THE PRIESTLY OFFICE 
 
 A DISCOURSE ^ 
 
 THE REMONSTRANT SYNOD OF ULSTER, 
 
 AT ITS ANmJAX MEETING, 
 
 I\ THE 
 
 BETH-BIREI CHAPEL, YOEK-STEEET, BELFAST, 
 
 ON TUESDAY, 20tii JULY, 1852. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 EEV. DAVID MAGINNIS. 
 
 BELFAST : 
 THE BETII-BIREI CHAPEL, YORK -STREET. 
 
 1852. 
 Price Twopence. 
 
BELFAST : 
 PBINTED BY A. WELSH, AETHTTR-SQTJAEE. 
 
THE PEIESTLY OFFIGE, 
 
 The primst's lips should keep knowledge. — Malachi II. 7. 
 Warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present 
 
 EVERY MAN PERFECT IN CHRIST JESUS. — COLOSSIANS I. 28- 
 
 Ix the history of civilization, few names occupj^ a more prominent place 
 than the Priest's. Some others may, occasionally, stand out more con- 
 spicuously, and draw a greater amount of attention ; but there are 
 none that, on the whole, have exercised a larger or more enduring in- 
 fluence. Society, in almost every feature, bears the impress of the 
 Priest ; — so much so, that were he and all written records of him blotted 
 out of existence, his history might still be learned from its constitution. 
 But it is not in the past alone, we may learn of the power of the Priest. 
 At the present hour, his influence is as real, though perhaps not so 
 marked, as in preceding ages. It extends to everything man holds dear. 
 It is entwined around the very vitals of society. It enters into the 
 holiest relations of life, and insinuates itself where nothing else dare 
 venture. The home, that sacredest spot on earth, is ever open to the 
 Priest. He is welcomed thither, not only in seasons of joy and fes- 
 tivity, but also (and particularly) in seasons of soitow and bereavement, 
 when the heart, to sympathy, is like the softened wax, susceptible of 
 any impression. The strongest bonds of the purest love have no validity 
 tiU touched by his hand. We dare hardly expect heaven's protection 
 and blessing on our little ones, till he enrols them among the children 
 of God. He controls, more or less directly, the education of the young ; 
 and, thereby, the character of society. He is our spokesman at the 
 throne of the Supreme, — presenting our addresses, making known our 
 wants, sealing our vows. He gives sanction to sovereignty. He con- 
 secrates the ensigns of warfare ; and teaches the soldier when to unsheath 
 his sword. And, in life's last hour, when terrestrial things are fast 
 fading out of view, we almost fear to depart without his benison ; and, 
 when life has fled, and the mortal remains of the departed are to bo 
 consigned to the grave, his presence and services are necessary to con- 
 stitute it a Christian burial. 
 
 Such being the position of the Priest, and such his field of influence, 
 extending to every period and every relation of life, what importance 
 naturally attaches to his office ! In order to be productive of the 
 greatest possible good, it is manifestly not less essential to the Priest him- 
 self, than it must be interesting to society at large, to clearly and fiilly 
 understand his mission — what he has to do, and how he should do it. 
 
 The Priest— Wliat is ho ? Whence is he ? What his sanctions r What 
 his work ? 
 
In Man himself-^in that nature God has given us — we find the 
 answer. It is unfolded in the fact that Man is a religious being, — that, 
 besides his animal and intellectual nature, he possesses, also, a moral 
 and spiritual nature, whose concern is with God, religion, duty. 
 
 That Man is thus constituted — that he is naturally a religious, as 
 well as an intellectual, being — may be as easily demonstrated as any 
 other proposition equally general. If Man be not a religious being, by 
 the original and necessary constitution of his nature, how account for 
 the admitted fact, that some persons are religious, unless on suppositions 
 that are unworthy the character of a God of infinite "Wisdom ? The 
 introduction of the religious element must have been an after-thought, 
 or an improving on a first attempt. And, if this were the fact, how — 
 consistently with infinite Goodness — was so desirable an improvement 
 so sparingly introduced? Besides, — to deny that Man is natui'ally a 
 religious being, is, in effect, to affirm that he should not be such. It is 
 no part of the duty (if I may use the term here,) of the stone to walk, 
 or of the dog to fly. Everything after its own laws. Andh ence, if Man 
 be naturally devoid of religious sentiments, the highest glory he can 
 render the Creator, is to live a life into which the thought of God or duty 
 never enters. But that there is naturally a religious element in Man, 
 is abundantly testified by the fact, that Man, wherever and in whatever 
 stage of civilization found, gives unmistakeable evidence of its possession. 
 "Wherever his language has been understood — his signs comprehended — 
 he is found to have faith in God and in Immortality — the two poles of 
 religious truth. It is true there are tribes of creatures, closely resem- 
 bling the human race, in outward form at least, — of which, on this ques- 
 tion, nothing can be safely affirmed. But this we may confidently 
 assert, that travellers, competent to judge, nowhere find the actual Man, 
 devoid of the religious sentiments ; and reliable history carries us back 
 to no period when it was otherwise. In the prayer said, the rite ob- 
 served, the sacrifice offered, the vows paid, the alms given, the 
 mortification undergone, the ground or grove consecrated, the cave or 
 temple dedicated, the priest anointed ; in the tear of sorrow for sin, in 
 those fervent aspirations which no words could utter, in hope's longings, 
 in the heart's yearnings, in the soul's faith ; — in some of these forms, the 
 religious sentiments of our nature, everywhere, the world over, seek 
 expression. Nor are these sentiments to be deemed less real when 
 their revealings are shaped into forms the most grotesque and revolting, 
 or are entirely unheeded, than when they are embodied in the purest 
 systems of doctrine and duty. The silk- worm spins as fine and smooth 
 a thread, when its fate is to be rudely torn, as when it is to be woven 
 into the richest web. 
 
