world. Many are heads of families who, by neglect of
the daily worship of God, of religious instruction, and by other
unchristian conduct, ruin the same.

Boast not of the great man's settled abode, boast not of to-morrow, for
thou knowest not what a day may bring forth; how suddenly may disaster
and death pluck him up by the roots! The rich fathers, where are they?
Do the nobles live forever? Shall their dwelling continue to all
generations? How often, in a few years, the rich inheritance changes its
master, while the race of the poor hovers about the same spot for many
generations! What if the cottager attend more to gospel ministrations,
in one year, than the rich in forty! what if, removing at next term, he
carry his beloved pastor in his heart, and by effectual fervent prayers,
availing much, by multiplied groanings that cannot be uttered, he bring
manifold blessings on the parish and ministry which he leaves; while
your rich man, if wicked, if of the too common stamp, continues in it,
for no better purpose than to distress the faithful pastor, corrupt the
people, bring down a curse, and cumber the ground! The great man bears
the load of the stipend no more than the poorest cottager. He purchased
his estate with this burden upon it, and on that account had its price
proportionally abated. Suppose it were otherwise, might not a poor
widow's _two mites_ be more in Jesus' account than all he gives? Will
we, with the Samaritan sorcerer, indulge the thought that the _gifts of
God_, the spiritual privileges of his Church, _are to be purchased with
money_? For money to erect the church or defray the benefice we must
not, with the infamous traitor, betray the Son of God in his church--his
ordinance, his ministry, into the hands of sinners to be crucified.

It is in vain to mention the civil law: the very worst statute thereof,
relative to the point in hand, indirectly supposes the consent of the
congregation. It leaves to the presbytery the full power to judge
whether the presentee is fit for that charge. If the congregation
generally oppose, with what candor do the presbytery, in Jesus' name,
determine that he is fit? The last statute relative hereto declared the
presentation void, unless accepted. Nor is there in being any, but the
_law of sin and death_ within them, the law of itch after worldly gain,
that obliges candidates to accept. How unmanly, how disingenuous, to
blame the civil law with the present course of int