either case it might be difficult to prove his sorrow unreasonable.

On what remains a few words shall suffice.

By ȧvá sua, we understand an object execrated, devoted, excluded from what is holy or happy.

*

By ȧrò soũ xgoro, away from Christ, far from his presence. Not by Christ, as the agent of inflicting the curse or ruin: for, besides other reasons, we think there is some difference between ἀνάθεμα εἶναι, and ἀνάθεμα ανατίθεσθαι οι àvadeμarileodai,—between being an anathema, being made or pronounced an anathema; that the latter would readily take arò (for rò) by, indicating the agent, but not so the former.t

'Arò, in the sense away from, far from, is of frequent recurrence in the classics, and not without examples in the N. T. An instance, strikingly similar in thought to this in Romans, is found 2 Thes. 1:9, as explained by some of the first critical commentators: "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from (àò, away from, far from,) the presence of the Lord.""

The parenthesis connecting its parts, would therefore read thus: "For I too did once wish to be an execrated object, far off from Christ."

How this declaration is to be understood, we have already endeavoured to show.

* Professor Stuart in his second edition seems inclining to this.

+ In this opinion we find ourselves sustained by Koppe, in loco.

ART. II. ROTATION IN THE PASTORAL OFFICE.

By HEMAN HUMPHREY, D.D. Prest. of Amherst College.

Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the way and see, and ask for the old paths, and where is the good way, and walk therein; and ye shall find rest to your souls.-Jeremiah.

HAD this divine command, or exhortation, been given with special reference to the period of the nineteenth century in which we live, it could scarcely have been more timely for "the foundations of the earth were seldom getting faster out of course." The exhortation covers the whole ground of those venturesome and perilous innovations, over which thousands of good men now mourn, and many are beginning almost to despair. But we shall confine our remarks, in this article, to the rise and progress of one of these innovations, upon the ancient order of things, which is threatening to unsettle the Christian ministry, and leave the churches" as sheep without a shepherd."

The

The brief and fluctuating existence of Pastoral relations in this country, at the present time, compared with their former sacredness and permanence, affords ground for the most painful and alarming anticipations. This is the proposition which we shall attempt to prove and illustrate. That a great change has taken place, within these few years, and that it is still working out its results, is "known and read of all men." Formerly, and especially in New England, the settlement of a minister was an important event in the history of a town; and the preparatory steps were most deliberately taken. vacant pulpit was first supplied by the members of the association, in turn, for the benefit of the deceased pastor's family, and then a young candidate, "of good report," was invited to preach, from two to four months, on probation. The object of this was, to give the church and congregation ample time, not only to judge of his pulpit talents, but to hear his week-day lectures in the school-house-to meet him in the sick chamber, and at funerals, and to see and become acquainted with him in their own families. They expected, that during this probation, he would preach on all the fundamental doctrines of the Bible, and tell them just what he believed, that they might know how they were to be

fed, should he ever be placed "over them in the Lord." If they were satisfied, they made out a call, which was preceded by a day of solemn fasting and prayer. When the call was accepted, and the day of ordination fixed, it was anticipated with thrilling interest, not only in the town itself, but in all the vicinity; and it brought along with it a great convocation. Hundreds assembled, who had never witnessed the solemnities of an ordination in their lives; and the consecration was made with fasting, as well as prayer and the laying on of hands. In short, it was a great day. The church and people regarded the relation as sacred and permanent. Those who, like the pastor himself, were rising into life, expected to sit under his ministry all their days; and the aged thought of nothing else, but that their children's children, would rise up around him and "call him blessed." On his part there was the same expectation. He had come, as he hoped, to live and die, and be buried among them; and he made all his arrangements accordingly. If his salary was small, it was sure and permanent. If constrained by sickness to intermit his labours for a few weeks, or months, his desk was supplied without his care, or expense; and when he was worn out in the service, instead of being turned off, to beg the rest of his way down to the grave, his little salary still went on. As soon as it could be conveniently done, a colleague was brought in and settled, "as a son with a father." The aged heard his voice to the last with great delight, and the young rose up before his gray hairs. He went to his rest in peace, and "devout men carried him to his burial." Such was once the sacredness and the permanence of pastoral relations in this country. Nay, such are the recollections of the present generation.

