her lines, which have comforted so many Christian breasts, have been the means of awakening in the hearts of two tempted and erring men, on the other side of the globe, a resolution to lead a better life." It was a source of great joy to Miss Cary, as we happen to know. Before us lies a private letter from her to an aged friend, in this city, with the printed story enclosed, and containing this comment: "I enclose the hymn and the story for you, not because I am vain of the notice, but because I thought you would feel a peculiar interest in them when you know the hymn was written eighteen years ago-1842-in your house. I composed it in the little back third-story bedroom, one Sunday morning, after coming from church; and it makes me very happy to think that any word I could say has done a little good in the world." NEARER HOME. One sweetly solemn thought Than I ever have been before: Nearer my Father's house, Where the many mansions be; Nearer the bound of life, Where we lay our burdens down. Nearer leaving the cross, Nearer gaining the crown. But the waves of that silent sea Oh, if my mortal feet Have almost gained the brink; Father, perfect my trust, On the Rock of the living faith. METHODISM AND THE AGE. METHODISM has acted upon the Churches till she has been acted upon in almost every particular-her practical Christianity, her system of finance, her peculiar doctrines, and even her polity. Is her own work accomplished? Churches have, at some point, attained their meridian, and then, turning from a Divine to a human standard, their progress has been an undue accommodation to circumstances, a resting upon the oars, a smoothing away of rough, angular, and jagged points which might offend the taste of a morbid and unsanctified refinement. Will such be the history of Methodism? Has she reached the meridian? God forbid! She has yet much to bequeath to posterity, and we see no necessity that the future historian should ever sketch her decline. There are two features peculiarly her own, which Methodism, under God, has stamped, we hope indelibly, upon the Church at large,-out-door preaching, and revivals. We do not mean to say that these were not known in the Church till the time of Wesley, but Wesley brought the old weapon, "out-door preaching," out of the scabbard, and showed how it could. be effectively used. The spiritual life which existed in the Churches of the Reformation had all but expired. Men had come to view Christianity from a worldly stand-point. True, there was a dim vision of something nobler beyond, a confused notion that Christianity had something to do with reformation of character and a life beyond the grave: but that the Church should descend to preach, to labour amongst, and live for, the uneducated and the poor, that the preacher of the Gospel should go beyond the church-walls, and discourse to sinners at the well, or by the way-side, in courts or lanes, or on the hill-slope, was both incomprehensible and repugnant. But God sent forth a few earnest men to shatter a prudish and soul-destroying formalism. Out-door preaching is no longer ours exclusively, but, as in former times, "the poor have the Gospel preached to them." Revivals were at first confined to Methodism, but now they have spread from Church to Church, till few that bear the name evangelical have been without these times of refreshing. A present salvation was once considered a Methodist innovation and the climax of fanaticism. It was deemed beyond the bounds of credulity for the returning prodigal to know, in the first moments of his return, that God was reconciled to him; but the doctrine was of God, and was proclaimed, felt, enjoyed, till the united testimony of the gathering hosts has become too strong for opposition; and now this doctrine is no longer ours alone, but the heralds of the Cross proclaim it from the pulpits of various forms of evangelism throughout the length and breadth of the land. Salvation for all has been longer in finding foot-room outside of Methodism, but it, too, is going forth to conquer. The questioning of the infallibility of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which has arisen amongst the thinking minds in the Calvinistic Churches of Scotland, and which threatens to become the question of the hour, is one amongst many evidences of this. There are still two peculiarities of Methodism which as yet are all but its own, but that may be-yea, are the heritage of the Church Universal; and we are thoroughly convinced its mission will never be accomplished till it has given them to all other branches of that Church. The one is the doctrine of full salvation, the other is Christian fellowship. It is not necessary here to enter into the defence of the former; but class-meetings, owing to objectors, require more than a passing remark. The superiority of class-meeting over every other form of Christian communion must be apparent to the thoughtful observer. Even at the Sacrament, though the numbers are limited, the character and tone of mind of the communicants must be to a large extent hid from each other, as well as from the minister. But in class-meeting the spiritual life of each member is pretty accurately known to the leader, and the leader's qualification for office is known to the board of which he is a member, and to the minister who presides; thus through class-meeting the individual character is not lost in the mass. We do not say there are no Christians amongst us who do not meet in class, but those who desire to "flee from the wrath to come," will generally find their way into the classmeeting; those who do not, are unfit for membership. Error and truth are ever in deadly conflict; and while we have been acting upon lifeless forms, and waning piety, they have been acting upon us, and possibly tinging us with the very evils we have been trying to remove. Take out-door preaching and revivals as illustrative of what we mean. We taught the Churches out-door preaching, and, in turn, they have hewn it out for us according to their own pattern. "In season," is undoubtedly the modern reform; "out of season" has been to a great extent dispensed with. Collisions with the authorities, proclaiming Christ to the mob, preaching anywhere and everywhere, according to the Wesley, Whitfield, Nelson and Ousely system, would be imprudent if not dangerous. Not to court opposition is wise; but to "avoid it by all means" is a modern "improvement." We have given out-door preaching to the Churches in rough outline; shall we accept the "improvement" in return? It may be urged that Christianity is more acceptable now than in the olden time. True; but not to the extent improvers would have us believe. Let the men who argue thus labour with the same unflinching heroism in the streets and fairs of Ireland as their fathers, and we guarantee them an almost, if not altogether equally warm reception. As to revivals, while being the medium of communicating these to others, have we not allowed them, both for themselves and us, to re-model the plan? The storms of feeling which agitated the masses, the cries for mercy, have they not been compressed into more polite bounds? The wail of anguish, and the bursting shout of praise, have not these ceased to be features in more refined religion? Should we not be able to rejoice in all outward signs of an inward decision for God? As to home-missionary enterprise, has mission work not merged unnecessarily, too often, into the pastoral? We would not by any means throw out these suggestions by way of blame; but in the midst of rapid changes in Church forms and governments, in the midst of increasing tendencies to error on the part of those who were once firm in the faith, we think it not out of place to remind our brethren that we are not exempt from the mutability possible-we might say, common to all; and while we stand and gaze at the changes in the character of the Churches, possibly we ourselves are undergoing similar transitions. Let us see to it that in all our reforms or remodellings we retain the essentials of true progress. Our motto as a Church should be, "Expansion and advancement;" not by breaking down our boundaries, and allowing our hitherto felt and enjoyed Christianity to be swamped by the tide of formalism, all distinctive tests between the Church and the world being abolished; not by modifying our doctrines, or our discipline, in accordance with the carnal mind's conception of refinement; nay, let us rather seek out the old paths, re-erect more emphatically our standards, re-apply our essential tests, and give to the Church of the present and the future, untarnished and unalloyed, our Scriptural and soul-saving and sin-destroying doctrines, and our grand yet simple Christian forms; loved by ourselves, honoured even by our enemies, and unequalled, not only since the Reformation, but since Apostolic times, for the promulgation, diffusion, and progress of true piety. THE CITY OF OUR GOD. O CITY of the jasper wall, And of the pearly gate! For thee, amid the storms of life, We long to walk the streets of gold O home of bliss! O land of light! O city where they need no light Could we, with eye of faith, but see On trifles here below. O home of bliss! O land of light! O city where the shining gates Shut out all grief and sin, Well may we yearn, amid earth's strife, The holy peace to win. Yet must we meekly bear the cross, Nor seek to lay it down, Until our Father brings us home And gives the promised crown. O home of bliss! O land of light! |