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ADDRESS

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TO

STUDENTS OF DIVINITY.

BY THE LATE

Ricv. JOHN BROWN,

OF HADDINGTON.

My dear young friends,

Now when I am gradually stepping into the eternal state, to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, permit me to beseech you, as you wish to pro- mote his honour, and the etfernal salvation of your own arftkjMur hearers' souls, that ye

1.^^ that ye be real Christians yourselves. I now more and more see, that nothing less than rea/,r^a/ Chris- tianity, is fit to die with, and make an appearance beforeGod. Are ye then indeed " born again, born from above, born of the Spirit ? created in Christ Jesus unto good works ? new creatures in Christ Jesus," having "all old things ■passed away, and all things become new?" Are ye in- deed, " the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit," habitually reading, meditating, praying, preach- ing, conversing with your hearts, under the influence of the Holy Ghost ? Have you no " confidence in the flesh" — no confidence in your self-righteousness, your learning, your address, your care and diligence, your gifts and graces ; but being emptied of self, in every form, are you " poor in spirit, less than the least of all saints," and the least of all God's mercies: nay, the very " chief of sinners" in your own sight ? Hath it pleased God " to reveal his Son in" you ? and to in- struct you with a strong hand, to " count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ ais your Lord, and to count them but dung, that you may win him, and be found in him, not having your own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of

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God by faith ; and to know the power of his resurrec- tion, and the fellowship of his sutferings ; and to press toward the mark for the prize of the hig-h calling- of God in Christ Jesus," John iii. 3, 5, 6. Eph" ii. 10. 2 Cor. V. 17. Gal. vi. 15. Phil. iii. 3. Matt. v. 3. xvi. 24. Eph. iii. 8. Gen. xxxii. 10. 1 Tim. i. 15. Gal. i. 15, 16. Phil. nf^7 — 14. If you be, or become graceless preachers or ninisters of the gospel, how terrible is your condition ! If you open your Bible, the sentence of }'our redoubled damnation flasheth into your conscience from every page. If you compose your sermon, you but draw up a tremendous indictment against yourselves. If you argue against, or reprove other men's sins, you but aggravate your own. If you pubHsh the holy law of God, you but add to your rebellion against it, and make it an awful witness against your treacherous dissimula- tion. If you announce irs threatenings, and mention hell with all its insupportable torments, you but infeoff yourselves in it, and serve yourselves heirs to it, as the inheritance appointed you by the Almighty. If you speak of Christ and his excellencies, fulness, love, and labours, it is but to trample him under your feet. If you take his covenant and gospel into your mouth, it is but to profane them, and cast them forth to be trodden under foot of men. If you talk of spiritual experiences, you "but do despite to the Spirit of grace." If you com- mend Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and invite sinners to new-covenant fellowship with them, you but treach- erously stab them under the fifth rib, and betray them with a kiss, and from your heart cry, this is the heir, the God, come let us kill him. While you hold up the glass of God's law or gospel to others, you turn its back to yourselves. The gospel which ye preach to others, is hid, is a savour of death unto death to you, the vail remaining on your hearts, and the God of this world having blinded your minds. Without the saving, the heart-transforming knowledge of Christ and him cruci- fied, all your knowledge is but an accursed "puffer up," and murderer of your own souls. And, unless the grace of God make an uncommon stretch to save you, how desperate is your condition ! Perhaps no person under

