ling cymbal. It can give the beauty of Love, and the grandeur of Power, in the outgushing emotion of a sympathizing heart. And therefore let the preacher who would be successful in the ministration of the pulpit cultivate such sympathy; not only having his heart beating responsive to "the great heart of humanity," but striving also to feel for the peculiar circumstances of those whom he addresses, so that each may find in him a brother.

Let me in the fourth and last place call your attention,

4. To the fact, that such sympathy has characterized those who have been most successful in the ministry, and whom we may regard as models worthy of our imitation. Here it will at once be admitted by those who hear me, that the ministers who have most truly felt for souls, been most anxious that men should be saved, have also been the most earnest in their preaching, and the most successful in their ministry. It is needless to cite names which will readily occur to most of my hearers. Now, their very earnestness is evidence of their deep sympathy with their fellowmen; while throughout their sermons and writings you will find expressions showing the ever-present consciousness of their being compassed with infirmity, and this causing them to have compassion on their erring and guilty fellow-men. It would be easy to quote passages from Latimer, and Howe, and Baxter, and Doddridge, and Edwards, and many others, of olden and of modern date, confirming this statement. It is true that some of them dealt largely in the thunders of the violated law. Some times they spoke like some of the ancient prophets, who, in the midst of the corruption and apostacy of Israel, were very jealous for the Lord of Hosts; and the great distinctive features of the gospel, however distasteful to man, because humbling to his pride, were ever held forth prominently by them. Still you can see the vein of sympathy running through it all, and giving it the coloring of humanity. You will find moreover the discriminating sympathy of which I have especially spoken. They sought to adapt the truth to every shade of character, and properly to consider all the circumstances of their hearers. They saw and acknowledged the difficulties which were in men's way, and then sought to help them to surmount those difficulties, and to come to Christ notwithstanding them. They never excused sin; they never confounded sin with misfortune; they never allowed their hearers to suppose that they were simply unhappy and not guilty; they never obscured the plain truths of Christianity but still they spoke in love, and with strong crying and tears, besought men to be reconciled to God. Take, for instance, President Edwards's sermon, entitled "The Sinner in the hands of an angry God," so terrible in its subject, and productive of so great results; and you will find unmistakable evidence of a heart yearning with compassion for those sinners, and not a little of that discriminating sympathy which we are contemplat

ing. Edwards, we know, was by no means a preacher who dealt only in the gentler features of the gospel; he never yielded any thing to the indulgence of unsanctified human affections. And yet he ever felt most deeply for sinners, and longed for their salvation, and showed sympathy with men in their several trials The pages of Baxter, who was burning with zeal to snatch sinners as brands from the burning, show how he understood the various phases of human character, how he sympathized with men, and with wonderful readiness adapted himself to the great diversity of human nature, while ever holding fast the cardinal truth of Christianity, and directing all to the promotion of God's glory. We have but to read his "Reformed Pastor," to be satisfied of this. But it will not do for me to dwell on such individual cases, lest I weary your patience. Let us go to the preachers and writers of the New Testament; and while the sympathy which I am commending is found in them all, fix your eye on its bright shining in the apostle Paul-in Paul, whose epistles contain those very things which are most severe and most offensive to unconverted men. Mark how he has a word of warning, of counsel, of encouragement, for every class of mankind; and how he never forgets throughout that he is a man; how "at Ephesus for the space of three years he ceased not to warn every one day and night with tears;" how he became all things to all men, that he might by all means save See how careful he always was to attribute to every man that which might be said in his favor-to admit his peculiar trial, and then to suit his address to the peculiarity of the case; how truly he was "a workman needing not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Paul never excused nor palliated sin. He plainly told men of their guilt, and had a stern rebuke and fearful threatening for the obstinately wicked. But no one can carefully read his Epistles, and the record of his ministry in the Book of Acts, without feeling that he had compassion on the ignorant, and on them that were out of the way, because that he also was compassed with infirmity."

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But we go higher still; and taking the gospel itself as our model, how do we find it every where, along with deep abhorrence and reprehension of sin, breathing the sweetest compassion for men, and, what is more to our purpose, adapting itself with loving-kindness to all the varied wants and woes of man! How humane is its spirit! How beautiful and grand the sympathy of Divinity with humanity which it reveals!

And then, directing our attention to Him who came to preach glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, how does this sweet precious sympathy appear in all his earthly ministry; Jesus loved righteousness and hated iniquity; but ever did he speak sweet-voiced words to the sorrowing children of men. The proud, the hypocritical, the obstinately rebellious he did sternly rebuke; but how did he move among

the mass of men, guilty and polluted as they were, with words and tones of tenderness and kind entreaty, and a conduct that plainly told he was their friend! How with infinate variety and richness did he adapt his teachings to their condition, and thus seek to win them to himself! Nay, is not this now the precious characteristic of Jesus, that he sympathizes with us, with each of us? He was "made like unto his brethren," even us, "that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people; for in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted," so that he can be "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," having been "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." It is needless to adduce particulars to show what was the character of our Saviour's ministry. Yet if I were to select a passage which would at the same time exhibit and symbolize the spirit of kindness which characterized him, and which should be found in all his servants, I would direct your attention to the parable of the Prodigal Son. In this, while he administers a rebuke to the uncharitable and self-righteous moralist, he shows a compassion for the sinner worthy of the Divine nature. And we, my brethren, may study that parable as a lesson for us in our preaching. I would not, for the world, have in my heart the spirit of the older brother who had no feeling for the wanderer; and I pray that all my brethren in the ministry, with myself, may have mercy for the erring, tears of compassion for his guilt and danger, and tears of rejoicing when he comes a penitent to God.

