Prayer for Ministers:
James Dodson
A
SERMON,
PREACHED IN DUNDEE, ON SABBATH,
OCTOBER 16, 1836,
ON OCCASION OF THE INTRODUCTION
OF THE
REV. THOMAS MACINDOE,
TO THE
PASTORAL CHARGE
OF THE
REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
OF THAT TOWN.
BY THE
REV. PETER MACINDOE, M.A.,
CHIRNSIDE.
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.
BERWICK-UPON-TWEED:
PRINTED BY THOMAS RMASAY, AT THE WARDEN OFFICE,
57, HIGH STREET.
1837.
TO THE
MINISTER, ELDERS, AND OTHER MEMBERS
OF THE
REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,
DUNDEE,
THIS SERMON,
PUBLISHED BY THEIR UNITED, EARNEST, AND REPEATED REQUEST,
IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.
PRAYER FOR MINISTERS.
A SERMON.
II. THESSAL. III. 1.
“BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US, THAT THE WORD OF THE LORD
MAY HAVE FREE COURSE AND BE GLORIFIED.”
On a spacious plain, bounded by the Thracian frontier on the one side, and washed by the Egean sea on the other, stood Thessalonica, the metropolis of Macedonia. Rebuilt by Philip, father of Alexander the Great, this city received its distinctive name, in honour of a brilliant victory, which he had, shortly before, obtained over the Thessalians. That it was a place of considerable eminence, even among the towns then flourishing in various parts of Greece, is more than probable, both from the references which ancient authors make to its magnificence, and from the ruins which still arrest the eye and excite the admiration of travelers
It was in the fifty-second year of our Lord, that the standard of the cross was planted on the ramparts of Thessalonica, by the hands of Paul, accredited ambassador to the Gentiles. On passing along its streets, or looking into its archives, he might, doubtless, have discovered many things well fitted to interest his curiosity, and gratify his imagination. There were memorials of the splendid victories and martial honours of its celebrated founder. There were schools of learning, over which distinguished masters presided, and from which many promising youths proceeded. There were choice specimens of the fine arts, so successfully cultivated by the ancient Greeks, and so generally admired by the surrounding nations—architecture, sculpture, poetry, and painting. There was the unceasing hum of business, in which all ranks of the inhabitants were anxiously engaged, and from which chiefly they derived their riches, and their honours, their strength, and their renown. Nor was it necessary that the Apostle should be an indifferent spectator of these things. No good reason can be assigned why a Minister or a Missionary, of cultivated mind and refined taste, should shut his eyes to the beauties of nature, or the wonders of art—to the lights of science, or the charms of literature. Still there was one object of far loftier importance, and of far deeper interest, that engaged his generous feelings, and engrossed his great powers—the conversion of the inhabitants to God. For this he had come among them, under the direction of his Divine master, and in obedience to the Holy Spirit. To this he forthwith devoted himself, with an ardour which no difficulties could extinguish, and with an intrepidity which no dangers could subdue; nor did he ever think of retiring from the perilous scene, till the lawless violence of the populace, and the temporising policy of the magistrates placed his life in the greatest danger, and compelled him, in compliance with the command of his Lord, to flee into another city, till the storm of persecution should blow over.
It is pleasing to observe the signal success, with which it pleased God to crown his labours among the Thessalonians. He had preached but three Sabbaths in the synagogue of the Jews, when, we are informed, “some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.” (Acts, xvii. 1, 4.) And such was the rapidity with which the Gospel was spread among them, and such the eminence to which the piety and holiness of believers rose, in the course of a few months, that he could not repress the fervent gratitude he felt, and the benevolent pleasure he enjoyed, on their account. “We give thanks to God always for you all,” he exclaims, “making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.” “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the word of God, which effectually worketh in you that believe. What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” (I. Thess. i. 2. 3. 5. ii. 13. 19.) Nor is his opinion of them lowered, when, after the lapse of two years, he is employed to write them a second epistle. With unabated satisfaction and thankfulness he feels himself constrained to declare—“We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth: so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience, and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure.” (II. Epist. i. 3. 4.)
Such was the ardent and elevated piety of the Thessalonian believers, at the time when the Apostle requested an interest in their prayers, for the success of his ministrations. Nor was his appeal to such Christians likely to prove ineffectual. Had they been either cold formalists, or indolent believers, it would have been vain to expect from them a service so spiritual and so disinterested. Those who cannot pray for themselves, except in the most lifeless manner, will be little inclined to pray for others with affectionate earnestness. Even those to whom they are under the greatest obligations—those who sacrifice their time, their strength, their substance, perhaps their health, to the great work of promoting their eternal welfare—they are apt to treat with unbecoming indifference. But far different is the conduct of those upon whom God has poured out a spirit of prayer, like that which distinguished the Christians of Thessalonica. They cannot approach the Throne of Grace for themselves, without affectionately remembering the Pastor under whose superintendence they have placed themselves, and by whose ministrations they are desirous of being profited. Whether they consider the sacred relation in which they stand to him, or the debt of gratitude they owe him, or his insufficiency for the arduous trust he has received, or the necessity of spiritual influence from heaven to the success of the Gospel which he preaches, they are equally prompted to be fervent and frequent, particular and persevering, in their intercessions with God for his personal welfare and his public usefulness.
Permit me, then, on an occasion so interesting to your best feelings, to lay before you a few thoughts on a subject not in appropriate to your present circumstances. Without attempting to discuss each topic fully, we would speak (I), Of the duty required of the members of Churches—praying for their ministers; (II), Of the things connected with ministerial success, for which they should pray; and, (III), Of the great object they should strive by their prayers to promote—“that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified.”
PART I.
PRAYER FOR THE MINISTERS OF RELIGION.
This is a religious service, the institution of which might naturally have been expected from the infinite benevolence, the boundless compassion of God. Certain it is, He has assigned all other classes of men, even in the most diversified community, an interest in this great privilege. The poor and the rich, the illiterate and the educated, the afflicted and the healthy, the citizen and the monarch, all are to be embraced in our supplications to Him who is no respecter of persons, who loves every creature he has formed, and whose tender mercies are over all his works. Speaking in the Apostle, he says, “I exhort that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men: for kings and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”( I. Tim. ii. 1–4.) Now, can we suppose, in consistency with His merciful character and His gracious designs, that no prayers have been appointed for the teachers of religion? Can we imagine that, while He has put them into an office which imposes arduous duties, requires superior qualifications, and involves heavy responsibilities, He has provided for them no place in the intercessions of their people? No; we cannot indulge such a thought, without banishing from our bosoms some of the holiest principles which we have embraced, and blotting out from His character some of the brightest features by which it is distinguished.
But happily we are not left to learn this privilege, so highly appreciated, and so earnestly desired, by all the ministers of Christ, from inferential reasoning. The Spirit of God addresses the members of Churches in direct commands, expressed in the strongest language, and urged with the greatest fervency. “Now, I beseech you, brethren,” says the Apostle to the Church at Rome, “for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.” (Rom. xv. 30–32.) Addressing the Church at Ephesus, he places among its duties, “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance, and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the Gospel.” (Ephes. vi. 18–19.) In similar terms he exhorts the believing Colossians to “continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; withal, praying also for us, that God would open to us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds; that I might make it manifest as I ought to speak.” (Coloss. iv. 2–4.) Nor, when he is reminding the Hebrews of the duties they owe to “them that have the rule over them, and that watch for their souls, as they that must give an account,” does he fail to renew the exhortation: “Pray for us, for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. And I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.” (Heb. xiii. 18–19.) In short, no duty is exhibited in a stronger light, or inculcated with deeper earnestness, by the Holy Spirit, in the sacred writings, than that of which I am now speaking.
