religion. But how extremely base and ungrateful is their conduct! Our Lord saith to his ministers, " He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me." Paul had oc casion to paint the malignity and opposition of infidels in the blackest colors. And his description will suit all who are, at this day, opposing the pious exertions of ministers, and the saving effects of the gospel. Paul and Barnabas having preached to Sergius Paulus, Elymas the sorcerer withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. "Then Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes upon him, and said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness; wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" Such is the base, the ungrateful, the diabolical disposition, that prompts men to oppose a benevolent gospel, and a pious ministry. Can any thing be more criminal in the sight of God, or call louder for the severe and swift execution of his wrath? And who ever hardened themselves against God, and prospered? Now, there. fore, be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong.

7. If faithful ministers desire the salvation of souls; then those who are destitute of this desire, are really unfaithful in the sight of God, and unqualified for their sacred office. A sin cere desire to save the souls of men, stamps the character of a faithful minister; and neither genius, nor learning, nor eloquence, nor the greatest pulpit talents, can supply the want of this desire. Let us, then, my brethren, examine the feelings of our hearts, and the real motives of our conduct, in preaching the gospel. Have we sincerely desired to promote the salvation of our people? Have we carried them upon our hearts? Have we experienced the pleasures and the pains of faithful minis ters? Have we rejoiced in the appearance of the awakening, conviction, and conversion of sinners? Have we rejoiced in the apparent prosperity of Christ's kingdom? And, on the other hand, have we been in heaviness and sorrow, for the secure, the thoughtless, the impenitent, and hardened, among our people? Can each of us say to his flock, as Paul said to his hearers, "I seek not yours but you?" If we can sincerely say this, we have the witness in ourselves that we are faithful.

8. If faithful ministers sincerely desire to promote the salvation of souls; then they are more likely to be successful in their work than others. Their desires, their prayers, and their exertions, must be pleasing to God, and have a moral tendency to draw down a blessing upon their labors. A very pious and successful minister of the last century said that, so far as his observation extended, not the most learned, most eloquent, or most

studious ministers, were the most successful; but those who were the most desirous of success. It is said of Barnabas, that he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith; and much people was added to the Lord." Pious ministers, who are full of love, faith and zeal in the cause of Christ, have peculiar reason to hope that God will give them the desire of their hearts, in the salvation of their people. But though this desire should not be granted them, they may rest satisfied that their desires and exertions shall not be lost, but shall secure the approbation of God, in the day when they must give an account of their stewardship. This is a sufficient encouragement to persevere in well doing, for in due season they shall reap if they faint not. Under the impression of this thought, I would now turn my discourse to him who is about to devote himself to the service of souls.

Dear Sir, Behold the people now to be committed to your trust. Do you feel compassion for their precious souls? Is your spirit stirred within you, as Paul's was when he saw the Athenians in their perishing condition? Is it your heart's desire to be made the humble and happy instrument of turning sinners to God, and of building up saints in their most holy faith? If this be your leading motive in taking the charge of this people, your undertaking is promising. This desire will have a happy influence upon all your ministerial labors. It will make you industrious in your studies, faithful in your preaching, and exemplary in all your private conduct and conversation. It will bring all your secular and personal concerns into subordination to the spiritual and eternal concerns of your people. It will save you from that undue attachment to the world and the things of the world, which is so injurious to the feelings, the character, and usefulness of ministers. It will conciliate the esteem and affections of your people, and give you a peculiar boldness and freedom in addressing them, both in public and private, upon the weighty concerns of the soul. In a word, it will prepare you to live and to die with your people; and to meet them with comfort, at the last day, whether they are saved, or whether they are lost. Be entreated, then, to examine the motives of your conduct, on the day of your consecration to your sacred office. Live under an habitual impression that you watch for souls as one who must give account. Let it be your constant desire and endeavor, from this day to the day of your death, to save both yourself and them that hear you. Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, and your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord.

One word to the church and people in this place, will conclude my discourse.

