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truth, shall certainly be saved. When it is said they are "scarcely saved," the reference is not to the uncertainty of their being saved, but to the difficulties and trials they may experience in the course of their being saved. All Christians are not tried as the Christians to whom Peter wrote, the Christians at the close of the Jewish dispensation; but all Christians meet with afflictions, and meet with afflictions because they are Christians; all suffer, and all suffer as Christians. We must never think ill of a cause merely because it is persecuted, nor indulge dark thoughts respecting the spiritual state and prospects of men merely because they are very severely afflicted. The absence of trial is a worse sign than what we might be disposed to think the excess of trial. If ye were without chastisement, of which all are partakers, then were ye bastards, and not sons." But it is not exposure to trial, it is the endurance of trial, in "a patient continuance in well-doing," that is the characteristic mark of those who obey the gospel of God. Let Christians, then, not wonder at their trials, however severe. Let them not count strange even the fiery trial, as if some strange thing had happened to them; and let them seek, by rightly improving their trials, to convert them into proofs of saintship and means of salvation.

66

They who obey not the gospel of God can reasonably count on nothing but unmixed misery, everlasting perdition. "If judgment begin at the house of God, what shall the end be of those who obey not the gospel of God? and, if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" These words most strikingly bring before our minds both the severity and the certainty of the punishment which awaits the wicked. If even the children of God, the objects of his peculiar love, are severely chastened for their faults in this season of Divine forbearance, what can those who are the objects of his moral disapprobation and judicial displeasure expect, but the unmitigated punishment of their sin, under an economy which is the revelation of his righteous judgment, where justice is to have free course and to be glorified? If the trials to which the righteous are exposed are so varied and severe, that, though saved, they are "saved as by fire," saved with difficulty, with a struggle, after a "great fight of affliction," what shall be the state of those who are not to be saved at all-not saved, but destroyed with an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power? If even children are so severely chastened, how shall hardened rebels be punished? "If these things are done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" Oh! that men who obey not the gospel of God could be but induced to lay these things to heart. If they continue disobedient to the gospel, there is no hope; for there is no atoning sacrifice, no sanctifying Spirit, no salvation, but the sacrifice, the Spirit, the salvation revealed in the gospel.

But why should they not obey this gospel? Is it not a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation?" Oh! why will they reject the counsel of God against themselves? If they continue to reject this counsel of peace they must perish: but there is no necessity of

1 Heb. xii. 8.

rejecting this counsel of peace, but what originates in their own unreasonable, wicked obstinacy.

I conclude, in words full of comfort to the first of those classes of whom I have been speaking, and full of terror to the second. May God carry them home with power to the hearts of both! "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." "The Lord is not slack concerning his declaration, as some men count slackness; but he is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come unto repentance.' "He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."

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NOTE A. p. 641.

It must be admitted that there is a strange disparity between "the busy-body,” and "the thief," and "the murderer." It is an ingenious conjecture, but nothing more, of Dr. Mangey, that a very early transcriber may have written dorpioɛRIOKOTOS, which appears in all existing manuscripts, for ἀλλοτριοεπίκλυπος, "a purloiner of other men's property." There is more weight in Bishop Barrington's suggestion-"This caution probably owed its origin to the temper and conduct of the Jews at this period. They were peculiarly fond of intermeddling in the public councils and concerns of other bodies of men." Josephus, de Bell. Jud. lib. ii. c. xviii. § 7, 8, gives an excellent comment on this apostolical prohibition. He relates that his countrymen, "needlessly mixing with the Greeks assembled at Alexandria on their own affairs, and acting the part of spies, greatly suffered for it." This took place A.D. 66, just about the time this epistle was written.-Vide BOWYER's Conjectures, pp. 603, 4.

NOTE B. p. 643.

