of their lives, by their knowledge, their faith, and their prudence, are capable of sustaining its weight: " Nor let any one take this honour to himself," says the Apostle, " but he that is called by God as Aaron was." [1] This call from God we recognise, in that of the lawful ministers of his Church. Of those, who would arrogantly obtrude themselves into the sanctuary, the Lord has said: " I sent not the prophets, and yet they ran:" [2] such sacrilegious intruders bring the greatest misery on them selves, and the heaviest calamities on the Church of God. [3] But as in every undertaking the end proposed is of the highest im portance, (when the end is good, every thing proceeds well) the candidate for the ministry should first of all be admonished to propose to himself no motive unworthy of so exalted a station; an admonition which demands particular attention in these our days, when the faithful are but too unmindful of its spirit: there are those who aspire to the priesthood with a view to secure to themselves a livelihood, who, like worldlings in matters of trade or commerce, look to nothing but sordid self. True, the natural and divine law command, that to use the words of the Apostle, " he that serves the altar, should live by the altar;" [4] but to approach the altar for gain, this indeed were a sacrilege of the blackest die. Others there are whom a love of honours, and a spirit of ambition conduct to the altar; others whom the gold of the sanctuary attracts; and of this we require no other proof than that they have no idea of embracing the ecclesiastical state unless preferred to some rich ecclesiastical benefice. These are they whom the Lord denounces as " hire lings," [5] who, to use the words of Ezekiel, " feed themselves, and not the sheep." [6] Their turpitude and profligacy have not only tarnished the lustre and degraded the dignity of the sacerdotal character in the eyes of the faithful, but the priesthood brings to them in its train the same rewards which the Apostleship brought to Judas eternal perdition.
But they who, in obedience to the legitimate call of God, undertake the priestly office, solely with a view to promote his glory, are truly said " to enter by the door." The obligation of promoting his glory is not confined to them alone; for this were all men created this the faithful in particular, consecrated, as they have been, by baptism to God, should promote with their whole hearts, their whole souls, and with all their strength. Not enough, therefore, that the candidate for holy orders propose to himself to seek in all things the glory of God, a duty common alike to all men, and particularly incumbent on the faithful: he must also be resolved to serve God in holiness and righteousness, in the particular sphere in which his ministry is to be exercised. As in an army, all obey the command of the general, whilst amongst them some hold the place of colonel, some of captain, and others, stations of subordinate rank: so in
