they cannot count it the communion of saints when an office-bearer in the church daily outrages the text, If a man says, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?'

I know a church, the senior deacon of which was landlord of a house of ill fame. The pastor found it out, remonstrated with him, but in vain. He was an old, old man, on the brink of the grave, but he would not, although immensely rich, either part with the house, or still better, raze it to the ground!

While we have such deacons, and empty pews as the result, we cannot expect that those who are unfortunately the pastors of such persons will receive any adequate support. They act as brazen gates against the admission of hearers.

It is of no use our shutting our eyes to the fact, that if there be a prejudice against any of the leading people of a place of worship, that prejudice will frequently outweigh the eloquence of the pulpit and the worth of the pastor. While, then, we hear so much, but not too much, in the present day, of an earnest and consistent ministry being the want of the age, let us hear a little more of earnest, suitable, and consistent deacons being the want of the church. And let some means be devised to put a man like Mr. Uncouth in his proper place; he is more fitted to be a keeper of animals in the Zoological Gardens than he is to be the friend, the adviser, and purseholder of a minister. It is sheer folly for any minister to suppose that he will be the loser by such a man being turned out of office; but here, alas! comes the question, Who will bell the cat?

'I should like to see the man who will turn me out,' says Mr. Uncouth, putting himself in an attitude of defiance; and there I sup pose we must leave him, until the necessity of the time give birth to his conqueror.

I must pass hastily over the character of Mr. Fixture, because Mr. Letseat has stepped up to have his portrait sketched, and I want to do him justice. Mr. Fixture has been twelve years deacon of a Christian church, and it is expected that his son will soon be called to fill the same office, and do honour to the name of Fixture. During the twelve years that he has been a deacon he has never been known to invite a single person to come to his place of worship, although he mingles largely with the poor and reprobate, who are known never to attend either church or chapel. He comes, it is true, regularly to chapel every Lord's day; but though a dozen people may be waiting at the door to be accommodated with seats, he will not stir from his pew to show the common courtesy due to strangers. In his pew he sits like a fixture indeed, utterly careless as to their coming in or going away. Now, how is a minister to succeed with deacons like Fixture? They are hindrances rather than helps. It does not cost much to give a kind look; a gentle word can be spoken without much trouble; and when there are empty pews, it would not take long to show strangers into them. Yet there are deacons who will not even do

a little work like this, and the minister has sometimes to see with pain people whom he might have benefited departing from the doors of the sanctuary.

But Mr. Letseat must claim our particular attention ere we close our list-I am afraid it is only a too faithful one-of specimens of modern deacons. He was elected deacon more on account of his business habits and power than for any rare spiritual gifts he possessed. It was thought that he would bring some of the energy which characterised all his proceedings in trade and commerce into the management of the financial affairs of the church. The letting of pews and sittings was given into his charge, and the minister began to think himself happy in having such an able man as his treasurer; but his rejoicing was brief, as I shall show you. Mr. Letseat thought he could rule in the church as he ruled in the counting-house. He became, at least wanted to become, a commander, removing people from sittings that they had long been accustomed to, making the old stagers of the place, as they were called, give up their sittings to new comers, and doing all this without the slightest atom of conciliation in his spirit, and apparently with no other purpose but that of carrying out some scheme of order which he had determined was to be applied to the place.

He showed the same spirit to strangers. When they required sittings he would just send them word that such and such were to let, and could not refrain from adding in a postscript, that if those pointed out to them would not do, no others were at their disposal.

The consequence was, that the church soon became filled with murmurs and discontent. Mr. Letseat paid no heed to these ominous signs, until at length the chapel was half emptied of its occupants. Finding that the plan he had adopted would not really answer, he then suddenly, on the old adage of extremes meeting, took an exactly opposite course, which so far succeeded as to bring a great number of the people back again. He paid little or no attention to the letting of pews at all. Hearers came and sat where they liked; frequently in the places of those who had for long years been members of the place. No agreement was made with them as to payment, and though the chapel gradually filled again, the minister's salary, which had been considerably lessened by the revolution which followed Mr. Letseat's appointment, did not proportionably increase. The whole church soon became confused, and what would have been the further result I know not, if the minister had not, like a brave man, dismissed Mr. Letseat from his office, and with the consent of the church, or as much of it as remained, appointed another person in his place.

And this is what I should like to see done with all the 'Letseats' in the kingdom who are not fitted for the office. If ever ministers are to be adequately supported by the pew-rents, the whole tribe of such deacons must become extinct. The deacon who has the management of the pews ought to be selected with great care. He may be a man of good business habits, but if he has not an amiability of temper and

a general desire to please, which will commend him to the congregation and to occasional hearers, his election will end in failure. On the other hand, he must not be too tame and yielding, or endless feuds and jealousies will arise, and the whole church be filled with discomfort. Here I may, perhaps, aptly quote my friend's description of his 'model deacon.'

'He is a man of a most amiable temperament, encased in a firmness which is not easily shaken. He thoroughly knows the different characters who make up the church and congregation, and never shocks John Jones by putting Thomas Price in the same pew, if not mutually pleasant and desirable. He collects the pew-rents in advance, and regularly on quarter-day I have a cheque on his bankers for the amount. Such is a brief outline of my deacon's business qualities, and I wish that every minister was blessed with such a man.'

Amen, say I.

My dear Spectator, it is really time that the useless deacons of the country should be swept out of office. When we have the right men in the right place, both as pastors and deacons, then we shall have flourishing churches, but in order to secure the latter, a little more discretion must be used in their election than that which is too frequently practised.