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heaven bids more unlikely to be saved, than a gracelesx Seceding minister. His conscience is so over-charg-ed with guilt, so seared as with an hot iron, and his heart so hardened by the abuse of the gospel. Alas I my dear pupils, must all my instructions, all the strivings of the Holy Ghost, all your reading, all your medita- tions, all your sermons, all your evangelical principles, all your profession, all your prayers, as traps and snares, take and bind any of you hand and foot, that you may. be cast, as " unprofitable servants," into " outer dark- ness," with all the contents of your Bible, and other books, all your gifts and apparent-like graces, as it were, inlaid in your consci^ices that, as fuel or oil, they may for ever feed or enrage the flames of God's wrath upon your souls I After being set for a time at the gate of heaven, to point others into it ; after prophesying in Christ's name, and wasting yourselves to shew others the way of salvation, and to light up the friends of our Re- deemer to their heavenly rest, must your own lamp go out in everlasting darkness, and ye be bidden, " depart from me, I never knew you, ye workers of iniquity ?" Must I, — must all the churches behold you at last brought forth and condemned as arch-traitors to our Redeemer r Must you, for ever, in the most tremendous manner, sink into the bottomless pit, under the weight of the blood of the great God our Saviour — under the weight of murdered truths, murdered convictions, murdered gifts, murdered ministrations of the gospel, and mur- dered souls of men !

2. Ponder much, as before God, what proper yw/H?- ture you have for the ministerial work, and labour to increase it. To him that hath shall be given. Hath Jesus bestowed on you the Holy Ghost ? What dis- tinct knowledge have you of the mysteries of the king- dom ? What aptness have you to teach, bringing out of the good treasure of your own heart, " things new and old ?" What ability to make the deep mysteries oft.be gospel plain to persons of weak capacities, and to repr*^- sent things dehghtful or terrible, in a proper and affect- ing manner? What proper quickness in conceiving of divine things, and what rooted inclination to study them;

as persons devoted to matters of infinite importance ? What peculiar fitness have you for the pulpit, quali- fying- you, in a plain, serious, orderly, and earnest man- ner, to screw the truths of God into the consciences of your hearers? With what stock of self-experienced truths, and texts of inspiration, did, or do you enter on the ministerial work ? Of what truths, relative to the law of God, or relative to sin, Satan, or the desertions and terrors of God, hath your soul not only seen the evidence, but felt the power ? What declarations, pro- mises, offers, and invitations of the glorious gospel, have ye, with joy, nnd rejoicing- of heart, found and eaten, and therein tasted and seen that God is good ? Of what inspired truths and texts can you say, " even so we have believed, and therefore we speak ;" what we have seen and heard with the Father, and tasted and handled of the word of life, that we declare unto yon. Thrice happy preacher, whose deeply experienced heart is, next to his Bible, his principal note-book ! John XX. 22. Matt. xiii. 22, 12, 52. 1 Tim. iii. 2. Tit. i. 9. 2 Tim. ii. 2. Isa. 1. 4. xlix. 2. Jer. xv. 16. 2 Cor. iv. 13. 1 John i. 1 — 3. John viii. 34.

3. Take heed that your call from Christ and his Spi- rit to your ministerial work, be not only rea/, but evi- dent. Without this, you can neither be duly excited or encouraged to your work, nor hope, nor pray for di- vine success in it ; nor bear up aright under the difficul- ties you must encounter, if you attempt to be faithful. If you run unsent by Jesus Christ and his Spirit, not- withstanding the utmost external regularity in your li- cence, call, and ordination, you, in the whole of your ministrations, must act the part of a sacrilegious thief and robber, a pretended and treacherous ambassador to Christ and his Father, and a murderer of men's souls, not profiting them at all. Wliat direction, what sup- port, what assistance, what encouragement, what reward can you then expect ? Ponder, therefore, as before God. Have you taken this honour to yourselves ? or were ye called of God as was Aaron ? Hath Jesus Christ sent you to preach the gospel, and laid upon you a delightful and awful necessiti/ to preach it ? Whilo

