WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE.

JANUARY, 1866.

TO THE READER.

THE commencement of a new volume affords the Editor an opportunity of touching for a moment on a subject in which the readers of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine may be presumed to feel an interest.

One of the duties most readily recognised by an intelligent Christian, is that of fostering the production and circulation of a pure literature. The social characteristics of our times render this more than ever imperative. The spread in religious circles of practices which betray a spirit of worldliness; the prevalence of an imperious and scornful rationalism; the insinuation of false notions of religious freedom; the craving for excitement and amusement, which grows out of the general activity of the age, but which tends to break down all practical distinction between the church and the world; the danger to which the Christian household is exposed from the ever-encroaching spirit of the market and the counting-house; that headlong worship of Mammon, on whose altar we daily see the most costly sacrifices placed:-these are but a few of the powerful influences around us against which earnest and spiritual men find themselves constantly put upon their defence; and which they are called upon to oppose, not only by the testimony of a private example, but by a wise use of the power of the press.

Of these evils one of the most conspicuous is the eager spirit of scepticism which no reader of current literature has to go far to encounter. This scents and welcomes from afar every theory, no matter how preposterous its claims, or how mean its origin, which has for its object the damage, at least, of Christianity, though its overthrow may not be hoped for. Were this tendency to be found only beyond the precincts of the church itself,-found only among professed Socinians, Unitarians, Deists,-resistance to it would be easy, and its doings might be safely despised. But, alas! they are God-fearing men, they are scholars deeply versed in the letter of the word of God; they are men whose amiable "charity" it were an offence to call in question; nay, they are recognised and influential ministers of religion, who are the foremost to add to or take from the oracles of God: some questioning the very possibility of inspiration; some reducing the miracle to a natural process; some resolving the Atonement into a sentimental expression of the "Fatherhood of God;" some lowering the claims of

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the Sabbath under a specious deference to the authority of the Lord of the Sabbath; others denying the eternity of punishment for the finally impenitent; and others, strange to say, reviving—here in subtle argument, yonder in vulgar declamation-the repulsive principles of Calvinism amidst the amplest professions of a growing goodwill towards all men. Whatever the heresies of past ages, there is none, it seems, so hopelessly absurd but that its reproduction may yet be possible; for never was there such a gulf between profession and practice, --a profession not seldom taken up with ceremonial oaths,-between truth and some of its most boastful champions, as now exists. Some reason, at least, was there for Luther's opinion that the world will become both better and worse-the light be more light, the dark be more dark-till "the end" come.

The feebleness of the hold which the Gospel has upon many minds, is due, to two leading causes, out of many others, deeply at work in modern society. First, the religion of Christ is constantly set forth, often, doubtless, with the best intentions, both in the pulpit and out of it, with the scarcely disguised ambition of investing it with every possible attraction which literature and science can furnish. But God's jealousy in this matter, as of ancient Egypt, has been largely forgotten what was an ornament has become an essential; the casket is become more attractive than the jewel. Never, consequently, was the art of preaching carried to such refinement; never was the end of preaching, considering the amount of intellectual agency employed in it, less realized. Never was the notion that the truth saves so prevalent; never did the "Spirit of truth" so signally prove its fallacy by His withdrawal from many an orthodox pulpit, many an "enlightened" congregation. Christianity has her Nemesis-never more threatening than when the functions of the Holy Spirit are tacitly assumed to be consistent, not to say co-ordinate, with an elaborate decoration of the Gospel in the trappings of poetry and the spoils of philosophy. To such things, whether Popish or Protestant, there can be but one issue. Let the Spirit of truth, for this or any other reason, decline to visit our churches and sanctuaries, and what remains but for the "many antichrists" to spread toils into which men walk with their eyes wide open-the truth bewildering their steps all the more for its clearness?

