the footstool. We labour to be helpers of their faith and joy, and thus to strengthen the hands of the Gospel ministry. In closing the year, we tender special thanks to Contributors and Circulators. We highly prize their services. They are our right hand, our hope! We desire, therefore, the continuance, and, if possible, the increase of their good offices, with a great addition to their numbers. In a circle so large, death and other circumstances are always working change and diminishing numbers, so that constant recruiting is indispensable. Next to the pleasure of giving a good hint is that of perceiving that it is not in vain. The CHRISTIAN WITNESS and CHRISTIAN'S PENNY MAGAZINE led the way in propounding schemes for Congregational Canvassing; and we are very glad to find that our example has been extensively followed in most communities. Our excellent Scottish contemporary, the United Presbyterian Magazine, for last month, in the course of an address to its readers, has the following: Let a small Canvassing Committee be formed in each congregation, after recommendation from the pulpit, to wait on every family, and respectfully solicit their support, and they will meet with comparatively few refusals. Other plans have been tried in extending the circulation of denominational magazines, but no one has been so successful as that now suggested. Mere announcement will not suffice. In a case known to the Committee, it was intimated that intending subscribers might put their names in the plate on Sabbath, and only two were received. But, in the same church, Three hundred and Fifty subscribers were secured by waiting personally on the members! If this plan, or some similar one, is pursued, the desired increase will be very readily obtained. The times in which we live are, in a religious view, most eventful. Even where piety is true, there is reason to fear it is not generally deep. Profession, moreover, has largely outrun principle. To increase the danger, and augment the fear, error is becoming mingled with truth; the pure Gospel is not relished by many, so much as a spurious imitation. What the public demand will, in the natural course of things, be supplied, and thus by degrees the leprosy will spread. The Age, then, calls for watchfulness, prayer, careful study of the Scriptures, and a steadfast adherence to the old paths. JOHN CAMPBELL. November 13, 1856. |