Manual of revivals. Practical hints and suggestions from histories of revivals and biographies of revivalists

Front matter

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* o bV

MANUAL OF REVIVALS.

Preface

In this volume the writer has attempted to accomplish two new and important objects. One is to embody the many practical suggestions which have occurred to him in the study of the literature of revivals. The other object is to give the reader an extensive variety of revival themes, outlines, and texts, and so to illustrate, by the example of the most successful evangelists, the peculiar excellences of the best revival sermons.

In the first part the writer has tried to avoid prejudice and onesidedness. Instructive as the life of one man may be, yet the blended light of many men's observation and experience is the clearest and safest, the most far-shining, and the fullest of warmth and inspiration.

The more strictly homiletical part is also intended to fill a vacancy. We possess many books of texts, themes, and sketches, some of which are so large as to be called cyclopaedias. These may be of more or less service by way of suggestion and reminder to such pastors as think for themselves ; but not one of these collections was made with special reference to the exigencies of pastors and evangelists in times of revival. It is for the purpose of meeting these demands (often as unexpected as they are exacting) that

IV PREFA CE.

these examples have been prepared for the press. The chief object of the writer is to suggest proper texts and themes. Among them will be found the texts of Wesley, Whitefield, Edwards, Griffin, Knapp, Spurgeon, Moody, and many other revivalists of eminence and great success. These texts have been gathered not only from published sermons, but, in some cases, from volumes of letters and journals. In this way, and now for the first time, have been made out tolerably complete lists of the revival texts of Wesley, Whitefield, and Brainerd. Having for many years been an enthusiastic student of all sorts of homiletical literature, the writer has been able to draw many of his materials from sources various and curious, as well as remote and obscure. In order to make the circle of subjects more nearly complete, he has, now and then, consulted his commonplace-book of texts and subjects — a book enriched by the fruit of many years of study. Only as a last resort has he presumed to add texts, themes, and sketches from his own store of revival sermons.

Our field of view, it will be observed, is not confined to revivals in progress. The writer has included such texts and subjects as may serve to prepare the way for, and profitably follow, seasons of special service. The brilliance of noonday wisdom should not be allowed to blind us to the value of morning and evening wisdom.

G. W. H.

Contents

PACE

PREFACE iii

Introduction

The readers for whom this volume is not intended — Should a church enjoy a revival every year? — Can evangelists be superseded? — Examples of churches that hold evangelistic services from year to year — Mode of conducting such meetings as a part of regular church work — Objections answered — Sermons without application or pointedness — Revivals in summer — City life most favorable to annual revivals — The true ends of preaching — The unconverted majorities in Congregational churches— Certain classes need retirement — Young Thomas Arnold — Work as an antidote to doubts — The question of borrowing — The light of history — Partial inductions— The experience of the evangelists of to-day — Facts as incitements — The example of Rev. W. C. Burns — Evangelism and foreign missions xi

Chapter I. Working And Waiting For A Revival

Preparation by prayer and beneficence— Relation of missions to revivals— Our Sunday-schools need reconstruction — Unanimity not to be expected at the outset — The ideal Pentecost — Dr. Duff's hint — The time to wait — The call of Providence — The alternations of judgment and mercy P

Chapter II. Prayer In Its Relation To Awakenings

Importance of secret prayer — Prayer-meetings preparing work for Livingstone, Whitefield, Edwards, and others — Quiet beginnings — Too much talk about revivals — Sheardown on dependence on God alone — Value of news concerning works of grace — Providence and the Spirit — Furthersome accidents — Specific intercession ,

VI CONTENTS.

Chapter III. Page

CHOICE OF SUBJECTS AND TEXTS FOR REVIVAL SERMONS.

General and special themes — The chief end of a true revival — Preaching on elevating subjects — Combining Law and Gospel — Testimony of Dr. Tholuck — Texts which have been honored by the Spirit — Danger of exclusive attention to the Holy Ghost — A list of common topics — Dr. Kirk's opinion — Doctrine and practice disconnected — Preaching to the brotherhood — Professed readiness may be unreadiness — Future punishment — To be taught Scripturally and in love 18

Chapter IV. The Style Most Suitable For Revival Preaching

The qualities of this style — Effects of style — Clearness the first requisite — Wesley, Nettleton, Finney, and Moody — Example of brevity from Arnot — The excessive use of climaxes — Sermons hastily prepared — The word " professor " 29

Chapter V. The Importance Of Timing Texts And Subjects

Need of discrimination — General and special subjects — Example from Nettleton of the well-timed and the ill-timed — Whitefield's practice in varying parts of his plans — Great sermons often less effective than small ones — Danger of being too nice 36

Chapter VI. Can There Be Too Much Preaching In A Revival?

