To draw mankind to heaven by gentleness
And good example, was his business.
But if that any one were obstinate,
Whether he were of high or low estate,
Him would he sharply check with alter'd mien;
A better parson there was nowhere seen.
He paid no court to pomps and reverence,
Nor spiced his conscience at his soul's expense;
But Jesus' love, which owns no pride or pelf,

He taught but first he followed it himself.-Chaucer. This should be the motto of every clergyman: "Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed."2 COR. vi. 3.

I would express him simple, grave, sincere;
In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain,
And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste,
And natural in gesture; much impressed
Himself as conscious of his awful charge,
And anxious mainly that the flock he fed
Might feel it too; affectionate in look,
And tender in address, as well becomes
A messenger of grace to guilty men.
Behold the picture! Is it like ?—Cowper.

Is it still true that

'Tis the curse of service;

Preferment goes by letter and affection?

Stand up cheerily-speak up manfully-leave off speedily.
A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year;
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,

Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change, his place!
Unskilful he to fawn or seek for power

By doctrine fashioned to the varying hour;
For other aims his heart had learned to prize,
More bent to raise the wretched than to rise.
In . . . duty prompt at every call,

He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt for all;

Allured to brighter worlds and led the way.
At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorned the venerable place;
Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway,
And fools who came to scoff, remained to pray.

Labour in the word and doctrine. Be the minister at all times.

Conscience.

CONSCIENCE is God's vice-gerent in the soul; the oracle of God; the pulse of reason; the sense of right; index, vindex, judex.

Conscience comes from con, with, and scio, I know-is not merely that which I know with some other—that other knower is God.

A good conscience possesses freedom from the guilt of sin, and peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ; it is at first purged and perpetually kept pure by the flowing of the stream of that fountain which was opened for sin and for uncleanness.

A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body; it preserves a constant serenity within us, and more than counteracts all the calamities and afflictions which can possibly befall us.

If I take care to keep a good conscience I may leave it to God to take care of my good name. I must take care that God is with me in every purpose and action of my life. If I keep my conscience pure God will be my continual defence.

Conscience can only be a safe guide when enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and directed by the Holy Scriptures.

He that will not hearken to the warnings of conscience must feel the woundings of conscience.

No man has ever offended his own conscience, but first or last it was revenged upon him for it.

Conscience is never dilatory in her warnings.

Oh! conscience, conscience, man's most faithful friend,
Him canst thou comfort, ease, relieve, defend;

But if he will thy friendly checks forego,

Thou art, oh! woe for me, his deadliest foe.

Remorse of conscience is like an old wound; a man is in no condition to fight under such circumstances. The pain abates his vigour and takes up too much of his attention.

Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind,

The thief doth fear each bush an officer.

Those only who are truly wise, and none but those, who are universally conscientious.

What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he arm'd that hath his quarrel just;
And he but naked (tho' lock'd up in steel),
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.

The consciousness of innocence forms our best security.

True conscious honour is to feel no sin :

He's arm'd without who's innocent within :

Be this thy screen and this thy wall of brass.

When we act against our conscience we become the destroyers of our own peace.

Many a lash in the dark doth conscience give the wicked.

He that loses his conscience has nothing left that is worth keeping.

God hath a witness to His truth in every man's bosom.

Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all.

Conscience is larger than our enemies;

Knows more accusers with more nicety.

For a large conscience is all one,
And signifies the same as none.

Conscience is a bosom friend or bosom fury.

Be mine that silent calm repast,
A conscience cheerful to the last :
That tree which bears immortal fruit,
Without a canker at the root;

That friend which never fails the just

When other friends desert their trust.

I must, like St. Paul, "exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men." I must take care that it be not "defiled" (TITUS i. 15); not “seared" (1 TIM. iv. 2); but that it be "good" (1 TIM. i. 19); "pure" (1 TIM. iii. 9); sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ (HEB. ix. 14 and x. 22). Then I may be able to say:

I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities,

A still and quiet conscience.

Consistency.

WITHOUT Consistency there is no moral strength.

Either be what thou seemest, or else be what thou art.
The world should see what master we serve.

One ill act of a good man may be of more pernicious consequence to others than twenty of a wicked man.

A true Christian may fall into sin, but he will not lie down in it.

He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prays. I must take care that it is never said of me: He is a good man, perhaps, but he is a very hard man."

An atheist being asked by a Christian professor, “How can you quiet your conscience in so desperate a state?" replied, Just as you do yours. Did I believe what you profess I should think no diligence, no care, no zeal enough.'

What should the children of light have to do with the works of darkness? Should Christians walk according to the flesh who are by Christ their Redeemer regenerate, and born anew according to the Spirit? Alexander ordered that the Grecians and the barbarians should be no longer distinguished by garments; but let Grecians, said he, be known by their virtues and barbarians by their vices. Christians should be known by Christian behaviour.

We must not put asunder what God hath joined togethergood learning and good living, faith and works.

We must, to be consistent, take God's promises for time as well as for eternity. If then we believe God's declarations, is it not most manifest that the illiberal man impoverishes himself and deprives himself of innumerable blessings? He pays dearly for his savings.

Juvenal wrote: "You should live virtuously for many reasons, but particularly on this account, that you may be able to despise the tongues of your domestics. The tongue is the worst part of a bad servant."

It was the boast of Cicero that his philosophical studies had never interfered with the services he owed to the Republic, and that he had only dedicated to them the hours which others give to their walks, their repasts, and their pleasures.

Why did Plato severely condemn Homer (for borrowing) and yet imitate him?

Plato, called by Clement of Alexandria the Moses of Athens, by Arnobius the philosopher of the Christians, by Cicero the god of philosophers, has been accused of envy, lying, avarice, and robbery.

Horace gives this advice to the tragic poet: "Let the characters you delineate be consistent and uniform throughout."

O si sic omnia! O that all his actions had been equally consistent !

Should I like to hear any one say of me, "He is a kind-hearted Christian man-but on the lucus a non lucendo principle?" No, verily, for that means he is a hard-hearted hypocrite. (A grove is in Latin called lucus, a place resplendent with light, and is derived from lucere, to shine, because the rays of the sun are supposed rarely to penetrate through its foliage. Lucus a non lucendo-a grove, a place resplendent with light, from not shining.) Christians, children of the light, should walk as children of the light, and not as children of darkness.

"Is such a man a Christian"? was asked of Whitefield. "How should I know? I never lived with him," was the impressive

answer.

Heraclitus says that an ass would prefer hay to gold, the reason being that he is an ass.

Consistency, like the principle of gravitation which regulates the motion of the planetary system, is that ingredient in human character which harmonizes every quality of the mind, and preserves in unison principles and feelings which, however excellent and lovely in themselves, from having no point of contact, would render the mind of their possessor a chaos, and exert an irregular and contradictory influence on his habits of action. The want of consistency has caused more secret uneasiness and more relative discord than almost any other failing connected with a man's character.