What strikes one most, I think, in taking a general view of these passages regarding this relation, is, that it is one of deep mutual interest and affection. Look at both sides of the picture. On the one hand, there is watching for souls, guiding, ruling, labouring. On the other hand, there is esteem, love, obedience, support. The two are beautifully correlated. First, there is watching for souls. This I put first among the pastoral duties. It is the one grand idea of the Christian ministry; its one grand end and object. Watching for souls! Remarkable expression! pregnant with meaning; suggesting to the mind all that is implied in the great, primary, fundamental work of conversion, and in the continued, progressive, difficult, and varied work of edification, of “building up believers in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation." This, then, is the rootidea-watching for souls; and out of it spring necessarily the other ideas of ruling, admonishing, labouring. For I cannot watch for souls, as one who must give account, if I am not invested with some measure of authority in doctrine, discipline, and government. Thus are the pastoral duties connected among themselves, as constituting one harmonious whole, one entire system. And now, secondly, what is there to meet all this? There is "esteeming and loving very highly for their works' sake." This I put first on this side of the question. It is the root-idea; for out of it will spring naturally, yet necessarily, all the other duties; for this love and esteem will beget submission, respect, maintenance, on the part of the flock-and nothing else will. Here is the secret, if we ministers but knew it, of our being honoured, obeyed, supported—namely, our being loved and esteemed for our works' sake. And what is that? It is to watch for souls. Let us "watch for souls;" let us watch for them prayerfully, faithfully, tenderly; let us labour to bring souls to Christ and peace now, and to glory hereafter, not seeking our own honour, or ease, or wealth. Let us thus watch for your souls, and what will follow ? Coldness on your part; opposition, neglect, con

tempt? No, brethren, I will never believe that. What will follow-must follow? Your esteem; your love; your support; your encouragement; your prayers. On such a ministry-a loving, earnest, soul-seeking, soul-converting, soul-feeding ministry-you will wait regularly, earnestly, prayerfully. You will love the man because he loves you, and seeks your highest good and that of your children. You will esteem him as an angel of God, an ambassador for the King of kings. You will pray for him, sympathize with him, welcome him to your homes and hearts. And you will love his ministry because it is the truth he preaches, and Christ he sets forth, and souls he seeks to benefit. A dead ministry you cannot esteem, or love, or support; but a living ministry you can, and you will. A living ministry will make a living people, a praying people, a holy people, and a liberal-hearted people; for the divine blessing will surely rest on it.

Is not then the pastoral relation, as constituted by the great Head of the Church, a very beautiful one, and fitted to answer the highest ends? Why are the comfort and success of this relation so often marred; why in so few cases, perhaps in none, is the grand idea realized ? Why, but because we enter not fully into the spirit of it. There are faults on both sides. This is not a time for mutual recrimination; it does not do much good at any time. Let us all-pastors and people-humble ourselves before God, and pray that we may be drawn closer to each other, by our being drawn closer to Christ.

The Christian ministry is of divine appointment. It were well if this truth was more fully realized. This is our warrant for entering on it. This is your warrant for expecting good from it. It is no human device which may be superseded or modified as having become unsuited to the age. It is the chief agency—not to undervalue or discard other agencies-for calling in God's elect, and preparing them for glory. We should have great faith in it; we should have large expectations from it. "I magnify mine office." It is the purchase of Christ's blood. It is next after the gift of the Holy Spirit, Christ's best gift to his Church. I believe our views of the holy ministry are too low. It is for want of adequate views of its dignity that we do not rise to the

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lofty elevation of its aims and duties; and that do not reap the full benefit of it. We lack faith-faith in God's ordinance and Christ's institution; and what is this but want of faith in Christ himself? "We are ambassadors for Christ." Do we believe this? Do you believe it?

