to make the gospel of Christ without charge, its influence will be salutary; but if done from any worldly motive it must, from the nature of the case, bring leanness into the soul. It can hardly, therefore, be doubted that few things, under God, would more directly tend to exalt the standard of ministerial character and activity in our church, than a provision of an adequate support for every pastor devoted to his work. How many of our most deserving brethren would the execution of this plan relieve from anxiety and want! Many of them are now without the ordinary comforts of life; harassed by family cares, oppressed with difficulty as to the means of supporting and educating their children. It would shed an unwonted light into many a household, to hear it announced that the Presbyterian church had resolved to obey the ordinance of Christ, that they who preach the gospel should live by the gospel. Such a resolution would kindle the incense in a thousand hearts, and would be abundant through the thanksgiving of many to the glory of God.

Again, this plan would secure stability and consequent power to the institutions of religion in a multitude of places, where every thing is now occasional, uncertain, and changing. Our church would be thus enabled to present a firm and steadily advancing front. Congregations too feeble to-day to support the gospel at all, would soon become, under the steady culture thus afforded to them, able to aid in sustaining others. A new spirit of alacrity and confidence would be infused into the ministry. They would not advance with a hesitating step, doubtful whether those behind will uphold their hands. When a missionary leaves our shores for heathen lands, he goes without any misgivings as to this point. He has no fear of being forgot, and allowed to struggle for his daily bread, while endeavoring to bring the heathen to the obedience of Christ. He knows that the whole church is pledged for his support, and he devotes himself to his work without distraction or anxiety. How different is the case with multitudes of our missionaries at home! They go to places where much is to be done, where constant ministerial labor is demanded, but they go with no assurance of support. The people whom they serve may greatly need the gospel; it ought to be carried to them, and urged upon them, but they care little about it, and are unwilling to sustain the messenger of God. The church does not charge itself with his support. It is true he is

laboring in her service and in the service of her Lord, but he is left to provide for himself, and live or starve as the case may be. This is not the way in which a church can be vigorously advanced. It is not the way in which Antichrist advances his kingdom. No Romish priest plants a hesitating foot an any unoccupied ground. He knows he represents a church; a body which recognizes its unity, and feels its life in all its members. Is it right that we should place the cause of Christ under such disadvantage? that we should adopt a plan of ministerial support which of necessity makes the church most feeble at the extremities, where it ought to have most alacrity and strength ? Truly the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.

The great recommendation of the plan for which we contend, is, that it is right. And if right, it must be healthful in all its influences. If the church acts on the principle that it is one, it will become one. If from a conviction of the brotherhood of all believers, it acts towards all as brothers, brotherly love will abound. The sense of injustice which cannot fail on our present plan to corrode the feelings of our neglected brethren, will cease to exist. The sympathies of the more prosperous portions of the church will become more enlisted in the welfare of those less highly favored. By acting on the principle which the Holy Spirit has prescribed for the government of the church, the church will become more and more the organ and dwelling-place of that Spirit, who will pervade it in all its parts with the glow of his presence, rendering it at once pure and prosperous, instinct with the power and radiant with the beauty of holiness.

We do not anticipate much opposition to the principles which we have attempted to advocate. We do not expect to hear any one deny the unity of the church; nor that it is the duty of the whole church to sustain and propagate the gospel; nor that the ministry belongs to the church as one body; nor that every minister is engaged in the service of the whole church; nor that it is just, scriptural, and expedient, that they who preach the gospel should live by the gospel. Nor do we expect that any one will deny that it is a logical sequence from these principles that the obligation to support the ministry rests as a common burden on the church which that ministry serves. The objections which we anticipate are principally these. First, that there are many in

efficient men in the ministry who ought not to be supported by the church, and who need the stimulus of dependence on their congregations to make them work. In answer to this objection we would say, that we believe the difficulty is greatly overestimated, and that the inefficiency complained of arises in a great measure from the necessity which so many of our ministers labor under of providing for their own support. There is indeed no plan which is not liable to abuse. But we have in this case all the security which other churches have who act on the principle for which we contend. We have the security arising from the fidelity of sessions in guarding admissions to the church; in the judgment of presbyteries in selecting and training men for the ministry, in ordaining them to the sacred office, and in superintending them when they come to discharge its duties. We have the security which the Board of Missions now have for the fidelity and efficiency of those who are engaged in its service. It will be observed that the plan contemplated does not propose to render the minister independent of his congregation. The principal part of his support, if a pastor, must, in most cases at least, come from them. It is only proposed that the Board of Missions should be authorized and enabled so to enlarge their appropriations as to secure an adequate support to every minister devoted to his work.

