, not only divesting it of its religious and sacred character, but depriving it of all value as a rest day, even from the lowest humanitarian stand- point. To make it a day of pleasure is to turn God's great boon to toiling humanity into a burden 3-d a curse. It is difficult to find a single W3rd to describe the second essential element in recreation. " Change " is too vague. " Diversion '' has become identified with pleasure. It is not merely the toil that wears out the worker. There is tlie ceaseless monotony that depresses him ; the same weary round from day to day ; the repetition of thesame acts whichhave cometobealmost mechani- cal and automatic ; the same environment, often 38 dreary and unwholesome. Sunday gives relief. It breaks in upon the deadly monotony. It relieves for the time the tension and makes it at least endurable. But the monotony is not all. There is the almost exclusive exercise of one faculty, or one set of powers, to the exclusion o( the rest, and the consequent atrophy which follows. In many occupations this partiality is directly felt in the body itself. The minute subdivision of labour and the complicated processes of modern factories, with their intricate mechanism, have reduced many workers to the level of machines, and machines that perform continuously a very limited function. But even in higher grades of labour, the mental acts are confined to a few simple processes. There is no provision, no room, for expan- sion and adequate mental development. Then be- yond the intellectual lies the great moral and spiritual side of our complex being, and this the highest and most important of all. Any plan of recreation which does not include all these factors must be inadequate. Any scheme of improvement which refuses to take account of them all must result in a partial and one- sided development, in physical, or mental, or spiritual deformity. Frequently only the physical necessities are considered. It is argued that we must give facili- ties to the toilers in our cities to obtain fresh air on Sunday, and to that end run excursion trains and trollies. Such a process of doing evil that good may come defeats itself. Experience proves that these methods fail physically, and that the excursionists are in a worse condition on Monday morning than they were on Saturday night. I have already referred to this. To cite but one other witness : The New York Christian Union, (now the Outlook), by no means dis- tinguished for stringent Sabbatarian views, in de- 29 scribing the most orderly and best conducted of Sun- day excursions, says : " There is more fancy than fact in the popular plea for Sunday excursions, namely, that they afford the wearied workingmen and their wives and children an opportunity to commune with nature, and look up through nature to nature's God. . . . The clerkc and working girls who do not go to Coney Island on Sunday will come back Monday to their toil more refreshed and better tilted for it than those who do. As to the spiritual results of such a day, there can hardly be two opinions about it." The evils of dense c ty populations exist, althouj;jh to a small extent, in Canada ; they are most deplor- able ; but they are not removable by any such partial and superficial method as the advocates ot Sunday trollies propose. We ought to set ourselves vigor- ously to obtam justice, not favour, for the dwellers in our overcrowded quarters, by the provision of better houses for artisans and labourers, instruction in domestic economy and cooking for their wives, shorter hours of labour, and the Saturday half-holiday. And we look to the trolley and the bicycle to help this re- form by furnishing cheap and rapid transit from the centres of labour to the suburban districts, where the workingman will have abundance of air and room. Another remedy proposed looks professedly to the mental recieation of the toiler. It is proposed to open picture galleries, libraries, and reading rooms on the Lord's day. Here it will be most difficult to draw a line between the higher and pu'-er forms of intellec- tual provision and that which is lower and debasing, in concert halls, and various entertainments distinctly vulgar and degrading in their character. All experi- ence proves that the tendency amongst the uncul- tured is towards the latter. The general effect of 30 I Sunday license in these things is downwards. What- ever is good and wholesome and elevating in litera- ture can be provided without the Sunday opening of libraries. Wherever this opening has been tried, it has failed to secure the attendance of the classes for whom it was professedly designed. The great arti- san class, in England conspicuously, has been op- posed tothe Sunday opening of libraries and museums. The reading of wholesome literature, especially the biographies of great and good men, the records of God's dealings with men in history and of the pro- gress of Christ's kingdom at home and abroad, and especially the missionary annals, with their stirring recital of the heroic deeds and self-denial of faith, and, above all, the study of the incomparable books of Holy Scripture, with the many-sided, rich, and attract- ive literature of exposition and application which hus gathered around them, will furnish abundance of in- tellectual recreation and spiritual refreshment for the sacred day. I can merely mention the delights of sacred song, and the inexhaustible well-spring of true refreshment it provides. The third, and by no means least, important ele- ment in recreation is fellotuship. This is the most attractive and mfluential. At the bottom it is the real object in Sunday excursions and pleasure- making. But, as there is nothing more stimulating and uplifting than wholesome fellowship, there is nothing more de- grading, more prolific of vice, more potent to allure and destroy, than evil fellowship. Sunday ought to be pre-eminently the day of fel- lowship ; and God has provided two great fellowships — the fellowship of the family and the fellowship of the Church. Sunday is and should be the great family day. 3» Thousands who hurry away to work and business early in the morning and return late at night, jaded and worn out, have httle opportunity for intercourse with their families through the week. Sunday is to myriads the one day which husband and wife, parents and children, can spend together without interription, without the distraction of the demands and cares of their work. The special preparation in the home for the Sunday, the bath, the best clothes, the cleaning up, have a wholesome moral as well as physical efifect- As De Tocqueville said, when comparing the English with the French Sunday, " It was a matter of no slight importance that English workmen on the Sabbath wash and put on clean clothes." The outward clean- liness becomes a sign and sacrament of inward purity. Let, then, the family meal be more carefully and daintily spread, yet in Christian simplicity, and not after such a fashion as to give increased and unneces- sary labour to those who need rest. Such a meal is a true love-feast. With Christ's presence and bene- diction it is truly sacramental. On this day the father is at home with his children. As a little boy once s.aid, " I suppose they call this a holy day be- cause it is a loving day." To his mother's correction that " every day is a loving day, and father and mother loved him every day," his answer was, " Yes, but you haven't time to say so, and father cannot take me to hear the minister and singing on other days, and he cannot nurse me on his knee and talk to me about good boys and men. Oh, mother ! it's a loving day." Such is the preciousness of the Sunday as the home day. Here is the truest recreation, the noblest stimulant the most health-giving refreshment. One of the great dangers of our times is that of the idelerioration of family life. Let us set our faces 3« against all that tends in this direction. This is one great evil in Sunday excursions and pleasure-niakin>?s. The riding of bicycles for pleasure on Sunday removes the young people from the restraints of home and places them in companionship which may not be dis- tinctly evil at the outset, but which, by its frivolity, its removal from observation and restraint, and its peculiar conditions, tends very decidedly to moral evil. Its bitter fruits have already appeared in not a few households. It is lamentable that the noble, health-giving facilities of the bicycle should be abused to the injury of all that is precious and sacred in the family relationship. Sunday visiting, as too often practised, breaks into the Sunday home life and tends to destroy the sacred- iiess and the restfulness of the day. It is an act of thoughtful kindness to invite to our tables young men and others who have no home of their own in the city. Such hospitality, under judicious limitations, and restrained from interference with home duties and religious privileges, is a truly Christian act. But pro- miscuous Sunday visiting, with its gossip, frivolity, and worldliness, is altogether out of keeping with the claims and character of the sacred day. Then there is the fellowship of the Church. Here we ought to find not merely intellectual recreation, but genuine spiritual refreshment, when the greatest themes that can occupy man's thought are worthily treated by the preacher, and when the greatest of all books is reverently read and effectively expounded. Here the conscience is moved and trained, the emo- tions are kindled, and the spiritual nature of the man stimulated and invigorated. He is lifted up out of the drudgery, the weary monotony, the corroding 33 cares of the world, into contact with the truths and ideals which are divine and eternal. Here is the foundation of the Sabbath. Its phy- sical and intellectual benefits are subordinate to and dependent upon its religious significance and privi- leges. You cannot compel men to keep the day reli- giously, but you can j^ive them liberty to do so, and you can jealously guard this liberty. We can have no compromise here. We can tolerate no form of recreation which jeopardizes or detracts from the sacredness of the day. Give up this, and you give up cverytning. As William Arthur has truly said : '* The barrier between a day of rest and religion and one of drudgery and dissipation is only the sacred- ness of the day. Man's rights rest upon God's rights ; the repose of the Sunday on the religion of the Sab- bath." The continental Sunday will bring with it the con- tinental home. It will inevitably undermine all that makes an English home the most unique and precious possession in the world. The desecration of the Lord's day is a menace to our free institutions. " Without religious sanctions," as Professor Goldwin Smith has well said, " men have never been able to live under a government of law." " Despotism," said De Tocqueville, " may govern without faith ; liberty cannot." Without religion there can be no true free- dom, no constitutional government. And, as Montal- ambert truly says : ' There is no religion without worship, and there is no worship without the Sab- bath." The Lord's day is the safeguard of our liber- ties. But if it becomes a day of mere sport and pas- time, of recreation, falsely so called, it ceases to be the bulwark of religion and of liberty. Even Hallam affirms that " a holiday Sabbath is the ally of despot- 34 ism." The prornul^jation of the Book of Sports was the act of a despot. The ultimate result was the overthrow of Church and Crown. The Lord's day finds in the example of Christ the true rule of its observance, and in fellowship with Christ its ideal and iis jjoal. It is to be a glad and happy day, a day of rest and refreshment for mind and body, a day of good cheer and loving sympathy in the home, and of worship and highest fellowship with God and man in the sanctuary. 35 PREACHING. THE layman's consciousness OF HIS OWN NEEDS. By Hon. S. H. Blake, Q.C., Toronto. When I was first asked to deal with the subject of preaching, at this conference, my inability to do so, to my own satisfaction at least, caused me to pause, and ask that some other member might be requested to take my place. However, this was answered in the negative, and it was stated to be my duty thus to help in the work of our Church, and so I agreed to comply with the request made. While conscious of the honour thus done me, I have felt how poorly I can deal with a matter needing much time for thoughtful preparation. I know how greatly is wanted the prayer of the Christian poet : " What in me is dark illumine ; what is low raise and support." I felt, also, how appi opriate was the thought of one of our ex- quisite collects : " Cleanse the thoughts of my heart by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit." I concluded at once that it was impossible to deal with this matter in detail, that it was out of the question to take up the peculiarities either of the mass of hearers or the mass of preachers. Our blessed Lord seems to recog- nize a very large latitude in the matter and form of the preacher, for, alchough Jesus taught how to pray, He did not teach how to preach, I felt that it was necessary that, in very general language, I should en- deavour to present those general needs which form in outline the wants of the mass of hearers. 36 SHOULD BE A MAN OF GOD. I. And first, the great need of which I am conscious is that the preacher should be a man of God. The prophet was dissatisfied until he could say : "The Lord hath anointed me to preach." (Isaiah Ixi. i.) There is a conscious need of a messenger of God, with a message from God ; a tongue set on fire, not of the earth, but of heaven ; a man who feels the high honour placed upon him in his being permitted to follow m the footsteps of the Son of God, " who began to preach "(Matthew iv. 17) ; of Him of whom there was none greater born of woman, John, " who did preach " (Mark i. iv) ; of Paul,| who proclaimed that Christ sent him," not to baptize, but to preach " (I. Cor, i, 17) ; and, that '' it pleased God by the fool- ishness of preaching to save tliem that believe.'' A man filled with the Spirit, whose character and life are behind his utterance. A man of power. Full of prayer, full of faith, full of the Holy Ghost. How the heart yearns for this ideal preacher ! A man sent from God, " There was a man sent from God whose name was John" (John i. 6). Such men in the New Testament correspond with those in the Old. "Thou hast appointed prophets to preach " (Neh. vi. 7). A man whoha^ tarried until he has been " endued with power from on high " (Luke xxiv. 49). It is through such men that God answers by fire ; it is through such mouthpieces that " the Word of God is quick and powerful " (Heb. iv. 12). HKART SPEAKING TO HEART. 2. There is the consciousness of the need that the man of God gives, as his message, the Word of God. " Thou hast magnified thy word above ail thy name " (Ps. cxxxviii. 2) ; " The word of reconciliation " 37 (I. Cor. V. 19). The command of the Apostle to him that desired to help, and who knew so well the long- ings of the heart of man, is, " Preach the Word " (I. Tim. iv. 2). He knew that the soul's great need is only thus answered — " So, then, faith cometh by hear- ing, and hearing by the word of God '' (Rom, x. 17). He further impresses this — " The word of faith which we preach " (Rom. x. 8). The early marks of apostleship were, " They went everywhere preaching the word " (Acts viii. 4); " They ceased not to preach Jesus Christ " (Acts v. 42). In later years the great Apostle, with his life-experience, gives his conclusion : " I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified " (I. Cor. ii. 2) ; and again, " We preach Christ crucified ( i. 23) .... the power of God, and the wisdom of God." The soul needs soul food — the true manna — not doubts ; not uncertainties ; not platitudes ; not oratory, as too commonly understood ; not an intellectual discussion ; not lectures on Robert Elsmere, Mr. or Mrs. Brown- ing, Shakespeare, Dante, the Armenian question, or the like. We can have all we want of these in the other one hundred and sixty-seven hours in the week. This one hour (half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening — we do not want less) for the preacher on the Lord's Day is solemnly dedicated to his work of enlivening, enlightening, and uplifting the soul. The soul yearns for help. It needs a sim- ple, plain discourse, with true eloquence ; the elo- quence of simplicity, of heart speaking to heart — not to be amused or entertained, but to be instructed. The Spirit witnesseth with our spirit that we are, in- deed, drawing from the living wells of salvation. We want the Book to talk with us through the speaker. "When thou walkest it shall talk with thee" (Prov. 38 vi. 22). "And they said one to another, Did not ouf heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures ? " (Luke XXIV. 32). The man that follows in the footsteps of the Lord, and honours the Word, and honours the Holy Spirit will be sure to have burning, enquirinjf hearts in his conerregation. A MESSAGE PLAIN AND CONCISE. 3. The soul yearns for the leading of a man of God, who, out of a rich spiritual experience, comes down to everyday life and helps it ; one who gives to you the realities upon which he is feeding ; a man who evi- dently keeps in front and in advance of his flock ; a man whose growth is apparent and whose spiritual power is enlarging ; not one who preaches at you, but talks to you, reasons with you ; one who has a clear-cut, well-defined message, clearly worked out, evidently thoroughly comprehended by himself and maturely considered so that he is able distinctly to present it, and it may be easily followed and under- stood — a message, plain, concise, thoroughly thought out, and clearly delivered, so that the simplest may carry away at least the leading thouf^hts presented. THE PREPARATION OF THE PREACHER. 4. The heart also yearns for the second prepara- tion—that is, the preparation of the preacher himself by prayer and meditation ; so that it may be appar- ent that he comes from the very presence chamber of God with the true preparation of heart, with zeal in- flamed, with the whole man imbued with the import- ance of the opportunity afforded, and giving forth, out of the abundance of his own heart, that which he desires the hearts of others to drink in — a dying 39 man delivering to dying men that which may be his last message. A LIVING PERSONAL CHRIST. 5. There is the consciousness of the need of the contmued presentation, not of dogmas, or abstract truths, or theories for our acceptance, but of a living and personal Christ, who sits in all His fulness at God's right hand ready to fulfil His promises, and for- give and cleanse and renew and guide. From Gen- esis to Revelation the heart of the Bible is the Gospel, and the heart of the Gospel is Jesus Christ, who im- parts a new life, and thus unites us to God and ener- gizes the whole man. The message of the Master may safely be ever delivered by his servants ; and His simple statement is : " Come unto me." (Matt. xi. 28.) Not merely to come to Him once for forgive- ness, but this is to be the attitude of the life of H is followers. And, then, again. His own loving assur- ance : " Him that cometh unto me I will m no wise cast out." (John vi. 37.) This presentation is to be : of Him as the life ; of Him as the light ; of Him as the truth ; of Him as the way. The soul desires this message, "line upon line." It wearies of fine words. It is not fed by discourses, the splendid diction of which hides away some great truth which is thereby concealed and which should be so dealt with as that it is clearly displayed to the heart. It seeks, not the finely sauced dishes, but the pure, wholesome meat of the Word. It wants heaven brought into the homes, the offices, the places of business, the workshops, so that its citizenship may be lived here below. Its many-sided truths, continually presented by a man of God-given common sense and experience, is what the hungry scul sighs for. 40 THE REGENERATING POWER. 6. Our blessed Lord was not mistaken when He said : "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, shall draw all men unto me." (John xii. 32.) This stands to-day as the drawing power ; the uplifting power ; the regenerating power ; it is the ever new-old story. If the soul has received this message, if it has looked and lived, it never wearies of the many aspects and points of view from which it may be presented. If the soul has not submitted to the influence of this drawing power, then all other messages are as naught to such a soul. They simply become a waste of time. People can never weary of this lifting up of Christ, for " in Him all fulness dwells.'' He answers all our needs ; He is light and life inexhaustible. The omccs of Christ can never become an exhausted subject. If at any time one is led to doubt the truth of this asser- tion, look at the life of Mr. Spurgeon, and look at the life of Mr. Moody. I simply take these as illustra- tions known to all. Men of God, giving forth the Word of God, lifting up the Lord lesus Christ, pre- senting Him in all His fulness and in all His offices, and keeping to the end vast congregations, ever ready to come and listen and respond to these truths, given forth with marvellous simplicity, from hearts full of faith and prayer. HOW TO PRESENT THE MESSAGE. 7. Of all the speakers that I ever listened to none so much attracted me as the late John Bright and the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon. These masters of the knowledge of the wants of men and of the true means of meeting them seemed to me to have these princi- pal features in common : (i) Each showed that he had thought out and mas- 41 tered his subject. As he closed you felt that all that could with profit be said upon the topic, the subject of the discourse, had been given. (2) Each had a definite thought or matter perfectly comprehended, which, with clearness, he presented to his hearers. (3) Each convinced the audience that he believed thoroughly in the truth of what he was saying. (4) Each used plain Anglo-Saxon language, short and clear sentences, most easy to follow. (5) Each seemed to desire so to speak that the sim- plest hearer could comprehend and follow all parts of the subject he discussed. (6) Each spoke without affectation, slowly and dis- tinctly. The whole man centred in the great import- ance of bringing home the truth which was being elaborated and pressed. THE PREPARATION OF THE HEARER. My few imperfect remarks upon this important sub- ject would, to my mind, be indeed incomplete did I not add the consciousness of this further need. I am very conscious of this great need of a layman in con- nection with preaching — that is, the self-preparation on his part by meditation and prayer as he meets the preacher. How greatly does he need, coming from the turmoil of six days of work in the battle of life, to ask most humbly for that prepaiation of heart with- out which all preaching is to him of no avail ! While he should seek to earn the commendation given to the Bereans because " they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so" (Acts 17- 11.), and while it is his duty, as no one can answer for him at the final day, to discriminate between truth and 43 error, it is, at the same time, his duty, not only to pray for himself that he may have a hearing ear and an understanding heart, but it is equally his bounden duty to ask that there may be a mouth and utterance given to him, that is, to speak, and that through him the Word of God may have free course and be glori- fied. It IS when the preacher coming as I have en- deavoured to describe meets the hearer thus prepared to receive the Word that it becomes eflfective, and preacher and hearer can give thanks to God, as in the case of the Thessalonians, for m their own happy experience they know that the "Gospel came not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance," (I. Thess. i. 5.) While writing the above paper, the refrain of a hymn which seemed to contain much of the thought which I desired to convey came continually before me. I found it, and I close with it, as giving in the concentrated and choice language of one of our sweet- est singers the consciousness of her needs, and what she longed and prayed that the Word, as spoken, should be to her : " Lord, speak to me, that I may speak In living echoes of Thy tone ; As Thou hast sought, so let me seek Thy erring children lost and lone. O lead me, Lord, that I may lead The wandering and the wavering feet ; O feed me, Lord, that I may feed Thy hungering ones with manna sweet. strengthen me, that while I stand Firm on the Rock and strong in Thee, 1 may stretch out a loving hand To wrestlers with the troubled sea. 43 O teach me, Lord, that I may teach The precious things Thou dost impart ; And wing my words, that they may reach The hidden depths of many a heart. O hll me with Thy fulness, Lord, Until my very heart o'erflow In kindling thought and glowing word. Thy love to tell. Thy praise to show." 44 PREACHING. THE layman's consciousness OF HIS OWN NEEDS. By Barlow Cumberland, Esq., Toronto. The proposition upon which I am asked to present matter for your consideration might, if taken by itself, lead to some difficulties of definition ; we are assist- ed, however, by noting that it is a sub head of a main subject, namely, that of " preaching," and that this main subject may be interpreted as including " the speaking and the hearing of the Word." Perhaps it might be thought that the clerical com- pilers of the programme were poking fun at the lay- man. " Poor fellow, we know that he has some ' needs,' but what is his consciouness of them ? Has he really any? Let us in a manner subject him to a sur- gical operation. Let us, in fact, test our methods by trying his sensations." The efficacy of an enquiry depends largely upon the point of view from which it is regarded. We remember the traditional story of the surgeon who, recitmg the events of an operation he had performed, told how the patient had been lulled into insensibility by an.nesthetics, and then, pro- ceeding *o dilate upon the various methods which he had followed, was with difficulty brought to slate the effect upon his subject. The methods adopted were, to his mind, of dominant importance, the fact that the patient had succumbed to the operation was only an unimportant incident. Are we then to enter into an inquiry why congrega- 45 tions have dwindled ; of how souls may have dried into dull apathy and sunk into living death ? I think not. Preaching, or its absence, cannot be held responsible for these results. In the services appoint ed by the Church of England for public worship the sermon is not the dominant feature of the assembling together m God's house. The sermon is only an inci- dent, and that but a minor one of the great purpose for which the congregation have chiefly met. There must be in the minds of many present in- stances of congregations in our communion in which the pulpit is weak but wherein the power of praise and prayer is mighty, where fervency of united sup- plication and service pours forth its glad tribute to the King of kings in the matchless order of public wor- ship provided by our Church, and brings the humblest soul into contact with its Saviour and before the throne of grace. No ; preaching is not the end of public worship ; It is only a first step, a beginning by which the mind may be educated in knowledge, and the will and con- sciousness aroused to enter upon the duties which active religion involves. ; , -^ The sermon in the Church of England is the attendant, not the prime purpose, of public worship. How, then, are you to touch the souls of the laymen .