often with it evidences of providential care, which could have no place under other circumstances.

Finally, that contentment is more than half of possession. Godliness with contentment is great gain; more than one half of men's wants are imaginary, and it signifies nothing how much is actually possessed; without contentment there can be nothing enjoyed.

One thing further may be remarked, as forming a trait in his character, namely, great reverence for divine things. He never allowed himself to use scripture expressions in order to give a comical turn to common discourse. In the exercises of worship, public or private, he was remarkably solemn; he was beyond many, careful to sanctify the Lord's day, avoiding all temptations to worldly conversation, and promptly reproving it in others; in his whole deportment he was very circumspect: so that on those accounts he was greatly respected, even by many who cared but little for religion.

How common is it for ministers to fail in such points as these, who are considered remarkably gifted for the pulpit, and by the unsuitableness of their private manners, more than undo their public labors. How few might safely adopt the language of the apostle, or even adopt as fully as the subject of this sketch might, "Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do, and the God of peace shall be with you."

[The above sketch was chiefly furnished by the person referred to, as the student in Mr. Pringle's family at the time of Mrs. Pringle's death.]

SERMON,

BY THE REV. THOMAS PRINGLE.

(Preached at the opening of the Associate Synod

of Ireland in Belfast, July 12, 1796.)

"Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." (1 Cor. 4. 1. 2.)

If one might judge from the avowed sentiment and disposition of some in the present age, there seems reason to conclude, that, as far as their exertions could go, what the apostle here proposes, would be utterly and universally frustrated. None should be accounted of as the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Such violent prejudice is entertained by many against all pretension to a right, in some, in distinction from others, to exercise the office of the Holy Ministry, that if they could have their will, such an order of men, and, together therewith, the whole system of Christian ordinances, should be banished from the face of the

This sermon was published at the request of the Synod before which it was preached, with the following preface by the Author:

"The Author of the following discourse had no view of offering it to public notice, till the Synod were pleased to propose it. He reckons himself highly honored by such proposal, and wishes it had been more worthy of their approbation and public acceptance. His aversion, however, to appear in print has, in this instance, been overcome by his respect for the judgment of his Fathers and Brethren. He is not altogether without hope that, through the divine concurrence, it may be of use for correcting some mistakes, or obviating some prejudices, on a subject, which, he humbly apprehends, is of great importance to the interests of Christianity, the divine warrant of a perpetual Gospel ministry in the Church. It is certain that the happiest efforts would result from a strict attention to the duties respectively incumbent upon ministers and people. However well known these may be in general, an attempt particularly to state, and enforce a regard to them, will not, it is hoped, be treated as superfluous. Without any further apology the following discourse makes its appearance, as it was delivered, except some few trifling alterations, chiefly verbal."

earth, every form of Christian worship should be abolished, every shadow of revealed religion be made to vanish. The maintenance of religion, indeed, and the manintenance of an order of men, appointed to dispense its ordinances, appear inseparable. The fate of the one seems necessarily to involve the fate of the other; and, therefore, in proportion as men are impressed with the excellence and importance of the religion of Christ, will they see it their duty to account of those, who are regularly called to the dispensing of the Gospel and study faithfulness, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

In this passage the great Apostle of the Gentiles challenges that respect which was due to him and to fellow ministers, in their official character. Some, perhaps, were chargeable with thinking too highly of him, making him the head of a party, the Christians at Corinth having been deplorably split into factions. In this, however, they acted opposite to his mind. He disclaims all such pretensions. Others, again, undervalued him, and denied him his due honor. Here he states the light in which he wished, and in which he, and his brethren in office, had a right to be regarded. Even as the Ministers of Christ, appointed and commissioned, owned and assisted by him; Ambassadors for Christ, employed in his service, to preach his gospel, and propogate his religion. The word ministers, signifies servants, and, in its primary import such servants as were employed in rowing vessels, representing the ministry as a laborious work. Stewards of the mysteries of God. Teachers or dispensers of gospel truths or doctrines, which are frequently called mysterics, (Mat. xiii. 11. Eph. iii. 4. v. 32. vi. 19. 1 Tim. iii. 9. 16.) And the mysteries of God, as being of divine revelation: what human reason could not have discovered, and, what even when revealed, it cannot fully comprehend, or account for; and some of them having been comparatively hid for ages and generations till the times of the New Testament. (Rom. xvi. 25. 26. Eph. iii. 5. Col. i. 26.) Not masters of the churches; but the ministers of Christ in, and to the churches. Not invested with dominion over the faith or consciences of the people, but stewards appointed to administer unto them the ordinances which they have received of the Lord. Let a man, let every professed follower of Christ, regard gospel ministers in this light.

