material means of good which you possess. You may even be tempted to think of them, and act towards them, as if they were mercenaries who sought not you, but yours. The associate pastorship, which has, in a large part of its history, existed in this church, and now exists, may be the occasion of difficulty and disaster, if both pastors and people keep not their hearts with all diligence. One may say I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos. The community around you may conceive and cherish the idea that you are wealthy, and do not need their sympathy and coöperation. And even christian men may, without sufficient reflection, discourage others from uniting with you, and even entice them away, by supposing and suggesting, that your material means give you advantages enough, without the benefit which you need still more on that account, of loving and faithful souls. The real or supposed possession and influence of wealth are often inevitably unpopular. It is a part of the tax it may be said to be obliged to pay to society, for the influence which always attends it. And this is a safeguard to its possessors; though often a great inconvenience, and sometimes a great mortification to them. You, yourselves, in your wish to keep your affairs safely, and in your own hands, may be tempted to let your commendable and necessary prudence degenerate into a selfish and suspicious exclusiveness, and thus prevent you from encouraging others to unite with you, and to let the blame of their absence fall on those who preach to you the gospel. It is by yielding to such temptations as these, instead of watchfully and prayerfully, in dependence upon Christ, looking them in the face, and overcoming them, that churches and societies which have been favored in the providence of God, with what is often called “a church fund,” have been almost proverbially inefficient, and nigh unto spiritual death. They fall into the temptation of the church of the Lardiceans, and are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm; and say, we are rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that they are wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. We are encouraged in this persuasion, by the grace of God, in having preserved you, as a church and society, in so great a degree faithful to the trust He has committed to you, for nearly two hundred years. We are encouraged in it by the fact that you have been led in His grace and His providence, to begin to use the advantages He has given you, by “sounding out the word of the Lord" in destitute places beyond yourselves; scattering so that you shall increase; giving so it shall be given unto you. We are inclined to apply to you the principle of reasoning applied by Paul to the Philippianchurch, and say: He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye are all partakers of my grace. For God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bonds of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere, and without offence till, the day of Christ. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." 66 "Be not high-minded, but fear." "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." I cannot close, without affectionately commending the truth as it is in Jesus, which I trust I have here preached, though in much weakness, for a quarter of a century to the consciences of all of you; and particularly to those, who, having been here, when I commenced my ministry, must now be somewhat advanced in years. Some of you have already received the truth in the love of it, as your guide for life, and your preparation for eternity. Others may still be strangers to its vital power. Let me bear my testimony again to the purifying and peace-giving power of the gospel, which brings life and immortality to light; and affectionately, and once more, my friends, commend it to you! AMEN. |