reformations, its dangers, persecutions, and deliverances, from the beginning to the present time. This is of great importance to him, as it tends to enlarge his views of Divine things, to liberalize and enrich his mind, to increase his confidence in a covenantkeeping God, and by making him acquainted with the general course of events in reference to the church in past ages, to enable him the better to judge of its interests and prospects for the time to come.

Still, as I said, these various studies are chiefly calculated to prepare the young minister for the more public duties of the sacred office-those which are to be performed in the sanctuary, or the public assembly. There is another class of duties, of scarcely less importance, which, it may be expected, will speedily devolve upon him. They relate to his more private intercourse with his people ;-to the oversight he is to take of them, and the influence he is to exert upon them, in the house, by the way, in their seasons of prosperity and adversity, in sickness and affliction, when rejoicing in hope, or mourning in spiritual darkness and desertion, or anxiously inquiring the way to heaven. These are obviously PASTORAL DUTIES; duties which cannot, must not be neglected; and in regard to the nature and right performance of which, the young minister feels that he needs instruction. Without such instruction, he must painfully feel his incompetency to go forth into the world, and assume the responsibility of guiding and feeding the church of God.

The class of duties here referred to is of such importance, that for the neglect or careless performance of them, no other ministerial excellencies or qualifications will at all compensate. A man may be learned and gifted, an able and instructive preacher of the gospel; still, if he is a bad pastor, the good effects of his preaching will be comparatively lost, and he will scarcely be tolerated by an intelligent people. Whereas, if he is a good, a wise, and faithful pastor, he will be borne with and appreciated, and may be very useful, even though he be but an indifferent preacher. I here contrast the two departments of ministerial labor, for the purpose of impressing more deeply the comparative importance of pastoral duties, and of showing how defective must be any system of theological education, in which these latter should be omitted. But there is no need of setting the two in contrast, or of separating them the one from the other. Let them both stand

together, be cultivated together, and together be carried out in the labors of the ministry, and they will render him in whom they meet a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth from the sacred desk, and rightly exemplifying and enforcing it, in his daily intercourse with the people of his charge.

The department of Pastoral Duties is precisely that, in which some good men have feared that the course of instruction in our Theological Seminaries must necessarily be deficient. It has not been doubted that the Seminaries afforded facilities for instruction in Biblical Literature, in Systematic Theology, in Sacred Rhetoric, and in Ecclesiastical History, beyond what could ordinarily be furnished in the study of the private pastor. But the latter, it has been said, must be the most competent instructor in pastoral duties; and can better exemplify his instructions in his daily practice. The first part of this objection might be obviated (as in all ordinary cases I think it should be) by selecting those only to be teachers in Theological Seminaries, who had previously sustained the relation of pastors. The truth of the latter part of the objection would depend on the fact, whether those selected as the most competent private instructors in theology, were, at the same time, the most distinguished patterns of pastoral diligence and fidelity. My impression is, that this would not generally be the case. Confident I am that it was not the case, in years that are past, when all our young ministers were under the necessity of pursuing their professional duties in a private way.

There is danger, however, that in our Theological Seminaries, both the study and the practice of pastoral duties will be comparatively neglected. In the ardor of their literary and theological pursuits, there is danger that young men will overlook those important lessons on this subject, which they will be called so soon to reduce to practice. Those connected with the Seminaries, as teachers, should be aware of this danger, that they may the more effectually guard against it.

To preserve from the danger here referred to, it has been thought expedient to encourage young men in the Seminaries (so far as this could be done without interfering with their appropriate studies) to engage in something like pastoral labor. In the vicinity of most of these Institutions, opportunities exist, for taking the eharge of village meetings; superintending Bible classes and

Sabbath Schools; visiting the sick, the poor, the bereaved, the afflicted; conversing with the inquiring and the anxious; and performing other similar duties;-and it is doubtless expedient that, to a reasonable extent, the discharge of such duties should be encouraged.

At the same time, in all our Seminaries, pastoral duties are made the subject of direct and earnest inculcation. Public Lectures are delivered, books are studied, meetings for free conversation are held, and all suitable means are employed to bring the subject before the minds of the rising ministry, in a way to excite interest, and lead to profitable results.

The following Lectures have been twice delivered in the Seminary with which the author is connected. They might have been retained in manuscript, to be still farther repeated and improved; and perhaps this is the course which a wiser teacher would have preferred in regard to them. But experience has satisfied me, that I could better promote the interests of my pupils, by putting my Lectures into their hands in the form of a text-book, to be read, and pondered, and made the subject of conversation in the recitation room, than by simply calling them together, and repeating the Lectures in their hearing. I have wished, also, to do something for a pretty large class of young ministers, who have already gone from this Seminary, and are now pastors, to whom the Lectures, or a principal part of them, have not been delivered. Nor am I altogether without hope, that my ministerial brethren, young and old, whose privilege it is to be entrusted with the care of souls, and into whose hands the following pages may peradventure fall, may derive some benefit from the thoughts of one, who was for twelve years a pastor like themselves, and who still delights to look back upon those years, as among the most pleasant, if not the most useful of his life.

Another motive for publishing the Lectures has been, that there is nothing now before the public exactly adapted to the same purpose with them, or which might profitably be used in their place. The times in which we live, as also the state of our American churches, have each their peculiarities, tending to modify very considerably the duties of pastors; so that works written for another country and age-such as Baxter's Reformed Pastor, Mason's Student and Pastor, and Burnet's Pastoral Care, though excellent in their kind, and well worthy to be read and pondered,

are not quite suited to our circumstances. President Humphrey's Letters to his Son-a work of great value, and which I would heartily recommend to every young minister-is not confined to the subject in hand. It treats quite as largely of Homiletics as of Pastoral Duties.

As the subjects of the following Lectures are almost entirely practical, I have endeavored to treat them in a practical way. I have gone into a consideration of a great variety of questions— some of them minute, but not, on that account, necessarily unımportant-which would be likely to perplex the mind of a young minister, and about which he would wish to be advised and directed. The advices, which I have given, with the reasons of them, are submitted, with all deference, to the consideration of my ministerial brethren. On so great a variety of topics, it would be marvellous, if there was not some diversity of opinion. From those who detect mistakes in what I have written, or who think me in any serious error, I shall be glad to receive fraternal suggestions, and shall hope to profit by them.

I only add, in conclusion, that these Lectures are specifically adapted to the case of Congregational Ministers and Churchessuch as have existed in New England from the first settlement of the country to the present time. Still, with but slight modifications-such as will readily suggest themselves to the intelligent reader or teacher-they will apply equally well to the pastors and churches of other evangelical denominations.

My most earnest desire is, not only that they may contribute to render those who are already pastors, or who are expecting soon to become such, more fully acquainted with their duties, and more deeply interested in them, but that they may impress a sense of the vast importance of these duties, and lead to greater fidelity and success in the performance of them. So shall the individuals referred to be better pastors while they live; and be prepared for a more distinguished reward-a crown of many stars-from the hand of their great Master and Lord in heaven.

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, BANGOR, June, 1844.