world, according as we shall have faithfully fulfilled, or have carelessly or wilfully neglected our duty.

St. Paul enumerates the fruits of the Spirit, and men. tions them in this order: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." We have a right to conclude, that in this catalogue faith must mean fidelity, because all the other fruits of the Spirit, mentioned with it, are moral qualifications, or what we call virtues. The writings of the apostles, as well as the gospels, abound with precepts and exhortations, enjoining and recommending the exactest fidelity, in the discharge of our duty, in all the relations and situations of life, in which we can be placed. Princes and subjects, magistrates and people, husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, rich and poor, are all commanded and intreated to remember and fulfil, with the utmost fidelity, the duties which respectively belong to them.

When every other station is so particularly regarded, we cannot suppose the clergy are passed over without some directions concerning their duty-without some exhortations and admonitions respecting their fidelity in the great trust committed to them. What we so reasonably expect is duly regarded: And as to the clergy the highest possible trust is committed, so the most exact commands, the most earnest persuasions, the most importunate intreaties, are added, that can influence men, to make them exact and faithful in the discharge of their duty. Their hopes are enlivened, and their courage animated, by the promise of the divine assistance in this life, and of future blessedness to the faithful minister of Christ: And their fears are alarmed by the denunciation of God's vengeance against the unfaithful and wicked. The two epistles to Timothy, and the epistle to Titus, are almost entirely on this subject; and the greater part of St. Jude's epistle is employed in describing and condemning false teachers, and warning christians to beware of them. Nor is any fair opportunity omitted, in the other epistles, of

cautioning ministers to take heed of their doctrine, that it be sound, and to their life, that it be irreproachable ; that in all things they may approve themselves to be 'good stewards of the manifold grace of God."*

But this matter does not rest merely on the authority of the apostles. Our Saviour, by whose commission his ministers act, has bound the duty of fidelity on them by the strongest obligations, and excited them to the discharge of it by the most powerful motives. Addressing himself to his disciples in his sermon on the mount, he calls them the salt of the earth;'t intending thereby to represent to them, that as it is the property of salt to give relish to our food, and to preserve dead bodies from pu trefaction; so it was the tendency of the doctrine they were to preach, to reform the manners of men, and make them holy and acceptable to God to preserve them, not only from corruption in their morals, but from that destruction which the justice of God shall, one day, pour upon the wicked. But as salt, if it lose its saltness, becomes useless; so if they proved unfaithful, by corrupting the holy doctrines committed to them, or by setting an evil example to the world, they would as surely be cast, by him, into outer darkness, as unsavory salt is cast out to be trodden under foot.' To make the deeper impression, he repeated his charge by another similitude: Ye are the light of the world. The property of light is to enable those who are within the reach of its activity to distinguish objects, and see where they go And the design of the doctrines the apostles were to preach was, to enlighten both Jews and Gentiles, that they might see the evil state they were in, and become sensible of the mercy and wisdom of God, in providing a way for their deliverance through Christ. But if they were unfaithful to their trust, and put the cover of erior over this light, or obscured it by a wicked conversation, it would be so far from exciting men to come to it and partake of its blessings, that it would be entirely unnoticed by them, or seen with disgust and aversion. He therefore pressed

* 1 Peter iv. 10,

+

the duty of fidelity upon them in the strongest terms: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven ** Let the soundness of your doctrine, and purity of your conversation, be so conspicuous, that men may be thereby induced to give glory to God for the glad ti dings you shall publish to them.

Another proof of the great attention our Saviour paid to the article of fidelity in his apostles is, his pathetic address to St. Peter, a little before his ascension. Thrice he demanded, in the most solemn manner, of that apostle, whether he loved him; and being thrice assured of the warmth and sincerity of his affection, he replied,. Feed my lambs-feed my sheep :'t Govern and instruct my church, over which thou hast been appointed a principal pastor, with tenderness and fidelity.

