and becoming that some third Parties should speak to the Emotions, and unfold the moralities of the occasion.

The names of the Ministers who took a part in these Services are sufficient guarantees that no element which the occasion might supply, of tenderness, impressiveness, or instruction, was suffered to be lost. The Service itself is the best Defence that could be made for the propriety and utility of the observance and in this view its Publication may be attended with important results. This design of the Publication is indeed stated in the Preface, which is not supposed to have proceeded from any one of the Ministers who officiated.

"There has perhaps been a tendency, among the English Unitarian Dissenters, to give up all forms which have been, apparently, perverted from their original purpose; and, in so doing, we may have deprived ourselves of useful opportunities of receiving important instructions, and cherishing Christian zeal and charity. The following pages are offered as a fair specimen of the nature of a service, which is designed solemnly to ratify one of the most important of human compacts, to enforce upon both Ministers and People the duties which they owe to each other, and to animate and strengthen those who partake in them, in their labours for the spread of the kingdom of Jesus."

The liability to abuse, or the fear that among the Unitarian Churches the practice might lead to ecclesiastical assumptions, or to the idea of some mystic virtue, is purely ridiculous, the pretence of those who have not sufficient feeling on the subject to lead them to regard it with any sympathy. The only question is, is it an occasion presenting peculiar moral aspects, not to be passed over without notice and improvement, and deserving, by its importance and delicacy, of a religious solemnization?

The only part of the Service, in the form employed at Stand, of which we more than doubt the wisdom and propriety, is the Address required from the young Minister, in which he is expected to give a statement of his views and motives in undertaking the office of Pastor. We object to any man being required to speak of his own motives, it is making a provision for insincerity, conventionalism, and exaggeration, and the purest and holiest motives will be nothing the purer and holier for being publicly professed. The sacredness of motives forbids the enforcement of their sacredness upon others. That which God is to judge of, and the heart is to guard, must not be avowed to man.

Neither can we regard it, as at all prudent or becoming, that the young Minister should make a declaration of views or

opinions even of the most general kind. No young Minister can be chosen for the maturity of his judgment, or the ripeness of his knowledge on Theological Subjects. He ought to feel that only his moral and devotional qualities can be of much value to others. If he professes Doctrines or Doubts he may be giving a fixed record to opinions,-which increased knowledge and experience may lead him to wish blotted from the printed page. Litera scripta manet. We cannot say that the present Address, though in other respects modest and graceful, has tended to remove this impression from our minds. There was surely no occasion to profess an ignorance that may not be everlasting, or to connect Mystery with the Redemption of the Gospel. We disapprove of these statements of opinion,-because we hope the time will come when the following sentence could not have been spoken :

I rejoice that we have redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins;' but I pretend not to explain in what way this was effected."

It is with pain that we drop, on such an occasion, the slightest word of disapproval,-which we should not have suffered ourselves to do, but that we are really deeply solicitous for the revival of these Services, and feel bound to point out whatever might act as an impediment to their more general adoption. We would confine the Address of the Minister, though we do not see the necessity of his speaking at all, to the expression of his hearty and earnest reception of the Congregational invitation,-to an avowal of his mental freedom as an individual, who, if he is to find hidden treasures of truth, must have his liberty respected, and to his prayer for the divine blessing.

Mr. Wellbeloved commences his instructive and affectionate Charge, by guarding against any possible misunderstanding of the nature of the Service.

We, your older brethren, affect no superiority of rank over you, nor do we pretend to confer upon you any particular gift, or to impart to you any qualification, which you do not already possess, for the due exercise of all the functions of a minister of the Gospel. We do not wish to be considered the successors of the apostles in any other respect than as embarked in the same cause with them, engaged as they were, in the preaching and defence of Christ's Holy Gospel, and in promoting the eternal interest of our brethren. It is not from us that you are now to be sent into the world. It is not our's to give you a commission to preach the Gospel, or to administer Christian ordinances. That com

mission you receive from God; your right to undertake the office of a Christian minister you derive from Him. In the course of his providence, your mind has been so influenced as to desire to devote yourself to the service of God in the ministry of his holy word; by the same providence you have been placed where you have had the means of obtaining such a degree of religious knowledge as may qualify you to fulfil the office of a Christian teacher and pastor; and to God you still look for such supplies of grace and heavenly wisdom, as shall enable you faithfully and acceptably to do the work of an evangelist,' and for that blessing on your diligent and sincere endeavours to do good and to glorify your heavenly Father, without which no human efforts can prosper. All that we can do, and all that we pretend to do, is solemnly to implore that blessing; to offer to you and to the people with whom his providence has connected you, in the spirit of pure friendship and good will, such counsel as may appear to us suitable on such an occasion, and affectionately and devoutly to commend' both them and you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them who are sanctified.'

