does actually read his Bible, or sermon, instead of roving about, or dozing away holy time in sloth. But will-worship is a species of homage, which God abominates. He has hallowed a sabbath, and instituted a ministry, and commanded attendance; and the glory of his character requires, that he should honor his own institutions. His own institutions he will honor, by bestowing his grace upon those who reverently observe them, and withholding it from those who despise and contemn them, to follow the dictates of a wayward will. We can expect a blessing only in the way of obedience, and let none attempt to justify their absence from the house of God, by excuses which the attending preacher might plead with as much reason as themselves. Alas! that there should, in our day, be any necessity for urging so plain a duty! It was not always so in NewEngland. In her infancy, when there was but here and there a solitary temple erected to Jehovah, our fathers could employ the whole of Saturday in journeying to the house of God, and Monday in returning to their dwellings; and find themselves amply repaid for the expense of time and fatigue, by the pleasure of worshipping with the saints-of joining in those intercessions which have power with God-of mingling in those praises which elevate the soul, a prelude to the songs of heaven! To them how amiable were the tabernacles of the Lord of hosts! How did their souls long for the courts of the Lord; and their heart and flesh cry out for the living God! Surely they loved the habitation of God's house, and the place where his honor dwelt. How is the gold become dim, and the most fine gold changed! It was not my object, at this time, to urge attendance at the house of God by considerations drawn from the pleasures of public worship; but rather to insist upon it as a duty enjoined by God. The same divine authority, which requires the priest's lips to keep knowledge, commands the people to seek the law at his mouth. The duties are reciprocal, and equally binding on both parties. This will further appear, when we, III. Urge this qualification of the minister, and enforce this duty of the people, as indispensable, by considering the high, and sacred character which he sus tains. He is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. This character not only requires peculiar qualifications, but invests him with certain prerogatives, and places those to whom he is sent under positive obligations. A messenger, or ambassador must be loyal, hearti ly devoted to his Sovereign, and familiarly acquainted with his instructions, both in their spirit and letter. He must be a native citizen, or a naturalized and adopted subject. A sovereign would not, without necessity, employ a foreigner, or one who had a predilection for another master, or who was ignorant of the language, in which he pens his instructions, on an important embassy. With a loyal and friendly disposition, a foreigner might understand, generally, the spirit and purport of his commission, by means of a translation furnished to his hands by another; but if in the progress of his negotiations, he should be disputed on any particular article of his instructions, how could he satisfy himself or his antagonist, but by referring directly to the original? So, we conceive, to him, "--who negotiates between God and man, an acquaintance with the tongues in which the Scriptures were originally written, is, if not absolutely indispensable, yet highly important. The Hebrew and Greek Scriptures are the "ultimate and unalterable standard of truth, by which every doctrine must eventually be tried. Why has God preserved them with a care hardly short of miraculous, but that they should be studied? Are ministers to treat as beneath their notice, those original records, which their God has not thought it beneath him to consign for their use to the safeguard of his wonder-working providence? No. God has preserved his blessed book, that it might be read in the original; and that his children might be able to assert and maintain his truth inviolate, by having direct access to the fountains themselves. And thus he frustrates a deep stratagem of hell, to bring the original Scriptures into gradual disuse; and then, by discrediting the versions, to bring Christianity itself into embarrassment and shame." Far be it from us, by any intimation, to diminish, in the least, the confidence of christians in the excellent version of the Scriptures in common use; a version, which, it is believed, will never be exchanged for a better. All that is necessary to a holy life, a triumphant death, and a blessed eternity, may be learnt from it without mistake. Any man may be sufficiently acquainted with the common law, to avoid the prison and the gallows; indeed, to enjoy the security, the benefits and the blessings of law, in an equal degree with the man, whose study and practice it is: but he would not, for that reason, leave a difficult case of law to the management of any neighbour indiscriminately. Many questions might arise, on which he would find it for his interest and satisfaction to consult the lawyer by profession. So men may know enough of religion to enjoy its influences, supports and hopes, in an equal degree with the minister, and yet may meet with occasional difficulties, which they will bring to him for solution, and which his more critical acquaintance with the scriptures may enable him to solve. He is to study the original, not to make a display of learning, but for the benefit of his people. He is to bring to them the simple results of his investigations; not the process by which he arrived at them. But investigate he must, closely, critically, prayerfully, or he cannot adequately know the mind of his Master. An ambassador must proceed according to his instructions, and follow the true spirit of his commission. He must not use any discretionary power, which has not been committed to him, though in his own opinion it might save the kingdom of his sovereign from ruin. So the ambassador of Christ must scrupulously follow the directions of his Master. The business which he is employed to negotiate, is an important business. It is to effect the reconciliation of human rebels to their injured Sovereign. He has prescribed the terms, on which he will be at peace, and his messenger is not at liberty to prescribe any different terms. His instructions to all his ambassadors, are substantially the same. To Ezekiel: "Thou shalt speak my words unto them.” Το Jonah: "Go to Nineveh, and preach against it the preaching that I bid thee." To all preachers without exception: "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God." And it is the resolution of every real messenger of Christ, "what the Lord God hath said unto me, that will I speak." If he adheres to this resolution, those to whom he is sent, must cordially receive his messages, and accept the overtures which he makes, or take the consequences. An ambassador must employ himself diligently and faithfully in the business he is sent to negotiate. He is not at liberty to neglect the concerns of the kingdom which he represents, in order to amuse himself in exploring the country whither he is sent, in search of curiosities; nor to mingle with the inhabitants any farther, or for any other purpose, than to obtain and impart such information, as shall subserve the objects of his embassy. In like manner, it is required of the ambassador of Jesus, that he be found faithful. He must be intent on the object of his embassy; and avoid every thing which would divert him from it. He must engage in nothing, which is not subservient, either directly or indirectly to his main object. In this his thoughts and desires must centre. To this his plans and labors must tend. With this he must be completely engrossed. "Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing." An ambassador should be a true representative of the sovereign, in whose name he acts. The messenger of the Lord of hosts should be irreproachable and holy. From his life as well as his instructions, the people should be able to derive some consistent ideas of the Being, by whose authority he acts. The same mind should be in him eminently, which was also in Christ Jesus. In his character should be combined those excellencies and graces, which belong to a citizen of Christ's kingdom. "In all things showing himself a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned." It will be his anxious desire and endeavour to be able to make the appeal of an eminent ambassador of Christ in primitive |