The question answered — May be too much of some kinds — May be out of proportion to other means of grace — Too much in one strain — Not to make ourselves the standards — Frequency of sermons in the revival at East Hampton — Does emotional preaching create a disrelish for the Bible? — Coaxing and auctioneering — The Salvation Army 40

Chapter VII. Services For Readings And Expositions

When and where useful — What portions of Scripture most appropriate — Should have a practical aim — Revivals resulting from readings — The practice of Moody, Morehouse, Whittle, and Needham — Readings in the place of arguments — Whittle's advice — Avoid one-sidedness 47

CONTENTS. vi l

Chapter VIII. Page

REVIVAL HYMNS AND SINGING.

The minstrel accompanied the Prophet — The rage for novelty — Sacred songs very furthersome — Hymns as means of grace — Testimony of Nettleton and Parker — The abuse of church music — The necessity of choiceness — Advice of Finney and Fish — An occasional substitute for singing recommended 52

Chapter IX. Temperance Work In Revivals

Diversity of opinions about temperance reforms — The Gospel affords a common ground for co-operation — The success of Mr. Moody and others in Christianizing drunkards — Specialists in temperance work not always in sympathy with evangelistic laborers — Christ the Great Physician of diseased souls 57

Chapter X. The Evangelist In His Relations To The Prayer Cure

The honesty of the leaders of this movement — Reasons for the revival of these primitive gifts — Romanism, Spiritualism, and Materialism seem to demand its restoration to the churches — Has the age of miracles passed away? — As a question of probability and of testimony — The use of oil in connection with prayer — The laying on of hands — The primitive elder — A caution given — These gifts not bestowed upon all — A churchly rite — Presumption and fanaticism to be guarded against — The Rev. Dr. Gordon's judicious advice — Bengel's discriminating dictum — Physicians and medicine not to be despised — The example of St. Luke, the beloved physician, recommended 62

Chapter XI. Awakenings Among Children And In Sunday-schools

Caution necessary — The proselyting spirit — Blind sympathy and unconscious imitation — Revivalistic formalism and drill — Exceptional cases among the young — Some children are nearer heaven than we think — Parental fondness misjudges somef'mes — Testimony of John Todd — Keeping lambs out of the fold — The dream of Myconius — Reaping a harvest from Sunday-school concerts and teachers' prayer-meetings 72

Chapter XII. Expedients For Calling Out Inquirers

Fixed ideas and uniform measures unwise — Modes of declaring a resolution or of asking counsel — Advantages of the anxious-seat — Opinions of Jacob Knapp and Orson Parker — Invitations to the anxious should be well-timed — A scriptural illustration : Elijah and the prophets of Baal — Importance of knowing the spiritual mood of the persons invited 78

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Chapter XIII. Page

INQUIRY MEETINGS CONSIDERED.

Objections to seats for inquirers : making a virtue of a public demonstration — No Scripture authority for such seats — Not the mercy-seat — The timid not reached — Time and place of the inquiry meeting— Practice of Edwards, Buell, and Humphrey — Instruction to inquirers — Strictures on certain kinds of advice — Moody's method of conducting these meetings 84

Chapter XIV. The Agency Of Tracts And Letters In Revivals

Evidence on behalf of tracts — Parker, Murphy, and Fish — Correspondence blessed in Scotland — The writing of Christian letters demands prudence — The interest which invests written words and sentences — Letters may be written when the voice is reduced to silence — St. Paul in prison 91

Chapter XV. The Management Of Disturbers And Rioters

The stupidity of mobs — The tact and address of Wesley, Whitefield, Rowland Hill, and others — The text and its unforeseen application — May forcible means be employed ? — In every true work of grace heavenly wisdom is given to all such as publicly engage in it — Paroxysms, faintings, and prostrations — The opinions of Wesley, Erskine, and others concerning these seizures 95

