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Observer, Aug 1, 72.

so the man takes the Bible and commences to turn over the leaves, hoping that he will hit something. He looks up and down, and turns forward and backward, and finally he does see a light, and he says "I can make something interesting from that." Interesting, why? For what purpose? What under heaven, but that he is a salaried officer expected to preach twice on Sunday, and lecture and hold the prayer-meeting in the middle of the week and the time has come round, when, like a clock it is his business to strike, and so he does strike, just as ignorantly as the hammer strikes upon the bell! He is following out no intelligent plan. He is a perfunctory preacher, doing a duty because appointed to that duty.

What would you think of a physician in the household who has been called to minister to a sick member of some family, and who says, "Well, I will leave something or other; I don't know; what shall I leave?" and he looks in his saddle-bags' to see what he has got the most of, and prescribes it with no directions; the father, mother and children may all take a little, and the servants may have the rest. Another physician, and true one, comes, and the mother says, "Doctor, I have called you in to prescribe for my child." He sits down and studies the child's symptoms; traces them back to the supposed cause; reflects how he shall hit that case, what remedial agents are supposed to be effective, what shall be the form of administration, how often; he considers the child's temperament and age, and he adapts himself to the special necessity of the individual case. Do you suppose that a man can deal with so subtle a thing as the human soul without any thought, skill, sagacity in adaptation, but can take a sermon and throw its contents over the congregation, and let everybody pick out of it what he can find, for every man to take his share? Can this be done in a ministry and accomplish any good? Yes, in God's providence, good is done in this way. Paul said that the "foolishness of preaching" would do a great deal of good; and there is so much foolish preaching that it would be strange if some of it did not do some good here or there.

But preaching must come back to what it was in the apostolic times. It must come back to the conditions under which those men were so eminent for their success in winning souls. If you want to be a preacher to your fellows, you must become a "fisher of men," your business is to catch them. The preacher's task is first to arouse; secondly, on that aroused moral condition, to build; and continue building until you have completed the whole. The thing that a preacher aims at all the while is reconstructed manhood, a nobler idea in his congregation of how people ought to live and what they ought to be. To be sure you will find in the New Testament that there is a great deal more in the preaching of the apostles than this. There was a great deal that was incidental; a great deal that belonged to the extrication of Christians from the Jewish thraldom; a great deal that belonged to the peculiarities of the time, and which can be transferred to our time by adapting, not adopting. If you will look through the New Testament with your eye on that point, you will find that Paul, the greatest of all preachers, I take it, aimed all the way through, and certainly Peter, in his famous sermon on the day of Pentecost, aimed, at reconstructed manhood. Consider attentively Paul's idea of the work of Christian ministers, as given in his letter to the Ephesian assembly of Christians-(Eph. i 11-16, inclusive). 11-16, inclusive). The end, Manhood. The means, Truth. The spirit, Love. The ideal, Christ. The inspiration, the living Spirit of God!

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Observer, Aug. 1, '72.

This living force, then, of the human soul, brought to bear upon living souls, for the sake of their transformation, being the fundamental idea, I think it will be interesting to you for me to state more at large the fact that not only was this the apostolic idea of preaching, but that this was the secret of the power of the first Christian church for many hundred years. It is historically true that Christianity did not, in its beginning, succeed by the force of its doctrines, but by the lives of its disciples. It succeeded first as a light; in accordarce with the Master's command, "Let your light so shine before men that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father which is in heaven." Make religion attractive by the goodness that men see in you; so sweet, so sparkling, so buoyant, so cheerful, hopeful, courageous. conscientious and yet not stubborn, so perfectly benevolent, and yet not mawkish or sentimental, blossoming in everything that is good, a rebuke to everything that is mean or little; make such men of yourselves that everybody that looks upon you may say, “That is a royal good fellow; he has the spirit that I should like to lean upon in time of trouble, or to be a companion with at all times." Build up such a manhood that it shall be winning to men. That is what the early Church did.

It was not by its doctrinal sympathies that it overcame philosophy. The heathen world found that the lowest class of people, the people least likely to attain the serious heights of philosophy, were developing traits that neither persecution, neglect, nor opprobrium could change; so that after a while it began to be proverbial, that Christian men were more beautiful livers than anybody else. It was the beauty of Christian life that overcame philosophy, and won the way for Christian doctrine.

