the midst of these years of sin and degeneracy, nor let us labour in vain. Where is thy zeal, O Lord, and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and thy mercies? Are they restrained? O let us rouse our souls with all holy fervour to fulfil our ministry, for it will be a dreadful reproach upon us, and a burthen too heavy for us to bear, if we let the cause of Christ and godliness die under our hands for want of a lively zeal, and pious fervour and faithfulness in our ministrations.

Tenthly, We entreat, we exhort and charge you, and we charge ourselves, by the solemn and awful circumstances of a dying bed, and the thoughts of conscience in that important hour, when we shall enter into the world of spirits, that we take heed to the ministry which we have received: Surely that hour is hastening upon us, when our heads will lie upon a dying pillow. When a few more mornings and evenings have visited our windows, the shadows of a long night will begin to spread themselves over us: In that gloomy hour, conscience will review the behaviour of the days that are past, will take account of the conduct of our whole lives, and will particularly examine our labours and cares in our sacred office. Oh may we ever dread the thoughts of making bitter work for repentance in that hour, and of treasuring up terrors for a death bed by a careless and useless ministry!

Eleventhly, We exhort and charge you, and we charge ourselves, by our gathering together before the throne of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the solemn account we must there give of the ministry with which he hath entrusted us, that we prepare by our present zeal and labour to render that most awful scene peaceful to our souls, and the issue of it joyful and happy. Let us look forward to that illustrious and tremendous appearance, when our Lord shall come with ten thousands of his holy angels to enquire into the conduct of men, and particularly of the ministers of his kingdom here on earth. Let us remember that we shall be examined in the light of the flames of that day? What we have done with his gospel which he gave us to preach? What we have done with his promises of rich salvation, which he sent us to offer in his name? What is become of the souls committed to our care? O that we may give up our account with joy, and not with grief, to the Judge of the living and the dead, in that glorious, that dreadful and decisive hour!

Twelfthly, We charge and warn you, my dear brother, and we warn and charge ourselves, by all the terrors written in this divine book, and by all the indignation and vengeance of God, which we are sent to display before a sinful world; by all the torments and agonies of hell, which we are commissioned to denounce against impenitent sinners, in order to persuade men to turn to God, and receive and obey the gospel, that we take heed to our ministry that we fulfil it. This vengeance and these terrors will fall upon our souls, and that with intolerable weight, with double and immortal anguish, if we have trifled with these terrible solemnities, and made no use of these awful scenes to awaken men to lay hold of the offered grace of the gospel. Knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord, let us persuade men, for we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, to receive according to our work; 2 Cor. v. 10, 11.

In the last place, We entreat, we exhort and charge you, by all the joys of paradise, and the blessings of an eternal heaven, which are our hope and support under all our labours, and which in the name of Christ we offer to sinful perishing men, and invite them to partake thereof: Can we speak of such joys and glories with a sleepy heart and indolent language? Can we invite sinners who are running headlong into hell to

return and partake of these felicities, and not be excited to the warmest forms of address, and the most lively and engaging methods of persuasion? What scenes of brightness and delight can animate the lips and language of an orator, if the glories and the joys of the christian heaven and our immortal hopes cannot do it? We charge and entreat you therefore, and we charge ourselves, by the shining recompences which are promised to faithful ministers, that we keep this glory ever in view, and awaken our dying zeal in our sacred work. There is a crown of righteousness laid up for those who have fought the good fight, who fihave nished their course, who have kept the faith; 2 Tim. iv. 7. There is a glory which is to be revealed, a crown of glory which fadeth not away, prepared for every under-shepherd, who shall feed the flock of God under his care, and be found faithful in his work; when the great Shepherd shall appear, he himself will bestow it upon them. O let us look up continually to this immortal crown! Let us shake off our sluggishness, and rouse all our active powers at the prospect of this felicity. Let us labour and strive with all our might, that we may become possessors of this bright reward.