Accordingly, we learn from history, that all evangelical churches, in their purest periods, have been distinguished by a spirit of fervent prayer for their pastors. We are not anxious to look into their conduct, in this respect, during the times of deep degeneracy which they have experienced. Then a dark picture presents itself. Every where we see the laity either bewildered amid the delusions of superstition or involved in the labyrinths of scepticism; while the clergy, sharing in the general corruption, seem more concerned about their pecuniary emoluments, and their political honours, than either the particular interest of their flocks or the general improvement of society. But it is not their practice, during such seasons, that we are required to follow. It is only when their example coincides with the requisitions of the divine law, and has received the sanction of the divine approbation, that it has any claim on our imitation. Now, in those better times, when the power of religion was most conspicuous, and the fruits of righteousness were most abundant, praying for ministers eminently distinguished Christians. This was the case in the Apostolic age, in the succeeding centuries, when the Gospel was spread with remarkable rapidity, and during those memorable years when the Reformation advanced, with rapid strides, over many countries. It was the case, likewise, among those small bodies of faithful disciples who flourished in the dark ages, as the Albigenses, the Waldenses, and the Lollards—those humble churches, which were honoured as the nurseries of vital religion and of moral worth, while all around were involved in the gross darkness, and grievous delusions, and debasing rites, of the Papacy. In our own church, too—not to speak of others in which much good has been done—this was a striking feature in former times, as the older members often declare. Then very few admitted into her communion would, on any occasion, have thought of praying for themselves, without presenting special petitions for those whose faithful ministrations they were enjoying. With what earnestness did such intercessions ascend from the domestic altar, which then stood in every dwelling, and from the numerous praying societies into which every congregation was divided. We trust the laudable practice is still kept up, in all our congregations, with exemplary consistency. We are quite confident it is, among all who are careful to maintain a spirit of devotion in their own bosoms, and are zealous for the diffusion of true religion and the salvation of immortal souls, by ministerial agency.
Prayer for ministers is an instrument of good which all believers are capable of employing. From a large proportion of them, no doubt, God has been pleased to withhold other means of usefulness, of a much more imposing character. He has withheld riches; and, however benevolent their wishes, they cannot contribute much, either to the support of religious ordinances in the congregations of which they are members, or to the dissemination of the Gospel among the inhabitants of unenlightened lands. He has withheld education; and, however pious their feelings, they want those cultivated powers and those liberal acquirements which are so eminently desirable in all that aspire to the ministerial office. He has withheld power; and, however exemplary they are in the narrow circle in which they move, they have not the commanding influence necessary to carry their principles into active operation among the higher classes, and in the decision of important public questions. He has, perhaps, withheld health; and, however deep the interest they feel in the progress of the Redeemer’s kingdom on earth, they cannot take an active part either in promoting schemes of local improvement, or in managing societies founded for the spread of religion in foreign parts. But though he has withheld these and similar means of doing good, he has not rendered them utterly useless. He has endowed them with the spirit of prayer—a mean of usefulness which they are capable of using with energy, in whatever circumstances they are placed. Even though they are despised and reproached, destitute and afflicted, they are not prohibited from approaching the throne of grace; nor are their petitions the less acceptable to the hearer of prayer, that they are expressed in the simplest phrases and offered from the humblest cottages.
Nor should it be forgotten that prayer, by a religious people, on behalf of their minister, is an instrument of great power. In itself, indeed, it is but the act of poor, feeble, unworthy creatures. It is an exercise to which no value is attached, and on which no applause is bestowed, by superficial observers. But God has invested it with infinite importance, and with astonishing power, as the means of drawing down from him self all promised blessings. He has taught us to expect, that events of the greatest moment may be effected, and blessings of the greatest value procured, by its instrumentality. “This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (John, i. 14, 15.-iii. 22.-James, v. 16.), Be persuaded, then, my hearers, to avail yourselves of this mighty instrument. While you use with activity all the other means to which you have access, O, let this obtain that prominence to which it is entitled. “I am convinced that every man who, amidst his serious projects, is apprised of his dependence on God, as completely as that dependence is a fact, will be impelled to pray, and anxious to induce his serious friends to pray, almost every hour. He will as little, without it, promise himself any noble success, as a mariner would expect to reach a distant coast by having his sails spread in a stagnation of the air. It is visionary to expect an unusual success in the human administration of religion, unless there are unusual omens. Now, a most emphatical spirit of prayer would be such an omen; and the individual who should solemnly determine to try its last possible efficacy, might probably find himself becoming a much more prevailing agent in his little sphere. And if the whole, or the greater number, of the disciples of Christianity were, with an earnest, unalterable resolution of each, to combine, that Heaven should not withhold one single influence which the very utmost effort of conspiring and persevering supplication would obtain, it would be a sign that a revolution of the world was at hand.”(Foster.)
PART II.
SOME THINGS WHICH A MINISTER NEEDS, AND FOR WHICH HIS HEARERS SHOULD PRAY, THAT HIS MINISTRATIONS MAY BE SUCCESSFUL.
1. Among these, the first place is due to an increase of spiritual religion in his own mind. In every point of view, this is a matter of inexpressible importance. It is so on his own account, as well as on that of his people. He has an immortal soul to be saved as well as they. He has a glorious eternity to keep before his mind, and to seek with all diligence, no less than they. And it is only by improving the same Saviour in whom they trust, by cultivating the same gracious affections they cherish, and by observing the same private exercises of devotion which they practise, that he can be instrumental in securing his eternal welfare. But his progress in personal piety is valuable, also, on their account; as it augments his capacity of being useful to them in many respects. Indeed, it may be laid down as a general principle, that the more religious a minister becomes, he is the better qualified to preach the gospel with success. It is when he is most watchful in taking heed to himself, that he will be most anxious to feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made him an overseer. It is when he feels the greatest anxiety about his own soul, that he will feel the tenderest compassion for those of others. It is when his own heart has the strongest impressions of “the terror of the Lord,” that he will be most earnest in “persuading” others to fly from the wrath to come. It is when his own soul has the largest enjoyment of the consolations that are in Christ, that he will speak of his glorious excellencies and his gracious benefits, with the greatest freedom. It is when his own heart has been revived and refreshed with the “sweet cordials of the great Physician,” that he is most “able to comfort them who are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith he himself is comforted of God.” In short, the more deeply his own soul is imbued and enlarged with the spirit of religion, the more eminently is he qualified to recommend its blessings with unaffected earnestness; and the more fully he spreads out his own mind under the enlightening and enlivening beams of the “sun of righteousness,” the more likely is he to become, in such an atmosphere, a “burning and a shining light.” With what importunity, then, my hearers, should you beseech God to bestow on your young Pastor growing spirituality of mind. Do not imitate those who lavish all their praises on the talents, the taste, the learning, and the eloquence of their ministers. Seek something more in the discourses you expect than correctness of sentiment, strength of argument, closeness of reasoning, beauty of language, force of description, and gracefulness of manner. Seek the fervour of sincere piety, the unction of true godliness, without which the most captivating eloquence is but “as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” Plead earnestly with God for the growth of his religious feelings, the enlargement of his spiritual views, and the elevation of his gracious affections; persuaded that the more these things abound in him, he will be the more honoured of God in ministering to your edification, comfort, and joy, and in winning more souls to Christ.
2. Direction in his private studies, is another thing which the hearers should pray for to their minister. I now take for granted, that ministers are bound to keep up, during the whole period of their incumbency, the habit of careful study. That they are at liberty to relax their mental efforts the moment they are placed in permanent situations, or as soon as they have accumulated a certain number of discourses, is one of the most pernicious notions they can be guilty of indulging. Who ever rose to eminence in the sacred office, or did much good in the Church of Christ, by acting on this principle? Even the immediate successors of the Apostles, with all the supernatural endowments that distinguished them, were not allowed to spend any portion of their time in actual indolence or in frivolous recreations. “Give attendance to reading;” “ neglect not the gift that is in thee;” “meditate upon these things;” “give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all men;” (I. Tim. iv. 13-15.) such are the exhortations in which they were urged to unwearied activity in the pursuit of scriptural knowledge. How much more necessary is this on the part of those ministers, on whom no more than the ordinary gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit have been bestowed! Whether they consider the variety of subjects on which they ought to be well informed, or the necessity of patient inquiry, before they can surmount the difficulties with which some of them are attended, they feel that they have no time to pass in sloth. No superiority of natural talent, no extent of acquired knowledge, and no facility in the communication of their thoughts by extemporaneous preaching, can warrant them to be idle through the week. They who venture habitually to address their congregations, without having studied the topics upon which they expatiate, are in great danger of doing injustice to the great truths they are sent forth to teach; and they who, instead of adapting their ministrations to the varying necessities of their flocks in the progress of time, continue to read or recite the very same discourses they gave some twenty, or thirty, or forty years ago, are, to say the very least, guilty of trifling with the eternal interests of their neglected, insulted hearers. But then, in the prosecution of their diversified studies, how necessary is the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that they may be successful! How necessary this, to foster in them an affectionate, humble, grateful, submissive, heavenly temper! How necessary, to give a right direction both to the moral feelings with which they are imbued, and to the intellectual faculties with which they are endowed! How necessary, to stimulate and sustain their minds, in the requisite investigations, under all the difficulties, and disappointments, and languors, and afflictions they encounter! How necessary, to open up to their own understandings the sacred mysteries they are to explain and inculcate—to impress on their own hearts the solemn realities they are to teach and recommend! With nothing less will they be satisfied, if they know themselves. While they exert their mental powers to the utmost extent to which they can be stretched; while they draw on the various resources they have accumulated by ardent study during their earlier years; while, as the bee gathers honey from flowers of every field, they collect illustrations and arguments from all the regions of science and literature into which they have been permitted to travel, they can never forget their dependence on the promised illuminations of the Divine Spirit. It is only his teaching that can make them “apt to teach.” It is only in his light they can see light clearly. When his enlightening beams are poured over their minds, waiting to receive them, then do they reach conceptions to which their unaided powers are utterly inadequate, and deliver discourses, with which the finest effusions of unsanctified genius, though clothed in the richest language, and uttered in the most persuasive manner, are not for a moment to be compared. Then can they say, with the Apostle—“We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves, your servants for Christ’s sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” “Now, we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God; which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.” (II. Cor. iv. 5, 6. I. Cor. ii. 12, 13.)
