A PLEA FOR
MINISTERIAL LIBERTY.
A DISCOIRSE
DELIVERED  AT PRINCETON,
ON THE 17TH OF BMAY, 1824.
BY JOHN M. DUNCTCAN,
Pastor of the Associate Reformed Congregation of Baltimore.








A PLEA FOR
MINISTERIAL LIBERTY.
A DISCOURSE
ADDRESSED, BY APPOINTMENT,
TO THE
DIRECTORS AND STUDENTS
OF THE
irulnugiual muinhra  uf thr Vrtonhtriun   4 Cnr4t=,
AT PRINCETON,
ON THE 17TH OF MAY, 1824.
BY JOHN M. DUNCAN,
Pastor of the Associate Reformed Congregation of Baltimore.
SECOND EDITION.
BALTIMORE:
CUSHINGS & BAILEY.
1853.




J. D. TOY, PRINTER.




D ISCOURSE.
For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is
laid upon me; yea, wo is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.
What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make
the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.
For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all,
that I might gain the more.
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them
that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under
the law;
To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God,
but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all
things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker thereof with you.
Know ye not, that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the
prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now
they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any
means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away.
1 COR. ix. 16-27.
THE Apostle has explicitly asserted, that this part of his
Epistle to the Corinthian Christians, receives its peculiar form
from a letter addressed by them to him, referring certain matters about which they differed to his apostolic judgment.
One of these involved the broad question of Christian liberty;
or inquired into the use that might be made of an abstract
right, which affected no essential principle, or, at most, only the




4
application of essential principle to things indifferent in themselves. The case appears to have comprised the following
particulars: "We know that an idol is nothing in the world;
and that meat offered in sacrifice to an idol, cannot thereby
be polluted. Moreover, we know, that the new economy has
entirely modified evangelic institutions: altered the extent of
connecting divine and human things together, in the arrangement of religious ordinances; and restored to us, by virtue
of our union with'the heir of all things,' the free and indiscriminate use of earthly creatures, agreeably to the grant originally given in Paradise. These things being true, are we
culpable in partaking of a public feast, prepared in an idol's
temple? May we not accept the invitation of an unbeliever
to a private entertainment, when such meat is presented on
the table, without contracting guilt? Or, going to the market
to provide food for our households, is there any peril in purchasing this meat, if offered for sale?" Questions of conscience, which, considering the religious knowledge of the
age, and the character of the temptations under which they
occurred, were certainly not framed without considerable ingenuity; and even now, though ours be the age of philosophic
theology, the same principle called up into discussion, and
modified in its forms to correspond with the change of circumstances, might puzzle the majority of professing Christians. For we are still fond of arguing questions of abstract
right, frequently not hesitating to estimate piety by the
amount of controversial zeal, and throwing lines of circumvallation around, not only each other's personal liberty, but
around Christ's ordinances themselves.
The Apostle, leaving the particular cases for future discussion, on which he professedly enters in the tenth chapter, for
the present contents himself with showing them that their
argument was defective, as they had omitted several circumstances, materially important to a correct decision.  In the
first place, says he, "meat commendeth us not to God; for
neither if we eat, are we the better, neither if we eat not, are




we the worse.  This were enough one would think, to
annihilate the whole difficulty. What Christian, whose mind
is enlarged, or whose heart is mellowed, could be very
strenuous in an argument about a matter of such microscopic
dimensions? In the second place, "every man has not that
knowledge" of which you boast; and they, who, without
this knowledge, eat of this meat, do it with conscience of the
idol; they eat it as meat, offered to an idol, and their conscience
being weak, is defiled. For, as he informed the Romans, in
a parallel argument on the same subject, "to him that
esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean:happy is the man who condemneth not himself in the thing
that he alloweth; and he that doubteth is damned if he eat,
because he eateth not of faith; for whatsoever is not of faith
is sin." (Rom. xiv.) Observe, he continues, the operation
of these things; the knowledge of which you boast, is conceded to you, by many of your Christian brethren, who are
thence led to infer your ability to instruct them. What then,
if one of these should see you, men of large spiritual attainments, sit at meat in an idol's temple: his conscience judges
this to be the extreme of social intercourse, and cannot discriminate between you and the idolater himself. Yet the
temptation may be fascinating; the occasion for festivity and
mirth may very strongly allure; your example will embolden
his conscience; and he may enter the idol's temple, which,
but for you, he never would have done, and join in the
ceremony he considers idolatrous; thus publicly allowing the
very thing in which he condemns himself. The conclusion of
the whole is, "through your knowledge shall the weak brother
perish, for whom Christ died."   0, surely this were enough
to startle any man, who was not drudging out a heartless
profession under the infatuation of some soul-destroying
passion; enough to awaken every sensibility of the Christian
spirit, and reveal its accurate resemblance to the master himself. Each one would retire from the idol's temple, singing
"hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down




6
his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren."
Paul, the intrepid Paul, he whose labors were so abundant,
and whose stripes had scathed his body with the marks of the
Lord Jesus; who spake with tongues more than they all;
whose eyes had seen the beauty, and whose ears had heard
the music of God's heavenly habitation; Paul, while he states
the particulars of his delightful theme, feels the glow of that
rapturing love, which had already carried him through such
variety of scene in his Master's service; and declares for
himself, " if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no
flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to
offend."
These are not mere words of course, on the part of the
Apostle.  No man could speak more confidently of works of
benevolence, rendered with a cheerful and untiring spirit, than
he. The biographic sketch of his ministerial career, is one
continued strain of exalted eulogy, if in such eulogy any man
may indulge before the Lord. Hear his appeal. You know,
says he, to the Corinthians, my right to a pecuniary compensation for my labors among you.-A right I can rest upon my
apostolic office, as being a distinct vocation in human society;
upon the peculiar fact of our spiritual relation, constituted by
the exercise of that office among you, ye being the seal of
my apostleship in the Lord: upon the constitutional principles
of society, sustained in all the transactions of life, as I have
labored for your interest, not as a slave whom you may control, but as a free-man who has equal rights with yourselves;
upon natural law, applying itself even to beasts of burden,
requiring for their toil in your service, a righteous provision;
upon the known statute in the church through past ages; upon
the common practice of the other apostles; upon a fair comparison of the character of my labors with that of the recompense I might claim; —It is impossible you should dispute my
right. Yet you know I have not asserted my right; cheerfully
have I waived it hitherto for the gospel's sake; and even now,




I will suffer no man to snatch from me the comfort I derive
from this recollection. In this I glory: and " it were better
for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying
void; as the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me
of this boasting in the regions of Achaia."
Here, the verses, at present under consideration, take up
the subject. And we are, in analysing them, called upon to
develop some moral principles, characteristic of the evangelical institute, which are deeply interesting to all Christians,
whatever relations they may sustain to the church or the
world: principles, which embrace the personal objects of
their glorying, as required to individualize each one himself
from all other human beings, and to estimate his own responsibilities as covering all that is peculiar in the sphere in which
he may move, or in the service he may personally render.
16. For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory
of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, wo is unto me, if I
preach not the gospel!
Paul is plainly speaking for himself. The circumstances
he details are purely personal, and are not to be applied, with
an arbitrary uniformity, to every minister of the gospel. His
object is, to define with precision his own example, and to
prevent the Corinthians from mistaking his meaning, when he
would illustrate his views on the subject of personal liberty,
by tracing them out as most considerately and affectionately
exemplified in his own ministerial deportment.
It is not the right to preach the gospel, he waives. In
such a case he would have gone out of the sphere of his personal will, into acts of pure licentiousness, and converted a
question of absolute duty into a mere matter of individual
liberty. And that would -have been a dereliction in evangelical morals, very far below him, who was always ready to
be offered upon the sacrifice and service of the faith of his
spiritual children. He very distinctly declares, that any right
he might have to resolve the exercise of the ministerial office




8
into his personal will, had been suspended by the interference
of divine sovereignty: that the circumstances of his ministerial call had devolved upon him an imperious necessity;
and that instead of confiding, the propriety or impropriety of
his proclaiming "C Christ crucified" to the Gentiles, to his own
deliberations, the Master had written out a peremptory commission which he must execute at the peril of his soul. —You
remember, brethren, how it was. The Lord Jesus met him,
when, as a mad persecutor, he was hastening to Damascus
on an enterprise of blood, and threw around his infuriate
spirit the intense, the overpowering beam of his glory. What
a scene for such a man! Proud of his intellect, spoiled by
philosophy, and demoniac in purpose! The simple annunciation from him who had stepped to the circle of the heavens,
" I am Jesus whom thou persecutest," obliterated every fell
project of his ambitious soul, and left him incapable to divine
wherefore all this had been done. His hard heart, broken,
subdued, melted, transformed, eagerly and painfully asked,
I" Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?'
Can we suppose that he was now resolving upon the high
honor of preaching the gospel, and imagined his pretensions
too clear to be equivocal? Did his pride, merely changing
its haughty and towering claims, suddenly aspire to the dignity of the apostolic office? Surely such were not our first
impressions, when the commandment came to us, and we felt
it as the sentence of death in our consciences. Taking it in
its best form, and substituting for pride, a desire to do good,
did our first convictions admit a purpose so well defined, or
convert our passions so instantaneously into such warmth of
heavenly breathings, such largeness of spiritual desires, inconsiderate of unworthiness, responsibility or qualification? Or,
admitting that we had thoughtlessly conceived the heavenly
purpose, is our supposition therefore derogatory to Saul of
Tarsus?-That youth, whose mind received no illumination
from Stephen's heavenly visage; whose ear caught no sweet
accents, whose heart did not melt, whose brow did not relax,




under Stephen's prayer of forgiving love? Why more derogatory to him, than the actual fact was to Moses, when standing on the holy spot before the burning bush, he heard a voice
from the midst of the unconsumed and unconsuming flame
pronounce, " I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Come now
therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest
bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
Did Moses covet the high honor? Did his elated spirit immediately embrace the apostolic commission, like one whose
intellect could estimate a nation's weal, and was in haste and
restless to be gone? Nay, afraid to look upon God, he hid
his face and said, " who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh,
and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of
Egypt? "'
But let Paul speak for himself:-" And last of all he was
seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am
the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. Unto me,
who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ." Paul's ordination, brethren, was a heavenly transaction; there was no room for consultation with
flesh and blood; the advice of all human beings, though consecrated by the spirit of fire on the day of Pentecost, was out
of place. The master himself " sanctified" this chosen vessel:
the light of his countenance, outspread over the subdued persecutor, was the consecrating ceremony. " I have," announced the Redeemer, " appeared unto thee for this purpose,
to make thee a minister and a witness:" and gathering up
the folds of his mediatorial glory, he said, arise, and returned
to his place on high.-What must Paul do? Was not a necessity laid upon him? Did not a fearful wo hang over his
refusal?-You understand him when he says, " I have nothing
to glory of," and lays his hand upon his mouth, exclaiming,
" wo is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! "-He proceeds:
2




