it the place to enter into those points of detail in the working of a society, as to its management, finance, organization, encouragements and difficulties, which the public ought to know in order to appreciate and support it. In addition to all this, the pulpit is exclusively clerical, and we desire to see the lay element extensively employed in the public pleading for, as it happily is in the government and executive of, our religious institutions.

But public meetings are beneficial in another point of view -namely, to those who compose the meetings. How often is the spirit refreshed by the stirring address of some earnest advocate of God's work, or by the simple statement of a missionary from Palestine, from Africa, or from Hindostan: a Samuel Crowther pleading for his swarthy African friends; a Leupolt telling of his journey through Allahabad, and by the fatal well of Cawnpür, to open the new and interesting work in Lucknow; or a Herbert Edwardes boldly standing forward in defence of the gospel, and avowing, in reference to the late mutiny in India, "at Peshawur we derived our safety from the presence of the Christian mission, like an ark among us."

Many a child of God, actively engaged in his Master's service, can testify to the refreshing showers of grace poured upon him while listening to addresses such as we allude to—and many a faithful pastor can speak of the reflex benefit of religious societies among his flock. For, the finest sympathies of the heart, bursting forth, for the first time, at the recital of God's dealings with His people in other lands, often entwine themselves around home objects as well: and the gifts of Christian love sent from a congregation at home, for the spiritual benefit of the ignorant abroad, are not unfrequently returned in blessings again. "The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself."

Secondly. We inquire what are the causes of failure in the meetings of some of our best societies, and in the meetings of nearly all in some particular places?

Doubtless there are causes, quite beyond the control of chairmen or speakers, committees or officers, which operate against as full an attendance, and as deep an interest, as formerly. And one is the frequency of assemblies of this kind. When Legh Richmond, and the late bishop of Calcutta, and Mr. Pratt, first acted as deputations, they held a meeting in the county town, or some large market town, and friends of the good cause, squires and rectors, vicars, curates, and others, flocked in from all the villages around; while the novelty of the thing attracted even men of business from their bureaux, and shopkeepers from their counters; and then, those eminent men went on to another county town, or large market town, or other place of note,

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leaving behind them an impression, and a savour which lasted till the next religious meeting, which probably was not till the end of six or twelve months. But now, each village around has its own meeting, and the friends of the cause, with few exceptions, prefer to give their attendance and their offerings at their own little assembly; the county town, owing to the multiplication of religious societies, instead of its one or two meetings in the year, has now its one or two in the month; and neither men of business nor shopkeepers appear disposed to comply with the increased demand upon their time. Then there is not only a multiplication of religious societies, but there are also meetings for almost everything-soirées of literary institutions-lectures on “The natural history of coals and candles"--and "How to make homes happy" "The spider" "The chalk formations"— and "Penny readings for the working classes;" all which, however good they may be, must, to a certain extent, interfere with the attendance at religious meetings.

But we wish to deal with the operating causes which are, very much at least, subject to the control of deputations, chairmen, and committees.

And one cause of failure is, the want of punctuality in the deputations advertised to take part in the proceedings. They have been printed and published, and never make their appearance! This disheartens the promoters of the meeting; and the society is charged with want of truthfulness, and want of business habits, and the audience, having no faith in the promises made, are careless about coming the next time.

We look upon it as a solemn obligation upon a deputation never to disappoint a meeting, unless the hand of God evidently interferes: illness, an accident, sudden domestic affliction, may be accepted as a sufficient excuse; very little else should be. This is too lightly regarded by some few. "Oh, I forgot that I had promised to go elsewhere," said one; "Three meetings out of the five broke down, and it was not worth while going for the remaining two," said another; "You had plenty of local help, and did not want me," said a third.

A barrister would lose his practice if he acted thus. A medical man would speedily be deprived of his patients, and an officer of the army or navy would be put under arrest, or superseded for such conduct. And ought a religious layman or clergyman to be less punctual, merely because no penalty attaches to his offence? We would treat this subject with all kindness: we know how many circumstances arise, sometimes, between the engagement and the meeting, which make it very inconvenient to attend, but we urge the importance of punctuality. Deputations for religious societies ought to have before them the bright example of Him who never held back from inconve

nience or suffering, in His appointed labours for our redemption: "I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." They should remember that many eyes are upon them, and in punctuality at least, they should rise up to the description given by the Psalmist,-"who sweareth to his neighbour and disappointeth him not, though it were to his own hindrance.”.

Another cause of failure is to be found in heavy, uninteresting speakers. Some places there are, where the same dull speakers address every meeting every year: and the speeches seem to be stereotyped in their memories; there is such a sameness in them, and always about-nothing, we had almost said. We have seen three or four such speakers called upon, one after another, the weary audience dropping out quietly one by one, till at least half had left the meeting before the deputation was called upon to speak. Such speakers may be high in social, or ecclesiastical position, good in private worth, and useful in their several vocations, but those are not sufficient reasons for imposing dulness upon a meeting, and consequent loss upon a society. A clergyman once remarked to a plain working-man -alluding to some speakers of high social position who had addressed a meeting" Well, John, you had some speakers of weight last night.' "Of weight, sir?" said John. "Yes, sir, weighty enough; as heavy as a sack of flour; spoiled the meeting, sir."

