of godliness, deny the power thereof," 2 Tim. iii, 5. And the greatest eulogium that can be pronounced upon such characters, is that with which St. Paul honoured the unbelieving zealots of his time: "I bear them record that they have a zeal for God;" but that zeal is unaccompanied with any true knowledge, either of man's weakness, or the Redeemer's power: "for they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," Rom. x, 2–4.

6. Whoever has not experienced that conviction of sin, and that repentance, which is described by St. Paul in the seventh chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, though, like Nicodemus, he may be " a doctor in Israel," yet he shall never see the kingdom of God. Totally carnal, and satisfied to continue so, he neither understands nor desires that regeneration which the Gospel proposes and insists upon. He endeavours not to fathom the sense of these important words: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," John iii, 8. He considers those who are born of the Spirit as rank enthusiasts, and disdains to make any serious inquiry respecting the foundation of their hope. If his acquaintance with the letter of the Scripture did not restrain him, he would tauntingly address the artless question of Nicodemus to every minister who preaches the doctrine of regeneration: "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" John iii, 4. And unless he was withheld by a sense of politeness, he would rudely repeat to every zealous follower of St. Paul the ungracious expression of Festus: "Thou art beside thyself; much" mystic "learning doth make thee mad," Acts xxvi, 24.

7. On the contrary, a minister who is distinguished by the second trait of the character of St. Paul, at the same time proportionably possesses every disposition necessary to form an evangelical pastor: since it is not possible for Christian piety to exist without the brilliant light of truth, and the burning zeal of charity. And every minister who has this light and this love, is enriched with those two powerful resources which enabled the first Christians to act as citizens of heaven, and the first ministers as ambassadors of Christ.

TRAIT III.

His intimate union with Christ by faith.

"I AM Come," said the good Shepherd, "that my sheep might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," John x, 10, 11. "I am the light of the world," John viii, 12. "I am the way, the truth, and the life," John xiv, 6. "I am the vine; ye are the branches,' John xv, 5. The faithful minister understands the signification of these mysterious expressions. He walks in this way, he follows this light, he embraces this truth, and enjoys this life in all its rich abundance. Constantly united to his Lord, by an humble faith, a lively hope, and an ardent charity, he is enabled to say, with St. Paul, "The love of Christ constraineth me; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then

were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again," 2 Cor. v, 14. "We are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory," Col. iii, 3, 4. "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more; but liveth unto God. We likewise reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom. vi, 5, 9, 11.

This living faith is the source from whence all the sanctity of the Christian is derived, and all the power of the true minister. It is the medium through which that sap of grace and consolation, those streams of peace and joy, are perpetually flowing, which enrich the believing soul, and make it fruitful in every good work; or, to speak without à metaphor, from this powerful grace proceeds that love of God and man which influences us to think and act, either as members or as ministers of Jesus Christ. The character of the Christian is determined according to the strength or weakness of his faith. If the faith of St. Paul had been weak or wavering, his portrait would have been unworthy of our contemplation: he would necessarily have fallen into doubt and discouragement; he might probably have sunk into sin, as St. Peter plunged into the sea; he must, sooner or later, have lost his spiritual vigour, and have made the same appearance in the Church as those ministers and Christians who are influenced by the maxims of the world. The effects of faith are still truly mysterious, though our Lord has explained them in as intelligible a manner as their nature will permit: "He that abideth in me," by a living faith," and in whom I abide," by the light of my word and by the power of my Spirit, "the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. If any man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and" being "withered, is cast into the fire and burned. Herein is my Father glorified, that," united to me as the branches to the vine, "ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples," John xv, 6, 7, 8.

Penetrated with these great truths, and daily cleaving more firmly to his living Head, the true minister expresses what the natural man cannot receive, and what few pastors of the present age are able to comprehend, though St. Paul not only experienced it in his own heart, but openly declares it in the following remarkable passage: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet, not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me," Gal. ii, 20.

TRAIT IV.

His extraordinary vocation to the holy ministry, and in what that ministry chiefly consists.

EVERY professor of Christianity is acquainted with the honour which our Lord conferred upon the Apostle Paul, in not only calling him to a participation of the Christian faith, but by appointing him also to publish

the everlasting Gospel. A just sense of this double honour penetrated the heart of that apostle with the most lively gratitude: "I give thanks,” saith he, "to Christ Jesus our Lord, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief: and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant in me, with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life," 1 Tim. i, 12, 16. The evangelical ministry, to which St. Paul was immediately called, is in general the same through every age enlightened by the Gospel, and consists in publishing the truth after such a manner that the wicked may be converted, and the faithful edified. The commission which this great apostle received from Christ contains, essentially, nothing more than the acknowledged duty of every minister of the Gospel. Leave out the miraculous appearance of our Lord; pass over the circumstance of a commission given in an extraordinary manner; substitute the word sinners for that of Gentiles, and instead of Jews, read hypocritical professors; and you will perceive that, with these immaterial alterations, the commission of St. Paul is the commission of every faithful minister of the Church. Observe the tenor of it. In person, or by my ambassadors, in a manner either extraordinary or ordinary, "I appoint thee a minister, and a witness of those things which thou hast seen, [or experienced,] and of those things in the which I will appear to thee; and I will deliver thee from the hands of the people, and from the Gentiles," that is, from the hands of hypocritical professors, and from ignorant sinners, "unto whom I now send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from the darkness of error to the light of truth, and from the power of Satan to God," that is, from sin, which is the image of Satan, to holiness, which is the image of God, "that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them which are sanctified, by faith that is in me," Acts xxvi, 16-18. Such was the office to which St. Paul was appointed, more especially among the Gentile nations; and such, without doubt, is the office of every pastor, at least within the limits of his particular parish. As for taking the ecclesiastical habit, reading over some pages of a liturgy, solemnizing marriages, baptizing infants, keeping registers, and receiving stipends, these things are merely accidental; and every minister should be able to say, with St. Paul, "Christ sent me, not [principally] to baptize, but to preach the Gospel," 1 Cor. i, 17.

