met on that day, at the Palace, by the VicarGeneral of the diocese. From strict adherence to this arrangement, I anticipate much convenience to the clergy; much advantage, in the regular dispatch of all diocesan business; and much economy, to yourselves, my Reverend Brethren, as well as to me, in the precious article of time. For, I trust, that both parties can and will employ themselves more advantageously, than in ceremonious calls, and unproductive interviews.

On the nature of our appropriate employments, I shall confine myself to a few plain and simple observations. But, in the first place, and as the foundation of all that is to follow, I must remind myself, and remind you, that we are, above all things, to cultivate the spirit of the Christian priesthood. What this spirit is, no clergyman can be at a loss to determine, who bears in mind (as all clergymen ought to do) the solemn and awakening language of our ordination services. The questions there proposed, the answers there returned, the petitions there preferred, the exhortations there delivered, the passages of Scripture there selected, all bear testimony, that the spirit of the Christian priesthood, is a spirit of prayer, a spirit of devotedness to God, a spirit of deadness to the world, a

spirit of zeal for the salvation of immortal souls. And, when we remember (and what true Christian pastor ever can forget?) the engagements, which, at our dedication to the ministry, we voluntarily formed, our hearts must surely burn within us, that we may approve ourselves faithful servants of the Best of Masters. On this topic, then, I will no further enlarge, than by recommending, as I do most earnestly, to your periodical study, the offices for the ordering of deacons and priests (1); a study, from which the most aged and experienced minister has much to learn; and by which the most youthful may soon grow wiser than his teachers.

Where the spirit of our ministry is properly imbibed, exhortation will be little needful to diligence in the first great division of professional employment; that is, in reading of the Holy Scriptures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same.' The clergyman whose heart is in his calling, will, indeed, be habitually mindful, what a solemn vow, promise, and profession he has made, to be diligent in these things, and, for them, to forsake the study of the world and the flesh.' But his promise, if we may so speak, will be absorbed in the performance of it. He will be studious of God's Word, because,

a relish and a fragrance upon the mind, and the remembrance of them is sweet ''

To attempt even the most rapid and superficial sketch of a plan of theological study, within the narrow limits to which I am confined, and amidst the numerous topics which have a claim on our attention, would be neither acting respectfully toward you, nor doing common justice to a most important subject. For the present, therefore, I will simply remind you, that the study of divinity comprises two great departments; neither of which can be neglected by a conscientious minister. I mean, the critical, and the practical: the critical department, comprehensively viewed, embracing whatever relates to the grammatical, historical, and doctrinal interpretation of Scripture; the evidences, also, of our holy faith; the controversies which, from time to time, have agitated the Church; and, in a word, all those branches of Christian Theology, in which the intellect is principally engaged (2): the practical department, including the devotional study of sacred Scripture, together with the moral and spiritual writings of good and pious men, and particularly the lives of those, who were distin

1 Bishop Horne. Preface to Commentary on the Book of Psalms. Works, Vol. ii. page lxi.

guished in their generation, as lights and examples of the Christian world; in brief, all that reading, which is primarily addressed to the affections, and which is most advantageously pursued in the retirement of the closet. (3) Neither of these departments can be safely neglected: neither, I will add, can be brought to a successful issue, independently of the other: the critical, without the practical, engendering that "knowledge which puffeth up;" the practical, without the critical, enkindling a “zeal not according unto knowledge ;" while, from the union of the two, and from that alone, we may reasonably expect the "love which edifieth." And thus much I can venture to say, after no slight consideration of the subject, that the divines most eminent in the profounder and more recondite parts of theological learning, have excelled also, as devotional and practical writers; while, again, those divines, whose works are, by common consent, the devotional manuals of the Christian world, have been largely conversant with most kinds of scriptural and theological information. Those great men, we, in our degree, are bound to imitate. We are not, indeed, nor is it desirable we should be, all of us theological writers; but we are, and we ought to be, all of us Christian pastors. We have all undertaken