Chapter XVI. The Intrusions Of The Feeble-minded And The Insane

What is to be done : resist beginnings — The friends of the feeble-minded may be consulted beforehand — Duty of sextons and ushers — Singing or praying the insane into silence — Advantage taken of the fact that the praying devil is scarce — Order restored by a pleasant remark 100

Chapter XVII. Some Of The Evils Incident To True Revivals

Fanaticism — False hopes — Spiritual pride — Want of charity — Exaggeration — Self-confidence — Neglect of the ordinary means of grace — Let the dead bury their dead — Numerical success — Novices — False tests of piety — Party spirit — Vainglory — Resting on means — Changes of feeling — Perpetual ingathering — Examples in England, Scotland, and America — Spiritual discernment of Elisha.. 104

CONTENTS. IX

Chapter XVIII. Page

FEEDING THE LAMBS OF THE FLOCK.

This duty sometimes neglected — Themes useful for close of special services — Mere intellectual improvement of secondary importance — Charles Simeon's testimony—The prejudices of young converts — The pastor's relation to meetings of young people — Juvenile influence in ecclesiastical affairs 113

Chapter XIX. Shall We Join The Reapers Or Not?

Taking counsel of our fears — First-rate pulpit orators not absolutely necessary in this kind of service — The example of Wesley, Edwards, and others — Extemporaneous sermons not indispensable — Example of Davies, Lyman Beecher, and others — Natural ardor has its drawbacks — Evangelistic success not limited to young preachers — Youth not always a disadvantage — Waiting for calls and indications — A general interest in a church or community not to be expected at the outset — Times of declension and persecution should not discourage pastors and evangelists — A parable 117

Chapter XX. Waiting For Power From On High

Scripture view of the subject — How this power was manifested — Ministerial success does not depend wholly on Christian experience — Preaching the true Gospel of prime importance — Retreats and ten-day prayer-meetings — St. Paul's weakness in its relation to divine power „ . 126

Chapter XXI. The Temptations To Which Evangelists Are Exposed

These temptations enumerated — Safeguards and encouragements — Example of Elijah and Jeremiah — The influence of party spirit — False and true revivals — Historic illustrations — Need of discernment and discrimination — The Lord limits and overrules very imperfect means and instruments 131

Chapter XXII. The Relations Of The Pastor And The Evangelist

The primitive evangelist — The independence of the evangelist — The shepherd's dog — Necessity of fraternal co-operation — Former prejudices disappearing — The ox and the ass — Sowing and reaping — Some know their master, others only his crib — Pastors who have been blessed with great revivals — The shepherd and the Alpine guide 137

INSTRUCTIVE BOOKS ON REVIVALS i 43

X CONTENTS.

Part II. Outlines, Themes, And Texts Used By Evange- Lists Of Note

PAGE

FOREWORDS 147

PAGE

Wesley 151

Whitefield 159

Welch 168

Woodhouse 170

Tennent 170

Tyng 171

Summerfield 172

Spencer 172

Spurgeon 173

Swan 176

Payson 179

Parker 181

Pentecost 182

Nettleton 183

Moody ■ 188

Maffitt 191

Little 191

Knapp, J 193

Knapp, H. W 205

Kirk 210

Krummacher 211

Hole 212

Humphrey 213

Griffin 21a.

PAGE

Guinness 219

Graves 222

Fletcher 223

Frelinghuysen 224

Finney '. 224

Edwards 227

Erskine, E .. 228

Erskine, R 229

Evans 231

Davies 232

Dwight 234

Dawson 238

Colman 239

Clark, D. A 240

Clark, J. A 243

Caughey 244

Castleman 246

Brainerd 247

Berridge 249

Baker 251

Barnes 251

Burchard 253

Andrews 253

SERMONS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES 255

From " Sketches of Sermons " 255

From " National Preacher" 258

From - Homiletic Monthly " 260

From " Homiletical Quarterly " 263

Sermons Preached in New York during 1858 263

Sermons Preached in Boston in 1877 265

The Gospel Invitation 265

Miscellaneous Sketches and Themes 266

Outlines and Themes for Reforms 281

Temperance Texts and Themes 283

Texts and Subjects about Spiritualism 284

Promiscuous Texts and Themes 304

INTRODUCTION.

