Means to Be Used for Obtaining an Earnest Ministry

This is a most important part of our subject; for however desirable the blessing may be, yet if it cannot be obtained, or if there are no means by which we can obtain it, the discussion and contemplation of it are quite useless, and even worse than this, being calculated only to excite a fruitless wish, or what is most injurious of all, a disposition to neglect the means we have, in the hopeless desire after what we have not. But we are not to entertain so desponding a view. Such men there have been, and, blessed be God, such men there are, and that in no small number, in every section of the Christian church; men laboring with intelligence, and zeal, and success, both in the metropolis and in the provinces; men of whom their age need not be ashamed, and over whom any age would have rejoiced. Still there are too many of an opposite character; far too many to render the question impertinent and out of season “How shall such a ministry be obtained?”

I. It is imperative, first of all, to have the truth deeply engraven upon all hearts, that the church is the conservator of the Christian ministry, and that it is her business, and almost her first and most important business, to see that she discharge well her duty in this momentous affair. She has not only to provide for her own edification at the present time, but also to secure by all possible vigilance and care, the administrative transmission of our holy religion through every age, pure, and undefiled, and unimpaired in its capacity to confer essential and eternal benefits upon the children of men. But then it is obvious that for such a function the church must be regarded as a purely spiritual body. And it should be deemed a question of no small moment bearing upon the controversy about church government, what system of polity has the most direct tendency and the greatest power to call out, to secure, and to perpetuate, an evangelical and effective ministry. An ecclesiastical system which of itself has no effectual provision for this, cannot surely be of Divine origin, and that of which the tendency to this is most obvious and direct, is most in accordance with the word of God. A church without such a conservative principle cannot be the church of the ISTew Testament, much less that which includes various and ever-active influences against it. Nothing but a spiritual church can provide a spiritual ministry, and whatever spiritual ministry a worldly church may have, cannot be so much the result of the system itself, as of something extraneous to it: and even in spiritual churches, if discipline be relaxed, and worldly-minded persons be admitted, the conservative principle, which in fact consists of the vital piety of the members, is impaired; and if, at the same time, there be neglect of discipline, it will be altogether lost, and heretical men come in to fill the places of those who were the preachers of the truth as it is in Jesus. It is well, therefore, for all our churches to bear in constant recollection, this their high and sacred function :is conservators of an evangelical ministry, and to maintain of vital godliness, and the exercise of a salutary discipline, as that in which this power of conservation resides. Let the churches consider their high, their glorious commission; let them remember they must be of such character, and such order, that Christian truth as to its essential doctrines and holy practice, and at the same time the calling out and supporting such men to uphold and preach it, may be safely trusted to their vigilance and care. But let them forget this, and corrupt their fellowship by the admission of worldly-minded professors, “the mounds are gone, the fence is broken up, and wolves may enter in, not sparing the flock. Preserve this spiritual condition of the church, and it is, what it was intended it should be, an undying torch, which, while it is the light of the present age, shall safely light successive ages along the only way which leads to happiness and heaven.”

II. Let the subject be thoroughly considered, and universally admitted, that this is the ministry we want, and must have.

In an age, like the present, when so much is said about knowledge, and such high value is attached to it, there is a danger of our being seduced from every other qualification, and taken up with this. The establishment of the London University, and the incorporation of our Colleges with it, have given access for our students to the fount of academic degrees and honors; and there is some danger, in the new condition of our literary institutions, lest our young men should have their minds in some measure drawn away from much more important matters, by the hope of having their names graced by a Bachelor’s or a Master’s degree. It is a foolish clamor that has been raised against all attention to such matters, and a vain and barbarous precaution, that would fortify the ministerial devotedness of our students by restraining them altogether from such scholastic distinctions. The studies necessary to enable them to attain the object of their ambition, are a part of their professional education; while the vanity likely to be engendered by success, will soon be annihilated by the commonness of the acquisition. Pride and vanity are founded on conscious distinction, and when these academic University degrees are so common that almost all ministers possess them, they will no longer be a snare to the humility of their possessors. Besides, like every other object of human desire, when once they are possessed, much of the charm that dazzles the eye of hope has vanished. Henry Martin, when he came from the Senate-house at Cambridge, where he had been declared Senior Wrangler for his year, and had thus won the richest prize the University had to confer, was struck with the vanity of human wishes, and expressed his surprise at the comparative worthlessness of the bauble he had gained, and the shadow he had grasped. No, it is not by closing the door against such distinctions that we can hope to raise the tone of devotedness in our ministry, but by fostering in the minds of our young men at College, and equally in the minds of our congregations, and ministers in general, the, conviction that earnestness is just that one thing, to which all other things must be, and can be, made subservient, and without which all other things are as nothing, whatever else education can impart.

