state of the flock—a state in which the flock should remain, advancing more and more, exerting itself more and more to the last; and it can not but be that the pastor, if he retains his just state and position, should be always seeking to keep his flock in theirs, and to this end always exercising appropriately the care of souls: He will not vary his pastoral activity on the principle that a change, another declension, is, as a matter of course, to take place; he will rather proceed on the opposite principle, so arranging his plans, so pursuing his measures, so adapting his modes of influence and operation, direct and indirect-in a word, so ordering and exercising the work of the ministry in all its parts as to make it instrumental, if possible, of perpetuating and promoting the existing state of his flock. And as, from time to time, he strives to renew, to consolidate (ßɛbaíav noiɛiola) his vocation as a pastor, so he will have recourse to means for confirming, establishing his flock in that grace, that spiritual prosperity in which it now finds itself: In order to this, he will probably appoint days. for special prayer and fasting, and will devote much thought and time to self-preparation for the proper observance of them: He will not allow himself to look forward to another declension, except to pray and strive against it, and, by every means he can legitimately use, to prevent its occurrence, to render its occurrence a moral impossibility: He will feel that a declension would be an iniquity, an enormity; that it can not come but by means of sin; that Heaven is against it; that if it does come, a curse will come with it; and that if its futurition does, indeed, enter into the divine plan, it does so only because, according to that plan, one evil thing shall be punished by another, in order to prevent greater evil on the whole.]

PART FOURTH.

ADMINISTRATIVE OR OFFICIAL LIFE.

CHAPTER I.

DISCIPLINE.*

THIS word is almost without meaning in our ecclesiastical institutions, or, rather, in the character which the times have given them. Discipline is to ecclesiastical order what police is to civil order; but the citizen, whether he will or not, is subject to the law: Not thus with a member of the Church; and since the law of the Church has no longer the sanction of opinion, we may say that it is law no longer. The execution of disciplinary penalties has no longer a civil guarantee or external consequences. Thus the external sanction supplies nothing to the internal; in a word, discipline has nothing to rest upon. Nothing of discipline remains except what the pastor, as an individual, exercises, and what others, as individuals, are willing to accept; and we must, indeed, allow, that what little remains in these circumstances of complete freedom from compulsion is excellent in propor

tion as it is small.

We can not but call the attention of ministers to a peril, of which some among them have no suspicion. The remonstrances or reproofs which are a part of pastoral discipline are much more easily dispensed to the poor and the

*See BENGEL: Pensées, § 36.

We are tempted to bear

weak than to the rich and great. heavily on some that we may press lightly on others. This is not equal. And the pastor is worthy of his mission only when he makes his authority to be felt alike by all souls, which to him are no more than souls. We must not hence conclude, however, that no difference should be observed as to manner and form. The same means have a different influence, according to the persons to which they are applied, and, with the design of maintaining equality, we may treat souls with much inequality.

The

Excommunication, properly speaking, can have no place in a Church which is strictly the Church of every one. communicants themselves are the only judges. They must take care for themselves that they do not eat and drink condemnation to themselves at the table of Jesus Christ. When the Church belongs to the state, and when the severities of discipline are by general consent dispensed with, we can not dream of exercising it, at least of restoring it in its essential character, which is possible only in another state of things. The duty of the pastor is both to debar from the Lord's Supper, by private representations, the persons whom he may judge unprepared to partake of this sacred repast without danger, and to admonish them collectively from the high place of the pulpit. The same rule, and no other, applies to the officials.

CHAPTER II.

CONDUCT TOWARD DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS PARTIES.

THE first rule as to the pastor's conduct toward the religious parties which he may find in his parish, whether they be in a state of simple parties, or whether they form communities, is to preach the Gospel with sufficient simplicity, cordiality, and purity, to draw true hearts and spirits toward the form of Christian doctrine as presented in the Gospel. Such a position admonishes the pastor to be, as far as possible, a man of pure and transparent spirit. There are few cases, perhaps there are none, in which the pulpit should be polemical. Error flees before truth, as darkness before the light of day. Indeed, darkness is nothing; light alone is something. Speak the truth-this is filling a void; error is the absence of truth. Let us have little confidence in negative means: Let us not think that we have been building because we have been demolishing, or that we have edified because we have confuted. The first, most natural, and often only effect of such victories is the impatience and irritation of the conquered party. Truth is a virtue, a power; we have done every thing when we have caused it to be felt. Virtutem viderent.*

We must give to our parishioners an example of indulgence and equity, and while, not by reasoning, but by facts, we make them sensible of the advantage which they have by belonging to our communion rather than to another, teach them to love the truth more than the Church, and the image of Christ more than their own preferences. But, doubtless, the first rule we have given is sufficient to secure this, and to "Let them see virtue."-PERSE, Sat., iii., ver. 38.

secure, also, as benevolent and intimate relations with the dissidents* (I use this word in a very general sense) as is compatible with the religious sympathy between them and us. Any thing beyond this, that is to say, any thing which may induce the belief that we are not really of our own party, and, so to speak, of our opinion; any thing which might give rise to the supposition that, under the pretense of belonging to one communion, we at heart belong to another, and that we are hindered from joining another only by considerations of personal interest or the fear of man, would be a scandal to our flock, and would compromise our ministry.

Taking the word proselytism in the most general sense, it would be almost ridiculous to ask whether proselytism is permitted to pastors; which, to tell the truth, is their essential duty and their whole work. But, adhering to the most general sense of the word, it may be asked whether there are not certain rules to be observed-a certain measure to be kept; and then it may be inquired whether this proselytism, whose object is to transfer an individual from one sect to another, is lawful and commendable.

To begin with the second question, let us say that conversion from one sect to another (ecclesiastical proselytism) never should be the immediate object of the ministry, nor of any reasonable Christian. But then we can not deny that when we labor to make a man a Christian, we labor to make him one in the sense in which we ourselves are Christians; and we must not dissemble this fact, either to ourselves or others. A man gained to our doctrine by our teaching may not feel himself obliged to forsake his own communion; that is, formally to renounce it, in order to unite himself to ours. If he is under a simple delusion, we must wait patiently until more light shall dissipate it. If the fear of man controls him, we must not connive at it, and we must express ourselves frankly on this subject, but without pressing the neophyte to take • See BENGEL: Pensées Pastorales, § 41 et 42.