Finally, what manner of persons ought we to be who profess to be partakers of this life? In reply to this question, I might ask another

e;

1.What manner of persons were its first recipients; and yet what had the Saviour done for them which He has not done for us? They did not hope for more than eternal life we do not hope for less. Yet so mightily did this hope animate them, that their piety was all flame-a flame in which they were ready to offer up everything earthly, even life itself, as a sacrifice.

2. I might remind you further of what its early recipients actually endured in order to transmit to you "the words of this life." In almost every age the Gospel has been sprinkled with blood-baptized with fire. Its original propagators endured imprisonments and deaths oft in preserving it. It has come down to us through ages of persecution and sorrow. It has been committed to our keeping by a hand stretched out of the midst of the fires. It has been sent to us from the dungeon-bequeathed to us from the rack. It is the precious legacy of a host of martyred saints. And shall we not shew the living power of that for which they died?

3. But let me especially remind each Christian present, that he has been called forth from more than an earthly prison-liberated by more than angelic interference--experienced a rescue to which the universe can never know a parallel. "What, know ye not that ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you-which ye have of Godand ye are not your own-for ye are bought with a price— therefore glorify God in your bodies and spirits which are his." Glorify him--the apostles were set at liberty to proclaim His Gospel. The salvation of that Gospel was meant to set every part of your nature at liberty to glorify Him. And, oh, as if your redemption had just been accomplished by the Son of God, and as if you had been actually recalled from the dark prisonhouse of perdition, we beseech you-by His baptism, fasting, and temptation-by His agony and

bloody sweat-by His cross and passion-by His precious death and burial-by His glorious resurrection and ascension-by the bitter pains of eternal death from which He has redeemed you-by "the words of this life," to which He hath raised you-by the radiance of that throne to which He is leading you-and that crown of life which there awaits you-we beseech you, brethren, that ye now present yourselves to God a living sacrifice.

4. And, then, is it nothing to know that the cause you are called on to serve is one destined to absorb every other, and to achieve universal triumph? As certainly as the prison opened its bolts and bars for the apostles to walk forth, every obstacle to the progress of His Gospel shall fall prostrate and do it homage. As surely as an angel ministered to their escape, so surely shall the highest agencies in the universe unite in His service. Alas, that the agency of His people should be so grudgingly given. Time was, when the followers of Christ were liable to the prison and the stakebut then "the Word of God was not bound the living Spirit of the Gospel was unimprisoned and at large. Now, on the other hand, His followers are at large, but the Life of Christianity—is not that imprisoned? And who are its jailers? Who or what but the selfishness and the worldliness of its professed friends? But even this is destined to yield. Happy they who shall witness the change. But happier still are they who contribute to hasten its arrival ;who uninfluenced by the spiritless example of others—and without waiting to be dragooned into duty-simply ask themselves, "How much owest thou unto thy Lord?" and live to express their sense of the magnitude of the obligation.

SERMON XI.

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.

2 TIM. iii. 16, 17.-" All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."

IF the ultimate design of Christ, in the institution of a Church, be the conversion of the world—and if the preaching of the Gospel be the chief instrument by which the Church is to answer that end-how important to determine the characteristics of the most efficient ministry, and the way in which the Church may obtain it.

Now, it would be extremely easy to describe such a ministry; for it would be only necessary to enumerate the attributes of ministerial perfection, and then to suppose them all combined in real forms of living and personal activity. And we have no doubt that many a Christian congregation has listened to such a description of ministerial excellence till they have been conscious of feelings, which, if translated into language, would have said, "Oh, for such a ministry-would that such were the qualifications of our minister-how different a people should we then be!" And this latter part of the ejaculation, if explained, would often have proved to mean, "We should prosper then without any trouble on our part-our minister would do, and would be, everything for us—we should enjoy the distinction arising from his excellence, without having to cultivate corresponding qualities for ourselves." Now, to shew that this is the correct interpretation of many such a wish, we think it only neces

sary to suggest, that could the persons entertaining it. have seen at the moment, as by a flash of light, that every approach to official perfection on the part of the minister would involve the necessity of a corresponding advance in practical piety on their part-that if he became all that they could desire, it implied a readiness and an obligation on their part to become all that he could desire-not merely liberal, but self-denying; not merely active, but laborious; not merely professing, but possessing and exemplifying the distinguished piety and devotedness of apostolic times-could they have seen that all this would have been indispensable on their part, we can easily conceive, without any painful effort of the imagination, how the ardour of their desire for an efficient ministry would have died away into a very languid sigh-and that, if such were the hard condition on which alone they could obtain it, they would readily signify their willingness to languish on together, people and priest alike inefficient. We propose, then, not so much to enumerate the characteristics of an efficient ministry, as to shew why such characteristics are necessary; and that on the Church it devolves, under God, to cultivate and maintain such a ministry.

To say that piety is necessary for the Christian minister is saying but little-it is indispensable even for the private Christian. Every believer is a living temple, and what is a temple without piety? Gratitude must bring its oblations— love must kindle and feed its altar fires-and penitence come with its sacrifice and faith present it—and holiness guard and consecrate the whole for God. But there is a sense in which not only the individual Christian, but each particular church, is a living temple-and the office of the minister is to conduct its worship. If piety was essential for him as a private Christian, from the moment he comes forward to conduct the services of this whole collective temple, eminent piety is indispensable. He is emphatically "a man of God"—

virtually commissioned, like an ancient prophet, to transact with the people the affairs of heaven; can he form too high an estimate of the duties of his office? He is an ambassador for Christ to the guilty and the perishing; how necessary that he should be baptized in the very spirit of compassion and love. He knows the fearful consequences of the state into which they have sunk; and, as if he foresaw the end of their course-heard already their doom pronouncedbeheld the pit opening to receive them-and heard, by anticipation, their hopeless cries for deliverance, he is to evince the deepest tenderness and the most earnest solicitude "to pluck the firebrands from the flames," and to quench them in the blood of the cross. He is to feed the Church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood; how important that he should relish and feast on the manna which he distributes to others-that he should be able to say with a spiritual gust which marks his own intense enjoyment, "His flesh is meat indeed! His blood is drink indeed!" What a depth of solemnity may we suppose to have rested on the mind of the high priest on the morning of the great day of atonement-how weighty the interests pressing upon him— how holy and awful the act of entering within the veil to officiate there in the immediate presence of God! As the official intercessor for His Church upon earth, the Christian minister has, in effect, to do this weekly-daily; how important that he should be able to say, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ!" His sacred duties are of regular and constant recurrence—what but eminent piety can save him from sinking into formality -from discharging them with that cold, professional indifference which is the certain death of all usefulness- can impart that spiritual freshness of fervour essential to his own enjoyment, and to excite and secure the sympathy of others? While the private Christian is expected to be an example to the world, he is to be "an example to his flock"-a model among models. His central station and official character