may be cases, in which resort to legal redress is justifiable; but they must be very strong cases indeed; and even then, a forgiving spirit should be prominent in the whole transaction. How ought it to cut a minister of Christ to the heart, to have it said, that he is as ready as any man to resent injuries, and to be concious that he has given too much occasion for the remark.

SECONDLY; Every pastor should be an example of temperance. By temperance I mean moderation in the indulgence of his appetites, or in the use of the bounties of providence. O what a reproach to the ministry is a glutton, or a wine bibber! I do not stand here to plead for wasting abstinence. Far from it. Our Father gives us "rain from heaven and fruitful seasons," to fill our hearts with food and gladness. But surely it does not become our sacred profession to ask "What shall we eat and what shall we drink," as if plain and wholesome fare could not satisfy us. We ought on the contrary to let our moderation be known unto all men. I hold that it is either a base slander, or a mournful stigma upon a minister's character to say, that he is one of the freest livers in the whole parish; that nobody is a better judge of brandy and wines; or is more fond of good eating and drinking.

THIRDLY; Every christian pastor ought to be a pattern of industry. I do not mean by this, that he is bound to be as early and as late in the field as

the most laborious husbandman in his parish. A faithful minister will commonly find but little time for manual labour. And even though he should seldom put his own hand to the plow, but merely take the oversight of those who do the work, I very much doubt whether it would increase his usefulness to be counted the best farmer; to fill the largest barns; or to raise the finest crops and cattle of any man in the town. These are not the things in which one who has the care of souls should be anxious to excel. His industry should appear in his study, and in the seasonable and conscientious discharge of parochial duties. As no man has so large a field to cultivate, as no one has so much to do, and as the consequences of indolence are nowhere so deplorable, surely the spiritual labourer, of all men, should be up and doing what he findeth to do with his might. Nor does that pastoral industry, on which I lay so much stress, consist merely in devoting a certain number of hours every day, to the duties of the ministry. It includes a methodical appropriation of time, and an orderly arrangement of what is to be done, so that one thing may not interfere with another. It is needless to say, that a man of system will accomplish twice as much in a given time, as one who is always in a bustle, and has no plan to guide him.

Do any thing else, then, with a man who is habitually and incurably indolent, or who has no regard to system in what he does. Send him into your harvest field, when the precious grain is wasting for want of reapers; leave your whole farm to

his drowsy management; put him into your counting house; make him sole agent of a great manufacturing establishment-entrust him with the endless details of the war office, or the department of state; --but O, put him not into the sacred ministry. Entrust him not with the care of souls. We want men for this service who have heads and hearts and hands to offer; and who are willing to spend, and be spent in it.

FOURTHLY; A christian minister should be " giv en to hospitality;" and in this, as well as every thing else that is praise worthy, be an example to his flock. Thus, to instance in a few particulars, the pious poor must have access in their extremity, both to his table and his store-room. As long as he has a loaf to divide with his way-faring brother, he cannot withhold it, and why should he? Or why forget to entertain strangers, especially when they are engaged in the furtherance of important christian enterprises?

I know it may be objected, that this is virtually laying a heavy tax upon the ministry, and opening a wide door for imposition. Drones, it may be said, there are and will be among preachers, as well as other classes of men;-candidates who can never obtain a settlement, and who will be sure to tax the hospitality of ministers beyond all reasonable endurance. This, I am sorry to say, I cannot deny; nor that in obtaining subscriptions for their own emolument, the publishers of religious books, and their

agents, sometimes make themselves too long welcome in the families of poor clergymen. But we must not make too much of cases like these, lest it should have the appearance of covetousness. The very men who complain of their pastor, and say that he impoverishes his own family, by keeping a great ministerial tavern, would, perhaps, be the last to commend him for shutting his doors, and contracting the dimensions of his table. For who that has the slightest claim to enlargement of mind, does not after all, love to see his minister liberal; and how injurious to the cause of religion, would be the influence of a contrary example?

A similar train of thought naturally suggests itself, in reference to those great and expensive systems of charity, which are the glory of the present age. The example of the sacred profession, in contributing according to the "ability which God giveth," for the support of these institutions, is no less essential, than earnest and eloquent appeals to the public in their behalf. Only let the case be doubtful enough to furnish a plausible pretext for the question, Does the preacher ever give any thing himself, or any thing proportionate to his ability, and who will regard his eloquence or his arguments? So true is the household aphorism every where, that example goes much farther than precept. And so true is it, that to be in the highest degree useful, a pastor must be an example to his flock in every thing that is disinterested, liberal, self-denying, and public-spirited ;-in self-government, heavenly mind

edness, and reverence for the holy precepts and institutions of the Gospel; in conversation, in faith, in love to Christ, and the church, and in the conscientious discharge of all relative duties. It is thus, that the good pastor goes on before his flock, and at every step sheds the light of his own example upon the way to heaven; while the "hireling," stands at best, a mere guide-post at the entrance, always to be left behind by those who climb the narrow way. It now remains for me,

III. To specify some of the more active and important duties of the pastoral office. This I shall be obliged to do in a very summary manner.

One of the first duties of a pastor, is to acquaint himself with the state of his flock. For till this is done, how can he know their particular wants, characters, trials, dangers, and necessities? And while he remains ignorant of these, how can he, in his public ministrations, "give to every one his portion in due season." I will venture to say, that

half the interest of preaching, and more than half the profit, depends upon its being adapted to the ever varying circumstances of the audience. A discourse may be heard with intense interest at one time, and produce a powerful effect upon a whole congregation, which would have passed off as merely decent, a month or even a week before. Hence the vast importance of giving a pastoral complexion to all your preaching, especially in your own pulpits. Hence, also the common fact, that those pastors,