of man, when faithfully used, should not be ultimately successful. It is, indeed, our great consolation, that the work is not properly our own. Salvation is of the Lord; and on his promised grace we may confidently rely. He came to seek and save them that were lost. He came to destroy the works of the devil, and to deliver those who have been kept in bondage by him. Let the recollection of his love and power be our support in every hour of despondency. Let us cast ourselves afresh at his feet, and go on to watch and pray in his Name.

4. And finally, let us remember that our success depends, properly speaking, not on the use of this or that particular ordinance or means of grace, but on our putting on, as it'were, the whole armour of God, and being influenced throughout by Christian principles.-If we truly come to Christ, we shall no doubt be saved but truly to come to him, includes in it, a general conformity to the will of Christ. The cultivation of no one Christian grace will compensate for the neglect of any other; nor will the most fervent prayers avail without the required vigilance. If we should gain the victory in the neglect of any of the means prescribed, it would shew that some of those means were unnecessary. Let us not, therefore, expect success without an uniform attention to the whole mind and will of God. The Christian is one who is seeking to have the mind which was in Christ; to pull down every thought which opposes itself to him, and to be partaker of a Divine nature. Let this be the unceasing object of our pursuit; and to this end let us watch and pray without ceasing, and in due time, we shall reap, if we faint not. Amen.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

THE following letter has been in my possession several years. It was

lent me, with permission to copy it, and to shew it to my friends, by the young clergyman to whom it was addressed. The writer (as will be seen) had solely in view his particular case and circumstances. But I have always thought, and this also is the opinion of others to whom it has been read, that it contains many valuable remarks on some of the duties of a minister, and especially on the composition and delivery of sermons which are deserving of general notice: and hence a desire has been frequently expressed, that it might be published, and so be rendered more extensively useful. The young clergyman who gave it to me has been dead some years, and therefore the question has been referred to the gentleman who wrote it; and it is with his consent that it is now sent for publication, if you, sir, approve, in the Christian Observer. The names of the parties, &c. are, for obvious reasons, omitted. I am, Sir, &c. I. G. W.

Dear Sir,

I was so

While I was at impressed with the very important nature of your situation, that in all my conversations with you, I bore it in mind. And though I did not always declare the object I had in view, yet I was always aiming to convey such ideas as I conceived might be of use to you in the discharge of your great trust. Perceiving, however, that my conversation with you on this important subject was very deficient, I parted from you with the determination to endeavour to supply its defects by letter, after I got home, and had some leisure to digest the ob servations I had made, while residing in your parish. Various occupations have prevented the execution of my design. And now that I enter upon the task, I must begin with confessing, that were I not fully persuaded I am performing a duty in sending this letter, it would give me pain to let it go out of my hands,

knows my heart can bear me witness, that I had at any time rather commend than censure. Should I utter, therefore, any thing that may be unpleasant to you, do me the justice to believe, that it was not without a great struggle with myself that I was brought to write it.

It has pleased God to give you, my dear friend, a very extraordinary appointment; it being much more than having the charge of a single parish. By the resort of company from all parts of the kingdom to

-, you are in some measure the instructer of a whole country. There are few clergymen so situated. You have at different times men of all classes and circumstances before you; many of whom, by their rank, their office, or their talents, have it in their power to promote or hinder that great cause in which you are engaged. For their own sakes, it is most ardently to be desired, that the design and tendency of that Gospel you preach should be clearly brought before them, disencumbered of every adventitious circumstance which the enemy of their souls might avail himself of to prejudice their minds against it. But when it is considered that some of them have the means of acting with considerable force in the community, a fair exhibition of the truth to their minds becomes a matter of the highest consequence. In your congregation you sometimes have a bishop, a noble man, a member of the House of Commons, a minister of a populous parish, a magistrate, or a gentleman who in his country seat is lord of the village. These persons should be contemplated by you not as solitary individuals, but as they stand connected with the hundreds on whose conduct they exercise a commanding influence, and who may be benefitted or injured by what they do.

Now among other things of moment likely to result from your be

probable: viz. that from your p ing many of them will form ideas of that class of clergyme stand distinguished from the their profession by their zeal fo peculiar doctrines of the Go That such Clergymen are al universally considered as a dis class of men in the church, is bo all doubt: but many do not k whether this distinction arise circumstances for which they selves are not accountable, (as being faithful to their engager as ministers of the Church of land, while others are not,) or some peculiarities, incompatible what our Church requires of th in short, whether they are the ger ministers of the Church, or a he dox sect within it. By hearing however, something like a se opinion respecting them wil formed in the minds of many. will be considered as a specime the whole body. And from this clusion another effect is likely to low: many a man who has the mand of some door of usefulness be determined either to admit of ject a minister of evangelical pr ples, according to the light in w he views your preaching. How sirable, therefore, is it, that if p ble it should approve itself to e man who hears it! I am aware deed, that this would be exped too much. After all the pains may take, numbers will disappr our very aim will be a suffic ground of objection with many, though prosecuted in ever so u jectionable a manner. Never less, there is an apostolic rule g to us, by which it is our duty to ceed, even with those whose ap bation there is scarcely a hope of taining-"giving no offence in thing, that the ministry be blamed."