17. For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward.
Here is the reverse of Paul's individual case; and that which
many others might realize, though he could not. The remark
is predicated upon that personal responsibility, under which
every minister must live to the glory of the Lord Jesus, and
which will be exhibited in all its awful importance on the
judgment day. Could his induction into the ministerial office
have been ranged under those personal volitions, which elicit
the cultivation of talent, improve circumstances, and judge of
opportunities, he would then have traced out, in the simple
fact of his preaching the gospel, something in which he might
glory, as productive of good to men, and that courted the
smile of divine approbation. He could have told of his official relations as being desired, sought, and accepted, of his
own unconstrained will. He could have urged his free and
firm decision, as indicative of an entire devotedness to the
Lord Jesus; a lofty admiration of his unutterable condescension to the children of sorrow; and of his own ardent love
to the souls of men. And the whole he could have set before
the world, as a fine illustration of his ministerial injunctions
to these Corinthians; to be very tender of the interests of
others, and not to be thoughtlessly, or selfishly, or unrelentingly, maintaining an abstract right at the expense of the
spiritual comforts of a weak brother.
Nor would the master have disavowed the moral association; but would faithfully have recorded it for that day, when
in all his fearful majesty, he shall come to reckon with his
servants, and render unto each according to the deeds done
in the body. Let no man discard a distinction, so finely and
affectionately elucidated, by one who so fondly argued the
glorious principle of free grace, and so ardently longed to
meet his master in the upper sanctuary, that he might lay
his crown at his feet: who now, on his way, and bearing his
cross, desired to be clothed upon with his house which is from
heaven, and has long since been numbered with those, who
"came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes




1 1
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."  He
wishes to be clearly understood, and endeavors to be more
explicit.
17. But, if against my will, a dispensation, or the stewardship, of the gospel, is committed unto me, what is my reward
then?
We would briefly paraphrase his question thus,
If without my consent, or not consulting my inclination, a
talent is deposited with nie, which I must secure, improve
and account for; if I cannot hide it in the earth without guilt;
if to be too indolent or suspicious to employ it, or too churlish
to trust it with others who may be more faithful, be the sure
precursor of condemnation; in what train of circumstances
shall I exhibit my personal responsibilities? How shall I
gain another talent, and so acquire a reward? Or when the
master inquires how I have behaved myself to his "little
ones," what shall I reply? Anticipating such a scrutiny,
what have I now to encourage my heart, and sustain my
anxious spirit?  If every man is to be rewarded according
to his works, what have I to say, that I may not be rejected?
What is my reward, seeing that I preach the gospel under a
necessity?
18. Verily, that whetn I preach the gospel, I may make the
gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in
the gospel.
The apostle was, we suppose, laboring under some very
distressing apprehensions on this subject. He was afraid lest
he might hinder the gospel by pressing his claim, and so abuse
his power by being more punctilious, exact, or severe, than his
own case made necessary. In his second epistle to the Corinthians, when again referring to this subject, for these explanations appear to have hurt their feelings, he makes a
solemn appeal to his master, that he was not actuated by any
resentments against them: but yet he repeats his resolve to




12
persevere; " what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire occasion."  Perhaps there were
some rational philosophers, in this refined city, far-famed for
the wisdom of words, who could not, or would not, see any
thing about this noble spirit, that ranged a sphere so far above
them, but some sordid interest, or some secular scheme. Perhaps there were some very tender professors, who, taking the
personal religion of their ministers into their own safe keeping, were afraid they would grow rich and worldly, if they
enjoyed along with themselves the common comforts of life;
or, who, talking much about their love for truth, showed that
they loved their money a vast deal more. Perhaps there were
some pious zealots, clad in ministerial robes, who started it
up as a subject of controversy, and compassed christendom for
proselytes, as if an association framed on principles of palpable
injustice, and calculated to convert the assemblies of God's
saints into companies of paupers, by teaching them how to
receive another man's labor for nothing, must necessarily become the more popular plan; or, as if the people's offerings to
the God of sanctuaries and Bibles, had ceased to be a religious
service, and contempt must be poured upon the widow's mite,
as it is cast into the treasury of the Lord. This last pious
project seems to have presented the real state of the case.For the apostle describes them as "false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ."
It is painful to reflect, how little the character of a faithful
minister is sometimes understood both in the world and in the
church; and how often, a cowardly fling about money, may
compel him into sacrifices that Christians should be ashamed
to see him make.
At this present moment the world and the church had both
to deal with a man of lofty principle. One who scanned his
associations with human beings; one who was pre-eminently
fitted to answer many an objection to truth, which multitudes
have not been ashamed to urge again, since he refuted it:
and to exemplify in his own person ministerial superiority




13
above many a sneer, which multitudes have not been ashamed
to repeat again, since he rebuked it. He could forego many
comforts, and see others enjoy them, without envy. He could
see Cephas, the brethren of the Lord, and other Apostles, lead
about a wife, a sister, and receive from the churches that
compensation to which they were entitled, without any emotion: nor, as he labored with his own hands, that the gospel
of Christ might not be hindered, did he utter a single murmur.
He however enjoins his ministerial habits in this matter upon
no other Apostle; for then he would have arrayed statute
against statute, and converted a question of personal liberty into a matter of absolute duty.-Noble principles for a
dweller upon earth! What else can compensate him, but
his heavenly rewards? And how could he refrain from glorying in the prospect of sitting with his Redeemer upon the
throne, a judge of angels and of the world, and in every intermediate circumstance that brightened that prospect, or
increased the joy that was set before him?
Our principle of exposition is confirmed by following out
the fuller details of this Apostolic example: in which, from
their appearance to our eye, ten thousand instances of such
spiritual disinterestedness, in waiving a personal abstract right
for the general good, might have occurred.
19. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made
myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
He would here inform us that a necessity to preach the
gospel, did not involve him in an obligation to bow to popular whim, or to surrender a personal right in order to soften
a popular prejudice'; did not narrow the sphere of his personal liberty; did not merge his individuality of existence
in his social relations; did not render his numerous sacrifices
and multiplied condescensions matters of imperative duty.
"I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?"  Is there any special statute suspending the law of
ministerial support in our case? Are we not as free as




14
Cephas, or any other Apostle? We are free from all men;
but we may, if we will, make ourselves the servants of all.
And he adds, I have cheerfully done it. A door is open,
and I have chosen to enter it. A prospect brightens before
me, and I pant to acquire its glories. A sphere of labor is
stretched out; varied, painful, difficult, hazardous; calling for
the devotedness of a victim, demanding the spirit of a martyr,
and I have resolved to occupy it. No doubt he sought direction and waited for an answer. A man appearing in the
visions of the night and crying for help, would be interpreted
as a heavenly intimation, and at any time change any purpose
of his own, so submissive was he to the spirit of the ministerial office. He would not adventure in his own strength:
he would not call presumption a virtue: he would not seek to
relume the darkness which he entered, without the light of
the divine countenance shining upon his own soul: he would
not attempt to pass through floods which the ark of the Lord
had not divided. But he coveted usefulness; stood equipped
for conquest: and hoped, by turning many to righteousness,
to shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as a star forever and ever. And his sympathizing master, who went himself in bloody sweat to Calvary, out of love to man, would
not refuse to let his servant follow him. Of old, he gave to
Elisha, when he asked for it on Jordan's bank, Elijah's
mantle. And Paul too he heard. He caught him up into
the third heavens, that his soul might be full of the glory of
his work, and his brow wear the full impression of his ministerial image.-" I have made myself the servant of all, that I
might gain the more."-My brother in the ministry, it is a
glorious thing to have communion with the master, in the
power of his resurrection.
Observe the extent to which he carried his condescension
to the level of other men. To the Jew, so scrupulously maintaining the distinction of meats, and so accurately observing
days and months and years, as prescribed by his national law,
though conscious of his own liberty, he conformed himself in




15
such particulars of external ceremony, that by avoiding his
resentments where there was no just occasion of exciting
them, and by acquiring his confidence he might induce him
patiently and affectionately to listen to the gospel, and thus
gain him for Christ. To those who were under law, having
their principles and practices predicated upon revelation, he
became as under law, conforming himself in things indifferent,
that he might lead such to Christ. To those who were without law, or Gentiles, who were not entirely destitute of moral
principles, as creating some practical distinctions between
virtue and vice, and many of whose customs, in relation to
the use of earthly things, were perfectly innoxious to him as a
free spiritual man, to such, and in relation to such things, he
became as without law, that he might turn them from dumb
idols to serve the living and true God. To those who were
weak, whose consciences were not much enlightened, and
whose personal liberty was circumscribed, he became as weak,
that he might succor them by his sympathy. In short he
made himself all things to all men, considering them as
human beings, having immortal souls to be saved: for their
sake he submitted to every variety of inconvenience, and
cheerfully consented to every sacrifice, that, by being abundant in his labor of love, he might by all means save some.
Surely this is noble disinterestedness, such as all Christians
should cultivate. It is limited only by such considerations as
these: that we must not mistake duty for liberty, or, by
breaking God's law, do evil that good may come: that we
do not enter upon a course we have no qualification to run,
and so interfere with others, whom the Lord has called to
effect what we hasten to accomplish without being sent; and
that we do not lend our benevolent efforts to any project,
however fair it may seem, at the expense of those whom God
has placed near us as the special objects of our regards. Religion does not consist in an influence that consecrates the
general matters of human life, and is incapable of being outspread over its details.




