impossible that there should be found, even among us, some young man who, hearing the Lord's voice saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for me?" will be ready to answer, like the prophet of old, "Here am I, Lord, send me"? Is it not a noble ambition to strive to obtain a place amongst those who "turn many to righteousness," and who, the Spirit tells us, "shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever"? Is it not a rich reward for a lifetime of self-denying labour to hear the Lord's voice saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord"? It does not speak much to our zeal as a church, that at this moment there is not to be found within its bounds three men having the necessary gifts and graces who will give themselves to mission work. Our China Mission needs two men to fill up the blanks caused by the enfeebled health of two of our veteran missionaries, and to enable us to carry on the work we have begun; but these men cannot be found. Surely we are not alive to the claims China has on us, to the wide door that is there thrown open to us, or we could not so listlessly look on the struggles of our few missionaries amidst a work that is so great that it is like to overwhelm them; could not sit idle while such rare opportunities for helping forward Christ's cause are held out to us. Let us pray God to raise up men fitted for the work, and to send more labourers into the harvest. "Go forth to Afric's teeming land; we MR. BROWNLOW NORTH, THE EVANGELIST.* a good degree," and to have become an Evangelist. We have our City Missionaries, and many of our wealthier congregations have missionaries attached to them, working under the direction of the minister, or of the session or deacons, or managers, as the case may be, but these have no ecclesiastical standing; they are not an order in the Church; they go forth to their work lacking that weight and influence and moral support which the Church's formal recognition would give to them. THE Church is at length beginning to an Evangelist should be, we have Philip, recognise the importance of a Scriptural who, first a deacon, was found many years office--an apostolic institution which, afterwards to have "purchased for himself strange to say, has no place in existing Christian communities. We refer to the office of the Evangelist. All branches of the Church may have officers whose duties embrace more or less of Evangelistic labour-such as ministers, elders, deacons, class leaders, and local preachers-yea, every member of the body of Christ is bound, according to his ability, to publish abroad the Gospel of peace; but no branch, so far as we know, has a class of officers who hold precisely the same position in relation to the Church as did the Evangelist of apostolic days. That is, there is no class of men who have been carefully chosen and solemnly set apart, after apostolic fashion, for the special work of Evangelising the ignorant and lost, thereby having given to them a rank as distinct and well-defined as that of teacher or pastor, or elder or deacon. Says Paul, "He gave, some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." And as an example of what "Ourselves: a Picture sketched from the His tory of the Children of Israel." By Brownlow North, B.A. London: Wm. Hunt & Co. Not that we would upset existing arrangements, or demand that all Evangelisers should be outwardly as well as inwardly called to the work. All that we wish is, that the Church should have a certain number of men of undoubted piety and of proved gifts specially ordained to the Evangelistic office. We wish to see a defunct apostolic order revived. No section of the Church in these days would think of frowning upon any man who voluntarily gives himself up to the work. But why rest contented with that? Why not encourage and invite men of superior qualifications to come forward and receive the sanction of the Church, and then, hav- | of mature age and of superior ability has ing given them an honourable status, or a been brought to Christ. Having given so "good degree," direct them into fields of much of his life to the world, he has a usefulness, where they may work under strong and growing desire to devote himthe best auspices and with the most effect? self exclusively, during the remainder of How much would the Church gain by such his days, to the Saviour, whose love has Scriptural action! What an impetus she penetrated and subdued his heart. But would give to the cause of Christ, and to how? He is too old to face the eight or her own vitality, if she were to scatter six years of preliminary study that are over the land a host of such men as Regi- necessary to introduce him to the ministry. nald Ratcliffe, Brownlow North, and If he were young how gladly, how thankRichard Weaver-men of one mind but of fully, would he comply with such a wholevarious gifts, and qualified to deal with all some law; but now it is out of the question. the classes of a godless society! There His powers, such as they are, are mature would be no lack