down a stick and cast it into the water also, which brought it up again; so the Lord appoints that his ministers should dive deep into tribulations to bring out his dear elect people. These pens are used to write charges and sentences. So Peter charged the blood of Christ to the consciences of his hearers; and Paul declares if the Gospel be hid, be it hid to them that are lost. The Saviour said whatsoever they bind on earth should be bound in heaven. Pens are used to write on subjects of consolation, pardons, and promises, and these glad tidings we are to proclaim to the broken and contrite hearts of God’s people; these must be held in his hands and used at his pleasure to accomplish his good will of purpose and promise. These must in time be wore out and laid aside, affecting thought, yet glorious prospect. Your Fathers, where are they, and do the Prophets live for ever? Death worketh in us, but life in you, as candles that waste away their bodies in giving light to others. This the Prophet saw in the vision of Cherubims, when they stood they let down their wings. I have often admired the wisdom of God in the qualifications of his dear ministers. Let not one minister envy, oppose or speak against another, every one will and must do his own work; they can never do the work of another. Here I must introduce a beautiful though simple, yet just and candid remark of Mr. Huntington, in his book called the Qualifications of a Minister, page 316. “The Lord’s army in London is marshalled in three ranks; there are some professing nobility and gentry; these being learned, God sends gentlemen of eminent learning to preach to them:—the second rank consists chiefly of mechanics of good education, and God sends mechanics to preach to them: the third battallion consists of servants, journeyman, a great number of old chair women, together with some scavengers, lamp-lighters, and hod-men.” Now, you and I must be standard bearers to this battallion of light infantry, and we are protected by the same laws, fight under the same banner, and are no less beloved of the same king; our temporal pay may be less, put perhaps our spiritual pay is more. “Ye are our epistle written on our hearts,” the paper on which these things are written. Christ and his word are the writing; the Apostle says it is the heart; I will write my laws on their hearts;—hence the prayer, Lord have mercy upon us and write all these thy laws on our hearts we beseech thee? The first law wrote on the heart is the moral law; this is sent home to shew us our sin and danger, to point out our state, and make us feel our guilt. By the law is the knowledge of sin; I had not known it but for the law; under this tuition we are, till Jesus proclaims liberty from its curse and bondage, then we are at liberty to serve him as sons and not as slaves, in imputed righteousness, in the spirit of holiness and in filial fear. This is the