3. Boldness in proclaiming divine truth is no less important and necessary. It is a very instructive fact, that of all the qualifications which the apostle exhorted the members of the primitive churches to pray for to him, this is the one to which he gives the greatest prominence. He does not urge them to supplicate, on his behalf, great learning, captivating eloquence, cultivated taste, popular applause, or any of those adventitious accomplishments which are too often substituted, in modern times, for higher qualifications. But he singles out ministerial boldness as that to which he attaches supreme importance, and of which he was desirous of possessing a liberal portion. Does he request the prayers of the church in Ephesus, it is chiefly that he “may open his mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel”—that he “may speak boldly as he ought to speak.” Does he present a similar request to his brethren of the Colossian Church, it is chiefly that “God would open to him a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which he was also in bonds.” Does he rejoice, that the persecutions that happened to him, in various places, “fell out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel,” it is chiefly because “many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by his bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” And what, let us ask, is the nature of this boldness for which such earnest desires are breathed, and on which such cordial applauses are bestowed? Is it mere volubility of tongue, or flippancy of speech, or gracefulness of delivery? Does it consist in loud speaking, in rapid declamation, in furious invective, or in reckless denunciation? No, my brethren, it is a very different matter. A gift of the Holy Spirit, it includes three things, of the highest importance in every teacher of religion, and even indispensable to the efficient discharge of the ministerial office—great plainness, deep earnestness, moral courage.
Need I remind you how essential to the practical utility of preaching is “great plainness of speech?” (Parresia, II. Cor. iii. 12.). Of what use are the ablest discourses, if they are expressed in words which few of the hearers are capable of understanding? How preposterous to obtrude, on their ears, those technical phrases, those classical allusions, those historical recollections, those abstruse reasonings, those metaphysical distinctions, and those towering flights of imagination, which, however gratifying to a few, are beyond the comprehension of the many Without making the smallest addition to the sum of their intellectual enjoyment, they mar that which is of far greater moment—the progress of their spiritual improvement. With what care, then, should every minister study, and every congregation seek, a style that is at once plain without being homely, and clear without being verbose! Of this the Apostle has furnished an approved example. Though qualified to rival the most celebrated orators of the age in which he lived, in elegance of diction, splendour of imagery, the artificial flowers of rhetoric, and the fascinating charms of eloquence, he preferred, under divine direction, a mode of address much better fitted to reach the understandings, the consciences, and the hearts of those he was sent to instruct. “Christ sent me,” he declares, “not to baptise, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” “In the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.” (I. Cor. i. 17. ii. 4, 5. xiv. 19.)
Nor is earnestness—the second element of ministerial boldness—less necessary to the efficiency of preaching. How shall anyone expect to move others, if he himself is unmoved? A stoical indifference, a languid elocution, a lifeless manner, ill become the function he executes. If he would arrest the attention of the thoughtless on the distinguishing principles of the gospel; if he would awaken the careless from the deep sleep into which they have fallen, to a lively sense of their sins and their dangers; if he would rouse the immoral to abandon the illicit pleasures by which they are debasing and corrupting their minds; if he would effectually persuade the enquiring to fly from the false grounds of confidence that have proved fatal to countless multitudes, to the true foundation that has been laid in Zion—even Jesus Christ—his whole manner must show how deeply his heart is interested in the objects he is striving to promote. Nor are there wanting considerations, every time he enters the pulpit, sufficient to call forth the greatest earnestness in his bosom. When he looks around on the numbers of immortal beings of whose souls he must give an account; when he thinks of the everlasting burnings in hell from which they need deliverance; when he surveys the pre-eminent pleasures of heaven to which they are invited to ascend; when he ponders the sublime truths he has been commissioned to preach, in the name of his ascended Lord, for their salvation; when, in a word, he pictures to himself the bright crown which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to him on the last day, if he shall have proved faithful to the trust committed to him; well may he feel a moral fervour altogether superior to animal excitement and to corporeal gesticulation.
* * * “Much impressed
Himself, as anxious of his awful charge,
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds
May feel it too; Affectionate in look,
And tender in address, as well becomes
A messenger of grace to guilty men.” (Cowper.)
To “divine simplicity” and deep earnestness must be added a due share of moral courage. Without this, no minister is competent to discharge, with fidelity, the duties devolved upon him. A timid, temporising, truckling spirit, ill becomes him who stands forth as an ambassador from the Lord Jesus Christ—“the messenger of truth, the legate of the skies.” In proportion as this capital defect prevails in his addresses, he will only betray the trust he has undertaken, with apparent solemnity. “By his good words and fair speeches, he will deceive the hearts of the simple,” in regard both to their present duties and their eternal interests. He will allow them to go on in their sinful practices, and imaginary security, rather than alarm their fears, or incur their frown, by an unreserved declaration of the whole truth. Nay, cherishing a traitor’s heart, he will see the city on fire, and the enemy at the gates, without venturing to announce to the inhabitants their danger, lest he should disturb their slumbers, and interrupt their revelries. Is this a watchman worthy of occupying one of Zion’s vacant towers, or capable of fulfilling its responsible duties? No, my friends, the watchman, of whom the Lord will approve, must “lift up his voice like a trumpet.” Neither intimidated by frowns, nor seduced by flatteries, he must warn all under his inspection, of the dangers to which they are exposed, of the place of refuge which mercy has provided, and of the strenuous efforts they themselves are required to make, if they would escape destruction. Even though he is assured, that reproaches and losses, bonds and afflictions, await him, he must not shrink from going into any scene of labour into which his Master calls him, or from proclaiming any part of the evangelical message with which he has been entrusted. He must be prepared, by a noble heroism, to say with Paul to all who would dissuade him from his duty—“What mean ye to weep and break my heart? I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” “None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts, xxi. 13, xx. 24.)
4. Our pious hearers will also pray, that we may be supported, comforted, and benefitted in the midst of our afflictions. Perhaps some are ready to ask, “would it not be still better to pray, that we might be entirely exempted from all afflictions? Would we not be more useful to our people, by the uninterrupted enjoyment of health? Would we not be able to do more for their improvement, if we were permitted to move about among them every day, rather than be occasionally shut up in the chamber of sickness, and if we were strengthened to appear in the pulpit every Sabbath, rather than be stretched, at times, on the bed of affliction?” We dare not, my friends, reply to these questions in the affirmative. We are persuaded, it is not conducive to the religious improvement, and the spiritual prosperity either of a minister or of his congregation, that he enjoys entire freedom from paternal chastisement. It is our firm belief, that his qualifications for ministering to their edification and comfort, are not so great as they might be, till he has passed some period in the school of affliction, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit. It is here he will receive lessons superior to any he has ever derived from all the schools of philosophy. It is here he will obtain a deeper insight into the corruptions of his own heart, and the defects of his own character, than the ablest disquisitions on morals have ever taught him. It is here he will acquire such an experience of the happy effects of sanctified trials, and the peculiar consolations of vital religion, as shall fit him to be a judicious counsellor, and a true comforter, of his people in similar troubles. From the scenes of personal and domestic affliction, he will come forth with his views more enlarged, his affections more heavenly, his desires more spiritual, his temper more subdued, his sympathies more tender, his addresses more searching, and his prayers more importunate; and if before, they were ready to admire the depth of his judgment, or the extent of his information, or the power of his eloquence, now they will be impressed still more by the simple effusions of his heart, the persuasive entreaties of affection, and the unwearied importunities of prayer. He will be able to adopt the exclamation of the Apostle, just delivered from some grievous affliction:—“Blessed be God, * * * who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them who are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings, which we also suffer; or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.” (II. Cor. i. 3. 6.)
