MINISTER.-The Death of a

All honour to the prophet who went up to heaven in a chariot of fire; but nobler still his departure who, as he ascends to glory, leaves spiritual sons behind him to weep by the cast-off mantle of his flesh, and cry—“ My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!"-Dr. Guthrie.

A servant of the living God is dead!

His errand hath been well and early done,
And early hath he gone to his reward:
He shall come no more forth, but to his sleep
Hath silently lain down, and so shall rest.

Would ye bewail our brother? He hath gone
To Abraham's bosom. He shall no more thirst,
Nor hunger, but for ever in the eye,

Holy and meek, of Jesus, he may look
Unchided, and untempted, and unstained.
Would ye bewail our brother? He hath gone
To sit down with the prophets by the clear
And crystal waters; he hath gone to list
Isaiah's harp and David's, and to walk
With Enoch and Elijah, and the host
Of the just men made perfect. He shall bow
At Gabriel's hallelujah, and unfold
The scroll of the Apocalypse with John
And talk of Christ with Mary, and go back
To the last Supper and the garden prayer
With the beloved disciple. He shall hear
The story of the Incarnation told
By Simeon, and the Triune Mystery
Burning upon the fervent lips of Paul.

He shall have wings of glory, and shall soar

To the remoter firmaments, and read

The order and the harmony of stars;

And, in the might of knowledge, he shalt bow

In the deep pauses of archangel harps,
And humble, as the seraphim, shall cry-

"Who, by his searching, finds Thee out, O God!"

There shall He meet His children who have gone

Before him; and as other years roll on,

And his loved flock go up to him, his hand

Again shall lead them gently to the Lamb,

And bring them to the living waters there.-Willis.

While living, the servant of God has been but little regarded; but when dead, his word has recurred with power to the conscience; his addresses. prayers, and tears, have been remembered by the people; and the expectation of meeting him at the last day has forced them to exclaim-"How shall we escape?" Hence the death of the minister has often proved the life of the hearer. Jay.

MINISTER.-The Devotional Exercise of a

His hands are clasped, and resting on the Holy Book; his face is upturned to heaven, changing in expression with every passing thought and feeling; and his whole attitude is fixed and motionless, as if enchained by some mystic spirit. His voice is subdued; its tones are tremulous, rising and falling with the tides of a heart heaving under the eye of God. Mingled sentiments of gratitude, reverence, adoration, entreaty, in tones and words simple, but instinct with life, fall on your spirit like an incense, fragrant with odours, wafted from a higher world. You feel that there is at any rate one man on this earth praying-praying before you; that in his person you have a true priest appearing before God on your behoof. All your cares and troubles are lost for a time in higher and holier thoughts. We have never heard any prayers from the pulpit approaching his. They seemed to bear the audience upward as in a chariot of fire, and as you ascend into the calm bright realm of devotion the world appears to roll beneath you as a dissolving cloud.-Dr. Thomas.

MINISTER.-The Discouragement of a

The day is drawing to its close;

And what good deeds, since first it rose,
Have I presented, Lord, to Thee,

As offerings of my ministry?

What wrong repressed, what right maintained,
What struggle passed, what victory gained,
What good attempted and attained?
Feeble, at best, is my endeavour!
I see, but cannot reach the height
That lies for ever in the light,
And yet for ever and for ever,
What seeming just within my grasp,
I feel my feeble hands unclasp,

And sink discouraged into night!

For Thine own purpose, Thou hast sent

The strife and the discouragement!-Archbishop Voragine.

MINISTER. A Disinterested

A disinterested spirit is universally admired.

