vant he is, and to the people of the Lord committed to his care. These are things, Christians, worthy of our most serious consideration. For if either we, or you, are wanting to our duty in this respect, the consequence will be sad and dreadful. If we, as Christ's ministers, are not faithful to our trust, and if you, as our charge, are not careful to hear and obey us, for our Master's sake, we must both of us expect the wrath of God at the great day of recompence. I. You shall therefore first hear what it is to be a faithful steward of the mysteries of God; and then you will see whether as such we ought to be accounted of; that is, thought worthy of esteem. 18.] Now our first business, as ministers of Christ, is, to endeavour to turn men from darkness to light, and from the [Acts 26. power of Satan unto God;" that is, to convince all such as are disposed to hear the truth, that by nature they are the children of wrath, enemies to God and goodness; that they bring into the world with them the seeds of all manner of sin and wickedness, which, if not restrained by the grace of God, will fill them full of all iniquity, and bring them to destruction both of soul and body. They are further to be convinced, that "except a man be [John 3. 5.] born of water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." That this is what Jesus Christ Himself has declared, to the end that men, being awakened into a sense of the danger they are in while they are unconverted, may strive to 66 recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, 2 Tim. 2. who are taken captive by him at his will." 26. Now the ordinary means which God makes use of to convert sinners is, by the ministry of the Word preached and applied to the consciences of men. "How shall they hear," Rom. 10. 14. saith St. Paul, "without a preacher?" And who they are that are commissioned to preach the Word, you will hear from our Lord Himself: "Go ye," saith He, "and teach all Matt. 28. nations; and lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." I am with you, that is, Jesus Christ is with us, by His Spirit, and by His blessing: with whom? Why, with His Apostles, and their lawful successors, as long as the world shall last. 19, 20. SERM. This is the first part of our commission as ministers of Christ. II. The next is, to baptize your children; that is, to admit them into the covenant of grace, into the Church of Christ, which is His house and family, by which they are made members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven; that is, they have hereby a right to call God their Father; they have a right to the forgiveness of their sins upon their true repentance; they have a right to the assistance of God's Holy Spirit, to the ministry and charge of His holy angels, and to the joys of paradise when they die. They have, I say, a right to all these blessings, by being baptized by the lawful stewards of the mysteries of God; for this is one of the mysteries committed by Christ to His ministers, and to them only. And a mystery indeed it is, that so many blessings should be the effects of so ordinary a ceremony, performed by a mortal man like ourselves. But so God has appointed; and we have great reason to be thankful, that our gracious God has given us a right to eternal happiness upon such easy terms. I say a right; for we may forfeit our title to heaven, if we are not careful to live as becomes the children of God. III. And this brings us to another duty, and burden upon a minister of Christ; and that is, to fit your children for confirmation. For indeed parents, too many of them, are so little concerned for their children's eternal welfare, that the greater part, even of Christians, would not know why they came into the world, if the ministers of Christ were not obliged, before they bring persons to be confirmed, to take care they be instructed in the necessary knowledge and duties of Christianity; to convince them of the advantage of beginning betimes to be serious, before sin and hell get the dominion over them; to instruct them in the duties belonging to them as Christians in every state of life unto which it shall please God to call them; to shew them the dangers they are like to meet with, and how to escape them; the enemies they have to strive with, and how to overcome them. Whoever is not instructed in these things does not know what it is to be a Christian; what his duty is in this world, nor what will become of him when he dies. And those parents have a sad account to make, who do not even compel their children to come to be instructed, that being convinced of the necessity either of leading an holy life, or of being for ever undone, they may dedicate themselves to God betimes; that, being under the guidance and protection of His Holy Spirit, they may be secure from fear of evil, while they continue to make use of the means of grace which God has ordained. IV. For our merciful Lord, knowing the weakness of our nature, has appointed certain outward ordinances, which if we observe as He has directed, we may certainly depend upon the pardon of our sins, and greater degrees of light to know our duty, and of grace and strength to perform it. The chief of these ordinances is that of THE LORD'S SUPPER, appointed to keep up the remembrance of Christ's death, by which alone we obtain the forgiveness of our sins. And this is another of the mysteries which Christ has