CHURCH THOUGHT AND CHURCH WORK.*

To feel one's pulse is not a sign of health certainly, but neither is it of necessity symptomatic of decay, but rather, perhaps, a living consciousness of something wrong which is or may be remediable,— and this, we take it, is the attitude of the National Church at this moment. After a century of lethargy, with short intervals of almost feverish activity, she is at last awake to the consciousness of enormous power which somehow works fitfully, and is not accomplishing adequate results. How best to discover the true obstruction and take it out of the way, and indicate uses for the

surplus strength now running to waste, is the object of the volume before us. Mr. Anderson has accomplished his task well.

The brief papers with which his book is filled are almost of necessity sketchy—outlines which the reader must draw upon his own resources to fill in—but they are none the less valuable on that account. To any one who has such resources they are ample in their suggestiveness, and upon 'those who have none, details are generally thrown away.

We have but one piece of fault-finding to do, and we shall get it over as quickly as possible, that we may pass to the valuable material before us. It is briefly this,—Mr. Anderson has weakened the force of a book we would cordially recommend by the story he has introduced into it. "Ernest Wentworth " is a model curate, but the readers who should profit by his life will probably plead that no living tumbles into their lap at the moment they are burn- ing to try social experiments (too often the oil is low in their lamps before they are really free agents); and more seldom still—even granting the living—is there an eccentric lord at hand to cast a great fortune into the scale with the parson ; and besides, whatever we may think of model lodging-houses, public gymnasiums, and all the costly apparatus of a better and most essential morality, the spiritual life of any people—the life which creates the demand, and will ultimately insure the supply of all the rest—is touched mostly by the men who have to fight single-handed, some- times to the lest; often with that apparent temporary failure which is but "a triumph's evidence for the fullness of the days."

"All spiritual truth by suffering entereth," as Mr. Ross puts it, in one of these papers, and few, looking back on life in the light of results, would elect to take the lower level. The inner, not the outer life, determinesa man's true power over his fellows. Mr. Anderson has failed to depict for us the man whose inner might was stronger than his outward circumstances, but apart from the plan of the tale—a story with a purpose is always a difficult thing to write— Mr. Anderson's style, always clear, simple, and effective when dealing directly with the question in hand, degenerates to this kind of thing when attempting fiction. Ernest Wentworth

writes:—" 'Should I come home unexpectedly, do not feel alarm, or a too startling surprise.' 'The advice was not needlessly given,'

said Mr. Wentworth, for here he comes, walking rapidly towards us on the silent turf.'" The speaker is an honest man of business, going daily to the City in his gig. Again, "Ernest, looking on the ground in silence, pressed Lord Ashbourne's hand with fervour; his voice and uplifted gaze both failed him." But enough, we turn gladly to the pleasanter task before us.

We have in these pages four papers by Mr. Brooke Lambert, which are worth careful attention. Though apparently disconnected, they are really closely related to each other, and we are glad to have the few words we have written above on the secret of spiritual influence expressed yet more fully by such a master in the arts of practical usefulness as Mr. Lambert undoubtedly is. " Great," he writes, "as is the glory of activity and moral victory, we know but too little of it here to satisfy us ; we fight in dream, we work in sleep, we awake and find we have but dreamed, and victory is too much chequered with defeat to satisfy us Crutch after crutch breaks under us, till we cut our crutch from the tree of life. And he only knows what true activity is, who has turned

from the fever of man's energy to the quiet life of the Son of God." These words occur in an able paper on the part played by illusion in the education of life, or rather by the truths which underlie illusion. We can best indicate the idea in Mr. Lambert's mind by reproducing the anecdote with which he commences In one of the many stories made for, if not true of, Dr. Abernethy, we are told how he dealt with a hypochondriacal patient. 'There is but one doctor, sir, that can cure you, and he lives in Stromness,' ho said. Off started the patient, eagerly, and crossing stormy seas and pre-macaslamite roads, and feeding on the rough but nourishing fare of Highland inns, completed his journey, and came back thoroughly well, • march Thotigse ad Muni& Work. Edited by the Rev. Charles Alderson. London: Henry S. Zing and Co. 1874.

but deeply exasperated. For he had inquired in Stromness for Dr. Abernethy's friend, and found that no one of the name had over existed. When he remonstrated with Dr. Abernethy, the doctor asked him why he had first consulted him. To get cured, to be mire,' he answered.— ' Well, you are cured,' said Dr. Abernethy, and I don't see what you have to grumble about.'"

In his second paper, Mr. Lambert deals with the subject of foreign missions, and indicates one of the main reasons of failure,—failure,

that is, in securing wider and more national support. This he be- lieves to be our English worship of success. We do not, it is true, he says, baptise a tribe to call it Christian, but when we want sub- scriptions we count converts, and when such converts lapse, as many may, the cause itself is placed in temporary peril. "But," he asks, "if numerical success be the test of missionary work, what say you to the result of Christ's preaching ? " "Augustine planted the truth in England,—how many centuries elapsed before what we should recognise as true Christianity was established here ? Let us be anxious to plant centres, rather than to make converts." We are reminded, too, of that very much forgotten fact that progress must of necessity be very slow, till the teachers are one with the people. "When we have translated the truths of religion into the language of the heathen, we have not translated them into their thought." How much wisdom there is in that seemingly simple sentence is best known to those who have worked hardest in the mission field.

