"Ah, my Lord! what do these things mean? I have indeed perceived their import; but O that I might also hear it!

"The building which thou hast seen, said the angel, is the church of God, and its ministers are those instruments which were employed to rear it. Many of them, having served that purpose, though not as they ought, and being fit for no other use, are at length condemned. I saw the danger that hung over thee, and trembled for thy fate. For negative virtues and dull morals, without diligence and zeal, can be of no avail to save a minister. Have I not pulled thee as a brand from the fire? Depart in peace-think of thy danger; be diligent-be zealous, and be saved. "As these words were uttered, the vision in the valley of Ormay va nished, and the angel shook his silver wings, as he flew on the wind towards heaven. The rustling of his wings was like the rushing of the stream of Lora, where it falls between rocks in the gulf of Amur."

FOR THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.

LETTERS FROM AN AGED MINISTER
OF THE GOSPEL TO HIS SON, IMME

DIATELY AFTER HIS ORDINATION
TO THE WORK OF THE GOSPEL MI-
NISTRY; ON THE VARIOUS DUTIES

OF THE SACRED OFFICE, PARTICU-
LARLY THOSE OF THE PASTORAL

CARE.

LETTER I.

My dear Timothy, It is with no surprise that I receive the information which your last letter communicates, that you are anxious and oppressed in looking forward to the duties which lie before you in the work of the gospel ministry, to which you have just been ordained. It will be necessary to guard yourself against being overwhelmed by contemplating the importance, the responsibility, and the difficulties of the office with You which you have been invested. have no cause for discouragement or despondence. Remember it is the divine appointment, that the "treasure" of the gospel should be committed to "earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us." There is, in many views, an evident wisdom in the order, that the messages of salvation should not be delivered by angels, but by men.-By men who know from their own experience the weakness and infirmities of human nature, feel the remainders of its native corruption, and who are thus prepared to sympathize with their fellow sinners, whom they beseech to be reconciled to God; while the manifest inherent insufficiency of the instruments employed, to produce the effect which is witnessed in the work of conversion, secures the entire glory and praise to Him, to whom. it rightfully belongs. "Let a mar,”

says the Apostle Paul, "so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." You perceive by this, that it is not perfection but fidelity, which is required in the ministerial office. We are not to expect the former, but ought to be very careful to make good our claim to the latter: and this we may with humble confidence hope to do, if we often plead, and truly trust, the gracious and condescending promise of the Master whom we serve-"Lo I am with you always even to the end of the world."

But although a minister of the gospel has no reason to yield to despondence, he certainly has good reason to be deeply solicitous, in anticipating the duties he will have to discharge, and the solemn account he will have to render for the souls committed to his care. There is surely something in a high degree solemn and awful in having the charge of souls,-in thinking that their eternal happiness or misery is to be connected with fidelity, or the want of it, in him who ministers to them in holy things; and that if they perish through his unfaithfulness, their "blood" will be "required at his hands." It was in view of this, that one of the fathers of the Christian church, speaking of the ministerial office, called it "Onus humeris angelorum formidandum."* I hesitate not to say, that no man is fit for this office, who can assume it without a deep sense of his insufficiency, of himself to perform the duties which it involves; without an humble, sensible dependence on the gracious and promised aid of that Saviour, "through whose strengthening he can do all things;" and without the most serious and deliberate purpose to call forth all his energies and exertions, to make full proof of his ministry."

You see then that the situation in

* A burden which angels might shudder to take upon them.

which you are placed, is not unlike that of a young military officer, who knows that he is to meet with great and numerous hardships, frequent and arduous conflicts, many and imminent dangers; but who confides in the goodness of his cause, and the skill and prowess of his commander, that he shall at last conquer and triumph; and therefore goes forward with alacrity and resolution. In one important respect you have the advantage of every military officer; for if you are valiant and persevering, you are sure both of conquest and a crown. "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life," is the unfailing promise of the great "Captain of our salvation," to every one who contends in his cause.

You request me to give you the best counsel, and all the assistance, which my experience may enable me to impart. With this request I readily and cheerfully comply; and I do it, deeply sensible how important it is that I should mark out for you a safe and advantageous course: for to give improper directions to one who is himself to be the counsellor and guide of others in their eternal concerns, might give rise to a succession of deplorable errors, of which no mortal could calculate the amount or tell the fatal consequences. Letme, therefore, have your earnest prayers, that in the whole series of letters which I am beginning to write, I may be enlightened by "that wisdom which cometh down from above-from the Father of lights," and which, in this important undertaking, will be emphatically "profitable to direct."

