Thirdly, In faithfulness in his business. This is the last branch of your duty to your master; and since Moses has obtained an honourable testimony on this account, be you also faithful in all his house, Heb. iii. 5. You may find this, as indeed all the qualifications of a good servant, described by St Paul, Tit. ii. 10. Not purloining, says he, but shewing all fidelity. You are charged not to purloin, i. e. not to keep back from your master, not to put into your own pocket, nor convert to your own use, any of that money which, in the way of trade, passes through your hands. You were taught from your childhood to keep your hands from picking and stealing, and I hope you abhor such abominable practices from the bottom of your heart. You must not sell at a cheaper, and buy at a dearer rate, in order to have some valuable consideration made you privily in your own person. These differ from robbing on the highway (they are flagrant acts of dishonesty, and will cry to heaven for vengeance) only in being less open and notorious. Such tricks and villanous devices do the same thing by craft and treachery, as housebreakers do by force and violence. Therefore, dear brother, renounce, detest, and fly from them as much as from fire, arrows, and death. Besides, you are not only to abstain from such clandestine knavery, but also to shew all good fidelity. What is meant by this you may understand by reading how Joseph conducted himself in Potiphar's service. Your master, it is likely, will commit the management of some of his affairs to you; and you must endeavour, by a discreet behaviour, and a pious life, to bring the blessing of the Lord upon all that you take in hand. You must lay out your time and your labour, and give all diligence to answer the trust reposed in you. You must not delay the business which is urgent, nor do your work by halves, nor transfer that to others which is expected you should do yourself. The slothful man, says Solomon, is brother to him that is a great waster; therefore you must avoid idleness, and

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carelessness. In a word, you must do nothing knowingly and wilfully that is likely to impoverish your master, but seek by all lawful and laudable means to increase his substance. All this you must observe, not only when he stands by you, and inspects you, but when his back is turned, and you are removed from his view; otherwise your service is nothing but eye-service, such as will prove odious to man, and is already condemned by God. For if you appear to be industrious, and in earnest, before your master, but to loiter and trifle when out of his sight, you will be chargeable with hypocrisy; a sin extremely hateful to Christ, and grievously pernicious to the soul. But I am afraid I tire you; this one sentence, therefore, and I have done. You must carry yourself, throughout the whole course of your apprenticeship, so respectfully, so obediently, so faithfully, that at the end of it you may truly say with Jacob, with all my power I have served your father. I had more to write, but will send you (if you care to accept it) the remainder some other time. May God bless you all, and your affectionate brother, &c.

LETTER VII.

Dummer, June 29. 1737. MY DEAR FRIENDS, the inhabitants of Collingtree, near Northampton,

I RECEIVED the letter wrote in your name, and signed with your hands, and was very well pleased with its contents. I am glad that you are all in good health, and am obliged to you for retaining so honourable a remembrance of an unworthy youth. Your desire to have a careful clergyman settled among you, is perfectly right and laudable. But I fear you make an over-favourable and mistaken judgment, when you imagine me to be such a one, and pitch upon me for that purpose. However, letting this pass, it is, I say, well and wisely done of you, to be solicitous in this matter. For a minister is a person

