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onthlg l^ibtngi: A REPERTORY OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT & A RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK AMONG THE CALVINISTIC METHODISTS or PRESBYTERIANS of WALES. Yol. V. No. 12.] DECEMBER, 1889. [Price One Penny. CHRIST-LIKE CHRISTIANITY. By Rev. D. M. Rees, Gower. R. CHALMERS once said to Dr. Guthrie, as they stood together looking over the George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh, " A beautiful field, sir, a beautiful field." The reference was to the opportunity afforded "by the necessitous condition of the district they surveyed for Christian and philanthropic work. Such fields may be found in abundance in the cities an d towns of our own land ; what is wanted is more eyes to look upon them and more hearts to feel for them. Many—may we not say most ?—of our chapel- going Christians either wholly overlook such districts, or, if they see them, look at them askance, and like the priest and the Levite, " pass by on the other side." The Christianity of tens of thousands of professing Christians is far too respectable to go down into the streets and alleys and courts where pauperism and vice and misery reign supreme. The fundamental sin of modern Christianity is its antichristian selfishness. Too many churches imagine that the chief duty of the pastor is to dance at¬ tendance upon them, instead of going forth to seek and to save the lost. The perpetual demand for pastoral services of Tall sorts is a subtle and deadly form of selfishness. Instead of whining for ministerial attention, they should become ministers themselves; first, to their own households; and secondly, to their neighbours. The church is founded not to protect sickly, hot-house Christians from a breath of fresh air, but to evangelize the human race. It is an army to conquer the world and the devil, not an ambulance corps to carry about lazy Christians, who ought to walk on their own feet. Every individual Christian ought to be a missionary. We are in great danger of spoiling Christians by doing too much for them. Our pastoral nurses feed them, when they ought to be feeding themselves. We wheel them about in ecclesiastical perambulators when they ought to be strengthening their limbs by vigorous exercise. A great many Christians are very much over-fed with . services and sermons* They are perpetually devouring the finest of the wheat, and never doing Christian work. And as a matter of course they suffer from chronic spiritual dyspepsia. How could it be otherwise ? Jesus Christ did not spend His time in listening to sermons, and enjoying the means of grace. He went about doing good. He secured His own highest happiness by ceaselessly promoting the happiness of others. It is a terrible delusion to imagine that the world can ever be evangelized by ministers and preachers. Every Christian man and every Christian woman must take an •active part in the work.