have the excellent merit grant for every conceivable extra subject! He must be a good preacher, a good reader, a good speaker, a good teacher, a good musician, a good visitor, a good man of business, a good chairman; and, in country parishes, must keep school accounts, be thoroughly master of those inexplicable Government returns, president of benefit society and cricket club, the moving spirit of the temperance society, and, when health permits, himself a total abstainer, and so on!

None know better than we how miserably short we fall of the standard expected of us: how much remains to be done amongst our people when we have done our poor best. And therefore the need of some one else coming to our help, with his own special gifts, given to him by the self-same Spirit who we trust is working with us, to touch those whom we have failed to touch; and, God willing and helping, to reap the harvest of which we may perhaps have been sowing the seed. "One soweth, and another reapeth." After all, it does not much matter which we do, since both is done for the Master, and is His work.

1. Preparation for the Mission.-There certainly must be preparation-thorough, painstaking, systematic. We are going to attack the very stronghold of Satan, and he will not be driven out without a struggle. So we must sit down first and consult, and lay our plans, and see to our armour. To begin with, the parish itself must be well worked by an earnest, zealous, painstaking pastor. One who, for the love of God, is spending and being spent for his people. And well organised, then, it will be with Church-workers, both inside and outside the building-ready, willing, hearty workers. This is our first essential. For a mission is not a substitute for steady plodding work; not an influence from outside called in to galvanise for the moment into seeming life the deadened limbs of a cold and lifeless body. No; rather is it the voice of those whose net is breaking with the multitude of fishes, crying out to their partners in the work to come and help them. Let no one dream of inviting the advent of a mission, unless he is prepared to face more work. But if willing to work, let no one hesitate; for with increase of work will come surely increase of workers. But with a well-worked, wellorganised parish, are we prepared for a mission? Wait! Are we quite sure about God's will in the matter? There is, say, to be a general mission in my Rural Deanery. Good for all to join together. The effect would be good on outsiders, and so on. Yes, doubtless. But, after all, I must think of my own parish, my own people. Times and seasons have to be considered. The peculiar habits of my people. The time we have known each other. Do they know me well enough to trust me? Do I know them? Have I done yet all I can amongst them? All these, and many other questions, must be carefully thought out and laid before God in prayer; and unless we can quite clearly see God's hand in it, we must be content even to stand aside, and be thought singular, perhaps misunderstood. But the way made clear, and the time chosen-in the country it would probably be some time when the evenings were light, and field work was slack; in large towns, generally just before one of the Church's great religious seasons (I would far rather have Advent or Lent than Whitsuntide, when summer is close upon us, and men are harder than ever to get)-then the next

thing will be to secure the right man as Missioner. And very anxious work it is. First, he must be one who entirely sympathises with you in religious matters. It is no slight responsibility to give up to another the charge of one's people (for it comes to this) for a time, to take it again after. For the Missioner will be one who probably is gifted with a way of winning and persuading people more than we are. And things may be said, or practices recommended, which may be distasteful to us and unsettling to many of our people, and make our position a very awkward one hereafter. There should be thorough understanding and agreement beforehand. Then he must be suited to our people. It is not every good preacher who will be a good Missioner. Nor shall we choose for our poor country folk one who, for the most part of his life, has been accustomed to large town parishes. Let me venture here, by the way, to submit that clergy who have the charge of large town parishes are not those who ought to be asked to conduct missions. They have far more than they can do at home; and, with their five weeks' holiday in the year, there are very few who can spare three weeks besides away from their own work. (And a Missioner ought to have at least a week's quiet to prepare, and will not be fit for much work for a week after.) There must be numbers who, with small parishes, could afford to help on in this way the work of the Church. The partners in the other ship would hardly have left their nets if they, too, had been full to the breaking! Well, the time is chosen. The right man is chosen. Now for the people themselves. We shall begin some six months beforehand to give the first sound. The first note, perhaps, will be best given by our Bishop, by a commendatory letter which we might read to our people, if he were unable to come himself. Then, as soon as may be, we should gather our Church-workers of all kinds together-churchwardens, choir, ringers, district visitors, Sunday school teachers, day school teachers—all of them. Talk it over with them, enlist their sympathies, give them a prayer for the special gift of the Holy Spirit, that He may prepare their hearts, and then come amongst them and work His great work. Get them to promise to pray this every day till the mission. They must work if they will pray that. If possible, the Missioner should himself come down; and if he cannot spend a quiet Sunday with you, at any rate make acquaintance with the workers. The clergy, at least, will daily remember in prayer the name of the Mission-preacher; and no detail of the mission preparation will be undertaken without first asking the guidance of the Holy Ghost. These meetings, as the time approaches, will be more frequent; and by a month before, the whole parish will have been parcelled out among the workers, who will undertake a houseto-house visitation, leaving tracts, and explaining to each family what the mission means. Bills would be freely posted; and, a week before, an earnest invitation given into the hands of each one in the parish. All this must be done through evil report and good report. And we must expect a good deal of the former. It is part of the preparation for the mission. Many, of course, will not like it. Some who are living fashionable, idle, useless lives-entirely devoted to the one great absorbing interest how best to please self; or the empty-headed, shallowhearted young fop, who learns a few phrases from a second-hand article, and thinks it manly to sneer at those things which he has not the pluck

