earnest ministry of Christian truth involves; for you already know them from your own experience. I will not describe the joys which flow from the consciousness of successful endeavor, and the hope that the work of our hands is useful to man, and acceptable to God; for these also have been your solace and your 'exceeding great reward.' I will not promise that we can aid you, when your path is difficult and your feet weary; for I am sure that you will ever seek a higher support in the strength of your own spirit and in communion with God. You need not the poor words of human encouragement to cheer you on your onward way; for if God be for you, who can be against you;' if your fellowship be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ,' you will feel that all things are yours;' and that your soul is fed with hidden manna from the sky.

It is not by me alone, my brother, that you are welcomed to this ministry. I do but utter what all who know its purpose would gladly say. I welcome you in the name of the weary and heavy laden' to whom you are to announce 'glad tidings of great joy.' The forsaken and sorrow-stricken; the wanderer and outcast; they who have seen better days, but for whom the clouds now return after the rain;' the victims of misfortune and vice, to whose diseased minds you will apply the balm of gentle words; the poor widow whose lonely hearth will receive a ray of comfort from your presence;

the little child, whose feet you will turn from the snares of the destroyer and place in the paths of peace, bid me tell you, my friend, that they take part in the solemnities of this night, and hail your fresh consecration to the Ministry at Large as a blessing to their souls. Nay, is it too presumptuous for a frail and ignorant mortal to hope, that even one of those purified spirits, over whose dying bed you have spoken words of peace and strength, who, blessed of the Lord have been early released from the burden of the flesh, of whom is the kingdom of Heaven, may look with interest on these earthly scenes, and as you stand before the altar of devotion, whisper a welcome to your soul?

I cannot but rejoice with you in the peculiar character of the ministry, on which you enter. You are to become a part of no pageant; you are to be free from the chains of merely conventional precedent; you are to walk in a path which, though not untrodden, is yet new, and in which you must be guided by the light of the soul, rather than by prescriptive usage; you are to be conversant with man, not in his trappings, but in his essential nature; and among them who are destitute and forsaken, you will find those spiritual endowments which command your deepest admiration; and you will be inspired with fresh reverence for the soul, on which God has placed his own image. Your ministry, in its form, as well as in its spirit, will resemble that of your divine Master. You will tread in the steps of

him who preferred to address the sinner to the selfrighteous; who sought out those who were despised by others; and cheered the friendless and desolate with the richest sympathy that ever gushed from a heart of flesh. You will feel that you are about your Father's business, when continuing the work of his beloved Son.

May you ever engage in this ministry, my brother, with the spirit of him whose servant you are. May the anointed prophet of Nazareth, who preached the gospel to the poor on the shores of Galilee, and in the streets of Jerusalem, touch your lips with heavenly persuasion, and so fill your soul with the Spirit of Truth, the blessed Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. May the eyes of your understanding be opened more and more to see the divine glory of the Son of God; may you receive of his fullness, even grace for grace; may you be welcomed in the abodes of the poor, as he was, who, when the Pharisees scowled on him in wrath and scorn, was gladly heard by the common people; and may you ever be sustained by the deep faith in the soul, in humanity, and in God, which he who knew what was in man,' and who dwelt in the bosom of the Father,' displayed in conspicuous power.

In conclusion, my friend, I cannot fail to welcome you to a work, which is so closely connected with the honored name of the founder of this ministry. You have the benefit -may you long enjoy it-of his example, his counsels, and his prayers; you en

ter upon the field to reap the harvest which he has sown; you will address many to whom he is as a father; may you follow him in his zeal, his selfdenial, his christian enterprise, his devoted perseverance; and when at last the time shall come that he shall be received to his rest, and you exclaim, 'My father, my father,' as in the rapt vision of faith, you behold the chariot of fire, may a blessing like that of the ancient prophet to his successor, descend on your youthful head, and a double portion of his spirit be imparted to your soul.

Long and faithful, my beloved brother, may be your career. Bright may you shine as a light in this city of our God. May you be a blessing to those who are deemed unblessed. May your love of truth never be mingled with the desire of human favor; may your confidence in man never be shaken by the sight of human depravity; may your zeal for Christ never be chilled by the coldness of those who bear his name; and when your Master shall call you to his presence above, and you shall be judged for the deeds done in the body, may you hear from his lips the words of welcome to a higher ministry; Come, ye blessed of my Father; for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in; naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came unto me; forasmuch as ye have done unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.'