The first and most interesting concern of a gospel minister is with his own heart. If I had not hoped that you were experimentally acquainted with the renewing grace of God, I certainly would never have countenanced your undertaking the ministry of his word; and if the members of the church judicature that licensed and ordained you, had not been satisfied in this particular, they, of course, would not have given you the standing which you now occupy. But

all this, I beg you to remember, ought not to content you in this momentous concern. You ought by no means to think, because you have satisfied others, who could not know your heart, and who were bound to judge as favourably as they might, that therefore you may give yourself little farther concern in this matter, but take it for granted that your own state toward God is safe and right. On the contrary, the favourable opinion of others ought to make you doubly jealous of yourself. For what thought can be more awful than that of being "cast away yourself," after preaching the gospel of salvation to others of being condemned by your final Judge, when all who loved you most, expected to witness for you his approving sentence.

It has been well remarked by an able divine, that the very familiarity which gospel ministers have with sacred things, may lead them to self-deception in regard to their own spiritual state. He supposes that they may mistake their theological investigations, and pulpit discussions, and pastoral advices, and devotional performances, for the evidences of personal piety; whereas all these exercises and occupations, it is evident, may be mere intellectual employments and official engage ments, which may leave the heart wholly unsanctified and really estranged from God. Let me therefore advise and entreat you, often and closely to examine yourself by the tests of the divine word-which to you I need not specify-whether you have been born and taught of God; whether you are living as becomes a genuine disciple of Christ, and may therefore look forward with humble confidence to the glorious reward which he will bestow on his faithful followers.

From what I have just said, you will understand that, although I advise you to frequent and rigorous self-examination, I by no means recommend what some appear to have mistaken for a duty, namely, that this matter ought to be held in a

state of perpetual doubt and uncertainty; or that it is safest and best, never absolutely to conclude that we are in friendship with God, and entitled to indulge in the full and joyful anticipation of the heavenly rest. On the contrary, it is my deliberate conviction that what is called in scripture "the full assurance of hope," is an attainment at which not only every gospel minister, but every professing Christian, ought constantly to aim; although I readily admit that there are some, both ministers and other professors, who seem never to make this attainment, and yet leave in the minds of others no ground to question their piety. But there is surely nothing which will animate a minister of the gospel so much, render him so abundant in labours, so sweeten all his toils, so support him under all his trials, and give such a sacred unction to all his public addresses, as a well founded and rightly exercised confidence of his own adoption into the family of God, and that he is shortly to partake of the ineffable glories of the heavenly world. It is to obtain this confidence, on good and solid grounds, and to prevent its being lost or shaken, that I exhort you to that close and frequent scrutiny into your spiritual state, of which I have spoken.

But beside all that relates to your own safety or happiness, your usefulness and success in your ministry are deeply concerned, both in the reality and the eminence of your personal piety. This I have cursorily intimated already, but it is too important to be passed without a distinct notice. All my observation, my dear son, through a pretty long life, and all my reading, go to confirm the opinion which I have heretofore expressed to you, that the reason why we have not more eminent preachers, and why preaching is not more successful, is, that the hearts and lives of the ministers of the gospel are not more holy. In stating this I shall be acquitted of slandering or depreciating my brethren, when I say that

I do not mean to intimate, that the clergy of the present day are not generally men of real piety; or that they are not as pious as they have commonly been, since the apostolick age; and that, without any affected humility, I say that I have known many, and now know many, who I am persuaded have been far better acquainted with the life and power of godliness than I have ever been myself. But history, and biography, and what I have seen in my own day, all conspire to fix me in the opinion, that take gospel ministers of equal talents, furniture, and favourable opportunities for usefulness-for without a regard to all these there can be no fair comparison-and their success has, nearly always, been in proportion to what has appeared to be the measure of their personal sanctification. It is moreover my firm belief, that before the millennial age shall arrive, and as a principal instrumental cause of its introduction, the ministers of the gospel will, generally, have a far larger measure "a double portion," of the Spirit of grace, and supplication, and sanctification, poured out upon them. In the mean time, it is a greater portion than is usually enjoyed of this same Spirit, which now enables those who possess it, to choose, instinctively as it were, the most proper subjects to discuss in the pulpit, and which leads them to exactly the right treatment of those subjects; and which sheds through all their discourses such a glowing and natural warmth of evangelical piety, as can proceed from no other cause. It is this which gives these holy men such an unaffected earnestness or tenderness of address, as can never be counterfeited, which is felt by all to proceed from the heart, and which, although it is often different from what is called eloquence, few can hear without being in some measure affected by it. It is from this inward spring of holy sensibility, that the peculiar fervour, and simplicity, and appropriateness, flow forth, which mark the public prayers