What the apostle requires with reference to himself and cotemporary ministers, is to be extended to their ordinary successors in the work of the gospel. But to conciliate and

secure this respect, the apostle teaches, that it is incumbent on those in the ministerial office to act in character. "It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." It is not all who bear the name that deserve it: only those, who, being regularly put in trust with the gospel, or, in a scriptural manner called to the ministry, behave therein answerably to their office.

In the further consideration of these words, three things chiefly demand our attention.

1. The divine institution of a gospel ministry.

II. What is implied in accounting of ministers as the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

III. What is required of ministers to deserve this char

acter.

To establish the first of these is like laying a foundation for the last two. For unless it can be shown with sufficient evidence, that the gospel ministry is of divine warrant and authority, or is an appointment of Christ, a claim on the part of any to be accounted of as the ministers of Christ, must be treated, and justly, as a piece of priestcraft, a gross imposition and usurpation. The complexion of the times and the tendency of some principles too much countenanced, seem peculiarly to call for an assertion and vindication of this truth, That it is agreeable to the will and appointment of the Lord Jesus, that some be employed in his church in dispensing the mysteries of the gospel, even till the end of time. That the apostles and other ministers in the primitive church had their office and authority from Christ, will not be disputed by any who believe the scriptures. Upon inquiring, it will be found no less true that Christ has appointed the office of the gospel ministry to be, in all succeeding ages, exercised by such as are regularly called to it. That this is the case seems undeniable from the following considerations:

1. From the commission which Christ gave to his apostles. "Go into all the world and preach the gospel unto every creature." (Mark xvi. 15.) Again, "Go and teach all nations baptizing them." (Mat. xxviii. 19.) That this commission is not to be restricted to the apostles or other ministers of that time, but to be extended to all who, in subsequent ages, should be regularly set apart to the dispensation of the word and sacraments, is evident from the tenor of the promise subjoined. "And lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world"-with them in their persons while they lived, and, after they had finished their course, in their successors in the ordinary parts of their office. To this purpose

he declares his will and command, "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations; (Luke xxiv. 4. 7,) and says, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come," (Mat. xxiv. 14.) and again, "This gospel shall be preached in the whole world." (Mat. xxvi. 13.) The gospel is the principal ordinance of Christ's appointment for the salvation of sinners. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," (Mark xvi. 16.) And, "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." (I Cor. i. 21.) But whatever extensive spread the gospel had in the apostles' time and by their means, over a great part of the then known world, the universal commission given them was not then so perfectly fulfilled, as it shall be before the end come. However many were then, and, by their means, gathered into Christ, to whom it is promised, "the gathering of the people shall be:" (Gen. xlix. 10.) many still remain to be gathered in; which requires a continued exercise of the gospel ministry, consequently the exercise of it by others besides the apostles.

2. From Eph. iv. 11, 12, 13. "He gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Where the ordinance of pastors and teachers for the work of the ministry is declared to reach as far as the perfection of the whole body of Christ, and consequently to the end of the world.

3. From Rev. ii. 24, 25. Where Christ addresses a solemn charge to two sorts of persons to hold fast that which they had already, till he should come. "Unto you," that is, to the body of ministers or pastors in the church of Thyatira, who, collectively taken, are, in a preceding verse, spoken of in the singular number, under the character of the angel of that church. "And to the rest in Thyatira," other members in that church. A manifest distinction is made between the ministers and other members of that church. As the charge addressed to private church members can not be confined in its obligation to the members of the church in Thyatira, so neither can the charge as addressed to those in public office, be confined to the ministers of that church; but in them conjunctly the Lord requires all, both ministers and people, to maintain an inviolate attachment to the truth of the gospel,