Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

places him in a false, painful, and indefensible position. The theologian who no longer feels, no longer believes the truths which it is his business to teach, loses all that love of exertion, all that force of heartfelt conviction, which lead to the accomplishment of such great things, and are the source of so much triumph and so much peace. Secret inquietudes and too obvious embarrassments continual uncertainties and misgivings, carefully concealed perhaps, but betrayed by cold and equivocal language-an almost total absence of religious consolations-prayer seldom attempted, or broken by doubt and disquiet-discontent with himself-disgust at his duties-useless regrets; these are his lot and his punishment. If he is a man of resolution and honesty, he frees himself at once by stripping off the garment of the priesthood-a robe too heavy for the heart which breathes not at ease and unimpeded by mystery-and prefers, if need be, penury and blame: if a weak one, he perseveres, and degrades himself by habituating his mind to a state of secret and unprofitable wretchedness.

[ocr errors]

Or, as it sometimes happens, if religious feeling be not quite dead,—if the cause of his error lie in the vice of his method or the mistake of his judgment, and not in the heart,-if some uncertain wandering ray of light shine before the eyes of the benighted wanderer, while yet he wants courage to recover his way and retrieve his error,-casting away at once without distinction all that burdensome science which has occasioned his doubts and distresses, he blindly tramples upon the labours of his life gone by, the fruits of his researches, and the principles he had established, as well what Reason vindicates as what Faith rejects, as well truth as error; then, rushing at random into the opposite extreme, he abjures examination, that he may succeed in believing, and begin once more to feel!

You have then, Brethren, in conclusion, two dangers lying before you, in the course on which you are entering; and in order to shun them, you must, in the study of the Bible, practise at the same time two opposite methods,

you must, as much as possible, combine the two dispositions to which they correspond. If you succeed in doing this, you will be happy, and what is better, you will be useful. We have said already, that the success of the minister of Jesus Christ depends in a great measure upon maintaining the harmony of his powers. It is to the preservation of this balance, he owes the faculty of producing an effect upon the different tempers, of meeting the different wants, of his flock; of calculating every circumstance, and accommodating himself to every situation. It was by "becoming all things to all men," that St. Paul "gained some." Such is the case at all times; but the times we live in are no ordinary times: on the present occasion, therefore, I have something further to say.

Candidates for the ministry of the Gospel, have you made yourselves well acquainted with the age in which you live, and with the communities for whose service you are preparing yourselves? Those days of languid ease are long gone by, when the careless Christian world yielded to their ministers, without dispute but

without earnestness, an outward respect unaccompanied by confidence and sincere regard;— when they displayed toward their pastors neither harshness nor importunity, only because they cared but little about either their lessons or their labours. A spirit of life is now gone forth; and from man to man zeal is gradually diffused, followed so human infirmity decrees by discussion and collision, by division and injustice, the unavoidable consequence of the agitation of the public mind and the conflict of opinions. Did not Christ himself testify, that even He was come to send fire upon the earth?” In every part of the Protestant world the same causes are introducing the same effects; in some latitudes the tempest is subsiding, in others it is exploding, or suspended in sullen preparation; but everywhere the same colours are exhibited, the same banners arrayed against each other, threaten the same combats, On this side and on that, are seen ChristiansProtestants, divided, alas! as much by their passions as by their tenets rushing in contrary directions into the most exaggerated

1

extremes, from the dread of encountering, and in the end entrenching themselves in two hostile camps between which they believe a gulf to exist. To both parties, however, is the minister of Jesus Christ sent; both are his brethren and his children: it is his business to make himself known, heard, and loved, by all! Oh, there will be need of men wise and mighty in spirit, to seize the standard of Christ, and rush between the opposing hosts! They will find that they must call upon all those to join them, who have at heart the love of God and man; they will find that they must, with the Gos. pel in their hands, gather together in the name of Him who is Love, Spirit, and Truth, every one that is humbly and charitably disposed.

But to whom, Brethren, shall it be given to fulfil this noble task? Who shall make his voice heard above the tumult of prejudices and passions? Who will prove at the same time the intelligent Guide, the sure Friend, the respected Minister of all? I answer, He alone who is at once pious and enlightened-two conditions, the union of which is henceforth indispensable, in

« PreviousContinue »