obliged to labour hard to loosen the ties which fasten us to it; and yet this we must do, if ever we expect to love God, on which depends our salvation.

The very best of us have contracted evil habits, and it will take time, and care, and pains, to get rid of them.

We stand in need of the grace of God, every day of our lives; and as we hope for His grace, His blessing, and protection, we are bound to pray for them.

We every day receive favours from God, and we have no reason to hope for the continuance of them, if we will not be at the pains to thank Him for them.

But this is not all. We have all of us very many enemies to oppose. The devil, a very powerful spirit, walking about continually, seeking whom he may devour, finding them off their guard, or from under God's protection. The world, a very corrupt world, perpetually tempting us to follow its ways, which infallibly lead to destruction. And lastly; our own hearts, if we had no other adversary, would ruin us, without a constant care and watchfulness. In short, the difficulties and dangers of this life are so many, that we need not be at pains to go to hell; for if we do not strive, and pray, and take pains, and make resistance, we shall too surely go thither of course.

But then, besides these general duties that belong to all Christians, every condition of life, and every Christian man, woman, or child, have some work peculiar to them, and for the faithful discharge of which they must one day surely

answer.

Parents, for example, stand charged, and must answer to God, for the care they have taken of their children: whether they have brought them up in the fear of God; whether they have honestly provided for their necessary support; and have not squandered that away in idleness, luxury, and vanity, which should have been their subsistence.

And their children no sooner come to years of understanding, but their work grows upon them every day. They must learn their duty; they must strive to preserve their innocency; they must keep out of the way of temptations; they must, as ever they hope to be happy, deny themselves a great many things, which their hearts will hanker after.

SERM.

XCVIII.

The rich will have enough to do, to watch against pride, and covetousness, and oppression, and sensuality, and many other hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

And the poor, as little as they may think they have to answer for, have their proper duties and proper difficulties to struggle with. To be content with, and even thankful for, their condition, not to endeavour to better it by unjust ways, and so to serve God as to have hopes of an amends hereafter, for what they have wanted here.

In one word; all Christians are accountable for their time, for their talents, and for the duties of that state of life in which the providence of God has placed them. And such as live (as God knows there are too many such) as if they had nothing in the world to do, but to please themselves in leading an idle and an useless life, will one day find, that it had been better for them that they had never lived, that they had never been born.

I have only touched upon these general duties of all Christians, in order to convince such as have any degree of seriousness, that Christianity is not a state of idleness; but that every one who hopes for salvation (and who is there that does not?) is bound to look about him, to consider seriously, what he came into the world for, what he is doing, and what will be expected from him when he dies?

But that which I chiefly aim at in this discourse is, to take an occasion, from this solemn meeting, where one of our brethren lies dead before us, and a good many more are present, to put the living in mind of their proper duty, and of the account they must give when it comes to be with us as it is with our deceased brother. And in doing this, I shall hope to instruct every one that hears and understands me in some important part of their duty.

Our BLESSED LORD, whose dying words I have chosen for the subject of this discourse-His great work on earth was to establish the Christian religion; that is, to put mankind into a way of salvation. In order to this, He took our nature upon Him, He taught us what things are most pleasing to God, and what God expected from us in order to qualify us for heaven and happiness.

He as

He shewed us what things we should chiefly set our hearts on, and what we should avoid, even as death itself. sured us of the estate of the dead; that some are in paradise, waiting for a blessed resurrection, and others reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day.

He made known to us the spiritual enemies which we are to watch against, and assured us that God would defend us against all their power and malice, if we prayed to Him for help, and lived like those that expected God to be their defence.

When He had done this, He laid down His life for us, to assure His poor creatures, that God was thoroughly reconciled to all such as would be reconciled to the way of salvation which He had appointed, and close with it.

And then, to confirm our faith and hope in God, He was raised from the dead; and by that instance, He convinced the world of the truth and importance of all His promises, threatenings, revelations, commands, and ordinances.

This was the work which our Lord said WAS GIVEN HIM TO DO, and which He declares HE HAD FINISHED.

