Welsh Journals

THE TREASURY. No. 35. NOVEMBER, 1866. Price 2d. Milling Sbtxbitt yT is one of the grand characteristics of New Testament jkp> Chiistianity that all who are under its hallowed influ- ^^ ence may do something for its diffusion. It does not organize a priesthood for official duty, but consecrates a com¬ munity for grateful labour. What Mr. Samuel Morley said at Liverpool, at a meeting of the Congregational Union, in his admirable paper on Trust Deeds, is equally true of every kind of labour in the Master's vineyard. The words of this emin¬ ent layman are : " I must not conclude without expressing, with all possible earnestness, my conviction that the duty of our churches does not lie in the direction of multiplying endowments and enlarging property, but in arousing themselves to meet the demands of the present generation. Property to be devoted to religious uses cannot, in my judgment, be better in¬ vested than by an expenditure in the lifetime of its possessor. Invest it in any common earthly security, and the ' moth will corrupt, and the thieves break through and steal.' But give it to God at once, without reserve, that it may do his work and receive his blessing; and under the very eyes of the giver it will kindle as hallowed fire to consume the evil, or secretly and silently spread itself as streams of living water to make ' the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose.' Our strength is not in the number and value of our parchments, or the extent of the property which they describe, but in the truth that abides, and the holy life that glows, in the hearts and minds