The two thoughts, therefore, of acquainting men with Christ, and of carrying them up into likeness to Christ, so that they shall really be the pure and broad and stout men Christianity contemplates, are to be always in the minds and on the hearts of the ministry, and underscored with deepest emphasis in all general schemes of church work. Mischief is done by attempting to separate and antagonize them. One is not to be pushed forward by crowding the other back. They are to be kept abreast, outlining our work and beckoning to activity; and it will not be well for us, nor for the cause we serve, if we neglect either of these equally important and equally sacred duties. We are to say "Come;" and we are to say "Grow," till all men are the obedient and loving children of the Father.

ARTICLE VII.-DO WE NEED AN ETHICAL REVIVAL?

THE question submitted for discussion supposes a radical want or defect to exist in the religious life of our times; a want which is not met, or but very partially met, by "revivals of religion" technically so called. What this defect is, is indicated by the term ethical, or moral, as distinguished from religious, as this word is popularly understood: and the various bearings of the question are suggested by and comprehended in this deep and wide and far-reaching distinction. Perhaps we can best answer this question by considering the fact of such a defect, its causes, and its remedy.

Let it not be inferred in naming this distinction, that religion in its true idea does not include morality, or that the ethical element can be separated from the religious without fatal injury to both; that one can really love God without loving men who are made in the image of God," for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"-that one can truly reverence the divine attributes of justice, righteousness, goodness and truth, and practice injustice, dishonesty, meanness or cruelty, or can be religious and devout in the sanctuary, and be selfish, corrupt, and grinding in the street or in the market. Such inconsistency is possible under heathen systems, and is even consistent with the heathen idea of religion, which has little or no connection with morality, since the heathen deities are as morally corrupt as their worshipers, and the worship of them is a sensual or merely formal, not a spiritual worship, the performance of some outward rite rendered not as an expression of love or reverence-for the love of God is an idea utterly foreign to heathenism-but a slavish task or penance, or expiatory offering.

It is the distinctive excellence of Christianity that morality is a vital and organic part of religion, springing from it as branches from the root and cannot be sundered from it without destroying or fatally injuring its life. The one principle of

love, which unites the soul to God, or the believer to Christ, secures the fulfillment of all duty, both the duties we owe to God and those we owe to one another. As the one principle of life in the tree not only feeds the roots and sustains the inner and secret processes of growth through the vital chemistries of the soil, the air, and the light, but matures also the fruit, and gives strength and beauty to the form; the supreme love and choice of God as revealed in Christ inspires not only feelings of devotion and acts of worship, but sanctifies the whole inward and outward life, moulding it after that law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus which has made us free from the law of sin and death, leading the Christian not only to believe in Christ and trust in him for salvation, but to follow and obey him in all things, to aspire after and pursue whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. Such is religion. in its idea, and in the experience and life of some believers; but we need not say how seldom this idea is realized at the present day in the great mass of those who profess and call themselves Christians.

I. It is a prevalent and growing conviction that the religion of our time is wanting in reality, and depth, and practical power over the life and character; that while the numbers of those who "experience" and profess religion are multiplying as perhaps seldom before, the real power of godliness and the standard of Christian character, and the distinguishing traits that separate, or ought to separate, between the church and the world, are diminishing, so that it is often difficult to discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

For some reason and in some way, there is a practical divorce between religion and morality. Piety is no longer the synonym of righteousness, godliness of goodness; faith has almost ceased to be a living power working in the character, the guarantee and producer of good works, and is relegated into the domain of mere sentiment, or of dogmatic belief; while works divorced from faith substitute a secular and bustling activity for that quiet, unostentatious, yet earnest and successful doing which our Saviour designates as letting the light shine, and bringing forth much fruit, and which is the working.

not of mechanism but of life. The defect here indicated, this practical divorce between religion and morality, is shown in various ways and forms of demonstration. It is seen in the startling revelations, so frequent of late, of a lack of honesty and integrity in those occupying places of trust and honor both in public and private life, and not seldom places of distinction in the church. That defections should occur even among those high in the Christian church is not indeed a strange thing, since one of Christ's chosen apostles turned out a traitor, and the history of the church shows it has never been without apostates and unworthy members. But the significance of these modern instances lies in the fact that they are hardly exceptional, save in the extent of the dishonesty and the consequent exposure and disgrace. They are signal examples and exponents of the demoralization and corruption of conscience going on beneath in the heart of the social, commercial, and political world.

Again, the loose maxims and looser practices that prevail in business and in politics (almost without a suspicion that they are false and wrong), indicate a corruption and corrosion of the public conscience that does not stop at the imaginary line that separates the church and the world, but infects the mind of even good men with the idea that gain is godliness, and the chief end of existence; that honesty is to be pursued so far, and only so far, as it is, or appears to be, the best policy; that all is fair in politics, and right in business which the statute law does not prohibit, or is not "an iniquity to be punished by the judges;" that the golden rule is too high and impracticable for the strifes of party, the conflicts between labor and capital, and the competitions of trade. In short the ethics of the wise man while working out his experimental philosophy of life, is the principle they follow: "Be not righteous overmuch: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? Neither be thou overmuch wicked: why shouldest thou die before thy time?" (like Tweed and Morrissey.)

But the most significant, perhaps, of all, as showing the defect in question, is the judgment of the world upon the character of many if not most of those who profess to be the followers of .Christ. These read not the heart but the life, not the religious

experience but the practical fruits, or the character as manifested and tested in the every-day walks and relations of life. And how often is this judgment to the effect that the character of "church people," or professing Christians, so far as it can be seen of men, is no better than that of others; that the moral virtues of many outside the church, and professing no religion, are often better and higher toned than the so-called Christian virtues of those within. Now, making due allowance for prejudiced vision, the imperfections of even the best Christians, and the error of attributing to the whole of a class the characteristics of a few; is there not too much reason for the judgment here rendered? Is it not true, what has often been affirmed, that the greatest obstacle to the triumph of Christianity arises not from the arguments or opposition of its foes, but the inconsistency of its professed friends?

II. What now, let us inquire, is the cause or causes of this defect; and what is the remedy?

Some will say, and do in fact tell us, that Christianity has spent its force, that it has had its day, like other religions of the past, and is about to pass away and give place to the religion of the future—to positivism, or free religion, or the religion of humanity, or whatever the new faith or philosophy may be called which is to overturn all former systems of thought, all the primary intuitions and beliefs of the human soul, eject the supernatural from the world and history, and substitute knowledge for faith, and science for what is called superstition. We need not spend words to refute this hypothesis. We who believe in the divine origin and indestructible truth and ultimate triumph of Christianity, believe that it is adapted to all ages and conditions of humanity, the most cultured as well as the most ignorant and degraded; that it has within it forces and elements to correct every error, and supply every defect, springing not only from human weakness and depravity, but from its own imperfect comprehension and application, to dissipate all darkness, both that of the mind into which it shines, and that of its own eclipse.

1. Among the more real and positive causes, we may mention the prevalent Scepticism and Materialism of the age, which has found its way into every department of thought, and is