"As for the second-rate men," Mr. Lambert adds, "who, how-

ever devoted, go out from our Missionary colleges with the vague notion that preaching the Gospel will save the heathen, I say, with all the knowledge English experience gives one in kindred

work, better have one or two earnest, though weak natives, than a hundred such workers." Any one who understands the secret of the power of a man like Page of Bhurrisaul will endorse that

statement. We have not space to touch on Mr. Lambert's other papers, on Christianity in its connection with business and with charity, though we would recommend attention to his thoughts on "complete self-sacrifice, with the right of maintaining personal possession of that of which the sacrifice is made." The pro- blem is a difficult one, and anything that helps to define, to say nothing of solving it, is valuable. But we must briefly glance at Mr. Anderson's papers, which are, for the most part, on clerical work. He strikes the key-note of the whole position in the deter- mined stand he makes that the true attitude of the clergyman is, —"I am among you as one that doth serve." Of course, the inference is simple as to the way in which service can best be rendered. We have some excellent practical hints on visiting the sick, and it would be well for humanity if they were more generally carried out. One passage must suffice :— "If at any time the minister is specially called to 'become all things to all men,' to deal with those in his spiritual charge with a sweet reasonableness,' to strive to be Christ-like, that time is surely in Visit- ing the Sick. He must be sympathetic, patient, humble, ruled by a large-hearted charity, self-forgetful, and ready to give help in the sick room, even in services in their nature most repulsive. If he can acquire these gifts, then the worst of his difficulties will be over. He, will at once see what is wanted, as a good nurse or good doctor sees it. And the poor sufferers will regard him with that tender look of patient grati- tude which will make them friends to the end of time. All strangeness and reserve will vanish in such ministrations. He may read, but it will not be much ; he may pray, but the prayer will be short ; he may in- struct, but the listener will think that he is rather asking to be taught. And he may do none of these things; but merely smile, press the white delicate hand in his, cool the lips with water, gently draw down the blind, and then go home to say a prayer alone. At the next visit the sufferer will look up with a warm greeting, remembering the considera- tion shown in not 'performing the duties of his office.' And any little word now said will go right home to the heart."

'‘ They teach me more than I can teach them," said one who had sounded many of the depths of human sympathy.

Mr. Anderson goes on to a careful examination of the system of

Sisterhoods now so rapidly on the increase. Without prejudice, and with singular impartiality, be gives the result of his own observation and experience as to the action of these associations with regard to parochial work and interior rule, and we think even those who may differ most from his conclusions would do well to examine care-

fully the grounds on which they are founded. The following pas- sage unfortunately can but too easily be corroborated by abundant evidence :—"The poor sisters run a sad risk of having all freedom of thought, independence of character, and natural feminine instincts fairly crushed out of them. Crossed in will, checked in human impulses, withdrawn from works of Christian charity because they are becoming too much absorbed and interested in them, and set, as a discipline, to do what they least like and are least fitted for. . . ." —a description in confirmation of which the present writer could mention one lady of considerable intellectual attainraents who, upon entering one of the best-known of our Anglican Sisterhoods, was set to da worsted-work for twelve months. to break her will, and make ber ready for any task that might be assigned her. We do not know that we quite agree with Mr. Anderson in his estimate of the schools connected with these Sisterhoods. That the education given in them will be of the narrowest, we can readily believe, but we do not see why "an artificial, unchildlike demureness" should be characteristic of the scholars ; it is not so with convent schools generally, and the care of young children and the nursing of the sick would seem to be "the Sisters" most legitimate work. But in his protest against the penitentiaries every one will heartily join who knows anything of the effect upon utterly uncontrolled ratures of rigid so-called religious discipline and seclusion, with the inevitable dullness of routine. But perhaps the ablest of Mr. Anderson's papers is that on "Lay Influence." After consider- ing the subject in many of its bearings, enumerating various forms of usefulness, and entering somewhat into details, he con- tinues, "To attempt to sketch such multifold work here is im- possible. Those who have any acquaintance with a parish know bow ready all are to come forward to do their full share of labour, when once they are allowed to work in a liberal spirit, and with individual freedom of action." The italics are our own ; in that sentence lies the secret of a whole world of success or failure. A man is thus weighted with responsibility for the work being done, but the manner of the doing devolves on himself alone,—he cannot hastily lay down work which owes its vitality to his individual will. It would be easy to show how the reverse of this operates, to the decay and death of anything like real lay-action in the Church generally. It too often happens that lay help is summoned to carry out a carefully mapped-out system, all the responsibility being borne by clerical shoulders. But those who are contending with practical difficulties in Church work could hardly do better than study Mr. Anderson's suggestions for themselves. We have besides, within the limits of this little volume, two interesting papers by Mr. Llewelyn Davies on "Sanctification" and "Creation as a Divine Growth," and a thoughtful article by Mr. Boss on Alexander Ewing, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles.