But we must pause. Were we to copy all that interests us in this most excellent work, we should transcribe the book from beginning to end. We cannot, however, lay down our pen without expressing our desire that the writer, who has already brought so much learning and skill to this subject, will continue his valuable labours in this department, with a success as great as that which has followed his engagements hitherto.

The Christian Ministry Contemplated. By J. G. Pike. Derby and London. pp. 117.

Hymns for the Closet of the Christian Minister. By Henry March. London: Jackson & Walford. pp. 89.

The Old Ministry. A Lecture delivered in London, by N. Sydney Smith Beman, D.D. London: Snow. pp. 72.

Of the numerous and various duties which devolve on different individuals of our race, in the stations in which it seems good to Divine Providence to place them, none are more important than those which relate to the culture of the mental and moral faculties of our own nature. To instruct men in the knowledge of right thinking, right feeling, and right acting, is a great and important work; but to induce a love of the truth-in thought, in sentiment, and in action-is a work more important and more arduous. "The schoolmaster is abroad;" and would that all who hold the important office were fully aware of their responsibility; of the influence which they exercise, and of the results, good or evil, which must inevitably follow their labour and their success. The instructed will resemble the instructors; the taught will reflect the manners, the mental habits, the general character of the teachers. "Let me write," said one, "the ballads of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws." Let me choose the schoolmasters of a people, and I care not who constitutes their political or their religious teachers—is a parallel maxim containing at least as much of truth. If schoolmasters win the hearts as well as form the minds of their pupils, they will become as influential as the leaders of sects, and have as their willing, interested, and affectionate auditors, not a class or two of pupils, but a company of disciples. How important the duty, how responsible the office of a schoolmaster! He ought to take heed to himself, and fo the instruction he imparts; for if the latter is of moment, the former is of the highest importance, since a wise, upright, and virtuous example will do more to mould the character, and to correct the manners and habits of his pupils, than all the learned lore he has the knowledge and the aptitude to communicate.

There is a class of teachers, however, more influential than schoolmasters. The ministers of religion, in the sphere in which they move, are looked up to with a reverence, which, if they have not lost the

respect which their conduct ought to secure, will assimilate their people, in no slight degree, to their character. Nor is it of importance to the effect we refer to, that the minister of God should move among the aristocratic or more wealthy classes; the poorest minister of the most obscure village, if his conduct is consistent, and his spirit devout and humble, will, in proportion to the number of individuals over whom his influence extends, produce an effect quite as great, perhaps much greater, than a rector or archdeacon, a bishop, or even an archbishop, of the splendidly endowed church, were he resident amongst them. And why? Because the village pastor comes more frequently, and more immediately, into contact with the people of his charge. He enters more deeply into their circumstances, sympathises more evidently in their sorrows and joys; and though the legally authorised teacher (as he loves to designate himself) may regard all this as beneath the dignity of the priestly character, he who is in the house of God, not as one who rules, but as one who serves, will esteem it at once his duty and his delight to command the hearts of his people, as well as to declare, from the Holy Scriptures, the doctrine their minds are to receive.

It is true that there are not a few ministers eminently useful, whose talents are rather public than pastoral. The congregation hang on their lips, and instruction distils thence as the dew on the green and tender herb; but in the cottage, in the mansion, in the parlour, or in the cabin of the poor, they are rarely seen. Here and there a man gifted with high and versatile powers is eminent both as a preacher and a pastor; but the twofold character is, perhaps, more frequently found among those whose intellectual powers are not much above mediocrity, or whose talents and attainments have not been exclusively directed to one, and only to one object.