We want no more such deacons as those I have sketched. Mr. Coin must no longer be elected because of his money, nor Mr. Uncouth to spite a sister church, and Messrs. Fixture and Letseat must not even be thought of in connexion with the office. Let the church manfully take the Scriptural standard of what a deacon ought to be, and aim to keep closely to it. Let not the office be simply an honorary one, or given to attach two or three men of influence and respectability to a place of worship. Let no one be chosen who is not generally acceptable in the eyes of the people. Let no miserable little cliques be formed to bring in our man.' Let no one be chosen who is of a quarrelsome, factious disposition, and who has been known to be a troubler of the peace of Israel in other places.

Surely, my dear Spectator, the church is not quite so destitute of living men as to have no Stephen in it fitted for the work-a man full of faith and power, and of the Holy Ghost! When more care is exercised in the election of deacons, and more care and discretion practised in the acceptance of calls to the pastorate, we shall hear no more of sustentation funds.

PETER POORPARSON.

The American Revival.

COLLOQUIE PERSONÆ

MR. HABAKKUK MATHER, a Merchant of New York, on a visit to England. MR. HENRY ESTERLING, an English Gentleman.

SCENE-A Library in a Suburban Villa.

Mr. Esterling. And so Ben has gone to Texas? Well, he is one of the last persons that I should have suspected of possessing a roving disposition.

Mr. Mather. And I, although he was my brother. It was very sudden at last. He came into the store one morning, inquired if I could give him a commission for New Orleans or Galveston, and left two days afterwards. I believe the 'Revival' was at the bottom of it.

E. How? Surely he was not afraid of being converted?

M. No; not exactly that, although I think he would have kept aloof from such influences; but the fact is, he was engaged to a young lady, who has been carried away by the prevailing excitement, and from a fashionable Broadway belle has become apparently a most humble, earnest, and sincere follower of the Lord. And Ben, as you know, with all his hearty and genial disposition, is what would be called a thorough man of the world, and as some Scotch friends of mine and yours expressively said, he could not abide' the change. So he wrote Mary à letter, and left.

E. Is the engagement terminated, then?

M. No! oh, no; she will not have it terminated. She says he may escape for a time from her influence, but he cannot escape from God's. She prays for him at fixed hours every day, and he knows it. Besides this, she has publicly asked the prayers of one of the great city congregations on his behalf-sent up a slip of paper to the president, with names and circumstances-and, accordingly, special prayer was offered, and, without wishing to speak irreverently, I must say I believe she will win. In fact, I think Ben would have staid if he had not been of the same opinion. He was positively afraid of her, and ran away to get out of the reach of her moral influence. Ben, as you know, is gay, not much gayer than was Mary herself, perhaps, before this took place, but he has not the moral courage of Mary's sex, and was terrified at the idea of avowing himself a Christian. You see, therefore, how the matter stands. In his heart of hearts' I believe he wishes he could be like her, and depend upon it he will be before long. I shall be curious to ask him when he returns, how he felt at those times when he knew that Mary was praying for him. It will be an interesting and not uninstructive case of spiritual anatomy. There is very little false shame attending the expression of religious feelings amongst us just now, and Ben is peculiarly open-open as the day,' as Mary said of him just before I left.

E. I have been reading the newspapers you kindly brought to me, and am disposed to take a somewhat more favourable view of the character of the present great awakening than I have hitherto done; or, indeed, than most people have done in this country. You must be aware that 'Revivals,' as they have been carried on in America, are utterly foreign to the English character and habits, and I suppose I might appropriately add, the English taste-and taste has a greater influence in such matters than most people would be willing to believe. We do not like much excitement. As a stock-broker said to me the other day, we cannot afford it. Naturally rather indifferent in our manners, and slow in feeling and perception, all our individual and national life, and all the institutions which express them, take it for granted that there will be nothing exciting to disturb them. We have our disturbances, but they are as the occultations of Jupiter—very small when compared with our whole orbit, and nearly always taken into the account. We reckon upon them now much as a tradesman reckons the per-centage of his bad debts, or the man of property the proportion of expenses he may incur for repairs to the rent he expects to receive. A'Revival' amongst us-supposing it could take place -would create as much surprise, and, I think I may say, consternation, as would a sudden deflexion in Jupiter's orbit to the astronomer, or a disastrous fire to a tradesman or house-owner.

M. You are very severe on your national character.

E. Stop a moment. Severe, not at all! But, of course, I look at the matter as an Englishman. I was going to add, that there are two vested interests in this country which, it seems to me, will always furnish sufficient ballast to prevent our good ship from going too fast, or getting unsteady-the Established Church and the National Debt. The Church dare not encourage excitement on any point. Excitement demands liberty, and liberty would have to be paid for at a very heavy sacrifice in the shape of money and social influence. Excepting Charles Kingsley, Frederick Maurice, and one or two others, every clergyman is a Conservative, and, if he wishes to better his position, as people say, must grow in years and Conservatism together. As for the bishops, I could, perhaps, imagine the Bishop of Oxford or the Bishop of London going so far as to say, 'he dared not, for conscience sake, oppose such a movement;' but I should as soon expect to see Lord Derby presiding at a Chartist convocation as a bishop at a Revival meeting. Besides, public extempore prayers are not allowed in the Establishment even to ordained clergymen, and a 'Revival, without great prayer-meetings, would be like a Parliament without speeches. In addition to this, the hard, heavy mould which has been impressed by law and custom upon the religious worship of the Established Church, has now become so fixed, that it would be easier to break than to expand it, even in such a direction. On the whole, therefore, I think it extremely improbable that a Revival' of the American kind will ever take place within the Church. But if such should ever occur, the last days of the Establishment as it now exists will be at hand.