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is no temperament that would not be quieted and evened by the fulness of God."3

Paul gloried in his infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon him. If that were an essential condition of receiving this divine power, then ought we all to rejoice in whatsoever humiliating and painful circumstances might contribute most largely to such a result.

Pain's furnace heat within me quivers,
God's breath upon the flame doth blow,
And all my heart in anguish shivers
And trembles at the fiery glow:
And yet I whisper, "As God will!"
And in its hottest fire hold still.
He kindles for my profit, purely,

Affliction's glowing, fiery brand;
And all his heaviest blows are surely
Inflicted by a master hand:
So I say, praying, "As God will!"
And hope in him, and suffer still. 4

Robert Murray McCheyne was not a man of remarkable talents, and he was often in frail health; but he was an eminently holy man, coveting earnestly the best gifts, and was blessed in a very uncommon degree in his ministry. "I do long," he says, "to be free from self, from pride, and ungodliness; and I know where to go. Christ is my armory; and I go to him to get the whole armor of God, the armor of light. My sword and buckler, my arrows, my sling and stone, all are laid up in Jesus." "In him we are taught," says his biographer, "how much one man may do, who will only press further into the presence of God, and handle more skilfully the unsearchable riches of Christ, and speak more boldly for his God."5

We have a noteworthy instance of an earnest soul struggling under the impediment of a dull and flagging brain, and compelling his infirmities to minister to his spiritual profit, in one of those inimitable hymns of Frederick William

Faber:

3 Sermons for the New Life, p. 83. From the German of Sturm.

Life Letters and Lectures, pp. 148, 154.

I cannot pray; yet, Lord, Thou know'st The pain it is to me

To have my vainly struggling thoughts
Thus torn away from Thee.

Ah, Jesus! teach me how to prize
These tedious hours, when I,
Foolish and mute before Thy face,
In helpless worship lie.

Yet Thou art oft most present, Lord,
In weak, distracted prayer;
A sinner, out of heart with self,
Most often finds Thee there.

This spiritual power is attainable, measurably, after the others have passed beyond our reach. We may be godly men after the days of health are spent, and the opportunities of forming efficient intellectual habits are gone by. If, thoroughly conscious of our impotence and vileness, we imploringly wait on the Lord, we shall receive of his fulness, even grace for grace, and be enabled to reflect His light, with more or less brightness, on the path in which we move.

To this end, therefore, we should resolutely make tributary, not only our private devotions and studies, but our professional gatherings as well, by all the help and encouragement which we can bring with us and bear away. "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Paul was made glad by the coming of Titus, a fellow-laborer in the Master's vineyard. We should strive to be so filled with the fulness of Christ, that our coming might ever gladden the hearts of our brethren, and lend an impulse to every good endeavor. We too easily satisfy ourselves with mere intellectual preparation. We seize, perhaps too eagerly, the freedom of our social interviews for purposes of recreation, and not enough to quicken our sense of high responsibility. We need, and must have, recreation. But we need also, and should never forget it, to be so "filled with the Spirit" as not to fulfil any unhallowed desire. Especially should all bitterness and wrath, and all undue levity of speech and demeanor, be put away from the minis

ters of Christ; while meekness, gentleness, and brotherly love should ever distinguish them from men of all other professions and pursuits. "Let Jesus come into your meetings," said McCheyne, "and sit at the head of the table. It is a fragrant room when the bundle of myrrh is the chief thing there." "If you have not the Spirit of God among you, you will have the spirit of the devil. Watch against seeking to be greater than one another. Above all, abide in Christ, and He will abide in you.” "6 "There is nothing given us to do," says Dr. Bushnell, "which He will not help us to do rightly and wisely, filling us with a lofty and

Life, etc., pp. 207, 222.

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THE CHURCH MANUAL.

BY REV. DANIEL WIGHT, JR., ASHBURNHAM, MASS.

THE Compiler of the documents submitted below, having been recently installed the first pastor of a Church lately organized, found the brief records in an imperfect and somewhat confused state, mingled with a previous organization, and nearly destitute of any standing rules by which to secure order and a well-organized, working Church. Having had some experience in the ministry, he had learned the utility and necessity of system, in order to secure efficient labor and prosperity, and consequently sought the needful remedy.

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tral organization for promoting these and kindred objects; or neglected by the Church, she will fail in a measure to accomplish her desired end. To have a separate organization for each would prove cumbersome, while some departments might be neglected or fall into injudicious hands, and thus hinder rather than promote the general cause for which a Church is organized.