 Taking it, now, as a fact, that Man, by the constitution of his nature, 
 is a religious being, we have before us the whole history of the rise and 
 growth, the purpose and work, of the Priesthood. The Priest is the 
 product of man's constitution, — as really and naturally as is the soldier 
 or the artist, the ruler or the poet. The faculties God has given us, 
 though the same in kind in all, widely differ in degree, in different per- 
 sons, — varying T\dth their inherent, original capacity or jiowcr, and the 
 
amount and kind of culture they receive. The animal natui-e receiving 
 an undue share of indulgence, with only as much mental culture as the 
 former requires for its purposes, — and we have (as circumstances may 
 determine,) the slave of appetite, of sensuality ; or the despot, the ruth- 
 less soldier, the oppressor ; or the mere animal, with bone and sinew as 
 stout as those of the horse he drives, with not more sense nor soul. On 
 the other hand, the judicious cultui^e of the religious nature, with as 
 much intellectual training as it requires, will make man pure, wise, 
 good ; — the culture of the intellect being, in a great degree, consistent 
 with either, making the animal more dangerous, and the religious more 
 rational, elevated and noble. The due and well-regulated culture of all 
 these, makes the " perfect man " — is " man's chief end." It harmonizes 
 with the divine will, his nature, which animalism or intellectualism, or 
 both combined, without religion's influence, estrange therefrom, set at 
 variance therewith. It tends to complete the circle of his being — to 
 perfect his nature, by bridging over the chasm that separates the man of 
 sin and sensuality, from the All-pure and Good. 
 
 The man who helps in this, is the Priest of the Most High ; he who 
 does so to the greatest extent, is the highest High Priest of the Living 
 God. He who devotes himself to the culture of the higher powers of 
 his nature, and thereby elevates his own character — brings himself into 
 conformity with the laws which infinite wisdom has ordained — is 
 his own Priest in the eyes of heaven ; and is a Priest of righteousness 
 and reconciliation to aU, whom the beautj^ of his example, and the influ- 
 ence of his life and teachings, draw closer to God and to duty. In this 
 divine hierarchy, rank high the sages and sainis of every age, country 
 and faith, who have awakened the soul's dormant powers to life and 
 activity, and have made men more " at one" with God. Here, on a 
 distinguished elevation — far above aU. others as they appear to us — 
 stands, unrivalled and alone, the Great Teacher, Jesus, whose life, as 
 far as it may be knowu from the brief records of it we possess, was an 
 uninterrupted display of elevated virtue, — of the triumph of love, con- 
 science, duty, over selfishness, appetite and sin, — acting as an atoning 
 sacrifice, reconciling the sensual and sinful to the holy and divine. He 
 was the Priest of Priests, — serving at the altar of humanity ; ofl'ering, as 
 the richest and most efiicacious sacrifice, a life powerful through its 
 purity, to ' ' win souls to God." And all are Priests, in the same hierarchy, 
 who walk in his footsteps, making others pure through their piuity, 
 making others godlike by their godliness. • This hierarchy includes, 
 also, all by whom taste is refined — the Painter, the Sculptor, the Poet ; 
 all by whom real comfort is promoted — the Discoverer, the Inventor ; 
 all by whom useful knowledge is diifused — the Teacher, the Author ; 
 as well as all by whom man's moral nature is more directly elevated and 
 ennobled — the Pure, the Good. These last serve nearest the altar, 
 while the others are ministering servants, each in his sphere promoting 
 the same object — man's highest development, the world's redemption. 
 
 In this view of the subject, we are obliged to disaUow the pretensions 
 and exclusive claims, of any Church, to a specially- commissioned Priest- 
 hood. But not less are wc bound to repudiate the charge of its being 
 
6 
 
 an invention of man, for his own selfish purposes ; — a charge, however, 
 it must be admitted, Priestly Corporations, as we often find them, afford 
 too much grounds for. But men should learn to discriminate between 
 the genuine and the counterfeit. The true Christ was followed by a 
 host of base imitators. No sooner did the real Priest appear, and honour 
 and emolument become attached to his office, than Priestcraft entered 
 for sake of the advantages, assuming the functions of the Priest, with- 
 out his qualifications : the invalided quack setting himself up to be a skil- 
 ful physician, professing to be able to heal diseases of which he knows 
 nothing, and to possess an infallible remedy to restore all manner of 
 invalids to perfect health, and yet himself still an invalid, and those 
 foolish enough to employ him becoming no better under his care. It is 
 unfair to include such men among religion's Priests. They hold no 
 commission from her ; and she cannot recognise them. ISTo Church's 
 diploma, no bishop's ordination, will gain them sanction. Her Priests 
 derive their commission direct from heaven. 
 
