On the Discouragements and Supports of the Christian Ministry

As you have requested me to address you upon the present occasion, I am persuaded you will deem no apology necessary for the use of that freedom which the nature of the service to which you have invited me demands, combined with those sentiments of high esteem which your character will always inspire. Havings with the accustomed solemnities, been invested with the pastoral office over this church, you will permit me to remind you of the discouragements on the one hand, and the suj)ports on the other, which you may reasonably look for in your ministerial warfare, as far as they are naturally suggested to us by the passage of Scripture selected for the basis of our present discourse.

If it is necessary for the private Christian, before he assumes a religious profession, to count the cost; to the minister it cannot be less so, that he may not be surprised by unexpected trials, nor dismayed at the encounter of difficulties for which he has made no preparation. A just estimate of the nature and magnitude is an important qualification for the proper discharge of whatever function we are called ta exert. As you are neither a novice in the ministry, nor have failed to reflect deeply on the consequences of your present engagements, you will not suspect me of attempting, by the hints which may be suggested, to give you information, but merely to stir up your pure mind by way of remembrance.

1. Let me request your attention to the sources <5f discouragement connected with the office you have undertaken. They are such as arise, in part, from the nature of the office itself, which is appointed for the purpose of converting souls to God, and conducting them in the path to eternal life. To you, in common with other Christian pastors, is committed the ministry of reconciliation, the office of promulgating that system of truth which is designed to renew the world, and sanctify the church. Under, the highest authority you are enjoined to use your utmost eifoiis to open blind eyes, to turn them from darJcness to ligJit, and from the power of Satan unto God. The bare mention of such an employ-Bicnt is enough to convince us the difficulties attending it are of no ordinary magnitude, and to maka us exclaim with an Apostle, Who is sufficient for these things?

1. The minds of men are naturally iuilisposed to the reception of divine truth. The truths of the gospel are not merely of a speculative nature, “which need only to be stated with their proper evidence in order to ensure their success: there are in the mind latent prejudices against which they strongly militate, and which, when excited, naturally produce opposition. Mankind are disposed to think well of themselves, to view their virtues through a magnifying medium, and to cast their deficiencies and vices into the shade. Dissatisfied, as they often are, with their outward condition, they have yet little or no conviction of their spiritual wants; but with respect to these are ready to imagine, with the Laodiceans, that they are rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing. Hence, it is with extreme difficulty they are brought to acquiesce in the humiliating representations made by the oracles of God, of their native guilt and misery. They will readily confess they are not perfectly innocent or faultless: they have their imperfections as well as others, but they ar’far from believing that they are actually under the wrath and displeasure of the Almightj They feel, on the whole, satisfied with themselves, and, by setting their supposed good qualities and actions against their bad ones, contrive to adjust their account in such a manner as leaves a considerable balance in their favour. On the mercy of God they feel no objection to profess their reliance; deeming it more decent, and even more safe, than to challenge his justice; but it is easy to perceive that the mercy of which they speak, is of such a nature, that they would look upon it as an absurdity to suppose it could be withheld. In short, they are the whole who need no physician.

The gospel presupposes a charge of guilt; it assumes, as an indubitable fact, the universal apostacy of our race, and its consequent liability to perish under the stroke of the divine anger; nor can you acquit yourself of the imputation of handling the word of God deceitfully, if, from false delicacy, or mistaken tenderness, you neglect the frequent incalcatlon of this momentous truth. You will find it, however, no easy matter to fasten the charge on the conscience; which, when it seems to be admitted, will often amount to nothing more than a vague and general acknowledgment, which leaves the heart qv/ite unaffected. To convince effectually is, indeed, the work of a superior agent.

3. The very attempt to produce that humiliating sense of nnworthiness and weakness, which is essential to a due reception of the gospel, will frequently excite disgust, should it terminate in no worse consequences. You will be reproached as the messenger of evil tidings, and suftpected of tali - inga pleasure in overwhelming the soul with dark and melancholy forebodings. By a part of your hearers you will possibly be regarded as an unnatural character, and as having in your religion a tincture of what is savage and inhuman; in consequence of which, they who refuse to profit by your admonitions, will be apt to apply to you the language of the king of Israel, I hate Vunfor he ahvciya projjhesieth evil of me and not ^-ood. Of the common apostacy, one of the most distinguishing features is a stupefaction, an insensibility in relation to whatever is of a spiritual nature, together with a levity and carelessness which it requires the utmost effort of the Christian ministry to dispel.

3. If you should be successful in awakening a salutary concern in the breasts of your hearers, and exciting them to inquire what they must do to be saved, fresh difficulties await you. The enemy will leave no artifice untried to divert it, and w ear it off, by such a succession of cares and vanities, that as much attention and address will be requisite to maintain it till it issues in a saving, effect, as to produce it at first. There are many, w ho after appearing for a time earnestly engaged in the pursuit of salvation, have in consequence of stifling convictions, become more callous and insensible than ever, as iron is hardened in the fire. The grand scope of the Christian ministry is to bring men home

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to Christ; but ere they arrive thither, there are iiu-Bierous by-paths, into which those who are awakened are in danger of diverting, and of finding a delusive repose, without coming as humble penitents to the foot of the cross. They are equally in danger of catching at premature consolation, and of sinking into listless despondency. Withhold thy throat from thirstf said the prophet Jeremiah, and thy foot from being unshod; but thou saidst, there is no hope, for I have loved strangers, and after them I must go. In the pursuit of eternal good, the heart is extremely inconstant and irresolute; easily prevailed on, w hen the peace it is in quest of is delayed, to desist from further seeking. During the first serious impressions, the light, which unveils futurity, often shines with too feeble a ray to produce that perfect and plenary conviction which permits the mind no longer to vaccilate: and the fascination of sensible objects, eclipses the powers of the world to come. Nor is there less to be apprehended from another quarter. The conscience, roused to a just sense of the danger to which the sinner is exposed by his violation of the laws of God, is apt to derive consolation from this very uneasiness; by which means it is possible that the alarm, which is chiefly valuable on account of its tendency to produce a consent to the overtures of the gospel, may ultimately lull the mind into a deceitful repose. The number we fear is not small, of those, who, though Ihcy have never experienced a saving change, are ytt under no apprehensions respecting their state, merely because they can remember the time when Uiey felt poignant convictions. Mistaking what are usually the preliminary steps to conversion, for conversion itself, they deduce from their former apprehensions an antidote against present fears; and from past prognostics of danger, an omen of their future safety. With persons of this description the flashes of a superficial joy, arising from a presumption of being already pardoned, accompanied with some slight and transient relishes of the word of God, are substituted for that new birth, and that lively trust in the Redeemer, to which the promise of salvation inseparably belongs. Such were those who received the seed into stony ground, and who having heard the word of God anon trith joy received it, but having no depth of earth it soon ivitheredaicay. Others ende avour to sooth the anguish of their minds by a punctual performance of certain religious exercises, and a partial reformation, of conduct; in consequence of which they sink into mere formalists; and confounding the instruments of religion with the end, their apparent melioration of character diverts their attention from their real wants, and, liy making them insensible of the extent of their malady, obstructs their cure. Instead of imploring the assistance of the great Physician, and implicitly complying with his prescriptions, they have recourse to palliatives, which assuage the anguish and the smart, without reaching the seat, or touching the core of the disoriler.