16
But after all, did not the Apostle run some risk of losing
his personal integrity, and compromitting the institutions of
grace to the prejudices of men? He was aware that such a
question might be forced upon him; and as there is in political
and religious controversy no more common artifice than that
of catching at words, or hanging an argument upon expressions which at first sound queer, or have not been consecrated
by their antiquity, he introduces a clause to relieve his phraseology from the appearance of heresy, and gives that clause a
parenthetical shape that an unfavorable impression might not
have time to form. "To them," says he, " that are without
law, I became as without law." An incautious declaration this
surely, which, even his well-defined object, could scarcely
shield from antinomian abuse. But he instantly qualifies
it: "being not without law to God, but under the law to
Christ." How easy a thing it is for a minister of the cross
to be misunderstood! Even an Apostle must scan, as with an
eagle's eye, the moral size of those whom he addresses.The question was not unlike that which is agitating the church
at the present day, and before which many a Dagon shall fall
from christian altars, ere that bright morning has fully dawned,
which now begins to dim our twinkling stars, whether pure
christian love is consistent with pure christian morals? 0,
He, who clothes himself with light as with a garment, and
who has proclaimed among his creatures the law of love; he
who "Cgathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap,
and layeth up the depth in storehouses," will overturn, and
overturn, and overturn, until morality is made to rest upon its
own essential principle, and Christians have grown like their
master in all that is meek and lovely.
It is to be remembered that the Apostle is arguing a mere
question of personal liberty, and endeavoring to instruct
Christians of all ages, that they should never quarrel about
little things: that he is discussing smatters on which man, as
a creature of individual volitions, desiring the good of his
fellow man, is called upon to decide for himself; and which,




17
when freely and affectionately done, do not escape the divine
notice, nor lose their reward: that he is urging religious
views, which, though he might assume them of his own
accord, yet he would permit no man to prescribe to him. No
man was more careful to preserve a good conscience than
Paul, or more promptly resented an encroachment upon his
rights as the Lord's free-man.  He could consent to the
circumcision of Timothy for the gospel's sake; but when the
circumcision of Titus was authoritatively demanded, by some
who came in privily to spy out his liberty in Christ Jesus, it
was peremptorily refused.  He would cheerfully do as a
matter of personal liberty, what he would most sternly rebuke
as a piece of ecclesiastical tyranny. Though he made himself the servant of all, yet it was the act of one who knew
himself to befreefrom all.
In the close of the chapter, he illustrates his general principles by an allusion to the Ithmian games. What striving
there is in the stadium! What exact conformity with essential
rules! How carefully every thing is avoided, that might unfit
for contest! And all to obtain a perishable crown, a withering leaf! How much more devoted ought we to be, who
look for the life that shall never end, and have a crown to win
that shall never fade! On this principle, which so evidently
covers the laws of human agency, says Paul, I act. In running the christian race, I always consider myself as under
the eye of my omniscient judge. In the contest I have to
maintain, I make no vain efforts; but seriously endeavor to
mortify my flesh, and to bring my passions into subjection,
lest, after having preached the gospel to others, I myself
should want my ministerial proof; or should be a cast-awayone whose plea is not sustained, and whose career has not
been approved; and so I should lose my reward.
A reward, Paul declared he expected, and labored to
acquire. How shall we justify his declaration? He seems to
have calculated upon a reward proportioned to the abundance
of his labors of love, and to have esteemed the reproach of
3




18
Christ great riches, because he had respect, like Moses,
"unto the recompense of the reward." On what principle
does he rest his calculation? I know of none, unless personal responsibility forms an integral part of that moral
scheme, denominated the gospel.  But into the abstract
question, I have no desire to enter. The theological arena
has long since been filled with combatants, and centuries have
rolled by, hurrying the children of angry strife to their account
beyond the grave. I satisfy myself with proffering a statement
in illustration, as purely scriptural, as, under present circumstances, I can make it.
In the third chapter, he had informed these Corinthians,
that their contests about the comparative excellence of different ministers, was a display of mere spiritual puerility;
that he who planteth, and he who watereth, are one; and
that every man shall receive his own reward according to his
own labor. In the arrangements of divine providence, I have,
said he, been called to lay the foundation of God's building
in Corinth, and 1"let every man take heed how he buildeth
thereupon. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work
shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it, because
it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's
work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he
hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's
work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall
be saved, yet so as by fire." Now Paul expected his own
reward according to his own labor; and therefore was careful
to build on this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, or
those things which would bear the action of the judgment
fires. He wished not to suffer loss, and therefore was careful
not to build wood, hay, stubble, for these the flame would
consume. His desire was to stand approved by his judge
before an assembled universe: and instead of being condemned
for indolence and imbecility, to receive an abundant entrance
into his everlasting kingdom. Like his brother Apostle, he




19
was looking to himself, that he might not lose the things he
had wrought, but might receive a full reward.
It is to be presumed that the Master himself is fully
acquainted with the principles of his own kingdom; and has
exhibited the attributes of moral obligation with precision and
accuracy.' The kingdom of heaven," said Jesus, "is as a
man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he
gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to
every man according to his several ability; and straightway
took his journey." Here is something equivalent to that
" necessity," of which we have been discoursing: a stewardship was committed, or a dispensation granted, unto them;
as there was now to Paul, by him, whose departure from his
ministerial servants was through the heavens, within the veil,
and to the throne of the universe, whence he will come to
judge the world. " He who had received five talents," continues the master, "went and traded with the same, and
gained other five talents. And likewise he who had received
two, he also gained other two." They labored according to
their ability, and in their own proper sphere, and were successful according to their labor. " But he who had received
one talent, went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's
money." He was indolent and faithless. He did not labor
according to his ability. Though he could have done so, for
his Lord's bounty had made him sufficient, yet he would not:
and endeavored to cover his perfidy by reproaching his Lord's
character and government.-You carry along with you, it is
presumed, the fact that we are tracing a scriptural simile of
Christ's kingdom, or the gospel dispensation.
"After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and
reckoneth with them. Then he who had received five talents
came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold I have gained besides
them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, well done,
thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over




20
a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord." He received his own reward
according to his own labor.
"He also that had received two talents came, and said,
Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold I have
gained two other talents besides them. His Lord said unto
him, well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been
faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many
things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." He also received his own reward according to his own labor.
"Then he which had received one talent, came and said,
Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where
thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not
strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in
the earth; lo, there thou hast that is thine." This is adding
insult to faithlessness. There is no labor, and consequently
no reward. There was positive guilt, in first misusing his
Lord's talent, and then abusing his good name. "IHis Lord
answered, and said unto him, thou wicked and slothful servant,
thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where
I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my
money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should
have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent
from him, and give it unto him that hath ten talents. For
unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have
abundance: but from him that hath not, shall be taken away
even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
This, the Redeemer informs us, is an exhibition of our moral
relations under the gospel; and in view of the principle, so
familiarly illustrated, he would urge us seriously to consider
our personal responsibility, " looking diligently, lest any fail
of the grace of God." Every man must labor in his own
place, according to his own ability: ability imparted by him
who has gone within the veil, and who will presently come to




21
reckon with us. "Behold," says he, " I come quickly, and
my reward is with me, to give every man according as his
work shall be." He who has delighted in his work, and has
brought forth the fruits of righteousness, abiding with God
in his calling, and faithfully employing the ability which God
giveth, as well as he who thought religion severe, duty a toil,
and the cross an unsupportable burden, shall be there to give
in their several accounts. " As in Adam all die, so in Christ
shall all be made alive;" and then, " every one of us shall
give account of himself to God." My God, what an hour!
Who here is prepared to sustain the issues of his personal
responsibility? Who is able to receive the simple and unqualified truth, that " circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of
God?"-I would that none of us may be found in that day,
to have made an ecclesiastical form a substitute for a good
conscience, or the traditions of the elders a set-off against
the righteousness of God.
This application of his simile, the master has not left to
our own discernment to perceive, nor to our own courage to
proclaim. He has thrown himself between his faithful servant, and the false ethics of religious theorists, and interposed his own decision to preclude all those objections by
which the simple principles of evangelic morality are so often
assailed. Hear his own account of the matter. "When the
Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels
with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And
before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep
from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand,.
but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them
on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty,
and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I




22
was in prison, and ye came unto me.  Then shall the
righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an
hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked,
and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison,
and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say
unto them, Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done
it unto me.
" Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart
from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and his angels; for I was an hungered and ye gave me no
meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a
stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me
not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall
they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an
hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or] sick, or in
prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye
did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the
righteous into life eternal."
Our subject admits of very large scriptural illustrations:
but what we yet design, must be done in haste. "He that
receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a
prophet's reward. And he that receiveth a righteous man in
the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's
reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of
these little ones, a cup of cold water only, in the name of a
disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his
reward."  " Behold," said Peter, "we have forsaken all, and
followed thee; what shall we have therefore?"  " Verily, I
say unto you," replied the Master, "That ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in
the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath




23
forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive
an hundred fold, and shall inherit eternal life." You remember, that on one occasion, a personal controversy had broken
the harmony of the little circle that surrounded the Redeemer,
like that which still disgraces ministers, who, Diotrephes like,
love to have the pre-eminence, which of them should be the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus, placing a little
child before them, with all the firmness of his own characteristic tones, said unto them: " Whosoever therefore shall
humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in
the kingdom of heaven." "Ye know," said he, on another
occasion, "that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion
over them, and they that are great, exercise authority upon
them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will
be great among you, let him be your minister: and whosoever
will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the
Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many." To wind up the
whole, and refer once more to the judgment day. " I saw a
great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face
the heaven and the earth fled away, and there was found no
place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand
before God: and the books were opened: and another book
was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them: and they were judged, every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever
was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the
lake of fire."
This prophetic vision shall presently be to us a real scene;
and the hour when our eyes shall see it, is coming on with
the rapidity of the whirlwind. It is a matter of awful im



24
portance to us, that our names should be written in the book
of life: that when we die in the Lord and rest from our
labors, our works should follow us. Let us, therefore, look
to the things we have wrought, that we may receive a full
reward.
Having now finished our analytical view of the passages,
selected for consideration on the present occasion, some general practical propositions are pressed upon our attention, on
the illustration of which we cannot enter, without realizing
the most profound interest in their subjects. And the first of
them is, that
The minister of the gospel should consider and deport himself, as most unequivocally, the ambassador of the Lord Jesus.
However he may condescend to the infrmities of men, he is yet
" not without law to God, but under the law of Christ."
It is surely a conceded truth, with all who compose this
assembly, that our official relations are of divine origin: and
that, as such, they are recognized by the master himself in
the administration of his kingdom. A divine commission to
the consecrated persons, who minister in holy things, is an
elemental principle of both dispensations. No man may take
this honor to himself, or obtrude himself upon the ministerial
office, without a clear correspondence with the constitutional
principles of the economy under which he ministers. Aaron's
rod, that "brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and
yielded almonds," was laid up before the testimony, to be kept
as a token against the rebels, who had questioned his divine
commission, and would have torn from his brow his official
wreath; and now our record is on high-the Lamb that was
slain is before the throne. They who obey not the ministry
of reconciliation in the Lord now-I say, in the Lord, for
original authority they have none-must be found in the historical classifications of the judgment books, paged along
with Korah, Dathan and Abiram, or with the sons of Sceva
the Jew. " Go preach my gospel to every creature," said