-* What are the layman's needs in preaching ? To re- vert to our simile : the first duty of the doctor of the body is to lull his patient to sleep, the constant duly of the doctor of souls is to keep his patient awake, awake not only in body but in soul, to be aroused not only in intellect but in spiritual longing, so that he may be impelled to ask the self-searching questions : Whence am I ? What am I .'' Whither am I going ? Awakening such as this is the layman's first need. 46 I have said that preaching is the speaking and the hearing of the Word. In the public worship of our Church of England there are two ways in which this is appointed to be done, by reading from the lectern, and by speaking from the pulpit. What are the lay- man's needs in these ? In the preface to our Church of England Prayer Book it is ordered that the selected portions of the Eible shall be read so that the " people by hearing of Holy Scripture read in the Church might continually profit more and more in the knowledge of (iod, and be more inflamed with the love of his true religion." This surely is preaching ; this is a means by which the hearers may equally with the reader be " stirred up to godliness," and is so intended to meet one of the layman's needs. In early days the services of worship in the Church were conducted in Latin. It is the glory of the Church of England that she won for herself and for all the Protestant coinmunions which have since arisen about her the priceless privilege of hearing the Bible read in their own tongue. If this change of language was made to the end that *' the congregation may be thereby edified," it is equally necessary in the present day that the lessons be so read that they shall not continue to be in a tongue "not understanded of the people." (Article XXIV.) A complete conception by the reader of the lesson to be conveyed and a clearness of utterance in its reading are required, so that the words may not only reach the ears of the hearer in sound, but enter his mind in meaning, else the change of language, which was the layman's need, will have been annulled. Yet how often do we hear muffled slurrings at the lectern, and clear tones in the pulpit. The reading 47 of the Word of Ciod is entitled to as much clearness as is the speaking of the words of man. In the preaching at the lectern we have the warnings of the prophets, the parables of the blessed Lord, the ser- mons of St. Paul, in their actual meaning, if not in their very words, and that meaning should be con- veyed to the laymen of the present day as understand- ingly as to those who first heard them. I remember an instance in which hearing read the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the " faith chapter," brought conviction and rest to a mind troubled with doubts about the authenticity and divine revelation of the Old Testament—" I stand by St. Paul rather than with the professor," said the hearer. The hear- ing of that sermon of the great apostle had weighed more, to his mind, than all the arguments of learned sermons on the higher criticism. Effective readmg is effective preaching, and is one of the layman's needs. In preaching in the pulpit the same necessities exist, but in addition to clearness of utterance there must be clearness of thought. The sermon must be suited to the congregation, in language understood by the hearers, in thoughts within the limits of their comprehension. The preaching must not be to the roof, but to the people. How then is the interest of the people to be en- gaged ? Eloquence in effective speaking is action. Effective preaching is centred in reality. The subjects to be considered are very real ; they must be made real to the hearer. In early times there were few Bibles and many readers ; the one Bible chained to the lectern in the church was, perhaps, the only Bible in the parish. 48 In these present times we have millions of Bibles, but fewer readers in proportion. The Bible is not as much read in the families of this land as it was in the lands of their forefathers. It is not a part of our children's education. It is not taught in our public schools, except in a few select ones, and except in two of our universities (Trinity and McMaster) it forms no part of our higher education. It is, in fact, by inany so reverenced, and so reverently laid aside, t^'at it becomes a book of ideals ; its characters are like fairy myths, its contents a story of miracles and wonders, but containing no living facts. How are we to create interest in the Bible, and so bring people to learn " the very pure Word of Ciod" .'' By preaching; it with reality. What book of history contains such a wealth of in- cidents of interest, such men and women whose char- acters and lives may be attractively considered, or such a hero as the central figure, the living Christ ? The layman's need is to be taught by word of mouth that which he does not read ; his soul must be instructed in what he has not studied. Fill the ser- mons with life. Take from the chapters the checks of the separating verses which sometimes so fetter the flow of the story, expand them with description, and lighten them with local colour. Preach them as facts, so that the audience may realize the past ; may see David in his youthful purity advancing against Goliath, or hear his harp twang as he plays before the sullen Saul ; see the smile of the blessed Maiy as she leans over the new-born Saviour of the w^rld ; be with Andrew as he hurries his brother to meet the Messias whom he has just found. Let them hear the hosannas of the children as they hailed the entry of the King, or stand with those who watched afar ofif 49 and saw the darkness deepen on the day when Jesus died. Reality of subject, treatment, and tone will arrest the attention, and awaken in body and soul the most listless congregation. The people have come to- gether, some from habit, some from religious devo- tion, but all from the innate movements of their im- mortal souls. The things that surround them are temporal, the reality of the eternal things which they do not see must be brought vividly before them. Preaching which tells of the realities of the Bible, and unfolda its lessons for the Christian life, will lead to the applying of such teaching to the realities of daily business life, and thus arouse the most unconscious layman to a consciousness of his own greatest needs. ; . . ■ '■ i 50 PREACHING. THE PREACHER'S CONCEPTION OF THE ^ ' layman's NEEDS. By Rev. Prof. Clark, LL.D., D.C.L. In the statement of the subject now under consid- eration there is the assumption that the layman has needs for which the pulpit must provide, and that it is the business of the preacher to consider the nature of those needs. Such an assumption needs no proof. To bring it into doubt is simply to do away with the preacher altogether. The layman, the hearer of ser- mons, then, has needs, has rights, has claims, which the preacher must never ignore or forget — at his peril ! and here we must make a distinction between the needs of the hearer, and what many hearers nvant^ and wish, and desire. For many hearers undoubt- edly like and want what the preacher may not law- fully supply — entertainment and amusement, for ex- ample, or loud-sounding rhetoric with little sense or meaning in it, or a discourse the shortest possible that can be decently delivered in a Christian pulpit. Wants like these the preacher must by no means con- sider, except to regard them as temptations of the devil to be resisted. Confronted by such demands, he must fall back on the motto of St. Paul : " Not as pleasmg man but God." . . . But perhaps we may go a little into detail. (i) And first among the needs of our hearers, and the demands of the reasonable and the wise, is the need of and demand for reality ; that the preacher SI shall speak what he believes, what he has realized, and that he shall speak it in plain, strong, burning words, springing up from his heart and out of his deepest convictions. This is not always quite easy. There is a constant tendency to drop into well-worn words and phrases, to repeat familiar platitudes, to indulge in phrases which are agreeable and pleasant in the ear of particular classes of persons. There are a good many of that kind, and they are too frequent in our discourses, and they don't ring quite true. As has been said, we have this treasure in earthen ves- sels ; but we like to hear the chink of the gold — of the sterling metal, not of the counterfeit. Reality, then, in thought and word, is the first thing, and it must be in deed also, or it cannot and will not be in thought and word. On the whole, preachers are treated with much indulgence — not always, but for the most part. Our hearers expect to find imperfec- tions in us, and they bear with them, sometimes be- yond belief. But they demand two things of their teachers — that they shall believe what they preach, and that their belief shall be of a practical character, that they shall be striving with all their might to live the Gospel which they preach. They must not be intemperate or self-seeking, worldly or ambitious, and they must not be proud, or conceited, or insolent. Perhaps enough has been said on this point. (2) A second thing needed in the preacher, and law- fully demanded of him, is a certain human, humble brotherliness of address, St. Peter warnsus of a danger connected with this subject. He who is himself an elder tells the elders : " Tend the flock of God which is among you " . . . not*' for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to 52 the flock " ; or, to use phraseology more familiar to us "neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." (I. St. Peter v. 3). Here it is not for one moment intended to call in question the greatness or authoiity of ihe Christian ministry. The preacher who speaks with the power of the divine Spirit will remember, and his hearers will not forget, that he is the representative and mouthpiece of the Eternal Word. But there is sometimes a tendency — for human nature is weak — to assume a tone of per- sonal importance which is as hurtful to the success of the Gospel as it is offensive to the hearer. There is found occasionally an assumption of immeasurable superiority, a sense of delivering the message from a lofty height, far above the level of the hearer, for which there is in fact no justification, and which re. pels many of those even who are little prone to take off'ence. The preacher should place himself in the midst of his brethren, showing himself thoroughly able to appreciate their temptations, their efforts their joys, and their sorrows, sympathizing with them as the disciples of Him who said, " I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." (3) Another lawful demand which may be made upon the preacher is that he shall take his work seri- ously, that there shall be no careless, slipshod work in the preparation of his sermons. I say the hearers of sermons have a right to make this demand. A preacher has the privilege of engaging the time and attention of a large number of men and women every Sunday, and they have a right to demand that he shall speak to them well-considered words, upon which he has bestowed no inconsiderable portion of time and thought and labour, so as to bring out the mean- ing of his message in the clearest, most cogent, and 53 most persuasive manner. It cannot be doubted that a large proportion of the ministers of the Divine Word do, to a large extent, meet this requirement. They give what time they can — and they have many other duties to perform — to the composition and pre- paration of their sermons. But there are also, it is to be feared, a considerable number of clergymen who, for various reasons, take this part of their work too lightly. Some extempore preachers there are who are ready to confess — or even, alas, sometimes to boast — that they go into the pulpit with no prepara- tion whatever. Some have even declared that they chose their texts as they entered the pulpit. But, as the late eloquent Bishop Magee remarked, there is extempore writing as well as extempore speaking ; and a sermon which is written down without previous reflection, meditation, and prayer, is no more likely to be instructive and edifying than the mere extem- pore effusion of a ready speaker. No excuse will avail for such neglect in regard to what, perhaps, is the greatest work that a man can perform, the preach- ing of the kingdom of God. Pastoral visitation, min- istering to the sick, supervision of schools, taking part in the administration of the affairs of the Church — these are duties which must be discharged ; and rightly used they will help, and not hinder, the work of the preacher ; for no one can long minister lovmgly to his people from the pulpit unless he is in personal, affectionate contact with them day by day. These things ought to be done, and the other not left undone. The preacher must not plead that he could not visit the sick of his flock because he had so much time to spend in his study over his sermons. But neither must the parish priest neglect the work of the pulpit because he has been diligent in his parish. We 54 have promised to do these things in the most solemn hour of our life, and we may not n'tglect them. And, in particular, it is the solemn duty of those who pro- claim the message of salvation to give diligent heed to all means whereby they may more perfectly fulfil this great and glorious work. "Till I come," says St. Paul to Timothy (I., iv. 13 fif) "give heed to read- ing, to exhortation, to teaching. Neglect not the gift that is m thee, which was given to thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Be diligent in these things ; give thyself wholly to them, that thy progress may be manifest unto all. Take heed to thyself and to thy teaching. Continue in these things ; for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee." St. Paul took this work seriously, and he wanted Timothy to do the same ; and all who might hereafter discharge that oftice. It is impossible to insist too strenuously on this point. Think of reading and study alone. It is not enough merely to read our Bibles. Every clergy- man, as a matter of course, reads daily the four lessons appointed by the Church at Morning and Evening Prayer. But mere reading is not enough. We have to " read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest." And what shall we think of the Biblical studies of those who seldom or never open their Greek Testa- ment, and yet profess to be teachers and guides of the flock of Christ ? (4) And what are to be the subjects of Christian preaching ? In answering this question we have a double guide : the actual felt and recognized needs of the human heart, and the contents of the sacred Scriptures. And these correspond to each other ; for in this respect also do the writings of sacred inspiration prove themselves to be divine in that 55 they respond, as no other writings e\er have done, to the needs of the hearts of men. And here is the answer to the question : Shall our preaching be doctrinal, or practical, or experimental? It will be all of these if it follows the example of the Divine word. On the one hand, Christ must be preached as the Revelation of God, as the Saviour of men. That name, which is as ointment poured forth, must be the savour of every Christian discourse. The discourse need not always treat formally of a particular Chris- tian doctrine ; but Christ and His Gospel will run, as a golden thread, through the whole. So also those doctrines which have been stamped by universal con- sent as Catholic — which have been received by the whole Church and embodied in the great Creeds — will be sometimes expounded and proved from Scripture, and always assuuied as the basis of Christian teach- ing. But, besides the teaching of doctrine, the pulpit will deal with all those aspects of practical life which are the necessary outcome and demonstration of a true and living faith ; and will also recognize all the varied phases of Christian experience. As regards the proportions in which these di^^'-ent elements of truth shall appear in our teachin, .nuch must be left to individual judgment. Much will be determined by the circumstances of the time and the locality, some- thing even by the powers and tastes of the preacher. Those who study and consider the needs and condi- tions of their people, and make their edification the rule of their work, will not, in these respects, go far astray. (5) On one question which is often asked a word or two may be %2t\man should be men- 57 tioned — some assistance towards an intelligent, de- vout, and profitable understanding of the sacred Scriptures. Expository preaching used to be con- sidered a necessary part of the work of the Christian pulpit. Yet it must be confessed that it is not quite easy to make this kind of preaching interesting. On the other hand, we have some noble examples of Scriptural exposition among the works of our English divines, and first, perhaps, among them all, Leighton's Lectures on the first Epistle of St. Peter, which Cole- ridge used to place next to the sacred Scriptures — yea,as the vibration of that once-struck tone still linger- ing in the heavens. The form of Leighton's work may not be quite adapted for our own days, but the spint and tendency of it may be taken as guides ; and, even if this manner of teaching should only occasion- ally be resorted to, many will testify to its usefulness and interest. To go through such a book as St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians or to the Colossians on a week-day evening, when those present are almost all sincerely interested in the study of the Scriptures, has been found by many both instructive and edifying. Let us conclude by impressing upon ourselves the greatness oj preaching. Let the laity expect more of their clergy, and let the clergy do their best to meet their reasonable expectations. We cannot all be eloquent, or orators. As regards the mere accidents of our work, we must be contented to be little more than mediocre. But certain things we can all do. We can call to mind the great calling with which we are called, we can remember that we are the messen- gers of God, we can keep in mind the needs of the multitudes who are hungering for the Bread of Life, we can pray that the truth of Christ may be precious to our own hearts, and we may cherish a constant 58 fellowship with Him ; and then we may attain, in our measure, to the blessedness of " that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall set over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he Cometh shall find so doing." (St. Luke xii. 42, 43.) 59 PREACHING. THE preacher's CONCEPTION OF THE layman's needs. By the Rev. C. H. Marsh, Lindsay. If a man is to be successful and effective in preach- ing to, and reaching, people, he must have some cor- rect conception, some definite knowledge, of the needs of those to whom he preaches, even as a physician must know the nature of the diseases of his patients before he can apply the remedy or give the medicines that will restore them to health and strength. . . . The question then arises. How is he to secure this knowledge .'' (l) BY LOOKING INTO HIS OWN LIFE. A clergyman ought to know somewhat of men's needs, for he is one of themselves ; of the same race ; he has been a layman ; he is a man of like passions ; he has similar hopes, fears, desires, aspirations, ex- pectations, and longings, the same foes to contend with, the same difficulties to overcome. I sometimes think this is one reason why (lod chose man to carry the message of His love to his fellowmen — angels could not sympathize with us like our fellows, nor enter into our griefs, sorrows, temptations, and trials as men can. Even the Lord Jesus Himself took our nature upon Him, and became '' a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," not only to redeem us, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, but also that we might have a High Priest that could be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. One who was hungry and thirsty, tired and weary, in all points tempted like as we are. Yes, God chooses men to 60 preach to men, and sends those who have *' tasted that He is gracious" to tell to others the great things He has done and can do for the sons of men. A clergyman speaking to laymen is a man speaking to men, and by his very birth and being knows some- what of the needs of those to whom he speaks. He should look often, then, into his own heart and life, that he may see what are the deepest needs there, and so be able to understand better the needs of those to whom he preaches. (2) HIS PASTORAL WORK SHOULD INCREASE THIS KNOWLEDGE. There he is brought into closest relationship with his people ; he meets with them in public and in private, collectively and individually ; in time of mirth and gladness, and in season of sorrow and mourning. . . . . As a shepherd knows the needs of his flock by going in and out among them, mmistering to their wants, so the pastor learns the needs of his people by personal contact with the mdividual mem- bers. Yea, as Christ was much among the people of His day, with the poor in their poverty, with the rich in their wealth, with Pharisee, publicans, fishermen, and the multitudes that came to Him from all classes, so should we be — not, mark you, just to enjoy their society, much less to get gain from them, but to teach and bless So will we learn men's deepest needs, as we go in and out and about with our people, seeking to do them good. (3) BY THE STUDY OF GOD'S WORD. Perhaps we get the best idea of men's needs as we look at ourselves and others in the light of God's revealed Word. A man that has been among the dust and soot scarcely knows how black he is until 6i he looks into the looking-glass ; so we, as we look into God's mirror (His Word), see ourselves as we really are The question next arises : " How is the preacher to use this knowledge ? " When one stands up to preach he sees before him not only a congregation as a whole, but a number of individuals, separate and immortal beings, old and young, hopeful and discouraged, joyous and sorrow- ful, some tired and troubled, some careless and indif- ferent, some with one battle to fight and some with another, and some, alas I not caring whether they fight at all or not. The preacher seeks to feed the flock committed to his care, and to supply the needs oi all. He knows he has that which will correct the mistakes, and answer to the heart-yearnings and aspirations, of every one before him, if they will but receive it. He has been sent with a message of glad tidings of great joy, suited to all people. He comes, like his Master, "to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the bimd, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." He