committed to His ministers, to be communicated to all the orderly members of His family. And a very great charge, God knows, they have upon them, with regard to this mystery, lest, for want of care to instruct the ignorant, for want of concern to admonish the negligent, and for want of courage to repel the profane, they suffer any to eat and drink their own damnation, not considering the Lord's body. V. And this brings us to consider another duty incumbent upon the ministers of Christ, and that is, to exercise a godly discipline, without which the Church of Christ, which ought to be holy and without blemish, would become the contempt of unbelievers. Our duty therefore is, to rebuke gainsayers, to reprove all such as hold the truth in unrighteousness, to let careless and obstinate sinners know plainly whither their wicked ways will lead them at the last; and in the meantime, until they shall give tokens of repentance and amendment, to deny them the ordinary means of grace, because they render themselves unworthy of them; and finally, if they continue impenitent, to turn them out of the Church, which is the house of God, that being reduced into the state of heathens, without hope, and without promises, they may be awakened SERM. into a sense of the danger they are in, and by a timely repentance, recover themselves out of the snare of the devil. XC. And this, by the way, is the true end of excommunication, and Church discipline, where it is rightly administered. To turn wicked men out of Christ's family, as the prodigal in the Gospel left his father's house, until being forced to feed with swine, and weary of such a life, they may with him remember the blessing of being under the government of a tender father, and with him return with words of sorrow and Luke 15.19. repentance: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants." And then the ministers of Christ, with joyful hearts, and with the compassion of a father, are ready to receive them again into God's household and family. And they have authority from their great Matt. 18.18. Master so to do. "Whatsoever," saith He, "ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." A power very great indeed; but not too great for God to give, or mortal men, having authority from God, to execute. And happy it is for sinners, that there is room left for a return (with the prodigal) to their father's house; that there are persons appointed to receive them, and to restore them to the favour of God, which they had forfeited by their disobe dience to His laws. And let men account this a mercy or not; of the ministers of Christ, (who are intrusted with His power,) whether they esteem them or no, this will one day be found true: that such as are, by the just sentence of the ministers of Christ, shut out of His Church, will be shut out of heaven; and such as upon their true repentance are received into the Church, will be received into God's favour. "God," saith 2 Cor. 5. 18. St. Paul, "God hath given to us this ministry of recon ciliation." All men being subject to sin; and to sin unpardoned an awakened conscience being an insupportable burden and torment, our merciful Lord "has given power and com mandment to His ministers, to declare and pronounce to His people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins;" that is, they are in the first place to convince men of the nature and danger of sin; and that it can never be forgiven but by a true repentance; then they are to shew them in what true repentance consists; namely, in forsaking of sin, in turning to God, and in bringing forth fruits answerable to amendment of life. It is then the duty of the minister of Christ to examine whether there appear such marks of a true repentance; and if there do, to absolve him in the name, and by the authority, of Jesus Christ. It was just thus under the law, with respect to leprosy. None could cure that sort inflicted by the hand of God for some great sin, but God only. And His priests alone were the judges thereof; that is, when a person was healed, and fit to be received into the congregation of Israel, which was a type or figure of heaven,-as you will find set down at large in the thirteenth chapter of Leviticus. VII. Lastly; the ministers of Christ have another duty incumbent upon them, and that is, to visit their flocks in the times of sickness and affliction, to instruct them how to receive the chastening of the Lord to their present and eternal advantage; to exhort them to do justice to all men before it be too late; to be charitable both in giving and forgiving; to have a stedfast faith and hope in the promises of the Gospel; and, if their lives have been unblameable, or if by a timely repentance they have forsaken their evil ways, to give them comfortable hopes of salvation; to pray for them, and, if their consciences are burdened, to take their confession, and, upon examining the truth of their repentance, to give them absolution. These are some of the duties which a minister of Christ is obliged to perform towards his flock, besides the constant duties of preaching and offering up daily prayers for a blessing upon your persons, upon your labours, and upon your children; for the pardon of your sins; for the graces you stand in need of; and for your everlasting happiness. VIII. And now let us look back to the text, and to the Apostle's advice: "Let a man so account of us, as of the |