habitual remem"It is no small

create a fire and a smoke;" nor will the altar be profaned, nor the incense less fragrant, if those words of hope are more often upon the lips of those who offer it, "Clothe thy priests with salvation, that thy saints may shout with joyfulness!" Nor is this all. Let the ministers of the Gospel have an brance at the domestic altar. thing," says a modern writer of our own city, "for any congregation to have daily cries for God's blessing ascending from a hundred firesides. What a spring of refreshment to a pastor! The family devotions of praying Kidderminster, no doubt, made Baxter a better minister, and a happier man; and it is possible we are reaping the fruits of them in his 'Saint's Rest,' and Dying Thoughts.'"*

Ye then, that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest. When the churches cease to pray for ministers, ministers will no longer be a blessing to the churches. Brethren, pray for us, that we may be kept from sin;—that we may walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time ;-that our hearts may be more devoted to God, and our lives a more impressive exemplification of the Gospel we preach;-that

* "Thoughts on Family Worship," by James W. Alexander, D. D. No family should want this most valuable, seasonable, and beautiful volume.

we may be more completely girded for our work and our conflicts, and put on the whole armor of God;-that we may be more faithful and more wise to win souls, and that we may keep under our body, and bring it into subjection, lest after having preached to others, we ourselves be cast away. When we turn our thoughts toward barren ordinances, and a fruitless ministry, our hearts sink within us, and we would fain throw ourselves at the feet of the churches, and implore a remembrance in their prayers. If you ever enter into the " secret place" of the Most High, and get near the heart of him your souls love; plead earnestly that his own power may attend the stated ministrations of his Gospel. If ever you lie on Jesus's bosom, remember us. Open your desires; tell your Immanuel of his costly sacrifice and wonderful love;-tell him of his power and our weakness; speak to him of the unutterable glory, and the interminable anguish beyond the grave;-with tears of solicitude urge your suit, and tell him that he has committed the treasure to earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be all of God.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE CONSIDERATION DUE TO THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.

In adverting to the duties of the people, growing out of the relation which exists between them and the ministers of the Gospel, we are constrained to go a step farther. If we have given a just view of the importance of the pulpit, then has the Christian ministry strong claims on the kind and respectful consideration of their fellow-men.

We speak not of that consideration which they deserve as men; in this respect they ask no more than the law of courtesy demands, and than they, in common with others, are entitled to, from the varied degrees of personal merit. A man of enlightened and enlarged views, of honorable feeling and correct deportment, of enterprising spirit and unobtrusive and courteous habits, most certainly does not lose his claim to the public confidence, because he happens to be a minister of the Gospel. Yet is there a large class of men by whom such a man is regarded almost as hav

ing lost caste, from the mere fact that he cheerfully takes up his cross and follows his Divine Lord! A man from the middle, or even the lower orders of society, who in other and purely secular vocations has successfully contended with obstacles and discouragements by which so many others have been disheartened, and made his way to competency and usefulness, is respected and honored for the honest, and bold, and persevering traits of character which have procured him advancement. Yet how many such men are found in the Christian ministry with few tokens of public regard! Through difficulty and trial they travel on; through evil report and good report, through conflict and temptation, they hold on their way, and sink almost unnoticed to their grave With few exceptions, the educated and regu lar clergy of the American churches are men of unexceptionable character; where they are not so, not only have they little claim on the public consideration as men, but still less as ministers of the Gospel. Even an incautious, discourteous and rude minister has no cause for complaint, if he pays the forfeit of his own folly in the loss of public esteem and confidence.

But the consideration of which we speak has respect more especially to the office, than to the person of the preacher. The tendency

of the age is to depreciate the office of the Christian ministry. It is a melancholy tendency. "Public opinion is the queen of the world." Ministers of the Gospel are greatly dependent on the esteem and confidence of their fellow-men. Yet may it not be denied that they have not that strong hold upon the respect and confidence of the community which they enjoyed in the earlier periods of our national history. With some exceptions, they have not that influence they once exerted in their own churches; they are not looked up to by the young, nor affectionately greeted by the old. They have not that place in benevolent and religious institutions which was once assigned to them; and where they occupy them, it is rather for the secondary purpose of augmenting the pecuniary resources of these institutions, than of mingling with their more serious and important counsels. And what is much more to be lamented, their influence is scarcely felt, out of the pulpit, in the education of the young, and is being rapidly excluded from the colleges of the land. Few portions of the country, unless it be New England, are looking to their clergy to mould the character of their youth, and preside over their more distinguished seminaries of learning. The public mind has taken the alarm lest the power of the pulpit, without which no