NEGLECTED FRIENDS.

6

AT the beginning of the year which has lately passed, some interesting thoughts under the present title appeared in this Magazine. The term was then applied to the ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation;' and it may not be perhaps deemed an interference with the views of that writer, if I make use of the same words while pleading in behalf of a community for whose watchful care we ought to be at least as grateful, and to whom, as they are with us in bodily presence, we have more decidedly the power of acknowledging our obligations. It will be readily seen that I allude to those who are appointed to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; whose office it is to watch for souls as they who must give account, who are willing to spend and be spent in the service of their Lord, and who labour in body, struggle in watchfulness, and wrestle in prayer, that they may win souls to Christ!

It is with deep feeling that I profess myself a lover of our established church, and that not only from having been brought up within its communion, and educated in its principles, but from knowing, and therefore admiring, the scriptural and beautiful system which, if its canons were strictly adhered to, would provide us in all cases with guides, of whom

it might be said, 'Be ye followers of them, as they are of Christ.' All the ministers of that church, as a body, and not a few of them as individuals, I esteem very highly in love for their works' sake, 'according to the apostolic injunction.' But it is not for the purpose of professing to the readers of the Christian Lady's Magazine the attachment of an obscure individual to the church of England and its members, that I am induced to write these lines: I have a specific object therein, and that is, to remind my readers and myself of the best way in which we can make any return for the benefits which many of us have received from the ministry, and which is, to fulfil the request frequently urged by the earnest and humbleminded amongst them, who feel their need of support in the arduous work, Brethren, pray for us.' I do not desire to accuse any congregation, or any single member, of neglecting this duty; but there may be, nevertheless, some who, like myself, cannot but acknowledge to their own hearts, we are verily guilty concerning our brethren in this matter.' I write this while one of the most affecting appeals for the prayers of a congregation, from a minister to his people, is yet fresh in my memory. It is not the first of the kind I have heard, nor the first that has filled many hearts with prayer and eyes with tears; appeals such as these must surely meet with a response in every breast; and may their effects be seen and felt, to the lasting benefit of ministers and people, and to the glory of God!

I do not wish to be censorious; but I have frequently been pained by the ill-restrained mirth with which the inconsistencies of Christian ministers are sometimes spoken of, and the recollection of ever

having had any share in such conversations is one of an humbling character, and calculated to produce a feeling of wonder at having at any time fallen so low as to be guilty of such a breach of the law of kindness. It is said that pity is akin to love;' but I should think it difficult to trace the connection between Christian love or charity, and that scanty expression of pity which is sometimes awkwardly patched on at the end of a long dissertation or jocose story, to the disadvantage of a fellow-Christian, who may have been misinterpreted or misunderstood. The story is eagerly told, the auditors eagerly listen, the laugh which has been excited is, after a while, suppressed, and the narrator exclaims, Poor man, how I pity him!" And this is echoed by the bystanders, each of whom, may be, goes straightway to relate the same story to the next knot of listeners.

It seems that the mania to tell or to hear some new thing,' is so common and so strong in human nature, that it frequently swallows up better feelings; and it has been observed, with much truth, that, especially amongst our less educated class of fellowcountrymen, the hurry to tell a melancholy piece of news is at least as great as that to tell the most pleasant information. At the close of the late season of severe frost, a boy, tempting the almost melted ice on an adjoining pond, was, as might be expected, in a moment plunged beneath its surface. In a very few minutes a crowd surrounded the bank, all in a state of anxiety about the child, and when, after the lapse of a quarter of an hour, the lifeless body was dragged out of the water, every one of those who had been standing round was eager to tell the story ; and all that afternoon knots of gossipers might be

seen in different parts of the small town where the event happened, all discussing the circumstance, with a degree of animation which might lead a stranger to suppose that some delightful holiday was taking place, or that a benefit to the town was anticipated from some unexpected and joyous event. A novel writer of the present century shewed his knowledge of human nature when he wrote that part of his story which relates the excessive disappointment of a servant girl, when the gentleman whose hanging she went to witness had been so ill-natured as to effect his escape, and thereby disappoint herself and others of the gratifying sight. Now in neither of these cases was there any personal animosity against the unfortunate objects of interest, and how is the conduct I have described to be accounted for, if not in the scriptural declaration I before alluded to-the mania to hear and tell some new thing?

And is there no analogy between this and the conduct too often observed from members of a Christian church towards each other? Is there not frequently

exhibited an anxiety to hear or tell some new thing against the doctrines or character of those who have a right to the prayers of their people? It has frequently occurred to me, that if we were all as earnest in prayer for our ministers (and not only for those with whom we are personally connected and acquainted, but for all that part of Christ's church as a body)--were we as often in prayer for them as we are engaged in assisting the circulation of reports to their discredit, whether true or false, things might be improved, asperities might be softened, the clergyman and his congregation would feel that each was interested in the other; and if the answer be delayed

or denied in a particular case, still the prayer would not return void, but would be abundantly blest to the heart that offered it. We cannot say thus much of the other mode of treating the faults and inconsistencies of our Christian brethren; no good arises from it to the subject of animadversion, for it is not generally intended that he should hear what is said: no good arises to the listeners in most instances, for it is calculated to make them think less of their own sins and more of their neighbours'; and no good ensues to the narrator, except the satisfaction of having told a good story in an animated style. But no feeling arises in his heart that he has been engaged in a labour of love; for, on the contrary, when he reflects on it afterwards, he cannot avoid the consciousness of having been guilty in one instance of that complicated branch of sin-offending with the tongue. My dear Christian friends, let us all take heed to our ways in this matter: if any of us have been betrayed into this censorious, slanderous, un-Christian spirit, let us seek to do so no more, but rather let us pray for the whole state of Christ's church militant here on earth, and especially for those who err concerning the faith, and therefore who cannot but wander concerning the practice of Christianity; and may we no more be forced to own our want of love in this particular, and to look upon our ministry as neglected friends!

Intercessory prayer, in general, is a sweet and profitable Christian employment, and the same remarks I have just made may be also applied to all Christians. In the memoirs of Mrs. East, we have a beautiful example of a praying Christian-an example which it is possible for every member of Christ's