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Before we conclude this exhortation, let us try to enforce it still with more power, by considering in whose presence are these solemnities transacted, and these charges given. We exhort and charge you then, in the presence of this church, who hath called you to minister to them in holy things, and who give up their souls this day to your care, to your instructions, to your conduct in the ministrations of the gospel. We charge and exhort you that you take the oversight of them with all humility and diligence, and sacred delight, that you make the life of their souls your perpetual care, that none of them may be lost through your default.

We exhort and charge you in the presence of this whole assembly, who are met together to behold and hear our faith and order in the gospel. They are witnesses of the solemn obligations you have this day laid yourself under, and will be called as witnesses against you in the day of Christ, if you take no care to perform your sacred vows. We exhort and charge you, in the presence of the holy and elect angels, who are continually waiting in their ministry on the saints in the church, and viewing with delight the ministration of the gospel of Christ, their Lord and ours, as it is managed by the hand of men. They see, they hear, and they will bear record against you; a dreadful record of broken vows and faithless promises, if you are found careless and unfaithful.

Forgive me, dear brother, forgive the solemn language of these exhortations; we hope, we believe, we are persuaded your heart is right with God, and you will be found faithful in that day, and that men and angels will be witnesses of your zeal and your labours in the sacred work. But we also feel so much coldness in our own spirits, that we have need to address you and ourselves in most solemn and awful language.

We charge you then finally, in the presence of God, the great God, the all-knowing and almighty, the universal Governor and Judge, and our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom he hath committed all judgment, who hath eyes as a flame of fire to see through our hearts and souls; we charge you, and we charge ourselves, under the all-seeing eye of the great God, and of his Son Jesus our Lord, that with holy care and diligence both we and you fulfil the work of our ministry with which Christ hath entrusted us, that we may approve ourselves to him in zeal, and faithfulness, and love; in zeal for his honour and his gospel, in faithfulness to our sacred commission, and in love and pity to the souls of men. If sinners will continue obstinate and impenitent, after all our pious cares, labours and prayers, their blood will not lie at our door; our work is left with the Lord, and our judgment and

reward with our God; Isaiah xlix. 4. But if it be possible, we should with utmost earnestness and compassion seize the souls of sinners who are on the very borders of hell, we should pluck them like brands out of the fire, and save them from burning; Jude verse 23.

O may the spirit of the blessed God favour us with his divine aids, that we may bring home many wanderers to the fold of Christ, the great Shepherd; that we may rescue many souls from death, who may be our joy, and crown, and glory in the day of the Lord Jesus! May this be your happiness, my dear brother, may this be mine? May this be the happiness of every one of us who minister in holy things, through the abounding grace of Christ and the influences of his Spirit: And may it be the happiness of all who in different places attend our constant holy ministrations, and particularly of all that hear us this day, to stand and appear with us before the judgment-seat of Christ with mutual delight and joy: And may each of us who preach and hear, receive our proper portion of the everlasting recompence and glory which shall be assigned to those who are faithful, by Jesus, our Saviour and our Judge, to whom be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

A SERIOUS ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE.

MATT. V. 57.

WHAT DO YE MORE THAN OTHERS?

SECTION I.

THE TEXT APPLIED TO THE DISCIPLES.

THAT excellent sermon which our Lord preached on the mount seems to be addressed

in a special manner to his disciples, though a mixed multitude might attend to hear it. The first verse of the chapter tells us, that Jesus seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain; and when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: And there are several expressions in the sermon which plainly shew that the discourse was chiefly directed to the disciples, Matt. v. 13, &c. Ye are the salt of the earth, ye are the light of the world; which he would never say to a multitude of mixed people that followed him, made up probably of Galilean gentiles, as well as Jews.

