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him had performed. This was not, it is true, necessary, "for the furtherance of the Gospel;" but his design was to leave a model of conduct, and to address all his Ministers, in the persons of the Apostles" I have left you an exampel, that ye should do as I have done."

To these motives, so interesting in themselves, and so calculated to affect the hearts of all who are dedicated to the sacred profession, permit me to add one other reflection.

III. The more extensive this diocese, the more reason there is to fear, that the evangelical spirit is becoming, by little and little, extinct. The distance of places is such, that we cannot come to a knowledge of many of the evils which are prevalent throughout it.

You, my Reverend Brethren, are that precious leaven, which God preserves, not merely to prevent the whole mass from corruption, but to sanctify it, to extend it, to encrease it, and to multiply its blessings; from you it is, that the spirit of the priesthood possesses the hearts of those, who are taking upon them its solemn engagements. If they do not imitate you, they have at least before them an example worthy of imitation; if your example does not stimulate them to fulfil their sacred duties, it does not, at least, allow them to continue ignorant of them. Shame, at a conduct so unlike yours; the education they have received,

preparatory to their taking upon them the holy ministry, will, sooner or later, awaken them, and they will begin to follow your steps.

We consider you, then, as entrusted with the spirit of the priesthood, which is preserved in your hands, and which passes from you to those whom we ordain to the service of the altar. Continue then, my beloved Brethren, and do not grow faint in this apostolical course: remember that you are the principal columns of that grand edifice, which is committed to our care. Assist us, then, in supporting the weight of the pastoral office, under which we should faint, if you, who are our fellowlabourers, should not sustain, with us, a part of the burden. Confine not to your own flock, your zeal for God's glory; animate your brethren by your examples, and by those insinuating graces which gain the affections. Attract by the gentleness of your temper, the confidence of those Clergymen whose conduct is not correspondent to the holiness of their engagements: consider, that in gaining only one of the Lord's Ministers, you may be the instrument of salvation to a whole parish. Hearts insensible to the truth, are not, always, equally insensible to the tender affections of charity we may irritate the evil, by condemning it without mercy, we sometimes save the patient by kindly bearing with him. I am detaining you long, because it appears to me, that such is the influence which the difference of behaviour, and of conduct, has over the minds of both the exemplary,

and the dissipated, Pastor, as to keep them separated from each other, by an, almost, infinite distance; because it appears to me, that the only preservative for the one, is the company of the other; and that it is essential to facilitate and promote such beneficial intercourse, to the end that your examples may become diffusively useful, by directing the judgment of the careless, and regulating the morals of the dissipated.

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CHARGE VI.

ON SOLICITUDE FOR THE SALVATION

OF SOULS.

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?

CHARGE VI.

ON SOLICITUDE FOR THE SALVATION
OF SOULS.

THE subject on which I shall this day expatiate, is the portion of zeal every Minister of the Gospel ought to feel for the salvation of the souls committed to his charge: and the sentiments with which his paternal bowels ought to yearn over their offences. He, who observes, without concern, the irregularities of his flock; who is content with not giving his approbation to the vices he perceives; who does not lament the loss of the souls entrusted to him:-a Pastor of this character is dead to the high sense of his calling. Zeal for the salvation of men, is, then, the first duty of a Christian Minister: this is the principle which should inspire him with resolution, and supply him with comfort, in the discharge of the most laborious duties; which should be, as it were, the soul, and the chief consolation, of his ministry.

In vain do we trust to irreproachable conduct : it is not sufficient that we lead a regular and blameless life: if, with the outward appearance of virtue, we are not penetrated with a lively sorrow, when we observe those, for whom we must one day give account, running hastily to destruction; if we do not insist upon the motives, and urge the exhorta

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