has to reprove, rebuke, exhort, entreat with all long-sufifering, being careful not to hold up individuals so that others shall see and know to whom he refers, yet faithfully to condemn prevalent sins. As he does so he will find arrows go home sometimes where he never expected them to. Pardon a personal experi- ence. Once, in a country parish, I felt that I should preach on the need of more kindness, forbearance, love, more of the mind of Christ. One Sunday I did so. In the evening, at the third church, after ser- vice — as I was some mile? from home, and had fre- quently been invited to tea by one of the congrega- 62 tion — I said to him that, if convenient, I would go home and take tea with him. He looked as if he would rather I went to Halifax, so I said perhaps it was not convenient. " It's not that," he said, "but I think your sermon was rather strong to-night." I asked why, and he replied : " There was not a person inthat church but knew you were preaching at me.' "Well," I said, "it is the third time I have preached that sermon to-day." He had had some quarrel with another which had led to a lawsuit, of which I had heard nothing. That evening we had a long talk together, and an opportunity of considering what was God's will m such matters. Yes, God will carry the messages home, if we faithfully deliver them. We are sent to be witnesses for Him who knows the needs of every human heart, and who in His teaching and dealing with men when on earth (in His discourses, as well as personal intercourse) dealt with their most real and deep necessities, and who still says to every weary and tired one : " Come unto me, and I will give you rest." So it seems to me (in conclusion) we are to find out the pressing and crying needs of our people, and to earnestly, faithfully, diligently show them God's remedies, which alone can heal, satisfy, and bless them. In so doing our preaching (whether simple or profound) will be in the highest sense successful^ for it will lead men to Him who is " the way, th^ truth, and the life," and who said, when He saw one of earth's sin-sick and weary ones seeking to quench her thirst at one of the world's springs : " Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again : but whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life." 63 . SOCIAL PROBLEMS. THE church's message TO THE CAPITALIST. By Hon. and Rev. William Prall, D.D., Ph.D., Rector of St. John s Church, Detroit, Michigan. The terms "capital" and "capitalist" are so well understood that it is scarcely necessary for me to define them. And yet it may be well to do so, that no opening be left for misunderstanding. " Capital," it is said, " is that part of wealth exclusive of unim- proved land and natural agents . . . which is or can be devoted to the production of wealth." A "capitalist" is simply one who possesses capital. Capital, in other words, is an accumulation of the past products of labour, capable of being used in the sup- port of present labour ; and a capitalist is one who has property rights in that accumulation, and these rights he may have acquired by labour, by inherit- ance, or by son'e lucky chance. The duty of the capitalist, and consequently the Church's message defining that d .ty, depend upon his property rights. Are these rights absolute or qualified ? and if quali- fied, how ? and to what extent ? . . . TITLE TO PROPERTY. The title by conquest has lost to-day the respect it formerly had when the governments of the world were entirely military, and feudalism prevailed. Men ask in these democratic times. Why should not the man who look thmgs violently be violently dispos- *We have not been able to procure the first paper on this subject which was delivered by the Rev. Dr. McConnell, of Brooklyn, N. Y. 64 sessed ? Nor does the title by prescription, that is, long and undisputed possession, secure much more attachment. If you have enjoyed an estate for a long time it may be asked, Why should not some one else enjoy it in his turn ? And so we are driven to con- sider the title by occupancy. This has been the pre- vailing principle for many years, and probably it is the most generally accepted one to-day. . . . There would be excellent ground for believing that occupancy v-as the first principle by which right in property ' rs first acquired if archaic society was con- structed ! < e modern society, that is, if it was made up of an aggregation of individuals ; but the indi- vidual framework of social life was entirely different from the present state of things. Society was in the beginning not an aggregation of individuals, but a band of families. The family^ as all the best of our recent thinkers and scholars aver, is the basis of cor- porate life. . . . Joint-ownership y as the historical study of all the first forms of social life shows, was the original way that property was possessed. The right of the indi- vidual was subject to the rights of the many. . . . Now the question comes to our minds, if the rights to property were originally joint rights, can men hold their property free from all the obligations of joint- ownership, or must their rights have always some limitations derivative of the original way of holding ? Mere violence, we have seen, will not give men absolute rights in their property ; nor will prescrip- tion ; and the title by occupancy of an individual of separate and distinct things is, as we learn, dis- credited. The occupancy was originally a joint occu- pancy, and against the demands of society that a proprietor should consider that all the members of 65 society have some interest in his property (if violence and prescription be disallowed as insufficient grounds to base an absolute ownership) he has nothing to plead. Society has never lost its right in the property of the whole of society, for society is stronger than the strongest, and against its title no time can run. The limit of time is an arbitrary thing. And this right of society in the property of men is allowed to exist by all in two ways. First, the way of taxation, and, second, that of eminent domain. It is denied outside of these two ways. Outside of these two obligations the proprietor says, " Let me alone, ' it is lawful for me to do what I will with my own.' " Now, what is the duty of the Church in the premises ? Let me say that I cannot too much deplore the fact that the Church has too often con- sidered that she and civil society were two distinct things, and not one. And yet, if there is any one thing that is taught in both the Old and New Testa- ments it is that society and the kingdom of God are one, and that God intends them to be one. The basis of society is the family. It is God that estab- lished marriage ; it is He that has provided for the children. The end of society is the well-being of all.. It is God that has given men property ; it is He that has shown them how to use it. I am speaking now of society in its best sense, as the aggregation of families in such ways as will enable them to live the best and most useful lives. It is the duty of the Church to maintain society and the institutions of society, in every way that is good. And so it does. It helps society support marriage, to educate children, to preserve property, and it should help society to formulate its right to property, and to establish and maintain its right. And if the Church would do this, 66 red communism and bald socialism v;ould soop be put to rout, and the beneficent rule of God would come. THE church's message TO THE CAPITALIST. The Church's message to the capitalist is this : There is not a dollar or a thing that you possess that is not subject to the rights of society, which it has con- jointly with you in your property. Remember this always, and deal with your dollars and things as one joint owner should with another, liut heie come in the questions : How should a joint owner deal with his property ? And is there not r\ difference in the amount of interest that the capitalist has in compari- son with that of society ? Let me answer the last question first. There can be no doubt that the capitalist has what is called a controlling interest in his property. And this all the laws and all the cases decided since the rise of juris- prudence admit and determine. This preponderating right of the capitalist is a necessity of the case ; the capitalist can place his capital where he will, and in such proportion as he wills, or rather as his best judg- ment says is right ; and society cannot — dare not — interfere, except where the judgment of the capitalist has become absolutely impaired. But how should a joint owner deal with his property in relation to other joint owners (or society, which is the sum of them) ? This is the hard question, and to this, in the nature of the case, the answer must be complex and shifting, for it must depend upon how the capital is employed. Let me say, in the first place, then, there ought not to be any such thing as idle capital. Of course, there must, of necessity, be some that is apparently idle, seeking investment, and there 67 will be many things, that are the product of labour and capital, which are for the comfort and refine- ment of life, that cannot be used as capital again ; but these things serve their purpose if they make life more pleasant and agreeable, even if, after they have been used, they become so much waste. There mpst be a large amount of waste in the world, not absolute, but relative, for nearly all wastage may be used in some inferior way. Granted that there should be no idle capital within the limits set forth, the question arises : How should a man deal with his property in relation to other men ? This is the crucial question of our times ; upon it hangs the progress of the race. Let us look at the question for a moment historically. As feudalism declined from generation to generation, the right of the many to the land became ever less and less, and that of the few ever greater and greater. So that in England and in other countries of Europe the lords of the manor fenced in even the common lands. It was at the termination of this process that personal property rose to importance as a means of produc- tion m the industries, and it was insisted that per- sonal property, following the example of the status realty at that time, was absolutely the property of the owner. Therefore it was insisted that the operatives in the mills, etc., possessed nothing but their hands, and had no rights whatsoever in the material means of production — that is, in property or capital. It has been out of this stale of affairs that discord and strife have arisen ; the operatives, or workmen, maddened by the slight returns they have received in com- parison with those of the capitalist, have struck and have quarrelled again and again with their employers. The end for which they have contended has not 68 always been clear to them, but one thing they have insisted upon, that the capitalists have no right to take as much of the products of labour as they can for their own use and give as little as they can to their employees ; that they have no right, and there- fore it is an improper thing, to get labour as cheap as possible in the markets of the world. The operatives or workmen have insisted again and again that they cannot live and bring up their families on a minimum wage — that they must have more. JOINT OWNERSHIP IN CAPITAL. The end for which they have been and are contend- ing is the recognition in them of a joint ownership in capital. And this, I am sure, will be the only solution of the present industrial war. The joint ownership of the workman with the capitalist in the capital of an industry must not — it cannot — destroy the capitalist's controlling right, for this would be to establish social- ism, pure and simple. Nor can it be always exactly defined ; but this should be laid down as a principle, that the capitalist has not, after he has embarked upon a business, absolute control over his capital, but that all whom he lets in with him in the business have some rights therein. What the rights should be it is difficult to say. They ought to be nothing tangi- ble until a fair rate of interest has been secured to the investor, but thereafter there ought to be a right guar- anteed to every honest worker to participate in the general products of a business, and there ought to be likewise upon his part the obligation to submit to a loss if the business has made a loss. In other words, the rights of all engaged in a business to its returns should be measured by profit and loss, ascertained from month to month, or week to week. Thus the 69 badly-managed businesses would go out of existence and the better-managed businesses would succeed. Profitable businesses would have to share with others that would be established, and unprofitable businesses would be made profitable by some concerns (the sur- plusage) going out of business. All businesses would have to be conducted with open books. Now do not say that this scheme which I propose is Utopian. It has been tried, and it has succeeded again and agam. It is really nothing more than the plan of co-operation. The scheme that I propose is but the principle of co-operation, which has been advo- cated by Maurice and Kmgsley and all the other Christian socialists, and has existed as a fact for many years. Co-operation, it is true, has not always suc- ceeded, but this is because men have not always understood its principle, and because, also, the intel- ligence of the operatives has not always been edu- cated up to its demands. But its advantages are be- coming ever better and better understood as the way of competition has declined and that of combination has come to the front. It needs now, as it seems to me, but the recognition of the fact that, not absolute ownership, but joint ownership in property is both historically and philosophically the basis of society, to make co-operation the rule, and not the exception, in all the businesses of the world. PRINCIPLE OF CO-OPERATION. Now let us look a moment and see how the prin- ciple and method of co-operation has prevailed, and is prevailing, in the world. I quote from a despatch d.V.ed Washington, September 4th, 1896, to the De- troit Free Press : " Starting with a statement of the purposes of a com- 70 mittee just arrived in Australia from England, con- nected with the supply of the Co-operative Wholesale Society of England with Australian food products, United States Commercial Agent Keightley, at New- castle, New South Wales, has contributed to the files of the State department a most interesting^ and in- structive description of the working of the co-operat- ive societies in Great Britain. Few persons in this country have any conception of the magnitude of the operation of these associations or of their beneficial results, but some idea of their extent may be gathered from Mr. Keightley's statements that in the British Isles they employ 70,000 people and produce of their own wares $30,000,000 annually ; that they devote a quarter of a million dollars annually to educational purposes, such as the maintenance of reading rooms and free library classes, and have a trade amounting to $291,990,000 each year. One society claims to feed and clothe one-seventh of the British people, and alto- gether there are between 1,300 and 1,400 of them." EQUITAHLE DIVISION. The Church's message to the individual capitalist is, as it seems to me, that he must regard his capital or property as the joint property of all who embark in any business with him, and that after his right to a legal, or prevailing, rate of interest has been secured, and he has been paid for his administration and direction (if he has administered and directed the business),the returns must be equitably divided among all honest workers. The details of the way a division should be made can be left to the way that has prevailed in the various co-operative societies of England and America. It is only in this way, as it seems to me, that justice will be done to all the honest workers of a 71 country. It ,s only in this way that a stop would be put to the amassing by capitahsts of great individual fortunes which threaten the life of the nations. It is only m this way that a period of peace and prosperity can come to all the various members of a Christian otate. 72 , SOCIAL PROBLEMS. THE CHURCH ANU CIVIC AND SECULAR AGENCIES. By His Honour Judge McDonald, Brockvtile. . . . . In early — if not the earliest — days of Christianity in England, the work of the Church was not confined to the sphere within which it now has its action, and matters civic and secular were dealt with. Archbishop Thomas a Becket'was Lord Chancellor of England, and it is to be feared that bishops and priests, abbots and monks, were loth to restrict to spiritual matters their oversight of the flock of God which was among them. And yet well it was for England that at times — at critical times — in her his- tory — ecclesiastics made themselves heard and their influence felt in connection with matters pertaining to the welfare of the State. At this day — yes, now — every member of the Church of England has good reason to rejoice that Stephen Langton — Archbishop — took the part he did in communion with the Barons in wresting from King John the great charter of Eng- lish liberties. As the centuries passed, the Church came to have less and less to do with things civic and secular, although even in our own day, and until the recent establishment of county councils in England, there remained a connection between the Church and civic and secular affairs quite unknown to us in On- tario In the preparation of this paper I have found it somewhat difficult to decide as to the agencies with which one may properly deal; but as a careful perusal 73 of the programme has failed to show that education rs proposed to be dealt with as a subject for this Confer- ence, I think I may fairly consider myself in order in putting forward as one of these agencies our present school system. Speaking for myself, and at the same time voicing, I believe, the earnest convictions of many loyal and thoughtful Churchmen, I would say that the ideal system, and the one towards the attain- ment of which we should always aim,, is that of the distinct Church school with distinct Church teachmg. . . . . But as this is at present — and, perhaps, ever will be — practically unattainable, except in large urban centres, it is plainly our duly to avail ourselves of that which is at hand, viz., the public school sys- tem, and to make it as far as we can an agency of the Church. Some of us who are here to-ni^ht have but recently been engaged in an earnest consideration of the whole question at the great council of the Church in Canada, held at Winnipeg, and the utterance of that council is, in effect, that it is essential both for the community and for the children that there should be religious instruction in the primary schools ; that a half hour each school day, and, if possible, the first half hour, should be given to such religious instruction ; that reasonable arrangements should be made for such religious instruction being given by the clergy or by their deputies to the children of their own communion, or by the teacher in the case of communions agreeable to this ; that when the above cannot be carried out we shall rejoice at the introduc- tion into the school " course of studies" of such reli- gious instructions as shall include the teaching of selections from the Old and New Testaments, inclusive of the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments, and, if practicable, of the Apostles' Creed. Now let 74 this for which the Church is asking but be conceded by the State, and we have at once the secular agency — for such our present school system is — become so far an agency of the Church, and not only of the Church, but also of the many communions of our separated brethren which surround us. Another of the agencies of which it behooves the Church to make use is that of the various public institutions or asso- ciations for the protection and rescue of children. Here, again, it would seem that the Church should herself do the work for which at present the State or the municipality is making provisic.i. Take, for instance,the homes for deserted or orphaned children. Now these little waifs, whose helplessness and inno- cence is but their least claim upon us — these little ones so precious to the dear loving Lord Christ — are in many communities treated, and that by so-called Christians, as was the man who, on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves by the priest and by the Levite. But let us be thankful that in this great city, and in some other centres, tha which is peculiaily and especially the work of the Church has been done, and well done, through the secular agencies of the Children's Aid Societies and other like associations, t' ": machinery of and for which the State has provided — machinery which, however, would have rusted from want of use but for the loving zeal of individual Christians of all the communions. Think of the cruelty, from which rescue has been made, of the unhappiness which has been prevented, of the ruin of character and of life which has been averted, under God, through their instrumentalities, and let the Church, until she shall have arisen to a sense of the responsibility which is upon her to do this work, use to the utmost those agencies of the 75 State, the existence of which is owed to the influence which the Christianity of individual men— yes, and of individual women — sometimes working in association, sometimes as unit3,has brought to bear upon the body politic. And as for homes for little ones, so A'ith retuges or asylums for the infirm and for the aged. Would that the Church could provide such for her children "forlorn and shipwrecked," who have lost, or almost lost, hope, and who 30 much need that com- fort, and consolation, and cheer which it is the duty — yea, the privilege — of us, who, through the common Fatherhood of Goi and the com- mon Brotherhood of Christ, are their brothers and sisters, to give to them. Alas ! in respect of the needed provision in this way the people have as yet done but little, I believe that east of Toronto, out- side of the cities, there is but one county poorhouse, and that in the large majority of the counties of this province almost the sole provision made for the old and infirm, whose care is thrown upon the public, is a home — pardon the use of the word in such a connec- tion — a home in the common gaol. The State has given the legislation necessary to permit of homes being erected, but the people generally refuse to avail themselves of it, apparently from the fear of taxation. Let all Chu'chmen arise to a sense of their duty in this connection, and, until the Church herself can pro- vide for her own, let there be used the secular agen- cies which are at hand, and where such are not let earnest effort be made to procure them. And so with agencies concerned with health and for the relief of the sick and the suffering. That the Church should provide and equip and maintain these will be readily conceded by all, and in countries where there are among her members those possessed of wealth which 76 will permit of it I believe such institutions would be found to exist, and of these the great hospital in New York named after St. Luke, the beloved physician, is an illustiious and a happy example. But in this land of ours, and in the meantime, let the Church avail herself of those hospitals, secular in character and as to control, which are to be found not alone in the cities, but in many of the towns. To 'God's suffering ones in these may be carried by ihe clergy and by the faithful laity — it may be members of the Brother- hood of St. Andrew, or members of a sisterho;)d, or deaconesses, or by those not of any of these— the story of the Cross, of the Good Physician Who came to seek and to save the sin-sick, and Who, during His brief stay upon eaith, exercised always the ministry of healing for them that were sick in body. In these hospitals, too, may be given the loving service of the little children of the Church trained to follow in His footsteps, whose gifts of flowers, as well as their bright and happy faces, will serve to cheer those whom they visit. And let us Church folk not forget that our free-will offerings on Hospital Sunday are, in the case of many hospitals, one of the main sources of the income by which they are supported. The time would fail me to speak of those other agencies, secu- lar as to organization and management, which exist for the training df the deaf and dumb, for the educa- tion of the blind, for the care of the incurable and the weak in mind, for the treatment of sick children, and for other purposes of a like character. The matter of secular agencies in connection with amusement and recreation is so closely akin to the first subject on the programme for to-day, as announced, that it seems wise to pass it by. Doubtless it will have been fully discussed before this paper is read. And, next, as to 77 agencies, if such they may be called, and it is believed they may be, which have to do with the great question of capital, of labour, of thrift, and of economics gen- erally. The Church's message to the capitalist will have been dealt with befoie these words are read to you. Looking at the workman's side of the question, it is evident that by the formation of trade unions of various kinds, many of them interdependent, or, at any rate, closely allied, there Las • been created in our day a secular agency of immense potency, and the influence of which cannot and will not be confined to mere questions of trade. Whether rightly or wrongly — and I say wrongly — the workingman — I use the the term in the trade-union sense, for are we not all workingmen ? — the workmgman has come to believe, has been so taught by frothy demagogues, that the Church is against him, and is, as against him, on the side of capital. Let him be persuaded, let it be proved to him, that she takes no sides, but is for that which makes for righteousness and justice. The Christian Social Union has probably done something to this end, but the Church ought to do, an can do» much more And, in fulfilling her mission, the Church may well avail herself of the opportunity afforded by trade unions, workingmen's meetings, and other secular agencies, to set forth the eternal principles of right and truth, and to bring those who are members of these associations to realize the full brotherhood of man, by coming with them to our Elder Brother, the carpenter's Son, Closely connected with the ques- tion of secular agencies is the position of the Church in regard to the beneficiary societies, of which so many are to-day in existence. It is hardly possible for one who is not a member of any such society to 78 speak as to them with anything of authority, but, so far as an observer from the outside may form an opinion, it may be said that many of them are of a most benefi- cent character, and that in our land are widows and orphans many who know of the blessin^^^s which have flowed from them. How far they m?.y, as to their principles, and systems, and modes, be of use in the encouragement of honest thrift and of prudent fore- thought for those who are of the households of the members of them is, in the absence of a system of her own, or as an indirect but practical application of so much of her teaching, a matter worthy of the Church's consideration. There may be other agen- cies, civic or secular, as to which in their relation to the Church, or rather as to her relation to them, something might be said. But it is not expedient to enlarge upon the question further. And, to conclude, surely the relation of the Church to civic and secular agencies is to make them, when it can be done, hand- maidens in the great work unto which she is set. When St. Peter, apostle and fisherman, would sum up the character of his risen and ascended Lord, he said of Him : " He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil : for God was with him," and the work which He did when here upon earth His Church — with which He always is — is charged to do until He shall return, and in the doing of it, and m the absence of agencies of her own, let her use those, be they civic or secular, which are at hand, so that they be of a kmd which may be used without disloyalty — nay, in very loyalty — to her Lord and to His Gospel. 