that the poison of condemnation has been trans mitted to all his posterity by the blood of our fallen parent; and that the only antidote, the only availing remedy, is the blood of Christ, which is alone availing and effectual, because of its being the blood of a divine sacrifice, even of the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.

Awful then beyond conception must be the responsibility in which we stand to feed a flock so dearly bought; and nothing but the untold and unutterable value of that blood can determine the peril of our neglecting those souls which are thus committed to our charge. Bear with me, then, my reverend Brethren, for I presume not to address you but at the call of our revered Diocesan, -bear with me, while, with all deference to the superior qualifications and more matured experience of the many Christian Pastors by whom I am surrounded, I proceed to bring forward to your notice a few points connected with the injunctions of the text, which the blessing of God, even though the humblest labourer in his vineyard may be sowing the seed, can render profitable to those who are his fellow-workers in the Gospel of Christ, however much they may excel him both in the endowments of the mind, and in superior qualifications for, and more advanced experience in, the charge assigned them.

The Apostle commences his admonition by en

joining the Ministers of the Church to take heed to themselves; to have, that is, a very jealous eye upon their own souls; to be very tremblingly alive to the necessity, that, as to their own faith, they should heartily embrace and believe what they teach; and, as to their practice, that it should not discredit their faith, or neutralize the doctrines which they enforce. "Take heed to thyself," said the same Apostle to Timothy, "and unto the doctrine; continue in them:" that is, be faithful in preaching and living according to the truth as it is in Jesus; "for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself, and them that hear thee."

It were superfluous that much should be spoken to confirm this point of the Apostle's injunctions, for it is at once self-evident that the Minister, whose office it is to instruct others, and to guide them in the way of salvation, should be practically and experimentally acquainted with that way himself. It is a vain labour in one to strive to teach another, being himself untaught; and lamentable indeed, both in his public and private ministrations, will be the deficiency of all that is useful and edifying to the souls of men, if his own soul be "as a dry land where no water is,”—if it never have been opened to receive the truth, nor his heart and affections enlivened and purified by the hope set before him in the gospel of salvation. For how can he strive for the extension of a king

dom in which he has neither part nor lot, and for which he cannot therefore have a care whether it prosper or fall? How can he contend against sin in others, when he does not feel its plague, or loathe its polluting nature in himself? How can the employment be otherwise than most tasteless and a toilsome burthen to him, to be obliged for ever to speak of a heaven after which he feels no thirst; of reconciliation to God, of which, having never perceived and lamented and striven against his own rebellion, he has never experienced the peace and consolation? How can he with any sincerity commend to others a holiness which he doth not himself approve? invite them to a Saviour whom he has never sought himself? speak of feelings he has never experienced? of hopes he has never entertained? or of terrors by which he has never been persuaded to flee from the wrath to come?

To say nothing, however, my reverend Brethren, of our personal faith and holiness as connected with the salvation of our own souls; to say nothing of this,—if our desire be, what alone it ought to be, to glorify God by being edifying Pastors of his flock, faithful and efficient Ministers of his Gospel, if this be our aim, we must take heed unto ourselves, we must above all things beware, that the faith which we hold forth to others as the instrument by which they may gain an interest in

the mercy and salvation of God, be the faith by which we have ourselves embraced, and are holding fast, the hope of glory: we must beware too, that in practice we be, as St. Peter says, "ensamples to the flock," taking good heed that the immoral, worldly, frivolous, or inconsistent conduct or occupation of the Pastor be never, in our case, cited as an apology or excuse for the immoral, frivolous, or worldly living of those over whom he ministers. For without a truly scriptural and saving faith within ourselves, it never can be that we shall present the Saviour in all the fulness of his grace and love to souls that are convinced of sin, and mourning over the dark prospect of condemnation. And without the bright and convincing evidence of that faith in the fruits of our own godliness and purity of living, it is equally impossible that we can ever so let our light shine before men, as, by the patience of our love and the holiness of our conduct, to constrain the approving testimony of the unprincipled and ungodly, and to win them over, that they too may glorify their Father which

is in heaven.

But we must pass on to the next admonition, which is, "Take heed.... to all the flock." It was a consolation to the Apostle, when he appealed to the consciences of the Ephesian Elders respecting the zeal and devotedness of his own ministry amongst them-it was a consolation cheering and

very full of comfort to his heart, that he was able to say, "I am pure from the blood of all men. I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly and from house to house." Accordingly, therefore, in his parting injunctions, he entreats the Ministers whom he addressed, to follow the pattern he had thus himself, by God's grace, afforded them. He bids them "take heed to all the flock;" that is, not only by general and public ministrations to exercise a general care and superintendence over them, but by the more personal application of the word in private intercourse with their charge, by carrying the glad tidings "from house to house," to watch over each individual soul, each single member of the flock entrusted to their ministry; and thus, by becoming personally acquainted with the character, the habits, the circumstances, and the wants of all, to administer to each the convincing declarations, the reproofs, and the instructions of the Gospel, "as each might need;" to comfort the broken-hearted, to humble the proud, to awaken the careless, to guide and assist the anxious enquirer, to recal the wanderer, to conciliate the prejudiced, and to minister to all and to each respectively in some sort unto godly edifying. This was the way in which the Apostle Paul exercised his own ministry; and indeed so immense and incalculable in his sight was the