and spiritual encroachments or usurpations: nor can it be said that at present the funds, which have long been appropriated to the support of the clergy, are unexceptionably applied. But superstition seems on every side to give place to impiety and infidelity: all ministers are considered by numbers as useless or mischievous; no discrimination is made between the exemplary pastor, who " la"bours in the word and doctrine," and men of a contrary description; no medium seems to be thought of, between superstitious veneration and profane contempt; and there is ground to apprehend that it will ere long be the prevailing idea, that ministers of all kinds, sentiments, and characters, should be cashiered, left to indigence, or driven to secular employments: the consequences. of which would be a gradual, and not a very tardy, destruction of all religion.

It is, therefore, proper to enter a protest against this flagrant violation of the rights of God; as well as to call men seriously to reflect on the consequences of such a measure; and it may suffice to propose a few questions on the subject. Has not the great Proprietor of the earth a right to prescribe what rules he pleases, in respect of the use that he would have made of that proportion which he allots to nations or individuals? Is it not reasonable that we should honour Him with our substance; and that we should consecrate a portion of it to his immediate service, in any way that he sees good to appoint? Can his worship be conducted, or can persons be qualified to lead the devotions of others, or to instruct them in his truths and will, and be employed in this manner, without

a considerable expense? Hath he not a right to demand a proportion of men's property for this purpose, as well as to pay tribute to support the expenses of civil government; as both are his ordinances for the benefit of mankind? Does not the whole scripture require this from the professed people of God? And is not the title of ministers to a decent subsistence inseparable from the divine authority of revelation, and confirmed by every external and internal argument adduced in support of it? Would not, then, depriving them of their maintenance by a national act amount to a national renunciation of Christianity, and apostacy from God and religion? And, finally, do not all those, who want (not to regulate or alter the method of their maintenance, or to proportion it in another manner, but) to get rid of the expense of it altogether, evidently shew their aversion to religion, their contempt of God, and their idolatrous love of the world and the things of the world?1

But, while such questions may very properly be proposed in the present state of human affairs, yet the friends of religion need be under no alarm on this account. The promises which secure the church against the assaults of every enemy, ensure also a succession of faithful witnesses: and the Lord will most certainly provide for them, and also teach them to be well satisfied with their scanty subsistence whilst the interests of the covetous, the ambitious, the ignorant, or profligate clergy

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of any denomination, are comparatively of little consequence.

We have allowed that men should judge who

are, and who are not, the Lord's ambassadors or

stewards: but it must be added that the determi

nation ought to be made by the rules of his word, and not by the maxims of a vain world. "We "have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of "us." Many are sent and owned of Him for great usefulness, who appear very despicable to the selfconfident and carnally minded. Perhaps they are deficient in learning or other admired accomplishments; they are not distinguished by superior abilities; they have manifold infirmities; or the rank in life whence they were called, was low and obscure and on such grounds they are slighted, as well as for the subject of their preaching. But the Lord sees good to employ such servants in his work, "that no flesh should glory in his presence;"1 and to shew that their doctrine is made effectual not by the excellency of man's speech, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. He has a right to appoint whom he pleases to his work; and they who deride, oppose, or neglect them on that account, exclude themselves from the blessing, which more humble and teachable persons appropriate.

The ministers of God may in very many things be inferior to their auditors; but they must magnify their office: they are merely a voice, and the Lord is the speaker, as far as they declare his

'1 Cor. i. 29-31.

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truths; and he can speak by whom he will, or edify the wisest and most learned of the human race, by the words of the meanest of all those who ever spoke in his name. But let these hints suffice on a topic which may be deemed improper to be insisted on by one who is himself employed as a minister: the apostle Paul has, however, repeatedly discussed the subject; and to his epistles I refer the reader for the particulars of those duties which are owing to the Lord's ambassadors, and of the guilt and danger that are incurred by neglecting them.

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VII. God has a right to order all things in his vidence for the benefit of his believing people: even when this is connected with multiplied calamities upon, or the tremendous destruction of, his enemies, how numerous soever they may be. It will hardly be disputed by a reasonable man, that God may justly prefer the happiness of such as love and obey him, to that of those who rebel against him and blaspheme him and if, in his abundant mercy, he reconciles a number of rebels to himself, through "the gospel of his Son," so that they become his friends and worshippers, whilst others persist in their enmity; he may justly arrange every providential event in subserviency to the good of the former, without any equal or comparable regard to the welfare of the latter. But, if they are at length brought to repentance and faith in Christ, they too shall have peace with God, and their portion among his friends.

"This is evidently the doctrine of revelation. "All things," says the apostle, "are for your

"sakes;" "all things are your's, for ye are "Christ's:" and the covenant of grace secures these blessings to believers by an irrevocable engagement. Many things relative to this doctrine have been strenuously opposed, and thought liable to insuperable objections; perhaps, in a degree, from inattention to the subject, or from viewing it through a false medium: for the character and behaviour of the persons concerned are inseparable from their privileges; if they act inconsistently with their profession, they proportionably want evidence that they are interested in these promises: and none who commit habitual and allowed sin, and die impenitent, will be found among this favoured company, whatever their creed or confidence may have been.

But I do not mean to discuss so controverted a subject in this place. It is manifest that all the angels are "ministering spirits" unto Christ, for the benefit of his true disciples; that he is Head over all things, as their protector and friend; that the rise and fall of empires, and other grand events which occur in providence, as well as more ordinary dispensations, are regulated as best conduces to their advantage; that life and death, "things present and things to come, are their's;" that Jesus, their brother and friend, hath the keys of the grave and of the unseen world; and that persecutions, tribulations, and temptations work together for their good. Thus all the circumstances of their continuance here, and removal hence, are ordered, by infinite wisdom, in entire love to their souls; the earth shall remain till the whole company of the red cemed be gathered in, and "made