rays of Christian love that beam upon it. The same results are also secured by those social observances and rites which are sanctioned by the church. Through them, each member does something to quicken the piety of the other members. His mere presence in the place of prayer is a power. Both his example and his words become a stimulus to holy feeling. Sin yields to the expulsive power of regenerate affections.

Through the agencies thus brought into action, the primary object of church discipline is, to a great extent, accomplished in preventing any necessity for that last stage of the work which is so often understood to include the whole of it. So many and so powerful are the influences brought to bear upon the individual members of the church, that, with rare exceptions, they are saved from falling into open sin. Yet the world, and too often God's people themselves, seem almost unconscious that the disciplinary power of the church has had any marked agency in securing the result.

Still the sad fact cannot be concealed, that the most wholesome culture will not always save the individual from open sin. "Offences will come." And on the same principle that piety becomes especially effective for good through the intimate relations created by the church, open sin becomes especially effective for harm. Moral poison in the church works with fearful potency. Hence the sinning member must be excluded. The spiritual welfare of the church requires this; and then the action of the church in effecting the exclusion is calculated to call into more vigorous action the Christian graces of its members. Sometimes, also, that action proves the means of bringing the offender to repentance and a return to duty.

It is therefore the special object of church culture and discipline, to promote the development of the Christian graces in the members of the church by exerting upon them influences directly favorable to such a result, and then by guarding them against certain incidental dangers which from time to time arise.

This discipline of the church is necessary because the work of sanctification is to be maintained in God's people, and because God has graciously established just such an economy for carrying it on. In the dispensation of his sovereign grace, he doubt

less might at once have secured the soul's perfect freedom from sin. And for beings perfectly holy, the discipline of the church would not have been a necessity. But God has chosen a different mode of procedure. The new life which he imparts to the soul dead in sin, begins in much weakness, and hence he appoints the disciplinary agencies of his church for its gradual development.

There is yet another fact which makes the discipline of the church a necessity to itself. Being an organization of imperfect men, the door of admission is guarded by those very liable to misjudge. Unworthy members, in spite of the utmost circumspection on the part of all concerned, will sometimes gain admission. There was a Judas even among the twelve apostles. But, as from the human body a gangrened member must be severed or it will prove fatal to life, so an ungodly and immoral member tolerated in the church will infuse moral poison into the body of Christ. The very nature and end of a churchorganization renders exclusion in such a case a necessity. It is necessary, also, because God commands it. "A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject." So of the immoral member. "Therefore put away from yourselves that wicked person." "If he neglect to hear the church let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican."

As the work of church discipline is one of vital necessity, it is of the greatest importance that correct views prevail in regard to the parties upon whom responsibility in the case rests. Who, then, are the responsible agents in the work?

It is evident from what has been said, that responsibility in the case rests upon the church. Discipline is a primary end of its existence. But the agency of the church is mainly indirect. The church seeks the end of its existence through the action of individuals.

So, also, is there responsibility resting upon the duly appointed officers of the church. They have important duties to discharge, which all contemplate, more or less directly, the promotion of wholesome discipline. But even their agency is mainly indirect, designed to stimulate the action of others.

The primary agents in the work are the individual members of the church. In the church, no man is master, but all are

brethren. There are no high, no low; no Greeks, no Jews; no bond, no free; but all are one in Christ Jesus. Such a state of things mirrors forth the personal responsibility of the members of the church. God's commands, moreover, make duty a personal matter. The great command is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "Thou shalt not suffer sin upon him." "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." "If thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone." Thus both the relations subsisting between the individual members of the church and God's commands addressed to the members personally, show that the latter are direct agents in the work which we are contemplating. Every brother is linked to every other in the church, for this especial reason, that he may reach him through the links of that chain with a purifying, saving influence. Moreover, each member of the church most solemnly promises, by the covenant into which he enters, to personally labor for the spiritual improvement of his brethren. The saving power to be exerted is Christian love. This has its seat in individual hearts. Churches, church sessions, church committees, have no souls. The individual heart is the spiritual magnet which is continually acting and being acted upon in the church. Hence, in its discipline, the members, in their individual capacity, are the primary and main agents.

