the work of the gospel; eminent in zeal for the house of God; eminent for that holy fortitude, which made him so cheerfully hazard his life in the cause of Christ. "What mean ye,” said he to his friends, on a certain occasion, "to weep, and to. break mine heart, for I am ready, not to be bound only, but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." He had, however, nothing save what he received, and nothing more than he needed. He was carried through his work as all the Lord's servants then were, and still are, by daily communications of strength from on high; and, therefore, he owns himself a debtor to mercy, as much, or more, than his brethren. "Seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not." Communications of grace are made to some saints more abundantly than to others; but those who have least shall not perish in the way; he who gathereth the lambs with his arm, and carrieth them in his bosom, will bring them safe to glory, "a bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench," and those who have most will find, on many occasions, that they have use for it all.

The Corinthians were, as many still are, disposed to make light of the ministry of reconciliation, on account of the suffering state and mean appearance of those employed in it. Therefore, the apostle in the preceding chapter shows them, that the glory which attended the proclamation of the law at Sinai, was in no wise so great as that of the New Testament Church. The former was the ministration of death; by the law was the knowledge of sin, and from the law issued wrath to devour the transgressors; but that in which he and his brethren were employed, was the ministry of reconciliation; by the gospel was the knowledge of Christ the Saviour, "in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."

When the law was proclaimed, the thunders, the lightnings, the dark cloud, the voice of the trumpet waxing louder and louder, the burning mountain, and the earthquake were so terrible, that all the people trembled, and Moses himself said, I exceedingly fear and quake. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of Mount Sinai, in the eyes of the children of Israel, an emblem of the wrath which will consume the breakers of that law. The gospel speaks better things. The sum of it is: "That God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;" and that "he hath sent forth his son, made of a

woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

The law being weak through the flesh, the holy commandment stirring up the enmity of the corrupt heart against God, it revived sin; it could not take it away. Had not salvation, through the Messiah, been made known in the promise, and held forth in the types and shadows of the Old Testament dispensation, the law published at Sinai would have profited Israel nothing. Believers at that time fled from it (as they still do) to Christ; expecting salvation, not through their obedience to the precept, but through the grace manifested in the promise.

The law was wrote and engraved on stones, at Sinai; but in the more glorious ministration of the spirit, it is wrote and engraved on the hearts of men. The former writing perished; the latter endures for ever.

Terror and darkness attended the ministry of Moses; his face indeed shone, but the children of Israel could not look upon it. This light filled them with dread; and it had no sanctifying influence upon them. They continued to murmur, rebel, and go astray; but the light of the glory of God, shining in the person and mediation of Jesus Christ, is not a terror to us, it is our life, and our salvation. The Old Testament saints enjoyed the dawning of it. Abraham saw the day of Christ in the sure signs of the morning, "and was glad," and so likewise did all who in those early ages were partakers of like precious faith with him. Now the day is broke; the shadows are fled away: and the Son of righteousness is risen with healing in his wings. "We all" says the apostle, "with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord." Therefore, adds he, seeing we have this ministry, which is so glorious, committed to us, we find life to ourselves in the word which we preach to others, and are upheld by that mercy which in the name of the Lord we proclaim to all the wretched, and poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked. We are not only messengers to tell others of the Lord's goodness, but we are monuments of it ourselves; "troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed."

This text leads us to speak, first, of the ministry of the gos pel, next, of the peculiar trials which usually attend those who are employed in it, and lastly, of the mercy which preserves them from fainting.

I. Head, concerning this ministry, these things may be observed:

1. That none may enter into it unless they are called of God. "How shall they preach unless they be sent." We must avoid those who, through presumption, or through delusion, or through both, take upon themselves an office which was never given to them. It will be alleged by some, that many truths may be taught by such persons. It may be so. Satan, in the blackness of hell, would terrify men: transformed into an angel of light, he deceives them. The murderer never attempts to administer poison by itself; he mixeth it with that which would otherwise be wholesome food. They who deal in false money, send it not abroad in their own name; they counterfeit the true coin; and the more nearly their base mettle resembles this, it answers their purpose so much the better. The persons of whom we speak would deceive none, if every thing about them was visibly bad. They come in sheep's clothing, but wolves they are, and in the spirit of wolves do they enter in among the flock. It is enough to us, that the Lord hath said, "I sent them not, neither commanded them, therefore they shall not profit this people at all." They who have this ministry, have it by a commission from the head of the church, from whom they also receive mercy to uphold them in it.