It is too late in the day to apologize for revivals or to attempt to establish their importance. We are indeed well aware that there is a certain class of pastors who take but a languid interest in this subject. They consider that their call is not to say to men, " Be ye reconciled to God," but rather to say to the sacred Scriptures, " Be ye reconciled to science, to reason, to intuition, to consciousness. " If in their dreams they should have a vision of a valley full of bones, such as Ezekiel saw, they probably would not concern themselves with the question, ''Can these bones live?" but with the question, " Where among all these fossils is the skeleton which forms the missing link between man and the baboon?" The more reasonable theory is not that of modern evolution, but the old rabbinical one of degeneracy. For it really appears as if some of us were going forth, like Nebuchadnezzar, to browse with cattle. Such men do not know what a revival means, and were one to commence among their people they would, like the apes in the Oriental fable, sit shivering round an expiring fire, which they know not how to feed with wood ; or, like the baboons in the old Sanscrit fable, that in a cold, stormy night mistook a glow-worm for a spark of fire, and threw dry sticks upon the poor, flameless creature. It is

Xll INTRODUCTION.

every way true that the angel who has power over fire comes out from the altar.

Other pastors hold revivals in real regard, but keep the serious examination of the subject in abeyance. Jointly and equally with the people of their charge, they pray for the conversion of souls, while exhortations and invitations to sinners run as golden threads through the tissue of many of their sermons ; but still they consider themselves called to feed the sheep rather than the lambs. They are continually occupied with discourses which seem to be demanded to meet the present necessities of the brotherhood. So that, in their judgment, they could not commence a course of revival sermons without the painful conviction that many hungry members of their flock would suffer and justly complain. Some of these and other pastors have come to regard a revival as a kind of Christian saturnalia, during which order and propriety are set aside for the purpose of reaping all the advantages which liberty and familiarity can bestow. They know how distressing it is for persons of good taste to adjust themselves to the irregularities which too often attend such seasons, and how much more distressing to readjust themselves to the manners of a revolutionized church. One of the standing questions for debate in a famous theological seminary is : " How are we to treat the disinclination of refined culture to sympathetic awakenings ?" *

One difficulty to be overcome arises from a growing tendency to elaborate fixity in the order of worship, and to expect uniformity in the length, if not the quality, of sermons. " There is," says the Rev. Calvin

* " Theory of Preaching," by Rev. Dr. A. Phelps, p. 597.

INTRODUCTION. XIII

Colton,* '.U pulpit vice (and the pulpit has its vices) which is unfriendly to revival preaching and a great obstacle to its success. It owes its origin to the popular demand that every religious service should have a certain kind of completeness." This is one of the things which prevent the preacher from saying what he thinks best, or from saying it in the most effective manner, and from stopping the moment the best impression is made.

But in churches not a few, the highest and steepest difficulty is of a social kind. Their meetings are largely arranged with a view to attract young people and to maintain social amusements. Reunions, festivals, fairs, sociables, and all that, succeed each other so rapidly, and with such momentum, that church life vies with the world of fashion in keeping out of the mind all thought about our Christian duties and interests. A revival crossing the track of such a train of festivities would be as unwelcome as a fire that is devouring a railroad bridge.

Foremost among those whose theories deserve early consideration, are pastors who labor for continual ingatherings from month to month, or every year, without high excitement or subsequent reaction, and the dangers of lethargy. They hold, with an eminent professor in one of our theological seminaries, that "to a people trained under instructive and discriminating preaching, revivals of religion may come and go as the most natural process of religious experience, creating no morbid excitement, and leaving behind them no perils to be feared and no evils to be corrected. They may be as natural as the tides — themselves a

* " American Revivals," p. 272 (London : 1832).

XIV INTRODUCTION.

purifying agency, instead of needing, as actual revivals often do, to be themselves purified." They give examples of pastors and churches that have enjoyed a long succession of ingatherings without the aid of evangelists. Their study and aim are so to educate a church that it may have a harvest of souls every year. To this end they search out and train Christian workers among themselves, and organize daily meetings for the winning of souls. These meetings are separate but permanent services, and young converts find in them a sphere for efficient evangelistic work.

