r in any other sphere or calling than the Gospel ministry, but I do
affirm that the ambition for worldly gains and worldly honors is
sluicing the very heart of God's Church, and drawing out to-day much of
the Church's best blood in their greedy outlets. And I fearlessly
declare that when the most splendid talent has reached the loftiest
round on the ladder of promotion, that round is many rungs lower than a
pulpit in which a consecrated tongue proclaims a living Christianity to
a dying world. What Lord Eldon from the bar, what Webster from the
Senate-chamber, what Sir Walter Scott from the realms of romance, what
Darwin from the field of science, what monarch from Wall Street or
Lombard Street can carry his laurels or his gold up to the judgment seat
and say, "These are my joy and crown?" The laurels and the gold will be
dust--ashes. But if so humble a servant of Jesus Christ as your pastor
can ever point to the gathered flock arrayed in white before the
celestial throne, then he may say, "What is my hope, or joy, or crown of
rejoicing. Are not even ye in the presence of Christ at His coming?"

Good friends, I have told you what aspirations led me to the pulpit as a
place in which to serve my Master; and I thank Christ, the Lord, for
putting me into the ministry. The forty-four years I have spent in that
office have been unspeakably happy. Many a far better man has not been
as happy from causes beyond control. He may have had to contend with
feeble health as I never have; or a despondent temperament, as I never
have; or have struggled to maintain a large household on a slender
purse; he may have been placed in a stubborn field, where the Gospel was
shattered to pieces on flinty hearts. From all such trials a kind
Providence has delivered your pastor.

My ministry began in a very small church. For that I am thankful. Let no
young minister covet a large parish at the outset. The clock that is not
content to strike one will never strike twelve. In that little parish
at Burlington, N.J., I had opportunity for the two most valuable studies
for any minister--God's Book and individual hearts. My next call was to
organize and serve an infant church in Trenton, N.J., and for that I am
thankful. Laying the foundation of a new church affords capital tuition
in spiritual masonry, and the walls of that church have stood firm and
solid for forty years. The crowning mercy of my Trenton ministry was
this, that one Sunday while I was wa