 As to the practice of setting apart a distinct order of men for the 
 exercise of the Priestly Office — though open to much abuse, and pro- 
 ductive of no little e^il, it could not well be dispensed with, in the 
 present condition of the world. Priestly corporations have, no doubt, 
 always been among the worst enemies of the truth. Progress they 
 have uniformly opposed. Indeed, one is almost compelled to pronounce 
 it the tendency of organization to retard and destroy ; — so frequently 
 do the noblest principles lose their piuity and their power, and 
 men their individuality and their energy, under its influence. Still, 
 in the world as it, is. Priestly Orders are a necessary evil. Were reli- 
 gion fully developed in men all, then, the Priestship would be re- 
 stored to its original universality — when every one was his own Priest 
 as he was his own soldier. Then we should all be — as Christ would have 
 us — ''kings (rulers of ourselves,) and Priests to God." But rational 
 religion, not yet being a reality in men's lives, it is highly desirabe, 
 that those in whom it is most developed, should possess every facility to 
 influence and assist others, in their religious culture. In a state of 
 society, where severe and long-continued toil of head or hand, or both, 
 is often indispensable to gain the merest necessaries of life, — where, in 
 the struggle for bread, one's sympathies are frequently narrowed, and 
 thoughts of a diviner life banished, by constantly reverting necessities, 
 so that the nature God has given us, is in danger of being deadened, its 
 powers perverted, its higher interests neglected, — it is very necessary 
 that there should be some who, in words of wisdom and brotherly affection, 
 should warn us of our common dangers and re-awaken us to a sense of our 
 common duties, — rekindling, into a healthy flame, the smouldering 
 embers of devotion ; — men who, free from the ordinary anxieties of 
 life, should devote themselves to enlightening the unenlightened, to 
 assisting in training the young, to reclaiming and raising up the fallen, 
 and to emancipating the vice and error-enslaved ; — men whose " lips 
 should keep loiowledge," '' warning every man, and teaching every man 
 in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." 
 
 The desirableness of the Priestly Office being conceded, it will readily 
 
be admitted that it should be held only by competent and faithful men. 
 Its motto should be — Detiir dignissimo. Indeed, none but the worthy do 
 really occupy it. Others, though wearing its livery and receiving its 
 pay, are not actually in its service. A prime requisite is fitness, the 
 possession of the proper qualifications. Though among these, we must 
 give a high place to talent, yet, I believe, I am not detracting from their 
 importance, when I place natural ability and eloquence, after a pure 
 life, a noble character. He who would train others successfully, must 
 do so, not less by example than by precept. It degrades the religious 
 Teacher's Office, to inculcate lessons he himself does not practise. The 
 duty of truthfulness is enforced with a very bad grace, and seldom with 
 any good effect, by the man who respects not the truth ; or fidelity to 
 conscience by one who makes expediency his law. There were those of 
 the olden time, who bound heavy biu'dens and laid them on men's 
 shoulders, and yet themselves touched them not, with so much as one of 
 their fingers — teachers, it is to be feared, not without many disciples in 
 every Church. The religious Teacher should be an example to others, 
 in all the graces and virtues of the religious life ; and, standing on the 
 eminence to which his character has elevated him, once he cannot 
 truly say to those he would instruct — " Come up," he is not in the 
 position the Teacher should occupy. There are others more worthy 
 than he, at whose feet he should sit and learn. 
 
 The training of candidates for the Priestly Office is a subject too large 
 to be fully considered, and yet too important to be passed over in 
 silence, on the present occasion, — especially, as I conceive a wise course 
 is not usually pursued in relation thereto. " The Priest's lips should 
 keep knowledge;" but, where a universal "knowledge" cannot possibly 
 be acquired, the most useful should invariably have precedence. As it 
 appears to me, this is seldom the case. An undue proportion of time is 
 devoted to studies in a great degree foreign to his aims, and too little 
 to those that acquaint the mind with its own laws, — with the works, 
 the ways, the laws of God, — with the real nature and grounds of duty 
 and moral obligation. If less of his precious time were spent in black- 
 letter studies, in mastering the dead languages, in learning to judge of 
 the age of old manuscripts and the comparative value of '' various read- 
 ings," it would be a great improvement, — though these are studies of some 
 interest, and desirable enough when they do not interfere with any- 
 thing more important, — which, however, they too often do, keeping the 
 student back from sources of information, whence he might learn what it 
 most concerns him to know — the laws of the Creator and the duties of 
 the creature — information which, no doubt, may be readily gathered from 
 the fields of science and philosophy, but, most assuredly, never among 
 Hebrew points, in Talmuds or Targums. I^or will it compensate for 
 the injury inflicted upon the student, by the present system, to enable him 
 to quote text for text against any theological opponent, or to confound 
 any one who questions the dogmas of his creed. It is worth considering 
 whether the day is not fast passing away, when a text suffices for a 
 truth, an authority for an argument. There are spirits stirring that no 
 charm will lay. Men are looking deeper than they did. Superficiali- 
 
ties and semblances will not satisfy. Pedantries will not pass. Those 
 who assume the Teacher's functions, must be prepared to discharge a 
 Teacher's duties. 
 