Again, we are to seek, not simply by our personal experience to preach, but to preach by bringing up together one and another in the church, so that the whole life of the church will be so beautiful in the community that it shall be a constant attraction to win men unceasingly to us and our influence. This was what Christ commanded, what the early church did; and the world will be converted not until the whole body of Christians become in this sense preachers.

This view also will discriminate between sermons,-those which seek direct effects definitely aimed at, and those that are institutional sermons. There are sermous for preaching, and there are sermons also for teaching and confirming. I do not say that you should not preach the secondary sermons; but if that is the whole style of your ministry, you will not be so successful, although you may slowly progress. Every man ought to preach two kinds of sermons : one for direct power on men's minds and hearts, and the other for their broadening in knowledge; but of this last class, less and less in our time, because we have so many other sources of knowledge, and so many other training influences going on in the community.

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It seems to me that the highest conception of a sermon is that it is a prescription which a man has made, either for a certain individual or for a certain class, or for a certain given state of things that he knows to exist in the congregation. It is as much a matter of prescription as the physican's medicine is. For instance, you say, "In the congregation there has been a good deal of affliction, which I think I ought to comfort. Now of all ways of comforting, how shall I do it? Shall I show the hand of God in all His administration? What will that do? That mode of consolation will lift people up into the conception of God; but those that cannot rise so high will fall short of it and not get it. Or I can show

Observer, Aug. 1, '72.

them how afflictions will lift up the soul, and that will have another range. Or it may be that I will not say a word about that, but strike a blow that exhilarates men and lifts them up, independent of any allusion to troubles; I may strike a chord to awaken the courage of men. What subject can I take which will most successfully sound that chord?" And so you look for your subject. You know what you are after the whole time. It is exactly like the watchmaker, who has opened your watch and discovered that something is wrong. He turns to his bench and pokes around among his tools, but he cannot find what he is after; he looks everywhere for it, and at last, there it is, and he takes it and uses it, for it is the only instrument exactly fitted to do just the thing he wanted to do in that watch. It is precisely so in preaching to a congregation. Here are living men to reach; and there is a particular way in doing it that you want to get at. You search for it in the Bible, and you make your sermon to answer the end. It is psychological preaching, drawing from your own intelligence and experience, gradually augmenting, which will make you skilful in the ends you want to effect.

AUSTRALIA-THE VICTORIA CENSUS.

It is eminently gratifying and encouraging to discover, at any time, that our successes even in the affairs of life, have surpassed our expectations, and that our position and prospects are infinitely better than we had reason to believe they were. In a still higher degree and sense it is encouraging to find that, as a religious body, our position is far beyond our most sanguine expectation; while the prospect before us is one which should urge us forward to increased diligence and zeal in the Master's cause. This, however, is the prospect that the present census return of the position of the religious bodies in this colony opens up before us. Contrary to the expectation of many, it proves the success of the cause to be unquestionably great, and the progress made during the past ten years something considerably beyond what was generally anticipated.

Those of our readers who even casually studied the return in question could not fail to have been struck by the very startling truths which are there brought to light-truths which had they seen the light under any other circumstances would scarcely have been credited as representing the actual facts. Fortunately, however, the figures as given were compiled, and are presented under circumstances which preclude the mere possibility of their being challenged by those who would most willingly, were they in a position to do so, deny their accuracy or impugn the veracity of the compilers. Unimpeachable in their veracity, unmistakeable in their purport, the dense columns of figures stand indelible, and, like the writing on the wall, they tell of the pending downfall of some of the leading powers of the day. They portend the impending overthrow of error; they point to the dawn of a new era of religious thought, and give a noble augury of the future success of the primitive gospel in this our adopted land. The more closely it is investigated, the more fully does the return justify these conclusions. Yet it must be confessed that in some respects it is a somewhat delusive document. Many of the most important facts to be gathered from the return do not appear on the surface, but are the result of a careful analysis of the figures; and for this reason are apt to escape the attention of the majority of general readers. We shall attempt to enumer

Observer, Aug. 1, '72.

ate a few of these, and in the briefest manner point out some of the main facts connected with the figures.

