Christ, to the fubverfion, at once, of her quiet and profperity?

In other churches, fuch evils often flow from a defect in their polity and conftitution; but in the church to which we more immediately belong, there are fuch falutary rules, fuch fundamental laws, as muft effectually guard against thefe inconveniencies : unlefs, by a criminal neglect, or partiality on our own part, thofe rulers are overlooked, and the fe laws difpenfed with; wherefore, my reverend fathers and bretheren will give me leave to obferve, that fhould we ever, in any inftance, clothe men with the trufts mentioned, upon terms differing from the conftitution of our church, terms short of it, or any how oppofite to it; fhould we deliberately do fo, a manifold breach of faith, plighted by our own ordination vows, would be added to all the other guilt, infeparable from fuch an illegal, though judicative, procedure.

Befides, as another confequence from what we have heard, will it not likewife follow, that in cafe fuch office-bearers, as were characterized, should ever appear in the church whereof we are members, our zeal and endeavours fhould be exercised in order to their reformation or excifion? While church members can do no more than with, or, at most, pray, for deliverance from fuch troublers; the fpheres, wherein we move, put a vast deal more in our power, and greatly widen our capacity of ufefulness in that refpect but should our fuperior advantages be neglected, or mifufed, when, for the relief of oɔpreffed Chriftians, we may be called to employ them; to what an awful reckoning with the chief Shepherd, when he appears, must we thereby expofe ourselves?

Might we fuppofe that any troubler or troublers of the Chriftian church were now within hearing,

H6

they

they would be exhorted to break off their fins by repentance, and their iniquities by turning to the Lord; with this dreadful certification, that if they did not, they should bear their punishment, whoever they were. They would, at the fame time, be told, what an awful rifk they ran, by having God's oppreffed people crying day and night against them. If the prayers of a Knox were more terrible to an imperial princefs, than thousands of armed men; how terrible, to the troublers of the church of Chrift, fhould be the prayers of thousands, and ten thousands of the excellent ones of the earth !— But, as it is not our business to make a fuppofition of this kind, the neceffity of fuch an exhortation is altogether fuperfeded.

Upon the whole, reverend and dear Sirs, let us, who bear office in this church, be concerned particularly for her profperity; concerned, that whatever mars edification and enlargement may be remov ed; that whatever can contribute toward her tran-, quility and welfare may take place; that her priests may be clothed with falvation, her faints may be filled with joy, and that, in every respect, the may be "fair as the fun, clear as the moon, and terrible "as an army with banners." Let us, in the dif charge of our several trufts, difregard the fmiles and frowns of the world; remembering, that the first, as well as the laft, are dangerous and enfoaring. Let us, in our perfonal, private, and public, characters, endeavour to act fuch a part, as the friends of Christ fhall have no occafion to wifh or pray for our excifion; or, if, through mifinformation, or narrowness of foul, they should look upon us as troublers of the church; let our conduct give the lie to that reproach, and fecure the teftimony of our confciences at the fame time. In a word, let us "take heed to ourselves, and to all the flock over which the

"Holy

"Holy Ghoft hath made us overseers, to feed the "church of God, which he hath purchased with "his own blood," Acts xx. 28.

2. This fubject falls next to be improved in an address to the reverend brother who is now * admitted to the perfonal charge of this congregation.

It is happy, my reverend and dear brother, that none can, with truth, imagine I have any apprchenfion of your proving a troubler of the church of Chrift; nor, confequently, infer the leaft intention of a direct or an oblique thruft at your principles or character, by the difcourfe with which your admiffion was introduced: quite the reverfe have my expectations been, fince the commencement of our acquaintance; nor have I the fmalleft reafon to dread that your after conduct will render them abortive.

The obligations, Sir, under which you have this day laid yourself, are of fuch importance, as will fully juftify the warmest exhortation to remember and fulfil them. Have you undertaken the paftoral charge of this congregation? Have your time, your talents, your influence, and whole endeavours, been publicly, folemnly, dedicated to the fervice of thefe fouls? Then, you must not henceforth confider yourself as your own; but, as you are a fervant of Chrift, fo, as a fervant to them for Chrift's fake. Your concern and minifterial endeavours muft not be confined to one, or more, or most; but, without exception, extended to the whole of this flock for, whatever difference the providence of God may have made, between one perfon, or family, and another; their fouls, you know, are equally precious, and claim, therefore, an equal attention from you.-As, by their capacities, circumstances,

:

and

*This and the addrefs to the people followed the admiffion.

and tempers, they may be no lefs diftinguished, than they are by their features or complexions; it is your bufinefs to understand fuch diftinétions, that your paftoral labours may be particularly accommodated to them: for, it is evident, to every ftudent of the fcriptures, at least to every adept in the knowlege of human nature, that the fame method and manner of dealing will not equally fuit all the fubjects of your miniftry; more than the fame recipe or regimen could be fuppofed equally proper for all difeafes and conftitutions.-By an acquaintance, Sir, with the fate of this flock, you will probably find, that fome need to be dealt with as faints, and others as finners; that knowlege must be adminiftered to one, and reproof to another; that difcipline is neceffary here, and confolation there; that this hearer reaps moft advantage from the reafoning, and that from the declamatory, way you will find that either refervednefs or familiarity will mar the ends of edification, if the choice of thufe, with whom the one or other is ufed, be not judicioufly made; that neither the forbidding nor engaging, the auftere nor affable carriage must be promiscuously obferved and, in a word, Sir, you will certainly find the neceffity of becoming, in the apostle's fenfe of the phrase, "all things to all men, that, by all means, you may fave fome," 1 Cor. ix. 22.

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With whatever unanimity, my dear brother, they have called you to labour amongst them, in the work of the gofpel, you are by no means to expect that, in every measure, they will be unanimous with you. The contradiction of finners, and fometimes of faints too, is what every fervant of Jefus Chrift may lay his account with; and, therefore, you will forgive me in fuggesting a caution against two extremes, to which oppofition from our people may readily tempt.-Guard, on the one hand,

again

I

againft yielding to oppofition, from whatever quarter, where your doing fo would dishonour the Lord, and be a breach of that truft he hath committed to you: but, on the other, be no lefs aware, left a weakness of mind, or stiffness of temper, to which the holieft on earth are liable, get the better, at any time, of reason, and infenfibly block up the avenues through which proper conviction may be introduced: for, as it is certain, that gofpel minifters ought much rather to fuffer, than fin; fo, that an ingenuous yielding to the force of argument is more much more virtuous and praife worthy, than a tenacious adherence to any measure or refolution, unfupported by fcripture or reafon. In the course, Sir, of my own miniftry, I have found manifold need of this caution; and I perfuade myfelf that all our fathers and brethren prefent will juftify me in thinking your attention to it, and compliance with it, highly neceffary.

You will not, I truft, look upon the miniftry you have received of our Lord Jefus, as a by-work; but confider it as claiming all the application and diligence you are capable of: if, in order to Timothy's exhorting and teaching, it was neceffary that he gave attendance to reading; if, that his profiting might appear to all, he behoved to fir up the gift that was in him, to meditate on divine things, and to give himself wholly to them; and if, that he might fave himself, and those who heard him, Timothy behoved to take heed unto himfelf, and unto his doctrine, and to continue in them: 1 Tim. iv. 13, etc. if, Sir, fuch diligence and application were incumbent upon Paul's own fon in the faith, can it be thought unneceffary, even in an unworthy fervant of Chrift, to ftir up, your pure mind by way of rememberance?-What

you