Were the change, which the gospel proposes to effect, less fumlamental and extensive than it is, we might the more easily flatter ourselves with being able to carry its designs into execution. Did it aim merely to polish the exterior, to tame the wildness, and prune the luxuriance of nature, without the implantation of a new principle, the undertaking would be less arduous. But its scope is much higher; it proposes not merely to reform, but to renew; not so much to repair the moral edifice, as to build it afresh; not merely by the remonstrances of reason, and the dictates of prudence, to engage men to lay a restraint upon their vices, but, by the inspiration of truth, to become new creatures. The effects of the gospel on the heart, are compared, by the prophet, to the planting of a wilderness, where what was barrenness and desolation before, is replenished with new productions, J will plant in the wilderness Hie cedar-tree, the shittah-tree, and th-e myrtle-tree; I will set in the desert, the fir-tree* the j)inp-tree, and the box -tree together y that they may know, and consider, and understand, that the hand of the Lord hath done this. Although the change is frequently slow, and the Spirit of God, in affecting it, may proceed by imperceptible steps, and gentle insinuations, the issue is invariably the same, nor can any representation do justice to its di«’*nity. How great the sIvlU requisite in those who are to be the instruments of jiroducing it!

To arrest the attention of the careless, to subdue the pride and soften the obduracy of the human heart, so that it shall stoop to the authority of an unseen Saviour, is a task which surpasses the utmost efforts of human ability, unaided l)y a superior power. In attempting to realize the design of the Christian ministry, we are proposing to call the attention of men from the things which are seen and temporal, to things unseen and eternal; to eoudwi them from a life of sense, to a life of faith; to subdue, or weaken at least, the influence of a world, which, being always present, is incessantly appealing to the senses, and soliciting the heart, in favour gf a state, whose very existence is ascertained only by testimony. We call upon them to crucify the ilcsh with its affections and lusts, to deny the strongest and most inveterate propensities, and to renounce the enjoyments which they have tasted and felt, for the sake of a happiness to which they have no relish. We must charge them, as they value their salvation, not to love the world, who have been accustomed to make it the sole object of their attachment, and to return to their allegiance to that almighty and invisible Ruler from whom they have deeply revolted. We present to them, it is true, a feast of fat thing* f wine on the lees well refined; we invite them ta entertainments more ample and exquisite than, but for the gospol, it had entered into the heart of man to conceive; but we address our invitations to minds fatally indisposed, alienated from the life of God, with little sense of the value of his favour, and no delight in his converse. The souls we address, though originally formed for these enjoyments, and utterly incapable of being happy without them, have lost, through the fall, that right taste and appreliensioa of things, which is requisite for the due appreciation of these blessings, and, likeEzckiel, we prophesy to dry bones in the valley of Vision, which will never live but under the visitation of that breath which bloweth were it listeth. This indisposition to the things of God, so radical and incurable by human power, as it has been a frequent source of discouragement to the faithful minister, so it would prove an invincible obstacle to success, did that success depend upon human agency.

II. To these diflTiculiies, which arise from the nature of the work, abstractedly considered, must he added, those which are modified by a variety of circumstances, and which result from that diversity of temper, character, and situation, which prevails in our auditory. To the several Masses of which it consists, it is necessary rightly to divide the word of truth, and give to every one his portion of vieat in due season. The epidemic malady of our nature assumes so many shapes, and appears under such a variety of symptoms, that these may be considere<l as so many distinct diseases, which demand a proportionate variety in the method of treatment; nor will the same prescription suit all cases. A difl’erent set of truths, a different mode of address is requisite to rouse the careless, to heat down the arrogance of a self-justifying spirit, from what is necessary to comfort the humble and contrite in heart; nor is it easy to say, which we should most anxiously guard against, the infusion of a false peace, or inflaming the wounds which we ought to heal. A loose and indiscriminate manner of applying the promises and threatenings of the gospel, is ill-judged and pernicious; it is not possible to conceive a more effectual method of depriving the sword of the Spirit of its edge, than adopting that lax generality of representation, which leaves its hearer nothing to apply, presents no incentive to self-examination, and, besides its utter inefficiency, disgusts by the ignorance of human nature, or the disregard to its bests interests, it infallibly betrays. Without descending to such a minute specification of circumstances, as shall make our addresses personal, they ought unquestionably to be characteristic, that the conscience of the audience may feel the hand of the preacher searching it, and every individual know where to class himself. The preacher who aims at doing good will endeavour, above all things, to insulate his hearers, to place each of them apart, and render it impossible for him to escape by losing himself in the crowd. At the day of S38

jiulgmeiit, the attention excited by the surroundin scene, the strange aspect of nature, the dissolution of the elements, and the last trump, will have no olher effect than to cause the reflections of the sin. her to iclurn with a more over helming tide on his own character, Ijis sentence, his unchanging destiny; and, amid the innumerable millions who surround him, he will mourn apart. It is thus the Christian minister should endeavour to prepare the tribunal of conscience, and turn th.e eyes of every one of his hearers on himself.

To men of dilferent casts and complexions, it is obvious, a corresponding difference in the selection of topics, and the method of appeal, is requisite. Some are only capable of digesting the first principles of religion, on whom it is necessary often to inculcate the same lessons, with the reiteration of parental solicitude: there are others of a wider grasp of comprehension, who must be indulged with an ampler variety, and to whom views of neligion less obvious, less obtrusive, and demanding a more vigorous exercise of the understanding, are peculiarly adapted. Some are accustomed to contemplate every subject in a light so cool and argumentative, that they are not easily impressed with any thing which is not presented in the garb of reasoning; nor apt, though firm believers in Revelation, to be strongly moved by naked assertions even from that quarter. There are others of a softer temperament, who are more easily won by tender strokes of pathos. Minds of an obdurate make, and which have been rendered callous by long habits of vice, must be appalled and subdued by the terrors of the Lord; while others are capable of being drawn with the cords of love, and icith the bands of a man. Some we must save with fear, plucking them out of the f re; on others we must have compassion, making a difference. You will recollect, that he who spake as never man spake, mild, gentle, iusinuating in his addresses to the multitude, reserved the thunder of his denunciations for sanctimonious hypocrites. In this part of our ministerial function, we shall do well to imitate St. Paul, who became all things to all men, that he might win some; combining, in his efforts for the salvation of souls, the utmost simplicity of intention, with the utmost versatility of address.

