This state of things should teach us this, at least, to remain or to enter on the terms of the Gospel. These terms we have defined.

Thus in every Church, organized according to the word, and according to the spirit of Jesus Christ, there will be ministers, forming or not forming a collective body, I would say never a caste; entering, in every thing which does not exclusively concern their official functions, into the category of other citizens and other Christians, and not having any inalienable qualification, except in the interest of the order, and within the limits of that interest.

§ 5. Excellence of the Ministry.

The ministry, necessary to Christianity, partaking of the necessity of Christianity, and also instituted or ordained by Jesus Christ, can not but be, according to St. Paul (1 Tim., iii., 4), an excellent office.

Let us, nevertheless, study it in itself, and indicate the principal characteristics which should exalt it in our view.

At the first glance, and according to secular views, the art, par excellence, is that of governing minds (Ars est artium regimen animarum); and although others besides the preacher undertake this, and succeed in it, it is certain that when he does succeed in it, it is in a manner more definitive and more profound, because of the nature of the motives which he employs. He awakens and strengthens in man thoughts which must determine and control his whole life.

Rising higher in our point of view, we see that it is the preacher's great prerogative or great mission, to maintain faith in invisible things and in a spiritual world, in souls, which earthly things are always seeking to absorb; to be among men, a spiritual man and a man of eternity.

Those who are devoted to the social interests of mankind regard the minister as the chief instrument of civilization, in

GREATNESS OF THE CALLING.

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asmuch as he is the chief agent in advancing general morality-asserting and diffusing as much as lies in his power the maxims of virtue. Magistrate of consciences, counselor of benevolence and of peace, he represents the element of the highest social life. Religious instructor of the people, he can not be a stranger to the care of their intellectual culture; he is its promoter; he is every where at the head of popular teaching, as well as of the Church; and in that respect, also, the minister of the Gospel is a minister of civilization.* The prophet and the priest of the middle ages, as are now the missionaries among savage tribes, were ostensibly and openly the chiefs of society. All society was more or less theocratic at its birth. That was a time when second causes were little observed, and when, in all things, there was a direct ascent to the first cause. Afterward, men did not take the trouble of ascending so high. The same, also, as to the conduct of society. It was only indirectly, and by its influence, greater or less, that religion controlled civil order. Since then the minister has been placed in an analogous position. Society has not recognized him as its head. But it could not but be that the gravest and most solemn affairs of individual life and of public life, should be assigned to religion, and of course to him; that a multitude of great interests should, of necessity, be confided to him; that the last depth of the human soul should be surrendered to him by religious preoccu pation, the strongest of all. His hour always returns, and religion with him penetrates into the midst of interests which are surrendered to him. Where religious institutions are fee

* All this applies especially to the Christian ministry, for, Christi anity apart, the minister is often, and particularly in these times, the representative of the anti-social element and of anarchy, the minister of darkness. But even in false religions, at their commencement, this was not so. Whatever may be the delusions which are mingled with religious traditions, truth has always its place, and civilization has had the advantage of it. The necessity for Religion is a noble necessity: she has always been the cradle of society.

ble, where the Church is no longer a reality, the pastor only remains; it is to him that we look. It is with the pastor as with the Sabbath. Happy he to whom all days are Sabbaths; happy the time when the importance of the ministry shall diminish because all Christians will be ministers.

His every-day life, instead of being trivial, like that of the greater part of men, is serious. His functions pertain to the foundations and roots of human life. He is brought into contact, by his ministry, with all that life has, which is serious and most affecting. Its great pauses or halts, its great con

cerns, appertain to him-birth, marriage, death.

His life is a life of consecration, without which it has no meaning. His career is a perpetual sacrifice, which includes all that belongs to him. His family is consecrated; it belongs to the ministry, and partakes of its privations: Even as Jesus came into the world not to be served, but to serve, so of the ministry; and this is its glory: "To serve God is to reign." He seeks the glory of God directly; he seeks it again in serving men; for to serve men from love to God, is to serve God. A minister is a man of benevolence and compassion. And this is every one's impression; every one, even the natural man, demands charity of the minister. No one will observe cruelty, avarice, coldness, the want of kindness in him, without reproaching him with it. Benevolence and kindness belong essentially to Christianity. In nations not Christian, even among the Jews, the priest has not at all this character, and sometimes he is considered as a terrible and wicked being. But now the most unbelieving person thinks that Christianity is the religion of kindness. A minister is a man to whom God hath said, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people." He is among men the representative of the idea of mercy, and he represents it by transferring it into his own proper life. To impart succor, that is his ministry, that is his life.

In short, the ministry, at least in the Protestant Church

FAITH'S POINT OF VIEW.

55 and among Presbyterians,* can not at its outset présent an object of ambition, though possibly it may end in this. One pastor can be distinguished from another only by a more commodious post, more agreeable circumstances. It is a noble thing to see his ambition definitely arrested, his desires imperatively restricted. Man is but too much harassed by his desires. He is as a sick person agitated by fever, who knows not on which side to turn. Nothing can tranquillize him but that which shuts the door against his desires. A minister is no more confined to his ministry than another man to his profession, and he may satisfy the demand of his nature for development, which is one of the privileges and characteristics. of humanity. But what distinguishes him is, that, once a minister, he is all that he can be externally; his place is taken, and he must never forsake it.

Let us now take a higher point of view, that of Christian. faith. The dignity and excellence of the ministry proceed,

1. From the excellence of the doctrine which it teaches. This is a "wisdom among them that are perfect” (1 Cor., ii., 6); that is to say, a wisdom which renders men as perfect as they can be; not giving an appearance or a part of the truth, but the truth itself and the whole truth. Nothing is greater than this mission. He who on any subject has infallibly the truth, is already a great personage. Jesus Christ, in the presence of Pilate, associates the royalty of truth with the testimony he rendered to it. His business, in fact, is with truth, with supreme truth, with that which explains and governs life, with truth as pertaining to the relations of man with God. What more exalted work than that

of preaching it! And this is the pastor's mission.

2. From the fact that its doctrine is a Divine revelation.

* The context seems to require this designation to be understood here in its comprehensive sense, or as embracing all denominations that hold the parity of the ministry.-Tr.

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Oracles have been confided to it. These are things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, and which God hath prepared for them that love him."-1 Cor., ii., 9. The minister is then the direct messenger of God himself. "He that receiveth you

receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me."-Matt., x., 40.

3. From the fact that "the minister is a laborer with God” (1 Cor., iii., 15), who makes himself one with him; becomes surety for him, promises to work for him and by him.

4. From the fact that he announces and offers salvation. If the ministry was one of condemnation, if the pastor preached on God's behalf the law only, though he would fulfill his work with anguish and terror, it would nevertheless be an excellent one. But as God has made his glory to consist in pardoning, so he has put glory on the ministry of pardon. Hence St. Paul, speaking not only of the two economies, but the two ministries, says, God hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth."-2 Cor., iii., 6-10. It is, moreover, very manifest, that as the glory of the mercy of God consists of two inseparable elements, mercy itself and the fruits of righteousness, the glory of the Christian ministry is also composed of these two elements. This is what Isaiah had in view in these words: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,