Poetry.

THE METHODIST

NEW CONNEXION MAGAZINE.

JUNE, 1862.

Essays, &c., on Theology and General Literature.

ON INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY TO PROMOTE THE SALVATION OF SOULS.

BY THE REV. JOHN MEDICRAFT.

THE salvation of souls is a subject of the most momentous importance, yet one which, to a very small extent, excites the earnest thought of the Church of Christ. It is as painful as it is astonishing to think what supineness there is amongst professing Christians on this great subject; what little anxiety is manifested, and, we are afraid, what little anxiety is felt, as to the conversion of sinners. Some social or political change will awaken a far greater interest than a revival of religion, and, most certainly, than the salvation of a single soul would. Though, in the estimation of the Saviour, there is enough in such an event to kindle the joy of heaven into rapture, it is seldom regarded by professing Christians as worthy of a passing thought, and still more seldom lights up their souls with holy joy. Multitudes around us are perishing; they are in their sins; they are children of wrath; they are under condemnation. The sentence of death is recorded. Every moment is bringing them nearer to the solemn period when their destiny will be irrevocably fixed; and if they are not arrested by Divine grace very soon, they will be beyond the reach of mercy. Amongst these are to be found neighbours, acquaintances, friends, and relatives; and yet (we put it to the consciences of the great majority of Christians) we do comparatively, and sometimes absolutely, nothing to save them. We utter not the warning word; we stretch not out the arresting hand; we suffer them to sleep on until they awake upon a bed of fire; we let them be damned, and hinder them not. Awful thought! we have suffered parents or children, husbands or wives, brothers or sisters, lovers or friends, neighbours or acquaintances, to perish without, in many instances, a single effort to rescue them. Reader, canst thou not think of one soul-perhaps the soul of a dear friend—who is now, there is every reason to fear, lost, for ever lost, and whom thou never triedst to save ? Alas! on every one of us is found, more or less, the

blood of souls.

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Now all this supineness and neglect may be traced to an inadequate conception of the value of salvation, and this, again, we fear, to an imperfect experience of its value in our own souls. Yet, when we look at the subject-when we contemplate it in all its bearingswhen we think of the worth of "a soul immortal"-when we look at the unparalleled sufferings of the Son of God, endured to make human salvation possible-when we gaze into the bottomless pit, and contemplate the unutterable misery from which salvation rescues us—when we think of the perfect purity and unspeakable joys of heaven to which salvation brings us-we ask, what subject is there, what subject can there be, of so great importance as this? Oh, that we did but look at this subject as angels look at it, and, above all, as God looks at it!—that we did but look at it until, by looking, we became fascinated the subject filling entirely the field of our vision, and bringing into a blessed captivity every principle and power of our nature! Oh, that the love of Christ did but so constrain us, that we should judge that, since Christ died for all, all are dead; and that He died for all, that we who live should not live unto ourselves, but unto Him who died and rose again!

One fearful result of this indifference to the salvation of our fellows is a neglect of personal exertion for their conversion. Perhaps not ten per cent. of the Christian Church are doing anything to save souls from death; and amongst those who are really workers, how few labour as if they felt the full weight of their responsibility to God! It is true they labour; but a certain air of perfunctoriness characterizes almost all they do, and thus destroys, or at least very much lessens, its value both as a principle and a power. Such being the case, we would impress upon our readers the doctrine of individual responsibility to promote the salvation of souls.

And here we set out with the position that the salvation of souls may be promoted-and might we not go further, and say securedby our efforts. A notion-or, perhaps, more correctly, a feelingseems to prevail in the Church that the salvation of souls is solely a Divine work; and although such a thought is altogether opposed both to the doctrines and spirit of Methodism, there is reason to fear that it is well nigh as common amongst Methodists as amongst others It seems to be quietly assumed by many that God sovereignly imparts grace to whom he will, "in his own good time," and that we cannot interfere to any purpose. This is by no means the doctrine of our creed; but then, what is worse, it is, in multitudes of cases, the doctrine of our lives. We suffer men to sleep on as if we could de nothing to awake them. Now, surely, there is no greater mistake than this. We can do something to awake them; they need not perish without our interference. By some means or other we may at least attempt to lead them to reflection on their conduct, to repentance of sin, and to faith in Christ, in order to the salvation of their souls. And not only can we do something to promote the salvation of souls, but we must, if souls are to be saved. Nothing is more true than that God saves men by operations of his Holy Spirit freely imparted; but, at the same time, nothing is more true than that God saves men through human instrumentality. There are times when God, setting aside all human instrumentality, comes in immediate contact with the