Are hearers, then, not to pray for the deliverance of their minister from any of the afflictions to which he is subjected by his heavenly Father? Are they to see him suffering under disease, or harassed by anxieties, or assailed by persecutions, without supplicating God to grant him deliverance? Such is, not the doctrine the Scriptures warrant us to teach. When Paul tells the Corinthians of the troubles that came upon him in Asia, he refers to their “helping together by prayer,” (II. Cor. i. 11.) as a means of his deliverance. When Peter was cast into prison, “prayer was made without ceasing, of the church, unto God for him;” (Acts. xii. 5.) and speedily the chains dropped from his hands, the gates flew open of their own accord, and he walked forth to full freedom and increased usefulness. In imitation of such examples, and in compliance with generous feelings, hearers will not hesitate to pray for the deliverance of their minister from any troubles in which he is involved. But there are two other objects of primary importance, to which they will assign a prominent place in their minds, and for which they will present earnest petitions at the throne of grace, before they will ask his deliverance.
The first of these objects is, that God would enable him patiently and cheerfully to endure afflictions, through the whole period of their continuance. It would ill become him to “ despise the chastening of the Lord, or to faint when he is rebuked of Him.” The murmurs of discontent, the sighs of despondency, and the groans of despair, would be peculiarly unbecoming from one who ought to be an example of “suffering affliction and of patience.” But if he would exhibit a pattern of patience under afflictions; if he would “let patience have her perfect work, that he may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing;” if he would “glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed,” he will look higher than his own strength. Believing in the promises of divine succour, suited to the varying exigencies of his condition, he will implore, by fervent prayer, the requisite communications of sovereign grace. Then the Lord will speak to him in compassion: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness,” while he would be enabled to reply with thankfulness—“Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (II. Cor. xii. 9, 10.)
But while the Minister of Christ is supported by the power of divine grace under all his trials, it is not less desirable, that they contribute, by the divine blessing, to his profit. This is the great object for which they are sent. Till this is effected, it is not for his personal improvement, or his official usefulness, that they should be removed. His people, indeed, may regret the interruption of his public labours, and may weep at the thought of the many afflictions under which he suffers ; but who can tell how advantageous to them the consequences may be? From the chamber of sickness, or the house of mourning, he may come forth, more eminently qualified than ever, for directing them in those secret exercises of which he himself has had growing experience, and for animating them with those spiritual consolations with which his own soul has been soothed. They ought, therefore, to beware of impatience for his recovery. Prolonged afflictions may prove more beneficial than even the most perfect health could have been. When he entered the University, some years ago, it was not desirable he should leave it, till the whole course of his academical education was completed. Had he, in a moment of youthful impatience, rushed beyond its walls, ere he had finished the usual term, he could not, this day, have had his taste so cultivated, his judgment so matured, or his memory so enriched. In like manner, when he is introduced into the school of affliction, it is not for his spiritual well-being, or his public usefulness, that he be removed, before the requisite amount of discipline has been administered. His heavenly Father best knows what number of stripes are necessary to correct him for his faults—how many times he must be cast into the furnace before he is purified, as silver and gold, that he may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness—how many trials he must endure “for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”
5. The members of our churches should pray, also, for the promised out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, to render our preaching effectual.
Nothing can be more evident than that the gracious influences of the Divine Spirit are necessary to the success of the gospel. Not even its sublimest truths and richest blessings can effect the great object for which it has been given from heaven, if these are withheld. Without these, the fallen mind can form no spiritual conceptions, nor cherish any gracious affections, nor breathe any heavenly desires | A minister may preach the ablest discourses—discourses enriched with evangelical sentiments, expressed in the fittest terms, and delivered with the greatest earnestness; yet, if they are not accompanied by those influences to the souls of the hearers, no saving impressions will be produced. Hearers may profess to admire the excellence of the thoughts, the elegance of the language, the richness of the illustrations, and the eloquence of the delivery; but they will not turn from their sins, nor relinquish their prejudices, nor resist their passions. They will not embrace, cordially, even the distinguishing doctrines to which they yield an intellectual assent—nor will they engage, cheerfully, even in those religious exercises of which they are ready to express a measured approbation. Nothing less, in short, is sufficient to turn the current of their thoughts towards God, and religion, and heaven, than the irresistible grace of the Holy Spirit. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” “As it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him ; but God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” “It is the Spirit that quickeneth.” (Zech. iv. 6. I. Cor. ii. 9, 10, 14. John, vi. 63.)
What an encouraging circumstance to the minister of Christ, that these necessary influences of the Divine Spirit are so graciously promised, to render effectual his ministrations! He is not sent forth in his own strength. He is not bidden depend on the force of his own arguments, the ingenuity of his own reasonings, the earnestness of his own appeals, or the power of his own eloquence. There is “an interpreter, one among a thousand,” who can search out the deepest secrets of revelation, and who can trace the mazy windings of corruption in the most depraved heart. There is a teacher, superior to all others, who can bring home the most difficult lessons, and the most humiliating truths, of religion, with demonstrative clearness and invincible efficacy. He is promised by the Redeemer. “The Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come.” “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and it shall come to pass, that whosoever will call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (John, xiv. 26. xvi. 13. Acts, ii. 17, 21.)
With what earnestness, then, ought you, my hearers, to pray for the abundant communication of the Holy Spirit along with the faithful preaching of the gospel! As you cannot expect the word of God to become effectual to salvation without the Holy Spirit, so neither can you expect the Holy Spirit without fervent prayer. It is the express appointment of Heaven, that prayers shall be offered for the actual bestowment of this great gift, ere it is granted. Christ has said—“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.” (Luke, xi. 9, 13.) Nor have believers ever asked him, with persevering earnestness, in vain. Scarcely had the disciples presented their joint supplications from an “upper room,” immediately after the ascension of their Lord, when his extraordinary gifts were conferred on his public servants, and his regenerating influences were showered down upon the souls of three thousand. A few days afterwards, “when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness,” “so that believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.” (Acts, iv. 31, v. 14.) In subsequent periods, too, the spirit of believing prayer never prevailed among the followers of Jesus, without being followed by the copious effusion of his gracious influences, the increase of true religion in the churches, and the communication of the gospel to large multitudes, “not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.” Be persuaded, then, my brethren, to employ the urgency of special prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, on the Divine Word, of which you now expect the regular administration. Among all your efforts to extend the interests of true godliness in your respective spheres, and to encourage the heart of your young minister in his arduous labours, do not forget to give a prominent place to this important exercise—this powerful instrument. In vain will you assail the hideous mass of ignorance, and irreligion, and depravity, by argument, by remonstrance, by persuasion, if you are not careful in wielding this spiritual weapon, which is “mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds.” Every time, therefore, you enter into your closets, or kneel in the domestic circles, or are gathered together in your select meetings for mutual improvement in personal religion, let God be witness of the believing, spiritual, persevering importunity with which you entreat Him to put the quickening energy of His Spirit both into the discourses you hear, and into the ordinances you observe.
PART III.
THE OBJECT WHICH BELIEVERS STRIVE TO ADVANCE, BY PRAYING FOR THEIR MINISTER.
According to the text, this object is nothing less than the triumphant progress of the gospel. “That the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified.” This form of expression is evidently borrowed from one of the Olympic games, so famous among the ancient Greeks—the foot-race; and while this classical allusion was well fitted to touch the feelings of every devout Greek in the Thessalonian Church, it served, also, to convey a lively representation of the irresistible progress and ultimate triumph of the Christian religion.
In the foot-race there were, of course, several competitors. In like manner, the word of God has to sustain a vigorous competition with all the false systems which the depravity of man has obtruded on the world. What are idolatry, superstition, and tyranny, Paganism, Mahometanism, Popery, and other forms of error, but so many powerful antagonists, struggling to keep the ground they have long pre-occupied, and to retain the laurels with which they have, surreptitiously, been crowned? But pure Christianity shall, in the end, prove more than a match for them all. Animated by a principle of vitality, of which they are totally destitute, and supported by an arm of omnipotence upon which they are not permitted to lean, it shall continue to advance, till it shall have outstripped all opponents, surmounted all difficulties, and filled “the earth with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
The competitors in the foot-race put off every unnecessary piece of dress, that they might run with the greater freedom. Even the light scarf which they were accustomed to wear, for several years, after the institution of this game, and which was fastened to their bodies by a slender belt, they came, at last, to cast away; so far did emulation prevail over modesty. In like manner ought the gospel to be divested of everything, foreign to itself, that has the least tendency to hinder its progress. When exhibited in unadorned simplicity, it is best fitted to display its peculiar energy, and to win its way into the human heart. To encumber it with a mass of human learning, and to array it in the gorgeous drapery of fine language, is as preposterous as it would have been for a competitor in the Grecian race to put upon his head a crown of gold, or to wrap round his body a robe of velvet.