79 SOCIAL PROBLEMS. THE CHURCH AND CIVIC AND SECULAR AGENCIES. By Allan M. Dymoiid, Escj., To»'onto. For convenience sake I shall ask you to understand by the expression "The Church," as I have used it throughout this paper, more particularly the Church of England in Canada. By civic and secular agencies I mean municipal and national, associated or individual, movements and institutions, carried on apart from any ecclesiastical organization, and having for their object the benefit of the community as a whole, or of any particular class. The question we are to deal with is the relation of " the Church to these agencies What are some of the movements and institutions which come under the ht-ad of civic and secular agencies ? We have certain great moral movements, or efforts ; among them, the temperance movement, prison reform, improvements In the laws regulating public morals. Lord's day observance (not, of course, in its purely religious aspect), aid to discharged prisoners, rescue work, and children's aid societies. Movements and institutions having for their object the intellectual improvement of the people, as our public educational system, public libraries, higher education, societies and institutions for the advance- ment of science. 80 Further, there are others which have for their object the solution of certain social problems, and the im- provement of the lot of those classes called the work- ing classes, as factory inspection, regulation of the hours of labour, the prohibition of child-labour, sinj^le tax, emigration and colonization schemes, charitable institutions. Before we generalize as to the principles which should guide the councils of the Church in determin, ing her relation to these movements or the institu- tions in which some of them have resulted, let us glance briefly at one or two of those we have men- tioned ; others will be dealt with at large elsewhere in the programme of the Conference. With regard to many of those movements which we have spoken of as moral movements, and more espe- cially with regard to the temperance movement, a wise conservatism seems to be required. S.)metimes we are told that the Church is behind the times on this and kindred questions ; but her conservatism here is quite in accordance with her princip'es and tradi- tions and the dislike — well founded, we venture to suggest — which she has ever entertained to add to the plain commandments of God, or to unduly restrain the exercise of private judgment on matters which may fairly be regarded as matters of opinion, and all this is quite consistent with her rendering great and real service to the true cause of temperance, and with her deep realization of the evils which arise from in- temperance. In all movements of this kind there is a tendency to short-sightedness, and to the confusion of causes with effects. Drunkenness, for example, is undoubtedly the cause of much poverty ; but degrad- ing social conditions, insufficiency of wholesome food, and the absence of opportunity for proper recreation, are also largely responsble for drunkenness. It is open to question, moreover, whether temperance is not a more desirable national virtue than total absti- nence, and whether the enactment of restrictive legis- lation of certain kinds, notoriously difficult of enforce- ment, may not be productive, ultimately, of more harm than good. With regard to intellectual movements and agencies, so much has been said and written upon the public school system, and it is so wide a subject, that we cannot consider it particularly. It might be well, however, for the Church to charge her clergy that it is a duty binding on them to avail themselves of what- ever opportunities the State may fror. time to time afford to influence that system in the interests of true religion. A great many Churchmen condemn the sys- tem who have very little knowledge of the practical working, and have never exerted themselves m the slightest degree to counteract its defects in the schools of their own locality. The clergy have, for instance, statutory rights as visitors of the schools in the parishes, or missions, where they have pastoral charge, and they may, in the words of the Public School Act, " examine the progress of the pupils, and the state and management of the school, and give such advice to the teacher and pupils, and any others present, as they may see fit." Very few of the clergy ever avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded them to manifest their interest in the teachers and scholars. We have got past the stage in the world's history when the Church was the avowed enemy of science, bu' her acknowledgment of what science has done for mankind is still very far from generous. In place of hostility and distrust, let us as a Church manifest from time to time our grateful appreciation of the practical 82 benefits we have received from the labours of scien- tific men, even when they are not particularly ortho- dox. Men who thunder away about " science falsely so called " — generally, by the way, a gross misapplication of scriptural phraseology — forget, for instance, how much of the immunity they and their loved ones enjoy from deadly and loathsome diseases is due, under God, to the labours of the men tl ey denounce. Surely we should thank (iod every day of our lives for the noble, self-denying lives of men who, often in poverty and obscurity and frequently at the risk of their own lives, have forced from nature her secrets and given to the world great weapons wherewith to do battle against the pestilence that walketh in dark- ness. One of the problems we have to solve is hov to bring the industrial classes to avail themselves of the spiritual privileges which the Church holds out to them. A deeper interest in matters aflfeciing their temporal well-being might do very much to attract them towards the Church. Surely the time has gone by when the advocates of every measure looking to the improvement of the so:ial and physical condition of these classes can be silenced by reminding them gravely that because our Saviour said, " The poor ye have always with you," it is part of the divine plan that immense numbers of those whose labour has contributed to the wealth of the community should be forced to content themselves with the barest neces- saries of life, and when they are unable, through age, infirmity, or misfortune, to wring these out of the pro- ceeds of their toil that they should be very thankful to the community for housing them in gaol. IVe do not feel the stress of some social conditions as they are felt in older and more populous countries, but the 83 roots of the saire evils are to be found here. One reason why workingmen do not go to church is be- cause they have come to look upon the Church as having no interest in them except as objects of chari- ty. Centuries ago the Church was almost the only friend the toiler had. She stood between him and the oppressor, and helped to pull down the evil sys- tem which made him little better than a slave. But this was long ago, and it is only of recent years that he has again begun to receive from her anything like symp:ithv or assistance in his struggle to obtain for himself and his family a fair proportion of I'^e wealth his labour has produced, And then it is absurd to admit that in God's sight all souls are equally preci- ous and then shut our eyes to a state of things which Causes the spiritual life of men to be suffocated or poisoned — which has crushed the hearts and hopes of millions and reduced them to the level of brutes — which forces the little ones for '■ hom Christ died to be reared in ignorance and inured to vice and crime. Has the Church no concern with all this ? Are there not ethical and moral principles involved which it is her duty to maintain ? Then to turn to another class of secular agencies. In Ontario, more paiticularly, wc find great activity in charitable and reformatory movements. Institu- tions for the insane, the imbecile, the deaf and dumb and blind, hospital homes, orphanages, houses of re- fuge (these last, to some extent, removing the reproach upon us of branding poverty as a crime by making the gaol the only refuge of the indigent poor), indus- trial schools and reforrnatoiies, some of them manag- ed, and almost all the rest aided, by the State and subject to State inspection. It is doubtful whether any community in the world is doing more or better 84 work in these directions than is being done in this province. During the last few years a specially noble undertaking has been the rescue of children from the custody of criminal, cruel, or vicious parents, and the formation of children's aid societies through which the strong arm of the law has been enabled to protect the helpless and friendless little ones. Now, when the state, or municipality, or society un- dertakes duties of this kind it is sometimes urged that society in so acting is influenced mainly by selfish con- siderations, and not by pure ben-volence, or by any sense of duty towards the individuals or classes bene- fited. But it can be put upon a higher ground than this. This is a Christian community, and its members are bound by the law of love to the practice of philan- thropy. Experience has shown that many philan- thropic institutions can be much moie efficiently crrried on by associated or corporate effort than by individual or private agencies, especially ir a country like our own, and national and municipal philan- thropic institutions have also this advantage, that all citizens, irrespective of creed or national origin, can take in them a common pride and interest. But while all this is true, we must avoid the tendency to leave the practice of philanthropy entirely in the hands of the state or municipality. There are many channels left open by the state to voluntary effort, and it seems to be the duty of the Church to turn the attention of her children to these from time to time as occasion may arise. The " love' we are bound to is not a mere sentiment, it cannot ^ontent itself with a sigh or tear over the story of another's woe ; it is a life to be lived, a never-failing stream flowing through the life of the indivi iual from the source of all good, to gladden and comfort and brighten every other life 85 with which it may come in contact. Hut, on the other hand, it is neither necessary nor desirable to muliiply one-horse denominational philanthropic institutions. This leads to a great waste of time, energy, and money. Even now in more than one of our smaller towns there are two or three hospitals where only one well-' equipped institution is really necessary. Surely in this work we can forget religious differences, and learn to labour together. Now, all these institutions should possess the greatest interest for the Church, and that interest should be manifested by frank approval and com- mendation of all that is good in them, and by pointing out from time to time anything that may seem to be faulty in the system pursued, and by making all the provision in her power for the spiritual good of their inmates. It is all work for God and the good of hu- manity, whether undertaken by the state or munici- pality, or by associations of private individuals. Evangelistic work in gaols and hospitals is hard work. Those to whom you minister have nothing to pay ; there is often little to show for the labour expended ; there is no "kudos " in it, But there t's the remem- brance of " I was sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me." When the wretched outcast stands at the dock of our police court, trembling from the effects of vice, forlorn and miserable, who is it who begs for one more chance for her ? Who waits for her as she leaves the dock? Who promises to befriend and, if possible, reform her.'' Who receives her for Christ's sake with hands of love and pity ? Generally it is not the lady of the Church, but the woman of the Salva- tion Army. If that organization had done nothing more than to shame the Churches into taking their 86 part in the rescue and reformation of outcast men and women, it has done a noble work. There are certain principles which should goverr> the discussion of the questions involved in the relation of the Church to civic and secular agencies when \ those questions are brought before our synods, and .which should determine the hne to be adopted, and there are also certain mistakes to be avoided. A prudent conservatism, combined with a liberal breadth of view and purity of intention, a keen desire to perfect and elevate the national institutions and aspirations of our people, a waim-hearted interest in the well-being of " all sorts and conditions of men," will all do much in time to make the Church and her principles better understood. We must not forget that it is, at all events to some extent, the fault of Churchmen that there exists in many minds contempt where there should be respect and reverence, and in- difference or even open hostility where there should be grateful love. The past with all its glorious his- tory, and with its mistakes and neglect of opportuni- ties, too, lies behind us, and we cannot claim the merit of its successes, nor should we share the blame of its failures ; nor must we think only of adapting the policy of the Church to present needs. It is the future to which we must look ; that, so far as our own generation is concerned, when its history comes to be written it may be found that we were good stewards of that which was committed to us ; that we have left no ground untilled, that we have made no mistakes, and left their consequences to be undone in pain and humiliation, but good seed sown and good work done, to bring forch fruit an hundredfold to the generations which succeed us. We want the Church to be a leal 87 pDwer in the land. We seek her at^grandizement, not only because we love her for the purity and breadth of her teaching, for the beauty of her liturgy, for her glorious traditions, for all that she has done for us — not as an end, hut as a means — a means whereby she may the bet.er do her Master's wotk, and, among other blessitigs, have her share in build- ing up the more quickly and the more effectually and firmly a great, free, happy, and (iod-fearing people, a people of whom it may in truth be said that " their God is the Lord." 88 CHURCH SOCIAL GATHERINGS : THEIR USE AND ABUSE. By the Rt. Rev. Maurice S. Baldwin, D.D., Lord Bishop of Huron. I.— THKIR USK. . . . . It has been often said that the Church of England suffers from being too respectable : by which is lueant that a certain awful frigidity and haughtiness of manner on the i)art of its members prevents the evolution of sympathy and that unity of sentiment which a great and progressive Church should invariably possess. However this may l)e, I gather that one great crying evil in our community is want of fellowship among its members. When you reach the tops of the great Hernese Alps, and look out on the bewildering sight before you, you see, we are told, an almost interminable range of bold, awful peaks, deep fissures, and terrible ravines. Very beautiful it is, l)ut very cold, for winter reigns every- where, and snow and ice here have their home. How- stationary and immobile these mountain peaks are ! That huge mountain head is exactly — inch for inch — the same distance to-day from that lowly crest bv its side that it was long before Hannibal ever crossed the Alps for the possession of Italy, or the mastery of tiie world. Centuries have not made them friendly ; C)cles of years never tempted them to come together ; each one seems to say, " I mind my own business, let each one else do the same." Some of our churches are very much I'ke this mountain range. There, in 89 those front pews, near the pulpit, are some of the great people of the Church. They pay high rent and bulk enormously with the minister and wardens, but they never were known to speak, never did speak, and never intend to speak to the little man in the pew three doors behind them. The fact is, he never spoke to them. Why should he ? There they are ; and here he is ; and the Spliigen and Monte Rosa will rub heads together before they — if left to themselves — will ever sit down to drink a friendly cup of tea with each other. It is just here that the utility and excel- lency of the church social gathering is seen, and I honour the clergyman who does all in his power to bring the icebergs of his congregation together — to introduce the great Mont Blancs and Jungfraus to some of the humbler peaks of his flock, who, if they have not the same height to look down from, have, at least, the advantage of having less ice and snow for- ever about their heads. The object of the church social gathering is to bring our people together, to make them know the real intrinsic worth and deep piety of men and women of whom, before, they knew nothing. A troubled paiishioner once remarked, as her minister concluded an able sermon on the recognition of the saints in heaven, that it was all well enough in its way, but if we would only say a few words now and then on the recognition of the saints on earth it would do a world of good. By all means let us have onr social gather- ings. Let us try and overcome the evils of the past. The coldness and apathy and worldliness which once reigned have done much, no doubt, to produce that of which we complain ; but, thank God, a better day has dawnea, and everywhere we see signs of higher and holier life. 90 A free, unrentable pew seems to me a necessary corollary of a free, unpurchasable Gospel, and I can- not but think that we wrong the body politic, and go in direct contravention to the teaching of St. James, when we keep up our present system of rents. It has driven thousands of our poor away, alienating them from a Church in which they had a most inde- feasible right, and has produced many of the dis- tinctions which it is the object of the church social to remove. Without for a moment breaking down those differences which must always exist between the educated and uneducated classes, we, who have fled for refuge to that great Rock of Ages, whom ( iod the Father has set forth for the salvation of man, can yet, at least, demonstrate that we are all one in Christ Jesus our Lord ; one in a common faith and hope ; one in the great deliverance which is behind us ; one in all the trials and temptations which are round about us ; and one in the expectation of that blessed home which lies beyond the swellings of the flood. A second benefit the church social gathering is likely to convey is that it teaches our people, as they mingle together, how many are the burdens which the strong and the rich and the willing can take from the backs of those more ready to perish. . . . The complaints which we hear to-day, and which claim our loving sympathy, are those that lie within our power to help : I mean the wretched homes, and still more wretched lives, of thousands A'ho know not of Christ's love, and have, therefore, all unhelped, to bear the sins and sorrows of this troubled life. The church social is just to meet this want ; to show us by con- tact with others what their burthens are ; and not un- til we do meet and hold sweet converse together will we ever know what lies before us in the great path 9» ou: Lord would have us tread. " Bear ye one art- other's burdens " is the divine law which calls for im- plicit obedience, and one way in which to fulfil it is to meet with those less favoured than ourselves and learn from them how best to spend the sympathies of our hearts. A third benefit the church social gathering is likely to convey springs from the fact that it affords a good outlet for the pent-up energies of tlie young . . . II. THEIR ABUSE. It is a feature of our day that many are most anx- ious, above all things, to have a cheap religior. They may like expensive houses, expensive establishments, and expensive pleasures, but they want a religion that costs them little or nothing. The salvation which God has wrought out in Christ Jesus is, indeed, with- out money and without price ; but when once a man has been brought into the covenant relationship with God through faith in His only begotten Son He at once applies to him the great principle of self-sacrifice and asks him to demonstrate his love by the crucial test of obedience. God has His own holy design in this. He wishes to strike a severe blow at our inher- ent selfishness, that we may oe swayed by a higher, holier principle, namely, supreme love to Himself. . . . " If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." . . . So long ar the Church was supine and indifferent as to her vast responsibilities in carrying the Gospel to the ends of the earth, her call upon her people to exercise the great principle of self-denial was of the most lenient and immaterial character ; but now that she has, to some extent at least, shaken off the torpor and apathy of the past, and is awakening to new life, 92 both at home and abroad, her requirements from her people are of necessity much greater, and her test of their devotion more severe. Now it is just when tried on this score of hberality that so many utterly break down. If you try them by the test of creed, they are orthodox in the extreme ; if you brmg them to the touc'.istone of daily religion, they seem most devout and real ; but only bring them to the test of money and you will at once find that selfishness, and not the law of Christ, rules them with a rod of iron. Men have a thousand ways of hiding, even from themselves, their own unwillmgness to give to the cause of Christ. One man will make conditions which he knows cannot be observed ; he will give so many thousands if only so many others will do the same, and so he escapes. Another will pose as a poor-house mendicant, who ought to be helped him- self rather than asked to contribute, and so he de- clines the issue. Another man says he is only exercis- ing a judicious economy, when, perhaps, the sordid creature is stacking up, yearly, larger and larger de- posits in the bank, and growing rich by cheat, jg the Lord. Another