THE

DUTY OF THE CHURCH,

&c.

2 TIM. ii. 2.

And the things which thou hast heard of me, among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

THE apostle Paul received both his knowledge of the Gospel, and his commission to preach it, immediately from the great Head of the church. Yet, notwithstanding the extraordinary circumstances which attended his theological instruction, and his official investiture, that all things might be done decently and in order, he submitted to the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, before he went forth on his great mission to the gentiles. In like manner, Timothy, his own son in the faith, to whom the exhortation before us is addressed, was set apart to the work of the holy ministry, by the Presbytery, in which body, on that occasion, the Apostle himself seems to have presided*. Timothy was now at Ephesus; and being the most active

* Compare 1 Tim. iv. 14. with 2 Tim. i. 6.

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and influential member of the Presbytery which was constituted in that part of the church, his spiritual father directed to him, as such, and in him to the church in all succeeding times, the rules and instructions contained in the Epistles which bear his name. Among these we find the passage which has just been read: And the things which thou hast heard of me, among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

It is impossible, within the limits of a single discourse, to do justice to a portion of scripture replete with such various and important matter, as the slightest attention will discover in this text. Of course, much of what properly belongs to its illustration, must be either wholly omitted, or very briefly noticed, on the present occasion. That the Christian Ministry is an institution of Jesus Christ; that this institution is essential, not only to the well-being, but also to the very existence of the church, as an organized body; that Christ has promised that there shall always be a succession of ministers in his church, to the end of the world; and that none have a right to enter on the appropriate functions of this sacred office, without having that right formally and officially committed" to them, by men who are themselves already in the same office; are great, elementary principles of ecclesiastical order, which are all fair

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ly implied in the passage before us; but which, I trust, it is not necessary for me to attempt either to establish or to illustrate before this audience. They are so plainly laid down in scripture, and so evidently reasonable in themselves, that I shall, at present, take them for granted.

Neither will it be deemed necessary, at present, to dwell on the numerous and important benefits of an able and faithful ministry. It may be said, without exaggeration, that every interest of man is involved in this blessing. The order, comfort, and edification of the church; the progress in knowledge, the growth in grace, and the consolation of individual believers; the regularity, peace, polish, and strength of civil society; the extension of intellectual and moral cultivation; the glory of God; and the eternal welfare of men; are among the great benefits which an able and faithful ministry is, ordinarily, the means of promoting; and which, without such a ministry, we cannot hope to attain, at least in any considerable degree. If it be acknowledged that the sanctions of religion exert a mighty, and most benign influence on the order and happiness of society; if the observance of the christian sabbath be as really a blessing to the world as it is to the church; if the solemnities of public worship, be a source of moral and temporal benefit to millions, who give no evidence of a saving acquaintance with the power of the

Gospel; if the weekly instructions of the sanctua+ ry have a native tendency to enlighten, refine, and restrain, those whom they are not the means of converting; and if it please God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe; then, it is evident, that an able and faithful ministry, next to the sanctifying operations of the Holy Spirit, is the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon a people. And if these great institutions of heaven, are likely, other things being equal, to be beneficial, in proportion to the clearness, the force, the wisdom, and the fidelity with which they are exhibited, as both common sense and the word of God evidently dictate; then it is plain, that the more able and the more faithful that ministry, with which any people is blessed, the more extensive and important are likely to be the benefits resulting from it, both to the church and the world. The father of a family, as well as the professor of religion, has reason to desire the attainment of such a ministry. The patriot, as well as the christian, ought earnestly to wish, and be ready to contribute his aid, that the church may obey the precept of her head and Lord: the • same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

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I say, that the CHURCH may obey this divine precept; for it is, undoubtedly, a mistake, and a very grievous mistake, to imagine, as many seem to imagine, that precepts of the kind before us, are