Like the other games, the foot-race attracted numerous spectators from all parts of Greece. To enable these to get a full view of the contest, the ground on each side of the course was formed into a kind of terrace, on which seats were placed ; and it was no uncommon thing to see many thousands assembled, all deeply interested in the spectacle, and even sharing in the tumult of competition. In like manner, the progress of the gospel over the earth, excites a lively interest in the breasts of all holy intelligences. Pious ministers, who have dedicated themselves to the preaching of its truths, and private Christians, who are anxious that others should enjoy the same spiritual blessings which they themselves have received, are not the only gratified spectators. Myriads of glorified believers and holy angels in heaven also look down with intense interest on the efforts by which it is struggling forward over many obstacles; nor does heaven ever resound with louder joy, than when they see it achieving fresh conquests, acquiring new adherents, and advancing to universal supremacy.
There is another idea very clearly indicated in the phraseology of the text. The Apostle speaks of the word of the Lord not only having free course, but being also “glorified.” Now, here we have a pointed allusion to the honours with which the successful competitors were rewarded. Not only were they greeted with rapturous applauses and loud congratulations, during the progress of the contest: but when it was decided, a fresh burst rent the air, wreaths of evergreens were put upon their heads, and a herald, preceding them, proclaimed their name, their rank, and their country, amid the renewed acclamations of assembled thousands. In like manner, when the Divine word has run its career, over any district, with some measure of success, it is crowned with glory. What are its young and lively converts, its aged and experienced disciples, the flourishing churches it has founded, the scriptural schools it has reared, the benevolent institutions it has originated, and the redeemed souls it has conducted into the heavens, but so many monuments of its moral prowess, of its brilliant victories, and of its enduring triumphs?
But besides explaining the phraseology which the Holy Spirit has employed here, it is proper to enquire, more particularly, when the word of the Lord may be said to have free course and be glorified.
1. It has free course in a Church when it is effectual in the spiritual conversion of sinners to God. This is the chief design for which the revelation of mercy has been granted, and the office of the ministry instituted With nothing less will either ministers or hearers be satisfied, if they indulge sound views and serious feelings. The illumination of the understanding, the amendment of the outward conduct, the adoption of scriptural opinions, and the observance of divine ordinances, will not be deemed sufficient. The actual turning of the heart to God, in confidence, in affection, in gratitude, in penitential grief, in devout submission, in holy wonder, and pious delight, is the only change with which they can feel entire satisfaction. “Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;” (Joel, ii. 12.) this is the homage which God requires. “To turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them who are sanctified,” (Acts, xxvi. 18.) this is the momentous transition which the ministry contemplates. And what is the first prayer of every people penetrated with convictions of their own guilt and apprehensions of the Divine mercy? “Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned.” “Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.” (Lam. v. 21; Psalm lxxx. 7.)
And may not an object of so much importance be expected to occupy a chief place in the thoughts, and labours, and prayers, of every minister? In the particular congregation, or parochial district, over which he is placed, all are not already turned to the Lord. Even of those who give a regular attendance on the administration of religious ordinances, it cannot be said, that all have “received the grace of God in truth.” Nay, even of the more select number who are admitted to those solemn privileges which have been appointed for approved believers, it cannot be alleged, that all are genuine disciples. No: Even in the purest churches, after very great care has been employed, both in the examination of those who seek admission, and in the exclusion of those who fall into gross offences, individuals will be found, who, like some in the primitive churches, cherish none of the gracious feelings they affect, and deserve none of the spiritual privileges they claim. There will thus be, within the sphere of his official duty, and under the eye of his pastoral superintendence, a considerable number entire strangers to the power of converting grace. Now, what is to be done with such? Is he to abandon them, without renewed efforts, to the control of their sinful prejudices and irregular inclinations? Is he to leave them a prey to the delusive errors they have imbibed, to the depraved passions they are indulging, or to the deep sleep into which they have fallen? No, surely. While the longsuffering of God spares them on the earth, amid the lights of Christianity, and the opportunities of religious instruction, he is to persevere in the use of every means, by which he may be instrumental in arousing their slumbering consciences and alarming their guilty fears. Even though the inefficiency of all his previous warnings, and expostulations, and reproofs, and entreaties, is apt to beget despondency, he is to persist in urging upon them the things that belong to their everlasting peace; nor is he warranted to withdraw the trumpet from his mouth, till he sees them summoned from the bed of death to the judgment-seat of Christ. “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.” (Ezekiel, iii. 17.)
2. It has free course when it conducts true “mourners in Zion” to well-grounded consolation—to religious joy. There is no class of hearers more interesting to a minister, or standing more in need of discriminating, judicious, affectionate treatment, than anxious inquirers. Just as we mourn the dangerous condition of those who are cherishing a false peace, so do we rejoice over those who are awakened to a lively sense of their sins, who are bewailing the state of guilt and corruption into which they have fallen, and longing for the enjoyment of pardon and peace to which their bosoms have been long strangers. Oh, that more in our congregations were thus impressed with salutary convictions! Oh, that the deep slumber which has seized on so many were disturbed, even though it should be by the thunders of the violated law, or the afflictive visitations of Providence! Oh, that the loved privacy of our places for study were more frequently broken in upon, by persons trembling under the divine wrath, and enquiring, with painful solicitude, “What shall we do to be saved ?” Such persons we regard as the hopes of the church—as the heirs of heaven. Upon them God himself looks down with peculiar delight. To Him no sacrifices are more pleasing than those of broken hearts and contrite spirits—no sounds more grateful than the sighs and the groans of true penitents, feeling guilt as a burden and corruption as a bondage. In his bosom there “is joy over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” While he “dwells in the holy place, he dwells with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Luke, xv. 7. Isaiah, lvii. 15.)
Now, it is a distinguishing excellence of the gospel, that it conducts anxious enquirers to the true source of peace and consolation. It does not amuse them with the solution of curious questions, or with the discussion of abstract doctrines. It does not restrict them to the observance of religious exercises, or to the performance of moral duties. Neither does it bid them fly to the circles of gay companions, or to the scenes of fashionable amusement. No: it points their attention to various discoveries having a direct bearing on the removal of the very evils which are occasioning all their anxiety. It presents, in actual manifestation, the love of the blessed Trinity towards elect sinners. It presents the Father “ pacified towards them for all that they have done,” by the efficacy of atonement, and inclined to bestow upon them all the blessings essential to their perfect felicity. It presents the Son possessed of the highest qualifications for the office of mediator, which he fills—so exalted, on the one hand, as to secure the glory of all the divine perfections, and so compassionate on the other, as to condescend to the low condition of the vilest transgressors. It presents the Holy Spirit in the interesting character of a comforter, whose office it is to implant gracious principles in their souls, and to pour the balm of spiritual consolation over their hearts. In a word, it offers perfect deliverance from all the evils, on account of which their bosoms are filled with distress, and of which the utmost exertions they could make, could not accomplish the removal. Are they guilty, it proclaims pardon. Are they polluted, it communicates purity. Are they ignorant, it imparts instruction. Are they weak, it offers strength. Are they far from God, it brings them near by the perfect sacrifice of his own son. Are they destitute of a title to heaven, it invests them with the finished righteousness of Jesus, in virtue of which they become heirs of that glorious kingdom. Are they destitute of meetness for celestial enjoyment, it bestows on them that efficacious grace, by which they are purified from all indwelling corruption, and clothed with immaculate holiness. Are they subjected to chastisements from the hand of their Heavenly Father, it tells them of the distinguishing love from which they flow, of the important ends they are intended to accomplish, of the gracious supports with which they are accompanied, and of the glorious pleasures in which they shall terminate. With this in their hearts, well may they say—“Oh Lord, in the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.” “Oh Lord, I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedest me.” “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garment of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels.” (Psal. xciv. 14. Isaiah, xii. 1. lxi. 10.)