It is evident, from various passages in the different offices of our Church, that our pious reformers were unanimously of opinion, that Christ himself appoints, and, in some sort, inspires all true pastors; that he commits the flock to their keeping, and that their principal care is the same with that of the first evangelists, namely, "the conversion of souls." And truly, the same Lord who appointed his disciples as apostles, or ocular witnesses of his resurrection, has also appointed others as pastors, or witnesses of a secondary order, and suffragans of the first evangelists. If the witnesses of a higher order were permitted to see Christ after his resurrection, those of a secondary order have felt the efficacy of his resurrection, "being raised together with him," or

regenerated through the reception of "a lively hope, by the rising again of Christ from the dead," 1 Pet. i, 3; Col. iii, 1. So that every true minister who bears his testimony to the truths of the Gospel, whether it be from the pulpit or before tribunals, is supported by his own particular experience of Christ's resurrection, as well as by a conviction founded upon the depositions of the first witnesses. Now this conviction and this experience are by no means confined to the ministering servants of God; but the hearts of the faithful, in their several generations, have been influenced by them both; if it be true, that they have constantly stood prepared to seal with their blood these two important truths, Jesus Christ" died for our sins, and rose again for our justification." Millions of the laity have been called to give this last proof of their faith, and, beyond all doubt, it is abundantly more difficult to bear testimony to the truth upon a scaffold than from a pulpit.

If St. Paul and the other apostles are considered as persons of rank far superior to ours, they themselves cry out, "O sirs! we also are men of like passions with you," Acts xiv, 15. If it be said that God inspired the apostles with all the wisdom and zeal necessary to fulfil the duties of their high vocation; it may be replied, that our Churches implore for their established pastors the same wisdom and zeal, grounding such prayers upon the authority of many plain passages of Holy Scripture. "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the Church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end," Eph. iii, 20, 21.

Moreover, it is an error to suppose that the apostles needed no augmentation of that Divine light by which spiritual objects are discerned. St. Paul, who was favoured with an extraordinary inspiration, and that sufficient to compose sacred books, in which infallibility is to be found, writes thus to believers: "Now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known," 1 Cor. xiii, 12. An humble, but happy confession! which, on the one hand, will not suffer us to be discouraged when we are most sensible of our inadequate light; and teaches us, on the other, how necessary it is to make incessant application to the "Father of lights;" equally guarding us against the pride of some, who imagine themselves to have apprehended all the truth; and the wilful ignorance of others, who pronounce spiritual knowledge to be altogether unattainable.

Now, if the Apostle Paul could but imperfectly discern the depths of evangelical truth, and if angels themselves "desire to look into these things," 1 Pet. i, 12, who can sufficiently wonder at the presumption of those men, who are so far persuaded of their own infallibility that they regard all truths which they are unable to fathom as the mere reveries of fanaticism? But, turning our eyes at present from the pernicious error of these self-exalted Christians, let us consider a subject in which we are more interested than in the extraordinary vocation of St. Paul to the holy ministry.

REFLECTIONS

Upon the ordinary vocation to the holy ministry.

"THE harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few: pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest," Matt. ix, 37, 38. Retaining in memory these remarkable words of our Lord, the conscientious man is incapable of thrusting himself into the holy ministry, without being first duly called thereto by the Lord of the harvest, the great "Shepherd and Bishop of souls."

The minister of the present age is not ordinarily called to the holy ministry, except by carnal motives, such as his own vanity, or his pecu. liar taste for a tranquil and indolent life. Perhaps his vocation to the ministry is principally from his father and mother, who have determined that their son shall enter into holy orders. Very frequently if the candidate for holy orders had sincerity enough to discover the real inclination of his heart, he might make his submissions to the dignitaries of our Church, and say, "Put me, I pray you, into one of the priest's offices, that I may eat a piece of bread," 1 Sam. ii, 36.

It is not thus with the real believer who consecrates himself to the holy ministry. He He is not ignorant that "Christ glorified himself to be made a high priest:" and he is perfectly assured that no man has a right to take upon himself the sacerdotal dignity "but he that is called of God," either in an extraordinary manner, as Aaron and St. Paul, or at least in an ordinary manner, as Apollos and Timothy, Heb. v, 4, 5. As it is a matter of the utmost importance to understand by what tokens this ordinary vocation to the holy ministry may be discovered, the following reflections upon so interesting a subject may not be altogether superfluous :

If a young man of virtuous manners is deeply penetrated with this humiliating truth, " All have sinned and come short of the glory of God," Rom. iii, 23; if, farther, he is effectually convinced of this consolatory truth, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John iii, 16: if his natural talents have been strengthened by a liberal education; if the pleasure of doing good is sweeter to him than all the pleasures of sense: if the hope of " converting sinners from the error of their way" occupies his mind more agreeably than the idea of acquiring all the advantages of fortune: if the honour of publishing the Gospel is superior in his eyes to the honour of becoming the ambassador of an earthly prince in short, if by a desire which springs from the fear of God, the love of Christ, and the concern he takes in the salvation of his neighbour, he is led to consecrate himself to the holy ministry: if, in the order of Providence, outward circumstances concur with his own designs; and if he solicits the grace and assistance of God with greater eagerness than he seeks the outward vocation from his superiors in the Church by the imposition of hands; he may then satisfy himself, that the great High Priest of the Christian profession has set him apart for the high office to which he aspires.

When, after serious examination, any student in theology discovers in himself the necessary dispositions mentioned above; then having received imposition of hands, with faith and humility, from the pastors