It is but fair to add that some of these friends of pastoral evangelism favor professional revivalists, and would not hesitate, upon an emergency, to invite their co-operation. Having the charge of churches which have been taught and trained in revival labors, they consider that they have nothing to fear from the occasional visits of evangelists who, so far as they are concerned, come and go as auxiliaries and not as revolutionists. Among these pastors the Rev. Dr. William W. Newell, of New York City, may be classed as an honorable representative. Converted under the ministry of Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, in Boston, he has been the successful pastor of several churches, in which he has established what he styles evangelistic meetings. While pastor of the Allen Street Presbyterian Church, N. Y. , these services were held every evening for three or four months every year. In their chief features they resembled the Fulton Street Prayer-Meeting. They were held for one hour ; the prayers, exhortations, and hymns were very brief ; variety was studied, and liberty was given to each one to take an active part in the service. The pastor led these meetings, and on Monday evenings gave a discourse, which was

INTRODUCTION. XV

intended to be attractive to outsiders, and to follow up the impressions of Sunday. Any one was free to ask the prayers of the faithful. The chorister, or some one familiar with a large number of appropriate hymns and tunes, struck a tune and verse suitable for the end of every prayer, Scripture reading, or address. The leader sometimes announced that speeches and long prayers were out of place. Whenever, amid so much freedom, there was a marked disregard of decorum, brevity, or appropriateness, the transgressor was privately and kindly spoken to. Everything was short ; men dropped the usual beginnings and endings of prayer, and simply asked for what they most wanted. Sometimes the leader would say, " Now, Christians, tell us how you came to Christ. What led you to decision ? Can you commend Him to these friends ?" Then men of all ages would take part, and each would give a word of testimony.

In answer to the question, How are converted men led to take part in the meetings ? Rev. Dr. Newell says : " The duty is at once urged upon them privately. During the meeting the leader may say to the men, ' Have you recently received anything from God for which you would praise Him ? ' or, ' What has the Saviour done for you ? ' or, ' How did you find Him precious ? ' If these methods fail, a person may sometimes be called by name. . . . The easiest and best time for a man to speak in a prayer-meeting is when he commences his Christian life. Let churches never forget that this is the golden time ; and with multitudes it is now or never."

But some one asks, Why not be content with one good week night meeting? Rev. Dr. Newell answers, Because each of the continuous meetings brings to-

XVI INTRODUCTION.

gether twice the number that one evening service would. These constant meetings draw ; they are very attractive ; there is something doing ; it is a daily business of absorbing interest and enjoyment. Again, amusements and unnecessary affairs are surrendered. It is not the meeting one night, and the theatre or the Masonic lodge the next. The mind is held steadily to solemn truth until the soul is saved. These young men feel that it is their business to bring their companions to these services, and to labor for their salvation.*

An annual harvest was reaped by this kind of work in the Allen Street Church. One year, two hundred and twenty persons expressed a hope in Christ. During seven other years there was annually an average of eighty-five hopeful conversions. This revival continued for twelve years. Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, with the help of Christian agencies differently organized, has for the last thirty years had large annual ingatherings. That original and earnest pastor, Ludwig Harms, of Hermannsburg, near Hanover, Germany, had large accessions annually for seventeen years. Meetings for prayer or inquiry were held every evening. Many other examples from every evangelical denomination might be cited.

But desirable as such a state of continual growth in numbers is, and laudable as is the aim to lead forward a church to this state, to many pastors the privilege is never given to realize this beautiful ideal ; and some who do realize it for several years are at length compelled to adopt evangelistic measures and instruments

*" Revivals : How and When?" by Rev. William W. Newell, D.D., pp. 133-149. This author is an earnest advocate of continual revivals, and yet his attractive volume is marked by candor, good sense, and a judicious largeness of views.

INTRODUCTION. xvn

for the conversion of people whom they have failed to reach by ordinary means and agencies. This is not the place to ask the reader to stop and gaze fixedly at this important problem ; but the writer must venture, in passing along, to make one remark which, he has reason to fear, will, in some quarters, meet with a cold if not a freezing reception. Young pastors would, in the judgment of the writer, make their sermons more conducive to the ideal in question, if they would study to apply their themes with love, skill, and thoroughness. One has only to look into recent volumes of sermons and works on homiletics to convince himself that the homiletical study of applications is much neglected. This remark is intended for pastors who are, as they think, reduced to the necessity of depending on stated Sunday services for gradual and continual ingatherings from the world.

