The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1868-05-27

outward through tne slhSle oonS eSaIloll
to the whole Catholic Church of true be,
levers. This will appear clearly if we
take single congregation and show how
the practical use of this principle of cor
porate life will enlarge the efficiency Of
any church that rightly uses it.
The prime requisite, in this case, is
suggested by the words in the text, "every
joint and every part. 1t is in the sup
ply furnished by every joint, and the work
performed by every part, that the secret
lies. In other words every memberof the
Church must be an active, not an honora-
ry member of the association worker,
not drone in the hive; and Wesley's
motto, in which is wrapped up the whole
history of Methodism, must be real,
lied, ''all at it, and always at it. Love,
the life blood of this body corporate,
must flow rich and warm, love to Jesus,
love 10 souls, love to one another. The
will give us in such church, one large,
loving family, clinging to one another,
caring for each others welfare, good name
and general interests, just as members of
the same household do; each seeking, not
his own, but the things of another; in
honor preferring one another; and so full
filling the traditional words of the last,
loving apostle, whose aged lips were wont
to say, when he could utter no other ex-
hortation, 'Little children love one an
other"
This promised and the work of that
church is easy. The Pastor and Elders
devote themselves to the spiritual watch
and culture of every member and of eve-
ry family. The meetings for worship on
the Sabbath and during the week will be
full, and the mere magnetism of crowd
ed assembly of loving, eager worshippers
will give fervor to praise, prayer
and preaching, that, like heaped-up Goals
of burning juniper, will generate pow
er of fusion before which hardness and
coldness must inevitably give way
Others will be attracted to such meet
tings by that resistless sympathy which
belongs to every living form of human
emotion, and above all to that which is
kindled by coal from the innermost al
tar. The baptism of fire and the cloven
tongues could not long be absent from
such assemblies met, with one accord, in
one place.
Then the Deacons become living,
real power in the congregation, taking
charge of such temporal interests as per-
tain to their flexible office, which adapts
itself to the manifold needs of every COM
munity. They do not merely take up the
collections, and disburse aims to the few
poor in the church, but become their
counsellors, visiting them as friends, aid
inc them to get ernploymanf. acting a
guardians to the orphan, or the neglected
child, taking by the hand the young man
who comes friendless stranger to the
city, and saving him from the deacons of
the Devil who so soon look after him
there, aiding the struggling brother whom
misfortune has overtaken, seeing that the
sick and the stranger are cared for; in
word, doing thatfo those who need in the
church that is professed to be done by Ma.
sonry. Odd-Fellowship and similar orders
for their members; by Sisters of Charity
and various Brotherhoods in the Church
of Rome; by Union Benevolent and other
charitable societies in the world or by
any organized, efficient agency forreliev
ing temporal! want and suffering in the
world. The order of Deacons was crea-
ted to perform all that kind of service be-
fore the world had ever dreamed of hospi-
tails, asylums, or charity boards, and per-
haps the world would never have found
the necessity it has had to create these
outside agencies, but for the practical dis
use of the primitive functions of the office
of Deacon in the Church, as they were
originally intended to be performed.
Nor will the officers be the only active
workers in such church. One of the
great evils of the day is an impression with
many that the work of the church is to be
done by its officers, not its members, and
many private Christians seem to feel no
responsibility for this work, leaving it to
the pastor, elders and deacons. This is
like giving the fighting in an army to its
officers, and exonerating the privates; or
giving the work of any association to its
official members, whilst the others 90 free.
No corporate association ever succeeds
which acts on such a principle, and the
Church is no exception to this rule. Men
must enter the Church as they unite with
any other corporate body, not to elect Of
fcers as proxies to do their work, but to
take their own share of the labor, as they
expect their own share of the rewards. In
a Church thus vitalized with the true con-
ception of its corporate life, the officers will
be the leaders, not the substitutes of the
working members, and every man will DO
his duty.
The training of the young will then be
better performed. The Sunday school will
enlist the. best talent and energy of the
Church, not as mere expedient to keep
children from mischief on Sabbath morn
ing, or a substitute for family instruc-
tion, but as supplementary link between
parental and pastoral training, in which
the best results of honest, prayerful study
of the Scriptures are instilled into the
minds of children, and they led to Christ,
so that not only the children of the Church,
but the out lying masses of neglected
childhood may be brought in and trained
to take their places in the ranks of active
church-membership, fully equipped for
their work.
Nor will religious training alone be Sc
cured. Secular education will be brought
under religious influence, and we shall have
Presbyterian schools. BY this it is not