Is, then, the ministry a divine institution? wait on it in faith and prayer. Is it divine? honour it. Is it divine? uphold it. Is it divine? expect much from it. Is it divine? rejoice in it as an unspeakable blessing to you and yours. I repeat, "I magnify mine office." I am not

arguing for any superstitious reverence for ministers. For who even were Paul and Apollos but instruments in God's hands. But I am arguing for the established order of Christ's Church, which never can be violated without disastrous consequences. And independent even of the authority of Scripture in favour of the sacred ministry as a distinct and special institution, am I not justified in saying, that precisely in proportion as one feels the power of religion in his soul, the ministry rises in his estimation as the grand means of his spiritual nourishment. Therefore, brethren, have faith in Christ's own institute.

N the crowded streets of our great metro-| polis, as I was threading my way homeward one Saturday afternoon, looking forward with a lightened mind to the coming day of sacred rest, my attention was attracted by hearing the above question asked; and, looking round to satisfy my curiosity as to the inquirer, I saw that it proceeded from the lips of a fine, dashing young man, who spoke to a familiar acquaintance. I caught the answer: "I don't know; but I shall have a lark somewhere."

I turned and said quietly: "My friends, excuse a stranger for reminding you that you both have a particular engagement to-morrow." They stared with a look of wonderment and inquiry, upon which I added: "You have forgotten that you are both invited and expected to be present in the courts of the Lord's house. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day."

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As I turned to go on my way, I saw a sort of halfsaddened expression on the face of one, and I heard a forced laugh uttered by his companion. I was soon in the omnibus that was to carry me home, into which came two shabbily-stylish girls, neither of them looking strong, and one evidently much out of health. Again I heard the question asked: "What are you going to do with yourself to-morrow, Nelly?" and heard the melancholy answer given: "Going to do to-morrow? | Oh, I am so tired, I shall rest the greater part of the day, if not all of it. I shan't get my work done before twelve o'clock to-night, and perhaps not then; and I am sure, when once I get into bed, I shall be in no hurry to get out of it again."

As she was sitting next to me, I ventured to say: "You look indeed as if you needed rest. What a

*From a Tract just published by the Religious Tract Society, and inserted here by permission of the Committee.

blessing it is that God has given us a weekly Sabbath, on which we may get rest both for body and soul in his house of prayer!"

She answered: "I am never able to go there. I work so hard all the week, and have so few hours' rest, that I am glad to take what I can on Sunday; besides, I have such a pain in my side, and feel so poorly altogether, that I think I cannot be doing wrong in nursing myself the only day I can."

"My dear young friend," I replied, "you can never do wrong in taking all proper care of the life God has so graciously given you; but why do you choose his day for nursing yourself instead of taking a portion of your own time daily, so that you may be ready, in body and mind, to serve him on his holy Sabbath?"

Poor girl! her history was soon told. She had left her native village to make her way in the world, and had taken a position where not only her bodily strength was being sacrificed in order to procure a bare subsistence, but where opportunity was wanting for attending to the concerns of her never-dying soul. I said a few kind words to both these young people, and gave them a tract, and, offering the invalid my address, told her if she should become worse to come or send to me. We parted, and having about half a mile to walk from where I had been set down, I joined a neat respectable couple in humble life, carrying sundry parcels, which evidently told that they had been marketing. It was a bright clear afternoon, and contentment seemed written on their faces. I remarked on the weather, and the man replied:

"Yes, sir; I hope it will be as fine to-morrow, for we are going to take a bit of a holiday. A neighbour has lent us his horse and cart, and so we've been getting nice and forward, that we may start early in the morning. Our young ones have been reckoning on it for this many a day, and I shall be very sorry if they are disappointed."

"My friend," I said, "I think you made that arrangement without due consideration. Do you not know that to-morrow is the Lord's day, and that he tells us in his Word not only that we are to remember and keep it holy, but also that we are not to speak our own words, nor think our own thoughts? How then about taking possession of the whole day for pleasuring?"

“Well, you see, sir, I have never been brought up like that. I have always done my duty by everybody, and so has my wife there; and a better manager there can't be. We pay our way, and spare a trifle for our children's schooling, keep them as neat as most people, and work hard to do it. So I think it's a hard case if we can't have the treat of a little country air, in a quiet way, to ourselves, once now and then on a Sunday; for as to getting it in the week, we should have to wait a long while before we got it."