he powerfully determined you to follow providence, and avoid every selfish and irregular step towards entrance into the office, as a mean of " eating* a piece of bread," or enjoying carnal ease or honour, did he breathe on you, and cause you to receive the Holy Ghost, filling you with deep compassion to the perishing souls of men, and a deep sense of your own unfitness for such ardu- ous work, and fervent desire, that if the Lord were will- ing to use you as instruments of winning souls, he would sanctify you, and make you meet for his work ? Perhaps, providentially shut out from other callings, to which you or your parents inclined, did you, in your education, go up " bound in the Spirit," by the love of Christ burning in your hearts, and constraining you cheerfully to surrender yourselves to poverty, reproach, and hatred of men, for promoting his name and honour, and the salvation of men in the world ? What oracles of God, powerfully impressed on your soul, have direct- ed and encouraged you to his work ? Know you in what form Jesus Christ gave you your commission ? Whether to " open the eyes of the Gentiles, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Sa- tan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith" in him ; or, to " go make the heart of this peo- ple fat, their ears heavy," and to "shut their eyes." Jer. xxiii. 21 — 23. Isa. xlix. 1. 2. Jer. i. Ezek. ii. iii. xxxiii. Matt. X. Luke vi. x. Johnx. Acts i. Heb. v. 4. Rom. X. 15. 1. Cor. i. 17. ix. 16. Acts xxvi. 17, 18. Isa. vi. 8, 9.

4. See that your end in entering into, or executing your office, be single and disinterested. Dare you ap- peal to him, whose eyes are " as a flame of fire," and who " searcheth the hearts, and trieth the reins," to give to every man according to his works, that you never inclined to be put into the priest's office, that you might " eat a piece of bread, and look every one for his gain from his quarter;" that ye " seek not great things for yourselves ;" that ye " covet no man's silver, gold, or apparel ; that ye seek not men's property, but them- selvesy that you may win them to Christ for their eter-

6

nal welfare ; that ye seek not your own honour, ease or temporal advantag-e, but the thing-s of Christ and his people; that ye '* seek not honour," or " glory of men," but the honour of Christ and his Father, in the eternal salvation of souls; and have determined to prosecute this end, through whatever distress or danger the Lord may be pleased to lay in your way. Jer. xlv. 5. 1 Sam. xii. 8. Acts XX. 33. Isa. Ivi. 11. 2 Tim. iv. 10. 1 Cor. ix. 12, 16. 2 Cor. vii. 2. xi. 9. xii. 13, 14. vi. 4—19. Phil. ii. 21. 1 Thess. ii. 4—9. John vii. 18.

5. See that your minds be deeply impressed with the nature^ extent, and impoytance of your ministerial work ; that therein it is required of you, as "ambassadors for Christ," as " stewards" of the mysteries and manifold grace of God, " to be faithful," to serve the Lord with your spirit, and with much humiHty in the gospel of his Son ; to testify repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, not keeping- back, or shunning to declare every part of the counsel of God, or any profitable instruction, reproof, or encouragement ; and not moved with any reproach, persecution, hunger, or nakedness ; to be ready, not only to be bound, but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus, in order to finish your course with joy. Bearing with the infirmities of the weak, and striving together in prayer, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, and your messages provided by God, and made acceptable to your hearers, you must labour with much fear and trem- bling, determined to know, to glory in, and make known, nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified; preaching the gospel, " not with enticing words of man's wisdom," as raen-pleasers, but with great plainness of speech, in demonstration of the Spirit, and with power; speaking the things which are freely given you by God, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but in " the words which the Holy (jhost teacheth," comparing spi- ritual things with spiritual — as having the mind of ('hrist — always triumpljing in llim, and making mani- fest the savour of the knowledge of him in every place, that you may be a sweet savour of Christ in them who are saved, and in them who perish; as of sincerity, as