May I be permitted to remark, though it seem a digression, that in the mode of conducting our public ministrations, we are, perhaps, too formal and mechanical; that, in the distribution of the matter of our sermons, we indulge too little variety, and exposing our plan in all its parts, abate tte edge of curiosity, by enabling’the hearer to anticipate what we intend to advance. Why should that force which surprise gives to every emotion, derived from just and affecting sentiments, be bakiished from the pulpit, when it is found of such moment

111 every other kind of public address. I cannot but imagine the first preachers of the gospel appeared before their audience with a more free and unfettered air, than is consistent with the narrow trammels to which, in these latter ages, discourses from the pulpit are confined. The sublime emotions with which they were fraught, would have rendered them impatient of such restrictions; nor could they suffer the impetuous stream of argument, expostulation, and pathos, to be weakened, by diverting it into the artificial reservoirs, prepared in the heads and particulars of a modern sermon. Method, we are aware, is an essential ingredient in every discourse designed for the instruction of mankind, but it ought never to force itself on the attention as an object apart; never appear to be an end, instead of an instrument; or beget a suspicion of the sentiments being introduced for the sake of the method, not the method for the sentiments. Let the experiment be tried on some of the best specimens of ancient eloquence; let an oration of Cicero or Demosthenes be stretched upon a Procrustes’ bed of this sort, and, if I am not greatly mistaken, the flame and enthusiasm which have excited admiration in all ages, will instantly evaporate: yet no one perceives a want of method in these immortal compositions, nor can any thing be conceived more remote from incoherent rhapsody.

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To return to the subject: v hiUevet’ the mode of address, or whatever the choice of ‘opics, there are two (jualities inseparahle from religious instruction: these are seriousness aiul ayiction. In the most awful denunciations of the divine displ(;asure, an air of unafTccted tenderness should be preserved, that while with unsparing fidelity we declare the whole counsel of God, it may appear we are actuated by a genuine spirit of comppvSsion. A hard and unfeeling manner of denouncing the threatenings of the word of God, is not only barbarous and inhuman, hut calculated, by inspiring disgust, to rob them of all their eiilcacy. If the awful part of our message, which may be stiled the burden of the Lord, ever fall with due weiglst on our hearers, it will be when it is delivered with a trembling hand and faltering lips; and we may then expect them to realize its solemn import, w hen they perceive that we ourselves are ready to sink under it. Of whom 1 have told you before, said St. Paul, and now tell you ^y^J^Jg; that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. What force does that affecting declaration derive from these tears! An affectionate manner insinuates itself into the heart, renders it soft and plia!)le, and disposes it to imbibe the sentiments and follow ^^. impulse of the speaker. Whoever has attended to the effect of addresses from the pulpit, must have perceived how much of their impression depends upon this quality, which gives to sentiments comparatively trite, a poweiover the mind beyond what the most striking ami original conceptions possess without it.

Near akin to this, and not inferior in importance, is the second quality we mentioned, seriousness. It’ns scarcely necessary to remark, how offensive and unnatural is every violation of it in a religious discourse, which is, however, of wider extent than is generally imagined, including not merely jesting, buffoonery, and undisguised levity of every sort, but also whatsoever in composition or manner, is inconsistent with the supposition of the speaker being deeply in earnest; such as sparkling ornaments, far-fetched images, and that exuberance of flowers which seems evidently designed to gratify the fancy, rather than to touch the heart. When St. Paul recommends to Timothy, that sound speech which cannot be condemned, it is probable he refers as much to the propriety of the vehicle, as to the purity of the instruction. There is, permit me to remind you, a sober dignity, both of language and of sentiment, suited to the representations of religion in all its variety of topics, from which the inspired writers never depart, and which it will be our wisdom to imitate. In describing the pleasures of devotion, or the joys of heaven, there is nothing weak, sickly, or effeminate: a chaste severity pervades their delineations, and whatever they say appears to emanate from a serious mind, accustomed to the contemplation of great objects, without ever sinking under them from imbecility, or attempting to supply a deficiency of interest, by puerile exaggerations and feeble ornaments. The exquisite propriety of their representations is chiefly to be ascribed to their habitual seriousness; and the latter to their seeing things as they are.

Having touched on the principal difficulties attending the public exercise of the ministry, it may be expected something will be said on his more private functions. To affirm it to be the duty of a pastor to visit his people often, is, perhaps, affirming too much; the more frequently he converses with them, however, provided his conversation be properly conducted, the more will his person be endeared, and his ministry acceptable. The seasonable introduction of religious topics is often of such admirable use, that there are few qualities more enviable than the talent of teaching from house to house; though the modern state of manners, I am aware, has rendered this branch of the pastoral office much more difficult than in former times. In a country village, where there is more simplicity, loss dissipation, and less hurry of business than in large towns, prudent exertions in this kind may be considered as eminently proper and beneficml. The extent to which they should be carried must be determined by circumstances, without attempting to prescribe any other rule than this, that the conversation of a Christian minister should be always such, as is adapted to stveugUien, not impair, the irapre.«- pression of his public instructions. Though it is not necessary., nor expedient, for him to be always conveisisjg on the sul»ject of re]igi«)n. his conversation should invariai)]y have a religious tendency; that whatever excursions he indulges, the return to serous topics may he eosy and natural. The whole cast of his character should he such as is adapted to give weight to the exercise of his raiiiisterial functions. On the peculiar force with which the obligations of virtue attach to a Christian teacher, the purity and correctness of your own conduct, while it would embolden me to speak with the greater freedom, make it less necessary for me to insist. You are aware that moral delinquency in Mmf produces a sensation as when an armour-bear er fainteth; that he can neither stand nor fall by himself; and that it is impossible for him to deviate essentially from the path of rectitude, without incurring the guilt and infamy of Jeroboam, who IS never mentioned but to be stigmatized as he icho taught Israel to sin. Be thou an evFample to the ^fock in faiih, in ‘piiviiy, in ccnverscdionj in doctrine, in charity. Instead of satisfying ourselves in the acquisition of virtue wi(h the attainments of a learner, we must aspire to the perfection of a master; and give to our conduct the correctness of a paitern. We are called to such a conquest over the world, and such an exhibition of the spirit of Chiist, as shall not merely exempt us from censure but excite to emulation. Fe are the salt of the eaii ye are the light nf the world, said our Saviour to his disciples, vvliom he was about to send forth in the character of public teachers. As persons to whom the conduct of souls is committed, we cannot make a wrong step without endangering the interests of others; so that if wo neglect to take our soundings, and inspect our chart, ours is the misconduct of the pilot, who is denied the privilege of perishing alone. The imniGral conduct of a Christian minister is little less than a public triumph over the religion he inculcates: and when we recollect the frailty of our nature, the snares to which we are exposed, and the wiles of our adversary, who will proportion his efforts to the advantages resulting from his success, we must be aware how much the necessity of maintaining an exemplary conduct adds to the difficulty of the ministerial function.