will affect — and this is a most com- mon excuse — the most righteous indignation against the cause which is being advocated, and so he avoids giving. These are only some of the many ways by which multitudes of so-called Christians seek to hide the ghastly skeleton of their own se'ifishness. . . The real want among professing Christians is, not more money^ but vnox^ piety ; not larger bank accounts, but larger grace ; not more gold in the hand, but more love in the heart. The well is deep, and the water within is plentiful ; but, in many instances, there is nothing to draw with. Grace, love, and self-sacrific- ing zeal, with their long and powerful arms, are not 93 there to stoop down and draw up for the cause of Christ so much as it needeth. Selfishness, pride, luxury, and self-aggrandizement are at the windlass all the day, drawing up what they want ; but the Re- deemer Himself may stand there in the person of one of His afflicted ones, and for Him not so much as a cup of cold water ! Self-sacrifice ! Yes, this is just the principle which it delights the Lord Jesus Christ to see in any of His saints. ... If, however, there is one principle which the modern Church dislikes more than another, it is this very principle of self sacrifice. It has a principle of its own which it mfinitely prefers, and that is self- gratification. By this I mean that, instead of giving straight to the cause of Christ, many, just to save their money, say to the clergyman and wardens (and this is where the abuse of the church social gathering begins to enter in): "You want money for the church, do you ? Well, then, let the young people get up some entertainment ; or turn the church into a mercantile corporation and give us a grand sale, and then we will all go and buy something"— and so the man who could give, almost without knowing it, a ten ^r twenty dollar bill will go aiid spend a few cents in buying some little ornament that has struck his fancy. And this is called '* supporting the church " ! . . . When all the results have been gathered in they do not represent any devotion to Christ's blessed cause ; but rather the smart, active, busmess like qualities of certain people who have engineered a purely com- mercial transaction through all its phases to a remun- erative and triumphant issue. Here, then, is the open door through which troops in a shameless series of abuses of church social gatherings. Diverted from their proper function, 94 which is to bring together different classes and separ- ated individuals in friendly and unselfish intercourse, they are turned into hideous money-making and love- destroying undertakmgs. Dice and gambling, lot- teries and grab-bags, even theatrical exhibitions, farces, and comedies, are brought into requisition now by some to advance the cause of Jesus Christ. Against them all, root and branch, I enter my most solemn and determined protest. In my judgment, they are calculated to bring down a curse rather than a blessing on the misguided people by whom they are practised and upheld. The end is always supposed to justify the means, and the clearing off of the heavy debt on some burdened church is supposed to be a result so stupendous that it fully vindicates any expe- dient, however extravagant, which may have been adopted. On the contrary, these methods are an unmingled wrong to the whole Church of Christ. They still more fearfully confound the Church with the world and the world with the Church. They lower below zero the spirituality of the whole con- gregation, and bring down even to the dust that which Christ would purify and exalt. I know, indeed, the difficulties in which many of the clergy are placed ; I know that many of them abhor just as deeply as I do the abominations which are apparently sanctioned by their names. They ask. Where is the door of escape ? We have, they will say, a church laden with debt, a a people who cannot, or will not, give a farthing more for its freedom ; bankruptcy is threatened, and what are we to do .'' At this juncture a project is started to raise an untold amount of money by a grand exhi- bition of private theatricals. The scheme spreads like wildfire. Many are charmed. Some few are saddened, perhaps none more so than the clergyman 95 himself. He feels it is all wrong, but the vehemence of the many overcomes him, and he permits the un- holy expedient to be carried to completion. What- ever others may only think, I wish positively to say : Such exhibitions grievously insult Him who is the Head, even Christ, and most seriously injure His Body, which is the Church. V6 CHURCH SOCIAL GATHERINGS: THEIR USE AND ABUSE. By the Rev. Canon Farncomb, Newcastle. . . . . Innocent amusement is a necessary part of a healthful life. We should make it plainly felt that the Church recoj-nizes this need. " There is a bright side to the strugj^le of those who follow Him who conquered by suffering. We are apt to forget this, and it is not without danger. We come of a grim nation. We are disposed to carry our national characteristics into our religion. It is well to re- member that we are in no way more religious for posing in a solemn attitude, or using stilted and gloomy phrases, or going about the world as though we were the concentrated representation of a funeral," (Knox Little.) Let us see then that our people, and especially the young people of the Church, have plenty of opportunities afforded them — and that not grudgingly and of necessity — of meeting together for social intercourse. It will not lessen, we may be sure, their interest in the higher objects we have in view, but it will rather tend to make them work more har- moniously together. The complaint is made, too often for us to feel altogether comfortable about it, that Church of Eng- land people, and more particularly those who are well-to-do, are not always as friendly as they might be towards their fellow-Churchmen. I do not grant for one moment that all that is said against us in this respect is justified by the facts. We are often mis- understood because, in the house of God itself, wq 97 think— and try to act as if we thought — that rever- ence to God and the honour of His sanctuary is more pressing upon our conscience than sociable hand- shaking with our neighbors. Hut the very fact that those neighbors may unjustly think us cold and re- served withm the walls of the church makes it all the more necessary, it seems to me, that we should not neglect to make our friendliness felt upon other oc- casions when there are no such restrictions. A parishioner once told me that she had left the Methodists and joined us because she disliked to have people always making a fuss over her. She, for one, preferred a quiet life, and said, with much satisfaction, that she had found it. There are not many members who are won over to the Church for reasons like this. The question which we are bound seriously to consider is whether our icy reserve is not to blame for many that we have lost or failed to gain. If our Christianity is worth anything at all, our cast- iron caste-distinctions should be made to give way before a deeper sense of the cornorate unity of the Church of Christ. It does us no good when people who worship with one another in Church do not know one another when they meet outside. Robert Burns was once walking with a high-toned Edinburgh dandy. His companion found fault with him for recognizing an honest farmer in the public street. The poet flared up. '* Why, you fantastic gomeril, it was not the great coat, the scone bonnet, and the Saunders boot hose that I spoke to, but the man that was in them ; and the man, sir, for true worth, would weigh down you and me and ten more such, any day !" Church social gatherings are worth encouraging, if for no other reason than that they may make people 9^ acquainted who otherwise might be sublimely un- conscious of one another's existence. They may do more than this. They may form, and, as practical experience shows, they do form number- less points of contact between the inner spiritual life of the Church and the indifference of the great world around us. There are thousands of young people outside of the operations of any organization what- ever. They must do something with their leisure time. If the Church does not provide healthful amusement for them, and ernploy other young people who are already her loyal members to gain them through the influence of a little brotherly or sisterly interest, they will find amusement that is ruinous to body and soul somewhere else. If we may paraphrase a saying of Kingsley's, we must take care that while we are busy looking after pious Jacob we don't leave poor Esau altogether out in the cold. I would, therefore, lay this down as my first point : that church social gatherings are necessary as being the most natural way of consolidating and extending the fraternal life of the Church ; and, as such, they ought not to be pooh-poohed either by the clergy or by our influential laity. Here we have their legiti- mate use. These are some of the abuses : When they are allowed to become a substitute for public wor- ship ; when those who take the lead in them disregard the authority of the clergy, and of other duly appoint- ed officers of the Church ; or when they are held so frequently that young people taking part in them never know what it is to spend an evening at home. There is another phase of the subject. Church social gatherings are not always held simply for pur- poses of friendly and mutual improvement. Some- 99 times they are used for the raising of funds for the benefit of the Church. Is this also to be encouraged ? I say that, within due bounds, it most certainly is. Don't imagine that, because I take this ground, I am willing to take the responsibility of defending all the extravagant and nonsensical 'devices — their name is legion !— for rais- ing Church funds by indirect means. Nor am I in- sensible to the danger, which is often a serious one, of the offertory being displaced, as he one great method of Church finance which is distinctly recog- nized in Holy Scripture. I hold that there is a legitimate use. Don't accuse me on that account of advocating the abuses. But may I venture to say that we are not all of us quite consistent in our public utterances on this sub- ject. In our synods and other similar meetings — not social gatherings — we have heard no end of eloquent speeches condemning all kinds of indirect methods. Resolutions are passed — often without a dissenting voice — declaring all these methods to be too utterly bad for any good Churchman to have anything to do with them. And then we go back to our parishes. We have to face the problems of the Church as it actually is. We forget the castles in the air which we have been building out of the ideal of a Church which possibly might be. Common sense comes to our rescue. We find some one or other of those same wicked, indirect methods on foot, and with com- mendable energy we put our shoulder to the wheel and do the best we can to make it a success. One of my clerical friends — -a very good fellow, but one who liked to say the proper thmg, wLether he practised it or not — was asked to make a speech at a harvest supper in my parish. He gave us a most IQQ Severe lecture on the unlawfulness of what we were doing. He made us all feel rather uncomfortable under the circumstances. And then he wound up by inviting everyone to attend a sin^'lar festival in his own parish ! He was an Irishman, and enjoyed the satisfaction of raising a laugh at his own expense. But, really, is it true that there is of necessity any- thing unworthy of the cause — anything inconsistent with the highest ideals of Christian devotion — in money which is earned by the combined efforts of united Church people, instead of being contributed by the generosity of individuals ? Those whose views are so strongly adverse to con- certs, teas, etc., have they counted the cost ? I don't mean so much in the loss of income to the Church, but in the needless discouragement of faithful Church workers. There are some whose means are small, and who give freely out of those small means. Will you ven- ture to say ihat because they wish to supplement those small offerings by the gift of their time, their vvoik, their abilities, they are wanting in the true spirit of Christian liberality ? We read of the willing offerings of the children of Israel, in gold and silver and brass and fine linen, (or the service of the sanctuary. And we read also of Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, and Bezaleel, the son of Uri, who gave the offering of what God had en- dowed them with, in all manner of workmanship. There are those who have similar skill, received from the same divine source, to-day. They may use that skill in making costly hangings to adorn the fabric of the Church. But, in the name of common sense, why is it in any way wrong for them to join with others lOI similarly gifted to sell the fruits of their labours, and devote the profits to swell the church's funds ? There are those whom the Almighty has endowed with a pleasant voice to smg a lovely song and to play well on an instrument. Are we to welcome them as fitting helpers in our choirs, but when they offer to help our work with a concert to tell them that the only way in which good Christians can give to God is through the offertory ? And there are those, again, who can do nothing better than to get their friends and neighbours to- gether for a pleasant social entertainment in the parish schoolroom. Is there, after all, anything so very, very wicked in the use of such abilities in raising money for God's service ? Let it be granted that some of the means which have been adopted are utterly discreditable to those who take part in them. Let us by all means refuse to countenance anything which is not strictly in accord with the plain, old-fashioned precepts of our religion — with the honourable traditions of our Church. But while we steer clear of the one extreme, we may well take care that we do not fall into the other. The only wise course is that which is suggested by the apostolic rule, " Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 1 02 CAN OUR PRESENT PARISH SYSTEM OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT BE IMPROVED ? By the Fev. Septimus Jones, M.A., Rector of the Church of the Redeemer, Toronto. My theme speaks of "our system of finance," but can anyone tell us whether we have anything which may be justly called a parish system of finance ? or can he describe to us what it is ? I confess that I cannot. Want of system seems to be one of the most lamentable features of the whole business. I can do little more, therefore, than point out some of the most usual ways in which money is raised in our parishes, suggesting where I can what may seem to be improvements. There is one source of income which is practically resorted to in all our churches, viz., church collec- tions. In most instances plates are carried from pew to pew by wardens and sidesmen, after which two or more of the collectors bring the offerings to the offi- ciating minister, who lays them reverently with silent or audible prayer upon the holy table, thus indicating that the alms together with prayers form an offering unto God, an act of worship, and a means of grace. All this seems reasonable and scriptural, so far as it goes, but still falls short of being a systematic pro- vision for the needs of the parish. The expenses are, to a large extent, constant, fixed^ and unavoidable, and a due provision for them is 103 essential to the discharge of honest debts and a vigor- ous prosecution of that spiritual work which is the supreme object for which the parish is organized. By the majority of worshippers in most of our churches the giving is not done upon any system. It is more or less haphazard, not all the members nor even all the worshippers present are reached ; the smallest coins are most apt to find their way to the plate ; a snowstorm, a wet Sunday, or the want of an umbrella has a disastrous effect upon the collection, and, like a lost opportunity, the money which might have been contributed seldom or never returns. In some churches the plates are replaced by bags, the adoption of which is usually followed, I am told, by a decrease in the collection of about thirty per cent. In some instances boxes are set up at the doors of the church, and then the collections are apt to dwindle down towards the vanishing point. Underlying these methods there is often a notion, uttered or expressed, that secrecy is of the essence of Christian giving. Certain passages, especially in the Sermon on the Mount, are torn from their connection, misinterpreted and misapplied, and perverted into refuges for the niggardly and covetous, one of whom, unconsciously confessing the simple truth, said, " What I give to church and charity is nothing to nobody." Our divine Saviour, when reproving the sin of re- ligious ostentation on the part of the V\\ irisee?, pre- scr bed the exercise of secret fasting, prayer, and alnii-giving, not to the exclusion of the public practice of all three — not teaching that we must allow no one to detect us in fasting, prayer, or almsgiving — but impressing ihe truth that il we do these things only, or chiefly, when what we do can be seen of men and may 104 win their praise, then the sincerity and Godwardness of all such doings will be disproved ; and no heavenly recompense must be expected. All these acts of duty and privilege have two as- pects and two purposes — one private and personal, to test our sincerity and singleness of motive towards our Heavenly Father ; the other chiefly public and manvvard, to adorn our Christian profession and set a good example to those around us ; thus in both ways promoting the glory of God. He is nc true disciple of Christ who does not practise these three Christian duties of self-denial, prayer, and almsgiving in one way as well as in the other. "These ought ye to have done, and not left the other undone." It is only when we give openly, and are not and have no need to be ashamed for it to be known what w^ give, that we can be said so to let our light shine before men that they will in this world glorify our Father which is in heaven. The glory and reward of secret giving will meanwhile be between God and our own consciences,and will shine out only when the Mas- ter comes to take account of His own good and faithful servants. When men misunderstand Christ's words, or set up to be wiser than their divine Teacher, is it any wonder that the finances of the Church should suffer, her resources be dried up, and her operations crippled, and that there should ensue the crying re- proach of dearth and covetousness, rather than any redounding of praise to the honour and glory of God ? Some perception of this truth and the practical diffi- culty of keepiner up the finances of the Church wholly in this anonymous, irregular, and precarious way has led to the introduction of what is called the " enve- lope" plan — under which the worshippers are asked to give on system, and to say, without bringing 105 themselves under any legal obligation, what sum they expect and intend to give unto God, say, weekly and for the ensuing year. By the covetous, and by those who wrongly inter- pret the words of Christ, any method, no matter how ingeniously it may be sweetened or disguised, which seeks to commit them to a definite pledge, will be sturdily resisted, and sometimes by liberal givers (sincerely, though mistakenly) and ofttimes by the insincere and covetous this objection will be put for- ward and turned into that common and convenient fox- hole (into which no man can follow them) of an alleged conscientious scruple. But, in spite of all objections, those who have the due support and welfare of the Church at heart should gently, kindly, and persistently press this matter upon their brethren, in spite of any odium which may at first and for awhile be incurred thereby. We have reason and Scripture on our side when we urge, whether upon congregations or individuals, the practice of systematic and proportionate giving, and the presentation to God on the first day of the week of such sums as we have thoughtfully, solemnly, and gratefully dedicated to His service. Preaching upon this subject has its use ; but, if very frequent, is of doubtful expediency. No. What we lack is system, system, system — ■ the taking up of this work by devoted men and wo- men who will appeal to individuals, and reason with them,and influence and persuade them upon scriptural grounds, enforced by their own example, until every single member of the congregation has been ap- proached in a spirit of love to Christ and His Church, and with good will to all ; and each has had his duty, io6 and privilege, and opportunity clearly set before him. In short, we need to bring to bear sanctified common sense and such business method and regularity as would be employed to win steady and reliable support for any other worthy voluntary enterprise. The price of success in this matter is eternal vigi- lance and unwearied perseverance \n well-doing. It is from a lack of this that the envelope plan, after doing well for a time, so often decays and vanishes away. It is from a lack of this and from the necessity of honestly paying one's way that many churches are driven to the much-debated expedient of pew rents — upon the merits of which I forbear now to enter. Thus, also, church debts and the shadow of the sheriff have driven many congregations to resort to various sorts of worldly, unscriptural, and unquestion- able devices for raising funds for church purposes — bazaars, lotteries, concerts, and theatrical and other forms of entertainment, oyster suppers, ice-cream refections, bun struggles, and the like. However innocent some of these things may be in themselves, and for legitimate purposes, they all, when viewed from a Christian standpoint, have this inherent and mcurable weakness, that they turn the grace of giving into the itch of getting, thus for the sake of a tempor- ary gain drying up the very sources of Christian liberality in the hearts of the people, which are or should be the wellspring and treasury of the Church of God. There may be urged, I grant, the plea of necessity. It is hard to say whether some of these thingsare or are notworsethan not paying theChurch's honest debts, but it is a deplorable thing for any 107 minister or congregation to be impaled on either horn of this dilemma. Let us judge others charitably and ourselves severely. Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone. " Happy is the man that condemneth not himself in that thing which he allow- eth." I have thus far spoken only of the raising of means to meet our parochial needs, but to this branch of the subject what I have urged about want of system equal- ly applies. The only extra-parochial object upon which any- thing like a system is partly brought to bear and for which, consequently, the largest amount is pretty regularly raised, is the mission fund. In this we are greatly helpfed by the W.A. and house-to-house col- lectors, with their special appeals and periodical appli- cations to individual givers. The usual device, which imbecility itself is quite competent to suggest, is loadmg down of the Sunday with one more collection, with all the inevitable uncer- tainty, and dependence upon the weather, and failure to touch all those who should be reached, which must attach to this well-worn method — the result being often a corresponding diminution of the ordinary Sun- day collection, already inadequate — unless, indeed, the questionable expedient is resorted to of deducting f.rst the average ordinary collection, by which proce- dure the outside object appealed for is naturally liable to suffer. One plan followed in other communions, and suc- cessfully instituted, I think, by the Rev. Dr. Rains- ford, in St. James' Cathedral, but which I have not yet succeeded in introducing into the Church of the Redeemer, is a card which reads as follows : io8 CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER. You are earnestly invited to fill in the following blanks with the sums which you feel disposed to contribute to the several funds. $ cts. Current Expenses, payable weekly Building Fund, payable monthly Poor Fund, " " Mission Fund, payable annually (Jan.) Widows and Orphans' Fund, payable annually (Oct.). . . Divinity Students' Fund, " " (April). . . For the several funds. Envelopes, bearing the number of pew, will be provided, to be laid ujjon the ofiFertory plate. Name Date Thus all the main funds which every faithful mem- ber of the church ought to support are set before the eye in what seems the order of their claim, and the various appeals and collections aredistributed through the year — the whole work being so organized from the one centre that the various workers and interests may not clash with one another. In parochial finance, as well as in matters of ritual, the precept holds good, " Let all things be done de- cently and in order. '^ While I thus urge the impor- tance of order and system in this as well as in other branches of our work, I do not forget that system of itself will do nothmg. It is a well-known principle of mechanics that no machme, however exquisitely constructed, can create power ; it can only utilize and apply to the best ad- vantage the power which is put into it. It is so with all our parochial and diocesan ma- chinery. There is very nearly enough of that, but what we do lack is the power — the motive power. Men and women will not give for objects of which 109 they know little or nothing and care less ; they will not wark under leaders whom they do not love or on whose judgment they cannot rely. What is wanted in every heart, in every layman, in every minister, is motive power. What is wanted is the living man to lead and the living men to follow, in the parish and in the diocese. I know that it is easy to criticize. Drones and failures in their own parishes naturally have most leisure to set right those above them and to instruct the Church at large. Let us judge those set over us as we would wish to be judged by those placed under us. But let the truth in love be fearlessly spoken, though out of our own mouths we ourselves be condemned. no CHURCH CLUBS. By Rev. Henry Tatlock, Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Church Club is an institution of recent origin. The number of clubs thus far formed in the United States is only twenty-four. Of these, the oldest has not reached its decennial anniversary, while the majority have come into being within the last three or four years. As yet, therefore, the idea which the Church Club is intended to embody has been but par- tially developed. The movement is in a state of in- ception rather than of fuil and effective operation. Enough has been accomplished by the older and more vigorous clubs to show that the thought which led to their formation was well conceived, that the Church Club, when properly constituted and wisely managed, is fitted to render important service in the expression of the Church's life ; but it is not to be expected that so young an institution should have a very full his- tory. In introducing the discussion of the subject, it will be enough for me to state what the Church Club is and to name the principal objects which it is intended to promote. The Church Club is a society of laymen, organized for the purpose of stimulatmg the efforts of its mem- bers in behalf of the Church. In several of the strongest clubs clergymen are by constitutional pro- vision made ineligible to membership. In others, clergymen are admitted on the same footing as lay- men. But whether clergymen be received into the organization or not, the Church Club is universally re- lil cognized as a laymen's institution. This, in fact, is its distinctive feature. Whether it be wise, in view of this fact, to admit clergymen to membership is a question upon which there is difference of opinion, as is shown by the dif- fering action of various clubs. The primary object of the club is to quicken the interest of laymen in the work of the Church, and to deepen in them the sense of personal responsibility for that work ; and it is the conviction of many, and especially of those who in- augurated the movement, that this object can be more certainly secured if the direction of the work of the club devolve upon laymen alone. When this prin- ciple is adopted there is nothing to prevent the use of the services of the cler> not hard, as a rule — each village or settle- ment with its town hall or schoolhouse affording the opportunity sought. If the children can walk to the building daily to attend school, their parents can easily get there once or twice a week to attend service. Each missionary will have at least four such sta- ♦We regret that we have not been able to procure the first paper on this subject, delivered by the Rev. C. H. Shorit, M.A., Toronto. 129 tions, generally several miles apart ; and each station should be thoroughly and systematically worked like a separate parish, with its frequent and rej'ular ser- vices (which will keep the people from being tempted to stray into other fold Oi and its own organizations, such as Bible-classes, Sunday-schools, temperance societies, parochial guilds, etc. The services, I say, should be frequent and regular ; a monthly or fort- nightly service is not sufficient ; there should be a regular weekly service with Holy Communion service at least once a month. Then the people at each sta- tion must be frequently and regularly visited in their own houses, for it is of the greatest importance that the pastor should know his flock individually, their needs and their failings, and that they should have an opportunity of knowing him. Not only are the stations usually many miles apart, but the houses at the various stations are generally scattered over several miles. It often takes half a day's driving to get to a station ; and then it is very hard to have to begin visiting when one is already tired out, as is too often the case. It will then, I think, easily be seen that one man, young and strong though he may be, is not sufficient to do such a work with any degree of efficiency ; and here I should like to say that I have been very much surprised that more young men do not de- vote themselves to diocesan missionary work. It certainly seems as though the elderly men were be- ing left to do this, the hardest and roughest work in the diocese, and it should not be so. There was One who gave up His whole life for us, and why should not we give up our lives to His service? And what does it really matter, after all, if you shorten your life here by a few years, so long as your time is spent in such a cause .'' 130 So, then, if several come together to work a dis- trict, it will be found that the best and cheapest way is for all tc live together in community. They will be companions one for another. Each will be a help to the other without being very hard-worked, and it will be quite easy and profitable to talk over the difficulties, etc., each one finds in the work. A house will be bought or rented with garden at- tached, and the latter will serve for purposes of re- creation, as well as for supplying the house with vegetables, etc. The house, il large enough, could be used not only for living in, but also for holdmg meetings, etc. ; and, in some cases, where the clergy house is the only church building available, as is the case in my own mission, a part of it mij^ht be fitted up tor and used as a mission church. From this centre the men would drive out in different di- rections to the various stations to visit ind to hold services and meetings. The people would keep the house supplied with food, bread, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, meat, fish, etc., and sometimes hay and oatb for the horses ; all of which, I am pleased to say, is done in South Burleigh mission. As such articles are more plenti- ful in the country than in the tow or city, and every- one can give a little of something when it is quite impossible to give money, it will be seen that nobody is oppressed in this giving ; and that all, even those who have no money, are being educated to give of their substance. The idea of a fanning brotherhood has often been suggested, but I do not see how that could be done if the men are to be missionaries as well. For if the mission were situated in a well-settled district the workers would have no time to farm, and if it were 131 situated further back in a sparsely settled district I am sure they would not want to ! The kind of men we need in such a house ate not those who are im- bued with a spirit of mediiuvalism only, whose sole desire seems to be the wearing of a cassock all day long, nor those who, soured in temper, only wish to separate from their brethren, but men animated with fervent love for Christ, Kis Church, and perishing souls. In such a house none would be very hard- worked. There would be time for reading, not only for the preparation of sermons and addresses, but, and especially in the case of lay-readers preparing for holy orders, time for acquiring that knowledge so necessary for the work of the sacred ministry. Eve»'y clergyman knows how necessary meditation is in the preparation of sermons ; there would be time, oppor- tunity, and place for this as well as for the recreation necessary to good health. It would be impossible for me to enumerate all the advantages a clergy house offers or affords to a country district, but some of the most important are that, instead of one man wearing his life out with hardships of every description in trying vainly to do three or four men's work, he has in a clergy house several companions to share that work — his health improves, and he is able to be of much more real use to his people, besides which I may add that the people take no pleasure in seei.ig their pastor over- worked. Then the congregations have opportunities of hearing the voice of more than one preacher, of seeing other faces than those they have known all their lives, and of gaining more information concern- ing men and things than it would be possible to gain from one man. The people are visited much more regularly and systemaiically, services are more fre- l\2 quent and regular, more attention is given to Sunday- schools and other local institutions and affairs. Real aggressive Church work is being done and new sta- tions opened, old prejudices done away with and illusions dispelled ; the Church becomes an impor- tant factor in the district, and her influence is felt by the whole population- -while the results of the work, numerically and otherwise, are most conspicuous. It was my privilege recently to accompany the R;v. J. C. Davidson, rector of Peterborough, on a tour through the missions in the northeastern part of this diocese, and the one fact which struck me more forc- ibly than anything else was ihat those missions were only being at the best half-worked, not by any means because the missionaries were not doing their duty, for they were, and doing it nobly, too, but because each man was making a vain attempt to do the work of four. With a clergy house in each of these mis- sions and four or five workers instead of one or two, the results would soon be very apparent, and the bishop, after travelling so far and so inconveniently, instead of finding from three to twelve persons to con- firm, would have the candidates presented to him by the score at least. In my own case, alone I could only have presented from twenty to thirty candidates at the very most for confirmation, but with this sys- tem in forc«i I was enabled to present sixty-one. Mr. Shortt has suggested a clergy house for Toronto, but does not see how the funds are to be obtained for its maintenance. I have a suggestion to make, but do not expect everyone will agree with me. It is that some of the stipends or endowments of the wealthiest city churches be cut down and the balance devoted to the clergy house, from which also men might be sent into the country houses, and vice versa. There is one other matter upon which I would like to touch, and that is that young priests should not be in such a hurry to get married. What the Church requires to-d.iy is single men to do the hardest and roughest pioneer work. In many cases I have noticed that when a young priest gets married he does not work half so well as he did before ; his wife takes too good care of him, and his life runs in a groove and he " settles down." Surely, if any priest requires a wife it is the missionary, who gets home at all hours of the day or night, cold, tired, or wet, and has to prepare his own meals ; and yet we missionaries can wait awhile ; there is a way to do it, open to others besides missionaries, and it is the way of the Cross, which, amongst other great and important lessons, teaches us that of self-sacrifice for the eternal good of others. 134 ORDER AND LIBERTY IN THE USE OF THE SERVICES OF THE CHURCH. By Rev. C. E. Whitcombe, Rector of St. Matthew 3, Hamilton. There are two distinct approaches to the subject : (a) Have we liberty in the uje or order of the services; and, if so, what are its limits? (d) Is it expedient that we should have a liberty, not verbally expressed in the book, to vary the use and order? . . . The mind of the Church is for liberty— in the use of non-essentials — with strict and honest adherence to matters that are self-evidently, or have been declared by herself to be, of the nature of essentials. It seems, therefore, reasonable to suppose that the body which claims so wide a liberty in non-essentials, in details, in ways and modes, basing the same on definite and defined rules, orders, and canons, will desire a wide liberty in such matters also for her children. To express my meaning, I will, under your patience, review a service of the Church. For exemplification I choose, of course, the service of the Church — the order of administration or the Holy Communion. This is the title by which the order is known to the Book of Common Prayer. Is it possible that the mind of the Church of England, in placing, in 1548, and in retaining in subsequent revisions this title, meant thereby to forever bar the application of the term Eucharist and Sacrifice, as representing aspects of that solemn act, from the lips of the teach- ers of her people ? The essentials of the order for the administration of the Holy Communion are very clear, 135 such as the parties to the service — priest and commu- nicants ; the use of the ipsissima verba^ and of the manual acts of the blessed Lord m His institution ; the use of the elements of bread and wine ordained by the Lord Himself; the practical order of decency and harmony, to stand, to kneel, to confess, to praise, to make preparation, when, where, and how to receive the blessed sacrament, the table, the beautiful white cloth, the ancient hymns, the prayers of the universal Church — 1 need enumerate no more. These are de- fined. It is not in following these rules and forms in the Church office or order that any liberty is needed. To obey these rules is liberty — liberty from ever-recurring tyranny of (I quote from Preface to Book of Common Prayer) "men of factious, peevish, and perverse spirits, who are ever unsatisfied with anything that can be done by any other but them- selves." But there are a hundred other matters which will immediately enter into the conduct of a public office or order of service. And for these the Church has made no detailed provision. She has not bound the hands of her oriests. Whatever action of suspi- cion a portion of her laity (I verily believe maliciously fomented by interested parties) may at times assume towards the priests of the Church of England, the Church herself treats her priests as men of intelligence, of honesty, and of principle ; as men who may be trusted to carry out the details of services, the essen- tials of which are defined according to judgment, and for the highest ends and purposes for which those ser- vices were compiled by the Church. The Church has not tied her priests in any red-tape of slavish detail. The depth of a posture — who shall dare to judge his brother in such a matter ? — the colour, the sh.ipe, the ornamentation of a vestment, the ornaments of a i:>6 church, cross or finial, scroll or figure, the position of a priest when he prays, reads, preaches, or recites. Surely these things lie in the realm of liberty. The Church means them to be in the neld of liberty, for she has made no arbitrary and narrow ordinance on such things. When she speaks in such matters her words are wide ; she trusts her priests. She says : "The wilful and contemptuous transgression of a common order and discipline is no small ofifence before God ; but the keeping or omitting of a cere- mony, in itself considered, is but a small thing." I take but one definite example of the liberty whereby the Church in Christ hath made us free — the making of the sign of the cross. The Church dis- tinctly recognizes the propriety of that ceremony, and definitely demands its use on the part of her minister at the baptism and reception into the Church of an infant. If, by the way, there be anything ungodly or unlawful in the use of the sign of the cross, it is a very unfair advantage that is taken of the poor little help- less infant to do that upon his little person in his helplessness which, perchance, he is taught as he grows to years of discretion he should not do upon himself. Unless men are to lose their manhood when they become priests ; unless parish (Jriests are to be as the regulars of a monastic house under strict vows of obedience in all details of theit life, there must be elasticity permitted in their use of, inter alia, the ser- vices of the Church. For thus does the Church speak to her priests : " Wherefore consider with yourselves the end of your ministry towards the children of God, towards the Spouse and Body of Christ ; and see that you never cease your labour, your care and your dili- gence, until you have done all that lieth in you, ac- cording to your bounden duty, to bring all such as are 137 or shall be committed to your charge, unto thai agree- ment m the faith and knowledge of God, and to that ripeness and perfecmess of age in Christ, that there be no place left among you either for error in religion or for viciousness of life." Such a charge does not appear as though the Church regarded her priests as the mere " performers of offices." Does it not imply confidence in their individuality, exhorting each and all to lead the flock committed to them, and leader- ship entails wide liberty? The Church gives to her priests a commission — a life commission — a trust to hold and to minister for her Master. She therefore recognizes that her priest is a man worthy of that commission. It cannot be contemplated that he is to be in his care of the flock as a mere sowing machine and a hay rake. I know the cry. To allow liberty in the conduct of divme service is to open the door for something. Well, if we don't open a door or a wm- dow the priest will smother. And that is> just what has happened to many a priest. He has been smoth- ered — he has been narrowed and narrowed till all his originality has vanished, his individuality has lapsed, and he has become a machine for '' doing the ser- vices." It is also said that liberty to cut and carve the "incomparable liturgy" will lead to a license which will trench on discipline. Well, we have seen " cutting and carving " which, necessary at the begin- ning, has proved beautiful in result. History informs us with unbroken voice that iron-bound rules and narrow exclusion have fostered narrowness of thought and practice, which, as time rolls on, eventuate in that narrowest of narrowness, the modern sect. When this subject was brought before our minds by the notice paper of the Conference, perhaps the thoughts of many turned to certam practices, which have be- 138 come more or less common, m the line of liberty in the use of the services of the Church, and wherein there have been differences of opinion as to the pro- priety of such exercises of liberty. For example: In the abridgment of services, the Church, of England, in her convocation houses at home and by her pro- vincial synods here, has set her seal to the propriety of shortening, under conditions, her daily common prayer. But can all the circumstances and conditions be met and grappled with unless there be a very con- siderable elasticity permitted in the use of her services by ministers and people ? When the Church of Eng- land was confined to one country, one climate, one language, one people, one set of social and political conditions, one set of definite rules, one absolute uni- formity of detail — was perhaps practicable in the arrangement and use of her public services. The need of liberty in use was not felt to press until the expansion of the Church began. Circumstances have arisen from time to time, and continue to arise, which have rendered a wider liberty needful. Can we think that the priest was barred from arranging the then service for Holy Baptism so as to use it in the admis- sion of an adult to the fold, until such time as the Church, pressed by circumstances, authoritatively put forth a form for the public baptism of such as are of riper years ? Is it too much to assume that circum- stances are ever standing forth, not only over the whole area of the Church's ministrations, or in the diocesan division, but also in the unit — the parish — which impel the exercise of a wide liberty in the adaptation of the authorized services of the Church to the needs of the people ? The Church has again and again ratified the exercise of such a liberty. Liberty is the ultimate aim of every reformation — and 139 liberty has been the first fruit of all true reformations — for the great abuses that have from time to time sapped the life blood of the Church, poisoned her purity and degraded her influence among men, have been encroachments upon liberty. Assuming, then, that greater liberty in the use of the services of the Church is a desideratum in the present day and under present conditions — within the Church — the thought will rightly follow : To whom shall such liberty be accorded ? I would think that liberty, when desired, may be fairly granted to all whom the Church is pre- pared to trust. The test of trustworthiness is faithful- ness. The priest and minister who is doing his duty, who is steadfastly maintaining by life and teaching the great principles of the law and order of the Church's heaven-given system, is so far forthgiving a substantial guarantee of his fitness to be largely trusted by the bishop who is set over him and by the Church which is over the bishop. Few bishops will, I think, to-day interfere with a faithful presbyter who is exercising a very wide liberty in the arrangement of the order of those services which the Church has placed as a trust in his hands, to be used for the edi- fication of the people and in promotion of the glory of God amongst men. Is he administering the sacra- ments as our Lord Jesus Christ ordained^ and as His Church hath ordered the same ? Is he preaching the Gospel of the kmgdom as the Church hath received the same? Is he maintainmg the government and doctrine of the Church, giving all diligence to drive away and banish strange and erroneous doctrines ^ and dividing the Word of God with diligence and prayer ? Is he teaching the well, supporting the sick, mmister- ing to the dying, instructing the young, serving the Lord daily .? Surely, then, enquirement into details, 140 into modes and fashions, into ritual and customs which are neither superstitious, nor ungodly, nor im- moral, nor in contravention of declared and specified rules of the Church, may pass by. When the princi- ples are maintained details may profitably be allowed wide variety. There will always be friction between priest and people, or perhaps I should say, between some priests and some people. It may arise from in- discretion on the part of either. Can it be remedied by harryinjf either party, by driving them to defence of details or by curtailing liberty in the use of non- essentials ? It is the catholic spirit of give and take — mutual concession and love— which will alone, under the blessing of God, promote that harmony between priest and people which has never and never will be secured by arbitrary and aggravating application of law. Finally, I remind you that the Church has her- self provided a remedy for difficulties which may arise. . . . The bishop is our arbitrator, only limited in his decrees by the condition that '* his order in the matter at issue be not contrary to any- thing contained in the Book of Common Prayer." 