the might of the truth they preach, the religion they advocate, to win what adherents they can by a simple appeal to those real, pressing, spiritual needs which their fellowmen generally have with themselves, that they too may be led to put to the same test of the same faith and experience those facts, those truths of religion which they preach. This is what a vast number are already doing in every church, and they desire nothing more. It is this spirit which gives, and has ever given, rise to every new and great religious movement in the history of the world, a spirit which, contrary to Mr. Wiseman's contention, is altogether oblivious, at least in its leaders, of all personal considerations. of self-interest, of social or stipendiary advantage. It is illustrated in the toil, and risk, and suffering of the simple, early preachers of Christianity in the first three centuries, and in the rise of successive orders of preaching monks and friars in the Romish or Greek Church, as well as of similar bodies in other and Pagan religions, and in the Lollards of Wickliffe, and the subsequent preachers of the Reformation of this and other lands, in the rise of Conforming and Nonconforming Puritan preachers of the 16th and 17th centuries, in the Independent, Baptist, and Quaker preachers, in those of earlier and of modern Methodism, ordained or lay, and if you like in the Salvation Army and other religious movements and missions. In all these cases we have no hesitation in saying, as all would who really had read and studied their separate history, that it was and is just this spirit, this desire and preference for free, unhampered play to the particular form of religion or religious truth that they preached and emphasised, that led them to go forth facing every possible risk, with no selfish calculation, no separate or ulterior ends, to go forth from church establishments, from homes, and friends, and lands, sailing in their

Mayflowers," counting not worldly advantage or possessions, or friends or positions, or even life dear unto them, that they might perchance win or make a constituency of their own from among

men.

And we venture to say that this spirit is alive to-day, albeit it seems to slumber, that it is still healthy, vigorous, and ready to awake when needed, and make many of them heroes and martyrs for the truth they preach, the religion they enjoy. Let occasion

arise, let old tests of orthodoxy or conformity be re-imposed, old tyrannies be revived, let the corrupt or heretical state of the church or the interests of vital Christian truth and religion demand it, whether that come from encroaching Romanism on the one hand, or of an irreligious Rationalism on the other, and vast numbers would arise to defend, and if necessary to march out of, their different churches, as has repeatedly happened any time within the last 200 years, not only in Anglican but in Nonconforming and Methodist communions alike, who would face the uncertainty of a future career unguaranteed by the sanction or patronage of any State or other establishment.

But it may be, as it doubtless is, that there exist to-day some in this profession, as in all, who are mere professionals, influenced by other than the motives of fidelity to the truth they profess to believe in, and of a desire for its spread and triumph, but who are moved by those of self-interest. It may be, as it doubtless is, that some enter this profession simply as a profession, respectable, honoured, refined, or as a mere means of livelihood in comfort and security. With these, however, we have now nothing whatever to do. They are to be found in all professions, though least of all we dare to say in this. How many are there in any other profession, say the medical, legal, or military, who enter it from a simple pure desire to do good, to be of service to their fellowmen, and not rather out of fancy or taste, for honour, and glory, or because of its respectability and pecuniary advantages and promise? We should say they are in a small minority in any of them, nor do we complain or despise. But in the case of the clerical or ministerial profession or order, we have no hesitation in saying that the majority enter from the best and highest motives, for the moral and religious welfare of their fellows, and least of all, generally, for monetary prospects or hopes.

And if, in this calling, the profit that may be gained, its social or pecuniary interest or other attractions, becomes a reason for remaining in it, after some change of creed or attitude, or becomes the chief reason displacing the higher motive from which it was entered, that is nothing against the greater and remaining portion, or against the calling as such. These will be found in every profession and sphere of life. Nor can we wonder that in a com

mercial age like the present, when the spirit of the market and exchange penetrates, eats into every class and sphere, there should be some and perhaps more than ever of that stamp in this. But that is as much the fault of the age, and is not to be put down to the decline of religious faith, or any unusual lack of conviction and honesty.

And therefore can any unbiassed mind doubt that this profession, judged from the standpoint of its moral and benevolent or philanthropic aim, is the highest and noblest of all?