Our congregations need perhaps a little instruction on this subject. I am afraid the taste is not quite so pure, correct, and elevated on this matter as it should be. There is, it is true, a demand, audit is well there is, for a vivacious and animated manner of preaching; and provided there be what is intellectual, there is a decided preference for what is evangelical in association with it; but there is reason to fear that in some cases a small modicum of evangelical truth would do, provided there was an abundance of talent. Earnestness is demanded, but with some, it is rather the earnestness of the head, than of the heart; the labored and eloquent effusion of the scholar, the philosopher, or the poet, rather than the gush of hallowed feeling of him who watcheth for souls, as one that must give account. Dullness, however learned or profound, will not do, but the heartless declamations of the pulpit orator will do for some, though it have little tendency to do anything more than please the intellect or captivate the imagination. There is an idolatry of talent in this day which runs through society; and this man- worship has crept also into the church, and corrupted its members. It is painful to perceive how far this is carried in many circles, and to see what homage is paid, what incense is burnt to some popular favorites. It is not religion or holiness that is thus elevated, but genius and knowledge: it is not moral beauty, but intellectual strength, that is lauded to the skies: the loftiest models of human goodness receive but few devotees and scanty offerings at their shrine, compared with the gods of the understanding. There can be no surer mark of a moral apostacy, a lapse from man’s primeval innocence when he came perfect from the hands of his Maker, bearing the moral image of his Creator, than this disposition to exalt genius above piety. What an inversion is this of the right order of things, since it must be allowed that man’s intellectual nature is inferior and subordinate to his moral being. It is by this latter that he is removed to the greatest distance from the brute creation, is placed in most direct opposition to fallen spirits, makes his nearest approach to the angels of God, and bears the most correct resemblance to the Holy and Eternal One. The God of the Bible is not merely a Divine intellect, though it be true that his understanding is infinite; nor is Omniscience his only attribute, though this is one of his glorious perfections — but God is Love; and when the seraphim select for the subject of their anthem, that view of his nature which calls forth their loftiest praise, they contemplate him as the Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. Infinite goodness, and not merely infinite greatness, is the Deity we are called by the inspired writers to worship, and all the most sublime speculations or descriptions of God that are not founded upon true goodness, are but the mere inventions of men’s minds, and no true copies of God’s representations of his own nature. The prevailing disposition, therefore, to do such homage to talent, rather than to moral excellence, is only another species of idolatry, that exists in our world, more refined and subtle than the worship of stocks and stones, but still scarcely less guilty.

That some respect must be paid to talent, even in the ministry of the word, is admitted; such a disposition is inseparable from human nature, and is a part of the design of God in creating our race, and forming man with varied powers of the understanding: a fine intellect is to be admired as well as an elegant form or beautiful flower; and so much the more, as that which is mental, is superior to what is corporeal. But when the Christian public shall be so enamored of talent, as to admire that more than the message which it is employed to set forth; when no preacher can be heard with pleasure or endurance, however sound his doctrine, or clear his statements, or impressive his manner, or earnest his address, unless his discourse is radiant with the light of genius, or fragrant with the flowers of rhetoric; when truth itself is unpalatable unless it be sweetened with the honey of human eloquence, and even error so sweetened can be swallowed for the sake of the luscious accompaniment; when the hearer of a sermon can turn from it with disgust, because it fails to regale his fancy by the brilliancy of its images, or to lull his ear by the smoothness and harmony of its periods; when this is the state of the public taste, and it is to be feared that to a great extent it is the state of it; surely, surely, it is time to call the attention of our congregations to something higher and better than such matters as these.

No one who is attentive to the features of the age, can doubt that there is much now going on which has an obvious tendency, though of course not a design, to corrupt in some degree the simplicity of the public taste with reference to preachers and their sermons. The pulpit has some reason to be jealous of the platform, and the sermon of the speech. If the modern practice of endless speechifying had only done something to break down the stiffness and formality of sermonic speaking, and to introduce a more easy, fluent, and energetic method of address on the part of the preacher, and a corresponding taste for a more vivacious method of instruction on the part of the people, it would have conferred a substantial benefit ;. but with this has come perhaps the opposite evil of making the preacher too oratorical and the people too fastidious, and of destroying somewhat of the solemnity and spirituality of both. No doubt some degree of earnestness will come in with this, but it may be it is the earnestness which is anxious to please, rather than that which is desirous to convert, which aims to gratify the fancy rather than to save the soul.

It is in vain then to hope for such a ministry as that which it is the object of this work to describe and to recommend, till our congregations are brought to see its vast importance, and to demand that it shall be given them. In this case, as in every other, both the demand will bring the supply, as well as the supply create the demand. When the churches shall be brought up to that state of piety, that deep solicitude about salvation, that intenseness of pursuit of eternal life, which shall make them anxious for ministers who will aid them in this momentous business; and when they shall say to the tutors and committees of our colleges, “You must not only send us learned men, but earnest men,” then will the minds of our excellent professors be still more fixed on the most essential qualifications of the Christian ministry, and still more anxiously endeavor to meet this demand. And when our destitute congregations shall let it be distinctly known that it is not merely a Master of Arts, nor a merely eloquent speaker, nor even a good divine, that they want, but one who shall watch for their souls, and feed the flock of God, the attention of our young ministers will be still more turned upon the end of their ministry, and the necessary qualifications for the just discharge of its functions. Let the church therefore only be rightly instructed on this subject, and fix properly its standard; let it be brought up to this conviction, that nothing less and nothing else than such men as are intently fixed upon saving souls, will be likely to be useful; and such men will come at its bidding; especially if —

III. There be much earnest prayer presented to God for such a blessing. It must never be forgotten that ministers are called, qualified, and blessed by the Lord, the Spirit Hence the promise of God to the Jews, “I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and with understanding;” and also the language of the apostle, “He gave some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” It was a special injunction of Christ to his disciples, and intended to apply to his people in every age, to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into the field. From these passages, as well as from the general principle that every good gift is from the Lord, we learn that a faithful ministry is one of God’s gifts, and a precious one it is; and were the church in a high spiritual state, this would constitute one of its chief subjects of prayer. Perhaps we are not brought to feel with sufficient depth of conviction our dependence upon God for this great blessing, for 4here is little doubt that the church’s possessions and the church’s prayers would bear in this particular some tolerable proportion to each other. We cannot conceive of any case in which the promise “Ask, and ye shall receive,” would be so abundantly fulfilled, as in reference to this. It has not been enough considered what kind of men are wanted at all times, and especially in these, for the ministry of reconciliation; that in fact we need men formed exactly and in all respects, except inspiration and the power to work miracles, upon the apostolical model Much the same work is now to be done as was done by them, and we must have men as full of the power of God, and the graces of the Holy Spirit, to do it. Let it be seen what ministers have to contend with in this day of their vocation; not indeed the spirit of persecution, not sanguinary laws, not the amphitheatre, the axe, or the stake; but obstacles almost as formidable as these things, and in some respects more so; for such impediments, if they lessened the number of professors, raised those that stood firm into the devotion of seraphs, the courage of heroes, and the constancy of martyrs; — but our obstacles are the emasculating influence of ease and prosperity; the insidious snares of wealth, knowledge, and fashion; the engrossing power of trade, politics, and secular ambition; and then let any one consider what kind of preachers and pastors we want for such an age. If we had nothing more to do, and were contented to do this and no more, than to keep religion up to the low level which it now maintains, then ministers of common stamp might suffice; but to keep in check all the enemies of vital godliness which threaten the devastation of the church; to resist by the potency of personal example and the energy of the pulpit, the worldly spirit which threatens to eat out the very core of vital piety; to keep up the evangelizing zeal which is awakened, and to blend with it a sanctity and a spirituality, which shall make it as effective as it is busy; to do battle with all the forms of error by which our common faith is likely to be assailed; and to do this not only by the force of intellect, but by being strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might — to achieve this, we want men of the same spirit as those who, under the direct commission of Christ, preached the word of salvation, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Have we many such men in the field? If not, why not? Must not the church of God blame herself, for has she sought such men by all the wrestling power of believing prayer? Had she felt the need of such men, and had lifted up not her hands, or her voice merely, but all

