man who was said to have received "episcopal ordination" and "letters of episcopal orders," shows that these phrases were used in a qualified sense, and that he did not consider that he or Mr. Asbury had received any higher order than that of presbyter, for "the order of bishops and presbyters is one and the same." That he made such a statement to the Conference, without objection, may also be taken as reflecting the sentiment of that body.

Bishop Asbury died on the last day of March, 1816, and, on the twenty-third of the following month, the Rev. Ezekiel Cooper delivered a funeral discourse on the deceased Bishop. Mr. Cooper was present at the first meeting of Coke and Asbury, and was familiar with the views of the early Church. In this sermon he affirms that "our church government . . . is founded on . . . the Scriptures, and also the usages of the primitive Church" and in the Appendix he speaks of the Methodist episcopacy as a "presbyterial episcopacy," and maintains that bishops and presbyters or elders are "the same order." *

Thus we are brought down to the death of Asbury, which may be said to close the first period of the history of the Methodist episcopacy. Through all this time the identity of bishops and presbyters as to order is in numerous cases both positively and tacitly affirmed. It may be admitted that there was, especially at one period, some confusion in the use of terms, and it is possible that some may have misunderstood the nature of the episcopacy; but the prevalent tenor of the transactions of the General Conference, as well as the statements of prominent individuals, demonstrate that the early Methodist Episcopal Church understood that a bishop had no order above that of presbyter or elder, and that the bishopric-" the episcopal office," as they called it was not an order, but an office of an executive character, and that he who filled it, though he was in office a Superintendent or Bishop, was in order only a presbyter or elder.

*Cooper on Asbury, pp. 109 and 115.

EDITORIAL MISCELLANY.

CURRENT TOPICS.

REVIVALS.

To the minds of most evangelical Christians there is something both pleasant and sobering suggested by the thought that is indicated by the rather indefinite term Revivals. It naturally calls up the idea of increased religious quickening, and the uplifting of united hearts and minds in faith and hope and holy endeavor, and also of the increase of Christ's kingdom by the conversion of souls. These ideas are common among religious people; but beyond these generally accepted notions there are not a few others in respect to which there is not equal unanimity. There is no such agreement in respect to the proper answer to the question, whether or not revivals should be considered the normal condition of church life, or special and occasional seasons of grace; nor, whether or not they should be labored for by direct efforts for their manifestations, or waited for in prayer and faith and the performance of moral and religious duties; nor, whether or not they have any relations to times and seasons, or are chiefly subject to human agencies and endeavors. All these questions are worthy of serious consideration, for they are potent in practical church work; and yet there are in many minds uncertainties respecting them, which may become prejudicial to religious interests.

If it shall be conceded that the religious state indicated by the word "revival" is the normal condition of the living Church, then it should also be expected that that state will be continuous and perennial, not occasional, with intervals of subsidence and cessation. But the commonly accepted form of language used in speaking of these things indicates that they are not so perpetual, as when we say a revival,—so giving it a segregated individuality, which would be absurd were the thing indicated continuous; and also because it is one, the idea of plurality becomes possible, and so we speak of revivals. In this case, as is usual, the common speech is no doubt agreeable to the facts, because revivals are special and exceptional phenomena in church life, but not therefore in the popular sense of the word abnormal. The alternations of the seasons and the changes of the wind are all normal, though the events of the one class occur according to an unalterable succession, and the other apparently without law, since "the wind bloweth where it listeth." The ordinary processes of nature are carried on in a well-regulated order, and yet it is well known that these may be either hastened or retarded, and also deflected into other forms; and so in spiritual things very much is clearly dependent on human actions. While, therefore, we recognize the ultimate subjection of the spirit of revivals to "sovereign grace," we

may also hold that its practical manifestation is not entirely removed from human influences; that while the residue of the Spirit is with the Lord, he also assures his people that for these things he will be inquired of.

The New Testament idea of the Christian life, whether in the individual or the Church, is that of an elevated spiritual estate—a walking in the light and abounding in all the graces of the Spirit, with the fruits following. That the life of the believer so walking with God should have its variations and spiritual crises seems to be according to the divine economy of Christian experience; and in like manner it might be presumed, apart from the evidence of facts, that there will be varieties in the operations of the Spirit in and through the Church. And such, it is known, has been the order of things in the Church, especially during its most spiritual periods, and changes from a lower to a higher state, from relative dullness to earnest vitality, and especially the outgoings of the Spirit's quickenings to the hitherto unsaved, constitute the gracious manifestations that we call revivals.

If, then, it should seem not quite correct to say that revivals constitute the normal state of the Church, they are certainly the normal products of the indwelling life of the Spirit, which is about equivalent to saying that if the Church is faithful to God he too will be faithful to his own promise to pour out of the abundance of his Spirit. It seems also to be the divine method that while the gifts of grace are continuous as the sunshine of the day and the dews of the night there shall also be occasional and exceptionally abundant showers of blessings."