We admire the master who

practises economy on himself, that he may be just and charitable to his servants; and we admire the servant who sometimes, to his own hindrance, cares for his master, and seeks to promote his interest in every lawful and possible way. We admire the patriot who gives up his time, his talents, and his wealth to the service of his country. And we admire the benevolent man and charitable man who goeth about doing good. But a disinterested spirit appears to the greatest advantage, and is indeed the most excellent, when it is manifested in the service of the sanctuary. The ministers whom the Prophet represents as "greedy dogs that could never have enough, and who would not so much as shut the doors of the temple, or kindle a fire on the altar for nought," must be considered as the most contemptible of mankind; while the zealous, faithful and disinterested minister, -he who seeks the good of his flock, and not the fleece thereof,-cannot long fail to exalt his character in the eyes of all whose approbation is worth his notice.W. Barnes.

MINISTER.-The Duty of a

It includes nursing the "babes in Christ," and feeding the lambs of His fold; training Christian manhood in the ways of God; consoling, and inspiring with hope, the aged believer; teaching the ignorant, reproving the wayward, arousing the sluggish, exhorting the workers, encouraging the penitent, and edifying the saints in love. Nor does the duty end here. As a pioneer, the minister will break up new ground, thus preparing the way for others; as a standard-bearer he will unfurl the colours, bidding them catch the breeze; as a defender of the faith he will guard with a jealous eye the citadel of truth; as a soldier he will dash into the thick of the fight, smiting the enemies of the Lord and winning victories for Jesus; while as a messenger of peace he will be "anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord;" but beyond every other form of usefulness, the honour of being a winner of souls.-Inglis.

MINISTER. The Most Eloquent and Powerful

The minister who appears in the pulpit not to meet a professional call, but to speak to his fellow-creatures on the infinite affairs of eternity; impressed more by the divine presence than by that of the assembly; so subdued and pervaded by the powers of his subject, that he can have no concern about the opinions of men; jealous not for his own reputation, but for the cause of truth and human salvation; relying not on himself, however well prepared for his work, but on the secret influences of the Holy Spirit; and assured that his message, however received will not be a vain one, or return void to Him by whom he was commissioned to deliver it—a minister who preaches, with his soul exercised by such noble sentiments and emotions, will, without fail, preach with the purest eloquence and with irresistible power.-Dr. Skinner.

MINISTER.—An Entreaty to a

Leave us not, man of prayer! Like Paul hast thou
"Served God with all humility of mind,"

Dwelling among us, and "with many tears,"

"From house to house, by night and day not ceasing,"
Hast pleaded thy blest errand. Leave us not!
Leave us not now! The Sabbath-bell, so long

Linked with thy voice-the prelude to thy prayer—
The call to us from heaven to come with thee
Into the house of God, and, from thy lips,
Hear what had fallen upon thy heart-will sound
Lonely and mournfully when thou art gone!
Our prayers are in thy words-our hope in Christ
Warmed on thy lips-our darkling thoughts of God
Followed thy loved call upward; and so knit
Is all our worship with those outspread hands
And the imploring voice, which, w ll we knew
Sank in the ear of Jesus-that, with thee,
The angel's ladder seems removed from sight,
And we astray in darkness! Leave us not!—Willis.

MINISTER.—The Example of a

It is impossible that he should ever be a private man; even in his most trivial intercourse with others, it is never forgotten what his office is: the habit of every one's mind is to expect information or example from his company and conduct; he is constantly living under the observation of mankind; and he who is always observed, should never venture on dubious conduct, or suppose for a moment that what he does in view of another can ever for a moment be a matter of indifference, or be regarded as a trifle.-Dr. A. Clarke.

MINISTER.-Experience Necessary to a

Orthodoxy can be learnt from others; living faith must be a matter of personal experience. The Lord sent out His disciples, saying "Ye shall testify of Me, because ye have been with Me from the beginning." He only is a witness who speaks of what he has seen with his own eyes, heard with his own ears, and handled with his own hands. Orthodoxy is merely another form of rationalism,

if it be learnt from without.-Dr. Büchsel.