I have thus very imperfectly, and yet not so briefly as I wished, set before you a subject which I cannot but regard as of vast significance, and having a vital connection with our efficiency in the ministry of the gospel. Into the philosophy of sympathy it has not fallen within my purpose to inquire. I have aimed to deal only with acknowledged facts and principles in their practical bearing. I have endeavoured to guard against all misapprehension, while advocating the cultivation in a high degree of such a sympathy with our fellow-men.

And now, in conclusion, let me ask your attention to some of the reflections which the subject awakens.

1. It awakens admiration of God's wisdom and goodness in the establishment of the Christian Ministry. We can see in the light of this subject that there was wisdom in the appointment of "the foolishness of preaching," as the means of saving them that believe. God knew what was in man. He knew well the avenues to the human heart. He knew all the power of sympathy; and he graciously adapted his instrumentalities to the accomplishment of his benevolent object. All through the scheme of salvation, and of God's intercourse with our fallen race, runs this principle. It is the Incarnate Word, that is to

It is truth

win the soul of man and lead him back to God. going forth from a human heart through human lips, that is to be powerful unto salvation. And while this adaptedness in the Christian system to the wants of man confirms our confidence in its divine origin, it leads us to admire the wisdom and the condescending goodness of God; of God clothing the divine in the human, that he might according to the laws of humanity raise up fallen men to the divine; of God making himself Emmanuel, and in Christ reconciling the world unto himself; of God making us fellow-workers with himself in a work which angels cannot do.

2. Our subject suggests the importance of giving as much attention as possible in our ministerial studies to the realities of practical life. I know very well that great principles are always influential; that it is a matter of great moment to be able to rise above the tangible and contemplate the ideal; to grasp those generalizations which, comprehend whole systems, a universe of thought covering all the details of truth and life. But I hold it of greater moment to be able to present those truths in such a form as to meet the actual condition of men; for one to live in this sublime atmosphere of mighty principles, and yet so to mingle with men as to infuse into them the spirit which animates him, to adapt his thoughts to their wants, and by meeting them when they can be met, to raise them up to think and feel and act aright. And this cannot be done by one who contemplates not man as he is; not simply man at large, in general, but men in all their ignorance, error, infirmity, in all their strength for evil or for good.

I know very well, also, that the careful study of the Bible, and of his own heart, will give to the minister a knowledge of human nature of inestimable importance to his ministry, even though he scarcely go beyond the limits of his study and his pulpit. I reverence the men who can and do come forth from their retirement, simple, untrained in the world's ways, and ignorant of a multitude of things familiar to their hearers, yet laden with rich truths, and uttering sentences to which every heart responds, because based on principles common to man. Such a power is great, and highly worthy of regard. Still our age and our world demand this, and also something more. should never be sacrificed, but the other should be added to it— the knowledge of practical life, an acquaintance with men and things as they exist and move around us. The conjunction of the two is altogether possible, and forms the great man and the effective preacher.

This

Necessarily, in their course of preparation for the ministry, our young men are to some degree secluded from the world; necessarily, our ministers are confined for a large portion of their time to the study: yet observation teaches the importance of securing as much of such practical knowledge as possible

in legitimate ways. The opportunities afforded of spending leisure weeks or months in the active employment of some of our benevolent institutions, have proved of great benefit to many of our candidates for the ministry, by bringing them into contact with various characters, and teaching them how men, under the various circumstances of life, think and feel with reference to religion. And it may be remarked, in this connection, that the practicalness and efficiency for which the American Pulpit is distinguished, may be traced to the fact that here the minister is regarded, and regards himself so much as one of the people, not belonging to a separate class having no common sympathies with them; and also, and greatly to this kindred fact, worthy of careful notice, that so many of our ministers, instead of being simply a student race brought up amid books in cloistered halls, have been called from active operation in some other part of the field of life to the ministerial work, or through the stern imperiousness of poverty have been compelled to work their way to the pulpit, thus being brought by experience to the acquisition of a knowledge which no books could furnish. I repeat the thought, the minister who would be effective must remember that he is a man, and that nothing that belongs to a man is foreign to him.

3. Our subject suggests the importance of the pastoral relation, and of the right discharge of pastoral duties. I can do little more than barely allude to this, though perhaps the most significant suggestion of our subject. It is in the cultivation of such sympathy between the preacher and the people that the chief value of the pastoral relation is found. The faithful pastor is brought directly into contact with men of various characters, and in various circumstances. There is no such relation as that which subsists between him and his affectionate people; scarcely any so intimate and confidential. He has access to their homes and hearts; he is their friend. And if he rightly conducts himself in his appropriate sphere, he is made a partaker of their joys and their sorrows; he becomes acquainted with all their peculiar and diversified circumstances, learns where the burden presses, in what shape temptation to sin most frequently assails them, and is most likely to be successful; knows when the heart is softened, or when it is hard and stern, and possessed by angry passions. Going from house to house as a friend and a father, or as a loving brother, his heart is touched, and he may go back to his study, and come thence to the pulpit with things new and old adapted to their wants, and with a loving heart and a brother's voice he may speak to them that which will do them good. It is his privilege, as it is his duty, to lead them beside still waters, to make them lie down in green pastures, to supply them with the appropriate food and care; and to do this, he must be acquainted with their wants.

Fidelity in pastoral duty, I am well assured, in connection