The duty of the Church in the matter of revivals is not only very serious, but also especially delicate, often presenting perplexing difficulties. Revivals are so far essential to the Church's welfare, that without them it will in almost any case decline in spirituality and lapse into worldliness, and also fail of its power to promote conversions. The Church that has no revivals will soon cease to be a soul-winning and soul-saving Church. These are the early and latter rains which irrigate the spiritual lands, so as to carry them still flourishing through other and less signally favored seasons, and by their influence the dormant seeds of grace in unrenewed souls are quickened and developed into spiritual life. And because revivals are so desirable, and indeed necessary, they should be sought for by all legitimate means; but great care should be exercised that only such shall be employed. It is a fearful thing to offer strange fire before the Lord. It is not for the minister or the Church to " appoint" a revival, nor for the evangelist to "get one up." Seasons for special and united prayer and other spiritual exercises may be of great value, even if not followed by unusual results; but for a revival there must be a patient, but not inactive, waiting upon God, in devout expectancy, but with all diligence in well-doing. As the mariner does not cease his efforts when the tide and the winds are against him, no more should Christians cease to labor and pray with all diligence in the most unpropitious seasons. It is always right and good to desire and work for a revival, but it is not good to try to force it, and it is impious to attempt to counterfeit it.

Genuine revivals are not only seasons of present refreshing, but they send their influences forward in blessings for after times. A revival Church is to those that abide in it the house of the Lord, stored with grace and adorned with the beauty of holiness; to those that are without, it is as a city set on a hill, and as a light shining in the world's darkness; but spurious and counterfeit revivals are a blight and a curse, both to the Church and the unsaved world. The religious fervors awakened by this kind of spiritual galvanizing, even though not consciously hypocritical, are unproductive and evanescent, and after they have passed by, the last case of their subjects is worse than the first. A sadder spectacle is not often seen than is presented by a social community that has been thus swept over by a religious sirocco, leaving behind it blighted souls and a widespread spiritual desolation. It is a fearful truth that should never be lost sight of by those who watch for souls, that every one upon whom the influence of a revival, genuine or spurious, is exercised, is either profited or damaged by it; that to be subjected to such spiritual influences without being made better is fearfully perilous, and these evil results may follow, in cases where there is not much of the true spirit of revival. A revival that comes by the power of the Holy Spirit is the bringer in of a renewed and lasting spiritual power to those who accept its benefits; and just the opposite results flow out of and accompany the spurious or artificial excitements that are called by that name.

The use of revival methods among young people and children, though a desirable work with large capabilities of good, is an exceedingly delicate duty, and not without its perils. Granting, as we certainly do, that there can be no spiritual life without regeneration, effectuated through penitence and prayer and faith, and also that children may be converted at an early age, seven to ten years old, we must also insist that parents and pastors and Sunday-school workers should be very careful how they handle such delicate and tenderly sensitive subjects; for the plastic docility which yields so readily to right instructions is also especially liable to be misled and perverted. To become religiously excited only to subside into indifference is to suffer great damage. To go forward for prayers, or in any way to be recognized as a seeker, without any deep and intelligent conviction of sin, or a settled purpose to lead a new life, whatever doing so may cost, is not a trifling error; and to pass through a Sunday-school revival without attaining to a scriptural conversion is to take a wide step in the wrong direction. These are momentous considerations, to which all who are charged with such interests should give heed.

The high estimate that is put upon revivals as phenomena in church life, and forms of Christian activity, is by no means in excess of their true value, and for that reason they should be not only diligently employed, but also carefully guarded from abuses. In and through them the ascended and glorified Christ has in all the ages of the Church fulfilled his promise of his perpetual presence, to the end of the Christian age. They have sometimes been given in the darkest seasons, and among conditions when it seemed that the light of spiritual life had gone out

and the Church had failed of its great design. But they are especially frequent and refreshing, and gloriously powerful, when the Church is walking in the obedience of faith and fulfilling its high calling, praying, watching, and working for the coming of the Lord.

THE PROHIBITION MOVEMENT.

It is an old remark, about equally trite and true, that the beginnings of great popular movements are usually occult, and often past finding out. That now so rife against intemperance and the liquor traffic is not absolutely new, but it has lately assumed broader proportions, and passed from the condition of a quiescent conviction to an active and aggressive propagandism; and though there is abundant reason for even greater zeal against the rum demon than has before been brought into action, yet no special cause for its revival at this time is apparent. But the fact is not to be denied that the conviction is every-where deepening, that the desolations of intemperance are fearfully alarming, and that the trade in intoxicants is a nuisance that should be abated, and a public wrong calling for immediate and complete suppression. The presence of this feeling is patent, however it may have come to be. It is in the air, and can neither be ignored nor practically disregarded, and it may be well for all interests that may be affected by it, economical, social, or political, to recognize it as a factor in all their future calculations. This incoming flood is not the result of some temporary local storm, but of the rising tide of convictions that have come to possess the public mind in the forms of pity for the suffering, and of indignation against those who, for sordid gain, willingly become the agents of all this ruin. It is plain, too, that the force of these convictions has as yet only very partially expressed itself; and it is safe to anticipate that, instead of the present ripplings of the waves, a mighty ground-swell of awakened purposes will sweep over the land.

The presence of this movement was manifested in the late general election chiefly as a disturbing force, but quite sufficiently so, not only to indicate its existence, but also to suggest that it was backed by an unmeasured reserve of power. The votes cast for what was called the "Prohibition ticket" can, in no just sense, be taken as a measure of its extent and influence. The interests of the people were drawn away, with almost unprecedented intensity, to other issues, and uncounted thousands of the most determined Prohibitionists were saying, "Not now; the contest for the presidency is now the great issue, and for the time being the paramount one." Whether or not they acted wisely in this is a matter of less importance practically than is the fact itself; and this uncounted reserve force of the prohibition army, which refused to come to the front, is neither dispersed nor demoralized, but they are resting on their arms, and waiting for the reveille and drum-beat, to call them to go forward. If was believed, indeed, that the so-called National Prohibition party, to