 Most serious and important are the duties of the Priestly Office. 
 "Well may their contemplation call forth the exclamation — " Who is 
 sufficient for these things ! " But, under the inspiration of a high 
 purpose, the true Priest labours on, — assui^ed that, in proportion to his 
 fidelity, will the divine blessing rest upon his efforts and make them 
 efficacious. "Wide is the field and various the duties, to which he will 
 feel himself called. While his great aim shall be to promote, to the utmost 
 of his ability, the moral and religious culture of those among whom he 
 labours, and to bring them into full harmony with the spirit of God's 
 laws, he will, at the same time, give due attention to all that bears 
 thereon. Prom his knowledge of the human constitution, he will have 
 learned the powerful influence external circumstances possess, in the for- 
 mation of character. He will, consequently, be deeply impressed with 
 the importance of having such circumstances as favourable as possible ; 
 so that, instead of retarding, they may help, in the development of the 
 higher powers of man's nature. A necessity is thereby created which 
 impels every good man — the Priest in particular, as his office deems him 
 the model man — to lend willing aid in every enterprise that gives 
 reasonable promise of benefitting society. Whether it be a question of 
 public health or public prosperity, it claims his friendly assistance. He 
 finds it no less his duty than his desire, to promote the temporal interests 
 of the people. It is not a religion for life, that overlooks the concerns 
 of life. It may be suited to beings on some other planet ; but certainly 
 not to the inhabitants of earth. We require a religion to live by, as 
 well as a religion to die by. And he who knows man knows this; and, 
 in his concern for the spuitual, never forgets the temporal. What pro- 
 motes the real interests of the people, he cordially supports : what is 
 hostile thereto, he opposes. 
 
 ''But"— it is objected — " such a course would degrade the Priestly 
 Office, as the Priesthood would thereby be required to engage in political 
 and social agitations, designed and calculated, it may be, to benefit the 
 people, but far below the high and holy work, in which it should be 
 engaged." And if the Priesthood did lend its aid to secure the rights 
 and promote the interests of the people, would it thereby be degraded ? 
 Might there not be — are there not — many darker stains on its escutcheon? 
 Who will venture to say, that those distinguished divines, who, in former 
 daysp advocated the people's rights, and often greatly helped the success 
 of their cause, by their eloquence and influence, thereby degraded the 
 Priestly Office ? Noy wiU it be admitted that even those who, when 
 all other means failed, marched forth with their people, from the house 
 of worship to the fleld of battle, and valiantly fought against tyranny and 
 despotism, degraded their office. Kor did they. What society wants 
 is the Priesthood that, not alone when patriotism impels or some great 
 principle is at stake, will come down and take part in the people's 
 struggles for justice and right, but wiU, at all times, be at their post,^ — 
 the foremost — to counsel, to warn, to guide. Objectors speak with 
 
9 
 
 horror of the conduct exhibited by agitators for popular rights — their 
 turbulence, their violence, their vices. And who, for these, are to blame? 
 Surely, not chiefly the untaught and uncultivated masses ; but those 
 who, from their office, ought ever to be among the people, or at their 
 head, directing wisely their energies and efforts. 
 
 ^' Degrade the Priestly Office !" What, above all things. Politics and 
 kindred questions most need, is the infusion of the religious elemenft 
 Wanting this, of which Pharisaical pietists have robbed them and will 
 not make restitution — they cleave to the earth. Disannexed from re- 
 ligion, as a ship broken loose from her moorings is at the mercy of wind 
 and wave, Politics are at best but expediencies, drifting whithersoever 
 di'iven by the worst passions of men. In the isolation of itself from 
 those institutions that are identified with almost the existence of Society, 
 the Priestly Office greatly weakens its influence for good. It cannot 
 reach them. It cannot impart of its religiousness to them. There is 
 no connecting link — no conductor to convey its quickening currents. 
 As the amputated limb can receive none of the animating fluids and 
 juices of the body to which it belonged, flow they ever so copiously, 
 no more can institutions, severed from the soul of religion, be quickened 
 by its spirit and directed by its laws. Institutions so severed are in- 
 jurious to religion. Its sphere is thereby narrowed, its power of action 
 diminished. A field, now wild as it is wide, is closed against its influence; 
 where, if freely admitted, it would make the barren soil fruitful. Then 
 comes the great evil — the reaction of the severed institutions. An am- 
 putated limb we may bury in the earth, and thereby avoid the danger 
 arising from its decomposition. But not so with institutions. The 
 graveyard has no sepulchre large enough for these. The crime, the 
 licentiousness, the prejudice, the ignorance, the party spirit of the age, 
 are the foul and poisonous miasmata given off by politics and institu- 
 tions divorced from religion, endangering its existence. As the rudder, 
 separated from the ship, has no power to regulate her movements, no more 
 can religion directly influence institutions severed from it. The con- 
 nexion must be re-established. Eeligion must be allowed to perform its 
 full functions — to permeate every part of the united members of the whole 
 body. And that its purifying and quickening influence may extend 
 over the whole system, and give health and energy to its remotest extre- 
 mities, the action of the heart — the central organs — must be healthy ; 
 the Priesthood must diff'use it through every ramification of the social 
 system, making not alone the sanctuary, but, far more important, the 
 market-place, the workshop, the senate, the home, the world, to exhibit 
 its divine efficacy, in the supremacy of enlightened conscience, in the faith- 
 ful discharge of life's solemn duties. Eeligion must be brought to bear 
 on all the affairs of life. The indissoluble union of Eeligion and Life, is 
 the world's greatest want. Loud andpainfril are the appeals of society, 
 through its crimes and misery and ignorance to the consciences and 
 the sympathies of religion's guardians. In turning a deaf ear thereto, 
 they are shortening their own tenui^e of office, and making way for others 
 who shall perform the needed duties, and inseparably unite religion and 
 life — a union as indispensable to the health of religion as to the purity 
 of life, and, thereby, to the salvation of the world. 
 
