we, while here, be familiar with the world to come Who would not wish to be found in Christ at last; not having his own righteousness, which is of the law; but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith? Who would not wish to have death, as well as life, among the inventory of his effects. Oh! that we were wise, that we understood this, that we would consider our latter end? Who would not stand on the right hand of the Judge, and hear him say, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

CHARGE TO DR. THOMAS CHALMERS.

DR. THOMAS CHALMERS,-You have now been admitted to a new situation. I hope you will, on this important occasion, bear with me a little, while I endeavour to stir up your pure mind by way of remembrance.

Every change of situation or condition which we meet with in the course of Divine Providence, brings with it something new, which we ought carefully to mark, and endeavour to im. prove. Nothing occurs by chance, or ought to be treated indifferently, as a thing of course; for everything is great to little man; and the greatest consequences may result from the most imperceptible causes. You have been set upon another watchtower; and the question will perpetually recur, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? You ought, therefore, to pray, and endeavour that you may be able to go your rounds, and give distinct and early notice of every occurrence falling under your inspection in that district which you are called to perambulate. Be always where you should be, whether preaching in the pulpit, or visiting in the family, or catechizing the several portions into which your parish may be divided; whether instructing the young, comforting the old or the middle-aged, or attending the bed of the aged, the sick, and the dying. Be, without fail, in the Session, the Presbytery, the Synod, and the General Assembly; and do your duty without minding feud or favour. Whether employed in the legislative, executive, or judicial matters of the Church, do all with a single eye to the glory of God, and the temporal, spiritual, and eternal interests of mankind. See everything with your own eyes, and hear everything with your own ears, allow

ing none but those who are officially called to tell you any tidings. Pursue the same line of conduct to your dearest friend and your most implacable foe, shewing, on no account, any respect of persons. Never sit silent when you ought to speak; nor consent to measures which your conscience and your Bible tell you are wrong, even in the least jot or tittle. If, at any time, you can scarcely discern the line which distinguishes right from wrong, justice from injustice, you ought invariably to lean to the side of mercy. Party, friends, and favourites, should have no influence upon your mind in judgment. Few now call for justice, or plead for truth; yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey, and judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. If you also forbear to deliver those that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain,-if you say, Behold, we knew it not,-doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it ? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? and shall not He render to every man according to his works? Pray, and endeavour to act so, that you may be able to adopt the language of the patriarch,-When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not, I searched out; and I broke the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. Be among the number of those of whom Jehovah thus speaks,I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night; and whom He thus charges, Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

As a shepherd under the Chief Shepherd, you should strengthen the diseased, and heal them that are sick, and bind up that which is broken, and bring again that which is driven away, and seek that which is lost. In feeding the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood, you ought to attend to the lambs as well as to the sheep; feeding the former with the pure milk of the word, that they may grow thereby; while you feed the latter with strong meat, as they may be able to bear it. Like one of the first of Christian

pastors, who was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles, you should determine not to know anything among your people, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified; and your speech and your preaching should not be with enticing words of man's wisdom; but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, that their faith may not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Having received, perhaps, even five talents, you should trade diligently with the same, that, at the coming of the Chief Shepherd, He may receive His own with usury. As there is scarcely a dog to move his tongue against you, either in the pulpit or from the press, you have an opportunity of addressing, not only your own stated congregation, but men of all ranks, and of all persuasions, from the prince to the peasant; so that there is an urgent necessity laid upon you to preach and to publish the pure, unadulterated, undiluted Gospel. You may be said, in a qualified sense, to have all the wealth, the influence, the honour, of the princely city of Glasgow, at your command. You have nothing to do but to ask and to receive, or even to obtain without asking; and, therefore, yours is a tremendous responsibility. You will require a double share of grace to be faithful to your Lord and Master. Without minding your own honour, or your own interest, commend yourself to every man's conscience in the fear of God. It is required of every steward, that he be found faithful; but more especially, surely, of those who have much, very much, committed to their trust. Knowing the terrors of the Lord, endeavour to persuade men. Being an ambassador for Christ, as though God did beseech them by you, entreat them, most affectionately and earnestly, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God. You are as a city set on an hill, which cannot be hid; and according to the celebrity you have attained, more from you than from others will be expected. In all matters, whether of a civil or an ecclesiastical nature,-whether in the public meetings of this large city, or in the public business of the Church, it will be wondered and inquired how Dr. Chalmers spoke, and how he acted. This ought not to make you timid and irresolute,-to cringe, to fawn, or flatter, (a detestable conduct in every man, and especially every man in a public station; but, most of all, in a minister of Jesus Christ ;) but to stand undaunted amidst the tumults of party faction, and not to fear the strife of tongues, or the strivings of the people. With a single eye to the glory of God and the good of mankind, and with an earnest desire to cram as much good intention and action as possible into the short-allotted span of your earthly career, try, like Jesus of Nazareth, to go about

