and the help of creatures may be renounced, and the power and grace of God invoked; that pride, and self, and vanity, and display, and human gifts, and agency, may be laid in the dust, and God alone exalted. The anniversary of his ordination, is a time which each one should seize for these holy purposes. The return of Good Friday in every year, is another period when special humiliation may well be mingled with our penitent meditations on the sorrows of our Lord. If this latter solemn season could indeed be employed by the church universal, in the present and following years, for this important purpose, unspeakable blessings might follow. The whole body of the faithful would then be prostrate in the dust at the same time, before the God of mercy-pouring out their prayers for the grace of the Holy Spirit, and confessing their sins, and the sins of their fathers. Never have any great revivals taken place, without special fasting and prayer. Humiliation is the very

soul of religion. What a blessing would it be if the bishops and pastors of the churches were led to take the foremost place in directing and encouraging such holy exercises! Our sins have been public; our penitence should be so likewise. Our provocations have been national; so should be our sorrow. evils have flowed from a negligent and worldly state of mind in the ministers of Christ; our repentance should begin in the same quarter.

Our

3. HIGHER VIEWS OF THE TRUE DIGNITY AND IMPORTANCE OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, is a further duty, which would naturally flow from increasing personal piety and genuine humiliation of heart. Notions of false dignity are, indeed, as com

mon as they are pernicious. Ambition, secular dominion, the "lording it over God's heritage," spiritual pride, are the gangrene of the church. But a right conception of the unparalleled importance of the office of the Christian minister, as appointed by Christ himself, as the instrument of grace, as the ambassador of reconciliation, as representing, and standing in the place of the Saviour, as the depositary and pillar of the Truth, as the messenger of the Lord of Hosts, the steward of the mysteries of God, the watchman, and herald, and leader of the army, and the shepherd of the flock of Christ-such a conception of the ministerial office is essential to any great revival of religion. There is no surer mark of spiritual decay, than a low esteem of the sacred function. Contempt for God and salvation, first appears in contempt for his appointed servants and ministers. In the primitive church, the dignity of a pastor of the flock of God, was considered to be so high, so responsible, so sacred, as to deter men from coveting its more difficult and responsible appointments. Ambrose, and Chrysostom, and Augustine, were almost compelled to assume the episcopal office. At the Reformation, again, the importance of the office of the priesthood rose in the estimation of the awakened church. dignity of truth and grace, put to flight the spurious glory of external pomp and appearances. Men acknowledged, in the unassuming and meek and devout leaders of the Reformation, the revival of the primitive, the true character and elevation of the pastoral employment. Yes, brethren, we must abase ourselves, indeed, but we must MAGNIFY OUR office. We must rise to the high and elevated character,

Its

We

It

which it impresses upon the spiritual pastor.
must no longer think it an ordinary matter, a thing
of course, an affair which may be done at any time,
a concern secondary to our ease, our indulgence, our
scientific, and literary pursuits-no; it must take the
lead of every thing. It must occupy all our care, all
our time, all our diligence, all the best and most per-
severing efforts of our minds and affections-all our
exertion, and self-denial, and study.
an unspeakable gift.
concerns both worlds.
the honour of Christ, the welfare of souls. It is
founded in the unutterable agonies of the cross, and
ceases not till it has brought the penitent sinner, and
landed him safely in heaven. The blessings we have
to offer are the greatest; the woe we have to denounce
is the most fearful. Every thing connected with our
office partakes of the incomprehensible importance of
the gifts of the Saviour and the Holy Spirit. Till
our whole souls are filled with our sacred calling,
animated, elevated, absorbed-till we see nothing to
be important, compared with our work-till nothing
satisfies, or can satisfy us, but success in it-till we
look on the affairs of human pursuit, and human
wisdom, and human power, and human glory, as the
toys of children in the comparison-till we draw all
our studies, all our affections, every faculty of our
minds, and every member of our bodies, to this one
point-till the salvation of souls is the one thing we
aim at, the one object of desire, the ruling passion of
our souls, we can never expect a general revival of
that religion, which can only spring, under the bless-
ing of God, from such principles and impressions.

The Gospel is
It touches on eternity.
It involves the glory of God,

ap

4. Allied to this part of our duty, is a deeper consideration of the particular design of the Christian ministry, which is, to furnish a sUCCESSION OF MEN TO EXPOUND AND APPLY TRUTH. This follows upon a high and exalted view of the importance of the office generally. The especial design must be far better understood and acted upon than it is at present, if grace is to revisit, first the pastors, and then the flock. Dear brethren, is not the great end of the ministry, to exhibit and enforce truth upon the hearts and consciences of men, with all those means of living, feeling, powerful appeal, heart-felt seriousness, sympathy, alarm, invitation, promise, threatening, which are calculated to move a creature like man, and which God has pointed as the ordinary channel for conveying the blessings of his grace? The success is from God alone. Whoever plants, whoever waters, it is He that gives the increase. But as our all-wise and gracious God has condescended to use the instrumentality of man in dealing with man, in awakening man, in converting man; it is of the last importance for us to rise up to the special design of this dispensation. If God uses man, he uses the understanding, the affections, the conscience of man, to work upon the understanding, the affections, the conscience of his fellow-men. The minister is a living organ, and instrument, and herald of truth. The minister is to give life, as it were, to the Book, to the written Revelation, to the forgotten or perverted record. The ministry, in its addresses and appeals to men, is the prophetical voice continued, the apostolical doctrine continued, the life of Christ continued, the discourses of our Lord continued, the miracles con

tinued, the warnings, the invitations, the promises, the whole doctrine continued, inspired with new life, and exhibited in their first vigour.

The Gospel, indeed, is left us in the Scriptures; but its success is dependent on the Holy Spirit and the holy ministry-the divine Spirit within; the sacred Word without. The Holy Spirit effectually to secure the heart, to apply and render operative the truth of Christ, to glorify him before men, justify his office, fulfil his promises, accomplish his designs the ministry of the Word, instrumentally, to address the understanding and heart, to divide truth to each class of persons, to vindicate it from perversions, to raise it from neglect and indifference, to present it as the means by which the Spirit is pleased to work. Subordinate, therefore, is all this living and oral teaching-in itself utterly feeble and inefficient; but, in its place, of incalculable moIt is the link between the written Word and man's salvation. To preach aright, is not to discuss coldly a topic, is not to indulge in metaphysical statements, is not to court human applause, is not to move the passions by earthly eloquence-it is a much higher thing, it is to give a tongue to Prophets and Apostles, it is to speak as the blessed Saviour and St. Paul spake, it is to make truth intelligible, forcible, triumphant; it is to clear away from the Bible false glosses, and present it in its native purity, and clothe it with all the attributes of a living Instructor; it is to give to the written doctrine the tenderness and pathos, the authority and force, with which it was first clothed by the Inspired Authors. Silence the ministry, and the Bible is misunderstood, per

ment.