THE FAULTS OF CHRISTIANS. "Well I will. I know I have had my mind turned away from religion many a time by thinking of the conduct of professors.' A few days after this I met my friend in the street, and asked him if he thought he had gained the “one thing needful." He replied, "No, I dont think I have. But I believe I am as good a man as a great many who took the sacrament yesterday in your church." "I am sorry to hear you talk of others again," said I; "you promised me that you would think of your own sins, and let the sins of other people alone. And now the very first sentence you utter is a reflection upon some who were at the Lord's table yesterday. I am surprised at this. Your hard thoughts about other people will lead you, I am afraid, farther and farther off from religion." "Very likely," said he, “but I can't help it. The members of the church set such examples, that my mind is turned away from religion by them many a time.” "Yes," said I, "the old prophet knew how that was; they eat up the sin of my people, and set their heart upon iniquity; they have left off to take heed to the Lord.' You are one of that stamp. You seize upon the sin of God's people' as if it were bread to you, and then you forget to pray,-you have left off to take heed to the Lord.' After you have eagerly fed yourself upon the sin of God's people' for awhile, then you have no inclination to take heed' to anything God says unto you. I advise you to eat some other sort of food. 'The sin of God's people' is a bad breakfast. It is very indigestible. The wicked seize upon it as if it were bread to the hungry; and the worst of it all is, that after they have eaten such a breakfast they have no family prayer; they do not take heed to the Lord. That is your case precisely; you complain of christians instead of praying for yourself. You never pray after finding fault with members of the church for half an hour." "How do you know I dont pray?" "I know by the text which I just quoted. You' eat up the sin of God's people,' and for that reason I know that the other part of the text belongs to you. You have left off to take heed to the Lord.' Is it not so? Have you not left off, ceased to pray, since you began to find fault with christians?" "Yes; I own it. I am not going to deny it." THE FAULTS OF CHRISTIANS. Said I, "I am very sorry you take such a course. You yield to a temptation of the devil. The best christians are imperfect, very imperfect. They do not profess to be sinless. You may see their faults, but you cannot see their penitence, and tears, and agony of spirit, when in secret they mourn over their many imperfections, and beg forgiveness of God, and grace to be more faithful. If you felt had done wrong so, if you in public through thoughtlessness, or were overcome by some temptation, and then in secret should mourn bitterly over your fault, would you think it generous, would you think your disposition well treated, or even had any kind of justice done to it, if your neighbour shall be going around complaining of your faults as if you were a bad man?" "No, I should not think I deserved that." 66 Very well. These imperfect christians have such secret mournings. And if you will go to them and kindly tell them their faults, you will hear things from them which will alter your feelings about them; you will have a better opinion of their hearts than you have now, and a more just opinion too. Did you ever mention to these people the things you complain of ?" "No, I never did." "I think you ought to do it. Certainly you ought to do it, or cease to make complaints about them to others. Jesus Christ has taught us our duty in such a case. If thy brother trespass against thee, go to him, and tell him his fault betwixt him and thee alone.' "That applies to christians." It applies to you. You ought to be a christian. And your neglect of one duty cannot excuse your neglect of another. You must not plead one sin as an excuse for another. If one of your neighbours had a bad opinion of you, surely you would much rather he should come and tell you what he had against you, and hear your explanation, than that he should tell it to other people." "Yes, I should. But I have called nobody's name." “I know it; and I complain of that. Instead of pointing out the guilty individuals you complain of christians in general, and thus you make the innocent suffer with the guilty. You make religion suffer (at least in your estimation) by the faults of a few, who profess to be religious people. How would you THE FAULTS OF CHRISTIANS. like it if I should speak of the men of your trade as you speak of christians, and say, 'Blacksmiths are villains, dishonest men?"" "I should want you to name the men." "And I want you to name the men. Come, tell me who they are, and what they have done; and I promise you I will have their conduct investigated. They shall be tried before the proper tribunal. You shall be a witness against them. And if they are found guilty they shall be turned out of the church; and