ll of patience and pity for the ignorant and the evil and the
out of the way, then His sincere-hearted minister is of all men the very
man to carry the divine message of forgiveness and instruction to such
sinners. Yes, Mr. Bain must have seen Sincere closely and in a clear
light when he took down this fine feature of his character, that he is at
once candid and considerate--with a whole face of mingled expressiveness
and strength.

Writing about sincerity and a right intention in young ministers, old
Drexilius says: 'When I turn to clergymen, I would have sighs and groans
to speak for me. For, alas! I am afraid that there be found some which
come into the ministry, not that they may obtain a holy office in which
to spend their life, but for worse ends. To enter the ministry with a
naughty intention is to come straight to destruction. Let no minister
think at any time of a better living, but only at all times of a holier
life. Wherefore, O ministers and spiritual men, consider and take heed.
There can be no safe guide to your office but a right, sincere, pure
intention. Whosoever cometh to it with any other conduct or companion
must either return to his former state of life, or here he shall
certainly perish . . . What is more commendable in a religious man than
to be always in action and to be exercised one while in teaching the
ignorant, another while in comforting such as are troubled in mind,
sometimes in making sermons, and sometimes in admonishing the sick? But
with what secret malignity doth a wrong intention insinuate itself into
these very actions that are the most religious! For ofttimes we desire
nothing else but to be doing. We desire to become public, not that we
may profit many, but because we have not learned how to be private. We
seek for divers employments, not that we may avoid idleness, but that we
may come into people's knowledge. We despise a small number of hearers,
and such as are poor, simple, and rustical, and let fly our endeavours at
more eminent chairs, though not in apparent pursuit; all which is the
plain argument of a corrupt intention. O ye that wait upon religion, O
ministers of God, this is to sell most transcendent wares at a very low
rate--nay, this is to cast them, and yourselves too, into the fire.'

There are some outstanding temptations to insincerity in some ministers
that must be pointed out here. (1) Ministers with a warm rhetorical
temperament are beset continuall