Society will do valuable service. They are pervaded with a genial and earnest temper, and written with a direct and businesslike tone. The principles of the Gospel are stated with clearness and concisely illustrated, and their practical application in the conduct of life exposed with unsparing fidelity. No person can read these treatises without an enlargement of his knowledge and a quickening of his religious sensibilities. The treatise of Mr. Lawrence, entitled "the Mission of the Church," is the largest and most elaborate performance. It embraces a wider field than the others, and to minds unfamiliar with the designs and operations of modern Evangelism, will prove an instructive work. The treatises of Rev. Messrs. Harris and Cook, the one on the Scriptural Plan of Benevolence," the other on "the Divine law of Beneficence," are more simple and direct both in style and arrangement. The authors assume that the necessity for this discussion is well understood by the reader, and proceed at once to the subject in hand. This is an admirable feature in books designed for general circulation; especially, if they are to gain the attention of men of business. If we desired to persuade an enterprising merchant or mechanic, who admitted the obligation of honoring God in his business, to adopt some plan of systematic benevolence, the tract of Mr. Harris would suit our purpose. We are confident that the vigorous style and the healthy religious tone of its successive chapters would awaken the conviction, that such a plan is adapted to promote every valuable end of his existence; to relieve the cares and perplexities of business from the debasing influences of transactions that have no higher aim than pecuniary advantage; and to impart to all the labors of the sales room, the exchange and the workshop, the dignity of a service performed for God. If our endeavors were directed to secure a like result with persons of less active habits, less familiar with the claims of our benevolent organizations, and less disposed to admit the utility of their operations, we should select "the Divine law of Beneficence" or "the Mission of the Church." As these commence with the more common views of this duty, a prejudiced or reluctant mind would be less likely to reject the conclusion to which the argument must conduct it. The mode of approach is more gradual, but the rules at which they arrive are equally elevated and scriptural. In this view of these publications, we think, the public will approve the decision of the Committee to whom the essays were submitted, in dividing the premium among the three writers, instead of giving the preference to one.*

* The original premium of three hundred dollars was subsequently increased by its author to four hundred, and the sum divided equally by the committee of award among four of the competitors. As the fourth essay was published separately, and in different style, it had not come to hand when this article was written,

The question has occurred to us in reading these volumes, whether by their cheapness and the larger consequent circulation, they might not accomplish a greater good than a single work upon a more comprehensive plan. It is clearly a great advantage, that the price of these books is such that a copy might be placed in every family of a congregation without a burdensome outlay. We hope that pastors, church officers and wealthy individuals will provide the means to place one or more of these publications in every habitation within the limits of the towns in which they reside. The dissemination of the views presented in these essays will do much towards correcting the evils of which we have previously spoken.

While we commend these volumes with confidence in their adaptation to meet an existing and serious want of the Christian community, it will we think occur to many readers that a single work, having a broader plan, might be written of greater permanent value than these can be. We could wish that Mr. Harris had attempted to produce an essay which in its completeness and adaptation to the condition of American Christians, should correspond with the admirable treatise of his transatlantic namesake. There is much in "Mammon," that ought to be reproduced in the form of an appeal to wealthy Christians in America. In saying this, however, we can easily see how the modesty of these authors would naturally deter them from entering on a field so ably occupied. But, still, we hope that either they or others will be guided in the preparation of a work which shall cover the whole ground of Christian obligation in the use of property. Such a discussion is needed to elucidate the just and practicable method of sustaining the Gospel. The practice of churches and the decisions of ecclesiastical bodies differ both in regard to the principles of this duty and the mode of their application. In many instances the Gospel is very inadequately sustained, because there is no common rule respecting the mode of supporting the ministry. The burden is distributed very unequally. Where the expenses incident to the support of the institutions of religion are defrayed by a tax on the pews, there is no practical recognition of the New Testament rule of contributing according to our ability. According to the spirit of the Gospel, the work of sustaining the ministry, in common with other religious appropriations, requires that the strong aid the weak. This is the ground of every effective appeal in behalf of Home Missions; but the principle that binds a church in Connecticut to aid a feeble body of disciples in Iowa, ought surely to have a practical influence on the several members of this stronger church in their treatment of each other. But the attempt to enforce the execution of a more equal system has in most cases been unsuccessful. With the increase of their means men often lose the disposition

to use them liberally. This point is well presented by Mr. Cook, and we make the quotation as a fair specimen of his style and a good illustration of our position.

