What has not the God of mercy done to establish our faith on these subjects? For what end, beside,has he given us his lively oracles, or instituted the Christian ministry, or appointed the ordinances of grace, or sent into the world the Spirit of truth? What a long succession of prophets he has raised up from age to age, for this purpose inspiring them with the Holy Ghost! what an astonishing series of miracles he has wrought, confirming their doctrine with his own inimitable seal! What revolutions he has wrought in the kingdoms of men to form the subjects of the instructions here given, and verify the word that had gone before! How wonderfully did he separate a chosen people from the rest of the world, and spare and bless them, that he might commit to them his word, preserve the sacred deposit, and at length through them, give a finished revelation to mankind! How often have angels been sent as messengers of his will! How often has he himself appeared in miraculous symbols of his glory! And with what boundless condescension and grace did he at last send his own Son to be made flesh and so, in a mortal form, become the Great Teacher as well as the Great High Priest of our profession! And with what abounding grace did this Divine Teacher, having said and done all that wisdom and love could say and do in his personal ministry,authorise and endow his disciples to finish and seal the testimony and publish it abroad !-publish it, as he declared in the great commission on which he sent them, for the instruction and salvation, not of ministers and divines alone, but of every creature!" Surely, then, there is no reasonable creature to whom the message comes, that can safely or innocently remain, in ignorance or doubt in regard to it.

Important beyond measure is enlightened and steadfast faith not only on account of its influence upon ourselves, but also on account of its influence through us upon others. We cannot ourselves be carried about with diverse and strange doctrines, without carrying others about with us; nor can our illumination shed its steady lustre on their path without guiding them in the way of life. How great is the evil or the good done in this manner, eternity alone can reveal. See the churches of Galatia under the ministry of Paul-peaceful, humble, tender, conscientious, devoted to God, attached to him as to their eyes, happy in their fellowship with each other, and joyful in the hope of eternal life. But the apostle leaves them, and other teachers come in-direct from Jerusalemby whose imposing gifts and zeal, Jewish dogmas, and Jewish predilections are insinuated into their minds, and, in consequence, the simplicity of their faith in Christ, of their confidence towards God, and of their disinterestedness in his service is lost; they are filled with pride, distracted with contention, and alienated from the apostle, from each other, from the truth, and from God;-and all this in a few months, and by the influence of a few men. How often have

such results-such melancholy proofs of the inconstancy of men, of Christians, of entire churches, by the influence of false doctrine. -been witnessed wherever Christ has been named, from that day to the present! In this view, how vast is the responsibility of Christian ministers; for it is they more commonly who give the lead to others. How great the responsibility, too, of parents, of teachers, of professors of religion in every relation of life! for without their concurrence false teachers can do nothing; and so also, it is only by their co-operation, under a faithful ministry "the body of Christ, speaking the truth in love, grows up unto him in all things." The responsibility resting upon us, my brethren, is affecting; and it must be met; it must be discharged; it cannot be evaded. Amidst all the diverse and strange doctrines that are abroad, and notwithstanding our own liability to error, we must know the truth and obediently receive it, and with all boldness inculcate and maintain it,"contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints," that so we may "save ourselves and them that hear us."

In more particular application of this subject to the present occasion, I remark,

1. That it suggests the primary importance of the Christian ministry. "When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men; some apostles; some prophets; some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints for the work 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, until the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things who is the head even Christ." The stability and progress of the church in the faith of the Gospel, is the great design of the Christian ministry; and experience has most abundantly shown its wise adaptation to the end. So engaged are most men in secular concerns, that without the influence of the Christian ministry and the stated administration of divine ordinances, they are in general neither disposed to attend to the truth as it is in Jesus, nor prepared to discern the fallacy of the diverse and strange doctrines by which the reception and properinfluence of it are prevented. Hence,for the establishment and prevalence of the Christian faith among a people, no other means without this are at all effectual; and indeed the very existence and faithful application of other means are commonly dependent on this. Indi

*An ordination.

vidual conversions there sometimes are where there is no Christian ministry, by means of the scriptures and other forms of evangelical truth; but where shall we find without it, a church built on the true foundation, continued from one generation to another, and rising with symmetry and strength as the dwelling place of God, and the medium of the rich and everlasting blessings which the Gospel is designed to convey?