to grapple with; or the steady, respectable, once-a-Sunday church-goer, who will not for the world (or rather, will not for anything but the world) give up his late dinner ;-these, and many others, will simper, and sneer, and suspect, and stand aloof, and get timid. Of course they will. We are sweeping the house to find the lost coin; and in sweeping there must be a dust made, and people don't like it. But all this helps to circulate, and advertise, and prepare. And all the time those who are working are feeling, even beforehand, blessed. The pastor is surprised to find how many earnest hearts there are. His own heart is being stirred with a great desire for greater gifts; his view of duty becomes wider, his heart more gentle; and so, waiting for the coming of the Lord, shall be a band of brave hearts, who, in preparing others, have prepared themselves. "He shall come down like the rain into a fleece of wool, even as the drops that water the earth."

Not

2. Conduct of the Mission.-This, of course, will be almost entirely in the hands of the Missioner. And a solemn responsibility it is. only if he thinks of God, whose messenger he is, or of the people to whom he is sent, but also of the parish priest with whose flock he is for the time entrusted. Again let me urge that there should be an entire and thorough understanding from the first. We cannot be too careful not to upset work. People should not be taught by word or deed above that which they have been accustomed to. The Mission-priest is not the shepherd of the flock, but only a stranger. And for Christ's sake, for the work's sake, he comes to strengthen the hands of the appointed pastor, to uphold his authority, to recognise his position, to help him in his work. The mission services, both as to their character and number, will, of course, vary according to circumstances of the population. But I suppose generally there will be every morning a celebration of Holy Communion. This I should look upon as an essential part of the work. Not that I should look for great numbers, though these will surely increase as time goes on. Here let me say, I would avoid pressing people too urgently to come to Communion directly. I would far sooner feel that a large number who had hitherto held back were putting themselves under instruction to become communicants, than see them crowding up under the influence of a mission sermon. No; not only for the sake of numbers would I have the Holy Communion daily, but also that in our Lord's own service, we may tell to God and man that this our work is begun, continued, and ended through Jesus Christ our Lord. Then in the middle of the day there would generally be some kind of instruction for the strengthening of those who stand, for the building up in the faith those who, having found peace, are following on to know the Lord. Here I would say that "tenderness" should be a pre-eminent quality in a Missioner, and especially tenderness in speaking of the dogmas of the Catholic faith. I say specially, because many of us are apt to forget this in teaching; and so in speaking of the great truths we clothe them in hard, stiff, cold language, and we seem to be unsympathetic and hard ourselves, and people are driven away or discouraged, instead of being won. English people, we are told, are intolerant of dogma. I don't believe it. English people don't like being talked at in a hard dogmatic. manner; but we can teach dogma without being dogmatic. So let us have tenderness, especially in this kind of teaching. Then in the