With the utmost propriety of conduct, and the greatest skill exerted in your work, we dare not flatteryou with the pi’ospect of unmingled success. Under the most judicious method of treatment, the maladies of some will prove incurable, and they will perish under your hand. While to some, the gospel is a savour of life unto life, to others it will prove the savour of death unto death; and in the course of your labours, you will meet with frequent disappointments M’here you have formed the most sanguine expectations. Some toho did run well, will afterwards be hindered; and of others who have clean escaped the pollutions of the icorld, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christy being afterwards entangled therein, the latter end will be worse than the beginning. Many a Demas, it is probable, will forsake you, having loved this present world; and by many of your hearers, who now evince the most zealous attachment, you may hereafter be considered as an enemy, because you tell them the truth. In certain instances, your ministry will be attended with consequences which you cannot contemplate without deep concern; for the Sword of the Spirit is au awful weapon, which will exert, where it fails to inflict a salutary wound, its destructive edge. Against those of your hearers who reject your message, though now an ambassador of peace, and often a weeping suppliant at their feet, you will *,ere lon appear a swift witness before God, and be compelled, by your voice, to exasperate the accents of vengeance, and augment the vials of wrath. Tou are set for the rising and falling of Tuany in Israel.

II. But it is time to turn to a more pleasing part of our subject, and to remind you of some of the supports by w hich these sources of discouragement are balanced.

1. The office you haye undertaken is of divine institution. The unhappy disputes which have prevailed in the church, respecting the proper channels for conveying, and the legitimate mode of Testing it, are so far from weakening or perplexing the evidence of this truth, that they may be considered as so many concurrent suffrages in its favour; since it is allowed, on all hands, that the Christian ministry is an ordinance of God; an expedient for the improvement of mankind, of his devising, and supported by his authority. But of that wisdom which pervades the works of God, the church is the principal scene; to the intent, saith the Apostle, that to principalities and poicers, might be made known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. Hence we may be certain that so leading a branch of its constitution as that under our consideration, cannot fail of being adapted, in the best possible manner, to promote the interest of religion; nor is it difficult to perceive, that if men are to be wrought upon by reason and persuasion, tho setting apart an order for the express purpose of instructing them in the concerns of salvation, must have a beneficial tendency; an order, be it remembered, not appointed like the priests of pagan antiquity, for the performance of ceremonies, but for the inculcation of truth; not to conduct the pomp of lustrations and sacrifices, but to watch for souh as those that must give an account. Nothing similar to this was known in the heathen religions: it is peculiar to Christianity, and evincing the simple wisdom of its author, is as original in itsconception, as it is admirable in its effecfcs. Its simplicity, its distance from whatever is dazzling in the eyes of mankind, is one of its highest recommendations; for the Christian minister. is beaiitifolly compared to a llshermaii, who would only be embarrassed by those instruments and appendages which belong to more splendid but less useful employments.

S. Another consideration calculated to afford U8 encouragement is, that the materials of our work sire ready furnished to our hand, and, at the same time, of a nature admirably adapted to our purpose. Our ofiice is that of stewards of the mysteries of the kingdom; our duty, faithfully to dispense the stores which superior wisdom and opulence have provided. It is not necessary for us to stretch our invention in the discovery of topics and arguments ilttcd to move the mind, and impel it in aright direction, which, if we may judge from past experience, would be a most unpromising undertakiug. A doc-Irine, full, pure, perfect, to which nothing can be added without debasing its spirit, nothing taken away without impairing its proportions, is committed to our trust, to be retained aifd preserved, just as we have received it, and delivered to our hearers in all its primitive simplicity. Like the works of nature, while it exhibits, at first view, an impress of its author, in the unequivocal character it bear* of purity and majesty, it improves on a closer examination, and the more deeply it is investigated, the more the wisdom of tlic contrivance, in its exquisite adaptation to the state and condition of mankind becomes conspicuous. As the discovery of a way of salvation for a fallen race, of the method by which a guilty and degenerate creature may recover the image and favour of his Maker, which we must ever remember is its most essential characteristic, what is wanting to its perfection? what information or assurance beyond what it contains, calculated to awe, enlighten, convince, and encourage? The facts it exhibits, supported by clear and indubitable testimony, are more extraordinary than ever entered the mind of man in its widest excursions, combining all the sobriety of truth, with more than the grandeur of fiction; and the doctrines connected with these facts, by the easiest and most natural inference, are of infinite moment. To a serious mind, the truths of the Christian religion appear with such an air of unaffected greatness, that, in comparison of these, all other speculations and reasouiiigs seem like the amusements of childhood. When the Deity, the incarnation, the atonement, the resurrection of the Son of God, the sanctification of the church, and the prospects of glory, have engaged our contemplation, we feel, in turning our attention to other objects, a strange descent, and perceive, with the certainty of demonstration, that, as the earth is too narrow for the full

3S tlevelopemeiit of these mysteries, they are destined, by their consequences and effects, to impregnate an eternal duration. We are not at all surprised at finding that the ancient prophets searched into these mysteries with great but unsuccessful diligence, that the angels desire to look into them, or that the apostles were lost in the contemplation of t{ups6 i’iches which they proclaimed and imparted. Arft you desirous of fixing the attention of your hearers strongly on their everlasting concerns? No peculiar refinement of thought, no subtilty of reasoning, much less the pompous exaggerations of secular eloquence, are wanted for that purpose: you have only to imbibe deeply the mind of Christ, to let his doctrine enlighten, his love inspire your heart, and your situation, in comparison of other speakers, will resemble that of the angel of the apocalypse, who was seen standing in the sun. Draw your instructions immediately from the Bible; the more immediately they are derived from the source, and the less they are tinctured with human distinctions and refinements, the more salutary, and the more efficacious. Let them be taken fresh from the spring. You, I am persuaded, will not satisfy yourself with the study of Christianity in narrow jejune abridgments and systems, but contemplate it, in its utmost extent, as it subsists in the sacred oracles; and, in investigating these, you will permit your reason and conscience an operation, as free and unfettered, as if none had examined them before. The neglect of this produces, too often, an artificial scarcity, where some of the choicest provisions of the household are exploded or overlooked.

