we have preached to others, that we ourselves should be cast away! I believe it is very common for the personal religion of a minister to be taken for granted; and this may prove a temptation to him to take it for granted too. Ministers, being wholly devoted to the service of God, are supposed to have considerable advantages for spiritual improvement. These they certainly have; and if their minds be spiritual, they may be expected to make greater proficiency in the divine life than their brethren.

But it should be remembered, that if they are not spiritual, those things which would otherwise be a help, will prove a hindrance. If we study divine subjects merely as ministers, they will produce no salutary effect. We may converse with the most impressive truths, as soldiers and surgeons do with blood, till they cease to make any impressions upon us. We must meditate on these things as Christians, first feeding our own souls upon them, and then imparting that which we have believed and felt to others; or, whatever good we may do them, we shall receive none ourselves. Unless we mix faith with what we preach, as well as with what we hear, the word will not profit us. It may be on these accounts that ministers, while employed in watching over others, are so solemnly warned against neglecting themselves : Take heed unto YOURSELVES and to all the flock, &c.-Take heed UNTO THYSELF, and unto the doctrines; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.

It is a very discriminating account of the work of the ministry that is given us in 2 Cor. iv. 5. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus's sake. It may prove in the end that this is the character of every faithful pastor, and that every one who is not faithful preaches himself, rather than Christ Jesus the Lord. It is true that none, except a few gross impostors, would think of holding up themselves as the way of salvation, instead of Christ; but there are more ways of preaching ourselves than this: Christ may be the topic of our preaching, and the object of our zealous commendation, while self is the governing principle of the whole discourse.

If worldly advantage be our object, whatever be the subjectmatter of our preaching, we certainly preach ourselves, and not

Christ. It is true, there is but little food for this lust in the far greater part of our congregations, whether in or out of the establishment; yet there doubtless are cases in which it is otherwise. Some have made their fortunes in this way; and if such was their end, they have had their reward. If this had not been a possible case, Paul would not have disavowed it as he does: Not a cloak of covetousness, God is witness!

If we make the ministry subservient to a life of ease and indolence, we preach ourselves rather than Christ. We may get but little for our labour, and yet, being fond of a life of sloth, (if a life it can be called,) it may be more agreeable to us than any other pursuit. It is from this disposition that many ministers have got into the habit of spending a large part of every week in gossiping from house to house; not promoting the spiritual good of the people, but merely indulging themselves in idle talk. I might add, it is from this disposition and practice that a large proportion of the scandals among ministers have arisen. Had there been no danger from these quarters, we should not have met with another of Paul's solemn disavowals: Our exhortation was not of uncleanness.

If the applause of our hearers be the governing principle of our discourses, we preach ourselves, and not Christ. To be acceptable is necessary to being useful; and an attention to manner, with this end in view, is very proper: but if the love of fame be our governing principle, our whole ministry will be tainted by it. This subtle poison will penetrate and pervade our exercises, till every one perceives it, and is sickened by it, except ourselves. It will inflate our composition in the study, animate our delivery in the pulpit, and condescend to fish for applause when we have retired. It will even induce us to deal in flattering doctrine, dwelling on what are known to be favourite topics, and avoiding those which are otherwise. It is a great matter to be able to join with the apostle in another of his solemn disavowals: For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know,—nor of men sought we glory.

Finally If our aim be to make proselytes to ourselves, or to our party, rather than converts to Christ, we shall be found to have preached ourselves, and not him. We certainly have seen much VOL. VIII.

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of this species of zeal in our times: Men speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Nor do I refer merely to men who would be thought singularly evangelical, and even inspired of God; who are continually holding up themselves as the favourites of heaven, and denouncing judgment on all who oppose them; and the tenor of whose preaching is to persuade their admirers to consider themselves as the dear children of God, and all who disapprove of them as poor blind creatures, knowing nothing of the gospel. Of them and their followers I can only say, If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. But men who have paid great attention to the scriptures, and who have preached and written many things on the side of truth, have nevertheless given but too evident proof that the tenor of their labours has been to make proselytes to themselves, or to their party, rather than converts to Christ.

We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord! Let Christ be not only the theme of my remaining ministry, but the exaltation of him and the enlargement of his kingdom the great end of my life! If I forget THEE, Oh my Saviour, let my right hand forget; if I do not remember THEE, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!'

THOUGHTS ON THE MANNER IN WHICH DIVINE TRUTH IS COMMUNICATED IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

Ir is a fact which must have struck every attentive reader, that God has not communicated his mind to us by giving us a set of principles, arranged in the form of a scheme; or that we have no such creed as formally includes all the things necessary to be believed

in either the Old or New Testament. On the contrary, we see divine truth introduced rather incidentally than systematically. It is scattered from one end to the other, through all the historical, devotional, prophetic, and epistolary writings.

I have no intention to derive an argument from hence, as some have done, against creeds and confessions of faith; nor do I conceive that such an argument can from hence be fairly derived. We might with equal justice argue against the science of botany being reduced to a system, on the ground of herbs and flowers of the same kind not growing together, but being scattered over the earth in beautiful variety. The variegated face of nature is not marred by its productions being scientifically collected and arranged: on the contrary, its beauties are so much the better understood. Yet, with respect to the actual position of the products of nature, we must needs decide in favour of variety; and the same may be said of the actual position of divine truth in the holy scriptures the incidental manner in which it is commonly introduced, gives it great energy and beauty. It may be worthy of attention to consider a few of the incidents and occasions on which some of the most important truths are introduced, and to notice the wisdom of God in his thus introducing them.

It is a truth which lies at the foundation of all religion, that there is a First Cause and Creator of all things, visible and invisible. But this truth is never introduced, that I recollect, in the form of an abstract proposition. At the commencement of revelation, it is rather supposed than asserted: In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Moses does not expressly inform us that there was a God who existed prior to this, but leaves us to infer it; hereby intimating, perhaps, that this is so evident a truth, that they who doubt it, need reproof rather than information.

The perfections of God are taught abundantly in the scriptures; yet I do not recollect a single instance where they are introduced merely as a proposition, without some practical end to be answered. When Abraham, through Sarah's unbelief and impatience, had deviated from his usual conduct, in taking Hagar to wife, hoping thereby to see the divine promise fulfilled, Jehovah thus reproved him I am the ALMIGHTY (or ALL-SUFFICIENT) God

Walk before ME, and be thou perfect. When Israel despondingly exclaimed, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God, he was thus answered: Hast thou known, hast thou not heard, that the EVERLASTING God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, FAINTETH NOT, NEITHER IS WEARY? There is no searching of his UNDERSTANDING.

In this manner also we are taught the moral government of God, and the accountableness of rational creatures. These important truths, as they stand in the sacred page, do not barely meet our eyes, or our understandings, but our consciences. They give us no time to dispute: ere we are aware we feel ourselves arrested by them, as by an almighty and irresistible force. They say, the Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard. Understand, ye brutish among the people; and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he no hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth!

human nature.

Thus also we are instructed respecting the fall and depravity of We have no encouragement curiously to inquire. beyond the fact; but are told that God made man upright, and he sought out many inventions. If we would wish to flatter ourselves, or our species, from a partial view of human virtue, we are instantly cut short, in being told that God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no not one. And the substance of this is stated to induce our acquiescence in the doctrine of justification by free grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

The doctrine of the trinity is never proposed to us as an object of speculation, but as a truth affecting our dearest interests. John introduces the sacred Three as witnesses to the truth of the gospel; Christ, as objects of instituted worship, into whose name we are baptized; and Paul exhibits them as the source of all spiritual good; The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the