But the prevailing religious indifferency of the times is owing, also, and in no small degree, to the wide diffusion of works of fiction amongst all classes of society. The modern passion for the novel is one of the most painful signs of that weakening of character with which history is familiar as having taken place, hitherto, so soon as a certain point in a people's career has been passed. Not even the Christian world has yet furnished the noble exception. And of all things inimical to society, or to the individual reader, the so-called "religious" novel is the most offensive to a correct taste. For how much of religion in

theory, yet divorced from it in practice, must go to make such a production enjoyable to any mind! Dark was the day when the fiction -wide as the poles asunder from the parables and allegories of Scripture, or the spiritual exercises of a Bunyan in his "Pilgrim "became to any soul the vehicle of entertainment in the same page with such things as repentance, faith, and the way of holiness. The function of the preacher usurped by the novelist, the questionable arts of the novelist practised by the preacher, such is the mingling of the true with the false in which not a few imagine the secret of the world's progress to lie! Fatal will it be for Methodists, especially, when they turn for instruction or amusement to the sayings and doings of their devoted fathers, as portrayed by writers to whom the operations of the Holy Ghost in the conversion of men are things not too sacred to grace a racy description, a telling bit of word-painting. If the church of Christ may not stand independently-nay, in a just abhorrence of such abominations as these, it is certain it cannot stand or prosper at all. What interest can there be in the Gospel on the Sabbath, though angels should minister it, to a mind that during the week has been steeped in the trifling pages (even where not immoral)

of a novel ?

But the name of these things is Legion. The mere allusion to them is, we trust, a sufficient reply to some who hint their wishes to see certain changes brought about in the general tone and character of the "Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine." It were easy to make this, the oldest of religious periodicals, and adapted mainly for Sunday reading, the vehicle of art, a repertory of science, a purveyor of tales and adventures, an outlet for the vagaries of irreverent speculation. And to do so would gratify, probably, a few. But at what price? At the price, surely, of missing altogether the lofty aim with which it was first established,-that of accomplishing results in the spiritual experience of its readers with which philosophy, literature, and art, as such, can have nothing in common.

But let us not be misunderstood. We are no advocates for dulness and monotony; and we are far from discouraging a lively sympathy with a true art, a true literature, a true philosophy. Our pages have long shown in how wide a range we deem the devout mind may fairly and profitably engage in studying the works and ways of God. But a "religious" publication has mistaken its place and office when it offers excitement for rational entertainment, the husks of novelists and sentimentalists for what may improve the heart or adorn the understanding. We have a share, too, however humble, in the responsibility of creating the demand, as well as in that of providing the supply-in regulating, as well as in gratifying, the tastes of readers. We have, moreover, not only a history to cherish but a spirit to transmit. On important theological questions the Arminian or Methodist Magazine has from the beginning given no uncertain sound

shunning no vital controversy, avoiding no profitable field of inquiry. The voice it has long given on the side of Revelation will continue, we hope, to be clear and definite. The old principles of Methodism, in point both of doctrine and of usage, will be reverently observed. No increase of popular favour would be thought acceptable at the price of lowering its value as a means of sober, godly edification; but the purpose contemplated in its origin will be firmly, though courteously, preserved,--that of subordinating all human activities to the word of God, and of promoting the spiritual good of the community.

To whom, then, and on what grounds, we hope to make a successful appeal in behalf of this Magazine, is apparent. For those who prefer the healthy air of truth and nature to the atmosphere of artificial excitements; cheerful entertainment to stimulants; the simple facts of the New Testament, reasonably and devoutly expounded, to the speculations in which any man can indulge, but no wise man will;for such readers as these we shall esteem it a high honour temperately yet resolutely to assert and defend the creed of our fathers. Our trust is in the grand old truths in the maintenance of which they became marks for all future time; standards, to whose height of godliness and usefulness posterity does well to aspire, but which men may scarcely hope to surpass. At the same time we shall freely borrow light, illustration, argument, ornament, recreation, from every accessible quarter, and with no restraint but one :-

"To know

That which before us lies in daily life,

Is the prime wisdom: what is more, is fume,
Or emptiness, or fond impertinence;

And renders us, in things that most concern,
Unpractised, unprepared, and still to seek."

While studiously avoiding what does not accord with our great object, or with our proper place,-that neither of a Newspaper nor of a Review, all possible effort will be made to present in attractive forms whatever legitimately comes within our sphere in promoting the Gospel of Christ, and in illustrating and enforcing its cardinal doctrines.

Every Methodist, in particular, has the opportunity, by putting this Magazine into circulation, of aiding directly in diffusing the tenets and spirit, the religious life and power, that "form of sound words," and that heritage of Christian fellowship, whose possession by himself is no accident, but, in one way or another, the effect of the Divine blessing on the zeal and faithfulness of others. "Freely ye have received, freely give," is the indication of a privilege no less than the utterance of a command. And the feeblest has the power to add somewhat to the effectiveness of that "leaven," which indeed has long been at work, but which is still so far from leavening, as it was designed to do, all the interests of the human family.