of God, in the sight of God, speakinj^ in Christ, who throug-h the mercy of God, not fainting-, hut renoun- cing the hidden things of dishonesty ; not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, or corrupting the truth, hut manifes^ting the truth to every man's conscience, as in the sight of God ; not preaching yourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and yourselves servants to the church for his sake, ahvay bearing about his dying, that his life may be manifested in you; and knowing the terror of the Lord, and deeply impressed with the account which you and your hearers must give to him, of your whole conduct, m the day of judgment — awed by his intinite authority, and constrained and inflamed by his love, you must persuade men, beseech- ing them to be reconciled unto God, and making your- selves manifest to God, and to their conscience — and as their edification requires, changing your voice, and turning yourselves every way, and becoming all things to all men, in order to gain them to Christ — jealous over them with a godly jealousy, in order to espouse them to him, as chaste virgins — travelling in birth, till he be formed in their hearts. You must take heed to your ministry, which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfil it ; stir up the gifts which were giv- en you; give yourselves wholly to reading, exhorta- tion, and doctrine ; and take heed to yourselves, and to the doctrine which you preach, that you may save yourselves, and them that hear you ; watching for their souls, as they who do and must give an account for them to God ; rightly dividing the word of truth, and giving every man his portion in due season — faithfully warning every man with tears, night and day — teaching every man, particularly young ones, and labouring to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus ; and warring, not after the flesh, nor with carnal weapons, but with such as are mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong-holds, and casting down imaginations, and subduing every thought and affection to the obedience of Christ. Having him for the end of your conversa- tion, and holding fast the form of sound words in faith in, and love to him ; not entangling yourselves with

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the affairs of this life, nor ashamed of the Lord, or of his cause or prisoners, but ready to endure hardships, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, ye must go forth without the camp, bearing his reproach, and, exposed as specta- cles of sufferings to angels and men, must not faint un- der your tribulations, but feed the flock of God which he hath purchased with his own blood, and over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers ; preaching the word in season and out of season, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with all long-suffering and doctrine ; tak- ing the oversight of your people, not by constraint, but willingly — not for filthy lucre, of worldly gain, or larger stipends, but of a ready mind ; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but as examples to the flock ; ex- ercising yourselves to have a conscience void of offence towards God, and towards man ; having a good con- science, willing in all things to live honestly ; exercised to godiness ; kindly affectioned, disinterested, holy, just and unblaraeable ; prudent examples of the believers in conversation, in charity, in faith and purity; fleeing youthful lusts, and following after righteousness, peace, faith, charity ; not striving, but being gentle unto all men ; in meekness instructing them who oppose them- selves ; avoiding foolish and unlearned questions ; and old wives' fables ; fleeing from perverse disputings, and worldly mindedness, as most dangerous snares ; and fol- lowing after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, pa- tience, meekness; fighting the good fight of faith, and laying hold on eternal life ; keeping your trust of gos- pel truth, and ministerial office ; and without partiality or precipitancy, committing the same to faithful men, who may be able to teach others : and, in fine, faith- fully labouring in the Lord, to try, and confute, and censure false teachers — publicly rebuke, or excommuni- cate open transgressors — restore such as have been over- taken in a fault, in the spirit of meekness ; and having compassion on them, to pull them out of the fire, hat- ing even the garment spotted by the flesh, and never conniving at, or partaking with any in their sins. Who is sufficient for these things ? May your sufficiency be of God ; and as your days are, so may your strength be,

Ezek. ii. 7. iii. 9, 17 — 21. xxxiii. 7, 9. Isa. Iviii. 1. Jer. i. 17, 18. XV. 19, 20. Mic. iii. 8. Mai. ii. 6, 7. Matt. x. 16—39. xix. 28, 29. xx. 25—28. xxiii. 3—12. xxiv. 42— ,51. xxviii. 18—20. Acts xviii. 24—28. xx. 18— 35. xxiv. 16. xxvi. 16—23. 1 Cor. ii. 1—5, 9, 12, 13. i. — V. ix. xii. — xiv. 2 Cor ii. — vi. x. — xiii. Rom. i. 9, 16. ix. ], 2. X. 1. xii. xv. Gal. i. 8—16. iv. 19. Eph. iii. 7—9. iv, 11—15. vi. 19, 20. Col. iv. 7, 17. i. 23 —29. ii. 1, 2. 1 Thess. ii. iii. v. 12. 1 Tim. iii.— vi. 2 Tim. i.— iii. Heb. xiii. 7, 17, 18. 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11. v. 1—4. Jude 22, 23. Rev. ii. iii. xi. 3—7. xiv. 6— 11.