Christians were persecuted just because they were Christians. The words of Tertullian are remarkable:" Non scelus aliquod in causa, sed nomen Christianus, si nullius criminis reus, nomen valde infestum." Not less remarkable are the words of Pliny to Trajan (Epistt. x. 97):-" Cognitionibus de Christianis interfui nunquam ; ideo nescio quid et quatenus aut puniri soleat, aut quæri. Nec mediocriter hesitavi an nomen ipsum, etiamsi flagitiis careat, an flagitia cohærentia nomini puniantur. Interim in iis qui ad me tanquam Christiani deferebantur hunc sum secutus modum. Interrogavi ipsos an essent Christiani? Confitentes iterum et tertio interrogavi, supplicium minatus. Perseverantes duci jussi; neque enim dubitabam, qualecunque esset quod faterentur, pervicaciam certe et inflexibilem obstinationem debere puniri. Fuerant alii similis amentiæ, quos, quod cives Romani essent, annotavi in urbem remittendos." "It seems," as Lord Hailes observes, "that Pliny did not know what inquiries ought to have been made, and therefore he limited his to two words, 'Christianus es?' It required but other two, such as 'Ego quidem,' or 'Ita sane,' and the cause was judged and the culprit despatched to execution. Blessed era in which, without any captious question as to flaws in the indictment, exceptions to the verdict, or motion for arrest of judgment, a trial for life might be begun, carried on, and brought to a comfortable issue by the pronouncing of about twenty letters! and what mighty obligations did not the primitive Christians owe to their equitable and intelligent judges, who, by a single and simple interrogatory, relieved them from the delays and suspense of a long trial !"-Disquisitions concerning the Antiquities of the Christian Church, chap. iv. p. 100.

1 2 Pet. ii. 9; iii. 9. Prov. xxix. 1.

DISCOURSE XXI

THE ECCLESIASTICAL DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS ENJOINED AND ENFORCED.

1 PET. v. 1–5.—The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock: and when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

In the preceding portions of this epistle, the apostle has instructed those to whom he wrote in many of their religious and moral duties as individuals, and also in many of their duties as members of domestic and civil society. In the paragraph which comes now before us, he writes to them that they "may know how they ought to behave themselves in the house of God." He gives them a directory for their conduct, as office-bearers or private members of a christian church. The duties of office-bearers in the church to those committed to their charge, and the duties of the members of the church, both to their office-bearers and to each other, are here very succinctly stated, and very powerfully enforced.

With regard to the office-bearers of the church, here termed "the elders," the whole of their duty is represented as consisting in acting the part of shepherds and overseers of that portion of the flock or family of God committed to their care; the temper or disposition in which this duty must be discharged is described, both negatively and positively, "not by constraint, nor for filthy lucre, not as lords of God's heritage," but "willingly, of a ready mind, as ensamples of the flock;" and to secure a conscientious performance of this duty, besides employing his personal influence with them, as being himself "also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory which shall be revealed," the apostle turns their attention to the peculiar character of the church as "the flock," and heritage of God," and to the rich reward which shall be conferred on the faithful under-shepherds and overseers, by the chief Shepherd and Overseer at his "glorious appearing," and their "gathering together to him."

With regard to the members of the church, who, with a reference, we apprehend, to their office-bearers being termed "elders," 1 are de

1 • Πρεσβύτεροι.

1

1

scribed by the correlative appellation "younger,' " or juniors, just as if the office-bearers had been termed fathers, they would have been termed children; their duty to their office-bearers is described under the general word, "submission."

The duty of all connected with the christian church, whether as officers or private members, is enjoined under the expression, mutual subjection. Humility is enjoined as necessary in order to the right discharge of all these classes of duties; and the cultivation of this disposition, so requisite to the prosperity and good order of the church, is recommended by a strong statement, couched in the language of Old Testament scripture, of the peculiar complacency with which God regards the humble, and the contemptuous reprobation with which he regards the proud. Such is a brief analysis of the paragraph, which we shall find of use in guiding our thoughts in our subsequent illustrations. The peculiar duties of the rulers in the christian church, the peculiar duties of the members of the christian church, and the duties common to both,-these are the important topics to which in the sequel your attention will be successively directed.