141 Order and liberty in the services of the church. By J. C. Morgan, Es<| , M.A., Barrie. . . . . Myself a layman, with a layman's natural prejudices, but also the son of a clergyman with whom I was constantly associated for twenty years as Sun- day-school superintendent, organist, choirmaster, and general assistant in all parish work, I have been accustomed to hear all questions discussed by priest as well as by layman, and to look at them myself from the double standpoint of pulpit and pew. In addition to this,I have, since promising to discuss this subject, endeavoured to obtain the views of laymen of all shades of opinion, and the result of my enquiries has been to confirm me in the belief that the suggestions which I shall make represent the feelings of the laity generally, and are for the most part approved (though they may not be followed) by the clergy. To make my position still clearer, let me say that I am not in absolute sympathy with any one of the three great schools of thought within the Church First, let me enter an earnest plea for more varied and brighter services. The Book of Common Prayer wisely intended that the various services should be separate, and if this be kept in view a great variety is possible. That the usual practice is very different will not be denied. Our services, then, should be varied, bright, and attractive, accompanied by plenty of decoration, flowers, etc., and with nearly as much music as it is possible to introduce. As to the style of the music, opinions will, of course, differ, but I am 142 Methodist enouji'h (the old-fashioned Methodist, not the modern product with its highly paid quartette choir) to feel that the congregation, as a whole, should be able to take their part in all the music which forma an integral part of the service. The intoned service rendered by a large and well-trained choir, with a clergyman who has musical taste and the requisite voice, is to me delightful and elevating. As one generally hears it, with an ordinary choir and the average clergyman (to whom the sacred rite of ordination has, of course, not ^iven the musical voice taste, and education enjoyed by but few men), the result is not always agreeable, and is not seldom painful and even destructive of devotion to the possessor of a naturally good musical ear, even though untrained. Again, the reciting note is too high for most voices, and whilst the wisdom of its original adoption cannot be questioned you have only to listen to the reciting of the Creed, or the Lord's prayer, unsupported by an organ, to be often painfully aware that the voices have dropped anywhere frorr half a tone to a tone and a half. The same article restated in another form, viz , " Whatever is sung should be sung not only by the vast majority of the congregation, but should be done fairly well," should forbid the general singing of the psalms, cathedral services or anthems in any but churches which are thoroughly equipped musically. Much of this music, of course, must appeal directly to a musician, and an anthem during the offertory is enjoyable and may be elevating, especially if the con- gregation can be induced to stand, and so lessen the distinct suggestion of the concert room which usually accompanies such efforts of our choirs. But the essence of the Church of England is " a community of individual worship," and I object as strongly to 143 praise by proxy as I do to letting someone else in a " moving extempore effort " pray in my stead. F^or the hymns and the chants, too, the music should, for the most part, be such as can be "understanded of the people " and participated in by them, even if it be necessary in making the choice to ignore the canons of musical taste. Yet a constant effort should cer- tainly be made to raise the standard of church music, and to improve the character of congregational singing But if simplicity and brightness are advisable with grown people how essential are they with children, on whose behalf I now plead. Look round our churches, see how few children are present, study those closely, question any of them afterwards, and then ask, Are we wise, are we commonly just, in selfishly arranging the services to suit ourselves and so neglecting our children ? Do we adopt the same prmciple any- where else ? Is it not madness to spend our energies in pruning and trimming, in cutting and hacking (often uselessly), at the old, gnarled, and twisted trees, leaving the young saplings to grow equally deformed and crooked when they might so easily be trained to grow as we would have them, " straight into the eye of heaven"? .... He who said "Suffer little children to come unto me" never intended that the day which marks His final victory over sin and death should be disliked, as so many children dislike Sun- day, a day awaited with dread, and looked back upon with a sigh of relief as to one more punishment under- gone and passed. In their name I appeal to you for constant children's services, short and bright, regularlv held, too, at stated times, not doled out as if they were a charity It is sometimes objected that the power of speak- 144 ing successfully to children is a gift which few men possess. This may be so, yet anyone who makes an honest endeavour will soon reach a degree of efficiency no less pleasing to his hearers than to himself. But at any rate there still exist several alternatives. (a) Printed sermons may profitably be read, pro- vided always (and this is almost a necessity with children) they have been partially memorized by the preacher. (d) The public catechizing as provided for by the Church may be used. It cannot, I think, be claimed that even adults are nowadays as familiar as they should be with the essentials and " principles of the doctrine of Christ," the foundations of our most holy faith. (c) But valuable an institution as preaching un- doubtedly is, I cannot think that it is an essential part of public vvorship. Everyone must acknowledge regretfully that we, in this nineteenth century, are too much like the Athenians of old, ever anxious " to tell or to hear some new thing," an outcome of which is the sensational preaching and bizarre sermon subjects now so common. To me the natural order of importance seems to be praise, prayer, and preach- ing, whereas the popular idea seems to be, " And now abideth praise, prayer, and preaching, these three, but the greatest of these is preaching." But if the sermon be sometimes omitted, I should very often during children's services restore to the position which its importance warrants a service which grown-up people hear all too seldom, and which should be very familiar to children. We teach them that there are two sacr.iments generally necessary to salvation ; but whilst the Eucharist is invested with every solemnity which belongs to it, and our few MS churchgoing children (once a month at least) have its existence and its importance forcibly brouj^ht before them, baptism is usually nothing more to them than a notice published in church. It is not easy to over- estimate the efifect produced on children of all ages by attending the service of baptism reverently per- formed, particularly if they are encouraged to take their pirt in it, and if the full meaning and nature of this sacrament is carefully explained to them. Nor would these children's services be enjoyed by themselves alone. Grown-up people have assured me that children's services appealed to them more di- rectly than their own. They touch memories long sleeping and awake them to the full tide of life as by the wand of a magician. I'arents who rarely or never go to church will sometim.es accompany their children to their services and kneel with them before their common Saviour and Lord, for "a little child shall lead them." My brethren of the clergy, the tender touch of a child's hand will lead many a father where neither your persuasion, nor the fear of hell, nor, alas, the hope of heaven will take him. The most un- erring path to a father's heart is through his little ones. But if any clergyman be doubtful of his capacity to address or to catechize children, can he not find in his congregation for enlistment in the good work one or more laymen who could be of material assistance to him ? Would it be hopelessly heterodox to allow such a man to address the children — of course under his direction — from the chancel steps ? And this brings me to one more topic on which I shall touch — all too briefly, as my time is short, al- though its supreme importance would warrant its be- ing made the subject of a full day's discussion with I4« ' the frankest interchange of honest opinion, in order to determine the direction and extent to which lay help should be employed In a large congregation one laymen or moie might with advantage be often commissioned to read the lessons and other parts of the service. At the risk of being considered hypercritical or absolutely wrong, I must either be deficient in the perfect frankness which should characteiize a Conference of this sort, or I must give utterance to the general verdict of the pew that most of the clergy of the Church of England in Canada, despite their acknowledged position socially and intellectually, either have very mistaken ideas as to the style of reading which is best calculated to bring out the meaning of a passage and to arrest and hold the attention of their hearers, or they have, in the multiplicity of their studies, neglected to cultivate the art of simp'e but expressive reading. But if lay helpers could do nothing else they might often act as a buffer between minister and people in the little disputes which so often arise. Reasoning from analogy, the use of such an advisory parish board must be apparent to anyone, though the full measure of its importance and usefulness can be ap- preciated only by those who have fairly tried the ex- periment in some form. One most useful function they could perform, the consideration and settlement, under the clergyman, of all the unimportant trifles which a difference of opinion or habit commonly brings into undue prominence, and not seldom con- verts into a casus belli. In all matters of absolute right or wrong, in matters of faith and doctrine, let our clergy set their faces as flint, and unyieldingly do their duty as stewards of the mysteries of God, to whom alone they are responsible. But in unim- m portant matters the priest of a parish who wishes to make his ministry wise, long, and beneficent will largely subordmate himself, will n'eet the views, not alone of the majority of his congregation, but some- times also of the opposing minority, that each may recognize that the other may be equally or at least partially right, and learning the lesson that "truth, though one, is many sided," may adopt as the final rule and guide the principle which would lull into peace and harmony the most widely differing and discordant elements within a parish. '"'' In necessariis unitas^ in non necessariis liberatas, in omnibus caritas" — the charity that is not pufted up, that sufFereth long and is kind, that thinketh no evil, the feeble human echo and reflection of Him who is Himself Love eternal, to preach and teach Whom is the sacted mission of His bride, our most holy Church. 148 DOCTRINE AND RITUAL: HOW RELATED. By Rev. Prof. Clark, D.C.L., Toronto. It is an old saying : '•"Lex credendi^ lex orandi' — the law of faith is the law of worship ; and although the subject now under discussion is the connection between doctrine and ritual, and not between doc- trine and worship, yet, as ritual is the outer side of worship, they are in meaning inseparable. There are certain convictions and sentiments which underlie all worship, and which, therefore, should find expression in ritual. Fundamental among these is the sense of God, His goodness and greatness, and of our depend- ence upon Him, giving rise lo gratitude, desire, and adoration. Consequently the principal elements in all worship will be reverence and sacrifice — rever- ence, or the feeling of the greatness and nearness of God, of our own littleness and dependence ; and sacrifice, or the surrender, consecration of ourselves and all that we are and have to God — to His will and to His service. In worship and in ritual we should seek to embody these sentiments. And this will be seen alike in sacred buildings, in the furniture and ornaments of these buildings, and in the manner of worship or ritual. One aspect of the matter will strike us at once. We may feel tolerably sure that, when people spend copiously on their own dwellings, and sparingly and grudgingly on their houses of prayer, religion must be at a low ebb. " See now," said the man after God's own heart, *' I dwell in a house of cedar ; but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains." (II. Sam. 149 vii. 2.) The devout soul shrank from the thought of making worse provision for the worship of the Most High than for his own lodging. A story is told of a Highlandei who had been accus- tomed to the bare service in a poor church at home and came to York, and was present at one of the great services in the glorious minster. " Ah,'' he said, *' they treat the Almighty like a shentleman here." Every age has more or less rejiresented its faith or want of faith m the monuments which it has raised for the service of God. We cannot contemplate the buildings of the thirteenth century without being con- vinced of the deep and beautiful spirit of that great age. On the other hand, if we look at the churches of the eighteenth century, even if we do not agree with Mr. Ruskin that they are the work of the devil, we can hardly believe that they were under the same inspiration as Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Shur, of the tribe of Judah. We shall not get people to believe that we care much for a cause on which we are unwilling to spend much; and wherever a revival of religion takes place it will make itself felt and seen in the outward evidences of devotion and sacrifice. Thus the evangelical revival of the eighteenth century began at a time of great deadness in religion and of miserable poverty in architecture. The effect of the revival was seen at once. The early evangelicals were not neglectful of worship, nor did they entirely neglect symbolism. Probiibly the necessity of acting with Nonconformists and the growth of ecclesiastical developments to which they had a certain antipathy may have repelled them from anything which they regarded as approach- ing to ceremonialism. Bui we are indebted to them for more than a revival of evangelical teaching and spiritual religion. Before this time the ordinary Eng- lish parish church had Holy Communion only three or four times a year. The Evangelicals practised monthly celebrations, and the devout members of that fellowship were seldom absent from communion. Nor was this all. They led the way in the im- provement of Church song. They found Tate and Brady in full possession, helped out by the dozen hymns or so which were printed along with the " new version" of the Psalms. It will hardly be believed at this moment that the new hymn books weie regarded as Methodist innovations, and many conservative Churchmen doggedly sat down when anything was sung which was not printed at the end of their Prayer Books. There can be little doubt that a certain reverent arrangement of the church, its furniture and its ser- vice^, is found to be not merely a vehicle for worship, but a distinct help to devo ion. There are places which irritate the mind by their unsuitable surround- ings, as there are other places which seem to have a certain harmony and correspondence with the work of worship. In some spots irreverence seems almost impossible. In a certain English church, fifty years ago, there was a gallery in the chancel, on the front of which was displayed in gorgeous colouring the royal arms — the lion and the unicorn. The gallery and its orna- ments have long ago disappeared, and now the eye falls upon the cross over the holy table — surely a more suitable ornament for a Christian church. We are told of the danger of symbolism and reminded of the brazen serpent. There are dangers connected with evf rything, but " Abusus non tollit ttsum.^^ In regard to modes of worship, no hard and fast 151 line can be laid down. Oriental nations stood in prayer with uplifted hands, Westerns knelt with folded hands. Both ways are good. The Council of Niccea ordered the worshippers to stand on the Lord's day, and such is still the Eastern custom. The Pro- testant Reformers of VVestern Europe practised stand- ing, probably in opposition to Western Catholic cus- tom ; but their descendants have generally aban- doned this method Yet we might say that standing is a better attitude for prayer than sitting. In regard to our public worship, there are certain hopeful signs in the greater interest taken in the ser- vice by the congregation at large, shown by their joining in the responses and the singing. Yet there are now some growing signs of an opposite character, when the singing is to a great extent of a character so elaborate that only the choir can take part in it. Everywhere in Anglican churches and in the other communions there is a danger of the service becom- ing little else than a concert of sacred music, and this would be a very serious matter. In regard to the limits of ritual and such matters, the speaker said he was unable entirely to go with some of those who preceded him, but time would not allow the discussion. 152 DOCTRINE AND RITUAL: HOW RELATED. By Lawrence H. Baldwin, Esq., Toronto. In dealing with the subject which has been allotted to me, I assume that the legality of ritual is allowed, as, indeed, it must be, and that doctrine is essential to the right knowledge of God. The legality of ritual allowed because we are to take the ornaments rubric in the Prayer Book to mean what it says, and we find all through the Bible divine directions in reference to the use of an elaborate ritual in the service of God ; and doctrine essential because it is the statement of facts bearing on the very existence of the triune God, and on the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, His life. His death, His resurrection, by whom and through whom we have life etern:al. The mission of Christ's Church is to preach the Gospel, that is, to make the Gospel known unto all nations, that by this knowledge all men may have eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. In the words of the second Collect for Morning Prayer : " In knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life." But let us clearly understand what is meant by doc- trine and what is meant by ritual before I go on to speak of their relation one to the other. By doctrine we mean that '* form of sound words unto which we are delivered," which enables us to know God, and which moulds our lives on the pattern of the one per- fect life. In the Christian religion it embodies those facts upon which our redemption depends — facts that enable us to know God in the three Persons of the blessed Trinity, and know the facts or consequences 153 tliat follow the acceptance of salvation through Christy in His Church, by baptism, namely, the remission of sins, the communion of saints, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. These facts are set forth in the cardinal doctrines of the Christian Church, which the Church must ever be faithful in holding and teaching, in fulfilling the will of her divine Head. Doctrine is, in other words, the dogmatic statement of facts. What do we mean by ritual ? Ritual is a form or ceremony in use in divine service. To enable me to keep to my subject I will divide acts of ritual into two classes. Firstly : " Those forms and ceremonies in divine service " which, as Blunt says, " are bodily manifesta- tions of spiritual worship, and the ordinary means by which that worship is expressed to God." Secondly : " Those forms and ceremonies in divine service" which aid us through our bodily senses in realizing and comprehending the doctrines of the Church. Those truths upon which we know our sal- vation depends, the truths set forth in the creeds of the Church. It is with the latter aspect of ritual that I have more especially to deal, though one must, to a great extent, overlap or depend on the other. And as in the one case ritual is a handma'd to divine worship, and divinely ordered for that purpose, so, m the other, is it a handmaid ia teaching and in establishing doctrine. In secular teaching we continually resort to acts of ritual as aids to instruction, the use of the academic gown as an emblem of authority being a striking instance. In the army, where it is a cardinal doctrine that absolute discipline must prevail, the maintenance of 154 discipline is aided by an elaborate ritual. In the houses of parliament and in the courts of law it is by the aid of ritual that law and order are upheld. The great intiportance of ritual is well put in one of the tracts of the Church Association, as follows : " It is often asked, What matters the dress if the (iospel be preached ? And this query is advanced as though it were conclusive. Now to this we reply that m itself it matters not a feather's weight, and if no prmciple is involved our subject is not worth the paper on which we write. This question, however, is altogether beside the mark, since we are not dis- cussing the efficacy of a garment, but the custom of a Church. It so happens that costume and colour are often fraught, as a matter of fact, with much sig- nificance. The Yorkist and Lancastrian, in our Wars of the Roses ; the Bourbon and the Republican, in the French Revolution, fought with equal valour ; and undergraduates, in our annual boat races, have contended for victory with equal courage. Who sup- poses that their distinctive badges mfluenced their zeal ? And yet a political principle may be indi- cated by white and red, and a university known even by a shade in blue. The real question of the gown in the pulpit is its effect, not on the preacher, but on the people. Many who listen carelessly will judge by what they see rather than by what they hear^ and It is this which imposes importance on a matter apparently unimportant in itself." What quotation could be more apt than this ? And mark that much of the ritual of the Church is con- nected with some principle, namely, some doctrine, and v/here that ritual is lost an essential principle is often so obscured as to be thought of little or no im- portance. , . . 155 Let me deal more particularly with ritual in this relation to doctrine, and explain what I mean by a few instances. Baptism is the only entrance that we know of to the kingdom of heaven. Our Lord Him- self says : " Except ye be born of water and of the Spirit, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.'' "By baptism we are made members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven." It is thus the door to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. Th's is so essential 'bat every means pos- sible should be taken to teach and impress this doc- trine. Ritual aids us by placing the font at the dooi of the Church, it being the only entrance to the material buildmg, thus helping us to realize more fully that baptism is the only entrance to the household of God. The use of water in baptism, besides btiig in accordance with the divine command, impresses upon us a profound doctrine — that baptism is indeed a cleansing from sin, and by the immersion of the child we realize that it is indeed a death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness. In the baptismal office, after the child is baptized, we see that the priest changes the coloured stole he wears from violet to white ; this is a ritual act which emphasizes the words of the Prayer Book : " Seeing now, dearly beloved, that this child is regenerate and born anew " ; it also symbolizes purity and innocence, the child of wrath having now become the child of God, and having been cleansed and '' made white from the stain of sin," and (in the words of the Church Association tract) " many judge by what they see^ rather than by what they hear^ . . . . At the name of Jesus we reverently bow our heads, ever declaring our belief in the divinity of our Lord — a doctrine so stoutly assailed by one of the 156 first heresies, and a heresy which, alas ! still survives to be combated by all means in our power, even by ritual. We a^ain realize more deeply the fact that He took upon Himself our human nature by kneeling, or bowing our heads, at the repetition of the words in the creed, " He was made man," recognizing His great condescension in taking upon Himself our human nature to be the Saviour of all men. Many seal their faith by crossing themselves at the end of the creeds, also in token that they are not ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified. These several acts of ritual aid in establishing in us a true belief in God, and have a direct bearing in teaching the doctrines of the Church. We do realize the fact that " many who listen carelessly will judge by what they see rather than by what they hear." It is this which imposes importance on all matters of ritual. We have bodies and know how much we are mfluenced through our senses by our surroundings. Our faith must be weak, indeed, if we do not appreci- ate these helps that God Himself has given to us. I once heard one, who is considered among us to be an Evangelical authority, asseverate what a power music has in movmg people to devotion. Is the sense of hearings I ask, alone to be allowed its place while sight is deprived of its oftice in the service of Him who has bountifully blessed us with all our senses ? No, let God be recognized, not only by faith, which is His free gift to us, but also through the human senses, which are Hi's creation. Let us now reverently refer to some of the acts of ritual in use in the office for the Holy Communion, as bearing on the doctrmes surrounding the great central act of worship in the Christian Church, instituted by Christ Himself, which with baptism makes, according 157 to our catechism, the two sacraments generally neces- sary to salvation. In believing our Lord's words, "This is My Body," "This is My Blood," and in teaching others to believe them, must we not surround the service of the altar with all the aid to devotion and belief which lies in our power ? and, remember- ing again that " many judge more by what they i^^ than by what they hear,'* much help can and does come from the use of an elaborate ritual, not only in the ornaments of the church, but also in the use of special vestments for her ministers. It is in this ser- vice we see that ritual has such a close relation to doctrine ; some of the ritual in use being so stoutly condemned — condemned, not because it is ritual (we are all. High and Low, admittedly ritualists), but con- demned on account of certain ritual acts standing as a principle for certain doctrines. If the ritual is to be done away with, it must first be proved that the doctrine it symbolizes is