2

salvation.1 It is not our province to prescribe what he might have done, but to mark the consummate wisdom of what he has done, and to exercise the humility of faith, when we cannot discern the reasons of his dispensations. Doubtless he might have instructed as well as converted Paul by a miracle; but it was his pleasure to direct him to a fellow-sinner for the explicit revelation of his will. The angel also might have been an instructor to Cornelius; but, in order to maintain the order of the divine œconomy, the Ministry of the word was made the medium of conveying evangelical light to his soul. This, therefore, is the ordained means of conversion, and of subsequent establishment in every stage of the Christian life; and its necessity must continue, while there is a single sinner to be brought into the family of God, or a single grace in the heart of the saint to advance to perfection.4

1 Rom. x. 13-16. 1 Cor. i. 21. Thus also the destitution of the Ministry is the dark sign of the departure of the Divine presence from the Church. Compare 2 Chron. xv. 3. Hosea iii. 5, 2 Acts ix. 10-17. 3 Ibid x. 3-6.

4 It is a weighty remark of Hooker's, that religion without the help of a spiritual Ministry is unable to plant itself. Which assertion,' says he,-' needeth no further confirmation. If it did, I could easily declare, how all things which are of God, he hath by wonderful art and wisdom soldered as it were together by the glue of mutual assistance, appointing the lowest to receive from the nearest to themselves what the influence of the highest yieldeth. And therefore the church, being the most absolute of all his works, was in reason to be also ordered with like harmony, that he worketh might, no less in grace than in nature, be effected by hands and instruments, duly subordinated to the power of his own Spirit.' Book v. 76. Mosheim observes to the same purport, that the best system of religion must necessarily either dwindle to nothing, or be egregiously corrupted, if it is not perpetually inculcated and explained by a regular and standing Ministry.'-Eccles. Hist. Cent. i. part ii. chap. ii. 'Not even,'says Calvin,' is the light and heat of the sun-not even is meat and drink—so necessary for the support and cherishing of life, as is the maintenance of the Ministry of the Gospel church on earth.' Instit. lib. iv. c. iii. 3.

CHAPTER IV.

THE TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.1

OUR Lord's illustration of the necessity of a previous counting of the cost in important undertakings, bears with peculiar force of application upon the Christian Ministry. Too often has the neglect of serious and prayerful calculation given awful power to the temptation to draw back from so momentous a work. No previous contemplation can indeed give any just apprehensions of its difficulties, any more than a spectator of the field of battle can realize the intense anxiety of the actual conflict. Whatever general notions of a serious and intelligent character may be attained, much will yet be left, that experience alone can supply-much that will enforce the exhortation once given by a veteran to a young soldier-" Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."3 Indeed the difficulties of this work must deter the considerate conscientious mind from undertaking it with any view to temporal ease and comfort. Many other tracks in life offer a large promise of indulgence. But to this work is most

1 For some serious and important views of this subject we may refer to Scougal's Sermon on the Ministerial function.

2 Luke xiv. 28-30. Erasmus justly laments the evil resulting from this inconsideration- Verum ad conciones sacras admittuntur, interdum etiam assiliunt, adolescentes, leves, indocti, quasi nihil fit facilius, quam apud populum exponere Divinam scripturam, et abunde sufficiat perfricuisse faciem, et abstersa pudore linguam volvere. Hoc malum ex eo fonte manat; quod non perpenditur, quid sit ecclesiastici concionatoris tum dignitas, tum difficultas, tum utilitas.' 32 Tim. ii. 1-3.

especially linked the daily cross, and in it must be anticipated severe and sometimes overwhelming trials, arising from the professing church, the world, the power of Satan, and ourselves.