"Well, my good man, what you say has a good deal of truth in it, and, if we were sure that we need never look beyond this world, it might be a sensible view to take of things; but you know, if we believe that there is a God, and that the Bible is his word, we are only acting like fools not to follow what it says. Now I read there that we must seek 'first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness' (Matt. vi. 33). And another text says, 'What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?' (Mark viii. 36.) And again, 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap'" (Gal. vi. 7).

"I daresay it's all true enough, but we are no scholars, and God won't require as much of us as he will of you gentlefolks, who have more time and more learning."

"God requires from every man according to the talents committed to his care. Now, you doubtless have a Bible, and can read it; therefore by that Bible you will be judged. Take a word of warning in time. Bring your children up to fear the Lord, and set them an example by honouring his holy day and his word yourself, and, depend upon it, you will be a happier man than ever you have been in seeking your own pleasure on his Sabbath."

Here we parted; and as I passed a neat little cottage close to my own grounds I saw Jane Smith busy putting the last stroke of whiteness to her beautifully clean door-steps, her face looking as bright as her polished windows, and her children with their rosy cheeks taking care not to get in mother's way, but waiting rather impatiently for father's return from work, which was always an hour or two earlier on Saturdays. As I passed, I could not help asking once more the question "And what are you going to do to-morrow, Jane ?" Jane looked rather surprised at the inquiry; but before she could answer it, the children all shouted, "Why, to-morrow is Sunday, and we shall have our clean Sunday frocks on, and be off to the Sunday school as soon as we have had our breakfasts."

"Indeed, sir," said Jane, "I do thank God that he has taught my husband and me that this world is at best but a passing scene, and that nothing but the love of Jesus can sweeten all the sorrow and help us to bear all the crosses that must come to us sooner or later. But it is a blessed thing to feel that we are serving a Master who has done such great things for us. Surely nothing is too much to do to show our thankfulness to him."

The following autumn I was sitting reading, when a card was brought into me with a name which I did not remember having seen before. I desired the gentleman to be shown in, and a fashionably dressed young man advanced, looking quite an invalid, but with an intelligent and interesting countenance. I begged him to take a seat, when he at once began by saying, "You do not remember me; but I have never forgotten you, and could not rest till I had found you out to tell you how your words have haunted me. I never spent a more wretched Sunday than I did the day after you met us. My thoughtless companion did his utmost to make me forget what had happened, but the word 'Remember' would come into my mind. I made many resolutions during the week that I would go to church on Sunday; but my companions contrived to hinder me. I was miserable; I looked everywhere, hoping to see you again, but all in vain. About three months ago I got wet through late at night and took cold, from which I have never recovered; and I am now going home, as the doctor says I must have change of air. I doubt very much if I shall ever come back; but I have a good mother, who will affectionately follow up your conversation, and I am sure she will ever feel most grateful to you for your words of warning. I shall go happily, now that I have seen you to thank you myself, and to beg you to say a word to others whenever you have the opportunity; for hardly any one takes the trouble to do so, and, bad as we may seem, many of us have hearts that can feel."

I remembered the young man and the conversation, and was deeply affected by the result. I shook him heartily by the hand, and after a few words of prayer and thanksgiving, we parted, never to meet again in this world; for he died rejoicing in the finished work of Christ the following spring.

limited by our comprehension, to have the theory of development accepted because it leaves no more mystery in nature, needing only minor lights to apply it aright, is curiously absurd, on the part of a philosopher most unphilosophical, and, may we add, on the part of Mr. Grove, rather pretentious. One would think it more philosophical-as the most distinguished of the expounders of Natural Science seem disposed to do-to accept development as explaining much, as disclosing many of nature's advances; but believing that there may be even higher laws, and, if mysterious, more glorious movements in the universe of God. Ah! that almost infinite world which Galileo opened up to the philosopher as well as to the Christian, for rebuke as well as for instruction, should make even Mr. Grove pause ere he divests it of mystery, and presents it to us in his little laboratory in the very process of formation from first to last! Having got this explanation for what it is worth, science would play with it for a while; but, child as she still is, she would grow weary of it, and cry for mystery again. We have no fear of development filling the philosophic mind.