afternoon will come the different classes of people, mothers by themselves, children, servants (try by all means to get hold of these latter), they are a class seldom touched, the most difficult to reach, and yet, I know, particularly open to kindly influences, and grateful for spiritual help. If you can bring the parish clergyman into contact with these by establishing a weekly or monthly class, your work will not have been in vain. The first part of the week will probably be given to these, the latter part being kept free for unforeseen work which will grow as time goes on. Then comes the evening sermon, the great opportunity of the day, when we shall have before us representatives of nearly all classes; but all these on common ground. Sinners, come to listen to the message of the Saviour. Again let us remember tenderness in giving that message; win them to His side. They live shocking lives! drink, and fight, and swear and so on! Yes, I know; and we might do worse, and probably should, if we were in their place. I have often been astonished to see how much goodness there is in these poor souls in spite of the overwhelming disadvantages which have surrounded them from their birth upwards. There they are before us, weary, disheartened, wanting to do better. Such an opportunity to speak for our Master is not often given. Then you will offer to help them if they will stop behind, and invite them to tell you of their difficulties; but we had better not press them too eagerly for this, nor think it always a bad sign if we get only a few anxious enquirers. People differ in different places, and some who have never been asked to speak of these things are very shy and timid. Some will be sure to wish for personal interviews, either in the way our Prayer Book advises in her Communion service or in a more informal way; but we must not be disappointed if we get but few. Sometimes it might be found useful to have an enquiry box put at the end of the church into which they might put their difficulties in writing, and the questions you might read out and answer at the after meeting. This, too, is a very important element in our work, when the impression made during the sermon may be deepened, and the truth we have been trying to lay before them may be driven home. The excitement of preaching will give way to a deeper feeling; we have been giving them God's message, now we take them by the hand and lead them to His feet; we shall get them to kneel down, and then kneeling with them shall just help them to pray. Sometimes by a short extempore prayer, or, better still, by short sentences, and silence between each. "Come unto Me;" "Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness ;" "If we confess our sins;" "Just as I am without one plea," etc. But time fails me to go into any further detail. The work grows apace and before the end of the week we shall have abundance of material for after work. We shall take care that each one is supplied with a paper on which he may write his name and address, and questions as to baptism, confirmation, Holy Communion, Sunday school, district visiting, Bible classes, and so on, and out of all this will come the sequel to the mission; the most anxious time of all. For the evil one will attempt to regain the house from which he has been driven, and our people must be prepared and helped. No doubt there will be disappointments. After the first mission with its marvellous effects, not all who were added to the Church were

sincere or true; Ananias and Sapphira were found amongst them. Numbers came at the preaching of Philip, impressed, and apparently touched, amongst whom was Simon the Sorcerer. So it will be. No doubt there will be a feeling of reaction when the mission is finished; but this is natural and not sin. If he whom God has lifted up to a higher level of life and liberty than he had ever known before has to descend from the mount of transfiguration to the busy vale below, they are only following in the footsteps of the apostles. But the Lord whom they have found, and who has found them, will be by their side, and their after life shall testify to the blessing of those ten days. And to a wider circle still shall the influence extend, and unconsciously, perhaps, make itself felt. People will be drawn more together; the whole work of the Church will be increased; the pulse of the spiritual life will beat quicker; pastor and people will know each other better, and both will have been made to realise more than before their belief in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life.

DISCUSSION.

The Rev. H. FAWCETT, Vicar of St. Thomas, Bethnal

Green.

WITH regard to the first part of the subject-preparation for the mission-I shall not attempt to add anything to what has been already said, except to bear my testimony to what has been already said, and especially to the importance of that of which Mr. Powell spoke-namely, the importance of having a free and open church in which to conduct a mission. I speak of this because I was asked a few years ago to conduct a mission in a very large and wealthy parish. When I got to the parish, I found there was a considerable number of poor people in it; that the whole of the sittings in the church were let, and that the incumbent was dependent entirely for his income on the rents from the pews. Throughout the whole of that mission I felt a tremendous drag from the opposition of the seat-holders to throw the church open during the time it lasted; and, although the incumbent carried the point of having the church free and open during the actual Mission Service, except on a Sunday, I felt afterwards that the poor people who had been brought into the church whilst the mission lasted, were kept out of it when the mission was over. With regard to the second point-the conduct of the mission-one of the greatest dangers is, that it should be merely effervescent, and not permanent in its effect. Mr. Aitken has well described what a mission sermon should be, and I do not think I can add anything to that description. I went some time ago, during a mission in London, to various churches to see how the meetings were conducted, so that I might learn something for my own work; and I found that in nearly every case the after-meeting was simply a repetition of the sermons, and aimed at working further upon the feelings. My feeling is that the after-meetings should be of an instructive, and not of a sensational kind. In 1869 a mission was conducted in my own parish, and the missioner told me he had consulted one of the ablest missioners-Father Benson-who had expressed to him, that the best way of conducting a mission was to give instruction in Church doctrine and teaching. I have adopted that plan myself, and I have felt painfully its necessity. I have found in speaking to churchmen, not only of the lower but of the higher and middle classes, that there is a great deal of ignorance of the nature and teaching of the Church. Unless, therefore, we base our missions on definite teaching, there will be no lasting and practical results. As to the sequel of the mission, I think that after we have got hold of any souls for Christ, we must take care that they are