on earth—_they_ declared the whole, perfectly and infallibly; but other ministers, however faithful they are, must not say so, it is an error; but what the Lord has taught you, that you can declare, even the truth as contained in the grand doctrines of the Gospel; the perfections and glories of the divide Jesus, the original ruin and present corruption and misery of man, the spirituality of the holy law of God, the perfect satisfaction of Christ, complete justification by his imputed righteousness, regeneration by the operations of the eternal spirit, spiritual faith and evangelical repentance towards God; love _to_, arising _from_ the knowledge _of_ the adorable Trinity in Unity, the warfare between the flesh and the spirit, the trials of the way, the temptations of the adversary, the strength, light, and comfort afforded us; the stability of the eternal covenant, the depths of divine mercy, the perpetuity of eternal love, with all the happy consequences of these truths in the life, conduct, and the whole conversation. You and I, my brother, are not afraid these great truths will make their possessors careless of their conduct; No, every sin felt and discovered, or the least outbreakings of it, is as a dagger to the heart, a load upon the mind, nor can there be any rest till a fresh manifestation of pardon is felt. We consider the work of the ministry to be the greatest work and the highest honour ever conferred on a poor fallen creature here. To make use of the language of good old Mr. Ryland, here is full scope for fear, hope, gratitude, justice, compassion, zeal, interest, ambition, glory, pleasure, and unbounded fire; rise ambition, rise glory into intense fire, and joy without bounds or end. Reflect, O my soul, what astonishing glory for me to be decreed and ordained by the great Head of the Church, to copy God’s eternal thoughts, to receive the infusions of ideas from all the holy inspired penmen; to be called out of nothing, out of meanness, obscurity, baseness, sin, and misery, to stand in the place and room of the eternal Son of God, to paint his perfections, to blaze abroad his glories about the world, to display the virtue of his blood, and tell of his astonishing death, the grandest action in the empire of God—to express this action in a thousand points of light, to have the most intimate treaties with immortal souls, to do nothing but transact with souls—blood-bought souls; to be an ambassador, an angel, a representative of the Son of God; to be put into his place (in a certain sense) as a preacher, to have commerce with deathless souls, to be inrolled by Christ in this time state amongst the faithful and zealous preachers, and for Christ to value us as dear and important to himself, and to the church. This subject is so great, I scarcely know how to write it, but so interesting, I must send you a line or two more. What a glory to revive gospel doctrines, to display Christ’s glory, and to raise