Yesterday evening the Rev. John Eggleston, President of the Australasian Wesleyan Conference, delivered the annual sermon to a large congregation of members of that church, and to the ministers of the Conference. The address, which was given after the celebration of the usual service, was founded on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, the 2nd chapter, and the 14th and following verses:

" Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ." (II Corinthians 2:14-17)

The reverend gentleman prefaced by stating that the language of this text afforded some very interesting views of the ministerial character and the variation attached to that character. He appealed to the great success with which the preaching of the Gospel had been attended, and the labors of its ministers had been crowned. Their course presented the appearance of a military triumph, and at the same time gave strong views of ministerial responsibility and cheering views of ministerial success.

It was customary in ancient times for great conquerors to have military triumphs decreed to them. They rode in state through the city, and their intimate friends sat with them in the chariot, while the populace crowded to greet them with applause and strewed the paths which they traversed with flowers. The principal of the captives that had been taken followed the victor's triumphal progress bound in chains, it might be to suffer death, or it might be to be released at the close of the day so that the rich perfume from which they passed might to one be as the savour of life, to the other as that of death.

This figure could be justly employed to illustrate the triumph of our Redeemer. He had overcome death and ascended to a throne on high. By the power of his gospel the progress of the doctrine of the Cross was being spread throughout the world. The advance of truth might well be represented as a military triumph. He (the minister) then deduced from the text some powerful ideas of ministerial responsibility; firstly, the interest with which Jehovah regarded the ministerial character. The exercise of that character was compared to the rising of sweet incense. It was associated with the principles of Christ's redeeming mercy. The great design of the Gospel was to exhibit to man the extent of Christ's sacrifice and the boundless love of God; to attract the souls of men to where the Redeemer presented himself, bearing the sacrificial scars; and as the means of carrying out those great objects God had appointed the ministry.

If to the ministry had been given these important duties, the pressing of salvation on mankind, what need was there to wonder at the interest displayed by God in the ministry? We need not surely wonder at such display of interest in the instruments chosen by him for the discharge of his work. Without that interest, deprived of that notice from their heavenly Father, their endeavors would fall fruitless to the ground. Referring to the Son of God leaving the bosom of his Father, he desired his audience to follow their Redeemer's course as he descended to this lower world, to view his agonising sufferings and hear his cries, and to remember that the love which did not hesitate at such a sacrifice as that was still deeply interested in the accomplishment of the purpose for which the Son of God had suffered. While thinking of these things it was the duty of ministers to see that they properly represented them to their people, the properly exhibit Christ crucified to the respective congregations entrusted to their care.

The Apostle Paul referred to the fact that God had accounted him faithful, putting him in the ministry; and those qualities, zeal for God, love for immortal souls, concern to extend the kingdom of the divine Redeemer, which had distinguished Paul, should ever be preserved on the altar of the heart, and should ever stimulate their efforts.

The chapter which had been read that evening illustrated what they were now considering, in the language of that chapter, the ministry was represented as performing the functions of that office under the immediate inspection of God. This was a solemn thing. If the commission were granted from the throne of God, it could not be trifled with. It was not a personal matter. He might still continue in a profession or in trade, but he could not choose as to the sphere to which he would consecrate his days.

Was the Christian ministry an embassy? if so, their ministers called must abide by their credentials; they must preach the Word; that Word must be the sole material of their ministration. They must not alter or withhold any part of the truth, but they must abide by the sacred volume. This fact reminded him of ministerial responsibility to become fully acquainted with that sacred volume; to so study the manners and customs of the nations referred to in it as to be able fully to comprehend all its allusions. The vital points of the Scripture were sufficiently clear for the meanest comprehension to grasp; but if ministers were standing in the sight of God to exercise their functions, with what care ought that fact to impress them.

Pursuing the subject of ministerial responsibility, he referred to the importance the Gospel exerted upon humanity. Mankind were dead in trespass and sin, and the word of life was sent to them. If they had the truth made manifest to them, there must be either rejection, which involved a fearful punishment, or embracing, which conferred great present pleasure and untold future bliss. Let them think of life, - of heaven, - of the provision made for the exercise of their high faculties, of the enjoyment provided by Jehovah for the inhabitants of his blessed abode, and remember that all their congregations might gaze upon and partake of these pleasures. Let them also think of the contrary, that all who did not get that would be plunged into an abyss of woe, a place of incalculable torment. He recommended them to read the description of that place in faith, - the faith that would seek to realise to itself the agonies of those who were shrieking in it; to picture to itself the shoreless and fathomless eternity he alluded to.

Let them remember, that they had to do with souls, and with eternity; that Heaven or Hell, life or death, would be the portion of those committed to their charge. Let them think of their congregations' solicitations to evil, the temptations to which they were exposed, and they would feel that they were in a condition to demand every attention their ministers could possibly afford to them. Under such circumstances they need not wonder that such strong terms were used to designate and describe ministerial responsibility. The watchman guarding the city from hostile attack, the sentinel pacing his round with ceaseless vigilance, the physician searching for and remedying all the attacks of disease, open or secret, every figure that included individual responsibility of a grave nature, seemed to be employed in the sacred volume to describe ministerial responsibility.

He must not, however, dwell upon that point longer. He wished also to glance briefly at ministerial successes. In a further portion of the text, what a record was to be found of successes. It seemed that the hearers of the Apostles had cast their guilty souls on the word atonement. The Apostles hinted that in every place their ministry had been followed by great success. Where must they look for these great successes! Large congregations were not always signs of the prosperity of the Church. They might have large congregations without those successes. Finances in a prosperous state were not always a sign of success. They must look for the successes referred to in the apostolic writings to prayerful communion with God. If they read the apostolic epistles they would find this dependence upon prayer fully acknowledged. There seemed to be a close connection between closet and public work.

Who could read the Apostle Paul without discovering a prayerful dependence? To every church to which he wrote he desired to be remembered in their prayers. He endeavored to find out at all times the exact state of every church, and to lay that state before God in prayer. They need not wonder that such frequent and earnest appeals to God were rewarded with success. Christ himself was accustomed to resort to secret prayer. All the distinguished ministers of the Church had been noted for the time they had employed in prayer. If they wished to meet with success in their ministerial efforts, let them pray fervently and frequently, and let them tell their congregations that they relied upon them also to assist in prayer. A prayerless congregation was an incubus. He further urged the importance of reliance under all conditions and by all classes on prayer.

Fidelity of trust appeared to be another idea suggested by the text. The apostle exhorted them to preach the Word. There were certain aspects that suited certain circumstances of men, and these aspects must be brought to bear when they were adapted. In the older times there were men who endeavored to mix up the Word with the false philosophy of the period, but fearful consequences had ensued for centuries, and no sooner was the truth preached simply than it spread far and wide. Simplicity of aim - Jehovah looked at the aim they had. If that aim was the conversion of souls, God would point out the truths to select, and enable them to use those truths effectually. The Apostle seemed to be charged with a message from God direct. If the responsibility for rightly appropriating the truth for the advantage of their congregations lay so heavy upon ministers, a portion of responsibility also fell upon the congregations committed to their charge. Oh that they might be fully impressed with the importance of this, and live in the enjoyment of the truth!

He concluded his eloquent and impressive discourse by wishing that both ministers and people might at the last appear in the enjoyment of the blessings of the Gospel.