LETTER IX.

MINISTERIAL ZEAL EXEMPLIFIED.

MY DEAR

I WILL endeavour to relieve the monotony of these epistolary communications, and enforce the duties incumbent upon the pastoral office, by an illustration from the sacred volume. It will prove an attractive "portrait,” and the fittest "study" I can recommend to the contemplation of the " young divine." On this, as on all other occasions, the word of God conveys a most instructive practical lesson. thoughts are carried back to the infant days of Christianity,—to that early age in which the mysteries of godliness were first revealed. We observe the weapons employed by

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the immediate followers of Christ; the character of those sacred messengers all unfolded in those inestimable relics, the Acts of the Apostles; and given in that simple, but expressive language which ever clothes the records of the hallowed volume. As I proceed with the interesting history, I will point your serious attention to the several practical inferences.

"The angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza; and he arose and went." Before we inquire into the purpose of his journey, let us glean the first valuable lesson taught to the present minister of God's word. Without an instant's hesitation, Philip followed in the path of God's appointment. He might have argued that the field for his labours was before

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him; that, beyond a doubt, the fertile

provinces of Samaria held forth a more abundant promise of fruit than the desert wilderness of Gaza. But, no! he eagerly and instantly listened to the suggestions of the messenger of God, and obeyed his holier impulse. This is among the many evidences afforded to the teacher and the taught, that humility is the path to duty.

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"An Ethiopian of great authority" had come up to Jerusalem to worship," and as he was returning, he "read the prophet Esaias." The chief circumstance here challenging your attention, and which, in the exercise of your clerical functions, you may profitably press upon your parishioners, is the description given of the Ethiopian,he was a man -66 high in authority." You have the example of a man in an exalted station bending his whole mind to the study of the sacred Scriptures. He was returning

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from the public worship, and so far from suffering his mind to return immediately to worldly thoughts, his interested attention is bestowed upon those lively oracles of his God, for the better understanding of which he had undertaken his pious journey. In improving this part of the subject, you will be naturally led to contrast the present conduct of the disciples of Christ with the deportment of the pious Ethiopian. How few of the favoured of the world, how few of the rich and great among the children of men, in this later day, forego the fervour of worldly business for the calmer worship of their God! Well may the Gospel exclaim, "Not many mighty, not many noble are called;" its All-wise, Author well knew that the mighty and the noble would be among the last to embrace its faith and cherish its high commands. You will learn, therefore, why the good example before us was made