But then, because this work was to be carried on, and made known to all generations of men, as long as the world should last, He therefore appointed and ordained an order of men, whose duty and business it should be, to publish and preach these glad tidings to all that would receive them; to pray for, and bless the people in His name, with an assurance, that their prayer of faith should certainly be answered, and that their blessing should have a real effect, where a Son of peace was disposed to receive it.

But I shall set in order the work of a minister of God, that you may be convinced how much they contribute to your salvation, and that you may esteem them accordingly.

Their power and commission, given by Jesus Christ, is well worth your hearing. You will find it in the 28th chapter of St. Matthew, and it is as follows: Jesus, speaking to His apostles, said unto them, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and make disciples unto Me in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe whatever I have commanded. And lo!"

XCVIII.

SERM. that is, let the world take notice of it, "lo, I am with you,” that is, with you and your successors, "unto the end of the world."

The Apostles having received this commission, for themselves and successors, they immediately set about the work of the ministry, publishing this most comfortable truth, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and that He had committed 2 Cor. 5. 19. unto them, to them and their successors, the Word of reconciliation. So that you see very plainly, that your salvation depends, under God, upon the ministry of those whom Jesus Christ has appointed to reconcile men to God.

Jesus Christ knew very well, for He had felt the sad experience of it, to what a perverse world He sent them. He knew likewise, that they were men of like passions and infirmities with those to whom He sent them. And therefore, to secure them as much as possible from contempt, and to oblige all men to hear them with reverence, He declares, that He will look upon Himself as injured in the contempt any Luke 10. 16. man shews His ministers: "He that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and He that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me.” We now come to consider in what their work consists.

And first, as stewards over the household of God, their business is to receive into His family, by the Sacrament of Baptism, all such as desire to become members thereof; by which we are put into the way of salvation.

The next is, to convince men, by preaching, that they are sinners; that as such, they stand in need of God's mercy, for that a day is coming in which God will call all men to an account, and that their works will be judged good or evil, as they agree with, or are contrary to the Gospel.

Therefore, another work of the ministry is, to study the Gospel, that we may be able to declare what it commands, and what it forbids; to put Christians in mind of their duty, which they are but too apt to forget; to exhort them to follow it, and to rebuke them when they do not; to set before them the terrors of the world to come; and to comfort them with the promises of God in Christ, when they become sensible of their evil estate. What Christian does not see the great blessing of such a ministration !

But this is not all. Christians are subject to sin, and by that to forfeit the favour of God, and to make themselves liable to His justice and displeasure. Jesus Christ, therefore, has ordained a sacrament of reconciliation, and has appointed His ministers the dispensers thereof, to all such as with hearty repentance, and true faith, turn unto God. By which their pardon is sealed, and their graces are increased. Is this a blessing to be despised?

But, besides all this, the ministers of Christ, as the priests under the law, have a daily charge upon them. They stand obliged, (and I beseech you, my brethren, to consider this, and lay it to heart,) we stand obliged every one of us, either publicly or in private, to offer unto God daily, the prayers of the Church, every pastor for his own flock; to confess our own sins and the sins of the people, to give God thanks for the mercies which He bestows upon them, and to beg God's protection and blessing upon them and upon their labours. That as they labour for us, so should we pray daily for them; and that all such as by reason of distance, through necessity, or worldly business, are hindered from coming to Church to pray for themselves, might depend upon the blessing of God prayed for by God's minister.

And, as they must be people of a very profane spirit, who do not esteem this a very great blessing, so must that minister be who neglects it.

Whatever little esteem the generality of Christians may have for the work of the ministry, while they are in health, and at ease, yet when they are visited with sickness, or any grievous affliction, if they have any concern for their souls, they will see the need and the blessing of a faithful pastor, to support their dejected spirits, to direct them how to bear, and how to profit by their sufferings; to examine the sincerity and the faith of dying penitents; and, if he finds them truly such, to give them absolution, which the Spirit of God assures us shall have a real effect: "If he have committed James 5. sins, they shall be forgiven him."

In one word; the ministers of the Gospel, and the ordinances to them intrusted, are the ordinary means by which God does teach, edify, bless, and save His elect.

And although God can dispense with His own ordinances

15.