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auditory without any apparent concern, and coming down from the pulpit with an air of the same easy confidence with which they ascended it, contentedly return to that habitual listlessness which had been interrupted by the external performance of a necessary work. Alas! if these presuming pastors could be prevailed upon to write over their sermons, to how much better purpose might they thus employ their hours, than by heedlessly trifling them away in frivolous conversation and shameful inactivity!

It is not to imitate examples of this nature that we solicit the ministers of Christ to recover those hours, which are usually employed in composing their weekly discourses. How many are the important occupations of which the faithful pastor has his daily choice! The wicked are to be reclaimed and the righteous established. Hope must be administered to the fearful, and courage to the tempted. The weak are to be strengthened, and the strong to be exercised. The sick must be supported, and the dying prepared for dissolution. By frequent pastoral visits to hamlets, schools, and private houses, the indefatigable minister should continually be moving through the several parts of his parish; discovering the condition of those entrusted to his care, and regularly supplying the necessities of his flock; diffusing all around instruction and reproof, exhortation and comfort. sum up his duties in a single sentence, he should cause the light that is in him to shine out in every possible direction, before the ignorant and the learned, the rich and the poor; making the salvation of mankind his principal pursuit, and the glory of God his ultimate aim.

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Thus after having faithfully performed the work of an evangelist, when he is about to be removed from his charge by death, or by any other providential appointment, he may take an affectionate leave of his people, and say; Remember, my children, that while I have sojourned among you, "I have not ceased to warn every one of you night and day;" and if my word has not always been accompanied with tears, yet it has constantly flowed from the truest sincerity and affection.

CHAPTER XI.

A reply to the sixth and last objection which may be urged against the portrait of St. Paul.

THOSE persons who have already so earnestly resisted the truths for which we contend, will not fail to exclaim in the last place, by way of an unanswerable argument, "What you require of pastors is unreasonable in the highest degree. If they are indeed called to labour for the salvation of souls with the zeal and assiduity of St. Paul, the holy ministry must be regarded as the most painful of all professions, and, of consequence, our pulpits will be shortly unoccupied."

Mons. Ostervald, who foresaw this objection, has completely answered it in his third source of the corruption which reigns among Christians: "It will not fail to be objected," says this venerable author, "that if none were to be admitted to holy orders, except those who are possessed of every necessary qualification, there could not possibly be procured a sufficient number of pastors for the supply of our churches. To which I answer; that it would be abundantly better to expose ourselves to this inconvenience, than to violate the express laws of the written word. A small number of chosen pastors is preferable to a multitude of unqualified teachers." [One Elijah was more powerful than all the prophets of Baal.] "At all hazards, we must adhere to the command of God, and leave the event to providence. But, in reality, this dearth of pastors is not so generally to be apprehended. To reject those candidates for holy orders whose labours in the church would be altogether fruitless, is undoubtedly a work of piety; and such alone would be repulsed by the apprehension of a severe scrutiny and an exact discipline. Others, on the contrary, who are in a condition to fulfil the duties of the sacred office, would take encouragement from this exactness and severity; and the ministry would every day be rendered more respectable in the world." Behold an answer truly worthy an apostolical man!

If it still be objected by the generality of pastors, that what we require is as unreasonable as it is unusual; permit ·

me to ask you, my lukewarm brethren, whether it be not necessary that you should use the same diligence in your sacred profession with which your neighbours are accustomed to labour in their worldly vocations and pursuits? The fisherman prepares a variety of lines, hooks, and baits; he knows the places, the seasons, and even the hours, that are most favourable to his employment; nor will he refuse to throw his line several hundred times in a day. If he is disappointed in one place he cheerfully betakes himself to another; and if his ill success is of any long continuance, he will associate with those who are greater masters of his art. Tell me then, ye pastors, who make the business of a fisherman the amusement of many an idle hour, do you really imagine that less ardour and perseverance are necessary to prepare souls for heaven, than to catch trout for your table?

The huntsman rejoices in expectation of the promised chase. He denies himself some hours of usual repose, that he may hasten abroad in pursuit of his game. He seeks it with unwearied attention, and follows it from field to field with increasing ardour. He labours up the mountain; he rushes down the precipice; penetrates the thickest woods, and overleaps the most threatening obstacles. He practises the wildest gestures, and makes use of the most extravagant language; endeavouring by every possible means, to animate both dogs and men in the furious pursuit. He counts the fatigues of the chase among the number of its pleasures; and through the whole insignificant business of the day, he acts with as much resolution and fervour as though he had undertaken one of the noblest enterprises in the world.