When we inculcate, with so much earnestness, an attention to the mind of Christ, as exhibited in the Scriptures, let us not be understood to exclude his precepts, or to countenance, for a moment, the too frequent neglect of Christian morality. While you delight in displaying the riches of divine grace, conspicuous in the work of redemption, as the grand motive to love and Irust in the Redeemer, you will not forget frequently to admonish your hearers, that he only loveth him who keepeth his sayhigs; the illustration of which, in their bearings upon the different relations and circumstances of life, will form, if you follow the apostolic example, a most important branch of your ministry. Not content with committing the obliiation of morality to the arbitration of feeling, much less with faintly hinting at it, as an obvious inference from orthodox doctrine, you will illustrate its principles with an energy, a copiousness, a fulness of detail, proportioned to its acknowledged importance. You will not be silent on the precepts, from an apprehension of infringing on the freedom of the gospel, nor sink the character of the legislator in that of tlic Saviour of the church. A morality, more elevated and pure than is to be met with in the pages of Sencea or Ilpictctus. will breathe through your sermons, founded on a basis, which every understanding caneomprehendj and enforced by sanctions, which nothing but the utmost stupidity can despise — a morality of which the love of God, and a devoted attachment to the Redeemer, are the plastic soul, which, pervading every limb, and expressing itself in every lineament of the new creature, gives it a beauty all its own. As it is the genuine fruit of just and affecting views of divine truth, you will never sever it from its parent stock, nor indulge the fruitless hope of leading men to holiness, without stron|ly imbuing them with the spirit of the gospel. Truth and holiness are, in the Christian system, so intimately allied, that the warm and faithful inculcation of the one, lays the only foundation for the other. For the illustration of particular branches of morals, we may consult Pagan writers on ethics, with advantage; but in search of princi/pleSj it is at our peril that we desert the school of Christ: since we are complete in him, and all the moral excellence to which we can aspire is but Christianity embodied; or, if we may be allowed to change the figure, the impress of the gospel upon the heart. The perfection of the Christian system, considered as the instrument of renovating the human mind, is the second consideration.

3. The third consideration to which I would direct your attention, is, that of its being the dispensation of the Spirit. To this the Apostle immediately refers in the context, where he is contrasting the Christian with the Jewish institute. Who hath also made lis able ministers of the JV’eiv Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones was glorious, how shall not the ministration efthe spirit be more glorious. From this cicuragtance, he infers, the superior dignity of the Christian ministry The miraculous gifts intended for a sign to unbelievers, and to aid the gospel, during its first struggle with the powers of Pagan darkness, have long since ceased, with the exigency that called them forth; but the renewing and sanctifying agency of the spirit remains, and will continue to the end of time? the express declaration of our Saviour not admitting a doubt of its perpetuity. I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neithe^ knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. To the world, who, in their unrenewed state, are unsusceptible of his sanctifying impress, he is promised, in the preparatory form of a spirit of conviction; to believers, he is promised as an indwelling principle, an ever-present Deity. who consecrates the hearts of the faithful to be his perpetual abode. Hence the ministers of Christ are not dependant for success on the force of moral suasion; not merely the teachers of an external religion, including truths the most momentous, and duties of the highest obligation; they are also the instruments through whom a supernatural agency is exerted. And hence, in the conversion of souls, we are not to compare the difficulties to be surmounted, with the feeble resources of human power, but with his, with whom nothing is impossible. To this the inspired Historian every where directs our attention, as alone sufficient to account for the signal success which crowned the labours of the first preachers. If a great multitude at Antioch turned to the Lord, it was because the hand of the Lord was with them; if Lydia believed, in consequence of giving attention to the things that were spoken, it was because the hovd ojjened her heart; if Paul planted, and Apollos watered, with success, it was the Lord wJio gave the increase; and highly as they were endowed, and though invested with such extensive authority’, they did not presume to count upon any thing from themselves; their sufficiency was of God. As the possibility of such an influence can l)e doubted by none who believe in a Deity, so the peculiar consolation derived from the doctrine that asserts it, seems to he this, that it renders what was merely possible, certain; what was before vague and undetermined, fixed, by reducing the interposition of the Almighty, in the concerns of salvation, to a stated method and a settled law. The communication

S5j

of the Spirit, to render the gospel efficacious, becomes a standing ordinance of heaven, and a full security for its final triumph over every opposing force. My word, said the Lord by the prophet, shall not return unto me void, but shall accomplish the thing ivhereimto I sent it. At the same time, connected as it is by the very tenor of the promise, with the publication of au external revelation, and professing to set its seal only to the testimony of Jesus, it precludes, as far as possible, every enthusiastic pretension, by leaving the appeal to Scripture as full, and uncontrolled as if no such agency were supposed. It is strange that any should be found to deny a doctrine so consolatory, under the pretence of its derogating from the sufficiency of Revelation, when it not only ascribes to it all tho efficacy that can belong to an instrument, or external mean; but confers the highest honour upon it, by marking it out as the only fountain of instruction to which the agency of the Deity is inseparably attached. The idea of his immediate interposition must necessarily increase our veneration for whatever is connected with it; and let it ever be remembered, that the internal illumination of the Spirit is merely intended to qualify the mind for distinctly perceiving, and cordially embracing those objects, and no other, which are exhibited in the written word. To dispel prejudice, to excite a disposition for inquiry, and to infuse that love of the truth, without which we can neither be transformed by its power nor bow to its dictates, is the grand scope of spiritual agency; and how this should derogate from the dignity of the truth itself it is not easy to conceive. The inseparable alliance between the Spirit and the Word secures the harmony of the divine dispensations; and since that Spirit of truth can never contradict himself, whatever impulse he may give, whatever disposition he may communicate., it involves no irreverence towards that divine agent to compare his operations with that standing revelation, which, equally claiming him for its author, he has expressly appointed for the trial of the spirits*

Let me earnestly intreat you, by keeping close to the fountain of grace, to secure a large measure of its influence. In your private studies, and in your public performances, remember your” absolute dependance on superior aid; let your conviction of this dependance become so deep and practical as to prevent your attempting any thing in your own strength, after the example of St. Paul, who, when he had occasion to advert to his labours in the gospel, checks himself by adding, with ineffable modesty, i,>et not I, hilt the grace of God that was with me. From that vivid perception of truth, that full assurance of faith, which is its inseparable attendant, you will derive unspeakable advantage in addressing your hearers; a seriousness, tenderness, and majesty, will pervade your discourses, beyond what the greatest, unassisted talent can command. In the choice of your subjects it will lead you to what is most solid and useful, while it enables you to handle them in a manner the most efficacious and impressive. Possessed of this celestial unction, you will not be under the temptation of neglecting a plain gospel in quest of amusing speculations or unprofitable novelties; the most ordinary topics will open themselves with a freshness and interest, as though you had never considered them before; and the things of the Spirit will display their inexhaustible variety and depth. You will pierce the invisible world; you will look, so to speak, into eternity, and present the essence and core of religion, while too many preachers, for want of spiritual discernment, rest satisfied with the surface and the shell. It will not allow us to throw one grain of incense on the altar of vanity; it will make us forget ourselves so completely as to convince our hearers we do so; and, displacing every thing else from the attention, leave nothing to be felt, or thought of, but the majesty of truth, and the realities of eternity.