I am far from intending to ad you to be a pleaser of men.

A

desire is, that there may be nothing to object to in your ministry, but the purity of your doctrine, and the fidelity with which you deliver it. These, alas! being sufficiently ob. jectionable to human nature, let there, if possible, be nothing else in our ministry that is so.

Now, my dear friend, permit me to mention a few things in your sermons, which I think have a tendency to defeat the great intention of them. In the first place, let me observe, that though they contained many things admirably said, and though every one I heard you deliver gave me reason to thank God for your earnestness and fidelity; yet I cannot think you take sufficient pains in the composition of them. They appear to me to be very hasty productions. Many of those which I heard wanted that orderly succession of ideas, calculated to make a discourse more and more convincing or impressive, as the preacher proceeds with his subject. I will refer you to the first sermon I heard from you, as an instance of the fault in question. And I beg you to review that composition, and to consider, whether the time spent in delivering it might not have been more advantageously employed, had more pains been taken with it in the study. The sermon was on Jer. v. 24.

I have also thought that you were not sufficiently attentive to that necessary part of the preacher's office-the endeavouring to make the great truths of the Gospel in telligible to people who seldom think or read on such subjects. There are certain points, in speak ing of which, we ought always to bear in mind the" unlearned" in the doctrine of Christ. Of these, we have many in every congregation; and that, not merely in the aisles, but also in the "chief seats." man of education may be a barbarian in theology; but he has a soul, and I should endeavour to make him understand me, when I am speaking to him of that which is

The

The

necessary to his salvation. Christian Teacher should consider himself as an interpreter, when dispensing the word of God. He should not content himself with using such terms as are understood by those who know as much as himself; he should endeavour to come down to the apprehensions of those, who never heard the language of theologians, and cannot attach any ideas to their terms. I was told that Mr. said you were abstruse. And I myself think that you must appear so to most of those gay beings who hear you at — ; many of whom, with all their ac complishments, know scarcely the first principles of Christianity. I would advise you to profit by the remark of Mr. and to pray and strive for the attainment of that desirable talent of accommodating both your subject and your language to the state of those you have to instruct.

The sermon, the subject of which seemed to me best adapted to the bulk of your hearers, was that on"consider your ways." Like all the discourses I heard from you, it was highly serious; but it had one quality which many of them wanted-it was intelligible to all. And here I cannot but advise you to deal much in such plain and popular topics. Your congregation is too young in religious knowledge to admit of your venturing at present far beyond such points as repentance, faith in Christ, the influence of the Spirit, holiness, the danger of sin, the vanity of the world, Christian tempers, prayer, vigilance, the frailty of life, the certainty of death, the security and happiness of a Christian life, and such obvious and always necessary topics. In endeavouring to make the ignorant understand, and the careless feel these subjects, you will find work enough; and happy will you be if on these' you labour with success.

With respect to your rich hearers, I may further observe, that it seems necessary to bear in mind

not only their ignorance in religious matters, but likewise that delicate and fastidious sensibility which their education and habits of life induce. They are indeed too easily wound. ed, and too averse to pain, to re. ceive the full benefit of plain deal ing. But such being their character; and your business being not merely to deliver the truth, but to procure its admission into their minds, regard must be had to their actual condition and circumstances. Care must be taken, that what you enforce be not delivered in such a way, as may tend rather to shut than to open the ear to instruction. We shall overact our part, if we assert things which are more likely to shock, than to convince our hearers. There was something said on patriotism, and on literature, in one of your sermons, which I felt to have this tendency. And I thought at the time you made those observations, that you need not have concerned yourself with such points. If mankind have their prejudices on such subjects, we may well let them alone, till we have subdued prejudices of a more dangerous nature. We have in our ministerial vocation enow of these to encounter. Let those which are least hurtful be reserved for the conclusion of the combat.

