soul, and rejoice the heart a; to make men wiser, better and happier. And a knowledge which they stood in the greater need of being instructed in, as so much ignorance, superstition and idolatry had lately prevailed among them. This was the proper business of the priests and Levites. They were qualified for it, and appointed to it. Moses had solemnly enjoined this duty upon them, and had mentioned it at his death, among the honours and privileges peculiar to that tribe. They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law b. And however they might many of them have neglected their duty in times past, it seems they now very generally betook themselves to it with great cheerfulness, diligence and faithfulness. Wherefore Hezekiah, in his great zeal for religion, and his tender concern for the welfare of his people, spake comfortably to the Levites. He esteemed them very highly in love for their work's sake. He did them that honour to which their office, and their care to fulfil the duties of it, justly intitled them. Knowing the difficulties they had to contend with, he pitied, comforted and encouraged them. He spake to their heart-used his utmost endeavours to cheer, revive, quicken and animate them. My son, says he, with the greatest tenderness and familiarity, be not now negligent: for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him c. “It is your peculiar honour to be the servants of the living God, and to minister to him in his temple. Be not you therefore remiss in your duty, but be faithful to him who has appointed you, as also Moses was faithful in all his house." Nor did he content himself with speaking thus kindly to them. He gave them all the countenance, support and assistance in their work they could reasonably desire. He himself, his princes, and his household, attended their preaching and their other ministrations-attended them with seriousness, cheerfulness and constancy. He commended their diligence, and by speaking well of them, of their office, and of their labours for the public good, he conciliated the minds of the people in general to the observance of religious worship. Nay what was more than this, and what afforded the greatest comfort and encouragement b Deut. xxxiii. 10. c Chap. xxix. 11. a Psal. xix. 7, 8, to the pious Levites, was, the honour which his temper and example reflected upon those instructions, he from time to time received in common with others in the house of God. To all which I might add, that Hezekiah further expressed his regard for these ministers of religion, by taking care to secure to them such maintenance and support, as God in his infinite wisdom and goodness had appointed. He commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord a. To which command, we are afterwards told, the people in general rendered a cheerful obedience. Thus have we seen the measures which Hezekiah took for the assistance and encouragement of the Levites in the discharge of their office; and what were the truly noble considerations, by which he was influenced in exerting himself on their behalf. He did not act merely from a principle of humanity, or even equity, but from a real concern also for the honour of God, and for the welfare of his people. And thus have we seen how readily the people concurred with him in these measures, for the restoration of the true religion to the state it had been in, in former times. And now from hence I am naturally led to what is the principal object of this discourse. We indeed are under a very different dispensation of religion from that of the Jews. The pomp and ceremony which attended their worship is entirely laid aside, the end of those institutions having been fully answered; and God is now to be worshipped after a plain, simple and spiritual manner. Yet as religion itself is the same it was then, we are under the same obligations to regard the external means of it, as the Jews were, though these means are of quite another kind. If therefore we are to meet together at stated seasons for prayer and praise, instruction and reproof, and the celebration of baptism and the Lord's supper; if to these purposes we are to choose persons properly qualified to teach us the good knowledge of the Lord, and to administer to us holy ordinances; and if a company of faithful people thus assembled, however small their number, is a church of a Chap. xxxi. 4, Christ, and established by divine appointment;-then it is unquestionably the duty of such a people, after the example of Hezekiah and the pious Jews, to do the utmost that lies in their power to support, assist and encourage their ministers, in the due discharge of their office. The duty is as binding in the latter instance as in the former. The ends are the same, the honour of God and the spread of religion; and the means, though different, are instituted by the same authority, Wherefore our obligations to shew a proper regard to those who are to take the lead in the worship of God, are the same, precisely the same, as were theirs. ter, But detaching myself from this comparative view of the matpropose now to consider more particularly, I I. The grounds of that regard which is due from a people towards their minister; II. The several ways in which it should express itself; and III. Some additional motives, besides those which arise out of the nature of the duty itself, to excite us to it. I. As to the grounds of the several duties I have to recommend, these are