25
our exalted Immanuel, "and lo, I am with you always to the
end of the world." "He that heareth you, heareth me; and
he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me,
despiseth him that sent me."-O, that none of us may betray
our Lord, to save ourselves; or think lightly of the agitations
of that spirit, which was so greatly troubled, when one of the
twelve violated his consecrating oath, and conducted his unresisting master to the cross.
The use I would make of this truth upon the present occasion, is to urge upon the ministers the imperious duty of substantiating their ministerial character before the world, and in
the midst of the church. I mean not simply, by pointedly
proclaiming the theoretical principle, but by fairly exemplifying the practical fact. The Scriptures would admonish
every one of us, on all occasions, and at every hazard,
"Study to show thyself approved unto God-make full proof
of thy ministry-let no man despise thee." And particularly
the young minister, with whom too many are disposed to
trifle, and of whose ministrations they often speak with great
severity, they would enjoin; " Let no man despise thy youth,
but be thou an:example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." The minister
stands disgraced, who is pusillanimous, cowardly, or shrinking, when his commission is in question and his work is to
be done.'"God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of
power, of love, and of a sound mind." We must stand
forth, as consecrated agents, the very principle of whose
efficiency is the power of Christ resting upon them; we must
plead with men as though God were speaking by us: we
must write the epistles of our commendation in the hearts of
men, instead of being satisfied with that ephemeral eulogy,
which even a little faithless effort may acquire: and thus become the visible ministration of the invisible spirit, which
Paul celebrates as most mysteriously and unspeakably glorious.
Infidelity here is as easy as it is awful. What temptations
surround us! What inducements press upon us! What
4




26
multiform opposition may array itself against us! What
varied occasion for the cowardly to tremble, and the indolent
to keep out of the way! Who cannot see the declivity from
those heavenly places, in which we ought to be seen sitting
with Christ our master, down through all, and to all, that is
"earthly, sensual and devilish?" Is there no -danger of a
minister becoming afraid to assert, and even unable to perceive, his own official dignity? Or, conforming himself to the
habits of thinking of the age in which he lives, rather to seek
a similitude to those around him, than to be recognized as
" the glory of Christ?"  Might not such an one, with such
a plea, be denounced for his mad enthusiasm, or his chivalric
ardor? And might he not prefer to the reproach consequent on
such pretensions, the vain applause awarded to the theological
disputant, the philosophic reasoner, the literary beau, the
popular preacher, the sectarian zealot, the political or ecclesiastical partisan? Might he not exchange all that is ethereal
and transforming, in those evangelic tones with which he
should address himself, in the name of Jesus, to the consciences of dying men, for all that is frigid and formal, prim
and pompous, in a high, but false estimate of his personal
importance? 0 how  often have such unhallowed things
been done in God's holy temple! How often have men
preached their own speculations, instead of the grace and
righteousness of Christ Jesus, and ventured to endorse a
transfer of other men's responsibilities to themselves! And
what frequent opportunities do every day transpire, eminently
calculated to decoy us from our ministerial elevation, and to
teach us, to cover with our own tattered mantle, or to substantiate by our own withering arm, those official pretensions,
which should be overhung by the cloud of Jehovah's glory!
The illustration of this inference, requires us very distinctly to notice the operations of the spirit of God, in relation to the living teacher. Of old, " holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Magnificent was
the spectacle by Jordan's stream, celebrated, among other




27
spiritual associations, as the baptismal font of the second
Elijah, who was sent to attend upon the inauguration of the
Son of God, when the opening heavens dispensed the Holy
Ghost upon his consecrated head. And not less interesting
were the celestial wonders of Pentecost, when the long recorded prophecy, " in the last days I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh," was fulfilled, and the illiterate fishermen of
Galilee were so gloriously inducted into the Apostolic office.
And is it all gone by-no longer known but as the halcyon
tale of other times? Is the living teacher now a mere creature of intellectual form, whose scholarship is to qualify him
to deal with the consciences of men, and save immortal souls?
Does the Holy Spirit no longer dwell in the church, or sanctify the human body as his temple? Or, has he ceased to
employ the ministry, as a chief and glorious instrument to
execute the mediatorial scheme? 0, the minister of the
gospel, without the spirit of his office,-what is he? A
creature of small conception, of feeble effort, and sectarian
manceuvre. What does he utter? An argument that may be
ingenious, eloquent, coldly accurate; an appeal that may
possess all the characteristics of the most ardent zeal, and
yet be entirely destitute of that spiritual savor, which ascends in all its fragrance to heaven, accepted by the master,
whether in the hearer the issue be life or death.
Does my doctrine jeopard ministerial pretensions, by elevating them too high? 0 did I not know that this is the
very glory of the ministerial office, and that the Holy Ghost
is, Christ's witness on earth, I should stammer and hesitate.
But the Scriptures have described his economic character,
and referred to him as the author of spiritual gifts, whose it is
to beautify the Christian, and perfect the church, even-as he
garnished the heavens of old. - The man who possesses this
seal of his ecclesiastical relations as a minister of the gospel,
is fit for his duty whatever it is, and for his station wherever
it may be.




28
Am I presumptuously calling back the age of miracles, and
instituting a spiritual claim, which rivals the false Apostle in
his frantic calculations?  0, I shudder, lest unbelief may
have already invested our argument with all those reasonings,
by which the conceited philosopher has arranged the material
universe under fixed laws, and enthroned Jehovah far out of
sight, careless, supine, and unobservant, substituting the
fitness of things for a providence divine. Say, my brother,
will not he who makes the sun to shine upon the evil and the
good, and sends his rain upon the just and the unjust, attend
thee to the valley of dead and dry bones, and while thou art
prophesying in his great and dreadful name, demonstrate the
excellency of the power to be his own? Go, pray for the
spirit of thine office., Go, entreat for that inspiration he has
promised to breathe over thy sluggish powers. Do it especially now. For there is a general movement among the hosts
of the Almighty: the human mind has set out upon her march
to freedom; and the events of her course may prove to have
been symbolised by the burning mountain of the Apocalypse
cast rinto the sea, and which, instead of being extinguished
amidst the rolling surges, turned them into blood. Man
must be free; yet man is his tyrant. But the Son of God is
coming to set him free. The kings of the earth, counselled
by philosophic politicians and literary discoverers, and supported by imyriads whose panoply modern genius may have
wrought; will probably be on the one side; clothed with the
spirit of thy office, be thou under the banner of Jesus on the
other. Will yourabandon these pretensions, and plead for an
office of smaller size, sinking shamefully down into fear or
sloth? Then shall there come " a famine in the land; not a
faminre of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the
word of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea,
and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro
to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."
I would not leave this subject without adverting to its
practical effect. Very much do I fear, that hearers of the




29
gospel judge of their ministers as literary men: men of talent;
men of eloquence; men of great systematic accuracy; but
too seldom as men of God. 0 what a fall is here! Is this,
brethren, our place in the house of God?  But what more
can we expect, if we ask for no more, if we claim no more?
Know you not, that Satan never riots so voluptuously in the
sorrows of our race, as when the Priests of the Lord are
brought low, or the ark of the Lord is gone? Know you not,
that it is one of his most unwearied and successful artifices,
to curtail your influence by robbing you of your spirituality?
Who should have a higher idea of the ministerial office than
the minister himself? What dost thou esteem thyself to be,
O preacher? Art thou not the Lord's standard bearer? Has
he not put a heavenly ensign into thy right hand; and, nerving thee with all might by his spirit in the inner man, bid
thee carry it, under the auspices of him who is the resurrection and the life, until, summoning thee to "wipe from thy
brow the dust and heat of battle, to bathe thy wearied limbs
in the waters of immortality," and'to come up into his awful
presence, thou shouldst plant it an everlasting memorial before
the throne of God and the Lamb? Be faithful to thy trust.
Abide at thy post. Be familiar with the prayer of faith.Tremble under no man's frown. Thy master will justify and
bless, will reward and crown thee before an assembled universe: and thy spiritual children who have shared thy sorrows on earth, shall share thy honors in eternity.-The
minister of the gospel should consider himself as an ambassador for Christ Jesus, as though God did beseech men by
him.
II. Our second general proposition is, that the minister of
the gospel should consider his call to preach the gospel as a personal matter; never to be decided by any trains of reasoning
which preclude his own consciousness of duty.
Paul asserts that in his case an extraordinary, but an indisputable, commission had been sealed: a necessity had been




30
laid upon him; the stewardship of the gospel had been committed to him; a command had been given, and there was not
the shadow of an apology for disobedience or hesitation. Yet
at the same time he intimates, that the circumstances of his ministerial call might have been very different: that the whole might
have been referred to his personal deliberation, decided as a
matter of his own will, judging as a rational and responsible
man, from the common, or less imperative, intimations of divine Providence, and thus have constituted the subject of his
glorying. Such, I apprehend, is the general fact now, when
the apostolic office, created by an extraordinary call growing
out of extraordinary circumstances, is no longer necessary.To express my meaning more distinctly; instead of those tones
of resistless sovereignty, which leave to a responsible creature
no room to demur, and under which, with his own peculiar
agitations, Paul exclaims, " wo is unto me, if I preach not
the gospel," —"rise, stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared
unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness," the voice of the Lord might have proclaimed, "whom
shall I send, and who will go for us?" And his reply might
have been, or your reply, my young brother, if thou hast conscientiously considered the matter, may be, "Here am I, 0
Lord, send me."  What a flood of light does this pour over
those perplexities, which so often distract the young heart
that pants after ministerial enterprise! Over those unexpected difficulties, that so often appal the most determined
spirit in the midst of the most active duty, and the most
successful effort! Over those loathsome temptations, which
not unfrequently gather sadness and gloom on the brow of
withering old age! It is the reduction of an abstract question, based on some supposed purpose, as irrevocable as it is
occult, to a plain matter of personal experience and practical
evidence. On these terms, may not the spirit of many a devoted and ardent minister, burst forth.in all the fulness of
spiritual liberty and consecrating glory?  O0 it "is a true




saying, if a man desireth the office of a bishop, he desireth a
good work."
Our doctrine then is, that the ministerial call is not a matter
of hereditary right or parental injunction; is not a matter of
intellectual enterprise or literary ambition; is not a matter of
secular profit or pecuniary calculation; is not a matter of untutored zeal, or indifferent circumstance; is not a matter of
mere theological education, or ecclesiastical ceremony; is not
a matter of sectarian size, or national monopoly; but is a
matter of direct and frequent, of elevating and transforming,consultation between a man's own soul, and the Holy Ghost,
as the Spirit of the ministerial office. 0 man of God, the
Spirit of the Lord must lift thee up above the world, and by
an afflatus associated with thy opportunities, constitute thee
a co-worker with God! In thy track angels move as ministering spirits;' and under the power and savor of thy sanctuary
services, must redeemed souls ripen for the skies. Dividing
to each his portion in due season; bringing out of thy treasury
things new and old, as a scribe well instructed unto the kingdom of heaven; weeping with those that weep, and rejoicing
with those that' rejoice; travailing in birth for them, until
Christ be formed in them; multitudes must be seen by thy
side in their new forms of spiritual existence, clad in the
meekness of wisdom, and the beauty of holiness.  " To do
thy will, I take delight," was the emphatic declaration of him,
who loved us even unto death, and gave himself for us.
And with like consideration, cheerfulness and firmness, should
we undertake the solemn work of the ministry, " addicting"
ourselves to all its spiritual services, with all diligence and
affection.
Now then, can we substantiate our.ministerial call under
such a searching appeal to our own consciences? Have we
reviewed our relations with human beings, and realized the
vivid operations of the Holy GhoSt spreading out a sacred
unction over all the powers of our souls? Have we acquired
those strong perceptions of truth, which have enlarged our