"We have often seen those who, when in comparative poverty, were generous with their little, but who have become penurious in becoming rich. While their means were small, their outgoes trod close on the heels of their incomes; their habit of giving was exercised and strengthened in some proportion to that of receiving, and the passion for accumulating had not room to spread its roots. But when the gains began sensibly to advance beyond the outgoes, a habit was formed of calculating how long it would take to reach such and such a sum; and with no active principle of benevolence proportionally counterworking the growing passion for gains, every little increase served to feed the passion, and every call for charities was resisted, because it postponed the time of reaching the proposed amount to be laid in. Aware of this principle of human nature, divine wisdom has given the caution, If riches increase, set not your heart upon them; hinting to us that the setting of the heart upon them' is a common result of increase.

"How many thousands have said in their hearts, O if I were as rich as such a one, how would I multiply the streams of my bounty; I would do nothing else than employ my wealth in doing good. But all such talk is vain; the process of becoming so rich would expose you to the fiercer heats of temptation, consuming all benevolent affections. The process of increasing wealth, without the outgoes of benevolence, is a process of confirming a feeling of poverty, a grasping desire for more, which like the grave will be ever crying, Give, give. A case has been known of a man at the age of threescore and ten, with his hundred thousand dollars, free from debt, and well invested, and yet crying like a child in apprehension of a possible experience of poverty. And this state of feeling was induced by a most natural process, by a mind given up to the passion of accumulating, without the counter-process of distributing. This is an invariable result of human experience in like circumstances, and it shows the importance of some law of conduct to keep our benevolent activities in use. Our condition is like that of a leaky vessel, which needs the constant labor of the pump in throwing out, to prevent its being submerged.”—Divine Law of Beneficence, pp. 61-62.

Examples are not wanting in the church, of persons who have become avaricious by this very process. And when with the accumulation of property, they become less ready to sustain the institutions of religion, there ought to be power in the church to correct so palpable and injurious a dereliction of duty. The offense, however, will seldom be made the subject of discipline, because the opinions of Christians are so at variance respecting the nature and extent of their obligations in the use of property. The cause of Christ in many of our congregations is suffering reproach because of the tolerance of these offenses; in others, they are the occasion of strife and divisions. To remove these offenses, we need such a discussion as will settle the leading principles of religious obligation-a discussion which will secure substantial agreement among the members of our churches in respect to what may rightfully be required of professors of religion. Let this subject be fairly adjusted according to the instructions of the New Testament, and the united sentiments of the churches would soon remedy most of these evils.

