454 CONFERENCE AND THE BIBLE SOCIETY. fellow Christians. Here is a bond of union in which we can join,a platform of opinion on which we can associate,-a purely unsectarian work in which we can assist, and by so doing justify our boast of being of no sectarian spirit. They ask our support; let us be thankful for the call, and give it at once and gladly. But I write now especially to urge that such support should be, in every case, given through an organised congregational branch, and in the name of the local society of the church. In the midst of nearly every New Church congregation are many individuals who privately subscribe to the Bible Society. Let these individuals permit their subscriptions to go through a branch society in the name of the church, and there will be additional uses resulting. Organisation in this movement is very important. If only one shilling per annum from each of twenty persons can be obtained, there should be duly appointed a collector, a secretary, and a treasurer, and they should pay it over to the General Auxilary of the Bible Society in the neighbourhood. By these means the existence of our own New Church societies would become favourably known to many thousands who read the Bible Society's printed reports, and no question could longer remain in their minds as to our belief in and reverence for the Bible, as the standard of faith and the fountain of truth. Ignorant prejudices would thus be removed, and a favourable impression of the body be created in many minds, and especially amongst Bible reading and Bible loving people; amongst the clergy of all denominations, and with the more pious of the laity in thousands of congregations. This use to our neighbour ought not to be overlooked. It demands and well merits attention. An illustration of this occurred in the society of the church with which I have the happiness of being connected. When our branch society was formed, and its first year's sum of money paid over, it was of course reported to the committee of the Local Auxiliary as from the "New Jerusalem Church Branch Society," and we were informed that considerable interest was manifested, and much conversation and questioning took place amongst the ministers of the town who constituted the committee. Besides this, every year our list of officers and our balance sheet is circulated in the local reports, and affords opportunities for conversation with thoughtful men of other creeds. Should any help be desired to start the movement, I can assure your readers that the Bible Society will gladly send a deputation to attend CONFERENCE AND THE BIBLE SOCIETY. 455 any meeting for that purpose, and will always afterwards provide one or more speakers to give most interesting information at the annual meetings of the Branch, however small it may be. A lady collector, a lady secretary, and a lady treasurer, are very usual officers of these congregational branches. Three lady friends may, therefore, easily agree to start the effort in their own locality, and on applying to the secretary of the parent society for an agent to attend a meeting, they will find all difficulties soon overcome. Sincerely trusting that your readers may from month to month be gladdened by news of action taken in many societies to carry out this excellent recommendation of the Conference, I am, Sir, yours very truly, JOHN BRAGG. "THE NEW CHURCH PULPIT." MANIFOLD are the uses of preaching. It was instituted by the Lord Himself; and as a regular practice, preaching is peculiar to Christianity. It has played no small or unimportant part in the great drama of human history. Christendom owes very much of its present position, and Christianity very much of its unquestionable success, to this agency, which was ordained by the Divine Wisdom, and which has been often crowned with the Divine blessing. A large portion of the literature of Christianity consists of volumes of sermons; and many of the ablest minds which have adorned the Christian era, have adopted the form of sermons as the chief, or the only one, in which to convey their sentiments or express their views. Some of the noblest thoughts by which literature has been enriched, some of the most conclusive arguments by which the truth of Christianity has been proved, and some of the most impressive considerations by which Christian duties have been enforced, are to be found in sermons. Valuable as the hearing of discourses has been, the preservation of discourses is almost equally useful, and sometimes the perusal of them is even more instructive. Religious feeling has been deepened, and reflections on theology have been guided, corrected, and informed, by perusing sermons which may have rivetted our attention when heard, and which have been not improperly esteemed as literary treasures afterwards. Sermons permit of a more pointed style of address, and of a more personal, and therefore more impressive, form of illustration than essays, theses, or dissertations. The preacher, more than the teacher, can remind men of the blessings they enjoy, or impress upon them the recollection of their duties. 456 66 THE NEW CHURCH PULPIT." Until the invention of printing, preaching was the principal, and almost the only, means by which the doctrines of Christianity were disseminated. By the power of the press, the influence of the pulpit has been made more lasting and more forcible. Sermons became fuller of thought, when a larger number of minds were enabled to meditate upon the sentiments they contained. Style became purer, because the critics became more abundant. Earnest men composed with greater care, verified their quotations with more accuracy, and distributed their arguments with greater skill, when, by means of printing, their audiences became enlarged. What is necessarily ephemeral may very easily be unworthy of enduring. The practice of printing sermons has improved sermons; and the more they have improved, the more deserving have they grown of being printed. The action and reaction have been in this matter, as in others, equally certain and undoubtedly beneficial. Many readers of the "Intellectual Repository" have expressed a wish that its pages should occasionally contain a sermon; not only because a discourse might edify the ordinary readers of the magazine, but it might also render the periodical useful to lend to others, and further, because it might thus supply small societies with a sermon to be read in their meetings. The