The fowler with equal eagerness pursues his different game. From stubble to stubble, and from cover to cover, he urges his way. He pushes through the stubborn brake, and takes his way along the pathless dingle; he traverses the gloomy mountain, or wanders devious over the barren heath; and, after carrying arms all day, if a few trifling birds reward his toil he returns rejoicing home.

Come, ye fishers of men! who, notwithstanding your consecration to God, are frequently seen to partake of these contemptible diversions; come, and answer by your conduct to the following questions. Is the flock committed to your charge less estimable than the fowl which you

so laboriously pursue? Or are you less interested in the salvation of your people, than in the destruction of those unhappy quadrupeds which give you so much silly fatigue, and afford you so much brutal pleasure?

Permit me still further to carry on my argument. Was the panting animal which usually accompanies your steps in the last mentioned exercise, incautiously to plunge into a dangerous pit; though faint with the labours of the day and now on your return, would you carelessly leave him to perish? Would you not rather use every effort to extricate him from apparent death? Could you even sleep or eat till you had afforded him every possible assistance ? And yet you eat, you sleep, you visit; nay, it may be, you dance, you hunt, you shoot; and that without the least inquietude, while your flocks are rushing on from sin to sin, and falling from precipice to precipice. Ah! if a thousand souls are but comparable to the vilest animal, and if these are heedlessly straying through the ways of perdition, may we not reasonably exhort you to use every effort in preserving them from the most alarming danger, and in securing them from the horrors of everlasting death?

But, passing by those amusements which so generally engage your attention, let me reason with you from one of the most laborious occupations of life. You are called to be "good soldiers of Jesus Christ." And can you possibly imagine that less resolution and patience are required in a spiritual warrior than in an earthly soldier? Behold the mercenary, who, for little more than food and clothing, is preparing to go on his twentieth campaign! Whether he is called to freeze beneath the pole, or to melt under the line, he undertakes the appointed expedition with an air of intrepidity and zeal. Loaded with the weapons of his warfare, he is harassed out with painful marches; and after enduring the excessive fatigues of the day, he makes his bed upon the rugged earth, or perhaps passes the comfortless night under arms. In the day of battle, he advances against the enemy amid a shower of bullets, and is anxious, in the most tremendous scenes, to give proofs of an unconquerable resolution. If, through the dangers of the day, he escapes unhurt, it is but to run the hazard of another encounter; perhaps, to force an entrenchment, or to press through a breach. Nothing, however, discourages him; but covered with

wounds, he goes on unrepining to meet the mortal blow. All this he suffers and all this he performs in the service of his superiors, and with little hope of advancement on his own part.

Behold this dying veteran, ye timorous soldiers of an omnipotent Prince! and blush at your want of spiritual "intrepidity. Are you not engaged in the cause of humanity and in the service of God? Are you not commissioned to rescue captive souls from all the powers of darkness? Do you not fight beneath his scrutinizing eye who is King of kings and Lord of lords? Are ye not contending within sight of eternal rewards and with the hope of an unfading inheritance? And will you complain of difficulties, or tremble at danger? Will you not only avoid the heat of the engagement, but even dare to withdraw from the standard of your sovereign Lord? Let me lead you again into the field; let me drag you back to the charge: or, rather, let me shame your cowardice by pointing you to those resolute commanders who have formerly signalized themselves under the banners of your Prince. their example and you shall share their rewards.

Emulate

But if, hitherto, you have neither contemplated the beauty, nor experienced the energy, of those truths by which St. Paul was animated to such acts of heroism; it is vain that we exhort you to shine among the foremost ranks of Christians as inextinguishable lights, holding up against every enemy, as a two-edged sword, the word of everlasting life. Instead of this, it will be necessary to place before you the excellence and efficacy of this apostle's doctrines, together with the infinite advantages which they procure to those who cordially embrace them. And this we shall endeavour to do in the second part of this work. Meanwhile we will conclude this first part with a short exhortation from Chrysostom's fiftyninth sermon upon St. Matthew: "Since the present life is a continual warfare; since we are at all times surrounded by a host of enemies, let us vigorously oppose them as our royal chieftain is pleased to command. Let us fear neither labour nor wounds nor death. Let us all conspire mutually to assist and defend one another. And let our magnanimity be such as may add firmness to the most resolute and give courage to the most cowardly.".

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