of righteousness, and scripturally trained up for everlasting life? How many of them have met their spiritual guides before the heavenly throne, saying,-Under God, I owe my salvation on earth, and my happiness in heaven, to your wisdom, piety, zeal to your sound heart-searching sermons and warm and appropriate applications-to your vigilant attention, Christian benevolence, and undeviating faithfulness-to your upright walk, conscientious integrity, and godly conversation ? To all such, this language, next to the approbation of their divine Lord and Master, must fill them with extatic joy, and swell their songs of holy triumph while eternal ages roll! But if any of those ministers were mere hirelings who thrust themselves into the priest's office solely that they might` obtain its honours and enjoy its emoluments, anxiously seeking the fleece, while careless and unconcerned about the flock-not only losing their own souls, but totally regardless of those of their hearers, whose blood will be required at their hands: they must now feel the terrible effects of their pride, ambition, carnality, and presumption, where the most awful consequences cannot be counteracted, but must be endured without the least mitigation or interruption. What must be the rebukes of their own conscience, as well as the dreadful execrations of those inconceivably wretched souls, whom they have, if not as active agents instrumentally, yet, at least, by living without the spirit and power of vital religion, connected with an unfaithful discharge of ministerial duties, negatively damned! The present incumbent has been preceded by many who were once in the occupancy of his pulpit: but in Christian graces, theological knowledge, ministerial ability, success in winning souls to Christ, and the sincere esteem and cordial attachment of his parishioners, may he be exceeded by none! His charge is vastly important, requiring constant attention, unwearied diligence, prudent zeal, and impartial fidelity. "Who is sufficient for these things?" exclaims the apostle of the Gentiles, who, feeling the weight of his own personal responsibility, was anxious to be found faithful; and he thus resolves the solemn question-"Our sufficiency is of God." A Christian poet, with reference to the Established Church, "Entreats that servants may abound Of those pure Altars worthy; Ministers " a Connecting the sacred office with the throne of Heaven, opens a wide field for investigation, and suggests many particulars for serious consideration. PIETY.-Genuine piety is essential to the character of gospel ministers, and requisite for the right discharge of their official duties. The first preachers of Christianity, were men born of the Holy Spirit, washed from their sins in the blood of the Lamb, and possessed of the spiritual kingdom of God in their hearts. St. Paul says, "God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." This • Wordsworth's Excursion, p. 251. inward demonstration of the truth and power of the gospel, not only constituted them real Christians, but essentially prepared them for acting as preachers. And in this day, considered as Christians, ministers are required to have an interest in Christ, to possess the unction of the Holy One, to be holy in heart, and righteous in life and viewed in their ministerial capacity, they are to teach this by precept, as well as example; they are to be not only sound in doctrine, but also renewed in heart, and righteous in life. a One question proposed by the bishop to candidates for holy orders in the Church of England is, "Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the HOLY GHOST, to "The late Rev. William Fancourt, Rector of Bletsoe, and Vicar of Melchbourn, Bedfordshire, bore his dying testimony to his gracious Saviour, and recommended Him as the hope, the only fountain of peace and satisfaction, both to the living and the dying. 6 "To his Curate, who was quite a young man, and not deeply acquainted with that experience' which gives a lively hope' of the enjoy ment of things not seen,' he gave ministerial counsel and fatherly advice. He spoke to him of the depravity of human nature, and of the necessity of being born again; of repentance from dead works, and faith in the living God. He particularly impressed upon his mind the absolute necessity of changing his mode of preaching, if he hoped to do his hearers good, and I save their souls alive.' 'Your present manner of instructing,' said he, 'will not avail. Men must be made new creatures; they must be sanctified by the Holy Spirit, who must dwell in their hearts by faith. You must preach Christ, and him crucified.' bore "To the Physician who attended him, he spoke freely of the grace of Christ, of his own interest in his blood, and of the blessed hope which now up his soul while every earthly hope was receding. This conversation appeared to leave an impression on the mind of that gentleman, creditable, we might hope, both to his patient and to himself. He afterwards declared, I have now, indeed, seen the death-bed of a Christian, a true Christian.' Were medical gentlemen to witness more frequently such scenes as this, they might, peradventure, be induced to believe that there is a reality in religion; and that it is not the disgrace, but the honour of persons of understanding, science, and refinement, to worship one God in one Saviour Jesus Christ."-Christian Guardian, for Februarg, 1819, p. 46. take upon you this office and ministration, to serve God for the promoting of his glory, and the edifying of his people?" To which this answer is returned, "I trust so." Here is a tacit acknowledgment of the personality, divinity, and operations of the Holy Spirit, his special influence in the heart, and distinct call to the sacred office; they of his selecting being inwardly moved by HIM to engage in this important work of the ministry. And we may confidently assert, that the Holy Ghost never inwardly moves an unregenerate and wicked man to take on him this sacred office. Unrighteous men have entered the office of the ministry, but they were not moved by the Holy Ghost to do so, but by other motives. "The history of the pulpit," says a popular author, "is curious and entertaining. It has spoken all lan It has partaken of all It has It has It has guages, and in all sorts of style. the customs of the schools, the theatres, and the courts of all the countries where it has been erected. been a seat of wisdom, and a sink of nonsense. been filled by the best and the worst of men. proved in some hands a trumpet of sedition, and in others a source of peace and consolation; but on a fair balance, collected from authentic history, there would appear no proportion between the benefits and the mischiefs which mankind have derived from it, so much do the advantages of it preponderate! In a word, evangelical preaching has been, and yet continues to be reputed foolishness: but real wisdom, a wisdom and a power, by which it pleaseth God to save the souls of men." "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe: because that foolishness of God is wiser than men." We have a short, but beautiful description of the manner of Ezra's preaching, the reformer of the church at the return from the captivity, and the happy effects it produced on his numerous and attentive hearers.a Upwards of fifty thousand people assembled in a street, or large square, in Jerusalem, near the Watergate. It was early in the morning of a Sabbath-day. A pulpit of wood, in the fashion of a small tower, was placed there on purpose for the preacher, and this turret was supported by a scaffold, or temporary gallery, where, in a wing, on the right hand of the pulpit, sat six of the principal preachers, and in another, on the left, seven. Thirteen other principal teachers, and many Levites, were present also, on scaffolds erected for the purpose, alternately to officiate. When Ezra ascended the pulpit, he produced and opened the book of the law, and the whole congregation instantly rose up from their seats, and stood. Then he offered up prayer and praise to God, the people bowing their heads, and worshipping the Lord with their faces to the ground; and at the close of the prayer, with uplifted hands, they solemnly pronounced Amen, Amen. Then, all standing, Ezra, assisted at times by the Levites, "read the law distinctly, gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” The sermons delivered so affected the hearers, that they wept excessively, and about noon the sorrow became too exuberant and immeasurable, that it was thought necessary by the governor, the preacher, and the Levites to restrain it. They, therefore, by a little expostulation, calmed their troubled hearts, and dismissed them. Plato was alive at this time, teaching dull philosophy to cold academics: but what was he, and what was Xenophon, a Nehem. viii. |