fluence by our coldness, and stop the genial current of grace in its full course, by our insufficiency, and our indifference. Our best knowledge and our brightest eloquence are the instruments by which He works the salvation of man, but it is He, and He alone who is its Author; He alone sows the seed here below, He alone visits it with the genial dew and sunshine, He alone brings it to the harvest-time above. Without Him what were mortal learning, mortal eloquence, and mortal zeal! Without Him how vain were all we know! vainer than the tinkling cymbal, vainer than vanity itself! These, indeed, are the instruments with which it pleases Him to work, and woe be to us if they be not polished and tempered for the work; but woe to us also if for the instrument we desire a glory not its own, or if we assume to ourselves any share of that glory which belongs to Him. Woe to us if in our best and brightest hours, when the blessed work goes on most successfully, we say not from our inmost heart, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us! if we are not for ever on our guard against the dangers of fame, and the temptations of praise; if charity be not the companion, and humility the mistress of all our acquirements; if we do not remember that earthly knowledge, yea, even heavenly knowledge, defiled and degraded by a mixture with earthly passion, puffeth up, but charity alone edi

fieth; if we do not humble ourselves with the remembrance of the imperfection of our highest acquirements, and prepare ourselves by something better than even the best knowledge, by Christian holiness, for that time when we shall no longer know only in part, but our glimmering of light shall be swallowed up in the eternal sunshine that shall break upon us.

SERMON IV.

2 COR. iv. 1.

Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.

I AM now come to a part of my subject on which I feel the highest diffidence, and the highest difficulty; for I am now to speak of the effect which the belief in the possession of a divine commission must have on the conduct of those who possess it, and to offer that advice which every minister of God requires himself. But let it be remembered, that here especially my aim and object is to speak to those who are about to take the priesthood on themselves, and to correct the erroneous impressions which are too often entertained as to its nature and the duties it enjoins; to deter the profligate, and awaken the careless, by setting before them the danger of the office they undertake, and the heavy responsibility which they incur. And there are, indeed, many circumstances peculiar to

the state of things among us which render such admonitions necessary. The very advantages which we enjoy, and for which we owe such heartfelt gratitude to Almighty God, like all other human advantages and blessings, are not, and cannot be, productive of unmixed good. The early age at which candidates for the ministry are entitled to admission into it, and the peculiar nature of English education, which by laying down the same course of study for all, whatever be their future destination, detains the student in divinity from professional studies, and professional reflection, till almost the time when he is to enter on his duties, must, at least, in some degree, necessarily prevent him from fully weighing the importance and dignity of his profession. Again, after admission to the ministry, the feeling, at least, and the practice of a Protestant and free country, prevent that exercise of ecclesiastical authority which tends to restrain the ministers of God from habits, and feelings, and employments foreign to their ecclesiastical character. There are other circumstances in the nature of our Church which obviously tend to assign to its ministers a distinct station in the world, and by engaging them in the relations of social and domestic life, to mix them up in some degree with it. From the union of all these circumstances, it too often happens that the prevailing feeling in the mind of

the aspirant to the ministry, is, that he is about to enter into a profession which will rank him with the gentlemen of the country, and place him in a station where, as he may partake in great measure of their habits and employments, so it will be sufficient if he be a partaker, too, in their feelings, and guided by their rule of right. This is a pernicious and a fatal error. Far, very far be it from us to depreciate, or to undervalue, a character so highly and so deservedly prized, as that to which we have alluded; but we should be guilty of a gross injustice to our own profession if we did not assert, that a Christian priest is a character far higher; and that as he is higher in his objects and employments, so he ought to be animated by loftier views, and guided by stricter principles to a more holy practice1. This, at least, we may assert, and

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'Many things are lawful for the people which are scandalous in the clergy; you are tied to more abstinences, to more severities, to more renunciations and self-denials, you may not with that freedom receive secular contentments that others may, you must spend more time in prayers, your alms must be more bountiful and your hands more open, your hearts enlarged; others must relieve the poor, you must take care of them; others must show themselves their brethren, but you must be their fathers; they must pray frequently and fervently, but you must give "yourselves up wholly to the word of God and prayer;" they must "watch and pray that they fall not into temptations," but you must watch for yourselves and others too;