The first point of importance necessary to be grasped is the relative proportion which the various bodies bear to the entire population. In placing this before the public, the REGISTRAR GENERAL has based his calculation on the proportion in every 10,000 individuals, which is the plain English of a percentage extending to two places of decimals. In working out this calculation, the nearest fraction is obtained, and though the result is not absolutely exact, it is so close an approximate that it will more than meet all practical requirements. Following the inquiry out on this basis, it would appear that at the date of the last census there were in Victoria in every 10,000 of our population the following numbers of each particular body. In the following list we give the various bodies in the order of their numerical strength :

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From an examination of this list, it will be readily perceived that, though the Body is still numerically feeble, when compared with the leading denominations of the day, it is rapidly rising in the scale of relative importance. In 1861, when the last census was taken, the Church numbered only some 441 souls—some eight souls in every 10,000 of the population. It is almost unnecessary to add that its position on the list was very near the foot, something like the 25th in order. During the succeeding ten years, the increase of the Body has been both marked and rapid, and the present return show that more than half the distance separating it from the head of the column has been traversed at one spring, and it now stands the twelfth in order of numerical strength. While this is undoubtedly a subject for much congratulation, our satisfaction is in a degree modified by the knowledge that our numerical strength is far below many of even the weakest sects which have found a footing in this land. That the larger denominations should far out-number the Church of Christ is what might reasonably be expected under the present circumstances; but it is hardly creditable to us that a body like the Lutherans should number three professors to our one, while the Primitive Methodists, Bible Christians, and even the Jews take precedence of us, when ranked according to their numbers. This is unsatisfactory enough but it is not the worst point to be gathered from this table. We find by the addition of the first two lines that the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church between them number as members 5,940 out of every 10,000 of the population-nearly six-tenths of the whole; while the Church of Christ in the same number can only claim 49 members. Verily, we are a handful in the earth-a small people.

Our readers are probably beginning to ask at this point where is the ground for the satisfaction, we expressed in our opening paragraph, if things are really what the table given shows, and we are the small (or as some

Observer, Aug. 1, '72.

would say, "insignificant ") body we appear to be? We have already given one table to show that our position is now very considerably better than it was ten years ago. We now give another table which will exhibit one or two other facts which will still more astonish those who have not very closely investigated the original return. Owing to the considerable amount of labour necessary to prepare this table, we have only selected the leading bodies as examples, the smaller denominations remaining almost in the same ratio as they did ten years ago.

Table showing the Number of Members of the Several Bodies in the Years 1861 and 1871 respectively; the Actual Increase in Numbers during that time; the Percentage of Increase on the Original Number; the Percentage of Members in the Population in the Years 1861 and 1871 respectively; and the Increase or Decrease of each Denomination in every 10,000 of the Population since the Former Period :

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The first feature that takes the eye in the above table is the change in the order of the various denominations, strikingly exemplifying the fact that there are first which shall be last, and last which shall be first, for here the Church of Christ, instead of standing twelfth in the list, heads the colmun. Looking closer into the table, we realise the fact-the leading feature of the table so far as we are concerned that the Church of Christ in the past ten years has made the most rapid progress of any religious body in the colony of Victoria. As we before remarked, it numbered in 1861, only 441, while in the present return the numbers are shown as 3,537, giving an increase of 3,096 members, or rather over seven hundred and two per cent. on the original number ten years ago. Such an increase as this is, we believe, unparallelled in the history of the colony, far out-stripping all the other bodies, and showing a rate of progress that must, if continued in the same ratio for less than a quarter of a century, make the Church the only religious organization in the colony. But while we scarcely hope for such a consummation as this, we are compelled, in view of the facts patent on the face of the table, to conclude that the tendency of religious opinions in this colony is steadily tending in the direction of an adoption of the primitive simplicity of the early Church. With the exception of the Roman Catholic Church, none of the old state institutions are making headway; while the star of the Established Church and the Presbyterian fraternity are both declining on the religious horizon. In the case of the Church of England, the decline is most ominous, showing a loss of 459 on every 10,000 of the population. It is true that during the past ten years there has been a large accession to her ranks, her increase during the period being no less than 45,767 souls, but for all that she has not kept pace with the increase of the population, and to all appearance her star is on the wane.

Turning for a moment to some of the smaller bodies, we see a decided tendency in the direction of truth. The Unitarians, who in 1861, numbered

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