In proportion to the degree in which you possess this sacred influence, will be the earnestness with which you implore it in behalf of your hearers. Often loillyou bow the knee to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he will grant unto them, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of their uvder standing being enlightened, that they may know what is the hope of their calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance among them that believe.

On the one hand, it deserves attention, that the most eminent and successful preachers of the gospel in different communities, a Brainerd, a Baxter and a Schwartz, have been the most conspicuous for a simple dependance upon spiritual aid; and, on the other, that no success whatever has attended the ministrations of those by whom this droctrine has been either neglected or denied. They have met with such a rebuke of their pi’esumpdon, in the total failure of their efforts, that none will contend for the reality of divine interposition, as far as they are concerned; for when has the arm of the Lord been revealed to those pretended teachers of Christianity, who believe there is no such arm? We must leave them to labour in a field, respecting which God has commanded the clouds not to rain upon it. As if conscious of this, of late they have turned their efforts into a new channel, and, despairing of the conversion of sinners, have confined themselves to the seduction of the faithful; in which, it must be confessed, they have acted in a, manner perfectly consistent with their principles; the propagation of heresy requiring, at least, no rf?- vine assistance.

h Let me request you to consider the dignity and importance of the profession which you liavc assumed. 1 am aware that the bare mention of these, as attributes of the Christian ministry (especially when exercised among Protestant dissenters,) may provoke a smile: we contend, however, that if the dignity of an employment is to be estimated, not by the glitter of external appearances, but by the magnitude and duration of the consequences involved in its success, the ministerial function is an high and honourable one. Though it is not permitted us to magnify ourselves, we may be allowed to magnify our office; and, indeed, the juster the apprehensions we entertain of what belongs to it, the deeper the conviction we shall feel of our defects. Independently of every other consideration, that office cannot be mean which the Son of God condescended to sustain: for The word which we preach Jirst began to be spoken by the Lord; and, while he sojourned upon earth, that Prince of life was chiefly employed in publishing his own relisjion. That office cannot be mean, whose end is tl)e reoovery of man to his original purity and happiness — the illumination of the understanding — the communication of truth — and the production of principles w hicli will bring forth fruit unto everlasting life. As the material part of the creation was formed for the sake of the immaterial; and of the latter the most momentous characteristic is its moral and account, able nature, or, in other words, its capacity of virtue and of vice; that labour cannot want dignity, which is exerted in improving man in his highest character, and fitting him for his eternal destination. Here alone is certainty and durability: for, however highly we may esteem the arts and sciences, which polish our species, and promote the welfare of society; whatever reverence we may feel, and ought to feel, for those laws and institutions whence it derives the security necessary for enabling it to enlarge its resources and develope its energies, we cannot forget that these are but the embellishments of a scene, we must shortly quit — the decorations of a theatre, from which the eager spectators and appla’ided actors must soon retire. The end of all things is at hand. Vanity is inscribed on every earthly pursuit, on all sublunary labour; its materials, its instruments, and its objects will alike perish. An incurable taint of mortality has seized upon, and will consume them ere long. The acquisitions derived from religion, the graces of a renovated mind, are alone permanent. This is the mystic inclosure, rescued from the empire of change anti death; this the field which the Lord has blessed; arid this word of the kingdom, the seed which alone produces immortal fruit, the very bread of life, with which, under a higher economy, the Lamb in the midst of the throne, will feed his flock and leplenish his elect, through eternal ages. How high antr awful a function is that which proposes to establish in the soul an interior dominion- — to illuminate its powers by a celestial light — and introduce it to an intimate, ineffable, and unchanging alliance with the Father of Spirits. What an honour to be employed as the instrument of conducting that mysterious process by which men are born of God; to expel from the heart the venom of the old serpent; to purge the conscience from invisible stains of guilt; to release the passions from the bondage of corruption, and invite them to soar aloft into the regions of uncreated light and beauty; to say to the prisoners, go forth, to them that are in darkness, shew yourselves, These are the fruits which arise from the successful discharge of the Christian ministry; these the effects of the gospel, wherever it becomes the power of God unto salvation: and the interests which they create, the joy which they diffuse, are felt in other worlds.

In insisting on the dignity attached to the ministerial office, it is far from my intention to supply fuel to vanity, or suggest such ideas of yourself as shall tempt you to lord it over God’s heritage. Let the importance of your station be rather felt and acnowledged in its beneficial results, than ostentatiously displayed; and the consciousness of it, instead of being suffered to evaporate in authoritative airs and pompous pretensions, produce a concentration of your powers. If the great Apostle was content to be a helper of the joy, without claiming dominion over the faith of his converts, how far should we be from advaneiug such a claim. If he served the Lord with humility and many tears; if he appeared among the churches which he planted, in fear, and in weakness, and with much trembling, we may learn how possible it is to combine, with true dignity, the most unasiuming deportment, and the deepest conviction of our weakness and unworthiness, with a vigorous discharge of whatever belongs to the apostolic much more to the pastoral office. The proper use to be made of such considerations as have now been suggested is, to stir up the gift which is in ws, to apply ourselves to our work I with becoming resolution, and anticipate, in dependance on the divine blessing, important effects. The moment we permit ourselves to think lightly of the Christian ministry, our right arm is withered; nothing but imbecility and relaxation remains. For no man ever excelled in a profession to which he did not feel an attachment bordering on enthusiasm; though what in other professions is enthusiasm, isj in ours, the dictate of sobriety and truth.

