head were waters-without revivals, we say, the Church would become an ice palace. Religion would petrify into mere forms, a train of burdensome or fantastic ceremonials; a round of mere notions in the head, and even these notions would lose all their power over thought and reflection, and the very words in which they are couched, whether Latin or English, it matters not, would not be understood by the devotee. This state of things finds its type in Gothic architecture, read prayers, rubrics, the burning of wax candles by daylight, and learned divines quarreling over an ecclesiastical regalia, which would enable them to dispute with the clown his place in the "sports of the ring." Its hugest concrete, however, is found in Romanism, the nightmare of the nations for so many ages. We would rather gaze upon the starting tear that traced the rough and bronzed cheek of some honest yeoman, and see in that tear a prophetic ocean of eternal felicity, in some log school-house, in which the spirit of revivals was abroad upon its welcome mission, than to look for an hour upon the most magnificent pageant that ever issued from the gate of St. Peter's. We would rather hear a half-suppressed "Halleluiah," a "Bless God, O my soul, and forget not all his

benefits," uttered by some aged mother in our Israel, followed by the stifled groan and drooped head of that young man, for whom she has so long prayed; we would rather listen to such music, while the faithful preacher presses the truth that Jesus saves, and saves now, than to stand for an hour amid the magnificent aisles and arches of the cathedral of the Bishop of Canterbury, and listen to the deep-toned organ, whose combined voices, almost like the seven thunders of the throne, sweep in a gust of mere artificial and head music up to that God who alone delighteth in the worship of the broken and contrite hearted. There is food for the heart in revivals. They are as necessary to the health and purity of the Church, as is congenial air to the invalid, or salt and soap to the health and cleanliness of civilization.

The proper management of a revival forms no small part of that wisdom necessary in the winning of souls. The law of our nature above evolved, may remove some difficulties, and suggest some useful practical lessons to our brethren. Let them remember that revivals are necessities of the Church, that the state of things understood by the term is nothing more than what we may expect in view of what human nature is.

Let them remember, also, that the Spirit of God never forces human nature to the destruction of its freedom. To wait, then, for the Spirit of God to get the people ready for a revival, before we ourselves commence making direct efforts to that end, is preposterous. And not to make special efforts in religious matters, in view of the fact, that man needs seasons of special excitement upon the subject of religion as well as any other, is also absurd. But of the "times and the seasons" when these special efforts should be commenced, it may require all the wise, prayerful scrutiny of the pastor to determine. They may be commenced very untimely. Their omission at other times may be a great misfortune to the Church. "He that winneth souls is wise."

CHAPTER IX.

PROTRACTED MEETINGS.

THE ADAPTATION OF PROTRACTED MEETINGS TO OUR WANTS ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY MEANS OF GRACE- TAKING ADVANTAGE OF TIMES AND SEASONS-PASTORAL ECONOMY OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

Ir it be true that religion does not change the laws of our nature, (regeneration being but a change of the heart, from the unnatural to the natural-sin being a perversion of our nature,) but conforms to them, as the lightning, that strikes the tree, follows the grain of the wood; and if it be true that, in religious matters, the interest and excitement of Christians are governed to some extent, as in other matters, and are subject to ebbs and flows, to seasons of less and seasons of greater fervor, as was demonstrated in the last chapter, then must the services of the Church be conformed to this state of things. To the ordinary means of grace must sometimes be added the extraordinary. Stated meetings will sometimes need to be protracted. Protracted

meetings, then, have their foundations in the very nature of the case. A protracted meeting differs, after all, from the ordinary means of grace only in this: it consists of more frequently employing the means of grace, of appointing meetings with shorter intervals between them. It occurs to us, from many considerations, that this is a most wise course. We may name a few of these considerations. The officiating preacher may detect in his audience a more than ordinary disposition to hear the word. Secondly, it may be a season of the year of comparative leisure. Commerce is not hurried, navigation is closed, winter reigns over the farmer's fields, and he hibernates upon the superabundance of the last season; or, it may be one of those seasons (rather rare seasons nowadays!) when the public mind is comparatively free from a state of qui vive and solicitude, owing to events at Washington, Kanzas, or the Crimea, and to which excitement every flash of the telegraph makes a new contribution. Or the members of the Church themselves may request of the pastor the privileges of such extended services, and special efforts for the good of their own souls, and to enable them more satisfactorily, and with greater boldness, to dis