MINISTER.-Experience Qualifies the

It is experience alone that qualifies the minister for usefulness, by enabling him to touch the tender strings of the heart, and to suit his instruction to the different cases, trials, and circumstances of his people. In com

menting on the Galatians, for instance, the minister might present a faithful portraiture of the sin and danger of self-righteousness. But an observation of the subtle workings of this principle in our people would furnish the materials of a more close and individual application. The features of the different classes of our hearers drawn from divines, will have far less of reality and conviction than those which we have sketched from life in the routine of pastoral intercourse.— Bridges.

MINISTER.-A Faithful

He endeavours to get the general love and good-will of his parish. This ho doth, not so much to make a benefit of them, as a benefit for them, that his ministry may be more effectual; otherwise he may preach his own heart out, before he preacheth anything into theirs. Yet he humours them not in his doctrine to get their love; for such a spaniel is worse than a dumb dog. He shall sooner get their good-will by walking uprightly than by crouching and creeping. If pious living and painful labouring in his calling will not win their affections, he counts it gain to lose them. As for those who causelessly hate him, he pities and prays for them: and such there will be. I should suspect his preaching had no salt in it, if no galled horse did wince.-Dr. Fuller.

Lying on his death-bed, he bequeathes to his parishoners his precepts and example for a legacy; and they, in requital, erect every one a monument for him in their own heart. He is so far from that base jealousy that his memory should be outshined by a brighter successor, and from that wicked desire that his people may find his worth by the worthlessness of him that succeeds, that he doth heartily pray to God to provide them a better pastor after his decease. As for outward estate, he commonly lives in too bare pasture to die fat. It is well if he hath gathered any flesh, being more in blessing than in bulk.—

Dr. Fuller.

MINISTER.-Faithfulness Necessary in a

A minister should be faithful for obvious reasons: because he is appointed by Jesus Christ; because he must answer to Him; because the honour of Christ, and the welfare of His Kingdom, are entrusted to him; and because of the importance of the matter committed to his care; and the importance of fidelity can be measured only by the consequences of his labours to those souls in an eternal heaven or an eternal hell.-A. Barnes.

MINISTER.-A Faithless

Most guilty, villanous, dishonest man!

Wolf in the clothing of the gentle lamb !
Dark traitor in the Messiah's holy camp!
Leper in saintly garb! assassin masked
In virtue's robe! vile hypocrite accursed!
I strive in vain to set his evil forth!

The words that should sufficiently accurse

And execrate such reprobate, had need

Come glowing from the lips of eldest hell.-Pollok.

MINISTER.-The Fall of a

Alas! what an

In deep darkness has set for ever a brilliant college career. end to the solemn day of ordination, and the bright day of marriage, and all those Sabbaths when an affectionate people hung on his eloquent lips! In every such fall we hear the crash of a stately tree. And when a minister of religion falls, it seems to me as if the old Prophet, disturbed in his grave by the shock of such an event, had wrapped himself, like Samuel, in his mantle-shroud, and left the dead to cry in our ears-" Howl, fir-trees, for the cedar is fallen!”Dr. Guthrie.

MINISTER.-The Family of a

His family is a school of religion.-G. Herbert.

MINISTER.-The Family-Life of a

A minister should be a grave or serious man in his family; a man free from levity of character, and from frivolity and fickleness, in his intercourse with children; yet not severe, stern, morose, but kind, gentle, God-like.-A. Barnes.

MINISTER.-The Farewell of a

We are divinely called to part, and I must now say to this pulpit, where I have so often preached to you the word of life-farewell; to the pew, where you have listened to me with so much devout and prayerful attention-farewell; to this house of prayer, where, with you I have enjoyed so many seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord-farewell; to those young disciples who have so recently buckled on their harness, and are asking their way to Zion, with their faces thitherward-farewell; to my companions in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, with whom I have so often taken sweet counsel in the sanctuaryfarewell; to my aged friends who have borne the burden and heat of the day, and from whom I have derived instruction in the intricacies of Christian experience -farewell; to rich as well as poor, to one and all-farewell. God is my record,

how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ."-Clark.