6. See that ye take heed to your spirits, that ye deal not treacherously with the Lord. In approaching to, or executing- the ministerial office, keep your hearts with all diligence ; for out of it are the issues of eternal life or death to yourselves and others. Building up yourselves on your most holy faith, and praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, look- ing for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. If you do not ardently love Christ, how can you faithfully and diligently feed his lambs — his sheep ? Alas ! how many precious sermons, exhortations and instructions, are quite marred and poisoned, by coming through the cold, carnal, and careless heart of the preacher, and being attended with his imprudent, un- tender, and lukewarm life ? If you have not a deep- felt experience of the terrors of the Lord, of the bitter- ness of sin, vanity of this world, and importance of eter- nity, and of the conscience-quieting, and heart-capti- vating virtue of Jesus' bleeding love, how can you be duly serious and hearty in preaching the gospel ? If, all influenced by a predominant love to Christ, your heart be not fixed on everlasting things, and powerfully animated to an eager following of peace and holiness, how can you, without the most abominable treachery, declare to men their chief happiness, and the true me- thod of obtaining it ? If your graces be not kept live- ly, your loins girt, and your lamps burning, all en- kindled by the heart-constraining love of Christ, how cold, carnal, and blasted, must be your sacred ministra-

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tions ? If your work, as am))assadors of Christ, be to transact matters of everlasting importance, between an infinite God and immortal but perishing- souls of men ; if the honours and privileges of it be so invaluable, what inexpressible need have you of habitual dependence on Christ, by a lively faith ? What self-denial, what ar- dent love to Christ and his Father, what disinterested reg-ard to his honour, what compassion to souls, what prudence, what faithfulness and dilig-ence, what humili- ty and holy zeal, what spirituality of mind and con- versation, what order, what plainness, what fervour, what just temperature of mildness and severity, is ne- cessary in every part of it ! If, while you minister in holy things, your lusts prevail, and are indulged, you have less of real or lively Christianity, than the most weak and uncircumspect saints under your charg-e. If your evil heart of unbelief, fearfully carry you off from the living God, and you can live unconcerned, while the powerful and sanctifying presence of God is withheld from yourselves or your flocks, how sad is your and their case ! If your indwelling pride be allowed to choose your company, your dress, your victuals, nay, your text, your subject, your order, your language ; if it be allowed to indite your thoughts, and, to the re- proach and blasting of the gospel of Christ, to deck your sermon with tawdry ornaments and fancies, as if it were a stage play, and to blunt and muffle up his sharp arrows with silken smoothness, and swollen bombast : if it be allowed to kindle your fervour, and form your looks, your tone, your action ; or to render you enrap- tured or self-conceited, because of subsequent applause ; or sad and provoked, because your labours are contemn- ed, how dreadful is your danger, and that of your hear- ers ! How can ministerial labours originating in pride, spurred on by the fame of learning, diligence, or holi- ness, hurt the interests of Satan, from whose influence they proceed ? If pride be allowed to cause you to envy or wound the characters of such as differ from or outshine you, or to make you reluctant to christian re- proof from your inferiors, how fearful is your guilt and danger ! Pride indulged, is no more consistent with

