reference to the wants, and for the use of the ministers and churches, present, or represented by our Circle; and if similar wants shall lead any of our friends abroad to its adoption, they will, of course, adopt it, and our only reward will be in the hope, or assurance, that it will be blessed to the upbuilding of our Zion.

It is believed that Christianity reveals the great principles upon which the church should be founded, the work that it has to perform, and the one spirit that should pervade it, and all human institutions; but the precise form of its body, or the specific detail of its outward organization, it does not furnish. The reason is, that this outward form must, of necessity, change, as human society improves ; and the means and agencies by which the church works, must always be adapted to surrounding institutions, laws, manners and customs. To leave the church without any organization, would be to leave it weak and

powerless; and to give it a form that may not change, would be, to fix it immovably in one spot, so that it would be sure to be outgrown and abandoned, unless, indeed, it could stop the march of human improvement, and bring the world to a dead pause. For this reason, our Saviour gave no fixed and specific form for the outward construction of the body of the church, or for the visible agencies which it should employ. He gave us an example, by using such agencies and means as were furnished by the age in which he lived; and had he lived in another age, or in another country, there is no doubt that he would have done the same. In our day, he would doubtless have employed the printing press for the promulgation of his truth; he would have spoken in churches, rather than in synagogues mountain tops, and would have

and upon the

travelled in a steam-ship or a railroad car, rather than

to sail in a frail boat or ride upon an ass.

And so of all his means of access to the minds and hearts of the people; they would have been such as the state of society furnishes, and renders necessary and efficient.

Thus much will suffice to show, that the present attempt to organize a church, which shall avail itself of the facilities of the age and institutions under which we live, is no sacrilegious effort to remove any solid landmark, or supersede any form of Divine appointment. It is, on the contrary, a legitimate and true work, sanctioned by the principles of our holy religion, and called for, as we conceive, by the necessities of the case. It is believed that our churches are suffering, not so much from a wrong or vicious organization, as from the want of anything that gives them the resemblance of united and compact bodies, having a great object in view, and devoting their energies systematically to its accomplishment. They have a faith replete with all the influences of heaven's love; and hearts they have, beating,

in every pulsation, with a wide and godlike benevolence; but, as Churches, they have no hands with which to work, nor are their objects sufficiently definite and important to command the attention of the world.

They admit, as all must admit, that Christians ought to be a band of brothers, and that they are bound, not only to contend earnestly for the faith, but also to sympathize with, and aid one another in seasons of want, sickness, misfortune, or sorrow; yet their hosts are neither marshalled or disciplined to this service, nor are these ends contemplated directly, in what little of organization they possess. On the contrary, these imperative and admitted duties, though binding upon individuals, are held as having slight claims upon the body corporate, and are left to be performed by fragmentary efforts: and the result is, that what is the business of everybody is well done by nobody; and thus the disposition and the means, which, properly directed, would clothe

our churches in most beautiful garments of praise, either lie dormant and inactive, or are turned into other channels.

Why should not these great duties be made a direct object in our church compacts? And why should they not be systematized, and provided for in regular order and form, as well as anything else? The truth is, we do nothing well, or efficiently, that we do not systematically and habitually. And how can it be expected that these highest and holiest duties of our religion will be done promptly, and in the best manner, if they are left to be done by any one, or no one, as time and chance may determine?

The leading feature of the age is to augment power by combined and associated action; and if the church has not, the world has seen that this great principle could be most advantageously applied to cementing the bonds of human brotherhood, and to the melioration of the condition of our race. Hence,