If it were, according to Quintilian, essentially necessary to a good orator, that he should be a good man; equally necessary is it that a good minister of Jesus Christ should be a man of eminent piety. We do not intend to affirm that it is not incumbent on every man who professes and calls himself a Christian, to be as pious, as holy, and as devoted as the most holy and zealous minister of Christ that ever lived and laboured for the good of souls; this would give an incorrect idea of the genius of the Gospel, which sets before every one who embraces it a standard of perfection, at which it commands him to aim. Our meaning is, that as a minister of the Gospel will ever be regarded by his people, not only as an instructor, but, though it be in an inferior sense, as a model too, he ought to be a pattern to the believer, of every holy disposition, every good word, and every correct action. Eminent talent may call forth loud plaudits; ardent zeal may elicit admiration; great energy may ensure a well-systematized subordinate agency; but a holy example will produce an effect more valuable than all these-it will ensure

devout attention, and call down the Divine blessing. May it not be said of many who have long been engaged in the work of the ministry, and who complain of their want of success, that they "have not because they ask not?" Their labours have been abundant; their journeys long and frequent; the conversations they have held repeated and interesting; but one thing in which they have been deficient has marred their usefulness. In their strife with the adversaries of the human race they have employed every weapon but one. There can be no impeachment of their knowledge. They have ranged through the wide fields of theological study. With the threefold evidence of Divine revelation they are familiarly conversant. Its doctrines, its duties, its precepts, and its promises, in their leading principles and in their minute ramifications, are to them as household words. They know all the disputed points of every rite, of every doctrine, and of every mode of practical piety; and when circumstances demand, or a suitable occasion offers, they are seen to advantage as adroit polemicsand yet, with all these resources, means, and appliances, they complain that as ministers they have had little or no success. And why? Prayer, earnest, fervent persevering, has been wanting. None can say they are not able ministers, skilful disputants, apt teachers; but who is there that can affirm that they are distinguished by a devotional spirit?

The Roman Catholic church has made much of a devout habit, of the appearance of devotion in the garb, the bearing, the expression of countenance; and it must be admitted, that they have carried all these to a superstitious excess. It cannot, however, be denied, that many of that church have been eminent for devotion itself, as well as for its outward sign. None can deny this to Thomas a Kempis, to Fenelon, to Pascal, to Francis Xavier. Admitting these and a few others to be exceptions to the rule, it would have been well for not a few Protestants, if they had looked at the exceptions and copied them, instead of contemplating the rule and being disquieted by it. We do not want more of the sign; but perhaps we want more of the thing signified by it: and while the mummery and hypocritical sanctimonies of the shaven monks of that church merit condemnation, it is possible, that in avoiding these, we have run into a contrary extreme, and, for fear of the sanctimonious, have shunned the devotional. But the two things are as different as the spirit of the pharisee from that of the humble penitent. Pride is the mark of the former; a lowly contrition, the characteristic of the latter. Simon the pharisee was sanctimonious; Mary at the feet of Jesus, devout. Self-righteousness is the very element in which sanctimoniousness lives, and moves, and has its being; deep humiliation for sin is the seed of devotion. Let us hear the author of "The Christian Ministry Contemplated."

“Habitual prayer marks a state of mind peculiarly Christian. The author of the Gospel delights in lowly and humble dispositions. Prayer expresses the possession of such graces, and fosters their growth. A prayerful spirit breathes humility, indicates a sense of want, and acknowledges dependence upon God. On the contrary, the neg lect of prayer invariably evinces the influence of pride, or carelessness, or self-ignorance, and generally of all these evils combined. Prayer, which is the duty and privilege of every child of God, is, from the nature of the Christian ministry, a duty, if possible, more incumbent on the ministers of the Gospel, and is to them a privilege more inestimable.... The remark of the great reformer, Luther, has been often repeated, yet can scarcely be repeated too often; Bene orasse est bene studuisse.' The best instruction we gain on Divine subjects, is obtained in answer to prayer, and much of it, not unfrequently, in seasons of devotion. It is no longer dry theory, but living principle. So that Luther's words are literally true, and to have prayed fervently and solemnly is to have studied well."—pp. 10, 11.

That was a remarkable saying of a dying minister, to Andrew Fuller, "I wish I had prayed more." And Mr. Pike says in his charge to his son, "I wish I had prayed more for the success of the Gospel.""I wish I had prayed more for the salvation of those about me, and who are given me in charge." Among the "Hymns for the closet of the Minister," we find the following one appropriate to this topic.