In looking over some thirty Church manuals on hand, great diversity was noticed, and also a general meagreness in almost every department. If such be the general state of things throughout our churches, it is not surprising that there is so much laxity of Church discipline, and want of intelligent, efficient abor among the membership. Simplicity may be carried to such a degree, as to accomplish little or nothing, beside the mere formality of Church organization, by failing to point out any course

of Christian duty, of personal effort and improvement.

A Church manual should contain something more than the Articles of Faith and Covenant, with a list of its officers and members. It should be prefaced with a very brief but suitable historical sketch of the Church, and then, following the Articles of Faith and Covenant, several items of instruction and guidance, as submitted below, for frequent perusal, with a complete list of all its members from the beginning, date of admission and removal, manner of it, with other needful explanations, ages of the deceased, etc. The most comprehensive and yet properly condensed well-arranged plan of this last item is still a desideratum both for our Church records and manuals.

A model Church manual, embracing each department, would be of great value, and might, for substance, be condensed into an article for the Congregational Quarterly. This imperfection and confusion, now so common, should be removed, as far as possible, both for present benefit and future satisfaction. The earliest history and records of our churches will be hereafter sought with deep if not ever-increasing interest, as already begins to appear. If it be a shame not to know the date of one's own birth and early history, how much more so for a Christian Church, destined to live, it may be, we hope it shall live, - till the end of the world!

Other denominations have their comprehensive confessions and Church manuals, in one form or another, that all their members may know their belief, principles of discipline, etc. But since the Congregational churches have in late years become so independent, the old platforms have been virtually laid aside, and each Church adopts a few brief Articles of Faith and such Covenant as the majority may prefer, till very little that is purely Congregational is embraced; election, perseverance of the saints, and infant

baptism, if not other distinctive articles, are too often entirely omitted. The Confession of Faith of 1680, and the earlier Cambridge Platform of 1648, have been almost entirely ignored for a generation, till it is doubted whether one half the present members of our churches ever saw either of those ancient documents, and yet they are the only general declaration of our faith and discipline, adopted, as such, by our denomination.

It may be suggested whether it would not be beneficial to the Congregational churches to have these ancient documents reprinted in some neat and attractive form, for general circulation and more practical application; or that full abstracts of the same be incorporated with our Church manuals, with other rules of order, and directions for personal labors, that each Church member may have at hand, as a manual implies, a brief synopsis of his "faith and works," as some guide in promoting the cause of Christ. Most persons need some directions how they may make most rapid progress in the divine life, and so do most for Christ-in other words, how each may make the most of this short life.

The model Church manual, it is believed, should embrace the following divisions. I. Historical Sketch of the Church. II. Confession of Faith. III. Church Covenant. IV. Synopsis of Church Polity and Discipline. V. Standing Rules. VI. Home Evangelization Plans. VII. Hints for Self-Communion. VIII. Complete list of oficers and members.

Passing over the first three divisions, for some abler hand to model, the next division may be expressed thus:

PART IV. CHURCH POLITY AND DISCIPLINE.

This Church assumes the name Congregational, as indicating that form of Church government believed to be most agreeable to the New Testament, and as

laid down in the Cambridge Platform, a brief synopsis of which is given below in the following articles:

1. A Church consists of a number of visible saints, united and bound together by a public profession of the Christian religion, and by a mutual covenant, to maintain religious communion in the worship and service of God, and the ordinances of the gospel.

2. Such a company of saints possesses all the power which the Lord Jesus Christ has given to his Church on earth, and is authorized and warranted by him, independent of any other body, whether civil or religious, to maintain and exercise, in his name, the government and discipline which he has established and enjoined by his supreme authority in the Holy Scriptures, for the preservation of the peace, order, purity, and happiness of his Church.

3. A Church may exist, and has a right to act respecting its own interests and concerns, previously to the election and appointment of its standing officers.

4. It is the duty and the privilege of a Church to choose and appoint its own officers, who are bound, when they are regularly inducted into their offices, to act as the servants of the Church for the promotion of its spiritual interests, in the duties of their appointment.

5. The ordinary and necessary officers of a Church are ministers and deacons (Phil. i: 1); but a Church has a right to appoint any of its members to the performance of any service that may be accounted necessary or expedient for the advancement of its spiritual interests.

