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النشر الإلكتروني

gate pastor; the more he appears to love it, to be attached to it, the more he becomes the object of its satire, of its contempt, and indignation.

In one word, a godly Minister is one of the greatest blessings which God can give, or society receive. What were the mercies promised to the Israelites, by his Prophet, if they would return to him, and renounce the evil of their doings?→ What?-the empire of nations?-the entire destruction of their enemies?-a cessation of the evils which afflicted, and of the calamities which overwhelmed, them?a land flowing with milk and honey?—He had, it is true, in preceding ages, made these magnificent promises, but the possession of them had not been sufficiently powerful to confine the Israelites to the observance of his law, nor to prevent them from offering their homage to strange gods :—He renounces, then, these splendid promises, so admirably calculated to make an impression upon a people, whose actions were all suggested by carnal and worldly motives; but it is only for the purpose of making them a promise unspeakably greater, infinitely more precious:-"Turn, O backsliding Israel, saith the "Lord, and I will bring you to Zion, and give

you pastors according to mine heart, which shall "feed you with knowledge and understanding." Raise up, O God, faithful priests in thy Church, and pastors according to thine heart. We ask not, Father, an end of the calamities with which thou afflictest us, the cessation of wars and of tumults,

happier seasons, the return of abundance and of prosperity-give us holy pastors, and with them thou wilt give us every thing!

I comprise the substance and utility of this exhortation in one reflection; I can neither singly destroy nor save myself; from the moment I became one of the Lord's Ministers, I have been either a scourge in his hands for the affliction of men, or a blessing sent down from heaven for their salvation.

How powerful a motive to fidelity in the discharge of my duty, to vigilance over my conduct, to zeal in my ministry, to hope or dread in the expectation of the second coming of Jesus Christ, who will present to me the souls he had entrusted to my care, either as my condemnation, if they have perished, or as my glory and crown, if, through my ministry, they are admitted to life and salvation!

CHARGE II.

ON PROPRIETY OF CHARACTER.

They brought Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to

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the Lord. As it is written in the Law of the

Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.

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CHARGE II.

ON PROPRIETY OF CHARACTER.

IT was prescribed in the Law of Moses, that every first-born among the Jews should be dedicated to the service of the temple and the altar; or, as it is expressed by St. Luke, “called holy to the Lord."

Christ Jesus, the first-born among his brethren, represented by the first-born among the Jews, fulfilled this law, and explained what was figurative and mysterious in it. His consecration to the altar, is the foundation of our holy ministry; we are, as it were, the first-born of the new-covenent; succeeding, in this instance, to the Jewish privileges.

We, who are an holy priesthood, are separated from the world, that we may avoid all profane intercourse with it; that we may so devote ourselves to the offices of Religion, as never afterwards to desert the sanctuary, in order to enter into "the tents of ungodliness."

The demeanor of the Clergy ought not, it is true, to be marked by unsocial rigor, and forbidding austerity: called, as we are, to bring sinners to salvation, and, as their visible angels, to con,

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