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Heb 13.17; Gal 4.19; Eph 4.13. The following interesting and accurate sketch will touch many a chord of Ministerial sympathy. ‘How beautiful and holy in all its perfectness of obligation is the spiritual connexion, which subsists between a faithful Minister of Christ and the flock which he is appointed to feed with the pure word of God! How many are the methods by which that bond of affection may be more closely drawn! How various are the ways in which a faithful and vigilant Pastor may apply himself to the conscience of men and promote their spiritual welfare; administering instruction, reproof, consolation; “becoming all things to all men, that he might by all means save some;” always on the watch for opportunities of seasonably interposing the great truths and warnings of the gospel; anxiously alive to the symptoms of religious improvement in his flock; and looking at that, as his strong encouragement and rich reward! He experiences many an anxious care for the welfare of those who are endeared to him by the sacred sympathies of spiritual affinity; many a sorrow for failures in which the world thinks he has no interest; many a joy also for blessings which he alone perceives descending upon the heads of those whom he loves in the Lord. And such a shepherd is not without recompence, even in this world: “the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” Such, my brethren, were the Apostles; such were the first pastors and teachers of the church of Christ; such have been many holy fathers of that church, who imbibed the true spirit of that gospel which it is intended to uphold and propagate; and in proportion as all its Ministers, by the aid of that spirit which is promised to them as an abiding and sanctifying Spirit, can assimilate themselves to that perfect model of self-devotedness and disinterestedness, of ardent zeal for the salvation of mankind, and of singleness of intention, as preachers of the gospel only;—in that proportion they will be “burning and shining lights” to illuminate and purify the world; and in that proportion the kingdom of Christ on earth will be set forward, and his great designs of mercy carried on towards their accomplishment.’ Bishop Blomfield’s Lectures on the Acts, pp. 114-116. Another beautiful sketch maybe found in the Bishop of Winchester’s Primary Charge, pp. 56-58.