doing good; and, like Him, to be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Like Him, attend to the poor; as much, I would say, rather more, than the rich; always admitting the poorest of your flock when you would admit the richest, or the poorest beggar when you would attend to the richest citizen. Ye know, said your Master, that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great, exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many, (Luke xiv. 7-14.) If you do not choose to act up to the letter of the precept, do not aggravate poverty and misery with repulsive harshness and unchristian severity, from those to whom the cases of all men-poor as well as rich-should be attended to, whether a minister is at breakfast, dinner, or supper. Will a surgeon, or physician, or writer, or advocate, who are commencing their professional career, by night or day, when engaged with company, or alone, refuse to attend to those who ask their advice, and need their aid? And shall it be told and proved, that the ministers of the everlasting Gospel. who have the care of the souls of men,-because they are dining with their friends, who do not need, and, if circumstances were reversed, would not acknowledge their attention,—will refuse to see one of their flock, who is desirous to consult them either about this world, or the world to come, because they did not, or could not, come at the proper time? Had Jesus Christ, or Paul, or Peter, or James, or John, times when they saw the poor, the needy, the afflicted, or persecuted? Has God only allowed us certain intervals, morning or evening, wherein to consult Him, and apply to Him, when we are in difficulty or perplexity? But we have sermons to prepare, it will be answered; we have need of times of relaxation; and a thousand other excuses, which dignity and consequence have devised. And must a poor person come many miles, wet and weary, and wait some hours, treated, perhaps, with rudeness by our servants, who assume the consequence of their masters and mistresses, merely because we are recreating ourselves, or even preparing for public instruction? Will these excuses do upon a deathbed review? These ought to be done, and yet the other ought not to be left undone. Revert, I beseech you, to primitive times; build upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone. Follow, so far as they followed Christ, a Rutherford, Leighton, Halyburton, and Boston. Do

not ape the laity, by assuming priestly dignity. Do not think it adds any true dignity to a Christian pastor, to be high-minded, ambitious, proud, and of great importance; while you recommend humility, and self-denial, and heavenly-mindedness, and meekness, and gentleness, and every Christian grace, is it consistent to exhibit the very opposite qualities in your own conduct? Permit me to change a single word in the reasoning of a great preacher, (Rom. ii. 17-23; 1 Cor. ix, 16-22.) Hear him once more upon profession without practice, (1 Cor. xiii. 1-10.) Could I but make you see, and could I but make you feel, all that some, that many have seen and experienced, of the severity, the unchristianity of ministers to their brethren and their flocks, you would blush in secret, and weep over the partiality, and folly, and vitiosity of the miscalled ministers of Jesus Christ. Little did they think, we trust, before they got their manses, their stipends, and their boasted establishments, that they could be guilty of such imperious and disgraceful conduct. Like Hazael, they did not know the corruption latent in their hearts, until, by being exalted, and having got power, they have caused the real prophets of the Lord to weep. They forget their thoughts, and views, and resolutions, and professions, while they were scaling the strongly-barricaded walls of the Church. This must be always the case while men aspire after the priest's office, and are put into it, for a piece of bread. Time would fail me merely to mention everything which I count it my bounden duty to lay before you, sir, at this time, and in this place; and were it not, that you have had them often communicated to you by those of greater experience, of the good and evil of this life,-of the difficulties, and dangers, and duties, and encouragements of the minister of Jesus; and were it not, that you have profited above many of your age and standing in the Church; and that, by the grace of God, your eyes, I trust, have been opened to see the inexpressible worth of immortal souls,-the inconceivable worth of God's unspeakable gift, I certainly would have deemed it my duty to mention, as fully as I could from the Word, the work and warfare, the character and conduct of a Christian minister. Nor, I am fully persuaded, would you have spurned at the warnings, and admonitions, and exhortations tendered to you in love; believing, as you do, that we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one, we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other, the savour of life unto life; and who is sufficient for these things! Who can stand between the living and the