the energies of her renewed nature, in beseeching supplication to Him who is ascended to bestow this very gift upon men, she would have obtained all she asked or wanted. Let the church only set her heart upon such a blessing as this, let her faith be equal to the expectation of it, and her prayer be as her faith, and she will have it. And why should she not expect it? What is there in the nature of the boon that forbids her to look for it? Does it contradict a single promise, or contravene a single arrangement of her Divine Head? Does it compromise his honor, or require his miraculous interposition? Does it involve any stepping out of his ordinary course of action? Why then should it be thought incredible that she should obtain a more, a far more devoted and successful ministry than she now possesses? Does the gospel of God’s grace, either at home or abroad, prevail as could be wished and might be expected? Does the work of conversion go forward and Christ’s kingdom make those encroachments on the empire of darkness which might be looked for? Who will venture to answer in the affirmative? Whose love to Christ and souls beats with so feeble a pulsation as to be satisfied with what is doing, and to be contented that things should go on as they do? Is there nothing to be done, no way to accelerate the work of redeeming mercy, no method to pour the principles of spiritual fertility more rapidly and more diffusively through the moral wilderness of our barren world? One is yet open, and that is for Zion to awake and bestir herself, and lay hold of God’s strength, saying, “Send us more laborers into the field.” We have forgotten to pray for ministers of a right stamp. The subject has never occupied the place in our private, family, and social devotions, which its importance demands. It has been only occasionally and coldly alluded to, but has not been lifted up to heaven with all the importunity of men who felt that they could not do without it.

“Truly, if ever there was a period when the whole Christian world should be down upon their faces before the throne of mercy, imploring with all the importunity, and boldness, and perseverance of faith, a race of ministers, each full of the Holy Ghost, as was Barnabas or Paul, that period is passing over us. Not from one place or another, but from all quarters of the earth, testimony multiplies daily that amidst the greatest possible facilities for converting the world, a greatly increased and more devoted ministry is indispensable. This testimony comes to us, not indeed as the Macedonian cry came to the apostle in a supernatural vision, but in a manner not less affecting or decisive as to its purport. It is a real sound which flies round the land and rings in our ears all the day long; ‘Send us preachers,’ is the universal, ceaseless demand, at home and abroad. It comes from more than a thousand of our destitute churches; it comes from the cities, from the wilderness, from the islands, from the uttermost parts of the sea, from tracts until lately unknown to civilized man. This cry, which sounds so loudly and so complainingly in our ears, should, by general consent, be turned into prayer and sent up to heaven. And shall we longer forbear to do this? Shall we stand and hear that unusual cry, and feel no inclination to direct it to the ear of Him from whom help alone can come? Is it not a mysterious species of infatuation to forbear to lift up our cry to the Lord of the harvest? Why do we not if this be the case abjure the very religion of Jesus, and abandon ourselves, as well as the heathen, and the whole race of man, to despair? Why should not a reform forthwith commence, and the place of prayer have more attractions than the eloquence of any mortal, or any angel’s tongue? Why then will not every true Christian make a covenant with himself to change his life in this particular, and from henceforth make it one of his chief subjects of wrestling supplication, that God would give us amore faithful, earnest. and laborious ministry? Why will we not call to mind how Abraham, and Moses, and Elias, and Daniel, and Paul, and above all, how the blessed Jesus labored in prayer, and resolve in God’s strength to pray in the same manner? Oh what an amount of beneficent power would such prayers exert upon the external dostinics of our world? What wonders of grace would be witnessed in our churches; what accessions would be made to the sacred ministry; what an impulse would be given to the cause of missions; what brightness would be shed on all the prospects of the church!”*

I echo these beautiful sentiments, and earnestly implore for them the attention they demand. They touch us at the right point, and they speak to us at the proper season. We have multiplied and extended of late our collegiate institutions, and greatly improved our systems of ministerial education. We can speak of colleges whose architecture would not disgrace either Cambridge or Oxford, and of professors whose attainments in biblical literature would not be surpassed by many of the teachers in our national seats of learning; but, as if to teach us our dependence upon God, few of them are at the present moment filled with students, and of those who are coming forth from them, how much fewer are the eminent and earnest men we would wish to see them. The same remark will apply to the evangelical men of the Church of England, and of all other denominations. I would be the last man to speak lightly of education, but I would be the first to caution the church of Christ against the sin and the folly of making this our supreme dependence. Tutors can give Latin, Greek, and philosophy, but God alone can bestow those physical and spiritual gifts which constitute the chief qualifications for the work of the ministry. It is a fact which must have struck every attentive observer, that of those who are employed in the ministry of the word, whether in the Established Church or out of it, very few are eminent in any way. The brightest flowers of humanity are not in great numbers laid upon the altar of the Lord. Many of those

* Religion of the Bible. Select Discourses, by Dr. Skinner, of New York.

who are engaged are of a common order of intellect, while, as in the firmament of heaven, only here and there a star of unusual brilliancy meets the eye and attracts the attention by its magnitude and brightness. Let it not be said that God chooses the weak things of the world to confound the mighty, This appertained to apostles, who, as they were clothed with the power of God by their gifts and miracles, could dispense with all other potency; but this is not the case with us, who, without appropriate qualifications of native talent and education, can scarcely expect the blessing of God.

