lambs of his flock. He smiled upon them and felt all the ennobling responsibilities of the good-Shepherd. By his ministrations they were to be fitted either for a useful life, or an early and happy death. Identified with the relation he sustained to his people, were all his anticipations of earthly happiness. Among his "own people" he was to dwell, and when, at last, his work was finished, he would be borne to his tomb by those whom his life-labors had blessed, and who would keep in grateful remembrance a faithful pastor's memory. O'sacred indeed was the pastoral relation. Holy were the ties which bound the pastor to his people.

It is sad to think of the change that is taking place. The sacredness of the relation is fast passing away, and with that disappears one of the attractions of the ministerial office. This relation among us was never a very permanent one. The first heralds of our cause were missionaries, from necessity. Their age demanded missionary labors. In later years, when the demand for such labors had somewhat abated, many of our preachers became missionaries from choice. They had acquired a habit of change. And at the present time, our denomination presents the appearance of a chess-board in the hands of unpractised players. Our ministers are the chess-men, constantly changing places, while but few of the many moves evince much sagacity, or are attended with advantage. The effect of these frequent changes is highly detrimental to the interests of the ministry. It is annihilating the sacredness of the pastoral relation. It is degrading it below the level of ordinary business relations. Some seem even now to regard the preacher as a mere hireling, preaching a given time, for a stipulated salary. When the time expires, and the salary is paid, then the relation ends; and the stipulations concerning time and salary seem to be regarded as the most important matters connected with the contract.

This aspect of the ministry is by no means attractive to such as desire a permanent home, or whose strong affections recoil at the prospect of such trials as are consequent upon the severance of the pastoral relation. Until this relation becomes more stable among us, and is invested with a greater degree of sacredness, we need not wonder

that so few are willing to undertake its labors and share its trials.

Another of the causes which operate against the increase of our ministry, we find in the characteristic feature of our times. This is a business age. Business engrosses the public mind. Its grand enterprises monopolize the attention of men. It is marshalling under its banner the intellect of our ́era. Its splendid prizes are luring men from all other spheres of life. When we consider the great power of such attractions, we shall cease to wonder that most of our young men yield to their influences. And when we turn to consider, on the other hand, the small pecuniary recompense bestowed upon ministerial faithfulness, we begin to wonder, not that so few of our young men are preparing for the ministry, but that any are able to resist the strong temptations of secular life. The award which our age bestows upon business talent and enterprise must necessarily engage the interest and excite desire on the part of those who are choosing their avocation in life. And while, in the ministerial profession, talent and enterprise are so poorly recompensed, what reason have we to expect that our young men will prefer its poverty above the more just recompense which business bestows? We hear much from certain quarters, I know, concerning the large salaries which some of our clergymen receive. No doubt many suppose that these brethren are amply recompensed for their labors. They forget that equal talent and energy devoted to any other profession, or to business, would earn thrice the amount they are receiving. How few of our most talented and energetic business men-men, however, in no respect superior, in point of ability, to some of our ablest clergymen-would be content, provided they were unable to add as much to their possessions as the entire salary which is paid to the ablest talent in our ministry! It is very evident that the pecuniary attractions are all on the side of business, and it need not surprise us that these should exert a controlling influence over the young men of the present age.

Religious indifference must be ranked among the causes we are now noticing. As this is a feature of our busy age, it would not be strange if, in certain localities, it VOL. X. 24

exerted an influence unfavorable to the increase of our ministry. Unless I greatly err, the zeal which characterized some of us in the earlier stages of our progress, has somewhat abated. The interest which we then felt in the distinctive truths of Universalism has in a degree declined. Our desire to have these truths disseminated, is not so great, I think, as it was in years gone by. The missionary spirit which once distinguished our ministry, for instance, is not as earnest as formerly. By a missionary spirit I mean, not a spirit of change, a spirit which annually moves the preacher from one society to another, but a spirit which seeks to establish the truth in the wasteplaces of Zion, which seeks to kindle the light wherever the night of error broods most drearily. The fathers in our ministry were animated by such a spirit, and beautifully and brilliantly on the hill-sides and in the vallies, in town and in city, burn the lights that were kindled by their zeal. Most of the present generation shrink from such trials as they endured. We rather prefer the sunny fields which they cleared. This is all very natural. Few men would purchase a farm in the centre of a wilderness if they could obtain one equally cheap, and of as good quality, already cleared and prepared for the plough; nor should the fact named be set down against our ministry without these facts to balance it on the opposite page, viz: first, that the land already cleared must be cultivated, or it will again become a dreary waste; and, second, that most of our preachers are needed at this labor. Still, the conviction remains, that if the zeal which animated the fathers were inherited by all their sons in the faith, many places which now lie waste and dreary would begin to rejoice and blossom like the rose.