2. This subject suggests the importance of a stated and educated Christian ministry. It is not difficult for a gifted and fervent mind to discourse to a plain people for a few months, in a way that will attract and interest them, and then give place for another to succeed him in a repetition of the same service; and great good, no doubt, is often done by such means; but to carry forward a people, from year to year, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ so that they shall be no more children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, but men knowing and speaking the truth in love, and growing up together in all things into him who is the Head, this is a very different thing. Whoever aspires to this will not have been long in the work without understanding something of the meaning and sense of the apostle's interrogation, "Who is sufficient for these things?" Whatever may be his natural endowments, and spiritual gifts and graces, he will find the need of all the mental discipline and acquirements which a thorough education can give; and besides these, of the opportunity and the habit of giving himself to reading, to meditation, to prayer --of continuance in these with no entanglement in worldly affairs --of giving himself wholly to them, that his profiting may appear unto all. Such is the model of the Christian ministry, given us by the apostles of the Lord. After this model our puritan forefathers planted the Christian ministry in these New-England churches. And hence have come the fair fruits which, for more than two centuries, have blessed these churches and their many daughters here and throughout the land, and through them have blessed these favored civil states, and this benighted and miserable world. Much-much there is to be deplored in these churches; but in comparison with what may elsewhere be found in this imperfect state, have they not exhibited a character of intelligence,stability, unity, and liberal, self-denying, disinterested, beneficence, which has been an honor to their ministry? Who are carried about by the diverse and strange doctrines that from time to time sweep over the land? Who are the authors of these doctrines ? Who gave their countenance to the propagation of them? Or who bring dishonor upon the Gospel by their scandalous lives tolerated under a Christian profession? Or who make no account of any profession of faith, or holy living, or Christian enterprise, out of

the pale of their particular denomination? Are they in general, I do not say members of these churches, though I might say this, but those who have been trained from their early years under an able and faithful ministry in these churches? And, on the other hand, who are main supporters of those literary, charitable and missionary institutions of our land, which have been formed and are so nobly carried forward, not for the exclusive advancement of a sect, but to bless our country and the world? I may seem to be a fool in this confidence of boasting, and yet do but duly magnify my office, and plead for the best interests of men, when I point you to these fruits of a stated and educated ministry.

3. We are reminded by this subject of the great importance of sound doctrinal preaching. It is certainly incumbent on the ministers of the Gospel to "reprove, rebuke, exhort ;" to show unto men their sins, and with all boldness call them to repentance and works meet for repentance. But to what purpose is it to call men to repentance without setting before them,in the light of truth,the occasion, the reasonableness, the obligation, the necessity of their repentance; that is, showing them the nature, authority and sanction of the divine law; in the light of this law, the nature, extent and guilt of their sin : and together with these, the sincerity fullness, freeness and adaptation to their necessities, of the offers of divine grace in the Gospel? To what purpose, to exhort them to love God, without presenting that truth by which his loveliness is seen and his claims are felt? Or to exhort them to grow in grace, without leading them on from step to step in that knowledge of God, in the view of whose glory alone it is possible that they should be changed after his image from glory to glory? He indeed discharges a needful office who comes and shows me what I must do, and tells me that I am a guilty, lost creature, if I refuse; but he who, at the same time, so brings before me the objects of faith-he who, through the Spirit, so takes of the things of Christ and shows them to me, that I am constrained to do it-he is the minister not of the law only, but of the Gospel-" not of the letter that killeth,but of the Spirit that giveth life." It was, I think, under this impression, that Paul describes the "good minister of Jesus Christ, "as one who is "nourished up in the words of faith and of sound doctrine"-one who, from his own knowledge of divine truth, and experience of its influences in sustaining and strengthening the life of God in the soul, is prepared as a good steward, to give to the household their portion in due season. It was under the same impression that with such awful solemnity he said to his son Timothy, "I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the quick and dead, at his ap

pearing and kingdom, preach the word; be instant in season, out of season, reprove rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine."

4. It is a grievious sin for members of the churches to forsake their pastors. My brethren, if you may not be carried about with diverse and strange doctrines, you may not go after those who preach such doctrines, nor permit your children to go after them, nor give them your countenance in their endeavors to draw others away. No motives of curiosity, no pretensions to candor and openness to conviction can justify this. These are indeed subjects on which, although you have your opinions, humanity and courtesy and even candor, would demand that you be willing to hear what may be said on the other side. But the leading doctrines of the Gospel are not of this nature. To profess to hold yourselves open to conviction on these, is to profess that you have need of being convinced. But with the Bible in your hands, and the profession of Christ on your lips, you are without excuse, if you are not already convinced-if you do not know assuredly what those doctrines are, and why you receive them as the true Gospel of the grace of God; and knowing this, you cannot, as you love God-as you love his truth and the souls of men, give countenance to one who preaches another Gospel. "Cease,my son," saith the voice of wisdom, " to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge."

Subjoined to the caution in my text, and explanatory of it is the charge" Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls as they that must give account." This charge is no less binding on the churches now than it orginally was on the church of the Hebrews. We do not indeed plead for an implicit submission, or even adherence to those who in the providence of God are set over you as your spiritual guides. This injunction of the apostle pre-supposes their guidance and instructions to be in accordance with the word of Him to whose teachings and authority alone, they and you owe an implicit submission. If they speak not according to this word, if they are ignorant or false, if they are blind leaders or incompetent, Paul surely does not command you to obey or cleave to them; but you are not therefore to go off to the standard of false doctrine. You may desire, and in an orderly way seek, an able and faithful ministration of the Gospel. I know not what you may seek if not this; but even though it be not immediately obtained, you may not therefore forsake the church which is "the house of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth." Your regard for the truth of God, and the stability and honor of your profession forbids it and if for this cause, how much more for those infinitely slighter