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minister must essentially fail here who does not succeed in setting forth, in his own person, a style of manners adapted to conciliate the respect and good will of all whom he approaches.

And when I recollect how extremely important the first steps of a young minister are; at how early and inexperienced an age he frequently enters on his publick work; how much depends on the character of his habits and manners when he is least sensible of the fact; and how completely he may prostrate his dignity, and foreclose his usefulness, by a few ridiculous foibles, or inadvertent habits, of the existence of which it would be sometimes difficult to convince him:-I say, when I recollect all these things, I am astonished that candidates for the ministry think so little of this matter, and are so little concerned to form a style of manners, which may be conducive, at once, to their comfort and useful

ness.

Allow me further, my dear young Friend, to remark, that if you wish to succeed in forming such manners as it is the object of these pages to recommend, you must BEGIN EARLY and LABOUR PATIENTLY; otherwise, you will never make the attainment. As the discipline of the temper and feelings ought to be commenced with the earliest dawn of reason, and is the work of a lifetime; so the discipline of the manners, if the expression may be allowed, depending as it does for success on "ruling our spirits," should be begun as early as possible; the sooner the better. Say not, it is too soon for you

to begin to "put on the clergyman," when you are only in the second year of your theological studies. Let me tell you, my friend, if you begin now, and labour in this species of culture with the utmost assiduity, I shall consider you as doing great things if you succeed in forming even tolerable clerical manners by the time you are ready to enter the pulpit. It is, as I have already said, a gradual work. In the conflict with your old habits, and your unhallowed feelings, you will have many a painful struggle, and will probably suffer many a discouraging defeat. It will be much if you ultimately gain the victory. If you are so happy, you will find it to be no easy conquest. But, when gained, it will be the most glorious and the most precious of all victories-A VICTORY OVER YOURSELF.

You will perceive that my counsel extends beyond the time that you propose to spend in the Theological Seminary, and, indeed, will apply, in some of its parts, to the whole of your clerical life, should it be ever so long. This was expressly intended. It occurred to me that a little manual, addressed to One of those who bear to me the relation of Pupils, adapted to promote his benefit, not only while he continues in the institution of which I am an officer, but when he shall have taken his leave of it, nay, as long as he lives; might, at the same time, if given through the medium of the press, be of some use to others, to whom I have had, and may yet have, the honour and the pleasure to stand in the same relation; not merely in the be

ginning, but throughout the whole of their course. And if the following pages should be blessed, in the smallest degree, to your advantage, or that of any other individual, in preparing for a profession which I love, I shall consider myself as abundantly rewarded.

I will only add, that in preparing this little system of advices, I have by no means forgotten how small my title is to assume the office of teacher on such a subject. It is a maxim in physical science, that a stream can never, in ordinary circumstances, rise higher than its fountain. If I thought this maxim applied as rigidly in intellectual and moral culture, I should lay down my pen in despair: or rather, I should not have dared to take it up for the purpose of discussing a subject at once so delicate and difficult. But it does not. Nothing is more common than to see pupils rising far higher than their instructors in knowledge and practical wisdom. This thought comforts and animates me in the undertaking. My office having placed me in the way of perceiving how greatly a body of precepts and suggestions on this subject is needed: having never seen any thing which appeared to me to approach toward answering the purpose in view: knowing that all that many ingenuous youth need to put them on the right track, is a collection of hints, for setting their own minds at work; and hoping that what is "sown in weakness," may be "raised in power," I venture to make the attempt which the title of these Letters announces. May our cominon Master accept and bless it!

LETTER II.

SEE THAT YE WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY, NOT AS FOOLS, BUT AS WISE.

Ephes. v. 15.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICKS OF CLERICAL MANNERS.

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND,

In pursuing the subject introduced to your view in the preceding Letter, a question presents itself, which seems to require some discussion, before we proceed to the details which are intended to occupy the following pages. The question is this-Is there any thing peculiar in the style of manners proper for a minister of the gospel? Ought the manners of a. clergyman perceptibly to differ from those of a wellbred man of a secular profession? I think they ought.. That is to say, I am clearly of the opinion that they ought to bear a stamp, in a variety of particulars, characteristick of the hallowed spirit and sacred office with which they are connected. All other professional men, indeed, would be the better for having the same sort of manners that I am about to recommend to ministers of the gospel; but with respect to the latter, they are so indispensably necessary to the complete attainment of all those advantages which manners can impart to their possessor, that

they may be said, without impropriety, to be peculiarly clerical in their nature.

If I were to attempt to exhibit the peculiarity in question, I should say it may be expressed in six words-Dignity, Gentleness, Condecension, Affability, Reserve, and Uniformity.

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1. Dignity. By this I mean that happy mixture of gravity and elevation in human deportment, which evinces a mind habitually thoughtful, serious, and set on high things. An air and manner opposed to levity; opposed to that propensity to jesting, which is so often manifested by some who bear the sacred office; opposed to what is grovelling; opposed, in short, to every species of lightness or volatility, which, however tolerated in young persons of secular professions, is barely tolerated, even in them, and certainly adds nothing to their respectability in the view of any one: but which in ministers of the gospel, is peculiarly unseemly, and never fails to lower the estimation in which they are held by all discerning people. I have often thought, my young friend, that you were by far too ready to give way to your risible feelings. Every public man, and especially every clergyman, ought to cultivate that habitual sedateness, and command of his countenance, which will prevent his being the sport of every ludicrous occurrence, or merry-andrew, who may happen to be presented to his view.

The dignity of which I speak also requires its possessor to avoid those companies, in which language, and scenes, are likely to be exhibited, which ought

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