Still less do you think of "Apostolical wont to disparage what they did not Succession," except as that succession possess and could not appreciate, that is exemplified in apostolic piety and "if God hath no need of our learning, usefulness-the only apostolical suc- he hath still less of our ignorance," cession of importance to you. there is a despicable cant in vogue with another class about the so-called, but often mis-called, "intellectual," of which they are not always competent to judge, which not unfrequently makes the "intellectual" to consist of a something which, to them, appears very finesplendid, they say-but of which they can neither retain a vestige nor offer an intelligent explanation afterwards. Such "intellectual," or any the remotest semblance of it, be far from us. We will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power, the effect; accounting that preaching, however plain, (and Lord Kames says that "clearness of expression and simplicity of thought are the first marks of elegance ;" and Milton observes that "nothing accords with true genius but what is easy and natural,") the best which best answers the end of preaching, in securing the abiding persuasion of the heart, not less than the information and conviction of the judgment. For what purpose has it been given? In other words, "for what intent have ye sent for me?" Is it to gratify novelty? No "new light," we affect not to be either singular or original. Our course is defined. He who hath forbidden to "add to or take from " hath so stereotyped it. Yet are there infinite diversity and scope. Nor have we, if we know ourselves, any, the least bias in another direction. No; we are perfectly satisfied with "the good old way," the unvariable "word of the truth of the Gospel," the faith for all times, whatever the revolutions they unfold. And we venture to add that "no man, having drunk old wine, straightway desireth new; for he saith," (and, we vouch for it, he is under no mistake in saying,) "the old is better." "For what intent have ye sent for me?" Is it to display the intellectual? Mindful of the cutting but deserved sarcasm of South to a class of persons have been much as we find them; and "For what intent have ye sent for me?" Is it to succumb to the evil the same may be said in the main of all propensions of our fallen nature? That who become eminent. We have no wish to see them extinct, we have no wish to utter one really disparaging word concerning them; we only wish that, like all wellconducted persons, they should be made to know their own place. It is for this cause that we cannot allow it to be said, that these institutions have done for their great men the things which all great men do for themselves, nor must we be expected to concede that refinement and learning are confined to college walls, or that men in the habit of touching those walls do necessarily contract their qualities."-DR. VAUGHAN. were to ruin both you and ourselves. There were, however, some of old who pleaded, "Prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." But, says the prophet, "Woe to them that sew pillows under all arm holes, saying, Peace, Peace, when there is no peace." Our undisguised object-God Almighty succeed us in it !-is, in love, to wound, that we may heal; to pull down, that we may build up; "by manifestation of the truth, diminishing not a word, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, that they may be saved." It is recorded of President Edwards, that "one of the most impressive features of his moral and religious character was the paramount regard for duty which controlled all his actions. When his mind was once made up to the course he should pursue, he was distinguished by a stern fixedness of purpose, an indomitable resolve, which no consideration of interest, no strength of prejudices, no allurements of ease, no impulse of pas sion, could penetrate or soften. All these fell around him light as snowflakes on granite, and produced about as much effect." What a contrast to poor Erasmus, and others likeminded, who, before he could speak out, had to calculate the probable consequences; and when calculated, not unfrequently kept back the truth, from motives of temporizing expediency! How different to the Apostle Paul, who "conferred not with flesh and blood!" "The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord ?" "The wheat he will gather into his garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.” "For what intent have ye sent for me?" Is it to perpetuate the present state of things? Is there no room for improvement-no land to be possessed? We now refer, specifically, to the incommodious place in which we are assembled. In a populous district like this, with a teeming congregation, and between two and three hundred Sabbath-school children to accommodate for worship; more especially in a church founded by Smallwood, visited by Hey wood, supplied by Lister, and presided over by the revered Vint and the lamented Stringer, and concerning which and its locality the late Dr. Hamilton, of ever-blessed memory, said, that "the annals of Evangelical Trinitarian Nonconformity in Yorkshire could never be justly and accurately written without the honourable insertion of an Idle, and the distinguished record of a Vint;" in such a place, with such an historical, perpetuity were alike discreditable to the dead and the living. We fondly cherish the hope, therefore, that at no distant period the voice of enterprising piety will accord with the indication of providence, saying, "The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build."