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 ig norant 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

Lord of Lords. Most gladly therefore will we rather glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on us.

5. The efficacy of this ministry depends not on grace in them to whom it is committed, but on the power and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, accompanying their administrations. Men whose hearts are not right with God, but whose wickedness lies hid from the church, may have a regular call to the ministry, and the truths of the gospel preached by them may be attended with the divine blessing, though they themselves have no part nor lot in it. It is God who giveth the increase. There was ONE Judas among the apostles, to show, that for holy and wise ends, the Lord may employ such as he, and but ONE to show, that he does not commonly employ such persons as his messengers to the church. Some after being for a time employed in this ministry, by falling into damnable heresies, or into habitual wickedness of life, have manifested themselves to have been always in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity; like Judas, who did not change as to his heart, but only as to his outward appearance; our Lord declaring concerning him at his best, that he then was what he afterwards proved himself to be. "Have I not chosen you twelve," said he to the apostles, "and one of you is a devil." Yet the word of God, preached by such is not rendered of none effect through their wickedness. It may still be the power of God unto salvation. None can have more need of the grace of God implanted in them, than those who preach it to others; and none ought to be employed in the ministry, unless they have what may in the judgment of charity be reckoned good evidences of it. A graceless ministry are the ruin of the church, they are cold, they are careless, they are time-servers, they are not steadfast in the profession of the faith; their heart is not engaged in the Lord's work; nor can they divide his word with that spiritual wisdom, or speak with that true zeal in his cause, as they would do if their fellowship was with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. But that the virtue of gospel ordinances proceeds from those who administer them, or depends upon their piety and good intentions, is a popish doctrine, designed to magnify the ministers of Antichrist, and make void the grace of God; it is contrary to the scripture, and condemned as such by the Protestant churches. Ministers of the gospel may as well as others be tossed with sad fears as to their own interest in Christ. It would be hard indeed if they might not preach him to others, till they were fully resolved in a question which may be often very difficult for them to determine.

People are often at a loss to know whether they are in Christ themselves; sad and endless would their perplexity be, if they were under the necessity of being certain as to the state of a minister, ere they could know whether he had the Lord's call to preach the gospel to them, and whether they might expect a blessing to attend the word spoken by him.

6. The Lord's flock can never be absolutely deprived of this ministry. Some of them may be scattered into places where the joyful sound of it is not heard, others of them may attend on it at the peril of their lives, but he who gave it will not take it away till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto what we have not yet attained, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The scaffolding, if we may so speak, will not be taken down till the building of mercy is finished. The servants and witnesses of Jesus Christ, may prophesy in sackcloth; they shall not be silent; they may be slain; but the spirit of life from God shall again enter into them. The candlestick may be removed, the light shall not be extinguished. The Lord in righteous judgment may take gospel ordinances away from a sinful nation, from a people laden with iniquity as we are, but these ordinances shall not cease. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, Christ's "seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven." The Lord has a tender regard to the congregation of his poor. He may rebuke them, and try them, and teach them the value of their privileges, by very afflicting dispensations, which threaten the loss of these altogether; but he will not forget them forever. "I will," saith he, "give you pastors according to mine own heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." The commission given to the apostles, extends to the end of time. They were not any more than the prophets to live forever; but the promise respects them as living in their successors. "Go," said our Lord, "and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo I am with you alway, even to the end of the world."

II. Head, concerning the peculiar trials which attend this ministry.

This ministry sits very light on many who profess to be employed in it. They enter into it without fear, continue in it without care, and end their days in it without remembering that they ought to watch for souls as those who must give an account. Robbers come in, not by the door, and enrich