putation that nothing can tarnish. You may not be always able to escape censure; but you may and ought to live so as not to deserve it.

Nor is the importance of ministerial reputation the only view which this part of our subject suggests. Its delicacy and danger are also to be seriously considered. Remember that the standard by which men in general mea sure a Gospel Minister is much higher than that by which the character of ordinary Christians is determined. You are supposed not only to be ensamples to the flock, but to be more familiar with Christian duty, and more free from temptation, than such as are constantly exposed to the sensualizing influence of the world. Even in the openness and freedom of social intercourse, you are regarded with a jealousy not designedly unkind, but certainly not the less severe and irrepressible. The moral sense of men in general, however obtuse to their own errors, is sufficiently delicate in respect to you; and any failure on your part is almost sure either to lesser you in the esteem of your flock, or to supply them with a license for irregularities in their own couduct, of which they will hardly fail to avail themselves. Suffer me to suggest to you some of the most obvious evils, against which it is necessary, for the sake of your reputation, to guard :

And in the front of these I may mention levity. I am aware that it may be said, true piety is as cheerful as the day; that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine; that we are to serve the Lord with gladness; and that his statutes are to be our songs in the house of our pilgrimage. But it should be recollected, that Christian cheerfulness is widely different from unsanctified levity. The one is, in its principles and source, spiritual; the other, carnal. The one is the overflowing fountain; the other, the turbid torrent. The one is full of glory; the other, at least in its reaction, full of dejection and sadness. Ministers of the Gospel, above all people upon earth, should be grave, serious men. Whether you regard the sanctity and responsibility of your office, or the deeply degraded and awfully perilous state of the world around you, or the comparative inefficiency of your ministry, you will find sufficient reason for cultivating a deep death-like seriousness of mind. What will the people of your charge, whose souls you are to watch over as they that must give account, think of you, if you promote, wherever you go, a spirit of levity, and evince a fondness for retailing stale, thread-bare anecdotes, only calculated to generate unhallowed mirth? If laughter is madness in any man, it is in a Christian Minister, whose sole business is to make people serious; for the first requisite in religion is seriousness, and no impression can be made upon the mind without it.

You may also injure your ministerial reputation by the indulgence of a haughty disposition and carriage. There is no evil in existence so hostile to the spirit and genius of Christianity as pride. Jesus Christ, the founder and pattern of Christianity, was meek and lowly in heart; and he humbled himself unto death, even the death of the cross. His primitive Apostles were adorned with humbleness of mind. The direc

tions which they gave to their converts were, "Be clothed with humility;" and, "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God." The "grace" which God gives is "to the humble;" and those with whom the Deity deigns to dwell are such as are of "an humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." While there are so many incentives to humility, and while you preach that Gospel which is designed by its great Author to abase the proud, and exalt the humble, take heed to yourselves. Let not the foot of pride come against you; guard against the encroachments of this sly, insinuating, busy sin, which, if not resisted, will spoil all that you can do. You cannot be lifted up with pride, without falling into the condemnation of the devil. And no human beings have more temptations to pride than Preachers. Their office is the most sublime and dignified upon earth. The titles employed by the Spirit of God to describe their work are indicative of their elevated character. The large and respectable assemblies congregated to hear them, the high encomiums often bestowed upon their discourses by fawning sycophants, fulsome flatterers, or injudicious friends, and the pride and naughtiness of their own hearts,all tend to make them think more highly of themselves than they ought to think. Pride," says an old Divine," indites our discourses for us, chooseth our company for us, forms our countenances, puts accents and emphasis upon our words; and when pride hath made the sermon, it goes with us into the pulpit, it forms our tone, and animates us in our delivery; and when the sermon is done, pride goes home with us, and makes us eager to know whether we were applauded or despised." Think, then, I beseech you, how odious you must appear in the sight of God, and how contemptible in the estimation of your people, if you indulge a haughty disposition. If you sacrifice to your own net, and burn incense to your own drags, if, instead of being tremblingly alive to the awful responsibility of your situation, and the immortal interests of your auditories, you immolate truth at the shrine of popularity, and arrogate to yourselves the praise which is exclusively due to Him who is jealous of his honour, and who will not give his glory to another.

Nor can you fail to injure your ministerial reputation, if you neglect the practice of pastoral duties. "I have," says St. Paul to the Ephesian Elders," taught you publicly, and from house to house." And your office binds you to adopt the same practice: you must visit the people of your charge, not for the purpose of worldly conversation, nor even merely to sit around their hospitable board, and partake of their bounties; but that you may administer instruction, reproof, or consolation, as their circumstances may require. Some of your people may be suffering affliction: these will need the consolations of religion; for afflictions have a natural tendency to depress the spirits; and at such seasons especially the corruptible body presseth down the soul. By visiting the chambers of disease, and sitting by the beds of languish

ment, you may become angels of mercy to the afflicted; you may soothe their sorrows, calm their fears, cheer their dejected spirits; and while weeping with those that weep, you may not only improve the tender sympathies of your own hearts, but be reminded by the solemn scenes around you, that you yourselves will, ere long, need all the consolations which you now seek to administer to others. Some of your flocks will, perhaps, wander from the fold, or be scattered in a cloudy and a dark day: these must be sought out, and, if possible, induced to return unto the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls. Some may be overtaken in a fault: these should be reproved in the spirit of meekness, considering yourselves, lest you also be tempted. In a word, if you would be ensamples to the flock, you must be blameless, and harmless, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, shining as the lights of the world; that you may rejoice, in the day of Christ, that you have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. And here let me remind you of what our venerated Founder has said in those "Minutes" which you have all most solemnly engaged to make the rules of your conduct: "O brethren, if we could but set this work on foot in all our societies, and prosecute it zealously, what glory would redound to God! If the common ignorance were banished, and every shop and every house busied in speaking of the word and works of God, surely God would dwell in our habitations, and make us his delight.