But if, even on its own field, this theory-except within limits which, while science cannot define in our day, or perhaps in any time, she ought to recognize falls far short of fulfilling what its advocates dream of, it goes too far into other fields where material matters should be allowed no entrance. We refer to the great truths of what is usually called Natural Religion. And Development, even on Darwin's views, accepts-that is to say, will not formally exclude the Being of God, and, we presume, also the immortality of man. On the theory, it seems God is as necessary at the first in the creating of that original germ-the monad-as under any theory of creation; nay, his perfection is more gloriously displayed in that one solitary but eternal act, which gives Nature universal life, and discloses results which are not to have, and cannot have, a limit-an eternal process of generation from it. And Natural Religion is to rest on this-not as a name, we presume, but as a reality—a practical and glorious and ennobling development, shall we say, of man's nature-worship remaining in the grand conception of seeing Him who is invisible! But the God has disappeared; and why? Another appearance is unnecessary, and therefore-for logical formula in the hands of such philosophers applies to the movements of the God they worship-impossible. His law-his one universal and omnipotent servant is there-Development-fulfilling his high functionsmost truly His vicegerent and with powers unknown to any other vicegerent; for he is above recall, above interference, above any form of possible change. Worship God-this God, if ye can, ye idolaters of Law!

But this theory is equally fatal to the other great truth of Natural Religion-we mean the immortality of the soul. We do not say, though we have some doubts whether we might not say this, that on the Development theory there is an absolutely and formally conclusive

argument against this doctrine, so vital to all religious and even moral life. Certain of the arguments usually urged in favour of immortality are, indeed, independent of all theory, and may be said to have, therefore, an equally valid place under this theory. This may be urged, and, within limits, we might think it unnecessary to dispute it; but, as a practical principle, the power of it would have wholly disappeared, just as that of the being and perfections of God to which we have before referred. For the theory gives another immortality to the human race, and an immortality almost-we might say altogether-subversive of it. Not, perhaps, strictly speaking, to the human race, but to the chain of sentient being now at the point of human development, but, of course, awaiting higher progress. The only unchangeable law which the theory recognizes is progress-development; and a pause, and such a pause as is involved in the immortality of the souls of men, would almost be fatal to it; or, at least, a truth scarcely probate under that theory. It would involve a disparagement of the law as well as an unwarranted assumption, there being an absolute ignorance on our part of the possibilities of the future. The theory acknowledgeslet us admit the truth in this form of statement-one Cause, perfect, all-wise, and all-powerful; everything. else is in progress—whether in an infinite series, leaving that point still and for ever beyond, or to meet and giveus—what it means we know not—a pantheistic elysium, it is not essential to our argument to consider. As a theory, the immortality of Development is immortal progress-the individual, or, at least, the species-the race, to appear again, indeed, but always improved— leaving itself, and ever stretching towards the infinite, or, at least, the immeasurably distant. We admit that on this theory it is possible to conceive of the immortality of the souls of the present race of sentient beings. It is possible to conceive that, in the process of development and from the established evidence which is now supplied, we had reached a point where the immortality of the species and of the individuals may be directly contended for; that, so perfect is the existing state, and so admissible of proof is the claim for indestructible being, that the law of development, moving on in other directions, leaves man as the earliest part of its completed system, the first contribution towards the pantheistic whole. It is possible to suppose this, though one cannot consider it other than a wretched caricature! When such a remote-we may say an intangible—basis is presented as this, on which we are to accept a truth so big with issues, and intended to be the very spring of our moral nature, it seems to us something like reason ministering, in the terrible judgment of God, to folly instead of wisdom-"professing themselves wise, they became fools." Just as the Creator of the original germ, appearing once, and disappearing of necessity and for ever, not needed in the eternal evolutions of his own divine product, can be supposed-but only by men who have never seriously known, or perhaps considered