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a christian character, than drunkenness and wlioredoni. If you take up, or cleave to any ])rincij)le or practice in rehgion, in the way of factious contention, how abom- inable to God, is the *' sower of discord among- breth- ren I" If you undervalue the peace and prosperity of the church of Christ, and are not afflicted with her in all her afflictions, how cruel and unchrist-like your con- duct I If, in justly proving- your opponents deceivers and blasphemers, you, by your angry manner, plead the cause of the devil, will God accept it as an offering at your hands? If you are slothful in studying- or declar- ing the truths of Christ ; if, to save labour or expence, you are inactive or averse to help such as have no fix- ed ministrations, or to contrive or prosecute projects for advancing- the kingdom of Christ, and promoting- the salvation of men, how great is your baseness, and fear- ful your hazard ! Think, as before God, did Jesus Christ furnish you for, and put you into the ministry, that you might idle away, or prostitute your devoted time, tear his church, conceal or mangle his truths, be- tray his interests, or starve and murder the souls of men ? Are not your people the " flock of God, which he purchased with his own blood ?" Will you then dare to destroy his peculiar property and portion, and attempt to frustrate the end of his death ? Did Jesus die for men's souls ? And will you grudge a small la- bour or expence, to promote his honour in their eternal salvation ? If the Son of God was crucified for men, crucified for you, will you refuse, through his Spirit, to crucify your selfishness, your pride, your sloth, your worldly and covetous disposition, in order to save your- selves, and them that hear you. While your own sal- vation, and the salvation of multitudes, are so deeply connected with your faithfulness and diligence ; while the powers of hell and earth, so set themselves in op- position to your work, that, in your falls, they may tri- umph over Christ, your Master, and his church ; while so many eyes of God, angels and men, are upon you, why do you ever think or speak of eternal things— -of heaven and hell — of Jesus' person, offices, righteous- ness, love, and free salvation, without the most serious

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and deep impression of their importance? While, per- haps, you preach your last sermon, and have before you, and on every hand of you, hundreds or scores of perish- ing- souls, suspended over hell by the frail thread of mortal life, not knowing- what a day or an hour may bring- forth ; souls already in the hands of the devil, and, as it were, just departing to be with him in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone ; souls already slain by the gospel of our salvation blasted and cursed to them, partly by your means ; why do not tears of deep concern mingle themselves with every point you study, every sentence you publish in the name of Christ? When multitudes of your hearers, some of them never to hear you more, and just leaping off into the depths of hell, are, in respect of their needs, crying with an ex- ceeding bitter cry, " Minister, help, help, we perish ; we utterly perish ; pluck the brand out of the burning fiery furnace ;" why spend your devoted time in idle visits, un- edifying converse, useless reading, or unnecessary sleep? What if, while you are so employed, some of your hear- ers drop into eternal flames, and begin their everlasting cursing of you for not doing more to promote their sal- vation ? When Jesus ariseth to require their blood at your hand, how accursed will appear that knowledge, which was not improven for his honour who bestowed it ! — that ease, which issued in the damnation of multi- tudes ! — that conformity to the world which permitted, or that unedifying converse which encouraged your hear- ers to sleep into hell in their sins ! — that pride or lux- ury which restrained your charity, or disgracefully plung- ed you into debt ! Since, my dear pupils, all the truths of God, all the ordinances and privileges of his church, the eternal salvation of multitudes, and the infinitely precious honour of Jesus Christ and his Father, as con- nected with the present and future ages of time, are entrusted to you, how necessary, that, like Jesus your Master, you should be faithful in all things, to him who appointed you? If you do the work of our Lord deceitfully, in what tremendous manner shall your pa- rents, who devoted and educated you for it — the teach- ers who prepared you for it — the seminaries of learn-

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ing" in which you received your instruction — the years which you spent in your studies — all the gifts which were bestowed upon you — all the thoughts, words, and works of God in the redemption of men — all the oracles, commands, promises, and threatenings of God, which direct, inculcate, or enforce your duty — all the examples of Jesus Christ, and all his apostles, prophets, and faithful ministers — all the leaves of your Bible, all the books of your closet — all the engagements you have come under — all the sermons which you preach — all the instructions which you tender to others — all the discipline which you exercise — all the maintenance which you receive — all the honours which you enjoy or expect — all the testimonies which you give against the negligence of parents, masters, ministers or magistrates — all the vows and resolutions which you have made to reform — and all the prayers which you have presented to God for assistance or success, rise up against you as witnesses, in the day of the Lord !

