spirit, on even the moral life of the community, were glanced at in their conversation, till Churchless was led to remark, 'That the Church of to-day seemed powerless in front of the gigantic evils that are preying on the very vitals of the country.'

'Well,' replied Broadly, that observation brings us fairly back to the subject we were canvassing indoors; and now that we have left the noisy town behind us, we can resume it. You say the Church is comparatively powerless; that it does not even dream of lifting up its voice like a trumpet to show the nation the error of its headlong course. But though the Church, as a Church, does not, yet, happily, individual Christians are found striving in this way, and seeking to remedy one evil after another. And the best action, after all, will ever be that of the individual. A body can scarcely take effectual action so well. It can resolve, and subscribe, and authorize agents, and receive reports; but the work to be done, of almost every kind, will and must be done by the individuals who are specially moved to do it by the spirit of benevolence, or justice, or holiness, within them, which is the Spirit of God. And thus again the associative or church principle is not quite all in all; and individualism has an important part to play in the working out of Christianity. Still, an association of Christians, presenting an embodiment of Christian principle and Christian life, so that the world, which is suspicious of mere theory, and wants to "see the thing working," may have the full idea in a readable form before it, is a grand fact wherever it exists. But to fulfil this part of its design, a church must look well to its basis. And that was the point we had come to ere we began our walk. I I see you desire the practical, by the blame you insinuated on the Church in general for not uttering its voice on the evils of the day. But most churches hitherto have made their bases either philosophical

or-'

'Pardon me, but how "philosophical?" broke in Churchless.

'Well, doctrinal then,' replied Broadly, if you prefer that word. Perhaps I should have said scientific rather than philosophical. However, the remark is correct, I believe, that for the most part churches have demanded assent to certain scientific statements about truth, rather than purely moral conditions.'

'And you?'

'We saw from the first that a scientific basis would never do. For how could we draw up a scheme which all sincere disciples of Christ would accept? And who were we that, if we attempted to constitute a church of Christ, for Christ's own purposes, we should so contrive the doorway as to exclude any of his true followers? A little knot of Calvinists we might arrange for, or a little knot of Arminians, of Trinitarians, or Unitarians, but we had the sanctified ambition to desire to unite a body of Christians. We did not deem ourselves at liberty so to frame our agreement as thereby to keep outside any whom we could believe the Lord himself would acknowledge. Besides, the history of the working of the scientific basis, wherever it had been tried, all through the centuries, convinced us that neither wisdom nor

love gave sanction to it. Luther, and Calvin, and Zuingle, ought to have been able to unite. Whitefield and Wesley ought to have been able to fraternize to the last. Dr. Pye Smith and Dr. Channing might surely have eaten bread and drunk wine together in remembrance of their common Lord. Now, since Christianity is a religion of facts, and all the first disciples associated primarily on the basis of a common belief in and acceptance of those facts, and the scientific forms and relations of the facts came later, we were greatly prepared to adopt such a basis for ourselves. Then, since one object of association was to provide a Christian home for such Christians as wished for one -a nursery for young Christians-a refuge for distressed ones a hospital for sick and weary ones—a school for inquiring ones as well as a temple for worshipping ones we believed it should be as broad and comprehensive as possible; and, further, remembering how the Lord, in his delineation of the subjects of his kingdom, drew as comprehensive a line as even his own grand heart and divine spirit prompted, including within his sweep of merciful love even those who are but beginning to be conscious of their spiritual poverty and need,* we also felt bound to welcome the first signs and tokens of spiritual life. So we defined a Christian to be one who, acknowledging Christ as Lord, shows he has (or, if a commencing Christian, professes his earnest desire to) the Christ-spirit by a Christ-life.'

'Stop a minute. That is a definition of a Christian I never heard before. I want time to consider it,' said Churchless.

'I believe,' replied Broadly, it will hold water. Try it. Think it over at your leisure. You know you want to include "these little ones that believe in me," as well as "such a one as Paul the aged; "babes, young men, and fathers; "the blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear." We are satisfied with the definition still. You see it makes the spirit and the life the thing. And it is so vitally elastic that, as the individual grows in the knowledge of Christ and divine things, he must increasingly manifest that Christ is his Lord by a fuller spirit and a maturer life.'

