ARTICLE II.-REFLEX BENEFITS OF THE CLERICAL OFFICEA LETTER FROM A COUNTRY CLERGYMAN TO HIS

DESPONDING BRETHREN.

THE future historian of the literature pertaining to our profession, will doubtless characterize our age as the Shady Side epoch.

The various ills which (ministerial) flesh is heir to, have been exhibited in kaleidoscopic variety and profusion. Whatever may be thought of our claims to an Apostolical succession, our title to a Martyrological one seems clearly established. Should the old Jewish mode of estimating moral character according to the sufferings endured, again come into vogue, we shall probably be regarded as sinners above all contemporaneous Galileans, because we suffered such things.

But seriously, brethren, are we indeed of all men most miserable? Is there no sorrow like unto ours? Is there not danger to our happiness and usefulness, in looking too often at our trials, and too seldom upon our rewards, or in looking only at the former through a telescope, and the latter through the telescope inverted.? The evils indeed of our profession are neither few nor small; but is it fair to be ever heaping them into the scale of despondency, while we neglect to place in the opposite scale those many hopes and blessings which lie so thickly strewn around? Is it not well for us sometimes to take off the somber-colored ministerial spectacles, (which we are possibly inclined to wear more than is best for us, and look out upon the sunlight that diversifies, if it does not completely flood our professional landscape? Let us then in this way take a hasty glance at our work in some of its temporal aspects, pecuniary, social, and intellectual.

I. We begin with the lowest-that of which we are most disposed to complain, and of which we have too much reason perhaps to complain. After our long, toilsome, and expensive 38

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preparation, we see the skillful mechanic, whose knowledge has not cost him a tithe of ours, and whose expenses are perhaps not the moiety, receive an equal or superior income. If we ever cast a longing eye upon the salaries of even subordinate officers of state,-civil, judicial, military, or naval,—“ distance will lend enchantment to the view." From the income of our neighbors, the successful lawyer or physician, our own must stand at a respectful distance. And the plain attire and equipage which our five, eight, or twelve hundred dollars can afford, must present but a sorry appearance in contrast with the glossy broadcloth and dashing equipments of the clerk who comes from the city to spend a part of his fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five hundred a year, in our quiet parishes, during his vacation, although his intellectual and literary circumference could hardly embrace the trivium of the would-be pedagogue's three R's" Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic." Possibly, too, we may see some of our old schoolmates rolling in their splendid carriages, while we plod on foot, or take an airing in our somewhat antiquated vehicle. But, after all, does our condition in regard to this world's comforts and possessions compare unfavorably with that of the average condition of those with whom we commenced the journey of life, or of our parishioners around us? If there are some who have drawn larger prizes than we in the lottery of fortune, are there not more who have drawn smaller ones, or blanks? To say nothing of our intellectual treasures, our libraries and periodicals, in which few if any surpass us, do we not live in better houses, in more elegantly furnished apartments, sit at tables better supplied with comforts, and even luxuries, and wear better apparel, than the very great majority of those with whom our lot is cast? But you say, perhaps, we are obliged to maintain a style of living more expensive than our income will warrant, to meet the requirements of our position, and so we have but little prospect of laying aside much surplus for future wants. But even in this view, is our case peculiarly hard? We are apt to think when we see one engaged in extensive business, that he must be on the high road to fortune. But appearances are deceitful. We see and admire the gal

leon that comes proudly into port; not the wrecks that strew the bottom of the deep. A gentleman of Boston, than whom perhaps no one had enjoyed better opportunities of observation, declared that, "Among one hundred merchants and traders, not more than three in that city ever acquire independence." It requires innumerable shrimps and minnows to make up the bulk of the whale, both on sea and shore, and the probabilities are certainly as great that in the sea of business we should have been swallowed minnows, as swallowing whales.

Another consideration that should not be lost sight of, is the fact that while men of other professions, even after they have completed their course of preparation, must wait long and anxiously till their reputation is established and the confidence of the community secured, before they can expect scarce any income, our salary commences with our work. We enter at once upon its full responsibilities, and receive its full pecuniary rewards.