The real aim of religion, and of all religious effort, or at least of all truly religious men, is, or should be, to make men and women good, by the influence of their teaching, sanction, restraint, and appeal, is for the moral and spiritual elevation and welfare of the individual and the community. Granted that they may be mistaken in their ideas, in their means and methods for accomplishing these beneficent ends, yet that is undoubtedly the true and great end of religion, and of all religious workers as a class, that is the inspiration for all their earnest and self-denying effort. It is a serious mistake to think, as so many of some sections even of the clergy, but more especially of the people at large, are apt to think and say, that the aim of the church is to make men religious, to get them to be members of a Christian church, to observe its forms and duties, and enjoy its privileges, and advance its interests, and there to stop. As far as this does obtain it is a serious error, and the parent of all kinds of bigotry, intolerance, and persecution. Rightly viewed the one aim and end of religion, and of all truly religious and Christian men is moral, to do away with sin and wickedness in the world, to effect the reformation of lives, the restraint of evil tendencies, the quickening of all good impulses and principles, and the culture of high character and true manhood. There can be no higher aim than this for any cause, any man, or class of men. And it is unquestionably the ruling, if not the only aim of that class which we venture to represent, lifting it into a position, as a class, of conspicuous, if not solitary eminence.

And if it were necessary, we could adduce abundant illustrations to prove that no one section of the clergy is self-interested in their life and work. Our critics make exceptions of those who are

really bona fide, "innocent, believers"; we, however, make the exceptions, or at most the minority, those who are wilful deceivers, dishonest, self-interested professionals. If it is not devotion to the moral and spiritual interests of mankind by means of the Christian religion as with all the Evangelicals as a class, it is at any rate intense devotion to the interests of "The Church" itself, as with the High Church Clergy, which characterises their life and work. The self-denying efforts and zeal of the latter class has become proverbial, and everything is given up, in numerous instances, income, leisure, ease, strength, for the interests at least of the church they love. And where it is not the church, instances could be given without number of the Evangelical and Nonconforming clergy who have left or have sacrificed openings into other and much more lucrative businesses and professions, for small stipends, for little of personal comfort and temporal welfare and prospect, and who are struggling along through life with added burdens, claims, demands, because of their position, but with gifts, and scholarship, and sterling merit that would in other lines and spheres have secured recognition and reward in every worldly sense, but who are unrewarded here except in the consciousness of duty done and effort made, in the knowledge of good conferred and service rendered, and in the assurances of grateful and loving hearts.

A NARROW ESCAPE.

NEW Babylon, unlike the long-forgotten city on the Euphrates, is the most virtuous town in the wide wide world. Its population, counted by millions, is so thoroughly Christian that Christ himself was astonished when, at the invitation of a great journalist, he visited the place towards the end of the so-called nineteenth century. Thousands of temples erected to the Deity which the meek inhabitants worship, bear witness to the saintly life of those who dwell within the precincts of the vast area. Here indeed Christianity is to be found in its natural but slightly improved form. Crime has almost become a thing of the past; here the lamb is lying down with the lion, the eagle dwells with the dove, and the vulture feeds on milk and honey.

The most stupendous result of Christian propaganda and Christian education, caused by the influence of the saintly shepherds on their flock, is the high morality of the vast congregation of six million inhabitants. Commercial morality being above suspicion, the question of "mine" and "thine" having been settled to the satisfaction of the leaders in former centuries, the whole and undivided attention of those who consider the salvation of the soul as of paramount importance, could be directed to the purification and development of the moral sense.

The question of morality to the spiritual guides of the population of New Babylon was not at all a complicated one; it consisted simply in the recognition and acknowledgment of the great mistake which nature had made in implanting a strong sexual instinct in the human breast. The suppression of this natural instinct would, as a matter of course, follow the conviction that it was of evil origin. The New Babylonians, by hereditary goodness and inclination, would willingly suppress anything and everything which could endanger the salvation of their souls. And, as according to the teaching of their saviour the human body in itself was ( 370 )