capable. He learns to live as in the divine presence. There is always a commanding object before him; the same in sickness and health, in despondency and in joy, in the solemn hour of midnight reflection, in the bustle of active scenes, in life and in death. The more he contemplates this great motive, the more inspiring and ennobling does it become. It is not like the fire of ambition, which blazes for a moment, and is either consumed or consumes its wretched victim. That yields no support in the day of adversity, this gathers strength in the fire and in the flames; that cannot bear the solemn scrutiny of conscience, this acquires vigour from the most severe selfexamination; that shrinks from the glance of the omniscient eye, this rejoices in the notice of Him whose favour is life.

8. The eminently pious man, in attending first to his moral character and relations to God, is in the path of obedience to the divine admonition, Seek first the kingdom of God. The necessary things which will be added thereunto doubtless include intellectual as well as material blessings. The pious man does not look so much from nature up to nature's God, as from God to nature. He studies the great original before he gazes upon his works. He is first baptized with the fire of the Holy Ghost, before he contemplates these material heavens. He thus obtains an excellent preparation of mind and of heart to understand and fully to relish those sciences, which describe portions of his work, or combinations of those elements which he has formed. It is, beyond all question, the best course for an individual to study Revelation primarily and thoroughly. A heathen has only the book of natural theology to study, and must reach the Creator, if at all, by comparatively slow and toilsome steps. But those persons who, in a land enjoying the light of revealed truth, endeavour to study the works of God without resorting to the Bible, in order to come to a practical belief of his existence, will probably rest in a religion of poetry and sensibility.

It is a serious mistake to suppose that the time of a scholar is lost by the faithful discharge of his religious duties. Some students imagine it to be a great burden that they are required by their Maker to pray, to keep the Sabbath holy, and to read the Bible seriously and constantly. But it may be safely affirmed, that he who observes the Sabbath day with the most delight, other things being equal, will be the most successful student during the following week. The maxim of Luther, that "to pray well is to study well," is true in more senses than one. In addition to the blessing of God, which it secures, it has a necessary and direct connexion with intellectual attainment. The commands of God are adapted to the constitution of man; to sin against them is to sin against our own mind and body, as well as soul. There is reason to believe that, in the most flourishing period of religion yet to be, the human mind will be developed and cultivated in a far higher degree than has ever been witnessed on earth. There will be a millennium of taste and genius, not pre

ceding, but following and resulting from a millennium of religion. There will be that humility and purity of heart which are consequent from piety, and which will powerfully aid all intellectual researches, and which will strengthen every intellectual faculty. There will be more thoughtful walkers, like Newton, on the margin of the great ocean of truth. God will be worshipped by myriads of cultivated as well as holy worshippers. It will be seen by all intelligent creatures that atheism is folly, that religious indifference is folly, that want of eminent piety is folly, and that a good understanding have all they who keep God's commandments.

ARTICLE XXIII.

REFLECTIONS OF A MINISTER ON LEAVING A
CHURCH.*

I. Had I cause for leaving my last pastoral charge?

The ministeral bond ought to be regarded almost as sacred and binding as the matrimonial. The Scripture allows but one sufficient ground for the severing of the latter; and certainly, the former should not be violated without good reason. Dr. Porter has left on record, this declaration: "A minister should not, except for most. weighty considerations, leave a parochial charge, to which, by Providence, he had been called." There are tender ties which grow out of the relation between pastor and people, that ought not to be ruthlessly sundered. Besides, a minister, in the residence of years, acquires a personal influence which he ought not thoughtlessly to sacrifice.

Still there may exist facts of sufficient weight, to induce a change of location; and it is for every minister, conscientiously, to determine whether such facts exist in his case.

II. Where do I, at leaving, range in the ranks of the Church's pastors?

Am I the only one, or have there been others, and how many, to appear in judgment, as witnesses against the people? Have I been of the same spirit with my predecessors? have I built upon their foundation? have I trod in their steps, reiterating the same great doctrines?

III. Has my own soul grown in grace through this period?

"Take heed unto thyself," is an apostolic injunction to ministers of the Gospel. Truly, we have but too much ground to fear, lest after preaching to others, we ourselves should be "a cast away.' The personal piety of ministers therefore, needs great attention. And we are to seek improvement in grace from the discharge of our official obligations. From our appropriate work is to be gathered

* Extracted from "The Southern Presbyterian."

our moral and religious discipline. Every effort a minister conscientiously puts forth will redound in good; in good to his own soul, if nobody's else. Whether men attend upon his preaching or not; whether they will hear or forbear, if he, in the fear of the Lord, does his part, verily, he shall have his reward; his own graces will be improved by the exercise!

It is therefore to be supposed that every minister has been advanced in the Divine life, by every period, whether longer or shorter, of his sojourn among a people.

IV. Have I been instrumental in putting one young man into the service of the ministry?

It is computed that there must be an annual increase of 1500, to furnish one pastor to every 1000 of our own population, increasing at the rate of half a million yearly. And how many more are wanted to furnish the bread of life to the famishing myriads of the heathen!

It should therefore be the prayerful and undeviating aim of every minister to raise up at least one from every congregation he serves, to preach the everlasting Gospel.

The Report of the Presbyterian Board of Education for 1847, gives the following statement, "It is recorded of one of the most faithful servants of Christ, lately deceased, that he was instrumental of introducing into the ministry upwards of forty young men, many of them from his own congregation. Another pastor, in a neighbouring city, has attended, since his installation, the examination of thirtytwo candidates from his own congregation."