10 
 
 The education of the people claims a large share of the religion's 
 Teacher's attention. The enjoyment of social and political rights, is not 
 necessarily accompanied by prosperity ; nor will even prosperity secure a 
 nation's real interests. Eights of whatever kind are chiefly valuable, 
 and can only be msefully exercised, when united to intelligence. Power, 
 without enlightenment to wisely direct it, may be a useless or even a 
 ^ngerous possession. Worldly prosperity ^vithout wisdom may be a 
 curse. Intelligence being indispensable to the wise exercise of rights, 
 and the faithful discharge of duty, the Teacher of religion will employ 
 his best efforts to promote it. In this age of schools and cheap books, 
 he needs not to undertake the schoolmaster's work ; nor to convert the 
 pulpit into a rostrum. Yet, without doing either, he may, personally, 
 render much valuable assistance. Apart from the young of his flock, 
 in whose training he is necessarily interested, and the children of the 
 neglected poor for whose education he is bound, as a brother and a 
 Christian, to make suitable provision, how many are there in a mixed 
 Congregation who have attained, or are fast attaining, maturity, and yet 
 have not acquired that knowledge needful to a rational discharge of 
 life's duties ! To these, the pulpit should address itself. Though it 
 cannot undertake their mental culture, it may move them to under- 
 take it for themselves, and aid them therein. 
 
 But the Teacher of religion will be still more concerned for the moral 
 training of the people, and particularly the young. Our moral code 
 seldom rests on any firm foundation. "VYe do this, because it is com- 
 manded, or because in childhood it was taught us as a duty ; and that, 
 because our neighbours do it — it is usual — it is fashionable — it is ne- 
 cessary. For similar reasons, we abstain from their opposites. With 
 this mechanical morality, the religious Teacher cannot be satisfied. He 
 sees that, under a slight pressure, it will bend into expediency or grow 
 into license. It is pliant and conventional. True morality, such as he 
 approves and labours to establish, is rooted, not in the customs of society, 
 but in the nature of things, eternal and immutable as the Creator's laws. 
 Under its guidance, conscience is enabled to give its verdict upon the 
 merits, without asking is it expedient, or usual, or profitable ; and, if 
 it is right, will, for its rightness, demand and enforce observance — if 
 wrong, will, from its wrongness, demand that it shall not be done. 
 
 The grand aim, however, of the Priestly Office, to which it subordi- 
 nates all else, is the cultiu^e of Religion in men's hearts and lives. Men 
 may be prosperous, may be intelligent, and may even be moral, and yet 
 may be destitute of the spirit and influences of religion. In speaking 
 of religion, we must not be considered as meaning that which consists 
 in a long routine of outward services, of rites, and ceremonies ; nor 
 that whose manifestation is the hanging head and rueful look ; nor even 
 that which delights in long prayers, self-glorification (thanking God 
 that we are not as other men), nor in ostentatious alms-giving : no, not 
 that which may be counterfeited ; but that religion which naturally 
 grows out of its own element in man's o^vn nature ; which worships 
 the Divine, not because it is commanded nor because it is right, but 
 because it is impelled to it by an irresistible impulse springing from a 
 deep conviction of his greatness, his goodness, and his glory ; that re- 
 
11 
 
 ligion whicli prompts to acts of kindness and benevolence towards others, 
 not because tbey are proper and recommended by the teachings and ex- 
 ample of the world's greatest instructor, but because of the in-dweUing 
 love and affection which will not be repressed ; that religion which keeps 
 men mindful of their personal duties andobligations— of purity, integrity, 
 holiness, not because for these rewards are offered, while to their absence 
 and opposites severe penalties are annexed, but because there is ^ an in- 
 herent love of these virtues which prompts to their culture. This Eeli- 
 gion, evidencing itself in the piety, self-sacrifice, and puiity of the life, 
 the true Priest will, above all things, seek to promote by awakening and 
 strengthening the principles thereof, naturally inherent in all, and only 
 awaiting the circumstances necessary to their development. The means 
 whereby he should seek to accomplish this, would require for their full 
 statement several discourses. Sulfice it here to say, that they consist 
 mainly of influences to be exercised through personal intercourse with 
 the people, through the press, and through the devotional exercises and 
 highest efforts of the pulpit. ^ . -l , a 
 
