ly dress....Fixed attention to what is said....Impro-

per to read during a Lecture....Private conversation

during a Lecture.... Lounging or reclining posture....

Sleeping posture....Gravity....Criticising... Withdraw-

ing from the Lecture-room.... Taking notes of Lec-

tures....Every hour spent in the Lecture-room pre-

oious

252-269

LETTER X.

Habits in the Pulpit, and in the house of God....Avoid

exhaustion before going to the pulpit....Eat but little

before preaching....Aids for the voice....Prayer before

preaching....Punctuality in going to the pulpit....Man-

ner of entering the church....Manners in the pulpit....

Want of dignity in the pulpit....Commencement of

service....Passing from one part of the service to ano-

ther....Closing the eyes in prayer....Administration of

Sacraments....Publick services not too long....Publick

reproof from the pulpit....Quitting the pulpit....Con-

versation in the pulpit....Flattery in prayer....Deport-

ment of ministers as hearers....Exposure to cold air

after speaking....Quitting the church with criticisms

on the sermon....Going from the pulpit to the knees 270-293

LETTER XI.

Conduct in Church Judicatories....Importance of the
subject....Punctuality in attending....Early attendance
....Special prayer before attendance....Not to expect
too much.... Being devoted to the business of the body
....Always closely attentive to what is going on....
Keeping in the pocket a copy of the rules.... Young
members to speak but little.... Wait for older mem-
bers to speak....Frequent or long speaking never right
....All harshness, satire, and acrimony to be avoided....
Treating aged members with deference....Gravity....
Frequent change of seat...Abstinence from food...Can-
dour and uprightness....Exulting in success....Submis-
sion under failure....Duties of Moderator....No easy

thing to keep these rules.... Plan of choosing commis-

sioners to the General Assembly

LETTER XII.

Female Society, Marriage, &c....Delicacy of the subject

.... Still very important....Some clergymen ought ne-

ver to marry....Pastors ought to marry....Too much

haste in marrying.... Where marriage is not intended

great care should be taken that expectations of that

nature be not excited....Match-makers to be avoided...

Great importance of piety in a clergyman's wife...Good

sense and prudence indispensable....Good temper and

amiable manners.... Good health and spirits....Personal

beauty.... Marrying for money....No step in life more

important than choosing a wife.... Need of Divine di-

rection....Matrimonial engagements not to be violated

....Clergymen exemplars of conjugal excellence...Con-

duct of clergymen's wives and daughters....Delicacy

in conversing with females.... Time spent with them

usefully employed....Contemptuous expressions con-

cerning the sex avoided

LETTER XIII.

Dress....Style of living.... Pecuniary concerns....A clergy-
man's dress....The dress and deportment of his family
....Furniture and equipage plain and simple....Expense
of living should never exceed the income....Wise eco-
nomy....Meanness in pecuniary concerns.....
....Advanta-
ges of keeping an account of expenditures....Advanta-
ges of paying ready money for every thing.... Con-
tributing to charitable and pious objects....Undue so-
licitude respecting temporal support....Subscriptions
or donations not to be solicited....If possible to avoid
it, pastors should not leave their congregatsons on ac-
count of Salary....If compelled to resort to secular em-
ployment, it should as far as possible, harmonize with
the ministerial character.... Secular concerns should

294-338

339-355

never engross the thoughts nor the conversation....

Investment of property so as to avoid litigation,

and the necessity of resorting to coercive measures to

obtain just rights... A grasping mercenary spirit, vigi-

lantly to be guarded against

LETTER XIV.

373-394

Miscellaneous Counsels....Punctuality to engagements

....Importance of decision of character....Utility of

early rising....Methods suggested for the preservation

of health....Importance of attending to this subject...

Extremes to which young men are prone in relation

to this matter....Habit of whining and complaining, in

relation to bodily health....Brethren in the ministry

should be on good terms with each other.... Politicks

to be avoided.... Clerical recreations....The mischiefs

of hurry in official duty..... To be avoided only by

great diligence, and the maintenance of order in their

affairs....Improper concern about popularity....Indif-

ference to praise or blame, in the conscientious dis-

charge of his duty....Ill natured attacks from the cen-

sorious not to be publicly noticed....Assigning reasons

for any particular course of conduct to be done cau-

tiously and sparingly....Publick men should be on their

guard against their friends as well as enemies....A for-

ward, obtrusive spirit toward strangers in travelling....

A monkish impenetrable reserve....Ministers should

be ever ready to perform the appropriate duties of

religion, but never force them in mixed companies....

Troublesome and obtrusive strangers to be shunned

....In travelling all useful information should be care-

fully sought for, and secured....Every thing to be

made subservient to religion....Conclusion... The sub-

stance of all that is recommended in the foregoing

Letters with the divine assistance, within the reach

of every candidate for the holy ministry.

395-423

LETTERS,

&c.

LETTER L

THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS, CONSIDER YOUR WAYS.

Haggai i. 5.

INTRODUCTORY.

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND,

You are soon, with the permission of Providence, to enter the pulpit, and to engage in the active duties of that profession, which, however undervalued by the worldly and the unbelieving, cannot fail of being regarded by every friend of Christ, as the most truly honourable and important under heaven. For this profession I trust you have the most essential of all qualifications; I mean unfeigned, vital piety. If I had any serious doubt as to this point, much as I respect your other endowments, and favourably as I augur of your capacity for the work of publick instruction, I could not in conscience encourage you to take another step in your present pursuit.

But there is one qualification for the sacred office,

B