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to deter young men of respectable talent from the mifistiyong ministry altogether; and, on the other, to discourages depress, and finally to ruin those who are in it al

referee of talent which for one, so the of th

That degree of talent which fits one, so far as intellectual endowments go, for a useful minister of the Gospel, is much rarer than many seem to imagine; and, humanly speaking, has its temporal prosperity in its own power. When other pursuits invite by the promise of not only a maintenance, but of gain, and even of opulence, it is idle, it is unreasonable, to hope that youth of talents, without fortune, whatever be their piety, will serve the church of God at the expense of devoting themselves to infallible penury, and all the wretchedness which belongs to it. They may desire, they may wish; and, in some instances, from that simplicity which never calculates or which flatters itself that something favourable will turn “up,” they may venture: but in general, they must turn away with a sigh from the employment which, of all others, their hearts most long after. Let us not hear of self-denial, spiritual-mindedness, and a heroic indifference to worldly things, as characteristic of the true minister of Christ. Self-denial does not mean starving. The spirituality of the father will not stop the cravings of his children when they cry for food; nor is there any heroism in preferring tatters and a hovel to decent clothing and lodging, when they may be had. It is very convenient, no doubt, for men who are adding house to house, field to field, thousand to thousand, to harangue, in a religious style, on the necessity of a minister's imitating his master, "who had not where to lay his head;" when the practical inference from all this is in favour of their own pockets. They are wonderfully concerned for spirituality and self-denial to be practised by their minister; but as to their own share of these virtues; b: Vol. III. No. VII.

as to their parting with a pittance of their pelf to ren der him comfortable-why-that is another affair. It is one of the most wicked forms of hypocrisy to plead for the cultivation of a minister's heavenly. mindedness, by way of an apology for cheating him out of his bread. The sin of the neglect complained of is not equally gross in all. In some it proceeds from thoughtlessness; in others, from incapacity to make a right estimate; but in most, it is the fruit of downright covetousness. There has been, on this subject, an absurd squeamishness in those whom the Lord has authorized to "live by the gospel." They have borne, and forborne; they have submitted to every species of sacrifice rather than disoblige their people; and their only reward has been an accumulation of injuries and cold-blooded contempt. It is time for them to claim their due in a modest, but manly tone; and throw the fearful responsibility of expelling an enlightened ministry from the church upon those who are able, but not willing, to support it honourably. We say an "enlightened" ministry. For we have no conception that niggardly provision will soon strip her of every thing in the shape of a minister. You cannot place the pecuniary recompense so low, as that it shall not be an object for somebody. Fix your salaries at 50 dollars a-year, and you shall not want candidates. But then they will be fifty-dollar-men. All genius, all learning, all high character, all capacity for extensive usefulness, will be swept away; and rudeness, ignorance, impudence, and vulgarity, will become the religious directors of the nation. The man is blind who does not see matters fast hastening to this issue in the United States.

In the mean time, such ministers as are better qualified for their stations, are not only decreasing in proportion to the population, but, with few excep.

ceptions, are prohibited from cultivating the powers which they possess. Remote from literary society; without libraries; without leisure to use what books they have; distracted with anxiety for their immediate subsistence; doomed to the plough or some other secular business, to keep themselves fed and clothed, their intellect becomes enfeebled; their acquisions are dissipated; their ministry grows barren; their people indifferent; and the solid interests of Christianity are gradually, but effectually, undermined. Let the churches be warned. They have long slept on the edge of a precipice; the ground is caving in below them; and still they are not aware. Not a place of any importance is to be filled without the utmost difficulty. The search must be made from Dan to Beersheeba; often, very often, unsuccessfully; and when successful it is only enriching one church by the robbery of another. The population of our country is increasing with unexampled rapidity; very incompetent means are used to furnish an efficient ministry; and the people themselves are throwing the most fatal discouragement in the way. All denominations seem to be engaged in a practical conspiracy to starve Christianity out of the land. Let them tremble at their deeds; let their loins be loosed, and their knees smite together, at the bare possibility that they MAY SUCCEED.

But it is not the people only who are in fault; for,

(2.) Much of the guilt of decayed Christianity lies at the doors of the ministers and judicatories of

the church.

It is not arguing for the divine right of a stated ministry; it is not bragging about the excellence of "our church;" it is not lamenting over the supineness of the public, that will cure the evil. It is the procuring a ministry which shall render attendance upon

their ministrations the interest of both the understanding and the heart. Without this, every effort is vain: and this belongs to Christian judicatories. Let the world see and feel that there is an immense superiority of the regular over an irregular ministry, and there will be no more lay-preaching; nor so much difficulty in getting a decent support. But it cannot be concealed, that little as congregations give, they often give to the uttermost farthing, for value received." The mischief is, that the rule of abridgment becomes general, and the "workman who needeth not to be ashamed," must share the fate of him who is no workman at all. Ministers have themselves to blame for much of this evil. They have lowered the standard of ministerial qualifications. They usher into their high office men who have neither head nor hands for any thing else. The apostolic directions, (in 1 Tim. 3.) are almost totally disregarded. Instead of "laying their hands suddenly on no man," they have been too much in the habit of laying hands upon every one they can -find-novice or no novice-fit to teach or unfit-able to govern or unable; all are accepted-nothing, or next to nothing, is refused. An absurd tender. ness; a fear of hurting the feelings of a young man or of his friends; an infatuated haste to meet "the wants of the churches;" has poured forth a stream of ignorance and incapacity, which now threatens to sweep away the harvest it was designed to water. the degradation of the pulpit; in the butchery of the scriptures; in the defaced beauty, and tottering pillars of the Christian fabric, is to be seen the reward of timid indulgence and chimerical hope. If the mi. nistry, as a public order, is to regain its credit, its own mismanagement must be radically cured.

In

REVIEW.

ART. II.

1

A Collection of Essays on the subject of Episcopacy, which originally appeared in the Albany Centinel, and which are ascribed principally to the Rev. Dr. Linn, the Rev. Mr. Beasley, and Thomas Y. How, Esq. New-York, T. & J. Swords, 1806. pp. 210.

(Continued from Vol. II. p. 358.)

THE advocates of Episcopacy assert that the whole

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current of fact and of opinion for fifteen hundred years after Christ, is in their favour; that we " can produce no record of a change," in the government of the church, "but are obliged to imagine one in "opposition to the uniform testimony of the primi "tive fathers.'

We have met them on this ground; and have "produced" the "testimony" of one of the "primitive fathers," directly against the divine original of the hierarchy. This was JEROME, the most learned, able, and distinguished of them all. He tells us, in so many words, not only that the episcopal pre-eminence is without divine authority; but that this was a fact which could not, with any show of reason, be disputed; as being a fact well ascertained and understood. "The Presbyters," says he, “know, that they are subjected by the custom of the church, to "him who is set over them *."

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1

To elude the force of Jerome's deposition, it is alleged, among other things, that his opinion is of no

* Chris. Mag. Vol. II. p. 343.