ing are specially annexed, for the communication of saving knowledge to a carnal world. Be it yours, my dear young brethren, to redeem the character of the pulpit from this reproach. You are some of you already, I am told, good preachers. May you all be such ! Were my time to come over again, this should be my only aim. Let it from the first and always be yours. There is nothing to prevent your success. No insurmountable impediment in the way; nothing that may not be overcome by determination and perseverance, with fervent supplication to the Most High for his gracious succour and aid.

Oh! for a powerful ministry-one that should reach to the depths of our nature, and stir up all that is human within us. I would travel miles to listen to a minister who should arouse, enliven, and animate me, by the sentiments he advanced, and his manner of advancing them; entering into them with a sympathy that flooded the whole soul with a tide of emotion. Let us hope that the time will come, when religion will not be denied for its enforcement, the aid of all the powers of body and of mind that man possesses; and with an earnestness that shall break through every barrier up to the very haunts and chambers of the soul.

But I must draw to a close; look, my young friends, upon the work before you in the light of a solemn responsibility-a sacred and important trust for which you will be accountable in the great day. You will then have "to present" the result of your work in the presence of the grandest of all assemblies. "Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire"-like a man escaping from a fire which consumes his habitation and his goods. "But if any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward." He shall hear that eulogy, sweeter than the melody of angelic voices-" Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!"

I have cheerfully accepted the invitation to address you thus, though of a different denomination from yours, which yet is not a different one, but only a partially distinct one with scarcely a difference. It has been my happiness and honour in days gone by to be somewhat intimately associated

with many eminent and leading ministers of your denomination men whose names would have been an ornament to any section of the Christian church, and were long the ornament of yours. I allude to the Rev. Joseph Hughes, the Rev. Robert Hall, and the Rev. John Foster. We may not aspire to their eminence, but we may emulate their integrity, their assiduity in study, their public spirit, consistent character, and glowing philanthropy. May you be worthy successors of such men! Your denomination is rising in public estimation, and be assured that this excites no emotions but those of joy and pleasure in the breasts of members and ministers of other communions. They join with me in congratulating you on your taking possession of this noble edifice for your residence during the remaining term of your education, in this delightful and salubrious locality. It is in the near neighbourhood of the "New College" for your brethren among the Independents, and favourable for friendly intercourse, from both of which we trust will go forth men with the spirit and power of the gospel, in various directions, in the success of whose labours, and those of men of the same spirit who shall succeed them, is bound up

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the hope of coming ages, and, to a certain extent, we may say, of the world.

And you that are only hearers of the ministry of the word, suffer me to commend these young men, and others like them, to your sympathy and your prayers. Expect not too much from them in their novitiate; hear them with atten

tion, kindness, and candour. Speak respectfully of them, and affectionately to them. Encourage them. Remember the arduous nature of their undertaking, the solemn responsibility attaching to their station, and the momentous consequences resulting from their deportment in it. Help and cheer them, by assuring them of your prayers, by suggesting to them in the most friendly manner what you think might promote their efficiency, and by showing a generous disposition for their support and comfort. Aim to be such as those whom an inspired apostle commends, so that, as far as they become acquainted with you, and may refer to you at a future day, they may adopt his words in reference to you, and say," these are they which have been a comfort to me."

May I say to the friends and supporters of the great society to which this Institution belongs,

ye

Look upon the step thus taken as one of advance in the career of your denomination, and be prepared to continue your support to it, and patronage of it, in that spirit. It is an enlargement of the means of preparation for promoting its prosperity. Be therefore also enlarged. Aim at great things, expect great things; and God will not put you off with small ones. Permit me to join with you all in saying "Peace be within these walls (consecrated now for the first time, by public worship and praise, for a nobler object than was contemplated in their erection), and prosperity." For my brethren and my companions' sakes I will now say— Peace be within thee.

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