throw Messiah's kingdom; to annihilate the church; and having stricken the Sun of Righteousness out of the heavens, to bring back the reign of chaos and old night.' The crimson guilt of such impious plotting and daring, who can portray?

But who are the enemies of Christ and his cause, that they should hope to accomplish their enterprise? Can the new school of infidels do that, which was infinitely above the power of their far mightier predecessors of a former age? What untried weapon can they form against the church, which will prosper? What new battering engine can they bring to bear upon the towers of Zion? They can scoff as loudly and as grossly as Paine, and with as keen a malignity as Voltaire. They can set their mouths against the heavens, and gnash their teeth and gnaw their tongues with pain.' Gog and Magog may come up from the four quarters of the earth, and compass the holy city about, and cry, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundations thereof;' but 'He that sitteth in the heavens, shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision :' and when he cometh out to scatter them, then shall they be as 'chaff before the wind, and as a rolling thing before the whirlwind.' How pitiable would be the folly of a wayward child, who in anger at the sun for shining in his face, should assail it with a pebble How extreme the madness of the man, who should guide his skiff to the headlong verge of Niagara, and attempt to moor it across the cataract, and turn back the rushing waters, and hush their mighty voice! But neither would the folly of the one, nor the madness of the other, bear any proportion to that of the men, who scornfully reject the Saviour, and set themselves to oppose the advancement of his kingdom.

4. Fathers and brethren of this Convention-heralds

of salvation-preachers of the everlasting Gospelambassadors for Christ! How full of instruction, of reproof, of encouragement, is the subject before us! How does it 'magnify our office,' and enhance our responsibility, and rebuke our supineness ! To us, within the sphere of our influence, are confided the sacred interests of the Redeemer's kingdom, at an eventful stage of its progress. The Captain of our salvation is himself in the field, and the sacred banner still advanWhile the track of other conquerors is marked with desolation and blood, and the tears and cries of widows and orphans are poured out like water over the wide and melancholy waste, our King, in his beneficent march, pours life and joy upon the desolate wilderness before him, and leaves the land as the garden of Eden behind him ;' and it is our high privilege to march under his standard and to witness his triumphs. O what a privilege! Let us be thankful for it. Let us show all good fidelity' to the end of our lives. Let us cherish a holy and irrepressible zeal in the service of our Prince. Let us love and honor him more and more. Let us henceforth be more entirely devoted to the interests of his kingdom. Let us pray without ceasing for its advancement in this and every other land. And O, when he shall come in the clouds of heaven, sitting upon his great white throne, to judge the world in righteousness,' and we shall stand with our beloved people at his bar, may we all be found among the called and chosen and faithful.' And when that momentous trial is ended, and the vast assembly breaks up, and the holy angels take their upward flight, and the lost quake under their final doom, may we hear the approving voice of our ascending King, 'Well done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of your Lord.' Amen and amen.

THE CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

And he gave some.......... pastors and teachers-Eph, iv. 11.

NEXT to the divine art of preaching, which was the impressive theme of discourse at our last annual meeting, the pastoral duties and relations of a minister, claim, if I mistake not, the highest regard of this Association. I shall therefore offer no apology, my fathers and brethren, for taking the word pastor in its more limited and popular sense, and calling your attention to the qualifications, duties, and high responsibilities, which plainly belong to this sacred office. And though it would become me better to sit at the feet of age and experience, than to offer my own sentiments, I shall, in discharging the duty which you have assigned me, speak freely, as I know you will hear me patiently and candidly.

I. Of pastoral qualifications.--Without promising a complete enumeration under this head, and much less a finished portrait of a good pastor, I shall submit the following hasty sketch.

First. He is a man of deep and unfeigned piety. However men of evangelical views and principles may differ on some other points, they can have but one opinion here. Piety is the life and the soul of pastoral fidelity. Without it every thing must be forced

* Preached in Boston before the Pastoral Association of Massachusetts, May 31, 1826,

and heavy, if not positively irksome. For how can a pastor form any just estimate of the worth of the souls committed to his charge, if he has never learned the value of his own? How can he realize the weight of his responsibility, till he sees it in the light of eternity; and how can he see it in this light, if his own eyes have never been opened? If the love of Christ does not constrain him, what can bear him on through evil as well as good report, in the discharge of duty? What shall sustain him under the trials and discouragements of the ministry? What shall rouse him to action, when neither honor, nor pleasure, nor profit invites; but when all worldly motives conspire to discourage and impede him? If piety has found no lodgment in his bosom, if the love of souls is not there, what shall counteract the sluggishness of his own fallen nature, and induce him to follow his very enemies with prayers aud entreaties, to the mouth of the pit into which they are plunging?

Every pastor must be with his flock in times of trouble and danger. He must see them when flesh and heart are failing; when earth is receding, and the awful portals of eternity are opening. He must accompany them to the entrance of the dark valley, and, as it were, dip his own feet in Jordan, as they cling to him, till torn away they sink in its cold flood. And how, if he has never 'tasted that the Lord is gracious,' shall he talk to them of those 'joys with which no stranger intermeddleth?' How shall he recommend to them a Saviour whom he has never loved, and point out the way to heaven which he has never learned? How poorly, how miserably qualified must an unconverted pastor be, to visit the widows and the fatherless in their affliction; to comfort mourners in Zion;' to bind up the wounds of his flock, or indeed to discharge any other ministerial duty!

Secondly. The christian pastor should be a man of good natural abilities. I will not say, that great talents are ordinarily indispensable in the ministry: I do not believe they are. But I do not see on the other hand, how a weak man can ever successfully discharge all the critical and arduous duties of the pastoral office, even in a small parish. He may deserve all possible credit for good intentions; he may be loved and even revered for his piety; but how can his judgment be confided in-who shall go to him for counsel in the trying emergency-or how is it possible for him ever to gain that general influence which is so essential to much usefulness? To say nothing of public instruction, how can a man of feeble intellect preside in the church, refute error, take the lead in difficult cases of discipline, instruct the ignorant, reclaim the wandering, and convince gainsayers? Surely it is not enough that a man have fervent piety and an earnest desire to be put into the priests' office!' His talents must be respectable-he must have at least an ordinary share of good common sense.

And this leads me to say, that not even every highly gifted and cultivated and pious mind is formed for usefulness in the pastoral office. A man may grasp the spheres with Newton, or soar above all created heights with Milton, or trace the mysterious operations of mind with Locke and Edwards--he may possess all that is brilliant in genius or profound in talents, and yet lack what we term common sense. And so sure as he lacks this, he can never be a useful pastor. He must first come down, or come up, and live and commune and think with

common men.

Thirdly. The christian pastor should be a man of education. That a good share of human learning is re