cannot but remark, that the difficulty attending this duty is usually much less than is apprehended before it is entered on. There are few, comparatively, who are incapable of being approached, in a proper manner, in respect to their soul's salvation. Instances have frequently occurred, in which a minister, after a long conflict be tween the dictates of conscience on the one hand, and of a mistaken delicacy on the other, in respect to a personal religious conversation with some influential member of his charge, has been alike surprised and delighted to find, on making the attempt, that all his apprehensions had been groundless, and that the individual concerned, was more than willing, not only to be instructed and counselled, but to open his heart in the freedom of unreserved confidence.

But here, also, there is a great demand for prudence. If you mingle much with your people, the familiarity with them which you will acquire, may expose you to lose sight, in some measure, of the relation you sustain to them; and the character of the pastor may be, insensibly to yourself, merged in that of the gentleman, or the friend. Prudence dictates that you should guard against this evil; and that the freedom of your intercourse, instead of hindering, should be rendered subservient to your pastoral influence. You are also, on the other hand, to avoid every thing like artificial stiffness, or the appearance of affected sanctimonious airs; for the effect of this will be to excite disgust, not only towards yourself, but towards every thing you may say. In conversing with individuals, respecting their own spiritual state, you are to have much respect to seasons and circumstances. It has happened, not unfrequently, that violent prejudices have been ex

cited, and the mind rendered, in a great degree, inaccessible to all religious influence, by its being approached abruptly, and incautiously, and in a manner adapted to shock its finer sensibilities. In all ordinary cases, if you would do most and best with an individual, by conversing with him in regard to his spiritual interests, you will let the conversation be entirely private; for it is a rare case, that a person, not decidedly interested in religion, will converse with any freedom respecting his own exercises, if there is more than a single individual to listen to him; and any attempt to make him converse under different circumstances, will not improbably result in closing his ears and his heart against you. In some instances, too, where there is great reluctance to personal religious conversation, it is wisest for the time, not to attempt to overcome it; for while the attempt would most probably be abortive, it might oppose a barrier against all future religious intercourse which you would never be able to remove; whereas, by yielding to the present current of feeling, and carefully watching future opportunities, you might ultimately, and with great ease, accomplish your object. There are some persons with whom it is a maxim, never to converse with an individual, especially one who is known to be indifferent to religion, even for a moment, without throwing in some word of counsel or reproof: without questioning the purity of the motives by which such a course is dictated, I must be allowed greatly to doubt whether it has the sanction of Christian prudence. I would indeed, have you watchful for opportunities to commune with the careless and ungodly respecting the concerns of their souls; but I would have you avoid attempting

it when there is really no opportunity. If I mistake not, an obtrusive and offensive mode of introducing serious serious conversation, amounting sometimes even to a violation of the common proprieties of life, is an evil which has been growing of late, to an alarming degree, in the church; and though I will not undertake to say, that good may not, in individual instances, have resulted from it, yet I cannot doubt, that on the whole, it has been a fruitful cause of prejudice and opposition, needlessly incurred against the cause of truth and piety.

III. In respect to REVIVALS OF

RELIGION.

Fidelity on this subject requires that you should labour to the extent of your ability, and in all the ways which God has marked out for the advancement of the general cause of revivals. You are to bear in mind that this is emphatically the cause of the Spirit of God; and that all you do to promote and extend it, is so much done for the direct accomplishment of the great purposes of Christ's mediation. You are to look upon it as the noblest cause for which the heart of man or angel ever beat; and you are to regard no sacrifice as great, which shall be the means of extending its influence and increasing its triumphs.

But while you are to do all you can by your prayers and efforts for the general cause of revivals, you are to labour with distinct reference to the revival of God's work, within the more immediate circle of your ministerial influence. You are to endeavour to impress Christians with their obligation, not only to maintain an unexceptionable deportment in their intercourse with the world, but to make direct efforts, as God gives them oppor

tunity, to arouse and press the conscience of the sinner, and to stir each other up to greater diligence and zeal in the service of their Master. You are to watch carefully the first motion of the Holy Spirit upon the hearts of your people, to caution them against grieving this divine agent from his benevolent errand, and to do every thing you can to operate with him in the great work of salvation. You are to labour, especially at such a time, not only in season, but out of season; to adapt your instructions to the various classes of the careless, the inquiring, and those who are rejoicing in hope: endeavouring to prevent any from slumbering through such a scene, lest their condemnation should thereby be sealed; to

save any who are

awakened from returning to a habit of carelessness on the one hand, and settling down upon a false foundation on the other; and to bring all who have professed to hope in God's mercy, to refer their exercises to the scriptural standard, and to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure. It is proper, in such circumstances, that opportunities for religious instruction should be more frequent than at other times, that meetings both of a more public and a more private nature should be somewhat increased, and especially, that there should be opportunity of conversation with those who are inquiring, and those who have hopefully been the recent subjects of grace. And in all that you do, and in all that you exhort others to do, you are to realize your entire dependence ou God for a blessing; and hence, that the revival may go forward in purity and peace, you are not only to cherish a spirit of earnest prayer in your own bosom, but to do your utmost to keep the same spirit in

lively exercise in the hearts of Christians with whom it is your privilege to co-operate.

