be less vigilant than the poet. The deceased, too, must be wrapt under the turf; the poor relieved, the desponding cherished, and the lawless admonished. The office of a moral shepherd in the climes of the west, is like that of the sun-burnt shepherd in the climes of the east. The latter sought the refreshing fountain; he went after the flock when it strayed beyond the purlieus of the pasture; and when the meadow was consumed by drought, he searched for fresh knolls of verdure amidst sylvan shades, or on the mountain's slopes:

"Where round the lofty rock's majestic

brow,

Luxuriant foliage twines, and flow'rets

blow;

Amidst the clifts, unnumber'd shrubs appear,

Or murm'ring riv'lets soothe the shep

herd's ear.

Whilst aromatic herbs perfume the gale, And vines and olives crown the fertile vale."

But if there be a diversity in ministerial duties, there is also a diversity in the pursuits of those whom the ministry address. Burns, in his vision of Coila, vindicates the office of the poet; an office held

sacred before the flood had subverted the original frame-work of the world. Montgomery has shown a poet, chanting in lofty numbers on an antediluvian lyre. Men are apt to follow the bent of their genius. Some till the earth, others plough the deep. Some engage in war, others delight in commerce. ply the steeps of science, others rove along the primrose path of letters. Plato and Epicurus sheltered themselves under the grove of philosophy. Horace sought

Some

amusement from his Sabine farm. Virgil would have relinquished all his possessions, for some hermitage more peaceful than his domains could supply. But Napoleon sought happiness in traversing the sands of the Nile, or in essaying to build a green-house for his empire amid the snows of the north.

Christianity, if inspired, must be a system intended for all countries and all pursuits. The earth is cantoned out, and put into the possession of distinct tribes. If all the clans of the world were to send each a representative to a general council, we may suppose that such a council would present many points of discrepancy. But were they all to take back the Christian system to their respective tribes, they would take back a system suited to man in all his pursuits. The purity of its morals has extorted an unwilling testimony, even from its opposers; whether it be suited to men in a degraded condition, is no longer a dubious question. This question can be easily answered among the huts of Greenland, or among the savannahs of the West Indies; you may find an answer in rounding the capes of Africa; we may read largely of books of Moravian ministers, and the influence of Christianity in the there are no earthly volumes more delightful to the pious mind.

callings, it is equally clear that But whilst men pursue various they are placed in various ranks.

All understand the antithetical distribution of men into princes and peasants, beggars and kings. We authority, which injunction seems are commanded to pray for all in eventually to control the passions to look as if Christianity intended of kings. The apostle sometimes stood before those who wore the im

perial purple; but how quickly could he veil his intellectual greatness, and appear before some poverty-stricken habitation, an embodied image of Christian lowliness. There is scarcely any view of the ministerial office so apposite, as to consider it in the light of a moral martyrdom; we mean not the martyrdom of the stake. The chains of persecution have been melted, link by link, in the glow of

* See Campbell's Travels in South Africa.

ing their tombs, and when they lie down in them they cease to dream. The key of the sepulchre lies useless by the side of the mouldering arm. The heavens may smile in gladness, but their blue spots are unnoticed in the grave. Spring may renew the foliage of the willow, or autumn may cover the earth with yellow leaves, but to them who sleep in death, the rise of a kingdom is no more than the vernal birth of a flower, and the decay of an empire, no more than the autumnal fall of a leaf. Thunder is no more heard in the grave, than the sheep bell at the evening hour

"The storm that wrecks the winter's sky, No more disturbs their deep repose Than summer evening's latest sigh

That shuts the rose."

But look away from the grave* to that eternity in which men wil! speedily be involved, and we need not wonder that the apostle should have been wrought upon by affection for the multitudes he addressed. We may suppose, for a moment, that the existence of all men is to end with their natural life; then would there be no necessity, comparatively, for the extension of the Christian system. Then might the apostle have continued with propriety at the feet of his Jewish master, and wrought sedulously in the mine of Hebrew Learning. He might have continued to be the favourite of the tribe of Benjamin, or the idol of an unbelieving nation. But Christianity had so influenced him as to fill his heart with exuberant tenderness to men, simply because men were immortal. Under this influence, in defiance of the vengeance of kings, he shed the tints of holiness, taken

* We know of no better didactic poem

than the Grave, by Blair, of Athelstaneford. It is severely handled by the trans

lator of Lowth's Lectures on Hebrew Poetry. Were criticismn our object, it would be easy to show that the animadversions of the translator are groundless.

from objects within the veil on high, over the vast spaces of the Roman empire. That empire then comprehended the northern shores of Africa; it encircled the waves of the Persian gulf and the Caspian sea: it coursed through the snows of Scandinavia, and clasped in its gigantic arms the pillars of Hercules. To one and the same metropolis, on the Tiber, the Druid sent forward his sylvan hatchet, the Lydian collected his offering from the sands of Pactolus, and the Jew from the bed of the Jordan: and last but not least, Athens entwined her olive wreath around the brows of the Cæsars. But it is clear that Christianity introduced rapid changes into the religious systems of the empire.* In the time of Pliny, the temples of Paganism were emptied of worshippers, and in introducing these changes, Paul had no slight agency. His affections were not what Byron calls a fountain watering the desert. He has those among his successors in the ministry, even at this day, who are willing to copy his example. They watch for souls in the far off wilderness, while the clarion of renown is sounding aloud the ascension of others to the hill of fame. These men are happy, though they have given up the lucrative employments of life. Men take pains, with a view to gain inferior objects. The miner is buried for years from the sight of his fellow men, the mariner visits all climes, and the Indian hunts whole moons together in search of game. Why then should the ministry plead exemption from toils? Why this anxiety about the place where we labour, rather than about the fidelity with which we labour? all this, too, when the nightfall of death is precipitating itself upon the people.

