your Education Societies and your Theological Seminaries will soon experience a great falling off in their numbers. Let Christians. know and remember, that no organized societies or seminaries, can supply this want. They may educate pious young men when they come to them; but what if the number of such shall go on diminishing, every year, can they create a supply? Surely not. We must have recourse to the Lord of the harvest. Formerly, pious parents dedicated their children to this sacred service, from their birth, and were incessant in their petitions, at a throne of grace, for ministerial grace and gifts for their devoted sons; and such prayers God has heard and answered, in thousands of instances. But where now do we find the consecrated Samuels, growing up under the light of the sanctuary? Where are the Hannahs, to wrestle with God in public and private, until they obtain their heart's desire? This ought to be a weighty care with every Church of Christ. The Church cannot exist without a ministry; and where are we to look for candidates for the ministry, but in the churches? Can that Church have done its duty, in which few or no candidates for the sacred office have been reared up? Or what judgment must be formed of those large and flourishing churches, with their hundreds of communicants, which once had a succession of young men in training for the harvest, but now have none? Perhaps it will startle some of our good people to hear it alleged as a fault, that particular churches are rearing no candidates for the ministry. But I will maintain it. There must be a grievous fault somewhere, in relation to this important concern; and as it is a matter of common duty, when there has been a continual barrenness, there must have been a want of due culture. Why have you no pious young men, on their way to the ministry? Have you not many sons who, if their hearts were touched by the finger of God, might be useful? But you may say-We cannot give them grace. True; this is not the ground of your accountability. But have you, as a Church, prayed for the conversion of the dear youth, that they might be prepared for this work?

Every Church, rich in numbers, as well as worldly substance, which has no young men in a course of training, ought to appoint a day of fasting and humiliation, to inquire into this matter, and to beg of God not to leave them like a barren tree, in his vineyard. You say that you contribute every year to the Education fund. This is well; but it is not all, nor the half of your duty on this subject. You must furnish men, as well as money; and the men are by far the most important part of the means. Without suitable men, money in this concern is worthless. You must bring forward pious and promising men. Do you ask how you can accomplish this? I answer as before, "Pray ye the Lord of the harvest." Do not forget to pray this prayer, as you have too often done. Think much of it, and lay it before God in secret, in your families, and in the church. And be not contented until you receive this blessing of the ascended Lord, to be the honoured instrument of furnishing the harvest field with at least one labourer. There are a few churches

in our land, which can number more than one devoted missionary in the foreign field. The writer knows a church of moderate size and little wealth, in a remote station, which within his recollection hast furnished five or six faithful men for the work of the ministry, the bones of one of whom lie among the heathen. He could designate another place, where at least a dozen ministers have proceeded from one church, and some of them men of eminence. But, alas! the glory is departed; for years past, this fruitful spot has been barren in this respect. An able and excellent minister in Virginia was snatched away from his family without a moment's warning. His children, mostly sons, were then small-now, five of them are labouring in the field; and possibly the sixth may enter. Do you not suppose that this was in answer to the prayers of the father?

Some people say, that there is no real deficiency, or we should not have so many unemployed ministers. It may be admitted, that if the sacred office be viewed as a secular trade, by which men may make a comfortable living, the profession is already overstocked. At any rate, it is overstocked with men who will not work-or will only work where they can find everything ready prepared to their hand. The Church wants no cumberers of the ground, but labourers-not men who wish to enter on and enjoy the fruits of other men's labours, but working men, willing to break up the fallow ground, and ambitious to preach the gospel even where Christ has not been named. No class of educated men are more to be pitied, than those clergymen who are not occupied with the proper business of their profession. Although they may grow rich (though Providence commonly thwarts their schemes and disappoints their hopes), they are not to be envied. In fact, they lose all respectability in the eyes of the world. What would be unnoticed in another, public opinion will not tolerate in them. But to bring up such as a proof that there are supernumerary ministers, is as absurd as to plead that reapers are not wanted for a great and ripe harvest, because many idle loungers or busy triflers may be found in the country. The Lord hath spoken it, "The harvest is great and the labourers few, Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers into his harvest."

ARTICLE XVIII.

THE BIBLE THE BEST BOOK FOR CANDIDATES
AND MINISTERS.

A PASTORAL LETTER TO CANDIDATES.

ISSUED BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

PRESBYTERIAN EDUCATION ROOMS,
Philadelphia, February, 1851.

DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER-May "grace, mercy, and peace" be given unto you "from God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Lord."

Few stand in greater need of a divine, helping power, than one who, like yourself, is a candidate for the office of the holy ministry. We deem it a privilege to address you, in behalf of the Church, a few fraternal words with a view to practical improvement, and have selected as a topic the importance of reading and studying THE BIBLE, the great and good book of God, written by "holy men of old, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Our object is to urge upon your attention the daily, prayerful, intelligent, and conscientious study of the Bible.

Among the motives which should consecrate the word of God to every Christian, and more particularly to a candidate for the ministry, is the great fact that,

"Believe

I. The Bible contains the ONLY PLAN OF SALVATION. on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," is the substance of prophecy, the joyful hope of promises, the solemn prefiguring of moral and ceremonial law, and the grace and glory of evangelical precept and exhortation. The Bible keeps before the mind and heart the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It exalts the Son of God as the Saviour of sinners. It is filled with salvation by grace. The Bible is the student's help in preserving his interest in the plan of redemption through the merits of another. As a dying sinner, you need to be reminded daily of the first principles of the gospel of Christ; as a future minister of the Church, you need to be thoroughly indoctrinated into all that pertains to the scheme of reconciliation between God and man. Therefore, dear brother, read, study your Bible. It will bring you every day to Calvary and Christ. "Search the Scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.