soul of a sinner, and, like Saul of Tarsus, he is subdued and humbled in a moment. These instances, however, are rare, and prove the exception rather than the rule. Ordinarily, God opens human hearts with human keys. Some suitable sermon; some tract, the gift of which has been accompanied by earnest prayer; some lesson in the Sabbath-school; some faithful warning of a friend becomes the means by which grace effectively operates to a sinner's conversion. Such being the case, to expect the triumphs of the Church without effort is vain. Her successes are to be brought about by her own exertions. God has arranged that man shall be awakened, enlightened, and saved through the medium of his own species; and the glorious ends which God has contemplated from all eternity can be accomplished only on condition of the faithful and earnest exertions of his people. Why God has thus determined it is not for us to say; sufficient is it to know that such is the fact. Never will the world be brought to God until the Church become more lively, more active, more self-sacrificing, more jealous of the Divine honour, more solicitous about the salvation of sinners, more laborious in the cause of God; but let the Church awake and put on strength, and she shall triumph gloriously; let her labour, and the reward of her hands shall be given her; let her travail, and she will bring forth children; her sons shall multiply and increase until they shall fill the whole earth.

But while it may be admitted that men are to be saved through the instrumentality of saved men, how seldom does each individual Christian feel his own personal responsibility. He loses himself in the mass; he thinks of the Church simply as an institution-an idea-forgetting that it is an aggregate of Christians, of whom he is one, and that, therefore, the duty of the Church is his duty, and the responsibility of the Church is his responsibility. In this sphere every man must bear his own burden-must perform his own share of work. To fail in this, is to render his Christianity a mere profession.

We observe, in the first place, that this responsibility to promote the salvation of souls is involved in his relation to the Church. The Lord has established his Church for wise ends; his people he has formed for himself, that they may show forth his praise. By their union and communion, as holding one faith, one hope, one baptism, they are to stand out prominently before the world as the followers of Christ. Thus are they to be as a city set upon a hill which cannot be hid, or like a light put upon a candlestick to give light to all the house. In their corporate capacity, and by their corporateness, they are to show forth the praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into his marvellous light. It therefore becomes the duty of every professing Christian to connect himself with the outward and visible Church. He has no right to stand aloof from the body, to occupy an isolated position, as if either he were too good for the Church, or that the Church could do very well without him. If it is Christ's will that he should have an outward and visible body as well as a spiritual and mystical body, and that the two should correspond as nearly as possible, it follows, that all who believe that they are, through Divine grace, incorporated with the latter, ought to consent-indeed, to seek -to be incorporated with the former. He who is Christ's by a secret

union, ought also to be his by a public avowal; his name ought to be enrolled amongst the faithful on earth, as well as in the Lamb's book of life in heaven. To neglect seeing to the latter while he expects the former, is, to say the least, incongruous. He who professes to be a soldier on the Lord's side, ought surely to be in some regiment in the great army; he who hopes one day to be publicly crowned when the triumph of the Redeemer is celebrated, ought surely now to wear the uniform while the battle is fought. Union with the Church is every Christian's duty.

But it were a great and grave mistake to suppose that union with the Church consisted merely in the enrolling of our names with a body of Christian men, or in united worship, or in the communion of saints, or in contributions, however cheerfully given, to Church institutions. It is all this, but it is immeasurably more. He who rests in these things comes far short of his duty. Common work is to be the expression and proof of our union with the common cause. He who unites himself to the Church, is to unite himself as a labourer. In the very moment in which he joins hands with the Church in fellowship, he is to put forth his hand in exertion for the Church's welfare. In publicly consecrating himself to God in his public joining of the Church, he is to consecrate himself to earnest labour; he is to present himself a living sacrifice-that is, all that he is, and all that he has, is to be devoted to the service of God; in other words, he is to work for God with all he is and with all he has. His talents are to be so much power, and his possessions so much material, with which he is to render God the very best service. His relation to the Church is not to be a passive and receptive relation, but one eminently characterized by vitality, vigour, and activity. Thus his piety is not to be nominal, but real; not a mere profession, but an active life of well-doing. It is to be a great and pressing business, in which he takes the deepest interest, and the prosecution of which is his sweetest pleasure and his highest joy; it is to be a great fact, at once felt by himself and seen by all around him. His life is to be such that the world shall take knowledge of him that he is with Jesus in active service for his glory, as well as has been with him in holy communion. To the Head of the Church are to be consecrated, day by day, the activities of his immortal spirit, the swellings and boundings of his emotional nature, and the strength and agility (if he possess them) of his physical frame. Spirit, soul, and body are to be wholly sanctified unto God.

It therefore becomes the inquiry of every Christian, "Lord, what wilt thou have ME to do?" Not merely "What can the Church do?" but "What can I do? What honour can I bring to my Master? What trophies can I win to his praise? How many gems can I place in his crown? How many souls can I save? How many brands can I pluck from the burning? How many glorified saints shall one day welcome me on the plains of heaven' as the instrument of their conversion? I belong to a great institution, founded for the very purpose of saving the world. What part of the sphere can I fill? What part of the work can I perform?" It becomes us every one to hear continually a Divine command ringing in our ear-"Son, go work to-day in my vineyard." Is not that command given to me? If not to me, to whom? If I may plead exemption, may not every