proper to be laid down first, as the right understanding them will the better enable me to point out the duties themselves. Now here are to be considered the claims they have upon us-in common with others, as men and Chris tians in virtue of their character and office, as ministers of Christ-and in consequence of the proper and faithful discharge of their duty. 1. They have a claim upon us as men and Christians, in common with others. Their public character does by no means vacate or annul their private or civil character. mon. This I mention with a view to guard against two mistakes, which though very absurd are, I am sorry to say it, not uncomThe one is that of refusing them such a decent regard, as is their due upon considerations of a natural and civil kind. And the other is that of paying them an extravagant and superstitious sort of respect, as if they were of a rank superior to that of their fellow-creatures and fellow-Christians. The former is the mistake of those who have but slight, if not contemptuous, notions of religion. And the latter theirs, who though they may have great zeal for religion, yet have little or no knowledge or prudence mingled with that zeal. And they are each of them highly unreasonable and injurious. -- If ministers have the same sense, honesty and piety as others, they may on these considerations justly challenge the same esteem, attention and affection as others. Nor is there any reason why their personal merit (I speak in regard of men not of God) should suffer any diminution from their public and relative character. And on the other hand, if they are men subject to the like passions, weaknesses and infirmities with others, as they most certainly are, this consideration ought to have its due effect, to check and restrain those violent and enthusiastic regards, which some weak and foolish persons are apt to express towards them. For however their station and usefulness would induce a good man to put the most charitable construction upon their defects and failings; yet a total inattention to them, when it produces such prejudices in their favour as were just mentioned, is on many accounts very unreasonable and dangerous. Whilst we treat them as if they were more than men, we are in a disposition to place an implicit, and so a very hurtful confidence in them; and by feeding their pride and vanity we greatly injure them and obstruct their usefulness. And after a while, when we come to discover their mistakes and imperfections, it is much but our over-weening affection for them as hastily subsides, as it was before suddenly excited and inflamed. So that the considering ministers as men and Christians in common with others, that is, the duly estimating their natural and religious qualifications, and their passions, weaknesses and prejudices, is a matter of no small importance in order to the regulation of our regards towards them. There is no wise and faithful minister, I am persuaded, but would on the one hand be glad to be thought a sensible, honest and good man; and would on the other from his heart despise that ignorant kind of respect, which is offered to supposed infallibility and perfection. Even the apostles themselves, though they were will ing to suffer reproach and persecution for the sake of religion, on every proper occasion, boldly asserted their rights as men and Christians. And on the contrary, though they were inspired of God, and endowed with a power of working miracles, they were on no occasion backward to acknowledge, that they were men of like passions with others a, and that it was in earthen vessels God had put the treasure of his gospel, that the excellency of the power might be of him and not of them b. -The next thing to be considered, as a farther ground of the duties which the people owe to them, is, 2. Their characters and office as ministers of Christ. This is a matter of no small consequenee to be rightly understood, because of the contempt with which it is treated by some, and because of the extravagant and superstitious veneration that is paid to it by others. The office then is not of political invention, no nor an institution merely of wise and good men; but it is, I will be bold to affirm, of divine appointment. This I think every one who believes his Bible must acknowledge. For the commission our Lord gave to the first ministers of the gospel to go teach all nations, to administer the ordinances to them that should believe and be converted, and to instruct them in whatever he had commanded; this commission was to extend to the most distant ages, as clearly appears from the promise annexed, that he would be with them alway even to the end of the world c. And the apostle tells us, our Lord has appointed ministers in his church for the edifying of the body of Christ, till it should come to a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ d. Such ministers (who are described as evangelists or teachers, and as bishops or pastors) were fixed in the churches that were first raised and established: and a succession of them was to be continued as long as the Christian church should exist. The question then is, Who they are that have a claim to the office of a bishop, or overseer, and what are the duties of such office? And here we are to be guided by Scripture, and by the reason and the nature of the thing. It is not every one who assumes that venerable character, or who has it given a Acts xiv. 15. b 2 Cor. iv. 7. |