5. Recollect for your encouragement, the reward that awaits the faithful minister. Such is the mysterious condescension of divine grace, that although it reserves to itself the exclusive honour of being the fountain of all, yet, by the employment of human agency in the completion of its designs, it contrives to multiply its gifts, and to lay a foundation for eternal rewards. When the church, in the perfection of beauty, shall be presented to Christ, as a bride adorned for her husband, tha faithful pastor will appear as the friend of the bridegroom, who greatly rejoices because of the bridegrooms voice. His joy will be the joy of his Lord, inferior in degree, but of the same nature, and arising from the same sources: while he will have the peculiar happiness of reflecting that he has contributed to it; contributed, as an humble instrument, to that glory and felicity of which he will be conscious he is utterly unworthy to partake. To have been himself the object of mercy, to have been the means of imparting it to others, and of dispensing the unsearchable, riches of Christ, will produce a pleasure which can never be adequately felt or understood, until we see him as he is. From that oneness of spirit, from that inseparable conjunction of interest, which will then be experienced in its utmost extent, will arise a capacity of sharing the triumph of the Redeemer, and of participating in the delight with which he will survey his finished work, when a new and fairer creation shall arise out of the ruins of the first. And is this the end, he will exclaim, of all my labours, my toils, and watchings, my expostulation with sinners, and my efforts to console the faithful! and is this the issue of that ministry under which I was often ready to sink! and this the glory, of which I heard so much, understood so little, and announced to my hearers with lisping accents, and a stammering tongue! well might it be styled the glory to he revealed. Auspicious day! on which I embarked in this undertaking, on which the love of Christ, with a sweet and sacred violence, impelled me to feed his sheep and to feed his lambs. With what emotion shall we, who being entrusted with so holy a ministry, shall find mercy to be faithful, hear that voice from heaven. Rejoice and be glad, and give honour to him / for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready, With what rapture shall we recognize, amidst an innumerable multitude, the seals of our ministry, the persons whom we have been the means of conducting to that glory!

Hence we discern the futility of the objection against the doctrine of future rewards, drawn from an apprehension, that to be actuated by such a motive, argues a mean and mercenary disposition; since the reward to which we aspire, in this instance at least, grows out of the employment in which we are engaged, and will consist in enjoyments which can only be felt and perceived by a refined and elevated spirit. The success of our undertaking will, in reality, reward itself, by the complete gratification it will afl:ord to the sentiments of devotion and benevolence, which, in their highest perfection, form the principal ingredient in future felicity. To have co-operated in any degree towards the accomplishment of that purpose of the jyeiiy, to reconcile all things to himself, by reducing tlicm to the obedience of his Sou: which is the ultimate end of all his works; to be the means of recovering, though it were but an inconsiderable portion of a lapsed and degenerate race to eternal happiness, will yield a satisfaction exactly commensurate to the force of our benevolent seutiments, and the degree of our loyal attachment to the Supreme Potentate. The consequences involved in saving a soul from death, and hiding a multiUide of sins, will be duly appreciated in that world where the worth of souls, and the malignity of sin, are fully understood; while, to extend the triumphs of the Redeemer, by forming him in the hearts of men, will produce a transport which can only be equalled by the gratitude and love we shall feel towards the Source of all our good.

Before I close this discourse, which has, perhaps, already detained you too long, let me suggest one reflection which so naturally arises from the view we have taken of the ministerial office, that I cannot think it right to pass it over in silence. The consideration to which we allude, respects the advantages possessed by the Christian minister for the cultivation of personal piety. Blessed is the man, said the royal Psalmist, whom thou choosestf and caiisest to approach unto thee: blessed are they who dwell in thy house, they will he still praising thee. If he was so strongly ioipressed with a conviction of the high privilege annexed to the priesthood, by virtue of its being allowed a nearer approach to God, in the services of the sanctuary, the situation of a Christian minister is not less distinguished, nor less desirable It is the only one, in which our general calling as Christians, and our particu-, lar calling as men, perfectly coincide. In a life occupif’d in actions that terminate in the present moment, and in cares and pursuits, extremely disproportionate to the dignity of our nature, but rendered necessary by the imperfection of our state; it is but little of their time that the greater part of mankind can devote to the direct and immediate pursuit of their eternal interests, A few remnants, snatched from the business of life, is all that most can bestow. In our profession, the full force and vigour of the mind may be exerted on that which will employ it for ever; on religion, the final centre of repose; the goal to which all things tendj which gives to time all its importance, to eternity all its glory: apart from which man is a shadow, his very existence a riddle, and the stupendous scenes which surround him, as incoherent and unmeaning as the leaves which the Sybil scattered in the wind. Our inaptitude to be affected in any measure proportioned to the intrinsic value of the interest in which we are concerned, and the objects with which we are conversant, is partly to lie ascribed to the corruption of nature, partly to the limitation of our faculties. As far as this disproportion is capable of being corrected, the pursuits connected with our office, are unquestionably be.st adapted to that purpose, by closely fixing the attention on objects, which can never be contemned, but in consequence of being forgotten; nor ever surveyed with attention, without filling the whole sphere of vision. Though the scene of our labour is on earth, the things to which it relates subsist in eternity. We can give no account of our office, much less discharge any branch of it with propriety and eifect, without adverting to a future state of being; while in a happy exemption from the tumultuous cares of life, our only concern with mankind, as far as it respects our official character, is to promote their everlasting welfare: our only business on earth, the very same that employs those exalted spirits, who are sent forth on embassies of mercy, to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation. Our duties and pursuits are distinguished from all others by their immediate relation to the ultimate end of human existence; so that while secular employments can be rendered innocent only by an extreme care to avoid the pollutions which they are so liable to contract, the ministerial functions bear an indelible impress of sanctity. The purposes accomplished by the uiinistry of the gospel, in the restoration of a ililleu creature to the image of bis Maker, are not among the things ichich were made for man: they are the things {^r which man teas made; since, without regard to time or place, they arc essential to his perfection and happinesis. How much of heaven is naturally connected with an office whose sole purpose is to conduct man

thither! and what a superiority to the love of the world may be expected from men who are appointed to publish that dispensation which reveals its danger, detects its vanity, rebukes its disorders, and foretels its destruction!

He must know little of the world, and still less of his own heart, who is not aware how difficult it is, amidst the corrupting examples with which it abounds, to maintain the spirit of devotion unimpaired, or to preserve, in their due force and delicacy, these vivid moral impressions, that quick perception of good, and instinctive abhorrence of evil, which form the chief characteristic of a pure and elevated mind. These, like the morning dew, are easily bruslied off in the collisions of worldly interest, or exhaled by the meridian sun. Hence the necessity of frequent intervals of retirement, when the mind may recover its scattered powers, and renew its strength by a devout application to the Fountain of all grace.