Having indulged in these gene

* See Gibbon's History, and Bishop Watson's Reply.

ral views, we shall state definitely, what this rule requires of the ministry. It requires the consecration of intellectual gifts to the good of the human species. A man who has become eminent may find some difficulty in occasionally laying aside his learning, that he may be useful to the ignorant. Any one can see that it would be more difficult in a man of commanding intellect, like Bishop Horseley,* to comply with this rule, than for a man of the comparatively moderate abilities by which Bishop Wilson was distinguished. He who could call Sir Joseph Banks a mere amateur in science, must have had no common view of his own understanding. But however large the attainments of a minister, it is his duty to devote these attainments to usefulness. There is no person more worthy to be shunted than the advocate of Christianity. who becomes stately from applause. On the contrary, there is no object more worthy of veneration than the minister whose studies are all consecrated to the good of men. Such a minister was Watts, of whom it was said, that he hurried, with all his attainments, to the service of the sanctuary.†

This rule requires the ministry to be watchful over their conduct. They ought to adopt any course of action which is likely to draw men to give attention to their eternal interests. We mean, certainly, any conduct which does not involve in it the absence of principle. Far be it from us to approve the determination of those ministers, who, from incorrect views of this rule, join in the revels of the

* Warburton was a man of strong intellect, but he advises Doddridge to write no more practical works. His words are "The learned claim you."

The reader may find a model for a minister, either in the memoirs of Professor Francke, of Halle, or in the life of Oberlin, pastor of the Ban de la Roche.

licentious, in the song of festivity, in the pleasures of the chace, and in the sports of the field. Such make themselves all things to all men, that they may lose all and gain none. But that minister accomodates himself to this injunction who daily watches over his words and actions, in his intercourse with society. Anxiety is seen in his countenance, and he is always giving attention to the welfare of the people. He stands on an elevation, but he is kind to all, condescending to all, for his Saviour's sake. There is a fountain in Egypt always cool at noon, but warm at midnight. If partial coldness pass over his heart amid the cares of the day, you may hear him confessing it at the midnight hour. Of such a man you may demand any thing, save that which implies moral dereliction.

This rule ought, at least to some good degree, to subdue the prejudices of the ministry.* They are subject to like passions with other men. In their intercouse with society, they meet with diversity of opinion, and have often to encounter conflicting sentiments. church

The

is divided into many branches. We would not inculcate that latitudinarianism for which our times are distinguished. If we love any thing, it is that part of the church in which we were born. Still, the heart of the minister must love all, if he would gain some.

There is a flush on his af

dices too easily. Robertson became the * Some ministers surrender their prejucorrespondent of infidels. But nothing better could be expected of the man who writes, in one of his letters, that he would prefer giving up the ministry, that he might exclusively devote himself to historical literature. Swift must have looked like a stray sheep in the pulpit. Sterne was fond of the race-field. Alas, poor Yorick! Maturin said that his sermons sold badly, and therefore he wrote novels that would sell. H. Martyn, L. Richmond, and Wolfe, surrendered prejudices, but not their prejudices against vice.

fections, wider than that which spreads itself over an evening sky. He may not be a follower of Wesley, but Wesley left the footprints of his zeal on our southern sands. He may not be a follower of Luther, but Luther dismembered the compact realms of the Pope. He may not be a follower of Cranmer, but the fires which consumed him are always gleaming on the page of England's eventful story. He may not be a follower of Calvin, but the Genevese reformer influenced all the cabinets of Europe, and Mont Blanc is not more lofty in nature than was his genius in morals.

The people may be broken into denominations, but Bishop Burnet, after journeying on the continent, said, that among them all, he found good and pious men of different sects of Christians. We cannot feel any thing but what is expressed in the sentiment of the poet :

"Distinct as the billows, but one as the sea."

This apostolick rule requires of the ministry to aim at the salvation of all men. We may find an illustration of its influence, in that zeal which prompts many to undertake perilous missionary labours. Difficult these labours certainly must be, but when Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, he was rewarded by the fragrant spices of India. Happy men! they overtake the Arab on his oasis. They meet the Persian in his citron grove. They bend in company

*The writer can sincerely recommend to the reader a little work, entitled Hints on Missions, by James Douglas, Esq. He is not prepared to acquiesce in all the views of that distinguished author, but the literary reader will be gratified by the novel and ingenious discussions of his work. These Hints are not to be less valued, because they come from a layman. Addison, Boyle, and Beattie, declined the clerical office, because, as laymen, their testimony in favour of Christianity, might appear

more disinterested.

1. It is irreconcilable with the plain and reiterated testimonies of scripture.

2. It removes no difficulties, alleged to belong to the contrary scheme, but increases them in number and magnitude.

1. It is irreconcilable with scripture, which teaches variously and explicitly, that Christ's obedience unto death was vicarious. This the whole system of sacrifice plainly taught, and was designed to teach. We take it as admitted, that sacrifice was of divine institution, and designed to prefigure the death of Christ. "Without shedding of blood is no remission ;" and the benefit had special respect to the person, or persons, for whom the offering was made. Every pious offerer connected with his sacrifice the confession of his sins, and thus obtained the remission which his sacrifice was the instituted means of obtaining. Substi