Our relation to the professing church is associated with no common difficulties. How instructive are the deep views of the apostolical Eliot on this work. 'He looked upon the conduct of a church,' as his biographer (Cotton Mather) informs us, as a thing attended with so many difficulties, temptations, and humiliations, as that nothing but a call from the Son of God could have encouraged him unto the susception of it. He saw that flesh and blood would find it no very pleasant thing to be obliged unto the oversight of a number, that by a solemn covenant should be listed among the volunteers of the Lord Jesus Christ; 2 that it was no easy thing to feed the souls of such a people, and of the children and the neighbours, which were to be brought into the same sheep-fold with them; to bear their manners with all patience, not being by any of their infirmities discouraged from teaching of them, and from watching and praying over them; to value them highly as the flock which God purchased with his own blood, notwithstanding all their miscarriages; and in all to examine the rule of scripture for the warrant of whatever shall be done; and to remember the day of judgment, wherein an account must be given of all that has been done. It was herewithal his opinion (as the great Owen expresses it) that notwithstanding all the countenance

1 'Evangelium Christi sincerè prædicantibus nunquam de est crux.' Erasm. The Apostle connects endurance of affliction with the work of an evangelist. 2 Tim. iv. 5. See Daven. in Col. i. 24, 29.

2 Alluding to the congregational form of church government and union, which was most prevalent in America in Eliot's time.

that is given to any church by the public magistracy, yet whilst we are in this world, those who will faithfully discharge their duty as Ministers of the gospel shall have need to be prepared for sufferings; and it was in a sense of these things that he gave himself up to the sacred Ministry.' We need scarcely remark, what dexterity of application, diligence of labour, "discerning of spirit," 2 how large a portion of "the meekness and gentleness of Christ," of his yearning compassion, and persevering self-devotedness, is here required! Except we realize a high estimation of the Church, the constraining influence of the Saviour's love, and the upholding prop of Almighty grace, what is there to preserve us from sinking in despondency?

Perhaps, however, the heaviest weight of trial consists in the awful apprehension of eventually becoming an occasion of aggravated condemnation to our people.3 How affecting is the thought that our Ministry hardens and kills, as well as softens and quickens; that we are set, like our Divine Master, "for the fall and rising again of many in Israel! " "the savour of death unto death;

To the one we are and to the other

the savour of life unto life." It was the recollection

Mather's Magnalia-History of New England, book iii. pp. 183, 184.

Nunc si reputemus in eodem populo, quanta sit varietas sexuum, ætatum, conditionis, ingeniorum, opinionum, vitæ, institutionis, consuetudinis, quantâ oportet esse præditum prudentiâ ecclesiastem, cui sit temperanda oratio !-Erasmi Ecclesiastes, p. 36.

3 'Since I was ordained,'-says Mr. Brown, of Haddington'I know not how often it hath been heavy to my heart to think how much this scripture (Isa. vi. 9, 10) hath been fulfilled in my ministry. Frequently I have have had an anxious desire to be removed by death from becoming a plague to my poor congregation. Often, however, I have tasken myself, and have considered this wish as my folly, and begged of the Lord, that, if it was not for his glory to remove me by death, he would make me successful in my work.' Life and Remains, p. 18.

of this fearful responsibility, that forced from the Apostle the exclamation-(and what Christian Minister but sympathizes in the burden ?)Who is sufficient for these things? "1 Who that has not realized the terrors of hell, and the glories of heaven, can be duly furnished for a work so deeply connected with the eternal world?

From the difficulties with the world-unfaithfulness to our Master furnishes the only "way of escape." The subject-matter of our commission is truth, that comes into immediate contact with latent and deeprooted prejudices. The strongest feelings of a proud nature are brought into constant play against our unwelcome tale: so that we "become the enemy," instead of the friend, of our fellow-sinners, "because we tell them the truth." 2 The sacrifices, which in our Master's name we demand of the cherished objects of misplaced affections; the exhibition of heavenly pleasures. (far nobler in their character, and more permanent in their enjoyment, yet most distasteful to the natural mind); the certain endurance of reproach in the service of the Gospel-these component parts of our commission, even from the voice of the most alluring charmer, excite the enmity of the carnal mind to our message, and to the messenger for his work's sake. Does our personal experience furnish no recollections of the mighty influence of this innate indisposition to the Gospel, and of the peculiar wisdom, patience, and faithfulness needed for its subjugation? But sometimes the difficulties from the world are

1 Luke ii. 34. 2 Cor. ii. 16.-Luther entered deeply into the feelings of the Apostle-' Etsi jam senex, et in concionando exercitus sum, tamen timeo, quoties suggestum conscendo.'

2 Gal. iv. 16.

3 Rom. viii. 7. John iii. 19, 20, with 1 Kings xxii. 8. Prædicare nihil aliud est, quam derivare in se furorem mundi.' Luther.