The Virginian

Rev. Mr. Irving and the Christian Ministry.—Extract from the charge of the Rev. Mr. Irving to the Rev. Hugh Maclean, at his recent ordination, at the Scotch Church, London Wall: "Oh, if thou grow rich—oh, if thou shouldst die rich, I will be ashamed of thee.— Look at the hard hearts of rich men: look at their vain self-importance; look at their contempt of Christ, and pray, oh, earnestly pray, to be kept from that great snare. Thy cloak and thy parchments, brother—that is, thy decent apparel and thy books—be these thy riches, & thou canst speak out against, mammon, and tell these men of thousands and tens of thousands, whom thou art surrounded with, what they should do with their treasures. If thou spare them God will not spare thee. I give it thee in charge this day, that thou reprove them and their accumulations sharply. Keep thou hospitality. Show thou to the lordly prelates what the word Bishop meaneth. Show thou to substantial citizens what the word hospitality meaneth. Show thou to rich men what the word charity meaneth, and to all what faith meaneth. Go thou out as poor a man as thou came in, and let them bury thee when thou diest. And if God should bless thee with a wife and children, but put no money in the bank for them, but write prayers in the word of the Book of Life. Be this thy bank of faith: be this thy exchange, even the Providence of God: and let the lords of thy treasury be the prophets and the apostles who wept before thee."