* "For what intent have ye sent for me?" Is it but we will not further ply the interrogation. Your own respected call shall answer: "To take the oversight of you in the Lord;" then you will "obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account." "To feed you with knowledge and understanding;" then you will "open your mouths wide, that they may be filled." "To warn every man, and to teach every man, that you may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus ;" then you will be tractable and docile, not “counting us an enemy because we tell you the truth," but "suffering the word of * Every sitting being let, and having applications for more, the people, to their honour be it spoken, have since erected! not only a new school-room, capable of accommodating 300 children, but a neat architecture, to seat 900, with a probability and elegant chapel, in the modern style of of all debt being liquidated at the opening, in the course of a few months. exhortation," remembering that it is written, "The meek will he guide in judgment, the meek will he teach his way; he will beautify the meek with salvation." "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." II. The acceptance.-It is one of infinite moment-aid us by your prayers; of unutterable responsibility-cheer us with your sympathy; of arduous and anxious difficulty-encourage us by your co-operation. It is one of infinite moment-aid us by your prayers. It has been remarked that the office of a lawyer is important, because it watches over our property; and the office of a physician much more 80, because it guards our health; for "the life is more than meat, and the body than raiment." But the business of a minister transcends all comparison, pertaining, as it does, not merely to time, but eternity; not only to the perishable, but imperishable part of our nature: "The soul, which must for ever live In rapture or in woe." Some may they not be few!--will thank God for the hour they first heard the minister; and his acceptance will be to them, in death and through eternity, a source of the greatest joy. But others-who will it be?-will curse the day he ever came among them; for, memory and conscience fearfully waked up-(there are no bad memories, no sleepy consciences in perdition !)-the recollection of sermons heard and applauded too, but only heard and applauded, will add pungency to the sting of "the worm that dieth not," and burning, keener, fiercer burning, to the "fire that shall never be quenched." Our ministry cannot be inoperative or ineffectual; the one or the other of these results must ensue, inevitably. "And who," we repeat, "is sufficient for these things?" If Paul was not, are we? "Brethren, pray for us!" It is one of unutterable responsibility -cheer us with your sympathy. Are we stewards? The heaviest curse awaits the unfaithful! Are we labourers? The direst calamity is threatened to the slothful! Are we watchmen? Dare we sleep ourselves, or not warn slumberers of their peril, their blood will be required at our hands! Are we shepherds? "Woe be to the shepherds of Israel, that do feed themselves; should not the shepherds feed the flocks?" Are we ambassadors? How much depends upon the mode in which we proclaim the amnesty! We are not, indeed, amenable for success; for the dutiful physician receives his fees as well when the patient dies, as when he lives: so, "if Israel be not gathered," themselves being to blame, not us, "yet shall we be glorified." But we are answerable for motives, gifts, influences, opportunities, advantages, examples; for all that in these and in a thousand other respects we do and say. And enough, surely, of responsibility is now indicated, at once to incite your sympathy and bespeak your forbearance. Ah! well might Luther, magnanimous as he was, say, "I never think of going up into the pulpit without trembling." And well might an aged minister say to a young one, who talked rather vauntingly of a "larger sphere," "Let me assure you, on the testimony of an old man, that when you come to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, you will find you have had a congregation large enough." How many will shrivel up in that day, when the fearful, solemn demand is made, "Give an account of thy stewardship!" May we not be of the number! Oh! indulge us with your sympathy! and exposed, as we are, to innumerable temptations; subject, in common with others, to all the ills to which flesh is heir, and with which life abounds; with two salvations to work out with fear and trembling-the salvation of our own souls, and