all around him in the community where he presides. Neither Paul, nor Peter, nor James, speak to us of some privileged being, exalted above others who are his equals in gifts, and in the affections of the church where he is placed.They all speak of a plurality of elders, whether they refer to every city, or to every church; and seem, as distinctly as the nature of the argument, restricted or fashioned by the circumstances of the times, would admit, to predicate the prosperity of the church, not on despotic rule, but upon division of labour. This corresponds with the nature of society, and is most strikingly analogous to the political notions which are familiar to every American citizen, and which are, the world throughout, breaking down the clumsy fabrics of ages past.

Now can you conceive of any thing more simple than this? What can be more simple than that a few men, approved for their intelligence, beloved for their virtues, and confided in for their integrity, should, by the consent and election of the people, devote their intelligence, virtues, and integrity to the common weal? Compared with this, what are synodical decrees or prelatical vestments? What are cold statutes which freeze inquiry, or pompous ceremonies which cheat the human intellect out of something substantial and good? What are church officers, and church courts, continually embarrassed by the etiquette of their own official relations; or learned preachers, coming in, not under the real, but the supposed, circumstances of society, and erected, by an arbitrary distinction, into a class or order;a measure, which, were it not that an overruling providence curtails the operations of our errors, would make them strangers to the sympathies of human society.

Perhaps it may now be asked in what light the preacher is to be viewed? I reply, as an elder unquestionably. All the presbyterian churches will cheerfully accede to this:

and, what is far better than their unanimous judgment, the scriptures* call the men who labour in word and doctrine,elders. Nor have any of them any necessity to aspire after something higher than this humble title. It is but a piece of pure vain-glory to covet envious distinctions, and to love greetings in the markets,—to be called of men, Rabbi, Reverend, Doctor, &c. Indeed, as a matter of personal importance, instead of asserting some official distinction for the sake of a practical benefit, they might very cheerfully forego the humble title of elder itself. Our proper designation in the church of God is, brother, as the Redeemer has said, all ye are brethren. The apostle Peter was not ashamed to call himself an elder, and the apostle John so styles himself again and again, when speaking of their official relations.

But still, it may be asked, is there no distinction? Certainly. The preacher is the elder, who labours in word and doctrine. This is his special work, which he ought not to neglect for any earthly consideration; but which he may neglect for a thousand reasons;-reasons which betray his own morbid sensibilities, the inconsiderate habits of religious society, the uncourteous or thoughtless legislation of his brethren, or his own loneliness as an efficient church officer. Timothy was a young man who was entitled to the good opinion of every one who knew him. He seems also to have been blessed with some of the peculiar gifts of the Holy Spirit in that peculiar age. And yet Paul exhorts him, to "give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to prayer; not to neglect the gift that was in him; to meditate on divine things entrusted to his care; to give himself wholly to these things; and to do it in such a manner that his profiting might appear unto all." And if Paul gave such admonitions to Timothy, it is to be supposed that

* 1 Tim. v. 17.

he complied with them himself, so far as a man, who had upon him "the care of all the churches," possibly could secrete himself for private meditation, or general research. This last remark must be sustained by our own knowledge of the general operations of the human mind, or by our ideas of the character of the apostle's individual mind.

In further remarking upon the duties of a preacher, it may not be improper to state, that the exposition of scriptural principle, and the application of that principle to the common concerns of religious life, form no secondary task. These things call for much thinking, much observation, and much prayer. He who attends to them faithfully, will have but little strength, or little time, to devote to any thing else, particularly in a philosophical or controversial age. And must he then continually run the round of sectarian law? Would merchants be pleased with a commercial policy which disregards commercial facts? Would politicians be satisfied with hackneyed phrases, or questionable maxims? And will clerical men not submit their professional engagements to a transforming power, which the circumstances of the age may exert?-Brethren, it is a very possible thing to reduce this whole subject of preaching to a very low standard. A few topics may become popular, and they will be called the gospel; while christians are doomed to hear, from sabbath to sabbath, and from one year's end to the other, the same trite, or com- . mon-place, remarks, and may receive, after all, but a moiety of scriptural truth.

Now, you know that congregations ask their preachers to do a very great deal. They must preach twice or thrice on the sabbath, and, perhaps, two or three times in the week; they must visit the sick; bury the dead; attend to ecclesiastical calls beyond the immediate demands of their own congregations; bow to all the civilities of literary

society; sustain domestic claims, which are not at all enfeebled by the common proverb concerning Eli's sons; and submit to every intrusion which the public at large shall conclude their supposed influence may warrant. Can human beings accomplish all this? Are flesh and blood equal to the task? Must not the preacher neglect the pulpit in order to answer these various calls? Millions upon millions, beloved brethren, would not purchase the strength which this multiform service requires; and when you ask a minister to fulfil such varied demands, you bid him not to preach at all, or to reduce his conscience to the mistaken notions of religious society, and to serve you much more feebly and sluggishly than he ought.

Under all these views, it appears to me, that, while the preacher is taken from among the elders to expound the scriptures and conduct the public services of the sanctuary, they in their places are called to discharge whatever belongs to parochial visitation. To organize the church on a plan embracing such a provision, would, I readily admit, produce a very great change in her external form; nor would the change be less striking, or less interesting, in her spiritual circumstances. For such a reform, however, society in general is very far from being prepared. Its principles are not apprehended, and long established habits have wedded the feelings and affections of christians to other arrangements. Yet it may not be improper to urge it upon your most serious and affectionate consideration; and perhaps it is no vain hope, that the transactions of this day may afford the most favourable opportunity of introducing so happy a change into this church; in which case the practical results will speak for themselves. But here it may be necessary for me to state, that I am not seeking a retreat for myself, nor expressing any intention to decline my usual parochial services. I have done as much in visiting

the sick and "supporting the weak," as my circumstances would allow, and still intend, according to my ability, and in consistency with faithfulness to my more immediate trust, so to labour for your spiritual edification. My heart never has been, and it never can be, a stranger to those sympathies, which either your temporal or spiritual condition should excite in the bosom of the man, in whom you have confided so much. Yet whatever I may do, or may not do, your elders are called upon, by the Word of God, to exhort, to comfort, to reprove, to warn, to pray, among you, as opportunities may occur, or your situation may demand.

Take

The principle thus advanced, may be very easily confirmed by reference to the sacred page.-Paul, in his exhortation to the elders of Ephesus, addresses, not a single elder, but a number. And he admonishes them as having a spiritual charge entrusted to them in common. heed, he says, to yourselves: take heed to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, or bishops; take heed to feed the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood. "For I know, that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock; also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years, I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak." Peter, in like manner, addresses, not an elder, but the elders; and he requires them to feed the flock of God, and cheerfully to take the oversight thereof. It is abundantly manifest, from these quotations, that the church is committed to the eldership as a spiritual trust, for which they must give account: and that if one, or more, is selected from their