I might speak of the perquisites, privileges, hospitalities, and immunities pertaining to our profession; but I will not enlarge upon these. Enough has perhaps been said to show that as regards the comforts, luxuries, and even riches of this life, we as a class are certainly not worse off than the great mass of our fellow-men; and that our profession, like the godliness which it is designed to recommend and illustrate, is not altogether without promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come.

II. In the next place, let us glance at the social position and privileges pertaining to the ministerial office. The value of this social standing will of course be estimated very differently, according to the position from which we view it, whether the tub of Diogenes, or the house of Mr. Fungus of the Fifth Avenue with its freestone front. Mr. Fungus evidently sets a value upon it very much too high, our friend of the tub one much too low, although really a good deal higher than he is willing to admit; for it is hard to rid ourselves of the suspicion, that notwithstanding his protestations to the contrary, he chose his residence with motives very much like those which led him

of the Fifth Avenue to choose his. The two men have their eye on the same thing, (notoriety,) and only take different roads to reach it. And in the language of the day, these are "representative men." The great mass of mankind are scrambling after them, jostling, trampling down, climbing over each other, all eager to be foremost in the race of social distinction. Now our profession renders it alike improper and unnecessary for us to engage in this scramble. It enables us to look upon this matter, not from the position of the cynic, or the parvenu, nor any point between, but from a far higher plane. It makes it right for us to desire an open door to the society, the hearts, and the homes of all classes of men, not to gratify a vain and selfish ambition, but to give us an opportunity to convey to them the messages of our Lord and King. And as ambassadors from one human government to another, no matter how humble otherwise, have, by their credentials, free admission to the halls of nobles, and even to the palaces and courts of royalty, so may we, in virtue of our office as ambassadors from the King of kings, stand among the mightiest of earth, and call no man master. We have no need to feel abashed in any earthly presence. Our families need not confess their social inferiority to those of any caste or station. They may form matrimonial or other alliances with those of any rank, with the consciousness that they receive no greater honor than that which they bestow. "With a great sum" other men obtain this freedom for their children, while ours are "free-born."

All doors, whether of hovels or palaces, are freely opened to us, and among all ranks we may freely mingle. Paul, as a minister of the Gospel, when writing to the Roman Church from Corinth, was commissioned to send, with other humbler salutations, that of the Chamberlain of the city, and when writing to the Philippians from the proud metropolis of the world, could say, "All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household." Now, this social position, viewed from whatever stand-point, earthly or heavenly, has indisputably attractive features; weighed according to whatever standard, it has value. But whatever these attractions and this value, in virtue of our office, they are ours.

Our profession also gives us the opportunity of exerting an influence over our fellow men, which no other class enjoys. It was the boast of Archimedes that with his newly invented lever, if he could have a "POU STŌ" given him he could move the world. To us has been given such a standing place, with a lever of greater power than his. That standing place is Calvary, that lever God's everlasting truth. This instrumentality has already lifted how many nations and empires from the depths of heathenish degradation to the lofty hights of Christian civilization! It is our happy privilege to be coworkers with God in the moral upraising of our fallen world. And though we are weak as children of ourselves, when we use God's instruments we wield a power in the world greater than that of the mightiest who rely only upon worldly instrumentalities. Though we can do nothing of ourselves, we can do all things through him who strengtheneth us. Satan is indeed strong, his emissaries numerous and powerful, but Christ is stronger, and armed with his weapons, one may chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight. The waves of sin and the storms of opposition may dash and beat against our pulpits, but they shall not fall, for they are founded upon a rock-the rock of ages. Amid the din and bustle of the world we may sometimes feel that our voice is unheard and our influence unheeded, but it is not so. The mightiest forces of nature are not those most noisy and obtrusive, as the tornado or the thunderbolt, but rather those which work in silence, as light and heat. Those may rive here and there an oak, or even prostrate now and then a forest, while these are covering a thousand hills with forests, and ten thousand fields with verdure. So it is in the moral world. The brawling politician, the fiery reformer, the infidel lecturer, the circus clown, may for the time draw a larger crowd than we can, and receive greater ovations. But they have no such hold upon the hearts of the community, as we have. Our people do not go to hear them several times a week, and that too week after week and year after year, as they come to hear us. A few may be blighted by their influence, while many are benefited by ours. What influences, in forming the character and institutions of New England,