In respect to this matter, false views are quite too common, and their sad effect is made apparent in the lax discipline so prevalent in the churches. The form of expression, "church discipline," sometimes misleads men. It suggests a work to be done by the church in its collective capacity, rather than one which the church was formed to secure through its individual members. Hence springs the idea of delegating the work, in some of its departments, to church committees or other officers, by special vote. But the simple fact is, that the individual cannot transfer his personal duties to the church, nor can the church commit their discharge to any officers of its appointment. There is another fatal objection to the view under consideration. Even if a special vote of the church could make it the duty of a com

mittee, or other officer of the church, to discharge certain disciplinary functions, that very act would, in all probability, unfit the parties concerned to perform the duty in the most successful manner. The effort would carry too much authority with it. Authority is not peculiarly fitted to win the heart. God conquers by love. Hence his people bear most of his image, and act most in harmony with him, when using the same instrumentality.

Another ill effect results from this imagined transfer of responsibility from the individual member of the church. He ceases to take any special interest in it; and, by necessary consequence, to coöperate in the work, and to pray with due earnestness for its success. The happy reflex influences upon himself, of the action called for at his hands, is also lost. The individual is always a great loser by leaving to others the work which God gave him to do. The Christian has a place in the church, not to enjoy ignoble ease, but to work. The Master's message to each one as he enters his church is, "Son, go work to-day in my vineyard." He does not expect his servants, when they meet with noxious weeds and briars, to shrink from the task of their extirpation. Rather does he expect them earnestly to seek to root up the base intruders. From this personal effort there is a great proneness to shrink. Nor is the case peculiar. Men will usually far sooner do some great thing for Christ than the simple thing which he requires. The way of salvation is too simple for the proud in heart. So the discipline of the church is too simple to please the worldly-minded disciple.

But it is sometimes urged against the view here presented, that the discipline of the church would lack efficiency if conducted mainly by individuals in a private capacity. This argument refers especially to the proper efforts with delinquent members. It is admitted that the members of the church are very liable to either entirely neglect their duty or very imperfectly discharge it. But are not churches, church sessions, and church committees chargeable with the same liability? Is the tone of piety any higher in either than it is in their individual. members? There is, however, another side to this matter.

May not the efficiency of a church session or committee be greater in appearance than it is in reality? We remember the fable of the wind and the sun. The fierce blustering assaults of the one only caused the traveller to wrap around him the more closely his cloak, while the gentle rays of the other soon caused him to relax his hold and lay it aside. It is not the show of authority, but the gentle warmth of love that moves the wayward heart to duty. It is the power of Christian love, beaming in a brother's eye, softening the tones of his voice, and giving eloquence to every word and act, as in private he pleads his Master's cause, that has been the great reliance of the church. Whatever gives publicity to an effort, or clothes it with authority, usually acts as a disturbing force, and renders a good result less hopeful.

In accordance with what has been stated, informal efforts will usually be the most efficient for good. Earnest piety will prescribe, in most cases, the best methods. It will prompt to a faithful attendance upon all the means of grace. It will earnestly persuade to duty by precept and example. In short, it will avail itself of all the means within its reach for promoting the spiritual improvement of others.

Cases will, nevertheless, occur, in which more public action will be required. For these a definite method of procedure is prescribed. Specific private steps must be taken before publicity is given to the case. In accordance with directions in the eighteenth chapter of the gospel by Matthew, any brother, pained by the wrong done by another brother, is not to talk the matter over with others, is not to report the case to the church session or church committee; anything of this kind would probably make matters worse; but he is first of all to seek privately the reformation of the offender. The greater the injury, and the more deeply he is aggrieved, the more fitting and imperative the duty. In no one else can Christian love appear so strikingly and act so efficiently. Love that can rise above injuries, subduing all resentment, and seek the highest good of the injurer, is the mightiest finite power which can be brought to bear upon the human heart. It is God's economy to use just this power in reforming and saving men. But a step so