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even by present failure. Many a The teacher needs a large share of seed perishes in the earth. Of the this patience. The seed sometimes cloud of bloom which covers the dies in the ground. The Saviour orchard in May, only here and there himself not seldom spoke His blessed a blossom produces an apple. The words to dull ears and hard hearts. returns of the officers who have He visited many places where He charge of the ammunition show that could not do many might works in a great battle, where thousands of because of the unbelief of the people. men are killed and wounded, only" It is enough for the disciple that one or two balls out of a hundred he is as His Master." hit. Yet the orchard in October bends under its golden burden; the fields in their season are white to the harvest, and the great empires are conquered in war. He who would accomplish anything worth the doing, has need to be persistent in his work. It is by patient continuance in well-doing" that we attain "glory, honour and immortality."

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Why, then, should we be dismayed, if at times the success seems small? The victory is sure. Truth will triumph over error, and right over wrong. Any coward will chase a flying foe. It is only when the battle "waxes hot" that the highest courage is displayed.

None but the truly brave stand firm in the midst of apparent defeat. -Dr. CRANE in S. S. Times.

WORK.

FUSS IS NOT
own will, the other is in the Lord's
will. The one stops when he ought
to go, and starts when he ought to
stand still. The other is obedient in
his faith, and so quick to hear the
voice of the Lord that, like the docile
horse which does not require bit or
rein or word, but, catching the con-
ductor's signal, stops at the bell tap,
and starts at the bell tap, he moves
forward at the right moment and at
the right moment stops, whether in
word or deed.

You may see this any day and anywhere. As you go along, you see two horses harnessed together before a car. One of them makes a great fuss, as if he had all the world behind him, and was in eager haste to get it just where he wants it to be. He dances and prances, jumps up and down, and springs into the collar with all his might, and then falls back from it because all does not give way to him. The other makes no fuss at all. He stops and starts at the signal, wastes no strength in voilence, but puts his whole weight into the collar just when it is needed.

The one makes the fuss, the other does the work.

How like some Christians that you and I could name. One is restive, the other docile. The one is in his

The one makes all the fuss, the other does all the work.

The way to work wisely and well, is to present yourself a living sacrifice unto God, and let His will be your will, and so prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God every day of your life long.

BE ALWAYS GIVING.
The sun gives ever, so the earth,-
What it can give, so much 'tis worth;
The ocean gives in many ways,—
Gives baths, gives fishes, rivers, bays ;
So, too, the air, it gives us breath,-
When it stops giving, comes in death.

Give, give, be always giving;
Who gives not, is not living.
The more you give,

The more you live.

God's love hath in us wealth unheaped,

Only by giving it is reaped;

The body withers, and the mind

Is pent in by a selfish rind.

Give strength, give thought, give deed, give pelf,
Give love, give tears, and give thyself.

Give, give, be always giving;

Who gives not, is not living.
The more we give,

The more we live.

THE WORKMAN TO HIS WIFE.

Observer, Sept. 1, '71.

SIT ye down on the settle here by me, I've got something to say to thee, wife;
I want to be a new sort of man and to lead a new sort of life;

There's but little pleasure and little gain in spending the days I spend,

Just to work like a horse all the days of my life, and to die like a dog at the end. For where's the profit and where's the good, if one begins to think,

In making away with what little sense one had at the first, through drink?

Or in spending one's time and one's money, too, with a lot of chaps that would go

To see one hanged, and like it as well as any other show?

And as to the pleasure that some folks find in cards or in pitch and toss,

It's little they've ever brought to me but only a vast of loss;

We'd be sure to light on some great dispute, and then to set all right

The shortest way to argue it out in a regular stand-up fight

I've got a will, dear wife, I say, I've got a will to be

A kinder father to my poor bairns, and a better man to thee,

And to leave off drinking and swearing, and all, no matter what folks may say;
For I see what's the end of such things as these, and I know this is not the way.

You'll wonder to hear me talk like this, as I've never talked before ;

But I've got a word in my heart, that has made it glad, yet has made it sore:
I've got a word like a fire in my heart that will not let me be,-

"Jesus, the Son of God, who loved, and who gave Himself for me.

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I've got a word like a sword in my heart, that has pierced it through and through;
When a message comes to a man from Heaven he needn't ask if it's true;
There's none on earth could frame such a tale, for strange as the tale may be,-

Jesus, my Saviour, that Thou should'st die for love of a man like me!

Why, only think now; if it had been Peter, or blessed Paul,

Or John, who used to lean on His breast, one couldn't have wondered at all,

If He'd loved and He'd died for men like these, who loved Him so weli,—but you see It was me that Jesus loved, wife! He gave Himself for me.