Conference held in 1863 recognised the force of these arguments, and recommended the editor of the Repository to adopt the course of inserting occasionally a suitable discourse. This has since been done in every alternate number of the magazine. of The Conference of 1863 further considered that if such sermons were worthy of insertion in the Repository they deserved a more extensive circulation. The use which such discourses might perform would thus be extended. While the type was standing the expense printing off an edition of each sermon by itself would not be great, and consequently, the Conference resolved that such an edition of each sermon should be printed; and that these discourses should be published under the general title of "The New Church Pulpit," each discourse to be sold at one penny per copy. Of these sermons there have now been nine published. Whether from forgetfulness, or from ignorance of the fact of there being such a publication, or from lack of appreciation on the part of the New Church public, could not be said; but from some cause, "The New Church Pulpit" has not secured the sale which was hoped. A large number of each sermon remains unsold. This the last Conference heard with regret. There was some thought of discontinuing 66 THE NEW CHURCH PULPIT. 457 the publication altogether, but it was determined that the publication of "The New Church Pulpit" should continue at least during the present year, so as to produce sufficient numbers to make a thin volume. The Conference also appointed me to invite the attention of the Church, and of all readers of the Repository, to the fact of the publicaton of such separate sermons, and to the desirableness of the circulation of "The New Church Pulpit," and to solicit the assistance of all those who are aware of the publication of "The New Church Pulpit" in informing those who are unaware of it, and in reminding those who have forgotten. The discourses already published are the following: The Restoration of the Intellectual Principle of the Church. By the Rev. E. D. The Worship of the Church: its Object and Author. By the Rev. R. Storry. On Affliction. By J. F. Potts, B.A, "Touch Me Not." By the Rev. W. Bruce. "Give us to-day our Daily Bread." By the Rev. O. Prescott Hiller. The Lord's Joy in His Disciples. By Mr. R. Colling, Licentiate. The Shunamite's Blessing, or Domestic Sorrows Sanctified. By the Rev. T. L. Marsden. Demoniacal Possession. By the late Rev. S. Noble. The use which these sermons might subserve cannot be doubted. Whether they will perform this use must depend on the interest which the church takes in their publication, and the consequent circulation which they enable them to obtain. The Conference believes them worthy of the attention of the friends of the church, and solicits their assistance in circulating them. The small price at which they may be purchased, the valuable addition to the library which they will make, and the ease with which they may be distributed among those who do not take the Repository, ought to secure for "The New Church Pulpit" an extensive sale. The desirableness of promoting the circulation of these discourses, and the facility as well as the trifling expense with which this object can be effected, are so selfevident as not to require any elaborate advocacy, and indeed hardly permits of it. The Conference believed itself justified in the resolution to print, and now trusts to the church to aid in the distribution of the sermons. On behalf of the Conference, the readers of the Repository will, I hope, allow me to present this matter for their most kindly considera tion. JOHN HYDE. 458 MILMAN'S HISTORY OF THE JEWS. THIS is a standard work with the orthodox world, and as the best specimen of its day is worthy of notice in the "Intellectual." The leading idea of the author is that the Bible is a history, and as such is subject to all the laws which govern historical research. He then proceeds to write the Bible over again, where it has reference to the history of the Jews, in such a style as Hume, or Froude, or Macaulay might adopt. He begins with Abram, for we suppose his theory did not enable him to remodel the first chapters of Genesis; and he represents the patriarch as a nomad sheik, an Arab chief, in fact, who worshipped and had intercourse with the one true God, where all around were idolators. The following extract will shew the spirit in which the historian proceeds, dismissing the spiritual interpretation of the "Word of God" in the following brief sentence:-"With allegorical or remote typical or mystical meanings, I have nothing to do." Having thus summarily dismissed the only clue that would have helped him out of a labyrinth, he proceeds in the following style, which I give as a sample of the whole book: "Except as shewing that the valley of the Nile was already occupied by an industrious, agricultural population, the visit of Abram throws little light on the existing state of Egypt. The monarch seems to have lived in considerable state, and possessed a numerous seraglio, which was supplied by any means, however lawless and violent. This was so notorious that Abram, though an independent sheik or emir, if his fair-complexioned Mesopotamian wife should excite the cupidity of the swarthy Egyptians, might apprehend the worst consequences. He ran the risk, not only of losing his wife, but of being murdered, for the sake of so valuable a prize. He took the precaution, therefore, to make Sarai assume the name of his sister, who was in fact his father's daughter, though not by the same mother, perhaps hoping that, if sought in legitimate marriage, he might protract the espousals till the famine would permit him to make his escape from the country. The event justified his apprehensions. Sarai was seized and transferred to the harem of the sovereign, who was so proud of his acquisition as to make magnificent presents to Abram, intended, as it may seem, as a dowry for his sister. In a short time a pestilence broke out in the royal family. The king having discovered the relationship between Abram and Sarai, attributed the visitation to the God of the stranger, who thus revenged his breach of hospitality. Abram received back his wife, and returned to Canaan loaded with possessions suited to his habits of life-sheep and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she-asses, and camels,'- a curious picture of the wealth of a pastoral chieftain." |