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of building, or repairing the church, or regulating the music, or managing any thing of congregational interest, he must be nothing, and nobody. Now as a matter of expediency, no doubt it is often as well for him to leave these affairs to others; but where his right is denied, and unreasonable and intolerant men attempt to compel him to silence or to side with them,* he must not be much blamed if he manifest some of the spirit that Paul manifested when certain ones in Galatia attempted to spy out his liberty, and bring him into bondage. As a matter of expediency and of Christian courtesy, he was willing to yield the point, but when they insisted upon it as a right, his emphatic language was, "To whom we gave place by subjection, no not for an hour."

Let not members of a congregation be offended if their minister choose to exercise his Christian liberty in thinking his own thoughts or speaking his own words. So in the pulpit, some cannot bear that the minister should preach on certain practical subjects. They want an Antinomian ministry. To them the sermon on the mount would be legal preaching. They wish their preacher always to deal in abstractions, never to come down, as Paul and James constantly did, to minute points of right and duty. But let there be freedom. Let the pulpit be free on all those subjects of religion and morals which belong to it, and let the ministry be free on all subjects on which God leaves it to man to think and judge. If he be a heretic, arraign him; but it is not heresy to think one's free thoughts, or to differ from some to whom we preach.

I conclude, then, on this subject, that our congregations should be willing to receive their ministers as men, and to supply their human wants, to bear with their human infirmities, and to respect their human peculiarities, and their natural and Christian rights.

But let me remind you of another class of duties which you owe to your minister.

1. Wait on his ministry. He has been charged to preach the word; your corresponding duty is to hear the word. On the stated occasions of public worship and of social worship, so far as is possible you are bound to be present in your place. Let not a vain curiosity lead you from your own place of worship. When there is service here, this is your place. By a vain curiosity, a love of novelty, some are led from one place of worship to another, and receive little benefit anywhere. Solomon describes such as a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place." Let not indolence or indifference keep you from your place. We have too many fair-weather hearers. Too many who would not think of being detained from their business or their pleasures by such a reason, see in a lowering cloud, or an inclement temperature, or a slight shower, a sufficient reason for absence from

*The real objection to a minister's taking part in these things is, that he does not take the right part; if he only coincided with the fault-finders, there would be no objection on their part.

the house of God. Be not overscrupulous about the height of the thermometer, or the aspect of the clouds on the Sabbath day, that you doom not the preacher to come in from a desolate sky to the more desolate scenes of an empty church.

2. Let me say further, that you should listen to the preaching of the gospel with a due regard to the feelings of your minister. Remember that he is a man, by education, by profession, it may be by temperament a sensitive man. He has eyes that can see, ears that can hear, and a heart that can feel. Let that respectful deference with which you meet him in the street and welcome him to your houses, not be altogether laid aside when he stands before you as the messenger of God. The pulpit does not raise him above the level of human feelings. The indecorum of inattention or restlessness, which would be observed, and perhaps resented, if manifested in conversation with you, is felt when he is preaching to you. The preacher, if he were to follow the impulse of his own feelings, would sometimes abruptly close his sermon as he looks upon the trifling or drowsy individuals of his congregation. Some there are to whom he may look in vain Sabbath after Sabbath, and sentence after sentence for one returning glance to show that they see or hear. Others listen to parts, and follow with a fitful interest. They will hear an anecdote told by way of illustration; but the exposition or the argument, or the application, has no attractions for them. It is only the sweetened milk for babes that suits their taste. They cannot enjoy the healthy food suited to strong working men. O how would ministers be stimulated to preach and study, if the erect forms, and the beaming countenances, and the earnest attention of their hearers indicated a hearty and a prayerful sympathy on their part. The influence of the congregation on the preacher is almost as great as that of the preacher on the congregation. An inattentive, sleepy congregation, almost inevitably makes a stupid preacher. Nothing but a prodigious tax of human energy can prevent such a catastrophe. A preacher who could not be accused of dulness, being distinguished for his sprightliness and energy, remarked"For myself, I confess so great has sometimes been the physical difficulty with which I have preached to a trifling or listless congregation, that I have been ready to wish that in the pulpit I could be stripped of every sense and every faculty but that of speech, so that there might not come in through my eyes and my ears and my wounded sensibilities so many impediments to the easy current of my language."

3. You will expect your minister to visit you at your houses, but remember that will be only one of his many duties. Do not therefore be unreasonable in your expectations. When he calls, do not consider it necessary to detain him a long time while you make your toilet; or to make apologies for the appearance of your person or your house. Do not, either, if you wish him to call again soon, rebuke him too severely for not coming oftener. If you desire him to pray in your family, hand him your Bible, or desire him to

engage in devotion; he will be happy to do so. But if you make no request, do not afterwards find fault with him as if he had neglected a duty. The old-fashioned pastoral visits seem to be becoming almost obsolete; they were probably a very formal matter, but it is extremely desirable that a pastor should at some time pray with each family of his charge. If he should be in about the time of your family worship, by all means embrace the opportunity to have your minister pray with your family.

Ministers are sometimes blamed for not visiting the sick; the fault is generally with the family, who neglect to send him word. The apostolic injunction is, "Is any sick among you? let him send for the elders of the church." When Lazarus was sick, the loving sisters sent word to Jesus-"Lord, he whom thou lovest, is sick.' And in general, if any member of the congregation wish to converse with the pastor on the subject of personal religion, let him make it a matter of business, and call on the minister or send for him..