A more serious objection is the expense. In answer to this, we would ask whether it would require as large a portion of the income of believers as by divine command was devoted to this object under the old dispensation? Is the gospel of the grace of God less valuable, or less dear to our hearts than the religion of Moses to the hearts of the Israelites ? Would it require a tithe of the sum which the heathen pay for the support of their priests and temples? Would it cost Presbyterians in America more than it costs Presbyterians in Scotland, or more than it costs our Methodist brethren? What ought to be done can be done. What others do, we can do. What the cause needs are, with the blessing of God, two things, an intelligent comprehension of the grounds of the duty, on the part of the church, and some man or men to take the thing in hand and urge it forward.

X.

BUSHNELL ON CHRISTIAN NURTURE

THE leading idea of Dr. Bushnell's Discourses, is organic, as distinguished from individual life. Whatever may be thought of the expression, or whatever may be the form in which it lies in his mind, it represents a great and obvious truth; a truth, which however novel it may appear to many of our New England brethren, is as familiar to Presbyterians as household words. Strange, and in our view distorted, as is the form in which this truth appears in Dr. Bushnell's book, and incongruous as are the elements with which it is combined, it still has power to give his Discourses very much of an "Old-school" cast, and to render them in a high degree attractive and hopeful in our estimation. Apart from the two great illustrations of this truth, the participation of the life of Adam by the whole race, and of the life of Christ by all believers, we see on every hand abundant evidence that every church, nation, and society, has a common life, besides the life of its individual members. This is the reason why nothing of importance can occur in one part of the church without influencing all other parts. No new form of doctrine, no revival or decline of spiritual life can exhibit itself in New England, that is not effective throughout the Presbyterian church. We as a body owe, in no small measure, our character as distinguished from other Presbyterian communities to our participation, so to speak, of the

11. Discourses on Christian Nurture. By HORACE BUSHNELL, Pastor of the North Church, Hartford. Approved by the Committee of Publication. Boston: Massachusetts Sabbath School Society. 1847. 12mo. pp. 72.

2. DR. TYLER's Letter to Dr. Bushnell on Christian Nurture. 8vo. pp. 22.

3. An argument for "Discourses on Christian Nurture," addressed to the Publishing Committee of the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society. By HORACE BUSHNELL. Hartford: Edwin Hunt. 1847. 8vo. pp. 48.-PRINCETON REVIEW, October, 1847.

life of New England; and the New England churches are indebted, in like manner, for their character as distinguished from other Congregational bodies, to the influence of their Presbyterian brethren. No community can isolate itself. The subtle influence which pervades the whole, permeates through every barrier, as little suspected and yet as effective as the magnetic or electric fluid in nature. This fact may be explained in a manner more or less obvious or profound according to our philosophy or disposition, but it cannot be denied, and should not be disregarded.

We are, therefore, not uninterested spectators of the changes going on in New England. They are changes in the body of which we are members, and their effects for good or evil we must share. We are not therefore stepping out of our own sphere, or meddling with what does not concern us, in calling attention to Dr. Bushnell's book, and to the discussions to which it has given rise.

The history of this little volume is somewhat singular. Dr. Bushnell was appointed by the Ministerial Association, of which he is a member, to discuss the subject of Christian training. He produced two discourses from his pulpit, and read the argument before the Association, who requested its publication. To this he assented, but before his purpose was executed, a request came from a member of the Committee of the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, that the publication should be made by them. The manuscript was forwarded to the committee who retained it in their possession six months, twice returned it to the author for modifications, and finally published it with their approbation. It excited no little attention, being favorably noticed in some quarters, and unfavorably in others. So much disapprobation, however, was soon manifested, that the committee felt called upon to suspend its publication. We are not surprised at any of these facts. We do not wonder that the committee kept the book so long under advisement; or that they should ultimately venture on its publication; or that when published, it should create such a sensation, or meet with the fate which actually befel it. There is enough in the book to account for all this. Enough of truth most appropriate for our times, powerfully presented, to make the committee anxious to bring it before the churches; enough of what was new in form and strange in aspect, to create doubt as to its effect and its reception; and enough of apparent and