this to be the case with regard to impenitent sinners under the gospel, we are not christians of the lowest class. But if we do believe it, and are not affected with it, so far as to endeavour their recovery, I see not how any regard to our own temporal interest, or that of others, can entitle us to the character, either of prudence, or humanity; even though we had not been distinguished by a public office in the church, but had passed through life in the station of the obscurest among our hearers. But it is impossible I should do justice to my argument, if I do not urge, 4. The consideration of "the peculiar obligations we are under, to endeavour the preservation of souls, not only in virtue of our experience as christians, but of our office as ministers." If we were only to consider our experiences, as we are christians, if we have any thing more than the empty name, that consideration might certainly afford us a very tender argument, to awaken our compassion to the souls of others. We know what it is ourselves, to be upon the brink of destruction, and in that sad circumstance to obtain mercy; and shall we not extend mercy to others? We have looked to Jesus, that we might live; and shall we not point him out to them? We have tasted that the Lord is gracious; and shall we not desire to communicate the same happy relish of his grace to all about us? He has magnified the riches of his pardoning love to us; and shall we not, with David, resolve, We will endeavour to teach transgressors his ways, and labour to promote the conversion of sin. ners unto him* ? Even now is he keeping our souls: His Visitation preserves our spirits +; and, as it is By his grace that we are what we are 1, it is by Having obtained help from him, that we continue unto this day §: And shall his grace, daily bestowed upon us, be in vain ||? And shall not we have Compassion on our fellow-servants, as our Lord continually hath pity on us ¶? But our office, as ministers, completes the obligation, when we consider the view in which the word of God represents that office, and the view in which we ourselves have received it. As for the former of these, we are all acquainted with those representations, and it is greatly to be wished, for our own sake, and that of our people, they may be very familiar to our minds. Let us often listen with becoming attention to the blessed God as speaking to us, in those words which he once addressed Psal. li. 13. ↑ Job x. 12. + 1 Cor. xv. 10. § Acts xxvi. 22. to the prophet Ezekiel, that faithful approved servant of the Lord; Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me: When I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his evil way to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but HIS BLOOD WILL I REQUIRE AT THINE HAND *. And with apparent reason may the centinel be punished, for the desolation which the enemy makes, while instead of watching he sleeps. We are elsewhere represented as Men of God †, as Soldiers of Jesus Christ, as made Overseers, or bishops, by the Holy Ghost §, as under-shepherds in subordination to Christ, The great Shepherd and Bishop of souls : And ought not the thought, gentle as it is, to awaken us to a diligent inspection over the sheep he has committed to our care? Otherwise, we are but images of shepherds; as it is represented in those lively and awful words of God by Zechariah, which methinks might strike terror and trembling into many, who in the eye of the world may seem the happiest of their brethren: Woe to the idol shepherd, that leaveth the flock: The sword of divine vengeance, which by his negligence he has justly incurred, shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye; upon that eye, which should have watched over the flock, and that arm, which should have been stretched out for its rescue; so that he shall be deprived of those capacities he abused, and be made miserable in proportion to that abuse; for His arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened ¶. Such we know are the pathetic views, which the scripture gives us of our office, and of the guilt and danger attending the neglect. I might, if my time would admit, farther urge the views, with which we have ourselves received it, and engaged in it. Most of us, when we undertook the pastoral charge, solemnly recorded our vows before God; "that we would endeavour, with all diligence and zeal, to attend to the services of this holy function; that we would be Instant in season, and out of season **, and labour to discharge the private, as well as public duties of the ministerial life." These vows of God are upon us; and every ordination of any of our brethren, at which we assist, adds a farther, and solemn obligation to them. Let us therefore * Ezek. iii. 17, 18. 1 Pet. ii. 25. +1 Tim. vi. 11. +2 Tim. 1i. 3. § Acts xx. 28. take the greatest care, that we do not deal deceitfully, and unfaithfully, both with God, and man. For it is most evident, that though the neglect of immortal souls is very criminal in every rational creature, it is most of all so in us, who have so deliberately, and so publicly undertaken the charge of them. It would indeed, in this case, not only be cruelty to them, but the basest treachery and ingratitude to our great Lord, who has lodged such a trust in our hands; a trust, which evidently lies so near his heart. Having Redeemed his people with his own blood *, he commits them to our care; and having acquired to himself the most tender claim to our love that can be imagined, he graciously requires this evidence of it, that we should Feed his sheep, yea, his lambs †; so putting our office in the most amiable and gentle view, and bringing in every sentiment of grateful friendship to excite our diligence in it. However we may regard it, I doubt not, but our blessed Redeemer considers it, as the greatest favour, and honour, he could have conferred upon us; that being returned to his throne in the heavens, he should chuse us to negociate his cause and interest on earth, and should consign over to our immediate care that gospel he brought down from heaven, and those souls which he died to save; and that he should make it the delightful labour of our life, to follow him in his own profession and