MISCELLANEOUS DEPARTMENT.

ESSAYS ON PREACHING, PUBLIC WORSHIP, AND TOPICS CONNECTED WITH THE PROPAGATION OF CHRISTI ANITY.

THE STEWARDSHIP OF MINISTERS.

A MINISTER Of Christ is a steward. Here let us direct our attention to the nature of the trust reposed-the specific qualifications it demands and the responsibility it involves. The nature of the trust now reposed in you deserves a frequent and a deep consideration; it is no less than a stewardship of the mysteries of God-the great truths of revelation; the administration of heaven's healing balm for the souls of men; the dispensing of gifts more precious and more splendid than those conveyed by the powers of miracle and of healing. The apostle Paul speaks of being put in trust with the gospel; and Peter speaks of ministers as the good stewards of the manifold grace of God. It is God's treasure, though he puts it into earthen vessels; it is his light, though we reflect it; his bread that came down from heaven, though we break it to the famishing souls of men. Consider well and consider often, that you have only the right and the authority of a steward in this matter-and that you act not for yourself, but for another, and he no less than the great God of truth and grace. The precious word of life which he gives you to dispense is of divine efficacy and of living virtue; but it demands a faithful and a wise administration. Its success is closely but graciously connected with human agency; and it is truly the highest glory of that agency to be so connected-to be

made a species of essential instrumentality for the consummation of the divine counsels, and success of the divine word. You must reflect habitually on the unspeakable value, the mighty power, the immortal results of the holy gospel. View it as quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword to pierce the conscience-as bright and joyous to encourage the convinced and humbled-as full of balm for the wounded spirit. You must administer it in all its variety, efficiency, and authority. You should fear no blame; you should court no favour from man. It is doctrine that will be approved by all the sons of wisdom, and justified by all the angels of light.

In the faithful ministration of this high commission-the propagation of this word of life, you will have the means of doing more good and good of a higher kind than if you were almoner for the wealth and charity of a whole empire-than if you had the administration of the best form of civil and social government, or the dispensation of all the philosophy and science of the schools. Bethink yourself of heaven's best gift entrusted to you for distribution, think of the ineffable majesty, the living power, the exhaustless riches, the exquisite sweetness of the words of eternal life, which you are appointed to preach-the glad tidings of great joy which you have to publish to all people.

Thus your stewardship is shown to have a close connexion with the travail of the Redeemer's soul,-with the reward of his great undertaking, and the extension of his advancing kingdom. The word which is to go out of your mouth is the two-edged sword of his Spirit, by which the spiritual warfare is to be waged. You have sworn enmity to the serpent and his seed, and allegiance to the great Captain of salvation-take your commission, draw your sword valiantly in the name of the King of Zion, and brace up your energies to deeds of spiritual heroism. Let the honour of your Master's cause be dearer to you than life. Promote it with a zeal that cannot be questioned; defend it with a courage inaccessible to fear. With such a captain and such a cause, who may not be a hero? And to emulate such an example, and such a reward as Christ has set before all his ministers, who would refuse to be a martyr? You are put in trust

with a part of the interests of Christ's kingdom upon earth; take heed that you never betray them by sloth, nor retard them by ignorance, nor wound them by unholiness.

But there is another view to be presented of the stewardship you have undertaken: it includes the care of souls—of immortal souls; to enlighten them with the words of truth, to convince and alarm them with the sentence of eternal justice, to win and lead them by the attractions of Calvary. This is a work that will require your best energies, and will abundantly repay your most arduous efforts. It must be the work of your heart, as well as of your head and your tongue. The transcendent worth of souls must, with you, be a paramount consideration, before which all the fair, and flattering, and pleasurable objects of life. must melt away like the colours of the rainbow, or be absorbed as the dew of the morning. He that dispenses daily provisions to a numerous household, and he that has under his care a whole hospital of afflicted and suffering beings depending for their lives and their health on his skill and diligence, holds a highly important and responsible station; both are stewards, on whose fidelity the comforts, the welfare, and the lives of others depend: but the Christian pastor is a steward for the good of immortal souls; and to him is committed the dispensation, not of the bread that perishes, but of that which endureth to eternal life; he is a physician for the soul, and has to apply the healing balm of divine grace; on him, as an instrument, the salvation or the loss of souls is depending; God himself says, "0 man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel." If he beholds the enemy destroying souls without giving the due alarm, their blood will God require at his hand. You, my brother, are a shepherd, and must be daily tending your flock; for Christ says, "Feed my sheep; feed my lambs." You are a soldier, and must war a good warfare, and endeavour to win many trophies from the enemies' camp. You are a guide, and must go before and lead the people of God through the perils of the wilderness. You are a pilot, and must take heed that you steer the ship safely through the storms and dangers of the deep direct to the heavenly port. Let the worth of souls,