32
hearts, and induced us to enter up. a resolve, prompt and
firm, —to engage in a covenant transaction with him who has
said, "Go preach my gospel to every creature?"  In the
elasticity of our own sanctified spirits, have we surveyed the
wants and sorrows of our race, until our hearts have been
melted and mellowed, prepared for all the varieties of the
service, and ready to become "all things to all men?" These
are things entirely personal. For "what man knoweth the
things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?"
Another cannot know them, but must wait until they have
taken the visible form of external effort. Examine, my
brother, for thyself. Answer to thine own inquiring spirit,
whether such a glow of ministerial inspiration pervades and
elevates thee; and then enter upon thy work, like one who
loves it, and is determined, at all hazards, and under all circumstances, to execute it.-O how delightful then the task!
Amidst all discouragements and unkindnesses, and many of
them shall meet thee in the way, thou hast Elijah's mantle
wherewith to wipe away the burning tear; and a portion of
the spirit, which thy ministerial activities never can exhaust,
but which every hour shall enlarge. The rod in thine hand,
like Aaron's, shall bring forth buds, and bloom blossoms, and
yield almonds; thou shall find it in the folds of the Redeemer's
glory, when he calls thee to enjoy what he has gone before to
prepare for thee, amid the ceaseless praises of the upper
sanctuary.
But this matter of the ministerial call, as expressing our
personal volitions, must be pressed considerably farther.When Paul speaks of it in relation to himself, you observe
how he generalizes it, so as to cover all the opportunities
presented in his large sphere of action, and how completely
he is saturated with the spirit of his age. What magnanimity
does he, though once a determined and systematic Jew, evince,
in abandoning the mistakes of his fathers,.and the prejudices
of his youth, to meet the Gentile upon his own ground! Nay,
how much farther he carries it, when his full heart takes up




33
men as human beings, and estimates, with so much freedom,
the salvation or loss of an immortal soul, along side of a national peculiarity or an ecclesiastical form! An idea, which
we can never embrace, unless we abandon our sectarian principles, which shape our minds and our morals after their own
small pattern. This day in which we live, and which calls
upon us to exhibit ourselves in all the wide-spreading glories
of our ministerial commission, requires us to imitate Paul.
Every minister of the gospel now, ought most prayerfully and
profoundly to meditate upon the signs of the present times;
and taking his conscience out of the hands of ecclesiastical
courts and congregational assemblies, that the Master may
form it for himself, aim to be fitted for ministerial enterprise
by catching the spirit of his age.
Our fathers, whose memories we should venerate, and
whose names we should never mention but with love;though let me remark by the way, that I have no idea of
degrading my compeers in the nineteenth century, nor, permit me to add, though it may seem a little vain-glorious, of
lowering my own inconsiderable self, down to the level of
something like an irresponsible idiotism, in order to magnify
the natural powers, the acquired talents, or the spiritual gifts,
of Calvin, Luther, and others, who range along with them,
under the same providential influences that consecrated their
effort in the cause of christian and ministerial liberty, to the
good of mankind. And if, in rising to their level, and refusing to exchange one ecclesiastical lord of conscience for
another, I shall be reprobated as a rash assailant on long
established usage and hereditary impression, and can obtain
nothing in self-justification among the sons of Zion, whom
the Son of God came to set free; painful as it may be, I will
appeal to the liberal institutions of my native land, on whose
peaceful shores the standard of liberty has been planted for
the admiration of the world. Our fathers are of about as
much use to us as Paul's fathers were to him. A new revolution is now modifying every human concern, and purifying
5




34
the human intellect for the most glorious achievements. And
morals must sympathise with science in a change, which, however men may like it, and whatever they may think of it, will,
must, and ought to, occur. Have we taken this into consideration, and felt it wake up the full anxieties of our souls, as
though, under a heavenly impetus, hourly accelerating our
speed, we were pressing ardently onward in the delightful
work of the regeneration? Has it made our ministerial likeness more exact, rendered us more companionable in our common employment, and more sympathising under our common
infirmities? Has it given tenseness to our nerves, imparted
a glow to our cheeks, and increased our ministerial power, as
though "the Spirit of glory and of God rested upon us?"
Have we carried it to the mercy-seat? Has it attended us
in our walks, or been the theme of our agitations when sleep
has departed from our eyes? Or, hanging all our speculations
upon the abstract subject of preaching consistent doctrine,
measured out to us by the councils of ages past, have we
been strangers at home, blind to all the evolving purposes,
which are shaking the whole earth?-rThe politician that has
analyzed the character of kings, and speaks so enthusiastically about the liberties of Greece, or frowns with such contempt upon the projects of the holy alliance against the liberties of mankind, has taken a different route of thought, and
looks wistfully for the time of action.-And the world should
not be ahead of the church.
Our Bible societies-one of whose chief advantages is,
that they afford to christians and christian ministers, an
opportunity of uttering declarations, and arranging plans, free
from all restraint, which would scarcely be thought of in our
church courts as they are now constructed-our Bible societies
have created a new era in the moral world: have heaved into
being a new principle of ecclesiastical operation; a principle,
liberal, enlarged, magnanimous, celestial: a principle, which
will leave us, like the exhausted oars-man, struggling against
impetuous and swelling floods, unless it animate our own




35
souls, and elevate us to conceive the magnificent idea of converting the world. Jehovah's hand has already divided the
waters; the Israel of God, passing through to their millennial
rest, are receiving their baptism from the cloud of his glory,
and swearing allegiance to him, with whom they shall live
and reign a thousand years upon the earth. And they who
oppose themselves with Egyptian temerity, may share in
Egyptian destruction, when the wave shall return at his command, who looks forth from the midst of his thick darkness.
The anticipation of the millennium ought now to seize the
bosom, and the preparatory measures ought now to occupy
the attention of every minister of the gospel.  Not indeed
under the impression that he can accomplish the whole: but
that in his own place, and to the utmost extent of his opportunities, he may be seen like a shining link in the general
chain that encircles the earth-like a burning seraph, whose
modes of operation express the whole of a divine purpose as
far as he knows it. The subject of a ministerial call now,
should induce a man to inquire most seriously, whether he
has mind and heart, conscience and purpose enough, to be
a co-worker with God in the conversion of the world?
Whether, amid these celestial movements, he can bear to give
himself up to "a detestable neutrality," or can let go his own
little schemes of theological aggrandisement, to embrace that
loftier and larger project, which will presently cover the earth,
from the rising to the setting sun, with the glory of the invisible God. Sectarianism is now falling, like the worn out
economy of Moses, in the days of Paul. Art thou ready to
become all things to all men? Or, like the Judaic teacher, is
thy tongue yet unfit for any thing but the Shibboleth of thy
party, and thy mind still fettered with the obsolete forms of
an expired ritual? —The question is peculiarly interesting to
the young minister, who expects to be in the church militant,
when his fathers, whose advice he now reveres, and before
whose glance he now cowers, shall have joined the church
triumphant in glory. It will require great force of personal




36
volition, and all that is awfully solemn in a purpose, as
ethereal as a purified conscience can make it. And let every
old minister of the gospel, whose praise may be in the
churches, and whose opinions may carry great weight in
ecclesiastical councils; who knows that his influence may
sustain some project by precluding examination, and who
feels how unspeakably precious are a good conscience and
conscious worth; take good heed to himself, how he interfere
with the intellectual elasticity of a young man, whose mind
and heart God may be forming for the conflicts of the coming
times. It would be cruel to possess the ears of christendom
with suspicions of his integrity.  They would freeze his
youthful ardor, and throw him like an ecclesiastical orphan
among frigid formalists, or unenlightened and unrelenting
professors. God can keep and bless young ministers of the
gospel, without making them the heartless idolaters of the
dead, even as he did Joshua of old, when the tomb of Moses
was erected where no man ever saw it, and his body, which
had once been mantled in glory too heavenly for human
vision, was shrouded in all the mystery of a divine transaction, unresolved, until the apostles saw it in its spiritualized
form, on the mount of transfiguration.
III.  Our third general proposition is, that the minister of
the gospel should be a man of great personal tenderness.
Jehovah has not only framed for us a "blessed gospel,"
ratified it by the blood of his Son, and confirmed it by the
testimony of the Holy Ghost; but he has constructed the instrumentalities of its operation upon the most gracious plan;
so as to secure the happiest result, by the combination of all
those principles which characterize our earthly estate. We
may argue upon the theological problem of human ability and
inability as long as we please; but the evangelic fact is, that
though naturally disqualified as moral agents by sin, there is
now as beautiful and striking a correspondence between the
provisions of the gospel and the infirmities of our corrupted




37
nature, as there originally was between the powers of man
and the peculiarities of the first covenant; just as there was
an adaptation of the ceremonial law to the "heir under age,"
or as there is now, an elevation of external privilege, and an
enlargement of spiritual liberty, to coincide with the dispensation of the spirit of adoption. Thus men "of like passions"
are called to address sinners on the high concerns of their
salvation, that, from the simple fact of the preacher being
identified with the hearer under the same moral institute, and
by the same constitutional defect, the power of human sympathy might be enlisted on the side of the ministerial commission. Whose spirit is not moved, when he ponders Paul's
portraiture of the old testament Priest? —He is " taken from
among men, and ordained for men in things pertaining to
God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; who
can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are
out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with
infirmity."  And who can, without emotion, peculiar and
strong, hear him speak of his master in strains like these?"Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the
things which he suffered. In all things it behooved him to be
made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high Priest in things pertaining to God, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them
that are tempted. We have not an high Priest who cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all
points tempted like as we are." How much does it resemble
the pathetic narration Isaiah gives of Israel's covenant state;"In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of
his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he
redeemed them; and he bare them and carried them all the
days of old!"  Or his own tender wail over Jerusalem's
fate;-" O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets
and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I
have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her




