CHAPTER XXIV.

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ENJOYING THE CHRISTIAN

MINISTRY.

The

IT is not easy to estimate the debt of gratitude which those portions of the earth owe to the distinguishing goodness of God, who enjoy the stated ministrations of his word. Christian ministry is among the selectest blessings which can be enjoyed by men; one of the most important elements of individual, social, and national prosperity. It is the institution which, above all others, makes Christian lands what they are, girds them with a zone of light, and sheds upon them the balmy influences of heavenly mercy.

"What nation," said Moses to ancient Israel, "is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all this law which I set before you this day?" This was the pre-eminence of the Hebrew state; they were a better instructed and better governed people, a .holier and happier people, than any of the sur

rounding nations. The God of Abraham was

a "glory in the midst of them, and a wall of fire round about them." There he set his "tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain." Speaking of the restoration of that backsliding and chastised people, after days of darkness and rebuke, God himself says to them, "Turn, O backsliding Israel, for I am married unto you; and I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you unto Zion. And I will give you"-what is the gift that this greatest of all givers will give to his restored and reespoused people?"I will give you Pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.' The Psalmist, in speaking of them, says, "Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance." If this pre-eminence was enjoyed by the Jewish people, under a comparatively dark and shadowy dispensation, with how much stronger propriety does it belong to Christian lands, enjoying, as they do, so much clearer light, and that "better covenant, founded upon better promises?"

This is not a subject on which the Scriptures speak in doubtful or unemphatic language. They tell us of the gifts of God to men; above all others do they magnify his "unspeakable

gift," the gift of his only and well-beloved Son. They speak too of gifts which his Son bestows, as the rewarded and rewarding Mediator; gifts which he purchased by his death, and of which he is the honored dispenser. When he ascended up on high, "he gave gifts to men,' worthy of his royal bounty, and such as he himself selected as the most fitting and striking expressions of his munificence on his first accession to his mediatorial throne. "He gave -some, Apostles; and some, Prophets; and some, Evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry."

These are the gifts he bestows on us. The "lines have fallen to us in pleasant places, and we have a goodly heritage." We may glory in the vastness of our territory, and in the rapid growth of an enterprising population; we may survey with high and honest exultation the blessings of that civil and religious liberty which we have received from our fathers; but, if we are not recreant to the trust committed to us, and feel as they felt, we shall prize the Christian ministry. Amid all the beautiful and varied scenery which delights our eye as we look over this broad land, we shall not overlook her ten thousand churches; and amid all our delighted exultation, we shall remember that it is written, "How beautiful upon the

mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!"

Privilege and obligation are but correlative terms. The greater the privilege, the greater the duty, and the greater the sin of leaving it unperformed. We ask more for the pulpit, than that it be provided with a pious and welleducated ministry;-and we ask more for the ministry, than that it should receive an adequate pecuniary support, and be respected, and encouraged. We claim for it a practical regard of the truths it inculcates, and the duties it enforces. We ask for it that character, those hopes, and those efforts which it was instituted to attain and advance.

The first great duty which the pulpit urges, is "repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." It holds up the simplicity of the method of salvation by a crucified Redeemer; the simplicity of a spiritual faith in Jesus Christ, in opposition to that righteousness which is by the deeds of the law ;-the simplicity of Christian worship, in opposition to the tedious and complicated observances of all false religions. The just expression and proof of its power is found, when those who enjoy its dispensations cordially receive this system of truth and grace, and confide in that Saviour

through whom they are delivered from the curse of the law; whose blood answers every charge, covers every sin, enforces every plea, and itself pleads with irresistible power. Here lies the first and great responsibility of those who are favored with the Christian ministry. Men do not truly meet any one of its claims until this duty is performed. Their obedience to the Divine authority begins here; it is vain for them to think of any thing like conformity to his will, so long as they reject him whom God has sent, and refuse his instructions who comes to them with so many attestations of his divine mission. We call upon men, therefore, everywhere, to renounce their pretensions to self-righteousness,-to feel their sin and condemnation, to be sensible of their inability to save themselves,-to be conscious that they have no claims, no merit, and to throw them selves upon him who is the Author and Finisher of this great salvation. We call upon them to feel that for any good purpose they have nothing, and need all things;-to bow at his footstool, who is so holy that the heavens are not clean in his sight; and there where archangels bow, and devils tremble, to smite upon their breasts, "God be merciful to me a sinner!"

and say,

Whence is it that men listen to the message brought to them by the Christian ministry, with not half the interest and eagerness with