But this abatement of zeal is not limited to the ministry; it extends through the denomination. In the estimation of some of our laity, Universalism seems to possess less interest and importance than it did a few years ago. I know that there are many exceptions to this. We were never blessed with more earnest or devout laymen than some which now adorn our churches. Nor was there ever a period in our history when the spirit of our religion was better illustrated by the life, than it is at the present moment by many belonging to our household of faith.

Nevertheless, it is true, that many of the laity of our denomination are less interested in their religion than they were fifteen or twenty years ago. Why is this? Is it because Universalism is insufficient to satisfy the mind for any great length of time? Is it lacking in that vital importance necessary to retain the permanent interest of the believer? I cannot so think. There is a system of abstract dogmas, I know, which is denominated Universalism

-a mere shell, from which the. seed has dropped-that cannot long interest the devout spirit. This should be distinguished from the living reality, whose name it bears, and indifference towards this should be accounted a favorable omen. Perhaps it was in this form that some among us received our Universalism. If so, we will not deplore the indifference with which it is now regarded, nor set it down as a sign of religious apathy. We will rather indulge the hope that those who have found the shell so unsatisfactory will seek more earnestly after the living germ. But whether the indifference to which we have referred is towards Universalism, or towards its counterfeit, one thing is certain,-it has operated adversely to the increase of our ministry. Instead of fostering the desire on the part of our young men to enter upon its labors, it nips such desire in the bud. It is too much to expect that our young men will be animated by an evangelizing spirit, while the interest felt in the truths of Universalism is declining.

This indifference is the parent of other evils prejudicial to the interest of the ministry. It sinks the importance of the ministerial office. This is its natural result; for men's interest in the instrumentalities of religion will be proportionate to that with which they regard religion itself. If one attaches but little importance to the doctrines of the great salvation, he will lightly esteem the ministry that was instituted for their proclamation. The ministerial. office will have but little significance or value, in his estimation. That low views respecting the importance of this office are beginning to prevail among us is sufficiently evident, I think. I judge less from what is said respecting the office, than from the respect which is shown it-from the attention which is given it. I have occasionally met with those who seemed to regard it more as an honored relic of the past, or as an ornamental institution of society, than

as an instrumentality adapted to the wants of the present age.

They respected it, as they would respect any obsolete custom which had once received the sanction of religion. They contributed to its support as they would have contributed to any other institution with which the interests of an agreeable and respectable class of men were identified. It is very evident that such views of the ministerial office are not calculated to render it attractive. Even good men will be influenced in the choice of a profession by the importance attached to it. No amount of outward respect would give them satisfaction in a useless profession. They aspire not to be drones in the social hive, nor for worlds would they be so regarded by the community. They want the assurance that their calling is a useful one, and that the world is being benefited by their labors.

The evil we have just considered is attended by another. Whoever holds the ministeral office in light esteem will not attach great importance to the labors of him who fills this office. With its importance, in the estimation of the public, sinks the value of the minister's labors. Outward expressions of respect may be given to the incumbent of the office, while but little real respect will be felt in the heart. Men will contribute to the aid of their minister, but from motives akin to those which would influence them to subscribe towards the support of a favorite pauper. And they will feel that the minister is under as great obligations to them for the aid they have rendered, as the pauper whom their charity has benefited. What must be the effect of such low views of the minister's services but to dissuade young men from entering upon so thankless a labor? It is time that such views of the ministerial office, and of the minister's labors, should be discarded, and our public be universally influenced by nobler and juster views.

I shall devote the remainder of this article to a consideration of the claims of the ministry upon the regard of the public. In other words, I shall aim to unfold the importance of the ministerial office, and to present in their true light the faithful preacher's labors. To the execution of this task we will, at once, proceed, after premising, that, for want of space, we shall be obliged to pass several