THE HARBINGER.

MARCH, 1852.

PROPOSED REVIVAL OF ITINERANCY.

MANY of our friends remember the time when there was little else than an Itinerant Ministry among us. The old Ministers wrote thus:-" It pleased our gracious Shepherd to bring us home in safety; and we could not but look back with wonder and gratitude on the mercies we had received. The protection from every danger we had experienced in a journey of perhaps little less than a thousand miles since we left, and not a hair of our heads hurt, but goodness and mercy following us from stage to stage throughout the whole journey;-together with the great privilege and honour of sounding the gospel trumpet in various counties, towns, and villages, to thousands and tens of thousands, and above all to be favoured with our Lord's presence, which we shall never be enough thankful for."

Now our ministry is fixed :-probably in more senses than one.

There is no desire to substitute either for the other;-but frequently do we hear expressions of an earnest wish that both could be united.

We cannot dispense with the pastoral office. It was instituted by Christ himself:-"When he ascended up on high he gave pastors and teachers." Let us not attempt to be wise "above that which is written." The stated Pastorate

leads to that sort of preaching which can never be supplied by a merely Itinerant Ministry. In "cases of conscience," members of a congregation more freely open their minds to their pastor than to a stranger. Proposal of new work, supervision, government, discipline, attention to details, and many other things, are secured by the location of Pastors, which otherwise would be overlooked, forgotten, or not attempted.

Thus far for the Pastorate:-now for the Itinerancy.

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God has bestowed upon his Ministers a diversity of gifts. One is a Boanerges, and another a son of consolation. One has the "tongue of the learned " doctrine, a second is richly furnished in experience, and a third is eminently practical. Why limit the exercise of these gifts to a particular congregation? One Minister, from his superior mental endowments, habits of thought, gracious affections, the circumstances of his people;-will obtain clearer views of some parts of truth, and receive, and therefore able to impart, a more vivid impression of them, than any of his brethren. There are consequently some things which he understands and can preach about better than the others. But the same process has been going on cotemporaneously with all his brethren in their studies, and each one of them has something which the other has not. It is true, mean

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while, the particular congregations have had the benefits of this individual superiority. But in securing that exclusively, how much have they lost besides? Why not amass the mental and spiritual wealth of the single churches, and by mutual arrangement circulate it amongst the whole? No one Church thereby would be impoverished, but every one would be enriched by the contributions of all. Preaching, three-fourths of the year "at home," and the remaining onefourth "out," would accomplish this desirable object.

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The advantages to Ministers themselves would not be inconsiderable. would afford an opportunity for regaining that elasticity of mind and body which are essential to the happy and vigorous prosecution of the great work of the Ministry.

They would observe many things in the congregations which would be beneficial to themselves, and suggest hints profitable to others. These last could be sent to the Harbinger, or reserved for our district Meetings, or annual Conference. It would render the Conference much more efficient than it now is

Properly carried out it would call forth the united energies of the Connexion in breaking up new ground. This is a duty solemnly incumbent upon us. Unless we fulfil that duty we are recreant to the noble principles which, as a Connexion, gave us birth, and sustained us for many years in vigorous exertion. We deny the Gospel unless we spread it. This, lately, we have not done, and we have neglected it to our own injury. We have scarcely held the ground won by our forefathers. Is it not a lamentation among us that from some posts we have been driven back? "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than is meet and it tendeth to poverty."

This Itinerancy would call out old ministers who are unable to sustain the burden of the pastorate, and whose strength is unequal to the full ministry of the word. Their occasional services would be an undeniable blessing to the churches. Their experience and observation none else can have. "Days should speak and multitude of years should teach wisdom."

Our beloved younger brethren from the College could occupy our pulpits, while the regular pastors were off preaching: doing the work of evangelists, and making full proof of their ministry. There is an "open door;"-not the chapel door-to the masses in England: and Paul's man of Macedonia stands on the other side of the channel, crying, "Come over and help us." Our younger ministers would thus be favourably, or rather, appropriately, introduced to our congregations, not put upon their trial at the first time of meeting, a most injudicious and ungenerous thing. With such an introduction it is probable the congregations would have the "first love" of these future pastors, which would certainly be reciprocated by the people. That would help to rekindle what has never yet gone out,-a strong affection between the College and the Connexion. It would create a powerful motive in both to exist for each other.

"But where is the money to come from"-to pay travelling expenses? There are very large funds already in the hands of the Connexion Trustees, bequeathed originally for the support of an Itinerant Ministry. There is also a Travelling Fund. Probably the Trustees would give a well-arranged plan their favourable consideration. The congregations might help, and at the same time make arrangements to pay the expenses of an annual deputation to the Conference. We hope this last will be done at once,—that we may have a goodly number of ministers and laymen at the next, which we hope will be the largest and best which has yet been gathered.

Will the Congregations be willing to part with their ministers for three months in the year?

Will the Ministers go?

THE CHURCH.

(Continued from page 35.)

What sort of unity may be expected in the universal Church?

WE often become Utopian in our hopes. We consult our wishes rather than our convictions, and lose reality in pleasing dreams. By looking for too much, we fail to secure that which is within our reach; and, finding the shadowy impalpable, we make no effort to grasp the substantial. It is therefore of great importance, that we consult experience and the word of God in all the plans we sketch of the future peace and glory of the Church militant here on earth. These oracles, we conceive, will tell us, that we must not expect, at least in our days, Perfect Uniformity of Doctrines, Forms of Worship, and Modes of Church Government. How far the millennial glory may shine away these diversities of opinion and practice; how far the heat of that glory may melt the purified gold into one uniform mass, it is not our province to determine; but the present state of the Church of Christ, by no means cherishes the hope that she, nemine contradicente, will pass one great act of uniformity which shall effect that by its voluntary movements which Parliamentary enactments have been unable to accomplish. As far as we understand our own mental constitution, we must perceive that the Creator himself has given various powers to man, in different proportions; perception, judgment, affection, genius, imagination-all are not only in equal degrees as a whole, but also in the relative proportion which they bear towards each other in individual persons. Nor is it less certain, that the circumstances of birth and education, the bounds of our habitation and daily business and association, tend to the exercise and consequent growth and strength of one or more of these faculties in some, above what they do in others. You may as soon hope to see

the physical formations of the Zealander similar to those of the Patagonian, as the mental powers of all true Christians to be equally balanced and proportioned. And it were as reasonable to expect the destruction of all diversity in civil society as a perfect uniformity in the Christian Church. For although the Bible teaches the same lesson to all; although the Holy Spirit savingly enlightens the hearts of all the children of God; yet with the constitution of their minds and the influences with which they are affected, it is quite certain, that truth itself will be viewed from different aspects, and, without a control which would destroy the free acting of mind, various deductions will be made from the same divine premises. Diversity is indeed analogous with the phenomena of both nature and providence; and the natural and moving scenery with which we are surrounded, would lose no small part of its charm and even usefulness, were all to appear in one dull monotony ; the picture would be all a back-ground, and we should rather be annoyed with the changeless hum of the drone note, than delighted with the variations of the air. Conversation itself, however friendly, sinks into vapidity without an occasional emphatic No,-and few subjects would be half investigated with a moderate degree of disputation.

The Sacred Scriptures fully apprise us that this variety would obtain in the Church. It is quite certain, that true saving religion has existed under all the dispensations of mercy, which have been enjoyed since the fall of

man.

And you can hardly conceive of the great principle of salvation by grace, through faith, being capable of more diversity of manifestation, than has thus been given to it. Compare, in respect to their doctrinal views,