It was for me that Jesus died! for me, and a world of men,

Just as sinful and just as slow to give back His love again;

He didn't wait till I came to Him, but He loved me at my worst ;
He needn't ever have died for me if I could have loved Him first.

And couldst Thou love such a man as me, my Saviour! then I'll take
More heed to this wandering soul of mine, if it's only for Thy sake.

For it wasn't that I might spend my days just in work, and in drink, and in strife,
That Jesus the Son of God has given His love and has given His life.

It wasn't that I might spend my life just as my life's been spent,

That he's brought me so near to His mighty cross and has told me what it meant.

He doesn't need me to die for Him, He only asks me to live;

There's nothing of mine that He wants but my heart, and it's all that I've got to give.

I've got a friend, dear wife, I say; I've got a heavenly friend,

That will shew me where I go astray, and will help me how to mend,

That'll make me kinder to my poor bairns, that'll make me better to thee—
Jesus, the Son of God, who loved and gave Himself for me.

Dora Greenwell.

Observer, Oct. 1, 71.

A VOICE FROM THE STATE CHURCH.

325

A VOICE FROM THE STATE CHURCH IN FAVOUR OF
THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH:

AN ADDRESS, BY D. KING, ON RE-OPENING GEACH STREET CHAPEL,

BIRMINGHAM.

THE re-opening of a chapel after repairs and embellishment is an event of common occurrence, and usually calls for no special discourse. But there is a speciality in this case which renders it desirable to enter thus upon an additional service. When this commodious building was completed and opened, by the church which now worships within its walls, there was no lack of half-filled places of worship within reasonable distance. It was not the want of chapel accommodation which led to the formation of this church. We came here because we could not find, on this side of the town, a church in which we could adhere to the good old ways of the primitive and apostolic church. Accordingly the building was devoted to preaching the gospel and way of salvation, as at the first, and to the advocacy of Christian union upon the one and only possible, because Godgiven, foundation. From our commencement to the present, in common with others, I have urged from this desk a complete return to Christianity as it was left by the apostles; and to-day I have only to say over again what I have often urged before. I have no new thing to tell, nor have I even a new form into which to put the old plea. But, yet, the discourse of this afternoon will have one new feature. Heretofore I have addressed you in my own words; you know that I but rarely read a page; but to-day I shall speak chiefly in the words of another, who is a priest in our State Church. I do so because he says on so many points substantially what we have said so often, and because it is both strange and pleasing to hear a voice from our Parliamentary Church, calling us back to the Church of the New Testament and of the apostles.

I have before me a newly-published and somewhat expensive volume, which is now receiving, from divers reviewers, considerable attention, and is calculated to cause some amount of commotion. Suffer me to read you the title page-"The Ecclesiastical Polity of the New Testament: a Study for the present Crisis in the Church of England; by the Rev. G. A. Jacob, D.D., late Head Master of Christ's Hospital." Now this worthy Doctor has not left the State Church, nor does he appear to intend leaving. He desires large reforms in the church in which he is a priest he considers that that church is now in a most critical condition, and he insists that a return to the ecclesiastical polity of the New Testament is the true remedy for its existing evils. In this he is largely correct, only were his church to return to that polity it would not be the same church reformed, but wholly another institution. But we have to do with Dr. Jacob's sayings only so far as they point out the polity he recommends and hold up the apostles of Christ and the primitive church in their true light. You know the importance we have attached to a right understanding as to time, place and circumstances of the commencement of the Church of Christ. The Doctor brings us to the place and time we have frequently set before you, and does so almost in the words we have again and again used. He says

"But the Church was not begun till after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost; and it is never mentioned, except prospectively, before that time. The apostles, therefore, were the founders of the Christian Church. They were its divinely-appointed and infallible teachers and legislators. They were its supreme authorities on

326

A VOICE FROM THE STATE CHURCH.

Observer, Oct. 1, '71.

earth, to declare its doctrines and to prescribe its form and polity, to admit into it and to exclude from it, to bind and to loose, to remit and to retain sins. They were, in short, to organize the Church as a regular society, possessed of a definite character, with its own special rights, privileges and objects. They were to rule in it as long as they lived; and it rested with them to leave such instructions for its future guidance as they might consider necessary for its continuance and welfare as a permanent institution in the world. To qualify them for this high office and important work the apostles received a divine authority and power, from the commission of Christ and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The authofity was given them by Christ Himself, when He said to them, as recorded by St. Matthew-Go ye therefore and teach (or rather, make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.' And when, as related by St. John, He declared to them-'As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you; and, Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.' And a divine power was given to them by the coming of the Holy Spirit, of whom Jesus had told them beforehand, that when He was gone they should receive another Comforter to abide with them forever, even the Holy Ghost, who would teach them all things, and bring all things to their remembrance whatsoever He had said unto them; and who, as the Spirit of truth, would guide them into all the truth,' which they were to proclaim to men. This was the power from on high' for which, after His ascension, they were to tarry at Jerusalem.' power, as the last words of Jesus informed them, they would receive when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and thus fitted them to be His witnesses and ambassadors throughout the world."