of these genuine ambassadors of Christ; and which make their hearers feel that their minister is verily pleading with God in their behalf; and which often brings an awe over the spirits even of the careless and profane. From the same cause, likewise, is derived that weighty and abiding sense of the worth of souls, which makes him who feels it, willing to "spend and be spent," for their salvation; and which leads him to intercede in secret, with that holy importunity for the salvation of those committed to his charge-with that "travailing in birth till Christ be formed in them the hope of glory”— which, as I believe, has more to do with a minister's success, than any thing else that he does, or can ever do. This, too, it is, which always prompts him to use his whole influence to engage the prayers of all the pious part of his flock, in behalf of the same great object; and to encourage, and as far as he can to attend, meetings and associations for this important purpose. In fine, from this same source proceeds that meek and humble carriage, that kind and benevolent treatment of all with whom he has intercourse, that active devotedness to doing good in every way in which his agency can have any effect, and that confessedly amiable character, and exemplary deportment in all circumstances, which give him naturally and almost necessarily, such an influence as he could never otherwise possess: and which impart such a sanction to all that he says and does, as could be derived from nothing else, and which, as the result of all, render him useful, to an extent which men who have less sanctity of heart and life seldom if ever attain.

Let me, then, my dear Timothy, most affectionately and solemnly counsel you, to consider eminent personal piety as the first and most important qualification for the work of the gospel ministry, both with reference to your own happiness and to the service which you may hope to render to the church of Christ.

"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Growth in grace will ensure to you the guidance of the great Teacher, and thus enable you, in most cases, to judge for yourself how you ought to think and act. Without it, all other directions will be of little use, and with it, many will be superseded; and such as are proper and needful will be rightly improved. If you really grow in grace, you will certainly adorn your profession; you will certainly do

some good-And if my partiality does not deceive me, you have those talents and acquirements, which when they are deeply sanctified and unreservedly consecrated to God, he usually renders the instruments of extensively promoting his cause in the world, of building up his church, and of "bringing many sons and daughters unto glory."

With my best wishes and earnest prayers for your happiness and usefulness, I am your affectionate father,

In our number for September last, we gave a short review of MACKENZIE'S "Memoirs of the Life and Writings of CALVIN." We then referred to what is said in this work of the slanders which that great Reformer had suffered, and which are still industriously repeated, for the part he took in putting to death the unhappy SERVETUS. We have determined to give, in the present and subsequent number of the Advocate, the whole of Mackenzie's chapter relative to this transaction. The book from which we take it is not generally read, and the story is one of much interest. We hope it will be read with care, and remembered with fidelity. The account is manifestly candid and impartial, and the original documents are quoted. Let Calvin have whatever blame he has merited-and it will be seen that our author admits he was not blameless. But let not the error of his age, sanctioned by the concurrent opinion of all with whom he was connected, be imputed to him alone. He only did what any of the reformers would have done.

The chapter is entitled :

"An Examination of the Reformer's Conduct in the affair of Ser

vetus."

"We are now arrived at a most delicate part of the history of this

illustrious reformer; the part which he confessedly took in the punishment of Servetus.

"The history of Servetus, so often referred to, and so little understood, merits the minute attention of all who are sufficiently impartial to weigh the opposing interests and circumstances which mark this tragical transaction. The blemishes, real or pretended, of the reformer, having been maliciously employed to discredit the Reformation itself, it becomes of no small importance to elucidate this point of history, and to clear Calvin from the injurious imputations which have been falsely thrown upon him.

"It has been confidently pretended, and boldly asserted, that Calvin had, through life, nourished an implacable hatred against Servetus, and that the Genevese theologian had employed all his efforts to satiate it in the blood of the unhappy Spaniard; that he denounced him to the magistrates of Vienne, and occasioned him to be arrested on the day after his arrival at Geneva. Things advanced with an air of confidence are readily believed, and it is scarcely suspected that they may be false. Bolzec, however, the mortal enemy of Calvin, who wrote the life of that illustrious man merely to blast his memory, and who was contemporary with the facts which he relates; and