at variance with the nature of our vocation. Designed as we are to be the "salt of the earth," it is decidedly our duty to mix up with society, and to take such a share in the passing affairs and intercourse of the world, as is clearly compatible with the sacred office we have assumed. By this moderate intercourse with mankind around us, (if we do not forget our proper aim and character, and so neglect our opportunities,) we may very materially increase our influence and our usefulness; we shall thus meet with various unexpected openings to improvement, we shall find many occasions of contributing to the best interests, even of those to whom we have no other access, and who habitually keep themselves out of the reach of more formal and stated instruction.

Experience may satisfy us, however, that there are dangers incident to the clerical character from a free intercourse with society; and especially in a church whose ministers have rarely been accused of any undue seclusion from the world. Intimately connected as we are, and as we should be, with the people of our respective charges, and possessing as we do, and as we ought, a perfect community of sentiment and interest with them, nothing but prudence and a just regard to the ministerial character, and a strong sense of duty, and the grace of God, can prevent our being occasionally drawn, more than our peculiar situation will properly admit of, into a dangerous vortex-the giddy round of concerns

which terminate in time. Thus we may have known ministers of the gospel, and men of the most amiable dispositions, become, step by step, so engaged with the merely temporal concerns of their people, so intent, perhaps, on the melioration of society, by the improvement of arts, or of agriculture, or so warmly interested in the passing party politics of the day, local or general,—in a word, so deeply embarked in secular affairs of one sort or other, as to sink the peculiarity of their professional character, and lose the minister in the man.

Let me not be understood to say, that a minister of the gospel may not give a moderate attention to any of those objects which have been mentioned. They are all matters of subordinate importance, in which, therefore, ministers must feel an interest in common with other men. And ours certainly is not the church whose ministers are subjected to any undue restraints, or obliged to stifle their sentiments, or check their legitimate exertions on any subject. But let such objects and pursuits be attended to only in their just subordination, and never suffered to thwart or interfere with that which is the great aim and object of the Christian ministry, the promoting of the spiritual improvement of men, and restoring them to the love and service of a merciful God.

Nor let it be supposed by any that we would limit the labours of the gospel minister to the mere routine of preparing for the pulpit, and performing the stated and ordinary duties of the

pastoral office. These, it is true, if they meet with that attention which they demand, cannot but occupy a considerable portion of his time and of his pains. But, so far as he may have leisure from his paramount vocation, he may very properly attend (and the increased and still increasing knowledge of the times indispensably requires that he shall attend,) to the cultivation of his own mind in the pursuits of general literature. And it may be reckoned as not only compatible with his duty, but as forming a component part of it, that he dedicate a due portion of his time, and means, and exertions, to the charitable institutions around him, whether they have respect to the personal comfort, or to the moral and intellectual improvement, of the poor. The history and the writings of St. Paul show him to have been a man of eminent learning, fit to reason with the philosophy, and to confound the sophistry of the times; and who, amidst his higher avocations, seems to have taken a deep interest in the management of the public charities. Yet he would not suffer any minor interests to thwart him in the pursuit of his main object-the publication of the gospel-the declaring to fallen man the gracious counsel of God. "For I determined to know nothing among you," to busy myself about nothing, but the proper duty of my office.

In the second place, we may observe, that in

the passage before us the Apostle distinctly points out the prominent feature of Christianity-the corner-stone of the gospel dispensation; and settles accordingly, with precision, what ought to be the scope and substance of our preaching and ministry-"Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

As the Son of God assumed our nature, and appeared in the character of a Mediator between God and his sinful creatures; as he was sent of the Father to teach us the knowledge of salvation; to prescribe to his followers the rule of life; to set an example of perfect obedience to that rule; and, in the end, to "suffer for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring sinners to God;" so, the distinct exhibition of his mediatorial office and atonement, ought to be the habitual aim, as it is in truth the principal and proper duty of every minister of the gospel. It is far from being enough, nor was it the practice of the primitive teachers of Christianity, to merely allude to this main fundamental truth occasionally, generally, or at a distance. They made it, as they ought, and all who copy after their model ever will make it, the key of their instructions, the chief burden of their ministry.

Yet, let me not be mistaken, as though I meant to countenance the practice of those ministers of the gospel, who dwell almost exclusively on the sufferings and the death of the Redeemer, as if an implicit reliance on the sacrifice of Christ

were all that is required of Christians; the effect of which is, (so far as their influence extends,) to cause it to be regarded as not merely an unnecessary, but an impious employment, to inculcate the rules of Christian living which we find in the gospel.

The principal error in the ministry of many, seems indeed to consist in limiting the range of their instructions, and grounding their system exclusively on some one principle. Thus it may be noticed, that while some forget to teach the distinctive truths of Christianity, others neglect to recommend and enforce its indispensable duties. While some would seem to make morality independent on Christian faith, others appear to regard faith as a substitute for Christian morality. And whilst one, perpetually insisting on the practice of virtue, overlooks the foundation of hope which is laid in the gospel-another, undervaluing the precepts of virtue, recommends an implicit reliance on the sacrifice of Christ. After all, I am persuaded that there is not, and that there cannot be, so much real as apparent difference in the sentiments of those whose ministry may be thus characterized, or of the people who are respectively attached to them. Still, it must be observed, that neither seem to copy after the apostolic model, or to declare the "whole counsel of God." When we look into the New Testament, and consult the preaching of Christ and his Apostles, we cannot but observe that Chris