the salvation from blood-guiltiness of lost spirits-who is weak, and we are not weak? who is offended, and we burn not? who has much to do, and we have not much to do? who is solicitous, and we are not solicitous ? Brethren! we need, we crave, we claim, we demand your cooperation. Members of the Congregation! Long or short as may be our ministry in this the position we now occupy, standing in this pulpit, unlike the one we have left, vacated twice in succession by death; that tablet over those dear remains,* and yonder tomb, containing It is one of arduous and anxious difficulty-encourage us by your cooperation. For what is to be done? rather, what is not to be done? The dead are to be brought to life, the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the slave manumitted, the enemy reconciled, the diseased cured, the careless concerned, the ignorant enlightened, the backslider reclaimed, the inquirer directed, the sceptical convinced, the wavering confirmed, the sorrowful consoled, the desponding encouraged, the scoffer silenced, the formalist renewed, the hypocrite unmasked, the self-place-and, if we know ourselves, we righteous undeceived, the sinner re- are no changeling; if the Lord will, it generated, the saint matured: and is in our heart to live and die with you what varied appliances !-" making a difference;" what skilfulness of application!" dividing the word;" what insight into character!-" separating the precious from the vile;" what gentleness, compassion, and affection! -"speaking the truth in love," "and now tell you even weeping;" what unshaken and uncompromising fidelity! -"not shunning to declare the whole counsel of God, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear;" in fine, what wisdom, knowledge, adaptation, watchfulness, diligence, patience, perseverance, spirituality, faith, prayer, devotedness, are requisite to all this! And with a nature in which there dwells "no good thing;" with "a heart deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;" with a mind carnal, "enmity against God, not subject to his law, neither indeed can be;" with the machinations of a deceiver of nearly six thousand years' practice; with a world full of destructive influences; * On the wall of the chapel; the following is the inscription: "In memory of the Rev. William Vint, forty-four years Pastor of the Church and Congregation assembling in this place; President of Airedale College, from its commencement in 1800 until the time of his decease. Born, November 1, 1768; Died, March 13, 1834. "Beloved and honoured servant of the Long shall friendship haunt thy grave, "Erected by Ministers educated in the Institution while at Idle, as a feeble testitheir admiration of his piety and talents, mony of their esteem for his character, and their gratitude for his paternal and unvarying solicitude for their weliare." that precious man,* with this sacred desk, peculiarly affects us. How many ministers of distinguished ability and usefulness have, of late, been called hence ! Chalmers, Ely, Hamilton, Payne, Russell, and others, are gone! "Our fathers, where are they? The prophets, do they live for ever?" "And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was death." Full speed he rides after us! Shortly he will overtake us! Lo! he is now coming up! Is he not within sight? Already we hear the noise of his steed, the thunder of his wings! By-and-by, and his eye of fire will throw mortal fainting on all our assemblies; his pro * Mr. Vint's successor, and his son-inlaw. The following is engraven upon a beautiful marble tablet, to hang beside the other in the new chapel: digious form will to us blot out the sun, "In memory of the Rev. Joseph Stringer, eighteen years minister of this place. As a man, he was in the highest degree gentlemanly, courteous, and kind; as a friend, unwavering and sincere; as a Christian, retiring and unostentatious; as a pastor, honoured and beloved; as a preacher, evangelic, faithful, and earnest; as a scholar, of more than common attainments; as a Bible-class teacher, apt and easy of access; as Secretary to the Home Missionary Society of the Bradford District, and of Airedale College, punctual and devoted. He was eminently distin-glare, and versatility of occasional miguished for uprightness of principle, integrity of motive, amiableness of temper, charitableness of disposition, benevolence of action, and exemplariness of life. Members of the Church! Supplies are now ended, and, agreeably to your own suffrages, the stated ministry succeeds. Possibly, amid the novelty, and nistration, you may have acquired a state of mind not altogether favourable to the more fixed and uniform ministrations of the pastorate. If so, it be 'Of this blest man let this just praise be hoves you now calmly to settle down, given, and sober yourselves. Religious dissiHeaven was in him before he went to pation, of all other spiritual evils, is heaven. Born, March, 1801; Died, December 20, 1847. This tablet was erected by his bereaved Church and Congregation, as a token of their affectionate esteem and love." |