posed to excessive and unseasonable communicativeness. This is in no respect inconsistent with any thing which has been already recommended. The most attractive affability is not only quite reconcileable with a delicate and wise reserve; but really requires it, and cannot be of the best character without it. There are many subjects on which a minister of the Gospel ought not to allow himself, in ordinary cases, to talk with freedom, if at all; and, of course, concerning which, when they are introduced, he ought generally to exercise a

strict reserve. Every wise man will see at once the reasons, and the importance of this counsel; especially in reference to one who bears so many interesting relations to those around him as a minister of religion He ought certainly to be affable. But if by this he should understand to be meant, that he ought to talk freely, at all times, to all classes of people, and on all subjects, which the idle, the meddling, the impertinent, or the malignant may choose to introduce, he would soon find to his cost that he had totally misapprehended the matter. Affability is good-is important; but in. cessant and indiscriminate talkativeness, will soon reduce in publick esteem, and entangle in real difficulties, the official man who allows himself to indulge it.

There are many points concerning which every man who wishes to hold a respectable

standing in society, ought to exercise habitual reserve; but concerning which it is peculiarly important that ministers do so. A complete catalogue of them cannot be given; but good sense and prudence will enable you, for the most part, to see what ought to be considered as belonging to the list. You can be at no loss, however, to decide, that-the private affairs of your neighbours ;-the characters, plans, and conduct of the absent ;-questions which implicate the principles and views of other religious denominations;-the conflicts of party politicians ;—your own private concerns;

-the petty scandal of the neighbourhood ;what others have communicated to you, in reference to delicate subjects, whether under the injunction of secresy 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 will exercise much reserve; you are wise you -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 publick 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 respectfully treated, ought to be denied al ́ogether. 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 publick. 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 characteristick 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 influence on social

comfort. This apparent caprice arises from various sources; sometimes from an actual defect of eye-sight; 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,