IV. A revived state of the church would produce a ministry such as that which has been described in the foregoingpages. In the natural order of things it would seem that the church cannot be revived without a previous revival of the ministry, and yet, as the ministry are the children of the church, they can hardly be expected to rise above the level of the community out of which they spring. There is a kind of average piety of almost every age and every church, and our young men rarely come with more than this to our colleges; and therefore, although we do not dispute the fact that little expectation can be indulged of an increased piety in the churches, without an augmentation of ministerial devotedness, yet at the same time, the latter can almost as little be looked for, without the former. Revivals have sometimes begun with the people, who have drawn the ministry up to their own level. A lively church could not long endure a dull and hike warm pastor, who, if he partook not of the prevailing excitement, would feel himself soon obliged to leave his situation. If. therefore, the ministry cannot revive themselves ami each other, it were unspeakable mercy if they should reeeh e an impulse from the people.

As we have already seen, there are many things in the present age which are of a most auspicious character, and which give it a lofty pre-eminence above some others that have preceded it. Who can witness its busy activity, its generous liberality, its exhaustless ingenuity, for the conversion of the world, without admiration and gratitude? But, as we have before remarked, these are not all the elements of true piety, and it may be apprehended that in innumerable cases, these things are only the substitutes for the essential work of regeneration and sanctification. It may be feared that Satan is taking advantage of these matters to blind the judgment, and to delude the souls of many. Men of keen observation, who can penetrate the surface, and see what lies below, are of opinion that underneath this external covering of liberality and zeal there lies a want of vital godliness; that much of what we see in our multiplied public institutions, is but as the flowers which bloom in a shallow and sandy soil. They who are best acquainted with the state of our churches, express a doubt whether there is not a deplorable lack of that separation from the world in its spirit and customs which the Christian profession implies. While this is the case, the ministers who come out from such a state of things are likely to rise no higher than the source. Hence does it become our churches to consider the urgent necessity of their being elevated to a higher tone of piety, and of joining heartily in any efforts that are made to bring about so desirable a state of things. Even they who have themselves drank deepest into the spirit of the world, will sometimes lament the want of intenseness on the part of their ministers; but do they not remember that their own worldly-mindedness is exerting an influence over their pastor, and producing that very state of mind in him which is the subject of their remark and censure? He was perhaps a more holy and heavenly man when, young and flexible, he came to them from college, and was at first surprised and grieved to witness the prevalence of lukewarmness, but after striving in vain to produce a better state of things among the members of his church, he was gradually drawn down to that low level from which he found it impracticable to raise them. Thus while we admit there is little hope of a revived church which does not rest on the previous revival of the ministry, we are tempted almost to argue in a circle, and to say there is little hope of a revival of the ministry which does not rest on the previous revival of the church.

Let us then, both ministers and churches, set about in good earnest the revival of religion. We act and re -act upon each other. We help or hinder one another. We both want more religion: let the ministry seek it for the sake of the people, and the people for the sake of the ministry. If the ministers will not lead the people, let the people lead the ministers. If the blessing cannot descend from the pulpit to the pew, let it ascend from the pew to the pulpit. Let the church of the living God arise, put on her robe of righteousness, her garment of salvation, shake off the dust from her apparel, and shine forth in the beauties of holiness. We want a better church to make a better world; and a better church would most assuredly make a better world: and we also want a better ministry to make a better church; but if we cannot have this order may we have the other, and find that a better church is making a better ministry. If the rain of heaven collect not upon the hills to pour down its streams upon the valleys, may the dew of the valleys rise to revive and refresh the tops of the hills.

V. We should as pastors of the churches look round our

258 MEANS TO OtfTAINrespectlve flocks, and see what devoted youths of ardent piety and competent abilities, we have in our circle, who are likely to be useful as ministers of Christ, and should call them out to the work, without waiting for the first impulse to come from themselves. A radical mistake lias been committed through our whole denomination, in supposing it is necessary in all cases for the desire after the sacred office to rise up first of all and spontaneously, in the breast of the aspirant. In consequence of this many have thrust themselves forward who were altogether unfit for the work; while many as eminently qualified for it have been kept back by modesty. Does it not seem to be the work of the pastors and the churches, to call out from among themselves, the most gifted and pious of their members for this object? Is not this the working out of the principle we have already considered, that the church is the conservator of an effective ministry? Are not they the best judges of talent and other pre-requisites? Should this matter be left to the inflations of self-conceit, the promptings of vanity, or the impulses, it may be of a sincere, but at the same time of an unenlightened zeal? Nothing can be more erroneous than that this call of the church would be an officious intermeddling with the work of the Spirit in calling the ministry; for it may surely be conceived to be quite as rational a notion to suppose that the Spirit calls a person through the medium of the church and its pastor, as to imagine that the commission from above comes direct to the heart of the individual, especially as the church and the pastor, or at any rate the latter, is usually applied to, as a judge of the candidate’s fitness for the work; and thus after all, the power and the right of pronouncing a judgment upon the alleged call of this Divine Agent, are vested with the pastor and the church. To affirm that an individual cannot be supposed to have a very great fitness for the office, unless his love of souls has been strong enough to prompt him to desire the work of the ministry, and that he is not likely to be very earnest in it, if he be thus sent, instead of his going of his own accord, is assuming too much; for in the plan here recommended, it is supposed that the individual who attracts the attention of the pastor is one who, in addition to true piety and competent abilities, has manifested an active zeal in the way of doing good. It is only on such an one that his eye would light, or to whom he would venture to make the suggestion. In all the official appointments recorded in the New Testament, from an apostle down to a deacon, the people were requested to look out for suitable men, and not to wait till they presented themselves. Let us then give our serious attention to this subject, and look out for the most pious, the most intelligent, and the most ardent of our young men, not forgetting at the same time to ascertain their physical qualifications of voice and energy. It is not studious youths only that will do for this work, mere book-worms who will devour knowledge and make no return; but such as will unite a thirst for knowledge with an intense desire to employ every acquisition for saving souls. We must be inquisitive after such; and if they are youths in the more respectable classes of society, young men that have known something of good society, and have acquired the manners and habits of gentlemen, that have had something to do with business, and have acquired such a proper degree of self-confidence as shall give them weight and influence of character, all the better. Low men, with coarse, vulgar manners, may by the power of great talents rise above their origin, and be of value, as diamonds uncut and unpolished; yet