3. The Divine Word has free course, when it enables believers to “glory in tribulations.” (Rom. v. 3.)That it has the power of doing so, is evident from the numerous portraits of religious excellence which have been drawn by the pencil of inspiration, and which are preserved in the Scriptures for the instruction and encouragement of all subsequent ages. Look to Abraham. Though in a strange land, suffering many privations and hardships, and surrounded with many scenes of heathen idolatry and superstition, he rejoices in the hope of future happiness in “a better country.” Look to Moses. Though suffering affliction with the people of God, and encountering reproaches for the cause of religion, he feels himself far happier than if he were still encompassed with the treasures, the pleasures, and the splendours of the royal court of Egypt. Look to Job. Though his body be wasted, his effects destroyed, and his children all taken from him by a sudden stroke, he is soothed and satisfied by the prospect of a blessed immortality and a glorious resurrection. Look to Paul. Though involved in troubles sufficient to break down the strongest frame, and to overwhelm the firmest mind, yet has he consolations that raise him to an enviable superiority over his persecutors, and enable him to exclaim—“I am filled with comfort, I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.” Look to the Hebrew Christians. Though subjected to the severest sufferings, even “a great fight of afflictions,” they can take “joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing in themselves, that they have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.” In one word; look to the scattered strangers to whom Peter writes his First Epistle. “Though now, for a season, they are in heaviness through manifold temptations,” yet, in consideration of that Saviour in whom they believe, and of that crown of glory to which they look forward, they “rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.”
And whence comes it, let me ask, that any believer is made to rejoice in his temporal troubles? Not, assuredly, because they are joyous. Not because diseases, and wounds, and disappointments, and sorrows, and reproaches, are in themselves desirable, or of themselves beneficial. For the solution of the question, we are not required to support a notion so utterly untenable. We deem it enough to say, that there are a variety of aspects, under which afflictions may well be regarded by the believer, rather with gratitude than with regret, rather with satisfaction than with sorrow. They may, for instance, have been the means of first directing his attention, with becoming seriousness, to his spiritual condition. So long as he was permitted to enjoy perfect health, to pursue his worldly business, and to experience the full gratification of his natural affections and desires, he was, perhaps, utterly unmindful of the chief duties required of him on earth, and of the high privileges awaiting him in heaven. But no sooner did God see fit to deprive him of those things in which he was trusting for present enjoyment, and by which, as a thick veil, he was hindered from seeing the brighter glories of the eternal world, than he “returned and inquired early after God,” embraced the offer of his mercy, devoted himself to his service, and entered on a religious course, of which he has, ever since, reaped the pleasant fruits. But, supposing afflictions had no influence in producing his first religious convictions, it will not be denied, that they have an important bearing on the progress of his religious improvement. They give him a deeper insight into the evils of his heart, and the defects of his character, than he could otherwise have obtained. They contribute more to the deepening of his humility and penitence, to the growth of his faith, and patience, and hope, than any other means that could have been employed. What discipline, so effectual as they, in detaching him from the present world, in separating him from improper companions, in exciting him to the active discharge of religious duties, and in leading him to cultivate those gracious principles in his own bosom, the maturity of which can alone fit for the full enjoyment of future happiness. Or what better calculated to enhance, in his estimation, the eternal rest, the unmingled bliss, and the unclouded glory of heaven—a region in which he hopes to begin an everlasting residence, whenever the designs of his mortal life shall have been accomplished, and the capacities of his undying soul shall have been wholly sanctified? It is, indeed, no vain boast he utters when, he repeats the words of those who have gone “through much tribulation, into the heavenly kingdom.” “It is good for me, that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.” “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory.” (Psal. cxix. 71, II. Cor. iv.16, 17.)
4. The Word of God has free course also, when it beautifies believers with perfect holiness. Than this, it cannot gain a greater victory, or receive a more enduring triumph. The garlands woven with so much care by Grecian hands, and placed on the brows of conquerors, amid applauding voices, soon mouldered into dust, and were scattered on the breeze. Even the crowns of gold, sparkling with the brilliancy of diamonds, and guarded with superstitious veneration, have often had their lustre dimmed, and their honours tarnished. But the religious and moral purity re-impressed on the true believer, ere he quits this earthly sphere, is an honour of the highest excellence, and of eternal duration. More bright in the eyes of heaven than the beauty of rubies, the fire of carbuncles, and the lustre of diamonds, it invests his character with a moral grandeur, surpassing every other excellence with which he is adorned, and surviving every other honour with which he is rewarded. This, in short, is the perfection of beauty,—“the fine linen, clean and white,” which qualifies for admission into the royal chamber of the Heavenly Bridegroom—“the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, gives unto all them that love His appearing.”
Now, it is a leading design of the Christian ministry to promote the growing purity of those who believe. Impenitent sinners are not the only hearers we are to address—spiritual mourners not the only inquirers we are to direct. Under our inspection will be found another class, distinguished from these by most interesting features—those who have obtained rest to their souls in Christ; and it is our delightful task to cheer them on in the way of righteousness, to the habitation of holiness. Joyless, indeed, were our labours, if there were not such in our congregations, striving to assist us by their prayers, and promising to be gems in our “crown of rejoicing.” We are not, then, to be always employed on the rough blocks of hardened sinners’ stony hearts. There are “lively stones to be built up a spiritual house,” in which the Lord may dwell, and in which “an holy priesthood may offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” We are not always to be sowing the incorruptible seed on an ungenial soil, and under an unpropitious sky, while tears flow down our cheeks. We are to encourage our hearts and re-animate our hopes, by watching the springing of the seed, the growth of the blade, the expansion of the full ear, and the ripening of the immortal fruit. Yes, it is the pleasure of our Lord, that all his saints shall be arrayed in white attire—in embroidered raiment. He who decks our fields in robes of verdure, gives the flowers their tints of beauty, and adorns the midnight sky with starry splendour, will not leave them defiled with a single blemish, or chargeable with a single defect. He gives “pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the working of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” “This is the will of God, even your sanctification.” (Ephes. iv. 11, 13. I. Thess. iv. 3.)
And is not the Redeemer able, by the powerful application of his Word, to accomplish that which he has purposed? No doubt sin, even in his own people, is an insidious poison not easily extracted. It has so insinuated itself into all the recesses of their hearts, their judgments, their memories, and their imaginations as to defy the utmost efforts of human power employed for its eradication. But the Divine Purifier, under whose superintendence they are placed, and to whom all the means of purification have been committed, is perfectly adequate to remove all “their dross.” Even the chemist, with the limited resources of the particular science to which he has devoted himself, can produce on physical substances changes quite astonishing. He can reduce any compound body to the simple elements of which it is composed. He can separate a portion of atmospheric air into the several gases of which it consists, telling their relative proportions and their respective uses. Nay, he can extract from the blackest minerals a light of the greatest brilliancy; and even from the rudest materials he can take the most delightful forms of inanimate beauty. Who, then, shall question the power of Jesus, who has all the resources of omnipotence at his disposal, and of whom it is declared,—“He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness?” With a word he originally formed man after his own image; with another word, he can change him “into the same image, from glory to glory.” With a word he drew streams of water from the flinty rock to supply the Israelites in the wilderness; with another word, he can turn the hardest heart into a fountain of penitential grief, bedewing the countenance and watering the pillow. With a word, he kindled the fires that blazed on the heights of Sinai amid the deep gloom of night; with another word, he can fan the feeblest spark of grace into a powerful flame, which shall consume all remaining corruption, and illumine the whole soul. With a word, he spread over the heavens all that beauty and splendour with which they are garnished, and from which, as from a spacious mirror, the glories of the Creator are reflected with inimitable force; with another word, he can invest the mind with a beauty still more exquisite, and a splendour still more refulgent—even the beauty of immaculate holiness, and the splendour of immortal glory. Let us join in the ascription—“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless, before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, * * be glory and majesty, dominion and power!” “He loved the Church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of water, by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Jude, 25, xxiv. Ephes. v. 25, 27.)
5. The word of the Lord has free course and is glorified when it diffuses a happy moral influence over all the departments of civil society. The church, it is true, is the interesting field on which its principal fruits are produced. There are brought together, in visible union and useful cooperation, those who have embraced the same faith and accepted the same salvation. There are cultivated those gracious affections and those moral feelings, out of which grow the purest virtues and the noblest actions. There are trained up for heaven, under the best superintendence and the most wholesome discipline, those who have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb, and begotten again by the efficacious grace of the Holy Spirit. In a word, there are exhibited, to the adoring view of ministering angels and glorified saints, the greatest victories and noblest triumphs with which the gospel is ever crowned. But, my brethren, let us beware of confining the Bible within the pale of the church, or of restricting its influence to merely spiritual and ecclesiastical matters. It scorns such a restriction. Bursting away from the cloisters of Popery, and from the sanctuaries of Protestants, it asserts the right of governing mankind in all the civil and political relations in which they exist. Unfolding the principles of social morality, with a clearness level to every capacity, and an authority binding on every conscience, it raises a voice to which the humblest citizens and the highest potentates are equally bound to listen. See with what authority it addresses all classes—with what boldness it enters all places. It enters the family; and there it says—“Husbands, love your wives; wives, reverence your husbands; parents, bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; children, obey your parents.” It goes into the school; and there it says—“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Instruct him in “the holy Scriptures, which are able to make him wise unto salvation.” It goes into the shop, and there it says—“Thou shalt not have in thy house divers weights and divers measures; but thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have ; that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” It passes into the factory, and there it says—“Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you.” It proceeds to the council chamber; and there it tells the magistrates and councilors assembled, that they should be “men fearing God, loving the truth, and hating covetousness,” “ministers of God for good, a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well.” (Exod. xviii. 21.) It ascends to the halls of legislation; and there it reminds the senators of the land, that they hold office for the public good; that they are under the actual control of the Redeemer; that his law, revealed in the scriptures, is the infallible standard with which all their decisions should coincide; and that his honor, manifested in the promotion of human happiness, is the chief object to which all their measures should be directed. Nay, it approaches the presence of kings—not with the hesitation of a trembling slave, or the flattery of a trained sycophant, but with the firm step and open countenance of a superior, who has a claim on the homage even of the most exalted potentates, and is authorised to deliver commands and expostulations sufficient to awe into silence the murmurings of rebellious cabinets. “Be wise now, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.” (Psal. ii. 10–12.)