of students then, and-have been matured in another school no lack of candidates for the foreign than the scholastic. He is in his prime. field. All orders would be stimulated, and He must work. Eight years at college the Church would be able, as she has never would be almost fatal. How work? The been hitherto, to bring all her strength to ministry is closed against him, and so he bear upon the ignorance and vice that has to keep at his desk, or counter, or prevail around her. shop, serving God as he best can. He cannot be a minister, but how effective he might be as an Evangelist, with his much experience of the world and his flaming heart! Perhaps the Methodist communion, in its various connexions, as they are called, approaches nearer to primitive order in this respect than any other. But we suspect that the majority of its local preachers (who are all trained and set apart for their office) are not in a position to devote more than a small portion of their time to the work entrusted to them. Our own observation leads us to believe that, as a rule, they are occupied during the week with their various trades or employments, on the diligent prosecution of which they depend for their subsistence. This circumstance may partly account for the notorious fact, that while there are most excellent men amongst them, there are also very many who rather injure than advance the good cause. We do not overlook the elders of our own Church, whose office fully warrants them to preach the Gospel, and to exhort and instruct as they have opportunity. Their functions are of a spiritual sort, and they have a wide latitude. But they also labour under the disadvantage of being engaged in earthly callings-many of them having weighty commercial responsibilities resting upon them. If our elders did, or could, take up in its true and full sense the work of Evangelists, or an adequate portion of them, we should be content, but this, we suppose, cannot be, or, at any rate, it is not; and that sufficeth. The following case is not rare. A man Now we should like to be able to say to such a man-"You cannot undertake what is necessary to become a minister at your age, but here is a way in which you may exercise fully your gifts, and obtain your warmest desires: here is a position open to you, which affords as glorious a field of service as man can occupy—offer yourself as a candidate for the office of Evangelist.” To how many earnest, robust, and gifted Christians, who are now confined by necessity to an uncongenial course of life-though patiently submitting-would the existence of such an office be as an open door to that which would give them a freedom and a happiness for which they would cheerfully sacrifice the brightest earthly prospect! And there may be some, too, who are kept back, not by necessity, but by a natural timidity, fearful lest they should offend Christian, or rather ecclesiastical, propriety in doing what has not received the formal sanction of the Church authorities whose rule they acknowledge; but who, if the path was once clear, would joyfully take the name and do the work of a Christian Evangelist. Further, it might be that some evangelists of peculiar aptitude would be found worthy of being admitted into the ministry. Why not? After sufficient trial and *proved fitness, it would be only following | is to say, that it is worthy of being reapostolic example to raise such a man to a garded as a model for the Evangelist. A better "degree." Witness, Timothy. We believe this was the rule in the primitive days of the Church, and what was the rule then, could not, as an exception, do harm now. This would be an encouragement to diligence in study and labour. We have written freely on this subject because the Free Church of Scotland has practically adopted the opinions which we have expressed, and which we have long held. Perhaps the greatest innovation, and certainly the best, which any Presbyterian Church in this country has sanctioned within the last ten years, was the public recognition of Brownlow North as an Evangelist by the Free Church Assembly. We only wish that she had followed this action by admitting others in subsequent years to the same order and office. Sure we are that she has many within her pale equally qualified, who, if encouraged, or rather, not deterred by fear of meeting with a refusal, or of creating division, would not hesitate to solicit the same honour and to enter on the same work. happy medium has been hit, or rather, not hit, but arrived at, for much study is evident in every discourse-a happy medium between the more formal method and the broader handling of truth, that are incumbent on the stated ministry, and the continuous stream of declamation and appeal without any well-laid basis of Scriptural truth, in which so many indulge who engage in Evangelistic work. In all the book there is not a single piece of illegitimate sensationalism, if we except the numerous italics and capitals, which, though more in place in the hortatory discourses of an Evangelist than