"Arm of the Lord, awake, awake!
Thy power unconquerable take;

Thy strength put forth, assert thy might,
And triumph in the dreadful fight,

"Before the lifting of thy hand
E'en foes infernal dare not stand;
But all shall swiftly melt away,
Like clouds before the rising day.

"Why dost thou tarry, mighty Lord?
Why slumbers in its sheath thy sword?
Oh! rouse thee for thine honour's sake;
Arm of the Lord, awake, awake!

"Behold what numbers still withstand
Thy sov'reign rule and just command,
Reject thy grace, thy threats despise
And hurl defiance at the skies.

"Haste then, but come not to destroy;
Mercy is thine, thy crown, thy joy;
Their hatred quell, their pride remove;
But melt with grace, subdue with love.
"Give to thy word a quick'ning power,
Come in thy might, be this thine hour;
Thy people watch with longing eyes
To see thee from thy rest arise."

The work of Dr. Beman, "The Old Ministry," which has been, we believe, industriously, and very widely circulated, enforces, from the examples of the primitive preachers, the duty and efficacy of prayer to ensure, in dependence on God, the success of our ministry.

"They seized (says Dr. Beman) the promise from the Bible, and carried it up to the throne, and there succeeded. They were men of great prayer; they put their hearts in heaven, and God heard them. They believed the recorded declarations of eternal truth on this point; and while they urged them at the mercy-seat, the broad windows of heaven were opened, and a blessing came down, till there was hardly room enough to receive it. These men lived on their knees, and in this fact we find the secret of their power. No wonder they moved the earth, for conducting, as they did, a co-agency (?) with the Eternal, they had already moved heaven. The minister

that does not pray, cannot preach; and if he would receive a large blessing, he must pray much. This the apostles did, and the world bowed down and paid homage to the truth. Read the brief record of their doings, and you will learn that they carried every thing to God in prayer; and the deep sympathy of their hearts was in it."

May we be allowed to ask, regarding, as we do, these views, to be on the whole correct, if they accord with those extraordinary means which are frequently employed, especially among the Wesleyan Methodists, to produce what they term revivals? The very fact, that such meetings are deemed necessary among ministers, as well as amongst Christians generally, proves that something is wrong, either in the state of the church, or in the practice referred to. Are not these extraordinary means resorted to because the ordinary means are not duly attended to? If the duty of earnest and persevering prayer on the part of the minister is neglected, will it be of any avail to attend occasional meetings for revivals, and occasional meetings for the promotion of the Gospel in our different localities? Is there not a danger that these meetings, of rare occurrence, though it may be of intense interest, from the circumstance of their novelty and their unfrequency, may become apologies and substitutes for that habit of devotion which ought to be the leading characteristic of every minister of the Gospel, and, indeed, of every private Christian? Protracted meetings for devotional purposes will, doubtless, be invaluable, when they arise from the pressure of circumstances, which render them truly and properly undesigned: but when they are coolly projected; when arrangements are made for holding them; when, as the almost necessary consequence, a feverish excitement is produced among the weak, the sanguine, and the enthusiastic, are we not in danger of ascribing results which are the mere products of animal feeling to superior influence, and of sinking, after the short-lived agitation has subsided, into a state of mind, quiescent, and bordering on self-complacency? And will not those who have remained unmoved under the most powerful appeals of the ministers of God, and hard and insensible when the words of inspiration, which are spirit and life, have been urged upon them with all the fervour and all the force of a holy persuasiveness, if they are for a short time roused from their lethargy, either soon sink back into their former state, or, deceived by a terrific, or (it is quite possible) by a pleasing excitement of the passions, conclude too hastily, that there is peace when there is no peace; and be exposed to the danger of perishing in their delusion? Are not the words which our Lord has put into the mouth of Abraham, in the unseen world, applicable to all extraordinary means when the ordinary means are ineffectual, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, though one rose from the dead?" It was an extraordinary place in which the prayer, to which the above is the answer, was presented, and the prayer itself was an extraordinary