 Touching the ministrations by the coucli of disease or m the house ot 
 mourning, though forming an important pai't of the duties of the Priestly 
 Office, I must not now speak at any length. It is undoubtedly a holy 
 work to smooth the pillow of the dying, and strengthen the hopes of 
 the sorrowing. Kot, of course, by generating false confidence ; nor yet 
 are false fears to be excited. Of all the cruelties which man practises 
 upon man, none is more terrific than that which torments the last hours 
 of the dying with agonizing terror for imaginary evils ; nor yet is there 
 any greater unkindness than to buoy up the mind of the sinner with 
 delusive expectations of being miivaculously and instantaneously endowed 
 with others' righteousness and made fit for bliss ; as if any little mental 
 effort could undo the wickedness of a past life and make the sinner pure. 
 Not in the death-sti'uggle, but in the life-labours, is the character formed 
 and the fate sealed. Neither with false fears nor delusive hopes, will he 
 seek to inspire the dying ; but with a firm faith in a heavenly Father's 
 o-oodness, and with the assurance of which all things testify, that inter- 
 minable progress is the destiny of all things capable of it, and that even 
 in the worst of men, the germ of goodness, however weak, shall, eventu- 
 ally, by gradual unfoldings, fill the whole soul, expelling all that is 
 impure and noxious. ..... -, ^^ • 
 
 In relation to Eeligious Truth, solemn the responsibilities, and all-im- 
 portant the duties, of the Priestly Office. The truth will, no doubt, be 
 best advanced by its simple, unadorned enunciation,—" spoken m 
 love,"— enforced by the irresistible eloquence of a pure and useful life. 
 At the same time, error must be exposed. However uniDleasant the task, 
 the rubbish must be cleared away, that a firm foundation may be reacted. 
 Pleasanter, no doubt, to use the fresh materials— to lay the brick and 
 mortar— and see the building rise before our eyes. But not less neces- 
 sary is the preparatory work ; removing the mud, and digging the foun- 
 dations. It must be admitted that it is a painful task to expose what 
 one believes to be the errors, and yet the deep convictions, of others. 
 Still, it must be done. The corruptions of error and false doctrine must 
 h& cleared away, ere truth can have free course in the minds of men. 
 
12 
 
 EiTor is never innocuous : it leaves a deposit (so to speak) in the mind, 
 over which truth cannot flow freely. But, while the Teacher of Truth 
 will feel called upon to expose prevailing errors, it will ever be his aim to 
 do so in a spirit of kindness, so that he may not confirm men in the 
 opinions he opposes, or prejudice them against the principles he advo- 
 cates, by his bitterness or severity. 
 
 To fidelity and success in the discharge of the duties of his oifice, it 
 is indispensable that the religious Teacher be not hampered by narrow 
 restrictions. To be honest and truthful he must be free ; neither fettered 
 in thought, nor muzzled in speech. As he should not be the echo of any 
 one man's sentiments, neither should he be a slave to the will or caprice 
 of any number, however large. Through sinking his individuality and be- 
 coming the mouth-piece of his patrons, the public Teacher has lost much 
 of his influence for good. He is the retained advocate — the special 
 pleader ; his brief is put into his hands, and from it he must speak for 
 his client. Against this serfdom of the Priestly Office, I enter my pro- 
 test. I claim for it freedom — the freedom to be natural, to be truthful, 
 to be useful. For what purpose am I placed here r I consider myself 
 appointed by the people to whom I minister, to aid them, to the utmost 
 of my ability, in promoting their social, intellectual, moral, and religi- 
 ous improvement ; in all respects free, except in this, that I am bound 
 to do my best to assist them in the search of truth, and to incite them 
 to the performance of duty. Seek to limit this liberty, and I resist. 
 Take back the office ; but with the Teacher's function you shall not 
 interfere. Thus, I believe, every one would say, who rightly understood 
 the Teacher's Mission. The prophets of the olden time asked not what 
 the Fathers taught. They listened to the living voice within, and in- 
 terpreted its utterances. Their words found a ready response in the 
 hearts of men, and have been preserved through the ages, while the 
 sayings of the Teachers of established religions have sunk into oblivion. 
 The finest passages bothin the Old Testament andtheKew — those that the 
 good of every sect most admire and most profit by — are not the carefully- 
 elaborated statements of an abeady-received doctrine, but the free 
 utterances of the non-conformists of their respective ages — those who 
 questioned, not the Church without, but the sj)irit within. It was so 
 that David composed the most beautiful and devotional of the Psalms ; 
 that Isaiah and others poured forth their glowing descriptions of the 
 future influences of truth and goodness; that Christ spoke as never man 
 spoke. On the other hand, compel men to be the echoes of others' 
 thoughts — to believe and teach after a given fashion ; and the Teacher's 
 office is gone : they may still sit in Moses' seat, but better it were va- 
 cant. The watcher on the tower, — to whom an Apostle likens the re- 
 ligious Teacher — was constantly to be on the look-out, and to report 
 what he saw. The Teacher is false to his trust who sleeps at his post ; 
 or conceals, or keeps back, or garbles his message, because it might not 
 be palatable to this portion of his people, or not quite accord with the 
 sentiments of that. And still more treacherous to the cause of religion, 
 and despicable in the estimation of the conscientous, is he who advo- 
 cates doctrines at variance with his convictions, in order to please. I 
 cannot tolerate the idea of a man so far prostituting the nature God has 
 
13 
 
 given him as to sell his conscience for popular favour, — and least of all 
 the man who stands at the altar of religion, who, were it possible, should 
 be above even the siispicion of reproach, his life a living book read of 
 all men, — his convictions, his teachings, his conduct, in full harmony 
 with each other, inspired by truth, exhibiting purity and breathing love. 
 