L-OF THE DUTIES OF THE RULERS IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

And first, of the duties of the rulers in the christian church. For the right illustration of this part of our subject, it will be requisite that we consider, first, the appellation here given to those who rule in the christian church, and to whom that appellation properly belongs; secondly, the duty which they are required to perform; thirdly, the manner in which that duty ought to be performed; and lastly, the motives by which the performance of this duty in this manner is enforced.

CHAP. I.-THE APPELLATION HERE GIVEN TO THE RULERS IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, "ELDERS."

§ 1.-The origin and meaning of the appellation.

The appellation here given to the rulers in the church, those who were to act the part of shepherds to it, as the flock of God, the part of overseers to it as the family of God, is that of "elders," or presbyters, which last term is just the Greek word with an English termination."The elders, or presbyters, who are among you, I exhort." The word in its literal signification describes the persons to whom it is given as of comparatively advanced age. As rule ought to be committed only to those who are characterized by knowledge and wisdom; as, in ordinary circumstances, these are not to be expected in a high degree in very young persons, since both qualifications are generally understood to be of somewhat difficult acquirement and slow growth; as in the simplest form of human governments, the domestic, the elder members of the society are the ruling members in it; and as, where the ruling orders in civil society are elective, they are generally

1 Νεώτεροι,

chosen from among those of at least mature age, it is not at all wonderful that the appellation, primarily significant merely of superior age, should have been very generally employed to denote superior dignity and authority. The Hebrew ordinary civil rulers are termed "the elders of Israel." The assembled magistrates of Rome were termed the senate or meeting of elders, and its individual members senators. In some of the most extensively spoken continental languages, the title expressive of dignity and rule, and which we would render by the word lord, actually signifies just elder; and the English term "alderman," descriptive of municipal authority and power in many cities, is just an antiquated form of the words "elder man."

2

It has been the opinion of some of the most judicious and learned students of the history of apostolical and primitive Christianity, that the constitution of the christian church was, under apostolic guidance, "modelled for the most part after that religious community with which it stood in the closest connection, the Jewish synagogue; such modifications, however, taking place as were required by the nature and design of the christian community, and the new and peculiar spirit by which it was animated." In this case it would have been strange if the designation of the managers of the affairs of the Jewish Synagogue, "elders," had not been transferred to the superintendents of the christian church. And we cease to wonder that we have no particular account of the formal establishment of the office of elders, it being very probable, that the existing order of things in the synagogues for religious instruction and discipline, which had been originally organized by inspired men, was silently, and without the formality of express legislative enactment, transferred, under apostolic superintendence, and with apostolic sanction, to the meetings of the disciples, the churches of Christ.

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With the exceptions of " the deacons," a term signifying ministers or servants, who obviously as deacons had no part in the government of the church, "the elders" appear to be the only ordinary set of office-bearers in the apostolic and primitive churches. In an inspired account of the constitution of the christian church, we are informed, when her only Lord and King ascended on high, "he gave,' that is, he appointed, and qualified, and commissioned, "some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ." The office of the apostles was altogether peculiar, and they who filled it were intended for the benefit of the church in all ages. They were the accredited messengers of Christ. They had his mind." He spake by them, and wrought by them; and though they had long left this world, in their inspired writings they are still in the church, according to the promise of their Lord, "sitting on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of

1 Θὐ μόνον τὴν πρὸς τὸ ὄν πίςιν αὐτῷ μαρτυροῦσιν οἱ χρήσιμοι, τὴν βασιλίδα τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ πρῶτον αὐτὸν ἀπέφηναν πρεσβύτερον.—Τὸν δὲ φρονήσεως καὶ σοφίας, τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν πίστεως ἐρασθέντα λέγοι τις ἄν ἐνδικως εἶναι πρεσβύτερον παρωνυμοῦντα πῷ τρώτῳ, PHILO Πρεσβυτέρους merito et sapientia dici, non ætate. ISIDOR. HISPALENS. CARPZOV. Sac. Ex. in Ep. ad Heb. p. 500. Señor, seigneur, of which our own respectful compellation " Sir" is a contraction. Vitringa, Whately, Neander. Eph. iv. 11, 12. 2 Cor. ii. 16.

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