It is all very well in a village meeting, to call upon a village notable to speak, however dull he may be. He is known and respected, the very sound of his voice is perhaps recognized by many of the villagers as that of a benefactor, his influence does good, his mistakes are overlooked, and his friends are gratified. Just as on a garrison field-day, the senior regimental lieutenantcolonel, whatever his strategic talents may be, is often turned into a brigadier, or even a commander of the forces, for the occasion. But when Delhi is to be stormed, or Lucknow to be relieved, or an army to be marched into Pekin, we select our men-Henry Havelocks, or Colin Campbells, or Nicholsons, or Hope Grants-to do the work. So, in a meeting where we want to attract and influence intelligent educated people, dull and heavy speakers ought not to be thrust upon the audience.

But we believe the chief cause of failure, is the want of local care, and of local exertions. The mere announcement of a meeting to be held at a specific time and place is not enough, except the advertisement contain the name of at least one of the universally popular speakers of England; and even with such a name it will often fail to attract in the smaller towns and villages.

The success of a meeting is almost always, as far as human

means go, in the direct ratio of the local attention given to it. If, for instance, a clergyman is himself interested in the good cause, recommending it from his pulpit, enforcing the moral obligation of supporting it, and keeping alive the interest among his flock by information on the subject regularly imparted, there will generally be a good parochial meeting. And the same rule will apply to the aggregate of clergy, and the local committees in the larger places. We know of several towns and villages where this system is pursued, and the meetings always succeed. Some towns we could name, where, on the Sunday previous to the meetings of our principal religious societies, sermons in aid are preached in almost all the churches; while the friends of the society, clerical and lay, make the cause their own, and invite their flocks and friends to attend the meeting. And the sermons, far from injuring either attendance or collection at the meeting, are among the chief means of filling the spacious halls with an attentive auditory, and of causing the full flow of Christian benevolence, the mark of a decided heart-interest in the work. We know some places, too, where large meetings assembled at first, but after a while they dwindled down, till now they can scarcely be held. And why is this? There is no longer the attraction of novelty; no care was taken, and the seed sown at the early meetings has worn itself out. In this respect, as in others, congregations may be compared to arable land. "We are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry;" or, more literally, "God's cultivated ground;" and the " cultivated ground" requires constant culture to make it yield "the kindly fruits of the earth in due season;" if left without culture, weeds would speedily multiply, and the hardened and impoverished ground would no longer yield the corn. A story is told of a traveller, in a distant clime, shaking out a bread-bag near to his hut, and being much surprised, the following year, to find a good crop of wheat on the spot, the produce of some grains of corn which happened to be in the corners of the bread-bag. But that same ground, untilled, would not continue to yield serviceable grain in future years. The plough must turn the sod up to the action of the pure oxygen, the harrow must break the clods, and the richness must be given back to the earth upon which the plants have fed. So. must a congregation or a community be cultivated. They must have it clearly proved to them that it is God's work: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." The prejudices which existed at first, or which have arisen from the insinuations of opponents, must be overcome by full and frank explanations; and the generous impulse, the gift of God, which led to the first contributions to the cause, must be kept alive by His blessing on authentic information on the subject. A first meeting in any

place may be good, or even a second, like the corn from the bread-bag; but congregations must receive spiritual culture, and of this kind, in order to bring forth fruit at public meetings. Thirdly, we give a few hints and suggestions as to the conducting of meetings, and respecting deputations. Where there are several good local speakers, it has been found beneficial to ask two or three beforehand to be ready to take part, at the same time assigning subjects to them. For example: let one take the general subject of working for the Lord; another, the organization of the society; a third, the power of prayer. Many subjects, equally good, or even better, will probably be suggested in the local committee meeting; but the last should never be omitted. If there is a deputation present, it will be most conducive to the interests of the society to leave the details of the plan and operations to them. This division of labour will add greatly to the interest of a meeting, and will prevent repetition and confusion of thought. How often is the remark made by speakers, when commencing their addresses: "I had intended to speak about India;" or "about the remarkable success attending the sale of Bibles in Sardinia;" or "about the degraded condition of the poor in our large towns, but the previous speaker has taken away all my facts,' and now I have nothing to say." And although he does speak for twenty, or perhaps forty, minutes, his speech is, in nine cases out of ten, uninteresting, because rambling and unconnected; and, in fact, he proves the truth of his first position, namely, that, although he did speak, yet he had nothing to say!

If there is a report to be read, it ought to be very brief, and not filled with facts taken from the annual report of the parent society. This will most likely interfere with the intended speech of the deputation. An abstract of the report of the parent society can always be stitched up with the local report for circulation among subscribers.

It is not good to keep up a meeting too long; the length must depend greatly upon local circumstances; but it should never extend to such a length as to weary an audience, or to interfere with general family arrangements.

If, as is sometimes the case, there is a difficulty in obtaining suitable local speakers, a lecturer, advertised as such, may with advantage be substituted at an annual meeting.

One more suggestion we venture to make to the managers and promoters of meetings; it is, that prayer be largely an element in all their plans and arrangements. How many difficulties might be avoided;-how many rough places made plain;-how many causes of offence removed;—if prayer were brought more into the ordinary preparation for meetings? How wondrous is the power of prayer! Jacob found it so when going to meet his brother Esau. Moses found it so while Joshua