6. It is the office and duty of a minister to preside in the Church, to preach the gospel, to administer the Christian sacraments, and to labor publicly and privately for the spiritual and eternal welfare of the souls that are committed to his charge.

7. It is the office and duty of deacons to perform any stated or occasional service assigned by the Church; and

especially to serve the Church at the administration of the Lord's Supper, and in the communication of their charity, to relieve and supply the temporal necessities of its needy members. (Acts vi: 1-6.)

8. A Church is bound by its covenant, and by the Scriptures, to be attentive to the conduct and state of all its members, to maintain and manifest the spirit of Christian affection and sympathy, and to watch and labor for the prevention of unchristian and disorderly conversation and behavior.

9. If any member of a Church do any injury, or give any offence to another member, it is his duty to go, without delay, to the one whom he has injured or offended, and to make a Christian acknowledgment and confession of his fault, and render satisfaction to his injured or offended brother. (Matt. v: 23, 24.)

10. Whenever any member of a Church is guilty of a scandalous offence, it is the duty of any other member, who has the knowledge of the offence, to go directly to the offender, and to proceed with him, according to the instructions of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Gospel according to Matt. xviii: 15-17. (See whole chapter.)

11. None ought to bring a complaint against a member of a Church before the body, unless they are satisfied that there is just cause of complaint, and evidence of the offence, nor until they have taken the private methods to convince and reclaim him.

12. A Church ought not to receive a complaint against a member, unless it be brought by two or three, who testify that the private methods to reclaim him have been taken without success, and that he ought to be called to account by the Church. (Matt. xviii: 16.)

13. This Church considers immoral conduct, breach of express covenant vows, neglect of acknowledged or relative duties, and avowed disbelief of its

articles of faith, as offences subject to the censure of the Church.

14. A Church ought, by a public sentence, to excommunicate every offending member who persists in his offence, or who does not afford evidence of repentance and reformation, after dealing with him according to the Scriptures. (1 Cor. v: 11, 13; Titus iii: 10, 11; 2 Thess. iii: 6.)

15. An excommunicated person may not be restored, but upon a reformation of his conduct, public confession of his sin, and profession of repentance.

16. It is expedient for a Church to obtain the judgment and advice of other churches in important and difficult cases, by their presence and assistance in a council of pastors and delegates. (Acts xv: 1-13.)

17. As psalmody is a very important part of divine worship, and an ordinance of divine appointment, it is the duty of a Church to take proper and faithful measures for the decent and devout performance of this sacred service.

18. It is the duty of every Church, and of every member of every Church, to make constant progress in knowledge, holiness, usefulness, and happiness, that they may adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things. Amen.

PART V. STANDING RULES.

1. Persons offering themselves for admission to this Church by profession shall give satisfactory evidence of regeneration, be examined and approved by vote of the Church, and in ordinary cases be propounded publicly two weeks previous to full admission, when they shall make public profession by adopting its articles of faith and covenant. If coming from another Church, they shall bring a letter of dismission and recommendation, adopt the articles of faith and covenant, and be received by vote of the Church.

desire to remove their relation, must procure a letter of dismission and recommendation to some other evangelical Church, near the place where they reside, within one year after removal, unless they give satisfactory reasons for delay. 3. Members of other churches, who may wish to commune here for more than one year, are expected to remove their relation to us, unless they shall give satisfactory reasons for delay.

4. The Lord's Supper shall be administered to this Church on the first Sabbath in January, March, May, July, September, and November.

5. The invitation at each communion shall be, in substance, as follows: "All members present in regular standing from other evangelical churches are cordially invited to commune with us, on this occasion, at the table of our common Lord."

6. A collection shall be taken up at the close of each communion to defray the ordinary expenses of the Church, the excess to be distributed by the deacons, at their discretion, among the poor members of the Church, if any, and then to such other families in the congregation as may be most needy, and to report their doings at the annual meeting.

7. The preparatory lecture shall be held on the Friday afternoon preceding each communion Sabbath.

8. Regular Church meetings shall also be held for devotional exercises, conference, and business transactions, on the Friday preceding the first Sabbath in February, April, June, August, October, and December, alternate months- the meeting in April to be the annual meeting of the Church, when the following officers shall be chosen, and reports be made.

9. A clerk, who shall keep the records of all business transactions, and present them for approval, at least at each annual meeting.

10. A treasurer, who shall have charge of all the moneys and other property 2. Members of this Church, who belonging to the Church, including all

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