 To this it is objected — "It is not prudent : it may aKenate friends." 
 I admit that, in one sense, it may not be the most prudent course. It 
 may not be the best method of securing the favour and support of the 
 influential and wealthy, who are generally conservative of popular opi- 
 nions. It may be that, if the Teacher is more anxious to speak the truth 
 he feels than to please those who hear him, some will look coldly upon 
 him and desert him ; whereas, if he would only exercise a little pru- 
 dence, and, whatever he may think, say nothing that would wound a 
 prejudice, aU would encourage and applaud. Brethren, ''prudent," in 
 this^ temporizing sense, should be erased from the vocabulary of the 
 Christian Teacher. He whose view of duty is bounded by it, holds an 
 office he degrades. Besides, it should be remembered, that such *' pru- 
 dence" is seldom really "prudent." It generally overshoots the mark. 
 It is not easy to wear a mask long, without being discovered. And 
 when the temporizing hypocrite is found out, he pays the penalty ; for, 
 with aU its faults, Society treats men pretty nearly as they deserve. 
 The hypocrite it hates ; while the conscientious and the upright — though 
 at times they shock its prejudices — it learns to respect and loA-e. But 
 even were it otherwise, men who are actually interested in the progress 
 of truth and the well-being of man, will never ask — "Will it please ? 
 Willit pay ? their chief concern is — Is it right ? Is it true ? and of this 
 convinced, disapprove who may, they wiU urge their views with all the 
 power and earnestness they can command. 
 
 That "the people are not prepared to receive the higher truths of 
 religion" is a weak excuse for withholding unpopular doctrines. " Such 
 and such doctrines may be true enough ; indeed, I believe they are true ; 
 but I do not teach them ; the people would not comprehend them." 
 Then, you fail where, as I conceive, you should be most faithful. It is 
 dishonest. A watcher on the tower, and yet withholding the informa- 
 tion you were appointed to communicate. The plainer truths of reli- 
 gion, the common sense of aU who choose to think, may easily discover. 
 But persons absorbed in the cares of the world, are, in some degree, 
 unfitted for prosecuting for themselves, deeper investigations. They 
 need to be assisted. They enable you to devote yourself, exclusively, 
 thereto ; and they are entitled to your best aid. In concealing the truths 
 you have perceived, you are concealing what you are bound to reveal. 
 I repeat — it is highly dishonest. Besides, it is a poor compliment to 
 God's truth and the people's judgment, to say that the people are not 
 fit to understand the truth. No one, acquainted with society, will ques- 
 tion the existence and great extent of ignorance. Still, under even the 
 greatest ignorance, the rational in Man is never wholly destroyed. He is 
 alwaj^s able, more or less clearly, to comprehend, when fairly put, w^hat 
 is rational, on whatever subject. And even if some should not at once 
 understand, or be oiFended, is the truth to be, therefore, withheld ? 
 Let Jerome answer — '^ If an ofience come out of the truth, better is 
 
14 
 
 it that the offence come than the truth be concealed." Surely, we are 
 not to sit down at our ease, and wait till the tide of ignorance has i^assed 
 away — till the people become prepared — before we venture to speak ! 
 Had the blessed Jesus acted so, his Gospel would still have been un- 
 preached. No ! men, who believe they hold high and holy truths, need 
 not fear to declare them ; far more should they fear to conceal them. 
 The truth has nothing to dread from an honest, free, and faithful 
 advocacy ; everything from the cool, calculating expediency of the time- 
 serving. They fear the consequences ! Consequences are in the hand 
 of the God of truth, and he is omnipotent. Believe me, he who talks 
 so, in reality fears not for truth but for himself — his ease, his popularity, 
 or his purse. The trumpet of the faithful watchman will give neither 
 a false alarm nor an uncertain sound. At the same time, remembering 
 that " to err is human," while he not only holds with firmness to his own 
 convictions, but does all in his power to propagate them, the religious 
 Teacher will never deal harshly with the real convictions of others. 
 He will freely grant to all what for himself he claims, the right of pri- 
 vate judgment. "While he will unmask foul hypocrisy and expose 
 the temporizing worshipper of expediency, he will respect the convic- 
 tions of all sincere minds ; and cordially unite and labour with all who 
 wish well to their kind, in every undertaking calculated to improve the 
 social, moral, or religious condition of Society ; thereby strengthening 
 the foundations of that Church Universal, the truly Catholic Church, 
 which, regardless of all differences of intellectual creed, shall be united 
 by one common tie — brotherly affection ; and animated by one spirit — a 
 love of truth, of purity, and the highest well-being of the race._ 
 