Well, I must think it over,' said his friend. 'But at the first blush, I confess it strikes me as satisfactory. However, pray proceed. You started with the principle that a true and proper church of Christ should be the warm and welcoming home of all who honestly profess their wish and resolve to follow him. Well?'

This being our basis, and already having a pastor, minister, elder, bishop, or angel of the church, whatever title you please, we came to the question of other "church officers."

'Deacons; yes?'

'Deacons; no!' rejoined Broadly, with a smile. By the principles we had already agreed on, we were under no scriptural obligation to appoint men with that particular title, you know. And so much the less, since it must be confessed, by all who are competently informed, that it is not possible now to ascertain the precise func

* Matt. v. 3.

tions of those who, in some of the apostolic churches, bore that name, as mentioned in the pastoral epistles. For as it is perfectly gratuitous to derive their origin from the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where the word does not once occur, but only in the editorial heading of the chapter, so it is simply amusing to identify our modern deacons with those spoken of by Paul to Timothy. No, we recognised distinctly that we were at full liberty to have, or not have, such "officers as are so designated in the Dissenting churches; and we used our liberty to resolve on steering clear of all such rocks a-head.'

'You amuse me,' said Churchless. 'However, all the churches throughout the world, except the Baptist and Independent, I believe, dispense with them. The Church of England has instead churchwardens, annually appointed; in the Kirk of Scotland the "elders," I suppose, render them unnecessary; the Wesleyans have trustees, stewards, class-leaders; so you are not singular in your resolve. But what was the objection? Though, I suppose, it is not hard to guess.'

'Well, then,' replied Broadly, 'as we are safe to talk a little treason by this pleasant river-side without any risk of incurring floods of diaconal wrath, you must know that no sooner was the word "deacon" mentioned among us, than almost all who had had any experience of church life among the Dissenters winced at the very sound, and there was "silence" for almost "the space" of time mentioned in the Apocalypse. Then one and another spoke out, and such was the general conviction, rooted and grounded in regretful observation, or still sadder experience, that we resolved, as I have said, to dispense with the office altogether. Not but that many churches have had a treasure in their deacons, and among the thousands who bear that name in our English churches are to be found hundreds, perhaps, worthy of highest honour; but still, the instances of an opposite kind are too many and too damning. Besides, if it were not for the falsely supposed sanction of that sixth chapter of the Acts, and a childish desire to conform to the tiniest letter of apostolic practice, which reminds one of those who in a still graver department were scrupulous to tithe their mint and annise while neglecting the weightier things of the law, no religious society now-a-days would dream of choosing three or four men for life to occupy that peculiar position which, somehow, deacons have come to occupy in most of our Dissenting churches. In apostolic days, there was comparatively little experience in the conduct of voluntary societies; whereas now so familiar are we with such matters that whenever a dozen or a score of men of any class meet to accomplish any scheme of joint action, they adopt the wisest and likeliest constitution for themselves, as if by instinct at least, there seems a sort of Anglo-Saxon instinct for this kind of thing.'

'That's true,' said Churchless. And now I begin to see that a modern English church, if it wisely felt itself free enough, would be likely to adopt a modern English form.'

'Yes, and that in more respects than the one relating to officers; for example, now

'But stay,' interrupted the other. One thing at a time. You have not told me what you substituted for that very peculiar class of men-the deacons of Dissenting churches.'