how much would the value of these spiritual diamonds be increased by the lapidary’s art: but when vulgarity is associated with slender talents, it is only as flint set in lead. There is nothing in gentlemanly manners that deteriorates piety; though much, very much, that adds not only to the gracefulness, but to the usefulness, of the ministerial character. The graces, when baptized at the font of evangelical piety, arrayed in the robe of righteousness, and wearing the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, are useful handmaids to the Christian pastor, and procure favor for him in the solemn duties of his office. If we may judge from the specimens left on record in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul united the manners of a courtier with the fidelity of a prophet, and threw over the stern courage of a martyr, the mantle of a gentle courteousness. “What could be more polished, yet what more faithful, than his address to Festus and Agrippa? and we can imagine that even his denunciation against the high priest, who had commanded him to be smitten on the mouth, was all the more terrible because of the dignified severity with which it was uttered. Earnestness then is not incompatible with refinement, but is rendered more effective by it, and hence the importance of our sending our patrician youths to the sacred office.

Occasionally we may find in our churches, some who are possessed of extraordinary talents for speaking and for active duty, who are too far advanced in manhood to go through a college curriculum, but who notwithstanding would make admirable preachers and attain to considerable usefulness, as well as respectability. A man of natural genius, of strong intelligence, of eminent piety, and of pulpit power, is not to be rejected because he has not passed through the schools. Those who remember William Thorp, and especially that giant in theological literature, Andrew Fuller, will not deny that He who called his apostles, not from the philosophers of Greece, nor from the orators of Rome, nor the rabbis of Jerusalem, but from the fishermen of Galilee, may sometimes, select a servant, even in our day, from those classes which have been debarred the privileges of a classical or a philosophical education. Among the prophets of antiquity was Amos the herdsman of Tekoa. These however are the exceptions, but not the rule. Even the bishops of our ecclesiastical establishment are lowering their standard of qualifications as necessary in all cases for the ministerial functions, and are accommodating their system to the wants of the people by ordaining men to the sacred office whom their predecessors, an age or two back, would have unquestionably refused. We must not pretend to more fastidiousness than they, nor be horror-struck at the idea of introducing to the pastorate, men who, though they are neither scholars nor philosophers, are likely to be powerful and useful preachers of the gospel. A collegiate education must be our general rule, which it may be hoped we shall never abandon; but it is a rule from which we must make exceptions in the case of those strong-minded, warm-hearted, earnest men, whose tough broad sword, and their strength in wielding it, may do more execution than many a weapon whose blade has received the highest polish that art can give it, and whose hilt sparkles with the richest diamonds.

VI. This is a subject which demands the close and serious attention of the ministry themselves. The whole present generation of our preachers, from the oldest to the youngest, must give their attention to this matter. We have known men of a past age, whose names are dear, and whose memory is fragrant, who to the last retained the ardor Of their zeal, and whose labors, like the flame of the volcano rising from beneath the snow- covered surface of the mountain-top, were carried on in association with their hoary hairs; and some such, though they are very few, still linger amongst us. Even they, and we who come next to them, and are verging on old age, must all do something more and something better than we have done for Christ and souls. Our sun is declining and our shadows lengthen on the plain, but the day’s work is not done; and instead of relaxing our diligence we must work the harder because the time of working is nearly over. As long as we have strength to grasp the sickle, or light to bind a sheaf, let us work on. Harvest home will soon be here, and it is time enough for enjoyment when that arrives, and we shall meet the Master and our fellow- servants. To us comes with solemn emphasis the admonition, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, in the grave whither thou goest.” For the sake of our younger brothers let us be diligent. They look upon us as patterns, and let us therefore set them an example which shall come to them with the correctness of a good model, and the power of an ardent inspiration. Let there be no running from our post as if we were weary of our service, and panting for the otium cum dignitate. Let it be seen as if the earnestness of our minds imparted vigor to our bodies, kept off the infirmities of our declining years, and enabled us to renew our youth like the eagle’s. It is a spectacle which the admirer of military glory loves to witness, to behold the veteran soldier, on whose countenance the suns of innumerable campaigns, and the swords of his foes have left their visible marks, outstripping in courage, in feats of arms, and in swiftness of foot, all the younger warriors that fight at his side, and to see him rallying their fainting hearts by the strength of his own. Veterans in the hosts of Emmanuel, see then your duty! On you it devolves to train the young recruits, and form their character: let them feel that they are by the side of heroes, and catch the inspiration of your heroism. Cast over them your shadow while you live, and they will then Be anxious to find your mantle when your spirit has dropped it in her flight to the skies. Let them see you intent upon the conversion of sinners, given up to your work of saving souls; and hear in your conversation how much your heart is set upon this work. Show them by the manner in which you are finishing your course, how they ought to begin and carry forward theirs. Correct their mistakes, elevate their aims, und inflame their zeal. Do all you can by your private intercourse with them to form their character aright for the service of the Lord. Talk to them modestly of your own success in the ministry, and how you succeeded in this high and glorious achievement. What manner of men ought ye to be, by whom the ardor of others will be kindled or extinguished? May God’s grace be sufficient for you.

