portance; and he who contributes any thoughts that may be of even inconsiderable value in themselves, is doing something to serve his generation. Believing that the edition of the sermons of Davies now issued will have an extensive circulation, it is not denied that the hope is cherished, in making these suggestions, to reach some minds that could not otherwise be accessible, and to do something to elevate the prevailing views of the sacredness and the importance of the office of the Christian ministry. The suggestions are submitted with deference, particularly to those who are candidates for this high office, and who are inquiring with solicitude what shall be the great object of their aim in the work to which they have devoted their lives.

It has been comparatively rare, in this world, that any individual has embarked on life, or on any enterprize, with a determined purpose to see how much could be done by the utmost efforts of which the mind and the body could be made capable. Occasionally such an individual has appeared; and appeared to astonish us no less by the vastness and the success of his own efforts, than by the proof which he has thus furnished of the imbecility, and indolence, and wasted talents of the great mass of mankind. Such a man was Howard-living to make "full proof" of how much could be done in a single object of benevolence. "The energy of his determination," it has been said, "was the calmness of an intensity kept uniform by the nature of the human mind forbidding it to be more, and by the character of the individual forbidding it to be less. The habitual passion of his mind was a measure of feeling almost equal to the temporary extremes and paroxysms of common minds; as a great river, in its customary state, is equal to a small or moderate one when swollen to a torrent.' Such a man, in a far different department, was Napoleon; living to illustrate the power of great talents concentrated on a single object, and making "full proof" of the terrible energy of the single passion of ambition. Such a man, too, was the short-lived Alexander; and, in a different sphere, such a man was Paul; and, to a considerable extent, such a man was Whitfield. But, compared with the immense

• Foster's Essay on "Decision of Character."

multitude of minds which have existed on the earth, such instances, for good or for evil, have been rare. A part has been sunk in indolence from which no motives would rouse them. Part have been wholly unconscious of their own powers. Part have never been placed in circumstances to call forth their energies, or have not been endowed with original power to create such circumstances, or to start a plan that should require such concentrated efforts to complete it. Part have never been under the right influence, in the process of training, to make "full proof" of the powers of the soul; part have wasted their talents in wild and visionary schemes, unconscious of the waste, or of the main error of their life, till life was too far gone to attempt to repair the loss;-some are thwarted by a rival; some meet with discouragements, are early disheartened, and give up all effort in despair. Most reach the close of life, feeling, if they have any right feeling, that they have accomplished almost nothingthe good usually with the reflection, that if they ever accomplish much, it must now be in a higher state of being. Even Grotius, one of the most laborious and useful of men, is said to have exclaimed, near the close of his life, "Proh vitam perdidi, operosè nihil agendo."

What I have remarked of individual powers, is true also of associated intellects, and of institutions designed to act on mankind. Full proof has never yet been made of the power of the church to sanctify and save the world; of the Bible to elevate the human intellect, to purify the heart, and to change the social habits, laws, and morals of mankind; of the Sabbath to arrest the bad influences that set in upon man from the world, and to promote order, happiness, and salvation; and of the ministry to save souls from death. There has been a vast amount of undeveloped power in all these to affect mankind; and the past furnishes us in some bright periods with glimpses of what is yet to be the living reality, but the full proof remains to benefit and to bless some future age.

The qualifications for the Christian ministry, in all ages, and in all places, are essentially the same. The same great doctrines are to be preached; the same plan of salvation to be explained and defended; the same duties toward God, and toward man, in the various relations of life, to be inculcated. The hu

man heart is, in all ages, and climes, and nations, essentially the same; and men are everywhere to be saved in the same way. Man, "no matter whether an Indian, an Afiican," an European or an American sun has shone upon him, is a sinner. He comes into existence a fallen being. He enters on his immortal career ruined by the apostacy of the progenitor of the race. He commences life, certain that he will begin to sin as soon as he begins to act; and will sin on for ever in this world and the next, unless he is redeemed by atoning blood, and renewed and sanctified by the Spirit of God. For him there is no salvation but in the sacrifice of the Son of God in human nature-a vicarious offering for the sins of men. In that great Savior there is hope; in him there is full redemption; and by his merits only can a sinner be justified and stand before God.

