THE CHURCH THERMOMETER.
By Rev. T. L. Cuyler
WELL, what is that? Ask any veteran pastor, who has weathered the storms and rejoiced in the sunshines of a long ministerial life, and he will tell you it is the social prayer-meeting. The true thermometer of a church, to indicate its spiritual temperature is the weekly gathering around the mercy-seat. A cold prayer-meeting marks a cold church. It is at once the cause and the effect of spiritual declension. If the place of prayer is well-nigh deserted; if the few who are present bodily seem absent in spirit; if the prayers offered are languid, formal, meaningless, without point and without unction, then the pastor has abundant cause for heaviness and tears. Sermons preached to such a people are like discourses delivered in one of the ruined temples of Luxor, with the shriveled dead embalmed around him, and grim heads of stone looking down from every capital. His hands hang down, and his spirit faints. And as a church has no surer symptoms of decay than a decaying prayer-meeting, so nothing feels the approach of a revival so palpably as the place of prayer. A revival commonly begins there. The deserted seats are filled. Those who "could not leave their business" now find but little difficulty in closing the doors of their shops and counting-rooms. The absent Thomases are once more with the deserted flock of disciples, and wonder to find the risen Saviour there, too, with his benedictions. Those who seldom prayed are now ready to pour out their souls in supplication. The "gift of tongues" has descended. The slow of speech have become eloquent. The sluggish are mounting up with wings as eagles. A latent power is developed in the church, which astounds both pastor and people. The prayer-meeting, too, becomes a place for communion with each other, as well as for communion with God. Old differences are forgotten. Old wounds are healed. Church members will grasp each other's hands, and inquire about a neighbor's spiritual health with more solicitude than they manifest in asking about a sick friend. They will linger together about the hallowed spot, talking of the mercies of God to their souls, and they will be loath to go away. They are one in heart; the church is a living unity. The experienced mariner consults the glass. Brethren! if we are wise, we too will keep a lookout upon the thermometer of the church! A prayer-meeting below freezing-point is a fatal indication.—Rev. T. L. Cuyler.