concerns; the petty scandal of the neighbourhood; what others have communicated to you, in reference to delicate subjects, whether under the injunction of secrecy or not; your opinions concerning the passing events and persons of the day, unless in very clear and special cases; on all these and similar subjects, if you are wise you will exercise much reserve; nay you will seldom allow yourself to converse at all, even when all around you are chattering about them. You can seldom do any good by talking on such subjects. "Let the dead bury their dead." Your time and breath ought to be devoted to the discussion of subjects by which you will be likely to benefit yourself and others, and by which you will not be liable to be implicated in any difficulty hereafter.

It is the part of wisdom also to exercise much reserve as to the article of giving advice. It is not uncommon for your sanguine, precipitate men to give advice, even unasked; and to give it on all occasions, freely, when only slightly or indirectly solicited, and when, perhaps, they have a very imperfect, and altogether ex-parte knowledge of facts. This is never discreet. A truly benevolent man ought not to be, and will not be unwilling to incur the responsibility of giving advice, when he sees his way clear to do so, and when there is a probability of good being done by it. But to incur this responsibility, needlessly, with small information on the subject, and when there is but little hope of doing good, is both weak and rash. Many a man in a public station has greatly impaired his influence by a few instances of such indiscretion. In very many cases solicitations for advice, while they are kindly received, and re

spectfully treated, ought to be denied altogether. In many other cases, all that ought to be done is to state the pros and cons in the most impartial and luminous manner that we can, and having done so, to leave the individual to select his own course of conduct.

But it is not enough that a minister himself exercise this prudent reserve, both in private and public. If he have a family, it will be necessary to inculcate upon every member of it, as far as possible, the exercise of the same caution. My opinion is, that the wives and children of ministers ought seldom to allow themselves to speak of the opinions, plans and movements of their husbands or fathers. In a great majority of cases, perhaps, this may be done without the least ill consequence; but when they least apprehend evil from such communications, it may be most seriously the result. Nor can it ever be certainly known when such evil may arise. It is obvious, therefore, that, in this matter, reserve ought to be unceasing and vigilant.

6. Uniformity. The importance of this characteristic of clerical manners is much greater than would, at first view, appear. Few things have a more unfriendly influence on our acceptance in social intercourse than the opposite of what I now recommend. To be at one time pointedly respectful and affable, and, at another, to the same individual, so cold and ungracious as to surprise and repel; to treat an acquaintance to-day with a degree of attention and kindness bordering on excess, and little short of fawning; and to-morrow scarcely to recognize him at all, or to pass him with the most frigid indifference, is a style of deportment, which, though sometimes

seen in excellent men, is always unhappy, and often in no small degree mischievous in its influences on social comfort. This apparent caprice arises from various sources; sometimes from an actual defect of eyesight; at others from strange and fitful anomalies of memory, of which I have known many examples; perhaps still more frequently from those revolutions in feeling, which are occasioned by a nervous system liable to the alternate extremes of elevation and depression; from occasional fits of absence of mind; and, possibly now and then, from an affectation of eccentricity, which, however unworthy of a man of sense and piety, has actually been manifested by those who claimed to possess both.

Now, though several of these sources of apparently capricious manners may not at all times admit of a perfect remedy; yet more than one of them may be counteracted with entire success; and with respect to all of them much may be done to diminish their influence. The great secret of correction lies in one word attention. Try to learn the happy art of attending to each case as it arises, as being always of more or less importance, if not for its own sake, at least in reference to the formation of a suitable habit; and I have no doubt you will soon be surprised to perceive the degree of success that has attended your efforts.

But there is one method of obviating, to a certain extent, the evil under consideration, which, perhaps, may not so readily occur to every one, and especially not to every young man. I refer to that important point in the manners of all public men, viz. the wisdom of not being "over civil," or excessive in your

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polite attentions to any one. ters, as well as others, who have been really lavish in their civilities to a few individuals among their friends and neighbours, so much so as to attract particular notice; while others, equally, or perhaps more worthy, but less conspicuous, they have scarcely treated with common decorum. Their coldness to the latter, would not have been so observable, had it not contrasted with their extreme civility to the former. Diversities of this kind ought to be as much as possible avoided; and the correction ought to be applied to both extremes. It is never wise for a minister to be so excessively intimate, so inordinately friendly with any particular individual, or individuals, among his people, as to become a subject of remark, or to embarrass him in his intercourse with others. Ne quid nimis is an invaluable maxim, in its application to clerical intimacies and civilities, as well as to a thousand other things. Those which are carried to excess, seldom last long, or end well. The most truly judicious and generally acceptable public men I have ever known, were remarkable for not being extremely civil to any, even to those whom they were known most highly to value; but for that moderate, yet vigilant attention to all, which was by no means inconsistent with special friendships, but which indicated a desire to be truly useful to all classes of persons.

I hope you will not be disposed to say, that the foregoing counsels are adapted to form that cold, selfish, and calculating style of manners, which ought to be avoided, rather than cultivated. If it be so, I am egregiously deceived. Let me entreat you to go over every item again carefully, and see whether

wisdom, prudence, and the word of God do not sanction them all. The idea that the manners of any one ought to be left to take care of themselves, is a miserable delusion. As long as we are bound, every hour, to "consider our ways," and, "whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, to do all to the glory of God," it will be incumbent upon persons, of all ages and stations, to endeavour in all things, even the minutest, to "order their conversation aright." But for a minister of the gospel, who stands continually as a "watchman," and a "defender," on "the walls of Zion;" and who is acting every hour, not only for himself, but also for the church of God; — for him to doubt whether habitual care as to every word, and look, and action, is incumbent on him, is indeed strangely to misapprehend his obligations.

If you ask me, where you shall find a model of such clerical manners as I have endeavoured to describe, I answer, No where, in all its parts, in absolute perfection. This, however, is no more a reason why an attempt should not be made to portray and recommend such manners, than our inability to find a perfect pattern of the Christian temper, in any mere man, is a reason why that temper should never be described or inculcated. But I have been so happy as to meet with a few examples of manners nearly approximating to those which are recommended in this letter. One of the most venerable and excellent clergymen in the United States has remarked, that he thought some of the more polished and pious of the ministers belonging to the Moravians, or United Brethren, furnished specimens of manners as worthy of imitation as any he had ever