of us, not only of St. Paul, but of all the minifters of Chrift, to whom he has promised his fpirit unto the end of the world; for we are flewards of the myfteries of God; and if we are God's fiewards, you know what follows, our Lord himfelf will tell you: He that defpifeth you, defpifeth me, and God that fent me. But then we are not to think, because we are the ministers of Chrift, and God's fewards, that therefore we may do what we pleafe. No; for it is required in fervants and Stewards, that a man be found faithful;—faithful to his character;-faithful to the vows he takes upon him when he enters into his Lord's fervice;-faithful, with regard to the myfteries with which he is intrusted, to the Lord whofe fervant he is, and to the people of the Lord committed to his care. These are things, Chriftians, worthy of our most ferious confideration. For if either we, or you, are wanting to our duty in this refpect, the confequence will be fad and dreadful. If we, as Chrift's minifters, are not faithful to our truft, and if you, as our charge, are not careful to hear and obey us, for our Mafter's fake, we must both of us expect the wrath of God at the great day of recompence. I. You fhall therefore first hear what it is to be a faithful steward of the mysteries of God; and then you will fee whether as fuch we ought ought to be accounted of; that is, thought worthy of esteem. Now our first bufinefs, as minifters of Christ, is, to endeavour to turn men from darknefs to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that is, to convince all fuch as are difpofed to hear the truth, that by nature they are the children of wrath, enemies to God and goodness; that they bring into the world with them the feeds of all manner of fin and wickedness, which, if not reftrained by the grace of God, will fill them full of all iniquity, and bring them to deftruction both of foul and body. They are further to be convinced, that except a man be born of water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. That this is what Jefus Chrift himself has declared, to the end that men, being awakened into a fense of the danger they are in while they are unconverted, may ftrive to recover themselves out of the fnare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. Now the ordinary means which God makes ufe of to convert finners is, by the miniftry of the Word, preached and applied to the confciences of men. How fhall they bear, faith St. Paul, without a preacher ? And who they are that are commiffioned to preach the word, you will hear from our Lord himself: Go ye, faith he, and teach all nations; and lo! . 2 Tim, ii. 26. Rom. x. 14. • Matth. xxviii. 19. I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. I am with you, that is, Jefus Chrift is with us, by his fpirit and by his bleffing: With whom? why, with his apoftles and their lawful fucceffors, as long as the world fhall laft. This is the first part of our commission, as minifters of Chrift. II. The next is, to baptize your children; that is, to admit them into the covenant of grace, into the church of Chrift, which is his house and family, by which they are made members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven; that is, they have hereby a right to call God their father; they have a right to the forgiveness of their fins upon their true repentance; they have a right to the affiftance of God's holy fpirit, to the miniftry and charge of his holy angels, and to the joys of paradife when they die. They have, I fay, a right to all these blefsings, by being baptized by the lawful stewards of the myfteries of God; for this is one of the mysteries committed by Christ to his minifters, and to them only. And a mystery indeed it is, that fo many bleffings fhould be the effect of fo ordinary a ceremony, performed by a mortal man like ourfelves. But fo God has appointed; and we have great reafon to be thankful that our gracious God has given us a right to eternal happiness upon fuch easy terms. I fay a right; for we may forfeit our title to heaven, if we are not careful to live as becomes the children of God. III. And this brings us to another duty and burthen upon a minifter of Christ; and that is, to fit your children for confirmation. For indeed parents, too many of them, are fo little concerned for their children's eternal welfare, that the greater part, even of Christians, would not know why they came into the world, if the minifters of Chrift were not obliged, before they bring perfons to be confirmed, to take care they be instructed in the neceffary knowledge and duties of christianity; to convince them of the advantage of beginning betimes to be ferious, before fin and hell get dominion over them; to instruct them in the duties belonging to them as Chriftians in every state of life unto which it fhall please God to call them; to fhew them the dangers they are like to meet with, and how to escape them; the enemies they have to ftrive with, and how to overcome them. Whoever is not instructed in these things, does not know what it is to be a Chriftian; what his duty is in this world, nor what will become of him when he dies. And thofe parents have a fad account to make, who do not even compel their children to come to be inftructed; that being convinced of the neceffity either of leading an holy life, or of being for ever ever undone, they may dedicate themselves to God betimes, that being under the guidance and protection of his holy fpirit, they may be fecure from the fear of evil, while they continue to make use of the means of grace which God has ordained. IV. For our merciful Lord, knowing the weakness of our nature, has appointed certain outward ordinances, which by obferving as he has directed, we may certainly depend upon the pardon of our fins, and greater degrees of light to know our duty, and of grace and ftrength to perform it. The chief of these ordinances is that of the Lord's Supper, appointed to keep up the remembrance of Chrift's death, by which alone we obtain the forgiveness of our fins. And this is another of the myfteries, which Chrift has committed to his ministers, to be communicated to all the orderly members of his family. And a very great charge, God knows, they have upon them, with regard to this mystery, left for want of care to inftruct the ignorant, for want of concern to admonish the negligent, and for want of courage to repel the profane, they fuffer any to eat and drink their own damnation, not confidering the Lord's body. V. And this brings us to confider another duty incumbent upon the minifters of Chrift, and that is, to exercife a godly difcipline, without which the church of Chrift, which ought to |