II. The Bible is the RULE OF LIFE. Does the mariner require chart and observations to guide him over the seas? How much more do you and we require the instructions of the Book of Life in our journey to eternity? The Bible contains principles to regulate human conduct in every possible variety of daily circumstances and emergencies. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and thy neighbour as thyself," is the high requirement of moral excellence it holds forth. Its precepts inculcate holiness in every form of virtue-meekness, gentleness, temperance, purity, brotherly-kindness, diligence, forbearance, charity. The human heart, prone to undervalue these sacred graces, is constantly exhorted to their cultivation in the written word with the authority of its uncompromising and intelligible standard. The Bible, in the solemn and persuasive spirit of intimate friendship, converses with us about "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."

III. The reading of the Bible is auxiliary to DEVOTION AND TO HIGH CHRISTIAN ATTAINMENT. "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth," is the petition of Christ in behalf of the spiritual welfare of his redeemed. The Holy Spirit, who indited the Bible, comes down to bless those who bend over its pages. The work of

His own power is the instrument of grace to them that honour it. The word of God enjoins the necessity of daily prayer, of "praying always," of "continuing instant in prayer." Its truth is the ally of devotion, the help of the exercises which its precepts inculcate. Was there ever an eminent Christian that did not love his Bible? If any one does not read diligently the Holy Scriptures, it is proof that he has not made high attainments in the divine life. Nor can he ever rise to much elevation of Christian character whilst neglecting communion with the Father, Son, and Spirit in the sacred pages of Revelation.

IV. The Bible is a DELINEATOR OF HUMAN CHARACTER. There is a constant tendency to overlook our real condition, to forget our depravity, selfishness, pride, and natural aversion to divine things. The word of God is the mirror of human nature to reflect back the depths of our depravity. It delineates the character of man in all the reality of its imperfections, in all the perversity of its guilt. "Thou art the man!" is the emphatic alarm of its secret-knowing pages. Yes, brother in Christ, the Bible describes us as we are; it lays open our evil hearts of unbelief; it keeps us in the dust; it makes us realize our sinfulness. Therefore let us diligently read our Bibles.

V. The Bible is the TEXT-BOOK OF THE THEOLOGIAN. It is the repository of Christian doctrine-the storehouse of the truth of Heaven. A mind that is well versed in the knowledge of what is written, and that has long fed upon the abundance of Divine Revelation, has the intellectual preparation for the ministry which no other learning can supply. The great danger of students is in not going to the Bible for their mental resources. They often place more reliance upon some able text-book of human composition than upon the oracles of God. Some of them, owing to early neglect, have a very imperfect acquaintance with Biblical history-not so much, sometimes, as Sabbath school scholars of ordinary attainment. And others, who make it a matter of conscience to read the Bible, day by day, are, nevertheless, unable to quote texts readily in proof of theological doctrine. The absurdity, as well as criminality, of this oversight of the word of God, in the preparations that aim at expounding and preaching it, is apparent. It is a great evil of the times. It is an evil that every candidate for the ministry is under the most solemn obligations to eradicate from the history of his personal experience. No minister can expect to preach "in demonstration of the Spirit and with power," who neglects the use of "words which the Holy Ghost teacheth." "The sword of the Spirit," is "the word of God." A verse of Scripture, well applied, seals the exposition of doctrine with divine authority. The old maxim, "a good textuist is a good theologian" is true in all ages. A thorough knowledge of the Bible is indispensable to a thorough acquaintance with theology, or to the edifying proclamation of its gracious truths. We beseech you, there

fore, to place your main reliance, in your preparations for the ministry, upon the word of God, and not upon the word of man.

VI. A practical acquaintance with the Bible AFFORDS COMFORT IN SORROW AND TRIAL. We are born to sorrow; trials are our natural allotment. Especially must the faithful minister of Jesus Christ expect trial in standing up between the living and the dead, and "in warning every one night and day with tears." The minister needs consolation in the midst of the ordinary dispensations which come upon him, and in the official temptations and griefs more immediately connected with the sacred office. The Bible is to him, as to all, a chief source of strength, support, and joy. "Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors." "This is my comfort in my affliction; for thy word hath quickened me." "Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." You may be assured, young brother, that in reading diligently and prayerfully your Bible, you are laying up for yourself consolation against the time of trouble.

VII. The Bible is a STIMULANT OF EVANGELICAL ACTIVITY. Who, more than a minister, should glow with zeal, be forward in every good word and work, and be clad with the whole armour of God, down to the sandals of the "preparation of the gospel of peace?" And whence does the ambassador of Christ derive the enterprise and the energy to spend and be spent in his Master's service? Not exclusively from the Bible, but from the Bible as one of the means of this grace. In the universal spirit of its doctrines, in the fervour of its exhortations, in the joy of its rewards, in its examples of apostolic deeds and endurance, in the glorious light of the unceasing benevolence of the Son of God, the Bible furnishes animating motives to Christian activity. No one, more than a minister, has need of his Bible to arouse him to work for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ.

VIII. The Bible BRINGS HEAVEN TO VIEW WITH THE glories of ITS EVERLASTING REST. Our life of sin and sorrow is to end, if we are the Lord's, in perfect holiness and peace. The Christian minister is refreshed by the anticipations of "the glory that is to be revealed." With the Holy Scriptures in his hand, he looks upward with the gracious assurance that there is "a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give him in that day." "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality." Sweet to the believer in the hour of death is the life-giving "truth as it is in Jesus." Precious always has been its influence in preparing for the conflict with the king of terrors; and oh, how precious is the Heaven which its revelations, having brought to view in life, leave to be entered upon at death, "to the full enjoying of God through all eternity!"

We have thus in a cursory manner, and in a friendly and pastoral spirit, endeavoured to "stir up your pure mind by way of remembrance" in regard to the sacred Scriptures. The most profitable