 One word more. To the successful discharge of the duties of his Office, 
 the Teacher of religion should have the sympathy and sustaining support 
 of those among whom he labours. It is most discouraging where little 
 interest is manifested in objects that should concern alike pastor and 
 people. A people's luke-warmness freezes the Teacher's soul_ within 
 him — as a mill-stone it weighs down his spirits and deadens his ener- 
 gies. Unless endowed with an indomitable will, such as few possess, 
 he must sink under it. No amount of pew-rent, however large, relieves 
 from the personal duties devolving on every member of a religious so- 
 ciety. Even were the Teacher the most gifted of men, his talent in no 
 way releases them from the obligations they are under, to promote the 
 cause of truth and righteousness. A general, however skilful, unless 
 sustained by every soldier under him, need not expect to win the well- 
 contested field. From the highest to the lowest, every man must do 
 his duty. 
 
 In concluding this Discourse, I am very conscious how imperfectly 
 it portrays the Priestly Office. It is but a mere sketch of some of its 
 more prominent features. If, however, it enable any to obtain a closer 
 and clearer view of the ideal ; still more — but this I can hardly hope — 
 should it influence any to strive to realize that ideal more fully, I shall 
 not regret having sketched it. 
 
 May the time soon come when ''the Priest's lips" shall not only 
 " keep," but freely dispense, useful " knowledge ;" when it shall be the 
 constant aim and effort of all Avho hold the Priestly Office to "present 
 every man perfect" in every Christian grace ! 
 
15 
 
 THE THEEE PEEACHERS 
 
 BY CHAELES MACKAY, LL.D. 
 
 There are three Preachers, ever preaching, 
 
 Pill'd with eloquence and power : 
 One is old, with locks of white, 
 Skinny as an anchorite ; 
 
 And he preaches every hour 
 With a shrill fanatic voice. 
 
 And a Bigot's fiery scorn : — 
 " Backwaud ! ye presumptuous nations ; 
 
 Man to misery is born ! 
 Born to drudge, and sweat, and suffer — 
 
 Born to labour and to pray ; 
 Backavard ! ye presumptuous nations. 
 
 Back ! — be humble and obey !" 
 
 The second is a milder Preacher ; 
 
 Soft he talks as if he sung ; 
 Sleek and slothful is his look. 
 And his words, as from a book, 
 
 Issue glibly from his tongue. 
 With an air of self-content, 
 
 High he lifts his fair white hands : 
 " Stand ye Still ! ye restless nations ; 
 
 And be happy all ye lands ! 
 Fate is law, and law is perfect ; 
 
 If ye meddle, ye will mar ; 
 Change is rash, and ever was so : 
 
 We are happy as wc are. 
 
 Mightier is the younger Preacher, 
 
 Genius flashes from his eyes : 
 And the crowds who hear his voice. 
 Give him, while their souls rejoice, 
 
 Throbbing bosoms for replies. 
 Awed they listen, jet elated, 
 
 While his stirring accents fall ; — 
 'ToEWAED ! ye deluded nations. 
 
 Progress is the rule of aU : 
 Man was made for healthful effort ; 
 
 Tyranny has crushed him long ; 
 He shall march from good to better. 
 
 And do battle with the wrong. 
 
16 
 
 *' Standing still is idle folly, 
 
 Going backward is a crime : 
 None should patientlj^ endure 
 Any ill that he can cure ; 
 
 Onward ! keep the march of Time. 
 Onward ! while a wrong remains 
 
 To be conquer'd by the right ; 
 While Oppression lifts a finger 
 
 To affront us by his might : 
 While an error clouds the reason 
 
 Of the universal heart, 
 Or a slave awaits his freedom, 
 
 Action is the wise man's part= 
 
 *' Lo ! the world is rich in blessings — 
 
 Earth and Ocean, flame and wind, 
 Have unnumber'd secrets still. 
 To be ransack' d when you will, 
 
 For the service of mankind ; 
 Science is a child as yet. 
 
 And her power and scope shall grow, 
 And her triumphs in the future 
 
 Shall diminish toil and woe ; 
 Shall extend the bounds of pleasure 
 
 With an ever- widening ken. 
 And of woods and wildernesses 
 
 Make the homes of happy men. 
 
 '' Onwaed ! — there are ills to conquer. 
 
 Daily wickedness is wrought. 
 Tyranny is swoll'n with Pride, 
 Eigotry is deified. 
 
 Error intertwined with Thought, 
 Vice and Misery ramp and crawl ; 
 
 Eoot them out, their day has pass'd : 
 Goodness is alone immortal ; 
 
 Evil was not made to last : 
 Onwaed ! and all Earth shall aid Us 
 
 Ere our peaceful flag be fmi'd." — 
 And the preaching of this Preacher 
 
 Stirs the pulses of the world. 
 
 By the Author of this Discourse : 
 
 Thb Christian Congregation : A Discourse ... ... ... ... Ij 
 
 Crime : its Causes and Cure : A Lecture ... .'.*.' .*.*.* ]]] 2d 
 
 The Beth-Birei Congregational Magazine : published every month ... id. 
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