38
chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold your
house is left unto you desolate!"
And is this the pattern to which we are to be conformed?
Is this the similitude after which we must minister in holy
things? Do our official relations bring us into like scenes,
and place us under like necessities? Surely then our simple
commission, while it abhors every thing that fritters down the
awful realities of God's righteous government to the maxims
of human philosophy, rebukes every thing about us which is
haughty and insulting, which is harsh and inveterate, which
is not pacific, condescending and kind. " The servant of the
Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men; apt to
teach; patient; in meekness instructing those that oppose
themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth." Our ministerial blessing
should be like the dew-drop upon the ancient manna; a sweet
savor, which the God of love sheds upon the bread that
comes down from heaven.
Among other things, which this view of our spiritual character betrays as highly reprehensible, it is worth our while to
examine how far our habits of controversy cherish our ministerial sensibilities; or what kindness we can conceive ourselves to show to him that is weak in the faith, when we
"'receive him to doubtful disputations?"  Worth our while
to inquire how far our modes of ecclesiastical debate, our estimates of each other's characters and usefulness, our tenderness for each other's conscientious scruples, or our regard for
each other's good name, reveal the pure ministerial heart?
Worth our while to ascertain, whether heavy and inexcusable
failures in this matter, have not been laid up for investigation,
by him who comes to make inquisition for blood? Worth
our while to be informed, whether those convulsions which
are about to shake the world and the church to their centres,
are wakening up our sympathies for our race; whether in the
change that is coming, and which is carrying up the moral
nature of man to a higher state of perfection, we are prepared




39
to exemplify that greatest of all christian virtues, LOVE, as
the peculiar characteristic of the millennial age: and whether,
being harnessed as for contest in Jehovah's name, we can
classify our ministerial growth along with those other signs
of the times, which are so rapidly gathering up all the
spiritual analogies of the moral world?
There is a scriptural simile on this subject, with which
surely we ministers ought to be well acquainted.  "Behold,
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity!" To what shall we compare it? It is like the consecration of Aaron, when clad in those holy garments, which
were designed for "beauty and glory:" "like the precious
ointment upon the head, which ran down upon the beard,
even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments:" Or like the dew falling upon the higher summit of
Hermon, and thence descending to the lower summit of Zion,
where Jehovah commands his blessing, even "life that shall
never end." 0 surely, this consecrating oil of those holy
beings, with whom sensible signs are lost in spiritual realities,
should beautify and spiritualize our whole ministerial person.
How should it be otherwise, when our delightful theme is,
the love of him who loved us, and gave himself for us; and
our glorious object is, the lifting up poor sinners from the
depths of hell to the heights of heaven, that they may celebrate'that love for ever and ever?
It may be necessary here to remark, that while the reality
is lovely, the affectation of tenderness is detestable. A minister of the gospel has surely enough to elicit all his mind,
and excite all his heart; the power of which combination is
one of his best ministerial gifts. Nothing is more easy than
to acquire artificial tones, and thus substitute a puerile play
upon the human ear, for a manly appeal to the human conscience. Nothing is more undignified than a labored attempt
to stereotype cant phrases, as though they were the spiritual
essence of truth itself.  Nothing more disproportioned to
ministerial power, than incessant scrupulosity about little




40
things, while great matters lie by unexamined. Nothing more
hurtful than benevolent works, broken off from their scriptural
connexions, and performed at the expense of essential principle or personal integrity. And nothing is more absurd than
to square every man's scruples or convictions by our own;
instead of seeking personal improvement by close, unfettered,
biblical inquiry. Every man is in danger of this spiritual
affectation, just in proportion as he lets himself down below
the Scriptures, the simple and glorious standard of truth: for
if he does not know, he must affect to know, what the people
ought to learn. A good conscience, preserved continually
under the excitement of an honest attempt to know what Jehovah says in his word, will always elevate the tone of ministerial effort, and soften into the most exquisite tenderness the
man who is in danger of becoming jejune, or seeks to be
artful.-I tell you again, O preacher of the gospel, the spirit
of thine office is a spirit of love, real and true. In all, "' the
fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." —" Let us not
be desirous of vain-glory, provoking one another, envying one
another."
IV. The minister of the gospel should consider himself, as
directly amenable to the Lord Jesus as his judge.
It is a solemn fact, that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to
judge the world. No man ought more habitually, or more
sacredly to appropriate that fact to himself, as affording a principle of high spiritual excitement, than the minister of the
gospel. Has he in using his five talents, gained other five
talents? Or has he under a false or careless estimate of the
character and government of God, hidden his one talent in
the earth? Or, has he been anxiously hunting up substitutes,
and consenting that his work shall be done by proxy, too
thoughtless to feel, and too indolent to meet, his personal responsibilities? How then shall he appear at Christ's right
hand, where those who have forsaken all, and devoted them



41
selves to the work of the regeneration, are robed in glory;
and where the martyr glows with a brilliant resemblance to
the master? How shall he answer to him, who has so explicitly stated the terms, on which celestial honors hang, to be,
"he that will save his life shall lose it, and he that will lose
his life for my sake and the gospel's shall find it." Let every
man inquire what amount of practical influence, the judicial
character of the Lord Jesus exerts over his soul?  What desires it kindles?  What reverence it inspires?  What efforts
it sustains? Let him survey his relations to the church and
the world: his opportunities of action; and the use of his
gifts. Let him consider, whom he has begotten in the Lord;
whom he has edified; whom, in erring from the truth, he
has converted; whom he has comforted in sorrow; what
lamb has he fed out of love to Christ; what child of sickness
has he saved by his prayer of faith? Shall we appear before
the throne without any proof of our spiritual ardor or ministerial fidelity, like those, who have never coveted eternal
glory enough to deal in kindness to "the little ones'" of
Christ's kingdom?  0! brethren in the Lord, prepare to
meet the master when he comes to reckon with you. See
that you be not rejected as those who have forgotten the
coming of the Lord, or postponed it to a day far down in the
vista of future years; and have begun " to beat their fellow
servants," and to rejoice in all the sensualities of an earthly
policy.-" It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God —our God is a consuming fire."
We are concerned with a variety of evangelic operations,
which have attracted the attention, and received the offerings
of all christendom. One of their best effects has been, to
bring Christians together: to make "the watchmen see eye to
eye," and to hush up those angry controversies, which have
so often made a minister of the gospel an Ishmaelite in his
own city, and converted a contest for the faith once delivered
unto the saints, into a synonyme with bitter and irreconcilable
hostility against the saints themselves. They carry us higher
6




42
up into the celestial atmosphere, and seem to spread out more
abundantly the light of Jehovah's countenance over our christian fellowship. And he who still breathes resentments against
his fellow professors, as if Christ was divided, or, in being
reviled, imagines it to be "a detestable neutrality" not to
revile again; instead of imbibing their spirit, and glowing
with the new spiritual affections they elicit; might very profitably inquire how he shall exonerate his conscience, or justify
his strife, at the bar of the Lord Jesus.-But still, may not
christian benevolence, pressing on through her rapid course,
leave unconsidered the essential principles of human society;
and sO commit mistakes not very easily remedied, because
they will form an ingredient in our social organization? —
Novelty is very attractive, and when she puts on the meek
face of benevolence, who can deny her-suit? But christians,
and christian ministers, ought to be men of intelligence; estimating the moral characteristics of society as very far superior
to her political attributes, or her charitable feelings; for they
must give account to the Lord Jesus for all their ecclesiastical
attitudes, and moral associations. By mistaking the proportions or color of a leaf, a thoughtless moment may administer
a deadly poison. It is not all gold that glitters; neither is
that all right which seems to be so, either in politics or morals.
We must take more than a superficial survey: thought, vivid
and luminous, must create our decisions; rather than the
prompt conformity of an undisciplined sympathy; or the submissive acquiescence of habit, which so often looks like the
antipodes of responsibility. —I love not this "dead life"
among the servants of Christ Jesus, who ought to hold communion with him " in the power of his resurrection," and to
have their "affections set on things above," where he sits
enthroned on, the right hand of God.
It is no difficult nor uncommon thing to frame substitutes
for this high principle of action; or to bring in human authorities, as calculated to produce a more immediate effect than
" the fear of the Lord." For example: the dread of a brother,




43
or father, in the ministry, who may be reputed a man of talent,
is sufficient to frighten or paralyze, where responsibility to
Christ, which ought to absorb our whole soul, has excited but
little emotion. I know the infirmities of human nature exist
in all: but are we to apologize for our sin by adducing the
fact of its existence; and so justify this scholastic power,
either in him who exerts, or in him who feels it? May we
exalt human talent above gospel truth, or rate the good opinion of our fellow men more highly than the salvation of immortal souls? May we convert the love of the brethren into
the idolatrous awe of superior mind; or, by selfish and
contradictory claims, invite a collision on the question, who
is the greatest, rather than steadfastly maintain a reciprocal
confidence? " Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his
nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?" The faithful
preacher must be honest and determined; delivering his
heavenly message without any hesitation, though like Micaiah
the son of Imlah, he be surrounded by men high in favor
and power; or like Elijah on mount Carmel, he stand alone
amidst the priests of Baal.
Another- example. A minister of the gospel may shrink
from public criticism, and, as many have done, seek to
gratify the public taste, by prophesying smooth things; forgetting that the Lord Jesus has commissioned him to declare
his truth, " whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear." And it is a well known fact, that our congregations
are full of critics of all sizes; too often almost as indifferent
to spiritual impressions, as though a chaste figure, a classical
allusion, a philosophic argument, or consistent gesture, were
more Important than evangelic realities.  And what is the
preacher afraid of? His ability will be questioned. 0, this
pride of talent. His popularity may not be sustained. O,
this lust of fame.  And is it not a small matter to be judged
of man's judgment? Or has the Lord Jesus, as the Judge
of all the earth, nothing to do with these questions?