Brethren and Friends,- This is a serious and important day to you, as well as to him who is about to take the care of your souls. He must give an account how he feels and conducts towards you, and you must give account how you feel and conduct towards him. It is his interest to seek your good; and your interest to seek his usefulness. Your salvation is the great object to which his desires and your desires, his exertions and your exertions, ought to be directed. Be entreated, then, to assist and encourage your pastor in his great and good work. You may assist him by your prayers, and encourage him by a constant and sincere attendance on his public instructions. But if you neglect your duty as a people, while he fulfils his duty as a minister, all his prayers, and desires, and exertions, will aggravate your guilt, and ripen you for ruin. Receive the word, therefore, into good and honest hearts, that you may bring forth fruit to the glory of God, to the joy of your pastor, and to the present and future peace of your own souls.

Amen.

SERMON XV.

CONFIRMATION IN THE DOCTRINES OF THE GOSPEL AN EFFECT OF DIVINE GRACE.

INSTALLATION OF REV. HOLLAND WEEKS, ABINGTON, AUGUST 9, 1815.

Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines; for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace. - HEBREWS, xiii. 9.

THE primitive professors of Christianity were surrounded by enemies, who wished to draw them into their own fatal errors and delusions. The Jewish Scribes and Pharisees, and the Pagan priests and philosophers, were all hostile to the doctrines of the gospel, and employed their learning and subtilty, to subvert these doctrines, and to propagate their own. The apostles, therefore, frequently wrote to those who had professed to embrace Christianity, to guard them against their erroneous enemies, who lay in wait to deceive and to destroy. Paul seldom fails in any of his epistles, to inculcate upon christians the duty and importance of keeping the faith and avoiding error. In the fifth chapter of this epistle, he reproves the Hebrews for neglecting to preserve the knowledge, which they once had, of the great truths of the gospel. "When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat." They had lost instead of gaining religious knowledge; which exposed them to be led astray by those who endeavored to overthrow their faith in the gospel. To secure them against this danger, he first exhorts them to remember the faith and example of their deceased teachers, who had spoken unto them the word of God; and then charges them, "Be not carried about with di

vers and strange doctrines; for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace." His obvious meaning is, that grace in their hearts would preserve them from fatal errors, and effectually establish them in the essential doctrines of the gospel. The spirit of the text may be expressed in this general observation:

That the subjects of grace are established in the essential doctrines of the gospel.

I shall endeavor to show,

I. Who are the subjects of grace.

II. What are the essential doctrines of the gospel. And, III. That the subjects of grace are established in these doc trines.

I. We are to consider who are the subjects of grace.

All men are naturally destitute of grace, and under the entire dominion of a depraved heart. In this state they remain, until they are awakened, convinced, and converted, by the special influences of the Divine Spirit. He makes them sensible of their moral corruption, sets their sins in order before thern, causes them to realize their just desert of eternal destruction, and then sheds abroad the love of God in their hearts, and turns them from sin to holiness. They now become conformed to the moral image of God, reconciled to his character, to his laws, to his designs, and to the terms of salvation proposed in the gospel. Their internal views and affections are essentially changed. Old things are passed away, and all things are become new. They have a spiritual discerning of spiritual things, and love holiness in God, and in their fellow creatures. They place God on the throne, and take their proper place at his footstool. They renounce their self righteousness and self dependence, and rely alone upon Christ for pardoning mercy, and choose to be saved through the grace of the gospel. Their selfish heart, which darkened their understanding, is removed, and a pure, benevolent heart is given them, by which they dis cern and love the glory of God, as it is illustriously displayed in the work of redemption. This pure and holy love reigns in the hearts of all the subjects of grace, and distinguishes them from the impenitent, unbelieving world, who are dead in trespasses and sins.

II. Let us next consider what are the essential doctrines of the gospel.

All christians are agreed that the gospel contains some essential doctrines; though they are not so well agreed in drawing the line of distinction between those doctrines which are essential, and those which are not essential. Some doctrines may be called essential, because they constitute the essence of