But of all the changing things, in this changing world, what is now more fluctuating than the sacred ministry? What other class of men are so unsettled as ministers of the gospel? How hastily is the connexion formed, and on what slight grounds is it dissolved. So far from preaching three or four months, on probation, as their fathers did, young men will now hardly consent to supply three or four Sabbaths. And instead of contemplating a permanent settlement, when they call a candidate, parishes now-a-days insist upon inserting a clause, by which he may be warned off, or may warn them that he is going off, at three or six VOL. III.

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months notice. Or if, as often happens, a congregation fix their eyes upon a settled minister, whom they have never heard, the fashion is, to make out a call at a venture; or to save appearances, perhaps, the way is prepared by privately sending a committee to hear him, not only for themselves, but for all their brethren. Who now witnesses an ordination for the first time; and where will you find that awful solemnity which used to pervade the great congregation, when a new minister was settled, only once in half, or a quarter of a century? And how can ordaining councils, called as they are, almost every month, within the circuit of every twenty miles, feel the same responsibility as they formerly did? When the cold every-day ceremony is over, what room is there for those mutual congratulations which used to be so delightful? Strangely out of place would they be, in the present state of things. The pastor who has just been settled, with so much unanimity, may be called, or driven away in a year, or even six months, and then the same ground is to be gone over again, and with the same discouraging prospects. He knows how precarious his standing is. The slightest stroke may sever the tie that binds him to his people. He is a sort of minute man, liable to be sent away, as well without reason, as with reason. Under such circumstances, how can he hope to spend more than a few years in any one place? The prospect of becoming old, and dying in the midst of an affectionate congregation, and lying down in the grave among them, and rising with them at the last day, is growing fainter and fainter continually. The probabilities are altogether against his being connected with any people during the last years of his life, especially if he outlives his active usefulness. He is ordained and dismissed: then reinstalled and dismissed again, and then hired by the year, or month, till nobody will hear him any longer, and so he finishes his course. This is the new way. This is becoming more and more the religious fashion in New England, as well as else where; and it is thought by some to be a great improvement. It puts both parties, they say, upon their good behaviour, and allows them to do better if they The people are not doomed, as formerly, to sit from year to year under a dull and unprofitable ministry. When the incumbent ceases to be useful, they can send him away, and call a more popular man. And so on the other hand, if he becomes discontented, or sees a wider field of useful

can.

He can leave

ness open somewhere else, he is not bound. when he pleases. Entering a new parish, he carries a stock of experience, as well as of sermons along with him, and this is a great advantage. He can do more, and do it better, than if he had remained at his old station, for he has more time for the thorough investigation of difficult subjects, and for pastoral duties, and will be more apt to make those efforts which are essential to eminence in his

profession! Thus they reason. Now that there may be some advantages in pastoral rotation, I am not disposed to deny for what innovation is there, in favour of which nothing can be said? It is possible, that under the old order of things, some few ministers may have been less active and laborious, than they would have been under the present system. Now and then one might have done more for Christ and the church, by leaving a narrow sphere, and entering a wider one. But in comparing any two systems, general results, and not particular cases, are to be looked at. Which is best, upon the whole?

In our pastoral relations and habits, which are the safest, the old paths, or the new? We have tried them both.— We have had a permanent ininistry, and now we have one which is "as the waves of the sea, driven of the winds and tossed." Has the cause of religion gained or lost by the change? Many of us have been on the stage long enough to witness the whole transition, and to mark some of the results. What are they, and what are they likely to be in the more full development, which is now in progress.

In the first place, let us enquire, how ministers themselves are likely to be affected, by the new system? Is its tendency to make them more able, more faithful and more useful, or the contrary? A young man who has finished his preparatory studies, receives a call to the pastoral office. This brings a solemn question of duty before his mind. Is the field to which he is invited such an one, as he ought to enter? Are the people so well united in him, as to afford the prospect of a quiet and successful ministry? Were it to be a permanent location, he would send in his negative at once. But he looks at the six months warning, provided for in the call, and says, "I shall not be bound to stay long, if I settle, nor is it expected by the people that I should. I may do some good for the present, and in the mean time, I can be looking out for a better parish, as the congregation