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shall be exalted." "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

A minister of the Gospel, to be eminently useful, must also be distinguished for no small share of earnestness and zeal. On this point I feel afraid of leaving a wrong impression on your minds. Zeal, without judgment and discrimination, spoils a man for a minister of the Gospel. A venerable clergyman once said, "I would make deficiency in prudence the ground of quite as serious and insurmountable objection against laying hands on a candidate for the ministry, as I would a deficiency in piety or knowledge." Be ye "wise as serpents and harmless as doves." You have seen many a man who possessed commendable qualifications for the sacred. office, concerning whom, after all, it might be said, he is not a safe man. You may possess exemplary piety, and distinguished talent, but without practical wisdom, you cannot become a useful minister. And yet discretion may degenerate into timidity; may even lead to a trimming and calculating servility. A minister's character that is formed on the highest models of usefulness, must be distinguished for decision, energy, and zeal, as well as self-diffidence and discretion. There is no danger that your zeal will be too ardent, so long as it is the expression of simple benevolence. Seek not your own will, but the will of the Father who hath sent you, and you cannot be too zealous. Only be sure that your heart glows with the benevolence of the Gospel, and the flame cannot rise too high. True zeal will find its choicest aliment in cultivating the spirit of Jesus Christ. At a great remove from that false fervour and electric fire which has its origin in a selfish and ambitious mind, which hurries men on to act without consulting the sober dictates of their understanding, and which is distinguished for its subtilty, turbulence, and fickleness, it takes its rise from the meek and gentle spirit of holy love. It is warmed and fanned into flame by every breath of heavenly affection. It is simple, because it has nothing to disguise. It is strong and steady, because it is deliberate and cautious. It is unwearied, because, like the heaven-born charity from which it flows, "it seeketh not its own." And where shall we look for such a spirit, if not in the ministers of Christ? Where are there incentives to such a spirit, if not in the cross of Christ? Where did Paul find it, where did the primitive Christians find it, but in the love of Christ? What can support such a

spirit, but those awful and touching realities, those weighty and tender truths which are exhibited with such irresistible energy and vividness, in that wonderful redemption of which you hope to become the messengers to your apostate fellow men? A slight and cursory view of your great work, my young friends, will not answer the purpose of your high calling. Your minds must be roused to the importance of it; you must think intensely, and feel deeply; all your powers of body and mind must be awakened and invigorated in the service of your divine Master; nor should your resolution be impaired, or your efforts relaxed, till you are summoned from the field.

There is another topic on which I will make a few observations, which has an intimate relation to your usefulness, as the ambassadors of the Gospel of peace: and that is, the importance of exercising a kind and fraternal spirit. Charity suffereth long and is kind. Charity is not easily provoked. Charity thinketh no evil. Charity beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. O, if this spirit of kindness -this mutual forbearance-this patience of injury-this freedom from suspicion and jealousy-this spirit of fraternal love and confidence were more prominent in the character of the ministers of Christ, how would they adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, and recommend religion to the world! If I do not misinterpret, nor pervert the signs of the times, the day is near when there will be a peculiar demand for the cultivation of this spirit in the American churches. Deeply does it concern you, to wipe away this dark and foul reproach which stains the ministerial character. "If a man say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar; for if he love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen?" How often have we seen the usefulness of ministers lamentably circumscribed through the want of a kind and affectionate spirit! There are ministers who need nothing but brotherly kindness to make them patterns of every thing that is praiseworthy. I know that the constitutional temperament of good men is various; but there is no apology for the man whose external light is on the wane, because the glow of kindness declines within. You live in such an evil world; a world where there are so many occurrences that are unavoidably painful-so many wrongs to be encountered and forgiven, and where there are such frequent requisitions for the exercise of a kind spirit, that if you do VOL. IV. No. IV.-3 R

not take special pains to cultivate it, all the better feelings of your hearts will be suppressed, and the manly and generous spirit of a heaven-born religion will lose its glory in the envyings and suspicions of an earthly and selfish mind.

In a word, gentlemen, strive to possess the uniformity of character which the Gospel requires. It is worth much effort, watchfulness, and prayer, to guard against the more common faults and blemishes of ministerial character. It concerns you to cultivate every grace and virtue, and to be adorned with all the beauties of holiness. The usefulness of a minister of the Gospel depends much on this uniformity of character. As "dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour, so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour." Little things have more to do in the formation of a spotless moral character, than we are at once willing to believe. Especially beware of little deviations from sterling rectitude. "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is much; and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much.” Little things exert a prodigious influence on the character of the ministers of the Gospel. It is impossible for the man who neglects them to command respect, or to be extensively useful. It is this uniformity of ministerial character which conciliates confidence and veneration, and which everywhere bespeaks a benevolent and elevated mind. Such a minister of the Gospel will not live in vain. He may have his superiors in some particular traits of excellence, but in that happy assemblage of excellencies that go to form the useful minister of Jesus Christ, he is one of the lights of the world.