The words I have chosen are a warm and pathetic question put to the consciences of the disciples, with regard to the great duty of charity and love, which our blessed Saviour had been just preaching in sublimer degrees than the ancient prophets, If you salute none but your brethren, if you love only those that love you; or as Luke vi. 33. If ye do good to them that do good to you, what do you more than others? For the publicans and sinners do the same. Persons who make no pretences to godliness, and who neither enjoy the advantages with which you are blessed, nor lie under equal engagements; they love their own friends as well as you, and make grateful returns for benefits received; they practise many duties of morality, but I expect that you my disciples should far excel them, both in the duties you practise, and in the manner of performance: I expect that you should love your enemies, and should bless them that curse you, and do good to them that hate you, as in verse 44. What is here spoken thus warmly by our Lord to his own disciples, concerning love, and civility, and kindness to our fellow-creatures, may with the same justice be applied to most of the duties which we owe to God or man, and give us ground to raise this general doctrine or theme of discourse:

Doctrine. God requires and expects higher improvements in virtue and religion from persons who enjoy peculiar advantages, or lie under special obligations. Now to improve this thought, and press it upon all our consciences, I shall enquire, 1. What are the circumstances under which the disciples of Christ then lay that obliged them to superior virtue and goodness; and 2. I shall endeavour to apply this to ourselves, by enquiring what peculiar circumstances of advantage and obligation all or any of us lie under to exceed others in any instances of duty, either to God or our neighbour, and whether we have answered these engagements or no.

In answer to the first enquiry, What were the circumstances of the disciples at this time? We may consider our Saviour in his sermon exhorting them to superior degrees of good

ness, as they appeared under these two characters; 1. as they were Jews, and not heathens, as a part of the nation and church of Israel, in distinction from the men of other nations or gentiles; or 2. as they were the disciples of Christ, and not of the scribes or pharisees; as they were followers of a new preacher, who was neither authorized nor acknowledged by their priests and doctors of the law, who had no countenance from the established national church, and who frequently worshipped in separate assemblies.* And there is good reason for this twofold consideration of them, if we remember that in my text Christ compares his disciples with publicans, or the gatherers of the taxes, whom the Roman governors appointed, and who were most of them heathens, and were often guilty of oppression and injustice, and therefore he demands of his disciples greater degrees of goodness than they ever practised; and in the twentieth verse of this chapter he compares them with the scribes and pharisees, the strict pretenders to religion, and the teachers of it among the Jews; and assures them, that except their righteousness exceed that of the scribes and pharisees, they shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven; Matt. v. 20.

I. If we consider the disciples of Christ as Jews, as a part of the nation and church of Israel, they had many special advantages for religion above the heathen world, and many peculiar obligations. They were interested in those special marks of honour and love that God had set upon the jewish nation, they were chosen to be a peculiar people to the Lord, and were devoted to him from their infancy: They had their laws given them by God himself, as their King and Governor, and could have no doubt of the wisdom, and justice, and equity of them: They had a multitude of special revelations both of duty and grace from God as their King and their God; from God as the object of their worship and their everlasting rewarder? They had the living oracles committed to them for their instruction, wherein divine truths and duties were written down in plain language, as the lessons of their faith and the rules of their practice: They had many institutions of religion and worship dictated by God himself, and they were not left to the wild and uncertain fancies of men to invent ceremonies of their own, which God will never approve: They had the gospel preached to them under types and shadows, and there were many clear discoveries of the forgiveness of sin, and reconciliation to God, to be obtained for sinners who return to God by repentance, and who rely on the promises of his grace. Well might our Saviour say, I expect from you superior degrees of religion and virtue above the heathen and the publican, above the Roman taxgatherers that dwell amongst you, and even those of your own nation, who make no strict profession of piety or goodness. Think with yourselves, therefore, examine your hearts and practice, what do you more than they? And let your consciences be able to give an honourable answer.

II. Let the disciples of Christ be considered as the followers of a new preacher, in a way of distinction from the disciples of the scribes and the jewish doctors of the law. They sat under the ministry of a rising prophet, Jesus of Galilee, the supposed son of a

It is granted, indeed, that our blessed Saviour did not separate himself from the Jewish national church, so as to abstain from the worship of the temple, because that was expressly of God's own establishment; nor did he avoid the synagogues while they would suffer him to preach there, and to warn the people against their traditions: Yet there were so many corruptions in that day that had crept into the national church, that he found he could not fulfil his ministry, nor promote the salvation of souls according to his desire, and his heavenly commission, without holding separate assemblies.