I am well aware how opposed to this is the spirit of the little politicians of our age. They are ever asking—‘What has the Bible to do with the subject of civil polity? What right has it to step on political ground, and to offer instructions to political characters?’ But candidly, my brethren, give me leave to ask, what harm can be dreaded from the benevolent spirit and pure morals of the Book of Books extended to political questions? You see the natural sun in the heavens: do you ever regret that his beams fall upon the earth? Do you ever wish that they were arrested at the source from which they spring, and imprisoned in those distant regions which are hid beyond the clouds? Would it really give you pleasure, if you had no other light to cheer the eye and gladden the heart than the cold and faint radiance of the stars? Assuredly not. Why, then, be so anxious to have no other light on the wide field of politics than that of human reason? Why argue with such vehemence to have the superior light of revelation—that Sun of righteousness which has arisen in the firmament of the moral world with so much splendor—excluded from every corner and crevice of the political fabric, and confined to the affairs of our ecclesiastical assemblies? Surely, if the solar rays, diffused over our mountains and valleys, contribute to the beauty and fertility of the earth—to the improvement and happiness of man—what benefits might we expect from the “light of the glorious gospel” shining in to the hearts of civil rulers, and revealing to them both the personal qualities they should cultivate, and the official duties they should perform! Then the ungodly politicians who “hate the light, neither come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved,” would sink into merited neglect, or become objects of general commiseration; “for when society arises in the grandeur of moral power, and the citizens, in general, act in correspondence with the high attributes of their moral nature, and in accordance with the dignity of their immortal hopes, the place of such, boasting of not being obliged to know the law of their God, shall be undistinguished; while the enlightened and liberal statesman, enjoying the confidence of a community that know, love, and obey the law of the God of heaven, which is the law of their nature, shall fill, with honour to himself and advantage to the commonwealth, his appropriate place. Society, thus organised, and, under such influence, in righteousness, peace, and happiness, will certainly anticipate the character of the better country. Thus will be formed a public opinion, of that lofty moral bearing, which, while benignant towards every partaker of our imperfect mature, will frown into their hiding-places all avowed impiety of character and profligacy of morals.” “Righteousness shall flow down our streets as a mighty stream.”
Such, my brethren, are a few thoughts, very imperfectly illustrated, on the third branch of the subject. Had the limits of a single discourse permitted, I might have traced the future triumphs of the Gospel on a much larger scale. I might have shewn it exerting an influence over Protestant Churches, which they have hitherto resisted, and effecting the removal of evils by which, in different degrees, their beauty has been marred, their honour sullied, and their efficiency impaired. I might have described it entering into the many regions still covered with Papal darkness, and accomplishing the overthrow of a system that has, for many ages, been the fruitful source of ignorance and irreligion, of immorality and crime, of priestly intolerance and political tyranny. I might have exhibited it passing into the nations still enslaved and demoralized by Mahometanism, and ultimately uprooting a superstition which has so long kept the inhabitants from the enjoyment of their civil rights, their social privileges, and their dearest interests. I might have conducted you even within the walls of China—that vast and populous empire, into which the heralds of the Cross have never been permitted to enter, except under painful restrictions, but over which the word of God shall yet run a prosperous career, spreading in every direction the pure principles, the spiritual privileges, and the saving blessings, of which it is the parent. I might have led you into the numerous lands over which Pagan idolatry still broods, but over which the Gospel shall yet pass, turning the natives from their dumb idols to the living God, and rearing, on the ruins of their blood-stained altars, temples for the worship of the eternal Jehovah. On these and similar triumphs, I might have expatiated, without exhausting the text; but our time forbids, Let me hasten to a conclusion, by offering a few exhortations, directly flowing from the subject that has been under our review, and particularly applicable to the people whom it is my privilege, this day, to address.
See, then, my friends, that you entertain a just estimate of the supreme importance of the exercise recommended. Prayer for a minister has, indeed, no external attractions. It does not dazzle the eyes, like the splendour of spacious churches, nor does it elicit applauses, like the offering of princely contributions. Suppliants, prostrating themselves in the presence of the Lord, and presenting their petitions under a deep sense of their own unworthiness, are often despised; yet they are princes with God—favourites in the court of Heaven. Poor and despised though they be, they wield an instrument of far greater potency, in advancing the interests of religion, than either the pen of the elegant writer, or the tongue of the eloquent orator. It is true, that instrument is exceedingly simple; but this property gives it distinguishing excellence. When God himself would accomplish grand results, he always employs simple means. It was by a word he spread abroad the earth, stretched out the firmament, and lighted up those brilliant luminaries which shall shine in all their lustre, till the heavens be no more. It is by a word he controls the machinery of providence, achieves the wonders of grace, and peoples with redeemed souls the realms of eternal glory. With a word he will yet shake the domains of the dead; and all that are in their graves shall come forth, the righteous to everlasting life, the wicked to everlasting destruction; while, in one terrific blaze, the heavens, the earth, and the elements, shall all pass away. The voice of prayer, then, is not to be undervalued on account of its simplicity. Rising from the bosoms of believers, it ascends into the heaven of heavens, and there, mingling with the intercessions of our Great High Priest before the throne, it enters into the ears of Him who is the hearer of prayer.
Consider the peculiar honour which prayer for a minister reflects upon God. So long as you are contented with merely hearing the addresses he delivers, you naturally give him a share of your regard. Should he recommend himself, not by the active discharge of his official duties, but by those external qualities that are more showy than solid, there are many who will, notwithstanding, give him their meed [deserved share] of praise. Exalting him into an idol, they will offer him that incense which ought to burn only on the altar of Jehovah ; and alluring him by the “sweet seducing charms of popular applause,” they will “spoil what they admire.” But the case is entirely altered, when you have recourse to prayer for the divine blessing on his ministrations. You then confess the insufficiency of his highest endowments and of his greatest labours. You declare, that his “sufficiency is of God,”—that his success depends on the energy of divine grace accompanying the truth, that he is only an earthen vessel into which the treasure has been put, “that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of man.” You proclaim the fact, that all his statements, however correct—all his arguments, however cogent—all his appeals, however persuasive—all his warnings, however faithful—and all his entreaties, however affectionate—must be utterly unavailing, without “ the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” And thus, with your lips no less than your hearts, you glorify his grace in every sinner converted, in every mourner comforted, in every inquirer directed, in every saint edified, in every soul redeemed. You give to him the undivided tribute of praise for whatever good is done, and the voice of rejoicing, ascending from your dwellings, mingles with the ascriptions of the redeemed on Mount Zion: “Salvation unto our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”
Think farther of the peculiar encouragement this exercise must afford a minister. There are many ways in which an affectionate people can express their good wishes for the minister of their choice. They can give him a cordial welcome—as you have done—to the scene of his pastoral labours. They can wait, regularly and attentively, on his various ministrations. They can follow out, in their daily practice, the sound instructions and salutary counsels he tenders. They can vindicate his name from the aspersions which may be cast upon it by the lips of open enemies, or of treacherous friends. They can co-operate with him in measures both for advancing the interests of religion among themselves, and for extending the good tidings of salvation among the unreclaimed thousands around them. But in no way can they so effectually encourage his heart and sustain his arm, as by praying to God on his behalf. This deserves the pre-eminence. The voice of intercession, penetrating the heavens, and bringing down the best of influences on his soul, and the richest of blessings on his labours, is fitted to afford him more comfort, than all the applauses which partial friends or injudicious hearers can bestow. Indeed, the very thought, that those to whom he has been placed in the most sacred of all relations, and for whose eternal interests he is willing to employ all his powers, are, in their several dwellings, pleading with God on his behalf, is calculated, more than anything else, to animate his zeal, to sustain his exertions, to soothe his sorrows, and to alleviate all his sufferings.