7. See that ye, as workmen who need not be ashamed, earnestly labour rightly to divide the word of truth, ac- cording to the capacities, needs, and particular occasions of your hearers, giving every one of them their portion in due season. Never make your own ease, your in- clination or honour, but the need of souls, and the glory of Christ, the regulator of your choice of subjects. Labour chiefly on the principal points of religion. To bring down the fundamental mysteries of the gospel to the capacities of your hearers, and inculcate on their consciences, the great points of union and fellowship with Christ, regeneration, justification, and sanctifica- tion, will require all your grace, learning, and labour. Never aim at tickling the ears, or pleasing the fancies of your hearers, but at convincing their consciences, enlightening their minds, attracting their affections, and renewing their wills, that they may be persuaded, and enabled to embrace and improve Jesus Christ as freely offered to them in the gospel, for wisdom, righteous- ness, sanctification, and redemption. Labour to preach the law as a broken covenant, the gospel of salvation, and the law as a rule of life, not only in their extensive

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matter, but also in their proper order and connection. It is only when they are properly connected, that the precious truths of God appear in their true lustre and glory. It is at your infinite hazard, and the infinite hazard of them that hear you, if you even by negli- gence, either hlend or put asunder that law and gospel, which Jesus Christ hath so delightfully joined together. Nowhere is it more necessary to take heed, than in preaching up the duties of holiness. Let all be founded in union to and communion with Clirist, all enforced by the pattern, love, righteousness and benefits of Christ, Eph. iv. V. vi. Col. iii. iv. 1 Pet. iii. iv. See Diction, art. Gospel, and Sabbath Journal., p. 271 — 272.

8. Alvvay improve and live on that blessed encour- agement which is offered to you as christians and min- isters in the gospel. Let all your wants be on Christ. **My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus." Cast all your cares on him, for he careth for you. Cast all your burdens on him, and he will sustain you. If your holy services, through your mismanagement, occasion your uncom- mon guilt, his blood " cleanseth from all sin." You have an "advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation for your sins." If you be often difficulted how to act, he hath said, " the meek will he guide in judgment ; the meek will he teach his way." "1 will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye set upon thee. I will lead the blind in a way which they know not." If you be much discouraged because of your rough way, and your want of strength, he hath said, " when the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them ; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places. Fear not, for 1 am with thee ; be not dismayed, for 1 am thy God. I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee ; I will uphold thee with the right hand of my rijihteousnesR. Fear not, worm .Jacob ; 1 will help thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. I will make thee a new sharp thresh- ing instruaient, and thou shalt thresh the mountains.

15

My grace shall be Rufficient for thee ; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. As thy days are, so shall thy strength he." If your troubles be many, he hath said, "wlien thou passest through the waters I will be with thee: the rivers shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt ; nor shall the flame kindle upon thee." If your in- comes be small and pinching, " ye know the grace of our Lord Jesu^! Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he bc?came poor, that we through his poverty might be rich. He shall see his seed, the travail of his soul, and be satisfied :" and he hath promised, " I will abundantly bless her provision, and satisfy her poor with bread. I will satiate the soul of her priests with fatness." A salary of remarkable fellowship with Christ, and of success in winning souls, is the most delightful and enriching. If your labours appear to have little success, be the more diligent and dependent on Christ. Never " mourn as they that have no hope." Jesus hath said, " I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on thy seed, and my blessing on thine off^^pring. A seed shall serve him. The whole earth shall be filled with his glory. The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and his Christ." Believe it on the testi- mony of God himself. Believe it on the testimony of all his faithful servants; and, if mine were of any avail, I shoubl add it, that there is no master so kind as Christ ; no service so pleasant and profitable as that of Christ ; and no reward so full, satisfying, and perma- nent, as that of Christ. Let us, therefore, begin all

THINGS FROM ChRIST, CARRY ON ALL THINGS WITH AND THROUGH ChRIST, AND LET ALL THINGS AIM AT, AND END IN ChUIST.

Andrew Jack k Co. Printew Jbklinburgh.

To l^r^.^.--3 ricrr^rr.<.;7) Student of Divinity,

with ^^"^ t'^rar^^yt^ _—

affectionate good wishes.

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BRIEF

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