'Well, we agreed to have as little of the formal as would suffice. We had a minister already, and he undertook for the present the duties of secretary. All the men constituted a general committeeyou might call it a presbytery, if you liked an ecclesiastically-sounding word better. It was a committee for all general purposes not belonging to the proper province of our beloved teacher; for all that related to that we felt it every way wisest and properest to leave in his hands, and let him select from among us one person for this purpose, and another for another; it being understood that we were all ready to co-operate with him, and do whatever kind of work he might ask us for. So we did not impose on him official advisers whom he was bound to consult, and whose approbation he must always secure before he could take a single step. Why, many of our best ministers will tell you, at least they would if they were pouring out their hearts in full confidence, that the deacon-bands that churches allow their ministers to be swathed in are worse than the swaddling-bands of the bye-gone generation of old nurses, and as restrictive as those graveclothes in which Lazarus stood in the tomb's entrance, a living mummy? 'And the napkin bound about the head,' added Churchless.

'Aye, a napkin about the head, and a double swathe about the heart, my friend, and a thick fold over the mouth-only the eyes free, and the life within.'

'Why,' said Churchless, 'you are as severe as Angell James was in his celebrated book, in which he said that many of our deacons were "the Bible of the minister, and the wolf of the flock."'

'I think,' replied Broadly, 'the churches would do well to re-consider the deacon question somewhat. We have found nothing but good in letting our minister choose his own advisers and select his own helpers. And when he comes forth from his vestry on a Sunday morning, with those around him whom friendship and affinity have naturally put in the nearest place to him, we think we see only one of innumerable advantages resulting from our freer and less official system.'

'But your general committee, or board, or presbytery, what do they do?'

'All matters of business come before them, and they refer them, if necessary, to certain standing sub-committees which they have chosen for the year, or form a fresh one pro re natâ.

"You soon had to get a chapel, I suppose, like the rest?' inquired Churchless.

'Yes, and no,' replied Broadly. But this question leads me to another of our-peculiarities, I suppose I must call them. Tell mefor you, too, have had much experience-what one thing has caused more evils in the internal history of our churches than any other?'

'Than any other?' replied Churchless. say, I think.

66

"That would be hard to

Well, then, has not the property question, think you? Consider; run your eye over the instances you have been familiar with. To say nothing of the immense sums expended, locked up, or sunk in bricks and mortar, just recollect the numerous instances in which, after a few years, some of the very men who had contributed most largely to the erection of a place have been compelled to leave it, because the church," acting by majorities, adopted such measures, or chose such a minister, as alienated them. For, virtually, the church becomes possessor of the property, a corporate body, with certain legal rights. Or, the trust-deeds prepared in one age have become "a yoke" to a succeeding generation, and yet a less progressive minority will so insist on them as that the majority has to go off, and be at the same expense of building over again. Or, how oppressively "the debt" weighs on the shoulders of the people, or on a few, often exciting irritation, and leading to many evils.'

'But how to be dispensed with?' inquired the other.

'Well, we unanimously resolved not to incur any such outlay, and never to burden and hamper ourselves with property in any shape whatever. We were agreed that we wanted our money for more satisfactory purposes, and that, unencumbered with either chapel debts or chapel property, we should be so much the more free to adapt ourselves from time to time to the circumstances that might arise.'

'But I don't see-' began Churchless. But his friend resumed :

'You see we began by reversing the present fashion. Dissenters of late have been betrayed into a most inordinate rage for chapels. Chapels are the one thing needful. Four or five thousand pounders. And we determined to try the experiment of devoting all our energies to Church versus Chapel. We did not care where we met, provided the place was sufficient in size and convenience. And we further agreed that, since affinity, after all, was the real, though secret, law that ruled all church relationship, and we were drawn together by mutuality of views and feelings, the pastor being the centre, there should be no bonds laid on any of us that would be felt to be irksome, and possibly restrictive, if any of us should be called away from the locality, or Mr. Eyebright should remove, or die, or the character of the church hereafter become other than still commended itself to us. To hire a place for meeting, therefore, seemed on every account desirable; and that the congregation for the time being, the people actually using it, should pay the rent of it, seemed but common sense, and common justice, too. We hired the Theatre for one year. Then the Town Hall for another. Then a builder offered to erect a place, on approved plans, and accept us as yearly tenants, engaging that we should never be dispossessed except on at least a year's notice. And with this offer we closed. So none of us had to sink large sums of money in providing for future generations, who will much better provide for themselves, just as we scarcely thank our forefathers for