To the ordinary occupations of life we are rather indebted for the triil of our virtue, than for the matter, or the motive; and, however criminal it would h^ to neglect them, in our present state, they can ottly be reduced under the dominion of icligion, by a general intention of pleasing God,

But, in carrying into effect the designs of the gos pel, we are communicating that pure element of good, which, like the solar light, pervades every part of the universe, and forms, there is every reason to believe, the most essential ingredient in the felicity of all created beings.

If in the actual commerce of the world, the noblest principles are often sacrificed to mean expedients, and the rules of moral rectitude made to bend to the indulgence of vain and criminal passions, how happy for us that we are under the necessity of contemplating them in th»^ir abstiact grandeur, of viewing them a an emaaation of the divine beauty; as the immutable law f the creation, erabodied in the character of the Saviour, and illustrated in the elevated sentiments, the holy lives, and triumphant deaths, of prophets, saints and martyrs. IVe are called, every moment, to ascend to first principles, to stand in the coimcil of God and to imbibe the dictates of celestial wisdom in ih’iv first communication, before they become debased, and contaminated by a mixture with grosser elements.

The bane of human happiness is ordinarily not so much an absolute ignorance of what is best, a.^ an inattention to it, accompanied with an habit of not adverting to prospects the most certain, and the most awful. But how can we be supposed to contract this inadvertence, who are incessantly engaged in placing truth in every possible light, tracing it in its utmost extent, and exhibiting it in all its evidence? Can we be supposed to forget that day., and that hour, of which no man knoweth, who are stationed as watchmen to give the alarm, to announce the first symptoms of danger, and to cry in the ears of a sleeping world, ‘* behold the bridegroom cometh:” or, however inattentive others may be to the approach of our Lord, can it ever vanish from our minds, who are detained by him in his sanctuary, on purpose to preserve it pure, to trim the golden lamps, and maintain the hallowed fire, that he may find nothing neglected, or in disorder, when he shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom we delight in P

Men are ruined in their eternal interests, by failing to look within; by being so absorbed in the pursuit of external good, as to neglect the state of their hearts. But can this be supposed to be the case with us, who must never hope to discharge our office with effect, without an intimate acquaintance with the inward man — without tracing the secret operations of nature and of grace — without closely inspecting the causes of revival, and of decay, in the spiritual life, and detecting the most secret springs, and sable artifices of temptation; in all which, we shall be successful, just in proportion to the degree of devout attention we bestow on the movements of our own minds.

Men are ruined in their eternal interests by living as though they were their own, and neglecting to realize the certainty of a future account. But it must surely require no small effort, to divert our attention from this truth, who have not only the same interest in it with others, hut in consequence of the care of souls, possess a responsibility of a distinct and awful character; since not one of those to whom that care extends, can fall short of salvation through our neglect, or default, but his blood will be required at our hands. Where, in short, can we turn our eyes, without meeting with incentives to piety; what part of the sacred function can we touch, which will not remind us of the beauty of holiness, the evil of sin, and the emptiness of all sublunary good; or, where we shall not find ourselves in a temple, resounding with awful voices, and filled with holy inspirations?

I feel a pleasing conviction, that, in consequence of deriving from your ministry that spiritual aid it is so adapted to impart, both your piety and usefulness will continue to increase, and by being intimately incorporated, aid and strengthen each other: so that your profiting shall appear unto all men, and while you are watering others, you yourself shall be abundantly watered of God. Thus will you be enabled to adopt the language of the beloved Apostle, That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have loolced tipon, and our hands have handled of the wofd of life, declare we unto you. Thus will you possess that unction, from which your hearers cannot fail, under the divine blessing, of reaping the highest benefit; for while we are exploring the mines of revelation, for the purpose of exhibiting to mankind the unsearchable riches of Christ, we are not in the situation of those unhappy men, who merely toil for the advantage of others, and dare not appropriate to themselves an atom of that precious ore, on which their labour is employed: we are permitted and invited, first to enrich ourselves, and the more we appropriate, the njore shall we impart. It is my earnest prayer, my dear brother, that you may feed the church of the Lord which he has purchased with his own blood ,* that you may make full proof of your ministry; be instant in season and out of season; teach, exhort, and rebuke, with all long-suffering and authority. Then, should you be spared to your flock, you will witness the fruit of your labours in a spiritual plantation, growing under your hand, adorned with trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified; and while neglecting worldly considerations, you are intent on the high ends of your calling, inferior satisfactions will not be wanting, but you will meet, among the seals of your ministry, with fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers. Or should your career be prematurely cut short, you will have lived long enou£;h to answer the purposes of your being, and to leave a record in the consciences of your hearers, which will not suffer you soon to be forgotten. Though dead, you will still speak; you will speak from the tomb; it may be, in accents more powerful and persuasive, than your living voice could command.*

* Of this we have a striking instance in the premature death of the late Mr. Spencer, of Liverpool. The sensition excited by the sudden removal of that extraordinary young man, accompanied with such affecting’ circumstances, has not subsided, nor abated as we are informed, much of its force. The event which has drawn so great a degree of attention, has been well improved in several excellent discourses on the occasion. The unequalled admiration he excited while living, and the deep and universal concern expressed at his death, demonstrate him to have been no ordinary chai-acter; but one of these rare specimens of human nature, which the great Author of it produces at distant intervals, and exhibits for a moment, while he is hastening to make them up amongst his jewels. The high hopes entertai&ed of this admirable youth, and the shock approaching to consternation, occasioned by his death, will, proba* bly, remind the classical reader of the inimitable lines of Virgil on Marcellus.

O nate, ingentem luctum ne quaere tuorum.

Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata, neque ultra

Esse sinent.

The writer of this deeply regrets his never having had an opportunity of witnessing his extraordinary powers; but from all he has heard froijn the best judges, he can entertain no doubt, that his talents in the pulpit were unrivalled, and that had his life been spared, he would, in all probability, have carried the talent of preaching to a greater perfection than it ever attained, at least, in this kingdom. His eloquence appears to have been of the purest stamp, effective, not ostentatious, consisting less in the striking preponderance of any one quality, requisite to form a public speaker, than in an exquisite combination of them all; whence rtsulted an extraordinary power of impression, which was greatly aided by a natural and majestic elocution. To these eminent endowments, Ire added, from the unanimous testimony of those who knew him best, humility and modesty; which, while they concealed a great part of his excellencies from himself, rendered them the more engaging and attractive. When we reflect on these circumstances, we need the leis wonder at the passionate concern excited by his death. For it may truly be said, of him, as of St. Stephen, that devout men made great lamentation over him. May the impressions produced by the event never be effaced; and above all, may it have the effect of engaging such as arc embarked in the Christian ministry, to toork rvhile it i« called to-day.