But of what momentous consequence is it that our younger ministers and students should give to this subject its due attention. You have advantages which some who have gone before you never enjoyed, and which at times make them almost envy your privileges; but if this be all you seek, if it be the best and the highest object you aspire to, you have mistaken your way in going to the pulpit, and had better, whatever of literature you may acquire; have drudged out life in one of the darkest of its recesses, or the humblest of its occupations, than to have entered the Christian ministry. Oh what scenes attract your attention, and ought to engage your energies. There around you are immortal souls perishing in their sins, each pi more value than the whole material universe, each capable of being saved by your ministrations, or sure to acquire by them a deeper guilt and a heavier condemnation — there, in sight of your faith, is the Son of God, bleeding upon the cross for their redemption — there beneath you is the pit of hell, opening wide its mouth to receive them, if they die in unbelief — there above you is heaven, throwing back its everlasting portals to receive them, if they are saved — there before you is the bar of judgment, at which you must soon meet them, to account for your ministry in reference to them — and there, beyond all, is eternity with its ever-rolling ages, which are to be spent by them and you in rapture or in woe. Is this true? Is it fiction or is it fact? If these things are not so, you are found false witnesses for Christ, for they are the common topics and the first principles of your discourses; but if they are all realities, then with what state of mind and heart should they be handled? Begin your ministry, beloved young brothers, with a clear understanding of its nature, and a deep impression of its importance. Do you covet usefulness? Earnestness is essential to it. You cannot do good, at least in any extensive degree, without it. Listen to those who have gone before you; their testimony is founded both upon experience and observation. All, all will unite in this exhortation, “Be in earnest;” as well the very men who have had least, as those who have exhibited most, of this quality of character, and mode of action. Without this you cannot even be popular, to say nothing of usefulness. The public will hear an earnest minister, and will not hear any other. You may call this, if you will, bad taste, and wonder they will not listen to your highly intellectual and philosophical discourses, and be ready in resentment to withdraw the elaborate preparations they so little value, and retire from the pulpit. No matter whether they or you are wrong, this is the fact. He is an unwise tradesman, who, because he thinks the public taste is vicious, and ought to be corrected, will exhibit in his window, and place upon his shelves, no other goods than those the public will not buy. In this case the taste of the public may be wrong, and that of the tradesman right; but in the case of preaching, if the people demand an earnest exhibition of gospel truth, and the ministry instead of this will give them nothing but dull, dry, abstract sermons, it is they who are right and he is wrong; they, better than he does, know not only what they want, but what he was appointed by God to furnish them. Do not then mistake, and determine to try to be useful in some other way than that which the God of nature and of grace has determined upon. Do not resolve to try the experiment of opening a new road to usefulness for yourself; another way than that which apostles, martyrs, and reformers have trod, and which the ministers and missionaries of every age and every country have found to be the power of God unto salvation, even the

doctrine of the cross; a way which you may deem more befitting the talents of a scholar, and an age of philosophy. You will inevitably go wrong if you do, and close your career lamenting your folly, and confessing that your ministerial life has been a lost adventure; a melancholy confession, and one that is not unfrequently made. God gives to no man in any department of action more than one life, and affords to none an opportunity to live through another term of existence, and to profit by his own experience; but he gives abundant opportunity to avail ourselves o( the knowledge gained by trial, as it goes on, and by extensive observation. You have known enough and seen enough already of what will do, and what will not do, bo answer the ends of your office, and save souls. You have only to look back, and to look around, to find evidence to guide you. You cannot mistake your means easily, if you do not mistake your object. Settle with yourselves what is the latter, that it is to save sinners by leading them to repent of sin, to believe on Christ, and to lead a holy life; and then you can scarcely fail to perceive that this never has been accomplished, and ordinarily never can be, but by beseeching them and praying them, in Christ’s stead, to be reconciled to God.

We who are growing gray in the service of Christ, feel somewhat anxious about those who are to succeed us. We see with gratitude and wonder what God has wrought by us; and we know how, as instruments, we have done this thing. We see how souls have been converted, churches have risen up, and believers have lived and died in the faith, and know full well that it was under the testimony of the gospel, plainly but energetically stated. In looking back we often feel regret that the activities of the age have taken from us the opportunity to make greater attainments in elegant literature and general knowledge, but none that we have made the great theme of Christ crucified the subject of our ministry, and the salvation of souls the object of our lives. We feel amidst the gathering shadows of evening, a calm and sweet satisfaction that in this we have made a right choice; mingled at the same time with a profound humiliation that we have not followed it with more intensity of devotion. We see many things in the review of the past that we would alter, but we would make no alteration in these matters; much that we could improve, but only in the manner by which we could more successfully accomplish this object: and if it were permitted us to live over again our existence, or to speak more correctly, to spend another term, and set out afresh, it would be our high resolve to get more of what the men of science and of literature admire, but only to enable us to preach with greater power the doctrine of the cross, and to be better qualified to seek with more ardor, and better hopes of success, the end of our ministry. The love of applause, and we have all too much of it, is we hope dying in our hearts, or at any rate appears to be more and more worthless in its object, and the approval of the great Master more and more intensely desired. Whether we. look back upon the past, or consider the complexion of our feelings for the present, or look at the prospects and anticipate the disclosures of the future, we know of no arguments cogent enough, no language sufficiently expressive, by which to enforce upon our younger brethren in the ministry, and in reference to the purpose of their lives, the important admonition, Be in earnest.