elsewhere, yet, to our mind, rather mar the effect of the writing than otherwise: Mr. North does not need such artificial helps. Nor have we observed any unnecessary or tedious amplification, even in the way of appeal. Our author has too much to say to waste time in vapid fluency of talk. He has zeal-zeal that flames forth in all his utterances; but he has also knowledge; and the two work excellently well together. The foregoing remarks have been sug- Apart from his style and method, which, gested by the appearance of a work from as we have binted, Evangelists might prothe pen of Brownlow North, whom every-fitably study as a model, he possesses two body knows as an earnest and successful qualities that are essential to eminence in Evangelist. Mr. North has, in his time, the office which he holds-a firm grasp of spoken much, but he has never ventured the old orthodox truths, and admirable until now to come before the public as an boldness in uttering and applying them. author. It was with some curiosity that He has no doubts; he hates modern rewe opened his pleasant-looking little book. finements; he preaches the Word as he The title of it is characteristic, though finds it, offend whom it may; and, in a perhaps open to stricture: "Ourselves: a strong, doric way, he lets fly the shafts Picture Sketched from the History of the which are ready to his hand in the divine Children of Israel." Selecting the chief armoury. Much as his discourses dwell points in the history of the deliverance on the grace of God and the love of Jesus from Egypt, and the forty years' desert life, and the way of life, they deal plainly with the Evangelist, by the light of the Cross, the sinner. There is no softening of terms unfolds their symbolic meaning; spiritu- or weakening of the truth when it pertains alizes them; and with great force applies to judgment. What God has taught him them to the condition and wants of the he teaches to others, heedless alike of the soul in our own day. Here is a fertile sub-praise or blame of men, anxious only to ject, and it is handled in a way which, in save the sinner. our opinion, fully justifies the yielding of Mr. North to the repeated request of friends, that he should give to the world, in a permanent shape, what had evidently been blessed to many as delivered from the pulpit and the platform. We have been charmed with the book. The highest praise we can bestow upon it It is delightful in these days of polite euphemisms and sentimental inanities and infidel effort, to hear the true ring of the Gospel metal from a man like Brownlow North-the ring of the weapons of Paul, and Luther, and Calvin, and Knox. We hail this little book, and trust that the "wholesome words" it contains will do far more good in their present form way of handling the truth, but having than they did when they came forth winged occupied so much space with the foregoing by the living voice. remarks, we must reserve them for a future It was our intention to present our number. readers with some specimens of Mr. North's Foreign Missions. CHINA. WE have this month two letters from Amoy and one from Swatow, all of a deeply interesting character. They show that wherever Gospel influence is felt, the fields are ripening and the first-fruits being gathered in. From Mr. Cowie we hear of no fewer than eighteen new converts, besides a large number of inquirers; and no one will read his letter without being impressed by a belief that the Divine blessing continues to rest on the labours of our missionaries. Mr. Mackenzie dates from Amoy, whither, as our readers know, he had gone to recruit his health, which had been much shattered by fever. It is a cause of thankfulness to learn that the change and rest have proved beneficial, and that he is likely to be able soon to return to Swatow and resume his important duties there. His letter, to which we invite attention, derives a special interest from its containing his impressions of the work that is being carried on by the Amoy brethren. He seems to have been delighted with all he saw, and his thankful and loving testimony must be very encouraging to friends of the mission at home. He was present for the first time at a Chinese Presbytery, and for the first time, too, he beheld the Communion dispensed by a native pastor-but we must let him speak for himself. Mr. Smith, who writes from Swatow, informs us that a site has at length been secured for an hospital, and makes an earnest appeal for the money that will be needed to erect suitable buildings. For the hospital and a house for Dr. Gauld (which seems indispensable), we gather that about £1,000 will be required. To enable the committee to grant so large a sum without doing injustice to other parts of the field, and to meet satisfactorily the ever-increasing demands of a mission which, under the blessing of God, is growing so rapidly, the Church must give more largely than it has yet done —must increase its givings in proportion to the enlargement of the field and the growing magnitude of the work. We pray for