whether public or social;-upon the due and conscientious maintenance of his authority, as the guide and overseer of the church;-upon their cheerful contributions for his support, while relinquishing on their behalf all worldly honours and emolument:but upon these topics I forbear to enlarge. You will not lightly withdraw from him the attachment with which he has been hitherto received amongst you. You will not leave him to lament, that, after all his studies, and anxieties, and prayers, he finds your places vacant, and himself deserted, when he comes forth from the secrecy of his chamber to address to you in the sanctuary the message of his Lord. You will strive together with him, both in the administration of divine ordinances and the preservation of necessary discipline. It will be your endeavour to requite him, not only by the payment of those just and well-merited supplies of pecuniary aid which the meanest sense of duty would forbid you to withhold, but by those kind and delicate attentions, those spontaneous offerings of an overflowing and an unsolicited beneficence,—and that readiness to meet every exigence, and to provide against every apprehension,-which shall testify, far more directly than any form of language, that the man who has now consecrated to you his very all shall never lack those succours which you are able to return. I would only exhort you, to remember the feelings, and the transactions, and the plighted vows, of this most solemn day;-and that shall suffice to determine all your future conduct. Under this influence, you will seek to recompense his so

licitude for you with equal ardour and constancy of friendship;-you will treat him with candour and confidence,-confess the deepest interest in his concerns,-manifest the most considerate regard for all his habits, sentiments, and feelings,-submit to his direction as to the law of Christ, and become the champions of his honour, and the generous defenders of his reputation, whether publicly or covertly assaulted. He will find in you the auxiliaries of his labour, the partakers of his hope,—his companions in solitude, his stay in trouble,—the highest recompense of all his toils and sorrows,—and the very joy and crown of his rejoicing. It will be your delight to animate his spirit, by presenting before him every evidence of his success; your equal study, to relieve him from all unnecessary fear: you will need no exhortation to labour with and for him both in the family and in the church. He will be honoured by your deference, soothed by your sympathy, encouraged by your kindness, and daily remembered in your prayers. You will love him for his affection,-imitate him for his piety, -deal gently with his infirmities, as they are but the counterpart of your own,-and obey him for his office, which, as it rests upon the appointment of the Saviour, is at once designed for your salvation, and confirmed this day by your unbiassed and decisive suffrage. The charge he has thus received is the first in the fulfilment of his ministry; and I

pray God it may be the last. May he spend amongst

you many happy years of usefulness and honour,pouring forth upon you the ardour of his youthful

emotions. In your society may he experience, at a far distant day, amidst the decays of nature and the maturity of personal holiness and ministerial success, the tranquillity of an honourable and happy old age! May he live and die amongst you;-and, having conducted you in safety through all the dangers of this mortal pilgrimage, may he ascend together with you to the mansions of eternal repose!

MINISTERIAL ASSOCIATIONS.

THE DESIRABLENESS AND THE MEANS

OF

SPIRITUAL EXCITEMENT IN THE CHURCHES.

A DISCOURSE

PREACHED IN

GREAT GEORGE Street CHAPEL, LIVERPOOL,

FEBRUARY 4th, 1835,

AT THE SECOND SPECIAL MEETING OF THE MINISTERS OF LANCASHIRE AND THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTIES, FOR RELIGIOUS CONFERENCE, AND UNITED PRAYER FOR THE MORE ABUNDANT IMPARTATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.