of Man coming in power and great glory. Such a scene as is allotted to those who are just putting on their armor, is cheerless only when it is neglected. Nothing so certainly as cheerful toil, and a cheerful faith in things not seen as yet, will become a sweeter, and yet more sweet preparative for the joy of their Lord. CHAPTER XVIII. A COMPETENT MINISTRY TO BE PROCURED. THE remaining topic of discussion introduces us to a series of observations of a different character from those to which our attention has been thus far directed. If what has been already suggested be true, it is truth of no small importance. If the pulpit has the influence which has been attributed to it; if by Divine appointment, it possesses constituent elements of influence which belong to no other institution;—if by a wise, diligent, and humble consecration of themselves to its appropriate services, those who occupy, may employ it in securing the noblest results ever effected through the instrumentality of creatures; there are obligations resting upon the Church of God, and upon the world, in relation to the Christian ministry, which have not always been appreciated, nor even duly considered. What obligations rest upon the ministry themselves, we have seen:—they are weighty beyond measure. Ministers are often tempted to shrink from the responsibility, and many a time feel that it is a burden too heavy to be borne. But are they alone in this responsibility? are there no corresponding obligations resting upon the Church, and the world around them? The people and the ministry are correlative terms;-they compose the entire population of Christian lands; nor is there any obligation resting upon the latter, without a correllative obligation on the former. What then are the obligations of the people, in view of the relation they bear to the Christian ministry? The most general and comprehensive thought which suggests itself in reply to this inquiry, is, that the ministry must, from time to time, be supplied by the people themselves. We look over the earth, and see that it is most imperfectly supplied with ministers of the Gospel. Death is making perpetual inroads upon the number of living teachers : "the fathers;'-where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?" In a little while the present generation of ministers will have passed away; nor will any be found to take their places, without suitable forethought, prayer, and effort, on the part of those to whom the duty of procuring this supply belongs. The all-wise and gracious God made provision for this supply under the Hebrew dispensation, by making the priesthood hereditary; but this law is no longer bind ing; the high privilege is now offered to all the families in Christian lands, to aid in furnishing a perishing world with a competent supply of Christian ministers. No department of the Christian Church possesses this exclusive privilege; nor does the obligation rest exclusively on any one tribe, or family, or man. It is a common privilege, and a common duty; and becomes specific only as the thoughts, and prayers, and efforts of any particular community, or individual, are directed to this great object, or the providence of God imposes upon them peculiar obligations. But whose thoughts, and prayers, and efforts ought not to be directed towards it? Who shall ask to be released from the obligation of directing his inquiries, to a subject of such interest? I know not the church, nor the family, nor the man who can be released from this obligation. It may not be unseasonable to enter here somewhat into detail, and specify those classes of persons, and those individuals, on whom this obligation is most sacredly imposed. It rests, in the first place, on Christian min isters themselves. That great law of the Jewish Church, that the priesthood should be hereditary, though abolished, is yet not without meaning. It is in some sort, the law of nature, that the child should follow the calling of his parent. He may be supposed to have facilities and a training for such a vocation which are peculiar, and such as are not enjoyed by other classes of men. To what extent the Christian ministry in other lands has been supplied from the families of Christian ministers, I am not extensively informed; the history of the American church abundantly indicates, that this has been one of the greatest sources of this supply. Let any man carefully inspect such a work as "Allen's Biographical Dictionary of the Lives of Eminent Men in North America," or the "American Quarterly Register," and he will be both surprised and gratified to see, to what extent the Christian pulpit has been supplied from the families of ministers of the Gospel. Not far from seventy ministers in the American church can trace their lineage to the elder Edwards; he himself was the son of a clergyman; and his earliest known ancestor was a preacher of the Gospel, settled in London in the reign of Elizabeth. There are ministers now living among us, who can trace their genealogy to five, and some to six generations, in a direct, unbroken line, to the house of Levi. Others there are, who have been permitted to introduce, some two, some three, and some five of their sons, to the same sacred vocation with themselves. We should probably be not a little surprised by our inquiries into the lineal descent of the living ministry, to ascertain that |