employment, to be of all our fellow-creatures, his most immediate representatives, and, in humble subordination to him, saviours of men. Does not the very mention of it cause our hearts to glow with a fervent desire, and generous ambition of answering so high a confidence? Could any one of us endure the thought of betraying it? How could we, in that case, lift up our faces before him, when we shall, as we certainly must, See him eye to eyet. Yes, my brethren, let us every hour recollect it; our Master will, e'er long, come, and reckon with us §: He will render to every man according to his works, as my text expresses it in exact harmony with the language of the New Testament ||. And which of us would not then wish to appear before him, as those that have been faithfully attached to his cause, and have distinguished themselves by a zeal for his service? Shall we then, any of us, repent of our activity in so good a work? Shall we wish, that we had given more of our time to the pursuit of secular interest, or the curiosities of literature, and less to the immediate care of souls? Oh, my brethren, let us be wise in * Acts xx. 28. ↑ John xxi. 15, 16. ‡ Is. lii. 8. § Mat. xxv. 19. || Rom. ii. 6. Rev.xxii. 12. time. We have but one life to spend on earth; and that a very short one too: Let us make the best of it; and lay it out in such kind of employments, as we do verily believe will give us most satisfaction in the closing moments of it, and when eternity is opening upon us. It is easy to form plausible excuses for a different conduct: But our own hearts and consciences would answer us, if we would seriously ask them, what that course of life in the ministerial office is, which will then afford the most comfortable review, and through the riches of divine grace, the most pleasing prospect.—I should now proceed, III. To the farther application of these things, in some practical inferences from them : But what I have already said, has been so copious, and so practical, as not to leave room to pursue such inferences at large. You have all, I doubt not, prevented me, in reflecting on the reason we have to humble ourselves deeply in the presence of the blessed God, while we Remember our faults this day * I do not, indeed, at all question, but that many of us have Set before our people, Life and death†; and have, in our public addresses, urged their return to God, by the various considerations of terror, and of love, which the thunders of mount Sinai, and the grace of mount Zion, have taught us. We have, on great occasions, visited them, and entered into some serious discourse with them; and have often, and I would hope, more or less, daily borne them on our hearts before God, in our seasons of devout retirement. Blessed be God, that in these instances, we have, in any degree, approved ourselves faithful! It must give us pleasure in the review. But, Oh, why have not our prayers been more frequently presented, and more importunately enforced? Why have we not been more serious and more pressing, in our private addresses to them, and more attentive in our contrivances, if I may so express it, to Catch them in the net of the gospel? Let us ask our own consciences, this day, as in the presence of God, if there be not reason to apprehend, that some, who were once our hearers, and it may be, our dear friends too, have perished through our neglect; and are gone to eternal destruction, for want of our more prudent, more affectionate, and more zealous care for their deliverance? In these instances, my brethren, though it is dreadful to say it, and to think it, yet it is most certain, that we have been, in part, accessary to their ruin; and have reason to say, with trembling hearts, and with weeping eyes, Deliver us from blood *Gen. xli. 9. + Deut. xxx. 15. Luke v. 10. guiltiness,—from the blood of those unhappy souls, Oh, God, thou God of our salvation *! And we have need, with all possible earnestness, to renew our application to the blood and righteousness of a Redeemer ; not daring to mention any services of our own, as matter of confidence in his presence; how highly soever others may have esteemed them, who candidly look on the little we do, and perhaps make more charitable excuses for our neglect, than we ourselves can dare to urge before God. Let the remembrance of these things be for a lamentation : And while they are so, Let us seriously consider, what methods are to be taken, to prevent such things for the time to come. They that have perished, have perished for ever, and are far beyond the reach of our labours, and our prayers. But multitudes to this day surround us, who stand exposed to the same danger, and on the very brink of the same ruin. And besides these dying sinners, who are the most compassionable objects, which the eye of man, or of God, beholds on this earth of ours; how many languishing christians demand our assistance? Or, if they do not expressly demand it, appear so much the more to need it? Let us look round, my brethren, I will not say, upon the nation in general, but on the churches under our immediate care; and say, whether the face of them is such, as becomes the societies of those, whom the Son of God has redeemed with his own blood; and of those, that call themselves the disciples, and members, of a once crucified, and now glorified Jesus? Is their whole temper and conduct formed upon the model of his gospel? Are they such, as we would desire to present them before the presence of his glory? What is wanting, cannot be numbered; and perhaps we may be ready, too rashly, to conclude, that what is crooked, cannot be made straight +. Nevertheless, let us remember, it is our duty to attempt it, as prudently, as immediately, and as resolutely as we can. Many admirable advices for that purpose our fathers and brethren have given us; particularly Dr. Watts, in the first part of his Humble Attempt for the Revival of Religion, and Mr. Some, in his sermon on the same subject: Excellent treatises, which reduced into practice would soon produce the noblest effects. That those important instructions may be revived, and accommodated to present circumstances, with such additions, as those circumstances require, we are, this day, having united |