But to return and take another glance at the practice of such churches as aim to hold evangelistic services every year. Let not our statements be so understood as to mislead any one in any direction. We are not to suppose that these revival services were held every week throughout each year. During one or two months of the summer most city parishes are scattered. The mass of churchgoers are out of town, and of those who remain not a few are exhausted by the heat or prostrated by disease. In most sections of the country at this season, men, women, and children are overworked gathering in the harvests. A zealous evangelist of our acquaintance has always contended that we are everywhere to seek and expect a revival in the time of summer, and it is not to be denied that he has been blessed with several great awakenings during the hot season. But we have observed that the xvm INTRODUCTION.

meetings were held in villages and cities along the New England coast, to which multitudes had fled from the killing heat of the West and South. We do not intend to maintain that there have been no revivals in very warm weather or in places oppressed with tropical heat. Generally, however, the case stands otherwise."" The preacher gives not the Gospel invitation, unless the people assemble to hear it ; but those who cannot be easily attracted to places of worship in the most pleasant weather, cannot usually be expected to go to church daily at a time when many of the most earnest communicants are fleeing from discomfort and disease to the mountains or the ocean. And yet, every Christian laborer may privately do much evangelistic work during the summer, and were this the place for it, we might point to examples of those who, by their prayers and serious talks, have turned to righteousness many whom they providentially met on the lake, or the river, or the ocean, or the mountain, or in the wilderness. W T e therefore concur with Rev. Dr. Newell, while he is answering the question, Why not gather a harvest of souls at all seasons of the year ? " On this subject," says he, " there is some senseless talk. . . . The late fall and winter come ; the evenings are long ; the air is bracing ; business is slack ; the city is filled with attractive amusements, and

* The same remark applies to Scotland. The great awakenings that have occurred there in summer have either been near the coast or among the mountains, while the exceptional cases have, for the most part, been the revivals at the great communion meetings held in the open air, which so nearly resemble the American " camp-meetings." These last are, it is true, held in the summer, but very seldom in the warmest part of it, and when they are so held the airy situation of the spot, together with the shadows of tents and groves, defend the people from the heat of noonday.

IN TROD UCTION. xix

Christians find that God in His sovereignty has made this season of the year most favorable to evangelistic meetings. And while we are planning, praying, and preparing for that time, we feel that God is always blessing us, and that we are striving to be as wise as the children of light ought to be." In New York City, for example, those churches which hold continuous revival services usually commence the first or second week in January, and close before the first of July. In one or two of these churches, at least, we are glad to know, the evenings of late spring and early summer are largely occupied in addresses and talks designed for the growth of young disciples in Christian wisdom and knowledge.

And this suggests another caution : the success of continual revival services is dependent in part on the places where they are held. After a pretty careful review of experiments of this kind, we reach the conclusion that they are very suitable for large and growing cities and villages, or in such sections of old and declining towns as, from any cause, are filled with young people. In many a large city the population rolls in and out and round about so rapidly that the stationary evangelist may reap as rich an annual harvest as he would were he to visit many settled communities ; in the former case his audiences come to him ; in the latter he journeys in quest of his audiences.

Just here arises the question whether churches thus situated and so deeming themselves called to devote themselves to the conversion of the multitudes that are drifting around and past them, are not in danger of taking one-sided views of the mission of a church and its ministry? In answer to this question

XX INTRODUCTION.

we must confess that many facts do point toward this danger. It is a mistake to suppose that the promotion of revivals, and consequently of the conversion of souls, is the supreme business of the Gospel ministry. It is only a part of their supreme business ; and every definition of the ends of Christian preaching is defective which does not state in substance that they are to glorify God by the conversion of souls and the edification of the church. The neglect of either of these views or objects is very liable to be visited by its regular penalty. In what way or how soon the penalty will descend is often determined by the government of the church. For example, we have known churches, whose polity was congregational or independent, to give themselves almost exclusively to revival meetings from year to year. What followed ? These churches grew indeed in numbers, but, alas ! also in a proselyting spirit and in an emotional and sympathetic habit of mind unenlightened by Scripture knowledge and unfortified by true patience and meekness. Consequently they became so enfeebled by the accession of such a membership, that when important church business was to be discussed fierce disputes and incurable divisions arose ; disintegration followed, and Bishop Berkeley's theory of the infinite divisibility of matter was very nearly realized. We are not here, be it observed, writing in disparagement of these particular forms of church government. Under other kinds of ecclesiastical polity the evils now under consideration might possibly have made their first appearance in the home, in society, or in the place of business.