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then, be often in your thoughts-let their condition, as lapsed and guilty, be always affectingly present to your heart, and let the exalted object of their salvation bear you above all difficulties and discouragements. Count the salvation of one an ample reward for all exertions, but deem the salvation of all not too much to be expected from the grace of God; nor too much to reward the love of the divine Redeemer.

Since this is the trust reposed, and it is found, in every view, to be the most sacred that can be reposed in us, it may reasonably be inferred that the successful execution of it demands a variety of choice endowments, such as no man can possess, how ever gifted, without the regeneration of his heart, and such as unregenerated men do not commonly possess. If the church of Christ itself is a chosen generation, then the ministers of Christ are a selection again from that selection; and they are chosen both by Christ and by his church, not for the pre-eminence of any one quality, but for a combination of qualities, not one of which can be dispensed with.

No man is fit to meddle with the functions of this high office unless he possesses a measure of piety, that may be called eminent. He must have a deep sense of the importance of divine blessings, and a rich participation in them. He must be a spiritual man in the habit of his thought and feeling, as well as in the line of his studies and duties of his profession. His mind must be a depository of heavenly things-a treasury of the true riches; out of the abundance of such a heart his mouth must always be ready to speak-out of the stores of such a knowledge he must indeed be apt to teach. He is required, by the Head of the church who entrusts him with his office, to be a man of God-a man like God-a man given up to God—a man in whose character God himself appears; and thus he will be thoroughly furnished to all good works. How shall he execute so arduous a commission as that he has received, unless he have faith more than a grain of mustard seed-unless he have love to God more than will barely suffice to save his own soul? If many are to sit under his shadow with delight, then the grain of mustard seed must be grown into a tree spreading wide its branches; then his

love must be an aspiring, spreading, and involving fire, always flaming forth upon the altar of his heart. He must ponder deeply, and emulate zealously, the Saviour's love; it must not merely be a live coal, it must be a fire; it must not merely be warm, it must burn; otherwise how should he bear the designation of one of those ministers whom Christ makes a flame of fire?

Moreover, you are to be a living epistle of Christ-Christ must write his love to souls in you; you must be such a transcript, such a miniature, shall I say? of his moral beauty and spiritual worth-that they may be able to learn from you some tolerable idea of what Christ is. You are to be his ambassador, and must therefore well understand, and be well qualified to attain the ends of your mission. Knowledge, superior knowledge, of divine things, is not only expected of you, but will be essential to your success. You must be always increasing in divine knowledge. All kinds of knowledge may be useful, but there is one kind that is indispensable. The word of God is your religion—this you have to teach, and nothing else. We do not send you to creeds, nor Fathers, nor councils, nor articles, nor canons, nor even to the church; but we send you to that which is above them all, and which supersedes them in detailthe word of God. Regard no authority but this. Use helps to understand it for yourself, but never be satisfied with understanding it by proxy. The stores of the word of God must be at your command. You must be with your Bible-treasures what a skilful librarian is amidst his books, or a tradesman in his shop or warehouse, who knows where to lay his hand at once on the article called for. Your most vigorous efforts must be constantly put forth upon the scriptures, to bring all their sources of wisdom, truth, majesty, and grace, to bear upon the people of your charge. I particularly commend to you the study of our puritan and nonconformist forefathers-not to bow to their ipse dixit, nor servilely to imitate them-but to catch their spirit and enter into those comprehensive views of divine truth with which their writings are replete. Be not content with a low standard; be not satisfied with little knowledge--little labour-little