V. Have I taken care of the lambs of the flock?

The youth constitute the most interesting part of a minister's charge. They are the hope of the Church. They are, so to speak, the springs which feed the mighty stream of the Church's active operations. This, of course, is said upon the supposition, that they are converted in youth. For, if that impressible period of life passes off unimproved, there is comparatively little prospect that a man will ever be a subject of Grace. And then, of course, his whole influence is in a counter current to the tide of Christian benevolence.

It is the remark of an old writer, "Sermons can never do good upon an uncatechised congregation." And the late Dr. Ashbel Green said before his death, "If I had to live my life over again, I should pay more attention to the young."

It should ever be remembered by pastors, that the baptized children of a church have the strongest claims upon their attention and care!

VI. Have I hope of those, from whom I have parted, by death? The great destroyer is ever doing his work; and during the period of any minister's settlement, there will have fallen, by death, more or less from the ranks of his congregation. He does not leave all the people he found there. One after another he followed to the grave to render the last tribute of respect to the mortal remains;

but what is the destiny of the immortal soul? Have the dear ones of the pastor's charge left the earthly sanctuary to join the general assembly and church of the first-born in the Temple above; or have they terminated a misspent probation, amidst the horrors of a terrible retribution? It is a solemn event to a minister's reflecting soul, when any one of the people passes from under his pastoral hand into the hands of the Judge of all.

We know that we shall meet all our charge at the great assize of the last day; but shall we meet them all in heaven, to say "Here Lord, am I and the children thou hast given me?"

VII. Have I developed the pecuniary resources of the Church? Wealth is a talent which few ministers possess, but which they are bound to the extent of their influence, to enlist from others. Giving of our sustenance is as much a means of grace as performing our private or public devotion.

It was when Cornelius's prayers were accompanied with his alms that they prevailed with God. A minister ought therefore to enjoin systematic benevolence upon his people. He should keep before them the appeals of charity and give his countenance and co-operation to agents.

VIII. Am I "clear from the blood of all men ?"

Have I preached the pure Gospel, and pointed to the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ? Have I made the pulpit echo the voice of providence? Have I fed the Church of God, have I unmasked the hypocrite, have I dealt faithfully with the sinner? Have I aimed to make "my profiting appear," dispensing to the people, in spiritual things, as they have administered to me in carnal? Have I furnished that most convincing of all arguments, a consistent example; heavenlymindedness: a meek endurance of injuries; a calm cheerfulness under trials?

ARTICLE XXIV.

PAPACY IN THE UNITED STATES.*

A SUBJECT OF PROTESTANT MINISTERIAL VIGILANCE.

SOME intelligent and excellent men, in our country, have regarded, with entire indifference, the efforts of the Romish church, to propa

Extracted from the American Quarterly Register, for 1834. This article was written nearly twenty years ago. Providence has developed the truthfulness of its statements, and confirmed the reasons for anxiety, and for vigorous efforts to counteract the mystery of iniquity. We have never had any sympathy with those Protestants, who profess to look upon Romanism in this country without alarm. The history of the world is an argument for apprehension, and for vigilance. The subject deserves prominently the attention and prayers of ministers.-ED.

gate their faith in the United States. They have looked upon the measures which a portion of the Protestant community have taken to direct public attention to this subject, as inexpedient and unnecessary as a groundless excitement, sounding the trumpet when there was no danger.

At first view, it might appear, indeed, that there is little ground for apprehension.

The number of the Romish population is yet comparatively small, not exceeding a twenty-third part of the people of this countryapparently too insignificant to awaken any alarm. The moral condition, too, of the great majority is such as to lull us into security. If knowledge constitutes the only power, they have very little of it. If a thoroughly ignorant population is a harmless population, then the less excitement in regard to this subject the better.

We are accustomed, moreover, to talk about the energy of our free institutions-the universal diffusion of education-the distinguished privileges, which we of this country, and we of the 19th century, enjoy. We look upon papacy as one of the exploded errors of past times, as a thing buried under the rubbish of the dark ages, or if now alive, struggling for existence. We have so long looked upon the United States, as the home of Protestantism, as the dwelling-place of light and freedom, that we have become altogether skeptical in regard to the intrusion and propagation of error, especially of an error so flagrant as that of the Romish system. The manner, also, in which the papal church has been assailed in some quarters, the unjustifiable spirit of denunciation which has been employed, has led some Protestants to deprecate intermeddling with the subject at all, and has led them to feel that the spirit of controversy is as far from the spirit of the Gospel as that of error itself.

We do not wish, by any means, to excite unnecessary disquiet in this country. We do not wish to bring into public notice a single error, which would die of itself, or remain stationary, in a negative sort of existence. The public mind is already feverish and fretful enough without adding any fuel. There is also a sufficient number of important objects, which legitimately and powerfully claim the public sympathy and attention.

Neither do we desire to lay upon the papists any civil pains and disabilities. We do not wish to deprive them of the right of voting, or the right of maintaining their own religious opinions, or of propagating them in a peaceable manner. The whole Protestant population of this country, rejoiced with their whole hearts at the success of the Roman Catholic emancipation bill in England.

Neither would we reverse an article of their creed, and say that out of the Protestant church there is no salvation. We are willing to believe that some papists are finding their way to heaven under all the superincumbent mass of error and absurdity which belongs to the system; that some do cast the eye of faith, through and beyond all the host of pretended mediators, till it rests on the atoning sacri