But if fidelity requires that you should enlist in the cause of revivals with earnest and persevering effort, prudence demands that your exertions should be directed with the most thoughtful and discreet regard to circumstances. You are to avoid all efforts to produce mere animal excitement; for nothing, more effectually than this, mars the purity of a revival, and ministers to the cause of self-deception. You are to guard against the adoption of all measures which do not manifestly receive the sanction of God's word, and especially against those bold and harsh measures which have often been adopted with reference to present effect; for though in individual cases good may have been accomplished by them, and though they may have been the means of extensively waking up public attention in a certain way, yet the ultimate effect is to introduce a flood of error and hypocrisy into the church, to diffuse a fanatical and disorganizing spirit, to weaken the appropriate influence of ministers, and to inflict a vital wound upon the cause of revivals. You are to bear in mind, that during a revival, as well as at all other times, if you are a settled pastor, it belongs to you to take the lead, in whatever respects the advancement of religion among your charge; and that you are not on any consideration, while you retain your place, to surrender this office to another, whatever reputation he may have for wisdom, or experience, or piety: least of all are you to yield the direction of your own charge to one who comes pretending to extraordinary skill in revivals, and in a spirit, which would seem to say, "stand by,

man

I am holier than thou:" for if any thing is to be learned from the past, you may confidently expect that the labours of such a among your people, will bring in their train distraction and confusion, and every evil work. In your treatment of inquiring sinners, while you are to conceal nothing from them of the horrors of their condition, you are to deal with them in the spirit of Christian affection, and to avoid all exaggerated representations; for a spirit of severity, or a spirit of exaggeration, while it is wrong in itself, will be likely to defeat any good end which it may be intended to accomplish. In your treatment of professed converts, you are to guard against all those modes of addressing them, which would take for granted, that they have certainly been regenerated; for in every such case there is danger of selfdeception; and a false hope is one of the greatest of all evils. You are to discourage a spirit of religious gossipping, especially a disposition to count up prematurely the number of converts, and to talk in an exaggerated manner concerning the power and extent of the work: for hardly any thing is better fitted than this to arrest its progress, and injure its character. You are to regulate with great care the number as well as the character of religious meetings; taking care, not only that every thing be done decently and in order, but that these public services do not exceed the actual exigences of the case, and do not interfere with more private religious duties. You are to keep back the hopeful subjects of the work a suitable time for making a public profession, that they may have opportunity to test the genuineness of their hopes; and while you are to bring them for

ward gradually, to lead in social religious exercises, you are to guard them against appearing prematurely in public; for the love of display is often a ruling passion of young converts; and I need not say that it is not the most favourable to the cultivation of Christian humility. In a word, while you are to account it your highest privilege that you are permitted to spend and be spent in promoting a revival of religion, you are to take heed by every means in your power, that you give no occasion for your good to be evil spoken of.

Perhaps there is no subject, my young friends, in respect to which you are more exposed, by the circumstances of the times, to be led into extremes, and of course, into error, than this upon which I am now addressing you. It cannot be concealed that there is a spirit of unhallowed zeal, of raving fanaticism, abroad in many parts of the church, which has already carried desolation in its progress, but which claims to be the spirit of revivals in an extraordinary measure-a spirit of fidelity in the cause of Christ, such as the church has not before witnessed. Allow me to say, that there are some reasons why you are peculiarly exposed to become, in a greater or less degree, imbued with this spirit. You possess the warm feelings of youth, and of course, are predisposed to yield to exciting influences. You have had but a limited experience; and have not learned, as thoroughly as you may hereafter, that God is oftener in the still small voice, than in the earthquake or the whirlwind. And more than all, the spirit of which I am speaking, comes to you under the name of great zeal for the salvation of souls: and this is a hallowed name which addresses itself at once to

N. S. No. 138.

your own religious sensibilities. But I feel constrained to exhort you, by a regard to your comfort and usefulness in the church, and to the honour of the Master to whom you are devoted, to beware how this spirit is suffered to controul your actions, or to gain a lodgement in your bosom. It is not the spirit of the Gospel. It is not the true spirit of revivals. It is not the spirit who came to seek and to save that which was lost. But it is spiritual pride, bitter censoriousness, reckless innovation; and I say it unhesitatingly, where. ever it prevails, it withers the plants of righteousness, and wastes the vital energies of the church.

Nevertheless, I would distinctly remind you that this very state of things may, after all, expose you to rush to the opposite extreme. You may regard with so much disapprobation and disgust the fanatical doings of the day, in connexion with revivals, that you may come, by insensible degrees, to lose your interest in revivals themselves. You may witness so much of the counterfeit coin, that you may be ready to doubt whether there be any that is genuine. In your great caution to avoid the evil, you may not be sufficiently diligent to secure the good. Guard yourselves then, as well on the right hand as on the left. left. Let not your fidelity degenerate into extravagance, or your prudence into inactivity and indifference. While you are willing to speak openly, honestly, fearlessly, against the abuses of revivals, be at least equally ready to pray and labour to the extent of your power for the blessed effusions of the Holy Spirit. Remember that genuine revivals are just as precious, just as worthy to be desired and prayed for, as if there were no spurious excitements; and he, who apologizes even to himself, for

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