I admit that the morbid delicacy of feeling in the affluent makes it very difficult to set before them the final punishment of the impenitent. Yet, "knowing the terrors of the Lord" ourselves, we must " persuade men," by setting those terrors before such as are exposed to them. But surely, some caution is necessary here; lest the minister of the hope-inspiring Gospel of Jesus, look more like a denunciator of judgment than a messenger of mercy. I make this observation with a peculiar view to your ministry; for you appeared to me to err a little on this head. Sometimes indeed we must endeavour to lead our hearers to the edge of "Tophet which is prepared of

old," that they may look into it, that they may see "it is deep and large," and take heed they fall not in. But to dwell much on hell-fire in every sermon, seems not fully to coincide with the designation of one, whose office it is to preach peace by Jesus Christ." To set forth the final state of the ungodly, is undoubtedly one of the means of bringing men to God; but in occasionally resorting to it, I am anxious that it should be accompanied with evident marks of tender feeling. That no method of awakening the secure may be left untried, I feel myself compelled to speak of the damnation of sinners, and that not sparingly, but to dwell upon the awful subject: but even then, when my principal aim has been to alarm those who are in danger, I conceive it incumbent on me to shew, that the awful representation has been made with a benevolent intention; taking care withal so to conclude, as to leave on the minds of my hearers some considerations that encourage hope.

It is of great importance that in a discourse on the end of the wicked, we shew nothing unfeeling, nothing which indicates the indulgence of a harsh or ferocious temper. "Sound speech" is not alone sufficient. On all subjects we should recollect, that we have two things to do; to convince, and to impress. A great part of our business lies in endeavouring to interest the heart. Nor do I know any thing that has a greater tendency to produce such an effect, than an affectionate manner of conveying the truth. A zealous mind, like yours, may defeat its end by a hardness of manner. Το obviate this, there should be much prayer to God for a tender spirit : a qualification which St. Paul, with all his energy of character, often discovered: yea, he could appear to the Searcher of all hearts, that he felt it; "God is my record,' said he to the Philippians," hov greatly I long after you all in th bowels of Jesus Christ."

To produce the feelings we should endeavour to excite, I could wish, that your sermons ended more with kind and penetrating expostulations, drawn from your subject. The application of your sermons seemed likewise to want the spirit of invitation. There is something very attractive in a minister's concluding with some such touching language as that which our Saviour used Go to Him "all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest. Take His yoke upon you: He is meek and lowly in heart: in Him ye shall find rest to your souls." You will meet with some good specimens both of expostulation and invitation, in the conclusions of Walker's Sermons on the Church Catechism.

Permit me to offer a few remarks on another important duty of our calling. We should endeavour to convince mankind of the utter insufficiency of their own works to justify them in the sight of God. But it is to be lamented, that some who aim at this point are chargeable with doing their business in such a manner, as defeats their design, by making it very generally misunderstood. It should be our object to shew, that we are making an attack, not on the eternal obligations of duty, but on the being satisfied with that partial and hypocritical manner in which we discharge them. There is in the minds of men in general a conviction, that they ought to be good men. Now I conceive, that a Christian minister should be careful never to say any thing that has the least tendency to shake that fundamental truth, so deeply engraven on the human mind before the fall, as still to be found even in some of the most ignorant and careless. This sentiment, a remaining trait of the Law of God originally written on the heart of man, affords something for a minister of the Gospel to work upon. Like the fragment of an inscription found on a ruined temple, Christ. Observ. No. 157.

expressive of its designation, it should be regarded, as far as it goes, as of great consequence to him who desires to re-edify the structure, and restore the service for which it was erected. But the manner in which some persons speak of good works is such, as not only to make no use of this sense of moral obligation found in most men, but to weaken it. Egregious mistake! To weaken that sense, which it is the intention of all the revelations God has made of His will to establish, to strengthen, to illuminate, and thereby to bring us to repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ! As a mere fragment only should this general sense of obligation be regarded by the Christian teacher, whose office it is to bring forward the testimony of holy Scripture to supply those great particulars that are wanting. The inspired writers will shew, what it is to be good men ; the obligations we are under to be such; the multiplied instances in which we have violated those obligations; the turpitude of those violations; the need in which we thereby stand of mercy; the necessity of faith in the mediation of Christ for our justification, and of the Holy Spirit's influence on our hearts, to enable us to obey the law of God; a law, which being "holy, just, and good," is of eternal obligation.

Not so much as a suspicion of detracting from the necessity of obe dience to the will of God, should ever fall on him whose office it is to turn the "hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just." But it is matter of fact, that some, who are distinguished by their zeal in preaching salvation by Jesus Christ, are not careful to preserve thmeselves from such a suspicion. There is an unguarded way of decrying works, and exalting faith, which nourishes an Antinomian spirit in lax religionists, and from which the minds of some reflecting persons revolt as subversive of all religion. Let “overy

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