of the greatest importance imaginable; his office is of the most universal concernment; and his demeanour therein of the most beneficial or prejudicial tendency. Beneficial, if he be able, faithful, and watches for his people's souls, as one that must give account. Prejudicial, if he be unskilful, inactive, and unconcerned about the spiritual welfare of his people. The things that pertain to salvation, and the means of obtaining everlasting life, are lodged in his hands. He is the steward of the mysteries of Christ, and so the guardian (under divine grace) of your best and most abiding interests. If through ignorance he mismanage, or through idleness neglect this weighty trust, it may be the ruin of immortal souls; whereas, if he be both discreet and diligent in his holy vocation, he may be the instrument of the richest benefits to those committed to his charge. His praying to God, and his preaching to them, may be attended with such a blessing from on high, as will fill them with heavenly wisdom, form them to true holiness, and fit them for the future glory. Benefits these, not inconsiderable or momentary, but such as are great beyond all expression, and lasting to eternity. For these reasons, it will be your wisdom and your happiness to procure a pastor whose life is exemplary; whose doctrine is sound; whose heart is warm with zeal for God; and whose bowels yearn with compassion for men. If your bones were broken, or if you were brought to death's door by the force of some violent disease, you would not be content with the prescription of a quack, but seek out for the best advice. If your wives were in hard labour; if the children were come to the birth, and there was not strength to bring forth, you would not spare to ride for the most experienced midwife. Oh! be as prudent and careful for the salvation of your souls, which endure for ever, as you are for the life of your bodies, which is but as a vapour. member that you are sick of sin, sadly disordered by sundry corruptions, and must necessarily be cured

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before you go hence and are no more seen. Remember that you must be regenerated and born again, or you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. And be not willing to trust such matters, which are of infinite and everlasting moment, to the management of any that comes next.

Now, that you may be the better able to make a right choice in this important particular, I will lay before you two or three of the distinguishing characters of a true minister. First, He has a tolerable stock of knowledge: Though not enough to explain all mysteries, or to answer every perplexing question, yet enough to make himself and his hearers wise unto salvation. He may be ignorant of many things, without much disparagement to himself, or prejudice to his people; but he must be acquainted with, and able to teach others, all that is necessary for them to know. Secondly, He has not only some understanding, but some experience also, in the way of godliness. He has learned to subdue, in some measure, the pride of his nature, and to be humble in his own eyes, and not fond of applause from others. He has broke the impetuosity of his passion, and generally possesses his soul in patience; or if, upon some very ungrateful and provoking usage, he cannot calm his temper, yet he can curb his tongue; and though his spirit be ruffled, yet his words will be gentle. He is most commonly meek, after the manner of his blessed Master, and will always return blessing for cursing, according to his holy command. He has often looked into the shortness of time, and the length of eternity; he has weighed the greatness and richness of heaven, with the insignificant and despicable meanness of earth; and discovers such a mighty difference, as helps him to live above the world, even while he is in it. So that he is no lover of filthy lucre, no hunter of carnal pleasures, but his hopes, his desires, and all his views of happiness, are hid with Christ in God. He is courteous and condescending, and will stoop with the utmost

cheerfulness to the lowest person in his parish. He will be affable and kind, and seek to please, not himself, but his neighbours, for their good to edification. But you must not expect to find him trifling or ludicrous; he will not preach to you on the Sunday, and play with you on the week-days, but carry the spirit of his sermons into his ordinary conversation. He will maintain an uniform gravity of behaviour, without suffering it to be frozen into moroseness, or thawed into levity. He will love his parishioners, not for their agreeable persons or amiable qualities, but because they are redeemed by the blood of Christ. It will be his business and constant endeavour, I had almost said his meat and drink, to set forward their salvation; that, by their being made meet for the inheritance of saints in light, his crucified Lord may see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied. He will never forget the importunate request of his Saviour, but those winning and commanding words, "Feed my sheep, feed my lambs," will be engraven upon the tables of his heart. To fulfil this earnest request, and execute this last charge of his dearest Redeemer, will be the fixed and invariable scope of all his designs. If at any time he hits this desirable mark, by bringing home to the fold any that have gone astray, he will be as glad as one that findeth great spoils. To see the people of his care persisting in profaneness, sensuality, and an unconverted state, will be the greatest grief that he feels: but to see his children walking in the truth, mortifying their evil affections, and growing up in goodness as the calves of the stall, this will be his joy and crown of rejoicing; better to him than thousands of silver and gold. It is his work to win souls; and by the former of these qualifications he is fitted for it, by the latter he is wholly devoted to it. And, in order to prosecute it with the greater success, he will first take heed to himself, that his life be a fair and beautiful transcript of his doctrine, such as may remind men of, and be daily