prayers in a sick chamber, that are pointless, tedious, general, inapplicable in the greater part of their structure, or loud and harsh in their manner. Many topics proper for social prayer, on other occasions, 1 ought to be left out here; and every tone should be adapted to the stillness and sympathy of a sick chamber.

In many cases it is desirable to converse with the sick alone. In this situation, they will sometimes be more free and confidential with you; and you will often feel at liberty to converse more faithfully and unreservedly with them. But every thing of this kind ought to be avoided in those cases in which you might be exposed to the charge of tampering with the mind of the patient, in reference to the disposition of his property, or with regard to any other worldly or deli

cate concern.

One of the most judicious and excellent clergymen that I ever knew, once informed me that he was accustomed to make a point of visiting the females of his congregation, as soon as propriety admitted, after the births of their children; and that he generally found them, on such occasions, in a state of greater tenderness of moral feeling, more ready to listen to serious remarks, and more deeply sensible of parental responsibility than usual.

Not only continue to visit the sick, as far as you may be able, during the whole course of their confinement; but if they recover, continue to visit them while convalescent, and afterwards. This may be the happy means of fastening on their minds serious impressions which might otherwise have vanished with their disease. If they die, visit their surviving relatives, with respectful attention, more than once after

ward. The occasion may prove a favourable one for promoting their spiritual interest.

13. Be very attentive in visiting families, which, by the loss of friends or property, or by any other dispensation of Providence, are in depressed circumstances. Such families are very apt to be neglected by their former acquaintances; and they are no less apt to be very sensitive to such neglect, and deeply wounded by it. Instead of diminishing the frequency of your visits to families in this situation, rather increase it. And be especially careful to improve the opportunity which visits in such cases afford to recommend religion. The minds of men are seldom more open to religious impressions, than when humbled and softened by calamity.

II. But besides visits which are strictly official in their character, and in which ministers ought to abound; they will often find it advantageous, and indeed necessary, to pay some which are merely social and friendly. Let these by no means be neglected. Their uses are more numerous and valuable than can be recited in a short compass. Yet in reference to them also, there are some cautions and counsels which are worthy of your notice.

1. And, in the first place, let even your shortest social visits be made with prayer. One of the most eminent private Christians I ever knew, I had good reason to believe, never went out to make the slightest call on a friend, without spending, at least a minute or two, in prayer for a blessing on the visit. And why is not this always proper? He who controls and directs all things may, for aught we know, make the most common visit, from which we expected no special

result, productive of rich and permanent blessings, either to ourselves or to others. And is it not worth while to ask for such a blessing? To do this, in all cases, will, I know, by some be accounted drudgery; but it will not be so regarded by the spiritual man.

2. Do not make your social visits so numerous as to interfere with those which are more important. Pastoral visits are, in general, far more useful, and ought to occupy a large portion of the time which a minister can spare from his other official avocations. It would be unhappy, therefore, to allow mere social calls to be so multiplied as materially to interfere with those of a more serious and valuable kind, and especially to shut them out altogether. Let the latter, then, be the main object of your attention; but, at the same time, embrace every opportunity which the occurrences of each day may afford, to "drop in" at the house of one and another of your parishioners, if it be only for five minutes, for the purpose of mutual salutations and friendly inquiries. Visits of this transient and unceremonious kind may often be paid, when there is no time for those of a more formal and extended character; and they are adapted in various ways to attach your people to your person, and to extend your influence among them. They will be apt to consider your pastoral visits as an official matter; but your social calls, as a more immediate expression of friendly feeling, and, therefore, in this respect, peculiarly gratifying. If you could possibly find time enough to pay one pastoral, and one social visit every year, to each family in your congregation, you would execute a plan approaching as nearly what appears to me desirable in this respect, as one minister

in a hundred is likely to accomplish. Where a congregation is large and scattered, even this is beyond the power of many ministers.

3. Do not make your social calls too frequent in particular families. Nothing is more common than for ministers to select a few families in their respective charges, the society of which they find peculiarly agreeable, and in which, on this account, they visit very frequently. They are seen, perhaps, going to those houses ten or a dozen times, where they go to others once. This is not, in common, judicious. For, although ministers, like other men, will have, and ought to be allowed to have, their particular friends; yet, to a certain extent, they ought to deny themselves the gratification of this feeling, for the sake of promoting their usefulness among all classes of those committed to their care. And this remark will apply the more strongly, if the particular friends in question happen to be among the most wealthy and polished of their congregation. It has an ill aspect, which no preference or explanation can fully remove, when ministers are found every week, or oftener, in the houses of such individuals, while, perhaps, for a year together, they are not found in the dwellings of many others equally worthy, and, perhaps, far more devoted to the cause of Christ. But there is another consideration worthy of notice here. By visiting very frequently in particular families, rely on it, you will not raise yourself in the estimation even of those families themselves, but rather the reverse. There is such a thing as rendering your visits cheap by too frequent repetition. However they may love your company, they will venerate you the more, as a

gospel minister, for seeing you withdrawing your attention, in part, from themselves, to bestow it on others, especially on the poor, the afflicted, and the friendless. Besides, when a clergyman is seen lounging about almost daily, in particular families, it cannot fail of being considered as ominous of neglect in his study, as well as in other departments of official duty. Indeed, I hold it disreputable for a clergyman, at any time, and in any families, to be in the habit of making long and lounging visits. They exhibit him as an idle man; a miserable character for one who has been set to "watch for souls as he who must give an account.'

4. While you indulge, in a moderate and well-regulated manner, the feelings and habits of private friendship among the people of your charge, let it be manifest that, even in your social visits, you are quite as able to find the hovel of the poorest and meanest, as the mansion of the most wealthy. And if you make a social call at the latter more frequently than at the former, let it be seen that your object is, not to solicit favours for yourself, but to obtain aid for the indigent, the sick, and the forsaken. It has an ill aspect, indeed, when a minister of the gospel is found begging for his own emolument, or even indirectly endeavouring to attract presents to himself; but it is an honour rather than a discredit to him, when he often appears as a beggar for others; as the advocate of the poor, the almoner of the widow and the orphan.

5. The length of your visits is a point well worthy of notice. It may be readily granted, indeed, that in reference to this point no rules either absolute or universal can be laid down. Long and short are