enlargement. We rejoice in tokens of success. And our very prayers and rejoicings lay upon us the responsibility of being prepared cheerfully to meet whatever additional outlay is rendered necessary by the work of the Lord prospering in our hands. Praying and doing go together. LETTER FROM REV. HUGH Amoy, Nov. 24, 1865. MY DEAR MR. HAMILTON,-I have not written to you for a very long time, simply because I have had nothing of special importance to communicate beyond what you have heard from time to time from one or other of the brethren. Nor indeed is there much of definite news to write you now. We have to acknowledge, and most grate fully we do acknowledge, the continuance goodly number; but on the Sabbath, there of God's blessing upon our labours here. being only the residents, the place was deNot only does the planting and the water-lightfully quiet. My congregation throughing in this blessed husbandry go on, but out the day numbered about forty. This the Lord of the harvest, of whom alone is occasion was also the opening of the rew the excellency of the working, recognises the chapel. The people themselves had formeans he himself has appointed, and gives merly rented a smaller place to meet for us from time to time to reap the increase. At worship, but have within the last fortnight Baypay, and in all the region around, there taken a lease of, I think, twenty years of this is a very wonderful leavening of the people large and convenient house, themselves pay at large with the blessed Gospel, manifest-ing the rent, which is guaranteed by certain ing itself in a very general interest and of their number. Of the men baptized there spirit of inquiry. And truly like leaven last Sabbath, one, Yang-hong by name, is long hid and working in secret has been the the proprietor of the new chapel; another, operation of the Spirit through the Word; Khoah-chhui, is his brother; the third, for that Gol's Spirit is abroad specially in- Chhan-a, is a claneman of the other two, fluencing the people in this district, from their surname being Na, but comes from a whose midst a goodly number have already, greater distance. With the evident sinwe trust, passed from death to life, we cerity and Christian consistency of these would fain believe. God grant that so fair three, as well as of the other three who were a promise may issue in the gathering in of unable to come forward, we have every many souls to himself. In years gone by, reason to be satisfied. On the same day, others-some of them, indeed, here now, but Sunday last, there was also an addition of some of them now no more-laboured in six new members to the church at Liongthese parts, and it has already been given bun-si, baptized by Mr. Douglas, and of us to reap some of the fruit of their labours. whom he will no doubt give you an account. We would desire to remember that, whether At Baypay there is a large number of incalled to serve the Master in the labours of quirere, of whom we hope to baptize prothe seed-time, or in those f the harvest-bably about six on Sabbath week, which is field, it is the one service of the one also the Communion Sabbath there. ToMaster, and that in both, if done for the morrow morning I leave for Baypay to Jove of him, he is alike glorified. Here, too, pass the Sabbath with the brethren, and is great encouragement, that if we sow in to be at the examination of the inquirers. faith God will assuredly appoint a harvest time, but sooner or later, as it seemeth to him good. You can thus see that we have much cause to thank God and take courage, and that we also stand much in need of your prayers. You will be glad to hear that Mr. Macgregor is able to preach regularly now, and will very shortly be taking a full share in all the work of the mission. Sabbath last it was my privilege to baptize three men at a recent, or, I may say, a new station, for these were the first baptized at that place. Besides these three there are two more men and one woman who would have been received into the Church at the same time, but who, owing mainly to sickness, were unable on that occasion to present themselves. This place, In-boe-kio, is a market-town, or rather village, about four miles from Baypay, and forms the centre of a group of small villages. On market days-and they occur every second or third day—there is a considerable concourse of people from the country round, thus furnishing a good Dr. Maxwell has also been ill with bilious opportunity for preaching. On Saturday fever, but pronounced himself rather better last, being market day, I preached to a in the first intimation we had of his sick You have no doubt heard that our dear brother McKenzie, of Swatow, has been obliged to come to Amoy on account of his health, having had a severe attack of fever. He has been here now about a month, and is, I am thankful to say, greatly improved in health. In two or three more weeks we trust he may be perfectly restored, and able, without any serious injury to himself, to gratify his impatient longing to be back in Tie-Chew once more. |