2. They have the Lord's call to this ministry, who, after due trial of their abitities, are set apart to it by the courts of his house, acting in his name. An immediate call from God is not now to be expected. After the New Testament church was formed, and directions given how it was to be supplied with pastors and teachers, this was no longer necessary. Those ordained by Timothy and Titus, had no other call to the ministry than we now have; their fitness for the work was tried, and they were set apart to it, "by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery." Timothy was ordained in this manner himself. One person, for the sake of order, must preside in such ordinations, as Paul seems to have done in that of Timothy; but there is no reason to suppose that this work was in those times performed by any person alone. Ordination by a Presbytery constitutes one a minister of the Catholic or Universal church. The call of the people is necessary to constitute him the minister of a particular congregation. It is the consolation of them who are faithful in God's house, that they are employed in the work to which he called them, and in the place to which he sent them.

3. The Lord endues those whom he calls to this ministry,

with talents necessary for it. It is required of them that are stewards in his house, that they be faithful, and wise, and tender towards his children, giving them their meat in due season. A divine skill is necessary in ministers of the gospel, that they may rightly divide the word of truth. They must be able by sound doctrine, both "to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle toward all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves;" he ought to be "an example of believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, and in purity; to give attendance to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine," devoting himself wholly, his time, his talents, his heart to this work. According to the appointed order, the trial of men's endowments for the ministry of the gospel, is to be made by them who have the oversight of the flock; and the trial of the fitness of any one to labor in a particular congregation, is to be left to the members of it, so far as that no one is to be fixed among them, but in consequence of their calling him to that charge. The most able, and the most upright of those who have been employed in this ministry, have such affecting evidences of their own weakness before their eyes, and such an impression of the weight of the work, that they are often afraid to enter upon it; and sometimes doubtful whether they ought to continue in it. But it is wisely ordered, that none are left to judge for themselves in this matter. If it was not so, many who have been eminently useful in the church, would have been, as to any public service lost to it; and it would have been ruined by selfconceited persons, from very unworthy motives, thrusting themselves into the place of teachers. To such indeed a great door is opened in this land. The most part are either careless, and altogether despise the ordinances of Christ; or being led away by the spirit of error, they have itching ears, and after their own lusts heap up to themselves teachers: they will not endure sound doctrine; but are ever ready to hear the instruction which causeth to err. It is no uncommon thing among us to find persons pretending an extraordinary or immediate call to the ministry, while the reason of this pretence is nothing else than the want of ordinary qualifications for it. They are ignorant of the languages in which the holy scriptures were written, and unacquainted with the most common, and most useful parts of learning, and destitute of every endowment necessary to qualify them for the office of the ministry. They cannot teach that which they have not yet learned. They know they have no abilities which will abide a

proper trial, and therefore blasphemously affirm, that in their case none is necessary: Somewhat like that anti-christian synagogue to which they are allied; when it was no longer able to defend its abominations, it assumed new impudence, and endeavored to end all disputes by asserting its own infalli bility. It is to be lamented, that the word of God should be so abused as it is among us by the daring presumption of these deceivers, of whom we now speak. They may amuse people by empty declamation; they cannot edify them by wholesome instruction. If a Greek or Roman author translated into our language, was thus abused and perverted by ignorant and false expositions, the world would cry out against it, as an insult to them, and to a work worthy of better treatment: but the abuse, and perversion of the sacred oracles is a light matter, or even a matter of scorn in this sinful genera.

tion.

4. The wisdom and glory of God is displayed in the committing of this ministry to men of like passions, with those to whom they are sent. We are not in this state fit for an immediate intercourse with the world of spirits. Therefore the Lord speaks to us by messengers, whose terror need not make us afraid, by messengers who themselves need that salvation' they preach to others, and by messengers in whose weakness his strength is made perfect. By reason of our blindness, we sometimes give the praise to men which is due to God alone; if Angels had been employed in the ministry of the gospel, we would have been still less able to distinguish between the servant and his Lord, between the instrument and the Almighty hand working by it. God has taken some of our rebellious family, and sent them to tell the rest, that they have destroyed themselves, but in him is their help; that he hath set forth his eternal and well-beloved Son, to be a propitiation through faith in his blood; that he will not reject the vilest of the vile, who come to him through this only mediator between God and men; that though they are by nature all unwilling, yet he will draw his chosen with the cords of love; and that all they lost in the first Adam, shall be restored with advantage in the second Adam, the Lord from heaven. Thus by instruments which appear contemptible in the eyes of the world, and who are in themselves most unworthy of such honorable employment, he destroys the kingdom of Satan, raiseth up the building of mercy, and brings sinners out of the depths of wretchedness; from the sorrows of death to reign in life by Christ, and with Christ for ever and ever. We are weak indeed, but we serve him who is King of Kings. and