ment-day, he shall, with infinite complacency, smile and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"-O my brother in the Gospel, make it your diligent endeavour to " present yourself before God approved."

Suffer me to close with a few hints of general admonition.

1. Cultivate a veneration for the Scriptures, and take pains to become familiar with them. Revere your Bible as the Book of God; the light that will infallibly guide you; the bread that will strengthen you; the treasure that will enrich you. Read the Scriptures in their original language, with the eye of a critical inquirer;-but especially read them with the heart of a Christian, a believer; whose faith, whose hope, whose joy, whose very life, must be maintained by them. Daily and hourly study the Scriptures and be assured of this, your esteem of them will increase with your knowledge and experience. You may read the best of human compositions, till they become almost insipid; you tire, you want a change; but in the eternal word of the eternal God, there is a mine of instruction and consolation that is found more and more enriching and satisfying, as you dig deeper and deeper into it.

2. Next to the Scriptures, esteem the writings of those ministers whom God has been pleased to distinguish with the richest measure of his Spirit. As

Protestant Dissenters, we have reason to venerate the names of Owen, Howe, Goodwin, Charnock, Flavel, Baxter, and many others. God gave them a deep understanding in the Scriptures, made them shining ornaments in his church, and honoured them with great usefulness: they "being dead, yet speak." Emulate their holy zeal; and while you regard the Scriptures as the only standard of truth, it will afford you satisfaction to find your views of the Gospel sanctioned by the testimony of these great men of God.

S. Aspire after a close walk with God, and take great pains to maintain the divine life in your soul. Hence will be your best preparation for your work, and your pleasure in your work. Hereby you will find your soul refreshed from day to day. The ardour of your affection will be renewed, your faith in God confirmed; you will go forth amidst duties, and difficulties, and dangers, "in the strength of the Lord God," saying, "None of these things move me." When, coming forth from holy converse with God, you look upon precious souls, "lying in wickedness," you will feel in a measure as David felt, when he saw his lamb in the paws of the lion and the bear. You will spare no pains; you will be deterred by no danger; you will be prepared to make every sacrifice, if you might but rescue and feed the Fambs of Christ's flock.

4. Remember Jesus Christ, and set him always before you. Think how He would have acted in the si

tuation and circumstances in which you are placed. Oh what condescension and self-denial; what compassion and love; what zeal and devotedness to God; what spirituality of temper and holy indifference about the present life; what meekness under unjust censure, and grievous suffering; what love to enemies; what a careful redemption of time, and improvement of every opportunity of shewing himself the friend of mankind, appear in his character, in his life, and in his death! Oh! be solicitous to have, not barely the name, but the heart, of a follower of Jesus.

Finally. Be solicitous daily and deeply to feel the worth of precious souls committed to your charge; and labour to be found faithful: "We watch for souls, as those who must give account." O my son, my brother in the Christian ministry, the thought of this all-important trust, and of that bar of God before which we must appear, is enough to rouse our powers to action, and make us "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." "All souls are mine, saith the Lord," and they are precious in his sight. Do not let us estimate their value by the circumstances of depravity, deformity, and pollution, into which sin has brought them; and the outward forms of meanness, poverty, and wretchedness, in which they often appear; but let us look back to Calvary, and think at what a price Jesus ransomed them. Let us look forward to heaven and glory, and think what those ransomed

souls shall be! How like stars they shall shine and burn in the crown of their Redeemer for ever! O my brother in the Gospel, if your exertions should be honoured of God, as the means of rescuing one precious soul from nature's ruins, and raising it to that seat of honour and of bliss, would not you forget your labour, and your conflict too, in the joy of that vision?

But if you "forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;" if you say, “Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, shall not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his work?"-My heart's desire and prayer is, that you may obtain mercy of the Lord to be faithful!

A

CHARGE,

DELIVERED

AT THE ORDINATION

OF THE

REV. JAMES KNIGHT,

AT KINGSTON, SURREY,

NOV. 8, 1808.

I HAVE no other apology, Sir, to offer for my appearing a second time in this place, on a similar occasion, and in the same solemn department of the service, but that your particular request has placed me here. Here I stand, to speak to you of things This

great and interesting beyond comparison. I would do "in the name of the Lord Jesus," in the presence of his Majesty, and relying on the aid of his gracious influence.

You, my brother, have given up yourself to the work of the ministry. I trust, the Lord Jesus has himself appointed you to this service, and already given you your charge. Your fathers and brethren have applied" the outward and visible sign." It belongs to Him to impart "the inward grace." If you have ordination from "the Chief Shepherd,”