VII. Considerable care and caution are requisite, much more than has been exercised hitherto, in the introduction and reception of young men to our colleges. Incompetent ministers are the burden, as inconsistent ones have been the dishonor, of every section of the church, and the hindrance of the progress of the gospel in the world. In hearing many of them, one is ready to wonder how it ever entered into their hearts to conceive they had been called of God to a work for which they seemed to possess scarcely a single qualification beyond their piety; and the wonder is doubled to account for it that any minister could recommend them, or any committee receive them: without intellect, without heart, and equally without voice, they seem sent into the ministry only to keep out Others more competent for the work. How many have been permitted to escape from the pursuits of business in which they might have done well, to endure the greatest privations, and submit to the most humiliating mortifications, in an office, for the functions of which they were deplorably unfit. How many of them have passed through life in the misery of being amidst a discontented people, or in wandering from place to place without remaining with any church long. Such cases have been found in every age and in every denomination, but they were never so numerous as they are now. A spirit of fastidiousness has crept over the churches, and of unsettledness over their pastors. How great then is the responsibility of recommending a young man to enter the ministry. It is an act drawing after it consequences of a most momentous nature, and should never be done without the utmost care and caution. It would be well if ministers would call in others to bear the burden with them, and to share the responsibility. It may in some cases expose a pastor to some risk of giving offence, if in the exercise of his fidelity he should discourage the aspirations of an unsuitable candidate; an evil from which he would be sheltered, at least in part, by referring the case to the consideration of two or three of the brethren in the vicinity. It is not however the pastor only who should be cautioned about recommending candidates, but the committees of our colleges should be no less careful about receiving them. It is extremely difficult by a first examination, or even by a probationary term, to judge of eligibility and fitness: as great excellence in some cases lies hidden under a very uncouth and unpromising exterior, and in others is very slow to develop itself; while on the contrary, in a different class, a showy exterior over a shallow substratum, is so deceptive, that not only months, but even years must roll on, before the necessary qualifications can be determined upon. A false delicacy however has sometimes led all our committees to retain young men in the college of whose unfitness there remained no question, rather than put them and their friends to the pain of recommending them to discontinue their studies and return to trade. It should be recollected, that to carry on the education of those of whom there is no rational probability that they will ever attain to usefulness of any kind, either as authors, tutors, or preachers, is on the part of the committee a betrayal of their trust, and a malversation of the funds intrusted to their care. Let there be then a far greater degree of care and discrimination exercised in the initiative by our pastors, than there has been: ten earnest men are better, and will do more for us, than a hundred incompetent ones. It would be better that many of the churches should remain longer without a pastor, than gain an unsuitable one; just as it is a far more endurable evil for a man who wishes for connubial felicity to endure the privations of

celibacy any length of time, than to hurry from those into the miseries of an unhappy marriage. We must be more careful in the selection, the reception, and the retention of our students, than we have been. Since it is so difficult to find an egress for those who are once in, it is highly incumbent upon us to watch with greater vigilance the door of entrance.

VIII. There is no class of men to whom we can look so naturally or with so much entreaty for their aid in furnishing us with devoted ministers, as our Tutors. If the college be the mould in which the preacher and pastor are cast, the tutor is the man who shapes the mould, and pours into it the metal. How much then depends upon these beloved and honored brethren. What a trust is reposed with them, how solemn, how awful, how responsible! If it be a momentous thing for a pastor to have the eare of a single church, how much more so; for a tutor to ha i the care of twenty or thirty youthful minds, each of which is looking forward to the pastorate; and to have these replaced by others every five years! Such an occupation is enough to make the stoutest heart to tremble under an oppressive sense of its responsibilities. The strength of our churches lies in our ministry; of our ministry in our colleges, .and of our colleges in our tutors. There is nothing about which we ought to be more anxious than about this part of our system. Happily, to whatever department of ministerial education we look, whether to the philological, mathematical, or philosophical; whether to hermeneutical or dogmatical theology, we find in our various academic institutions, professors of whom we need not be, and are not ashamed. If we need improvement anywhere, it is in the homiletical and pastoral. We can scarcely wonder that in such an age as this, our professors should be anxious to push forward their alumni as far as possible into the regions of literature and science; or that they should feel a solicitude, now that the London University gives an opportunity to Nonconformists for obtaining academic degrees and honors, to give full proof of their official assiduity in the distinctions won by their students in these laudable contests for scholastic fame; but at the same time it is well for them to remember that while these things are not neglected, one popular, earnest, and successful preacher will bring more real credit to their college, and give it more favor with the public, than a dozen Bachelors of Arts, and half-a-dozen Masters to boot. The occasional exhibition, and it can be but occasional, of the titular letters affixed to a man’s name, will not often excite the inquiry, “Where was he educated?” but the constant exhibition and effect of his preaching powers will be a public and permanent recommendation of the institution where such a character was formed. It is true that natural preaching talents will grow in almost any soil, and under almost any culture; but it may still be carried to a higher degree of perfection in one place, and by one hand, than another. There is also such a thing as colleges gaining an identifying character, one for turning out better scholars, a second for giving more philosophy, and a third for carrying on a better theological training; but that in the long run will be the most useful, and deservedly the most popular, which succeeds in sending forth the greatest number of earnest and successful preachers.

