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    is needed a master ' s hand to touch with " power the harp in the human breast , and a roaster ' s , mind to preside over the soul , and fill it with joy or sorrow , hope or fear , as the oecasion may require . Who can effect these great objects that is constitutionally defective in moral enthusiasm ? It is flame that kindles flame .

    lo feeling only does feeling respond . He that would awaken the affections oFothers must rTimself possess The nobleTancl ^ purer passions of our nature . What folly , then , to dedicate to the pulpit at an age when the moral powers are all but dormant , when the passions lie unfolded , when at best but a few , and those faint , a few glimmerings of the character are seen ! Who does not see

    what a risk is run of devoting to the service of the altar meu who might have been of the greatest service where probity or mental industry , where a skill almost mechanical , or the humbler labours of the body , were the chief qualities required ? No , it is a pitiable mistake to set apart for the ministry any but such as God has touched with the finer and intenser emotions , who know not on

    any subject what indifference is , who have kindness blended with their whole moral frame and mental vitality as the actuating principle of their lives . The power of felicitously expressing one's thoughts would seem to be rather a gift of nature than the result of discipline ; for a striking and efficient style of composition men are certainly more indebted tonative aptitudes than to self-cultivation . Even the devotional feelings originally vary in each

    individual , not merely in force but in delicacy and elevation . Surely , then , with all the actual variety we see around us , we are admonished not to dedicate our children to the ministry till we have learned what are the leading features of their mind and heart . Who does not act thus in the far less important concerns of business ? Yet the obligation is of tenfold more power in the dedication of a child to the Christian ministry . Yes , as in times of old ,

    whether among the heathen or the chosen people , none but perfect and spotless victims were offered on the altar ^ bf sacrifice ; so should we choose those whom heaven has most highly and richly endowed to express our gratitude for its bounties , our zeal for its service , to stand between God and man as mediators to stay his anger and conciliate their obedience , to set forth truth in somewhat of its native power , and to make it lovely and attractive while they invest it with the glowing energy of their own minds .

    It is before all things desirable that the choice of the ministry should * be made , not by others , but by the person himself who is to enter on its functions . What on this point is the language of men's conduct in regard to secular pursuits ? F m ' not the ctestina ^ tion of your son till an age when he is capable of judging for himself . If you wish him to enter on business with that earnestness and industry which are the best guarantees of success , let him , as far as possible , make his own choice ; aid him with your knowledge ; and advise , but-let the act of election be his own . Is

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    . THE TBUTH TELLE& . 163

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    M 2

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 1, 1833, page 163, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2615/page/3/