a part of his time, to some secular employment, which might supply the deficiency of an inadequate salary, and enable him to remain where he otherwise could not live, among a willing but poor people. Stay with such a people as long as God, in his Providence, renders it practicable; be willing to deny and exert yourself for their benefit; and let your removal from them to accept of a better support, be your last resort.

14. If you should ever be compelled to resort to any secular employment, for the purpose of supplying the deficiency of a small salary, let it be an employment as much as possible in harmony with the ministerial character. There have been clergymen, who, finding their salaries altogether inadequate to the decent support of their families, even in the most economical manner, and resolving to devote a part of their time to some employment, the product of which should supply the deficiency in their official income, have made a choice of employment truly unhappy. Some have been either acting or dormant partners in distilleries. Others have engaged in large mercantile business. A third class, in manufactories. And a fourth in speculating on notes, bonds, or some other species of property. And the history of these pursuits has generally been, that, while a few have succeeded, grown rich, and become completely secularized; the majority have been deceived, ensnared, and plunged into bankruptcy, and perhaps a total wreck of Christian and ministerial character. Of the whole number who take this course, I suspect, a very small portion, indeed, attained their professed object with comfort and reputation.

Against all such plans and employments, therefore, I would warn you. If your object should honestly be, what is commonly, in such cases, professed, viz., not by any means to grow rich; but merely to make such a moderate addition to your scanty income, as may enable you barely to support your family with comfort; then choose, as an auxiliary, some employment, which will interfere as little as possible with your ministry; which will tend as little as may be to impart a worldly influence to your mind; and which may coincide, in a considerable degree, with your ministerial duties. Such an employment is the education of youth. Such an employment, also, is the editing and sale of pious books. These objects of attention are so far from being hostile to moral and even evangelical duty, that they fall in with it entirely, and may be rendered essentially subservient to the great end of all ministerial labour. They have, also, this further advantage, that the gains which they yield are commonly small and regular, and are, of course, not so apt to betray the mind into a deeply secular spirit. Next to the employments which I have mentioned, perhaps that of conducting a small and compact farm may fall in more happily than most others with the duty of the sacred office.

15. If you should be enabled to lay up any portion of property, for the comfort of your family, never allow it to engross your thoughts, or to be the frequent subject of your conversation in company. He who has commenced, on ever so small a scale, the work of accumulating property, and who has occasion, from time to time, to invest his savings in some productive manner, is often tempted to converse on the subject

with undue frequency and solicitude, when he falls in company with those who are considered as well versed in financial concerns. And in a country of active commercial character, he will meet with such company so frequently, that he will be tempted almost every day to converse on the subject. Thus his own

mind will be apt to become more and more occupied and ensnared with secular concerns, and he will betray the unhappy fact to those around him, to the dishonour of his holy vocation.

Do not allow yourself, then, in company, to talk. frequently or freely on the price of stocks-the rise, fall, and prospects of moneyed institutions-the most popular and eligible investments, &c., &c. If any thing on these subjects worthy of notice be uttered in your presence, you may quietly listen to it, without entering deeply into the conversation as a matter of personal interest. If you need information to enable you to act, seek it privately from those who are most competent to inform you, and most worthy of your confidence. But do not exhibit yourself as the zealous devotee of such things. Few habits, not openly criminal, are more revolting, than to hear a minister of the gospel, in mixed companies, talking like a bank director or stockjobber. It ought to be one of the great objects of his life to turn off the minds of men from inordinate attention to these transient possessions, and to endeavour to fasten them on higher and better treasures.

16. If you should possess any property, guard against investing it in such a manner as will be likely to implicate you in frequent litigation, and compel you frequently to resort to legal coercion. This is

highly undesirable to any man; but to a minister of the gospel, it is absolutely ruinous on the score of reputation. It is the practice of many to invest their property in notes, in bonds, and mortgages, and in various forms of private security. This plan may answer very well for him whose disposition and character permit him frequently to contend, and to resort to legal measures; but it is by no means suitable to one who can hardly take the proper steps, in the plainest case, to obtain his just due, without subjecting himself to invidious remark, and from no quarter more commonly or severely than from those worldly men, who are themselves, every day, plunged and steeped in such proceedings. Men in other stations, of the best character, may sue their debtors, may foreclose mortgages, and get what is rightly their own, without injury to their reputation. But a clergyman cannot. He is expected to bear with endless delays; to forgive debts, where it is not entirely convenient to pay them; and to surrender claims where the richest man in the land would not be expected to do it. On all these accounts, and others which might be mentioned, be not fond of investing property in any kind of private securities, unless they are of a peculiarly firm and eligible kind. Public stocks, of the most secure character, are greatly preferable; because the interest on them is paid the moment it is due, without dunning or trouble; because they may be turned into cash at any hour; and because neither holding nor selling them is likely to drag their owner before the public view in a commercial attitude. For the same reason, be not fond of investing property in small tenements, the renting of which will be apt to

bring you in constant collision with tenants, who more than half the time will be unable or unwilling to pay you your rent. Such property you will always find to give you much trouble, and yield you little profit. Whereas the true policy of every minister of the gospel is, to place all his property as far as practicable, in such a situation as will give him the least possible trouble, or even care, occupy as little as may be of his time, and render his moderate profits regular and certain.

17. Finally, guard with the utmost vigilance against the encroachments of a grasping, mercenary spirit. That a minister should desire to be furnished with a decent and comfortable support for his beloved family; that he should even be desirous, if it be the will of God, to leave something behind him to preserve a widow and children from utter beggary, every man who has a family, and domestic feelings, will think both natural and reasonable. But the moment one who occupies the sacred office goes beyond this moderate and reasonable wish; the moment a strong and governing desire of accumulating property takes possession of his mind, he may bid adieu to all steady ministerial zeal, to all exemplary devotedness to his Master's work. Preach with orthodoxy, and some degree of animation, he may; visit his parishioners, to a certain extent, he may; but a devoted labourer in the vineyard; a labourer who has one great object in view,the extension and glory of his Master's kingdom, and who makes all his pursuits subservient to that object, he will not be. Few things, rely upon it, are more hostile to the spirit of piety, and of ministerial fidelity, than a spirit of worldly acquisition. It is just as