life should be made so comfortable by the people he serves in the Lord, that he may be enabled to give himself wholly to the work of the ministry and the edification of the body of Christ.

But, my friends, it is not by temporal favors that the heart of your minister is to be encouraged. He seeks not yours but you. Though he may live at ease in respect to worldly provision, his heart will sink within him if he sees no evidence that the work of the Lord prospers in his hands-if he beholds sinners crowding the broad road that leadeth to destruction, and rarely hears the anxious inquiry, What shall I do to be saved? Do you wish to make him happy? Make your peace with God. Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. Live as the grace of God teacheth, denying all ungodliness and every worldly lust, and adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour by your lives and conversations. In this way, dear brethren, you will gladden the heart of your pastor. You will make his days peaceful and happy, and he will lay down his bones besides yours, with the animating hope, that in the resurrection morning, he will meet you again at the right hand of God.

My beloved brother, to you the transactions of this day are replete with the deepest interest. This house, which is now dedicated to the worship of God, is to be the scene of your future labors. It must depend upon your ministry, under the blessing of the divine Spirit, whether this edifice shall deserve the honorable appellation of a house of God and a gate of heaven. Our earnest prayers accompany your introduction into this part of the vineyard. May God Almighty grant, that your labors in this house may be accompanied with his effectual blessing.-When you shall declare to the people who come to worship in this house, all the words which God has commanded you to declare unto them, diminishing not a word, may the Holy Spirit convince your hearers of sin, of righteousness and of a judgment to come.-When you shall administer the ordinances of our holy religion in this sacred edifice, may the God of ordinances be with you, and the Master of the feast make himself known to his people in the breaking of bread.

But, my brother, you will not consider your parochial and ministerial duties as by any means confined to this house. You will remember the example of the apostles-who, not only in the temple, but in every house, ceased not to teach

and preach Jesus Christ. I hesitate not to say, that, in my opinion, a minister's usefulness is greatly increased by his labors among his people from house to house. Not only in the way of parochial visitation, but in bringing them in little congregations nearer his person, where eye meets eye, and heart often meets heart; and where, by a familiar exhortation, he more frequently finds his way to the consciences of his hearers, than by a more labored address from the pulpit.

But it becomes not me to enlarge on these subjects to one who has had experience as well as myself, in the duties of the pastoral office. Yes, my brother, we have not only both of us had experience in its duties, but we have also known something of its trials. May these trials purify us for our Master's service on earth, and ripen us for that better state of being, where peace, and love, and union, will forever reign. In this new connection, may you see good days, according to the days in which you have seen evil. May nothing disturb the union now to be formed. May it be productive of unspeakable happiness both to you and your people, and in that great day, when the Lord shall make up his jewels, may he give you their precious souls,

94 MINISTERS FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD. Ser. 3.

for the seal of your ministry, and crown of rejoicing.

By the solemn and interesting services of this occasion, this congregation should be reminded of the account which they will have to give of their improvement of the gospel ministry in the house. of God. Those of us, my brethren, who preach the gospel, and those of you, my hearers, to whom this word of salvation is sent, must one day stand together at the judgment seat. Happy shall we be, if, in that awful crisis, the blood of souls is not found in the skirts of ministers; nor the sin of rejecting the offers of mercy, laid to the account of their people.

95

SERMON IV.

THE BENEFIT OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS.

PSALM CXxii. 9.

Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good.

THE words selected as the theme of discourse form the conclusion of one of the most beautiful of David's psalms. It was composed by the royal author in commemoration of the annual festivals, which the Jews were accustomed to celebrate in Jerusalem, the city of their solemnities. It breathes the language of every pious heart, when penetrated with a proper sense of the value of religious privileges.

The doctrine clearly contained in the text, and to which I would request your attention, is