Payson's maxim was, "The man that wishes to see me is the man I wish to see." And this is the feeling of every gospel minister. He wants to see those who wish to inquire about his Master. Go freely to your pastor about your souls. Dear McCheyne speaks of a time when the minister's house was more thronged than even the tavern had been wont to be, and he quaintly says, "I would like to see the taverns emptied and the minister's house thronged;" and to this we say, Amen..

4. Let me add further-put a proper value on your minister's time. Do not be accessary to its consumption in any useless manner. If at any time you desire his professional services, give him suitable notice. We have been asked to preach a funeral sermon on thirty minutes notice; and we have been blamed for not being present at a funeral when the notice came in our absence, a very few hours before the time appointed; which notice might as well have been sent a day or two previous.

Let me ask you to respect the command of God and the regular appointments of the Sabbath day, and the strength of your minister, by avoiding, if possible, to appoint funerals on the Lord's day. That they are sometimes necessarily attended on that day, we have no doubt, but we have no more doubt that the Sabbath is often broken in that way. Such appointments are too often the result of avarice or of vanity.

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5. And once more I exhort you to pray for your pastor. Even Paul, with all his superior wisdom, and all his extraordinary grace, felt his need of the prayers of God's people. Brethren, pray for us," was his oft-repeated wish. Then pray for your minister that he may be strengthened in body-for his soul, that he may be kept humble and holy, and be a burning and a shining light among you. Pray for a blessing on his labours, that his word may indeed be good tidings, and that it may be a savour of life unto life to multitudes.

My unconverted friends, prize this privilege of having among you as your pastor a servant of Christ who loves your souls. If he warn and rebuke you plainly, be not offended; it is because he loves you. And when he tells you of Jesus, the Saviour of poor sinners, O look to that Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. God now shows his good will in sending this his messenger to you. Let not his message, by your fault, be made a savour of death unto death. B. F. S.

Bousehold Choughts.

AN ANECDOTE OF MATERNAL LOVE.

GOD, who has bestowed upon woman a physical frame of finer texture than that of man, has also gifted her inward life with more delicate, tender, and active sensibilities. Both the material and the spiritual, the warp and the woof of woman's exquisite organization, illustrate the cunning skill of divine workmanship.

The following anecdote could scarcely have been told of any but a mother:

In a quiet and rural spot, there lived a pious man and wife, with an infant, whom God had bestowed as "a gracious gift," and a blessing to the marriage state. When the infant was about six weeks old, and had just developed, as it were, the loving and extatic sympathies of the young mother, it pleased God in his providence to bring his handmaid to the grave. On her death-bed she expressed entire acquiescence in the will of God, and a readiness to depart and be with Christ. One great care alone oppressed her. How could she leave her darling babe behind, without deep anxiety for its tender infancy as well as its future years? "Oh, that it were God's will," she exclaimed, to let me take my dear child with me!"

The mother died; and the child, who had been in perfect health up to that time, sickened also and died. The mother's funeral was delayed a few hours; and the child, whom she so dearly loved, was laid by her side in the same coffin, resting upon her mother's arm with its little hand folded in hers. The Rev. Dr. Steele, of Abington, from whom we have the anecdote, added that he never beheld a more touching and beautiful scene in his life. The mother carried her precious babe with her to the grave, and who can doubt, into heaven, according to her earnest wish, and as if in answer to her prayer?

Oh, ye mothers who have children that are to dwell with you in glory, let your love be busy with present duty, and God will answer your prayers; not always according to your heart's desire, but alway VOL. I.-No. 9.

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for the best! Let the tender maternal affection, which is so happy a part of life, be sanctified in godly and persevering efforts to train up your children to live with you in heaven.

THE MISSIONARY'S MOTHER.

THE Rev. Wm. Adams, D. D., of New York, lately published a funeral sermon, occasioned by the death of Mrs. Joanna Lathrop, entitled "The Missionary's Mother." The sermon presents, with the author's characteristic ability and beauty, a tribute justly due to the fathers and mothers of our foreign missionaries; embodying admirable hints to all mothers to train their children, not for display, but for Christ and a perishing world.

Mrs. Lathrop was the mother of four missionaries to Ceylon, and the sermon is founded on Mary's anointing our Lord for burial, and his commendation of her: "She hath done what she could."

From the sermon we quote the following extracts:

Mrs. Lathrop was born Oct. 28, 1771, in Norwich, Ct.—a town which has furnished more than one distinguished missionary. Her father, Col. Christopher Leffingwell, was a prosperous merchant of high honour and integrity, and her mother, Elizabeth Coit, was the descendant of a long line of pious ancestors.

At the age of twenty-two she married Charles Lathrop, Esq., a graduate of Yale College, attorney at law, and for many years Clerk of the Courts of New London county. At this time neither Mrs. Lathrop nor her husband were professors of religion. The times, it well be remembered, were peculiar. The institutions of religion were generally observed, but there was little of vital piety, and none of those active philanthropies of the Church which are the characteristics of our own day.

In the group of children which were gathered about these parents, now more than forty years ago, was a little girl, of twelve years of age, whom they were aiming to educate with the most scrupulous care. We find the mother giving to this daughter a religious book, "Hawes' Directions concerning the New Birth;" and carefully watching the work of God in the mind of her child. One year after, this child, then thirteen years old, and both her parents, came together to the table of our Lord. A child of her age was never before known, throughout that region, to make a public confession of Christ; but subsequent events proved that the act was performed intelligently and judiciously. Shortly after, this youthful Christian, with one of her associates, amid much opposition, commences the first Sabbath-school in her native town; and it is not long before a desire to engage in Christian missions is apparent in her reading and conversation. Her father, an intelligent and educated man, is reading in the family the letters of Melville Horne on Missions, a

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