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We have often exposed that fallacy of the high-church party by which it is endeavoured to conform the Church to the model of the third and fourth centuries. The appeal to the Nicene Fathers we have met from this desk by the demand to go still further back-to the grandfathers, that is, to the apostles themselves. In this demand we are fully sustained by our author, who says

"But the opinion that we are bound dutifully to submit to the authority, and ought to be guided by the practice and example of the church as it was in the first three, four, or any other centuries, however prevalent and plausible, is delusive and ensnaring. The Church of the apostolic period is the only Church in which there is found an authority justly claiming the acknowledgment of Christian bodies in other times. And such authority is found in this Church, not because it was possessed of a truer catholicity, or a purer constitution, or a more primitive antiquity than belong to succeeding ages-for neither antiquity, nor purity of form, nor catholicity confers any right to govern or command-but because it was under the immediate rule and guidance of the apostles; and it is their infallible judgment alone, as exhibited in this Church, which has a legitimate claim to our submission. Of the church of no other period can the samę be said, because the apostles had no successors in their office. They stand alone as the divinely-inspired teachers, legislators and rulers in Christ's Church and Kingdom. They stand alone as men appointed and commissioned by Christ Himself, and not by man; whereas all Christian ministers since their time, of whatsoever order or degree, have been fallible men, and have been appointed and commissioned by man by the

authority of the particular church in which they were to minister. The promise of our Lord that He would be with the apostles even to the end of the world. as it did not secure to them a continuance on earth beyond their own generation, so neither did it engage or imply that others with a similar power and authority should succeed them. With faithful preachers of Christ, and sound teachers of His word and doctrine, and diligent pastors of His flock, their divine Master has in all ages been present by His Spirit. But no Christian ministers having received the commission or inspiration of the apostles, none of them could inherit the apostolic office, nor could they, individually or in any collective body, ever possess the apostolic authority. And as no Church ministers, so neither the Church itself, of any post-apostolic time (in whatever mode we may suppose it to have uttered a united voice), has ever had any apostolic or divine authority to which after ages owed submission. The opinion that such submission is due to the Church of any given period can be justified only on the supposition that such Church was infallible: that in fact our Lord was then so present with the visible Church as to miraculously exempt it from error in the exercise of its legislative and administrative functions, in doctrine and practice. But if so, is there any ground whatever for rejecting the claims of infallibility such as are persistently and consistently put forward by the Church of Rome? Is there any ground whatever for ascribing this divine sanction to the Nicene period, and denying it to the modern Papacy? For surely it is impossible, with any show of reason or truth, to draw the line in any one place in the history of the Church, after the apostles had been withdrawn, and to say, before this the Church was divinely preserved from error-after this it was fallible and erred. Nor can the nearness of the early Church to the apostles' time be with any effect pleaded in behalf of its authority, for it is not being near to truth and wisdom that makes men true and wise. And there is unquestionable evidence that soon after the apostles disappeared, the Church was no longer always guided by the Spirit of truth and wisdom; but, on the contrary, gradually yielded to the seductions of error, was corrupted by its contact with Judaism, Gnosticism and Heathenism, and advanced more and more along the downward road of superstition and formality. The only deference, therefore, which we owe to Church antiquity, as distinguished from the inspired authority of the apostles, is this: that whenever good men, either singly or unitedly, have said or done what is right and good, we should love to listen to them and to tread in their steps-tọ follow them as they followed Christ. But we must use our own judgment, guided by Scripture, reason and experience, in deciding what is right or wrong in their words and deeds.

"I appeal, therefore, from the Nicene Fathers to the apostles of Christ; from patristic literature to the New Testament; from ecclesiastical authorities and practices of post-apostolic centuries to the primitive Church of the apostolic age. To go back to that time and to endeavour, as far as possible, to reproduce the Church of the New Testament, is most needful for us now if we would preserve a faithful and distinct acknowledgment of Christian truth amongst our people. By realizing as far as we may the ideal of that Church in our own community, we shall best maintain its liberty and purity-we shall best meet the peculiar dangers of the present time and prepare for the future which is at hand. But in considering the constitution of the apostolic church of the New Testament it will be necessary to remark with as much precision as we can, and to bear in mind throughout our investigations, the following distinctions:-1. What

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