*This article and what may follow, are extracts from "thoughts on personal religion," by the godly and gifted pastor E. M. Goulburn. We give them to our readers for the valuable suggestions they contain-the book being quite out of print.*

It is our purpose to point out the cause and remedy as to the low state of religion which is so generally the case at the present time. For, if we look around with any degree of care, we are led to ask, Where are the saints, in this our day ? Is Christianity producing among us the fruits which God designed it to produce ? As to questions respecting outward moral conditions there may perhaps be given some satisfactory answers. If we were to ask as to integrity, as to amiability, as to social worth, as to alms-deeds and charitable institutions, we may produce many instances. But, be it remembered, that many, if not all of these fruits can be borne by unregenerate human nature. The annals even of heathenism record many instances of integrity and ascetic self-denial among their philosophers. There were among the heathen, men of earnest minds, who looked forward to a future life (not unmixed with hope) which they caught now and anon from the flickering and uncertain rays of light in Nature. But all this is not Christian saintliness, which being the product of much higher agencies must surely go beyond simple morality.

What we have before us as a saintly life is that in which the life of God is imprinted day by day upon the heart by means of prayer and meditation. Without denying its existence it may yet be said that the instances we can show are not usually of a high caste, nor general.

There are points of analogy between the present state of piety and of knowledge. In ages gone by literature and knowledge were found only in the few; gross ignorance was the condition of the many. It is so no longer. Every one knows a little; few know much; and fewer still know profoundly. They have drawn what they know, not from the fountain-head, but from commentaries, abstracts, summaries, and other books whose aim is to make knowledge cheap and easy. Is it not much the same with piety ? The saints of primitive times stand out like stars before us-all the brighter for the heathenism which surrounded them. And now, whilst many are more or less informed as to religion, few are those upon whose heart the truth is making, by prayer and meditation day by day, a deep imprint.

If any remedy is to be found as to this state of things, it is plain that we must first inquire into its causes. And in this inquiry, it is natural to turn our eyes-in the first place to the Christian ministry. If the results of the gospel are not what they should be, it is probable there are some defects in the instrumentality employed.

Now we are distinctly told that God's great instrumentality for the sanctification and salvation of souls is the ministry of the Word; He gave some, apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers-for what end?-"for the perfecting of the saints . . .for the edifying of the body of Christ." Is there, then, any flaw in our ministry, which may in some measure account for the low standard of personal religion on which we have been commenting ? We fear there is. We believe that the Christian ministry, having two arms wherewith to do its work, has allowed one of these to become weak through neglect. We believe that its office, being twofold, is both to rouse consciences, and to guide them. We have contented ourselves with rousing, while we have done scarcely any thing to guide them. The one object of all our teaching, whether in formal sermons or in books, has been to make impression, but lack to give them a right direction, when made. The sermon or address 'is thrown in the midst of the people, much as the arrow shot at a venture which found out king Ahab. God's grace and providence directs the shaft to the right quarter, cause's it to reach some sinner's conscience through, the joints of a harness:of insensibility and indifference, resulting in real and abiding conviction. Bitt the misfortune is, that where such an effect is realty produced, both minister and people seem to think, judging from their conduct, that the work in that particular case is done, The impression having been made is thenceforth left to itself; it is assumed that it will continue without any further pains on our part, as if these emotions were sanctity itself, and not rather something to begin, and go on upon, as the primary impulse in the life-long pursuit of sanctity. And thus the good impressions are allowed to run to waste, and little or no progress is made thereafter.

Sermons and addresses are designed to make, and often (under grace) do make, wholesome impressions of a spiritual character, and the people who are touched by them go away pleased, thinking "they have got good." And good they have got, no doubt; but then it is good which is not followed up. If the good in some cases goes as far as real conversion, or change of will, there seems to be no provision for edification, that is, for building up on the foundation thus laid. They have been exhorted, but are not instructed, and the results are most disappointing. Piety degenerates into a series of shallow emotions, which evaporate when the stirring appeals have passed. The souls of the people, like Bethesda's pool, are stirred for the occasion, but the virtue of the stirring is but momentary; and the usual condition becomes stagnant and unprofitable as before.

Thus we find that one of the causes of the low standard of personal religion among us, is the want of any definite direction of the conscience after it has been once awakened. And why should we abandon the attempt to direct the human conscience from the pulpit or from the press? Were not the apostles ever making such attempts as we speak of ? What is the nature of the apostolic epistles ? Are they not all addressed to those whose consciences had already received the primary impulse of true religion, with the view of guiding them in their perplexities, confirming them in their convictions, forewarning them against their temptations, encouraging them in their troubles, explaining to them their difficulties, and generally building them up in their most holy faith ? And are not the "apostolic epistles" the great model of what stated Christian teaching should be ?

We must be pardoned for expressing our conviction that most of our hearers have very little insight into what real Christian progress is, and still less as to the ways of its attainment.

We devote these pages, then, to giving some suggestions on the nature of personal religion, and the method of cultivating it. It appears to us that the circumstances of the time urgently call for the earnest efforts of Christ's servants to this end. We address our remarks more especially to those who perceive the shallowness of a religion of merely good impressions, and who feel that, if there be vitality in the converts, they ought, as years roll on, to be making progress. The mere earnest desire for a holier life, which is often found in such souls, is something-nay, it is much-it is the fruit of grace, it is the instinct and need of the inner man. Take courage, brother ! Earnest desire of holiness is holiness in the germ. Soon shall thou know, if only thou wilt follow on to seek and delight thyself in the Lord.
But take one short and plain caution before we start. Sanctity, or holiness, is not the work of a day, but of a life. Growth in grace is subject to the same law of gradual and imperceptible advance as growth in nature. God's natural creation, Moses tells us, was built up step by step, out of its first rudiments. Who could have believed that all the fair objects which we behold in nature were to develop in that void, and dark, and formless earth, over whose waters the Spirit of God spread His fostering wing ? And who could have believed that in this heart of ours,-such a medley of passions, vanities, pettiness, ignorance, as now it is, step by step the Spirit of God may develop the fruit of His planting, and make every grace to blooming the garden of God-in child-like humility,

(To be continued.)