ART. III.-THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SABBATH AS A CIVIL INSTITUTION.

1. The end of civil government is the happiness of the people. That form of government is, therefore, the best, which most effectually promotes this end. There has never been a more unreasonable doctrine advanced, than that certain men, or certain families, have a right to rule over a people, for the accomplishment of their own purposes. It may

be wise to guard against popular commotions, and national revolutions. The evils arising from such a state of things are often exceedingly great, and the people, when unsuccessful in throwing off the yoke, are frequently left in a state of more intolerable oppression than before. Even when they succeed in subverting an old government which was despotic, there is imminent danger of their falling into the hands of some new tyrant, more arbitrary and oppressive than the former. But for absolute monarchs, in order to secure the stability of their thrones, to inculcate the doctrine of legitimacy, not only is unwarrantable, but has a tendency to defeat the very object which they have in view. A people enjoying a moderate share of liberty, and the tranquil possession of many blessings, will not, in most cases, hazard every thing for the uncertain prospect of bettering their condition, provided their rulers neither treat them with cruelty, nor assert any unwarrantable nor indefensible claims. But when kings pretend to have the same right over their subjects as over their cattle, and openly avow their intention to support this right, such declarations rouse the people to meditate resistance. They may be willing to remain quiet, upon the ground of expediency, but not upon the principle that they have no rights, and may be disposed of at the will of an individual who happens to be in possession of the throne, but in whose veins flows no better blood than in their own; and who, in intellectual and moral excellence, may be greatly inferior to a large number of his subjects. Doctrines of this kind might have suited the ignorance and credulity of the dark ages; but now, when knowledge is so generally diffused among the mass of society, and when the true principles of civil government have been so clearly and repeatedly expounded, they will be a subject of derision among the very lowest of the people.

The only method by which crowned heads will hereafter be able to maintain their dominion in security, will be to act as the fathers of their people, by making every exertion and every sacrifice to render their subjects contented and happy. It will be in vain for them to combine their forces, and enter into HOLY ALLIANCES. When the people choose to exert their power, the proudest throne must totter. The actual power still resides in them, and whenever they think proper to exercise it, a king will be as incapable of defending himself as Sampson, when shorn of his locks. Now, what is bet

ter adapted to produce a combination of all minds in opposition to existing governments, than the assertion, that the great body of the nation is the legitimate property of the reigning sovereign, because, for generations past, his ancestors have been permitted to occupy the same station?

The friends of liberty, however, appear to run into the other extreme. They reason upon the abstract principles of the rights of man, and form theories of government which are indeed, consistent and beautiful; but they forget to take into consideration the actual condition of man. That system, which in theory is in every respect complete, may be wholly unsuited to human beings prone to indulge their passions, and to seek their own gratification, without regard to the rights of others. Indeed, as every man is naturally free from any obligation to be subject to the control of another, the conclusion derived from the contemplation of the abstract rights of man is unfavourable to all government; for every species of civil government restricts, in some degree, the liberty of the individual. It must, therefore, be recollected, that the reason and necessity of civil government arise from the need of defence, against injustice, violence, and fraud. Were there no dangers to be apprehended from either external or internal enemies, government would be wholly useless. Every man might sit in security, under his own vine and his own fig-tree, and there would be none to make him afraid. Now, in proportion to the magnitude of the evil apprehended, must be the degree of the force by which it is to be opposed. If the number and wickedness of those who are disposed to injure others be great, the people must commit into some hands a power sufficient for the defence of the community; otherwise, the weak would become a prey to the strong, and the humble and honest would be subjected to the proud and unjust.

It is a false opinion, therefore, that the same system is equally adapted to every people. If the great mass of the nation be very ignorant, they are wholly incapable of selfgovernment. If they are very corrupt, the primary end of government cannot be attained, without the powerful restraints of absolute authority. To a people in such a state of rudeness or depravity, a free government would probably be worse than no government at all; for, in the latter case, wicked men could act only as individuals, or by voluntary combination for the execution of their nefarious schemes; but in the

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