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offences. Let us remember that our Blessed Master passed for the friend of sinners, by the divine mildness with which he received them, by the holy familiarity with which he honoured them, by the joy with which he assured them, that the conversion of a single individual was a subject of congratulation and joy to the angels in Heaven. Let us call to mind his tears over unbelieving Jerusalem: He more frequently wept over the sins of the people, than aggravated them by his reproaches: his prayers for them always prepared success for his instructions: Let us, my Brethren, mourn and humble ourselves before God: Let us increase our prayers, in proportion as the sins of our congregations are increased; and, instead of suffering our affections to be alienated from them, through their obstinacy, let us strive to make our vigilance more persuasive, and our zeal more engaging.

I would not be understood, by recommending to you mildness and gentleness, in the exercise of the Ministry, to authorise indolence and insensibility, in a Pastor, in the midst of the degeneracy of his flock the good temper required of a Clergyman, is not without bowels of compassion for sinners; but he is full of indignation at their vices. A Minister, whom the profligacy of his parish, of which he is a witness, does not affect, does not interest, and who sanctions it by his silence, is not kind and compassionate; he is no better than an idol, which hath eyes, and sees not, a tongue,

and speaks not, an heart which does not feel. God forbid that his inattention to the profligacy of his people should proceed from a desire that they should shew the same to himself! No, my Brethren, a Pastor who sees, with indifference, the depraved morals of his parishioners, is either without religious principle, or is himself as depraved as the sinners, at whose profligacy he connives.

Not one of such a character, I persuade myself, will be found in this assembly; but there is another sort of mildness, and gentleness in a Minister, less odious, it is true, though perhaps, not less dangerous there are Pastors, who are inactive, more studious of their own quiet, than interested in the salvation of the souls committed to them: they connive at every thing, in order that they may not irritate the minds, and alienate the hearts, of their parishioners from themselves in a word, in order that they may enjoy, with more ease, and less interruption, a situation, the vigilance and exactness essential to the proper discharge of which, might have disturbed their repose. Now, this is not the evangelical gentleness of which every Pastor ought to be possessed; it is the indolence of an hireling. And what can be more reproachful to a Minister of the Gospel, than to be esteemed and beloved by a degenerate people, by whom his saviour is hated, or forgotton, or despised? What can be the advantage of pleasing men, if he have the misfortune to displease God? If God condemns, can men justify,

him? Besides, does he not know that it is not possible to please men—if, in so doing, he is to neglect his duty-and to be the servant of Jesus Christ? Whoever, in such a way, expects to conciliate the love of his people, forfeits it: the more desirous they perceive us to be of pleasing them, through the fear of censuring negligence, and reproving immorality, the less do they hesitate to occasion us chagrin, and even to treat us with contempt. Let us not deceive ourselves: the rudest and most ignorant esteem us no farther than as they are convinced we are possessed of upright principles, and undissembled virtue. Aarón permitted the Israelto make a molten calf, and then to fall down and worship it—what reward did he obtain for his unwarranted indulgence? That very people disputed with him the sovereign priesthood. We lose more than we gain, in the minds of our hearers, when we would conciliate their esteem by the sacrifice of our duty.

The pastoral tenderness which we should shew for sinners, is mild and conciliating-but it is not indulgent to their vices. Let the edification and salvation of those committed to our care be our only object, in the accomplishing of which we may, with propriety, endeavour to please them: let us strive to become agreeable, only, as we can be useful: we are not to be judged by the love and affection men may entertain for us, but by the benefit they may have derived from our Ministry : let us not seek ourselves in the discharge of our

Ministerial duty, let us seek, only, the interests of Christ, and we shall, without difficulty, find, that in the proper exercise of our pastoral functions, we are equally to avoid both the excess of outrageous zeal, and the timidity of criminal indulgence.

Such is the evangelical gentleness which I recommend to your observance; every other, which tends rather to please sinners, than to lead them to be displeased with themselves, and which, through the apprehension of disturbing our own quiet, refrains from alarming them with a sense of guilt, is not "the wisdom which comes from above," which descends from the Father of Lights; it is, on the contrary, "earthly, sensual, and devilish :" Whereas genuine pastoral mildness, is distinguished by very opposite characters. First, it is liberal and disinterested. It is not personal advantage which brings it into action: it seeks its repose and happiness only in its duty; the friendship of men is no otherwise beloved, in its estimation, then as it renders them the friends of God.

It is, secondly, peaceable. It is not in encouraging dissipation; it is in exciting by its remonstrances, a remorse in the heart, that the true evangelical mildness, by which a godly Minister is always actuated, brings real peace among his flock; his zeal alarms sinners, but it makes them angry only with themselves; in carrying war into the heart, he, under such benign influence, introduces tranquillity, and establishes comfort in families;

the sword of the Word in his mouth, which pierces the inmost recesses of the soul, changes it into an habitation of peace and love: his pacific gentleness calms all violent dissentions, conciliates the enraged mind, and teaches it the pardon of injuries, and the delights of reconciliation, by paying kindness, and accumulating blessings, in return for provocations and outrage,

To comprise all the characters of gentleness in one reflection: this divine wisdom has bowels of compassion for the miserable and wretched. Touched with their calamities and their miseries, it reaches out to them an helping hand: it does not content itself with weeping over them; it demonstrates its feelings, by its support; it laments, indeed, that its circumscribed means are insufficient for their wants: far from exacting, with severity, its rights, it distributes to the needy of its own substance: thus, it every day sees the fruits of the ministry increase, together with those of mercy and compassion.

Meditate continually, my beloved Brethren, on these things, never lose sight of them in the exercise of your ministry, in order that the public success of your labours may become the glory of the Church, and the eternal monuments of your zeal, in your several parishes-in order that both Minister and people may enter together into the joy of their Lord.

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