We should be glad to see a more full and comprehensive work on this subject, because of the very intimate relation between. the proper use of wealth and the future religious prosperity of our country. If no extraordinary hindrances shall arise to obstruct the increase of our wealth, it is plain, that the people of this land will soon attain an unprecedented rank, both in the amount and the general diffusion of property. Every day opens new and lucrative fields of enterprise, while all the established modes of gain furnish an average return of profits unknown in other parts of the world. Of course wealth becomes a powerful incentive to industry, and furnishes the foundation of distinctions in society. What then shall prevent a passion so congenial to the habits and spirit of our countrymen from becoming the prevailing ambition of all? What shall hinder it from invading the enclosures of the church and secretly corroding the vitals of her piety? The grandeur of our enterprises and the rapidity of our accumulation, all favor this natural tendency. Even religion seems to favor it, by the inculcation of economy and industry. No one needs to be told, that the economical lessons of our fathers have often nurtured parsimony and covetousness in the bosoms of their sons. Now what shall check this tendency and convert a debasing because penurious toil into the exercise of a munificent and ennobling course of action? Nothing less than the liberalizing and benevolent teachings of the New Testament. The love of accumulation, always strong, is fostered by peculiar influences among professing Christians. They are not expected to lead in the fashions of society, they are sheltered from most of the temptations to extravagance, and in this condition they will assuredly hoard their gains with an idolatrous affection, unless the passion be counteracted by the constant operation of an enlarging beneficence. Unless our benevolent enterprises shall furnish an outlet for our superfluous wealth, and the church shall cordially and promptly second the expenditures that will send the missionary and the Bible, with the means of Christianizing the nations, to the ends of the earth, the piety of the church will soon be choked in the deluge of cares that accompany covetousness. From this danger, so insidious in its operation and fatal in its consequences, we know of no deliverance, except through the inculcation of systematic and large beneficence. If Christians shall learn to honor God in the distribution of their wealth, through the various channels which divine providence may open for enlightening and Christianizing the families of men; if they shall learn the benignant uses, the spiritual growth, the joy and peace that attend a life of practical benevolence, we know not the limits which shall define the extent of their religious prosperity. Such a course of Christian activity would at once remove some of the most serious obstacles to the success of the Gospel

in our own congregations. It would promote the spirituality of our churches. The cares and labor of business would no longer be regarded as hostile to the interests of religion, if the proceeds of that business were employed as a sacred trust wherewith to honor God. The claims of business would then be identified with the service of Christ. The practical antagonism of the two would cease to exist, and the followers of Christ would not regard the labors of their respective callings as a hindrance to their religious progress. When this difficulty shall be removed, the temptations of worldliness will be shorn of half their strength. Mr. Harris has very clearly exhibited the influence of systematic benevolence in securing this end.

"Systematic benevolence is a most important and an indispensable agency in making business a helper and not a foe to the religious growth. When a man acts on this princip, his place of business becomes a Bethel; every transaction becomes like a renewal of his consecration to God; money and bills and labor are associated with his obligations to his Master, and fragrant with the memory of the cross; and like the attraction drawing every part of the earth and binding it to the sun, divine love fastens its attraction on every possession, on every toil, and every gain, and binds him with all that he has to God the centre of his whole life's orbit. Then he is intimate with God not less on the exchange or the farm, than in the closet. Then his whole course of life becomes a help and not a hindrance to his spiritual progress; and like a healthy child, he grows steadily and unconsciously amid the ceaseless activity of life.

"Normand Smith, when roused to a more entire consecration to God, falling in with the common notion that a life of secular business is incompatible with a life of eminent usefulness and piety, seriously purposed to abandon it. But more scriptural views led him to continue in business, consecrating it to God. He put on record the purpose to engage in my business, that I may serve God in it, and with the expectation of getting to give.' His biographer says, 'From that time it was observable by all who knew him, that he made rapid progress in religion. There was a fervor and engagedness of spirit, a purity and elevation of aim, that could not be misunderstood or concealed. He rose toward heaven like the lark of the morning.' From that time he found no tendency in his worldly engagements to chill his piety, or to enchain his affections to the earth. His business became to him a means of grace, and helped him forward in the divine life, just as truly as reading the Scriptures and prayer.”—Scriptural Plan of Benevolence, pp. 67–69.

The benefit is not confined to the heart of the believer; its fruit will be manifest in removing the objection most frequently alleged against the reality of his piety which is furnished by his worldliness.

"No argument," says the same author, "is oftener urged against religion than that founded on the alleged inconsistencies of its professors. The chief foundation for this plea, so far as it has any, is the conformity of Christians to the world in all the aims, the maxims, and the manner of getting and spending money, so that too commonly, Christians, away from their devotions, can scarcely be distinguished from the better sort of worldlings. Let the scriptural law of benevolence be usually obeyed; let the world behold Christians actuated by the sublime desire to do good in all their gettings and their expenditures, and consecrating spontaneously to the Lord as he hath prospered them; let it be seen, when men become Christians, by the change in their pursuit of