All earnestness has a tinge of enthusiasm about it, and as no man can kindle enthusiasm in the soul of another, who has none of this mental fire in himself, our tutors should have some fire, though with judgment enough to keep it in its proper place, and to do its proper work; and however enthusiastic they may be for classical, scientific, and philosophical studies, let them concentrate their energies, their aims, and their hopes in the formation of the popular, powerful, and useful preacher. They who know how much there is to do with many young men that enter our seats of learning, and how much of necessity the time and attention must be divided among the various objects of study, will confess that it is no easy matter to give that prominence to homiletics which their supreme importance demands. But notwithstanding this, opportunities will continually present themselves to an anxious and observant professor for inculcating upon his students that all he is teaching them will be useless, if they do not make it subservient to their great business in preaching the gospel, and converting sinners. But it is of especial importance that our tutors should be much upon the alert when the students begin to preach, that these young men in t heir first pulpit labors, should select the true subject of all preaching, pursue it by the right course, and seek it with due

What a student is in his first essays at pulpit effect, that he is likely to be through life; and if there be no earnestness then, there is likely to be little afterwards. It happens that as all excellencies rarely combine in one man, many of our professors, though so highly gifted as regards talent and acquirement, are not all of them distinguished as preachers, and therefore can present in themselves no living models of what pulpit power, as to manner, really is. Still, they who cannot illustrate it by example, can teach it by precept. May they see the importance of the subject, and labor to the utmost to inculcate it upon the youth that are looking up to them for instruction, and labor to the utmost to kindle in their breast the ardor of a pulpit enthusiasm!

We can easily imagine with what delight they must sometimes witness the advance in extensive and accurate scholarship, in analytical power, in logical acuteness, in metaphysical subtlety; and in some rare cases may felicitate themselves on such results of their labor, though they can foresee they will never be associated with pulpit efficiency — but as a general rule nothing should gratify, much less satisfy them, with reference to their students, short of adaptation for popular effect. The demand preferred by our country upon the military schools is, “Give us soldiers;” upon our medical colleges, “Give us skilful surgeons and physicians;” upon our Inns of Court, “Give us lawyers.” The cry sent up to our colleges is, “Give us powerful preachers, devoted pastors,” — nor will it do to meet this demand, any more than it would the others, by replying, “We will send you Bachelors and Masters of Arts.” Much less will it do to send men who will feed the churches with the dry and sapless verbal exegesis of German theology, instead of the sweet and succulent expositions of our Scotts, our Henrys, our Wardlaws, and our Barneses. Ministers may study the profoundest criticisms for their own improvement, and carry on a course of exegetic exposition in the pulpit; but it must be of a character that shall combine impression with instruction; and let our tutors aim to train preachers, who shall make their sermons expository, their expositions sermonic, and both instinct with life, and essentially popular. Let them with the men they send into our churches, give us as much as they can of everything which can polish the taste, inform or even adorn the intellect, and give weight and influence to the character in general society, the more of all this the better; but let them never forget that what is always wanted for the momentous subject of religion, and what is especially wanted in these times of intense earnestness, is a race of ministers as earnest as the times in which they live. May God help them to train such ministers for us!

IX. If it be the duty of the churches to call out a ministry, it must of course be no less their duty to provide the mews for the, education of those who compose it. Among all the objects of Christian benevolence, there is not one which has a prior or a stronger claim than our collegiate institutions, and yet it is too true that they are the last whose demands are properly regarded. Among Protestant Dissenters especially, the main pivot of their whole system is their ministry; upon this everything, under God, must turn. As this is strong, everything else amongst us will be strong; and as this is weak, everything else will be weak. The springs which supply the reservoirs of our evangelizing societies, both at home and abroad, are to be traced back to our colleges; and yet the churches do not yet seem, if we may judge from their conduct, io be duly aware of this fact. They are not however io be considered as eleemosynary institutions, where a race of literary paupers are sustained by the alius of the affluent: tor it ip becoming increasingly the practice for our students to pay for their own board: but beyond this, we have the invaluable services of our professors to reward, and many other expenses to defray. This must be borne by the churches in all cases where there is no vested property, or where it is not adequate to the support of the institution. How can property be better applied? What expenditure produces a quicker or more abundant return? A good education for our ministry is cheaply obtained at any price; and every shilling we expend in this way tells at once and before our eyes upon the object for which it is intended. And yet, strange to say, there is no object for which we find it more difficult to obtain a regular and adequate supply of means. Foreign and home missions have an annual collection from almost every church in our denomination, and yet how few are there of these churches who grant an annual collection for any college, and what multitudes who never grant a collection at all! The platform is the stage of modern activity, but our colleges can make no exhibition there: we can employ no succession of orators to advocate our cause by speeches in support of resolutions; can exhibit no foreigners; can produce no excitement by tales of horror, of pathos, or of adventure; yet where would be the platform, but for the pulpit, and what is the pulpit without the college? We ought not, it is true, to do less for our other organizations, but we ought to do far more for our educational system. We must bestir ourselves, and not allow this, on which everything depends, to fall into the rear and to pass into the shadow of one or two deservedly popular societies. If a larger part of the zeal manifested in arguing for our voluntary principle were employed in a more liberal support of our denominational institutions, they would be in a far better state than they now are. With all our ardor in the cause of ISonconformitv, it is easier to raise large funds for other objects of benevolence than for this. The London Missionary Society, which is chiefly supported by the Congregational body, has an income of nearly eighty thousand pounds a year, while that same body does not raise by voluntary contributions more perhaps than eight or nine thousand for our seats of learning, and even this is not so economically expended as it might be by a consolidation of our colleges. It is high time this whole system were looked into.

It is, however, somewhat cheering to know that this subject is beginning to be understood by our churches, and a more just appreciation to be made by the intelligence of the age of the value of an educated ministry; and as a % natural consequence there is springing up a more general disposition to support the expense which it incurs. Many instances have occurred of late of the owners of property apportioning a large share of it, either in the way of founding colleges, or establishing scholarships for the education of young men for the ministry. An individual who founds one of these scholarships, may, if he give his property at the age of thirty-five, and should live to be seventy, have six or seven ministers preaching the gospel at the same time, who were educated by his means; and when he has reached his heavenly home, may welcome to glory through a long succession of ages the souls that were saved by the labors of those ministers for whose education he had set apart his property. How laudable and how noble an object of honorable ambition does such a proposal present to those who have at once the wish and the means to do good. Let the churches collectively, and their wealthy members individually, well consider then the obligation which is laid upon them to provide all that may be accessary to insure the education of a ministry adapted to the circumstances of this extraordinary age.