false, for if the doctrine be false the ritual is false also. If the doctrine be sound the ritual will remain, and indeed we should all wel- come its use as a handmaid in teaching the Catholic faith. I purposely avoid reference to any special ritual in use in the celebration of the Holy Comi lun- ion, wishing to avoid any acrimonious debate at this time in reference to the doctrines surrounding the holy mysteries, referring rather to the use of ritual gener- ally as it bears on doctrme. The term "ritualist" applies with equal force to him who wears the academic gown in the pulpit as to him who wears the chasuble in the sanctuary, and cannot be used as a term of reproach to be applied to one party in the Church. The onslaught against ritual should be transferred to the doctrine the ritual upholds. And the ritualist, be he High or Low, found using a ritual which 158 teaches false doctrine should be condemned as a heretic,and brought under the discipline of the Church. We, the sheep of the flock, look to our fathers-in-God to protect us from all false doctrine and to feed us by all means m their power with the nourishing food of the doctrines of the Catholic faith. The continuity of the Anglican Church is a question continually before us. We can at once see what a great power ritual can be in teaching that the Anglican Church is a true branch of the Iioly Catholic Church, that she believes and teaches i: Catholic faith as handed down by the ancient fa ^ers, and in " seeking out the old paths and walking therein " she uses the same ritual, the same vestments for her priests, the same ornaments in the church, the same order in her services. Some, indeed, adhere to the Sarum ritual, a ritual distinctive of the English Church, and use this ritual to some extent m prmciple as a protest against Rome. But in either case, whether the ritual be Roman or Sarum, it all bears testimony in a most effective way to the Church's continued life and doctrine, and we see what an important factor ritual is in upholding our position as a true branch of the Holy Catholic Church. Let me repeat again that ritual is a handmaid to doctrine, impres ing, on those that see, the doctrines we /tear taught in the Church" of God. Now, it is essential that a handmaid be found faithful in all that she does ; so must it be with ritual. It must be a Christian ritual in the Christian Church. He who uses a ritual which denies any of the doctrines of Christ's Church is hindering the preaching of the Gospel. But, on the other hand, let us not neglect any means in our power which aids in teaching all those things that a Christian ought to know and believe to 159 his soul's health. And again, remembering " that many are impressed more with what they see than what they hear^'' let us make use of all the ritual possible which upholds and teaches the doctrines of the Catholic faith. Then will ritual be a true hand- maid to doctrine, faithfully preaching Christ and Him crucified, holdmg Him up, as Moses did the brazen serpent, so that all men may be drawn unto Him. i6o DOCTRINE AND RITUAL : HOW RELATED. By the Rev. W. J. Armitage, Rector of St. Thomas', St. Catharines Rural Dean of Lincoln and Welland. The discussion of the relation of doctrine to ritual is not without its dangers, on the one hand from pre- judice, on the other from indifference. The subject, however, presses itself continually upon the attention of Christian people, and raises almost as much con- troversy as did the settlement of matters of faith in earlier days. It is an intensely practical question to Churchmen, and deserves the most careful study on the part of all who desire to see Christian worship worthy of God, to whom it is due, and truly helpful to those who desire to offer acceptable service in spirit and in truth, in the name and through the mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. . . . It will be well, perhaps, at the outset, to define our terms. The title, " Doctrine and Ritual," is local in character, and the reference to the doctrines of the Christian Church, as stated by our own branch of the Church of Christ in her formularies ; and to the ritual either prescribed or in partial use in our Church. Christian doctrine may be defined as a systematic statement of belief, a scientific definition of the faith of the Christian Church, or of any branch of it, as drawn from the revealed Word of God. It is the plain assertion of a positive truth, set forth for accept- ance or belief, in contrast to a mere opinion or specu- lation, and fror» which, as from mathematical axioms, we have ground for argument. The term " ritual " may be taken to cover any pre- i6l scribed form or method for the performance of a ceremony, religious or otherwise, and the reference in the title is, I presume, to the ceremonies authorized in the Book of Common Prayer. The use of forms and ceremonies is a necessity in Christian worship. As the notice in the Prayer Book entitled, " Of Ceremonies, why some be abolished and some retained," states : "Without some ceremonies it is not possible to keep any order or quiet discipline in the church." It may be well, however, to notice an opinion which has gained currency in some quarters, and which re- ceived the countenance of the Lambeth judgment, that rittial tnay be meaningless^ that there is nothing behinu certain ceremonies, and that thev have not the significance which Church parties attach to them. We are told in the judgment that the statement, "by whomsoever put forward," that the eastward position has a special significance, that it is "a sacrificial posi- tion," "the natural attitude of one offering a sacri- fice," is new and forced, and without foundation. This principle, however, is not conceded by those who use the eastward position. For instance. Dr. Pusey declared that " the standing before the altar means the primitive doctrine of the Eucharistic Sacri- fice," and Canon Carter said that it represents the act of a priest towards God. And shortly after the deliverance of the judgment one of the Archbishop's assessors in the Lincoln trial. Dr. Temple, Bishop of London, said that while the north side brought the communion aspect into prominence, the east- ward position pointed in the direction of its sacrifi- cial aspect. Nothing is to be gained from any standpoint in the Church by belittling ritual usages as puerile. They 162 are of great importance to the user, and have to him and others deep doctrinal significance. And it seems foolish to deny that the real reason certain usages and ceremonies are introduced^ on the one hand, and opposed, on the other, is that there is doctrine behind them — doctrine associated with them in such a way that it is impossible to divorce the one from the other. It is not easy to define the relation of ritual to doc- trine. It appears to depend upon the well-known mental law of the association of ideas. The connection between ceremonies and teaching is in some cases natural, as, for instance, water is a symbol of purifica- tion ; sometimes as arbitrary and artificial as mathe- matical signs, as, for instance, when we are told that two lighted candles on the holy table symbolize the human and divine natures of our blessed Lord. The meaning of symbols is open to continual change,but as a rule it is conventional, and men attach to a ceremony the meaning which those who use it connect with it. This finds illustration in many cus- toms. The Jews cover their heads to express rever- ence in the house of prayer, while we uncover ours for the same reason. In China white garments are the signs of mourning, the place of honour is on the left hand, while taking off the hat is an insolent ges- ture conveying nothing short of an insult. It is, perhaps, impossible from a priori reasoning to prove that any ceremony teaches what its advo- cates claim for it, but when habit has linked a cer- tain association with an outward symbol, and that, perhaps, for centuries, it seems absurd to say that, because this need not necessarily mean what is claim- ed for it, therefore an individual is free to act a? though it were meaningless. 163 There are two main theories held by Churchmen concerning the employment of forms and ceremonies in public worship. (i) The first theory is that of the adoption of a form of service and dignified ceremonial as the natural ex- pression of spiritual feeling, and as the necessary garb of worship. (2) The second theory is that of the use of ritual- ism as a system of symbolism designed to teach dogma. The advocates of the first system claim for it that while it lays its chief stress upon simplicity, natural- ness, order, and spiritual upbuilding, the chief marks of New Testament worship being decency, order, edification, it has no quarrel with the beautiful, but invites to its aid all that will add attractiveness, beau- ty, and dignity to the worship of God, all that brings joy to the heart, delight to the mind, and satisfaction to the aesthetic sense. The worship of God ought to be orderly, comely, beautiful, and glorious. This system proceeds upon the use of natural signs as manifestations of devotion — the leading principle upon which our Prayer Book is formed. (i) There are natural signs of devotion, such as that of the bended knee in prayer, which, as Carlyle says, since Adam,has been the attitude of supplication. We kneel to pray, we stand to praise, we sit to hear. There are natural gestures in religious worship, such as the laying on of hands, which is a most ex- pressive symbol of a solemn blessing, or of setting apart to a sacred office, and is most fittingly used in ordination and confirmation. Christ Himself used only wrt/wra/jryw^tf/j-, the sim- ple things in nature — water, bread, wine — in the two great institutions of His Church, Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 164 In Baptism water is the expressive symbol oi zXtzxi^- ing, signifying the blood of Christ, which taketh away all sin, and the purifying and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Communion the bread and the wine are the natural symbols of appropriation, assimilation, and participation, of communion or fellowship, of strengthening and refreshmg, pointing, as they do, to the broken Body and poured-out Blood of our divine Redeemer. The surplice^ of fine white linen, is a natural sym- bol of purity ; the ring, in marriage, is a visible pledge of fidelity and of constant love ; the joining of hands of a solemn compact ; the casting of earth upon the body in the burial service a sign of its return to the earth from which it came. The only exception to this principle of natural expressions of devotion in the Prayer Book which occurs to my mind is the sign of the cross in baptism^ which was exceptional^ and required a long canon to explain the reason why it was retained at the Refor- mation. The sign of the cross was an ancient and widely used symbol of our redemption^ and, as the sixtieth canon states, was a badge " whereby the infant is dedicated to the service of him who died upon the cross." The second theory is that of symbolic ritualism^ called by Carlyle " the scenic theory of worship," the use of signs to set forth dogmas. It is what Ruskin calls '* exhibitory," and is the elaborate sys- tem of signs and symbols appealing to the senses, and having for its main object the teaching of doc- trine. Amongst its advocates are found those who love the ornate and sensuous, those who adopt it upon the principle of utility as a convenient vehicle i6s Or a useful instrument for leaching certain dogmas, and those who consider that symbolic ritualism, find- ing its pattern in the Mosaic economy, is of divine appointment and of universal obligation. This theory is open to great objection, and for two main reasons : (i) ^^ obscures the true idea of wor- ship, which should be the spontaneous devotion of the heart in adoring love, by the conscious effort to make every action teach some doctrine. The best form is that which, like John the Baptist, points only to Christ. (2) It is a backward step, and a long one, from the spiritual realities of Christianity to the material and earthly elements of Judaism, and to the special features which it had in common with heath- enism. The system of symbolic ritualism seeks its justifi- cation in Judaism. It has little sympathy with the simplicity of the Christian worship portrayed in the New Testament, which took as its model the syna- gogue rather than the temple. It, therefore, takes as its pattern the symbolico-typical ritual of the Mosaic economy, with its outward forms expressing higher religious ideas, and its ceremonies, which, as St. Paul declares, were shadows of future persons and things. The Hebrew, living in spiritual infancy, looking for- ward to the promised Messiah, needed types and shadows of His person, life, and work, and those were furnished in symbolic persons, in symbolic ob- jects, in symbolic acts. He had the tabernacle, the priesthood, the altar, the sacrifices, which were pro- phetic symbols of Christ. But t^e Levitical system was intended by God to be but of transitory duration. And it has been com- pletely fulfilled in Christ, and finally abrogated by His finished work. To return to it, to overlay the si - _^ :„ '-- 166 ----- plicity of the Gospel with Judaic observances, is, aS St. Paul wrote to the Galatians, to return to " the weak and beggarly elements" of outward observances ; in their case to subject themselves again, by accept- ing Jewish instead of Gentile ritualism, to that "yoke of bondage" which they had thrown oflf in Christ . . Symbolic ritualism in some cases symbolizes doc- trmes which are true, but it is associated with many errors and corrupt practices in the Church to which evil memories naturally cling. Many of its practices are purely pagan in origin and were unknown in the purest ages of the Church. These practices were the result of compromise, and arose through a desire to make the Christian and pagan systems compatible with each other in order to facilitate the work of con- version. An illustration of this is the permission given by Pope Gregory to Augustine to allow the sacrifice of oxen upon feast days ; and in ritual the thrice repeated casting of dust into the grave in the. burial office ; the custom of facing the east in worship, derived probably from Persian sun worship, and en- tering the Church from the common (ireek and Ro- man practice, and also the use of incense, concerning which Scudamore affirms there is no trace in Chris- tian woiship during the first four centuries. Amongst other observances derived from paganism might be mentioned the ceremonial use of lights, the adoration of images, the use of pictures, the venera- tion of relics, while Neander thinks that the worship of the Virgin Mary is directly traceable to that of Ceres It was Cranmer's proud boast that the services of our Prayer Book were conformable to the order which our Saviour Christ did both observe and command to be observed, and which His apostles and His prinii- 167 live Church used many years. His claim was that they were scriptural and primitive. Tennyson makes him cay in Queen Mary : '* Step after step, Thro' many voices crying right and left, Have I climb'd back into the primal church, And stand within the porch, and Christ with me." This is safe ground, and here Churchmen may be well content to stand in the light and liberty of the Gospel of Christ. 1 68 whitTbear GOLD MINE ROSSLAND, B.C., has these special FEATURES Soo.cxxj shares are set apart for development purposes (ample), and money obtained for all slock now sold is used on the property. The mine is paid for. The mine has the cclehrated Le Roi Vein (see prospectus). The shares are absolutely non-assessable, fully paid up. One Dollar Shares are offered at Ten Cents each until further notice, in lots of lOO shares and upwards. This company has the following directors in Toronto and the business is managed here : Hon. J. E. McDougall, Judge of County Court, Toronto. D. Morice, Terminal Superintendent of G.T.R., Toronto. Rev. J. H. Starr, Director of Dominion Savings ik. Investment Society, London, Ont. J. J. Warren, barrister, Toronto. W. T. Stuart, M.D., C.L., Toronto. There are now eighteen mines at Rossland equipped with steam plants, one of the latest additions being ?he WHITE BEAR. The Crown grai t has been issued for White Bear Mine. The Superintendent wires that the ore in the shaft is improving. The White Bear is a Canadian mine, worked by Canadians with Canadian machinery. IMPORTANT rnn Vnil ^° know that the money you put run lUU into mining shares is used to de- velop the mine in which you invest. Send for prospectus. FRED. J. STEW- ART, Member Toronto Stock Exchange, 30 Victoria street, Toronto. 169 MEDLAND & JONES INSURANCE t -» •' RKI'RBSENTINc; Scottish Union and National Insurance Co. of Edinrurgh. (iUARANTEK Co. OF NORTH AMERICA. Insurance Co. of North America. Canada Accident Ins. Cc Telephones ; / om Office — 1067. "ouse — W. A. Medland, 309a. A. F. Jones, 5028. Mail Building, •^ Torontc i^milius Jarvis & Co. Member Toronto Stock Exchange STOCK P.^^ BOND BROKERS . . . Toronto, Canada. Geo. Harcourt & Son Merchant Tailors ""^^ Robe Makers Good Work at Reasonable Prices. JOHN UNDERWOOD &C(] 14 and 16 Johnson 5t., TORONTO New York, Cliicago, Boston, Londo England. WRITING and , COPYING INKS Carbon Papers and Ribbons for Machines. 57 King St. West, - Toronto Church Fitting: IN WROUGHT IRON AND BRASS Manufactured by GEO. B. MEADOWS I 128 King St. West, Toron- 170 The Bryant Press Telephone 2377 Publishers Printers.... Binders 20 Bay Stkeet, Toronto A. & 8. NORDHEIMER Toronto. Montreal. W. & D. DINEEN Hatters AND Furriers Importers of SILK and FELT HATS. Manufacturers of LADIES' and tJENTS" FURS in the Finest Quality. Cor. king and VONGE STS. TORONiO W. H. SXONE TUnbcrtaftcr YoNGE 545 Street Telephone No. 932. Geo. Lugsdin & Co. 115 Yonge St., Toronto ALL KINDS OF ENGLISH and AMERICAN Harness Ladies' and Gentlemen's Riding Saddles, Bridles, Hunting Crops,. Spurs, etc. . Manufacturers of Trunks and Valises. i7i Comparative Synoptical Chart Company, Ud. PUBLISHERS OF HISTORY CHARTS ON : THE SCAIFE SYSTEM 77 Victoria Street, - Toronto. LIST OF HISTORIES NOW ISSUED : Large Chart of " UniJed States History," Students' Chart of " English History," Large Chart oj " English History," Students' Chart of " First Century of Christian Era and Life of Christ, Large Chart of " Canadian History," Chart of " History of U.S. Currency, i860 — 1896." REV. WM. CLARK, M.A., D.C.L., F.R.S.C, Professor of Mental and Moral Philcs ophy in Trinity (Episcopal) University, says : " I have examined your Chart with great car( and with much interest. There can be no doubt as to the usefulness of teaching history in this manner by the eye. It is more easily learnt and better retained by such a method ; and youi Chart se»;ms very cnmplete and very carefully constructed. It will be a great boon to schooli and colleges." AGENTS WANTED IN UNREPRESENTED DISTRICTS " K C O N O M Y " Furnaces and Heaten WARM air HOT WATER COMBINATION STEAM COMBINATION THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE J. F. Pease Furnace Co. HEATING ENQINECRS Send for Catalogues. ToRONT 173 Before the first Ontario railway was built, Before the first ocean steamer arrived, Before postage stamps were used in Canada, When jC s. d. was Canadian Currency, E. B. KDDY'S MATCHES Were known throughout Canada, as they are now, as the best matches made. Brass and Iron Bedsteads TILES. HEARTHS, GRATES MANTELS RICE LEWIS & SON Limited Cor. King and Victoria Streets, - Toronto 173 The Church of England Publishing Co, LIMITED .Toronto.... Letters patent have been issued by the Lieut. -Governor of Ontario in Coun- cil, incorporating this Company. The capital stock is fixed at 850,000, in shares of 850 each. We are sure that this announcement will be a matter of very real gratification to a very large number of Church people throughout the Dominion. It has long been felt that we are neglecting a very powerful agency for good in not having an organization for circulating amongst our people the vast and splen- did stores of literature which the Church of England has produced. This feeling has often found expression on the floor of our Synods, and many fruitless attempts have been made to get the Church in her corporate capacity to take active steps to provide for this great need. At last, despairing of any other remedy, and hearing from all parts of the country that the houses of our people were being filled with an alien and often hostile literature, and that anti-Church religious sentiment was thus being created, a few individuals determined to start a joint stock Church Publishing Company. The Company have set before them three objects. First, the establishment >f a Church paper, which, in information, editorial guidance, and literary character, shall be in some measure worthy of the Church of England. The issue of this paper is the first fruit of their desire in that direction. Second, the establishment of a Church bookroom, which will keep on hand and be the ready instrument for procuring promptly Church Books and all other current literature which the reading public may require. The third thing which the Company has set itself to accomplish is the establishment of a Church Printing and Publishing House. This has already been initiated and will be carefully and gradually expanded as the need grows. Catalogues of our books sent on application. Orders promptly filled Special discounts for libraries. Address Church of England Publishing Company, Ltd 17 Richmond Street West, Toronto. 174 WE DON'T PERFORM MIRACLES We don't claim to do impossible things. Some- times we can restore colors after cleaning garments, and sometimes we can't. Sometimes we are suc- cessful when others fail. But if Parker can't restore a color, you can set it down that nobody else can. 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R'd Ha'^court. >Cmilius Irving, Q.C. Robert Jaffray. Sir Frank S.nith. T. Sutherland Stayner. J. G. Scott, Q.C. aNDER THE APPROVAL OF THE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT THE COMPANY is accepted by the High Court of Justice as a Trusts Company, and from its organiza- tion has been employed by the Court for the investment of Court Funds. The Com- pany acts as EXECUTOR, ADMINISTRATOR, RECEIVER, COMMITTEE OF LUNATICS, GUARDIAN OF CHILDREN, ASSIGNEE OF ESTATES, AGENTS, Etc., and as TRUS- TEES UNDER DEEDS, WILLS, or COURT APPOINTMENTS or SUBSTITUTIONS. Also as Agents for Executors, Trustees, and others, thus relieving them from onerous and dis- agreeable duties. It obviates the need of Security for Administration. Estates promptly and econonically managed. Money to i^an at lowest current rates for long or short periods, and on most favorable terms on improved Farm and City Properties. J. W. LANGIVIUIR, Managing Director. 176 Insurance and Investment Combined The following; illustration forcibly presents the advantages derived from securing an Investment Policy in the North American Life Assurance Co. . Robertson Brothers, Wholesale and Manufacturing Confectioners, 107-113 Queen St. East, TORONTO, January 22ik1, 1S96. WM. McCABE, Esq., Managing Director North American Life Assurance Company, TORONTO. Dear Sir,— I am in receipt of yuur advice as to the accumulated profit results under my Policy No. 62, which was issued to me 15 years ago for $2,500 on the 1 5 Year Endowment Investment Plan. You tell me that the total cash value of the Policy is $3,878.36, which I fmd returns me just about 5 per cent, per annum compound interest for every dollar I have paid into your Company, and, in addition, has given me the protection of insurance for $2,500 for a • period of 15 years. As a business man looking at things from a business standpoint. I can only express my entire satisfaction with the result paid me under my policy, and must further say that the expectations of the success your Company would achieve, about which my old friend, the late Hon. Alex. Mackenzie, M.P., your first President, was so confident, have been fully realized. The least I can say is that your Company is an extremely good one for the policy-holders. Yours truly, THOMAS ROBERTSON. For PAMPHLETS explanatory of the Company's attractive investment plana of insurance apply to Head Office. William IVIcCabe, 22 to 28 King St. West, Toronto. Managing Dire«tor. FHl: TRUSTS CORPORATION of ONTARIO Undertakes all business in relation to Trusis, Executorships, Administrations, Guardianships, etc. Bonds and Debentures countersigned and Registered. Stock Transfer Otiice for hicorporated Conipanies. Offices and Safe Deposit Vaults: 19 AND 21 KING ST. WEST A. E. PLUMMER, Manager INTCO.RF'ORATED 1851 Wksti:kn Assurance Co. I'IRIC AND MAklNi:. Ukad Omkk: iOKOXro C'apilai Taid ii|) .. . $1,000, 000 Assets over 2,30(1,000 Aiimial Income 2,400,000 liON. (iKO. A. COX, rr-.'siieiit. \. ]. K1<;NN\, Managiiti^ Diralor. C. C. l''OSl'KR, Secretory. Western Canada Loan and Savings Co. Ksi Aiii.isiii'.n 1S63 ^ Pippe ' No. 76 Church Street, Toronto. I Cor. Main St. and Portage Ave., Winnipeg, Man. Sul\scrilvd Capital. - ^j.ooo.ooo Reserve. - - #7/0,()0(» I'.iid-up Capii:il. - l,5()t).0()(t Cnntiiij^enl Fund. - yo.odii \VAUTKl>i «. DEK, MANAOBK 4794 6 c>