Be persuaded, then, my hearers, to pray much for your minister; and that you may be excited to the greater fervency and frequency in the performance of a duty so momentous, often meditate on the following considerations.
Think of the unspeakable importance of the object for which he has come among you. Were this nothing more than teaching the doctrines of religion, the exercises of devotion, and the duties of morality, it would present claims to which none of you could be indifferent. What, then, must you think of its claims, when you recollect, that it is nothing less than the salvation of immortal souls? Compared with this, must not all other objects sink into insignificance? What is the mere illumination of the intellect, or the mere gratification of the imagination, or even the rendering of men good members of civil society, in comparison with the eternal welfare of souls? And do not your hearts burn with desire to have a share, however humble, in forwarding an object so glorious? Would you not deem yourselves admitted to the greatest privilege and the highest honour, if you should be instrumental in rescuing from moral pravity and mental ruin, and exalting to perfect holiness and unmingled joy, not your own souls only, but those of others also? Who can tell the joy with which heaven resounds, on receiving the spirits that have been ransomed from destruction? or describe the glory with which their benefactors are crowned, when they, who have “turned many to righteousness, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars, for ever and ever?” O! then, neglect not the diligent and persevering use of an instrument, by which you may procure growing efficiency to the minister upon whom you wait, and abundant success to the gospel he preaches.
Think, too, of the numerous and arduous labours he has to perform, in endeavouring to promote that object. Some are accustomed to represent the life of a minister as a life of great ease. Figuring to themselves nought but scenes of undisturbed tranquility, and learned leisure, they present pictures exceedingly pleasing. Unhappily, however, such pictures derive their high colouring from imagination, not from revelation. Where is there, in all the New Testament, any promise to ministers, of exemption from toilsome exertions and distressing anxieties? If anyone so far forgets his duties and his responsibilities, as to spend his days in indolence, or in pleasures, or in a continual round of social engagements, it were better he had never received ordination. It were better even for himself, that he were now degraded from an office, the neglect of which brings such a load of guilt upon his head, and entails such awful consequences on the thousands of immortal souls whom he is neglecting, to their everlasting ruin. But of such neglect, the offspring of spiritual sloth, your minister will never, I trust, be permitted to be guilty. In the deep sense which he has, both of the worth of the souls committed to his charge, and of the extent of the labours required of him, you have the best guarantee for persevering diligence. He will, I doubt not, make it his great care to study much, to pray much, and to preach much—to exercise a vigilant inspection over the whole flock—to be punctual in visiting the sick, the aged, and the dying—to superintend classes for the instruction of the young in the principles of religion, morality, and ecclesiastical order—to co-operate with others in the support of societies instituted for the advancement of piety, education, and general knowledge—and, in short, to embrace, with alacrity, whatever opportunities present themselves for promoting either the temporal comfort or the eternal well-being of his fellow-men. And, when thus called forth to the discharge of duties so various, so important, and so arduous, will you withhold from him the aid of your prayers ? Will you allow yourselves to see him, week after week, exhausting all the powers of his body, and occupying all the faculties of his mind, for advancing the best interests of yourselves, your children, and others, and yet neglect to offer supplications on his behalf, at the throne of grace? No, surely.
Think, farther, of the shortness of the time during which a minister comes in contact with his people, and of the lengthened intervals between. What are a few hours of the Sabbath, however well employed, to counteract the many of the week? What are the few pastoral visits he can afford to make in the course of the year, however useful they are rendered, to counteract the frequent intrusion, into families, of the most pernicious influences? To sow his tares, the enemy has many opportunities: to root them up and throw in the precious seed, the minister has few. How apt are the best impressions produced by the services of one Sabbath to be effaced by the corrosion of earthly cares and the influence of ungodly neighbours, before the next arrives! From how many a sermon does the yet fervid mind of man go forth among the forms and shapes of this vain world, and, in less than an hour, again receive their likenesses as perfect as they were before! Only one day in seven devoted to the things of God, and six left to the affairs of this world, unbroken by prayer, reading, and meditation, present fearful odds against even the most faithful minister. How watchful, then, ought you to be over your hearts through the week How careful to treasure up the salutary counsels you have received, and the sacred impressions you have felt, during the Lord’s Day! How fervent in supplications to God, that he would communicate new supplies of grace to your teacher, according to his necessities, and pour out the Holy Spirit on your own minds, receiving the good tidings which he brings!
Think, again, of the peculiar difficulties of the place in which your minister is established. I am not disposed to deny, that the inhabitants of a city are, in some respects, preferable to those of a rural district. In general, they are more accustomed to inquiry, to reading, to thinking, to reflection. From the frequent communication they have with one another, an unusual impulse is given to their mental powers; and, availing themselves of the many facilities they have for the acquisition of various knowledge, they often display a quickness of perception, and a habit of judging, peculiar to themselves. At the same time, it must be confessed, they are often deficient in some of the more amiable qualities that should distinguish hearers of the gospel—humility and docility. Instead of a readiness to receive the truths of revelation on the authority of their Author, they often present a resistance which no argument can overcome, and no persuasion remove. Instead of hungering for the bread of life, that their souls may be nourished, they often plunge into abstruse questions, that their under standings may be exercised, and their curiosity gratified. Instead of panting after “the beauty of holiness,” as the brightest excellence with which they can be adorned, they are often satisfied with the most frigid speculations, which serve only to benumb the moral feelings and the religious affections. In hazarding these general observations, I know there are many exceptions,—who combine humbleness with intelligence, benevolence with learning, and virtue with taste, many who, in pursuing science, do not overlook religion; in discussing politics, do not discard the Bible; and in contending for their civil rights, are not ashamed to assign the first place to their ecclesiastical privileges. But surely candour will not deny, as observation cannot conceal, that, in all our manufacturing towns there are many of a very different description—persons who have no just sense of religious obligations, and no cordial respect for divine ordinances—persons who profane the Sabbath, despise the means of grace, turn their backs on the house of God, vilify the ministers of Christ, and with a recklessness which wisdom does not dictate, nor prudence justify, wallow in sinful pleasures of which the recollection must be painful, and the consequences over whelming. Oh how arduous the situation of ministers brought into contact with any part of a population thus corrupted by scepticism, and contaminated by vice. What need they have of discrimination, compassion, zeal, faithfulness, varied information, and moral courage What claims they have on the fervent prayers and friendly co-operation of the Christian people, whom they have drawn around them, in their several congregations!
In fine, think of the times in which your minister has been called into office. That which was predicted, several years ago, has now come to pass—a war of opinions over the country. The whole land has been converted into an arena; the combatants have placed themselves on their respective sides; the thrilling sounds of the trumpet have announced the opening of the mighty conflict; and millions, aroused from the slumber of ages, anxiously await the determination of questions more momentous than were ever decided by the sword. The temporary existence of this state of things I do not regret; persuaded that the present excitement of the public mind is better than the deep sleep from which it has been awakened, and satisfied, that after the popular crudities that now float on the surface, shall have sported their brief hour, the dominion of sound principles shall gain the ascendancy. Meanwhile, the position which the contest compels the ministers and members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church to take up, is peculiarly trying. As we cannot remain indifferent spectators, without feeling ourselves guilty of sinful neutrality, so neither can we become actual partisans, without countenancing what appear to us positive evils. On the one hand, though approving of the general principle, that the rulers of a Christian country should use their official influence on behalf of the true religion, we cannot mingle with the indiscriminate supporters of existing establishments, in which, along with a growing spirit of reform, there is still so much reluctance to correct acknowledged corruptions, and redress proved grievances. On the other hand, though warmly attached to the principles of religious liberty, and the spiritual independence of the Church, we cannot concur in the movements of those who would dismiss religion altogether from the councils even of pious princes, and leave it wholly to the in adequate and precarious resources of private benevolence. And thus, unable to range ourselves on the side of either party, we are obliged to occupy a kind of middle ground, which secures us little of the favour of either, and exposes us sometimes to the fire of both. Of this we are fully aware. Still, we are persuaded, this is the position which, in the present state of parties, it is our duty to occupy. Let us endeavour, through grace, not to flinch from it, either to the right hand or to the left. In the strength of the great moral principles for which we contend—in the assurance that they shall yet triumph over all the errors and evils that oppose their progress—in the consciousness of the pure and disinterested motives by which we are actuated—and in the hope of a gracious reward from Him who says—“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life”—let us feel, that we have ample encouragement, under all the temporary inconveniences to which we are subjected.