And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." Imitate, brethren, those devoted ministers of primitive times who "daily in the temple, and in every house,"-intent on one object-" ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ," "warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom," that they might "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." And I solemnly appeal to you, brethren, whether this one object-the "presenting every man perfect"-is not worthy of all your energies—whether cherishing the remembrance of its vast magnitude, you can grow remiss in the path of duty, or ever be drawn aside by any earthly allurements. Your people will require visiting from house to house; no degree of talent or eloquence in the pulpit can absolve you from the duty of pastoral visitation. When tempted to neglect this duty because you have not time, remember that your time, your all, is professedly consecrated to the Lord and the service of his church. I refer not to the unreasonable demands on your time often made by persons who complain that they are not visited more, and yet it is clear that their complaints are not founded on a sincere desire for spiritual instruction, for when ministers visit such persons they most unwillingly engage in spiritual conversation, and prayer. To such complaints you may be deaf, but this forms no excuse for the neglect of those duties which God and his people justly require at your hands.

In going from house to house be mindful of your sacred character as ministers, and the great object to which you are professedly devoted. "6 Always," said the apostle, "bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body." This part of your work is as definite as the physician's when he visits the abodes of the sick and dying, nor is it less important. If your duties are faithfully discharged, the careless and trifling will soon discover that your time is too valuable to be wasted in vain and idle conversation or useless gossip, while the pious, and those who are inquiring the way to Zion, will anxiously await your footsteps and give you a hearty welcome. It is said of the pious and devoted Hooker, that "he entered the cottages of the poor like a father, and left them with blessings like an angel." Your example in the dwellings of your people, if you are careful to maintain that humble dignity which is so becoming the ministers of the meek and lowly Jesus, will be a "lecture silent, but of sovereign power," that will give weight to your public ministrations; for in you will be seen the living embodiment of what manner of persons Christians ought to be. This part of your work may be more difficult, and require more self-denial, than even the

duties of the pulpit, nevertheless it is not to be neglected, but pursue with untiring diligence. "Be instant in season" and "out of season.” Whenever the necessities of your people require your presence, be found among them, or you will bring the blight of barrenness over yourselves and your congregations. Be not guided by your own feelings or inclinations, but the will of Christ. "I charge" you, brethren, "before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that you observe these things, without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality;" "exhort, and rebuke with all authority;" but be "gentle unto all men," "in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves;" if God peradventure may give them repentance, and save them from the "snare of the devil.”

But very much of your work as Christian ministers is

3. In the closet. Here you will have to prepare the oil by which to serve in the sanctuary; in fact it is here that you must prepare for the successful discharge of all your duties, whether of the pastor or the preacher. If you are desirous of winning souls to Christ, be diligent and earnest in studying the Bible in the closet. You will be able then to teach and admonish as circumstances may require, prepared to meet the wily pretensions of the designing, and to defend the truth against all adversaries. "Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all." In studying the Bible you must not be content with gathering from its surface only, but go down deep into its mines; the abundance and purity of the sacred ore will afford more than ample compensation to your own souls, and enrich your ministrations to the profit of others. Your discourses should be the result of patient study and diligent preparation. If you minister at God's altar with what costs you little or nothing, rest assured he will disdain the sacrifice; the service will be cheerless to yourselves, and the souls of your people will languish and die; but their blood will be required at your hands. And whatever care or labour you may bestow on your sermons never, no never, neglect to sanctify them by fervent prayer to him with whom is "the residue of the Spirit," and whose blessing alone can make your ministrations successful. You must study hard, though it be a "weariness to the flesh," and pray much, or you will never become able ministers of the new covenant.

In reminding you of the field of divine truth which is to engage your principal attention, I do not mean that you are to pay no regard to nature or to her teachings, to the beauties of art, or to the discoveries of science; rather do I advise you, be learners as well as teachers everywhere. Gladly receive their lessons; but make all tributary to the right understanding of the great verities of divine revelation, This is indeed a favoured day; for even with your limited means you

can secure good libraries of the best and choicest works. In the early days of the denomination, and when preachers' salaries were much less than at present, the cost of a pocket Bible was twenty-five shillings, and Gurney's pocket, Dictionary half-a-guinea! It is true the long journeys and abundant labours of the brethren then rendered it impracticable to read much; but "the hand of the Lord was with them," and great multitudes were converted to the truth. Be careful in your reading to trace the stream to the fountain, or your very privileges may prove a curse instead of a blessing. "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." Strive prayerfully and earnestly to render all your studies subservient to the more faithful discharge of the duties of your office. Brethren, remember that in your closets the omniscient Eye is upon you; nothing engages your attention alone. There is no concealment from God. He knows whether you read the newspaper more eagerly than the Bible. You are to warn the

sinner of his danger, feed the hungry, strengthen the weak, establish the wavering, and comfort the mourner in Zion, and this you must not forget in study and retirement. God beholds, without a covering, every emotion of the heart, every kindling desire, every wandering thought, every drowsy feeling, and every reach after fame. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that the advice of the apostle should be written on your hearts as with the point of a diamond"study to shew thyself approved unto God."

I shall now call your attention to the object at which you are to aim-"Approved unto God."