then they will be complained of by you no longer, and the good name of religion will no more be dishonoured by them." "Oh, I can't be a witness against anybody." "Why not? Can't you tell the truth? Will you make religion suffer rather than bring bad men to justice? Will you injure the good name of all of us, church members and elders too,' as you say, instead of lending your assistance to purify the church from unworthy members? Will you this thing go on, and let it hinder (as you say it does) a great many of you from being christians?" let "It is not my business to bear witness against church members." "Why do you do it then? You have been doing it every time I have met you for the last three months. And though I have tried to persuade you to cease you still keep on, bearing witness against church members and elders,' every time I meet you. "Well, I dont mean to injure anybody." "No, sir, I dont think you do. The only one you injure is yourself. The general imputations which you so often fling out against professors of religion are slanders. They are not true. You may think them true, but they are not. I affirm them to be utterly unfounded and false. There may be indeed a few persons in the church who are as bad as you declare them to be, but your general accusations are falsehoods. But suppose all you say, or even suspect, were true, suppose half of our church members to be bad men, in the name of all that is common sense, I ask you, what has that to do with your religion? If half the money that is in circulation is counterfeit, does that make the good money in your pocket valueless? or will it lead you to refuse to take all money?" "I dont want to have counterfeit money?" THE FAULTS OF CHRISTIANS, "And I dont want you to have a counterfeit religion. The very fact that you complain of counterfeit money is full proof that you believe there is such a thing as good money some where; and your complaint of counterfeit religion is full proof that you believe there is such a thing as good religion." 56 Yes, I believe all that." "And you believe that you have not attained it." "I suppose I haven't." "And are you striving to attain it, or are you as anxious and prayerful about it as you were a few weeks since ?" "Will you answer me one more question? Has not your seriousness diminished, and your prayerfulness ceased, very much in proportion as you have had hard thoughts, and made hard speeches, about the faults of christians?" "I can't say no to that question." "Then I wish you very seriously to consider, whether your fault-finding has not provoked God to withdraw from you the influences of the Holy Spirit! You do know that your regard for religion, and your attempts after salvation, have never been promoted by your complaining about christian people. Thinking of their sins you forget your own, as I have told you before. You foster in your own heart a spirit of self-righteousness by your miserable and foolish way. I have warned you against it before, and I will now warn you again, if you will permit me. If you will go on in this way God will leave you to your deceptions and your impenitence; you will live without religion, and you will die without it! I beseech you, therefore, as a friend, as a neighbour, as a minister, dismiss your thoughts about the faults of a few (for they are only a few) professors of religion, and seek from God the forgiveness of your own sins, and the salvation you so much need." I left him. But he never sought me again. Fifteen years have since passed away, and he is still as far from God as ever. Often when I have met him I have endeavoured to draw him into some conversation upon religion, but he avoids the subject, and commonly shuns me. Such things as these are often said in England as well as America. No doubt they are paltry, and often hypocritical, excuses for neglecting religion altogether. But God, who searcheth all things, knoweth that their heart is not right in his sight. POETRY.-ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. Poetry. GOD CALLING YET! "Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men." GOD calling yet! and shall I never hearken, God calling yet! loud at my door is knocking! Is waiting now,-but, ah! he soon may leave me, God calling yet! and I no answer giving! Surrender all, all to his care confiding; God calling yet! I can no longer tarry, Oh, vain and giddy world, your spells are broken! Anecdotes and Selections. THE LEVER-POWER TO LIFT MEN UP.-Schools, libraries, reading rooms, savings' banks, popular lectures, public baths, better houses for the working classes, everything that can be effected in the way of social improvement and sanitary reform-we are for them all. But what we maintain is this, that even if we had no other end in view but to get these agencies and improvements introduced among the outcast population, the christian missionary is by far the most effective pioneer we could employ. For elevating sunken humanity, there is no lever-power to compare with the gos |