Each successive generation is to be met with this gospel; and on each individual the influences of the Holy Ghost are to be sought, that his heart may be renewed, and his soul saved. The great system teaching the fall and ruin of man; the doctrine of the threefold existence of the divine nature; the incarnation and the atonement of the Son of God; the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit; the necessity of holy living; the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment, is to be proclaimed from age to age, and from land to land.

The first essential qualification for this work, everywhere and always, is PIETY. The minister should be a converted man. He should not merely be a moral man, or an amiable man, or a gifted man, or a learned man, or a serious-minded man, or a man desirous of being converted; he should be a regenerated man. He should have such evidence on that point as not to have his own mind embarrassed and perplexed on it; such as never to leave a doubt amounting to "a shadow of a shade" on the mind of others. He should have confidence in God. He should have no doubt of the truth of the system which he defends; he should have no doubt that God intends to bless that system of truth which he preaches to save the world. At all times; in all lands; in every variety of the fluctuating customs and laws among mankind, the ministers of the gospel should be "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves;" they should be "blameless, vigilant, sober, of good behavior"-or modest (marg.)—óμ

"given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine-μǹ áρovov -(marg. 'not ready to quarrel, and offer wrong as one in wine' -'not sitting long by wine,' Robinson); no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, not a brawler, not covetous; he should not be a novice (marg. 'one newly come to the faith'-viópurov); and he must have a good report of them which are without. In all ages and places, the ministers of the gospel are to preach the word; they are to be instant in season, out of season; they are to give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine(didaokaλía, teaching); they are to reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering; they are to be lovers of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; they are to follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness; they are to fight the good fight of faith, and to lay hold on eternal life; they are to watch in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of evangelists, make full proof of their ministry."

Never were the general qualifications of the ministry better drawn by an uninspired pen than in the well-known words of Cowper:

"Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul,

Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own,
Paul should himself direct me. I would trace
His master-strokes, and draw from his design;
I would express him simple, grave, sincere ;
In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain,
And plain in manner, decent, solemn, chaste,
And natural in gesture; much impressed
Himself, as conscious of his awful charge,
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds
May feel it too; affectionate in look,
And tender in address, as well becomes

A messenger of grace to guilty men."

TASK, B. II.

But while it is true that the qualifications for the Christian ministry are always essentially the same, it is also true that different countries, ages, and fields of labor require peculiar endowments in those who minister at the altar. Some great duty or class of duties in one age or country shall demand peculiarly to be inculcated; some gigantic form of wickedness is to be met and overthrown; some far-spreading and subtle error is to be de

tected and removed; some great enterprize for the welfare of man is to be originated, vindicated, and sustained; or some propensity of the age or country shall need to be counteracted and opposed by all the power and talent of the Christian ministry. In the times of the apostles, great energy of character was demanded; great self-denial and readiness to meet privation and danger; and great wisdom in standing up to oppose the systems of philosophy which had so long reigned over the human mind. A spirit of noble enterprize and bold daring was demanded, to cross seas and lands; to encounter perils and storms; to be ready to stand on trial before kings, and to meet death in any form, in such a way as to do honor to religion. The prevailing systems of religion were sustained by all the wisdom of philosophy, and by all the power of the civil arm; and the very boldness of the new preachers, their zeal, and disinterestedness, and consciousness of having the truth, was to strike dismay into the friends of idolatry, and under God to change the religion of the world. Such men were found in Paul and his fellow-laborers; men great in all the essential qualifications of the sacred office, and men peculiarly adapted to the times in which they lived. In subsequent times, to be a Christian was to be a martyr; to be a minister of religion was to be in the front ranks of those who constituted the great procession that was led to the rack or the stake; and the times demanded men of steady firmness of purpose and of unwavering confidence in God; men who could cheer their fellow-sufferers, and teach them how to die, as well as how to live; and such men in early times were found in Ignatius and Polycarp; in later times in Ridley and Latimer.

Again, subtle and profound systems of philosophy came into the church, and the simplicity of the faith began to be corrupted; and then was demanded the aid of men who could follow out the mazes of sophistry, and expose skilful error; and such men were found as Athanasius and Augustine; in later times such men as Horsly and Edwards. Times like the Reformation, also, demanded a peculiar order of ministers. All the other qualifications of almost every other age seemed to be required in combination. A spirit bold and firm to meet power and rebuke sin in the high places of ecclesiastical office, as well as on thrones; a readiness to meet martyrdom, and a patience in suf

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