1. This supposes your possession of true piety. Had either the elders of the churches with whom you have been labouring during the four years of your probation, or your fathers and brethren present, any doubt as to your conversion, you would not have been so cordially received as accredited ministers of the Lord Jesus, in accordance with the usages of our denomination. But we have heard from your own lips of your conversion to God, and like Enoch you have "this testimony," that you please God-this testimony; yes, I repeat it, because of its essential character and pre-eminent importance to a rightly-constituted ministry. Without this you would be intruders in the sacred office, and you had far better be serving in the most menial position, than expose yourselves to that fearful interrogation of the great Judge, "What hadst thou to do to declare my judgments, and to take my covenant into thy mouth." You not only need piety, but a high degree of piety, or that one important part of your ministry will be unfulfilled-"the perfecting of the saints," "the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

It was said by one of the ancients, "that the law required that the high priest should be raised above human nature to a proximity with God, that being placed as it were in a middle station between God and man, he might supplicate God in behalf of man, and convey to man the grace that is bestowed by God." It is true that under the Gospel dispensation all believers have "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus;" but it is equally true that the Christian minister's special call is at the altar-shall I say too much if I say it is his home? as he has usually to lead the devotional services of God's house; and how necessary that his heart should be deeply imbued with piety. It is not enough for you to be found on a level with ordinary Christians, they will naturally look to you for instruction and example; God and man justly expect more at your hands. To apply any part of your energies, or employ any portion of your time, except in Christ's service, and for the good of men, is to be guilty of the sin of sacrilege. I beseech you, brethren, "suffer the word of exhortation." Allow me to urge the importance, nay, the absolute necessity, of your earnestly seeking a growing, renovating piety that shall spread new life through the ordinary routine of your labours, which shall sweeten toil, and carry conviction to all with whom you have intercourse of the pre-eminent excellency of true Christianity. "Study to shew yourselves approved unto God," by the entire devotion of the heart and life, of all you have and are, to him and to the great work to which you are this day set apart: yes, brethren, this is what you want, and what we all want, to make us more efficient ministers of the New Testament, "that devoted energy of soul, that parleys not with discouragements, that staggers not at difficulties, that neither sleeps nor wearies, which indicates not a state of feverish excitement, but is both the sign and sustainer of our moral and spiritual life.” This true devotion which I urge you to seek, will give you the clearest perceptions of the truth in all its vivifying and sanctifying power; it will secure to your public ministrations and your intercourse with the people that holy unction which is so essential to success; it will give felicity of speech and manner, point and energy to your arguments, and an impressiveness to your appeals, which no art of rhetoric can supply; it will give to your ministrations a living power to awaken the dead, and you shall indeed see that by this power

"Dry bones are raised and clothed afresh, And hearts of stone are turned to flesh;" and fill you with the tenderest compassion for the heart-broken penitent.

But in studying to show yourselves "approved unto God," you must learn to distinguish between self-satisfaction and Divine

approval; the former may arise from pride, or vanity, from thinking more highly of yourselves than you ought to think; but be assured that the indulgence of such a feeling betrays great imbecility of mind, and must bring on your souls the frown of a jealous and sinavenging God. Perish, yes, for ever perish, the thought of vanity and self-sufficiency in the glorious presence of Him whose name is Holy;" let us rather sink low before him; hide ourselves as in the dust; seek to feel our utter weakness; and with sincerity of heart and humility of soul acknowledge our dependence on him.

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You must, moreover, learn to distinguish between the commendation and flatteries of the weak and foolish and the approving smile of your divine Master; if your object is simply to shine, astonish, and win a name, you may easily succeed, but it will only be with a class of persons whose highest praises will not add to your comfort or usefulness. Should you even succeed in becoming the idols of the unthinking multitudes, gratifying as it may be to hearts intoxicated with the love of earthly phantoms, that gratification will be of short duration; for there will be seasons when conscience will speak in thunder tones; the wise and good will not fail to discover your emptiness, and look on you with mingled feelings of pity and contempt; but the consummation of misery that will crown such a course is, that you will be disowned by the great Judge, and driven from his presence and "the glory of his power" to suffer the just penalty of your sin. "" But to be approved of God," how delightful and soul-stirring the contrast! Oh, brethren, a consciousness of this at all times, how soothing, how sustaining, how strengthening to the mind! This, and this alone, elevates the soul above the highest distinctions of earth. To be approved by God, the great Sovereign of the universe, not only exalts man, but fills the soul with unspeakable joy, in time and in eternity. for evermore. "For evermore," delightful thought! It will never end, no, nor ever diminish, but ever increase; for it is for ever more. Having the cloudless smile of your Divine Master, however abundant your labours or however meagre your support, you need not envy even the angels their station or bliss, nor be anxious for any addition to your inheritance. Therefore so "labour that whether present or absent, you may be acccepted of him.” If you wish to realize this blessedness in your own experience, be studious to cultivate purity of motive. "If," said the loving Saviour, "thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light;" yes "full of light;" and what language, may I not ask, can express the untold value of that "fulness of light" in seeking to explore the heights and depths, the lengths and breadths of redeeming grace?

It is

Do you need examples to stimulate you to this singleness of eye?