44
And what do the people want? The philosopher instead
of the minister; the finished scholar instead of the celestial
messenger; the glow of literary instead of heavenly inspiration; metaphysical speculation for plain gospel truth; a
mechanical, systematic discussion, for the full flow of sanctifying grace. And think they, their heavenly Father would
treat them so? With a carelessness so devoid of sympathy?
With a neglect that would jeopard all that is dear to man,
under a risk so awful? c" If a son shall ask bread of any of
you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or, if he ask
a fish, will he, for a fish give him a serpent? Or, if he shall
ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how
much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
to them that ask him?"-Can that man be in the path of his
duty, who would compromise his master's message through
fear of his hearers, or lend himself to be the tool of public
whim, rather than the servant of Christ Jesus? So Balaam
would have honored Balak, instead of celebrating the Star
that was to come out of Jacob, for he coveted the wages of
unrighteousness. But the acquisition of a nation's applause,
accompanied by something, he would think a little more substantial, a nation's rewards, was no stay to his immortal
spirit, when passing into eternity, to give an account of his
prophetic gifts, as he stood associated with the affair of BaalPeor.
One more example. The dread of ecclesiastical authority,
not unfrequently interferes with that sense of personal responsibility to Christ, we should most scrupulously cherish. They
who sit in Moses' seat, have not yet lost their lotve for legislation, nor entirely abandoned their pretensions to infallibility.
But whence this mighty power that appropriates the prerogative of the great Head of the church, and diverts the ministerial conscience from  Christ's judgment seat?  Whence
this heresy against reason and truth, which covers individuality of existence under social law; and substitutes ecclesiastical




45
statute for personal independence?  What want we in the
church?  Tell me, if this be not true;-we want the Spirit of
God in the variety and plenitude of his operations: we want
the Bible speaking her own language, and uttering her own
law, free from the textual system of the sectarian expositor; we want the ministry, whatever may be their powers
or their gifts, sanctified by the spirit of the ministerial office,
having love for, and confidence in, one another, as though
they estimated each other to be men of integrity; we want
the human conscience, purified by the Redeemer's blood, and
superintended by the spirit of truth. These are God's instruments of operation; and he who would engraft upon these
all that is abstract and obscure in a technical theology, talks
like a barbarian to me, and I unto him. —O, he who is afraid
to declare what he finds in his Bible, or gathers exceptions
to Scripture truth among the opinions of the Fathers, lest
ecclesiastical authority, which would then be equally degraded, may crush him, wants his ministerial signet —HoLINESS TO THE LORD. In prophesying, he has covered his
head, and dishonored his constitutional prince: he has hidden
the ministerial image of "the heir of all things" under a
badge of subjection.
I know it may be said, that he who gives his voluntary
consent to such a lordship over his conscience, has no right to
complain if he be chastised for rebellion. INDEED? And
may I, by solemn compact, will away the master's injunction-" Be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your master, even
Christ, and ALL YE ARE BRETHREN. And call no man your
father upon the earth, for one is your father which is in
heaven.  Neither be ye called masters; for one is your
master, even Christ;" as if the church of God was a mere
political association of human form?  Or, having done it,
may I not blush for my error, and confess it before the world,
without preparing myself to be disrobed as a minister of the
Son of God, or to see the grace of repentance turned into a
libel for deposition?  When the sons of Jacob, dissatisfied




46
wvith their political rule, demanded a king, the Lord was
angry. Their request was granted to their hurt: the aggrandizement they sought was consummated in the loss of their
liberty. And is not this enough? Enough, when laid along
side of the history of papal darkness, or exchanged for a tale
in the times of the Puritans, to alarm, and forbid us to yield
the rights of conscience, or to accept our new covenant
privileges as a bundle of ecclesiastical gratuities?   Surely,
the freemen of the Lord in the millennial age will suffer no
such phylacteries on their ministerial robes: —their prophetic
mantle shall be woven by the spirit of liberty, and every hanging fold be resplendent with spiritual beauty and heavenly
glory.
V. Our fifth general proposition is, that the minister of the
gospel should consider his BIBLE as the only document, which
is, or can be, commensurate with his commission; and should
study it, believingly and prayerfully, as the only method by
which he can acquire true ministerial literature.
With such facts before us, as those to which the apostle
adverts, there can be nothing heretical in supposing, that the
moral maxims, the theological notions, and the sectarian
writings, of any particular age in which a man may live, may
very possibly lead him away from the truth: and especially
when they foster bitter envyings and strife, which the Scriptures declare are uniformly followed by confusion and every
evil work. I should suppose, that this remark carries along
with it its own evidence, and must command every man's
assent. Paul certainly estimated his own age, as involving
both the Jewish and the Gentile world in this very difficulty.
His master had done so before him; and in that deeply impressive sermon he delivered on the mount, as well as in his
frequent argument with the subtle, the learned, and conceited
sects of the day, disclosed to them in all its size, the evil to
which we now allude.
It must be instructive to trace out the principle of their




47
ministerial enterprise; confining it for our own sakes, to the
manner of their proceeding with the Jews, as they possessed
the Old Testament. The master's precept was, "search the
Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and
they are they which testify of me."  Paul's method was, to
become " as under the law, to them that were under the law"or never to forsake revelation in reasoning with them who
possessed revelation: and you know how much his writings
abound with scriptural quotations.
Mark how powerful their argument, carrying conviction to
every man's conscience, and overwhelming with confusion the
most subtle disputant. "Whose son is Christ?" said the
great witness for truth. " The son of David,'" replied the advocate for the traditions of the Fathers; taking, as is common
among controversialists, one half only of what the spirit of
prophecy had declared. But " how then," rejoins this head
of the ministerial corps, "how then doth David in the spirit,
call him LORD? " and " if David then call him Lord, how is
he his SON?" You remember what was the effect of this
scriptural argument.
In like manner, meeting Paul, the Jewish theologue though't
his adversary defeated by a single fact: Jesus of Nazareth
sprang from the tribe of Judah, of which tribe, Moses spake
nothing concerning priesthood. True, says Paul; but the
Scriptures have assigned to Jesus a priesthood "after the
power of an endless life," of which Melchizedek, and not
Aaron, was the similitude. What could a Jew do against a
scripture prophecy? His argument only betrayed his ignorance 6f the Bible, which yet he was reading every Sabbath
day. And this was Paul's'"manner:" he "reasoned with
them out of the Scriptures: opening and alleging, that Christ
must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and
that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ;" thus answering a question, which may now be very confidently asked,
how shall we get along with those of modern times who deny
these principles, if we have nothing but the BIBLE?-What




48
honest man can withstand an argument fairly scriptural?  If
any, then Paul replies, " if any man be ignorant, let him be
ignorant."-An awful alternative, I admit. But what else
shall we do? The destruction of the flesh, and the salvation
of the spirit in the day of the Lord Jesus, may follow even
this painful conclusion, if the master should be pleased to
bless it. No institution of ours can reach the case.
Surely we ministers of the gospel ought to be biblical students. We know that a magnificent revolution is about to
accomplish her designs in the world, and yield to charity, her
own proper place in the transactions of men. Our maxims,
seized by our sectarian manuals, whatever may have been
their suitableness to ages past, are entirely too narrow for
these splendid operations, and incapable of being applied to
the multitudes of christians now to be called in. This, all
christendom has admitted, by erecting Bible Societies, and
sending forth the Bible in her own native simplicity and
beauty: an occurrence in which individuals have taken the
lead of social bodies, and christians and christian ministers
have outstripped ecclesiastical councils; and evinced that the
responsibilities of individual existence, are more powerful
than those which grow out of our social organization; or that
he always does more who feels himself called upon by the
immediate Providence of the master, than he who submits to
the arbitrary distinctions of human authority. Let every controversialist ponder over the fact: he cannot help seeing it;
for its dimensions are of immense size; broad as the earth
and long as the sea; high as heaven and deep as hell; and
every line of its record is radiant with glory.
We all know that every age has its own classification of
what it apprehends to be scriptural truths. The Jewish Rabbi were succeeded by the colossal power of papal misrule;
the reformation pronouncing the Bible to be the only rule of
faith and practice, has yet been followed by various ecclesiastical authorities; and the union of church and state, even
where it has been disowned, has yet made us virtually the




49
legatees of a power that would dethrone the Redeemer as
being the ONLY LORD of conscience. Who can now unequivocally declare the BIBLE to be the only rule of faith and
manners, without falling under the most grievous suspicions,
as though he had broken his covenant with his God, and
denied the Lord that bought him?  All our religious sects
have their own classifications of what they suppose to be
scriptural doctrines. The matters which now startle christians and christian ministers into activity, and thrill along
every nerve of the ecclesiastical body, are Calvinism, Arminianism, Hopkinsianism, and other such like gorgeous fragments of Christ's spiritual kingdom. Another classification
is yet to be made under the auspices of charity, which will
be the peculiar property of every individual man, as the product of his own spiritual apprehensions, and personal experience. This will require the study of the Bible, and the true
" introduction" to that, will be an unction that cometh down
from above, and that teacheth all things; and which shall
convert the literary into a spiritual man, and the son of strife
into a child of love.
I know full well that a sentence thus distinctly expressed,
embracing a sentiment so different from popular opinion, may
seat fearful apprehensions upon many a timid heart, which
may immediately anticipate discord and confusion as its immediate consequence. For me, for ME, I say to consent to
this as just, would be to libel God's Holy Bible, and to misrepresent the whole administration of the kingdom in the
hands of its glorified head. And much do I marvel, that
living in the midst of controversies, which, like a deathful
paralysis have pervaded the whole ecclesiastical body, and
shaken every ecclesiastical establishment to her very centre,
much do I marvel, that any man should celebrate the harmonious operations of this age; assert that our sectarian regulations are necessary to create that moral similitude by which
all Christians should be known; and prognosticate discord
and confusion as the legitimate and unavoidable consequence
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50
of mere Bible authority. THE BIBLE? 0, Brethren, the
Bible will yet relume the ministerial mind; will impart the
vigor of spiritual manhood to ministerial effort; will restore
harmony, confidence and peace to ministerial communion; will
gather around it all the nations of the earth, to identify them
as integral parts of the mediatorial dominion; will convert,
disenthral and redeem the world. And let every man prepare
himself for the transactions of that hour, when faith in Jesus
Christ shall become the dignified and honorable principle of
christian action, and the known, recognized, substitute of
ecclesiastical authority.
In elucidating this subject, it is necessary to remember that
we are not to confide in human expositions. Our systems
transplant scriptural truths out from their own heavenly connexions in the Bible, and classify them according to human
conceptions. Our commentaries halt and stammer at a text,
that may seem a little too Calvinistic, or a little too Arminian;
and we halt along with them, summoning our ingenuity into
conflict with theological difficulties. "To the law and to the
testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." There is an unction that
comes down from above; there is a heavenly wisdom which
God gives to all that ask him; there is a teaching which he
himself conducts with the souls of Zion's children; there
is a consecration of the body for the indwelling of the Holy
Ghost, that he may bear witness with our spirits as to the
character of gospel truth, and the existence of spiritual life;
there is a light which he sheds, a power he exerts, a protection he affords-manifestly the treasury is in earthen vessels,
but the excellency of the power is of God. Here the minister of the gospel must take his stand, holding less consultation
with flesh and blood, and more communion with the Holy
Ghost; placing less reliance upon talent and learning, and
more confidence in God; forming fewer calculations upon
expediency, and making more bold, determined, and persevering effort in the name of the Master. Jesus, our Lord,




