To another friend he urges the following request:

"As I have it now in prospect to enter the ministry let me solicit an interest in your prayers. Pray that I may, indeed, be willing to forsake all, and follow Christ; that I may be meek and lowly; a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, and giving to every one a portion in due season; that I may, as 'before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word; be instant in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and doctrine;' that I may be blameless, not a novice lifted up with pride; that I may hold the mystery of faith in a pure conscience, and be holy in heart and in life, a child of God, without rebuke.”

To a young friend, who had entered on a preparatory course of study a little time before him, he unfolds himself with much freedom.

"You having entered on your studies for the ministry, and I having the same thing in prospect, we ought to unite in grateful acknowledgments to the Lord, that he has given us a desire for this service. We are told by an inspired apostle, that 'he who desireth the office of a bishop, desireth a good work.' On asking myself what reason I have to believe that the Lord has called me to preach the Gospel, I reply: My desire has continued for a considerable time, and has been strong. My wish is to glorify God, and be useful to my fellow men. Providence has, in a clear manner, opened the way for me Far be it from me to take this holy office

on myself, unless I am 'called of God, as was Aaron.' But the time seems to have arrived, when I ought to go and prepare for preaching the Gospel. During my preparation, and through life, I expect to meet with trials. Those of a minister are, often, of no ordinary kind. But as are his trials, so will be his joys, if indeed he has pure and undefiled religion. This is, above all things, necessary. And as 'God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble,' how important is it that we should cultivate humility. He that exalteth himself shall be abased, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted'—exalted to fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ; and in being made a fit temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In prospect of this, I have felt.willing to be poor. If I can only be useful, it will be enough for me. But selfdenial is indispensable for a minister: may I be willing to deny myself, and take up my cross!

"I feel desirous to go to my work, and to be about my Master's business. But I must be detained here a while longer. When I am awake, my mind is at all times on this subject. My relish for business is gone, and I shall not feel that I am in the right place, until I am at my studies. When that time shall come, I hope that I may so improve in virtue and knowledge, that I shall glorify God, and meet the expectations of my friends.

"My Christian brother, permit me to request that you communicate with me as you may find time; and as you are older in religion than I am, I shall look to you to give me such advice as may aid my growth in grace. As we have a common Lord, are aiming at the same heaven, amidst the same difficulties and dangers,

let us bear each other on the heart, when we go to a throne of grace."

In another letter to the same friend, he speaks of the long time to be employed in preparation for the ministry; and expresses the hope that he might be useful while prosecuting his studies. To this he adds a sentiment of very great value to all who are preparing for the ministry. It seems that he had expected, on entering his course, that he should enjoy the fullest opportunities of reading the Bible, meditation, and prayer in secret. But better information convinced him that so many hours would be occupied every day in literary and scientific pursuits, that very little time would remain for those delightful employments. He therefore resolved to carry religion as fully as possible into his studies; and daily engage in them, with the thought that thus he might be rendered useful in the vineyard of the Lord.

His purposes and resolutions in relation to those who might be his fellow-students, also show the true spirit of christian prudence and benevolence. To the same friend he writes after this manner:-"I hope that those with whom we shall associate, will be of the right cast; and that we shall be very cautious with whom we form intimate connections. But let us, by the meekness of our temper and the kindness of our deportment, by devotedness to the cause of our Redeemer, and the earnestness of our wishes to promote the real happiness of those around us, interest them in us and gain their affections. Let the saying of Paul be our motto, 'Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.'"

Shortly after the date of this letter, he joined the academy at Lawrenceville, under charge of the Rev. Isaac V. Brown, and began his preparatory studies. The reader cannot but have remarked the earnestness of his desire to enter the ministry; the singleness of his motives in desiring the sacred office; and the grateful joy manifested, when Providence rendered plain the way for him to begin his studies. With the utmost alacrity he left an employment which promised wealth, and all the consideration in the world which wealth insures, and devoted himself to the service of the church, with the expectation of being poor and laboring hard during his whole life. In all this, however, there was none of the rashness of a young enthusiast, but the deliberate self-denial of a true Christian. He adopted no plan, he took no step without first consulting his parents and most judicious friends, and obtaining their approbation.

At the age of nineteen he was willing to sit down to a course of eight years' study, that he might be qualified for usefulness, and, in some measure at least, prepared to meet the awful responsibilities of the ministerial office. These responsibilities he deeply felt⚫ and while he most earnestly desired to be a preacher of the Gospel, he was too conscientious and too prudent to rush into it without that mental discipline, and that culture of the heart which would, in his own deliberate judgment, justify him in going forward as a teacher of others.

He who teaches religion, has to teach persons of all classes the master spirits of the nation, who expect justness and force of thought, propriety of language, enlarged and liberal views, united with "the meek

ness of heavenly wisdom:"—and the uninstructed poor, who need that the truth should be set forth in terms so clear and familiar, that they cannot be mistaken. The man of real learning alone is able to perform this service. Accustomed to investigation, he arranges his thoughts in a natural order; habituated to the search after truth, he employs words with precision; and knowing how greatly the energy of language is increased by simplicity, he uses "great plainness of speech." Whereas, the untaught and the half taught foolishly imagine that they are great and profound, in proportion as they are unintelligible. The most eloquent men whom I have ever known, such as Patrick Henry and John Randolph, among statesmen ; and James Waddell and James Turner, among preachers, were remarkable for the simplicity of their manner and the perfect intelligibleness of their language. They made every one, learned and rude, feel their intellectual power.* The art consists mainly in setting the subject so plainly and distinctly before the people, that every one shall think that he can see it himself. But it requires much intellectual discipline to enable a public speaker to do this.

It deserves also to be remarked, that James Brainerd Taylor did not rely for evidence of a call to the minis

* An old soldier of the revolution told me, that in some severe encounter during the war, his commanding officer, perceiving that his men, though fighting bravely, were overshooting the enemy, in his peculiar slang cried out, "shin them, boys! shin them!" and at the very first fire after this command, the advancing column of British grenadiers wavered and reeled, and was very soon entirely broken. Let the soldier of the cross imitate the example-let him fire low