"And this is absolutely necessary to the welfare of our people, many of whom neither believe nor repent to this day. Look round, and see how many of them are still in apparent danger of damnation. And how can you walk, and talk, and be merry with such people, when you know their case? Methinks, when you look them in the face, you should break forth into tears, as the Prophet did, when he looked upon Hazael; and then set on them with the most vehement and importunate exhortations. O, for God's sake, and for the sake of poor souls, bestir yourselves, and spare no pains that may conduce to their salvation! What cause have we to blush before the Lord this day, that we have so long neglected this good work! If we had but set upon

it sooner, how many more might have been brought to Christ! and how much holier and happier might we have made our societies before now! And why might we not have done it sooner? There were many hinderances: and so there always will be. But the greatest hinderance was in ourselves, in our littleness of faith and love."

There are other subjects on which I might profitably treat, would our time admit of it; but I pass on to consider the other part of the advice. "Take heed unto the doctrine."

The word "doctrine" is of common occurrence in the Scriptures; but though it has some shades of difference in its signification, yet it generally means teaching, or instruction, or the communication of some kind of knowledge. And you must not forget that the ministerial

office is an ordinance of instruction; and you are called to be teachers. "The Priest's lips should keep knowledge, and the people should seek the law at his mouth." Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. I will give you Pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." The Lord Jesus was a teacher sent from God. He went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues." I sat," saith he, daily with you, teaching in the temple;" and he said to his disciples, "Go and teach all nations ;" "and daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach, and preach Jesus Christ." Take heed therefore to your teaching. 1. Take heed of the subjects of your teaching.

If all that has been taught by men professing to be the Ministers of Christ were the doctrines of Christ; the charge before us might be deemed unnecessary: but almost as soon as a Christian church was established upon earth, false doctrines and heretical opinions began to be propagated. Men arose speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them; and there were false apostles, and deceitful workers, who corrupted the word of God, or adulterated it with foreign mixtures, to suit the corrupt taste of their hearers; or handled it deceitfully, making it speak sentiments foreign to the truth. Hence, mention is made in the Scriptures of the doctrines of men,-the doctrine of Balaam,- the doctrine of Jezebel,-doctrines of vanities, -divers and strange doctrines, and even the doctrine of devils. Nor can it excite any surprise that these doctrines are denominated the "depths of Satan;" some of the deep designs of the devil to deceive the simple. Had these corrupt opinions and damnable heresies been confined to the primitive ages of the church, and lived only in the page of history, there would have been less need for circumspection on our part but error is confined to no clime, nor age, nor station; it has descended with the lapse of years to us; even in our day, the most monstrous absurdities are palmed upon the world; and preach what doctrines you like, however much they may outrage common sense, or subvert our common Christianity, they cannot fail to win attention, inspire credence, and find adherents.

Therefore take heed to your doctrine. Let it be sound, wholesome doctrine, such as will promote the spiritual health of all who embrace it-doctrine according to godliness; such as God has revealed, and such as God sanctions, and renders subservient to the establishment and extension of practical godliness in the world:-the doctrine of man's total depravity; that he is far gone from original righteousness, and that in his flesh dwelleth no good thing:-the doctrine of man's practical sinfulness; that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, and that every imagination of the thoughts of the heart is only evil continually-the doctrine of man's helplessness; that he is without strength, and morally incapable, of himself, of performing any works that are acceptable to God:-the doctrine of man's danger;

that as a sinner he is condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth on him; and that he is every moment liable to be driven away in his wickedness into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. Having set before your hearers their disease, never forget to announce their remedy their disease entailed by the first Adam, and their remedy provided by the second Adam. "Preach the kingdom of God, and teach those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ; which concern

his eternal Godhead and his vicarious sacrifice. Let his atonement

be your chief theme. "God hath set forth his Son to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past;" and that propitiation is infinitely available for the sins of the whole world. Jesus Christ by the grace of God tasted death for every man; and his blood cleanseth us from all sin. It is the blood of God's own Son, who is himself God blessed for ever; and the blood of his cross, which was shed to reconcile all things unto himself: and in that blood there is such an infinity of merit, that none need perish; and none can perish, but such as reject the counsel of God against themselves, do despite to the Spirit of grace, and count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. And, in order to encourage your hearers to come to the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, and to avail themselves of all the benefits of redemption, never forget in all your ministrations the doctrine of a divine influence; that God will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him; that Christianity is a dispensation of the Spirit; the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost being given to us, and to our children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Time would fail me to enumerate all the subjects, doctrinal, experimental, and practical, on which it will be your duty to treat: let it suffice to say, that, as Methodist Preachers, you have pledged yourselves to preach the doctrines of Methodism; doctrines which our venerated Founder preached and published to the world; doctrines which we most conscientiously believe are of divine origin, and agreeable to the analogy of faith; and doctrines, the preaching of which has, through the agency of the Divine Spirit, been so singularly successful in turning multitudes of men from the power of Satan unto God.

2. Take heed to the principles by which you are actuated in teaching. Actions are the birth of principles; what is seen in the life is but the developement of what previously existed in the heart; and the moral character of an action will be determined in the sight of God by the principle which produced it. Men judge according to the outward appearance, they have no other means of judging; and if an action has a specious appearance, if it harmonize with their ideas of propriety, they cannot fail to judge favourably of it: hence men's judgments of each other are at best dubious, and frequently erroneous. But God looketh at the heart; he sees not only the outward appearance, but the inward reality; he understandeth all the imaginations of the