Year: 1875

on the fellowship of church-members, as TO


lows:


"The high advantage which church-men


bership confers, in the eyes of the Lord,


the development of Christian character i


communion of mind and of heart, one wit


the other. This chief value of church. mem


bership can be secured in the log church il


the wilderness as well as in the towering ca


thedral of the city; in the poor and scantil,
equipped mission, as in the rich and com
Portable congregation. Money cannot bu.
this highest advantage in church-membership
numbers cannot confer it, taste and learnin,
cannot ip themselves secure it this chic
privilege of the church covenant, the ripen
ing of character in communion of love anG
life with one another, comes through humble
and patient effort under the blessing of th'
Holy Ghost. Where the eyes of the church
members are opened to this chief advantage
Of their station, and where professors of re
ligion rejoice in the privilege of growing
better, happier and more heavenly minded
through mutual help and sympathy, they per
ceive that what are usually considered draw
backs in church are really aids in carrying
out the grand purpose of growth in character
through fellowship. The poor are valuable
members, because they give opportunity for
the exercise Of Christ like charity. The
weak professors of religion are useful, they
call out the prayer and the effort of the
strong believers. Even the unreasonable
members, of whom every church is likely to
have more than one, are of use, not indeed
to themselves, but to their brethren and sis
ters in stimulating the growth Of that pa
tience, which, when it is full-g grown, f,wers
out in golden hopes. The very variety of
temperament and culture and station which
seems to be disadvantageous, gives the mem
bers Of Christ an opportunity Of growing up
into Him, the Head, such as they could not
have if the fellow-believers were all more
nearly alike. Whoever will patiently and
persoveringly devote himself to the work and
cause of the church, willing at times to suffer
from friction with weak, unkindly, or mis-
taken minds, will draw from his labor treas
ures Of character such as he could not have
secured in any other way. In order that
this chief advantage of fellowship may be
secured for church, it is all-important that
the members should know each other
Without acquaintance, fellowship with one
another is entirely impossible. The weak
ness of church lies in the isolation of its
members. A weak church is tarned into a
strong one, when those who stand apart, and
are scarcely known to the rest, are in some
way or other brought into connection and &C
quaintsnce with their fellow members. Our
Moravian fathers well understood this feature
of a successful church. Their class-meet-
ings, their singing meetings, and especially
their love-feasts promoted mutual acquain-
tance, and made every member known to
every other, at least to all who stood in the
same choir or class. And every church
which would so succeed as to please Christ,
must, according to the times and the open
ings of Providence, cultivate the social spirit
in the congregations, allowing no one to re-
main isolated and unknown. But in these
endeavors, the great aim Of church fellowship
should ever be kept full in view. Church
society has not the merely temporal objects
of secular fellowship. 1t aspires to some
thing higher, to moral sympathy, to growth
in knowledge and in the character of Christ,
and to perfect communion for the world to
come. While therefore church members
press sociability, and mutual acquaintance
with all their power, they should fill their
efforts with spiritual impulses and m,tives.
And this they will do, if they mingle these
efforts with prayer one for the other, and
with practical willingness to make sacri
fees for each others good"