display of their miraculous powers, the healing of diseases, and the gift of tongues; but by their sufferings in the Gospel cause; by their earnest and disinterested concern for the eternal welfare of their brethren in the Lord; by their willingness to spend and be spent for their sakes;* by the simplicity of heart and singleness of purpose, which ruled and characterized all their proceedings, as men, bent upon saving souls to the Lord. How affecting is that appeal of the great Apostle, to those who knew him well; Ye know after what manner I have been with you at all seasons--how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.---I take to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men; for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.† On the other hand, how powerful an encouragement, how precious a recompense, was imparted to those who laboured, and watched, as they that must give account, by the faithful adherence, the filial respect and affection of those, whom they you * 2 Cor. xii. 15. † Acts xx. 18, 20, 26. + Heb. xiii. 7. considered to be their children in the Lord :* and not only by respect and affection towards themselves; but by that exemplary holiness and consistency, which proved to their spiritual fathers that they had not laboured in vain. The Christian sincerity and uprightness of these converts were St. Paul's hope, and joy, and crown of rejoicing. I have no greater joy, says St. John, than to hear that my children walk in the truth. How beautiful and holy, in all its perfectness of obligation, is the spiritual connexion which subsists between a faithful minister of Christ, and the flock which he is appointed to feed with the pure word of God. How many are the methods, by which that bond of affection may be more closely drawn. How various are the ways, in which a faithful and vigilant pastor may apply himself to the consciences of men, and promote their spiritual welfare; administering instruction, reproof, consolation; becoming all things to all men, that by all means he may save some:§ always on the watch for opportunities of seasonably interposing the great truths and warnings of the Gospel; anxiously alive to * 1 Cor. iv. 15. Philem. 10 + 3 John 4. + 1 Thess. ii. 19. § 1 Cor. ix. 22. the symptoms of religious improvement in his flock, and looking to that, as his strong encouragement and rich reward. Many an anxious care does he experience, for the welfare of those, who are endeared to him by the sacred sympathies of spiritual affinity; many a sorrow for failures, in which the world thinks he has no interest; many a joy also for blessings, which he alone perceives descending upon the heads of those whom he loves in the Lord. And such a shepherd is not without his recompense even in this world; The sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and he leadeth them out, and goeth before them; and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice.* 1 Such, my brethren, were the Apostles; such were the first pastors and teachers of the Church of Christ; such have been many holy fathers of that Church, who imbibed the true spirit of that Gospel which it is intended to uphold and propagate and in proportion as all its ministers, by the aid of that Spirit, who is promised to them an abiding and a sanctifying Spirit, can assimilate themselves to that perfect model of self-devotion and disinterestedness; of ardent zeal for the salvation of mankind; and of singleness of * John x. 4. intention as preachers of the Gospel only; in that proportion will they be burning and shining lights, to illuminate and to purify the world; and in that proportion will the kingdom of Christ on earth be set forward, and his great designs of mercy carried on towards their accomplishment. But let our hearers bear in mind that the work is not all ours, nor theirs; but the work of the Spirit: the preparation of the heart is from the Lord.* Paul may plant and Apollos water; but God giveth the increase. Yet, as he gives the increase to the husbandman, by blessing his labours; so, in the cultivation of the good seed of his Word, his blessings follow the honest and sincere exertions of those who sow, and of those, in whose hearts the soil has been prepared for its reception. An earnest striving for the promised aid of the Spirit there must be in both and if the Churches be not so firmly established in the faith, nor so rapidly increased, as they ought to be, the fault may be, and doubtless often is, not only, nor principally, in the preachers of the Word; but in those hearers, who do not labour to make a conscientious application, and practical improvement of what they hear. It is very refreshing to the pious spirit, to * Prov. xxi. 1. + 1 Cor. iii. 6, 7. turn away for a season from the formalities, and schisms, and errors, which too often encumber and injure the visible Church of Christ, to the spiritual piety, the undivided unity, the perfect charity, the ardent zeal, the fervent and constant devotion of the apostolical age. The picture which I have now presented to you, my Christian friends, by collecting into one point of view some of the most striking touches of the Sacred History, will not be without its use, if, while it gives to some of you a more vivid and pleasing idea of the primitive Church of Christ, it shall lead you, by the blessing of God, to realize in your own persons some of its most attractive and praiseworthy features, and to prove yourselves fellow-citizens with the saints* and martyrs of old, and genuine lively members of the spotless and unblemished household of God.† And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance amongst all them which are sanctified.‡ # * Eph. ii. 19. + Eph. v. 27. ↑ Acts xx. 32. |