We extract the following excellent advice on the design of the Ministry, and the kind of preaching which a Christian Instructor should adopt :—

"No one can doubt that it ought to be the first object of a Christian teacher, to lead his hearers to greater and still greater degrees of piety and holiness; to make them well acquainted with their duty to God, to their fellow-creatures and themselves, and to urge them to fulfil it, that they may adorn and recommend the doctrine of God their Saviour, and finally obtain immortal blessedness. His public instructions therefore should be generally and strictly of a practical nature. But as infidelity has in all ages prevailed, and probably, to a greater or less extent, will still prevail, it will be proper for a Christian preacher occasionally to turn the attention of his hearers to the evidences of the divine origin and authority of Christianity, that they may know on what ground their faith rests, may be prepared to withstand the assaults of those who may attempt to shake their confidence, may be able to give a reason for the hope that is in them, and to confute, if not to silence, the scoffer. And as various and discordant views of Christian doctrine are taken, and erroneous religious principles must, in some respect or other, be unfavourable to genuine cheerful piety, to steady consistent virtue, and consequently to human excellence and happiness, it may be his duty to guard his hearers against those principles of religious faith which appear to him to have no foundation in the word of God, and to recommend and enforce those which he deems to be alone sanctioned by Christ and his apostles. But what method does wisdom direct him to pursue ? You know, my young friend and brother, that controversial preaching receives no commendation from me. I cannot consider it as wise or proper that a Christian preacher should be perpetually or frequently sombating opinions which his hearers have never held, or have abjured,

and labouring to defend those which they cordially receive, and on the open profession of which, as the dictates of the sacred oracles, their separation from others and their union as a religious society are founded: especially, since discourses of this nature do not appear to me very favourable to genuine humility, and Christian charity. Occasions may indeed occur, but I am persuaded very rarely, when the preacher may feel himself called upon, by some peculiar and local circumstances, to point out to his hearers distinctly the unscriptural grounds of opinions that may have been studiously brought forward and speciously maintained; but generally, I am fully convinced, the best method of opposing error is to inculcate truth. I can feel no hesitation in recommending to you thus publicly what I have often in private advised, as being at once the least offensive, and the most efficacious means of enlightening the minds of your hearers, and of confirming them in the belief of what you and they regard as the doctrines of the Gospel of Christ; to frame your public discourses in accordance with these doctrines, without noticing what you consider erroneous in the creed of others; to take occasion to explain the passages of Scripture on which the doctrines you reject are founded, upon your own principles, without controverting the deductions which others may draw from them. By occasional discourses on such passages, free from all parade of critical learning, you may preserve those who hear you from prevailing erroneous doctrines, establish them firmly in the truth, give them confidence in their faith, and enable them to withstand those who may attempt to subvert it. But remembering that the purest faith is of little value unless it lead to corresponding purity of conduct, you will endeavour to render every attempt to illustrate the doctrines of Scripture subservient to the spiritual edification of your hearers, and their growth in the virtues and graces of the Christian character.

"You, my dear sir, I am fully persuaded, will not think that you have discharged the obligations of a Christian minister, when you have retired from the pulpit. You will regard it as a very important, and at the same time a very pleasing part of your duty, if the circumstances of your congregation should furnish you with the opportunity to communicate religious instruction to the young. By a faithful and judicious attention to them, you may greatly assist the private labours of parental piety and wisdom, or supply their absence: you may impart and fix in the youthful mind those principles of virtue which shall exert a constant and happy influence on the character in every succeeding period of life ; you may counteract the influence of evil propensities or prevailing bad example; you may lay the foundation of a noble superstructure of religious and moral knowledge, and excite and confirm such a love of truth and consistency as shall prevent the sacrifice of religious principle to gain, ambition, or fashion, which is too commonly witnessed amongst us at this day.

"As the duties of a Christian minister are not confined to the pulpit or the house of God, so neither are they confined to the day of the Lord. Offices of a more private and special nature must be discharged by him. He is rightly to divide the word of truth, in season and out

of season;' to seek for opportunities of doing good, especially to those whose highest and spiritual interests ought to be most dear to him. If it be an essential mark of pure and undefiled religion in every one who bears the name of Christ, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,' much more will this be necessary to complete the character of a faithful Christian pastor. To the chamber of sickness-to the house of mourning, he will not be a stranger. By the bed of languishing he will encourage the penitent, he will administer consolation to the humble and the desponding, he will endeavour to strengthen the faith that is weak, to raise the hopes that are faint and low, to dissipate the groundless fear, and to disperse the clouds that prevent the light from on high from shining in upon the truly Christian heart. By his friendly unobtrusive counsel, he will aid those who are oppressed with sorrow to bear the burden which he cannot remove or lighten, and show them how to convert temporal evils into everlasting benefits. All this, and more than this, my friend and brother, you will be prepared and anxious to do, that you may present yourself approved unto God, a workman not ashamed.'

The inward supports, the faith and courage, the supreme fidelity to Truth and God, in connection with which alone the Ministry of the Gospel can be a blessing to mankind, are spoken of with the earnestness of knowledge and experience by the venerable preacher :

"For such labours as these, you, my young friend and brother, are I trust prepared; and in such labours, by the grace of God, without whose blessing no labour can be successful, I trust you are resolved to persevere, even should you be called to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.' And your courage will not fail, nor will your diligence be relaxed, if you are habitually under the influence of the motive proffered by the apostle; if you study to present yourself' approved unto God." Nothing is so efficacious to support us in the discharge of any duty, as the persuasion that we are under the eye of God: nothing so powerfully tends to carry us through any dangers and difficulties in the accomplishment of a holy and virtuous purpose, as the consciousness of his approbation, and the hope of his final acceptance. In the service of God you are engaging; and to Him who appoints to you this service, your views should be continually directed. This was the principle that ruled in the breast of your revered Lord; and in this respect he has left an example which all who, like him, are engaged in promoting the interests of truth and holiness and virtue, should studiously follow. I receive not honour from men,' said he to the Jews, I seek not my own glory; there is One who seeketh and judgeth.' The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things which please him.' How can ye believe,' said he to those who rejected him, who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?' And in the true spirit of his Master, the apostle Paul declares, With me it is a very small thing that I should

6