51
my christian brother, has all power in heaven and earth given
into his hands, and has promised to be with us to the end of
the world. Draw believingly and largely upon "the riches
of his glory," nor ever imagine that thou canst exhaust his
mediatorial fulness. Let us exhort one another daily, while
it is called to-day, diligently to study, and faithfully to preach
out of the Scriptures. Let us pray for each other, that like
Apollos of old, our kind and condescending master, may
make us all eloquent men and mighty in the Scriptures.
Talk not of the difficulty, tell us not of the obscurity of the
sacred page; you misrepresent the charter of your hopes, and
understand not the office of the Spirit of truth.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain,
God is his own interpreter,
And he can make it plain.
To me it is matter of the purest astonishment to hear christian ministers talk so untenderly about THE BIBLE, and speak
so affectionately and feelingly about their own STANDARDS.Standards, the meaning of which they have never yet settled,
and about which there has been incessant controversy, both
in public and private. They surely can never have fairly
thought out what they say, or suffered themselves to apprehend the immense difference between the word of God and
the doctrines of men, simply as exercising an efficient control
over the consciences and lives of mankind. Let me entreat
them to re-examine this matter for themselves, as in the presence of that "jealous God," who " will not give his glory to
another, neither his praise to graven images;" and, as living
in an age, and in a land, where human authorities have long
since lost all their charm, and where every man is growing
independent enough to think for himself. They will rise
from the investigation, thinking more highly of their Bibles
than they ever have done, and will inhale an air, sweet and
pure as the zephyr of the millennial morn. They will enter
into their Bible associations with new confidence- and will




52
obtain for themselves, in their contest with the gods of the
nations, on yonder plain where all christendom is marshalling
her hosts, the liberty wherewith Christ has set them free.
Could I pursue the practical inferences, which this subject
has pressed upon my notice, any farther,
I would remark, that the minister of the gospel ought to
understand all the meaning, and exemplify all the power, of," the prayer of faith," as certainly reverting to his own soul
with an efficiency calculated to make him a holy man.
I would remark, that the minister of the gospel should
possess an accurate and growing acquaintance with the moral
principles of human society, rather than suffer himself to be
circumscribed in his ministerial efforts, by her arbitrary arrangements or polemic distinctions: and that he should learn
to simplify and apply truth to the details of human life, rather
than detach his mind and heart from men as a company of
sinners who need a Saviour, making himself diminutive by
frigid form, and useless by discussing abstract principle: and
thus render himself unable to meet the public mind, that is
formed rather for action than speculation.
I would remark, that the minister of the gospel should
honor no name but that of his master, nor ever disgrace himself by a treasonable attempt to divide Christ.
I would remark, that a minister of the gospel ought to find
enough, in his connexions with the church and the world, to
occupy all his talent, however prompt or comprehensive; all
his learning, however varied or refined; and all his life, however protracted.
I would remark, that the minister of the gospel ought to
seek to possess the Holy Ghost, not only as the spirit of his
office, but as the spirit of holiness to dwell in himself; like
Paul, bruising his body, and bringing it into subjection, lest
in the day of judgment he stand unapproved, or want the
vouchers necessary to sustain his plea before the judge.
I would remark, that the minister of the gospel should learn
how to estimate the use of money, in the projects he forms




53
for the advancement of Christ's kingdom; and to take heed
that he does not substitute the expediency of a commercial
transaction, for the moral duty of individual and daily thankofferings.
All and each of these inferences, are capable of fine, full,
and thrilling illustrations. If any of my audience have
patiently listened to what has been said, and feel any interest
in the propositions we have simply stated, they will realize
much pleasure in thinking them out for themselves. Every
step they take, every new moral combination they acquire,
every scriptural illustration they employ, will increase their
spiritual vigor, and greatly extend the sphere of their intellectual vision. They shall feel more entirely devoted to the
service of the king of saints, and experience all religious
privileges, all christian relations, all moral associations, to
constitute one continued series of heavenly influences, exerting the most lively efficiency to make them spiritual men.
They shall rise far above the vanities of this dying world,
and, introduced into heavenly places in Christ Jesus, shall
take up David's harp, most sweetly attuned to celebrate their
new covenant blessings; c" I will sing a new song unto thee,
O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will
I sing praises unto thee. It is he that giveth salvation unto
kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.
Rid me and deliver me from the hand of strange children,
whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right
hand of falsehood: That our sons may be as plants grown up
ai the'  r yonth; that our daughters may be as c&rner stmes,
polished after the similitude of a palace: That our garners
may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may
bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets: That
our oxen may be strong to labor; that there be no breaking
in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.
Happy is that people that is in such a case: yea happy is
that people whose God is the Lord."-" Blessed be his
glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled
with his glory; Amen and Amen."




54
I cannot now close this exercise, without adverting to the
character of the present occasion, and expressing an ardent
desire, that the spirit of the ministerial office, may richly
endow with spiritual gifts the servants of the Lord Jesus who
are before me. The class of remarks, which I have felt myself impelled to make, in discharge of the duty assigned me;
and under which, I hope I have felt some of those spiritual
impulses which I have expressed with so much emphasis, and
urged with so much ardor, increases the interest I take in
the circumstances of this evening's services. They have
given birth to some of the keenest anxieties I ever knew, that
you, my young friends, who are approaching the altar, to
minister in holy things before the Lord, may be men of God;
full of wisdom and of the Holy Ghost, full of faith and power.
The church will then be blessed in your ministry, and having
turned many to righteousness, you shall shine as the stars
forever and ever.
I counsel you to preach Jesus and him crucified; remembering that the cross of our Lord Jesus, whereby the world
is crucified unto you and you unto the world, is the great
constitutional principle of the gospel, in which you must
glory: to be submissive to Providential arrangements in
assigning you your sphere of labor, never thinking any station, to which God calls you, too humble to deserve your
attention, but feeling assured that to seek divine direction is
your most provident course, and that which shall be consummated in the most happy results: and most earnestly, importunately, and believingly to pray for the spirit of your office,
that wherever you are fixed, he may make you useful and
glorious ministers.
I counsel you to cherish the tenderest love for the souls of
men, as though their present good and their everlasting salvation constituted the great objects of your spiritual labors.
Let your heart's desire and prayer to God for them be, that
they may be saved. Sympathise with them in their sorrow,
compassionate them in their ignorance; bear with them in




55
their infirmities; weep with them when they weep, and rejoice
with them  when they rejoice. 0, never, forgetting what
manner of spirit ye are of, either preach or act, as though the
great head of the church had sent you to destroy and not to
save men's lives: as if you would rather bring fire than grace
from heaven, and preferred judgment to mercy. Remember
that your connexion with men is not a mere opportunity for
personal ambition, or unrelenting censoriousness; but that
Jehovah has robed you with salvation, and put into your
hands a censer for ministerial service, that, like Moses and
Aaron, you may stand between the living and the dead.
I counsel you to observe the signs of the times, and to have
no communion with the sluggishness of those who will not:
to estimate the relations in which this country of liberty,
where God has cast your lot, and which has not yet taken her
place among the nations of the earth, stands to the world. I
urge not upon you the sin of national vanity as a ministerial
virtue: but, as Jerusalem once formed the favored object in
Jehovah's love, and became a starting point for the glorious
operations of the new dispensation, so America, beautiful in
her youth, and yielding untrammelled to the minister of the
Son of God his individual rights, has her own space in the
arrangements of him who is judge of all the earth. Know
you not that the genius of liberty has stepped to the meridian of this "land shadowing with wings?"  He, whose
eyes the Lord hath opened, observes her putting on her beautiful garments which have been made white in the blood of
the Lamb; pants to see her descend to grace the car of
truth, and form that mighty array which is to disenthral mankind, and courts an adoption among her sons, ready to be as
bold in enterprise, as rapid in movement, and as fearless in
danger as they. Are our feelings chivalrous? Are not ages
condensing their mysteries, and crowding their events, into an
hour? Young minister of the gospel, thy threescore and ten
years, may call thee to conflicts which inexperienced zeal
does not now suffer thee to suspect: may entirely break up




56
some of thy fondest associations with the living and the dead;
may hide thee in caves and dens of the earth; may chariot
thy redeemed spirit in a flame of consuming fire; may place
thee in the firmament of his glory, like a morning star, to
shed upon the valley of the shadow of death the first beam of
the opening day; or may consummate thy efforts in the fullness of the Gentiles, and commission thee to introduce the
sons of Jacob into the heavenly places of mount Zion. Our
benevolent associations, creating their own instruments of
action, and like gold becoming purified in passing through
the furnace, may move on in delightful harmony, and with
glorious success. Or there may come a falling away first,
and the man of sin be revealed. Or Christ may hear the cry
of oppressed human beings, as he did that of Abraham's children in Egypt: and come down in awful majesty, to plead
the cause of human liberty, and set free the human mind.Thy destiny amid such revolutions is an interesting subject
to thy soul, my brother.
I counsel you to prepare to die. Death that enters every
other circle, summoning young and old to the judgment seat,
lingers about our sanctuaries, and as he bears away the aged
saint to his heavenly rest, his departing look is to the pulpit.
Many a young minister has been laid in the cold grave, since
you first meditated the solemn purpose that has brought you
into the school of the prophets. And what dost thou know,
or how canst thou tell, but that ere long there may be an
officiating sphere for thee among the priests of the upper
sanctuary. Time is short; very, very short. The thread of
life is feebler than the spider's web; that gives to the breeze,
and again returns. But man is gone, for ever gone. And
they who desire further communion with him in his gifts and
his graces, must go down through death and the grave to
meet him in eternity. And shall the minister of the gospel
trifle away his time? Lo, the elements melt with fervent
heat: every mountain is on fire, and every hill in a blaze; the
heavens are wrapped together as a scroll, and depart with a




57
great noise; salient with life, up come the dead, both smaff
and great; hell sends forth her legions in chains of darkness: all the angels come to judgment: the great white
throne is erected; and the Judge appears. I counsel you to
prepare to die. Be ready to breast Jordan's wave. Secure
for thyself an irradiating beam from the New Jerusalem,
whose light and whose glory are God and the Lamb; lest,
when the books are opened, thy heart should break with
anguish, and thy brow be covered with everlasting confusion.
May the Lord Jesus, the glorified Head of the church,
enrich thee, my young brother, with his choicest gifts; consecrate thy whole person and life for ministerial service; and,
as thou art walking beneath the new heavens he has created,
shed upon thy morning and evening hours, the dews of his
blessing —EvEN LIFE THAT SHALL NEVER END! AMEN, yea
and AMEN.
8