After these general reflections, let us attend a little more particularly to the obligations which clergymen are under, to be faithful stewards of the mysteries of God.' And,

1. The honour of Almighty God is concerned in their conduct; and that is a high obligation on them to be faithful in discharging the duties of their ministry.

The trust that God has, in the course of his providence. reposed in the ministers of his church, is greater than any trust reposed in any other men. The trust committed to kings, and princes, and rulers, and magistrates, relates to this life. They are the servants of God, and exercise a delegated power from him, to govern and conduct the affairs of civil societies, so as best to secure and promote human happiness. It is, therefore, our duty to reverence and honour them, and, in all things lawful, to obey them for conscience sake; and to pray to God for them, that under their administration we may be protected from violence and persecution, and, being godly and quietly governed, may joyfully serve and praise him in his holy church. But the trust committed to the ministers of Christ relates to eternity; they being appointed by God

to govern and manage the affairs of his church, so as best to promote and secure the everlasting felicity of his people. In proportion as God has committed greater and dearer interests to their hands, their obligations become the stronger to be faithful in their ministry, and to consult and advance his honour, in the due execution of their office.

As our creator, God is entitled to our adoration; as our governor, to our obedience; as our protector, to our prayers; as our preserver, to our gratitude and praise. When we pay to God that adoration, and worship, and obedience, and praise, which are due to him, we honour him as far as he can receive honour from us. It becomes, then, the duty of the ministers of Christ to make the being of God known unto men, that they may worship and serve him; to declare his moral government, that he may be obeyed; to display his readiness to help in all our wants and necessities, that prayer may be made unto him; to proclaim the goodness and benignity of his nature, that our grateful praises may ascend to the throne of his majes ty. In the faithful discharge of their duty, in these respects, the honour of God is immediately concerned, and the glory of his name deeply interested. And so is,

2. The efficacy of Christ's redemption.

It has pleased God, for the salvation of a fallen, miserable world, to send his Son into it, to work out its redemption-to make atonement for sin, and reconcile offending man to the purity of his own nature, that he might, through the Mediator, extend mercy and pardon to him, and receive him to life and happiness in a future world. You have heard in the first discourse, that the preaching of this reconciliation is committed to the ministers of the christian church, by the express commission of our Saviour. In proportion then, as they shall be unfaithful in their ministry, this atonement will be unknown or disregarded the terms of this reconciliation misunderstood or misapplied-and the intended mercy of God frustrated and disappointed. How strong an obligation does this consideration carry with it! Who that ever had

seriousness enough upon his mind to become a clergyman, can possibly disregard it! Well might St. Paul say, 'necessity is laid upon me: yea, wo is unto me if I preach not the gospel.** God grant that every minister of Christ may feel this necessity, and remember that it is required in stewards,' especially in such stewards, that a man be found faithful!'

3. Another obligation which lies on the ministers of Christ to be faithful in their stewardship is, that the eternal happiness of the people committed to their charge, in a good degree, depends on their fidelity.

If they have any humanity-any compassion towards their fellow creatures, they will not bear the thought, that any one, that any of those especially who are under their care, should, through their fault, fall into the dreadful state of eternal perdition. The sharpest anguish attends the bare supposition. God forbid it should ever be realized by any minister of his church! Better would it be for such a man had he never been born. To think, that Christ left the throne of his glory, and appeared in the humblest form of humanity; suffered the infirmities and distresses of our nature, in a life of poverty and want; endured the perverseness and contradiction of sinners; the malice, persecutions, scoffs, and revilings of wicked men; the temptations of satan, and the full burden of God's wrath on the sins of the world in the agonies of a cruel crucifixion, made more bitter by the dereliction of his Father, to think that he sustained all this misery, that he might reconcile us to God, and open to us the gate of everlasting life close barred by sin; and, that this mercy, this goodness, this love, has, in any instance, been rendered abortive through his fault, must, to a wicked unfaithful minister, add new keenness to the vengeance of God. He who is unmoved by such reflections must be left to the mercy of God, whose mercy, indeed, he has no right to expect, but rather that judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries in the day of the Lord.t