to every body, especially to females, and, above all, to unprotected females of decent appearance and character. But do not allow them, in ordinary cases, to identify themselves with you; to consider you as their humble servant; and to expect you to regulate your motions by their convenience. Perhaps no class of men have so much reason to be on their guard against this species of imposition as ministers of the gospel.

18. In travelling, guard against giving unnecessary trouble, and making unnecessary complaints. I have often observed clergymen and theological students to act indiscreetly in this respect. They have given so much trouble, and addressed themselves so offensively to stage-drivers, boatmen, innkeepers, and servants at public houses, as really to be regarded, after a while, as a nuisance wherever they appeared. Guard against this mistake. Speak to persons in such humble stations mildly but respectfully. Be sparing in your demands on their time and services; and when they are civil to you, manifest a thankful spirit. Be not ready to complain when your accommodations are not such as could be wished, and even when they are shamefully bad. What good will your complaints do? You are always completely in the power of those persons in whose vehicles you travel, or in whose houses you put up; and, in most cases, loud complaints will only make the matter worse. Besides, ministers ought to exhibit, every where, a patient spirit, and contentment with such things as they may chance to have. Be easily satisfied, backward to complain, and respectful to every body; and the impression made on the minds

of all you fall in with, will operate more strongly in your favour than you can easily imagine.

19. Whenever you travel out of your own immediate neighbourhood, be careful to seek and treasure up all the information which you may have an opportunity of gaining. It is wonderful to observe under what a lethargy of mind many intelligent men labour, as to this point, in their most interesting excursions. They travel, perhaps, hundreds of miles through the finest regions of country, without making a single inquiry, or treasuring up a single fact, adapted to solid use afterwards.

This is a fault, really as criminal as it is disreputable. I advise you to consider every journey that you take as "a price put into your hands for getting wisdom." Try to return from every excursion laden with knowledge, concerning the agricultural, the commercial, and the manufacturing state of the districts through which you pass; their various internal improvements, their literary, moral, and religious condition; the numbers, prospects, wants, &c., of the different ecclesiastical denominations; and particularly any institutions or practices which may be worthy of imitation. In travelling, always keep a diary. If it be as minute in recording what you see, as well as what you do, and as rich as it ought to be, it may be to you a document of great value as long as you live.

20. Learn the happy art of turning every thing into the channel of religion, and making every thing subservient to it. You remember that Dr. Johnson, in his life of Dr. Watts, remarks, that "whatever he took in his hand, was, by his incessant solicitude for souls, converted to theology." This is, indeed, exalted

praise for a minister of the gospel. May you be enabled to merit the same eulogium! If you should live to be invested with the sacred office, never, for a moment, lose sight of that office nor the duties which it infers. Let all your reading, conversation, plans, journeys and recreations, point directly to the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom, and the temporal and eternal welfare of men, as their grand centre. Whatever others may do, consider yourself as a man consecrated to the great work of doing good, to your latest breath. To this let every pursuit and acquirement be subservient; to this make every thing bend. Wherever you sojourn or reside, be ever on the watch for opportunities of promoting the moral and spiritual benefit of yourself and others. Recollect that you have but one object to pursue, the extending and building up that "kingdom which is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Let the last words, emphatically repeated, of the old English prelate, - PRO ECCLESIA DEI - PRO ECCLESIA DEI-be visibly inscribed upon every thing you possess and do. This is the real art of "turning every thing to gold," in the best sense; the art of being, in the highest degree that this world admits, useful and happy.

And now, my dear young friend, I must bring to a close this collection of counsels; which I fear my desire to omit nothing important has led me too much to extend. A wish, also, that nothing might escape your notice, has led me to present the same thought more than once in different connections. For this I make no apology. The truth is, there is so intimate a relation between different parts of truth and duty;

they so run into one another, that occasional repetition is unavoidable. Nor is it, for various reasons, undesirable. The impression is thereby reiterated, and perhaps deepened.

In reviewing the various details to which your attention has been called, I trust you will often be ready to exclaim"Who is sufficient for these things?" Who can hope, in the diversified situations and duties of a minister of the gospel, in public and private, to avoid the numberless faults to which he is exposed on every side, and to exhibit in regard to all the points which have been specified, a blameless example?-I answer, truly no one who is not favoured with that divine wisdom and aid, which are promised to those who unceasingly ask for them. The sentiments, therefore, which I should wish to see reigning in your mind in reference to this whole subject, are those which recognize your own weakness, the number and power of the temptations which surround you; the extreme arduousness of the task of doing well; your need of continual help; and the obligation which you are under to "watch and pray," that you may be enabled, in any tolerable degree, to observe the rules enjoined.

But, while I wish these sentiments to be deeply impressed on your mind, I am, at the same time, persuaded that the substance of all that I have recommended may be considered, with that divine aid which is promised to all who faithfully seek it, as fairly within the reach of every candidate for the holy ministry, who has decent talents, and genuine piety. Do not, therefore, by any means imagine, that the manners and habits which I have described, are such

as very few, and those only who have special endowments and advantages, can attain. There is not a student in our Institution who might not make the attainment, if he had the piety and the perseverance to use the proper means for the purpose. In this opinion, I am happy in being fortified by the venerable President of our Board of Directors,* with whose declaration, delivered to a body of your predecessors in the seminary, I shall take my leave of you.

"In this matter we are under no necessity of contemplating an impossibility.—I maintain that there is a point in good manners, which every theological student, without exception, may and ought to reach; and which whoever reaches, will be acceptable and agreeable to persons of every rank and condition in life. The attainment requires little more in order to make it, than the meekness, and gentleness, and benevolence, and courtesy, which the gospel itself explicitly recommends and enjoins; and a failure in which must, of course, be reckoned a real defect in Christian character. The man who has reached the point I have in view, is as free from all that boorish roughness, all that reserved haughtiness or sullenness, all that clownish rudeness, and all those disgusting habits and actions, which are so generally and justly offensive, as the courtier himself. This man is neither forward nor sheepishly bashful; he is selfpossessed, but modest and retiring; he is kind and civil; he is social and pleasant; he is desirous to please, and willing to be pleased; he is respectful to age and station; he is never intrusive or officious; he is on all occasions accommodating and ready to do

*Rev. Dr. Green.